I pinched and slapped myself, even shattered some illusions.
This was reality. I [Transformed] back and started to think. The spirit sisters are in danger, Bywen is in danger, my cousins are in danger, Giana is in danger and I am in danger. Who to go for first?
The fairies seem to have a bad matchup against elves, Bywen should be fine. There’s a lot of my cousins, they should be fine too. Giana has Noelle and a lot of humans around them; they should be fine if they’re not reckless, I will be relying on Noelle for this though, as you can always expect a 9t to do something reckless.
The spirit sisters are on their power spot with a lot of spirits. They are at the highest risk. I wanted to teleport over but I didn’t drop a [Dimensional Anchor] there.
Note to self: I need to drop a [Dimensional Anchor] somewhere in the Aquini Kingdom.
It then hit me that I am actually most at risk. I got brief flashbacks from getting eaten alive and I started to shake. Anything that’s not 9t will work on them. No frost, no 9t mode no foxfires, or [Elgard Overload]. Without those, I’m quite weak. Strong enough to defeat humans but defeating humans was quite a low bar.
I should hide but who was going to solve this? None of the immortal species have numbers to deal with this. The humans have to take this. The world certainly is doomed if we have to rely on humans.
Loud whispering sounds broke me out of my thought process and a swarm of 2 headed ugly bird creatures flew at the monkeys, they had a head where normal birds have heads but they also had another identical head as a tail. They had eyes on their feathers which made for a disturbing sight, what was more disturbing was what they would do if they caught me.
Well, I have to run, quite literally. If you can kill them, please do so, else hide, but don’t fight here! I don’t want monkey corpses or fairy corpses on my spot!
I ran away; to the desert. I tried to calm myself down and distracted myself with a thought. What did the monkey mean with the ‘Breath of the Planet’ I do know spirits fall in the category of vital races but I never asked myself what their function was.
Is it instant game over if all the spirits die? So, if the spirits get targeted this world would die even faster? That means that its getting more and more important that I don’t die.
What a pain in the ass. I shot countless daggers into the sky and reduced the number of my pursuers.
They completely ignored the monkeys and went straight for me. All the fairies that invaded were moving in swarms all going toward a different destinations. Probably locking in to the nearest spirit they sense. How do they sense us though? They also made a lot of noise.
The elves must the only ones who will be unable to hear this as Elliana continously failed to hear these strange sounds that got carried on mana waves. What’s the point of those ears if they don’t use them…
I tried to focus on myself. It took a bit but I swapped to my phoenix side.
The fairies were still stalking me but seemed to be less interested and some broke off from the swarm. I returned to my 9t self and those that broke off from the group returned and beelined to me. I tried to avoid some desert spirits in the process as they would get caught in the crosfire. The swarm was ignoring them however. Am I a tastier target? I am happy for the desert spirits but what about me?
I shooed them away because they wanted to help me. Can't they see that they will end up as a fairy snack if they do so? I kept throwing daggers and spreading wires behind me while running aimlessly. I could lure them into a city I want to be wiped out. I smirked and teleported behind the swarm. I would be heading toward Itris! I needed a plan though. How to get rid of these without anything I normally use? They obviously have fire resistance so [Meteor] is out. I can use… [God of Thunder]! Wow, that takes me back. I’m also near Itris, where I used it a lot in the past. It would be perfect to do that.
I made a floaty jump, took off my shoes, and used [Accel step] when I hit the sand. It was risky but I will die if I don’t attempt this. I sent out foxfire flares to attract more fairies. The insect-like fairies seemed to have buzzing sounds, the bird-like fairies whispering sounds, and the mammal-like fairies had ticking sounds. I still couldn’t determine the trait that could identify them as a fairy, the only thing they had in common was that they made strange sounds and ate spirits. Is that enough? They also had countless eyes on multiple places, mostly. The scythe dogs only had 2 eyes unless I missed a dozen.
I connected to the air leyline currents while running, giving my [Accel steps] a boost. I sent out more foxfire flares and had an enormous army of fairies following me. I had to plug my ears with snow because their sounds, yelling, giggling and screaming were giving me headaches. I also had to deal with several of my spirit tethers snapping.
Itris came in sight when the lightning shifted to black. Will I drop a silver [God of Thunder] on them? I checked if there weren’t any people I know in Itris. It was still a shitty place. I led a bit over 12 million fairies into Itris and unleashed the largest silver [God of Thunder] I’ve ever created in my life.
I kept running around and confirmed that all fairies in the surrounding area had been obliterated. I saw a small group of fairies on the top of Mount Thunderpeak. The lightning spirits there were fighting for their lives but they were winning. I sat down at the edge of the hole I had created. The shitty city was no more. There were still more than enough fairies, unfortunately.
The sky was black from all the fairies. They were still pouring from the Great Tear. That’s what I’m calling it. It is probably as impactful or even more impactful as the Great Eraser so it needs its own name.
How are we going to get out of this mess? I will run out of cities to vaporize if I have to keep doing this. I wonder if I could go 9t mode and use [Elgard overload] to undo this invasion. Unlikely but what if I burn up all my lives? I might be able to. And if this fails, I will just die a bit before anyone else.
I spent the whole day thinking of alternatives. Fighting them all is out of the question. Negotiating? Will that even work? Asking to go back certainly won’t. What would Greg do? Diplomacy? And what if that fails? Raishin would just blast them all. Is there any correct answer that has nobody ending up dead at the end?
My cousins could help but what if we all die? I have avoided them for so long, I am an asshole but I'm not appearing to ask them to die for something that might not work. I decided to ignore the problem. Maybe it will go away or maybe someone else will solve it.
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I was completely exhausted. I was hiding in the cave next to the basilisks I had turned into charcoal last year. I had been running from fairies and blasting them with lightning for the past 10 days but there was no end to it.
Ticking sounds echoed through the cave. Is it the scythe dogs? Or the bottle rats? Or maybe even worse… I dodged a laser. Yup, it’s the laser bears. They are not really bears, they are furballs with a single eye bunched up together. The swarm created something that looked like a bear and they moved like a single body. Each eye could shoot a laser though.
I created [Frost Mirrors] and made some eyes pop with the reflected lasers. I started [Dagger Torrent] and eventually ended up using [Silver Torrent]. This was the 4th time I had to use it in the last 10 days. My food supply is getting low.
4 laser bears got sent to the afterlife and 13 were left. I had tried to contact my buddies but they are probably busy too. I don’t know how long I can hold on like this if nobody fixes this fairy problem. The humans were fighting them but an average fairy is stronger than a human so it’s not going so well.
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Not all fairies seem to be ugly though. Some are quite pretty without their deceptive disguise. It makes me believe that there are also good fairies but maybe this is rooted out of hope and not evidence. Another problem; I don’t recognize the mana runes from their mana circles. It checks out but is super annoying.
The last laser bear got vaporized and I ate the last of my stored-up food. It seems that I have to address this problem. But this has to wait a bit. The full moon might make this a bit easier. I covered myself in illusions and curled up in a ball to get some sleep in.
The day of the full moon. My sleep had been terrible and riddled with nightmares. At least it would be over soon. I was tired. The nights were as noisy as ever. I opened up the correct filter.
Something I hadn't thought about was how to get near the Great Tear with all these fairies swarming in. The invasion had never stopped as i was still omgoing. I turned Nilah into her fox form and put her down.
Hey girl, I’m sorry but I am setting you free.
Nilah tackled me and hit my gut. I crumpled to the ground and groaned.
Hey, what was that for!?
She expelled cold air from her nostrils and turned back into her sword form.
You can’t stay here, what if some random crazy elf picks you up?
No response. I sighed and picked her up. This seemed to have been her intent.
Stupid fox, I should also teach you to be selfish.
I picked a good spot on a nearby mountain while cutting down fairies that thought I was an easy snack. I had to keep this up for an hour before the area was fairy-free. I focused on the Great Tear. I wonder if I can wipe them out in a single cut. I used [Dimensional Sword] to test out if this worked, which it did. Is this because I got this skill from Azu?
10 years later and she is still saving my ass. I should have been kinder to her. I poured all my concentration and mana into this one cut. It reminded me of those movies where the hero charges forever to get a powerful strike in. I always wondered why the enemy allowed the hero to do that. I had to clear this area from fairies for an hour to get this opportunity.
I had no inspiration nor would I ever use this skill again so I named it [Great Wipe]. I gently swung the sword before my sight. I slowly swung Nilah from left to right. All fairies on the left side of the swing had cut down and disappeared as if I had wiped a dirty window clean. This area of the Great Tear was fairy free. The [Great Wipe] had exhausted me but now was my only chance.
The fabric was festering but there were no maggots yet. I went 9t mode and went into [Elgard Overload]. I didn’t wait until the 2-minute window where it was its strongest. I instantly started to undo the Great Tear. Nothing seemed amiss yet. I focused on the nearby fairies first; they can’t attack me if the Great Tear had never happened.
The headache became worse and worse and my head felt as if it was about to split open when the 2 minute window came up. My vision started to redden but the Great Tear was shrinking slowly but surely. The 2 minute came and went and the stress had turned the tips of my tails red and it was about to claim one of my lives.
I kept pushing but the Great Tear was still gigantic. I was down to 6 lives but it didn’t seem like I would be able to close it before [Elgard Overload] drops or I run out of lives. My body tried to stop me from doing this. I had to fight against this tear and my own body. I had to kick ‘falling unconscious’ or other ways my body tried to stop me, out of reality.
I was about to kick the bucket and lose another life when I got forced out of my [Elgard Overload] and thus ending my 9t mode. I also got placed in a temporal lock. It stopped my bleeding.
“Sheesh, glad I made it in time. This is on me, sorry. I should have known someone of your race would do this.”
I turned around to have my Elgards eyes clash with a woman that seemed to have appeared out of a portal. I also sensed divine energy. She had purple hair, no black hair… blonde? All of the above. What is wrong with her hair? And as all gods she had an interesting sense of fashion. I sighed. I sat down on my knees, tied 8 of my tails in a knot, and presented my 9 th tail to her.
She was taken aback. “Huh, you’re not asking for a bond, are you? Are you surrendering? Why?”
I don’t have the energy, strength or willpower to fight a spatiotemporal magic using god with Elgards eyes. I concede, just end it.
She walked over to me and helped me up. “Untie your tails. I am here to stop you from self-destructing.”
Why would you? Wouldn’t you guys be happier if our race disappeared?
She moved as if swatting a fly and thousands of fairies got wiped out. I was still trying to find up what was up with her hair, was it purple, black, or blonde? Could she make up her mind? I untied my tails.
“I am sorry for the late introduction; I am the Sarian goddess Chiara.”
Ah… hey! Why do you appear only now! This dimensional fabric is a mess you know?!
I said as I pointed at the Great Tear.
My archive told me that she was the goddess of space, time, chaos, and other stuff.
“I am sorry. There is no excuse for my tardiness, but I can't have those who have been helping me, burn up their lives.”
Go on let me hear those excuses!
I sat down with my arms crossed. She looked around.
“Not here.” She flicked her hair and wiped out another swarm of fairies, she then snapped her fingers and we were in a room that looked… cosmic.
So, I have finally died.
“No silly, we are in a spatial box. We won’t be disturbed here. Do you need anything?”
Answers, and some smoked spirit salmon please, regular salmon would also work.
She fished smoked spirit salmon out of her dimensional pocket and handed it over to me.
You are by far my most favorite goddess, for now.
She flashed a smile that turned into concern.
“I guess I owe you… your race, an explanation. Make yourself comfortable.” She gestured with her hand and the place got furnished. Despite that, I still decided to sit down bunched up in my tails and I let Nilah out.
I’m all ears.