Chapter 30:

I charged into the side of the Chimera boss with every iota of strength this new form could give me - which was apparently a lot. We were actually of a comparable size, although the Chimera was still a little larger, which surprised me. It meant this new body was roughly eight feet tall, and the idea of being so big, of having so much mass to throw around was intoxicating.

I slammed into the side of the creature with great curved horns, and the muscles in my neck and back compressed, but didn't give, as the feline form crumpled around me. My front claws dug in, while great hooves attached to massive legs heaved and gave me power as I picked the bleeding Chimera up and with an activation of [Adrenaline Rush] to boost my strength for a single attack, I heaved the creature over my head and away from Mia, who scrambled back against the wall clutching her shoulder and with a shouted curse of “Thousand Bastards, what now!?” seeing Mia hurt and scared sent the Behemoth over the edge. I found I had little control over the creature to begin with, but on seeing that, I turned on the wounded Chimera and saw red. Nothing but boiling, liquid rage at the edges of our vision.

I twisted and leapt, landing on the variant with a paw pressed into the neck of the Lion head, a paw wrapped around the injured goat, claws already tearing the stab wounds Mia had left there even wider and causing the badly injured head to roll it's eyes and wetly scream. I stomped a hoof down behind me, pressing down on the snake, which even now tried to sink it's fangs into my haunch. With a thought I threw essence into both my [Foxfire Imbuement] and my [Rolling Thunder] Abilities. The bones and flesh were crushed under seismic shocks as the energy forced it's way to the ground through the scaled body, while the Foxfire was ground into the skin and sent up the heady scent of burning scales.

I felt the need to repay the Chimera for the unkindnesses I had suffered in its temple. The Eagle head tried to bite into my foreleg, attempting to claw it's primary head loose, and some part of me that would otherwise be Boone channelled fiery essence into a telekinetic shield that wrapped around the limb like Armour, stopping the beam in its tracks. With red in my vision, the Behemoth wasn’t going to let that insult stand. Beaten opponents needed to learn to stay down and not challenge their betters.

The shield units mouth expanded, and while Boone alone wouldn't have been strong enough to do what I did, with us being in this form together and so full of anger, it was trivial. The shield changed shape, and started to expand, growing fingers that wrapping around both sides of the beak, and as the bird head screamed and the talons scrabbled and cut into the heavy ruff of fur protecting my neck and chest, there was a crack, and the beak split in two as I wrenched it apart and tore the muscles away from the skull.

As it screamed, Foxfire sparked to life on my claws and my teeth, and I let go of the goat, noticing its boiling lava-like blood had already burned my skin. It strangely hurt my hand a lot less than I thought it should, but I had no time to check what was going on with this form. I grabbed the lion and the eagle, pulled them apart, and drove down with my muzzle. I bit into the neck of the eagle and tore to the side, ripping feathers and fur away with my teeth, that the Behemoth eagerly tossed down my throat with a wet swallow I tried not to dwell on the bloody gobbet of meat sliding down my throat or the savage satisfaction felt at literally consuming a foe.

Bleeding profusely, the eagle Head tried to screech, and the main body tried to kick at me with hooves and talons, but while they were doing damage, it was a lot less than before. I grabbed the Lion head in both hands and stepped back into my hooves, my long, thick tail keeping me balanced as I dragged the Chimera off the floor until I could hold the roaring head at eye level.

Then with a snarl, I drove my thumbs into its eyes and pushed until I felt the pop of the bone at the back of the socket give way beneath my claws.

I dropped the body on the ground and stalked it in a circle.

It was bleeding fast and its motions were becoming sluggish, but it still had one undamaged head. Clearly, the snake didn't have decent control of the rest of its body though, as the Chimera remained pitifully kicking in the air while the snake tried to strike at me from its stable position mounted to the Chimeras’ spine.

This was it, the last threat. The last obstacle. The last thing keeping Mia and I from going home. It had hurt us and it had to have that returned to it tenfold!

I caught the snake in one paw and brought the hissing head to my face. It even then tried desperately to but me, but I wrapped both hands about it's thick neck and squeezed, twisted, and pulled till the creature came apart in my hands.

I crashed to all fours over the corpse, raised my head, and Roared to the heavens, declaring my victory, screaming my primacy to the heavens and beyond.

[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT] For the first time in this Age, an Aspirant has completed a Goddess created Champion Trial. Arcadia, Elan of Eto has been Anointed by blood and by sacrifice as the Chosen of the Goddess Kintsuji. The System Recognises your Heroism and Bravery.

[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT] For the Second time in this Age, an Aspirant has completed a Goddess created Champion Trial. Mia, Umbra Foxkin of Eto has been Anointed by blood and by sacrifice as the Chosen of the Goddess Kintsuji. The System Recognises your Heroism and Bravery

[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT] For the first time in this Age, a Goddess outside of the Pantheon of Axis has sponsored an Impossible Task and seen it completed through Mortal Action. The Goddess Kintsuji: Goddess of Broken Things Reforged, has Ascended to the Pantheon of Axis. Let her Followers and Temples Rejoice! A New Age is Dawning

[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT] For the Repeated Recognised actions of Mortals of the World: Axis PD:00011489673xx29, the System Recognises the Worthy upon her soil. The World shall be Upgraded from Stone to Tin rank. Rejoice, for new challenges shall waken. Citizens of Axis, Move Ever Onward, Ever Forward!

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Mia dragged herself to her feet and winced at the puncture in her shoulder. She couldn't believe it, one moment she was about to be eaten, the next the Chimera was being torn apart.

When her fourth Constellation had given her the [Angelus] Constellation, and the ability to produce blades of holy light, and a Talent that could create echoes of her shadow or light attacks with an opposite element, she’d been thrilled. With two dark Constellations and two that were light aspected, she had felt balanced in a way she hadn't since before she’d entered the Dungeon. Arcadia didn't seem to have the same problem as her - whatever the aspect of her Constellations, they didn't seem to bother her, or else they didn't register at all, no matter how strange her body seemed to become - the latest had even given her hooves! With bright pink fur! It had looked ridiculous to Mia, but her Sister seemed to revel in the weirdness her Constellations seemed to produce. The. Again - she had stained glass wings, so she couldn't exactly speak up.

No, her problem hadn’t started until her class had awakened during the fight. Mia looked at her Soul Card again and shuddered just from the name.

Class: Herald of Oblivion.

* In the darkness of deep space, there are only two things in abundance - darkness and light. All things come from it, and all things return to it. You have awakened as the bringer of the end, or the herald of new beginnings. Those who stand against you will only ever return to the nothingness of the void, and you are the messenger to bring them there. Your allies will know the burning light of a dawning star, but while it will bring light and life, it is not a blessing.

Herald of Oblivion: 1st Gate: [Locked]

* Your Herald Class Abilities will remain locked until you unlock the 1st Gate of all four of your Constellations.

That description had terrified her, but she had at least thought it would be powerful. It had even allowed her to sacrifice that horrid Darkness Affinity to strengthen the Class. For a moment, Mia thought she would be able to defeat the Chimera without issue, and finally succeed on saving Arcadia from this Dungeon. Maybe even from Kintsuji if her setting off this ‘global announcement’ made the goddess consider her instead.

But then the battle had begun, and Mia realised how wrong she had been. Oh, sure, Mia was very talented with a knife or two - Papa Milos said so often enough, and Mia was close enough to being an adult that she realised it wasn't just empty praise, but when it came to facing down a creature that even teams of adult adventurers with far more advancements than her struggled with, it had become quickly apparent that false bravado could only carry her so far.

She’d over compensated by acting like she was invulnerable after the horror of the Trial of Courage. She’d needed desperately to show she wasn't afraid - and to a degree it worked. The swiftly glued together core of her self confidence had held itself together.

Then the goat head has spat a cone of fire at her and set stone alight, and suddenly she wasn't facing slow and ponderous skeletons and contrived traps that had easily identifiable bypasses and attack routines. She was facing a real Monster, and somehow Mia figured that whichever of the Great Spirits siblings had been looking after them before, in this final test under the watch of Kintsuji herself, there would be no rescue, no healing, no convenient time out and buffet. She either walked out of here victorious or not at all.

So Mia had fought, and fought hard. Harder than she had ever thought she’d be able to fight, if she was being fair. Levelling in the wide outside world was difficult - Ability Crystals were precious and rare, and normally adventurers like her and her family would sell half or more of what they found to pay the bills. Here, they’d not only had extremely generous drops, but they had been able to use them all. Mia doubted there had been a nine year old with her Body Attribute on Axis in thousands of years - maybe ever. Her weapons had been effective as well. The Duality Talent that her fourth Constellation had unlocked added a little extra damage onto each strike, and made her seem to have four arms with the reflection. Combined her new light blades, and her abilities increasing the damage of light, shadow, and everything else - for a time, Mia held her own.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

But Arcadia had been hurt going into this fight and with the loss of the healing bottle her options had been limited. It was only a matter of time until she was forced to face the Chimera alone.

Then it had gotten the best of her. When it had bitten her and the eagle Head was coming to tear her in half - there was nothing fake about her terror then. She had been fully reminded that, no matter how she blustered, and how much talent she had for fighting, she was Nine, and the monsters in the closet were very, very real.

When it had thrown her and stalked her and Arcadia was nowhere to be seen to help her, Mia had truly known what it meant to face death, and though she knew she'd try to take the thing with her, she knew that moment was most likely going to be the end. She had mourned, and in terror cried to see her Mother and fathers just one more time.

Then the Beast had saved her.

It wasn't as big as the Chimera, no, but another monster had appeared from nowhere and absolutely torn the - admittedly - half dead Chimera to shreds in a stunning display of rage. It had taken longer than it should to recognise the various pieces and to see that, somehow, the creature that now stood roaring defiance at the heavens was Arcadia. Admittedly, the bright pink fur and mane should have helped, but Mia was dealing with major trauma and blood loss. She would need to find something to bind the wound, and soon, unless the Goddess decided to offer aid. Her health was currently dropping steadily, but with her Body stat at the first Gate, she had a few minutes at least. Something she had seen with her Papa Milos was now happening with her - her high body meant that her wounds, no matter how grievous - affected her less. Even with great puncture wounds in her shoulder, the blood didn't flow as quickly as it should, and the rents in her shoulder and most likely broken shoulder impeded her less. She had seen the creature kick Arcadia and most likely break her arm. She knew how much that must have hurt, and how much it would stop her ability to fight. Mia thought that, if she suffered the same injury now, it would debilitate her, yes, but she doubted she'd even lose use of the arm for a time. Right now, though, was not the time to wonder about her sudden survivability, even without choosing a focus in fortitude - she had to do something with that, the pink and green monster standing in the centre of the room on top of a bloody corpse and staring right at her, and hope there was enough of her sister in there to not rip Mia apart like it had the Chimera boss.

She stood perhaps eight feet at the shoulder, and was muscled like a predator, sleek and powerful. Her torso and head were fox-like, though on a massive scale, but huge bulls horns emerged from its head and it's eyes were burning coals in its face. A humongous thick rough of pink fur protected its neck and shoulders, which transitioned to feathers by the time it reached its tail. Its front paws were built more like a large cat, and were built to swipe and grab at prey with claws bigger than Mias’ daggers. It's back legs on the other hand were the massive, steel shod Hooves of a bull, and cracked the stone with each step of the massive beast. It's tail was longer than it's body and massive with it, as thick as Mias’ whole body at the base, and maybe ten feet long alone, ending in a mobile fan of feathers.

The whole creature looked ridiculous, majestic, beautiful and dangerous, and was somehow also her little sister. Given that Boone was nowhere to be seen, she hoped he was also part of it, and not a permanent victim of the Trial.

“‘Cadia? Is that you?” Mia managed to haul herself to her feet and make her way, cautiously, to the site of the fight.

That was the moment the ‘Global Announcements’ had rung like gongs through Mias’ mind, and she could tell by the wincing and roaring of the creature as it pawed at its own skull, it had had the same messages. Mia wondered if Global meant that everyone had just had the same messages. Terrified, she wondered if their names had just been spread across the whole world. “‘Cadia, we did it. You beat it. We can go home now. ‘Cadia, can you hear me?”

The Beast rounded on her and it's bloody lips pulled back in a growl, as claws dug in to the meat of the expiring Chimera - even now with its throats torn out and its body broken, it was weakly trying to get away from the Beast that had bested it. The smell of frightened animal, blood, spilled ofal and musk was nearly overpowering, and Mia had to hold down a gag.

The massive beast clawed at its kill and continued to growl at Mia, its eyes burning with red light under the pink fur and emerald scales. “Arcadia? It's Mia. Please don't kill me.” the growling rose in pitch and ferocity as Mia took one step after another, but perhaps thankfully, the Beast didn't attack. Eventually, Mia stood right before the great, fox-like head and, swallowing down the pants-wetting fear that was churning her stomach and crawling up her throat, Mia raised a hand to the creature for it to smell her. Mia closed her eyes and prayed that she wasn't about to be eaten by the massive creature.

The growling stopped, there was the intense flow of air as the huge nose sniffed her, and then nothing dangerously soft pressed itself into her hand. Mia opened her eyes to see the giant creature pressing its furry head into her hand, and Mia felt adrenaline pour out of her. The fur was sinfully soft, with a layer of heavy scale buried underneath that her nails scratched against. The giant head pushed in further and Mia was pushed back as the bloody head pressed into her chest.

Then very suddenly, a massive, rough, wet appendage dragged itself from her mid chest right across her face and covered her vision, before the Beast trotted away with a horribly smug look, while Mia just stood there, frozen, sticky, and wet. It had licked her. Arcadia had licked her. Her whole body shuddered as her brain caught up, and fear turned to outrage as the Beast turned a circle and lay down with its tail wrapped in a full loop around its body. “Arcadia! You LICKED ME!? You…You…GROSS!!”

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It took a long time for Mia to calm down. This was, perhaps, understandable when I thought about it. I don't even know what had come over me - over us I supposed - when the battle had concluded. I imagine sharing half my brain space with a fox and a rage monster while in a body that was completely inhuman had skewed my thinking during the brief fight. At first there had been rage hotter and more crystal clear than anything I had experienced in two lifetimes.

Then there had been the stunning swell of victory, of proving our superiority against a larger and more deadly foe. When Mia had approached, I was so caught up in our victory, that for a horrible moment Mia had appeared like another threat to my victory. Someone trying to steal my kill.

The she had stood before me with a hand raised and her eyes closed, and her scent filled out nostrils. A scent I had known every day of my life, a scent of home and family, and I had remembered her. The rage drained away and had allowed her to pet me. Then, the urge had come over me - and I could still hear Boone howling with laughter in our head - to lick her. So I had. The problem was in this form my tongue was nearly as wide as her torso and was very long and dexterous.

While I had retreated and lay down to rest and try to figure out what this form actually was, she had stood there for long minutes, frozen and fuming at me, not daring to move while she dripped on the stone. It was only the pain of her shoulder and the need to clean and wrap the wound - and remove the torn fragments of enchanted leather - that had dragged her out of her disgust.

I don't know why, but it took all those minutes and more to bring up my soul card and find the notifications about my class. Something about having three - or more like two and a half minds in my head was dragging my thoughts around all over the place, and they all wanted different things. The Behemoth wanted to fight and gorge on its victory, and was perhaps the simplest, but with the strongest instincts. Boone wanted to explore and figure out this form, and All I wanted now was to turn back to my human body. The problem was, right now, I couldn't figure out how.

Class: Primal Behemoth

* In the Primal Before, before the Gods raised themselves to where they could rule, and create the system, before the coming of the Dragons, the creatures at the very top of the food chain were the strongest not through cultivation, but through the raw strength of their souls. The Behemoth was one of these creatures, said to have souls so dense they were physical. Creatures of Incandescent Rage, and the strength to topple mountains. You bear within you the slightest echo of the Behemoths that came before, and are able to spoil its rage forth against your enemies. [MODIFIED] This Class has been modified by absorbing your Celestial Essence Affinity to increase the strength of its First Gate

Primal Behemoth. First Gate: Avatar Transformation, Behemoth.

* Avatar Transmutation Ability. Ability may be activated to summon a Full Physical Transformation. For an Extreme essence cost, you may bring about a transformation into an echo of a Primal Behemoth. Once transformed, you will not be able to revert to your true form until the essence capacity of the transformation is fully expended. The Behemoth Avatar form of the Behemoth uses your Constellations and talents combined as a basis, with its physical form reflecting this.

* The Transformation has a temporary essence capacity equal to twice your Mind Attribute

* The Transformation has a temporary Strength of Twice your Body Attribute

* All physical Abilities absorbed into the form have their Level doubled temporarily during the Transformation.

I had no clue what kind of class an Avatar was. I didn't know how rare it was to have a transmutation focused class. I didn’t really know anything because of how this world had always treated information on classes. I couldn't even ask Kintsuji as, for one, I couldn't appear to speak in this form, and two, her statue had disappeared.

Where the statue and the throne had been was now a great pair of embossed brass doors. But unlike all the others, this one held a scene that was familiar to me - the desert, the ruin, and our caravan.

“Arcadia - is that the way out?” Mia stumbled over to me, looking worn out and still pissed off. She had bandages from the arena wedged into and tied around her shoulder, and had stripped off her armor, which had at least removed most of my drool.

I nodded and grinned a doggy grin at her, but she just looked at me confused. “Why don't you change back then? Let's go! We can leave! Mum and our dads are up there.” She gestured at the door and grabbed at my shoulder to try and drag me to the door - but I was not only too heavy even with her supernatural strength, but I also wasn't willing to move. I looked at her with a sad expression and tried to communicate that I couldn't transform back yet.

“Why? You can't?” She asked. Smart girl - I knew why I loved her as much as I did. “What do you need to do to turn back?” I thought about how to translate that, and eventually raised my clawed forelimbs. In one I covered the claws in Foxfire, and the other I lowered ever so slightly. She thought about that, and smiled as she got it.

“You need to use up your Essence before you can turn back?” I nodded, and she smiled wider as she looked around the beautifully decorated foyer we had spent way too long in. “Well, there's a whole lot of pretty things in here, would be a shame if they were broken into tiny pieces. Kintsuji would have a headache putting it all back together again, wouldn't she?”

Her grin was mirrored by my own, and we heaved ourselves to our claws and hooves. That would be a shame, wouldn't it?

By the time Mia and I opened the door and found a long, twisting series of staircases, I had my human form back, though sans clothing except for the Hide of the Hunter and my suddenly ankle length hair, Boone was returned and very happy to have his body back, and the Behemoth was apparently sleeping as it's Essence Receptacle was bone dry.

As for the Grand foyer of the Temple of the Chimera? Well, Kintsuji liked fixing broken things - and now there wasn't a brick in the place that wasn't smashed, burned, crumbled or ripped up. I didn't visit the safe room. I'd had more than enough of their messed up family to last another lifetime. It was time to finally go home. I looked at my sister, linked Pinkies with her, and we began to climb toward the desert. “Always,” I told her.

“Anywhere,” she replied with a sharp toothed grin. Finally, for the three of us, it was time to go home.