Two combatants stare at one another, their gazes heavy. One combatant stands on the ground, his sheer girth painting an imposing sight to any watching. He stands, exuding a posture of elegance and confidence. He, the [Undead Archknight], does not move.

On the other side is a different type of being. A being wreathed in fire and flame. The being floats above the ground, its two swords burning an ever-powerful blue flame. The [Blade Angel] extends its wings while its golden body glints off the firelight it exudes.

A moment passes, neither side moving. Both beings are of limited intelligence, created to be enemies of light and dark. The angel, a being of glorious light, wants nothing more than to strike down its opposite, an undead created by the darkest of magic; magic so vile that most kingdoms would kill it on sight.

But the angel cannot act. It has a mistress, one strong enough to subdue its mental control. Nay, if the angel was an [Archangel], then perhaps it could go against the orders. It would be smarter, faster, stronger, but above all else, capable of destroying the filth that dares to exist before it.

“Are you sure you can control it, Yeosa? Mine just attacked Mule without orders.”

Yeosa nods while gazing at the undead named Mule. A very powerful being that had been able to dismember Jessica's angel with impressive efficiency. Even now, the undead positions itself between her own angel and Jessica in a clearly thought out defensive reaction.

“Control over angels requires not only willpower, but also an understanding of aura. As I have developed my aura, keeping control is far easier.”

Jessica scratches the side of her head. Her understanding of aura is rather limited. Heck, she doesn't even know when she is using and when not.

“So, I’m going to need to learn how to control aura?” she states more than asks.

Yeosa nods, “Yes, but it will not be difficult. You already have some control over it, so the most difficult part has already passed. What you must do now is hone your feelings as a weapon and to do so constantly. It will allow you to focus the entirety of your will upon a single entity.”

“That seems rather confusing. What if you lose focus?”

Yeosa smiles, “Then this happens.”

The mental chains keeping the [Blade Angel] in check weaken significantly, enough for it to ignore the orders being given by Yeosa. The angel flaps its wings with a mighty force that causes the wind to spiral. The angel accelerates towards the undead, its flaming swords arcing forward, aiming to cut off Mule’s head with a single swipe.

Mule shifts slightly, his massive size moving faster than would have been expected. The blade, which was aimed at Mule’s head, instead slams into his shoulder. The flaming blade penetrates and inch before getting stuck. The other blade was caught by Mules free hand. Mule reacts quickly. He drops his sword and reaches up, grabbing the angel’s head.

The ground shifts as mule jumps forward, pushing the angel into the ground. His leg slams into the angel’s right arm, pinning it to the ground. His left hand lets go of the angel’s head and instead grabs the left arm. Mule pulls and rips the annoying appendage off with brutal efficiency. He does the same with the right arm and then begins beating on the angel’s face while his body keeps the angel pinned onto the ground. Only seconds pass as the angel’s body sparkles out of existence, the damage to it being too severe for it to stay within the mortal plane.

Jessica looks utterly horrified by the brutality.

Yeosa looks entirely impressed. The fight was fast, efficient, and merciless.

“I’m sorry,” Jessica says after a moment, apologizing regarding Mule’s barbaric display.

“Sorry for what? The fight? I allowed my angel to fight the undead. I was going to retake control after the first strike. I was just surprised that it only took the undead a moment to easily overpower my angel.”

Jessica frowns again.

“I'm sorry about your angel,” she tries to apologize.

Yeosa shakes her head, “It's an angel. I can summon as many as I so wish. You have nothing to apologize for. I should be the one apologizing for that display. Here I am, teaching you about how powerful angels are, and it’s so easily defeated.”

Jessica nods, still unsure if she should be the one responsible. Mule is her responsibility, and having him going around killing things is bad… right? Especially now with his changes. Mule is much bigger, taller, she would even use the word pretty. He looks like a walking suit of expensive armor.

“Well, considering your undead will make it difficult for you to practice with angels, how about we find a couple of my sisters and begin training your aura?”

Jessica gazes at the undead, a smile forming on her lips. She will need to thank Quasi for what he had done.

“Ok.”

__________________________________________________________

Volpe’s gaze is prepared. It is powerful. Her mana and mind is at her beck and call. With only a thought, she could command mana to her will. Her domain extends far, her mind attuned to the ambient mana within. Inside her domain, she can cast any spell, anywhere, using the mana in the air and within the ground.

Her domain is called [Elemental Domination] and it allows her to command ambient mana. It is a domain that supports her class of [Elementalist], one of the rarest tier-three classes in existence. The class took her thirty years to obtain. Leveling at least eight mancer classes to the grand version was not an easy requirement to unlock. Heck, she never would have gotten anywhere close if she did not have her domain.

Regardless, even with all that power, she can't help but find herself bored. Sitting on a tree while invisible and maintaining over twenty [Distant Scry] spells to keep an eye on the Gejan and her sisters. She expected that her services might be needed if one of her sisters is unable to keep a group of Gejan alive.

Unfortunately, she is completely bored. Nothing is happening. The Gejan are extremely well trained and organized. They move and fight as an organized group. They react to threats as they come and will even swap positions if a specific group member is better at dealing with certain monsters. Her sisters shadowing the groups are also quite bored. Only a few have had to interfere, and even that interference was probably unrequired.

“Maybe this wasn't the greatest idea,” she whispers to herself while absentmindedly looking down towards the large mound of corpses that had been gathered so far. The Patriarch had requested corpses, and thus he will get corpses. Hopefully, he will level significantly thanks to them.

Flicking her tails, she focuses on one of her scrying spells. On it, she gazes at a team of Gejan led by one of the [Captains]. This one is a [Gejan Guard] that is two levels from a hundred. Out of the others, he is the closest to the second tier, though the two other females are also in the nineties. They are leveling fast.

With a mental command, another scrying location is revealed to her. This location actually has no Gejan. Instead, a white centauress with a small army of monsters surround and hunt for her. Volpe smiles at Alba. She had grown in strength quite a bit and now the young one is hunting for another awakened to add to her family.

With another mental flick, she turns to another scrying location. This one is a top-down image of her home. From it, she can see the Gejan training, angels fighting, and the Patriarch carrying one of her sisters on his shoulder.

Her eyes widen in astonishment. She almost lost connection to the spells she is sustaining. Volpe begins to laugh as she notices that the sister is none other than Illumina.

“Illumina, you sly girl,” she says with a chuckle. Of all the people to catch the Patriarch’s interest, it is none other than the shyest Kitsune Volpe had ever met. The Patriarch carries the girl into the heavily enchanted tree shorty after.

With her sight now blocked, Volpe turns back to keeping an eye on the Gejan.

___________________________________________________

Like a slab of meat, Quasi places the unconscious kitsune on the floor in front of the Elder. The elder, confused, sniffs the air and frowns towards the Patriarch and his glowing purple gauntlet. She tilts her head, “Is something the matter Patriarch?”

“Not really. She kinda passed out after I saw through her illusion of a Gejan. She’s pretty good but lacks a lot of details.”

The elder tilts her head back, “I see. Most unfortunate that you sought her so soon. Illumina is the youngest of us and is easily the shyest. I would suggest mating with her while she is unconscious or you may find it difficult in the future.”

Quasi groans in annoyance. “Yeaaaa, that’s rape. I don’t do rape. When she awakens, if she wants to, then sure, but not while she is unconscious. Anyways, I did some training, got a stupid class of [Bard], and now I’m here to unlock Resistance and Charisma.”

“[Bard]? That is rather unexpected. You must be very creative then to get such a class.”

Quasi rolls his eyes, “Sure I am. Doesn’t change the fact that now I'm creating sentient undead with daddy issues.”

The elder’s tails shuffle around her while she looks very confused.

“Ignore me, I’m rambling. What do I need to do to unlock the Resistance and Charisma stats?”

Still a bit confused and baffled, the elder licks her lips and taps the ground before her.

“Charisma will be unlocked very quickly as you level so we will instead focus on Resistance. Come lay down here with your head to me.”

Quasi stops, debating if he should put himself in such a position that could endanger his life… Then he remembers that any of the kitsune could probably kill him with ease anyways.

He walks in front of where the elder is sitting and lays down with his head looking up to the elder.

The elder smiles while her tails swiftly and snugly wrap around him.

“To unlock Resistance, you must first subject your mind to the pain of the elements. Usually, this involves subjecting your body to the elements. An example is [Fire Resistance] being gained through constantly setting yourself in flame.”

Quasi’s expression immediately becomes grim and slightly panicked.

“Right… I do hope you have a far better way than to have me tortured.”

She nods.

“My class allows me to put people in a mental trance. With a few skills, I can have you locked in your mind and have you relive the feelings other elders had subjected themselves to so that you may unlock the various kinds of resistances.”

“Awww, shit. So I still need to experience torture. Damnit, I really hate torture.”

Her wrinkled hands wrap around Quasi’s head. They are weirdly both cold and warm at the same time.

“[Mental Lock].”

A spell enters his mind, a powerful one that wants to take control. The spell, though potent, can be easily dismissed by Quasi. Its strength and stability within his mind are drastically weakened thanks to his supreme mental control.

Unfortunately, this is training, so he allows the spell to take hold.

He passes out.

____________________________________________________________________

While the humanoid races hunt, kill, or train, a certain nonhuman one scuttles for similar reasons. His legs contract and expand, allowing him to jump from tree to tree with silence and speed. His glowing eyes and black fur give little to his ability to stay unseen. Once monsters notice him, some attack, but those stronger immediately run. Weaker monsters, those who rely on numbers, attempt to attack. Some do so from range, few within melee, while most do so through mental strikes.

Mental attacks, that is something that Peter actually has a great amount of experience at dealing with. After all, all weavers communicate through psionic energy, though only a select few have evolved the ability to do more.

His Queen and mother is one of them. She communicates with the other species. Through her, an alliance between the weavers and elves have existed for a long time. Where before they had merely avoided confrontation, now the two species assist each other.

The elves teach and supply information to his kind, while the weavers give rare materials in return. To humans, they would consider such a trade unfair.

But to weavers, information is key to their continued survival.

Peter hops away, his mind ignoring the weak mental attacks targeting him. They are unorganized and unsightly. The attacks remind him of newborns attempting to connect to the web.

Peter stops on a tree, internally frowning as his mind remembers the web. Like a spider web, his kind connect their mental abilities, creating an instantaneous form of information gathering that every weaver at his home could access and learn.

It is why he understands the human tongue, though lacks any ability to speak it.

Peter jumps, shots of webbing releasing from his legs and onto a tree branch. He swings quickly, traveling great distances without ever touching the ground.

He finally stops and stares down at his quarry. A monster of incredible size and resilience. This monster’s mental strength is exuded in a radius around it, hence the lack of any other living beings in the vicinity.

The monster moves and raises its large body. Similar to a giant tortoise, the beast shifts its crystal back and extends its head. Its eyes turn towards peter. A moment passes and the full might of the monster’s mental attack hits the small spider.

Peter shivers this time. The mental pain is significant, but still not near enough to his mother.

Peter jumps and activates his own ability.

Power rushes into him, steam being released as his size expands. The awakened monster looks on in surprise and quickly hides within its crystal shell. Peter lands on the shell, his size now matching the monsters. He bites the shell with his two long fangs, but they slide off, leaving not even a scratch.

The mental attack is still continuing and Peter realizes that this monster is trying to whittle his mental defenses slowly while hiding within its protective shell.

Moving around, Peter lifts the shell and finds that the legs have retracted as well. The area is now also covered in crystals with small holes.

Peter chuckles. Several months ago, such a foe would not be within his ability to defeat, but now an idea is already at the forefront of his mind.

Moving around, Peter excretes webbing around the shell, covering every small hole that the monster has.

Once done, peter jumps away from the monster and outside its mentally damaging range. He then begins to watch and wait, ready to spring forth when the time comes.

5 minutes.

10 minutes.

15 minutes. Movement.

The shell begins to move, the monster inside starts to panic.

20 minutes. The panic has intensified greatly.

Peter jumps into hopping distance. His body is poised to attack.

25 minutes. The shell practically vibrates with impacts being heard within.

30 minutes. The impacts begin to slow and the mental attack wane considerably.

Peter moves forward and weakens the webbing at the location that is covering the monsters mouth. He allows a small trickle of air.

The monster, feeling the fresh air, pounds his head forward and forcibly breaks open the weakened webbing. His head extends out, his mouth opening and breathing in fresh air.

And then two pincers slam down, injecting an instantly lethal amount of poison. The poison spreads quickly into the muscles, paralyzing the monster and killing it off half a minute later.

Peter feasts. His strength and power increase from the kill, his level rising as well.

As he consumes, his thoughts return to the fight against Berosus. By taking orders from the [Hero] he was told to protect, he had defeated a foe far stronger than himself. It was that moment that Peter learned how a lack of air can kill, but most importantly, Peter learned how quickly his strength rises from killing those that are considered awakened.

With a crunch, his teeth rip into the monster’s skull and into the brain matter within. Peter enjoys the sound and the taste, but his mind is only slightly focused on that aspect. Instead, his thoughts are engrossed on what next evolution he will undertake.