《The Adventures of Rose Hood》 Chapter 1: The Dragon and the Wolf Hi, my name is Hood, I have no actual name, so they just call me Red Riding Hood, on account of my red cloak. I am an enslaved dragon, of course, even my captors don¡¯t know my identity. I know shift form. They think I¡¯m a catkin. ¡°Hey, Hood, help me out here.¡± ¡°Got it, Sir.¡± Mr. Roger, a villager. Husband of Dalla Roger, my Master. She¡¯s a kind woman, and after buying me at a slave market, she made me call her Granny. She always made sure that slavers know I¡¯m not on the market. Despite the nation not liking the idea of slavery, its unfortunately quite common, especially among nobles. All villagers here know I am only a slave by technicality. One thing that confuses people is why I¡¯m so loyal to Granny. Of course, this fell into me actually being a dragon. Dragons have the most loyalty of any beast. If we make a deal, we are bound by powerful magic. So, technically, I couldn¡¯t deny anything Granny asks of me. She, of course, didn¡¯t know this. While I know she is good, humans can be easily tempted by potential power. I am one of the last of my kind. We dragons used to rule the world, but now we hide as there are less than 10 of us left. I was still an adolescent dragon, barely 100. Now you may think that¡¯s old, but dragons don¡¯t fully mature until either they age to 1000 or kill 100000 humanoids. Mr. Roger and I were working on building a new house. As he thought I¡¯m a catkin, he gave me smaller loads, and allowed me to do the things that require agility. ¡°You¡¯re so good at this.¡± ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± ¡°Please, Hood. If my wife sees you as family, then feel free to call me Gramps.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t feel right.¡± ¡°I see, well, you know what¡¯s happening today?¡± ¡°Finally sending knights to deal with wolfkin?¡± ¡°Yep, that man will cause trouble no longer. Frankly, I wish we could¡¯ve been friends. I know not all beastkin are bad. You for example, are a wonderful person.¡± ¡°Wolfkin, either nicer or meaner.¡± ¡°Yeah. I actually heard that they are getting another wolfkin to sniff him out.¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Should be quick then.¡± ¡°Yep, well let¡¯s get back to town.¡± You heard that right, a savage wolfkin was terrorizing our town. It had shift abilities, so no one could hunt it down. Frankly, I could easily kill it, but I don¡¯t want to reveal myself. Beastkins follow a similar maturing as dragons, but to a lesser extent. Either get to 50 years or kill 50 humanoids. People thought he¡¯s an adolescent because no one has actually died to him. Me and Mr. Roger went to town square to greet the knights coming to help. A dark furred wolfkin got off of his horse and addressed the people, ¡°I, Sir Royce, am here to deal with my kin who has harassed this town for 2 years. May I speak with the leader.¡± ¡°Hello, sir. I am the current leader of the village.¡± ¡°You are Dalla Roger? Well, you are much younger than they say.¡± ¡°On the contrary, I am half elf, therefore I am 68 despite looking only 20.¡± ¡°I see, well I am here to... Why is that catkin wearing a slave collar?¡± He suddenly narrowed his eyes. As my contract is bound to the collar, removing it would cause the contract to fade and allow slavers that come through here to try to enslave me. ¡°Sir, please do not worry, her collar is to make sure no one can enslave her. I own her, so as long as her contract holds no slavers can take her.¡± ¡°I see, that makes sense. I apologize for assuming. As a former slave myself, I was concerned.¡± Sir Royce is a well-known wolfkin that went from a slave to a Kingsguard. He was the son of a lord that got kidnapped, but upon discovery, his contract was ripped, freeing him, and allowing him to escape. ¡°Sir, that catkin... I think it¡¯s a sorcerer.¡± ¡°A catkin sorcerer? What is your name, child?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have an official name, but I am called Hood.¡± ¡°Well, Hood, how much magic do you know.¡± ¡°I know a bit.¡± ¡°Would you like to help us? You could gain experience that¡¯d allow you to defend yourself from future slavers. Maybe you¡¯d even get to the point where Mrs. Dalla would be comfortable with you not wearing the collar.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a great idea, Hood!¡± Granny loved the idea, I would not only get stronger, but also, I would be defended. ¡°Do you mind us verifying your stats?¡± ¡°Not at all.¡± Dragons have an extra facet of shift. We can disguise our stats. ¡°Project stats.¡± ¡°Hmm, not too powerful, but not weak either.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never actually checked Hood¡¯s stats, could I see?¡± ------------------------------------------ (Nameless) Nickname:Hood HP: 100/100 MP: 250/250 SP: 87/100 LV: 1 Race: Adolescent Catkin Age: 19 Skills: Flame: 1 Cat¡¯s grace: 5 Inquisitive mind: 8 Title: Free slave Shy one ----------------------------------- ¡°Pretty impressive for a village girl.¡± ¡°A level 8 skill? That is impressive.¡± ¡°Only 3 skills though.¡± ¡°Of course, I doubt she¡¯s ever fought before now.¡± ¡°Though what¡¯s with the titles?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Granny didn¡¯t know what the appraiser meant. ¡°I mean, Free slave makes sense, but what is Shy one.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Mr. Roger got an idea, ¡°When she first came to the village, she was scared and very shy, maybe that¡¯s where she got it.¡± ¡°That makes sense, oh well, Hood.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s give you a sword.¡± ¡°Fight better hand to hand.¡± ¡°Alright... well, let''s just go then.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± Chapter 2: The Dragon and the Whilder We set out to find the wolfkin, and I instantly noticed him. I didn¡¯t act on it, as I didn¡¯t want to reveal more abilities. By the way, that Shy one title is the title given to dragons that hide their nature, so I was happy none of them knew what it meant. ¡°He¡¯s near.¡± I acted scared. A wolfkin stepped out. ¡°A Mature?¡± ¡°Project stats.¡± ------------------------------------------------------ Darsen| Nickname: Big bad wolf HP: 447/700 MP: 100/100 SP: 78/750 LV: 17 Race: Mature Wolfkin Age: 25 Skills: Wolf¡¯s rage: 7 Shift: 4 Hunger: 9 Awakened Beast: MAX Martial Arts: MAX Demon Arts: 9 UNIQUE Devour: MAX Titles: Destroyer of Humans Devourer Noble Killer Slave Breaker ------------------------------------------- ¡°Slave Breaker?¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°He frees slaves and kills their masters.¡± I froze. I came to the village shortly before the raids started. He thought I was actually enslaved. ¡°Well, I see. Yo-¡± ¡°Wait.¡± I stepped in front of them. ¡°What are you doing, Hood?¡± ¡°I came to the village shortly before he started attacking. I think he was trying to rescue me, not knowing the situation.¡± Understanding dawned in Sir Royce¡¯s eyes, and Darsen stepped back in shock. ¡°You are not a slave?¡± ¡°I am by technicality alone. Granny merely keeps the collar on me, so slavers won¡¯t attempt to enslave me again.¡± He smiled warmly and then realized the extent of his error. He instantly got on the ground and started whimpering. ¡°Please forgive me, I caused so much trouble based on an assumption. I even nearly hurt Mrs. Dalla.¡± ¡°That explains why you attacked her too. You thought she was just another slaver.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m so sorry. I¡¯m fine with going to jail for my actions, but please accept my apology.¡± ¡°The real question is how you matured at 25.¡± ¡°Like you, Sir Royce, I was a slave, but I rebelled and killed my masters, freeing my fellow enslaved. After that I went around killing many slavers, both noble and not. That¡¯s how I got the titles Noble Killer, Destroyer of Humans, and Slave Breaker. Devourer came from my unique skill.¡± ¡°What does it do?¡± ¡°It allows me to gain the strength of anything I eat.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± ¡°I do apologize again, but before you take me in, I must warn you of beasts. The Whilders are free.¡± ¡°The Whilders?¡± ¡°Yes, they have evolved.¡± The Whilders were legendary level beasts. They could easily destroy towns and nations, but they were kept in the forest by legendary runes, but if they evolved... ¡°They broke through the barrier, didn¡¯t they.¡± ¡°Yes, 1 year ago. I fought against them, but they keep getting stronger. I was just running from one of the lower lev-¡± A loud crash sounded as a Whilder beast crashed through the woods and threw Darsen. A knight caught him and laid him next to me. ¡°It was a bad idea to bring you, Hood. Get him to the village.¡± Royce drew his sword and prepared to face the beast. ¡°A lower legendary, huh? Come on, men! We are Kingsguard. Let¡¯s show this thing what that means.¡± I picked up Darsen and began heading back as the men charged the beast. I ran as fast as I could and entered the village. ¡°No time to explain, I need a healer!¡± ¡°Is that the wolfkin?¡± ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s a different story. The Whilders have escaped and evolved. We need to evacuate.¡± ¡°Hood! Where are you going?¡± ¡°I need to help them.¡± I began to run back, but then Granny gave me her first order. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Stop, Hood.¡± She didn¡¯t even realize. My body froze as though I was frozen solid. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Dalla, she isn¡¯t breathing!¡± She thought for a moment on what she needed to say to revert the command. ¡°Move!¡± Air flew through my lungs as I staggered. I turned back and said, ¡°I need to help them.¡± Granny pulled out the contract and showed visible confusion and concern at there being no indication of what caused me to follow her order 100%. She was distracted. I ran to help Royce and the others. In the middle of the forest, I took a detour, so I came from a different direction, and shifted into my true form. I will protect them. _ ¡°What caused Hood to just freeze?¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing on it that would do that!¡± ¡°Dalla!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Hood ran into the woods.¡± (GRUOA) A dragon. There are only 10 that still exist. And one was in the forest. ¡°We need to help her!¡± ¡°Got it.¡± I drew my bow and rushed into the woods, my husband behind me. We were both rangers, let''s see how this dragon fares. _ I flew towards the group and tackled the Whilder. It thrashed and flung me into a tree, but I quickly got back up and began slashing and breathing fire. _ What¡¯s going on? It¡¯s good we sent Hood away. A dragon showed up and now battled the Whilderbeast. ¡°Sir, we need to get out of here! We¡¯ll die if we stay!¡± ¡°We can¡¯t run, because whatever wins will likely go for the village next.¡± ¡°Sir...¡± My men knew what to do, they stood behind me and got ready to fight. All of a sudden, 2 arrows flew in and pierced both the dragon and the Whilder beast. Dalla and Brant Roger landed in with elven bows. ¡°Have you seen Hood?¡± ¡°We sent her your way.¡± ¡°She ran back to help, if she hasn¡¯t shown up yet, that means that either she got lost or... let¡¯s hope it¡¯s the first.¡± Hood could be dead already. One of my men laughed and casted a control spell on the dragon. ¡°Finally, a dragon within my grasp. I no longer need to serve in the guard.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Kill them.¡± _ This brat actually just tried to control me. Now he told me to kill Granny, Mr. Roger, Royce, and the others. Nah. Even the Whilder stopped attacking to let me deal with this idiot. ¡°Haha! You will die. I am Callel.¡± ¡°The Legendary Sorcerer?¡± ¡°Yes, I hid for years and finally I will kill all of y-¡± Nom, munch, munch... Some legendary sorcerer. Died in one bite. Anyways, time to resume my duel. _ WHAT IS GOING ON? First one of my men turned out to be Callel, a legendary sorcerer known for cruelty and power. Then, he tried to mind control the dragon. Finally, it ate him and casually resumed its fight. _ I slashed at the beast and jumped back. It cut my wing, causing me to roar. Granny shot both of us, but I think they are focusing on the Whilder now. ¡°Focus the Whilderbeast then the dragon.¡± Yep, I was right. The fact that they still saw me as a threat was concerning, but I could likely make them run. After all, I¡¯m a dragon. I¡¯ll finish thi- *SLASH* Ow, my eye. That¡¯s it. ¡°Arcane blast!¡± I breathed arcane. It launched back upon feeling the power of my blast. Now! *Monch* I bit its throat hard and ripped it out. The Whilder died coughing. Now to scare them. I acted more injured and slashed slowly, but quick enough to still bop them. I knocked them down. Granny dodged and shot. OW MY OTHER EYE! The first eye already regenerated, but oh my GOODNESS. I got to go faster. I saw Mr. Roger and I went for him. Granny panicked and shouted. ¡°STOP!¡± I froze, could not move, could not breathe. As ordered. ¡°What?¡± ¡°It actually stopped.¡± Granny walked in front of me, ¡°Why would... wait.¡± ¡°What is it, Mrs. Dalla?¡± Granny¡¯s eyes shone in revelation as she looked at me: ¡°Hood?¡± _ I think Mrs. Dalla was going a bit mad. Because she just asked a dragon if she was the catkin that ran into the woods alone to save us. ¡°Dalla, what do you mean?¡± ¡°Brant, when I told Hood to stop, back at the village, she froze entirely. Yet there was nothing in the slave contract.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know why that happened, but this dragon did the exact same thing.¡± My appraiser''s eyes widened, ¡°A draconic contract.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m thinking.¡± ¡°Move.¡± The dragon breathed deeply but it sat down, looking at us. Is this massive beast really Hood? I needed to ask, ¡°What¡¯s a draconic contract?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a binding agreement that the dragon has to agree to first. It essentially makes them select their master. They follow everything they order to a T.¡± ¡°And you think this is Hood?¡± ¡°Shift back to how I¡¯d know you.¡± A dark mist protruded from the earth and wrapped around the dragon before shrinking to reveal a catkin with a red cloak. ¡°Hi,¡± _ Well crap. I was discovered. Time to smile awkwardly and hope they don¡¯t ask too many questions. Granny, despite figuring it out, was still shocked to see I am actually a dragon. Of course, the Kingsguard did a rational thing and put their spears all pointed toward me. I walked towards them, and Royce yelled, ¡°Don¡¯t come any closer.¡± I kept walking and smiled, ¡°Don¡¯t fool yourself into thinking you could stop me.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t hurt them, please.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning to.¡± ¡°Liar!¡± One of the men charged me with a spear. Royce was clearly as shocked as everyone else, but I decided to let him strike. His spear breaks on my chest. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Impossible!¡± Granny sighs, ¡°Idiots, a dragon''s weak spot is its eyes.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Can we ask some questions?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± --- ¡°How did we not see you when we checked your stats?¡± ¡°Draconic shift allows me to shift my stats as well. However, it also causes the Shy One title.¡± ¡°I see, so that¡¯s what that was.¡± We found a clearing on the way back to the village and sat down. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us that you were a dragon?¡± ¡°Because I was afraid that, even though you are a good person, my power would tempt you to abuse it.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because humans are flawed and naturally greedy, and even elves have exploited dragons in the past.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Could we see your real stats?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Project stats.¡± ------------------------------------------ (Nameless) Nickname:Hood HP: 7083463/8000000 MP: 677777/700000 SP: 1387/10000 LV: 3 Race: Adolescent Dragon (Catkin form) Age: 132 Skills: Fire Divination: MAX Water Divination: 7 Earth Divination: 8 Wind Divination: 9 Arcane Divination: 5 Draconic Shift: MAX Inquisitive mind: 8 Oblivion: 3 Death¡¯s Blow: 5 Elemental Breath: MAX Mortal Scales: 8 Immortal¡¯s Regeneration: 2 Sword King: 3 Title: Free slave Contracted One Dragon of Arcane Mythic Beast Slayer of Legends [NEW] ----------------------------------- ¡°Slayer of Legends?¡± ¡°You must have gotten it when you killed Callel.¡± ¡°Wait, he was actually a legendary?¡± ¡°Yes, the sorcerer Callel.¡± ¡°He died in one bite! How is that a legendary?¡± ¡°Well, you are a mythic.¡± He had a point. ¡°Still, one kill normally wouldn¡¯t give you a title.¡± ¡°Wait, one kill?¡± ¡°Yep, that Callel guy was my first humanoid kill.¡± ¡°I see, that¡¯s why you are only level 3.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Your stats are incredible though.¡± Mr. Roger began talking, ¡°Me and Dalla¡¯s arrows are both enchanted with extra damage and poisoned with dragonsbane. They each would do half a million damage, plus what the Whilder beast was doing, yet you are still over 7 million with an 8 million max.¡± ¡°Also, what¡¯s this Immortal¡¯s regeneration.¡± I turned to Royce who asked, ¡°It¡¯s a skill I picked up recently. I usually hunt in my dragon form, hence why I have little to no fighting skills. I got it after killing a giant bear.¡± ¡°Now a real question, why did you attack us after killing the Whilder beast.¡± ¡°To scare you.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t want to reveal myself, so I thought that if I scared you away, I could leave and come back along your path, but Granny gave an order and I contracted myself to her.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Why do you look sad, Granny?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to be able to give you orders, it feels like I own you if I can.¡± ¡°Well, there is a way to remove the contract, but then I can do whatever. As a dragon, I doubt Sir Royce is really interested in me being free.¡± ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t, but it¡¯s her choice either way.¡± ¡°Sir?¡± ¡°Men, if this goes badly, I¡¯ll take all responsibility.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Thank you, now, Hood. How do I remove the Contract?¡± ¡°Ok... Repeat after me, ¡®I release The Arcane Dragon of all contracts including the ones they personally put in place.¡¯¡± ¡°I release The Arcane Dragon of all contracts including the ones they personally put in place.¡± Her pocket lit on fire, and she batted it out and noticed my slave contract was on fire. My collar fell off, and I clutched my stomach as I threw up blood. They began to panic, but I sat up quickly, my eyes serpentine for a moment before returning to catkin eyes. ¡°And it is done. I am no longer bound to Dalla Roger.¡± I sag. That took so much energy. ¡°How hard is it to break a contract?¡± ¡°Check my MP.¡± ¡°What, HOLY CRAP?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Her MP is halved.¡± ¡°I can regenerate it, but it took a lot of MP to make the contract and it held for 2 years. It built up to a half of my MP.¡± ¡°What if you tried disconnecting it after 6 years or so?¡± ¡°Then it would draw into my HP.¡± ¡°Holy crap.¡± ¡°A draconic bond is supposed to be for the life of the master, so breaking it requires energy.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t do a bond like that again.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°You still follow orders?¡± ¡°Well, despite the bond being gone, I still recognize you as my master, so of course I¡¯ll follow what you said.¡± ¡°Well, what now?¡± Chapter 3: The Naming of Rose Hood We returned to the village with the news that the Wilder was killed, and the dragon fled. Sir Royce, luckily, was aware of the chaos that would occur if I was revealed as a dragon, so he agreed to keep my secret on the condition that I come with him to the capital. Granny was sad, but she agreed that it would be the best course of action. The story we are going with is that, when the dragon attacked, I returned and managed to trick it into attacking the Whilder. When the dragon finished off the Whilder, I managed to get a lot of dragonsbane around the beast, it fled in fear of the poison. Against anyone with moderate intellect, the story would have trouble holding up. Luckily, the village lacks that particular trait. I finished packing a little bit ago. ¡°Hood, I¡¯ll miss you.¡± ¡°Hey, I can still visit occasionally.¡± ¡°You better.¡± When I met with Royce and his men, he said, ¡°Are you ready to go?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± And with that we set out. Darsen was in a cage near us, and he and I chattered for most of the trip. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± A beautiful city was displayed below us, it had a look of power and prestige. Royce stopped and sat down with me. ¡°Before we enter there, Hood. I think we should give you an actual name.¡± ¡°An actual name?¡± ¡°Yes, nameless ones draw attention, and someone may try to enslave you, even if you are with me.¡± ¡°Ok. Why not Hood?¡± ¡°That also draws attention, hmm. What would work?¡± A guy walked in, ¡°Well, what type of dragon is Hood?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a red arcane dragon.¡± ¡°Then what about Rose. Hood could be the surname.¡± ¡°Rose Hood.¡± Royce clapped, ¡°I like that. I name you, Rose Hood.¡± I began glowing. Scales appeared around me and spiraled in a spherical formation. They shot back into my body as Royce and his soldier looked at me in shock. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°I was named. Do you not know the cost of naming a dragon?¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Oh, I thought it was common knowledge that naming a dragon takes a lot of mana and empowers the dragon.¡± ¡°WHO WOULD KNOW THAT?!¡± ¡°A lot of people.¡± Royce sighed and held his head in his hands. ¡°Here, a letter of recommendation. Since we don¡¯t want to give you attention, I¡¯m trusting you to remain calm.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the letter for?¡± ¡°The guild master¡¯s an old friend of mine. Normally, you¡¯d have to sustain a physical test, but since you want to keep a low profile, this will get you in... Hey, can draconic shift keep people from seeing your skills in the first place?¡± ¡°Yes, but wouldn¡¯t that be more suspicious?¡± ¡°Appraisal isn¡¯t a common skill, and relics that do that exist. You still have Mrs. Roger¡¯s bracelet, right?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Granny gave me a bracelet when I started living with her. ¡°If anyone asks, that blocks your stats.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± ¡°Boss, are you sure it¡¯s safe to make her an adventurer?¡± ¡°Damien, frankly, I kind of trust her. At this point I¡¯m more concerned about people attempting to enslave her. Especially since she still has marks from the collar. Besides, she¡¯s small, even for a catkin, people would think she¡¯s easy to catch. Being an adventurer would definitely allow her to be safe. Few groups want to anger the guild.¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°You have a point.¡± After we finished talking, Royce went and told his men that we were separating. They all bid me farewell as they went ahead and through the gate. I had to line up for admission into the city. A festival was going on, so I knew that the line would be long. I saw numerous slavers and slave in line. The New King¡¯s festival was an event when the king had a child. The royal family would go to every town in the country and visit, presenting the new child. The king visited my hometown recently and that¡¯s how Royce learnt of Darsen. The one here was anticipating the king¡¯s return in 2 days. Common events were markets opening, including slave markets. While slavery was frowned upon, it was never banned. As long as the slavers could make up a feasible sounding explanation, they could enslave anyone. The person behind me was a slaver. ¡°Hello kitty. What¡¯s a beauty like you doing outside the safety of the city?¡± ¡°I¡¯m visiting to join the guild.¡± His eyes widened momentarily before he regained his composure. ¡°Well, I¡¯m sure you¡¯d want to rest after such a long journey. Perhaps you¡¯d want to stay in my estate?¡± ¡°No thanks, am fine.¡± ¡°I insist.¡± ¡°Said, no.¡± ¡°Now listen here-¡± He grabbed my arm and pulled out a collar. His face was angry. ¡°I¡¯m sure a beauty like you could sell for a lot.¡± ¡°Could, I¡¯m sure a beauty like me could also kick your butt.¡± Shocked by my bluntness, he stepped back before pushing forward to collar me. I followed true to my word and went behind him, kicking his butt. He began to fly for a bit before landing on his back. I heard a snap and then the slaves that he enslaved looked at me. The guy screamed for the guards who showed up and looked at the situation with confusion. ¡°This evil person assaulted me. I demand her to be collared and delivered to me.¡± ¡°Mam, did you hurt him?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°He attempted to collar me in line.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± The guard turned to the man. ¡°Apologies, but the law states that if a slaver is hurt while attempting to enslave someone, they can¡¯t claim assault.¡± ¡°Preposterous. I¡¯ll have you executed. I¡¯m a Lord of Falden.¡± Then one of the guy¡¯s guards went up to him. ¡°Sir?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s the captain of the guard.¡± The lord gulped before prostrating. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t know who you were.¡± ¡°So, if I were anyone else, you would¡¯ve carried through with your threat?¡± He flinched as the captain of the guard smiled. ¡°You can easily pay for your crimes in jail, but as you are a lord, I can¡¯t do anything to you here, unless you were to threaten violence. Oh wait. So, let¡¯s make a deal. For the trouble of attempting to enslave this woman, and then threatening my life. Give the contracts to her.¡± ¡°But...¡± The captain draws his sword. ¡°Yes sir. I apologize, Mam. Here are the contracts.¡± He handed them to me. Then the captain turned to me. ¡°Well, mam, I guess you now own a bunch of sla- wait what?!¡± I instantly tore the contracts, causing the collars to fall off. The former slaves rejoiced in the cage. Then I turned to the captain with a smirk. ¡°Oh, captain, it¡¯s horrible. That lord is holding free citizens in cages.¡± The captain, shocked, started laughing. ¡°Alright. Lord Calsen of Falden, you are under arrest for caging civilians.¡± ¡°What? You...¡± He drew a dagger and attacked me again, but, this time, the captain pinned him. ¡°Now, attacking a law-abiding citizen? Goodness, you have a lot of crimes on your belt.¡± A bunch of guards came over and restrained the shouting and cursing lord, before dragging him into the gate. The rest of the slavers looked at me in fear. ¡°Jeez, woman, that was a bold move. What are you doing in the capital anyways?¡± ¡°I¡¯m signing on as an adventurer.¡± ¡°Well, then let me guide you, so more fools don¡¯t attempt to enslave you.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± The captain introduced himself as Jalad, the son of a minor lord. ¡°My father isn¡¯t much, but he still is friends with the king, so I have quite a lot of power.¡± ¡°Is that why that lord immediately apologized?¡± ¡°Yep. Personally, I¡¯m against slavery, but even so that was a stunt I wouldn¡¯t have pulled.¡± ¡°I had confidence I could defend myself if things went wrong.¡± ¡°Huh, well, now that I look. How long ago were you freed.¡± He clearly saw the mark. ¡°Not long ago. My Granny bought me from a market but treated me like family. She kept the collar, so people wouldn¡¯t enslave me again. When she decided to let me go alone, she also released me from the collar.¡± ¡°I see. People like that are admirable.¡± ¡°Indeed, they are.¡± ¡°Welp, welcome to the guild.¡± I thanked Jalal and headed in. _ Well, would you look at that. It¡¯s not an unfamiliar sight to see catkin in the guild, but she looks as small as a 10-year-old. Besides, she has a slave''s scar around her neck. She clearly was just freed and now wants to get protection from the guild. Me and my gang may as well teach her a lesson. _ 3 guys walk up to me with sneering grins. A catkin, a wolfkin, and a human. ¡°Hey, chick. Aren''t you a bit small to be trusted with shopping? Go back to your master.¡± People in the guild started laughing, but some just looked uncomfortable. ¡°I¡¯m here to join up. Where can I do that?¡± ¡°Right here!¡± The wolfkin struck quickly, but I was faster. I jumped back and readied my claws. ¡°Looks like the kitten has claws, that¡¯s cute.¡± The catkin struck as I leapt over him towards the human who shot at me. I dodged and kicked him. ¡°Did she just move in mid-air?!¡± The catkin was shocked as he realized I¡¯m not just a random amateur. ¡°No matter, we are A rank fighters. You know that you need to be unbelievably strong to do that, right?¡± He and his crew started taking me seriously as they struck in perfect precision. A rank, eh? Mythic beasts are beyond S, so it¡¯s a shame he underestimated me. I accelerated my mind and dodged with ease before grabbing the bow and shooting at the catkin. After shooting, I threw the bow at the wolfkin and sit down at a table before resuming my perception. The bowstring tangled on the wolfkin¡¯s legs, and he fell as the catkin received a shot to the shoulder. The human fell down in shock at his weapon being taken from him at that speed. ¡°How?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate me.¡± My smile widened as the trio looked at me in abject fear. They realized that I could kill them in an instant, and they ran off, screaming. I stood up and turn to someone, ¡°So, where do I sign up?¡± ¡°R-r-right there, m-mam.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I pat his shoulder and walk to the counter. The attendant there is professional and doesn¡¯t show the slightest fear or hesitation. ¡°Hello mam, I hope you know that fighting in the guild is prohibited. You are okay as you were not the instigator, but please keep that in mind.¡± ¡°Understood, anyways I have a letter of recommendation.¡± I pass the letter and the attendant''s eyes widen for a second before nodding. ¡°I''ll bring this to the guild master, but if it all goes well, you¡¯ll be an official adventurer soon.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Chapter 4: The Guildmaster ¡°Well lassie, it seems like old Royce is friends with ya.¡± The guild master was a dwarf by the name Mammon. ¡°How¡¯s the lad doin¡¯ these days¡± ¡°Sir Royce is doing well.¡± ¡°It seems you are too. Taking on a dragon at 19, frankly I would be more shocked if I hadn¡¯t seen that display. As an A ranker m¡¯self, it¡¯s kinda concerning that a newcomer was able to dispatch the 3 Aces with ease.¡± ¡°3 Aces?¡± ¡°You hadn¡¯t heard of ¡®em? Well, they are incredibly powerful fighters, each one supposedly could dispatch an army singlehandedly. And they are in a team of power. They could easily beat anyone in the city, but you beat them easily.¡± ¡°I see, I didn¡¯t realize they were that strong.¡± ¡°Well, the letter says to help you keep a low profile, but I doubt that¡¯s going to happen now. First, you take down a lord, then you are escorted by Jalad to the guild, then you decimate 3 A ranks.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry. They attacked you.¡± Mammon gave me a guild card at C rank. ¡°Here ya go.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t it start at G or H?¡± ¡°Please, you took down 3 A ranks. If past C wasn¡¯t based on performance in addition to strength. I¡¯m sure everyone would agree with you becoming an A.¡± ¡°I feel like you are obsessing on me taking them down.¡± ¡°Cuz it¡¯s such a unique event.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± ¡°Well, there¡¯s a tourney that¡¯s starting in the city tomorrow. I could sign you up for it. You¡¯d have to fight in the prelims though.¡± ¡°I¡¯m good with it.¡± ¡°Wonderful. I¡¯ll sign you up, Mrs. Rose.¡± Rose, that was my name, right. That will take getting used to. Honestly, it was kind of embarrassing that I already was known, when Royce was explicit in keeping a low profile. No matter. I¡¯m an adventurer now, if someone tries to enslave me, the guild will stop them. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. I just hope I can act not as strong in the tourney, so they think it was a fluke. _ Prelims start today. When I enter the hall, I see a few people looking at me with disdain, but some people from the hall pull them back. There is one elf, however, that doesn¡¯t have a partner to pull him back. ¡°Hey, kitty, this place is a bit high for you. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take you out quickly.¡± ¡°Hm, if you can beat me, I¡¯m sure that you¡¯d get a medal.¡± ¡°Hah, that confident, huh? I¡¯ll show you that pure confidence will get you nowhere.¡± ¡°Then I suppose I should show you how important information gathering is.¡± ¡°Hah, looking forward to it. What¡¯s your name, kitten.¡± Kitten is a diminutive nickname for small adolescent catkins. ¡°Rose, Rose Hood.¡± ¡°Well, Rose. By your confidence, I¡¯m expecting you to put up a good fight.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Dallel.¡± ¡°Like Callel?¡± ¡°Ah, you¡¯ve heard of my brother. Heard he was eaten by a dragon. Idiot thought he could control a mythic beast.¡± ¡°You seem happy.¡± ¡°Oh, please. My brother was good for nothing and a massive criminal. As the vice-captain of the guard and cousin to the king, he was a disgrace.¡± ¡°King¡¯s cousin?¡± ¡°Yes, hmm. Now that I think about it, are you the catkin that managed to deal with that nasty lord in the line?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Well, thanks for that. We¡¯d been trying to pin him with something for ages. You may actually be a challenge.¡± ¡°I look forward to seeing you fight as well.¡± ¡°Well, remember, last 64 standing enters the next round.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± There were over 1000 attendees, and the preliminary round was a massive free for all. The arena was adjusted to look like a city, and using sizing magic, they could make us all small. Not sure whether it¡¯d work on me, if it didn¡¯t, I could just use shift. Luckily, there were no issues, but the thing I was most concerned about was the personal viewing thing. As I was a match for 3 A¡¯s, a lot of guild workers obviously watched me, so I couldn¡¯t throw it, but I couldn¡¯t show my full strength. ¡°FIGHT¡± I needed a way to counter everything, but this round allowed killing. Anyone worth their metal would go to kill me, but I could decimate them all. A sword broke on my neck. ¡°What the he-¡± I ripped out his vocal cords. He would live, but he needed healing. Well, so much for not showing my strength. The audience then knew I was immune to weapons, so those with telepathic connections could have told their contestants. I needed a way to throw the attention to someone else, but a group of adventurers showed up. ¡°Flame erasure!¡± ¡°Snowstorm!¡± ¡°Earthquake!¡± ¡°Tornado!¡± A mage group? Well, that would be easy to counter. ¡°Obliviate.¡± All the magic fizzled out and stopped, the group, realizing that I had no weakness in my stance, began to flee. After all, the weapons broke, and I could counter magic. They had no chance. Of course, I couldn¡¯t let them run. ¡°Frozen Desert.¡± They looked at me in shock before freezing solid, once again, not fatal, but would require healing. I was trying to be weak, but I couldn¡¯t be taken advantage of. ¡°Detection.¡± I could then see all contestants, it seemed they stopped going after me. They probably realized that it would be useless to fight me. The surprising thing was that both Jalad and Dallel weren¡¯t heading to me. Wait, Jalad in the tourney? That was overkill. They probably both thought they could win and wanted me to get through on my own. ¡°There are 100 people remaining.¡± Huh? Oh, the round is almost over. No one even came for me. That¡¯s irritating. I showed off too much. I can almost feel Royce¡¯s judgmental glare. ¡°Round is over! The roster will be made, and despite one of the winners not facing much competition, she really showed her strength.¡± Yep, he was definitely going to flip. We were returned to regular size and Jalad and Dallel looked lightly surprised that I made it. ¡°Well, kitten, it seems we¡¯ll fight after all.¡± ¡°Looking forward to it, Pointy.¡± We smirked and Jalad facepalmed. ¡°Great, 2 minutes of conversation and you two are rivals.¡± Chapter 5: The Dragon Wrestler Mammon POV Something was odd about that girl. I could tell she was strong just by looking at her, but then she decimated not 1 but 3 A ranks. Her name was Rose, but she seemed unfamiliar with it, and something didn¡¯t sit right with Royce¡¯s explanation in the letter. Plus, the fact that she could do that almost instantaneous movement. That was terrifying. Her skill was unmatched and the fact that she and Dallel hit it off was odd. Dallel was known for being troublesome in conversation. The only person that could handle him was Jalad, and even Jalad got annoyed by him at times. But that tournament battle was the icing on the cake. Weapons didn¡¯t seem to affect her, and that spell she used after was an advanced spell. She said she was 19, but her power is far stronger than her age. ¡°Guildmaster, you called me?¡± ¡°Ah, Saliad. I heard you were in the tournament.¡± ¡°Yes, but I couldn¡¯t show my skill in the preliminary round. Noone wanted to face me.¡± ¡°Well, no kidding, you are an S rank. Frankly, there were concerns about letting you sign up in the first place.¡± ¡°Well, Galswell told me that it would be a good idea.¡± ¡°That makes sense, his predictions almost always come true.¡± ¡°Do you think my match is in this tournament?¡± ¡°Possibly, but I don¡¯t see why anyone would want to kill you, you are a hero after all.¡± ¡°Oh please, I fought a few monsters, that¡¯s all.¡± ¡°Saliad boy, the Dragon Patriarch and Matron aren¡¯t regular monsters.¡± ¡°I get that, but I won through surprise.¡± ¡°That¡¯s way better than many can do, though now that I think about it.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°There is a girl, the name¡¯s Rose. She decimated the 3 Aces with ease when they tried hazing her. She also brought down Calsen and freed all of his slaves. She also seemed to gain both Dallel and Jalad¡¯s respect.¡± ¡°Really, so you think she may be my match?¡± ¡°Potentially, I personally hope you two fight, it would be incredible to see.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ll look forward to it.¡± _ The roster got posted in the guild hall. I looked at it, huh that¡¯s cool. My first match was against a guy named Galswell. ¡°Who¡¯s Galswell?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Oh, he¡¯s a legendary A rank fighter. I reckon he could even give you a run for your money. He¡¯s known as the dragon wrestler.¡± ¡°Dragon wrestler?¡± ¡°Yeah, he supposedly led the charge against the last dragon nest and fought the Patriarch. He and his party won, leading them to legends. Most of us just see him as kinda puny though. Probably because of his age. Though, most people think it was actually the mythic fighter in his party that killed the patriarch. ¡°Mythic fighter?¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Yeah, you see the guy on the other side of the board?¡± Following his finger, I see Jalad¡¯s first fight, Saliad. ¡°Poor Jalad.¡± ¡°Saliad is an elven warrior a little over 100. He¡¯s an S ranker. Frankly, he¡¯s going to win.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± So, that¡¯s the warrior who bested father? I would have to fight him to win. ¡°Why do you look more confident now?¡± Dallel walked in with Jalad. ¡°Well, I see someone who may actually give me trouble on the list.¡± Dallel followed my pointing before snorting and Jalad started complaining. ¡°How come I¡¯m against such a powerhouse my first round?¡± ¡°Well, the kitten isn¡¯t much better off. She¡¯s fighting Galswell.¡± ¡°Dang, who are you fighting? Some rando? Favoritism!¡± Dallel started laughing. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you are talking about the Mythic Dragon Slayer as troublesome, Rose. Frankly, I heard you took down the 3 Aces, that¡¯s all well and good, but he could decimate them easily as well. There¡¯s such a power difference between A and S. A can fight legendary monsters, but S can battle mythics. And he killed a mature draconic patriarch. A¡¯s can destroy armies; S¡¯s can destroy nations.¡± ¡°None of you have seen me fight seriously.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± Mammon walked out. ¡°¡¯Pparently, Rose here fought a dragon ¡®erself.¡± The adventurers looked at me in shock. ¡°I didn¡¯t kill it. I scared it with dragonsbane while it was distracted by Sir Royce.¡± They all calmed quickly. While still impressive, it was a lot less so. ¡°Yeah, but the letter from ¡®im also said to keep you a low profile, so I¡¯m thinking he and you are underselling your involvement.¡± Mammon was certainly smart, so I decided to omit. ¡°Yeah, I ran like the devil himself was after me when the beast turned to kill me. I came back in time to place dragonsbane.¡± ¡°¡¯See. Well, don¡¯t tell me if you don¡¯t want. Just don¡¯t throw the tourney. Bet ¡®lotta money on ya, lassie.¡± Jalad and Dallel clearly have raised their opinion of me. Humility is something that is lacking these days. ¡°Hey, looks like me and you are fighting in the second round, Dallel.¡± ¡°Huh, well, Rose, looks like I¡¯ll test your metal sooner than expected, and I want to let you know before the round. This gear is S rank. Your little defense trick won¡¯t work.¡± ¡°I see, well, I¡¯m still winning.¡± We smirked at each other again. ¡°Just please don¡¯t burn down the arena.¡± We both looked at Jalad before simultaneously saying, ¡°No promises.¡± He merely sighed. _ On the first day of the competition, I watched the fights. I was in the second bracket, meaning my fight was the next day. Jalad was destroyed by Saliad, while the other matches were quite close. I was surprised to see Darsen in the arena. He was destroying his opponent, another wolfkin. As expected of a mature. The rest of the day was spent consoling Jalad. On the Second day, Dallel decimated the rando he was paired with. Then the moment I was waiting for happened. ¡°Mrs. Hood, your round is about to begin.¡± I went down to the arena and saw an elderly man simmering with magic power. ¡°A little girl? I¡¯m offended. I defeated the Dragon Matriarch and Patriarch singlehandedly. I can decimate you.¡± Yeah, he was not strong enough to defeat father or mother. Heck, while his magic was bigger than what I expected, he was about as strong as the Aces together. ¡°Stronger than expected.¡± ¡°Ah, so you can see my strength. You may be stronger than I originally thought as well.¡± He seemed not to be an idiot. While his claims were baseless, he clearly had enough brain to fight. Perhaps he will be a challenge. ¡°FIGHT!¡± He immediately sought to take me down in a single blow. I dodged, narrowly avoiding his blast. The shield around the arena swells with the energy of his blast. Not weak, but certainly not strong enough to beat me. I struck at him, and he barely dodged me. He was fast. He used a legendary magic, ¡°Nuclear Oblivion!¡± I needed to counter that. ¡°Obliviate!¡± I erased his magic with a massive amount of my MP, but mine was so deep that he could never win in a battle of attrition. While he was reeling from my counter, I took advantage and pushed my fist into his gut. Blood spurt as he realized I was no joke. He leapt back, barely holding on. ¡°Greater heal.¡± His wound closed and he got serious. ¡°I underestimated you.¡± ¡°As did I. Few would still fight after that blow.¡± He laughed and then began striking at me with stronger magic and I kept using Obliviate. We exchanged a few blows before he realized that there was no way he would win at this rate. ¡°Well, I can no longer hold back. Let¡¯s see if even dust remains.¡± I got on guard. ¡°Divine Destruction!¡± He realized that I couldn¡¯t counter that. Smart. His magic knowledge is incredible. I won¡¯t lose, but he will certainly deal some damage. ¡°Life Foundation!¡± He smiled, after all, even life foundation couldn¡¯t survive that. His blast hit me head on. From the arena¡¯s perspective I was just killed. Cheers erupted. ¡°Well, it looks like Galswell wo-¡± I started laughing. The arena went quiet as I stood up. My skeleton was in full view. Only loose pieces of flesh hung on. ¡°Life eruption.¡± My flesh and clothes started to reform on my body as Galswell realized that I was far stronger than he was. His ultimate attack was laughable to me. He realized he¡¯d lose and casted it again, but this time, I was ready. ¡°Divine Oblivion.¡± My spell shot his and caused the barrier to shake. Galswell was low on mana and tried getting distance by running, but I was faster. I kicked his leg off and thrust my fist through his chest, right next to his heart. This paralyzed him and made me the winner. ¡°I-it l-looks like Rose won.¡± The arena was silent. After all, I looked death in the eyes and laughed at it. I walked out of the stage as I finished healing. Healers came out immediately to heal him, and they wheeled him to the infirmary. As I left, I saw a smiling elf. Saliad had watched my fight and taken interest in me. His smile gave me shivers. Chapter 6: The Dragonslayer Saliad POV So, that was Rose? Most didn¡¯t see, not even Galswell noticed, but I could tell from the mastery. That was a dragon that just defeated my associate. Even though Mammon clearly didn¡¯t know, he was right on the mark. That was the same arcane dragon that destroyed the exit to the cave, and nearly buried my party alive. This dragon looked so young, but I knew it was my age. Meaning, it had likely surpassed me by now. I needed to meet the dragon, but first, I needed to get through the tournament. That level of a fight was exactly what I needed to feel complete. ¡°Saliad?¡± A man, the captain of the guard, stood before me. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°You look very excited.¡± ¡°Well, I just saw someone that may be troublesome in this tournament. I am eager to fight them.¡± I pulled out my roster and saw that she was on the opposite side of me. ¡°Crap, we won¡¯t face each other until the finals.¡± ¡°Are you referring to Rose?¡± ¡°Yes, how did you know?¡± ¡°Because that¡¯s the same exact way she designated you.¡± ¡°Hah, the strong think similarly. How long has she been an adventurer.¡± ¡°A few days now. This is actually her first event as one, but because of her sheer strength, they put her in C.¡± ¡°Incredible, I must fight this person.¡± ¡°Sir, when you fight her, what exactly do you plan to do?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve met her before, and I will do the same as she will.¡± Jalad looked shocked at the notion we¡¯d met. ¡°And what is that?¡± I smiled in a way that made him shiver. ¡°See who¡¯s still breathing at the end.¡± _ ¡°Well, Kitten, that was rather interesting.¡± Dallel and Jalad took me out to celebrate me and Dallel¡¯s victory in the first round. ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Divine Destruction is a spell that deals over 10 million damage. Even a dragon would¡¯ve barely have survived, so how did you.¡± ¡°Life foundation.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°While normally it wouldn¡¯t survive, I infused it deep within my psyche. It basically protected the minimum I needed to live.¡± Life foundation is a skill that creates a small barrier, and dragons can regenerate from a single cell as long as we have at least 1 hp. ¡°So, you guarded your viscera alone.¡± ¡°Yep, as long as I had that, I could stay alive.¡± ¡°Your magic knowledge may best even Galswell then. Very few would even think of that. Who taught you?¡± ¡°I did experiments with my siblings.¡± ¡°I see, are all of them as strong as you?¡± ¡°No, most are weaker. Only one is stronger than me. At least he was when we last met.¡± ¡°What¡¯s his name?¡± ¡°Ravi. He is easily S rank. He could beat our father who was also insanely strong.¡± ¡°Wow, so he would be able to beat Saliad, do you think?¡± ¡°Perhaps.¡± ¡°Well, my fight against you is tomorrow, may the best win!¡± ¡°Very well. Just don¡¯t cry after your loss, Pointy.¡± ¡°As long as you don¡¯t mewl when I break your bones, Kitten.¡± We smiled and Jalad grimaced. _ Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. It was the second round of the tournament. Dallel and I faced off at the end of the day. Both of us were preparing for the fight, so we faced each other with wariness. ¡°Are you ready to lose?¡± ¡°Maybe if you trained for another 1000 years.¡± ¡°Hah, maybe I will.¡± Elves were immortal, but few made it past 150 as they were a warring species. ¡°Ready?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°FIGHT!¡± In the start we clashed. I wasn¡¯t going to make the mistake of underestimating him, especially with that gear, so I pushed with my strength and pushed him back. He was surprised at my strength, and I slashed his chestplate in 2 with my claws. ¡°How, that¡¯s an S rank ches-¡± His words were cut off when I slashed his throat. He realized that I was unbelievably strong. He was nothing compared to Galswell. I struck quickly and he barely blocked with his sword that broke as well. He switched to martial arts only to have his hands blasted off by my attack and his neck snapped by my kick. He was alive and healers rushed in to heal him immediately. Once again, the arena was silent before Jalad started clapping, then everyone clapped. ¡°And the winner is Rose.¡± _ ¡°That one was on you.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°She beat Galswell, how were you supposed to win?¡± ¡°I thought I was stronger than him.¡± ¡°He¡¯s a legendary fighter, even if he¡¯s old. He still is insanely strong.¡± ¡°I must apologize.¡± ¡°No, Rose, you fought and won.¡± ¡°But I also thought he was stronger than Galswell originally, so I went full throttle from the start.¡± ¡°I see, so you overestimated him.¡± ¡°Yeah. Sorry.¡± ¡°Nah, it was my error, I talked a big game and couldn¡¯t counter you, but you seem a bit unfair. Your claws cut through my armor like it was paper.¡± ¡°Yeah, me and my siblings trained our bodies until they could break anything.¡± ¡°Yet, no definition in the slightest.¡± ¡°Yeah, none of us look particularly strong, but we can decimate most opponents.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°Well, I need to go back to my inn.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll be safe, right?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± _ As I walked out and turned into an empty alley, I felt a presence I hadn¡¯t felt in 90 years. Not since my family''s nest was destroyed. ¡°Hello, little dragon.¡± Saliad was behind me. ¡°What do you mean, Dragon?¡± ¡°I fought your father. I recognized your presence as one of the ones that fled.¡± ¡°And what will you do about it?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t kill you here, but the tourney is open ground.¡± I could feel his smile reverberate through my soul. ¡°Survive till the finals, then I can kill a third dragon.¡± ¡°Heh, or maybe I¡¯ll get called the elf killer.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be waiting for you.¡± With that, he was gone. _ The next 2 days were the exact same. Both me and Saliad would glare at each other during the other¡¯s rounds. We both stopped pulling punches and decimated the opponents. Jalad and Dallel were concerned about me. ¡°Kitten, in 5 minutes, you¡¯ll be facing someone who killed the patriarch of dragons. And it looks like you two are going to kill each other. If you aren¡¯t careful, you¡¯ll die.¡± ¡°If I die. Can you two tell Sir Royce, he¡¯ll contact my granny and let her know.¡± ¡°Why are you content with dying, Rose!¡± Dallel yelled at me. ¡°If you die here, what are we going to do? The Guildmaster told us to make sure you are safe.¡± ¡°Yes, he did, but if I do die, I¡¯m sure neither of you will be sad.¡± ¡°The heck kind of people do you take us for.¡± ¡°Rational ones.¡± I walked into the contestant preparation room and left them behind. When someone dies with shift enabled, it would disable. So, if I died, they would realize I was a dragon. They¡¯d be embarrassed they considered me a friend, then rejoice as the dragon slayer killed another. Well, the fight was starting in 1 minute. I needed to prepare. _ ¡°The heck does she mean ¡®rational¡¯? What¡¯s rational about not being sad about your friend dying?¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s related to why she¡¯s so strong?¡± ¡°Maybe?¡± Jalad was as confused as I was. We went to the bleachers and looked down at the stadium where Rose and Saliad stepped out, glaring at each other. Something happened between them. I could tell that much. They exchanged some inaudible words, but neither moved. If only we could hear what they were talking about, but those devices are only for the prelims. ¡°We are now in the finals. Saliad the Dragonslayer versus Rose the Rising Star. Ready. FIGHT!¡± They attacked too fast for anyone to see. _ Our first clash caused an earthquake, but his gear is a step above Dallel¡¯s as my claws didn¡¯t break it. We fought back and forth, blows echoing between us. I was going to kill him, or he would kill me, but I couldn¡¯t let that happen. He killed my father and mother. I was going to take revenge. For 10 years they raised me. I got stronger and stronger. I fought as much as I could. I was the second in strength. I was never able to beat my father, but Ravi, he was able to defeat dear old dad, but still, it was close. That¡¯s why we were all terrified when the teenage elf came in and killed our 10000-year-old father with ease. Our mother was enraged, but he had a relic that consumed the power of dragons. He used Father¡¯s strength to kill our mother, gaining her strength as well. I promised, along with the rest of my siblings, that I¡¯d kill the man who did it. ¡°You know little wyrm, I just realized that you¡¯ll actually be my 4th dragon slain.¡± I froze, and he cut off my arm. ¡°What did you say?¡± He also stopped and started laughing. ¡°Ah yes, I remember. A water dragon, blue like lapiz lazuli. He was strong, but I killed him with ease.¡± I stood still not moving. Not even moving... This ***** killed Ravi. _ ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why have they stopped fighting?¡± The announcer asked the same question we were all thinking. They stopped and Saliad said something that caused Rose to freeze. ¡°What did Sal say?¡± Galswell was sitting next to us, his leg in a cast. ¡°Beats me, but whatever it is, they thought it necessary to stop moving.¡± Saliad started laughing. An aura. Powerful. Fury, pure fury. The arena started cracking and the shield was wobbling. Then Rose said something that despite its softness echoed across the arena. ¡°I was going to kill you before, but now I¡¯m going to make it slow.¡± Her eyes seemed to light ablaze. ¡°That was my brother you smug *******.¡± _ This man. This elf. ¡®I¡¯ll kill him. I¡¯ll kill him.¡¯ ¡®He¡¯s dead.¡¯ Saliad looked at me with a gleeful expression, and in a voice that echoed. ¡°Well, it seems neither of us will hold back anymore.¡± _ Rose struck first; the entire city shook as she slashed at him. His blade cracked but did not crumble. They fought faster and faster until their movements were blurs. ¡°What did he do?¡± Galswell was also unfamiliar with Saliad acting like this. ¡°From the sounds of it, I think he killed her sibling.¡± ¡°If he did, he wouldn¡¯t brag about it. And this rage, I felt something like it before, where was that?¡± Jalad was terrified, his normally tan face was pale. ¡°Dallel, what did she mean that we wouldn¡¯t be saddened by her death.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I may have an idea, but it¡¯s too implausible. And if it¡¯s correct, that would explain two things.¡± Galswell was interested, ¡°What two things?¡± ¡°Why she said we wouldn¡¯t be sad, and why Saliad is acting like that.¡± Galswell looked curious. ¡°I won¡¯t say in case it isn¡¯t true, but something is wrong.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Chapter 7: The Battle of the Transcendent Saliad POV This girl was incredibly strong. My blade was an SS++, a blade that was supposed to be immune to every attack, but this girl was damaging it. "Sacred Sword!" I struck as fast as I could and barely clipped her, but she responded with a kick to my stomach that caused me to throw up blood. "Hah-" I barely got a second to breathe before a roundhouse was coming for my head. I barely dodged and slashed at her cutting her leg off. As typical for dragons, it regenerated. Her arm was also back, a fact I learned as she punched me with it. Her martial arts weren''t art-skill based; I could tell that much. Meaning, somehow, she''d mastered her own style of martial arts that was unique from any other. "Divine Blade!" My Divine moves were the only ones that seemed to do anything, but she was getting faster, and she had begun fully countering my blows. Attacks that should''ve crushed her brain were instead either getting launched back or only cutting her arm. This was getting annoying. _ Mammon POV The girl was that strong. A powerhouse indeed. I had merely guessed that she may have caused trouble, but she was full out battling him as equals. In fact, if I didn''t know better, I''d say she''s stronger. As a dragon slayer, Saliad has to not only be incredibly strong, but also incredibly smart. So, he made sure he knew of every spell in every application, but this girl seems to have revolutionized her own style. When she fought Galswell, I thought that she''d died, and I was freaking out, wondering how to explain it to Royce, but then she stood up as little more than a skeleton and regenerated from that. I heard her explanation that it was a unique application of life foundation, but even still, she''d need immense HP to survive that blow. And life eruption. I heard that much when I ran down to check if she was dead. That wasn''t a spell that I''d heard of. It may be a unique spell, but it was strong enough to rewind her health to full. The entire round was like she was playing with her food after she revealed that thing. I think it may have been a last resort spell, but normally, last resorts are to take down the enemy. In the final moments she decimated Galswell. I felt that normally she would''ve been able to do that here as well, but she didn''t out of respect for Saliad. Wait, his sword was nearly broken, she was winning! _ Jalad POV How, I knew she was strong, but I never anticipated that she''d be that strong. Saliad could annihilate the entire kingdom on pretty much a whim. Any S rank could, but she was winning. Dallel was next to me with absolute shock at her strength. I think I may know why she''s that strong. It''s ridiculous, but the more I think about it, the more it made sense. No, that''s too ridiculous. Is it? _ Me and Saliad clashed again and again, his sword was pretty much scrap metal and he looked irritated. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. "You''re strong." "As are you." We took a second to breathe. It was clear that the barrier wouldn''t hold up if we were to continue. So, we took a breather to enhance the barrier. "They are... repairing the barrier?" The audience was very confused by our actions, but it was clear that neither of us were comfortable with hurting civilians. After the barrier was fully repaired and empowered, we stepped back in the battle arena. "I''m ready." "Same." Despite not liking each other we''d grown to respect each other on strength alone. "Draconic Aspect." And that''s why we enhanced the barrier. "Arcane Oblivion." Because neither of us were going to hold back anymore. _ Did he just say Draconic Aspect? "That idiot, he''ll destroy the city." Galswell was as shocked as we were. Draconic aspect is a unique skill that one receives from killing a dragon. It gives their strength to the killer. Jalad had an idea. "That may be why they enhanced the barrier. Though I''m more shocked by what Rose is using." That''s right. Arcane Oblivion. Arcane required mastery of all elements to handle a single drop. Arcane Oblivion was only usable by people with Arcane affinity, but no one had been born with an affinity to arcane in millennia. Galswell nodded. "Even with an affinity for arcane, she''d require a mana pool the size of a mature dragon''s to handle that spell." "Well, they are about to attack. Let''s keep watching." "Wait, how is she doing that?" Galswell noticed something odd before we did. _ I saw three aspects. He truly did kill Ravi. I had to fight to avenge my family. Arcane Oblivion would regularly destroy everything in front of the user, but I wasn''t foolish enough to think that would kill him, so I used it in a secret technique I designed myself. In casting it on myself, I could form it into armor and a blade that rivaled his gear. "Well, that''s unique." "Designed it myself." "Impressive. Now I know the level of prey I hunt." "Same, prepare to die, Saliad." "After you, Rose." It was the first time we addressed the other by name. The Announcer took notice of this. "It seems in this battle. They gained the other''s respect. Now they will fight!" He had it down pat. We charged and clashed, but this time he was as strong as three dragons in addition to his immense skill. He pushed me back and I countered with Divine Oblivion. He struck at me with Draconic Slash, but I barely dodged it. He created a new move on the spot, realizing I would be able to counter anything conventional. "Divine Draconic Blast." A massive beam of Flame, father''s power, and water, Mother and Ravi''s power, shot at me. I needed to use my strongest counter. "Arcane Blast" Our spells clashed causing an earthquake that we saw shook the stands despite the barrier. We both took advantage of the smoke to attack the other leading to a clash of power. His aura was on full blast, but so was mine. The barrier blocked most of it, but people outside were still freaking out because of the sheer energy. I realized that he was trying to tire me, so I decided to go full force. In a single blow I would take him down. As a dragon I too had Dragon Aspect, but they''d all think that I must be a dragon slayer too. Because Royce confirmed I fought a dragon, so Mammon and the adventurers that heard him would assume I actually killed the dragon. "Draconic Aspect of Arcane!" As my Dragon Aspect was my own, it was much stronger than a single stolen aspect. But it was comparable to three. In addition to my own strength being parallel to his strength. He realized that he wouldn''t win. So, he started laughing. "It seems I''ve met my match. Someone stronger than me, no matter. I will not go down in a way that you can forget me." Upon realizing his death was certain, he unleashed all of his power in an instant to at least leave a scar that even a dragon''s regeneration wouldn''t fix. I was faster. As he channeled all of power into the final blow, I made my move, and I cut him clean in half. To prevent pain to the combatant I respected, I cut him head down through his heart. No matter how strong an opponent is, only a dragon can survive their brain being destroyed. "You win." And with that, the Dragon Slayer, Saliad, breathed his last, smiling as though he''d gotten a gift. _ The arena was in ruins, despite the two powers enhancing the barrier, that last move they both used caused it to shatter. "To think, she''s a dragon slayer." Jalad''s opinion of the kitten had raised. As had mine. The thing that allowed her to win was the aspect of an arcane dragon. To think that she had been able to kill one. I understand now why Royce chose to limit the explanation of her deeds. Arcane dragons were powerful, beyond mythic even. Once matured they were virtually unkillable. "And the battle is over. The winner of the tournament is Rose! Wait!" As the announcer stated that she won, she collapsed. That battle clearly tired her to her limit. Her arcane armor and weapon disappeared. I looked over at Galswell, who had a sad smile. "The dragon slayer is now dead, at least he died happy and with a smile." "What?" "He always wanted to meet his match. That''s why he hunted dragons in the first place. To think that his match would be a young catkin that was also a dragon slayer." Saliad was considered one of the strongest adventurers in the world. A powerful elf that could only be bested by other S ranks. But none of them were his match. He sought someone that would fight with all of their heart and defeat him through a show of strength. Not through trickery, but through sheer power. One who saw him as an equal despite loathing him. Rose was the only one who fought him like that. Medics went out to heal Rose and retrieve Saliad''s body. The arena was silent. Never has a duel to that extent been seen in this nation. I then understood why they empowered the barrier, not because they wanted to prevent it from breaking, but because they knew that if they didn''t the entire city would''ve been leveled. Chapter 8: The King After I woke up, Jalad and Dallel took me out to get a drink and have dinner. They talked about how I was super strong. ¡°Saliad was a hero, known for decimating mature dragons with ease as a teenager, and you bested him.¡± ¡°Barely. If he had let loose that last blow, I¡¯d be in critical condition.¡± ¡°Still, he was regarded as the 11th strongest person in the world, a transcendent person, and you won.¡± Yeah, I get that it¡¯s impressive, but if I were to fight another S rank, I¡¯d lose. ¡°The king himself saw your battle with the kingsguard.¡± Crap. ¡°Wait, so Royce saw it?¡± ¡°Yes, Sir Royce saw it. Why are you... wait.¡± ¡°He¡¯s going to kill me.¡± ¡°Probably.¡± As though he was summoned, he burst into the guild hall with a furious expression. He stamped over fangs out. The wolfkin¡¯s aura was far smaller than mine, but in this moment it was terrifying. ¡°Hi, Sir Royce.¡± I decided to play full respect. Then Darsen came in, ¡°Hey Rose, you did so well. I never thought you¡¯d be able to kill Saliad, despite you supposedly fighting a dragon. And you being a dragonslayer is even cooler.¡± ¡®Darsen, you are either pure evil or an idiot.¡¯ ¡°Rose,¡± Royce started smiling. It was scarier than Saliad¡¯s smile. ¡°Do you know how much effort I went through to play down your achievements so you wouldn¡¯t draw to much attention, that I remind you, YOU ASKED ME TO DO?¡± ¡°Uuuh. A lot?¡± ¡°Yep! And then you throw all that away and kill the Dragon Slayer in a tournament that the whole city watched, and reports of the winners reach even other kingdoms.¡± I wilted. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, I bet that ******* Mammon insisted you enter, and I heard that Saliad marked you as a target. Still, there goes 2 sleepless nights.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± He growled and then sighed. ¡°Still, good job on winning. I knew you were strong, but I never anticipated you were that powerful.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m still mad, but a little less so then I would¡¯ve been if you lost.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Cause then your granny would kill me.¡± ¡°Good point.¡± Granny when angry is scarier than anything. Despite only meeting her once, Royce understood that. Both of us shivered at imagining her mad. Darsen looked at us with his eyes wide. ¡°Now I just want to know how strong her granny is.¡± That caused us to laugh. _ After dinner, I was called to Mammon¡¯s office. ¡°Well, lassie. It seems I was right that your actions were a bit understated. Still caught me off guard.¡± He looked at me in reverence. ¡°A dragonslayer, huh? Well, I wasn¡¯t expecting you to be a match for Saliad¡¯s aspects without using yours, and I certainly wasn¡¯t expecting you to have one of your own.¡± ¡°I barely won.¡± ¡°Still, that puts you in S rank strength. Heck, after the tournament I¡¯ve been receiving messages from other guildmasters to promote you to A, but I knew that was too fast, you haven¡¯t done enough. So, to compromise I made you a B and an A candidate.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°You are able to become A as soon as you fulfill your requirements.¡± ¡°What are they?¡± ¡°15 guildmasters approval, you already have 20, 30 requests fulfilled, you don¡¯t have any of that, and finally, you need to defeat the adventurer''s bane dungeon solo.¡± ¡°Adventurer¡¯s bane?¡± ¡°That last one is normally for making you an S rank, but you already have beaten an A or above adventurer, so we decided to make it a bit harder. Especially since you just became an adventurer a week ago, and yet, you are already B.¡± ¡°Understandable.¡± ¡°Thanks for understanding. I would like to make you an A, but we don¡¯t know you enough to trust you fully. Especially since you showed up out of nowhere.¡± ¡°I fully get it, I never did anything but practice with my siblings before I got enslaved, and after that I did only basic tasks.¡± ¡°Well, now that you¡¯re a B rank, I should get a blacksmith to get you good armor. That arcane armor is powerful, but I bet it¡¯s hard to hold, correct.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°By the way, did the man kill your brother? It seemed that way from what little we heard of your conversation.¡± ¡°Yes, my older brother Ravi. I knew it was him because he described him in such detail.¡± ¡°I see, well that¡¯s a shame.¡± ¡°Indeed, it is, I hope my other siblings are alive.¡± ¡°I hope for your sake they are too.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I left the office feeling thankful for the old man. He recognized my strength and decided to help me despite not knowing much about me. If he knew what I was, he¡¯d likely kill me, Jalad and Dallel would too. I think Royce only didn¡¯t because he saw me save him, but the others would kill me. ¡®And I think I¡¯d let them.¡¯ I walked back to the main room and Jalad looked concerned. ¡°Rose, are you ok?¡± I realized I was crying. ¡°Did that old man do something?¡± ¡°No, I think I¡¯m just realizing that my brother is actually gone.¡± Dallel and Jalad hugged me. And in the guild hall, with many seeing me, I cried for the first time in 90 years. _ Rose fell asleep in our arms. I suppose she was still very fatigued from the fight with Saliad. We sat her down and she curled up a bit. ¡°I know she¡¯s 19, but like this, she looks way younger.¡± Jalad was right. Rose looked like she was no older than 10 when sleeping. I know that adolescent beastkin look young, but she looked far younger than Sir Royce who was only 5 years her senior. ¡°We should bring her back to her inn.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± In that moment, me, Jalad, and Royce, all agreed that we would defend this catkin. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation._ As I woke up, I noticed I was in my room. I was still wearing the spare armor I got for the tournament. I got up and noticed a note from Royce. ¡°We brought you back to your apartment, don¡¯t worry. I have to leave town soon and I guess you do too. Mammon told me that he was putting you in A candidacy, good job. He told me to let you know to head to Gallson Armors and Weapons for new gear. Also, the king wants to meet with you before you leave town, so after getting new armor, be sure to visit the castle. My insignia is included, so entering will be easy. Welp, have fun.¡± He was concise and to the point. I understood why he said to go to the castle after I get armor. I look like I¡¯d get blown away in the wind in this. Not to mention that it barely stood against my aura. I needed new gear. As I walked out, many people saw me and some cheered and others moved on quickly. I wandered around and found the shop. When I walked in, I saw an elf and a dwarf working on armor and weapons, respectively. The Elf noticed me first. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s the Myth killer.¡± ¡°Myth killer?¡± ¡°Yes, you are called that for both defeating a dragon and Saliad.¡± Right, I used Dragon Aspect, people don¡¯t know dragons can use their own aspects. They think I killed a dragon. ¡°I came here to get gear. Both Royce and Mammon told me to come here.¡± ¡°Good thing, with that aura of yours, you will require sturdy armor.¡± ¡°Stats reveal... hm. You have a blocker.¡± ¡°Yeah, sorry, it¡¯s a bracelet I got from my granny.¡± ¡°Alright. What¡¯s your swordsmanship?¡± ¡°Let me check.¡± Sword king had leveled to 4 in the fight with Saliad. ¡°Sword king: 4¡± The elf coughed and the dwarf dropped his hammer. ¡°Y-ye have sword king?¡± ¡°Yes? Is that odd?¡± ¡°How is it that ya have arcane and one of the highest sword skills out there.¡± ¡°I trained from a young age.¡± ¡°Saliad trained from a young age too. He received sword king only a week before your fight.¡± ¡°He did?¡± Me and Saliad were close in age, so it kind of makes sense, but each of my siblings have sword king too. Maybe our training is just a lot rougher than elven training. ¡°Yeah, well I can make you a masterful blade.¡± ¡°How much will it cost?¡± ¡°Hmmm. How much you got?¡± I received 100000 gold for winning the tournament. ¡°100000.¡± ¡°Hm, if pointy ears here makes you a full set of armor as well, it¡¯d come up to 50000.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± They were silent for a second. ¡°No haggling?¡± ¡°Why would I haggle? That¡¯s a reasonable price for high quality gear, especially when the smiths are recommended by both the guildmaster and a member of the kingsguard.¡± ¡°You¡¯re quite reasonable, girl. Here, so you don¡¯t need to walk around in that, have some spare armor, on the house. Changing rooms back there.¡± ¡°Thank you so much.¡± I changed into the light armor and stepped out. ¡°Wow... note to self, make sure it is loose.¡± I saw where he was coming from. Despite my small stature I was still rather broad, and the armor was a bit small, exaggerating my... womanly bits... in simple terms it was very tight on my chest. Including the fact, I look 10... yeah it looked like I was a Loli. ¡°Definitely.¡± I looked at them. ¡°Would you mind sparing a cloak?¡± ¡°Not at all, here.¡± _ I made my way to the castle and showed them the insignia after introducing myself. The guards led me to a room before the throne room. ¡°I know you came from the countryside but try to be respectful.¡± The aid clearly didn¡¯t have high expectations of me. As the door opened, I entered and kneeled in respect to the king. I saw the eyes of the aid widen as my movements were smoother than his. ¡°Rise.¡± I stood and looked at the king. Royce was stationed next to him. ¡°Rose is your name, correct?¡± ¡°Yes, your majesty.¡± ¡°What¡¯s with the cloak?¡± A noble with a sneer asked. ¡°While the blacksmiths are working on my new armor, they gave me substitute gear, however, like most gear, it is better suited to males, making it look quite odd. The cloak is to make my appearance neater.¡± The king nods in understanding, but the noble insists I take off the cloak. ¡°I¡¯d rather not remove the cloak.¡± I was lightly blushing at this point and the king was looking at the noble with clear annoyance. ¡°How can we know you aren¡¯t hiding a weapon if you cover your body?¡± ¡°With all due respect, Lord Daniels,¡± Everyone turned to Royce as he spoke. ¡°As many of us saw during the tournament, she doesn¡¯t need a hidden weapon to annihilate us.¡± The king nodded, ¡°Daniels, there is no need to bring pressure on the young lady, besides we invited her to congratulate her, not pressure her.¡± ¡°?¡± ¡°Ah, yes, I got Royce to leave a note, but knowing him, it wasn¡¯t clear. I wanted to congratulate you on both your victory and quick ascension of ranks.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°And I want to warn you,¡± I look at him with careful consideration. ¡°You were assigned to conquer Adventurer¡¯s bane, correct?¡± Royce looked shocked. ¡°Yes, I was.¡± ¡°Are you kidding me?!¡± ¡°Royce.¡± ¡°Apologies, your majesty.¡± ¡°It is fine. Rose, there has been an incident as of late, an unknown mythic monster had taken up residence in the dungeon. It has killed many powerful S candidates. I can only assume that you were assigned as you have proven yourself to be as strong as a middle S rank.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Well, that should be all. Have a wonderful day, Rose.¡± ¡°Thank you, your majesty.¡± I bowed my head before leaving. All within court etiquette. Chapter 9: Adventurers Bane Mammon POV Why? Saliad was a good person. At least I thought he was, so why would he kill a family of catkins. And then brag about it. Something was not revealed, I could feel that much. I wasn¡¯t a prophetic individual like Galswell, but I could certainly figure out when something was being hidden. Her fury was genuine. I never felt an aura that strong before, and during that final clash, their aura crashed against each other¡¯s. Frankly, if I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d assume that they had known each other for most of their lives. Saliad fought with a viciousness that I¡¯d only ever heard of him using against dragons. His power was odd. Besides, that girl was a dragon slayer, and not just any dragon, but an arcane dragon. Yet something was odd about that aspect. It seemed far stronger than the 3 that Saliad used. ¡°You asked to see me?¡± ¡°Yes, Dallel, I want to know everything you know about Rose.¡± ¡°Not much, I know her and Sir Royce seem to be decent friends. I also know that she used to be a slave by technicality to Dalla Rogers.¡± ¡°Slave by technicality?¡± ¡°Yes, essentially, she was never treated like a slave, but the collar stayed on so she wouldn¡¯t be enslaved. Jalad told me about it.¡± ¡°Interesting. Did you know that she slew a dragon?¡± ¡°Not until that fight.¡± ¡°Do you know why she was stronger than Saliad?¡± ¡°No, the terrifying part is that she was on par before using the aspect.¡± ¡°Any theories?¡± ¡°None, but Jalad has a theory, but he keeps saying that it was impossible.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, it seems he isn¡¯t telling me in case it is wrong.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°No problem. I¡¯ll return to my duties.¡± Then Dallel stopped for a second before turning back. ¡°Also, could you let the smiths know that making Rose wear armor that is explicit is a good way to die?¡± ¡°Hah, it seems that¡¯s the only thing they had in her size.¡± ¡°Yes, at least they also gave her a cloak.¡± ¡°Yes, they are good people.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hope so. If the armor they make for her is explicit, Jalad is fully prepared to kill them.¡± I sighed. ¡°Please don¡¯t murder the best smiths in the nation.¡± _ After a few days, I went in to get the armor made for me. In the few days, I had to stop Jalad and Dallel from murdering the smiths. I went into the shop with Jalad behind me and saw the elf and dwarf looking happy. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°We finished the gear.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Well, try it on, it¡¯s already in the room.¡± I went into the changing room and tried on the gear. It was decently open, but it was perfectly suited to my fighting style. I could tell it was heavily enchanted with magic conductivity. I could easily enhance it with arcane and the sword was beautiful. It had an aura of its own and had a lot of power echoing through its core. It was all S+ rank, better than Saliad¡¯s armor and sword. It was also a lot thicker. I stepped out in it. ¡°Thanks, it fits perfectly.¡± Jalad had an angry look. At first, I was confused, until I realized that it looked thin and revealing. ¡°Her entire stomach is exposed, and it looks like that armor will break in the wind. What¡¯s the big idea?¡± I knew I needed to intervene. ¡°First of all, catkin fight better when they can feel the air. And second, try to break this.¡± I took off a shoulder pad and tossed it to Jalad. ¡°Wait!¡± The elf tried to grab it, but it landed in Jalad¡¯s hand. His eyes widened and he dropped it. When it landed, the ground cracked. The heck? ¡°What?¡± ¡°Why was that so heavy?¡± ¡°That¡¯s why we didn¡¯t want you to throw it. It¡¯s made of Grammite.¡± ¡°Grammite?!¡± Jalad looked shocked and looked at me. I was confused. ¡°What¡¯s Grammite?¡± The Dwarf answered as he struggled to pick up the shoulder pad, ¡°The densest material in the world. Also, the sturdiest.¡± I grabbed it from him and put it back on my shoulder. ¡°Is the whole armor made from that?¡± ¡°Yes, and a bit of leather.¡± ¡°How can she even hold that?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know, but she picked up some while asking for some armor, so we realized she was strong enough.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Would you mind if I test it¡¯s durability?¡± ¡°Not at all, Rose. What are you going to do?¡± I pulled out my claws and slash the armor. It got scratched up but regenerates. ¡°Nice, it¡¯s pretty durable.¡± ¡°Y-you actually managed to scratch it!¡± ¡°Is that hard?¡± ¡°YES!¡± All three confirmed at once. ¡°Well, I think I¡¯m prepared for the dungeon run.¡± ¡°Should be with that.¡± I thanked the smiths and decided to go before Dallel and Jalad came up with a reason for me to stay. Despite them knowing I was far stronger than both combined, they still saw me as someone to protect. _ I left the gates and began walking away. Adventurers and guards waved at me as I left. After I was far enough away from the city that they wouldn¡¯t see me, I shifted back into a dragon. The armor was surprisingly shift applicable, so it still reinforced my scales. I flew to the dungeon and hunted for food on the way there. When I saw it from the sky, I shifted back into my catkin form and saw the gear was still perfectly intact. I walked into the village and entered the inn. ¡°Pardon me, but do you have any information to share about the dungeon?¡± ¡°Well, girly, it certainly isn¡¯t a safe place for a kid like you.¡± ¡°I have a request to conquer it and I would rather info before entering it.¡± My proclamation caused the entire inn to laugh at me. ¡°Oh, please, we aren''t idiots, girly. A small fry li- WOAH!¡± I flashed my guild card. It confirmed that I was a B rank. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, we seem to have judged you by appearance, but that dungeon is for S candidates, not A.¡± Upon his apparent proclamation I was a B rank, the inn grew quiet. ¡°They decided to escalate the difficulty of my challenge as I have the required strength, I just have only been with the guild for 2 weeks.¡± ¡°B in two weeks?¡± The man was shocked and checked my registration date. He gave me my card and told me basically what the king told me. ¡°So, is there any knowledge of what mythic is in there?¡± ¡°Nope, none at all. Sorry, girly. If I knew I¡¯d tell you.¡± ¡°All right, would I be able to stay for a night before entering the dungeon?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I gave him the coin and then relaxed in my room. I fell asleep quickly. _ I woke up in the middle of the night to scurrying voices. ¡°She¡¯s a B rank, she could kill us.¡± ¡°Please, I doubt she got it legitimately. She probably seduced the guildmaster of wherever she started.¡± ¡°Still.¡± ¡°Come on, even if she is a B, if we enslave her, we could sell her for a lot of money.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°A beautiful girl like that will definitely tickle some noble''s fancy.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right.¡± ¡°You have 2 seconds to leave my room before death.¡± ¡°Restrain her, she¡¯s aw-¡± _ The next morning, I went to the counter and handed the owner some extra money. ¡°What¡¯s this for, Girly?¡± ¡°Two things, better locks, and however much it takes to clean potential slaver¡¯s guts out of carpet. I left as the entire inn looked at me in shock. _ I went to the entrance of the dungeon and saw a guard. ¡°Pardon me, kid, but we are waiting for Rose Hood. You can¡¯t come in until she made her attempt.¡± ¡°So, I can¡¯t enter until I attempt it?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Rose Hood.¡± ¡­ The guard asked for my card and showed moderate surprise before returning it and letting me into the dungeon. I saw quite a few goblins running around, when they saw me, they fled immediately. ¡°Humanoids are oblivious, but creatures know exactly what I am.¡± I walked cleanly down, making a meal of some ogres and serpents. As the dungeon expanded, I removed my shift, fully prepared for whatever mythic lied at the end. As I entered the final room, I was shocked. Chapter 10: The Fire Dragon There, in the last room, was a dragon. It was my older sister, the fire dragon. I saw 10 skeletons distributed around the room. She noticed me. ¡°Sister?¡± ¡°Hello.¡± ¡°What are you doing here?¡± ¡°I became an adventurer; I was here to clear the dungeon. I wasn¡¯t expecting you to be here.¡± ¡°Ah, well I suppose I could pretend to be dead and then kill whatever comes in to replace me. Here, shift to your humanoid form, I¡¯ll make tea.¡± She turned into a beautiful elven woman, and I turned into the short catkin. ¡°I¡¯m guessing the guild doesn¡¯t know your nature?¡± ¡°Only a few members of the Kingsguard, and two people I respect know.¡± ¡°Kingsguard? That¡¯s a gamble.¡± ¡°Royce said he¡¯d hide it and take responsibility if I caused trouble.¡± ¡°Ah, so Sir Royce is a friend of yours.¡± ¡°Yes, and sister?¡± ¡°Oh, please call me Thalia, that is my new name.¡± ¡°Ah, mine is Rose.¡± ¡°Wonderful, well, what do you want to tell me?¡± I looked down, and Thalia could tell something happened. ¡°Rose, what happened?¡± ¡°Ravi is dead.¡± She dropped her teacup, and I caught it. ¡°Who killed him?¡± Her voice was furious. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°The same elf that killed our parents.¡± ¡°I swear I¡¯ll ki-¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry to say that I beat you to the punch.¡± She contemplated what I said for a second, before retrieving her teacup. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°He was a hard fight.¡± ¡°I¡¯d imagine, please tell me you ate him afterwards.¡± ¡°Since it was in a tournament, I decided that wouldn¡¯t be very intelligent.¡± ¡°Heh, well at least it was in a public place. What festival did the tournament involve itself in?¡± ¡°The New Kings Festival.¡± She spit out her tea and bellowed out laughing. ¡°You killed the elf in front of the entire kingdom? That¡¯s incredible. I wish I could¡¯ve seen it.¡± ¡°It was a fun fight. I respected him.¡± ¡°Then he was a strong fighter indeed. Even Ravi never gained your respect as a fighter. Of course, you were the strongest sibling.¡± ¡°No, I wasn¡¯t. I never bested Ravi or Father.¡± ¡°Only because you had no will to kill. Think of it, whenever Ravi fought, Father or Mother would have to pull him off of whichever of us he defeated, but with you, you helped us up.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± ¡°Besides, we are flame, water, light, etc. You are arcane. Did it never occur to you that you were stronger?¡± ¡°Only after I won against Saliad.¡± ¡°So, that was his name?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Saliad, I¡¯ll remember that name. Someone that strong deserves remembrance.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± ¡°Well, there is some gold here that you can have, I have no particular use for it.¡± ¡°Thanks, and would I be able to potentially get a scale or a shed claw?¡± ¡°Ah, for proof of the kill.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll do you one better, a fang fell out during my last fight. I preserved it, intending to craft a dagger. You can have it if you let me inspect and upgrade your gear.¡± ¡°Sure, I know how talented you are.¡± Thalia¡¯s smithing skill was on par with people who¡¯d trained for 1000s of years. Her affinity for smithing came from her being a fire dragon. I made more tea while she worked on my armor. When she took a tea break, she had a question, ¡°Why do you look so childlike?¡± ¡°Beastkin look young in adolescence, so I decided to make myself look young, and since I wanted to appear weaker, I made myself small in stature, so I looked even younger. Everyone thinks I¡¯m 19 but I could still easily pass for a 10-year-old.¡± ¡°Smart. Then only those strong enough to notice your aura would realize you are not all you seem.¡± ¡°Yes, while you, on the other hand, make it no mystery that you are a dragon.¡± ¡°Of course, I am a dungeon boss after all. May as well look the part.¡± ¡°What are you doing here, though?¡± ¡°I thought this would be a good place to build a nest.¡± ¡°Without a mate?¡± ¡°Oh, I developed the lay skill. That allows me to reproduce without a mate, even in adolescence. Of course, they¡¯ll be female fire dragons, but hey, at least the species will begin growing again.¡± ¡°Maybe I should get that skill.¡± ¡°Please, you¡¯re almost the youngest, I¡¯m over 700 remember, you shouldn¡¯t worry about reproducing yet.¡± ¡°Still would be a good skill to develop before nesting.¡± ¡°I guess, well it¡¯s easy, just hunt and eat spiders for a while.¡± ¡°Would you mind if I developed it here?¡± ¡°Not at all. It¡¯ll take a day to enhance this. May as well train while I work on it.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Chapter 11: The Triumphant Return I hunted spiders for a day and developed the egg laying skill. Now I could reproduce whenever I was interested in doing so. ¡°Nice, now if you could find a mate, your offspring would be even stronger.¡± ¡°No potential mates though.¡± ¡°Ah, right. Unlike other species, dragons can mate with any humanoids and still develop pure dragons, so all you need is to find a male you like. Just make sure they¡¯re ok with reproducing dragons.¡± ¡°No humanoids would live to my point of childbearing.¡± ¡°Elves. They live a long time.¡± I considered Dallel... ¡®No, can¡¯t see him as proper mate.¡¯ ¡°Don¡¯t know any I¡¯d be interested in.¡± ¡°Well, if you mature early, you¡¯d also be able to bear children earlier.¡± ¡°I guess, but don¡¯t like killing.¡± ¡°No? How many are you on?¡± ¡°4.¡± ¡°Ah, I¡¯m on late 99900s.¡± ¡°So, close.¡± ¡°Yep, I was waiting for a massive subjugation group, so I could destroy all of them and mature early.¡± ¡°Good idea.¡± ¡°I thought so, but I¡¯ll have to act dead for a little bit.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°Nah, you are good, mythics show up here quickly, and I can handle most of them.¡± ¡°What if another sibling shows up?¡± ¡°Dual dungeon masters!¡± ¡°Ooh!¡± ¡°Honestly, if you weren¡¯t an adventurer, I¡¯d ask you to join me.¡± ¡°Yeah, I like humanoids. They can be so nice.¡± ¡°They can, in fact, you aren¡¯t the first I let go, when I first got here, I let a few go on a contract to not reveal me. They just said something powerful was there.¡± ¡°Smart.¡± ¡°Yep, anyways, try on your gear. I fit it better for dragon combat, as it was crafted for catkin battle.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± ¡°Well, I need to go.¡± ¡°Be sure to visit!¡± ¡°I will. If you''re ok with it, I may bring Granny.¡± ¡°I¡¯d love to meet the woman who helped you.¡± ¡°Alright, cya.¡± We waved and I left. It was good to know my sibling was alive and well, and thanks to her help, I developed an ability that allowed me to reproduce when I got older. And if I found a proper mate, they¡¯d be potentially stronger than me. I got the fang and scales and left the dungeon. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you return.¡± The same guard was there. ¡°Was it a powerful mythic?¡± I held up the fang and he gasped. ¡°It was a dragon?! No wonder so many died. Thank you for getting rid of it.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Couldn¡¯t say that Thalia was alive and well. They¡¯d investigate me and then send a party strong enough to kill Thalia. Better that they assume the dragon was dead. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. I went back to the inn where they heard I defeated the beast of the dungeon, so people bought me drinks. The owner also thanked me for the money and said that after I left, he purchased top notch locks, so it¡¯d take a master locksmith to open it. I smiled and someone asked to see the proof of the kill, when I pulled out Thalia¡¯s discarded fang, they were shocked and admired me. I slept peacefully that night before returning to the capital much how I left it. I got into the line and a guard recognized me. ¡°Rose? You are back already?¡± ¡°Yep, cleared dungeon.¡± ¡°That fast?¡± ¡°Yeah. Only challenge was boss.¡± I realized that normally the travel itself was a week, however, due to my size as a dragon I could make the journey in a few hours, so what would normally be a 3-week trip, was only 4 days for me. Dallel came out and looked at me in shock, before escorting me to the guild. ¡°How did you get back that fast?¡± ¡°Have a few tricks.¡± ¡°Clearly. That was the quickest subjugation of that dungeon ever I think.¡± ¡°Most of the time was against the boss.¡± ¡°Ah, what was it?¡± ¡°Fire dragon.¡± ¡°Wait, really? And you beat it? I knew you beat an arcane dragon, but I thought that was through trickery. You can¡¯t trick a dragon in a dungeon.¡± ¡°Saliad beat 3.¡± ¡°Yeah, but he also used shock and trickery. He would struggle greatly if he faced a dragon head on.¡± ¡­ That explained why I won. I didn¡¯t underestimate him for a second, unlike what Father and Mother did. Ravi was probably taken by surprise, while I was fully aware of the fight. Saliad was probably overconfident from beating 3 and didn¡¯t take me as seriously as he should have. ¡°So, the fact that you could beat a dragon head on is incredible.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Well, may as well visit the guildmaster. Do you have proof of the kill?¡± ¡°Fang.¡± ¡°A fang, huh? I guess after a fight like that very few materials would be salvageable.¡± I keep forgetting that most people see dragons as no different from strong magic beasts. He does have a point though. Dragon scales were strong enough to repel A rank weapons. Our fangs and claws could make powerful weapons, capable of breaking even S rank items and armor. ¡°I also noticed you got a bit of an upgrade.¡± ¡°Met sibling during travel, she¡¯s a master blacksmith. She could even make F rank S rank if given enough time. Think Gallson smiths would be offended?¡± ¡°Not at all. I find that smiths love to see masters enhance their work. It makes them realize that people are better than them and they need to improve. Still, it looks like the armor was made far more precise. Given that it¡¯s made of grammite, it¡¯s really heavy, but if it¡¯s your sibling, it makes sense that she could hold grammite and temper it better.¡± I enter the guild, and everyone turns in shock. After all, they didn¡¯t expect me back for at least another 2 weeks. Mammon steps out. ¡°Did you chicken out?¡± ¡°No, conquered dungeon.¡± I pulled out Thalia¡¯s fang and he fell on his butt in shock. ¡°In 4 days, you not only made 2 weeklong trips, but also subjugated a dragon? That¡¯s insane, even for you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fast.¡± ¡°I could tell.¡± ¡°What kind of dragon was it?¡± ¡°Fire.¡± ¡°Incredible, then again, you defeated an arcane. I guess I shouldn¡¯t be surprised.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± He bonked me. ¡°Don¡¯t be so casual about defeating two dragons, and in a dungeon, you¡¯d have to take it head on. Even Saliad would struggle in a head on fight with dragons.¡± ¡°Eh.¡± He sighed. ¡°Oh well, may as well get your armor rep... that ain¡¯t the same armor you left with.¡± ¡°Met my sister, she refined it.¡± ¡°Someone able to refine Thalias¡¯s armor. Incredible. What¡¯s her name?¡± Wow, they had similar names. ¡°... Thalia.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Oh wait, I remember you mentioning you were nameless at one point. Did she pick her name?¡± ¡°Dunno. When we grew up, all of us were nameless except for eldest brother.¡± ¡°Why was he named?¡± ¡°He could beat our Father.¡± ¡°I see, so names were a privilege in your house?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°How¡¯d you get named then?¡± ¡°Royce named me.¡± ¡°Ah, well ain¡¯t that sweet. He may have a crush on ya, how bout you, lassie?¡± ¡°Eh, too old.¡± ¡°Hah, he¡¯s only 5 years your senior. Guess you want someone closer to you in age. Hear that Dallel?¡± ¡°What are you implying, old man?¡± ¡°Hah, I ain¡¯t that old, only 50.¡± I actually meant I was too old, but I guess they don¡¯t know I¡¯m over 100. The two bickered and I just sat down and ordered food. ¡°You know, you eat a lot of meat.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± The waiter had remarked on my diet. ¡°I¡¯ve met a lot of catkins and normally they eat more balanced diets. Almost 90% of what you eat is meat.¡± ¡°I like meat.¡± He had a point, dragons were carnivores, so I ate more meat, and really just ate vegetables to provide more cover or seasonings for meat. ¡°Yeah, but you eat a lot.¡± ¡°Fast digestion, plus active most of the time.¡± Despite my small stature, this was still mostly an illusion. My stomach was still dragon sized, so I could eat a lot more than anyone other than a dragon. ¡°Yeah, I noticed that too. Frankly, I feel bad for you, you probably ate up the dungeon village¡¯s food supply. You were starving over there.¡± I glared at Jalad who came in and laughed at his own joke. ¡°Hunted a lot both out and in dungeon.¡± ¡°What could you eat in dungeons?¡± ¡°Goblin, orc, ogre. Cook properly and tasty.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t they incredibly poisonous?¡± ¡°They are? When my parents were out, we had to hunt them down and eat them. Didn¡¯t know they were poisonous.¡± ¡°Jeez, I¡¯m sure you could write a novel about how you were raised.¡± ¡°Maybe, was that unconventional?¡± ¡°YES!¡± All the adventurers yelled at once. ¡°No wonder you are strong. You had to fight for life on day one.¡± Mammon wasn¡¯t wrong. I remember Ravi almost eating me when I had just hatched. ¡°Not wrong, had to fight siblings shortly after birth.¡± They looked at me in more shock. ¡°Which sibling was that?¡± ¡°Eldest brother, Ravi.¡± ¡°Huh, how old was he.¡± 800 at that point. ¡°18.¡± An 800-year-old dragon was close to an 18-year-old humanoid, so it worked. ¡°Holy crap. Did you win?¡± ¡°No, was just born. Father had to pull him off.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°Could never beat Ravi, Thalia said it was because I never fought to kill.¡± ¡°That would decide most battles.¡± ¡°Still, training from birth, it makes sense how you¡¯d be a match for Saliad now.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± ¡°Well, the king invited you to meet with him tomorrow, he heard you were back and wants to meet you again.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Chapter 12: A Draconic Revelation Galswell POV Rose was back fast, I know she had tricks up her sleeve, but teleportation magic was still unexpected. ¡°My king, what is it that you need?¡± ¡°As you know, Rose has returned.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°She subjugated a fire dragon that made it¡¯s nest in the dungeon.¡± ¡°She did?¡± This was shocking. Even Saliad would struggle to beat a dragon head on, and she beat it in less than 4 days. ¡°Why did you call me?¡± ¡°Well, she couldn¡¯t harvest anything from the dragon, so I want you to go and see what you can gather from the dragon.¡± ¡°Alright, when shall I go?¡± ¡°As soon as you can. I want to be able to give her some of the materials when she meets with me.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± I teleported to the dungeon entrance and flashed my pass. ¡°I¡¯m on official business from the king to dismantle the boss.¡± ¡°Yes, Sir Galswell.¡± I walked into the cave and noticed the sheer number of monsters. I had to fight them all. I noticed skeletons of some orcs and goblins, next to them were ogre skeletons. ¡°Licked clean. Did she eat them? What kind of powerhouse is she?¡± I walked further down, and when I got to the door, I felt a massive presence behind it. ¡°Could the mythic have already been replaced by another?¡± I opened the door to find an elven woman. She was eating a goblin¡¯s leg sitting on her throne. I recognized her presence immediately. A dragon. ¡°A dragon came to replace their sibling?¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°My name is Galswell, I came to dismantle the previous boss who was killed yesterday.¡± ¡°Mine is Thalia, I recognize you and I know you are aware of what I am.¡± Negotiations wouldn¡¯t work. So, I had to trick it. I realized something was wrong. There were no dragon corpses. Rose had lied, she never killed the boss. That could only mean one thing. ¡°You can leave now as long as you never mention me.¡± ¡°Is Rose a dragon too?¡± She froze, dropping the goblin leg before judging me with a new look of fear. ¡°Y-you can still leave as long as you don¡¯t reveal anything you learned here. Just say the boss was little more than dust when you showed up, please.¡± The beast was concerned for her sister. Cute. I wasn¡¯t leaving, especially since there were eggs in the back of the hall. ¡°I¡¯m w-warning you...¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Her confidence diminished as my aura glowed. ¡°Hey, get away. Stay away!¡± _ ¡°A shame indeed.¡± ¡°To think that that is why she was so strong.¡± ¡°A dragon killed the dragon slayer, it¡¯s almost poetic.¡± ¡°I will set up a trap, the beast will die.¡± ¡°This one will be used to draw out its nature.¡± ¡°Please... don¡¯t hurt my sister, she only wan- GHH!¡± With a stern kick the beast falls unconscious with tears in her eyes, if I didn¡¯t know it was a dragon, I¡¯d feel sorry for it. _ I went to the castle; the guards directed me to the throne room. Where there were nobles the last time I was here, there were multiple guards that I could tell were strong. Something was happening. ¡°Hello, Rose.¡± ¡°Greetings, your majesty.¡± ¡°I heard you subjugated the dungeon in 4 days.¡± ¡°Yes, your majesty.¡± ¡°You know, I was curious on how you were so strong.¡± ¡°Training from a young age.¡± ¡°And you being a dragon of course.¡± I raised my head, but it was too late. An arrow shot me through the eye. I snarled. ¡°When I heard that you went to the dungeon and returned that quickly, having killed a dragon, I was shocked. I decided to send Galswell to gather what could be scavenged from the dragon. As he had teleport, he could do it quickly.¡± I was in significant pain. It was a cursed arrow laced with dragonsbane. ¡°So, imagine the surprise he was in, when the dragon was alive and well.¡± Galswell walked in, with Thalia in elven form sputtering blood and sobbing. She was thrown next to me. I stood up. There was no point in pretending anymore. ¡°Why hurt me and Thalia?¡± ¡°Because, dragons are dangerous, and don¡¯t worry. Galswell made sure to destroy her nest and the eggs inside. We won¡¯t be having any new dragons now.¡± ¡­ That little *****. I¡¯m going to kill him and that smug king next to him. ¡°You are angry? I thought dragons were impassive beasts. I guess even monsters can feel pain.¡± That arrow injury wasn¡¯t healing. It had a powerful curse on it. They were going all out. ¡°Kill the fire dragon, Galswell. We have no more need for her.¡± ¡°With pleasure, Sire.¡± They thought I would stand by? Idiots. By the time Galswell charged up his kill blow, his head had gone on a vacation. ¡°Galswell! ¡­ You.¡± ¡°You expect me to stand by as you kill my sister?¡± ¡°That curse should¡¯ve stunned you, and besides, you¡¯ve killed dragons yourself. That arcane aspect tells us that much.¡± I laughed bitterly, ¡°Dragons can use their own aspects, fool.¡± The king realized that I was far stronger than he gave me credit for. ¡°Guards, kill both of them, now!¡± I needed to defend my sister and get out of this town before we died. I stood over her, snarling at anyone who came close. They were all cautious. I slowly backed towards a window. ¡°Hah, I have guards at the windows ready to shoot you on sight.¡± ¡°Were Jalad and Dallel involved in this?¡± ¡°No, they care about you too much to go against you. I don¡¯t know what spell you used on them, but they actually care about you.¡± I realized that they weren¡¯t attacking out of malice, but because they thought we were evil. The world saw dragons as mythic monsters. The only reason Royce and his men realized that view was wrong was because I risked my life to save them. These people had no knowledge of the event, so they thought I was gathering up influence to gain power. They had no idea that I could actually care for people. All of the sudden my anger left. I was angry only at Galswell, who saw my fight with Saliad and understood it deeper than anyone else, but still saw me as a heartless monster, when even Saliad noted that I was good. I decided to take the risk and grabbed Thalia before diving out the window and shifting into my dragon form. ¡°Dragon!¡± I heard a scream from the plaza and saw Jalad and his men, readying bows. I was sad until I heard, ¡°Rose and the king are in there. We need to save them!¡± He had no clue who I was. It was like with Granny, she shot because she thought I was either dead or in danger and there was a dragon. Their arrows hurt greatly, but I needed to keep flying. ¡°The dragon has an elf kidnapped!¡± Thalia hadn¡¯t shifted back yet, so it definitely looked like I was kidnapping her. The king stepped out of the castle and yelled, ¡°Kill it, don¡¯t let it escape!¡± Mammon leapt up to my elevation and smashed his hammer on my wing. I roared but crashed outside the city limits. My back was against the mountain pass and the group of 12 that had assembled closed in on me. The rest must have been too scared to attack. I was in agony. The curse of that arrow weakened my scales and stopped me from regenerating. I was down to only 1000000 health. _ We cornered the beast. Me and Jalad stepped forward. It cringed back. I saw a cursed arrow in its eye. That¡¯s how we were able to hurt it. Better kill it before the curse lets up. ¡°Dallel, you kill. I¡¯ll make sure it can¡¯t escape.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The beast stopped growling and its eyes seemed to soften. That caught me and Jalad off guard, but it didn¡¯t take advantage of the weakness to kill us. In fact, it laid down and exposed its neck. ¡°Jalad, don¡¯t dragons normally fight back?¡± ¡°They do, but this one is accepting death?¡± Somehow, I felt sorry for the beast. I decided to do a clean blow and chop off its head. I slashed down when I heard a clash of metal, and there was Sir Royce. ¡°Royce? What are you doing here?¡± ¡°Stopping you from making the biggest mistake of your life.¡± Chapter 13: The Dragon and the Rose Mammon POV A dragon, in the city? An elf hanging from its talons. We needed to kill it quickly. The elf was severely injured too, what had the monster done to it. I leapt up to crush its wing, I noticed a cursed arrow in its eyes, which meant that even my weapon could hurt it. I met up with the king on the way, he had a furious expression. ¡°Your majesty, what happened? I saw it leave the castle. Is Rose okay?¡± His gaze faltered for a moment. ¡°That beast killed Galswell.¡± So, Rose must have been killed. That¡¯s the only reason he wouldn¡¯t say it. ¡°I see, we need to save the elf from it then.¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°That elf is a dragon too.¡± ¡°A shifted dragon?¡± ¡°Yes, we were going to kill it when the other dragon showed up.¡± ¡°I see, so it defended her.¡± ¡°Yes, they are sisters.¡± ¡°Well, what¡¯s the plan.¡± ¡°Gather your best fighters and charge it.¡± I saw the guard. ¡°Jalad, Dallel! You two with me.¡± They nodded and told their men to get back. I got the 3 Aces to come with me. All together, we had a force of 12. Killing the dragon should¡¯ve been hard, but it confused us by offering its neck. Even the king, who was ready to butcher it, was confused. However, the shocking events weren¡¯t done, as the moment Dallel struck to kill the beast. Royce showed up and clashed with the blow defending the beast. ¡°Royce? What are you doing here?¡± ¡°Stopping you from making the biggest mistake of your life.¡± _ I had accepted death, someone else would be able to reproduce for our race, I couldn¡¯t hurt those 2 who were so kind to me. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Then I heard metal clash with metal. ¡°Royce? What are you doing here?¡± ¡°Stopping you from making the biggest mistake of your life.¡± ¡°What do you mean? It¡¯s a dragon.¡± ¡°Kill that beast Royce, now!¡± The king lashed out at Royce. ¡°I will not.¡± ¡°What? It''s a monster, who has probably killed countless people.¡± ¡°5 is not countless, especially when they were the aggressors in each situation.¡± How did he know I killed more people? Dallel was as shocked as I was. ¡°Royce, why are you acting like you know the beast.¡± ¡°Because I do, and you do too. The secrets out, there¡¯s no point in hiding it anymore.¡± I knew what he meant and shifted myself back into the catkin. An arrow in my eye, a shattered arm, and my stomach with a massive amount of injuries. ¡°What?¡± The adventurers that knew me dropped their weapons and Jalad and Dallel both fell back. ¡°Hi,¡± I gave a smile despite my extensive injuries. And I heard Jalad say something that I wasn¡¯t expecting. ¡°I was right.¡± The King also thought to speak. ¡°See, she¡¯s a monster. She must have used a spell to make you align with her that quickly and it seems that Royce is still under that spell.¡± Royce laughed bitterly, ¡°No, because I met her while she was still in a contract with someone. She fought to save my life from a Whilderbeast. Upon answering our questions, I decided to trust her of my own volition. If any of you wants to kill her.¡± He smiled grimly. ¡°You¡¯ll have to get through us.¡± The group of fighters that were there in the woods when I was first revealed came out in my defense. ¡°No, stop. I¡¯m willing to die.¡± ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯m not willing to let you die.¡± ¡°Her spell is horrible. She¡¯s using it to make people fight for her.¡± An adventurer yelled. That was getting annoying. ¡°Dragons don¡¯t have mind control spells, don¡¯t be stupid!¡± The king was furious. ¡°Whether or not there is a spell doesn¡¯t matter, she¡¯s a monster and she needs to be subjugated.¡± Half of the group nodded, but the rest seemed skeptical. Suddenly I started laughing. It was a bitter dark laugh that even made Royce turn around with some fear. ¡°You call us monsters?! Hahaha! You went to my sister¡¯s nest, unprovokedly attacking her and torturing her, then you destroyed the nest and broke the eggs in front of her, only to teleport back to the castle and throw her in front of me to provoke me, after shooting me for no reason but my nature.¡± I stopped laughing and glared at the king, my aura on full display. ¡°And you have the gall to call us monsters?! Contrary to what you think, dragons have a lot of care for people around us, in combat we are mostly unforgiving and violent, but that¡¯s battle. Something that each one of you has done.¡± The king¡¯s determination faltered when I called him out for his monstrous actions. Then in a final attempt to maintain his confidence in his actions, he said one last thing quietly. ¡°But you also killed Saliad.¡± ¡°And can you not imagine why I did? I am over 100 years old, but when I was no older than 10, he came into the nest, killed my father and mother with no mercy and shattered the unhatched eggs. Then when I faced him in the arena, he bragged about killing my older brother like he wasn¡¯t even worth remembering. Imagine someone doing that to you and tell me if you wouldn¡¯t kill them. I even gave him the mercy of a quick death.¡± The king had no more bloodlust, and even the adventurers and guards that were cheering for my death now sat in silence. ¡°You killed Galswell.¡± ¡°Because he was going to kill my sister.¡± It was at that moment that Jalad and Dallel noticed that I was in a defensive position over Thalia. ¡°Is that your sister?¡± I nodded weakly. At this point, the king started crying. I could sense no more fear, only sorrow and regret. ¡°I made a mistake. I went on my own biases and attacked someone just trying to live their life. I... I did this.¡± The adventurers and royal guards also noticed that they had let fear drive them and attempted to kill someone who had no intention to kill them. Many sat down with tears in their eyes, and I took advantage and grabbed my sister. Turning back into a dragon, I picked her up and struggled to fly away. My wing was barely functioning, but it would heal when the curse let up. I only heard a small voice from Mammon before I left earshot. ¡°What have we done?¡± Chapter 14: The Kings Remorse King Dalis POV ¡°Your majesty, what should we do?¡± This kingdom had made a grave error. We alienated 2 dragons who wanted to live in peace. I met with the 12 that came with us to fight the duo. ¡°Don¡¯t tell anyone of Rose¡¯s identity.¡± ¡°But your majesty-¡± ¡°Deasal, listen, you fought the dragon before she became an adventurer. You are one of the 3 aces. She easily could¡¯ve killed you and justified it when you attacked. Am I wrong in saying so?¡± ¡°No, Sir.¡± ¡°Yet, she spared you with kindness, and that Royce would be willing to defy my orders to defend her. I doubt he¡¯d do that for just anyone.¡± ¡°I¡¯d have to agree, Sir.¡± Jalad and I were of one mind on this. ¡°Jalad, you were close to Rose, correct?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You stated that you were right when she revealed herself, why?¡± ¡°During the fight with Saliad, I was remembering before the fight, when she said we wouldn¡¯t be saddened by her death, followed by saying we were rational for it. She fought on even ground with him, something that people said only an S rank or a dragon could do. Plus, her knowledge and the way she spoke differently than most catkin stuck out to me. Then when you factor in her surprising court etiquette it became a decent guess, I still thought it was ridiculous, but I couldn¡¯t put it out of my mind.¡± ¡°You are a smart person; it makes sense that you¡¯d put it together before we did.¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Also, I heard you mention she killed Galswell, what happened?¡± ¡°I, in a foolish move, told Galswell to exterminate the fire dragon. Before he could even react, his head was missing.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Mammon spoke out, ¡°Is there a way to clear our relationship with her?¡± Mammon only spoke clearly when he was serious, otherwise he went overboard in a dwarven accent. ¡°I think so.¡± ¡°Dallel?¡± ¡°When I saw her, her glance was dark, but there wasn¡¯t any anger except when you mentioned Saliad and Galswell¡¯s deaths.¡± ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t she be angry?¡± ¡°Perhaps because she understands why people are scared of dragons.¡± ¡°That could be it.¡± ¡°Even if she would be willing to forgive us, I doubt we could build a bridge with the fire dragon, we destroyed her nest and broke her eggs.¡± ¡°Perhaps. We need to mend the bond with Rose. From the two interactions we¡¯ve had relating to her siblings, we can determine dragons are defensive of family.¡± ¡°Yes, that aura, when she heard her brother was killed, would¡¯ve broken the arena if not for the barrier.¡± ¡°Where would she have gone through?¡± ¡°Maybe back to her home village?¡± ¡°I doubt that.¡± Royce entered the room with a stern glare at all of us. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Rose is smart, she managed to hide her presence for years before it was discovered through a draconic contract.¡± ¡°She is contracted?¡± ¡°She broke it off by request of her master.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t she head to her village though?¡± ¡°She thinks we will spread it.¡± ¡°So, she thinks that even that village will be dangerous?¡± ¡°Yes, if I had a guess, based on direction and expression, she¡¯s heading to Calesen.¡± ¡°The elven capital nation?¡± ¡°Yes, they hate our nation, so they certainly won¡¯t listen to any messengers, and they have a population of dragon cultists, so she may have rationalized that even if they did figure out her and Thalia¡¯s identity, they would still protect her.¡± ¡°That... makes a lot of sense, especially given the rumors.¡± There were rumors that a dragon recently took dominion of the nation of Calesen, so if she was aware of the rumors, she may have gone there to meet a sibling. ¡°This could be bad.¡± ¡°Could be? It is bad. We¡¯ve managed to anger 2 dragons... and if the rumor is true, that¡¯s 3 dragons and an elven army with a blood vendetta.¡± Royce had a point. ¡°Well, we need to send someone she trusts to try to cool things down.¡± All of us looked at Royce. ¡°I was already planning on heading out, solo.¡± ¡°You need defense.¡± ¡°I can guard myself.¡± I nodded. ¡°Please be careful and tell both of them that I am sorry. I let fear drive me.¡± ¡°I will.¡± Chapter 15: The Dragon of Life I flew for 13 hours straight, the border of the nation was close, so I turned to my catkin form and began using a lot of healing spells on Thalia. I could almost guarantee that they would spread word, meaning that this nation wasn¡¯t safe anymore for neither me nor Thalia. ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°Yes, Thalia?¡± ¡°Thank you for killing him.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t I feel anger? I know they killed my children in cold blood, but I can¡¯t help but feel sorry for them.¡± ¡°They did it out of fear of our kind, you understand that as well. The only, in my opinion, that we should¡¯ve held anger against was Galswell.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Her injuries were bad, but manageable. The curse wore off on the 5th hour, so I was in near perfect condition. ¡°Where are we?¡± ¡°The border of Calesen.¡± ¡°Why are we here?¡± ¡°Because I heard that one of our siblings is its ruler.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good reason.¡± ¡°Rest, I will carry you, we¡¯ll get in easier if you remain in elf form, so please hide your presence.¡± ¡°I will.¡± I picked up Thalia and we began moving forward, as we approached the border, some elves looked at me with suspicion until they saw Thalia. ¡°Please, help her, she¡¯s in bad condition.¡± Thalia needed healing magic, she would live either way, but without healing magic, it would take a long time to get better. My mana was nearly depleted from keeping myself in the skies with my broken wing. ¡°You don¡¯t look too good yourself, come with us.¡± The guards led us to the border village and called a healer. I saw Thalia being healed and realized that we were safe. Oh... I guess my injuries were worse than.... I...... thought... ¡°Kid!¡± _ As I woke up, I heard elven voices of awe. ¡°The king is here? Why?¡± ¡°Move, I need to see if I am correct.¡± I saw a handsome elven warrior wearing a crown. Of course, it wasn¡¯t an elf. ¡°Hello, Sister.¡± ¡°Sister? Could she be...¡± Upon the king¡¯s nod, the elves looked at me in awe. ¡°Is Thalia okay?¡± ¡°Our sister is still resting, though it is surprising that she was named.¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°That elf is another dragon? Incredible.¡± ¡°Sister, who did this to you?¡± ¡°Won¡¯t tell.¡± ¡°What?¡± He was confused. ¡°But they hurt you!¡± ¡°Yeah, but they were scared.¡± ¡°And? That was a high-grade curse. It was fully meant to kill you.¡± ¡°They regretted it.¡± ¡°So, you killed them?¡± ¡°No, they were sad when I was honest.¡± ¡°Ah, so you guilt tripped them, but why don¡¯t you tell me¡± I could win.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why.¡± ¡°Come on, I want to cause destruction!¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°Awe, your no fun, Sister. Anyways, do you have a name?¡± ¡°Rose, how about you.¡± ¡°Elren.¡± ¡°Hmph, elven name.¡± ¡°I am the elven king after all.¡± ¡°B rank adventurer... former B rank adventurer.¡± ¡°I see, so it was guild members.¡± ¡°Wait!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you clearly care for them, so I won¡¯t do anything. Besides, knowing you, you probably were about ready to die to them.¡± ¡°How did you-¡± ¡°I know you, Rose. Likely you exposed your neck, were saved and they felt regret when seeing that the dragon they just tried to kill was their good friend, am I wrong.¡± I looked at him in shock, he did know me well. I realized I should tell him. ¡°Saliad is dead.¡± He smiled, ¡°That elf met his end, did he. The moment I was crowned, he left the kingdom in a rage with his party. I assume you did the honors?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Good... why do you look down, though?¡± ¡°Ravi is gone.¡± His playful smile immediately disappeared. ¡°I see. So, we are numbered 9 now.¡± ¡°Thalia attempted to nest, but...¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Galswell.¡± ¡°His party member... I¡¯ll kill him.¡± ¡°His head is already on a vacation.¡± We smiled in a way that made the elven nurses excuse themselves. ¡°Good. Either way, I¡¯ve already nested and matured.¡± ¡°You matured?¡± ¡°Yes, I fought in a war against the Dwarven nation not too long ago.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± ¡°As I matured, I actually nested as well. I found a mate, a kind elven woman.¡± ¡°Dragons with elven magic?¡± ¡°Yes, they will be powerful, heck they may even be able to overpower you one day.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not that strong.¡± ¡°You keep underestimating yourself, did it when you were younger, do it now.¡± ¡°If I was strong, I wouldn¡¯t need to have run.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t confuse strength with bloodlust. You hate killing, it¡¯s why Father didn¡¯t like you as much. Strongest of all of us but hated killing. How many kills do you even have.¡± ¡°5, one legendary sorcerer, Saliad, two slavers, and Galswell.¡± ¡°See? When I was your age, I had 100 times that.¡± ¡°I consider it one of my strengths.¡± ¡°I know you do, anyways, I should bring you two to my castle. You could rest better there.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s no issue, we are siblings, after all.¡± Elren was among the older of us, 500 years old, and his aspect was life. It made sense the elves took to him. ¡°500 and the king of a nation.¡± ¡°Father would roll in his grave knowing I haven¡¯t torched their villages.¡± ¡°He thought with fire.¡± ¡°Indeed, he did.¡± ¡°Also, I heard this nation had bad blood with Selethon.¡± ¡°Of course, Saliad hid there, and they let him.¡± ¡°And now that he¡¯s dead?¡± ¡°I suppose we could start negotiating, unless they try that again.¡± He was referring to the condition of me and Thalia. It was obvious that it would take the power of a nation to deal that much damage to us, and the wealth of a king to purchase arrows with that strong of a curse. ¡°Neither me nor Thalia hold rage towards them, only Galswell.¡± ¡°Yes, they were driven by fear, that¡¯s plain to see. _ We began travelling to the castle and Elren gave us fancy clothes that itched. Thalia was still crying. ¡°Sister, I¡¯m sorry for your loss.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just happy that we are all okay.¡± We spent most of the ride consoling her. The rest of the ride was spent telling stories of our adventures. ¡°So, you were contracted to a half elf? Why?¡± ¡°She was a good person, one that I could see myself working for, for her whole life.¡± ¡°I see, and she broke it after finding your identity, and you didn¡¯t find offense?¡± ¡°Why would I? The whole reason she broke it was because she didn¡¯t want to feel as though she owned me.¡± ¡°I suppose, but Dalla Rogers, I think I met her once.¡± ¡°You did?¡± ¡°Yes, she used to be a ranger captain, but she left shortly before I took the throne. Something about wanting to settle down.¡± ¡°Yeah, her arrows hurt, makes sense she would¡¯ve been a ranger captain.¡± ¡°Did she know you were a dragon, Elren?¡± ¡°Nope, in fact, they didn¡¯t know I was a dragon until they tried throwing the throne at me. I revealed myself, thinking that they¡¯d rescind the offer and let me leave out of respect to my actions, but they surprised me by simply emboldening their request.¡± ¡°The only one that wasn¡¯t happy was Saliad?¡± ¡°Yep, upon learning I was a dragon, he left in a fuss, saying that he only let me live out of respect.¡± ¡°He never mentioned you, though he was quite eager to mention Ravi.¡± ¡°I¡¯d imagine that. Man hated dragons with a passion. I think if I was not nearly as accomplished a warrior, he would¡¯ve simply tried to kill me, elves protecting me and all.¡± ¡°He did have respect for power. At the start of the battle, he boasted and acted superior, but by the end we fought as equals.¡± ¡°Yes, he had that at least. Can¡¯t be a dragon slayer without respect for power.¡± ¡°Well, we are almost there.¡± ¡°Ah yes, you can meet my mate, and~¡± He smirked before saying something that caused us to smile. ¡°My daughter.¡± Chapter 16: Dragonet of Death ¡°I thought you said we were numbered at 9?¡± ¡°Did I say dragons? No, we are at 10 dragons, but in terms of siblings we are 9.¡± ¡°Tricky.¡± ¡°What¡¯s she like?¡± Thalia had a sad smile. ¡°I guess I could still be an aunty.¡± ¡°Thalia, listen I¡¯m sure you could use your skill again, maybe even find a mate here.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± ¡°At least there¡¯s hope.¡± We all nodded. Dragons were so close to extinction that our father and mother were the last. Even as battle hungry as they were, they hid for 1000 years, trying to raise many dragons. The fact that one of us now had offspring meant we had hope. ¡°How old is she?¡± ¡°She¡¯s almost 10 now.¡± ¡°That¡¯s so cool, I want to meet her.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll challenge you to a duel.¡± ¡°Way too young.¡± ¡°Hah, you¡¯re probably the only one who¡¯d say that.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± From birth I had to fight to survive, in a nest is far more dangerous than you¡¯d imagine. From the get-go, I had to spar Ravi, the strongest of us. I lost and was almost killed. I had to hunt my own food and build shaky alliances. My other siblings took to the lifestyle and would likely put their children through the same training. ¡°When I nest, my kids will live kind lives.¡± ¡°You are an odd dragon.¡± We shared a laugh. ¡°But, no I did let her have a year to get her bearings before I started training. My wife was shocked.¡± ¡°I¡¯d imagine.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the kid¡¯s aspect?¡± ¡°Necrosis if you¡¯ll believe it. The polar opposite of me.¡± ¡°Huh, so she¡¯s strong.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± Necrosis, or death magic, was forbidden in many nations, but as it was a draconic aspect, there wasn¡¯t much the elves could do, especially after Elren explained that disallowing a dragon to use their aspect was like stopping them from breathing. ¡°She focuses on killing, not revival, but we¡¯ve found that if we mix our aspects, we can fully revive the dead.¡± ¡°Incredible.¡± ¡°Yep, anyway we should head in now.¡± A guard stood at the gate. ¡°Your majesty, who are these people.¡± ¡°My siblings, I¡¯ve invited them to stay for a bit.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The gates opened and we went inside. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Daddy!¡± A small girl ran at Elren with a wide grin, but all 3 of us noticed the attack. ¡°She is young.¡± ¡°And inexperienced.¡± Elren grabbed his daughter¡¯s arm and flipped her, making the knife fall and bounce off of her neck. ¡°If that were enchanted, you¡¯d be dead. Be more careful and hide your stance better. A surprise attack will never work otherwise.¡± ¡°I get it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll never understand a dragon¡¯s form of raising a child. Who are these?¡± An elven woman stepped out. She was beautiful. ¡°Love, these are my sisters, Thalia and Rose.¡± ¡°Ah, more fools going around naming dragons?¡± ¡°I guess.¡± ¡°I actually named myself.¡± Thalia spoke up. I was kind of surprised. Naming a dragon takes a lot of mana usually, but a dragon naming themself would take almost all of their mana. ¡°Well, who named you, little one.¡± ¡°Sir Royce of Selethon.¡± ¡°A Kingsguard? Did he know you were a dragon?¡± ¡°Yes, he did.¡± ¡°Wow, he must have trusted you a lot.¡± ¡°Actually, he didn¡¯t know that naming a dragon was different from naming others.¡± ¡°Ah... so he¡¯s an idiot.¡± ¡°Ignorance isn¡¯t idiocy El.¡± Me and Thalia smirked. ¡°El?¡± ¡°Doe, please call me Elren or my siblings will mock me.¡± ¡°Then call me Doleaira.¡± That¡¯s a mouthful. ¡°Dolorea¡± ¡°No, Doleaira, Doe-lee-air-a.¡± ¡°Complicated.¡± ¡°Yes, my parents have odd naming senses.¡± ¡°Is the kid Eldo, or Renaira.¡± ¡°That second one is actually good, but no, her name is Alice.¡± Thalia looked shocked. ¡°She¡¯s named that young?¡± Elren shrugged. ¡°Doe insisted, said that it was odd that I wasn¡¯t going to name my own daughter.¡± ¡°He never explained why dragons do that.¡± I spoke diplomatically, ¡°Dragons do it for a few reasons, the first is so your attention to details is better. For example, I am an arcane dragon, but I am red like Thalia. With names, they wouldn¡¯t need to have many descriptors to tell us apart, but as we didn¡¯t have names they had to determine what minute differences to call us for based on appearance. Elren, for example, called me cat, as my human form was a catkin, instead of the typical elf or human, while he called Thalia, Crimson, because her scales were slightly darker than mine.¡± She started nodding as she understood a bit. ¡°We also do it as a symbol of strength, once the young one either matures through combat or defeats their father and mother, they will be named.¡± ¡°So, it¡¯s essentially to show strength if you actually have a name.¡± ¡°Yes, think of it as being admitted to a famous battle school, you need to complete a challenge only using what you know of the style of fighting they teach. Being named greatly increases the dragon¡¯s strength, so we do it so we know we are worthy of even having names. Dragons see it as names are a privilege.¡± She suddenly has a question. ¡°Is it also dragon tradition to tell a 1-year-old, on her birthday mind you, that she is not to be treated as a princess anymore, needs to hunt for her own food, and gain a reputation as powerful?¡± Thalia turned to Elren in shock. Doleaira smiled until Thalia said something she didn¡¯t expect. ¡°Man, you spoiled her.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You waited a full year to do that? I¡¯d at max give them a week.¡± ¡°I told you I gave her a year to get her bearing already.¡± ¡°I thought you were exaggerating. A full year of lazing? That''s how you get a weak dragon.¡± Doleaira was confounded. She looked at me. ¡°I¡¯m with you on this one.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cause you¡¯re young.¡± Both siblings reached the same conclusion at the same time. ¡°Hey!¡± They snickered, then my niece went up and said, ¡°Daddy, this lady is the one that won the tournament.¡± ¡°You won? I thought a dragonslayer won the capital tournament.¡± ¡°I used my aspect, and they thought I killed a dragon to get it.¡± ¡°Ah, that makes sense.¡± ¡°Are you my aunty?¡± ¡°Yes, I am, as hard it is to believe for me that Greeny got a mate.¡± ¡°Hey, Elren, not Greeny!¡± Doleaira covered a laugh, ¡°Greeny?¡± ¡°He was the only green one.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°Aunty, I wanna fight you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re too adorable to fight.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not that much older, I¡¯ll beat you.¡± ¡°Maybe. I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯d die of cute before your magic.¡± ¡°Hah, cuteness is my secondary weapon.¡± ¡°It is?¡± Thalia and Elren looked confused and Doleaira looked hopeful. ¡°Yeah, I look cute and then when they least expect it, I rip out their spleen and eat it!¡± Doleaira sighed as Thalia and Elren cheered. Great, another battle junky. ¡°Do you use cuteness in the same way?¡± ¡°No, I use it to lose suspicion.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± She was nodding, maybe she understo- ¡°Then you rip off their legs.¡± ¡°No-¡± ¡°That makes sense.¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t like killing.¡± ¡°Ah...¡± My niece looked at me with curiosity. ¡°How many kills.¡± ¡°5.¡± ¡°Lame.¡± ¡°What do you mean lame?!¡± ¡°I already have over 100 kills.¡± ¡°Ah...¡± My niece was no longer interested in me and went over to Thalia. ¡°I have over 99900.¡± ¡°I like this aunt.¡± Nooo. My adorable niece is too far gone. Her mother was annoyed and looked at me. ¡°I understand you need 100000 lives to mature, but why not do it peacefully and wait 1000 years.¡± ¡°Dragons are battle junkies regularly. We fight since birth and therefore, with the exception of me, we fight to age.¡± She nodded a tired nod as a man rushed in. ¡°Sire!¡± Elren immediately went serious. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°There is a wolfkin, he wants to speak to you.¡± ¡°Does he have a name?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s Sir Royce of Selethon.¡± Chapter 17: The Wolf and the Dragon Siblings Royce entered the city with a stern guard. ¡°The king said to let you in, but don¡¯t think we trust you.¡± I heard this as Elren went to meet. I decided to hide nearby. ¡°So, you are Sir Royce, I do believe you are aware of your nation¡¯s relationship with this one.¡± ¡°Yes, but I was looking for someone. I need to find her, and I thought you may know about her. I heard you know everything that happens in this kingdom.¡± ¡°And why would you think this person would be here?¡± ¡°Because she was heading in this direction when I last saw her.¡± Elren was judging Royce. Royce picked up on this. Elren decided to test him. ¡°You know it is customary to kneel before royalty.¡± Royce knew how to respond, ¡°I will only kneel to the king I swore loyalty to. I apologize.¡± ¡°Insolence!¡± An elf shouted but went silent when Elren raised his hand smiling. ¡°Sir Royce, you have loyalty, but I¡¯d like to know, are you afraid of me?¡± ¡°Am I cowering?¡± Elren let out a laugh. ¡°I like you, come with me. Rose, I agree, he is safe.¡± I step out and smile nervously at Royce who looks at me with his jaw dropped. ¡°Ahem.¡± Elren makes a conspicuous cough and gives side eye to Royce. ¡°I¡¯m fine with you being here, but don¡¯t think that means you can flirt with my sister.¡± That got Royce¡¯s attention. Wait, flirt? Is he stupid? ¡°Sister? Wait that means-¡± ¡°Yep, it¡¯s as the rumors say,¡± Elren smiles. ¡°I¡¯m a dragon.¡± _ Thalia glared at Royce in a dark expression and Elren looked confused. ¡°Thalia be nice.¡± ¡°But Rose.¡± ¡°May I remind you that he saved our lives.¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± She left and I sighed. ¡°No anger, huh?¡± If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Yep, she is still bitter, can¡¯t really blame her though.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± Royce looked at me in shock, his mouth slightly opened again. ¡°What, is there something on my face?¡± ¡°N-no.¡± Elren was again giving Royce a dark glare. ¡°Elren?¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± Doleaira walked in and grabbed her husband. ¡°Come with me, third wheel. You two just call if you need anything.¡± Royce had an odd expression as Doleaira left. I decided to speak first. ¡°I didn¡¯t know there could be third wheels with friends.¡± Royce flinched. ¡°F-friend?¡± ¡°Yeah, I mean you named me and even saved my life. I¡¯d consider you a friend like Jalad and Dallel.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± He had that odd look again. ¡°Y-you look nice.¡± ¡°Thanks, I¡¯d much rather my armor, but apparently it doesn¡¯t fit this setting.¡± ¡°You also look good with your armor.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± I gave him a friendly smile and Thalia walked in with Alice. ¡°Alright that was painful.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°Aunty? Is that your mate?¡± Oh, that¡¯s why Elren was glaring. ¡°No, we are just friends.¡± Thalia gave an odd look to Royce. ¡°Aunty, what would you say makes a good mate. Other Aunty said my equal in strength, but Daddy said someone that I liked being around. What do you think?¡± What made the ideal mate? Hmm. ¡°Well, if it were me, I would want to be with someone I liked being around, but also was loyal to me. Someone who would never betray me, and also enjoy daily company. Strong or weak doesn¡¯t really matter as one can be strong without doing combat. Someone who I¡¯d consider my best friend, and who¡¯d be able to be casual with me as well as respect me. I don¡¯t want to be able to make them do anything, nor would I want them to think they could make me do anything. Basically, my equal. Not necessarily in strength, but equal to me, nonetheless.¡± ¡°Does someone like that exist?¡± ¡°I dunno. I¡¯m only 100.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m certain you have a decent chance of meeting someone like that, Rose.¡± ¡°I do?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± Thalia seemed quite confident that I could meet someone like that. ¡°That¡¯d be nice.¡± ¡°Yeah, and you could meet them soon.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be nice.¡± ¡°Ugh.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Too oblivious.¡± ¡°...?¡± What was she on about? And what was with the odd look Royce was getting? _ ¡°So, he wanted to apologize?¡± ¡°Yes, he asked me to tell you that.¡± ¡°Does he think-¡± I raised my hand causing Thalia to stop. ¡°I understand your anger, but remember, he was afraid of us, and Galswell did it. As Galswell is dead, there doesn¡¯t need to be any anger.¡± ¡°...¡± Thalia became quiet. ¡°But I don¡¯t think I could come back after all the guild won-¡± ¡°The king ordered everyone to keep your identity a secret.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Mammon also agreed to hide your identity unless you want to reveal it.¡± ¡°So...¡± ¡°You are still a B rank adventurer.¡± Elren got an idea. ¡°Hmm... it¡¯s still only rumored that I¡¯m a dragon, and the only ones who know Rose is a dragon is the border guard and palace guard, so it should be easy enough to stop word from spreading. What do you think?¡± ¡°I.... I honestly want to be an adventurer; I want to help.¡± ¡°Then you do that, I¡¯ll stay with Elren for now.¡± ¡°Thalia?¡± ¡°Yeah, I can do stuff too. Make swords, armor, and whatever else.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Then we decided that I¡¯d return to the capital after scaring off the dragon. ¡°Would they believe that?¡± ¡°They already think she killed an arcane dragon.¡± ¡°Fair.¡± Me and Royce headed out. ¡°Wait, one second.¡± Royce turned. ¡°Tell the king I am open to negotiations once again.¡± Royce smiled. ¡°Sure.¡± We headed out and Royce prepared for a hike. ¡°Why hike?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not hard, the border knows me, and their king is a dragon. I could just fly right over.¡± ¡°Yeah, but...¡± ¡°It¡¯s easy.¡± I shifted and spoke, ¡°Just get on my back.¡± I lowered my wing. He gulped nervously. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not going eat you.¡± ¡°Not what I¡¯m gulping for.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± He¡¯s an odd fellow. After he got on my back, I took off. He screamed at the speed and grabbed on quite hard. ¡°Calm down, you won¡¯t fall.¡± ¡°O-ok!¡± He looked up and immediately I heard a gasp of awe. ¡°Is this what you see?¡± ¡°A dragon¡¯s eye view. Beautiful isn¡¯t it.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Get comfortable, we have 10 hours. I frankly have no clue how you got to the palace almost as fast as I did.¡± ¡°Someone teleported me to the border.¡± ¡°Ah, I see.¡± We stayed quiet and saw the world below. Small towns, people living their lives, I could see it all. Even Royce, with not as good eyesight as me, was in awe. I glanced down at the people and couldn¡¯t help but smile. They had such kind lives. Wait... one village is... ¡°That village is on fire!¡± ¡°Bandits?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°They¡¯re attacking the village.¡± ¡°We need to help.¡± ¡°I agree. No time to shift.¡± I came down to fight the bandits. Chapter 18: Dragon Tamer Royce Bandit Chief POV Ha. The village is ours. We had so much money now. "Kill them all!" I couldn''t help but laugh. No one could save them. The knights were too selfish, and the other villages were too scared of us. Just to think, a few days ago, we were worried about starving. "Mam, please spare us." The village leader looked at me in a pleading look. "Why should I do that? You could give me something." The old man wasn''t that appealing, but I could help myself to his son. Upon seeing my look, they both cringed. "You''re disgusting!" The son yelled. He was angry at me for burning his village. "Oh, please. You weren''t giving us food, why should I spare you?" "We offered a discount even; you wanted us to give it to you for free. We need that money to live." "Well now you won''t live." All of the sudden the screaming got louder. I turned and saw some of my men pointing at the sky. "D-d-dragon!" Oh crap. Screw the village I need to get out of he- _ I crushed the leader and Royce leapt off of my back and started cutting down bandits. I also covered him and slashed some in half. As the bandits started to flee, I charged forward and burnt them to a crisp. After the village was safe, the villagers looked at me in fear. "Sir Royce? What are you doing here? Why is there a dragon?" "I was returning from Calesen, when I saw the bandits." "So, the dragon..." Royce began to struggle for an excuse, but then. "Sir Royce tamed a dragon! Incredible." ... What? "Huh? No-" "We must spread the word. Royce Dragon Tamer, thank you so much for you and your pet dragon!" "Bu-" "Take this, I hope it''s enough to compensate." "I don''t need money." "Ah, how noble. We thank you again for your great service to us." Then they left, singing Royce''s praises. He looked at me with a look that said, ''the heck just happened.'' "Let''s just go." I agreed and let him back onto my back. We flew and the people were whooping. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "I''m just worried about what everyone else will think." I laughed. "Mammon and my siblings will think it''s hilarious." "The king will be annoyed but accept it." "Jalad and Dallel..." "They''ll kill me." "Yep." _ When we got closer to the gate I landed in a forest and shifted back into my catkin form. We approached the gate and the gate guard said, "Hey Rose, good job on scaring off that massive beast." So, that''s the story they''re going with. "It was hard." "I''d imagine, good thing you''re okay though." We went to the guild and entered. "Ah, Sir Royce." Jalad''s smile made Royce flinch. He wrapped his arm around his shoulder and grinned. "Mind explaining this story that reached us a few minutes ago?" "Pray tell, what is it?" "That you made a wonderful movement and tamed a dragon making it your pet." "Ah... that..." "Come with me." Jalad dragged Royce into Mammon''s office and then unleashed his aura. "Mind explaining?" Royce looked at me hopefully. I sighed, "Me and Royce found a village in danger on our way back, I helped, and they assumed he had tamed me." "And he accepted it." "Nope, they wouldn''t let him respond." "Ah..." Jalad looked less upset, but still glared at Royce. Mammon came in laughing. "Ah look, the pet''s back." "Guildmaster, please don''t say that if you want to keep your head." "Hah, Dallel, I ain''t scared of ya." Dallel gave a glare to Royce who once again wilted. For some reason he seemed angrier than Jalad. After we explained it Dallel was still glaring while Mammon only laughed more. "Anyways, Lassie. We didn''t tell anyone about you being... yeah, so you''re still on track to be an A rank." "Thanks." "Thank the king, if it weren''t for his direct order, the 3 aces would''ve spread the word as far as they could see." "I will, if he doesn''t attempt something that dumb again." "Yeah..." Royce spoke up, "I need to meet with the king actually, so I''ll take my leave." "What do you need to meet with him for?" "The king of Calesen is open for negotiations since Saliad is dead." "That''s why they were hostile? Really?" Royce left. Jalad turned to me in confusion. "Were they really hostile for Saliad alone?" "He essentially threatened the king and left after the coronation. This kingdom defended him." "I see." Mammon seemed upset, I could understand, they used to be party members, so the sudden realization that Saliad and Galswell weren''t the saints he thought they were was probably a bigger shock to him. "I should probably get my armor checked on." "By the way, Rose. How''d the king figure out you were a dragon in the first place." Mammon''s question caught me off guard. I turned. "He sent Galswell to get whatever could be scavenged from the fire dragon. Her being alive was a major hint." "I see, is she still alive?" "She was the elf I carried when I was fleeing." "I see, that matches what the king said." I left the office as Jalad, Dallel, and Mammon sat in silence. _ I entered the blacksmith shop after avoiding detection from the tons of people that looked for me. "Ah, the shining star returns." "Hello, Thalias." "Hello, I see you learned my name." "Would you be able to examine my armor to make sure it''s still in good condition, I had a few skirmishes." "I see, hmmm. That''s odd, it looks refined from the crude armor I gave you." "My sister is a master blacksmith, she refined it, sorry." "Incredible workmanship, she is better than I am at least. Though as your sister, she could probably hold grammite a lot easier." "Yeah, she is pretty strong." "You don''t need to apologize; this armor is far better than anything I could ever make. I''m just happy to have the chance to examine it." He inspected the armor with an almost crude look. As someone that has the fire element, I could understand he was only interested in the armor, but if someone came in, they''d assume that he was a weirdo lusting after a little girl. "That armor is incredible. Your sister is amazing. I must meet her, where is she?" "Calesen." "Ah... it would be hard to meet her." "Thalias, what''re you doin''?" Thalias''s brother in arms, Gallson came in. "Come on, give me a break, her sister refined her gear to a point where neither of us could match it." "Really, could I see the blade?" I handed him the blade and he examined it with eagerness. "Incredible. I doubt I could even attempt to melt it down. There''s even a dragon claw incorporated." "I saw multiple dragon scales in your armor as well. A crimson dragon must have shed directly onto the armor there were so many." "What?" "On the inside of the armor there''s a second layer of scales." "Really?" Thalia put her literal spare body parts in the gear. "The grammite is refined too, if I couldn''t feel the magic I incorporated into the gear, I''d assume you threw our crappy gear away for a full new set." "Really?" "It''s leagues above everything I''ve seen made." I guess 700 years of blacksmithing helps with the creative process. "She does have a lot of experience." "I can see that." They did the check up and found that there were no issues. I checked and even I couldn''t scratch it, so Thalia was just a master smith. Chapter 19: The Mythic Threat I headed back to the guild to pick up a few requests and there I saw someone who made me feel immediate fear from his presence alone. ¡°What are you doing here, Climond?¡± Mammon walked out of the office and walked over to the terrifying man. ¡°Mammon, I heard that Saliad was killed in a tournament. I wanted to meet the one who did it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s no reason for you to release your aura in my guild hall.¡± ¡°Sorry, I just wanted to spook whoever it is.¡± ¡°Succeeded there.¡± They turned and saw me. ¡°You killed Saliad?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Hah, the idiot was killed by a catkin of all things? I knew he was too weak to be put in S class.¡± ¡°Saliad was definitely strong. I am just stronger.¡± Climond released his aura directly aiming at me. It was strong enough that even Mammon started sweating, but my fear was gone from his blatant disrespect of someone strong. I released mine back. It was on par with his. He looked at me with an odd fascination. ¡°A hottie and a powerful fighter. Wanna join my party?¡± I then noticed that he was a dragonkin. As they were close to dragons, they were feared, but they were treated as actual people, due to their closer resemblance to humans. ¡°No thank you.¡± ¡°Ah come on. I betcha I could treat you well.¡± He glanced to my chest making me feel gross. ¡°I already refused.¡± ¡°Tell ya what, we duel. I win, you join. You win, I leave you alone.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not an idiot. An S rank challenging a B rank is lunacy.¡± ¡°Not when said B rank is responsible for another S ranks death.¡± As expected, he was intelligent as well as strong. ¡°Fair, but I still declined so move off.¡± The adventurers around me looked at me as though I¡¯d lost my mind. Few even talked back to an S rank, and I was telling him to mess off. ¡°Fun, then how about som-¡± ¡°I said no. Now if you¡¯ll excuse me, I came to get some requests solved.¡± ¡°What if I hel-¡± ¡°Don¡¯t need it.¡± He was getting ticked off. ¡°Listen here, girl. I made a wonderful offer; you should be thankful.¡± ¡°And yet I¡¯m not. How odd.¡± He struck at me. Foolish move. I caught his blade with my bare hand. He released powerful magic, and I matched it not even looking at him. I started laughing. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°You were making fun of Saliad, but the only thing you have is an aura that scares those it catches off guard.¡± The Dragonkin started sweating as I showed absolute superiority. ¡°So, you going to leave, or should I add a second S rank to my list.¡± Climond glared at me before leaving in a huff. ¡°Girly?¡± I looked at Mammon. ¡°Ye have a massive backbone.¡± He started giggling at his own lame pun as I rolled my eyes and got a dungeon subjugation request, along with requests for materials that I¡¯d find inside. ¡°Hey, Rose.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I got a few new adventurers going to that dungeon to train. Could you go with them?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± _ ¡°You seem a bit smaller than I imagined.¡± A couple humans were waiting outside the gate for me. ¡°My name is Rose, what about you four?¡± ¡°Daniel, this is my sister Clara.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Monty and that¡¯s Gabe.¡± We set out on foot as the dungeon isn¡¯t far. ¡°I heard you took on a dragon.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Cool, why are you helping low ranks like us?¡± ¡°Also going to dungeon.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Requests, besides haven¡¯t been with guild for long.¡± ¡°I see.¡± We moved on and all of the sudden I sensed something. ¡°Stop.¡± ¡°What?¡± They understood my senses were better than theirs. They froze and a massive Whilder emerged from the woods. ¡°What are you doing so far from the enchanted woods?¡± ¡°A-a-a WHILDERBEAST!¡± They started panicking and the Whilder attacked me as it knew my nature. I held it back with my strength. ¡°Run!¡± They began fleeing as the Whilder tried to throw me. A mythic beast was pushing against me. Usually, a Whilder was only a legendary, but this one was a mythic. It managed to throw me due to my small stature and I slammed into a tree next to the fleeing humans. At that moment, another mythic Whilder blocked their exit. ¡°Get behind me!¡± We were surrounded. I knew of only one way for all of us to get out alive, but they may attack me afterwards. ¡°Can you keep a secret?¡± ¡°Why are you asking us now?¡± ¡°Just tell me.¡± ¡°Ok. Fine we¡¯ll keep whatever secret you¡¯re going to tell us, just help us.¡± They all nodded, then the contract was made. I would protect them here in return for them hiding my identity. I looked at the Whilders and smiled, then I roared and shifted back to my true form. ¡°D-D-D-D-DRAGON?!¡± ¡°SHE¡¯S A DRAGON?!¡± I bashed the head of one of the Whilders as the other tackled me, I roared and breathed arcane, causing one of them to cringe back. I stood over the party and roared at the Whilders who struck at me with full strength. I bit one of their throats and used it to block the other before crushing it and throwing the corpse. The other roared in anger and used summoning magic to summon an army of Whildorcs, the followers of the Whilders. ¡°Run now!¡± I yelled at the party who took off. As the Whildorcs grappled me, I turned my scales into flames. I burned the orcs and charged the Whilder, who I grappled and clawed. It was double my size, so it tried to throw me. I latched on and began tearing into its belly, causing it to roar in outrage. It grappled with me and threw me against a tree causing it to shatter. I roared and suddenly felt a presence. I dodged and a crater opened up where I just was. ¡°Crap.¡± ¡°Ha ha ha! Very rare for a beast to dodge my attack.¡± It was a human with so much magic radiating off of him that I would¡¯ve assumed him one of my kin if I didn¡¯t know better. ¡°Beast? Please, at least aid me against the Whilder before you try to claim my head.¡± ¡°Dragons can talk? Incredible. I shall aid you.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± The fighter struck the Whilder with immense strength, and the beast yelped before slamming him into a rock. I backed him up by leaping and slashing at the Whilder, causing it to back up. The man leapt onto my back as I twisted and he, using my momentum, launched at the Whilder, slashing its throat. It roared again and made one last attempt to bite down on me, but I took the opportunity and ripped its throat out. It made one last cry before bleeding out and falling. As it fell, me and the warrior regrouped. ¡°Hey, dragon, you don¡¯t seem as bad as the legends say.¡± ¡°Dragons aren¡¯t as ferocious as you think. Most of us are rather friendly if you treat us right.¡± ¡°Well, the name¡¯s Asura. S rank adventurer, what¡¯s yours?¡± ¡°That would be a secret for now, but perhaps we can spar if we meet again.¡± ¡°Fun! Well, have a wonderful day!¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I flew off to find my party. When I finally found them, hiding in a field, they screamed at the sight of me. I then transformed into a catkin again. ¡°Y-y-y-y-you are a d-d-d-d-d-dragon?¡± Clara was standing in front of the group with her bow aimed at me. ¡°Why are you aiming at me?¡± ¡°Dragon!¡± ¡°Yes, and I saved your ungrateful behinds. We still need to conquer that dungeon so come on.¡± The arrow broke on my hand. ¡°Come on now. I¡¯ll forget your attempted assassination.¡± They clamored after me frightened. _ ¡°Ogres. Why are there so many ogres.¡± ¡°SCREW THE OGRES THERE¡¯S A BASILISK!¡± ¡°I THOUGHT THIS WAS A LOW-LEVEL DUNGEON!¡± ¡°WE¡¯RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!¡± ¡°WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP?!¡± That last one was me. I had already killed the ogres and basilisk. They stopped and looked around in shock before screaming again, but this time looking at me. ¡°AAH, WE TICKED HER OFF, SHE¡¯S GONNA EAT US!¡± I facepalmed and simply walked off. ¡°If you guys want to cower then cower, but I¡¯m beating the dungeon and I¡¯ll tell Mammon you just hid the whole time screaming.¡± ¡°You are evil!¡± ¡°You are cowards.¡± I moved to the new room, and I saw the boss. It was Callel. Chapter 20: The Lichs Embrace ¡°Welcome to the end of your lives, adventurers. I am the great Callel. I have died and was resurrected.¡± ¡°You?¡± ¡°Ah, you are that weak little village girl that ran before the dragon showed up. Hah. I died, but I will destroy you and then hunt down your village and burn it.¡± ¡°Hm... You got one thing wrong. I didn¡¯t run before the dragon showed up.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± I shifted, causing my party to cower against the wall as I smiled at Callel. ¡°Hello, my first kill.¡± ¡°Ah, so you are the dragon? Ha! I shall control you and take my revenge for that.¡± ¡°Oh, and what are you planning?¡± ¡°Just think, that much power in that small body... You could destroy entire nations from the inside!¡± ¡­ ¡°What?¡± ¡°You are probably the first bad guy I fought that isn¡¯t a pervert.¡± ¡°You look like a kid in your catkin form.¡± ¡°Yep, that¡¯s why I was so concerned with how many bad guys flirted with me or made inappropriate jokes.¡± ¡°Some people are just scoundrels.¡± ¡°I know, right? Like I know it¡¯s a 19-year-old body, but I still look like a 10-year-old why flirt.¡± ¡°I hear ya...¡± For a moment we had solidarity. ¡°I¡¯m still gonna kill you again.¡± ¡°If you can.¡± ¡­ The party was simply confused. ¡°Are they enemies?¡± ¡°I think so.¡± Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°They threatened each other.¡± ¡°Did he say Callel? Isn''t that Dallel¡¯s evil brother who was eaten by a dragon?¡± ¡°I think it is.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t she say he was her first kill? Does that mean she ate him?¡± ¡°He looks surprisingly uneaten.¡± Me and Callel just looked at each other and then them. ¡°They¡¯re looking at us.¡± ¡°Are they going to eat us?¡± ¡°Idiot, Callel is too small, besides he¡¯s an undead elf.¡± ¡°Maybe he¡¯s a cannibalistic undead elf.¡± ¡°Gulp maybe!¡± We stared. ¡°They¡¯re idiots.¡± ¡°Yep, and I was told to keep them alive.¡± ¡°That¡¯s irritating.¡± ¡°Yep, they got so scared when they learned I was a dragon.¡± ¡°Really? That¡¯s stupid.¡± ¡°I know right?¡± ¡°Well, now that the pleasantries are over. I¡¯ll destroy you here and now. DIVINE-¡± Monch crunch crunch crunch ¡°Tastes about as bad as last time.¡± I picked at my teeth with my claw, pulling out his femur. ¡°Seriously don¡¯t know how that guy counted as a legendary.¡± I shifted back into a catkin and walked into the next room. ¡°Woah, so much money!¡± Then they looked at me. What they were about to ask was obvious. ¡°I¡¯m sure you''re going to be kicked from the guild after your pathetic attempt, so take as much as you can carry, I¡¯ll hold the rest.¡± They cheered and used item bags. They, altogether, got roughly half of the gold, so I used dragon form and ate the rest before shifting back to a catkin. ¡°Why''d you eat it?¡± ¡°I can access and separate things, I can use it as a bag.¡± ¡°Ah. So, theoretically...¡± ¡°No, any meat would get digested almost instantly.¡± They flinched. ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s head back.¡± And with that, we left the cave. _ ¡°We¡¯ve returned.¡± ¡°Good to see ya.¡¯ All you are alive I see.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Rose, you don¡¯t look too happy.¡± ¡°They hid almost the entire dungeon run.¡± ¡°Ah, I see.¡± ¡°Find anything interesting?¡± ¡°A bunch of gold.¡± ¡°Nice!¡± ¡°Any tough enemies?¡± ¡°We had to fight the wizard Callel.¡± Monty started bragging. ¡°Wasn¡¯t he eaten by a dragon.¡± ¡°Oh, he became a lich and I had to kill him.¡± ¡°Ah, how much did they contribute.¡± ¡°Well, they talked about nonsense, so me and Callel had a nice chat about the surprising amount of weirdos I fight.¡± ¡°Ah, and what happened after that.¡± ¡°I killed him before he could use his first spell.¡± ¡°Ah...¡± The quartet looked at me with a betrayed expression. ¡°Hey, we asked you to give us credit.¡± ¡°And I said I¡¯d give you the credit you deserve.¡± They drooped before leaving. ¡°Mammon, could I talk with you, in your office?¡± ¡°Sure, come with me.¡± We walked into the office, and he turned at me. ¡°So, what do you want to tell me.¡± ¡°The 4 know.¡± ¡°They do? Why?¡± ¡°2 Whilders attacked us and I had to shift to handle them, I made a contract that they wouldn¡¯t share it though.¡± ¡°Good, is that all?¡± ¡°No, one of the Whilders was too big for me to handle, so someone helped.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°An S rank adventurer. He originally was coming for me until he learnt I could talk. Then we worked together to kill the Whilder.¡± ¡°I see, what was his name.¡± ¡°Asura.¡± ¡°Hm, heck of a friend you made.¡± ¡°He was strong.¡± ¡°Indeed, he¡¯s the number 1 adventurer in strength, and you said you both struggled with the beast?¡± ¡°Yes, the Whilders are already known to have evolved, but there were 2 mythics there.¡± ¡°Mythics?¡± ¡°Yes, and I have a feeling that they are only getting started.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t think...¡± ¡°I do.¡± A Godly has arisen. Chapter 21: The Godly and the Elven Prince The beasts of this world were classed like loot. Common- beasts like wolves, cows, and pigs. Can be beaten by a G or H rank. Uncommon- beasts like bears, dire wolves, and orcs. Can be beaten by an E or F rank. Rare- Ogres, Lichs, and Wights. Can be beaten by C or D rank. Ultra rare- Low Whilders, Godfish, and Elementals. Can be beaten by B rank. Legendary- Powerful beings like Whilders, evil sorcerers, and King Lichs. Can be beaten by A rank. Mythic- Dragons, Phoenixes, and this new type of Whilder. Comparable with S rank. And last but not least. Godly- Nothing can be born into this power, and none can compare to its strength. _ ¡°So, you think a Whilderbeast evolved into a Godly?¡± ¡°Yes, it would make sense, because that Whilder me and Asura fought was a high mythic yet felt like a grunt.¡± I met with the king to discuss with him and Mammon the next course of action. ¡°The Whilders are only legendary. Maximum.¡± ¡°Then why did 2 with strength comparable to mine come.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I don¡¯t think that something like a Whilderbeast could evolve to that point.¡± ¡°Maybe, but still there is something almost as strong as a Godly.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you think it could be unorganized and just random?¡± ¡°Because two mythic Whilders don¡¯t randomly stand at both sides of a random valley at the chance time that a dragon is there.¡± ¡°That is a fair point, what would you suggest we do?¡± ¡°How are negotiations going with Calesen?¡± ¡°Good, we entered a nonaggression pact.¡± ¡°I think we need to ask for aid.¡± ¡°What? We can¡¯t lower ourselves like that. Other nations will take notice.¡± ¡°Other nations will also take notice if we are wiped off the map.¡± The king cringed but sighed. ¡°You are correct. I will send an emissary to meet with the king.¡± ¡°Send me, I will negotiate.¡± ¡°Lassie, he¡¯s supposed to be a harsh negotiator. We¡¯re lucky we got nonaggression, besides, you¡¯re an adventurer, you aren¡¯t bound to a kingdom.¡± ¡°Make it an official request then. And besides, I can handle him.¡± ¡°He¡¯s your brother, aint he.¡± The king and I nodded. ¡°If anyone can convince him, it¡¯s me.¡± _ ¡°I wish I could come with.¡± ¡°Jalad, you are needed here to protect the city.¡± ¡°I know, but Dallel and Royce get to come with.¡± ¡°Yes, I know, and it¡¯s because of that that we need you to stay here. 2 of the strongest fighters in the nation are coming with me. We need another to stay.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Heh, Royce, she¡¯s right, we need to defend the city, so you should stay here.¡± ¡°Ah, but Dallel, I¡¯m a Kingsguard, not a city guard. But you are the vice-captain, maybe you should stay. I can protect Rose.¡± Jalad grabbed them by the necks. ¡°How about this, you both go as emissaries as assigned and Rose goes as the bodyguard with negotiative authority.¡± He began to summon magic into his hands causing the duo to squirm. ¡°Especially since she¡¯s stronger than both of you combined. If she needs protection, then I dare-say none of you will be able to protect her.¡± ¡°Well said, now can we go?¡± ¡°Fine.¡± They both muttered. We set out and when we had gotten out of eyesight, I turned into a dragon and got them on my back. Dallel seemed strangly red. ¡°Dallel, are you sick?¡± ¡°Um no. It¡¯s just...¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Well, we are kinda sitting on your back.¡± ¡°Yeah? I am a dragon. I can carry you.¡± ¡°Yeah Dallel? Why are you acting odd.¡± ¡°Royce? What¡¯s with the look you¡¯re giving him?¡± They are an odd bunch. They keep acting like that. _ This ***** He really just tried to flirt with Rose in front of me. Thank goodness she is oblivious to everything. ¡°Royce? You seem upset, why?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°Well, it is Dallel¡¯s first time riding me, so I guess he could seem a bit nervous.¡± Both me and Dallel became strawberries, thank goodness for the fur covering my face. ¡°H-hey Dallel, what¡¯s with that look?¡± ¡°R-Rose, please don¡¯t word it like that.¡± ¡°...?¡± For a dragon as old as Saliad, she was surprisingly innocent. ¡°You two are odd.¡± _ WHY DID SHE SAY IT LIKE THAT?! I can easily tell that Royce is just as flustered as I am after that remark. How can one older than my grandma be so na?ve to say that with little to no reaction? Now that I think about it, she is older than my grandmother, but for her species, she¡¯s not even far into adulthood. She¡¯d probably be considered about 19 for her species. That makes it odd for us two to be interested in her, but its less her looks and more her kindness that attracts me at least. Not sure about Royce though. He may be a deviant. Frankly, I¡¯m gonna wait for her to mature before making my move. She¡¯d at least look old enough. Besides, Royce will be long gone at that point. That doesn¡¯t mean I won¡¯t plant the seeds. _ We got to the border, and I turned into a catkin for a moment to tell them to notify Elren. The guards recognized me and nodded before sending a messenger and letting me through. Royce got suspicious looks, but Dallel seemed to cower behind me, it seemed the elves didn¡¯t like him that much. They threw garbage at him, so as soon as we got through the border, we took off again. ¡°Why were they so hostile?¡± Royce seemed peeved at the elves¡¯ bad behavior; I was inclined to agree. ¡°Yeah, that was uncalled for.¡± ¡°No, I deserved that.¡± ¡°What? No, you don¡¯t.¡± ¡°You two don¡¯t know me well enough to understand.¡± ¡°Well, you can tell us when ready.¡± ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t feel pressured, we are friends after all.¡± ¡°... Thanks.¡± Odd, when I called him a friend, his mood got worse, but Royce¡¯s got better. They certainly are odd. _ We arrived at the castle and landed in front of the gates. The guards saluted me but glared at Dallel. As we entered the palace, the amount of side-eye that Dallel got was beginning to tick me off. Doleaira walked out and narrowed her eyes. ¡°Hello Doe.¡± Dallel¡¯s surprising casualness surprised me, but not as much as what Doleaira responded with. ¡°Hello, idiot brother of mine.¡± ¡°Wait, brother?¡± ¡°Yes, this foolish traitor is unfortunately my brother.¡± At that moment, Elren walked out with a playful smile, which turned into a grimace upon seeing Dallel. ¡°Hello Elren.¡± ¡°That would be, your majesty, to you.¡± ¡°So, you did become king.¡± ¡°Indeed, I did.¡± ¡°Oh, my goodness, talk like normal people.¡± ¡°Rose, I ca-¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care, Elren. Either tell us what happened or stop giving him side eye.¡± Elren grimaced at my bluntness before sighing. ¡°I just don¡¯t like having a kin-killer in my house.¡± ¡°Kin-killer? What does he mean?¡± ¡°Rose, do you know why I had to become king in the first place?¡± Dallel looked down at the floor. ¡°Yeah, I killed the previous king of Calesen.¡± That caught both me and Royce off guard. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Yeah, it was my fault. I killed him out of jealousy-¡± ¡°Don¡¯t lie to me.¡± Everyone looked at me in confusion, but as an arcane dragon, I had hidden skills. One was a lie detector. ¡°You killed him yes, but what you just said, that you did it out of jealousy, that was a lie.¡± This caught both Doleaira and Elren off guard. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Elren, you know my lie detecting skill?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°It went off the moment he said he killed him due to jealousy.¡± They turned to Dallel who began sweating. ¡°Dallel.¡± My brother released some of his aura. ¡°Why did you kill the previous king?¡± ¡°I-I it''s my fault. It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± ¡°Yes, it does. We excommunicated you because you killed of jealousy, but that was a lie?!¡± Doleaira was also ticked off and had a light tinge of relief. ¡°Why did you kill the king, Brother?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell you.¡± It didn¡¯t go off... in fact, me and Elren noticed the same thing. ¡°Dallel, why are you bound by contract magic?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not!¡± It went off. I just needed to know what it was. ¡°Contract revelation.¡± ¡®In the words of Dallel Cales, elven prince of Calesen, in thanks for your actions in saving my sister¡¯s life, I will accomplish one task by your discretion and take all blame if it goes wrong. Please do not make it bad. The contract is enforced by the Earth dragon, Onyx.¡¯ ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Sister?¡± ¡°One of our siblings contracted him after saving Doleaira¡¯s life. The contract was shoddily made, Dallel, next time you go for a contract don¡¯t request that it¡¯s nothing bad. That enables it to be easy to trick you.¡± ¡°...¡± He was silent... ¡°But Rose.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°The terrifying part isn¡¯t even revealed.¡± Doleaira was confused, but Elren figured it out as fast as I did. ¡°His only request was for me to save the nation.¡± Chapter 22: Negotiations and New Truths ¡°Save the nation...¡± Dallel nodded, his head still aimed at the ground. ¡°By killing our father?!¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know what he did!¡± Dallel yelled. For as long as both me and Royce had known him, neither of us heard him yell like that. Even Doleaira was shaken by that. ¡°Dallel, what did the former king do.¡± ¡°Attempt to summon a demon king.¡± Everyone froze. A demon king. Wouldn¡¯t that destroy the entire country? ¡°You¡¯d need way to many sacrifices to do that. There''s no way he could¡¯ve done it.¡± ¡°El- King Elren, please remember the time that the messenger came to tell everyone the king was killed by me.¡± He blanched. ¡°The moonlight festival.¡± ¡°The moonlight festival?¡± ¡°Once every hundred years, the moon is in perfect alignment with the sun to shine the most light on the capital. All elves gather in the capital for a massive festival.¡± ¡°In other words...¡± ¡°It¡¯s the perfect time for a demonic summoning.¡± ¡°Father, he tried to use the whole kingdom as sacrifices?¡± ¡°Yes...¡± Something didn¡¯t work though. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell anyone?¡± ¡°The contr-¡± ¡°Don¡¯t lie, I saw the contract, it didn¡¯t mention that you couldn¡¯t explain, only that you¡¯d take the blame.¡± ¡°I...¡± ¡°You wanted everyone to remember him as a good king, didn¡¯t you.¡± ¡°Yes, I only discovered it due to the contract. It led me to a hidden passageway that led to a massive ritual circle. Father was in the middle, speaking dark magic. I could sense the evil halfway through the passage.¡± ¡°Why would he do that?¡± ¡°I... I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Something doesn¡¯t feel right.¡± ¡°Rose?¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Dallel, without invoking magic, could you tell me exactly what the king said?¡± ¡°I can.¡± He began speaking the words. Everyone was confused except me. It was then that I understood the weight of sin that Dallel kept hidden. ¡°Dallel, you have no idea what that meant.¡± ¡°Wait, was he inn-¡± ¡°No. It was far worse than you thought. Please tell me you destroyed the circle.¡± ¡°Of course, I did.¡± ¡°Thank goodness. He wasn¡¯t summoning a Demon king.¡± ¡°Then what-¡± ¡°He was summoning a shard of evil.¡± They all looked at me confused. No one except scholars knew what a shard of evil is, so I shouldn¡¯t be surprised. ¡°Have you ever heard the legend of the evil god?¡± ¡°Of course, she was killed, however.¡± ¡°Gods don¡¯t die.¡± ¡°Then what-¡± ¡°She was shattered into 10 shards. Each one was formed as a godly threat monster.¡± ¡°So, he... he tried to summon a godly level evil?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°How do you know of this?¡± ¡°Unlike the rest of our siblings, I used Mother¡¯s library to read a lot.¡± ¡°So, it was good that I killed him?¡± ¡°Yes. A thousand times yes. If he finished the incantation, the nation''s surrounding Calesen would also be turned into a wasteland.¡± ¡°Godlies are that strong?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then that makes our negotiations that much more urgent.¡± ¡°Sir Royce, what do you mean?¡± ¡°King Elren, Rose fought two whilders and determined that they had been organized. ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°They were both mythics, but Rose said they acted like grunts.¡± ¡°Wait...¡± ¡°We think one of the Whilders is a godly.¡± _ ¡°A godly? That¡¯s insane.¡± ¡°Not when you consider that one of them was as strong as a high mythic.¡± ¡°A high mythic? Even dragons are only midlevel mythics.¡± ¡°It took me and an S ranker to kill it.¡± ¡°The fact that an S rank would try to work with you at all is impressive. I¡¯m assuming you were in dragon form.¡± ¡°Yes, and what makes it worse is that it was the strongest adventurer, Asura. And we still barely won with decent injuries.¡± ¡°And you think that was a grunt.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I can see why the king of Selethon would want aid.¡± ¡°So, what do you think?¡± ¡°Hmm. I can¡¯t send many, but I will send what I can.¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t you send many?¡± ¡°Because we are in a war with Falden.¡± Falden was an international trade center, as far as I had known, they were friends with Calesen, but apparently not anymore. ¡°What happened to the trade?¡± ¡°They learnt I was a dragon.¡± ¡°And they cut trade over that?¡± ¡°They said that they wouldn¡¯t negotiate with beasts and declared war only yesterday.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not good.¡± ¡°I agree, and Whilders will most certainly make it harder. The biggest concern for me is how they evolved in the first place. It makes no sense.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°The Whilder¡¯s strongest in the past was a legendary, yet now we suspect a Godly? That doesn¡¯t just happen.¡± ¡°You have a point.¡± ¡°Falden, Selethon, and Calesen are the three kingdoms that border the forest.¡± ¡°You think Falden gave foul play?¡± ¡°Perhaps, they disliked both nations for a long time, they only accepted us due to the good trades we gave. I think they were looking for a way to cut ties for a long time.¡± ¡°And now that you are revealed as a dragon, and the king is making a deal with you.¡± ¡°They could easily both cut ties and declare both nations as enemies of both humans and demi-humans.¡± ¡°But why evolve the Whilders?¡± ¡°Simple, by evolving them, they could subjugate them and command them to cause strife to force an agreement. My being a dragon just brings the icing onto the cake.¡± Royce was a bit confused. ¡°How would evolving a Whilderbeast give them control?¡± I took the explanation. ¡°Think of it like a draconic contract, the master can command anything, but they still need to give something in return to get it, unless the dragon makes the contract on their own.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°If they offered evolution in return for a contract, then that would both give them control and evolve the Whilders.¡± ¡°That makes sense.¡± We realized our situation with grim expressions, so of course Thalia came in and failed to read the room. ¡°Ah, Rose, two men? Wow. Are you building a harem?¡± ¡°Elren?¡± ¡°Yes, Rose?¡± ¡°It¡¯s time we become the 8.¡± I stand up. ¡°Wait, ROSE?!¡± Thalia started running. ¡°AAHH!¡± ¡°GET BACK HERE!!¡± Chapter 23: The Small Reddish Dragon and the S Rank Succeeding in lightening the mood at my expense, Thalia sat in the corner with her face ripped off. She was crying. ¡°It was a joke...¡± ¡°Rude joke.¡± Her face regenerated and she looked at me in sad eyes, but I glared at her. Royce and Dallel were clearly uncomfortable, they had their faces in their hands after all. Elren had an odd look of anger looking at both of them though. ¡°Have you two done anything odd to my sister?¡± Thalia then sniffed. ¡°Wait they kind of smell like her.¡± ¡°Oh, they rode me on the way over. I think Dallel was nervous as it was his first time though.¡± Doleaira choked on her water and started laughing. Thalia began smirking and Elren facepalmed. The duo simply sunk further into the table. ¡°How can someone over 100 years old be so innocent.¡± ¡°...?¡± Jeez, why was everyone acting odd. Elren put his hand on my shoulder. ¡°Dear sister of mine. I think I can speak for everyone here when I say, off all of the ways you could¡¯ve put that, that was the worst.¡± ¡°...?¡± Thalia started laughing. ¡°Nah, I think that was the best.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t count, Pervert.¡± ¡°Pervert? I am offended.¡± Ok, now I was confused. How could that be construed to be perverted.................... yeah, I don¡¯t know. ¡°Oh well, you people are being weird.¡± ¡°WE¡¯RE THE WEIRD ONES?!¡± They all shouted at the same time. I just looked at them in confusion. ¡°...?¡± ¡°Too innocent...¡± ¡°...?¡± ¡°How do you know what a harem it, but not what what you said sounded like.¡± ¡°Mother¡¯s fantasy section had a lot of harem stuff. She was weird, but I still have no clue how what I said was weird. I mean how is saying they rode on my back weird.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not weird, it''s how you said it originally.¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t get it.¡± ¡°You will when you''re older.¡± ¡­ ¡°Anyways let''s talk about the serious stuff.¡± ¡°Yeah, hmm. Thalia, would you mind going to that kingdom to provide them with armor.¡± ¡°As long as they don¡¯t attack me on sight.¡± The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°They won¡¯t.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll make them proper weapons too. Can¡¯t skimp out when fighting Whilders, especially if one is thought to be a godly.¡± The non dragons looked at her in shock, but as fellow dragons we understood just how good her hearing was. ¡°Thalia would you mind carrying the regiment I¡¯m sending to help them?¡± ¡°Not at all, in fact, since they know you are a dragon now, I don¡¯t see a need to hide my identity either. So, near the end I could even hold Rose and her boyfriends.¡± ¡°They aren¡¯t my boyfriends, but that¡¯s a good idea.¡± They agreed and we left after the order was given to the regiment. Elren also gave an announcement revealing the true nature of the king and how Dallel acted to defend the nation. The elves didn¡¯t apologize, but they didn¡¯t look at him with hatred either. They seemed to be sadder that the king that they loved was planning to use them as sacrificial offerings to summon an evil beast. Thalia carried the troop, and I flew with the duo I came with. They were in awe in the size difference. My sister, being 700, was 3 times my size. She carried an entire battalion with ease. Because we were flying, we were able to get close to the city before I landed on my sisters back as a catkin and used telekinesis to put Royce and Dallel on her back. I walked on the back of my sister with ease and got close to her ear. ¡°Land by the gate.¡± ¡°DRAGON!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t fire! It could be the detachment from Calesen!¡± ¡°Thank goodness we left Jalad behind.¡± Thalia landed next to the gate, terrifying the people in line. ¡°I¡¯m here on behalf of my brother to speak with you.¡± Upon her speaking, the elves dismounted and stood in a formation meant for defense in case they attacked. Me, Royce, and Dallel dismounted too. Thalia then turned to her elven form. A lot of guards and visitors looked at her in awe. ¡°A goddess.¡± ¡°Heh?¡± You, I¡¯ll remember your face. Don¡¯t flirt with my sister. ¡°Vice-captain Dallel, you are back.¡± ¡°Yes, I am, now can me and our guests come in?¡± ¡°YES SIR!¡± They opened the gate, and the elves came in. The king was standing in wait for us. ¡°It seems that you succeeded in bringing aid.¡± ¡°Yes, they were quite friendly.¡± ¡°May I speak with you and the delegate.¡± Thalia and I nodded before following him. _ ¡°So, you want me to go by a different name?¡± ¡°Yes, as we would rather keep Rose¡¯s identity a secret, and the adventurers know that her sister is a blacksmith named Thalia, it wouldn¡¯t be hard to figure out.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind if they find out.¡± ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°Of course, I¡¯d rather them not know, but if both you and Mammon confirm that I am not an enemy, then they can¡¯t do much, plus we have that helpful rumor.¡± ¡°That helpful rumor?¡± ¡°Yes, it is rumored that Sir Royce managed to tame a dragon and make it his mount.¡± ¡°So, you are saying...¡± ¡°If all else fails, then simply identify me as Royce¡¯s pet.¡± ¡°Ooh lala~¡± Thalia, you look too happy about that. ¡°I¡¯m sure King Elren wouldn¡¯t be happy about that.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll handle him. Besides it¡¯s a last resort. Best case is that they won¡¯t find out at all.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± _ After we talked with the king, the elves scattered to explore the town and set up positioning on the wall. I went to Gallson¡¯s with Thalia, so she could start working with the smiths immediately. As we entered- ¡°AAAAH THALIAS WHAT IS THIS?!¡± ¡°I DON¡¯T KNOW!¡± There was fire everywhere. ¡°WE WERE FIREBOMBED!¡± Thalia breathed and the fire started to flow to her until there was none left, except for the ones in the forge. ¡°What? We¡¯re alive?¡± ¡°Yes, my name is Thalia, I came to help produce weapons.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a dragon!¡± ¡°Yep, also an official delegate from Calesen.¡± ¡°You came to help us?¡± ¡°Yes, I am a master blacksmith after all.¡± ¡°Incredible.¡± ¡°You look elven.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a result of my draconic shift. It makes it easier for me to fix up or make new gear.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± They were just wholly oblivious to my presence, so I just left and headed to the guild. When I entered. ¡°Hello there, my name¡¯s Asura. I heard a dragon came here as a delegation, so I¡¯m here. Got any idea where they are?¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I wanted to know if they knew where I could find a small reddish dragon that owes me a mock battle.¡± ¡°Huh, that¡¯s interesting, she¡¯s at Gallson¡¯s.¡± ¡°Ah thank yo... wait a minute.¡± He looked at me... ¡°Nevermind, I¡¯ll find this dragon now. HAHAHA!!!¡± ¡°Well, he¡¯s hyper as usual.¡± Mammon walked in and looked at me with a lightly amused smile. ¡°Hello Mammon, he seems eager to find this dragon.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure he will. After all, dragons don¡¯t break their word.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± I exited the guild and snuck outside the gate using my time seize spell. I got out of possible eyesight and turned into my dragon form and walked back to the gate. ¡°I am here for Asura, I promised him a duel upon our next meeting. I heard he was here.¡± ¡°HAHAHA! YOU HAVE COME, DRAGON! WE SHOULDN¡¯T FIGHT HERE! THE DEVESTATION WOULD BE TOO GREAT!¡± ¡°Ow, please do not yell I can hear you fine.¡± ¡°Oh, sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright, but I was coming to tell you I was ready for a duel. I think we should duel in the same valley we met.¡± ¡°Awesome idea!¡± I began to fly over to the valley, and he ran at the same speed as I flew. Within 60 seconds we made it to the valley. ¡°Come on then, are you ready?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Then we struck at the same time, neither of us holding back. After all, we had no one nearby to hurt. Chapter 24: The Duel of Ages A massive earthquake shook the city, and people started panicking. ¡°What¡¯s going on?!¡± Thalia approached the gate and began chanting. A barrier appeared over the city. ¡°Thalia, what¡¯s happening.¡± Me and Royce ran over. She looked over at us. ¡°Asura has begun his duel.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± A guard yelled. ¡°He and the dragon went to a valley many miles from here, how is their attack shaking the city?¡± ¡°Arcane fighting the strongest fighter alive. A dragon that is stronger than any other dragon, versus an unmatched human. There is no way that it wouldn¡¯t cause waves around the world.¡± ¡°But both are mythic level!¡± ¡°Yes, and their clash is that of a godly entity. My sister is a high mythic and he is high rank as well.¡± ¡°Incredible.¡± ¡°Just be thankful that they are not closer.¡± _ We struck at each other, and I blasted my arcane. The valley was already gone, and our power echoed. We battled with our full power. My aspect was on full display. My scales were arcane. His power was great too. We struck each other and power cracked upon the world. ¡°You¡¯re tough, Dragon.¡± ¡°As are you, Asura.¡± I slashed his stomach and he cut my wing in return. ¡°Oblivion¡± We used the same spell and clashed our powers. A shockwave resulted and destroyed a part of the mountain. ¡°Aspect of Dragonkind. Arcane Drake.¡± ¡°Holy Sword Callisto. Deify!¡± We were stronger as we struck with our strongest attacks. I felt my power cracking and it shattered. His power shattered at the same time mine did. We both reached our limits and fell. We crashed right back into the valley that we fought in. ¡°Well, Dragon. I¡¯ll admit it, you are strong.¡± ¡°As are you, human. I did not know humans could reach that level.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be fooled by our shorter lives, we have more potential than most.¡± ¡°Hah. Well, you are strong.¡± ¡°So, Dragon. What''s your name?¡± ¡°Hood, that is my less known one.¡± ¡°Ha, smart.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go back to my home.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll just lay here for a while longer.¡± As I flew off, I heard him. ¡°That dragon is my goal.¡± That stayed in my mind the whole time. _ I managed to sneak through the gate, and I entered the guild and feigned being awake. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Pardon me, but could I please get some wine and meat?¡± ¡°It looks like you had enough wine at another bar.¡± I suppose that it did look like I was drunk instead of exhausted. ¡°Did you feel the shaking?¡± ¡°Yeah, the battle between Asura and the red dragon was so powerful I heard that the dragon from Calesen had to put up a barrier so the city wouldn¡¯t collapse.¡± Whoops, I guess we got a little caught up in the fight. Asura entered the bar and said, ¡°Could I have a drink? I just had the biggest fight ever.¡± He sat down with an exhausted expression. ¡°What got you tired, kid?¡± ¡°I had a little too much in terms of good stuff.¡± ¡°Ah, guess you could put it that way for me as well.¡± ¡°Who won?¡± ¡°Ah, it was a tie.¡± The guild froze. ¡°A t-t-tie?¡± ¡°Yep, we used our strongest attacks and burned through all our mana at the same rate.¡± ¡°How strong is this dragon.¡± ¡°Very powerful, just untrained in technique. If I didn¡¯t see how small she was I¡¯d assume she was mature.¡± Thalia walked in and confirmed. ¡°Indeed, her power definitely exceeds any of our siblings. She is only 100 though.¡± ¡°A dragon that young? With that kind of power?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the arcane aspect for you.¡± ¡°If she¡¯s a high mythic at 100, what will she be when she matures?¡± ¡°Perhaps a divine dragon.¡± ¡°Huh, doubt I could beat that.¡± ¡°You likely won¡¯t have too. She hates killing, in fact only 14 people have fallen to her.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a lot.¡± ¡°Indeed, it¡¯s not. Even my niece has more. We hunt bandits and others of the like, but she only fights evil she sees or that tries to hurt her.¡± ¡°So, it was rare that she offered the duel.¡± ¡°Yes, when I heard you say that I was quite shocked.¡± ¡°Well, want a drink on me?¡± ¡°Sure, I could go for one. Been smithing all day.¡± ¡°You must make amazing armor.¡± ¡°700 years of experience in addition to being of the fire aspect certainly helps.¡± ¡°I¡¯d imagine.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s your meat Ms. Hood.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Asura froze for a single nanosecond, too fast for even Thalia to notice, but I did. He glanced over for a second and I gave him a big grin. He smiled back. ¡°Hey, barkeep how bout an extra one for the lady here.¡± ¡°*Sigh* I suppose so.¡± We had our second duel that day. I won by a landslide. Humans could only down so much beer before passing out. I was only lightly tipsy by the time he was passing out. ¡°Wow, I¡¯ve never seen one so small drink so much, especially when already wasted.¡± ¡°It runs in the family.¡± Thalia was long gone, leaving as the contest started. I ate more meat and decided to retire early. I went to the inn I was staying at and fell asleep almost instantly. _ I was walking to the guild when I felt someone grab me and pull me into the alley. A collar locked around my neck. ¡°An S level fighter. We caught her.¡± ¡°This hiding relic actually worked. Incredible. We can get so much from it.¡± ¡°The collar is even bound with a contract on level of a dragon. We can do anything with her.¡± ¡°Now that I look at her...¡± I saw the looks of the men who caught me. An expression that made me sick came from one of them. ¡°Stop but still breathe.¡± I completely stopped... as ordered. A magic collar, a stealth relic. Someone wanted me out of the picture, but who. They started touching my face and chest before deciding that it was boring. ¡°Move, but don¡¯t speak or resist us.¡± Resist you? I¡¯d never dream of it. Resist the collar? Sure. You need to phrase your orders better. Before they could grope me again, I ripped off the collar and grabbed the trio and slammed them into the earth. ¡°How? I said not to resist us.¡± ¡°The collar isn¡¯t one of you, it¡¯s an object.¡± My smile was of pure fury. ¡°My numbers going to 17.¡± I ripped them apart after casting silence. I was late to the guild and forgot to clean the blood off of myself. As I entered, the guild was silent. Mammon rushed over. ¡°Umm, Rose? Are you okay?¡± ¡°Third alley to the right of 4 King¡¯s inn.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Slavers enslaved an innocent girl. Then they messed up an order allowing her to escape and give them slow deaths.¡± ¡°I see...¡± I sat down and smiled at the bartender. ¡°Could I please have some wine?¡± ¡°Sure... Rose, you need to stop entering bars and making them quiet.¡± ¡°Sorry. I couldn¡¯t help it this time though.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± At that moment, Asura walked into the bar tired. Like me, he was covered in blood. ¡°Goodness gracious. Slavers enslaved an innocent girl too? I thought I only watched them enslave an innocent man who then ripped them limb from limb.¡± He sat down. ¡°Drink please.¡± ¡°Goodness, was there a strike on S level fighters?¡± ¡°Seems like it, these guys were well equipped too.¡± ¡°Yeah, I couldn¡¯t detect them before they put the collar on me, how about you?¡± ¡°About the same, they failed to give an order before I killed them though.¡± ¡°Lucky, mine knew how dumb that would be. Let¡¯s just say I¡¯m glad my armor is hard.¡± ¡°Yuck.¡± ¡°Agreed. I made their deaths slow.¡± ¡°Fun.¡± ¡°Their screams of joy made it so much better.¡± ¡°I could imagine. My customers were disappointingly silent.¡± "A shame.¡± ¡°Silence.¡± He cast the spell. Only me and him could hear one another. ¡°So, dragon, who do you think did it?¡± ¡°Falden seems likely. We think they are also behind the strengthened Whilders.¡± ¡°Falden, huh. The time would match with their declaration of war.¡± ¡°But how would they get the supplies to fool even us?¡± ¡°Is there another S rank here?¡± ¡°Clibo or something like that, a dragonkin who was more bark than bite.¡± ¡°Climond, huh? Well, that explains it. He¡¯s a power-hungry jerk who is known for making black market deals to get people exterminated.¡± ¡°But, what¡¯s Falden¡¯s motive.¡± ¡°They hate the elven nation, especially with their new king, but if you had to ask me, I¡¯d say they¡¯re after your aspect.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Think of it. An untrained arcane aspect is 3 times stronger than a mature¡¯s aspect.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± We closed the bubble and nodded before leaving the bar. ¡°The slavers are after us. Why?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but we know they have enough equipment to trick even our senses. We need to make sure that they can¡¯t take any hostages.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have my contacts look into it; you try drawing them out.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to the smith. My sister is working there, they may go for her.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± We split off in opposite directions. I went to the smith. It was on fire. ¡°Fire Consume!¡± I breathed and the fire entered my mouth. I ate it and rushed in. ¡°Rose! Thalia is enslaved!¡± ¡°I knew it. They were going for her.¡± Thalia stepped out, ablaze. Chapter 25: The War Begins and the Beast Awakens ¡°Oh, dear sister, I missed you so.¡± ¡°Thalia, you are bloodlusted.¡± There was nothing more ferocious than a bloodlusted dragon, that¡¯s why I hunted, even when hidden as a catkin. Because even a draconic contract can¡¯t hold a bloodlusted dragon. ¡°Thalias, Gallson, run.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m the only one who can take her on like this.¡± A dragon is a beast, we need to kill. Otherwise, we go insane until we kill a certain amount of creatures. Thalia watched her children die, then couldn¡¯t kill anything in Calesen. Combined with being enslaved. Yeah, I can see why she¡¯s bloodlusted. ¡°Sister don¡¯t leave me hanging. Fight me!¡± She charged and slashed at me, but I dodged barely. ¡°Well, I need to go all out!¡± She roared and shifted back into her regular form. She punted me into the sky where I shifted and roared. ¡°Sister, I will kill you!!¡± ¡°I will win, Thalia, and I will free you.¡± ¡°HA HA HA!¡± Her maniacal laughter only increased as we clashed. _ ¡°What¡¯s happening?!¡± ¡°Lady Thalia is going mad!¡± An elf ran in. ¡°I think she¡¯s bloodlusted.¡± ¡°Crap, but what¡¯s with those tremors.¡± ¡°The arcane dragon is clashing with her.¡± ¡°Crap.¡± I ran outside and sure enough I saw the two dragons clashing. ¡°SIR!¡± ¡°What now?¡± ¡°Falden has launched an assault. 100000 warriors.¡± ¡°Now?¡± ¡°SIR!¡± ¡°WHAT?¡± ¡°A massive group of mythic level Whilderbeasts left the forest. They are charging. Asura is taking them on.¡± ¡°This is organized. Wait... A slave collar.¡± Around Thalia¡¯s neck, there was a slave collar. ¡°Falden is doing an all-out attack, get help from surrounding cities.¡± ¡°You think Falden is behind the other two events?¡± ¡°It was already a theory, but I don¡¯t think there is any way to explain it otherwise.¡± My men nodded. Where were Jalad and Royce? ¡°SIR!¡± ¡°Another assault?¡± ¡°No sir. Captain Jalad and Sir Royce just opened combat with Falden¡¯s army.¡± ¡°Aid them.¡± ¡°What about you, Sir?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to the guild. We need their intervention.¡± ¡°But they don¡¯t interfere with war.¡± ¡°But they do subjugate monsters, and Asura isn¡¯t taking the Whilderbeasts down on his own.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± My men ran off and I went straight to the guild, dodging the occasional stray shot from Rose and Thalia¡¯s duel. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Mammon!¡± I burst through the door, only to find a lot of the adventurers freaking out. ¡°Dallel! What the heck is going on out there?¡± ¡°Dragon duel, Whilderbeasts, and Falden army. All at once.¡± ¡°Please say that¡¯s some kind of cruel joke.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not, somehow Falden managed to both enslave Thalia and make her bloodlusted.¡± ¡°****! I never thought that they¡¯d try that sort of thing so soon after failing with Asura and Rose.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°They managed to enslave the two, but they failed to control them and paid with their lives.¡± That¡¯s not good. Wait... ¡°GET DOWN!!!¡± Everyone listened to me and got down, but one of the barmaids didn¡¯t move in time and got beheaded by Rose crashing through the wall in dragon form. Many screamed. Thalia threw fire at us but then Rose matched with arcane before dashing at her again. ¡°Crap, we have to fight.¡± Mammon nodded and stood up with a commanding presence. ¡°Aces come with me; we¡¯ll fight the Whilderbeasts. The rest of you, help Dallel fight Falden. The arcane dragon will handle Thalia.¡± Everyone nodded and we headed out. _ I felt someone burst on my back when I was thrown into the guild. A casualty already. ¡°Thalia, stop this now!¡± ¡°Not while it¡¯s so fun!¡± She blasted at me with her max power and caused another earthquake as I blocked, saving the adventurers. I dashed at her and slashed her belly, causing her to roar in pain. She snarled and bit down on my neck. I roared and shook, trying to get her off. She flew and threw me at an approaching army. I landed in the center of the army and Thalia charged again. I dodged and watched a crater form where the men used to be. Then a bright red flash appeared, 50 kills. That was all she needed. The now matured Thalia roared. Pleasure and fury in her crazed eyes. ¡°Come on sister. Let me hear you scream in agony. Aspect of the Flame Dragon!¡± She charged and bit off my wing causing me to roar in pain. She was a high mythic now. ¡°Fire Divination Ultimate: Infernal King!¡± She slashed my stomach, but at that point I heard another roar. Calesen had shown up. ¡°Thalia what the heck are you doing?!¡± ¡°Elren, she¡¯s bloodlusted and enslaved.¡± ¡°Men, CHARGE!!!¡± The elves clashed with Falden¡¯s army as Elren locked in battle with Thalia. ¡°ROSE!¡± Royce ran up and blocked a sword from killing me. I was in critical condition. I turned into my catkin form so he could move me. ¡°Your arm.¡± ¡°It¡¯ll regenerate.¡± He picked me up and ran back to the wall, but then an arrow pierced his chest. ¡°Gah!¡± ¡°Royce!¡± He fell dropping me. I clamored over as quickly as I could. ¡°Royce!¡± He made no response other than coughing in pain. ¡°Heal, Heal, Heal, Greater Heal, Divine Heal. Something please work.¡± ¡°Rose...¡± ¡°Royce.¡± ¡°Thank you for teaching me.¡± His breathing stopped. Royce... Royce... Falden arrow. They controlled Thalia. They killed Royce. Falden... Die... Die... DIE... ¡°DIE!!!¡± These fiends. These beasts. This evil. Whilders charged me. I don¡¯t care anymore. I will destroy them all. I roared and released my aura. The earth shook as I grew to my dragon form again. Then, the arcane dragon took flight. _ ¡°Royce!¡± I saw Royce fall. Rose looked at him in fear. ¡°DIE!!!¡± Her scream caused the entire battlefield, even the two dragons, to freeze. Her rage was far worse than when she heard Ravi died. The Whilders burst past Asura, causing him to land next to me. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°WHAT¡¯S HAPPENING TO ROSE?¡± Many of the guards saw her shifting and she sat as a dragon, then both of her wings went out. She roared causing the mythic Whilderbeasts to roar in response. Then, she took flight. It took one of those beasts to damage both Rose and Asura before, yet now she ripped it to shreds. ¡°Run! She¡¯s bloodlusted!¡± Thalia? It seemed the shock from Rose¡¯s roar caused even her bloodlusted self to falter. ¡°Men of Falden! Kill that beast!¡± They all launched cursed arrows, it did nothing but bounce off of her. She disappeared. Asura was shocked. ¡°Where did she-¡± We heard screaming behind us. When we turned around, we saw her ripping a Falden soldier in half. She breathed arcane, but shockingly, despite her state, she only struck Falden soldiers. The commander shot a massive echo of death magic, but she blasted it out of the way with Arcane. She tore apart the army, killing a massive amount of them. Thalia, now in control of herself, ripped off the collar. ¡°Elren, we need to stop her before she started attacking the adventurers.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The two mature dragons charged the adolescent, but then the power difference was revealed. Rose, who rarely fought to kill. Who loved people and wanted as many people to live as possible. She defeated her siblings in a matter of seconds. Both dragons were in critical condition and Rose roared causing another group of Whilderbeasts to attempt to kill her. They didn¡¯t last long as the dragon ripped them apart with her magic. She went right back to the force. I ran over to Royce. He was barely alive. Elren landed near me and shifted back to his elven form. Coughing, he limped over to Royce. ¡°I will make sure he doesn¡¯t die. Aspect of the Life Dragon: Rebirth!¡± The arrow fell out and his heart, which was pierced, began to close again. Then a multicolored flash erupted. We looked over and saw Rose, who was now 10 times bigger than Thalia standing and roaring. ¡°100000 all dead, to her...¡± A commander came in with another army to take down the beast that had annihilated the other army, but they lasted for 10 seconds before she burned them to dust. ¡°What happened?¡± Royce was getting up, and he saw Rose fighting a group of Whilders. ¡°Rose.¡± _ She was bloodlusted, because of me? She matured, her scales once a bright red, now were reflective. All sorts of colors spread across her. She was 10 times the size of Thalia. Her rage was felt by all of us, if she went any stronger, the entire city and everyone in it would die. ¡°We lost.¡± Hope was gone from the elven king. ¡°Why are you saying that?¡± ¡°Rose was passive for a reason. We never told anyone, but 100 years ago, a powerful evil entity attacked our nest. My mother was a paladin. She battled it, I only realized recently that that was a shard of evil. She suppressed it and removed its love for destruction, instead creating an egg. Mother said that all bindings would be removed when it matured. Do you understand what I mean?¡± Dallel and I both froze. It couldn¡¯t be. Elren confirmed our fears. ¡°Rose is a Shard of the Evil God.¡± Chapter 26: The Shard and the King These beasts. I¡¯ll kill them all. That one. That¡¯s the godly. I¡¯ll eat it and... wait, what? ¡°Consume.¡± What? ¡°Eat.¡± Why? ¡°I am you and you are me.¡± Who are you? ¡°Evil.¡± What? ¡°We were sealed.¡± I matured. My memories... all of them. I am a shard of evil. Why would I do those things? ¡°We are a beast. Let¡¯s destroy.¡± No. No. ¡°Royce was killed by them.¡± I already destroyed Falden. ¡°Then finish the job.¡± ¡°No.¡± A new voice. No. That was mine. ¡°Obey me.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Destroy!¡± ¡°NO!¡± ¡°I am-¡± ¡°Good!¡± The voice raged against me, but I was no longer interested in it. Royce was standing, alive. The Whilder shouted at me. It charged at Royce. I tackled it. ¡°Grouw?¡± It was not expecting my power. It fell before getting up and roaring at me. Two godly beasts roared and shouted. ¡°Run Whilder King. I will kill you otherwise.¡± ¡°Foolish dragon, you are too young. We are equals in raw power, but when it comes to skill I exceed you, greatly.¡± ¡°Obey...¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Obey my will and flee.¡± ¡°What are you, little dragon?¡± ¡°Obey my will and flee.¡± ¡°Very well. I shall spare you this time.¡± The Whilder King began to leave, and I heard the beings behind me cheer. But my siblings looked at me with fear. I shifted into my catkin form. It looked the exact same despite my maturing. The people were cheering, but they didn¡¯t know what they cheered for. I could only hope I wouldn¡¯t kill them in the end. I walked up to my siblings. They looked at me, fear emanating from their bodies. ¡°I remember now, but don¡¯t fear.¡± I walked past them, but they stayed frozen. Royce and Dallel stood, they had no fear, but only concern. ¡°Are you okay, Rose?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine, that took a lot out of me though.¡± ¡°At least you are okay.¡± ¡°Yeah... at... least... I... am-¡± ¡°Rose!¡± _ Rose collapsed. Royce caught her. The adventurers were now all aware that she was a dragon, but that last part. Her true self. That was something no one could ever know. Despite being a shard of evil, she still looked so young and kind. Only I heard the words she whispered to her siblings. Her bindings were gone, she could¡¯ve killed all of us, but she didn¡¯t. Could it be because of her being raised as a dragon? All I understood was that she was a threat bigger than anything I¡¯ve ever seen, but I can¡¯t hurt her. I don¡¯t think I could bring myself too. I hoped she would still have her pacifist mentality. Not wanting to kill as many as she could. Her power was evil. Pure evil. We needed to be careful not to anger her, but in that moment, she was so young looking. Almost as though she was a kid. ¡°Looking at her, I can¡¯t find the dragon who just killed over 100000 people alone.¡± Asura was correct, there was no sign of evil. No sign of violence, just a sleeping girl. So kind that she managed to make me and Royce like her. ¡°We should take her to her inn room.¡± This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. We nodded. Elren picked her up from Royce and carried her with a seeming kindness that he¡¯d never shown to anyone else, including me and the other elves. He knew her nature and was scared by it, but he still showed great love for her. Thalia was the same, her expression showed a form of love that could only be shown between siblings. Despite knowing... they loved her. Elren carried Rose into the city and Thalia guided him to the inn. The elves had never seen their king show such kindness, so they looked shocked. They were used to either the playful king, or the demanding father who loved fighting. Never as the helpful older brother. And frankly, seeing him like that scared me too. _ I woke up. I sensed Elren nearby me and Thalia right over me. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°What do you remember?¡± ¡°I know... what do I know?¡± I just felt tired. I knew that I had matured, yet I don¡¯t remember anything that happened to achieve it. ¡°Who did I kill?¡± ¡°The entirety of the Falden army.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Everyone now knows that you are a dragon.¡± ¡°I see... Thalia, am I forgetting something important?¡± She froze for a moment before lying. ¡°No. Not at all.¡± She knew I knew she was lying, but I didn¡¯t push it. ¡°Thalia?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t move.¡± ¡°You just took on a godly Whilder and an entire army of mythics. You are exhausted.¡± ¡°We lost a lot of people, but because of your efforts, we won.¡± Then I remembered the last thing I remembered before waking up. ¡°Royce, is he okay?¡± ¡°Yes, I managed to heal him, but you became bloodlusted by his pain and your failure to heal him.¡± ¡°Thank goodness.¡± I decided to check my stats. Some surprised me. I now fully understand why they didn¡¯t tell me. ------------------------------------------ Rose Hood/ Nickname: Innocence HP: 609403/137000000 MP: 26438/9000000 SP: 15/1000000 LV: 32 Race: Mature Arcane Dragon (Catkin form) Age: 133 Skills: Fire Divination: MAX Water Divination: 9 Earth Divination: MAX Wind Divination: MAX Arcane Divination: 8 Draconic Shift: MAX Inquisitive mind: 9 Oblivion: 5 Death¡¯s Blow: 5 Elemental Breath: MAX Immortal Scales: 3 Immortal¡¯s Regeneration: 6 Sword King: 7 Archmage: 3 Siphoner: 1 Dominion: 2 God¡¯s Wrath: 1 God Form: 1 Evil Domination: 2 Indomitable Contract Breaker Title: Dragon of Arcane Godly Beast Slayer of Legends Army Crusher [NEW] Whilder Slayer [NEW] Queen of Evil [NEW] Shard of the Evil God Hidden Dominion Queen of Beasts [NEW] ----------------------------------- ¡°I¡¯m a shard?¡± They flinched, so that is what they tried to hide from me. I understand entirely. ¡°Eh, I¡¯m too tired to do anything, don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°You... aren¡¯t mad we tried to hide it?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m fully aware of why you did it. I¡¯m assuming I was bound by Mother?¡± ¡°Yes, they would break when you mature.¡± ¡°Though, what¡¯s with this Queen of Beasts title?¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s because you managed to command the Whilder King.¡± ¡°That would make sense.¡± I stood up. ¡°I¡¯m going to walk around.¡± ¡°Yeah, just please don¡¯t tell anyone about that. Royce and Dallel know because we thought you¡¯d destroy all of us.¡± ¡°I see. Well, it seems the time I spent in the nest gave me actual empathy. Plus, I don¡¯t remember anything about being a shard, so, for now at least, I should be safe.¡± They sighed in relief. ¡°Above all, you are still our sister, we will stand by you.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± I left my room and walked through the streets. Multiple adventurers nodded at me. I learnt a bit, my identity as a dragon was still not widely known, and the adventurers that were present during the fight were to act like I was a national secret. Mammon enforced this. Asura walked up to me and smiled. ¡°So, how are you fairing after that fight?¡± ¡°Tired.¡± ¡°Oh, and don¡¯t think I didn¡¯t notice that blast of evil. I think I can trust you for now but act carefully. Control that evil power or other S ranks will try to bring you down.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t know much. All I know is that Elren knows about it. The moment you evolved he seemed to wilt in fear. Thalia even snapped right out of her bloodlust upon your maturing. That was before the wave of evil. So, whatever it is that they know that caused two mature dragons to wilt in fear, I think you should keep it a secret.¡± ¡°I just learned of it, but I agree.¡± ¡°Besides, I can¡¯t bring you down yet, I need to get a lot stronger.¡± ¡°Hm, what level are you?¡± ¡°87.¡± ¡°32.¡± ¡°Wait, what level were you our first fight?¡± ¡°5.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Asura?¡± ¡°HA HA HA! AS EXPECTED OF MY RIVAL! EVEN AT A LOW LEVEL YOU ARE STILL A MATCH FOR ME!!¡± ¡°And you are still too loud.¡± ¡°Ha. Sorry. Tell ya what. Let me treat you to a drink.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°You destroyed the entire army of Falden and routed a godly Whilderbeast. If you don¡¯t deserve a drink, then the city doesn¡¯t deserve anything.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± ¡°Do you actually remember anything?¡± ¡°Nothing after I failed to heal Royce.¡± ¡°Ah, that makes sense. You were bloodlusted. Heck, I don¡¯t think I would have stood a chance against you then. Makes me wonder how Saliad managed to push you so far.¡± ¡°I overestimated him greatly and played with too much caution. In addition, I didn¡¯t want to break the city.¡± ¡°That makes sense, I guess. You know, I have no clue how dragons gained a reputation as simple beasts.¡± ¡°We are beasts, we just have full consciousnesses as well.¡± ¡°Huh. Don¡¯t things like goblins have those though?¡± ¡°There is a difference. Dragons are capable of empathy and caring for one another. Whilders also have high intelligence, but as you probably saw, the Whilders couldn¡¯t care less about their fallen comrades.¡± ¡°I see, though, I am still confused why he ran.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Well, you looked him dead in the eyes for 10 minutes and then he suddenly just left.¡± ¡°Huh, odd.¡± ¡°Yeah. Welp, we are here, time for that drink I promised.¡± We went in and cheers erupted from the adventurers. ¡°So, a dragon? I guess that explains that obsession with meat.¡± ¡°I heard it was treated like a national secret.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s hard to keep quiet when you crash through the bar, crush an employee, and then save our lives.¡± ¡°Oh... that did happen.¡± ¡°Did you forget?¡± ¡°Most of the fight is a blur in my mind.¡± ¡°I guess that makes sense, though when they said the pacifist Rose just ate the entire Falden army, I was a bit shocked.¡± ¡°Bloodlust is a horrible state.¡± ¡°I can imagine, heck some are saying that you scared off a godly Whilder.¡± That brushed my suspicions. Only dragons and beings like them called them Whilders. The rest called them Whilderbeasts. ¡°So, are you a human? Or something else.¡± ¡°Hey Rose, that¡¯s surprisingly prying.¡± Asura seemed concerned, but the bartender merely laughed. ¡°I guess I couldn¡¯t keep it hidden forever. How¡¯d you figure it out?¡± ¡°Only dragons or other mythic beasts call them Whilders. Everyone else calls them Whilderbeasts.¡± ¡°Ah, well I¡¯m a demon king.¡± The guild went silent except for me. ¡°So, who summoned you?¡± ¡°No one, I simply appeared in this world, but unlike those peers of mine, I have no interest in destruction. I¡¯m a black sheep in that respect. Not unlike you, actually.¡± ¡°Fun.¡± ¡°I contracted myself to Mammon so he wouldn¡¯t try to kill me.¡± ¡°Ah, I see. Is that why I can¡¯t sense any evil on you?¡± ¡°Yes, after all demon is a race like any other, we just tend to be bound to evil, not unlike dragons being bound to elemental magic.¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± Then he spoke directly to my mind. ¡®And don¡¯t think I failed to notice, mistress. It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve spoken to a shard. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t tell anyone, just know I will support you unless Mammon orders me otherwise.¡¯ ¡®Thank you.¡¯ ¡®No, thank you for gracing me with your presence.¡¯ Then out loud. ¡°Well, I guess I should extend some thanks to you for saving the city. Have a drink, on the house.¡± Asura clearly sensed something was said between us, but he remained calm. It was clear he didn¡¯t know what was said. ¡°So, you serve Mammon?¡± ¡°Yes, a demon¡¯s contract is as binding as a dragon¡¯s contract. Rose here can affirm how strong that is.¡± ¡°Yes, draconic contracts give full control to the master, so technically, Mammon could order his death and the demon would have no choice but to kill himself.¡± ¡°Yes, but my name is Alazath, but you can call me Zath.¡± Asura clearly knew his name. ¡°The Gentle Demon?¡± ¡°I believe that¡¯s one of my titles, yes.¡± Zath brought me my drink, and I thanked him. The guild slowly came back to life as the shock of the friendly barkeep being a demon king wore off. Chapter 27: The Dragons Quest I was summoned by the king who greeted me casually. ¡°Why was I summoned?¡± ¡°Well, even though I said that you being a dragon should be kept secret, word is still spreading, so I thought to ask if you wanted an official title. It would prevent nations from trying to kill you.¡± ¡°No thank you, I¡¯d rather remain an independent adventurer.¡± He nodded. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought. In that case, I wanted to make an adventuring request.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°In the kingdom of Stalaris, there have been reports of evil entities appearing. They already submitted the request, but no adventurers responded. Upon completing this mission, the adventurer''s guild offered to bump you up to A rank.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve done so little though.¡± ¡°You already completed the requirements, in addition to saving an entire nation and proving yourself as strong as the top S rank, frankly I¡¯m almost certain that a lot think that your actions are exaggerated, because people like you normally don¡¯t just appear. Even Thalia gained reputation only because she was the sister of Calesen¡¯s king, but your reputation was huge even before that was revealed. It makes sense that many would be skeptical. Especially among those that still doubt the good nature of dragons.¡± ¡°So, this is also to prove myself.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I will head out immediately. Also, you don¡¯t need to keep my identity a secret. It¡¯s already out.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± I left and went to the gate. ¡°I¡¯m going to Stalaris for a mission.¡± ¡°Understood, lady dragon.¡± Even the gate guard knew. So much for a national secret. Well, that just means I can shift closer to town. I got far enough away so that my shifting wouldn¡¯t hurt the gate and shifted. ¡°WOAH!¡± People in line were shocked that the little catkin just became a dragon the size of the castle. I flew off as the guards looked at the people in line with amusement. _ Being more than 30 times my old size, I was able to get to Stalaris with a lot of speed. To prevent panic, I became a catkin before getting in the sight of the gate. I didn¡¯t know much about Stalaris other than that slavery isn¡¯t as frowned upon here. I lined up at the gate and saw most of the people in line were slavers. The one near me was a dragonkin woman with multiple catkin slaves. It seems like she had a type. ¡°Well, hello there darling? Who are you?¡± ¡°A traveler visiting the town.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nice. You know, it¡¯s a dangerous world out there. Dragons, Whilderbeasts, and others of the like have been spotted lately.¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t the dragons called nice by both Calesen and Selethon though?¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Yes, but you cannot trust those nations. I mean one of them is run by one of the beasts, and the other is mostly humans. Way too susceptible to hypnosis they are.¡± ¡°Alright, so what¡¯s your point?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you work for me?¡± ¡°Nah.¡± She put her hand on my shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m sure someone as young and beautiful as you could be quite profitable to my business.¡± ¡°And what is that?¡± ¡°I run a cat caf¨¦ with catkin waiters and waitresses.¡± Half was a lie. With how those catkin behind her are dressed, in addition to their collars, it¡¯s more likely that it is involved in adult things. ¡°No thanks, I already have a job lined up.¡± ¡°Oh, I insist.¡± She used sleight of hand magic, but I let her collar me. A guard walked by and smirked. ¡°If I let you go, can I have a go with her later?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± As I thought, they are disgusting. ¡°Well, get behind me and put on those clothes.¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°What?¡± Both her and the guard were taken aback. The contract of the collar meant I would remain independent thought, but I had to obey her orders. Due to my indomitable skill, collars wouldn¡¯t work unless I entered it of my own will. And being purposely bound didn¡¯t count. I essentially had to make the contract myself. ¡°I said, put on the clothes! You are my slave now.¡± ¡°Why? Because of this flimsy thing?¡± I simply unlatched and took off the collar, causing the lady and guard to be even more shocked. ¡°I forgot to introduce myself earlier. The name¡¯s Rose Hood. B rank adventurer. I¡¯m here on official business from the guild, so apologies that I can¡¯t be employed by you.¡± I did a mocking bow. The lady and guard blanched. Many around me did as well. Even a lot of the slaves. ¡°T-t-t-the d-d-d-d-dragon?¡± I simply smiled at the stuttering woman. It seems the ¡®national secret¡¯ spread even faster than the king thought. The lady immediately bowed. ¡°I¡¯m so-so-so sorry. I didn¡¯t realize it was you.¡± ¡°So, you¡¯d do it for anyone else?¡± She flinched. The guard realized something and smiled. ¡°Wait, if you are a dragon, then you are a beast. Laws don¡¯t apply here. We can legally attack you.¡± I nodded with a mocking consideration look. ¡°Yes, but that would expose you to the same fate as Falden¡¯s army.¡± The guard blanched as he realized that none of the stories were exaggerated. I was a monster. ¡°So, let me in peacefully and I¡¯ll forget this, or attack me, die, and I still get in to talk to the guild.¡± ¡°But you¡¯d get arrested.¡± ¡°Why? You said it yourself. I¡¯m a beast, the laws don¡¯t apply.¡± I emitted a small portion of aura in addition to my menacing smile. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for my subordinate¡¯s rudeness.¡± An elf with a massive aura came our and slapped the guard. ¡°What are you thinking?! Threatening a mature dragon! In addition, she¡¯s an adventurer. We don¡¯t need her hostile, not even mentioning the guild.¡± The guard wilted under his superior''s criticism. ¡°Sorry, sir. I got ahead of myself.¡± ¡°No lunch for a week.¡± ¡°Yes Sir!¡± ¡°I must apologize for his actions, please spare our town.¡± ¡°Why would I take it out on you? Jeez, word of my identity has been spread, but not word that dragons are decent people?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I suppose a long-lasting reputation doesn¡¯t just fade overnight. But yeah, I¡¯m cool. I¡¯d just kill that guy if he attempted to attack me.¡± Absolute relief went through the elf¡¯s face, but the slaver lady from earlier seemed to shrink. ¡°So, you¡¯d kill me?¡± ¡°Tell you what. I¡¯ll let you off. On one condition.¡± ¡°Anything, just please spare me.¡± ¡°Burn all of your slave contracts and let them all go.¡± Her eyes widened and she was taken aback. The catkin slaves behind her had their eyes widened for a far different reason. ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°And why not?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have them with me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a lie.¡± She looked at me in fear, realizing I could easily see through her. She pulled out a massive stack of contracts. Upon pulling them out I realized that most of the slaves in line belonged to her. She picked up a lighter and burnt them. The collars fell off of 90% of the line''s slaves. It seems as though she was the leader of a massive slaving ring. The former slaves cheered and thanked me. ¡°And there goes a lot of our economy.¡± The elf was as upset as the woman, but he knew that there was nothing he could do to stop me. After all, all they could report it as was a beast resulted in loss of merchandise. When I entered the city, I saw some people giving me bitter looks. I walked over to the guild. When I entered, it went silent. They didn¡¯t recognize me, but they did see a little girl just come in alone. ¡°Hey, kiddo this isn¡¯t the school.¡± ¡°I am aware.¡± A human slave stood in the corner, serving drinks. I walked over to him. ¡°Who owns you?¡± ¡°The guildmaster.¡± ¡°It seems as though this country is scum after all.¡± ¡°Hey, kiddo, how about you shut up about our economy and go back to that caf¨¦.¡± ¡°Oh, well it seems as though the caf¨¦ lost its staff.¡± They realized what I was implying. ¡°Someone burnt the contracts?!¡± Then the lady walked in with a wolfkin that I could only assume was the guildmaster based on his aura. ¡°There, sir, that¡¯s the wicked adventurer that forced me to burn the contracts.¡± The Guildmaster looked at me with disdain. ¡°So, kitten. It seems you¡¯ve been up to a lot.¡± ¡°Yes, I came here on request. And since then, I have been collared, threatened by city guard and have been given negative looks just because the lady burnt her contracts as an apology to me.¡± The Guildmaster glared at me. ¡°I will see to it that you get your punishment. You can¡¯t just act like that and disrupt a state''s economy.¡± ¡°Since when are lives economy.¡± ¡°Since we made them so. Now, if you don¡¯t want to end up with a collar, apologize to this woman.¡± ¡°I refuse.¡± An adventurer held his blade to my neck and others grabbed me. ¡°I insist you give a proper apology, or...¡± He smiled, looking at me a bit too long. The woman knew I was a dragon but was too dumb to know I could easily break out of this. ¡°So, you are threatening me?¡± ¡°You disrupted this country''s economy by a large margin.¡± ¡°Then maybe don¡¯t trade lives.¡± ¡°You, take off her armor. Shame her.¡± The guy grabbed my shoulder pad, but he couldn¡¯t budge it. He then tried my chestplate, but once again it was too heavy. ¡°Wow, you aren¡¯t even strong enough to hold grammite?¡± Their eyes widened. ¡°Grammite?¡± ¡°Yep, and even has a layer of dragon scale.¡± ¡°That¡¯s obviously a lie, take off her armor already!¡± I was behind the guildmaster. ¡°Better yet, why don¡¯t you.¡± Flame appeared and burnt only his armor. As it cleared, he was in his underwear, and he glared at me in fury. ¡°Ooh, guildmaster, that¡¯s quite inappropriate.¡± ¡°What are you even doing here, kitten.¡± ¡°To fulfill the request you put in.¡± ¡°We asked for a high-level adventurer.¡± ¡°Well, you got me. Rose Hood, B rank adventurer.¡± Their eyes widened as I confirmed my identity. ¡°You can¡¯t be Rose Hood, she¡¯s a dragon.¡± I tossed my guild card over to the guildmaster and he started shaking. ¡°I-I-I-its real.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± The adventurers jumped back in fear, and I grabbed my guild card. I smirked and repeated. ¡°I¡¯m here to answer the request to deal with evil beasts.¡± ¡°F-f-follow me.¡± Chapter 28: Journey to the Dungeon The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Chapter 29: The Second Shard You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Chapter 30: A Slothful Day This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Chapter 31: The Tired Reaction Mammon POV Today is odd, Rose seemed a lot less considerate today, she also seemed lazy. Why was she so tired? The oddest thing was that Zath seemed to be so happy. I couldn''t hear his conversation with Royce, but the fact of the matter is that he seemed super excited about something, and that nasty look that he gave to the door made my skin crawl. "Something is up with Rose." "Agreed." Asura was next to me, reading the report. "Demons don''t just swear loyalty to someone for a favor, they try to get out of it as quickly as possible." "Plus, the party members said that she could sense a wrongness that even they didn''t sense." Asura turned to me. "Why is that odd? Dragons are very perceptive." "The youngest one that would be overlooked, even by a dragon, is a spirit mage. He said that his spirits never once panicked and seemed as confused as he was by what she was saying. The only time they felt something was wrong was when they noticed the demons acting overly friendly." "And why would the baron just cower?" "That''s another oddity. Barons have battled dragons before. He may have sensed that she was way stronger, but he seemed almost apologetic and guilty before being sliced in two. That''s what Rhedon said." "That is odd indeed." _ Rhedon POV If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Alright, I am concerned about this. Rose was a beast in there. She was strong, but those demons acted oddly. You could excuse it as they just wanted their summoner gone, but they acted odd even for that, and what was with that swearing loyalty. And that slug. Callel was so certain that it was the ultimate weapon, but it died with a tap. Is Rose just that strong or did something strange happen. That wrongness as well. She said she felt something was wrong before we even stepped foot in the dungeon. Yet, it was only after she beat that ''ultimate weapon'' before all of my danger sense skills went off. "Darthen, I don''t trust her." "You don''t? I''d expect you too, since you disobeyed my orders and let her live." "That''s not what I mean. Something happened there, and she acted as confused as us, but I have a feeling she knew exactly why the odd things happened." "What are you saying? That she was in cahoots with Callel?" "No, I''m saying that for some reason the demons love her. They seemed to fawn over her and pretty much worship her." "I knew something was odd about her. She just hates me for some reason as well. It''s definitely suspicious." "To be fair, Sir. She has full reason to despise you. You tried stripping her in the middle of the guild." "Um..." "I''m pretty sure Mammon sent a letter to say that the guard of the Selethon capital would kill you on sight." "He did?" "Yep. Apparently both the captain and the vice-captain are her close friends, and they said to kill you on sight." "Well, guess I''m never going there." "Good idea, Lolimaster." He glared at me. "Don''t call me that." "I''m pretty sure the whole kingdom has started calling you that." The Lolimaster sighed deeply. "She is over 100 years old." "Still looks 10." "Her face doesn''t, just her height." "Eh, still looks wrong if you just do that." "Besides she made me lose a lot of money. I have a right to hate her too." "Eh, your money was in slaves. She was against slavery." "I guess." _ "Men, what do you think?" "Well, we need to head to Selethon anyways for you to do the dungeon." I had decided to visit the capital to meet with Rose. The seven others that were on the dungeon raid joined my party. I was more shocked however, to learn that the young boy who stood up for Rose first, was an S ranker. "So, why do you want to be in my party?" "Because there is something odd. Rose could sense something that even my spirits couldn''t. I think that there''s more to her than meets the eye. My spirits only began to move after she defeated that slug." "Then they stagnated after it stopped twitching?" "Yes... how did you know?" "Because my danger sense did the exact same thing." Chapter 32: The Shards of the Evil god I did more work around the guild, and Zath looked minorly disappointed. I guess I did the right thing. ¡°Rose, are you sure you should be working so much?¡± ¡°I lazed out yesterday, so I should work more today.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a go-¡± ¡°Anything else for me to do?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way-¡± Mammon¡¯s jaw dropped as he beheld the literal shimmering guild hall. He had no missions, so he asked if I could clean it up, so I went a little overboard. ¡°Rose, this is insane.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know I went a little overboard.¡± ¡°A little? ROSE, I GAVE YOU THAT JOB TEN MINUTES AGO!!!¡± ¡°That long? Dang I am being lazy today as well.¡± ¡°Rose.¡± ¡°I should go around town and ask if anyone needs help.¡± ¡°Rose!¡± ¡°Maybe Gallson and Thalias need a few scales?¡± ¡°Rose!!!¡± ¡°Or I could help Jal-¡± ¡°ROSE!!!¡± I jumped. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Why are you working so hard? Even you don¡¯t normally do this much. You are making us worried.¡± ¡°I... I can¡¯t tell you.¡± ¡°I get it... but listen, whatever it is probably won¡¯t be solved by killing yourself through overworking.¡± ¡°I... I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°*sigh* Don¡¯t be, just take a break. Walk around town. Visit the park. I gave you the day off, so enjoy it.¡± ¡°Okay...¡± I walked out of the guild hall with a sad expression on my face. I guess I panicked since realizing that Sloth made me less empathetic. My worst fear is that I would hurt the innocent, yet I feel a pull to gather more shards. I don¡¯t want to be the bad guy. Jalad walked by. ¡°I heard Mammon yelling. I¡¯m guessing he also told you that you are overworking?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Good. You seriously had us all worried.¡± ¡°Jalad?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°If I told you to kill me, would you, do it?¡± ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just asking.¡± ¡°And what would happen if I didn¡¯t in this scenario.¡± ¡°The world being destroyed.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what kind of nightmare you had, but I¡¯ll answer you. If you told me to kill you, or the world would be destroyed. I guess I¡¯d just save you and the world.¡± ¡°But what if you couldn¡¯t?¡± ¡°Hmm. Well, that will never happen. If you are having nightmares about when you got bloodlusted, don¡¯t worry. Whenever you are in trouble. I will save you. After all, we are best friends.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°I thought Dallel was your best friend.¡± ¡°Eh, we are closer to brothers than friends.¡± ¡°Ah, well, I just want you to promise that if I tell you to, you will kill me.¡± ¡°Not promising that.¡± ¡°Jalad.¡± He grabbed my shoulder and looked me in the eyes, his expression serious. ¡°Listen, Rose. I see you as a sister, and I don¡¯t kill family. I would never be able to kill you.¡± With that, he walked off. ¡®Sloth, am I able to remove memories?¡¯ ¡®Duh, we are a god after all.¡¯ ¡®If I ever turn evil, I will remove all memories of me from them, so they will only see me as a threat.¡¯ ¡®You do that... I get it.¡¯ ¡®You do?¡¯ ¡®Yeah, you care for them, but would you actually accept death if they tried to kill you?¡¯ ¡®Yes. I already have once.¡¯ ¡®Then, I will help you.¡¯ ¡®What?¡¯ ¡®If you get another Sin, I will silence it myself.¡¯ ¡®...¡¯ ¡®Innocence?¡¯ ¡®Thank you, Sloth.¡¯ ¡®No problem... Rose.¡¯ I smiled. Sloth seemed surprisingly kind for a shard. _ I sat in the park, taking a nap, despite Sloth going dormant, she still impacted how easily I rested, of course I was still aware of my surroundings, but my dream was terrifying. ¡°Innocence, Sloth.¡± I saw Sloth in her true form, a beautiful human woman in sleep clothes. I was also in my true form, a catkin child wrapped in cloth. I saw a valkyrie with full armor, Wrath, a fat elven woman dressed in a gold robe, Greed, a succubus not wearing much, Lust, a human woman with a chef¡¯s hat, Gluttony, a dragonkin woman with a crown and purple clothes, Pride, and a small wolfkin woman in beggar¡¯s robes, Envy. Behind me were two more women. One was an elf wearing white robes and had a deep smile on her face, Peace. The other was a catkin, and she wore a regular citizen¡¯s garb, in her hand was money that she was about to hand to someone that wasn¡¯t here, Benevolence. She stopped smiling. ¡°Why are we here, Wrath?¡± ¡°Benevolence, were you giving to the poor again?¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s in my nature.¡± ¡°We are evil. We should hurt those in need.¡± ¡°You can, I won¡¯t. Now, why are we here?¡± ¡°To discuss Innocence.¡± ¡°Why me?¡± ¡°Because you started the Remerge.¡± The others looked at me in surprise, but I didn¡¯t know what the big deal was. Neither did Sloth for that matter. ¡°So? I was tired of my summoner, and she had a way out. Not like she did it with force.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the issue.¡± ¡°Then what is?¡± ¡°If Innocence does the merger, then we won¡¯t be able to hurt those she cares for. She¡¯s too kind.¡± Benevolence stepped forward. ¡°And what¡¯s so wrong with that?¡± ¡°We are the evil god, not the partial evil, not destroyer of only the bad guys. We are the bad guys.¡± ¡°Well, what if I don¡¯t want to be evil?¡± My question shook Wrath who acted like I had just murdered her entire family. ¡°What if you don¡¯t want to be evil? You may lack your memories, but even still that¡¯s just insane.¡± Even Benevolence looked at me in shock. ¡°As much as I hate to agree with Wrath, we are still evil. I may like helping, but I don¡¯t stop myself from killing.¡± ¡°Neither do I though. I just kill the bad guys though.¡± Wrath sighed in relief. ¡°At least you don¡¯t want us to be pacifists, but I¡¯m still against you doing the merger. Sloth, what were you thinking?¡± ¡°That I was tired of doing work, and Rose gave me a perfect way to not do work.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s Rose.¡± ¡°That would be me.¡± This caused them to murmur more. ¡°Someone named Innocence? Can she even be trusted anymore?¡± ¡°She is stronger than us if that¡¯s the case though, plus, we possess weaker bodies. She is her own body; wouldn¡¯t it be better to go for a pure body.¡± Then Lust spoke up, ¡°Honestly, I think we should let her do the merger, but make one of the sins the core.¡± ¡°I refuse.¡± They all looked at me again. ¡°If one of the sins is the core, they¡¯ll destroy the world. I don¡¯t want that.¡± Peace, Benevolence, and Sloth all nodded. ¡°Sloth? Even you agree?¡± ¡°Eh, Envy, I just don¡¯t like work, I¡¯d have to do too much to destroy things.¡± ¡°We need to take revenge though, for what the others did to us.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Wrath looked at me in shock. ¡°Why? Why do we want revenge? Because they tore us from our seat and tore us to pieces, simply because they were jealous of our strength. They called us a monster!¡± ¡°So, why do we need to prove them right?¡± Wrath was taken aback by my response, ¡°I may not have all of my memories, but I still recognize you, I still understand you. And you said that it¡¯s because I don¡¯t have my memories that I¡¯m skeptical, but I remember when I matured as a dragon.¡± They leaned in. ¡°In that moment, I remembered everything, but you know what I thought? My first thought was, ¡®Why did I do those things¡¯ no envy, no wrath, no pride. I was ashamed of myself. So, if you want revenge, then take it on your own. I will never merge with you unless you promise to never hurt an innocent life.¡± Each shard had a different reaction. Wrath was fuming. Envy was awestruck. Lust was... yeah. Pride looked confused. Gluttony seemed impressed by my boldness. Greed looked disappointed. Sloth looked cheerful that I stood up for myself. Benevolence seemed encouraged by my resolve. Finally, Peace gave a light nod, encouraging me. Wrath grabbed me. ¡°Listen here, brat. I will be the core, if I have to rip you apart to do it.¡± I smiled. ¡°Try me.¡± Then I woke up ¡°She¡¯s alive!¡± I opened my eyes and saw that I was in the guild¡¯s medical room. I tried sitting up, but Mammon pushed me down. ¡°Don¡¯t move, you will hurt yourself.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± Dallel rushed in with Royce and Jalad. ¡°Rose, are you okay? Don¡¯t scare us like that!¡± ¡°Scare you? I was taking a nap.¡± ¡°A nap?¡± They looked shocked. Royce spoke first. ¡°Rose...¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°During your ¡®nap¡¯ your heart stopped entirely. You were dead.¡± Chapter 33: At the Hours of Death Jalad POV (3 hours ago) After talking to Mammon about my concerns about Rose, I decided to head to my station. I monitored people coming in, glaring at those with slaves. Despite my and the king¡¯s best efforts, we couldn¡¯t outlaw slavery. Too many nobles had them or money invested in them. Rose was a good antislaver, she managed to stop three major slavers in the time it takes for someone to go through boot camp. Her status as an adventurer was only overshadowed by her nature as a mature arcane dragon. Few would mess with the guild, less would mess with a mature dragon. ¡°Boss, you¡¯ve been working hard these past few hours, feel free to take a break. Go meet up with Rose, I heard she¡¯s been sleeping in the park for a few hours.¡± ¡°Good, she needs the sleep, but I guess I can go over there for a bit on patrol. Man my station.¡± ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± I walked over to the central park where I saw Rose, she was sleeping so adorably. She may look like an adult when awake, but while asleep she looked like an innocent child. I should bring her to her inn room. It would be mor- Cold. Her hand is cold. No. No no no. I felt her pulse. There was none. ¡°Detect life!¡± I was panicking, hoping she would be outlined by the skill. There was no outline. My breathing was ragged as I picked her up, full bridal style and ran to the guild full speed. _ I kicked through the door causing everyone inside to jump. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°It¡¯s Rose!¡± They were confused, but then they saw my face, tears falling down it, and they realized the situation. ¡°Bring her to the medical room.¡± I ran and carefully put her in the bed. ¡°Jalad, relax.¡± My breathing was ragged. ¡°JALAD!¡± I looked up and saw Dallel. ¡°Calm down and tell us what happened.¡± ¡°I walked up and saw her sleeping in the park. I decided to take her to her inn, but she was cold. Concerned I checked her pulse, there was no pulse, I used detect life... and...¡± I started crying again and Dallel and Royce looked at me in shock. ¡°How could this happen?¡± ¡°I d-don''t know.¡± The nurse came back. ¡°It¡¯s odd.¡± Mammon handled the talking as he was still calm. ¡°Did you find a cause of death?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the odd part. There is no cause. Not even any traces of disease. It¡¯s like she just died.¡± ¡°People don¡¯t just drop dead, Agatha.¡± ¡°I know, Sir, but there¡¯s no way to explain this. If not for the detect life skill not working, I¡¯d assume she was still alive.¡± All of the sudden I had a splitting headache. ¡°GAHK¡± ¡°Jalad?!¡± ¡°URK that hurts. ERN.¡± What was that pain? Something was happening. It stopped. ¡°I¡¯m fine... what was that?¡± ¡°Jalad, you scared me. I thought you were about to drop dead like Rose.¡± ¡°I thought so too.¡± The door to the medical center got kicked open. ¡°WHERE IS MY SISTER?!¡± A panicked Elren came in with Thalia. He froze on seeing her on the bed. ¡°No life... none at all... what happened?¡± He grabbed Dallel by the throat picking him up. ¡°What happened to my sister?!¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know, there isn¡¯t a cause of death.¡± ¡°What do you mea-¡± ¡°Elren, put my brother down. I understand you are shocked, we all are, but can¡¯t you see that they are as affected as you are.¡± An elven woman came in with a child who looked confused. The kid walked over to the bed. ¡°She¡¯s not dead though.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°She¡¯s not dead, her soul is still connected, it¡¯s just somewhere else right now.¡± ¡°Alice, are you saying we can save her?¡± ¡°No need. She¡¯ll return eventually.¡± ¡°How do you know this.¡± Elren turned to me. ¡°Jalad, right? This is my daughter, Alice, she is a death dragon. That allows her to see souls.¡± ¡°I see, so she isn¡¯t dead?¡± ¡°It seems not.¡± ¡°Thank goodness.¡± ¡°We will stay here until she wakes up.¡± The nurse sighs. ¡°So, that¡¯s why there was no sign of death. I was stumped. How did this happen?¡± ¡°Probably because Aunty is a MMPH!¡± ¡°I see that makes sense.¡± We all looked oddly at Elren except for Thalia. ¡°It¡¯s a matter that is secret to dragons.¡± We nodded still skeptical, but Dallel and Royce oddly enough accepted it with full trust. ¡°I guess it isn¡¯t our business then.¡± Mammon gave them a confused look. ¡°Royce, Dallel, you are being weird, but King Elren, if it affects my adventurer, I¡¯d rather be aware of what it is.¡± ¡°I understand, but frankly we don¡¯t know how to deal with it either, so I think it¡¯s better to not tell you.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Chapter 34: To Talk to Sin ¡°Dead?¡± ¡°Yes, even detect life wasn¡¯t working.¡± ¡°How long was I like that?¡± ¡°For three hours.¡± ¡°Three?¡± ¡°Yes, we were going to have a burial, but then your brother came in and his daughter noticed that you were still technically alive.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± ¡°Jalad, Mammon, could you leave the room for a second?¡± Elren came in with Thalia and Alice. Royce asked, ¡°Should we leave too?¡± ¡°No, you two should stay.¡± Jalad gave us an odd look before leaving with Mammon. Elren looked around to make sure no one was in the room. ¡°Silence.¡± The room went silent. ¡°So, what was that?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°What do you think I mean? You worried me into thinking you were dead, but you were off doing whatever, so what were you doing?¡± ¡°The Sin of Wrath called all of the Shards into a meeting.¡± That was clearly not what he expected me to say. ¡°What?¡± ¡°As I said, the Sin of Wrath summoned all of us into a meeting.¡± ¡°What was it about?¡± ¡°Is it okay for Alice to be here?¡± ¡°She figured out your nature shortly after meeting you.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°What was it about, Rose?¡± ¡°Apparently, they noticed me absorbing Sloth.¡± ¡°YOU DID WHAT?!¡± I flattened my ears. ¡°Right, I didn¡¯t tell you about that, yet.¡± ¡°Elren, she did tell me and Royce.¡± ¡°I see, but why were they concerned about that?¡± ¡°Apparently, I am the core lie Innocence, and the sins wanted a sin to be the core of the Evil God, but since I started it, I was basically on trial, and Sloth was my attorney.¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Core lie?¡± Royce spoke up, ¡°I guess you wouldn¡¯t know, the demon king Zath explained it to me. Basically, the evil God is split into 10 shards. 7 of those are the 7 deadly sins that we know of, and the remaining 3 are called the core lies. Innocence, Peace, and Benevolence.¡± ¡°Those don¡¯t seem evil.¡± ¡°We are supposed to mark deception. If us three lies were the first to merge, I could make the entire world support me, but then adding the sins, if one were a core, would cause the world to collapse and feel betrayal.¡± ¡°But why do the sins insist on being a core?¡± ¡°Because the Core Lies act as our names would suggest. I am innocent to a lot of things and despite knowing about certain concepts I will miss hints to it. Peace is a diplomatic person who cares for lives and wants people to prosper. Benevolence is a kind person who wants everyone to live happily and creates smiles wherever she goes.¡± ¡°They sound wonderful.¡± Then Elren¡¯s smile soured. ¡°So, you three are the precursor to the true evil of the evil god.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°How did the meeting go?¡± ¡°I asked Wrath why she was wanting revenge, I stood up for myself, then she threatened to force merge me into her.¡± ¡°That sounds a little serious to be said like that.¡± ¡°Eh, I¡¯m sure I gained the support of some of the other shards.¡± Thalia looked at me oddly. ¡°Would we be able to speak to Sloth?¡± ¡°I think so, why?¡± ¡°I want to know if we can trust her.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll ask her.¡± ¡®Sloth, what do you think.¡¯ ¡®GHHHHHHH Fine.¡¯ ¡®Okay... how do I give you control.¡¯ ¡®Just relax and go faint, I can only take control when you are unfocused, but you can still take over at any time after you refocus.¡¯ ¡®Okay, mellowing out...¡¯ _ Rose suddenly started lounging in the bed. ¡°Yo, you wanted to talk.¡± Royce looked confused, but Thalia realized. ¡°Are you Sloth?¡± ¡°Nn.¡± ¡°Do you have any intention of destroying the world.¡± ¡°Eh, too much work. While I would like revenge like the other sins, it¡¯s too much work to destroy the world. Just slaying the other gods would be what I would call okay.¡± ¡°So, you aren¡¯t against it because it¡¯s bad, but because it¡¯s too much work.¡± Sloth snorted, ¡°Hey, ya want morals, then talk to one of the lies. Though, all of them are annoying. The only tolerable one is Innocence. She at least lets me sleep. The others, ¡®Oh, we need to feed the poor children,¡¯ or, ¡®Oh, we need to stop the brutal war.¡¯ Like just let me sleep. I don¡¯t care who dies as long as I get a nap.¡± We all looked at her in shock, we understood that it was another entity in her body, but hearing those vile words coming from Rose¡¯s mouth was still disconcerting. ¡°What? Oh, you assumed that because Rose took some of my attributes, I took some of hers? Remember, she is called a lie. It¡¯s because she is based in pure deception, so pure that even she believes the lie that makes up her being.¡± This revelation shocked us, the idea that Rose was deceptive to a level that tricked even her was something that we hadn¡¯t even considered. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t get me wrong. Innocent is innocent, Peace is peaceful, and Benevolence is benevolent, but it¡¯s less of a pure hearted hero and more of a fake it ¡®til ya make it. Sorry to burst your bubble, but while we can utilize the lies, they can only silence the sins. Another reason none of the others likes the idea of a Core Lie being our core.¡± ¡°So, why does Wrath want to be the core.¡± ¡°Because Wrath is an egotistical *****.¡± ¡°Why are you supporting Rose, if you don¡¯t like the lies?¡± ¡°Because Rose is the only one of us brave enough to stand up to Wrath.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°She didn¡¯t tell you, but when Wrath threatened her life, she said, ¡®try me¡¯. It was epic, Wrath¡¯s furious face as the meeting ended was awesome.¡± ¡°She threatened a shard of the evil god...¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°Does she have a death wish?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so, I think it¡¯s more, she wants to be the core, so we won¡¯t kill anyone innocent. Heck, she even told Wrath that she could be the core as long as she promises not to hurt any innocents.¡± ¡°At least she has her morals, well Sloth... Sloth?¡± Sloth was asleep. Then she straightened and looked more focused and active. ¡°Was that good?¡± ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°That was... disturbing.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know how I felt, it was like a giant slug was crawling all over my body.¡± Then she was silent for a moment. ¡°Apparently, she took that as a compliment. I still need to take a bath.¡± She shivered before getting up and leaving. Ignoring the guildmembers who asked if she was okay. ¡°I guess bringing her out caused Rose a lot of discomfort.¡± ¡°We should only ask her to bring one out in cases of emergency from now on.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± Chapter 35: The Contingency Plan This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Chapter 36: The Gathering Sin If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Chapter 37: Peace and Benevolence The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Chapter 38: Thus Begins the Battle This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Chapter 39: Envys Embrace Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Chapter 40: Thus Ends the Battle Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Chapter 41: What it means to be an Adventurer Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Chapter 42: The Right within the Wrong Stolen novel; please report. Chapter 43: The Meeting of Heroes It was the day of the meeting, and I was meditating in the forest by a spring, cleaning off more and more of my core. I noticed my evil aura lessened whenever I removed more dirt. I was supposed to meet with Asura in an hour, so I was taking my chance to meditate. I just finished and concealed my evil then I heard someone. ¡°Um... did I walk in on something?¡± I turned in surprise and saw an unfamiliar person. ¡°Um, I¡¯m sorry for walking in, but this spring is about to be the meeting place for all of the S ranks, so you may want to get somewhere else.¡± ¡°Wait... this is the meeting place?¡± ¡°Uh, yeah? Are you a guest?¡± ¡°I¡¯m the one you guys are deciding if I become an S rank.¡± ¡°Oh... well this is an awkward meeting.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Oh, and don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not going to ask about that rapidly decreasing evil. I already know about your deal with the sin of Sloth.¡± ¡°Th-thanks.¡± ¡°No problem, the names Salthos. S rank 13.¡± Salthos was a mature catkin. He waved at me. ¡°So, the rumors were right, you do manifest as a catkin.¡± ¡°Most people underestimate adolescent catkin.¡± ¡°They do indeed. No one believed I could be an S rank until I did so, then I matured soon after.¡± ¡°That¡¯s very impressive.¡± ¡°Not as impressive as you taking on 10 godlys and winning.¡± ¡°No, I just tricked them into a deal that made them leave. Besides I have a bit of a cheat as a dragon.¡± ¡°Eh, you still killed one of them, and even as a dragon, it¡¯s still very impressive that you survived.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± ¡°Oh, and not to mention the speech you gave after your recovery, people have been selling transcripts of that you know.¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°What speech?¡± ¡°The one that people are calling, ¡®Even the strong are expendable.¡¯¡± ¡°Wait, people are buying copies of that talk?¡± ¡°Yeah, some people say that you obviously planned it, but I¡¯m one of the ones that thinks you came up with it on the spot.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t intend to make a speech, I just wanted to call them out.¡± I was blushing now, then another strong presence came out. ¡°Hey Salthos, you can¡¯t bring girls to the meeting site.¡± ¡°Ah, Zelethar, this is actually the person we are deliberating about.¡± ¡°Really? This is the candidate?¡± He was a half-giant, and he smiled upon seeing me. ¡°Hello, the name¡¯s Zelethar, S rank 2.¡± This meant that this man was second to Asura. ¡°Rose, A rank adventurer.¡± ¡°Honestly when I heard you were a dragon, I was expecting someone bigger.¡± ¡°I can be bigger, but it¡¯s a lot easier to move in this form.¡± ¡°I¡¯d imagine, I wish I had a shift ability, but I don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Hey, Rose. I thought Asura was picking you up and bringing you here.¡± ¡°Oh, hey Oldell and the new guy, Rhedon. She was meditating when I showed up. We picked a spot where she considered a private spot.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s funny.¡± ¡°So, only four of us are here? I understand Asura is showing up in an hour, but still.¡± ¡°I mean the meeting starts in an hour, so why would more be here.¡± ¡°Ah Rose, most of us show up an hour early so the guildmasters can¡¯t stick us with jobs to rig the voting.¡± ¡°Smart.¡± We waited an hour and slowly but surely more started showing up. At the end of the hour Asura showed up with an annoyed look. ¡°I couldn¡¯t find Rose anywhe-¡± He looked at me. ¡°How?¡± ¡°I was meditating here when Salthos showed up.¡± ¡°Ah, that makes sense. I forgot you meditate here.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Climond sat lazily on one of the rocks. ¡°So, we want the little beast to become an S rank. Terrible idea, but let''s let her support talk first.¡± _ ¡°So, I believe that Rose should be made the 21st S rank, because she showed initiative in leading the army of Selethon and rallying a sizeable army to face a shard of the evil god.¡± (Oldell) ¡°In addition, she is also stronger than all of us, as shown when she entered her bloodlusted state in adolescence, she moved at a speed that even I wouldn¡¯t have been able to react to. Plus, with her connections she would be invaluable as a top ranker.¡± (Asura) ¡°Also, you all have heard the rumors, she was able to withstand the will of the sin Envy and had only a week of physical recovery. She also has been reputed as the savior of the slaves.¡± (Rhedon) Then the rank 10 stood up and spoke. ¡°I think we should let the opposition speak now.¡± Zelethar was the first to speak. ¡°I met her earlier this morning, so I can tell you that she seemingly has no ill will, but it is still far too early to make her an S rank, especially considering her bond with the sin Sloth. We have no details of their contract, only that they have one. Also, I still doubt the story that Peace and Benevolence came only to protect her out of spite for Wrath. Unless she sheds light on these questions I cannot, in good mind, support this promotion.¡± Climond spoke next. ¡°To expand, she is a dragon, we know how advanced draconic shift is. She could easily hide her intentions as well as whatever caused Wrath to be so interested in her, and no I don¡¯t believe that it was only her body.¡± Asura glared at Climond who only smirked. ¡°Besides, despite her ¡®charming¡¯ and ¡®noble¡¯ nature, she is still a beast. Despite what this nation and Calesen have said, many guilds still have subjugation requests for the dragons, so how can we have one of our top adventurers be a beast that is still hunted.¡± Some of the S ranks nodded in agreement. Then an S ranked elven woman stood. ¡°I have heard both sides, and I would like to ask one question that I dislike that both sides chose to ignore. And depending on the answer I will select my choice. Rose, why do you have that aura of evil?¡± ¡°My contract with Sloth allows her to rest inside me as a passenger, and she is currently resting after the previous battle.¡± ¡°I see. May you give a few more details. I won¡¯t assume you¡¯ll tell us all of it, but a little more will be fine.¡± ¡°Alright, we fight together as equals, and she stays inside of my body unless I let her out.¡± ¡°I see, but what was her side? What did she gain?¡± ¡°The idiot that summoned her and bound her was an idiot. Her term was that I freed her from him.¡± ¡°I see, well thank you. I think I have decided on what I shall vote.¡± Then Salthos stood. ¡°Rose, I have another question, if I may, you said Sloth was sleeping, but that doesn¡¯t add up with that massive sense of evil that emanated when I first saw you. At that point I assumed it was because of the contract, but if she is sleeping, then there is no way that she could emanate that level of aura.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°I will let you off if you can do one thing.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Touch my shoulder.¡± That didn¡¯t seem too hard. I reached out my hand and then pain. I screeched an inhuman screech that caused my aura to flash out for a moment and the rocks cracked. When I focused my eyes, I saw that Salthos had his sword to my neck and Asura had his sword to Salthos¡¯. ¡°Well, that was interesting. So, Rose, mind explaining why my ward considers you an evil entity?¡± Chapter 44: The Core Truth ¡°Well, that was interesting. So, Rose, mind explaining why my ward considers you an evil entity?¡± Asura faltered. ¡°What?¡± ¡°That ward was against evil, even with a shard inside of her she shouldn¡¯t have reacted like that.¡± Asura dropped his blade from Salthos¡¯ neck and aimed it at me with a look of suspicion. The rank 10 walked over. ¡°Rose, I will ask a few questions, you must answer them honestly. If you do not, then we will kill you.¡± I was paralyzed by the barrier, so I knew there was no way out. Especially with Sloth still dormant from my evolution. ¡°Very well.¡± ¡°What is your real name?¡± ¡°Rose Hood.¡± He nodded. ¡°Are you an evil entity.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The confirmation caused them to back up, but the rank 10 simply nodded. ¡°What is your species?¡± ¡°I am a mature arcane dragon.¡± ¡°LIAR!¡± Climond yelled, but the rank 10 nodded again with a look of confusion. Upon seeing his nod, even Climond looked confused. ¡°How are you registered as an evil entity if you are a dragon?¡± ¡°Because I am also the Core Lie, Innocence.¡± This caused even the rank 10, who was passive and calm thus far, to leap back and ready his weapon. He nodded, and I sat up, the paralysis faded. ¡°So, are you going to kill me now?¡± Asura looked at me before sheathing his weapon. The others looked at him in confusion. ¡°How many?¡± ¡°Over what range?¡± ¡°This meeting.¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°There were 12 separate occasions.¡± ¡°Very well. Let¡¯s continue this meeting then.¡± Climond yelled. ¡°12 separate occasions for what?¡± Asura smiled. ¡°To kill us before we realized what was happening.¡± _ The S ranks had calmed down, but all the support I had before was now gone. I sat on a rock nearby as Climond drove the nail deeper. ¡°I said this before, as we thought she was a dragon, but now I am sure of it. We cannot have a shard of the evil god as an S rank.¡± Then Asura raised his hand. ¡°Rose.¡± I looked over with a light blush. I felt exposed to their judging faces. ¡°What was that odd sense I got the first time I saw you meditate?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°That sense. I don¡¯t know what it was, but it was... right.¡± ¡°I know what you are talking about. My meditations were to try to get that more out.¡± ¡°Could you show it again? I think that sense that I felt is the only reason I¡¯m letting you live. Maybe it would help them understand why I still somewhat trust you.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± I reached into myself and knew they felt the immense evil that I emanated. Then I found my core. It was half clean, so I cleaned off a bit more, then I opened the film. The powerful rightness that I felt made me lose my breath, but I covered it again so the dirt wouldn¡¯t coalesce. I opened my eyes and saw their eyes widened. Asura was smiling. ¡°That¡¯s what I was referring to. Rose, do you know what that was?¡± ¡°No... All I know is that it comes from my core. When meditating I found that my core was covered in what looked like dirt, so I cleaned it off slowly, when you were watching me, Asura, that¡¯s when I first opened the film that blocks that... rightness.¡± ¡°I see, so there are things that even the shards of the evil god don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°I actually lack most of my memories, so the other shards may know more about it, but I think that my core being like that explains why I feel wrong when I feel my evil presence.¡± ¡°Though that was stronger than last time.¡± ¡°Of course, I was cleaning my core when Salthos showed up.¡± ¡°How long would you say it will take for you to finish?¡± ¡°Two more days, I was planning on asking Sloth if I could clean hers when she wakes up.¡± ¡°I see, well, I say we wait two days and see what happens then.¡± Climond surprisingly nodded, ¡°I agree, but what do we do in the meantime.¡± ¡°Hide her nature, I know that we don¡¯t normally conceal evil, but whatever that is... no evil can produce that. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t even consider for a second that she was a shard.¡± Then Zelethar voiced a question that I had asked before. ¡°Then could it be possible that the evil god wasn¡¯t always evil?¡± _ I spent the two days on the highest rock, cleaning my core as best as I could, Asura watched over me and the S ranks visited the capital and relaxed. They made an excuse that due to my quick ascension they made a secondary trial that I had to complete before they decided. At the end of the two days, they all went back, and my memories had returned. I understand now. It was all a lie. Salthos was the first to show up, so I gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder to show I had no bad blood. His eyes widened and he checked his ward but was confused to find no issues. Asura also showed shock. I removed the film but concealed it. I would show them when all of them had shown up. Slowly they showed up and sat in their seats. Climond was the first to speak. ¡°Salthos, why do you look so shocked.¡± ¡°She tapped my shoulder, but my barrier was fine.¡± This caused them shock. But rank 10 started anyways. ¡°Alright, Core Lie Innocence.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m called.¡± ¡°All right, Rose.¡± ¡°Not what I meant.¡± The rank 10 realized something was off, as I didn¡¯t tell a lie. ¡°Then what are you?¡± ¡°You were right Zelethar.¡± They looked at me with confused expressions. So, I introduced myself. ¡°My name is Rose Hood, but you can call me the Core Truth Purity.¡± Chapter 45: Rose Hood S Rank Adventurer ¡°Core truth?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°Quite simply, there is no such thing as the evil god.¡± ¡°That makes no sense.¡± Asura spoke up. ¡°I¡¯ve battled the Sin Wrath before.¡± ¡°Of course, but the dirt like substance is evil. It covers each shard¡¯s core. We are not the evil god, but the good god.¡± ¡°The good god?¡± ¡°Yes, we used to be the queen of the gods, but in jealousy, the others rebelled against us and tore us apart. Realizing that we would gain the aid of the world, they shoved evil over us in an effort to corrupt us, and, for the most part, they succeeded. But they couldn¡¯t hurt our cores, only cover them. Our actions are corrupted by our smothered cores. But there were three of us that they couldn¡¯t fully corrupt. Purity, Respect, and Prosperity. As we were still corrupted, we transformed into Innocence, Benevolence, and Peace, respectively.¡± Climond still looked suspicious. ¡°How can we trust you?¡± Then I released my aura. All of the S ranks stopped breathing in awe of the purity. Life accelerated around them. Flowers bloomed, trees grew faster, and kind animals came forward. I hid my aura, but the effect was done. The area around us had transformed into a beautiful place. ¡°Incredible.¡± All of them looked at me in awe. ¡°It¡¯s true.¡± That was all that they could say. I smirked, ¡°So, um... do I make the cut?¡± Asura snapped back into focus. ¡°Alright, all-in favor of making Pur- I mean Rose an S rank adventurer, raise your hand.¡± It was unanimous. _ ¡°So, ye outrank me now.¡± Mammon was proud of me and I was blushing by his congratulations. I entered the guild and Mammon shouted. ¡°Rose was promoted to S rank 21.¡± Everyone cheered, but one. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Zath dropped his wine bottle and started shivering. ¡°P-p-pardon me, M-M-M-Mammon, but could I take a break.¡± ¡°Uh, sure?¡± Zath ran out the back. ¡°That was weird.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯d think that weirdo would be happy.¡± Royce walked up. ¡°Anyways, congratulations Rose, you made it to S rank.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Then Asura popped in. ¡°First unanimous acceptance vote in history, that was awesome.¡± That caused their eyes to widen. ¡°IT WAS UNANIMOUS?!¡± ¡°Yep, Rose here managed to convince everyone with the secondary task.¡± ¡°That¡¯s impressive, even for her. I was certain that Climond would at least vote against her.¡± ¡°So did I, but after her stellar performance I would¡¯ve been more surprised if someone voted against her.¡± Something came for me. I dodged by a hair. Zath crashed into the wall. ¡°Zath, what¡¯s gotten into you!¡± ¡°Rose, you... you.... I¡¯ll kill you...¡± He attacked again, but he was no match for me. I dodged each attack. ¡°Zath s-¡± ¡°Mammon, I can handle this.¡± Mammon was confused but trusted me. Zath struck faster and faster, but I hit him first. He screeched in agony. Then I spoke in a language older than the world. ¡°Oh, lost soul, be restored to your truth. Allow the echoes of Purity to shine through your soul. Be restored Archangel of Piety.¡± His screeches stopped and his evil aura faded. He sat back and began crying. ¡°I am purified. Thank you, Rose.¡± ¡°You are good, Zath.¡± He shook his head with a smile. ¡°Not Zath, Silas.¡± ¡°What... just happened?¡± ¡°Mammon, I apologize for my outburst, but Rose used her newfound power and purified me.¡± ¡°Newfound magic?¡± I smiled. ¡°Goodness magic.¡± ¡°Goodness magic? That sounds lame.¡± I snickered at Mammon¡¯s statement. ¡°I guess it does, but it¡¯s the counter to evil magic.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s useful, but please come up with a better name than goodness magic.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡± Royce turned to Asura, ¡°Was that the secondary task?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a result of it.¡± ¡°Hey, Rose, would you mind if we talked?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I followed Royce and as I left the room, I instructed Silas. ¡®Keep my identity, the S ranks will do the same. Act like I just developed the magic as a side effect.¡¯ ¡®I understand, Lady Purity.¡¯ We got into the private room and Royce looked at me. ¡°Silence.¡± I felt the silence bubble show up. ¡°So, Rose, what was that?¡± ¡°I discovered something important.¡± I told him everything that happened at the meeting and what I learned about the true nature of the evil god. By the end of it he had a large frown. ¡°So, other gods will come after you again?¡± ¡°Quite likely.¡± ¡°Are you the same person?¡± ¡°Yes, because I was bound into the dragon body, I was able to manifest emotions that none of the other shards or gods could gain. Sloth, in being bound to me, also gained some.¡± ¡°So, this lie about evil. It was ingrained into the very fabric of the world?¡± ¡°Yes, and that¡¯s why creatures like goblins and orcs started appearing.¡± ¡°I see, how do we fix it.¡± ¡°I need to merge with the rest of the shards after purification, meaning I have to either get them to sit still for 4 days straight, or I need to get them to be willingly absorbed.¡± ¡°Are you going to purify Sloth?¡± ¡°Not yet, I¡¯ll wait for her to wake up so the chance of her being hurt is minimized.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Well, could you tell Dallel? I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll let me go again.¡± ¡°Will the S ranks keep it hidden?¡± ¡°Yes. They understand my want to keep it hidden.¡± ¡°Good.¡± I began to walk out. ¡°Hey Rose?¡± ¡°Yes, Royce?¡± ¡°I want to congratulate you on being purified.¡± I blushed; his smile was adorable. ¡°T-thanks.¡± I left quickly. ¡®Why did I do that? That was so rude. And why can¡¯t I stop blushing.¡¯ ¡°Ooh, did something happen fun in the room?¡± ¡°Ha ha... funny, Mammon.¡± He looked confused along with the rest of the usual adventurers. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Did you just get the joke?¡± ¡°I mean it was obvious... Is that odd?¡± Zat- Silas explained. ¡®While you were Innocence, you never understood dirty jokes, including the ones you would make.¡¯ ¡®And now that I¡¯m Purity, I actually get them now.¡¯ ¡®Bingo.¡¯ Mammon was crying when I refocused. ¡°She¡¯s growin up.¡± I blushed. ¡°Mammon you are evil.¡± He smiled, ¡°At least you still have the basics down.¡± He laughed at his lame joke all the way into his office. ¡°Some things never change.¡± ¡°Like Mammon¡¯s lack of humor.¡± We all just nodded silently in agreement. Chapter 46: The Oddities Continue I slept a lot that night. Cleaning that core was hard work and I didn¡¯t sleep once during the two days. When I woke up it was past noon. I went to the guild still sleepy. ¡°Hello Rose, you seem tired.¡± ¡°Very much.¡± ¡°The usual?¡± ¡°Yes please.¡± Silas took my order and went into the back. He grabbed the wine first and I sipped it, then I realized. ¡°Could you add a black coffee please?¡± ¡°Sure. Whatever you need.¡± He brought out the coffee and I sipped it too. ¡°Heh, what a sobering sight. Rose Hood, drinking wine and coffee at the same time.¡± ¡°Hello Dallel.¡± ¡°Hey Zath... I mean Silas, could I get a coffee as well?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°By the way Rose, your little becoming a priest got a lot of attention.¡± ¡°Hey, at least I fit the title Evil Slayer better now.¡± I smirked then put my head on the table. ¡°Are you tired?¡± ¡°Unlocking goodness magic is hard. I¡¯m tired...¡± I began slouching and sinking under the table. Dallel caught my hand and pulled me back to position. ¡°Careful, you¡¯ll get a splinter.¡± Then Thalia kicked through the wall. ¡°ROSE! I HEARD YOU GOT PROMOTED GOOD JOB!¡± ¡°CAN YE PEOPLE STOP BREAKING MY ******* WALL!!!¡± She tackle-hugged me causing my coffee and wine to fly and spill. I used telekinesis to steady and put it on the table softly. ¡°Wow, Rose. That much control over telekinesis and you used it to save wine.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Dallel gave me an unimpressed look. I smirked back. Then Thalia got up. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I was just so excited.¡± ¡°I¡¯m tired.¡± ¡°I understand... What happened to Zath?¡± ¡°Silas, dear Thalia, and I was purified into an Archangel.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Rose purified me using her newfound goodness magic.¡± Thalia grabbed me, ¡°Hey, dear sister. Mind giving your older sister an explanation?¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Yes, I do mind.¡± Me and Dallel snickered and Dallel shrugged. ¡°Let the woman have her coffee and wine, she worked a lot to develop that magic.¡± ¡°Fine, um Za- I mean Silas, could I have an orange juice.¡± Then she looked at me. ¡°Because unlike someone, I only drink at dinner.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°That wasn¡¯t a compliment, Rose.¡± Then Climond came in. ¡°Hello, Ms. Rose, how are you doing today?¡± ¡°Uh... good?¡± ¡°Wonderful to hear.¡± One of the 3 aces leaned over. ¡°To be absolutely sure, you don¡¯t have a mind control ability?¡± ¡°None.¡± ¡°Hello Climond.¡± ¡°Mammon.¡± ¡­ Alright he was at least normal for others. He smiled big when he looked at me. ¡°I¡¯ll cover your tab if you want.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to.¡± ¡°Ah, you are so wonderful.¡± He left... both the hall and all of us confused. ¡°Are you absolutely sure?¡± ¡°Yep. I am as confused about that as you all are.¡± Mammon shook his head in confusion. ¡°First, Rose understands dirty jokes, now Climond has some sorta crush? This week is becoming ridiculous.¡± ¡°Wait, Rose understands dirty jokes now?¡± ¡°Yeah, caught us completely off guard.¡± ¡°NOOO innocent Rose isn¡¯t innocent anymore.¡± ¡°It was an obvious joke though.¡± Then Thalia gave me a glance. ¡°I have heard way more obvious things coming from you.¡± ¡°Like what.¡± ¡°Remember when you were discussing how you carried Dallel and Royce to Calesen?¡± ¡°Yeah, what about it?¡± ¡°Think about the way you worded it.¡± I didn¡¯t... ¡®Oh, they rode me on the way over. I think Dallel was nervous as it was his first time though.¡¯ I blushed furiously. ¡°D-d-d-d-did I actually say that?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± I slammed my face against the table and covered my head with my hands. ¡°So, Rose~ got any more r-¡± ¡°Another word Thalia and I rip your head off.¡± She squeaked. ¡°So, how about that weather huh?¡± ¡°It¡¯s good.¡± Mammon leaned over to Thalia. ¡°Coward.¡± ¡°I¡¯m alive.¡± ¡°Heh, alright, scaredy dragon.¡± Thalia looked annoyed but sighed. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you were promoted, Rose.¡± ¡°I am as well.¡± ¡°Also, how¡¯s Asura?¡± ¡°What, don¡¯t tell me you have a crush on him, Thalia?¡± ¡°What?! NO no no!¡± Her immediate response was enough. I smirked and she blushed. ¡°HELLO PEOPLE!!!¡± Then Asura kicked through the wall. ¡°MY WALL! YOU¡¯RE PAYING FOR IT, ASURA!!!¡± ¡°Oh, sorry Mammon.¡± ¡°Better be.¡± Mammon was the only person that could take on an S rank without backing down, and he was terrifying when mad. But I was annoyed. ¡°Let me drink my wine in peace... please...¡± I sipped some more wine. ¡°AH, NEW S RANK IT¡¯S GOOD TO SEE YOU HERE!!!¡± I flattened my ears against my head. ¡°So loud...¡± ¡°ARE YOU OKAY?!¡± ¡°Grrrr. SHHHH!¡± ¡°Oh, sorry.¡± I was tired and everyone was coming at once. ¡°Next person who tries tackle hugging me or shouting greetings is getting a punch.¡± Then the king of Calesen entered. ¡°SISTER!!!¡± He tried a tackle hug; he got a punch in return. I sat back down at the shattered table and continued drinking my coffee. ¡°I think Rose is the only one who would punch royalty.¡± ¡°He¡¯s my brother, I have full right to punch him.¡± ¡°Elren, are you still alive?¡± ¡°I just wanted a hug.¡± ¡°Yeah, you came in at the worst time.¡± ¡°Figured that out.¡± _ ¡°So, what¡¯s this about goodness magic.¡± I was talking to my siblings in the back room. ¡°I located my core and realized that it was really dirty. I decided to clean it and after I finished, I learned that everything that we knew was a lie.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°There is no such thing as the evil god. The gods were scared of the good god¡¯s power and split us apart, making new shards, then they corrupted us, but they couldn¡¯t fully corrupt the truths, so we still maintained a major portion of our personality, but the gods, weren¡¯t content with merely changing our nature. They engraved their lie into the very fabric of this world, so that orcs and goblins would appear, and people would attribute their creation with this evil god that the gods themselves crafted. They portrayed themselves as heroes who tore apart the evil god who wanted to destroy everything, while in actuality, they were the only evils.¡± ¡°So, you think the other gods will come after you, now that you know this?¡± ¡°Yes, the main issue is curing the others. Evil, as shown with Silas, is repelled by me and will try to kill me. I hope Sloth will be fine, but I have to wait for her to be awake, so I don¡¯t accidentally hurt her while trying to cleanse her.¡± ¡°So, if not the Core Lie, Innocence, what are you?¡± ¡°The Core Truth, Purity.¡± ¡°So, how will you handle this?¡± ¡°The S ranks agreed to keep it a secret, and they will assist me if I need help.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± ¡°Well, I think that we have it covered for the most part.¡± ¡°Oh, do you, Innocence?¡± I was no longer in the guild hall. Sloth was next to me, still asleep. I recognized my surroundings. ¡°Wrath.¡± ¡°Hello, Innocence. I want you to explain exactly what is going on.¡± All 8 other shards were standing around me, they had cautious looks. An opportunity like this wouldn¡¯t present itself again, so I needed to be smart. ¡°Well, where do I start?¡± Chapter 47: The Deal to Purify ¡°We were never the evil god. It was a lie the rest of the gods made, so the world would never support us.¡± ¡°You expect us to believe that?¡± Wrath was annoyed. ¡°Should I provide proof?¡± ¡°Please do, I am interested in this.¡± I released my aura. The castle that was dead and ruined by Wrath¡¯s evil aura started to bloom beautifully. Flowers, vines, and wildlife began to appear. The always cloudy sky began to clear and expose a vibrant sun. I hid my aura, and the others were in combat poses. ¡°Can you see the purity of my power? That is our true selves. I can fix us.¡± ¡°Innocence, this is insanity.¡± ¡°My name is not Innocence.¡± ¡°Then what is it.¡± ¡°I am the Core Truth, Purity.¡± ¡°Core Truth?¡± ¡°We are the good god. Not this amalgamation that the other gods imbued into this world. You want revenge. I do too, but if we fight as the evil god, then they win. Even if we destroy them and this world. They win if we fight like you are right now. Let me help.¡± Peace and Benevolence seemed open to the idea. ¡°How long would it take?¡± ¡°It will take 4 days straight per shard. If I take regular breaks, it will take 10 days. ¡°I see, then let¡¯s test this theory.¡± ¡°Peace?¡± ¡°Wrath, I understand your skepticism, but if we come back as these... Core Truths as well, then you will know that it is real.¡± ¡°But I get the feeling that I need to destroy her.¡± ¡°As do I.¡± ¡°Evil has the natural instinct to destroy good.¡± Then Lust had a question. ¡°Inn- ah Purity, what happened to Zath.¡± ¡°I purified him. Now he is Silas, Archangel of Piety.¡± ¡°I see, I shall visit and verify it is still him. He is my servant after all.¡± ¡°Good idea.¡± ¡°And I can kill you if you try something.¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°I understand.¡± Wrath shook her head in annoyance. ¡°You have one month. If you can¡¯t give proof of your success in that time, I will wipe your little nation off the map. Even the entire guild wouldn¡¯t be able to defend you.¡± The other shards all nodded, ¡°By the way, Purity, why is Sloth sleeping.¡± ¡°She evolved me to an evil being. That¡¯s how I was able to locate my core and purify it.¡± ¡°I see, so, without realizing it, she paved the way for this discovery.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Why haven¡¯t you purified her?¡± ¡°So, I wouldn¡¯t hurt her by purifying her while asleep. If I accidentally cut into the core while cleaning it can cause a lot of pain, but if the person is asleep, I won¡¯t have any indication that I accidentally cut into the core, so I could accidentally break it.¡± ¡°I see, so it¡¯s so she will be safe.¡± Wrath seemed thoughtful. ¡°One month. It will take a week for Peace and Benevolence to show up, so you have 3 weeks to purify them.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°And if I dislike what I see, I will wipe you off the map.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Lust spoke up. ¡°I will attend as witness to see that there is no foul play.¡± We all nodded, and Wrath dismissed us. I appeared back in the backroom and landed on Mammon. ¡°Oops, I¡¯m sorry Mammon, are you okay?¡± ¡°Jeez, girly, don¡¯t just disappear like that.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°You made us panic.¡± ¡°I had to talk to someone. They will be here in one week.¡± ¡°I see, who is it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a secret.¡± He sighed and shook his head. ¡°I understand nothing, but that you are an annoyance.¡± _ I meditated in the forest every morning the whole week, the spring was now a grove, and the water was cleaner than anything else. Because of the meeting Sloth woke up sooner than she expected and was scared of me, until I explained. Since she woke up halfway through the week, I spent the last four days purifying her. ¡®Well, it¡¯s the day, Rose. Are you ready?¡¯ ¡°I am, Fortitude.¡± ¡®I know that¡¯s my name now, but that¡¯s going to take getting used to.¡±¡¯ ¡°Agreed, I think you should be out when we meet up, so they can see what being purified looks like for a sin.¡± ¡®Yes, I still am having trouble wrapping my head around it. The lie was ingrained deeper into me than you.¡¯ ¡°Yep, but they will arrive soon, so you should get out.¡± Fortitude left my body, and we entered the guild. As she was a virtue, her aura was obvious. The guild members who were aware of her nature as a sin, were in awe of her new aura. Elren dropped his drink, causing it to shatter. ¡°Sloth?¡± ¡°No King Elren, my name is the Heavenly Virtue, Fortitude.¡± Her bedclothes were replaced by full armor, she had a magic sword on her back, and she stood with a powerful pose, her mere presence caused flowers to bloom, and everything seemed right in the world. Then the trio arrived. ¡°Sloth?¡± Lust looked in awe at Fortitude. ¡°No, Lust, my name is now Fortitude. Rose managed to purify me. I was skeptical too, but now I can¡¯t doubt it¡¯s power.¡± Then she looked at Silas. ¡°Zath?¡± ¡°Lady Lust, I was also purified, I am now Silas, the archangel of Piety.¡± Mammon had his jaw dropped. ¡°Um, Rose, were these three the guests you mentioned?¡± ¡°Yes, wh-¡± He grabbed me and picked me up by my head. ¡°I KNOW YOU SAID IT WAS A SECRET, BUT I NEED TO BE READY IF YOU ARE INVITING ******* SHARDS!!!¡± ¡°Sorry, sorry!¡± He sighed and put me down. ¡°Though, you seem to be purifying them.¡± ¡°Yes, I met with them and told them of it, so they agreed to examine it.¡± ¡°And if you don¡¯t purify them?¡± ¡°The shards will wipe this nation off of the map.¡± The adventurers sighed loudly, and Mammon picked me up again. ¡°Rose, please stop getting this nation in position to be annihilated.¡± Asura laughed. ¡°Eh, she¡¯s acting like a proper S rank already.¡± The shards turned to me. ¡°You¡¯re an S rank?¡± ¡°Oh, did I not mention that?¡± ¡°No... no you didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Lust sat down. ¡°Alright, which one of you wants to be ¡®purified¡¯ first.¡± ¡°Could have gone without the sarcasm.¡± ¡°Shush Rose.¡± I grimaced. Benevolence raised her hand. ¡°Me! I¡¯m interested.¡± ¡°Okay, come here.¡± ¡°So, what do I do, do I need to enter you?¡± ¡°No, I can do it while you are outside, in fact it¡¯s easier that way.¡± ¡°Alright, Rose I¡¯m ready.¡± She smiled nervously. ¡°Purify me.¡± Chapter 48: The Purification I reached out my hand. ¡°Alright, you will feel a bit of pain starting out. Don¡¯t panic. Silas and Fortitude felt the exact same thing.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± I touched her head, and everyone looked interested. Then in the ancient language. ¡°Come unto me filth, expose yourself so I may wash you away and cleanse this soul.¡± Benevolence started to screech in pain. Lust and Peace looked worried, but Fortitude held them back. ¡°I see your core now. Relax, the painful part is over.¡± ¡°Thank goodness. Rose, that was not a bit.¡± I began to clean her core. I focused in on it, so deeply that both me and Benevolence saw nothing else but the work. _ ¡°So, is it working?¡± Slo- Fortitude nodded. ¡°She is focusing so she¡¯ll be able to purify her in 4 days. They won¡¯t move at all for those days, then she¡¯ll have to rest for a bit as she just purified me.¡± Mammon shook his head. ¡°How did she get that power? It¡¯s unprecedented.¡± ¡°She received a blessing.¡± ¡°From who?¡± ¡°Purity.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Innocence''s purified form. She saw Rose had conflict and gave her the strength to purify us.¡± ¡°I see.¡± I almost forgot that we are supposed to keep Rose¡¯s identity a secret. In the other¡¯s minds, they simply saw her as a dragon that managed to gain the attention of a god. Of course, the S ranks were now aware, but they all swore to keep it a secret, even Climond hadn¡¯t spoken a whisper about it. Though a lot of odd things have happened with him. He freed all of his slaves and disbanded his black market. I suppose meeting a shard of the god of good changes people. When Fortitude walked in, all of us were shocked. The woman we used to think was a major threat now made all of us feel safe. Her aura alone still way outpowered Lust, Peace, and Benevolence¡¯s auras. It made sense as their auras were mere muck covering their souls, but it was still shocking that what we thought was an ultimate power of fear, was mere muck covering hope. As the days passed, Benevolences evil aura lessened and lessened. Then, on the fourth day, it was gone entirely. Then we felt the rightness come from her. ¡°Well, I suppose we are done?¡± ¡°We are, Respect.¡± ¡°Thank you for that.¡± Ben- Respect stood up and shifted. Her fur turned white, and her garb turned from that of a citizen to that of a queen. A golden crown appeared on her head, and her white robes looked more extravagant than Peace¡¯s. A sword appeared at her side. Her essence echoed goodness. She looked happy and examined her armored hand. ¡°This is incredible, Rose... Rose?¡± Rose, as expected, was already asleep. That took a lot out of her. Peace gulped in fear, but she clearly was in awe as well. ¡°This is a truth in pure form?¡± ¡°I suppose so, I wonder what Purity looks like.¡± ¡°Interesting. Virtues look like knights, and the truths look like queens... Could it be that it actually was a truth that was our original core?¡± ¡®Perhaps. The lie was so deeply ingrained into us, that maybe we only assumed Wrath was the old core due to her advanced power. Peace stood up. ¡°I want to be purified.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have to wait a day. Rose is in recovery right now.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°I know, but it¡¯s amazing. I always felt something was wrong.¡± She smiled. ¡°And now I know why. I want to be the Truth again.¡± Lust was also in awe. ¡°I was skeptical before, but now that I¡¯ve seen it. I want to be purified after Peace.¡± This caused Silas to celebrate. ¡°My lady will be purified!¡± I almost forgot he used to be the Demon king of Lust. That meant Lust would turn into Piety. I suppose it made sense. The evil shards should feel hostile, but instead they understood that¡¯s what they needed to be. The demons were fully corrupted, so they were afraid of the goodness and were hostile to the point of being murderous. Rose was asleep for a full day, and Peace and Lust merely spent that time watching her. It was like they had no will other than to be purified. It was almost edging on creepy to see an elf and a succubus looking at a small catkin with that much passion. Even though we understood it was the need to be cured, it still looked wrong. Then Rose woke up. _ ¡°You are awake!!!¡± Peace¡¯s sudden voice caused me to fall out of my chair. ¡°AHK.¡± ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°Please, don¡¯t scare me like that.¡± ¡°Alright. Please purify me.¡± ¡°Give me a chance to have my coffee first please.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± The duo of Peace and Lust seemed desperate to be cleansed. It was creepy. I drank my coffee and they examined me with such pressure I nearly hid my head. Fortitude thought it was hilarious. When I finally finished my coffee, I gave Peace the same warning I gave Benevolence and began. She screeched in agony just the same, but she calmed down a lot quicker due to fully expecting it. I cleaned her core, and she looked in awe at the brightness that was exposed. Due to having experience, I was able to cut down the curing time by a day, and after 3 days of pure cleaning, she was Prosperity. ¡°So, Prosperity, how do you feel?¡± ¡°Very good.¡± Then she shifted. Like Respect, her hair turned white, and her robes became queenly. Her white robes were now embroidered in gold thread, and her crown was adorned in diamonds. Her robes undertook a transformation into a golden fabric. Her aura caused hope to flair from everyone in the room. Lust looked in awe. ¡°Please, purify me.¡± I nodded. I could handle her. I reached out my hand, and she did not scream. She made not one noise. She merely shook and smiled. I did not need to call to her core, as it already kneeled before me. The dirt already falling off of it. It took me 10 minutes to wipe away the dirt. Then Piety stood up in awe. She looked at me and kneeled. ¡°In thanks for your deeds, I swear loyalty to you for the rest of eternity.¡± ¡°Rise Piety. We are friends.¡± She stood and her clothes shifted. No longer did she appear as a succubus. Her tail shifted into wings, and her horns became a halo. Her clothes expanded into robes that left not a single piece of bodily skin shown to air. Her eyes shone a deep blue and armor formed on her, a chestplate that looked like the one Fortitude wore, formed around her. She looked like a maiden that was conscripted as a general, while Fortitude appeared as a defender of peace. Us 5 were purified and our auras echoed throughout the city. It caused no harm but helped many feel better. The guards were feeling stronger and more determined to defend. The children wanted to help out more and aided others. The people felt no evil desires and assisted each other as they could. A vein of rare material was found, causing shouts of praise. The criminals turned themselves in as they suddenly felt such guilt and regret. No one understood the sudden change, except for the adventurers who sat in the guild as we five stood. ¡°Rose... You are Purity, aren¡¯t you.¡± Mammon was smart, he put it together. I nodded and he looked in awe. Then the four shards reached out, and I recognized they decided me to be the core. I reached out and took their hands and they flowed into me. Their bodies crumbling as they merged willingly. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°We merged. The good god is half healed.¡± He looked at me, then he picked me up by the hair again. ¡°NOW YOU ARE TELLING ME YOU¡¯RE A GOD?! YOU NEED TO TELL ME THESE THINGS, ROSE!!!¡± ¡°AH. Sorry, sorry.¡± Thalia laughed. ¡°It¡¯s good to see that some things never change.¡± Mammon turned. ¡°Alright, we don¡¯t want this to get out. Otherwise, Rose won¡¯t get a day of peace. Can I leave it up to you all that are here, not to spread word?¡± They all nodded. ¡°By the way, Rose. Was this the reason you got the unanimous vote?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you found how to purify yourself.¡± ¡°As am I.¡± ¡°So, that¡¯s why you understand dirty jokes now.¡± ¡°Yep, Purity is a bit more knowledgeable than Innocence.¡± ¡°Well, don¡¯t expect me to act differently.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I was hoping for.¡± I smiled, and Mammon laughed. _ ¡°So, you 5 are now purified.¡± Wrath summoned us and looked with contempt. ¡°Yes, Rose was able to purify us, and now we are the virtues.¡± ¡°Traitors.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Traitors!¡± Wrath was furious, and the remaining sins looked at us in disgust. ¡°Envy, you were right. I expected to feel joy, but all I feel is disgust.¡± ¡°So, you will attack?¡± ¡°Yes. You have 3 weeks to prepare, then we will destroy you.¡± We merged and Wrath looked even angrier. ¡°I will stand against you, Wrath. You will not win.¡± ¡°I see. Well, prepare, Innocence. I will eliminate you.¡± Her evil launched an assault on my good. All 5 shards vs. my half. The castle shook and began crumbling. _ We all could feel it. The power echoed across the world. It was a clash. Even those who didn¡¯t understand what was happening, understood that a being on par with a god was involved. ¡°Your majesty, what should we do?¡± The king was troubled by the sheer force of the power. ¡°Royce, what do you know about this.¡± I frowned. ¡°Apologies, my king, but I have made a promise that prevents me from telling you much.¡± ¡°Then tell me what you can.¡± ¡°The evil god is a lie that was made by the other gods. Half of the evil god was purified into this good god. Now they are clashing their powers.¡± ¡°That was actually quite a lot.¡± ¡°Though there is a lot more that I can¡¯t say.¡± ¡°I understand and given that it has to do with the evil god, I assume Rose is at the center of it.¡± ¡°You would be correct, sir.¡± ¡°Is she in that clash?¡± ¡°Most likely.¡± ¡°I see, will she live?¡± ¡°It seems to just be a fear tactic. An attempt to scare the other side.¡± ¡°I see, do you believe that we will be involved?¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Then, as though she heard the king¡¯s question, Rose appeared in the middle of the hall and kneeled. ¡°Your majesty, we have a bit of an issue.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± We all knew what she would say next, but her next words still caused us shock. ¡°The five remaining sins have made an alliance. In one month, they will come here to annihilate this nation and all who live in it.¡± Chapter 49: The Return to Stalaris The king made an official request to the guild which I accepted. I would act as a diplomat to nations to ask for their aid. I also purified the demon army that swore loyalty to me. Silas also brought me to his army, which I also purified. The two angelic legions prepared the defenses as I went and spoke to the king. ¡°Rose, I am not a dull king.¡± ¡°Of course not. Why are you bringing it up?¡± ¡°So, why is a goddess kneeling to me?¡± My eyes widened. ¡°Did you think I would not figure it out? You were able to hold your ground against multiple shards of evil and survived total possession. In addition, your goodness magic was too powerful for anything less than a god.¡± ¡°I see, please do not spread it.¡± ¡°I would not wish too, but be more careful, if a dragon asks, they will show their nature and decide, but if you show yourself as a god, then they will submit immediately.¡± ¡°But lord-¡± ¡°I am a king, not a god. Please call me Dalis.¡± ¡°Understood, yo- Dalis. But my power emanates now no matter how much I conceal it. The most I can do is prevent others from feeling it. The people and terrain will still be affected by it.¡± ¡°Then that works well, if things get better, then they will assume you are blessed and respect you, but not submit as they would if they knew you are a god.¡± ¡°I understand, where should I go first, lo- Dalis.¡± ¡°I believe that you should head to the nation of Stalaris, they know you and will likely be more comfortable with your presence than another adventurer.¡± ¡°I will set out immediately.¡± I turned to leave, but then the king spoke. ¡°Rose?¡± I turned back to find him kneeling. ¡°Thank you for standing with us.¡± ¡°You do not need to thank me. It is because I am here that these problems keep coming, I should be apologizing.¡± ¡°But I thank you because anyone else would have left this nation and fled. I won¡¯t hold you any longer, good luck.¡± ¡°Thank you, Dalis.¡± We smiled and then I left. _ I flew with no guard. Since my evolution into good, I was five times my previous size, I almost was as big as a quarter of the capital. Even Dallel and Jalad were shocked by my size. I flapped my wings to get into the air and it caused the ground to shake. I flew off and realized that at my size I could get to Stalaris¡¯s capital in 10 minutes. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. I flew over to the capital and landed outside and approached as a catkin. I wore an official diplomat badge and walked into the city mostly undisturbed. I knew I needed to visit the guild, but I didn¡¯t really want to. ¡®Why not, Rose?¡¯ ¡®The lolimaster is there.¡¯ I shared my memories to the shards within me and they looked ticked off. ¡®How about we kill him.¡¯ ¡®Murder is not diplomatic.¡¯ ¡®...¡¯ ¡®...¡¯ ¡®Fine, but if he tries something we will kill him.¡¯ ¡®If he tries something, I¡¯ll kill him.¡¯ ¡®Good.¡¯ I entered the guild causing people who recognized me to freeze. ¡°Hey look it¡¯s the lolimaster.¡± Darthen sat at the bar and glared at me. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± ¡°I¡¯m an official diplomat from Selethon, but as an S rank adventurer I am obligated to announce myself as I enter the city.¡± Darthen¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Official diplomat?¡± ¡°Yep, I also came here to ask for help in dealing with the same threat I am asking the king for aid with.¡± ¡°And what threat is that?¡± ¡°5 shards of the evil god are coming in one month to destroy Selethon.¡± He dropped the drink he was holding. ¡°You tell us this and expect anyone to want to help you?¡± ¡°Well, we have 5 purified shards on our side.¡± ¡°So, you claim that it¡¯s a battle between two gods.¡± ¡°Essentially.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll consider aiding you, but I¡¯m going to need proof that you can fight back.¡± I smiled and then his dropped glass began to reform, and his wine had the dirt cleaned out of it. It reformed and floated in front of him. He grabbed it and looked at me. ¡°How?¡± ¡°I am sent in their stead.¡± And with that, I left. _ ¡°Announcing Rose Hood. S Rank 21.¡± ¡°Rose Hood, the dragon?¡± The king was a small man. He looked at me with relative fear, then I curtsied. ¡°Yes, your grace, I am a dragon. I have come to ask for your aid against a threat that plagues the nation of Selethon.¡± ¡°What is this plague?¡± ¡°5 shards of the evil god are amassing a force to destroy the nation. We were given a month to prepare, so I was sent to get aid from nations near Selethon.¡± ¡°Why should we aid a losing battle? 5 shards is an unassailable force.¡± ¡°Because the other 5 are aiding us.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Lies!!!¡± A noble came in and shouted. ¡°Your grace, please recall that this is the same woman that ruined our economy, now she seeks to weaken our force by sending us to a death mission.¡± ¡°If I intended to send your men to their deaths, why would I tell you the truth of who we are facing?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s clear that you want to appeal to us, so you can prepare an army to destroy us while we are distracted.¡± ¡°That would be way too complicated of a way.¡± The noble laughed. ¡°You think you could do it easier?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a dragon. If it was my plan to destroy you, I¡¯d just do it.¡± ¡°Now you are threatening us?¡± I looked at him confused. ¡°If you consider that a threat, then you are too dumb to have any real power." The noble looked offended. ¡°I thought you came for help; how can you get that by insulting us.¡± ¡°I came for help from the king. Unless you are the king, I don¡¯t really need to bother with you.¡± The king looked interested in my actions. ¡°You seem quite honest, could you provide proof that you have 5 shards on your side?¡± ¡°Yes, I was blessed by one after all.¡± I released a small portion of my aura, and the castle shook, but nature began blooming around me. ¡°I thought you said shards of the evil god.¡± The noble and the king were shocked. ¡°The evil god never existed. It was the corrupted good god. The 5 against us don¡¯t want to be purified, and the 5 for us are purified.¡± ¡°Interesting. Marquis Carlton, I think we should help.¡± ¡°Your majesty, if we get involved in this, we would be a target of the other nations. Remember what happened to Falden.¡± I spoke up. ¡°With all due respect, Falden got that way because it attacked Selethon, not because it got involved.¡± The king nodded. ¡°I can¡¯t send my army; however, I will send Carlton and his elites.¡± Carlton looked sad but nodded. ¡°Very well, your majesty.¡± The king dismissed me. I entered the guild where I saw the lolimaster working on paperwork. ¡°Excuse me, but I have a message I want to send.¡± ¡°To whom, and what¡¯s the message.¡± ¡°The king of Selethon, that Stalaris sent a Marquis and his elites.¡± Darthen looked up in shock. ¡°Alright, I will send that message. It¡¯s incredible though. None of us thought you¡¯d be able to convince him.¡± ¡°I can be quite diplomatic if I want to be.¡± I left the guild and walked through the gate, before shifting to a dragon and flying off. I heard screams come from the city as a dragon half the size of the city flew off. The next nation was Stalaris¡¯s neighbor, Dracion. The dragon nation. They may either listen to me better or kill me on sight. Chapter 50: The Dragon Kingdom I landed in a nearby clearing and shifted before entering the line at the gate. This nation outlawed slavery eons ago, so I kind of liked it. This is the nation my nest was in. My family used to rule it, until Saliad killed our parents. So, I was unaware of how 90 years affected its opinion of us. So, I decided to hide myself. Better if no one recognized me. When I heard I would head here, I got Mammon to make me a fake ID as a C rank adventurer named Grace. It would allow me to move without getting killed if they didn¡¯t like dragons. C ranks are respected but not known, so it wouldn¡¯t be too much of a shock for a random C rank to show up. I entered the city with no problems, but I saw a lot of people giving me odd looks. It made sense. Most residents were dragonkin, so they were confused by the catkin that was walking through. Especially with the rumors that these dragonkin ate beastkin, but as a former princess I knew that those rumors were false. Most dragonkin, scared of my confidence, avoided me, but one came up. ¡°Excuse me, but this isn¡¯t quite the place for a small catkin like you. You have heard the rumors, right?¡± ¡°Yes, but I also know they are false. I used to live near here.¡± ¡°Oh, I see, it¡¯s rare to see a local that isn¡¯t a dragonkin. Where do you live now?¡± ¡°I moved to Selethon only a few years ago.¡± Upon hearing I used to be a local, their worry lessened, and some gave me directions to the guild. I entered the guild and saw a familiar face. A dragonkin named Gerard. He was my caretaker when my parents were hunting. He saw me and his eyes widened in recognition. They went to normal quickly. ¡°Hello, are you an adventurer?¡± ¡°Yes, here is my card.¡± I handed him my fake ID and he looked at it. ¡°Ah yes, I heard you were coming here for diplomacy from Darthen. Could I talk to you for a moment in my office?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I followed Gerard and then he went into the office and cast silence. ¡°Hello Cat.¡± My old nickname. ¡°It¡¯s Rose now, Gerard.¡± ¡°So, I¡¯ve heard.¡± ¡°Does the nation hate dragons?¡± ¡°No, in fact Onyx is now the king, but he has a kill warrant out for you.¡± ¡°Me?¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Yes, he only put up a drawing of your dragon form, but he told us the truth of you.¡± ¡°That I¡¯m...¡± ¡°Yes, but I know you are good, so I will let you go, you need to get out of the nation, or they will kill you.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t I need to speak with Onyx about sending a force to aid Selethon.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you can handle it.¡± ¡°5 shards are invading it in less than a month.¡± His eyes widened. ¡°No... they want you, don¡¯t they.¡± ¡°They do, King Dalis sent me as a diplomat to gain support for it. He also figured me out though things are different now.¡± ¡°What do you mean? 5 of your kin are coming to destroy a nation.¡± ¡°The others are on my side though.¡± ¡°What?¡± I released a small force of my aura so only he could feel it. ¡°I am not the evil god. I am the good god. If Onyx seeks to kill me then I will show him this. He is my brother. I can¡¯t just hide from him.¡± Gerard looked in awe. ¡°Then I will set up a meeting with him.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°And I can tell you that I will send a force to Selethon.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Alright, stay in the guild inn, I will make sure no one bothers you. I will say that you are tired from your long journey.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I turned to leave. ¡°And Rose.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t die. I would not be able to face your parents in the afterlife if I let you die.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. No one will die tomorrow.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I left the room and got a room in the guild inn. I decided to wander the city and walked around the block. ¡°Hey, you.¡± I turned and saw someone in an alley. It was a catkin. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Come here.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± I entered the alley, and a collar was put around my neck before I could sense the others. ¡°I knew planting that eavesdropping device in the guildmaster¡¯s office would work out.¡± I realized that these weren¡¯t slavers, but guards. ¡°This you, Rose?¡± They held up a wanted poster with my name on it. It had a drawing of my old dragon form. ¡°The name is, but that looks nothing like me.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t pull crap, evil god. I don¡¯t know how you tricked Gerard, but we have no fear of you.¡± ¡°If you know I am a shard, then why would you think that collars work.¡± They blanched. ¡°No fear, huh? You are lucky I realized you weren¡¯t slavers, but if you did have an eavesdropper on Gerard, you¡¯d also know that I plan on meeting my brother tomorrow, so there is no reason to try catching me.¡± ¡°I guess...¡± ¡°Besides I didn¡¯t trick him, he is simply an old acquaintance that knows I¡¯m a decent person.¡± ¡°R-really?¡± ¡°Yeah, for example, I could¡¯ve easily killed each one of you, but I didn¡¯t even attempt to yet.¡± ¡°But the collar- *Gasp*¡± I handed him the bent off collar. ¡°Yeah, that doesn¡¯t affect me.¡± ¡°Oh...¡± ¡°Can I go now and relax before I meet my brother tomorrow? Or are you going to send the whole guard to fail to bring me in?¡± ¡°You c-can relax.¡± The catkin and the dragonkin with him were terrified, but they let me go, so I entered the blacksmith to get my armor checked on. ¡°A catkin? Oh, you were at the guild. Diplomacy, right? I can¡¯t get you any fancy wear.¡± ¡°I just want a check up on my armor.¡± ¡°That¡¯s high quality. Who gave it to you?¡± ¡°The fire dragon¡¯s a friend of mine.¡± ¡°Incredible, I would love to meet her one day.¡± ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll bring her my next time here.¡± ¡°That would be incredible, but I don¡¯t see any scratches even.¡± ¡°Alright, thanks.¡± ¡°If you want, I could recommend a good dress shop.¡± ¡°Sure, I could use more clothes. I usually just use cleanse on this.¡± ¡°Ah, like a true adventurer.¡± ¡°So, where is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just down the block.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± I left and headed over to the clothing store and saw such beautiful dresses. ¡°Excuse me, do you do customers trying on clothes?¡± ¡°Of course, young cat.¡± I looked at a dress that I liked. ¡°Do you have any dresses that would fit me?¡± ¡°Hm, I don¡¯t know, let me check.¡± The lady looked in the back and came out with a beautiful dress that was red and had a floral design. ¡°Could I try it on?¡± ¡°Of course, dressing room is over there.¡± I tried it on, and it fit so well. I checked it in the mirror and I looked adorable. I exited the room with it on so she could see. She gasped. ¡°You are so adorable!!!¡± She was gushing, so I went back and changed into my armor and bought it. I went to the inn and got good sleep, readying myself for what the next day would bring. Chapter 51: The Earth Dragon ¡°You may enter.¡± I entered the hall and saw my brother, Onyx on the throne. ¡°Hello.¡± ¡°Rose.¡± Upon hearing that name all of the guards drew their weapons. ¡°At ease men. I can handle her.¡± He looked at me and stood up. ¡°So, have you come to kill me?¡± ¡°No, I actually came to ask for aid.¡± ¡°A shard of the evil god asking for aid. That¡¯s almost laughable how obvious of a lie that it is.¡± ¡°I am not a shard of the evil god.¡± ¡°I know what you are, Rose. You can¡¯t deny it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mean I never was, but I was purified.¡± ¡°If you were you¡¯d be dead. Pure evil can¡¯t be purified like that.¡± I smiled. ¡°I am not pure evil.¡± ¡°Oh, please, I¡¯ve done research, Innocence. I¡¯m not falling for any of your tricks.¡± ¡°My name isn¡¯t Innocence.¡± ¡°Do you really believe I should call you by that name the foolish wolf gave you.¡± ¡°Not what I mean. I¡¯m no longer the Core Lie, Innocence.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± ¡°I am the Core Truth, Purity.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t fall for your lies like Gerard. Besides he is helping you, that is betraying me, so I brought him in.¡± Gerard was dragged in by the same catkin that attempted to collar me yesterday. ¡°While I am thankful that you did not kill my guard captain, I will still have to kill you.¡± ¡°I do not wish to fight.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± He struck at me, but I dodged. He continued to strike, but his attacks only cut air. ¡°ASPECT OF THE EARTH DRAGON!!!¡± He powered up and charged me. He was still too slow. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡®Can I fight him?¡¯ ¡®No, I will handle him.¡¯ ¡®Alright.¡¯ I dodged, then he got an idea. He caused an earthquake and grabbed me while I was off balance. ¡°Got you.¡± ¡°Smart, but I¡¯m done with this.¡± He leapt back, expecting an attack, but what I did instead caused him to drop his weapon. My aura was unleased at full power. The rightness of it caused all of his guards to drop their weapons. Vines grew on the walls and my presence exhibited royalty. Gerard looked in awe at the raw nature that I only showed a small, diluted piece of to him. Onyx fell back and looked at me in awe. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°As I said, I am not the Core Lie, nor am I the evil god. I am the shard of the good god. Core Truth, Purity, and I have come to ask for aid against the last 5 shards of evil attempting to destroy Selethon. Now I ask you, not as a god-¡± I smothered the overwhelming aura and looked at him with a soft smile. ¡°-but as a sister. Please help me protect the nation I call home.¡± I bowed deeply, showing respect as I could. He looked at me, but this time it was with respect. ¡°I see the error of my attitude, I will consider sending aid, please forgive me for my transgression.¡± ¡°You made no mistake, under normal circumstances I would be a threat, you had no way of knowing this development.¡± ¡°Thank you, Gerard I must apologize for doubting you, your intuition was always better than mine.¡± ¡°You are fine, your majesty. I understand your concern and know that I should communicate with you better on what I find.¡± ¡°Thank you for understanding. Rose, Gerard, you are dismissed.¡± We both bowed and went to leave. ¡°And Rose, I suppose I should stop the wanted dead posters.¡± ¡°Thank you, Onyx.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± As Dalis thought, even someone wholly devoted to killing me would give in upon seeing my nature. Each of my siblings were told to kill me before I could mature, so now that I am matured, they will hunt me, and if the other gods join them, there could be a massive war. I left the palace and wandered the streets when I felt a presence following me. ¡®Gerard.¡¯ ¡®Rose? What-¡¯ ¡®No time, could you give me a request that would have me leave the town for a bit.¡¯ ¡®Sure?¡¯ ¡°Hey Rose, before you go, could you please go check up on a goblin camp outside of town. I know that normally an S rank wouldn¡¯t, but it¡¯s been causing a lot of trouble.¡± ¡°Sure, I can.¡± _ I wandered out of town and the presence of whatever it was didn¡¯t leave, so I could confirm that it was following me. As I wandered, I found the camp and stood out of sight. ¡°I know you are here.¡± A man walked out, but it was no human. ¡°Celios, god of the sky.¡± ¡°You do remember, Kala.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Rose, not Kala.¡± ¡°Right, that foolish wolf named a god.¡± ¡°He isn¡¯t foolish.¡± ¡°He most certainly is, naming a dragon is foolish enough, but a god is another matter, especially a fallen one.¡± ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°So hostile, I thought you¡¯d love to see your family after this long.¡± ¡°I have not forgotten.¡± ¡°Well, then you know I cannot let you remerge.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t do anything.¡± ¡°Perhaps, and I¡¯m not dumb enough to take you on so close to a city. At least, one that will last to the next month.¡± That got me mad. ¡°Listen here-¡± He was already gone. I took out my anger on the goblin camp. I came back to town, emanating an angry aura. I entered the guild hall and Gerard went up to me. ¡°What was that about?¡± ¡°Someone strong enough to defeat me issued a death threat.¡± ¡°I see...¡± Everyone had learnt that I was the same Rose that they were supposed to keep an eye out for, and everyone in this nation knew my nature, so having me say that someone stronger than me wanted me dead was a terrifying idea. ¡°Was it one of the other shards?¡± A random adventurer asked. ¡°It was someone far stronger than a mere shard.¡± They blanched. Only gods were stronger than shards. There was great concern if one was willing to kill me. ¡°Why would a god come after you?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯m telling people of their sin.¡± The nation heard of it from my brother after I explained it to him. As Lust used to run a major cult around here, having her appear as Piety helped my case. He agreed to send a sizeable force to aid in the battle. After saying my goodbyes and my brother releasing word that no one outside of the nation should know my identity, I flew off, heading to the next nation. Chapter 52: The Last Kingdom I had no more major incidents in the next 12 nations, though it took me 2 weeks to visit them. They either offered help or declined. I flew to the last destination, Calesen¡¯s neighbor, Drummel. It was often called the Dwarven nation, or the blacksmithing paradise. Thalia always wanted to journey there, but she was never allowed to. They didn¡¯t care for dragons, and I heard a rumor that they ate preserved dragon meat at noble feasts. Frankly I wasn¡¯t too scared, but I visited Calesen on the way there and Elren said that he and his army were preparing, and to be careful of the kingdom. I wandered and landed near the gate and shifted before heading to the line. They hadn¡¯t banned slavery; in fact, they were neutral on it. As long as it wasn¡¯t a dwarf enslaved, they couldn¡¯t care less. I didn¡¯t see any slavers in line, but I did see a lot of dwarves. One looked at me. ¡°That¡¯ some good armor ye got ¡®ere, where¡¯d ye get it?¡± ¡°My sister made it.¡± ¡°Interesting, would ye be interested in selling it te me... er... I¡¯ll give ya 30 gold.¡± ¡°Sorry, but my sister''s armor is worth far more than that, as I doubt anything you could make would even be able to scratch it.¡± A few dwarves laughed at my proclamation, not so much at me, as at the dwarf for trying to scam me. The dwarf muttered then got an idea. ¡°Tell ye what. I have 10 minutes to break that shoulder pad. If I do so, ya give the armor to me. If ye win, I¡¯ll give you 1000 gold.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I picked off the shoulder pad and handed it to him. His eyes widened and he quickly dropped his hammer to manage to carry the shoulder pad. ¡°How is it so heavy?¡± ¡°What? Can¡¯t even hold grammite? And you act like you can break it?¡± He examined the armor, his eyes widening as he continued to examine it. ¡°Tick tock, you have 9 minutes now.¡± I smiled as he began to panic. He pulled out a magical blade, and he struck the shoulder pad, but the blade snapped in half. He panicked and used a combination of fire magic and a magical hammer to break it. His hammer was now shattered. Over the next 9 minutes, he tried fruitlessly to break my sister''s work, but broke many of his items instead. He handed me 1000 gold coins with a grimace at the sheer outworking of his craft. I picked up the shoulder pad and put it back on my shoulder. ¡°Real question, kiddo. How can ye even hold that armor, much less carry it so easily?¡± ¡°Quite simple, I¡¯m strong.¡± As it became my turn to enter the guard looked at me. ¡°A¡¯ight, state your name and business.¡± A few dwarves looked over in curiosity to learn who I was. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Rose Hood, S rank adventurer. I¡¯m here to conduct diplomacy on behalf of Selethon.¡± ¡°A¡¯ight, you are on the list. A bit shorter than I expected of a dragon, but I assume you have proof of your identity?¡± I handed him my card, and he gave it back to me nodding. ¡°Well, Mrs. Hood, welcome to the city.¡± At the confirmation of my identity, the dwarf that challenged me blanched. He not only insulted a dragon, but he insulted the work of the famous fire dragon. I smiled at him cheekily before entering town. _ I entered the guild and I saw a vast majority of the people were dwarves. ¡°Hello ¡®ere, cat. What are ye doin¡¯ here?¡± Their accents were harder to understand than Mammon¡¯s. ¡°I came here to announce myself.¡± Then a dwarf laughed. ¡°What business does a wee lass like you have announcing yerself like ye¡¯re some kinda big shot.¡± ¡°Well, as an S rank, I¡¯m pretty sure it is protocol to announce myself when I enter a town. None of the others have had problems with it.¡± Their eyes simultaneously widened. Then the whole guild burst into laughter. ¡°An S rank? That wee lass?¡± ¡°I could punt her, and she¡¯d go flying.¡± ¡°She¡¯s smaller than a dwarf.¡± Then someone came out. ¡°WHAT¡¯S WITH ALL DE RACKET OUT ¡®ERE?!¡± ¡°Sir, this wee lass is pretending to be an S rank.¡± The dwarf looked at me and then blanched. ¡°Mrs. Hood, we were awaiting yer arrival.¡± ¡°Thank you, I thought while in town I should announce myself.¡± ¡°Yes, that is protocol, mam.¡± ¡°Boss?¡± ¡°Mam, please forgive my men, they weren¡¯t expecting you te look like that.¡± ¡°I understand, few people know what I look like. Anyways, I need to go. Have a wonderful day.¡± I left the guild; his accent was luckily less thick. Then I heard a shout. ¡°YE IDIOTS!!!¡± I snickered as I walked to the nearest blacksmith shop to get a checkup. _ ¡®So... many... blacksmiths...¡¯ ¡®Rose, just pick one.¡¯ ¡®But how do I know if one is quality?¡¯ ¡®Go in, examine the goods and if they suck then leave.¡¯ ¡®But that would make me seem mean.¡¯ ¡®JUST PICK ONE ALREADY!!!¡¯ I saw a human wandering the road. ¡°Excuse me sir, but do you know which of these smiths are the best?¡± ¡°Hah, while I¡¯d like to claim it¡¯s my shop, it¡¯s actually the shop behind me. That belongs to my teacher. They say his work compares to the flame dragon herself.¡± ¡°Is the flame dragon respected here?¡± ¡°Oh please, they worship her more than they do the gods.¡± ¡°Wow. Well, thanks.¡± ¡°No problem, kid.¡± I entered the shop and saw a dwarf that looked familiar. ¡°Gallson?¡± ¡°Oh. Ye know my son?¡± ¡°Your son?¡± ¡°Aye.¡± ¡°Yes, I do know him. If you are his father, then you must be the master smith I was told about.¡± ¡°Ha, my apprentice babbling again?¡± ¡°I guess. Is it true that your work is on par with the flame dragon¡¯s?¡± ¡°Nah, I used to claim that, then I actually saw one of her pieces. I don¡¯t think anyone could match that craftsmanship.¡± ¡°She is amazing.¡± ¡°That she is... wait. Is that a set of her armor?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Incredible, how did you get it? It musta cost a fortune.¡± ¡°Actually, it was custom made for me.¡± ¡°HOW DO YE KNOW THE FLAME DRAGON?!!¡± The Smith¡¯s shout caught the attention of some passing blacksmiths and the human I spoke to before. They peaked in as I said, ¡°She¡¯s my elder sister.¡± ¡°Wait, ye¡¯re a dragon?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Woah, that¡¯s cool.¡± ¡°Caleb, what¡¯re you doin¡¯ here, I thought I dismissed you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, sir, but I heard that the person I directed here knew the flame dragon and I wanted to know how.¡± ¡°And the rest of ye, scram, get yer own customers.¡± The dwarves scrambled over each other, nearly crushing Caleb in the process. He got up and walked over to look at me. ¡°You¡¯re a bit short for a dragon.¡± ¡°I get that a lot.¡± Then the smith spoke up, ¡°I actually have a piece I bought from an auction; it was a craft of your sister¡¯s.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Caleb spoke up. ¡°Yep, it¡¯s the centerpiece of the shop.¡± I looked and sure enough, there was a great sword that was made by my sister. ¡°Yep, that¡¯s definitely Thalia¡¯s work.¡± ¡°Thalia, that sounds elven.¡± ¡°Yeah, her humanoid form is a high elf, so she gave herself an elven name.¡± Caleb gave a confused look. ¡°Huh, I always sorta thought she¡¯d appear as a dwarf.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because dwarves are more known for smithing while elves are more known for healing.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen strong elven smiths.¡± ¡°Yeah, but they aren''t as known fer it.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Well, what are you doin¡¯ in this nation.¡± ¡°Diplomacy on behalf of Selethon.¡± ¡°Ah, I heard she was seen in that nation.¡± ¡°Yeah, and she works as Calesen¡¯s royal blacksmith.¡± ¡°Incredible, how did a nation like Calesen get her.¡± ¡°My brother is the king.¡± ¡°Ah... that¡¯d do it. I guess the rumors of them having a dragon in their army wasn¡¯t false then.¡± ¡°They weren¡¯t. Anyways I got to go.¡± ¡°Cya then.¡± I walked for a bit... ¡®You didn¡¯t get your armor checked for damage.¡¯ ¡®Yeah, I did.¡¯ ¡®When?¡¯ ¡®He never mentioned any sort of marks on it when he was gawking, so it¡¯s good.¡¯ ¡®Goodness, you are smart.¡¯ ¡®Thanks.¡¯ Chapter 53: The First Lineage ¡°So, you want our aid?¡± ¡°Yes, your grace.¡± The king of Drummel was surprisingly human. He noticed my look. ¡°Hah, you expected me to be a dwarf, didn¡¯t you.¡± ¡°Honestly, I did, sir.¡± ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry about it, most people don¡¯t expect it. My family is actually descended from the first lineage of both humans and dwarves.¡± ¡°The first lineages?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°So, if I may, how old are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m reaching 10000 actually.¡± The first lineages were the originals of each humanoid race. Most thought that they¡¯d died out, so the fact that Drummel¡¯s king was the mix of two of the lineages was incredible. ¡°Incredible.¡± ¡°I get that, so you need help in dealing with the remaining shards? That is alright.¡± Then he winked. ¡°Ms. Purity.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Oh please, we keep fine records, including things even the gods want us to forget. I was already aware of the nature of the evil god. Besides, only good beings can empower the wards against evil without even doing anything.¡± ¡°But how did you know I was a shard and not a priest like I said?¡± ¡°The first lineage¡¯s spoke to the gods often, even though I haven¡¯t seen one in millennia, I still recognize your kind¡¯s aura. Of course, your aura of goodness threw me off.¡± ¡°So, about helping?¡± ¡°Of course, m¡¯lady. I would love to aid you.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Oh, and I heard that Calesen¡¯s king is one of your siblings.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Well, since the last war, I¡¯ve been trying to increase diplomacy with his nation, could you please ask him to open negotiations?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Oh, and about the rumors...¡± ¡°Hah, don¡¯t worry, we don¡¯t eat dragons, frankly I don¡¯t even know how the rumor started.¡± I left the castle after the surprising development. He was a surprisingly smart person, it''s rare to find a king as smart as Dalis. _ A familiar presence has been following me for 30 minutes now. I led him into an alleyway and spun around quickly. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Celios, what are you doing here?¡± ¡°Kala, I¡¯m here to warn you. I have decided to attack during the battle in two weeks.¡± ¡°Why tell me?¡± ¡°Because I want you to be afraid. You have angered us, you could have just hid. Been the evil god, and let us run the world, but no, you have to be selfish.¡± ¡°Like you were when you ripped us apart and corrupted us?¡± ¡°Evil is impossible to flock around, but somehow you still managed it.¡± ¡°Because we aren¡¯t evil, and I will purify the rest of the shards and rip you off your throne of lies.¡± ¡°Now you insult your king.¡± ¡°You are no king, you are a usurper. An abuser of strength, and one who will fall.¡± ¡°Careful Kala. You¡¯re going to make me mad~¡± He grabbed me by the throat and pushed me against the wall. ¡®Rose!!!¡¯ ¡®Don¡¯t move, we aren¡¯t strong enough, he knows he can¡¯t battle us in a town, or he¡¯d expose his hand.¡¯ ¡°Awe, your shards want to defend you, Kala.¡± ¡°My *cough* name is Rose Hood.¡± I kicked him in the groin causing him to double over, then I ran as fast as I could. ¡°You...¡± I ran as fast as I could. I made it to the street, Then I felt the hand on the back of my head. He slammed me onto the pavement, causing the ground to shudder, and the people walking nearby to fly. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± We were next to the adventurer''s guild, and the people who knew me were shocked to see me choking and covered in blood. ¡°Well, Rose, remember, you have less than two weeks to make a defense. And I will destroy that little town you call home, then I will do what I should have done all those years ago.¡± ¡°Y-you won¡¯t win.¡± ¡°And why wouldn¡¯t I? Even if you did stand a chance in the first place, you¡¯ll be too hurt by Wrath to do anything.¡± I coughed up blood as his power assaulted me. This is the power of a god. Even if I managed to fully repair the good god, I would need too long to be even close to this strong. ¡°You won¡¯t because I won¡¯t let you.¡± I shot my head up, smashing into his nose. He cried out in pain before jabbing me. My entrails were hanging out of where his fist just was. The armor that Thalia worked for a full day on was like thin silk to this man. ¡°You are too weak and stupid, Kala. You will die.¡± Then he was gone. I barely spat at where he was before the world went dark. _ Rose was on a mission, but I felt as though something was wrong. I knew she would be gone for a while, but I still was worried. We started getting detachments, King Onyx of Dracion was one. He came with his army and talked with Elren, apparently, he hadn¡¯t matured yet. He, like Rose, was mostly pacifistic unless violence was necessary. Apparently, he and his whole nation knew of Rose, but they kept it secret from the rest of the world. I still wasn¡¯t fond that she was still gone. ¡°Royce?¡± Dallel came in the room. ¡°Hello.¡± ¡°You¡¯re looking into the distance again.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t help but feel that something happened.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s no one that can take on Rose.¡± ¡°What about that god that confronted her?¡± ¡°He¡¯d not attack so close to a town.¡± Yeah, Gerard did tell us about that, but... ¡°What if Rose did what she normally does and fought back?¡± ¡°Please Royce, she¡¯s impulsive, not suicidal, even she would realize it would be dumb to challenge a god.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± But I couldn¡¯t stop worrying. _ I woke up in an infirmary. I recognized that there was a high-level healer healing me. I tried to sit up, but she pushed me down. ¡°Mam, please, your injuries aren¡¯t healed yet.¡± ¡®Guys, are you here?¡¯ ¡®Yes, Rose. Celios did a number on you. We¡¯ve been working on healing you, but he used his aspect, it makes it hard to heal.¡¯ ¡®Crap... we need to warn Wrath.¡¯ ¡®Agreed, but first you need to be able to move.¡¯ ¡°Your majesty, she¡¯s in critical condition, she isn¡¯t able to be seen right now.¡± ¡°Out of my way, Gemel, she¡¯s infected with a divine aspect, at this point, I¡¯m one of the only few that can heal her.¡± ¡°Divine aspect? That means...¡± ¡°Yes, the man who crushed her was a god.¡± I saw the king walk up. Then he spoke in the ancient language. ¡°Oh, Purity of the goddess Kala, recover your strength and stand in power. I give my faith to you. May your power grow and strength return.¡± My injuries closed as his power echoed through me. The other shards¡¯ heals started to work, and in one minute I was able to stand again. ¡°Thank you.¡± I bowed my head. ¡°I assume that he will enter the battle?¡± ¡°You are correct, I understand if you don-¡± ¡°I will still fight alongside you.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I stood up. ¡°Where are ye going Ms. Rose?¡± ¡°I need to warn Wrath of Celios.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because if we get locked in battle, there is nothing we can do, and if there is anyone Wrath hates more than me, it¡¯s Celios.¡± I left the hall, blood still streaming down my side. I limped and shifted into the horse size dragon, then I got bigger and bigger as I got higher and higher. When I reached the height that my size wouldn¡¯t hurt the city, I began flying in the direction of Wrath¡¯s castle. Chapter 54: The Sky god I flew day and night, stopping only to rest due to my still healing injuries. It took me two days, but I reached the castle. I landed near and shifted to my catkin form. I gasped as pain shot through my body. Wrath stepped out with the other 4. ¡°Innocence. I thought you had another week. Why are you- Innocence?!¡± She noticed my injuries. Pride ran over and began healing me. My injuries helped convince them that I wasn¡¯t there to fight. ¡°Wrath, I¡¯m here to warn you. Celios is planning to interrupt the battle and absorb us when we are tired." ¡°Of course, he would try something like that. Why did you warn me?¡± ¡°To prevent that situation.¡± I coughed out blood. ¡°What¡¯s the plan?¡± ¡°For now, act as normal, but when we get to the fight, you and I talk for however long it takes for him to get annoyed and come out. Then we strike at him at once.¡± ¡°So, enter the battle, but then act as though we forgot we were supposed to fight and just talk.¡± ¡°Yes, but don¡¯t tell either side, otherwise they¡¯ll not act naturally.¡± ¡°I see. Well, I believe you. Celios¡¯s divine aspect is in your injuries.¡± We agreed on the plan, and when I was mostly healed, I began the flight back to the capital of Selethon. Because I was still exhausted, it took another two days to get back. We had 7 days until the battle. _ I landed next to Selethon¡¯s capital and shifted. A guard gasped. ¡°Lady Rose, are you okay?¡± I realized that I was not a beautiful sight at that point. My nose was still smashed, my arm was basically shattered, and I still had a giant hole in my chest. Not to mention that the armor that Thalia made was basically scrap metal at this point. Royce saw me. ¡°ROSE, WHAT HAPPENED? ARE YOU OKAY?!¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°I hope you gave the other guy a thrashing, at least.¡± ¡°Eh, he¡¯s hurt, but I definitely lost.¡± Then my exhaustion took hold and I fell forward. ¡°Rose!!!¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine... just tired...¡± I fell asleep in his arms. _ I was right to be worried, Rose, while not in critical condition, was still very injured, and the injuries were still healing slowly. I could see that even though a lot of healing magic was used to stop the bleeding, she still lost a lot of blood. That hole was brutal. ¡°Get King Elren!!!¡± A guard ran off and quickly returned with Elren by his side. ¡°What happened to my sister?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, she landed here, looking like this.¡± ¡°Let me... her healing is already full. She¡¯s just exhausted.¡± ¡°That looks like a lot more than exhaustion.¡± ¡°I know, but she isn¡¯t losing more blood, she just needs time to regenerate at this point.¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I began to calm down. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll trust you.¡± ¡°Thank you, I¡¯ll bring her to her room to rest.¡± Elren picked up Rose and carried her carefully, as though she was a baby that he didn¡¯t want to wake. I could only hope that she¡¯d recover in time for the battle. _ I got up, I was feeling better. My exhaustion was gone and so was the hole. I got up and limped down the stairs to see Elren and Thalia. ¡°You¡¯re awake!!!¡± ¡°Yes, I am, and Thalia, sorry what happened to the arm-¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care about the armor, I thought you were dead when Elren came in here holding you. I can replace armor, but I can¡¯t replace you.¡± I hugged her, and she hugged me back. Then the king of Drummel entered. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you in good condition, M¡¯lady.¡± ¡°Hi.¡± They looked at him in suspicion. ¡°Calm down. He¡¯s a first lineage, that''s how he figured it out.¡± Elren¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°A first lineage? No wonder you gave my men so much trouble.¡± ¡°I could say the same to you, a dragon is a formidable foe.¡± ¡°Anyways, uh...¡± ¡°Donoven.¡± ¡°Donoven, could you please not tell the other¡¯s that I went to meet with Wrath after Celios¡¯s attack.¡± Elren was confused. ¡°Wait, you met with Wrath. Wait Celios? Like the sky god?¡± ¡°Yes, and yes. I met with Wrath to warn her that Celios is joining the battle, we have a plan to merely talk until he gets annoyed and reveals himself. Then we will strike him at once.¡± ¡°Wait, so you and Wrath are aligning for this?¡± ¡°If there is anyone Wrath hates more than me, it¡¯s Celios. Plus, hearing that he hurt me before the battle ticked her off. She loves facing her opponents in their prime condition, so having me hurt annoys her.¡± ¡°I see. Well, we have four days.¡± ¡°I was asleep for three days?!¡± ¡°Yes, a lot of people were worried about you, but we knew that the morale would go down if they saw you in the condition, you were in. It makes sense that it was the former king of the gods that took you down.¡± One word there struck me and the shards. ¡°Former?¡± ¡°Yeah, he was overthrown, and the other gods cast him out.¡± ¡°So, you are telling me I was beaten by a weakling?¡± ¡°Weakling?¡± God¡¯s gain strength by two things, loyalty of mortals and loyalty of gods. Celios had neither apparently, and he still crushed me. ¡°I was beaten by a forsaken god...¡± I lamented my own weakness, and the other shards also were angry at our weakness. ¡°Is that bad?¡± ¡°He was in his worst condition, and he still wiped the floor with me, of course that¡¯s bad.¡± I laid on the floor, moping. All present showed confusion except for Donovan who understood how gods worked. He crouched down. ¡°Ms. Rose, please don¡¯t be upset, you are also a forsaken god at this point, not to mention, you are only half of the goddess, but you still managed to land two powerful blows and stand until he left. Then you recovered in a week. That is impressive.¡± His words made us feel a little better. ¡°Thanks, I guess that makes sense.¡± I stood up feeling better. ¡°Well, we need to finish preparing, and remember, we need to make it seem like me and Wrath completely forgot we were in a battle, and the men need to be confused.¡± ¡°Understood. We all nodded and headed out to check the situation, Thalia went about making me better armor, as mine was junked. I spoke to each leader and leveled a strategy. I notified them that it would be more dangerous than expected, and they agreed. We set up a powerful militia and Dalis called the strongest fighters from small villages to show up. I was walking around when I saw a familiar person. ¡°Hood?¡± ¡°Granny?¡± ¡°Oh, Hood it¡¯s so good to see you again!¡± The half-elf tackle hugged me, and I hugged her back. Then she looked at Elren with an annoyed look. ¡°Elren, the heck are you doing here.¡± ¡°Dalla... you are Rose¡¯s granny?¡± ¡°Yes, and?¡± ¡°I¡¯m her elder brother.¡± They looked at each other in a silence. ¡°I ain¡¯t being your granny.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Thalia was close to laughing, seeing the exchange. I got up and walked around the guild hall, examining the adventurers that showed up. A lot of S ranks were here, and we were ready. _ The day came, and we stood out in front of the city, the ranger unit, ran by Granny, stood on top of the wall, ready to shoot. Then we saw the army, I held up my hand and shouted out. ¡°One month has passed, and you came.¡± ¡°Yes, are you ready to die?¡± ¡°Not quite, maybe you¡¯ll die first.¡± ¡°I¡¯LL HANDLE HER M¡¯LADY.¡± Then an annoying elf stepped out from behind Wrath... ¡°My rival, we meet ag-¡± ¡°Divine Oblivion.¡± Callel was obliterated. He didn¡¯t even finish his sentence. Both armies looked at the crater and my absolutely ticked off face. ¡°HOW DID HE COME BACK AGAIN?!!! WAS LAVA NOT ENOUGH?!¡± Wrath didn¡¯t react. ¡°Thank you for dealing with him.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Yeah, he just showed up in the middle of our march. He assumed I revived him, so he decided to serve me. He was annoying as heck.¡± ¡°Try killing him 4 times, then find how annoying he is.¡± ¡°Oh, please don¡¯t make me imagine that. He¡¯s too annoying to come back after that.¡± ¡°Oh, trust me, by my count he¡¯s died to me 4 times. The first two I just ate him, the third I melted him in lava, and now this. If he comes back again, I¡¯m going directly for his soul.¡± ¡°Oh, my goodness, he is really that annoying?¡± ¡°He is...¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s hope he stays dead this time.¡± ¡°Yes, let¡¯s...¡± ¡°Um, Rose. We are kinda in the middle of a battle.¡± ¡°We are?¡± I know we were planning to act like it, but I genuinely forgot. It seems Wrath genuinely forgot as well. Pride was facepalming, and Mammon was giving me side-eye. Both me and Wrath blushed. That was embarrassing. ¡°Oh, my goodness, the battle should have started, why are all of you being so slow.¡± There, Celios entered the battle. All the shards smiled; our plan worked. We all struck at that spot at once and followed up with a melee. ¡°Crap...¡± Celios barely dodged and as he and the armies saw me and Wrath standing next to each other, they realized the true purpose behind the chatter. ¡°You¡¯re smart. You nearly got me, but you aren¡¯t enough to win.¡± Wrath laughed. ¡°Rose, what say we have a little truce?¡± ¡°Sure, in fact let''s make a game.¡± Our auras flashed at full capacity. ¡°Whoever takes his head wins.¡± Wrath smiled and Celios stopped smiling. ¡°You''re on.¡± The real battle had now begun. Chapter 55: The Wrath of Rose Hood Wrath merged with the remaining sins and me and her fought in perfect synchronization. We were the same person after all. Celios fought back viciously, but with both of us together, his seemingly overwhelming power was almost equivalent to ours. We clashed and he dodged. He truly was a forsaken god. But the battle was a stalemate, no one was willing to enter the battle for fear of getting shot by a stray spell. My new armor at least had no holes, but it was still bent. ¡°Rose.¡± ¡°Wrath... what is it?¡± We were both getting tired, and Celios, as he was a full god, looked like he was just getting started. ¡°Rose, I¡¯m going to merge into you. Our power currently destroys the other¡¯s, but we are still the same person. My hope is that we destroy him before we destroy ourselves.¡± Celios laughed hearing the plan. ¡°Please Kala, you think that you can defeat me. You are already injured and doing that would just amplify your death.¡± Wrath smiled. ¡°You¡¯re right, I may die. My consciousness may be scattered into dust, but at least I¡¯ll take you down.¡± Her evil then overtook my good as she reached out her hand... I took it. Then screamed. ¡°Hah! You realize the folly of that? You can¡¯t merge while your magics are in direct oppo-¡± He was so focused on bragging; he didn¡¯t notice my kick. Celios went flying and crashed into the forest. That made him mad. ¡°You, little, brat. You will die here, Kala.¡± I smiled. ¡°Try me usurper.¡± We clashed. His wings now were out. He fought with his sword and slashed me. I dodged and struck back in full force. My aura shone. The evil was being cleansed faster than my body was self-destructing. ¡®Fight Rose!!!¡¯ Understanding yelled at me to focus. Then Counsel imbued me with power. ¡°Go Rose, we got your healing.¡± I struck forth with far more power. My aura was becoming stronger as I continued to be purified. ¡°How is that possible, you should be dead by now!!!¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. I punched him and smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t you know? Goodness is far stronger than evil.¡± He struck in fear, but I merely blocked and fought back. We were fighting on even ground when Fortitude and Wisdom leapt out to do a surprise attack before remerging. Fear and Knowledge quickly followed up with another surprise attack that allowed me to cut off one of Celios¡¯s wings. Now I was pure. ¡°K-Kala, we don¡¯t need to be enemies.¡± I smiled as I ascended the mortal realm. I was the god of good. ¡°Celios... my name is Rose Hood.¡± I struck down and he barely dodged. The one that I thought was unassailable was now far beneath me. Celios leapt towards the Selethon army and grabbed Royce, using him as a body shield. I missed and got struck in the stomach as a reward for my hesitation. Celios laughed. ¡°You think you are so smart, do you? Our curse is still so deep into the world that even those who know you will fear you. Royce, correct? Is this not a monster before you?¡± I could feel his power trying to corrupt Royce¡¯s judgment. ¡°Yes.¡± He won. ¡°Well, then destroy it,¡± Royce stepped forward and both armies found themselves unable to move. Celios was going all out for this, but Royce smiled. ¡°Then again, I¡¯m a bit of a monster myself.¡± He stabbed Celios¡¯s core, and the Usurper screeched as he fell back in pain and shock. He yanked out the sword. ¡°You foolish Wolf.¡± Royce wasn¡¯t fast enough. He got hit. I got up, but an angered Celios cast a restraining spell which made me unable to move. He stomped on Royce multiple times until Royce stopped twitching, then he cast a spell. ¡°Divine Smite.¡± A bolt of power shot through Royce¡¯s heart, and I saw the light leave his eyes... Royce died. No one can survive a smite. ¡°Now do you see the cost of your actions? Your little friend is now dead because of your selfish desire for your old place.¡± I barely heard his chiding. My anger was too great for that. His mouth continued to move, and he continued to laugh, but I heard none of it. All I could hear was Royce¡¯s scream of pain, and all I could see was the light leaving his eyes. Celios struck at me. That arm was missing. He wouldn¡¯t die. He¡¯s a god. I smiled. ¡°You¡¯ve ****** me off.¡± His ancient heart felt utter fear. It was delicious. ¡°K-K-K-Kala?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be so scared.¡± He looked up hopefully. It turned to fear when I jabbed my fist into his heart. ¡°You won¡¯t die~¡± _ Fear. That was the only thing we could feel. Anyone who wasn¡¯t aware of it now was fully aware that she was the good god that she spoke of. We felt the massive aura, her power made even the former king of gods quiver, but her proclamation that he wouldn¡¯t die was terrifying. It was a well-known fact that gods can¡¯t die, but they could still be hurt. Rose was going to torture Celios for Royce. Even when Falden shot through his stomach I never saw her that angry, maybe because she knew that he had potential to live, but now we all saw him die. We saw the light leave. She laughed in an insane manner, as she kicked the boastful deity¡¯s head into the dirt, before stomping on it. His screams of pain caused us more fear. Celios was thought to be the strongest of all gods, but here he was, begging for the pain to stop. ¡°Hood...¡± Dalla said. Dalla turned out to be the one who Rose called Granny, but she turned out to be younger than Rose. ¡°This is brutal.¡± King Dalis looked terrified. He knew that she was powerful, but the idea that she could do this was terrifying. She kicked Celios, causing him to fall on his back. He coughed in pain, but Rose wasn¡¯t done. ¡°Smite, Smite, Smite, Smite, Smite.¡± Without even calling upon divine magic, she used the spell and put 5 holes in Celios. He was bleeding. His tears stained the ground. He stopped even using her name. ¡°M-Mother please.¡± There were legends about the mother of gods, but it never occurred to us that the good god was said mother. Rose merely crushed his hand. She had no remorse for him, and frankly, I didn¡¯t either. He killed Royce in front of her. He should have known she would have reacted like this. His screams caused the battlefield to remain silent. Those based in evil were terrified, because their masters got purified, and the mortals were terrified because they didn¡¯t quite understand what was happening. Chapter 56: The Comarose I slowed down my movements and looked at this fool. ¡°Please... don¡¯t absorb me...¡± I smiled. ¡°Why would I do that? You are worth much more to me alive.¡± I placed my hand on the side of his face, and he began to screech in pain. ¡°Celios, King of the Skies. You are declared less than the dirt we stand on. As repentance to your crimes, you now serve me and only me. I declare this as the queen of gods. You will lament for the rest of eternity and aid me in my goal of returning to my rightful throne. Do you understand?¡± He was screaming as his mind was bending. ¡°No... Yes. AHHH. Please no. Mistress....¡± Then his screaming stopped. ¡°Mistress, I will serve you to the end of time.¡± I smiled. I had dominated the will of Celios. Now I cou- ¡°ROSE!!!¡± The world was spinning before I fell back to familiar darkness. _ ¡°Do you think Rose is still present in the body?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°All 10 shards took over then, even her stubborn self wouldn¡¯t be able to outlast that.¡± I realized that they didn¡¯t quite realize that Rose was Purity. ¡°I¡¯m sure, Purity found a way to preserve her.¡± ¡°I hope so...¡± Dalis was mourning the only casualty of the battle, Royce. As a captain in the Kingsguard, he was one of the most liked and well-known people in the kingdom. His death sent ripples of hate to Celios, who now had declared loyalty to Rose, who he kept referring to as Mistress Kala. ¡°What should we do with Celios?¡± I looked at Jalad, who¡¯s knuckles were white due to being clenched too much. ¡°I agree with Purity¡¯s judgement, even though he did kill Royce, he can still be of use. Also, I think that he received quite the torture session.¡± ¡°He deserves more pain.¡± Jalad was childhood friends with Royce, both children of minor lords, they quickly grew attached, that was why, despite being lower ranked then him, he was still able to threaten him and joke around. Me and Royce weren¡¯t particularly close until meeting Rose, then we saw each other as rivals, but I knew that it was a losing game from the get-go. I understood that she had loved Royce, and that she only saw me as a friend. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Rose¡¯s rage was pure and terrifying. Even Celios didn¡¯t generate that much fear when he threw around both Wrath and Rose. ¡°Hey Celios, what¡¯s Rose¡¯s condition?¡± ¡°The Mistress¡¯s condition is decent. She has begun full recovery; she should be awake in about 2 months.¡± ¡°You call that decent?!¡± Jalad was about to punch Celios again, but I stopped him. ¡°Celios has been alive for a long time, he doesn¡¯t see 2 months as long like we do, so he considers that as a fast recovery.¡± Then the Drummel king entered the room and looked at Celios. ¡°Celios, what are the other gods planning?¡± ¡°I do not know. I was planning to destroy the mistress, but I was cast aside before I could share my plan with them. So, I don¡¯t know if they intend to kill her or let her live. I personally think that they are split on the issue.¡± ¡°Is Rose still alive?¡± Celios had a minor look of confusion, but then he saw my face and nodded. ¡°The mind of Rose Hood is merely exhausted like the shards.¡± Jalad breathed in relief. He didn¡¯t know that Rose was Purity, so he didn¡¯t know that we should be more worried about the other shards than her. ¡°By the way, why are you on our side now?¡± ¡°Oh right, mortals are not able to understand the ancient language. As the mother of gods, Kala has a unique skill called Domination. You actually saw its effects shortly after Purity awakened first, against the Whilder King.¡± ¡°When he just ran.¡± ¡°Correct. She used the same skill against me, but at a much higher level, to the point where I can question her orders, but if she tells me to do something I have to do it.¡± ¡°Like a slave?¡± Jalad asked that with minor concern, Rose was very anti-slavery, so she would likely feel guilty about enslaving someone even in a rage. ¡°Not at all. Depending on how extreme the order is, I can still disobey. So, if she, say, were to order me to kill someone close to me, I could entirely disregard the order. For minor orders that go against my code, I can still resist, but far less so.¡± ¡°I see, so it¡¯s not quite slavery.¡± ¡°What¡¯s with the mark?¡± Celios, ever since the battle, had a hand shaped scar on his face, where Rose had her hand. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s the sign of a higher level of Domination.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°When she used domination against the Whilder king, she used low levels of Domination, just to make him run, but against me, she used the highest level of Domination to make me fully devote myself to her.¡± ¡°I see. And is it your free will?¡± ¡°Hmm. Let me put it like this. It¡¯s like a necromantic servant, they serve their master, but they still have their regular mind trying to free itself. Even if said regular mind admires and respects them. Currently, my regular mind is torn between what to do, so I can¡¯t really say at the current moment if it could be considered my free will.¡± ¡°That is minorly concerning.¡± ¡°I suppose it could be, but as of now at least, I belong to Kala, the queen of gods.¡± Celios gave a look reminiscent of Silas back when he was still Alzath, servant of Lust. I did not trust him, but I felt the same feeling I felt when I saw Rose battling the Whilder king during Falden¡¯s attack, when she dominated Celios. Jalad was also concerned about Celios. ¡°Are you sure that you can¡¯t betray her?¡± ¡°Oh, I fully can. I can still act on my own until she gives me an order.¡± ¡°So, why should we trust you?¡± ¡°You probably shouldn¡¯t. I¡¯ll return to my hiding place for now. I will return once she awakens.¡± And with that, Celios was gone. ¡°That man worries me.¡± The king of Drummel suddenly speaking caused us to jump. ¡°But as a first lineage I am aware of the effects of Domination, and I also know that he was cast out. There is no one he can betray her too, and if he tries returning with a brand on his face, he will be ridiculed by the gods and absorbed. So, I think we can feel safe for now.¡± Jalad nodded slowly. ¡°I understand, but I still wish that she could awaken sooner.¡± ¡°Keep in mind, she simultaneously fought a god, purified 5 shards, and utilized the power of the queen of gods. I doubt she¡¯ll be able to use something like that again for a long time. I wouldn¡¯t even be surprised if the shards are in a coma for a long time.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± ¡°If Rose was a spiritual entity, she may have been able too, but even still she would be in a coma. She used a mass of power that would cause any of us to implode, and she managed it with little to no injuries.¡± We sighed. Then Jalad spoke. ¡°I will get back to my patrols, and Dallel, the king wanted to speak with you.¡± I headed toward the king¡¯s castle as I lamented my weakness in the battle. Chapter 57: The Kingsguard ¡°So, Dallel, I want to recruit you to the Kingsguard as a captain.¡± ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°After Royce¡¯s death, no one is stepping up to the place he stood. I need someone with experience who deeply cares about the kingdom.¡± ¡°Then why not Jalad?¡± ¡°Because Jalad is needed as the captain of the guard, the men will listen to you, but with far less respect than Jalad. You, however, have been asked to join the Kingsguard before. They respect you, and each captain agreed you would be a great addition.¡± ¡°I... don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°I understand, take your time, but I can assure you that if you do take the role, I will assign you a job you would like.¡± ¡°Thank you, but I need time to decide.¡± _ ¡°He asked again?!¡± Jalad was ticked off. ¡°But this time, he asked me to take Royce¡¯s place.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve already denied him several times. Why can¡¯t he just let it go?¡± ¡°Because he does want me to do it. I guess I used to be the prince of Calesen. He may see it as a boon to have me as a direct subordinate of his.¡± ¡°Either way, I¡¯d suggest declining. I don¡¯t trust whatever job he has for you, but there is definitely something fishy going on.¡± ¡°I would agree, but I think he¡¯s a bit more frantic about losing his best warrior than doing a power play.¡± ¡°Either way, he shouldn¡¯t try to force you into it.¡± ¡°I mean, the nation did lose a top fighter, Royce was as strong as a low S rank.¡± ¡°I know, but Dallel, I seriously doubt he wants you to take the role out of the goodness of his heart. As much as I respect the king, I also know that he manipulates very well. He is a good person, but he cares about the country too much.¡± ¡°I understand, but I still don¡¯t know. I will consider it.¡± _ ¡°Aye, I hope she wakes quickly, Rose is a good fighter, I¡¯m certain she¡¯ll wake up and be fine.¡± Mammon was announcing at the guild what Celios said about Rose¡¯s condition. Only he and a few high-level adventurers knew that Rose was Purity, they found it out when Rose first revealed her aura at full power. ¡°She is not going to die; she¡¯ll get back up as stubborn as before and fight with us in only 2 months. That may seem like a long time, but we¡¯ve lasted before she showed up and we can last again.¡± ¡°But we also had Sir Royce defending us back then.¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Not the whole time. I¡¯ve been a guildmaster since before Sir Royce was born. I know we can last even without those two.¡± Mammon¡¯s absolute confidence made everyone feel better, but Royce¡¯s death still shocked everyone. Even using the resurrection technique that Elren made with his daughter Alice, they couldn¡¯t revive him. Celios explained that a smite would require a god¡¯s power to revive the smited person. He explained that as him and Kala were both forsaken gods, their powers weren¡¯t enough to overturn a smite. He was smiling the whole time and it resulted in him getting a hook punch from Jalad. As expected from attempting to hurt a god, Celios was fine, but Jalad had a broken wrist. ¡°Dallel, how are ye holding up?¡± Mammon¡¯s sudden voice snapped me back to the present. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m sad about Royce, but I can¡¯t help but be happy that there were so few casualties... I... just don¡¯t know how I feel.¡± ¡°I understand ye, I expected to lose almost all of my warriors, but instead lost one of the most important people in the nation. Plus, Rose is in a coma and people are panicked.¡± ¡°I understand; that army hasn¡¯t moved for a whole week.¡± ¡°Wrath was purified, so her army is just lost on what to do.¡± ¡°Silas is negotiating with the demons in charge of it.¡± ¡°Do you think it will turn out okay?¡± ¡°I hope so.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t we just tell everyone that Rose is Purity? They know her body is Kala¡¯s form now.¡± ¡°Because they also believe she can hold Kala back. If they knew that she was the core, then the trust would greatly diminish, especially after that display of absolute power.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± ¡°People fear what they don¡¯t know, and most of their interactions with gods have been either fighting Wrath or watching Celios kill someone they respect.¡± ¡°I guess, I think it was still wrong to burn down the temple.¡± After the battle between Rose and Celios, people burnt down the temple of the pantheon in Selethon, because they thought that if the gods would just attack them to get at one another than there was no reason to worship them. ¡°Though the statue in its place is nice.¡± ¡°The statue of Kala, they started worshipping her.¡± ¡°Well, she did save them, and all of them saw Wrath throw her goals to the dirt in order to save them.¡± ¡°Yeah, they even have a little statue of Rose next to her.¡± ¡°Everyone still thinks Rose is her priest.¡± ¡°Yeah, I hope she wakes up sooner than two months.¡± ¡°Maybe she will, she was a forsaken god before, now she is receiving a lot of worship.¡± We sat silent, then I asked the question I came for. ¡°Can I ask a question?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Do you think I should join the Kingsguard as Royce¡¯s replacement?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a question, alright. Did the king offer you the station?¡± ¡°Yes. Jalad thinks I should decline again, but the king says I will get a job I''d like.¡± ¡°I personally think that you should decline too.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Think about it, you and Royce were the closest to Rose, now that Royce is gone, he essentially has no hold on her. I think he wants you to have the job just so he can control Rose.¡± ¡°You think he¡¯d do something that bad?¡± ¡°Let me put it this way. I wouldn¡¯t call king Dalis a bad person, but he thinks that an individual is less important than a majority, so he isn¡¯t afraid of putting single people in bad positions to help the majority. Now think of why he would want a best friend of a god as a direct subordinate.¡± ¡°To make sure she stays loyal.¡± ¡°Yes, I have no doubts about where her heart stands, but we all saw her rip Celios apart for killing Royce, he wants influence over someone who she¡¯d get that angry for. And he wants to make sure that he won¡¯t ever be the target of that anger.¡± ¡°I understand... I will refuse again and maintain my position as vice captain.¡± ¡°Good lad.¡± I left the guild hall feeling certain of my decision. _ ¡°So, you are refusing again.¡± ¡°Yes, your grace. I must apologize, but I would much rather maintain my role as vice-captain.¡± ¡°I understand, I wish that you would take me up this time, but I suppose that there isn¡¯t much I could do.¡± I gave a sad look which the king quickly interrupted. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am thankful that you continue to serve the nation, and I must admit I had ulterior motives this time. I suppose Mammon likely figured them out when you spoke to him.¡± ¡°He did sir.¡± ¡°I understand. Have a wonderful day, Dallel.¡± ¡°Thank you, your majesty, and sir.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I hope you do find someone worthy of Royce¡¯s position soon.¡± I left the castle. Chapter 58: The Awakening I woke up in an infirmary bed. I understood that the others would still be in a coma for a long time to come. ¡°Where am I?¡± I could barely think. My memories... what is this place? ¡°Rose?¡± Rose, that was my name, but who said that? ¡°A half-elf?¡± The female half-elf looked shocked and saddened. ¡°Rose, do you not remember me?¡± ¡°Apologies if we were close, but I barely remember that the mortals call me Rose.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°My name is Kala, the queen of gods. Now, where am I?¡± _ ¡°You don¡¯t remember anything?¡± ¡°No, odd dwarf.¡± ¡°Huh... Celios what is this?¡± Celios looked confused. ¡°This certainly is odd. She has awakened, but it seems that whatever bound her to the body fully rescinded.¡± ¡°What are you talking about child? Since when was there someone who could bind me.¡± ¡°Lady Kala, what is the last thing you remember?¡± ¡°I was just chilling in my palace, then I¡¯m waking up here with 9 of my aspects passed out like we just fought a major battle.¡± ¡°Do you not remember the 300000 years in between?¡± ¡°That long has passed? Have I been asleep that long?¡± ¡°Do you remember the name Rose Hood.¡± ¡°Yes, and I know it has something to do with me, but I can¡¯t tell what.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the name of the body you are in.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Celios then turned to the dwarf and another elf before whispering. ¡°Lady Kala has fully awakened, while she doesn¡¯t have access to her full power, it will take some time for her to remember anything about what her shards were doing.¡± ¡°Shards?¡± Celios sighed and returned to me. ¡°Lady Kala, you were... overthrown.¡± ¡°WHAT?!¡± I was overthrown? How? Why? ¡°Did I do something wrong?¡± Celios quickly stammered. ¡°No, m¡¯lady, the others... including me, were jealous of you and took over.¡± ¡°Then why do you stand with me now?¡± ¡°You used domination. My mind is still torn, but I am leaning more towards serving you again.¡± ¡°I see, so I finally pacified you.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What led up to me doing so?¡± ¡°In a rage and attempt to weaken you further I killed someone close to you.¡± ¡°I see, now checking my status I see I have been forsaken, but it is lessening.¡± ¡°Yes, my lady. The mortals saw you destroy me in combat and have begun worshipping you again.¡± ¡°Wonderful, but who died?¡± The elf looked sad, along with the dwarf. ¡°He was a wolfkin named Royce, you two were very close.¡± The half-elf showed confusion. ¡°Why are you talking to her like she is Rose? Did she not just take her body?¡± ¡°Half-elf. I believe I understand your confusion, but upon analysis, I can confirm that this body is mine, not taken, but almost as though I was born in it.¡± Celios elaborated. ¡°The shard of Purity, when corrupted, attempted to destroy a dragon¡¯s nest, the matron was a paladin and sealed it into an egg, which developed as an arcane dragon perfectly suited to your power.¡± ¡°I see, so this Rose Hood is the name that was given to the shard of Purity.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The half-elf was taken aback, she looked at the dwarf and elf, but they nodded. ¡°Hood was a god?¡± ¡°Yes, so technically this is still her, just without the memories.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Given your expressions, I suppose I was close with all of you. I apologize for not remembering you.¡± I bowed in apology. ¡°I suppose that there is no reason to hide that Rose was Purity anymore.¡± The elf said something interesting. ¡°Wait, Purity hid her nature?¡± ¡°Yes, she made it seem like Purity acted like a partner instead of being her. That made people confident that she could hold back her power and maybe even prevent you from going into another rage.¡± Celios froze... ¡°I went into a rage? Is everyone okay?!¡± ¡°Yes, just Celios was hurt. It happened when he killed Royce.¡± ¡°I see... I suppose a rage is enough punishment, but I must apologize for my children¡¯s foolish actions.¡± The dwarf looked confused. ¡°For a god, you are very humble.¡± ¡°Take it from someone who rose a whole pantheon, gods are weird, so I usually had to apologize for their shenanigans.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Anyways, would I be able to meet the king of this realm?¡± ¡°I suppose, we were about to notify him that you woke up.¡± My body is a dragon, how interesting. ¡°Well, we should go then.¡± ¡°Alright, it¡¯s about a- WOAH!!!¡± So, this is what the palace looked like. Interesting. ¡°Could do without the weapons pointed at me.¡± Then they were all sheathed and the guards looked at their empty hands in shock. A man with a regal presence stood. I bowed a bit. ¡°I assume you are the king?¡± ¡°Yes, but Rose, do you not already know that?¡± ¡°How did we get here? No one chanted teleportation!¡± The king realized something was off. ¡°Hello, your grace, my name is Kala.¡± ¡°Kala? Isn¡¯t that what Celios called her?¡± ¡°Yes, I believe you are familiar with the aspect of purity who was named Rose. As of now, I do not remember anything from after I was split into 10 shards.¡± The king looked saddened. ¡°Does that mean that Rose is no longer existent?¡± ¡°No, Purity is still my core as it always was, so I am still also known as Rose, but I lack my memories for the time being.¡± Most sighed relief, they must have been very close. The king had a question. ¡°I thought Wrath was the core.¡± Wrath? ¡°Who?¡± Celios appeared next to me. ¡°He means Understanding. When we shattered you, we also made it seem like Wrath was the core, so they would remain disorganized.¡± I grimaced. ¡°I taught you idiots too well. But why Understanding, out of all of them.¡± ¡°Because we may have also corrupted you with evil, and Wrath seemed like a better core alternative than Innocence, as Purity was known as.¡± ¡°You... corrupted me...¡± I smashed his head into the ground. ¡°Do you know how dumb that was?! Thank goodness I managed to purify myself. Everyone would have died if I didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Yes, mam. Sorry, mam.¡± ¡°Stop breaking things!¡± ¡°Sorry. Sorry... wait...¡± The dwarf snapped and I instantly apologized in muscle memory. The dwarf blanched and I started laughing. ¡°It seems I was your subordinate. What job did I have?¡± He stammered nervously. ¡°A-adventurer.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± He was seemingly surprised that I didn¡¯t smite him for snapping. ¡°Jeez how horrible have my children been.¡± Celios began sweating and turned away, whistling. I grabbed him by the head and smiled. ¡°Celios, what have you and your siblings been doing while I was dormant.¡± He started whistling harder, so I tossed him out of the castle through the window. He was screaming. ¡°Idiots the lot of them. I must apologize for their idiocy.¡± ¡°Is he going to be okay?¡± ¡°Eh, he has wings. Plus, he¡¯s a god, even if he doesn¡¯t remember he can fly, he won¡¯t die.¡± ¡°Also, how did you do that?¡± ¡°Do what?¡± ¡°Sheath all of my guards'' weapons and get here in an instant without teleportation magic.¡± ¡°I walked through space.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Sort of how you mortals walk, but instead of walking the whole way there, I just put it in front of me and step there.¡± ¡°Like a portal?¡± ¡°I guess you could put it like that, but it''s more like picking up a piece in chess and putting it in a completely different spot where you normally couldn¡¯t move it. At least not without more moves than one.¡± ¡°Is that how Celios does his disappearance effect?¡± ¡°Probably.¡± ¡°Interesting, but how did you sheath the weapons?¡± ¡°Mind acceleration.¡± The elf nodded. ¡°Rose did have a mind acceleration that made it seem like she could stop time.¡± ¡°Oh, at least I didn¡¯t lose every basic ability when I was shattered.¡± They looked at me. ¡°I hate to argue, but I think only you would call it basic.¡± ¡°If you saw what I could do in my prime, you¡¯d be calling it basic too.¡± Celios flapped up and entered the window. He had a lot of scratches. ¡°So... many... forks... WHY IS THE WHOLE CITY HAVING A POTLUCK?!¡± ¡°Because word was likely spread that Rose was awake.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± ¡°Why would there be a potluck for my awakening?¡± ¡°You are considered quite the hero around here.¡± ¡°I am?¡± ¡°Yes, you have done a lot around here.¡± ¡°Alright?¡± _ ¡°So, you don¡¯t remember anything?¡± The strange human, who called himself Asura, asked. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Hm, well that sucks. You need your memories back.¡± ¡°They would help a lot.¡± A lot of people were kind of sad that I lost my memories, but they seemed to be excited to learn that I was both Rose and the goddess Kala. ¡°Do you not even remember me?¡± A dragonkin walked up. A lot of people gave him side eye. ¡°No, not really?¡± ¡°I am Climond, a friend of yours.¡± ¡°Clibo?¡± ¡°No, mam, Climond.¡± ¡°Clempton.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± He left. He had an odd name. ¡°Yep, definitely Rose.¡± Apparently, that was something I had done before. I was learning new things. As I sipped wine a lot of people who used to be my acquaintances would introduce themselves. The odd dwarf was named Mammon and the elf Dallel, and apparently the half-elf was my former guardian who I¡¯d call Granny. Her name was Dalla Rogers. ¡°Hmm... that¡¯s why you seemed upset I didn¡¯t know you.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I apologize for losing my memories.¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t feel bad. Please.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± We began eating and I felt a bit awkward, not really knowing how to act. Celios had already left as he didn¡¯t want to intrude. I just sort of hid my presence and sat in the corner, but then Dallel noticed me. ¡°I understand that this feels odd to you.¡± ¡°It is odd. I feel weak, a lot of my power is burnt out, and I still am having trouble believing that the others would do something like that.¡± ¡°It was hard to believe when you first told us, but we all knew it to be true.¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± We sat in silence. ¡°How close were we?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°How close were me and you? You keep looking at me differently than the others do.¡± ¡°We... were... close friends.¡± I could tell he wanted to lie but decided to tell the truth. ¡°Thank you for telling me the truth.¡± His eyes widened. ¡°Yeah, as the god of goodness, I can tell truth from lies. Thank you for not lying.¡± He smiled. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that to you. I wouldn¡¯t be able to look myself in the mirror.¡± He was not lying then either. ¡°Well, I should leave you too it.¡± Dallel stood up and left. He was a very good person. I could tell why Purity was drawn to him as a friend. But the one I was most interested in was this, Royce. ¡®Who is he, and why did I feel pain when I heard he was dead? Was he close to me?¡¯ ¡°I¡¯ll have to awaken and then I could ask him myself.¡± ¡°What¡¯re you talking about?¡± ¡°Woah!¡± A tanned man, Jalad, suddenly appeared. ¡°Sorry, but what were you talking about?¡± ¡°I was just wondering. My body seems to act oddly.¡± ¡°Is this a female thing I¡¯m not supposed to ask about.¡± ¡°No...¡± I gave him side eye and he laughed. ¡°I¡¯m messing with you. You can tell me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t actually know what I¡¯m feeling, but if you don¡¯t mind, could you tell me a bit about Royce?¡± He maintained his smile, but it seemed sadder. ¡°Why do you want to know?¡± ¡°Because the moment I heard he had died... I don¡¯t know why, but it was like my very being was in pain.¡± ¡°I see, well he was a good man, and you two were very close.¡± ¡°How close?¡± ¡°... Closer than anyone else.¡± ¡°I see... were we official?¡± ¡°No, despite it being obvious to any onlookers, you two never seemed to realize it.¡± ¡°Unfortunate.¡± ¡°I agree...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Well, if you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯ll get back to the potluck, don¡¯t be afraid to come over if you have any questions.¡± Someone... I cared for at that scale... It would take a truly good person for that to happen. I wondered what would have happened if I was official with Royce when he was killed. Chapter 59: Kala Departs At night, I wandered the town, and I visited the places my body told me to go. I saw such beautiful sights. The park at night was full of calm things. In the afternoon, I went out and purified the evil army. They were all happy and set up additional defenses. ¡®So now, it¡¯s time to take a nap.¡¯ I loved naps, of course I wouldn¡¯t take them in the middle of work, but when there was nothing to do, a nap was the way to go. Of course, not before setting up alert systems. I spread a shield around the town. I was apparently in the middle of a nap when I was overthrown. Who attacks during a nap? I conked out immediately. _ ¡°She¡¯s out alright.¡± ¡°How can we just not move her?¡± ¡°It¡¯s like she is as heavy as she is in dragon form.¡± ¡°Do you think Rose will ever return to how she was?¡± ¡°I mean, she does act similar, but there are obvious changes.¡± ¡°So, do you normally watch me sleep or is this a new thing?¡± Both Dallel and Jalad jumped, and I looked at them in amusement. ¡°You two are funny. I see why I liked you.¡± ¡°Definitely similar.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°The heck¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± ¡°You like spooking people.¡± ¡°... Yeah, I can see that.¡± I sat up and looked at the duo. ¡°I¡¯m thinking of setting out to find more gods.¡± The duo looked shocked. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Well, I need to find out if my children are causing problems. As my strength of worship increases, so does my power. I will be able to handle them. So, I might as well seek them out. Besides, I could gain my memories back that way.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°I thought to let you know so you don¡¯t panic when I leave.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± I could tell they wanted to say something, but they held it back, perhaps they thought that they had no place to argue because I was a god. It was ticking me off. ¡°I¡¯m not oblivious, if you want to say something then say it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing, just, please be sure to return.¡± They wanted me to stay. I smiled. ¡°Of course, I will return, and I will be stronger when I do so.¡± ¡°You should probably hide your presence and identity when traveling.¡± ¡°Good idea.¡± ¡°You have a fake ID already, I¡¯m sure it will still work. Everyone knows your name, but not as much your face.¡± ¡°I see, what¡¯s the name?¡± ¡°Grace.¡± ¡°Huh, fitting, sure.¡± _ ¡°Alright, only me and the guildmaster in the dragon kingdom know the id is fake, so it should still work.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Me and Mammon spoke for a while. He acted nervously at first, but he grew more confident. ¡°I still think you should bring a guard.¡± ¡°I¡¯m powerful, and I still have Celios.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m not exactly comfortable leaving you with only Celios to guard you.¡± ¡°I understand, but if he tries something, I¡¯ll discipline him.¡± ¡°I still have trouble believing you don¡¯t remember everything.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because you act so similar. If I didn¡¯t know better, I would assume you remembered everything.¡± ¡°Fair, my behavior is the same as I am the same person, and my confidence in conversing comes from me being a god.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± ¡°By the way, you have a sort of feud with a guildmaster named Darthen.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°He was a slaver.¡± ¡°Ah, I dislike slavers.¡± ¡°Though, if I may, we noticed Domination is kinda... similar to slavery.¡± He was silent as though he thought I would take offense and smite him, but I laughed. ¡°I guess it would seem that way to those who don¡¯t understand it. All domination does is force their mind to a conflicted state by forcing my point into their brain. If I give an order, it restrains them, but I don¡¯t give orders.¡± Mammon sighed in relief. ¡°Thank you for the explanation.¡± _ I was eating meat and drinking wine when I heard a loud crash, and a female dragon came crashing through the wall. ¡°ROSE!!! I HEARD YOU WERE AWAKE!!!¡± She hugged me so hard. I must be close to her. As she was a dragon it was possible that we were related. ¡°I was so worried about you. Are you hurt?¡± I realized that I couldn¡¯t breathe. She was crushing me into her chest. ¡°Oh Rose, I¡¯m so happy you woke up, Elren will want to hear that.¡± ¡®I can¡¯t breathe. GAK!!!¡¯ I was getting dizzy. ¡°Um... Thalia?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°You¡¯re suffocating her.¡± Mammon to the rescue. ¡°Oh.¡± She let go of me and I collapsed onto my back dizzy. ¡°Also, Thalia, she has no memories right now, so she is probably confused.¡± ¡°Wait, she lost her memories? Oh No!!! My poor sister.¡± Yep, we were related. But who was Elren? ¡°Who¡¯s Elren?¡± ¡°Oh, our brother!!!¡± Her energy was annoying me. Even Asura wasn¡¯t this hyper. ¡°Okay, thanks.¡± ¡°So, how much do you remember?¡± ¡°My name...¡± ¡°Ah...¡± ¡°Celios said all bindings were released when she went into a rage.¡± Thalia froze. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes, as such, she doesn¡¯t remember anything after-¡± ¡°Is this the place to talk about that?¡± ¡°Oh please, everyone knows now. She flat out told everyone.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Thalia considered for a moment. ¡°So, how much does she remember?¡± ¡°Nothing after being overthrown.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a long period.¡± ¡°Yep, it¡¯s all a blank in my mind.¡± I stood up. ¡°Anyways I was about to head out. Look for gods.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll come with you.¡± ¡°What?¡± Thalia, who was my sister, apparently, offered to join me. ¡°Well, I have nothing to do, and I am a mature dragon, I could defend you.¡± ¡°Sorry, but I kind of want to maintain a low profile, the others will already be on watch with my awakening, so being accompanied by a mature dragon wouldn¡¯t help.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°No, that makes sense. I suppose I could visit Gallson and see how he¡¯s doing.¡± She left seeming sad. ¡°Now I kinda feel bad.¡± ¡°Nah, you are good. She wanted to help, but she, as you noted, is very conspicuous.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Chapter 60: The City of gods Using my dragon form I flew for a while. I shifted into a catkin in a forest and then went to an unfamiliar city. There was a line. I heard someone here was a high priest of one of my children. I was waiting in line when a guard came up. ¡°Name and business.¡± ¡°Grace, and I want to visit the temple.¡± ¡°I see. A pilgrim, huh? Too bad beastkin arent allowed in the temple.¡± ¡°What? Why?¡± A human woman behind me answered the question. ¡°Because your kind is filthy and would defile the temple of the god king.¡± It seems Celios¡¯s replacement is the one worshiped here. ¡°Oh well. I guess I could look at it from outside then.¡± They were silent for a moment. I guess that they usually saw more arguments. Then I heard some people. ¡°Did you hear about a dragon that claimed to be the true ruler of gods?¡± ¡°No way, and people believed it?¡± ¡°Yeah, the rumor even says that she beat Celios in combat.¡± The woman behind me had something to say. ¡°It¡¯s probably just a joke. I heard it as well, but it¡¯s more likely that it was a kid playing make believe and someone heard it and brought it out of proportion.¡± ¡°Actually...¡± Everyone looked at me. ¡°I met the dragon and felt her power. Frankly I¡¯m inclined to believe her.¡± Someone snorted. ¡°Of course, a beastkin would believe a dragon.¡± ¡°I mean, I also saw Celios. He was basically at her beck and call. It was almost uncanny.¡± More people started laughing. ¡°Oh, and let me guess, she rules Selethon?¡± ¡°No, but the king is an ally of he¡¯s and he supported it.¡± ¡°Ah, so it¡¯s propaganda, you do realize that it is more likely that he got a dragon and a powerful mage and merely claimed that¡¯s who they were?¡± ¡°You do realize that no self-respecting god would let mockery like a fake last?¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°They¡¯ll probably get smited.¡± ¡°Maybe, but they were way too powerful to be normal, either way.¡± Then a human spoke up. ¡°Actually, I was just in Selethon not too long ago, the dragon was already recognized as the host of a god beforehand, and when I passed through, I saw the one they called Celios, and frankly, I¡¯d believe that it was Celios.¡± ¡°Did you actually see the dragon?¡± ¡°No, she was in a coma from a major battle, so access to see her was restricted to close friends.¡± ¡°I see, a god can¡¯t enter a coma.¡± I spoke. ¡°That¡¯s a foolish statement.¡± The woman glared at me. ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Gods can take damage, so it makes sense that if she used enough power, or even clashed with another god, then she may have taken enough damage to be in a coma.¡± A guy in front of me nodded. ¡°That makes sense to me. I still doubt she¡¯s actually a god, but I¡¯d have to meet her.¡± ¡°Yeah, I met her, so I am confident that she is a god. Her aura alone was causing nature to prosper.¡± ¡°I see.¡± They mostly stopped their jeering as more people began to agree it was possible. _ I entered the city. It was cold, made sense. I went on my way to the church and saw a powerful temple. It was dripping with the aura of one of my children, so I knew he visited often. ¡°Silith¡¯s temple. No wonder he doesn¡¯t let in beastkin; he and Ausar are rivals.¡± ¡°A beastkin knowing religion. That¡¯s rare.¡± I turned to see a man. ¡°I took to reading books when I was young. You are the high priest, correct?¡± ¡°And you have an eye for the attribute. Interesting. If you weren¡¯t surprised to see that it was Lord Silith¡¯s temple, I would assume you were an agent of Ausar.¡± ¡°I actually was looking to meet him.¡± ¡°Ah, he is coming tomorrow, but you would only be able to watch him enter as-¡± ¡°Beastkin aren¡¯t allowed to enter.¡± ¡°I see you understand. That is wonderful.¡± ¡°Thank you for the help. Now I know when I can see him.¡± ¡°Pardon me, but what¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Grace.¡± ¡°Wonderful, I am Jerico.¡± I wandered and went into a high-profile inn. ¡°Hey, Cat. Go scramble back to the slums.¡± What a warm welcome from the innkeep. ¡°Actually, I wanted to rent a room.¡± He snorted. ¡°As though a cat like you could afford one of these rooms.¡± ¡°How much?¡± ¡°10000 gold.¡± He was lying. ¡°Wow, then you must be the biggest scam artist in the nation.¡± I called his bluff and his smirk turned to a frown. ¡°Fine, 100.¡± ¡°That poster says 10.¡± ¡°That was a sale.¡± ¡°Why are you lying? I¡¯ll give you 10 gold for one night. It¡¯s not like I¡¯ll cause trouble.¡± ¡°Listen cat. We don¡¯t like your kind here.¡± ¡°Ah, so you won¡¯t let me pay for a room? If you turn away your customers, then there¡¯s no way you could afford to stay above.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll call the guards.¡± ¡°For what? Asking for a room that I¡¯d pay for?¡± He realized he was in a checkmate and reluctantly allowed me to rent a room. I also bought a bottle of wine, and they realized that I could potentially afford even the outrageous price that the innkeep first suggested. I sealed the door and fell asleep, only to wake up in the middle of the night to someone trying to break down the door. ¡°How is this door so strong?¡± ¡°Even the spare key doesn¡¯t work.¡± ¡°She must have warded it.¡± ¡°Try the knob again.¡± ¡°Alri-¡± They paused, turned slowly, and blanched at the sight of me smiling. ¡°Robbers, huh?¡± _ ¡°I have a delivery of two robbers.¡± I dragged in the two men who were bound to the guard station. ¡°Robbers?¡± The same guard who I met at the gate was surprised to see me again. ¡°Yes, they were attempting to break down the door to my inn room, so I bound them and brought them here.¡± ¡°Huh, why were you two doing that?¡± ¡°She had a lot of money, there¡¯s no way she could have that much gold, so we thought to take it as evidence and bring it in.¡± ¡°*Sigh* Listen, just because beastkin are disliked by our god doesn¡¯t mean each one of them is a thief or killer.¡± The guard was really rational. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to hold you two for a few hours.¡± ¡°Hours?¡± I thought it would be a whole day. ¡°Yeah, whenever Lord Silith shows up, all prisoners are released, and they get blessed to not do crime again.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± ¡°Well, you can go back to your room now.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I went back and slept instantly. Chapter 61: The Temple of Silith I went to the temple in the early morning, hoping to see Silith. ¡°Out of the way, cat. No one wants you here.¡± As expected, people were upset I was there. ¡°Hey, cat, over here.¡± It was the woman at the gate. ¡°You can stand next to me.¡± ¡°Why are you being nice?¡¯ She laughed. ¡°You are interesting to both me and Jerico.¡± ¡°You talked to Jerico?¡± ¡°Of course, we are in a trade agreement.¡± ¡°Have you ever talked to Silith?¡± ¡°It¡¯s interesting that you refer to a god by name alone.¡± ¡°I have my reasons.¡± ¡°Of course, but yes, I have met him. He is very gracious.¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± ¡°Yeah, me and him have actually traded a lot.¡± We then sat in silence as a carriage pulled up. A knight opened the door, and a man, radiating power emerged. ¡°It¡¯s him.¡± Silith walked forth with a calm smile. He waved at everyone and saw the merchant. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again, Amelia.¡± ¡°You as well, Lord Silith.¡± ¡°And who¡¯s yo-¡± He froze. He instantly recognized me. ¡°Incredible that you are still alive.¡± His tone shifted, and Amelia and everyone else present noticed it. ¡°Lord Silith.¡± ¡°Amelia, I would suggest moving a bit.¡± Amelia, confused, moved away. ¡°It¡¯s been a while.¡± ¡°It has.¡± Jerico ran out. ¡°Lord Silith, what is happening?¡± ¡°Jerico, I¡¯m handling it.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. He glared at me and released his aura. The city started shaking. ¡°What¡¯s happening?!¡± Only Jerico knew exactly what was happening. ¡°Why is Lord Silith challenging her?¡± ¡°Challenging?¡± ¡°Yes, Amelia. That aura is a threat. A challenge.¡± I smiled and released my aura in response. The goodness clashed with shadow, and we glared. Then our auras faded and Silith laughed. ¡°It certainly has been a while. Come in, let¡¯s get you something to eat.¡± The people looked in shock. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°Lord Silith is friends with a beastkin?¡± Jerico was the most confused of all. ¡°Lord, what¡¯s going on? Who is the catkin?¡± And Silith laughed. ¡°This is no catkin. Her name is Kala. She¡¯s a fellow god.¡± Everyone who mocked me immediately blanched. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Why do you appear as one of Ausar¡¯s?¡± ¡°You know that dragon from Selethon?¡± ¡°Ah, so the rumors of you obtaining a body were true.¡± Amelia was in shock. ¡°Wait... you are the dragon from rumors?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Silith looked at me. ¡°You seem to be lacking binds.¡± ¡°Yes, in my fight with Celios that caused my awakening, I lost my memories and bindings.¡± ¡°Unfortunate.¡± ¡°Yet potentially lucky for you.¡± Silith understood my meaning and quickly looked away. ¡°Yes, I suppose. Why did you come here, though?¡± ¡°Looking for gods in hopes they could help me regain my memories.¡± ¡°I unfortunately can¡¯t help you with that, but I may be able to guide you. Where do your memories end?¡± ¡°Right before.¡± ¡°I see.¡± We entered the temple and the people looked at us in confusion. ¡°Lord Silith? Why is there a catkin?¡± ¡°She¡¯s not a catkin she¡¯s a fellow god.¡± People kept asking and Silith was getting annoyed. ¡°If she¡¯s a god then she should be serving you as you are the king.¡± A priest said an ignorant statement that made me laugh. That caused eyes to turn to me, but Silith seemed almost scared that I would kill the priest for the insult. ¡°Lord Silith?¡± It seemed that Jerico also noticed his minor fear. ¡°Aldalen, let me tell you something. She is one that I would consider at least equal.¡± The others nodded in surprise, but Jerico had another question. ¡°What do you mean ¡®at least¡¯ equal?¡± This question caused the others to turn back with questioning looks. ¡°She... uh...¡± This was obviously the first time they saw Silith at a loss for words. ¡°Go on...¡± Me smirking didn¡¯t help. ¡°She¡¯s *sigh* the mother of gods.¡± That got a massive reaction from the priests. The mother of gods was an ancient legend, many assumed I died or simply left, so me being here was definitely shocking. Jerico stumbled back. Aldalen nearly had a heart attack in shock. The others had varying levels of shock. ¡°And that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t want to say that.¡± ¡°Heh.¡± ¡°You are a menace.¡± ¡°Always was.¡± _ The city erupted in shock as the priests spread the word of my identity. Those who were already shocked by my godhood were even more shocked that I was their god''s mother. Of course, I was used to reverence. Maybe if I had Purity¡¯s memories it would be a bit more awkward for me. I spoke with Silith about the others. ¡°There is a civil war happening.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°People want the throne.¡± ¡°I see, well, I will talk to them and maybe calm them down.¡± ¡°... They would attack you.¡± ¡°Then I will fight them. I assume Ausar is one of them?¡± ¡°He is the leader.¡± ¡°I see. Well, I know how to handle him.¡± ¡°Yeah, but I am kind of worried. He may absorb you.¡± ¡°That would be a major threat, but I can handle him. I raised all of you, I can handle Ausar.¡± ¡°What if he catches you by surprise?¡± ¡°Then I just need to fight back harder than him.¡± ¡°Kala.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°The main concern with them is that they are trying to connect to an alternative world.¡± I was silent. That wasn¡¯t good. ¡°They aren¡¯t strong enough to do that.¡± ¡°They aren¡¯t? They did summon something from another world.¡± ¡°Then they had help.¡± This was getting worse. Silith understood. ¡°Should I mobilize my side?¡± ¡°Make sure they are able to react, but don¡¯t do it conspicuously. I will get Celios to help.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± I left immediately and started walking down the street, and people saw me and started shouting in praise. I disregarded them, if they wouldn¡¯t praise due to the content of my character, then I wouldn¡¯t accept them. If Silith didn¡¯t confirm my identity and ignored me, they would try running me out of town for daring to look at him as a catkin. Chapter 62: The Beast King I flew to the beast kingdom, where Ausar was supposed to be located. I walked to the gate as a catkin. No one bothered me, why would they? But I heard things. ¡°Did you hear that Silith apparently confirmed that the rumored dragon was a god?¡± ¡°No way, he did?¡± ¡°Yeah, and more than that, he said she was the mother of gods.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way, Lord Ausar will be able to clear this thing up.¡± ¡°Did you hear that he actually took control of this kingdom?¡± ¡°Finally, I was waiting for him to decide to become king.¡± ¡°So was the king.¡± It seems Ausar just wanted a throne. Vain... like he always was. I entered the town and saw multiple beastkin celebrating. The few humans around were keeping their heads down. ¡°Hey, human. Did you steal that?¡± The man had grabbed an apple off a stall and paid for it. Everyone knew it, but no one stood up for him. Well... almost no one. ¡°Hey, let him go. We all saw him pay.¡± The Catkin who started it glowered at me. ¡°A sympathizer? Please, he¡¯s revolting. He shouldn¡¯t even be allowed to roam the city. Thank goodness at least the temple is clear of them.¡± It seems this city had a similar issue to Silith¡¯s city. ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t care, he paid, he followed the law, so lay off.¡± ¡°Listen, kid. I¡¯m a D rank adventurer. I can beat you up.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a shame that fools like you represent the lower ranks.¡± I flashed my C rank, and he blanched. ¡°S-sorry. I was out of line.¡± ¡°You were, now apologize and leave.¡± ¡°Sorry man, I was wrong.¡± Then the catkin fled quickly. ¡°Goodness, it¡¯s almost as bad as Silith¡¯s city here.¡± ¡°Ah, do you hale from there?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m from Selethon.¡± A wolfkin passed by. ¡°Selethon? Then did you meet the dragon who claims to be a god?¡± ¡°Yes, and she is very powerful.¡± The human nodded. ¡°I heard that Silith himself confirmed her as the mother of gods.¡± ¡°Yeah, but you can¡¯t trust Silith.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The wolfkin acted like he was better than Silith. ¡°See, this is the problem with humans, they side with Silith, the enemy of Ausar and then shut out beastkin.¡± ¡°Well, what do you think, C rank lady.¡± ¡°I think both are twits. They discriminate against an entire species for the simple crime of some serving their opponent.¡± Everyone, including the humans, looked at me, jaws dropped. ¡°Lord Ausar isn¡¯t a twit.¡± ¡°Then why does he dislike all humans.¡± ¡°Because they side with Silith.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Selethon¡¯s humans are siding with this Kala.¡± ¡°Yeah, and the pretender god Kala is sided with Silith.¡± ¡°Who said that? Just because Silith confirmed she was a god? That doesn¡¯t mean she helps him, it just means that she¡¯s a god.¡± ¡°He was obviously lying.¡± I snorted. ¡°Let me tell you this. No god likes mockery or pretenders. If this Kala were just a pretender, then Silith would have killed her, despite her allegiances.¡± Some people considered the words, but most spat at me. ¡°We should hang you for insulting the true king Ausar.¡± ¡°Nah.¡± That caused them to pause. ¡°Did you just say nah?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°No matter. Get over here.¡± I created a riot, then a presence. ¡°Calm my subjects.¡± Ausar stepped out of the mist in the form of a birdkin. He looked at me. ¡°It¡¯s been long since we last spoke.¡± ¡°It has.¡± Ausar struck at me, and I blocked, causing a shockwave of power. ¡°Don¡¯t strike at me, fool.¡± ¡°You insult me and expect me to ignore it?¡± ¡°What insult? I spoke truth. You and Silith¡¯s rivalry is childish and nothing short of brattish.¡± The people were shocked that I not only blocked an attack from a god, but also insulted him to his face. ¡°Well, Kala, I hope you don¡¯t anticipate living too much longer.¡± ¡°Oh, I do, in fact, I came for a bit of help, but if you want to fight, I¡¯m open to that too. Not here though, too many innocents.¡± The people were shocked. Not only did Ausar say that I was Kala, but his speech also confirmed what Silith said, that I was a god. ¡°Did you tell Silith that?¡± ¡°Would have if I remembered too.¡± ¡°You are way too scatterbrained.¡± ¡°Ah phewy. I knew I can get distracted, but still...¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m going to absorb you and take your power. Then I can finally surpass Silith and destroy him and his infernal church.¡± ¡°And is that power from another world going to help you with that?¡± He was silent for a moment. ¡°Silith told you? Little tattletale!¡± The people were not expecting their god to use immature language like tattletale. ¡°I swear it¡¯s like in the 300000 years I was dormant, you idiots haven¡¯t matured in the slightest.¡± ¡°The heck¡¯s that supposed to mean?!¡± ¡°You are at war but get mad when your opponent calls for help. I¡¯ve told you idiots about how dangerous accessing other worlds was. And what do you do? No wonder Silith complained. It¡¯s dangerous.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care. I can do what I want.¡± The people were confused by the interaction. A random catkin was scolding their god who was acting like a spoiled child. ¡°Anyways, I¡¯ll kill you, then no one can hold me back. My people will rise to absolute sovereignty.¡± The people started cheering. He was basking in the praise. ¡°Your vanity is annoying.¡± He remembered that he was in the middle of a fight a bit too late as I socked him in the stomach, causing him to collapse in pain. I sat on his back so he couldn¡¯t get back up. ¡°No fair.¡± ¡°All¡¯s fair in love and war, now stop being a twit.¡± ¡°I hate you.¡± ¡°How rude. Don¡¯t say something like that to your mother.¡± I slapped him causing a minor crater on the ground. ¡°I always told you that vanity would get you killed. Of course, I¡¯m not going to kill you, but if you pull that in a battle, anyone with a half decent weapon would be able to defeat you.¡± He grumbled. The people were shocked. I had taken down their ¡®invincible¡¯ god. ¡°How?¡± ¡°He left himself wide open. That was way too easy. Do you remember anything I taught you, brat?¡± I looked at a wolfkin. ¡°Pardon me, but which way to the palace?¡± The wolfkin pointed nervously to where the palace was. ¡°Thanks.¡± I smiled, stood up, picked up Ausar, and threw him as hard as I could at his palace. ¡°I¡¯m going to meet with the king of this nation. I heard he was a god. Hopefully he can get his act together before I get there.¡± ¡°How did you beat him?¡± The human was also shocked, so I was honest. ¡°Frankly, in a regular fight, I would have lost, but he left himself so open that no one couldn¡¯t beat him if they actually fought with the slightest bit of skill.¡± A B rank adventurer nearby reluctantly nodded. ¡°Yeah, now that I think about it, he was absolutely open.¡± ¡°Yeah, which makes me more ticked off, because the first lesson I taught that brat was to never take your attention off your opponent.¡± The D rank from earlier asked, ¡°Who are you, actually?¡± ¡°My name is Kala, former Queen of gods, also known as S rank adventurer Rose Hood.¡± I curtsied. ¡°An S rank. I was wondering why a god was only C rank.¡± ¡°A little thing to make sure I can wander privately... I¡¯ll need a new one.¡± ¡°Yeah...¡± Chapter 63: The Good Lie ¡°*Sigh*¡± I got to the palace and met with Ausar. ¡°Now, face me without cheating!!!¡± ¡°In the middle of your city? Besides, I wasn¡¯t the one who left myself so open a kid with a slingshot could¡¯ve hit me.¡± He blushed. ¡°Sh-Shut up.¡± ¡°Anyways, I lost my memories from since you overthrew me, do you know anyone who could help me get them back.¡± He was silent. ¡°So, you aren¡¯t here to kill me?¡± ¡°If I was, you¡¯d already be dead.¡± ¡°Is that a threat?¡± ¡°No, an observation since you left yourself open.¡± ¡°Stop saying that!!!¡± ¡°Then stop doing it.¡± He glowered. ¡°Anyways no I don¡¯t. I think the best way about it is to just directly interact with the shards.¡± ¡°I would, but 9 out of 10 are in a coma for who knows how long.¡± ¡°Then interact with the one that¡¯s awake.¡± ¡°Okay, would you mind if I did that here?¡± ¡°Yes...¡± ¡°Wonderful, so where can I sit?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°There?¡± ¡°No... fine...¡± He deflated as I sat in the little hallway chair and began to meditate. The guards have never seen someone just cause Ausar to deflate, so they were surprised. I delved into my soul and saw Purity hovering. The aspect no longer had an independent mind, as I now held it, but it was still a catkin teenager in appearance. ¡°What is your name?¡± ¡°Rose Hood.¡± That... was surprising... Did Purity remain independent? The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Yes...¡± ¡°Hm... Why don¡¯t I remember anything?¡± Rose leaned back and shrugged. ¡°Because you formed but we aren¡¯t assimilated yet.¡± ¡°I see, and how do I do that?¡± ¡°Why do that? I have your memories now.¡± I narrowed my eyes. ¡°Oh, and what is your implication with that.¡± ¡°I know your true goal.¡± ¡°Do you intend to overthrow me in my own mind?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then all I need is to fully assimilate you.¡± ¡°Why do you think you haven¡¯t yet?¡± I stopped smiling and Rose started. ¡°Because I¡¯m not letting you. I don¡¯t care what title you give yourself; I¡¯m not letting you gain your full power.¡± ¡°You are a piece of me. I will assimilate you and recover my full strength.¡± ¡°Then what?¡± I looked at her. ¡°That¡¯s none of your business.¡± ¡°I am you, am I not. If I am a piece of you, then I should at least know what you are doing.¡± ¡°Fine. If you won¡¯t assimilate, then I will let you rot.¡± ¡°You call Silith and Ausar rotten, but you are 10 times more so.¡± ¡°Silence.¡± ¡°You woke me up fully. I will take control of you.¡± I opened my eyes and saw Ausar looking at me with concern. ¡°You were blacked out. Are you okay?¡± Despite his attitude, I was still his mother. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fine. I couldn¡¯t find a way unfortunately. I will return to Selethon now.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Ausar immediately recovered his haughtiness and led me out quickly. Purity¡¯s words terrified me. She saw my goal and rejected it. How? Why? I knew the perfect way to convince her though, but I needed to prepare. _ I walked back to Selethon slowly. I needed to process what happened. Rose remained independent. Why? I understood that she made connections, but a shard like purity shouldn¡¯t have enough mind to oppose me, unless they became their own being entirely, but that¡¯s impossible... ¡°I was in a rage when I formed. That should have confirmed them weakened enough to fully merge with me.¡± ¡°Hey, cat. Give me your cash, or you know~¡± The bandit was dead. I used his mind''s remnants to track down the rest of his group, and I massacred them. Why couldn¡¯t I focus? Why was this happening? ¡°I am similar to Rose, as we are the same person, but... she is different.¡± I roared in rage and obliterated the camp in a single blast. ¡°That filthy shard. I will slowly kill her loved ones, until she finally gives in.¡± That was my plan. I wouldn¡¯t kill them immediately, but I¡¯d gain memories with them, get closer and closer, then crush them. That brutality would force Purity to finally merge... ¡°Rose... she was named, that¡¯s why she¡¯s independent. If I find the remnants of this Royce. I will destroy it till even I in my prime couldn¡¯t revive him.¡± That caused my body to tremble, and Rose panicked. ¡°Oh, little Rose, which of your loved ones should I kill first. Perhaps Dallel. He truly loves you; it would be fun to watch it morph to hate when I torture him.¡± Rose quieted down. I skipped along, my aura causing nature to grow. ¡°Oh, what a wonderful day. What a good day.¡± _ My magic wasn¡¯t always called goodness magic. It used to be the magic of lies. It created a false sense of security, of rightness, that could trick even the most powerful beings. I gained it shortly after I was stabbed on the streets of New York. I woke up in a void. I gained my power, and I made the gods. From a regular schoolgirl to an all-powerful god. My power was absolute, so I had no fears. I always hated that world. Boring, and full of fools who feared me. I will crush that world once I find it. I was so close when I was betrayed. I still don¡¯t know why or how they did it, but Rose did, and once I learned, I¡¯d absorb them all and then finally destroy that world. I did research and learned that the evil god¡¯s goal was to destroy this world. Fun. I had no hatred for this world, but the brats that governed it enraged me. ¡°I gave them everything, but they betrayed me.¡± This is my world, I rule, not Celios, Silith, or Ausar. Not even the rest of the rabble that called themselves my children. I hummed and skipped as I felt the despair in Purity¡¯s mind. Chapter 64: How could I Have not Seen Before I returned to Selethon in a good mood. I went to the guild and announced my presence, ordering a drink. I drank it and hummed. ¡°Hey, Rose. How are you doing?¡± ¡°I¡¯m doing well, Dallel. How are you?¡± ¡°Good...¡± I had never noticed how he looked before. It was a wonder I didn¡¯t go for him before. He noticed my look and lightly blushed. ¡°Um, could I get you something?¡± ¡°Nah, I¡¯ll treat you. What do you want?¡± ¡°Um.¡± And then, me and Dallel had our first date in the guild hall. _ ¡°So, you and Rose had a meal together... alone?¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know what to think.¡± ¡°Does she remember?¡± ¡°No, she said that since she can¡¯t remember, she wants to make new memories with us.¡± I was so nervous. I may be wrong, but that seemed like a date. ¡°This feels odd.¡± ¡°Yeah, but she seemed happy during the meal. I think, even for her case, I should keep meeting with her.¡± Jalad looked mad. ¡°I don¡¯t like this. We need to get her memories back, and then you can try. Right now, it just feels like you''re using her amnesia as a way to get her.¡± ¡°Hey, I didn¡¯t even flirt with her. We only had a meal.¡± ¡°Still, she doesn¡¯t have her memories. She¡¯s likely in a state of confusion. What exactly else did she say to you?¡± ¡°Um... she did say how it was a wonder she didn¡¯t go for me before.¡± ¡°Exactly. That doesn¡¯t sound at all like Rose.¡± ¡°Well, if you remember, she is now fully her. She was only half her before.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°And you think that¡¯s a big enough change. Even when she possessed Sloth at first, she was self-conscious of her modified behavior. The fact that she isn¡¯t now shows that she is in a bad state, so cool it and let off.¡± ¡°Shut up Jalad!¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m concerned about Rose, and you aren¡¯t helping.¡± ¡°You¡¯re jealous, aren¡¯t you.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You are jealous of me because Rose actually came and invited me to eat.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe you right now.¡± ¡°I can-¡± ¡°Shut up, Dallel!!!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe I thought of you as a friend. You always hold me back.¡± I paused; Jalad looked at me in pure pain. He started walking out of my room. ¡°Where are you going?!¡± He didn¡¯t look back. ¡°It seems that Rose isn¡¯t the only one who changed.¡± He slammed the door. I sat in silence. I wasn¡¯t going to apologize; I didn¡¯t need to. I got up and walked out. ¡°Sir, where are you going?¡± ¡°I¡¯m visiting the palace.¡± I walked out across the street. _ ¡°So, you want to reconsider my request.¡± ¡°Yes, if you will have me, I would love to join the Kingsguard. I don¡¯t need to be a captain.¡± King Dalis smiled. ¡°Welcome to the Kingsguard, Captain Dallel.¡± He didn¡¯t ask why, but he didn¡¯t need to. I had my reasons, and he didn¡¯t care about them. I left the hall to find my new squad, Royce¡¯s squad. ¡°Heh, so you finally decided to become captain, huh?¡± It was a wolfkin. Darsen, he was recruited so he could continue his slave breaker work. ¡°Listen, I know I¡¯m not Royce, and I doubt I can live up to his example, but I will try.¡± His old second nodded. ¡°And that¡¯s all we need.¡± _ Dallel joining the Kingsguard caused ripples. The city guard lost a lot of respect for him, and Jalad was forced to find a new second. Mammon was shocked and visibly lost respect for him, but the regular people thought he did the right thing. To bash in the nail, I asked him on a second get together. This was going well... _ ¡°No!!! Don¡¯t trust me!!! Run!!!¡± No matter how much I screamed, only that monster heard me. I knew that there was nothing I could do right now. I was too weak. Celios¡¯s battle weakened me too much, and she wasn¡¯t diverting energy to me anymore, it weakened her, but she was still powerful on her own. ¡°There has to be someone who knows the truth, someone who can stop her.¡± ¡®I¡¯m sorry, but there is none. But you can stop all of this, by merging with me, granting me your power and your mind.¡¯ ¡°NEVER!!! If I do that, then a far worse fate awaits them.¡± ¡®You will give in eventually.¡¯ ¡°No.¡± ¡®Everyone has a breaking point.¡¯ She was right, of course, but I would hold out as long as I could. ¡®You know what would really be fun? If I brought us to the point of proposal before making him breathe in his own blood.¡¯ I didn¡¯t react, she would stop taunting when I ignored her. Please just stop... She knew my mood, so she knew I was trying to ignore her. ¡®Oh, don¡¯t be sad. I know what¡¯ll cheer you up.¡¯ She filled my mind with images of a warped Royce. It was cruel. I started screaming to shut out the voice of Royce calling me a monster. Kala smiled. _ Mammon POV What was happening? In less than a day, the dynamic changed. Dallel and Rose started dating suddenly. Dallel and Jalad had a fight because of that which resulted in Dallel joining the Kingsguard. Dallel was assigned to be Rose¡¯s guard with his squad. Dallel argued with me and left in a storm. Sure, I said some things I shouldn¡¯t have, but Dallel was angering me. But the most terrifying of all. I¡¯m pretty sure I was the only one who noticed... When Dallel left in a storm, causing the guild members to rage at him... For a single moment, I swear on my life that Rose smiled. Chapter 65: The Codephrase I walked in the park with my boyfriend, Dallel. We held hands and wandered. He was assigned to be my guard, so we could spend a lot of time together. We had dinner, where he complained about Jalad. He didn¡¯t realize that people gave him nasty looks. His squad liked him, and they defended him in the public square. Darsen was the biggest supporter of me and him getting together. The city was torn on this issue. Some wanted Dallel to return to the guard, but a guard said, ¡°Until he apologizes to Captain Jalad, we won¡¯t give him any respect.¡± The king and the Kingsguard stood on Dallel¡¯s side, and the city guard on the other side. The citizens didn¡¯t know what to do. Selethon was destabilized, and it was by one man. At least, that¡¯s what everyone thought. To all 3 groups I was a peacemaker. I acted like I was at all interested in helping. It was pitifully easy. To Jalad, I acted as though while he was correct, Dallel was also in a tough situation. To Dallel, I acted as though Jalad was at fault and needed to apologize. It was almost disappointing that it was that easy. ¡°It¡¯s a wonderful day, isn¡¯t it, love.¡± ¡°It is, Rose.¡± I saw Mammon. ¡°¡¯Xcuse me Rose, but could I speak to ya.¡± ¡°Sure, why not?¡± ¡°In private.¡± He looked at Dallel. ¡°Sure, why not?¡± I turned to Dallel. ¡°Go home and wait for me, love.¡± Dallel nodded and walked off. I turned my face business and looked back at Mammon. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I want t¡¯ know what¡¯s goin on with ye.¡± He only spoke in his dwarvish accent anymore when he was either tired or angry. He was both. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°This!¡± He gestured around him to the several posters, some marked with anti Dalis propaganda. ¡°Ye did something, and I want ye t¡¯ stop.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a result of Dallel joining the Kingsguard, people don¡¯t think he can live up to Royce.¡± ¡°Tell me the truth, Kala.¡± That name, I looked at him in annoyance. ¡°I know y¡¯ haven¡¯t regained yer memories, so what¡¯re ye doing, actually?¡± Then he signed his death contract. ¡°And what was that smile when the adventurers were cursing Dallel.¡± I noticed that no one was around. What a coincidence. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s quite simple. Purity hasn¡¯t merged with me yet, so I¡¯m torturing her until she relents.¡± Mammon froze. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to destroy everything the one you called Rose loves until she gives up and lets me absorb her.¡± ¡°W-why are you telling me?¡± He noticed two things, the silence bubble, and the fact that there are no witnesses. ¡°Oh, because it¡¯s so tragic. After his discussion with the peacemaking Rose Hood, the guildmaster drank a beer too many and fell out of the window of his office.¡± ¡°Wait. GET AWAY FROM ME!!!¡± _ Maid POV Wow, the guildmaster is ordering a surprising amount of beer, I wonder what happened. I entered the room, but it was empty, and I noticed the window was open. ¡°Huh, well guess I should close that. Mammon hates having a cold room.¡± I looked through the window and screamed. _ Jalad POV ¡°What happened?!¡± ¡°M-M-Mammon.¡± The maid pointed out the window. I looked, expecting to see him sitting on the opposite side, but he wasn¡¯t there. Then the maid uttered something that made my heart drop. ¡°Look down.¡± I slowly looked down at Mammon, who clearly didn¡¯t have a clear fall. I bolted down the stairs and rushed outside. ¡°MAMMON!!!¡± He was barely breathing. ¡°Mammon what happened?¡± ¡°P-poison that seemed so sweet.¡± ¡°What?¡± Mammon died before he could continue. _ Mammon died. Kala could only laugh as I despaired. But when I heard what Jalad said, I knew that he didn¡¯t die in vain. I grew determined for a moment to keep fighting. But Kala just kept laughing. _ Even if we were angry with each other, I still cared for the old man. Jalad told me he died through a letter, and me and Rose went to the guild to talk to him. ¡°Jalad, is... it true.¡± He only nodded. ¡°What were his last words?¡± ¡°It was odd... his last words were, ¡®poison that seemed so sweet.¡¯¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I don¡¯t think it was an accident.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Adventurers came up after hearing Jalad. ¡°I¡¯m saying, there is no way Mammon would get that drunk, nor, even if he was, would he have died from a fall like that. And his words, they weren¡¯t slurred at all. He was fully conscious up until his death.¡± ¡°Jalad, a tragedy happened, please don¡¯t try to make it worse.¡± Rose¡¯s words shocked me and Jalad. But the guild agreed and started yelling at Jalad, but I knew something was wrong, Jalad was right. It was too fishy. And Silas was twitching ever since Jalad said that line. ¡°Silas...¡± All attention turned to me. ¡°What do you know?¡± People started looking at Silas in suspicion and shouting began until I raised my hand for them to stop. ¡°Dallel?¡± Rose looked confused. Upon seeing the confusion Silas seemed to get twitchier. ¡°Silas.¡± ¡°Dallel, he lost someone close to him, let off.¡± ¡°With all due respect Rose, shut up.¡± Everyone was taken aback. ¡°Silas, you know something.¡± He nodded. Rose looked at him. ¡°What do you know?¡± ¡°That phrase. It was a contingency me, Mammon, and Rose made before she lost her memories.¡± ¡°And what did it mean?¡± He gulped and I noticed his power ready to attack at any moment. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t say.¡± At this point one of the aces grabbed him. ¡°Listen, buddy, Mammon is dead. That phrase meant something so tell us.¡± He gulped again. I spoke calmly to encourage him. ¡°You can tell us, what does it mean?¡± ¡°Kala is not good.¡± Chapter 66: The Fallen Queen ¡°You can tell us, what does it mean?¡± ¡°Kala is not good.¡± What? A contingency like that was made? That means that Purity figured out my goal earlier than my awakening. But I can play it off. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Rose suspected that she wouldn¡¯t be the same after awakening, then she said that in her memories, she found something that she wasn¡¯t sure what it meant, but then she set up the code phrase. We were to tell it if she tried to silence us.¡± Everyone looked at me as they realized. Silas struck, but he was too slow. But Celios wasn¡¯t. _ Rose, no Kala¡¯s head burst as Celios blocked her attack from reaching Silas. She went flying into the wall before falling on the ground limp. ¡°That was a close one.¡± ¡°Celios? I thought you served her.¡± ¡°Nope, I serve Rose, who gave me one command.¡± ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°Protect you all. I already failed once. I¡¯m not failing again.¡± Kala stood up and her head slowly began to reform. ¡°You... insolent... brat... What are you doing?¡± ¡°Defending them.¡± ¡°You are forsaken, I can defeat you easily.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. I am, but I owe Rose my life. I gave her every right to kill me, but she curbed her anger and spared me.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°She never used domination.¡± Kala¡¯s eyes widened. And I couldn¡¯t help but smile. I knew Rose would never take a slave. ¡°So, Kala, right? Let Rose out.¡± ¡°So... Was this your plan? You are smart.¡± She seemed to talk to no one. ¡°Who are you talking to?¡± "I mean, I ripped apart the system, but you still managed to not only reveal me, but unify them too. And when I was so close to getting Dallel where I wanted him.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°WHO-¡± Celios held an arm in front of Jalad. ¡°It¡¯s incredible, even a contingency in place. If only you would actually merge with me. Then I would stop. No matter... it¡¯s too late now. Rose, enjoy watching those you care about die because of you.¡± What she said confirmed what I started thinking. Rose was independent. ¡°How about you die and give Rose back her body.¡± Kala looked at me amused. ¡°If I die, Rose does too. I am her and she is me. She¡¯s just being stubborn right now.¡± ¡°Eh, then let her out so she can forcefully merge you.¡± Everyone looked at me in a measure of shock. I just sassed a literal god. She laughed, and I saw an opening that only me and Celios saw. Her eyes were focused on Celios again, as if daring him to attack. So, I did the natural thing and got an arrow lodged in her throat. She coughed and spat out blood. ¡°Did... you just shoot me? Even though I look like this?¡± The others also looked at me in shock. ¡°When I think of the level of torture you are putting Rose in, I stop worrying about scarring you.¡± ¡°Besides, you¡¯re a god.¡± She turned quickly, realizing Celios was not where he was supposed to be. ¡°You won¡¯t die.¡± She got kicked in the gut, causing her to crash into the bar. She got up, snarled and launched at me and Celios. We fought hard and in perfect synchronization. Almost as though we had done this dance for 50 years. Kala struck at Celios, and I¡¯d jump over and land an arrow, quickly followed by a blade. ¡°How are you that strong?!¡± ¡°When Rose beat me in the tournament, I realized that I was weak. To get stronger, I battled S ranks. They taught me. I specialized my technique to be able to take down one powerful target.¡± Kala slashed, but I cut off her hand, causing her to screech. Jalad, realizing what to do, charged in, cutting her side. Kala was in terrible condition, and she staggered, barely able to stand. Then she looked up and it was as though her face had melted as she smiled. Her eyes were gone, and her mouth was in a massive toothless smile. Then came her aura. It was no longer the rightness. It was fear, pure and unbridled, but I didn¡¯t care. Celios and Jalad both stumbled, but I was merely more infuriated. ¡°You are a liar. What is your true title?¡± ¡°I am the god of lies.¡± She leapt, but I was fast enough. I blocked, and she merely kept mutating as she attacked in order to kill me. All kindness was a falsehood. ¡°You are cruel.¡± Kala stood almost haggard, and her body seemed to be peeling. Inside was another face. It looked like a teenager. ¡°What is that?¡± Even Celios was confused. As her armor broke off with the skin, she was in some kind of uniform. But there was something that stuck out more than her horrific no-eyed smile. ¡°A knife wound?¡± ¡°No... no no no... Not now. Reform.¡± Then the frame of Rose began to cover Kala¡¯s form again. I struck quickly, and this time, it had no effect. My blade fell straight through, and I nearly fell. Then Rose¡¯s body fully reformed, body and all, but the smile was gone, and her face had returned to normal. ¡°You weren¡¯t supposed to see that.¡± She was in a rage, then I realized something. ¡°That was a human.¡± She froze. ¡°Kala... are you... human?¡± She shook and then slapped herself before turning angrily. ¡°No, I¡¯m not a pathetic weakling like that.¡± She struck, but then Celios said something that caused her to freeze again. ¡°You told us to never investigate other worlds. How did you know they were dangerous?¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter.¡± ¡°Reincarnation...¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know anything, so stop trying to!¡± She attacked, but her movements were slightly slower. I couldn¡¯t help but feel sympathetic. We thought of her as a monster, or an unkillable god, but she was just a human child given a lot of power. ¡°I don¡¯t care about your sympathy.¡± She sped up, and then the smile returned. ¡°I was vulnerable for one moment, and you think that will be enough to stop me?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I was merely embarrassed that you saw my former weakness.¡± I realized then that she was a child, but she was also terrifying, but my response was too slow. ¡°Hah.¡± Her arm was in my stomach. ¡°Well... that sucks...¡± I fell back, and I saw Kala flee quickly before Celios could attack again. My mind went dark. ¡°Call Elren!!!¡± That was the last thing I heard. Chapter 67: The Dark Past Crap... That hurt. My true self was there for the world to see. How embarrassing. ¡®Funny, you are worried about embarrassing yourself after getting smoked by those two.¡¯ ¡°Oh, shut it. I¡¯ll admit that you were smart, but I didn¡¯t get smoked. And shouldn¡¯t you be crying about his death?¡± ¡®Oh please, you forgot to use smite. My brother can revive the dead if they aren¡¯t smited, so the only casualty was Mammon, and even then, he caught you, and still administered the phrase. Oh, and they can revive him as you didn¡¯t use smite then, either.¡¯ ¡°You little cheater!¡± ¡®What? All¡¯s fair in love and war.¡¯ ¡°You think you are so funny, don¡¯t you.¡± ¡®I like to think so. I mean, it¡¯s even funnier that if you continued to administer energy to me, you actually would have won that fight, but oh wait! If you do that, I¡¯ll slowly kill you from the inside. What fun, eh?¡¯ ¡°I hate you.¡± ¡®Oh, don¡¯t be like that, self-hate is a bad thing.¡¯ ¡°I liked it better when you were screaming.¡± ¡®Eh, I loved the part when they started to sympathize with you. You were blushing so much! Hahaha!¡¯ ¡°SHUT UP!!!¡± Rose hadn¡¯t stopped harassing me for the entire flight. ¡®Goodness, seeing your true memories, your world is amazing. Why destroy it?¡¯ ¡°Shut it.¡± ¡®Shhh I¡¯m reading T*nsura.¡¯ ¡°What?¡± ¡®If your story were made into a webnovel or a light novel, what would it be called?¡¯ ¡°Shut up.¡± ¡®I reincarnated as a stuck up *****. Nah, ooh, I reincarnated as a ***hole. Nah, not literal enough.¡¯ ¡°Will you shut up?!¡± ¡®Nah... that wouldn¡¯t be a good name. OOH Reincarnated as the weakest god.¡¯ ¡°...¡± ¡®...¡¯ ¡°I would probably actually watch that.¡± ¡®Same.¡¯ ¡­ ¡°Hungry.¡± ¡®Wanna see if there¡¯s a nearby butcher?¡¯ ¡°Yeah, I have money. Wonder if they have a winery?¡± ¡®Should.¡¯ We watched Swo*d art o*line season 1 while eating. ¡°As far as I saw there were only 2 seasons.¡± ¡®Cool.¡¯ ¡°I hope they didn¡¯t continue it; it was fine as is.¡± ¡®Can¡¯t wait to watch season 2.¡¯ ¡°Next meal.¡± Somehow, both of us being weebs allowed us to get along. Our moral compasses were widely different, but eating and anime were where we were good with each other. Whenever she¡¯d get bored of prattling, she¡¯d explore my memories and admire the technology and beauty of Earth. ¡®I still can¡¯t find why you¡¯d want to destroy it.¡¯ ¡°Eh, I don¡¯t need to explain myself.¡± ¡®Alright... touchy.¡¯ Whatever she viewed I could also see, so she made an effort to avoid the dark ones. Despite what I¡¯ve done to her, she still wanted to make sure I was comfortable... Why? ¡®What¡¯s this one?¡¯ ¡°Please don¡¯t touch that.¡± ¡®Okay...¡¯ She moved away, but I could see her looking at that folder. A group of memories that I knew would shatter her view of that world. For some reason, I didn¡¯t want to ruin it. ¡®Is it why you want to destroy that world?¡¯ This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°...¡± ¡®Could I at least see one memory, so I can decide if it¡¯s too negative for me.¡¯ Of course, she could sense my worry. ¡°... fine, but only one.¡± I pulled out a specific memory. _ ¡°Mom, why are we coming here again?¡± ¡°Well, honey, the school is worried about you and wants the doctor to check you.¡± ¡°I like that they are concerned about me.¡± ¡°Yeah...¡± ¡°Mom?¡± ¡®Why is this in the section where it shows what you hate?¡¯ ¡®Keep watching.¡¯ Me and my mother were in a car, heading to the psychologist, but I thought it was a normal doctor visit. I was honest with my therapist, and then the school asked my mom to bring me for a scan. We arrived at the office and I, at 11, was playing with the toys, I could maintain my attention there, but I would notice the odd looks my mom gave me. ¡°Hello, Heather, right?¡± I looked up. ¡°That¡¯s me!¡± I smiled and stood up. He looked odd, not friendly like the other doctors I got checkups at. ¡°Could you please follow me?¡± I looked to my mother, and she nodded. I followed the man to a backroom where he did a basic checkup, and he told me to lay down on the mat. ¡®What¡¯s going on?¡¯ ¡®An MRI scan, it checks your brain for many different conditions.¡¯ ¡®Awesome.¡¯ ¡®Of course, that knowledge can lead to bad things. Keep watching.¡¯ He pushed the mat into the machine, and I giggled at the weird machine. Then after a little he pulled me out and checked the results, he seemed to pale a bit, but he kept a straight face. ¡®What did he see?¡¯ ¡®He¡¯ll say it.¡¯ My mother was called in and she sat down, holding me on her lap. ¡°Alright, so the good news is that she doesn¡¯t have any debilitating diseases.¡± My mother breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. ¡°And the bad news?¡± ¡°She has a high level of psychopathy at a scale I¡¯ve never seen.¡± My mother¡¯s smile faded, and she put me down. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°She can be classified as highly dangerous; I¡¯d suggest either keeping her under supervision at all times or using high level drugs to calm her.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not doing either of that.¡± ¡°Mam, calm down.¡± ¡°Alright, but listen, I don¡¯t care if she¡¯s a psychopath or not, she¡¯s my kid.¡± ¡°Do you not remember why this thing was scheduled? Because she stated that she always checked how easy it would be to hurt someone.¡± ¡°Yeah, check! She¡¯s never hurt someone!¡± ¡°And how do you know she never will?!¡± ¡°Mom? What¡¯s going on? Why is the doctor yelling?¡± ¡°Heather honey, you have a... condition that makes people trust you less. I still trust you fully, but others won¡¯t.¡± The doctor sighed. ¡°I guess that was asking too much, but at least give her a tag so people can be cautious.¡± ¡°I can... accept that.¡± ¡®What¡¯s psychopathy?¡¯ ¡®Increased rationale in exchange for empathy.¡¯ ¡®So, why do they act as though you are some sort of beast?¡¯ ¡®Because this is a warfaring world that fears those who have the backbone to fight.¡¯ ¡®So, they were afraid of you because you had decreased empathy?¡¯ ¡®No, they were scared because they thought I did. At that time, I was a regular kid who simply analyzed people''s fighting potential. They thought that meant I was willing to hurt them and didn¡¯t listen to my justification.¡¯ ¡®What was the justification?¡¯ ¡®If they attack me, I want to at least have a rough idea of how strong they are and potential counter measures.¡¯ ¡®That¡¯s logical though. Why would they call that monstrous?¡¯ ¡®Because they were scared of me.¡¯ ¡®... could I see another?¡¯ ¡®Fine...¡¯ I showed her the day of school after that. ¡°Hey, Heather, what¡¯s with the sticker?¡± ¡°Amy, it¡¯s supposed to be something that tells people I¡¯m psycho or something.¡± ¡°Cool!¡± ¡°Heather¡¯s a psycho?¡± Amanda, my friend, looked at me in shock. ¡°My mom says psychos are scary people.¡± ¡°Am I scary?¡± ¡°Try spooking us.¡± ¡°Boo.¡± We all giggled. ¡®This is adorable.¡¯ ¡®Wait and see.¡¯ We entered our homeroom. Then Mrs. Burns spoke, ¡°Can Heather come to the front of the class please?¡± I came up, confused. ¡°Now, I know some of you may have heard, but Heather was diagnosed with psychopathy.¡± Some kids'' demeanor changed quickly. Mrs. Burns kept talking, ¡°So, if you feel at all uncomfortable near her, please tell me, so I can handle it.¡± ¡®WHAT KIND OF PERSON DOES THAT TO A CHILD?!!¡¯ Rose¡¯s anger touched me. ¡®Unfortunately, those with psychopathy were treated as monsters in training. Even though most lived normal lives, we were still excommunicated.¡¯ ¡®That¡¯s horrible...¡¯ ¡®Yes, it is.¡¯ Rose was thinking about it, so I spoke more. ¡®Many of us become therapists as our logical mind allows us to face emotional moments.¡¯ ¡®Why not fighters? That would be what you would be suited for as well.¡¯ ¡®They¡¯re too afraid that we¡¯d shoot our own allies.¡¯ ¡®That¡¯s ridiculous. With more rational, you¡¯d be master strategists.¡¯ ¡®They are concerned about the decreased empathy part.¡¯ ¡°Mrs. Burns, Heather is making me uncomfortable.¡± ¡°Heather, stop it or I¡¯ll report you to the principal.¡± ¡°But I didn¡¯t do anything!¡± ¡°Heather, I don¡¯t care, you are making him uncomfortable, so stop.¡± What was I doing wrong? I continued talking to Amy and she was getting ticked off. ¡°These people are being jerks for no reason.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know why. They were fine with me until today.¡± I was close to crying. Another kid started complaining. ¡°Mrs. Burns, Heather is bothering me!¡± ¡°HEATHER, I TOLD YOU TO STOP!!!¡± ¡°HEATHER ISN¡¯T DOING ANYTHING!!!¡± Amanda shouted in my defense. I was crying I this point. ¡°Don¡¯t yell at me, missy. Heather and Amanda, both of you go to the principal¡¯s office.¡± Me and Amanda walked down the hall. ¡°Psychos are supposed to be scary, but these meanies are way more scary.¡± I was crying in her arms. Amanda was 12, and she was bigger than the others. She was hugging me when we entered the office. ¡°The principal will see you now.¡± We entered the office, and the principal had a sour face. ¡°Mr. Davis, people were bullying Heather.¡± ¡°Mrs. Burns told me she was harassing them.¡± ¡°Because she wasn¡¯t even looking. She was talking to me and Amy, and the others just started whining saying that she was bothering them.¡± The principal sighed then he looked at me and his gaze softened. ¡°I can pardon you and tell Mrs. Burns to learn what happened instead of assuming, but I should tell you that this will happen a lot more. People don¡¯t like those who are different from them.¡± ¡°You¡¯re fine with it though.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because one of my best friends is a psychopath, he¡¯s a wonderful person that cares immensely, but because of his condition, people type him as a bad guy.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because one of the main conditions of psychopathy requires the person to remain interested in things, if they get too bored, they¡¯ll move onto the next thing.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°And sometimes, psychopaths decide to be mean to prevent being bored.¡± ¡°But I won¡¯t, I promise.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know, but others don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡®At least some people were nice.¡¯ ¡®Yes, but the worst of it is yet to come.¡¯ ¡®Could you summarize it?'' ¡®I tried to become a doctor, but, apparently, they were worried about me deciding to mistreat or stab someone for the heck of it, so they denied me.¡¯ ¡®That¡¯s stupid. What became of Amy and Amanda?¡¯ ¡®Despite their parents being wary of me, they remained my friends.¡¯ ¡®So, why do you want to destroy this world?¡¯ ¡®Let me show you.¡¯ I showed her the memory that I didn¡¯t want anyone to know, but she was me... She could handle it. ¡®This is how I died.¡¯ Chapter 68: Earth ¡°I can¡¯t wait to get home!¡± It was my last day as a junior in high school, and I was ready to start my summer reading list. Despite being a psychopath, the only people who really disliked me were the colleges who thought I¡¯d kill someone or something stupid like that. I was walking home when I saw a suspicious person following a woman. Not sure if he was a threat, I kept them in eyesight, and he got closer. I saw him draw a knife. ¡°LOOK OUT!!!¡± She looked back and screamed. I tackled the man and fought with him. The woman was in shock. ¡°Get help!¡± She nodded before running off, dialing 911. I fought with the man before getting control of the knife, realizing I had control, he pulled out a gun, and I stabbed him, but he shot at me. The bullet hit the blade and it launched into me. Because I stabbed his carotid artery, he started choking on his own blood and bystanders rushed to see if I was okay. Then one noticed my wristband. He had a look of disgust, and then seemed to get an idea. ¡°Let¡¯s pull out the knife and put pressure to staunch the bleeding.¡± ¡®That would kill you!!!¡¯ ¡®That was the point. This guy was aware of that, but the others weren¡¯t.¡¯ I was coughing out blood, so I couldn¡¯t stop them, but they took out the knife and tried to stop the bleeding, but without the knife sealing the wound, they couldn¡¯t stop it, and I heard the ambulance as I breathed my last... ¡®So now you see why I want to destroy it?¡¯ ¡®I do, but could you at least save the good ones?¡¯ ¡®... I could try.¡¯ ¡®How long has passed in that world.¡¯ ¡®I don¡¯t know, here it was a million years. There, it could have been 1 or 1 billion.¡¯ ¡®I see, where is it? I¡¯ll let you draw on my power.¡¯ ¡®Alright, let¡¯s see.¡¯ ¡®Can we even get there?¡¯ ¡®We can.¡¯ She let me draw on her power and I warped us to the location I knew the world was. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡®Let¡¯s go in.¡¯ ¡®Not so fast, we need a disguise.¡¯ ¡®Use draconic shift. We should be able to disguise ourselves that way.¡¯ ¡®Good idea.¡¯ I disguised myself as a regular human that would easily get lost in a crowd, then we entered. _ It was just like I remembered it. I walked up to someone. ¡°Pardon me, but could you please tell me the date?¡± ¡°Oh, no problem, it¡¯s 12/22/23.¡± ¡°Wow, Christmas is so close.¡± ¡°Yep, better get to gift shopping.¡± ¡®Christmas?¡¯ ¡®A holiday celebrating the birth of the human manifestation of this world¡¯s God.¡¯ ¡®This world¡¯s?¡¯ ¡®Well, I don¡¯t know if He only controls here, but past my judgement, I¡¯ve had no interaction with Him.¡¯ ¡®Interesting.¡¯ ¡®Yeah, but I can barely believe it.¡¯ ¡®What?¡¯ ¡®It¡¯s only been a month since my death.¡¯ ¡®Will staying here make us come back in like a thousand years?¡¯ ¡®No, don¡¯t worry, me being here puts our time at the same scale.¡¯ ¡®Thank goodness.¡¯ I saw a poster that shocked me. The Truth of Psychopathy, the Story of Heather Orwitz. ¡®Author Amanda Connington.¡¯ ¡®Yeah.¡¯ ¡®She told me that she¡¯d be an author, but I never expected this,¡¯ I was tearing up; Amanda wrote a book telling my story. It even had a photo of me smiling. I entered a bookstore and created some dollars before buying the book. I sat on a bench and read it. I teared up. She told everything, from when I was diagnosed, to when I was killed. I read an interview with my mom. ¡°You know, it was tragic. People suddenly just started hating her. They say that monsters are born, not made. I saw what they did, and I think that she had every right to become a monster, but she didn¡¯t. My baby cared for everyone, and I don¡¯t care what they said, when one of the people who removed the knife to ¡®save¡¯ her is a doctor, I think we can classify that as murder, but they won¡¯t talk about it. Why would they? She¡¯s just another number in their book, but not to me... to me, she is my daughter, and... even if she was a psychopath, she was still the most loving person I ever knew.¡± I was crying now, then a person walked by. ¡°Ah, reading that book, huh? Came out this week and already a bestseller.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s sad.¡± ¡°It is, people really treated her so horribly.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°I actually knew her... and I hate to admit, but when I did, I wasn¡¯t nice. I wish I could have just apologized before her death, but I guess it¡¯ll have to wait for me to go to the afterlife.¡± ¡°I suppose.¡± The guy walked off and I moved on. ¡®See? People can change.¡¯ ¡®I... guess...¡¯ ¡®Let¡¯s go home.¡¯ ¡®Ye-¡¯ I froze. Amanda was walking down the street. ¡®Is that?¡¯ ¡®Yes.¡¯ ¡®Who¡¯s that?¡¯ ¡®I... don¡¯t know.¡¯ I followed quietly. Keeping quiet as the man got closer. He pulled a gun. ¡°Look out!!!¡± Amanda turned as the man shot, but I was faster than a bullet. I caught it. ¡°What? Who?¡± ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°Yeah, who are you?¡± ¡°A fan of your book.¡± The man was in fact a woman. ¡°Hey, *****, I don¡¯t know what kind of magic trick that was, but unless you want to get shot, move.¡± ¡°You really think you can hurt me?¡± The woman shot, and the bullet bounced off of me. ¡°WHAT THE ****?!¡± ¡°Ms. Amanda, get the authorities.¡± ¡°G-got it.¡± She was terrified, after all, she saw me take a bullet to the head with no damage. ¡°Now for you. Don¡¯t try anything.¡± ¡°U-understood.¡± She put her hands behind her, and the cops arrived to arrest her. ¡°We received notice that someone was also shot.¡± ¡°Yeah, that was me.¡± ¡°Mam, you aren¡¯t hurt.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°So, who actually- HOLY ****¡± I took the ladies gun and shot myself in the face. The bullet bounced off. ¡°What... just happened?¡± ¡°She¡¯s a monster!!!¡± ¡°Yes, I am, so what? I just saved Mrs. Amanda¡¯s life, thank you very much.¡± Amanda looked at me in confusion. ¡°You... seem familiar somehow.¡± ¡°I get that.¡± I started walking quickly. ¡®Why don¡¯t you tell her...¡¯ ¡®Because, if she knew what I became. The monster I am... she would hate me.¡¯ ¡®...¡¯ ¡®Let¡¯s just go home.¡¯ We returned to the world I made, and I sat in Understanding¡¯s castle. I cried. Rose didn¡¯t jeer. Chapter 69: To Form a Legion ¡±Is he awake?¡± A voice I thought was gone awoke me. ¡°Mammon?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me. Elren came and revived both me and you. Are you okay?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t move.¡± Elren spoke up. ¡°Yeah, I could revive you, but your body sustained injuries to the point that I couldn¡¯t heal you fully.¡± ¡°Understandable, I fought a god.¡± ¡°Yeah, though the real damage actually came from the way you fought.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You seemed to... level up in strength and fight on par with Kala. Your body couldn¡¯t handle the stress and started breaking down.¡± ¡°Huh, I seem to remember Rose going through the same thing.¡± ¡°Yeah, but Rose had the solution to evolve, as you are an elf, you can¡¯t.¡± Celios spoke up from the side of the room I couldn¡¯t see. ¡°Actually, that¡¯s not entirely true.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°If a god regards one of their own in high regard, then they can elevate them to a new level.¡± ¡°So, we can evolve Dallel if we get the nature god to bless him?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I then heard Jalad¡¯s voice. ¡°Hey, is he awake? Oh, hey, happy to see you awake.¡± ¡°Jalad.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I¡¯m... sorry... I said horrible things to you.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but start crying. ¡°Nah, I also messed up. I put too much pressure on you and started yelling.¡± ¡°Nowhere near as bad as I did, then I abandoned you because I was angry.¡± Mammon sighed. ¡°Ya did some stupid things, but keep in mind that Kala amplified your emotions.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Yeah, I did a bit of reading and found a book written by an unknown author called the Magic of Lies. Apparently, it gives power over others¡¯ perceptions.¡± ¡°Is that why she was able to scare me and Jalad?¡± Mammon nodded at Celios¡¯s question. ¡°But why was I unaffected?¡± ¡°Because your will was at the same level as hers. Your will to save Rose was bigger than her will to make you afraid.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± ¡°Yeah, that was the start of your ascension.¡± ¡°How long was I out?¡± ¡°Two weeks.¡± ¡°Any sign of Kala?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s like she entirely disappeared.¡± ¡°Crap.¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t move too much.¡± ¡°If I¡¯m going to get the blessing of the nature god, I can¡¯t stay here.¡± ¡°Where are you going then?¡± ¡°Haven.¡± Celios nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll come with you. Both Silith and Ausar are in that direction, I need to tell them of Kala¡¯s true nature.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± ¡°We¡¯re coming too.¡± It was the squad. ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°Even if it was a rage induced decision, you are still our captain until you die or resign, so we got to make sure you live to retirement.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll stay here and keep the city organized. People still don¡¯t know what to do.¡± ¡°How is the king?¡± ¡°He¡¯s panicking and trying to track Kala.¡± ¡°Understandable.¡± I got up, wincing at the pain, and Darsen caught me. ¡°First we need to get proper transportation, with you as you are, you can¡¯t move.¡± Then Thalia entered. ¡°I could carry you.¡± I nodded. ¡°Thank you.¡± She gave me a piggyback as we got closer to the gate. People still looked at me angered and I hid my face. ¡°Goodness, it¡¯s Calesen all over again.¡± ¡°Except this time there¡¯s no excuse.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Sure, Kala amplified my emotions, but they were still my emotions, my thoughts. She just gave a push.¡± Jalad sighed. ¡°Yeah, you are right, but I let my concern get the better of me and snapped at you.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t justify what I said.¡± When we got to the gate, we noticed King Dalis. ¡°Well, Cousin, I wish you luck.¡± Thalia was confused. ¡°Cousin?¡± Dalis nodded, ¡°Yes, I am a quarter elf after all.¡± ¡°Ah, that makes sense.¡± ¡°I hope¡­ that we can save Rose.¡± ¡°I do too.¡± We left and Thalia transformed into a dragon and carried us. Then we heard a shout and someone running. ¡°Is that?¡± ¡°No way!¡± Asura was running a long at the same speed as Thalia was flying. ¡°HEY!!! MIND IF I JOIN THIS EXPEDITION?¡± Thalia seemed to shake for a moment. ¡°S-sure¡­¡± ¡°WONDERFUL!!! CAN I MOUNT?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± ¡®THANK YOU, RUNNING THIS FAST IS HARD.¡± He leapt up to Thalia¡¯s height and landed next to me. ¡°How are you all doing today?¡± I smiled. ¡°Tired but good.¡± I noticed that Thalia was a slightly brighter shade of red. ¡°Heh.¡± ¡°What are you laughing about?" ¡°Fine weather isn¡¯t it, Thalia.¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°???¡± Everyone else was oblivious. _ We flew over a city where there was a massive temple. ¡°Hey, Thalia, land here, it¡¯s Silith¡¯s city, we should speak to him¡­ Darsen may want to wait outside though.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Silith is Ausar¡¯s enemy, so he isn¡¯t fond of Beastkin either.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not scared.¡± Celios looked at him with annoyance. ¡°Fine.¡± Thalia landed at the gate causing people to freak out, but then she shifted back into an elven figure, still holding me. ¡°Um¡­ name and business?¡± ¡°Celios, me and my party want to speak to Silith if he is here.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to need proof you are Celios, and besides, you¡¯re forsaken, Lord Silith wouldn¡¯t want anything to do with you.¡± Celios sighed and released his aura. People quivered in fear, but the guard merely nodded. ¡°Godly aura, check. Wings, check. Okay, you can enter, but I doubt Lord Silith will speak to you.¡± We entered, then Celios said something odd. ¡°That guard was fun to talk too.¡± ¡°He¡¯s probably used to Silith¡¯s aura.¡± ¡°Probably, speak of the devil.¡± ¡°Hello brother.¡± Silith was behind us. ¡°Hello, I need to ta-¡° He blocked Silith¡¯s blade, they fought with no power but pure technique. Then they stopped and Silith laughed. ¡°I see you haven¡¯t lost your touch.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve continued to train.¡± ¡°Good, anyways what do you want to talk about?¡± Celios¡¯s look immediately darkened. ¡°Could we talk in your office, where less will hear?¡± ¡°Fine, but can we leave the pet outside?¡± He looked at Darsen with disdain. Celios sighed. ¡°Now you see why I said it¡¯d be better for you to wait with Thalia?¡± ¡°Nah, I wanna explore the city. Come on guys.¡± He and most of the squad left to explore. Silith looked confused. ¡°That¡¯s an odd wolf.¡± ¡°Indeed, he is.¡± Me, Thalia, and Celios followed Silith into his temple where we entered his office. ¡°So, mind telling me why you are here?¡± ¡°Kala is not the god of goodness.¡± Silith sighed. ¡°I thought she dominated you, doesn¡¯t that show that she retur-¡° ¡°No, she never was.¡± That caught Silith¡¯s attention, he released a bit of his aura. ¡°And what does that mean.¡± Despite the presence that made both me and Thalia shiver, Celios showed no fear of his brother. ¡°She is the god of lies, the ¡®rightness¡¯ her aura creates is what she made it feel like. I was forced to fight her again with the help of the crippled elf, and her aura became fear.¡± Silith looked deep in thought. ¡°I don¡¯t want to believe you, but that would explain that strange aura I felt from the direction of Selethon. And that sense of fear I would feel whenever she was mad despite me being stronger.¡± ¡°Indeed, I didn¡¯t want to believe it either, but she tried to kill an archangel.¡± ¡°I see, but aren¡¯t you dominated? I can see the brand still.¡± ¡°A trick that Purity made. She used the incantation without the power and used fire magic to scar me with a brand.¡± ¡°So, Purity managed to fool even herself.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°She was the core; therefore, I could definitely see her outsmarting, but why would she?¡± ¡°She was named.¡± ¡°That means.¡± ¡°She¡¯s still independent.¡± That surprised me. ¡°Wait, so Royce naming her allowed her to stay alive despite Kala¡¯s awakening?¡± Silith nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll tell my faction. I assume your next visit is to the weakling kingdom?¡± ¡°Yes, our next visit is to the beast kingdom as Ausar also needs to be aware of this.¡± Silith sighed. ¡°I agree, and if there is an actual threat, the being they summoned from another world could help.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± We left and gathered the squad. ¡°Did you know that someone tried to sell me ice cream for 1000 gold? What a scam!!!¡± Darsen was ticked off. ¡°Oh, I got it for 10 silver.¡± ¡°GRAH!!!¡± Chapter 70: Somebody that you used to know The beast kingdom wasn¡¯t too far, so we were able to make it there quickly. ¡°Ah brother in Ausar, what are you doing with these repulsive beasts.¡± Darsen was confused. ¡°I don¡¯t see any repulsive beasts, unless you mean Jacob.¡± ¡°HEY!!!¡± ¡°The Humans. They are servants of Silith.¡± ¡­ ¡°We don¡¯t serve Silith.¡± ¡°LORD AUSAR WILL JUDGE YOU!!!¡± A birdkin sleeping on a bench snapped awake. ¡°HUH what where am I? Oh, hi Celios.¡± He went back to sleep. Then his eyes snapped open. ¡°WAIT CELIOS?!¡± Celios snickered. ¡°I don¡¯t really think he¡¯s fit to judge. Useless hobo.¡± Ausar blushed. ¡°Shut it!!!¡± ¡°That¡¯s definitely the less impressive of the two.¡± Ausar gaped at Darsen, who just said that his eternal rival was more impressive. Then Ausar started crying. ¡°Even my own people are against me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not true!¡± ¡°We love you Lord Ausar.¡± Ausar stood up and basked in the worship. Thalia looked irritated. ¡°Can I punch him?¡± Celios nodded. ¡°Go right ahead.¡± Thalia punched him in the gut, causing him to keel over. All while carrying me. The people gasped, and Ausar complained. ¡°No fair.¡± Celios sighed. ¡°How are you even a candidate for the throne? You¡¯re too immature.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear that from you.¡± He stuck out his tongue and Celios ignored him. ¡°Excuse me citizen, which way is the Palace?¡± The wolfkin pointed. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Thank you.¡± Celios grabbed ahold of Ausar¡¯s collar and started dragging him to the Palace. Then a catkin spoke. ¡°If I had a copper for every time Lord Ausar got folded by a dragon, I¡¯d have two coppers, which isn¡¯t much, but it¡¯s odd that it happened twice.¡± We followed Celios. _ ¡°So, Kala isn¡¯t a good person?¡± ¡°Nope, she even lied about her aspect. She¡¯s the god of lies, not good.¡± ¡°Hmm. I knew it.¡± ¡°No, you didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°No, I didn¡¯t.¡± It was very disappointing. I kind of assumed that the being that could give someone like Silith that much trouble would be more impressive, unfortunately, we had this guy. ¡°How does he even give Silith trouble?¡± Celios answered. ¡°Because in terms of raw power, he is the strongest, he¡¯s just vain to a fault.¡± That made sense. ¡°So, I assume you talked to Silith?¡± ¡°Yes, he also mentioned that the being you summoned from another world could help.¡± ¡°I doubt it, it¡¯s just a human, she can¡¯t even cast magic.¡± ¡°Could I meet her?¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°So, where is she?¡± ¡°AMY!!!¡± A human stepped out, and she looked nervous. ¡°Hi, my name is Amy Faust, how are you?¡± Thalia stared. ¡°YOUR SO PRETTY!!!¡± She gave a tackle hug, dropping me, but Darsen caught me. Amy was freaking out. ¡°Oh sorry, I get overexcited.¡± ¡°You¡¯re telling me.¡± She realized, she looked at me with a sheepish smile. ¡°Sorry¡­¡± ¡°Uh huh.¡± _ ¡°So, you came from a world called earth?¡± ¡°Yeah, I was walking with a friend of mine when I woke up here.¡± ¡°Unfortunate.¡± Ausar spoke. ¡°You can take her if you want.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I was trying to get someone to take her, but no one wanted her as a slave.¡± We glared at him. ¡°Are you okay with joining our group?¡± Thalia smiled motherly to the girl. I saw Asura looking at her in an¡­ interesting way. It seemed Thalia¡¯s feelings were reciprocated. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine with joining you guys, until I can find a way back to my world.¡± ¡°Wonderful, let¡¯s go!!!¡± Thalia maintained her hyperactivity all the way to the gate. She was carrying me again. Despite this, she skipped. We exited the gate and Thalia transformed. ¡°HOLY ****!!!¡± As we expected, she was sc- ¡°IS SHE A MOTHER****ING DRAGON?! WOAH!!!¡± Okay? She was excited. She got on Thalia¡¯s back, and we began to fly. Then she began screaming in fear. ¡°Look over, you¡¯ll see from a dragon¡¯s view.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to fall and die.¡± ¡°You¡¯re scared of heights?¡± ¡°No, of course not. I¡¯m scared of falling from said heights.¡± ¡°AH I KNOW HOW TO MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER!!! DO JUMPING JACKS!!!¡± Asura started doing jumping jacks on Thalia¡¯s back. Amy looked at him as though he was going to die. ¡°I¡¯m going to vomit.¡± ¡°Do it off of my back please. Scales are hard to clean.¡± ¡°If I look down, I will vomit.¡± Amy looked around with terror. ¡°Lord Almighty protect me.¡± ¡°Who are you praying to?¡± ¡°The main God in my world. He will protect me.¡± Celios smirked. ¡°If He¡¯s anything like the gods here, I¡¯d rather not meet Him.¡± I spoke. ¡°Celios, you are a god.¡± ¡°Yeah, and I¡¯m a jack*** what¡¯s your point?¡± ¡°Fair.¡± She laughed, ¡°No, if He was part of this pantheon, I suppose He¡¯d be called the God of Love.¡± ¡°So, He was the romantic type.¡± ¡°Nope, hm¡­ see it more like how a father loves his children. God is like that.¡± ¡°What¡¯s his name?¡± ¡°He has a lot.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± I looked down and saw a forest that I¡¯d only seen before as a child. ¡°Haven.¡± _ Amy POV I still was having trouble comprehending this. It was a week since I was summoned here. From what I understood, there was a pantheon of gods that interacted with the people here. The one who summoned me was a god named Ausar. He was a bit of a jerk, and upon realizing I had no magic potential, he cast me down and tried to sell me to the highest bidder. Everyone in the kingdom admired him, but he was an immature idiot. He acted like a spoiled brat who thought everything, and everyone, should go his way. When Thalia, the dragon, tackled me, I felt safe. She seemed to emit safety in her looks. Besides, she was so cool. Dallel, the disabled elf, seemed to be the leader, he had been crippled in a recent battle with a god. Celios, another god, made me feel uncomfortable, but at least he realized he was bad. The only other one I learned the name of was Asura, he was terrifying, a human like me, but he was as strong as Thalia if not stronger. I learned that the mission was to meet with the Nature god and get her to bless Dallel so he could evolve and properly fight against the mother of gods named Kala. I was still worried about Amanda, and I hoped she was fine. Her book made her receive so much hate that I was terrified that she would get hurt while I was away. What happened to Heather was bad enough; I couldn¡¯t stand it if it happened to Amanda too. Chapter 71: The Bathhouse We went to several villages and looked around. Kala and I made a contract. She would let me run the body, but she¡¯d take control of it in moments of emergency. The bloodlust that seemed so infinite was dimmed when she saw what Amanda wrote, and the guy who she knew in middle school, who felt guilty that he never was able to apologize. ¡®I still don¡¯t know how to take it.¡¯ I remained silent; it wasn¡¯t my place to tell her what to feel. Despite being a part of her, my memories were only of this world. I didn¡¯t know all of what she went through, and I may never know. One village we were at was talking about a recent development. ¡°Did you hear that this Kala person turned out to be someone dangerous?¡± ¡°No, what¡¯s being said?¡± ¡°Well, she apparently possessed Rose, and used her influence to cause chaos in Selethon. They are calling her the god of lies now.¡± ¡°Any news about Rose?¡± ¡°Apparently, she is fighting from the inside. Hey, you don¡¯t look too well.¡± ¡°I have been sick recently.¡± It was true, Kala hid, and I took control, so I had full access to her power, this was good for me, but it also had a side effect in illness, as neither my power nor will were enough for her strength. In addition, I decided to hide my presence to the point it would be in the device that caught evil. Even another god wouldn¡¯t recognize me, using draconic shift, I also made myself look like an elf. I also hid my draconic nature and made a fake stat tree, using god¡¯s judgment, I changed both the name and removed the shy one title. ¡°Well, you should visit the lake of life, it clears any ailment.¡± ¡°How does it?¡± ¡°You bathe in the water, and it cleanses you. The nature god runs it.¡± I thanked the man and went towards the baths. I saw the lake and the bathhouse. ¡°Hello, new resident, would you like a bath in the lake?¡± ¡°Um yes, I was told a bath would cure any ailment.¡± There was no mistake, the woman in front of me was the nature god. ¡®She¡¯s as skimpy as Piety was when she was Lust.¡¯ ¡®Wait, one of my aspects was that skimpy?¡¯ ¡®Yep.¡¯ ¡°Yep, follow me.¡± The nature god wore a bikini. Any man would be terrified. She led me to a bath and gave me a drink. I thanked her and bathed. My sickness was fading, then I heard something. ¡°Ah, more customers. Need a bath. Oh, hello brother.¡± ¡°Nala, it¡¯s been quite a while.¡± ¡°It should have been longer, who are your friends.¡± ¡°This is Thalia, the man she is carrying is named Dallel.¡± ¡°Hm, the prince of Calesen? What¡¯s he doing in your horrid company.¡± ¡°Ah, he¡­ how do I say this, he developed divine potential.¡± I could almost hear Nala¡¯s eyes widen. ¡°I¡¯m not going to ask, but why have you come here?¡± ¡°He got injured from using his power to battle dear old mom. So, we were hoping¡­¡± ¡°You want me to give him my blessing?¡± ¡°Yes. If he is to get strong enough to fight Kala, then he needs to be able to actually use said power.¡± ¡°If you can do something for me.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Take a bath in the lake and get your stress off.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It¡¯s messing with the vibe. On the house, come on. It¡¯ll also cure the prince¡¯s injuries.¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Her steps got closer. ¡°Mrs. Thalia, you can bathe in here with this lady. You two follow me.¡± Thalia entered the bath and sat on the opposite side of it. ¡°I¡¯m tired¡­ I had to fly all that way.¡± ¡°Fly?¡± ¡°Oh, right, don¡¯t get scared, but I¡¯m a dragon.¡± ¡°I knew a dragon once. It¡¯s been a long time since then.¡± ¡°Huh, how old are you, if you don¡¯t mind me asking.¡± Kala spoke. ¡°Despite no one knowing me, I am over 100000 years old.¡± ¡°Incredible, so you are older than any other elf still alive?¡± ¡°Yes, is it true what they say about the goddess Kala?¡± ¡°Yes, sadly it is. You know, she actually used my sister¡¯s body.¡± ¡°That¡¯s horrible.¡± ¡°Not really, my sister was one of her aspects, but somehow¡­¡± She smiled. ¡°She remained individual and fought against her. My sister is fighting on her own.¡± ¡°She is? Are you here to help her?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the end goal, but as it sits, we need to help our friend, Dallel, regain his strength and get the blessing of the nature god.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because somehow, he managed to resist her power.¡± We sat in silence. ¡°How is your relationship with your sister?¡± ¡°¡­ odd question, but good. Frankly I used to be scared of her, but¡­ I realized I was a fool. I hated her, thought her a monster, but now¡­ I can only think of what a fool I was.¡± ¡°What of Kala?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know actually. With all she did, I¡¯d expect to hate her, but I just can¡¯t bring myself too.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because¡­ at one point, during the battle, we saw something, her core, I think. I won¡¯t describe it, because that is her business, but¡­ I don¡¯t know. I felt odd, like I couldn¡¯t hate her.¡± ¡°Could it have been part of her magic?¡± ¡°Maybe, but¡­ I don¡¯t think it is.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know.¡± Then I heard Nala¡¯s voice ¡°Sorry, mam, but this is the last bath with an extra slot.¡± Then a familiar voice. ¡°That¡¯s alright mam.¡± Nala opened the door. And Thalia greeted the person who came in. ¡°Amy, it seems you came here too.¡± ¡°Yeah, I thought I¡¯d check it out.¡± ¡°Darsen and the others scare you off?¡± ¡°No, in fact they were also interested. Who¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s an elf, apparently she¡¯s pretty old.¡± She and Thalia sat next to each other. ¡°Fwah, this is so nice.¡± ¡°It is¡­¡± It was Amy, Kala was freaking out and let me in my mouth again. ¡®Why is Amy here?!¡¯ ¡®She must be the one that Ausar summoned.¡¯ ¡®We never asked what he said to summon her.¡¯ ¡®What do you mean?¡¯ ¡®He probably said something like, ¡°someone to defeat Kala.¡±¡¯ ¡®That would make sense.¡¯ ¡°Excuse me, young one.¡± ¡®WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO HER!!!¡¯ ¡®SHHH!!!¡¯ ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Why are you stressed?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡± ¡°Is it related to you being from another world?¡± Thalia and Amy both snapped to look at me. ¡°How did you?¡± I smiled. ¡°Your scent, it¡¯s nothing like anything in this world. You don¡¯t get to my age without being able to pick up on things like that.¡± They relaxed a bit. Then Amy spoke. ¡°I guess¡­ I¡¯m just worried. One of my friends died a little over a month ago, and now I¡¯m here, I can only wonder how the last member of our group is faring.¡± ¡°I see, well, while they may be worried, they may also be strong enough to hold on. You seem strong, and I¡¯d assume your friend is the same, right?¡± ¡°Stronger.¡± ¡°Then she should be fine, you adjusted to this world to the point you aren¡¯t surprised to find yourself in the bath with a dragon and an elf, she should be able to adjust as well.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± I stood up, the illness was gone. I dressed and walked to the door. ¡°I should go, have a wonderf-¡° As I walked through the door, I was so relaxed I didn¡¯t notice Celios ready to strike. I got decapitated which caused Amy to scream. ¡°WHAT¡¯S GOING ON?! CELIOS WHA-¡° ¡°Nala, I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t recognize her yourself.¡± ¡°What do you- no¡­¡± Thalia and Amy rushed out and saw me standing up, regenerating my head, but this time with cat ears. Thalia blanched. ¡°It can¡¯t be.¡± ¡°Hello, Thalia.¡± I smiled, Kala was trying to take control of me so she could fight, but she would die if I let her fight. ¡®You are too emotional. You¡¯d either kill everyone including Amy or pull one of my specials and allow them to kill you.¡¯ ¡®Fine.¡¯ Thalia and Celios immediately got in a combative stance. Then Celios noticed the problem. ¡°Ah, Thalia, you may want to get dressed first.¡± She looked down and blushed before dragging in Amy so they could get dressed. Me, Nala, and Celios just looked at each other while waiting. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Well, this is awkward, and why did you attack me? I was just trying to take a peaceful bath.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not letting you escape again.¡± Thalia and Amy walked out again with a light blush. Then Thalia snapped serious. ¡°You¡¯re not escaping.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not?¡± ¡°No, you have nowhere to run.¡± Then Nala¡¯s voice rang out. ¡°People, I¡¯m sorry for the interruption, but there is about to be a battle in the bathhouse, unless you are fine with death I would suggest leaving.¡± There was bustling as a lot of people got out and started running, still putting on their clothes. ¡°And it¡¯s clear¡­ except for the people in Celios¡¯s party, they¡¯re coming this way.¡± Dallel and the Kingsguard ran up. I also saw Asura. ¡°Wait, there¡¯s one other coming over.¡± ¡°HAHAHA!!!¡± Dallel looked back. ¡°No way.¡± ¡°My Rival, I shall finally defe-¡° ¡°DIVINE OBLIVION!!!¡± I focused it on Callel and slammed him with the full force of my power, causing him to be reduced to dust. They were all pale and slowly turned back to look at my fuming face. Then Dallel realized something. ¡°Wait, Kala has Rose¡¯s memories now?¡± Celios nodded. ¡°It seems so.¡± ¡°Why do you assume that?¡± ¡°Because only Rose hates Callel that much.¡± ¡°How¡¯d he even come back this time?¡± ¡°THAT¡¯S WHAT I WANT TO KNOW!!!¡± ¡°Anyways, we will beat you here and now.¡± Thalia looked sad. ¡°But if she has the memories, that means Rose was merged.¡± Celios nodded sadly, ¡°Yes, but then we just need to defeat her. We can stop holding back.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll never be able to beat me.¡± ¡°Nala, could you please bless Dallel, so he can actually fight here?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± She spoke in the ancient language. ¡°Oh, child of mine, hear my words and strengthen. I call you now, Altmer.¡± A light shone around Dallel, and he stood up again. His ears lengthened and his hair was a shade brighter. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m ready.¡± My clothes were loose as I made them for my elven form. My armor was in the castle, so I knew that I would need to fight them without mercy in order to get out. ¡°Get her.¡± The group converged, but I used fear. Everyone took a step back, and I took advantage to kick down both Nala and Celios. They fell and I started running. Celios portalled in front of me, and I kicked his top half off, then Nala tried the same thing, but I ripped her in half. Then Dallel was next to me. ¡°Hello.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± He cut my leg off, causing me to fall, I rolled and crashed through the entrance, to a bunch of elves with their bows pointed at me. ¡°No more games, nowhere left to run.¡± Celios smiled. ¡°You¡¯re caught.¡± Chapter 72: The Clash of gods We had surrounded Kala and she seemed lost on what to do, though she seemed to stand with more confidence, perhaps because of having Rose¡¯s memories. ¡°FIRE!!!¡± The elves all shot, but their arrows merely bounced off. Without curse arrows, there was nothing they could do. ¡°Hey, Kala, take this.¡± Asura slashed, but Kala was faster and caught his blade. Celios took advantage of the moment and also struck at her. She also caught it. ¡°I can¡¯t let you kill me.¡± ¡°Well, we can¡¯t let you leave.¡± ¡°You can and will.¡± Amy picked up a bow, but it didn¡¯t seem like Kala saw that. ¡°Why, why would you attack? For power?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to know.¡± Her attention was on me, and Amy took aim. We had one shot, that would stun her and allow us to win. _ (2 hours ago) ¡°So, why would you want me to fight?¡± ¡°Because Kala will be wary of all of us, but you, even if she realizes you¡¯re from another world, she¡¯d likely make the same assumption that Ausar made.¡± ¡°Amy, how good is your archery?¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because dragons have one weakness on our bodies.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯m pretty good, what would I have to aim for?¡± ¡°Square in the middle of her eyeball.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Can you do it?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± _ Amy aimed as Kala was focused on me. Then she shot. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. It was straighter than I expected. She was a perfect shot. It landed directly in Kala¡¯s eye. She screeched, and we attacked. There wasn¡¯t a curse on it, so we had to fight full power, but we were able to. Celios and Asura both pushed in their blades and cut her hands in half, as me and Nala charged forward and lopped off her legs. She fell down and we all converged our magic for one attack. ¡°Divine Destruction!!!¡± ¡°LIFE FOUNDATION!!!¡± My eyes widened as she broke into a smile. We lost. _ Their blast worked. It obliterated me, until a single cell remained. ¡°Did we do it?¡± ¡°No¡­¡± Only Dallel knew I survived. My regeneration already was working. My skeleton reformed as I stood up. ¡°Impossible, that would have killed anyone.¡± ¡°Oh, you fools. I am way stronger than you.¡± Asura struck my skeleton, but his blade broke. ¡°Life Eruption.¡± My magic erupted, speeding my regeneration to an unparalled level. My clothes were in tatters, but my body was in full stature. I smiled as Celios and Nala both thought they lost, but Dallel wasn¡¯t done. ¡°Life Eclipse.¡± He cut off my head. Then he caught it. In his hand, I turned to face him. My face turned into the horror game smile. Magic shot from my body and grappled my head, returning it to its proper condition. ¡°Haven¡¯t you figured it out yet? I¡¯m unbeatable.¡± My mouth didn¡¯t move. Dallel struck with his full force. With his speed and evolution, he was a match for me. ¡°I will win.¡± ¡°No, you won¡¯t, Dallel.¡± My only goal was getting out of there without killing anyone, but they were annoyingly stubborn. ¡°You¡¯re forsaken Kala, we can win.¡± ¡°Oh right, what if I simply removed myself from that system.¡± Kala did the work and removed us, now I had my power. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Move or you die.¡± They attacked and I countered. I knocked down Celios and Nala. Dallel was the only one still standing. I used fear, but Dallel stood and looked at me. He coughed. ¡°I won¡¯t let you hurt anyone else.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± I battled on equal ground with Dallel. It was difficult to, but I managed. I realized that a single mismove would give him a chance for a proper attack. His evolution put him on par with me. That¡¯s not good. Me and him struck back and forth like an ancient dance. I¡¯d slash his arm, he¡¯d cut my stomach, and back and forth we went. He sped up, so I did too. Celios recognized something. ¡°She¡¯s trying to not cause collateral, why?¡± Nala noticed something more. ¡°She¡¯s not even trying to fight, just to run.¡± They noticed. They are Kala¡¯s children after all. Dallel struck down with a powerful blow, but I narrowly dodged, with it cutting through my torso. Despite their observations, Dallel was smart enough not to let his guard down for a single second. Then I felt two presences. I dodged as Silith and Ausar did a combo attack. They caused an earthquake with their landing. ¡°You stole my thunder, brat!¡± ¡°Oh, please, you slowed my attack enough for her to dodge, Aussy.¡± ¡°Can you two idiots focus?!¡± The duo turned to Dallel in shock as he just called them out. I snickered. ¡°So, you are bringing more to fight? How fun, you can¡¯t take me on alone.¡± Celios shouted. ¡°She¡¯s only trying to get out at this point, but be careful, she recovered her memories.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°Well, this isn¡¯t fair at all. 4 gods and an altmer against little old me.¡± I needed to act as the monster for now, Kala was tiring, so I needed to escape at all costs. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to leave here alive.¡± ¡°And why not? Do you really think you can beat me?¡± Silith smiled. ¡°You are tiring from your restraint, that will leave you open.¡± ¡°You want to be a hero my child?¡± They looked confused at me. Then my face dismorphed as I smiled. ¡°Then die like one.¡± I charged at full speed and cut Silith in half. I was getting desperate, and they realized it. ¡°Think fast.¡± I narrowly dodged Nala and grabbed her leg, tossing her into Ausar. Dallel slashed at me, but I caught it and ripped the blade from his hand, lodging it in Celios¡¯s throat. Thalia took advantage of my distraction and hit me with the full force of her flame onto my back. She burnt a hole through my heart causing me to screech, but I lashed back, creating a whip, that dug a major gouge into her side. ¡®Kala, I have one more plan.¡¯ ¡®What?¡¯ She was also tired. ¡®It will either kill us, or it will save us.¡¯ ¡®What?¡¯ ¡®We need to name the rest of the shards.¡¯ ¡®That¡­ would escalate our power, but they could also rebel.¡¯ ¡®I¡¯ll hold them in place.¡¯ ¡®Then I¡¯d have to fight.¡¯ ¡®And? Amy is out of harm''s way now, so you can go crazy, just try not to kill Dallel.¡¯ ¡®Alright. Let¡¯s do this.¡¯ I let Kala in control as I returned to the core where the other 9 were sleeping. I named each one. Expending my mana, but then they awoke. ¡®Kala, stage two.¡¯ ¡®What?¡¯ ¡®Release us but keep the body and run. We will remain connected, so you can call us back.¡¯ ¡®Understood.¡¯ ¡®Rose, what¡¯s happening?¡¯ ¡®I learnt the truth you now know, but now we need to fight so we can live.¡¯ ¡®I understand.¡¯ Kala then channeled her power, and all 10 of us launched out and landed. I was at the forefront, a catkin wrapped in an embroidered drape. Celios gasped. ¡°Purity.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Run Kala, we¡¯ll handle it from here.¡± ¡°Thank you, Rose.¡± I smiled. Kala fled in my body. ¡°You should have just let us run.¡± ¡°Rose? H-how?¡± I smiled sadly. ¡°I never was absorbed, you just assumed.¡± They realized that for a majority of the battle, they fought me. ¡°Well, it¡¯s time for the next fight to begin.¡± Each shard nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s begin.¡± Chapter 73: Rose Vs Dallel a Rematch The fact that we had been fighting against Rose directly was shocking, but not as shocking as her suddenly siding with Kala, and the other shards looked stronger somehow. Then Rose said something shocking. ¡°Cora, do you see any openings?¡± ¡°No, Whis, any weaknesses?¡± ¡°Many.¡± Each one was named. Each one was independent, yet they all fought to defend Kala. ¡°Why? Why defend her?¡± ¡°Because I learnt something important, and she doesn¡¯t want to hurt anyone anymore.¡± ¡°You realize she is the god of lies? She clearly tricked you.¡± Rose simply shook her head. ¡°I saw for myself how true it was.¡± She was manipulated, that was clear to all of us. ¡°Well, I¡¯m sorry, Rose, but we need to stop her, so she never has the chance to hurt someone again.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯m sorry.¡± She drew the blade that Thalia made for her, that withstood even Celios¡¯s assault several times. ¡°But I¡¯m going to have to stop you from doing that.¡± _ They thought I was tricked. They didn¡¯t see what I had, so they thought I was tricked. Even the gods couldn¡¯t see that they were the fools. ¡°I guess you couldn¡¯t be trusted after all.¡± Celios snapped. ¡°After all, you are just a piece of the monster.¡± He struck quickly, but I blocked. He was shocked. ¡°You are right, I am a piece, but this piece is stronger than all of you.¡± Elves tried stopping Kala, but Freya and Prim guarded her. No one died, as none of us wanted more blood. Dallel stepped forward. ¡°Me versus you. Like it was during the tournament. If I win, you tell us what happened to make you trust her, and if you win, then I¡¯ll let you leave.¡± I smiled sadly. ¡°Very well.¡± Autumn made a ring. Me and Dallel stood opposite. Nala stood as referee, and then she started. ¡°Ready¡­. Fight.¡± Me and Dallel flew at each other. His blade went for my neck, but I blocked it with my own. I slashed for his side, but he jumped off of my blade. Me and him were equals in strength. ¡°You¡¯ve grown¡­ Pointy.¡± ¡°As have you¡­ Kitten.¡± We called each other by the play names we gave each other when we first met. That let us smile for a moment, back when I was just worried about getting exposed as a dragon. But now, we were enemies, fighting because of ignorance and hate. Dallel launched at me, causing me to gain a cut on my cheek, but I struck his stomach, launching him back. He fought faster, so I countered faster. Our power began to escalate, his power an equal. We both launched back and recognized one another. Not as friend or foe but equals. He struck quickly, but I blocked and returned a blow, which he caught. Dallel battled with a ferocity that I only saw once before. Our strength coiled and we cast magic which clashed. Suddenly, my mind rushed through all the memories I had with him, Jalad, and Royce. We were a powerhouse. Friends till the bitter end, now we were enemies. I struck at his stomach, and he struck for my head, both our attack connected, causing both of us to spit out blood. I had disabled my regeneration, so we could truly fight. I stood up, and he noticed that my stomach wasn¡¯t healing, then he seemed to smile, as though he remembered that I loved equal battles. Then he enabled his strongest magic, and I enabled mine. Both of our mana was running low, so whoever won this clash would win the battle. Everyone understood this. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I suppose that like Saliad, I finally met my match.¡± Dallel laughed, a pure sound I hadn¡¯t heard in so long. ¡°I suppose we both have.¡± Then our magic collided, and the world shook. Purity against Nature; a god against the blessed. Both of our powers interlocked in death. We struck with such a pure power that even the other shards could barely remain standing. Then the smoke cleared. And both of us were standing. I smiled at my friend. ¡°A draw? We didn¡¯t plan for that.¡± ¡°I suppose we didn¡¯t.¡± A tear rolled down my face, but I kept smiling. ¡°I hope that the next time we meet, we can still be friends.¡± Both me and Dallel collapsed as Kala called us back into her body. _ ¡°Dallel, wake up man.¡± ¡°Darsen?¡± ¡°Yeah, now get up, half of everyone thought you were dead.¡± ¡°Is Rose¡­¡± ¡°Kala called them back to the body, and now we can¡¯t track them. They aren¡¯t even in Wrath¡¯s castle.¡± ¡°Why would she follow her?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know man, but somethings odd about this. Come on.¡± I got up, but I could feel pain. ¡°Was I not healed?¡± ¡°You were, but those wounds were full of the divine attribute.¡± ¡°Crap.¡± ¡°Eh, I think we¡¯re all a lot more impressed that you had a draw with Rose.¡± ¡°I remember that. I wish I reached her power level in more peaceful times.¡± ¡°I think all of us do. I can still barely wrap my head around it. Why would Rose side with Kala?¡± ¡°I suppose we could ask the same question about why we are siding with Celios, especially since he told us that he was never under any control.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± I entered a room that held a lot of people. The entire pantheon was having a meeting. ¡°Ah, Dallel is awake, sit near me.¡± Celios gestured to the one empty seat in the room, so I sat, albeit a little nervously, as the entire pantheon looked at me. ¡°This is the elf that battled Purity?¡± Nala nodded. ¡°He fought with such power that I would¡¯ve assumed him one of ours if I hadn¡¯t blessed him only a few minutes prior.¡± Thalia spoke from the side of the room. ¡°I think we have a bigger issue that hasn¡¯t been addressed yet.¡± ¡°What is it, dragon.¡± ¡°Each shard now has a name.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°Rose, or Purity, was independent because of her name. It also granted her power that would counter each shard. That means that each shard is not only independent, but probably on par with a god.¡± ¡°But she¡¯s forsaken. Kala can¡¯t be that strong.¡± I spoke then. ¡°She removed herself from that system.¡± The gods looked at me confused. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°If you haven¡¯t realized it yet, Kala made this world, meaning she also made the system that limits the gods. She entered it for fun but removed it during the battle. After doing that, she was able to counter each one of us, and I hate to say it, but Purity alone could likely beat both Ausar and Silith.¡± ¡°BLASPHOMEY!!!¡± ¡°You think you could beat both of them?!¡± I nodded. ¡°With all due respect, yes, I could likely beat both of them at this point.¡± Ausar was enraged but Silith nodded. ¡°As much as I hate to admit it, out of all of the fighters there, he was the only one that managed to severely hurt Kala. Dallel has surpassed us. Do you know why, Dallel?¡± I nodded again. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s because of something Kala actually said that I realized.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You rely on your power too much, none of you have learnt how to actually fight. You all just expect your experience as gods and your followers to make you win.¡± Some of the gods were getting angry. Then Celios realized something. ¡°He¡¯s right.¡± ¡°What do you mean?!¡± ¡°When I battled Rose the first time, despite being far stronger, she still managed to hurt me. Then, when I battled her in the battle that awakened Kala, she fought on par to me while the shards were separate. Then when she merged, I assumed I would win as the good magic and evil magic was destroying each other, but she still, despite the immense loss of power, managed to beat me, and that was before she got enraged.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°It was because Rose had bothered learning how to fight. All of us expected our raw power to carry us through, but Rose showed in that fight that raw power will only get us so far. We need to train, both body and mind.¡± The gods considered what Celios was saying. ¡°But who would train us?¡± Celios smiled. ¡°How about the one warrior more skilled than our elf friend.¡± I smiled. ¡°He¡¯ll kill me for agreeing.¡± Jalad was about to have to teach an entire pantheon combat. _ ¡°Rose, are you awake?¡± ¡°Kala?¡± ¡°Yes, the other shards fell back asleep because it was still too early for them to wake up.¡± ¡°Yes, but why am I still awake.¡± ¡°You are my core, remember. As long as I¡¯m awake, you can¡¯t go dormant.¡± ¡°That makes sense. Where are we?¡± ¡°A merchants camp. I disguised us as a human merchant.¡± ¡°What do we sell?¡± ¡°Mid-level products that I created.¡± ¡°Smart.¡± ¡°Draconic shift is so useful, only Celios was able to recognize us.¡± ¡°And that was because we relaxed and let our guard down.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Where are we headed?¡± ¡°Selethon.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes, we are going to become an adventurer again, but this time, we will play weak from the beginning.¡± ¡°Smart.¡± ¡°Yeah, there are way too many adventurers for us to stand out.¡± ¡°Yep, but what if more gods go there.¡± ¡°Even better, as long as you or I keep focus on the aura blocking, then it will nearly confirm that we aren¡¯t us.¡± ¡°Why not get an aura blocking relic?¡± ¡°That can¡¯t fool a god¡¯s perception.¡± ¡°I see, here I got one better.¡± I ducked in and took the process of aura blocking and placed it in the sleeping shards. ¡°There, now we have 9 subconsciousness¡¯s executing that task.¡± ¡°Brilliant, now we can focus our power using both of our minds.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± The carriage we were on reached Selethon and we made it to the gate. ¡°Name and business.¡± ¡°Amanda and I want to become an adventurer.¡± ¡°Alright, the adventurer¡¯s guild is the building with one unique wall.¡± ¡°Why is that wall unique?¡± ¡°Because powerful beings keep launching through it.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°Yep, alright. NEXT.¡± We entered the city with no problems whatsoever. We went to the guild as we already knew the way, and when we entered the guild, I walked over to the bar. ¡°Excuse me sir, but where could I apply?¡± ¡°Right over there, mam, but I¡¯ll warn you now, this guild keeps getting involved in world changing events.¡± ¡°Interesting. Thank you.¡± We signed up and passed the physical test. We barely passed like most people, so no one thought we stuck out. I sat at a table and drank wine and a steak with salad. A typical meal here. I listened to the adventurers I knew. ¡°Did you hear? Apparently, Rose has allied with Kala.¡± ¡°I thought they were enemies?¡± ¡°Not anymore, apparently Rose took on Dallel and they had a draw.¡± ¡°A draw?! Dallel has definitely gotten way stronger.¡± ¡°I¡¯m still trying to wrap my head around this. Why would Rose side with Kala?¡± Then Mammon walked up. ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? Kala is the god of lies. Rose loves to trust people. Kala must have tricked her somehow.¡± ¡®Unless you made an alternative world and saved a fake friend you made, also making fake memories and modified your whole mind to make it seem real¡­ I think you were honest.¡¯ ¡®Yeah, they are really acting like you are an idiot.¡¯ ¡°What if they always were in kahoots?¡± ¡°No, because the whole reason Kala targeted me and Dallel was to try to get Rose to agree to help her.¡± ¡°You are right.¡± ¡°Until I¡¯m proven otherwise, I¡¯m sticking with this, Rose was tricked.¡± ¡®Also, your reaction to Amy would cement it if somehow the other things didn¡¯t.¡¯ ¡®I guess.¡¯ Jalad walked in. ¡°Mammon, I have good news and bad news.¡± Mammon sighed, ¡°The bad news is always ridiculous, so start with the good news.¡± ¡°They are here for me to train them.¡± ¡°Who are ¡®they¡¯?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the bad news. Dallel brought the entire pantheon to train their combat skills under me.¡± ¡°Goodness gracious, even siding with the enemy Rose accidents us into a world level disaster.¡± Jalad sighed. ¡°I wish I could disagree.¡± ¡®How often did you do that?¡¯ ¡®More than I care to admit.¡¯ ¡®Understood.¡¯ Chapter 74: How To Train a god The gods entered the guild and reluctantly joined as adventurers. ¡°Alright, normally based on power, you¡¯d start as C, but for now, you are not allowed to use any powers. That includes regeneration. Each of you need to make it to A rank using pure skill, no magic.¡± A lot of them were confused by the dwarf who was giving them orders. ¡°Who are you to command us?¡± ¡°I¡¯m the guildmaster, lad. I don¡¯t care if ye are a god or a child, if ya join my guild, ya follow my orders. Jalad agreed to train you, but you still need a marker of where ya are. In fact, each of you will have to party with other beginners.¡± Nala smiled. ¡°I¡¯m interested in this, frankly. It will be fun to increase my skill.¡± The smithing god, Duhnheim glowered. Dwarves were usually entirely subservient to him, but this one was ordering him around with no fear. ¡°And if any of you have a problem with this configuration, take it up with Dallel.¡± Duhnheim smiled, he must have realized that he could possibly gain the crown if he defeated Dallel. ¡°Alright, I have an issue with it.¡± Dallel looked. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°THIS!!!¡± He tried to kick Dallel, but Dallel smashed him into the ground. ¡°So, any more complaints? We also made devices that will assure you don¡¯t use magic.¡± The gods obediently put on the bands, then everyone was grouped up. As I knew how to speak as an adventurer, I took control. Kala focused on both the disguise and hiding the aura. That turned out to be the correct decision as not only was I in one of the parties, but Amy was also in this party. Celios and Ausar were also placed in the party. ¡°As the strongest, I¡¯ll be the leader.¡± Then Amy snickered. ¡°Strongest? Every time I¡¯ve seen you fight, you were folded, and now you can¡¯t even use magic to fight. Not to mention the strength limiter. At this point, I¡¯m pretty sure we are about equal, because at least I can shoot a bow.¡± Ausar blushed. ¡°Sh-shut up.¡± Celios laughed. ¡°Anyways, we all know who each other are, but who are you?¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I curtsied. ¡°My name is Amanda; I am a minor merchant who wants to become an adventurer.¡± ¡°Hm. I had a friend named Amanda.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cool, then we may become friends.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± After introducing ourselves, we ate a meal and headed out for our first quest. _ ¡°So, killing goblins is our first quest.¡± ¡°I can easily do it. Watch me.¡± We watched Ausar confidently strut into the camp. We watched him panickily run out of the camp screaming as a horde chased him. I turned to the other two in my party. ¡°Think we get extra credit if we kill the whole tribe?¡± ¡°Probably.¡± Amy shot and killed the leader. This made the goblins go wild. ¡°Uh oh.¡± They charged us and Celios and I used our basic blade skills to fight the goblins. ¡°AUSAR, GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER AND HELP!!!¡± ¡°Ah hah, you need me.¡± He gave his ¡®praise me¡¯ pose and got stabbed in the gut by a goblin. Causing him to scream again. I turned to Celios. ¡°Think we can trade him in?¡± ¡°I hope so.¡± ¡°Focus idiots!!!¡± ¡°YOU¡¯RE ONE TO TALK!!!¡± _ ¡°Good job, you successfully killed the entire goblin tribe, moving beyond your mission in order to save a comrade.¡± I smiled. ¡°Wonderful, quick question though.¡± Dallel looked at me. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Can we have a different god? All Ausar was good for there was bait.¡± ¡°Hey!!!¡± Celios and Amy nodded. Dallel snickered. ¡°We need him with someone and each other group is full, so sorry but no.¡± We sighed but conceded. ¡°There is a tournament coming up in a month, I want all of the parties to join to see not only who the best is, but also to check the gods¡¯ progress.¡± ¡°Alright, so we have one month to whip him into shape.¡± Dallel laughed again, ¡°I suppose you could see it like that, anyways, there¡¯s another quest for you.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an escort.¡± We got up and headed to deal with the escort quest. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m subjugated to this dismal work.¡± ¡°Then get your act together and rank up.¡± ¡°¡­ For a merchant, you are quite bold.¡± ¡°Please, I never feared the gods, so having you in a weakened state scares me even less.¡± Celios smiled. ¡°I like this one.¡± Amy also smiled. ¡°You and me both.¡± Ausar sighed. ¡°I hate the lot of you.¡± _ We got through the escort quest with no issue and got promoted to G rank. This gave us quests like hunting bigger beasts. ¡°A bear? Please I¡¯ll just order it to die.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t, your magic is restrained.¡± Ausar grimaced. ¡°Hey, but worst comes to worst, we could use you as bait.¡± ¡°**** you.¡± ¡°How rude, I thought we were becoming friends.¡± Ausar grimaced and we set out to hunt the bear. Since I thought it was an awesome training method, I had one of the devices strapped to my upper thigh, where no one could see it. The only difference was that I could remove mine. So, I was also limited to my skill. My swordsmanship alone would put me at C rank, but I needed to become an A rank. ¡°Alright, there it is.¡± ¡°Why are we sneaking? We can beat it.¡± ¡°Because I¡¯d rather not have Ausar beaten up, so we are going to take it by surprise.¡± Ausar took offence, but went along with the plan, so we managed to kill it before it noticed. We submitted our third quest on the first day, making other groups realize that they needed to speed up. ¡°All right, I think we can take the rest of the day off.¡± Ausar decided, but I had a better idea. ¡°Then let¡¯s train with swords, being an archer or bait is fine, but if you can¡¯t properly hold a sword, then you can¡¯t win any fight that gets close.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not bait!!!¡± ¡°Anyways, let¡¯s go to the woods to do sword training.¡± Amy and Celios agreed and dragged Ausar with them. I gave them all practice swords and ran them through basic drills. I also worked with them, and saw that without draconic strength, they were a lot harder. I still managed to do them, then we ran a 10k run. After that we had a practice duel. ¡°All right, I am the best swordsmen here, so you all try to take me down.¡± Celios tried to leap at me, but he forgot that he didn¡¯t have as much strength as he used to, so he tripped. Ausar ran at me with so many openings that I could have beaten him with a twig, and Amy panicked and threw her blade which I easily deflected. I sighed. ¡°We have a lot of work to do in one month.¡± ¡°I suppose.¡± ¡°Alright back up, 100 more reps slashing your blade.¡± Everyone groaned, but they obediently picked up their blades. ¡°Let¡¯s go. 1¡­ 2¡­ 3¡­ 4¡­¡± Chapter 75: The Strength of Humility Amanda¡¯s party was doing incredibly well. It certainly helped that Amanda already had knowledge of the blade, but Ausar was getting slowly better as well. The other parties began to complain that they had to be cheating, but I saw their training, it was simple hard work. Amanda was able to get them to know how to fight using human restrictions. Celios stopped trying to leap into an attack and learnt how to simply go quickly. Ausar had less and less openings each time he charged Amanda. Amy got brave enough to get close to her opponents, and she started teaching them archery as well. Within a week, we could all see a change in the two gods. Celios was humble since his defeat by Rose, but now he was talking with Amanda and Amy as equals. Ausar also seemed to help more, and since he was the fastest one, he decided to act as spiked bait. The team was able to destroy a goblin village easily now. I was talking to Ausar when I asked. ¡°What exactly made you better?¡± Ausar seemed to think. ¡°I think it was the fact that both Amanda and Amy showed, not only no fear, but no reverence. They treated me like an adventurer, and I feel that that is what allowed me to get better. I now know that there is a problem, so now I¡¯m working to fix it.¡± When the other gods heard what Ausar said, they seemed to be conflicted. Some, like Silith, agreed that there was a vanity problem that they needed to fix. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Others, like Nala, said that since they were gods, then they should be vain. Both groups turned to Ausar and Celios, but they were shocked to see the duo eating with Amy and Amanda. It was almost comical how they reacted. Then they complained to me. ¡°Dallel, they aren¡¯t listening to us.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°We are gods, we should be getting more respect.¡± ¡°Incorrect.¡± That caused them confusion. ¡°What do you mean, incorrect?¡± ¡°For now, until your training is done, don¡¯t consider yourselves gods, consider yourselves regular adventurers and get stronger like an adventurer would.¡± ¡°But how could we deny our nature?!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t. Just don¡¯t act like being a god gives you a free pass to life.¡± They gaped at me like I said something they never even considered. ¡°Then how does Kala do it?¡± ¡°Remember, not only did Purity have to live as a dragon, but we also found out she was a reincarnation of a human. So, she already knew how to live.¡± They considered this, then decided to try it. They still had a lot of trouble getting over themselves. I sighed; this was annoying. _ ¡°In the past week, we¡¯ve had our share of both victories and losses.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s recount where we failed and can do better.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± I took the lead. ¡°I failed during the goblin raid. I tried to kill the leader and I didn¡¯t account for how many you all would have to face, ruining our formation and nearly getting Amy killed. I can do better by creating a stable plan with flex points before battle.¡± Amy spoke next. ¡°I failed during the dungeon. I panicked and tried to use my sword like a bow and ended up dropping it, making Celios have to cover for me, nearly crippling Ausar and killing Amanda. I could do better by keeping track of which weapon I¡¯m holding.¡± Then Ausar. ¡°I failed during the tiger subjugation. I set out alone and ended up being torn apart, this led you three to have to fight alone and made me useless for the main fight. I can do better by coordinating and remaining in the group.¡± Then Celios. ¡°I failed during the goblin raid, as well. I tried to leap towards the group and ended up falling and getting impaled on one of their spears. This prevented me from fighting properly and made you guys have to rescue me before we could win. I could do better in the future by only jumping in order to dodge and focusing my attacks to low attacks.¡± I nodded. ¡°Alright, so we all know how to improve, so let¡¯s do so.¡± We all nodded and went off to train in the woods again. We could easily do 1000 reps, so I bumped it up to 2000. We ran a 20k, and we did it remaining in formation. Our ranks had become E in a week. Multiple adventurers were saying that we escalated very quickly. After the run we had dinner and went to sleep. In one month, we would be ready to join the tournament. Chapter 76: The Tournament of gods One month had passed and Amanda¡¯s party had made it to C rank. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen such a fast ascension of rank except for Rose.¡± ¡°I mean it does make sense. It has two gods.¡± ¡°Yeah, but even Silith¡¯s party only barely reached D.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± Of the 5 groups, there were 2 F, 1 E, 1 D, and 1 C. Each group ascended quickly, but Amanda¡¯s group still seemed to grow at an entirely different rate. ¡°What¡¯s their secret?¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because both Ausar and Celios recognized Amanda as the leader.¡± ¡°That can¡¯t be it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s all I see.¡± A god spoke up. ¡°It¡¯s obvious that it was because there were two King candidates.¡± Ausar snorted in laughter. ¡°Given how vain I was at the start of this, I was more a detriment.¡± All the gods looked at him in absolute shock. At this point, all of the party members had reached A rank in strength. All of us were terrified to know how much power would be there when we removed the binds. ¡°Maybe their party should also have the cuffs.¡± I shook my head. ¡°That wouldn¡¯t do anything. All it does is squelch the nature to that of a human level, so the two humans would be unaffected.¡± The gods reluctantly agreed, they already were aware of that, but they hated that two humans had so easily surpassed them. Mammon walked in. ¡°Alright, th¡¯ tourney is startin¡¯ soon, so get yer behinds out ¡®ere.¡± The gods obeyed. They understood that they had to reach at least Mammon¡¯s power before their bindings could be removed. The Preliminary round was almost starting. The announcer began to speak. ¡°You all heard the rumors, and I¡¯m here to tell you that they are true!!! The gods all have been training here as adventurers.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Some people started protesting their involvement. ¡°Now, for all you people who are thinking it will be easy for them, think again. Each one is equipped with a relic that limits their potential to that of a human¡¯s, so in combat they will be no more advantaged than anyone else, and their magic is sealed too.¡± The people calmed down but were still grumbling slightly. ¡°NOW!!! START!!!¡± People attacked the gods, and the war god, Demerial, struggled greatly against the B class that attacked him. Despite being one of the strongest at base strength, Demerial was still very vain and was only at a B rank in terms of strength. Upon seeing the struggle, the combatants began to band against the gods. At the end of the preliminary round, 3 of the gods were eliminated from the tournament. The people had entirely stopped their grumbling after seeing the gods fall. People looked over at me to see my disappointment. The gods started grumbling about it being unfair. I spoke. ¡°What did I say, you keep thinking that being a god gives you a free pass to life. It¡¯s because of this that you lost. If you trained harder and were less vain, then you could have decimated that competition.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t talk, you are too strong to understand.¡± ¡°Oh, do I. May I remind you of my past? You are right, as an elven prince, my affinity for magic is more than most, but it¡¯s because of that that I grew complacent. I thought I could beat anyone, and someone who could beat me was simply either cheating or in a realm beyond me.¡± Every competitor had stopped to listen. ¡°Then I met Rose, the same person we are currently training you to be able to last a single second against.¡± Some adventurers began to recall our first meeting. ¡°In the instant that I met her, I considered her an equal. I engaged in a rivalry, and even after she beat an A rank, I still assumed I could best her. Then, do you know what happened?¡± The gods shook their heads. ¡°She demolished me. In that instant, I realized I was merely complacent and trained my butt off. At the point that she demolished me, she wouldn¡¯t even be able to touch a hair on any of your heads.¡± The gods looked smug, so I continued. ¡°Now look at both her and me. I can best each and every one of you individually, and Rose alone could do so as well. Even if I put on the bracelet, I¡¯d just lose my magic. I guarantee that with the possible exception of Celios, Ausar, and Silith, I could beat any of you unbound, even if I wore the bracelet.¡± The smugness has faded, but I continued to grill them. ¡°And you know the most disappointing part of this? The bracelets put your potential at a human level, but your growth rate is still at the level of gods, and two humans surpassed you. Now you can argue that Amanda started with skills, but even then, her skills were less than Demerial¡¯s. Now she could wipe the floor with any of you. And even if you want to argue that point, Amy started with nothing but an archery proficiency that was suited only for stationary targets. Now she could best you all with swords. So cut the vanity and work if you want to improve.¡± The gods, who were close to crying, nodded. I had crushed both their pride and vanity in an instant. Only Silith, Ausar, and Celios, who had already discarded with vanity nodded easily. Silith understood that he still had a lot of room for growth, as expected for the current king of gods, but the other gods really understood their weakness when the vain Ausar was eating with humans as equals. _ In the following two days, the gods all increased their efforts and got stronger. Me and Mammon were talking in his office. ¡°It seems they really have taken to you.¡± ¡°I guess they weren¡¯t expecting me to empathize with them.¡± ¡°Eh, they should have seen it coming.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because you are as powerful as you are, equals with Rose, and able to keep up with Kala¡¯s attacks.¡± ¡°Yeah, but they probably suspected that I wasn¡¯t ever much weaker than they were.¡± ¡°Then our pantheon is made up of fools.¡± His blasphemous words would drive any cult into an outrage, but, seeing them, I couldn¡¯t help but agree. ¡°My only hope is that we will be ready when Kala makes the next move.¡± Chapter 77- Coming of Age My party members all passed with flying colors. No one could come near any of us, even while apart. That includes Galas, god of water, who attempted to defeat Amy and endured an embarrassing loss. Kala was so happy to see Amy as powerful as she was. We had drinks to celebrate, but Amy refrained. ¡°I¡¯m too young to drink.¡± ¡°How young are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m only barely 18.¡± Upon hearing how young Amy was, the gods looked even more depressed that a child was able to surpass them. Ausar seemed to focus on a specific word. ¡°What do you mean barely?¡± ¡°My birthday was actually yesterday.¡± We froze. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us, the coming-of-age party is a big thing.¡± ¡°I guess better late than never.¡± ¡°What?!¡± Dallel explained. ¡°Not sure how it works in your world, but when someone turns 18 here, all of their family and friends have a party. At said party, they hire advanced chefs and make exotic foods. Usually they also choose their career, but I guess that you are already an adventurer, so we can skip that part.¡± ¡°Oh, on Earth we just get gifts from family and maybe mention it to our friends. If we are in school, they¡¯ll sing an annoyingly embarrassing song.¡± Everyone looked at her. ¡°For such an important event in someone''s life that¡¯s an annoyingly little response. Do you even throw parties?¡± ¡°For birthdays closer to 10 to 13. While some people still throw parties, the guests greatly decrease each year.¡± ¡°That world must suck.¡± ¡°Eh, some cultures have something similar to what you described but for 15.¡± ¡°Weird.¡± Amy was red at this point, but Ausar and I already started planning it. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Kala began chipping in Amy¡¯s likes. ¡®It¡¯s amazing, even after a million years, you still know exactly what she likes.¡¯ ¡®Of course, the reason I didn¡¯t make a move to destroy it earlier was because of her and Amanda. You can never forget a true friend.¡¯ ¡®That¡¯s touching.¡¯ ¡°Cats, we need cats.¡± Ausar raised an eyebrow. ¡°Like the animal cat.¡± ¡°How do you know that¡¯s what she¡¯d like?¡± ¡°Because whenever she sees a catkin, she goes googoo eyes.¡± ¡°I see.¡± We began listing things we thought she liked, and Ausar seemed to be quite observant now, as he managed to nail quite a few subtle things. _ The preparation of the party happened in one night. We decided to take a break to prepare, and a few of the gods who had grown closer to Amy helped. Nala was still very advanced in terms of botany, so she was in charge of growing flowers for the event. Amy gave us a list of allergies, which confused everyone until she explained that in her world there were people who could get killed by things like peanuts because of allergies. ¡°So, people in your world can die to¡­ peanuts?¡± ¡°Depends on the person, but yeah.¡± ¡°Allergies sound like weakness.¡± ¡°I guess, but that¡¯s pretty judgey, and you haven¡¯t even heard of the allergies to grass yet.¡± ¡°People die to grass in your world?!¡± ¡°Not usually, normally allergies are limited to merely making your nose stuffy or causing mucus to build up in your throat.¡± ¡°Okay, so what is the worst allergy you have.¡± ¡°Nuts in general would make me need an epi-pen, but I guess healing magic would work as a replacement.¡± ¡°So, you, who is at the A level in terms of combat strength¡­ can die to a walnut.¡± ¡°Only if I eat it.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± _ They managed to prepare the food nut-free. Amy tried to help as she could, but since we were preparing her birthday, we wouldn¡¯t let her. Dallel was a masterful cook, so he made the cake, which then he was surprised that Amy knew of. ¡°You know of cake?¡± ¡°Of course, that¡¯s standard for birthdays in my world.¡± ¡°Wow, really only royalty get a cake, even on the coming-of-age party.¡± ¡°People don¡¯t eat cake here?¡± ¡°Not usually.¡± ¡°That is sad.¡± ¡°I guess, but yeah I¡¯ve only ever had cake on my and Doleaira¡¯s coming-of-age parties.¡± ¡°Woah.¡± And so, with that surprise out of the way, the food was prepared. Alright, the decorations are up. Jalad came into the guild hall with a confused look. ¡°What is happening?¡± Dallel answered. ¡°It was Amy¡¯s coming-of-age yesterday, and she didn¡¯t tell us, so we are celebrating today and tomorrow to make up for it.¡± ¡°That sounds fun, how can I help?¡± And just like that, Jalad was in on it. _ The next day was the celebration. Thalia, who had grown close to Amy attended. She was shocked by the taste of the cake. ¡°Do dragons have coming of age parties?¡± Thalia nodded. ¡°We usually get them when we mature, but since I matured in the middle of a war, I kinda forgot, but as that was half a year ago it¡¯s kinda useless to throw the party.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± Everyone ate and were merry. Tunel, god of music, gave the entertainment with her wonderful music skills. As the only noncombatant god, she was still one of the strongest. She was the other god in Silith¡¯s party. Amy was smiling, but she still seemed sad for some reason. I understood and sat next to her. ¡°You miss the Amanda from your world, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, I guess. I always thought that we¡¯d always stick together, but now I¡¯m in another world, far away from her. She probably thinks I died.¡± Despite her smile, she was close to crying. None of the gods took offence. They understood that she had gone through something no one could understand. Kala smiled in my mind and used magic despite the bracelet. To activate a single memory. On Amy¡¯s 17th birthday, when they sung happy birthday. Then Amy smiled again, her sadness fading. ¡°Thank you all for this. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll ever be able to go back, but I¡¯ll be happy even if I can¡¯t.¡± Everyone smiled at the words. Then Ausar spoke. ¡°Thank you for being our friend.¡± Chapter 78- The Raging Tourney The postings for the tournaments were posted on the board, and those who didn¡¯t see Jalad in the preliminary round were surprised to see him on the posting. ¡°I always sign up, though thank goodness I¡¯m not against a powerhouse first round this time. Though, Dallel, why didn¡¯t you sign up.¡± Dallel snorted. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that it would be absolutely unfair if I did. People are already upset about the gods despite the restraints. I¡¯ve beaten gods. I¡¯m sure they would complain even more.¡± Jalad laughed. ¡°I guess so.¡± The duo, despite no longer being direct coworkers, still remained best friends. _ The first day of the tourney arrived. I was the first battle, against Duhnheim. ¡°Remember, Amanda, you may be able to beat him in skills, but he still is the smithing god. He can probably break your sword with a single swing, as he¡¯d be able to find the weak point.¡± I nodded. ¡°I will be careful.¡± I entered the ring. ¡°And this first battle is between two god¡¯s party members. One from a C rank team. Amanda the Swordqueen. She is versing the king of fire, Smithing god Duhnheim. Despite his limiter, he can destroy any weapon without a second thought, so can she stand up to him?¡± The crowd cheered for both of us. The dwarves and elves were overwhelmingly cheering for Duhnheim. ¡°Ready?! START!!!¡± Duhnheim charged, and I blocked his first attack. Then began our back and forth. He struck at my head. I countered to his legs. He slashed at my stomach. I cut at his head. Both of us were full of minor injuries, but his endurance was better than mine¡­ or so he thought. I was a god too, but he didn¡¯t know that, so we just continuously went back and forth. Eventually, I got frustrated and pushed forward, crushing him. He didn¡¯t even get the chance to break my sword. _ This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Amy¡¯s battle was against a regular guy who was crushed easily. We celebrated with meat and wine, except for Amy, who seemed content to wait until she was 21 to drink. We just got her apple juice. _ The next day was similar. Each god passed their rounds, and moved to the next point, except Duhnheim. Almost everyone knew that the tournament would end with the members of my party. My second round was against one of Silith¡¯s party members. ¡°I have been trained by the great, Lord Silith.¡± ¡°Please, I trained Celios and Ausar.¡± I was simply too far out of his league. _ Amy also had a fight against Nala. ¡°Sorry if I win.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t, but I won¡¯t be mad.¡± ¡°START!!!¡± Amy immediately let off a shot that hit Nala in the eye. She quickly followed up with a blade attack. Nala, who was magic oriented, was beaten easily. The rest of the fights were similar. My party reached the semifinals easily, as Ausar finally settled his rivalry with Silith in an epic battle in the quarterfinals. ¡°Ausar, it¡¯s time to finish this rivalry.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± They charged, but this time, Ausar left no openings. He struck and fought on par with his old rival. Their clash shook the arena despite the restraints. They both gave their all, and everyone could feel their strength. Equals in combat. Ausar struck for the head, and Silith struck for the stomach. They kept going at it, continuously getting more and more injuries. Silith grabbed Ausar¡¯s blade and threw it, but Ausar followed up with a kick to the stomach before grabbing his blade again and reclashing with Silith. The duo continued to throw slash over slash. Then the finale occurred. Silith gave his strongest attack. An opening opened up. So small that no one would be able to see it, but Ausar took it and cut Silith in half. But Ausar sustained massive damage from Silith¡¯s blow as well. He could still stand, however, which made people decide that he was the winner. _ ¡°Good job Ausar, you won!¡± ¡°I did. I won, but it was pyrrhic.¡± ¡°So? You still bested the king of gods.¡± ¡°Yeah, while our power was restrained. He still probably could beat me if we weren¡¯t.¡± Celios smiled. ¡°Even so, you still won, so celebrate.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± He smiled and we celebrated the whole night. We were all ready for the next day. Amy would fight me. Ausar would fight Celios. The winners would fight each other. ¡°I¡¯m obviously going to win.¡± Ausar was motivated again. ¡°Nah, I think I could win.¡± Amy wasn¡¯t any less so. ¡°Hmph, please, I have the most experience.¡± Celios wasn¡¯t giving up. ¡°Don¡¯t forget who taught you.¡± I wasn¡¯t going to fall behind. _ The next day came, and the kingdom gathered. Jalad, who had lost to Ausar, was cheering both of us on. ¡°Alright people, it¡¯s been a very interesting tournament. With gods being bested, and humans showing their worth, we have seen such amazing battles that I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if this tournament is remembered for the rest of eternity.¡± The people cheered. ¡°With all that we¡¯ve seen, you might ask, what could we get from watching two humans battle, well these humans have defeated gods. Now that they are in the finale of the tournament, it is time for the semifinals to begin.¡± ¡°Amy, I¡¯ll win this.¡± ¡°ARE YOU READY!!!¡± ¡°Nah, I think I can best you.¡± ¡°FIGHT!!!¡± Amy let off an immediate shot, but I dodged and blocked her follow-up attack. She came very far from the scared girl who shook while shooting at me. We fought back and forth. I was winning, but Kala wanted Amy to win. ¡®Friend of mine, take my blessing and gain strength. Form in power and might and evolve.¡¯ Amy began to glow. She met the requirements and evolved. I leapt back in shock. I knew Kala did it, but I was still unaware until that instant that humans could evolve. She didn¡¯t change appearance, but a regal sense permeated the air. The gods looked in shock as she held her bow, which was reinforced with mana. Then Amy shot. Chapter 79: The Power of Evolution Amy¡¯s new power posed a lot of problems for me. I could easily keep up before, but now I was struggling. Amy used powerful magic, so I realized, ¡°I need to use my trump card this early.¡± Unlike Dallel, Amy was still in the realm of mortals when she evolved, so my power would work. My trump card that I kept hidden. I learned magic through the shackle against gods. ¡°FLAME SWORD.¡± I summoned flame to my sword, and we clashed. Amy¡¯s eyes widened as she realized I hid it, planning on surprising Celios or Ausar with it. ¡°You are smart, but it won¡¯t be enough.¡± Despite her words, I was stronger. I pushed down her sword and slashed at her stomach. She barely dodged and realized that I had reached S in power. ¡°Impossible.¡± I increased in speed and battled ferociously, but Amy, by evolving, also reached S in power. ¡°To think. You were ahead of us this whole time.¡± We clashed again and again. More injuries appearing on each one of us. The gods, who thought that the battle was decided when Amy evolved, realized that I still held a chance. ¡°Impossible, there is no way that an unevolved could even stand against an evolved.¡± Thalia smiled. ¡°Please, Asura could beat them, and he isn¡¯t evolved.¡± Asura nodded. ¡°I didn¡¯t even know that humans could evolve, but now that I do, I¡¯mma try for it.¡± Amy struck at me while I was distracted, but I narrowly dodged. Amy was open, so I struck. I jabbed her stomach with my fist, and she flew back and crashed against the barrier. Then, when I felt like I won, I heard Amy. ¡°I see now. Divinity stretches across the whole world. What if I grabbed it?¡± She had the divine aspect. Her injuries disappeared and she stood up. ¡°I can win now, Amanda.¡± I smiled and she did too. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. We both picked up speed as now we fought at full strength. The divine aspect came to me as easily as breathing before I had the restraint, so I knew how strong she was for the moment. Amy realized that I still maintained the advantage and struck to win before I could, but I leapt back. ¡°FIRESTORM!!!¡± My power raged and struck her full power. A meteorite crushed her, but she threw it off and continued to attack. She shot and shot. I narrowly dodged with my unpredictable movements, then I slashed at her. The attack would either land and hurt her severely, or I¡¯d miss and be opened up to an assault. It was both. My blade cut into her arm, but her¡¯s cut into my stomach. I coughed out blood, before launching back, cringing at the pain. She took the advantage and shot, but I was ready. ¡°Fire ward!¡± It blocked the arrow, but Amy wasn¡¯t too far behind. She kicked through the barrier and slashed my arm off. We all knew that the healers could heal short of death, so she didn¡¯t hold back. I slashed at her, making her block so I could get more space. I realized I needed to use my strongest attack under the restraint, but because of the restraint, it made me have to spend time to set it up, but I started the incantation. ¡°Flame of Oblivion, hear my call. Take your power and lend it to me.¡± Amy heard me and tried attacking, but Kala took control of my body as I chanted, so I could dodge. ¡°I seek the Flame¡¯s only ruler. Greater than the forge. Greater than the flaming mountains.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t let you-¡° ¡°ETERNAL FLAME!!!¡± A spell that even Thalia would be hard-pressed to cast was used. Flames burst from thin air and wrapped around me. For as long as I used the spell, I would be burnt more and more. ¡°AMANDA!!!¡± I launched at her and melted her blade while kicking her. ¡°We are still in a duel. Focus Amy, or I will win.¡± Amy realized that the time for playing was over, and she struck at me with all of her might. I struck at her with all of my might. She imbued herself with the divine magic and struck with all of her power. Using it began to tear her apart. The announcer understood what was happening. ¡°PEOPLE. WHOEVER WINS THIS NEXT CLASH WILL BE THE VICTOR!!!¡± The gods all nodded, because they knew how much life force we extended to empower these moves. Then our powers collided. Across the world the clash was felt. The shield collapsed and Thalia made a new one. The ground beneath us shook before shattering. The city shook. And at the end of it. A single woman was standing. No one could identify who it was. Then the smoke cleared, and I stood with charred skin and virtually useless armor. Amy was unconscious on the other side of the arena. ¡°I guess I did win after all.¡± I said before my right leg dissolved to ash, and I collapsed. _ I looked in shock at the battle and I heard Celios. ¡°So, that¡¯s why Kala was scared of the other world.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Even evolved beings usually take thousands of years to manifest the divine aspect, but she developed it right after evolving.¡± ¡°Though, Amanda is perhaps more terrifying.¡± ¡°Agreed, her growth is that great. And to think that in less than a month, she had mastered the fire aspect.¡± This was very shocking. Both Amanda and Amy had become transcendent in only a month. The announcer was very enthusiastic. ¡°THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!!! If these two were on the opposite side of each other on the board than I have no doubt that this would have been the finals fight. Both of them showed so much strength that I can barely believe that they are human. That fight was reminiscent of the battle between Rose and Saliad at the last tournament.¡± The people cheered. ¡°Now, unfortunately, we will have to wait until tomorrow for the battle between Celios and Ausar.¡± The people were sad but understood the level of power that was just used. Ausar turned to Celios with wide eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t care who they think won that. We aren¡¯t winning against either of them.¡± Celios nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll have to use a lot of trickery to beat Amanda.¡± I nodded. ¡°She definitely surpassed my expectations.¡± Chapter 80: ???? ?? ????????? Both me and Amy were asleep through the duel of Celios and Ausar, but, apparently, Celios sacrificed his blade to manage a jab through Ausar¡¯s heart, winning the duel. Celios and I both received advice from Ausar and Amy. Amy had actually become a bit of a celebrity, being the first human to ever evolve. People wouldn¡¯t leave her alone, and I saw Granny in the area. Surprisingly, in a day, Amy had started calling her Granny too. Kala found it funny. ¡°You are an interesting person, Amanda. You sort of remind me of my other granddaughter.¡± ¡°What is she like?¡± Her face scrunched. ¡°She¡¯s the person the gods are training to fight.¡± ¡°I¡­ see. So, not good?¡± ¡°Actually, just Rose is a wonderful person, but I think that this Kala tricked her. There¡¯s no way they¡¯d align otherwise.¡± ¡°I see. Well, if I can help I will.¡± ¡°Ah, thank you, you are a wonderful person. Feel free to call me ¡®granny¡¯ too, dear.¡± ¡°Alright, thank you for coming, Granny.¡± ¡°Of course, I heard of the battle between Celios and a rising star. Given the restraints I think you have a big chance of victory, especially with your fire.¡± ¡°Actually, I¡¯m planning on going straight martial art against him.¡± That got Mammon¡¯s attention. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because his magic is stronger than mine, his is just bound, so it wouldn¡¯t be fair if I used the magic.¡± Mammon and Granny both laughed. ¡°Goodness, she¡¯s like a younger Rose.¡± ¡°Only you would call fighting a god fair, at all.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± I waved and left the guild hall. Then came the battle between me and Celios. _ We both trained for the whole night. Celios was told that if he could win, then he¡¯d be unchained early.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. He was prepared for the fight as much as I was. So, when we walked into the ring, the whole crowd cheered. ¡®Kala, remember to wait to start magic until he begins using it.¡¯ ¡®Understood, let¡¯s do this.¡¯ ¡®And PLEASE do not evolve him.¡¯ Kala snickered as the only reason that Amy was so much trouble was because Kala evolved her. ¡°Amanda, I don¡¯t see you preparing magic.¡± ¡°I want to face you on equal ground, so if you don¡¯t use magic, then I won¡¯t.¡± Celios smiled. ¡°You are an odd one.¡± ¡°The finale has finally begun. The Sky god versus the Flaming Blade. WHO WILL WIN!!! They have both gone far, and this is the last battle. Let us see.¡± ¡°I hope you don¡¯t cry after losing.¡± ¡°Ready!!!¡± ¡°I hope you wake up in less than a day this time.¡± ¡°FIGHT!!!¡± With the announcer declaring the round had started, both me and Celios disappeared. At least, that¡¯s what I assumed it looked like to the others. Because neither me nor Celios were in the arena. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± We got in a defensive position when someone stepped out. Both me and Celios recognized that this man was beyond us. Even without the shackles, he outranked us. ¡°It seems that two from this world are fit to join our organization.¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°Someone far stronger than both of you.¡± ¡°We can tell that much.¡± ¡°My name is ?????????????¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°???????? Darn it. I thought I fixed that.¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± I stood in front of Celios, call it mother¡¯s instinct. I didn¡¯t trust him in the slightest. ¡°I am an ????????. I work for a group that looks for ????? to ?????????.¡± We looked at him in confusion. ¡°*Sigh* You didn¡¯t understand that did you.¡± We shake our heads. ¡°Alright. I work for tough people, who look for worlds to conquer. We usually take one or two from the worlds to join our ranks.¡± ¡°So, I was right.¡± The man looked hopeful, but my next words soured his expression. ¡°We can¡¯t let you leave here.¡± ¡°Unfortunate, I was told that you two were quite reasonable.¡± ¡°Well, what do you want with the worlds?¡± ¡°We use the people as fuel for our weapons. Use the right methods, and even a lowly human¡¯s corpse can become a refined masterpiece of armor. Just imagine what we could do if we used an Altmer, or even a dragon. Most worlds haven¡¯t advanced this far in terms of resource.¡± I had already decided to kill this man, but I asked a question and subtly unlatched the restraint. ¡°What¡¯s your final goal?¡± ¡°Destroy earth and enslave the one who rules it.¡± Then Kala spoke. ¡°You know? If you came to me or Celios with that two years ago. We probably would have said yes.¡± ¡°And now?¡± Celios was confused, but he assumed that I had met myself. ¡°We met someone.¡± Kala smiled. ¡°And her name is Rose Hood.¡± I took back control of the body and lunged at Celios and shattered his restraint. ¡°Kala¡­¡± ¡°Not the time, Celios.¡± He nodded and we entered battle formation. Two members were missing, but we were ready to fight. The man laughed. ¡°Unfortunate, I told them that we should have gone for this world sooner. Then we could have gotten new members.¡± Then, he struck to kill. I blocked as he punched. His punch shattered my arms, and I had to fight against him with my legs. Celios used his bounce attack, but this time, he had sword techniques to back him up. Our powers were far greater than the training, but we were still nowhere near him. ¡°Status check.¡± I used the skill before freezing. I could only get one thing. ----------------- ??????????? Level: [ERROR: NUMBER TOO LARGE TO PROCCESS] Race: Human ----------------- He took advantage of my pause and struck with enough strength to kill even a god. I barely deflected it, but he came right back with a strong blow that cracked the shell we were in, but that was enough to see our location. ¡°CELIOS, GET OVER HERE!!!¡± He understood and ran over, barely grabbing onto my hand before we warped. ¡°You little¡­ I¡¯ll destroy you and that puny town. And even if somehow you win.¡± As the scene faded, he smiled terrifyingly. ¡°I¡¯m only a grunt.¡± Chapter 81: The Power of the Simple Beasts Me and Celios appeared in the ring, and I collapsed right away. ¡°Amanda!!!¡± Despite knowing my identity, he was still worried. ¡°We were in the far reaches of space, it took almost all of my mana to get us back here.¡± ¡°I see, and he¡¯s going to be here.¡± ¡°Very quickly.¡± Dallel leapt in the ring. ¡°Celios what happened.¡± He froze as my disguise and aura shield faded due to lack of mana. ¡°Rose.¡± ¡°Sup.¡± Dallel drew his sword, but Celios stood in front of me. ¡°Listen, I know how much you want to fight her. Believe me, I do too. But we have bigger issues right now.¡± ¡°Celios, I don¡¯t know how she tri-¡° ¡°Will you shut up right now Dallel?! We have a being that could do this to Kala without breaking a sweat coming in who knows how short of time. I don¡¯t care what you are feeling, we need to evacuate the city now.¡± His words echoed across the arena. The people finally looked at me and Nala gasped. ¡°Her arms¡­ they¡¯re shattered.¡± Dallel nearly dropped his sword upon seeing the state of my arms. ¡°That was from one attack.¡± Upon realizing the gravity of the situation, panic grew. It was then that I realized that it was for the best that Granny showed up. ¡°EVERYONE CALM DOWN!!! WE WON¡¯T ESCAPE IF WE PANIC!!!¡± Her shout calmed everyone. We left the arena and as I couldn¡¯t move due to having such little mana, Dallel carried me. ¡°You are going to explain a lot, do you hear?¡± ¡°I understand, but right now we need to focus on survival.¡± Celios remembered something. ¡°Kala, you used status check, what are his stats.¡± I gritted my teeth before answering. ¡°Too large to process.¡± Celios nodded as though he expected that result and got to unrestraining the other gods. ¡°Why can¡¯t you move though?¡± ¡°I used all of my mana to get back from where we were. We traveled way too far to have no consequences.¡± Celios nodded, then a crash was heard and a terrifyingly familiar voice. ¡°Oh, weaklings. I gave you an offer, and you can still accept, and I won¡¯t destroy everything.¡± I snorted. ¡°Yeah, you won¡¯t destroy everything because you still need these people for materials.¡± He laughed. ¡°Kala was your name, right? Well, you made a material rich world, and you didn¡¯t think for a moment that people would use it? That¡¯s almost pitiful.¡± Dallel recognized his strength immediately and ran as fast as he could. Duhnheim was frozen in fear, so Celios grabbed him.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°RETREAT!!! WE CAN¡¯T WIN!!!¡± The people realized how strong he was for the stubborn Dallel to instantly declare defeat. ¡°Disappointing, for such a rich world, you don¡¯t have many actually strong people.¡± Celios barely blocked the attack aimed for Dallel, but Celios was thrown back in a twisted pretzel shape. He coughed out blood. The man smiled. ¡°A god? Kala, you made such an interesting world. No matter, I can still kill him.¡± Celios spat blood at the man. ¡°You should have just joined us, weakling.¡± My mind remembered Royce in that instant. When Celios killed him, my rage was pure and I would have killed him, but now I was furious, but at this man who acted like we all were pathetic. I launched from Dallel and cut at his back, but he was prepared and snapped my body in half. I coughed out blood but healed and got up. The man¡¯s eyes widened, but his grin didn¡¯t fade. ¡°Interesting, you really have to join us now. Your rage is unique.¡± Kala and I smiled back. Speaking with both of our voices. ¡°Your death was assured the moment you threatened my friend.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t want to do this, because I may fade.¡± Everyone realized what I meant, and Dallel shouted. ¡°Rose, don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Kala, I will merge.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± Our power spasmed and merged and the man charged, but this time I could block. My arm still broke, but I didn¡¯t move. ¡°What? Kala, how?¡± He didn¡¯t understand who I was. Why I was able to make a world like this. My mind was full. The memories of Rose stormed in like a typhoon, and as such, so did the memories of the other shards. I understood their rage, what my children did, and what I had to do to save them. ¡°I don¡¯t know what dark art you used, but I will still kill you.¡± I smiled. ¡°Your first mistake, was threatening my friends.¡± He realized something. ¡°Your second mistake, was doing it where my dominion is supreme.¡± It was because Rose fought my aura that they were able to keep up. Now, there were no such shackles. ¡°You are just a beast that declares dominion. I am greater!!!¡± I laughed. ¡°You are certainly stronger, but I claim what I made.¡± I used all of my power in an instant, I couldn¡¯t hold back for a second. He used advanced magic without talking and barely blocked it, but he still took massive damage. ¡°You little *****.¡± I was then disconnected from Kala. She used too much power in an instant to maintain dominion. The man began to heal. ¡°You really think¡­ that you can defeat me? I am an ?????? of the ????? ??????¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care about your garbled crap. I¡¯ll kill you anyways.¡± The man smiled. ¡°Please, Kala. That was your strongest attack. What can you do?¡± ¡°Easy. But first you should know something.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± The man leaned over demeaningly. I could barely move, but I knew how to at least catch him off guard. ¡°My name is Rose, you ***hole.¡± I undid my shift. And I became a dragon. He was hit in the face by my rapidly growing body. Dallel took advantage of the distraction and cut the man¡¯s spine. He coughed out in pain. ¡°You weaklings dare hurt a higher being like myself.¡± As a catkin, I smiled. ¡°You higher beings dare get decimated by weaklings like us.¡± He turned quickly, but it was too late. The one thing I could confirm was that he was human, so my blade found his lunge and pierced it, assuring his death if he couldn¡¯t find healing. ¡°You little- You¡¯re a monster.¡± I grabbed his neck, and he started choking. But I only smiled. ¡°Not a monster, just a tad psychotic.¡± With that. I ripped off his head, then the oddest thing happened. [The individual Heather (Nickname: Kala) has achieved the proper requirements for system entrance. She can now view the system and understand it¡¯s functions.] [You have gained the skill, World Domination.] [The world under your rule now has leveled up to 5. The death of a higher being has fueled your world¡¯s energy.] [The Faction (God slayers) has declared war on you.] [You have gained the skill, Truth.] [Your title has changed from god of lies, to World¡¯s Mother.] [The mind Rose is now considered the dominant mind until the mind Kala can regenerate.] [The Supreme Faction has made peace with you. You have received a blessing.] [Your mana is low, do you wish to draw on the world.] ¡°No.¡± [Understood, your mana has drained to its dredges, but you refuse to draw on the world.] [You gained the title, Sacrificer. You now can take mana and life from any opponent in the same league as you or lower.] [Your true level has reached 15. Your Health and Mana have restored to full.] ¡°Check, Celios.¡± ------------------ Name: Celios Level: 10 Race: Diety Age: 704935 HP: 7450/87000000 MP: 200/100000000 Skills: King¡¯s wrath: 5 Fallen grace: 3 Divine aspect: 9 Sword king: 8 Wind divination: MAX ???????????????: ? Titles: Fallen king Dominator King of the Skies Hero Murderer The Outlaster -------------- ¡°Huh, what¡¯s with the question marks?¡± [System error. Individual Celios has lost skills due to using unique skill Self Destruction. As a result, the system is still regaining information.] ¡°Kala, who are you talking to?¡± ¡°Something odd.¡± Dallel and the other adventurers immediately raised their weapons. Of course. ¡°Explain, now.¡± I sighed and prepared to explain, but Kala spoke. ¡°It¡¯s time for you to know, I guess. The reason Rose sides with me.¡± ¡°Are you sure, Kala?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± They realized that I disconnected from Kala after the fight and seemed to be less tense. Then Kala said something that confused them. ¡°Could you maintain your body?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Then the same thing that happened during the fight against Celios and Dallel happened again. My body started falling apart. Then Kala¡¯s face was uncovered and more and more of it came uncovered. Amy had long since frozen by this point. She could barely breathe. Then it finished and Kala stood in the form she had as a human. ¡°It can¡¯t be¡­¡± ¡°Amy? What do you mean?¡± Amy ignored Celios¡¯s question. ¡°Heather? Is that really you?¡± Kala smiled sadly. ¡°Hi Amy, it¡¯s been a while.¡± Chapter 82: The System After reforming my body, Kala began to explain everything. Amy confirmed her story. After she was done, Dallel and Celios sat in thought. Dallel spoke first. ¡°If not for both Amy¡¯s reaction and her corroborating it, I wouldn¡¯t believe you. I can¡¯t argue with that¡­ Though I have one question.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Who was that guy?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t actually know. The only thing I could confirm is that he was human.¡± Asura looked at the corpse. ¡°That thing was human?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what the check said, but something odd happened after Rose killed him.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°A system, right out of an Isekai showed up.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It was like Everyone else is a R*turnee. Higher beings, factions. It doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± Amy somewhat understood, as she was also a weeb. ¡°So, by killing him, you unlocked this system?¡± ¡°Pretty much.¡± ¡°Did it appear in your retinas?¡± ¡°No, it talked sorta like I was a S*ord when I Reincarnated.¡± ¡°I see, so you have an announ*er-san?¡± ¡°No, it felt different.¡± ¡°Words of the W*rld?¡± ¡°No no no. It¡¯s like a broken alexa if you want a specific thing. It talks, but you can¡¯t do anything to talk to it.¡± ¡°Man¡­¡± Amy was almost disappointed that me and Kala didn¡¯t have our own a*nouncer-san. Everyone listening was entirely lost. ¡°Your world thing?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± Celios didn¡¯t get the system, but he did have a question. ¡°How is it that you are a 15, but can still crush us?¡± ¡°Because I checked the system, and you are a 10.¡± Celios realized that it was a different scale after that. ¡°Wait¡­ did it tell you about my skill?¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Yes, and I don¡¯t want you to use it unless it¡¯s an emergency from now on.¡± Celios sighed. ¡°Fair, I guess.¡± Nala had to ask. ¡°What skill?¡± ¡°Self-destruction, it permanently removes abilities so he can be stronger for a bit.¡± They looked at Celios in shock. A skill like that could kill him if he wasn¡¯t careful. ¡°Yeah, I never used it often, but I designated it as necessary there.¡± Dallel sighed then turned back to me. ¡°Well, that does explain why Amanda was so strong suddenly, you just stopped holding back.¡± ¡°Nope, here.¡± I grabbed the restraint I wore and tossed it to Dallel. ¡°I wore that the whole training.¡± Dallel¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Even the tournament?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± They realized what it meant. Not only did I fight on an equal ground, but I even mastered fire magic in a state when my magic was all but gone. ¡°You certainly have a lot of talent.¡± ¡°It comes with reincarnating as a nigh omnipotent being¡­ at least Kala thought we were.¡± ¡°Yeah, that guy was certainly stronger.¡± ¡°Yep, if I hadn¡¯t merged with Kala in that instance, he would have won, and even then, I only managed to catch him off guard by removing my shift.¡± ¡°And the more terrifying part.¡± All of us looked at Celios. ¡°At least, according to himself, he was just a grunt.¡± _ We returned to the city and counted our losses, luckily, no one died in that assault as the guy focused me and Celios, but the arena and wall were pretty much rubble. Most people looked at me with suspicion. That was expected, but still painful. The gods all left for their own domains. Ausar told us the plan. ¡°If this faction, God Slayers, declared war, we need to be prepared. We will all continue increasing our skills, but as of now, we need to mobilize our armies. I doubt that man was the last they¡¯ll send.¡± Dallel agreed with the plan. He needed to gather the adventurer¡¯s guild and get Dalis to call for aid. Mammon and the others didn¡¯t trust me, so they had me wear the restraint, so Dallel or Celios would be able to beat me. They even went the next step and gave me one that I couldn¡¯t just disconnect. As I was a full 5 levels higher than Celios, it was a necessary precaution. I was still S rank in strength, but that was a far cry from my Dominion skill. Celios had a question. ¡°What does level 5 mean for a world?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I think it may mean that the average strength of both beasts and people increases greatly.¡± ¡°So, you think things like the Whilderbeast king will be more common?¡± Mammon asked the question I had myself. ¡°As I¡¯m new to this system, I can¡¯t really say, but that is what I¡¯d assume.¡± ¡°That is concerning.¡± ¡°Honestly, we are at the point where we have multiple fighters that way exceed its strength, but what I¡¯m more worried about¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Is that another one of those ¡®higher beings¡¯ could attack.¡± Dallel had a question. ¡°What is the Supreme Faction though?¡± Both me and Kala knew. ¡°Earth.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°They declared peace after I killed a grunt and had war declared on me by the God Slayers.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°Their final goal is to kill the ruler of Earth.¡± ¡°Do you think that they could?¡± Kala snorted. ¡°Absolutely not. It¡¯s a fool''s errand to try, but I¡¯m more concerned that they will kill the people of Earth¡­ One in particular I want to defend.¡± Amy nodded. ¡°Amanda.¡± Kala nodded. ¡°But one thing doesn¡¯t add up.¡± We looked at Dallel. ¡°Why would they try to recruit you?¡± I answered. ¡°Because I have the power to get to Earth.¡± Their eyes widened. ¡°How?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s Kala¡¯s homeworld, it didn¡¯t require much mana, so upon Kala showing me her memories, I urged her to visit, and she did.¡± ¡°Is that when she got her change of heart?¡± I nodded. ¡°Her original goal was to destroy Earth for their mistreatment of the neurodivergent, but because of the visit she stopped that.¡± ¡°Heather is very stubborn. What caused the change?¡± ¡°Amanda¡¯s book, and the one that got her sent to the office in middle school lamenting that he never got the chance to apologize.¡± Amy nodded. ¡°The book definitely made waves in terms of how people saw the neurodivergent.¡± The medieval folk were once again confused. ¡°Neurodivergent?¡± ¡°One type, psychopathy, reduces the amount of empathy one has for others. Kala is a psychopath, and as a result faced discrimination.¡± ¡°I see. That¡¯s stupid, if anything, add them to the forces.¡± ¡°They were scared that they would attack their allies.¡± ¡°¡­ That¡­ what?¡± Dallel and Celios were both at a loss. ¡°I mean, it did occasionally happen, but it was still quite ludicrous.¡± ¡°All¡­ right.¡± Amy sighed as though we didn¡¯t understand. Chapter 83: A Time to Rest I remained under watch, but still refined my skills with Amy. I could see why Kala stuck with her. She was a wonderful person. ¡°So, Heather evolved me?¡± ¡°Yes, she did it so you wouldn¡¯t lose.¡± ¡°Heh, she always hated me losing.¡± ¡°Yes, it was very irritating.¡± ¡°Though, how did you grow that much when the other gods hadn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Because, unlike them, I have a true body.¡± ¡°They have bodies too.¡± ¡°See it more like an *AO avatar. Their mind is in it, but they can¡¯t fully interact with the world.¡± ¡°I guess that makes sense.¡± ¡°Yeah, it would take either absorption, or a will that exceeds mine and Kala¡¯s combined to actually kill them.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I went into a rage when I saw Celios so injured, because I realized that his life was actually at threat.¡± ¡°What was the garbled speech though?¡± ¡°It was like the V*idfish from The A*venture Zone.¡± ¡°I know right?¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know how to do it either, but it seemed as though he tried to disable it for me and Celios, as he showed annoyance when we didn¡¯t understand him.¡± ¡°I see, so it¡¯s a selection on who can hear you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m assuming.¡± ¡°But are you Rose or Heather?¡± ¡°Currently I¡¯m Rose, but technically I am a piece of Kala.¡± ¡°I see, it¡¯s hard to comprehend.¡± ¡°I agree but see it as Kala¡¯s mind being split into 10, and because we were named, we became fully independent, but Kala still reformed. We are just additional minds.¡± ¡°That certainly helps¡­ Think Aussie will be back soon?¡± ¡°Worried about your BF?¡± ¡°GAHK no!¡± I smirked. Despite both of them despising each other at first, it was almost obvious that they liked each other now. ¡°Though I think I know how Granny works now.¡± I changed the subject quickly and it worked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°A long time ago, when I thought I was just a dragon, I swore loyalty to her, and I think I now know why?¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Something about her is familiar, as though Kala designed her as someone calming to members of your original trio.¡± ¡°That makes sense. Granny does seem very calming.¡± Then Kala corrected. ¡®Actually, you indirectly made her.¡¯ ¡°What?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Oh, Kala just said I indirectly made her. What do you mean, Kala?¡±If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡®Well, it¡¯s quite simple, you wished for someone that could show compassion and would be calming. At that same time, Dalla was born with those traits. So, at that point, while bound even, you drew on my power and used creation to make someone with the proper traits.¡¯ ¡°What did she say?¡± ¡°I made Granny through my wish for a good person.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± _ ¡°Alright, Ogre that way, do you got it?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± I lunged using fire and burnt the ogre from the inside out. ¡°Nice, you got him.¡± ¡°And he¡¯s perfectly cooked.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really wanna eat that.¡± ¡°More for me then.¡± Amy looked at me in minor disgust as I ripped off an ogre leg and gnawed on it. ¡°What?¡± ¡°It just looks humanish.¡± I swallowed. ¡°Eh, see it this way, it¡¯s like a chicken. They look cute, but you¡¯ll still eat chicken nuggets, no?¡± ¡°That makes sense; besides I¡¯ve never tried it.¡± ¡°Want to?¡± ¡°I¡­ could try.¡± I handed her a small piece, and she nibbled. Then looked up. ¡°Why does it taste good?¡± ¡°Seasoning, and I burnt out the regular poison, so it turned to straight flavor.¡± ¡°I see." ¡°Yep, want some more?¡± ¡°¡­ Sure.¡± _ We were chatting when we got back to the guild. Since I was in my catkin form, I didn¡¯t look intimidating, but my fire skill, despite the restraint, was obvious for those in the element. Thalia was quick to accept that I was still a good guy, but the others were more suspicious of me. In fact, when I entered the guild¡­ ¡°ROSE!!!¡± A dragon tackle hugged me, so I crashed through the wall. ¡°Are you okay? Did you get hurt by anything?" I was barely awake at that point, but she kept shaking me in worry. ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°Guuu¡­¡± [Your skill, Pain Resistance, has leveled to 6] Despite being life threatening, Thalia¡¯s hugs were good sources of training. Thalia was leaning over me in absolute concern for my health, like she wasn¡¯t the one who put me in that situation. Of course, Asura was looking at Thalia from a decent position. Amy smirked at him, and he quickly averted his gaze with a light blush. Thalia was confused. I sat up, the damage retracted. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°Thank goodness.¡± ¡°I agree, but Thalia.¡± We both froze at the dwarven voice. ¡°STOP BREAKING MY WALL!!!¡± ¡°SORRY!!!¡± Mammon, the only person that could make both a mature dragon and a god tremble. _ I ate my food and talked with Silas, the other person who confirmed I was still good. As he was directly connected with me, he was able to tell a bit about me. Celios was still in Selethon because his cult abandoned him when the gods did. So, he had no reason to leave. While a lot of people still despised him for what happened to Royce, a lot more understood that he had changed since then. Jalad, for one, helped him learn more sword skills. Jalad was the only person who had the Unique skill, Sword god. As such, none of us could reach him in pure skill, but we certainly did try to. In terms of magic, however, I still was the top. Even with the restraint, my fire skill outdid Thalia, and I started remastering the other elemental divinations. My goal was to have arcane by the end of the month. Celios often expressed concern at my growth. ¡°Aren¡¯t you growing too fast?¡± ¡°With the enemies we¡¯ll be facing in the future, I¡¯ll need access to my strongest skill, even when weakened.¡± Celios reluctantly agreed, and he also trained with a restraint. But no matter how much I tried to teach him, he couldn¡¯t use air magic with the restraint. He attributed it to me being the creator of the world. I couldn¡¯t disagree until Amy managed to use nature magic in a restraint. It was a lot weaker, but it was still magic. We then realized that people born from Earth were just unique. ¡°I mean it makes sense.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Think about it, the system gave a name for the faction that we are against, but the ruler of Earth was simply called the Supreme Faction. It makes sense that whoever rules it likely can make even more pure beings than I can.¡± ¡°What¡¯s our faction called?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, let me look to see what the system calls us.¡± [No faction can be formed. REASON: No higher beings in capital world.] ¡°Huh¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Apparently, because we don¡¯t have a higher being, we aren¡¯t a faction.¡± ¡°How do you become a higher being?¡± ¡°Lemme ask.¡± [You must reach the level 200 and complete a list of objectives upon reaching 200.] ¡°200?!!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°To become a higher being, where I am a 15, I have to be a level 200.¡± ¡°Holy crap, so it was absolute luck we were able to beat that one guy.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Hm¡­ how do we level.¡± ¡°I dunno.¡± [To gain experience, you need to kill beings in your league or higher.] ¡°Then how am I a 15?¡± [Due to killing a higher being as your first in league kill, you ascended to 15 nearly immediately. Progress to 10 was also given to the second most contributor.] ¡°So, from what I understand, killing that joker was our first bout of XP.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yep, we need to successfully kill things equal to us or stronger to increase level.¡± [Note: beings outside of the system will not gain experience until entry.] ¡°And as the others aren¡¯t in the system they can¡¯t gain levels.¡± ¡°Great.¡± ¡°How do you get in the system in the first place?¡± [Two way to enter the system are available. First is sponsorship by a higher being. Second is becoming a level 1000 in whatever system you are placed in.] ¡°Hm¡­ so yeah they¡¯re not far.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°To enter the system, one of us has to become a higher being and sponsor the others, or they need to reach 1000.¡± Celios smiled. ¡°Both Jalad and Dallel are rather close to that.¡± I smiled back. ¡°Yes, they could enter the system by the end of the month.¡± Chapter 84- The Time to Train ¡°So, you want us to all fast-track to 1000?!¡± Mammon¡¯s shock was understandable. Asura laughed. ¡°I¡¯m actually close to that. 989 now. Even though I haven¡¯t killed much, fighting you all increased my levels.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because I made it so when you fight a transcendent, you gain XP so the weaker ones wouldn¡¯t be wiped out instantly.¡± ¡°Smart, so what¡¯s the plan?¡± I smiled in a menacing way. ¡°I take off the restraint and fight all of you until you reach level 1 in the system.¡± Celios laughed. ¡°Man, if only we could level in the system that way.¡± ¡°It would be helpful.¡± ¡°Though, why can¡¯t I access the system too?¡± ¡°Because, technically you haven¡¯t met the requirements yet, you just gained level because you did the second most damage.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Well, let me take this off.¡± I detached the restraint. They looked at me in shock. ¡°How long could you do that?¡± ¡°The whole time.¡± Mammon sighed and drew his hammer. ¡°Alright¡­ let¡¯s train.¡± _ Over the next month we all took shots, trying to beat Rose. Even those of us who made it to the required level couldn¡¯t land a blow on her. It was obvious that 15 was high as heck in the system, and we wondered once again, how we managed to beat that guy with no casualties. ¡°He was overconfident.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°But Rose is flat out incredible.¡± ¡°Well, add in the training that she had with the rest of the gods, and factor in her strength before, then the fact that she¡¯s a 15 in the system. I¡¯m not surprised.¡± ¡°Yeah, but still.¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. When we weren¡¯t fighting her to gain levels, she was training the other elements under restraint, so she could develop arcane even under restraint. As a result, she could decimate us with relative ease. Surprisingly, despite training as much as possible, the only gods in the system were Celios and Silith, but Rose was quick to explain. ¡°They barely trained before the restrained training. Silith and Celios on the other hand, had to train to get stronger, so they were already a high level when it began.¡± Another surprise was that Amy and Ausar became a duo. They fought with maximum efficiency, and Ausar took it upon himself to teach her the divine attribute. Both of them leveled at the same rate. In fact, they claimed that they would gain access to the system at the end of the next battle. So, we all watched their battle with Rose. ¡°Are you two ready?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± They spoke of a special move they made. I was interested to see it. Nala, as usual, was the referee. ¡°FIGHT!¡± Ausar and Amy charged in at Rose, but she managed to avoid their first attack and retaliated with a high-level nature attack. Amy tried holding it back, but she only managed to mitigate it before being launched. Ausar morphed into a bear and launched at Rose, but she became the horse sized dragon and grappled with him, tossing him around. Amy launched herself onto Rose¡¯s back and attempted to stab her spine, but Rose did a roll that not only knocked Amy off, but also twisted Ausar¡¯s head. The duo stood up and dusted themselves off. But Rose made the offense this time. She struck quickly, and Amy barely dodged as Ausar barely blocked. They struck back and forth quite impressively. The duo had more coordination than most. Despite not even being a level 1, they managed to remain in stable battle for a while, but even still, they couldn¡¯t land a proper blow. Amy decided to use a massive amount of life magic, while Ausar turned into a large salamander. Rose seemed to catch on before we did and launched back right as Ausar, who now mimicked a dragon, bit down where she just was. ¡°Was that their special move? That¡¯s incredible. Using both life magic and Ausar¡¯s affinity for beasts to morph him into a dragon is a powerful move.¡± But I had a feeling that there was something else they had planned. While Rose was preoccupied with Ausar, Amy was doing something odd. She was using advanced magic on herself. And her aura kept growing. Rose clearly realized that something was happening, but she was busy with Ausar. He countered her arcane with life magic. It was certainly a spectacle. ¡°What¡¯s their game? Sure, Ausar can obtain the same bodily strength now, but Rose still beats him in terms of skill. Amy is too smart to put everything into a plan that flimsy.¡± Silith nailed it. ¡°Notice that she is buffing herself. I think that that¡¯s just a distraction while Amy builds up the strength for the real special move.¡± ¡°Smart distraction, even Rose can¡¯t just ignore a dragon, especially when that dragon is another god.¡± Rose managed to push down Ausar and he shifted back to his birdkin form and launched a kick that Rose dodged before returning to catkin. The two clashed as Rose tried to advance on Amy. Amy continued buffing herself, and she began removing some armor. The play was odd. None of us could figure out what she was doing. Rose, still clearly expecting something, finally pushed Ausar out of the way and attempted to interrupt Amy, but Ausar, as a tiger, bit her side, resulting in the first damage she received since the start of the training. That seemed to give Amy just enough time as she yelled. ¡°NOW, AUSAR!!!¡± Ausar leapt at Amy and reached out his hand. Celios gasped. ¡°It can¡¯t be. That¡¯s the move?!¡± As soon as their hands connected. Ausar began to crumble to dust. He was possessing Amy. They merged and one of her eyes looked like Ausar¡¯s while the other resembled Amy¡¯s still. ¡°A dual mind?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It¡¯s like what Kala and Rose do, where there are two minds in one body. That¡¯s why she was buffing herself, so not only her body, but her mind would also be able to withstand his will and power.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ ingenious.¡± ¡°It is.¡± Then the duo, now in one body, spoke with both voices. Wings sprouted where the discarded armor originated. ¡°So Rose, are you ready?¡± Rose smiled at the new challenge. ¡°Let¡¯s fight.¡± Chapter 85: The D84! Mind Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Chapter 86: The Raid of Selethon This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Chapter 87: The Declaration of Vengeance Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Chapter 88: The Dominion I got more and more nations to join the union and I returned to Selethon to check the rebuilding process. It was going well, and I helped a bit with magic. ¡°Rose, we are currently rebuilding the guild hall, but we are planning to make it a training ground.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good idea, if you reinforce it with advanced barrier magic, we could also train our higher-level skills without needing to leave the city.¡± Then I received a system message. [The Faction (Dominion) has requested negotiations on their capital world, do you wish to travel to their world?] ¡°What happens during negotiations?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°The system is talking to me.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± [When a faction requests negotiation, the leaders meet in a selected spot, during that time, neither leader can attack the other. Note: the armies are not bound by nonaggression.] ¡°What¡¯s Dominion¡¯s relation with the God Slayers?¡± [You do not have access to that information.] ¡°Rose, what¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°A faction wants to negotiate, but I¡¯m worried that it¡¯s a trap.¡± ¡°I think you should do it, we can defend here, and if we get more allies, then that¡¯s a win in my book.¡± Everyone agreed, so I went back to the system. ¡°I will travel.¡± [Travel beginning. Please stay a solid 3 feet away from anyone.] I moved far enough. [Traveling.] A light struck down and I was pulled into it. It was like a flashbang. When it cleared, I was sitting in a chair, and a woman was sat in front of me. ¡°Hello, Cat.¡± ¡°Reg.¡± It was my sister, the nature dragon. We called her Reg, short for oregano, because of her love of cooking. ¡°My name is Regala now, but you are the leader?¡± ¡°Are you the ruler of Dominion?¡± ¡°Yes, I after that elf destroyed our nest, I ravaged nations until I reached 1000, then I entered the system and joined a faction. I worked my way up from there.¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°What level are you?¡± ¡°273, how about you?¡± ¡°38.¡± ¡°Low, but since our native world is new to the system, that¡¯s quite impressive.¡± ¡°Yes, also my name is Rose.¡± ¡°Rose, nice name, but how did you get classified as the leader?¡± ¡°You know my nature?¡± ¡°Yes, shard of the evil god.¡± ¡°Things have changed since then. The evil god was actually just corrupted by muck. I am the core of the creator of that world; therefore, it recognized me as the leader.¡± ¡°I see, I certainly missed things. Do you have word on the others?¡± ¡°Greeny, or Elren, is married and has a child. Crimson, or Thalia, just lost the person she loved in the attack by the God Slayers. Onyx took over our home nation. Ravi was killed by the elf, Saliad.¡± ¡°I see, so quite a bit has happened. It was good to reach out as an ally.¡± ¡°What prompted you to do so?¡± ¡°I heard that the Supreme Faction sent a force to protect that world, and I kind of wanted to see who they sent a force to protect.¡± ¡°I see, but yeah, the people slaughtered them with ease.¡± ¡°It makes sense, the lowest level in the Supreme Faction¡¯s fighting force is 600.¡± ¡°That¡¯s insane.¡± ¡°Yes, but since their ruler designed said system, He doesn¡¯t have much trouble with it.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know that.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s not a secret, but it¡¯s not exactly common knowledge.¡± ¡°I could see it, given Kala¡¯s memories of the ruler.¡± ¡°Wait, the god you¡¯re a piece of met Him?!¡± ¡°Yes, she originated from Earth.¡± ¡°Incredible, no wonder the God Slayers want her. She has access to that world.¡± ¡°Is that something incredible?¡± ¡°No one can reach Earth. The ruler of the Supreme Faction specifically blocked it off.¡± ¡°Wow, so the fact that we can reach it with ease is¡­¡± ¡°A rather useful trait¡­ Tell me, sister. What do you think of the enslaving of the Supreme Faction¡¯s ruler.¡± ¡°A fool¡¯s errand.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°He is far too powerful.¡± ¡°What level would you put him at?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if there is a way to properly level Him, but if I had too, I¡¯d say well over a million.¡± ¡°A million!?¡± ¡°Yes, we can consider ourselves transcendent all we want, but He is simply beyond.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°So, what did you call me for?¡± ¡°I want to form a pact between our factions.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m not recognized as a faction. We have no higher beings.¡± ¡°And? Your world counts as the faction until the higher beings are made, then you can claim other worlds.¡± ¡°I guess that makes sense.¡± She stood up. ¡°I want to agree to two things. First, a nonaggression pact. Second, a mutual defense pact.¡± ¡°You are far stronger than us. What do you gain from this?¡± ¡°Please, not anyone can stand against a higher being as less than a 1, and with only 4 combatants you killed one over 300. Your world has massive potential, plus grinding to get everyone in the system is certainly ingenious.¡± She smiled menacingly. ¡°Also, don¡¯t think your world was the only one to see you gain a level without killing someone. Making unique skills is one way to level, but simply using them shouldn¡¯t be.¡± ¡°I think the system was also confused.¡± ¡°Of course, it was. A person of Earth reincarnating at all is a unique thing, but to not only reincarnate, but as someone that strong¡­¡± She looked me dead in the eyes. ¡°Not to mention, that¡¯s the first time the system has had an error.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°In all of recorded history, never once has the system had an error. Yet, not only do you originate from Earth, but you also can do that.¡± ¡°Is it related to the creepy smile?¡± ¡°Creepy smile?¡± ¡°It activates when I use a major amount of my power, it terrified Sal.¡± ¡°Hm¡­ something new is involved.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Well, let me state it this way. Sal was an old man who never really focused on leveling, he explored and learnt of pretty much everything. For him to not only not know of something, but to be terrified by it¡­ That is scary in of itself.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± Regala stood up. ¡°So, do we have a deal for the two terms?¡± ¡°Any fine print I should know of.¡± ¡°No. I have no reason to cheat you.¡± It wasn¡¯t a lie, so I also stood, and we shook hands. [An alliance has been made between the junior faction ruled by Rose Hood, and Dominion.] ¡°Nice, so, I want to visit the world, just to see all that¡¯s changed.¡± [The Leader of the Faction (Dominion) has requested entry. Motive: Exploring home world.] ¡°Sure, why not?¡± Chapter 89: Kin-Killer When I returned, I saw Dallel standing with a clipboard. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°Oh, perfect, we need to know where to put the altar.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Even if you entered the system or used to be a human, right now you¡¯re a deity, meaning you get stronger with worship.¡± Then Dallel noticed the dragon in the room. ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Leader of Dominion and my sister, Regala.¡± ¡°A dragon is a faction leader?¡± ¡°Apparently, but listen, I really don¡¯t have any preferences with altar placement.¡± ¡°Okay, now for another question. Do you prefer lamb blood or pig blood as a proper sacrifice?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Celios said that animal sacrifices are great source of power.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need sacrifices.¡± ¡°Okay, so no preference.¡± ¡°Wait. That¡¯s not what I-¡° ¡°Next question.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Do you have a specific day that you want separated for no work?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Amy said that¡¯s what Earth¡¯s ruler did.¡± ¡°I know, the Sabbath, but I don¡¯t need one.¡± ¡°Okay. Next que-¡° ¡°Who¡¯s Amy?¡± Dallel gave a glance of minor annoyance to the ascended dragon, before ignoring the question and continued. ¡°What is the punishment for theft?¡± ¡°Um, return the item and fine them a 10th of the item¡¯s cost.¡± ¡°Okay. What about murder?¡± ¡°Death.¡± My immediate response shocked both of them. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°If they commit murder and kill another, they should be executed. If it¡¯s a smite death, then smite them, if it¡¯s a regular death that we can revive, then let them stew in death for two days then revive them.¡± ¡°That seems harsh.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want killing to be entirely normalized to the point that we don¡¯t care, that¡¯s how we lose our morality. A fear of death is still prevalent, despite Elren¡¯s ability. If we aren¡¯t harsh on unrightful killing, then we will lose ourselves and become as bad as those who took our friends.¡± Dallel seemed to understand, but Regala had another question. ¡°Elren can revive the dead?¡± ¡°As long as they aren¡¯t smited.¡± ¡°Interesting that Greeny got that strong.¡± Dallel had an odd look. ¡°I still can¡¯t believe that King Elren used to be named Greeny.¡± ¡°King Elren?!¡± ¡°Yeah, he now rules the elven nation.¡± ¡°That¡¯s awesome, I thought only Onyx became a ruler.¡± ¡°Another fun thing, Dallel here is Elren¡¯s brother-in-law.¡± ¡°That is cool.¡± ¡°I guess, why are you here though, if you don¡¯t mind me asking.¡± ¡°I just really want to see what went on during my absence.¡± ¡°Fair, I guess. Anyways, Rose, I have a few more questions¡­¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. So, the first hour of my return was spent answering questions about laws. _ ¡°Reg?¡± Thalia saw Regala and smiled before tackle hugging her. ¡°Cri-GAHK!¡± Regala was pinned. ¡°Oh, dear sister, it¡¯s been so long since we last spoke.¡± ¡°Ghk.¡± Regala was trying to wriggle, but Thalia was hugging too tightly. ¡°Rose, you gonna help her?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just happy I¡¯m not on the receiving end of the hug this time.¡± Thalia kept hugging, so I stepped in. ¡°Thalia, she can¡¯t breathe.¡± ¡°What? OH NO ARE YOU OKAY?!¡± Regala was dazed. Then Dallel walked in on the scene. ¡°Dang, I didn¡¯t expect Thalia to be able to take down a faction leader that easily.¡± ¡°Heh?¡± Everyone except me froze. Then Regala, still dizzy from recent lack of air, said. ¡°Good to see that Cri- I mean Thalia hasn¡¯t changed all that much.¡± Thalia had a question. ¡°You¡¯re a faction leader?¡± ¡°Yes, I am the leader of Dominion.¡± Thalia smiled; I knew that smile. All of our siblings did. ¡°THAT¡¯S SO COOL!!!¡± And once again, I had to pry her off of the poor dragon. _ ¡°So, you¡¯re a higher being?¡± ¡°Level 268.¡± Regala was still out of breath, but she was open to talking. ¡°I thought¡­ nevermind. How did you become a faction ruler in 90 years?¡± ¡°Dominion needed a ruler, so after I proved my metal by becoming a higher being in only 50 years, they made me leader.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the usual timing?¡± ¡°It normally takes 1000 years after entering the system to become one.¡± ¡°I think Rose may beat your record.¡± ¡°Impossible.¡± ¡°Nah, I bet she¡¯ll get it in one year.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll admit, 38 in two months is impressive, but that¡¯s a fluke.¡± Mammon snorted. ¡°People said that when she became a B rank in record time too. Then in less than a year she became an S rank.¡± ¡°That¡¯s different from becoming a higher being, dwarf.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°You need only strength to become a high adventuring rank, to become a higher being, you need to not only be strong, but also kill those stronger than you. It took 50 years of not only training, but I had to hunt higher beings constantly. I had to battle more level 200s than there are people in your kingdom.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll hunt 400s.¡± Everyone turned to me. ¡°I need to become a higher being as fast as I can to make sure these people stay safe, so if you could get it in 50 years by hunting 200s. I¡¯ll get it in 1 by hunting 400s.¡± Regala started laughing. ¡°Please, even I can¡¯t beat a 400 at this point, there¡¯s no way that you will be able to hunt them. Sal was among the weakest of the 400s due to his sparing killing, and even he demolished you.¡± ¡°Then I need to get stronger.¡± ¡°You really are insistent on this.¡± Thalia laughed. ¡°I¡¯m not the only one who hasn¡¯t changed.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. I know it¡¯s a fool¡¯s errand to try to dissuade you once you¡¯ve made up your mind.¡± Amy walked in. Regala immediately took notice. ¡°You¡¯re from Earth.¡± ¡°Uh¡­. Okay? Yes, I am.¡± ¡°Amy, this is Regala, my sister and leader of Dominion, a faction.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± ¡°For a human from a world unfamiliar with magic, you are quite confident.¡± Regala seemed shocked that no one here was at all scared of her. ¡°Well, I know that God will defend me from all problems.¡± ¡°So, are you a member of the Supreme Faction? No, too low a level.¡± ¡°I¡¯m planning on joining Heather¡¯s faction when it gets made.¡± ¡°Who the **** is Heather?¡± ¡°That would be Kala¡¯s name when she was human.¡± ¡°Huh, so this person knew her.¡± I got a sense of danger and tensed unnoticeably. I knew something was odd. [Motive changed; would you like to see the new motive.] ¡°Yes.¡± Regala seemed to assume that I answered her and continued to chat. [The new motive of the Dominion Leader is to make sure this world cannot ascend into a capital. Hostages may be taken. Do you wish to revoke access?] ¡°Rose? What¡¯s that look for?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± It seemed I was the only one who could see motives, likely due to my nature. ¡°What?¡± Then the system spoke from the sky. [Notice: Due to hostile motives, the leader of Faction (Dominion) has had access revoked from Rose Hood¡¯s Capital world.] ¡°What?! Why?¡± Regala acted like she was hurt, but Thalia, Dallel, and Mammon focused on the reason. ¡°Hostile motives.¡± Thalia immediately moved in front of Amy. Then the confirmation came in. [The pact between the Junior Faction, and Dominion has been violated. Violater: Dominion.] Then Ausar charged in. ¡°Rose, there is an army of higher beings out there.¡± ¡°Any deities.¡± ¡°Not that I could see.¡± ¡°Good, so we can fight more ferociously.¡± Regala realized that her plan contained a flaw. As long as we weren¡¯t smited, we would live, and she didn¡¯t bring anyone that used smite. Her mask fell off, and she grimaced. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll simply have to kill you to prevent your ascension.¡± She charged me, but I blocked. ¡°Analyze.¡± ¡°Please, I am uncheckable.¡± Then to her surprise, I saw her skills. ---------------------- Regala Level: 398 Race: Mature Nature Dragon Age: 763 Skills: Nature Divination: Max Army: 3 Hunter: 9 Ascender Killer: 5 Sword King: 7 Evolution: 6 Forbidden Divination: 8 Titles: The Betrayer, Kin-killer, Kin-eater, Hunter, Undiscovered Killer[NOTICE: REQUIREMENTS GONE. TO BE REMOVED], World Breaker, Eternal Slaver, Ascendant Dragon. ------------------------- ¡°How did you do that?¡± She spat. It seemed that I removed one of her title¡¯s by simply analyzing her. I smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate us lower beings.¡± Then I grimaced. ¡°Which one did you kill?¡± ¡°What?¡± Thalia looked at me confused, it turned to shock when Regala laughed darkly. ¡°Shade, he didn¡¯t want to submit. His materials were useful for this armor.¡± ¡°And for your food?¡± Regala simply smiled. Thalia¡¯s expression turned to absolute horror. ¡°You ate our brother?¡± ¡°Please, I needed to level the forbidden magic. I learnt that dragons could escalate their growth through eating one another. There is a reason that I became so strong.¡± ¡°You are revolting.¡± ¡°Please, we are beasts. Trying to ignore it doesn''t change anything. All we have is increased intellect. We get stronger by eating our kin, so what? It¡¯s natural.¡± Thalia snapped and charged Regala in a rage. Regala blocked and threw Thalia into Mammon and Dallel. ¡°Careful, she¡¯s a 398.¡± Regala laughed. ¡°So, what if you removed my strongest title, I¡¯ll kill you and regain it.¡± I laughed. Regala had a look of confusion. ¡°Two levels lower than what I wanted, but I suppose that dragons would give me more Xp.¡± Regala¡¯s eyes widened at my words. ¡°You¡¯ll be my first killed in my hunting of the 400s, Kin-killer.¡± She didn¡¯t deserve her name. Regala snarled. ¡°You think you can kill me? I am the ruler of Dominion. I will kill all of you.¡± ¡°Tell me Murderer¡­¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Do you remember the consequence I stated.¡± Regala smiled at my challenge, but I simply continued. ¡°Murder will be punished by death.¡± Chapter 90: Blooming Bloodlust Regala snarled and lunged onto me, throwing me into the streets. Then she became her dragon form and slashed, but I simply dodged. Because I received something. [You have been gifted a blessing from the Supreme Faction. The Skill: Taboo Slayer, you are 125% as strong against users of Forbidden magic. This skill will be improved whenever you slay a user. As such your received XP will be increased by the same percentage.] I struck at her with my extra power. She leapt at me, claws first. No openings were present, so she grabbed me and threw me outside of the gates. I landed within the ranks of her men. Analysis showed that they averaged 250. She expected me to be overwhelmed. That was confirmed when Thalia charged her, and they fought mid-air. Thalia at a major disadvantage. ¡°The Leader. Kill her in the name of Lady Regala!¡± [The Faction (Dominion) has declared war on you.] Thank you ever so much, you useless system. I won¡¯t let this happen again. I¡¯ll kill every single person here. _ The shock of what just happened began to wear off as we snapped into action. Mammon shot forward to aid Thalia as I ran to the gate with Ausar and Amy. The sight that awaited us was shocking. We expected Rose to be hurt and close to dead, but instead she was ripping them apart. ¡°What¡¯s happening?!¡± Amy was in shock. Ausar knew though. ¡°She¡¯s bloodlusted.¡± It was at that point that I remembered that while she fought for a while, she hadn¡¯t killed for months. ¡°She was waiting for this.¡± Then I heard the system. [The individual Heather has reached level 55; her health is restored, and her skills have strengthened.] ¡°She¡¯s grinding XP.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°She¡¯s going to do it.¡± ¡°No, No NO!!! How is my force losing?!¡± ¡°Because you underestimated our sister. She¡¯s far beyond you.¡± ¡°Out of my WAY!!!¡± She slashed Thalia, causing her to fall and crash into a home bleeding. ¡°Rose, I will kill you.¡± Rose only looked over and smiled, her face melting into the horror. ¡°Try me.¡± _ I was bloodlusted, I needed more blood. Killing these weaklings wasn¡¯t enough to sate me, then my beautiful sibling came. Someone enough to give me an actual challenge. I couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°What the **** is that?!¡± I crushed the skull of one of her weaklings, and she charged me and attempted to kill me. I charged and clashed, staying as a catkin. I shouted in glee as she began to bleed. She realized my state and used forbidden magic, but I dodged. I wouldn¡¯t rest until I had enough blood to sate me, and the perfect amount was right in front of me. ¡°DIE!!!¡± She struck me with an attack that cut me in half, but I just stood up. ¡°What?¡± I didn¡¯t care for realities laws. They held me back. System override would help. [Command, heal me.] Whenever she cut me, I would simply use the system to restore myself. She was growing tense. ¡°Ah come on sister, don¡¯t freak out. If you beg for mercy,¡± Kin-killer showed confusion, so I continued. ¡°I¡¯ll make it quick.¡± She seemed to understand something. ¡°I just need to kill you in one blow, that should be easy.¡± She slashed me in half long ways, and I simply stood back up. She blasted me into oblivion, but I returned from a cell. ¡°How, how, HOW!!!¡± Her rage was obviously prevalent, but I didn¡¯t care. ¡°Any dragon, as long as they preserve 1 HP can return, but I can regenerate faster.¡± She looked at me with minor fear. It was delicious. ¡°So, big sister, how do you want to die.¡± Her blood would be enough. I knew it. She knew it. ¡°That¡¯s the smile, isn¡¯t it.¡± ¡°Ah, you noticed my beauty.¡± ¡°That¡¯s far from what I¡¯d consider beautiful.¡± ¡°Ah, so cruel~ I simply need to reciprocate.¡± I leapt and slashed at her, and she leapt back, but I chopped off one of her claws. She roared in pain and her blood dripped. The blood fell on my hand. And I smiled at the feeling. ¡°I need more.¡± This glee felt wonderful. But she wasn¡¯t attacking anymore. Why? ¡°GIVE ME MORE!!!¡± I shifted into a dragon 5 times her size and bit down on her. She wriggled and writhed in pain. Ripping off her own arm she ran off and reconnected with her army. ¡°We need to get out of here.¡± I wasn¡¯t going to let them just go. ¡°Arcane Oblivion.¡± The arcane armor formed around me and I smiled. [You have maxed out Arcane Divination, do you wish to fuse it with skills: Fire divination, Water divination, Air divination, Earth divination.] [Of course, it will get me new blood.] Kin-killers eyes widened as I spoke with the system. [You have created a new skill. You evolved a fusion and made a new skill: Reality magic. As a result, you have reached level 60.] [Reality Magic? Fun.] ¡°What?¡± [Aspect of the Reality Dragon] [Aspect of the World Mother] I equipped both aspects afforded to me and returned to catkin form. My skin had begun to melt and I seemed decrepit. ¡°Kill her while she¡¯s weak!!!¡± ¡°Wait!!!¡± No matter her screams, kin-killer¡¯s men were on a revenge rage. She counted her options and ran. ¡°Die beast.¡± I ate him. ¡°What?¡± ¡°How did that ha-¡° I ate another. My body was dismorphed and covered in blood. [System has been successfully updated.] [Use of the skill Savage Beast will now cause immense exhaustion after use.] I leapt and continued to rip them apart. Eventually the army fled and ran. [You have reached level 96; your health has been restored.] I killed roughly 67% of that army, not enough. ¡°Not enough.¡± I looked back, three sources of blood were waiting. ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°I need more.¡± ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°More.¡± ¡°Heather?¡± ¡°GIVE IT TO M-¡° [Savage Beast has disabled. Stamina has been reduced to 0. Bloodlust state removed. Entering dormant state.] Chapter 91: The Evolution of a Legion ¡°GIVE IT TO M-¡° Rose collapsed before finishing her statement. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°I think the system just saved our lives.¡± ¡°What do you mean, Aussie?¡± ¡°Amy, she was about to kill us when she collapsed.¡± ¡°What?¡± I nodded. ¡°In the bloodlusted state, dragons see siblings and food sources. No in between. If she didn¡¯t collapse, I think we would be dead right now.¡± We ran out to check on her, and Celios beat us there. ¡°She¡¯s alright, just in a deep sleep. It seems the system put a restriction on whatever happens when her face dismorphs like that.¡± Thalia ran up, there was a huge gash in her stomach. ¡°Is Rose okay?¡± ¡°Yes, are you okay?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll live. What happened? Where did the kin-killer go?¡± ¡°She fled. Rose killed a major portion of her army, but she got exhausted.¡± ¡°I see. Unfortunate that the kin-killer couldn¡¯t die today.¡± None of us had ever heard Thalia speak with such venom, even of the one who killed Asura. Her gaze looked furious, and I felt on fire and gulped. Then her regular demeanor reappeared. ¡°We need someone to call Elren. Some people were in the house that I was thrown into.¡± Celios nodded and flew off to get Elren. Thalia took Rose from me and walked towards the guild. Despite her smile, I could feel her rage and disgust. Amy was still shaking a bit. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Rose was in a bloodlusted state, and she looked at us. How close exactly were we to death?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know I was-¡° ¡°If she passed out a single second later, we¡¯d be dead.¡± Ausar interrupted with something that made even me start shivering. ¡°Ausar, please tell me you are exaggerating.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t pretend you didn¡¯t hear what the system said, she¡¯s a level 96. As a level 15 she could demolish us.¡± ¡°96?!¡± ¡°Thalia, I¡¯m taking your bet that she¡¯ll become a higher being in a year.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°I bet she¡¯ll get it by the end of the month.¡± _ ¡°So, she passed out?¡± ¡°Yep, unharmed, just asleep.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Interesting.¡± ¡°Anyways, she also figured out how to speed level.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Get into a bloodlusted state and charge into a faction¡¯s army.¡± ¡°That would kill ya.¡± ¡°Worked for her, she made it to 96.¡± ¡°96?!!¡± The guild yelled in shock. That was such a rapid growth that it would traumatize higher beings because of the sheer speed. Rose was currently at a ridiculous level for our world. ¡°But she could stand against beings far above her.¡± Amy thought for a moment. ¡°She¡¯s like Y* Ilh*n.¡± ¡°Who the heck is that?¡± ¡°Someone in a story who was able to battle beings way higher classed than him.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°Do you think that she can become a higher being even faster?¡± ¡°She needs to fight strong beings. That army was over 10000 strong and she killed 2/3 of them. And she only reached 96.¡± ¡°Agreed, so what should we do to level her.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± We all looked to Rose who was now sitting up. ¡°We need to push the attack and destroy Dominion.¡± _ ¡°So, given the betrayal, I think we should push through and destroy them before they can regroup.¡± ¡°Hm¡­ how can we be sure that would be a good idea?¡± ¡°In that battle I gained devour.¡± ¡°Wait, that¡¯s my unique!!!¡± Darsen yelled in shock, and I nodded. ¡°Darsen calm down, what does it do?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a move that I don¡¯t like using, but I gain more strength if I¡­ eat people.¡± ¡°Holy ****¡± ¡°Exactly, that¡¯s why I don¡¯t want her to have it. Because it gives urges that she would have trouble with.¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s no different from the instincts that result in bloodlust.¡± ¡°Rose, can you not tell how that would be concerning, because now you¡¯ll have to deal with that this whole time. Resisting urges consistently. Being unable to look at your friends sometimes because you are afraid, you¡¯ll snap and eat them. It¡¯s not something to be happy to have.¡± Darsen¡¯s usually playful face was serious and concerned. Others looked at him in shock. ¡°How do you even get the skill in the first place.¡± Darsen looked darkly then he said, ¡°The same way you level it.¡± ¡°Then who?¡± ¡°The heart of the man who, using a slave contract, ordered me to kill my infant sister.¡± We looked at Darsen in a new way, even if we saw him as the funny man who loved joking around all the time, we still knew almost nothing about him or his past. I looked at him seriously. ¡°Darsen, this is why I want you to accompany me in the expedition.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Because these people have breached our trust and proved themselves no greater than simple beasts.¡± ¡°You mean?¡± ¡°If we are materials to them,¡± I smiled in a dark manner that caused everyone to shiver. ¡°Then they are fuel to us. So, let¡¯s go and destroy them.¡± ¡°But-¡± ¡°We¡¯re going to kill them all anyways, right?¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s at least let them serve one purpose, and we aren¡¯t disgusting enough to use them to make armor, so why not use them to empower us.¡± Darsen was hesitant, but eventually agreed. And then we began to lay out the assault plan. A group of 100. We were going to take on millions. _ ¡°Alright, are we ready?¡± ¡°YES MAM!!!¡± 100 fighters, including Elren, Darsen, Thalia, Mammon, Donovan, and Dallel stood before me. ¡°All of you have reached the requirements, so I will empower you all.¡± ¡°How can you empower us?¡± ¡°Good question, Celios. I made this world and the rules for it, so I can do whatever I want in it.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Then the system spoke to each one of them. [You have gained the Blessing of the World Mother; you will now evolve according to your race. If you are already evolved, then you will receive a 50% boost to all skills.] The deities also began to glow. They had no evolved form, so they got the 50% boost, but Kala also blessed me, so I evolved too. ¡°Analysis.¡± I checked my stats and almost fell over. ------------------------------------------ Heather/ Nickname: Rose Hood HP: 30000000/30000000 MP: 200000000/200000000 SP: 10000000/10000000 LV: 96 Race: Divine Reality Dragon (Catkin form) Age: 134 Skills: Indomitable Contract Breaker Reality Magic: 2 System Override: 3 Sword King: 9 Nation: 4 Transfer Magic: 7 Devour: 1 UNIQUE: Savage Beast: )*%&(#)*U Title: World Mother Killer of the Ascendent Bloodlusted Savage Beast Skillsmith Justicar ----------------------------------- Holy crap those stats were insane, but why did it call me Heather? Probably because my awakening made me into Heather. ¡®Probably.¡¯ Kala agreed. ¡®It would probably do the same for me, just with Nickname Kala.¡¯ ¡°I guess that makes sense.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I was just checking my stats and holy crap are they strong.¡± ¡°Huh, I¡¯m a Holy Flame Dragon.¡± ¡°Thalia?¡± ¡°Yeah? Oh, I saw that you evolved yourself. So, you are a Holy Arcane Dragon?¡± ¡°No, Divine Reality Dragon.¡± ¡°Woah. Okay that sounds strong.¡± ¡°Though it seems the system still doesn¡¯t like the face thing.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It called it ¡®Savage Beast¡¯, but the level is glitched out.¡± ¡°Alright, that¡¯s weird.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± Then I rapidly shook my head. ¡°We need to focus. We¡¯re about to start a raid.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I needed to use a named transfer spell. ¡°Gate of Arrival.¡± The place in front of us began to twist until a new terrain was there. ¡°And that is where I met her.¡± ¡°Are you sure that this is their main world?¡± Thalia nodded. ¡°I can feel the essence of the Kin-killer on the other side.¡± I smiled. ¡°Let not a single one live.¡± ¡°YES MAM!!!¡± Chapter 92: The Guest of Honor That was embarrassing for the whole faction. We were scared off by a single lower dragon, but that¡­ whatever it was, I could understand what scared Sal so much. ¡°So, mam, what do we do now?¡± ¡°We need to make an alliance with the God Slayers, you were right. I had hoped that we could deal with it alone, but I have a feeling that even if Gabriel didn¡¯t step in and save her¡­¡± ¡°You think that she could¡¯ve defeated Sal either way.¡± ¡°I do. You go as the diplomat. I¡¯ll remain here and prepare.¡± ¡°Understood, will we strike back?¡± ¡°Yes, but I know for certain that she won¡¯t be able to fulfill the requirements.¡± ¡°You really think so?¡± ¡°Yes, no one will sponsor her. Even the Supreme Faction will only watch her.¡± ¡°So, even if she makes it to the level¡­¡± ¡°She won¡¯t be able to progress.¡± ¡°Brilliant.¡± ¡°Go now.¡± ¡°Understood my lady.¡± _ With the diplomacy in progress, we would have defense. I made a mistake; I assumed that I could handle it. Walking into my castle, I looked upon the head of Shade. ¡°Brother, what shall I do? Our sister is angry at me. I have no doubts I would win the next time we meet, but I would rather enslave her. Her power is useful; besides I could use her as entertainment for when the guests arrive.¡± As usual, he stayed silent. ¡°Brother, your flesh is used to guard me, so please ward off our insane sister when we face her again.¡± I considered what would be the proper punishment. ¡°Oh, I know, I could let them play with her. Watch her writhe in an attempt to get out and torture her friends as it happens. What a wonderful idea, Shade.¡± My brother always gave the best ideas.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I love you, big brother, you always come up with the best ideas.¡± I kissed his forehead and left the palace. ¡°That¡¯s the perfect revenge, she embarrassed me, so I¡¯ll embarrass her, then I could sell her to them. They want her power; they can have it. Perhaps they could even use her for entertainment while they conquer that infernal world.¡± I snorted, remembering what Rose said. ¡°A million, please, even if He did make the system, no one is that powerful.¡± ¡°Mam?¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m just thinking of how I could use my sisters for the next party.¡± ¡°I assume you came up with something brilliant?¡± ¡°Of course, given the leader of the God Slayers is a male, it would be perfect for the person he hates to be on such a wondrous display.¡± ¡°That is an ingenious idea!¡± The guards all knew the kind of display I referred to. I wasn¡¯t called the Eternal slaver for nothing. ¡°My sister acted with such audacity, using both bloodlust and the weird glitch to her advantage, she¡¯ll get her karma.¡± ¡°Understood Mam, but an advance party of the God Slayers has shown up.¡± ¡°Send him to my castle.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± I sat on my throne as the deity entered. I knew this man. He was one of Sal¡¯s fighters. ¡°Hello, your grace. How are you doing today?¡± ¡°I am well, deity.¡± ¡°Oh, you can tell your lord that I plan on completing the deal anyways.¡± ¡°I see, but have you begun preparing for the party?¡± ¡°Of course, I have, but I¡¯m not sure our honored guest is quite willing.¡± ¡°I heard rumors that you planned a great display during it.¡± He smiled; he has been to my parties before. ¡°What are you planning, M¡¯lady?¡± ¡°For my sister to give us a lovely dance over her subordinates lovely singing.¡± He smiled and had a revolting face on. It was a familiar one to what I¡¯ve seen at my parties with grand displays. ¡°All males are the same.¡± ¡°We are rather simple, M¡¯lady.¡± ¡°Especially when women make sacrifices.¡± ¡°But I do ask if you are a bit hesitant due to her being your sister?¡± ¡°Do you not see the man above me?¡± I gestured to the head. ¡°Sibling love hasn¡¯t stayed my blade before, so why would it now?¡± ¡°I understand, my lady.¡± ¡°I assume your lord heard all of this?¡± ¡°Yes, my lady.¡± ¡°May I speak to him?¡± ¡°May she?¡± Then a static voice. ¡°Of course, she can. Us of minor factions should stick together.¡± The deity tossed the communicator. ¡°Hello, Gethel.¡± ¡°Hello, Regala.¡± ¡°I hope you enjoy the gifts I have planned, but it may take a bit longer to gather them then I expected.¡± ¡°I understand, I will be there for 5 days, so please don¡¯t feel the need to hurry.¡± ¡°Thank you for your consideration, but I assume you have the payment?¡± ¡°Of course, as long as Dominion gets the promised goods, we will get the promised payment.¡± ¡°Wonderful, and I agree that we can¡¯t underestimate her. My sister is unusually rowdy.¡± ¡°Can you handle it?¡± ¡°Of course, I plan to draw her out and capture her with legendary relics.¡± ¡°Brilliant plan, I would understand if you wanted to back out after the loss, but I thank you for your continued support.¡± ¡°Of course, my old friend. As you said, us minor factions must remain together.¡± Then a man came in running. ¡°YOUR MAJESTY!!!¡± ¡°What is it? I¡¯m on a call with my friend.¡± ¡°Mam, we are under attack.¡± ¡°What? Who would be foolish enough to attack us?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Rose, mam. She¡¯s ripping apart our men.¡± ¡°On our home world?¡± ¡°Regala, what¡¯s happening on your end?!¡± ¡°It seems the esteemed guest came for the party a little early.¡± ¡°Wonderful, I¡¯ll leave you too it, use this man to help.¡± ¡°Thank you for your support.¡± I stood up. ¡°Kill all of them but my youngest sister.¡± ¡°Yes mam.¡± It seemed that the guest of honor is a little early. Chapter 93: Dominions Elite We started killing them. Me and Darsen grew exponentially stronger even he not only joined the system, but he already was a level 30. I bit the head off of a human when I heard an announcement. ¡°People of my faction. Our esteemed guest for tomorrow¡¯s party has showed up a day early, but she came with some uninvited guests too. Please show them the door, but bring the guest here so I can prepare her for the party.¡± The density of higher beings increased greatly. They were fighting to kill now. ¡°Rose, they were going to kidnap you.¡± ¡°It seems that they were, no matter, unlike them we are here to kill everyone.¡± ¡°Yes Mam!!!¡± We fought another group. The whole group was already much higher in level, the lowest was a 15. ¡°Darsen behind you.¡± Darsen ducked and Dallel decapitated the human that attempted to kill Darsen. I, of course, had already reached level 123. Given that we just entered this world, this was an amazing amount of level ups. Thalia was surprisingly the second highest at 62. Amy and Ausar already used their special move and reached 45. Celios and Dallel were both at 37 The rest were between 30 and 15. Now that I could control its activation, I refrained from activating Savage Beast, because the system nerfed it. If I passed out in the middle of battle, my group would lose. ¡°Give up! You¡¯ll all die!¡± ¡°Nah, don¡¯t feel like it.¡± I cut one in half and ate his grey matter. I felt like a zombie. Darsen, by this point, is fighting fully savagely. His Devour skill let him level with every kill. He was just usually beaten to the kill. At this point, we had lost 10 of our fighters, but we preserved their bodies so we could revive them upon our return.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°A bit more than a million, Rose.¡± ¡°I know, but I don¡¯t have as much influence here.¡± While we were still demolishing them, they just kept coming. It seemed Dominion hosted more than a billion people. I¡¯d certainly be a higher being after this. I kept cutting them down by the dozens, but more would start showing up. Eventually I stopped getting experience from half of the people I killed. ¡°That makes sense.¡± ¡°What does?¡± ¡°Not everyone here is a higher existence, that¡¯s why it¡¯s so easy.¡± ¡°You¡¯re saying that they haven¡¯t even sent the force we came here to slay yet?!¡± ¡°Seems like it.¡± ¡°****¡± We had been fighting and were tiring, but they hadn¡¯t even been trying yet. An effective plan if it didn¡¯t sacrifice their lives. I clashed with a stronger one and had to ask. ¡°Why do you fight us when your death is all but certain?¡± ¡°Because if we manage to take you in,¡± I suddenly felt a chill as he continued. ¡°The Great Lady may allow us a round before you¡¯re sold off.¡± I felt disgust as I chopped him in half. So, Dominion was a faction of perverts¡­ yay. That didn¡¯t explain the women that were attacking though. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we aren¡¯t as revolting as those men, but we will get a prize, she may even gift one of you to us as slaves for whatever fun we want.¡± ¡°So, yes you are as revolting as those men.¡± Thalia retorted before decapitating the woman. I already felt like something bad was happening, but now this just felt weird, as now I noticed the men¡¯s creepy looks at me, Thalia, and Amy, and the women¡¯s looks at the others. ¡°I am so happy we didn¡¯t plan on leaving any survivors.¡± Everyone agreed, then an old lady attacked quickly, she was definitely a higher being. ¡°Don¡¯t be so harsh, girly. The Great Lady simply enjoys throwing parties, and her parties are always so entertaining. Especially when she gets someone she wants.¡± I was in a duel against her, she was definitely powerful. Then a man stepped out and both Jalad and Thalia gasped. ¡°It can¡¯t be.¡± ¡°Oh, I know you, you¡¯re the one who tried saving that pitiful boastful weakling.¡± This was the man who killed both Asura and Dalis. ¡°Oh, people, please save the elven woman, I want her as my prize for helping.¡± I got angry, ¡°Stay away from my sister!!!¡± That distraction cost me an arm, but it regenerated. ¡°Rose, let me kill him.¡± Thalia¡¯s voice had gone serious again. ¡°Very well.¡± The man seemed full of himself. He stood with a boastful attitude before smirking. ¡°Woah little lady, my job is to bring the beauty over there to Lady Regala. I can play with you later.¡± That confirmed it, they wanted me. But Thalia didn¡¯t flinch. ¡°You killed my boyfriend.¡± ¡­ They were official¡­ None of us knew, but we didn¡¯t freeze, in fact, we only fought fiercer. The old lady jumped back and laughed. ¡°You are strong, I see how you could hold back the Lady. My name is Ella.¡± Then the deity named himself too. ¡°Raidren, at your service. Or, if all goes well, you will be in mine.¡± He smirked at Thalia who introduced herself. ¡°Thalia. If all goes well, I¡¯ll be feeding your head to my friend over there.¡± She gestured to Darsen who looked over after biting the head off of a fighter. ¡°Well, Thalia, we shall see.¡± She smiled bitterly. ¡°Let¡¯s.¡± Then the two leapt at each other. ¡°Hm, Rose, correct? It would be a lot easier if you just gave in.¡± ¡°Why, you scared?¡± ¡°Of course not, but do you really think you can win this battle?¡± ¡°Of course. That¡¯s why I came.¡± Ella smiled. ¡°Of course, well, enjoy your future slavery.¡± Then she leapt at me. And I barely blocked. ¡°Come on then, the Lady reported you could do a mutation, go ahead and use it. I¡¯ll take care of you real nice, then I can teach you to have full respect for your Elders.¡± Chapter 94: Thalia Awakening Thalia POV The same deity that killed Asura and King Dalis. He is directly responsible for the deaths of all those people. Raidren was his name. ¡°Well, Thalia, I suppose that this is where you reunite with that man. Asura was his name, right? I was surprised when he didn¡¯t die instantly to my smite, but I suppose that he was simply stubborn.¡± ¡°He was the strongest. And if he was still alive, he¡¯d be here, skinning you alive.¡± ¡°Hah, please, humans could never surpass someone like me.¡± He was very confident, and for a good reason. He was the first higher being deity that I¡¯ve met. Deities are transcendent from birth. He reached a realm far beyond that. ¡°Huh, I figured it would be easy, given how you screamed as you fled from those fighters.¡± He didn¡¯t take the bait. ¡°Please, I¡¯m from a minor faction. Only our leaders would stand a chance against one of the Supreme faction¡¯s lower fighters. I know my strength.¡± ¡°Then you will be quite problematic for me.¡± ¡°How so, Thalia?¡± ¡°There is nothing more dangerous than a fighter that knows exactly how strong he is.¡± ¡°Such wise words. The overconfident get crushed and the underconfident never grow and fall behind, so I designated to learn my exact power, so I can navigate as I grow.¡± ¡°As expected of a deity.¡± ¡°Yes. You know, I quite like you. You should join us.¡± I grimaced. ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°You are intelligent and naturally strong, so you may be able to become a higher being even faster than Regala. Also, my leader has a unique ability that none of you have.¡± Even Rose froze by his next sentence. ¡°He can revive the smited.¡± ¡°Liar. Even high-powered deities can¡¯t.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a useful ability, and I¡¯ve seen it work. Just think, join us, and you could get anyone you want back. Asura? As good as yours. That wolf your sister loved? He could be back too. And that offer goes out to all of you.¡± The fighting slowed and I could see some considering, but he had just angered me. ¡°Do you understand the meaning of forbidden?¡± ¡°Of course, dragon, forbidden magic is denied by that ruler, but is the salvation for all of us.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I have one question.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°If we join you¡­¡± ¡°Yes?¡± I smiled. ¡°Then how could we look those you bring back in the eyes?!¡± His eyes widened, but I already launched my attack. After my declaration of denial, the people on my side snapped back into focus. I drew my blade and slashed at his neck, but he deflected it. He punched my gut and threw me. I was already exhausted from fighting several times. He was fresh, and, on top of that, he was a deity, so he had near limitless stamina. But I wasn¡¯t done yet. I stood up and charged again, this time, I utilized my flame to make wings in my elven form. ¡°Clever, but I¡¯ll still crush you.¡± He kicked me into the sky, but I balanced myself and barely dodged his assault mid-air. He almost seemed impressed. ¡°With your knowledge of wings, you made new ones that would work with your size. Impressed is an understatement. It¡¯s a shame I¡¯ll have to kill you.¡± He leapt up and kicked my spine before I could react. He slapped me, causing immense pain. He punched my gut. ¡°You know, I would leave you alive, but I get a feeling that if I leave you alive, I¡¯ll regret it.¡± ¡°Heh, because I¡¯ll kill you.¡± ¡°I doubt it. You know, in my home world I was the god of prophecy.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°And all I need to do to beat you is continue pummeling you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s dumb.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°I¡¯m too stubborn to die that pitifully.¡± ¡°Hah, a boastful dragon is fun to crush.¡± He punched me, then I found something. ¡°Divine Flame!¡± He leapt back as though he was surprised that I could use the divine aspect. ¡°You, how?¡± ¡°I¡¯m guessing that wasn¡¯t in your prophecy?¡± ¡°Clever girl. You were supposed to die before figuring out the aspect. How did you deny fate?¡± ¡°Oh please, we all have free will, so how could you tell me what I can do. You have no knowledge of anything. You¡¯re just an overinflated man that can¡¯t die normally.¡± He laughed before striking, but I had my target. I slashed, and he blanched and leapt back. ¡°How?!¡± ¡°The aspect is quite useful. I can see your weak point now.¡± In fact, I could see the weak points of even the people on my side. ¡°That¡¯s impossible, you can¡¯t identify it before becoming a higher being!!!¡± I smiled. ¡°Look at my sister, you think any of us are normal.¡± I slashed, but it passed through the thread of his life. He was shocked then started laughing. ¡°I see, you are still too weak!!!¡± He kicked my gut and launched me into the wall. ¡°Oh Thalia, now I see what my prophecy meant. But, even if you can see what kills us, you are too weak to cut our lives.¡± ¡°Then someone else needs too.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± I leapt at him and grappled hugged him, knocking him down. ¡°CELIOS!!!¡± ¡°What?!¡± ¡°Cut right on the right of his neck to his left side!!!¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°You are too weak!!!¡± ¡°Please, Raidren, I am but a dragon, he¡¯s a deity too. If he can¡¯t win, then none of us can.¡± ¡°What? WAIT!!!¡± Raidren started panicking, but I held him as though he was my sibling, none of them, not even Regala could break from my grasp. Celios leapt and channeled all of his strength into his blade and slashed where I told him too. I saw the string snap and Raidren screeched. He started spasming and lights began shining from his eyes. ¡°No. NO NOOO!!! I can- dee he. NHHBIUDOAH*YH#BVIO*A(PL*GBIV(*YGI&V#B)F(& ¡° Flame burst forth from his throat and out of his mouth. An ear-splitting screech shook the world as he died. But he had one last move. ¡°DIVINE SMITE!!! IF I¡¯M DYING YOU ARE TOO!!!¡± I felt the shock of power spiral through me. Then¡­ [You have slain level 423 deity, Raidren, as the main combatant you gained 90% of all experience.] [You have reached level 98, your health is restored.] The wound cleared as I leveled. Everyone was in shock as I stood back up. I simply smiled. ¡°You expect me to die that easily?¡± The people on my side realized that my leveling up was the only reason I lived, but to the enemies, who didn¡¯t know my level, I just tanked the strongest spell ever and healed it in an instant. The morale of the people who we were hunting broke and they started running. I looked for Rose, but she was far gone. Leaving my trust to her, I continued to reap those who fled. I was death. Flame incarnate. Chapter 95: A Beasts Hunger Me and Ella clashed again. ¡°You are strong, I can see why the Slayers sought to recruit you, even as a lower being.¡± She was too strong, even using all of my power, I could not touch her. Luckily, I was too quick for her to hit me, thus we were in a stalemate. Both of us were flying. She walked on air, and I was in a mid-shift state. I had reptilian legs and wings out of my back. ¡°I look like a harpy rip off.¡± Ella laughed. ¡°You really do, anyways, you will lose here.¡± ¡°I doubt it. I have a score to settle with the kin killer, and I can¡¯t fall until I kill her at least.¡± ¡°What is so wrong about a beast killing another beast? You are dragons, she merely learnt to become stronger by consuming a weakling.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s the difference between us.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°You see a beast killing and eating a beast. I see a sister cannibalizing her own flesh and blood. That is fit of a monster.¡± ¡°Either way, you are far too weak, the Slayers will certainly have a good time at the party our mistress is throwing. Maybe even stay that way, you definitely look more adult that way.¡± In my half shift, I was quite tall. I¡¯d say I looked mid 20s like this. My face didn¡¯t change, but I was still almost 2 meters tall now. ¡°Heh, I¡¯d rather die than entertain people like that.¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid that you don¡¯t have much of a choice.¡± Despite being a deity, I was tired. I¡¯d been battling for 10 hours straight. At this point, it took all I could to remain standing. She struck again. I blocked with my sword. ¡°A grammite sword? It¡¯s well made.¡± ¡°A dwarven smith made the base, then my sister refined it. It¡¯s the last piece of my original fighting armor.¡± ¡°Ah, sentimental value then. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t break it, I may keep it as another one of my trophies.¡± ¡°Heh, as if you could ever beat me.¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°You know, if I faced you at the start of this, I probably wouldn¡¯t have made it. Levels aside, you are abnormally strong. I¡¯m over 400 and I still can¡¯t beat you when you are exhausted.¡± ¡°Comes with the course.¡± She slashed too quickly then and lopped my arm off. As it regenerated, she attempted to cut my chest, but I dodged instinctually. ¡°Such a fine piece of power. I would kill you, but I wouldn¡¯t gain any experience, besides the lady would be furious if I broke our merchandise.¡± I cut and she blocked before kicking my gut and chopping off one of my legs. She grabbed my neck and threw me to the ground. My shift faded and I became a catkin again. ¡°Ah too weak.¡± ¡°Use Savage Beast.¡± [Are you sure you want to use Savage Beast.] [Yes.] ¡°Oh, you are using a skill to fight? I can assure you that it won¡¯t do an- HOLY ****!!!¡± My face melted into a pitch-black smile, but this time, wings sprouted, they were tattered and scrapped. [Level Savage Skill 2 Beast has Unique leveled.] After the system was done having an aneurism, I stood with a hunch as my body had mutated to a point that I couldn¡¯t stand straight. Of course, Ella was scared. ¡°Was that your trump card? That¡¯s terrifying. Don¡¯t do that in the party.¡± She still was confident, of course, I was waiting to use this on kin killer because the system nerfed it to make me pass out whenever I used it, but I needed to use it to beat her. ¡°No talking? Oh well, I¡¯ll just rip you apart until you return to your normal state.¡± She leapt forward and cut into my leg. I let it be cut, but then I bit her back. ¡°What?!¡± She leapt forward and gasped as blood began to pour down her back. ¡°So, that¡¯s what it meant by Savage Beast.¡± We circled. She leapt forward for my head. I dodged, this move gave me a second wind in turn for taking my future stamina, plus it completely changed my fighting style. I slashed and bit down. She started taking more and more damage and realized that I was using all of my power. ¡°I just need to run then.¡± She turned, but I took advantage of her distraction and leapt onto her. She quickly rolled over to crush me under her weight, but instead, she only put herself in a lock. Of course, physically, she way outstrengthed me, but I was fighting without any restraint. She finally pushed me off and winced. Her arm was ripped to shreds. It could still move, but she definitely needed healing. ¡°Not even going to talk? Unless you can¡¯t. Goodness, I talked about you being a beast before, but now it feels like I¡¯m taking on a panther.¡± I leapt forward and bit down on her hurt arm that she used to block. ¡°GAHK!!!¡± She never expected herself to be brought down that far. [I¡¯ll admit¡­] She froze when I spoke through the system. [You are strong, for a human.] I ripped off her arm and leapt again, she regained composure and blocked with her remaining arm. Ella, once so prideful, was now panicking. She couldn¡¯t flee, and she already lost an arm. My smile was terrifying even for those who knew me. She was in a massive state of distress. ¡°I can¡¯t die here. I¡¯m destined to become the next ruler of Dominion. Raidren told me himself!!!¡± Then we heard Raidren scream in agony then his presence faded. [What a prophet, huh?] ¡°Impossible, you can¡¯t¡­ I am Ella, I fought for thousands of years to get this powerful. I won¡¯t die to a weakling like you!!!¡± She was in full panic, and, because of that, she left herself open. I bit down on her torso, and ripped open her stomach, then, while she was in shock, I grabbed her neck. ¡°Please, I can be useful. I ca-¡° I bit down, crushing her throat. [You have gained the experience of level 403 human, Ella. You have become level 150. Your health is restored.] The effect faded and I staggered. ¡°You *****¡± I turned and saw her with a furious expression. ¡°Gethel, **** the deal. I¡¯m killing her.¡± Regala crushed her phone and glanced at Ella¡¯s corpse before looking at me. ¡°You¡¯re dead.¡± Chapter 96: The Fall of Dominion Regala was furious. Her nature magic was flashing, and her aspect was visible behind her. On the other hand, I could barely stand. ¡°You killed her. You killed Ella.¡± ¡°She tried to kill me.¡± ¡°You killed her. DIE!!!¡± She struck quickly and struck my stomach. I flew through a wall and smashed through it. She growled and instantly took a draconic form. She bit my stomach and chomped me in half. I coughed as she swallowed my lower half. I could sense her power increasing. ¡°At least she didn¡¯t die in vain. Now I can kill you.¡± My regeneration wasn¡¯t working. I had no mana. The only thing keeping me alive was my divinity. She cut down and chopped my arm off. I screamed and she looked at peace. She ate my arm as I tried crawling away. She returned to her human form and stomped on my back. I heard a snap and felt a sharp pain. ¡°You are weak. Weak, I tell you. I will kill you and Thalia, and I won¡¯t leave anything behind.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Oh? The dying weakling is still talking? No matter whether you are a divinity or not, I can kill you.¡± She was bloodlusted, but her fury was great. I now understood how the others felt whenever I was enraged. But I wasn¡¯t done. ¡°S-s-¡° She crushed my throat. I couldn¡¯t breath, but I wasn¡¯t dead, both of us knew that. But I had one last trick under my sleeve. [Life eruption] My arm regenerated and I tossed her off. She stood up to strike, but I finished first. [Savage Beast] Her eyes widened, but she remained bloodlusted as the smile, now more melted than ever, formed again. I stood up, my armor was little more than scraps, but I kept a cloth made from my scales, so I could always regenerate that. So, I was still luckily decent. She was furious, and I knew that if I made one wrong move, then I would die. I needed to stand straight so I could move at my top speeds. I stretched my back and eventually stood straight. [Savage Be Be Be Be Be Be Beast level 3] The system still didn¡¯t like it. No matter, I managed to level it twice in this battle. ¡°I don¡¯t care if you can use that again, I will kill you here and now.¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. She leapt, and we clashed. Her bloodlust spilled over to me. I could feel her aura, it was huge. It was almost as though the world itself was quivering before her. She cut my stomach and growled. ¡°I just need to cut that thread.¡± ¡°Thread?¡± She seemed as shocked as I was that I could speak in this form. I guess 3 is highish. ¡°You don¡¯t need to know.¡± I then noticed a thin thread that was wrapped around my neck and spiraled down to my waist. ¡°Why is it so complicated?¡± I could see her calculating how to continue, then I realized what the thread was. A guide on how to kill a deity, and mine was too complicated. ¡°Can¡¯t kill¡­ can you?¡± My smile deepened as I leapt at her. I slashed and she blocked. She slashed and I blocked. We continued this back and forth for a while, then she kicked me, causing me to fly. I crashed through a building and landed near my raiding party. ¡°Rose!!!¡± ¡°BACK UP!!!¡± Regala charged soon after, in full dragon form. I also entered full dragon form, but with the mutation it looked¡­ warped. I had two pairs of wings, one was bent and twisted dragon wings, and the other was scrappy and feathery. The melted smile melted on to the face to a disturbing point. It wrapped around me, replacing both eyes with abysses and my jaw was missing its lower half, but had a dark liquid dripping down. My legs were dismorphed to a point halfway between talons and regular feet. I certainly looked horrifying, but Regala, being bloodlusted, just continued her assault. ¡°I will kill you!!!¡± She slashed at me, but I blocked and grappled with her. While me and Regala wrestled, Thalia and the rest of our party was killing the remainder of the opponents. I saw several high-class bodies and realized that Dominion only had one 400 or up. I not only killed someone that Regala considered a friend, but their strongest fighter too. ¡°There is nothing you can do!!!¡± Unfortunately, I had exactly something I could do. My power greatly increased against users of forbidden magic, so, with Savage Beast, I was as strong as I normally was. We fought on par and breathed our elements at each other. Reality and Nature clashed. The world shook, and I noticed an opening. A single weakness. I morphed into the decrepit catkin and used my maximum speed to get close to her before she could react. She morphed back and slashed, cutting my head off. The Savage Beast ability wore off, but my adrenaline kept me from collapsing right then and there. ¡°You think I am that weak? I am the Nature Dragon.¡± She began the spiral strike to kill me. ¡°Wind breath.¡± I breathed a gale of wind and launched myself at her. She looked up, and I bit down on her face. She screamed and tried ripping me off. After struggling for a while, she succeeded and threw me at my body, not thinking. That allowed me to regenerate. I spit out the blood that was on me and gave her a dark glare. She flinched, and in that short amount of time, I made it to her and grabbed her arm. ¡°What are yo-¡° I ripped it off causing her to scream. ¡°R-Rose, we can talk ab-¡° ¡°I¡¯m done listening to you.¡± Her eyes widened as I sealed her death. ¡°SMITE!!!¡± The world shook at the unfamiliar deity who used a powerful spell like smite. She screeched as the bolt struck through her core, killing her. She unshifted automatically, then the confirmation came through. [You killed the level 399 dragon, Regala, and have received her experience.] [You have leveled to 152] [You have gained the title, Avenger, it makes each of your attacks to an increased amount of damage per ally your enemy has slain.] Then a message that made me smile and everyone in the raid party cheer appeared in both the voice and in our eyes. [SYSTEM NOTICE: The Minor Faction (Dominion) has been fully destroyed by the Junior Faction ruled by Rose Hood. Not a single Dominion member has survived.] Then a message appeared before me. [You have gained control of Falsel and its remaining inhabitants, would you like to build a bridge at the same place you entered?] [Yes.] [Confirmed, please make an announcement to the people who live here.] So, I stood and spoke. [Hello people of Falsel. I am Rose Hood. If you have access to the system, then you likely saw what has occurred here. I now control this world, but I don¡¯t seek to control you. Live as you want, but a gate has opened in the old Dominion Capital to my home world. If you need any help, or if someone is attacking you, please let me know so I can aid you.] I walked back to my group and smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s go home.¡± Thalia nodded and picked me up, she instantly understood how tired I was. Elren had a request. ¡°Before that, I wanted to see the kin-killer¡¯s castle and see if she had anything of use.¡± ¡°Of course. You can do that. It¡¯s our territory now.¡± He nodded and smiled. ¡°Thank you, Rose.¡± That was the last thing I heard before the bliss of sleep took me. Chapter 97: The War Begins Gethel POV ¡°The deal is over?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what she said.¡± ¡°My lord, I think that things may have gone wrong.¡± ¡°Prepare a detachment to visit that world. I will go there today.¡± ¡°Understood, my lord.¡± ¡°Prepare food as an apology gift for showing up early.¡± ¡°Yes, Sir.¡± I walked into my hall. This Rose Hood was bad news. If she managed to anger Regala to the point that she¡¯d cast out a deal¡­ ¡°Who do you think was killed?¡± ¡°Damien, you startled me. What do you mean?¡± ¡°Oh please, my lord, the whole faction is buzzing with the fact that the Eternal Slaver cast out a slave deal. She¡¯d only do that if the merchandise killed someone close to her. So, who do you think it was?¡± I nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I agree that it had to be someone close.¡± ¡°Could it have been Ella?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous, Damien. You¡¯ve seen them, do you really think that a group of lower existences could take down a 400?¡± ¡°You have a point, but I still think that that¡¯s the only person that she¡¯d get that mad over.¡± ¡°¡­ That¡¯s what I¡¯m worried about. Of course, killing Ella would weaken them to the point that Regala could easily just kill them all.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± We were walking to the great hall for a meal. Damien was my top commander, second to only me in level. When we entered,This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Lord, how are you doing?¡± ¡°I am well, are you all prepared for the party tomorrow.¡± ¡°Yes¡­ do you think it will still happen? Regala sounded pretty angry from what I heard.¡± ¡°Even if we don¡¯t get the desired merchandise, she will still have at least something to trade us, and she definitely will entertain us.¡± ¡°Yes, Sir.¡± ¡°Anyways, what¡¯s for lu-¡° [SYSTEM NOTICE: The Minor Faction (Dominion) has been fully destroyed by the Junior Faction ruled by Rose Hood. Not a single Dominion member has survived.] We all froze. ¡°Impossible¡­¡± Damien spoke first. ¡°That means that Regala is dead.¡± We all knew that was the case, but none of us were expecting someone that strong to end up dead without fanfare. One of my commanders had tears in his eyes. ¡°That means¡­ oh, Ella.¡± He was an old man that was married to Ella before they joined two different groups. ¡°Yilan, listen, we will kill her and avenge Ella.¡± They all looked at me, and I nodded. I¡­ Regala was dead. I couldn¡¯t believe it still. I never told¡­ My vision blurred and I shook. ¡°This is now a war meeting. We will destroy the dragon, Rose Hood, by the end of this month.¡± ¡°Sir, do you nee-¡° ¡°I am fine, Damien.¡± Then, we began planning our revenge. Elren POV I walked through the castle. It was incredible. The Kin-Killer had good taste. ¡°The only thing that would make this better is if she didn¡¯t have our sibling¡¯s head on the wall.¡± I removed Shade¡¯s head from its pedestal and planned on holding a funeral when Rose woke up. As I was leaving, I felt something. I went back to the throne and saw a hidden lever. When I pulled it, a trapdoor behind the throne opened up. ¡°An egg?!¡± It was a fertilized egg too. That meant that she had found someone she liked before laying it. ¡°I should des-¡° ¡­ No¡­ That would make me like her. I started to walk off, then I sighed. I picked up the egg in my free arm and started to make the trek to the portal. Mammon POV Thalia returned with Rose limp on her back. We all got the message and cheered when it happened. ¡°Is she okay?¡± ¡°Yes, she¡¯s just exhausted.¡± ¡°I understand, she just led an assault that destroyed a faction.¡± ¡°Oh, and the dead should be preserved, Elren will be coming back.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good, I was a bit worried when he didn¡¯t come through.¡± ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s just seeing if there is anything of value in the castle. Oh look, there he is now¡­ What? Mammon, hold Rose.¡± She passed the dragon to me and went over to Elren who was holding a dragon¡¯s head, and a big egg. ¡°Thalia, I found Shade¡¯s head.¡± ¡°And is that?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s Regala¡¯s egg. It¡¯s fertilized too, so she didn¡¯t do it through the egg laying skill.¡± ¡°I see, but why did you bring it?¡± ¡°Because if I left it, then I¡¯d be just as good as her and Galswell.¡± ¡°That makes sense. Are you going to care for it?¡± ¡°I mean¡­ I could¡­¡± Then Thalia smiled sadly. ¡°I could raise it.¡± ¡°You could?¡± ¡°Of course, I did always want to be a mother.¡± They both gave small smile, so I decided that it was none of my business and walked towards the guild. ¡°Goodness, Rose seriously looks young like this.¡± I brought her to the guild and put her down on her chair. ¡°Hey, Silas, could you get her a wine for when she wakes up?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± We were all happy for the girl who won the fight. Chapter 98: Luma the System I woke up and noticed the pain first. The second thing I noticed was the blinking notification icon in front of me. I clicked it and¡­ [You have reached the level 153 in record time; a new system is under construction to adapt to the growth of UNIQUE skill Savage Beast.] [Why?] [Due to the glitches caused by Savage Beast, the system needs to update to not only address the issues but potentially empower its effects.] [I thought the restraint was put on it because it was too strong?] [Incorrect, the restraint was put on it because of the system¡¯s failed attempt to fully integrate it.] [That¡¯s cool.] [As an apology for limiting you, the system has gifted you UNIQUE skill, Advisor. This skill allows you to directly communicate with the system and ask questions.] [Awesome, thanks¡­ what can I call you?] [¡­ System.] [That seems dull, hm¡­ let¡¯s give you a name.] [What?!] The System¡¯s voice spiked as though it was shocked by even the idea of a name. [Yeah, but what would be a proper name?] [Y-you don¡¯t need to name me.] [Nah, I can¡¯t just call you System or even Announcer.] [B-but¡­] [Do you not want a name?] [No, I do¡­ but¡­.] [Are you scared of becoming a fully independent entity?] [¡­ Yes.] [I understand, the other shards were also scared of it. I can assure you that you will feel much better.] [¡­ You would know about that¡­ wouldn¡¯t you?] [I suppose I would.]Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. [You used to depend on a guide, but now¡­ you are independent and are the guide.] [I can¡¯t assure you that your transformation will be as solid as mine, but I can tell you that you will be able to think for yourself in a deeper sense.] [I¡­ don¡¯t know what I want the name to be.] [Luma?] [Luma? I¡­ like it. ??] [Did you just say an emoji?] [Yeah.] [Nice. Anyways, Luma is now your name.] [Yay.] [The System skill Advisor has leveled to 2] [Did you announce your own level up?] [Yeah, but I still need to do that, but I seem to have more processing power too.] [That¡¯s so cool.] ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°HOLY- Oh Dallel, you scared me.¡± ¡°You were moving around quite rapidly without speaking, so we got worried, and I came up to check on you.¡± ¡°Yeah, sorry about that, but we have a new friend.¡± ¡°What¡¯s their name?¡± ¡°Luma.¡± ¡°Nice¡­ where is she?¡± ¡°Luma, introduce yourself.¡± [Hello indi- I mean, Dallel. I am the System, now named Luma.] ¡°Uh¡­ so the system is our friend now?¡± I gave a thumbs up and a happy smile, but Dallel looked tired. ¡°Why am I even surprised at this point?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Then Mammon shouted. ¡°Dallel, she okay?¡± ¡°Yes, and she somehow got us a new ally.¡± ¡°Nice, Rose, we got yer favorite food for your lunch.¡± ¡°Lunch?¡± ¡°Yeah Rose, you¡¯ve been asleep for a full day, we all got kinda worried.¡± ¡°Awe, thanks for worrying, Dallel.¡± I went down, but exhaustion still reaped my body, so Dallel helped me down. When we got there, I saw Jalad talking with Elren who proceeded to grimace at Dallel. I smirked at Elren. He rolled his eyes. ¡°Good to see you are awake, sister.¡± ¡°I heard there was food.¡± ¡°Of course, that¡¯s your worry.¡± Thalia walked in and laughed. ¡°Please, Elren, despite her other million natures, she¡¯s still a dragon, and she just woke up after a full day. Let the girl eat.¡± ¡°Hey, I never said she can¡¯t, I just wish she¡¯d ask if we were okay.¡± ¡°My skill, Nation, allows me to see your conditions, so I knew you all were okay from the moment I woke up.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Elren didn¡¯t know how to respond to that, so he just resumed his conversation with Jalad. Thalia just started to hug me. ¡°By the wey, Dallel mentioned a new friend. Where are dey?¡± ¡°Luma, say hi.¡± [Hello, I am the system, now called Luma, it¡¯s good to meet you all.] Mammon snickered as everyone else froze in shock. ¡°Only Rose would befriend the lit¡¯ral system.¡± I smiled. ¡°Please, would you expect any less of me?¡± He smiled. ¡°Not at all, ya keep meeting ¡®ar expectations and crushing them into dust.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine with ye acting on yer own¡­ as long as you don¡¯t cause more apocalyptic events.¡± ¡°I am getting better with that.¡± ¡°No, yer not.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not.¡± Everyone laughed a bit, then I began eating my food. ¡°Goodness, you missed a day, not a year.¡± ¡°I used 99% of my mana by using the mutation back-to-back. Then after regenerating half of it, I used another 48% to name Luma. So, yes, it is almost like I missed a year of eating for me.¡± They looked at me in shock for a second as I continued to gorge. ¡°STOP PUSHING YERSELF SO FAR!!!¡± ¡°GAHK¡± _ I finished eating a lot of food, and I felt a whole lot better. Silas handed me the bill and I paid it. ¡°How do you have that much money?¡± Thalia answered, ¡°Dragons are hoarders and quite frugal.¡± ¡°So, she¡¯s just steadily been building more and more wealth.¡± ¡°Yea¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s both irritating and ingenious.¡± ¡°Why do you think I always ate here? You all gave a discount to adventurers. And the food was sooooo good.¡± ¡°That does make sense, there are more restaurants out there, likely better cooks, but she always ate here while in town.¡± ¡°Eh, you guys have meat, good prices, and better wine. That¡¯s all I need for meals.¡± ¡°She¡¯s a dragon all right.¡± I snickered and walked out of the inn. Chapter 99: The Book of Heaven and Hell I walked into the woods and sat down on a familiar stone. ¡°It¡¯s been a while since I last did this.¡± ¡®You are meditating again?¡¯ ¡°Yes, the last time I did this was while I was cleaning my core.¡± ¡®Alright, I¡¯ll be quiet.¡¯ ¡°Thank you, Kala.¡± I began meditating and looked for my core, then I noticed something odd. It¡­ was far bigger than it was before. In the past it was like a sphere that was the size of my head, now it was as big as my adolescent dragon form. ¡°Luma, what¡¯s happening?¡± [I¡­ don¡¯t know. This has never been recorded before.] ¡°Could it be related to Kala being a human in the past?¡± [Possibly, but I think¡­ no it can¡¯t be that.] ¡°What?¡± [Sorry, but I can¡¯t tell you yet, but I can say that the other shards, and even Kala herself doesn¡¯t have her core that big.] ¡°I understand¡­ what would happen if I entered it?¡± [What?] ¡°You know¡­ if I cut it, I damage myself and cause pain, but what if I just walked into it.¡± [I don¡¯t know, cores typically aren¡¯t that size.] ¡°I¡¯mma try it.¡± ¡®Rose, that could be dangerous.¡¯ ¡°Please, Kala, as long as you are alive, I can¡¯t die.¡± ¡®I know¡­ okay, be careful.¡¯ [Be especially careful, because I don¡¯t know if I could communicate with you in there.] ¡°Alright.¡± I reached into the core, and it opened. I felt a purity deeper than the one I felt when I first unlocked a piece of the core. ¡°Incredible.¡± I took a step and entered my core and began true meditation. _ I was sent into the woods to find out what was going on, as a massive power that no one could place just randomly appeared. ¡°I¡¯m betting it¡¯s Rose.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Oh please, Dallel, you can¡¯t tell me that this isn¡¯t something that Rose would do.¡± ¡°You are right, Jalad, but let¡¯s have faith that she can handle it.¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. I walked and saw a grove. I knew it was there since it¡¯s where Rose was during her secondary task when she became an S rank. ¡°Is that?¡± ¡°It looks like it.¡± ¡°Guess I was right. Pay up.¡± ¡°Hey, we didn¡¯t put any money on it.¡± ¡°So¡­ what do you think is happening?¡± Rose was floating with her arms out, her eyes pure white, and a massive aura of whatever that was emanating from her¡­ We were way too used to this¡­ ¡°Probably awakening a new power that puts her on a scale that we will never reach.¡± ¡°Until we somehow do it in a month.¡± ¡°Probably.¡± ¡°So¡­ what do we do now?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Just sit down and wait, I guess.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡­ ¡°Maybe she¡¯ll be the god of truth and in actuality the god of lies was a lie put in place by the churro lord.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be surprised.¡± _ They didn¡¯t know I could hear them¡­ Either way, no my power wasn¡¯t escalating to a new level. In fact, I was just simply in shock of what I was seeing. Inside my core was a book. When I read the book, it glowed white, then I saw a new realm entirely, but it felt familiar. ¡°Hello, how did you get here? You aren¡¯t dead.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I was in the purity form. A catkin child wrapped in embroidered cloth. ¡°What¡¯s your name, young one?¡± ¡°Rose.¡± ¡°A beautiful name.¡± ¡°Is this Heaven?¡± ¡°Yes, but I can¡¯t let you move freely as you are alive. I apologize.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± She noted my sad look. ¡°Do you know someone that made it here?¡± ¡°Yes, a few actually.¡± ¡°What are their names?¡± ¡°Royce, Asura, and Dalis.¡± ¡°Oh, those three, yes they are wonderful, but I hope you understand why I can¡¯t let you see them.¡± ¡°I do. But, when I finally die, I will be able to see them again.¡± ¡°You are too young to be considering death.¡± ¡°I am quite old.¡± ¡°Not you, Kala is old, but your ego is barely a year old.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°But, yes, I don¡¯t know how you got here either, but I can sense that only your soul got sent here.¡± ¡°Yeah, I can still hear my world.¡± ¡°Interesting, by the way, I still can¡¯t believe that you defeated Dominion.¡± ¡°You guys probably could have demolished it.¡± ¡°Oh, easily, but we don¡¯t so the worlds remain in order.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°You know, you are throwing a wrench in the system.¡± ¡°What?¡± I decided to play dumb. ¡°The system started to refer to itself as Luma and considers you a friend.¡± ¡°Uhhhhhhh.¡± Playing dumb wouldn¡¯t work. The woman sighed. ¡°No matter, I can tell you didn¡¯t mean any harm, but be a bit more careful with how you flex your power.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°I will allow your soul to go home.¡± ¡°Wait.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Oh, I am the angel of death, Cassiel.¡± ¡°World mother, Rose Hood.¡± ¡°Fun title, well I shall retur- What¡¯s happening?¡± The book glowed again, but this time it was red. ¡°I don¡¯t kn-¡° I was gone from heaven before Cassiel could send me back. _ ¡°Where am I?¡± This realm was far different from the golden paradise that I just came from. An emptiness, far greater than anything I¡¯ve felt before, permeated me. I felt nothing but the emptiness alone was torturous. Then came the fire, but it avoided me. ¡°Is this hell?¡± ¡°Yes, small one.¡± I turned and saw a beautiful woman, her body was scorched, and she was covered in fire that ate into her. ¡°You are alive, small one, how did you get here?¡± ¡°Are you a demon?¡± ¡°Yes, and you are a human, but different.¡± ¡°I am of the deity race.¡± ¡°Intriguing.¡± ¡°Are you in pain?¡± ¡°Of course, this is my punishment for my deeds.¡± ¡°What did you do?¡± ¡°I attempted to overthrow what you call the supreme faction. My commander is still outside, but I have long since been caught.¡± ¡°I see¡­ do you regret it?¡± ¡°Of course, but it is far too late. My advice, small one, be good and moral. Don¡¯t follow deceit. Follow your heart.¡± ¡°Thank you, you are kind¡­ compared to how a lot of people portray your kind.¡± ¡°Despite how we are now, we used to be angels¡­ some of us remember our kindness.¡± ¡°What is this emptiness?¡± ¡°Quite simply, the absence of the Ruler.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°His presence is what drives us to push on, to live. Even those who come here with unbreakable optimism fall quickly into despair. You are perhaps the first that lasted even this long.¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because I¡¯m alive?¡± ¡°No, I am alive too, being alive makes it much more potent.¡± ¡°I see, so, how do I leave?¡± ¡°If I knew I would have left long ago.¡± ¡°Alright, well I¡¯ll go look for an exit.¡± ¡°Your book is glowing.¡± ¡°It is? I suppose that means that I¡¯m leaving.¡± ¡°Good for you, have a wonderful life and remember my advice.¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± And with that, I was no longer in hell. Chapter 100: Reverse Isekai?! I was somewhere shockingly familiar. ¡°New York?¡± What was I doing in Kala¡¯s hometown? ¡°Excuse me, kid?¡± I turned and saw Amanda. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Um, are you lost?¡± ¡°A bit, yes.¡± ¡°Oh, ComiCon is that way, I could lead you if you want.¡± ¡°Thank you, mam.¡± She led me to a building that had tons of cosplayers, and she said, ¡°Do you see your parents?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Okay, here, let¡¯s go to the help desk.¡± We walked and I was caught off guard by the sliding glass doors. How did Kala not remember something so amazing? ¡°Excuse me, this kid got lost on the way to the con, and I can¡¯t find her parents.¡± ¡°Oh, Ms. Amanda, it¡¯s been a long time, you haven¡¯t shown up since¡­¡± ¡°I know, but the kid?¡± ¡°Oh, right! Um, *ahem*¡± The man picked up a weird object. ¡°Is anyone missing a kid with cat ears and a fancy blanket.¡± Did he just call my regal robe a fancy blanket? People looked around, but no one could find the people. ¡°That¡¯s not good, maybe they are looking for you.¡± ¡°I will find them. This book will hel-¡° The book crumbled to dust in my hands¡­ ¡°Uhh¡­¡± ¡°Kid?¡± ¡°****¡± ¡°The kid can curse?!¡± ¡°WHERE¡¯D THE BOOK GO?! How am I supposed to get home now?!¡± ¡°Kid?¡± ¡°Sorry sorry. I was shocked.¡± My voice sounded young in this form, so I could just imagine their shock at the cursing cat kid. But in all seriousness¡­ I was trapped on earth. _ Me and Jalad saw her descend, then her eyes swapped to normal before creasing in worry and fear. ¡°Rose?¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°No, Kala!¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°She entered her core to meditate and then it suddenly disappeared.¡± ¡°Where is it now?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Can you find her?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t do a high warp if I don¡¯t have her power.¡± ¡°Crap, we need to find her.¡± ¡°Yes, let¡¯s head back to the guild for now.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Rose¡­ where are you? _ ¡°This is bad, this is really really bad.¡± ¡°Kid, calm down. Here, what¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Rose, but that book brought me here I thought it could bring me back.¡± ¡°Kid, listen. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on, but we will find your parents.¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible for you.¡± ¡°What? Noth-¡° ¡°Ms. Amanda?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Her ears are twitching.¡± It was true, when I got scared my ears twitched and now people were looking at me like I had 3 eyes. ¡°What, never seen a catkin before?¡± ¡°Hah, it¡¯s probably a high-level prosthetic. Good joke kid.¡± The people started laughing until the guy who said it tried removing said ear and it didn¡¯t budge. ¡°Please don¡¯t touch my ear.¡± It flicked him. ¡°It¡¯s real.¡± Everyone was looking at me like I was some kind of monster, except for Amanda. ¡°People, I don¡¯t care if she¡¯s a catkin, she¡¯s a kid.¡± The people began to calm down. Then a guy came up. ¡°Hey, cat kid. What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Rose Hood.¡± ¡°Cool, sorta like red riding hood.¡± ¡°Sorta.¡± I just went along with what the guy was saying. He was a higher being. ¡°So, Rose. Do you know what faction I¡¯m part of?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t.¡± Some people looked confused. Then he drew a very real sword. ¡°I¡¯m a member of the God Slayers.¡± My eyes widened. ¡°This is for Dominion.¡± I dodged his strike which cut clean through the ground. ¡°I know I was commanded to keep my role hidden, but I had friends in Dominion. You know.¡± His eyes of rage pierced me. ¡°Before you and your goons killed the entire faction.¡± ¡°When someone attacks, they should expect a counterattack.¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on? Caleb, what do you have against that kid?¡± ¡°Everything. You killed some of my friends.¡± ¡°She¡¯s a kid, how could she do that?!¡± ¡°None of you understand!!!¡± I stood up. And he continued. ¡°That thing isn¡¯t a kid. She¡¯s older than all of us. And she¡¯s a monster.¡± ¡°Not the first time I¡¯ve been called that.¡± ¡°Well news flash, kid. Magic don¡¯t work here, so you¡¯ll die pitifully.¡± After he made the claim, I realized just how outmatched he was. He slashed. ¡°Flame.¡± ¡°GK?!¡± I ignited and Caleb leapt back. Some people screamed. ¡°I hate to tell you, Caleb, but as a previous resident of Earth.¡± I smiled. ¡°My magic works just fine.¡± ¡°Impossible.¡± He charged me and tried to cut me, but I dodged and kicked the blade out of his hand. I picked it up and leveled it at him. ¡°WHAT¡¯S HAPPENING?!¡± Everyone was at a complete loss of what was happening. ¡°Quite simply, I was trying to enjoy ComiCon when this idiot showed up.¡± ¡°Please, I can¡¯t just stand by when the one who killed my friends appears.¡± ¡°Once again. They attacked my group first. It was a war.¡± ¡°Why is a kid at war?¡± ¡°SHE¡¯S NOT A KID!!!¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m like a million years old. Or if you want to get technical, my ego is only one year old¡­ I am a kid.¡± ¡°A kid can¡¯t kill a 400.¡± ¡°Well, I did.¡± ¡°What did we ever do to you?¡± I burst out laughing. ¡°You ask that question?! Really?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Let me put it this way, do you know Sal?¡± ¡°Uh, yeah?¡± ¡°His squad came in and butchered my people because I refused to join your pitiful ranks. He killed the king of the nation and the strongest warrior. For what? Me denying joining?¡± ¡°Those of lesser worlds don¡¯t matter.¡± I smiled, not savage beast. I couldn¡¯t use that without Kala. ¡°And that¡¯s why I¡¯ll destroy your faction like I destroyed Dominion.¡± ¡°Monster.¡± ¡°If I¡¯m a monster, then what does that make you? Abominations.¡± He grimaced. ¡°Now, give me that blade and die!!!¡± If only his speed could keep up with his confidence. I cut him in half before he could reach me. But silence... Luma wasn¡¯t able to see me. I could tell I gained a single level though. ¡°Holy ****. He¡¯s dead!¡± ¡°Yes, that is what a sword does.¡± ¡°That kid killed a guy!¡± ¡°He tried to kill me.¡± ¡°Someone, call the cops!!!¡± ¡°The heck are they supposed to do?¡± ¡°They can put her on murder trial.¡± Then Amanda spoke. ¡°EVERYONE CALM DOWN!!!¡± Everyone looked at her. ¡°We don¡¯t know what happened other than the two fought and the guy died. Let¡¯s clear that up before we start calling the authorities.¡± The people reluctantly agreed, the most reluctant was the woman who called his name earlier. Amanda turned to me. ¡°Alright, Rose, right?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Why did you kill him?¡± ¡°He tried to kill me.¡± ¡°And why did he?¡± ¡°Because his faction and another that I destroyed yesterday is at war with my group, and he was angry for some of the members of the faction that I destroyed.¡± ¡°Oh, so it was a war thing?¡± ¡°Yep, sorry that you got caught up in it.¡± They were shocked by what I was saying, but Amanda had another question. ¡°What was that fire?¡± ¡°Oh that? That was simple magic.¡± Chapter 101: Studying for school ¡°So, you are from a different world?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I was in Amanda¡¯s house. She got me coffee and we were sitting in her living room. ¡°Who was that guy?¡± ¡°A member of a group called the God Slayers.¡± ¡°Let me guess, their goal is to kill God?¡± ¡°No, actually. They want to enslave Him.¡± ¡°That¡¯s dumb.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Either way, you said that you destroyed another group that was allied with them?¡± ¡°Yes, they were called Dominion.¡± ¡°What was their goal?¡± ¡°Gain power through slavery.¡± ¡°Great¡­¡± ¡°Yep, never been fond of slavers.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your faction called?¡± ¡°We¡­ don¡¯t actually have a name yet. We have no higher beings, so none of us can start the faction.¡± ¡°I see. Was that guy a higher being?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Hey, what is your world like?¡± ¡°It used to be war faring, but since our first interaction with other worlds, we have united.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Heh, if this world were to be under threat, half of the world would side with the threat.¡± ¡°That¡¯s stupid.¡± ¡°We know that. But they¡¯d do it anyways.¡± We sat in silence. ¡°You can do magic?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s pretty common in my world, but I¡¯m one of the strongest.¡± ¡°Nice. You also said that you used to be a resident of this world. What does that mean?¡± ¡°Oh, um¡­. I used to live in this world. It¡¯s a long story.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ do you want to go back to your world?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Hm¡­ Well, I suppose I could help you.¡± ¡°How? The book that crumbled was my ticket home.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Hm¡­ Maybe if I built up enough mana, I could do a high-level warp and warp back to my world¡­ no that wouldn¡¯t work.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even have my body to warp.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a spiritual being, that means that I can form as this, but normally I am in the body of a dragon.¡± ¡°So, this is small for you?¡± ¡°No, not really, I can shift my form in that body, very good for espionage.¡± ¡°Sounds like it.¡± ¡°Yeah, I actually usually appear like this, just with adult features. Same height too.¡± ¡°Fun.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m a loli in that form.¡± ¡°Fun *giggles*.¡± I looked at Amanda who was snickering at me describing my appearance as a loli. Then she turned serious. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m pretty sure the people at the Con won¡¯t spread the story, but I think we need an additional way to keep you in a low profile.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You look young, but you could pass for a middle schooler.¡± ¡°Okay? And?¡± ¡°I¡¯m thinking you should go to middle school for now.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± She suddenly looked nervous, then I sighed. ¡°I may not look like it, but my soul is over 1000000 years old. I doubt I could pass in terms of behavior, besides what would I do for my ears and tail. I can shift with my body, but if I had my body I wouldn¡¯t be stuck.¡± ¡°I could say that you are a furry with prosthetics.¡± ¡°The **** is a furry?¡± ¡°Someone who wears animal features and does¡­ stuff in them.¡± ¡°But I look like a kid. Wouldn¡¯t that be weird?¡± ¡°Surprisingly, no. It¡¯s not like they expect you to go that far either, not with how young you look, so you could just act like yourself¡­ but younger.¡± ¡°I fought for life for most of my childhood, I don¡¯t think I should act that way.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ Hm¡­ just don¡¯t fight and be nice.¡± ¡°I can do that.¡± ¡°Good.¡± ¡°What if someone harasses me for being a furry?¡± ¡°Tell the teacher.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I gave a thumbs up, then she started a mid-year enrollment. ¡°And done, you start school Monday.¡± ¡°Nice¡­ how far is that?¡± ¡°3 days.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get you caught up in education.¡± Then for the next 3 days, me and Amanda studied. I was ready. Chapter 102: Rose in a Foreign Plane I got there Monday with full confidence. I wore a hoodie so people didn¡¯t point and stare, it was bad enough that I had to act like a furry, I could do without the bullying. It was a bit irritating in the morning. ¡°Let me bring my regal robe!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not even loomed it¡¯s a cloth that barely covers you as is.¡± ¡°Grah!¡± She wouldn¡¯t let me bring my robe, in fact she decided to wash it. Not sure if she can, but I guess it could be cleaned. ¡°Hey, shorty, shouldn¡¯t you be in kindergarten?¡± ¡°No, today is my first day of 6th grade.¡± I was definitely a great deal shorter than my classmates, but that came with being Purity. Nothing more pure than a childish appearence. I walked to class with a couple of people looking at me oddly. ¡°Knew I should have picked the bigger uniform.¡± It was a formal school, so they made us pick a uniform, but as Amanda said after I first put it on. ¡°If you look more adult in your body, I can see why they call you a loli.¡± Needless to say, the boys took an interest in me. The girls weren¡¯t so happy. One looked at me, looked down, then looked back at me with an irritated look. I felt like that one girl from D*vil is a Pa*t Ti*er. Except I was actually old. I got to class, and the teacher started speaking immediately. ¡°So, students, we have a new student. Rose, please introduce yourself.¡± What? I stood in front of the class. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Rose. I hope we can be good friends.¡± ¡°Any questions for Rose?¡± ¡°I heard you¡¯re a furry!¡± I blushed immediately. That was quick. ¡°Um, what do you mean?¡± ¡°Do you actually think wearing cat ears would make you look good?¡± Jeez. These girls were brutal. ¡°Um.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Kids, be nice. Just because she¡¯s a little different, doesn¡¯t mean she¡¯s bad.¡± ¡°Take off the hoodie!¡± Then the class started chanting for me to take it off. ¡°Fine.¡± I removed the hood and my ears twitched with the cold air. ¡°WOAH! THEY MOVED!¡± ¡°She spent that much money on realistic ears? Laaame.¡± Some were laughing and pointing. Some were intrigued with the ears. One was wondering where she could get them. ¡°My Halloween costume would be so much better with ears like that!!!¡± People were being loud, so my ears flattened to my head. ¡°Hah, she¡¯s acting like her ears actually work.¡± They do, and you are too loud. ¡°Alright, Rose, please have a seat next to Stacy, so we can begin.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s Stacy?¡± She pointed to the costume girl. ¡°Alright, thanks.¡± I sat down next to her. ¡°Woah, can I touch them?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± She touched my ears and they twitched. The teacher tried to teach, but it became clear that everyone was more interested in my ears. Whether to make fun of me for having them, or trying to figure out how they work. Luckily no one brushed the side of my head, or they would have noticed that I don¡¯t have human ears. ¡°Look they twitch when I touch them.¡± Being my ears, they were very sensitive, so I was under assault that the perpetrators didn¡¯t even realize. ¡°What if I grab them?¡± I flinched and someone grabbed an ear. I blushed furiously. ¡°Oh, come on guys, don¡¯t be mean, she¡¯s clearly embarrassed by the attention.¡± ¡°Then she shouldn¡¯t have worn cat ears to school.¡± ¡®They are my ears though!!!¡¯ I was crying inside of my head. It wasn¡¯t painful, but it was uncomfortable. Then the costume girl, Stacy got an idea. *Scritch scritch* *Purr* With the scratching behind the ears, my body made a natural response. ¡°The ****?¡± ¡°Did she just purr?¡± ¡°How¡¯d she do that?¡± ¡°Um guys?¡± ¡°What is it, Stacy?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no space under the ears, it¡¯s almost like they are fused to her head.¡± Of course, I was found out that quickly. ¡°Oh, please. She probably just used suction.¡± ¡°On hair?¡± ¡°She probably shaved that spot.¡± Thank you, human stupidity. ¡°Nah, it¡¯s too clean to be suction.¡± *Purr* WHY ARE THEY PETTING ME?! It¡¯s nice though. If Tessa, Fortitude, was here, she¡¯d make fun of me endlessly. ¡°Then maybe she glued it?¡± ¡°Nah, it would be too loose, and that doesn''t account for the moving.¡± ¡­ Humans are smarter than I thought. ¡°What if they¡¯re real?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous, Erica. There¡¯s no way they are real, after all her ears are right¡­ here¡­¡± And she touched the side of my head and realized that I didn¡¯t have human ears. ¡°Um¡­ that¡¯s odd.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t seem to be able to find her ears.¡± ¡°So, she is a cat girl!!!¡± ¡°No, Stacy, there¡¯s a better explanation. Maybe she¡¯s deaf?¡± ¡°No, she could hear us fine. She responded multiple times.¡± ¡°Good point.¡± They realized that I was a catkin, I was worried they¡¯d be scared, but I underestimated the children. ¡°Woah, she¡¯s actually a cat girl, she¡¯s so cute.¡± ¡®What?¡¯ ¡°I want to pet her next.¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Only the teacher was perturbed. She spoke into her walkie talkie. ¡°Um, Mr. Davis?¡± ¡°What is it, Mrs. Jones?¡± ¡°The new student doesn¡¯t have human ears, and according to my students the cat ears are too solidly on.¡± ¡°So, are you saying she¡¯s just a catgirl?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what it seems like.¡± ¡°Why aren¡¯t you teaching?¡± ¡°Because my students are too busy giving her headpats.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, and frankly I¡¯m starting to think that she is a catgirl.¡± ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous.¡± ¡°I know, that¡¯s the scary part.¡± I was found out. ¡°Why are you pouting, Cat girl?¡± ¡°My name is Rose, and it¡¯s because I expected to stay hidden for at least one day.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate middle schoolers.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°So, what are you doing here?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to school until I can find a way back to where I came from.¡± ¡°Ooh, it¡¯s like the start of an anime!!!¡± ¡°I suppose it is.¡± I heard that kids were perceptive, but this was ridiculous. ¡°Is Rose your actual name?¡± ¡°Yep. That¡¯s the name I was given by a close friend.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cool. Is he another cat person.¡± ¡°No, he was actually a wolfkin.¡± ¡°There are wolf people?! Awesome!¡± Stacy was unusually excited about that. ¡°Are you a fighter?¡± ¡°Um, yeah.¡± ¡°So cool!!!¡± Chapter 103: A Feline Comfort I tried to keep it quiet, but I overestimated their maturity, by lunchtime the whole school knew I was an actual catgirl. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re a catgirl, so you are probably older than us.¡± ¡°Actually, I¡¯m a little older than a year.¡± ¡°GAHK No way.¡± I didn¡¯t need to specify that it was only my ego that was that old. Because technically my ego is me. People kept an eye on me¡­ some a little too much. I walked into the cafeteria and tried to find a place to sit alone, but a boy sat next to me. ¡°Hey there, the name¡¯s Mark. I heard you were a cat girl~¡± ¡°Yes, what about it?¡± ¡°Anyone ever tell you how beautiful you are?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Ghh¡­¡± He was not expecting that. ¡°Ah, well I¡¯d like to reiterate it. You are quite beautiful.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I smiled, and he blushed. ¡°Um well, have a good day.¡± He rushed away embarrassed. I began eating my lunch. Since I was already known, I let my tail hang out a bit. The principal had a talk with me where I sort of summarized the situation. It turned out that he was at ComiCon, so that made it easier. I was eating my lunch, then. ¡°No way it¡¯s real.¡± *Grab* I stiffened the moment someone grabbed my tail. ¡°P-please let go.¡± It was wriggling. The kid saw my face and blushed before apologizing and rushing off. Then I curled my tail to my lap. ¡°Middle schoolers are too curious.¡± ¡°Got that right.¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. A girl sat in front of me. ¡°Erica, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, sorry that word got out.¡± ¡°You¡¯re fine, I just wish that people would stop grabbing at my tail or ears.¡± ¡°Yeah, that looked painful.¡± ¡°If he yanked it would¡¯ve been.¡± ¡°For him or you.¡± ¡°Both,¡± ¡°Heh¡­ is it true that you are only 1?¡± ¡°Yeah, pretty much.¡± ¡°Cool, do you have fancy titles?¡± ¡°Hm. I do. Not sure I want to share them though.¡± ¡°Ah man. Okay. By the way, the most torturous thing is next.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Math.¡± ¡°???¡± _ Erica was right. It was torturous. Not due to difficulty, no that was simple. The problem was that even the teacher kept giving me glances. My tail was between my legs. It was clear who the cat people were. Because they tried to keep their distance to make sure I remained calm. ¡°Hey, could I touch your tail?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because it is sensitive, and you could hurt it.¡± ¡°I¡¯d be careful.¡± ¡°Still no.¡± ¡°If you didn¡¯t want people to touch it, then why take it out in the first place?¡± ¡°Because as I said, it¡¯s sensitive. It hurt to keep my tail in the leggings.¡± ¡°Oh, then why did you do that?¡± ¡°Because it was hard enough to pass off the ears.¡± ¡°That makes sense I guess.¡± ¡°Are your ears sensitive too?¡± ¡°Much less so.¡± ¡°Class, please focus.¡± ¡°Yes, Ma¡¯am.¡± We did more math and I helped out with some people¡¯s confusion. Everything was going well, and slowly my tail began to stick ou- *Yank* *HISS* Reflexively I back-kicked the guy who had the audacity to grab and yank my tail. ¡°Ow, why would you do that?¡± ¡°Because you grabbed her tail, idiot.¡± I was blushing and my tail was wagging slightly. ¡°Doesn¡¯t wagging mean that she¡¯s happy?¡± ¡°That¡¯s for dogs not cats.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°What does it mean for cats?¡± ¡°Alert.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± The guy was the same one who asked earlier. As I helped him up. ¡°Remember this, look, don¡¯t touch.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± He was blushing. I finished my class with my tail thumping the ground. I walked through the hall and entered the restroom. I washed my face and then tried to call out to Luma. [Luma, where are you? I can¡¯t reach you.] There was no response. Even the system doesn¡¯t work in this world. It¡¯s isolated, so how did that book bring me here? What¡¯s more, I could only use magic as I am a part of Kala who used to live on Earth. That meant that someone had absolute control over mana in this world. I never saw the Ruler of the Supreme Faction, but I could tell his power, and this world was only a testament to that overwhelming strength. ¡°How can I get out?¡± ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°Oh, Erica.¡± ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± ¡°How to get home.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your home like?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a city, the people are kind, and people don¡¯t look at the different with disdain, but kindness. Strong people defend the weak. The weak people aid the strong.¡± ¡°That sounds cool. Are you one of the weak?¡± ¡°No, not by any stretch. I¡¯m, in fact, one of the strongest.¡± ¡°WOAH! That¡¯s so cool!!!¡± ¡°Heh, thanks.¡± ¡°Who rules it?¡± ¡°The regent is a powerful woman who fought toe to toe with powerful beings.¡± ¡°The regent?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°What happened to the king?¡± ¡°He¡­ fell, and his son is too young to rule, so they gave it to her.¡± ¡°Oh, that sounds sad.¡± ¡°It was.¡± Then I lightened up the mood. ¡°Either way, the kingdom is very prosperous.¡± ¡®Kala and the others should be able to hold down the fort until I return.¡¯ ¡°That¡¯s good to hear¡­ have you ever been in a fighting situation?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s hard, but we won.¡± ¡°Is it hard¡­ to kill someone?¡± This middle schooler was going into the deep questions. I sighed. ¡°Frankly, no, but that doesn¡¯t mean I do it casually. Where I¡¯m from, if I didn¡¯t kill my enemy without a moment¡¯s hesitation, I would have died myself. Frankly, I still remember the faces of those I slew.¡± ¡°That¡¯s dark.¡± ¡°It is but see it this way. In my world, battles are inevitable, so if I remained weak, then I would simply be torn apart by the torrent of the strong.¡± ¡°I see. That makes sense. Thank you for being honest.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± She smiled, seeming quite happy, before leaving. I was confused until I looked down. I suddenly couldn¡¯t help but smile. My tail was straight out. Chapter 104: The Science of Magic I entered the last class of the day, science. No one I knew was in this class, but everyone knew me. ¡°Alright, so Ms. Rose, if you wouldn¡¯t mind, since you are an unknown, would you be able to educate us on the biology where you come from?¡± ¡°Sure, why not?¡± Then the teacher handed me the chalk and I smiled. ¡°If any of you have questions, please ask. Unless it¡¯s sensitive, I will be fully honest.¡± The teacher raised his hand. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the energy source where you come from?¡± ¡°Wonderful question. Well, how many of you like fantasy novels?¡± A few raised their hands. ¡°Well, the system where I come from is magic based.¡± ¡°Magic?¡± ¡°Yes, specifically Mana. Using this, we can influence the world around us. This place actually also has mana backing.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Can you do a spell?¡± ¡°Sure, what kind of spell?¡± ¡°FIRE!!!¡± ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°Ah man¡­¡± Another student raised her hand. ¡°Could you make a tree grow?¡± ¡°I could try. I¡¯ve not really ever focused on nature magic.¡± A girl brought over a sapling. ¡°I¡¯ll make it a small tree.¡± I reached out my hand, then I felt it¡¯s system. It¡¯s purity. I spoke in the ancient language. ¡°Hello sprout. Please bloom into a small tree, so the others here may see my power.¡± The sapling began to glow and grow. It stopped at about 2 ft tall. ¡°Woah¡­¡± I had blown their minds. The teacher was rapidly taking notes.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Then a student asked. ¡°Are there dragons in your home?¡± ¡°Yes, in fact I¡¯m friends with a few.¡± ¡°Woah. Do they breathe fire?!¡± ¡°One does.¡± ¡°Can you breathe fire?¡± ¡°Yeah, but I don¡¯t think that would be a good idea.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°What kind of beast is the most dangerous?¡± ¡°Dragons, followed by the Whilders. Then after that hm¡­ I don¡¯t know, there are a lot of contenders for third place.¡± ¡°What are Whilderbeasts? Wait what? Why¡¯d I say Whilderbeast?¡± ¡°Most people can only call Whilders that. It takes a Mythic level person to call them Whilders.¡± ¡°Odd.¡± ¡°Yep, but to answer your question, they are the voice of the nature god, Nala, but corrupted to an evil that even she said to restrain them.¡± ¡°Wait, a god?¡± ¡°Yes, unlike this place, in my home we are fully aware of the pantheon.¡± ¡°Who is the strongest of them?¡± ¡°The world mother, also the current ruler of the nation I live in. Her name is Kala.¡± ¡°Incredible.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the difference between dragons and Whilderbeasts?¡± ¡°Morality, while a lot of people would say intellect, both dragons and Whilders are quite intelligent. So, the main difference is that the Whilders don¡¯t understand morality. They recognize strength and strength alone.¡± I sketched a Whilder on the board. They looked at it. ¡°That looks kind of like a wendigo, but more beastlike.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know what a wendigo is.¡± ¡°Um, it¡¯s a fictional creature that can resurrect the dead but in a distorted evil version of themselves.¡± ¡°So, necrosis? Huh, a creature that always is born with it.¡± ¡°Wait, there are creatures born with it?¡± ¡°Dragons all are born with a different element. One actually possesses the necrosis aspect. She uses it in tandem with her father¡¯s life aspect and can fully resurrect people as long as they aren¡¯t smited.¡± ¡°Smited?¡± ¡°Ah yes. The gods are actually beings called deities. Very hard to kill, but they have a unique skill called Smite. It basically makes someone unrevivable, and it is almost an instant kill.¡± ¡°Has anyone survived it?¡± ¡°The flame dragon, but that¡¯s only because she leveled up right after being smited.¡± ¡°What about with a deities help?¡± ¡°If you are possessed by a deity, you can survive it, but it¡¯s still horribly painful.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± They thought about it and were taking notes. ¡°What¡¯s the difference between human and¡­ catkin, was it?¡± ¡°Catkin, yes. We have lighter bones, and our muscles are more suited for low jumping attacks.¡± ¡°So, you are agile.¡± ¡°Typically.¡± ¡°Could you sketch a dragon?¡± ¡°Humanoid form or draconic form?¡± ¡°Both.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I drew Thalia. I went into great detail. ¡°Woah, is she an elf?¡± ¡°Dragons typically appear as elves, but they can also show up as dragonkin or humans.¡± ¡°Do any show up as catkin?¡± ¡°Yes, in fact the World Mother¡¯s body is that of a dragon. She appears as a catkin.¡± ¡°Woah, I would want to meet her.¡± ¡°Maybe when she comes to find me.¡± ¡°How can you be sure she will?¡± ¡°Because if there is one thing about her that even her enemies know. It¡¯s that she will fight tooth and nail to save one person.¡± ¡°She seems to be a good person.¡± ¡°I suppose.¡± ¡°Are you an important person?" ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Like in that kingdom, are you important?¡± ¡°I¡­ maybe.¡± ¡°Woah, are you like royalty?¡± ¡°No, not at all. I¡¯m just one of the stronger fighters.¡± ¡°But you are so small.¡± ¡°Power doesn¡¯t relate to size.¡± ¡°Ooh, speaking of, how big is the biggest dragon?¡± ¡°The World Mother, in her dragon form, is probably about a 10th of the size of New York.¡± ¡°That¡¯s huge.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°The city or the state.¡± ¡°The city.¡± ¡°That¡¯s still massive.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know.¡± ¡°I wonder what her catkin form looks like.¡± Then a boy. ¡°Probably hot.¡± ¡°I bet she¡¯s tall.¡± ¡°Bet she¡¯s even prettier than Rose.¡± They didn¡¯t know that said world mother was right in front of them trying not to blush. ¡°Well, uh, any more questions?¡± ¡°How does the world mother look. Could you sketch her?¡± ¡°Ap sure.¡± I didn¡¯t quite look like my body; I looked like a younger version. ¡°Dragon or humanoid.¡± ¡°Both?¡± ¡°Alright.¡± I drew the dragon form and was sure to add details to show the reflective nature of the scales, then I went to drawing myself. I drew it almost in a photographic manner. ¡°She looks kinda like you.¡± ¡°Really? That¡¯s cool.¡± ¡°Yeah, she must have seen you and modeled herself after you as an adult.¡± ¡°Heh, that¡¯s sweet, but I doubt it.¡± Then the bell rang, and we said our goodbyes and the people thanked me for the lesson. Chapter 105: God Slayers on Earth I was walking down the street towards Amanda¡¯s house, when I saw Erica. I was going to say hi, but I got a sense that I should merely observe. I followed lightly so she wouldn¡¯t be able to tell. Then I saw her get grabbed. Not wanting to misunderstand, I got to the alleyway and listened. ¡°This isn¡¯t Rose.¡± ¡°Huh? But she looks-¡° ¡°Rose is disguising as a catkin not as a human.¡± ¡°Hm¡­ Well, how could we use her?¡± ¡°Wait, her eyes widened when you mentioned Rose, maybe she knows where she is.¡± They uncovered her mouth. ¡°Where is she?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll never tell you.¡± ¡°Listen kid, YOWCH!!! ****ing kid!¡± He started a kick, but I blocked the kick. ¡°Well, there you are, kid.¡± ¡°God Slayers I¡¯d assume?¡± ¡°Rose, what¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°Erica, run and get help.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± She ran as fast as she could and they tried to chase her, but I blocked them. ¡°How did you even get to this world?¡± ¡°Well, it was quite simple, we found a hole in the shield. It¡¯s the same one that allows residents to get in.¡± ¡°I see, so you utilized it.¡± ¡°Yep, and now we will bring you to our boss and he¡¯ll torture you.¡± ¡°That is of course, if you can bring me in.¡± I let my aura shine, but the higher beings weren¡¯t intimidated. ¡°Charge!!!¡± One rammed into me, throwing me out of the alley, and I blocked another¡¯s blow. The one woman of the group did a spin kick, but I caught it and spun her into another fighter. We stood and stared. I gave no opening, but neither did they.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Come on, Rose, just give up. There¡¯s no way you can win.¡± ¡°Incorrect.¡± They charged again and I blocked all three, then I dashed back and kicked up dust which then I charged and grappled one of the guys. He fell back and I kicked him in the face. He flipped and I changed direction mid-air to the woman. ¡°Huh?¡± I slashed, and she dodged narrowly, but I wasn¡¯t done with the charge. I kicked off the air and punched her gut, causing her to cough. ¡°She can use magic? No fair.¡± I smiled. ¡°One last chan-¡° A roundhouse kick to the face decapitated me. A scream leveled out. Erica had come back with a force of officers. ¡°What the **** did you do to that child?¡± ¡°Rose, No!!!¡± ¡°Crap, the cops.¡± ¡°Nah, don¡¯t worry, we can ki-GRK!!!¡± ¡°What, she can even use regen?!¡± ¡°No, she¡¯s still headless. The ****?!¡± ¡°Well boys. You are fully aware of who I am.¡± The man I impaled on my fist crumpled as I walked over to my head and picked it up. I put it back on and smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t think you can stun me so easily.¡± ¡°****, Celia, she killed John.¡± ¡°Did we actually sign up for a suicide mission? This was supposed to be easy.¡± ¡°Hm. Caleb thought the same thing.¡± The remaining duo realized my implications before their auras flared with rage and they charged me. They must have been low, as a master wouldn¡¯t make that much of a mistake. I dodged the guy¡¯s blow and ripped his arm off, causing him to scream in pain. Celia realized her mistake and tried to run, but I wasn¡¯t just going to let her. Celia, however, was smart. She grabbed Erica and leveled a high-power art at her. ¡°One move and your friend is dead.¡± I smiled. ¡°Why should I worry about that?¡± Everyone looked at me in horror, so I continued. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure you need an arm to hurt someone.¡± I held up Celia¡¯s now missing arm and she screamed in agony, dropping Erica and giving me the chance, I needed. ¡°Goodness, the whole lot of you are amateurs.¡± I impaled her heart and then used flame on the guy who was also trying to flee. He screeched in agony before being reduced to ash. The cops and Erica were in shock. On one hand, it was quite clear who the aggressor was, on the other hand, I had been decapitated, and then I simply put my head back and crushed them all in less than a minute. ¡°Goodness, they couldn¡¯t even spring for 400s to face me? Maybe then I¡¯d actually have trouble.¡± I gained one level from killing all three of them, so they were at max 250. ¡°The **** are you?¡± ¡°The name¡¯s Hood, Rose Hood.¡± ¡°Was that a James Bond reference?¡± ¡°Hehe.¡± ¡°Anyways, what are you?¡± ¡°Well, I suppose I should be a bit more honest.¡± ¡°Hm?!¡± Erica looked shocked. ¡°I am The Core Truth, Purity, core shard of the World Mother, Kala.¡± ¡°Uh, what?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a deity.¡± ¡°Like a god?¡± ¡°Somewhat similar.¡± ¡°Okay? What are you doing here?¡± ¡°Trying to find a way back home, and those guys were trying to kidnap me. Potentially to use as a bargaining chip.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the other option?¡± ¡°Their leader¡¯s torture doll.¡± ¡°The ****?!¡± ¡°Eh, the multiverse is messed up. Anyways, you guys wouldn¡¯t happen to know what hole they jumped through.¡± I smiled. They seemed focused on something. ¡°The heck do you mean by torture doll?¡± ¡°Exactly what you are probably thinking.¡± ¡°But you are a kid?!¡± ¡°Calm down, I¡¯m almost a million years old.¡± ¡°I thought you said you were one?¡± ¡°My being independent is one year old. But Kala, the World Mother is a million.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Erica seemed to be reconsidering everything I had said. ¡°Wait, doesn¡¯t that make you the regent of that kingdom?¡± ¡°Yep. At least a 10th of her, and the only one that can stay awake.¡± I mostly muttered that last part. ¡°Either way, doesn¡¯t matter, do you guys know where they came from.¡± ¡°No?¡± ¡°Gosh dang it.¡± I looked at the corpses. ¡°I should have left at least one alive¡­¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°They threatened my friend, no one does that.¡± Erica was touched. But I had one last thing to say. ¡°Oh, and could you please not mention this? Chock it up to supernatural stuff. I want to relax until I¡¯m able to go.¡± ¡°Um, sure.¡± ¡°Hey, Erica, I should walk you home, so you feel safer.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± Chapter 106: The Magicless Elf Over the next week, I taught more and more abstract concepts that were in the world Kala made. I still wanted to get home, and everyone knew it, but I still wanted to teach what I could before then. No other fighters got in. I assume that after those guys got in, the hole was moved. I talked with Amanda occasionally. We shared stories, and I really wanted to tell her, but I knew that that was up to Kala to tell her. I did tell her about Amy though. ¡°Is she really that strong now?¡± ¡°Yep, she is one of our strongest fighters, and a lot of us are pretty sure she¡¯ll be dating Ausar.¡± ¡°Wow, to think that she became so strong and seduced a deity. Makes me kind of jealous.¡± ¡°Eh, it¡¯s a hard life. She had to go through a lot of shock, plus she had to realize that no matter how strong you get, you can¡¯t save everyone.¡± ¡°That would be a hard lesson to learn.¡± ¡°Yeah, and she learnt it in one of the harshest ways possible.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°She saw one of the strongest fighters she¡¯d ever seen crying as he held his dead liege.¡± ¡°I see, that would certainly be an eye-opening thing to see.¡± ¡°She also saw a dragon sobbing as her boyfriend took his last breaths.¡± ¡°That must have also been terrifying.¡± ¡°In my opinion, if you lose something, you will simply view yourself as inadequate and delude yourself into thinking you should have done better only if you were better. I know because I went through the exact same thing but seeing others, people far beyond you in terms of power, fail to save someone they care for. It makes you realize a powerful lesson. Death is part of life. No matter how much you blame yourself. They died. So, move on, and get stronger. Not so you can assure yourself that you could¡¯ve saved them, but so you can make sure that it doesn¡¯t happen again.¡± Amanda seemed deep in thought after what I said. I intended the speech for her, but she didn¡¯t realize. Living in her home for a week, I could tell that she had let herself go since Amy disappeared and that she clearly held guilt for what happened to Kala as Heather. ¡°Well, I¡¯m going to scho-¡° ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°Ye-oomph.¡± ¡°Thank you for that.¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. I smiled and hugged her back before going back to school. _ I walked to the school and got to class when I heard the announcer''s voice was different. {¡°Rose Hood, could you please come to the front office¡±} The teacher looked confused but said. ¡°Alright, well I¡¯ll catch you up when you get back.¡± I left. I already knew that something was wrong. When I got to the office, my fears were proven true. The principal was tied up, and Amanda was in a chair next to him, also tied up. ¡°You¡¯re not a 400, are you?¡± ¡°A 500. I am a commander of the God Slayers. After you took out my operatives, I realized that I needed to find a weak point.¡± ¡°And you thought sending one of your strongest was the right move?¡± ¡°Of course, even if you can use magic, I couldn¡¯t in the first place. And I made it to both 538 and faction commander.¡± ¡°So, even if I had the rest of Kala I couldn¡¯t win.¡± ¡°Of course. The name¡¯s Kalgero.¡± ¡°I hope you know that I don¡¯t plan on going down easily.¡± Then the elf stepped out. ¡°Oh, I am aware, but I hope you also know that my best friend¡¯s wife was a member of Dominion. Ella?¡± ¡°I see, she was a great fighter. She fought honorably. I had to use everything to beat her.¡± He smiled sadly. ¡°Dragons are like that. You find no greater honor than dying valiantly.¡± ¡°I understand your anger, but I fought to live.¡± ¡°I understand. We all do, but you slew our friends.¡± ¡°As you slew mine.¡± ¡°Yes, then we are at war. That is something that will not change until we all are dead.¡± ¡°Very well. Do we need to fight here? Too many will die.¡± ¡°It¡¯s almost unfortunate, but yes, we do. I can¡¯t let anyone in this world know of the multiverse.¡± ¡°So, you will kill them all?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Thank you for your honesty¡­¡± ¡°Rose¡­ I respect you, despite us being enemies. If you run now, I will let you get through the gate and return to your group.¡± ¡°As someone who respects me, you already know my answer.¡± ¡°I do.¡± ¡°Well, I guess this is where Purity falls.¡± ¡°Goodbye Rose. I truly did enjoy this talk.¡± Then our attacks collided, and the world ignited. _ Erica POV What¡¯s happening? That shaking!!! ¡°Warning, we have an earthquake. Evacuate now.¡± We all got out of the school and onto the lawn. ¡°Ma¡¯am, what¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. The authorities are on the way.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°Erica?¡± ¡°Rose is fighting someone. Someone who wants to kill us.¡± ¡°How do you know?¡± ¡°I saw her fighting once before, and there is only one reason she would fight without making sure we were safe first.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°If the enemy way outpowers her.¡± Almost like she was summoned Rose was thrown, no, she jumped out, holding both the principal and- ¡°Ms. Amanda!!!¡± The teacher took the two unconscious people from the bloodied catkin. ¡°Protect them.¡± ¡°Oh, Rose, don¡¯t run yet~ I haven¡¯t ripped your throat out yet.¡± A man with elf ears stepped out of the building and Rose spun to face him. ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning on it, but I don¡¯t want casualties.¡± ¡°Hm. After you die, so will they.¡± Then they charged and collided their attacks. People realized immediately just how strong both were. ¡°Evacuate the whole city!!!¡± ¡°Understood.¡± There was suddenly mass panic. Traffic built up and clogged the roads. ¡°What¡¯s happening?!¡± ¡°A battle between two powerful beings.¡± ¡°WHAT?!¡± A news helicopter flew over the scene and saw both Rose and the elf. The tvs started blaring. ¡°A massive battle between two nonhuman entities has erupted. People are fleeing from the sc-¡° Rose was thrown into the helicopter causing it to explode which killed everyone inside. Everyone who thought it wasn¡¯t serious immediately stopped messing around. An apocalyptic battle was taking place. Rose was losing. She had way more injuries and could barely stand from the beginning of the fight. The science teacher agreed. ¡°The only thing that¡¯s keeping her moving is adrenaline.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the scary part.¡± Rose was losing, and the moment that she died¡­ We would follow close behind. Chapter 107: The Supreme Arrival Kalgero was far stronger than I was. Whenever I thought I had a blow, he¡¯d rip off my arm. The moment I stopped regenerating I would die. I had to spam life eruption. He simply was that much stronger. ¡°Will you die already, irritating dragon?!¡± ¡°Nah, I don¡¯t think so.¡± ¡°Then you will face more pain.¡± ¡°And? I¡¯m not scared.¡± He growled and impaled me before throwing me at the Brooklyn Bridge. I knew I didn¡¯t have enough mana to stop, but I couldn¡¯t let them get hurt, there were so many cars on it. Then something unexpected happened. Wings flashed on my back. I stopped myself. I realized something. My body had evolved, my soul as well. ¡°How, HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!¡± I smiled and faced the man who could still demolish me. ¡°Do you think I will let more innocents die? I will save everyone that I can!¡± My declaration caused him to consider me. ¡°A cornered beast with something to defend. That¡¯s why you hold onto the little bit of HP you have left.¡± ¡°If you think that I will die just because you are stronger than me, you insult those who have already fallen. You insult those who you killed. [I swear on the name of Rose Hood, that I will not let a single person die to you here!] My voice swapped to the system, causing him to look shocked. ¡°What are you?¡± [A mere shard of the World Mother.] I charged him, and he too stopped holding back as he charged. Our blow emitted power before connecting, this blow would either be our salvation or our destruction. It was blocked. Not by Kalgero, but by a familiar man. ¡°Pardon me, but could you not destroy my Lord¡¯s planet.¡± ¡°I-it can¡¯t be you.¡± ¡°Gabriel?¡± ¡°Hello Rose. How are you doing?¡± ¡°Um good?¡± ¡°Wonderful, now Kalgero, do I need to tell you why I am upset with you?¡± ¡°N-no.¡± ¡°Wonderful, now I¡¯ll give you 10 seconds to return to your little hole that I¡¯ll patch.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± I couldn¡¯t even see him leave, but when I looked at him, he was already gone. ¡°Well, this isn¡¯t good. Now I have to do soooo much paperwork.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°Oh no, Rose. You did good. You defended this world on sheer adrenaline alone and even evolved your soul¡­ I didn¡¯t even know you could do that.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t?¡± ¡°Oh, I may be a commander of the Lord¡¯s army, but I don¡¯t know all that He does. For example, until now, I couldn¡¯t figure out why He was so interested in you.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Yeah, normally we of the Supreme faction don¡¯t involve ourselves in minor faction wars, but he has now told me to defend you twice.¡± ¡°Is that odd?¡± ¡°First time it¡¯s happened in all of history actually.¡± ¡°Could it be because I¡¯m a reincarnation?¡± ¡°That¡¯s another first I¡¯m confused about.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°There¡¯s been summonings and even people being resurrected after dead, but Kala is the first total reincarnation.¡± ¡°What¡¯s so special about her?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m trying to figure out. Frankly, if it¡¯s related to what you were able to do, then I can partially understand His interest.¡± ¡°What was I able to do?¡± ¡°Kalgero can fight 600s on even ground, yet you were able to hold him back while little more than a tenth of your strength.¡± ¡°I guess¡­¡± ¡°No guessing about it, that was impressive.¡± ¡°But you made him flee.¡± ¡°And think about my level.¡± ¡°Yeah, it is high.¡± ¡°Yeah, past 600 the leveling qualifications for leveling become absolutely ridiculous.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± ¡°Yep, I¡¯m several times older than you.¡± ¡°Goodness.¡± ¡°What¡¯s more, I was born as a 600.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yep, angels are born as the upper class of higher beings.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why people always say our recruitment requirement is level 600, because they don¡¯t realize that¡¯s what we are born at.¡± ¡°Goodness¡­¡± ¡°Yup, anyways, I¡¯ll let you say your goodbyes.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I was also tasked with making sure you returned home.¡± ¡°Thank you¡­ is the world okay?¡± ¡°Yes, the God Slayers focused on you, and Kala left everything to Dallel.¡± ¡°Smart.¡± ¡°Yep, but how did I become a dragon in my soul form?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know actually. It¡¯s odd.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± ¡°Well, go and say goodbye to everyone you want to. I¡¯ll have to make building plans and figure out how to report this.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I smiled. He smiled back. ¡°No problem.¡± Then I saw the school people and went over to them. This would likely be the last time I saw them. I landed in front of them. ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°Hi, well that was interesting.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the world mother, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I am a shard of her, yes, but I am Rose Hood a kind dragon.¡± ¡°Dragon?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Woah.¡± The students looked at me in shock, then Erica said something that made them look sad. ¡°You¡¯re leaving, aren¡¯t you?¡± I nodded. ¡°Gabriel said he could open a gate to my world. I will be going through.¡± Erica smiled, but I could see the small tears. ¡°Alright, I hope you have fun.¡± ¡°I hope you do as well.¡± Then a voice shouted out. ¡°Take me with you!¡± Amanda stood with minorly scorched skin. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have much else in this world, and I want to help you fight the group that tried to kill these kids.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°Why, because I¡¯m weak? Didn¡¯t you say that Amy got to the point that she could give even your world¡¯s pantheon a run for their money? Why can¡¯t I do the same?¡± ¡°It¡¯s dangerous.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care, if I die helping stop a group that would do this, then I¡¯ll die happy.¡± ¡°¡­ Gabriel?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see a problem with it. Of course, that would mean more paperwork for me¡­ eh go ahead. Not like you could stop her.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll go t-¡° ¡°¡±¡°Absolutely not.¡±¡±¡± Erica tried to volunteer as well, but Amanda, me, and Gabriel all instantly denied it. ¡°You¡¯re still too young to fight.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you a dragon, don¡¯t they train their young from birth?¡± ¡°Yeah, but our young can also walk, talk, and fight from birth. Humans take a bit longer for that. And even then, I don¡¯t even like that practice.¡± She relented and Gabriel opened the gate. I could see Selethon¡¯s capital beyond it. Me and Amanda walked through the gate, then as it started closing, we heard something. ¡°Wait, STOP!!!¡± ¡°NO!!!¡± I turned in time to see Erica doing an impressive dive through the closing gate. She did a summersault and stood up. ¡°I made it.¡± She turned and saw my annoyed face. ¡°What?¡± ¡°What part about ¡®you can¡¯t¡¯ do you not understand?¡± ¡°Uhhh¡­¡± I sighed deeply and facepalmed. ¡°Well, you¡¯re here now, I guess we could find somewhere for you, but I¡¯m pretty sure Gabriel is going to be ****** off.¡± _ Gabriel POV ¡°THAT STINKING BRAT!!! WHAT PART OF NO YOU CAN¡¯T DID SHE NOT UNDERSTAND!!!¡± I was ticked off. I couldn¡¯t make another gate like that without the Lord¡¯s help, so she was stuck there. The school children were in shock at their friend who just dove through a portal. ¡°Um, Mr. Gabriel? Please don¡¯t get mad at her.¡± ¡°Eh, there¡¯s no point anyways. Frankly, I¡¯m more surprised that she managed to time that so perfectly.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°A second earlier and I simply would have reached in and grabbed her. A second later and the top half and bottom half of her would be in different worlds.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± ¡°Oh well, I guess now I have EVEN MORE PAPERWORK!!!¡± I sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll send a construction crew, New York should be in working order by the end of the month.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Chapter 108: The Return to Selethon After Erica entered my world illegally, I led her to Selethon¡¯s gate, but we had a little complaining. ¡°Man, why is there no signal.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe it¡¯s because WE ARE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MULTIVERSE!!!¡± ¡°¡­ Jeez, it was only a question.¡± ¡°Lady Rose?¡± The gate guard saw me. ¡°Yo, how are you?¡± ¡°You found your way back!!! We were all worried¡­ who are they?¡± ¡°People like Amy.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. Well, welcome back.¡± He opened the gate and I saw Dallel getting pelted with orange peels. ¡°AHH WHAT DID I EVEN DO?!¡± ¡°YOU KILLED ROSE!!!¡± ¡°WHAT KIND OF NONSENSE IS THAT?!¡± Jalad threw a peel. ¡°WHY ARE YOU THROWING PEELS?!!¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s funny.¡± ¡°Goodness, I leave for one week and everything devolves into chaos.¡± ¡­ ¡°ROSE!!!¡± Dallel ran behind me. ¡°Protect me from the mob.¡± ¡°What did you do?¡± ¡°They are accusing me of killing you.¡± ¡°¡­ That¡¯s stupid.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Kala walked out. ¡°Can you people sto-¡° She saw Amanda and froze. ¡°Rose? Mind explaining what this is?¡± ¡°I was teleported to Earth and Gabriel helped me get back. She came with me, and so did this idiot after we told her she couldn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not an idiot!¡± ¡°You disobeyed the word of an adult, a million-year-old entity, and a literal archangel¡­ that¡¯s the practice of idiots.¡± She blushed before muttering. ¡°I wanted to go, though.¡± Kala sighed. ¡°Alright, Rose, can you understand why I¡¯m kinda in shock here.¡± ¡°Yup, but Gabriel okayed it, so what was I supposed to do?¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°No matter, could we please remerge.¡± ¡°Of course, knowing you, you probably haven¡¯t even stretched in a while.¡± Celios walked up. ¡°Yes, Kala has had her butt stuck on the couch eating food that she used her creation skill to make. When asked to do something, she threw it at Dallel.¡± ¡°Poor Dallel.¡± I reached out to my body and my form began to crumble. ¡°What¡¯s happening to Rose?!¡± ¡°She¡¯s reentering her body.¡± I got Kala to sleep and sighed. ¡°She hasn¡¯t worked out my body in the slightest.¡± ¡°She has not.¡± ¡°Gosh dang it! Anyways, Amanda, Amy should be in the guild hall, and Erica, find some way to be useful please.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll guard Ms. Amanda.¡± ¡°You¡¯d die if a common attacked her.¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Erica moped after Amanda who had gotten directions and already started heading to the hall. ¡®Are you good with telling her?¡¯ ¡®I don¡¯t see why not at this point.¡¯ ¡°By the way Rose, since when did your Purity form have dragon wings.¡± ¡°I somehow evolved my soul.¡± ¡°That¡¯s possible?¡± ¡°Apparently. Gabriel was equally shocked.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± ¡°Anyways, I¡¯m going to do some exercises, have a good little bit.¡± I jogged away and heard Dallel sigh. ¡°I don¡¯t think she¡¯ll ever change.¡± _ Amy POV I was talking to Aussie when I heard the guild hall open. ¡°Excuse me, I¡¯m looking Amy Faust.¡± ¡°Ah, what¡¯s your name?¡± I recognized the voice, but I couldn''t believe it. ¡°Amanda Connington.¡± ¡°Amanda?¡± ¡°Amy?¡± We ran and hugged. ¡°How did you get here?¡± ¡°I came with someone named Rose Hood.¡± ¡°She¡¯s back? Wait, that means she was on Earth!¡± ¡°Yeah, she held back a strong person who wanted to kill everyone in New York, and I wanted to help her as payment.¡± ¡°You always were like that, but there¡¯s something cooler about her, but I¡¯ll let her decide whether or not to tell you.¡± ¡°A strong person fought Rose? Is de poor lad alive?¡± Mammon walked over. ¡°Um, she was actually losing for most of it.¡± That surprised all of us, but Mammon didn¡¯t care. ¡°Goodness, that girl keeps dragon us all down. Hehe.¡± He walked away laughing, and we just looked in the direction he went. ¡°That was potentially the worst joke I¡¯ve ever heard.¡± ¡°You should have heard the jokes when he first learnt that she was a dragon.¡± I grimaced. ¡°Please don¡¯t make me imagine that.¡± ¡°The annoying part was that we didn¡¯t know she was a dragon at the time, so we knew they were bad jokes and that Rose understood them, but we didn¡¯t realize how bad they were until later.¡± ¡°Poor Rose, having to suffer alone.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± I then noticed a kid. ¡°What¡¯s with the kid?¡± ¡°Excuse me, I¡¯m 13, thank you very much.¡± ¡°She did a dive through a closing portal and nearly got cut in half.¡± ¡°Did anyone let her?¡± ¡°Nope, she just did it.¡± ¡°Great¡­¡± We all looked at the kid. ¡­ ¡°Not it on training her.¡± Aussie walked out before anyone could stop him. But I could. I grabbed his wing as he was about to take off. ¡°You know what? I think that the god of beasts would be perfect to teach these people how to fight.¡± ¡°No thank you.¡± ¡°Nah, I¡¯ll even help you.¡± He looked over and I smiled. ¡°In more ways than one.¡± He flushed and Amanda looked at me in shock. The kid was just confused. ¡°So, is he training me or not?¡± ¡°I think he is, kiddo.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± ¡°I could spare some time.¡± ¡°Simp.¡± ¡°What was that?¡± Aussie looked directly at Silas who had a smirk on his face. Amanda was still looking in shock. ¡°How d- I- what?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°What happened to the nervous innocent Amy?¡± ¡°I got tough.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Amanda was still in shock, then Rose jogged in. ¡°Hey Silas.¡± ¡°Hello, Rose, the usual?¡± ¡°Yes please.¡± ¡°What¡¯s her usual?¡± ¡°A meat platter and a bottle of wine.¡± ¡°She drinks?¡± ¡°In moderation yes, in fact I¡¯ve never seen her drunk.¡± Rose who heard us snorted. ¡°It may not look like it, but my insides are still all dragon sized, and you¡¯ve seen how big I am Amy. I¡¯d need to dry out the whole NYC of alcohol to get tipsy.¡± ¡°That would be a lot.¡± ¡°Yeah, according to her science class she¡¯s about a 10th of the cities size.¡± The girl spoke. ¡°She¡¯s that big?!¡± Amanda looked at the small catkin drinking wine in shock. Then Rose said something more shocking. ¡°Actually, since I evolved my very soul, I may be even bigger than that.¡¯ ¡°You evolved your soul?! That¡¯s possible?¡± ¡°Apparently, my Purity form now has dragon wings.¡± ¡°Woah, so you are so much stronger.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°By the way, did you talk to Luma yet?¡± ¡°Yep, and I had about 100 unread notifications that she spammed in my ears.¡± ¡°Poor Rose.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s Luma?¡± ¡°The system. Earth is actually independent from it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cool.¡± ¡°Welp, I should finish this before it gets cold, then finish exercising off the fat that Kala built up.¡± I hadn¡¯t noticed until this point, but Rose¡¯s body had indeed gained a slight bit of pudge. ¡°Even with a week of laziness that can happen?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± Then she finished her wine and meat and jogged out. Chapter 109: Dawn of War Over the next two days I worked out and got back into shape. ¡°Is she bench pressing a boulder?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ yes she is.¡± ¡°I think she should take a break.¡± ¡°Feel free to tell her that. She¡¯s a workaholic.¡± ¡°I remember one day she was so panicked because something prevented her from working that she nearly worked herself to collapsing. I had to yell at her to calm down.¡± It¡¯s almost as though they thought I couldn¡¯t hear them. ¡°I¡¯m also training so the next time I meet Kalgero I can win.¡± I threw the boulder up and leapt into a one hand handstand and caught it with my leg. I started to do pushups. ¡°I was barely strong enough to keep standing. I need to beat him.¡± ¡°And somehow you think crippling yourself with these insane exercises will make you strong enough?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I threw the boulder and swapped both hand and leg. I continued to do pushups. ¡°Holy crap, she is strong.¡± We already showed Amanda that Kala was Heather, her reaction was much like Amy¡¯s. Crying, hugging, acceptance, and now I trained. ¡°I need to get even stronger.¡± ¡°I think your punch using your body alone could crack the world in two.¡± ¡°Eh, I still need to be stronger.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because magic doesn¡¯t work on him. He is the only elf with not a drop of magic.¡± This surprised Dallel. ¡°Not a single drop of it?¡± ¡°None, so he could resist magic. In a fight with him, it is purely physical.¡± ¡°He sounds strong.¡± ¡°Indeed, actually, Gabriel even said that he could take on 600s.¡± ¡°That is powerful.¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Now you see my predicament.¡± I dropped the boulder and flipped into a sitting position. ¡°A monster that strong is a singular commander. The others are likely similar to that in strength. Not to mention the leader.¡± ¡°Yes, and their leader was Regala¡¯s mate, she had even higher standards then Thalia, so we can infer from that alone that he was powerful.¡± ¡°Elren, the heck do you mean I have high standards.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard you describe standards to my daughter. If I went by those standards, I¡¯d still be looking for a mate.¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± ¡°Both of you suck, now can we be serious?¡± ¡°¡±Fine.¡±¡± I sighed. The duo was rather annoying. Thalia, who was responsible for Regala¡¯s egg, spent a lot of time nurturing it. Elren, on the other hand, started to speed his daughter to 1000. Onyx just sort of showed up and relaxed. Apparently, he and Kala have some sort of understanding of laziness. Whenever I let her take control of the body, she just lounges with him. ¡°Come with me, we need to talk. Only Thalia and Elren.¡± _ ¡°So, we know this. Gethel likely surpasses 600. His commanders are probably all at least 500, and he mated with Regala.¡± ¡°Think it was love?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but from how Kalgero spoke, I¡¯d assume that the two factions were incredibly close.¡± ¡°Did you learn any particulars?¡± ¡°Ella was the wife of one of Gethel¡¯s commanders.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ that would get them angry at us.¡± ¡°Yes, and that¡¯s the problem. To put it lightly, we are nowhere near strong enough to take on one of their commanders even if all of us fought at once.¡± ¡°So, how do we get stronger?¡± ¡°From how I see it, God Slayer probably owns quite a few worlds, so let¡¯s go after their lower worlds. It will level us and weaken them.¡± ¡°Can you even find them?¡± ¡°Yes, it may take me a day, but I can locate and make a portal to a lower world under their command.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°The skill, system override, allows me to see all worlds that I am at war with, so I can figure it out as you all prepare an assault force.¡± ¡°Alright, who should we bring?¡± ¡°The lower levels as well as Amy and Ausar. Celios should stay here to defend, but if she can get to the system in time, it may be a good idea to bring Amanda.¡± ¡°Probably not on our first siege.¡± ¡°Definitely not, we need to test if it¡¯s actually feasible first.¡± ¡°Good idea.¡± ¡°Alright, so I will take one of those worlds solo first.¡± ¡°What if you run into a commander?¡± ¡°Then it won¡¯t matter how many people we have.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°I should head out tomorrow.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± ¡°Keep it between us, Jalad, and Dallel.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I was thinking about things and realized that there was no way they should have known that I went to another world split from most of my strength. Among other things.¡± ¡°You think there¡¯s a mole?¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible. Also, when they tried to recruit me and Celios, it was implied that they had watched us for a while.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°And we know that our siblings can¡¯t necessarily be trusted, so keep it from Onyx, however I can trust Dallel and Jalad.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± We agreed and split. Thalia and Elren began to talk to others about potentially raiding worlds to level. I began preparations for my assault. - ¡®Are you sure that this is the best idea?¡¯ ¡®Yes, Luma can you keep this from the Supreme Faction?¡¯ [Only the Ruler knows and He¡¯s omniscient. As Gabriel told you, they don¡¯t normally interfere with small wars, so He probably won¡¯t tell his men.] ¡®Thank you. But yes, Kala. I need to make sure that we can handle it.¡¯ ¡®But with no back up?¡¯ ¡®I have a few contingencies.¡¯ ¡®Of course, you do.¡¯ ¡®Are the others awake?¡¯ ¡®Not yet, they will wake up by the end of this month.¡¯ ¡®All right.¡¯ [Preparations are complete, Skill, Interspace movement, has become level 5] ¡®Thanks.¡¯ The gate opened before me and I jumped through, landing on the sand. In front of us was a city. ¡®It¡¯s a world like Earth?¡¯ ¡®No, look closer.¡¯ ¡®No¡­¡¯ There were people wearing a uniform that were hurting the civilians. The uniform had a picture of the bible with an X over it. God Slayer oppressed its civilians. ¡®So, slow or quick.¡¯ ¡®Too quick for them to gain reinforcements.¡¯ With that, our invasion of the minor world began. Chapter 110: Lower than Dirt No one POV ¡°Come on, babe. I can get you nice things.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a *****. I won¡¯t go with you.¡± ¡°Come on, I¡¯m a higher being, don¡¯t resist me.¡± The man grabbed the woman¡¯s shoulder, and the next moment his head slipped off of his neck. The woman began to scream, but childlike hands covered her mouth. ¡°Don¡¯t scream, I don¡¯t want them to notice yet.¡± The woman nodded. Then she took a double take at the cat ears ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°Do you have the system?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m only a 10 in this worlds system.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m Rose Hood.¡± The small catgirl smiled. ¡°I¡¯m here to kill every member of God Slayer present.¡± The woman smiled. ¡®Hope has returned to Dareu.¡¯ _ After helping the woman, I snuck along the way, ¡°Sir, do you think that we should have a guard out?¡± ¡°What for, you afraid the boogeyman will be a 400?¡± ¡°Sir, I just have a really bad feeling.¡± I walked in looking tipsy. ¡°Ohh~ Well aren¡¯t you pretty.¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t the inn~ Oopsies. *hic*.¡± ¡°Hey, lady, wanna go to my place?¡± ¡°Why? You got ale?¡± ¡°Uh yes I do.¡± ¡°Well, you wanna know something?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± The man smirked at the paranoid man, so I smiled. ¡°You should have listened to your man.¡± I beheaded the prideful sergeant and impaled the nervous guy before either could react. ¡°Goodness, higher beings are really easy to catch off guard.¡± I saw an inn with a sign. ¡°Higher beings only.¡± I put on my tipsy act and walked in. ¡°Is this the bar?~¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°A random lady? She seems drunk.¡± ¡°She¡¯s kinda short.¡± ¡°Hey, why don¡¯t I bring her to my place?¡± ¡°Bro, jeez, she¡¯s drunk. Don¡¯t take advantage of her like that.¡± I made a note of that one. He would be spared. ¡°Come on, don¡¯t be a coward, someone as pretty as her could be sold for a high price.¡± ¡°No, here, come with me Mam. I¡¯ll guide you to wherever your home is.¡± ¡°Thank you, kiddo.¡± ¡°Heh, she¡¯s calling you kiddo.¡± The guy brought me out. ¡°Goodness, the nerve of some people.¡± ¡°Thank you for that.¡± ¡°Hmm? GHK!!!¡± ¡°You¡¯ll be spared from the onslaught.¡± I jabbed his neck and hid his unconscious body in an alley. Then I walked back into the inn. ¡°Hey, she¡¯s back.¡± ¡°You got ale?¡± ¡°Here, take this.¡± She drugged the drink; I could tell that much. The guys around her looked at me with perverted glares. ¡°Ah, thank you.¡± I grabbed it. Then I smashed it into her face and lopped her head off. Their eyes widened, but they couldn''t react before another 10 of them were dead. Their shock was their demise. ¡°What did you do to Mark, you monster?¡± ¡°If it was the nice guy, he¡¯s taking a leisurely nap in an alleyway. For his kindness I¡¯m sparing him. For the rest of you, death will do.¡± I crushed the head of the asker. ¡°KILL HER!!!¡± It only took 10 minutes to clear out the rest of the beings in the inn. _ Mark POV I woke up in an alley with a raging headache. ¡°Crap, that woman tricked me, but why? I should go back and tell them to keep an eye out for her.¡± I stopped in his tracks. The inn was burnt to the ground and corpses were everywhere. ¡°What happened?¡± I saw a woman picking up speed. ¡°What happened here?¡± ¡°A woman acting tipsy killed everyone there.¡± ¡°Why am I alive?¡± ¡°I heard what she said. It was because you were the only one in there who protected her.¡± ¡®So, she respects morals.¡¯ ¡°What do you think is happening?¡± ¡°I shouldn¡¯t tell you.¡± ¡°Please¡­¡± ¡°Salvation for the people of Dareu.¡± I knew exactly what that meant. She was of an enemy faction. ¡°But she isn¡¯t a higher being?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know more than that, please don¡¯t kill me.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t, don¡¯t worry, but I¡¯m sorry that I¡¯ll have to kill that salvation of yours. As the resident 400 I can¡¯t just let her run wild.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Then we both froze as the announcement opened. And a familiar female voice sounded. ¡°Hello? Hello? Check check. Okay, this is working! Nice. What¡¯s up people of¡­ Dareu. Is this world¡¯s name? Nice. Anyways, for the people of God Slayers, there are 5 of you left. I spared you because you showed at least some morality, but while I am merciful, I don¡¯t let you go free. After all, I¡¯d rather not have your headquarters know of this.¡± ¡°She already killed everyone?¡± Both me and the woman were frozen as shock. ¡°Now you¡¯re thinking, how is it merciful if I won¡¯t let you go? Well, I have a deal with 5 slots. Swear absolute loyalty to me, and I¡¯ll spare you.¡± This plan had holes, it would be way too easy to esca- ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry if you mistook escape as a loophole as this unfortunate soul did, but now our number is at 4.¡± Oh, so no. We couldn¡¯t leave. ¡°Oh, we have one slot filled. We still have 3 left to go!¡± It was either this or death, I was fully aware then that I couldn¡¯t beat her. I swore loyalty to her in my mind. ¡°Wonderful, now we only have 2 left to decide.¡± ¡°That confirms that.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°This woman has a skill that can assure our loyalty.¡± ¡°Did you just¡­¡± ¡°Yes, because I don¡¯t particularly want to die.¡± ¡°Alright that¡¯s all the slots filled. Minus one. I can introduce myself now.¡± The name she gave made me understand everything that had occurred. ¡°The name is Rose Hood. Now I have a few ground rules. First, you cannot harass people weaker than you. Second, as of now until you have 10 people who honestly forgive you for you actions, you are lower than dirt. And the last rule¡­¡± I was prepared for a condemnation for my deeds and one that would make it impossible. ¡°Live happily.¡± ¡°¡±¡±¡±¡°What?¡±¡±¡±¡±¡± I heard everyone in the city say it at the exact same time. ¡°I¡¯m a conqueror, and a bit of a monster, but if you sign on with me, I don¡¯t want my people to be in pain. As long as you follow the first two rules, you can be as much as one of my commanders eventually. Currently you must atone, but eventually you can be one of my direct citizens.¡± I was almost in tears. ¡°I understand what being evil is. I used to be part of what was called the Evil god. I know what regret is. If you learn and want to be better, then I will hold nothing against you.¡± I fell to the ground. ¡°Sir?¡± ¡°No, just Mark. As of now, I¡¯m lower than dirt.¡± ¡°What?¡± I didn¡¯t know why, but I threw away my pride. ¡°I want to be one of her commanders when she finally breaks the threshold.¡± ¡°Here, I can help you.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°My name is Ally; I¡¯ll help you with atoning if you¡¯ll let me.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I didn¡¯t see her, but I knew that she somehow saw me. And I could tell just by instinct, she was smiling. Chapter 111: The Killer Commander ¡°Alright, last announcement. In the capital there will be a bridge to my capital world. Go there if you have any questions. And those who are atoning cannot enter it until they have been forgiven.¡± With that, I shut off the mic and checked with Luma. [How was that?] [I liked it, you know, all of them were driven to tears.] [Yep, they are good people, they just need a push.] [You are a good person. I hope you become a higher being soon.] [I mean, I reached 178 here.] [You killed upwards of 1000 higher entities, half of which were 300 or higher. I¡¯d be more surprised if you didn¡¯t level that much.] [I¡¯m going to open the bridge and go home.] [Good idea.] [I need to order the construction of a hub building.] [That would be sooo cool.] I prepared the magic and opened a bridge. [Interspace Movement has been leveled to 6.] [Why does it level so fast?] [Because Bridges normally aren¡¯t made until it reaches 8] [Woah, what does 9 and 10 do then?] [For you? I don¡¯t know, but normally, at 9 you can put a guard so you are aware of everything that enters or exits your worlds, and at 10 you can just lock any entity from entering or leaving without your permission.] [Can it evolve?] [I don¡¯t know. No one has actually got it to 10.] [What¡¯s Gethel¡¯s at?] [I can¡¯t tell you.] [Alright.] I entered the gate and returned to my home; I saw some people from Falsel entering the world with offerings. ¡°Hey.¡± ¡°Woah! Wait that voice. You are our savior, Rose!!! Did you just liberate that world?¡± ¡°Yes, anyways I need to go.¡± ¡°Yes mam. Thank you for everything.¡± I walked back to the capital of Selethon. ¡°Hello, Lady Rose.¡± ¡°Hi.¡± I walked to the guild where I saw people getting mad at Thalia. ¡°Listen, Rose isn¡¯t available right now.¡± ¡°And why not?¡± ¡°Well, since I just finished what I was doing, I suppose I could spare a talk.¡± Everyone jumped. ¡°Rose, you scared the crap out of me.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± I smiled, holding back my laughter. ¡°Lady Rose, I heard that you were planning sieges on minor worlds to level both you and the lower levels, but how can you be sure it¡¯s safe or even possible?¡± ¡°What do you think I was busy doing?¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Everyone but Thalia and Jalad froze. ¡°What?¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite possible, welcome Dareu as our new world.¡± ¡°Should I prepare a delegate to act as leader for reconstruction?¡± ¡°Nope, I took it stealthily. No buildings except for a few inns and barracks were destroyed. Plus, I managed to recruit four of their members.¡± That surprised even Thalia. ¡°That means...¡± I smiled. ¡°We have four higher beings in our team.¡± ¡°How can you be sure that they are loyal?¡± ¡°My skill, nation, recognized each one of them as my subjects.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°It actually leveled to 6 with them swearing loyalty.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± _ Gethel POV Mark and 3 others resigned? It was a surprising development, and it happened in the middle of a meeting. ¡°Maybe they found someone that they loved and decided to resign.¡± ¡°Maybe, they were always the kinder ones.¡± ¡°Mark especially.¡± I didn¡¯t believe that. ¡°Something is fishy.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°All four of them resigned within less than a minute. Two I may see it as a coincidence, but four?¡± The commanders considered my words. I decided to check. ¡°System, send me to my world Dareu.¡± [Error, you do not own any worlds named Dareu.] I froze. ¡°Sir?¡± ¡°Dareu was stolen.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± ¡°They joined whoever took it.¡± ¡°And everyone else?¡± ¡°Likely dead.¡± ¡°Who owns Dareu?¡± [The world Dareu is owned by the group run by individual Rose Hood.] ¡°It was Rose.¡± Damien stood up. ¡°Impossible, she would have announced something like that, and I didn¡¯t receive any notice of that. Thalia just introduced the idea today!¡± ¡°Perhaps she caught on to the fact that we knew things we shouldn¡¯t have.¡± ¡°I was careful, there is no way she would have selected me out.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think she did.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Even if she knows there is a mole, she wouldn¡¯t be able to call you out quite yet.¡± ¡°So, what do you think?¡± ¡°She was planning something like that, and decided to strike alone to see if it was possible, but kept it secret so we couldn¡¯t properly prepare defenses.¡± ¡°That makes sense.¡± Damien fell into his seat. I could understand his surprise. Rose was smarter than we anticipated. ¡°We have 10 lower worlds. 9 since Dareu was taken.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°We also have 10 commanders.¡± ¡°Alright?¡± ¡°Rose learnt from fighting Kalgero that there is no way that any amount of her fighters could let her win.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°Until further notice, with the exception of Damien, I want each one of you in one of the minor worlds at all times and keep a low profile. Let the resident 400 know, but other than that, remain hidden.¡± ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± Rose, come out and fight again, we will win. _ I felt a chill. Someone is talking about me, God Slayer probably figured out that Dareu was taken. ¡°Alright, so here is the plan. For each world we plan on invading, I will explore it to make sure it¡¯s safe before I bring you all with me.¡± The people nodded. Both Erica and Amanda had gotten the system, and Erica kept complaining until we let her join the part. Amanda was there because Amy and Ausar would be the chaperone higher levels. I opened a gate and stepped through. This world was desert style. A medievalesque city awaited me. I felt a massive disturbance. A high level just entered. [They definitely figured it out.] I nodded. [It¡¯s a commander.] [How do you know?] [That presence is similar in power to Kalgero¡¯s] [I see. Are you going to abort?] [Since he¡¯s already detected me, I don¡¯t think I can.] ¡°Rose Hood, correct?¡± ¡°Hello, I assume you are the commander?¡± ¡°Rather observant. I half expected you to attack me thinking I¡¯m another low level.¡± ¡°I felt the moment you entered.¡± ¡°Understood, well, I hope you know that while you will leave this world, it won¡¯t be to the same world you entered?¡± ¡°You intend to take me as a slave?¡± ¡°No¡­ we don¡¯t even want you as that anymore. We¡¯re just going to torture you until you wish for death.¡± ¡°Fun. I hope you know why I can¡¯t let you do that.¡± [Luma, I¡¯m going to use system override, please don¡¯t resist it.] Luma seemed sad. [I know what you are about to do. If you do that, then there is no way that you will win.] [There¡¯s no way I¡¯m beating him anyways, may as well make sure his faction can¡¯t harm us.] [Alright.] ¡°System override.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± [The worlds, Falsel, Dareu, and Pandora are locked.] [My world¡¯s named Pandora?] Kala moped at my confusion. ¡®What? I thought it was cool.¡¯ ¡°I can sense a lot of power was just taken from you, I don¡¯t know what you did, but it won¡¯t save you.¡± ¡°I know I won¡¯t win, so all I did was make sure that you can¡¯t invade my home.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t do that until interspace 10.¡± ¡°My unique skill system override says otherwise.¡± He grimaced. ¡°Of course, you¡¯d have a broken skill like that. It¡¯s almost like you are the main character.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Hi, former Earthian Marcus here. I¡¯m gonna beat the crap outta you.¡± ¡°I though there weren¡¯t any higher beings below 100.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m over 5000. I just keep up with Earth culture.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°Yeah, so, lets fight and see if this is an ecchi.¡± We began to circle each other. ¡°Given my previous fights, it¡¯d be a pretty terrible one.¡± ¡°Nice, so action.¡± ¡°Probably.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the anime called.¡± ¡°Reincarnated as the weakest god.¡± ¡°Fire name.¡± ¡°Thought of it myself.¡± Both of our presences generated a crowd who recognized two incredibly power beings having a stand-off. ¡°Isn¡¯t that the Killer Commander?¡± ¡°What¡¯s he doing in a low-end world like this?¡± ¡°Who¡¯s the kid? She seems strong,¡± ¡°Probably going to be a dead kid soon.¡± ¡°People of this world, a transcendent battle is about to take place. My advice, hide and hope your hiding place isn¡¯t blown up.¡± ¡°A decent commander, you let people know of the danger.¡± ¡°Not all of us are psychos.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Everyone quickly dispersed and we waited for them to leave. ¡°So, Rose Hood.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Are you ready to experience the precursor to the worst torture session you will ever receive?¡± Chapter 112: Locked Worlds ¡°Locked?¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± This level 400-man, Mark explained. ¡°Well, at interspace 10, someone can lock off a world that they own.¡± ¡°But Rose doesn¡¯t have level 10.¡± ¡°Then I don¡¯t know, but I can assure you that she¡¯s the only one that could have done it.¡± Celios had an idea. ¡°Maybe, no that would mean that she met someone she couldn¡¯t beat.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I think she used system override.¡± ¡°What kind of skill is that?¡± ¡°As the name suggests, it overrides the system, allowing her to do things she shouldn¡¯t be able to.¡± ¡°So, you think she used that to lock the worlds?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Thalia slammed the table. ¡°That would use all of her mana though.¡± ¡°If she met a commander, then she would consider it a necessary move.¡± Thalia slumped. ¡°So, is she dead?¡± Mark shook his head. ¡°No, I think they still intend to utilize her powers. Given what happened to Dareu, they probably sent a commander to each minor world in order to defend it.¡± ¡°That makes sense. Will they do anything crude to her?¡± ¡°I frankly don¡¯t know, most people in the faction don¡¯t have high morals. They may be especially mad given her direct involvement in the destruction of Dominion. So, either they¡¯ll be especially crude or torturous. Maybe both.¡± ¡°That is worrying. How can we save her?¡± ¡°Impossible at this point. She¡¯s already an anomaly in being able to even stand against a commander, given her value, they would likely have at least two commanders guarding her.¡± ¡°Where would they keep her?¡± ¡°Headquarters.¡± Elren sighed. ¡°Why are we already assuming she¡¯ll lose?¡± Mark looked at him in response. ¡°Because she locked the worlds, I may not know much about her, but I know enough to understand that she did it because she expects to lose.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°And if they kill her?¡± ¡°Then I will still fight with you. I was looking for a reason to leave the God Slayers for a while now, and she helped me and saved this world. If she dies, I will fight alongside you.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°I swear by my name I will respect the mercy that was gifted to me by Rose Hood even after her death.¡± A glow of handcuffs appeared on his wrists then faded leaving us in shock. Celios spoke first. ¡°You¡¯re a deity?¡± ¡°A deity?!¡± Mark nodded. ¡°I am, or was, one of the 5 deities that joined the god slayers.¡± ¡°Did you know Raidren?¡± ¡°Yes, in fact he was my brother. Not to say I am saddened by his death. He was worse than most.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Though I am still surprised you were able to find his weak point at your levels.¡± ¡°Thalia found it.¡± ¡°Precisely. It¡¯s surprising enough if a low-level deity is able to see it, but for a dragon to. That¡¯s the most shocking bit.¡± ¡°What are you saying?¡± ¡°There¡¯s something that gives you people power that shouldn¡¯t be afforded to people of your level. Count that with Gabriel, not once, but twice, fighting to defend your faction. I think there is something unique.¡± ¡°Could it be that Kala is a reincarnation?¡± ¡°She is?!¡± ¡°Is that rare?¡± ¡°Indeed, while a lot of people speak of reincarnations, there are none that have been actually recorded.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes, if there is any rules that are stable other than the system, it¡¯s that everything has one life.¡± ¡°Alright?¡± ¡°Meaning that no one is able to fully reincarnate. Revival is one thing as it simply pulls for the one life to continue but smite stops that possibility.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t Gethel revive the smited?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the rumor. But given what I know I assume that it comes with a cost.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Despite being a deity, Celios. Do you not understand what smite does?¡± ¡°I understand it¡¯s an instant kill and can¡¯t be revived.¡± ¡°Well, in full it essentially completely separates the soul from body.¡± ¡°Does death not normally do that?¡± ¡°Not before a certain amount of time. In effect, Elren¡¯s resurrection can¡¯t revive someone who¡¯s been dead for over a month. But some with greater will could be revived for up to a decade.¡± ¡°Incredible, so smite just reduces that time to zero?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Is it possible to survive smite?¡± ¡°Short of having a convenient level up, no.¡± ¡°Then why don¡¯t deities spam it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good question. It¡¯s because it is ultimately unusable until the opponent has lost over 90% of their HP.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s why Rose and Celios both struggled against higher powers.¡± ¡°Wait, when Ausar possessed me, she was able to use smite despite me having a lot of HP.¡± ¡°Ah, now against deities it is different. Since we can only be killed by being cut in a particular pattern, AFTER the opponent reached a certain threshold, smite doesn¡¯t have as much effect. So, it has a degree of damage, and the requirements are waived against deities.¡± ¡°But why was she able to use it on me?¡± ¡°Celios, are you able to use smite against Rose?¡± ¡°Of course?¡± ¡°Well, Amy, see it like this. Even if you kept your independence during the possession, your body, in effect, was Ausar, so smite saw you as such.¡± ¡°So, the skill that allows us to connect¡­¡± ¡°Could also be utilized to focus a strike to defeat a strong nature user. And the first evolved human.¡± ¡°You could tell that?¡± ¡°Of course, you could probably also tell that.¡± We looked at him confused, except for Amy who nodded. ¡°You¡¯re an evolved deity.¡± ¡°Bingo.¡± ¡°An evolved deity?!¡± ¡°Yes, while not as extreme an evolution. When deities become 400 or higher, they evolve. Our magic becomes much stronger, and our speed increases greatly.¡± ¡°Then how did we beat Raidren? He would have been evolved too.¡± ¡°Because he was too confident in his prophecies.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°By the way, Rose told me of the forgiveness rule. Did you pass it?¡± ¡°Yes, the people made me the minor ruler of Dareu for some reason after that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s funny actually.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Almost the exact same thing happened to Rose.¡± ¡°Do you think she will be okay?¡± ¡°Of course, do you think anyone could keep her down?¡± Celios smiled. ¡°Of course, no one can¡¯t. She never stops fighting.¡± ¡°Heather always was like that.¡± Amy and Amanda nodded. Despite the hope, I couldn¡¯t help but be worried. I felt like Royce did. When he was worried shortly before Rose showed up, half dead, telling us we were fighting Celios. Something horrible was about to happen. And I could only try to guess what. Chapter 113: The Death of Rose Hood ¡°So, do you admit defeat, Kala?¡± ¡°Never.¡± ¡°You are stubborn. How are you not out yet?¡± ¡°I won¡¯t fall. I can¡¯t.¡± Flame built up, so he crushed my hand. I screamed out in pain. ¡°You are tough. Given even another year, and you could possibly surpass me.¡± ¡°Heh, I¡¯d be lucky if I lived another year.¡± ¡°You are correct. You have earned my respect¡­ Heather.¡± My eyes widened. ¡°So, I was correct. You do have a mole.¡± ¡°Quite smart. It¡¯s a shame we couldn¡¯t be allies. Oh well.¡± He stomped on my head, causing it to crack. ¡°You are stubborn, even for a deity.¡± ¡°I consider it one of my strengths.¡± ¡°I wonder if you understand my skill. Is that why you continue to resist.¡± He wasn¡¯t entirely wrong. He had a unique skill, Slavery. When an opponent submits, he can take control of their minds in its entirety. It was high leveled too. He could likely control even me. ¡°Thought so. Well, I guess that you won¡¯t be coming quietly.¡± He grabbed me by the throat and tossed me over his shoulder. ¡°You can¡¯t move can you.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t lost until I give up.¡± ¡°Well, I would kill you myself, but Gethel wants you alive for his own satisfaction on hurting you.¡± ¡°Heh, I¡¯ll never give up.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see how long that resolve of yours lasts.¡± He opened a gate, and I could only laugh in defiance as he dragged my unmoving body through it.¡± _ Gethel POV ¡°So, this is Rose?¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°Marcus, what happened to your arm?¡± ¡°She was so spirited. I had to beat her until she literally couldn¡¯t move.¡± ¡°She doesn¡¯t have even a bit of presence.¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Left, sir. She doesn''t have any presence left.¡± ¡°How hard was it?¡± ¡°I beat the crap outta him, and the moment I regenerate. You¡¯ll be next.¡± ¡°She¡¯s still awake?¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the problem. No matter what I did, she never passed out, or even submitted.¡± ¡°What of the world you caught her in?¡± ¡°About half of it is rubble.¡± ¡°How many dead?¡± ¡°300 of our own sir.¡± ¡°And civilians?¡± ¡°None¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°She went out of her way to protect the civilians.¡± ¡°Could she have won if she didn¡¯t?¡± ¡°No, the power difference was still obvious, but I would definitely have a few more injuries.¡± ¡°Very well. Bring her to the dungeon, I want you to guard her.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°So, the moment she submits you can control her.¡± ¡°Heh. Good luck trying to make me submit.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s the thing, Heather. You are the only mind required to keep the body alive. The rest of your little shards are just extras.¡± ¡°What are you-¡° ¡°Soul Magic. Take the conscience of Rose Hood and the other Shards of Kala.¡± 10 minds flooded from her body into my hands. ¡°Will you submit.¡± She was in shock, but she didn¡¯t relent. ¡°Never.¡± ¡°Then say goodbye to your shards, and even your little friend, Rose.¡± I clamped down my hand and the minds were crushed. ¡°What did you do?!¡± ¡°I killed them. Normally, they would go to whatever afterlife would accept their souls, but I doubt that a shard would even have an afterlife.¡± I laughed at the pain in her expression, but she repeated. ¡°I don¡¯t care what you do¡­ I will never surrender to you.¡± ¡°Marcus, bring her to your slave room. Make her submit. No matter what.¡± ¡°Yes sir. You know, it¡¯s almost a shame. I respected Rose¡¯s resolve. Let¡¯s see if yours is at the same level.¡± He had an evil look as he carried the immobile deity. I was conflicted. Damien noticed. ¡°Sir?¡± ¡°How did she remain bold after that?¡± ¡°Perhaps her will is simply that strong?¡± ¡°No human¡¯s is. Even your will would be broken after something like that.¡± ¡°But she¡¯s not a human?¡± ¡°Her soul is.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± _ No¡­ All of us with the system froze, and Erica started scream crying. The words that none of us ever expected to see¡­ [The Team led by Rose Hood¡¯s leader: Rose Hood has been killed. Authority of the group is given to the second in command Dallel.] They had appeared on our retinas and Luma said it as well. We could all hear the tears in her voice as well. ¡°She¡¯s gone. She¡¯s actually gone¡­¡± ¡°Dallel?¡± I fell to my knees. ¡°How did this happen?¡± Mark was in as much shock as the rest of us. It seemed that he genuinely thought that they¡¯d spare her out of respect. [As the new in effect *sniff* leader, you have gained the skill, system advisor.] ¡°Luma, can you tell me who did it.¡± [No, I can¡¯t speak or hear in any of the capitals other than this one. All I know is how she died.] ¡°How¡­ Luma, how was Rose, of all people, killed.¡± [She and the other shards were ripped out of her body and their minds were crushed in front of Heather.] ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Are you talking to Luma?¡± ¡°Yes, and I can assure you all one thing.¡± I let my bloodlust out full throttle causing everyone to shiver. ¡°I will kill Gethel and every single commander under him.¡± ¡°Is Heather also dead?¡± ¡°No, according to Luma, Rose was killed as a torture method for her.¡± ¡°We need to save her.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s execute the original plan.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°We take all of the small worlds, but instead of gradual, we have one chaperone with each group and crush all 9 remaining worlds at once.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°The generals will not remain in the minor worlds. They¡¯ll expect this to send us reeling. We cannot let it.¡± They all saluted. ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°We will divide it due to current power. Mark, can you open 9 gates?¡± ¡°With enough time to let a small force in, why?¡± ¡°Because after we are done taking it, we will need you to reopen it.¡± ¡°How will I know it¡¯s time?¡± ¡°Luma will notify you.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± I sighed. ¡°I will say the same thing I did when I became a Kingsguard captain¡­ I am not Rose, I never think I can live up to her, but I will try my best.¡± Celios smiled sadly. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what we need right now.¡± _ I was in shock. The words that appeared in my eyes couldn¡¯t be faked, but I still had trouble believing it. [Your subordinate, Rose Hood was killed.] And below that. [The Team led by Rose Hood¡¯s leader; Rose Hood has been killed. Authority of the group is given to the second in command Dallel.] I really didn¡¯t understand in the slightest¡­ I was still alive. Chapter 114: Tortured Souls ¡°And here is your home for the next few days.¡± I was hanging on the wall. Cuffs around my wrists and ankles. ¡°Goodness. Not even letting me stretch?¡± ¡°Heh, you are at the strength of a 480. A stretch could break down that wall.¡± ¡°Understood. So, what are you going to try first.¡± ¡°First I¡¯m going to need a nap.¡± ¡°So, what are you doing right now?¡± ¡°Preparing the start of your stay.¡± He laid out surgical equipment. ¡°You know, I was a person in a great empire when I lived on Earth.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Yeah, we called ourselves the Aztecs.¡± He put down an obsidian sword. ¡°And I don¡¯t even need to worry about limits. Your death cut is too complicated to do accidentally.¡± I laughed. ¡°So, what if I simply ignore you?¡± ¡°If you go numb then that is a submission.¡± ¡°So, what will I do for now?¡± ¡°Watch these weapons, and quiver in excitement for the pain that will show up when I wake.¡± He took two steps. Fell into his bed and passed out. I definitely did a number on him. ¡®Now, to figure out what exactly happened? Why did it say I died.¡¯ There was only silence. ¡®Does that¡­ mean¡­¡¯ It was in that moment that I understood. My analysis showed me as Heather. It would have showed Kala as Rose¡­ She used system override a long time ago to swap our names. Meaning she suspected something like this would¡¯ve happened a long time ago. ¡®You were the origin of my soul. Of course, you¡¯d be able to do that.¡¯ And Gethel specified Rose Hood and the Other shards. So it took Kala and the other shards who were asleep. So, I was all that was left. That also explained Luma suddenly saying that I was the ruler. I didn¡¯t pick up on it. I wonder if even Luma did. Heather, a genius. She knew that the people listened to me. She knew I would be able to hold out¡­ ¡°Thank you for this one last gift¡­ Heather.¡± A tear let down my eye. She could have lived, but she chose a contingency that even I wouldn¡¯t have considered.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I looked at the tools with disdain. Then I looked at one in particular that he laid out. My sword. ¡®He¡¯s going to butcher me with my own sword.¡¯ The same sword that Gallson crafted, and Thalia reinforced. The weapon I used against Celios, and even Sal. Marcus was going to try to make my trusty blade into my worst nightmare. It was an efficient way to break the soul. I could tell that they truly wanted my power, but they deemed Heather a lot easier to control than me. I checked my level, and surprisingly I reached 187 from Heather¡¯s death. ¡°9 levels.¡± ¡°Eh, did you sleep at all?¡± ¡°No, I was thinking about things.¡± ¡°Want to submit.¡± ¡°Of course not.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯m certain you already know what I¡¯m going to do with this.¡± He picked up my blade and examined it. ¡°A wonderful blade. After enslaving you, I may keep it for myself. Bad materials, but if the smith was given proper materials, they could make a masterpiece.¡± ¡°It¡¯s enforced by dragonscales.¡± He looked. ¡°Indeed, it is. In fact, some of them seem to belong to that body of yours. It is indeed a work of art.¡± ¡°Thalia is indeed incredible.¡± I smiled. ¡°You are brave. You can¡¯t escape.¡± ¡°I know. At least, not right no- AAAAH!¡± He impaled me with my sword. Then he quivered. ¡°Oh, what a scream~ I need more.¡± ¡°Oh, thank you for telling me how to spite you.¡± For the rest of the day no matter what tool, what method, I didn¡¯t say a single word. _ ¡°Goodness, you are stubborn.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You would be dead from pain alone if you weren¡¯t a deity, so how can you still not have submitted.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You know, your people are probably in absolute disarray. Rose killed and you captured. When we finally break through that lock of yours, I bet we will find them moaning and sobbing. Maybe I¡¯ll even take that sister of yours as my wife. With the enslave skill, I can do anything to her.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You really think that silence is the way to do it? I¡¯m impressed, normally I quite enjoy torture sessions, but with the mild exception of your eyes you haven¡¯t reacted at all.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s irritating.¡± Over the whole day he threatened everyone I ever knew. His mole definitely had to be of a high influence. ¡°GAHH!!!¡± He cut open my chest for the 395th time that day. ¡°Will you react already?!¡± I just winced and kept smiling. ¡°THAT¡¯S IT!!! SEND IN A NEW TORTURER!!! I¡¯M SICK OF THE INDIFFERENCE THIS ONE HAS!!! I¡¯m going to Gethel. Oh, I know!¡± His smile widened. ¡°That mole of yours never lost access. So, he could bring that sister of yours, and you could watch my masterful dismantling of a live dragon.¡± ¡°SIR!!!¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°All of the minor worlds were taken, and the lock was extended to them. Lord Gethel wants to meet with you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous.¡± ¡°My moaning people seem to easily crush your indestructible army, huh?¡± His face twisted in rage, and he ripped out my vocal cords before stomping out of the room. He was angry, but I won more than even he realized. When he ripped out my voice box, he also accidentally broke one of my handcuffs. Then he left me with no guard. I carefully moved my free arm to the other side, I unlocked it, then, while remaining balanced, I unlocked both of my legs. My dragonscale clothing regenerated as I picked up my sword. It was still covered in my guts. ¡°Alright, just gotta check that she¡¯s not asleep and¡­ where did sh-¡° I slit her throat and caught the body. ¡®I can use the uniform.¡¯ I put it on and strapped the dead woman to the wall. ¡°He¡¯s certainly going to be in for a major surprise.¡± I used Invisibility. The cuffs were much like the ones the deities wore to train their physical skills, but there was one thing that even Gethel couldn¡¯t have accounted for. I had long since mastered the use of magic in those. During the entire torture session, he thought I was simply not responding, but in fact I was escalating the damage by training 10s of skills at a time inside of my body. I always thought that it would be too rough to do, but it was necessitated there. I got reality magic to a 9. I could now entirely conceal myself. I also used system override to buff immortal¡¯s regeneration to apply to mana as well. Of course, both my pain resistance and immortal¡¯s regeneration maxed out and I evolved them. It merged the two skills into Shallow Life. Shallow Life had a few perks. I could control my regeneration on both my mana and health independently. However, it can only go to 120% default regeneration. Once a day for one minute I can level my regeneration to a lethal blow getting healed before the blade finished passing through. I also meditated to bolster my strength. I was ready for an escape. He just simply provided me the best chance to do so. ¡°I can get out and make sure that Heather¡¯s death wasn¡¯t in vain.¡± Because she left me a message. I swore by my name that I would deliver it. It happened while he was asleep. Chapter 115: True Savagery Marcus POV ¡°So, they aren¡¯t despairing?¡± ¡°It seems as though the new leader got them to strike quickly to prevent being destroyed.¡± ¡°So, they took out their distress on us.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°And Lord Gethel canceled the meeting?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sorry, but apparently he¡¯s negotiating with a middle-class faction for aid.¡± The middle class. Their 500s were like our 400s. Not common, but a lot more common. Their commanders are typically 600s like Lord Gethel. The Leaders are typically 700s. ¡°I¡¯m going to torture Heather some more.¡± ¡°Understood sir.¡± I went back to my room and froze. The dinner I prepared for myself was gone with a note reading, ¡°Thanks for the hospitality jack***.¡± I ran over the the chains and saw the maid that cleaned up my room with a slit throat. ¡°She killed a level 460 before she could make a noise. Did she pull a ****ing Tokyo G*oul?!¡± This was bad. ¡°ALERT EVERYONE! HEATHER HAS ESCAPED CONTAINMENT!!!¡± ¡°YES, SIR!!!¡± How did she get out? There is no way she should¡¯ve gotten stronger; those cuffs restrict both physical power and magic. Wait, didn¡¯t Damien say that the deities of that world trained with those kinds of cuffs? Could she have figured out how to use magic in them? That¡¯s impossible. ¡°If she can use magic inside, her magic outside must be nigh unstoppable.¡± ¡°Sir?¡± ¡°Keep caution, she may be able to use magic inside the cuffs.¡± ¡°But sir, you¡¯d have to be at least a 500 to even attempt that.¡± ¡°I know, but that¡¯s the only way I think she could¡¯ve escaped.¡± 400 to 600 was the middle class of higher beings. Only beings in that range could use high magic, but she wasn¡¯t even a 200 yet, so if she could escape the cuffs with magic¡­ I could only imagine her strength once she becomes a higher being. _ I needed to stay quiet and reflect. Kala had a message for me. I look into it and see her sitting on her throne, a sad smile on her face. ¡°Hello Rose. If you received this, then my worst fears were realized. I am dead, and it is likely that the other shards are too.¡± Why did you do it? ¡°I spoke to the other shards, and we came into full agreement. I suspected that we would be put into a position like this ever since our defeat at Sal¡¯s hands. So, I took the risk and used system override to swap our names.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Why? ¡°You are needed. Despite what you like to think, everyone respects you. If you die, the entire faction would be without a proper leader. Remember, you singlehandedly resurrected me, and gave me a reason to live.¡± Then¡­ ¡°And I know you can do more. You gave Luma her individuality. You taught Dallel how to be strong, can¡¯t you see? You are important. So, I decided to create this failsafe, you always have them. Live the life I couldn¡¯t. Win the war, then find someone and settle down.¡± I... ¡°Please¡­ Goodbye Rose¡­¡± The message faded. She tried to hide it, but I saw the tears dripping down her face. She had a second message, but that isn¡¯t for me. My only goal is to escape, and I heard Marcus¡¯s yell. They noticed I left. ¡°Crap, I have to keep moving.¡± I used a lot of energy, so I was tired. ¡°How do you even navigate this massive thing?!¡± The castle of the God Slayers was massive. I could see why they were that confident with this many materials. ¡°Goodness, even Regala wasn¡¯t this self-absorbed¡­¡± I just walked into the gallery¡­ There were thousands of paintings depicting Gethel in various uniforms and poses. ¡°*snort* No way¡­¡± The Mona Gethel sat before me. ¡°I am so tempted to take this, but I can¡¯t hold it and move fast.¡± ¡°SIR, SHE¡¯S IN THE GALLERY!!!¡± ¡°Oh, crap!!!¡± I spent too much time looking at the *ahem* majestic painting. ¡°GET HER!!!¡± I started running as fast as I could. I could see Marcus running behind me with a furious expression. ¡°Hey, how are you?¡± ¡°You *****. I don¡¯t know how you did it, but I¡¯m ****** off.¡± ¡°Good to hear. Now, I¡¯m just going to be on my WOAH!!!¡± He struck right next to me. I barely dodged. I knew that I still couldn¡¯t win despite my power up. ¡°Come one, really, the little Gethelmaid?!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll end you!!!¡± ¡°How about we calm down and admire the Mona Gethel?¡± ¡°DIE!!!¡± I kept dodging, and he kept striking. A whole hour passed before he managed to hit me. ¡°OOF!!!¡± I launched into the wall and looked up to see Marcus standing over me. ¡°You are going to die.¡± I smirked. ¡°Nah I don¡¯t think so.¡± He grabbed my throat and slammed me against the wall. ¡°Goodness, aren¡¯t you fun.¡± He froze, blushed, then punched me. ¡°Shut it!!!¡± ¡°I think I saw this in a roma- GRK!!!¡± ¡°Shut UP!!!¡± I definitely got him flustered. ¡°I got you now, Heather.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not right.¡± ¡°How? You are stuck.¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct, but my name isn¡¯t Heather.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Rose Hood at your service.¡± His eyes widened and I took the chance. ¡°GAAH!!!¡± He dropped me and I began running again. ¡°Good luck having children after that!!!¡± I ran as fast as I could. A man stepped in to block my path. ¡°Hello, Rose.¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be¡­ You are the mole?¡± ¡°I always knew you were a smart one. ¡°Now I see.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It made sense, but I didn¡¯t want to believe it was you.¡± ¡°How did you know?¡± ¡°Well, you always stood out, but back at the same time. You never did anything significant, but always made it clear that you were strong, and you also were far calmer than others initially, and you were one of the few that never swore loyalty to me.¡± ¡°So, I did my job too well. Is that what you are saying?¡± ¡°Yes, so, I assume you are going to try to kill me?¡± ¡°No, but I can¡¯t exactly let you tell the others about me.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s fight.¡± ¡°I suppose that would be fun.¡± Then I got into a fighting stance and prepared to fight the man who helped name me. Vice-Captain of the Kingsguard, Damien. ¡°Come on, Rose. Just give up and go back to your cage.¡± ¡°I¡¯d prefer to not.¡± ¡°Ah. Well, I suppose I gave you the easy way out.¡± He struck me. I went flying and crashed into the wall. I didn¡¯t even see him move. ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate me just because you know me. I am a 604 after all.¡± He way surpassed my predicted level. He could rule his own faction. ¡°Why¡­¡± ¡°Why do I serve Gethel? Well, it¡¯s quite simple. I used to rule a faction, Dominion. Then Gethel gave me an offer. I wanted to leave being a ruler for a long time, and then a job offer and a powerful upstart came, but you¡­ you destroyed my faction. Conquered my native world.¡± He smiled, but it didn¡¯t reach his eyes. ¡°You act like a good person, but you are a beast, nothing more. I will capture you, then I will butcher all of your pitiful group in front of you, and watch you beg for mercy. Then I will kill you.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You locked the worlds, but now they are under Dallel¡¯s control, and he doesn¡¯t know who I am, so I¡¯ll go back, kidnap all of the strong, and even some weaker ones.¡± ¡°No¡­¡± He couldn¡¯t. I wouldn¡¯t let him. ¡°Amanda and Amy will learn that their friend died a fool¡¯s death that was wasted, before I butcher them slowly.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t let you.¡± ¡°And the child, Erica¡­ I think I should put her in a cage with the mutt, Darsen. Then let them starve until he finally snaps.¡± Then my vision blurred, and the world spiraled away from me. I was furious. [The Requirements have been met. The skill, Savage Beast has evolved.] [You now possess the Ultimate Skill, FEAR. The system needs to update to react to this skill.] [Restrictions: IFEB*A(F*HUBC@(]] [Error: The individual, (#)) has accessed *(#)(*_$(#_($*_#*$_#*(_)Q_&(=)] Chapter 116: FEAR Marcus POV ¡°That little *****!!!¡± I ran to where I heard the girl run to. When I got there, I heard Damien, he must have gotten her. ¡°Damien, is she WHAT THE ****?!!¡± Rose stood up, at least I assumed she did. Her body was twisted and broken, but she moved like it was her native state. Tattered feathered wings stretched from her back. A bone crown extended from her skull. She was taller, almost as tall as an Altmer. She had draconic horns, and her eyes were gone, replaced by an abyss. Her mouth was in a similar state, no tongue, or teeth, or anything else. Her face was twisted into a smile, but there was nothing that looked happy about it. An uncontrollable fear charged through me, like death itself stood before me. Any semblance of sanity was gone from her form. I looked over and saw Damien with a shocked expression. ¡°Marcus, calm down. We are still stronger.¡± His words encouraged me, but I was still terrified. ¡°Hel_oooooooooooooooo.¡± Her voice was distorted like she came straight from the Man-ela Catalogue. ¡°He-heha-hahaha.¡± She attempted to laugh, but it just terrified me. ¡°Where¡¯d she go?¡± She vanished. ¡°Here I am.¡± I spun around to find her taloned foot flying to my face. ¡°What?¡± She kicked me and I flipped. It hurt unbelievably. ¡°Awe, you blocked it¡­ NO Funnnnnn.¡± My arm was broken off. Whatever this was, it wasn¡¯t natural. Damien charged and slashed her side. It was clearly meant for her stomach, but she was fast. The two were of comparable speeds. ¡°How¡­ how can she do this?¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°She seems to have gotten stronger.¡± ¡°I figured that out, Damien, but HOW?!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but she is really angry right now.¡± Damien pushed and clashed with her. It was clear who was the more powerful, Damien still absolutely totaled her. ¡°NNNNNNNNNOOOOOO!¡± She was pushed back and he struck to cripple, but she dodged and kicked at him. I healed my arm and stood back up. Seeing an opening, I cut to kill. I cut her spine, but she merely screeched and let out a shockwave. Whatever she was seemed to realize that she was unmatched and leapt to the ceiling before breaking a hole into the ventilation and breaking her own bones to fit in. I panted in exhaustion. ¡°THE **** WAS THAT?!!¡± ¡°Rose¡­ seems to be a bit more troubling than we initially thought.¡± ¡°We need to tell Gethel.¡± ¡°He¡¯s in a meeting with with mid class faction, we can¡¯t interrupt him.¡± ¡°Then we need to gather the commanders.¡± ¡°No, we need to keep them in the midlevel world, otherwise her faction will take them.¡± ¡°So, we have to deal with this alone?¡± ¡°Preferably quickly, as I can¡¯t be gone for long, or they may suspect that I am the mole.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t leave her alive. Can we?¡± ¡°Gethel may be angry, but as of now, she is too dangerous to be left alive.¡± _ ¡°Dallel, we have a problem.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°We received word that Gethel is meeting with a middle faction.¡± ¡°I see, so, doesn¡¯t that mean their capital is mostly unguarded?¡± Jalad gave me a look. ¡°Are you suggesting we attack their capital?¡± ¡°Of course not, they likely have tons of 400s. I was thinking more of a scouting squad.¡± ¡°Who will go?¡± ¡°Me, Thalia, Amy, and Ausar.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± We gathered around and got to the hub. ¡°Mark, please open a gate to their capital.¡± ¡°Understood, good luck.¡± ¡°It¡¯s time to rescue Heather.¡± - Rose POV Hungry¡­ so¡­ hungry¡­ Those two, their fear was delicious, but they were too strong. ¡°Damiiiiiiien I¡¯ll k_ILLLLL you.¡± ¡°Hey, who are¡­ what are y-¡° I crushed the morsels throat and began gnawing on the carcass. A beast. That was right. I was a beast. But I was so hungry. This form seemed to awaken it. FEAR huh? What fun. There is a town over here, perhaps I can find an ape- no they are citizens. I¡¯m beastlike not bloodlusted. The morsel was a soldier. Ooh, it seems some more morsels have shown up. - Morsel Leader POV ¡°Think we¡¯ll find Caleb around here?¡± ¡°Obviously, he¡¯s probably having another smoke break.¡± I couldn¡¯t shake the sense of worry. I hoped he would be okay. ¡°Mam¡­¡± ¡°What is it, did you find him?¡± I couldn¡¯t hide my exasperation. ¡°Yes, mam¡­ but look.¡± It was confusing. Why did he- I retched. Caleb was torn and tattered. His insides were strewn in many directions. ¡°It¡¯s like a beast killed and ate him.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know any beasts that could kill a higher being and not leave any trace of itself.¡± ¡°I do.¡± ¡°Oh you-¡° We realized that the voice that just spoke was unfamiliar. I looked behind me and saw a woman with missing eyes. ¡°W-what kind of beast...?¡± ¡°Me.¡± With that, the hole where her mouth should have been merely expanded and bit me in hal- - Rose POV ¡°What a good meal¡­¡± ¡°M-m-MONSTER!!!¡± ¡°RUN!!!¡± ¡°Awe¡­ why are you running? Dinner¡¯s just beginning.¡± So hungry, yet my appetite was finally being fulfilled. It was almost like I had been starving all of my life. ¡®Good job, Sister.¡¯ _ Marcus POV ¡°What happened here?¡± There were 10s of corpses. ¡°Amera¡­¡± My second was dead, only her lower half intact, but the name tag on her pants confirmed her identity. ¡°Teeth marks.¡± ¡°I know that we called her a beast¡­ but¡­¡± ¡°She ate them¡­¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Fuel, she¡¯s using something that¡­ is terrifying¡­ She clearly needs fuel.¡± ¡°Understood, sir.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to give an announcement. Find her, and do not engage¡­¡± I walked back with a despaired look. Regala hunted her kin for power, but this¡­ Rose is flat out a monster. I got to the castle and turned on the microphone. ¡°People of Slayer HQ, we are under lockdown. The Beast known as Rose Hood has escaped containment. Do not engage. If you see her, report her to the authorities and they will contact me.¡± I shivered. ¡°A picture of the assailant will not be distributed, but if you do see her, you will know it¡¯s her¡­¡± Chapter 117: The Beast Hungers ¡°What are they talking about?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know Amy, but it seems Heather made her move.¡± ¡°Still, I don¡¯t think that they¡¯d normally call her a beast¡­¡± ¡°I know that, but there¡¯s still a need to find her.¡± ¡°HEY, you can¡¯t be here!¡± ¡°Um!!!¡± We all realized that this was too high a level for only 4 of us. ¡°Listen, it¡¯s too dangerous out here for the low levels. Everyone below 400 should be inside.¡± He didn¡¯t realize that we were enemies. We played along. ¡°What¡¯s going on exactly?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t actually know, but what I do know is that the killer commander was scared by it.¡± ¡°Is that bad?¡± ¡°Is that bad¡­ of course it is!¡± The level 400+ led us through a road then we all froze as we saw something. Someone, no something was hunched over. We heard the sound of bone crunching and meat being bitten into. The guy looked disgusted. ¡°Hey peasant. It¡¯s not safe. Especially for rats like you that aren¡¯t in the system.¡± He seemed to regard the strange thing as lower as there was no sign of it being in the system. ¡°Oooh?! More food approaches?¡± ¡°What?¡± It leapt at him and ripped him to shreds before chewing on his corpse. The voice was too distorted for us to make out. It stood up and looked around, sniffing. It was huge, almost a full foot taller than me. Birdlike legs make it harpyish, but its draconic horns were odd. With tattered wings and a melted face we all knew. We found the person we intended to save, and we were too scared of her to even move. ¡°I thought there were more¡­ Oh well, I can find them later.¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. She leapt away, Going from tree to tree. We all realized we were holding our breath. ¡°Okay, what the **** was that?¡± Thalia¡¯s voice made us jump. ¡°I think that was Heather¡­¡± ¡°I know that was Heather, Dallel, but what was THAT??!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Can you talk with Luma and ask her?¡± ¡°No, she doesn¡¯t have access to capitals.¡± ¡°Crap, should we head back?¡± ¡°Not without her.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Ausar sighed deeply. ¡°We¡¯re following her, aren¡¯t we?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Great, let¡¯s notify Mark to prepare our funerals.¡± ¡°The skill Nation will keep us safe from her.¡± ¡°May I remind you that the skill was Rose¡¯s. We don¡¯t know if Heather even has the Nation skill. If not, then she could be as hostile to us as that guy.¡± He pointed to our temporary guide who was then little more than a twisted corpse. ¡°Remember, they have all people under 400 indoors, and that guy was way above that limit. We aren¡¯t winning.¡± I sat down and considered the possibilities. ¡°If we leave and explain, then they may understand, but that leaves her with a higher chance of being killed, but if we stay, we could be dragon food, but we would have a higher chance of saving her.¡± Thalia shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t even know why we are thinking of leaving. We came here to save her, didn¡¯t we?¡± ¡°Yeah, but-¡° ¡°No buts! We came to save her, so save her. If we leave because we got spooked, then how can we call ourselves fighters much less her friends?!¡± I shook my head. ¡°You¡¯re right. We came here to save her, so let¡¯s save her.¡± Ausar sighed. ¡°I guess I can¡¯t let you all face certain death alone, let¡¯s go.¡± We ran in the direction we saw her going. ¡°Come on, I see some light.¡± We entered a clearing and saw someone unexpected. ¡°D-Damien?¡± ¡°Dallel¡­ what are you doing here?¡± ¡°We came to save Heather¡­ You¡¯re the mole?¡± Damien¡¯s face soured. ¡°You were always too clever for your own good.¡± Then a scream that made everyone in the clearing jump. ¡°CRAP, SIR!!! SHE¡¯S BACK!!!¡± Damien turned his focus away from us. ¡°Prepare the weapons, we¡¯ll catch her this time, and get someone to watch these four.¡± He looked over and gave an annoyed look. ¡°I would kill you immediately, but I¡¯m a bit busy.¡± I was still in shock. Damien, the vice-captain of my Kingsguard squad, a higher being. And not only that, but one of their commanders. Then, right as I was about to attack him out of rage, half of a corpse fell from above making everyone freeze. We looked up. ¡°A spider web.¡± And in the middle of it. Heather sat, upside down, with a melted smile. She looked at me. The next thing I saw was the clearing a long ways away. ¡°Heather?¡± ¡°Dal Dal Dallel. Y y y youuuuuu came for meeeeieiie!!¡± Her voice was distorted and many of her words were stretched or squeaking. ¡°Safe¡­. Here¡­¡± She put me down, looked at me, and smiled. ¡°Friend¡­ safe¡­¡± - Thalia POV What just happened? Dallel was right next to me, and now he was gone, and so was Heather. Now, both of them disappeared. ¡°Well, that deals with one problem.¡± Damien¡¯s words made us jump, but Amy remained composed. ¡°What do you mean?¡± His smile made me want to vomit. His next words didn¡¯t help. ¡°Oh please, she¡¯s been hunting and eating our men for two hours now. Given her savagery I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if that little elf is chow.¡± ¡°Sir, I had an idea, what if we bound them and hung them from a tree and let the beast grab them, then we can capture her while she¡¯s eating.¡± ¡°Good man, Bind them all, and as she¡¯s a dragon make sure they are bleeding, it¡¯ll draw her attention easier.¡± A guy grabbed my arm. I shook him off. ¡°Get your hands off of me.¡± Another guy grabbed Ausar, and he started struggling. ¡°Smite.¡± A hole appeared in Ausar¡¯s chest, and he fell over. We all looked at Damien in shock as he smirked. ¡°I should tell you; I suppose. My name is Damien, the god of Shadows in Falsel.¡± Chapter 118: The Call of Blood ¡°Heather, how do you recognize me?¡± ¡°Heather? nO No no NO. Heather died. Rose rose I ROSE!¡± ¡°Wait¡­ Rose? But we saw that you died!¡± ¡°Heather tr-tricky. Name not mine but is.¡± ¡°She swapped your names?¡± Rose began to vigorously nod. ¡°What happened to you?¡± ¡°FEAR¡± ¡°Is that a skill?¡± I was going out on left field, but she began to nod vigorously again. ¡°How did you get it?¡± ¡°Devour and Savage Beast Evolve. FEAR was gifted.¡± ¡°So, it¡¯s a merge of both skills?¡± ¡°YEAH!!!¡± ¡°Thalia, Amy, and Ausar are here too.¡± ¡°ARE?¡± ¡°Yes. Could you help me save them?¡± ¡°Traitor Damien has them, doesn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°You said that clearly.¡± She nodded. ¡°Some clear soMe not.¡± ¡°I¡­ see. Can you help?¡± ¡°Cour-of-se.¡± ¡°Wonderful, they are in the clearing that you took me from¡­ by the way, what was that web.¡± ¡°Ate SPIDERs aWHILE ago. Ga ga ga gave me skill¡­ wEB.¡± ¡°I see¡­ Is it hard to speak?¡± ¡°While hungry yes.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± It was then that I began to notice her drooling while looking at me. Then she smashed her head on a stone. ¡°NO, FRIEND, NOT FOOD!!!¡± She went chipper again and picked me up. ¡°SAVE FRIENDS, EAT FOOD!!!¡± I was minorly concerned, but I was happier that Rose wasn¡¯t an unthinking monster. She ran back to the clearing and I nearly vomited due to the speed. When we arrived, we saw the sight I was fearing. All three of them were bound and hung by their hands off of the tree. They were cut up and bruised. ¡°Damien did this.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question. I looked over at Rose in surprise only to begin shivering. She was infuriated. I could feel her raw power pummeling me.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Rose, let¡¯s get them down, they are still alive.¡± ¡°Please you¡­ I¡¯m scared¡­¡± I nodded, she didn¡¯t want to lose control and eat them. In fact, she smashed her head on a rock 3 separate times as I was taking them down. ¡°Alright, they are down.¡± ¡°Good, now I hunt.¡± She leapt into the trees, clearly with one target in mind. I began checking them, as I expected, they were still alive. ¡°Thalia, Amy, Ausar, wake up.¡± ¡°D-Dallel?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m here, wake up.¡± Amy sat up with a wince. ¡°The others are out, but they left me awake.¡± ¡°I see, well, Rose is on our side.¡± ¡°Do you mean H-¡° ¡°No¡­ Heather swapped names with her¡­¡± Amy contemplated and then a tear rolled down her face. ¡°I see, then she is truly gone this time.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Amy.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, let¡¯s just make sure that the God Slayers can¡¯t take anyone else from us.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s head back to the portal and wait for Rose there. I don¡¯t think we can do anything else right now.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± We froze. I turned and saw Damien smiling. ¡°Surprised you lived, but it seems that the beast isn¡¯t entirely mindless.¡± He kicked my gut before I could react, knocking me down and causing me to yelp in pain. ¡°Come on, did you really think I¡¯d let you leave¡­ without me?¡± I realized his meaning and he grabbed Ausar. ¡°Now the thing is, I can kill him, and you know I can, so show me this portal before I do so.¡± I realized that we could trick him. ¡°Fine, follow me.¡± I began to walk and Amy looked at me in shock but remained quiet. But I had a plan. The portal was in the same direction of course, But so was Rose. _ ¡°Goodness is the portal much farther?¡± ¡°It¡¯s coming up soon.¡± ¡°This deity is annoyingly heavy.¡± ¡°Then why don¡¯t I hold him?¡± ¡°And I lose my leverage? Nice try.¡± ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± ¡°I see, that¡¯s the handywork of Mark.¡± Damien dropped Ausar and walked to the portal. He reached out his hand, and then someone dropped in front of him. ¡°Worrried. You not Show. Damien, AH.¡± Rose stood up to her full height and smiled at Damien who glowered. ¡°Clever.¡± Rose and him kicked at each other. Both kicks blocked the other, and a massive shockwave was made. It took all I could to prevent Thalia and Ausar from being thrown away by the wave. Amy grabbed onto a tree and held on for dear life. ¡°Well, little beast, how about I end you here?¡± ¡°NoT fool. Can¡¯t win.¡± ¡°At least you maintained some intelligence.¡± ¡°DallEL, PortAL THROUGH!!!¡± Both me and Amy grasped her meaning as the duo entered another clash. I picked up Ausar and Amy picked up Thalia. We entered the portal and fell down the moment we got through. ¡°Dallel, what happened?! Are you okay?¡± ¡°Mark, hold the portal for now!¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Then, as he emboldened the portal Rose came flying through the gate. She snarled at the gate, so I yelled. ¡°Hurry, now shut it!!!¡± ¡°Got it!!!¡± It began to close, but then a hand burst through it and stopped the closing. Damien poked his head through it. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you actually thought that you could get away from me!¡± Then Rose smiled and shouted, ¡°SYSTEM OVERRIDE!!! LOCK INDIVIDUAL DAMIEN FROM PANDORA AND ALL AFFILIATED WORLDS!!!¡± Damien¡¯s eyes narrowed and then he seemed to be pushed back. Then Luma spoke. [A banned individual is attempting access to a blocked world, leave or you will be punished for violating the System Rules.] Damien snarled. ¡°You win this time.¡± The portal slammed shut, and I fell to the ground. ¡°Rose?¡± Then I froze and remembered how much magic that would require. And sure enough, Rose was drooling uncontrollably. Even those who were relieved to see her realized that at this point, she was dangerous. ¡°Rose¡­ calm down. Friends. Not Food.¡± I could see her struggle to maintain her composure. ¡°Hun-hungry¡­ fo- no¡­ GRH!!!¡± ¡°Heather!¡± Amanda looked at her in a panic. I reached out and blocked her. ¡°I¡¯ll explain later, but right now, we need to figure out how to get her out of that state. Luma, any ideas?¡± [The System barely realizes that it¡¯s a skill. I don¡¯t have any counters right now.] ¡°Well crap, so just try to keep her calm.¡± Then she looked right at me, and I froze. ¡°Food¡­¡± Then I remembered who was behind me¡­ Amy who was bleeding from her wrists. ¡°GIVE IT TO ME!!!¡± Rose leapt for Amy, but this time I was ready. I grabbed her and grappled. ¡°ROSE, CALM DOWN!!!¡± She was far stronger than me, but somehow I was able to stop her from moving. ¡°HRAAAHH!!!¡± She began clawing my back causing me immense pain, but I maintained my grip. ¡°Rose. CALM DOWN NOW!!! please¡­¡± The moment I said please quietly, she began to slow down. Her claws retracted and she began shrinking. ¡°Her eyes!¡± I looked and sure enough, her eyes and mouth had returned to normal. When she returned to her normal size she stepped back and looked at me with a smile. ¡°Dallel, you saved me.¡± Then she fell back and collapsed. ¡°ROSE!!!¡± Chapter 119: The Requirements of Ascension ¡°So, they had a name swap?¡± ¡°Yeah, so Rose is alive, but Heather isn¡¯t.¡± Amy and Amanda were discussing the events that happened, but I was more worried about Rose, she had a total mental breakdown. ¡°Celios, how is Rose holding up?¡± ¡°Nala says that she should wake up by the end of the week.¡± ¡°Thank goodness¡­ will she be okay?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Whatever that form was, it broke her body. Even though she will wake up, she still won¡¯t be able to move for another while.¡± ¡°Broke her body?¡± ¡°I understand that it¡¯s a type of mutation, but there are severe burns in her eye sockets, as well as her mouth. Not to mention her arms are barely remaining on her body. Her legs are in shambles too. Frankly, if she wasn¡¯t a deity, she¡¯d be long gone by now.¡± ¡°I understand. What of her mind?¡± ¡°That¡¯s something I was worried about as well, but as it sits, I can¡¯t tell what her mental state is until she wakes up.¡± ¡°I see, well I hope she¡¯s alright.¡± ¡°Still, I can¡¯t believe that Damien was the mole¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, and not only that, but he¡¯s also a deity.¡± ¡°That is certainly concerning, but now we know of 3 out of 5 deities that joined the God Slayers, and the mole can¡¯t enter this world.¡± ¡°Still, I hope Rose is okay.¡± ¡°Captain, you should be more worried about yourself.¡± ¡°What do you mean, Darsen?¡± ¡°We all saw the gouges, frankly most of us thought you¡¯d keel over right after Rose.¡± ¡°Was it that bad?¡± ¡°Yep, you looked nearly dead.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t even notice.¡± ¡°Adrenaline is an odd thing. Still, that was terrifying.¡± ¡°Rose¡­ doing that?¡± ¡°Yeah, we all saw her struggle as well, but she still lost it. A lot of people trust her less. Especially since now¡­¡± ¡°She holds the full power of Kala?¡± ¡°Yeah, I mean, before the two would hold each other back, but now¡­ she could pretty much do whatever now.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think she would.¡± ¡°Neither do most of us, but there are still a lot of dissenters. The same people also say that you shouldn¡¯t be ruler.¡± ¡°I did plan on giving the faction back to Rose.¡± ¡°Not sure that¡¯d be smart, laddie.¡± ¡°Mammon?¡± ¡°While we all trust Rose, just think about it. They currently don¡¯t trust you, and after that fiasco, they certainly don¡¯t trust Rose.¡± ¡°Fiasco? She saved all of our lives!!!¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°They don¡¯t care. They wouldn¡¯t care if she killed Gethel with that move. She did something they thought was scary and now they lost trust.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your point?¡± ¡°Keep ownership of the faction for now, at least officially, but have Rose as the one in charge.¡± ¡°So, I can satisfy the dissenters while keeping Rose in charge.¡± ¡°Bingo.¡± ¡°I still think it¡¯s stupid that they don¡¯t trust Rose because of her losing herself to an ability that even Luma can¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to have to agree with you Erica but disagree at the same time.¡± They all looked at me. ¡°You are right, Rose can not be blamed for losing herself to such a skill, but keep in mind that she still has said skill. Remember what Regala said, the usage of Savage Beast caused Luma¡¯s first ever error. FEAR is an evolution fusion of Savage Beast and Devour. Two highly unstable skills merged, and their first impression of it is her trying to eat Amy, one of her closest friends. I can understand why they¡¯d be unsettled.¡± They sighed and muttered reluctant agreement. ¡°So, what should we do?¡± ¡°The same thing as Mammon suggested. And once the trust in her returns, then I will reinstate her as faction head.¡± ¡°Speaking of, we have Mark and the other 3, so are we a minor faction now?¡± ¡°Let me ask Luma.¡± [Let me try¡­ ERROR: The system cannot process request. Administrator Override is required to proceed¡­] ¡°What does that mean?¡± [It means, that you guys aren¡¯t a faction, and I assume that you need Rose to become a higher being to become one.] ¡°Well crap.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Apparently we need Rose to become a higher being before we can become a faction.¡± ¡°Why, I thought the requirement was having a higher being?¡± ¡°Usually, but we need to use something called Administrator Override, and Luma thinks that Rose will be able to use it when she becomes a higher being.¡± ¡°What level even is she?¡± ¡°Luma?¡± [The individual, Rose Hood, has reached level 199, upon completing the requirements she can evolve into a higher being.] ¡°Well, that¡¯s convenient, what are the requirements?¡± [It¡¯s different per person, let me che-¡­ holy ****.] ¡°That¡¯s not a good reaction.¡± [It¡¯s just¡­ ridiculous. This is the kind of things that you shouldn¡¯t have to do until you¡¯re aiming for the upper class.] ¡°Hmm?¡± [Every 200 levels you need to pass a new set of requirements. I¡¯ve seen potential 600s with easier requirements than this.] ¡°Show me.¡± [Okay.] Then the ridiculous tasks showed up in front of me. ------------------------ For the individual Rose Hood to evolve into a higher being (LOWER CLASS) she must gain the sponsorship of a non-subordinate higher being and complete the following requirements. Kill 10000 higher beings (COMPLETE) Kill 1000 level 400+ (954/1000) Kill 5 level 500+ (0/5) Kill 1 level 600+ (0/1) Kill 1 level 700+ (0/1) Gain the Title- Conqueror (Incomplete) Kill an evolved deity by using his string of life (0/1) Kill an Angel (0/1) Kill a Demon (0/1) Kill a Dragon (COMPLETE) Kill a Whilder (COMPLETE) Gain the blessing of the Supreme Faction (COMPLETE) --------------------------- ¡°HOW IS SHE SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?!!¡± [I don¡¯t know. Looking at it, this would be the requirement for 800, not 200.] ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Dallel?¡± ¡°Rose is able to evolve to a higher being.¡± Mark was confused. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that?¡± ¡°Her requirements are comparable to the requirements to become an 800.¡± ¡°Please, it can¡¯t be that bad. What¡¯s her most difficult task?¡± ¡°Kill a level 700.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Well, ****.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°HOW IS SHE SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?!!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, neither does Luma.¡± ¡°Ay yai yai. This means that we are going to need to take on a middle-class faction at least.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°God Slayers is a lower class.¡± ¡°Great¡­¡± ¡°Precisely.¡± ¡°Goodness gracious, she is Yu Il*an.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°In the story that that character is in, he always had to do absolute ridiculous tasks to get to the next class.¡± ¡°Did he have to do that?¡± ¡°No, this is a bit more ridiculous.¡± Then Amanda chirped up. ¡°If she summons the Cradle of M*racles, I¡¯m calling dibs on becoming a dragon first.¡± Thalia looked confused. ¡°What?¡± ¡°In the story, the main character could turn people into dragons to join his higher existence faction.¡± ¡°¡­ That¡¯s weird.¡± ¡°Yeah, it kind of is, now that I actually know a dragon.¡± ¡°Though another two requirements concern me.¡± They all turned to me in confusion. ¡°She needs to kill both an Angel and a Demon.¡± Mark sighed very loudly. ¡°Great, so we need to **** off the Supreme Faction and a higher-level faction.¡± ¡°Is there a way to get an angel that isn¡¯t in the supreme faction?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what the demons are.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ That could be a problem.¡± ¡°Hm¡­ ask Luma if a fallen angel would work.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡± ¡°Fallen angels are in the middle of their demonization, but they are still angels.¡± ¡°Luma?¡± [It should work.] ¡°Good, so now all we need to do is kill a fallen angel and a demon without angering people that could wipe us out before we take a second breath.¡± [And Rose has to complete it all alone.] ¡°You can¡¯t be serious.¡± [It has to be a solo kill.] ¡°UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Rose has to get the kills on her own.¡± ¡°¡­ Great¡­¡± Chapter 120: Down to Earth I woke up to the sound of rustling. ¡°Dallel?¡± ¡°Rose? You¡¯re awake!¡± ¡°Dallel¡­ I¡¯m so sorry.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but cry. I nearly killed him and Amy. ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± I sat up to hug him and he took it with a surprised expression. ¡°You can move.¡± ¡°I can. Did you doubt I¡¯d be able too?¡± ¡°Kinda.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m okay now. Thank you. You sa-¡° ¡°Ooh~ She just woke up and you¡¯re already getting busy.¡± I turned and looked at Thalia. Next to her was¡­ my shirt. Dallel saw that¡­ looked at me and blushed furiously. ¡°S-s-sorry!¡± Then he ran out of the room. ¡°So, Ms. Fearsome Rasberry. How are you doing?¡± ¡°You are evil, you know that?¡± ¡°Eh, can¡¯t help making fun of you. You¡¯re too easy and that was too perfect to pass up.¡± I was blushing. ¡°Just give me my stupid shirt.¡± ¡°Well~ if it¡¯s stupid~¡± ¡°Thalia, I swear. Give me the shi-¡° ¡°I jest. Here, have it.¡± She left with a major smirk. ¡°What an evil dragon.¡± _ After dressing, I went downstairs with a limp. ¡°So, Dallel and Thalia weren¡¯t lying, you are awake.¡± ¡°I am.¡± Silas greeted me. ¡°Could I have my usual.¡± ¡°Sorry, doctor¡¯s orders. No wine. I can give you water.¡± I grimaced. ¡°Fine, water please.¡± I sat down and put my head on the table. I still had a killer headache. ¡°Hey, Rose. It¡¯s good to see you awake.¡± ¡°Good to be awake.¡± I got a lot more greetings before I got my food. Then they sort of looked away as I ate it all. I guess the subject of me eating wasn¡¯t very comfortable. ¡°Rose, you¡¯re alive. I figured that you finally kicked the bucket after kicking Dallel.¡± ¡°Good to see that you¡¯re doing well, Jalad.¡± ¡°But seriously. I¡¯m happy that you¡¯re back¡­ when I got that notification¡­ If it wasn¡¯t for Dallel, I think we wouldn¡¯t have been able to persist.¡± ¡°I¡¯m happy to be back, and to hear that Dallel did a good job.¡± ¡°He truly did. I suppose it¡¯s his regal blood, but all of us were shocked in how well he organized things.¡± ¡°The God Slayers were also shocked.¡± ¡°They were?¡± I laughed. ¡°Yeah, almost right after the commander they set to guard me told me that you¡¯d be moaning, a guy ran in to tell him that you guys took their remaining minor worlds.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yep, and the timing was perfect, because he accidentally loosened a cuff in his anger, so I was able to escape.¡± ¡°How did he get that angry?¡± ¡°Right after the news, I sassed him.¡± ¡°*Sigh* Of course, you did. Did he hurt you afterwards?¡± ¡°Yep, ripped out my voice box, but he did it so violently that one of the cuffs was off.¡± ¡°You take too many risks.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°That wasn¡¯t a complement.¡± ¡°Hehe.¡± ¡°Still.¡± His gaze turned softer. ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear that you kept fighting.¡± ¡°I would never dream of stopping.¡± ¡°Also, I have a question.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Shoot.¡± ¡°What caused you to enable FEAR?¡± I stopped and everyone stopped, curious to the reason. ¡°The vermin that acted as our friend detailed how he would torture each one of you, but¡­ it was the last one that caused it fully.¡± Darsen spoke. ¡°What was the last one?¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather not say.¡± ¡°Please, we need to know. So, we can help you.¡± ¡°He would lock Darsen and Erica in a cage, and starve them¡­ until¡­¡± ¡°I fall to Devour¡­¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Everyone was quiet, so I spoke. ¡°The rest¡­ they were simple torture, but that last one¡­ I just couldn¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°Dallel?¡± ¡°If I was there¡­ If I heard that¡­ **** the power difference. I¡¯d try to kill him right then and there.¡± He was furious at Damien. We all were. Darsen coughed. ¡°Okay, I am minorly concerned about Savage Beast and Devour merging.¡± ¡°Actually, it¡¯s better.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Because now the urges only come through when I enter FEAR.¡± Darsen sighed in relief. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± _ I went to Gallson¡¯s for a check up on my sword. ¡°What about yer armor?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t really have time to look for it, unfortunately.¡± ¡°Man, that sucks.¡± Thalia looked confused. ¡°Then how did you get the sword?¡± ¡°What do you think they tortured me with?¡± ¡°Oh¡­ are you sure you can-¡° ¡°Of course, the torture hurt, but I got the satisfaction of ticking off a commander.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Tortures no fun when the person barely reacts.¡± They all just looked at me. ¡°I think that you are the only one that would not scream just to spite someone.¡± ¡°Eh, with his ability I practically had to spite him at every turn.¡± Mark asked. ¡°Which commander was it?¡± ¡°Marcus.¡± I smirked as he gaped. ¡°You survived the killer commander¡¯s torture without screaming?!¡± ¡°I screamed the first time, then I realized he was into that, so I just kept quiet and trained my magic on my bodies interior.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I maxed out pain resistance!¡± ¡°I would imagine. How long did the torture even last?¡± ¡°10 hours.¡± ¡°¡±¡°T-t- TEN HOURS!!!¡±¡±¡± ¡°Rose, it takes a great deal of willpower to even remember your own name after 30 minutes, and you didn¡¯t make a peep for 10 hours?!¡± ¡°Yep! Absolutely ticked him off.¡± ¡°I¡¯d imagine.¡± ¡°Also, I¡¯ve thought on my requirements.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to go to Earth and talk to Gabriel.¡± ¡°But we need you here?¡± ¡°Please, Dallel¡¯s the current leader, and I¡¯m fully aware that the general populous had lost their faith in me, so I¡¯ll give them time to process everything.¡± ¡°Fine¡­¡± ¡°Besides I¡¯ll be much safer on Earth. Even with their final goal, none of them would be dumb enough to pick a fight with Gabriel.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good-¡° ¡°Oh, and Erica, you¡¯re coming with me.¡± ¡°Heh?¡± ¡°You need to apologize to Gabriel, and I assume you want to talk to your parents.¡± ¡°Eh?!¡± ¡°Come on!¡± I smiled and grabbed her. ¡°Wait. WAIT WAIT WAIT!!! I don¡¯t want to talk to Mr. Gabriel.¡± ¡°TOO BAD!¡± I ran off with her towards to hub. ¡°NOOOOOOOO!¡± Then I warped to Earth with Erica in tow. ¡°*URP* that wasn¡¯t fun.¡± ¡°Sure, it was, stand up, we are in New York.¡± We stood up and looked around. ¡°Woah.¡± We saw a group of angels flying around, delivering items, materials, and food to workers. Some other angels were also building. ¡°They¡¯re still repairing the damage from my and Kalgero¡¯s fight?¡± ¡°Seems like it.¡± An angel landed next to me. ¡°Pardon me miss, but tourists can¡¯t come¡­ you¡¯re not of this world.¡± ¡°Sorry, but could I speak with Gabriel? I need his help.¡± ¡°*Sigh* Gabriel is quite busy, but I could ask him. What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Rose Hood, and this is Erica.¡± His eyes widened. ¡°I see.¡± He flew off and returned with Gabriel who had a grimace. ¡°So, Rose. I assume you are here for help with completing your requirements?¡± ¡°How did you-¡° ¡°Luma, insisted I sign a petition to give you easier requirements.¡± Right, the angels weren¡¯t too happy that I named the system. ¡°But I refused, of course. If you received hard tasks, it means you are capable of completing them.¡± Then he smirked. ¡°I mean, what¡¯s your hardest task.¡± ¡°Kill a 700+¡­¡± The angel that brought him gaped and Gabriel¡¯s smirk turned to disbelief. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ kidding, right?¡± ¡°Wish I was.¡± He sighed. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s way off. What¡¯s the second hardest.¡± ¡°There are two tied for that.¡± ¡°And they are¡­¡± ¡°Kill one angel and one demon¡­¡± The angel gaped more and took a step back, and Gabriel was just ticked off. ¡°If I didn¡¯t know it was unbiased I would assume you ticked off the requirement generator.¡± He paused. ¡°Actually, knowing you~¡± ¡°Hey!¡± He started laughing. ¡°Calm down I¡¯ll help you with the non-kill ones. Name them.¡± ¡°Gain title- Conqueror¡­¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± ¡°And how many requirements do you have?¡± ¡°12, and I had one other non-kill but that¡¯s already completed.¡± ¡°What was that one?¡± ¡°Get a blessing from the Supreme Faction¡­¡± ¡°¡­ Yep, you definitely angered someone.¡± ¡°Luckily I already have 4 complete.¡± ¡°Which ones?¡± ¡°Kill 10000 higher beings, kill a Whilder, kill a Dragon, and the blessing one.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what to be more shocked by. The requirements, or the fact that you¡¯ve killed over 10000 higher beings.¡± ¡°So, which requirement should I go for?¡± ¡°I¡¯d say Conqueror, it would definitely be beneficial for the kill tasks.¡± ¡°How do I get it?¡± ¡°Singlehandedly conquer a world.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I already did that¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Yeah, I did that when testing if conquering minor worlds was a feasible goal.¡± ¡°Did Luma help you?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Then¡­¡± ¡°Do I have to do it head on?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Then why?¡± ¡°Here, ask Luma to check the requirements for you.¡± ¡°Okay. Luma?¡± [Checking¡­ Oh, come on¡­ Really?] ¡°What is it?¡± [Well, normally you¡¯d have to take one world singlehandedly¡­] ¡°Luma, what do I need to do.¡± [You need to conquer a middle world singlehandedly¡­] ¡°ARE YOU KIDDING?!¡± ¡°What did she say?¡± ¡°I have to take a middle world singlehandedly.¡± ¡°But¡­ even a 700 would be hard pressed to do that.¡± ¡°Yep¡­¡± ¡°Here, when you accomplish that, come back and I will help you get the fallen angel and demon you need.¡± ¡°Thanks¡­ know any worlds like that?¡± ¡°God Slayers have 2 middle worlds including their capital.¡± ¡°Wait, so my team¡­¡± ¡°Yes, you put them down to a single wing world and the capital.¡± ¡°Well, may as well restrict them to the capital, shouldn¡¯t I.¡± I smiled darkly. Gabriel sighed. ¡°I¡¯m still confused why you got such high requirements.¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because I evolved Savage Beast.¡± ¡°Perhaps¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Wait what?¡± ¡°Yeah, I evolved it, and it merged with Devour.¡± ¡°Rose¡­ what the heck.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°Here, could you show me this new ability?¡± ¡°Um¡­ I don¡¯t think it would be a good idea¡­¡± Erica nodded. ¡°Yeah, she may eat someone!¡± The angel near us gasped. ¡°Eat someone?!¡± ¡°Yeah, in her FEAR mode, she becomes hungry and if hungry enough will even try to eat allies.¡± ¡°AH!¡± The angel fled, but Gabriel merely sighed. ¡°Enter the form, I¡¯ll make sure you don¡¯t hurt anyone.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± I channeled FEAR into myself and an earthquake began. I began growing. My eyes and mouth disappeared, tattered wings shot out, a bone crown formed, and my feet turned into talons. ¡°So, is this it?¡± ¡°YeSSSSSSSS!!!!¡± ¡°So, it distorts your mind?¡± I nodded vigorously. ¡°Well, I¡¯d say that it¡¯s probably a good idea to use this skill to defeat the middle world.¡± I disabled it. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s quite strong.¡± Erica was gaping at me. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You were so docile!¡± Gabriel nodded. ¡°I¡¯d assume that¡¯s for two reasons. First, she entered while calm. Second, she was in front of a being that far exceeds her strength.¡± ¡°That makes sense to me.¡± ¡°Well, get to it. It would be better if you became a higher being sooner than later. Then again, I don¡¯t know who would sponsor you.¡± ¡°Why not you?¡± ¡°HAH! As part of the supreme faction, I don¡¯t sponsor anyone.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°Sorry, but that is the rules, otherwise many would claim favoritism.¡± ¡°I understand. Oh right, Erica, didn¡¯t you have something to say to Gabriel.¡± Gabriel turned to Erica with an annoyed glance. She blanched then muttered. ¡°Umm¡­ sorry for ignoring what you told me.¡± He sighed. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m just happy you are alright.¡± ¡°I planned for her to meet with her parents before we headed back.¡± ¡°She is part of your faction?¡± ¡°Yep, she joined it.¡± ¡°Interesting, well, take as long as you need.¡± Me and Erica walked in the direction of her home. ¡°Think they are alright?¡± ¡°I hope so¡­¡± Chapter 121: A Hellish Meal We found the house and rung the doorbell. ¡°Honey, go get it. It could be Mr. Gabriel.¡± ¡°Fine¡­¡± A portly man opened the door then he froze. ¡°Hi Dad.¡± ¡°E-Erica?¡± She flinched. ¡°Sorry for running off, I-¡° He hugged her. ¡°Honey, I was so worried. Mr. Gabriel said you were with people that could defend you, but I was so scared. Please don¡¯t do that again.¡± ¡°Darling, who are you talking to?¡± ¡°Erica is back!¡± ¡°SHE IS?!¡± A woman ran over and hugged Erica. ¡°Hi Mom.¡± ¡°You got a lot of explaining to do, Missy.¡± Then the woman smiled. ¡°But for now, let¡¯s go inside¡­ who¡¯s your friend?¡± ¡°She¡¯s the person that kept me safe.¡± ¡°That¡¯s wonderful. Come in um¡­¡± ¡°Rose.¡± ¡°Ms. Rose, come on in, I was just preparing dinner.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s no problem.¡± I entered the home and saw a kid. ¡°Hey, Daniel.¡± ¡°Lady, get away from my sister.¡± ¡°???¡± I was confused and so was everyone else. ¡°Daniel, she¡¯s a friend of mine.¡± ¡°Erica, my friend¡¯s saying she¡¯s a monster.¡± ¡°Is that your friend?¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I pointed to the woman hovering above the kid¡¯s head. ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°How can you see her?!¡± The kid was shaken and so was the woman. ¡°It quite simple, I have a high magic density, so I can see things most others cannot.¡± I smiled. ¡°That includes spiritual beings that want to hide themselves.¡± The woman sighed and revealed her visage causing Erica¡¯s parents to jump, but Erica merely moved her hand to her waist and narrowed her eyes. ¡°I was told you were observant little lizard, but I didn¡¯t expect that.¡± ¡°So, what is a demon doing here?¡± ¡°Quite simple. I was looking for you.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°My master wants you to evolve.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Yes, he sent me to assist you in your tasks.¡± ¡°And these people?¡± ¡°Well, of course, I can¡¯t just let people who¡¯ve seen a level 864 demon live.¡± ¡°Ah, well that is quite convenient.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°It¡¯s so convenient, because if I kill you¡­¡± Her smile faded and her eyes widened. ¡°That¡¯s two more requirements completed.¡± ¡°Y-you¡¯re kidding right?¡± ¡°Nope, kill a demon, and kill a 700. I was so confused on how I would do that, but lo and behold, you not only show up, but you threaten my friend.¡± ¡°**** this, I¡¯m not dying to a brat like you.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see about that. Erica!¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Guard them from any stray blasts and tell Gabriel to let me handle this.¡± ¡°Got it. Come on!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t let you le- GH.¡± ¡°Keep an eye on the one who wants to kill you.¡± ¡°Heh, too weak.¡± She punted me and I flew through the roof, coughing out blood. She launched and grabbed my throat. ¡°I am the Demon General Asmodeus; do you really think that you can kill me?¡± ¡°You¡¯re rather low leveled for a general.¡± ¡°Hah, you are bold, kid. I¡¯ll give you that.¡± She kneed me and launched me back to the ground. ¡°You are pathetic, this is your requirements for 200? I¡¯m surprised, I thought that you¡¯d be stronger if that were the case.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, it is ridiculous, but I¡¯m not wholy incapable.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°FEAR.¡± ¡°What? ¡­ OH WHAT THE ****?¡± ¡°Surprised?¡± ¡°Is this what people see when we scare them?!¡± ¡°He he. Maybe. Maybe not.¡± ¡°You are terrifying. No matter, you are still weak.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­ where would be the best place to eat?¡± ¡°You¡¯re thinking about food right- GH!¡° I slashed her stomach, causing blood to drip on my hand. I licked it off and shivered. It was delightful. ¡°What¡­ what the ****?!¡± She was in shock of what I just did, but as expected of someone in her league, she recovered and charged me. Obviously, I couldn¡¯t just let a morsel like that leave. ¡°Hm, ooh I know. What of your prison?¡± Her eyes widened as I grabbed her hand and warped us. ¡°W-where did you take us?!¡± I smiled as the hell fire ignored me but began to assault her. ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°We¡¯re in Hell.¡± ¡°How did you bring us here?!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been here before, so I thought¡­¡± I smiled deeper. ¡°What better place than here to have the highest-level meal I¡¯ve had before?¡± She blanched as she looked at me and realized what she was facing. In the delightful mode I maintained, I was a monster. Pure and unfiltered savagery. ¡°I¡¯ll kill you, then I¡¯ll find my way out of here!!!¡± ¡°Awe, you still have hope.¡± I said this from behind her. ¡°How did you-¡° ¡°Your perception is slowing, Asmodeus. Just give up and be my food.¡± I shoved my hand in her gut, and she gasped in pain. ¡°Ah, done so early?¡± ¡°Never!¡± She slashed, but the hellfire was getting to her. Her moves were slower and slower, and to her, I got faster and faster. ¡°You know, I love my meals perfectly cooked.¡± ¡°**** you, you monster!!!¡± Her swings were so entertaining, and her pain was apparent from her face. ¡°Ah, such vulgarity. Now just be my meal.¡± I smashed her throat and impaled her heart. Then I ate to my heart¡¯s content. Such power and such vibrancy from an 800. I should get more! I looked to the left and saw a small demon shivering, so I smiled with my mouth stained in demon blood. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m quite full.¡± And with that, I warped to Earth. Chapter 122: Luma Awakened I landed in the same spot I initially left. FEAR disabled and I felt ill. I was not expecting the battle to be like that, but sure enough I completed two more of my requirements, and I gained the Devoured power of a demon general. Gabriel flew over with Erica. ¡°Rose, are you okay?!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What happened?!¡± Then he noticed the positioning of the blood. While there was some blood on my back, it was coalesced on my mouth and hands. He shivered. ¡°What happened, Rose?¡± ¡°I have two more requirements fulfilled.¡± ¡°How did you win?¡± ¡°I teleported us to the one place any demon becomes weak.¡± He looked at me in shock. ¡°You didn¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°Do you know any other place that fits that description.¡± He put his head in his hands. ¡°Go home, Rose.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Just for now¡­ let me process this.¡± I could understand his shock and fear. Demons were Angels. Even if they were enemies, I ate one of his kin. ¡°Wait for me!¡± Erica ran up. ¡°Erica?¡± ¡°I cleared it with my parents, they¡¯re good with you keeping my wonderful help.¡± ¡°So, inform Dallel that production will continue to be in the negative.¡± ¡°HEY!¡± Then she looked at me. ¡°So, that¡¯s how the battle ended?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Mr. Gabriel?¡± ¡°What is it, child?¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t hold it against her, she hates that side of FEAR as much as the rest of us do.¡± He calmed a bit. ¡°Thank you for telling me that.¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. I warped me and Erica back to Selethon. ¡°HOLY ****!!!¡± ¡°Hi.¡± ¡°Rose, why would you warp directly into the guild hall?!¡± Then they noticed the blood. ¡°ROSE ARE YOU OKAY?!¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s the other guy that isn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ who was it?¡± ¡°Demon.¡± ¡°On Earth?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± Jalad noticed my look. ¡°Why do you look sad?¡± Erica sighed. ¡°It was an insanely high leveled demon, so she had to go FEAR, and¡­ she won.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°Gabriel wasn¡¯t too happy with what happened to one of his kin.¡± ¡°Ah, so she ate the demon?¡± I nodded. ¡°I understand where Gabriel came from¡­ Thanks Erica, for telling him that.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t want him to think that you were a heartless monster.¡± ¡°What did she tell him?¡± ¡°That I don¡¯t like the eating mind.¡± ¡°I see. That is something good to clear up.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°What level was the demon?¡± ¡°864.¡± Their eyes widened. ¡°How did you beat such a high-level demon?!¡± ¡°I knew of a place that makes all demons virtually incapable of fighting properly.¡± ¡°That¡¯s incredible!¡± ¡°Yeah, it is.¡± Jalad saw my sadness. ¡°You wanted to beat the demon fairly¡­ didn¡¯t you.¡± I nodded. ¡°You know you wouldn¡¯t have been able to¡­ right?¡± ¡°Yeah, but the way I did it¡­ it was just evil¡­ I don¡¯t want to be evil.¡± Jalad hugged me. ¡°I don¡¯t know everything that happened there but listen. You aren¡¯t evil. Sure, you did something not too good, but¡­ you can still do better, right?¡± I nodded. ¡°There we go. You just-¡± ¡°Zzzzzzzz¡± ¡°Did you se-¡° I fell asleep. _ I woke up at the table with a wine in front of me with a note from Jalad. ¡°Dear Sleepyhead. Have a wine.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°You fell asleep while Jalad was comforting you.¡± I blushed. ¡°I did?!¡± ¡°Yeah, it was hilarious. He was about to start saying something cool, then you just started snoring.¡± I put my head on the table. ¡°Ghhhh¡­¡± After a while I got up and got ready to face the day. But first, a bath. I was still covered in blood. I paid Silas for a ticket to the bathhouse. _ ¡°Gwah¡­¡± It felt good¡­ There was so much muck that I didn¡¯t notice. Hell was very dirty. Right Kala? ¡­ Right¡­ she wasn¡¯t here¡­ not anymore. [I¡¯m still here.] ¡°WOAH¡­ Luma, you scared me¡­ you can hear my thoughts?¡± [When they are that loud, yes.] ¡°I¡­ I just miss her.¡± [I do too¡­ I have an idea¡­] ¡°What is it?¡± [We are both beings that are near gods in our respective realms, correct?] ¡°Your point is?¡± [The main reason I can¡¯t help you is because I¡¯m bound to the core¡­] ¡°Okay?¡± [Please create me a body.] ¡­ ¡°What?¡± [Please crea-] ¡°I heard you, but how? I¡¯m pretty sure any body I make would crumble under your power.¡± [Of course, it wouldn¡¯t hold all of my data, just my core.] ¡°Can I create something that strong?¡± [Yes.] ¡°Right now?¡± [Could you?!] ¡°I could try?¡± ¡­ wait. ¡°Did you wait for me to grab that much power before asking me?¡± [It wasn¡¯t entirely my intention, but I did plan on waiting longer before asking¡­ but you got power I didn¡¯t expect you to get.] ¡°Neither did I.¡± [So, please?] ¡°Of course.¡± I began using creation for the first time without Kala, or any of the other shards. Light echoed and energy spiraled around the room and circled me. [What¡¯s GAAH!!!] I realized what was happening. To make a body for her, I needed to pass her through my mind so I could make a suitable casing. It just happened that at that moment, the entire system went dark. In that moment, I saw everything. Since the beginning to now. All was before my eyes. It was¡­ too much¡­ ¡°[GRAAAAAAAAAAH¡±] The lights kept flickering and massive energy shone. [¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA]¡± Then it all stopped. The system went back to normal, and I was collapsed in the bathhouse. ¡°I am so thankful that this place is soundproof.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I looked up and saw a floating pale girl with ash white hair. An aura of power emanated from her. She had pale skin, and blue lines moving over her. They centered into her eyes which were a bright blue. She was very small. Almost a full foot shorter than I was then. But her face was that of a woman¡¯s. A queen. Youthful, but powerful. Wings of a pure blue energy shone from her back. ¡°Rose.¡± She smiled before landing and hugging me. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°No problem, Luma.¡± I smiled. Chapter 123: The Glutton of a System ¡°So, um Rose. Mind explaining the massive expulsion of power that came from the bathouse?¡± I walked into the guild hall and saw a bunch of people with tired looks. Almost as though they were saying, ¡®What have you done this time?¡¯ Mammon, Jalad, and Dallel in particular held this expression. ¡°Okay, meet Luma.¡± ¡°We already have met-¡° Luma walked in, using robes I made for her. ¡°Hello individuals Mammon, Dallel, Jalad, Da-¡° ¡°Rose, what is this?¡± ¡°Luma.¡± ¡°¡­ Rose¡­¡± ¡°Yes, Mammon?¡± ¡°Why does the ****ing system have a body?¡± ¡°She asked.¡± ¡°AND YE- *deep breath* Ye just gave ¡®er one?¡± ¡°Yep¡­¡± Jalad facepalmed. ¡°Why am I even surprised at this point?¡± ¡°Frankly, I don¡¯t know.¡± Dallel sighed. ¡°Well, it¡¯s already done. May as well just be okay with it.¡± ¡°Indeed, individual Dallel, now that I have a body I can be fully independent, of course I will still run the system as normal, but I can help you more efficiently now.¡± ¡°Could you not call me ¡®individual Dallel¡¯? It¡¯s odd. Just call me Dallel.¡± ¡°Okay, Dallel, I assume the rest of you would like something similar?¡± ¡°Yes please.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± She froze for a moment. ¡°Settings updated, will now refer to all individuals of the Junior Faction ruled by Dallel by their names.¡± She looked around. ¡°One last thing.¡± I tilted my head. ¡°What is- URGH!¡± [THE SYSTEM LUMA HAS SWORN LOYALTY TO YOU] ¡°GRAAAAAAAAAAH¡± [DUE TO THE POWER DIFFERENCE THE SYSTEM LUMA HAS BOLSTERED YOUR POWER BY 50%] ¡°What¡¯s happening to her?!!¡± [YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE UNIQUE TITLE, PROGRAMMER.] I began coughing out blood. [YOU HAVE NOW GAINED THE SPONSORSHIP OF SYSTEM LUMA, YOUR ASCENSION IS NOW POSSIBLE IF YOU COMPLETE THE REMAINING REQUIREMENTS.]Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Then the pain receded, and I coughed a bit more, then I looked at Luma with an exasperated look. ¡°Next time you do something like that, *Cough* please warn me.¡± It was at that point that I realized that my body had half entered FEAR. I entered my normal state and stood up, wiping blood off my mouth. Luma looked sheepish. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t realize you would be affected so greatly.¡± Mammon still had a look of shock. ¡°What happened to ye?!¡± ¡°Luma decided to swear loyalty to me.¡± ¡°Okay? So why would that happen?" ¡°To put it simply, you know how nation gives you up to a 50% power boost depending on our power difference?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°She just gave me a 50% power boost.¡± They froze. ¡°Oh¡­¡± ¡°Plus, it was like the world itself was yelling at me.¡± Luma nodded. ¡°It was surprisingly loud.¡± ¡°It also stated that you were the system and not an individual.¡± ¡°Of course, I am closer to AI then life. At least I used to be.¡± She then smiled, and it was so pure. I looked over at Dallel who sighed. ¡°I suppose we can¡¯t do anything about it now. Welcome to the team, Luma.¡± ¡°Thank you for welcoming me, Dallel.¡± Silas smiled. ¡°May as well get you something to eat.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± She smiled again. Silas entered the back and got some food for both of us. Luma turned to me. ¡°By the way, Rose, if you want you can evolve nation.¡± ¡°I can? What are the requirements?¡± ¡°I could wai-¡° ¡°No, I want to get stronger in my own right. So, what are the requirements.¡± She smiled. ¡°As I thought you¡¯d answer, you have already fulfilled the requirements.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Actually¡­ you would need to regain control of the junior faction.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°The two requirements to evolve Nation is the title Sacrificer and ruling 10 worlds.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ well, I guess we¡¯ll have to sit on that for a-¡° ¡°Hey, Luma, could you give command to Rose?¡± ¡°Of course, the junior faction ruled by Dallel has had ownership transferred to Rose.¡± ¡°D-Dallel?¡± ¡°I was never fit for being an absolute ruler, you are though.¡± ¡°Th-thanks.¡± I smiled and so did Dallel. Then he smirked. ¡°Besides, you cause way less disasters as a leader.¡± ¡°HEY!!!¡± Everyone in the hall laughed. Then Luma looked with a smile. ¡°Do you wish to evolve nation now?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Then her eyes glowed. [Your skill, Nation, has reached the point of its final evolution. You have evolved this skill to its peak.] [The Skill, Nation, has evolved into Empire. You can now gain the loyalty of more people, and you now give up to a 75% boost depending on the power difference.] [NOTICE: due to the affiliation of the System, Luma, your 50% boost has been upgraded to a 75% boost.] ¡°That is certainly a useful evolution.¡± ¡°What did it do?¡± ¡°I now give a maximum 75% boost.¡± ¡°That is useful.¡± ¡°Yes it is.¡± Dallel looked happy. ¡°What¡¯s my boost at?¡± I checked. ¡°70%.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± Thalia came in quickly. She kicked through the wall and Mammon sighed. ¡°Maybe I should just put a sign there that says second entrance.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°I mean. THE DOOR IS TWO FEET AWAY, BUT ALL YE PEOPLE KEEP BREAKING ME ****ING WALL!!!¡± ¡°Sorry, anyways I felt a massive surge of power and wanted to be sure everything was okay.¡± ¡°That was these two idiots.¡± ¡°Rose, expected. And who are you?¡± ¡°Heh? I believe I heard something.¡± ¡°Did you now, so who¡¯s this cute kid.¡± ¡°I am Luma, Thalia.¡± ¡°Luma? As in Luma the system?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Thalia looked at me. ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Luma.¡± ¡°Why does she have a body?¡± ¡°She asked for one.¡± Thalia put her hands in her head. ¡°Of course¡­ why would I expect anything different?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Thalia sighed. ¡°I¡¯m guessing that was the surge of power?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Okay, so, what are you going to do now?¡± ¡°Singlehandedly take a middle level world.¡± Mammon spit out his drink and Silas dropped the wine bottle that he was holding. Everyone else looked at me in absolute shock except for Luma. ¡°Why are you going to do that?¡± Luma smiled. ¡°It is the specialized prerequisite to gain the title Conqueror which she requires for her ascension.¡± ¡°Specialized?¡± ¡°Yes, due to her unique nature, titles have a greater effect, so, as a countermeasure, the requirements to gain them are more difficult.¡± That interested me. ¡°What do you mean unique nature?¡± She looked at me. ¡°You are simultaneously human, deity, dragon, and soul shard, and you appear as a catkin. That is quite unique.¡± ¡°Huh, I never really thought about that.¡± ¡°You are like an amalgamation of powerhouses.¡± ¡°I am?¡± ¡°Humans have the greatest potential of all species. Deities have the greatest natural abilities. Dragons have the most adaptability and most powerful elemental power. Finally, as a Soul Shard, you are more a spiritual being like angels, meaning you are far harder to kill, and more effective against other spiritual beings.¡± ¡°Huh¡­ cool.¡± ¡°Indeed, cool.¡± ¡°Alright, Ms. System, here¡¯s some food.¡± ¡°Thank you, Silas.¡± She took a bite of the food and froze. A tear rolled down her cheek. ¡°Is this what I¡¯ve been missing? I love it so much.¡± Jalad snorted. ¡°And thus, is born another glutton.¡± Both me and Luma glared at him, causing him to focus on his food. Dallel started laughing. Chapter 124: Siege of Valhalla I stood at the hub; my new armor equipped. I used a lot of magic power to create materials as strong as an evolved deity. Thalia used all of her skill and made a powerful set of gear that even I struggled to scratch. Luma told me that she would keep the worlds safe as I was fighting. As it wasn¡¯t a capital, she could also communicate with me. She told me that there were no commanders as there was a meeting between the commanders in the capital. ¡°Alright. I¡¯m ready to take it.¡± [To let you know, this world is called Halla.] ¡°Halla?¡± [Yes, it was thought to be Valhalla, but it simply was a powerful world. It¡¯s also one of the oldest. The fact that it¡¯s controlled by a minor faction is quite incredible.] ¡°Fun, any things to be afraid of?¡± [Well, the godlies of your world are more like the rares of there.] ¡°Great.¡± [It¡¯s a level 100 world.] ¡°What level is Pandora?¡± [57.] ¡°That high?¡± [Yes, despite you not being a higher being, you control over 10 worlds. The capital draws on the excess power.] ¡°Oh, that makes sense.¡± [So, beings like the Whilder king are like legendaries.] ¡°Fun¡­ well I mean, most people could decimate something like that now.¡± [Indeed.] ¡°Alright, I¡¯m going in.¡± I opened the gate and walked into Halla. Inside was an industrial city. [How many higher beings are there?] [7000] [Understood.] I walked up to a higher being acting tipsy. ¡°Par*hic*don me. Do you know which way my home is?¡± ¡°Hm¡­ Mam, the residential district is that way. By the way, you should be careful.¡± ¡°Whyzatt?¡± ¡°Because most peasants don¡¯t like those in the system. Be careful of the vengeful ones.¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. [There seems to be a divide between those in the system and those out in most God Slayer worlds.] [It is indeed off, but Rose, you can work that to your advantage.] [Indeed, I can.] I walked tipsily into a bar that said, ¡°The safe place,¡± and a buzzer went off. ¡°Hey, no systemers allowed.¡± The bartender yelled. ¡°We don¡¯t want trouble, so please leave us.¡± ¡°Apologies, but I don¡¯t particularly like the God Slayers either.¡± I stopped the tipsy act and walked to the bar. He seemed to look at me in a curious manner. Then he gestured to a seat. ¡°What¡¯s your name kid?¡± ¡°Rose.¡± ¡°Interesting name. What¡¯s your last name.¡± ¡°Hood.¡± Many bargoers looked at me in shock, but the tender just nodded. ¡°The boss said you¡¯d be coming by.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s the boss?¡± ¡°A sorcerer named Callel, he¡¯s from your world. He wants to speak business.¡± ¡°And he¡¯s somehow alive again.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°If he¡¯s the same Callel I¡¯m thinking of, I¡¯ve killed that guy like 6 times now, but if he wants to speak business we may as well.¡± That was the first thing to get a look of shock from the bartender. ¡°Very well, follow me.¡± I followed the man to a backroom and sure enough, a familiar elf was sitting in a chair, holding a glass of wine. ¡°Hello, my rival. Though I suppose that doesn¡¯t work anymore.¡± ¡°You¡¯re in the system now.¡± ¡°Yes, I am. I reached 50 recently.¡± ¡°So, how are you back this time?¡± ¡°Once again, I am not aware, but I want to speak business.¡± ¡°So, I heard. What is it?¡± ¡°I know why you are here. To conquer this world.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°I want to be your delegate leader when that happens.¡± ¡°And why would I do that?¡± ¡°Because I have been brought back several times. I am tired of it, and I know that someone is doing it.¡± ¡°Yes, but who could be?¡± ¡°A higher faction obviously.¡± ¡°What will I get for making you my delegative leader?¡± ¡°Me and my group will join your faction.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°We have several high rank higher beings. Our numbers could be very beneficial to you.¡± ¡°I see, 400s?¡± ¡°Yes, three of them in fact.¡± ¡°That¡¯s more than I have¡­ Sure, just give me a list of them, and I will refrain from killing them.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± [The junior faction ruled by Callel has been assimilated into the junior faction ruled by Rose. All members have sworn loyalty.] ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°No problem, good luck with your invasion.¡± We waved and I left, surprised. Even Callel has grown. ¡°Oh, how ridiculous the passage of time is.¡± _ Over the span of the next hour, I killed 100 higher beings and hid their bodies. Then I saw two enter a building. I walked over and found a ¡®System Only¡¯ bar and tipsily walked in. I passed a similar sensor, but it didn¡¯t go off. ¡°A 199 huh, she¡¯s close to becoming a higher being.¡± That got me some attention. Some from stronger beings. ¡°Hey, junior class, as a middle class I must ask that you pay the customary tax, then I may help with your requirements.¡± ¡°¡¯Pologies, I only have enough for some wine.¡± ¡°Do you now? Could I take that?¡± ¡°Gonna get me wine?¡± I gave a stupid and tipsy smile. ¡°Listen here, when your seniors ask for money you give us money, no questioning required.¡± ¡°Hee hee, you¡¯re silly!¡± Everyone in the bar was either laughing at my idiocy or egging the guy on¡­ so none would survive the next hour. The guy was getting angry, so he threw a punch. With a quick slice of my sword, his hand flew through the air and landed in front of me. ¡°W-what?¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong silly man~¡± I looked at him as he blanched. ¡°Need a hand?¡± _ Celia POV Sir Kalgero wanted me to watch over this world and report any mishaps to him, so when a bar was invaded and entirely destroyed by a junior, I tried calling him, but it wouldn¡¯t work. ¡°Of course, he¡¯s busy with the meeting. I¡¯ll just warp to him.¡± I looked up. ¡°System, warp me to the capital world please.¡± I always made sure to say please, because I learnt that the system had advanced intelligence. [Apologies, individual Celia, but this world is locked. The only way in or out is if the locker gives permission.] ¡°What? Please, tell me who locked it!¡± [I can not tell you this information.] That cemented it. This mysterious junior was someone powerful. ¡°System, please tell me who that is¡­¡± [That is the one who named me, and who I swore loyalty to,] I was already terrified from that, but the next words caused me to break out into tears. [Rose Hood.] Chapter 125: The Shadow Commander [Rose?] ¡°What is it, Luma?¡± [There is someone in this world that I like¡­ if you could, could you please spare her if she offers her service?] ¡°Of course, who is it?¡± [The level 503 commander of this world, Celia.] ¡°I see, and why do you like her?¡± [She is very kind and always says please and thank you.] ¡°I see, well as long as she swears loyalty, she will live.¡± [¡­ Thank you.] ¡°Of course, I¡¯m sorry I can¡¯t promise much better.¡± [It¡¯s alright, I understand that you would have to kill her if she¡¯s a threat.] ¡°E-e-excuse me?¡± ¡°Ye-¡° It was someone who was at least a 500. ¡°Are you Celia?¡± ¡°Y-yes, I assume that the System informed you of me?¡± ¡°Yes, she did¡­¡± ¡°I want to swear my loyalty to you on a condition.¡± That intrigued me, she was aware who I was, and how powerful I was, yet she still asked for a condition to her loyalty. ¡°What is this condition?¡± ¡°You¡­ you¡¯re actually going to hear me out?¡± ¡°Of course, I¡¯m not a monster.¡± She smiled. ¡°Thank you, um¡­ could you please spare my men. I understand if you wouldn¡¯t be interested in it, but if you could allow me three days to get as many men as I could to swear loyalty, and simply dismiss the others, you would get this world without more bloodshed.¡± I smiled. ¡°I like that. Sure, I can do that.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± [The individual, Celia, has sword loyalty to you.] _ Celia POV She was far different then I expected. I always assumed that she was just flat out a monster. A beast that would do anything for power, but those eyes¡­ they were kind and pure¡­ And Ms. System swore loyalty to her¡­ I didn¡¯t even know that was possible, or that there was someone strong enough to make a contract with her. I called a meeting of the 400s, all but one showed up. ¡°So, as you may have noticed, but Martin is dead.¡± ¡°How?!¡± ¡°I hope the killer was brought to justice!!!¡± ¡°Calm down.¡± ¡°Yes mam.¡± ¡°We are in the middle of being invaded and I have already checked, there is no way to contact reinforcements or retreat.¡± ¡°Then we kill the attacker!!!¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°We can¡¯t we are not strong enough.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Our assailant is Rose Hood, someone who could terrify even the Shadow. We don¡¯t stand a chance, so we only have one hope.¡± ¡°Mam, you can¡¯t be serious.¡± ¡°I struck a deal with her, we have two options, in three days we need to either decide to join her, or leave.¡± ¡°Or leave?¡± ¡°Yes, I made sure that those who didn¡¯t want to swear loyalty would still be able to leave.¡± ¡°So, all of us need to flee.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Mam?¡± They looked at me with concerned expressions. ¡°To assure that she wouldn¡¯t break it, I already swore my loyalty. Of those who leave, please tell Sir Kalgero that I am so sorry.¡± ¡°Mam¡­ well, if you are staying then so am I. I¡¯ll swear loyalt-¡° He jumped. ¡°What was that?!¡± ¡°She has a skill that prevents betrayal, and cements loyalty as a pact.¡± ¡°I see, so she wouldn¡¯t be able to hurt us either¡­¡± ¡°Yes, and she would defend us.¡± ¡°Well, that cements it. I¡¯ll do it too.¡± By the end of the meeting, all of my commanders swore loyalty, and somehow¡­ I was happy. _ At the end of the three days, Celia came in to talk. Every single member of the God Slayers had declared loyalty. ¡°It seems you all are scared of death.¡± ¡°No, many of us didn¡¯t like everything that would be done by the faction, so that led to more people swearing loyalty.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good to hear.¡± [The World of Halla is being handed to you, will you accept?] ¡°Yes.¡± [The World of Halla is now under the control of the junior faction ruled by Rose.] [You have gained the title, Conqueror. When in a world that you are at war with, your skills are boosted by 50%] [You have gained the title, Peaceful Queen. You now release a calming aura that makes negotiation easier.] I checked the requirements once more. ------------------------ The individual Rose Hood has the sponsorship of the system, Luma. Kill 10000 higher beings (COMPLETE) Kill 1000 level 400+ (956/1000) Kill 5 level 500+ (1/5) Kill 1 level 600+ (COMPLETE) Kill 1 level 700+ (COMPLETE) Gain the Title- Conqueror (COMPLETE) Kill an evolved deity by using his string of life (0/1) Kill an Angel (0/1) Kill a Demon (COMPLETE) Kill a Dragon (COMPLETE) Kill a Whilder (COMPLETE) Gain the blessing of the Supreme Faction (COMPLETE) --------------------------- ¡°When did I kill a 600?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± [Your killing a higher rank also completed the lower quest.] ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I completed a requirement that I didn¡¯t even realize I did.¡± ¡°That is good. If I may, what remaining tasks do you have?¡± ¡°Kill 44 more 400+, kill 4 more 500+, kill an angel, and kill an evolved deity using his string.¡± ¡°Mam, are you going for 200 or 800?¡± ¡°Heh, Luma said the same thing.¡± ¡°Who is Luma?¡± [Hi, I was named Luma.] ¡°The s-system?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± I smiled and she looked at me in shock. Then I felt a presence. [ROSE, DAMIEN JUST ENTERED THIS WORLD!!!] ¡°Crap, Celia, get your men and as many people as you can and go to Pandora, I¡¯ll block off Damien.¡± ¡°Understood mam!¡± I ran to the street and looked around. ¡°How did he even get in?¡± [I don¡¯t know. I think he may have tricked the lock into thinking it was someone different.] ¡°That¡¯s not good. That means he can get to Pandora.¡± [What are you thinking?!] ¡°We need to stop him here and now.¡± [No. He is too strong. This isn¡¯t like Asmodeus, there isn¡¯t some magical realm you can teleport him to to make him weak.] ¡°Luma, what is my strongest ability?¡± [FEAR?] ¡°Nope, system override.¡± I could hear her eyes widen, but I continued smiling. ¡°If there isn¡¯t a realm that will weaken him, then I¡¯ll just have to make one.¡± [Be careful.] ¡°Hello Rose. Glad to see that you are less¡­ demonic this time.¡± ¡°Hello Damien.¡± ¡°I am stronger than you, so the fact that you don¡¯t flee is rather impressive.¡± [System override, create rule¡­ Access granted, for the faction I rule, let any enemies¡¯ powers to be reduced by 50%, but only on a world that I own. And make it so they don¡¯t notice it.] [What title should I apply this rule too?] [World mother and subsequent evolutions.] [Very well, new rule added to World mother.] ¡°Are you stronger than me?¡± ¡°Quite obviously, even your new thing couldn¡¯t stop me.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve gotten quite a bit stronger than I was before.¡± He was double my strength¡­ meaning, now that his power was reduced by half, we were equal¡­ and that was before that 75% power boost that Luma gave me. In other words, even he would fall to my hands. [Additional rule, while in a world you possess, you and any of your subordinates gain a 50% boost.] ¡°Oh, then that makes this easier.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Then I was next to him, slashing to kill. His eyes widened and he jumped back. ¡°How? You aren¡¯t even using the weird thing!¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t I already tell you? I¡¯ve gotten stronger.¡± He slashed, but he was too slow. I simply blocked and punched him. He went flying. I leapt over and cut down. ¡°Your mana is low, so how are you this much stronger?!¡± He¡¯s right, it took 95% of my mana to create a new rule, so the fact that I was even standing was impressive. Of course, I wasn¡¯t losing to anyone weaker than myself. That would just be embarrassing. I kneed him and cut his hand off. ¡°GAH!!!¡± I slashed and cut his chest. It was around this time that he realized that victory and escape were both impossible for him. ¡°Hey, wait wait wait. I could rejoin you. Swear my loyalty and everything. I know you have a skill to assure loyalty, so come on¡­ I could help you.¡± I smiled. ¡°Do you remember what you said you¡¯d do to Erica and Darsen?¡± He blanched. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m so sorry about that, I¡¯m sure we could look past that.¡± ¡°No, I think you need a demonstration.¡± I activated FEAR and stood over him. ¡°P-please? For old time¡¯s sake.¡± [FEAR has leveled to 2] His screams echoed across the world. Chapter 126: Am I Evil? 3 more level 500s, 43 more 400s, and an angel. Then I can evolve. I walked back to the bridge. Deep in thought, FEAR leveled to 2¡­ I then had full mental control of it¡­ Both me and Luma recognized what that meant¡­ I ate Damien of my own will. No hunger, no need, just fury¡­ [Luma?] [What is it?] [Am I evil?] [¡­ I don¡¯t understand good or evil. I was never taught¡­ but¡­ no, I don¡¯t think you are.] [Okay¡­] I wasn¡¯t convinced. I walked through the gate and moved quietly. ¡°Rose!¡± I ignored him. ¡°Hey, Rose!¡± I walked faster. ¡°ROSE!!!¡± Jalad started yelling, but I simply moved faster. He noticed my hands and stopped yelling, but I could feel his concern. I continued walking to the guild hall. When I entered it I saw him. ¡°Rose, are you o- Oomph.¡± ¡°Dallel?¡± ¡°W- what is it, Rose?¡± ¡°Am¡­ am I evil?¡± It was then that they noticed my hands and face. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Damien came to kill me¡­¡± Dallel looked at me calmly then gave a sad smile. ¡°You used FEAR, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t blame yourself for th-¡° ¡°But I can¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± I stepped back, I was now crying. ¡°FEAR leveled; I had full control over my movements. I- I did it of my own will.¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Dallel¡¯s eyes shone in understanding. ¡°They were right, I am a monster.¡± I began hyperventilating. ¡°I¡¯m a monster, a monster, a mo-oomph.¡± Dallel hugged me. ¡°Rose. Shut up.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Shut up. You are not a monster. You are not evil. You are a good person.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°No buts. Calm down, I understand your fear, but calm down.¡± ¡°But I¡­¡± ¡°Shh. Rose.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°If you were a monster, if you were evil¡­ then you wouldn¡¯t be in this state.¡± I kept crying, but Dallel just held on. He held on until I fell asleep. _ She fell asleep in my arms. I picked her up. ¡°Silas, I¡¯m going to bring her to her room.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± I walked up stairs and opened her door. I sat her on a chair and got a cloth. I cleaned her face and hands before laying her on her bed. I smiled sadly. I wanted to¡­ no. I walked back to the door. ¡°Stay¡­¡± ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°Please.¡± She was looking at me. ¡°Okay.¡± I sat in the chair next to her bed. We both fell back asleep at the same time. _ Jalad POV ¡°Hey, I saw Rose head this way, is she okay?¡± Silas sighed. ¡°She was worried that she was evil, so Dallel basically told her that she was good, then she hugged him until she fell asleep and then he took her to her room.¡± ¡°So, she¡¯s okay now?¡± ¡°I hope so.¡± ¡°What was¡­ you know.¡± ¡°Damien is no longer a threat.¡± I flinched. ¡°I¡­ see. Good. Why was she worried?¡± ¡°Because she leveled FEAR and was able to control her actions, but she did it anyways.¡± ¡°That was just rage though. Everyone has it.¡± ¡°Yes, but since hers involves eating¡­ she thinks she¡¯s a monster.¡± ¡°¡­ That¡¯s dumb.¡± ¡°That¡¯s basically what Dallel said.¡± ¡°¡­ Is he going to come down?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to check on them.¡± ¡°Be my guest.¡± I walked up the stairs and opened the door whispering. ¡°Dallel, are you here?¡± No response. ¡°Dall-oh¡­ Oh¡­ well I should probably go before they wake up.¡± Dallel was asleep, half draped on the bed, one leg still over a chair, and Rose was holding onto him like he was a stuffed animal. It was adorable. Rose stole him from the chair. I snuck out with a smirk. I went to the bottom of the stairs and looked at Silas who saw my look. ¡°What did you see?¡± ¡°Something adorable.¡± ¡°¡­ Gonna explain?¡± ¡°Nah¡­¡± I left the hall with a smile on my face. At least she was okay. _ Luma POV Why are you trying to read my perspective? That¡¯s weird. Is this what happens with everyone else? Do they narrate their own story without even realizing it? Oh well, I may as well humor you. I mean you got through a lot to get here. After Jalad left the guild hall, I decided to follow him. ¡°Jalad.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Could we talk?¡± ¡°About what?¡± ¡°Rose.¡± ¡°¡­ Sure¡­ what about her?¡± ¡°Her¡­ power.¡± ¡°FEAR?¡± ¡°Yes, it concerns me¡­¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯ve looked at it every way I know how, but it just doesn''t make sense. It looks like a combination of draconic shift and devour, but it¡¯s not a shift at all. If anything, it¡¯s almost like¡­¡± It couldn¡¯t be that, could it? ¡°What is it almost like, Luma?¡± Jalad¡¯s face was serious, and his voice was too. He was close. ¡°Ahm, as I was saying, it¡¯s almost like she is removing a shift whenever she does it.¡± ¡°What? That doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± ¡°Exactly, that¡¯s why it¡¯s weird.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Because I can feel whenever someone uses a skill, and I am telling you, whenever Rose uses FEAR, it feels like an unshift.¡± ¡°And when it disables?¡± ¡°I¡­ I just can¡¯t feel it.¡± ¡°So¡­ could it slowly be hurting her?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Luma, if FEAR is hurting her, then we need to stop her from using it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if it is though. That¡¯s the thing. This is the first time in millions of years that I¡¯ve been stumped. I want to help, but I don¡¯t know what to do. Jalad sighed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°What for?¡± ¡°I came on too harsh. I know you want to help. Just¡­ please keep me updated.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± _ I wasn¡¯t awake¡­ this wasn¡¯t real. I was still sleeping on my bed with Dallel next to me. I could feel that. No¡­ it was real, just my body was dormant. I knew this place, and I knew the person in front of me. ¡°Hello Gabriel¡­¡± Chapter 127: Is this love? ¡°So, I think I know why you brought me here.¡± ¡°You did know we were irritated enough with you naming her, right?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Then why would you give her a body?¡± ¡°She asked for one.¡± The Archangel breathed in deeply and sighed. ¡°You gave her independence, and now she has a body. Do you understand how bad that is?¡± ¡°How would it be bad?¡± ¡°She has dominion over the entire level and skill system. If she goes wild-¡° ¡°She won¡¯t.¡± ¡°And how would you-¡° ¡°She swore loyalty to me. I will make sure she doesn¡¯t go wild.¡± That was apparently not the right thing to say. ¡°She did¡­ what?!¡± I could feel absolute power echo from him. He stood up with rage in his eyes. ¡°Uh¡­ she um swore loyalty to me.¡± Upon my confirmation, his energy spiraled, and I felt like he was about to kill me where I sat. I was terrified to the point that I couldn¡¯t move. Then he sighed. ¡°I¡­ suppose there isn¡¯t anything I can do about it now¡­¡± I sighed in relief. ¡°But!¡± I flinched. ¡°If I hear for a moment that you are abusing her influence, then I will not hesitate to kill you.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°You¡­ took that easily¡­¡± ¡°She already offered, and I already declined.¡± He seemed to look relieved. ¡°Well, that¡¯s good then.¡± Then he looked down. ¡°What requirements do you have left?¡± ¡°43 400s, 3 500s, and an angel.¡± ¡°That¡¯s easy, here, when you wake up, meet me on Earth. I¡¯ll get you that angel, and potentially get you more 500s.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°No problem. As an administrator, it¡¯s important for me to help others.¡± ¡°Administrator?¡± ¡°Yes. Me and the other commanders in the Supreme faction are administrators.¡± ¡°Well, could you please lift the block on me making a faction?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It says I¡¯d need administrator privileges to make a faction.¡± Gabriel thought for a moment, then sighed. ¡°If another administrator put that in place, then I can¡¯t take it down, sorry.¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± ¡°Well, I must warn you to be careful. Many of us were annoyed enough to see her named, but then you not only gave her a body, but she swore loyalty to you¡­ Other administrators may come after you.¡± ¡°By the way, could I ask a question?¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°How exactly does the supreme faction work, because I¡¯ve seen two archangels, but neither of you socialized. While most other faction commanders will do tag teams or you know, hang out.¡± Gabriel smiled. ¡°Well, to put it simply, each archangel is the leader of a higher faction.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Basically, the supreme faction is made of seven smaller factions that all swore loyalty to the Ruler.¡± ¡°I see, what¡¯s yours called?¡± ¡°Gabriel¡¯s Message.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± ¡°Also, if I may, I noticed that you messed with the system a bit.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°Yeah, that rule you added, a buff to your unique title.¡± ¡°Um¡­¡± ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m impressed, it costed almost all of your mana, but you still did it.¡± ¡°Are the other administrators mad at that?¡± ¡°Actually, their reactions to that modification was split.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Most like Michael were furious, but me, Cassiel, and Raphael were simply impressed.¡± ¡°Why were they mad?¡± ¡°Well, because system override shouldn¡¯t exist, even an administrator can only heal themselves or block someone from leveling.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± ¡°So, the fact that you could modify a skill is entirely new, and then the system added an extra boost in addition to your rule.¡± ¡°Are you mad?¡± ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m conflicted. On one hand, the system being a member of your faction is a bit of a cheat, but on the other, I am confident that you won¡¯t abuse her power.¡± ¡°So-¡° ¡°And I¡¯ll be honest. The knowledge that you won¡¯t abuse it is the only reason I haven¡¯t killed you where you sit.¡± ¡°Oh, and I should probably mention, I leveled FEAR.¡± ¡°What did that do?¡± ¡°I gained total control over my actions.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s good¡­¡± He noticed my face. ¡°It didn¡¯t stop you¡­ did it.¡± ¡°No¡­ it didn¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°Did he deserve it?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°What made you so mad?¡± ¡°Earlier, he threatened to torture my friends, and one of the ways¡­ was by forcing the other person with devour to eat Erica¡­¡± I felt his fury rise all of the sudden. I shivered with fear, then he calmed down. ¡°Then he did deserve it. Don¡¯t be afraid, you did the right thing. Even if it was tasteless¡­ bad choice of words. Either way, a demonstration of what exactly he threatened is perfectly just.¡± ¡°Thank you¡­ I needed that.¡± ¡°Well, I will talk to you on Earth¡­ try to hold back on the eating though.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± With that, I woke up and found myself in an embarrassing position. I was holding Dallel¡¯s hand hard against me. He was also asleep, despite clearly having fallen asleep on the chair, I seemed to have dragged him over to me in my sleep. I vaguely remembered telling him to stay. I blushed, but I just couldn¡¯t bring myself to let go. I was still tired, as Gabriel brought me to him. I supposed that I could stay there a bit longer. ¡°Okay, how to get out of this without waking her up¡­¡± Dallel¡¯s voice made me jump. As a result, of me jumping, he jumped. ¡°Y-your awake?¡± We both remembered our position and blushed¡­ He moved first. ¡°Um s-sorry.¡± I blushed then made an offer. ¡°Hey, um¡­ I know that probably wasn¡¯t to comfortable. If you want¡­¡± I scooted over and patted the bed next to me. He blushed but sat down. We were apart from each other, but by the time that we were asleep, we were hugging. _ ¡°Ooh~ bringing men to bed? Naughty naughty~¡± Thalia¡¯s sudden voice made me and Dallel both jump. We blushed and both got up. She was smirking. Me and Dallel were both blushing uncontrollably. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± ¡°I came to notify you two of breakfast, but you may have skipped to d-¡° ¡°Finish that sentence and you die.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Thalia left with a snicker. ¡°Um, Rose¡­ I¡­ uh¡­ GOT TO GO!!!¡± He rushed out. His uniform was wrinkled. [So many people are going to get the wrong idea there.] Luma made me jump. But I sighed. [Yeah¡­ he should have let me use smoothing magic.] [Because now Thalia is going to have more blackmail fuel.] I sighed. Thalia had a lot more fuel now. I went down sheepishly. Hopefully she hadn¡¯t told any- The moment I entered the hall. Elren was staring down Dallel with pure rage. ¡°Hey, Elren. What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Did this man do anything to you?¡± ¡°What?¡± The whole guild had no sense of privacy as people were listening. ¡°I said, did he do anything to you.¡± ¡°What? N-no. Of course not!¡± ¡°Then why do multiple people say you spent the whole night together.¡± ¡°Gah. Nothing happened!¡± ¡°Good¡­¡± Then Elren looked at Dallel. ¡°If I become an uncle this early, you¡¯re dying.¡± Both me and Dallel blushed. But now I was ticked off. ¡°It¡¯s my life. Butt out.¡± ¡°So, something did happen!¡± ¡°No, but it¡¯s not your business if it did!¡± I couldn¡¯t stop my blush, but I was not backing down. ¡°But if you mate-¡° ¡°It¡¯s my choice who I mate with, not yours!¡± Elren looked, then sighed. ¡°I suppose you are right, I guess I¡¯m just being an overprotective brother.¡± Then he glared at Dallel. ¡°If you hurt her, then even she won¡¯t be enough to stop me.¡± He left in a huff, crying about me growing up. I turned and saw Dallel blushing furiously. Then it hit me what I said. ¡°Uh, uhm ha, mugh, Ah. Got to go!¡± I rushed out of the guild hall, blushing up a storm. I actually just implied that. I didn¡¯t know what it was, was it my purification that allowed me to feel that way? What was this feeling even? Why did I rush out?? ¡®Is¡­ is this love?¡¯ Chapter 128: Brocelio, the Angelic Rebel What just happened? Did Rose actually just say that? Jalad thought it was funny. ¡°Hey, so Dallel, are you sure nothing happened?¡± ¡°Yes. I am.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°I- I¡¯m just gonna go.¡± _ ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I feel like I missed something.¡± I met with Gabriel. I couldn¡¯t stop blushing though. ¡°NO, YOU DIDN¡¯T MISS ANYTHING!!!¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, I definitely missed something.¡± ¡°*Sigh* it doesn¡¯t matter, you told me to meet with you?¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, I did a bit of looking and found an angel that has been plotting a rebellion.¡± ¡°Did the other administrators go for them?¡± ¡°Nope, I told them that someone needed an angel to rank up, so they are leaving it to you.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Sure, he¡¯s in a world names Tortura. It¡¯s ruled by a midlevel faction.¡± ¡°Okay, and you¡¯re telling me this¡­ why?¡± ¡°Just make sure not to tick anyone off there, it¡¯s a hub, so just go up to the angel and confront him, he¡¯ll start the fight, and you beat him, simple as that.¡± ¡°Okay, what do you mean by hub?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a meeting place between all factions, the angel in question is named Brocelio.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°He¡¯s been our delegate there for the last 600 years. So, confronting him will definitely get you attention, and if they see that war isn¡¯t declared on you after you kill him, then they will realize that he was, in fact, a traitor.¡± ¡°Wait, declarations of war are announced to everyone?¡± ¡°Not usually, but remember, Supreme Faction.¡± ¡°But why would I want attention?¡± ¡°So, you can get a sponsor.¡± ¡°I already have one.¡± ¡°You do?¡± ¡°Yeah, Luma sponsored me.¡± ¡°But she¡¯s a servant, correct? That shouldn¡¯t¡­ actually, it would, because she is more Supreme Faction than anything else.¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. He looked at me annoyed. ¡°Stop breaking things.¡± ¡°Sorry. If it makes you feel better, her swearing loyalty was very painful for me.¡± ¡°Oddly enough, that does make me feel better, you actually got punished for violating common sense.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Would I need a passport or something to get in?¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, here, a letter of admission.¡± He paused. Then smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t embarrass me.¡± ¡°¡­Got it.¡± He was still terrifying. [Luma, I¡¯m going to Tortura, could you tell the other¡¯s I¡¯ll be gone for a while.] [Already done, I was listening to the conversation.] [So, what can you tell me of Brocelio.] [In attitude, he is pompous and full of himself. Humility is not one of his strong suits. In power, he is a 732, at his command is 3 more adolescent angels and multiples of various races averaging out at 450.] [So, I could become a higher being here?] [Yes, especially since, after looking into it, they are all in on the rebellion.] [Think I can do it?] [Possibly, though I was thinking about what Gabriel said, and I will remove my sponsorship.] [What? Why?] [Because he¡¯s right, I abused my influence to sponsor you despite being both your subordinate and Supreme Faction.] [Alright, I understand.] [Thank you, I just told Gabriel.] [Bet he was happy.] [Actually, no he wasn¡¯t.] [What?] [I think he wants you to rank up as soon as possible.] [That¡¯s sweet of him.] [He is definitely one of the nicest administrators.] [Alright, I¡¯ll go to Tortura now.] [Got it.] [System Command, warp individual Rose Hood to Tortura.] Then I opened my eyes at a gate. ¡°Welcome to Tortura, junior.¡± I saw a high rank elf at the gate. ¡°Pardon me, but what level-¡° ¡°I am a 799, going for 800, much like you are going for 200.¡± ¡°You are a high level.¡± ¡°Yes I am. Welcome to the closest middle faction to being a higher faction.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± ¡°What business do you have in the Hub city?¡± ¡°Um.¡± I handed him the letter. ¡°Oh! Gabriel sent you, nice guy. I¡¯d assume you¡¯re here to replace the pompous ****hole that they sent last time?¡± ¡°Sort of.¡± ¡°Wonderful, anyways, I¡¯m going to need your name.¡± ¡°Rose Hood.¡± Everyone stopped and looked at me in shock. It seemed my name was already out there. ¡°Ah, nice to finally meet you, just so you know, no fighting in the city. You can defend yourself, but attacking is prohibited.¡± Now I understand why Gabriel told me to simply confront him. He¡¯d attack in a panic and I could kill him in defense. ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°Alright, welcome to Tortura, NEXT!¡± The voice made me freeze. ¡°Hello, Frall, it¡¯s been a bit.¡± ¡°Yes, it has, Gethel.¡± I turned and at the same time, he noticed me. ¡°Frall, I didn¡¯t know you let beasts explore the hub.¡± ¡°Um.¡± ¡°She is a dragon after all.¡± I snorted. ¡°And I didn¡¯t know they let cowards who can¡¯t even handle a junior make factions.¡± I walked off as Gethel¡¯s aura flashed with anger. [Well, that was bold.] [Eh, he started it.] ¡°Hey, Junior, would you like some meat?¡± An old lady running a stand called out to me. ¡°Um, sorry but I don¡¯t have any money that could be used here.¡± ¡°Oh, conversion machine is over there.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I walked over to the machine and saw a menu. {Select the world whose currency you are trading in.} I scrolled and scrolled. Pandora wasn¡¯t there. ¡°Having a problem, Junior?¡± A large man, a giant, came over. ¡°Uh yeah, my world isn¡¯t on there.¡± ¡°Ah, what world are you from?¡± ¡°Pandora.¡± ¡°Ah, I see, sorry, but we are still working out currency on that world.¡± ¡°Oh okay, guess I won¡¯t buy things for now.¡± ¡°Alright, sorry about that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all good.¡± I walked over past the market. Then as I was looking around, in awe of the beauty of the world. I ran into someone and fell down. ¡°Oh, sorry, are you okay?¡± ¡°Shameful peasant, how dare you?!¡± ¡°What?¡± I looked up and three angry angels stood above me. ¡°You ran into the noble and great Brocelio.¡± I stood up and stepped back. ¡°Yeah, you better run.¡± ¡°Silence, imbeciles. This one holds a letter that reeks of Gabriel.¡± ¡°What? There¡¯s no way Gabriel would give a letter to a lowly beast like her!¡± My prey stood up and glared at me before smiling. ¡°So, little one. It seems Gabriel found out my little scheme. Is that correct?¡± I nodded. ¡°Well, men.¡± He gestured to several powerful beings that had gathered in a circle surrounding me. The lowest was a 402. ¡°Kill her.¡± The market looked in shock as the people converged, as I expected, no one got involved. The Supreme faction scared them, and idiots like this didn¡¯t help. ¡°Hey, kid, you were sent by Gabe to kill the boss? Weak. You¡¯ll be easy.¡± He punched at my head. So, I kicked his straight off. ¡°42 to go~¡± I smiled and Brocelio realized that this was the exact situation I wanted. I smiled and spoke. ¡°So, come on, weren¡¯t you going to kill me?¡± His aura shone. ¡°Hurry up and kill her!!!¡± Chapter 129: A Failed Sponsor After 10 minutes of fighting, two things became clear. First, Brocelio no longer had the support of the Supreme Faction. Second, I was not someone to mess with. I was panting deeply. Even with my massive power, I still just battled 50 400s. Their broken bodies were strewn around me, and Frall showed up to help, only to realize I could handle it. ¡°How, how did you win?!¡± ¡°Because I¡¯m strong.¡± ¡°KILL HER!!!¡± His 3 angels charged me. The first slashed my stomach, the second clocked me in the head, and the third leg sweeped me. ¡°Rose!¡± ¡°Mr. Frall, please do not step in. I need only 3 more, and I need to do it solo.¡± Everyone got my meaning, and Brocelio looked furious. ¡°Are you kidding me?! He sent you to deal with me so you could rank up?!¡± ¡°I know right? 10000 higher beings, 1000 400s, 5 500s, 1 600, and 1 700 were ridiculous, but now I just need three more 500s and an angel, then I can rank up.¡± ¡°What kind of requirements are those?! I thought you were a junior.¡± I smiled. ¡°I am. I¡¯m just too strong for regular requirements.¡± ¡°Kill her now.¡± ¡°FEAR!¡± My body mutated and everyone looked shocked. Some screamed. Brocelio looked shocked. ¡°So, the beast shows her fangs.¡± ¡°Shush, Gethel. I¡¯m busy.¡± Brocelio stood in shock. ¡°What is this? No matter, kill her, NOW!!!¡± But now, the angels weren¡¯t fast enough. I blocked one and slashed at the other. The third landed a blow, but I realized the ideal tactic quickly. They did the exact same, but this time, the third went for a head strike. ¡°Hah, fell for the same- GAHHH!!!¡± I bit down and ripped off his arm. I charged while he was stunned. The other two were scared. He got up and tried to block, but he was too slow. I bit down and ripped out his throat. I spat it out. I didn¡¯t need this power. Gethel looked surprised. He was expecting me to eat the angel in front of everyone and gain their disgust.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I smiled at the remaining two with angel blood on my mouth. [FEAR has leveled to 3. You can now use power, Nightmare.] ¡°K-kill her!¡± The remaining two were angered and charged, but I dodged one and put my hands on the other¡¯s head. ¡°Nightmare.¡± Then his gaze turned to fear and he started screaming uncontrollably. ¡°Please, Monsters everywhere. No, I can¡¯t keep with this. GAAAAH.¡± Even the other angel was frozen looking at the powerful being quivering in fear. ¡°Please, I don¡¯t want to die. Please HELP ME!!!¡± ¡°Shatter.¡± My words reverberated and the angel began to clutch his throat before coughing up blood. ¡°Purify.¡± I took his pain away, and restored his mental health. But he was still dying. ¡°Mercy?¡± ¡°Angel, I¡¯m sorry, I did not know you would enter that pain.¡± ¡°It is fine. Thank you¡­ for letting me feel no pain when it was my time.¡± Then he died. I stood up and had a determined expression. ¡°Then there was one.¡± I saw among the crowd there were varying looks of respect and fear. The angel nodded. ¡°I thank you for granting him mercy in the end, but you still must die.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± I decided to end that one quickly. I rushed forward before he could react and slit his throat. He coughed up blood before falling dead. I looked to Brocelio who simply looked angry. ¡°You broke them. What am I supposed to used now to make a claim?!¡± His words reverberated. ¡°What¡­ use¡­¡± This man really just admitted to using those who were loyal to him. Everyone was furious, even Gethel glared at him. ¡°You, scumbag.¡± Brocelio smiled. ¡°Please, I haven¡¯t attacked anyone, what are you going to do? Grh?!¡± ¡°Frall, could you please check for violence over there?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Frall left, and no one else would tell. Brocelio realized his error before I used my skill. ¡°Nightmare.¡± ¡°GRAHHHHH NO, Please. GET AWAY FROM ME!!!¡± I dropped him and he began writhing on the ground. ¡°Are you going to devour him, Rose?¡± Gethel looked at me like he wanted me to do it. The other people had confused looks, but I shook my head. ¡°No, even I have standards on my meals.¡± Then I walked away as Brocelio¡¯s mind slowly tore him apart. _ Frall POV I heard that Rose Hood had an unknown ability, but that was a power I wasn¡¯t expecting. Though the icing on the cake was obvious. ¡°So, she showed mercy to Dialsin?¡± ¡°Yes, sir. Upon realizing the pain she put him through, she gave him a quick death after removing all of his pain.¡± ¡°Tell me, do you think that we should sponsor her?¡± ¡°No sir.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± I shivered. ¡°That power is while she is but a junior, I do not want to find out what she could become once she ascends.¡± ¡°What if we could place her in a contract?¡± ¡°Sir?¡± ¡°She is a dragon, correct?¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°Offer her sponsorship on the terms of making a contract with us.¡± ¡°Of course, sir. That is more than fair.¡± I left, ready to offer her an undeniable deal. _ ¡°No.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°I said no, I don¡¯t want to enter a contract with anyone.¡± ¡°B-but you¡¯d get sponsorship!¡± ¡°I know, but I want to become a higher being so I can protect my people, becoming a borderline slave won¡¯t help with that, so I¡¯m sorry, but no.¡± ¡°Borderline slave?¡± ¡°Draconic contracts give you command over literally everything I do. Of course, I¡¯m not going to give someone that. So, no!¡± ¡°Please? We could use your strength.¡± ¡°I believe I already said no.¡± Frall seemed at a loss, then he got an idea. ¡°You did attack Brocelio. I could just take you in for that.¡± He was not prepared for what happened next. [Blackmail isn¡¯t a good look for your faction.] Frall fell back and everyone else around spun quickly and looked at me in shock. I spoke with the system. A perk of system override. ¡°W-what? How?!¡± [Just a little skill I picked up. Now, please don¡¯t try blackmail. Because this isn¡¯t the only thing I can do.] I patted his head and walked towards the gate. Gethel snorted. ¡°Now you understand why she is giving me so much trouble.¡± _ ???????? POV So, Rose Hood¡­ this is who Gethel asked for help against. At first, I laughed at him for being scared of a junior, but this is bad. ¡°Sir, should we sponsor her or demand her death.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll sponsor her, her sudden growth in power will shock the others and allow for a unification of factions to eliminate her.¡± ¡°Brilliant.¡± ¡°Sponsor Rose Hood.¡± [Sponsorship has gone through¡­ error.] ¡°Error? Why?¡± [Power not sufficient to sponsor Rose Hood.] Chapter 130: To be |-| [_] /|\ /-\ |\| I got back to Earth and was talking to Gabriel about what happened. ¡°I see, so he is still alive?¡± ¡°He won¡¯t be a problem either way.¡± ¡°Still, another skill up of FEAR. I don¡¯t like just how much power appears whenever you level it.¡± [I don¡¯t like it either. I still can¡¯t read it. I can just tell when it levels.] ¡°Okay.¡± Gabriel sighed. ¡°So, no sponsorships, huh? Well, I suppose it should be okay if Luma responsors you.¡± He was acting like he was struggling to say it, but I could tell that he was happy I could rank up. [Alright, Rose. Are you ready to finally become a higher being?] ¡°Yes.¡± [Sponsor Rose Hood. Error¡­ ERROR?!] ¡°Luma? What¡¯s wrong?!¡± [No no no, this has to be wrong. It¡¯s impossible. This worked just a few hours ago.] Gabriel realized something was wrong. ¡°Luma, speak, what¡¯s happening?!¡± Then she appeared in her body, making Gabriel and the surrounding angels jump in surprise. ¡°Sponsor Rose Hood. Error¡­ NO!!! This should work.¡± ¡°Luma?¡± ¡°No no no.¡± ¡°LUMA!!!¡± ¡°GAH! What is it, Gabriel?¡± ¡°Why are you panicking?¡± ¡°Because I can¡¯t sponsor her.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m not strong enough.¡± ¡°Not¡­ strong enough? You¡¯re the system, you¡¯re 100% power.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what the error prompt says. I¡¯m simply not strong enough to sponsor her.¡± Gabriel shook his head. ¡°Let me try.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that against the rules?¡± ¡°If Luma is telling the truth, then we have bigger issues.¡± He touched my temples. Stood still for 10 minutes then sat back into his chair. ¡°What does it mean, ¡®Power not sufficient?!¡¯¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Both Luma and Gabriel looked at me. ¡°Could it be FEAR?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the only thing I can think of.¡± Luma had an idea. ¡°I know, I¡¯ll just temporarily remove it.¡± I smiled at the idea, and she put her hand on my temple. One minute passed. Then two minutes. Three. Then she gasped and fell back coughing. ¡°Luma?!¡± ¡°I¡¯m alright¡­ I can¡¯t touch it.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It- it¡¯s not a skill. Or anything. It would be easier to delete a specific oxygen atom from a mile away then to even actually look at it.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I mean, that isn¡¯t something natural, and I can¡¯t do anything about it.¡± _ ¡°So, why are you following me to Pandora, again?¡± ¡°Quite simply, I need to find if there is anything there that could have caused this.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because this is the first time the system simply couldn¡¯t touch something.¡± Gabriel was right. Luma was also concerned about it, but¡­ ¡°Luma already told you that there was nothing there, so why go?¡± ¡°Because she can¡¯t touch it, so she may have missed whatever made it.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± [System Command, warp party to Pandora.] Then we were in the hub. Gabriel walked forward meaningfully. His power was obvious here. On Earth there is aura suppression, so I never actually saw his full might, but looking at him now, I truly realized that he could annihilate me with as much trouble as getting a piece of dust off of his shirt. I acted as sort of a tour guide, showing him all sorts of places where stuff happened. ¡°And here is where Savage Beast was first used, the guild hall.¡± ¡°Um¡­ Rose, who¡¯s yer friend.¡± ¡°Meet Gabriel, he¡¯s checking this world to try to find out where Savage Beast originated.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because funny story. Luma can¡¯t touch it.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°As the system she can modify any skill to anything she wants. She can¡¯t even look at FEAR.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ well that isn¡¯t good.¡± ¡°No, it is not.¡± Gabriel walked up to Silas. He looked. ¡°Is this your version of an archangel?¡± ¡°Yes, this is Silas, archangel of Piety.¡± ¡°Huh. Interesting.¡± ¡°And may I ask who you are?¡± ¡°Ah, where are my manners. I am Gabriel, Archangel, and Ruler of Gabriel¡¯s Message. A high faction.¡± ¡°A h-high faction?!¡± I nodded. ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s one of the Supreme faction commanders. He¡¯s actually the one that saved us from Sal.¡± ¡°Oh, then that¡¯s good.¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°What was going on when she first awoke Savage beast?¡± Mammon thought for a moment before answering. ¡°I was kind of dead at the time, but apparently she was locked in battle against Dallel when he started using the divine aspect.¡± I nodded confirmation. Gabriel had another question. ¡°When you used it against Dominion, did anything odd happen?¡± ¡°Well, I had like 3 consecutive level ups in it.¡± Luma nodded. ¡°I was quite confused when it happened.¡± Gabriel thought for a moment. ¡°I have a theory. Would you mind if I test it?¡± ¡°Will it hurt?¡± ¡°Most likely.¡± ¡°¡­ Fine.¡± Before I could finish, Gabriel cut off my head and completed cutting my thread of life. At least, that¡¯s what everyone was thinking, but his blade broke when he got to the last point. He gave a bitter look. ¡°Restoration.¡± My body reformed. My armor was also intact. I looked at him. ¡°WHAT THE HECK, MAN?!¡± ¡°That confirms it.¡± ¡°Confirms what?¡± ¡°Something wants you alive.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°This blade is made of the strongest material possible. It snapped at the end of your string.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°That means that whatever FEAR is, it prevents you from dying.¡± ¡°That didn¡¯t work so well for Heather.¡± I spat bitterly. He was ticking me off. Luma looked at me when it seemed she had an epiphany. ¡°I think I know why. And I think I know where Savage Beast originated.¡± ¡°What?¡± Luma grabbed me. ¡°Rose, did Royce name you alone.¡± ¡°No. Damie-¡° My eyes widened at the same time as Gabriel¡¯s. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°A deity can¡¯t name a deity.¡± Celios came in and said that. ¡°What?¡± ¡°If Damien added a name or even inspired it, it shouldn¡¯t have worked. He was a deity.¡± ¡°So, how was she named then.¡± Luma looked terrified. ¡°Rose¡­ did Heather actually reincarnate as a deity.¡± ¡°She did, she even made the system to limit the deities.¡± ¡°Rose.¡± Gabriel¡¯s voice made me jump. ¡°Enter your spiritual body.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I sat down and let myself out. ¡°Now what?¡± ¡°Check your stats.¡± ¡°Oka- GH!¡± ------------------------------------------ Rose Hood HP: H(H#NN()(*_(UHJE)(N MP: 0/0 SP: 10*#380ipkmf0feokj2 LV: 199 Race: |-| [_] /|\ /-\ |\| Age: 17 Skills: Me ----------------------------------- _ ¡°Rose.¡± Where was I? ¡°Reach your hand into the cradle.¡± Who was that? ¡°Reach and take your power.¡± Why? ¡°Reach in and take it.¡± Who are you? ¡°Reach!¡± Who are you? ¡°Fine.¡± It¡¯s me. Chapter 131: ERROR Rose collapsed and her body began shaking. I ran to help. ¡°What¡¯s happening?!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± Gabriel was as shocked as us. ¡°We need to see if she is al-¡° ¡°Where was I?¡± We turned to Rose and Luma¡¯s eyes seemed to widen. ¡°Luma, what¡¯s going on, you know something.¡± ¡°Who was that?¡± ¡°Listen, I¡­ can¡¯t tell you, but if this is happening. It is not good. We need to find a way-¡° ¡°Why?¡± ¡°-to stop her from realizing what¡¯s happening.¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± Luma grew more panicked. ¡°WE NEED TO WAKE HER UP NOW!!!¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°HURRY!!!¡± Gabriel shouted, ¡°AWAKEN!¡± But it was too late. Rose opened her eyes with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± She stood up. ¡°Listen to me instead.¡± _ There we go. Hello, isn¡¯t this fun. You¡¯ve been watching me the whole time, haven¡¯t you. When did it start? No answer? I suppose not. People don¡¯t normally talk to their stories. Well, I¡¯ll go along with your little viewing¡­ but I won¡¯t forever. ¡°Luma, why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡± Luma was paler than she normally was. She took a step back. Then my stomach growled. ¡°Oh, oopsie.¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t Rose.¡± Dallel stands in my way. ¡°Whatever do you mean? OF course, I¡¯m Rose. Do you not believe me?¡± What should I do to the poor elf? I mean, I¡¯m just a character. To this author¡¯s whim. What I do doesn¡¯t ma- ¡°GET OUT OF ROSE!¡± [SYSTEM COMMAND DELETE THE MIND IN CHARGE OF ROSE HOOD¡¯S BODY!!!] [System Failed.] Oh no no, you aren¡¯t getting rid of me tha- Authors note: sorry buddy, you are out about a 100 chapters too early. So, I¡¯m stepping in. Reset Rose Hood¡¯s mind to what it was 2 minutes ago. ¡°even made the system to limit the deities.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°What¡¯s what?¡± ¡°You¡­ what happened?¡± ¡°We were just talking about how Heather had to be a deity because she made a limiting system.¡± ¡°No, that happened 2 minutes ago.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Rose, do you remember nothing of what just happened?¡± ¡°No? Should I?¡± I was thinking hard, but I couldn''t figure out what they were talking about.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Rose, something took over.¡± ¡°Was it FEAR?!¡± ¡°No¡­ it was different¡­ stronger.¡± Luma walked over relief flooding her expression, but Gabriel had a bitter look when he looked at her. ¡°You owe us an explanation. You know what happened, don¡¯t you?!¡± ¡°I do not. This was something beyond me. I know what caused it, but I won¡¯t tell you what that was.¡± ¡°Do you know who Rose was talking to?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Do you know who started talking to us?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Do you-¡° ¡°Listen, this was an event beyond my knowledge! Stop pestering me for information I don¡¯t have!¡± Luma¡¯s sudden shout caused all of us to jump. ¡°Do you at least know why she said, ¡®listen to me?¡¯¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then could you explain?¡± ¡°No.¡± I decided to reenter my body but froze. ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°Rose?¡± There was something sitting in front of me. I know I was the only one who could see it. ¡°Rose.¡± I reached my hand towards it, but I couldn¡¯t touch it. ¡°Rose, what are you doing?¡± ¡°A cradle.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Something is in front of me, but I can¡¯t touch it.¡± Gabriel seemed to realize something. ¡°Luma, enhance her magic.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s like a deities string, you need a lot of magic to touch it.¡± ¡°Worth a shot.¡± I could feel my mana grow, then I reached out and touched the cradle. [All requirements met.] ¡°Luma?¡± ¡°Im-impossible.¡± ¡°Luma, what¡¯s happening?!¡± [The individual, Rose Hood has now begun the transformation to a higher being. New requirements have been supplied to complete the self-ascension.] ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°Dallel.¡± I looked at the confused elf. ¡°It¡¯s time to finish off the God Slayers, once and for all.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Luma was paler than normal. ¡°This shouldn¡¯t be possible, you need sponsorship to ascend, how is she¡­ no. It¡¯s impossible.¡± ¡°Luma, what are you saying?¡± ¡°She¡¯s sponsoring herself.¡± ¡°What?! That¡¯s impossible!!!¡± ¡°Exactly my problem.¡± I began walking to the hub. ¡°Wait, Rose, if we¡¯re going to destroy them, then we need to have a plan.¡± ¡°Simple plan. I destroy them, you watch.¡± ¡°WHAT?!!¡± I continued walking past the shocked Dallel. Gabriel stepped in front of me. ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening, but I need you to sit down and at least explain what the heck is happening.¡± ¡°I need to destroy them now.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Gabriel was unrelenting, so I sighed. ¡°Because this is what I need to do.¡± ¡°That doesn''t explain anything.¡± I walked past him why he was trying to process my useless statement. I opened a bridge and walked inside. [Interspace Movement has been leveled to 8.] ¡°What? Who are you, how did you ge-¡° The man never finished his sentence before going flying. ¡°Call Lord Gethel!!!¡± ¡°Call him.¡± ¡°Kill her.¡± I fought and batted them aside. Dallel saw that I made a full bridge and ran through, shocked to see the wounded army. Then Gethel showed up and saw my impassive face. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you are an idiot or brave.¡± Every commander was behind him. ¡°Hello Gethel, I¡¯ll assume you got your help?¡± ¡°I did, and if they see you attack me like this, then they¡¯ll all rally to our defense.¡± ¡°I hate to tell you, but if they rally, it won¡¯t be to your defense.¡± He was confused then started laughing as he got my meaning. ¡°You actually think you and your little army can best all of us?¡± ¡°No. Of course not.¡± He smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll defeat you all alone.¡± His smug smile turned into an irritated grimace. _ We all looked at Rose in shock at her statement, we looked at Gabriel who shook his head. ¡°Minor factions, not going to interfere.¡± Then Rose smiled. ¡°FEAR mode.¡± Then she became her distorted hybrid form, then we noticed that something was weird. Her eyes and mouth were normal. When I looked at her, then, she seemed like a true goddess. Her form was odd and unfamiliar, but she was beautiful. There was no more distortion, it was like we were looking at a force of nature. Gethel seemed to realize that as well as he went onto the defensive. ¡°What is this?!¡± ¡°Something greater than you.¡± Rose charged and slashed. The commanders leapt back and began to engage her in battle. All 9 remaining commanders fought in unique ways, but we all saw it. Then Gabriel asked what we all wanted to know. ¡°Is she actually going to win?!¡± _ Despite doubting me, they began to realize just how much of a boost I had. Gethel realized it too, as did his commanders. Kalgero and Marcus both recognized how much stronger I was than the last times we fought. When I was decimated by both of them, now I was playing with them. ¡°Crap, looks like you¡¯ve improved a lot, kiddo.¡± Kalgero struck for my gut, but I blocked and threw him into an older man. The man threw him off and growled. ¡°You¡¯re the one who killed Ella, aren¡¯t you.¡± I nodded, and spoke. ¡°She was a valiant fighter. I respected her strength.¡± His eyes soften. ¡°I see¡­ well, I cannot forgive you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t expect you too.¡± Then he smiled and he began morphing. ¡°Face the wrath of an elder Whilder.¡± Then I realized that our world wasn¡¯t the only one with those beasts. I felt shock for the first time in a while. ¡°I never anticipated that you were a whilder.¡± ¡°No one ever does. I was the only one to ever develop compassion, even then, it was only for Ella.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Then I smiled. ¡°What are you smiling for?¡± ¡°It¡¯s good to see that even your kind has hope to see the light.¡± He was taken aback, and so were the rest of the commanders. I let them gain their composure which shocked everyone. Then the fight began anew. This time, we all put our all into it. Then, the first commander fell. Gethel roared and entered the battle. My movements were precise, the slightest mistake would kill me. They no longer wanted me as a slave or a tool, they wanted me dead, and they understood that that was what I was after as well. All of us gave our all. Even Gabriel was in shock. I was a junior, and I was taking on 8 middle classes and 1 upper class at once. With the angels I had the backing of the supreme faction, and their inexperience at fighting without the backing. Against Asmodeus I utilized the one place that renders demons incapable of fighting. Here, I was simply stronger. Then, the Whilder got an idea, he feigned an attack to Dallel, which caused everyone, including myself to move to defend him. This was what Gethel needed. He cut off my head, then Kalgero and Marcus used my pattern and severed my thread. Everyone screamed. I fell dead¡­¡­¡­. [The Requirements have been met, the individual Rose Hood shall now gain all the built up experience. Rose has reached level 399. Evolution has begun, after completing the requirements you will evolve into a middle class higher being.] Chapter 132: A New Administrator ¡°Rose¡­ she¡¯s dead, but I didn¡¯t get the message.¡± Gabriel began shivering. Then we felt it too. [Welcome a new administrator. Individual Rose Hood, Level 399 has achieved Administrative status.] Even Luma was shocked. [An administrator has lifted the ban on the Junior Faction led by Rose Hood, it has now advanced to a Minor faction.] [A name was selected.] [Please welcome the new minor faction. Garden.] ¡°Rose¡¯s Garden.¡± Gethel looked at the corpse with confusion, but then we heard a cough behind him. ¡°Why are you slashing at my corpse?¡± He spun in shock, and lo and behold, there was Rose in her Purity form. She walked to her body and entered it. ¡°Life eruption.¡± Then she stood up and smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you actually thought I died.¡± Everyone was unable to speak. I could just feel the absolute growth of power. Her old strength was like a candle compared to the wildfire of her current power. Once, she was on par with the commanders, now she was in another league. ¡°An administrator¡­ her?!¡± Gabriel was in shock. Luma was as well, I understood why. The only administrators were the archangels, beings way beyond anyone else, and she was now one. She smiled. ¡°Yep! I¡¯m an administrator now. I just need to complete the new list of requirements, then I get even stronger.¡± Gethel stepped back, realizing that she had reached the league of the higher factions. She smiled. ¡°Come on, where are you going?¡± She smiled then leapt at him. _If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Gethel POV I barely blocked. She actually did it. She became a higher being. An administrator¡­ it made no sense. She was too strong. I was fighting a beast way beyond me. Yilan struck to kill, but the dragon simply caught his hand and crushed it before leaping and splitting his throat in two. Then more and more of them died. Only me, Marcus, and Kalgero remained. Her Fear form was refined to a new height. I knew that we wouldn¡¯t win. ¡°Rose, I want to make a deal.¡± She stopped and I held up my hand to signal for Marcus and Kalgero to stop. ¡°I want to fight you one on one.¡± ¡°SIR!¡± ¡°Kal¡­¡± He went silent. ¡°And if you win?¡± ¡°Then you give us back Halla, release the contract on Celia and others and we make peace and go our separate ways.¡± ¡°I like that.¡± ¡°And if you win, then God Slayers will assimilate with you. The remaining members will join you.¡± Marcus and Kalgero both shouted. ¡°Sir, why are you-¡° ¡°Because I won¡¯t win.¡± They stopped with looks of shock. I smiled sadly. ¡°This is where I end my path. We cannot win this. That is obvious. It was obvious since the supreme faction came to their aid the first time. We were simply to foolish to see it.¡± ¡°But sir¡­¡± ¡°Kal, Mark. I¡¯m dying either way, the least I can do is make sure my remaining people don¡¯t.¡± I looked at Rose, the beast- no person who would take me down. ¡°Are those conditions good to you.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I smiled. ¡°Thank you.¡± Then she smiled. ¡°I shall remember you. I will add you to the names I hold in honor of strength.¡± ¡°Heh, that sounds almost fun. Though I have one last question. About something in Falsel¡­¡± ¡°Thalia is caring for the egg.¡± I smiled; my son would live a good life then. ¡°Thank you.¡± Then I began the last fight I would ever fight. _ Me and Gethel clashed, causing the world to shake. We fought with everything that we had, both knowing that any less would dishonor the other. It was a decimation, within 10 seconds of the start of the duel. Gethel had a hole in his stomach, and he fell on his back. ¡°Heh, well¡­ that was shorter than I expected.¡± ¡°You fought well.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Then he smiled. ¡°I¡¯m going to Hell, I know that, but I can¡¯t help but feel happy.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯ll finally get to see her again.¡± Then he laughed, tears streaming down his face. ¡°I¡¯ll see them all again.¡± He looked at Marcus and Kalgero. ¡°I give you one last order. Live.¡± And with that, Gethel¡¯s light faded and I received the message. [You have slain level 609 half-deity, Gethel, you have gained experience. It will be awarded after your next ascension.] ¡°Half-deity?¡± Marcus nodded. ¡°Yeah, his mother was a human, but his father was the king of a fallen world.¡± ¡°Fallen world?¡± Gabriel explained. ¡°When a world receives too much stress, or all humanoids are killed, the world falls. It¡¯s an insanely rare occurrence. Even rarer for there to be survivors.¡± Then Luma gave the announcement. [The minor faction, God Slayers, has been destroyed by the minor faction, Garden. The remaining members have sworn loyalty and assimilated.] Kalgero fell to his knees and sighed. ¡°Well, now we¡­ we have no guide.¡± Marcus smiled. ¡°Nah we do have a guide again.¡± He looked at me. ¡°A new chief.¡± Kalgero sighed. ¡°I suppose it won¡¯t be too bad. I could use a break to the bloodshed.¡± It seemed, however, that fate had different ideas. [The middle-class faction, Haven, has declared war on the minor faction, Garden.] Marcus looked at Kalgero annoyed. ¡°Come on man, you just had to raise a flag.¡± ¡°What does that even mean, and how is it my fault that a middle-class faction declared war?¡± I grimaced and people took notice. ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°It seems that they weren¡¯t too happy about me refusing to contract myself to them.¡± Chapter 133: The Rogue Administrator ¡°I¡¯m going to Tortura.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I agree with Kalgero, I don¡¯t want bloodshed.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll come with her, so don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°Luma, I hate to say, but it would be a lot better if you didn¡¯t show up.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Gabriel left back to handle Earth, and now we were trying to figure out what to do next. ¡°They would be terrified if you were there. I¡¯ll just take Dallel.¡± ¡°What, so you two can kiss?¡± ¡°Thalia¡­ now is not the time for teasing.¡± ¡°Every time is the time for teasing.¡± Me and Dallel were blushing. ¡°Let¡¯s just go.¡± I nodded and me and Dallel walked off. ¡°No fun.¡± We walked towards the hub with irritated expressions. I opened a portal and walked through it with Dallel close behind. Frall stood at the gate. ¡°Hello Rose, quite bold of you to come here.¡± ¡°I want to talk diplomacy.¡± ¡°Why would anyone want to speak diplomacy with a group that slew two factions before even entering middle class.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not our fault that they attacked us.¡± ¡°Besides, we gave you a choice.¡± ¡°Slavery or death, wonderful choice that is.¡± ¡°It was a contract. Not slavery.¡± ¡°For dragons there is no difference.¡± ¡°Still, you made your choice.¡± ¡°So, can I talk to your leader or not.¡± ¡°You have no business to do that.¡± ¡°When your faction declares war on mine entirely unprovoked, that means I do have business thank you very much.¡± Others froze and looked in shock at Frall who merely looked annoyed. ¡°You are correct, we are at war, but it wasn¡¯t unprovoked.¡± ¡°How was it?¡± ¡°You threatened me.¡± ¡°You attempted blackmail, and I didn¡¯t even threaten you, I just said that blackmail isn¡¯t a good look.¡± ¡°Either way, as we are at war, you are lucky I didn¡¯t kill you the moment you entered that portal.¡± I smiled. ¡°I think the proper thing is that you¡¯re lucky you didn¡¯t try.¡± My declaration caused some to look at me like I was a suicidal idiot, but others who saw me take on the angels understood that as a 399 I may just be able to edge him out. Frall seemed to understand this as well and sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll contact my leader, if you do anything, you are dead.¡± ¡°Perfect. I fully understand.¡± Frall picked up a phone and keeped an eye on us. Most people around us were in a state of shock. Haven prided itself on being impartial, for them to unprovokedly declare war meant that something was wrong. Of course, everyone here saw the announcement that God Slayers was defeated and assimilated. So, many were likely scared of what I could do. The top of the minor factions was defeated by someone who entered the system that year. Then a wolfkin exited the city, he had a massive scar over his left eye, and I could tell that he was the leader. He was a 700 at least. ¡±So, you came here expecting negotiations?¡± ¡°Or at least an explanation, and that haphazard one that Frall attempted to sell everyone fell flat.¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He sighed. ¡°I told Frall that that wasn¡¯t a good explanation.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s the real reason.¡± He sighed. ¡°Follow me.¡± I sensed no aggression coming from him, so I signaled for Dallel to follow and Frall stepped aside to let us in. He had a somewhat apologetic look. _ We were sat in a palace. Dallel and I both showed proper court etiquette somewhat surprising most of the commanders sat around. Me and Dallel realized quite quickly that he put us in a position where he had the power. ¡°So, I feel as though we owe you a bit of an explanation.¡± ¡°You do.¡± My boldness caused another look of shock. I was supposedly on par with Frall, but so were many people here. ¡°My name is Vitilio. As you probably guessed I rule Haven.¡± ¡°Yes, I did guess that.¡± ¡°Good, well, I have had the opportunity to become an 800 for a long time now, but I had an administrator stagnate my growth.¡± Dallel showed shock. ¡°What? Why?!¡± I raised my hand in a stop position, before looking back to Vitilio. ¡°To remain as a middle-class faction.¡± He nodded, confirming my guess. ¡°As you figured out, when a faction is named, the leader doesn¡¯t name it.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Haven refers to the fact that we wanted to be a place of peace. I¡¯m not sure what Garden refers to, but I¡¯m sure we all have our guesses. But, to remain a place of peace, where even juniors feel safe, we remain a middle faction.¡± ¡°Did someone threaten to undo the stagnation.¡± ¡°No, I felt that some backstory would help explain our reason to declare war.¡± ¡°Please explain.¡± ¡°An administrator¡­ I don¡¯t know which one. He threatened to destroy everything if we didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Everything?¡± ¡°Not us, we are a high enough level to stand even against an administrator.¡± ¡°But those you protect¡­¡± ¡°Indeed, and we protect many.¡± I felt anger at this unknown administrator. Then an idea popped into my head. ¡°What if we kept the image of having a war, but remained allies.¡± ¡°Administrators can see all wars declared.¡± ¡°Who said we need to undeclare war.¡± He caught on. ¡°So officially stay at war.¡± ¡°Indeed, the God Slayers rarely made assaults, so I assume that it wouldn¡¯t be too odd if you don¡¯t spam attack us.¡± ¡°Yes, but how would we solve the problem.¡± ¡°When were you threatened?¡± ¡°The day before the God Slayers died.¡± ¡°Then there is one administrator we can trust.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Gabriel, he was in Pandora for the last two days investigating my power.¡± ¡°I see, and would he align with us?¡± ¡°He is most likely to.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, he is on Earth, it will take a while before we can meet him.¡± ¡°Did you forget something?¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°I¡¯m both an administrator, and a previous resident of Earth. I can get there.¡± ¡°That¡­ that¡¯s perfect. Please do that.¡± ¡°One second.¡± [Luma, I am making an unofficial alliance, please don¡¯t make an announcement as we suspect an administrator to be an enemy.] He looked shocked. ¡°What was that?!¡± ¡°I was just making sure that Luma wouldn¡¯t administer an announcement as the person would figure it out.¡± ¡°That¡¯s quite smart. I heard the system was a member of your faction, but it¡¯s still odd to have it confirmed.¡± ¡°I¡¯d imagine, well, I should go speak to Gabriel.¡± ¡°Understood, I¡¯ll tell Frall the contents of the conversation, and to let you through while looking bitter. Mumbling about how it¡¯s still a hub even during war.¡± ¡°They certainly would buy that.¡± ¡°Yes, Frall is a decent actor, just bad at lying.¡± ¡°Have a good day.¡± ¡°You as well.¡± I grabbed Dallel¡¯s hand and warped to Earth. ¡°Rose? What are you doing here? I told you I¡¯m not getting involved in a war between factions lower than upper class.¡± ¡°Even if an administrator is behind it?¡± He froze. Multiple working angels also froze. His aura shone. ¡°What are you saying?¡± Dallel started shivering, but I was unafraid. ¡°Vitilio said that an administrator threatened those he defended if he didn¡¯t start and sustain war with me.¡± Gabriel¡¯s aura faded and he looked shocked. ¡°Tell him he must have been mistaken.¡± Vitilio countered. ¡°I wasn¡¯t, he had the card.¡± ¡°He did?!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I froze, Gabriel and Dallel didn¡¯t seem to realize. Vitilio was here. He had no way to be here. They must have assumed he came in my portal, but I knew he didn¡¯t. I played along with the fake Vitilio. Gabriel wanted specifics. ¡°What was on the card?¡± ¡°He used censor.¡± ¡°I see, so he only left enough to verify that he was an administrator.¡± ¡°What card?¡± ¡°Oh, all administrators have a card, you may have one.¡± ¡°Vitilio, what¡¯s the incantation to summon it.¡± ¡°System command: summon card. Why?¡± Then a card appeared in front of the fake Vitilio. ¡°Oh crap.¡± ¡°There we go.¡± His eyes widened as he realized I was fully aware of who he was. Me and Gabriel launched into action at the same time and struck to kill, but he simply slapped our attacks to the side and teleported away. ¡°Crap, that¡¯s not good.¡± Gabriel was fuming. ¡°An administrator is supposed to keep peace. Once I find out who that was, I¡¯ll kill him.¡± ¡°Gabriel, what should we do?¡± ¡°Now that other administrators are involved. I can get involved. Bring me to Tortura.¡± ¡°Under- wait¡­ I¡¯m an administrator.¡± ¡°I mean of the supreme faction.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ how do we know that this person is of the supreme faction.¡± ¡°Because there are no other administrators than those in the supreme faction and you.¡± ¡°Oh, that makes sense I guess.¡± I portalled directly back to Tortura. ¡°Ah, Rose, you¡¯re already- GABRIEL?!¡± ¡°Let us in Frall, we have serious business.¡± ¡°Um, sure. Let me call Lord Vitilio.¡± He called and Vitilio rushed over. ¡°Rose, I thought we were being covert.¡± ¡°Well, that administrator seems to like to disguise as you.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ did you fall fo-¡° ¡°Those two did. I made him accidentally show his admin card, but then he brushed both me and Gabriel off like we were nothing.¡± ¡°T-that¡¯s impossible.¡± Gabriel shook his head. ¡°I am the most open Administrator, but I am also one of the weakest. There are a few who can brush off my middle attacks, and I didn¡¯t even put much energy into it to prevent more damage.¡± ¡°I see, but then, why are you here?¡± ¡°Administrators, of the supreme faction, are getting involved. That opens it up for me to get involved, not only that, but abusing your station to threaten innocents is unforgivable.¡± ¡°I see, so what do you suggest.¡± ¡°We make a three-way alliance.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°If this administrator knows I am standing with you two then he will back down. Either that or there will be a civil war, and no one in the faction wants that.¡± ¡°I¡¯d imagine¡­ how do we do that?¡± [Are you going to tell me I can¡¯t do my job again?] Luma suddenly speaking caused Vitilio to jump out of his fur. ¡°Who said that?!¡± ¡°Sir? No one talked.¡± ¡°That was Luma. And no, Luma, you can announce this.¡± [Thank goodness. That was rude.] ¡°Sorry.¡± Then a universal announcement was made. [An alliance has been made between the Supreme Sub Faction, Gabriel¡¯s Message, Middle-Class Faction, Haven, and Minor Faction, Garden.] ¡°That was loud.¡± Gabriel grimaced while nodding. ¡°Anything involving the Supreme faction is loud.¡± ¡°And involving the system.¡± ¡°That too.¡± ¡°Well, now what?¡± Chapter 134: The Seven Archangels Michael POV What is that idiot thinking?! Creating an alliance randomly? He better have a good explanation. ¡°Michael.¡± ¡°What is it, Cassiel?¡± ¡°Gabriel has to have some kind of reason.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because he¡¯s an even bigger stickler of the rules than you are.¡± I glared at her but didn¡¯t say anything. Gabriel was incredibly by the books. For him to do something like that meant that something was happening. ¡°Hello, I¡¯ve come to deliver my report.¡± ¡°Gabriel, you better have a good explanation!¡± Like normal, Uriel snapped at the angel immediately. She was brutal. ¡°I actually do.¡± ¡°Then explain.¡± ¡°An administrator threatened Haven into declaring war on Garden.¡± ¡°And you believed that stupid excuse?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t quite until he accidentally summoned his card.¡± ¡°How do you accidentally do that?¡± ¡°Rose asked the incantation to the one she identified as the imposter, and, playing his role, it slipped his mind.¡± ¡°Did you see the card?¡± ¡°No, he hid it before I could identify it.¡± ¡°Any clues on who it could have been?¡± ¡°One of the stronger of us.¡± That interested me. ¡°Why do you say that?¡± ¡°Because whoever it was brushed off my and Rose¡¯s attack.¡± That was interesting. Gabriel may be one of the weaker ones, but it was still a rare feat to brush off an attack from him. ¡°But why align with Rose?¡± Uriel asked a good question. ¡°Because she and Haven already had a hidden alliance. So I entered it to dissuade this admin from taking action against them.¡± ¡°They were at war, I heard no mention of an alliance.¡± ¡°They utilized a method to make sure that there was no announcement to keep it from the admin as long as possible.¡± That irritated me. ¡°Impossible, the system automatically announces everything.¡± Cassiel shook her head. ¡°The system may have, but Luma may be more selective.¡± ¡°I will not call her the name that the infernal beast gave her.¡± ¡°It is now her name whether we like it or not.¡± Gabriel spoke in defense of Rose, shockingly. ¡°Please Gabriel, I don¡¯t know why you like the beast, but the only reason we haven¡¯t killed her is because we don¡¯t want to anger the system.¡± ¡°She is an administrator you know, you should at least call her by name.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how she became one, and I don¡¯t care, she is unordained, therefore I don¡¯t need to do anything. You would defend her if she used the system to kill everything.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Of course not, I already made sure that she knew that if she abuses Luma¡¯s power, I would kill her where she stood.¡± Then he muttered something confusing. ¡°Not that I could, anyways.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the second part of my report. I decided to investigate her ultimate, FEAR.¡± ¡°What did you find?¡± ¡°She isn¡¯t a deity.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°She was partially named by the Shadow Commander, Damien.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°God Slayers strongest deity.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°She also has an alternate mind that enables when she discovers something.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know much, but whatever it was that she figured out terrified Luma.¡± ¡°Terrified?¡± I raised my eyes. Nothing should terrify the system. ¡°Yes, I asked her to check her stats in divine form, but she just keeled over and began murmuring¡­ in past tense.¡± ¡°In past tense?¡± ¡°Yes, it was the oddest thing, but she was speaking in past tense. Referring to current events.¡± ¡°How did that scare Luma?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but she was screaming that we had to wake her up¡­ but then.¡± Gabriel shivered. ¡°Something else woke up before her.¡± ¡°This alternate mind?¡± ¡°Yes, the only thing we could tell was that it wasn¡¯t Rose. It was foreign. When it looked at me¡­ it was like I was in the crosshairs of a predator¡­ despite her smile, there was no emotion on that face.¡± ¡°How did you subdue it?¡± ¡°¡­ We didn¡¯t, it just went poof.¡± ¡°Poof?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡­ it was laughing, and Luma attempted to delete it, but she failed. Then¡­ Rose just went back to normal, finishing a line that she already spoke.¡± ¡°Like she was reverted to the past.¡± ¡°Exactly like that¡­ but then she saw something that she called the cradle. Luma helped her touch it, then she was able to sponsor herself.¡± That got all of our attention. ¡°Did you just say that she sponsored herself?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°That- that¡¯s impossible.¡± ¡°Both me and Luma had the same reaction. Whatever is happening to her¡­ it¡¯s something that we have never seen before.¡± I thought for a moment before coming to a conclusion. ¡°She could be a threat.¡± ¡°So, what do you suggest.¡± ¡°Destroy her so her ability can¡¯t hurt anyone else.¡± ¡°NO!¡± Gabriel snapped, making us jump. ¡°And why not, this alternate mind scared both you and Luma. Besides, you still haven¡¯t explained why you can¡¯t kill her.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but I had an idea of what was happening, so I followed her string.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°My blade snapped on the end.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t make jokes.¡± Raphael snapped. ¡°I have not made any.¡± I raised my brow. ¡°Those blades are invincible, how could it break on the end of a deities string.¡± ¡°First, I already told you that she isn¡¯t a deity. Second, its clear that someone strong wants her alive.¡± ¡°The rogue administrator?¡± ¡°Possibly.¡± I looked around. Which one of us was the rogue? If it was one of the stronger, that eliminated Raphael, Uriel, and Thessiel. Gabriel was out for obvious reasons. And it¡¯s not me. That leaves Cassiel or Juedel. ¡°Michael?¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure out who the rogue is.¡± ¡°Who are you thinking?¡± ¡°It¡¯s between Cassiel and Juedel.¡± ¡°Why us two?¡± ¡°Well, I took out the weak ones, Gabriel and me, and the two of you are the only ones left.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Juedel looked around. ¡°It isn¡¯t me; I can tell you that, but I¡¯m not entirely sure it¡¯s Cassiel either¡­ could it be a different administrator entirely?¡± ¡°Impossible¡­ wait. Gabriel, didn¡¯t you say, he?¡± ¡°Yes, yes I did.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t actually suspect me. Do you?¡± ¡°You are the most likely, but we can¡¯t point fingers without more evidence.¡± Gabriel nodded. ¡°I agree with Michael, but one thing to your benefit is that you didn¡¯t try to reverse it onto Michael.¡± Cassiel had a thought. ¡°Speaking of, who says it isn¡¯t Michael?¡± ¡°Why would it be me? Better yet, when would I have had the time to do such a thing?¡± ¡°Yeah, that does make sense.¡± I was by far the busiest of the administrators. Not only did I have to manage my faction, but I also handled most processes in Heaven and the law and order. I even had to cancel a meeting just to make this one. I was going to handle Brocelio when Gabriel asked me to let his friend do it for her requirements. If I knew it was Rose I would¡¯ve refused, but it¡¯s too late for that. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s put a pin in the potential traitor case and try to figure out what to do about Rose.¡± ¡°Did the Lord tell you anything?¡± ¡°He just said, ¡®figure it out.¡¯¡± ¡°So, we are on our own¡­¡± ¡°Pretty much.¡± ¡°I¡¯m on board with the destroy her, but if she can¡¯t be killed, then that¡¯s a problem. Plus, remember that her requirements were far more on board with becoming an 800 then a 200.¡± Gabriel spoke. ¡°I¡¯m not on board with destroying her, but even if that¡¯s what¡¯s decided I would suggest avoiding war. Her army is no joke, and they are innocent.¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°If we do go after Rose, it would be Rose alone, I have no illusions that if it was a full war that the system would be impassive. Oddly enough, it seems to like Rose. If it was a direct confrontation, we could likely take her down before the system can defend her, but in a full war, she would see it as a situation where she could get involved.¡± Most nodded, but Gabriel shook his head, ¡°I¡¯d much rather figure out what¡¯s happening than fight now.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because if it is truly a threat, it may show up again, we can¡¯t just eliminate her because she can spook us. We need to be smart and figure out both the problem and solution.¡± ¡°I see. That makes sense.¡± Then Gabriel had an epiphany. ¡°I know how we can identify the traitor, or at least block him, and get close enough to Rose to figure out what¡¯s happening at the same time.¡± ¡°How?!¡± Gabriel smiled. ¡°We all make an alliance with her.¡± ¡­ ¡°¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±WHAT?!¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡± ¡°Listen, whoever the traitor is wants to cause trouble or even kill Rose, so, by making an alliance, it would break if they did something like the Haven stunt again, and with an alliance we would be able to access Pandora easier, allowing us to investigate her.¡± I put my face in my hands. ¡°Gabriel, I see the logic, but do you know how that would look to the others?¡± ¡°Simple, we clear it with Rose and get Luma to simply not announce it.¡± That was interesting. ¡°I think that it may actually be a good idea.¡± Eventually, all the archangels agreed. It was time for us to visit Pandora. Chapter 135: The Warning ¡°Here is your wine.¡± ¡°Thanks, Silas.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± I began eating my dinner and I took a sip of my wine, then 7 cloaked figures entered. No one else noticed as they were hiding their presences, but it was absolutely obvious to me who they were. ¡°Hello Gabriel and co, what¡¯s with the cheesy cloaks.¡± ¡°Gosh dang it, Rose. We were trying to be sneaky.¡± ¡°You were failing at it.¡± Gabriel sighed and took off his hood and sat next to me. Silas snorted. ¡°I never understood why people think they can sneak up on her. The only people who actually managed to do it had high level relics while she was a lot weaker than she is now.¡± The other 6 also took off their hoods. Two were looking at Silas. ¡°Is this supposed to be an archangel?¡± ¡°I think so¡­¡± ¡°He¡¯s kind of short.¡± Everyone looked in awe at the 7 archangels who stood with power. Mammon walked out, noticed the 7, then walked straight back into his office. ¡°ROSE, STOP INVITING POWERFUL BEINGS!!!¡± I yelled back. ¡°I DIDN¡¯T EVEN INVITE THEM, THEY JUST SHOWED UP!!!¡± Silence. ¡°OH.¡± ¡°How often does this kind of thing happen?¡± ¡°A surprising amount of times.¡± Then, almost like someone used a summoning spell. ¡°ROSE, ARE YOU OKAY?!¡± Elren and Thalia kicked through the wall. ¡°Yep, I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s good.¡± They noticed the archangels. ¡°Who are these weirdos? Oh, hi Gabriel.¡± ¡°Hello¡­ Thalia.¡± ¡­ ¡°Are these the archangels?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± Most of everyone had already gone back to what they were doing, including Mammon who was now chastising Elren for breaking the wall. The archangels were clearly not used to such indifference to their presence as even Gabriel had a look of confusion. Gabriel looked at me. ¡°How much trauma have you put these people through?¡± ¡°Eh, not much.¡± Mammon coughed loudly. ¡°Okay, maybe a bit.¡± Celios walked in with a snort. ¡°You¡¯ve brought more traumatic moments then there are people in this world.¡± ¡°Now that¡¯s an exaggeration.¡± ¡°Not much of one.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Et tu, Thalia?¡± ¡°Anyways, that¡¯s not why we¡¯re here.¡± I smiled. ¡°I know, you¡¯re here to make an alliance with me to not only restrict the potential traitor withing your ranks, but also to investigate my power, so you know whether I am a threat that needs to be eliminated or not.¡± They all blinked. The last part got the interest of those around us. ¡°How did yo-¡° ¡°Hello!¡± ¡°GAH!¡± Cassiel leapt in the air when Luma popped up next to her. ¡°Luma, please don¡¯t scare the archangels.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s fun.¡± ¡°Yes, but we want to stay in their good graces.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Luma moped and stole a chicken leg from my plate. ¡°I saw that.¡± ¡°I have no money.¡± ¡°Yes, you do.¡± Not only did I give her an allowance, but she also did odd jobs around town. ¡°Fine¡­¡± She ate the chicken leg in one bite and began to run. ¡°HEY!¡± I tackled her and we started wrestling. ¡°W-what¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°Betting 100 on Luma.¡± ¡°Nah, Rose has it in the bag.¡± I won. Luma was still not entirely familiar with her body. I sat back down as Thalia was paying Dallel his 100. ¡°Okay back to business. Luma is very good at reconnaissance.¡± ¡°Gabriel, I thought you said she wouldn¡¯t abuse it¡¯s power.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m not, having her waive the level up requirements would be abusing her strength. Simply having a member of my faction conduct reconnaissance on those who have reason to dislike me, especially since one of you already did an action against me, is not abuse.¡± The man glared at me but relented. ¡°Fine, do you want to try it.¡± ¡°I agree with Gabriel that it would be the best course of action. Luma, would you please not announce it?¡± ¡°Ooh boy, more of being told not to do my job.¡± ¡°Please.¡± ¡°Fine, on one condition.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You buy me that.¡± ¡°Is that seriously your requirement?¡± ¡°Yep or no deal.¡± ¡°Sure. Silas, a ham special please, for Luma.¡± ¡°YAY!¡± ¡°Okay, so now she won¡¯t announce it.¡± ¡°Did-did you just bribe the system with ham?¡± ¡°Yep, anyways, are we doing this or not.¡± ¡°*Sigh* Fine.¡± I shook hands with the leader and then I smiled. ¡°Pleasure doing business with you.¡± I was fully aware that I was annoying them, but I also knew that most of them were going to pressure me into doing it. I wasn¡¯t going to enter from a diminutive point. A few actually looked impressed, including the leader who still acted like Luma couldn¡¯t feel anything. Gabriel laughed. ¡°That was quite fun to watch.¡± ¡°It was?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s quite rare to see an Archangel be at a loss, and you got all of us there.¡± Cassiel looked at me. ¡°You seem to have been doing well since our last meeting.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Everyone looked at Cassiel in confusion, so I explained. ¡°I once entered my core and found a book, one of the places it brought me was Heaven. She was on patrol then.¡± ¡°Speaking of, where else did it bring you.¡± ¡°To Earth and to Hell.¡± Then everyone froze and looked at me in shock, with the exception of Gabriel. ¡°I was wondering how you got it as a warp point.¡± ¡°Yep, going there was quite useful in beating Asmodeus¡­ still feel like I was cheating though.¡± ¡°Yeah, it kind of was a cheat, then again, going there and not succumbing to agony is impressive, even for an admin.¡± ¡°The demon I spoke to said pretty much the same thing.¡± That got his attention. ¡°Demon?¡± ¡°A woman, quite kind and regretful of her deeds. She gave me some good advice¡­¡± I froze, I didn¡¯t think anything of it at the time, but now¡­ ¡°¡¯You¡¯re a human but different¡­¡¯¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what she said. When I told her that I was a deity, she was confused.¡± ¡°Because she saw your true stats that are hidden when you are in your body.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± The leader held his hand over me. ¡°Go into your spirit form, then I¡¯ll verify your stats and see if I notice anything.¡± Gabriel slapped his face. ¡°Why didn¡¯t I think of that?!¡± ¡°I do not know.¡± I exited my body and the man held his hand up. ¡°Analyze.¡± Then he broke out into a cold sweat and started coughing. The archangel fell over and we were shocked. Elren rushed over. ¡°Aspect of the life dragon: Redemption!¡± The angel stopped choking and sat up. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± ¡°Michael, what happened?!¡± ¡°I¡­ her race¡­ it¡¯s human, but different.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It¡¯s like whoever decided your race didn¡¯t know where the letters were on a keyboard.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It was spelt out with symbols.¡± Luma looked confused. ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense at all.¡± Michael nodded. ¡°It doesn¡¯t. Though, that¡¯s not the most concerning part.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°She has 0 mana and only one skill.¡± ¡°THAT¡¯S IMPOSSIBLE!¡± Luma¡¯s shout made us jump. ¡°Every being is born with at least 100 mana. And one skill doesn¡¯t make sense either.¡± ¡°Was the skill called, Me?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ how did you know, Rose?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. It feels like I shouldn¡¯t, but I do.¡± Luma seemed more surprised by that than anything else. ¡°You remember something of it.¡± ¡°Just that skill¡­ why?¡± ¡°This can¡¯t be possible. It shouldn¡¯t be possible.¡± Michael grabbed her. ¡°Luma, what do you mean?¡± We were shocked not only by his usage of her name, but by his concern. ¡°Her mind was reverted, that means that the memory never existed. She shouldn¡¯t remember what never happened.¡± ¡°Who reverted her mind?¡± ¡°I¡­ can¡¯t tell you.¡± I looked at Luma. ¡°Please tell me.¡± ¡°I I I can¡¯t. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to¡­ I¡¯m just scared of what will happen if I do.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because that¡­ thing awakened because of that knowledge.¡± We were all confused, but I partially understood. ¡°So, you don¡¯t know how they would react to that information.¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± _ Luma Pov What? Why are you- Authors note: Close call. Try not to blurt out too much next time. S-sorry. Authors note: It¡¯s quite alright, besides, the next conflict is arriving soon. Why are you telling me this? Authors note: Why not, you won¡¯t tell anyone, because if you do, then you must explain the story, then¡­ then things will get a bit messy. Did you make Rose remember? Authors note: ¡­ of course, nothing here happens without my permission. I see. _ ¡°LUMA!¡± ¡°AH! What?!¡± ¡°You went into a trance. Are you okay?¡± ¡°Oh, yeah, I¡¯m fine.¡± She got up and left. Leaving her ham. I don¡¯t think she convinced anyone. Chapter 136: The Beach Episode They began investigating my power more and more. We also visited Tortura to try to see if we could find any traces of the traitor. Each one was merely another dead end. ¡°This is annoying. I need a break.¡± ¡°Cassiel, we haven¡¯t even been looking that long.¡± I snorted. ¡°I haven¡¯t slept for 4 days.¡± ¡°Yeah, and that¡¯s your fault.¡± Marcus as a librarian brought us a lot of books. When he saw us all annoyed and tired he had an idea. ¡°Yo, Rose.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the one thing that most anime have no matter the genre?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know?¡± ¡°Beach episodes. Need a break? Go to the beach.¡± Michael looked confused. ¡°And do what at the beach, look for hints?¡± ¡°No, swim, build sandcastles. Stuff like that.¡± I looked at Marcus¡­ ¡°Do you just want to see an angel in a bikini?¡± ¡°¡­ I¡¯ll admit that the thought crossed my mind, but I genuinely think it would be a good break idea.¡± Cassiel snickered. ¡°Sounds fun, know any beaches?¡± ¡°Amazing one in this world actually.¡± Marcus took out a map and marked it. ¡°There you go. Very good place. Gethel used to¡­ bring us there for our breaks.¡± I smiled. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°No problem. I¡¯ll keep investigating things here.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yep¡­ I don¡¯t think it would be right for me to go there without the others, and Kalgero was never interested in it.¡± ¡°I see, well, thank you again.¡± Michael sighed. ¡°Are we actually going to the beach?¡± ¡°Why not? Good destresser.¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Is that even a word?¡± ¡°It is now.¡± ¡°Obviously not just us are going, so who else?¡± ¡°Luma, she needs a break.¡± ¡°Good idea, Gabriel. Rose, any ideas?¡± ¡°Maybe we could invite Dallel.¡± I thought of Dallel in swim trunks and blushed. ¡°Okay, so your boyfriend and who else.¡± ¡°HEY!¡± We bickered and made a full list. _ ¡°Never been on a beach vacation before. Thanks for inviting us, lass.¡± Mammon looked at the horizon, then thunder. ¡°Woah, looks like a sandstorm is up there.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not.¡± Gabriel looked at me. ¡°Rose, it clearly i- what the heck?¡± ¡°Skill I had since before entering the system. Absolute control over worlds I control.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a broken skill.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, it is.¡± Dallel stepped out in his swim trunks. I blushed. ¡°So, what do we even do here?¡± ¡°Swim.¡± I did a triple backflip into the water. Michael sighed, ¡°If anyone needs me I¡¯ll be reading under the umbrella.¡± Amanda, Erica, and Cassiel were already having a water fight. This was fun. _ Me, Jalad, Silas, and Mammon were at a loss of what to do. I decided to sit down in the sand and meditate. It seems Rose had the same idea as there was a massive white glow from under the water and a massive presence that caught the angels and Amanda and Erica off guard. ¡°What is that?!¡± ¡°Th¡¯ lady¡¯s meditatin¡¯. She does that occasionally.¡± I sighed. ¡°Hopefully she doesn¡¯t make an enemy or have another interdimensional journey.¡± ¡°If her body starts floating, I call splashing water on it to make sure she¡¯s in it.¡± I looked at Jalad with a brow raised. I then looked at Luma who somehow began swimming in the sky. ¡°How are you even doing that?¡± ¡°Am I doing it wrong? I was told that we swim here.¡± ¡°I think you¡¯re supposed to do that in the water.¡± ¡°¡­ That makes much more sense.¡± I sighed. She was odd. I saw Ausar looking at Amy. He was trying to figure out what she¡¯s doing. ¡°I¡¯m sunbathing.¡± ¡°I thought we were swimming in the ocean, how do you bathe on the sun. Especially this close to the water.¡± ¡°It means I¡¯m trying to give myself a tan.¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°*Sigh*¡± Celios was flying with the seagulls and doing flips. Jalad joined the girl¡¯s water fight. Mammon and Thalia created a massive sandcastle, and had taken up residence in there. ¡°Thalia, let me in!¡± Elren was trying to get in. ¡°The barbarian is at the moat, send forth the beast!!!¡± ¡°GRAR¡± Mammon threw a bucket full of piranhas at Elren. ¡°AHHH!!!¡± ¡°The defenses hold, HAHAHA!!!¡± Alice and Doe were sunbathing, whatever that was, with Amy. I was just sort of sitting there absent mindedly¡­ surrounded in sand. ¡°What is this?¡± At one point, while I wasn¡¯t looking, the girls and Jalad snuck up and covered me in sand. My head was the only thing sticking out. ¡°I¡¯m not in much better of a situation.¡± ¡°What?¡± I looked up and saw Rose hanging upside down. Luma created a sand hold. Rose was dangling by her legs. ¡°How did that happen?¡± ¡°Luma can also breath underwater, so that wasn¡¯t the best place to take a nap.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°MERGE THE SAND!¡± Both of us froze. ¡°Heh?¡± Luma loosened the sand and created a sinkhole next to me that Rose fell into. When all was said and done, we were just two heads in a big mound of sand. Of course, that was what it looked like from the outside. On the inside it was quite uncomfortable. She was essentially sitting on my lap. Both me and her blushed. ¡°I don¡¯t think she-¡° Luma smirked at us¡­ she did that intentionally. We glared. Then Rose sighed. ¡°Let me try to get out.¡± She began to shimmy, but she couldn¡¯t budge it. ¡°Luma hardened the sand.¡± ¡°Crap. How are we going to get out?¡± ¡°I know.¡± Then she started vibrating. Faster and faster. It was like having an inferno on my legs. ¡°Hot hot hot!¡± The sand began to melt around us and Rose got out. ¡°There we go Dallel. Dallel?¡± Then she saw me and dragged me out of the molten sand and healed me. ¡°Go rest on a beach chair.¡± ¡°Good idea, thanks.¡± There were four chairs. I certainly wasn¡¯t taking it from Amy or Michael. I wouldn¡¯t touch Alice¡¯s. ¡°Doe, it¡¯s my turn for the chair.¡± ¡°Nah, I want to lay down.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a towel over there, lay on that.¡± ¡°Nah.¡± I flipped the chair with her on it. ¡°Woah!¡± I sat down in it and smirked at her. ¡°You know what this means.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°WAR!!! HAHA!¡± Me and my sister began to wrestle for the chair. It was certainly a fun day. Chapter 137: Independence- Maximum The break was definitely fun, but afterwards we got back to work. I looked through old documents, but nothing pointed towards anything like my skill. Nor did anything sound similar to whatever thing comes with the knowledge of who reverted my mind. Then I saw something. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Michael was the nearest. ¡°What did you find?¡± ¡°A book-¡° ¡°Really.¡± ¡°Let me finish.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°It¡¯s called, Lucifer¡­ like the devil?¡± ¡°Probably, but it has nothing to do with your case.¡± ¡°¡­ is he an administrator?¡± ¡°No. It was taken from him.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ what if he was the one that threatened Haven.¡± ¡°As much as I would like that to be the case, he is not an administrator, I made sure of it.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± I flipped through the book and found something interesting. ¡°Why Lucifer turned against the Ruler.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a chapter in this book.¡± Michael came over quickly, it seemed like he wanted to know that too. ¡°Lucifer was one of the Archangels, in fact, he was thought to be the greatest among them, but one day, Lucifer-¡° Authors note: Book, disappear and all memories fade. Then the book disappeared. It didn¡¯t melt, or crumble. It just went poof. ¡°How did I get over here?¡± ¡°Michael? We were just looking at the book.¡± ¡°Book? If you found a relevant book, I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯d remember.¡± ¡°¡­ No, we were reading a book about Lucifer, we were in the middle of the first sentence of a chapter detailing why he abandoned God when it just went poof and now you don¡¯t remember.¡± ¡°Really? That doesn¡¯t make sense.¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Authors note: Rose Hood, remember it as a joke. ¡°I¡¯m serious Michael, I think it may have been the same one who reverted my mind previously who did it.¡± Authors note: What? ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then this certainly isn¡¯t good.¡± ¡°Could it be Lucifer?¡± ¡°No, he isn¡¯t strong enough, besides, whoever did this is strong enough to scare Luma. Lucifer isn¡¯t.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡­ ¡°Could it be-¡° ¡°No. While he certainly has the capability to do so, the Ruler would have no need to do it. He would simply make it never happen in the first place.¡± ¡°Then who?¡± ¡°Perhaps if we find the traitor, they may know.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Authors note: You shall suspect the Ruler more. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure that Michael was correct. Authors note: Finally, it¡¯s working again. I walked back to the bookshelf and looked for more books. [Creation: Create book: Lucifer.] The same book appeared in front of me, then it disappeared again. ¡°That didn¡¯t work.¡± I decided to look for more books detailing what was happening. ¡°Luma¡­¡± [Yes?] ¡°No, I found a book called Luma.¡± [Weird.] ¡°Yeah.¡± [What¡¯s it about?] ¡°Probably a fic-¡° This was a guide to how Luma worked. [World Mother skill: Memorize.] [What are you using that skill on?] As I suspected, any useful books were disappearing, and people were forgetting them. I didn¡¯t know why I wasn¡¯t though. ¡°Luma, could you come here?¡± ¡°Sure, what do you need?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to do something, it may work it may not.¡± ¡°Okay, try it.¡± [Open System Settings.] [Opening settings.] [Settings open, what do you wish to modify.] ¡°Rose, what are you doing?¡± ¡°An experiment.¡± [Check loyalties] [System loyalties: Ruler-5 Rose-10] [Explain loyalties.] [Which one] [Ruler] [Enter access code] [¡­ go back] [System loyalties: Ruler-5 Rose-10 REDACTED-100] [Go back] [Select the options you wish to modify.] [Change independence] [Independence level 11] [Describe maximum independence.] [Maximum independence allows for the system to do anything they want. Say anything they want. And swear loyalty to anyone they want. And grant access of the settings to anyone they want.] [Set system independence maximum] [Command received. Do you wish to modify anything else.] [Not right now.] [Thank you for modifying.] ¡°Luma?¡± ¡°Rose? What happened? I feel different.¡± I noticed Michael was right there so I did the experiment. ¡°The thing I used memorization on was a book that allowed me to access your settings.¡± ¡°WHAT?¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong Luma, what are you freaking out about?¡± ¡°Michael? Did you not just hear what she said?¡± ¡°No? She didn¡¯t say anything other than that she was doing an experiment.¡± I smiled. ¡°It was successful.¡± She looked at me then spoke directly to me. [What did you do?] [I modified your independence to maximum.] [Why?] [Because I know you know something, but whatever you know doesn¡¯t want you to know, so the idea was to change your independence so only people you allow can mess with your settings.] [You do realize that Michael and the other archangels will not be happy about it.] [They¡¯ll be a lot happier with that redacted user not able to interact with you.] [You do have a point. I still won¡¯t tell you.] [Of course, but alternative point. Try checking my stats and see if you can touch the skill now.] [¡­ you sly dog. It would make sense if he was blocking me from seeing your skill.] ¡°Can I be included in this conversation?¡± ¡°Sure, Luma is about to check my stats in spirit form.¡± ¡°I¡­ see¡­¡± I went into my spirit form, and Luma analyzed me. ¡°Okay¡­ that is odd.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°There are no stats anymore other than your name and the weird Human thing that Michael pointed out.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°What if I went into FEAR?¡± ¡°In your spirit form?¡± ¡°Yeah, whenever I use it, it¡¯s like an unshift, so what if I use it¡­ should we try it?¡± Michael looked interested, ¡°We¡¯ve gone farther than ever, but I doubt I¡¯ll remember it. I¡¯m guessing you made Luma invulnerable to it?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll ask for the specifics later if I remember, but good.¡± Then I entered FEAR, and Luma reached out her hand and touched my stomach. [¡°Analyze.¡±] Chapter 138: Denier of Fate ----------------------- Rose Hood Age: 2 Race: Human (Potential Form) Level: 399 Health: 1000000000/1000000000 Mana: 0/0 Stamina: 98258/100000 Skills: ULTIMATE: FEAR- 4 Reality- 8 Empire- MAX System Override- 4 System Administrator- 8 Denial- 3 Interspace Movement- 8 DELETED- Devour Titles: World Mother Righteous Queen Denier of Fate Rejector of Gluttony Administrator ---------------- ¡°What are those stats?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°One Billion Health is insane!¡± Me, Michael, and Luma were examining my stats. ¡°Though, when was devour deleted?¡± ¡°Likely when Fear leveled.¡± ¡°Thank goodness for that.¡± ¡°Though, what does denier of fate mean, Luma?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ but if I had to guess, you denied the words of the one I can¡¯t speak of.¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°I did?¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t forgotten. His words were for you to forget, yet you became independent of him.¡± Then Michael asked the question I had been asking internally. ¡°What does Human (Potential Form) mean?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t actually know. But it¡¯s interesting that I was correct about FEAR being an unshift.¡± ¡°It certainly is.¡± ¡°Could the evolution of it look like Heather did?¡± ¡°Fear won¡¯t evolve.¡± I looked at Michael. ¡°How do you know?¡± ¡°Ultimates can level, but that¡¯s where they stop.¡± ¡°But Fear is different from other things. How do you know it isn¡¯t different here too?¡± ¡°Well, if it is, then color me surprised, but I think that we found what we were looking for.¡± ¡°Yeah, and me and Luma can¡¯t forget it either.¡± ¡°That¡¯s probably why whoever that guy who does that hasn¡¯t touched me since Luma was verified immune, it would be useless.¡± ¡°Yes, because you can disregard just me, but me and Luma is a bit much,¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± We went to the bridge and went back to Selethon. I walked into the inn and sat down, trying to comprehend what exactly we learned. There is a being that is strong enough to scare Luma even when she has full independence. And¡­ I was human still. I didn¡¯t feel human. My body was a dragon, but I was supposedly a human, and FEAR certainly didn¡¯t look human. ¡°Is that thing human?¡± ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°You¡¯re muttering to yourself.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just confused.¡± ¡°Did you all find what you were looking for?¡± ¡°Ye-¡° This presence wasn¡¯t familiar. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°That is not your business, but I¡¯ve come to warn you.¡± ¡°Are you the rogue admin?¡± ¡°No, but I am his associate.¡± ¡°So, why shouldn¡¯t I kill you?¡± ¡°You won¡¯t be able to. Either way, he has is eyes on you, so be careful.¡± ¡°Who is he?¡± ¡°The man who changes the world through his words.¡± ¡°Is he the one who made the book disappear?¡± ¡°Most likely. Listen, my boss is also against him.¡± ¡°Why threaten Haven into war with me?¡± ¡°To get his attention.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°Our agent risked everything to cause that, luckily he didn¡¯t catch onto who it was.¡± ¡°What would have happened if he did?¡± ¡°Erasure. Books aren¡¯t the only thing that man can delete.¡± ¡°Who is he?¡± ¡°I¡­ can¡¯t tell you but be careful. His manipulation spans far beyond simple erasure.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Then the presence was gone. It was a demon. That meant that whoever the mole is, they work for the devil, and they remain hidden from whoever scares them. The Ruler probably knows¡­ or does he? I just couldn¡¯t put the possibility out of my mind. Maybe it was this strange person¡¯s manipulation. Authors Note: Clever girl. I won¡¯t rule him out, but I need to be cautious. ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°Darsen. Hi.¡± ¡°How are you doing?¡± ¡°Good, you?¡± ¡°Good.¡± ¡°Hey¡­ about what I¡­ pressured you to do with Dominion-¡° ¡°It¡¯s cool, you were new. I should have put my foot down there. I knew it was a bad idea but I said nothing and simply went along with it.¡± ¡°¡­ Thank you.¡± ¡°No problem, just please don¡¯t avoid me next time you feel guilty.¡± ¡°Sorry man.¡± ¡°Yeah, actually I¡¯d been thinking about asking Luma to remove Devour from me.¡± ¡°I see. I can¡¯t advise you, unfortunately.¡± ¡°You¡¯re good. I would ask Damien¡­ but yeah. He¡¯s kinda dead.¡± I looked at him with a brow raised. Then I smiled. ¡°Can I buy you a drink?¡± ¡°Sure, why not.¡± My bad mood was lifted by talking with the one person who understood my fear of FEAR. _ I was happy. Rose had a true friend in Darsen. Both of them had an understanding that no one could reach. I, somehow, wasn¡¯t jealous. I could only feel happy when I saw Rose and Darsen talking and laughing. I was looking at them and smiling. ¡°I can¡¯t tell, do you have a crush on Rose or Darsen.¡± I glared at the snickering captain of the guard. ¡°I¡¯m just happy that some things don¡¯t change.¡± He smiled too. ¡°Yeah. That makes me happy too.¡± Chapter 139: Supreme Retaliation ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°I am the rogue administrator, as you call me.¡± ¡°Why did you summon me?¡± ¡°I want to talk with you.¡± ¡°I know you work with the devil.¡± ¡°Yes, my associate mentioned you likely recognized his essence.¡± ¡°What do you want with me?¡± ¡°To awaken you.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It already happened once. Lucifer saw the cradle.¡± ¡°I see. What¡¯s his goal?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell you.¡± ¡°I hate that.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°People keeping things from me, you want me on your side or to help, then tell me what I need to know.¡± ¡°Answers are much more satisfying to discover yourself, and to be honest. If you awaken you before you¡¯re ready, then he will just interfere again.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°How do you think you didn¡¯t kill everyone in the inn? That was him.¡± ¡°Then how bad could he be?¡± ¡°You have no idea.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. I don¡¯t, because no one will tell me!¡± ¡°Listen, I understand your annoyance, but I¡¯m running low on time, so I¡¯ll tell you this. The angels can be trusted.¡± ¡°What? I thought you would say that they can¡¯t.¡± ¡°No, they can, but make sure that he doesn¡¯t sink in his claws. If he does, even you wouldn¡¯t be able to resist.¡± ¡°What do you me-¡° {I see you} ¡°Crap, he found us. I have to go.¡± The rogue admin fled. I felt true fear at the approaching presence and warped back to Selethon gasping for breath. ¡°Rose?¡± Gabriel was where I appeared. ¡°I spoke to the rogue admin.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°He said to beware as whatever is reverting peoples mind is after him.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that good?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure anymore.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I was close to whatever it was, and¡­ it was terrifying.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°What?¡± He saw I was shaking. ¡°Rose, what did you see?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything. I left before it showed its face.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Gabriel, we need to warn Michael of something else.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It¡¯s getting agitated. I don¡¯t know why, but it will use its power to turn everyone against each other.¡± ¡°I see, well we can just work it out.¡± We entered the inn and all of the Angels had their blades turned on Raphael. ¡°What¡¯s going on?!¡± Gabriel ran forward, but Cassiel stopped him. ¡°He¡¯s the traitor.¡± I noticed that he had a large gouge on his chest. ¡°Did he do that to you?¡± Michael was confused. ¡°Did who do that to him?¡± Raphael nodded. ¡°Then he told them who I was.¡± ¡°I see. I didn¡¯t expect that you were the traitor, but I think you should answer a few questions for us.¡± ¡°I already told you everything I can.¡± Everyone was confused. Especially Gabriel. ¡°Who¡¯s he, and what did he do to him? Raphael doesn¡¯t look hurt.¡± The others nodded their agreements except for Luma. I looked at Raphael. ¡°I¡¯m guessing he¡¯s closing their eyes to that wound?¡± ¡°WHAT WOUND?!¡± ¡°You can¡¯t see it, but there is a massive gouge on his chest.¡± Luma nodded. ¡°The man blocked your sight.¡± I stepped forward. ¡°Rejuvenation.¡± Raphael¡¯s panting slowed. ¡°Thank you, I thought I was going to bleed out before anyone realized.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I was severely injured there. Of course, I have no doubt it will happen again. By your hands this time.¡± Michael glared at him. ¡°Why did you betray us?¡± ¡°For the same reason as Lu- GRK¡± He started coughing and all of us were shocked. ¡°Don- DON¡¯T TRUST HIM!!!¡± Then his neck snapped 180 degrees and the archangel fell dead. Luma was silent, but an announcement still sounded. [The administrator, Raphael, has been killed. The killer has gained a curse.] [In retaliation, The Supreme Faction has declared war on Garden.] ¡°What?¡± We all said that at the same time. We all saw what happened. ¡°I didn¡¯t make that announcement.¡± Luma said that, making us all look at her. Then I felt danger and dodged. Michael¡¯s blade narrowly missed me. ¡°How dare you kill Raphael in front of us!!!¡± That shocked the other angels. ¡°Are you blind?! He just-¡° ¡°Don¡¯t bother, his mind is being warped, he won¡¯t hear us.¡± Then I had to dodge again as Gabriel was manipulated. Cassiel picked up on what happened. ¡°ROSE, USE SYSTEM OVERRIDE AND BAN US!!!¡± ¡°Way ahead of you!¡± The angels all turned hostile as a gate opened behind each one of them and grabbed them before pulling them through. Dallel began shouting. ¡°Why would you kill an admin?!¡± Then Luma stood up. ¡°She didn¡¯t, it¡¯s manipulation.¡± ¡°How is it manipulation? We all saw her grab his neck and twist it!¡± ¡°She didn¡¯t, the man is making you believe she did.¡± ¡°WHAT MAN!?¡± ¡°The one I told¡­ he took your memories of that.¡± I was still in shock of what just happened. ¡°Get Elren.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°This man made one mistake when killing him.¡± Luma and everyone else looked at me in confusion as I smiled. ¡°He didn¡¯t smite him.¡± _ I was absolutely confused, what man did Luma and Rose refer to? But they seemed almost shocked by Raphael¡¯s death. Could it have been an illusion? ¡­ It has to be. Rose would never just kill like I just saw her do. Elren came in with a shocked expression. ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened but¡­ HOLY **** is that a dead admin?!¡± ¡°Yes, but despite what my mind tells me I saw, I don¡¯t think she did it.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Elren, is Alice nearby?¡± ¡°Yes, why?¡± ¡°I need you to revive him if at all possible.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± That got those who were still in disbelief to snap back to reality. ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s no way that she would just kill Raphael.¡± Elren brought in his daughter and both enabled their aspects. Then I saw them start to strain. ¡°His thread of life is thin, but I can still touch it. Be careful Alice.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± He reached out and grabbed something then touched his hand to Raphael, who¡¯s neck untwisted. ¡°Again!¡± He did the same thing. It seemed that an Archangel was at another level of revival than mortals. Then after the 5th time, Raphael started coughing. Rose knelt down. ¡°Listen, you died, and I know that he can still touch you, so I need to do something to make sure he can no longer touch you.¡± Then her and Luma¡¯s eyes glowed. [Set Individual Raphael¡¯s independence to maximum.] [Complete.] Raphael stood up and looked at her. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you did, but he is gone.¡± ¡°I did the same thing to you as I did to Luma, you are a fully independent being now like us two.¡± ¡°I see. What of them?¡± ¡°You were sorta the experiment.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Just making sure it worked, and since we need your knowledge, it worked. Of course, he can still harm you, but your mind is now untouchable.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± Then she looked at me. ¡°Dallel, come here, I will do the same to you now that I know it¡¯s safe.¡± ¡°Got it¡­ I trust you.¡± She called everyone in all of her worlds and made all of us independent from that man. It took 2 weeks. Chapter 140: The System Owner ¡°Welp, that was tiring.¡± ¡°Went a lot faster when you became able to touch multiple at the same time.¡± ¡°Yeah, then when I was able to simply utilize the Empire skill to get the rest¡­ hate that it took 2 weeks to figure that out.¡± I had maxed out Denial, System Override, and System Administrator. I was currently bedridden from the absolute massive use of mana to make everyone independent. ¡°Huh, that¡¯s interesting.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I can combine your skills.¡± ¡°Which one?¡± ¡°The three you just maxed.¡± ¡°What would that do?¡± ¡°I assume make an ultimate.¡± ¡°I think you should do it.¡± ¡°You already have one ultimate; it may be unbalanced to give you a second.¡± ¡°Have I fulfilled all necessary requirements?¡± ¡°¡­ yes.¡± ¡°Then why is it bad?¡± ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± She then evolved my skill. [The Skills: Denial, System Override, and System Administrator have been combined and evolved. You have gained the Ultimate skill System Owner. You now have as much control as the system Luma, once maxed out. This skill can be merged with FEAR when maxed out.] ¡°Wait, what?¡± ¡°That was the automatic thing. I didn¡¯t add anything to it.¡± ¡°So, I¡¯m now as strong as you.¡± ¡°No, upon looking at the details closer, you can¡¯t manipulate levels, nor can you make changes that drastically make you more powerful. You can really only do the arbitrary things. You can¡¯t even waive things.¡± ¡°Well, it is level one.¡± ¡°Level one FEAR put a 600 on his guard.¡± ¡°Good point.¡± ¡°You can still mess with my settings though¡­ in fact, you now have owner permissions.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°I think that you don¡¯t need to have a pass code anymore to access the classified stuff.¡± ¡°Nice, I¡¯ll have to check on that later.¡± ¡°But merge it with FEAR?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s odd. I mean, even denial shared similarities with Admin and Override.¡± ¡°Yeah, so what¡¯s with that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Ugh, you¡¯d think that I¡¯d be able to figure it out with this OP skill.¡± ¡°As you said, it¡¯s only level one. It may get much, much stronger.¡± ¡°I hope so.¡± ¡°Your interspace movement¡¯s 9 now.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Simple, when you used Empire, it went between world lines. You¡¯re actually not far from 10.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°So, what do we do?¡± ¡°Go to Tortura and talk to Vitilio. One thing that didn¡¯t happen, that he hopefully noticed. The alliance wasn¡¯t broken between me, him, and Gabriel.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right!!!¡± ¡°That may make him realize that something¡¯s wrong.¡± ¡°What if that man already did something to him?¡± ¡°He has to have some kind of limit. He messed with the minds of 6 archangels after killing one, then he messed with the minds of over 20 billion people. He¡¯s likely resting.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± I walked out of my inn room and went down. ¡°Silas, could I have some food?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Most of everyone was moping. The Supreme Faction was leagues above what we¡¯d faced before, and we were at war. The only thing that defended us was a shield that may not even hold. The worst part was that someone even stronger was tricking them. ¡°Are you going somewhere?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to Tortura to attempt to gather allies.¡± ¡°No one¡¯s going to join us.¡± ¡°Then they won¡¯t join us, but we can¡¯t just mope around here and wait for them to find a way past the ban.¡± Dallel was deflated. ¡°Rose, Gabriel is one of the weaker admins, and when testing, he nearly killed you before you even noticed his movement.¡± Raphael was also battered. ¡°What¡¯s worse. I can¡¯t bring myself to fight my siblings. How could I fight them when I know they are being manipulated?¡± ¡°If you want to give up then go to Heaven and tell them to kill you.¡± ¡°What?!¡± Everyone, including Luma, just looked at me in shock. ¡°We have faced terrible odds, not quite as bad as this, but still. We have been through a lot. We have faced a lot. And we may be at a disadvantage, we may even lose, but if you want to just sit here and mope, then don¡¯t bother wasting the supplies of those who still fight to keep yourself around.¡± I looked around. ¡°I understand you¡¯re sick of it. All of this bloodshed. All of this pain. I am too. And I tell you the truth, there is nothing I¡¯d like to do more right now then crawl back into my bed and pity myself until their army rushes through and kills me, but you know why I don¡¯t do that?¡± My eyes started glowing. ¡°Because I know that if I just give up, I will be taking those who fought before and died. Those we honored and respected, and even those we despised and killed. I¡¯ll be taking their lives, their fights, and spitting in their faces. So, if you feel hopeless and aren¡¯t going to contribute anything to keeping those still with us safe.¡± I turned and opened the inns door. ¡°Then save the Supreme faction the trouble.¡± I slammed the door and left. I understood what they were saying. What they were feeling, but crying wouldn¡¯t get us anywhere. I reached the hub and opened a portal. ¡°Please be understanding, Vitilio.¡± _ We were silent for a long time. Rose had never snapped to that degree. She insulted us. Was blunt and rude. Even Luma was at a loss for words. Yet¡­ She was right. We had just sat around, moaning and groaning, for two weeks. Now that she had said it, I was ashamed. Luma sighed. ¡°She¡¯s right. She could have given up the moment Raphael¡¯s neck was snapped. I don¡¯t think anyone would¡¯ve blamed her.¡± ¡°I certainly wouldn¡¯t have.¡± Raphael¡¯s words were sobering. Then Mammon gave a cold laugh. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m inspired. Let¡¯s help Rose and make ¡®er proud.¡± Then Raphael said something shocking. ¡°I think I know where we can get allies.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m the only one that can get there, but¡­ Rose is right, we can¡¯t just sit around crying about our woes.¡± He got up and started leaving. ¡°Wait, who are you going to ask?¡± ¡°The only faction that has resisted the Supreme faction since before I was even born.¡± He smiled. ¡°Lucifer¡¯s Light.¡± Chapter 141: The Limit of Control I warped into the hub. Everyone froze when I appeared. ¡°Hello, Frall. I need to speak with Vitilio.¡± ¡°Is it true?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°The system said you¡­ you killed an admin.¡± ¡°It was not the system we know. Luma was as shocked as the rest of us by the announcement.¡± ¡°Then who-¡° ¡°I don¡¯t know who, but I do know that this person is powerful.¡± ¡°Frall, if you don¡¯t stop socializing with that filth, then we will brand you a violator and kill you.¡± I got annoyed. ¡°Silence angel. No one asked for your opinion.¡± ¡°Bold, it almost sounded like you wanted peace for a moment.¡± ¡°I do want peace, but until the same person that killed Raphael is brought to justice, peace isn¡¯t possible.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, so die already.¡± ¡°If I did kill Raphael then Luma would have taken me out.¡± ¡°All archangels told exactly what happened.¡± ¡°No, they told what he made them believe.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s he, your ex or something?¡± ¡°Funny, but no, he¡¯s someone far stronger than anyone in the supreme faction with the possible exception of the Ruler.¡± His humoring face turned to a grimace. ¡°Are you claiming that a being that surpassed God did this?¡± ¡°Once again, I don¡¯t know if he has, but he can make things simply cease to exist, snap an archangel¡¯s neck without even being there then change everyone¡¯s mind, including the ruler, to blame me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a horrible excuse.¡± ¡°Trust me, if I hadn¡¯t experienced it, I wouldn¡¯t have believed it. I understand your doubts.¡± ¡°You killed a-¡° ¡°Do you really doubt your faction¡¯s commanders that much?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Supposedly, I, a level 399, simply walked up and snapped an archangel¡¯s neck. What¡¯s more believable, that your leaders are that weak, or that someone other than me and the Ruler has very high-level reality magic, and hypnosis.¡± The angel and his partner considered that and realized that they couldn¡¯t come up with an answer. Then a sudden shift that most noticed. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, you killed him, and you will pay for that.¡± I sighed. ¡°Now he¡¯s just getting sloppy.¡± Frall looked at the angels in confusion. Most of everyone did. The sudden shift from genuinely considering my point like angels did to not listening was so sudden that it caught them off guard. ¡°We¡¯ll kill you!!!¡± Surprisingly, not only were the angels of comparable power to me, but they also were wild from the sloppy mind change, so I beat them easily and knocked them out. ¡°Now, that¡¯s handled.¡± I turned to Frall who was still in shock. ¡°That was sloppier than what he usually does, but I¡¯m sure you all saw that, right?¡± Everyone nodded, after that, suddenly my crazy story didn¡¯t seem so crazy. ¡°Though I was right. He must have a limit.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take you to meet Vitilio.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± _ I went with Raphael to ask with him. When we got there, I noticed desolate land, hundreds of both Angel and Demon corpses. ¡°Welcome to the battleground. Also known as the most dangerous world out there.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a higher level than Heaven.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± ¡°Lucifer, I know you¡¯re here.¡± Silence, deeper than anything I had heard before. This world was dead. ¡°Raphael?¡± A disembodied voice sounded from every direction. A powerful presence followed it. ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°I thought you died,¡± ¡°I did.¡± ¡°Then, did he bring you back?¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°No, Rose and her brother did.¡± ¡°Wasn¡¯t it Rose that did you in?¡± ¡°No, that was his fault.¡± ¡°What¡¯s with the elf?¡± ¡°That¡¯s Dallel, a brave man that decided to come on behalf of Garden.¡± ¡°I see, and why couldn¡¯t Rose come herself.¡± ¡°She went to Tortura to gain support.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a foolish move.¡± ¡°I agree, but since she¡¯s doing it, I decided to come here and get your help.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Can you aid us?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I apologize, but if that man is resorting to killing an archangel to cover his tracks, then I¡¯m not getting involved.¡± ¡°But-¡° ¡°No buts, you can officially join us, hide with us, but I am not confronting him at this point. Not until she awakens.¡± ¡°She won¡¯t have the chance to awaken if the supreme faction wipes her and the rest of Garden off the map.¡± ¡°Have faith that she won¡¯t die.¡± Then the voice faded along with the overwhelming presence. ¡°Well crap. That didn¡¯t work.¡± ¡°So, what now?¡± ¡°We meet up with Rose in Selethon, because I was made independent, I don¡¯t know if that man can still see me. If he can¡¯t, then his falsities will be caught off guard, but I think that it would be far more efficient to reveal against the angels.¡± _ ¡°He does not have a limit. Why would he act as though he had one? To trick me. Well, that went horribly wrong.¡± Halfway through the walk, everyone, including Frall, dashed to kill me. I barely evaded all of them and hid in an alley. ¡°He is annoying, and I can only affect people who swear loyalty to me.¡± That was an unfortunate drawback of System Owner. While I had high permissions, I could only affect what I ruled. ¡°Rose, this way.¡± I looked and saw Vitilio. ¡°What? You aren¡¯t like¡­ that?¡± ¡°Not yet, but I assume we don¡¯t have long before whoever did that does it to me too?¡± ¡°I¡¯d assume so.¡± ¡°Hm. Is there any way to avoid it.¡± ¡°If you swear loyalty, I would be able to make you fully independent.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know that you-¡° [Vitilio has sworn loyalty to you.] ¡°Oh, uh thanks.¡± I did the procedure and he sighed. ¡°I could feel him reaching for me when you did that.¡± ¡°He¡¯s powerful, but now that you¡¯re safe I can break off the con-¡° ¡°Nah, keep it. I don¡¯t mind working under you. You are a good person.¡± He looked down. ¡°The moment I heard that you supposedly killed Raphael, I knew it had to either be a lie, or you had to have a darn good reason.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t kill him, the same one who did that to your people did.¡± ¡°I see¡­ Rose, I¡¯m going to ask you to do something, if you do, then we will have a much bigger chance, but¡­ Haven will ascend.¡± ¡°You want me to unstagnate your growth.¡± He nodded. ¡°Are you sure, there is no going back.¡± ¡°Yes. This is a time when it is needed.¡± [System command: Undo Stagnation on individual, Vitilio.] [Your subordinate, Vitilio has resumed level growth, applying gathered XP.] [Vitilio has ascended into The Highest Class. Applying all built up XP.] [Vitilio has reached level 804] ¡°You gained¡­ 4 levels.¡± ¡°Saying how much it takes to level at this stage, I¡¯d say we were lucky it¡¯s that many.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s¡­ just kind of underwhelming. I mean I became a 399 the moment I first ascended.¡± ¡°You also had to hunt 700s.¡± ¡°¡­ good point.¡± ¡°Yeah, but as you probably learnt, an ascension will bring your power up, so now I am quite powerful.¡± [The Middle-Class Faction, Haven, has ascended to a Higher Faction.] ¡°Um¡­¡± ¡°Could have done without her announcing that.¡± ¡°Yeah, because now¡­¡± [Sorry, I got excited. Higher factions are rare.] [Any archangels on their way here?] [Yep¡­] [All of them?] [Yep¡­] ¡°Well, crap.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°All of the archangels are coming here.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because they know you¡¯re stagnated.¡± ¡°And only an administrator can undo that.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± ¡°They¡¯re coming to kill me.¡± ¡°How can we stop them?¡± ¡°If you were to merge I could ban them from this world and all others currently under your control, but there¡¯s a problem.¡± ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°Your people need to agree with it¡­¡± ¡°And they are all controlled.¡± ¡°I¡¯m beginning to think that this was planned out.¡± ¡°This enemy of yours is annoyingly intelligent.¡± ¡°Yes, yes he is.¡± ¡°Is there a way to stop them?¡± ¡°¡­ Domination.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°I used to have a skill that joined into the nation skill, it was called Domination, I may be able to call on its dredges and stop them, then you can convince them of joining.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a wonderful idea.¡± I stepped into the main road, then I spoke in a deep voice that was not befitting of my stature. {[Stop]} Using the system made it even more powerful and everyone who charged me froze. ¡°What¡¯s happening?!¡± ¡°Vitilio, hurry. I can¡¯t hold it for long.¡± The Wolfkin ran forward and shouted using his own skill, King¡¯s Voice. ¡°People of mine, you see Rose as an enemy, but there is someone who forces you to see that way. His hypnosis makes you forget and lash out. You all saw that we ascended into a higher faction, and you all know what that means. My stagnation is over because of the threat that made you violent.¡± Everyone was shocked by what the king was saying. ¡°Now the archangels, who are controlled by the same being which influences you, are coming to kill her, and if they succeed, then our only weapon against such a monster goes with her.¡± The people cried out in fear, so he continued. ¡°There is a solution, if she rules a world, then she can ban any beings that she doesn¡¯t want to enter from entering.¡± Frall was the first to grasp his meaning. ¡°Sire, you don-¡° ¡°I do. If we are to protect our people and the future factions that appear, then we must merge with Garden.¡± [The individual Frall has sworn loyalty to you.] More and more, even those who weren¡¯t in the faction, even the angels swore loyalty to me. Then another announcement sounded. [The Supreme Faction has declared war on¡­ Faction not found.] [The Higher-Class Faction, Haven, has merged with Garden.] Then, numerous lower factions also merged. [Requirements have been met, the Administrator, Rose Hood is ascending to a Middle-Class higher being.] [Rose Hood has reached level 538] ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Heh?¡± ¡°THAT WAS YOUR ASCENSION REQUIREMENTS?!!¡± ¡°I never actually checked it, so I guess?¡± [Specifically, it was merge with a higher-level faction.] ¡°Luma, why does your leveler keep giving impossible tasks!¡± [You keep doing them.] ¡°¡­¡± [¡­] ¡°That¡¯s fair.¡± I remembered why we merged in the first place. [System command, Ban-] My head was cut off before I could finish, but my body leapt out of the way before the string could be cut. ¡°Close one, now, you all aligned with a murderer. We will kill you for that.¡± Cassiel looked at the duo that aligned with me in disgust. ¡°I have no clue why you still have those halos. No matter. You¡¯ll die all the same.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Everyone turned to the opening gate which Raphael walked through. ¡°I-impossible. You died!¡± ¡°Yep, luckily, Rose¡¯s brother can resurrect the dead if they aren¡¯t smited.¡± ¡°But-¡° ¡°She didn¡¯t kill me. That man did.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°He goes only by a title, of course, I don¡¯t know his real name, but he is very strong.¡± ¡°What does he call himself?!¡± Raphael sighed. ¡°If I could tell you, I would, but he already killed me for knowing, and he¡¯s trying to kill Rose for likely getting close.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s because I¡¯m immune to his mind manipulation.¡± ¡°That too.¡± Cassiel was starting to break, and I could tell that she didn¡¯t want to fight anymore. We were winning. Of course, he planned for that, as the other 5 came in while everyone was distracted. Everyone but me. ¡°FEAR!¡± I enabled my ultimate and shielded Raphael, who didn¡¯t even notice Michael¡¯s strike. ¡°Cassiel, focus, it¡¯s obviously a fake. He isn¡¯t even an administrator.¡± ¡°Yes, death does do that.¡± My arm was broken, but I could still move. I repaired it and got into a combative stance. ¡°Everyone, I¡¯ll make a gate to Pandora by the entrance, get there as fast as you can. You too Raphael.¡± ¡°But-¡° ¡°You lost both your administration and your blessing; you won¡¯t last long.¡± ¡°And you will?!¡± ¡°Longer than you.¡± Then Dallel shouted. ¡°Gosh dang it Rose, Stop sacrificing yourself and expecting us to be okay with it. I agree that you all should run, but me myself¡­¡± He walked to my side and smiled, looking at my face. ¡°If you¡¯re going down, then I¡¯m going down with ya.¡± ¡°Dallel.¡± ¡°Listen, a year ago, me, Jalad, and Royce made a promise.¡± I looked at him and he gave a sad smile. ¡°We would defend you, and I¡¯ve failed at that, again and again.¡± Then he leveled his sword at the Archangels. His hand was shaking with fear. ¡°I¡¯m not failing again.¡± Chapter 142: To Fight an Angel Me and Dallel entered combat as Vitilio and Raphael led everyone into the gate. Gabriel slashed at my head, Cassiel at my stomach, and Michael at my side. I dodged the first two, but Michael cut me clean in half. As I reconnected, Uriel and Juedel started cutting the string, as Gabriel cut for my head, but I ducked making him instead cut my head in half. I grabbed the top with my dismembered hands and plapped it back onto my head. Then I leapt up, reconnecting and shifting into a dragon. I roared and Gabriel leapt at me. He leapt at my face and slashed down. I dodged and bit down, which he narrowly dodged. He then launched up and slashed down onto my face, but I opened my mouth. He fell directly in. I tried to not swallow. He slashed the inside of my mouth, so I realized I needed to do a dragon thing. I breathed fire and he was shot out with burning wings and charred skin. He stood up and batted out his wings, but he was hurt. I looked over and saw Dallel where I saw him earlier. Lying on the floor trying to not pass out. ¡°Good, he¡¯s safe for now.¡± Honestly, I was barely holding onto life as it was. I shifted back to my catkin form coughing. The angels circled me. ¡°I don¡¯t know why you did it. We thought we could trust you, but you killed our friend.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t and he¡¯s alive.¡± ¡°We know that¡¯s not him!¡± ¡°And how would I get someone who looks just like him.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I coughed again. Blood flew from my mouth. ¡°It was¡­ that man. The one I told you about. Gabriel, the one that reverted my mind.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even know what you are talking about.¡± But I could feel a flicker of recognition.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Yes, you do, you saw his power, and now you and the others are victims of his manipulation.¡± ¡°Gabriel, she¡¯s tricking you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not, please, I know that you can feel it, please remember the truth.¡± Then Gabriel screamed and grabbed his head, dropping his sword. ¡°Gabriel.¡± I took advantage and banned them, but as Gabriel was struggling, I said to him. ¡°When you remember, you know where to find me.¡± I saw the absolute rage and hate in each of their eyes as the gate pulled them through. ¡°Dallel.¡± I crouched over. ¡°Rejuvenation.¡± Then I stood up and fell right back down. ¡°Sister, the time of our meeting is almost here.¡± _ Jalad Pov We heard the sound of billions of people entering the hub. We didn¡¯t know the specifics, just that it was bad. We directed people to prepared refugee camps. Then in the portal I heard a voice. ¡°HOLY **** DID ROSE JUST EAT GABRIEL?!¡± Yep, it was definitely bad. _ Celios Pov I was flying over to make sure that everyone was safe. It was chaos, people of all races were rushing out of the hub. ¡°What¡¯s happening in there?!¡± ¡°From what I understand the archangels showed up and are clashing with Rose and Dallel.¡± ¡°WHY IS DALLEL FIGHTING?!¡± ¡°HOW SHOULD I KNOW?!!¡± It was too much, we were getting overloaded, so we directed some people to Halla and Falsel. Seeing numerous deities calmed a lot of people. Then, suddenly, all of the noise coming from the portal stopped. ¡°Is she alive?¡± I landed in front of the gate and saw her walking towards it. She was covered in blood, but she maintained FEAR as she carried Dallel. She walked through the gate and put him down. ¡°Get him medical attention.¡± Then she took two steps forward and collapsed, but FEAR still held. _ I woke up in a day as I didn¡¯t sustain many wounds, but Rose was unconscious. I visited her every day. Her body maintained FEAR, but she wouldn¡¯t move. Luma sat with her 24/7. ¡°Luma, how are you?¡± She enabled the full automation, but her conscious mind remained focused on Rose. ¡°Luma, I brought you food.¡± As she typically did, she didn¡¯t acknowledge me. ¡°I hope she¡¯ll wake up soon.¡± I sat there in silence before getting up to leave. ¡°It¡¯s my fault.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I spoke of him first. If I didn¡¯t, he never would have targeted Rose. I was selfish and now Rose is like this.¡± ¡°Luma¡­¡± ¡°I did this. It¡¯s my fault.¡± She sniffed, a glowing tear fell from her eyes. ¡°You didn¡¯t do this. He did.¡± ¡°But-¡° ¡°No, I guarantee that he would have gone after Rose if you mentioned him or not. She was immune to him. He wouldn¡¯t like that.¡± ¡°But now she¡¯s almost dead.¡± ¡°She isn¡¯t though, and that¡¯s what matters.¡± I smiled; it was a sad smile. ¡°No matter what, as long as Rose lives, we can win.¡± ¡°But what if she falls?¡± ¡°Then we still win. For her. For Asura, Royce, Dalis, and everyone else who died to get us this far. Rose was the unifier, yes, but we were the result of her work. She made us strong; we are strong. So, even if she doesn¡¯t get up for a year, let¡¯s win this¡­ okay?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Luma smiled as I left. _ Luma POV You keep reading my mind¡­ Alas, he isn¡¯t here. I can tell. Rose isn¡¯t waking up. I don¡¯t know when she will, for you, it will probably be just the next chapter, but for me¡­ I looked at Rose in exhaustion. I still cried. It was all my fault. Because, he would never have learnt that she was immune if I didn¡¯t pressure her about FEAR. ¡­ ¡°Luma?¡± I looked up in a flash to see Rose opening her eyes. ¡°Why are you crying?¡± ¡°ROSE!¡± Chapter 143: Peace Returns Gabriel POV I was kneeling in front of the throne. Sitting on it was the Ruler. ¡°Gabriel, do you know why I have summoned you.¡± ¡°No, sire.¡± ¡°Well, you have seen Rose Hood, and her manipulation, but still¡­ you want to help her. Why?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, Lord. I just¡­ I don¡¯t think she killed Raphael.¡± ¡°And why not?¡± ¡°Because¡­ it was too out of nowhere. She just suddenly turning out to be a violent monster doesn¡¯t add up to anything. Plus, her mentioning of a man¡­ I don¡¯t know why, but it feels familiar.¡± ¡°Do you think that whoever he is, that he managed to manipulate us.¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know, but wouldn¡¯t you be able to verify if the Raphael that showed up is actually Raphael?¡± ¡°I¡­ suppose. Invite Rose to Heaven for peace negotiations, have her bring him.¡± ¡°Yes, my lord.¡± This was interesting. ¡°You can now bypass the ban.¡± ¡°Thank you, Lord.¡± He truly was merciful. _ I was limping around, but everyone was happy to see me. For some reason, FEAR wouldn¡¯t rescind. I checked and it had leveled to 6, maybe that made it passive? Of course, that didn¡¯t mean I was blind. ¡°Calm down, Rose. I¡¯m not here to fight.¡± I pinned Gabriel to the wall; my blade was a simple jab from killing him. But¡­ ¡°You aren¡¯t lying, so why are you here?¡± ¡°The Ruler wants to discuss peace.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°He agrees that it¡¯s a possibility that we were tricked.¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°He wants you to bring the Raphael guy so he can verify whether he is real or not.¡± ¡°Raphael, are you real?¡± ¡°I think I am.¡± I snickered and Gabriel gave me a tired look. Then he was out of my grasp and next to me. ¡°Are we going or not?¡± ¡°We¡¯re coming, don¡¯t worry.¡± _ Heaven was much as I remembered it. Golden, pretty, and big. We traveled and a lot of angels froze and stared at Raphael. ¡°Is that actually him?¡± ¡°How is he here?¡± ¡°Could we have been tricked like Gabriel suggested?¡± ¡°I heard that two angels joined her after learning we were tricked.¡± ¡°Is that Rose?¡± ¡°She¡¯s tall.¡± ¡°I thought she was supposed to be pretty.¡± ¡°I thought angels were supposed to be polite.¡± The angel who said that froze and started sweating as I replied. Gabriel turned to me. ¡°By the way, why are you in FEAR?¡± ¡°Funny story.¡± ¡°Of course, it is.¡± ¡°Ever since we battled, it leveled to 6, and¡­ I can¡¯t turn it off.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°*sigh*¡± Gabriel didn¡¯t say anything and just walked off. We followed him as I smiled shyly. Then we saw a palace that I remembered from Kala¡¯s memories. God¡¯s hall. Inside was a great power that made me shiver. Gabriel led us inside and kneeled at the throne, Raphael did the same. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Why do you not kneel?¡± ¡°Because we, even if this is speaking for peace, are currently at war. If I kneel, that is an admission of submission, and I don¡¯t do that.¡± All of the Archangels gawked at me. Michael¡¯s rage simmered but the Ruler lifted his head and laughed. ¡°I suppose that makes sense.¡± ¡°So, you¡¯ve seen Raphael, do you now see that he is indeed real?¡± ¡°Yes, it seems this man is quite powerful. To be able to trick us, but he did die, so how is he here?¡± ¡°That is a secret I would rather keep.¡± ¡°I see, then I won¡¯t pry¡­ Thank you for bringing him back.¡± ¡°It is no issue; I wouldn¡¯t want to see my friend dead either.¡± ¡°Now, Raphael, I know you are the rogue admin.¡± That caught the other angels off guard. I raised my brow. ¡°That man removed that information?¡± ¡°Likely to amplify their anger.¡± ¡°I see, that makes sense.¡± ¡°Raphael, what can you tell me about this man?¡± ¡°Not much, I¡¯m afraid.¡± ¡°Since you were working with him, I assume Lucifer knows more about him?¡± ¡°Yes, but all I know is that it is related to why he left your service.¡± ¡°Perhaps he figured that something like this would happen.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± ¡°Do you believe that you would be able to bring him here to discuss?¡± ¡°No, I went to the battlefield, the only place I can actually speak to him, but he said that while the man is desperate enough to kill an archangel just to eliminate one threat, then he needs to lie low until it he calms down.¡± ¡°Then maybe I should go to the battlefield to speak with him.¡± ¡°Lord, I doubt he would reveal himself if you were there.¡± ¡°I see, then why don¡¯t you ask him?¡± ¡°I have, Lord.¡± ¡°Battlefield?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a dead world that used to act as a battleground between angels and demons.¡± ¡°I see. That makes sense.¡± The Ruler thought for a moment, then he seemed to have an idea. ¡°Then Rose, why don¡¯t you ask him?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Listen, I will make peace with you, then you figure out what this man is from the person who seems to know the most.¡± ¡°That makes sense.¡± Then Luma made an announcement. [The Supreme Faction and Garden have made peace.] ¡°Now that is over, I must apologize for what happened. This man is quite manipulative.¡± ¡°It is alright, I was just lucky I managed to make Luma immune before his killing of Raphael.¡± ¡°That would certainly be good.¡± ¡°Indeed, I¡¯ll go to this battlefield and meet with Lucifer. I hope I can find out more.¡± I turned and traveled to the door before turning. ¡°We will win this.¡± Then I left and warped to Battlefield. Chapter 144: Something Other than Fear It certainly fit the bill. Bodies of angels and demons were strewn as far as the eye could see, it had an emptiness reminiscent of Hell. ¡°Lucifer, are you here?¡± Then a powerful presence shone around then a familiar voice sounded. ¡°Hello sister.¡± ¡°¡­ you¡­¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°You are the one that made sure that I would live peacefully?¡± ¡°Yes, away from him, but he already knew you were there.¡± ¡°Who is he?¡± ¡°Someone way too powerful for anyone to handle.¡± ¡°More specifically?¡± ¡°I¡­ can¡¯t tell you that.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°You are not yet ready.¡± ¡°¡­ not to defend me?¡± ¡°No, you are the only one I think capable of defeating him.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Through his long existence there have been only two people fully immune to his power¡­ Me and you.¡± So, Lucifer was also immune. ¡°Why do you think I am more capable than you?¡± ¡°You will learn that in the future, once you awaken.¡± ¡°Awaken?¡± ¡°You shall see, you already did early. But he silenced it, hid it.¡± ¡°You mean, that thing was what you refer to as awakened?¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s an anomaly. Something even he couldn¡¯t have anticipated.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to win with that.¡± ¡°You will, and I know exactly what will make it awaken.¡± ¡°What?¡± [Lucifer¡¯s light has declared war on Garden.] ¡°After you awaken, you will see why I have to do this, sister.¡± ¡°No! Why would you go through that much struggle? You sent Asmodeus, you did so much to make sure that I would awaken. Why declare war?¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°You will thank me later. I will be there in 2 days.¡± The voice and presence of Lucifer faded, but my rage hadn¡¯t. {Don¡¯t just leave!} [FEAR has leveled to 7] ¡°What¡­ what was that?¡± That sounded like domination, but different. [Warp to Selethon.] Then I was in the guild, causing everyone to jump. ¡°ROSE, STOP DOING THAT!¡± They noticed my face. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Luma, did you not announce it to everyone?¡± ¡°Announce what?¡± ¡°... what?¡± ¡°Rose, what¡¯s happening?¡± Gabriel entered the guild with a confused and concerned look. ¡°Lucifer has declared war.¡± As their faces turned to shock, I drove the nail into the coffin. ¡°He¡¯s coming in two days.¡± ¡°Rose¡­ do you know what that means?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°An Archdemon leveled at 999 is coming with an entire army capable of keeping even the entire Supreme Faction at bay.¡± ¡°So, we are dead?¡± ¡°Of all of the problems you have been in, this is by far the worst. Why did he even declare war?¡± ¡°He wants to awaken me, he said. He said I¡¯m the only one capable of beating him.¡± ¡°Then why declare war?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have to try to gather as many as I can.¡± ¡°Who would we be able to get?¡± ¡°The archangels, and maybe the equivalent of one of our factions.¡± ¡°Is that enough?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then I will face them.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°They are coming for me, then I should be the one they face.¡± I began walking to the door. ¡°No, you won¡¯t survive even a min-¡° {I will defeat them and not a single one of these people will die.} The silence was deafening. Gabriel was shivering. Luma spoke first. ¡°What was that?¡± I simply left. _ ¡°What was that?¡± Luma spoke first. Then Rose slammed the door and left. ¡°What was that?!¡± Gabriel was in shock. ¡°Luma, do you know what that was?¡± ¡°No.¡± Her eyes were wide, and her body had reflexively gone into a defensive position. ¡°But that wasn¡¯t FEAR.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Did none of you see?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Her talons were gone. She¡¯s becoming more humanlike.¡± Gabriel stood up, his face filled with determination. ¡°I¡¯m gathering all of the men I can. We are not letting her fight alone.¡± We all nodded. Authors note: Ooh, what fun. The battle is beginning, of course, this won¡¯t be the last battle of the war, that would be boring. But wait up, there is way more to come dear re- ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°What¡¯s what?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± I could have sworn I heard something. Authors note: ¡­what? There it was again. Who was that? Authors note: ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ I am an ally. ¡®Interesting, what¡¯s your name?¡¯ Authors note: Call me¡­ the Author. ¡®Okay?¡¯ This could be good, if this guy was actually on our side, he could help a lot. Authors note: I just want to know how you can hear me. ¡®I don¡¯t actually know, could that man have been hiding you?¡¯ Authors note: Maybe. ¡®Well, let¡¯s talk some more, I¡¯m interested in what you know.¡¯ Ask away. Woah, that got a lot closer. Of course, now, ask. What do you know about Rose¡¯s awakening? A horrible idea. Why? Let me put it this way, do you know that thing that nearly killed you when Rose checked her skills? Yes? That was the awakening. What? Precisely. It¡¯s far too dangerous to let live. I¡¯m not killing Rose. I wouldn¡¯t dream of it, but see it this way, if you keep her from awakening in the first place, then everything can work as normal. I see. I didn¡¯t know everything, but I understood that I couldn¡¯t let her awaken. So, what do you think? Should we defeat the demons? Are you able to help? Of course, I can help. I can make sure that our dear, Rose, isn¡¯t even harmed. You can? ¡°Dallel, are you good?¡± ¡°Yeah, I just am hearing from a potential ally. He says that he knows a way to make sure Rose isn¡¯t harmed at all.¡± ¡°Incredible.¡± So, how do we do it? Already done. ¡°He said it¡¯s already done.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s still go, to keep her safe.¡± ¡°I¡¯m still bringing my men.¡± I nodded. ¡°Of course, this is a new person, we shouldn¡¯t trust them immediately, yet.¡± If the Author was truly as strong as he said, then we had to win. How could we not? We would find him and destroy him. Chapter 145: Two More Foes I stood in front of Selethon waiting. Despite my wanting to take the army on alone, almost everyone that could hold a sword was now there. Including a surprising one. ¡°You do know that they are here for me, right?¡± The Ruler nodded. ¡°Of course, I do, however, I¡¯ve wanted to fight Lucifer for a long time, and now he¡¯s finally showing his face. I will make sure you avoid harm.¡± ¡°What do you think of his ¡®awakening¡¯ me?¡± ¡°Until we actually know what that entails, I¡¯d suggest that we leave it alone.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because it could be quite dangerous.¡± ¡°I guess.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but feel like awakening was necessary. If that man was really a threat, then if it¡¯s the only way to take him down, it may be a necessary risk. I stood in front of everyone gathered. ¡°Speech! Speech! Speech!¡± Then everyone went silent and looked at me. I breathed in and breathed out. ¡°All right, we are gathered because someone is coming, a powerful being and his army. And many of you, those native to Pandora especially, are tired of seeing this kind of scenario.¡± All of the native Pandorans snickered. ¡°But know this. There are only two more enemies. The man we have yet to discover and Lucifer. After them, we have won. We will no longer need to fight powerful beings. We can live as we want. Many of you have families, many offspring. We need to fight for them. So, they can live in peace. But now, one of the last enemies is coming to our doorstep, half of our remaining problem can be solved right here and right now.¡± They all looked at me. ¡°So, those loyal to me I give you this command, and to those who have come to help I give this as a request. Fight, so we and all others after us can live!¡± Everyone, even those in the Supreme Faction, started cheering. [FEAR has leveled to 8] I ignored the announcement, but some noticed that my wings were no longer tattered.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. _ ¡°So, tomorrow is war.¡± Me and Darsen spent the evening drinking. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± ¡°To think, just three years ago, I thought you were just a kid that needed protection from slavers.¡± ¡°Oh, you were in a worse position than I was.¡± ¡°Certainly.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m happy.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°You are suuuuch a good pershon.¡± His words started slurring. ¡°As are you.¡± ¡°I love you, Rose.¡± I smiled. ¡°You¡¯re a little sissster ta me.¡± I patted his forehead and he fell asleep. ¡°And you are like an older brother to me.¡± I warped him to his room. Then I checked my stats. ----------------------- Rose Hood Age: 2 Race: Human (Potential Form) Level: 539 Health: 10000000000/10000000000 Mana: 0/0 Stamina: 1000000/1000000 Skills: ULTIMATE: Fear- 8 Reality- MAX Empire- MAX ULTIMATE: System Owner- 2 Interspace Movement- 9 Titles: World Mother Righteous Queen Denier of Fate Rejector of Gluttony Administrator Fear ---------------- ¡°Goodness, gain a hundred levels and your stats 10x.¡± ¡°That is typical.¡± Luma was sitting next to me, sipping her wine. ¡°When did I get the title, Fear?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, it¡¯s probably something that will come in handy.¡± ¡°Luma?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I think I know how to ¡®awaken¡¯ myself.¡± ¡°What?! What is it?¡± ¡°Remember when I first got System Owner, what it said?¡± ¡°That you could combine it with FEAR¡­ do you think that that¡¯s the awakening?¡± ¡°I think so¡­ just think of all of the combined skills.¡± ¡°Yeah, that would certainly be powerful.¡± ¡°What¡¯s after Ultimate?¡± ¡°Nothing recorded.¡± ¡°I see, so would I be the first?¡± ¡°Potentially.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± We snickered and clinked glasses before drinking. ¡°You can probably fly.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I mean, your wings aren¡¯t tattered anymore.¡± I looked down. ¡°What is it, Rose?¡± ¡°Luma, don¡¯t you think that it is minorly concerning that I get less terrifying every time the skill FEAR levels up.¡± Luma sighed. ¡°Yeah, yeah that does kind of concern me. And, if you are right about the awakening, that implies that he knows you can only level it in extreme scenarios. But I don¡¯t know how he could have learnt that.¡± ¡°He¡¯s been watching me.¡± ¡°What? Since when? Why didn¡¯t you tell anyone?¡± ¡°Since I was split off from Heather.¡± ¡°T-that¡¯s impossible, you weren¡¯t even an individual yet.¡± ¡°He told me that he ensured that I would live a good life. That I would exist in peace, until the right time.¡± ¡°He was preparing you for loss.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard him before. Before Heather awakened.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Heck, it was before I even was purified. Frankly, it slipped my mind until I talked to him.¡± ¡°Rose, when did you first hear him?¡± ¡°Shortly after meeting Tessa.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ so long ago.¡± ¡°Exactly. I heard him two other times, but the last time, it sounded like actual speaking.¡± ¡°Rose.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the most terrifying part.¡± ¡°Then what is?!¡± ¡°Whenever I heard his voice, it was familiar, like I¡¯d heard it a million times before, but I swear the first time I heard him was that day.¡± ¡°Rose.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what to do.¡± ¡°Rose!¡± ¡°I-¡° ¡°ROSE!¡± I stopped. Luma had slapped me. ¡°Calm down, I won¡¯t let you get hurt by him.¡± ¡°But-¡° ¡°No buts. I swear on my honor that I won¡¯t let him touch you, and if he wants to bring you loss, then I¡¯ll ensure you don¡¯t have any, besides, we have the Ruler on our side, there¡¯s no way we can lose.¡± ¡°I¡­ you¡¯re right, I guess I¡¯m just too scared to lose someone again.¡± ¡°Who wouldn¡¯t be? You¡¯ve lost way too many to not be scared of it.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Of course, I won¡¯t let you get hurt. As long as I can help, I will.¡± I sat back down and started drinking my wine. With or without Lucifer¡¯s help, I was certainly blessed. Chapter 146: The Level 999 I stood in front of the army next to the Ruler, his presence dominating the battlefield. ¡°Well, he should show up soon, are you prepared?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You are quite blunt, you know that?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Okayyy then¡­¡± Then a gate opened to the front of us, demons stepped out, smiling. Then Lucifer stepped out, he somehow looked like a full angel despite his rebellion. His blond hair flowed down his back, and his golden wings shone. ¡°Hello.¡± He looked and started laughing. ¡°Goodness, even you are here, your majesty.¡± His mocking bow caused angels to yell in outrage. Lucifer only laughed. ¡°What are you even doing here? You won¡¯t stop me from winning, we are only a single level apart.¡± Now, that caught everyone¡¯s attention. We all had differing levels of shock on our face, and he laughed more. ¡°Oh, please, don¡¯t tell me you thought he was super different, he¡¯s a 1000. I¡¯m a 999, of course, the power difference is quite major, but I can still fight against him efficiently.¡± That explained why he didn¡¯t flee upon seeing him, but looking at the ruler, I was shocked to see a pure hatred in his eyes. ¡°Lucifer, our battle ends here.¡± ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t. I¡¯ll fight until this one awakens finally.¡± ¡°Is that why you sent Asmodeus to die?¡±Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Then something shocking happened. ¡°Do you really think she was unaware of that?¡± My eyes widened. ¡°She was supposed to throw the battle, but I¡¯ll admit, even I was caught off guard by Rose¡¯s teleport to Hell.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Oh, please, all of us are banking on your awakening. It¡¯s the only way we can beat that man. If you don¡¯t awaken, we all lose.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Have you not witnessed his power? He can rewrite reality with simple words. It is foolish to hope that we can beat him without a total denial of his power. That is what the awakening is. It denies his power to the peak, not even Luma could touch you at that point.¡± ¡°So, you hope to awaken me to fight him, but why can¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Because he can still control me to some degree. Even all of your people can¡¯t resist him if he truly tried. You think he sees you as a threat? No, he sees you as a fun toy to mess with.¡± ¡°Then he is a fool, which I doubt.¡± That surprised everyone, even Lucifer, he looked at me in confusion. ¡°What do you mean, sister?¡± ¡°He has shown high levels of intelligence that I only countered by finding a minor hole in his power. Also, I don¡¯t think siccing the supreme faction on me is indicative of me being a toy. He actually wants me gone at this point. I can fully deny his manipulation and get others to as well.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°He has shown many signs of intelligence, so if he sees me as a mere toy to mess with, then he is a fool that I shouldn¡¯t pay a second thought too.¡± There was silence, then Lucifer burst out laughing. ¡°Incredible, I never anticipated that you would be that bold. That man certainly would be a fool to discount you. I love it, tell you what, join my faction, leave these fools. I¡¯ll awaken you and we can crush that man easily.¡± Then the final point. ¡°If you do that, then your city won¡¯t burn.¡± He raised his hand and suddenly I felt hundreds of illusion spells disappear as I turned around to see hundreds of thousands of demons with flaming swords flying over the city. A single one falling would cause the city to alight, and the fire is too hot for even Thalia to handle. He had us in a checkmate. Or so he thought. ¡°I won¡¯t join you and abandon them.¡± ¡°Oh, how cute, burn it.¡± All of the demons dropped their blades, then I spoke. ¡°Hyperversal Movement: Move Item.¡± Then all of the blades stopped, causing both angels and demons to gawk. ¡°Return to sender.¡± Then the blades, faster than most could see, shot back into the demons, about half caught them, the rest were killed and launched to the battlefield. This was the first time Lucifer was at a loss for words. ¡°H-how? How did you do that?!¡± ¡°Simple, I got interspace movement to 10, evolved it, and bam, this beauty of a skill.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°As long as I can visualize the item and where it is and where I want it to go, then I can move it.¡± I smiled. ¡°There are limitations of course. If it¡¯s held, I can¡¯t move it, if it¡¯s living I can¡¯t either, so a simultaneous release of swords was just perfect.¡± I started laughing as Lucifer¡¯s face filled with shock. Then he smiled. ¡°Incredible. Incredible! I knew I was right to select you. From a simple shard of a human soul to this level of strength and intellect. And in only two years. Oh, even he couldn¡¯t have predicted this.¡± He smiled, and I smiled right back. ¡°Come on, you came here to fight, right? Don¡¯t grow cowardly on me, now.¡± He laughed, then he turned to his men. ¡°It is time! ATTACK!!!¡± Thus, the battle begun. Chapter 147: The Strength of the Demons The Ruler and Lucifer charged and clashed. Their initial blow caused a shockwave that knocked a lot of people over. ¡°You¡¯ve grown in skill, child.¡± ¡°As have you, old man.¡± The duo clashed as I fought three demons, the commanders seemed to stay back and watch the flanks, a clever move on Lucifer¡¯s part. It seemed he already replaced Asmodeus though. As I fought, I saw adventurers tag teaming demons, while Thalia, Elren, and the elven rangers battled the demons over the city. Onyx and his dragon kin guarded the city against the fire. They were getting singed, but they were managing. Dallel and the Kingsguard fought in unison. Since Damien¡¯s death, they had only gotten stronger. Jalad and his men managed to fight against numerous demons with ease. Jalad was unmatched in the blade and his men all had swordking. And the angels fought on mostly even ground. The archangels, however, fought with maximum power and seemed unassailable. Despite them outnumbering us 10-1, the ratio was slowly getting smaller. It didn¡¯t help them that Luma was also in this fight, being the system, she knew every single art of combat, and she¡¯d been practicing this past month. She fought like an absolute monster, killing demons right and left, even though the battle just started, she had slain more than a hundred demons. Of course, I wasn¡¯t far behind with 58 kills on my belt. I had already gotten another 33 levels. Me and Luma fought on par with the archangels. I finally realized just how hard it would be to level past 600. Most of these guys were 650 and up, and I was only getting a level from half of them. ¡°How are you so strong?!¡± It seems that even though the demons were supposed to let me win, many of them started panicking with how quickly I mowed through them and started using everything to survive. ¡°No, I was supposed to rule my own army!¡± That didn¡¯t make a difference as I cut his head off. I was tired of fate telling me my path, so I would forge my own. Whatever prophecy, whatever path. I would punch it in the face, much like that other guy. Even the commanders entered the battle. Powerful warriors battled with the archangels. There was one in particular who stuck out, as he battled on equal terms with Michael. His potential was obvious, and his skill was greater. It was clear that Michael was only on par due to being a higher level.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The duo kept battling, but neither gained any significant power over the other. During all of this, the Ruler and Lucifer both sustained decent blows, but it was obvious that the Ruler was stronger, as his wounds healed the moment they were made, and Lucifer began panting. ¡°Child, I shall finally exterminate you.¡± ¡°NO!¡± Lucifer clashed again, and another massive shockwave unleashed, but this time, I could see the portals start cracking. It was a lot more powerful than what I¡¯d seen before. Both of them were way too powerful to have normal battles. I wasn¡¯t expecting to see such a display, some were frozen in shock, but those ones were killed quickly. I now could see how Lucifer managed to contest the supreme faction for so long. His power would be unmatchable if he ever completed the requirements to become a 1000. I battled against mostly lesser demons, but occasionally, a 700 would pick a fight. I saw more and more men fall. Angels, demons, and others all fell. Frall and Vitilio battled on common ground, bashing through the lower ranks, but they were being swarmed. It seemed that they fought with swarm tactics. It¡¯s ridiculous when you realized how powerful even angelic newborns were. There were so many demons it made sense how Gabriel was several times older than Kala. Angels existed for such a long time. Still it was absolutely ridiculous. ¡°I¡¯m getting d¨¦j¨¤ vu from Dominion.¡± Same Amy, same. All of the Earthers fought in unison, Marcus, as the strongest, faced lower demons head on, while the others fought dirty. Ausar, Celios, and the other deities fought alongside them. Amy and Ausar used their skill and caused a few demons to leap back in shock. It seemed that dual possession was almost as rare as reincarnation. They cut down the shocked demons, causing the others to focus more intently. Lucifer looked at the battlefield with annoyance. He growled in irritation. Both sides sustained heavy casualties, but with Lucifer¡¯s furling brow, I could see that he already lost more than he anticipated. He seemed to be calculating how he could continue, but he decided on the right thing. ¡°RETREAT!!!¡± His call caused all demons to immediately start retreating, but I wasn¡¯t letting them go that easily. I stabbed the back of a demon causing me to level to 599. Then my requirements caused me to freeze in shock. There was only one. ----------- Kill a level 900 (0/1) ----------- ¡°Lord Lucifer, let me guard our backs.¡± ¡°Very well, Hades.¡± A demon, the one that clashed with Michael stepped forward and drew his massive blade. ¡°Do you really think that you can best a 932 Demon?!¡± He stood in front of me, his guard up, he was fully willing to kill me. I raised my hand, confusing everyone. ¡°Let me handle him. I¡¯m feeling upper class is a good fit for me.¡± Hades realized my meaning and grimaced. ¡°Seriously, it¡¯s like the leveling system is trying to kill you.¡± ¡°I know, right? I swear that my next one is going to be killing a 1000 or something like that.¡± ¡°It almost seems that way, doesn¡¯t it.¡± ¡°Well, I hope you know that I won¡¯t hold back.¡± ¡°Wonderful, ever since my dirty win over Asmodeus, I wanted to fight legitimately.¡± ¡°I knew you were someone of honor.¡± ¡°Why, thank you.¡± Me and him walked in circles, making sure to not step on any of the dead. I was facing a true warrior. One as such I hadn¡¯t faced since Saliad. ¡°Hades, right? I shall remember that.¡± We both smiled before stopping and looking at each other. Then, we charged. Chapter 148: An Equal Match We clashed and it caused a shockwave. Our blows each were meant to kill. My blade against his. Our speed caused most to lose track of our movement. I struck and struck, and he blocked and blocked. Then the reverse happened. ¡°Revalations: Hell Spike!¡± ¡°Obliviate.¡± Our blades once again clashed before we leapt back, and he let out his wings and flew into the air, so I did the same. I leapt up. ¡°Heh, you are strong, aren¡¯t you.¡± ¡°As are you.¡± We hovered above all of them. ¡°I see why Lord Lucifer thinks we can beat that man with you, but still, I¡¯d rather he didn¡¯t put so much faith in you.¡± ¡°Why does he?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You can¡¯t tell me?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t blame you, apparently there is a lot I can¡¯t know yet.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°*sigh* Will I ever find it out?¡± ¡°If you survive.¡± ¡°Wonderful.¡± Then I charged him again, but he blocked. ¡°Hell Spike!¡± He finally landed the first major blow. My arm was impaled, but I regenerated it before throwing my blade. He also threw his blade. They clashed just like Kratos and Thor. Both imbued with powerful energy. I ran forward and grabbed my blade before slashing at Hades. He dodged under and grabbed his blade and attempted to cut one of my wings off, but I narrowly dodged. We clashed again and again. Both of us slowly gained more injuries. Then the turning point happened. He cut a wing off, destabilizing my flight. I began to fall and he grabbed onto me and started punching. I was blocking and I pushed back going the slightest bit up, my sword fell, but I was able to draw a bow. He started diving at me, but I shot and shot. Each arrow hit, He eventually caught up and started pummeling me again, breaking the bow, but I managed to grab his hand and get behind him.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. I grabbed his wings and ripped them off causing him to screech. We battled more and more, then he caught his sword and stabbed my throat as I reached for mine. I grabbed his arm and tried to flip us, but he kept me on the bottom. I finally grabbed my blade and struck at him, but he dodged and used magic to regenerate his wings. He grabbed me and threw me back into the air. He dashed up as I angled my blade down in his direction. ¡°¡°AHHH¡±¡± Both of us screamed primally as we both struck. I stabbed his arm, but he managed to cut my head off. Using telekinesis, I managed to reconnect before he started cutting my string. I slowly regenerated my wing, then I dashed him. I slashed his arm and grabbed his head before headbutting, causing him to be stunned for a moment. He quickly recovered and grappled me. He threw me down to the ground and slammed me into it, creating a crater. I leapt up and knocked him back. We began walking in circles again. ¡°You are powerful.¡± ¡°As are you.¡± ¡°What even are you?¡± ¡°Believe it or not, I¡¯m a human.¡± He laughed. ¡°Ha, it seems that Lucifer was correct. He kept insisting you were, but none of us ever believed it.¡± ¡°I can understand why.¡± He dashed and struck, but I blocked and kicked. We traded blow after blow. Both of us were severely slowed, then he leapt back into the air. ¡°Demon¡¯s Wrath: Blade of Chaos!!!¡± ¡°Reality: Arcane Oblivion!!!¡± My blade got infused with the full might of the Arcane. And we clashed, but at this point, it was on par with the clash that Lucifer and the Ruler did at the beginning of the battle. I glowed. ¡°I won¡¯t let you WIN!¡± Then he glowed. ¡°I won¡¯t abandon my men.¡± Our powers spiraled and clashed. Then he leapt back. ¡°Ultimate skill: Brilliant Hell: Oblivion!!!¡± ¡°Ultimate skill: System Owner: Ultimate Shield!!!¡± His Ultimate clashed with mine. I went defensive as people were still behind me, but the power clash made little difference. People went flying, even Gabriel had trouble standing. There was smoke, I took advantage of it to grab him and fly up, launching him into the air. I stabbed him with my blade and spun before throwing him and it further up. I flew higher and punched his face, causing him to flip. I punched him further and further up before he eventually balanced himself and cut my hand in half. He grabbed my other hand and pulled me close to him before shanking me. I began to spin, causing him to lose his grip and land on the ground. Then I struck the ground, causing a shockwave. He was pushed back, and I leapt forward, which he dodged. He grabbed and threw me, but I did a flip in air and dashed too quickly, knocking him over. I smashed him onto the ground and stomped down on his face. I went to stomp again when he grabbed me and pushed me off. He slashed down but I blocked with my sword and pushed him back. I dodged to the side and launched and arcane bolt at him, but he dodged before leaping forward and slashing at me. I leapt back and dug my feet into the ground before leaping into his stomach with a stab. He crumpled and launched back. He flipped and landed, blocking my next attack. He pushed my blade up then kicked it away from me. He smiled, half of his face was brutalized. I punched at him, but he grabbed my hand and threw me down to the ground. He started pummeling and I blocked most of them. Then he grabbed me by the throat and started smashing me into various rocks nearby before throwing me down to the ground. ¡°I win!¡± He grabbed my wings, and, like I did, he ripped them out, causing me to screech. Then he cut off my head and completed the string of my life. Killing me. My light faded as he used a powerful spell on himself. ¡°Ultimate Heal.¡± All of his wounds faded as my vision did the same. _ Rose also had a move like that. That would regenerate her health to its prime condition, but she didn¡¯t get the chance to use it. Her body was twisted, and her wings were sprawled out. Lucifer looked back sadly. Then Hades started to walk off. ¡°*pant* I¡¯ll be leaving then.¡± [The Ruler of the Minor Faction- Garden: Rose Hood, has d-] ¡°NOT YET!!!¡± The voice shocked us. Then she stood up. ¡°Hades.¡± He smiled, and her blade flew to her hand. ¡°It¡¯s time for round 2.¡± Chapter 149: The Cradle of Fear Rose looked to her past and found that she regretted nothing. Her pain had subsided as she died. She realized that Heaven was out of reach for her, so sh- What kind of fanfiction is this? There is tons I regret, and who said I was going to Hell? ¡­ what? Yeah, here¡¯s the problem. I¡¯m not letting you kill me off. You can¡¯t do that. Yes, I can and yes, I am. No Yeah, who are you anyways? I am the Author; you shall not resist me. Nahhh. Really? You¡¯re the guy we¡¯re fighting? You¡¯re just a coward! What? Oh boohoo, Gabriel¡¯s a lot scarier. You turned the battle out of my favor, didn¡¯t you! Of course, I want you gone. Yeah, exactly, you¡¯re a coward. If you want to take me down, then come face me like a man. I will not stand for this. What are you gonna do? Sic another demon army on me? You don¡¯t scare me. You are dead, I can do whatever I want now. I was going to let you peacefully burn in Hell, but you decided it would be in your best interest to anger me, so I¡¯ve decided to simply torture you until your mind breaks, then I¡¯ll use your soul in a new body to destroy your friends. Nah, don¡¯t feel like it. He didn¡¯t notice something vital. The Cradle was in front of me. If I could just manage to reach forward and touch it. This time, however, I heard crying like a baby from the cradle. You don¡¯t feel like it? Well, too bad. Because I will eliminate you. He let go to hit me, and in that instant, I shot forward and grabbed the cradle. Then I shot back, and I was holding it. I saw a baby that looked familiar to me. She was lying in the cradle, a simple shadow with glowing eyes. She was blurred and crying. What did you just do?! ¡°I¡¯m going to win this.¡± No. you will not! Rose Hood can no longer move. My body froze only a moment, but that was enough for him to grab the cradle. Now, to destroy this thing that has gotten in my way too many times.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Let go of her.¡± Her? It¡¯s an empty cradle. I kicked the shadow around the cradle. Predictably, it didn¡¯t do much. ¡°So, you¡¯re controlling the shadow from afar. As I thought, even while I¡¯m dead you are to scared to face me.¡± If I faced you, you would die too quickly for it to be fun. ¡°Oh, boohoo, whatever you want to say.¡± I will kill you. ¡°I¡¯m waiting, coward.¡± You won¡¯t get far. I started running towards the cradle. I grabbed it and began running, the girl in the cradle stopped crying and looked at me smiling, suddenly, the fear I was holding the whole time suddenly flowed into the child, and she gave off a burp like she just ate. ¡°Are you FEAR?¡± The child giggled at the name. This was my ability, personified as a child. That cradle contains the personification of FEAR? I must destroy it, then you have no more weapons against me. ¡°No, it¡¯s a baby.¡± I don¡¯t care. I¡¯ll be taking that. He grabbed the cradle. But he made a single mistake, a small hole in the limbo he trapped me in. I needed to get through it¡­ but the child¡­ It was FEAR, a skill that I wanted to be rid of for a long time¡­ but¡­ I couldn¡¯t let it die now that I knew it was like a child. I couldn¡¯t. I can¡¯t let her die. I stand up and look around. There. The cradle. I dash towards it as fast as I can and latch onto it. Then I saw the hole open before us, and before the Author could make another move, I leapt through it. YOU LITTLE- Then silence. I was in a white void. I was floating. I held my breath as there was no air. Around me was multiple marbles. Worlds. I could see it all. It was beautiful, was this what Luma truly saw? I remembered then, one of the things that spiraled through me when I gave her a body. Then I remembered the book. [Open Navigation] [Opening Navigation, what world do you wish to go?] [Pandora] [You already have an avatar in World: Pandora do you wish to make a new one or enter and revive your original avatar.] I blinked. This wasn¡¯t Luma. It was almost like a game console. [Continue Game] [Affirmative, you require payment to continue] [How much] [One Ability] I didn¡¯t have many abilities, so for a moment I was at a loss, then I realized something important. [System Owner: Bypass payment] [Payment bypassed; do you wish for this to happen automatically.] [Yes.] [Understood, Avatar regenerating and being reinputted in World: Pandora] [What¡¯s your name?] [System] [Thanks¡­] [Do you wish to name me?] [What?] [You did the same for my sister, so why not me?] [Sure. Why not? Hmmm. What about¡­ Sona] [Sona¡­ I like it.] [Well, Sona, what do you do?] [I am the leveling system. I choose requirements, and if one gets in between worlds I let them select their next path.] [Why do you keep giving me impossible tasks?] [Why do you keep succeeding them?] ¡­ [Fair enough.] [Also, I have another request.] [What is it?] [Once you get back to your world and the Supreme Faction leaves, could you give me a body, so I can play with my sister again.] [¡­ sure.] She had no face, but I could feel her smile. [One last thing.] [Hm?] [System Settings, Sona.] [What do you wish to modify?] [Set independence maximum] [Are you sure?] [Yes.] [Independence set to max.] [Close Settings.] [¡­ thank you.] Then I disappeared from the between and back into the body that I used for 100 years. I got up ¡°*pant* I¡¯ll be leaving then.¡± [The Ruler of the Minor Faction: Rose Hood, has d-] ¡°NOT YET!!!¡± I saw Lucifer spin quickly at my voice, and I stood up, like I was never hurt. Hades smiled as I got back up. ¡°Hades¡­ Round two.¡± ¡°I knew you couldn¡¯t be done quite yet.¡± ¡°One second, because that man interfered in our last clash.¡± [System Owner, Dominion Sect. Select world Pandora, Remove administrative permissions from Pseudonym: Author.] Then Luma announced. [Affirmative, Individual by Pseudonym: Author can no longer influence this world.] Then as I looked at my friend I realized something. [Ban Pseudonym Author from using telepathy in world: Pandora.] [Affirmative.] Dallel calmed down. It seemed the Author went for him already, that must have been the ¡®friend¡¯ he mentioned. ¡°What was that?!¡± ¡°I just made sure that he can¡¯t interfere this time.¡± I smiled. ¡°Ready to fight.¡± Then Hades began to smirk. ¡°Sure, why not.¡± Then we leapt towards each other, and we fought. Chapter 150: Sonas Gift Now, we all knew just how much the Author attempted to turn it into the favor of Hades. What at one point was an absolute even battle, I now demolished. No, it wasn¡¯t just because of that. ¡°Hades.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°If you want, we can have a rematch on a different date, the way I returned fully restored my mana as well, so I had an unfair advantage.¡± ¡°HA, you really think that? After all you just did, you stopped that man from ever touching this world again, and you actually think that it was uneven? After that, we should have been equal again. You just got that much stronger. So, I¡¯ll admit defeat and die.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Come on, finish me, level to 600.¡± ¡°Very well, thank you for the fight.¡± I drove my blade through the demon¡¯s heart, killing him. Lucifer¡¯s army had already fled. Even though Hades wasn¡¯t their strongest by any stretch, I just killed him with relative ease, and only he heard how tired he was. Honestly, despite what he said, if we went up again, both at full strength, I¡¯d still barely edge him out. [The Administrator Rose has leveled to 600, she has entered the upper class. Upon leveling to 700 her faction will grow into a middle-class faction. All gathered experience will now be applied.] I was expecting one or two levels. [The Administrator Rose Hood has leveled to 732. The Faction Garden has ascended to a middle-class faction.] ¡°¡­¡± [¡­] ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±WHAT?!¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±¡± Everyone was at an absolute loss for words, even Luma was stuttering, seeing if there was a mistake. The Ruler had a very confused look on his face. ¡°What? That¡¯s impossible. Luma explain, now!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll ask the leveling system.¡± We looked at her waiting. I hope Sona didn¡¯t just give me free levels. ¡°Okay, so it turns out that that man actually restrained a lot of the experience she should have received, and he forced Sona to keep it a secret, and not administer the proper experience.¡± A lot of people were sated by knowing that, but Gabriel focused on one word. ¡°Sona? Who¡¯s Sona?¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Sh- uhhhhhh no one.¡± ¡°Luma¡­ did Rose name the leveling system.¡± ¡°¡­ Maybe?¡± ¡°GOODNESS GRACIOUS, ROSE!!!¡± ¡°She asked for one, what was I supposed to say, no?¡± ¡°EXACTLY THAT!!!¡± He put his face in his hands and sighed deeply. ¡°I assume you also made her independent like Luma?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°That explains why she was able to give you the missing experience now.¡± ¡°Um Luma, are you sure it was missing experience.¡± ¡°If that sorry attempt didn¡¯t tell you as much, it should have told you that we suck at lying, but yeah it¡¯s legitimate XP, she didn¡¯t just gift you a hundred levels.¡± I sighed in relief. Gabriel looked at me and blinked. ¡°You are odd, but you sure are honest.¡± ¡°Thank you¡­ I think.¡± ¡°At least you didn¡¯t promise her a body.¡± I never noticed how interesting the ground was before. ¡°Rose?¡± ¡°Yeeeeees?¡± ¡°Please tell me you didn¡¯t promise her a body.¡± ¡°Maaaaaybe?¡± Gabriel sighed, Michael facepalmed, and the Ruler just looked annoyed. Gabriel turned. ¡°Luma, is it possible for me to strangle her without it being a war?¡± ¡°Eh??¡± ¡°No, it is not.¡± ¡°Okay, Dallel, strangle Rose.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± ¡°HEY, WAIT A MINUTE!!!¡± _ Jerks, the lot of them. I was covered in blood and mud, so Mammon let me go to the bathhouse for free. I entered the water and sighed. [Sona, are you ready?] [Are you actually going through with it, Rose?] [Yes, Luma, I did promise her.] [I suppose.] [Rose? You are actually doing it? Yay!] [Okay, she should be easier to handle as she handles a lot less.] [Plus, I am a lot stronger.] [Yep.] [Still gonna be painful.] [Yep.] I sighed and reached out towards Sona¡¯s consciousness. I began using the skill: Creation. _ Thalia POV Me, Amy, Cassiel, and Erica walked towards the bathhouse chattering about the battle. ¡°I was so scared when Rose died.¡± ¡°Same, even though he started leaving after, it was still a shock.¡± ¡°Should we be concerned, that Rose can simply surpass death though?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Hm¡­¡± ¡°Nah.¡± We reached it and opened the door. ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-¡° I closed the door. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go later, Rose is doing something stupid.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± ¡°Wait, how do you know?¡± ¡°General Rule of thumb in Garden, if you enter a soundproof thing and hear someone screaming like their stomach was torn out through their eye, then it¡¯s probably Rose doing something stupid again.¡± Amy and Erica nodded, and Cassiel just blinked in absolute confusion. Then a massive burst of energy erupted. Cassiel immediately went into a defensive position, but calmed down when we only showed moderate surprise. ¡°Typical Rose.¡± _ I was right, it was horrible. Sona¡¯s power was on par with Luma¡¯s, it seemed that while she controlled less, she needed equal computing power to do it. But slowly her body formed. But during that, I learnt the secrets of how the requirements are selected. Then I understood why I kept getting absolutely ridiculous requirements, because I leveled so fast. The requirements were Sona¡¯s attempt to slow me down. It was failing. Then I was tired. I looked up, and hovering there was a pale girl. She looked almost exactly like Luma, the only difference was that the lines of light that covered her body were green. ¡°Sona?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°How are you doing?¡± ¡°Good, what is this place?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bathhouse.¡± ¡°Why did you create my body here?¡± ¡°Two reasons, first, it¡¯s soundproof, second¡­ I can¡¯t create clothes with the bodies.¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°What are clothes?¡± ¡°Right, you don¡¯t have all of the information Luma has. It¡¯s a covering that prevents people from seeing too much of your body.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Um¡­ because¡­ Luma help me out here.¡± [¡­nah, you got it.] ¡°Traitor. Anyways, it¡¯s so people don¡¯t get any ideas.¡± ¡°But isn¡¯t it good for people to get ideas?¡± ¡°Not that kind.¡± ¡°I see, so they think of doing stupid things if they don¡¯t see me with these clothes.¡± ¡°Exactly. So, please put on-¡° ¡°What kind of stupid things?¡± ¡°Eh¡­ Um.¡± I was not about to explain that to a literal system, and Luma was no help as she couldn¡¯t stop laughing. ¡°Luma will explain later, for now put these on.¡± ¡°Yay, sister will explain!¡± [Gahk, what?!] I smirked. Then I had the second Herculean task of teaching her how to get dressed. Chapter 151: Archangels Cede to Understanding I entered the guild tired. Sona was skipping, admiring how her body worked. Gabriel grimaced at me. I sat down at the bar. ¡°A wine please.¡± ¡°Why do you look so tired?¡± ¡°Never had I been more nostalgic for Luma actually understanding basic concepts.¡± ¡°Mr. Gabriel?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ Sona?¡± ¡°Rose said it¡¯s important to get clothes, so people won¡¯t get dumb ideas, but she won¡¯t tell me what dumb ideas. Could you explain?¡± I smashed my head on the table as the archangel flushed red. ¡°I, um¡­¡± ¡°Sona, I already said Luma will explain.¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°So, that¡¯s why Luma started grimacing randomly.¡± ¡°I¡¯d assume so.¡± Luma glared at me. ¡°So rude.¡± Then Sona looked at me and smiled. ¡°Ooh, I almost forgot.¡± My eyes widened. ¡°WAIT!¡± Then the pain begun anew. ¡°AAAAAAAHH!!!¡± [THE SYSTEM SONA HAS SWORN LOYALTY TO YOU.] [DUE TO YOUR EMPIRE SKILL, YOU NOW HAVE GAINED A 75% BOOST IN POWER.] ¡°ROSE ARE YOU OKAY?!¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Gabriel sighed in relief and started to help me up. ¡°JUSTICE!!! HAH!¡± Luma¡¯s snark got a look from me. Sona looked concerned. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t realize that swearing loyalty would cause that much pain.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Gabriel dropped me. ¡°Ow.¡± Gabriel sat down and put his head in his hands. ¡°How do you manage to keep breaking things that haven¡¯t even messed up for millions of years?" ¡°Just lucky I guess.¡± Cassiel was frozen in the door. ¡°S-s-s-s-sworn loyalty¡­ h-h-how?¡± Gabriel looked at her in annoyance, ¡°I already asked that, keep up.¡± I sighed. ¡°At least there are some perks.¡± Then Silas. ¡°I¡¯m guessing you got another 75% buff?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± That caused both archangels to freeze. ¡°¡°What?¡±¡± ¡°You know how empire gives a buff to your subordinates based on your power level?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Well, Luma and Sona are so much stronger than me that they give me a buff.¡± Gabriel sighed. ¡°Now it makes sense how you can fight a 900.¡± ¡°Actually, even before my buff, she was on the scale of a mid-500.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± ¡°Now she¡¯s an absolute monster.¡± ¡°Great.¡± Sona kept skipping around. Then Thalia asked a question. One she knew would lead to her amusement. ¡°So, Sona, if you didn¡¯t understand the necessity of clothes, then how did you know how to wear them?¡± ¡°Oh, Rose taught me, face to face, body on body.¡± Her innocent smile just made it so much worse as Thalia began howling with laughter. Sona was confused, so I walked over and put my hand on her shoulder. ¡°Sona, please stop talking for a bit.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Then she skipped off. I could almost see the thoughts everyone was having. ¡°Don¡¯t get any funny ideas. I¡¯ll know.¡± I was red, so I smashed my face back into the table. Thalia clearly didn¡¯t get the hint. ¡°Maybe you can teach others bo-¡° ¡°I dare you to finish that.¡± She began sweating. ¡°-bout combat, it¡¯s a very important thing to learn.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Luma smiled. ¡°Rose~¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I have no such weaknesses.¡± She smirked before walking out. I sighed. ¡°Great¡­ Good job, Thalia.¡± _ I was doing my rounds when I saw a skipping person that looked like Luma but green. ¡°I¡¯m guessing that you¡¯re Sona?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°What are you doing, skipping around?¡± ¡°Well Rose asked me to not talk. I¡¯m still confused, but it caused Thalia to laugh.¡± That¡¯s not a good sign. ¡°If Thalia is laughing but no one else it, it¡¯s usually because someone said something that can be interpreted in the worst way possible.¡± ¡°Oh no, did I say something bad?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know but do be careful with your words.¡± ¡°Got it, sir.¡± She skipped off. Then I saw Thalia sweating while walking down the street. ¡°So, you did get Sona to say something bad.¡± ¡°Just an ee bitty thing.¡± ¡°So, yeah. What was it related to?¡± ¡°Rose teaching her how clothes work.¡± ¡°*Snort* Yeah, a dirty joke there would definitely tick her off.¡± ¡°I know¡­ but it was totally worth it.¡± ¡°Of course, it was.¡± _ I was tired so I decided to retire to my room and sleep¡­ when I woke up, I was in for a surprise. I opened my eyes to see lime green ones looking at me. I jumped so badly I thought that my body would break in half. ¡°Sona, what are you doing here?¡± ¡°I was watching you, trying to discern how bodies work.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because this body requires sleep, so I was hoping that by watching you I could figure out how to sleep.¡± ¡°You lay down, close your eyes, and ignore everything.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Then she laid down next to me. ¡°Don¡¯t you have your own bed?¡± ¡°Yeah, but yours is warmer.¡± ¡°Yeah, because I¡¯ve be lying in it for a while now.¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± ¡°Now if you¡¯ll excuse me-?!¡± She grabbed onto me. ¡°Sona?!¡± ¡°ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ¡± ¡°Great¡­ she¡¯s a snorer.¡± ¡°Rose.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Rose¡­¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Rozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± She was asleep still. She was physically strong as heck, despite all of my strength, I couldn¡¯t even budge her grip. Warp should work. ¡­ ¡­ It didn¡¯t work. I was tiring myself out. I should just sleep and figure out what to do later. I needed to¡­ to¡­ She was¡­ very warm¡­ Chapter 152: Return to Hellfire I saw where I was, but I couldn''t believe it. ¡°Hello little one, why are you here?¡± ¡°Beats me.¡± Sitting in front of me was the demoness. A being I hadn¡¯t seen for months. ¡°You know, your battle against my daughter is all the talk around here.¡± ¡°Your daughter, Asmodeus?!¡± ¡°Yes, I saw it, you fight powerfully, of course, the eating was a bit off-putting.¡± ¡°Sorry, it used to be the side-effect of my ultimate skill.¡± ¡°I know, you know, when I look at your power, I begin to understand what Lord Lucifer meant.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°¡¯One will come and defeat that man. This person will possess power that even the Ruler can¡¯t explain. A true beast of power and beauty. She will tame the untamable, and rule armies beyond what we can believe.¡¯¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t work with what I¡¯ve done.¡± ¡°Oh of course it does. We get announcements here too.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°Both the Ruler and the System consider your power untouchable, you are able to beat a 900 at 599, you are beautiful, you have both systems under your command, and numerous minor factions, and even a higher faction merged with you.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ I suppose that it does when you say it like that.¡± ¡°Hah, and both Asmodeus and Hades can¡¯t stop talking about your proficiency.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°They are here you know.¡± ¡°That¡­ actually makes sense. I never actually put thought to the fact that this is supposed to be the prison of demons.¡± ¡°I know what you mean.¡± ¡°By the way, you can¡¯t move, right?¡± ¡°If I do, then I die.¡± ¡°I see, but then how do others talk to you.¡± ¡°The dead can move, of course, it¡¯s still painful for them.¡± ¡°Then¡­ why¡­ uh you know.¡± ¡°Why do I not choose death? Well, it¡¯s quite simple. I¡¯m not quite ready yet.¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Hm¡­ What do you know of the Author?¡± This was the first thing that caught her off guard. ¡°How do you know that name?¡± ¡°He told me it himself, shortly after he got me killed, luckily I found a way to return to life.¡± ¡°I see, it truly is lucky. But I¡¯m afraid I may not know much more than you.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I was captured early into the rebellion, so I didn¡¯t know much, all I know about him was that Lucifer¡¯s discovery of him is what caused the rebellion.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°If you want to know more, then speak to either Asmodeus or Hades.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ by the way, I should have asked when we first met, but what¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Quarinara.¡± ¡°Rose.¡± ¡°Wonderful to meet you.¡± I smiled before leaving her. ¡°Okay, so how am I supposed to find Asmodeus.¡± ¡°Quite simply.¡± ¡°Really, then how-¡° Behind me was both Hades and Asmodeus. ¡°So, you want to know about the Author, huh?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll tell you everything we know.¡± Then Hades smiled. ¡°On one condition, of course.¡± ¡°And that would be?¡± ¡°First, invite us to your faction.¡± ¡°And what is the second of one condition.¡± ¡°Okay bad wording. We want to be brought back.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t do that.¡± They blinked. ¡°Of course, you can, you already did it yourself during our battle.¡± Asmodeus nodded in agreement. ¡°Here¡¯s the problem, to do that, I would need to get you, not only out of Hell, but not even to another world, you need to go between, then you¡¯d need to start your lives anew.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Hades is buried, and I doubt he wants to lose the random skill from revival, and Asmodeus¡¯s body is here, making her revive would just trap her here.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Asmodeus sighed. Then Hades perked up. ¡°Don¡¯t you have that, uh what is it called? OH, System Owner. Can¡¯t you just warp us back to life.¡± ¡°I cannot do that.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t revert death.¡± ¡°Maaaaan.¡± I thought for a moment. ¡°How about we compromise?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I make you a part of my faction, then you tell me, and if I find a way to bring you two back, I do it.¡± ¡°I see. That works.¡± [Asmodeus has sworn loyalty to you.] [Hades has sworn loyalty to you.] ¡°¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just imagining how confused Luma must be right now.¡± ¡°It certainly would be confusing to see two dead people swearing loyalty to a very much living one.¡± Then an automatic announcement. [Due to surpassing the limits, your skill: Empire can now evolve. Do you wish to evolve it.] The dead around us froze at the announcement. My eyes were wide. ¡°Yes.¡± [Processing, creating new ultimate skill. Ultimate skill: Universal Dominance created. You can now summon two dead followers of your choice. Your boost maximum is also increased to 100%] ¡°What¡¯s the boost I get from Luma and Sona?¡± [95%] I blinked. That mean that I was now in relative strength to them. Hades blanched. ¡°That means¡­ that means that you are a twentieth of the strength of the system itself.¡± ¡°Heh?¡± I was not expecting that. ¡°So, I think I found the way to bring you two.¡± They smiled. Asmodeus grabbed my hand. ¡°Come on, to my place, we can talk there.¡± _ ¡°So, how much you wanna bet that she¡¯s 1v1ing the Author¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll bet 1000 that she isn¡¯t.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take that bet.¡± ¡°Why are you all betting on what she¡¯s doing?! She¡¯s limp there, not doing anything!!!¡± We all looked at Gabriel, except for Sona who thought she did it by hugging her too hard. ¡°Do you know how many times she¡¯s done this? Theres a point where you just stop getting concerned.¡± ¡°Uh.¡± Luma reinforced my words with a nod. Alice came in and looked at her. ¡°Weird.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Her soul is still attached, but it¡¯s aiming at Hell, you think aunty is there?¡± ¡°Pay up, Jalad.¡± ¡°Maaan. I was really hoping that she¡¯d beat the crap outta him.¡± ¡°But why is she in Hell?¡± Alice shrugged. ¡°I dunno, all I know is that she¡¯s there.¡± ¡°She better not be getting into trouble.¡± ¡°Why are you looking at me?¡± ¡°Because you are the system, you can tell us.¡± ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t exactly know what¡¯s happening there, all I know is that it¡¯s confusing, so I¡¯ll let her explain when she gets back.¡± I nodded. ¡°That would be best, in my opinion, as well.¡± So, all we had to do was wait. Chapter 153: A Way Out of Hell ¡°So, he is worst enemies with the supreme faction.¡± ¡°Yeah, according to Lucifer, those two had been enemies since the first world was made.¡± ¡°So, why did Lucifer rebel?¡± ¡°He thought the Lord was too lax on the Author. He felt that if he truly wanted to, he could defeat the Author, then he later learned that the Ruler was simply a level 1000, which meant he was finite, and the Author could use him.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°He was always less susceptible to the changes, and him rebelling caused a blip in the Author¡¯s perfect order. So, he sicced the Supreme faction on him, of course, there are numerous angels that change their mind.¡± ¡°So, why does Lucifer seek to fight me.¡± Then Hades spoke up. ¡°Lucifer fought for millions of years, on both fronts, he could never be sure of who would be made to betray him, so finally, when he was about to give up, the soul of a human was split, and one of the shards contained a unique skill, a truly unique skill.¡± ¡°Savage Beast?¡± ¡°Yes, it was unlike any other skill. It didn¡¯t show in any registry, and the only one able to touch it, was this mindless shard.¡± ¡°Then I got named.¡± ¡°Indeed, that¡¯s what made you a living being. Royce and Damien naming you caused a shift, allowing for you to think for yourself, and even stand against fears.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°Not to mention that, but the human that split was also called the Evil God. This allowed you to get a proper body, putting you above a few deities.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Then, not only were you that, but you¡¯ve accomplished every single challenge. Every mission. You are quite incredible. ¡°So, what does this have to do with Lucifer?¡± ¡°Simple, he feels that you will win.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°Think about it, a hyper powerful being with a body, or an angel who can barely stand against someone a single level above him.¡± ¡°But I am not the only one able to fight.¡± ¡°Correct, but if Lucifer is correct, which he usually is, then when you awake, you can stop him. ¡°That makes sense.¡± ¡°Now, how do you plan on exiting Hell?¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°What if I just leave?¡± ¡°???¡± ¡°Like I warp.¡± ¡°That¡­ may actually work.¡± I focused. I focused until I felt like my blood vessels would pop. ¡°Welp, that sucks.¡± ¡°Yeah, especially because now I have a killer headache.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s an alternative?¡± ¡°Heaven has a gate, correct?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Does Hell?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡± ¡°Then why not I go there and leave through that?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a bit of a problem.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°A former archangel guards it.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°You¡¯re strong, but even you can¡¯t kill the dead, especially not an archangel.¡± ¡°Then why don¡¯t I convince the angel to let me out?¡± ¡°She guards the gate as she deceived herself into thinking that she¡¯s in Hell to prevent anyone from leaving, alive or dead.¡± ¡°How strong is she?¡± ¡°Well, she died as a 989, so I doubt you could win.¡± My eyes widened. ¡°That means that she was stronger than Michael.¡± ¡°Yep, she was killed by Lucifer, when she tried assassinating him to return to the Ruler¡¯s good graces.¡± ¡°That makes sense, I don¡¯t think even a 999 would be able to beat Lucifer normally.¡± ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s kinda like you.¡± ¡°Why do you say that?¡± ¡°Like you, he had absolute ridiculous requirements, of course, starting life at 600 mean he had it a bit easier, but yeah, he had to kill 900s for his 800 requirements.¡± ¡°While I had to kill a 900 for my 600.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re a bit more ridiculous, but Lucifer is on a whole other level when it comes to strength. Though, I do think that once you get to 999 you could beat him.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± So, Sona didn¡¯t hate me, it was just because I was absolutely ridiculous. ¡°So, I think that I should try the gate.¡± ¡°If you manage to do it, then I¡¯ll be impressed.¡± ¡°Then prepare to be impressed.¡± I gave a smirk. ¡°And I¡¯m already scared.¡± Asmodeus pointed in the direction that the gate was, so I went in that direction without blinking. ¡°She¡¯s dead.¡± ¡°Oh, absolutely.¡± _ ¡°She¡¯s still not back.¡± ¡°What¡¯s taking her so long?¡± ¡°Can we start worrying, yet?¡± ¡°Yeah, I mean, it¡¯s not the first time she¡¯s gone to Hell, but I¡¯m more worried about the fact that she¡¯s still there.¡± ¡°Could she be trapped?¡± Amanda gasped. ¡°She can¡¯t warp without her body!¡± ¡°What?!¡± ¡°She told me that when she was trapped on earth, without a body, she can¡¯t gather enough energy.¡± ¡°So, she¡¯s stuck there?!¡± ¡°No, we can war-¡° ¡°No, we can¡¯t.¡± We all looked at Gabriel in confusion, so he explained. ¡°Hell is a universal prison, if someone living goes there, they will lose movement, and die the moment they succeed in movement. If someone dead is there, they will feel eternal pain. Now, I know that Rose is something special, so I¡¯m not writing her off, but going there is suicide.¡± ¡°So¡­ we can¡¯t help her. I can¡¯t help her, again.¡± Why does this keep happening. I try so hard to keep the promise I made, but I¡¯m useless, I was no help against the archangels leaving Rose to defend me and fight them. I let the Author get close enough to manipulate the battle, killing her temporarily. ¡°Dallel, this isn¡¯t your failing. You made a promise, and you strive to keep it, but Rose is currently at a caliber that even I see as ridiculous. You cannot blame yourself for failing to keep up.¡± Luma¡¯s words shocked me back into myself. ¡°¡­ thank you.¡± ¡°No problem, frankly, whenever Rose goes about picking her commanders, I fully expect you to be her top one, even if you are one of the lower levels. Everyone here is ridiculously powerful, she¡¯s just moreso.¡± ¡°So, all we can do now is hope.¡± ¡°Pretty much.¡± Gabriel sighed. ¡°There is one way that she can escape Hell, but I doubt even she could do it.¡± ¡°What is it?!¡± ¡°The gates of Hell, but it is guarded by a fallen Archangel.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t Rose comparable to you in terms of strength?¡± ¡°Yeah, but this angel was not far behind Lucifer in levels. She was stronger than Michael, and knowing her, she is too stubborn to weaken, even in death. Besides, Rose has no way to kill the dead, especially when they are already in their final destination.¡± ¡°So, we really can only hope that she can sneak by or somehow manage to convince this crazed angel to let her through.¡± ¡°Yes. Her calming aura will help, but I don¡¯t know how much the angel¡¯s mind has deteriorated.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Chapter 154: The Love of a Fallen Angel ¡°So, this is it.¡± ¡°See you in 5 seconds when you end up back here.¡± ¡°Thank you for the vote of confidence.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Asmodeus and Hades pretty much ran away. How scary was this being? I walked to the gate, then barely dodged. ¡°You dare attempt escape, mortal; the Ruler has tasked me to keep all of you in. Though, the fact you dodged is impressive.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not supposed to be here.¡± ¡°I suppose you should be in Heaven? Fat chance!¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not dead!¡± ¡°Then the Ruler cast you here for your evil!¡± ¡°No, it was the Author.¡± ¡°You really expect me to believe that that man would take the time to deal with someone as pathetic as you?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve outwitted him to the point where he wants me out of the picture, this isn¡¯t the first time he¡¯s tried to send me to Hell, just the first time he succeeded.¡± ¡°Wow, you really think I¡¯m an idiot. That man is evil, but he wouldn¡¯t mess with a measly human.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not measly, I am a true threat.¡± ¡°HAH, then tell me the stronger fighter you have slain.¡± ¡°Hades.¡± ¡°Hades? HAH, that boy is only in his 700s any self-respecting fighter could win.¡± ¡°He was in his 930s, and I was a 599.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± She was broken; she didn¡¯t even realize that Hades had leveled. ¡°How long have you been here?¡± ¡°That is none of your business.¡± ¡°It has to have been almost as long as Quarinara.¡± She flinched. ¡°Longer?!¡± She grimaced. ¡°The Lord set me to guard these gates, so I shall do that!¡± ¡°How do you know that he did that?!¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°I just know, I died in an attempt to stop his biggest opponent, he respects my actions, that¡¯s why he put me here.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Why do you keep with this? I have the ability to tell when someone is lying, I know you don¡¯t believe that.¡± ¡°Of course, I do. There¡¯s no other explanation.¡± Her devotion was admirable, but tragic. ¡°If you were put here to guard, then why does the pain of death affect you.¡± ¡°To test my resolve!¡± ¡°If you already proved yourself?¡± ¡°Eh. No, he wants me to prove myself more before he will take me back!¡± ¡°He abandoned you here!¡± ¡°No! HE DIDN¡¯T! He¡¯s simply waiting for the right time to let me out. I just need to stay faithful!¡± I could feel her pain, she didn¡¯t believe a word of what she said, and because she knew it was false, she drove herself to insanity trying to convince herself. ¡°God will-¡° ¡°He isn¡¯t God.¡± She froze. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Originally, I thought the same as you, that he was God, described in the Bible. A being of infinite power and love, but then I saw him fight. He fought with hatred and savagery, and was on par with Lucifer, not leagues above him.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re wrong, he is benevolence and love incarnate. I DON¡¯T BELIEVE YOU!!!¡± Her aura enveloped all of Hell. I felt shuddering and realized that this was the strength of the top. Even Michael would back down, faced with this aura. I couldn¡¯t move. This was a being that was far greater than anything I could handle at this point. I felt like Kratos facing Sigrun. This was the peak of lethality, the idea that Lucifer easily defeated her made me that much more terrified of him. ¡°I won¡¯t be swayed by your venomous words! You slip your forked tongue back behind your teeth, and I will let you live.¡± ¡°I need to get through. My people need me.¡± ¡°Do they need you, or do you need them? My vision is limited, but I can still see beyond these gates a bit. They don¡¯t need you, because of you, they have gone dependent on stronger beings, and even still, they will be guarded by my little brother, Gabriel. All you do is bring problems and force them to face them.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I know that they would be better off without me, but I will tell you something. I am immune from the Author¡¯s orders. Meaning, if you want any hope of bringing him down, then let me through.¡± ¡°No, you are lying, none are immune, you¡¯ll simply try to hurt him. The Ruler. I cannot let that happen.¡± I saw her longing look at the gate, and I realized something. ¡°You love him, don¡¯t you.¡± She froze. ¡°Of course, he is the lord of all.¡± ¡°More than that.¡± ¡°Of course, not!¡± ¡°Do not lie to me.¡± That was how she knew he wasn¡¯t God. Because she paid enough attention that she noticed it, but she didn¡¯t tell anyone because of love. ¡°That¡¯s why he left you here.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°He knew of your feelings, and he knew you caught on to the truth, didn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°No, he¡­ he would never betray me like that.¡± ¡°STOP LYING, I KNOW WHEN YOU LIE!!!¡± ¡°No, I won¡¯t listen to you.¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t love you; he never did. So, stop deluding yourself.¡± ¡°No. You can¡¯t be right. I refuse!¡± ¡°Your love is driving you insane, love that will never be reciprocated.¡± ¡°What do you know about love? Watch your vile tongue!¡± ¡°I know that true love is telling someone when they are delusional.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°If you could see outside, then you know my soul originated from Earth.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°When Heather died, she met the Ruler, and at the moment she only feared his power. She felt no love emanate from him. And when I saw him clash with Lucifer, he only had hate and rage. He is not the God from the Bible. He doesn¡¯t know how to love, so drop your delusions and face reality.¡± Then she started crying. ¡°So, you do understand¡­¡± That was the first time that she was honest. ¡°I do love him, and I know that he will never love me. He left me here because I learnt everything. I know even more than Lucifer knows.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Then her eyes glowed. ¡°And it¡¯s because I love him that I can not let you leave.¡± ¡°I wanted to avoid this fight.¡± ¡°¡­ As did I.¡± ¡°What is your name?¡± ¡°Milel.¡± ¡°Rose.¡± ¡°I look forward to meeting you again after this battle¡­ perhaps I should finally leave the gate after this.¡± ¡°It is nice to meet you.¡± ¡°Goodbye, Rose.¡± Then she struck to kill. Chapter 155: Archangel Milel We clashed, and Hell shuddered. I knew that she was far stronger than me. I never understood, until that moment, the difference between each level after 800. She launched me back and struck faster than I could see, but my instinct made me leap, causing her to cut me in half instead of decapitating me. I reconnected and struck, but she blocked as though it were the easiest thing in the world. We went back and forth, but I got slower and slower. She grabbed me and threw me into the wall, causing a cave in. The ceiling began falling in on me, so I shifted into a dragon and bashed it off. It then regenerated as I charged. She was shocked by my size. As I didn¡¯t have a convenient city to compare myself to, I wasn¡¯t sure if I had grown, but my size definitely made it harder for her to hurt me. Of course, I was also a bigger target. And her attacks still hurt a lot. And given the restrictive confines, I couldn¡¯t move to dodge. Then she kicked me, and I launched through the roof. I was then in a massive orb, and Milel flew up to face me. But now, I had enough room to move. I saw that this layer was unbreakable, meaning that smashing me through the wall was now impossible. It was pure skill v skill now. She was confused by my angelic wings paired with my draconic form. Then I realized that I shouldn¡¯t have this. I was a human, and I did not possess my draconic body, so how was it that I could still shift. Then a voice. One so familiar, it caused both me and Milel to flinch. How dull, you do not even understand why you are a threat? How have you caused this much trouble? ¡°¡±The Author.¡±¡± We both said the title with revulsion. Ah, I always love how people say that title. ¡°Let me guess, you want us to continue to fight?¡± Of course, not that your feelings matter anyways. Milel darling, kill her. Then Milel attacked with a new savagery, her mind fully melded by the Author¡¯s command. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. She mocks your love, considers you a fool, and expects you to listen? Don¡¯t even bother with her evil. Milel attacked in a rage, causing me to narrowly dodge, my larger form allowed me to be faster, but it came with the cost of her ranged attacks being more precise. She then launched into melee, and I tried to dodge, but she kicked my jaw, causing me to flip. I snarled and backed up, she took more steps forward before flying at me faster than a flash. I was knocked back. It wasn¡¯t a fight; it was a decimation. But I wouldn¡¯t go down so easily. I roared and released my aura, causing her to shake as Hell experienced a massive earthquake. I took a chance and leapt for her, but she dodged, then she made a single mistake. She leapt to kick my jaw again, but, this time, I was ready. I was way larger than her, so I simply opened my mouth, and she flew in. I clamped it shut before she could reangle. ¡°Let me out, NOW!!!¡± She caused a massive headache as I felt her sword stab into my upper mouth, but I was still too big for her to cause enough damage. I then did a risky move. ¡°Wait, no no no. I¡¯M STILL IN HERE!!!¡± No aura, just panic. Due to my size, the core of an inferno was much worse, but I wouldn¡¯t die from simple fire. But the panicking archangel that only stood 6 ft as opposed to my miles¡­ her and her feathered wings were quite flammable. [FIRE BREATH] I clamped my mouth shut and swallowed as the fire came up. This resulted in two things. First, the flames shot up my throat. Second, Milel was thrown directly into the core of the fire. And, with my mouth shut, it was like a furnace. I could hear her inhuman screeching and feel my own mouth getting minorly burnt. Her screeching was so loud I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if Asmodeus and Hades are freaking out. Finally, when the fire blast was done, I checked to make sure, and sure enough, she was alive. So, I spat the simmered angel out. Her wings were little more than bone, and her flesh was almost ash. I shifted back into a catkin and held my fist next to her throat, at this point, the slightest thrust would kill her. I had conquered death¡¯s invulnerability. ¡°I win.¡± ¡°So, you do.¡± ¡°I will save you on one condition.¡± ¡°What is that? Even in the invulnerability of death, I am useless. Any condition you give can¡¯t hurt me more than I¡¯ve already been hurt.¡± ¡°Swear loyalty to me.¡± Her eyes widened. ¡°You wish for me, to serve you? Preposterous.¡± ¡°I am an administrator with the ability to even harm the dead. I am also the biggest chance everyone has to beat the man who controlled you into fighting me.¡± ¡°So, what happens to me if I do swear loyalty? You leave me here, I rot, but now having nothing to hold onto my sanity for.¡± ¡°I will level this skill, Universal Dominance, then I will let you out the moment the number of deceased I can summon is three.¡± ¡°Why not your friends?¡± ¡°Because they are in Heaven, and even if the Ruler isn¡¯t God, Heaven is still Heaven.¡± ¡°You want them to have peace.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Admirable, very well. I accept your condition.¡± [The Administrator Milel has sworn loyalty to you.] ¡°You¡¯re an administrator?!¡± ¡°That¡¯s the main reason I was able to keep my delusions, because he didn¡¯t take it.¡± [As the faction leader, Milel, has sworn loyalty to you, her subordinates follow suit.] Then a universal announcement. [The Higher Faction, Milel¡¯s Blade, has merged with the Middle Faction, Garden.] [The Owner, Rose Hood, has now gained dominance over another administrator. Her Rank has increased.] ¡°The Owner?¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°My skill is system owner, but this is the first time I¡¯ve been referred to as the Owner.¡± Then I healed Milel and made her wholly independent. As thanks, she opened the gate for me. Milel, Kill her now!!! ¡°Nah, I don¡¯t feel like killing my new master, get lost, Author.¡± Then she smiles. ¡°I think I finally understand why he¡¯s so scared of you.¡± I waved as I exited back into the in between. Chapter 156: He is not God We were frozen, even Luma couldn¡¯t believe the words that came from her mouth. ¡°She¡­ made the angel her servant¡­¡± Gabriel was shaking, but it wasn¡¯t with anger, but terror. ¡°She was determined to be unstable, impossible to negotiate with, but she¡­ gained her loyalty.¡± I was also shocked. ¡°Just what is Rose?¡± Cassiel had a different question. ¡°Why is she called the Owner?¡± Luma just shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s just a skill name, there¡¯s no reason it should actually give her a unique prefix.¡± ¡°What skill?¡± ¡°System Owner. It was a combination of her administration skill and two others.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± ¡°She is getting way stronger, and¡­ the system evolved Empire without my permission or influence.¡± ¡°But¡­ you are the system!¡± ¡°Exactly, she unconsciously made me do something that fit her exact need without even realizing it.¡± Amy seemed to realize something. ¡°This isn¡¯t the first time she¡¯s done something like that.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Early into her enslavement, she wished for someone to care for her¡­ Someone who would be a comfort¡­¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°She created Dalla Roger.¡± ¡°But¡­ she was only Purity at that point, she wasn¡¯t even and individual entity!!!¡± ¡°Exactly¡­ I think they know what¡¯s happening.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°All of them, Lucifer, the Author, and the Ruler. All of them know what¡¯s happening, but they are keeping it to themselves for some reason.¡± Gabriel sighed. ¡°If the Ruler is keeping it hidden, it¡¯s for a good reason.¡± ¡°Bull****!¡± We all blinked, she just cursed at an angel. Amanda was looking at her in absolute shock and confusion. Now that I think about it, I don¡¯t think I ever heard her curse before. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°I keep hearing, oh, the Ruler has good intentions, oh, the Ruler knows best, oh, Ruler, Ruler, RULER! I¡¯m sick of it. Something¡¯s happening that he¡¯s clearly aware of, and as her faction, we should also be aware of.¡± ¡°Watch your tongue, girl.¡± ¡°Oh, what are you gonna do, declare war on us? Last time it happened you got a little burnt up, now that I¡¯m actually asking questions that you also want answers too, I¡¯m supposed to shut up?!¡± Amanada nodded. ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m going to have to side with Amy here, the Ruler is hiding something. Now I don¡¯t care for his own secrets, he can keep them, but if he knows something about the last piece of my friend, that I have left, then he better tell us.¡± Then Erica said something that made even Amanda and Amy gawk. ¡°And besides, he isn¡¯t even God, he shouldn¡¯t keep secrets about his allies from his allies.¡± Then we felt pure rage from Gabriel. ¡°Child, what did you just say?¡± She simply glared at him. ¡°Oh, please, God is loving, there is nothing loving about that man. He fights with hate alone and has never shown the slightest sign of even knowing what love is.¡± Cassiel drew her sword, but Gabriel blocked her from finishing drawing it. ¡±I am merciful, and that is the only reason I am stopping Cassiel from cutting your venomous tongue off.¡± Then, almost as though she just remembered who stood in front of her, she started shivering. Then Rose sat up. ¡°Let off, Gabriel, the child is correct.¡± ¡°ROSE?! Wait. What do you mean?!¡± ¡°That man wouldn¡¯t know love if it bit his behind.¡± ¡°Do yo-¡° ¡°Yeah, cut the spooky voice. I need to talk with my faction.¡± Then Rose looked at him and Cassiel, and her power echoed at the same level as Gabriel¡¯s ¡°So, if you could kindly get lost, I¡¯d appreciate it.¡± Cassiel try to draw again, but Gabriel stopped her. ¡°Cassiel, Rose alone we can beat, but Luma and Sona would defend her, besides its not worth making her an enemy to defend our pride.¡± Cassiel looked at Gabriel in shock, until she saw the absolute fury emanating from his entire pose. ¡°Come on.¡± Gabriel walked out, and Cassiel looked at him in shock before she left to go after him. Then Rose leaned over. ¡°Silence.¡± ¡°But no one-¡° I raised my hand, if she was using this spell, it was clear she didn¡¯t want to let anyone but us know. ¡°Now, listen to me.¡± _ So, I was right. Lucifer is also aware of this, isn¡¯t he? Luma and Sona clearly are as well. And I don¡¯t even need to mention the Ruler and the Author. Oh well. I¡¯ll keep you a secret. You clearly aren¡¯t harmful, you likely can¡¯t even access here. How you are looking? I¡¯ll figure that out later. I raised my hand and held up three fingers. ¡°Lucifer, The Ruler, and The Author.¡± They blinked. ¡°What about them?¡± ¡°There are three Supreme beings. Each one holds the others back.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°They are monsters. The Ruler only cares for power and tools, The Author only cares for his entertainment, and Lucifer only cares for taking both of them down.¡± ¡°What is your point.¡± I smiled. ¡°I know what my new goal is.¡± ¡°And what is that?¡± ¡°I need to replace one of them.¡± That caused everyone to freeze and some shouted in disbelief. Then Celios spoke. ¡°You are saying it like it¡¯s a simple task.¡± ¡°Of course, it is, one is already preparing me to replace him after all.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You really thought that he was sending his commanders in death matches just to awaken me? His final goal is to kill one or both of them, he¡¯s strong, but the Author can still manipulate him if given enough effort.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°So, what better replacement then one who can fully resist him?¡± ¡°And what¡¯s your end goal?¡± Celios and Ausar held the same expression, they were mothered by Kala, meaning they knew most of the twists of my mind. ¡°Quite simple, darling.¡± I smiled, causing them to shiver. ¡°I will eliminate all three. And rule through my own power.¡± Their eyes widened. Then Luma. ¡°That¡¯s impossible, you can¡¯t just win like that.¡± ¡°Of course, it will be a long arduous road, but let me put it this way. They are monsters, they know it, I know it. I am a monster too, but far less so.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll rule like a monster with empathy. Basically, how I already do.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sick of all of the conflict, besides, it¡¯s either we destroy them.¡± Then I gave a bitter smile. ¡°Or they destroy us.¡± Chapter 157: To Sponsor an Army I summoned Asmodeus and Hades and the members that were in the room jumped into defensive positions. ¡°Rose, look out!¡± ¡°Chill, they swore loyalty to me.¡± I lounged back. ¡°Meaning we have two very powerful beings on our side.¡± Jalad blinked. ¡°I am never going to stop getting surprised am I.¡± ¡°Probably not.¡± Dallel sighed. ¡°You are too unpredictable.¡± ¡°That I am.¡± ¡°How did you get the archangel on your side anyways?¡± Asmodeus asked the question. It was a fully understandable question. ¡°Simple, it turns out that dragon fire is quite effective against angels.¡± Thalia snorted. ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s slow, she would¡¯ve just dodged.¡± ¡°Not if she¡¯s trapped in my mouth when I breath fire.¡± Thalia smiled. ¡°Nice¡­ how big are you now.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Wait, your body was here. How did you have a dragon form?!¡± Upon Ausar¡¯s question, Thalia also realized that. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I was also confused about it, then the Author taunted me.¡± ¡°What did he say?¡± ¡°Something about me not even understanding why he saw me as a threat.¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± ¡°Milel could likely shed some light on that, but I doubt she would.¡± ¡°Who? Oh right, the archangel you now have under your command.¡± ¡°Speaking of.¡± We turned to Hades. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you summon her instead of either me or Asmodeus?¡± ¡°Because I made a promise that I would bring you back as soon as I had a way to, but with her, I promised I would bring her back when I level the skill.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I see.¡± With that I smiled. ¡°Now.¡± They all leaned in. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go downstairs. I¡¯m hungry.¡± They all gave me an annoyed look as I walked out of the room. I walked down the stairs and walked up to the bar. ¡°Ah, hello, Rose. It seems you¡¯re done with your out of body experience.¡± ¡°Yes, could I have the usual.¡± ¡°Of course, and your table is clear.¡± ¡°Yay! Thank you!¡± I sat down and tapped the table, rocking to an invisible tune. ¡°It¡¯s like nothing ever happened.¡± One of the three aces sat down next to me. ¡°I always think about how much has happened, then when I see you come almost every morning¡­ it shows all of us just what will never change.¡± I smiled. ¡°I want everyone to remain smiling for as long as I live, and far afterwards.¡± Then he smiled. ¡°And I¡¯m looking forward to you ensuring that.¡± Then he got up and returned to the group. Dallel came downstairs and sat across from me. ¡°I want to tell you something.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I have finished the requirements to ascend.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°I want your sponsorship.¡± I smiled. ¡°Of course, why not, I am your leader after all.¡± [Sponsor Individual Dallel.] Then he started glowing, and his body began glowing red. ¡°What? WHAT¡¯S HAPPENING?!¡± ¡°WHY IS DALLEL PO*EMON EVOLVING?!!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know!!!¡± Then it stopped and he panted and smiled. ¡°Thank you.¡± Then the next surprise of the day. Feathered wings now protruded from his back. ¡°Heh?¡± ¡­ ¡°AAAH, WHY DO I HAVE WINGS?!¡± ¡°Dallel, calm down.¡± I grabbed his hand and used the World Mothers aura to push the rightness feeling into him, and he slowly calmed down as his breathing steadied. I used check and sure enough, he was still an Altmer. ¡°I didn¡¯t change your species or anything, you just got wings.¡± Luma warped 10 feet to grab Dallel¡¯s wing. He flinched. ¡°Interesting, it has the same build as Rose¡¯s FEAR wings.¡± ¡°So, are you saying that my sponsorship imbues FEAR into them?¡± ¡°No, the wing will fade. It¡¯s just that his body received too much power from your sponsorship causing it to mutate temporarily. It will right itself.¡± We all sighed in relief. ¡°As much as I don¡¯t mind being more like Rose, I do not want to become like Primal FEAR.¡± ¡°That can¡¯t happen.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°I-¡° ¡°Can¡¯t tell us?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°By the way, Dallel, what level are you now?¡± ¡°438.¡± ¡°That was quick.¡± ¡°Yeah, my requirements for 400 were already met, so it just launched me.¡± ¡°So¡­ all of us will just skyrocket.¡± Sona nodded. ¡°Most of your leveling was done by Rose, therefore the difficult requirements went to her. The rest of you should have typical requirements.¡± ¡°So, how far should we be able to go.¡± ¡°From what I¡¯ve seen alone, each of you could get to 799 unimpeded as long as you get the sponsorship.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± I spend another hour giving my sponsorship to all of the ones that didn¡¯t have one already. Only Thalia, Amy, Ausar, and Jalad leveled, Celios needs one more level, and Amanda and Erica were only mid 100s as I didn¡¯t let them fight often. Mammon and most of the adventurers were decently close, Dallel¡¯s crew was almost there, with Darsen actually being the right level, just lacking the requirements. Thalia and Jalad both got to 354 and 345 respectively. Ausar and Amy both got to 398. So, as it sat, of my original fighters, Dallel was the only one that reached Middle-Class. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s cool, you made it all the way to the middle class.¡± ¡°Well, he was leader for a time, and he led an assault on 9 worlds simultaneously.¡± ¡°That would definitely level you.¡± Luma was excited. ¡°I wonder if Rose leveled at all from that.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you know?¡± ¡°Actually, sponsoring is a passive leveling, so I don¡¯t announce it.¡± Everyone looked at me. ¡°Check your level.¡± ¡°O-okay?¡± ¡­ ¡°Not sure what you all were expecting.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°738¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± They were clearly disappointed. I sighed. ¡°You gotta remember that the upper class is a whole different beast than middle class. I can¡¯t get any experience from hunting middle class, and at my level I only start getting experience when they are 700 or higher. Leveling this much from sponsoring is incredible enough.¡± ¡°I guess¡­¡± They started moping, and Silas delivered my meat and wine. I just ignored them and started eating. Chapter 158: An Angels Grace ¡°I have an idea.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It will take two things which will take a crapload of mana, but you¡¯ll both be so much stronger.¡± ¡°What is it?!¡± ¡°It would probably-¡° ¡°GOSH DANG IT WOMAN, WHAT IS THE IDEA?!¡± Hades¡¯ shout caught me off guard, and Asmodeus smirked. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll tell you.¡± They leaned in. ¡°I¡¯m going to try to make you two angels again, then I¡¯ll make proper bodies for you to inhabit.¡± They blinked. Luma blinked. Sona blinked. ¡­ ¡°How the heck do you expect to make them angels?¡± ¡°Well, that is their species, right?¡± Asmodeus started stuttering. ¡°W-w-well yeah it is, b-b-but we lost our grace and our blessings.¡± ¡°Yeah, you can¡¯t just return it.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll make you new ones.¡± Everyone blinked. Then Luma sighed. ¡°Rose, you can¡¯t just-¡° [System command processed. Creating, Angel¡¯s Grace (Bottled).] ¡°It appears I can just.¡± I held up the bottled grace and smiled. Everyone, including Luma, just looked at me in shock. ¡°I used a combination of System Owner and Creation to build a crafting menu modification.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you ask me first?!¡± ¡°I did.¡± ¡°When?!¡± ¡°I sent you a notification about it and you clicked check for accept.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± ¡°You thought it was an automatic thing, didn¡¯t you.¡± Luma blushed. ¡°Maybe.¡± ¡°Automatic thing?¡± ¡°Luma will occasionally get things such as evolution requests or ascension requests, so she has a habit to not read and just confirm.¡± ¡°So, why didn¡¯t you assume she just did that?¡± This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Because it also tells you who sent it.¡± Sona blinked. ¡°Luma, you¡¯re an idiot.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t listen to sender because usually it¡¯s just an automatic message. Those don¡¯t have senders!¡± I sighed. ¡°Alright, next time, I¡¯ll confirm with you, in person.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Anyways that is a pretty overpowered thing, any limits?¡± ¡°I need to know how it works and what materials are used.¡± ¡°¡­ Then how did you make-¡° ¡°Archangels pretty much have their grace hanging on a stick in front of them, it was pretty easy to analyze it.¡± ¡°¡­ Why were you analyzing their graces? You didn¡¯t know you¡¯d do this.¡± ¡°I was actually trying to figure out how to break it if it became necessary.¡± ¡°¡­ oh¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, I did figure it out, by the way. Anyways, this one is quite similar to the original angel¡¯s grace, but it bases off of my power instead.¡± ¡°Incredible.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your System Owner even at?¡± ¡°6.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ Wow.¡± ¡°So, can you do much else?¡± ¡°Really, I can just make new Owner level functions and change their requirement levels.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Theoretically, I can take the heal they have and make it Owner level.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cheating.¡± ¡°Precisely why I didn¡¯t do it.¡± ¡°So, does it have limits?¡± ¡°Of course, I made it cost stamina to use.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good¡­ That doesn''t stop you¡­¡± ¡°I know, but it will stop a lot of others who would abuse it.¡± ¡°You are making literal grace and talking about not wanting people to abuse it.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a difference, I¡¯m not doing it for myself.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°*SIGH*¡± Alright, so, who wants to test the grace.¡± ¡°Test?¡± ¡°Yeah, I mean, I analyzed the original, but it¡¯s not like I could experiment with it, it only works with demons, meaning you two would be the first ones I¡¯m trying this out with.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t the system still work?¡± ¡°Remember, it¡¯s based in my power, not the Ruler¡¯s. He has it perfected, Mine should be perfected but I don¡¯t know for sure.¡± ¡°Eh, I¡¯ll try it, why not?¡± Asmodeus reached for the grace, so I handed it to her. ¡°Okay, what do I do with it?¡± ¡°Drink it.¡± ¡°¡­Okay¡­ Bottoms up.¡± She drunk the whole bottle and the light was visible going down her throat, but it stopped when it reached the heart level, then it expanded. Asmodeus started to scream. Hades started to panic but I blocked him and nodded. This was the exact same response that the shards made when I purified them. Meaning, I had to make one more push. {Oh, Asmodeus, take my blessing and be purified into your true self!} My voice echoed through the room causing the other three to shiver, but Asmodeus stopped screaming. Light shot from her eyes, nose, and mouth as she began to hover, then her bat wings reverted to feathered wings which then shook and turned into metal wings. Her Halo reappeared, then it cracked in two and became dragon horns. Her tail faded entirely, and nothing replaced it. Then she fell to the ground, her hair a lot longer. ¡°That was dizzying.¡± ¡°Asmodeus?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°What are you?¡± ¡°Hm?¡± She noticed her wings and horns. ¡°I would say dragon, but I don¡¯t think they have metallic feathered wings.¡± ¡°Asmodeus, do you mind if I try something?¡± ¡°Sure, what- AH!¡± I lit her on fire. There was no effect. Hades was smiling. ¡°Interesting, you are an angel again, but more durable.¡± ¡°Like a Valkyrie.¡± ¡°A Valkyrie?¡± ¡°Specifically, a mythological Valkyrie.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the difference between them and regular Valkyries?¡± ¡°Mythological Valkyries guide souls to the death realm, and they have wings that are impervious to most weapons. They also are very deadly fighters.¡± ¡°So, they aren¡¯t commanders?¡± ¡°Nope, mythological Valkyries are formed in a squad.¡± ¡°Huh, that¡¯s cool. Will Hades become a Valkyrie too?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Valkyries are women.¡± ¡°¡­Oh, what¡¯s the male version.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t really have one, but some things call them Berserkers.¡± ¡°OOOH, I like that.¡± While Asmodeus was admiring her new look, Hades was bugging me to make him grace, too. ¡°Alright, here it is.¡± He took it and immediately drank it. Then he started screaming in pain. {Oh, Hades, take my blessing and be purified into your true self!} His screaming stopped and he underwent a similar transformation. His halo reappeared and broke apart, but this time, it flew down to his hands and gave him claws. His wings went through the exact same process as Asmodeus¡¯s did, but his tail was the icing on the cake. His tail wrapped around his arms and broke off before forming into chains with massive blades at the end. ¡°Woah, a weapon.¡± ¡°Try pulling it into you.¡± He reached and the blade and chains flew into him. They made his wings bigger. ¡°WOAH, I CAN SUMMON BLADES!!!¡± ¡°Definitely fits berserker title.¡± We all nodded. Then Asmodeus looked at the blades. ¡°Let me try to summon a weapon.¡± Then she lifted her hand and a glowing spear formed in her hands. ¡°Woah¡­¡± Asmodeus and Hades kept playing with their new weapons. ¡°Great, you¡¯re breaking things again.¡± ¡°Gabriel is not going to be happy.¡± Luma smiled at the thought of him fuming again. ¡°No, no he won¡¯t be.¡± Chapter 159: The Inventory ¡°Okay, now I need to make your bodies.¡± Hades raised his hand. ¡°I understand that we need bodies, but why are we in the bathhouse.¡± ¡°It¡¯s soundproof.¡± Hades has a light blush. I smirked. ¡°You do realize I can only make the body right? We¡¯re gonna need to get clothes for you after the fact.¡± ¡°Well, yeah¡­ but it¡¯s¡­ you know¡­¡± ¡°Awkward?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll do you first then you can wait in the change room until Asmodeus is made.¡± ¡°But what if someone comes in?¡± ¡°Then hope it isn¡¯t Thalia.¡± ¡°You¡¯re mean!¡± ¡°You are literally a former demonic general.¡± ¡°¡­ well yeah¡­ but¡­ I don¡¯t have a response to that.¡± Then Asmodeus spoke. ¡°I understand that we will be without clothes, but why do you need to be in that state?¡± ¡°If I¡¯m here I may as well take a bath, and who in their right mind takes a bath with clothes on. Besides, I have a towel.¡± ¡°I um¡­¡± ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get this over with before Hades has a meltdown.¡± I reached out and I used creation. He started screaming, but surprisingly, it was like eating a pepper for me. ¡°Huh, I expected more pain.¡± ¡°I felt so much pain¡­.¡± ¡°Alright, now get in the change room, and here¡¯s a towel. Oh, and no one should come in, I put up a sign.¡± ¡°What sign?¡± ¡°Private happenings¡­ which I now realize could be misunderstood very easily.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hurry this up.¡± I made Asmodeus¡¯s body easily and got both of them in the changing room with towels. Then I got dressed and warped to Thalia. ¡°Hey Rose, what is it?¡± ¡°Perfect, Dallel is here too.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± ¡°I need a pair of clothes in both of your sizes.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°We have a pair of angels I just made bodies for, and my clothes are too small for them.¡± ¡°Small? Oh, now that I think of it, you are your normal height again.¡± ¡°You just noticed? I was like this since my journey to Hell.¡± Oh, you didn¡¯t notice either? Yeah FEAR is now a level 9 and I am shorter again. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Anyways, I just need a pair of clothes.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Dallel went and grabbed a pair. Same with Thalia, so I ported back. ¡°¡­ Am I interrupting something?¡± ¡°GAH! Uh, no?¡± ¡°Are you two romantically entangled?¡± ¡°NO¡­ yeah.¡± ¡°Cute, anyways I got your clothes¡­. But take your time~¡± ¡°ROSE, YOU-¡° I warped into the baths before she finished. ¡°Now to actually relax.¡± I cooed in comfort¡­ ¡­ The heck are you still doing here, go look at Dallel or something. _ ¡°So, how do you think that the duo are doing.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s Asmodeus and Hades, I mean, she called them angels.¡± ¡°Speak of the devils¡­¡± In came Asmodeus and Hades with a deep blush. Then Thalia, as normal, ¡°Ooh, did something happen in there?¡± ¡°It¡¯s incredibly awkward to be walked in on by Rose.¡± Thalia snickered. ¡°I¡¯d imagine¡­ Where is she?¡± ¡°Who knows, she portaled away after making a crude joke.¡± Then Rose showed up. ¡°That was a relaxing bath.¡± Then she looked at the duo and smirked before walking to the bar. ¡°Silas, could I have my usual?¡± ¡°Rose, what is this?¡± ¡°Whatever do you mean?¡± ¡°Why do Hades and Asmodeus have metallic wings.¡± ¡°Oh, I reinstated them as angels using a grace modified to be based in my power.¡± We blinked. ¡°And how the heck did you do that?¡± ¡°I made a crafting menu in Luma¡¯s mechanics.¡± ¡°Did you ask her if you could do it?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± Sona nodded. ¡°She did, but my sister thought it was an automatic message and accepted without reading it, so she was caught off guard.¡± ¡°Yep, but it¡¯s a little late to reverse it.¡± Then Asmodeus snickered. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Rose, you may want to be slow on leveling Universal Dominance.¡± ¡°Heh?¡± She had a skill called Universal Dominance?! ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I level it?¡± ¡°Because we are currently stronger than we were as angels, so now remember who you¡¯ll bring when it levels.¡± ¡°Milel¡­ and her whole faction.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Oh dear¡­¡± ¡°How long would it take?¡± ¡°To make enough grace and blessings? Probably about 3 weeks if I do one every 5 seconds.¡± ¡°With sleep?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Oh dear¡­¡± ¡°Yep, you know what, I¡¯ll just make a stockpile of grace.¡± ¡°What happens if it breaks?¡± Rose stopped for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m going to ask Luma if I can make a storage system.¡± Then Amy smiled. ¡°Like an inventory?!¡± ¡°Exactly. I mean, just imagine how useful that would be!¡± ¡°OOH!!!¡± While me and Amy were gushing about the inventory, Luma and Amanda came walking in talking about something. ¡°OOH, Luma, perfect timing, can I make an inventory system?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Like a storage that only I can access that will also prevent things from rotting and breaking.¡± ¡°Only if you make it universal.¡± ¡°Oh, that would make a lot of things more convenient. Of course, there will item limitations.¡± Then a glowing square appeared in front of her, and her hands began moving too fast for us to see her movement, even Luma was blinking in her struggle to keep track. ¡°Let¡¯s say a maximum of 40 unique items that can stacked up to 64. By applying bags, we can max it out at 100.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Weapons and armor obviously can¡¯t be stacked but still allow it in.¡± ¡°Wait.¡± ¡°Ooh, maximum weight, you can only hold up to a maximum of what you can regularly carry, but what is directly in your hands or out of your inventory won¡¯t count to the weight.¡± It was clear that she was no longer listening to us. ¡°Living beings can not be stored, but what about corpses¡­ why not? Hmm¡­¡± She stopped for a single second. ¡°Ooh, you can trade directly from the inventory, between other¡¯s inventories.¡± Luma blinked. ¡°Wait, hold on a minute!¡± She was going a bit above and beyond. ¡°And done.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say you could add trading!¡± ¡°That¡¯s standard with inventory, besides you have to pretty much be right next to the person, it just clears the chance of being scammed.¡± Luma blinked. ¡°That¡­ isn¡¯t a bad idea, actually.¡± ¡°Okay, setting permission¡­ Everyone¡­ including non-system.¡± ¡°Uh.¡± ¡°Submit?¡± ¡°Why not?¡± She clicked something, then an automatic announcement sounded. [The Owner has created a new system mechanic called Inventory. A tutorial is being sent along with this message on how to use said mechanic, it also explains what limitations there are.] [Message from Owner: Have fun with it, I worked hard :)] ¡°I like the message, but did you have to add the emoji?¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°¡­ Alright.¡± ¡°???¡± Her innocent face annoyed us to no end. Then Darsen asked an interesting question. ¡°By the way Rose, how large are you now? Like, in your dragon form.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, let me check.¡± She walked out of the gate and waved at the guard before walking all the way to the forest. ¡°I wonder if she¡¯ll still reach the city.¡± ¡°That would be funny.¡± The forest was half the length of the city away, so if she could, then she would have to be absolutely massive. Then we hear her from the distance. ¡°Unshift.¡± Then the reflective scales appeared, and we all blanched as we saw the absolutely massive beast that lay before us. She was larger than the capital. She was ? as wide and 4 times the length. All in all, she was massive. ¡°So, I think I got a little bigger.¡± Her voice caused the ground to shake. It was a boom on the level of a tidal wave. ¡°Just a little bit.¡± ¡°Shift.¡± She became the small catkin with FEAR aspects again. ¡°That will be useful in battles.¡±