Sir Cluckens napped peacefully, the siblings were out at some mortal party and Ismai, the young balled up demi-human, was still balled up. He was sleeping on top of her balled up form… Until said demi-human unfurled herself with a yawn and a stretch.

“Ah!” The chicken jumped off of her and steadied himself, watching the girl regain consciousness from her trait, she looked like she had woken up from a lengthy nap.

“Wh- A chicken?” She asked from her tired eyes, her face lighting up in joy once she laid her eyes on him, her predatory instincts flaring up, “They left me breakfast!”

She leapt at the chicken who was still partly in a daze, though he didn’t need to bring his abyssal form out to deal with her.

Ismai was hit with pecks, scratches, a roundhouse kick into a wall by a skinny leg and then got put into a chokehold by the abyssal form’s amazing strength. It wasn’t hurting her but it did one hell of a job to restrain her.

“Wait! No! I submit! Uncle! Uncle!” She cried out upon realizing the chicken wasn’t as simple as it seemed, “Just don’t eat me!”

“Mortal, you are the girl who’s body I couldn’t break due to your trait, many interesting traits have seemingly popped up in my years within the abyss,” Sir Cluckens said, ignoring her pleas and cries.

“Huh? A talking chicken?! And did you just call me mortal?!” The thief struggled but to no avail, if she couldn’t ball up then she couldn’t become invincible again.

“Yes, I am a lesser abyss god, I was forced into a corner by Ark Andrason, speaking of which, how are you affiliated with him?” He questioned; this thief was experienced, but she was still foolish.

“I tried to find his alchemy recipes and bring him over to the thieves guild!” She answered, “Now please let me go!”

“No, you would simply ball up again, so tell me now, did he corner you or did he forcibly activate your trait?”

“I-I’m not saying anything!” Ismai’s face lit up in irritation, but she maintained a prideful expression.

“So, you were embarrassed by how he got information out of you then,” This made her lose her expression of dignity and she slumped her head into the floorboards, sniffling.

“Though I have to say, your age is quite surprising for your body, being hundreds of years old yet you still have room to hit your prime,” Sir Cluckens commented, “You have used your trait to skip periods of time haven’t you?”

“So?! You’re a chicken claiming to be a god!”

He made his abyssal form pull her tighter into the hold and stare her right in the eyes, the demi-human freezing up before she broke and started crying from the peer pressure of the shadowy and muscular figure, in fact, she cried rather loudly.

“Your mental state is also quite low, you have signs of trauma as well, whatever happened during your original time heavily impacted you, or set you back a few years in your mind,” The abyssal god said, releasing his hold.

Ismai immediately proceeded to ball up.

“You fell for it!” She cried in victory, her body becoming smaller, “Now I’ll just skip ahe-“

“I’m a god for a reason,”

“Huh?!”

Indeed, he was a god for a reason, for he had his arms in between Ismai’s top and bottom half, both at her abdomen, preventing her from fully balling up and becoming invincible. His agility stat was faster than hers by over a hundredfold.

“I-uh,” She stuttered, “Could you let me ball up? Pretty please?”

“No,”

The temperature in the room dropped to chilling levels and the demi-human found herself surrounded by abyssal monsters who instantly restrained her limbs, leaving her unable to move or use her trait.

“Wait!” She protested, trying to break free with tears now streaming down her face, “I don’t want to be defiled!”

“I’m not going to sexually affect you in any way,” Sir Cluckens said, eyeing her, “But I am going to look into your mind,”

“Wait ple-“ The abyssal form touched her forehead and she immediately went unconscious as her memories were accessed.

…

…

…

“WHAT!” Everyone at the nobility cried out in horror, “WHY HIM?!”

King and even the Queen were surprised at this revelation, the Queen had partly seen this coming with her trait but seeing it in a vision and seeing it happening were two different things… It was shocking to hear in reality…

“Oh gods, oh gods no….” Atra muttered in fear, “If Ark becomes a second in command after Wilford… No, no no no no no no no,” She immediately went up and voiced her opinion.

“Princess! Please reconsider! He’s a commoner and a very chaotic one! He’ll destroy this entire kingdom!”

“Atra, I know what I’m doing! It’s not my fault you didn’t go after him first!” She replied with a smug grin, “You thought your man was untouchable, but I can do anything! You should have taken him when you had the chance,”

“You only met me two times!” Ark agreed with Atra, giving her a look of disdain, “Besides you’re too young for me!”

“Father is thirty years older than mother! I am fourteen as you are twenty-three, that’s nine years!”

“But still! I don’t wanna have to become an important figurehead!” He protested, getting his arm free from her grip, “I can’t control a kingdom at all, I’m an expert at potions, not at leading,”

“I don’t care,” She grabbed his left hand again, this time clutching it more aggressively as she held it to her chest in an almost possessive manner, “I choose you for my marriage!”

The alchemist groaned, sighed, cried and huffed in one expression, looking the princess dead in the eye as he pulled his arm back to himself.

“No.”

She immediately narrowed her eyes and snapped her fingers, a collar formed around Ark’s neck with the writing of divine runes on it in glowing pink. The collar’s main base was black and honestly looked like what we would call a choker.

“You are being my partner one way or another…” Her tone of voice grew very, very dark, her eyes also glowed a very enraged purple. She began to float much to the surprise of everyone in the room.

“Wait hold on-“ Ark was grabbed by Wilford who yanked him out the way of a very powerful mana pulse from the angered princess, the result was a destroyed wine table.

“You!” She turned to her brother with a deranged expression, “You should stay out of your sister’s affairs!”

The muscular boy who was blessed with gains from the gods lifted the alchemist and then threw him across the throne room as another mana pulse blasted him through the wall and into the next room, which happened to be the arts and culture room.

A noble at the party screamed and soon they all fled, though the doors to the castle immediately slammed shut, trapping them all inside while Ark landed on the fruits table, breaking it in half

“That went to shit fast!” He yelped as the table broke. An apple, however, landed at his waist and the alchemist noticed it’s fine quality… Nobles really did have it all…

“You! All of you!” The princess raised into the air, purple fire summoned from her hands, “Every last one of you will be incinerated by the end of this party!”

Armi backed away until Rekiel pulled her behind a pillar and formatted a plan, making sure not to attract attention to himself while the princess raged. He targeted the floating royal and activated his trait on her.

[Situational Nightmare has been planted on June Laysong, Witch of Lust and Greed]

The florist’s eyes widened in sheer surprise, even more so when the princess turned to the pillar he was hiding behind. He quickly deactivated his trait.

“You! Rekiel! You dare try to kill me?!” She screeched, flying towards the two like a banshee, her flames growing hotter and wilder.

He pushed Armi away and tanked the magic being fired at him, his vines managing to pull him across the room with only a few burn marks on his clothes. The pillar, however, was charred and pretty smoked.

“June! Why are you here?!” The powerful trait user asked, now in full combat mode, as he planted his feet firmly in another pillar, “From legends tale, you should be half-way across the world, in Galtenfall!”

“Divak told me that I could take that man as my husband!” The possessed princess pointed towards Ark who was munching on the apple, saying something about checking off another spot on the long list, the collar around his neck still glowing.

“Divak? If he told you then that would mean he’s still alive! He was wiped out millions of years ago!” Atra cried out in protest, refusing to believe the witch, “You just need an excuse to take Ark!”

“Divak still lives! And he has offered me this mortal’s soul as my groom!” June hissed, looking at the royal alchemist with disdain, seeing how the emotion of love within Ark burned brightly in her direction, “But you, you are an obstacle that hinders my wedding!”

“Actually, she’s my fiancée,” The witch turned to see Ark had finished his apple, including its core, “So back off, you thirsty bitch!” He chucked the apple away and took a fighting stance.

He raised his two fists to his mouth level and planted his feet firmly in the ground

“My husband’s mortal form is unpleasant; you must be disciplined into a proper man!” The princess’s form flew straight at him and the alchemist inhaled before screaming and running at her, activating his trait to look at hers.

[June Laysong]

[Trait: Negative Devourer]

[Desc: June can eat the bad and negative feelings of any entity to empower herself, she can live off this power without any sort of aging qualities, this is enhanced version of the ability Fear Eater]

The witch attempted to grab Ark, but he jumped straight into the air and onto her back, trying to strangle her to get her out of the princess, the two flew wildly about the room while he strangled the possessed girl.

“Get out of this body!” He demanded, now resorting to punching her in the face once strangling didn’t work, much to the Queen’s horror, “Show me your true form!”

The witch hissed and he found himself being raised against the second story’s inner balcony as she flew, several support beams looking very painful as they came his way.

“Ah shit,” Ark closed his eyes and braced as she drove him through the many wooden supports, the pillars could hold up the floors just fine, but the beams were for extra insurance.

One beam, two beams, three, four, five, Ark was driven through all of them, making him loosen his grip on the witch before the final beam made him fall off entirely… Straight into Atra’s arms, causing him to giggle despite his injuries.

“Oh~? Looks like I’m the woman now~” She dropped him, and he hit the floor, making him cry out in pain as he held his body, beams were painful to be driven through and he suddenly met the floor. Wooden floor made from powerful oaks.

“Stay back,” Atra ordered to her lesser rank counterpart, unsheathing her wrist blade and approaching Resia’s flying possessed form, a determined look in her eye while the flexible metal fully hardened

“When did she get possessed by the witch?!” The King cried out, seeing his daughter in a deranged and volatile state while the Queen could only watch in horror.

‘Probably when she was in the dream world…. Damn, Divak registered me as a threat before he realized I existed… Unless he had already ordered the witch to possess her…’ Ark said to himself, noticing how the collar around his neck was still glowing a magical glow, giving him an idea…

The witch was firing off spells left and right, destroying the castle as the inner guards, Rekiel and Atra fought her to no avail, even if Relziem was here it wouldn’t matter, he needed to get close to attack enemies, and the witch was able to cast a LOT of spells to make sure enemies didn’t get close.

Rekiel was bouncing left and right from pillars to the floor, his trait wasn’t able to target a single individual in a body without killing all those trapped in that body, and he couldn’t get close at all with all those knockback spells, he needed something that held firepower, he needed something that wasn’t just able to be deflected with a few high tier charms or with a high racial ability…

The siblings jumped around the large and decorated room, the sound of wedding bells starting to chime through the large castle, Atra couldn’t get close either, any attack she made was countered with more spells than she could handle and she’d be forced to try a new angle.

The florist stopped jumping around and stood still a few meters away from Resia’s possessed and floating body, inhaling.

“Rekiel what-“

“Get behind me!” He ordered, raising an arm at the witch with his aura flaring up, a sign of his trait activating.

The King and Queen were already behind him, and so were all the nobles, the only one not behind him was Atra herself, but that was taken care of as she was ditched straight into the wall at the front of the room. Where the large oversized door to the castle was.

Rekiel then steeled himself as a thousand spells were thrown at him, he inhaled and exhaled, calming his body… Everything seemed to slow down for him, the world seemed to stop as he confirmed his next attack. Raising his right arm at the monster before him.

He didn’t want to do this, but she had forced his hand.

[Situational Nightmare: Call of the Abyss]

A huge mass of black tentacles and dark fire blasted from his arm, all of it flowing out as Rekiel himself screamed in clear agony, each tentacle, each stream of fire, each black mass reached out to the witch who howled in response.

She unleashed her own wave of ice and fire, the two sides clashing and creating a display of power and strength, the air was equally pressurized, and the two powerhouses were forced into a temporary stalemate.

Rekiel’s screams of pain were a foreign sound to his sister who watched him with a horror in her eyes, seeing the large black masses erupting from her brother. Not once in her life had she seen him in this much pain, not once had she seen him scream in an agony as clear as this.

“What…? What is…” She looked at the raw power that he emitted, the unfailing strength he was giving off from a single-arm alone, the familiar blackness of the abyss that emitted from the arm, “Rekiel… What is this…?”

“Rekiel! Your power was never your own! You are a weak and broken mortal!” June howled and mocked violently, seeing Rekiel wasn’t budging an inch in physical performance and that his abyssal attack was consuming her magic to make itself even more powerful, “Your trait doesn’t even belong to you!”

“Don’t listen to her!” The Queen encouraged, horrified at her daughter’s possession, “She is a jealous and greedy witch! She’ll use words to accomplish whatever she wants! I believe in you!”

The florist focused and gnashed his teeth, stopping his screams of pain.

Rekiel’s trait soon overpowered the beams and waves of elements being fired at it, steadily climbing up and closer towards her, growing more powerful with each spell it devoured. The screams and wails from it made her howls seem like nothing, the sheer agony emitting from it alone was suffocating…

Enraged, the witch looked towards Armi who was at the very back and reached out an arm, immediately the woman who was healing people had her neck gripped by an unknown force, the air was literally being sucked out of her lungs by the witch.

“Armi!” Rekiel’s moment of distraction was taken by the witch, his abyssal mass going berserk for a second was met with him being rammed into the floor by a large gathering of earth, slowly crushing his body.

“Shit!” He suddenly let out most of his concentration which resulted in the mass of darkness flaring out of his control, attacking anything and everything close to him.

The floorboards were torn up and the witch backed away in a sneer, the attack was now working against them, it was shattering the tables and lashing out at everything except the rock that was crushing its user.

Atra immediately charged forwards, using her trait to form several small pillars of Mithril that dug into the bottom of the giant rock crushing her brother, helping him get room to focus his trait as well as launching a huge set of spikes towards the witch while dodging the masses of tentacles and screaming faces.

June screamed and retaliated by sending an ocean of raging fire to melt the spikes, only for Atra to launch modified sulphur bags transmuted from wood at the fire, creating a massive explosion that sent smoke billowing through the front of the room.

“You!” She roared, blinded by the smoke that surrounded her and got into her eyes, it wasn’t until she felt a blade at her neck that she stopped firing off spells, letting the smoke clear up to reveal the royal alchemist right next to her on an elevated spike of iron, her adamantine blade that wrapped around her wrist fully elongated to the princess’s possessed neck.

“Me,” She replied, a fivefold purification array forming around her other arm, glowing in a heavenly way, “Release them,”

Instantly Armi’s breath was restored and the rock crushing Rekiel was crumbled to pieces, his trait slinking back into his body as he regained his energy and concentration, the remnants of his trait leaving void cracks in his skin.

“Unpossess her. Now.” Atra demanded, the holy energy seeping into her wrist blade and burning the neck of the sinful witch.

Smiling, June agreed and for a second, faster than the royal alchemist could perceive, teleported a few meters back.

“Okay,” Her true and twisted form erupted from the body of the younger royal, the princess’s unconscious body falling straight towards the ground, a fall from that height would break her spine and kill her.

The royal alchemist immediately jumped after Resia and grabbed her body, though after she secured the royal, she was hit in the back and her legs by a large set of ice spikes cast from the witch. Each one etching deep into her and absorbing large amounts of blood while those in her legs went straight through her calves, sapping the mana from her body.

And as she fell, her mind went into overdrive.

She planned to use her shoulder to break the fall, her priority was saving the princess, the heiress of the kingdom. The young royal was more important than a discardable alchemist like her.

And as the floor drew closer, she hugged the unconscious body tight, she couldn’t land with her wounded legs, she couldn’t use her back as a shield as the glacial spikes would just be forced through the rest of her body and into the royal heiress. Magic was useless, she could feel the ice spikes draining her of her mana.

10 meters…

Atra closed her eyes and whispered one final word to the world and to the princess she held so close, this was the end of the road for her. But not for Resia. Not for the future of Unitos…

5 meters…

“Thank you Resia, you were the best little sister I could’ve ever had,” She gently caressed the top of the royal’s head, tears filling her closed vision, “I hope you know that…”

1 meter…

She fell into the remaining smoke, spreading it out as a seemingly holy light shined on her, as if a god was watching… Yet everything seemed to run in slow motion. The cries of the princess, the horrified look of Rekiel and the despair of Armi…

The smoke covered her frame… And a sickening crunch of flesh followed…

Blood spilled from within the smoke, a small trail of it running down the steps leading up to the throne…

The witch’s true form looked on in glee…. Though her face immediately contorted in an ugly and vile expression once she saw past the smoke that remained near the floor, past the illusion of death itself…

“Atra… You were willing to give up your life…” Ark’s voice echoed through the hall, his hands shaking in pain while blood dripped down them, holding Atra’s body with the ice spikes straight through those two hands of his, “But your life isn’t about to end just yet, not when I’m still here,”

The blood that dripped down his hands was not Atra’s, but his own, the alchemist had taken the spikes straight through his palms.

“Ark…” Atra weakly spoke, seeing her fellow brewer holding her with a determined and unrelenting gaze, “Take the princess and run…”

Clenching his fists and breaking the ice-spikes through them with extreme strength, the alchemist set his upper-rank counterpart down and tilted his head both ways, cracking his neck with the expression of a calm and collected person, though in his eyes was rage and fury.

On his back was a long and large metal device of sorts, it looked rushed and heavily scuffed but he took it off his back anyway, aiming a very glowy end straight at the witch.

“You…. What is that device…?!” She screeched, “What is that invention?!”

“Oh this?” He asked innocently in a tone laced with venom, filling it with his flawed mana, causing it to hum violently, “This is a little prototype I’ve been thinking on, Armi, dear sister, you know what this is don’t you?”

“Ark….” His sister looked at the weapon in her brother’s hands, the witch howling and flying straight towards him once more, her body emitting shadowy essence for an attack.

“Hey Armi,” Ark said, showing his sister some notes, “What does this look like?”

“A gun…?” Armi answered, looking at the rough sketch, “Why would you need that? Guns aren’t powerful at all, they can be countered by defence spells and they have to use certain bullets,”

“Well, yes, but what about the gun looks different?” The alchemist questioned, edging his sister closer to the answer.

“It’s longer? Looks cooler?”

“Yes! More room for more power!”

“But you need two hands,” She pointed at the sketch, “It’s going to consume so much ammo,”

“Sister, what do you think about using magic as a substitute?” He asked, pointing to the 6 arrays around it on its second sketch, “It’ll charge with magic and then it’ll unleash it all in one huge blow!”

“Brother, it’s a good idea but a horrible design, your enemy could just evade it and you don’t even have strong magic,”

She saw Ark flinch slightly at that and she quickly apologized by hugging him.

“Look, it’s just, I wanna make something that can define who I am. Potions can only get so far with identity, and besides, I can just chug down a mana pot if I want,” He smiled to her, taking no offence to the insult against his magic.

His sister smiled back gently and looked at the sketch again, noticing it had no name.

“What do you want to call it?”

Ark thought for a second before writing it down.

“Hyper-rail Gun,”

The gun whirred and 11 arrays formed around it’s long steely, twisted-square barrel before it unleashed a mother of all magic pulses, it’s energy shining so bright everyone closed their eyes, even Ark was sent 10 meters back from the sheer force of its offence.

As for the witch herself, her attack was obliterated by the beam and she was consumed by the magic, being sent straight through all castle walls, straight through the air and into the city’s magic barrier that stopped her from being sent back any further.

Though now she was being pressed against the barrier, which was electrocuting her by the hyper-railgun’s magic, the alchemist wielding it holding an expression of utter excitement and joy, seeing his invention work.

“Hell yeah! It works! It fucking works!” He screamed, though his voice couldn’t be heard over the sounds of the gun’s whirring and of the magic beam’s weird buzzing sound.

The beam eventually gave out after 5 seconds of pure firing and the witch fell from the barrier, defeated all within a single moment, the events of getting hit and being sent into the kingdom’s barrier all happened within half a second, she hadn’t realized what unfolded until she felt the pain of the barrier against her back.

She hit the ground and felt the bones within her body break, usually it’d be the other way around… Was this how she truly died?

Despite being on the edge of the city and in an alleyway, she could feel that the battle wasn’t over, in fact, she could see Ark standing up at the castle with his weapon next to him, smoking and looking worse for wear but still usable.

He chucked the weapon to the side and from her point of view, he was like a small ant in the light that spread out to the darkness, an ant that was going to somehow make his way to her faster than the guards who were running to her location. She could see him working on his gun in another way.

“Divak….” She muttered, weakly getting her wretched form to stand, “Bring me away from here… Now!”

Her true form was heavily emaciated, mummified and looked like a skeletal corpse with long dry, prickly grey and black hair, she had been betrayed long ago by her lover, and walked the earthly plane in search for a new one, taking everything and everyone…

She met Divak or rather, his voice, many months ago, he was a perfect husband for her, he was immortal, lonely and trapped like her. Yet he declined her marriage, why? Was it because of her ugly appearance? Was that all what men liked? She was beautiful once but that was many hundreds of years ago… Now she had to possess people to hide her unsightly body.

She heard a sparkly explosion and saw the alchemist flying towards her, specifically towards the ground in front of her, he would reach that ground in seconds, the weapon he used to cause that pulse was the same one which caused the explosion. The mana from the gun was the same one in the explosion

“Divak, bring me from here!”

Nothing happened.

“Divak! Take me away from here!” She screeched, growing worried.

“June… We agreed to only let you in…” She heard his voice...

“Not out….”

“NO!” She yelled towards the sound of the voice, but it had vanished, and the alchemist landed in front of her, something broke when he landed. He groaned about how that was both of his ankles gone, she could smell some sort of magical enchantment on him that reduced his impact damage, she could still take him down!

She fired off an ice spell at him but he just leaned his head to the side and avoided it, June fired off another, and another, soon she was rapid firing spells at Ark who didn’t even seem harmed or fazed by it, he was so close she could see the anger in his eyes.

Immediately he pulled out a smaller rune and crushed it, it sucked out all of the mana within a nearby radius, removing the chance of her using external magic to escape.

The witch tried to weakly back away from him, but she saw him approach her with no intention of letting her escape. His face held the marks of tears streaming out of it, she could see the blood on his hands, as well as his now damaged ankles. How much pain was he in right now?

“You almost killed my crush, you almost killed my best friend, you almost killed my sister, you possessed the princess, you crashed a party,” She saw him list off things on his fingers, she could see straight through the holes on his hands… How could he still use them? Just what was this alchemist?

“All in all,” She backed away even further, she saw him suddenly loom over her, despite her 2-meter-tall and emaciated stature he somehow towered over that as he backed her into the alley’s corner, she was in no condition to fight… He was going to crush her right here, right now…

“Wanna join us?” He extended a hole-ridden hand to the cowering witch, all hostile mood gone.

“You… What...?” She asked, suspiciously eyeing him and his bleeding hands, “You’re tricking me?”

“Nope, Sir Cluckens is my familiar, I partly believe in redemption for everyone, otherwise I would have just left him in the burning dream world, that also counts for that demi-human Ismai and Emthrall too, though I have no idea what’s happening with that vampire,” He counted his fingers again, “So, wanna join us?”

June looked at him, a convoy of guards started seeping into the alley, all arming themselves behind Ark with crossbows and magic spells and swords.

“Step out of the way! We’ll light this bitch up!” A guard ordered, though the alchemist didn’t flinch, in fact, he looked at her with kind eyes…

“Ark! Step out of the way so-“ The guards saw the witch’s hand accept Ark’s.

A bright light immediately shot into the sky, flying straight through Unitos’s barrier and enveloping June, it’s golden colour making the railgun’s attack look pathetic, it spread through all of Unitos as it let out a circular pulse of golden energy that permeated through everything. Solid and liquid alike.

The guards were swept back by the sheer force and everyone fell to their knees, commoner and noble alike.

[You have broken the Curse of Lust and Greed]

All the dead vegetation in the kingdom was flooded with life and everyone looked two years younger than before, they all felt energized and in their prime, all the sickness within the kingdom was cured and all the injuries in the kingdom were healed.

The witch was no longer a witch, she had turned into a beautiful woman, gentle golden eyes, snowy white and perfectly soft skin, long white-blonde hair that looked a tender caramel vanilla colour… She was like a goddess incarnate… Her 2-meter-tall stature supported this sight…

“You have lifted my curse…” She said, looking at the alchemist with happy tear-filled eyes, “You must have known how to break it… That’s why you accepted me for who I was… Even though I tried to kill you…”

The alchemist himself was stunned, partly at her beauty but mainly because the plan to originally have her help him with being an adventurer was now going to be slightly more famous now that she was drop-dead sexy… This was going to be a problem…

“Uh… Yeah…” He looked to the stunned guards… They all had their mouths open; some were drooling… With good cause too…

All she had before was her mummified wrappings, all she had now was the same mummified wrappings, but previously they were wrapped around a skeletal and rotten body, now they were wrapped very tightly around a living and perfect body… Very. Tightly.

“Ark Andrason,” Ark got up with a faint struggle once he heard his name being said, “Out of all the men I have met, you were the oddest yet you were the most forgiving… For that, I accept your proposal…”

Her wrappings quickly expanded and lengthened into a black and elegant dress, it looked like a funeral dress but had a hint of happiness and magic added into it, she bowed to him as the pressure on everyone else eased away.

“June Laysong at your service, I shall be by your side, even when you die,” Her tone was one of respect and nobility, was this the same witch as before who looked like she could pass off as the grandmother of an elder root tree?

The alchemist looked at June, then at the guards who were still stunned… He sighed…

“Alright, can you teleport us back?”

…

…

…

“He’s a one in a million,” The Queen commented, seeing her husband do a backflip and dance, cured of his illness and looking almost completely restored to his prime, though it wasn’t who she was talking about.

“Your highness… He’s… Certainly one hell of a man…” Atra was still trying to convince herself this was real, her wounds healed by the massive pulse of holy and reviving energy.

Yesterday he had tamed a god, today he had tamed THE witch of Lust and Greed… It was like a fantasy, a story to tell her kids, an impossible event. Yet it all happened right before her, he saved her and then saved the witch, just what went through his crazy mind? What kind of god was backing him?!

Speaking of crazy, she saw her brother sitting at a seat, silently munching a pie that had survived the chaos, he looked like he was struggling with something, and she probably knew. She decided to walk up to him.

“Hey,” She greeted, taking a seat next to her relative, he responded with a hiss of pain and she recoiled.

She had accidentally touched his shoulder.

“Sorry,” She saw him nod and very shakily take off his right glove, showing a completely blackened and voided hand with cracks crawling up his wrist and from what she saw, to the upper side of his cheek.

The air seemed to sizzle around it, and she could hear cracking as well, his skin was very sensitive but she had questions to ask her brother, very careful questions. She didn’t want to enrage him while he was injured lest he lash out.

“What was that?” She asked, looking her brother in his pained eyes, he looked down and sighed, his sister’s concern would pain him even more if he didn’t tell her.

He painfully put the glove back on and explained.

“My trait is c-“

A bright flash suddenly entered the hall and Ark appeared with a woman who looked like the daughter of the goddess of love and beauty, her looks, her body, it was all perfect and majestic, everyone looked at her with stunned gazes, everyone except Ark himself.

The alchemist’s footsteps cluttered in the silence as he went up to Atra and Rekiel, both still stunned at June’s beauty.

“Alright so I made the witch our ally and she is willing to help us or whatever,” He said, not getting any response from the siblings, in fact, they both stared at June, Atra with a hint of envy and Rekiel with a hint of… Something that wasn’t love or lust…

“Guys?” He clicked his fingers in front of their faces, making Atra blink a few times with surprise.

“Huh? What?” She asked, knocked out of the trance that the beautiful woman had put her in, rubbing her eyes while the alchemist talked.

“I said that she’s willing to join us,” He repeated, slightly irritated, “Also why is everyone staring at her? She’s pretty but she’s not THAT pretty!”

Rekiel inhaled through his teeth, looked at Ark with a dismayed expression and made sure NOT to painfully put his hurt arm around the alchemist’s shoulders like he was originally planning to.

“How many girls have you had eyes for?” The florist asked, making his friend raise two fingers, one finger on each hand, he pointed his left at Atra and the other hand he pointed to the ground and used his eyes to single up at the sky.

“I see, you’re a dedicated man then,” He noticed how the collar around Ark’s neck hadn’t disappeared and how June was carefully watching his actions, it was probably a tracker of sorts…

“What’s the collar around his neck for?” Rekiel asked the woman who turned to face him with a kind and gentle demeanour instead of her previously aggressive one.

“Oh yeah, this exists, feels like a choker and it’s slightly irritating,” Ark scratched at it and now started to fiddle with the item, soon on the floor while he scraped at and pulled at it.

“A marriage band, but I’m guessing he does not wish to marry me,” She said, slightly downtrodden while she gazed at Atra who became uncomfortable with the attention on her.

June floated over to the royal alchemist and put both her hands on her shoulders, giving a word of advice.

“Do not take him for granted, I sense that deep in your heart you truly love him but the expectations of the world and your inacceptance of his maturity hold you back,” She took the royal alchemist’s right hand in her own, “Don’t wait until he’s snatched up by another woman,”

She then pointed at Ark and the collar was removed from his neck, though the divine symbols sunk into his neck and soon went from their divine shine to simple ink writing, it partly looked like a scar.

“Great, a tattoo… Just what I wanted…” Ark looked in a spoon at his warped reflection, “I’ll have to wear scarfs from now on, thanks June,”

“Cursed or not, I am still a witch, its how I was cursed in the first place when HE betrayed me,” Her tone grew violent before it calmed down, “And though you may pair with that royal alchemist woman in your future…”

She floated closer to the alchemist and wrapped her arms around his body, leaning in and whispering into his ear.

“Your soul will always be mine…” She whispered the last part possessively, and it seemed everything around the two went dark, “This marking is proof of that…”

Then she let go and resumed a cheerful expression, leaving a blank-faced Ark to face a slap across the face from Armi’s right hand which made contact with his face fast enough to leave a mark on his face which she slapped with an expression of anger and mild hostility on her own face. He definitely FACED it head-on.

“Ow! Why?!” Ark screamed, feeling the stinging sensation on his cheek, his hands had circular scars on them, “What did I do?!”

“Look at the castle walls!” She yelled, pointing to the massive hole in the side of the building, “We’re going to have to pay for this!”

“So?! It's not my fault I needed to beat the crap out of her with a railgun!”

“You could’ve at least tried to minimize the damage!”

June watched this with amusement, it had been a while since she was even happy, centuries of loneliness had stripped her of her beauty and her emotions, yet here was now, watching two siblings yell at each other.

She then looked to Rekiel, the male would beat her in a 1 v 1 situation and from what her trait was feeding from him, his trait wasn’t as simple as it appeared. That the seemingly unbeatable Situational Nightmare’s ability to kill anyone through cause and effect had more depth to it.

After all, traits were a gift sent by the gods for mortalkind, to protect and safeguard them in the harsh and ancient world many millions of years ago.

But what kind of twisted and forsaken trait harmed its user?

As she thought, the princess woke up with a startled scream and a cold sweat.

“WHA?! I WOKE UP AND I LOOKED IN THE MIRROR AND I SAW ME BUT IT WASN’T ME AND I-“

“Calm down,” The Queen assured her daughter, “You’re fine, Ark took care of it, you’re safe…”

Resia panted and gasped as she calmed down, a glass of water being given to her by her brother who was unharmed except for the small bandage on his cheek and his ripped shirt which was showing his god-carved muscles. Many of the noblewomen who still remained couldn’t help but blush at the prince’s shirtless appearance.

“There, there, breathe and think,” Wilford said, patting his sister on the back while she came back down to earth from her hyperventilative state.

“Wh-what happened...?” The young royal asked, seeing the gaping holes in the side of the castle, a brick falling in one of the holes.

“I attacked a witch and made her into my servant,” Ark explained, munching on a slice of apple pie that had survived the assault, this was from the same pie Rekiel was eating, “Also you got possessed by said witch,”

“Indeed, my name is June Laysong, and I have sworn to be by Ark’s side, and when he dies he shall be my groom,” She bowed to the princess, showing high respect as she raised a hand, “I apologize for my rude and unapproved possession of your body, I hope this does not make us enemies,”

The princess looked at the woman and then took her hand.

“I, Resia, the princess of Unitos, am not insulted by this unapproved use of my body, you are forgiven,” She announced, pardoning the witch from a crime she would call insignificant. She had done it many times over after all.

Said witch stood and returned to Ark’s side, attempting to take his hand with her own, the result being his hand slapping away hers… This made her smile maliciously though…

“Speaking of which, why did you possess my daughter?” The Queen asked, “Was it because she was royalty and due for marriage?”

“Yes and no,” June explained, “I was initially called to this kingdom by Divak-“

At those words many gasped, some even fainted, and the group felt a cold sweat run down their backs, it was like time had stopped and the air had been removed from the castle… It was cold and chilling….

“Divak’s still alive…. Shit… He was supposed to have been wiped out millions of years ago by his brothers and sisters….” Atra cursed under her breath, despite hearing this twice, “How?! How is he still alive?! Are you sure it was him and not some other demi-god or trickster god?!”

“No regular god can emit as much power with a voice as he could… He was like a darkness within a darkness, a black void that ate even the emptiness… He was…”

“The abyss…” Rekiel interrupted… “The nothingness that eats nothingness… Right?”

“Yes, it seems you’ve done more than just listen to the rumours and stories… That trait of yours is affiliated with it, isn’t it?”

Rekiel nodded and looked at his right arm, the pitch-black substance hadn’t receded in the slightest.

In this world, the abyss was said to be an accursed place of emptiness and a void that ate the very essence of emptiness, it was a hell that housed the abominations that were the Children of the Abyss. Everything that came from the abyss was immortal and apocalyptic, possessing god-like status among the mortal populace…

It was a blackness that many considered to be untapped and unholy, it defied all known laws of the world and ate up everything, anything that was involved with the abyss could only be destroyed or defeated by the abyss… It was a terrifying place…

What made it even worse was that it was said to house the failures of the gods, things so mortally wrong and against the natural order that they themselves were deemed worthless by the divine entities.

“Divak told me to possess the princess so that Spite would have a source of royal information for Spite, however, I was given the goal of eliminating Ark a day later by any means necessary. It was a response to how you eliminated Sir Cluckens,”

“Great, so Divak’s alive,” Atra groaned in annoyance before she screamed a very loud “HOW?!”

“Well if you think about it, an ancient god isn’t easily killed, even by other ancient gods,” Ark put his opinion in, “And he’s a master of darkness, and darkness is a really sketchy thing that ignores most of the universe’s laws, right?”

“But why now? Why now of all times would he choose to start becoming active again?” Armi asked, “According to legend, all ancient gods perished in the fabled War of Ancients, if he’s the only ancient left then he could’ve wiped us all out thousands of years ago!”

“Unless there’s other ancient gods who’re still alive, if he’s using people like June who have little to no affiliation with Spite, then there’s something out there that’s keeping him in the dark and forcing him to act carefully,” Rekiel theorized, making Ark turn to him with a blank-faced stare.

“What do you see here that says ‘carefully’?” He asked while quoting with his fingers, “I get attacked by a witch a day after an army clearly from the abyss arrives at the doors of Unitos, you think that says, ‘Oh man, Divak’s dead!?’”

“Yes and no, it depends which gods are still alive from the Ancient World. Divak himself may be the only god left and it's taken him this long to recover or all the other gods are still alive and Divak’s got an heir using his name,” The florist explained, his tone starting to drop to a more serious level, “Though now that you’ve defeated and practically killed the witch of Lust and Greed, I have a feeling we’ll be meeting a very dangerous force in the next coming weeks,”

“Speaking of which, HOW did you defeat her?!” The princess suddenly jumped into the conversation, alive, well, and in the alchemist’s opinion, back to her usual annoying manner.

“It’s called plot armour, and the power of friendship, we used those to defeat the villain,” Ark crossed his arms and gave a smug grin to the teenage royal.

“What’s this… Plot armour...?” Resia suddenly grew curious, grabbing Ark’s fancy suit top and lifting it, only revealing his sad and slightly muscular stomach, “Where is it?! Where have you got it?! Can I see it?! How do you make it?!”

“Oh my g- You know what? Forget it,” Ark pulled his suit top off and stretched his shoulders, the noblewomen didn’t look at him very pleasantly though, “That suit is tight as heck, what do you have it made out off?”

“Only the most expensive and luxurious fabrics of course!” The princess smiled to herself and closed her eyes, explaining as if it were obvious, “That suit was personally tailored to your tastes of white, my knowledge about you is greater than even you know!”

“My favourite colour is none of your concern, I just choose white because it’s the cheapest colour and because I like it,” The alchemist said, “And the suit sucks, it’s too restraining. I want an overcoat like them,” He pointed to Rekiel and Atra who looked at their clothes.

“Our clothes are allowed, I’m the royal alchemist and partly a general of the guards, thus I need to be ready for combat and fancy occasions at any time,” Atra gave her reason, “I’m also entrusted to being a guardian of Resia’s so I’m allowed to take weapons into various parties and formal events, though the vials slung over my chest were said to be unneeded,”

“She made her clothes after mine, I get a pass,” Rekiel said, not even giving his potion-brewing friend a second glance, “And the guards can’t find every weapon, I still have a knife in my shoe,”

The male alchemist sighed in frustration, “Well at least everything is over and we can get some well-earned rest-“

“THERE’S BEEN A BREAK IN!” A guard blasted through the door, sweat pouring down his face as he screamed

“No shit! This place got raided like, two minutes ago!” Ark screamed at the guard.

“NO! AT THE TREASURE HALL!”

This made the group silent, well, everyone except Ark.

“OF FUCKING COURSE IT IS!”

…

…

[{Unitos Treasure Hall: where all the artifacts are stored}]

..

..

“Damn,” Rekiel said, looking at what was left of the place, “I think it was more than a break-in,”

The entire hall which was like a museum had been ransacked and destroyed, many of the walls were broken and many bodies lay fallen, blood coated the supports and almost every treasure that was in the hall had been taken. Only the really, really, really crummy stuff remained untouched. Like the vase of dissatisfaction which stood unfazed amongst the clutter of bodies and relics.

“You think?” Atra walked up to the bodies and checked their vitals, no hearts were beating and there was no magic flow, they had been dead for at least a minute. No coming back from a minute of death without taboo magics.

“Who even did this? Isn’t the hall guarded and locked up tight?” Ark asked, seeing the walls had shred marks on them, in wavy and curvy lines, all leading upwards to the roof which had no marks or blemishes on it.

“I’m putting my money on Spite, whoever attacked this place took all of the valuable artifacts which were related to gods and Divak,” Rekiel said, looking at some dust and broken pots, “They didn’t use magic either, there’s no trace of it anywhere,”

“Do they have someone who can erase magic trails with a trait or item?” Atra asked, “Spite still needs a good deal of power after all, and they are known to take items and equipment relating to traits,”

“Nah, there’s nothing here, except for these weird wavy markings on the walls,” Her brother replied, scanning the walls and floors with his left hand, “Armi, what’s your opinion on this?”

“I-uh, well if it isn’t magic then it’s an item, right?” She replied, giving her opinion, “Magic leaves trails as Atra said but if there’s no trail then someone must have an item, especially since most traits still leave a remnant of where they went,”

“She’s right,” Ark said, “Rekiel, can you hand me a body?”

“I’m still under the effects of my trait,” The florist replied.

“Kick it to me then,”

A guard’s body was kicked to the alchemist who kneeled and used his analytical trait, doing both bodies individually with a hard look.

[Temis Levonda]

[Age: 52]

[Height: 6,1]

[Status: Deceased]

[Markus Embit]

[Age: 43]

[Height: 5,9]

[Status: Deceased]

“Both are dead but there’s also another detail, I’m sure you guys can recognize it,” He turned both bodies face up.

Immediately the scene of fear etched onto their faces with both of their right sides shredded and slashed came into view, the blood had been sucked out of their bodies and was probably the blood that decorated the walls.

Ark looked further into the cause of death, using his trait to its maximum reach.

[Reason of death: blood and limb loss]

[Reason of death: blood and limb loss]

He peered further into the causes.

[Blood loss: caused by limbs being torn off and shredded]

[Limb loss: caused by The Song of Order]

[Blood loss: caused by limbs being torn off and shredded]

[Limb loss: caused by The Song of Order]

“What…?” Ark suddenly grew uneasy, “What the hell is The Song of Order?”

“Did you find something?” Atra asked, kneeling to her lesser rank's level.

“These men died from blood loss caused by The Song of Order; do you know what that is?” He asked, looking around.

Even June, who remained silent, was clueless on what it meant, she did seem just as uneasy though.

“Fine, I’ll look deeper,” Ark looked at The Song of Order’s icon that his trait displayed and analysed it.

[The Song of Order]

[The Song of Order is-sssss-&*%*^)(*))%^*(*&*& ERR_ SYN_]

[User: Ru-&7^*^%$]

“Wha-“ Ark was suddenly enveloped in a dark void, taking him away from everyone and isolating him, nothing was there… Yet at the same time, something was…

He looked to his right and his left and saw nothing, but when he used his trait again.

A presence made itself known.

“Ark Andrason… I have heard of your trait… But to think that it could go to such an extent of analysis, that you could delve into what mustn’t be known. You are a threat,” The presence said, throwing the alchemist out of the dark space.

He slammed into a wall and felt something break, was that his spine? He was still shirtless after all.

He fell forwards and hit the floor with a thud, it was… Uncomfortable, but soon he saw the faces of his group staring over at him, all of them worried faces… Except Rekiel’s, his was a shit-eating grin.

“What did ya find that caused you to suddenly get blasted backwards?” He asked, getting on his knees to loom over his friend.

“Well….” Ark groaned, “The Song of Order is definitely something that’s heavily guarded and the weapon that broke into this place,”

“That certainly helps us- Wait a minute, you can look into the past using a body?!” Atra cried, realizing what the other alchemist’s trait was capable of, “YOU CAN LOOK INTO WHO CAUSED THE DEATH OF SOMEONE?!”

“Not exactly….” He groaned, refusing to move, “I can analyse something and then look into its history and stuff like that, I can specify on what I want to see with the trait. I can see weaknesses and stuff too. Oh god, that hurt…”

The royal alchemist was almost willing to kill her under-rank right there, this lazy man could’ve saved her an entire two weeks of paperwork and avoided getting her brother involved if he just offered to help!

“YOU COULD’VE USED YOUR TRAIT TO SOLVE THE VAMPIRE MURDER!”

“Yeah well… You said about how you found a recipe that allows me to clone myself then you got surprised when I made that potion…” Ark said from the floor, “Also my trait is very inconsistent, it says I can analyse any item but I can see what the details of living organisms are..”

He wasn’t even going to mention the scene rewind potion that had long since gathered dust on the wall… Actually, he had forgotten a LOT of things… Maybe that would create some holes down the road… He had yet to give the modified fizzing orange potion that would play the scene of a figure speedily biting the little shit that started this whole case.

“Every scrap of detail about you, your history and your trait, it’s all available to me, ain’t that wacky?” He grinned a wicked grin, still in pain while Atra resisted the urge to tear him in two.

June soon floated over to Ark and helped him up, and by helped him up I mean making the floor below him ignite in flames so he wouldn’t just lay in the rubble, gathering dust and wasting away. She would have none of that!

She also teleported his regular white tunic and black/blue pants onto him, warping his suit away into the shop as well as healing any remaining wounds. Her ‘husband’ needed to be in top condition so that his soul would be strong and hardened.

“I’m not sure how to respond to that,” Armi said, seeing the scene play out before her within seconds, it was surreal seeing someone else other than her care for her reckless brother.

“I do! That fire was hot!” The lesser alchemist replied, rubbing his back, “But the service quality was nice,”

“So are we going to ignore the fact that you were blasted back randomly or are we going to suddenly go to bed in a rushed fashion?” Rekiel asked, not crossing his arms in the slightest.

“Well, I dug deep, heard a voice that wasn’t human, and I got injured. So I’m assuming that was Divak…” Ark said, brushing himself off, “And besides, Divak’s trapped in that tomb anyway so-“

Another guard rushed in, panting and sweaty as he cried out.

“THE HEROES HAVE ARRIVED-“

A figure suddenly landed behind him, a powerful and intimidating figure, an all-too-familiar figure, a very heroic figure.

“Yo, edgy teenager,” Ark casually greeted Relziem who scowled him with purple eyes, it was said that the hero’s eye colour changed every now and then, but one couldn’t be sure…

“Ark, I expect that-“

“How was it? The date I mean, where you explored what it’s like being a girl and I doubted my heterosexuality-“ He was suddenly grabbed by the powerhouse and lifted by the throat.

“What. Did. You. DO?!” The white-haired male hissed at his ‘rival’.

“Made a skeleton into a woman,” This response made him chuck the alchemist down the hall and into a pedestal holding up a vase in a pretty glamourous fashion, said pedestal swayed once the body hit it.

It obviously fell back, and the vase landed in Ark’s lap, making him go from an extroverted and positive human to a suddenly dissatisfied guy… A massive contrast…

[{Status: Dissatisfied}]

[The Vase of Dissatisfaction has left you unsatisfied]

“Oh damn…” Ark said, pretty unsatisfied, “That’s disappointing….”

He got up and placed the vase beside him, once his fingers left the object the status was removed from his being.

“I assume you’re here to find out what happened?” Rekiel challenged the hero, making Relziem look in his direction with disdain.

“Yes, and if you try to stop me then I’ll have to-“

“Yawn, such a bother, all this threatening and irritation yet you haven’t killed Ark yet? Do you indeed have such a soft spot? Are you all serious and no fun?” The florist presented a bouquet with his left arm, “To you, sir Relz-“

The flowers were ignored and the older Regimont with them, the hero casually walked up to Atra and asked her a plain and simple question.

“How long ago did you arrive here?”

“A few minutes, why?” The royal alchemist was met with the hero turning around and walking to the exit of the building.

“I can still find them then,” The Berserker hero muttered, clenching his fists in anger before he stopped in the doorway, turning to eye the alchemist that was the bane of his existence.

“Don’t let me catch you doing something evil again,” The hero suddenly vanished from sight, as if he teleported somewhere.

Ark shook his head in ignorance and walked to the group, putting in a few words.

“We need a new plan,” He said, raising both hands, “The Song of Order, whatever it is, can break into one of the most heavily guarded places in Unitos. And I don’t wanna be the guy who says it, but I’m going to assume that they’re gonna attack the alchemy tournament that’s in two days,”

“Which is exactly why we need to figure out what The Song of Order is…” Rekiel finished, the abyssal cracks on his arm starting to recede, though slowly and painfully, “The best way is to draw them out then, force them to play their cards…”

“Well if I’ve learned anything, people will do something if there’s a prize behind it, and if there’s a good enough prize…” Armi trailed off, her words being carried by her friend.

“Then we can lure whatever this ‘Song of Order’ is...” Atra finished her friend’s words, “And I think I know how to work their hand,”

She turned to Ark.

“Are you sure you don’t want a cauldron?”

“Atra, I’m the provider in this relationship,” He replied, declining her offer, “Besides, am I wrong to say that this ‘prize’ is going to make a lot of people desperate?”

The royal alchemist smiled and gave him a smug grin, a plan formulating in her mind.

“Oh, you have no idea…”

…

…

…

It was half-an-hour later that Ark had opened the door to the shop and noticed something was wrong. The atmosphere was tense and there was an air of predatory scent… Wait… What was that on the floor?

[Clothing string]

[Durability: 1]

[Desc: A simple and easy to find string, this particular one dropped from Ismai]

“SHIT!” He screamed, making his sister rush in.

“What?!”

“THE DEMI-HUMAN WOKE UP!”

He then jumped the counter, went into the small hallway that connected the other rooms and….

“Greetings,” Sir Cluckens said from directly behind the corner, making his master scream and slip backwards and hit the floor. The chicken simply ruffled his feathers as his owner held his head in pain.

His sister came from behind the corner and saw the barn animal with her brother, immediately firing off a question.

“Where-“

“Ismai is restrained and harmless and nothing was stolen…” The chicken explained, calmly preening his feathers with his beak, “It’s a simple task and I quite enjoyed studying her and her biology, she is different from those reflections of her race in the abyss,”

Then the chicken stood up and looked at his master.

“And I sense you have gained another follower, and a healed one at that, how are you June?”

The witch materialized behind Ark, wrapping her arms around his shoulders with a pleasurable smile, nuzzling her cheek with his hair while Ark himself tried to force off him. That failed.

“Ark here saved me, so this is the best night of my life~” She didn’t let go of the alchemist who was now trying to escape from her hug that was starting to look like a headlock… Attempting to rotate around to twist his body out of her grasp.

“I see, well I left the demi-human intact, what you choose to do with her is up to you,” Sir Cluckens had his true form carry in the thief who looked like she partied too hard, her eyes in swirls and her mouth letting a bit of drool out. She also hiccupped every now and then, clenching her fists and grabbing what little clothing she had on…

Armi summoned a small ice cube into her palm and put it on Ismai’s cheek, immediately the thief awoke, yelping and screaming, her cat tail spiking upwards as she hissed and backed away. Raising a hand to her face with the intent to claw and scratch.

“Easy cat loli, you’re awake and nobody defiled you,” Ark said, now upside-down in the hug that June locked him in, his shirt falling to reveal his slightly toned stomach that made the witch holding him even more excited.

“Y-you!” She looked at the chicken and carefully observed his actions, “You looked into my memories!” She accused.

“Yes, I did, and I must say that you-“

Ismai interrupted his sentence with a sudden sneeze, her face lighting up as the chicken rose a brow. The air in the shop was cold and the outside world was even colder… Ismai was also only wearing her thief outfit which wasn’t much…

Armi looked at her trapped brother, a look of expectancy on her face as she crossed her arms.

“What?” Ark asked, raising a brow of his own to meet his sister’s gaze, seeing she wanted him to suggest something.

“Well, it’s a cold night and she has barely anything to wear…” His sister said, “And considering the fact you kept June….”

“I don’t have a choice with June! And are you suggesting that we keep her? Like a pet?!” Ark yelled from his unintimidating position, putting his hands up to his hips as his hair dangled. At the word pet, June looked to Sir Cluckens who shook his head at her.

“Yes,” Armi turned to the demi-human and in an almost motherly care, took her into her arms as she lifted her, “Before anything else, you need a warm bath,”

“Armi!”

Ark was silenced as she focused a sharp and quick gaze of death at him, not enough to scare him but enough to shut him up. Which she did, very efficiently.

Seeing as she had made her point, Armi walked with Ismai to the hot springs, ready to warm them up and get the young thief cleaned.

“I don’t understand women…” Ark said, drooping his arms and letting them hang, “Armi can be utterly helpless at times and then she can be like a god… It’s weird… And why is she trying to care for the demi-human?!”

“Hormonal urges?” Sir Cluckens suggested, getting a confused look from the potion-maker who wasn’t hanging anymore, immediately being dropped as June laughed and disappeared from view, most likely to join the other girls.

“W…What…” He drowsily recovered from the sudden drop and the massive amount of blood that had rushed to his head, “Hormonal urges? To wash a child?”

“To be a mother,” The chicken answered, using a tone that was one of disappointment, “How long have you two been in this city?”

“Maybe around ten years,” Ark said as straightened himself up, “A pretty long time of my life,”

“And have you ever once had you sister allow herself to court someone or be courted by someone?” The familiar asked.

“Nope,” His master replied, making the chicken’s abyssal form facepalm itself.

“Exactly the problem then, she is growing to a point where she will soon be a mother, not only that but it's YOU who she’s having to have the approval of since males of this realm are the head of everything…” The chicken sighed, continuing his explanation, “You are extremely frustrating for her natural causes, and as someone who knows a lot about the natural order, you need to help her instead of holding her back,”

“Hey! I am a very beneficial-“ Ark was slapped across the face, making him cry out in pain.

“No! You’re not getting it! Humans, just like every other living and mortal creature, are born to create more of their species! It’s an instinct implanted into every organisms’ brain! Have you not once thought of letting your sister settle down?!”

“Of course I have! It's just that I have a very high bar-“

“Let your sister decide!” This made the alchemist shut up as the chicken huffed in anger, “Let your sister decide for herself instead of choosing for her! You two have to settle on rock paper scissors just because you disagree every morning! Let her choose a man for herself! SHE KNOWS WHAT SHE WANTS!”

Then the chicken stormed off and left Ark alone to his thoughts…

And what thoughts they were, it had never occurred to the alchemist that his sister would want to have a child and settle down with some random dude. That she would no longer be an Andrason and run the shop with him, that he would one day have to lead a life without her to constantly correct him.

He could hear the playful shouts of Ismai, June and Armi in the hot springs, it was the nostalgic and familiar feeling of abandonment and rejection that was surfacing in his gut once more… A painful reminder of-

“No, bad thoughts,” The alchemist quickly shifted to the more positive things of what would happen if his sister settled down, listing them off:

He could have nieces and nephews to teach alchemy, he could also teach said nieces and nephews a few underhanded tricks in combat and debates, maybe he could even make one an apprentice for his legacy.

The man might not be as bad as he would think, Armi was an intelligent woman after all, so who knows? Maybe his brother-in-law would be someone he could fool around and discuss ‘intellectual’ topics with. Hell, it could even be Rekiel!

Armi could still be in the same city and he could just simply visit her, or she could just simply visit him, he was a force of chaos after all, and chaos would need correction. She could even still run the store with him and her husband.

A few more good thoughts and Ark was back to his happy attitude, though that uncomfortable seed of doubt was still in his mind.

“Don’t worry Ark,” He told himself as he entered his small brewing room, the heavily condensed alchemy magic within it not affecting him in the slightest as he went to his journal of alchemy, looking over his notes, “You’re just overreacting again…”