She rose one rapier, and the mana behind her exploded outwards before it curled back around into a point and shot towards me. I activated the dance of the undying, and the blades circled me protectively in just the nick of time. My blades absorbed multiple impacts, and each one felt like a mountain was being slammed into my blades, pushing me back further and further. I couldn’t see past the protective barrier of my blades since each strike was targeting my eyes or my throat. She was aiming to end this fight as quick as possible, and I don’t blame her; I dealt her a severe wound.

I used fleeting steps to quickly move away from the attack radius only for her to raise her other blade. The magic rose behind her again, and I lunged to shift to a different area, narrowly avoiding the rays of lights that shot from the tips of her blades. Her cape fluttered in the air behind her as she vanished from where she was standing, which sent me on high alert. I couldn’t use my dimensional step again for a few more seconds, so I had to come up with something to save my self, but before I could even blink, she reappeared in front of my face and sent her blades spiraling towards my eyes. I stepped back and swung my swords around, trying to deflect them only for Inovia to shift past them and push her rapiers up towards me. Damn, I did not have time to swing my blades around. I activated sequence three and I targeted the area around me. Faster than I could blink my blades reacted like they had a mind of their own. Half of them pulled in close to me and started to circle my body quickly. The other half swung down in a deadly arc around me. Inovia tsked and stepped back, trying to dodge the blades, but I stepped forward, trying to keep her within in range of my ability.

The blades completed the first revolution and came down from my right faster than before. Inovia dodged back, but I activated fleeting steps and pushed myself off the ground once more, and hovered through the air for a moment as my blades swung around again. She stepped back, and I stepped forward. I spun with my blades as I came back down to the ground again. I was starting to understand this class. I was trying to force my blades to move when that wasn't the point. The point was to flow with my swords. I was not the director. I was a dancer, and I need to dance with my blades.

I saw a shimmer in the air around me as a ghostly copy of myself formed in the air with me, and I finally saw myself for the first time since I merged my monster form with the avatar. I had ghostly white hair that floated in various directions, and my iris were now a dark shade of green that could compete with the most mysterious of emeralds. My flesh was even paler than before, and faint wisps of smoke emanated from my body. I know I made my host beautiful, but she was otherworldly at this point.

I danced with my blades as they completed the final arc; they were a blur as they swung around me. My copy spun around with me and closed in on Inovia. Her eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen and tried to dodge all the blades that were coming her way, but there were too many to avoid successfully. She caught six blades that cut through her stomach and chest, causing her to stumble.

I landed softly and grabbed my sheathed sword, and my copy did so as well, mimicking each action perfectly. Inovia pushed herself back up, and the red light grew more intense. I was barely surviving her onslaught, and I don’t think I could survive a third phase. I glanced at my copy and touched my fingers to my hilt. We mirrored each other as our fingers flicked the handle, and the room was filled with a chorus of bells and chimes ringing. First, a set of chimes rang softly. One set was quiet and rattled softly, the other was ghostly, and sent shivers down my spine, right after the sound of a bell being struck rung out. Then another one rang; this one sounded like it was far away and muffled.

Inovia raised her head as blood poured from her body and gazed at me, her eyes pierced my soul, and she rose her blade again. But as she lifted her blade, a crack echoed around the room, and dozens of cuts ripped through the air. All the wounds on her body were magnified twice, and Inovia dropped to the floor like a rock.

“I yield.” She whispered as my copy faded away into the air. I ended the skirmish and rushed over to her.

“Are you alright?” I asked as I dropped to my knees and pulled her head upon on my lap. I knew she was going to be fine, but I was still bothered by the fact of hurting what I consider to by my children.

First, her wounds started to stitch themselves up and all the blood that she lost rose from the ground and rushed over her flesh and back into her. “I am fine, just in a lot of pain. You learn quickly. You have exceeded my expectations Lord Overseer.”

I felt proud. I was no longer useless. I defeated a goddess of war and strategy, though I may have used some dirty tricks, I still did it. Inovia laid there for a few moments longer before she stood up and adjusted her clothing.

“Thank you for staying with me Lord Overseer, anyways, I have things that I need to attend to. Please let me know if you need me.” I remained on the ground as I watched her stand, and I smiled at her.

“Sure thing! Thanks for the skills, Inovia!” I called out to her as she walked away, only for her to raise her hand in acknowledgment. Now that I took care of that, it was time to take care of this clothing. I was getting bored with my current attire.

I teleported to my room, and created a mirror and placed it in the corner. Now what to wear? I brought up my menu and started scrolling through the clothing. The only downside was that it would cost creation points or mana to create, but it was worth it.

I pulled my hair back into a ponytail as I tried to decide where I wanted to start first. I was going to spend a lot of time in this form, at least until I created my next host body, whenever that may be, so I wanted to make this one look as good as possible. For the first order of business, I will start with a shirt. Mine was starting to look a little bland, at least in my opinion. So I deleted it, leaving my self totally exposed for a moment. Now, what shirt would I want to wear? I scrolled through the list as I tried to decide. I wanted something that would fit my form, yet would match with my class. I scrolled through the various clothing materials before I found one that I liked. It was a tight-fitting shirt that was sleeveless and was a light shade of purple and had a faint glimmer emanating from it. The material was made from special arachnid silk and was dyed purple and had golden flakes. It had a small belt that cinched around the waist, and the seams were tailored with golden weave. I selected it and admired myself in the mirror.

I spun around and was immediately happy with how it framed my body. Next up was the lower half, but what could I wear to match this? A skirt, maybe? No, not a skirt. Possibly, just a nice pair of pants would be nice to wear with this shirt. After scrolling around for a while. I found a black pair that fit snugly against my flesh. This material was just basic cotton and felt nice against my legs.

I checked myself out in the mirror to make sure that I looked okay. I spun around again and adjusted the front part of the shirt that hung down over my front. I think now all I need to do is just mess with my hair, and everything is set.

Thankfully I found hairstyles on the same menu. Oh, the perks of being an Administrator. I quickly read through the list and settled on a braided ponytail that I laid across my shoulder. However, something was missing.

I ran my fingers across my lips as I started to think about what I was missing. My class was focused on mobility, so armor was out of the question, maybe I would have Ferrarus make light armor for me. But it wasn't that. I spawned in a ribbon and tied it to my hair, only to scowl and remove it. I wanted something that made me look elegant and deadly, something to emphasize what my class was represented. I spawned in a red cape that branched off into two pieces near the middle of it and pushed a wave of Ethereal mana through them, causing it to flicker before the red faded away, only to be replaced by a shadowy translucent blue.

I donned the cape and made a quick motion, causing the cape to flutter behind me. However, instead of it fluttering and dropping, it seemed to dance around in the air behind me, even when I stopped moving. This was perfect, now to find a pair of shoes.

I scrolled through the menu and looked at the different types of shoes that they have created on Ouradia. They had different kinds of sandals, along with what could be considered early versions of athletic footwear. But that wouldn't do, at least not for me. Let's see what they have for boots, maybe, I can use magic to alter the shape a bit. I scrolled through and found a pair of long leather boots that came from some of the most renowned cavalry units in the eastern hemisphere of the planet. I spawned in a black pair and slid them onto my feet and pushed pure mana through it.

The leather absorbed the mana greedily, and the material started to morph and mutate with each passing second. The material shrunk down to all the way to my flesh and hugged it like a glove. I wiggled my toes and was happy that they had some sort of room. I glanced at myself one more time and was happy with the appearance. I looked over at the clock and saw that I had around thirty more minutes before I had to set the plan to unite the Angels and Demons into motion. I guess I could go to my observation room and see if I got any mail; its been a while since I last checked it.

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I teleported into the observation room, and created a chair made from star fire and settled into and summoned my communications module.

You have three new messages.

Re: Guild Allowance

Re: Mandatory Training Exercise

Re: Patch Notes

I didn’t care too much for the patch notes at the moment, so I dismissed it along with the guild allowance after accepting the amount. But the other message caught my interest. So I opened it up to take a look.

Hello, fellow Administrators! We have a training exercise scheduled in five standard revolutions. Inscribed below are the scenario and more information regarding the event.

Scenario: An enemy guild has declared war on us. We are launching an attack on the guild headquarters, but first, we need to take the barrier worlds that surround it.

Win conditions: Take the enemy headquarters

Defeat the defending Administrators.

Total annihilation of all active war participants.

Hold all barrier worlds for (3) In simulation cycles.

Capture the defending Representatives.

Loss Conditions: All attacking administrators are killed.

All attacking forces are wiped out.

Defending forces hold out for (6) in simulation cycles.

Representatives are killed.

If any of the win conditions are met then it will count as a victory for the attackers. If any of the loss conditions are met it will count as a loss for the attackers.

General information: This is a mandatory training exercise for the military branch of the guild. We had a recent influx of new Administrators, so we are going to be getting everyone on their feet and familiar with fighting with others of your kind.

Since this is the entire military branch, you will be fighting Administrators that are magnitudes stronger than you are, as well as Administrators that are weaker than you. However, each side is roughly equal in strength, and the point is to get you use to a guild based invasion when the time comes.

For the newer Administrators who are unaware of how a guild invasion works, allow me to explain it.

A guild invasion is not like the traditional invasion or defense of your planets. Instead, each guild is designated a home system in a simulation. Once a guild declares war on another, both guild headquarters are shifted into this simulation. While in this simulation, there are a few things to note:

* An Administrator’s death is not permanent. However, all mortal troops' deaths are unless it is a training simulation.

* All beings related to your paths of power can be revived free of cost but will suffer stat reduction in turn.

* If the guild HQ is taken, then the guild will be dissolved if it is not taken back.

* The size of the planetary system depends on the size of the guild in question. Small guilds get one barrier world than a headquarters. Medium guilds get two barrier worlds and a guild H.Q Large guilds get three barrier planets and a guild HQ.

* Upon declaration, you will get a preparation phase of three in simulation rotations to prepare.

* Time flows slower in the simulation. On average, it breaks down to one simulation cycle to one standard rotation.

* You keep all level increases and skill increases that you earn.

* While participating in a guild invasion, or defense, you are placed in a protection period for the duration of the invasion and for a short time after. However, you can still be attacked by outside forces. IE: Roaming Doros, rogue star fleets.

If you have any questions, please refer to your system companion for more information.

Now that it has been explained, here is information regarding the scenario.

Both Malek and Thalmius are observing the simulation and instead have placed their attendants as their representatives.

Attacking Forces representatives: Athena, Kali, Hachiman

Forces gifted to the attacking side from Malek:

515th Eden Assault Corp

330th Eden Assault Corp

501st Eden Assault Corp

96th Eden Assault Corp

19th Eden Siege division

10th Star Fleet

15th Star Fleet

31st Star Fleet

316th Auxiliary division

The Seraphim Order of the First Star

The Seraphim Order of the Eternal Light

The Demonic order of the Burning Star

Please click here to see more of the gifted divisions of other attacking Administrators.

The current number of attacking forces: 20,125,654

Cap: 50,000,000

Next update to the number of the attacking forces in an hour. Lock-in period ends in three revolutions.

Attacking Administrators: 12

Defending Forces Representatives: Greynore, Keradark, Grog the Unyielding

Forces gifted to the defending side from Thalamus:

Face Breakers

Bone Eaters

Grog’s chosen

41st Balmorian Guard

61st Balmorian Infantry

617th Balmorian Engineer division

20th Balmorian Honor Guard

10th Engineer Legion

The order of Grey Knights

Iron HIdes

War Riders

901st Balmorian Guard

202nd Army Detachment

Please click here to view the other defending forces gifted by the defending Administrators.

Current Number of defending forces:21,654,854

Cap: 50,000,000

Next update in an hour. Lockin period ends in three standard evolutions

Defending Administrators: 12

Here are the changes to the scenario that we are adding in.

* If you kill an Administrator that is within five levels of you, you receive the typical amount of experience points that would be given.

* If you kill an Administrator below that threshold, you will only receive half of the regular amount of Exp.

* If you kill an Administrator above that threshold, you will only receive half of the regular amount of Exp.

* These precautions are in place to prevent farming of lower-level Admins and power creeping of new Administrators.

* Upon dying, you will be teleported to the observation and the deployment area.

* Upon your mortal races dying they will be respawned back in the observation and deployment area.

* All ultimate skills have been disabled due to the power discrepancies between our Administrators. So for all the Administrators that take joy in causing stars to explode, you gotta find another way to have fun. You know who you are.

* Each side is even in regard to Administrator levels.

* If you are a new Administrator and do not have the manpower to spare, you will be given command of a random group, plus whatever amount you decide to bring.

Now that we have touched on that, the remainder of the message is personalized for the recipient.

Kairos, I hope you are well! You have been assigned to the attackers since you are a Striker. You are permitted to bring up to a maximum of three deities, and one monster with you if you desire. Seeing as how you are still classified as a new Administrator, you can bring no more than one hundred of your species along with you. You will also be given command over the 501st Eden Assault Corp and the 19th Eden Siege division. I figured that since they are a human-based fighting force that you would feel a little more comfortable leading them in lieu of not having too many of your own races to spare.

They are technologically advanced and quite powerful so you have an edge, but please do not let that information go to your head. You are going up against some of the best that we have to offer. If you are not careful, you will die in a heartbeat.

I also ask that you bind whoever you bring with you to an oath of silence. It would be unpleasant if you jumped in Administrator levels again simply because whoever you brought along took some tech, or by some twist of fate, managed to advance your species forward a few thousand years.

Also, sorry to drop this on you all of a sudden. I figured it would be an excellent training run for you, and for you to get used to how we fight and operate with each other. Also, keep in mind that we are not a war-based Administrator guild. You do not need to have hundreds of different military detachments at your beck and call. Most of the forces that you will meet in this fight are unaware of our existence and only see this a mass training exercise. However, what you decide to do though is up to you.

In this message are the teleport coordinates and along with the lock in information.

I'll see you soon,

Malek

Well damn, that changes things for me.