Little furniture remains in the room that’s been converted from a public space to another corner of the bloody battlefield. There’re signs here and there suggesting that the fights have strayed deep into our home, pits in the floor, scars on the walls, splattered blood.

Too much splattered blood.

Screams, shouts, and violent guttural roars echo out through the halls before me, warriors fighting for their home. Perhaps not all of them see it the same as I do, but at the very least they are still fighting for me. They’re killing for me. They’re dying for me.

Unacceptable.

They’ve put their faith in me, they deserve everything that I can give them, but I’ve failed. I’m too weak to protect them.

If I had Arduelle’s strength this wouldn’t be a problem. If I wasn’t so pitifully weak, I’d be able to kill Loekan and be done with all of this.

Loekan seems to hold his minions in a rather different respect. They’re fodder thrown at us so that he can gain an advantage. I could be so much better a leader, so much better of a person, but at least I still know that I’m better than him.

“Loekan.” I whisper, my soul grating away at my insides as energy stirs throughout me, grinding at my insides. The energy burning every wasted fat, every useless part of me, but it’s still not nearly enough. I don’t have the mana for the transformations that would truly make a difference.

I should be killing them. I should be out there protecting what’s mine. Slaughtering, killing, tearing limbs and consuming mana. Erasing my enemies from existence.

I should stand stronger than all, annihilating these damn pests with a twitch of my finger.

“Soon.” Eshya says, rubbing my back. “We’ll get our chance to fight again soon.”

“I’m not sure I’m so patient.” I grumble, glaring down at my hands. “I want to kill them all.”

“Soon.” Eshya says, sitting beside me and hugging me close without regard for my armour. “We’ll get them all.”

While her words aren’t exactly soothing, there’s a comradery in knowing that I’m not alone in this feeling. It’s nice to know that my violent desires aren’t uniquely mine.

“How is the battle, did anyone have a chance to use the new tagging Skill?” I ask, tapping away an anxious rhythm on the metal plates of my armour.

“No.” Eshya replies. “I was rather busy fighting.”

“I did. I can see what Red’s up to.” Vii says, fluttering to my side. “She’s fighting hard, there are a bunch of those deep crawler things. She just killed a really big one.”

“Is everything…”

“They’re winning.” Vii says, nodding energetically. “It was a trap, but Red and Bessy are too much for them. There’s a whole bunch of larger deep crawlers and that mage, Paul. He’s rounder than I thought, and kind of ugly, but he’s really strong.

“Ah! Not as strong as Red, she just cut off his arm. It’ll probably be over soon.” She says, before her face scrunches up as if seeing something awful. “Eww…”

“What?”

“Paul just ate his own arm.” She says. “His mouth just… it’s not nice to watch.”

“No injuries?”

“Seia and Leia are hurt a bit, but not bad.” She says. “They’re coming back now.”

“Good.” I say, leaning forwards. “Good.”

“The enemy has been fought back.” Red’s message came back. “Returning now.”

“Ah!” Vii shouts loud, and a moment later the ground around us trembles. It comes quick, fast, and is over just as soon as it’s come.

“What’s happening?!” I ask, looking around for any sign of mana moving about, but I see no magic.

“It’s Red!” Vii shouts. “The caves they were fighting in collapsed! I… I think some of them are injured!”

I grit my teeth, waiting for the report while letting my mana swirl violently around my soul. If anyone is dead…

If anyone is hurt…

I’ll tear this whole world apart. See that every guilty party is unmade.

Eshya grabs my hand and tightens her grip.

“They’re alive.” Vii says nervously. “Seia is hurt. Really badly hurt.”

I grit my teeth. I can’t heal anyone. Even rushing over to them, I can’t heal her injuries.

“Bessy’s bringing them back.” Vii says as I stand and start pacing.

“Please come join us in the meeting room.” Lakesh sends us the message.

“I’ll show the way.” Rare says, pointing her nose out the door. I almost forgot that I’ve been carrying her around. I give her a tight squeeze to calm down and head out the door, Eshya hooking her arm through mine while Vii and Adler follow along with worried looks.

Everything here should be mine, but I walk through the halls feeling worthless and powerless. I have to step around the corpses of my people.

My home has been invaded.

My people have died.

Some of the surviving soldiers are sitting and crying, leaning against the walls to keep standing, clutching spears and swords just to keep from falling.

My people are suffering.

My heart pounds painfully in my chest, and I clench my fists and squeeze my little dragon tighter to not show how much I’m trembling.

I need to be stronger.

Strong enough to prevent this.

Strong enough that no one would dare do this to me.

Strong enough to tear Loekan’s throat out. Strong enough to crush him beneath my feet. Strong enough to reduce him to ash in a single spells casting.

“I need to be stronger.”

“I’m your soldier.” Eshya says. “Soldiers fight and die, and even when you’re strong as a dungeon, I’ll still want to fight alongside you. Be angry, but do not be ashamed of your own lacking strength.”

“But…”

“If I was stronger, I could’ve killed Loekan for you.” She says. “If the rest of us were stronger then none of his elites would have been able to escape, but we haven’t killed one.

“We all need to get stronger, not just you.”

“I shouldn’t take your dreams from you.” I say with a harsh, humourless laugh. “Fine then, we both need to get strong enough to slaughter every idiot who dares to stand against us.”

“Yes, and let’s make armies strong enough to stand with us on those battlefields. Let’s let the universe know who we are.”

“Become strong enough to end a war with a snap of my fingers.” I say. “Strong enough to annihilate a whole world with a single spell.”

“Yes.” Eshya replies her eyes shining. “I look forward to it, my empress.”

“I do too.” I say, my rage cooling again, burning through my flesh and acclimatising it to the changes that I seek to make. Slowly becoming the person that I seek to one day be.

“It will be grand.” Vii says, “All of reality will tremble at your name.”

“Is that a vision of yours?” I ask.

“A vision…?” Vii asks. “Close enough, but I’m not sure how much I really know anymore.”

“Know that I’ll protect what is mine.” I say. “That’s why I need to do this. That’s why I’ll become powerful enough to stand against these dungeons, and the Unified States itself. I’ll fight with whatever gods exist if they try to take from me what is mine.”

Vii nods, a serious expression filling her eyes.

“I hope that you’re not giving up on our ethics discussions?” Adler asks. “If you’re going to be replacing the Unified States, I’d like it if we could try to be better than them.”

“I’d like that.” I say. “But first we need to get ourselves through this war.”

“So long as you don’t let fighting this war destroy you.” She says, “I’m going to be annoying about this, Kyra. I hope you realize that.”

“I know, that’s half the reason I have you with me.” I say, continuing before she can ask. “The other half is because you’re cute, and I’ve claimed you as mine.”

“Ours.” Eshya says, prodding my side. “She’s ours.”

“Yes, ours.” I say, finding a genuine laugh, before entering the meeting room where every ounce of that humour fades.

“Is everyone still alive?” I ask before taking anything else in. “Seia was injured?”

“She’ll survive.” Leia says in relief, sitting beside her wounded sister, who lies on the ground on one side of the room. “The mana potion saved her.”

The young woman has been badly injured, both her legs cut off at the knee. While the limbs were recovered, unlike Bessy she can’t simply open her mouth and eat them to recover the mana.

“Mana potion?”

“Your alchemist is a monster.” Red says. “She’s brewing something every second she’s down here, I’ve rarely had the pleasure of working with someone so spirited. I had one of her first batch of mana potions on me, I got it to Seia before the mana shock killed her.”

“Thank you.” I say, sighing in relief. “Is it like this every time someone loses a limb?”

“Not when you’re weaker.” Red replies. “Let’s get to the point of the meeting.”

“Yes. Yes, let’s.” I say gathering myself and meeting them at the table.

“First of all, keep a straight face and don’t mention anything important. We’re looking for the spy, and we can’t give anything away.” She says.

“First of all, our count of the casualties.” Lakesh says with a long sigh. “We’ve counted thirteen dead, and over fifteen with debilitating injuries. We still have fifty more combat ready soldiers but even they’re getting tired.”

“Hopefully Loekan will think this is an opportunity.” Red says. “If he shows his head we can use that to see that he dies. Ending this conflict quickly.”

“Play along.” Red sends. “Play up our ability to kill him.”

“It’ll be nice to see him dead and gone.” I say with a long sigh. “I just wish I was powerful enough that I could toy with him rather than just outright kill him.

“He’s killed more than twenty of mine.” I say seething. “At the very least he deserves twenty days of torture for that.

“Take his toes and twist them around and around until they pop off. The same again with his fingers. Then… does he have ‘man parts’, I’d rather not touch it, but with some heated pliers I think I could stomach doing the same with that.”

I swear I can feel a heated gaze coming from every shadow in the room.

“Ah… well, if we take him alive.” Lakesh says hesitantly, adjusting himself. “Let’s just ensure that he dies, no?”

“Yes, yes. I was getting ahead of myself.” I say, shaking my head.

“I’ll join you if that’s what we’re up to.” Eshya says. “For me only a proper fight really interesting, but I’m not too squeamish.”

“I think a death sentence and clean execution is more proper.” Adler says.

“Yes, well dead is dead.” Red says. “Don’t let yourself get distracted with thoughts of torture, too many make that same mistake. I’d rather not be working under someone with that particular fetish.”

“It’s not a fetish.” I say, standing straight and getting back to task.

“What’s going on?” I ask Red.

“The spy, likely Iris, has infiltrated our base. She hasn’t killed anyone yet, but she was responsible for that bird egg bringing the swarms down on us. We expect that she’s observing rather than killing any of us.” Red sends back. “We’re going to give her the fake intel that we can kill Loekan freely, forcing him to keep his head down.”

“Can’t we catch her?” I ask.

“If we can, we will.” She says. “It’s best to use subterfuge while we can, in case she does get away.”

“Anything I can do?” I ask.

“Let us handle it.” She replies. “There’s a chance that Loekan is close by, looking for an opening to kill you.”

I grit my teeth and smile, glaring down at the table between us.

“Now, let’s discuss plans. Kyra, you’re in charge of killing Loekan. Keep your head down and keep quiet, until he makes the mistake of showing his head. Have you gotten used to that new tracking Skill?”

“Say what I tell you to.” Red says, and I do.

“I have. If any of our people see a hint of him that’s all I’ll need to kill him.” I say. “I’ll disappear until then. They won’t find me.”

“We’re attacking the spy.” Red sends, barely giving a moments warning.

“Spy!” Rare shouts, before blasting a nearby shadow with her fire breath. The shadow moves with a life more than light should give to it, it bends away from the fires before moving to the next shadow in line.

Red throws a dagger into the shadow, but I don’t think she successfully harms the creature.

“Don’t let it leave!” Red shouts, as Lakesh levels a rifle and starts shooting at the shadows with my annihilation magic. The shadows themselves become as ash, the spy squealing as she tries to escape.

I stir a smaller annihilation spell in my heart, letting my talent and modification build up power to a reasonable point. I throw it out towards the shadow as it weaves through the air and wood, turning all to ash and causing more squeals.

Iris, one of Loekan’s elites who lives in shadow. She’s here, and she’s getting away.

“Kyra, prepare to engage with Loekan!” Red shouts at me, “Lakesh, we’re making Kyra disappear, see it done.”

“We’ll get right to it.” Lakesh says, gathering soldiers and pulling me aside.

The hunt for the shadow quickly leads to halls distant from me as I’m escorted out of the dungeon. Lakesh gathers warriors into different groups, trying to distract and misdirect Loekan and his remaining spies.

“Don’t show up in this part of the dungeon until we have plans in place.” Red sends to me as we rush through the forest. “Their spy escaped, and we need you to be a hidden threat.”

I grit my teeth and let the mana stir throughout me, burning away my weaknesses bit by bit.

“I’ll make myself strong enough to make that threat real.” I say to her, controlling my breathing as I leave my war-torn home.

The ghost of my presence is, for today, more powerful than I can be. I can’t return until I’m strong enough to live up to that promised threat.

“Go figure out things with those rebels while you’re training.” Red sends. “We’ll be waiting for you.”

“When I get back, I’ll see Loekan dead.” I say, looking over the ruined cavern. Smoke rises from some parts of the forest, more and more of the city towers and walls are collapsed, and the lakes stir as beasts continue to hunt one another.

It is down there that my people are fighting and dying. It is down there that my enemies wait for me.

Eshya and Vii pull me away from the dungeon into the ruins, as I let my mana carve me into something new.

“Kyra.” Eshya says, pulling me close as we walk. “I’m with you. We all are.”

I nod slowly, fighting off the violent temptations and imaginings filling the back of my mind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 3723 units

~Mana distribution:

Category Current Max. Defence 0% 98% Offense 0% 89% Mana Sense 20% 100% Recovery 0% 70% Gluttony 0% 74% Misc. 80% 90% Efficiency 100% 100%

~Favourited Skills:

-Tag and Film

-Mana surge movement

-Annihilation defence

-Annihilation flame burst

-Annihilation net