“She tried to forcibly evolve herself?!” Hearing a horrified Amelia speak, I ignored her as I stared at the monstrosity in front of me. What did the Blood God have to do with this?! Why would the Archbishop worship Him but also worship the Moon Goddess?! Why does the Blood God have to be such a pest! As I watched, the monstrosity suddenly rushed us, at a speed that I barely could keep up with. Using a Wind Explosion on myself, I moved away quickly as Amelia and Summer separated from me.
Elanor’s head snapped onto me as it roared again. Is it aiming for me?! It quickly moved straight towards me once again, throwing out two of its arms in an effort to crush me. In a hurry, I used Wind Explosion again and flew away from it, but it caught me off guard in the next second. From the wings, sharp tube-like tentacles struck out, too fast for me to react in time.
Two of them pierce into me and as I’m about to remove the tubes I froze as something spreads from the tubes. Whatever it was caused me to freeze, unable to move as I felt the tubes start to ‘drink’. It wasn’t absorbing blood from me, nor was it mana. It was absorbing something from deep within me, very slowly but it caused my body to only scream one thing to me. Escape!
A light flashed and the tubes were cut. A hand pulled the two out of me as I gasped for air. The monstrosity sent more tubes at me as I reacted quickly this time and used a technique that I hadn’t finished practising yet. Gritting my teeth while preparing for pain, I used Flash Step to move back instantly. My legs scream in pain at using this technique, I hadn’t mastered it yet, it required precise muscle control and though I could use it like this, the consequence was nearly tearing the muscles from my bones.
Gasping in pain, I saw the monster once again lock onto me, refusing to let me out of its sight. Suddenly, dozens of magic weapons appeared in front of it as Summer arrived at my side and handed me a vial. Drowning it quickly, I fell to my knees, feeling strangely weakened, like I had lost something within me. Frowning, I saw nothing from the System as I stood back up.
“Are you good?” Summer holds my arm as I shake my head.
“I need a minute for my legs to heal.”
“Amelia can’t hold it for long, it’s only going for you. Once you’ve recovered, use your Domain and Lunar Blessing on yourself, focus on only dodging. It’ll collapse on itself because of its mutation, we only need to buy time.”
Nodding, I watched Amelia very carefully as I saw her pale by the second. The monster only ever looked at me as it madly tried to get past the barricade of weapons that were slicing into it. Its regeneration was insane, healing from deep wounds instantly. Even an arm had been cut off only to reattach itself before it could even begin falling.
My mind sat on the thought of what had been drained from me, but for the life of me I couldn’t tell. Gritting my teeth, I impatiently watched as my legs healed quickly and before long, they were done. Giving Summer a glance she nodded and threw a pouch right at the monster's face. “Amelia!”
Pointing at the pouch, Summer shot out a fireball, and quickly turning my head and covering my eyes, a white flash still came through. Turning to the monster as the flash disappeared I used my Domain as Amelia arrived at my side. Spreading quickly, the monster recovered far too quickly as it shot towards us. Applying Lunar Blessing on myself again, I quickly moved away but once again those tentacles shot out at me. Dodging most, one hit me and started draining right away, but within a second Amelia cut it and I pulled it out. Again, something seemed to go missing, but I didn’t know what it was!
This kept happening, and I started getting more frustrated as the only thing we could do was dodge. Every now and then it would stab into me with those tentacles, or try to grab me but we handled it. Summer wasn’t suited for this sort of fight, but she provided assistance. Using various vials and powders, she created openings by making the ground incredibly sticky, causing Elanor to slow down or using the same flash of light. After nearly thirty minutes of this, my Domain started trembling, but it had worked.
The monster had become weaker, the tentacles could no longer hit me as they had become slower, but the monster was still coming and right towards me. As I dodged another attack, my Domain finally collapsed. Dodging its tentacles once again, I prepared myself to finally go on the offence and created dozens of thick Astral Ice Spikes behind me. Amelia also joins in and we send both spikes and weapons at the monster as we continue to dodge.
I baited the monster into a certain area, near the altar. As it arrived, a massive pillar of fire sprang out, entrapping the monster as the smell of burnt blood nearly overwhelmed me.
“Alisha, now!”
Pushing my arm towards the monstrosity, I let the fury of everything towards the Archbishop surge from deep within. The nonstop attacks, the ambushes, the hatred that I felt for her, all of it came deep from within as I used it.
“Night’s Fury!”
A massive ball of Celestial Eclipse energy emerged from the giant magic circle above it, devouring the monster as it screamed out in pain and as the energy disappeared, so did the monstrosity.
You have killed the Failed Monstrosity of the Gods.
Calculating rewards.
Taking a breath, I looked around and frowned. This had been rather anti-climatic, hadn’t it? As I’m about to walk over to Summer, the System surprisingly came up right away.
The Failed Monstrosity of the Gods was born due to a failed attempt at a World-Class Magic, a failed forced evolution that involved the powers of both the Moon Goddess and the Blood God. This monster had mutated to level 70. Providing rewards equally to all involved.
3,000,000 experience.
1x Note from: The Blade
1x Core of Failed Monstrosity of the Gods
1x Expert Cooking Book: ‘The True Way of the Chef’
You have levelled to 56!
Gained the following Stats:
Strength: +1,800
Agility: +3,000
Intelligence: +1,200
Toughness: +300
You gain 15% more Stats due to Hero of History, you gain the following:
Strength: +270
Agility: +450
Intelligence: +180
Toughness: +45
Health increased to 15,000.
Celestial Eclipse Mana Increased to 220,000.
Tilting my head, I blinked in a bit of surprise at the rewards as they appeared before me. I didn’t feel any effect of Overlevel either, is it due to my reconstructed body? Looking firstly at the book, I raised an eyebrow and thought outloud “Why the fuck did I get this?” Storing the book away, I looked at the core and felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand.
Failed Monstrosity of the Gods Core.
Contains a unique power that mixes Lunar and Blood magics. Unstable and unusable, it is best to dispose of this completely.
So why did the System give this to me? This entire thing had been strange. I stored the core in a pouch and threw it at the altar. I would let the Guild know, I didn’t want anything to do with it.
I turned to the folded note, on it was neat handwriting.
'Good work, you’re growing well, little fox. I can not wait for the day we fight.'
Raising an eyebrow again, I wondered why this had been sent to me and it suddenly hit me as I remembered. The Blade worshipped the Blood God, did he not?! Turning my attention to where the monstrosity had turned into nothing, a thought came to mind. Did The Blade do this, or had the Blood God? I didn’t know which one was worse. Speaking of the Blood God, the last message from the System confused me slightly.
The Blood God no longer considers you a threat and has chosen to ignore your existence.
What exactly is the meaning of this message? I had been considered a threat before, yet now he is ignoring my presence. Doesn’t this mean I would be free of the worry that this Blood God would come after me? I had no idea.
The most important thing on my mind was concerning what exactly had been drained from me, but I couldn’t tell exactly what it was. Deciding I’d get myself checked once we left, I was about to turn to Summer and Amelia who had just arrived by my side when suddenly a heavy pressure descended upon me, forcing not only me but all three of us to our knees as I looked up.
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Standing there, a familiar face glared at me in sheer anger. Wasn’t this…Luna? Connecting the face to the one who had dragged the previous Archbishop away, I knew right away why she glared at me as such, but why is she here?
“You. You dare not only attack a Church of our Goddess, but slay its Archbishop?! You are to be punished for your insolence! I hereby sent-”
“Oh? Luna, since when could you determine a sentence for a Blessed?”
The pressure disappeared immediately as someone appeared to my side. Looking up, I saw Tessa standing there, a serious look on her face as she looked at Luna. I could see some sadness in her eyes.
“The escaped prisoner. Indeed, the last time we met I could only gain authority to give out punishment. It’s different now.”
“Luna, you watched this fight, you know what has occurred here today. In fact, the Sisterhood has been watching Alisha this entire time, you know of the Archbishop’s crimes yet you all failed to act and this is the consequence. An Archbishop fell to the whispers that offered her what she wanted, Alisha felt forced to take action to ensure her own life and we ended up where we are now. If the Sist-”
“We can not interfere, it is a rule! You, who has forsaken the Sisterhood and the Moon Goddess, have no right to lecture me.”
“So what? I’m meant to sit there, allow myself to be ambushed constantly and possibly end up being kill-” As I spoke, Luna’s fierce gaze locked onto me.
“SILENCE! You are not to speak, scum. You defile the name of Celestia, you dare attack Her place of worship and kill its Archbishop, you will be sent-”
“Yea yea, just expel me from your Sisterhood. I never had intentions on joining it anyway.” I shrugged but felt strange as well. Why didn’t I want to join them in the first place anyway? Huh, wasn’t there a reason before?
Luna looked at me, dumbfounded for a moment before laughing. A low, amused laughed as it echoed through the room. She looked at me once again, like I had just told her the joke of the century.
“You think you have a choice?!” Luna continues laughing, this time leaving not only I, but Tessa, Amelia and Summer speechless. “You, the idiot who defiled Her Church, a monster, believe that you have a choice?!” Laughing more, Luna stood and stopped laughing and glared at me.
“Imbecile. The Sisterhood would’ve never accepted you after this. Exilement? Don’t make me laugh. Your fate has never been yours to decide. A Blessed like you has committed a sin that will never be forgiven.”
“Luna, what has gotten into you?” Tessa stepped in front of me, as if protecting me. “You know of the crimes committed by this branch, you know of the truth of what has happened today. The Sisterho-”
Suddenly an aura that I couldn’t describe descended on us, forcing all of us including Tessa to the ground.
You are in the presence of a Demigod.
You are restricted to Level 1 and can not move.
Struggling to move, regardless of what the System said, my eyes could only see Luna as she pulled out a large, silver stake.
“LUNA STOP!” Tessa yells out in fear, the first time I’ve ever heard her panicked like this. “You can’t use that on her, she isn’t a Bles-”
“SILENCE! Your punishment will be the same, you both will have your Blessings taken from you for your crimes! Furthermore, you will be sealed, forever unable to use magic ever again.” As Luna takes a step towards us, her eyes soften for a moment while looking at Tessa, before they harden again. “For the crimes against our Godd-”
“Alright, I believe that is enough.” A soft voice resounded throughout the room. A clap could be heard as the overwhelming aura disappeared. Remaining still for a moment, I tried to figure out who the voice I just heard was. “Luna, stand down. No one here will be punished.”
Luna stares to the side, a tremble going through her body as she knelt. Footsteps could be heard as a figure appeared before Luna, curly teal hair ran down her head as she stared at Luna with piercing red eyes. She holds out her hand.
“Give me the Blessing Extractor, Luna. That is not an item you are meant to wield.”
“Y-yes, Lady Astraea.” Using both hands, Luna held the stake before the teal haired woman. Accepting the stake, she looked at it and flicked her wrist as it disappeared. She looked up and smiled.
“Demigod of Vale, I permit you to witness this situation under oath that you do not speak a word of it.”
Another figure appeared, standing straight. A man with brown hair and green eyes, light clothing and a necklace that all others in Vale wore. Placing a hand over his heart, he knelt.
“I thank you, Angel. I swear upon my Divinity to not speak a word of today’s events.”
“Mm, that’ll do. Luna, next time you wish to unleash your Divinity, don’t do it so publicly.”
“I am at fault, Lady Astraea, I will accept any punishment.”
“Mm, we’ll discuss that later. Chosen, please stand, you do not belong on your knees in front of me.”
I saw her looking directly at me. Even though I wasn’t exactly on my knees, I slowly got up as Luna’s eyes widened.
“Chosen, do you understand the severity of today’s events?” Unsure on what to say, I tilted my head to think of what to say.
“I came here to protect not only my life, but those with me. The actions of the Archbishop and others in the Church gave me no other option but to kill them. I don’t have any regrets.”
“I see. The most logical choice to make, and the correct one. Luna, you are aware of what Archbishop Elanor had been planning, correct?”
Luna remained silent for a few seconds. “Y-yes, Lady Astraea, but that does not excu-”
“Luna, who do you serve?”
Luna trembled. A silence fell upon the area, only me and this Lady Astraea stood while Summer, Amelia and Tessa were still on the ground. Luna and the unknown man had knelt.
“Her Holiness, forever and more.”
“Mm. Remember that. You do not take commands from those you believe above you in the Sisterhood. Your punishment will be decided later.” Lady Astraea turned to me with a faint smile.
“Chosen, though your actions today were correct, I can not overlook the actions you took. You will be punished, but before I tell you of your punishment, I will command you of one thing.” Walking to me, she raises a hand and cups my face.
“On the next full moon, you are to pray to Her. No excuses, no running away. She has been waiting all this time for you to pray to Her and meet with you. Your time in the darkness does not count. This is not a punishment, you need to do this and accept who you are. Your fate is yours alone to determine, you will not be bound to no one, and She will accept this. Do not be afraid.”
She kisses my forehead lightly before stepping back.
“As for your punishment. You will no longer walk the path of becoming a Sister, that is not your fate as a Chosen. You will no longer be considered a Sister to those in the Sisterhood, nor will you be able to ask for their help.”
She places a hand on my wrist and a clang sounds out as the bracelet that I had worn since...huh, when did I get that bracelet anyway? I’ve always had it, haven’t I?
Smiling, she turned to Tessa. “Tessa, this punishment also applies to you. Although your circumstances are different, as you were released from prison to assist the Chosen, your earlier crimes must still be answered.”
Tessa’s bracelet also falls off as Tessa herself seemed overwhelmed for a moment, when suddenly a whisper of realisation passed her eyes.
“Yes, Lady Astraea.”
“Good. Chosen, you seem confused?”
Looking at the bracelet on the ground, I couldn’t remember when I had actually gotten it. Strange, I thought I would remember being given it at some point. Looking at Lady Astraea, I thought for a moment before I went to bow.
“Stop, Chosen. You do not bow to me, nor to any others.”
Stopping myself, I look into her red eyes and open my mouth. “Why did any of this happen?”
Softly smiling, Lady Astraea looked around the room. “Do you refer to the Archbishop? Other than her hatred for monster-kind, she had started to listen to the whispers of a powerful being, one who is not a Demigod nor Pseudo-God. It is also impossible for it to have been a God. I will leave it to you to learn the truth of this matter, Chosen. Perhaps in due time you will understand.”
Turning away from me, she walks back to Luna. “Demigod of Vale, you may take your leave. I will also be leaving. Remember your vow.”
“Yes, Angel.” The Demigod disappears before our eyes. Lady Astraea turned to me once more.
“Chosen, go and find your origins. You will understand everything when you do.” As she spoke, she placed a hand on Luna’s shoulder as the two faded. “You look just like she did, Chosen.” Hearing her final words, I tilt my head in confusion. That’s right, Selenia had said something like that before, to go to a far off place and find my origins.
A silence filled the air, broken by Tessa. “Well, not the worst outcome. At least you won’t have the Sisterhood to worry about, at least for now.” Tessa stood weakly, like she had fought a battle, which confused me further. “Oh, you would have been excluded by her presence. Don’t worry, it’s a bit of shakiness for me for a while, I’ll be okay. I’ll come and visit you during the next waxing moon, Alisha. We have much to speak about.”
Tessa starts to fade as well. My brain felt overwhelmed by everything that happened, even though it had been a short moment, everything that had happened left me feeling mentally exhausted. Looking at Summer and Amelia, who also slowly stood, they looked at me with a smile.
“A rather scary conclusion to what should’ve been a simple raid. Are you ok?” I nodded at her while my mind still felt confused. So many questions flooded my mind, but the biggest one still remained on the bracelet. Looking towards where it should’ve been, I saw it had disappeared. What did that bracelet signify again?
“Are we all under the agreement not to speak of what happened here?” Summer spoke with some nervousness while glancing at me, causing Amelia to giggle.
“If we raid the Temple of Ares, I wonder if I would get the same treatment?” Summer looked at her with some confusion. “Oh, like Alisha, I’m also a Chosen of a God. In this case, Ares.”
“Oh…well, I doubt it? Uh, I didn’t even know that Chosens of Gods existed till now. What does it mean?” Summer tilted her head as Amelia and I looked at each other. We both shrug as we chuckle. Summer shakes her head.
“Well, the less I know the better. No, wait, I’ll be your leader from now on, so maybe the more I know the better? Argh, whatever, let's just go. I want to eat food, bathe, sleep and forget about tonight.”
As we slowly walked through the corridors, we met with Jessica, who had killed everyone and was slightly injured herself, and slowly made our way to the exit. Upon leaving the Church, we saw those who we had left to guard this place looking bored.
“Oh, all done then? What happened down there?” Xeno stood up from the snow, brushing himself down.
“Let’s…not discuss it. The Archbishop is dead so we’re done here. We still need to meet up with Xander and give our report, though most of it can’t be shown. Ah, too complicated…” Looking tired, Summer sighed.
Elizabeth walked over to me and nudged me with her elbow as Alice jumped into my arms. “All done then?”
“Mm, I want to make sure Olivia is fine then head home.” Ruffling Alice’s hair as she giggled, Elizabeth laughed.
“She’ll be fine, but look at you eh? Storming into a Church, killing an Archbishop, dealing with whatever power that was and coming out of it only slightly tired. I can’t wait to see Sally and Grey’s faces when we tell them this story!”
Turning to Elizabeth, I frowned slightly as I asked her a question. “Who are Sally and Grey?”