Channeling anger meant knowing where to use it and where not to use it.

What deserved his anger right now? Of those, what could he do something about, and what could he work towards?

The man who tried to kill Rissa was … huh. He was missing, not dead, wasn’t he? Serenity wondered what happened to Macho. He was worthy of anger, but anger was pointless until Serenity was back on Earth.

The Sterath had once been the target of Vengeance’s anger, but now Serenity knew that the species wasn’t to blame; he still bore some ill will towards those who’d commanded the invasion, but BattleLord FlameHeart, the Sterath who must have been the one commanding in the original timeline, was dead.

His soul had been released to the River. Serenity couldn’t bring himself to give the being his well wishes, but he could let that anger go. He’d won. He’d proven he was far stronger, and who needs to be angry with the dead?

Margrethe was similarly weak and unworthy of his anger. In her case, it wasn’t her death that excused her but the knowledge that she’d acted believing she was saving others yet been willing to change her course once she knew it was wrong. Serenity might feel only anger right now, but he knew that there was no point in hating Margrethe.

More recently, there was Arrin. The assassin was certainly a good target for his anger, but there was a good chance he was dead in the fire or revolution in Zenith. Serenity would be angry if he saw him again, but for now he was a nonissue.

No, the threats he needed to be angry about were the ones he was trying to resolve.

Whatever threatened Earth, whatever would make it shatter into far too many pieces, that was something Serenity could feel anger for. Someone Serenity could be angry at, even if he did not know who it was. That anger could simmer and build; perhaps he could do something with it when he found out who it was. More than that, the anger would focus him on finding the culprit.

The other problem was closer. Someone had kidnapped his people.

A wash of satisfaction ran through Serenity at the thought of Djen’s punishment. His anger wasn’t completely gone, but there was no need to do anything more to that man. He would suffer for his actions forever. The fact that he got his just deserts from the betrayal of his fellow kidnappers rather than from Serenity only made it better.

It was those fellow kidnappers that truly deserved his anger. The Church of Aeons was his target. Priests of the Eternal Church were Djen’s silent backer, and they’d taken his kidnapped people to Lyka, home of the Church.

Serenity did not know if he should blame High Priestess Karin. He wanted to, but Rissa’s repeated message that she, too, might be a victim of the true culprit seemed all too likely.

He would instead be angry on her behalf, since she could not be angry.

His wrath should focus on the man who was to blame. For all that he was a god to the Church of Aeons, Lykandeon was a man.

Serenity would make him realize that truth once again. Anything made by man, even divinity, could be broken. The Final Reaper had killed gods.

Even Vengeance had killed gods.

Lykandeon would regret his actions if Serenity bothered to keep him alive.

Serenity wasn’t certain how long he’d stood there fuming before Aide’s voice finally made it through.

Serenity? Please say something. Are you there? Please. Serenity?

“I’m fine.” Serenity heard his own voice; it sounded deep, like a growl, and his diction was terrible, almost slurred. It was like his mouth didn’t want to move correctly.

Thank Tek!

You are not fine. You have not been responding to anything for at least eight point seven minutes.

That is when I started counting so it may have been longer.

“I’m angry,” Serenity admitted. “I’m a Demon of Wrath, of course I’m angry. I have it under control.” A flash of anger came at the difficulty Serenity had with speaking, then passed. “I was thinking. I should see what the Voice said.”

Perhaps he shouldn’t be talking, but not being able to talk made him angry.

How was he talking, for that matter? Badgers couldn’t talk.

Serenity shook himself. He could just imagine what Rissa would say if she heard that. She’d call him a bad Serenity and tell him to pay attention.

The thought made him angry that Rissa couldn’t be there to say it. He wasn’t angry at Rissa; no, this was clearly Lykandeon’s fault. If he hadn’t decided to kidnap people, Serenity and Rissa wouldn’t have had to separate for months.

Serenity pulled up his notifications.

[Wrath has passed minimum levels for advancement]

[Lesser Demon of Wrath has advanced to Demon of Wrath]

[Congratulations on your advancement! Continue embodying your Impetus to advance farther!]

[Wrath has passed minimum levels for advancement]

[Demon of Wrath has advanced--]

[Compatible shapeshifter alternate Forms found]

[Form consumed: Demon Thorn of Pain]

[Form consumed: Minor Demon of Terror]

[Form consumed: Minute Demon Thorn of Pain {swarm form}]

[Emotional state has altered the advancement]

[Demon of Wrath has advanced to Greater Demon of Righteous Retribution]

[Congratulations on your advancement! Continue embodying your Impetus to advance farther!]

The first thing Serenity noticed was that he had lost the Thorn Demon forms. He took a moment to confirm that they were no longer on his Status. Happily, they were gone.

The second thing he noticed was that the messages did not look like a normal message from the Voice.

“Voice? Why did you give instructions on how to proceed? How to advance again?” Serenity’s anger flared again at the distorted sound of his voice. Talking wasn’t comfortable and wasn’t needed for either Aide or the Voice, but be damned if that was going to stop him from talking!

[I am not permitted to divulge information on demon advancement to anyone who is not authorized by the Council]

A wave of anger swept over Serenity momentarily at the denial, but it was followed by a wave of satisfaction. The Voice had once again given information it didn’t have to give, telling Serenity what he needed to achieve in order to get what he wanted.

He didn’t believe it was by accident. The Voice gave out extraneous information far too often for that.

Serenity didn’t expect an answer, but it was still worth asking the obvious question. “Which Council? How do I get authorization?”

[Authorization may be filed by any member of Order’s Council]

Serenity rumbled his satisfaction. That was a better answer than he’d expected; he just needed to convince one person. “Who are the members of Order’s Council?”

[You do not meet the prerequisites to access the membership list of Order’s Council]

He’d clearly pushed the Voice as far as he could; it was back to giving nonanswers. At least it had said something.

His anger was weak and pallid; there was no point in getting mad at a computer for following its programming and the Voice clearly had that sort of limit. The fact that it pushed where it could was helpful.

Serenity pushed himself to his feet. All four of them. He looked down at his paws and saw deep purple fur and wicked-looking long silver claws. The claws extended as he focused on them, then retracted when he put the paw down again. It felt surprisingly natural.

He started to twist around to examine himself, wishing for a mirror, when he realized he was being forgetful again. His new Skills weren’t the same as his old ones; he might well be able to make a mirror, but he could do better than that: he could use his second form to examine himself. His coordination would be terrible but his eyes would work.

Serenity shifted his attention to his second form. He’d been watching the surroundings more than himself, wary of something else attacking while he was occupied, but he knew that even his second form hadn’t been attentive while he was consumed by anger. It was overwhelming.

He could get an idea of his new form without shifting, but Serenity wanted the full color image. He pushed on the Skill and felt his second form slip easily into his chimera shape. At least that much was working!

His new form looked very similar to the badger-demons, but the differences were stark. First of all, he was much, much larger. On all fours, Serenity’s new Greater Demon of Righteous Retribution form was taller than his chimera form by about two feet.

Instead of the bright shades of the badger-demons that he now knew were Lesser Demons of Wrath, Serenity’s fur was dark. As with all of his other forms, it echoed his scale colors, though for whatever reason this particular form seemed to have more purple and less blue. His fur was also not patterned in the crazy geometric patterns of the badger-demons; instead, it held swirls of his two main colors, with occasional spots of bright silver.

Contrastingly, his claws and spikes weren’t the natural-looking yellow-white, brown, or black of the Lesser Demons of Wrath; they were the same bright silver or steel color as the rare bright spots on his coat.

He looked positively floofy; his fur was clearly long, and it puffed out around him like the fur on a long-haired dog. Serenity suspected that it wasn’t nearly as soft to pet as one of those dogs; it seemed more likely that it would be wiry, acting as either armor or more likely as sharp needles that would break off in the skin of anything that attacked him. Demons were not known for their cuddly natures; even more convincingly, allowing an attacker to stick itself with needles seemed more than appropriate for a demon of retribution.

The more he looked, the more small details caught Serenity’s attention. There was definitely a generic resemblance between him and the demon-badgers, but it was the similarity between a wolf and a chihuahua; they were similar but it was very clear they weren’t the same thing.

Serenity decided to try standing up. It wasn’t as simple as standing normally was, but it wasn’t difficult; it definitely didn’t feel as stable as all fours. Even so, Serenity liked it as an option. He was very, very tall now; in this form, he could expect to fight against and easily defeat one of those towering Demon Thorns physically. His sheer size probably also meant an increase in power; attributes amplified whatever already existed, so a larger shape with more muscle meant more strength if the attributes were the same.

He took a shaky step, then another. Yes, he could fight like this, but he wouldn’t try to run. Running would be faster on all four legs. His increased size would only help his movement speed; he’d likely travel faster in this form than any of his others.

He went back on all four feet when his chimera form caught a glimpse of the sigil on the chest of his demon form. It’d clearly bled through here as well. At least it wasn’t obvious unless he stood; that would have to be enough.

If anything, the most disturbing part of all of this was how natural the Greater Demon of Righteous Retribution form felt. It wasn’t quite as comfortable as his chimera or dragon forms, but it was similar to his human form. He hadn’t expected that at all; the Thorn Demon hadn’t ever felt right.

It had to be his experience as Vengeance that made the difference. Retribution and Vengeance were closely related, after all, and he’d certainly believed he was doing the right thing at the time. Serenity wasn’t so certain, with the distance of time and the fact that this time he’d been able to avoid that Path, but at the time it had certainly felt justified, even Righteous.

Perhaps that was why his new form was considered a demon?

Serenity shook himself again. There was no point in complaining; if it made the shape easier to move in, he should be happy about it. He knew how to handle and direct anger; he’d simply have to manage it properly.