It’s only been a couple of years since Pollux was born, and I’m already holding Castor… Pollux has been playing with dad, he’s super aggressive. I’m still stronger than him though, so I usually stop him when he starts acting up. “Is that Castor?” Demi says, surprising me- “Oh, Demi!” I say, showing off my new little brother to her! “Yeah, this is Castor. Would you like to hold him?” I say, surprising her back. “Oh, y-yeah, sure.” She says, holding out her arms. I slowly place him in her arms, and she just stares at him… “You should make sure to keep your body warm, Demi, or he won’t think you’re a living creature.” Mother says, as she sits next to us, with my dad. “Ah, thank you-” Demi says, as I assume she starts doing what she was told to. I can’t really sense heat like that. “I’ve never held a baby before, like this…” Demi says, as my new little brother sleeps in her arms… “Baby?” Pollux says, with a confused look on his face. “Yes, Pollux, this is your baby brother Castor. Be sure not to wake him up.” Mother says, as Pollux sits in her lap. “I won’t!” He shouts, almost waking up castor, but Demi was able to block out his hearing anyways.
Later today, Demi and I find ourselves in my room again. Mother had to put Pollux and Castor to bed, so she told us to just go to my room. “How come you like spending so much time with me, Demi?” I ask, as we sit on my bed, staring each other in the eyes... “What do you mean?” She says with a confused look on her face. “Well, I mean, the majority of my day is usually spent just hanging out with you. I love hanging out with you, but I’ve been a little worried. Aren’t you some sort of important person in Neotopia?” I say, as I reposition myself a little. “I get it now. I can split myself into multiple bodies, so currently, I’m multitasking on a worldwide level. The amount of energy that it takes to keep me online is immense, so it would be super wasteful to not use my processing power like this. Besides, you’re like my sister, I love hanging out with you too.” She says, as she shows me a few live feeds of what her other bodies are doing. “That’s amazing…” I say, in awe of how powerful my friend really is…
Later today, we find ourselves walking to the park… “Are you sure it’s okay to be out here?” Demistar says, surprising me- “Why wouldn’t it?” I ask, confused as to why it might not be safe in my home. “Oh, uh, nevermind.” She says, then smiles at me.
We arrive, and all my friends are here! “Hey guys!” I shout, running over and waving my hand! Demistar follows behind, but there’s something wrong… They don’t seem happy to see me… “Is everything alright?” I ask, as they all just stare at me… “My mom told me not to, um, hang out with you anymore…” Corvar says, as he looks away… “I’m sorry, Rigel…” He continues, then walks away. One at a time, everyone gives me their goodbyes, and leaves, until it’s just Forma and I… “Goodbye, Rigel.” She says, her cold stare piercing through my soul… She’s a Betta Fish Demihuman, her colors are so pretty… Forma and I never really got along well, not that I was mean, I really tried to make friends with her, but for some reason, she would never let me get close… “Goodbye.” I say, as I watch her walk away…
“Hey, maybe we should just go home, Rigel.” Demi says, reminding me that she’s even there… I turn around, and look at her. “Oh jeez, come on princess, let’s get you home...” She says, with a sympathetic look on her face…
We walk in silence, no idea what we should say to each other- “Hey-” Demi says, suddenly breaking the silence, but then interrupted and surprised by me suddenly looking at her- “Ah, um… I shouldn’t, actually…” She says, trying to wave it off, but- “No, I… I would like to hear what you have to say, Demi.” She stares back at me, a little shocked by the fact that for once I would prefer to hear it. “Well, if you’re sure… I was just going to say that after everything, I still wasn’t ready for that… I know I put on a tough face, Rigel, but it still hurts watching you go through this…” She says, as we enter the castle through one of the many hidden entrances, and make our way into my room without being spotted. “I don’t think they saw us, Rigel. You can let go now.” She says, as we sit together on my bed again…
She hugs me, and I let out my feelings while held in her embrace… “Why, Demi?! Why does it have to be this way?!” I scream, my words muffled and distorted by my crying… “Why can’t I just live?!” I scream, as I only now decide to hold her in my own embrace.... “I’m sorry Rigel, I’m so sorry. You’re my best friend, Rigel, I’d give up everything for you…” She says, but she doesn’t cry… Demistar never cries, that’s what she’s good at… She’s good at keeping everything hidden from me…
“Who is it, Demi? Who’s the one?” I say, but she doesn’t answer... She just looks at me with that same expression of despair… “I can’t…” She says, after we finally release each other…
“I want to be alone.”
“Okay.”
-√Z2-
He strikes me with my fist, but I quickly block the attack, and try to sweep his feet- He bounces backwards, and fires thin beams of energy at me from his finger tips. But I raise up multiple Hexafields, blocking each attack. He realizes quickly that it’s not going to work, and runs over to me. I prepare to guard against another fist strike, but instead he suddenly slides below me, and knocks me off my balance instead- I land on my right hand, and bound from left hand and back onto my feet. He strikes me in the back with his elbow, and knocks me off balance with his foot again- But before I fall, I grab his shoulder, and lift myself above him. I slide on my hand, until I’m in position, and I kick him right in the head, sending him into the wall. As the dust settles, it’s easy to tell he’s knocked out.
“Training is complete, awakening all incapacitated victems. Sirius: Ten points. Vynvold: Seven points. Would you like to commence with round eighteen?” The soft voice of the system says, inviting me and Vyn for another round. I hold up my hand, and decline. “No, I think I’m too tired for another go. See ya’ Vyn.” I say, waving at him, as he begins to wake up, and wave back.
I enter into the dining hall, and spot Inzor hanging out with my girlfriend- Yeah you heard me, your boy’s finally got himself a girlfriend! “Hey guys!” I call out to them, and they look toward me. The other men weren’t disturbed, everyone’s used to the shouting nowadays. “Hey big guy!” Flinishella calls out, as I walk over. “Not hungry?” Inzor says, noticing that I haven’t gotten myself a tray of food. “Eh, I mostly just came to hang out, besides, my girl’s here.” I say, pointing a finger gun at her. “How was training? You did great right?” Flinsh says, as she leans over to kiss me. “Yeesh.” Inzor says, looking away. “I was able to beat Vynny ten to seven today.” I say, catching Inzor’s attention again. “Vynny, huh? The marksman? You need’a slow down or some’n man, might crash and burn. Good job either way.” He says, before returning to what he was doing. “That’s some high praise from the good doctor! You gotta’ teach me some stuff…” She says, as she grabs onto my arm. “Well, alright, but later. How have you been doing, Inzor?” I say, causing him to look at me through the corner of his eye, then back at his device. “I’ve been fine.” He says, while trying to wave me off with his hand. “Come on man, you’re always on that device of yours. What are you even doing?” I say, as I turn to look at it- He quickly pulls down the monitor, and stands up. “It’s private.” He says, before he begins to walk off. “What, you finally find yourself a girlfriend too?” I say, a little confused- “No, it’s just, it’s private.” He says, as he walks away…
Later today… “If you can beat Vynny, then that means you’ve been holding out on me.” Flin says, as she pulls out her glaive. The blade juts out from a ring that separates yet connects it to the actual pole of the overall polearm. The name of this glaive is Charybdis, the ring can destroy almost anything that passes through it, when activated. She beautifully swings it around, mesmerizing me with her movements- The blade swipes through a pillar, no resistance whatsoever, and I remember that I’m in combat- I aim my palm at her, and release a seismic blast. She’s set off her balance, but swings the blade at me anyways. I back hand the side of the blade, and pass by it, all thanks to having slowed her down. I shove her, not wanting to hurt her, so I instead opted to shove her, by pushing her stomach, instead of outright punching her. I would also just kind of feel terrible… Anyways, she floats back lightly, and takes her stance again. She runs at me, not swinging the weapon around anymore. Instead she rushes towards me, takes a new stance, and tries to thrust the butt of her weapon into my torso- I side step it again, but she strikes me with it after going for a second try. She hits me again with the polearm, while I’m disoriented, and then once more in the forehead. Before she can swing it around, and hit me with the ring, I grab it, and vault over it, before slamming my foot into her torso. She’s sent flying, but stabs her weapon into the floor, and it slides through, quickly coming to a stop. She quickly sets herself in front of it, and kicks off of it, now flying at me. I once again sidestep her, and then move behind her- I’m hit in the back of the head, it’s Charybdis- I stand up again, and she’s holding her weapon again! “Pretty cool right?! I can call it towards me!” She shouts, before trying an overhead swing- It lands in my hands, and I move under it, and shove her again.
“It’s definitely new, but I’m not sure if the back of my head likes it…” I say, as I rub the newly aching area. “Oh come on, it couldn’t have hurt that bad!” She says, as I rush her instead, and she blocks my strike- “‘Bout time you get started...“ She says, after backing up, and moving her weapon- “Well I didn’t think you’d have as much fun, if I didn’t put up an actual fight-” I say, as she twirls her polearm around her torso, and tries to sweep my feet- I jump, and our kicks collide, sending a shockwave through the surrounding water- “Alright, that was fun.” She says, as I float to the floor. “Good fight.” I say, simply nodding. “Thank you. Come on, let’s head home big guy, I’m tired. You’re cooking tonight.” I simply nod, and we head out…
-√Z-D-
I land in front of the reconstruction site of the Citadel… I look away, and float down- There it is. I land and enter into the sucky wooden shack mom and dad’s been living in for the longest time now. “Hey, when are you gonna’ provide me with a proper home?” I ask, with a disappointed look on my face. Dad turns around on his chair, and looks at me without opening his eyes. “Are you STILL on about that? I told you, when the Citadel is finished, you’ll have an entire segment all to yourself. So please be patient…” He says, only disappointing me more, with the exact same thing… “My baby sister and I are forced to live in this wooden shack, because daddy can’t give us a proper home. What a failure you are.” Robin says, as she leans against the wall on the other side of the room. “Please don’t, Robin. I’m not your dad, and I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting Growlgalor to do so much damage…” He says, surprising us… “Really? Isn’t that what your powers are SUPPOSED to help you with?” She says, as she walks over, folding her arms, and a questioning glare on her face. “That’s Lian’s power, she can tell you what WILL happen, I can only tell you what COULD happen. While my vision is as vast as the endless void of space, her precision is beyond my comprehension.” He says, as he rubs his forehead. “Right… Anyways, where IS mom anyways?” Dad gives her an unnamused, but speaks up anyways. “She’s out discussing with the king of the beasts, something about preparing the next generation. She didn’t want to elaborate further on it, said that she wasn’t proud of it, but it was still necessary.” He says, as he turns around, to continue work on his super cubit.
It’s another dumb device that stores and uses information to perform complex processes. I don’t know why he messes with this stuff anymore, when he could simply just replicate my synthetic brain, it works so much faster… “Hey, how come you have to use your dumb processer?” I say, as he continues to tap on and adjust the new control system he seems to be trying out for it. “Because it has potential. I can’t exactly move fast enough, to keep up with this thing, or you. So I have to keep upgrading it, until the machine can create the better machine, and upgrade that machine, then I’ll upgrade my machine, so it can upgrade that machine, and then that machine can create a better machine than itself, and so on and so forth.” He says, slowly breaking apart my conviction… “I’m doing it again…” He says, before turning around to look at us again… “You know it’s hard for me, Demistar. I can see so many futures…” I simply nod, and he holds his arms open for a hug- “Would you like a hug?” He says, as I simply nod once more, and float up to him. “I love you… I just need to finish the machine… Alright?” He says, as Robin joins in. “Group hug!” She shouts with joy…
After Robin releases us, I float back down. I’m still only fourteen, so I’ve been keeping myself short. “Come on sis, let’s go spar. I gotta’ make sure you’re not slackin’ off. Besides, I heard your little girlfriend has already grown stronger than you.” She says, causing me to kick her in the head! “Rigel is eight, you creep!” I say, as her head flies through the wall… “Thank you for that, Demi…” Liyoxis says, as he struggles to stand up- “Oh, no, no, I’ll fix it!” I say, as I nervously motion for him to sit back down- “Well, alright… I’ll just get back to work then.” He says, as he turns around again… “Ow.” My sister says, her head having reappeared on her shoulders, a disappointed look on her face… “Cheap shot.” She says, before trying to kick me back- “Ha, too fast!” I shout, after easily dodging her shoe- She rolls her eyes, then relaxes. “Fine, come meet me in the open field north of here. Just look for the purple beacon.” She says, before dispersing, and disappearing. “See ya’.” Dad says, as he waves the back of his hand at me. “Bye.”
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I landed in the open field after having gathered multiples of my body masses. I’m about as tall as Robin now, and I should have enough gathered to fight her. “You ready?” She says, as we stare each other down… “Go!” I shout, before appearing in front of her, and kicking her again- She dodges, and decapitates me with her blade- “Got’cha back, hotshot!” She shouts, as she backs away… “First round goes to me.” She says, as we begin circling each other….
We play off of our first hit KO rule, where if you deal what would normally be a fatal injury, then you win. I dash towards her, and she tries the same trick again, but I appear behind her this time, and she fires her rifle at me- I appear behind her again, and run her through with my own blade, instantly winning the fight. “Ha, ‘guess you saw that one coming.” She says, as I dash away from her.
Another rule is that the victor gives up their ground, so that the loser will at least have a sense of advantage. We dash at each other, and clash blades, instantly deflecting each other’s attacks- This continues into a flurry of strikes. Since she’s stronger than me, I have to charge up longer, but because I can charge up my attacks faster, she doesn’t have as long to charge up her own. It’s a razor thin line just waiting for one of us to slip up... The moment she’s out of reach, she smirks then dashes away, disappearing before my eyes- I quickly run through the electromagnetic spectrum- Gamma Radiation? No… X-Rays? No… Ultraviolet? Seriously? No... INFRARED?... There she is! She’s been charging up a rifle shot this whole time, and has it aimed at me- She probably doesn’t think I’ve spotted her yet... If she fires that at me, there’s no dodging, it’s an instant KO! I quickly charge up my own shot, and bend my arm out of position to hit her- Our blasts collide, but her’s as expected easily overpowers mine- Once the beams fade, I appear right underneath her chin- “What the-” She screams, as I fire right through her chin-
I back away, as her head gathers together again- “Did you seriously fly through my rifle beam?” She says, as our arms form back into their usual shapes. “Yeah, I knew what you were doing the whole time, and charged up that shot.” She places a hand on her hip, but rolls her eyes anyways. “Fine.” She says, as she moves into an interesting pose- “What are you doing?” I ask, as I quirk an eyebrow- “It’s called Martial Arts, dummy. A buddy of mine taught me.” She says, as she starts smirking again. “Well, what are you waiting for?” I ask, as she stands there- “You come at me.” I shrug, and dash at her with my fist- She grabs my fist, and jumps over me, bending it out of position, and tearing it off- “What in the-” I shout, as she kicks me- “Looks like you’re an arm down, you know the rules!” Yeah… Another rule is that maiming lasts until the round is over, so I have to fight an arm down… My body begins to glow, and she quirks an eyebrow. “Oh, what’s this?” She asks, before I dash towards her, mimicking the original motion, but instead with my other fist- She grabs this one too, and I burst with blades, completely shredding her! “What the hell?” She says, as we fall over from the loss of balance-
I release the blades, and we stand up, me backing away. “Well, looks like I’ll have to step it up a bit, I’m getting all beaten up here!” She says, as we begin circling each other again- She stops… “Nothing to say?” She asks, surprising me- “Oh, sorry... I was a little focused on the fight…” I say, as I suddenly realize our conversation has been a little one sided… “Eh, I guess there’s not much to say anyways…” She says, as she shrugs her arms- A laser blast flies right through my head… I turned around to see that she was behind me the whole time, it turns out she was just distracting me… “Ha, got’cha that time!” She says, as she backs away instead… Her hologram suddenly disappears, and I move my head back into position. “Nice shot.” I say, as I suddenly dash at her again- Alright, two for two, if I keep this up at least, I can get out of this with a tie this time…
-√Z3-
It’s only been a couple of years, and a revolution has already sparked up...
Roars rip through the walls, as I listen from my throne… My Husband is just outside, holding back the revolutionaries… “Are you SURE I shouldn’t head out, and help them?” I say, looking at Sirius… “I’m sorry, your grace. But we’ve been tasked with your protection by his highness himself. We cannot let you out there.” I gave him a hard glare, then spoke up- “Do you think you can hold me?” I ask, causing him and the rest of the guards to back away in fear a little.. “N-No, but please-” Sirius to say, as I roll my eyes. “Fine.” And just as I say that, the doors fly through the room, and I slap them away with two tentacle sprouts. “Is everyone alright?” I ask, as the dust begins to settle… “Role-Call!” The captain tasked with my protection shouts. “Vinstrum!” He shouts. “Here.” Vinstrum shouts. “Vincer!” He continues. “Present!” Vincer shouts in response, all the while saluting. I remember when you joined… “Instosia!” He shouts, and that’s enough. The captain runs through each name of the guards, making sure all of them are present, as Sirius walks over to me. “What happened, your highness?” He says, as I STARE at what happened. “Well, first the door has just been destroyed, my husband is nowhere to be seen, and I’ve begun to lose what’s left of my patience…” I say, as I stand up, and my first step causes a small fissure in the floor. “Wha-” Sirius says, before I interrupt him, and roar at the perpetrator- “Who dares?!” My voice rips through the room, blowing away the dust clouds.
The dust billows away, revealing a large figure. It’s Duke Vallinkamble… Head of his house, and one of the strongest men in the kingdom. He owns an entire floor of my kingdom, and he’s trained himself rigorously, but he’s still only an ancient demihuman…
“What do you think you’re doing, Vall?” I say, as my old friend walks through the halls… “I’m here to take your life, Regel.” He says, before he points his seismic trident at me. It’s one of his inventions, I helped him create it… Vall… Why?... “You’re like a brother to me, Vall… This isn’t you…” I say, as he continues to walk forward, undeterred… “I fight for the future of Ryleth, and all of its citizens, just as I always have!” Vall, you of all people… I dash into Vall, surprising him with my speed! For only a moment, his expression falters, but he gets serious, as his back is dragged through the ground from the force of my attack. He stabs his trident into it, until we slow down. And he lifts me off of him… He tears his trident from the ground, and I throw my fist at him- He blasts it away with his weapon- “Gah!” I shout on reflex, as the force of my own attack reverberates against my fist… That’s the primary ability of the seismic trident, it can deflect attacks… I MADE THAT FEATURE!!! I grab the trident, surprising him, and slide it into the ground, before kicking him in the stomach, and tearing the trident out of his grip! “You were my brother! Why would you do this?!” I shout, as I grab the trident, and run at him! “Don’t you try and question me!” He shouts, as the rubble falls off of his body. I jam the forked end of the trident into his chest, but he grabs my waist, and pulls me in- He bites into my shoulder, and I scream in pain- “You…” I say, as his eyes begin to white out- He tears the trident out of his chest, and slams the orb into my jaw, cracking it! He tries to hit me again, but I grab it, barely stopping the swing- He’s undergoing a Blood-High, he may be even stronger than I am right now… He really IS trying to kill me… I’ll have to fight him until it wears off! Tentacle Sprouts burst from the floor, wrapping themselves around, while others try to tear his weapon from him! “You can’t stand up to the power of a legendary creature, Vallin! Every one of my tentacles are just as strong as I am!” I shout, as I clench my fist, and my tentacles begin to squeeze him. His jaw opens, and he tears one of the tentacles apart with it- “What-” I reflexively say, as he tears another one! “Don’t think I came into this not knowing that!” He shouts, before multiple bullets blast through the tentacles- Snipers! I look around and spot multiple members of the Kamble family… He even brought his own family into this…
TRAITORS…
He grabs his trident, and slams it into my arm, as I slowly reminisce on all of the memories… “What are you doing?!” He shouts, as I raise my arm, and face my open palm at one of them… Tentacles burst from the ground, and ensnares the little boy… “F-Father!” The boy exclaims, causing Vallin to turn around, and look at him- “N-No… I told you to stay home!” He shout, completely distracted by his son’s call. Is that your son, Vallin?... A louding ringing sound, followed by a sharp pain tears through my head for a moment-
They shot me… They actually shot me in the head… I crush the young boy, before his father could save him… “You monster!” He screams, after turning around. His face is now adorned with an unrecognizable expression of grief and rage… “I’ll kill you!” He exclaims, dashing towards me as I crush another one… He slams it into my shoulder, breaking it along with my jaw... I crush another one… He slams it into my knee, breaking it… I crush another one- “Help us!” They shout, as I crush them, one by one, and he breaks my bones, one by one… “Stop it, just stop it!” He shouts, as he continues to crack and splinter my limbs… But no, there will be no mercy… “I’ll end it myself, just stop this!” He screams, as he begins to slow down, and his attacks begin to weaken… “I’m sorry, please! I’m sorry!” He continues, but I won’t… Not until my home is safe again… He drops to his knees, as I begin to crush the last of them… “I’m sorry, I tried so hard, I was too weak! I couldn’t go through with it, I couldn’t bring myself to do it!” He shouts, but I won’t listen, not to a traitor… “Is this supposed to be what’s best for Ryleth?...” I say, as blood runs down my body, and I barely manage to lift myself up… He simply looks up at me, his pupils revealing to me that his blood high has just about ended… I lift my arm up, and I slam my broken and bloodied fist into his face, breaking his nose… “Where was all of that resolve before I killed all of your little friends?!” I shout, as he looks back at me… “No wait, you still have your house… And if you’re the head of the house…” I say, as I look over to the exit… They’re all- His eyes widen in realization- “No… No… Regel, don’t you dare!” He shouts, causing me to look back at him- “-Traitors… Once I’m done with you, I’ll wipe out the rest of your family… No, I bet it goes further back than that… You’ve been planning this the whole time… I’ll wipe out your entire traitorous race!” I scream, before he slams his fist into my face! “I can’t let you! Once I’ve ascended to the throne, I’ll fix the kingdom myself!” He exclaims, as he runs at me with another punch- I grab it, but he overpowers me… I coil a tentacle around my arm, and guide my arms into a defensive position- He slams his fist into them, but the damage is nicely negated. I wrap more tentacles around my arms, and then a few around my legs for stability… My fists grow larger, and stronger, with each and every tentacle… I slam the first one into him, sending him soaring into the wall- “What the-'' He tries to say, as I bolt towards him, nearly hitting him with the other fist, but instead breaking through the wall… He almost runs me through with the trident, but my layers of tentacles were able to protect me- “I’ll tear you limb from limb!” I scream, slamming a fist on his head! The sound creates a loud thud, followed by a hard grunt. I pick him up with my new fist, and slam him into the wall, then the floor, then the wall again, until I starting spinning him around and I throw him at the opposite end of the wall! I dart towards him again, as he tries to stand up, his entire body shaking… I slam another fist into him, crushing his body once more, and I continue hitting him over and over until he’s finished…
He’s dead… He’s finally dead…
I laugh, as my tentacles begin to disappear, and my blood spills onto the floor, collecting with his own… “I did it, I killed him…” I say, as I look down at what I just did… “Vall… My brother…” I only now begin to realize the atrocity I have just committed… I turn around, and spot a young girl on the other side of the room, with orange hair, much like my own… Rigel… How long were you watching?... That horrified look on her face… I scarred my baby girl… She runs away, returning to the castle itself… I killed all of them, men, women, and children… I really am a monster…
I stand up, and begin walking home, as what’s left of the tentacles stuck to my body drag against the floor… The guards run into the room, one after the other, only now having caught up with us… They all share that same look of horror… One by one, they all drop their weapons, capes, and armor… What do you think you’re doing?... I come to a stop, as they just stare at me… “No, I… I didn’t sign up for this…” He says, as he walks past me, followed by the rest of the guards… One by one, each one resigning from their positions, until Sirius is all that is left… “You too, Sirius?...” I say, as he stares at me… “I… No, I have to stay… They may not want to stay, but I still have people I want to protect here… I can’t leave…” He says, as he stares me in the eyes… “Does… Does that include me?...” I say, but he just looks away, back at the castle, then back at me, and his expression says it all… “I didn’t think so…” I say, as I barely manage to carry myself into the waiting room, and collapse…
Before I fall unconscious, I feel somebody lift me up…
End of Chapter: 6√Z3-D “Hell hath no fury, like The Queen...”
Thank you for reading.