("You've done well at surviving Void") the static like voice stated as Kyle felt his way around the darkness.
"Well…I'm not dead since you know, I can respawn. Why am I here again?" unease filled his tone as he questioned the being.
A rumbling chuckle filled the darkness ("You are asleep young one, dreams are the easiest way we have to speak with you. Unlike others we find premonitions and visions…ineffective, it is in our best interest that you stay alive and grow stronger after all.") the voice explained.
"And?…" Kyle grew impatient, he wanted to know what happened after Lucifer got ditched into his own portal.
("Patience keeps you alive a bit longer, you should know better child. This meeting's objective is to warn you, to warn you about the power you've just unlocked.") The voice suddenly moved and began emanating from behind him.
Kyle was surprised "Power? What power are you talking about?" he couldn't remember any god like powers he recently obtained.
("You punched through the veil of domains, mortals shouldn't mess with such things, less so unexperienced ones like you.") The voice grew serious ("Beware young Void, do not use this ability freely. We never thought you to learn such things so early but alas you have and the only reason you were able to tear through the right one is because the moronic devil left his connection open.")
Kyle chuckled "So I got lucky? Well can't say I'm disappointed, things could have turned out much worse" he sighed "Well since I'm here and…asleep. How about you tell me why exactly you need me, what's the point of you even giving me power? Not that I mind but I would like to know the details of this…contract".
Silence filled the darkness momentarily before the voice responded ("We are what you might call ascended beings, we reached a higher state of existence but because of that we are unable of holding a physical body for any sort of time. Due to that we require something akin to what Gods call heroes, lower beings through which we make our word heard.") it explained.
"So you are Gods? I mean I won't even try to understand this whole ascended beings crap but…how different are you from Gods? Or even Devils?" Kyle grew curious, he didn't think he'd get another chance to ask these questions.
The voice chuckled "Devils are low immortals, not even Gods pay them much attention. As for Gods? Unemotional beings, a similar existence to us ascended beings except they were born into immortality. We evolved into it, through several billion generations of progress and death."
Kyle grinned "So I have pseudo Gods on my side, awesome? But what about Lilliana? Why is she paying attention to Devils, how did Devils take down Oberon a God? What is going on? Why are we here?" he barraged it with questions he was dying to ask.
The voice chuckled yet again "Slowly Void, we are in no rush. We aren't all knowing but some answers we do have, unfortunately you will not like any of them."
Kyle sighed "Didn't think I would, hit me"
"Excuse you?" the voice asked confused.
"No I..it's just a…forget it just…tell me" Kyle groaned from the cringe.
"Mortals…" the being sighed "We do not know much, most is still theoretical. Lilliana is a halfblood, a Demi-Goddess. She holds more power than the average God can show physically because her body grew sustaining that power, normally a God requires a body to inhabit but those bodies fall apart quickly and cannot withstand the God's full power. Because of that she was capable of trapping Oberon within his physical shell, locking away his power."
"Demi-Goddess…what happens if we kill her physical body?" Kyle rubbed the back of his neck as he sighed another time.
"She is a Fae, destroying her physical body will remove her connection to the physical but will not kill her." The voice moved yet again, it spoke from above him "Now this is only theoretical but we believe the reason for you and your companions to be on Chaoz is known by the previous Heroes, your existence alone is such a connection to them"
Kyle stopped still "My existence? What do you mean?"
The voice momentarily went silent as the darkness shifted with grey "It is too soon for you to learn of that" it finally responded.
"Too soon? Wh-" the darkness disappeared as suddenly Kyle woke up. He opened his eyes wide to find himself staring at a roof, multiple notifications greeted him.
Through skill [Devour] active skill [Demonic Presence] has been unlocked! Through skill [Devour] active skill [Ooze] has gained [Demonic] variation! Through rigorous mental strain your stats have been effected: +1 INT Through rigorous mental strain your stats have been effected: +1 INT Through rigorous mental strain your stats have been effected: +1 INT Seeing through an illusion has affected your stats: +1 WIS Seeing through an illusion has affected your stats: +1 WIS Through trial and error you have unlocked the active skill [Dimensional Force]Kyle quickly read through them then sat up "Damn bastard, what did it mean…" he grimaced ("There is too much I don't know…now it has something to do with me even more!?"), he glanced down at his hands "My existence…".
"Mmm…."
Kyle frowned as he noticed the sleeping lump next to him "Karnage?", she was sitting on a chair while laying over the bedside. He stared at her momentarily before sighing "What am I going to do with you…" he shook her by the shoulder "Oi wake up".
"Ahh! Another ten minutes!" she sleepily exclaimed.
Kyle snorted "Right" he left her alone and got out of bed when suddenly the door across the room opened.
"You're awake" Death exclaimed as he walked in.
"Apparently we still need to sleep, who knew" Kyle joked as he stretched his arms and legs.
"Apparently we also need to eat, drink, piss and shit. Trust me you don't want to know how we figured out the last two" Death chuckled as he rested his back to the wall by the door.
Kyle finished his stretching and began walking towards the door "Where are we?".
"A mage guild tower, Jade serpents I hear." Death answered while playing around with a flame in his palm.
Kyle had walked up to the door and stopped when he grabbed the handle, he whispered "What's the situation?".
Death whispered back "The mage guild masters appeared, lucky us. That Lucifer fucker isn't around for now but they expect him to be back, we are currently waiting on news about Helix and if the town's guard was able to assist the Helix guards. The mage guilds sent some scouts, we're waiting for their return."
"Let's go meet up with the others then" Kyle opened the door and walked out.
Death followed him out "Two floors up, we're on the tower's first floor".
Kyle studied the tower's inside as they walked over to the spiral staircase in the middle. The inside had a single circular wall with more doors than Kyle could count on his hands, the room he came out from was large but the one they walked through now was more of a hall.
The walls were colored dark green while both the roof and floor was black with scale like tiling, paintings of different green robed mages lined the wall. They reached the similarly colored staircase, black and green stairs off and on. Kyle followed Death up the wide stairs as they ascended in a spiral around a black pillar of scales.
"Here we go" Death stated as they reached the third floor, he turned to the left as one of the doors opened. "Yo" Death greeted as Birse, Seren, Nakano, Zaahr and multiple robed mages walked out.
"Where are Skill and Sly?" Kyle asked as Birse and Seren approached them.
"Sly insisted on grinding while you were out of it so I pointed him towards a good spot we found earlier, he took Skill and Eternium's healer with him" Birse explained stopping right in front of them.
"It got to him badly" Seren stated while frowning "Where's Karnage?"
"Still asleep downstairs, what do you mean got to him?" Kyle responded before asking in confusion.
"Being beaten down by Lucifer, he's probably beating himself up" Seren sighed after explaining.
Birse chuckled "Let him be he'll come out of it, you all know how competitive that idiot can be. Anyway Kyll head over to the west gate, Skill should be waiting for you there. You're heading out immediately, reports came in that Helix has been recaptured and we don't have any more time to lose."
Kyle nodded "Think you can hold out before we get back?" his expression was serious as he studied the mages watching them while conversing with each other.
Birse also glanced back at them "They said they'll aid us in defending from any attacks but any retaliation is up to us, honestly? They don't trust us and neither do I."
Suddenly one of the mages turned to walk towards them "So you have woken up" the mage was tall for a human with long grey hair and mustache, he wore a long green mage robe with black scales lining the edges and held a thick wooden staff with multicolored leaves growing out of random branches growing out of the wood.
Kyle squinted as he looked the mage up and down "Wait you are…" the blurry memory of the man standing above him after Lucifer got blasted into his own rift came to him.
The mage raised his right arm to his chest "I am Cornelius Vespier, guild master of the Jade Serpents. Excuse my query but you are heading out with the party your leader has set up?" he gestured to Birse.
"Yeah I am, what of it?" Kyle studied the mage warily, he did not know the limits of what magic was capable of here.
Cornelius noticed his caution "I simply wish to have a chat with you adventurer, mind If I walk you out?"
Kyle glanced at the others "Guess that's my cue, see you all in a bit", fist bumping all three they said their goodbyes as well.
Cornelius hummed in thought "What a strange gesture of greeting, anyhow I'll flash us to the exit" he turned towards the staircase.
"Actually one of our party members is still downstairs if you don't mind" Kyle stated as he followed the mage, he suddenly found himself back on the first floor.
"Ah yes, here we go then. Is that her?" Cornelius asked as he gestured at Karnage who was glaring at the staircase sleepily.
Hearing his voice she jumped and turned around "How did…" she was momentarily surprised but almost immediately went back to glaring, glaring at Kyle "You could have woken me up" she stated with a cross expression.
Kyle smirked "But you were sleeping so loudly, really what were you dreaming about?"
Her eyes went wide momentarily as her cheeks flushed red "WhWhat did I!?" she stuttered and stumbled with words.
"Just messing with you, I tried to wake you up and you told me to let you rest a bit more" Kyle explained as he raised his arms in front of himself defensively.
"Oh" Karnage stared at them blankly.
Cornelius caressed his mustache as he spoke "Well then shall we?" he gestured towards what Kyle thought to be the exit, two large double doors made of dark green wood, runes etched on the black doorway.
Kyle entered a cold sweat when he noticed the runes "Are those runes?" he asked, trying keep his expression in check.
Cornelius raised his left arm then opened his palm wide and the runes flared a bright green "Indeed they are, my latest study involved them then thereafter I implemented them to our quarters. This way" he strode towards the exit as the doors opened on their own.
Kyle remained cautious as he followed the old mage ("Calm down…the bank was owned by a different guild…Pheonix something…"). "What did you want to talk about?" he asked as he studied the other side of the exit, still the inside of a building.
Karnage momentarily stared at them leave before snapping out of her confusion and jogged over. "Idiot" she whispered before reaching them, they did not hear her comment.
"Just a simple curiosity" Cornelius began to explain as he turned into the corridor "The magic you utilize along with the class you own, how did you come by them?" he glanced back at Kyle as he walked.
Kyle studied him back, wearing a friendly expression as he did "You could say I purchased it, what about it?".
"Purchased? Might I ask from who?" Cornelius's eyebrows furrowed into a frown as he walked through another door that opened for him.
"A bunch of unsavory individuals, what is your interest in this?" Kyle asked as they followed the mage into a wider corridor, unlike the last multiple doors covered this one and another set of large double doors at one end.
Cornelius headed towards the double doors "I will be blunt with you adventurer as this seems to be getting me nowhere, that class you purchased comes from a treasured artifact of my guild. Said artifact was transported here to give you adventurers a way to obtain powerful classes, it was at first being kept safe and secret by the Crying Pheonix guild until its actual destination was complete with security but alas those fools couldn't hold it."
He stopped with his hand on the large double doors and stared back at Kyle who smirked "And you want it back?" Kyle asked.
Cornelius frowned "It would greatly benefit us both, we do not need funds as such use of the artifact would be without payment" he explained.
Kyle thought it over before responding "Damn, you should have told me sooner. I need to speak with Birse now, I know where it's located and he can ready a party to get it back"
"And you believe us incapable of doing so ourselves?" Cornelius chuckled "I'm a Grand Sorcerer-"
Kyle cut him off "And you can take it off the leader of the Dusk Blade Bandits without severe casualties?" his smirk grew into a grin.
Cornelius's eyes widened in surprise "Them? Wretch…" he grinded his teeth and closed his eyes in thought "You truly believe your companions can retrieve it?" he asked momentarily after.
"Yeah I do, guess we're going back up?" Kyle asked as he turned back.
"No need, one of these was issued to your ranger" Cornelius pulled out a large metal ring with a glass pane embedded inside "It's visual communicative device of our invention, VCD as my apprentice calls them" he forwarded the object to Kyle "Picture the one you want to speak with, give the details to your leader whenever you can. I understand how important it is that your forces regroup so I won't keep you waiting any longer" he explained.
"Then I'll graciously accept" Kyle took the VCD from the mage "Can you 'flash' us to the west gate also?" he asked.
Cornelius shook his head "I'm afraid that is out of range, I can only use that spell within this building" he gestured around him.
"Alright, also I wanted to ask something as well" Kyle studied the VCD as he spoke "You being a mage guild master probably makes you one of my best choices for this topic".
Cornelius's curiosity peaked "Ask away?"
"What can you tell me about how we are even around? How did me and my people come to this world as we did?" Kyle looked up at the mage, paying him full attention.
Cornelius hummed in thought "As I've told your companions, you were all probably summoned here through the power of a Deity. Lilliana lacks such power over reality but…Oberon doesn't. My guess is she somehow forced him into it, the reason is what I do not comprehend."
Kyle smiled coldly "It doesn't make sense does it? Summoning us from another world through her companionship with some of our own only for us to side against her?" he sighed "It doesn't make sense…yet it does"
Cornelius frowned "How so?" he asked in doubt.
"We aren't pawns of hers as she stated us to be, not yet anyway. List her objectives, to own this world, what would she need to do that? Is her demon army enough?" Kyle continued to stare as the mage considered his line of thought.
"No, the Elven Empire alone could simply destroy that whole continent. The Ogre's militia could defeat the demons in battle and the Orc's hordes cannot be defeated on their home land." Cornelius responded.
"Then there is only one answer remaining, the item our 'predecessors' stole. How powerful is it?" Kyle stated as he walked over to the doors, he pushed them open "What can level three powerful kingdoms?"
Cornelius sighed "No artifact within my knowledge possesses such power, I'm afraid I cannot help you with this adventurer" he raised his right hand to his chest "I'll be leaving you then, I await word from your leaders".
Kyle was about to respond but in between blinks the mage disappeared "Not again…" he glanced back at Karnage "Let's go regroup with Skill then, guess I'll fill in Birse while we walk" he looked down at the VCD as he stepped out.
Karnage was too busy glancing at the portraits of mages throughout the corridor to pay attention to their conversation but noticed when he spoke to her "Oh alright let's go then, this place creeps me out" she stated while following him out. The eyes of the portraits all turned to look at the door as it closed.
IL'E, Frostbite Forest, Tundra Wolf Den
Blood splattered all over the nearby trees while patches of fur and flesh, disembodied limbs, corpses of grey, black, white or brown fur lay strewn about the small hill by the lake. Whines of pain and growls of anger along with grunts and maniacal laughter filled the air.
Behind one tree like any other, she trembled in fear as tears streamed down her face. A young woman with a dark complexion, crimson red eyes and shoulder length snow white hair lay hiding behind the tree. She hugged her knees as her whole body trembled, taking erratic breaths she shut off the sounds around her, tried to ignore the smell as she drowned in her thoughts.
("I'm Reyna, age 19, female. I'm inside some fantasy filled dimension due to some crazy Goddess, a game like world with skills and stats that effect your physical body.") she thought to herself while chuckling lightly, trying to keep herself sane ("And I'm pretty sure my party leader is possessed by the devil") she took a glance around the tree.
Sly spun in a whirlwind of blades and violet aura as more and more wolves ran out from their dens inside the holey hillside, their comrade's corpses lying ripped to shreds all over. He sidestepped, slashed, evaded, threw, kicked and laughed as he drowned in the euphoria of combat. The wolves having him completely surrounded with about four in each direction forming a circle around him as they ran around occasionally pouncing at him.
"Healer! Medic! Support! Heal!" he shouted while kicking a brown wolf that came at him low, the beast crashed back into two of his pack as Sly ended his spin kick by elbowing a second black wolf that pounced at him from behind.
"Ahh!! Heal! Heal! Heal!" Reyna shouted in between sobs as she cast her magic, green lightening escaped the iron mace she held in one hand. The lightened surged around the tree and directly at Sly momentarily encasing him in green light.
"Damn support! Faster healing!" Sly cursed as a grey wolf bit into his left leg, stabbing downwards his dagger dug deep into it's skull as he grabbed hold of a second white wolf with his right hand that had pounced at him from the side.
"Okay! Okay!" Reyna answered as she frantically stood up while grabbing her round shield that lay on the snow, she stepped around the tree to see Sly smash two wolves into each other before a burst of violet aura exploded around him sending all the wolves crashing back a couple meters.
"Heal!" she shouted sending forth another barrage of green lightning into Sly, her eyes suddenly widened in terror as a dozen wolves turned towards her. "B-Bo-Boss!" she screamed while holding her shield up, one of the wolves pounced towards her.
The snow in front of her exploded as a second violet aura crashed down onto the wolf, Kurt bit down on it's neck before casually throwing it's dead corpse aside. The direwolf growled menacingly making each wolf take a step back, it's aura pressuring them down as it engulfed them and further.
"Buff! Out of Buffs!" Sly shouted while pulling out another pair of daggers from his belts, they gleamed a violet light as it suddenly grew longer and more physical. He raised his arms wide as he closed his eyes and began to chant "Calm waters over the lake that is my mind, silent wind flowing through me. Ripple, growl!" he let go of the two daggers at shoulder height.
Reyna also began chanting she moment he called out for her, she held her mace with both hands letting her shield dangle by it's brace. "Oh divine wind grant us your speed! Blessing of Wind!" an ethereal blue wind formed around her, it flowed fiercely around the wolves and towards Sly.
Sly grinned as the daggers fell, the blue wind rushed through him forming a thin gleaming blue aura around him. The wolves around him dashed at him in groups, some prowling low while others pouncing high from all directions while the rest awaited their chance. The daggers reached ankle height when he suddenly shouted out loud, mana still infused in his voice and words "Aurei Form, Warrior".
The snow around him exploded upwards as his violet aura suddenly shrunk and reentered his body, his skin cracked as the cracks began emanating a violet hue while blood trickled down from them. Sly's body exploded into movement as he grabbed hold of the still gleaming daggers, the snow melting as it touched his skin.
The wolves didn't even have time to whine in pain as the two blades of violet aura grew out of the explosion of snow, they suddenly began to spin violently slashing around the beasts like meat entering a grinder.
Reyna watched as the snow cleared revealing Sly ending his spin attack, losing no time he rushed forth while slashing widely outwards. A couple dozen more corpses lay strewn about the small opening in front of the dens, Sly grinned widely as the two blades of aura shrunk back down into the daggers "So you've finally decided to come out" he stated mockingly.
Reyna took a step back "The-The E-Elite?!" she stuttered while remembering what Sly was aiming to fight, the whole reason he was massacring wolves five levels below him.
The temperature dropped from cold to freezing as one of the larger den's outline began forming frost, a low growl emanating from inside. The beast prowled out from the den, it's crimson red fur gleamed with fiery power as it glared down at Sly standing two feet from it's snout. Three times larger than even Kurt the wolf snarled down at the puny adventurer in front of it, it's golden eyes shaking with pure fury. Sly inspected the beast as his grin faltered.
{World Boss} Lycan (Mother of wolves) Level (Beyond your comprehension)Sly's expression paled severely as he stared up at Lycan, his eyes shrunk into slits as his wolf ears dropped forward to hide in his hair. "You're not an El-" he was cut off mid-sentence as Lycan suddenly bit down, she gulped swallowing him whole.
Reyna's face twitched without control as Kurt spun around and using it's snout threw her up onto it's back. Violet aura rampaged around the direwolf's legs as it ran as quickly as it could, it's tail hiding between it's hind legs. Reyna too terrified to even think, she held onto the direwolf's fur while staring back at the world boss disappearing behind the trees.
Lycan for scale : https://i.imgur.com/ietry3n.png