Hey guys sorry it's taken so long to update. These next two chapters I broke up into two parts simply because it was so long. I however am keeping it as Part 1 and Part 2. It really goes well with the title and the overall theme of these next two chapters. It however is simply too long to condense into one post I feel simply because these two chapters combined topped a 100 pages. Now a lot of it is dialogue but it still adds up to be a long 2 chapters with development not only for the story but largely for the characters as well.

Thank you so much for reading and rating my fiction! 'Those Who Aspired to Become Gods' Is now ranked 48 in the top 50 and it's all thanks to my readers! Thanks for reading and as always thanks for your nice comments and great ratings. Even though there are some complaints about the quality but hopefully this chapter will be much cleaner as well.

I know my fiction is a lot longer than most out there, especially on RL. And I know I haven't quite 'hit' every scene in just the perfect way I want. I know some scenes I may get wayyyyyy too descriptive like with the pixies last chapter or not enough dialogue in some places which I trying to get better at.

But I've come to find I don't want to have short 'light novel' type chapters and even if that means I won’t get ranked in the top 10 due to frequency of chapters who cares.... I don't want a 30 minute episode style of reading that is like a show you wait for a week to watch with hardly any development at all.  Waited a full weak to read a filler chapter....I want that hour long 'game of thrones' style level of chapters. Where it has a lot of development for the story, the world, and most of all its characters. In the next few chapters you will hopefully get to see a lot of that and it will, take well a big step.....

Also thank you to I4MD347H. He helped edit this fiction for me and considering how long it is I can only say he's obviously a glutton for punishment. Thanks as always to my proof readers as you are each awesome!

Chapter 19: Tears of a Titan

Part 1

Vali's POV:

There standing only a foot from me was the thing that started all of this. The monster who trapped so many lives in a prison for thousands of years.

He’s big. Around 10 feet tall but according to everyone his true height is much, much larger. His whole body is practically made and surrounded by darkness. It surrounds him like a dark mist but also makes up the armor and tough exterior that he exudes. His eyes are yellow and his two horns come out far past his chin. With his long thin fangs grinning he stares only at me...This thing is Balor. Did he wait until Hjokk arrived to trap us in here? It only happened not long after everything that happened on floor 63. We may have walked into a trap.

“BALOR!”

Commander Locke then bared his fangs.

Grrrrrr

Now both Adimar and Akino both began to do the same. Do they show no fear to this entity? This one was Malthiel’s master.

Balor’s yellow eyes continued to gleam back at me. Hjokk continued to stare back at Balor waiting for what was going to happen next. She clenched my shoulder tight and I felt it necessary to now take out Abgrund. I could immediately feel a surge of hunger awaken in me upon taking it out. It’s as if it also wanted me to devour this thing in front of me.

As if seeing the fire being ignited in my eyes while staring back into him.

“Mmm....So the little one did manage to somehow slay Malthiel...What a laugh, such a weak and useless undead. How a human could manage such a feat is beyond me...And yet...”

Balor’s two eyes blinked and then turned a dark crimson. He continued to look me up and down without paying any mind to any other.

“Such a peculiar thing you are. So weak...and yet, your latent potential is something truly frightening. Mm, tell me Vali the human...Won’t you join me?”

“Join you?”

“Yes...Become my Champion...With my power, I can even grant you the world to devour.”

“.......”

‘What is this thing saying now? He can obviously determine my abilities somehow. He thinks I would join him? As if...The only reason I’m even in this prison is to gain strong allies and hopefully do the right thing. For my future plans I need them, I however won’t allow myself to die in such a place. If I wish to be with my family again, I can’t die here. I could still feel Abgrund vibrating in my hands, as if ushering me to attack. I however held back the urge, Hjokk told me not to attack. I can’t do something stupid that involves her any more than I already have. ‘

[Feeeeeeeddddd]

“Umm...Vali?”

I then felt something tugging at my shirt tail. Looking down at my side stood Cyanin. She was looking up at me eagerly. It was then I realized I hadn’t responded to Balor’s question and everyone was staring at me. I sometimes forget I’m not in Lightning Step and everyone seems to have been waiting for my response. Malfius and Commander Locke gave me grim expressions while Adimar and Akino only gave me serious looks.

“Sorry...Not interested. Devouring the world just isn’t something I’ve set out to do. Devouring you seems like it could be interesting though...“

I could feel as if Abgrund was giving me unspoken amounts of strength. It was telling me to feed from Balor and to feed it Balor’s blood. Upon my answer Balor twitched while looking down at me. Cyanin and Cosmia now smiled brightly up at me and then glared back at Balor. Everyone in the room then sighed in relief at my statement, where they really assuming I’d join this nut job?

“Oh...you don’t have the power to tame the darkness that dwells within me mortal. A darkness unlike any other, that is so vast you would need my divine eye to see through it at all! How you’ve even managed to take in so many and stay put together for so long is beyond even my eyes. Though due to your skills and affinities I’d assume you’d relish the idea in joining me.“

Balor then smiled and looked down at me. He was sizing me up as if asking me to attack him. ‘But what did he mean, how I’ve managed to stay put together?’

“What are you talking about Balor?!”

Hjokk then yelled towards Balor causing many in the room to now look towards her in shock. Many weren’t aware she could speak. Balor however showed no reaction to it and stood unaffected.

“Ha!...You tell me you don’t even know how his abilities work then. Such a laugh...You Norse claim to be geniuses, with such intellect and masteries in magic and yet you’re all dreadfully droll. It was really so simple to trap you both here. I’m assuming the crow is something of a Valkyrie or other. Their teleportation magic was always so simple to halt. Simply cut the tether and your magical equation gets stopped.”

“Who ever said I was a Norse?”

“You did BIRD! When you didn’t deny it!”

Baler’s voice echoed to the point I doubt anyone on this floor didn’t hear his shouts. Hjokk then clenched my shoulder and started to shudder. Is she afraid?  I’ve never seen Hjokk act in such a way. Balor then turned to me and laughed. Cosmia and Cyanin I could feel standing behind me and shaking as well.

“Answer mmmmm”

Hjokk then tried to speak when a large hand made of the same darkness erupted out of the ground and wrapped around her beak. She tried to speak but was being held shut.

“Quiet bird...I was talking to him.”

He smiled while turning his eyes towards me.

ROAHHHHH!!!!

AHHHHH!!!!!!

Adimar and Commander Locke both lunged toward Balor. Commander Locked swung down his dawn bringer but he simply passed through Balor. Adimar too flew past him glided across the ground trying to stop himself from slamming into the wall. They each just phased right through him. I swung my fist and activated Wind Claw and it too passed straight through him. It went for about 5 feet and then grazed the side of one of the elves.

“AHhhhhh!”

The elf’s right leg along with the wooden chair were both completely cut off causing the chair to tip over with him still tied to it. He then started to cry in pain as his health had dropped by around 15%. He however started to lose health gradually while he started to bleed. Balor however received no damage at all. He didn’t even have a health bar now that I think about it.

[Vali! He’s not really here right now! Attacking him would be meaningless, don’t provoke him!]

Hjokk being unable to talk tells me what is going on. Just then dark hands erupted from the ground and reached for everyone in the room. I used my spatial magic to warp myself along with Cyanin and Cosmia but before I had an opportunity a dark whip flung past my arm and attached itself to Cosmia. Then before I could react another had done the same to Cyanin and coiled around her. Everyone now has a dark hand strangling them and only I remain uncoiled. ‘He’s not even here? Then how is he doing all of this! If attacking him pointless then how do we kill him?’

“MMmm....You all seem to be forgetting your places here. Does this one give you that much courage?”

“We...aren’t....afraid of you....anymore!”

With a large dark hand forming around his throat, Locke continued to stare daggers towards Balor. As does everyone else. I look back towards Balor with hatred.

“Are their lives really that important human? Hmm, maybe you aren’t worthy of taking Malthiel’s place. A pity really but no matter. Your appearance in my dungeon is actually quite exciting for me really. ”

Balor began to grin while he continued talking with everyone trapped in darkness.

“I can now make my grand debut to the stage while holding the head of those cruel god’s champion. All while I turn their World into nothingness!”

He held his hand into a fist and grinned his large fangs towards me. He didn’t look human at all but his manner of speech and whole atmosphere portrayed eons of intelligence and knowledge. He however struck me no different than some psychotic sociopath.  He would trap so many souls here for centuries to where they cannot pass on to be with their loved ones. For what? Why go to such an extent to destroy the world, to ruin these people’s lives? It can’t be simply because he’s evil. Do villains like that truly exist in this world? I remember Loki once saying he wasn’t always an evil God. I then asked the dark god what he was doing exactly.

“Why are you doing all of this?

“Why?....WHYYYY?.....BECAUSE I’m LOSING MY MIND IN THIS PLACE that’s WHY!  I have sacrificed my entirety for those damned gods! Lost everything because of THEM and their LIES!..And they still call ME the mad god?....For so long I have been trapped down here. For so long I have been deprived of everything! Those foolish gods who have trapped me here, in their little sandbox for what has felt like an eternity shall soon know real SORROW. So I will merely bring it all to RUIN!!!”

His eyes flashed towards me and a loud roar erupted across the dungeon floor itself, drowning out Ecclaire’s voice entirely. It shook the very floating landmass we were standing on. Balor’s mood had changed suddenly and yelled with an anger that shook the very foundation of this dungeon. The pressure exuding from his skin felt like small knives slowly piercing me throughout my entire body. Then within a moment it had faded after Balor sighed.

“...And you. “

“Me?”

“And you follow those so called ‘divine’ beings....You!”

Balor looked at me as if my image only enraged him more now. Only this time he seemed to be showing some restraint.

“Don’t tell me....it’s all to get back at the god’s for causing you to descend and trapping you in this dungeon? I didn’t think a beings as old as you and Malthiel would be so childish with their revenge.”

“AHahahaha!!! You think me...A god, trapped in my own dungeon?!”

Balor then started laughing hysterically, which almost resembled that of the dark elf’s from before. He is truly mad.

“Oh human you really are naive....I suppose that means your god or that little bird hasn’t told you the dark truths yet. It’s not that you fight for your Norse god you simply do not know the ways of this world....”

His voice continued to echo alongside Ecclaire’s only making the atmosphere more grim and eerie. I looked around and everyone has no way of getting out of their bindings. I don’t know how to handle this situation. If I recklessly attack, I could hurt them. But no attacks seem to work on Balor and even Hjokk can’t seem to free herself. What is Balor even trying to do?!

“Then enlighten me a little.”

‘I must stall for time. I need to think of a way out of this or everyone might die here. Lightning Step! Ok now I can think...Hmm, It’s strange but I think it’s possibly Balor may not understand how spatial magic works. He wouldn’t have said what he did to Hjokk earlier if he did. It’s not like I’ve fully understood how to use my magic like Loki’s, but I do know it works nothing like Hjokk’s warping ability. I think he may only know one of our teleportation methods, since the last time we left this place, it was from her magic or by simply walking through the entrance. I’m not sure but this is my only bet. It’s strange but regardless of time being slowed it still feels as though Balor is moving at the same speed. Everyone else is moving slower except for him and Hjokk in fact. I can still hear his breathing and it is going at the same pace as before I activated the skill. ’

I deactivated Lightning Step as regardless if I have a lot of mana or not maintaining for longer than a few seconds is simply impossible for me right now. Balor continued looking at me with his now crimson eyes. Ecclaire who is still tied to the chair still remains lifeless other than speaking alongside Balor.

“Mmm...Done using your little abilities now? With my all seeing eye...I can see through even the abyss. Even the darkest of places are nothing before me.... ‘Lightning Step’ was it?..Hpmph.. I however can also see you and I aren’t so different. Such darkness in you too....Well now that I’m sure you’re a Norse I’d much rather wait to tell you the sick truths of your gods on your final breaths. How I do love watching those in true despair as they wither away....What? You don’t agree, I simply wish for you all to feel but a taste of my own misery. “

This thing definitely has a god complex, but considering it I can understand why he does. I guess it’s not much different than Loki’s but at least he seems to in some way care for other’s well-being. Balor is willing to destroy the whole world simply to get back at the gods? It’s simply an old being throwing a tantrum. Whatever he did must have caused him to descend, though I can understand that in such a world that betrayal exists just around every corner, even in the heavens.

I have to kill this thing. I won’t allow myself to die here. I can’t...If I die then I can’t protect Kaylan, this thing isn’t going to keep me away from her. He won’t! I’m going to find her and prepare a safe haven for her here and all the others who I’ve come to meet down here. I don’t know how I’m going to do it but I won’t die here. I don’t care what you are Balor but I’m going eat you just like I did Malthiel. Balor...you’ve gotten it backwards...We aren’t locked in here with you!’

I could feel Abgrund continue to grow hot. It was asking me to attack even still. Even if Balor wasn’t here I could feel this weapon feeding off of my anger. Holding onto this weapon is starting to become difficult. It’s not that it’s heavy. I simply feel the urge to always use it while holding onto it. It’s as if I feel I can kill anything while holding onto Abgrund. Even though I told Loki and Hjokk I wouldn’t use it unless the need arises for it but I believe there is no other way to kill this thing that stands before me. With Hjokk and everyone in here, we’ll kill him.

I started to stare back at Balor ready to attack him and hopefully get everyone in a group and use my spatial magic can get us out of here. Just before I was about to move Balor sighed and continued talking.

“I only gave you the proposition simply because I assumed you and I were similar. I’d teach you to tame that darkness that dwells within you to give you unlimited power.”

“First you say it was incredible how I managed to stay put together and then offered me the world to devour. Now you think you and I are similar? Well I guess all that time of banishment from the god realms has finally caused you to lose it.”

I then spoke up to Balor and raised my voice back at him. He stared back at me and twitched when I called him nuts.

“Just because you can’t see how your skills work doesn’t mean I can’t…Tell me champion, did you think all you were getting from that absorption ability of yours were skills? “

‘What is he getting at?’

“Let me remind you, monster cores are said to have small traces of its owner’s soul remaining in them, and you’ve seemed to have gobbled those up too, didn’t you? You’ve took in a being who had killed more than your species has a number for...So the question is Vali, are you alone in that head of yours mphmphmph?”

‘Could what he have said be true? I never thought of demonic absorption having any sort of backlash from using the skill. I don’t think anything’s wrong with me though...I mean, not any more than normal.’

My eyes were open wide at the thought while Balor’s laugh echo against the thick cell walls we stood in. Hjokk then turned and looked at me too. Maybe she’s worried about such a thing. Is it possible, he could be saying this to try and mess with me?

“It is why I offered to help you human...But if you’d rather die here with the rest of these test subjects then have it your way. Dark Eden will forever become all of your crypts.”

After hearing this I could feel my chest tighten up. It’s weird but I no longer felt frightened. It must have been the weapon, or maybe it was because everyone else was here as well. Even while Adimar and Akino have a dark fist gripping around their necks and hoisting them in the air they don’t seem frightened at all. Like Locke said, they’re no longer afraid of him. He’s trapped them in here for far too long. Everyone is only looking towards Balor with anger now. If they won’t fear him, I won’t either.

“Yes I was always curious why you named the place Dark Eden. Wondering where you got the reference to Eden anyways...Dark Sever!”

I then activated the skill on my scythe and shot it not towards Balor but towards the dark arm holding onto Hjokk I don’t know what it was but it was enough to hold her down. Whenever Dark Sever came into contact with the dark creation it simply cut right through it and caused it to crumble away. It however managed to only cut through one arm that was around her and didn’t fly much further. Hjokk now freed then decided to get serious. She turned into her Valkyrie form wearing her platinum armor that shined as bright as a star.  The light coming off of it shined and split past all of the dark aberrations and cut through roughly a third of dark bindings that shot out from Balor’s body. She then pointed her spear towards Balor.

“EDEN!....So that means you’re from......”

Balor didn’t even look towards Hjokk and looked at me astonished. His eyes turned yellow and shined brightly as if shaking. Just now realizing that I’m an otherworlder he seems to be contemplating something. He however didn’t look towards anyone else or even show Hjokk he was paying attention to her. Before I could do anything else he just started laughing again.

“Mm, how splendid! Really, what are the ODDS?!!!... So tell me, Vali, the human from another world...Someone who can truly enjoy such a sight...Tell me...What do you think of my little ‘Dark...Eden’?...Mphmphmph!!!! Mmmahahahahaha!”

Balor then raised both his arms in the air as if acting proud of this hell he had created.  The entire floating landmass we stood on began to shake with his loud echoed laughter.  He seemed to really want my opinion of the place, a place where souls are trapped here even after death, and since he wasn’t technically here right now I guess he wasn’t in anyway threatened of us.’ I guess that’s why he’s being so talkative.’

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh what? Your world is what gave me inspiration to create this place...Such beauty I simply wanted to create something similar but one filled in the ever vast darkness.”

“You created this place simply for that purpose!”

“No human...I created this place to devise my plans for world destruction. This dungeon is simply housing the species I plan on unveiling to the world soon. Can you imagine how the public would handle fighting something like my Fomorians...Hahaha....Those so called gods wouldn’t even know what to do with themselves as they watch their followers get butchered and eaten in front of them. So their choices are simple, descend or watch as their whole world burn away before their eyes...”

“Then why?!...Why trap us here for so long!”

Commander Locke then yelled gargled while being choked.

“.....Test subjects. I needed to test out the Fomorians strengths and weaknesses. Even if it took thousands of years until you were all strong enough to reach them, I had the time. So I gathered some of the strongest races around the general region and trapped them here roughly three thousand years ago. I told them if they tried hard and worked together maybe they could get to floor 100 and taste freedom once again but alas....I never intended on any of you ever leaving this place. I never even intended on you making it past floor 63 but look at how that all worked out... I simply needed ‘strong warriors’ to test just how strong my creations were. I must say those weapons you all created were quite the surprise. But any weapon below a Legendary-Class weapon cannot cut through their thick fur. Do you think the heroes of this world will be able to save everyone? I think not....And even if they could, could they all save themselves? They really are quite the creations, even their fur came from a particularly odd race of yeti monster that is quite immune to most magics....Now if they just weren’t so stupid. Truly a shame I can create so much but even when I was a divine creating something with substance...something....real....Always escaped me.”

He continued to create shapes in his hands made of darkness. He showed to be very adept in creating things out of darkness as if it were as simple as having a thought. He almost sounded sad that he couldn’t create more than the things he already had. The darkness in his hands began to take shape. It turned into a sphere, a sword, a shield. It then turned into a small man holding hands with a woman and small child. They were each made of darkness and then held onto each other tightly. They then began to get eaten by a larger monster that resembled the Fomorians.

“However, regardless for their stupidity or lack of abilities....They really are quite lethal.”

“Heh...I don’t know about that. I’ve tore through plenty already they weren’t too difficult. Hell even that floor 64 boss wound up melting most of them for us before the fight even broke out.”

I tried to get a reaction out of Balor again. His mood swings are odd but maybe I can get him into telling us something important about this place. He’s definitely the mad scientist type but he’s also apparently strong enough to be considered Malthiel’s master. Something even Hjokk complimented they were never allies to begin with.

“....Yes...How you managed to survive Grevelegn is yet another mystery. But those Fomorians you’ve fought so far were merely dogs, nothing like what inhabit the higher floors human. ”

‘...Could he just be blowing smoke?’

“Why did you...make those puppets...Why even toy....with us!”

Akino then struggled as she spoke up and squirmed in Balor’s creation that was still attached to her.

“How else was I going to find out what your races were up to down here? Also you all began to clear floors much too rapidly, you were pressing my plans a bit too early but no need anymore. I plan on unveiling my beasts to feed on the world quite soon.”

For whatever reason Balor continued to talk about why he created this dungeon, and why he trapped so many down here. It wasn’t for sport, it was simply to develop strong enough opponents to test out his new creations. Even if it took thousands of years he simply waited until they were strong enough to get to the higher floors to test if they could survive his beasts before unleashing them onto the world.  Somehow he has a way of making it to where even gods like Amarok and Brynhildr aren’t even aware of their races down here.

I knew something about this place seemed odd. I knew it couldn’t have been random that there were so many strong races stuck in this dungeon. Each race almost has a particular trait or ability that makes them strong in their unique ways. Some in ways that make all those that live outside this dungeon look like small time. At first they only thought one of their races was said to be from a divine being but now even the pixies appear to have strong lineages. It wasn’t random and was all intricately planned by this being. Loki called him something similar to a mad scientist, I sort of see that now. He’s trapped thousands if not millions of people of the centuries and treated them all like lab rats in some twisted game. But if he lets those things out of this dungeon this continent would fall.

As everyone continued to hear the dark truths from Balor’s lips of why they were trapped here for so long, they all simply looked towards the floor in front of them. Their looks of fight and strength seemed to have left them now. Being told you were stuck in here your whole lives and it was never even in the cards for you to escape must have been a heavy blow. But I haven’t given up yet. I will reunite with Kaylan in this world and nothing not even this thing will stop me. It also seems that if we don’t stop Balor here everyone outside, including my family will be in danger.

“Why...Why tell us all of this?”

Now finally Adimar spoke up. As if realizing everything just now himself.

“Because, the day I make my grand entrance outside this place is drawing closer. All of you won’t be around for very much longer.”

“And you think all the gods are simply going to watch as you turn the world into your playground? I wonder what they think about you taking their beloved descendants souls and trapping them here for so long. “

“Vali is correct Balor...I can’t imagine the God of Death would be too happy about you trapping so many of his in this place.”

Hjokk then joined into the conversation to warn Balor of his potential threat on bringing war to the outside world. She too knows we can’t let him unleash such monsters into the public.

“Oh yes... I assume Hades would be especially angry with me for using Malthiel to bring so many of his back from the dead. But if I wasn’t doing this to spit on all of those damned gods’ soiled grounds then why do it at all?..Really is interesting these puppets. I can’t control them nearly as good as he did but well...I guess that old geezer was worth something before leaving the stage. Sad he won’t get to see the fruits of his labors for me.”

“Used Malthiel? So...The Death Master wasn’t really working for you.”

“No...I eroded his mind before he had the ability to attack me Norse wench....I guess you could say he was my first puppet mph....What you don’t believe me? Even old skeletons immune to mind attacks can be vulnerable to the darkness. My darkness eats away at everything until you are nothing. Nothing but an empty shell. Much like you will all soon be..... He however was quite strong, if I ever attacked him I’m sure I would have had quite the fight on my hands. But he served his role all the way up until the end. ”

Balor then seemed almost unfazed by what he said of Malthiel. He never had any allies, simply puppets.

“...One of your inventions.”

Hjokk then looked as if she figured out how Balor somehow managed to control Malthiel. It sounds like they both found themselves descended to middle earth and ran into each other. Before Malthiel had an opportunity to attack Balor somehow managed to capture his mind and control him to do his bidding.

“Is that what you did with Ecclaire?”

I then asked Balor of the person he was controlling. Whenever I looked at her in Eclipse View, she looked the same as everyone else. Her life force was still in there...trapped.

“Mmm...Simply some magic from a former death master. Quite difficult to pull off but I can handle at least one. He could control so many it was honestly quite the spectacle. But she like the other puppets, or whatever it is you call them, can all be saved. Aftermath of the magic it seems. So there is still hope for those who care about this one here.”

He then turned his head and looked towards Ecclaire. Was what he saying true?

“You’re lying!”

“Why would I need to lie to a lowly human? ...You’re all never even going to leave this place. If I was going to bring back the dead it would be as simple as swinging your weapon to end this one’s life once more. If it is impossible to save them then ending their lives would be quick and painless. But if there was a tiny possibility this shell of a once proud warrior could be among the land of the living again, then it gives those down here reason for hope. Now if it was possible to save that person wouldn’t it be just amazing to know that small bit of hope is also destroyed in the end when they too die here.”

Balor then turned his head and walked towards the dark elf who was still bleeding out on the floor. The other dark elf who was still tied to the chair looked up at him shaking.

“Mmmm..gahh....gah...”

The elf with his leg torn off had a health of 30 percent and was slowly turning pale.

“We can’t let this one gain too much before his time comes. So you two must now leave the stage...”

Balor then looked towards the two elves who appeared as 2 Nekos and right before them two large dark aberrations were created from thin air. They each stood tall and looked to be made from the same dark mist that surrounds Balor himself. They however had no face or any defining features, they were just large black figures. The two dark aberrations walked closer to the elves and opened their mouths. They’re faces became almost as large as their whole bodies as they grabbed onto the two elves and began to eat them in front of us.

“Ah,..No...no!!”

“Sto..STOP Please my lord! You mustn't!!! PLEA......”

The elves began screaming in agony just before being ripped in half and devoured by the dark beasts. They have neither faces nor emotions, and continued to chew casually until both of the elves died.  The creatures then swallowed them entirely and stared back towards us all with no emotion. Balor then turned towards me and smiled.

“So you even kill your allies?”

“MMmm, the dark elves were never my allies.”

“They weren’t?”

“....Fear is a powerful tool Vali, but hate...Hate can bring one to do nigh unspeakable things. It can unite those together to destroy a true evil...They learned of what I was after thousands of years ago and asked to join me on my quest of domination. As I’m sure you will ask as well before the end...I guess I’ll make my leave now Vali from another world... So much to enjoy in the coming days I can hardly contain myself... Ending a Norse’s champion and even a Valkyrie will be a great way to showcase my power unto this realm. I notice your little ‘XP’ bonus ends in the next two days. How about we schedule all of your demises for that day. Make things interesting and give you a bit of hope before the end of the world as we know it...And before I leave champion, here’s some simple words of wisdom...”

Balor then turned around and his cape began to flutter as if there were a wind in here. Considering what Hjokk had told me he isn’t even technically here he must be just communicating from another location. His eyes leered back towards me before he continued.

“I am not the villain of this story...Your gods are...Until we meet again human.”

Balor then turned around and turned into a dark mist just before he disappeared. His tall dark aberrations too faded away along with him as if the grizzly scene they just showed us had never happened. The overwhelming pressure I could feel coming out from Ecclaire had now stopped and she appeared to be unconscious.

Alice’s POV:

“Yes my liege. The war with the elves currently is at a standstill. They cannot stand toe to toe with us on the battlefield and have lost tremendous numbers. We however cannot seem to penetrate their fortress inside their forest. I’m sorry King Myro but even with the power of Lord Adel and his Generals the elven city appears to be surrounded by ever spinning winds that is several leagues in diameter. So far it has been impossible to penetrate my Lord.”

“I see....Well that is regrettable. But I’m told they have lost quite a number of their leaders as well in our last confrontation at Trost. It shouldn’t be long before we take their city and this war will be over.”

Everyone then agreed to Gis Highnesses’s words. Everyone continued speaking to the king as he sat on top of his high throne that was elevated over the great hall. The war with the elves has been a long one with the kingdom of Myro. Spanning since the kingdom was first colonized. Even I don’t know what started it all. I however believe the cause does not matter much at this point. Humans always crave conflict. The Kingdom of Kairo whose kingdom’s is one of the four strongest empires in the center continent technically controls this kingdom. King Myro was even appointed king from under his rule. So this war must be beneficial to them for profits or being able to fully lay claim to this continent once and for all.

‘Why humans were given control of the world I’ll never know. They really are such callous beings. I guess I’m not really one to talk, my species has always been on the more evil side of the spectrum. Even most of the beings in my race that have been blessed are usually the evil gods. But I guess that’s just the way this world is. Humans have even managed to obtain such items that turn them into gods themselves they say.

“The elves cannot stand up to the awesome might of those of Myro! This continent will soon belong to the human race! No more will we have to sleep at night in terror in constant wonder when the elves will come and slaughter us in our sleep!”

One of his commanders had shouted in excitement while all the others in attendance agreed. I suppose they tell themselves it is a fight for their race to make them feel better about performing such cruelties.

‘A vampire isn’t much different than a human I suppose. Their origins are even said to be from ancient humans who would worship the goddess of blood Shezmu and would drink blood to gain its powers. Thusly turning them into a different race altogether. But then again I’m nothing like a full blooded noble, simply a mix blood trash known to the humans as a Damphir. I was always looked at with scorn and fear of my deep crimson eyes. It is because of those eyes that the humans decided to ruin me.’

I guess I never understood why, the vampire race mostly stay up north and keep to themselves. Considering there is no benefit to Myro to claim their territory it has remained out of this war entirely. I guess it doesn’t matter after this war with the elves the Eastern Continent will become human territory. The Vampires are a frighteningly strong race but aren’t really thought of as a threat to the humans due to their weaknesses to sunlight. If I recall they have been at war with another race in their territory since before the humans even came to this continent. Due to that as well they just stay in their homelands they’ve lived in for centuries and don’t venture out of the dark lands ever.

‘Damphirs however don’t have any such weaknesses to sunlight much like the humans. I guess whoever my parents where, I’m thankful one of them was at least a human. That way I could enjoy things they all take for granted.’

“Now sire...I must bring something that has brought me a deal of concern to your attention! “

“Speak Gallius, you haven’t the need for pleasantries with me old friend.”

Gallius of the noble house Ryse began to speak. Gallius and the King had been long friends since before he sat on throne. Gallius however had always been more of merchant that ran his families many businesses and large industries that extended even to the central continent. His trades with the central continents kingdoms are what have made the city of Myro flourish and grow to what it has today. Now it has become the strongest kingdom in the entire eastern continent. It is all thanks to this man.

The man Gallius who I have pledged my life to protecting. I was nothing more than worthless child slave when he and I first met, and yet he has shown me such kindness over the years I have grown quite close with him. It was never in an intimate way, even after turning 27 to this day he has never laid a hand on me. He has however treated me like his own daughter. I’m sure he treats me no differently than the child he once lost. I suppose that is why he bought me all those years ago. Whatever his reasoning, I am truly thankful to him for saving my life that day. He even bought me a prosthetic eye to replace the one that had been destroyed by those horrible humans. No...It’s wrong to classify each of them by their race I’ve come to find. Evil is evil in this world, and race has nothing to do with it. But Gallius is not that. I will defend him till my final days come around. He is even the one who taught me to fight, how to wield a sword. I will use my strengths given to me by blood to protect this man with my life.

Gallius then began to speak of the horrendous actions of Commander Adel and giving General Valentine the order to assassinate the king of another country. There is also information and solid evidence that he was involved in a coup in the Kingdom of Aldain to gain their troops. Gallius has spies throughout the continent and has come to find out a great deal of information and it has started to become a cause of concern for him.

I don’t blame him, Lord Adel’s actions here are too heinous to speak of. Attacking and waging war on a foreign kingdom without giving any knowledge to the King he serves under would be high treason. The kingdom of Asher has ties with the Rose Empire in the central colonies and simply attacking them while we’re coming to an end with the war with the elves would bring a horrific outcome. The kingdom of Asher is the third largest kingdom in the continent and hasn’t been going to war but simply providing resources to the central colonies. They will have a large number a troops but the likelihood of any of them being very strong is highly unlikely. Asher doesn’t have any high ranking combatants in their armies nor do they have the power to stand against the Kingdom of Myro and our advanced magics and weaponry. However going to war with them it’s possible the kingdom of Myro would also be inflicting war between the inner continents kingdoms and would receive heavy backlash.

Why Lord Adel would advise an assassination on a royalty of another nation even now doesn't make since but the facts speak for themselves. Just then the door to the great hall swung open and their stood Lord Adel and his peerage. Three of his generals he calls the 4 horsemen stood at his side without the 4th known as Lestat Valentine. The evidence that he is still traveling back from another kingdom now points even more towards his treachery.

“Oh hello Your Highness. Are we having a meeting without me?”

“Yes Adel...I’ve heard word that you have sent one of my generals to assassinate the King of Asher. Is this correct?”

“Oh that....Yah why?”

“......”

Everyone remained silent at his reactions. I looked over to Gallius and he too had his mouth wide open. He had just admitted to it all so simply.

“You...Why would you do such a thing?! Do you realize what your actions could bring to this kingdom?!”

Gallius then yelled towards Adel who only looked at him casually. His golden long hair got into his eyes and he shook his head to get it out of his way.

“What’s wrong with it? I simply know that once the head of the kingdom is dead the reigns will fall to the son of the Kingdom who is now currently our ally. We would gain all of the armies of Asher as well as now the armies of Aldain and Trost. The kingdom is already going to be ours...Now all of the kingdoms of the continent will all be united under one rule. The Kingdom of Myro!”

His peerage began to become charmed by his words as if this was so simple. It goes much deeper than assassinating a foreign king! The potential threat this could pose to our kingdom is too great. We aren’t even over with the war with the elves!

“Yes Lord Adel’s actions are the correct one’s your highness please see that for yourself. No one in that kingdom can compete with us and by attaining their kingdom ours only grows stronger with their troops. The crown prince Dominic is already an ally and will take the thrown. Same situation with Aldain. Now we can unite the human kingdoms in this continent together!”

Everyone in the hall began to unite and cheer together. Only I, Gallius and the King did not join in the cheers.

“....Your actions Adel. Though they came to benefit this kingdom I feel it necessary you to tell me your further actions. If this wasn’t handled correctly. The backlash from the central continent could have potentially brought this kingdom harm.”

‘What? Why is the king forgiving him?’

“Oh don’t worry my King. Soon Myro will become stronger than even empires in the central continent. I and my horseman will even be greater than the so called Kairo’s Immortal Knights!”

Everyone cheered towards Lord Adel’s statements of war as if it had all been solved. Had he really gained the power of all the surrounding kingdoms of the continent overnight? I know Lord Adel to be strong. No one in the kingdom would ever say otherwise.

He was said to be a genius even at a young age. Comprehending and mastering several levels of magic by the age of 4 and he then learned mixed martial arts under his father’s orders.  His parents were each once a famous adventurer from the central continent and had later settled in the Kingdom of Myro many years later with their titles and land. As he grew older he won multiple weapons’ tournaments throughout the kingdom showing the overwhelming strength and prestige of the Noble family of Adel. This also showed himself to be deadly in all forms of combat. After conquering a once thought unconquerable dungeon he emerged after receiving the blessing of the sun god Lugh. Adel even emerged while holding onto the famous spear of legend. A weapon that was said to hold the power of the Sun god himself. It constantly radiates a heat off of it and drips blood once removed from its oceanic casing. It like all other holy artifacts cannot be placed in an inventory but will emerge in Adel’s hand at his call. His weapon like other holy artifacts are extremely powerful and impossible to destroy while the god is still alive. Making some of these holy weapons even more powerful than some legendary weapons. It is the main reason the long war with the elves has started to turn into the favor of Myro.

It is rare that a blessed being would also have a weapon comparable to a hero. Even with such a powerful spear for him to claim to be greater than the Hero of Kairo and his immortal knights is laughable. Surely he’s strong but there is a reason that the 4 great empires in the central continent haven’t been able to conquer the other over the centuries. It isn’t because they are allied together like the kingdoms would have you believe, it is simply because fighting each other would be like fighting the gods themselves....Even the Hero of Kairo is said to wield only a shield but he uses it more furiously than any weapon. It is rumored to have a god sealed inside of it making him as well as those who follow him to be wilding the power of the gods themselves.

Holy weapons I feel are already too powerful for humans to hold, and yet there are humans who wield weapons known as phantasm weapons. How can you kill a kingdom of gods? He speaks of war as if it were as simple as taking away a few pieces of the opposing members armies. Would the foreign kingdoms delegates not react to our actions if word had gotten out of this? Does he not think of how his actions could ultimately crumble the Kingdom of Myro?

‘Why the god of such a beautiful sun would pick this one as his champion is beyond me. Adel is looked up as a hero in this kingdom and I just have never saw it. Then again most heroes are nothing like they are from the stories. Here stands the strongest leaders in the kingdom and probably the entire continent, each of them are no different. They simply look towards what will bring them each more gains. They care for nothing other than their own profits. ‘

The nobles in attendance cheered and agreed to the notion of acquiring more troops and resources as well as properties. Obviously if Myro were to then control the kingdoms of Asher, Aldain and Trost then there would be an influx of money coming in for everyone I would imagine. The increased trade and properties coming from hacking away at the resources of the other kingdoms.

Humans, if it weren’t for Gallius I would think they were all a rotten species.

“Well as long as word of this does not spread outside of this then we should be fine. If the kingdom of Asher and Aldain come into our rule then that would beneficial. We can even send their troops to fight the elves as well, relieving some of our armies. Speak of your actions first though, don’t always be so against receiving council Adel.”

“Yes my King. It is not because I wanted to fool you, I just simply had everything handled before bringing it all to your attention. And try not to worry about war with other kingdoms. Regardless this war with the elves is coming to an end and with this our power will only increase. No one will ever learn of our involvement and even if they do the central continent will not care what happens in the bordering colonies. They let us rule how we wish as long as trade and commerce is not all interrupted. We can simply do business with the Rose and Kairo empires now and hopefully form peace for them as well.”

“Hmm...That would bring the kingdom of Myro a lot of support and aid as well. Good job Lord Adel, you have done well as a noble of your household and even as a knight under my rule. I shall now advance you and your family’s titles to Count and give you rewards for all your accomplishments on the battlefield.”

“Oh king...”

Everyone then began to cheer Lord Adel as he acted bashful towards the applause. Gallius and I continued to remain motionless to this. Do these idiots not understand how global commerce works? We aren’t some company that does trade with kingdoms at war. We are a kingdom that is a branch of the Kingdom of Kairo. If we are found out to have assassinated the top of a kingdom that is tied to one of the four empires, the halting of trade with the inner continent will be the least of our worries.  And yet, everyone continues to cheer and clap their hands. Even his peerage seems to act with joy and congratulate Lord Adel on his new title. Calling him the Hero of Myro. He simply smiles and acts to shrug it off but I see past his little facade. He lives for the attention and rewards he’s given for his exploits. He smiles and pretends to be humble, but I see him for what he truly is. T

‘Heroes really are nothing like Gallius told me they were from the stories when I was a kid. They are all however the same. This one gets adorned with cheers and applause and he is in actually a sociopath. Even the women around him that fight alongside him and his horsemen, they all are constantly swayed by the words of this man and pine over every word he says as genius. Although it’s sometimes suffocating, I admit he is far more intelligent than I. It is what has lead him to being the right hand of the King and the strongest hero of Myro. He now commands all the troops under the King as his newest general. Even the Four Horsemen generals are similar to him, which is probably why Adel promoted them to be his Horseman. That and the fact they are the four strongest in the Kingdom next to Adel himself. One of the Horsemen is even a member of Adel’s so called harem that always flocks beside him it seems. She however doesn’t seem as mindless as the others. Although, looking at some of the women at his side do pain me to watch at times.’

“Yes…And now shouldn’t we take care of those who wished to bad mouth Lord Adel Your Highness? I mean bringing some news to you and twisting it to make it sound as if Lord Adel had a rotten intent is heresy!”

One of the Four Horsemen then walked up towards Gallius and lifted his large hammer and held it towards his head.

Shink!

‘Parry...Counter.’

BOOOM!

I moved my feet and slid underneath the general’s large hammer and took out my crimson blade. Red thorns attached themselves to my wrist and connected to the center and began to drink from my blood. Increasing its attack power by 30%.

I parried the Horseman’s hammer and delivered a shot directly into the center of the general’s chest. The power from the tip of my sword sent the Horseman back 10 feet and landing on his back. Everyone’s eyes then widened and stared at who was the cause.

There standing in between Gallius and Adel’s general was me and my blood red sword. It helps being a Damphir and owning such a piece of rare equipment. It also lets me steal 10% of all damage I give back to myself. From the force of my blow the large Horseman’s health only dropped by 5%. However I wasn’t getting serious just yet. I’m not sure if I’m strong enough to take on a Horseman, but I will jump in to fight for Gallius regardless if I had a chance of winning or not.

“Do not dare threaten Lord Gallius lest you taste the tips of my blade again.”

“Oh my Bodin, getting whooped by a girl are we...Or no, you’re a vampire right? Mmm, that’s some power you got there. Any chance I could get you to join me, become my 5th horseman hehe? No? “

Lord Adel then started to walk closer to me while my sword still drawn. He then whispered in my direction.

“Or would you rather have a wanting at possibly standing at my side? Hmm? I always did have a thing for a girl with an eye patch and black leather. I think the whole look is sexy. I mean isn’t it better to follow me than just some old merchant?”

‘Oh you can’t be serious....’

Lord Adel is now trying to come onto me. In this situation. Being so strong I guess gives him the ability to stand confident in such situations. I however would never yield to such a man. Praised as a hero from the god of the sun but his actions are nothing close to a hero. I’ve heard the screams coming from the halls leading to his quarters in the late nights. When Lord Adel became a blessed being he was even asked to move to the inner continent from other royalties but he declined all of them. He said he couldn’t miss the opportunity at fighting the elves. Some saw this as valiant, but I and Gallius had discovered what he had meant as he had entered into the war.

The few elves at his side are those he has made his prisoners of war. They look happy and even pine for him. But that’s not how it was when they first came here. In fact Lord Adel couldn’t even communicate with them which is why he....

‘I guess that’s why he gave up on communicating with the elves altogether and decided to claim the prisoners for himself. The 3 elves at his sides are the same that once fought against him. It’s almost as if he brainwashed them into becoming his pet slaves and followers. One day they would be cursing him in their own language, the next they would be pining for him like an animal in heat. He calls it his charm but I know the truth. He is simply like all the other heroes in this kingdom, he is like all other heroes in this world. Simply using their power to abuse the helpless and grabbing whatever it is they want for themselves.’

“Now, now, Bodin and Gallius there is no need for violence in my hall. I will not have it! Now as the accusation towards Gallius for speaking ill of Lord Adel is unwarranted and inaccurate. He was simply telling me of something I should have already been aware of. Do not take actions for yourself in this kingdom from now on.”

After the atmosphere at cooled down I put my sword back into its sheath and stared back at Lord Adel and his peerage. They were said to be the strongest heroes of Myro. The ones claiming victory after victory against the elven armies. They even managed to conquer two kingdoms seemingly in a day.  

BAM!

Just then the door to the great hall was swung open and a man in a dark robe entered into the throne room. He walked quickly until he was at the foot of the throne and kneeled. I think he is one of the Elliot’s if I believe.

“Your Highness! I apologize for my rude entrance but there is something of import I need to show you.”

“Edwin Elliot? What is it you seem to be out of breath haha!”

Elliot then took out a crystal and said it was a viewing crystal that he had placed on one of his family members. It came off an Elliot clansman who was with Lestat Valentine to assassinate the King of Asher.

“What! Destroy it at once! We can’t allow anyone to see it. And wait? Why do you have such a thing and are arriving ahead of Lestat!”

One of the high ranking nobles in the room began to clamor and looking towards Adel and his peerage they too seemed perplexed. Adel only looked back at them annoyingly.

“You don’t understand! Lestat and all the troops that were sent to assassinate the King have all been exterminated. Wiped from this world as if they weren’t even there.”

“Impossible! Lestat is one of the strongest in the continent. There’s no way Asher would have anyone to stop him!”

Bodin then voiced his opinion in concern as this plan of theirs may have backfired as they just claimed their rewards. If the king wasn’t assassinated but instead Lestat was killed it would be a heavy bet that Lestat would be linked to the Kingdom of Myro and war with Asher is inevitable now.

“That’s right it’s impossible! Lestat went with over 300 troops with him from Aldain. He was level 214 himself...We received Intel the King would be in a secluded place with only a select number of elite guards during a meeting. None of which were even over level 100. There’s no way they have anyone strong enough to compete with one of my Four Horsemen.”

The crowd began to clamor and Gallius began to now argue what his true concerns were. The room became loud as everything seemed to be coming apart from the seams when Edwin Elliot screamed at the top of his lungs.

“THEY DO NOW!!! I’ve been trying to communicate that with you people for so long. I’ve been trying to tell that to my contacts in the central colonies but no one will listen to ME! Asher just made the beast in the mask their ally. The place I found this crystal at looked even worse than the colosseum form Aldain. The land, the trees, even the air....It’s all toxic. The body of my clansmen was torn to pieces by one of his pets...Everything there was still smoking as if it had just happened. I have never seen such magic!”

“....”

“Beast in the mask? Oh wait...Are you talking about that lame viewing crystal that has been passed around the troops the last few days? Of that masked guy holding a scythe? Yah he destroyed a crappy colosseum big whoop? He’s still not more powerful than...”

“Watch the Crystal!!!”

Elliot then cut of Adel and everyone began to view the viewing crystal he was holding in his arms. The small images were hard to make out. It was there the Elliot clansman who had the crystal attached to him was surrounded by hundreds of warriors from Aldain. He too was in uniform. The entire video didn’t last more than 5 minutes. But in those 5 minutes everyone present saw the horrible death of the once proud General Lestat Valentine. He was said to be a true hero but in all actuality he was no different than Adel in my eyes.

A man with hair that almost resembled my own stepped up and challenged Lestat to a duel.  In one attack roughly half of the coalition sent to assassinate the king alongside Lestat was killed with ease. Anything that received his first attack died instantly. Lestat who had received the attack head on had split in half along with his steed he always rode into battle with. The fabled Black Steele Stallion said to have as tough a defense as a smog dragon. Not only his steed and himself, but the entire 350 man legion that was alongside him were brutally torn apart without putting up so much as one casualty to those who opposed them. The attack of those three white haired figures alongside a large wolf showed that the Asher Kingdom did in fact have terrifying allies they had not yet revealed to the world. Most of which is this so called ‘man in the mask’.

The sounds of the earth shattering screams coming from that weapon that gave me the feeling it must have been heavily cursed. The man however didn’t appear to have any special equipment or armor of any kind but the weapon he was wielding had to at least be an ancient class. How he managed to take on Lestat’s first attack unharmed is yet another mystery.

“Impossible....”

“Lord Valentine!!!”

“The general of the black trident is...dead?”

“...Hmm so the Asher’s have someone strong as well. This will make things finally interesting for me.”

Everyone in the room began to voice about the death of the once famed general when Lord Adel said something strange. He then claimed that to him war has become something so simple lately. Nothing can stand up to him so he has grown bored. Finding an adversary that seems strong he constantly wishes to compare his talent to theirs.

“You don’t understand! Everyone keeps underestimating that thing! He has already killed everyone I have sent to investigate and speak with him. I even dispatched 2 pros from the central continent as orders from my King. One of them was Laxus, the thunder god’s brother. I’ve even tried on contacting him to let him know of this but I don’t believe their family to be very close...Regardless this enemy should not be underestimated anymore.”

“Oh Laxus I remember him...He was here just a few weeks ago right? Yah I remember him he had some pretty incredible talent but I don’t know if I’d say he was anything impressive to our level?  Are you saying you sent him to talk to this so called masked beast? ...I swear you Elliots are all the same. Constantly grinding for power, what will you do to gain it all I wonder?”

Everyone then began to stare towards Edwin who was still kneeling before the king.

“....I have lost contact with Laxus as well as all of the men I have sent to speak with the figure in this image. As you can see through the crystal display, he is not someone we should take lightly. He has already slain one of your so called ‘Horseman’ as if it were as simple as swatting a fly. As I’ve been trying to communicate with you, your highness. We need to kill this person and retrieve the power he wields. It’s obviously threatening the very power balance of this kingdom! Your highness! We must dispatch a force necessary to deal with this person immediately!”

Some nobles began to agree with the Elliot man to come and kill this man. Some are talking about the weapon he’s holding looks to be at least an ancient class weapon they know that for certain. If I recall the Elliots have been looking for this one ever since that incident they witnessed in Aldain. I saw the crystal images of the incident and I too thought the one in the images showed some level of skill but the images I just saw here were something truly frightening. The ones he killed in Aldain were small time, not even over level 100. This was a 300 man legion who was led by one of the strongest men in the continent. If I didn’t see the crystal display of what happened I may have not believed Lestat was dealt with so easily.

‘This world truly is a large one. To think someone like that lived on the continent without our knowledge. This is full proof of why you shouldn’t pick fights with kingdoms you know very little about. The man on the image alongside the other figures tore through their opponents swiftly and caused the remaining troops to panic and try to run away, only to be eaten by a large black wolf that looked to be as big as big as this entire throne room. The Elliot clansman who had been wearing the crystal had now just been torn to pieces by a large white wolf that fought alongside the white haired man. You could hear the flesh tearing as the large beast man ripped through the Elliot clansman that drowned out his cries and screams before dying immediately. ‘Wait! That’s a Lunar Lycan!’

In the small amount of Vampire history I know, those things were said to be the dreaded enemy of the Vampire clan centuries ago and were thought to all be extinct. All vampires naturally move much faster than humans, but these wolves could move equally as fast. Their strength was even said to rival one of the 17 vampire pillars. Said to be the oldest members of their entire race. But those wolves’ claws however has the effects of a ghost knight and would cut through any armor or shield as if it were never there to begin with.  If that wasn't all they would drain their opponents of their magical power until they are nothing but lumps of cut up flesh.

Vampires and Lycanthias have never gotten along but those lunar wolves were their dreaded enemies, it’s why they saw to it their whole race was annihilated in this world long ago. This was however one in the flesh and looked to have been incredibly strong. He stood 3 heads taller than all the others on the battlefield and would rip apart those with his fangs and bulging arms. My eyes widened at this realization and made me curious just to who these members of Asher really are. What sort of ancient power do they hold onto?

Everyone began to clamor until Lord Adel then came up with another idea. He then proposed to everyone in the great hall if they call for a duel request with the kingdom of Asher. A duel between kingdoms is something that happens quite regularly in this continent. It is a way that some kingdoms escape war conflict and leave it up to their strongest fighters to determine the results of a war. Not always did the kingdoms adhere and obey the rules of a duel upon losing but I guess this is just a way to present our power over Asher and to make them not want to go to war with us.

Everyone then began to talk amongst themselves about the duel request when Gallius said the one thing everyone seemed to have forgotten.

“Have you forgotten?! You’ve already attempted assassinating their king. They aren’t just going to accept a duel request, war is war! Duel Requests amongst nations are during peace time, you’ve thrown those options out the window with what you have caused Valentine to do! Don’t you realize what you’ve done?!”

“.....What? Tournaments of this kind have always been held amongst kingdoms during times of peace. Asher currently is in a time of peace as they always been. It’s how the rich nobles who don’t fight in wars feel better about themselves...And they can’t prove Valentine was acting in accordance with Myro. He was surrounded by nothing but Aldain troops in the crystal image and now he’s dead...It is a shame for his death and I will mourn for him. There are other backup plans we’ve had set in place in case the assassination didn't follow through so no need to worry. But let us journey together to unite the kingdoms of the east and come together. If we can win in a duel we can show them our power and force them into an alliance with us. Their kingdom’s citizens won’t want to go to war with us when we whoop up on their champions some. Then we give them the terms to uniting under our rule. It is simple...We will show them just how strong Myro is and force them to unite!”

Adel then paused and stated his solution as if coming up for it right there. It’s not a horrible plan but considering the circumstances it’s almost as if he is trying to make up for his past mistakes. He thinks it would be so easy. But then again...That’s how most of these humans seem to be....Just very stupid.

Gallius and I stood there as Lord Adel was adorned in applause to his genius plans to unite the continent under his power. Being a blessed being comes with holding the power that is comparable to the gods themselves. And yet all it does is add wood to an already large fire...

Vali’s POV:

“Vali look at my green feathers! Don’t they look pretty?”

“Shhh!”

‘Geezes pixies...They are incredibly useful but they are quite difficult to control at times.’

Cyanin then stuck out her tongue at me as we walked through the cloud city. Currently I am disguised as an Adler species that resembles a hawk and am walking through a large town that was built on a floating rock. The buildings are all odd as not all of them are firmly built on the ground. In fact most of the houses and buildings are in trees or sit on smaller floating rocks. It was the oddest thing but this was the home floor to the Adler race on floor 22.

Cyanin and Aurora have also come with me. I have Adimar and Akino along with Sting who are all as well disguised as Adlers. I simply decided to bring Sting along as long as he stayed quiet. I felt kind of bad leaving him up there for so long and I feel now is the time I need to start having an eye on him.

We all have feathers coming out of the top of our heads and arms, they even felt real. There are also large wings growing out of our backs but they don’t appear to be functional. The fact that all of this is all an illusion by Cyanin and Aurora just baffles me. It’s so real.

The reason we are disguised as Adlers is because we were instructed to hopefully extract Ollie and his away team from the Adlers’ prison. We don’t know what happened but we lost contact with Ollerion and the members of his party. Intel has them somewhere in one of their holding cells on this floor and we are going to get in quick and extract them. I’ve come to discover my spatial magic works just fine. I however won’t use it to warp outside of the dungeon just yet. If the off chance that I can do it, Balor may notice it and he WILL find a way to counter it. He already managed to stop magic as powerful as Hjokk’s.

The place they were said to attack Kyrah looked to have had a massive fight go down that left that entire part of the floor destroyed. Dead monsters and plant life remained and all that was found were broken weapons, including Ollie’s Guan Dao.

Kyrah was said to be a previously unranked person in this dungeon but her strength is apparently enough to overwhelm members of the Away team. Individuals I just saw turn an immortal monster into their own twisted whack-a-mole game.

Something must have happened; she must have not been alone. Commander Locke, Malfius and Cosmia are going over everything that has happened and trying to come up with a plan of attack. We know war with Balor is only 2 days away now. We need to prepare for the fight that is coming, the fight that will ultimately become the fight of our lives. What makes this all difficult is that no one down here trusts one another, proving the so called ‘Alliance’ is just for show. Telling everyone that Balor threatened to kill everyone in only 2 days wouldn’t be believed by people who are right now presumed dead and are working with someone who is currently viewed as a puppet.

The puppet in question is me. Apparently word was spread of this after Balor summoned everyone and attacked. I also learned the number of losses was totaled in the 10s of thousands. Every race received a heavy blow from the attack of the Fomorians and have lost many, to the point that each race is nearing extinction entirely. The Adlers however have managed to maintain roughly 12,000 of their numbers. Those that lost the most however are the Arachnee. They now only have around 500 of their numbers remaining. This is also apparently why the Queen has been hard to communicate with as they moved the remainder of their species back to their home floor. It’s hard to defend their home from monsters on their floor so they needed every member of their race to move to their location.  When I heard of this I thought of the two Arachnee that I had met on floor one. Reinma and her daughter Karma. I don’t know if they are alive but I hope so. They were quite kind to me.

We continued to walk through the strange city. Bird people of all kinds were flying off in the distance land masses that floated in clouds. I’m told this floor has many monsters on the floor but they also have some in the cloud cities but they are mostly easily manageable. They have strange yellow barriers that resemble the same ones from Anfang. The same ones the Elkia race were said to have provided. We were going to walk in unnoticed and attempt to extract them. We were however not going to try a fight here. That is simply for the reason of not wanting to start a fight now. Currently Malfius and the others are working on what to say to the other race leaders of what Balor had told them. I’m not going to lie. Balor had said quite a lot. Sadly I just don’t have time to think of it all...I don’t care of what I absorbed has changed me...I’ve come to accept that. But I have to get back to Kaylan. Whatever it takes, I will one day reunite with all of my family...I have to fight this thing to hopefully save her as well. Hopefully whenever I leave this place and gain some land I can go and look for her.

Hjokk is back in her bird form and sitting on my shoulder. She too has been thinking a lot of what Balor had said. She has told me she is going to join me in this fight. We will have the full power of a Valkyrie in this fight but according to her she’s not sure just how great that makes our odds here.

According to Hjokk Balor is incredibly strong. Capable of creating armies of darkness within seconds. Comparing Balor to a being like Malthiel or herself just not possible. They were creations of divines while he himself was a divine. If it were the daytime he would be vulnerable but if it were night, it would probably take dozens of gods to slay him according to her. We in this dungeon only makes things worse for us. He has too much of an advantage in this place.

When I asked if there was a possibility about other gods finding out about this and coming to our aid. Possibly if Loki had found out but she said Brynhildr wasn’t there when she visited. Nor has she ever had any contact with the god wolf. Since gods can’t meddle in the affairs on middle earth directly we cannot count on him. But Loki does know of this place. Expecting him to step in though at just the right time is pushing it but maybe other gods can hopefully come to find out about Balor’s plans before it’s too late.

The odds would have really started to look grim if not according to Hjokk it isn’t all game over yet. She still thinks we have a good possibility at killing him. When I asked her the reasons for this she simply said one thing...‘Because he’s descended. He’s quite vulnerable now.’

I’m still not sure quite what descending actually means to a god, but according to Hjokk it means they drastically lose a large amount of their divine power. I’m still not sure what that means yet but Hjokk explained it by saying his life is now tied to this world’s laws. I guess she’s saying he’s basically the equivalent of some legendary boss monster in this world now. He isn’t the same godly presence he once was. But I can assume his power is tremendous, enough to turn something like Malthiel into his own puppet. Really how did I find myself in this place, if I recall it’s because Fenrir ran in here...

‘Well no sense in blaming anyone I continued to come back in here. It doesn’t matter, our fates are linked now. I started out simply by wanting to pull these people to my side by good deeds but they simply continue on pass the loss past the deaths. They continue looking towards Balor as their one true enemy and won’t back down ever. I guess Courage counts for something in this world....’

I honestly don’t care as to the reason’s Balor created this place neither. I’m sure it’s just another sob story, we all got our own baggage. You don’t see me trying to end the world for it. I can understand his need for revenge, but not to the extent to damn a bunch of innocent people in the process.

“OWE!!....My knee...Owwww.”

I then turned and saw a little bird girl holding her knee and rocking back and forth. Her legs from her toes to her knees resembled a birds. She however didn’t look anything like the Adlers I’ve seen so far. She didn’t have any hands and her wings themselves were her hands. She looks kind of like a harpy?

I then saw a small boy then fly over to her and pick up the toy he dropped. He then walked over to the girl and looked at her leg. While looking at this I casually walked over to where they were. I walked up to the little girl and stuck my hand close to her leg and activated my healing magic on her.

“Mmm...That feels nice! Wow!”

“Wha’d you do mister?”

[Vali…Aren’t you supposed to be pretending to be an Adler?]

‘Sorry I couldn’t help it.’

I could hear Hjokk speaking to me on my shoulder and I just shrugged back at her.

I then turned around and started to walk back and saw the rest of my party who looked like Adlers give me an odd look. I guess it is weird stepping into a person’s yard and healing their kids. Considering all the other houses are in floating masses or on trees this one is on the same floor as the city. This house and area seemed friendly enough that kids play outside I guess I didn’t think it would be odd.

“Come on...We have to make this trip quick. We don’t know how long they will be holding them for.”

Akino then tried to remind me while the pixies giggled to themselves. Sting and Adimar however just shook their heads.

I know I shouldn’t use my healing magic right now but in all honesty it’s quite easy to conceal now claiming it to be just one of those healing rings like Alysteir had. Telling the two bird children that made them both seem kinda excited but I waved at them goodbye and walked to step out of their yard.

“Eee....piii”

As I was walking to step over the small white fence next to the house I saw a small child sitting alone by herself. She was watching the rest of the kids playing and flying around while she just sat there.

‘.....What?’

What happened to her?

I walked closer to the girl and could see this little girl was horribly disfigured. How I missed seeing her is a mystery but there sitting alone, playing in the grass was a small bird like girl. Small odd appendages appeared out from her back and I guess they were supposed to be her wings. She was missing some of her teeth and almost all of her hair. She did however have a small strands of purple hair on her scalp and three purple feathers on top of her head. However even though she didn’t have many feathers on the rest of her body, the top of her head looked to have been partially caved in.

It looked like....Someone, abused this little girl.

I walked closer to her and she looked up at me cautiously. She had bright purple eyes that also had a beautiful green color in them. She looked back up at me curiously but didn’t say anything. Looking at this girl for whatever reason broke my heart. I don’t know why though...

I picked up the girl in my arms and put my hand on her to look at her condition. She shook and looked up at me oddly.

“Ooooo...Up...Ugh...”

Even with my language skill I just...Can’t understand her. I think this little girl may have brain damage.

“Hey what are you doing? Get your hands off that child!”

I then turned my head and saw a large figure that stood slightly taller than myself. She had large grey wings and long grey hair and even a beak. She also had a very large figure. ‘ Heh..It’s the mother hen.’

‘I don’t know why I picked up the girl. I just wanted to try healing her. I don’t know why I’m going out of my way to do this either...’

“She has an illness where your feathers will all fall off. It’s not safe to...”

She then walked up and saw all of us and then seemed to have calmed down oddly when she saw me holding the girl.

“Well…I guess Ikaros does enjoy the fondness. That one doesn’t get many who show her such attention these days. “

I looked down at the small bird girl in my arms and she looked up at me and smiled while biting her lip. The small girl looked nervous for some reason.

I didn’t even notice the looks of those in my party or Hjokk on my shoulder and used my Recovery ability on the small bird girl. A bright white light poured out of my palms and onto the little girl’s cheek. The warmth from my ability left my fingertips and passed onto the small girl who kind of reminded me of Ari.

“Oh...eh.”

Light continued to wash over her and her complexion began to change but I had to continue to pour out more and more of my magic. The process of healing this girl seemed much slower even while having my hands on her which seems to accelerate the process her wounds did not heal immediately. The mother hen then began to widen her eyes but only stared at the young girl in my arms. Ikaros closed her eyes but had a nice smile on her face.

Slowly the top of her head began to repair itself and look to almost be inflating. Her skin had become healthier and was a nice peachy color now. She however remained to have only a few purple feathers left on her head. Ikaros continued to look at her hands in my arms and look up at me while smiling oddly. I still couldn’t understand her very well. Just small pieces of words here and there.

“Incredible...You...How?! She’s...You healed her!”

The mother hen then ran up to me and observed the small girl and looked at her in amazement. She however didn’t come to pick her up nor did the girl reach back for her.

I then began to hear the story of Ikaros.

Once the child of a high ranking member of their society, didn’t adhere to the test of the warriors in their family. Birds have a habit of tossing their newborns out of the nest to see if they are strong enough to fly. Most bird species however would go and catch the falling bird if it couldn’t fly quite yet.

Ikaros was apparently a child with longstanding illness long before this and wasn’t even able to speak let alone fly. Judging by this it seems possible this girl was born with a birth defect. They however regardless of this knowledge still dropped her from a large height which caused her to be in such a state. How she managed to stay alive is a miracle. Whenever she couldn’t fly however the ones who dropped her apparently gave up on her.

The mother hen was not descriptive of everything but I did learn quite a bit about these Adlers from her. Ikaros along with all of the other children here are orphans. Products of lost parents who died in the dungeon and this mother hen of sorts is the one who is in charge of taking care of them on this floor it seems. So…there are people like this too in this world. I guess it would make since they would need a place like this should losses occur in this dungeon.

This house doesn’t seem to be very large but I do see quite a lot of kids flying around and playing on the roof and inside. All of them were a race of Adler but none looked anything like Ikaros.

Ikaros however is said to be one of the few remaining members of her race of Adler and yet... They would just...Toss her away. I’m not sure what kind of bird race the little girl was from but if that race was about to go extinct would you not want to hold onto what little of your people you have left.

The Adlers too lost many in Balor’s attack but not nearly as many as the other races. This mother hen here apparently went out of her way to protect all of the children, even Ikaros who couldn’t fly.

I looked down at Ikaros who was looking back up at me. Her wings didn’t grow back any feathers and still looked to be quite weak. ‘Did I not heal her?’

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

She looked back up at me and smiled with a tear in her eye. She then started shaking oddly in my hands. This caused me choke up thinking she was about to have a seizure. Hayden had seizures all the time, it was a nightmare having it happen the first time. I didn’t know how to handle it and with mom already gone I thought I would lose him right there.

“Chiiriiii”

Two of the three purple feathers on her head then fell from her balding scalp and onto my arms.

You have received Feathered Grace

Agility rises by 15

Wind resistance rises by 1%

Skill Length: 2 Minutes

‘A notification? ...She was performing a skill?’

Ikaros then opened her big purple eyes and looked back up at me smiling to see if I enjoyed what she had done for me. She then started to cough.

Cough..Cough...

‘Just trying to perform that skill just now caused her to lose two of her feathers....The mother hen said she had some longstanding illness...Did I not cure it? If I had a crystal here I would but, even with my magic manipulation and my healing skill is it impossible for me? Why does this little girl’s appearance break my heart so badly? It doesn’t even beat anymore and yet, the idea of walking away from this girl without healing her just, pains me. It’s as if I forgot I even had a heart until it clenched up upon meeting her.’

Why would they throw such a beautiful little girl away? Coming from someone who’s lost everything would know just how horrible an action like this was. I had everything I loved ripped away right in front of me. Brutalized...murdered right in front of me. I would have probably even traded away my soul to get them back if I could. And yet...these Adlers simply throw their own away as if they were garbage. I don’t know why but my heart really broke for this small girl.

Her outside wounds are healed but, for whatever reason I don’t feel she’s been fully healed. It’s as if only her physical appearance has changed. It’s a strange feeling but it’s different than with Ari. It’s as if whenever I used my Recovery skill I could still feel something was still wrong even after using the skill. I’ll have to try with a magical crystal later and maybe that would work. Magic Manipulation is amazing, I’ve come to the understanding it’s probably what allows me to activate my magic immediately without any chanting like other humans. If I didn’t have the ability I probably couldn’t even perform the skills at all. But after trying to use Death Grip on that King Hydra I’m aware that there are still some limitations to it as well.

“fer...ie end?..”

Ikaros then looked back up at me and I made out one of the words she said....I smiled back down towards her. It may be possible this little girl still has brain damage, and it’s not just an illness. I honestly don’t know if my healing skill can wash away birth defects. I feel as if what my skill does is heal and repair until it is back to its original healthy state...I’ve continued to pour out the skill on her back but nothing is changing.

I just need to work on the skill more. Increase its mastery and maybe even one day I can repair something like this. People in my world were born with birth defects too. I imagine it’s a nightmare for the parents upon learning the disabilities of their child. In a world where anything is possible I refuse to accept someone is born only to be thrown away. Thought of as useless... If magic is capable of doing anything, why not this.

I then put my hand on the top of her now round head and activated my skill again while listening to the mother hen talk to me. Ikaros put her hands on my wrist and closed her eyes. She seemed to like the warmth coming out from the bottom of my hands. Ari said that was her favorite part about being held. My warmth. This skill does produce a lot of heat...

‘You really are so simple Vali...Heh, a little girl calls you her friend and you’re willing to bend over backwards for her. I wonder when I started becoming this type of person anyway. I was never a good guy, I was just a decent person who did his best providing for his family. I never really went out of my way for much else, I don’t even think I had the ability to. Now I’m being asked to lead so many and I can’t even get over the tiniest things I walk by in the middle of a mission. I for whatever reason just don’t have the ability to ignore this girl’s pain in front of me. It’s just that every time I see a child afraid or weak, I just wish I could help them. Since I couldn’t really help my own family when they really needed me...‘

“Well...I guess Ikaros made a new friend today didn’t she. Sir whoever you are from the bottom of my heart....Thank you so much for what you have done. I don’t know how you managed to heal this one, in all honesty I don’t care. But I thank you for doing what you did.”

The mother hen introduced herself as Mother Gwenelle but that we could all call her Gwen. She then started telling all of us to come inside and that we being outside probably wouldn’t be the best idea. She then mumbled something under her breath about holding Ikaros just before ushering us inside.

“Hi Gwenni. I don’t have much time today but I was hoping to come see...”

A large shadow then appeared around me. I turned my head and there flying in our direction was a large muscular Adler woman. She had golden wings and bright golden feathers that sat largely atop her head. The tall Adler woman then stopped at our images and looked between Gwen and myself. She then looked at what I was holding in my arms.

“Get your hands off IKAROSSSS!!!!”

WOoooosh!

Within a moment the large Adler woman appeared inches in front of my face. Without flapping her wings she glided towards me with her nicely toned arms at her sides. She somehow managed to cover a distance of dozens of meters without me able to follow her at all. It’s as if she sliced through the air without any resistance whatsoever.

Her size makes it seem impossible she could move through the air at such speeds but its borderline as quick as my own spatial magic. She hovered around me before landing and stared at Ikaros in my arms. Who is this woman?

When she landed two other Adlers flew and landed beside her. They stood tall, in fact much taller than Adimar in fact.

Looking towards my party they then started signaling me they had to leave. They each stood behind the large Adler in front of me. They kept signaling to the large woman in front of me while trying to make out the letters with their beaks.

‘....What? Are you kidding me?  How the hell am I supposed to read your lips! You all have beaks. Why even pick the type of Adler without lips!?’

I then started motioning towards them that I couldn’t understand them.

Cyanin then started trying to make letters with her body which prompted Aurora to do the same. Adimar and Akino then started shaking their heads and Sting has honestly finally decided to shut up. He hasn’t said much since I let him down in fact.

“How...Her....Her head wound is gone!”

“....”

The Adlers then started getting closer to me and observing Ikaros in amazement. This caused the small girl to get nervous and duck deeper into my arms but she looked happy to be getting all the attention.

“Is is...her illness gone. Can…Can I hold her now?”

The large woman then reached her long arms towards me. Could this Adler be her birth mother? She doesn’t look to be the same race of Adler as Ikaros at all. It was then that I noticed just how beautiful this Adler in front of me was. Everything she wore was adorned in gold much like her hair. Her clothes even her earrings were small golden crystals.  She looked to be a divine herself. Her eyes were even golden which matched her tan skin. I then told her I wasn’t sure if I had healed her entirely yet but I believed that I could in time.

Her eyes widened at what I had said. She then twitched and glared back at me. Ikaros then had rose her head up over my arms and looked towards the girl in front of her strangely and back at me.

‘I guess I shouldn’t said that. By for whatever reason I was somehow given the blessings of a god in this world, someone like me who has the blood of the thing I hate most. I don’t know what that really means exactly but what I do know is that it has given me the abilities to help people. I just always believed if I had such an ability...I’d use it.

I then stared back towards my party who continued to signal to me.

“I don’t understand you...”

“’Kyrah’ you idiot. How can you not tell that this was a ‘K’?”

Cyanin then stuck out her tongue at me while folding her arms. ‘Wait...This woman?’

The large Adler then turned around and saw everyone behind me then looked back at me and grinned her white teeth.

“Yah...So I’m Kyrah. So what? Is this some way of trying to win me over or somethin? Trying to say you’ll heal her completely if I do somethin for ya...Huh!”

Kyrah then pressed even closer to me while sticking her fist towards me. She however tried to manage to stay cautious as I was holding the small girl in my arms I noticed. Her large golden wings extended outward and towered over me to the point of causing a large shadow over us and the rest of this small yard. Now that I notice it...What’s that weird noise I keep hearing?

“No...Or maybe it’s, you want to threaten her life! “

“What?”

“Yah!...You’ll say  you’re gonna hurt my baby sister if I don’t fight for you! Something like that...Well I’m onto your little games white hawk! ”

Kyrah began to grow closer to me as she admitted to being her older sister. Both their feathers however are nothing alike.

“What are you talking about, just no…Listen...”

“What are you planning child!”

I then got interrupted from another one of the large Adlers and it was in all honesty just really....uncomfortable.

The tall Adlers then surrounded me and continued to make these odd noises that came out of their noses as they breathed outwards. Whenever they got flustered that weird noise would continually chirp whenever they spoke...’It was kind of annoying honestly. I don’t know what it is about the Adlers if it’s just the way they talk, or their odd movements they make. They’re just really...cooky.’

“CHIRP!”

‘Ok what is even happening now?’

“Speak Hawk!...CHIRP!”

“Umm...Ok can we first calm down and talk? And umm stopping all that chirping would also be nice.”

They then each looked each other oddly then back at me. Then everyone in my party too looked at me with an odd look. Hjokk then however just turned her head off as if feigning ignorance. ‘Was it wrong to say?’

“What? That one just said chirp! There’s no way I’m the only one who can hear that.”

Everyone then just began to shake their heads back at me. ‘What? It’s annoying.’

Kyrah then began to get closer to me and stick her face next to Ikaros and forgot about me altogether. Ikaros then stuck her hands out and into Kyrah’s larger hands. She resembled what I would assume an amazon huntress would look like. Kyrah said Ikaros was her baby sister? Then why is the baby sister of the King of the entire race living here? Not in some mansion somewhere. Especially if she cares for her as much as she said she does. But by looking at how the two of them are reacting to one another after Ikaros was healed, it’s impossible to mistake this bond as anything else but the love between siblings...

‘This person Kyrah was first thought to be a puppet. Judging by her behavior now I’m just gonna rule her out on that one. I think it’s also possible to sway her into joining us. Not that I plan on doing the methods that she so eloquently described but judging by her attitude she did want to get close to the small girl in my arms. She being the leader of her entire race we can then gain the combined strengths of the Adler race. This will be good. We can’t be sure if everyone in her kingdom isn’t a puppet. But at this point we need to move forward and prepare for war. There simply isn’t enough time to play it safe anymore.’

Mother Hen eventually walked over and invited us all into the house where she calmed everyone down enough for me to speak. It was there we told Kyrah just who we were and what we were there to do. We also tried to explain the incident that happened with her and the reasons for it. At first everyone was prepared to attack me at learning I was Vali. Apparently knowledge of me as a puppet has spread around quite a lot amongst the races. When Adimar and Akino both revealed themselves and claimed what I had said was in fact true. They even had said they had once left this dungeon.

For whatever reason Kyrah and the two Adlers with her both acted quite hostile at first but whenever hearing Adimar’s words and testimony they somehow trusted it unconditionally. I’m not sure what kind of person Adimar use to be but apparently it was enough to hold quite a deal of respect amongst all the races. Even when he lost his title as the alpha each of the race leaders still show him a great deal of respect and listen quite intently when he talks.

“So...Balor’s finally decided to call it quits on the whole thing huh? Well, I guess that means we should all prepare then. “

“2..2 days!”

“....”

Everyone in the room began to clamor but it was Kyrah who seemed the calmest. Gwen however took the most shock amongst those who heard. It was a lot to handle. We still haven’t told them what Balor plans to do upon escaping this dungeon but we have told them we wish for them to come speak to Malfius and the other’s so we can formulate a plan of attack. With her help we can hopefully unite a lot of people.

“Eh...Yah I might be the King but I only command roughly 1,500 troops.”

“What?”

Kyrah then spoke about how regardless of her sitting on the thrown currently. There is a large divide of the remaining Adlers on who is thought to be the new ruler. Her father Griphlocke was the previous King and he ruled with an iron fist. He is also the father of Ikaros. Kyrah and she however have different mothers.

“Yah, my brother Griff leads the largest faction of around 5,000 Adlers. There are also other contenders to the crown but after they saw what I did to Griff they’ve left me alone for the time being. But with this information I can hopefully unite the rest of Adlers and prepare for Balor.”

“Kyrah? You can’t think we have a chance at beating Balor? I mean? How can we even be sure this is all real? What if he really is a puppet?”

Kyrah then looked towards one of the Adlers who came with her and reached over to me and picked Ikaros up. She smiled warmly down at her sister while she sat across from us.

“But Kyrah! You can’t. What about her illness?”

“Why would they have any reason to lie Luka? Why would a puppet go through all the trouble of healing Ikaros? Why do any of these things unless it wasn’t all fact. And besides...If all I have is 2 more days of life left, who cares about losing all my feathers or being to fly again...Besides, I want to hold my little sister for the first time in my life...”

Kyrah then began to hold onto Ikaros and hug her gently. It was a warm sight. Considering how the other Adlers are taking it she is the one who seems to have her feelings in order.

The other Adlers then quieted down and began to think about everything that was said. Gwen then looked at the scene in front of her and forgot her previous feelings of hopelessness.

“..Ha...ppy...so..happy”

“...I’ll someday get to speak to you Ikaros. We’ll be together all the time and get to talk all day long…Finally getting to hold you after so long really is nice. I hope you know that Kyrah loves you, with all of her heart. Know that you have someone in this world who truly cherishes you, you’re never alone.”

This may be the first time they have been able to speak to one another. ‘Hmm wait can they not understand each other?’

“She said she’s happy.”

“...”

Kyrah then looked up at me oddly. Her wings twitched back and I could hear that strange chirping noise coming out of her nose again.

I then explained how one of my abilities works and how whatever race hears me, hears my voice in whatever their native tongue is. It even allows me to speak to those who don’t know even know a language yet as it would seem.

“Yah watch...Ikaros…This here, is your sister. Kyrah.”

“...really?”

Ikaros looking towards me turned her head up at the woman holding her as if realizing these words I had told her for the first time was truth. If they couldn’t communicate, it’s obvious this girl probably had no idea what Kyrah was saying either let alone being her family. ‘Hell no one’s ever picked her up how would she know who her family is in such a place.'

She then looked up at Kyrah and made a nervous face.

“Kee..ruh.”

“That’s right Ikaros. I heard you!...I’m your elder sister Kyrah!...Ohhhh I love you so much hehehe!”

Kyrah hugged onto her sister tightly as she too could understand her sister’s broken speech for the first time. She then forgot of everyone else sitting there again. I guess I’ll give them their moment.

I then asked one of the other Adlers if it was possible of releasing the members of the Away team they had in their holding cells and before he had a chance of answering Kyrah ordered them both to do it at once. She then instructed them to gather all their leaders in their race and bring them to their Warrior’s Hall which is some large meeting space. Kyrah was going to make an announcement and try to gather all the Adlers under her influence.

“Well, you said Malfius and the Red Queen are still alive right? Well I think its best I go talk with them now and see what their plans are going forward. You two go gather everyone into the Warriors Hall and release the prisoners.”

“But..You must have a guard! What if....”

“I’ll be fine Luka. Seriously think I need a guard? I already showed them why that’s not necessary. Besides...”

Kyrah then walked over to me and then...‘Wait what?’

Kyrah then put one of her finely-toned arms over the back of my head and planted a kiss right on my cheek. The very corner of her lips touched mine and it was enough to make me immediately stop what I was doing. I was frozen for some reason. It was a great first attack.

“I like this one...He’s powerful enough to beat up my bastard of a father and kind enough to heal my dear sister. Now hurry along... “

“HEY!!”

“Wait!”

“.....”

Cyanin, Aurora and everyone else clamored as Kyrah had done that. She then winked at me which made the situation even weirder and instructed us to take her to our headquarters. I’m honestly more of a take charge kind a guy when it comes to women but this is the first time I’ve actually met a woman like Kyrah. She’s just...Ugh I seem to be drawing a blank for some reason... I guess I just don’t know how to react to such a person.

Cyanin then darted towards me and sat on top one of my shoulders while holding up her hands. Then Aurora flew over and held me hand why trying to shield me from her. I looked over at Hjokk and for some reason her beak was remaining wide open. Was it really that big of a deal? I mean I just healed her sibling? I’d be over joyous as well.

[I don’t trust this one Vali...She must be a puppet.]

‘Oh calm down Hjokk. She’s clearly nothing like Ecclaire was she was awake.’

[No her actions aren’t like a females at all! Skuld told me the girl is supposed to wait for the man to kiss her! You’re supposed to wait!]

Ok, I’m not even going to respond to that anymore. She continued clamoring on in my ears for a bit and we each continued to back to the base on floor 52.

It was honestly a lot noisier than I’d like it to have been but there ya go...

“You’re not allowed to kiss Vali anymore! If you want to kiss Vali you have to ask us first!”

‘What is Cyanin even saying now?’

“Oh is that right hahaha. “

“That is right. He is under our protection as per Cosmia’s ord....”

“Shh!”

“Oh yah!”

The pixies began to clamor around and I don’t even want to know. What is that Queen pixie doing now?

“Oh protection is it...You know I do recall hearing something of the Annunakes claiming to have defeated you recently. Is that what this one is talking about?”

“Must be...”

“That’s right! After we heard what happened to him on floor one when we weren’t around it deeply upset us! Cosmia ordered us to make sure he always has a few guards wherever he goes from now on.”

“Right!”

Aurora and Cyanin then started talking up to the towering Kyrah while walking next to me.

“Mmm yes. Would be a pity to get surrounded attacked when you’re alone....”

Kyrah then made a wise crack towards the Adimar and Akino but I think she may have mostly meant it towards herself getting attacked.

“Mmm Ikaros you’re so pretty now. Such soft skin, almost as much as your late mothers...”

“Mm...Kee raahh..”

She then continued talking to Ikaros while fading in and out of her conversation with the rest of the party. Ikaros too looked back at the large woman who held her gently caressed her skin. She was the tallest in the group and she had no problem being the center of attention it seems. Her large golden wings take up a lot of space even when she retracts them. She almost makes Adimar and all of his muscles look plain and simple.

“Yes Vali’s amazing, he healed me too. He’s the best!”

“Yes that is why we must protect him! He’s our favorite so you can’t just go touching him just whenever you want!”

“Yes, I seem to even recall something else happening after that little scramble of yours with these doggies. I must say ‘Vali’ seeing you here all put back together again alongside the very people who were said to have taken you down is peculiar. Trusting you is something in all actuality I would have never have done if it weren’t for what you did for my dear Ikaros. It is for that alone I have chosen to put my faith in you...That and the moment you kicked my father’s ass was probably one of the happiest moments in my life so you already had my favor mphmph.”

“Vali..What is she talking about?”

I just shrugged and pretended to feign ignorance. I guess the pixies aren’t aware of my full treatments after they surrounded me essentially the same as what they probably did to Kyrah here. I guess it’s best if they don’t know. Even though some of these pixies are older than me they have this innocent way about them, with their behaviors it makes me always just treat them as children.

“So your father was the one who thought it was ok to drop Ikaros even though he knew she couldn’t fly?”

“....Yes. He was a bastard but he was strong so people followed him. Fathered sons and daughters he held no relation with unless they were strong. He wasn’t even willing to take back in Ikaros after she failed in her right of passage. If Ikaros’s mother was alive maybe it wouldn’t have wound up this way. But he had his guards hold me down and let go of Ikaros right in front of me. If you only knew the....Well..Look at me singing my own sob story. Sorry to bore ya. Guess all I’m saying is not everyone’s mourning ol daddy Griphlocke’s death.”

This is quite the warrior clan. If you aren’t strong enough, you’re basically thrown away. According to Kyrah Ikaros wasn’t allowed to live in the castle and considering her illness she wasn’t even allowed to be picked up. So Kyrah made it to where she would live under Gwenn’s care. Even after Kyrah became king after winning in a duel with her older brother Griff she couldn’t simply move her half-sister into her quarters after the previous King forbade it. Apparently the whole situation is a little more complicated than I thought. She doesn’t appear to hold the power of the largest army as we had once thought either. She does appear to be quite strong though and should be a strong ally. I was attacked in the same way as Kyrah but she came out of it completely different than I did. This bird woman here managed to take down her pursers and I don’t see much of any evidence of a fight at all on her.

“I hope all the Away team members are alive? How did you manage to take them all down anyways?”

“Oh yes they’re all alive. And in all honesty they had a clever plan at taking me down and making it impossible for me to fly anywhere in that little box they trapped me in with their web. But they simply made the mistake of thinking I wasn’t equally as dangerous on the ground mphphph....”

‘Hmm, so bird girl’s strong huh. Says her level is only 303. It’s weird to think but I guess she’s from that so called legendary bird race. Balor really did work hard to collect an odd assortment of races. He really wanted to test the potential of his creations with the very best races who could fight against it. Who knew thousands of years later some of the races wouldn’t even make it far enough to know the sad truth of it all...’

“You don’t seem to be afraid like the other Adlers. Do you not fear Balor?”

I asked Kyrah this as she pondered the question in her head.

“Heh...I think everyone in here is in some way scared of that evil bastard. But gods are cruel. They don’t care if we hate em. So we turn that fear and hate into strength. Nobody in here would turn away at fighting him over staying in here forever. He’s simply stepped on us like bugs for far too long to just drown us in fear any longer. I have doubts sure but I refuse to let them drown me any longer.”

“That’s a nice way of putting it I suppose.”

“...Regardless if we win or not, we won’t go quietly.”

Kyrah then looked down at the Ikaros and smiled towards her as we all continued onward. I pondered through all of what Balor and Kyrah had said as we all continued back to base after gaining an unlikely ally.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

As we entered back into the base the entrance was practically barren. We however heard loud noises coming from the interior of the cave. As we walked through the waterfall it was then I saw the meaning for all the loud noise.

ZAAAAPP

“Ahahaha...This is incredible!!!”

“Do me next!”

Members of the away team were all surrounding Izzie and attacking her. She was wearing some strange cobalt colored armor. The breast plates looked to be made out of the shells of that Grootslang monster. Every time someone would attack a large streak of lightning would then attack the person who swung the weapon.

‘No way they made it into an armor this fast?’

I walked over and asked about what had happened and they simply laughed and pointed towards a small Jiji man. It was Pek.

“Like..momo..New armor..Really something....mm..momo...huh?”

“Yah no kidding....”

I then looked at the armor and picked up one of the ones on the table.  In the amount of less than a day they managed to put together an armor using the shells of that boss monster. It has a shiny silver trim and has a good weight to it. It’s light, much lighter than I would have expected but it still has a solid weight to it. It’s put together so well and the interior of the armor is made of some weird fabric I’m unfamiliar with. The collar however has dark black fur on it that looks to be from the Fomorians. It goes around the neck of it for added protection. Balor did say their fur had a lot of magic resistance to them as well as being incredibly durable.

I then tried to observe the armor.

Grootslang Shock Armor                Durability 2200/2200                   Strength Requirement: 120

Defense +420

Strength + 20

Lightning Resistance + 15 %

Dark Resistance + 7 %

Poison Resistance + 3 %

Magic Resistance + 5 %

Added Effect:

Shock Armor: Any physical attacks will result in 150 lightning damage towards the attacker.

+ 10% chance of causing paralysis for 2 minutes.

Additional Effects: This armor has been prepared and finely crafted by the hands of a skilled artisan. Quality of completion S rank.

Fighting Spirit + 35        Strength + 10         Defense + 20        Stamina + 45

Due to the fine craftsmanship stamina will reduce 10% slower while wearing this finally crafted leather armor made from the once ancient and treacherous beast known as the Grootslang.

‘Damn this is some armor. I can where this and add this onto my Lightning armor and increase its effects with this. It’s even stronger than my current skill is but considering I can raise my skills and not this armor that’s just a bonus. It’s also a great profit because if we can make more of these it would be possible to give everyone a leather armor that attacks anything that would attack them. And 10 % of the time it would paralyze whatever attacked them. This is really an amazing piece of work. It even raises stats while wearing it.’

“This is amazing Pek...You made this in a day? It’s incredible. Is it possible to make more of these?”

Pek then looked up at me oddly and back at the armor. He then smiled and started talking.

“Heh..momo..I wasn’t expecting that...reaction..mmo...Here I was planning on asking to somehow barter all of the leathers off you but, even you see...mm ...it’s value...Heh...splendid. “

“Obviously it’s truly a great piece of work. It’s almost as amazing as those Adamantine spikes you bartered with me. They worked incredibly well.”

“Hey...Ok no way...No way you can understand him. All he says is ‘momo jiji momo jiji’. I thought you were just playing around before but there’s no way you can understand him right?”

Sting then walked up and entered into our conversation. Wait..He was there when I explaining my language ability to Kyrah.  Was he not even listening? He’s done a good job at not talking much the whole time. I think it’s because he doesn’t want to get tied up again.

“I told you about my ability I can talk with anyone...”

“Yeah but still...Hmm what’s this....Wow wait...What! This is leather armor? It’s tougher than steel?! And what’s with all these added effects? This is incredible! Did that little guy make this?”

Sting began to clamor on and on and I asked him about the armors in the central continent. Apparently they have things like Mithril and even some metals I haven’t heard of before but one that gave added 150 lightning damage upon every attack is unheard of. He’s seen some armors that give maybe an added fire attack but only 10% of the time would the skill actually attack the person. This armor however activates every time the wearer is struck and even has a 10% chance of paralysis. For the Jiji and the Pixies who can’t wear heavy metal armors leather armor may in fact be much better. Sting claimed this armor would go for probably hundreds if not thousands of gold to the right buyer.

Pek then began to talk about the armor and seemed quite more talkative now that I complimented him on his work. I guess if you brag about a person’s fine craftsmanship it’s hard not to hate that person. I heard Pek had a bad personality but I think it’s just because no one can ever understand him and also because he never gets much credit for his work. For whatever reason the Nekos never paid much attention to his inventions and never thought he was of much worth until he invented those canons. I asked if he could possibly add these shells to maybe the Mithril armor the pixies had for a possibly stronger defense but he said that was probably impossible for him.

He’s on multiple expert stages on many of his skills which allow him to work with some metals but working with but making metal armor is not one of them. All I got from him when I asked is ‘We’re not iron workers...we’re artisans, mo....’ He seemed kinda grouchy about it so I didn’t ask him again. When I asked about the canons however he said that they were made by multiple small parts that they eventually assembled together. I was going to press him for more but then he wanted to show me something else. ‘I think it’s possible he too may understand just how powerful those weapons of his actually are. Even outside this dungeon I doubt the world had anything like it. In the game there were pirates who had canons but those on top of that wall looked completely different. They were meant for long range and capable of taking down giants. I’m just curious about his work in that field too but I guess for now I should just continue talking with him and maybe he’ll warm up to me.

He then walked me over to the edge of the table and climbed up on one of the chairs. He then picked up the fabric and it looked to be a black long sleeve shirt. It looked to be made of snake skin.

‘What is this?’

Hydra Armor                    Durability: Auto Restore

Defense + 20

Curse Resistance + 5 %

Poison Resistance + 8 %

Added Effects:

Hydra Regen:  

Upon equipping Hydra Armor whenever the wearer is attacked the wearer will have their wounds recovered. Heals 50 health per second.

Additional Effects:

This armor has been made by the hands of a fine artisan and seamstress. From the leather used down to the thread, everything has been enchanted with strong magic and made with extreme care. Quality of completion S + rank.

Fighting Spirit + 20      Courage + 10      Strength + 5     Defense + 35        Stamina + 15

Due to the fine craftsmanship and quality of completion from the Hydra Armor, Stamina will reduce 10% slower while wearing this leather that has been expertly woven out of the hide of a King Hydra. A being who’s healing was so vast its flesh will still continue to heal itself even after death.  

‘...It heals 50 health a second? That’s 3,000 health recovered in a minute. Isn’t that a cheat in itself?’

Never, even in the game was there an item as magnificent as this. The defense was higher than a normal shirt but the highest level item I remember from the game could heal something like 500 health a minute.  Items like that or having my sister heal me is all I could hope for. Now we can arm all of ours in this dungeon with such an item since we provided so many heads. I feel as though I’m starting to like Pek.

Pek then told me about this armor as well. Upon wearing it, it will attach itself to the skin like a snake. It can heal this 3,000 in a minute it’s possible to give quite a lot of people now a healing ability. I can even wear it and stack it onto my already accelerated healing I already have. It’s even possible to wear under the Shock armor so this is truly something. According to Pek he doesn’t take credit for this piece of work but it is actually one of the Arachnee, he however designed it and prepared the leathers needed to make this. The Arachnee however provided their threads that provide an added defense and even gave poison resistance. The added effects of being completed by master craftsmen and tailor have a tremendous effect on the stat gains of the equipment they make.

Pek and the Arachnee have actually begun preparing a lot of these Hydra Armor’s for both of their races since they aren’t very strong defensively. He was originally planning on bartering for more of the Hydra heads and Grootslang but I surprised him when I asked him how many he could make for me. To something like me he assumes I would never wear armor like the other leaders of this dungeon but it wasn’t just for me. It was for the pixies. Something like this is a god send, not only for people who don’t wear armor but considering we don’t have any healers besides me and the pixies this completely changes things. Apparently each head gives a small resistance too it as well so the possibilities from this are quite extreme. If I would have known that I would have had the away team take more heads off that thing before killing it. But at the time there really was no other choice.

I was amazed at the speed the Jiji are capable of making items. He told me in times of war this is natural. Weapons and armors need to be made quickly and efficiently but Pek is incredible. He designs all of these things and even adds multiple bonuses by even bringing in the best materials from other races. I shook Pek’s hand and made a deal with him and gave him control over all the Grootslang and Hydra leather and he would cut it up and give me back the meat. I was going to use this to cook later and he was also going to supply me enough hydra skinned and shock armor as he could not only for his races but all those gathered as well. He actually said since the Pixie’s and Jiji are smaller the materials needed to make it to fit them would be roughly a third for any other race so they could potentially make enough to fit all of them and still have roughly half the materials left over to make for everyone else. He’s not sure how many he and his family can make but according to him he can offer plenty Jiji or Arachnee for a job and they would join in to help.

The Jiji then separated and went to go collect all the leathers that I had traded with them. Pek thanked me for letting him make armors for his family which I thought was odd since he was the one making it. I wanted everyone to be as equipped as possible and if all I have to do is give him supplies and he will make me an incredible profit as long as he can make some for his family and sell it to the other Jiji I’m fine with that. In fact once we get out of this dungeon I may have a job in store for Pek if he could make things for me on a more permanent basis.

“It can heal the wearer? This is...This incredible. How did you put all these effects onto just a shirt? How much will you sell this to me for? “

Sting then began to pick up the snake skin shirt and hold it in front of Pek. According to Sting someone would probably give you a castle for something like this. Auto healing is rare in this world and according to Sting there is nothing like this on the market even in the central continents. He says he’s seen armor with higher defense and powerful skills but none quite like this.

It was true these were incredible items. I want to learn to eventually be able to make items and be able add stats onto things. Hopefully with this my ties with Pek will grow more and he will teach me how he makes things.

I can now see Adimar, Akino and Kyrah even observing some of the Grootslang armor they left on the table and commenting on the craftsmanship. This was an incredible material and they made something incredible with it. Regardless if this armor won’t stop a Fomorian some of these effects are too good to look over.

“Hey Vali! Come hit me!”

Izzie then called out to me while everyone else had stopped. Some were either paralyzed or their health was too chipped away from wearing it. Sting then began to talk to me again while looking at the Shock armor in front of him.

“Seriously Vali...Just who are you? I get the weapon, the abilities, but even your allies are frightening. All I can say is that the Elliots and Myro know nothing of all of this. And I don’t know what it is but you almost feel frighteningly more powerful than you were before this morning. I can’t see your level anymore so I have no idea what that means.”

“Oh…That’s probably cause of this ring I have on. It hides my status apparently. But I’ve gained a few levels...And well to be honest, I’m just as amazed as you are about some of these things I’ve come to find down here. But are these items really that rare in the central continent?”

He then began to explain it from his standpoint of having 3,000 health recovered in a minute seems incredible considering he himself only has around 24,000 health to work with. In 8 minutes he could heal his health fully after a long fight or jump back into battle. I was perplexed by this when he first told me, and I then became aware of just how different the stats were.

In the whole room the one with the highest HP next to Hjokk was me. I guess this is because my growth was almost close to that of an undead’s, my stamina and health are just unnaturally high for a human’s. The second highest went to Malfius who had 85,000 which was a world of difference I feel.

I also have a solid defense but I’m amazed to find that I’m not even close to having the strongest defense in this dungeon. That award went to Malfius who has roughly 47,000 in his defense stat.

When I had asked about how much health everyone had they were at first perplexed but eventually everyone got over the idea of hiding their stats and began to open them up in front of me. It was incredible to say that each race’s status windows looked completely different. The Reiki for instance didn’t look to have very high of stats at first glance but there were multiple places where a stat was increased or multiplied for some odd reason. It adds up to holding very good stats for a tank. For monks they don’t have low strength either well. In fact, amongst all the races they almost seem the most balanced.

Malfius as well as all the Reiki also have multiple resistances built up from their strenuous training. In all actuality the whole idea that the highest resistances in the continent were around 30% was broken after looking at the Reiki’s stats. Their bodies resistance to elemental magic is all around at least 20 %, with some of them even having over 40. They are an elemental tank class resistant to magics through and through. The pixies even seemed to have some magic resistance of their own.

The highest agility obviously went to the Annunake and I was amazed to find that they have multiple stacking buffs. In their beast state which is when they look like wolves all stats rise by 150% whenever they were under the moonlight out of this dungeon it even went to 300% which makes them even more dangerous at nighttime.

But what I was most amazed with is the one with the highest strength stat in this room....Kyrah. It was at around 46,000. Which only made my jaw drop at this woman. Only in my awakened state would I even be able handle her. She’s almost 3 times stronger than me. According to Izzie no one even comes close to her particular races Attack Power. They covet themselves as having the highest strength in this dungeon, even the Annunakes fall short in terms of strength.

I however was right in the middle it seemed. My strength was over all but Kyrah. My speed was faster than all but the Annunake. While my defense was better than everyone except for the Reiki. However I got to where I am through completely different methods. I just became this, they were forged into what they’ve become with blood. I’ve been called a monster but each of them should just as easily be able to call themselves monsters.

Sting being around level 170 was only looking at everyone’s stats in front of him in shock. Not only those over 300 but some of the lower leveled pixies even in front of him. They giggled up at him and would fly around to make it difficult for him. Even the pixies who were much lower level had some stats that were particularly higher than his. Cyanin’s defense was even over his which made him speechless.

“So...that’s how you managed to stop a sword with your face. “

Sting laughed at my high stats and told me it was either some magic he had never heard of or my defense must have been impossibly high for a human. He was however surprised to find that I was in fact a human but not surprised to find out I was a blessed being. He assumed that was the only way I could have such high stats or that ridiculous weapon. That and me being so young.

According to Sting anyone who is a master mage or has my level of mastery in magic is usually not adept with fighting in close quarters either. Battle mages are amongst some of the rarest classes and usually to have such incredible magic you spend years of study. So mages rarely have strong bodies unless they studied in a particular magic for it.

I also learned something interesting from Sting that made me think my previous thoughts on how this world registers an attack is flawed. I thought if the Defense was higher than the Attack Power then no damage would be done whatsoever. But according to him it was impossible that I received 0 damage without magic being used. Defense has to be at least 10 times higher than the attack power to receive 0 damage at all, and even then a person needs to train in particularly rare defensive technique or just a ridiculously high level.

This was something that was puzzling him greatly when he didn’t see any magic being used as that noble stuck me with his sword.

I would assume he would have higher stats but according to him this is just normal for his level. But once an individual passes over level 200 the stat gains double upon each rise in level so that could also play a part of it. It would also explain how my stats all rose by around 2,000 each by gaining roughly 50 levels, but I forget all Champions have large growth corrections.

Mastering skills can do the same thing, you get more and more stat gains the higher levels mastered. These races have been in this environment for their whole lives. It’s why I also brought Sting here to meet them. I needed to gage his opinion of them for my future plans. At first he would think if some of these beings in this room are over level 300 it makes sense how their stats are so high even if they are demi humans. But now I think he’s also coming to the conclusion the separation from himself and everyone here.

‘These races are practically bread for war. Even with all my skills you can’t gain a skill that is equivalent to the experience these races have gone through to gain such power.’

The differences in stats from an intermediate adventurer in the central continent and those of this dungeon are like night and day.  If he showed no initial reaction to their strengths then it could’ve been possible that our power wouldn't be comparable to some of the strong powers within the central continent. If that was the case then my initial thoughts of creating a colony with them as the support structure wouldn’t stand as strongly as I had once hoped.

But judging by his reactions to some of those in this room who showed their statuses, it’s apparent there’s a huge separation from an average adventurer from the Great West, and us.

‘That’s good; that gives me an inside look at the power balance on the central continent now. He hasn’t seen these races fight yet but just by his attitude towards me and even this equipment I can maintain steady in my plan. Killing Balor is sadly only one part of it at all.’

“Psssst...Hey Vali!”

“Vali...Over here!”

I then looked over and saw that Cyanin and Aurora were signaling for me to come over where they were standing. They put their hands on their mouth and told me to hurry.

As I started to walk over there with Hjokk on my shoulder I began to say something when Aurora flew over to me and put her hand over my mouth. Cyanin then landed on my shoulder and whispered for me to be quite and to follow them. They then began to pull my hand hands as they both flew out of the war room and away from everyone playing with the new armors.

I left Sting where he was and exited the secret base. As we walked under the waterfall I tried to ask them both where we were going but they kept ushering me to be quiet. Other than the flowing water I could hear feint laughter in the distance. ‘Well…I guess I should get to the bottom of this.’

We through some bushes on the edge of the illusion barrier that has been set here and there sitting in a huddle were dozens of pixies.

“Oh...look its Vali!”

“Oh. Shh...he’s here!”

“Vali!!”

“Shh..Quiet everyone. Now let’s all lock arms!”

Cosmia then stood up and told everyone to stay quiet as she walked over to me. All the pixies had gathered together for something and each were acting strange. She came over to me and held me and smiled up at me. There next to her was Vale, Tanin and the purple pixie who greeted me and locked arms. Before I could say anything Cosmia told me she would explain shortly.

She then tugged on my arm then held her hand over to Vale.

‘Heh, last time a girl tried to hold my hand and pull me away somewhere I got betrayed.’

WHhhhhhhhhooooooooo

The image of the darkly lit forest changed and there we stood in another forest but the sun appeared to be setting on this floor. The trees in this forest all looked to be similar to Christmas trees and gave off a very nice scent.

Everyone began to walk with me in the center and they continued to pull me as they walked continuing to shush each other.

‘This is floor 5? Hmm’

We got to a small clearing and there was a large lake. It was in all honesty the first lake I had ever seen in this dungeon. I actually hadn’t seen any large bodies of water in this dungeon other than the small waterfall near the base.

The pixies continued to fly around me and Hjokk. Whenever I would try to speak they would just put their small hands over my mouth to ‘shh’ me too.

Cosmia mouthed that she was sorry but to just wait. Cyanin and Aurora however were both looking up at me smiling quite big. I guess whatever it is can’t be so bad, I’ll figure it out soon I suppose.

They then all started to walk out onto the lake. Their wings weren’t flapping nor were they using magic. It almost looked like they were standing on the water itself. They pulled me forward and I too began to walk on the water. There was a narrow walk way that appears to be installed under the water but I can’t see it. ‘Must be an illusion.’

We continued to walk out into the center of the lake whenever Cosmia then appeared to walk up several steps over the water and if standing on air. Tanin then flew over to where was and even sat down close to where her shoulder was.

“You see Vali...We haven’t been entirely honest with you.”

Cosmia then dropped her head and all the other pixies including the two who were holding onto me flew out and stood around her and looked back towards me.

“Oh?”

“...Well...You see Vali the thing is....”

Cosmia began to look for the words to explain where we were or why we were here but just couldn’t seem to get it off her tongue.

“We really like you Vali...”

Cyanin then interrupted her. She smiled towards Cosmia then back at me.

“Yah, we’ve never felt like this before Vali. For the first time in our lives in fact...We feel like we can truly make a difference. Like our existences actually matter. And that’s all thanks to you.”

Tanin then began to speak up while grinning back at me.

‘What are these pixies getting at? It feels like they’re trying to reward me somehow but I don’t know why their getting so nervous.’

“Well, to be honest you’ve all done that for yourselves. Each of you has the potential to become something truly strong in this world. To the extent that it even makes the other races pale in comparison. You were never in fact weak. I’m even told your ancestors were beings that fought alongside the gods themselves. No one called them weak”

Hjokk then looked towards me as all the pixies then began to smile and giggle to one another as they looked around.

“...Well, no one’s ever thought about us like that before...And whenever you came here for the first time. Not only did you save our family, you even went out of your way to feed us when we hadn’t eaten in days. You treated us like your own family...You even wanted to take us hunting with you...None of the other races had ever asked us to do that before...”

“Really?”

“Yah, they said they didn’t want to waste the experience points...”

The lime green pixie then spoke up which caused the others to all nod their heads in unison with him. Well I guess I can understand. Each of the pixies began to talk one after the other to me about their times before I came here. The times before I had given them their new found strengths.

“But every time you wanted to go hunting you always wanted to bring one of us along. You’re the one who has given us so much strength...It’s just…we were always so weak but...”

“That stuff never mattered to you. You, someone who’s even strong enough to beat up all the race leaders would be so kind to us. You even worked so hard to give us all such great treasures and weapons to defend ourselves. Well...We were just wanting to make it official!”

“Make it official?”

Cosmia then began to take over for Cyanin whenever I had then asked what they had meant.

“Well...We wanted to let you meet our most precious person! She’s been really wanting to meet you too! I guess you can say she was the one who was supposed to be the queen other than me.”

“Oh...”

I then began to become surprised as wherever we’re standing on appears to be something of a house on the lake. Everything is invisible to the naked eye but they’re saying that a pixie lives here. They then began to pull my hands and walk up the steps and opening a small door. I had appeared out of nowhere and I had to duck to get into it. ‘Hmm, and here I thought I met all the pixies. They did say some of theirs were missing but I wonder why they wouldn’t have told me about this one...

When I had stood up I had noticed there was a medium sized room that looked to be a child’s room. I looked around and I could see the purple pixie standing by a bed and sitting in a small chair was Daisy. There was also every pixie with us so now I believe there are 300 plus pixies flying around in this small room.

“Oh...Hi everyone! Oh it’s so nice to see you!”

Then I noticed a small girl lying in the small wooden bed. She looked nothing like any of the other pixies I had ever seen up until this point. She had a small white glow around her white a gentle face. She looked to be in her twenties but it was her hair that made me take such notice of her. She had so many colors in her hair it almost resembled a rainbow.

She then rolled over and had the purple pixie help her into a small wooden chair. It had small wooden wheels attached to it and the purple pixie began to roll the white pixie around. She continually hugged and greeted everyone.

“Oh Tanin, Daisy was right you look so dashing now mphmphmph...Aurora! I heard you’re all better now you look so pretty!”

“Hi Cari! It’s so good to see you.”

“Everyone looks so amazing! I’ve...I’ve missed you all so much.”

[A Bifrost Pixie?]

‘What you know of them Hjokk?’

[...Yes, they were the commanders of the Brynhildr’s select guard and where vastly stronger than the other ones. In fact it took several of them to equal even one of these white pixies. ]

‘I see.’

So the pixies had a member of their race like this. It makes since whenever their lights combine it makes one white bright light. Hers however is kind of dull.  It’s interesting but she doesn’t look the part of a warrior queen but according to Hjokk these things were truly ferocious.

Pixie after pixie would walk up and hug onto the small white pixie gently and greet her as if it had been a long time for them. It was then I noticed they even treated this pixie much differently than the other pixies. They even treated her nicer than Cosmia.

‘Is she injured? Her wings didn’t have nearly the glow as the others. They almost resembled how Daisy’s originally did but where white. One however appeared to be bent but she didn’t look to be anywhere near the state of the pixies had been on floor 1.’

Cosmia then apologized for keeping her from me. She looked up at me while still holding onto my hand and said she didn’t want to hide anything from me after all I had done for them.

She felt bad because it felt like she had been lying to me. But this may have been their actual queen.. Cari here was someone who they cherished more than any other. They were always said to be the wisest of all the other pixies and were always looked at as the leaders of their race. According to Cosmia they were never really stronger than other pixies but that sort of thing never mattered to them. Every generation had one of these so called Bifrost pixies but in their generation something incredible happened, there were 3.

For the first time in their history there were three of these Bifrost pixies each of them held as being truly precious to them. They thought it was a godsend to help them during their troubled times only to end their hopes in tragedy. One of them died to that rot, another was kidnapped. Whenever the pixies figured out that other races may have coveted the Bifrost pixie as much as they did they made up a lie and said she had died. They then have kept her in hiding ever since.

The purple pixie then rolled over Cari towards me.

“Hello Vali...It’s...it’s so nice to meet you finally. I’m Cari...I, I feel I already know you so well...”

The small pixie woman looked up at me and smiled brightly. Her hair had a natural glow to it and simply being in her presence gives me a definite presence of her magical affinity. Part of her white aura is even touching me and causing a slight tickling sensation. It feels much different than the other pixies.

“Oh...I wish I could say the same...Well it’s nice to meet you though Cari. So you know about me?”

“Oh yes! Because of you I even get to talk to everyone so much more now with Daisy’s new skill! I’ve heard all about what you’ve done. You’ve helped us so much and.... And well umm...”

“He doesn’t mind it if you hug him.”

Cosmia then spoke towards Cari and then I felt a light force push against my own. I looked down and Cari had leaned out of her chair and wrapped her small white arms around stomach. The purple pixie in front of me smiled warmly back towards me as did all the other pixies around us.

I then accepted her hug and activated my Recovery magic on her as I’m sure this is what they wanted me to come here to do. Pixie’s have a habit for not asking for things from me. It’s as if I have to be the one to approach them to use my abilities like they think I would ask for compensation for doing such a thing.

“Mmm....He is warm Cosmia hehe...”

“Not as warm as me...”

“Oh hush Tanin...”

Cari’s wing began to repair itself and look almost soft to the touch.

All the pixies continued to dance and fly through the air. The entire room was so crowded they everyone only ran into one another.  Each of them however cheered and danced without a care simply at the healing of their sister Cari. It was a heartwarming sight you would only see from this race.

“Valiiiii!”

“Yay!!!....Vali thank you!”

“Oh...What, hey my wing!”

Cari then flapping her wings around happily. She however stayed seated in her chair as she observed looked at herself. She then hugged me again and said thank you. This only ushered everyone to swarm me again and hug me. It’s almost as if they didn’t think I was planning on doing such a thing which is odd.

“”“Thank you Vali.”””

I then noticed however Cari still wasn’t getting out of the chair. She then waved off my concern upon seeing my reaction.

“Oh don’t worry Vali. I was unable to walk since I was born. Even the Elkia with their amazing healing hands couldn’t heal me. Don’t feel so gloom Vali.  I’ve grown accustomed to it, I even have this nice chair Uncle Pek made for me. But now...I can fly again. I’m truly happy! Thank you Vali... Everyone’s right...you really are kind.”

Cari said this with a tear in her eye but I honestly felt unsatisfied with this. It was the same empty feeling I felt whenever I couldn’t heal Ikaros completely. It’s not like I want to save the world or be the hero, just not being able to really do anything leaves a poor taste in my mouth. Especially when they act so thankful.

Seeing my reactions I feel Cyanin and Cosmia knew also what I was thinking. I asked them for some of the crystals I gave them and they had already pulled them out before I had said anything.

“If you had those with you why didn’t you just bring them out in the first place?”

“Well...We were going to ask you but well...Hehe you wound up doing it before we could!”

They then handed me 1 purple crystal and one blue crystal.

“Here Cari! Now you can have ice magic just like me! We can learn it together! And this one here has such amazing healing abilities....It may even heal your legs!”

“....Oh?”

Cosmia handed me the two crystals before I activated on Cari.

WOOOOMMMMMMmmmmm

A bright purple spark was then immediately interrupted by a blinding white light that shot forth out from Cari’s aura. It was only for a brief moment but the light was almost as bright as Hjokk’s armor she wears. That tingly feeling I felt as she was hugging me has now completely surrounded my body and I can feel my entire body almost surrounded by this small pixies presence.

“Ohh....It really does feel good! My whole body is tingling from those stones. Daisy you didn’t tell me they would feel so nice.”

She then started playing with small ice magic in her hands and held onto Cosmia’s hand while smiling. They then ushered her to stand but...She couldn’t.

‘Perhaps it’s the same as Ari. She needs time to learn to walk....No, she doesn’t have any mobility in her legs at all. Wait, even with the effects of two crystals that were specialized in healing magic it still couldn’t heal this girl?’

Cari continually tried to use her hands to hoist up her body but her legs didn’t move at all. All the pixies for the first time I could see a look of disappointment in their eyes. Cari then swung her white butterfly-like wings towards Cosmia and flicking it upwards.

“Oh what’s wrong? I can fly again Cosmia...It’s ok if I can’t walk...It’s not like I had my hopes up for anything either.”

“Yah...but...”

“Oh cheer up. Otherwise you’ll degrade Vali’s amazing gift!”

“Ok...You’re right!”

“You’ve done so well Cosmia. I’m so proud of you. Everyone’s becoming so strong now. I’ve heard such amazing things. You have done such an incredible job at being our queen, and I know your sister would be so proud. Hasn’t she done great everyone?”

The pixies began to cheer and talk amongst themselves and congratulate Cosmia on her reign as queen. They really weren’t like any other race. I feel that is maybe for the best though. Thinking about it this is a race where their Ranking order in terms of power could turn on a dime. With the effects of one crystal could potentially make the weakest of their race the strongest. If that sort of thing could happen with any other race in this dungeon they would have probably ended up killing themselves. These pixies however don’t covet power, they don’t even look at their strongest as their leader. They simply want to use the small power they have to protect one another. Cari eventually quieted them all down and waved to the purple pixie who was holding the chair. He most of all seemed to be the most disappointed.

“Kai push me over there please. Vali...I made you something. It was going to be a reward healing all of my family on floor one. “

She then reached for a dresser towards her bed and pulled out a small chest. Her hair that once had a feint glow now shines so brightly the white light around her makes me think I’m in the presence of an angel. Hjokk has the ability to turn this off but she amongst the other pixies just has this naturally coming off of her.

She pulled out bunch of small pieces of animal leather that looked like it had been painted on. Then she kept pulling out a large assortment of random items and placed it out on her bed. She had a Dawn Bringer dagger and a lot of trinkets and items that looked to be very old. ‘That empty feeling is back. I think if I can increase my healing skill it could be possible to heal people like Ikaros or Cari. If there is a mastery system known as divine wouldn’t it be possible to do things like that. I don’t know how long it will take but I guess I can add this on a list of things to do whenever I get out of this dungeon and look for Kaylan. I suppose I can continue healing her like I did with Ari and maybe in time who knows....Umm....What is that?’

Looking towards some of the things on her bed I see one of her paintings has three figures holding hands. There is a large white light surrounding the three of them. Two of them have hair similar to Cari, one of them has white hair and kinda resembles me. I wouldn’t have known it was a depiction of me simply because it wasn’t a very good drawing. It kind of looked like a child drew it. And yet there under the figure was the word...‘Vali’.

I must have been making an odd face because when Cari looked back up towards me she looked towards what I was looking towards and dropped whatever she was holding.

“Oh don’t look at that it’s not finished yet!”

‘Ugh....It’s weird she seems to be the oldest of all the pixies. Not in looks but in her behavior. But I guess she’s just like all the other pixies.’

“Oh Cari enjoys painting.”

The purple pixie, Kai, then smiled as everyone watched her putting her paintings back into her chest.

“She has some really good ones but it’s kind of hard to get paint. We traded some of the Jiji to make some for us for her birthday. You should see some of her other paintings they’re real good!”

Daisy then flew over and sat on the bed and looked up at me. It really did feel like I was hanging around a lot of children. But in reality these two in front of me are actually older. I’d be willing to bet they have plenty more horrific experiences than I have in my life and yet they still can act in such a way at times. I guess it is a rather nice atmosphere though....For such a horrible place.

“Oh well I’m only at Beginner level 3 but umm, I just painted from what they told me about you....But anyways ugh....Here, I made this for you...I wanted to say thank you!”

She then handed me small item that looked to have small flower petals attached to it. The petals were white with small purple tips. When you would turn it, the light would reflect and show an almost metallic look to it. It was a small bracelet with lightly colored beads on it. The scent from the petals floated into my nose and I could feel a strange sense of warmth wash over me. ‘It almost looks like the bracelet my siblings made me....Look at that.’

It was hard not to crack a smile at such a thing. The small colored beads and whole look of it even resembled the way Kaylan would try to make things for me in class. It came as a set with their birthday card they made for me. Just remembering it...

“See...I told you he’d liked it.”

Daisy smiled towards Cari and everyone looked back up at me. Hjokk then had look towards me and I had then noticed...I had a small tear running down my face. I didn’t notice anyone’s gazes towards me and just gripped onto the small bracelet that was just given to me. For whatever reason I feel this rush of strength. I saw images of my siblings through my mind and gave me this surge of...faith. It was reaffirming me I was going to see them again. I put my hand up to the place that once held my mother’s cross and smiled lightly. This wasn’t the first time in this world a girl had made me an item to wear. I’m wearing one around my neck as we speak... But this is the first time I have felt such an intense feeling washing over me. I have been constantly pressing my brain with doubts of fighting such a monster. But for whatever reason I feel that it’s just going to be ok. Remembering those once good times lets me know if I succeed, I could see them all again.

I viewed the item and then found out why it had given me such an emotional state.

Bracelet of Courage             Durability: 20/20

Additional Aroma Effect:

Upon smelling the scents attached to the enchanted flower petals you will be reminded of your home, of those you love, and what you fight for in such a dark place. Courage will rise by 30% for 1 hour. Cool down time: 3 hours

I put it on which caused Cari and all the other pixies to smile.  My Midnight Gauntlet fit right on top of it and I could still keep it on underneath. These pixies were nice and I feel we really bonded down here. I don’t know I guess I may just be more favored towards them simply because of what’s happened with everyone else in this dungeon.

Everyone then began clamoring together and dancing after they had saw me accept her gift... Cari asked if she could pet Hjokk which made her twitch but she actually agreed to it which was odd. She even shook her hand with her wing. This white pixie appears to be the kindest of all the pixies. You can see that in how she treats everyone.

Cari then began to hug several of the pixies and talk to each of them. According to Cosmia, Cari hasn’t seen many of them for a long time. She’s been up here with usually one or two guards at most. Cari then giggled and everyone all looked up at me. Cari then clasped onto my hands while everyone else stood in close behind her.

“Vali...I was thinking. Even if we were to ever be freed of this place...Where would we go? I’m sure most of the races would move out and go their own ways...But where would we go. We have always received the protection of other races for so long, we’ve never really been very strong ourselves. After what I’m hearing, you’ve helped some of ours even grow strong enough to even take on floor bosses and giants!  “

All the pixies began to smile and clamor. Looking into Cari’s eyes she looked quite excited to talk about these things as if she were there. She kept clasping onto my hands and smiling brightly back up to me. Pixies do warm up to people quite quickly. Simply be nice to them and they shower you with love.

“....You’ve done so much for us and given us so much strength...But strength is never something we ever clamored for like the other races. What is having all the power in the world if you didn’t have your family? Balor may have all the power in the world but he doesn’t have anyone... Nothing but his puppets...And you treat us as if we were your own family, and don’t even ask for anything in return. You’ve reached your hand into this dark place and attempted to pull us all out....Well…What we were wondering is well....Vali, can we come with you?”

“Huh?”

“Can...Can we come with you? If we ever do leave this place. Can we all come with you? We really like you Vali. We don’t seek for you to protect us. We wish to protect you....”

‘Protect me?’

“I’m sure you’re the type of person who would probably go to even more dangerous places...But, we don’t care how scary it’ll be...We want to be with you.”

“Right!”

“Can we come with you Vali?”

“Please let us come with you.”

“We want to be with you from now on...”

Each pixie began to clasp their hands together as if pleading with me. I guess I don’t blame them. Whenever they leave this dungeon what comes next. They don’t even know where I’m going or what I plan on doing but all they do know is that they want to be with me. These little things aren’t really afraid of fighting either it seems. Doesn’t even matter how large the opponent is either, they’ve already shown me that already.

I guess I never really did tell them my plans of what I wanted to do outside this dungeon once we stop Balor. This little white pixie seems to definitely be the wisest. She even thought this far ahead, she isn’t even thinking about the fight with Balor.

“That’s why we’ve been guarding you ever since you came back to us.”

“That’s right! We’ve always been right by your side and you didn’t even notice. So we won’t get in the way...”

“It’s true... I asked for there to always be guards with you from now on. We didn’t want to leave you unprotected as you have been down here. Last time you went off and we weren’t with you...We...we heard you had been hurt severely for helping all of our family down on floor one. It broke our hearts....We had Reinma smell your blood and we found...so much of it in that temple. We just, didn’t want anything bad to happen to you anymore....”

Cosmia then started to talk with tears in her eyes. So this is the real reason Cosmia gave me the little guard detail. I thought it was for some school girl crush or something from the way Cyanin and Aurora had put it. But these little guys were actually protecting me in their own way since I got back to the dungeon. And not just when I’ve been on floor 52 at the base either. They were with me when we were with Kyrah. And they were also many of them with me when we fought the Hydra and Fomorians. They were just all hidden in illusions. It was enough that not even Hjokk was aware of it all.

“Wait that’s impossible...Your levels are different.”

They each giggled to me and Cosmia flashed her ring and everyone in the room’s level had changed. Each of them then had their levels raised within an instant in front of my field of vision. Aurora and Tanin each had a level of 95 and 98. Many others however were in the 80s while Kai, the dark green pixie and the magenta colored pixies, who were the elites, were all over level 140. Kai was even close to Vale’s level. Every pixie in here had their levels increased by at least 60 within an instant. Cari however along with Daisy and a couple other pixies were under level 20. They were in this room in time of the battle and were communicating with several of the elite pixies who apparently had tagged along. They had stayed within Hjokk’s barrier or stood beside one of the three other pixies without us knowing about it at all.

According to Cosmia the ring on her finger had been passed down for longer than their race can even remember. Not only are they each at the advanced levels in illusion magic they say this ring is their races most sacred artifact. They also lied to the other races of just how special this ring is. They don’t let other races know the inner workings of how their race works it seems after they had started to lose so much.

‘This ring is pretty incredible. They told everyone it had a cool down of 2 days which was a lie. The cool down is 3 hours. The effect of whatever illusion they wish to cast lasts 25 minutes and to their knowledge the illusion that is cast has never been broken before in the entire history of their family. There are stories in their family that not even a god could see through it.  She told me all of this simply because they trust me unconditionally now it would seem.’

Pixies don’t ever fight alone. I guess it makes since all their levels are quite close to one another. I just had no idea so many of them had come along with us when we were on floor 62. According to Kai pixies aren’t like other species. They are actually allowed 22 in a party without losing much experience at all. The illusion they cast also allowed each of them who came with us to be added into my party. The illusion even hid their numbers from my party status with. If that’s the case then midnight aura would have surrounded them regardless as I had it cover all my allies. Still that could have been dangerous if I wasn’t aware of it. Still though, it’s quite impressive.

I started to laugh at the fact these little things had played me. This whole time, they had been playing me. Anytime their 25 minutes would be up they would all rotate around who would be near me. I just thought it was their odd behaviors but they had actually planned this all out. You think because they have childlike behaviors they wouldn’t be so crafty but they have been lying to everyone for a long time now. They even each gained a large amount of levels just for casting illusion magic during the fight with the bosses, not just with Wyatt. I was right they’re much stronger together.

“Teehee...Yep and you didn’t even notice my level had changed today when we went to floor 22.”

Aurora then spoke up. She’s right I didn’t even notice. I guess when they saw me laughing the atmosphere eased up a bit. They still however were looking at me with eager eyes.

“Yes...You can all come with me.”

“.......”

Each of the pixies became silent and looked at one another with their mouths opened wide.

“...Valiiii!!”

Before I knew it they all swarmed me. They even had Kai pick up Cari to come over and join the group hug. Hjokk started flapping her wings wildly as she wasn’t aware of this. I guess what’s the harm in letting these pixies come with me when we leave this place? I was actually hoping many of the races in this dungeon would live in the territory that I’ll be given. It would be much easier to have them assemble for war should anyone ever attack my land.

I would think some of these races would have some of the most potential this world has to offer. These demi-humans live in an environment that I would consider top tier in terms of a place to train and grow strong if you survive. These pixies are even from the strongest Valkyrie in Asgard, so having them around isn’t such a bad thing. They even went out of their way to ‘protect’ me in their own special way when I came back to the dungeon. Even if they weren’t all that strong the pixies all wanted to be together. They wanted to be with me. Cyanin was hugging my neck and even Daisy was trying to wiggle in through my arms. Each of them looked overjoyed, as if following me was such a good thing.

“See, I told you he’d let us come with him!”

Congratulations! You have earned a new title!

Family of the Hildr Pixies

‘Huh...My old title’s gone, or no it changed. Hmm family....’

Thoughts begin to fill my head of Kaylan. I have a family...Somewhere in this world. Some big brother I am. I’ve gone and gotten myself involved in something that could get me killed. But I can’t back off now I’ve already gone too far. I need these people and it seems they need me too. If I don’t kill Balor then all it would mean is he would only threaten my very sister and families ‘life. I’m going to end him. I don’t care if the words he said were truth, I don’t even care if he isn’t the villain like he says. He’s threatening my family, so he has to die.

“Valiiii!!!!”

Each of the pixies continued to hug me while I noticed Hjokk’s stare towards me. She was giving me a look I hadn’t seen before. She just look perplexed as if she was thinking deeply about something.

The pixies however couldn't have been happier and continued to dance around and play.

"Thanks Vali..."

Cyanin then whispered in my ear as she Cosmia, Cari, Daisy, Vale, Aurora and Tanin all hugged me with their small thin arms  as the other pixies danced around us all as if forgetting we were all trapped in a dungeon at all.

-----------------------------------------------------

End of Part 1

Please don't for get to comment and rate my fiction!

Part 2 will be released following this as well shortly. It won't be as long...nor will it have as many scenes...It will however have a lot of character development.

I wanted to keep the releases close simply because I wanted to hear everyone's reactions and opinions on where the story is going , as well as I wanted the feelings and emotions to flow through each of these chapters as you see it all through Vali's eyes. You'll hopefully see why when you read them both together but posting it all on one post would just be too much....