After Jasmine, Jasper, and Birdy entered the forest, it was actually a while before they saw anything on the battlefield change. Suddenly, A tribal warrior’s life was just snuffed out, their body torn to shreds by Jasmine’s powerful clawed legs. Then another, and another–the third one managing to scream out in alarm.

A whistle echoed out through the tribe, as Jasper and Birdy struck them from the opposite end. A swarm of ice feathers swirled around Jasper as he leaped from cover, biting and lifting a man into the air, the man screaming.

With a deadly shake with Jasper’s huge maw, the man died, and the person next to him struck out with their tribal spear. But they were met with a large, meaty paw, shattering the spear and shredding the man’s body. More whistles and animal calls went out, and Nick saw that many of the tribal warriors started to back off from the knights and the rhino.

The knights and the rhino became restless, noticing the change in the battlefield. A knight dashed forward, cutting down one of the retreating tribal warriors. The rhino began to stomp off, knocking a knight away and into the air, as they attempted to press their attack.

Now that the knights weren’t being harassed, they dashed forward, their greatswords and polearms giving off an orange light. The leader of the knights moved as well, positioning himself to deal a powerful blow against the rhino. Several of their implements stabbed into the monster and wounded it, keeping it from escaping.

In total, there was about three dozen knights on the battlefield, and Nick was noticing the tribal warriors likely had even more than that, considering a large number of them were hiding.

“Go ahead and hit the knights–Kaya, Fang, and Luna. We don’t want the tribes thinking they shouldn’t stick around.”

Kaya roared as she transformed, dashing down the hill as Fang howled. Luna’s totems pulsed as she followed, granting the party strength of the earth and some form of vigor from her water totem. Nick donned his Cloak of Twilight: Darkness, before following under cover within the dense foliage.

Eirwen, Rebecca, Jeffrey and Irene followed slowly, keeping out of view of the enemy, knowing they could become targets of the more stealthy members of the tribes. Nick stuck close between them, watching with his Soul Sense.

A few of the knights broke off from fighting the rhino to meet Kaya. When Kaya met them in combat, she cut one of them down rather quickly, her Concept shearing right through the armor and removing an arm before cutting off his head with a spin and a flick of her tail. But when she did this, the knights nearby–their orange essence within them brightened, the men shouting with courage.

She used her Roar ability an met them with her axes, but none of them were stunned–only slowed as they approached, and the leader of the knights moved to meet her in battle.

Fang sidled up to defend her with her shield, but this was when all hell broke loose. Arrows rained from above, and the tribal warriors flanked the rhino and the knights from the side–preventing it from fleeing, two dozen warriors appearing from the foliage.

The small wolfen girl then hopped onto Kaya’s shoulders, lifting her shield above them both horizontally to block the rain of arrows.

Jasmine crashed into the incoming tribe, her claws and mandibles shredding the warriors with fervor. Her body was now covered in luminous stone, looking like a stone elemental shaped as a spider. Their counterattacks skittered off her stone body, even as they used essence to power their attacks.

Birdy squawked as it sent dozens of ice shards at the archers, and Jasper leaped up into the trees to hunt them down.

Seeing that Kaya had taken down two more knights, the leader of the knights met Kaya in battle, and his strength was surprising. With every swing, he knocked Kaya back, and his thick armor filled with essence took her Bestial Strike with little more than a scratch.

Fang even lashed out with her longer spear from Kaya’s shoulders, opting to stay up there for now as arrows continued to rain down upon them, but the frost from her spear wouldn’t take hold either.

The knights moved to surround Kaya, while some cut into the rhino. However, despite all of this, the tribal leader still hadn’t appeared. But Nick knew he had to make his move soon. Eirwen, Rebecca, and Irene were still holding off on joining the battle for now, as they would be especially vulnerable to the tribal members.

Nick was watching over them, and he knew Sable had to be looking out for this leader as well. With him not facing off against the knight leader, it made Nick think he was more stealth or ambush-focused of a fighter, just like his tribe members.

It was then that Nick felt a general wrongness, a stilling of the area near Nick. His hand was already on the hilt on his shoulder, but he lowered his body further into a crouch as he looked around him. It took him a moment, but he eventually realized it was his Soul Sense that he was feeling, and he narrowed in on where it was coming from.

Whatever it was, it was moving in on Eirwen, and while he couldn’t see Sable, he could feel her through her Mated trait, lurking above in the boughs of the trees.

Nick did his best to signal that he was going to make his move, nudging her with his mind. In a single movement, he drew his blade and swung, activating his Blade Wave. Then, he pushed out his Frost Aura, making sure to thread his mana aura chains around the area where he knew the interloper was.

A wave of frost struck something, revealing the stealther’s broad back. Grunting, the man spun with his spear, essence gathering around the tip and his legs as he crouched, getting ready to pounce at Nick in response. Nick’s Frost Aura was latching onto the man, ice beginning to spread along his skin to reveal the rest of him.

Just as the man was about to leap, Sable’s spear covered in frost and shadows rose from the ground and bit a chunk out of a man’s shoulder, disturbing what remained of his Aura and Sneak abilities. He was some kind of panther man, that exhuded the power of death and darkness.

With the panther man exposed, the tribe started fighting more aggressively, and a small group came to flank Nick and Sable. Their shaman’s magic was called upon, sending out gouts of flame and lightning bolts at Nick’s party.

Luna prepared a lightning barrier which appeared on Nick’s party through her Concept Fragment, leaving the flame to be covered by his party’s frost magic instead.

Eirwen’s arrows and Rebecca and Irene’s Light of Wisdom shot into the fray, sending tribal members flying. The panther man stabbed with his spear at Sable as she backed off, giving off an energy that reeked of death, but she dodged with her nimble, smaller frame, parrying the blow and keeping away from his attack.

The tribal leader definitely felt like a match for any one of his girls, but they were not alone. Now that Nick had measure of the two leaders and the battlefield, he decided how his party could gain the most.

He shouted, “Fang, Luna–help Sable. I’ll join Kaya.”

Nick blasted the panther man with a Frost Shock, the basketball-sized fist of ice striking and spreading on his chest, and sent two Blade Waves with his rapier-shaped sword, cutting small wounds into the man’s legs.

The frost also began to crawl up the panther man’s extremeties, and combined with Nick’s shock, Sable tripped him with her icy shadows. Her spear flickered out to pierce his wounded shoulder, sending icy shadows into his flesh as he roared in anger and covered himself with deathly energy.

One of Eirwen’s arrows now flew at the panther beastfolk as well, and he attempted to defend with his arm filled with deathly energy. But her arrow was glimmering stardust, and it pierced his protection and deeply embedded itself in his arm, and two of Nick’s chains wrapped around the man’s legs, causing his frost to spread more rapidly.

The counter-ambush was effective, though he knew this wasn’t the full measure of the man’s strength. Because they ruined his ambush, a lot of his capability was thwarted, the man weakened through his wounds. However, the man hadn’t yet brought out his Concept. Nick could tell the man was not weak, but wounding him as they did reduced his potential significantly.

Knowing Sable would be able to hold out a bit longer, Nick took off, focused on his speed.

Seeing Kaya getting overwhelmed in the distance, his Heroic Concept stirred. A hero must be fast–so that he can arrive on time. The world seemed to shift with his will, this desire to move just a bit faster as the essence within him stirred.

Dashing toward the knights, Nick passed Fang and Luna who were making good on Nick’s orders in a blur, before he leaped down the hill, traveling more than a dozen meters in a single jump. The lightness and speed improvement from the Cloak of Twilight carried him far through the air, the cloth filled with darkness and stars trailing behind him.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Landing, Nick then dashed toward a nearby knight, and swung his blade of light and darkness. While the dark smoke around him from his Heroic Concept was mercurial, his will while using the cloak seemed to better solidify the darkness into the blade.

With just a little bit of the special essence inserted into the blade, the light and the dark vibrated, and the wicked edge that formed cut easily through a knight’s armored leg as Nick passed him by.

Nick met swords with the leader of the knights, relieving Kaya from his onslaught. She had been unable to do little more than defend, and now that he was close, he understood why.

Threads went between the knights, connecting them to their leader. In some way, he was empowered by his allies. It was a little like how Nick was connected to his wives, yet different. These people followed a homogenous path, which somehow enabled them to empower one another.

Nick’s Frost Aura washed over the knights, but they shouted and covered themselves with the orange essence, and the leader’s weight on reality rose to match. This reduced the impact of Nick’s Frost Aura, but it still slowed the group somewhat. Now that the leader pushed his will, Nick thought the Concept he held was related to courage and bravery somehow.

“Let’s do this, Kaya.” Nick then shouted his martial arts kiai, which granted those that could hear it essence drawn in from the surrounding area, and Kaya roared to match as she met a second knight’s polearm with her axe.

Nick and Kaya worked in concert, the two fighting off the knights surrounding them. While the knights were coordinated, they did not appear used to fighting someone like Kaya that danced and spun with so many weapons. Nor were they used to someone like Nick, whose body and limbs twisted and flicked out, or disappeared from view entirely as the cloak of darkness roiled around him.

While defending against the knight leader, Nick and Kaya positioned his allies between them, to prevent him from striking them easily, while they wounded his allies and eventually took them down completely.

With each knight defeated, an odd effect occurred. The knight leader weakened, but his subordinate knights got just a little stronger. It seemed the loss of their brethren drew out their courage and strength, allowing them to hit just a little harder and move faster.

Odds were, the leader had some form of duty and responsibility to protect his knights–to make sure their lives were not lost in vain. Because it was strange to Nick–the leader should be powering up just as much as the men were, with his Path being the same.

Nick and Kaya weren’t the only ones facing the knights. The tribal warriors had also attacked them from the side, and the wounded rhino had gone on a bit of a rampage. Not only that, but Jasmine had covered a few of them with webbing and finished off a few others, evening the numbers as she killed the tribal members.

After half of the knights were dead, the knight leader shouted and essence converged on him from the surrounding area. In response, Kaya did the same, preparing her Convergence Skill, her axe and body building a charge of her purple, bestial essence as she wound her axe back to swing.

Nick shifted his cloak to light, costing him just a bit of mental energy, and began preparing his Essence Burst. The remaining nine knights leaped next to the knight leader and stood next to him in a line, raising their blades above their heads.

An image of a much larger knight stood behind them, mirroring their action. Kaya leaped into the air and spun, sending out waves of feral essence with her cutting Concept. To Nick’s surprise, it seemed she was able to only send out the essence in a forward arc, as she spun back and forth with swings of her battleaxe in rapid succession.

The knights swung down, and Nick fired his Essence Burst down the center–directly at the knight leader. His prismatic beam of light, which drew on both his Heroic Concept and something from his wives’ devotion cores, slammed into the oncoming blade, sending it back.

Kaya’s blades of feral essence slammed into the line of knights, cutting deeply into all of them at near the chest level. The giant knight dematerialized as several knights were knocked off their feet, only the leader of the knights dashing forward to meet Nick and Kaya in combat. Drawing just a little faith energy from his necklace, he rushed forward to meet the knight captain.

The knight captain was moving rapidly, his Concept being pushed to its limits as he gave his battle shout. Nick’s blade met his, his strength able to keep up with his enemy’s without issue, before Kaya’s battleaxe cleaved into his shoulder from the side.

The loss of strength enabled Nick to shove the sword to the side, before his vibrating Soul Blade returned to cleave the head off the knight captain’s shoulders. The men left behind him seemed to roar in defiance, but they were so heavily wounded, they had very little fight left in them. Nick’s Frost Aura overtook them because the leader of the knights was gone, and so Nick and Kaya were able to finish off the rest of the knights.

Nick had sensed a bit of difficulty with the leader of the beastfolk tribes, but the Wolfen girls managed to handle him. They pushed themselves and their pack fighting to its limits when the man used his bestial transformation, becoming the bringer of death–the predator that a panther embodied.

Each had used their Convergence Skills, and Rebecca, Irene, and Eirwen supported them until they brought him down. Some tribe members had snuck up on Eirwen and the rest, but Jeffrey protected them with his shields long enough for them to counter them. From there, the tribe started to scatter and flee, but they got caught in Jasmine’s webs.

As the members of the enemy tribe were defeated, their spatial sack’s numbers climbed significantly.

The rhino had been wounded, and now that the enemies were taken out, putting it down was easy for Nick’s party. Birdy showed off its sharp ice Concept, piercing deeply into the rhino. Then, with some coaxing from the angry bird, Jasper finished it off with its heavy claws, trying to bring out its own Concept. The rhino had roared in defiance, bringing out some form of beastial strength and regeneration, but it wasn’t enough in the end.

The jungle cleared of enemies, Nick and his party gathered around the clearing where the rhino died. “Man, that was a pretty rough battle. Stealth bastards are a pain in the ass, and so were those walking tin cans.”

Kaya chuckled. “You say that, but you have the easiest time with stealth bastards. Imagine everyone else who doesn’t have Soul Sense? Still, that was some fight with the tin cans. We kicked ass that time.”

“Hell yeah, you were my badass bitch again there. We make a good team, like always.”

“Boss…Boss! What about me?”

Nick chuckled, and then he was forced to once again reward each of his girls for a job well done. The girls once again lined up, with Rebecca in the back of the line, and this time, Jeffrey and Irene had joined the line.

Rebecca noticed this, and gasped. “Mother! What are you doing?”

Irene was waiting behind Jeffrey at the back of the line, looking perhaps a little proud of herself. “What? Jeffrey and I felt left out–you girls look so happy, being rewarded by your Boss. Isn’t that right, Jeffrey?”

Jeffrey buzzed a yes in response, nodding. Rebecca narrowed her eyes at her, but turned to watch as Nick gave out his scratches and kisses to each of his girls. This strange ritual was enjoyable to his girls and himself, and somehow appeared to gather this devotion within them, so Nick wasn’t about to complain about it.

Each of his girls were shameless in collecting their rewards, and he noted that he really was often doing a pre and post battle thing now.

Nick had to laugh when he eventually reached Jeffrey, and the mirror-like beetle suddenly looked a little bashful. He gave him a fist bump, and handed him a few essence pearls for his job well done, thanking him for protecting his girls.

That left Irene.

He smiled at her. “Good job facing our enemies out there. I’m relieved knowing you’re watching over everyone, and giving your input.”

She covered her mouth with her hand, blushing. “Oh, it was nothing much at all, there is no need to thank me. My daughter has already grown so much thanks to your focus on being Tested, and now I’m learning a little from her instead. I’m so happy to see her doing so well.”

Nick spread his arms wide, offering her a hug. She giggled, before wrapping her hands behind his neck and leaning in, her curvy body pressed up tightly against him. He returned the hug, despite it not being the usual mother-in-law type of hug, which made Nick a bit concerned about Rebecca, but Eirwen distracted her by bringing out a few items they gained in her bags.

Irene smiled broadly, and sighed. “It’s so wonderful to be hugged by someone so full of strength and love. Did you know? When you rescued me, it was almost like this while cradled in your Soul Core, just all the time. Except…”

Nick arched his brow as he let go, and she backed off slightly. “Except?”

She leaned forward once again, and whispered in his ear, “Except when you were with your many wives, the love and lust you had for them was something I had never felt before. The perversions of that horrible man… I may have protected my soul, but my mind is a bit tainted.” She licked her lips, and her eyes took on a fervent gleam, “I can’t help but want you to be the one–”

Before Nick could respond, Rebecca frowned as she leaned in. “What did you just say, Mother?”

Irene cleared her throat and backed away from Nick, and gave her a smile. “I was just reminding our dear hero what it felt like after he saved me from such a horrible fate. I had nearly given up on life and happiness, only managing to hold on in hopes that I might one day protect you, my daughter. But now, our hero has given me a shot at both. I was just thanking him for that, and telling him what it meant to me. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there, daughter?”

Rebecca looked a little confused, as her words ringed true in her mind. “No, of course not, Mother. Just…you’re acting a little strange, looking so… happy hugging Nicholas.”

Fang tilted her head with a sniff. “Happy? That–” Sable covered her mouth, shaking her head.

Irene looked a little melancholic, her eyes taking on a distant gaze. “Yes, well… I’m afraid that as much of a smile I’ve put on for everyone, including you, there is a price to be paid for everything. My time under Samuel’s torment was horrible, but I think I’ll be okay thanks to our dear hero, as his warmth protected my soul. Sadly, I’m going to be a little weird from now on. You’ll just have to learn to live with it.”

Rebecca softened her gaze, looking remorseful. “I…yes, of course, Mother. I’m sorry for that. I guess… seeing you so happy has made it easy to forget what you’ve been through. Your happiness is important to me, so if… hugging Nicholas makes you happy once again, I don’t mind it.”

“Wonderful! You’re such a loving, selfless daughter. Thank you for sharing your husband with me in this way.” She turned to Eirwen, who had a speculative look on her face. “Winny, what do you make of that crystalline plant, from the rhino? Can you bring it out so I can have a look? It looked fascinating.”

Eirwen nodded, and pulled it out of her pouch. It had shrunk as a part of Orion’s odd Loot process, but it was connected to a strange, crystalline heart. The whole thing gave off feelings of nature, beasts, and stone. It was beyond unique, and Nick was interested to know what it could be used for.

Rebecca was also distracted by the unique treasure, looking at it with interest, inspecting it with her eyes and magical senses. The three girls all got into talking about the heart for a minute, before Nick cleared his throat.

“C’mon, everyone. We need to head after the ratfolk now, so we can finish this and get back to our real home. I bet Lumos will have some details on it if you grill her too.”