Chapter 231: Chapter 230: Unpause

After leaving the realm where they had held the impromptu battle, they returned to Haven and the others were immediately aware of the changes in Lillim, Kyubi and Klaire. It was so intense that their mere presence had the others in a state similar to hypothermia.

As a result, only Nergal and Gaia were able to resist. “Kyubi, Klaire, do try harder to contain your new power.”

“You’re one to talk, Grandma, you aren’t doing much better than us.” Klaire laughed, before apologising to the others and trying to put a bigger lid on her aura.

“No, she’s not, but she’s not trying to. Lillim always did like flexing her power-ups in front of others.” Kyubi sighed as she followed Klaire’s lead.

They filled the others in on everything that happened, which was a surprise for them all to say the least. It didn’t go without a substantial lecture however as Gaia and Nergal both scratched their heads with anxious frustration.

The pair warned the three of them of the dangers that come with ascending to the level. It was a great boon in theory, to be the highest ranking individual of your race, the caveat however was that the power difference was several times greater than any other single level of advancement.

When Klaire compared what she could do as a young Banshee not even old enough to have a system, to how she was when they had just left, even that difference was miniscule in comparison.

“…Make no mistake, an overly emotional flick of the wrist could devastate things you cherish.” Nergal’s words brought a brutal revelation, one they could all sense was in no way overstated.

“On the bright side, you two have jumped to that level so quickly, your bodies will take time to recover from the damage that caused. As a result, it will be some time before you are able to access that power and learn to control it properly, you are likely only utilising so much of it now because of the boost Raziel affords.

Lillim, do I need to tell you what you must do?”

“No Gaia, I don’t. If I leave Haven, every demon will instinctively sense me. I must stay here, or at the very list completely contained.

I will hereby be taking on the duty of training every willing combatant ahead of the final war, our leader has given us a very optimistic timetable.”

“On that note, we’ll be leaving now. Kids, what are each of you wanting to do?” Carl asked, with Squidge and Levi immediately moving over to Lillim’s side, then Raziel quickly moved to Omedra’s.

“With my future-self out there, I get the feeling I should stay put too.” Tiamutael sighed, a little disappointed deep-down.

“I’m going with Mums and Dad. I want to have a word with my big-little brother. Ill-y, keep your hands off of him.”

Illerion laughed and petted her head and squeezed her, telling her not to worry until she has permission from the parents. Her laughter died in her throat however when the little fox whispered something in her ear and became the first one to successfully threaten her in thousands of years.

The others were all interested to know what she said, but they also guessed it was something to do with the knowledge she stole of the future.

Blanc and Sophie decided that they would be calling time on the trip to focus on therapy and mastering their new abilities.

Gillian and Scylla decided to keep accompanying them, along with Clarisse, who was acting as her mother’s proxy.

It had become clear that there was no need to immediately chase after the elusive second of the vampires, so Grenda decided to stay behind and train as well.

When everyone had decided what they were doing, those leaving said their goodbyes and left without further delay, arriving in a realm of cloudy mountains. From where they stood on a mountain path, they could see the clouds running between the mountains were thick enough to block any form of natural perception.

On top of that, they were also thick with something that blocked supernatural perception as well, whilst a blazing sun above seemed to burn away their attempts to see beyond the realm.

“Welcome to Amaterasu’s retreat, this is where Tsukuyomi died, but the real issue is that this realm is entirely at her disposal and she can redecorate at will. If you don’t want to burn you need to keep a platform under your feet and a heat proofing barrier around yourselves.”

This was the first real fight of their journey, thanks to Kyubi’s memory loss, the only one of them that would otherwise know what to expect was largely ignorant.

Standing on the pathway carved onto the mountainside, the dry heat of the sun above made them feel like it was more of a desert that just happened to be made up of very tall rocks.

Their bodies felt immediately heavier and whilst they couldn’t actually see anyone, they could feel hundreds of beings giving off what Kyubi and Klaire considered incredibly minute aura releases.

The biggest issue, was that those aura releases were as substantial as the strongest of Lillim’s daughters, which posed a challenge to the others who weren’t the pinnacle of their races.

Kitsunoko was shivering, her tail fur bristling. “Mums, Dad, I think it was a mistake in me coming. This place is filled with people even stronger than Aunt Juliana.”

Carl put a hand on her head, then picked her up and let her ride piggyback. “Ki-ko, don’t be scared of this one, she was a really good person before the system twisted her up. If you have to feel anything, make it sympathy and do what you can to help her.”

“Yeah, I will Dad.”

They started up the mountain path after that, with every step forward, their bodies felt heavier and so did the sun above.

It was a test of endurance that none of them were expecting and as if to moderate it, those creatures they had sensed were suddenly moving in on them.

Kyubi and Klaire were about to take the lead, as the varied mass of creatures closed in slowly, step-by-step like a hunter savouring the final moments of the hunt.

Carl stepped forward first though and passed Ki-ko over to them, pointing out that if they took the lead in every fight, the rest of them would miss opportunities to grow.

It was a fair point and it would be a simple matter for them to step in if someone found themselves in trouble. They were eager to get the hang of their new abilities, but at the same time, they also needed to reign in their basic instincts which had started to gnaw at them.

With that decided, Carl, Gillian and Scylla stepped forward and sized up the enemies that had surrounded them.

There were several different species mixed in, but only what Carl recognised as Tengu and Oni were numerous, the other three species were singular and likely acting as either commanders or elite units.

The Tengu were a strange mix of human, dog and angel, though judging by the fact the wings were feathered and not made of pure light like those of full-blooded angels, it may be more appropriate to say a mix of human, angel hybrid and lycan.

Each one had a slender body, but lean and clearly a dangerous foe judging by the amount of aura they possessed.

The Oni were more brutish, mountains of muscle that carried a mix of oversized swords and crushing clubs.

The three unique species weren’t anything that Jonah recognised.

One was an eight headed serpent whose tail also split into eight. Its mossy green scales mixed with its immense size would have made it look like a thick blanket of moss decorating the mountain if it remained still.

The second was almost human, but possessed oversize hands and feet that ended in serrated claws. It also had an oversized head with bulging yellow eyes and thin dagger like teeth.

The last was suspiciously normal, appearing to be a human woman with black hair and black eyes, tanned skin and standing about five and a half feet tall. She also held the greatest amount of aura.

“Carl, observation is good, but these guys are getting pretty close and I’m not sure how helpful Scylla and I are going to be.” Gillian chuckled nervously.

“Relax, you two are much faster than either the Tengu or Oni, the issue really is skill and coordination so I’ll go throw a wrench in their organisation.”

Carl changed into his own lycan form and practically disappeared from sight with how quickly he accelerated into action. The front row then erupted into a geyser of blood, then Carl seemed to disappear yet again before they noticed him clinging to the mountainside above the enemy.

From his elevated position, Carl launched him self at full strength into the enemy forces. He didn’t tear through them with claws and fangs, but instead just used his mass and aura barrier to smash into them.

It was a painfully effective move in light of how crammed together the enemy was. A dozen were crushed beneath him, whilst a couple of dozen more were thrown over the edge of the mountain.

It was such a simplistic strategy, it caught the entire force off-guard and drew every enemy’s attention to him.

The moment the enemies looked away from them, Gillian and Scylla charged into action as well. Zig-zagging apart and back together, they needed only keep their claws pointed out to tear through the enemies with ease.

As they charged around though, Scylla couldn’t help but notice how effective she was in the fight. Not out of any negative sense of self, she couldn’t notice how balanced she was with them even though the others’ reactions made it obvious she should be no match for them.

[MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM GILLIAN: YOU’RE SLOWING DOWN, DON’T OVERTHINK IT, CARL’S PROBABLY BOOSTING YOU WITH HIS ABILITIES.]

The moment she read the message it all made sense, she could tell she was running faster than ever, her claws cutting through Tengu and Oni like they were wax training dummies but her claws didn’t even strain against the resistance.

She hadn’t used her system skills in years, she hated relying on strength that wasn’t a natural part of herself. In that moment though, she was forced to accept a simple fact.

She found herself in a situation where the stakes were too high to risk failure and the strength she considered a part of herself was woefully inadequate to achieve success.

She snarled and broke off her charge with a spin that cleaved through every enemy around her. As she landed and blood rained down her she howled, not like the mournful howl of a banshee, but one of primal bloodlust.

The noise pierced the ears of every enemy around her, making their hearts hammer in their chests, their eyes turning bloodshot as unbridled rage seeped into their minds and their vision turned red.

Finally the tengu and Oni who had succumbed descended into a berserk fury and lashed out at everything nearby, losing all sight of friend and foe.

“Never would have guessed she was a berserker.” Klaire said from where she, Kyubi and Kitsunoko were watching.

“Not so sure she is, berserkers usually work themselves up into a frenzy, but she seems herself. I suppose my memory isn’t the best though, so I could be misremembering.”

“Mum, you said you were going to give me some cook-” Klaire pinched her daughter’s lips closed and asked if bad memory ran in the family, since she had clearly forgotten she wasn’t out of the woods after running off to save Carl.

As she unpinched the little fox’s lips, Kitsunoko herself, zipped them.

Having noticed Scylla starting to use her system skills, Gillian decided that he needed to go all-out as well, incorporating more and more of his summons’ traits into himself.

By the time he was done, he was unrecognisable, it was terrifying how many abilities he had bundled into his body. His favourite ones by far however, were his chameleonic panther’s camouflage and his obariyon’s weight control.

Using those traits, he was able to make himself incredibly light whilst in motion and several times heavier at the moment of impact when attacking, all whilst going entirely unseen by anyone.

Between being turned against one another by Scylla and suffering mass casualties at the hands of Gillian’s guerilla tactics, the Tengu and Oni found themselves in a no-win scenario.

It was then that the true insanity of those designated as villains became apparent. It was obvious to see that they had suffered to many losses and lacked any appropriate means to counter, but still they closed on them with the single-minded desire to destroy them.

It was the kind of fighting that Gillian hated, pointless and a needless waste of life.

As his resolve began to waiver and he found himself distracted by the internal argument about whether it was right to keep fighting, he noticed the gaping, fanged maws of the massive snake bearing down on him.

Certain he was about to die, stranded in mid-air with no obvious means to evade the hungry mouths vying to make a meal of him, he grimaced and silently begged either Klaire or Kyubi to come to his defence.

’Feel free to jump in any time…Anyone?’

As Gillian found himself inwardly laughing at his own pathetic display, realising that the distraction was exactly what the monstrosity had been waiting for all along, Scylla found herself in the middle of her own predicament.

Having resumed her zig-zagging charge through the ranks of Tengu and Oni, she had suddenly been brought to an immediate and muscle tearing halt.

Her claws which had been carving through flesh and bone and even Oni weapons without pause, suddenly met a terrible and overwhelming resistance as they collided with those of the second commander.

The sudden impact with a stronger force had left her smooth claws cracked and stuck in the serrated edges of his. The momentum that had carried her into contact with him reverberated through her as though she had just tried to kill a space station with a sledgehammer.

Before she could do anything else, one of its oversized feet connected with the side of her head in a movement that didn’t even seem possible.

The moment the kick connected, the world flew into a wild nonsensical spin and even as her face smashed into the ground, she could have sworn she was staring at the sky.

She smashed into the ground another two times before she collided with the mountainside, which gave way to the force of the impact and left her buried in the rubble.

It was dark, a good deal cooler than it had been in the open, but a warmth flowed from the back of her head and down her back and from the side of her face down her snout.

Even as the darkness robbed her of her ability to see, the world kept on spinning.

’I should have stayed at home. I can’t keep up with things like that and I’ll never live it down if that idiot has to watch that freak kill me.’

The idea of ever being judged lacking by Gillian offered her fresh motivation and brought the world into focus a bit as she pushed some of the rocks away.

The moment the light of the outside world touch her though, it brought the spinning back with a vengeance and she slumped forward over the rock pile that still stood up to her waist.

Time seemed to slow as her eyes blinked open and shut against the light, what little she could see was pale and oversaturated, but at the same time blurred and cloudy.

The one who had reduced her to such a sorry state walked towards her gingerly, taking delight in her suffering as she struggled against encroaching unconsciousness.

At the same time, the masses around Carl had given up on organised assaults and attempted to simply dogpile him beneath their numbers.

As powerful as his body was in the form he had stolen from Lycaon, the opposition had plenty of brute force of their own and working together made it a simple task to overwhelm him.

As he was pulled to the floor and pinned down by the numerous foes, the temperature sky-rocketed, extreme even after taking into account the fact he had dozens of bodies blanketing him.

He knew something was happening and focused, which was when he realised that the three commanders had suddenly jumped into action.

Taking action had revealed the true extent of their abilities, which meant that it was time to deal with him and he sent a message to Klaire and Kyubi to that end before changing into his demon-form to make the heat more tolerable and make use of its superior strength.

As the snake’s heads bore down on Gillian, the disproportionate creature closed in on Scylla and the girl who he couldn’t see had changed into a winged-woman made of pure fire…

The freshly transformed Carl burst out from beneath the pile of bodies, sending Tengu and Oni flying in all directions, Whilst at the same time, Kyubi appeared in fox-form and bit into the section where the eight heads joined to pull it back, and Klaire casually appeared with Kitsunoko to pull Scylla free of the rubble.

“Kyubi… If you keep saving my life like that, I’m never going to be able to pay you back.”

“Technically that one was Carl, he looks a brief time into the future, remember? No way I could have closed the distance fast enough without that, it basically teleported on top of you.”

“Oh, that’s fine then, I think we’re about even anyway…”

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