While he meddled with the programs he was using to scan my mana and blood I continued to wonder of what possibilities I now had available to me (“It’s not like I can cast world breaking magic...Hell I’d have to know the spell first…then there’s the actual casting which it would approximately take hundreds of mages casting in unison…”) ,I sighed while at the same time a sort of mental slap came from Saya (“You have virtually unlimited mana and you’re sitting there sighing!? You’re a mage aren’t you!? Create your own spells! It’s not like you have an ex-dungeon fairy to help!”).

She had practically screamed into my ear (“I’m a martial artist, a gunman and a runemage but I am far from being a full-fledged sorcerer…I don’t even know where to start…I can shorten a chant into a series of runes any day but…to make my own?...”), I seriously considered her advice but I wasn’t sure what to do and alas she was the one to help in that regard again (“Well first you need a goal, what do you want to be able to do that you currently cannot? ”) proving just how useful she really is.

I contemplated the question, what did I want to be able to do? (“As I said before stamina is still a problem…There is currently no know enhancement magic to further the time I can last moving and utilizing magic…Not to mention the strain on my body after such a magic ends…”) enhancement magic has always been a two-edged blade since it may enhance your body’s capabilities but once it was over the whole strain your body would have normally taken without the magic’s effects bombarded you all at once along with the pain, thankfully physical damage was not one of them but mental strain still was.

(“To be able to last longer in combat…to be able to utilize more powerful physical enhancements…that might be too much of a far-fetched goal…I have no base for it so that makes it even more difficult…yeah I’ll think of something else…”) I began to list my own current capabilities and utilities along with ones my own home-made tech covered, (“With the increased mana regen and mana manipulation Wayne’s shadow step will be…insane, Ember’s body enhancement can be taken to her limit’s which would tremendously increase my speed with decreased backlash…what else…”) I was running out of foundation to build my new spell upon.

I heard Saya sigh along with another mental slap (“Could you…not?”) but she ignored my complaint, (“Of course you wouldn’t mention the most obvious choice…Firepower you redhead!”) did she just use my hair’s dye as an insult? (“Fire power? But I already have Wayne’s pistol form for continuous attacks that I can also charge up…yes he can only utilize dark mana but then I can switch to Ember’s halbered for fire and…Ah…you’re right…”) I palmed my face realising what I actually lacked.

I had mastery over two elements, when I could utilize all the others. In theory mastering all the elements was impossible due to the incapability of having affinity for all of them but with my current situation that was null and void, the other problem was affinity as in if one had both fire and water mana affinity efficiency they couldn’t master both as one would cancel out the other rendering them incapable of using either. I internally began to laugh to myself realising what none of these theorists considered due to the incapability of the first problem (“I don’t need to master all the elements, I only need to master half of them”).

It was Saya’s turn to be confused now (“Say what?...”) I chuckled at her reaction, (“As in water cancels out fire and vice versa but fire also cancels out nature while water cancels out earth and nature cancels out water! Each element has a counter weakness and a secondary weakness, their sub-elements hold similar weaknesses as well! Well except for Chaos that is… I already have Dark and Fire with which I can pierce Light, Nature, Water and Corruption so that leaves Chaos, Darkness Fire, Wind and Earth that I have no element to counter with except their respective selves.”) a grin curved its way up my lips (“I cannot learn Water or Light as that would detriment my Dark and Fire so…”).

I began going through the elemental table in my mind (“Wind counters Fire, Chaos equals all and counters itself. I need to create or learn a Wind spell and Chaos spell, that will leave me with four main elements to deal with all eight. No wonder the Atlantians needed us so badly…The ability to use Chaos magic opens up the elemental table into a simple equation of self-cancelation”) at this moment Saya was lost and knew I had gone off my rocker as I was silently chuckling to myself.

She sighed (“Okay so you have the elemental foundation, next is you need to figure out how utilizing that mana feels and memorize that feeling. I’m sure you already know what Chaos feels like but what about Wind?”), I did indeed already know how to bend Chaos mana but as for Wind (“No clue, suggestions?”) . Suddenly Heiken called out to me “The scans are complete, have a look at this beauty!” I stood up from the chair (“We’ll resume that train of thought later”) , I walked over to the desk and looked at the only monitor that was currently on.

I stared at the DNA test results first although I was only able to understand what I had tested for before “That’s…not right…”, he glanced at me confused “What is?...what is not right?”. I reread the numbers over and over “Eighty…Eighty percent…Demon?...That can’t be right…It…was sixty only…days ago…” It was my turn to be horrified, “That is what I was about to talk about…Your DNA is very unstable, draconic and demonic are very contrary bloodlines and your demonic is overwriting your draconic, it is an amazing concept! Such drastic changes in DNA shouldn’t be possible!”.

He looked back at the monitor “Unless…Unless you are going through a magical process only seen within spirits and monsters”, it clicked in my head “I’m…going through mana evolution? Wait, how do sentient races evolve in the first place!? If the core isn’t even complete yet then…” he shook his head “Your body is already circulating mana like a core would, the moment that began is the moment your body entered the larvae process of mana evolution. There is another thing that is very odd though, with the core still being incomplete…the speed of the evolution in your DNA is too fast”.

“Too fast?...Why?” I kept staring at him with a horrified expression, he sighed “When a spirit evolves it does so quickly because of its direct connection to the spirit realm, when a monster evolves with a core it usually takes months. Your core isn’t complete yet and you aren’t a spirit… that alone would decrease the speed of the change…it just doesn’t fit well enough” He shook his head again “The fact that your spirits are bound to your body directly also cancels out the possibility of this being their doing”.

“At this rate I estimate a couple days until the core is complete, then all the unstable mana forming it will converge within you only to burst forth and begin the hatching. Now I wouldn’t worry since only spirits are known for having large changes in appearance, I suspect very little will…” he stopped talking and stared at me blankly, “Haha…Hahahaha!” I began to laugh maniacally “Me?...Evolving?...Hahahah! I really am a fucking monster now!” a smile curved my lips as I continued to laugh “So that is why…the pain…the shard…it’s effecting me that much?...Hahahaha!”.

I glanced at him seeing his pale and concerned expression “Don’t look at me like that doc, you should be proud. You created a monster that self-improved itself!” I had long come to terms with what I’ve become but it seems he had different thoughts about it, he looked down at his hands with a sulking expression then pulled out a cigarette “Do you ever miss being…just being normal? No magic, no insane physical abilities, just plain normal?” he asked with a sincere tone making my laughter falter down to a short chuckle.

“What do you mean? Normal?” I was now staring at him with a piercing gaze guessing at what he meant, “Do you miss being human?” he looked up and stared back while lighting the cigarette between his lips with a flame created at the end of his right thumb. “What is human?” I stepped closer to him “Living short lives and in fear of what lies beyond, ever trying to expand our time in this disgusting existence. Forcing judgemental morals and rules upon ourselves to create a purpose for being alive, always bickering, always fighting, always hurting our own”.

His expression paled as he quickly noticed he hit a bad topic “Do I miss being human? Why fucking would I?...” I was inches away from his face, “I’m a Demon, a monster and also a killer but above all else no matter how much I may detest it and no matter how much I try to change. I am still human” I flicked the cigarette off his mouth with my left hand and stepped away towards the exit “Those will slowly kill you, leave that pleasure to me” and I walked out of the room.

I glanced at the two assistants scratching their heads while staring at a goblin head screeching at them from the floor ,(“What the actual hell…”) the scene momentarily made my mind freeze. I shook my head while continuing to walk towards the exit, I felt their eyes on my back as I walked over to the console and teleported out. I appeared at the cafeteria (“Guess I took too long…where’d they go?”) I looked around the tables but only saw Clyde so I walked over while checking the time on my Iris (“Eleven twenty four…still got about three hours”) I began contemplating how to divide my time.

“Yo, where’d the girls go?” I sat down facing him while he slowly ate his cereal and stared at something on his Iris that I couldn’t see, “Princess came by and challenged all three to a duel, guess this morning wasn’t a simple one huh? The hell happened back there? She looked pissed when they tried to decline” he began doing a motion with his left hand (“Is he scrolling through something?”). I ordered some eggs and bacon “Duel? ” I stared at him disapprovingly “And you let them accept?” he looked up at me confused “Why not? Shouldn’t be a long fight anyway” I sighed then responded “No…it won’t be a long fight at all…Why do you think I disabled them and not you and your sister first?”.

He narrowed his eyebrows “Because Ell is an unknown and blondie is a sorceress?...” I shook my head “No, because Risa is the princess of a kingdom of warriors who strive through living underground and hunt monsters more powerful than themselves to survive. She’s strong and very much deadly, I can’t begin to imagine what poisons she is utilizing on them at this moment…”. He momentarily stared at me while holding up a spoon full of cereal midway to his open mouth “Poisons?...”, I slowly nodded while finishing my bacon.

A beeping sound came from both our Irises “Must be the mission details, still have about two hours before we leave” I opened the notification “Well might as well go check on them, I’ll fill everyone in on the details there…Where’d they go anyway?...”, Clyde shrugged “Dunno, pwrolly twaining awrena” he spoke as he ate. I tapped at the crystal making my dirty plate disappear then stood up “Let’s go then” he looked back at me after swallowing “But I’m still eating…” I glared down at him knowingly “And how many bowls have you already had?...” he silently grimaced and tapped the crystal.

I checked the map on my Iris and scanned it for their location “They’re at the first arena, looks like it’s over too” I showed him the map and began to walk towards the console, “They’re not moving so yeah looks like it is over but why are they still inside there?” he scratched his head “I mean, they told me they’d come by once they were done”. I had my suspicions as to why but kept quiet “We’ll find out I guess” a grin crept up my left cheek, we arrived at the console and I activated the teleportation while immediately surrounding myself with a thick aura and a solid mana barrier.

I had made sure to only surround myself just to see how Clyde would react, it went just as I had expected…A thick green mist surrounded as when we appeared, my defences kept it away but Clyde wasn’t as lucky “What the hell is this cr…a…” he was almost immediately paralyzed. His eyes stayed wide open with his mouth, I sighed “Wait here, not that you have any choice” I began walking through the thick mist towards the four signatures I could mostly detect.

One by one they finally came into view, Ell, Anabel and Natasha stood paralyzed mid movement with ridiculous expressions of surprise while tears streaked down their faces. Risa was crouching in between them a pouting and annoyed expression on her face, “What’s wrong?” I directed the question at her making her look up at me “I began to tickle them but quickly got bored of it…I couldn’t come up with any other ideas…and I don’t have any non-deadly poisons on hand except this one…”.

I shook my head “I’m sure they’ve had enough, release your magic” she sighed then nodded, after standing up the thick mist began to dissipate around us. Risa took a deep breath then exhaled, a pinkish gas flowed out of her mouth which then floated over to all four of them including Clyde who was still paralyzed by the entrance. I lowered my barrier and aura as the gas entered their mouths then into their systems, “HHaaa…!” each of them took quick breaths while Ell, Anabel and Natasha fell to the floor trembling.

I clapped my hands three times “Alright form up, I received the mission details.” Clyde walked over while eyeing the three who remained sitting or lying on the floor, “Looks like I was wrong, they still require further discipline Ris” each of them shuddered and quickly got up. “No..no please…we’re up…” Anabel wiped the tears off her cheeks, they began to form a line in front of me albeit three of them looking completely out of breath.

I began to go over the mission details “This will be our first mission as a squad, it’s difficulty is minor but that doesn’t mean you should let your guard down. It’s an extermination mission along with the closure of a void portal, anything could come out from it at any point in time” I looked up from the notification window at all five of them, two Cerberii, the nature champion, a prodigy sorceress and a devil princess.

“The mission location is Deliria, the devil world” I glanced at Risa as her expression changed to shock “It is a world mostly habited by beasts and monsters which makes sense as of why the void would target it, plenty of land to take over quickly gaining them a foothold in that realm. We’re lucky our scouts could scan over the planet as quickly as they did, now it’s up to us to exterminate any and all void” each of them now had a serious expression on, “Most of you know what the consequences could be if we fail, if the void is allowed to let through an actual invading force”.

I swiped away the window “Collect your gear and rest yourselves, mission is a go in one hour. The notification you received has the timer and dock number”, I turned around and began to walk away “Don’t be late” I had my own preparations to make. The moment I read through the details completely I could barely resist the anger inside me (“They trashed our world…now they simply target another?”) I reached the console and hijacked the teleporter directly to my dorm room, I appeared and immediately reached out for my tools.

I took off my clothes except for underwear just as Saya took on the shining form of a ball of light “What are you doing?...”, I reached for a blood red crystal shaped like a marble “My runes are completely messed up, I’m rewriting them” I moved the marble over the markings making them disappear until I had gone over every one of them. I had Saya help me remove the ones on my back and neck “Now to rewrite…” my previous runes where based on my Aethercraft gear as triggers, I decided that had to change, as much as I loved the art of Aethercraft I also knew too well how defective it can be.

A single failure could mean the loss of an arm at best, at worst without the correct protection and training it could mean loss of the artisan’s life. While in the middle of combat? No matter how good one can be all it takes is a well-aimed spell from the enemy to hit your gear in the wrong spot…I looked through my gear looking for something while remembering what a teleportation misfire could do to one’s body…a memory I will never forget while glad I wasn’t the one testing first. I had mostly emptied the metallic black box onto my bed when I finally found what I was looking for.

A thin blue crystal shaped like a pen would be, this was a runecrafter’s key tool, the inscriber. I closed my eyes while pouring mana into it then released it from my grasp, it did not fall but instead floated in front of me. Using my aura I willed it into action and began to carve the runes into my skin, I did not wince or even bat an eye as long lines were carved all over my body forming a grid, this was called a runic array which was used to hold multiple circuits. The circuits themselves where a series of circles within each other, the amount of circles depended on the complexity and length of the incantation that was to be written within them.

I began going through the incantations in my mind word by word then translating them into the currently known runic language, runes weren’t letters or even words but nothing more than simple shapes that when imbued with mana made said mana react in specific ways similarly to incantation where depending on the word, tone and speed gave a specific reaction of mana. Using the circles as lines on say a book I began writing small runes around each circle, I had filled both arms and my left leg when a strange signature of mana came from somewhere around the inscriber and broke my concentration.

I opened my eyes and glanced down to see Saya’s form changing “Finally got around making yourself an actual body?” she fluttered up to my face and nodded in her new body, it was extremely similar to the body I had found her in but her wings had changed drastically “What happened to your wings? Thought Fae where very proud of their looks” her wings were now pure white with black lining the edges. “Spirit contracts change the appearance of the spirit, Fae specifically have their wing’s changed depending on the contractor”.

I mused at how plain the colouring was “Any progress on why I can’t grow wings anymore?...Saying it out loud feels strange…grow wings…Hah…”, she shook her head “I honestly don’t know…another strange occurrence I sensed during your last mock fight was the merging with Ember and the summoning of Wayne…both seemed slower and sluggish...” a thought seemed to occur to her as her wings suddenly fluttered faster for a moment and her eyes went wide open “Maybe what the slug was talking about is the reason for this?”.

I unconsciously smiled at her use of my insults “Probably so, I’m not too surprised but I would like to have assurance of what is being effected exactly…It cannot possibly be the contract itself so it must just be me…” while we spoke I had continued inscribing the runes on my body, finishing off the legs and the chest. I had Saya go through multiple checks of my connections with Ember and Wayne but nothing came out of it, finally I had her try to sense the dark shard but she said it gave her a head ache.

When I was done inscribing I put my clothes back on satisfied with the wide array of spells I now had a cast away, although most would consider you mad for inscribing on your own person but with my regenerative abilities and my “couldn’t care less” attitude towards social ethics…I just didn’t care. I checked the time and decided I should head for the dock floors where we would meet our pilot and ship, I walked out of my room with Saya following me closely.

---

A couple hours later Clyde’s POV

Here I stood supposedly an easy job, exterminate vermin and close a portal with the gear given to us. Travel had taken a bit since teleportation wasn’t allowed here yet due to the system being unable to determine obstacles ahead of time, I wasn’t going to disobey those orders though, appearing inside the side of a mountain was the last thing I wanted to experience today.

Where was I? Oh right…supposedly an easy job, except for one problem. The fucking cretins never ended, pouring out of the portal like water pouring out of a broken pipeline. They swarmed around us while leaping and lashing out with their almost suicidal attacks, small void hordelings, canine like body with chitin hide, ant like heads with a wide mouth full of sharp freakish fangs, dark green in colour with bright green eyes full of intelligence along primal hunger.

The portal had opened miles away from the Devil’s cave systems and gigantic cavern like kingdom, above a large mountain range touching the clouds almost invisible if it weren’t for our aircrafts and drones. We had been climbing the nearest mountain side for what felt like hours, getting closer and closer to the top but feeling like we hadn’t moved at all. We kept an arrow head formation with me to the left front, Matthew the middle front and Ell the right front while sis ran behind me, Risa behind Ell and Anabel in the middle of them right behind Matthew.

Another wave of hordelings ran down the mountainside some even crashing into the pine like trees as they ran, screeching like maniacs with wide open jaws as if awaiting their prey to simply jump right in. There was hundreds of them while we had already killed way above that number, while they still kept falling down from the swirl of green clouds that was the portal. I readied my Aether Raijin as the fastest of the horde crashed into our steadily running party, pouring mana into Raijin the blade shone as my wind and fire mana merged with its light affinity.

To each side of use spiked vines emerged impaling many of the hordelings before they even crossed our path, I unleashed a thundering slash releasing a wide blade of heated wind that slashed through several more. From the corner of my eye I saw Matthew lowering his halbered like a spear as it’s tip grew long and wide like a ballista’s arrow. Behind us I heard Anabel chanting as blazing flames formed around his spear feeding off his own mana to grow larger and more frenzied, a joint magic only doable by the best of sorcerers while only usable with minor elements like fire, earth, water and wind due to how chaotic it becomes.

The hordelings try to turn and evade his blazing charge but not even the trees and boulders could hide them as he crashed and burned through each without slowing down, we closed in our formation turning the five or so meters between each of us into mere centimetres as Matthew led the charge forward. “Stop!” he shouted for us to stop and we did so as he raised his spear and shoved the blade into the ground, the earth ruptured as the blazing fire magic ate through dirt and stone alike. The rupturing kept moving forward like a wave of fire and quake climbing up the mountain killing hundreds or hordelings in its wake.

“Left! Move!” we followed him around the ruptured earth and kept moving up the now cleared mountain climb, after a couple peaceful kilometres up the titanic mountain the hordelings returned in mass. The trees had greatly lessoned while the mountain’s incline began to truly show, we had to grip the ground with mana while enhancing our bodies to leap up the ever sloping mountain. Three hordelings lunged down towards me as I turned midleap, swinging Raijin with both arms I cut through all three at once barely reaching a cliff side we were aiming for.

I turned to help our backline up while Matthew and Ell massacred any hordeling that came by, after helping up Anabel both sis and Risa leaped up higher than I ever could and landed behind me (“Show offs…”) Anabel nodded and thanked me as I turned to assess our current position. We stood at the edge of a cliff that grew out of the mountain like a plateau, the mountain side a couple meters away from the edge more of a wall now than a slope. I glanced around the plateau seeing signs of carving on the wall as in the very middle a clean circular cave entrance loomed over us in its size, “That cannot be natural…right?...”.

As Matthew, Risa and I studied the cave entrance Natasha with her bow, Anabel with her magic and Ell with her vines kept at bay the small number of hordelings crawling around the mountain while keeping their distance from the plateau we stood on. “Are they…afraid?” Risa had been glaring with a cold expression at the voidlings the whole time but now looked more puzzled than angry, I shrugged not knowing what was happening either.

Matthew hadn’t removed his gaze away from the cave entrance for a bit “No…” he shook his head “Do you not feel it?”, his question confused me so I forced my aura forward and into the cave although only sensing a couple meters in as that was my limit. Suddenly a dreadful sense of helplessness filled my gut as I quickly retreated my aura as I took a step back only to be stopped by the plateau’s edge, “What the fuck is that?” I asked the question quickly while my eyes locked in place staring into the cave’s dark entrance.

I heard a chuckle to my left and turned to see Matthew’s madman smile as he spoke “The perfect distraction” I took him for a mad man as I continued to stare into the cave, “The void has been playing with us, sending weaklings to wear us out before sending their horde leaders. This will force them out to fight while we close the portal.” He began walking towards the cave entrance and the others followed behind him, I sighed (“Yeah he’s gone mad…”) but still followed behind taking the rear guard.