The next day, Arien returned to his normal self and was having a meeting with the three leaders of Cara's faction to discuss forming an alliance. As he explained his plans, Cara interrupted and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Arien, we already accept," she said with a slight smile. "Why don't you stick around for a bit while we work out the details of the alliance?"

Arien nodded in agreement. "Sure, that sounds like a good idea." Cara patted him on the head and started walking away. Arien quickly called out, "Wait, where are you going?"

Cara turned around and replied, "Today is my solo training day. I'll be back soon."

"Are you heading into the city? Can I join you?" Arien asked eagerly.

Cara let out a small sigh. "Unfortunately, Jared won't let us into the city, and I prefer to do my solo training alone."

Arien's face fell, but Cara quickly added, "It's okay, I'll be back before you know it. In the meantime, Katie can make you some cookies if you want."

Arien's attention was caught by the mention of cookies. "I love cookies!" he exclaimed, turning to Katie. "Can you make me some?"

***

Cara was becoming more and more skilled at defeating armies of demons. It was starting to feel too easy, almost boring. Maybe it was because of her increased stats, or because she had learned their tactics. Whatever the reason, Cara craved a greater challenge.

Level 8

User: Cara

EXP

4435/6400

Aspects

The Friend

HP

18/18

Mana

13/13

Strength

9

Endurance

9

Magic

8

Agility

8

There was another issue, the looming threat of Jared. One of these days Cara would have to go into the city that Jared had claimed, and on that day they would have to fight. Cara could only hope that all of her training would pay off and that she would win their battle.

That day arrived much sooner than Cara had anticipated. As she walked around the deserted town, she suddenly realized that there was not a demon in sight. She knew that the demons had a spawn point in the town, and they would travel out of town once they were spawned. Jared had taken it upon himself to kill any demons before they got the chance to leave and spread around. With Cara overhunting the ones that did manage to escape, there were no demons left in the area.

Cara returned to the base and quickly spotted Arien munching on a cookie. She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to involve him in the upcoming danger, but she knew she needed his help to reclaim their land from Jared. Gently placing her hand on Arien's head, she spoke softly, "I need your help. We have to fight back and take our land from Jared."

Arien immediately agreed, his eyes shining with determination. "I'll do whatever it takes to help. Let's go right now," he said, before shoving the cookie into his mouth.

Cara nodded and they immediately began to go to town. Cara had considered bringing some others along but determined that was a bad idea. Jared is powerful and could easily take down anyone else they brought with them. But with just the two of them, they should have a good chance of victory. To their surprise, as they entered the town, Jared was already waiting for them. He smiled wickedly as they approached.

“Jared,” Cara said coldly, “We are going to reclaim our land. We will fight, and we will win.”

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“I don’t think you will,” A voice familiar to Cara said, “You three will be fighting me,”

Cara trembled at the sight of Gregory, “What are you doing here?”

“Did you not listen?” His constantly shifting face smiled,

“You owe me a boon!” She yelled out,

“I know, and I will grant it to you once you defeat me. This is a test from my master,” He sighed, “And if you fail this test you will all die,”

Jared cracked his knuckles and dashed forward with his spear in hand. He stabbed forward at Gregory who effortlessly caught the blade with his hand. Gregory examined the weapon and smiled.

"The craftsmanship is nice. Who made this?" he asked before crushing the spearhead with his bare hand. "Oh, maybe not that well made after all. Probably just regular steel," he added, his voice laced with sarcasm. Without warning, he reared back and punched Jared in the face, sending him flying backward.

As the sky turned dark, Arien stepped forward and spoke in a booming voice that echoed across the town, "I won't let you hurt Cara! I am the Thunderbringer!" Lightning continuously struck down on Gregory but to no effect. He absorbed the strikes with a smile and began to shrink as the lightning continued to strike. His face stopped shifting, and he now looked strikingly similar to Arien, but with different eyes.

"Thunderbringer, that sounds interesting. You know my aspect is called Doppelganger. Do you want to guess what I can do?" Gregory taunted before suddenly striking Arien with lightning. Arien fell to the ground, knocked out cold.

"Well, that's no fun," Gregory commented. "Now, Cara, you've been standing awfully still. Are you going to try fighting now?"

Cara was frozen with fear, unable to move. Jared got back up after drinking a vial of blood. He wiped his mouth and rushed forward again. “Taking the form of that little kid must make you weaker,” He sneered preparing to punch Gregory,

“That is a fair assumption,” Gregory said catching the punch, “You would be wrong, but still fair.” Gregory began twisting Jared’s arm.

Jared screamed as a loud snap was heard, “Cara!” He yelled out, “If you don’t man up and start fighting we are all going to die!” Then he paused, “Sorry, woman up or whatever,”

Cara felt a jolt of anger at Jared's words. She couldn't let fear paralyze her any longer. She took a deep breath and focused on the task at hand. She drew her sword and charged at Gregory, who was still grappling with Jared. With a fierce battle cry, she swung her sword, narrowly missing Gregory's head. Gregory released Jared and turned to face Cara, a look of amusement on his face.

"Well, well, well, it looks like Cara has finally decided to join the party," he said, dodging her sword with ease. "But I'm afraid it's too little, too late."

Cara gritted her teeth and swung again, but Gregory sidestepped and grabbed her sword arm, twisting it behind her back. Cara cried out in pain as Gregory leaned in close to her ear.

"Give up now, Cara," he whispered. "You're no match for me."

Cara activated her aspect and stomped her foot sending a spike of rock up into Gregory who yelped in pain. Then he laughed, “That was close, Cara, but not close enough,” He reared back and punched her, sending her flying just like he did with Jared.

Cara felt like giving up, she had failed, and now she was going to die. To her surprise Gregory made no move to kill her.

“Come on Cara, surely you can think of some sort of trump card you can call upon.” He smiled, “Maybe a friend, a sponsor,”

Cara sighed, “I see, then that is my only choice. Immortal King, I will accept your offer if you help me defeat Gregory!”

“Silly, silly girl,” Gregory kicked her pushing her back even further, “You can’t call upon a sponsor like that you need to use their true name or they won’t help,”

Cara’s mind was racing. The true name meant their real name, but who was the Immortal King? Once again she was about to give up, but every fiber in her being was encouraging her to yell out one name. And so she did.

“Gilgamesh aid me!” She called out her voice booming,

A notification appeared on her screen and without thinking she hit yes. More notifications appeared.

Cara did not need to check the skill descriptions, she knew what they did. It felt like these skills were made just for her. Her eyes began to glow a silver color as she activated the first skill, her strength score was temporarily increased to 27. She dashed forward slashing at Gregory with her sword. A large gash formed on his chest, but this time it did not heal.

Cara's heart was racing as she felt the power coursing through her veins. She could sense the immense strength of the Divine Warrior-King flowing within her, and she knew that victory was within reach. With a fierce determination in her eyes, she charged at Gregory once again, her sword glowing with an otherworldly light.

Gregory snarled and tried to dodge her attacks, but he was no match for Cara's newfound power. She swung her sword with incredible speed and accuracy, landing blow after blow on his body. With each strike, she replaced her sword with a new, better, sword using the King’s Armory.

But Gregory was no pushover either. He fought back with all his might, using his lightning powers to strike at Cara from a distance. Despite her divine protection, the bolts still hurt like hell, and she had to dodge and weave to avoid getting hit.

As the battle raged on, Cara realized that she couldn't keep this up forever. She needed to end it quickly before Gregory had a chance to turn the tide. With a final burst of strength, she charged forward and landed a devastating blow on his head. Gregory stumbled and fell to the ground, defeated at last.

Cara fell to her knees, exhausted but victorious. She had never felt so alive, so powerful, so... godly. The aspect of the Divine Warrior-King was truly a gift from the heavens, and she knew that she would never be the same again. As she caught her breath, she looked up at the sky and whispered a prayer of thanks to Gilgamesh, the Immortal King who had saved her life.

Then everything went black.