Chapter 461: No More Surprises. [Release Version] (Major Changes) (Patreon)

Edit: Just like the last chapter, huge changes to the chapter that I would recommend everybody to read.

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“My lady, don’t worry about the people in the church!” Tasianna shouted after we all saw those flame pillars explode. “Commander Kuornig chased the sin heir’s companions towards the church, and he’s strong enough to have bisected that mud wave, so he should be able to take care of it, my lady. We must take care of this issue.”

That reminded me of the fully-armored person I saw with the faint white light. Yet, I honestly wished he was here with us to fight this guy since he was over level l50. It would even out the battlefield. Even if Neill, Tasianna, and I had beaten Vifi, gaining experience fighting against a Warbringer, it still was a close match that involved total destruction of the surroundings due to our combined Territory usage.

There was nobody inside this section of the city, but the collateral damage would be impossible to contain if this fight turns into what I thought it would become. Yet, we had to. This sin heir was a major threat, not only to my party but also to the entirety of this city! Fleindia wanted her revenge on a mud-using Warbringer, right? Well, here he was. He was her revenge target.

“Still itching for a fight? Well … then how about your wolf friend? Want her to die? Just leave her to die while fighting me? Yes, yes?” He once again tried to talk his way out of this fight. Why, though? “No? Then, let me make you worry!”

The demonkin raised his arms into the air, making the mud around him rise up and hiding him like a curtain. My [Detection Sensor] noticed him burrowing himself into the earth, letting the mud wall crash into the ground, creating a miniature mud tsunami like the one he tried to create before.

Our five-man group dealt with it with our respective abilities, saving ourselves, but we were unable to fully prevent the mud wave from destroying the surrounding empty houses. They were all swept away by the waves, destroying even more of this once peaceful city.

I used my [Mana Eyes], locking onto the sin heir’s figure, only to be shocked at how fast he was swimming through the ground. He was going towards the church.

I was about to inform everybody of this, but he suddenly pivoted towards the east, only to do it again, this time moving south. West, north, east, south, he was swimming around the area, making his intentions indecipherable to me, like a shark waiting for the perfect time to strike.

Redirecting this information to everybody, Neill became impatient, wanting to jump into the hole she escaped from to pursue him. I had noticed her aggression when I helped her in the air, so it made me wonder why she was so adamant about this fight.

[“The bastard nearly caught me off-guard, and would have if it wasn’t for Sarasa warning me. Saori and her group got attacked by him and he was about to bury me alive as well before I got myself out of the sewer. Tried to pay him back, but got trapped when he suddenly summoned that mud tsunami.”]

“Right!” Tasianna jerked backward. “Miss Saori! She sacrificed herself to help us, my lady. Pushed us out with Uno, allowing me to break us out of the predicament. The sin heir is right, Miss Saori is still trapped with the few enemies we were engaging at that time. We have to help her.”

My chest was starting to feel the same tightness I felt when I had to decide between helping the citizens or saving my friends. It was happening again, another annoying set of decisions I had to choose between. We had to apprehend the demonkin but he was deep in the earth, swimming around as if he was awaiting our decision. He had all the time in the world, but we didn’t.

It was obvious at this point he would react to whatever we would do. He could escape at any time, but letting Neill chase after him with only some support was suicidal. The moment he trapped her where my songs couldn’t reach, she would be at a disadvantage. Even if she had [Battle Frenzy (Major)], it was too risky. Not to mention the possibility of the demonkin just suffocating her.

We have no choice.

Priorities. I had to remind myself what my priorities were. I felt guilty of almost getting tunnel visioned into fighting him in such a situation. We had to let him off.

[“That is the correct choice, my princess.”] When I relayed my thoughts to my companions, Shay immediately agreed. [“A prey like this is impossible to beat without loses in such a situation. We need to save Saori, first.”]

[“Sarasa, Uno, and Song went to help Saori, we need to find them as well,”] Beth added.

I interjected. [“Uno came to me. I told him and Rajah to protect the citizens I rescued. Rajah should be herding the rest of the shadow pack, so we don’t need to worry about them. Saori is our target.”]

[“Hey, hey, I have to speak up, though,”] Neill said. [“I know Saori is important to you, but this demonkin is still an issue, because we have no idea what he’s trying to do. Flee? Maybe, but as you said, he’s unpredictable and that makes it hard to know if your decision is right or not. We need to split up to cover up our flanks.”]

“That would be going along with his plans, Princess Fargryneill!” Tasianna protested. “If we separate, that just makes it easier for him to pick us off. You heard Saintess Fleindia explain his method of operation, and it is clear he is trained in skullduggery. We are strong together, not apart.”

[“It’s clear you’re more worried about Hestia than me, Tasianna. I know you well enough by now. If you want to help Hestia, then go! Don’t forget, Hestia just announced that she will protect the people here, and that means a commitment that will bite her in the tail in the future. One of us has to go protect them, so let me go by myself. You and the twins go with Hestia.”]

“I would never think like that, my lady!” Tasianna rebuked my sister, red with anger. “You are important to my lady and that means I must help you as well. If you believe you understand my thoughts, then you should know I know my lady well enough that losing people—”

[“Enough!”] I silenced everybody. [“Do not make this personal, any of you! Tasianna, Neill is right in this instance. No more arguing, we need to go! Tasianna, show me where Saori is, now!”]

“Your will, my lady!” Tasianna bowed before getting on me, allowing me to ferry her while she gave me directions.

Neill roared and moved south, where I had sent Varya with Ellaine and the students. As my group went east, my eyes snapped down as I saw the sin heir following Neill. My heart dropped, causing me to imagine what would happen if I let him off like this. I was about to turn around, but Shay roared next to me.

[“Stop!”] he shouted. [“Commit! This is your decision, you have to commit or nothing will be done.”]

I grit my teeth, squeezing my front feet. [“Dammit! Thank you!”]

I rushed over to where Saori was trapped, noticing the large, inactive mud geyser. With the magic circles destroyed, entering the muddy prison was completely doable. I shot a flaming breath into it, melting through all the mud while Tasianna used her [Aerokinesis] to control the steam, preventing us from taking in the terrible smell.

Once we made it into the sewer, Shay and Beth immediately froze the mud around us, allowing me to simply slash right through, shattering everything in the way of my tail. As we charged through, following a group of bunched up signals, my [Foresight] warned me to duck.

As I did just that, the mud wall in front of me was torn to pieces as a black thunderbolt pierced through it. In the next moment, a wolf burst through the wall, howling as a group of people were dragged behind it with black tendrils wrapped around their bodies.

Saori!

Her black fur was caked with mud and blood, along with some patches of burned soot discoloring her white fur. She had the look of an alarmed predator as she bared her teeth at us the moment our eyes met, with blood and saliva drenching her fangs. After a moment, she realized who we were and snapped her mouth shut, looking at us in surprise.

[“Good timing. I was about to run out of oxygen,”] she said before her large body began to fall to the ground. Song and Vidia appeared from her shadow and supported Saori, keeping her from face planting on the muddy floor.

The twins and I then came over, helping her up before I wrapped my head around her, embracing her. As I hugged her, I noticed the captured people from before, around twenty, all attached to Saori’s back. When I questioned her on this, Tasianna answered.

“Those were the people who attacked us. We couldn’t confirm their identities, but they were clearly robbers and attacked us the moment we confronted them. I believe Tatsuya noted how some of them were mercenaries, overhearing them talk about how they would help out their ‘Boss.’”

[“Yanderu Eluseuss,”] Saori answered. [“They kept mumbling about some ‘Bloodgold’ person, trying to beg for their lives by buying us off. One even outright mentioned the Yanderu and that their boss would pay me. I did not spare them for that reason, but I took them prisoner when we were stuck inside the mud bath.”]

[“How did you avoid getting trapped inside? Like a fossil, I mean,”] I asked.

[“[Shadow Dash],”] Vidia answered for her daughter. [“After we helped Tasianna and the children escape, we dived into the shadow world until everything was encased in the mud. My daughter then used [Umbral Void] to blow everything up until we discovered the small safe haven our enemy had intentionally left behind for their allies.”]

[“[Umbral Void]?”] I wondered.

[“I will show you when we get the chance. Part of the two customs spells Belzac taught me, next to [Umbral Skip].”] Saori sighed, still gasping for air. [“In any case, where is the sin heir? Is he dead?”]

While explaining the situation to her, I dragged Saori out of the tunnel before we took to the sky, only to notice another mud tsunami had appeared inside the city. In fact, when I looked south and where the rescue group should’ve been, I noted it was completely enveloped in mud, with numerous houses crushed and consumed by the disaster.

The new mud wave was targeting the city’s gates, where I saw Neill galloping through the air with the rest of the shadow pack, carrying various people to safety as quickly as they could. Meanwhile, a single person was standing on top of the wave, clapping carefreely, heralding such a devastating attack with full glee.

I knew it! Dammit, dammit! Where the hell are the knights! Anybody, reinforcements, please!

Yet, I didn’t regret my decision. It was as Shay said, I had to commit, and Saori was just more important. I didn’t know if she could have gotten out of her situation alone, but I knew she was exhausted after everything.

[“Heal me,”] she said as I was boiling with rage. [“My teleportation only requires line-of-sight, which yours need fire and line-of-sight. Heal me, and I can help. I want to pay him back, not to mention Tatsuya and the others are there.”]

Only? You need shadows, was what I was about to say before I remembered she had gained another teleport method with her two-spell package deal. Her [Umbral Skip].

Once I did as she asked me, she prepared two spells. She held the larger one in front of her mouth while the other appeared on her back. Once the larger was done, her smaller magic circle glowed and activated, Saori disappearing with the blink of the eye, as if somebody had snapped her out of existence. Pop. Gone.

Thankfully, this was only the starting cast for her spell, as she appeared right above the Warbringer with her large spell readied. The demonkin didn’t turn around as he slowly sunk into his mud wave, understanding that doing anything but fleeing at that very moment would only mean he would be badly hit.

Regardless, it was inevitable … unless he could teleport … which he, thankfully, couldn’t.

With a massive bang, Saori unleashed her [Hadaen Dragon Thunder], striking the demonkin point-blank and destroying the mud tsunami before the majority of the filthy wave could crash into the city’s gate. As the beam continued drilling into the ground, I noticed Uno jump into the air, shooting black flames into the air.

Good boy! I wanted to pet him so much right now! That was a teleportation point for [Flash Fire].

“We’ll go on ahead, my lady!” Tasianna called out as she got on Beth. [Flash Fire] wasn’t the best Hestia Air experience, after all.

[“Got it, see you—”]

[“Alpha’s Master, please, stop!”]

However, before I could, Song jumped out of my shadow with Vidia, pulling Shoyi with them out of my shadow. Seeing the slime here and now could only mean one thing, and it made an already bad day even worse.

I looked down, noticing the [Room] runes stuck in his amorphous body being opened, with two virigress heads sticking out of them. Shere and Ajay, and they were meowing.

[“Master, quick!”] Both pleaded. [“Inside. Help. Help. Yorshka!”]

No, no, no, this isn’t the time for you guys to be in trouble! Please!

“We can handle the rest, my lady!” Tasianna called before the twins flew away.

[“Thank you!”] I said before using [Humanize].

<[Humanize (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>

Hold on, my buffs.

I told Shoyi to spit the runes out, as I had to maintain my buffs for Saori and the others before I dropped into the subspace, noticing clashing voices coming from both the virigress cubs and my maids. Svena, Lorena, Haati, and Priscilla were panicking as five armor clad knights laid on the ground of our living room, bleeding out and breathing heavily.

I recognized the armor belonging to the Knights of Aurena, especially with the Aurena amulets hanging from their necks. Priscilla and my maids were helping them drink Tasianna’s health potions, but they were coughing so much they couldn’t properly ingest it.

“Hestia, my mother!” Priscilla ran up to me the moment she saw me, grabbing me by my sleeves, begging me with pleading eyes.

Svena ran over, pulled the young dragonewt girl away from me. Pale like a ghost, she began explaining,“Dame Yorshka and your master are in peril. They called for you to hurry to their side for your song. Some of the knights died while Mister Akasht was lulled into a sleep!”

“The sin heir of envy, my lady!” Lorena cried. “They said it clearly before they left these knights with us.”

“We managed to keep their health from dropping too much with your holy flames, but they aren’t drinking the potions.” Haati’s cat tail and ears were wriggling around like crazy, fully displaying her panic. “They aren’t waking up, they aren’t drinking, we can—Woah!”

“Akrak!” One of them suddenly reached their hands out, gasping for air as their eyes shot wide open. As Haati tried to touch her, the female knight slapped her away and attempted to grab a sword from her empty scabbard.

Realizing this one was the beastman-hating knight Yorshka had been friends with, I dashed over and grabbed her arm, causing her to shriek like a banshee, almost punching me straight in the cheek. As I caught her attack, I glared into her horrified eyes. As if she had seen a nightmare so deep and terrifying that it traumatized her … Maybe, a buried memory that carried that baggage?

“B-beastman! L-leave me alone, leave me alone!” She cried out, slinking into a nearby corner as she cradled her head. “Don’t eat me! Don’t eat me! Don’t eat my sister. Don’t eat her, please! Don’t eat her, don’t eat her, don’t eat her, don’t string her up! We’re humans, we’re humans. Why are you EATING her?”

G-gosh.

Instead of that scornful archer I saw a few days ago, it looked like she had devolved back into a child.

Sadly, and yet also fortunately, I understood why Haati hadn’t had any success healing her. [Original Sin: Jaldaboath] had been used, and Akasht being lulled into a “sleep” probably alluded to that.

My white flames could heal people of physical injuries, but not mental damage like this. Since my maids and Priscilla didn’t have [Identify] or an appraisal ring strong enough to show the Profiles of rank B knights, they couldn’t have known. They’ve only heard what the Original Sin ability could do.

The moment I entered the subspace, [My Darkest Thoughts] dispelled the effects. Unlike with Saori and Vif—No, only Saori, I was too late to help this woman. Even with my natural usurpation ability, my other self still almost got led into a “bad end” from our trauma.

My heart was racing from these thoughts.

“Song! Vidia!” I called for the wolves, summoning them with Shere and Ajay following after them. “We need to constrict their movement unless they hurt somebody. Don’t forget, they are rank B, so they are pretty strong. We have enough healing potions around, so use purple threads. Shock them!”

[“Orders received!”] They all said.

I then turned to Svena and the others. “They will be hurt and that will include any more injured coming into the subspace. All of you have to prioritize your safety, leave everything to the shadow pack. Also, where in the name of the Goddess is Grimnir?”

“H-he said he wanted to talk with the demonkin, so he went outside the subspace,” Svena answered. “He’s using the carriage’s runes, so we can’t recall him.”

Dammit! What is up with this bad timing?

“Okay, none of you enter the nexus area, all right? None!”

There was no time. I couldn’t do a quick detour for him, leaving the duty to the shadow pack and hoping Grimnir would make it back in time to help out. Instead, I opened the portals connecting to both Yorshka’s and Master’s runes, as I wasn’t sure if either one was intact. A correct move, as it turned out that Yorshka’s rune pair was disabled. Somebody had destroyed them.

Without a warning, though, as the air split open, a giant fire bomb suddenly flew through it. A point-blank blast. [Haste] wasn’t enough to make me react fast enough - I’d need to stop time to avoid this. Thankfully my fire resistance was too high for most of the blast to hurt me.

Groaning, I blasted my music so loud it reached [Music Resonation (Major)], all to assure it reached my allies inside Aureolis. I then flew into the portal and immediately grabbed the runes, protecting them from any harm before my eyes widened as I looked around.

Snow was everywhere … yet nothing was peaceful about this “winter wonderland” of carnage. Numerous knights laid on the ground, many of whom were burnt to a crisp or were struggling on the ground, mumbling with closed eyes. Meanwhile, a huge clash between black robed mercenaries and Knights of Aurena ensued.

They were mostly keeping it together, but what caught my actual attention was the true battle happening over at a lone, ruined mansion. There, Yorshka was flying through the sky as she battled a horned man with black-goopy wings. Master was unleashing his arsenal of spells to support her while Krim-Slak and Grazlahta were cycling through our new arsenal of tools—runes!

More specifically, they were throwing down stones with runes etched on them, inspired by our [Room] runes. [Auracoil], [Silence], and [Air Shield] were all being down and picked up, all for the sake of countering the one important enemy in this battle—the sin heir of envy.

M-Mirdirn? What is going on?

I was baffled. We had gone through some scenarios with everybody before they left on their mission, and since I believed Midirn was a competent general due to his service as one of Loatryx great dragoons, I thought everything should work out well. He and Yorshka were a powerful pair with their combined levels.

Maybe I was overestimating them a bit since they didn’t have my buffs with them, but the runes they carried blocked Yaldaboath’s activating conditions. They were looping the rune usage right now, doing exactly that! Yet, why was the battlefield so problematic? Where was Midirn? Royce and his companions?

“Huurwaaah!” And that was when I heard a voice ring out from behind me. I snapped my body around, finally noticing who was carrying Master’s [Room] runes—Midirn.

He grabbed my shoulders, smiling widely as a fresh burn scar singed his left eye. “I’ll take my punishment for allowing an ambush later, my princess. We need help, and I need to make sure the knights survive this. As such, we need you to keep your songs going.”

Midirn pointed at the ground where Royce was leading his knights in the battle despite having lost one of his arms. A tourniquet covered up his bloody stump while the holy mages in the order tried to heal him. Despite my dislike for him, he honestly looked like the ideal knight you would fantasize in a story. Stoic, brave, and somebody who would never give up in the most direst situation.

“Keep your songs and buffs up, I’ll finish this bastard up. He isn’t as strong without his ability, so I’ll make this quick. Kargryxmor’s honor! Let’s keep all of these knights alive and laugh as we feast on this demonkin’s corpse! Hahaha! Everybody!” he raised his halberd into the air. “Champion Hestia is here to support us!”

“Wha—” Some of the knights looked up, shocked by my sudden appearance, but disregarded it after a second to cheer. Their eyes were devoid of any hints of despair, with many charging in like foolhardy rookies, but possessing the skills to fight off two or three robed mercenaries at once. Despite being outnumbered, the knights were ruling the battle, especially with my buffs.

“Let’s go, let’s—”

[“Alpha’s Master!”]

I snapped my head back into the portal.

“Song, I told you to not enter the nexus! What—”

[“No, please, this is an emergency. Master called for you! The sin heir is about to use his Original Sin ability, we need you on our side now!”]

… What?

I held the portal up before peeking one half of my body into the subspace, touching a nearby nexus door, opening it up to connect with my runes inside Aureolis. As I looked through I saw somebody was moving them around before I began hearing Rajah’s voice.

[“Master, Master! Thank goodness, you’re here! Quick, we need you to sing!”] Rajah then directed the portal towards where the mud tsunami Saori had destroyed. The city’s gates were completely demolished, reduced into rubble as if it had been hit by a giant wrecking ball. The beautiful, pristine white-golden walls I saw when I first entered Aureolis were gone, including the statues placed on them.

There, I also saw Neill, Saori, Tasianna, Ellaine, and all the others from the Aureolis side facing off against the demonkin, who was now inside a giant mud golem’s body. Six mud arms floating on his back, each carrying a weapon as he flaunted his naked upper body in front of everybody. He howled like a madman, grinning like a beast experiencing a high.

He was close to M.E.P.—100% in [Excited], [Anger], and [Fear]. That berserker state demonkin of wrath could enter was a real menace if left undealt, and he was using the stat boost to shoot out high-pressurized mud beams that cut right into the ground, polishing it clean and smooth. While not the most destructive, none of my allies could be careless– even Neill was having some issues despite everybody supporting her.

“Haha, told you to just let me leave, ahaha!” He shouted, almost boasting. I noticed numerous lightning-scars littered on his body, probably a mark from enduring Saori’s attacks. “Hahaha, this is the peak! The climax! Ahhhhhhh, let me celebrate this moment with a landslide of a battle! Vifi! Vifi! Come out and play with your companions! Come out!”

Gross! That’s a real battle junkie, I complained in my head, but I saw Vifi and Neill in their “high” moments. They didn’t act any differently.

Disregarding my feelings on this matter, the situation had only gotten worse. Two areas required me to sing and support them, but I couldn’t be in two places at once … Unless.

“Midirn, carry them!” I ordered him, but he only gave me this bewildered look. “I need you to hold the runes up and point the portal’s opening at the direction of our allies so I can maintain my buffs and songs.”

“My princess? I understand the situation might look under control, but I cannot fight while carrying these. I am a dragoon; I relish the intensity of close-combat” he replied. “Giving orders from the sky isn’t my forte.”

“We don’t have time to argue, you need to—Damn!”

The both of us snapped our heads to the side as we noticed a first blast being thrown at us. As I was about to defend us, a giant metal shield was thrown in front of us, deflecting the spell into the sky. As I looked down, I noticed Akasht in a throwing posture while laying on the ground.

“Akasht. Duty is carry!” He held his left hand out as he roared, as he slammed his tail on the ground, using the momentum to stand back up. “Carry!”

Thank you!

I threw the runes into his hands before flying into the portal. As I stood in front of my nexus, staring into two portals, I shouted my plan to Rajah, telling him to stay outside the battle and just angle the portal for me to participate.

[“Yes, Master!”]

“Kraaaah! Xohulotel, laruz!” Akasht roared the Depth’s Serpent’s warcry.

Time to humanize.

<[Humanize (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>

Teleporting items or spells from one portal to the next still required me to foot the “mana bill” to send them from my subspace to the other, meaning any spell I cast into the Aureolis portal would drain me of mana. As my “origin” was now on Yorshka’s side, I had to physically put my hand through the Aureolis portal to allow me to shoot out spells.

After all, I was the one exception to most of [Room]’s rules. Its owner didn’t have to spend mana to fast travel. It dawned on me how complicated all these space-time shenanigans were once again, the first time since I figured out how to fast travel. In fact, I forgot that, the moment I placed my hand outside the Aureolis’s portal, my “origin” changed again. To correct it, I placed my other arm into the Yorshka side portal.

My gosh, what is going on in my head … Anyways, Hydra, get ready! And for Master’s side … Let’s do this, Sun, Consume All!

Feeling like my body was about to burst open from having to use two [Purple Flash], I drank a dragorade using my tail as two magic circles appeared in the sky on Yorshka’s side. They glowed like two spinning neon signs as they shot out white flames, creating more and more until they coalesced into a single entity—a giant white sun.

Gritting my teeth from the mana usage, I held my hands out, controlling [Hydra] on my left and [Sun, Consume All] on my right. Four parallel minds were dedicated to my two spell songs, one for [Aerokinesis], and two more for these large-scale spells. Seven of my ten parallel minds were preoccupied, not including my own mind. I wasn’t in my strongest form like this, but only four spell-casting “minds” were enough for me to turn these battles around!

Keeping my [Humanize (Minor)] to full focus on my supporter role and allow my Job skills like [Bardic Cadenza] to work, I began cycling through my available spell songs like during my fight with Vifi. Timing [Dragon Fire] for distractions, [The Will to Fight and Survive] for temporary defensive options, and [The Heir of Hope] for full on attack. [My Darkest Thoughts] was constantly on, though, as preventing Original Sin abilities and the sin heir’s innate demonkin powers was most important right now.

This reveals my portal, but this is what I have to do.

Yet, the situation wasn’t getting better at all. I wasn’t actively participating in these battles, only watching all of them while spamming spells. As if I was on the sideline.

The Aureolis’s side were making no progress against this demonkin, as he was too slippery, using the entire ground like a playground to avoid our attacks while causing as much environmental damage as possible. His main attack pattern wasn’t even focused on my party at this point, he was targeting the citizens.

Meanwhile, Yorshka’s side was dominating the battle against the sin heir of envy, although it was hard to really follow the fight as Akasht was moving the portal around clumsily. I couldn’t even see the sin heir’s face or anything, as his body was shrouded in black armor.

“Sakrha!” The sin heir of envy suddenly shouted during an opening in the [Silence] and [Air Shield] rune rotation the saurians were doing. “Mud through the portal!”

What?

“Ahaha? Is that you, Rein’Yond?” The sin heir of wrath snapped his head in the portal’s direction. “Right away! By Lord Wrath, get out here, Champion!”

The Warbringer grabbed the mud sword in one of his elemental arms and held it forward. He then traced his finger on its edge, coating it in his blood before it began to glow red. His grin intensified before he slipped into his mud golem, disappearing from sight, though not my [Mana Eyes]. I relayed this information to my allies, but they weren’t able to act on my information as an even larger threat appeared.

The earth suddenly rumbled before mud shot out of it, splitting the ground as it imitated the mud geyser from before. My allies were separated on either side of the geyser while the mud flew at them like projectiles. The twins and Tasianna were doing their best to cover people while Saori and Neill tried to do something about the source of this geyser, but this moment was what the sin heir was targeting. With my allies preoccupied, he jumped out of the ground and swung his mud sword.

“‘Blud Handle!’” he shouted as a red mud slash flew right into my portal.

Non-living objects, spells, and sound could enter and exit the portal without my consent. I couldn’t blacklist them. I didn’t know if the sin heirs had figured this out, but this one flaw in [Room]’s rules caught me off-guard. It was too late for me to close the portal to protect myself.

My scale barrier barely managed to protect me in time, but the slash still rammed into my face, sending me flying away. I crashed on the ground, barely able to recover before crashing in the wall. I was just in time, as the Warbringer shot a pressurized mud beam right into the portal, forcing me to dodge to the side, only to be swept away by the following flooding.

My subspace! Close the porta—Fuck, no!

I activated [Dreadflare Aura], burning and turning the mud into magma to save myself. I then created a small air pocket for me to breathe in and shoot out a [Hellflame Breath], pushing the mud out before I used [Flash Fire] to teleport out of my portal before I was trapped from all that mud.

The moment I was outside, the Warbringer raised a brow, surprised to see me come out. As he was preparing to redirect his spell, I grasped the air, activating [Light Horizon]. Bending the very light cast from the sun, I gathered it all around my fist before gathering the white flames cast from [Halo of Consecration]. I then used my rocket boosters and closed the gap before landing a [Hellblade Edge] with my claws into his chest, boosting the damage even further by channeling solar energy into it with [Draconian Sunlight Edge].

Die!

[My Darkest Thoughts] made my flames apply [The Light]’s anti-dark and demon effect, [The Heir of Light] increased my potency against demonkin, and then combined with all my draconic skills I’ve gathered over my life. With [Light Horizon] mixed into the batch, I pierced right into the demonkin’s chest … but was stopped before I could fully pierce it.

He grabbed my arm with a bloodied grin. “My loss. You got me good, but just missed the heart. I can live with one lung … This will make the fight against Vifi actually fair, ehehe.”

You’re not escaping! I shouted in my head before preparing to use my Territory, only for him to place one of his elemental arms in front of my face. I stared at it, noticing it was holding an actual catalyst.

“Boom!”

And it exploded, blowing me away as I chastised myself. I should have transformed back into a dragon before I landed that hit. It probably would have wounded him enough to make the escape impossible. But then again, there just wasn’t any time for the transformation.

Considering I had the leeway to think like this, the bomb wasn’t a real threat aside from wrecking some of my health and a good chunk of my mana, to the point I developed a mindblowing headache. [True Draconic Barrier] successfully protected me.

However, this fact felt hollow. As I opened my eyes when I crash landed on a nearby roof, I stared in horror at the ground as I saw him escape through the earth and to outside the city. When Saori and Neill came over, I told them about it, but my attention was stolen by somebody else.

[“Master …”]

Rajah! Tears began to well in my eyes as I saw my vircaguga cub weakly call for me as his body laid on the roof. Blood was gushing out of his chest as it was opened up by a sundering attack, probably that [Blud Handle] that hit me.

[“Mistress Hestia!”] Varya pleaded for me to come to him as she cradled him.

I charged over, shivering as I saw the portal laying next to Rajah. A long scar had almost cut the rune, meaning its destruction. Rajah had protected it with his body!

[“Why didn’t you throw it away!”] I cried as I inspected his body, noticing the organs in his chest were ripped into pieces from that attack.

[“For Master …”] he sheepishly said, barely enough energy to think. [“Rajah was … useful? Useful?”]

No, no, no, no!

I immediately began an emergency operation with [Miraculous Grace]. His health was only at 10%; this was enough for me to heal him with.

“Princess!”

“Hestia!”

“Young scale!”

This was the third time my heart dropped.

I snapped my head around as magma flowed out of the [Room] portal, letting the voices of Midirn, Master, and Krim-Slak out. With my parallel minds covering Rajah, I peered into the portals, seeing my allies crowding around somebody’s fallen body. Akasht; it was Akasht.

One of his arms was ripped out of its socket while an even larger burned hole could be seen in his chest. Appraising him, I noted his health was quickly sapped despite Master healing him with my bombs and his spells.

“He protected your runes!” Grazlaht shouted. “Quickly, he needs healing! His heart was burned into ash, but there is still enough for you to heal him with!”

No.

[“Midirn, get his body into the subspace, now!”] I ordered.

“What! Dam—” He turned around. “Yorshka, abandon the chase, now! Let that bastard go and lick wounds! We have to save the saurian, first!”

To make sure these precious seconds weren’t wasted, I had [Sun, Consume All] fully concentrate on keeping Akasht alive just long enough for me to handle his surgery. Rajah had lost too many organs—no lungs, no heart, most of his arteries were ruptured. I could do this as long as I divided my time correctly.

“Dammit, too much magma!” Krim-Slak complained.

“Out of the way!” Master shouted before casting [Plesia’s Grasp], summoning a sleep tentacle to pull all the magma and mud out of my subspace, allowing them to put Akasht inside.

I reached my hand out, casting another [Miraculous Grace] to begin healing him, but almost as if it was planned, something bit my hand at the perfect time.

Argh!

I looked to the side, noticed something resembling a black orb had jumped out of his Akasht’s closed arm. Flesh was being formed around it, creating a creature of some sort around this orb. An aberration! Why did Akasht have it?

“He grabbed that thing from him?” Yorshka shouted.

“Dammit, Akasht!” Grazlahta yelled. “When he ripped his arm out, he snatched it from the sin heir! That’s why our attacks managed to hit him at the last moment! He didn’t have his catalyst on him.”

“Enough prattling, help my apprentice!” Master ordered, but I was already ahead of him.

I used [Light Horizon], bending light to shoot out like shotgun pellets, evaporating most of the flesh of the aberration. I then reached my hand out and touched it, using my usurpation ability to make it mine.

<Condition to usurp demonic object fulfilled. Object: [Aberration of Indulgence (Envy)]. Owner: Thals’Yond. Usurpation process ongoing …>

The creepy creature shrieked out as its flesh began to twitch around, before it decided to form four large bone spikes. It then began striking its orb, creating four cracks on it. I recoiled, dragging the orb with me outside the subspace as I understood it was trying to sacrifice itself instead of landing in our possession.

Is it gonna blow up? What am I supposed to do?

My eyes snapped around to Rajah and Akasht. If this orb were to explode, it would kill both of them, but if I let go now, I wouldn’t be able to usurp it. Two decisions turned into three life-or-death choices.

I couldn’t think. The stress of today had finally caught up to me, not to mention the headache from all the mana usage was making it harder for me to formulate a plan. Time felt so slow while the voices of my parallel minds ringed so much louder than usual.

Can I save everybody while keeping this aberration? No, impossible. Even if I saved both of my companions, this bomb would blow everybody up. I-I … have to choose.

Time ran out.

… I’m choosing them all!

While tightening the grip around my hand, I produced corrosive flames around my arm and had it harden into obsidian, putting a “band-aid” on the aberration to prevent it from destroying itself. I then pushed my hand back into the subspace and then into the portal leading to the sin heir of envy battlefield, before pulling it back to the Aureolis side.

I heard the aberration shriek causing me to grin.

You count as a living being, you asshole! I’ll drain you out of all your mana to the point you can’t blow up! I’m killing you with fast travel!

I continued this all until the thing couldn’t even raise its bone spike any longer. Sadly, this forceful method caused the aberration to still splinter apart before I could usurp it. The explosion was solved, so I fully dedicated myself to healing Rajah while reaching my hand out to cast [Miraculous Grace] on Akasht.

Yes!

Once Rajah’s body was back to normal, Varya began licking him affectionately, thanking me for saving her son. I bit my lips, unable to stop smiling as I made it. I was fast enough. My reaction was fast enough.

Two of the options were down! Now it was time for—Eh?

<1 saurian follower lost>

<Total follower count updated. Total followers of [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]: 48036>

<Your retainer [Sarcosilian, Akasht] has passed on>

Miraculous Grace?

Its magic circle suddenly disappeared. Fizzled out. I cast it again, but it didn’t even cast any magic on Akasht’s body. It disappeared again. My eyes widened in horror.

Master and the saurians suddenly closed their eyes. Midirn and Yorshka stood up, saluting them with their tails tucked under their legs.

[“Master?”] I entered the portal and approached them while being followed by Saori and Neill. They stopped moving, letting out small gasps.

I ignored them and went closer until I saw Akasht’s face. His eyes … His eyes! Empty. With no focus. Staring into the air with no goal. His mouth was agape as blood and saliva drooled out of it, creating a small puddle next to his head.

With a shivering hand I placed my hand next to his nose, noticing no breathing. I gulped. I didn’t want to do it. I wanted to reject this idea. I wanted to—I must appraise him.

<Saurian C—>

I stopped reading. That wasn’t his Profile. That was a description.

[“Akasht … Akasht? Please, answer me.”]

“Hestia!” Master dashed over and embraced me. His body was shivering with every second. “You did all you could. You did all you could. Xohulotel witnessed it all.”

[“Master …”] I tightened my embrace, unable to stop staring at Akasht’s empty eyes. I activated [Soul Vision] … but I saw no soul inhabiting his body. [“Why am I always late?”]