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Chapter 362: My Choice, My Ending. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2022-10-22 20:45:27 +0000 UTCEdit Logic fix with the [Room] runes.
Edit 2: I changed the ending and how Vifi'Yok's and Hestia's discussion ended. This was to keep true to Hestia's personality without making it seem too idiotic from a character point-of-view. I will be using this change to alter the future chapters.
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<Territory deactivated. Territory Dispute completed in favor of individual [Sunfang Dragonewt, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor] and [Violetshock Kirin-Dragon, Fargryneill Qilinus Kargryxmor]>
“Oh no, the living room! The furniture!!!”
Urgh…
“I humbly apologize, Svena, but we had no other choice! Are you hurt? Anybody else? Haati, Josine, Lorena?”
Gosh… my head. My body. This effing arcane corruption, man.
“I can’t believe the living room was large enough to accommodate a giant dragon. You people really did consider even this, huh?”
I want to sleep already… urgh.
But I forced myself to stay conscious. I had to. It wasn’t done yet. I had to keep on moving.
“Kuurgh…” I groaned, although to others I probably was growling. My dragon voice was significantly rougher, after all.
“What happened?! Is something wrong with Lady Hestia?!” I heard Haati’s voice resonate, followed by the katzune rushing over to me, worry wrinkling her youthful face.
Haati, Josine, Svena, Lorena. Priscilla shouldn’t be working right now. Thank goodness I didn’t accidentally crush them.
“[Arcane Fever] and [Mana Stress]! She had to use up the finale phase of her symphony spell. Svena!” Tasianna called out to my second maid, to which the latter immediately nodded and acted on it.
“Understood! Haati, rush into the storage and bring out as many fulinoe leaf bundles as possible. Lorena, we need tea. Hot mana water, please. As much as possible!” Svena began issuing her orders. “Josine, I need you to get the dragorades we prepared out, now. All of them. Tasianna, I’ll get the meat ready. I’ll need your help after you’ve cooled her down.”
“Good work. Everybody, for our lady!”
““Yes!”” Haati and Lorena shouted in response, while Svena and Josine were already moving to the kitchen. Tasianna, on the other hand, began producing two [Winter’s Golem] to have them hug me.
From the look of their quick responses, it looked like Tasianna and Svena had prepared an emergency plan after what happened at Griffonpeak. [Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Finale)] had only happened once before today, and that application nearly killed me due to [Overheat]. If Mother hadn’t come, I didn’t know if Tasianna could have saved me.
Did that affect her that much? To the point she and Svena planned out an entire pipeline for when it happened again? Just to treat my condition? If so, then I really couldn’t believe I deserved to have these people in my life. Honestly, even if I was their master, this sorta care was still heartwarming.
… Brrr. I shivered from having the golems further cool me down, all while Renee couldn’t help but literally collapse on one of the still intact couches. She looked around the room, making me realize if the nexus part of the subspace wasn’t connected with the living room, I probably wouldn’t have fit in. Right now, it was cramp and I could barely move.
Well, it was an emergency escape, after all. The leviathan, whether it was intentional or just accidental, nearly wiped us all out with its tail slam. If Tasianna hadn’t reacted in time and shoved me into the subspace, I probably would have been crushed. I couldn’t even move my body, after all.
[Exhaustion (Moderate)] was such a killer. Mana and Stamina were both at zero due to the finale. Lightheaded, a pained chest from a broken solar core, and also the fact I lost a finger. Well, I was doing well enough. I was more worried about Neill.
Renee, Tasaianna, and I were inside, but Neill, well, she stayed outside to protect the [Room] runes. If they had broken, then we wouldn’t have a way to get back to Elyonda right now. My closest fast travel point would be in Estralia. That was two countries away from Yeos. It was an unfortunate weakness of my nexus teleportation, since the [Room] runes had to be intact and working.
I could forcibly open any of my [Room]s while I was inside the subspace. The nexus connected all openings, after all. However, if the runes weren’t preserved, I couldn’t fast travel. Obviously. If you destroyed a fast travel point in a game, you wouldn’t be able to go to it anymore.
So, while we were safe inside here, Neill was outside still in danger. Since I had no idea where Neill was, opening the portal up wouldn’t be too good, even if I could forbid unwanted visitors and even water from entering this place. It could be inconvenient for my sister.
Thankfully, Neill had [Hestia’s Retainer] and was one of my fans, so I would know if she was dead or not. Still, it didn’t tell me if she was mortally wounded or not. That was the reason I was anxious.
“Don’t worry about her.” Renee suddenly spoke to me, pointing at her eye after she took her helmet off. “Yours were wiggling around a lot. I guessed it from that. Hehe. Your sister is tough. She might seem reckless, but she gets things done, as you could see with how she dragged herself back from a blackout just to shoot that [Freikugel].”
And an extremely accurate one at that. Sure, I lost a finger, but she shot off one of Vifi’Yok’s arms. Right. Renee’s right. I need to calm down and believe in her. She’ll come when it's safe.
Tasianna then went to bandage up my finger. It wasn’t bleeding much, due to [Abnormal Status Nullification] having [Bleeding Resistance Lv. 10], but leaving the wound open would make regrowing it later a bit harder. Necrosis meant I had to work harder.
Moments later, Josine and Haati began bringing out dragorades and fulinoe tea. Stabilize my arcane corruption and to help me regenerate mana to recover from [Mana Stress]. I really should tell Tasianna how invaluable her garden was, considering how much of those plants she had been growing.
The three of them then dumped all the water into my mouth. Inelegant, but I needed quantity, right now. Speaking of them, Josine and Haati were a bit nervous when I opened my jaw. Figures, since I was a giant dragon. They’d seen this form before, since they frequented Mother’s den when I was training with her, but there was a difference from seeing me from afar compared to me breathing down on them, up close and personal.
Renee was then served some of the tea, before sizzling steaks and shishkebab began coming from the kitchen. Svena and Lorena were cooking up food to help out my Stamina recovery.
Honestly speaking, they weren’t anything special. Salt and pepper for seasoning then medium-rare. Both were better chefs than this, but, as I said, quantity was more important right now. I had to eat.
Still, eating and drinking wouldn’t remedy my condition immediately. It helped, but I still felt nowhere close to combat ready. The finale truly was a finale, considering I now had “ending fatigue.” Really bad, since I still had a role to play for the raid.
After around three more rounds of meat dishes, I felt something poke me in the back, before I heard somebody’s voice in my head.
[“Managed to keep the exit safe.”]
It was Neill.
Humanize—Urgh!
<[Humanize (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
I didn’t have a dragon-sized exit out of my subspace. Getting in was one thing, due to [Room]’s formless entrance not exactly conforming to physics. However, getting out was quite a bit harder since I installed normal, human-sized doors. As such, I had to either become a dragonewt to get out, or use mana to change these door’s sizes.
Regardless, Tasianna chastised me like crazy the moment I transformed back and vomited out blood and all the food I was about to digest. 2% of my Health just vanished just like that. Internal damage caused by the fact I used mana while in [Mana Stress].
Arck! Just like before … Urgh, my organs feel like they’re gonna explode.
Unless [Arcane Corruption] got to moderate, I didn’t have to worry about my body exploding. With all the fulinoe tea I’d drank, it shouldn’t be a problem. Everybody wanted me to sit this out, but I had to see this through. Sure, I couldn’t fight, but I wanted to see if that demonkin was dead or not.
Tasianna vehemently disagreed, arguing I should just rest until I could participate in the rest of the plan. I had to cast [Ramuh] or something on the leviathan, after all. It was the wiser choice, sure, I understood that. Still, my irrational side just wanted to see things to its end. Find some finality considering my finale couldn’t kill that girl. How did she survive something like that?! She looked like a corpse.
“If you’re worried about her, Tasianna, then you don’t have to. Come, let her out,” Neill argued in my favor after she transformed back into a dragonewt, seeing as she didn’t want to show her true form to anybody other than the three of us who fought with her. However, seeing her in this form made me a bit sad, seeing as I couldn’t heal her clearly broken arm, right now.
Seeing my sister acquiesce, Tasianna let out a sigh and told the others to start producing dragorade again. She placed any finished fulinoe tea into her potion vials and placed it in her satchel, before she helped me walk out of the subspace.
Once we were outside, I immediately took a step back as I noticed where Sis placed the runes. It wasn’t an island, but our floor was made out of sand. It was just a small, floating patch of sand, really, kept together with dragon paths. Considering how drenched the sand was, it looked more like mud, really.
“I got caught by a tsunami after I escaped the initial impact. The shockwave flung me into the water, and before I could recover, another tsunami caught me,” Sis explained why it took so long for her to appear. “Without the storm, everything was okay. I could swim out, but then I couldn’t find any land. So, I just stuck some sand into tiles and voila.”
Neill then kicked it, letting us know it would crumble at any moment.
“Good thinking.” Renee showed her a thumbs up, causing Neill to slick her soaked hair back, looking proud of herself.
As Tasianna picked up the runes and placed them back in her satchel, I looked around, trying to find that demonkin. “The Territory was canceled in our favor. Which means she’s either dead or…”
“The latter. There, come.” Neill picked me up in a princess carry and flew up with Tasianna. Renee, on the other hand, was using her gargoyle to fly since the storm wasn’t around now to toss her around and disturb her flight.
While we flew over, I looked down into the clear blue ocean, also noticing some of the clouds had dispersed, letting sun through. However, in the distance, the fight between my mother and Karhalantheel still waged on, reminding me I couldn’t relax just yet. Also, the fact I looked like a horned purple alien due to arcane corruption was kinda frightening.
“Noo…”
After a while, I could hear a weak voice echoing through the constant waves. The further we flew, the more it became more audible, until I finally saw the flooded remains of the island groups.
Naturally, the one I bombed with my meteor strike compltely gone. What would happen to an island if a comet were to hit it, right? Even if it somehow was still sorta intact after my attack, no way would it be after the leviathan slammed its tail. Speaking of that tail attack, it seemed like Mother noticed it and was now attacking him even more aggressively.
“Come on, you big bastard, get up! You’re a damn soldier! You’re still too damn weak to meet Father at Ilsaphone’s! Come on! This is an order! LIVE!”
Bare of plants and vegetation, the surviving islands looked dead. Only sand or mud. And on one of these islands, a purple-colored burned corpse with metal fused on it was shaking the body of that demonkin male—Hee’Rlak— next to a fallen palm tree. Looking at the “corpse,” it was missing an arm and had no electric arms, in addition, red sparks flew around the chest and stomach area.
“Before I got swallowed by the tsunami, I saw the girl fish out her companion. Well, whatever was left of him. If you ask me, those two are walking corpses,” Neill snorted as we landed, eying the pleading demonkin as if she was the worst enemy ever. “Her [Identify] blocking item is off. We can appraise her, and it doesn’t seem like she’s too long for this world. That [Arcane Corruption] is eating up her body.”
I didn’t use [Mana Eyes] right away, instead, I checked out what Neill meant with “what remainined” of Hee’Rlak, only to stop my steps as I saw how deformed his body was. I could see his chest going up and down, evidence of his breathing, but for how much longer was the question.
His limbs were… ouuuf; outside of his left arm, his remaining limbs looked like they were pulverized. “Bloody meat chunks with splinters of bones inside them, easily torn away,” was the most apt way you could describe them. His torso and head wasn’t doing better either, as I could see ribs piercing through his skin and pieces of his skull falling onto the ground with his blood.
The man demanded medical attention right now, otherwise, he would be gone in the next few minutes. I didn’t need to appraise him to understand that.
Not to mention…
“No—Urrragaaahhh!” A part of the burned corpse’s, Vifi’Yok’s, shoulder suddenly grew in size like a tumor, only for it to burst open like a balloon. “ARRRCK!”
As I had witnessed back then with the garm matriarch, once your [Arcane Fever] worsened to moderate, your body might just begin exploding from all that contaminated mana. That open, bleeding hole in that demonkin’s back was another reminder of that fact.
Jeez. She really is a lost cause, too, huh? … Well, I might not have taken her life somehow, but I couldn’t see that dimension capture item anywhere. It probably was destroyed in all that mess. Haaaa… I should have guessed, but thank goodness.
The last thing which could inconvenience mother, that blasted dimensional trap reserved for me, was gone. I could finally take a breather, to the point I just fell onto the ground in relief. I wanted to check out myself. It was done. It was our victory.
“You…” However, my body tensed up the moment I heard Vifi’Yok’s voice. The girl staggered up, almost falling back on the ground before pushing herself back up. “I want a deal. You’re Aurena’s Champion, right? I want a deal. I need a miracle.”
… You gotta be kidding me.
“Desperation.” Renee pulled out her flamberge and put her helmet back on with that mumbling, before moving in between me and the demonkin with Sis. Tasianna helped me back up, on the other hand. “The death of a Warbringer sounds more convenient for us.”
“You broke my horn, you little shit,” Neill growled, tapping her lost horn with a frown. “Hestia, don’t think about it. We help them now, they will come back later on. Like a pest.”
I glared at the dying Warbringer. “… You aren’t wrong.”
This was our chance to get rid of one Warbringer. Even if temporary, killing a level 150 enemy would be a major win for me purely for the experience. Showing mercy for an enemy who had no qualms in killing and kidnapping us was foolish.
“Please.” However, despite the heavy resistance, the demonkin girl stumbled further forward, undeterred. A sorrowful look, that of somebody who was about to lose something important, was plastered on her skinless face.
“… I thought you were the realistic type. The sorta person who understands war. Do you really think we could afford that?” I retorted, fully agreeing with Renee and Neill. “You can’t offer us anything. I already know the pope is the damn Prince of Envy. Don’t even try divulging that. You have nothing to offer for our help.”
“… Do I really?”
Huh?!
A chill went down my spine as the demonkin’s head snapped up, glaring at us as she pressed her hand on her chest. The red lightning began to increase, zapping and sizzling louder and louder.
“You’re probably curious how I survived right? Well, hold ya breath, mate, cause you did kill me with that attack. To the point you activated [Original Sin: Satanael]’s effect.” Her mood did a 180, returning back to that abrasive personality of hers she had during our fight. “‘The rebel doesn’t kneel before the false god’s injustice, to nothing short of death.’ A lifesaver for a certain cost. Well, too bad, I’m still gonna die now due to arcane corruption and I can’t stop it … but that also means I’m blowing everything up.”
“You little—!” Neill clenched her fist before quickly picking me up. “Fly! We need—”
Zoom! That sound was followed by a trail of red lightning. The demonkin re-appeared before us and immediately collapsed onto the floor, coughing up blood.
“I snap at yer butts! I will use up my last remaining mana to kill us ALL! Or, ya can spare me the pain of this shit and just eff me off already. Blow up by yer own accords.” She pushed her body up, only to fall to the side, breathing heavily. “Yer know the ‘Twin-Elemental Lake?’ Created after Plesia enacted the first and only divine punishment. The humans say we blew up the dungeon core to destroy them. Well, on our side, we say the humans did it to kill us. The Water Goddess punished them. With all the propaganda … So what's the truth? Dunno. Don’t care. The dead ain’t here anymore.”
What the hell was she talking about?
“Well … my little gift—this red lightning— came from that place. Not natural. Forced into me. The ruinous power of the fallout of a dungeon core explosion and a god’s divine punishment. If it gets set off, ya won’t escape that easily. Understand?”
“You psychopath …” Tasianna blurted out before pulling out our [Room] runes.
“Don’t. See who’s faster? Yours or my trigger finger?” Tasianna stopped herself as Vifi’Yok began to tear a chunk out of her chest, causing the lightning to even zap us. “The device keeping it in check melted, however, I can keep it under control until you leave. But, under one condition…”
She pointed at the body of her companion.
“A miracle. Please. Save him. I’m not saying this ‘cause he’s a good person. No, I’m pretty sure he’s done some fucked up crap against humans and such. A soldier who will follow whatever orders he’s been given. Morality be damned.”
“You’re not making this very enticing.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
Says who? I thought a vein of mine was about to pop at how confident she sounded while threatening us with a suicide bombing. I really wanted to test an easy way to solve this situation, but I was worried I wouldn’t be fast enough in my current state. With [Mana Stress], the moment I use mana, the pain might delay my thinking process. It was too risky, so I held back.
“This is my last wish as his master. Help him and let him escape. Swear it to me with an oath, spawns of Kargryxmor, and I will go and die alone. You’ll be rid of me. Seems fair. He, on the other hand, isn’t worth looking at, right, dragon? A nobody. You can deal with him again on the next battlefield. Please.”
“… Don’t think about it.” The first to speak up was Renee. “I have an idea for this. We can—”
“I’ll do it.”
“—have Fargryneill handl— WAIT, WHAT?! Priestess!” Renee tried to argue against me, but I waved my hand in front of her face before pulling Vifi’Yok up.
“Renee. Tasianna. Go and handle the damn sigil. Get back to the island and help Mother out. We’re wasting time.” I pushed myself off Tasianna and onto Neill, who caught me with a conflicted expression. “All this arguing and threats. I’m too exhausted for all of this … it’s too much for a single day. Pretty sure Tehmrayn or Larent should have dealt with Ghorush already. I think. If not, then they probably need help now. However, I can’t fight at all, and I need Neill right now. So, the both of you, enough wasting time, and just go.”
“Lady Hestia, I really can’t condone leaving you here with the enemy! She might be tricking you!” Tasianna disagreed with me, but listening to her only made my head hurt even more.
“And it’s all giving me a headache. I know, I understand … but, this is what has to be done. This is, in my opinion, the way to get our happy ending for this invasion.”
“I— Hmm … I understand.” Tasianna bowed and then left her satchel full with fulinoe tea in my care. “Then, I shall be off once again, my lady. I will come back with pleasant news.”
“Thank you. Of course.”
“Princess Fargyrneill, please, keep yourself and my lady safe.”
With Tasianna flying off, Renee eventually acquiesced and rode off towards Karhalantheel island. Neill sighed deeply at the events and quickly helped me and the demonkin back to Hee’Rlak.
“Neill, your dragon paths move mana, right? Well, then you should be able to also move mana contaminated with arcane corruption, right?” I asked her once I was in front of the messed up Hee’Rlak, causing my sister to groan.
“… So you guessed it, huh?” I nodded to her question. “Well, I can do it, but I’m also kinda close to [Arcane Fever] myself. Dragon paths are all about the flow using my body as the connector. I can help rid you of arcane corruption, but the mana has to flow through me to be turned into workable dragon paths. It’s sorta unpleasant and hard to work with, since I’m used to pure mana. I can try it, though.”
“Thanks, then. Please, keep me alive.” I pulled out some cups of fulinoe tea and began drinking them before shaking some scale-dust on the man’s body and snapping my fingers. A spark was created and white flames exploded from the mess, causing my arm to turn numb and prickly, to the point it was overly sensitive to everything. “URGK! Sheeeesh!”
Fuck. This will be so bad. [Miraculous Grace] with all this arcane corruption. I need to get [Mana Stress] gone at all cost, though. So, Hee’Rlak, survive until it's gone.
I kept drinking more and more tea, drowning myself in it to the point I got sick of the leaf juice. I wanted to hurl so much, but I kept on drinking more. Neill, meanwhile, was slowly taking care of the arcane corruption inside my body. Purple dragon paths were appearing on her skin, worrying me a bit if she was overdoing it or not.
“… You accepted it faster than I thought.” The demonkin’s voice was feeble, almost too quiet to hear. “I could have backstabbed you, just as that weird winged elf said.”
“Time is of the essence. Every second counts if this guy wants to live,” I answered without turning over to her. “Besides, you demonkins of wrath are supposedly honorable, right? Imagine trying going back on your word to a miracle bringer, right? Nice bringing that to your grave, huh?”
Of course, that wasn’t the only thing influencing my decision here. The fact Klea’Hatma vouched for the Demon of Wrath being honorable and that his descendant should have inherited it, coupled with how she wanted to help Amelia. All over some donuts, even. Those donuts in the underground base were hers, after all. What a surprise that she liked my donuts, huh?
For the price of some free donuts, she thought she was indebted to Amelia, to the point she risked getting in trouble by warning her of the invasion. She tried to get her out of the city, before I attacked her. Was it a misunderstanding, or was she lying? Why would she lie? If she was trying to emotionally manipulate me, then yeah, Klea’Hatma was wrong with her assessment.
But what if she wasn’t?
“Also, you cherish him, right? The way you defended him during our fight. He was kinda useless, though.”
“Worthless, you mean,” Neill chimed in. “Burden to you. He should have known his place instead of trying to jump into the thick of it. Idiot.”
“Hehe …” Somehow, the weakened demonkin let out a small giggle. Truly, if we were in a different world, maybe we could have bonded over some coffee and donuts. Maybe even bobba tea?
Vifi’Yok looked up in the sky with a crestfallen feeling to her. Without any skin, it was too hard to guess her facial expression, sadly. “Nice to hear that from somebody else. But, that’s how most wrathies are. The thrill, just to keep our emotions in check.”
“… War isn’t needed.” I finally forced myself to say as [Mana Stress] finally disappeared.
“Eh?” She let out as I pulled my hair up to a ponytail.
With [Mana Eyes], I began to identify the organs and body parts I had to rescue in order to allow this guy to make a full recovery. Everything I learned from my last two operations—on Reajaen’s son and on Farron—I used on this one. With my body now capable of doing work, I began ordering my white flames around to start healing up blood vessels.
“If you ask me, I would rather all this war stuff just end. Peace. All this fighting has brought to the world is tears and pain. I hate solemn songs. I make them because it's my job and it does feel fulfilling when I get the message out correctly, but I hate having my heart shaken. Chilled. Bittersweet is still bitter … and I hate the fact I’m being forced to act like a ruthless predator.”
Well, it wasn’t as if I wasn’t used to it at this point. I could turn off my compassion for my enemies and kill them, seeing as it was survival of the fittest on the battlefield. However, it didn’t mean it was okay. After every celebrative war song, there would always be a sad one.
To me, war was fantastic for experience, but that was about it. Then again, maybe it was just a lack of conviction for me, since the only reasons why I was participating in this siege was for the Divine Quest and my promise to Renee to keep her city safe. Even my whole party and family only did it for me or Renee.
As such, all of this felt like what Mother showed me with her memories. War really never changes.
“…” Both Neill and Vifi’Yok turned silent.
“So, for this very moment, let me act as a healer. A cleric. Outside of all this war. Just let me save a life. In the midst of the desert ♫
A bright ray of light shines ♫
Pure and brave, that she was, as she walked ♫
She was the ideal for me ♫
The bringer of children’s smiles ♫
Alas, the world seemed bleaker without her ♫”
<[Shield of [The Light]] [Music Resonation (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]>
I began singing quietly. Almost humming.
Neill nudged me by the shoulder. “Slow it down. I can’t go faster.”
“Sorry. I’ll rely on you, Sis.” She grunted in response to my plea. “So, at this very moment, I will make you a promise, Vifi’Yok. I will save this man. And promises are something I always respect, so make one with me. If this ends well, you will hand yourself in and allow me to get to know demonkin culture better.”
“What are you—” I stopped her before she could speak.
“Think about it. I need to work.”
The surgery began.
Miraculous Grace.
To be honest, I had thought I would hear from Yeostar, Kramps, or Aurena. I thought one of them would come out and order me to not do it, but they were silent throughout it all. I even asked Aurena if what I was doing was okay with her. All she told me back was:
<Do what you believe is the correct choice, Hestia.>
Such a god-like way to say it.
The surgery, although it required me to act as fast as possible, still had to be performed slowly. I couldn’t rush it since my body wouldn’t be able to handle me going all out like I did with Reajaen’s son. Thankfully, Hee’Rlak was a tough and high leveled warrior, meaning his high Health and skills were keeping him alive better.
So, at my own pace, I kept on going. Of course, Vifi’Yok was waiting in anticipation since she too was dying at this very moment. [Arcane Fever] was a bitch. Thankfully, she didn’t have the energy to complain for me to go faster. It also helped that I was showing results while reconstructing Hee’Rlak’s organs and skull.
During all of this, I also noticed a giant magic circle appearing in the distance. I could only take a quick glance, as I had to focus on my healing, but Neill described it as having the same appearance as the one Prince Markval showed us. In other words, Renee and Tasianna managed to reestablish the seal.
In the next moment, that circle shot out four giant hooks at the leviathan, tearing the leviathan away just as it was poised to launch an attack and helping Mother freeze off two of its tentacles. The leviathan tried to struggle out of it, but with the hooks keeping it from moving much, Mother’s Territory began to create her little ice kingdom, freezing him in place.
Nice~
However, I kept my head down, looking at my patient. His squishy organs were being repaired, but I had to rearrange them into the correct order as I regrew his torso back to normal. Normal, bodily functions were restored. We were out of the danger zone.
And just when that happened, Neill noticed the leviathan roaring, pointing out how the water it was swimming in was starting to turn into a whirlpool. The leviathan easily managed to stop it, but every second he spent on this, Mother could attack him. She even helped out by using her blizzard to create snowstorms.
Tehmrayn is doing his side of the job. I should try to break his armor now with a thunder spell… but, well, body says no.
I could buy the levels for [Lightning Magic], but I didn’t have the mana to call down a [Ramuh]. Even then, would it even deal any damage?
“Can you cast some strong thunder spell on the noodle?” I asked Vifi’Yok.
“… Noodle? Whatever, but no. Ya think I can channel my mana while I look like charcoal? Wanna kill me faster? I want to die knowing ya got this promise thing under lock.” She sounded annoyed.
“You’re right. Sorry. Pretty insensitive of me to ask that.” I took a look over at her before reaching my hand out, shooting white flames at her body. “But, you’re an eyesore. At least look like a person.”
“Huh!”
Melting off the metal pieces, extracting them with [Volcanic Blaze] since they were kinda like lava when slag, and then having my white flames heal up her missing skin and hair. I didn’t heal anything more, but at least if she died now, she would leave a pretty corpse. Albeit, a naked one.
“… Ya are insane. The deal was only my companion, ya didn’t have to heal me—Mumpf?!” Since she was loud and annoying, I stuffed two donuts into her mouth.
“Wrong, you are part of the deal, too. You owe me now, Vifi’Yok. Enjoy them. They are my experimental low fat alternatives with powdered sugar for the figure-conscious. Put in the report for the taste test later.”
My actions probably didn’t make sense to anybody right now, but I really had enough of conflict. Whether she survived this or not, I wanted to cash in my debt on her. Why? Why wouldn’t I when I had a chance to finally gain some information on the demonkins.
“… Mind giving me one, too?” Neill whispered, asking for a donut too, so I took a few more Berliners for her. Kinda taboo since I was doing surgery, but I was breaking more than enough rules right now.
“Why art …” she mumbled through that mouth full of donuts, before she began eating them, seemingly enjoying them as her lifeless eyes sparkled for a moment. Weird how I felt happy having her eat it with so much gusto, despite how we just had a life-or-death battle.
“You enjoying it? Good, because I meant it with the debt.” My mouth curved up a bit, but I kept myself serious since this was the important part here. “That is why I want you to turn yourself in. If possible, I will guarantee your safety but I will keep you as my prisoner. I want information about demonkin culture.”
“I willt nyot betray myat peopld.” Her full mouth made it hard to understand her, but I could guess.
“That’s fine, but what I want isn’t that. I want to know about your people. How you live, how you love, how you have fun, and how you grieve. I want to know everything about the demonkins through an unbiased lens, neither from the people on this side of the planet of the gods. I want to hear it from your mouth, Vifi’Yok, demonkin of wrath.”
That was the end goal of this interaction and transaction.
She only blinked, visualizing her confusion now that I had healed her burned eyelids. “… Why? We are your enemies. You don’t need to know about us, in fact, I can tell you it makes it easier if I believe all you human-loving people were equally as terrible. That there aren’t any good humans, that all of them just wish for our deaths … It makes killing you all so much easier.”
“And I am not a soldier.” That was my answer to her. “I am an idol, and I have a responsibility not to make you cry, but to make you laugh. Make you smile! Make you dream of hope and a better life. That is my passion, that is what I want to do! Call me naive if you want, but that is how I want this war to end! No more death …”
Neill patted my back, letting out a sigh that told me this was just wishful thinking. I understood that perfectly, but it was still what I wanted. The nuke I dropped on the grimgarians shouldn’t have happened if they had only listened to me and surrendered! I told all of them to do so! … It just sucked.
“… Naive.” Even the demonkin couldn’t look me in the eyes any longer. It really felt like I was the only one who would even consider such a route, but so was the life of an idealistic dreamer like me. How I told myself to not fall into the Hero dilemma … but I guess Eshe would have wanted the same thing.
A path for this war to end without the whole extinction of an entire race.
Anyways, so how do we do this with the lightning? Huh?
And just when I was worrying about what to do with my part to kill the leviathan, I suddenly heard a rumbling in the sky. I looked up, only to see a giant purple magic circle above Karhalantheel, while Neill pointed at something floating in the distance. I couldn’t exactly see what it was from here, but it looked like it was a small floating island.
I asked Neill if she forgot about her dragon paths or something, but she rejected that idea as she had to be close by to control them. This medium-sized island with a small house on it was not hers. In fact, as the spell began to finalize, somebody suddenly came out of the place and began to stretch. Seconds later, this [Ramuh] was cast and struck the leviathan.
What the fuck? What is this sudden intervention? Who the hell is that?
I didn’t really know who that was, whoever it was just watched their spell stun the SS rank leviathan before they returned into their house. Mother didn’t let this moment go and quickly shot a frost breath at her enemy before piercing its sides with a humongous ice blade.
“KRRUUUUUUUARRRRGHH!” You could even hear its agony-filled screams from here.
Mother then shook the leviathan up and down before she bit into its head, crushing the leviathan’s skull before severing a portion of its snake body from its rest. She then slammed the half she was holding into the icy ground and roared in the sky.
Holding her hands up, an icicle in the form of a greatsword began to form in her hand, looking like she was about to perform a ritual sacrifice. She then pierced the blade into the monster’s skull, digging it right into the ground before she took flight, twirling her body up as the ice rose like a twister. Once it was done, she stood upon this monument, this sigil of her victory over an SS rank leviathan.
<[Divine Quest: The Champion of Yeostar] completed. You have done well, Champion, please accept your reward>
<Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor] has risen from [Level 25] to [Level 27]>
<Attributes have increased due to level up>
<Acquired 1500 skill points>
<Congratulations! Your efforts have rewarded you with the privilege of unlocking the Unique Job System. Your Jobs timeline have all been integrated into a single Unique Job which you can mold and evolve with>
<Due to your combined Jobs, you have unlocked the Unique Job [Idol Tyrant Fledgling]. Please use a [Crystal of the Divine System] to assign three development Jobs to influence the growth of your new Job>
<Your reward from God Yeostar will be sent at a later date>
… It was sadly not over yet. I still had a patient to cure. The victory march could happen after all of this was resolved.
Arms. Identify bone shards, remove them. Find a shoulder blade. Take this as the origin. Tear off the remaining arm … regrow. Slight healing for the intact left arm. Now, legs. Tear off then regrow. Regrow once again for the other leg. Now, check to make sure the brain is stable. Hopefully he didn’t get any brain damage, cause I really had no idea how to fix that.
This wasn’t the explosive and exciting ending a hero should be having. It was quiet for me. Doing one good thing, even if the recipient was the enemy. It was my choice, and this was the ending I chose for myself. This was the path I had decided to handle everything.
“Next time, just pay for the damn pastries. We at Aurora are always willing to sell to polite customers.” I told Vifi’Yok as I finished the operation to save Hee’Rlak’s life.
“…” She kept silent, her face expressing her doubts and bafflement at how all of this was going. Never known peace, huh?
So, I stretched my hand around, drawing the attention of the girl to it. “So … then why not join us? My party, the Aurora, I mean.”
“… Ya are actually stupid.”
“No, I mean it. You aren’t fighting this war just for yourselves, right? If you had, you would have just escaped, instead of ruining your honor by asking an enemy to heal your friend. Even if you died, you would have not died as a traitor, because at this point, I can and will make you a prisoner,” I stated, unnerving her. “That is why I am asking you. I believe you are honorable and will honor your debt, so … will you join me freely, or must I force you?”
“What an ultimatum …” She looked at my hand before forcing herself up, her breathing rough. “You really are crazy … But, maybe, I was right. Maybe you could help us—”
“Hestia!”
However, before Vifi’Yok could answer, Neill dragged me away from her just as something flew at where we stood, sundering the small area of the beach into two pieces. The waves rumbled, causing some of the salty water to enter my mouth.
“PFFFFTTT!” I coughed up the water, which only caused me to vomit out blood and fall onto the drench sand. It shouldn’t have been a problem, but this sudden disturbance caused the fatigue to reactivate, draining my body of any remaining strength.
Shit! Damn headache!
“HESTIA!” I could hear Neill call out to me as I forced myself up, eyes wobbly and unfocused. Unfortunately, who I saw was the last person I wanted to see right now.
“Ghorush …” I eked out as the leonid stood before us, wobbly on his feet—foot and completely blooded. He picked up both Vifi’Yok and Hee’Rlak and without saying another word, jumped on a shark-like golem to flee.
“Shit! You won—”
“Grruuck!” I fell onto the ground again, this time feeling like the world was turning around. I couldn’t even focus my thoughts.
“Hestia! No, no, no, no, no, Sis! Stay with me!”
Tuck me in, big sis. Sorry for being a burden at the very last moment … Scheiße … Vifi’Yok, please, think it over.
And with those last thoughts, I fell unconscious.
Comments
brunoid
Thanks for the chapter.
The action-packed ending was last chapter. This is the idol ending.
Imp
Cute ending. Tired Hestia gives no crap about dragon predator nonsense - she's more human right now than she's been in a while. maybe dealing with her inner self helped bring some of that back?
Imp
have faith!
Eric
Can the Little Thunder Girl Survive ? 😭
