The Chimeric Ascension of Lyudmila Springfield

Chapter Ninety-Nine: Vengeance Unleashed – Part Two (Illustration!)

“Forgive me,” Quella whispered with a tone laden with remorse.  

She began weaving a combination spell of lightning and air. The air crackled incessantly with energy around her and Remy. It exploded into a dazzling display of raw elemental force. A flash of light appeared beside me. Quella appeared through it a breath later. 

“You will not regret your choice. We’ll end that blight.”  

“I trust you, Lord Springfield! I cannot live under her rule anymore!”  

Remy swatted away the smoke, a grin etched on her face. Sekh raised an arm, conjuring her formidable armor and mace. Surtr roared, an orb of deadly ice and flames teetered dangerously on his coiled tail.  

“I’m glad you’ve grown some courage. Now, I can do what I wish without feeling guilty. Come! Face your death, chimera! I’ve been roaring for a chance to beat some goddamn sense into you, Cutie Qutie. I’ll enjoy this more than you’ll--”  

Bang!  

Suddenly, a gunshot echoed through the air. Behind Remy sat an arm sprouting from a small pile of slime, an inconspicuous presence until now.  

Except it didn’t hit Remy…  

It hit me.  

I was standing where she stood. The bullet had ripped a hole in my neck. The blood viciously soiled my clothes, but the wound was healed.   

“You chimeras always freak me out. Don’t you know the dead should stay dead? I may be a monster dressed like a Wolffolk, but you’re someone who shouldn’t be alive. You’ve had your chance at life, so why don’t you let me return you to rest?” she said, lowering her voice. She suddenly swapped places with Surtr, then switched with Sekh while continuing. “This is but one taste that the void has given me.”  

I aimed my guns, but I didn’t pull the trigger. “Scared? Shoot me, and you’re liable to kill someone you love. You do aim for the head, right?” 

Her teleporting must be related to the void, my lord. I do not detect mana emanating from her warps. 

A command came from Tris via waypoint messaging.   

Sekh used [Abyssal Iceflame: Iceflame Stake] when I activated [Ira Ignis]. The mana I released clashed with the pillar radiating from Remy, birthing a ravaging lightning storm. Suddenly, the rapist jumped back, avoiding the sharpened spike that burst from the ground.   

“Distract her with… Eh? Why’d you get rid of it?”  

“That’s impossible. You don’t show up on [Skyview] or [Deduction], yet you can read my waypoints without being given shared access?” Tris’s voice trembled. 

“Wait, so that’s it? You’re responsible for faking a Status Menu? What, are you like a humanoid personification of a collection of skills given form? I suppose that isn’t out of the ordinary for the void. Lord Meruria would have a field day with you. She’ll cut you open, you know. She must see what makes you tick. I hope you’re okay with dissection!” 

No one answered Remy.   

We just had to go on the attack. This was a setback, but it wasn’t a fatal miscalculation.  

Sekh started it. She rushed Remy from behind and raised her mace, but Remy swapped with Quella, who had a mana shield around her body. She stopped at the last moment, but Remy returned and used that opening to attack Sekh. She endured the onslaught via a shield of abyssal iceflame while I flew in from behind with Kronto.   

Remy dropped to the ground, swapping with Surtr at the last second. Sekh’s and mine strikes pierced his hide. She cursed, healing him with flames, but she made Quella appear in his place. Her arm burned to a crisp before we realized it.   

Quella quickly manifested a healing tome to cure the damage, but Remy interrupted her with laughter. The damn wolf stood on a platform of nothingness. 

“How about we slow it down?!” She crossed her daggers. “[Temporal Slowness].” White fog exploded from her body, filling the Spiritual Grove.    

Quella stood still.   

We all did.   

No.   

Not all of us. Tris was unaffected. She quickly ran to me while Remy clapped. “The void sure is interesting, huh? Suppose a skill would be mostly immune to a spell that targets people. Since, you know, they aren’t people.”  

We clearly heard Remy’s voice.   

Tris touched me, but nothing happened. She had to fully max her processing abilities to accelerate my mind to handle the slow debuff.  

It wasn’t enough for my body.   

I still moved as if I was waist-deep in molasses. Remy mockingly encouraged me. When I breached the mist, I was back to where I was.   

The bitch wanted to keep me here.   

There is no other choice. My lord, please permit me to remove the emotional link. The Essence of Wrath’s power... We cannot survive without it.   

Relying on that traitor? Already? 

Letting the emotional aspects of my trauma as Michael Fenton destroy me while granting that goddamn dragon her freedom?  

I…  

I…  

Suddenly, I heard Quella scream. I looked to my right and saw her with Sekh’s mace sticking out of her gut. Remy had warped those two out of the mist.    

The skin around her stomach was charcoal black. Sekh growled. She readied a skill but swapped with Surtr, who found his mouth occupied by Quella’s head when he was about to bite Remy.  

She had come so close to dying.   

Remy was taunting us. Tris implored me to hurry up.   

She knew how much I hated the Essence of Wrath.   

I hated her almost as much as this pet wolf. 

But I needed power.   

Things were different this time because Tris had evolved. She had ways of ensuring the Essence of Wrath would never usurp control over me again.  

She had never lied to me before.    

She wouldn’t start now.  

I trusted Tris with my life. We...  

We weren’t going to die here!!!  

“FINE! THEN DO IT!!!!  

Click! 

---

It hurt.   

It hurt.  

It hurt so goddamn much. My hazy sight flickered as my intestines poured out of my stomach like a plate of dropped lasagna.   

Sekh had tried to attack Remy, but she swapped places with me. Then I found my head in Surtr’s mouth when he tried to bite Remy.   

I almost died. Surtr morphed into his humanoid form, raised his axe, and told me to focus on healing my injury.   

That was easier said than done. It took too long to prepare the tome, but Remy had teleported me inside the hazy mist.   

The pain increased.   

The sensitivity doubled.   

Was this the end? All sound was now muffled. The clash between Sekh, Surtr, and Remy was accelerated by my mind’s slowed state, but it still looked otherworldly. She had forgone warping around and took the two in melee combat. She pushed the attackers away—that irritating grin never leaving her face for a second.  

But…  

My surroundings became warm. Time started equalizing. The hazy mist that had terrified me so much was aglow with a gentle flame that danced amongst the vapors. The source? A woman with draconic aspects.   

Except it wasn’t Lord Springfield. No. She kept the same horns and wings as she had, but another stood beside her. She had scales. Her armor was like a molten rock clasped by black obsidian—with flaming red hair matching her fiery crimson eyes. 

Like a true Dragonfolk…  

This strange woman held a melancholic smile that almost immediately faded away—much like the phantom dragon horde in the flaming portal that dissolved behind her.  

“What?! Is that one of the [Seven Deadly Sins]?!” Remy sounded shaken as she teleported above. She looked down at us like ants.   

I healed my wounds, recast our buffs, and then joined them.   

Lord Springfield was screaming. She clawed her head, ripping her ears. They regrew like putty.  

No one…did anything. I had thought Tris would offer a hand or explain, but she shed a silent tear with Sekh and Surtr as everyone looked up at our target.  

“Let me guess. You’re the one who destroyed Ria? Not just any flame spirit could damage that eagle when he’s inside his domain. So, why come out now?”  

“I don’t have to answer you, whelp.”  

“Does your anger fuel those flames? They’re dull, spirit. That’s what you get for willingly enslaving yourself to a mere monster.”  

The draconic woman remained quiet. She turned to Lord Springfield, who punched her across the face before continuing to scream like a woman possessed by the devil.  

It was primal, heavy, raw, and unfiltered. 

She ate the strike like it was nothing and ignored the blood dripping from her lip. “I will not let you experience the nightmares alone, Lord Springfield. Give your burden to me. You have a fight to finish.”  

She forcibly grabbed Lord Springfield’s arm. Slowly, the screaming ceased. The self-inflicted wounds of madness healed. Flesh sprouted from nothing to replace what had been torn.   

But it cost the draconic woman her sanity. She dropped to one knee and tightly gripped her horns. Whatever mental anguish she endured…was probably experienced by Lord Springfield.    

“This won’t make up for your sins.”  

“I know it won’t.”  

“I’ll still hate you. You are to die for me. You will not be treated as anything other than a tool.”  

“That is the fate I deserve. I don’t expect you to forgive me. Just… Win. Finish your fight. Destroy that repulsive wolf. Bring an end to Meruria and her rotten kingdom. You will have my complete loyalty, Lord Springfield, until the day I draw my final breath.” 

“… Sekh?”   

“I’m ready.”  

“Surtr?”  

He just roared. His already giant axe became more inflamed. The blade’s icy edge grew sharp spikes that leaked molten fire.   

“Quella?”  

“I’m— I’m here!”  

“Tris?”  

“…”  

“Good. Your bullshit slowness won’t affect us anymore. Your time is nigh, wolf. I’ll enjoy skinning you.” Lord Springfield’s voice was distorted. It had an unholy, deep rumble to her words as she aimed her guns and spear towards Remy. “I’ll devour you… Inch by inch… Piece by piece… Your power will be used to kill that damn wench!”  

She looked down at us like peasants. “Try it if you can.” Remy bared her fangs, beckoning us with a gesture. “You aren’t the first chimera to desire my flesh, and you won’t be the last.” 

---

I hated the Essence of Wrath almost as much as I despised Meruria and Remy. That damn thing had taken me at my weakest. The vile trickster had possessed my body to settle a grudge Sekh didn’t even remember.   

The Essence of Wrath wasn’t fully incarnated. She was temporarily assuming control over a clone. That was a loophole Tris had found. Wrath’s current appearance wasn’t based on anything special—just some generic Dragonfolk.      

The clone’s ownership remained linked through me via Tris’s unbreakable emergency backup system. We could cancel the clone at any point, which meant sending the EoW back to her Divine Skill.   

She neutralized one of Remy’s most annoying spells, but that wasn't enough. Her constant teleportation was an irritating hassle. The only way to solve it was to not worry about friendly fire.  

Quella was the only one not immune to fire and ice. That was the key because we could make her heavily resistant to them via resistance spells. She caught on when I told her to remember my fight against Sathtshas. She swapped to a barrier tome to remedy that. Sekh and Surtr added to the crimson hue. Remy just laughed.  

“You aren’t the first to try this strategy. I’m alive. They aren’t. I’m sure you know why this won’t work.”  

“It will. You don’t know it, but your demise is inching closer, you goddamn rapist.”  

“The Dark Lord of Tyranny does not live up to her reputation. The lion is nothing. I expected more from a chimeric High Elf. The Spirit of Wrath has been neutered. What good can a humanoid personification of a void skill do if it can't attack? Well, she has a rocking body. Did you fuck her? Is that her only use? [Skyview] and [Deduction] sound like something the void just wanted to get rid of, so they passed it off to the weakest bitch they could find. I think I’ll save her for last. She can watch the rest of you die!”  

That would be her downfall. The goddamn idiot didn’t know Tris was the strongest one here.    

No one crunched more data than her. She specialized in adaptive learning. Theories? Problems? Abstract possibilities? A million different thoughts passed through her processing center at any one time.   

She would never stop thinking. Those capabilities increased in magnitude when she focused on what she did best.   

She’s pushing herself hard…  

I formed clones. They flew like annoying insects, launching sustained bolts and waves of flames towards Remy. She entrapped her body in a shield of water, covering the area in steam when they slammed against her.    

Sekh jumped off a pillar of abyssal iceflame and extended her mace with deadly fire. Remy swapped with Surtr, who had been preparing the same spell he used to destroy that ship in our first naval battle. Sekh’s attack phased through him, and he used the increased mana to create five pentagons around Remy.    

They turned into inferno-fueled cyclones of deadly, whooshing flames when he roared. Remy shrugged it off with another water barrier, but my clones closed the distance as she leapt high for safety. They wielded elemental copies of Kronto and launched a synchronized barrage of thrusts that were absorbed by Quella’s shield when she appeared.   

She cursed. Her tome switched to one of living fire. “[Inferno Conflagration]!” A tiny spec flew from her book as she fell to the ground, but a second tome appeared. Quella cast a spell to grant her wings. She flapped them, sending the crimson orb flying towards Remy. It exploded in a wave of devouring flames. Meteorites slammed into the ground and detonated, making craters all around her. Sekh was given wings by Quella, and she joined us. Surtr could walk on air while a Lionfolk if he created flaming platforms under his feet. 

“That didn’t do shit,” I said. Remy’s eyes glowed. I saw her silhouette grin. She lifted a hand and prepared electrified gusts of wind that cut through the flames like butter. They swarmed us. We fought them off, with my clones sacrificing their lives to save Tris. 

“We need more. Give it everything you’ve got. You need—” I suddenly stopped talking because everything around me had frozen.   

No.   

Time had stopped for everyone except Remy, who had teleported to my eye level.  

Please, do not move a muscle… Pretend you’re affected by it.   

She slowly walked on nothingness while raising her daggers, showcasing a raptorial snarl.   

Did she not know…I could see her?  

“There is nothing more powerful than [Time Magic] when it’s wielded by the right hands,” Remy sang. “Unfortunately-- this sickens me—[Temporal Standstill] can’t compare to what Mia can do. That frightening woman is…truly a monster amongst monsters… There is no other mage of her caliber that exists. Once I end the spell… You’ll wonder just what happened. You’ll ask why you’re missing your limbs.” Remy pointed at Tris, who remained near the EoW. “Not even a skill born from the void can withstand my most powerful [Time Magic]. That proves her weakness, yeah? Sure, she can move while slowed, but that’s not impressive.”  

My Fragment of Wisdom had tried to detect any trace of void-like energy by intently watching when Remy teleported. If she had been using [Teleportation Magic], she could've traced the mana to pinpoint Remy’s location before she appeared.  

Except she wasn’t.    

However, this [Time Magic] was mixed with elements of the void—all of Remy’s spells had been affected by it—including [Temporal Slowness]. Thus... 

It was more visible than ever.  

Tris had, effectively, written a counter spell within our minds the millisecond Remy had activated [Temporal Standstill]. Tris said it would’ve taken her longer to prepare without the Essence of Wrath’s continuous countermeasures to repel [Temporal Slowness].  

I had indirectly acquired immunity to this form of [Time Magic]. The dumb wolf was preparing me for my fight against Mia! The stupid bitch didn’t even know it.  

Tris said she was analyzing the void energy spewing from Remy. I couldn't see it, but Tris explained that it was grey—the same color as the volatile orb containing the energy that should’ve been released when I achieved Soul Evolution.   

That was my trump card to kill Meruria… It was also my Plan B…  

Remy kept taunting me. She rubbed her daggers down my face, grinning like a madwoman as she carved a square into my cheek. “Maybe I’ll lie to you once the limit is up. Those twins think I can erase time to remove the ‘in-between’ of two actions. Or maybe they said it’s something about keeping the effect but removing the cause. It doesn’t matter. I like this lie, so I’ll keep it going.”  

Hold fast, my lord. I’m almost done! 

---

Tris’s voice suggested she was cool, calm, collected, and in control, but the truth was anything but that.    

She was in pain.  

She wouldn't permit herself to allow an ounce of anything other than her soothing voice and comforting tone to reach her lord’s ears.    

Tris had pushed herself so far beyond her limit that she manually overridden her internal failsafes because she needed the spare resources even if it meant having to endure the thousands of error messages coming her way with every passing second.      

Yes, it was dangerous. If the spare processing power was enough to deduce the pattern Tris sought from the gross indulgence of the atmospheric, void-like haze, she’d endure any agony or suffering.   

Because the Transcendent Dark Lord relied on her.   

However, what Remy did differed from what Tris had searched in her databanks.    

In standard magical practices, teleportation involved tapping into the mystical energy in the environment or within the spellcaster. The process followed a set of chants, gestures, or rituals that manipulated mana to create a rift in space. This rift allowed the individual to traverse distances and bypass the physical space between the origin and destination.  

The mechanics behind standard teleportation often relied on the principle of linking points in space. The spellcaster established a connection between the departure and arrival locations, creating a bridge that facilitates the instantaneous transfer of the individual or object. The accuracy of the teleportation depended on the caster's skill, the complexity of the spell, and the clarity of the destination in their mind.  

On the other hand, using the void for teleportation introduced a different dimension—literally. The void was a mystical, ethereal realm beyond the fabric of reality. In this method, the spellcaster tapped into the void's energies to transcend the limitations of physical space. Instead of creating a bridge between two points, the void allowed for a direct, seamless transition from one location to another without a moment of pause.   

It was, quite literally, the same as moving as fast as the universe allowed, but that didn’t mean the preparation happened at the same time. Casting a spell via thought was much faster than speaking, but your synapses needed to fire to send the signal to your brain. The same applied to void skills. Remy had to prepare the warps in her mind before triggering it.

It always happened in a pattern-- everything did. Math and science could be traced back to the universe’s beginning.  

Even something as abstract as the void had to have rules because everything did.   

If it didn’t, then the volatile, unstable nature would cause it to tear itself apart, which hadn’t happened since Meruria had granted Remy her powers via void manipulation. Meruria had thrown Tris’s lord into the void to merely regain the Holy Mana she spent to summon him, so…  

Tris knew that Meruria had deduced the secret mechanics behind it. So if she could do it…  

Couldn’t a skill granted from the void do it as well?  

Logic dictated she could, but what good was logic when faced with illogical impossibilities that didn’t make sense?  

Yes, the void mana was more visible than ever, but she didn’t know where to start.   

That didn’t mean Tris could give up. She was firing on all cylinders to think harder than ever. 

What algorithm did it follow?   

What properties did it favor?  

Tris's body screamed in protest as she delved deeper into the void mana's enigmatic embrace. The pain seared through her limbs. She had locked her muscles and joints to pretend to be under the spell's effect, but she couldn't spare the resources to turn off her pain receptors—not at this point.   

Her entire being had to focus on solving the immediate issue. Even as her mind echoed with the cacophony of error messages—a relentless barrage threatening to drown her in a sea of despair.  

Yet, amid the suffering, Tris clung to thoughts that fueled her determination. Internal whispers urged her to push beyond the brink. She had to endure the torment to unravel the void's deep secrets. Each strained breath echoed with a resolute mantra—she couldn't afford to give in.  

I can’t surrender!  

The words echoed in the recesses of her mind.   

The Transcendent Dark Lord relies on me. I must endure, no matter how much it burns, until the very end.  

The pain became a testament to her commitment, a sacrifice she willingly made for the greater cause. The void's mysteries taunted her, but Tris, like a flame resisting the encroaching darkness, refused to be extinguished.  

She pressed on, not only calculating impossible numbers but also battling the internal turmoil threatening to engulf her. With every discarded theorem, with every attempt to crack the void's cryptic code, she embraced suffering as a necessary crucible for her determination while throwing a thousand theorems to the wayside to approach from a different angle.    

I must continue.  

Her determination was unwavering.    

Even if it burns away everything—my strength, my sanity—I can't give up. The void must yield, and I'll endure every searing moment until it does.   

She wasn’t the only one suffering. Tris knew Remy was a sadist who played with her food. She wouldn’t end someone’s suffering early if there was still fun to have. Each second that Tris had failed to figure out the pattern behind Remy’s warping…meant another dagger had pierced her lord.   

Strips of flesh were being cut off.   

Fingers were being jabbed deep into her lord’s innards.   

Every moment of failure was another strike against Tris. She already felt great shame at having to use her emergency repair process. Perhaps if she had been more effective, the fight would’ve been over—her lord wouldn’t be suffering undue torture because of her lacking ability.   

Each second felt like a hundred years.   

Then a hundred and fifty.   

And then two hundred.   

She pushed more and more…  

…until something shifted…inside of her…  

She saw it—a sequence she had seen before. Instantly, she crunched the numbers and failed to predict the following 12,472 iterations, but she deduced the 12,473rd.    

It took another 12,466 before figuring out the next one, except her hard work paid off because she discovered something extraordinary. She had seen this before—she swore she had, so Tris scoured her indexed databanks until arriving at one possible answer…  

The compressed mana born during her lord's Soul Evolution. The destructive orb was held inside their storage—waiting to be used. Its power was almost unquantifiable—and it was supposed to be their trump card. Ideally, Tris would want to save it for the one who deserved it, but she couldn’t be selfish. She manipulated the orb, triggering an explosion to unleash the tremendously gross energy. It ravaged the boundless depths of their storage.  Tris immediately compared the overflowing data to what she had just discovered…  

There was a match.   

No—it was more than that.   

Instead of taking a predicted 12,455 iterations to accurately predict the following sequence…  

It took 10.  

And then it took 1.   

And then 0, destroying the gap.    

Tris had done it…   

She had deduced the algorithm. Now? Now, it was time to reverse-engineer the mechanics behind it.    

That relief refreshed her heart like a soothing wave, but the battle was only beginning. It made the agony assaulting her body worth it.  

But there was something else slumbering underneath the trillions of error messages clouding her mind—a reward—just for her—for the one who pushed past the limit engraved upon her as [Tris, Fragment of Wisdom].  

When would she realize it? 

---

Remy would’ve used this spell before if she could’ve. Since she didn’t…there had to be a substantial drawback. It was limited, needed immense mana, or desired a catalyst to invoke.    

I’ve gotten what I need, my lord. I’ll have figured out the algorithm behind her teleportation within five minutes. The orb had to be used, but its sacrifice will guarantee us victory!  

You’re amazing! That’s fine! Better to spend it here! I trust your judgment more than myself. 

“It’s a shame,” Remy said, stabbing my shoulder. “You talk…so much shit, but how can you back it up?”  

“Like this.”  

Remy’s face became horrified. I loved how her expression twisted. “WHAT?!”   

A hail of bullets erupted from my stomach from the pistols and revolvers I had stashed inside. They blew a gory hole through my stomach, piercing Remy.   

She hastily teleported back and trembled, her quivering hands touching the bloody holes decorating her abdomen.  

Sekh looked at the inconsistencies and accurately deduced Remy had stopped time.  

“That’s right! You’re fucked! There’s not a goddamn thing you can do!” I shouted. We had to press the attack. I healed my wounds. “[Temporal Standstill] won’t affect me anymore!” Tris mentally told me a new plan, and I telepathically told Surtr, who informed Sekh. That was one way to avoid waypoint messaging since it was compromised. We had no way to tell Quella, though.   

I must trust she’ll get the idea. You’re not dumb, Quella. I know you’ll catch on! 

“DON’T GET SO AHEAD OF YOURSELF, YOU SHITTY CHIMERA!!!” Remy screamed—she was losing her cool. She retrieved a potion, bit the tip, and downed it—glass and all. The bullet holes were healed. Suddenly, a soft glow enveloped Remy. Was it another time spell? 

I taunted her.  

A dozen daggers manifested behind her, but they were catalysts for magic. She freely wielded spells of all the elements without speaking.  

Remy sent sentient homing water missiles and lightning-infused packed gusts of air around the Spiritual Grove. She increased her movement and spell speed by about forty percent.    

The stupid bitch didn’t know overusing magic increased Tris’s familiarity with deducing its secrets. The Essence of Wrath’s flames manifested like a warm, crimson fog, incinerating the weaker spells. It couldn’t stop the mightier spells from slamming into us. Poison corroded Sekh’s armor, which shattered when an explosive burst of air pushed Surtr into him. The two recovered and resumed fending off the encroaching spells.  

Quella was instinctually afraid of Sekh, activating a unique effect within the [Dark Lord of Tyranny] title continually refreshed her mana.    

Remy’s resources were vast, but she couldn’t focus on casting, attacking, dodging, and teleporting simultaneously. That was because Quella had realized she was more suited to countering our enemy’s barrage with opposing spells and dispelling Remy’s buffs whenever possible.    

Her teleportation didn’t have a cooldown. Tris was the same if I didn’t overload her processing capabilities, but everyone had mana, right? Even if she recovered faster than anything else I had fought, stopping time couldn’t have come cheap.    

Fuck… Just how long will Tris's cooldown be this time? I’m not ready for it. No, Mila. Now isn’t the time! Focus! Win first!   

Our onslaught continued. We were much more liberal in our spell usage when the offense slowly turned our way.   

Our flames became hotter. A lingering heat soon filled the grove and steadily increased in temperature, which meant Remy needed to focus more on her water shields.   

Even if she had immunity to fire, she was fighting against a Dark Lord, a 5-Star Soul Warrior, the Transcendent Dark Lord, and an ancient Spirit of Wrath. Quella’s magic was far beyond what any normal sorceress could wield when she wasn't playing defense. 

The Spiritual Grove looked worse than it was before the transplant. The ground below held deep craters. Rushing water filled with poison and flaming infernos from powerful destructive magic had all but destroyed the idyllic beauty that used to be so abundant in Vredi Forest. Brutal earth magic from Remy’s failed attempts had created building-sized spires she had tried to skewer us. Darkened clouds periodically shot out thickened bolts, but Quella’s gravity magic, while useless to Remy, forced the lightning to strike the barren depressions that littered every square inch.    

Aetos still hadn’t made an appearance. He wouldn’t until the end because Plan A necessitated it.    

I flew under Remy and made another nine clones. They swarmed around her as Sekh and Surtr readied a combination spell. Quella flew behind and offered her mana with one tome while using another she had acquired during the battle to create a flame dragon.  

She had caught on to the plan. A woman like her knew Sekh wouldn't risk something like this without a goddamn good reason-- especially when the plan was to overwhelm our enemy with more flames than she could handle.   

The mana-pool of a 5-Star Soul Warrior eclipsed even mine. The fiery drake roared, launching a tremendous ball of deadly flames into the sky. It exploded, sending homing, inferno missiles shaped like drakes towards Remy and her magic-casting daggers.  

There must’ve been a hundred of them. Half barraged Remy, and the remaining spells assembled a mighty tornado of pure destruction. 

It rampaged without restraint—its deadly power harmless to all but one.     

Remy dashed and ducked, keeping four clones at bay with her remarkable melee skill. She deflected my strikes like nothing and used barriers to push away the incoming spells. She soon warped with Sekh, but I had a clone waiting below in the inferno ravaging the Spiritual Grove’s ground. It sniped Remy, but she altered places with Quella a hair later, who cried when the bullet ruptured her femur.    

She tri-cast a healing spell and screamed, summoning wings that she used to fly back to Sekh and Surtr. Emotions ran rampant down her face. She heaved for air and wiped the sweat from her brow, the collar of her robe already damp as a thick swamp.  

“Just how many goddamn monsters have you eaten?!” Remy exclaimed, raising her hand. She summoned a dozen sharp blades of electrified wind without speaking and sent them my way since I kept her focus off those three. Four clones manifested as Sathtshas and endured the damage. I burst through their guts, covered in sticky crimson, with a snarling grin as a hundred vines ruptured from my wrist.    

They latched deep into her skin.    

That Mila vanished after channeling [Thunder Surge]. The crackling lightning flowed down the vines and zapped her water shield.    

Remy groaned from the pain before cutting herself free. She turned around to find Surtr with a pair of axes raised…  

Vines covered in shot out of the right one because that was yet another clone who was using [Furia Glacies]. The spell of [Ice Age] instantly entrapped Remy in a glacier. It slowed her long enough for Surtr to cleave off her right arm. His axe’s edge was enhanced by the darkest, blackest flames. It cut through the ice like butter, his roars proclaiming his quenching thirst to destroy my enemies.    

“SHIT!!! WHY DON’T YOU JUST GIVE UP?!?!?! JUST DIE ALREADY!!!!!!!” Remy screamed. She teleported without stopping. We couldn’t track her—not yet—but she drowned an elixir that regenerated her missing limb. Meanwhile, Surtr returned to Sekh and resumed adding mana to the spell they were charging. Quella stopped to make a dozen-layer shield since Remy had launched towering blades of winds that were enhanced by all the elements.    

They blocked all but two and managed to sever her legs at the knees, but Quella endured the pain. Adrenaline ran high as she used magic to regenerate them. Surtr jumped in front, roaring as a wall of abyssal iceflame redirected the incoming spells. The explosive barrage destroyed even more of the Spiritual Grove. Wind magic created a tornado, sending the dusty clouds sky high, where another roar from my lion dispersed it.    

Quella’s eyes… 

That expression… 

It was so raw…like she was almost enjoying this fight.      

Remy loudly cursed She looked at the remaining clones. She didn’t know which one I was. Her eyes darted back to the still-charging spell.    

She was afraid.    

She tried [Temporal Slowness]-- a move of desperation— but the EoW incinerated every dust of that time magic.    

I hated to give kudos to that traitor, but her power more than tripled my clones’ strength. 

The EoW was supplying me with her seemingly infinite life force. I had a constant assimilation effect to regenerate my biomass and mana, which added to her agony.     

I was going to squeeze every ounce of usefulness from her. She was a tool. Why would you feel sad about using a hammer to strike a nail when that was its intended purpose? 

Remy’s cries soon shook the Spiritual Grove even more than the deadly onslaught between existences powerful enough to wipe out entire countries.    

I was hidden inside the whirlwind of flames made by that dragon spell. I had been here for a while—but the dumb bitch didn’t know.    

[Sunfire Inferno] was being charged—more than ever—fueled by the remains of Quella’s powerful magic. The mana I pumped into it couldn’t compare to what I had used against Sathtshas since I was at Wrath 70. The EoW had to take more of the emotional burden to grant me unrestricted access to its strength.    

“JUST WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU?!” Remy exclaimed when she discovered the truth. I stared down at her like the trash she was.  

“Your worst nightmare. You have no idea…how much I’ve dreamed about this moment.”  

Remy was finally sweating. I loved how fearful her eyes were. That expression…made this moment worth it.    

Slowly, I lowered my rifle—[Sunfire Inferno] arrived with it. The heat radiating burned the air around us.    

Sekh was behind Remy. The spell she, Surtr, and Quella had worked on was ready. Quella grinned. She was out of breath, but she had enough to curse Remy. Her voice started in a low whisper, but she excavated her heart to tell that wolf what she felt. 

“IT’S BEEN NOTHING BUT A NIGHTMARE! YOU’RE A MONSTER! A GENTLE DEATH IS MORE THAN YOU FUCKING DESERVE! I HOPE YOU BURN IN HELL!!!!” 

She added one last use of that flame dragon spell. It curled around the building-sized orb they had worked so hard to fuel. 

They let it go—something so heavy—something so magnificently powerful moved with the haste of a geriatric tortoise. 

I didn’t release mine. 

No.  

I knew Remy was going to teleport.  

Tris marked her location once she saw invisible distortions crackling the fabric of reality. 

That was when I launched it—it flew even faster than a bullet because I had remade the clones Remy had killed inside it. They flew to the spell’s core to act as its propulsion.   

It sped like the devil, slamming into Remy precisely when she appeared—not a moment too soon or late. The clones latched their bodies around her, transfiguring their flesh into monstrous beings with a hundred mouths.   

Teeth bit flesh, tearing skin asunder as skin-melting acid oozed from every orifice.  The clones greedily chomped into the crimson warmth beneath Remy’s atrocious exterior.    

Remy’s cries were delightful.   

There was still more to handle—the attack wasn’t finished.   

Sekh's, Surtr's and Quella's efforts would not be wasted...