Chapter 321: Thera’s Perspective

Waking up in the morning, she half-heartedly fumbled around the bed before even opening her eyes and realised she was alone, Ben likely having already run off to either play with the archive or work on his magics since he’d finished every book in Viv’s library, meaning Thera would be facing the start of the day by herself.

Hopefully it would be a good one, but her stomach was in knots thinking about it. Her aunt had said that she’d explain the changes going on in Ben by lunch, and as much as she wanted to know what could have possibly taken the great life spirit so long to figure out, the fact that so much time had passed left her in doubt they’d be receiving any good news.

Relax, it will be fine. Viv is probably just absorbed in studying things without even considering the fact that we’re worried. I can’t exactly expect her to be sympathetic.

Still, for as much as she disliked her aunt, she couldn’t deny the fact that the visit had been useful. Getting guidance on such complex life spells was a huge benefit, even if she didn’t plan on using most of them ever again, and it felt like she was actively improving her magic with each day she was there. It felt good.

With that positive frame of mind, she forced herself out of bed to get whatever bit of guidance she still could before it was time to go. As much as she didn’t regret stopping there she wouldn’t stay any longer. She missed her aunt and uncle, she missed being home

Making her way through the empty halls, save for the few homunculi that scurried about, fulfilling whatever task was built into them, the first thing she noticed was just how cold it was. In their week there, the building itself had always been a safeguard against the external chill, the heating being perfect, even despite the fact that her aunt had no need for such a thing, and as she tried to ignore it to go to the room she’d been having most of her lessons she passed the front door, finding it wide open with Vividus standing at its edge.

“Viv, I’m aware you don’t have any flesh to be bothered by this, but most mortals aren’t exactly thrilled with the prospect of spending so much time in freezing weather, don’t tell me you’re having me fight out there again?”

Even if it was hands-on training, it was her least favourite of everything her aunt had made her do by far. The cold would bite at her flesh the entire time, distracting her and splitting her focus from everything else. She’d admit that a desire to go back to the warmth was an excellent motivator to push herself and finish as fast as possible, but it was an experience she wouldn’t be looking back on fondly.

“Oh, I’m well aware. There’s very few races that prefer this climate and even the ones that do don’t usually come this far north, the day-night cycle can be too hard on them. Still, it has its benefits. It lets me work on plenty without being distracted. Anyway child, you really should aim to fix this sleeping problem you have. I thought you’d have woken up a while ago and your pet must be rather cold by now.”

“What?”

She pushed her way past her aunt to see in horror the scene the great life spirit had set up. When she’d been made to fight for practice, it had been a struggle. A dozen beasts designed to do nothing but kill in a land where there was no earth to pull from and being powered by their maker to keep her dark magic from having any real effect, giving her no choice but to use her life spells for her attacks. It had been a challenge then, but it was incomparable now.

Instead of a dozen, she was seeing a hundred standing before her, as if waiting for her to make the first move. Not one of them was natural in appearance. Razor like claws and jagged teeth on all of them and snow-white fur to act as camouflage, each creature towered about her and showed the clearest sign a thing could give that it was properly ensouled instead of just being another group of homunculi, there was a shimmer of mana around them as they prepared for the moment they stopped being restrained to fire off their spells and carry out their violent impulses.

Despite the terror of the prospect of fighting them all though, it was barely a blip in the back of her mind as she focused on the giant behind them. Towering over them all, being at least four stories tall, Thera couldn’t begin to imagine where her aunt had been hiding such a creature. Bipedal like any hominid type, it was covered in a thick, almost sharp-looking fur, as if each strand was really a sabre ready to strike, and four muscular arms to go with it. She could tell it had some sort of magic to it too, even if she wasn’t sure what, but that wasn’t the biggest problem. The problem was Ben, trapped in its hand, looking like he was slowly being crushed as his hair filled with frost. His skin would have been pale and blue from the cold if not for the creature’s grip squeezing the blood to his head while he was trapped there.

“YOU PSYCHOTIC BITCH!” Thera scream. “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?”

In the face of her niece’s rage though, the great life spirit was as indifferent as she ever was. “Hopefully motivating you. Your progress is dreadful compared to what it should be, but you’ve shown that you can at least make some for him. I’d get to it by the way, he’s been out there for a while waiting.”

Her immediate instinct was just to murder her, but as much as she wanted to, Thera knew she couldn’t do it. Not from a lack of will or some familial bond, but the knowledge that the difference in power between them was just too great. She’d come here seeking help, but instead she was trapped playing her aunt’s game with Ben’s life on the line, and no way to use any of the magics at her disposal that might be of any use.

Knowing she wouldn’t be able to direct any of that rage to the one who deserved it, she pushed past her aunt with her staff in hand, with the creatures before her treating it like a signal to act as they charged forward, each rushing towards her at a speed her legs would never be able to move, with the ice shaking around them as it was pulled from the ground to fire at her.

Water affinitied then.

With so much happening at once, a part of her wished she had one of Ben’s ridiculous mind skills to make things easier on her. Her telekinesis was nowhere near good enough to stop the attacks in mid-air, but she strained her mana to fire off a pushing effect in front of her, slowing some of them down and knocking others slightly off her path as she followed it up with her life magic, trying to move it in the same way her aunt had to put down any of the creatures she’d been made to experiment with, overstimulating their brains to make them fry.

The closest ones went down as a few farther back seemed to feel an effect and she rushed closer. It wasn’t a smart choice, as a mage she wasn’t meant to be working up close, instead acting from a distance, but life magic was one that saw its true worth in hands-on situations. Otherwise, its effects would weaken and disperse. Her control was too bad to do it from afar, so instead she forced herself closer into the fray, firing the same spell again and again at anything that got too close, watching groups of them fall each time until she heard her aunt’s voice.

“Just doing the same thing over and over again is rather boring, don’t you think? You’ll never improve like that, so since I’m here let’s increase the challenge.”

She heard the words as she was standing right in front of one of them, trying to fire the spell and failing, Vividus’s overwhelming skill and magic working from a distance that Thera thought she’d never be able to manage herself, perfectly countering the magic she tried to cast and leaving no effect on the creature as it swiped at her, tossing her through the sky as a deep gash formed along her abdomen from its claws.

In a flash she was on her feet, pouring all the mana she could into closing the wound as she tried to figure out what she could do in the seconds she had. She had no idea if her aunt was going to block that single way of attacking or just any attack that focused on disrupting the creature’s natural function, but that didn’t leave her with many options, and the ones she could think of would take too long to cast, with none of that even considering that she’d made almost no progress getting closer to the beast that held Ben, shaking him in the air and seeming to taunt her. More than anything she wanted to close that distance.

But how? My speed’s not bad, but getting past all of these would be…

That line of thought trailed off as she had an idea. A terrible idea, one she’d have never entertained before for the damage it was sure to do to anyone that she used it on. Buffing. Her mana was so great that there was a far too real fear that doing so would destroy the body of the person she used it on, but having the ninth level of the skill she was more equipped to do it now than any time in the past, and more importantly, it wouldn’t be happening to a Ben or friend or any innocent person, she was going to do it to herself.

That quick choice made her muscles and bones flood with her own mana, her body erupting in pain in an instant from the flood as her heart rate felt like it tripled. Through the pain though she felt the effect in an instant, the world slowing down around her as she kicked off the ground and began to move.

A single step tossed her through the air as she flew past the closest group, the buff giving her enough leeway to think on just what to do as she stepped away from swiping teeth and lunging claws. She was sure she could apply the same buff to them with significantly less care and control than she had to herself, but there was always the fear that the monsters could handle it, or worse, her aunt would help them handle it, so with that in mind she quickly adjusted her strategy. All of her mana went towards strengthening herself and healing all of the damage the buff did to her body, while the staff she was using became more like a club in her hand than anything else as she smashed it against the faces of the creatures she ran by, feeling the strain on her limbs as she struck with more force than her body wanted to give.

It wasn’t her first time fighting like that, she’d gained the staff wielder skill back when she adventured alone, fighting off anything that got too close before she could use her spell and even if she’d never specifically trained it, it gave her just enough edge in the form of instinct, striking where her gut told her too and continuing past, trusting she’d done enough to make them fall.

There was plenty she hadn’t hurt that hadn’t been close enough for her to attack in melee combat, but she’d decided she’d go back for them later once Ben was safe, her priority was the giant standing in front of her.

The creature bared its teeth as she got close, seeming to grin and squeeze Ben even tighter as she rushed at it, knowing that she wouldn’t simply be able to beat it with her staff as she’d done for the others and she rushed forward trying to squeeze out a quick victory in the only way she could think to.

She had to assume that her aunt would continue to keep her from trying to overstimulate it with her magic, so she took another option. As much as it was a monster designed to fight and kill, it was still alive. It had bodily functions she could take advantage of in other ways, and seeing a thick vein pulsing in its neck, knew instantly how she wanted to try it.

Wielding her life magic, she directed it at the giant with all of the control and focus she could muster, all for one small, simple goal. Stimulating cell growth within the creature, forcing the vein to seal and keep blood from flowing to the beast’s brain, all to kill it in the end.

It was more than doable with the skill she currently had, she knew it was, but she still felt it fail as she fired off the spell, the monster using one of its giant arms to take a swipe at her as it did, throwing her through the air and breaking her ribs, the only thing keeping her alive being her high vitality.

“Poor luck,” She heard her aunt say from behind her, as if she was watching Thera lose at a game instead of fighting for her life. “But really Thera, it wasn’t a bad idea but did you think it would be so easy? I created this creature for the purpose of fighting demons, of course it can shrug off that level of life mana. If you want to save him you actually need to try to push beyond that.”

She wanted to scream at her aunt but did her best not to let herself be distracted as she started to heal her wounds while she moved through the pain, instead doing her best to keep buffing herself and fixing any damage it did to her body, all the while dodging attacks from both the creature that had Ben and the smaller ones behind her. All of them were firing spells now, seeming to want to keep a distance after facing her in action while she could only dodge, lamenting her own weakness.

Vividus is insane. I’m never going to be able to force enough life mana into a spell if it shrugged off that, I have no clue what she expects from me. What am I supposed to even be doing here? Does she have even the slightest idea on how I might kill this thing, or did she really just decide to make it impossible and see if I was good enough to figure it out anyway? Hell, what options do I even have?

Eventually she’d have to stop running, but she couldn’t fight it head-on like she had with the other ones, and it felt like her magic was useless. She couldn’t resorting to any dark spell if Viv was just going to negate their effects like when they’d practiced, but she’d reached the limits of what her life magic could manage and earth was never an option to begin with in that land of snow and ice, but for some reason, despite how sure she was that that was the case, she felt herself hesitate to abandon the idea of using that magic altogether, like there was something picking at the back of her mind. A single spell she’d never tried but just might have been able to help as it came to her, and throwing safety to the wind she rushed to the giant again, trying to gather all of the mana within herself she could to make it work.

The beast didn’t know what to make if it, briefly caught off guard by the act as it used its magic to rip a block of ice from the ground, throwing it at her, only for the attack to be dodged as she launched herself forward, driving her staff into its leg, and firing off the spell.

For a moment it seemed like it failed, like nothing happened, and the small part of the creature’s brain that had felt a hint of fear disappeared as it made a noise she could only take as a laugh as she jumped away from it, the staff crumbling to dust in her hands.

It was a creature whose sole purpose was to kill, and it was made to enjoy the act. Having Ben in its hand but forced to resist just crushing him for as long as it could had been as amusing for it as it had been aggravating, but the longer the fight went on the more it could feel that resistance fading as it tried to take a step forward to get its hands on its second victim, only to fail. It couldn’t move its legs, and as it looked down in confusion it could only barely understand why as it saw they’d turned to stone, with its effect slowly growing upward, crawling to its torso as it flailed around in protest and fear, then its lower set of arms, its upper set, and finally making its way to its head as it was frozen in a permanent scream.

As with any time a skill awakened, Thera’s body lit up as it rushed to absorb all of the mana it could now hold from the change, but unlike for a normal person who might have a few hundred in their status, Thera originally had almost three hundred thousand. Not only did the light fail to stop, but all of the creatures around her felt the effects, even her aunt as every bit of ambient mana in the surroundings rushed to her, not letting any of them replenish their reserves as they fired their spells, all while Thera didn’t stop to appreciate the notifications ringing in her head, instead going to attack with the new source of stone at her fingertips.

Feeling the change to her, Thera didn’t worry about her lack of staff as she took the petrified monster apart, using it as she would any other bit of stone and tore it into gravel to be fired into the crowd as she took extra care to gently set Ben to the ground.

In her spite and as the only bit of revenge she could take, she exerted herself in the second after each of Vividus’s monsters had turned to nothing but a red mist, forcing the direction of the attack to change in the last minute to tear through her aunt’s house before focusing all she had to healing Ben.

“I’m so sorry I thought it was a good idea to bring you around that fucking maniac,” She said, holding his face as she flooded him with her mana, trying to force his body to warm itself up as she healed the many injuries he’d gained from being squeezed for so long.

All of his ribs were broken and it seemed like his entire body was bruised, but despite that he managed to smile as he coughed out a few words. “I knew you’d save me so it’s all good. Let’s just never ever come back.”

“Agreed.”

“Destroying the house was a little childish of you,” Vividus said offhandedly as she walked up.

“Fuck you.”

“And throwing a temper tantrum will gain you nothing. I got the result I’d hoped for so let’s finish up here,” She said, placing a hand on both of them to heal them quickly. “Although I suppose you’ll need to dig through the wreckage first to find your things.”

Once they’d found their bags, the creature with the space magic that had brought them there came out of hiding, opening a portal back to the life valley where both Ben and Thera wanted nothing more than to leave, only waiting to finally get an answer on what was happening to Ben. They’d put up with far too much to not find out.

“It seems to be a change facilitated by the system, so you don’t have to worry about the organs doing anything negative to him at the very least. Demon bodies are constantly trying to grow and adapt so their very cells feed on the life and death mana they give off to make it happen. I said before when you first gained them that the skill probably came because they were feeding on a small amount of mana, but given the boys’ nature they couldn’t actually use the ones they’d been built for. In that sense you could say they’d changed to match him as much as he’s been changed by them, they seem to now be fully satisfied using the non-affinitied mana that fills his body instead of struggling along with it as a lower-class option. As for how they’re changing him though, it seems to be slowly changing his body into a better version of itself, just as a demon’s would, though on a much weaker scale. The lingering information from the demon’s organs has fully integrated into your bloodline so at whatever point you stop it looks like the trait will be passed on, but there really is no distinction between what of you is human and what’s demon anymore. Since your race on your card hasn’t changed the system still seems to consider you human despite that so I wouldn’t worry about it personally, though it’s likely that it’s making it easier for that demon soul to possess you so I’d stop with that. Even if you get to the ninth level it shouldn’t really be a problem, though I can’t infer anything if you ever manage to awaken it. Of course, we could preemptively try to dull any effect awakening it would have by adding more animal parts to you. It would have the side benefit of potentially making you significantly more useful.”

“I’m not letting you experiment Ben after you already tried to kill him you bitch!” Thera yelled at her aunt. “Do you only see people for whatever benefit they could give?”

Before she could react, Vividus had her by the face, pulling her in close.

“Yes. You mortals have no idea what’s coming but I’ve watched a world burn already. Make no mistake Thera, you’ve become a little useful at this point, but if weren’t for Abrus being such a bother I’d be happy to turn you into the weapon I know you could be.”

“Turn me into a weapon and the first person I’m pointing myself at is you.”

“I don’t particularly care if I live or die if it means someone having the strength to kill the invaders, so do your best,” The great spirit spoke in a voice filled with condescension, lightly tapping Thera’s cheek before turning and walking away. “Of course, if you ever decide you want to improve yourself then feel free to visit again, I’m sure I could squeeze some more levels out of you before you know it.”

“Not happening,” Thera said back, taking Ben’s hand and storming out of the building before ripping stone from the ground to carry them both to the gate out of the life valley as fast as possible, neither of them wanting to waste a moment there longer.

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