Kyle read through his notifications as he took a quick breather, Lilior laying comfortably in between his ears "Level 338…" he mused while dropping half his attribute points into vitality and the other half into intellect increasing his [Slime] bar to 12,300 and mana bar to 21,400. His Spirit bar seemed to copy his mana bar, also rising to 21,400.
He sighed "Now what secondary title to select…" he thought out loud as he opened his title menu, going down to his new titles and quickly reading through their benefits.
({Champion of Ymir}); Risen to power your God has picked you as their sword, shield and hammer. Their divine magic empowers you, granting you several abilities with.+20% to all base stats.
+50% damage of attacks based around your God's element [Ice].
[{Divine Battle Cry}]; Call down your God's power and boost your ally's abilities in combat.
+ 30% to all base stats
+ 50% movement speed
+ 100% resistance to Abbysmal, Dread, Unholy, Dark and Fire magic.
[Does Not Stack]
Cooldown; 24hrs
[{Godly Smite}]; Empower your next attack with Godly might.
100% increase to the next attack's cast damage.
Next attack is turned to your God's main element [Ice].
Cooldown; 12hrs
({GodSlayer}); You're a being beyond your own mortality, risen to the top and once there brought something down. The immortals watch you, expect you, hide from and fear you.Mortality {God}: Hostility + 10%
Mortality {God}; Fear + 10%
+ 10% Damage to {Gods}
{Passive Sub-Skill}; [{God-like}]; Simply being present causes {Mortals} to shrink beneath your gaze.
Mortality {Mortal}; Fear + 100%
Causes debuff [{Soul Shiver}]; An intense sense of fear overwhelms your senses, clouding your judgement and rattling your emotions to the very core.
Kyle almost choked on nothing as he read through both, one was incredibly overpowered and the second was just as so but, specified while the first was generally strong. GodSlayer gave a lot but Kyle didn't see a need for it in combat, on the other hand Champion of Ymir gave everything he'd want in that situation while out of combat it would just be awkward to explain. So he decided on GodSlayer to wield normally, and switch to Champion of Ymir when entering combat if possible.
"That should do…Damn I'm tired…" he sighed, both his Mana and Spirit bars were depleted giving him both debuffs. He stood up and stretched out his arms and neck, everything felt in its place but his body somehow felt stronger, lighter even. He knew it was the stats that he'd gained from levelling up so much affecting his body again but he had never gained so many levels at once before.
Then there were his flames, as he summoned Frostfire over one finger, his usual flame that he had gotten so used to. A cold blaze, frigidly so. Over the next finger he summoned Foxfire, seemingly a normal flame giving out normal heat for its intensity it also costed half as much Spirit as any others he'd had so far.
Lastly there was the Holyfire he summoned next, a bright golden flame that costed more Spirit than even Frostfire to summon. This flame unlike the rest only destroyed specific elements, having twice the power against Dark, Shadow, Curse, Dread, Abbysmal and Divine magic.
But his body and magic weren't the only changes, his very being felt different. Kyle didn't feel the usual hunger he'd have to resist, the beast was entirely gone from his consciousness. As he scrolled up his notifications at the corner of his UI, Kyle read through the only notification he hadn't had time to consider until now.
Your very existence has changed, your role altered, your being flipped upside down. Passive skill [Devour] removed.He even checked his skill book and sure enough, [Devour] was gone. This only meant one thing, when he had agreed to the Avatar's aid it changed him in a way that he became something incapable of devouring souls anymore. But if he was still a Spirit Beast and not a Devourer, then what was he becoming?
"Three thirds of the way…to what?" Kyle mused, if descent to the Nogitsune was the Beast and if a Kitsune started out at the middle as a Spirit Beast then…what was the Spirit? What was he turning into exactly? Kyle didn't know, the Avatar hadn't stuck around to explain and that worried him.
Before he had only heard of Ascension in two ways, first was Sly's Ascension to full Devilhood and that hadn't turned out very well…The second was the lore behind the Slime race, also worrisome of its own right. He didn't want to descend, but did he want to ascend instead? What was the difference?
These questions plagued his mind even as he willed open a rift, simply thinking of it now ripped the tear in space open. It seemed and felt like such a simple task, it terrified him so much more that he could do it easily. Kyle knew for a fact that power came with risks, so what was he risking?
He didn't know either.
And that scared the shit out of him.
But he couldn't stay here, pondering what could be forever. He still had a world to unite, nations to appease and break. And none of that was about to fix itself overnight, so he stepped through the rift. Kyle appeared through the tear in space he created, finding himself surrounded by his weary guildmates resting around while Birse spoke with two Devils off to the side.
"If you fools hadn't gotten in our way it wouldn't have escaped!" Mammon hissed at Birse as she held Karnage by the neck.
"There is no need to harm them Mam, let the mortal go. We can still find it, Behemoth cannot feed sufficiently by hiding out in the Spirit Realm." Lucifer assured as he gripped her shoulder.
Then all noticed him as he stood there, eyes radiating blue as he glared at Mammon. "Kyle?" Birse asked, unsure due to the change in his appearance.
Kyle said nothing as he stepped casually towards Mammon, as the Devil looked up she realised it was the same face Behemoth had when they had found it. Her eyes focused as she turned to face Kyle "Who are you, where is it?" she asked knowingly, this creature wasn't Behemoth.
As Kyle approached he noticed why Karnage wasn't reacting, Mammon was unleashing every single drop of Miasma and Aura she had upon the adventurer. This annoyed him, so he released every single drop of regenerated Spirit he had so far, about half his bar but it was enough to dispel Mammon's mana and suddenly force the Devil to her knees "Inspect me and you shall know." Kyle said with as ferocious a tone he could muster.
Using his mana Kyle forced Mammon to look up, briefly she stared at him in utter confusion before inspecting him.
{Ascendling} Kyllix [{{Master} Lord of Slimes}]-[{Chosen of Frost}] ({Holder of the Frostfire})-({GodSlayer}) (Blood Pack Mercenaries) Level 338Mammon's eyes widened in shock, not at the classes or titles, not the level or guild. But at the racial tag Kyle hadn't known was there before. The rest only added to her state of shock, knowing exactly what the being she was facing up to was. Mammon was speechless, her thoughts jumbled even as the Ascendling let go of her.
Kyle helped Karnage up, awkwardly letting go as he turned back to face the two Devils. Oblivious of why Mammon suddenly became so tame "Had your fill on looking at me yet?" he asked mockingly.
Lucifer was confused as well, deciding to also inspect Kyle his eyes too widened in more than surprise. "Little fox…what happened to you?" he asked, half laughing in amusement half in disbelief.
"I met an Avatar and killed a God, about my usual afternoon. How's yours been?" Kyle responded jokingly, a raised brow in question. Everyone tensed at the mention of the creator, except for Karnage and Lilior who already knew.
"The Avatar? What the hell did you do now!?" exclaimed Birse in disbelief as he also inspected him "And what the fuck is an Ascendling?"
"Ascend what now?" Kyle immediately asked in confusion.
"Ascendling." Repeated Lucifer as he shook his head "You truly have no idea what is happening to you do you?"
Everyone turned to the two Devils, as Kyle shrugged "Wish I did, got any pointers to give? Sticky notes to share? I'm all fucking ears cause Mr.Creator barely explained shit."
Mammon snorted "I can believe an Ascendling met the Avatar, I can believe an Ascendling killed an immortal but…An Ascendling not knowing what it is? Hah! Now this is precious."
Lucifer turned to glare at the sin of Greed but she only chuckled in return, he sighed and turned back to Kyle "Lit-…Kyllix, do you truly not know? Do you not understand the change you are about to go through?" Kyle shook his head, on edge and anxious at how seriously he was taking it. Lucifer nodded in response, sighing once more "Ascension comes in many ways, for Devillings it comes as a boost in our connection with the Abyss changing us to Devils. For others becoming Devils is actually a descent, which is how us Sins came to be in the first place."
"And for Spirit Beasts?..." Kyle urged on.
"I do not know exactly what you will become, I have never heard of your kind Ascending before. But what I can tell you is that you will not recognise yourself afterwards. Ascension comes with its risks too, for Devillings it is the chance of their change failing and them turning to Hellhounds but as for your kind…I don't know either." Lucifer explained as his expression seemed to drift briefly, deep in thought "I'm afraid you'll just have to find out what the Avatar had planned for you on your own."
"What happened to hunting down Behemoth?" Grumbled Mammon as she turned around and stepped into a rift that appeared just as suddenly as it disappeared.
Lucifer sighed as he watched her go, now turning to Birse "You might fool them mortal, but you do not fool me. Why was Behemoth within your member's body? That is a question I wish to ask but…" he glanced at Kyle "The circumstances beg for many more questions than just that now, so I'll leave it at that. All I ask is that you tell me, what do you plan to do next?"
Birse shook his head "Kyle can you imitate Yokai again?"
"No, I can copy the body and mask somehow but the flames…I cannot recreate their power and affect." Kyle replied with a sigh "We need another solution, one that doesn't use Yokai. The Hero, Villain scenario is lost and gone. I doubt we have enough time to pull it off again."
"Not to mention…" Birse glanced over at the still open portal "We have the Aurei to deal with too, we cannot ignore the fact that Behemoth just caused a scene."
"The Aurei are a peaceful people, they'll hear you out. After losing their immortality due to the Godwars, you'll find them to be quite tame." Lucifer explained with a sneer.
"The Elves are what we must cater around most, yet again." Said Kyle with a worried tone "And without someone to burn at the log, I doubt we can appease them now."
"I could talk to them?" Karnage tentatively offered.
All three glanced at her briefly, but Kyle only shook his head "At best you could talk to Elder Io, the others don't trust you enough yet. The Champions definitely won't after you solely being let out of imprisonment. And the Courts don't know you at all…" Kyle wrecked his brain to think something up, but he simply had no clue what to do next. They were running out of time, a timer ticking that they couldn't even see. An enemy coming, unknown numbers and power.
The Pack couldn't deal with this, the unknown was their worst enemy.
"Wiping out the Empire couldn't be an option could it?" Lucifer joked as he watched them hard at thought.
"Wipe out an entire race? Wasn't there some insane cataclysm event that would happen if we did that?" Karnage asked, slightly pale at the prospect.
"There are Elves in the alliance, so that wouldn't happen but still…not very likely we can accomplish it. Took us days of planning to get inside two cities, the Elves have hundreds across Il'tel and several on Hasharr. It would require time for actual warfare, time we cannot waste." Birse explained.
"Then no more tricks." Suddenly announced Kyle "We've used up all our cards, it's time we face them for real. They are broken, they are divided and confused. And the more time we waste the closer Void's people come to being ready." He turned to Birse, the guild leader deep in thought as he considered their options.
"Then first we need to rope in the remainders, the larger a force we seem the more inclined the Empire will be to join us."
"Who are the remainders?" Karnage asked.
"The factions yet to join any side so far include the Jal Humans of the Jalran islands, the Kal Humans of the Kalran fortress kingdom on Hasharr, the Aurei, the wild Mer tribes, and the Scalarians from the Temples of fire on northern I'ltel." Lucifer listed out each of the much smaller factions of Chaoz which hadn't joined either the Empire or the Alliance.
Kyle sighed "Too damn many you mean, who knows what the Em-"
"SHE WHAT?!" suddenly exclaimed Jacky as he stood to the side, speaking into a VCD. His eyes were wide, his expression baffled. Everyone who heard him, and it was everyone, turned to look at him as he glanced up palely from the device.
"What happened Jack?" Kyle asked, puzzled at the sudden outburst.
"The…The Elves were having a council, Courts and Elders together…and she…Liliana…"
Il'tel
Capital Elven City of Fei'tel
Elder's Hall
The Elders lay on their thrones now all turned to face the entrance, where three individuals stood. A Wise of the Forest Court, a new elected Clan Leader of the Night Court and the crown princess Sion of the Frost Court.
"We must strike!" Urged on the Forest Court Wise "Our forces are depleted, our homes at risk and our families hide in fear at night! How long will we allow this to go on for?! How long must the Empire cower? The monster can come back at any time! We must settle with this…'Alliance' as quickly as possible and put those accursed Hasharrians in their place!"
Sion glanced over at the old Wood Elf, her cold, deadpan eyes causing him to squirm in his shoes as status forced him to meet them "Our forces are depleted, our homes at risk and our families are afraid. War will not fix this, old man. " her tone was full of disrespect, dangerously so as the Wise glared back at her.
The Night Court clan leader sighed as she fidgeted with her long silver hair "Must we argue? Now?"
"Enough with the bickering, why would you?!" exclaimed Luna, her draconic voice making the room rumble "I've heard enough of that for millennia to come." She said while glancing in-between Io and Isaac. "Instead let us put our heads together for once, and come to a reasonable solution to this burning pile of dung we currently stand in!"
Io shrugged "Oh I'm fine with Jacobi Wise's solution." She was utterly unmotivated, distracted by the littlest of things as she stared off.
"Now now Elder Io…we mustn't be hasty." Isaac chuckled as he said with an awkward smile.
Io's eyes widened as she turned to stare murderously at Isaac, her voice suddenly oozing malevolence as she spoke "Do not dare tell me what I must be, dickless mortal mongrel."
Luna sighed as they looked away from each other "This is-"
But the dragon was cut off as suddenly the air filled with mana, as before them all, reality tore open. They watched in bafflement as out of the rift, the Demi-Goddess Liliana stepped out. Her glittering white dress flowing behind her as she hovered in mid-air, her hair spread out and slowly waving about as her mana gushed out unrestrained.
Luna growled, standing to face the Fae deity "Again? How? How did you of all, get passed our defences?"
Liliana smiled as she checker her nails "Do you like it Luna? It's a new spell we've developed from watching the summoned, the Dezol can effectively go wherever we want now. And I felt like coming here today."
Elder Jaik'ial's expression was at it's palest possible as he squirmed in his throne "Impossible! The sheer amount of mana required for that would be-"
"I know, I fed it mana myself after all." Liliana nonchalantly responded, before suddenly spinning about mid-air, glancing over each other of them as she sneered "Oh! Look at you all! Conniving behind our backs, plotting and planning how to rise at the top once more!" she chuckled impishly "Oh how much I despise your race, prideful beyond your capability, spiteful at any opposition, so much damn illusions of grandeur you can barely stand with those balls you have." She turned to face Luna "And for such a powerful race to merge people with these fools…What happened to you Dragons?"
Luna's fangs were completely bared as she glared a deathly stare at Liliana, as the Demi-Goddess sneered in amusement "Oh right, we Fae pushed you to the brink of extinction. But could you really blame us? We the guardians of life? Not to have a say with your blind and mockingly pointless destruction of everything you came into contact with? As you burned civilizations to the ground simply because you felt like it, as you massacred billions on a meagre whim."
Liliana once more turned to the Elves "And you again, where was I?" she dramatically asked herself, seemingly pondering briefly "Oh right, so emptily proud of yourselves you never understood why the Humans and Beastmen despised you. After centuries of dealing with your selfish bullshit no God was surprised at how they started treating you."
The tension was high inside the hall, Dragon Queen and Demi-Goddess staring each other down as the surrounding Elves stared palely at the two timebombs.
But Luna was ancient, and patient as she hissed in question "What do you want butterfly?"
Liliana smiled awkwardly at the insult, overly annoyed by it though she let it slide "Oh yes, I didn't just come here to point out your crap did I? Point is, no faction on this blasted world is sinless. Our ancestors and very selves have done mistakes. Mistakes some of us aren't proud of, mistakes some of us cherish deeply. We've stabbed at each other since the very start, don't deny it. Each race has had a conflict with the other at one point or a damn other."
She sighed deeply "Not once has this world had peace, not once has Chaoz been appeased. With the end of each war another began to brew, with the aftermath of each bloodbath another followed. With the fall of one Empire, another rose only to fall too and too be replaced." She glanced around the tense room "A cycle of hate, a cycle of death, a cycle of chaos. It doesn't matter who started it, what matters is that we all had a hand in keeping it. So shouldn't it be all our duties to end it?"
"What are you implying?" Elder Fion'e asked as she stared up at the Fae with narrowed eyes.
Liliana clenched her fists as her expression turned solemn "I'm implying that hate, pride and selfishness will be our undoing. That what is at risk now is much more than just our lives, more than our people, more than our legacies. Chaoz is the epitome of life, the Avatar's grandest creation but also their worst mistake. Yet it is us who stand in between Void and Existence. And if we do not unite, if we continue to bicker like children then the Void will devour us whole."
Liliana's eyes grew cold, her expression waning into sorrowful "Nothing will remain. Not ourselves, not our people, not our families nor our legacy. The Void will erase it all." The hall grew quiet, as her words sank in before she continued "We cannot change the past, we cannot heal our ruptured history…But we can save our future. If not for ourselves then for those yet to come…" she said while raising her right hand to her chest and clenching her dress "If not for those alive now, then for those who will surely live tomorrow. Unless we fail, then nobody will be."
She grimaced as her tone grew fierce "We summoned beings from other worlds to fix our own, we forced them to fight, we forced them to play our game. We forced them to deal with our shit, and they did for a time. Heroes, one after the other they risked it all to aid our people. But that doesn't last, Heroism is a fading light in the distance. Because as we forced our beliefs on them, they are the ones who choose if to accept them as their own."
Liliana sighed as she also weakly smiled "And if Chaoz's existence relies on this next Avatar given quest, then things must change. For the Hero we have remaining doesn't care, he not only denies our beliefs but twists and turns them, abuses of them to his own gain. Our Hero will not save us, he will only save himself and those close to him. The Dark Hero, Chosen of Ymir cares not how many die, he cares not what civilization survives as long as existence remains whole."
Her tone rose once more, louder than ever "So it falls to us, to be our own heroes for once. Let us leave the past as it is, musn't look away but learn from history. So our future isn't as grim, so our children have lives at all. No more factions, No more alliances, No more Empires, Dominions and Kingdoms. What I offer is not peace, but neither conflict. Let us unite under one flag, one name, one belief. That we, as living, breathing, thinking beings are all, in many ways, many shapes and many forms…Equal."