Lillian’s eyes lit up like crackling orbs of crimson death. Mirroring the lightning arcing and crackling with ever greater intensity between her glowing ears. So intense was the radiation that even Eric felt his flesh start to burn, sensing his mother shelter both her and Lord Caliban’s people with Winter’s Ward, yet otherwise refusing to interrupt Lillian’s monologue as she laughed in a snarling Greed’s face, never looking so beautiful, awe inspiring, or deadly than she did at that moment. Looking very much like her aunt Elonia in the final scenes of her favorite movies.

Greed hissed and snarled, his entire form immediately covered in a shimmering prismatic field which Eric was somehow certain would do him very little good at all.

“No more rule breaking for you, Greed. And a fucking awesome class for me! And maybe I could let it go at that, you fucking psychopathic piece of shit! But your backstabbing assassin STABBED MY MOTHER! So I’m going to wipe you and your whole fucking clan off the map, motherfucker!”

Greed’s sneered, his face a twisted mask of fear and desperate fury.

“You’re weak! You’re nothing! Just another mutant Classer doomed to fall when this world’s Ascension is over!” Greed sneered. “You don’t dare strike at me, or my people! All of Blue Corp will strike you dead if you do!” His lips curled in a desperate smile. “And unless you forgot, our people are under contract! The Sylvan Alliance is now allied to the Goblin Faction!”

“Oh, that ship sailed long ago, Greed,” Said a tutting Aurelia. “Back when you made it clear you had reaved the souls from my men before they ever set foot upon Earth.” She turned to Caliban with a cool little smile. “Tell me, Caliban, wasn’t the forged treaty good for precisely 400,000 men?”

Caliban dipped his head, even as the crackling corona surrounding Lillian grew. “That is correct, Your Grace. 400,000 men of your choosing, in pristine health.”

“But they are in pristine health! Their bodies are fine!” Greed furiously jabbed his finger at the frozen men and women. “You can see that as clear as day!”

“But their souls are not,” said Eric with a cold chuckle, instantly understanding his mother’s thrust. “So even the ever upright Blue Corp will was their hands of this treaty.”

“Culturally insignificant trifles!” Greed screamed. “Your vaunted scientific method has no proof that souls even exist! I’ve seen your file, fool! Until the System Advent, you were an atheist, you Western Enlightenment-loving hypocrite!”

“Wrong, Greed! The scientific method takes no official stance on theological positions that can’t be disproven! And your corrupt Soul Forges already proves that souls exist, you psychopathic little shit! As does Necromancy, one of the few counters to your twisted arts, which is why you hate necromancers so much! Because you fear what we can do. Because you rightly feared us bringing your house of cards crashing down. Isn’t that right, Greed?”

Eric felt a dark shiver of murderous satisfaction in the hook of anxious uncertainty over a cauldron of bitter loss he was now dangling his foe over. Greed’s furious gaze all but pleading for certain words to remain unsaid, so Eric fed it to him with an ice-cold smile… and plenty of vinegar.

“BONE cards, Greed. A full cathedral’s worth of bones that came tumbling down right on Sloth’s head! Crushing your pathetic partner and all his slimy little ship core engineers. Isn’t that right, you little pustulent sack of ungodly…”

You have been critically struck by Greed Asmodeaus! Level 90 Deep Bronze ascension revealed!

You have saved versus fatality.

You have saved versus stunning blow!

“I thought you were bluffing before but YOU KNOW! YOU KNOW OUR SECRET! YOU DESTROYED OUR STARSHIP CORE FACTORY! I WILL RIP OFF YOUR HEAD FOR THAT, YOU VILE LITTLE WORM!”

Greed’s vile voice became Eric’s entire world as he cartwheeled through the air, struck by a blow that, for all his speed, Eric hadn’t even seen coming.

He didn’t know whether to laugh for having baited his opponent so thoroughly, or cry for the agony of shattered ribs as he pushed his Unified Restoration to the utmost even as he whispered a single pair of runic words for wind to keep him aloft for a few precious seconds before he landed right back on his feet.

You have saved versus Crippling Pain!

Eric’s thankfully intact heart raced with a sudden spike of dread, realizing just how much of a cocky fool he was playing. He was NOT alone. His daughter was here. And if he wasn’t damn careful, she could pay the price for him goading that monster. A price he wasn’t even sure he could pay, because clearly that Ascendant Bronze was terrifyingly quick.

Yet the intense shimmer and crackle of glowing radiation only heightened, Eric suddenly cognizant of a furious, terrified scream, before the world erupted in crimson destruction.

“SANGUIS FULMEN!”

His daughter’s voice echoed endlessly across the valley as Eric caught sight of a distant stretch of forest exploding in crimson lightning and flame.

Eric’s eyes widened in sheer awe. “Holy fuck! That’s over a mile away! What volume of forest was that? An entire acre obliterated with that one spell? More?” He did a quick check on his interface map, not expecting to see anything… only to find the devastation caused by a Sylvan General engaging in what Aurelia instantly termed ‘training exercises’ was exactly 2.53 acres. He shook his head, more than humbled to realize just how far one could push his spells if they had the right enhancements and perks. Truly, there seemed to be no limit to the awesome.

A brilliant Silver lining in a day filled with so much anxiety and uncertainty, and the bitter loss of someone he loved. All he could do now was swallow the awful lump in his throat and race as fast as he could back to wear his Mother awaited him, measuring him as always with her enigmatic ice blue eyes, and thank all the heavens that his daughter was there as well.

Absolutely glowing with health… and holding the painfully still form of his familiar. Her mother.

Eric wordlessly wrapped Lillian in his arms as she sobbed bitter tears of love, loss, and regret.

“I should have known, Father. I should have known trouble was coming!” She cried, yanking her own ear in frustration.

“Stop that, child. You possess twin magical instruments of incomparable power and grace. Best not to disrupt their exquisite perfection, even temporarily, in a matter of pique,” Aurelia gently chided her granddaughter.

Eric scowled at his mother who was saying absolutely the wrong thing to his daughter as she cried all the harder in his arms. He gave his suddenly flustered mother a glare. “Not helping, mom.”

Eric ignored the increasing animated whispers and murmurs behind him, all his focus on the girl in his arms. He was prepared to hold Lillian all night if she needed his comfort. He’d have time enough to morn his beloved familiar later.

Yet surprisingly, after a few final sniffles and choked back sobs, it was Lillian who pulled herself free of her father’s gentle grip, with a final squeeze and a kiss on his cheek.

She met his gaze with a tearful smile. “Thanks… dad.”

Eric blinked, not knowing why he was feeling so choked up with those words, after everything else that had happened. “No, Lillian. Thank you.” He flashed a cheeky grin. “I think you just might have saved your old man’s life.”

She snorted. “Hardly old, dad. I’m pretty sure we were born in the same year.” The she froze, paling, giving Eric, the elven command gazing at her in speechless stupefaction, and Eric’s rapidly approaching friends the strangest look.

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“But that’s not quite true, is it, dad? It’s Bunbun… Gamer Girl… my mother that was born in the same year as you and Elonia. Me? I’m less than two days old, right? I just happen to have all her memories back from the time I made me,” she gave a rueful shake of her head, tears flowing freely for all that her voice was husky, yet calm, as she spoke on. “And to think, I thought when I was designing my build with Conceptio’s help, I though she was replacing me. When really, it was her forging me, her daughter.”

Eric swallowed, hurriedly wiping his stinging eyes as he met his daughter’s gaze once more. And why the fuck was he crying? He had the best news in the world for her. And if there were consequences he would face? HE really didn’t give a flying fuck.

“Why don’t you put Bunbun back where she belongs, love?”

Lillian gazed up at Eric with a child’s desperate hope as she did just that.

He squeezed her hand, catching Caliban’s eyes. “So, what’s Blue Corp’s stance on necromancy.”

Caliban flashed him a knowing smile. “Absolutely none, Eric. Local edicts have no sway within Blue Corp territory. Most especially not territories you yourself have surrendered to our care.”

Eric grinned. “Excellent.”

He turned to his mother. “If you would be so kind?”

His mother gazed at him for long seconds before her barking orders caused every elf in attendance not locked in status to snap around, scanning the horizon for enemies all knew were in no danger of manifesting.

Eric exchanged a look with his hope-filled daughter. “Shall we?”

Lillian flushed. “Dad, I have a new class… it no longer works like it used to.”

Eric blinked, then dipped his head. “Clearly, you’ve had some sweet class evolutions since I woke up and your sentience diverged from me and your mother. I want to hear all about it. But first, let me show you a secret.”

He gazed with tender warmth at the soft little bundle of fur looking as perfect as could be, the former injury gone as if it had never been, only her perfect stillness making it clear that life had left her form.

Until with a single gentle whisper, the gate between life and death was opened once more.

“Surge, centuria. Imperator imperat tibi.”

The faintest whisper and Lillian’s eyes widened with wonder as the tiny bunny in her father’s tender, powerful hands twitched once, twice, then did a perfect cartwheel and perched herself right back on Lillian’s shoulder.

“That was so fucking epic!” BunBun squealed. “You totally obliterated those bastards!”

“Mommy!” Lillian squealed, sobbing as she held her bunny close. “You’re back!”

“Damn right I am… oof. Too tight, love. Waay too tight! You clearly went up a few more levels taking out a FULL DOZEN fucking Bronze-tier assholes! Now tell mumsy that didn’t get you an awesome title that would make your daddy absolutely GREEN with envy!”

Lillian flushed prettily and lowered her gaze. “No comment,” she said with a smile that made it clear that at least one Bronze-tier title had been claimed without him.

Not that he minded a bit, seeing his daughter’s smile.

Lilly’s relieved grin turned to an iron-hard scowl as she looked around, clearly not finding what she was searching for.

“Lilly?”

“Where is he, dad? I had that little monster dead to fucking rights!”

Eric shrugged, having seen the titanic flash, several acres exploding to blazing embers and ash, and nothing else.

Aurelia traded a knowing smile with Caliban. “Isn’t she a wonder?”

He solemnly bowed his head.

“What tier of power would you say my granddaughter has achieved, dear Caliban?”

He sighed, peering thoughtfully at a totally not self-conscious Lilly who draped her bemused father’s arm around her and pouted.

“She managed to trip all of Greed’s fail-safes and contingency teleportation anchor enchantments. My guess is that he’s severely injured and presently in the care of powerful old monsters even more jaded and bitter than he.” Caliban flashed a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I suspect our acquaintance is going to have an extremely rigorous handful of weeks, to say the least.”

Lilly’s eyes widened with something close to outrage. “Wait, wait, wait! Are you saying that strike didn’t kill him? You won’t believe all the multipliers I now have on that fucker!”

Caliban gave her the faintest of smiles. “The fact that you managed to put an ancient contender at the upper echelons of Bronze in critical condition despite all of his arcane fail-safes… Bronze-tier fail-safes, that all erupted at once, says all that needs to be said about your strength, Lady Lillian.”

“She’s a monster. An honest to god freekin’ monster!” Whispered none other than an awed-looking Jack, who might have offended Lillian or at least hurt her feelings, if his green eyes weren’t filled with something far closer to awe than not… before he collapsed to his knees. “Please say you’ll adventure with us! Lady Lillian, right? You’re Eric’s daughter?” His eyes widened, not quite wiping the look of consternation off his features fast enough when he caught sight of the cute little bunny rabbit perched on her shoulder.

“And that’s… um… your mother?”

The rabbit snorted. “That’s Bunz to you, dear. And you’re damn right I’m her mumsy. Right, baby?”

Lillian smirked, gently patting her mother’s head.

Jack stood their, mouth hanging open until a snorting Yuki snapped shut his jaw.

“Don’t be an idiot, Jack. Clearly System shenanigans were involved. Right, Eric?”

Eric exchanged a look with his familiar who snorted and chuckled.

“They’ll never understand our love, will they, master?”

Yuki paled. “No… just no.”

Eric and Bunbun both laughed at her expression.

“It was an immaculate conception,” Lillian grumbled. “Can we just leave it at that?”

“Yes, absolutely!” Said a very enthusiastic and excited-looking Steve. “That was such an awesome spell. Incredible! Absolutely incredible! You blew up, what, half a forest in the blink of an eye?”

“It was an overshot, okay?” Murmured a suddenly embarrassed looking Lillian. “I was just trying to hit Greed, and there was just too much power left over so I sort of um, channeled it far away from here so I wouldn’t slaughter my own troops by accident.”

Yuki’s eyes widened. “Wait. That spell you cast.. that much destruction… and it’s not even designed as area effect, but a single target? You were just venting excess potency?”

Lillian shrugged. “Um… sort of? It chains between targets.”

Yuki just stared. “That was an acre of prime forest. You want to guess how many trees your lightning bolt chained to, obliterating them all to ash?”

Steve’s eyes widened with awe. “Wait… I recognize that spell! That’s Eric’s crimson lightning! But how did it get so insanely powerful?”

Lillian laughed. “Don’t tell me you’ve never played Exile’s Path?”

“Well of course I have,” Steve assured. “But what does that have to do…” His eyes lit up. “Multiplicative bonuses and synergistic effects. So many delicious multipliers, all stacked together! You’re a genius!”

Lillian preened. “I resemble that remark.”

Jack’s gaze grew just as eager as Steve’s. “Just how powerful can you throw your lightning? I know Eric can take out low-rank Orange tier monsters with a single bolt, or even the nastiest revenants. But that bolt…”

Lillian shared a quick glance with Eric and Aurelia, of all things.

Aurelia’s warm sultry laughter washed over Eric’s friends. “Questions for another time, children. For now, my dear granddaughter has a mission of mercy and liberation to prepare herself for.”

Eric froze at those words, feeling an ache in his chest that had nothing to do with Greed Azmodeaus’s monstrous blow, and everything to do with the look in his daughter’s eyes as he held her close for what might be the last time in quite awhile.

“Dad…”

Eric smiled away any need for explanation. “It’s okay. Elonia could use someone as strong, capable, and powerful as you. And god knows Greystone needs to be liberated from literal hell on earth. If you can actually manage to purge even a portion of that world beyond our single territory free of goblin influence… free what slaves or captives you find, like the sixty thousand now living peaceful lives in our caldera where before there had been only a nightmare soul forge… you truly will be a hero worthy of the storybooks, Lillian Silver.”

Lilly’s eyes widened, swallowing words she suddenly couldn’t bear to say before abruptly squeezing Eric tight and crying in his arms.

“I love you dad.”

“I… I love you too, Lilly.” He was shocked by just how much he meant it, kissing her cheek just as the last rays of the waning sun kissed the pair of them, and then she, along with nearly four hundred thousand elven cavalry troops, was gone.