Strong wind rushed past.

Rather, it was someone rushing past the wind, moving fast enough that air could barely touch them.

A mass of white, moving, almost flying across an empty desert.

“...I finally have all the parts i need.”

Sköll muttered self contentedly.

Soon, she arrived at a peculiar place in the middle of the desert. Filled with stone rubble for many kilometers ahead.

“Seems things have changed recently”

She slowly walked over the rubble, the jagged and uneven nature of the stone barely affecting her perfect stride.

Her white mantle was pulled to the side. Revealing her perfectly proportioned human form.

“Father. I have returned.”

Her hands formed into claws.

With a single swipe of her claws, the rubble beneath her feet was broken into pieces, revealing the darkness below.

With no hesitation, she stepped into the hole she created, falling into the endless abyss.

Falling through darkness, her senses were numbed. She could not feel any solid surface. She felt her mana being drained, dulling her body. She felt a loss of her sense of time while she fell.

She fell for what felt like an eternity.

She felt the presence of her father deeply rooted in her mind. His mana was inside her head, he could read her thoughts. His presence was all encompassing, there was no escape from his mind's eye.

“Father…” Her voice was a mixture of adoration and deep fear.

Without any words, he made Sköll feel his expectation. He had no use for words with her. Unlike with Hikaru, Fenrir felt no urge to try with this one. She was already his, not to mention she lacked that which made Hikaru special. She lacked his drive and ambition. She was no more than a tool to him, or perhaps a failed creation.

“I won’t fail father..!”

The ground came without warning, not letting her brace herself for any kind of landing.

Sköll smashed into the ground, staining her white mantle with dirt.

“I have all the needed parts…!”

Quickly getting up, Sköll walked through the darkness, until she stumbled over something.

A gigantic chain. Every single piece larger than a building. Seemingly fused to the ground. The chain seemed to be pulled upwards.

The chain moved slightly, creating a deafening rattling.

She could feel a pain in her head, more terrible than having her skull peeled out in pieces by ravenous ravens. It could not even compare to the feeling of her body being consumed while still alive. That was how heavy the feeling of impatience her father emanated.

“Y-yes father..”

Her voice now shaking, Sköll began pulling items from within her mantle.

Items that should not logically fit in there, yet seemed to have been where she had kept them.

She pulled out items of every variety, almost at random. There was everything from weapons to musical instruments. And whatever was in between.

“With these..i can get the needed combination of godly mana..the perfect resonance to break the chain..”

Arranging all the godly relics she had managed to collected, she began putting them around the chain in a strange almost uneven order. By placing them different distances from the chain and carefully planning their proximity to each other.

It was possible to create mana potent and specific enough to crack this chain. This chain can only be broken by those who created it.

So instead of that, she has to make use of their residue mana..to create the illusion of the gods.

“...Perfect…”

She breathed out slightly, the pressure on her was immense. She felt her father's gaze on her. Examining her every move.

His sight alone, put a weight on her body, that dulled her movements.

“..Now..i would have been done now..and now it would have been a matter of father collecting enough mana to execute this operation..however many years that takes..however..”

Sköll pulled out a small engraved dagger.

“With this..we have all the mana we need..”

“Father..!” Her voice still shaking, she called out.

“With this..i will free you..! So that you once again taste the fresh air, and so that i repay my debt to you..”

Fenrir did not answer. She felt his gaze drift off from her. Indicating either his boredom or dismissal of her.

“..i..” Her eyes teared up. She was sure this would finally earn her father's approval. So then why did it seem like he did not care for her. He did not show a single drop of the interest he showed in Hikaru.

“No..No, he’s just waiting for me to do it...yeah. With this i’ll show father that i’m superior to Hikaru. He will finally speak to me like he does to Hikaru..”

Lifting the dagger high above her head.

“Father..!”

The dagger was stabbed into the chain.

Gliding into it as if it was made from butter.

The chain being magical in nature, the dagger which had an extreme concentration of mana, naturally sliced through it.

With the dagger blade now in the chain. It began to fill with foreign mana.

Foreign mana that got pushed out, put into the godly relics surrounding the chain, which shot the now artifical god-like mana back into the chain, only to be pushed back out.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

This cycle continued over and over. Increasing in power each time.

This was what she attempted to create. A closed circuit.

With nowhere to go the circuit would overheat, and a part of it would break.

What part was difficult to predict. It could be the godly relics that break first.

She couldn’t risk that.

Her arms turning back into wolf-like claws. She attempted to pierce the chain with her claws.

The edges of her claws pushing against the chain, creating sparks of unstable mana.

She was too weak to do anything to this chain. However…

With this, perhaps it might help keep more of the chains mana inside the chain. Making it overload faster.

She felt the mana pushed out of the chain push against her arms and skin.

She could not let go.

She had to keep doing this. She could not risk failure.

She worked her entire life for this, the lifespan of many humans. Even longer than that.

All she wished for was her father's overdue acceptance of her.

Now it was so close.

She would not fail. No matter what it costed her.

Her arms were sliced and burned by wild mana.

She did not let go of the chain.

She continued pushing the mana back into the chain.

Her bones began to creak and crack.

The skin on her arms melted, the fur on her mantle began burning.

She was dying.

But she still would not let go of her goal.

“FAAAATHEEEEEEER!”

The chain began heating up. It was overloading.

Her father would now be free. She felt true happiness finally well up inside her.

However. Despite this, Fenrir would not look at her.

“...Why...WHY!?”

She cried out helplessly.

“YoU haVe doNe your purPose. NOw i havE No neEd for yOu.”

Those were the first words he had said to her in a time period that surpassed what most humans could imagine. They were also the last words she would ever hear her father say to her.

She could not help but fall on her knees. Tears flowing down her cheeks.

Her body was broken, but importantly her heart was now broken beyond repair.

She did not want to move.

--

Above ground, Ahab was busy planning out the rebuilding of their city with his followers.

When something strange happened. Something that should never happen in this part of the world.

The ground began shaking.

It was no earthquake.

The ground began moving like rubber, losing all its common properties.

This was no mere earthquake.

The sky twisted and turned ominous. Like mudded water.

At the other side of the rubble.

A volcano erupted.

Not a volcano of magma, or molten rock of any kind.

It was a volcano of mana.

Mana so thick even those unfamiliar with it could clearly see it.

It filled the sky, and coloured everything black.

A mist darker than black covered the surroundings.

Through the volcano, something slowly climbed out.

The sounds of loose chains filled the air for many miles around.

--

“So uh..what are you thinking..”

Yuri said while bandaging Hikaru’s wounds, making sure to avoid looking at him.

“I am concerned about the fact that your dagger has fallen into the hands of my sister.”

Clenching his teeth slightly at the pain from having his wounds bandaged tightly, Hikaru looked onto the floor with concern.

“...So you’re worried about that huh..”

Unconsciously, Yuri began to bandage his wounds tighter than she should.

“Yes.” He clenched his fists at the pain.

“Of course. Not like i really care about what just happened a while ago, or anything.”

She pulled the bandages tighter, eliciting a small groan from Hikaru.

“Not. at. All.”

“Forgive me, it must be something difficult for you. Considering you were a man before.”

Slowly reaching out, Hikaru gently stroked her head.

Yuri looked at him straight in his eyes for the first time since they left the church.

“That’s not what i meant..!”

Now looking at Yuri, Hikaru noticed her cheeks were flushed, whether due to embarrassment or being upset, was unclear to him.

“I used to be a guy and everything..but you know, now i’m not...so...so you can touch me if y-you w-want to!”

Accidently biting her lip, Yuri held her small hands against her mouth while blushing brighter than a shining star.

“T..touch you!?”

It was now Hikaru whose turn was to be flustered. He stood up in shock, before quickly sitting down due to the pain of his wounds.

“I-i know! Helgi told me about it! B-back in our world..! Normal guys like to..they like to..um…” Her voice got quieter “They like to..touch...girls they like..i-intimately..a-and y-yeah..”

Her voice no louder than a whisper, she looked up at Hikaru with teary eyes.

“Yuri..I…”

Taking a step towards Yuri, Hikaru wrapped his arms around her.

“Ha-h-haaah!?” Yuri’s voice cracked, her mind going haywire at Hikaru's sudden action.

“I have never felt any such urges before.”

He said, making Yuri look up with a sad blush at him.

“However. Lately. I have felt something similar to that. Something irrational. I will not lie, i have stooped to the level of those men you speak of.”

These words, elicited a slight sound from Yuri, which could be interpreted as anything from concern to excitement.

“However..i do not wish to..i..”

Seeming to have difficulty with his next words, Hikaru struggled.

“I do not wish to..act selfishly..for..i.”

Tiptoeing up to Hikaru’s level. Yuri moved her face close to his.

“You’re being cute..” Was all she said, before she cut off his words by force.

Stealing away his breath, she soothed Hikaru with a sweet taste. A taste that could only be described as nectar of a rare flower.

Yuri could taste something strong, it was not unlike a strong spice, which slowly lessened in intensity until it danced upon her tongue, granting her excitement and an enjoyable tingling on her tongue and lips.

Yuri kissing Hikaru [https://kalbobzone.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/kiss-f.png]

Wrapping his arms around her waist, Hikaru pulled Yuri higher up, giving back the favour she gave him ten times over.

It was now her turn to be surprised at the rough handling.

She could however do nothing but relax, feeling all the power drain from her limbs.

All she could manage was wrapping her arms around Hikaru’s neck to make sure she did not fall.

They stayed like for a while, returning each others favours over and over, carefully melting into each other.

Until finally both of them had to separate to catch their breath.

“T-that..was...new..”

Was what Hikaru managed to word out. These were feelings he was unfamiliar with. These were feelings of excitement that those of his descent did not have. These were human feelings.

“G-geez...you’re so rough..” Yuri breathed out, unable to shift her eyes from Hikaru’s gaze.

“N-not that i didn’t like it..” She turned her head away as to appear upset, however her eyes clearly betrayed her desire, for they slowly trailed back to look at him.

“I could say..the same.”

They were both blushing. Even the usually stoic Hikaru could not help but feel the same as Yuri. They had at that moment been completely in sync, both their breathing and their emotions.

“H-how about we..um..go get some food while we..um..cool of...a bit..yeah!”

Yuri suggested, her heart beating so fast that she feared she might have a heart attack.

“I-indeed. Agreed.”

Hikaru felt the exact same. His heart which never beat fast even during fierce combat, now was pushed to its limits by this petite girl.

No it wasn't just any girl. If it’s Yuri, it's only natural that his heart respond in this manner.

Awkwardly leaving together, they managed to buy some food without being found out by the guards.

Finding a nice abandoned rooftop to eat, they both ate slowly, with small bites, their appetite seeming to have somehow been sated by their actions from before.

“So uh you know i didn’t know you could act like that..i-”

Yuri began, while putting down her food.

The sound of her voice was muffled, obscured by the much louder noise coming from the distance.

A deep rumbling, that shook the very ground beneath them.

Everyone in the city looked in the exact same direction. It was not due to the sound or some past experience that they knew where to look.

But due to the fact that everyone, even the livestock, could feel the vast cloud of dark mana washing over them.

Sweeping through the city like fog, thick and dense enough to obscure everyone’s vision.

Everybody could the direction from which the dark mana flowed.

It flowed from that empty place, that desolate desert, devoid of any life except for what existed in a single locked off city.

“H-hikaru..this mana..that feels similar to yours..i’ve felt it before”

“That..can’t be. Is that what she needed the dagger for..!?”

Standing up, Hikaru’s muscles tensed strongly enough that some of his wounds opened, dripping dark blood down his torso.

“What’s going on.? Is about your sister?”

“I thought she would need a long time to prepare and perhaps even collect all of the relics..but it seems i was overly optimistic..she has already succeeded in her goal.”

“You mean your-”

“My would be father. Is now free.”

The ground continued to rumble weakly, while black mana swirled all around them, like dirty wind, staining the spirits of everyone it touched.