Kyle lay gazing off in the core room, an oval chamber of reflective crystal with a large green-blue crystal core floating in the middle. He gazed off at Lilior’s core, his mind reminiscing on his past as he lay on the floor. His heart felt cold, his emotions shut off to save him the pain.
The rest of the guild was outside taking part in the mourning of the Dezol’s losses, a show of humanity Birse had called it. In truth he had sent most members out to watch the respawn points, to see whether the Drakes or their riders would respawn or not.
Kyle stayed back needing some time alone, time to go through what he had gained back. He remembered little of his childhood in the first place, vague memories of other children he played with, family members he had forgotten of and events that had resurfaced.
The Nogitsune had done a number on his mind, he realised now just how much of a grasp it had on him. Void wasn’t just grasping at straws, it had gathered up different horrifying events to use as ammunition against Kyle.
He went through those events, emotionlessly he remembered those that he could. What his family was, what happened to them.
The human community on Mars was a dictatorship, a single family lead the entirety of humanity because they owned all the land by law and the largest organized military group. This organization only known as The Military was one of many but the most powerful and wealthy of them all, even then it gave no means of security for the citizens other than The Citadel.
Mars was broken up into different districts each named after the people that lived in it, named after which country they use to live in on Earth millennia ago. All but one district, the first district, the Zeta district more commonly known as The Citadel.
The other districts were locked away from the rest by junctions that the Military protected, they were left to make their own laws. Groups rose to police the streets themselves, organized to defend their own homes and their neighbours from the unlawful. Districts that did not have one of these organizations quickly fell to chaos forcing the Military to intervene while districts that had one of these organizations but plotted or moved against the Military were quickly and mercilessly crushed.
Kyle’s family was one of these organizations, up till his preteens he remembered now being part of that family. Several horrific events after, his parents pulled out from the group wanting no more harm or trauma to fall on Kyle. They changed their name, moved to a different district and lived there to this day.
All this was for some reason hidden by Void, like a mist being cleared he now remembered it all. Each event that took to the destruction of his family, his father’s side of the family. The same father that was never home, the same father that tried too hard early on but gave up later.
Kyle understood why now, why his life was such a hell. The Nogitsune didn’t just have a grasp on his own mind but on others too, the rest of Kyle’s family that were Void’s descendants. The creature manipulated them, twisted their minds and pinned them against each other.
His district, where him and his family once lived safe and protected by their own power. It fell down into chaos as the group tore up into different factions, each warring the others forcing the Military to take action.
People he knew, people he loved died because of this creature’s thirst for power. His own mind violated by this creature, twisted into it’s puppet. It rewrote his memories, blocked his past then manipulated them alongside his power to create it’s return using Kyle as a core.
Kyle looked down at the floor as his blurred reflection looked back at him, he looked at his ears and now two tails. This is what he was, not human. He’s a Spirit Beast, a Spirit Fox who’s bloodline merged with another’s and evolved to survive a mana-less realm. He understood how he was capable of manipulating Spirit so easily, he also understood what the Gods meant about his own passive power.
Something he never realised before due to Void’s manipulation, the ability to completely shut his emotions off. Kyle figured he could do more, in time he might be able to alter his emotions and force others to rise instead similarly to how the Nogitsune was using it.
In this state Kyle’s mind was clear, his thoughts freely flowing through unaffected by how he felt about them. It was still a strange feeling for him though, as if his mind was frozen and his chest hollow.
Kyle realised something, if this passive ability could be used in different ways then what about his active ability?
His tails, he indeed had two of them both on paper and now physically but what did that actually mean?
Both tails were basically the same, just Frostfire. All except for the shape of either an ever-expanding explosion or a still blade. Kyle had tried to make a new skill with this before, to figure out what his tails could progress to. He had tried to go the opposite way of cold and create a heat based skill, something he called ‘Firefrost’ but the system didn’t seem to take.
He summoned his [Frostfire Blade], holding it with his right hand he felt no weight in it what so ever. He felt the chill of it’s touch but no actual solid feeling behind it, the blade was completely ethereal. He ventured it was supposed to be used with an actual blade in hand, it would have made sense if it wasn’t for the other tail.
[Devouring Frostfire] could also be used to cover a wielded blade, even more effectively as it could be forced to suddenly expand forward and engulf the enemy. So Kyle wondered (“What is the point? Is it really just a trick to use against melee combatants?”).
Kyle focused his mind as he stared at the blade (“What is so different? Why are they separate sub-skills? Just the shape?...the shape…”) Kyle held the blade ahead of himself then held up his left hand alongside it. In his left he created a blade of [Elder Frost] slime, it slanted to the left and bent down due to it’s gooey make.
He forced the slime to bend back up and straighten costing him mana over time, he then forced it to condense without adding more slime into it himself. Only using the slime he had summoned the blade shrunk but solidified becoming more of a stiletto.
Kyle remembered the feeling of condensing the slime, pressing his mana onto itself to change it’s density. (“If it worked for almost liquid like slime then why not ethereal?”) he thought then went to work, he closed his eyes focusing on the ethereal blade of white-blue flames.
He began to force the Spirit to close in on itself, condensing it without adding more. Kyle felt something solid in his hand but didn’t open his eyes, he remained concentrated on his task. Making sure to keep the blade’s shape as much as possible he kept concentrating, taking a few minutes to completion.
Feeling that he was done Kyle opened his eyes to study the change. From the almost invisible fire engulfed blade that had little to no shape came the weapon that he now held in his hand.
A single edge, bright light blue blade that was slightly curved, etched with characters Kyle did not recognise. The blade had indentations in it’s flat side around the bottom where another blade could easily get stuck in, one indentation continued all the way up the blade and curving into a sudden bladed hook.
The guard was thin and circular while pitch black, a fox chasing it’s tail was carved into both faces. The handle also black and half the blade’s length was strapped with a wide light blue string all around it’s length and back leaving ‘X’ like shapes along it. Instead of a pommel like most swords, it ended in a black flat cap etched with a fox’s visage.
Kyle recognised the sword as a longer version of the Katana, key features in it’s blade making it look different than the average Japanese sword. It’s curved blade allowed for more effective parrying with the back-side and to release your own blade quicker from a deflect or parry with it’s bladed side. The curved blade also allowed for tricky stabs around your enemy’s defences making it a valuable weapon for fighting shielded or dual wielding targets.
He stood up and straightened himself while holding the sword in both hands, imagining a sword wielder ahead his body moved as if on it’s own. The blade lead his attack starting with an upward slash followed by a stab around their guard, continuing into an evade to one side and following up with a quick downward side slash which Kyle used to spin around into another and another for a total of three quick slashes.
Kyle stopped there but somehow felt like he could have continued, a relentless combination of attacks. He stared down at the blade as it seemed to resonate with energy, the characters ablaze with Frostfire. He couldn’t read them, the characters weren’t part of any language known to him.
He was also stumped, no notification had followed to mention a change in his skill so he wondered whether this was just a strange accident. Shrugging it off as such he dissipated the sword, it did not. The sword remained in his hand, unaffected by the thought that usually made it dissipate back into mana.
Kyle looked on his own person, he had no sheath or belt to strap it to. (“Inventory?...”) he thought at first opening the window that seemed to take to it’s own pocket dimension, carefully he entered the sword into the window as it disappeared through. An icon appeared around seven of the boxes that indicated the sword itself, it was too large to take a single box like a coin purse did.
“Wait…” multiple ideas came to mind as he focused on summoning another sword, it took him a few minutes to do so again and the mana requirement taken from his mana bar. The sword appeared in his hands, the same one as before. Kyle checked his inventory only to see that the first sword was gone, his idea of dual wielding gone with it.
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He moved on to the next idea, taking out a crystal slime core he created a small golem the size of his fist. It was shaped like a humanoid by Kyle didn’t give it any other descriptive features, he shoved it into his inventory window only for it to pass right through unaffected.
“Then why…” Kyle glanced back at the sword in his right hand then at the small golem in his left (“Is it because it’s considered a creature? Or…”) his gaze fell upon the sword, a sudden urge came over him and he reluctantly went with it. Kyle inspected the sword.
[{Kōritsuku}]
Durability: X/X
Attack Damage: 70 (45 + STR)
{Spellblade};
* Magic Damage Type: (Soul chill) Stackable: 9 Maximum
* Magic Damage: 12 DPS (120 over 10 seconds)
* [Soul freeze]: On 9 stacks of (Soul Chill) target is temporary frozen in place for 29 seconds (15 + INT)
{Soul Bound}; Re-summonable
{Enchanted}; [Ancestral Weapon]: A weapon passed down a specific blood line.
No power-gem sockets.
Physically Untradeable
Kyle stared down at the sword, confusion un-present on his face was very much present in his mind. He read through the weapon’s description taking count of it’s seemingly hidden or infinite durability and {Spellblade} status followed by it’s damage. Reading that it was {Soul Bound} and re-summonable he ventured that’s why he could only summon one.
But what truly caught his attention was it’s {Enchanted} status, the weapon didn’t belong to Kyle but instead his family. Briefly he wondered whether the characters etched on the sword were it’s name or it’s original owner’s name, then he wondered who was it’s original owner.
(“Nobody could have been…Who uses melee weaponry back home still?...”) he thought of how useless the sword would be back on Mars, how it doesn’t compare to the advanced security systems the Military sold to the districts and what else they hid away for themselves.
(“Maybe this ability clouds some thoughts I could have?”) he ventured that closing his emotions entirely would cloud certain thought processes he might have had, with this in mind he released the chilling cold on it and the emptiness in his heart filled.
From hollow to disgusted.
Kyle now understood that shutting off his emotions didn’t remove them but instead made them take a back seat until returned, stacking up in the back of his mind until released. The feeling of anger at the Nogitsune, the feeling of having his mind violated and the losses that he now remembered. Everything merged and melded into a single feeling, how disgusted Kyle felt with himself.
He knelt down overwhelmed by emotion, his hand trembling on the cold crystal floor.
“Master?” Lilior spoke sensing Kyle’s distress.
Kyle tried to close himself from emotion again but he couldn’t get it to, he couldn’t find the concentration needed to do so. Taking in scattered breaths he stumbled back, his back leaned against the wall he closed his eyes as his welled-up emotions unleashed themselves onto his mind.
Moving his knees closer he hid his head in them and his arms, clutching at his leg and the sword’s handle as the memories flowed through on their own. He noticed a green light shine through his closed eyes but ignored it, too busy struggling with himself.
A sudden touch on his forehead made Kyle flinch, a soft gooey hand was placed on his head. Kyle opened his eyes and slowly raised his head, his eyes wet with held back tears and face warped in pain.
“Silly master, you do not simply hide your feelings in a box and expect them to go away.” said Lilior. The Dungeon had created a body for itself, a small piece of it’s own crystal core lay inside a humanoid green-blue slime. The slime petted Kyle’s head while smiling at him, it’s features only indentations in the slime’s body, it’s shape and form a naked female human with fox ears and two tails like Kyle’s.
Lilior was crouching down in her humanoid form, in front of Kyle who looked at her in surprise.
“Lilior?” Kyle asked reluctantly, the dungeon’s voice was still coming from the large core.
Lilior pouted while looking at him “Who else? Master are there other dungeon’s in your life I should know of?”
“Eh?...” was all Kyle could say at her question.
She stood up and stared down at him with crossed arms “Master~?” she spoke with a chilling undertone as perturbed smile snuck onto her face “Are there~?”.
Kyle stared up at her for a few moments before covering his face with his free palm, a low snort progressed up to a full on fit of laughter.
“What’s so funny? I asked a legitimate question!” Lilior argued as Kyle leaned back laughing while holding onto his stomach with both hands, the sword dissipating at his loss of interest in it.
Pouting again she sat down next to him and faced away “Hmp!” her arms still crossed and legs one over the other.
Calming himself down from laughing Kyle glanced between her core and the slime body (“What has Sly been teaching her?...Hell with how much anime that guy has memorized…”) “Sorry Lilior, you caught me off guard. No you’re the only dungeon I know, well the only living one. The other I had to destroy to create you-” he slipped.
Kyle immediately regretted speaking, he hadn’t told Lilior anything of her origins and she never asked anything. (“But is it right?...Should I tell her?”) he thought while gazing at the core.
“Master…” Lilior spoke as her slime body leaned it’s back onto Kyle’s shoulder “Where do I come from?...”
Kyle dreaded this day, he didn’t know how to say it or how she would take it. With what he knew now it only made it more of a possibility for Lilior to take it badly. His mouth felt dry as he tried to form words, he thought of shutting off his emotions but he also understood that doing so could make it worse.
He tried collecting himself (“What should I say? Lie? Truth?”) he then realised something, a fleeing thought of how Void had manipulated his own memories for it’s gain, how similar a situation it must be.
Kyle spoke, his tone cold and steady as he recounted his meeting with Jior the fairy, contracting companionship with the little being who unbeknownst to Kyle was real and not an illusion. He told Lilior the entire story, from beginning to end he told it all except for minor details that had nothing to do with her.
“And…here we are now…” he finished, his gaze falling from the core and down to the floor as he waited for her reaction and response.
“Why haven’t you told me before?” she asked immediately after.
“Because…” Kyle asked himself the same question before and did again now “Because I was too afraid you’d blame me…that you’d hate me for being so blind at the reality around me and too ignorant to save you…and…”
Kyle thought of how to tell her what he wanted to say next, he found no way of sugar coating it “I didn’t know this before or when I bound you to the dungeon core, your kind…your actual kind, the Fae. They are reborn on their physical body’s death, changing from spiritual to ethereal after a short while. I’m…sorry, I stopped you from being able to.”
A few moments of awkward quiet passed before Lilior spoke again, “Why? Why did you bind me? Why did you try to save me if I was already gone? If everyone told you that there was no hope? Why keep trying?” she asked.
Kyle considered her question, he lay his head to the wall and remembered exactly why. The guilt that slowly ate away at him, the sense of responsibility that he felt. The shock brought on by the Soul Wail, the resentment created from his past losses.
“I felt responsible, I felt guilty. Above all I was selfish…I couldn’t allow myself to lose anybody else…” he answered truthfully.
Lilior’s core glowed brighter but no response came, her slime body was as equally unresponsive. More quiet followed as the Dungeon processed this, Kyle gave it all the time it needed as he sat there just as quiet.
But he couldn’t help himself from asking, “Do you want me to release you? You can still be reborn as Fae, I can see it, your soul hasn’t changed since then…” he needed to know what it wanted, how he could make up for his failure.
Lilior’s core dimmed and Kyle felt her slime body shift and move, she turned around and grabbed onto his arm. As she rested her head on his shoulder she spoke “You know…I can feel in this body, the slime’s more solid surface is like skin…” she mumbled “It’s so strange to be a Dungeon, to not feel touch.”
Kyle turned to gaze at her slime body, her long green-blue hair almost transparent. (“Does she need more time to think?”) he thought, her answer only confusing him further.
“I’m sorry master, I made you worry so.” She spoke solemnly while tightening her hold on Kyle’s arm “I…it’s only fragments but I remember…Who you are…”
Kyle’s mouth fell open, he felt a slight surge of anger but held it back knowing full well he did the same. “Since when?...When did you remember?” he then asked.
“The fragments were there from the start…but I could not access them. As if something was clouding my memory…” she spoke from the slime body now, her mouth tried to move with the words but failed severely “Only recently I could, it is why I asked…”.
Kyle’s heart sank as he understood the implication of her words, Void abused of their connection to manipulate her too. It used her loss of memory as another trigger for Kyle’s loss of control. “That’s…not your fault, don’t worry about it.” He responded, his tone almost choked as he held back his anger.
“So…what do you want to do now? I can release you, you can return to your people, return to what you really are.” Kyle offered again, very much aware of Lilior’s presence by his side. Her soul seemed to be entirely connected to the crystal inside the slime body now, he could sense it clearly through their connection.
He turned to look at the Dungeon core “You can have a real body again.”
“There is something that I don’t entirely remember…a fragment missing that I can’t piece together.” She continued to muse on her memories, ignoring his question a second time. “Can you fill in the blanks for me?” she asked while looking up at him.
Kyle nodded “Yeah, I’ll try my best.”
Lilior untangled herself from his arm and stood up, she walked up to her Dungeon core and raised her right hand to it. The Dungeon core hovered down to where she could touch it with her palm. Lilior turned around and raised her left hand towards Kyle “Take my hand.” she told him, a plain smile on her face.
Kyle stood up and grasped her hand in his right one.
She nodded “I believe my question was…Why are you on Chaoz? What is your purpose here?”
Kyle smiled weakly at the memory, only a week ago he had arrived on this world. He looked her in the eyes- Er slime?- and spoke “An adventure.” He replied sincerely from memory, a memory that seemed so distant yet was left untarnished by the Nogitsune.
Lilior’s smile grew wider “A being without purpose…”
“Isn’t alive, but an empty husk.” Kyle finished her phrase for her, remembering her reply.
The Dungeon core began to shine at maximum output, almost blinding Kyle with it’s light that reflected throughout the room. He felt Lilior let go of his hand as she spoke “I accept your answer adventurer Kyllix. Master…Kyllix, do you want me to go back to being a Fae? To forget about you entirely?” she asked through the blinding light.
Kyle covered his eyes with his right arm to no avail, the light was too bright “I…Lilior…No Jior, I don’t want you to!” he shouted out his reply.
A short giggle came from Lilior as the light grew brighter “Then let’s continue what we started, continue this adventure of ours…And this time…take me with you all the way.”
The light suddenly faded away leaving the room in pitch black darkness, all Kyle could see were the notifications that followed.
Dungeon Lord! Your [Slime/Fae] Dungeon is evolving!
Dungeon [Lilior] has evolved! Processing…
Companionship contract has been re-established!
Companion: {Ascended Fae[Slime]} [Lilior]
“Master?...” came her voice through the darkness.