'Fusion?! Oh, no! I don't want to start over again!'

The energy of course doesn't listen to me and I find myself the target of all the lightning. At least a hundred bolts of lightning flash from all over the room as they shoot towards me. If I wasn't immune I would probably have been burnt to a crisp instantly.

Everything goes white as the lightning wraps tightly around me. My arms and legs are forced together and against my body as the net of lightning tightens. Then the white slowly fades to black and the last thing I feel is the cocoon of lightning solidifying around me.

When I wake up everything is pitch black and I am in the fetal position. There is a warm heavy weight wrapped around me like a quilt. As soon as I try moving there are cracking sounds and slowly I can see the room again.

Once I can see again I confirm that there was an actual cocoon wrapped around me. That isn't all though, there is still something wrapped around me after the cocoon breaks. It is tangled with my legs but for some reason trying to pull it free hurts.

Moving slowly and carefully I manage to untangle my legs and sit up. The room is much darker than it was earlier but I can still see just fine. What I see when I look at what was tangled around my legs leaves me stunned and my mind goes blank for a minute.

'Wings?!? Why the hell do I have wings?!?!'

It is no illusion, I really have wings growing from my back, which explains why my back itches so much. What's worse is they are big, white, fluffy, feathered wings. How did a ball of energy end up giving me wings?

'Just what else did it do to me? Status!'

Name: Ash

Race: Sacred Lightning Beast

Type: Unique Sacred Beast

Rank: 7

Titles: (6) The Merciful, Blessed by the Light, Anti-Hero, Angel Slayer, Magus Knight Captain, Demon Slayer

HP: 6973/6973

SP: 2025/2025

Strength: 712

Agility: 644

Endurance: 612

Intelligence: 346

Wisdom: 613

Charisma: 245

Willpower: 158

Luck: 92

Toughness: 152

Regen: 77

Fortitude: 152

Leadership: 60

Unspent Points: 50

Movement Speed: 45 Flight Speed: 110

Fire Resist: 92 Cold Resist: 62 Magic Resist: 25 Hellfire resist: 41

Shadow Resist: 60 Lightning: Greater Immunity Physical Resist: 38

Darkness Resist: 30 Acid Resist: 30

'Well, at least I kept my rank and don't have to start over! But my race changed! I am no longer a black lion or a demon?! Other than that everything else seems to have stayed the same.'

As I stand up I start trying to figure out how to control the wings. Learning how to use new muscles is a really weird feeling. The wings seem to have a mind of their own, and it seems dead set on doing the opposite of what I want them to do.

In reality it is just the fact that I am using the wrong muscles to try and move the wings. Any time I try to do something my shoulder muscles respond, but they aren't the wing muscles. It takes a lot of experimenting to start to figure out how to control the wings.

At this point I am just glad no one is around to see all the mistakes I make. Especially when I manage to smack myself in the face or trip myself with the wings. Now I feel bad for laughing at Kechara when she was first learning how to use her wings.

It is a lot harder than it looks, and she has two pairs of wings, not just one. Once I have the wings at least under control I turn to leave the room but then I notice a glow. Approaching the altar where the glow is coming from I find a small gem sitting in the rubble.

From where it is sitting I would guess that it was inside the altar when I shattered it. Now that I think about it I never got a quest complete message, meaning the temple isn't destroyed. The gem looks like an emerald but when I go to pick it up it shatters and turns into dust.

*DING*

Congratulations! You have completed a quest!

Destroy the Wind Temple!

Wind Temple Destroyed 1/1

Reward: ?????

'It still doesn't tell me what the reward is? I guess it is time to talk to the goddesses.'

Now that the gem is gone the room is completely dark so I turn and make my way back outside. As I am leaving the hallway leads straight to the entrance, no side corridors at all. The entire place now has a dead feeling to it and I am glad to be leaving.

Yui says "Ash! I was starting to get worried!"

"Why? How long was I inside?"

Yui says "Almost a week! I was about to send Nived to look for you. Wait, Ash, what's that on your back?"

'A week? I must have been in that cocoon for days!'

"Wings."

Yui says "Wings?! How did you grow wings?!"

"I grew them when I destroyed the altar."

Yui says "You destroyed the altar? Why?"

"My mission was to destroy the temple, destroying the altar seemed the best way."

Yui says "How did destroying the altar lead to you growing wings?!"

"How about I tell the story to everyone at once. Preferably over dinner."

Yui says "Actually, it is just about time for breakfast."

"Breakfast works too."

So Yui holds off on her questions as I head upstairs to find the others. Kechara and Asuna attack me as soon as they see me, it seems I worried them again. They seem particularly interested in my wings, which isn't too surprising.

Once breakfast is served I start telling everyone the story of what happened after I entered the temple. Out of everyone Nived seems the most shocked, but he has only heard stories so far. The others seem to be used to me ending up in these kinds of situations.