Returner's Defiance 4

Bruce Sentar

Copyright © [Year of First Publication] by [Author or Pen Name]

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

Contents

Story Thus Far

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Epilogue

Afterword

Also By

Story Thus Far

B ran had grown considerably since he went back in time to create a new and better timeline for humanity.

He was a minor enough ripple that the differences he was causing in this time were small in the grand scheme of things. However, his choices and the small changes had finally caught up to him with his most recent venture into the vault.

But there were others with more knowledge than Bran would have expected. Somebody had made the strange map he had found in the Free Player Alliance market. That map alone spoke of someone with significant knowledge of the goings-on around the world or the future. And somebody had given Leonardo da Vinci the letter to help him crack the vault early. Whether they were one person or two had yet to be seen.

Bran had opened that vault, working to kill off the demons inside that threatened to bolster the demon army, and he had found himself saving some of the heroes of the First Demon War.

Once again, he tried to shift the odds in humanity’s favor, but he had experienced more than one surprise inside. Others were becoming aware of him, and his knowledge of the future was starting to deviate from the present timeline enough that he would soon be playing out a very different series of events.

Over the next 500 years, Bran would get his chance to set humanity on a path to survive multiple demon onslaughts. He would continue to use his past life's knowledge to strengthen not only himself but other key organizations of humanity. He would try to be where the world needed him most at any point in time.

He was but a single person. The apocalypse was still several days away, and Bran had been rapidly trying to figure out his next steps.

Chapter 1

I sat at the desk, scribbling in my notebook, writing down everything that I anticipated happening and all the people I could employ, use, and shift around to try and stop the worst from coming. It was essentially a guidebook to the first year of the demon war.

"Whatcha doin'?" Simone asked from the bed where she was covered in nothing more than a thin sheet and a curtain of her golden hair. Her head was propped up, and her feet were kicking lazily behind her. The only part of her that was actually covered was her rear end.

"I'm trying to organize my thoughts. We've been over this. I need something to offer Hercules and Zeus before they throw an absolute fit," I grumbled.

"I mean, with our buffs, can't you just, I don't know, go full Bran mode and teach them not to mess with you?" Simone rolled onto her back and ran a hand down her long legs, looking at me upside down with the kind of look that would have most men jumping up from their seat and running over.

Unfortunately, it seemed I was going to have to be an idiot today.

"This is important." I tapped at the notebook with the pen.

Simone groaned and played with her hair until it fell off the edge of the bed, spilling out onto the floor as she used an illusion to make it longer. Meanwhile, she batted her lashes at me.

"There are other things that are important, too, Bran," she purred in her sexiest voice.

The door to my room, which Simone told me was a suite, opened up. Simone had apparently designed it to have a number of rooms attached to mine. Most of them were empty; I didn’t know why she had included so many.

"Am I interrupting something?" Gloria asked, fully dressed for the day, unlike Simone.

"Unfortunately not." Simone rolled to her knees and stepped out of bed fully clothed—or at least as clothed as she was going to be in her scantily clad saintess attire.

Gloria looked her up and down. "Are you nude under that?" she asked.

Simone gave a helpless shrug. "I don't know. If you want to find out, you'll have to try and take it off." She winked at the mob princess who only shrugged and looked away, completely uninterested in the fairer sex.

"Bran, are you still working on that?" Gloria asked.

"Yes, I'm still working on it. There’s a lot to think about up here." I tapped at my temple with the pen before hunching back over the desk.

Everything from chairs to tables felt a bit smaller ever since my body had gotten bigger with my titan physique.

I had apparently added another two inches of height, as well as a significant amount of density to my body. My hands were also noticeably bigger, or perhaps things just felt smaller since everything was so damn fragile. I really needed more items that were made of system-grade materials.

"Well, Merlin's here,” Gloria told me. “So you need to finish that up.”

"I'm still working on it,” I grumbled again, staring at the piece of paper and willing it to form some logical plan. There was supposed to be more time to figure everything out.

“Well, it’s time to go. Once Circe shows up, the gang is back together.” Gloria jerked her head to the side.

I glanced up at the clock and cursed, slapping the notebook closed and throwing it into my spatial ring, only to accidentally crush the pen in my haste. "Well, I guess that means we need to get going. We won't be back here until after the Hellgates open up." I glanced at the two of them and pulled out a rag to wipe my hands off with. "Are your people prepared?"

"The Nestor clan is all ready." Gloria took a confident stance with her fist pushed against her hips. "There's a small stockpile of resources ready and waiting for my father when he becomes initiated. He listened to your advice over dinner the other night. I think he's taking it to heart."

"Good," I said quickly. "Your father always regretted his choice in the last life. I hope this time he lives without regrets and can lead everyone to a better future. Is the fortress done?"

The scope of the initial plans are well past completion"—she hesitated—"but the expanded plans are still in progress. We're running out of time."

"I'm well aware," I said, earning a glare from her. Largely, I had left this project to them; I wasn’t much of a builder. More of a leader and mostly a wanderer. I knew that wasn’t going to last, but I wasn’t about to manage something of this scale.

"At least all of the raw materials are in the country, and we're working to get our hands on them and rush them here as quickly as possible. If we have the materials, we can still do the work after the hell gates open," she told me.

I nodded. "And you have a little buffer there, too. It'll take a few weeks before the shipping lanes completely shut down. But a few weeks is all that we will have, and then you are completely out of luck."

"We have Merlin if we need it," Simone jumped into the discussion. "And besides, I sent a couple of the more capable Mul Branova out into the country with a pocket full of spatial rings." Simone smiled. "They'll make sure to pick up as many resources as they can before returning. The Citadel of Blood will be well-stocked." She gave me a giant grin.

I closed my eyes, pressing a hand to my forehead. "I'm fairly certain we had a discussion on not calling it the Citadel of Blood."

"Did we?" Simone glanced at Gloria, who also shrugged.

"With hundreds of Mul Branova who could right now take on even the strongest military forces in the world calling it the Citadel of Blood, I'm pretty sure it's going to stick, Bran." The mob princess wasn’t helping.

I made a face but knew when to pick my battles. I moved past both of them out into the central area of the suite where Merlin was waiting, talking happily with Nyx.

She turned to me before tossing me several spatial rings of her own.

I snatched them out of the air and glanced at them for a second before my eyes popped open with what was inside. "You did well. This is all legit, correct? You didn't steal this?" I eyed her.

The ancient woman snorted. "No, I did not steal that. I am wealthy beyond belief, and apparently, that digital wealth is about to completely disappear because I cannot liquidate it fast enough. So, why not use it?" She held up two other spatial rings in her other hand. "Besides, I only spent a pittance on yours. I went down to Chile, where apparently there is a massive dump of clothes just rotting away in the Andes. Seems like a win-win situation to make that all disappear."

"Clothes?" Simone asked, moving faster than normal as she snatched the rings out of my hands and began to look through them. "Oh my," she gasped.

"They're just cheap shit," Gloria huffed. Her outfit no doubt cost an exorbitant amount.

"Some of us can make do without the finer things," Simone said. "Besides, I think in a year people will just be happy that there are clothes that aren't threadbare, even if they do wear out faster."

While we were all talking, Nyx fidgeted nervously. "Are you sure it's going to be okay to go back to the Heros Clan?"

I could only shrug at her question. "Hercules and Zeus might give me some trouble. I think Persephone is manageable. And with this"—the notebook popped back out into my hand—"my hope is that I can convince Zeus and Hercules to forgive me at least this once."

Merlin eyed the book. "And what is in there that's so valuable?"

"Knowledge about the future," I said. "As much as I could remember about the next year." As I finished, the notebook disappeared again. "And if they give us trouble, yes, Simone, I might go all Bran on them and make them regret trying to go against me, even if I did technically mess up a little. That the vault would warp time was completely out of my expectations. As far as I knew, time manipulation was incredibly rare; there had been no record of that in my past life.”

My mind began to wander, once again trying to figure out how that change had come into play. While I’d changed the outcome of the vault, I felt like the time difference would have been noticed and mentioned before.

"Have you all been waiting for me?" Circe asked, stepping into my room. She looked every bit like a woman from an ancient Greek myth, with soft blue hair and piercing red eyes. An archmage specializing in wind and one of the leaders of the Heros Clan, she had invested heavily in her stats over her long life. Even with what I had gained from the vault, I was not yet her equal.

Merlin cast a sharp glance in Circe’s direction before ignoring her. The two had a history, though I had yet to learn any of the details.

"Yep, we're ready," I said. "I have my peace offerings for Hercules and Zeus, and then I'll awaken as many Heros bloodlines as I can."

Circe watched me closely. "I don't think you understand how upset they are. It's not just that you didn't awaken several rounds of Heros Clan initiates. The problem is that you embarrassed them. Those who know are concerned about the whole clan's legacy because they can't control you.”

I held back a groan at old men and their need to control everything. Then again, I was once an old man, and I went back in time to change everything to the way I wanted it.

Simone spoke up. “If anyone thinks they're going to control my Bran, they're going to get an incredibly rude awakening."

Circe just shrugged. "Not my words, just the present truth. So don't bother getting upset at me for saying it out loud." She shifted her focus back to me. "But if it makes a difference, I'm on your side, Bran, and I think Persephone will be, too. I've managed to talk to her and explain the situation. She'll do her best to talk to the other two. Perhaps if they can be made to understand it all outside of a heated moment, then everything will be easier."

"I like easier," Nyx said and finally stopped fidgeting.

"We all do, Nyx. But nothing's going to be easy, not for a short while. We're going to the Heros Clan, and then we'll be taking a plane from there up to Denmark," I reminded her. “Hopefully, the Heros Clan is the easy part.”

"Right," Simone said, a smile on her lips. "That thing that you won’t say much about but means we have to go to Denmark for when the hell gates open up."

"And here I thought you didn't understand." I smirked at her. "Sounds like you know the plan just fine."

"Oh, I understand the plan. The question has always been, why?" Simone asked, never one to shy away from pushing for answers.

"Because that particular hell gate opens up in a very densely populated city. The amount of life lost in that instance is horrific. And what the demons do to those who survive is not pretty. If we're going to make the biggest impact on the first wave, that's where we do it to get Europe off on a better foot. Right in the middle of a high-density European city, TV and news will still operate for at least a couple of weeks. Perhaps we can get a message out and get the whole world to understand and rally."

Simone only had a strange smile on her face as she wagged her finger back and forth. "There's something you're not telling us… or perhaps someone," she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Your imagination's getting the better of you." I stared her down.

But that look never got to Simone who simply clicked her tongue in response. "It's just very unlike you, Bran. Going public in a big city? I think you're protecting someone."

"And if I am?" I asked with a sigh. Simone's intuition ability was scarily powerful.

"Well then, I want to meet her. Was she someone from your past life?" Simone asked.

I turned back to Merlin, knowing I could use her to help us move forward. "Do you want to listen to this, or should we get going?"

Chapter 2

S imone was still pouting as we were ushered into Zeus's palace. She desperately wanted to understand more about the women in my past life.

It was… complicated for me, so I chose to ignore it for now.

The grand structure of Zeus’ palace sat atop a seaside cliff, dwarfing all other buildings in the clan with its bright white columns and towering roofline.

The place was massive and grand to the extreme, but I was in my head, thinking about how to respond the next time Simone poked about my past relationships.

Servants bustled about the hall, carrying out various tasks. A steady stream of them brought items to the largest balcony I'd ever seen, where Hercules and Zeus were deep in conversation. Giant marble columns held up the ceiling above them, while the open-faced platform stretched out for at least 50 yards, offering a breathtaking view of the sea.

"Bran," Zeus greeted me, striding up as if he were a familiar grandfather. "So good to have you back." His smile was a touch too wide, but his gesture was interrupted by the heavy thump of Hercules' hand on my shoulder.

"Yes, so good to have you back. Perse has been talking our ear off about your… short trip." He pinched his eyes and tried to smile through his words, but they were incredibly forced.

I chuckled at both of them, grabbing them by the shoulder and leading them back to the balcony. Pleasant scenery always helped. "Yes, it's been just a little more chaotic than I expected, but I come bearing gifts." With a flick of my hands, two platters appeared before me, both heavily laden with fruits to increase their stats.

Hercules ignored the fruits, not realizing what they were. "Oh, thank you." He pulled them to the side.

However, Zeus inspected the items, and his eyes went wide before he snatched up one of the apples and crushed it into his mouth, quickly devouring it.

Hercules frowned at Zeus’ intensity, reassessing the fruits and then gobbling them up immediately after. Both of them were glancing into the air as they devoured the fruits to confirm they were real.

Even in a world of magic and the system, they doubted that something so good could be delivered with such ease.

I stepped back with a chuckle. "Don't worry, I don't think anyone can steal them from you here. Just a small gift, knowing that I caused you some inconvenience."

Zeus seemed to recover from his greed quickly. After he finished the first fruit, he dismissed the rest. "Yes, well, I had to check the veracity of those items," he said, looking around at all the servants who had stopped to stare at him. He pulled his shoulders back and stood up just a little more stately. "And it seems they're truly as the system says they are. Not that I had any reason to doubt the system, but such items are exceedingly rare. How did you obtain so many?"

"Well, where I went was full of them, and, of course, we had to split many of them with those who participated. What I offered you was from my portion," I answered with a solemn expression.

Zeus stroked his white beard. He always seemed to try and draw people's attention to his facial hair. "Well, that's very kind of you, Bran. Unfortunately, while a wonderful gift, your absence has cost us considerably."

I could see a little greed sparkle in his eyes. I made my best pained expression before pulling out the rest of the fruits that I planned to give them. "This is all that I was able to receive," I said, thinking that I was actually playing the part quite well considering.

It was never my intent to give them all at once—they’d be taken for granted. In situations like this, Zeus and Hercules wanted to punish me, and I was happy to let them have that illusion if it meant I could keep the Heros Clan’s support.

Zeus smirked and snatched the remainder of the fruits. "It's good you know not to take all of the rewards for yourself." Zeus bounced on the balls of his feet and put his hands behind his back as he fought a smile from stretching across his face.

To him, this was a victory. Too bad he didn’t realize how much I had kept for myself.

"Well, I figured they'd be more valuable to you," I said hurriedly as if I were a youngster trying to appease the elder of the clan. "After all, the gold cost for you to improve this number of stats must be astronomical."

Zeus grunted, and while he didn't admit it, his face said I was very clearly right. "Well, thankfully, you understood some of the complexities of being an Initiated. I know you have those memories of your other life. However, you are living in this one, and as a child of the Heros Clan, it is important that you play that role. Unfortunately"—he hesitated—"despite the gifts, I do not think your absence can be so simply forgotten."

"Oh, what do you mean?" I feigned innocence.

"It was quite apparent that we were unable to awaken the bloodlines of the next generation. I'm afraid that even some rumors have spread outside the clan." His voice grew gruff.

I waved away his comment. "Simple enough. We'll awaken all of them that we've missed. And those rumors will disappear just as quickly as they came. I managed to grow stronger, and that means they’ll be stronger for it." I had no idea how my stats factored into the ability, but it was clear that there was some room for improvement.

Zeus seemed slightly torn. "No, no, we can't do that," he said after a moment. "The losses that the clan suffered and the doubt in our reputation are too great for something that simple. There will be people thinking, 'What if when it comes my turn, or my child's turn, they can't awaken his bloodline?'"

“Not a problem. The first step is restoring their confidence. I'll do it for everyone that's of age right now. And then in two days, everything's going to change." I started to lead them into the next part of the conversation. “They’ll not be too focused on the future.”

Zeus narrowed his eyes, watching me more closely. "Yes, that's right, you said demons are coming."

Hercules, who had been continuing to devour his fruits while Zeus and I spoke, looked up from them with his mouth stuffed. "If that's going to happen in two days," he said, some fruit coming out of his mouth as he talked, "then we should finish up awakening bloodlines before then."

"I completely agree. I think the first order of business should be getting everyone's bloodline awakened. Next, I will be investigating to see if I can use my skill to create an enchantment to do it for us," I offered.

Zeus and Hercules looked between each other and then back at me. Then they looked over at Circe behind me, who was also looking at me strangely.

"There is one unfortunate flaw with me making it from an enchantment." Now I had everybody’s attention. Even Persephone appeared in a chunk of black smoke.

"And what would that be?" Hercules finally put down his fruit.

"If we used it, I wouldn't be able to rank up the skill with all the practice of awakening their bloodlines myself. Thus, the enchantment will be at the skill rank that I have now. And I'll have to use other means to improve my skill like awakening bloodlines of others."

"Perhaps we can just save the enchantment as a stopgap," Zeus offered, "and keep you involved in all of the other times."

Even Circe suddenly seemed very interested in the idea. The blue-haired woman furrowed her brows as she stared into the middle distance. Only Persephone was looking skeptical of an enchantment that could awaken bloodlines.

"Why do you only mention it now?" my great-great and a few other greats grandmother asked.

"Mostly because the cost is startlingly exorbitant. However, with the demons coming to Earth, they too bring a vast amount of wealth. Enough to completely change the present scale of costs. Some of these demons will be level 300 and 400, especially during the First Demon War. The top end will reach level 800." I had all of their attention now. "And I can guarantee you, a level-800 demon does not just rely on levels for stats. He'll have high-ranked equipment, more system gold than you can imagine, and have buffed his stats through inexplicable means."

"So what you're saying"—Persephone rubbed her chin—"is that you can build us an inscription; however, you can't build it until these broader resources have been collected." Her words put a significant damper on the mood around the room.

"Correct." I flashed her a winning smile. "And those resources will come with many others.” The booklet I had been working on appeared in my hands. “It just so happens that I've written a small guide regarding events of interest. Both for the personal growth of everyone here and the growth of the clan as a whole."

Their eyes fixed on the booklet, and I had to fight off a grin. They had wandered from one topic to the next just as I hoped, and I continued to provide them with the answers they wanted before they could even voice them.

"I suppose you're offering all of this, and the next thing you're going to say is, you'll go get the supplies personally?" Hercules asked with a rough grin.

"Oh, no." I shook my head. "I'll leave it to the clan to collect the necessary supplies. There will be more system gold and levels to get that way. I mean, think of all the experience you could inject into the clan members.

"But, I assure you, there is information of interest to you personally within these booklets. For example, there is information on two SSS-ranked instances that will appear in the coming year. And you can have that plus other valuable information for the low price of not trying to shackle me to the clan, so I, too, can go out and flourish amongst these same opportunities.”

“And what happens if you don't come back?” Zeus pushed.

Obviously, that was going to be their biggest hangup.

“My best option for you would be for the clan to build enough for the central part of the inscription." I opened up the booklet to the last few pages where a detailed inscription was drawn out across both pages. "This part here. I can also go over the resources, of course, if you wish. I'll inject my skill into that. The rest of this is about powering it, amplifying it, so you can do an entire group at once. So a couple extra flourishes here and there to try and stimulate some increase in skill success. After all, I spent quite a bit of time designing this, and I know a lot about inscriptions. Now, what do you say?"

They also needed to not look at this too closely. The Heros Clan had some level of inscription experts among them, and perhaps if they spent enough time with this, they’d realize the fundamental flaw.

"I say, it looks like you came well enough prepared to buy our forgiveness." Zeus stepped forward and snatched the book out of my hands. "You'll build the central part of this inscription before you leave." He flipped the book sideways, squinting at the inscription drawings. However, I knew no one present could possibly understand enough to decipher how it worked.

Before I built the central element, of course, the reality was that they were all being duped. Technically, I could build something now to awaken their bloodlines. It would not be nearly as effective as my skill; it would be more on par with weak awakening potions. So, it would work, but I doubted that the clan would be happy with it in the long term. They wouldn’t be getting any S rank or above bloodlines with it.

However, I would figure something out for them in the future, rather than taking on the risk of being stuck in the Heros Clan while the First Demon War unfolded its bounty of opportunities.

Possibly by the time they actually got the thing up and running, I could make the necessary advancements in my skill to make it work more in line with their expectations.

Hercules took the booklet from Zeus and began flipping through it, looking at all of the notes of what would come in the next year. "Battle plans?" Hercules asked, getting to a spot that I knew everyone would find very interesting.

"I know how the first war went, though I will admit this timeline is deviating in some ways. But where I have been all this time was working to ensure that those who fought valiantly in the First Demon War did not get possessed by demons. That would have meant an absolute slaughter for humans in what is to come in a few days. I am sorry I missed awakening young Heros Clan members. I had not believed it would take so long. But I promise the mission I carried forward was well worth that loss." I watched Zeus and Hercules' reaction, both of them having some bitter acknowledgment of what I had done.

"The clan should come first. Of course, with this knowledge"—Hercules tapped the book in his other hand—"even if we had lost a large number of others around the globe, the clan would be able to reap enough benefits to make up for that loss. Now, with all this information, I have to ask, what are you doing that you didn't put in here?"

"Oh, I'll be present at some of those opportunities," I said, pointing at the book. "You think I'm not coming to an SSS-rank instance? Think again.” Though I’d need to prepare for it. “However, there are a few critical moves that I wish to make for the start of the demon war. And, of course, even if I know what's going to happen, it's important that I set up a system to watch, making sure everything unfolds as I remember. For all I know, this time around, someone important could have died a year ago. Or someone I saved gets a hero complex only to upset the events as I know them."

Hercules nodded and flipped the book. "It's good you're not relying entirely on your knowledge. It isn’t impossible that the information from your past life had been embellished or perhaps inaccurate. A few small changes could topple all of the plans you've made." Hercules tucked the book into his own spatial ring. "However, I will be holding on to this booklet, and the Heros Clan will be making their own plans based on this information."

"Of course," I said, nodding and taking a step back. "Now, if you don't mind, I would like to head into the instance and begin what work I can on the inscription, as well as prepare for what I assume are a large number of individuals who will be coming in to get their bloodline awakened soon." I flashed them all a smile and took another step back before turning around and leaving.

Chapter 3

O nly once we were safely inside the instance, the women around me all jumped at the chance to give their thoughts.

"Why didn't you mention the inscription, the enchantment, before?" Circe scowled.

“Bran, what was that?” Gloria tried to speak over her.

I held my hands up and patted the air for them all to calm down before more of them jumped me. “Oh, that's because it doesn't work nearly as well as I may have just led them to believe. However, that’s because they don’t understand inscriptions well enough to see the fatal flaws in trying to copy an ability like this. It works less effectively than they're currently thinking. If they actually use this enchantment to awaken a bunch of bloodlines, the best they're going to get is A-rank, and they're going to get a lot of low-rank ones as well," I answered.

Circe scoffed but seemed less ready to barge out and report to the others. "Of course, the inscription can't be as good as you doing it yourself. So, it really is just a crappy stopgap, that you didn’t clarify its limits."

"Of course, they should know that themselves," Simone defended me. "Right, Bran?”

“Inscriptions are wildly versatile. However, when it comes to making physiological changes to people, it doesn't always work quite as well as, say, a potion. So I'm not saying that an inscription couldn't do it and couldn't do it better than the one that I'm making, but to make them better, it's going to significantly increase the cost of activation, to the point it wouldn’t be worth it," I answered.

Circe nodded and rolled her eyes. "Cost, cost, cost. If I didn't know better, I would say the system was an accountant.”

“She might be the type. Syssy certainly loves numbers and spreadsheets. But the point is, this will work. The clan won’t realize that it is less effective until they’ve had lower results a few times in a row. So even if they test this before I leave, I'll come out in the clear." I glanced over at Circe. "But hopefully that won't happen." I raised an eyebrow at her as if asking if this was going to be a problem.

"You dragged me along to the instance just so that I would not ask that question when I hung back.” She rolled her eyes. “Zeus and Hercules are many things, but their word is good. They told you you could leave if you made this enchantment, and since you're making an unfinished product that they would have to build out on their own, they can't exactly test it, now can they?"

I smiled, more of my plan coming into place. "Of course, that was the plan." As soon as I saw the two of them, I knew that I was going to need to give them everything to get out of here without a fight.

Circe looked at the sky inside the instance while I used a spatial ring to drain all of the red medical liquid from the pool so I could get to work underneath. "Well, that's good. They'll just have to bring in all of the young hopefuls this time.”

I nodded. “I'll knock out awakening their bloodlines, and then we'll be off to Denmark.”

“To save the mysterious lady from your past life," Simone added.

"Yes, well, she's not the lady from my present life." I glanced over the women around me. “And she won't be.” I went back to work but was aware of all the eyes currently focused squarely on my head.

It was like they were trying to puzzle out what was going on inside of it.

I waited to see if they would move on but sighed as that did not happen. "My life, and the life of anyone I may have known in my past, are going to deviate heavily. I may have palled around with Bobby quite a bit in my first life, only to watch him die two decades later, but I'm not going to be a grunt for the Nesters this time, working for Bobby and sharing drinks afterwards. No, by the time I'm back in Vein City, my level and my strength will be likely equal to the entire Nester family's, so I won't be in a roughly equal position of power to Bobby like we were last time, and as a result, the same sort of bonds won't form. Instead, it’ll be a very different power imbalance. So then what am I supposed to do?" I asked the rest of the group.

"If you two had both been hares in your past life, then of course there can be friendship among hares. However, in this life, if you're a lion and she's a hare, there's no way your approach doesn't seem anything but predatory,” Merlin offered in a strange analogy.

“Not exactly how I'd like to describe how I approach women, Merlin, but the sentiment is shared, if possibly in far better words," I said, really not liking the idea of ‘predatory’.

"Then you'll have to put it into words yourself, rather than relying on mine," Merlin replied with a smirk.

"Does that make sense, Simone?" I asked.

The saintess frowned, a slight pout on her lips. "I really wanted to go hunting for your past-life lovers," she said.

"Can you please not refer to it as hunting?" I urged. "If I stop the initial onslaught in Denmark, she won't be nearly the same person I met years later. We bonded over our scarred start in this new world. The darkness that was inside both of us brought us together to find some comfort. Like two broken pieces finding someone who could make you whole.

“That woman is gone, and because I loved her so damn much, Simone, I would even stop her from coming back. I would take those scars and those jagged edges that we shared and make sure they never broke her. Even if it makes her never exist as I loved her." I felt tears swell in my eyes and blinked them away.

I had lost her, but somehow saying this made me feel like I’d lost her again.

Those words made Simone close her mouth with a quick click of her teeth. "Understood. I think I can understand that sentiment." Her eyes filled with warmth as did the rest of the ladies here.

"Good.” I turned back to the task at hand to hide my face and blink a few times. “Now, can someone do me a favor and go outside to understand when I'm going to be getting a bunch of young hopeful Heros Clan members?" I asked.

Nyx quickly snapped a salute and headed back out of the instance.

Meanwhile, Merlin and Circe settled in on either side of me, watching the process as I worked to make the inscription.

"You know," Simone said after a long moment, "what if you fall in love with the version of her in this life?” It seemed she had a new bone to gnaw on.

“Could I ever really be in love with the version in this life, given that I've been so influenced by my past life?" I asked honestly. "It's a little too complicated."

Yet it seemed my Saintess didn't want to give up so easily. "Even if it's complicated, that doesn't mean you can't make it work," she said.

I didn't look up from my work. "Hi, Simone. I'm Bran. In our past lives, we were lovers. I know everything about you. From when you took your first steps to what your first words were, what your favorite color was, and what makes the butterflies flutter in your stomach. Oh, and by the way, you have a mole above your left-ass cheek that you're particularly self-conscious about," I said.

"Wait, is this all about her?" Simone grinned, leaning forward with excitement to get even random tidbits.

"No, this is a fictitious example, Simone. What I'm saying is that how do you even start a relationship if you know everything about a version of her while she knows nothing about you? It's just wrong, Simone," I explained.

She wiggled her nose. "What if there's a version that's the exact same? I don't know. Maybe there's one of your lovers who won't be greatly impacted by the changes you're bringing to the demon war."

I glanced off to the side, not meeting her eyes for a second. "Sure, perhaps if that exists and they understand who I am and accept all of that without being weirded out, then… maybe," I gave in begrudgingly.

Simone smiled, seeming satisfied at the slight relenting on my part. I wasn’t entirely sure what she was digging at, but she also had that scarily boosted intuition thanks to the system. I trusted her, even if she was digging at something sensitive.

"So what is coming in Denmark?" Merlin changed the topic, thankfully.

"Demons. Interestingly enough, they're blood demons," I replied. "But not vampires, either. No, think more along the lines of octopus or perhaps Cthulhu-inspired blood demons. They have tentacles on their faces, and their hands can warp into a mass of tentacles as well. They'll also find humans with unawakened bloodlines and terrorize them in hopes of shocking their bloodlines awake so that they can feast on more powerful blood.”

"Honestly sounds like a vampire," Simone said.

I rolled my eyes. "They're dangerous, and they particularly go after humans who have the greatest chance of survival in the early days. Of the hell gates, they are particularly damaging to humanity.”

“Bloodlines are that important," Circe said after a moment, seeming to process my words.

"Bloodlines are one of the top three ways to predict survival in the first few months," I emphasized.

"What are the other two?" Merlin asked.

"Distance from a hell gate. And then"—I hesitated—"will to live."

A dark look passed over everyone's faces.

"It really is an apocalypse, isn't it?" Gloria voiced what many of them were feeling.

"Yeah, Gloria, it is. The internet only lasts a few weeks. Shipping lanes not much longer. Over-the-air communication crumbles in record time. It only takes a few months before nothing is working.

“Humans take for granted how absolutely interconnected every part of their lives are with each other. It's like a house of cards, and if a few vital pieces fall from that tower, the whole thing comes crumbling down." I shook my head at all of them.

"People really don't have a clue how many systems and how much work goes into them being able to use and utilize even the most basic technology. It's going to be a real shock for a lot of people, especially those close to the hell gate. They're going to be running for their lives away from all manner of demons and demonic monsters. Those who get bloodlines will learn firsthand just how powerful Darwinian logic is and what the survival of the fittest looks like in practice. And then, finally, those who desperately want to survive will find a way because that's the brilliance of humanity. We are so adaptive that even when our entire world changes in the blink of an eye, people will find new ways to organize, to cooperate, and most importantly, to survive."

The ladies all looked at me with mixed expressions, some sorrowful in their understanding of what was coming, while others looked slightly inspired. After all, surviving that was a feat.

"And those of us who already have considerable power before everything comes to pass?" Merlin asked.

"Many of them will come to discover that they have the power to become a leader but not the intelligence. Ruling through force is very easy; however, it rarely leads to the best outcome. There always seems to be a lack of sympathy for those who lack power but are unfortunately vital. No. What'll happen is they'll become leaders, they'll struggle, and then, more often than not, many of them will go back to being fighters, especially when there are battlefields where they can utilize their full strength, like SSS-rank instances, for example." I continued to work on the inscription, carving into the stone with a Blood Blade.

"Right." Circe nodded, already understanding the crux of the matter. "Because it doesn't matter how many people they have feeding them resources, them going into an SSS-rank instance is something they're going to have to do themselves, and it is probably going to become their main priority. The resources there are just too great."

I pointed a finger gun at Circe. "Bingo. And once they start doing that, then they'll give someone who has the capabilities the reins of leadership, and then, from there, real organizations will begin." Of course, that person will be back by the powerful person in the end. Things can get a little dicey depending on how willful the power is.

"What about the Trial of Kings?" Gloria asked. "Will we be heading there soon?"

I gave her a quick shake of my head. "We're still too weak for that. Circe, how strong were the old Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades when they entered it and never came out?"

She closed her eyes. "Six hundred. And significantly buffed from gold."

I turned back to Gloria. "There you have it. Think of the first area that Tartarus was using to farm as a slowly escalating power ladder. Technically, it's an army made of statues. They get stronger the deeper, the farther in a person goes. But it's also a warning that gives an out. If you can't beat the next level of statues, chances are you can probably run away. Thus, you could be dissuaded from trying the trials. However, once you step into the second trial"—I shivered—"good luck getting out. At that point, you're either going to stay in the trials forever or you're going to get through the other end. Odds are, for most people, they'll stay in the trials."

"It's that hard?" Simone asked. "So we don't have to worry about the Demon Lord or someone else doing it?"

"No, not the demons." I chuckled. "We learned during the Second Demon War when other planets came that the Trial of Kings or similar things exist in every world as an advantage for those who were born in it and them alone. The Demon Lord cannot, thankfully, go and sweep them up. He might actually be strong enough to go do them now. No, perhaps the only human right now who would be strong enough would be Shiva, and I am positive he has bigger problems on his hands. After all, India's about to get very, very busy."

Chapter 4

A ll over the world, people noticed the ground quaking. A research team in Antarctica, the people on the streets in Bangladesh, the city workers of Denmark, the fishermen in the Pacific, the workers in Russia, the bazaar-goers in Egypt, and those in the heart of Australia all looked around.

Everyone turned to the massive disruption around them, trying to identify the source.

The steady rumble built and built until a swirling red energy pierced into the sky. It shot up from the ground, tearing anything in its path asunder, banishing the clouds above, and spreading the red light as if crowding out the beautiful blue sky.

In Bangladesh, the busy street had suddenly stopped. Crowds stared at the red beam, only to then stare into the middle distance in front of them. Many of them began swiping into the air, waving their hands, while some of the younger people gently reached out and began to tap the air in front of them.

Only those closest to the red light didn't have time to bother with the system screen that appeared in front of them.

Horrifying shrieks echoed into the air. Cow-sized locusts shot from the bottom of the red beam, swooping down on anyone they could reach. People tried to swat away the monsters, but they were simply powerless as the creatures ripped through the populace like wet tissue paper.

The busy street filled with panic as it turned into a river of blood.

In Antarctica, the research team fell on their backs as massive, looming juggernauts appeared from the red beam, trundling forward with clubs that weighed an entire ton each.

Meanwhile, in Denmark, the beam appeared just outside the college campus. The students were out with their phones, beginning to take pictures as red armored forms with strange crimson tentacles wriggling underneath their helmets walked out, chuckling as they stepped foot on Earth.

The students gawked, shouting at the demons and taking pictures, more concerned with being the first to post what they were seeing online than they were with staying alive.

The demons saw people flocking to them and only laughed with glee. Some of the human shells were bothering with the system windows, but so many weren't even paying attention.

The first demon stepped forward, grabbing a student and lifting them up by their face. Dark red tentacles shot out of the armor and pierced into the student as they dug beneath their skin, causing the student to scream in agony.

Only then did the crowd finally begin to wake up from their daze. Many turned and tried to flee. Just as many fell to their knees in hopeless prayer.

The Rapture had come.

***

The plane's engines roared as the wind screamed past us. Circe opened the plane door while we all stared at a red beam of light that shot up through the clouds not far away.

"Ready?" I asked, turning to the ladies around me. They were all strapped up with parachutes.

The wind pulled their hair from side to side and against their faces as it swirled through the cabin. Simone's outfit had changed, maintaining the same black and white theme. However, she now looked more like a paratrooper with a set of goggles over her eyes as she slapped a salute.

Gloria gave me a thumbs-up while Nyx double-checked the straps on her pack before giving me a firm nod.

"You don't have to worry too much!" I shouted over the wind. "Worst-case scenario, Circe here will make sure you don't go splat, right?" I glanced over at the Arch Sorceress who was not wearing a pack and standing by the door.

"Of course," she said, her voice somehow cutting through the wind with ease.

Merlin was already beginning to wave her staff. She was not currently wearing a backpack, seeming to prefer to teleport, even if it took her a good chunk of time to activate it.

I hadn't used her ability to get us here either. Because while I knew this was going to happen in Copenhagen, I couldn’t exactly pinpoint the spot. It looked a lot different when I’d last seen it.

The plane was the best option for us to be ready and able to get there as quickly as possible. Being above it and ready to drop down was the easiest answer.

"See you all on the ground," I said, not hesitating and rushing out the door before giving the plane a good kick as I launched myself out.

Behind me, the plane wobbled slightly before rebalancing itself, but my focus was entirely ahead on the wave of demons that would be down there and needing some bodily reorganization.

I plummeted through the sky, having chosen to also go without a pack. Instead, I pulled out the drop sword from my spatial ring, clutching it tightly with both hands. I turned myself into a missile and angled as quickly as I could towards the red beam of light.

The actual dynamics of falling were the same whether by choice or accident, so I knew the basics. It wasn’t even my first time skydiving.

I kept my eyes open despite the wind cutting at me. Between my durability and my regeneration, keeping my eyes open wasn't too dangerous, and I wanted to be able to see where I was going.

My regeneration was working, but I could still feel a slight sting from the wind against my eyes. My focus was unbroken, continuing to shoot as close as I could to the red beam before activating a drop on the sword, pointing it down as my already precarious velocity downwards redoubled.

I hurtled down like a meteor, my skin warming a touch uncomfortably with how fast I was moving.

Copenhagen came into view as I dropped down on the city. The buildings were packed tightly, yet they weren't as tall as many other cities I'd seen around the world. After the apocalypse, buildings looked quite different. But I knew I had the right place as I spotted the giant canal that cut through the center of it all.

I went straight for the edge of the beam that announced the hell gate, only to slam into concrete, sending it scattering in every direction.

Large chunks of it took out trees and even a wall next to the park I had landed in. Yet, I had made an entrance that attracted considerable attention.

I stood up amidst the wreckage I had made upon landing, only to find myself surrounded by two very different groups. College students reeled back, gasping and shouting, while red, octopus-faced demons squirmed and writhed, narrowing their eyes on me in challenge.

I sheathed my drop sword, only to pull a large Blood Blade from my wrist. It extended all the way to the ground, its tip resting against the blades of grass.

A small commotion erupted between the two groups as several of the demons had already grabbed college students and were trying to pull them away.

I flicked my blade forward, clearing the distance and quickly slicing off the arms of the demons. "Get back!" I called out to the college students, spinning on the two demons.

Tentacles began to squirm out of the stumps in their arms to reform hands. Both of them tried to block my hits, but the first demons through the breach weren't that strong.

The breach wasn't some sudden, gaping crack. It was simply a tiny crack that demons could push through. Over the coming months, it would widen, and stronger demons would be able to cross through. But that was a saving grace for humanity, which needed to grow stronger quickly.

The students screamed, and the demons roared.

I felt hundreds of inspects pelt me from every side. And for once, I didn't push them away. I let all of the humans and the demons see my power.

Many of the demons gurgled in fright and tried to scurry away.

"Not so fast!" I roared and slammed into the mass of demons that was still pouring out of the hell gate. My sword cut through them one after the other in a horrendously bloody and satisfying mess.

Several of the stronger demons stepped up and tried to stall me as they shouted orders in demonic.

I understood some of the words they spoke. Spend enough time fighting someone and you learn a few things.

They were trying to pool their power, calling for those who had higher-ranked skills. Any considered more useless were being ordered to rush into the human pool and deal damage while others dealt with me.

A demon shouted, trying to encourage his demon followers as his mace met my Blood Blade. "We will be able to level so quickly as we feast on these humans that when you return in a few days you'll be able to kill this man before us."

As our weapons met, I had to give the demon credit for a passingly good resistance. His strength was far higher than the other demons I had just destroyed. An S-ranked defensive skill was keeping him from being blown away.

But I had not come to this fight alone.

An arrow pierced through his skull as a pink beam ripped through the demons trying to rush after the fleeing students. Gloria slammed into the ground, a burning parachute trailing behind her as she dropped closer to the students and with a snap of her fingers made a wall of purple fire to protect them.

I grinned at my ladies, wanting to stop fighting to watch them work.

Circe landed next, making sure all attention went to her immediately. A massive spiral of wind descended around the hell gate to keep the demons from escaping. This was particularly important as flying little squids started squirting through the air, escaping, only for them to freeze by the dozen, falling and shattering on the ground.

"All of you." I had a moment to glance at the students. My eyes began searching through the group, but then I reminded myself to focus. The chance of me finding the person my eyes were searching for was slim to none.

"If you have abilities, use them now. Participating in this battle in any way will help you level and deal with what is coming," I instructed.

Some of the students scattered. But others paused, seeming to decide I had enough qualifications to at least consider what I was saying.

"What are you?" one of the students asked with an accent.

"Use your inspect skill and find out for yourself," I retorted, glowering at the young man.

His brows pinched down, and he got that look that suggested he was reading something in front of him. "Is this real?" he asked.

"It can be if you want it to be," I replied, speaking to him but glancing over his head at everyone else.

I felt a lot of responsibility at that moment to say something that would change the course of humanity’s survival. "Each and every one of you who wants to make a difference in the world, well, good news. The world's about to go through a drastic change, and only those who embrace it and reach forward to gain the power that has been offered to you will be able to shape it. This hell gate"—I gestured at the giant beam behind me—"isn't going away. It's going to spew out demons for years. Instances are going to pop, and monsters are going to roam the earth. If you don't level up, if you don't grow stronger, well then, think of this as a dream. It’s a dream you'll never wake up from. So pick something up, pick your class, and participate. For the world you knew is already dead, and the new one requires your struggle to be born." I pointed back at the demons that my crew were holding at bay.

The man who had spoken to me first frowned and took a hesitant step back, looking around him for some other option than the monsters in front of him.

However, a woman came up from behind him, ferocity in her eyes as she threw a book over Gloria's firewall, hitting a demon in the head. A second later, he was a splatter on the floor as one of Circe's blades of wind destroyed him.

"I leveled up!" she shouted, jumping up in the air with a giant smile on her face. Her reaction caused a tidal wave.

Students began emptying their bags and throwing objects over the wall. Some were scrambling through what I now realized was a small green space amid a college campus, digging up rocks and chunks of sod to throw. Others had started their new life with ranged abilities and were beginning to use them, lobbing them over Gloria's wall of fire or straight through it.

As this revelation was occurring, Simone walked through the fire, a small shimmer of a barrier around her. As she came out the other side, she held her hands clasped before her and smiled at the students. She was back in her sexy nun illusion and had every eye in the place fixed on her.

I had to laugh at how even amidst a crisis, Simone was Simone.

The students’ eyes tracked her, the men drooling slightly, as they all waited for what she was about to say.

"Those of you present should give thanks to Bran." She nodded to me. "I wanted you all to know there's an organization known as the Mul Branova. We are the followers of Bran, and each and every one of his followers currently could take on a small country's army. We'll be setting up a station here to help all of you transition into your new situation and join us if you’d like. If you haven’t picked your class, joining us will unlock an incredibly powerful one for you."

I stared at Simone, making sure she felt my full feelings on that matter.

She gave me a smile that was so sweet, I thought I was about to get cavities.

"Simone…” I cautioned.

"Nothing for you to worry about. I handle the Mul Branova, right?" She cocked an eyebrow.

I sighed, already knowing I’d lose this argument if I started it.

"If we wanted to open a new chapter of the Mul Branova. Doesn't this seem like the perfect place?” she asked, and three faces that I vaguely recognized cut through the crowd wearing simple C-ranked gear and panting slightly.

It was clear she’d already planned for this.

Gloria was clearly helping put on the show. With a gesture of her hand, she parted the firewall and let a few demons rush out to them.

Of course, the strongest one amongst the demons was only level 21.

The three Mul Branova stood fast, even letting the demons slam all the way into them before they began cutting the demons down one by one.

Simone flashed me another smile, and I heaved a sigh as students rushed towards Simone, hoping to sign up.

Chapter 5

"A lright, Pops, you get this spot right here," Bobby said, ensuring his father was comfortable. Every one of the Nesters’ higher-ups that they could spare were present, as were many of Bran's Mul Branova who had taken up residence in the fortress. They were all in the tower that had been built.

An ominous black disk filled with glowing, moving red lines sat at the bottom of the tower. The only person who dared go close was Bran’s father, who Bobby had determined was a freak of nature.

Well, now he knew where Bran got his strength from.

After seeing him, Bobby believed that Titans were real and that this guy only had a few drops of it in his blood. Bobby was used to being the biggest man in the room, except when the family got together.

However, he now understood why sometimes people shrank back when he stepped too close. If what they felt from him was anything like what he felt in front of this giant, it made perfect sense.

But in the room full of intensity, Candy was all smiles. She'd tamed her look since sticking with Bobby. She still liked the same bubble gum pink lipstick and bleach blonde hair, but she had changed.

She stood a little taller, and Bobby knew that no one messed with Candy. It helped that she was often by his side, but she didn't need it.

One of the Nesters’ goons had tried to grope her, and she accidentally broke both his arms, one of his legs, and knocked out half his teeth. Candy was downright scrappy when it was required and used to fighting monsters. Which was exactly what they were here for.

The tower was five stories tall, with stone platforms ringing the exterior of every layer, and people were currently stacked up in front of them. Rather than a tower that focused outward, everything was built pointed towards the black disk inside.

Each person manned a small slit in the wall, armed with some form of weapon. Some of the Nesters had brought guns, even though Bobby had provided ranked bows and arrows.

His father, Carmen, was checking his bow and shifting it around the large barrel of arrows that had been placed beside his slit, which was at the top where it would be safest.

Bobby checked his watch—an action that many people around the tower were also doing.

The only person who seemed calm was the giant standing directly on the black disc, his arms crossed over his massive chest. He wore leather and fur with a heavy chainmail shirt that draped all the way down to his knees but was cinched at his waist by a belt. On his back was a massive battle axe nearly twice his size and nearly all blade. The weapon would have seemed absolutely ridiculous to Bobby two years ago. Now he saw that axe and thought that it was probably helpful in killing big shit.

More watches were checked as they all waited for the moment. It was almost time. Candy coached several of Simone's girls that she had brought along. Simone and Bran were off doing something else. It was up to the Nester family and the Mul Branova to defend the fortress and soak up all of the experience that was supposed to come pouring out any second.

Sure enough, a blinding red light tore through the tower and Bobby blinked even as he started hearing guns firing off the steady rat-tat-tat of someone's semi-automatic. Meanwhile, those who were actually prepared started firing off arrows with a solid thwonk .

The beam dimmed from its initial intensity but didn't go entirely away. It was enough that Bobby could not see what was happening down below in the center few feet of the black disk. The beam was too bright to see through.

But seeing into the beam was not necessary as demons poured out from every side of the solid beam. They screeched and screamed in an unholy cacophony. With their misshapen, charred bodies, there was a steady semblance to them, marking them as a group.

They all had webbing that ran from wrist to hip and stubbed noses that kind of made them look like bats. However, instead of big ears on top of their head, they had horns that went straight up before flaring out to the side and wrapping around their heads like a halo.

The guns were doing precious little to them, causing small scrapes but nothing worth writing home about. The arrows weren’t doing much better, but a few dropped with half a dozen feathered ends sticking out of them.

His father grunted and put down his bow to start tapping in the air.

"Did you pick your class, Dad?" Bobby called, seeing his father pick the bow back up.

"I did, and I've taken Bran's advice," his father replied. He pulled the bow back, not bothering to sight down it, and fired an arrow into the fog that was slowly filling the base of the tower.

The giant, Thorin, stood there with his arms crossed. Several demons jumped at him, slashing and clawing, only for him to remain stoically still as his skin glossed over like a giant metal statue. His eyes were closed, though his lips were moving, and Bobby frowned, trying to lip read. It looked like the massive man was counting.

"Ten!" Thorin's voice boomed over the demons. In a flash, a giant axe was in his hand. With a single sweep, it mowed through the entire room of demons like a scythe through wheat.

All of the demons fell still before collapsing to the ground. Their thick blood ran over everything before it began to sizzle, smoke, and fade away as their bodies melted into the ground.

Thorin returned to his position, arms crossed but axe still in hand, as the room once again began to fill with demons.

"I understand a little more now," Carmen said, staring down at what had just occurred. "Bobby, you said Bran's even stronger than his father?"

"That's what Bran said. He doesn't let many people inspect him. And from what I understand, Thorin's actually weak for his generation. He was kicked out of the Borrson Clan and has mostly scrounged for resources on his own, rather than those who have the clan behind them," Bobby reported.

His father rubbed his chin before picking up three arrows and sloppily firing them from his bow.

"Father-in-law," Candy called over, "what class did you get? Something for ranged?"

The older man glanced over his shoulder as his muscles flexed to pull back the bow and fire off three arrows at once.

Bran had recommended to some of them that they could learn skills by doing. One of his examples would be to try and learn multishot by firing more than one arrow at once. Bran seriously had an obsession with training. It was like he expected everyone else to be training every waking second.

“Bran said in his last life that I regretted taking the class that I did. He mentioned an option that appeared to me here, too, though I can understand why I may have skipped it the first time," Carmen answered, his voice steady as he strained to pull the bow back again.

"Well, don't keep us in suspense, Pops," Bobby replied.

Carmen smiled and grabbed another handful of arrows. "It's called the Godfather, and I think it's a little on the nose," he said before releasing another volley.

Candy shared a look with Bobby before shrugging.

Bobby was so busy checking on everyone and everything, he'd forgotten to start doing his part. Realizing he could show off a little now, he pointed one of his hands up to a slit and launched a fireball down into the pit. It exploded and killed a dozen of the little demons.

Inspect quickly labeled them as Gremlin Demons.

Bobby stood with his hand outstretched and a smug smile on his face as he checked to see what his father thought.

"Not bad," his father commented without looking.

Candy then stepped up to Bobby's slit and gripped her hand tight before punching downwards. A golden hammer appeared outside their slit, only to drop down five stories, smashing into the mass of Gremlin Demons and wiping out half the wave.

His father paused and turned to assess Candy. "My, that was impressive!" he said before turning back to firing arrows.

Bobby shot her a look, a little miffed that she had stolen some of his glory.

She rolled her eyes and mouthed, ‘I need to impress him, you don't,’ pointing between the two of them.

Bobby wiggled his nose and focused back on what was happening, dropping a few fireballs but not wanting to steal all of the experience that was being split amongst everyone firing arrows.

From the base of the tower, a heavy metal door opened up with a groan just enough to shove through five of the Mul Branova.

Bobby had seen more than a few of them go through a sort of initiation where the older members brought them into a low-level and rank instance and essentially got them blooded before they were allowed to do anything themselves. He knew this batch was facing a similar initiation.

The five women, however, did not cower. Four of them rushed forward with simple B-ranked swords that cut the Gremlin Demons easily but failed to kill them in a single blow. Their exuberance was quickly replaced by panic as they backpedaled, swinging their swords wildly and trying to ward the Gremlin Demons away and deal as much damage as they could with each hit.

The gremlins surged on them, slashing and biting the Mul Branova. But those girls were a different breed with their ridiculous class.

Their wounds healed over, and only their clothes were left torn and bloodied while they cowered and shielded their faces.

The fifth member of that group barked something at them, and they all snapped to attention and began thrusting their swords rather than swinging them around. Quickly, the four began to poke holes in the demons in front of them, even as more demons stepped around the ones they were fighting, trying to mob the four ladies. The fifth was recognizable as Jenny, and with two swings of her blade, she cut down any of the demons that came from the side.

The four initiates fought tooth and nail, each of them killing a handful of demons before they stared in front of them and tapped what Bobby knew were their system screens. They then continued their attacks, thrusting with their swords and occasionally swinging. With every kill they made, they grew bolder and more excited for the next.

"I remember when we were that low level." Candy grabbed his arm and pulled it tight against her as she leaned her head on his arm.

“Yeah, now it's nowhere near that easy to gain levels." Bobby squinted down at the group, also knowing that the entire Mul Branova group was starting out with bloodlines that made them far stronger than your average initiate.

Bobby had only gotten his when Bran had gifted it to him before he left. Bobby smiled.

Bran had given him an S-rank bloodline, better than most of the Mul Branova, showing he understood what Bobby contributed. And with the boost it had given him, Bobby could only imagine how much easier those first levels would have been if he had had a bloodline himself.

Once the Mul Branova initiates got confident enough, he watched as Jenny pulled them back one by one, throwing them back through the metal door before it closed.

The demons ran against it, their claws making a terrible screech as they scratched at it, which was apparently not the best move.

Thorin opened his eyes in irritation and spun around with a giant axe, clearing yet another wave of the demons.

Bobby watched what was happening a moment longer before turning back to Candy. "Alright, let's get out and see if the efforts in the city and the fort are still going as planned. After all, while my father and most of the older generation are busy getting their first levels, you and I need to make sure the Nestor family can become the shoulder for the entire city to lean on."

He chuckled to himself. It was an absolutely fantastic scenario for the Nestor family. They would become an indispensable part of whatever came next. All he had to do was go kill some monsters and level. That he could handle.

Chapter 6

"H ow long are we going to stay here?” Merlin asked.

“Not too much longer,” I answered, looking over where the ladies had begun to take turns holding back the waves of demons. I had a slight smile on my face as I watched Nyx. She really enjoyed being able to showcase her power.

Nyx was firing off dozens of arrows, all of them finding their mark and killing a demon. She was able to do so as fast as someone might strum a guitar, arrows flying out, constantly searching for demon skulls to bury themselves into.

Meanwhile, Gloria was pausing and resting to make sure that she could recover her mana. Keeping up the wall of fire had taxed her.

“Now that we've come and we've saved these people, where will we be going next?” Merlin asked. Everyone was curious about my plan.

“We'll be staying here. I'll explain later,” I told her.

Several fighter jets flew through the air overhead, roaring past as they flew low, getting visuals on the situation.

“I'm afraid we're going to soon start having quite a few guests,” Merlin observed.

“Let the military take over as soon as they're here,” I answered.

Merlin frowned. “They won't be able to do a damn thing about the demons.”

I could only shrug at her words. “That's their problem, not mine. At least we gave them enough time to be initiated and work up a plan for what is to come. What I do know is that when they get here, they're going to be scared and confused. The last thing I want is for whatever chaotic fount of emotions comes out of that to be directed at me. So, we'll fuck off with anyone that Simone recruits and move on to our next step. The hell gates all appearing and pushing through the cracks in Earth's barrier is going to destabilize the reality of the world slightly. A large number of instances will be cropping up.”

Frankly, I just didn’t want to deal with the military. Right now, they might think they could handle anything, but their reliance on guns and modern technology was going to bite them hard.

Merlin's face was stoic as she nodded. Really, the ancient wizard was mostly stoic. I had seen more than a few people become that way as they aged, and usually, it was a facade to hide their pain.

Nyx, the Medusaic archer, realized that she had let some through and decided to take a step back and let Merlin take over, holding the demons at bay.

The archmage instantly froze the demons as they tried to flee around the sudden disappearance of Nyx’s arrow storm.

***

As expected, it didn't take long for sturdy APCs to come rolling into the area. Their backs opened up, and soldiers spilled out, rifles in hand as they began to make a perimeter around the whole situation.

Gloria looked up from where she was torching a cluster of screaming demons and raised an eyebrow as if to ask what she should do.

I waved her off, hoping to indicate that I would handle the situation. Not all of them were as bulletproof as me.

Out of the convoy, first came dozens, then hundreds of soldiers. Every soldier who could be called up on short notice had been mobilized to handle this weird phenomenon.

I stood with my hands behind my back, trying to look as non-threatening as I could. It was a tall task, given that I was a rather large man carrying a sword that could cleave a tank in half. But I did my best, standing with a smile on my face and my arms crossed behind my back.

They ignored me at first, soldiers setting up barricades as quickly as they could. A few various construction trucks swung by, dropping off concrete barriers. A few glanced up at me, only to get back to work. They weren’t the decision makers; I was someone else's problem.

Still, I remained, watching the whole ordeal unfold. It didn't take too long, however, for a mustached man to run in my direction, even as others were trying to pull the college students away from throwing fireballs and rocks.

"Hello, sir, may I know your name?"

I grinned at his approach. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

"You're American?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"From all over, if I'm honest. But English would be easiest, please," I told him.

His eyes wandered over me, and I stood there, stabbing my Blood Blade into the ground before resting my hands on the pommel. It was a powerful pose but at least less aggressive by nature of having the tip stuck in the ground.

"Well, I'm Commander Janssen, Todd Janssen, and I think a lot of people are about to have a lot of questions," he said, shifting his gaze to the mess behind me.

"Oh, don't I know it. Not sure if you're going to like the answers, though." As we spoke, my head tipped back and something slammed into my forehead followed by a distant crack.

The commander's eyes went wide, either from the shock of me surviving the hit or the fact that the hit had been ordered. My bet was he didn't make the order; otherwise, he wouldn’t be standing still after I survived.

I pulled my head back forward and rubbed at my forehead as I dislodged the deformed ball of lead. "Please don't do that again. If you do it enough, you might give me a headache." I did my best to keep a non-aggressive stance.

The last thing I needed was to turn this place into a shooting gallery where my body was the target. While I would be fine, the same couldn't be said for all of the students and perhaps some of my ladies.

Commander Janssen swallowed audibly before he turned around and started shouting in Danish at the top of his lungs. He turned back to me. "You have my assurances that won't happen again," he said, as he flicked his gaze up to my forehead where I suspected there was at least a moderate red mark. People got rattled when you defied their expectations too much.

"Bran. Bran Heros." I held out a hand to him. "Pleasure to meet you, Commander Janssen. I just happened to be in the area," I lied, "and thought that I'd stop this mess from spilling too far over before someone capable like you could take over."

"Heros, huh?" he said, narrowing his eyes as he likely recalled a distant thought.

"Family name. I often wish I didn’t have something so corny. There are a number of us though, and you'll find there are many as extraordinary as me." I pointed at Circe, who was floating in the air. "Also a Heros, though very, very distantly related."

He narrowed his eyes at the clarification but didn't say anything. "All right. So I do have to ask if you caused this phenomenon behind you."

I smiled at the man as he carefully tried to approach the subject. "No. It's called a hell gate. And while I caught one in my fortress to use as a shooting gallery, I don't have the ability to make one, activate it, or deactivate it. That's all on those demons that are currently spilling out." I gestured at the red-tentacle-faced demons that were trying and failing to wreak havoc.

"Demons you say…” The man tried to piece together what was happening.

“Why don't you inspect them yourself, Commander Janssen? I assume the system hasn't left you out and has offered you a class," I answered.

He cleared his throat. "Official orders are to not interact with the screen. We don't know what it does or what it will do," he said firmly.

"I can tell you exactly what it does. It gives you what you need to fight these creatures, and in fighting them, you'll grow stronger physically, mentally, and magically." I spoke the last bit with a pointed look as I turned to regard the magic being thrown around behind me.

The commander followed my gaze. "Even seeing it, I have trouble believing it. I hope you understand this is going to be an awful mess. Those who give me orders don’t like change," he answered.

I only shrugged. "Not my mess. Now that you guys are here, I'm going to let you figure out what exactly you want to do with the situation. All I wanted to do was keep it contained so all the bystanders didn't get swept up." I frowned over at the mass of students.

Commander Janssen followed my eyes. "They seemed to be taking to it quickly."

"I may have given them a speech. But how quickly they pick it up is because they're young, Commander," I said with a heavy sigh.

He once again looked me up and down. "Don't tell me you're a vampire or something because you don’t look old enough to say something like that."

I glowered at him. "Not a vampire." The tone I took must have given him a little shock.

One eyebrow rose slowly as he said, "Understood, sir."

I fought to keep a grin off my face as he called me 'sir'. A little respect went a long way. "I will offer my recommendations though before I leave." I glanced over at the looming problem. "Guns might be moderately effective, and if you bring enough, you can probably hold the demons back with guns alone for a few days." I shrugged. "But if you really want to stop this, you're going to need to level using that system screen you are avoiding. And you're going to need to level quickly. If you don't trust the system, pick a bunch of soldiers, have them interact with it, and start leveling. I think you'll see the effectiveness easily enough."

He narrowed his eyes and looked back at the situation. "Can't say I'm going to be able to make that call myself. This has caused quite a stir. Like I said, the people in charge don’t like it when the rules change."

I chuckled. "Well, they can get used to the change or die. There’s no other way around this one. If they haven't received the reports yet, there should be hell gates opening all over the world, each one spewing out unique demons.”

He eyed me again, his gaze filled with suspicion. "You seem to know quite a lot for someone who didn't cause this."

I could only shrug in response. I was sure his mind was already reeling from the possibility of demons and monsters. "Please, by all means, do what you need to do to confirm. We'll be here a little longer. It seems one of my wives is doing a little recruitment. Don’t worry, it’s completely harmless," I added after a moment.

His expression told me he didn't quite believe my answer, or perhaps something else was amiss. "While I'd like to take your word, there are protocols I must follow. I'll heed your advice as best I can and have someone try to push through to investigate this leveling. Certainly, I don't suspect that's going to take much effort on our part. If what you say is true, well, there's going to be people speculating about the long-term effects and probably causing more than a few issues," he rumbled, rubbing his chin.

I gave him a helpless shrug. "That's their problem. My only goal is to ensure that you can keep as many people alive as possible. Now, have your men start dealing with the demons. I'll pull my people back, and we'll stay here long enough to see that you at least have some handle on the situation."

He wasn't a fan of my words, that much was clear. However, that didn't stop him from snapping into action, yelling at his people in a far harsher tone than he had used with me.

I folded my arms behind my back and watched with amusement and a bit of pride.

Already, this timeline was a much better start than my previous one. I was ready to make the kind of waves that could change the outcome for humanity.

Chapter 7

I stood to the side, arms crossed, as the new chapter of the Mul Branova underwent an initiation ritual. They were blooding the newbies under the watchful gaze of the more senior Mul Branova.

At this point, we were only controlling a small portion of the output from the hell gate. The military had stepped in, as had random civilians. Both groups were taking up a solid chunk of the demons pouring out.

Meanwhile, we'd been relegated to a corner, sweeping up leftovers. I was content with staying out of the masses. I had a feeling that as soon as we left, those who remained would be able to merge with the normal citizens, hopefully softening their losses.

From where I was watching, there were a few deaths every minute. Fighters from both sides hedged towards the Mul Branova's section where our people were kind enough to cover sudden pushes or knockback waves that threatened to overwhelm them.

Simone rejoined us. The two older women watched with bored expressions, while Nyx was more concerned, her gaze fixed on the carnage and loss.

"Where to now?" Circe asked, her smile out of place on the battlefield.

"Well," I began, giving Simone a sidelong glance, "I met somebody who lived through this initial onslaught. She had been captured by those demons and tortured until her bloodline awakened. But around a similar point in time, an instance popped up, one strong enough to disrupt the demons and allow her to escape."

I noticed a small ragtag band of the new Mul Branova trailing after us, unsure whether they were coming with us to their final destination.

"There's such a high-level instance around here?" Circe asked, doing a quick twirl as if she might spot the instance if she looked more carefully.

"Over level 100 at least," I said slowly, watching her reaction.

A giant smile curled on Circe's lips. "Why didn't you say so before?" She let out a relieved sigh. "And here I thought we were going to have to do more before we got such a big reward."

Her words caused the lingering Mul Branovas’ eyes to go wide. The word reward always piqued interest.

"The problem is, Circe, I have no idea where the instance will pop up. All I know is it's close enough that the demons got overrun by monsters wherever they set up camp around the hell gate. And it popped up about three or four weeks after," I waffled. "The actual timing is a little tricky to guess." She hadn’t exactly been keeping track of time well, and I was mostly operating by the stories that she’d told me.

"It's hard to measure time when you're being tortured," Gloria said, causing a few of the new Mul Branova to pale.

"It is, but thankfully, no one has to go through that," I said, emphasizing my words with a glare back at the mob princess.

"Right, of course," she hurried to correct herself. "Not that any of us would have to experience that."

"Good. The other news is that the hell gate's going to destabilize the surrounding area, meaning instances are going to be more prevalent in this city." I glanced at the small army trooping behind Simone. "And thanks to Simone's bright idea, we have enough people to scout. That is, if you think they're up for it. But hopefully, they have communication with other people around the city, or any other local knowledge that might be useful, as we try to find these."

I looked through them to see if there were any I’d missed on awakening bloodlines. The demons from this hell gate would be a good place for me to collect more, but right now, the ones coming through were far too weak.

They were the mongrels of the demons, hoping to rush through first and collect what spoils they could before the more powerful demons came in and swept everything away.

One of the senior Mul Branova began repeating my words to the others, who had a mixture of disbelief and confusion across their faces. I noticed, somehow, that Simone had yet again recruited only women.

"Bonus for all of you," I said, staring out of the group while my words were translated yet again. "If you can find any instance, one of us will help you clear it." I pointed between myself and my other ladies. "It'll significantly help your levels, as well as get you ranked equipment. And other benefits," I said, noting that most of them seemed to have E- or F-rank weapons already.

I looked over at Simone, who just smiled back at me. That woman was terrifyingly efficient when she put her mind to something. It seemed that she came prepared to recruit.

This group had been equipped, blooded, and already integrated into the Mul Branova to the point that several of their last names had already changed. Simone gave me a wink and then moved closer into their group, talking with them in more hushed tones and organizing.

My gaze swept along the city’s skyline, taking in its beauty for a moment.

Wherever this instance was going to appear, it was some place that wasn't checked, or perhaps someone had found it and hidden it. Or, perhaps people just didn't know the ticking time bomb they had on their hands.

I hoped that Commander Janssen would use me if his people came across it. He at least knew that I had information that could be strategically important, even if he would not want to share any rewards with me.

The Mul Branova began to hurry away, splitting up into several groups, while Simone tapped away at her phone, looking at something before she gasped.

"What is it?" I asked.

She turned her phone to the group. It was a picture of what looked like India. Giant locust demons swarmed over the populace, creating a river of blood.

I grunted, feeling less concerned. "Don't worry. Shiva and the rest of his clan will squash that soon enough. Those demons won't last long. And it would be poor of me to go there, both because I would get in their way and because they would identify me as being from another clan instantly.

“Besides, my understanding of the events directly around that hell gate is very poor. I never mixed well with their clan, even before it declined. Amongst the five clans, Shiva was considered the single strongest person in the world. On his back, his clan had risen well above the other four. But eventually, the Demon Lord killed Shiva. And without his protection, much of the clan folded. They had grown too used to his protection, and what was left were incredibly bitter about their new status."

Circe grimaced. “The idea of Shiva dying is beyond strange, Bran. You have to understand, he is like a god even to those of us who were hailed as the gods for the Greek and the Norse."

I could only give her a helpless shrug. "That's how big of a threat the Demon Lord and the First Demon War is, Circe. If even Shiva didn't survive, just imagine how bad it got for humanity before we managed to pull through."

She paused. "How did you pull through?"

"A group of people who passed the Trial of Kings worked together to defeat the Demon Lord," I explained with a momentary glance off into the distance. "It was rough but not completely unsalvageable. As I said before, the Trial of Kings is an incredible danger, but there's a lot of power in those titles. That power was expressly given to humanity of this world to protect themselves from attacks of this kind. So I have plenty of time before I need to make a move and take the trials myself, but I will go eventually, and it will be mine."

Simone had a slight smile quirk up on her face before she smashed it down into a frown to hide the smile. "Of course you will, Bran. We all knew you were going to eventually kick everyone's ass.”

“That's the goal. Now, while the Mul Branova are off looking for instances, I suggest you girls show off one last time. Then we'll get out of here so we don't get too caught up in the mess. I want to make sure we are able to go after the instance once it is located," I told them.

Nyx frowned at me; however, I pointed off behind the rows of soldiers where heavier equipment was entering. They were bringing in missile batteries, tanks, and commanding the kind of weapons I didn't want to stick around for when they started firing off.

I also wanted to give them a reminder of why they did not want to make us their enemies and take us out just because they were currently confused, and we seemed to know more and be more powerful.

Circe understood where my thoughts were going. She swirled up into the air on a small cyclone before throwing her hands forward.

Two large blades of wind came out on either side of her before sweeping down into the roughly ring-shaped space around the hell gate that was filled with demons. Both of those blades of wind swept through on opposite sides before twirling around, churning everything that remained within that circle of bodies into little less than red mush that faded into the ground as quickly as it fell.

Demons spawned one after the other, only to disappear into those slicing winds the next second.

Circe stopped her spell and slowly brought the tornado down where she stared across the expanse at the military with a look that dared them to challenge her.

"Oh, that," Nyx said as Merlin stepped up and smashed her staff against the ground. A wave of frost rocketed into the center, and then a hundred spikes of ice blossomed from it, impaling any demon that had managed to fill the space, extending all the way out to the citizens and military who had circled the hell gate.

"They'll be fine without us, won't they?" Nyx asked.

"These demons aren't too bad," I grunted. "About a week after this all starts, a gate guardian will appear. It'll be level 500. From then on, humanity's ability to sit here and farm the gates will be gone."

I paused. "We’ll be back to kill the gate guardian. And for ours, I put a contingency in that tower on the chance that Thorin can't handle it or I'm not back by then."

Merlin turned slowly to me. "You put a contingency to deal with a demon of that level?"

I shrugged. "Technically, the contingency is for anything unexpected, gate guardian or otherwise. I fully expect Thorin to deal with the one back home, and if he can't, Circe kept some of her elites in the fortress. I think between that team, we don't have anything to worry about. And then I can save that enchantment for a better use later."

Circe shook her head. "I can't believe how casually you talk about a demon of that level. Most in the Heros Clan would be terrified that it even existed."

"Good thing there's not a hell gate near the island then, isn't it? The closest one is— Oh, that's right." I gestured over my shoulder as we were walking away. "Back there. If Zeus and Hercules want something to farm, they'll have to come and get it."

Circe rolled her eyes, and I continued to lead the group away. There would be plenty of instances for us to cash in on soon around the city. We just needed to look. Really, it was kind of like an Easter egg hunt, just with a bit more gore.

Chapter 8

T he military assumed responsibility around the hell gate behind us when a deafening roar ripped through the city, from a different direction than we had just left.

I frowned as the shouting and screaming followed. But then a thought clicked. Last time, the city had been completely overrun by the hell gate.

Any additional attacks would have never been reported because nobody would have been able to differentiate from the sudden onslaught of demons in the city. The demons had been nested inside the Heros Clan, Vein City, and a global human trafficking ring. What was to stop them from also operating here?

My pace picked up, and I leaned forward, beginning to charge into the city.

I followed the screaming to a central plaza, not far from the college campus. Half a dozen demons had emerged. They weren't anything like the ones coming from the hell gate.

However, that didn't stop them from smashing their way through, ripping and tearing cars apart, and flinging them into the screaming crowds. They were bigger, their dark amorphous forms consolidated into seven-foot-tall brutes.

Circe pulled up short as wind gathered to her fingertips, but I grabbed her hand and pulled it back. "Allow me." I rushed forward, a blade of blood sliding down my forearm and into my hand.

The six demons turned, sneering at me. Not a single one of them attempted to inspect me, assuming I was newly initiated.

They should have known better. I didn't move like a newly initiated.

I slammed into the first with far more force than the demon was prepared for, using my shoulder to check him and throw him back into two of the others. I spun, this time catching my Blood Blade on a heavy mace that one of the demons swung around with enough power to split a car.

However, I was tougher than a car and merely had my feet skid back an inch before I grinned at the demon's dumbfounded expression.

"You’re going to have to do a lot better than that," I told him before I pushed back.

This time, I caused his feet to lose purchase as the big dome-shouldered demon grunted and snarled at losing ground. He began shouting in demonic at the others, who quickly turned and focused on me.

I smiled, glad to be the focus of their attention as the citizens fled. I turned my blade in and forced his swing into the ground, smashing concrete chips all over me.

The demon tried to fling me away, but all I did was roll around his arm.

My sword came around far faster than his heavy mace, cutting a neat line across his shoulders and removing his head from the fleshy pedestal it had been resting on.

By now, the other demons were ignoring everything else and focusing on me, each now bearing a weapon rather than showing off their brute strength.

They seemed to favor heavier weapons of axes and maces, which was fine; I would relish a contest of strength against these demons.

I swung my blade back and forth, keeping them at bay while I picked the weakest among them when he swung his axe. I stepped in farther, catching my blade on the lower shaft of his axe and gaining leverage to push in. That was all I needed as I let go with one hand and grabbed the head of his weapon before flipping him over me. My blade drew a crimson trail in the air and cut off his wrist as he slammed into the ground. I spun back around, feeling perfectly at home surrounded by demons.

They came at me in a semi-coordinated rotation taking turns with their slower, heavier weapons rather than trying to fight me one on one.

I felt alive in a way I hadn't in a while, remembering the sword art that had taken me far in my past life.

A slow breath escaped me as my motions became more powerful and focused. They swept back and forth, driving the demons off me. When the opportunity presented itself, I forced one of them into a challenge of strength, one in which I happily overwhelmed them to drive the point of my blade home.

[Sword Proficiency S Upgrades to Sword Mastery E]

[Sword Mastery E -> Sword Master F]

Several notifications appeared in the corner of my eye. I didn’t take the time to dwell on them, but I was fairly sure what I would see. I knew the feeling of the system assisting me with my sword, putting more weight behind every patterned swing. It felt like an old friend was resting in my hands, rather than a foreign blade as I cut down two of them.

I was in my element to the extent that I tried to use an ability I did not yet have in this life. I expected a small arc of fire to grow from the tip of my blade as I swung, just short of my opponent.

Something pushed out as I overreached with one of my abilities.

Yet instead of fire, a razor-thin crimson wave rippled off of my Blood Blade and nearly cut the demon in half.

[Blood Bolt A Upgrades to Sanguine Slash E]

The brief moment caught us both unaware, and a second demon managed to slam his mace into my shoulder, breaking the bones and pulping my flesh.

I staggered back, bringing the Blood Blade up to defend myself with only one good arm. I was not at the right point to use my strength directly, but it would be in a moment.

Already in the corner of my eye, my flesh was knitting back together, slower than it did before the vault, but fast enough for everyone to see.

They started shouting in demonic at me. One of them turned and ran, while the remaining two threw everything they had at me, trying to keep me pinned down for a second longer.

Not that I’d let that happen, dancing back and using my own weapon to deter them from a killing blow.

The runner didn’t get far as fire, arrows, and wind tore the demon up before it could even get fifty feet away.

The second my shoulder was ready to fight again, I dropped my Blood Blade and grabbed both of their weapons with my bare hands. I was grinning as my muscles flexed, and I twisted, ripping both weapons from their hands, only to turn them against each other, smashing both of their legs in the process.

Blood splattered my face as I stomped on the first one to fall, his head caving in like a juicy watermelon.

The second tried to grab my leg and topple me over.

I used that leverage as I put both weapons aside and let myself fall, pulling my shoulder back and putting as much force into my elbow as I swung it back down, twisting my whole body in the process.

There was a cacophony of wet cracks. The demon let go of my leg just as quickly as he'd grabbed it.

Another Blood Blade, this one smaller than the rest, grew from the blood that had come from my shoulder. I buried the short sword into the demon's skull.

Both of them were bloodied from the fight, and I’d managed to finish them.

Breathing heavily, I wiped off my hands but had a smile on my face as I pushed up from the demons and looked back towards the ladies who had come with me.

Behind them, there was also a small army of gawkers, all with their phones out, snapping 20 pictures a second.

I waved at them. "Alright, ladies, I think it's best we get going. Don't want to put on too much of a show. You all are too beautiful, and people can’t stop taking pictures of you." I chuckled and wiped at my face only for my hand to come away covered in blood. "Besides, I don’t think I’m very photogenic at the moment."

Simone chuckled. "It depends what you're going for, Bram. If you're going for badass demon killer, I think you've got that covered." She closed her hands in what looked like a prayer and dipped her head as a golden glow encased me and patched up any remaining injuries.

Somehow, Simone's use of healing caused a bigger reaction in the crowd than my own accomplishments. People gasped, and several people began to shout in Danish.

Merlin understood exactly what I saw. "Better get going. Everyone seems to have something that needs healing."

I made a sudden noise of agreement. "Right, who cares about protecting themselves from demons if they can get rid of cancer?" I grunted and jerked my head. "Let's go, Simone."

"Are you jealous?" the saintess asked, sliding up to my side as we moved towards the crowd who happily parted around me. When I didn’t answer, Simone clicked her tongue beside me. "It's a shame I don't have the rest of the Mul Branova with me right now. This would be a perfect recruitment opportunity."

"Really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Recruitment is key, Bran," she said. "In all of this chaos, by increasing the Mul Branova, we can hit critical mass to the point where worshipping Bran becomes the new religion. Have you checked your character page?"

I frowned but brought it up, not only to see what she was suggestingt but also to see the changes in my skills.

[Name: Bran Heros

Level: 121

Class: Blood Hegemon S

Status: Healthy

Strength: 4202

Agility: 3513

Vitality: 6548

Intelligence: 2373

Spirit: 13039

Skills:

Soul Gaze SSS

Soul Resilience S

Blunt Weapon Proficiency C

Endurance A

Throwing Proficiency E

Blood Boil A

Blood Siphon A

Sanguine Slash E

Bloodline Collection 110

Regeneration A

Axe Proficiency D

Charge B

Bloodink Quality S

Stealth D

Inscription B

Swim D (Bracer)

Last Stand E

Blood Hex A

Blood Transfusion A

Blood Blade A

Crimson Barrier A

Sword Mastery D

Worshiped D

Sanguine Locking A

Drop B (Sword)

Soul Absorption Arts E

Bloodline Manipulation S

Powers of Blood B

Training F

Primordial Titan Bloodline M

Bloodrage Ascension D

Primordial Confluence Titan Physique F]

"So," Simone asked with a smirk, "has there been a change?"

I spoke slowly. "It seems the Mul Branova is making quick work. What exactly do you have them doing?"

"They should be." She puffed out her cheeks. "After all, there are like eight new branches cropping up today."

She’d organized eight different recruitment stations?! Where and when? Simone was often in the back healing and supporting, but I hadn’t realized just how much the Mul Branova had grown.

I looked back at her incredulously only for her to lift her chin, challenging me to grumble about it.

“Think of the number of devotees we’ll make. They’re going to do a lot better at surviving this mess,” she said and began to win me over.

"In some ways, I can't believe anyone mistakes you for an 18-year-old," Merlin spoke, breaking our stare off. "You're clearly an old man."

Those words caused a bout of laughter from the ladies and for me to just let out a heavy sigh.

"Yeah, yeah, all of you have plenty of fun with this," I said, smiling as I went through my menu for a few more details. Blood Bolt was gone. Instead, it had been replaced by a new ability: Sanguine Slash.

[Sanguine Slash - Blood flicked off a limb or weapon can become a powerful crescent that will cut forward.]

I grinned. "Ember Cut," I said with a slight grumble, remembering my skill from my past life. Everything I did this time around was blood-themed, and I just had to get used to it. Not to mention, the system had finally acknowledged my sword skills, which was another step forward.

It had been a while since I'd seen improvement. But now that the barrier around Earth was gone, the system was going to give everyone rewards even faster. I remember in my past life, more than a few people who had become initiated prior to the Demon Wars had commented on the difference in leveling and skill gain before and after.

Finally, powerful initiates like Circe and Merlin had been able to progress. It was like the system was in some sort of catch-up mode for the time being, and we would make every use of that that we could take.

A group gathered in a coffee shop that we passed caused my head to turn, only to see the giant instance portal hovering in the back and a bunch of patrons staring at it with confusion.

One man was unfortunate enough to poke it as a test, only for his finger to get stuck, and the instance portal slowly drew him in.

I glanced at it. I raised an eyebrow at everyone with me. "Anyone interested in that?"

Simone shook her head, her phone out as she began texting someone. She paused, looking up. She spotted the name of the store and then dipped back down, texting once again.

"No, but the Mul Branova could certainly use it," she said distractedly. "I think at level 53 it is going to need Sandra to lead the charge, but she might be able to carry a few of our new recruits through there. It would be good leveling. Not to mention, a C rank is a great place to level up some skills if they can pin a monster down and let the new recruits have at it."

I chuckled, watching her. "Look at you. You haven't even been initiated that long, and you already know how to build new recruits."

She glanced up from her phone, an eyebrow slowly raising on her forehead. "Really, Bran? For everything you put us through, you think we aren't going to take the opportunity and torture as many newbies as we can with it?"

I laughed. "I wouldn't call what you went through torture. It was fairly tame. Building your resistances is important. Also, it was Thorin who threw Gloria off the cliff."

Gloria snorted. "Why don't we let Circe and Merlin decide? He made Simone heal me while B-rank monsters wailed on my back."

I held my hands in the air. "You have Tough Skin! It's a really good defensive ability, but only if you rank it up."

Now both ladies were gesturing at me, looking for backup from the older two, but I held firm that I had been rather tame in my approach. These were all basic things. It was far more dangerous to try and upgrade abilities or push them into SS rank.

Chapter 9

T he five of us stood in front of the latest portal. There had been three that we’d found personally and another dozen or so that the Mul Branova had discovered. This meant that they had the pick of the slightly higher-level instances, given that the rest of Copenhagen was still just starting out.

I continued to stare at it for a moment longer. "Well, shit," I said. "This has to be the one that caused the issues in my past life. However, it's a little more than I expected."

[The Nest of the End Level 100 SS 16/8]

I watched the swirling portal in the brewery that was currently closed for construction. "SS Level 100. That means the monsters in there are going to be even more dangerous than expected. Taking control of the hell gate will mean nothing if this one breaches. The monsters will have 25k total stats—about as strong as Circe. We have to clear this portal.” And that was going to be a massive headache. ‘Nest’ was giving me a bad feeling, not to mention this instance was already at risk of overflowing.

"If you want to go in there and do Bran things"—Gloria gestured vaguely at the portal—"I think it might be best for Nyx and me to help the new Mul Branova ladies with something more our speed."

I grunted an acknowledgment of her statement but was unwilling to give her a firm answer. Her words made quite a bit of sense.

Simone frowned. "She didn't include me in that."

"No, I didn't. They could probably use a healer even if you're underleveled for all of this." Her words made Simone huff before glancing at me for a final decision.

"I'd like to get you all in here. It will give you a chance to rank up your skills. High-ranked instances are rare even with an event like this that floods us with them." I raised an eyebrow at the two before turning back to the portal. "It's a fantastic opportunity. And I'd hate to deny either of you the chance."

"They're going to have to hang back," Merlin said. "But if we're going to do this, I'd really like to understand all of your skills completely." Her words had my full attention as I turned to her.

"You want to see my skill page?" I questioned. That was a very personal request. Knowing a person’s full skills could be the difference in winning or losing a fight.

Merlin shrugged. "Honestly, Bran, I'm your worst enemy when it comes to a fight anyways. I focus on ice magic to control my opponent, which you are particularly helpless against."

I huffed much like Simone often did. "I think you would find it much more difficult than you think to try and use control tactics to keep me from caving your skull in should a fight ever come to it." I glared back at Merlin, always one to rise to a challenge.

She held her hands out as if in surrender. "Let's hope it never does. What I mean to say is that we will both be sharing our skill menus with each other." She glanced at Circe. "I think getting her to share with me might actually be the hardest part."

"Oh, will it be?" Circe asked, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "I'd be happy to share a redacted list with you."

"One conveniently missing the skills you would use in an emergency." Merlin rolled her eyes. "Those are exactly the things that we all need to know."

Circe fidgeted for a moment before glancing at me and tossing her blue hair over her shoulder. There was a long pause before she released it with a sigh. "Fine.”

I frowned, unsure what looking at me would do that would change her mind. “We all share our skills,” I reiterated.

“And this information goes nowhere," Circe emphasized, glancing over at my three women.

"You don't need to worry about us," Gloria said. "If you ever piss one of us off enough that we'd go after you, I'm sure his sword will already be on your throat." The purple-haired mobster hooked a thumb at me. Her hair had been a trendy purple-silver, but it had darkened while keeping a metallic sheen to it after awakening her bloodline.

Circe and Merlin both gave her a very appraising expression. "Fair enough," Merlin agreed a little too quickly. And again, Gloria wasn't wrong. If they hurt any of the people I had committed my life to, they would definitely find themselves on the wrong end of my sword.

"I'll go first to break the tension"—Simone clapped her hands together with a giant grin—"and we'll all be going. Don't worry, Gloria. The Mul Branova is more than ready to spread the word of Bran's glory with or without us. There are a number of ladies in the city who can help the newbies get a leg up on the city, and we can monopolize the resources." She tapped in the air before a flick of her wrist, her skill page popping up in front of us all.

[Simone Sweet

Level: 124

Class: Lilim Saint SSS

Status: Overjoyed, Aroused, Devout, Mischievous, Disguised.

Strength: 621

Agility: 821

Vitality: 1834

Intelligence: 1491

Spirit: 4641

Skills:

Soul Absorption Art F

Lilith’s Gaze C

Radiant Insight C

Disguise SS

Blessing of Lilim A

Lilim’s Whisper A

Saint’s Mercy A

Bastion of Athena A

Sanctified Bonds A

Veil of Netherlight B

Wracking Pain D

Soothing Kiss C

Heartbreaker A

Blushing Phoenix Bloodline SS (Awakened)(Claimed)

Sonic Cry D

Saintess of Faith A (Mul Branova)

Martyrs Blood D

Lilim’s Will F

Sphere of Peace E

Guardian of Lust C]

The Saintess of Faith was an odd one that seriously empowered her spirit. Somehow, while I got the Worshipped skill from the Mul Branova, she had gotten that one.

I reassessed her skill page, even though with Soul Gaze I'd already been able to see hers without any issue. Technically, I could see all their skill pages. The only problem was Merlin and Circe's were ungodly large. They’d had serious skill bloat.

"I'll go next." Nyx flicked hers over as did Gloria. Both of them were comfortable sharing their sensitive information. Their eagerness seemed to affect the other two. Circe and Merlin shared their skills as well, and then everyone's gaze turned to me before I had a chance to look them all over.

I hesitated. There was an almost visceral reaction to sharing my skill page that I had to fight down as I tapped at the system menu and shared it with all of them.

Immediately, my screen garnered everyone's attention, and Merlin latched on to my first and incredibly powerful ability. “Soul Gaze,” she muttered, flicking to read more.

Circe let out a soft whistle, no doubt reading the ability's detail. "Fuck me. Bran already knew all of our abilities, didn't he?" Circe muttered.

"No wonder he seems to know what everyone can do. For an analytical ability, I’ve never seen something close to this level," Merlin agreed.

"Bran, you're going to have to share the skill pathway to get there, I hope you know that." Circe looked up from staring at the system.

I rubbed my nose and didn't meet either of their gazes. "I'm sure one of these days I could write up some of what I learned.”

“Like the poison monk thing," Simone spilled.

"Poison monk?" Circe asked with a raised eyebrow.

I was fine sharing this one. As it was more of an example. “What Simone means is this monk had discovered a way to increase resistances to absurd levels. It went past immunity to the point that poisons actually healed him.”

That concept caught the attention of both mages. The idea of being so resistant to an element that it could be used to heal was incredibly interesting to the two casters.

I waved a hand to stop further questions. "We'll talk about it in the instance," I said. I scanned through their lists more fully, picking out what was certainly one of Circe's secret weapons: Elemental Form. "Well done, Elemental Form. That’ll be nice if anything surprises you and gets in close.”

The archmage clicked her tongue as her red eyes flashed dangerously. "It's a wonderful ability to escape; however, I don't know how useful it will be in this situation. I assume Bran will be upfront, with Merlin and I taking up the back." She didn’t even mention what the other ladies would be doing.

I nodded along with both of them, reading through their abilities. I was marginally impressed, given their high levels and their classes. I had expected many of them, but there were a few surprises.

"Well, at least Bran's Last Stand is out in the open. It has a long cooldown, but if these are too difficult, we can absolutely use that to at least chip away at the place." Merlin and Circe were still reading through everyone's abilities and each other's.

“Simone’s Guardian of Lust will keep anyone alive if they are mortally wounded. Hopefully long enough for us to correct the situation,” Circe added.

"Let's get in the instance and see what we're dealing with," I said, eager to move on. I stepped into the portal, not bothering with either of their analysis of all the abilities. Instances were always jarring with how they made an overlay of the area they spawned in but with a new monstrous element. I popped out into the same brewery as if I'd only moved a few feet forward. But there were some clear differences.

Before the brewery had been under construction, but it was relatively whole. Now the building was now filled with a honeycomb of tunnels big enough for a large dog to walk through. I stared at those, a scowl deepening on my face.

"Shit," I cursed, quickly moving out of the building, even as all the ladies followed me.

"What's wrong, Bran?" Simone asked in a rush, moving alongside me. She was sensitive to my concern and glued herself to me.

I rushed outside, my head turning back and forth, looking for what would confirm my suspicion.

"That," I said, pointing off in the distance. There was a large structure that hadn't been in Copenhagen. It dominated the skyline within the instance.

"What are we looking at, Bran?" Circe asked, glancing away from the menus in front of her.

"Hives. Or, when we actually see one to inspect, they'll be called hivnara. But everyone just calls them hives." I gestured at the structure. Even at a distance, small dots flying in and out could be spotted. "No wonder this thing caused issues for the demons. They're a famous monster type. Often considered one of the worst.”

Rylee had never mentioned it was hivnara, but then again she hadn’t really stuck around to figure out more than the demons had rushed to flee or help.

“There are types?" Merlin asked.

"Yes. Throughout all the instances we encounter, and even those that go beyond our world, the monsters in instances repeat themselves after a certain point. And being considered the worst of that is no easy feat. Hives are terrible," I grumbled.

"They're insects of some sort?" Gloria asked, shielding her eyes to gaze at the structure in the distance.

"Yeah, but imagine you took an ant colony and you magically made them bigger than a wolf, some might even get as big as a horse. At the same time, you didn't dumb down any of their natural advantages." I grimaced. "Their strength is through the roof. They also have super high physical defenses. You might be using your fire a little more than I expected."

"You have two other powerful mages in the group," Circe emphasized, clearing her throat.

"Wind will be good, but fire is particularly effective, especially if we can get Gloria's skills ranked up to the point where she can actually cook them through their exoskeletons. But these monsters will come in a ton of varieties. Some are going to have wings, and some are going to be absolute juggernauts, while others are smaller and faster, without sacrificing an inch of their stupidly high strength. Almost all of them are going to have some sort of venom. Even if it's mild by their standards at their level in rank, the poison hurts like a bitch. And then there’s the worst part of hives." I gestured to the structure in the distance. "The final boss is going to be in there. It's going to be a queen. And the second this instance became active, she's been pumping out monsters as fast as she can," I said, my hand hanging in front of me.

"Wait, she makes more of them?" Merlin was the first to realize the situation we had just entered.

"Yup. The usual strategy would be to try to rush through.” I cleared my throat. "However, we're not going to do that. I've dealt with hives on three other occasions. The good news is, even the monsters she'll produce will give us experience, loot, and other goodies. We're here to become stronger, not to finish the instance as quickly as possible." I slowly moved my gaze across the group. "And don't worry, we won't be in here for a year and a half or some other nonsense."

I glanced at how far away the hive was, starting to formulate my plan. “We'll probably be in this instance for a week or two. This is going to be a pain, but it is still a great training ground."

Nyx’s serpents stood up straight and froze, and one turned to something above us. “Guys…” she said in an urgent whisper.

A Blood Blade slowly crept down out of my hand before I turned, jumping and slashing at the same time.

An ant-like creature had dropped from the ceiling, trying to ambush our group. It was a dark purple monster with a small drip of venom coming from a pair of wicked pincers.

I bodily checked it out of the way, slamming the A Rank Blood Blade against it with enough force to shatter the weapon into red shards that rained over everything. I grimaced as another blade was already forming. "Don't wait. It's time to grind."

Chapter 10

I checked it with Soul Gaze as it rolled back to its feet.

[Hivnara Scout SS

Level: 91

Status: Healthy

Strength: 8062

Agility: 3190

Vitality: 4988

Intelligence: 2112

Spirit: 4398

Skills:

Sense S

Dig SS

Carapace SS

Burning Venom S

Powerful Jaws SS

Bite SS]

The hivnara scout lunged at me with its two large pincers.

I grabbed onto both, feeling small pricks break through my skin. A burning sensation spread from the incisions as the creature's venom began to rush through my veins.

Gloria needed no prompting to assist me. Purple fire washed over me not touching a strand of hair before slamming into the hive.

However, the purple flames rolled over the creature, doing little else than polishing its carapace while it flexed its pincers, and my hands bled, saved only by my own natural defenses.

She cut off her flames a second later, only for Circe to lift a finger. A giant cylinder of wind appeared above the monster. I knew this ability well and was prepared. Circe swiped her finger down, and the Air Hammer smashed into the monster, knocking it to the floor and causing its six legs to sprawl out.

That SS Rank Carapace wasn’t going to break so easily. Wind magic was essentially physical damage. The reason that fire was best was that you could still cook them with that hard carapace in place.

I let go of its pincers and moved, clenching my fists to check them. My hands were red and swollen, but they were still in working order.

Thankfully, this had only been a scout.

I called on Blood Blade to make the biggest sword I could. I drew the massive claymore behind my shoulder and slammed it down on the hivnara's head to little effect.

"Holy crap, these things are tough," Nyx said. Her arrow avoided the harder parts and lodged itself in the hivnara's compound eye.

It thrashed, trying to get back on its feet, only for Merlin to finish summoning three golems of ice. They immediately mobbed the creature, using their bulk to pin it down as their fists reared back and began smashing into it repeatedly.

Simone came up beside me, grabbing my arm and kissing my hand. Her ability, Soothing Kiss, immediately eased the burning pain.

"Thanks," I said, grabbing the large Blood Blade again. I lifted it high over my head and smashed it down, only to lose the sword again. Blood was continuously running down both of my arms as I made more Blood Blades.

Gloria was throwing all manner of abilities into the fight. Small chasms of purple flames erupted from underneath, and a massive purple beast came from the ceiling, clawing at the hivnara.

Meanwhile, Circe was like a smith at the forge. Her air hammer kept coming down, crushing the hivnara and occasionally some of Merlin's golems.

I could see that eliminating this monster was going to take a minute, so I knelt where the hivnara was still scrambling but unable to get up. Grabbing onto one of its pincers, I got another handful of its venom. I gritted my teeth through the pain, determined to fight through and build up more resistance.

If we wanted to finish this instance, we needed to rank up our skills. And I saw the opportunity in front of me. It was incredibly rare to have an SS-rank monster pinned down on the ground like this scout.

"Simone, why don't you do me a favor and heal it?" I pointed at the monster.

Only for Circe to look at me as if I'd grown a second head. Her hammer of air paused over the monster before she looked like she was deciding if she should instead smash me with it.

"It's not every day you get an SS to pound away at," I said, making another Blood Blade. "If I can rank this up to SS, then this sword will finally start cutting through their stupid natural armor." I tapped the blade against the armor, and there was a small ring as the purple-colored ant squirmed and snapped at my ankles.

"He has a point," Merlin said.

Merlin had stopped casting another three golems, joining the first and keeping the monster down.

Unfortunately, it got one of the golem legs, and we got a glimpse of how powerful the jaws could be when they snapped together at full force. The ice golem's legs were crushed, pulling it down to the ground where a second snap crushed its torso and head.

"Let's not forget it's still dangerous," Circe said as she began pounding away at it again.

"It's manageable," I replied, making another Blood Blade and going to work on the hivnara’s legs. I stabbed smaller swords into the joints, ensuring it would have as much difficulty as possible getting up from the floor. Without its legs underneath it, it wasn't able to exert its monstrous strength, and we needed to keep it that way.

Using Soul Gaze, I checked out the monster’s skills for more details. I let out a slow whistle as I went about my work. "Yeah, plenty of abilities we can work on." I pricked my hand once again and allowed the venom back into my body.

Given the way that my elemental resistances were now combined under my titan physique, I could use this creature’s poison to level one of my most powerful abilities.

My bloodline was fairly fixed, but the passive durability and strength granted from my primordial confluence titan physique would serve me in just about every way imaginable. The only slight flaw was that modern-day transport was going to be difficult. However, most transportation was about to become irrelevant, so I was not losing much.

Despite Circe's objection, Simone listened to me immediately and began healing the hivnara.

Between using her own abilities and trying to rank them up, Nyx let out a little whoop as her serpent hair danced next to the hivnara, all of the serpents essentially chewing on one of its extended legs. "This will level-up quickly," she said with a smug grin.

"Up to A rank," Circe reminded her. "After that, it gets a tad more difficult. Which is why we perhaps shouldn't mess around, Bran."

"What skill are you trying to improve?" I asked her.

"This air hammer," she told me.

I didn't look away from my repeated task of stabbing and poisoning myself.

Circe raised the cylinder of air. "It's S, and I can't figure out how to raise it to SS."

"Well, you have two options, Circe. You can either evolve the skill into something different, or you can get it to SS," I said.

The Arch Sorceress pondered for a moment. "What are my upgrades?"

"Wind Forge. Or at least, that's what I've heard it called. There was a guy who crafted with it in my last life. You can essentially make an anvil or seal something in an anvil of wind, only to bring your wind hammer down. It's a control and damage skill in one. Most would see it as a solid upgrade; however, it is a smidge slower," I explained, pinching my fingers together.

"Alright, if I were to upgrade it as you phrased it, what do I need to do?" she asked me.

"You need to start crafting with the ability. As for reaching SS, Wind Hammer has a pretty straightforward technique. You just need to crush powerful things. If you crush enough, it will rank up." I gestured at the hivnara currently pinned. "With an SS-Ranked monster, you'll get what you need.”

“Then stop healing it." She glared at Simone, only to start casting as fast as she could, smashing the wind hammer down one after the other. Simone paused but glanced at me.

"Go ahead. She might be right. There are plenty more where this came from," I offered. I stopped tinkering with my Blood Blade ability, trying to see if there was anything I could feel as I made different shapes of weapons or used them in different ways.

So far, none of them gave me the sense of progress that might cement the idea that I could upgrade the ability.

After a minute more of pounding, the hivnara was successfully killed, its body melting into the ground as a small pile of loot formed underneath it. Well, a small pile of system gold, with a little disc of chitin, one a little bigger than my hand.

"However small it might be, it was still of great value. SS Rank Material," Circe muttered as she watched me pocket it in my spatial ring. "Now, I don't know if you get to take all of them, Bran." She watched me carefully.

"Of course not." I scowled at her. "However, I'm not wasting time splitting up loot for a scout. When we're all done, we can divide things up far more evenly than we can as we go. This ring will only be for this instance.” I flashed her a low-rank ring that I’d use. “I mean, unless you want to keep a running log of what everyone's gotten so far in this instance," I challenged her.

"Fair point," she said after a moment, changing her tune.

"I think it would be wise if we understood a little more about these hivnara," Merlin said, stepping back and not unsummoning her golems. Her eyes raked over the ceiling and the various barrel-sized holes that covered the walls around us.

"Well, as you can see"—I gestured at the downed hivnara—"they're sturdy as fuck. And unless Circe can upgrade or rank up her abilities to SS, it's going to be pretty hard to crack these shells. I have a sword mastery technique that I'm working on. However, in order to rank that one up, I'm most likely going to need some more lively targets. Perhaps if I can get my Blood Blade to SS rank, then I can really start doing some serious damage."

I glanced through the system menus, using Soul Gaze on everyone, quickly scanning for abilities that would be helpful. Many of us might have had one or two S Rank abilities, but SS were incredibly rare. My S Rank Blood Blade would be even more useful matched with an S Rank Sword Mastery. Now that I had my Sword Proficiency upgraded to Mastery, I just needed to get it up to the A or S Ranks to really be able to cut into the hives. Two S Rank abilities working in tandem should be able to break through a single SS Defensive.

"As for the hivnara," I said, turning back to Merlin and her question, "we aren't going to get too many options to fight them one-on-one. Consider this a warm-up." I gestured at the downed creature.

"Comforting," Merlin said, glancing over at her golems. "How are their sensory abilities?"

She kept her head on a swivel, looking for any monsters cropping up from the gaping holes.

"Surprisingly poor. That's at least one benefit. You’ll notice that at the moment nothing is coming running at us. They do, however, have a very strong sense of smell, so we'll have to be careful."

Chapter 11

"F or now, Merlin, let's have your golems walk in front," I suggested. "I'll stick with you guys, just in case anything else pops up again."

Circe glanced up at the hole that the hivnara had entered through. "So many people forget to look up," she said, craning her neck before returning her gaze to the rest of us. "Is that a weakness for the hivnara, too? With my control of the wind, we could get up high. If that's safer."

"They can climb just as well as any ant, Circe," I replied. "And I don't think you want to start throwing around your Air Hammer while we're on top of a building full of holes. Come on. Merlin, you lead." I gestured for her to continue with the golems.

Merlin glanced at the group before shrugging. The six golems made of ice, trundled forward, their feet thudding with each step, a faint cracking of ice echoing inside the building as they walked.

We didn't encounter another hivnara on the way out. However, once we made it to the front door, the ladies had their first look at what we'd be encountering.

The city was ruined. Everything was filled with holes like Swiss cheese. And there were clearly hivnara going in and out of many of them.

Monsters in an instance always acted a little bit off. The way these ones moved around, it was sort of like a working ant colony. They weren't actually accomplishing a whole lot, except making a ton of patrols that were difficult to dodge.

"That one." I pointed at a larger specimen nearby, and one of the golems broke off from Merlin's pack, getting close enough to get its attention.

The warrior hivnara glanced up from its patrol, spotting Merlin. It chittered as its antenna waggled in what I could only assume was some sort of a territorial display.

A moment later, it reared up as the golem came close, snapping forward with surprising speed. This hivnara’s pincers were larger than the scouts, which matched its larger body. It crushed the golem quite easily before picking up the 8-foot-tall humanoid of ice and tossing it fifty feet into the air. The warrior then spread its pincers out wide before snapping them closed, and two arcing beams of light ripped off the side of its mandibles and shattered the ice golem into thousands of little icy flecks that floated in the wind.

"Oh great. It has a ranged ability," Nyx said, sarcasm dripping.

"I know, isn't that great, Nyx? That one is about to be your opponent," I informed her.

"Me?" she asked incredulously, pointing at herself. All of her hair serpents turned to look at her and then back out at me.

"Yes, you. I want you to pick a fight with that one. Dodge it as much as you can while firing arrows. Merlin, if you'll do me a favor and watch her closely, I'm going to take Circe and Simone. We're going to see if we can't smash through as many of the weaker ones as possible."

"What about me?" Gloria asked.

"I don't know. How about you jump off 85-foot cliffs to train? I hear you had fun with that last time." A giant grin spread across my face.

The mob princess gave me a well-deserved eye roll. "I'll help Nyx," she said after a moment. "You said these things hate fire. I've been struggling with my fire mastery. Any tips?"

"Yeah, mastery is not about using it. It's about controlling it. So if you want to level your fire mastery, what you need to do is expand and contract your abilities. Change their shape or simply play with them while you use the fire."

Leaving the other group to their own training, I moved off with all due haste.

"So, what are we doing?" Circe asked, keeping up.

"Your job is to keep me from dying. Well, Simone's job, too." I started making one Blood Blade after the other, feeling my regeneration kick in as it fought to keep me conscious while I continued to lose blood.

"Wait, keep you alive?" Circe paused, mid-step.

"Yeah, fighting two of these at once is gonna be at least a little dangerous for me." I grinned back at her. "But don't worry, if they almost kill me, then my Last Stand will kick in, and we'll settle things up."

Swinging a Blood Blade back and forth, two red arcs shot out and cut into a building where I had just spotted movement. Two of the scout hivnara crawled their way out, and I looked around to make sure there wasn't a surprise third.

"You're insane," Circe spat.

"No, Circe, this is how you step above all of the A and S rank abilities and actually get to the point where you can fight on the level of someone like Shiva," I answered.

My words seemed to galvanize her as her brows pressed down, and wind danced at her fingertips. Amongst the five clans, Shiva was like a legend standing above the rest. "Fine, go ahead and show me your training." Circe spoke the last word with a hint of venom.

The two hivnara came for me. They were both scouts—unlike the warrior that I had the other group fighting. I stabbed a dozen Blood Blades into the ground around me, leaving just one in my hand as I stepped towards the monster to engage.

I parried the first as it charged using my Blood Blade, and then I stabbed the second. I fell into a rhythm of parrying and stabbing that kept them both from going at me at the same time.

Every hit was like striking a steel door. Regeneration kicked in to help my hands regain their feeling as I spun around and slid out of the way of the second hivnara that had gotten a little too close for comfort.

Its pincer scraped along my ribs as I narrowly escaped. The moment I got free, I turned and ran back at it like a madman, swinging my sword in wide, sweeping arcs as I tried to get its eyes.

The hivnara backpedaled, closing its pincers and swinging them like a blunt weapon. We traded a few blows like that before on the third, my Blood Blade shattered, and without even flinching, another formed out of my wrist.

I stabbed two more into the ground as I continued dancing with this one.

Only for the first to come charging in from the side, its head low as it tried to snap the pincers up and gore me like a boar.

I stepped into the assault, using its strength to lift me up as I stepped on the flat of its pincer, and it tossed me into the air. I quickly flipped and landed on my feet with a heavy thud.

"And what am I doing again?" Circe scowled.

"Try and control them with your wind. Wind is an odd magic element, Circe. It's really just physical mass and pressure that you build up and swing around like a blunt weapon, or perhaps you sharpen it into a blade. However, as with so many things, control is critical. And it's harder than the other elements because you can't exactly see what you're doing. There's not as much visual feedback," I instructed her.

Circe wasn't an idiot, and she had a lot of knowledge to use. Quickly taking in my words, winds began to swirl around me. If she wanted to improve from the plateau that she’d likely been at for so long, she needed to become more flexible with her abilities and use them in ways that she hadn’t before.

Too often, those who had gotten to a certain level of strength and age fell into reliable patterns rather than continuing to flex and adapt their abilities. Sure she’d likely raised her stats considerably over the years, but if I had to bet, she hadn’t improved the ranks of her skills in a long time.

I went back to grappling with the two hivnara as they came from either side. Putting my sword in front of me, I stared down the red blade at the two wolf-sized purple ants charging me.

Though I disagreed with my mother on the quality of my sword technique, she was at least partially right. It wasn't good enough at present. Like Circe, I too had grown complacent and needed to remind myself at times to push into the uncomfortable fights and temper myself.

Stepping into the two hivnara, I let my blade be my focus. Everything else bled away, and my entire being was centered on the crimson sword, forcing me to rely on my sword technique against two more powerful opponents. My other abilities were discarded. If I wanted to rank up my abilities to defeat their SS defensive ability, then I needed to rely on just them.

Much of my training beyond the basics had come from being forced into a fight that I could not win at my current strength and ability. Of course, regeneration helped me get that practice without dying, which was perhaps why I found regeneration to be one of the best abilities.

It kept me alive long enough to grow to defeat the stronger and stronger opponents.

Blood pooled out of my wrists one after the other as I stabbed swords into the ground and made a field of swords. Every time one shattered, another was within reach.

The hivenara mowed over the swords on several occasions, destroying them before I got a chance to pick them up. Not that it mattered. I was searching for an upgrade for Blood Blade in all this, too.

On the next attack, one of the hivnara pincers got a touch too close, scraping against my skin as I tried to roll away, and giving it enough traction that it slammed them closed and punched a hole in my ribs.

I gagged, tasting the all-too-familiar tang of blood in my mouth, but that taste only encouraged me as I roared with the pain. Simone was working to keep me alive while I shattered Blood Blades one after the next. And steadily, I felt my sword mastery rank up.

Two notifications went by, and my sword stopped feeling so blunt against the hivnara. With each hit, I was beginning to leave deep gouges on their armor. I flowed from technique to technique, injuries piling up on the two scouts as another blade shattered and then another, only for another to replace it.

I managed to knock one of them back. Seeing the killing blow, my instincts took over, and I charged forward, pinning its pincer with a stomp only to drive my sword into its compound eye. The blade punched through far more easily than it had before, and using the weak spot, I buried it in the monster's skull.

It collapsed to the ground, melting away.

A grating sound made me spin. The second was dragging its pincers along the ground, telegraphing the charge before it came.

I was ready, and I rushed in, dropping my shoulder and meeting the charge head-on. The hivnara might be ridiculously strong, but it was still smaller than me, and before it could snap those pincers closed, I had grabbed one with my free hand and stepped back at the last second, feeling its venom pump into me. I spun, using its own momentum against it, lifting it up into the air and slamming it down on its back.

I fell on it with my sword, punching deep but not deep enough. I tried to add more blood to that Blood Blade, pushing it and reinforcing it as I threw my weight on it several more times, finally getting it to break through the joint of the hivnara and into its body.

I flicked my wrist, and even though my sword didn't move, a small crimson slash erupted from my Blood Blade inside the monster. A grin split my face as I threw my wrist back and forth, slicing it up from the inside out as it squirmed and screamed, dying on the tip of that Blood Blade.

Only once its body melted into the ground did I relax. I leaned back, panting, to see how everyone else was doing.

Sometime during everything that had just happened, Circe apparently had paused to recover her mana and was watching me with a dumbfounded expression.

"You were struggling against the first one. How long ago was that? A few hours?" She squinted. "And now you're just handily killing them."

"It's unfair, I know," Simone said, reaching over to pat Circe’s knee. She was sitting next to the leader of the Odyssey Branch, but I could still feel her healing magic soothing me. Even while she was engaged in conversation, she hadn't stopped casting.

"It's been that long?" I asked with a scowl.

"That long," Simone confirmed.

Circe threw her hands in the air. "You may have knowledge about the future, Bran, but you are a freak of nature. No one improves this quickly."

I rolled my shoulder, feeling a strain that was slowly healing. "It's a skill set you learn through hardship, Circe. It takes survival instinct to really learn to push everything aside and focus solely on combat. And to push yourself to your limits before they become your downfall. If you'd like, I can work with you and see if we can't get you there." I grinned, watching her face pale.

"Simone's been able to tell me a little bit about your… training," she said, though the way she said it, I didn't think 'training' was the word she wanted to use.

"It's absolutely brutal," Simone chirped. "But thankfully, I'm a healer. I've seen what he does to people like Gloria and Nyx. They're a mage and archer. I can't imagine what he'd do to someone who fought in the middle of the melee like him."

"You might never figure that out," Circe said. "It really seems like you only need one with Bran, especially now that he's gotten the bloodlines and abilities that he does. He's exactly the type of juggernaut that you just throw in the middle of a battle to turn the tide and win."

I shrugged at the compliment, checking my system and confirming several skills had improved as a way to avoid acknowledging it.

[Sword Mastery A]

[Sanguine Slash D]

I swung my most recent Blood Blade over my shoulder to rest there. "Well, if you two are done, how about we continue on?"

Chapter 12

"A nd what are the chances that that's going to kill me?" Merlin asked, staring at the amber liquid as I placed it in front of her.

"With Simone here, I'd say pretty low but not zero," I replied, inching the glass closer to her. We'd obtained a few venom sacs from a type of hive creature called a spitter, aptly named for its ability to spit venom from between its many hiding holes. It had been a considerable challenge to bring down.

Nyx had brought Merlin over, and I'd learned that Merlin had managed to rank up a creeping frost ability to SS. If she could hold a monster down, the ice crystals could slowly work their way between the joints and any other vulnerable points on the hivnara, killing them after about thirty seconds of sustained exposure. Thirty seconds was an eternity on the battlefield, but in an extermination scenario, it was feasible if we paired her up with Nyx and Circe.

Nyx was getting incredible use out of her petrifying gaze and a newer ability called Entangle that stretched her hair serpents out 20 feet as they tried to wrap and constrict a target.

Between that ability and Circe continuing to work on her control, the two ladies were able to hold hivnara while Merlin quickly worked through them. I managed to fight one of the warriors one-on-one without even Simone's help.

Overall, for a first day clearing them out, we'd done pretty well. If I had to guess, we'd eliminated about fifty hivnara. However, we'd only managed to move about four blocks down the street, where we found a diner that was relatively unscathed and decided to use it to rest.

The place was a bit run down but certainly less breezy than most of the buildings.

"But why do I need poison immunity? It sounds like this monk you talked about just liked to get drunk." Merlin frowned at the liquid.

"Well, yeah," I admitted after a moment. "He was absolutely a complete drunk. And you don't need to get immunity. However, I recommend everyone get some poison resistance, regardless of how they fight. Poison's one of those substances that can be fairly versatile and also catch you completely unaware. Imagine monsters, demons, or humans that we will be fighting eventually, spraying a mist of paralytic poison to cover an area. It could force you to retreat to a worse position or fight under weakening conditions. Not to mention, people will try to poison each other with weapons or food as a first move in a betrayal far too often."

"You are far too cynical," Merlin said before she picked up the glass and took a strong sip.

I blinked at her. "Was that a compliment or an insult?" In the strangest way, I was confident it was the latter.

"A fact," she replied, wrinkling her cute nose. "I much prefer scotch to whiskey, if I'm honest. Americans never really learned to make decent liquor after they rebelled." A faint glow radiated from her as Simone used an ability that would heal her over the next minute.

I glanced at one of my spatial rings. "Oh, I think I have something better in here for your next drink," I said, hoping to encourage her to continue to train.

“One is enough for me.” Merlin coughed, visibly struggling with the poison in her system.

Simone chuckled nearby, where she was stirring a pot. "You're going to have to get used to it if you're going to travel with Bran. He doesn't stop training, not even at mealtimes. That's just another excuse to put poison in the food, to make us all stronger."

Gloria grumbled, only to catch my eye and quickly look away. "Not that I'm upset by it. You are kind of full steam forward all the time, though, Bran."

"It's just the way I'm built. Perhaps one day, in the very distant future, there will be enough peace for me to breathe easy. But truthfully, I don't expect that now or ever. Given everything I've learned about the world and the wider universe, it doesn't seem like a very calm place," I answered.

"You've mentioned people from other worlds before," Merlin prodded. "What are they like?"

I shrugged, somewhat unsure how to answer the question. "They're people. They just look a little funny. Talk a little funny. And they think we're all stupid."

Merlin chuckled. "Well, at least that's passingly familiar."

"Yes. They all do things differently. And in the same way, they can be absolutely terrible at something. Like technology. That we used to be so vaunted for. Yet, so strong at something else.”

Nyx looked up from her sewing project. "Like the sword style you learned from Thetis? He sounded like a madman."

"All the Oraks were like that. They're big glory hounds. They like to run around and find big battlefields. During the Second Demon War, Thetis taught me to fight,” I explained for Merlin. “He came in, fought a ton of demons, looted a lot of shit, and walked away with heaps of system gold and spatial rings full of weapons. But as soon as he had those, he headed off to whatever planet he had come from and hung them up as trophies, stashing the gold away."

"Why didn't they come back for the Third Demon War?" Merlin said slowly, checking with me to make sure she had followed what I’d mentioned in the past.

"Honestly, I don't know. I never had a chance to leave Earth. I don't know what was going on beyond it. I can make a few assumptions," I said, taking a sip of my own poisoned drink and feeling it burn in two very different ways, one of which caused my regeneration to kick in. "For the most part, it sounded like the demons were ramping up their activity in trying to take Earth. And I believe they may have been distracting those who helped us during the Second Demon War.”

I continued on. “It also sounds like there was a major conflict outside of what ostensibly was everyone else versus demons. I guess you could say their own war for supremacy was happening somewhere else on a wider scale. So, fighting amongst yourself is certainly not unique to humanity. In fact, I'd say from the stories he would tell me, we were fairly tame. Oraks are few in number because they used to line their territories with their enemies’ heads, mounted on their own weapons."

I glanced over into the corner as a particularly loud bang sounded.

Circe was working a very small version of an Air Hammer and trying to make something. What exactly she was making, I had no clue. Right now, it just looked like a deformed lump of metal. It was possibly a piece of scrap that she happened to have lying in her spatial ring.

"Something kept the Outworlders busy, or I'm sure my master would have been back for the Third Demon War. Humanity was sort of at its ropes then, but we had enough to put up a solid fight. And this time around, we'll do it even better." I raised a glass in front of all of them. "Let’s toast to a better future and a brighter tomorrow. Here, here!"

There were clinks all around.

Simone even ignored the pot of stew she was cooking for a second to join us. All of them were drinking a poisoned drink of choice, though Simone had apparently come prepared with margarita mix and tequila for hers. She was happily sharing with Nyx, leaving Gloria, Merlin, and me to do the harder stuff.

Amidst our respite, there was a scratching on the roof, and we all froze.

Even Circe stopped her experiment in the corner while we waited with bated breath to see if we were going to have a fight on our hands.

A few pieces of debris fell off the ceiling as the noise passed, one of the little pebbles landing in my whiskey glass and causing a ripple. The plunk of the pebble in the liquid caused us all to hold our breath, as did the hivnara on the rooftop.

The pause was long enough that Nyx audibly exhaled. "Is it gone?" she asked, only for the ceiling to explode inwards.

Three scouts dropped down, with a spitter staying up. "Nyx, Gloria, all of you on the spitter. I'll stall the scouts." I was on my feet in an instant, drawing out a Blood Blade and charging towards them, while they were still recovering from their drop.

I bulled through the first two, sending them sprawling, only to push back the third with a flurry of slashes. I aimed for the tips of its pincers, finding that once I chipped them off, the hivnara scouts were relatively easy.

Meanwhile, the rest of my companions had all jumped up through the ceiling for the spitter that liked to hit and run. The biggest risk was having it scamper away and find another pack while we were dealing with this one.

I’d sent the others up to deal with it first for that reason. Together, they could pin it down and finish it before it brought more into the fight.

The hivnara whose pincer I had managed to damage came at me like it was angry as hell, chittering up a storm, not giving up after losing its mandibles.

While the other two recovered and rounded on me, I backed up into them a touch too close.

One of them managed to get my hip, crushing it between those powerful pincers. The tearing was painful enough to make me gasp, impressing me in its own right.

I roared in frustration, spinning and grabbing the hivnara that had gotten me by its pincers and bringing it with me as I spun, using it to slam into its two fellows, only for a small Blood Blade to appear in my hand as I stabbed it in the eye, getting it to let go. I staggered back, a huge chunk missing from my side and bleeding dangerously.

My blood was its own weapon, and I got a fistful of it before splashing it on all three and activating Sanguine Locking as thorns made of my blood wrapped around the three hivnara, tangling up their limbs and slowing them considerably.

The ability thankfully worked against the spirit stat, which was particularly weak in these lower-ranked hivnara, yet they were all flexing their strength and trying to break the skill through brute force with their own. It was something they might be able to pull off—especially when I was trying to hold all three at once.

I summoned another Blood Blade, my first one having now gone missing somewhere between stabbing the first one in the eye and me getting a chunk taken out of me. I opted for the shorter blade, rushing the immobile hivnara and burying the dagger into their compound eyes.

The attack only appeared to enrage them further as one of them managed to break my Sanguine Locking and twist, snapping its pincers down onto my leg.

Chapter 13

H opping backwards on one leg, I extended the Blood Blade to use it as a crutch.

The wound began to seal over, and a small foot regenerated from the stump, stretching down and growing. I was very thankful to have my regeneration ranked up as I watched my body regrow.

Two of the hivnara were completely blind, buying me some time. Their compound eyes had been ruined by my short Blood Blades. The only one that still had an eye was the same one gnawing on my severed leg like a trophy. It seemed to realize after a moment that the threat I posed was still very much present.

"Yeah, that's right. You may have gotten my leg, but that was barely a flesh wound," I growled. Quickly painting an inscription on the Blood Blade in my hand, I realized I needed something sharper, denser than what I had been dealing with thus far.

I was sick and tired of dealing with the hivnara's high-ranking exoskeleton. I was going to make something that could punch through them. Half the problem with these scouts was simply that their natural defense was far too high.

The inscription finished, and my blood shimmered on the blade as three inscriptions burned to life. One worked particularly on iron or steel weapons; I hoped there was enough of that in the Blood Blades for the inscription to function. It would give the blade a harder, sharper edge. The next was to increase the weight. For me, the weight didn't matter, but swinging around something that was five pounds versus fifty pounds made a huge difference at the tip. Meanwhile, the third inscription was simply to make the core of the sword less brittle so it wouldn’t shatter.

There was a notification at the edge of my window, but I ignored whatever the message told me. The hivnara was done waiting for me to act and rushed forward to attack. It went straight for my other leg, which really pissed me off.

My sword moved quickly, slicing through the air and biting deep into the hivnara's head before its pincers could latch onto me. They brushed my skin, injecting a touch of venom, but closed no further as the hivnara collapsed at my feet.

I could only stare at it in slight disbelief before looking at the sword and wondering what had changed in my skill menu.

As much as I wanted to look, I did not have the opportunity. The other hivnara surged forward towards my sound, snapping its pincers erratically and tossing its head in my direction. It was blind, but that didn't mean it couldn't still hurt me.

I hobbled back on one leg, swinging up the sword and carving off the last quarter of its pincer, causing the monster to shriek and thrash even harder, only for me to jump high out of the way.

It spun about, trying to identify my precise location.

I leaned down, turning the tip of the blade on the hivnara and falling into it with all of my weight. The blade had been sharp enough for the last two moves, so it should hold up as I tried this attack.

The blade punched right through the hivnara's head, pinning it to the floor. As I hobbled backward, I was knocked over by the third that had blindly charged across the room in my direction.

I dropped my blade to catch the pincers before they bisected me at the waist. Even with regeneration, I knew I wouldn't survive that level of destruction to my body. Using what little leverage I could find, I managed to keep myself alive, at least for the moment. I was in a deadlock, stuck between a hivnara's pincers, which was not my ideal place to be.

Thankfully, I still had one good foot. I brought my foot up between the monster and me, getting the right leverage and then shoving upwards. I managed to dislodge it off of me, but in doing so, I ripped the spiny venom injectors along my palms and forearms, leaving behind plenty of my blood and flesh. I staggered back on one leg as I activated Blood Hex, increasing the hivnara's weight as it came rushing again.

The sudden change caused its head to dip down low enough that its pincers caught on the floor, and the whole monster came tumbling ass-over-head.

I made a new Blood Blade and thrust it between the segments of the chest and head. The blade went in far easier than I expected. I checked the blade only to see that it was inscribed, just like the one I had made a minute ago. Breathing heavily and feeling the loss of blood, I staggered over to a still-standing chair to lean on while I opened up my skill menu.

[Bloodiron Blade SS]

"Well, look at that," I said to myself. "Getting myself in danger really is the best way to level skills."

I took a deep breath as the three hivnara disappeared, leaving behind small piles of loot. I continued leaning against the chair, this time focusing on my regeneration and trying to push my new leg out as fast as possible.

Meanwhile, my severed one melted away, much like the monsters. It was a grim reminder that now that this system had blessed me with so much strength, I wasn't that much different from the monsters I killed.

I glanced at the new blade, trying to understand my new skill and how it would change the weapon. The system had upgraded this skill, as well as ranked it up to SS. Both rarely happened at the same time, but I had seen it a few times.

Some skills couldn't be low-ranked. Bloodiron Blade was something I had never seen before. Yet, I made another one, glancing down at it. There was a notable grey metallic sheen mixed in with the otherwise red blade, as well as three inscriptions etched upon the side. Somehow, when I had enchanted it, I had changed not just the blade but the skill.

But if the system wanted to give me the upgrade, I was more than happy to take it and use it. I was fairly sure Sissy, as I liked to call the system, had some sort of sentience, and she liked me.

The others came rushing back, dropping in from the hole like they were ready for a fight. They quickly spotted me, leaning against the chair, studying my blade.

"Did you kill all three yourself?" Gloria asked, the mob princess crossing her arms underneath her chest and looking me up and down. "Also, what happened to your pants?"

I smiled at her as Simone pointed at my leg. "If I had to guess, that one's freshly regenerated, isn't it, Bran?"

I shrugged. "A leg for three scouts on my own is not a bad trade. For now, let’s eat and rest. And we should probably keep at least two people on watch at a time."

Circe scowled at me. "You're not even concerned about it being dangerous to rest here?"

I turned to give her a funny look. "I hate to break it to you, but there isn’t a safe location for rest here. This spot is the same level of danger as any other. We just have to be smart about keeping watch. I’ll put some inscriptions up to help, but these hivnara are just going to keep wandering the place."

Circe looked around for support, only to find none among the rest of the ladies. Nyx was happily picking up loot. Meanwhile, Simone was going back and checking on the pot she had been stirring before the hivnara had dropped in unannounced. Merlin checked her tea and found it too cold for her taste before going and putting it by the fire to warm up.

"Who wants the first watch?" I asked.

"I'll take it. I wanted to finish that cup," Merlin said. "And it'll keep me awake.”

“Fair enough. I could use some rest." Circe stretched her arms. "Simone, if you'd be a dear and save a little of whatever you made? If Bran eats like a Borrson, I'm afraid I have to make sure that there's at least something left over for me.”

“I don't know how a Borrson eats, but I'm going to hazard a guess to say they eat a lot. In that case, Bran absolutely fits the bill. You should have seen him when he took Gloria out on a date. You'd think he was starving and it was his last meal," Simone offered.

I rolled my eyes. "It wasn't that bad," I tried to defend myself.

"It was pretty bad." Nyx winced while all of her hair serpents bobbed their heads eagerly.

I stared at the traitorous serpentine strands of hair.

"Well, we'll make sure to save you something, Circe. I promise,” Simone answered.

“And if nothing else, there's plenty of trail rations that we brought," I offered.

Circe made a face. "You probably think the two are replaceable. Can you believe he thinks he can replace your cooking with trail rations?"

Circe won that one, at least based on the expression that Simone now wore.

"Of course not. Her food is far superior to trail rations. I was just trying to get more for myself. You really can't blame me." I might be oblivious at moments, but I knew when to compliment a lady. Sure enough, my words earned me a giant smile from Simone.

Circe shook her head and walked off, laying out several plush blankets before taking out a pink silk pillow. She fluffed it and laid it at the head of her blankets. I watched her with disbelief.

"Is that what you bring into instances?" I asked.

"Don't tell me," she said, turning back, "you rough it every time you go in?"

"Well, I wouldn't say 'rough it', but it is an instance—” I started before she interrupted me.

“Which is exactly why I bring my own comforts." She gestured at the items before her. "I'm not a masochist. I like my back to be at least passively comfortable when I lie down. Don't get me started on the cramps and kinks that come with old age."

"And how old might that age be?" Simone asked with a smirk.

Circe huffed and settled into her chosen sleeping spot.

I gave Simone a look of warning. I would really rather not have any of them antagonizing each other.

Simone flashed me a quick smile. I wasn't sure if it said, 'sorry' or 'I had to do it', but it was one of the two. Either way, that smile vanished a moment later as she went back to cooking as if it had never existed. And Circe lay down for sleep, the others remaining quiet to let her get some rest.

Chapter 14

A manda and Jenny stood on the rooftop, weapons drawn, as they surveyed the city. It was still peaceful, but an air of concern and worry hung heavy.

Explosions echoed in the distance while planes and fighter jets flew overhead, unleashing their payload towards the red beam that cut through the sky and clouds.

At this point, it was like background noise, crackling off in the distance with the occasional flash.

Amanda had her phone out, watching an influencer trying to get close enough to capture images of the unfolding chaos. A few demons had reached the city's edge, but they had been swiftly dealt with by the Nester family and a few low-level Mul Branova.

This was good practice for them. They had to harden the new recruits a little before sending them into instances or they tended to freak out.

The constant smell of smoke filled the air, large plumes drifting away from the bombing and artillery that continued to rain down on the hell gate.

"Do you think they're going to nuke it?" Amanda asked, looking up from her screen.

"Better hope not," Jenny replied, her gaze fixed on her counterpart. "We want them to come into the city. The demons, that is."

"Yeah, yeah," Amanda muttered, turning back to her phone. "I know the drill. We want the demons to get here and people to actually have to deal with them so they level up. The way Bran talked about the apocalypse, I thought everything was going to change the very next day." She gestured towards the city, filled with nervous tension. Yet, there was no screaming panic, and the skyscrapers still stood.

Jenny shrugged. "You have to remember, Bran's sense of time is not the same as ours. It probably felt a lot quicker when he was in the midst of the first war. We know what's happening, and we were waiting for it to happen. It's probably even a lot more tiresome for everyone in the city anxiously looking out the window, wondering if another group of demons is going to come for them."

"Well, when they do, that's when we finally get to act and kill some demons. Simone wants us to show off and then grow the organization for Bran. But a lot of people have already started picking their class, and we only want devotees," Amanda said, holding up her phone. She had switched channels to an influencer who was showing a video of an instance portal, trying to hype her viewers before she ventured to the other side.

"Oh my god," Jenny said, paying attention to the channel for a moment. "Did she say that's a C rank? She does realize she's going to get slaughtered if she goes in there, right?"

Amanda shrugged. "So? That's entertainment in its own way. Give me that."

Jenny snatched the phone out of her hand, quickly typing a message to the influencer who was still prancing around the instance.

Behind the influencer, a motley crew of ten individuals was preparing to join her. "Hey, D," one of them tried to get the influencer's attention, "someone on the channel is talking like they know a lot about this."

Jenny smirked. "It would be wise for them to listen to him."

"Yeah, they say you have to bring a flamethrower in to complete a C rank," another woman added.

The influencer chimed in, "Oh, and apparently, if you've been vaccinated, you die when you go in."

Jenny's jaw dropped, and she tossed the phone, only for Amanda to leap into the air and snatch it before it fell off the rooftop. "Hey, don't treat my phone like that.”

“I can't believe you watch this shit," Jenny answered.

"It's amusing," Amanda defended. "Watching idiots go and kill themselves is kind of like watching Squid Games. Shit, we’re never going to get another season." She shrugged, settling back on the edge of the building, her feet kicking back and forth. "Besides, why do you care?"

“Because each one of those people is in a position to, I don't know, tell the world what's going on, how to deal with it, or something more valuable to society than looking pretty and running shows with transitions so fast that they feed the dopamine cycle of everyone's brain,” Jenny answered, wanting to punt the phone again.

“Judgmental much?" Amanda rolled her eyes and fluffed her blonde hair.

"Some of us can do without social entertainment in our lives,” Jenny said.

“Whatever. Tell me, how are the instances going?" Amanda asked as she flicked away the video and began reading through her messages.

"Good. We've put the new girls through the gauntlet. Most of the ones we've found are really low rank,” Jenny said.

“That's okay. We need some low-rank ones,” Amanda replied. "I'm sure we'll find a couple for you and me. Right now, that isn't important,” she said as a large explosion lit up the horizon.

Coming out of the explosion was a much larger figure than they'd seen thus far. She tried to inspect it, but it was too far away for the system to let her use the ability.

"I'm going to get down and see what that is,” Jenny said.

“No need. I'm pretty sure that's coming our way." Amanda turned her hand into a visor to shield her eyes. She pointed into the distance. "But if it took a bomb that size, what? Do you think that's a C rank or a B rank?”

“It's definitely got some sort of defensive ability," Jenny agreed.

The creature’s body spanned across the sky. Even with the current distance, the form was large. It had to be the size of a small tanker.

The movements were different from a bird, though. More like the creature was swimming through the air like a giant whale. Fighter jets swarmed it like gnats.

A beam fired off its side, slicing through the air before five explosions announced the defeat of multiple jets. More and more explosions piled onto the underside of the massive whale as it grew closer, escaping the perimeter that the army had set up.

And the second it was above the bulk of the military, the creature unleashed a billowing cloud that choked the air and obscured it from their vantage.

"That's probably not good," Amanda so helpfully narrated.

Jenny scowled as their vision went away. All she could spot, even squinting, was the massive silhouette amidst the cloud. Jenny frowned as it began to shrink like a balloon running out of air. She could not figure out what was happening as the form started to blur, slowly becoming smaller.

But as thousands of smaller demons swooped out of the cloud onto the impromptu military base that had been set up as part of the perimeter, the situation became clearer.

The demonic swarm crashed down amongst the tents and the jeeps to the deafening rattle of gunfire in the distance.

"Fuck me," Jenny muttered, ceasing her fooling around. Her large machete emerged from her spatial ring as she prepared for a fight. However, a second giant whale swam out of the cloud, ignoring the military camp and heading straight for the city.

"He said he wanted to hurry this along," she mused.

Amanda was still engrossed in her phone, her fingers moving in a blur. Jenny didn't need to ask to know that Amanda was quickly messaging everyone, calling them to arms and preparing for what they'd all been planning.

Jenny pulled out her own phone, messaging those at the fortress. The siren there kicked up to a volume that could be heard all over Vein City. Before she could say anything more, Amanda had flicked her phone back into her spatial ring, replacing it with her katana. She stood at the edge of the building, leaning forward as if she was going to jump any second.

"Are you going or not?" Jenny asked.

"We have to wait for the demons to get here," Amanda reminded her without turning to look. "If we run up and say the demons are coming, no one's going to do anything. Heck, people probably won't even believe us. Which is stupid, but we're going to have to wait until the demons reach this area before we can do anything about it."

Jenny grunted. She knew the drill; everyone did at this point. "Just figured it would be easier to do something about it, you know, if we were down on the ground."

"Maybe"—Amanda stuck her tongue out—"but candidly, I don't want to be down there when everyone starts screaming. Maybe once all that's done, and I can hear myself think again, it would be a good time to jump down."

"By the time that's done, everyone's going to be in a full-blown panic." Jenny rolled her eyes. "How about we go ahead and get down there? So maybe we can save at least a few lives. Each one of those we support will shift over to the fortress far more readily."

While she was talking, Amanda's jaw dropped as five more of the whale-shaped demon carriers emerged from the fog around the hell gate. Two of them started dumping their payload of demons straight into the military, while the other three headed off in the opposite direction from Vein City.

"Where are they going?" Jenny asked.

"Everywhere," Amanda answered.

"Oh, so helpful.”

The blonde played with her hair for a moment. "Those things move fast. Not as fast as a jet, but faster than a train. They could both reach other population centers in two hours, tops."

"This is fucking it, isn't it?" Jenny asked, already knowing the answer, as several more of the demon carriers emerged from the cloud, heading in multiple directions.

"Yeah, that's not looking good," Amanda admitted. "Well, that's why we prepared, isn't it?" She didn't waste any more time and threw herself from the rooftop down into the street.

Jenny followed a second later, both of them earning shocked looks from the people going about their everyday business.

It was not typical for two armed women to literally fall from the sky.

"What are you looking at?" Jenny growled at a man who couldn't seem to peel his eyes off of her.

"What are you doing?" he asked, pointing at her sword.

"What does it look like I'm doing? The military failed to contain the demons, and they're coming," she answered.

As she dropped that bomb of news, the man literally let go of everything he was carrying and began screaming, rushing away while fumbling with his car keys in his panic.

Jenny stared after the man as he dropped his car keys.

"You know, if he was going to drive away or whatever, why did he wait until they were coming?" Amanda asked. "I swear to Bran that people are so stupid." The blonde glanced back at Jenny. "Not that you're stupid, but you know, people as a mass are stupid."

Jenny paused before she shrugged. "Yeah, well, what are you going to do about it?"

"Probably nothing." Amanda shrugged. "Just an observation. Or perhaps something I didn't quite realize until recently."

The man's frantic search for his keys seemed to ignite a general panic, exacerbating the anxiety that had been lingering in the city.

Suddenly, a massive shadow loomed over the city, disgorging thousands of demons into the air. Each one had a fish-like quality, with fins adorning their bodies. They swam through the sky, dropping down with spears and tridents amongst other long-reach weapons.

Amanda watched as three of them landed on the car of the man who had been scrambling for his keys not a minute ago. Apparently, he'd found them and made it into the vehicle. A second later, however, a trident pierced through his windshield and into his chest. The demon ripped him out of the glass and flung him onto the street.

Both leaders of the Mul Branova watched impassively for a moment as chaos erupted around them.

Jenny could only agree with Amanda's earlier sentiment as she launched herself forward with as much power as she could muster. She slammed into the demons that had just taken the man from the car, pulling them over and cutting them down with a spinning slash.

Her counterpart moved with less force, instead weaving through the crowd like a swift breeze, cutting down demons one after the other and saving those she could manage.

Jenny paused, pursing her lips. Her own style was more destructive than she would have liked, given the crowded surroundings. After a moment of concern, she shrugged, smashing into the next demon that caught her eye and tossing him across the street.

People had their phones out, taking pictures and videos of the two of them, yet no one got close enough to ask questions.

Every time Amanda killed a demon, another two demons seemed to materialize. Moments ago, she had been hoping for the apocalypse to start. Now, she realized she should have maybe enjoyed the peace and quiet a little longer.

Chapter 15

T wo days later, our group inside the instance literally looked quite different from how we had before. We had been busy with some crude crafting to up our defenses and protect us from getting caught off guard.

Sadly, none of us had been carrying things that could stand up to SS-rank monsters.

A large number of hivnara shell shards had been strewn together, resembling incredibly loose scale mail over my neck and chest. The rest of the group had similar-looking creations adorning them, though all of them were smaller than my own.

The only one who wasn't wearing any armor was Simone, and that was just because she thought it looked hideous and had illusioned herself. Realistically, I knew she had on a pair of bracers and a sort of necklace that extended down over the top of her chest to guard her heart as well. That wasn't really a whole lot of coverage, but then again, Simone wasn't what anybody would call shy. Her pretending to be a saintess was a comedic act of epic proportion.

Merlin paused from where her frost golems were prying the off legs of a hivnara. "We're making good work," she commented, looking in the distance.

The looming pocked-marked anthill in the distance was her guiding light for how much longer it would take before we could get ourselves out of this instance.

"We are. Good progress, both on our skills and the instance." I checked my menu again, smiling at the experience I had gained and the levels I had improved, as well as what I had done to improve my resistances and thereby my Titan physique.

The biggest problem I noticed was that using poison seemed to be providing diminishing returns. Thankfully, I had someone capable of fire and ice with me and had worked on those resistances as well.

My eyes lingered on my stats for a moment as I thought about using some gold to add to them before quickly dismissing the idea. We had managed quite well so far, and I liked to save gold for when I needed a quick adjustment in the moment. That could be the difference between life and death.

"I'd guess another day or two in here," I said, dismissing the menu and focusing back on the conversation around me.

"Another day. That's not long," Simone said.

"Copenhagen will be very different by the time we leave. Come on, let's keep going. And, Merlin, stop playing with the monsters." I grinned at the stoic archmage, trying to get a laugh out of her only for her frost golems to break the legs of the hivnara in response while she stared back at me, daring me to crack another joke.

"Tough crowd," I muttered, trooping through the instance, looking for more hivnara to squish.

We'd camped several times, only to discover we were surrounded as the spawns from the queen, who would be the boss of this instance, had filled in the patrols behind us.

But ultimately that worked in our favor. Once we'd begun working on our skills in earnest and upgrading more than a few to SS rank amongst us, fighting the hivnara had grown significantly easier. We still had to be careful not to get swarmed and overrun, but our likelihood of survival had gone up significantly.

Circe eyed me as I turned away from my menu. "So, about splitting the loot," Circe approached the topic carefully.

"I couldn’t care less about the loot, Circe," I replied.

"Well, hold on now," Gloria spoke up, seeming to have an opinion. "I think it's pretty clear we'll just split this evenly amongst everyone. There's no other fair way to do it."

"We could certainly do it by contributions," Circe offered.

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" Gloria crossed her arms.

"For example, Simone." Circe gestured to the side but paused before continuing.

The saintess was being particularly quiet in this conversation. I checked to make sure she was paying attention. And when she was, that only concerned me further.

"What?" Simone asked. "Loot was never my concern. As long as I stick to you, I'm bound to get stronger. However, if Circe doesn't understand that then she's welcome to try and get a bigger cut now, only to lose out in the future," Simone answered.

"Now, I wasn't going to do anything rash," Circe hastily added.

"Of course not." Simone's smile was a touch too sweet for my liking. "We all should know, though, that Bran is the best investment any of us could ever make."

Nyx was trying to look serious to the side; however, her serpents betrayed her, all of them bobbing up and down in agreement with Simone's words.

"Besides, there should be plenty of rewards for everyone over the next few years. Squabbling over this will seem like an idiotic undertaking, but perhaps it's still important. After all, even if you're making an investment, you have to survive for it to be viable. Money does dead men no favors,” I said, only for Simone to focus on me.

I shrugged. "The problems of today don't really go away. They just come back in a new form every so often." Rather than continue to debate this topic, I marched forward, my new Bloodiron Blade ability out, as several hivnara perked up, spotting me.

Arguing over loot was a waste of time, and I was just going to push forward and force the group to act rather than talk.

The pack now advancing towards me consisted of two warriors and three scouts. I stepped forward without communicating my intentions to the rest of the group; we already knew our roles from the previous days of fighting.

Circe and Merlin used their abilities to restrict the enemy's movements. Within seconds, my new blade sliced through the pincers of the first scout, rendering the hivnara essentially useless. Without their pincers, they were significantly less threatening. I rolled away from the first scout, preparing to attack the next.

However, a warrior rushed forward, its head protected by a dense plate of armor. The plate extended a foot past their head, and it was a unique feature of the warrior-type monsters. They used it to great effect, which it demonstrated when it smashed into my shoulder, preventing me from removing the dangerous pincers from the second scout.

Simone quickly erected a barrier around me, trapping the warrior inside with me. This was all part of the plan, or at least one of them.

I dodged backwards, slashing my blade and causing a blood slash to ripple out.

It failed to penetrate the warrior's dense armor, but that wasn't the point. The goal was to get my blood on him, enabling me to use Sanguine Locking. The ability immobilized my prey long enough for me to continue my attack.

The improved blade proved its worth immediately.

Seizing the opportunity, I flipped my blade around and stabbed it into the warrior's eyes.

Even without their pincers, their brow ridge made an effective battering ram—as the Hivnara had demonstrated on multiple occasions. As a result, blinding them was a more effective way to limit their participation in the battle.

Outside my protective bubble, Circe and Merlin were working in tandem to keep the remaining monsters at bay. Circe summoned gale-force winds to encircle the advancing enemies, while Merlin did everything in her power to make it difficult for the hivnara to gain traction on the ground. Together, they could hold off the hivnara for a considerable amount of time, as long as their mana stores weren’t running low.

Gloria, however, wore a frown, unable to join the fight. Her fire would counteract Merlin's efforts to keep the ground slick.

Nyx, however, didn't have a problem. Her arrows fired off, making the hivnara's movements stiff and slow as their legs were patchy with stone.

Simone was helping with the operation, able to activate Heartbreaker and physically knock any away.

Despite their strength and other ant-like qualities, they had zero purchase on Merlin's ice. They slid back frustratingly as arrows continued to pelt them. The arrows flew through the storm in wild curves yet managed to hit inches away from their eyes every time.

Nyx frowned as each time her arrows narrowly missed.

I knew she was chasing some skill, but I didn't know exactly what she was trying to make happen. The Medusaic archer was doing her best. In many ways, as the youngest, she showed her desire to find her own way and a reluctance to rely on others. Then again, with an incredible class like hers, she wouldn't need to rely on anyone. Nyx was destined to be a fantastic fighter, and an SSS class with a synergistic bloodline was beyond rare. If there were too many of them, they would probably dominate the world. Thankfully, Nyx was relatively harmless in that regard.

Another way she showed her youth was that she didn't have the kind of ambitions that only came with old age and those who feared death.

Confirming my women were okay, I turned my attention back to my own fight. My body moved on autopilot while I kept a single eye on Nyx.

Her tongue stuck out as she continued to try to hit the hivnara's eyes, even through the storm. When one finally did, she let out a whoop before glancing to the side, likely at some notification.

I grinned at her in pride, not knowing what ability she had unlocked, but happy that she got what she wanted.

The warrior hivnara in front of me fought like it had an overwhelming defense. The moves it made assumed that its shell would never be penetrated.

Unfortunately for the monster, that was no longer true. My blade sliced into its thick armor plating multiple times, taking off hand-sized chunks as I dug it apart blow by blow.

Mandibles scratched me, and it acted like a man who could touch but not grab something, ever frustrated, reaching, again and again.

I had to dance backwards, turning around the hivnara, finding them to be clunky as they tried to reposition, and exposing themselves to even more danger as a result.

It chittered angrily.

“Oh, come on, you just have to be a little faster," I taunted while it swung back and forth, missing me as it struck where I had just been, and not where I had moved into. I slid up behind it and stabbed my Bloodiron Blade into the weakened gap behind its heavy brow plating, maximizing my damage.

The hivnara shrieked and tried to throw me off. However, all the reaction did was force me to take one step backwards as I held tightly to the blade.

Each of its thrashes caused my sword to dig farther into the wound, stacking up even more damage from the strike. It twitched, losing a semblance of control over its movements. I held on strong, grabbing the sword and pulling down, smashing its head into the ground as the blade cut across its head, killing it as it melted into the ground.

The barrier around the two of us dissipated, and I felt the cold wind bite at my face and skin while I readied myself for the next hivnara to be let in for me to deal with.

Chapter 16

T he others were in the process of luring a warrior to fight me, while they would then take care of the scouts, when everything suddenly went terribly wrong.

Circe gasped as blood sprayed out of her mouth, and a spine shot through her chest. A faint pink glow wrapped around her, and despite the damage, she was still conscious.

A hivnara appeared. It was a thinner variant with clear gossamer wings that buzzed behind it, its body shimmering as if its invisibility was fading. The winds that Circe had been producing came to a grinding halt, and the stalker's wings buzzed as it tried to launch itself into the air with Circe in tow.

The woman's eyes were still wide open, and she swung her hand, a blade of wind smashing against the hivnara.

[Hivnara Stalker SS

Level: 101

…]

I didn’t have time to read it all.

The stalker flinched at the blow, but the hit wasn't hard enough to dislodge her from its grasp. Having an entire limb through her chest took far more force.

I activated a charge, surging across the distance between us before jumping and grabbing onto the hivnara before it could get too high for us to reach.

We needed to keep it from carrying Circe off.

"Not happening," I said, throwing my weight around. Even with the hivnara's strength, my weight was formidable because of my physique.

The monster tried to steady itself, wobbling in the air. A moment later, its wings picked up speed and activated an ability as it tried to climb higher while shaking me off.

I chuckled and, while holding on, pulled out the drop sword before activating the ability and holding tight to the monster. I bodily slammed all three of us into the ground.

Nyx was on top of us a second later. Her dozens of serpent-shaped locks swarmed around hivnara's arm that had punched through Circe. Some of them lifted the woman while others bit at and pulled the hivnara's arm back.

As soon as Nyx got the monster’s limb out of Circe, the arch-sorceress's eyes glowed with baleful fury. She threw a palm into the hivnara before blasting it off into the distance with a concussive thump of wind that belonged to cannon fire and not a simple palm.

Simone was already sliding down on her knees to get next to Circe and put her hands on her ally, pumping healing into her. "You're gonna be okay," Simone promised.

"Of course I am," Circe growled, her light blue hair whipping around her as her eyes tracked for the stalker's reappearance. “That thing surprised me before I could even use my skills.”

"Blowing it away was the wrong move," I said, watching her gaze. Her attack had been powerful enough to rip it out of my hands.

"Well, you have other problems to deal with, don't you?" Circe asked, glancing back at the warriors and scouts that Merlin was currently doing her best to keep at bay all on her own.

"Fine," I said, holding my hands up in surrender. I knew better than to try and argue with an angry woman. "Nyx, you and your serpents are on watch for that thing's reappearance."

She snapped me a salute and drew her bow back, ready for action. Circe looked like she wanted to argue but huffed, the wind around her dying, and she pulled her hair out of her face.

"Fine. When it does come back, know that I owe it an ass-whooping," Circe said, her eyes darting around, more on edge. "It was stealthed," she said defensively.

I held my hands up. "I didn't say anything. I saw it drop out of some sort of cloaking ability. Now that we know what we're dealing with, we'll keep an eye out," I promised her, hoping not to repeat that particular activity.

Simone's magic was quickly stitching Circe back together.

I was honestly impressed with how well the caster had weathered being run through. Too many panicked in that type of situation and lost all semblance of fighting back. And in their panic, they often made the situation worse.

Merlin grunted to get my attention. The raven-haired woman was slinging spell after spell, summoning frost golems with complete disregard for conserving her mana—even as the golems were squished or shattered into slush by the warrior nearly as quickly as she made them.

Then again, they were practically throwing themselves away as they did their best to make up for Circe's lack of wind and instead were bodily checking the hivnara that were on the ice, keeping them from catching our group while we recovered from the stalker’s ambush.

Simone glanced up from where she was working on Circe to see the situation, and a thoughtful expression crossed her face before her eyes glowed, and a dozen illusionary versions of me sprang to life, rushing the hivnara.

The monsters reacted, twisting and snapping at the illusions as they rushed them, only to find their mandibles and skulls brush right through, many of them losing their balance and giving Merlin's golems the chance to grab onto them like a linebacker and kick off against the ground, getting enough momentum to easily slide the hivnara back fifty feet or more.

"Good work, Simone." I shot her a smile, and she tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"It wasn't much." She grinned, clearly happy if downplaying the praise.

The only person who seemed upset still was Gloria, who had her fist clenched white-knuckle tight with her arms crossed under her chest, being essentially benched because her fire would undo Merlin's ice. It was clearly not sitting well with the woman.

"If the stalker comes back, those wings looked pretty fragile, Gloria. I bet you could torch them off. That thing would be far easier to deal with if it couldn't fly," I offered.

The mafia princess scowled lightly because she hadn't thought of the idea first, but she nodded as her fist loosened. She began looking to the sky along with Nyx to spot our tricky friend.

I kept my expression neutral, not wanting to say anything and ruin the independent woman's new purpose.

Gloria was certainly not the kind of woman who you could ask to stand back and do nothing. She was most comfortable as an active participant, if not the leading one.

I knew I'd have to be careful and find a better purpose for her in one of the upcoming fights. Otherwise, I'd be with a powder keg ready to blow. I also suspected I didn't really need to manage her. She'd find her place easily enough.

"And if it's not showing right now," she said after a moment, "how about I join you?"

I grinned at her, welcoming her help. I moved away from Circe and Simone; it seemed the stalker was going to wait for its next strike. That or it wasn't coming back. Standing around and protecting Circe wasn't going to do anything but prolong the current fight.

"Do me a favor and clear a path through the ice," I said, jerking my head to the side.

At the idea of blasting away the ice, Gloria smiled. She flashed a terrifying grin and flicked her hand out. A purple crack of molten fire stretched between me and the nearest hidden aura scout underneath the ice before scorching it away and blasting upwards.

I rushed forward, the fire disappearing with every step I took, parting for me before I came through the other side, my sword raised against a monster that hadn't seen me until the last second. I was easily able to cleave its mandibles off before it could wind up another attack. Then I slammed it to the side, only for a pillar of Gloria's flame to explode underneath it and assist me in flipping the hivnara onto its back.

Our teamwork was solid, and she wrapped its face in fire as I buried my new Bloodiron Blade into its underside.

Quickly, we mopped up the remainder of the hivnara. The stalker never reappeared.

“Bran, why didn’t you warn us about that new type so we could be on the lookout,” Circe said as she summoned a folding screen from her spatial ring and stepped behind it only for her shredded dress to flop over the side, her shadow moving as she put on a new one.

“Didn’t know.” I shrugged. “I’ve seen three instances of hives, and none of them were quite the same. They all had the same basic premise, but flying, cloaked ambushes? Haven’t seen that before.”

She huffed and reappeared as the folding screen vanished now in a simple white dress that looked like a scandalous toga showing off her curves. “It is poor form for me to say, but your knowledge fails at the most unfortunate times.”

“We shouldn’t be going into anything assuming everything I know is accurate and complete,” I argued, a frown dropping onto my face. “As time goes on, my knowledge will become even more directional. A lot has changed.”

“Now we know about them.” Simone tried to mediate. “And we can prepare. This is why we all have abilities for emergencies. Guardian of Lust kept you alive until I could put your organs back in.”

Circe huffed again but gazed back towards the hive that we were fighting to reach. “Fine.”

I had an idea of what was truly bothering Circe. She was too used to being untouchable, and when that was shattered, it rattled her. Most people would instinctively blame anything but themselves; however, those who were intelligent enough to survive would eventually settle on some way to improve themselves and adapt rather than waste more breath on blaming others.

“I’ll just have to be more alert. Perhaps one of our inspect abilities can pierce their cloaking or I can do some wide-area damage to break it. There is a real risk that one of those goes after Simone, and I’m not so sure that we’ll be as resilient as this time.” Circe cast a concerned glance towards Simone and me.

At least she was starting to think about it.

My eyes shifted to Simone as well. “You have a good point. We’ll need to figure out a countermeasure immediately.”

Circe had certainly shifted to fixing the problem; however, the idea of Simone being at risk made my blood boil with barely contained rage.

The beautiful saintess flashed me a brilliant smile. “Don’t worry.” She slid up next to me. “Bran will save me if anything happens, and when he’s off crushing bugs, I’ll stay next to Nyx. I watched Nyx’s hair react a moment before Circe was skewered. I just hadn’t known at the time what it was signaling. Now, I do.” Simone gave one of the snakes a little pat on the top of its head.

The snake leaned into the touch.

I nodded, still scanning our surroundings. That knowledge at least helped ease my concerns a bit. “Nyx, call it out if it happens again, and everyone can use their strongest defensive ability. Merlin, Circe, and Gloria, if we get that signal, let loose all around us and see if you can’t damage it out of that ability.”

The group nodded, and I felt my boiling blood calm some. The idea of losing any of my women still lingered in the back of my mind, but now we at least had a plan.

Chapter 17

S imone hooked a finger at me, and I stepped back at her request.

We had been in here for five days, and I was itching to get back out. They had been five very productive days. Our rate of killing hives had increased significantly, and we had breezed past both of the mini-bosses that I would have expected for an SS-rank instance and were getting close to taking on the giant hive structure itself.

Everyone had significantly improved their skills, and we had divided up some of the loot, sharing the gold freely so people could increase their stats.

I turned to face Simone. My confidant in many things wanted my ear for something.

Simone raised an eyebrow at me. "What?” She flashed a brilliant smile at me.

“You asked me to hang back," I answered quickly, smirking.

"I did. I was hoping you had realized the problem," she replied, playing with her long blonde hair.

I shook my head. "No, but if there's a problem, I'd like to fix it, especially before we get to the boss."

Simone frowned slightly—an expression I did not like on any of the people I cared about. "You have to remember, Nyx was a spoiled little rich girl. She may have done some training to prepare her for the Heros Clan initiation, but she's well beyond some little initiation with level ones and being led through by people who were prepared, bringing far too many resources for what that instance was supposed to be." Her emerald green eyes bore into me.

I opened my mouth to argue before snapping it closed. "You're right. She did kind of go from zero to a hundred quite fast, but she handled the vault."

"She handled the vault because she had to. She was also isolated for a part of it. After that, I was hoping we'd have time to recover, but that was taken away from us now, wasn't it?"

I nodded in agreement. It had been less than ideal. "And now I've thrown her into another intense training scenario," I continued, glancing over at where she appeared, at least to me, to be doing quite all right.

She was firing off arrows into hives while Gloria and Merlin's ice golems did their best to keep several scouts distracted so the other three could pound them into dust.

"So I'm pushing her too hard, and she's near her limits," I said slowly. "What do you suggest? It's not like I can take her out of this."

Simone relaxed as if she had been somewhat prepared to push even harder. Somewhat prepared to have an argument. "Nothing too obvious or it might do more damage," she said after a moment. "I just need you to slow down a little on Nyx. Perhaps you could throw some more encouragement her way. Unlike the rest of us, she's still young enough that we need to build her up."

I looked down. "Right. Right. No, you're absolutely right, Simone." I shook my head. In some ways, I had jumped her ahead of a new recruit in my mind because, at her level and current abilities, she didn't look like a new recruit. "But you're absolutely right. She's only been in three instances, all of which have been incredibly difficult."

Simone patted my arm. "And here I was expecting you to say something like 'we don't have the luxury of going easy' or push harder and harder, saying that it would just make her stronger." The way Simone made an angry fist was almost comically cute.

"Those things would have been true if not for the preparation that we had done." I put a hand on Simone's shoulder and pulled her close. "And to be honest, the work you've done with the Mul Branova has bought us a lot of wiggle room. And I think we can use that to make sure that Nyx is as stable as possible."

Simone scowled at my wording.

I held my hands up. "No, maybe 'stable' is the wrong word. I don't mean it in any sort of..." I hesitated, trying to pick out my words carefully.

"It's fine." Simone patted my arm and leaned her head against my shoulder. "I understood what you really meant."

"If you push someone too hard, they'll break. We need to ease up and temper her a little more slowly so that cracks don't form. So that in the long run, she's not too brittle," I said.

Simone nodded against me. "Good. And if I'm perfectly honest, Bran, I am ready to get out of this instance," she confessed.

I chuckled. "Me, too. We've all made good progress. But this is not an instance we can ignore, either from a potential growth aspect or from the danger it poses to the city and, quite frankly, all of Europe. Now that we've held the demons back from getting a foothold, or at least as strong a foothold as they had in my previous life, that only means that the destruction this instance would cause would be even greater this time.”

Simone sighed. "I don't suppose you could hand this off to the Heros Clan after you clear it the first time?"

I wiggled my nose. "We'll do it at least a few more times. Now that we're clearing quickly, I think we could do it in three days after we've done it this first time. We only have another day in here, tops."

She waffled her head slightly.

"And if it helps, we could drag the Mul Branova new recruits through here and really turn them into a powerful fighting force."

Simone's eyes sparkled like emeralds. "That's a good idea," she said quickly. "Speaking of good ideas, when are you going to bring Circe or Merlin to your bedroom? To your bed."

I chuckled as Simone so casually switched the conversation. "Both of them are a little old to really go through the love thing again."

Simone looked at me as if I was an idiot. "Can the same thing not be said about you?”

“You realize, even with my past life, I am still younger than both of them, right? And to be fair, you pursued me pretty heavily this time around. I think some of us, when we get to a certain age, we really stop looking."

Simone scowled. "That's so incredibly sad. We'll just stop looking for love one day?"

I shrugged. "You get old. Your priorities change, and it just doesn't tend to be one of them."

"Well then"—Simone looked like she had a new mission in life—"I think I'm going to have to change that." She poked me in the side. "Why don't you pursue them since they aren’t looking? They are both lovely ladies, and adding them to our core forces would be significant."

I squinted at her. "That's a very interesting argument you make." I knew exactly what she was doing. An argument like that was an appeal to the militant part of me, to the wandering king who roamed around with a powerful force to stop horrific acts from tearing humanity apart.

"It doesn't matter if I'm phrasing it in an interesting way, Bran. What matters is that I'm right."

I breathed deeply, continuing to stare at her with narrowed eyes. "How would you suggest that I approach either of them?" Before she could answer, I continued, waving a hand over at Circe in the distance. “Leader of the Odyssey branch of the Heros Clan, thousands of years old. Obviously a little bit of a flirt, but no actual intentions behind them."

Simone pinched her eyes and waffled her hands, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"Really?" I asked.

"I don't think she's as opposed as you think." Simone offered me an encouraging wink. "But I get it, old, important, within the Heros Clan you two are on very different levels. That's fine. We can just increase your status in the Heros Clan until you're closer to equals." She dismissed that concern of mine handily.

"Second, while she's been fighting with us, I know some of her combat abilities. Truth be told, she's told me precious little about her past. I think she's actually quite guarded. Not only for me but everyone in general," I added.

Simone pursed her lips. "You might be right on that one." She hummed to herself. "I'll figure out a way to crack that particular nut. But you're not intimidated by her age or her strength, right?" Simone asked, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Not in the least," I replied, watching the woman in question.

Circe flew through the air, her scandalous toga rippling in the wind along with her hair. She had seemed slightly younger the last few days. Perhaps pushing her out of her comfort zone had restored a small spark of youthful vitality.

"We also have to be careful," I warned Simone. "If we push too hard, we could go from having an ally to an enemy."

Simone waved a dismissive hand through the air. "That won't be a problem. I'm fairly certain she has some level of interest, even if the two of you aren't going to act on it. Don't worry. I understand the problem now. It's up to me to play matchmaker." She sighed and put a hand on her chest, even as it sparkled with magic. She cast a barrier over Gloria just before the woman bounced off a charging hivnara scout.

Gloria, on the other hand, had become incredibly fierce in this instance.

"Am I pushing Gloria too hard?" I asked.

Simone snorted, "Not hard enough. Our favorite mobster princess really seems to enjoy rising to the challenge. I think amongst the boys in her family, she's always been slightly overlooked. And that's given her quite the competitive thirst. You pushing her as hard as you are puts her leagues above the rest of those men. Your approval of her is more important than I think you realize. Although, unlike Nyx, she has the confidence that the approval isn't going anywhere anytime soon. And no, you don't need to heap praise onto her."

I glanced over at Simone, pulling my eyes away from Gloria's fight. "Despite all of this, I am incredibly lucky to have you here."

Simone flashed me a brilliant smile, the kind that melted my heart and made me regret that we were in an instance where I couldn't drag her into a bedroom. She seemed to sense some of that and began bouncing her eyebrows, ruining the effect somewhat.

"I'm glad you appreciate having me around because I'm not going anywhere. And, besides, if I left you to your own devices, you would probably just stomp around, grunting and killing things, like it sounds like you did in your last life. In this life, you need to be more strategic, and you need to have more people to help you and take that strategy to a broader scale."

I acknowledged her comment with a nod. "You've done well with the Mul Branova. Gloria has done well with the Nestor family. Between the two of you, I certainly have more influence over this timeline's total path than I expected."

Simone looked at me, this time with a burning question in her eyes. "What kind of king will you become?" she asked.

"We’ll see what options there are." I smiled at her. By the way she said it, not posing it as if I was going to become the Wandering King again or not, we both knew that I couldn't. "Assuming everything's the same, there will be a few options. However, there were a few anomalies with the Trial of Kings, so I can't promise you what it will be just yet."

She narrowed her eyes slightly. "Should the rest of us go give them a try?”

“I don't think Nyx should"—I squinted at the younger Heros—"and I don't think Circe or Merlin could pass the trials either."

That caused Simone to raise her eyebrows in shock. "Truly?"

"Truly." I sighed, echoing her. "One of the trials is a test of will. Your memories are partially erased before it starts. So believe it or not, your character is heavily on trial. It's… Passing the trial is largely dependent on your base character. You can't overpower that one."

"And you'll pass it just fine?" she asked.

"I will. When it comes time, I suspect I'll do very similar to the last. But Circe and Merlin..." I shook my head. "I don't know. I don't think they could pass it. In truth"—I glanced down at Simone—"I think out of everyone here, you probably have the best chance. Gloria has some chance."

"Then won't you tell me what it is?" She smiled prettily. "So that I can prepare."

I only shook my head. "You can't prepare. It's one of the things that makes them so difficult." I kissed her on the top of the head and squeezed her briefly. "Thank you for the talk. Now"—I rolled my neck—"let's finish this instance."

Chapter 18

T he last day and a half had been a hard push. Once we entered the hive, there was no stopping as the queen kept pumping out more hivnara. The hive itself became a gauntlet, one that we were almost done with.

I wiped blood from my lips, squaring off against the hivnara queen. She was a little more humanoid than most of the hivnara, but only barely because she stood on two legs with four arms. However, that might be an issue of balance since her back section was several times the size of her torso. It was like an eight-foot-tall woman with a bus-sized ass.

We were deep inside the hive, in a massive chamber with one-third of the wall being glowing eggs that dripped from the ceiling and rose in piles stuck together with some sort of hardened gel.

The rest of my group was scattered, dealing with the numerous additional monsters that had spawned during this fight. They left me to deal with the queen, who was proving to be a difficult adversary.

The queen hissed, spitting a glob of poison that I partially blocked with a swing of my Blood Blade. A small fleck of green splattered onto my shoulder, turning my skin black and immediately demonstrating the danger of the poison.

The substance burned enough to make my movements more difficult, but I didn't have time to stand still.

Doing my best to ignore the pain, I rushed at the queen again, stabbing my Bloodiron Blade into her hardened shell. Despite my new abilities, the blade could only penetrate about a finger's length deep before I lacked the strength to drive it any deeper. I pulled it out, dodging away as her significant bulk swung towards me.

Similar to how ants functioned, the hivnara queen was significantly larger than all of the other types, with most of that weight on her back section. Yet, by some miracle, she managed to reposition herself, swinging around that tremendous bulk.

I avoided touching her as much as I could. Instead, I stabbed my sword into one of the egg-like nodules on her back, killing the growing hivnara inside while also using it to keep us apart and ride out her swing.

There were finger-length barbs along her exoskeleton, and one brush with them had been enough for me.

Gloria's fire swept out to my side and slammed into that wound, the fire drilling and digging deeper as we all did our best to keep the situation under control.

I glanced over to where Circe was flying in loose circles while slamming huge banks of wind into the swarm of hivnara. All of the other ladies had given up on trying to kill the hivnara, and the focus now was simply on keeping them contained while I could finish the boss.

The queen, frustrated by the fire digging into her back half, let out a terrible cry. A comically small pair of wings on her back fluttered, and her body shimmered as she disappeared.

I spun around, swinging Sanguine Slashes through the air, trying to find and hit the queen out of her cloaking.

But with her speed, she had managed to reposition herself in the blink of an eye. Not for the first time.

I was growing frustrated, annoyed with this enemy that would not stay still. I scanned the area, trying to pinpoint the queen’s new location.

"There!" Nyx shouted, pointing to a spot where her serpents were indicating.

Gloria's fire beat me to the area, smashing into the spot halfway up the wall. The blast caused the queen to reappear before dropping down to the floor once again with a thunderous boom that shook the entire cavern.

I rushed forward to attack, only stopping briefly to avoid getting caught up in a swarming pack of hivnara. I was ready for this fight to be finished. It had taken far too long already.

"Kill it, Bran!" Circe shouted as the hivnara chasing her nipped dangerously at her heels.

"Working on it," I called over my shoulder, remaining calm as I slammed into the queen's front, engaging her in a more direct battle. It was risky to take her head-on, but at this point, the worst that could happen was her activating Last Stand and me blowing through her. I hacked at her torso while she swung her front legs back and forth.

A three-toed claw at the end created deep gouges in my skin, but I did my best to ignore that as I stabbed a Bloodiron Blade into a joint at the base of one of her legs.

I grinned like a loon as I wiggled my wrist back and forth, activating Sanguine Slashes, one after the other, directly into the hivnara queen's body.

The damage must have been significant as the queen froze mid-slash and tried to push me off. The three-clawed foot slammed straight into my chest and, unfortunately, straight through, carving out a large chunk and a section of my heart.

The blood that sprayed out of me onto the queen was almost comically like a fire hose. Well, if I weren’t about to bleed out.

Even with all of my experience taking damage and staying active in a fight, my body refused to move as blood pumped out of my torso, and I lost all of the fluid keeping my muscles tense.

A strange strength welled up in my body as a pink glow came from my heart, and I saw Simone head down, praying with the same effect.

Suddenly, despite the spraying blood, I no longer felt like I was about to die. I created a second Bloodiron Blade that I stabbed into the queen's shoulder. I started wiggling both blades and shredding her insides with as many Sanguine Slashes as I could produce.

The effect was immediate.

She locked up and ignored the goo leaching out between her chitin plates. As the leaking robbed her of the tension in her body, I kept my pace, shredding away at her. A few more seconds that felt like an eternity passed before she collapsed, melting into the ground. All of the ads in the room fell lifelessly to join their queen in death.

I panted, staggering back before falling on my ass. Not worried about anything but reaching the least energy-expending activity, I flopped, my arms and legs spread out.

My body still continued to pump blood, some leaking out, but the geyser from my chest had stopped. A moment later, I could feel my heartbeat pick back up as a prompt flitted across the edge of my vision. I looked to confirm that I had upgraded Regeneration to Immortal Body and let out a heavy, satisfied sigh.

I thumped my head back down on the ground, closing my eyes for a second to savor the fact that I was still alive, only to be interrupted a second later as I felt something soft poke my chest and peeked open my eyes.

Nyx was trying to corral her snake hair; however, they were too curious, poking and prodding at where my chest had just moments ago been carved out.

Letting my eyes open fully, I watched as the snakes looked like they were throwing a party. When they spotted me watching, they swarmed my face with soft kisses.

I chuckled and wrapped my arm around a bundle of them, giving them a tight squeeze before letting them go.

They seemed incredibly satisfied at the touch, giving me a squeeze back before flitting back to Nyx, where she looked completely exasperated.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Don't be." I winced as I sat myself up. "I'm fairly certain they are your subconscious feelings, and it's kind of cute to know that your subconscious is so interested in ensuring that I'm okay."

There was a loud crack as the walls of the cavern broke, and the one half of the cavern that was filled with hivnara eggs gave way. A flood of gold coins poured down onto our group, managing to catch Simone.

She let herself be lifted by the coins, riding the wave with a big cheer and kicking her legs.

I scooped Nyx up as the coins reached us, keeping us afloat.

"Well, now," Circe began, vacuuming up as many gold coins as she could with a spatial ring on each hand. "I hope you don't mind, Bran. I think we should all just suck up as much as we can and consider that our split." She whistled innocently, a giant smile on her face.

I rolled my eyes at her antics. How was she this old and still so concerned about loot?

Unwilling to let her get everything, I began sucking up gold coins with my own spatial rings.

"The loot for the mini-bosses was disappointing," Merlin said, glancing at me. Her eyes rode to the top of my head.

I quickly tapped the crown, disappearing it into one of my spatial rings. I had put it on because there was no sense going into an SS-rank boss fight without every ounce of advantage.

However, for the day-to-day, the crown was too gaudy. As for the scale mail of bronze feather plates, I had left that alone for the hivnara dungeon. The SS-rank monsters would have destroyed it. It was far more valuable to me to protect myself from other humans or demons that were less likely to have the S-rank requirement to punch through it. Or at least, that was my rationale. I also did not like relying on equipment too much; I had seen that weakness fail many others in my past.

I looked over, knowing that Simone was wearing her chitin scalemail under her disguise. Though, I squinted at her and saw that even that skill had undergone an upgrade sometime during this whole gauntlet. It was now called Enchanting Illusion, and she could project it out from herself as well as make it feel real to cursory touches.

I grinned, pleased at the development. That would be beyond powerful, although better in non-direct confrontations.

"Loot!" Simone squealed, excited to pull a large hivnara plate from the pile only to frown a bit and turn it over to see a handle. With that, her frown deepened further, almost like she was confused.

"It's a shield, Simone.” I tried to suppress a chuckle at her face.

“That's somehow not quite as exciting as many other options." She held the shield out with a scowl. “But at least you could get hurt less.”

"Why are you giving that to him?" Merlin asked. "He doesn't need a shield. He just uses his big meaty body. I mean, we all saw his heart just get ripped out, didn't we? And he’s still alive? Does he really have Regeneration or is it some ungodly rank now?"

I coughed into my hand, not about to share my character screen with anyone. "Something like that. But it’s true, Simone. If you or Gloria pull that out of your spatial ring in that time of need, it's going to be far more beneficial to you than me. I don't need the protection as much."

Simone scowled and looked at the shield again and then back at me. "I don't think the shield makes sense for me.”

“If you won't take it, I will." Gloria strode over, grabbing the shield from Simone's hands and hefting it to see just how heavy it might be. "Oh, yeah. I could swing this around, probably even hit people with it. It's SS rank, so it'll put a good dent in someone's skull if I use it to bash them, right?"

"You're welcome to take it"—Circe flashed a smile—"and it will come out of your share of the loot.”

I rolled my eyes, but perhaps this part of her personality was how she had such gold-boosted stats. "And what else might we pull from here?" I glanced around the gold at my feet, seeing if anything was poking out. However, I wasn't that lucky.

Nyx was. She pulled out a vibrant red cloth with excitement, only to hold it up, her face falling as it was a simple sash. "This doesn't exactly cover anything too important."

I scanned it, knowing that often system items were far more than they appeared. Using Soul Gaze, my eyes lit up. "Well, if you don't want that, I'll take it,” I offered, noting that everybody quickly scanned the item.

[Sash of the Neverending SS - Imbues the wearer with Regeneration C Rank]

Given that an SS rank item only gave C rank Regeneration proved how powerful the ability was. Though the sash was also the perfect crafting material, it would be simple to add it to just about any item as long as you could get the system to register it as a new item.

Circe let out a soft whistle. "Bran, I don't think you need that. I'll go ahead and take it." The arch sorceress breezed across the room, flying on a small pocket of wind.

But Nyx finished her inspection and held it away before it fell into Circe’s hands. "Wait a moment, maybe I've changed my mind," Nyx said as her serpents wrapped around it, possessively hissing at Circe.

"Don't fight over it." I chuckled, glancing again at the sash. It might not cover a large area, but it wasn't supposed to. Instead, it provided rank C Regeneration, which was invaluable to any initiated.

"The proper way to handle this is a small game of chance." Merlin pulled out a set of ancient-looking dice. They appeared as if they were carved from dinosaur bones, worn and weathered. She gave them a shake in her hand.

"What do you say, Circe? Care to pick a number?" Merlin offered.

Circe crossed her arms under her chest, narrowing her eyes towards Merlin. "And how do I know you won't cheat?"

"And how do I know you won't? You've been working hard on that fine control of wind. It would only take a small gust, and you could ensure you keep the sash,” Merlin challenged.

“How about I be the referee?" I offered, extending my hands for the dice.

Merlin tossed them through the air, and I snatched them, holding them up and feeling them in my palm, ensuring they weren't weighted.

This method had been used often in my past life. The clans would insist on something like this if you joined them.

"All right, pick your numbers," I told them. There was always a way to game the system, though.

Gloria, who had the shield, stayed out. Simone seemed uninterested.

Nyx bit her lip. "Three. No, wait, eight," Nyx answered.

I chuckled. "Three dice, six sides, one to eighteen. Or three to eighteen is the whole range," I told her so that she knew what she was working with.

"Thirteen," Merlin said without hesitation.

"Fourteen," Circe smirked and cast a glance at the other member of our party.

I shook the dice in my hands before rolling them onto some of the remaining gold. They clattered and clinked amongst the coins before showing a three.

Nyx cursed, and her serpents threw a fit. "I should have stuck with three," she muttered.

"You still win," Merlin pointed out. "Whoever's the closest gets it."

"Oh, really?" Nyx perked up and began to wrap the sash around her waist. We'd have to find her some clothes to match it. The red was a stark contrast to her green serpentine scales and white clothes.

"All right, let's pack up and get out of here," I said, waving my hand over the gold. We fished for the last item, which turned out to be two very gaudy SS spatial rings crusted in diamonds, both of which I refused to wear and handed off to Simone who took them happily.

As soon as we were done, I tapped the system menu without waiting another second.

We reappeared in the brewery, and I noted fresh damages to the construction site. Part of the roof had been peeled back, not by someone trying to enter, but likely from giant explosions outside.

The others were popping up behind me, but I wanted to see the situation. I jumped up through the hole, landing on the lip of the roof and shielding my eyes just as a massive combat in the distance exploded again, shaving off the bricks of some houses.

I glanced at the deeply overcast sky. A crackle of thunder announced the coming storm as a few small droplets pattered on my shoulders before rain began to fall in earnest. I looked back down at the ladies who were relishing having left the instance.

"If you guys have anything to protect yourselves, I'd recommend you suit up. It looks like we've arrived in the midst of a new storm," I told them, staring out into the distance before putting on every piece of armor that I owned.

Chapter 19

I managed to find the source of the fight easily enough. It wasn’t hard to follow the crashing and booming blows of whoever was fighting.

Chunks of buildings were falling to the ground as a demon that looked like an elephant with an octopus face was locked in battle with two humans. The demon was interesting, but my eyes quickly zeroed in on one human in particular.

"Oh, Hercules is here," Circe commented, settling down on the ground with the rest of our party.

A second human, even bigger than Hercules, was also duking it out with the large demon.

I squinted through the rain, trying to place the person when I could barely make out their figure.

"Any idea who's with him? I don't recognize him from the clan," I asked.

Circe's lips twisted to the side. "I don't either. Not any of Hercules' men—" She continued speaking, but the rest of what she said was cut off by a deafening boom.

Hercules turned entirely gold, smashing into the side of the demon that I assumed was the gate guardian and sending the demon plowing through several buildings.

The other human swept out a massive axe from his spatial ring as he jumped high in the sky, landing with what had to be a near-lethal blow to the demon.

The demon squirmed away, using its dozens of tentacles to rip several people from a nearby building, immediately turning those bodies into dried husks. It regenerated just as fast as it had drained the humans, including the massive gash along its neck.

I paused, working to get an understanding of the situation and not particularly wanting to get involved when somebody was already going all-out.

Hercules swelled, more golden shine coming off him before a gladius appeared in his hand. He stabbed down as a massive sword of light mimicked his motion, ripped out of the sky above, and crashed down on the demon, ruining the demon's back and pinning it to the ground.

The other figure launched a second, even more aggressive attack, spinning the axe overhead before throwing it. It was so blindingly fast it was a blur, chunking into the demon's neck.

The demon went slack between the two attacks before melting into the ground.

The fight was over, but the two fighters didn’t relax at all. Instead, the man with the massive axe turned on Hercules. He leaped across the space as the axe flew through the air back into his hand.

Circe flinched forward, but I was faster.

I launched myself through the air with a powerful leap, landing and using a Bloodiron Blade to deflect most of the energy from his swing. The hit was heavy enough that my feet dug deep furrows through the cracked concrete.

"No way to treat an ally after the fight's done." I scoffed at the big man in front of me. I didn't immediately recognize him, but based on his size, I knew before even using Soul Gaze, he was a Borrson.

[Name: Vidar Borrson

Level: 528

Class: Twilight Strider SS

Status: Enraged, Bloodthirsty, Calculating

Strength: 6232

Agility: 4548

Vitality: 9012

Intelligence: 2471

Spirit: 3827

…]

I inspected him, my eyes going wide as I saw his name. Although I didn't recognized him immediately, I knew the name instantly. I felt him try to inspect me and brushed the inspect off with a scoff.

"Why don't you put your axe down? Unless, of course, you think you can take all of us," I said, squaring up.

Circe and Merlin made themselves known as a giant gust of wind nearly stopped the rain from falling before pillars of ice shot up all around our impromptu meeting and gave us a little privacy.

The man hesitated, his attention flicking over to Hercules, who was still very clearly a target. However, seeing Circe and Merlin caused him to take a small step back. He swung his axe around before smacking it onto his shoulder, looking at the rest of us with disdain. While his posture looked relaxed, I was experienced enough to know he was still on alert and ready to attack if he saw an opening.

"You can't blame us for being at least marginally upset watching you attack Hercules after he just fought by your side," Circe scoffed. "So much for Borrson honor."

The man's eye twitched at her insult of his honor. "I wasn't aware that the Heros even knew that word.”

“When it comes to knowing words, it's the Borrsons who always shock me." Hercules was back on his feet, but the final attacks had clearly taken up much of his energy.

"Anything you say is simply overcompensation for your clan's clear inability to produce quality fighters. Are you some little secret they've been hiding?” Vidar looked over at me.

“You look down on me, Cousin. Can it be that you don't even recognize me?" I chuckled at the flicker of surprise that crossed his face.

He tried to inspect me again, only for me to brush it off even more happily this time.

I recognized Vidar. He was the future leader of the Borrson Clan and a downright-aggressive asshole. Technically, he was my cousin, even if he was well over a hundred years older than me. My words earned me a death glare from the man.

"And who the fuck are you?” he growled.

“What, you can't recognize Thorin's child? I'm a little disappointed." I enjoyed myself.

He tried to inspect me yet again, and I gave him a smug smile as it failed. His jaw tensed, and a vein pulsed in his big square head. The man had to be nearly nine feet tall and must have trouble walking through doorways. However, he wasn’t all brawn, and my words had confirmed enough for him.

"Bran Heros," he said slowly as if coming to terms with my existance.

I rolled my hand in a partial bow. "At your service. And that means yes, the one who just blocked your strike is a nineteen-year-old. Honestly, I'm a little disappointed at how weak you are. I was expecting better of the Borrson Clan."

Despite being a Borrson, Vidar was decently intelligent. Becoming the leader of the clan wasn’t something that came just from brute strength but a decent amount of manipulation as well. He watched me, his jaw clenching, but he took the insult and did not lash out.

He was the type to play big and dumb only to stab you in the back.

"You play a dangerous game, boy. Why don't you let the adults in the room have a conversation? Perhaps we can get you a cup of milk to tide you over, to keep you occupied.” He watched me.

"At least you have a moderate sense of hospitality." I shrugged, pulling a chair out of my spatial ring and taking a seat. I crossed my legs as if I was in charge, waiting for him to serve me.

"Bran," Circe hissed.

But I ignored her. I was genuinely enjoying antagonizing the man. I knew I couldn’t pick a fight with the Borrsons directly, but I was still very ready to find out who was responsible for my mother's poisoning. If they attacked me, I would be justified in getting my hands dirty.

I knew the face of the woman who had done the job, but I was going to unravel all who knew and stood by. They were just as responsible in my eyes.

But as I sat, ten other Borrsons descended behind Vidar. The big fighters put on a decently imposing front, each of them bigger than the next, one of them towering over 11 feet tall.

He was too big to operate in human society. That meant they’d brought their forces out of Antarctica.

"Oh, I see you guys have taken a break from the cold. Don't tell me it was all getting too cold even for the mighty Borrsons." I continued to mock them in the hope that some were less intelligent than Vidar. And honestly, prodding the big brutes was just a little too much fun. I liked to take joy when opportunities were presented.

"He certainly talks like a Borrson." One of them guffawed, treating me the same way someone might a growling puppy. They all tried to inspect me, and I pushed it away, but that didn't seem to affect their opinion on my strength.

There was one thing I had learned about Borrsons over the years: they were unfortunately the epitome of overconfidence. Personally, I thought it was the size. It is really easy to underestimate someone when they don’t even come up to your chest.

"Now, Rhyne," he said to the big one who had spoken, "even if he's a half-breed whelp, he at least has some blood of the clan."

"He's an abomination," the big man said, glaring at me. "The Heros Clan getting ahold of our blood is a disgrace.” The big one grinned. "One that we can clean up right here today." His eyes glowed for a moment, but I was unconcerned. Despite his size, he was not the strongest one in the group.

So when he flashed forward, I only smirked as no one moved to stop him. Their group wanted this attack to happen, and my group wasn't afraid in the slightest that I would lose.

I happily proved them correct as I caught the giant's fist with a relaxed expression as I stood. "You could use a little practice," I said, suddenly gripping his fist as tightly as I could. His knuckles began cracking, his hand caving under my strength.

"Enough," Vidar spat before I could break the giant’s hand.

Raising an eyebrow, I squeezed even harder as my opponent tried to pull away.

"I said enough," he growled again, this time stepping forward to physically stop me.

However, before he reached me, I let go of the hand and stepped to the side, causing the large oaf to stagger back when, suddenly, the strength of my grip disappeared.

"Don't worry, we were just playing around," I said, giving them a mirthless smile. The big guy was too stubborn to admit that he'd lost in a bout of strength.

"Yeah, it wasn't even that strong of a hit," he said, hiding his hand behind his back before it began to swell.

“Yeah, he's a big boy, I'm sure he could do worse. After all, you Borrsons pride yourself on your physical strength. It would be a shame if a Heros Clan fighter could take that away from you so easily,” I stated.

"Bran," Circe hissed again.

I resisted rolling my eyes, but at the same time, I couldn't help myself from egging on these assholes.

They'd come here and pick a fight, only to back off when someone stronger appeared. I hated bullies. They were part of what made us lose to the demons. We needed to band together, not pick each other off.

My eyes went back to their group, quickly locking on the red-headed woman who was smaller than many of the giants and had avoided my initial sweep of their group.

She moved behind the one with the injured hand, likely to inspect it and make sure he didn't need any attention.

My blood began to boil with rage, and I couldn’t stop my anger from showing.

She was the woman that Persephone had shown me to be behind my mother's poisoning.

My reaction was anything but subtle. Vidar, as well as those backing me, all noticed a quick flicker of anger from me before I was able to smother my expression.

"Have you two run into each other before?" Vidar asked as if he was privy to some joke that the rest of us weren't.

I was fairly certain I knew exactly what humor had just ticked off in the back of his head. "No, she just has a very punchable face," I said.

"Really now, she's considered one of the beauties of the younger generation." Vidar gestured for her to come closer. She stepped up in front of Vidar, tilting her chin up proudly. "Venthra, why don't you say hello to Bran Heros? Bran, this is Venthra, my adopted daughter."

"Pleasure," I said dryly, burning her face into my mind's eye.

"So now, why don't we focus on splitting the loot rather than splitting our heads?" Hercules tried to make a joke.

However, the tension in the group remained palpable for several seconds before Vidar stepped back. "I'll have to apologize to you, Hercules. I just got a little overexcited about the loot and was drunk on the battle." Vidar shrugged as if it was no big deal, and we should indeed just move past it.

Hercules gave an obviously fake laugh. "Happens to us all when the blood gets pumping a little too hard."

"Glad you understand." Vidar eyed us before turning back to his group. “Take the loot from the fight with the other demons. We’ll split this up.”

The whole situation stank to me, but if Circe and Hercules weren’t willing to start a fight, I couldn’t take all of them on my own.

Chapter 20

"B ran, you need to not antagonize the Borrsons." Hercules rounded on me as soon as we'd returned to the Heros Clan camp, which was a hotel—I assumed rented out entirely by them. His eyes flicked over the group of us, inspecting everybody. "It seems you've found a very worthwhile instance." He grinned slowly. "I am sure you will share the details with us, although I assume it is in the book?" he asked with an overly large smile.

"It was a rumor I heard last time, and I couldn't confirm it until I went to see it myself." I flashed Hercules a smile.

"Well, now you have, you'll surely be able to share. So, where is it?" he asked.

I noticed amid everything there was a massive map laid out on a central table. More than a few groups from the clan were lingering around the map, talking and pointing. It was significantly marked up, so I stepped over and felt comfortable drawing roughly where the instance was located on the map.

"It's here, in a brewery. It is level 100 SS," I offered.

Hercules' eyes practically lit up. "Very worthwhile. To be frank, we'll probably spend at least a little time inside ourselves. I hope you don't mind.”

“It's not like you're going to hog the whole thing, are you?" I asked.

He dismissed my concern with a wave of his hand. "We can just send larger groups in. That might actually be for the best. Though, it’ll take a significant chunk of our elite forces to actually finish it."

Circe cut in, joining the conversation. "As you see, the instance is actually close to popping. It’s also incredibly difficult. Do not skimp on the elites to close it out or they’ll die. The end is a gauntlet, so you might even want two teams."

That statement made Hercules frown deeply. "In that case, we'll assemble a group to get started right away on ensuring that that doesn't happen. Thank you for the tip."

I nodded along in agreement. "As for the Borrsons, why are they even here? I expected them to be busier in Antarctica."

Hercules stared at me for a brief moment. "You don't realize that they're here for you?" he asked, watching me closely.

I opened my mouth to say something to refute his statement. However, I snapped it closed a second later. "How would they have even known that I was here?"

Hercules shrugged. "Now, if I knew that, they wouldn't have known in the first place. What I can confidently say is that Vidar is trying to figure you out and keep a close eye on you."

I scowled. "Why?"

Hercules looked over to see if Circe was going to answer that for me.

"It's because, technically, you might have a right to challenge him in the Borrson Clan," Circe said after a thoughtful moment. "I'm not entirely clear on the particulars of Thorin's exile, but given how much they want to keep the Titan bloodlines in the family, it wouldn't surprise me that if Thorin's children had a bloodline, those children could be re-accepted back into the fold."

I snorted. "Yeah, let me walk right back into the 'family'"—I quoted in the air—"that was trying to kill my mother."

"Complain if you wish, but the reality is that he could be concerned that you will challenge him for his position," Hercules continued. "It's not unreasonable at all for him to be wary of you or, better yet, actively remove you as a problem."

I grimaced at those words but nodded in understanding. "So he'd pick a fight just to make sure I don't become a problem," I muttered to myself. "Whatever," I said, dismissing his concern. "We have bigger problems that are far more important than the Borrson Clan and their feelings." I wasn't going to tell Hercules any plan I had related to vengeance for my mother. Not that I didn't trust him, but if the Borrson Clan knew I was here, there were still spies within the Heros Clan, likely close to Zeus and Hercules.

"Well, what are we doing now?" Circe asked with her arms crossed.

"We're going to go back to Vein City and help with the situation there," I answered.

They turned to glance at Simone, who had stepped off to the side with Gloria and Nyx. They were using the rocky-talkies, as Simone called them, to communicate quickly between various organizations she had set up around the globe. She peeled herself away from those conversations when I looked her way. Her face lit up as it met my eyes, and she immediately hopped over to my side, leaning into me.

"Things are going well around the world," she said proudly.

"Good. It's the best we can hope for. Any news from Vein City?" I asked without revealing exactly where my mind was going.

"The city has been under attack for the last two days. However, the Nester family and the Mul Branova have used that to expand considerably. And the gate guardian inside our little shooting gallery has been dealt with, but they haven't stopped the one at the gate outside the city. Apparently, Thorin was injured when he lost one of Circe's elites," Simone dutifully reported.

I glanced over at the two Heros Clan leaders to see what they thought of that information, only for both of them to remain fairly impassive at the news of loss. They knew the costs of this level of fighting.

Circe realized she needed a reaction if nothing more than for the members around us all. "It's terribly unfortunate, but everyone involved is well aware of the risks. The families of those who died will receive plenty of compensation. And if we can, we'll return their valuables to their family as well. I assume the one who died in the tower had their spatial ring scooped up. If you could at least have that returned, it would go a long way."

I nodded for Simone to pass that instruction along.

"As for the other areas," Simone hesitated, looking at the others.

I nodded. I was not opposed to sharing the information with the two leaders with us. Simone started pointing at the map. It included the entire globe and was well over ten feet in both directions.

"We have a few people stationed in Pakistan that are getting some runoff from the gate in Bangladesh, as well as two instances that have popped nearby." She tapped a finger. “Here, but that is our lowest recruitment sector."

She then dragged her finger north towards the border of Russia and China. "Up here, our efforts were fairly small, but they've yielded great returns. Interestingly, on the Russian side, more people than we expected flocked simply for the food and security that we offered. Because we were able to get them so quickly, and they were so eager, we have a significant number of Mul Branova added to our overall forces. And in northern China, we were able to get a fair number as well."

She then dragged her finger down to Africa. "People down here have been incredibly unwilling to engage in any kind of dialogue with us. That's been the biggest problem. They're spooked."

I groaned and closed my eyes. "Well, they also have less direct demon presence, so for now, they can be less active."

"The other concerning news item is that we're hearing rumors that the Atlantic coast of Africa is pretty much empty of ships, and any that venture out seem to disappear. Like, there's something in the water," she hazarded.

I frowned at the map. "There is an aquatic hell gate, but it's in the Pacific not the Atlantic. My best guess is they have several instances that have popped off the coastal waters. I don't know."

"Speaking of," Hercules interrupted her report, "the gate in the Pacific Ocean is the one we're getting reports on right now. No one has a handle on it. The clans are acting. There's a gate in Russia. It's being dealt with, as well as the one in Bangladesh. The Ennead Clan had a gate pretty much pop up in their backyard, and they are on top of it. We don't know what's happening in Antarctica, but you said that the Borrsons are handling it?" He glanced at me, and I nodded.

"Most likely. So, my people are dealing with the one near Vein City and our captured hell gate. You guys are here, dealing with the one in Copenhagen. It seems like the Borrson have sent a small force here as well. They've also got Antarctica. The Wukong Clan is dealing with Russia, and the Kailash Clan is dealing with the one in Bangladesh. That just leaves the one in the Pacific Ocean completely unchecked, as well as the one in Australia."

"Wait, there's one more," Simone said, tapping on the map and pointing at Brazil, in particular, an area neighboring the Amazon Rainforest.

I waved a dismissive hand at her. "You don't have to worry about the one in Brazil."

Hercules and Circe were looking at me strangely, their eyebrows raised in curiosity.

I decided to give them an answer. "They aren't a formal clan or sect as you would call them, but there is a small cluster of strong initiated down there. I'm not entirely certain if they come to pass as part of The Rapture, or if they were already strong from before the event. But right now, I would advise that we leave them be. They'll take care of the mess down there without our intervention."

"If everything remains the same," Hercules added with no small amount of skepticism.

"If everything remains the same," I echoed. "If you would like, you're certainly welcome to send someone down there to keep an eye. But like I said, I'm not overly concerned. I expect them to take care of it themselves. And if they can't, well, then we'll go deal with the issue once the demons are nice and fat with experience."

Everyone was following along, and we’d been given a wide berth by the rest of the Heros, many going as far as leaving the room for us to talk.

I looked back down at the map. "As for the Pacific Ocean, I have a theory that I can't confirm. In my past life, there was a significant outpouring of demons that wreaked havoc across the coastlines and cut off any trade. However, about a year into everything, they completely disappeared. Someone acted and slaughtered a good chunk of the demons present. There was also a strong rumor that the demon lord, when he first became active, went into the ocean to deal with an issue." I gestured vaguely at the map, my fingers circling around a number of island clusters. "But right now, we don't have the time or resources to worry much about that, unless you're hiding a much larger army than I've seen thus far." I glanced over at Circe and Hercules.

The big man grunted. "We're strapped as it is. The idea of expending significantly more resources is not high on my list of priorities. If you say they're going to be taken care of, then I'm happy to look the other way and let what happened happen."

I flashed him a smile and a shrug. "Perfect. Moving on. I'll be heading back to Vein City. If they haven't defeated the other gate guardian and Thorin is injured, it's probably best that I at least show my face, if not deal with the situation entirely."

"After that"—I glanced over at Merlin—"I would love a ride back."

She nodded. "As long as you let us get some downtime at your fortress, I think I could be convinced to bring us back."

"Tired already?" I teased. "We'll have to work on your stamina."

Simone was behind her, nodding quickly with a strange smile on her face.

I frowned at Simone, not sure why she was so emphatic on that fact. Letting it go, I looked around the group. "Unless anyone has further questions, there's an apocalypse going on, and all of us have a responsibility to save as many lives as possible.”

Chapter 21

M erlin didn't make us wait long, teleporting back to Vein City as if she was in a hurry. Perhaps she really did need a little downtime.

"All right, what do we do now?" Nyx said, glancing around. Her serpents were up like they were ready for a fight.

I put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You, my dear, are going to do precious little. If you'd like, you can help out at the tower or man the fortress walls, but if I'm honest, what I need most from you is to relax enough that you are ready for the next round."

Nyx tilted her head strangely at me, and even her serpents were looking between each other and back at me with confusion. “What?”

"I know it might seem strange, Nyx, given all of the disasters around us, but this will not be resolved in a day, week, or even months. We all have to learn to relax when we can, so we can be ready for the next disaster." I gave her a meaningful look, and her mouth opened wide in surprise.

"You're benching me?" Her serpents hissed a bit as they swirled around.

I winced at her tone. "Not at all. You’re one of our stars. I'm simply looking out for your well-being, and that means making sure you do get some rest. I'll be doing rounds around the fortress and the city, trying to understand where everyone is going, and where everyone is needed most. When I finish up with that, I'm most likely going to work all of you to the bone. So, take a break while you can." I flashed her a winning smile.

Simone moved over, wrapping her arm around Nyx. "If you'd like, you can join me in getting a quick survey from the Mul Branova. Otherwise, I'm getting ready to take a really long, steamy bath." Simone groaned almost sexually at the thought, and I noticed all of the women around me perked up.

"Perhaps you should all do that first, and I'll find something else to do in the meantime," I offered.

"Oh no, you should come with us," Simone said, trying to grab my arm and drag me away. Even as her arms strained, she frowned and pulled again. "Bran, you're heavy. I didn't quite realize how heavy you'd gotten."

I could only shrug helplessly at the fact. "Is it a problem?"

"No, I like being on top," she said mischievously, earning an eye roll from Merlin.

I put a hand on her shoulder, easing her off my arm. "You guys, go relax. I'm not going to be able to relax until I check in and make sure everything is okay. But I won’t be far behind you."

Simone pouted, but she slipped off my arm. "Fine, be that way. I'm going to take a nice long bath, though, and you are welcome to join me at any time." Her eyes promised me I would enjoy joining her.

"I won't be long," I said before turning and moving through the fortress at a quick pace. If I stayed any longer, she was probably going to successfully drag me into the bath.

Moving around the fortress was odd. Everyone looked up from what they were doing, spotting me only for their face to split with a giant smile and wave excitedly at me. I hadn't seen people so content in a long time. And perhaps I had taken it for granted before The Rapture, but now that it had come, it was odd to see people not be in constant stress and anguish. In this short walk, I truly felt as if I had made a difference to many people at the beginning of The Rapture.

"Bran." Bobby waved a big mitt while Candy poked out from behind his large frame.

"Bobby, Candy, pleasure," I said, walking up to them and clasping Bobby's forearm before he pulled me into a firm hug where he patted my back.

"I didn't know you were back. The men on the wall were supposed to tell me that." Bobby frowned, glancing at Candy.

"We teleported in, so it's no one's fault that they missed it," I offered, glad to know that Bobby was active in managing things. He might be a giant teddy bear at times, but he was pretty much raised to lead a large organization.

Bobby made a noise of understanding. "Makes sense. We'll just have to put a bell on you or something. Also”—he squinted at me—"have you gotten bigger?"

I gauged Bobby's height, realizing I was perhaps a hair taller than him now. "It would seem so. Come on. I wanted to check on the tower. And then on my father. I heard he was injured."

"Nothing too bad." Bobby waved a hand. "He's made of tough stuff, but he got injured enough that your mother is forbidding him from going after the other gate guardian. Something about an irresponsible son running off." A smile tugged at his lips as he turned and tried to hide it.

I rolled my eyes. "Even when you grow to be 500 years old, become a king, and come back in time, you're still subjected to your mother's judgment." I chuckled and earned a good laugh from Candy.

"How are the Nesters?" I asked.

"Good," Bobby said without hesitation. "Pops gained quite a few levels from the tower, and then he even took to the city, helping some of our crews mop up the demons that came through. Given everyone is getting stronger, he felt the need to remind them that he was just as capable. We even had an instance pop. No one caught it in the city’s waste treatment facility"—he grimaced—"and now there's no waste treatment facility.”

“But we're doing what we can to see if we can get it back online," Candy added chipperly.

"That's good, but ultimately, the city will cease functioning. Do we still have power?" I asked.

He waffled a hand. "We're down to about 40% of the city still having power. In other good news, transformers are a great way to watch a low-level demon get fried."

I gave a soft chuckle, just imagining the demon not understanding what it was, and one metal object later becoming quite charred.

"And the fortress is remaining operational. Everything's working. That's our saving grace." I looked around as we passed rooms with people drinking water and having plates of food.

Bobby nodded along. "We're handing out food to people in the cities, but they're not quite desperate yet. Shipments have slowed, but I figure it'll be another two weeks before grocery stores and pantries begin to run empty. We're setting aside a big plot of land, and we've already got some people farming, but not enough. You’d be surprised how reluctant people are to do anything while they still have food."

"Favor those who join early," I said. "That's the best you can do."

I reached the tower inside the fortress that was filled with people firing arrows down into the open hell gate. I wanted to make sure that the inscriptions I had put initially remained intact.

There was an olive-skinned man at the bottom, vines growing out of his hands as they slashed and stabbed through the demons. He was likely one of Circe's elites.

As for the tower itself, there was minimal damage; however, any damage was concerning considering how many enchantments I had placed into the concrete walls.

There were three spots where claws had clearly gouged out rows of the concrete. Sadly, we didn't have enough materials from the instances to get the concrete higher ranked than E. There was just too much of it and too little from the instances. Even with my enchantments, it wouldn’t hold up to S-ranked attackers, not with considerable strength behind them.

"As you can see, not too bad,” Bobby said. “Your father basically threw himself at it. The second it spawned, he got real big and real shiny. While he smashed it, I think he just threw everything at it at once rather than take a risk.”

I nodded and turned away from the tower.

"And the Mul Branova? I know you aren't in charge of them, but you are surrounded by them all day,” I offered.

“Good. Jenny and Amanda have been leading teams into the city. They've stayed out of the instances and let a lot of the other girls take the new recruits in. We've done some joint instances with the Nester Clan, but at the same time, many of them like to keep their operations separate. And if I'm honest, a good number of the Nesters are terrified of them," Bobby answered.

Candy chuckled by his side. "That's a polite way of putting it. Old men need to keep their hands to themselves. Her smile turned into a vicious grin that was unusual for the bubbly blonde. Bobby put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"I think the big question now, Bran, is how long are you going to stick around?" Bobby asked.

I waffled my hand back and forth. "I'll take care of the gate guardian closest to us. Apparently, it seems that if I don't, my mother will think I'm irresponsible. And I can't have that. Otherwise, I think we'll stick around long enough to get people confident and excited about what's happening. Then we'll move on to the next big opportunity. We can't stand still long. We can’t get complacent with our current strength."

Bobby nodded along. "Standing still is the same thing as falling behind. Perhaps worse. We've already had a little trouble with some people who got strong classes out of the gates. Some weirdo got a necromancer class, and with all of the dead, he created a small army and called himself some sort of lord." Bobby shook his head. "You should have seen him cackling and trying to get one of the Mul Branova to bend the knee and become his wench of some sort."

Bobby rolled his eyes while Candy giggled before clarifying, "Needless to say, Amanda showed up, and there's no longer a necromancer in the city.”

I shook my head. There were probably a dozen such interesting stories, but there would be time for them later. “Good catching up with you, Bobby. But I've got to keep moving. We should have some meals together the next couple days," I said, breaking away now that I saw my mother and father's room.

Bobby understood immediately where I was going and gave me a quick wave, moving like he was escaping. He and Candy were already turning down the hall when I knocked on my mother's door.

"Who is it?" Elle called out.

"Your irresponsible son," I chuckled from the other side, only for the door to fly open.

My mother stood arms folded on the other side. Even mad at me, she looked a lot better than she often appeared in my memories, barely waking and dying in a hospital bed. "And where have you been?" she asked.

"Copenhagen. Dealing with an SS instance that almost popped."

Her glower only wavered briefly before it redoubled. "Do you realize how injured your father got?" she asked me.

"He's alive, isn't he?" I said, glancing as the big man came up behind her. I gestured at him. "He looks fine to me."

"I am fine. She worries too much. It was a tough battle, and I've grown stronger for it," Thorin said.

I gave him a sharp nod. "See? He's fine." The two of us shared a look as we stood like two mountains on either side of her.

My mother rolled her eyes in exasperation. "You two."

I reached over and pulled my mother close to give her a squeeze. "It's okay. I'm happy you're worried about me." I patted her on the back and realized based on the way she jolted that perhaps it had been too hard. “But I'm back now, and I will go deal with the other gate guardian.” I turned to focus on my father. "As for you, I do think we need to have a conversation."

He frowned, tilting his head.

"I met Vidar and realized one of his subordinates was the woman who poisoned my mother." I could almost feel the anger rippling off of Thorin, and I had to stifle any response I had from my past life when Thorin ‘clan killer’ Aegir ripped my heart out.

"That bastard of a whelp," Thorin ground out. "I'll fucking go kill him with my bare hands."

I gestured for him to calm down. "Not necessary. I'll likely do it myself. It seems, Father, that he has a problem with me. And after a quick conversation with Circe and Hercules, they think perhaps I still have some succession rights to the Borrson Clan."

My father frowned, rubbing his chin and glancing off into the distance for a short moment.

My mother, too, was staring at him curiously.

"Under most circumstances, I would say that you simply don't stand a chance against a Borrson-raised peer. However, you are a bit of an anomaly, and you did awaken a powerful titan bloodline." He continued to rub his chin. "There's probably an argument that could be made to bring you back into the fold. And then once that was made, you could, of course, compete against him for anything." He gestured vaguely.

I knew the Borrson Clan largely fought and competed over positions like the one that my father lost and caused his exile. There was likely also no contract for his exile, just a matter of the clan. So, much of it was just decisions that those in charge would make.

"It's not a no. But not a yes?" I asked.

Thorin nodded. "If you announced your bloodline to them and let them inspect you, I would say you had a 9 in 10 chance of being re-accepted into the clan. Of course, they would argue that you were born with the Heros bloodline rather than simply some unawakened one. But I think that's close to a moot point if you could produce a generation of potent bloodlines. That fact would make the clan over the moon and likely ignore most dissidents. After all, it is the bloodlines that have promoted the Borrson Clan to the state it's at today. My question to you, Son, is do you intend to join the Borrson Clan?"

I frowned and glanced to the side. "I have a feeling Vidar is going to come after me one way or another. If he tried so hard to harm my mother, then I can only assume he's not going to stop."

"Don't we have bigger problems to worry about?" my mother asked, gesturing vaguely around us. “Like, for example, the whole swarms of demons suddenly invading the world, and instances appearing by the dozen, several of which were already ready to pop right inside a city?"

I shrugged. "There's only so much I can do in regards to the global problem. However, someone who wants to come attack me and my family, that's personal. And I will ensure that any fist he throws ends up shattered." My eyes became hard.

My mother shook her head.

However, my father clasped me on the shoulders with a giant smile. "As it should be. Crushing your enemy’s bones to dust is one of the finest pastimes available."

My mother let out an exasperated sigh. "Why couldn't I have had a nice, polite daughter?"

I shrugged and smiled at both of them. "But that's days or weeks away for now. I'm going to go back to my ladies, and we're going to rest before planning on taking out the next gate guardian."

Chapter 22

A fter finishing up my rounds, and being stopped several times by the very excited Mul Branova, I made my way back to the bath.

Pushing aside the curtain, steam billowed out in a warm greeting. I waved the steam away to see the five ladies still lounging in the bath. They all noticed me in their own way. Nyx perked up as her hair serpents thrashed around excitedly, splashing in the pool like they were doing cannonballs. Gloria simply squinted open her eyes as she leaned on the edge of the bath. Simone broke into a brilliant, sultry smile, rising up so the mounds of her breasts were just cresting the slightly bubbling water.

Circe and Merlin perked up, their eyes holding a similar gaze to Simone’s. I paused, watching their movements for a moment before I activated Soul Gaze. The illusions puffed away in glittering flakes, and my Saintess pouted.

“I’m not sure how Circe would react if she knew I’d seen even an illusion of her naked.” I gave Simone a long look that was meant to chastise, but she simply stuck out her tongue.

“They had towels on,” Simone argued. “They were just under the water.”

I grunted and stripped my clothes off, throwing them to the side. As my toes entered the warm water, an almost sexual groan escaped my lips.

"It's good, right?" Nyx moved, and her powerful lower half swished beneath the water's surface.

"This bath feels incredible. Now that your illusions are gone, where did Circe and Merlin actually go?” I asked.

“They were quick. Circe wanted to go check on her own people, and I don't know what Merlin went off to do." Simone tapped at her chin before shrugging. "She really does keep to herself, far more than I expected her to. I mean, we invited her into our secret fortress."

"It's not very secret," Gloria spoke up from where she was lounging with her eyes half-closed, a steaming towel on top of her coifed-up purple hair.

Nyx's hair, if the serpents could be called that, was left down to be wild. And Simone had pulled her hair back with a scrunchie to keep it out of her way. For once it wasn’t illusioned, and her curly raven locks poured down her back, stretching well down to her hips.

"Which means we are all alone," Simone emphasized and languidly slid over to sit next to me.

I had a bar of soap that I'd taken from the side and begun to scrub myself while eyeing my lover suspiciously. "Why are you so happy?" I asked.

"Should I not be?" she asked, sounding almost offended. "We got out of a very difficult instance, and now we are as safe as we realistically can be at the moment. And best yet, we're gonna have bath sex." She flashed me a giant grin as she slid in front of me, pressing into me. I could feel every bit of her against my skin, her pink nipples hard against my chest.

"Are we now?" I asked with a wry grin, letting my hands start to wander down her wet form.

"Of course, you're going to need a little help cleaning off first, though, aren't you? Nyx, Gloria, would you care to help?" Simone asked.

Gloria waved a hand. "Not interested in helping. I'll let you have your way with him, but don't expect me to join. I’ll just be over here soaking." She let out a groan and shifted another cloth behind her head so she could lay it over the edge of the bath while the one that had been on her head went over her eyes.

This bath was built for plenty of people to lounge in comfortably. It was more like a long hot tub than anything. And the girls had made it precisely so they could take some nice long baths in the rare moments of downtime.

"It never hurts to have a place to relax after hard fighting," I mused.

Simone kissed my cheek, pulling my mind away from the fights that had begun to consume it.

"Don't go drifting off on me, Bran. Otherwise, I might think you no longer find me attractive." Simone winked.

"We both know that's not remotely true." I grabbed her and squeezed her close, planting a kiss on top of her head. "You are beautiful, wonderful, and everything I could dream of in a partner."

I moved down to her mouth, knowing Simone would never settle for simply a kiss on the forehead. I kissed her passionately for a moment, our tongues twisting together.

"And that goes for both of you, too." I glanced over at Nyx and Gloria.

Nyx's serpents got all excited.

"Don't think you're going to lure me over there," Gloria said, lifting a corner of the cloth, watching me suspiciously.

I chuckled, knowing that would not happen anytime soon.

Gloria's attitude in bed was unique. It was almost like she couldn't make herself vulnerable. And so what she wanted in a partner was someone who could force her to become vulnerable, force her to enjoy the intimacy, or perhaps she just liked the struggle.

I smiled at her, and she blushed furiously, the heat of the bath helping her cheeks go bright red.

Simone’s hand came back up, regrounding me to the moment with her. She kissed me again while stealing the bar of soap. Pulling back, she began studying my body, carefully scrubbing suds along my chest. While she worked, she then ran delicate hands along my shoulders before pressing her fingers into the sore muscles.

I let out a heavenly sigh and laid my head back. "Thank you, Simone."

"You're welcome." She paused for a second, and I felt another pair of hands join her. The new hands obviously belonged to Nyx when I felt her serpents join in. Three of them nuzzled at my neck and then, into my hair, spilled suds down the front of my face.

Nyx’s tail coiled possessively around my calf as I opened my eyes to find the cute woman biting her lip with focus, and she did her best to mimic Simone.

The saintess laughed softly. "It's like you have twenty hands. We’re supposed to be going slow and letting Bran enjoy this, Nyx."

Simone poked one of the serpents and eased it away from the spot she had been scrubbing for the last few seconds.

"Sorry," Nyx apologized. "Sometimes they just have a mind of their own. I think about wanting to clean Bran, and they take that as an action to complete." It took Nyx a moment, but soon the serpents retreated, floating in the air and watching me eagerly. It seemed that the new activity was taking in the view.

Nyx scooched closer to the steps, and Simone nudged me to follow. I was happy to comply if I would continue getting washed.

Simone led me up to the high step, bringing my hips completely out of the water. Then Simone grabbed one of my legs and lifted it free, only to run delicate searching fingers through my muscles and down around sore spots on my ankles and feet.

Meanwhile, Nyx slid out of the water and eased me to lie all the way back on a section of her tail before she stretched her arm and snatched a small basket, moving it over for her to pluck through several shampoo bottles and squirt some into her hand. She began washing my hair, her nails scraping pleasantly along my scalp and the soft pads of her fingers massaging behind them before circling around my temples and smoothly taking the tension out of me as she rubbed behind my ears.

As Simone washed my other leg, her tune changed slightly. "There are some places we have to get very clean," Simone said.

I felt her warm, sudsy hand wrap around the girth of my cock, languidly stroking it. I lifted my head to look her in the eyes.

She had zero shame, a giant grin on her face as she pumped it slowly. "We have to get it clean, Bran.”

“It would be a shame if it was dirty. A real shame," Nyx echoed.

When I looked at the serpent woman, she had a blush so red that it made it look like she was about to pass out. But it could also be that her seafoam green eyes and hair just made her appear even more red.

I closed my eyes and lay my head back, allowing the two of them to pamper me. "Go ahead. Make it clean, Simone.”

“Oh yes, very clean," she purred. Her hand twisted as it stroked me up and down, faster and faster.

I bucked my hips slightly. "Good girl," I said, not to either of them in particular.

Simone's hand stopped.

I peeked out between my eyelids, wondering if I’d said the wrong thing.

However, the look on Simone's face was completely the opposite. She was shocked, but a slow grin was spreading across her face.

I think I said something very right, that even she didn’t realize she wanted.

Simone shook her head to clear her sudden smile. "Nyx, the conditioner, please."

"Conditioner?" Nyx asked with a frown, but she still handed it to Simone.

"Of course. I mean, considering the business I used to run, obviously I know the best option to use in a shower or a bath." Simone tipped over the bottle and squirted the conditioner into her hand.

Rather than put it on me, she rubbed it between her breasts as she met my eyes with a giant grin that was full of promise for what would come next. She leaned over me. My cock was still sudsy as Simone pressed the head into the soft valley between her creamy mounds and put a hand on either side, squeezing them together.

There was something unique about the texture of breasts that drove me wild. It must be baked into the male brain. There was just something different about how they felt. And having them wrapped around my cock was even better.

"Good girl," I groaned again and leaned back.

Simone bit her lip, her cheeks blushing as she squeezed her chest together and ran her breasts up and down the length of my cock.

It disappeared between her chest, only to slide back out slick and smooth thanks to the conditioner. She'd already brought me part of the way with her hands, so I couldn't help but groan as she bounced her breasts even faster over me.

"Call me a good girl again. I try so hard to be a good girl for you," Simone moaned as she engulfed me with her sweet succulent flesh. Her nipples, like two hard points, crested the surface of the water every time she swayed her whole body.

My cock appeared and reappeared, the smooth friction and the supple flesh driving me absolutely nuts. I couldn't help but buck into her, my body wanting more. "Good girl."

She squeezed her breasts around it even harder, completely engulfing the head. Only the barest tip poked out between her cleavage. Simone picked up into a feverish pace, causing me to grunt with need. She squeezed them and pressed them all around me, stroking several more slow, languid strokes.

I came like a fountain, spraying out between her breasts and onto her neck, decorating it like a dripping pearl necklace.

Simone's grin was so wide that her eyes practically glowed. She gave me two more slow, delicate strokes, squeezing out the last few droplets with her soft flesh. The sensation sent tingles down my spine, causing my legs to tense as I pressed them to her side.

"Good girl," I managed to mumble, earning a massive grin from Simone. "Careful now, your regeneration might not be able to keep up if you keep encouraging me."

Still painted with my seed, she bent over and kissed my rapidly softening cock. The kiss deepened as she brought the head past her lips. Her tongue massaged along the base, sucking the last few drops of seed out of me and reviving the flagging soldier.

I realized then that Nyx, who had been washing my hair, had stopped to watch.

"Simone…" Nyx said, clearly wanting to join.

"If you finish my hair, you get a turn." I jumped in before Simone could be greedy.

Simone waggled a finger at me. "Then, Bran, you don't get to move. Your good girls get to spoil you." Simone gave me a wink before she took me deep down into her throat.

Chapter 23

R eorganizing our little fortress in Vein City took longer than I had expected, and it certainly didn't help that demons steadily flowed in from the hell gate in the distance, forcing us to maintain a constant rotation of people to whittle away at the demons spawning both in the tower and in the city.

Even then, we almost had too many people, yet not enough capable hands. Our recruitment efforts in Vein City doubled and then redoubled as our presence within the city grew.

In fact, every time I swept in to handle the situation, I was nearly mobbed by the Mul Branova and those joining the Nesters. I had become uncomfortably famous in the city. Instead of dealing with everything, more often than not, Simone and Gloria shooed me out to run instances with the newest batch. All of them were starry-eyed as they watched me cleave through very easy monsters.

Green recruits were nothing new, but these people worshiped me, and it even showed the growth as Worshipped finally hit B rank.

I had once been known as the Wandering King, where I could come and go before people often realized who I even was. Now I was stuck with my adoring fans most days. I was going to need to find coping mechanisms.

Somehow, despite global trade grinding to a halt, the Mul Branova had begun walking around in attire similar to Simone's, making the whole group look like some sort of clergy. I had no idea where they got it all. Simone favored black and white, which made her look like a nun. The others had begun to adopt a uniform that was red and white. Whenever they saw me, they flashed brilliant smiles, either getting so excited that they couldn't speak or feeling the need to dip their heads in some sort of reverent worship.

As soon as I had a moment to get out of the fortress, I took the opportunity.

"Single file. We're heading back to the Citadel of Blood," one of the Mul Branova spoke before I could say anything.

I gave her a tight-lipped smile, doing my best not to show any irritation at the use of that name.

She'd probably be excommunicated from her friend group if any of them thought she had made me angry.

Really, it was just a fortress. Citadel of Blood made it sound like some kind of supervillain hangout. But something told me I was about to be stuck with that name.

As we moved, I spotted a few roving demons. However, our group was large enough that the demons quickly backed off. And, as usual, they turned and ran, likely to go report our location.

A Bloodiron Blade appeared in my hand, and two flicks of my wrist sent two crescents of blood that killed the demons before they could scamper away.

"Lord Bran, you are so incredible," one of the Mul Branova gushed, her eyes bright enough that she could probably illuminate the night with them.

I flashed her a smile. "Thank you, but it isn't me who's incredible. It's all of you. You needed a fair amount of courage to work yourself through that instance," I offered.

"At least we have the best starting class there is." Another batted her lashes at me.

"Oh, is that what you guys consider the best?" Another one of them scoffed before glancing at me, and her face drained of blood, going completely pale. "I'm sorry, that was rude, Lord Bran. I didn't mean it like that. It’s just SS and there are SSS classes. I know this one is…"

I waved a hand to get her to stop the rambling apology. "It's fine. Any class can learn and grow stronger. Right now, the main focus for everybody should be survival and growth."

All of the ladies nodded along as if they had been fed this information repeatedly.

"Exactly," another echoed. "It is because of Lord Bran's gifts that we have a much higher survival rate than the rest of the world."

I raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me people are still podcasting." I squinted, not sure if I could use it as a verb.

However, the ladies nodded along, with one even taking out her phone. "Oh my gosh, yes. Don't you know? Even the Mul Branova have a channel." She bit her lip. "We took a few videos while we were in the instance. That's okay, right? If not, we'll delete them right now," she hurriedly reassured me.

I wanted to tell them to delete it, but I held myself back. Simone had likely requested the videos, and I tried to let her run her own operation. The Saintess had big plans to continue to promote the Mul Branova, and I had to admit, she was doing a good job building an army that could defend humanity.

"Though I hear pretty much everyone has chosen a class at this point, are we still even able to get new devotees?" another said hesitantly.

"Except for all of those who are going to start coming of age." A Mul Branova gestured vaguely into the air. "Hundreds of people have their birthdays every day. And if all it takes is bowing and offering a few prayers to Bran to get one of the strongest classes in the world, of course they're going to take that opportunity." Everyone bobbed their heads in agreement.

"And this is the plan?" I asked cautiously.

"Of course, everyone wants the rarest and best skills. The Mul Branova is SS, highly defensive. Meanwhile, there are all sorts of tutorials going around on how to get some basic skills like archery, swordsmanship, and all of that started."

At this point, more than half of the group had a phone out. I was squinting at the devices. "Aren't those going to fail soon?" I hesitated, worried I would upset them.

"Not a chance. Because a lot of towers are taking down, they're switching a lot of the communication to satellites. It's like a big project. And they're really limiting how much bandwidth anybody can take," another added. "Forums have popped up to help everybody. It’s all available. The only trick is that half of the influencers are trying to get people to join one of the many armies."

Another rolled her eyes with a scoff of disgust. "As if one of the Mul Branovas would work for anyone other than Bran and the Saintess."

This was perhaps one of the strangest conversations I'd listened to in my life. And so I just kept a smile plastered on my face while I continued to gossip about the changes, and I wondered what videos they had snapped while we were in the instance.

Was I the star of it, or were they handing out general advice on their own trainings?

I'd been paying more attention to keeping them alive than watching out for them taking videos. I did worry it would distract them from survival, but for now, I would leave it in Simone’s very capable hands.

It seems the global communication infrastructure was dying far slower than I remembered. Then again, by protecting Vein City, had I just stopped it from being cut off from the changes?

The group moved quickly, even at what seemed to be a casual walk. The lowest level in this group was now level 33, making their walking far faster than a normal pace. We cleared our way back to the fortress with relative ease. Only two packs of monsters gave us any trouble, and me stepping forward scared most of them off.

"My lord!" a voice shouted as we walked up to the main gate. Before it could open, a figure launched herself from the wall and landed in front of me.

"Is everything alright?" I asked as Myra landed. Myra was three women in one, my maids having earned the ability to merge their three bodies and bloodlines together during our adventure into the vault. It was a strange ability, but the three of them tended to travel around as one anyway.

Myra seemed to be the brains of the operation, and they were going by her name when fused. It was a strange thing, but I’d seen stranger. At least, they were strong now that they had essentially pooled their stats and even formed a new Horned Gryphon bloodline.

They only split up from time to time, like when they needed more hands to take care of what I needed. I had grown used to having helpers in my past life. It wasn’t uncommon for people to attach themselves to someone stronger for protection.

"Nothing's wrong. Lady Merlin has returned, and we told her that you were looking for her," Myra offered, pulling back her multi-colored hair.

"Oh yes," I said, my eyes lighting up. "With Merlin back, I will be able to actually leave here. Perhaps I can crush some more demons." I perked up.

“She also returned with Lady Circe, who has more information about what is happening around the world,” Myra reported.

"Great.” I nodded. "Well then, by all means, lead me to them." I glanced over at the group of Mul Branova that I had taken through the instance several times today. "And, ladies, best of luck with your endeavors and your… videos."

"Thank you, Lord Bran," they all said loudly with a sweet smile on their faces and waved me goodbye. The second I got out of earshot, it didn't escape my notice that they all collapsed into a tight mob that I had no doubt was about to be filled with gossipy chatter.

"They all adore you," Myra said, leading me with a smug smile.

“Frankly, I could do with a little less worship. It makes me slightly uncomfortable,” I told her.

It was one thing to have people's hopes for survival resting on my shoulders when I was wielding a sword and fighting on a battlefield to save their city, village, or fortress. It was a very different feeling to have people praise me for being me. Not to mention the indoctrination vibes made me really uncomfortable. I had flaws just like anybody else.

Myra quickly led me through the fortress up to a large meeting room that the leaders of both the Mul Branova and the Nesters often occupied. There were a few desks inside as well as a handful of couches, all surrounding a long knee-high table.

People had sheaths of paper and stubbornly clung to their pens. Now that no more would be made, borrowing and not returning a pen was nearly a high crime.

"Bran." Circe smiled and stood as I entered.

Myra bowed to me and stepped away. Given her usual habits, I had a feeling I'd wind up with a tray of some sort of food in a moment.

"Circe," I greeted her and stepped forward to give her a hug.

"Glad to see you made it while we were gone.” Circe patted me on the back.

"You, too. Well"—I pulled away and grabbed her by the shoulders to get a good look at her—"still whole."

She giggled. "Still whole and just as beautiful." She winked her ruby-red eyes at me before escaping my grasp and sliding over to the couch.

Again with the flirting, but she didn’t mean anything by it, I was sure of it. She was just a flirt.

"Merlin brought me back based on how insistent your servant was that she return. Something about you looking all over for her?” Circe pushed.

“Both of you, actually. The gate guardian outside the city needs to go, and we can trim back that gate’s forces as well. After that, I'd like to get back to Europe and make sure those blood demons are appropriately squished out," I answered.

Circe nodded along. "Are we going to go to the SSS instance that you mentioned appearing at the Horn of Africa?"

"Possibly," I said, taking a seat as the couch groaned under my weight. All of the furniture in this area had metal frames. And I had no idea who had made or brought these here, but I was thankful that they were strong. A few I had also enchanted to hopefully help them hold up even longer.

Circe hummed, and a glass of water appeared out of her spatial ring, followed by a few more she offered to Merlin and me.

"I will say, Bran, several events appear not to be the same as what you indicated in the journal you gave Hercules and Zeus. As you can imagine, they're quite upset with those anomalies," she told me.

I could only shrug, showing her my palms. "The timelines are going to deviate, especially with the different response at the beginning of the hell gates this time. What differences in particular?" I leaned forward, genuinely curious.

"Well, I would expect some differences in Europe and here; however, it was bigger than that. The Demon Lord has already appeared in Africa," Circe told me.

My eyes went hard, and my brain stopped and focused solely on that information. "How bad?"

"Not as bad as it could have been." Circe scowled, but the scowl wasn't directed at me. "The Ennead Clan managed to send enough forces down to spook him away. However, the damage was already done." She grimaced, taking a folio and a Manila folder out of her spatial ring and placing it on the table between us. She flipped it open. "These were two that you said were the heroes of the First War, ones who you protected in the vault?"

I grimaced, already knowing where she was going. "They're dead?"

Her lips were tight. "Worse. Captured. By all accounts, the Demon Lord personally sought them out."

My frown deepened.

At this time, the Demon Lord shouldn't be that powerful. He was secretly running one of the world's strongest hidden sects and had amassed significant personal strength. However, without the hell gate from Tartarus, his forces should be far more limited.

"Anything different about it?" I said after a second, unsure of what to ask.

"It was clear he came straight for these targets. Small, elite force led by him. They killed anyone else below level 100, only took the elites, and then disappeared. That or the Ennead Clan’s response scared him off."

My brain was swirling. Something wasn't right about this news. "This is wrong. In my prior life, he was all about large armies swarming over swaths of land, scouring any human he could get. He was never this"—I gestured at the Manila folder—"tactical. Maybe something spooked him, and he thinks he has to be a little more careful."

Circe shrugged and closed the folder. There were several other faces in the folder, but apparently, they weren't important enough. "He also had a small clash with the Borrson Clan long enough to draw away a sizable amount of force from the north. They vanished before the Borrsons were able to get their elites tracking them.” Circe looked down at the table. "We're not entirely sure how he's traveling so quickly."

"He has an ability to create gateways from place to place," I said. "At least he did when he became more active in my past life. It can't transport much, but it sounds to me like without his hidden hell gate, and without wanting to expose Heaven's Fist for what they are, he's trying to draw in resources and create strong groups of demons." I rubbed my chin. "Which means the clan should do some outreach and get more cooperation from the stronger members of the Free Player Alliance. That is if we want to protect them and deny the Demon Lord even more valuable hosts."

Something else about this was bothering me.

Circe grimaced, as did Merlin before I could think too hard on it.

It was the wizard who spoke up. "The FPA and the clans do not play well together." Merlin shook her head. "What you're asking is impossible. The clans tried to force far too many of those in the alliance to bend the knee and get merged into the clans. Every fifty to hundred years, there's a conflict between the two, and I don't know if the apocalypse is going to be enough to mend the animosity that’s been created."

"Doesn't help with how aggressive the Borrsons are becoming." Circe glanced in my direction. "Vidar is looking for you and making a bit of a mess in the process."

"I'm sure he is." I cocked her a bright smile. "When I'm ready, I'll find him."

Chapter 24

O ur group had reformed with a few more to go after the hell gate and the gate guardian closest to Vein City.

Already, humanity had lost control of the hell gate, and the surrounding space had begun terraforming to this particular demon clan's preference. Small ponds, far deeper than they looked, dotted the landscape in front of us. Meanwhile, the area was abuzz with demonic activity that we could see from the ridgeline as we overlooked the budding demonic fortification in the distance.

"These demons don't look like the ones we've seen thus far," Gloria said, casting a glance my way.

"I think of them as old faithful servants for whatever demonic clan they serve. They've been given a chance to come here and reap rewards before the masses run in and suck everything up. The ones we've seen mostly thus far on Earth are more akin to moltings, or perhaps caterpillars in cocoons might be a more apt description. Just like all of the many butterflies make cocoons that look the same." I hesitated. "Is this making any sense? Demons can take a hundred years to reach maturity after they possess someone, and they are more varied than humans."

"Some," Nyx spoke up, waffling her hand. "So what you're saying is the dark, deformed ones are like the cocoons, and so they all sort of look similar, but eventually, they take on more distinct appearances?" she asked as she pointed at the ones below that all had a fish-like quality to them. They had fins on their arms and spines with scales dotting their skin, though they remained dark with a hint of purple or blue.

"Yeah, pretty much," I said with a shrug. "Don't think too hard about it. Just know that recently possessed all look the same, even if they weren’t human to start. And only once they get old"—I gestured down below—"do they start to have some unique traits."

The group all nodded. Joining me were my ladies, Simone, Nyx, and Gloria. I wouldn't leave them out of the potential rewards. Then there was a small group from the Nester Clan that had been allowed to join, including Bobby, Candy, and some of their picks.

Because this was going to give far more valuable rewards than sitting around and picking off demons in the city.

Also with us were Merlin and Circe, who had brought several of her elites. And finally, even though she had stopped my father from going alone, my mother and Thorin had come to help. Jenny and Amanda were leading a small crew of Mul Branova who were familiar to me from the vault.

All together the group was only about three dozen strong.

"Is there a plan?" my mother asked, more than a little judgment in her tone.

"Preferably don't die." I smiled at her, pinching my face as much as I could before turning back to the problem at hand. "In case someone thinks it's decoration, I need you all to be aware that that is the gate guardian." I pointed ahead at the tail wrapped around the structure.

"Big," was all Thorin said with a grunt, pulling out a massive axe from his spatial ring.

"I'll take it on directly," I said, glancing over my shoulder to spot Simone. "You and Gloria will help. Nyx, I want you to cover the Mul Branova and the Nesters to prevent as many deaths as you can."

Nyx nodded sharply, her serpents all bobbing in unison before splitting up and watching over the groups I’d mentioned.

"Merlin and Circe, I want you to pick off any elites you see pop up during this fight and deal with them. You can come help me after that." I continued to divvy up responsibilities.

"As for you, Mom"—I glanced over at Elle Heros—"I'd prefer if you stuck with Dad. I'm sure I don't have to ask him to keep you alive."

She frowned at me. "You treat me as if I'm a burden."

"No, I just didn't plan for you to come and don't want to have to keep an eye on you. After all, your sword style is less than perfect for an all-out battlefield." I smiled, unable to help myself.

She gave me a look that said she wished she could still put me in timeout.

"Everyone else, kill any demon you see. I'll go first." I stood up from the ridgeline and began charging directly at the gate and the structures they’d built around it.

The wind curled at my back before pushing me forward. Circe was clearly giving me a more than gentle push as my legs began to devour the distance between the fortress and me.

Demons looked up, pausing in their work. It was hard for me not to be noticed as I barreled across the field. While I moved, demons picked up weapons and flung spells. I soaked them up, smiling at training my resistance, letting my new Immortal Body take care of the damage from the small fries.

Shouts erupted behind me as the rest of my group began moving. The Mul Branova and the Nesters happily mopped up the lower-level demons before I jumped, feeling more of Circe's wind catch me and push me over the small lake.

I landed with a thud next to two demons who I grabbed with my bare hands, using them to soften my landing. I practically collapsed their necks into their shoulders before I pushed off and resumed my pace straight for the fortress ahead.

The massive demonic beast in front of me slowly uncurled itself from the fortress. It looked like a giant moray eel, only with equally giant spines rising from its back where there should be a solid fin. It let out a piercing cry that rippled through the air and caused more than a few demons to clutch their heads in pain.

I silently thanked it for helping me as I shouldered through the demons, rushing upon the fortress with a Bloodiron Blade forming in my hands.

The eel moved far faster now, uncoiling itself. I cast Soul Gaze on it to see what I was about to take on.

[Name: Nelly Gnomstix

Level: 652

Class: Monstrous Hydromancer SS

Status: Hungry, Agitated

Strength: 8721

Agility: 7395

Vitality: 16215

Intelligence: 11328

Spirit: 12863

Skills:

…]

Unlike what anybody would typically expect from a creature this size, it was actually a mage.

It opened its mouth, and a stream of bubbles big enough to engulf a school bus fired out.

I shielded myself as they slammed into me, grinding my momentum to a halt.

As they popped, each of them exploded with enough force to knock me around and nearly make me stumble over. Then the next bubble's explosion tried to catch me and toss me in the opposite direction.

I stabbed the Bloodiron Blade into the ground to keep me from flying off, only for the monster's attack to cease and for giant watery tentacles to explode out of the surrounding ponds.

They whipped around not just at me but also at the rest of the group as the massive demon leveled his head at me.

I grinned at the demon as it tried to inspect me, and it was brushed off with a moment of focus. Even if it wasn't my strongest stat in my last life, it was still strong enough to resist a demon of this level.

"Pathetic human," it hissed. "Why have you come to lose your life so early? You could have lived for so many years before we finally refined your corpse into one of us. But now you've presented yourself to me today. And I think you would make a fine host for some of my children." The demon spoke in a gargled voice as it rose above the fortress, fully uncoiling itself. Most of its body rose high in the air. Gills flared on its side as if it was inhaling magic.

A glow streamed from the gills before it let loose another torrent of water.

Simone's barrier popped up, bolstered by my own Crimson Barrier. The double shield was only up for a moment, but it was long enough for me to run underneath the blast and reach the demon's flank.

I slashed at its exposed underside, then threw myself to the side as it dropped its body on top of me with a thunderous boom.

I managed to escape being squished, but it displaced enough wind that I wasn't able to follow up with another strike to its side, too busy trying not to be blown away.

The demon, now with its weight on the bulk of its body, slapped down with its tail, sending me flying nearly a football field's length.

As I flew through the air, I summoned my drop sword into my hand. I activated the ability, changing my trajectory and rocketing to the ground. This skill spared me from taking more damage as the eel blasted another stream of bubbles into the cluster of soil that I had just been inside.

The explosion that followed was loud enough to drown out any other noise on the battlefield.

I activated charge and closed the distance, reaching the demon and burying my sword into its side once again.

Its eyes flashed angrily as its head snapped in my direction, but it looked confused. It must have lost track of me, expecting me to be caught up in its combo attack.

I only grinned, activating Sanguine Locking.

The spell wrapped around the immediate area but failed to contain the entire demon.

As its jaws snapped down at me, I pulled back, swinging my blade and creating a small storm of Sanguine Slashes to cut up the demon's face. I narrowly dodged past its jaws and finished my attack by burying the blade deep into the demon's cheek.

It reared back, trying to toss me away, but I held tightly to the sword even as the wind roared in my ears.

I cast several more Sanguine Slashes as I held on for dear life, like I was trying to stay on a mechanical bull.

The demon roared in rage and slammed its head back down on the ground, with me to the side.

I went to get back to my feet, quickly realizing that the demon had placed me strategically into the middle of an ongoing battle.

A dozen demons turned and immediately began stabbing me with spears and tridents.

Chapter 25

I roared, and a Crimson Barrier snapped out of me, pushing away the demons. I whipped my sword out of the gate guardian and charged into them with sweeping, powerful strikes.

The demons scattered out of my way, yet at the same time, they tried to swarm in behind me, their spears finding purchase when my barrier shattered.

Blood Boil made my muscles swell, and I used my size and mass to my best advantage. My reach kept the demons far enough away that they couldn't all collapse on me at once, even with their longer weapons. Meanwhile, anyone I singled out was easily overpowered simply by me throwing my weight around.

A massive gust of wind slammed into me and the demons as Circe turned into a wisp of blue air. She exploded out of her fight, only to spin above me and send dozens of them flying.

I grinned and threw a fistful of talismans on the ground. Each of the talismans slapped onto a discarded weapon, causing the weapons to sizzle and a dangerous purple mist to rise out of them.

The demons closest to the growing cloud of poison began coughing blood into their hands, even as the rest of my group hurried to get clear of the poison.

Circe understood what was happening well enough and caused the wind around the group to swirl and spin, containing the miasma. It was meant to kill as many of the demons as it could, and now she didn’t just have wind but also a cloud of miasma to wield.

My own poison resistance kept me from it being too effective. After all, mostly D- and C-rank poisons were being created.

However, not all the demons were discouraged. Some weren't as affected or simply didn't care about the pain they were suffering. They rushed me, their weapons glowing with abilities as they stabbed into me, only to find that their weapons didn't get far.

I grinned, holding my Bloodiron Blade tight and spinning quickly. In the blink of an eye, I slashed and beheaded a dozen surprised demons.

The gate guardian howled in rage, and his tail slapped down on top of me.

My grin faltered, and I created two more Bloodiron Blades, stabbing all three into the ground around me as I ducked down within the small cage of protection.

The demon's tail pierced itself on the three weapons, and its flesh dimpled above me, just enough to prevent me from becoming mush that even Immortal Body couldn’t fix.

The swords took the brunt of the attack before I made a fourth and pierced it up into the tail swinging over my body. I cast as many Sanguine Slashes as I could, one after the other, inside of its body.

The demon howled in pain and slammed its tail upwards to get away from the cuts. Its head came around to see just what exactly had happened, only to spot the three dark red swords sticking out from it’s tail.

I staggered to the side, several of my bones needing a moment to put themselves back together.

"You'll pay for that," it cursed, coiling around itself in an instant before rearing its head back and blotting out the sun with a torrent of bubbles.

The bubbles floated down, covering miles around me. It would be pretty the way the red beam reflected in each of them, except that I didn’t have time to admire them if I wanted to survive.

"Defensives now!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

There was a flurry of motion as our party formed small clusters wherever they could to protect each other.

Thorin, my mother, and Merlin were together, each casting defensive barriers. They should be okay. Many of the Mul Branova were rushing to take shelter among them or a group of Circe’s elites.

I launched myself over to Simone and Gloria, using my Crimson Barrier to protect those two. They were my top priority.

Simone threw up her own, only for Circe to sweep down with Nyx tucked under her arms as both of our barriers were coming into place.

When Circe was within reach, she chuckled nervously. A tornado wind kicked alive all around us, shooting directly up into the bubbles cascading down. The second the two spells met, there was a massive blast above us that rippled through the whole mass of bubbles.

It was as if a thousand bombs were going off in a huge chain explosion.

Simone's barrier shattered first, and mine cracked heavily. As more explosions went off all around us, my barrier finally caved.

I wrapped all of them up in my body as best as I could, feeling my flesh and bones ache as explosions rocked us from every direction.

The world rang with noise inside my head as I lost my hearing, and it only made the pain more pronounced.

I pulled my body away once the blasts stopped, finding that Gloria had further protected Simone.

The mob princess managed through, her coat ruined and coughing up a few flecks of blood. She was tougher than the others though.

Simone put her hands on Gloria, rapidly casting one healing spell after the next on all of us.

There was a small hint of jealousy from Circe as she watched us. But the look was gone a moment later. Circe’s hair splayed out in every direction as she shot up, carried by the wind, and began hurling huge blades of air at the massive demon while flying around him.

As the blades hit, the gate guardian uncurled itself from its own defensive position, where it had been protecting its army from the blasts. Hundreds of demons poured out from within its coils, re-engaging our group.

"Focus on getting everyone on their feet, Simone," I said before rushing headlong into the mass of oncoming demons, not caring for my condition. We were all battered and bruised.

If the demons, sheltered from most of the blast, were allowed to rush us, they would roll right over our group.

Gritting my teeth, I activated charge and smashed through those in the front rank. Amidst their forces, I began cleaving through them with wide, heavy strokes of my sword.

Demon blood and guts flew everywhere, only for their bodies to land and disappear a moment later. Yet, the blood on the ground stayed. It was an odd quirk of the system, one that at the moment worked in my favor.

Right now, I needed to be a distraction, a big one, if I were to save the lives of those who depended on me.

I activated Bloodrage Ascension. My body and muscles, already swollen from Blood Boil, redoubled as my bone structure stretched inside of me. My skin continued until it was at the point of breaking, large wounds ripping along my skin as corded muscle grew too large and too fast. I more than doubled my height.

The gate guardian laughed. "Don't think you are the only one with powerful abilities, little human." It emphasized 'little' with a chuckle, probably because it was still massive compared to me.

Its giant moray eel face grinned as its eyes glowed during my transformation. It coiled in on itself, its body shrinking rapidly. After a moment, I realized there was nothing left but a husk of skin before a giant humanoid form burst out of the shedded skin.

Even with Bloodrage Ascension active, it was still bigger than me but far smaller than before. A fair portion of its height was a long neck that ended with a miniature version of the grinning demon's face.

It spun around a massive halberd and pointed at me in challenge. A wicked smile crossed the demon’s face as it looked over the weapon, our eyes locking for only a moment before the spearhead of its halberd punched into my chest.

I blinked and looked down, not quite sure how that had gotten there.

The demon’s arm had stretched over twenty feet and closed the distance while we’d been staring at each other. Apparently, this form was capable of extending its limbs.

I spat out blood and snatched the weapon before the demon could pull it back. I gritted my teeth and leaned away as I tried to swing it off its feet, only to discover that while the demon’s size may have shrunk, its weight perhaps had not changed whatsoever. The demon didn't even budge an inch as I threw my whole body into the effort.

Instead, the demon’s arm whipped to the side and carried me up into the air before I had a chance to adjust my strategy at all.

The drop sword appeared in my hand, more like a trinket than a weapon. I activated it, slamming the demon’s arm and weapon to the ground as I also created a Bloodiron Blade and pinned the demon’s arm before he could try another trick.

Still, the demon seemed unbothered.

Something was very wrong; I paused to see what trick he’d pull out next.

It pulled its arm back, shredding it along my blade and abandoning its weapon. Despite the damage it had done to itself, it moved with a casual pace. "I did not expect a human on this poor planet to give me a worthwhile fight," the demon said. If anything, he seemed more excited now.

Suddenly, shards of ice slammed into the side of the demon’s head. It turned, glaring at Merlin, only for Circe’s Wind Hammer to drop down on him. Both were decently powerful abilities, but in this form, the gate guardian had significantly enhanced his constitution.

I was genuinely worried about what would actually faze it.

The demon scoffed as it pulled his good arm back. A spear appeared before he hurled it so hard through the air that I could hear the wind split.

The spear punched straight through Merlin's chest and carried on behind her, drilling itself through one of Circe's elites as well.

The demon laughed like a madman, spinning about as it summoned a dozen more short spears and began hurling them at me and any human that moved. “Run, humans. Give me a challenge!”

But as I narrowly avoided one of the attacks, it became clear that they were not spears being hurled. Instead, they more closely resembled the spines that had been on the demon's back in its larger form. The demon laughed madly now, hurling spear after spear like it would never run out, and we were the perfect target practice.

I rushed in close, noticing that ever since shifting into the smaller form and bursting free, the gate guardian had not once taken a step.

When I reached the demon, it was forced to stop throwing spears and instead use one of the spines to block my attack. The demon’s strength was incredible, but I wouldn't let him win.

Instead, I spit a glob of blood straight on him before using a Blood Hex to try and increase his weight even further.

The ability took effect, and the demon’s face fell into a frown as a snarl emerged. For the first time, that cocky smile had been wiped off his face.

I grinned in return for figuring out the flaw in the transformation.

The demon was too heavy to throw around anyway. I might as well use that weight to my advantage in slowing the demon down.

I followed up, slashing my blade over the demon three times as it struggled to adjust to its arms being heavier than it expected. I jumped back as a massive hammer of wind slammed down atop its head and rang its bell, only to jump right back in, stabbing my Bloodiron Blade as deep as it would go before making another and trying to turn the demon into a pin cushion.

While the demon was struggling to adjust its arms, it revealed another weapon. The demon’s head, still attached to a massive eel-like neck, clamped down on my shoulder and tore out a huge chunk with needle-like teeth.

I could feel myself flagging as my body warned me that I was taking too much damage.

The demon grinned, and another spine appeared in its hands, one that it dropped down into my leg. Even if it couldn’t swing them around well, it could drop them even harder. The demon went to stab at me with another, but I barely diverted the spine, feeling it brush my thigh.

With my shoulder and leg injured, the block was fairly weak but at least effective enough. I fumbled backwards, ripping out the first.

Only for the demon to follow up as it bit my other shoulder to hold me in place. A spine in each hand found its way into my gut.

The demon laughed, already excited for its victory. It didn't realize that my skin was getting pale, not just because blood was draining away from my flesh but because Last Stand was activating. My entire body filled with strength as my stats explosively increased.

I came up from my grim situation with a giant grin on my face as I stared the demon in the eyes. Another Bloodiron Blade appeared in my hand. There was certainly enough of my own blood coming off me that I had the material for another before I thrust it into its neck and jerked down, ripping a massive cut from the throat of its head down through that long neck, and deep into its chest.

The look on its face was priceless as its previously tough body failed to hold up to my explosive gain in strength.

I nearly bisected the demon with that strike, but I wasn’t done yet. Not by a long shot. I reached my hands inside the demon’s throat, got a good grip, and pulled hard.

The demon gurgled something that sounded like a shout, only for me to continue to rip and pull its throat apart.

I activated Bloodline Manipulation from the giant leech, pulling on the demon’s blood and trying to drain its bloodline through the massive wound.

A small stream of dark blood ripped directly out from its heart, coalescing into a drop in front of me.

It struggled with every ounce of strength left, its body flailing as its arms coiled around mine and tried to separate us.

I was impressed with how much control it still had despite nearly being torn asunder. Every muscle in my body strained with one last explosive pull as I ripped the demon in half, scattering either half to the side with a hard push.

It was done. It wouldn’t survive that, and the system proved it as the demon’s body began to melt into the ground.

I stood surrounded by blood, panting, as Simone's healing spell washed over me. I closed my eyes for just a second, taking a brief respite before cracking them open and seeing Simone.

"Good girl," I said, grinning like a loon.

Satisfaction filled me as the Saintess finally blushed.

The remaining demons wanted to be as far away from our battle as possible, leaving me standing alone with Simone. I didn't try to keep Last Stand active, instead letting it decay as the rest of the group swept over the remaining demons.

Two of Circe's elite flanked me for protection in my weakened state. Gloria joined them, standing in front of me, ready to batter anyone who tried to attack me.

"What now?" she asked.

"Pull back. We came in, and we killed the gate guardian. If we rest and recover, the next time will be far easier. If we keep pushing now, too much will be spent on protecting me. I’m out of the fight for now." As Bloodrage Ascension and Last Stand both came to an end, I felt like a cripple, all strength leaving me. I did not particularly enjoy feeling as frail as a piece of paper.

Circe must have heard my words because she swept by in a breeze, hoisting me in a princess carry before kicking off the ground.

The wind roared behind us and carried both of us high into the air and clear of the battle. "You are far too light," Circe commented, looking down at my body.

I knew that I was extremely emaciated; it would take some time for my body to recover. "Got him, though." I grinned at Circe, still feeling high from the victory.

"The demon should have known better than to think it would win a fight with you." She smiled softly down at me. "And don't you worry, I'm sure my elites will pick up your share of the loot." The wind curled around both of us as she rocketed through the air, working to get us back to Vein City quickly.

Chapter 26

C irce landed back at the fortress, still holding me tight. Her blue hair danced about us before the wind collected it to fall down her back. With the sun behind her, she was particularly eye-catching, especially the way it backlit her loose dress to highlight her slim form underneath.

"You know, you didn't have to come all the way back here. You could have stayed and helped everyone else," I said.

She gave me a look as if to say that I was being difficult. Though, from this angle, she looked pretty cute doing it.

"I'm not that important," I said quickly, only for her eyebrow to creep slowly up.

"I hate to tell you, Bran, but I can’t think of a single person more important at the moment,” she replied, still carrying me like a princess and striding across the roof of the fortress as Mul Branova and Nesters waved her on, recognizing her.

I had to roll my eyes. "Obviously, I'm an important figure here." I gestured vaguely around. "However, much of this can operate without me, or should I say, with someone else in my place."

Circe pursed her lips and set me down on the first couch we passed. She stayed standing as if she expected to be called away in a moment.

Unfortunately, our current area was decently public, and a number of Mul Branova were stopping to gawk, looking at my current condition. Suddenly, the Mul Branova were fretful and hurrying away to find likely every healer in the fortress.

Circe glanced at me again and poked me gently in the nose. "And here are some lovely ladies to prove my point. Bran, you are more important than it seems you realize. Not just all the knowledge you possess, but everything you do keeps all of these crazy women and the organization that Simone built running."

I frowned slightly at those words. "It isn't ideal if the whole organization revolves around me." If something happened then it would all collapse, and right now, I was building it to be a linchpin of humanity’s survival.

"Why? Are you going somewhere?" Circe shot back.

"No, I'm not going anywhere. But it's not healthy for the Mul Branova if they are so dependent on me," I answered.

"Let them be dependent if you aren't going anywhere," she emphasized. “What’s the problem? You have plenty of help taking on administrative tasks so you can fuck off periodically to loot instances.”

I sighed and shook my head. "That's not the point. Obviously, I'm going to stick around. But having the entire organization dependent on me just isn't healthy. I mean, there need to be contingencies for the possibility that something happens. I’m sure you have done the same.”

Circe shrugged. "Not really. If I'm dead, then it's not my problem."

That was strange. I would have figured that Circe would be more prepared. Or perhaps because she saw Zeus as above her in the Heros Clan, she didn’t feel the same responsibility.

I sighed, not quite having the energy for anything more. "And some people call me morbid."

"What? I've led the branch for as long as it has existed, really. It won't be the same organization without me, and I have zero issues letting that be someone else's problem. So I'll be dead. And if I weren't dead, I would be sad that I was dead," Circe answered.

That logic required a few leaps of mental gymnastics, and I was having trouble figuring out how to respond. "So if you die, you don't have contingencies? You don't have anything?" I pressed, returning to the problem at hand.

"Nope. Everything revolves around me and my ability to manage everyone." Circe shrugged. “I have plenty of help, but yeah, it would collapse without me.”

I gave her a long, pitiful look. "That must be hard."

"You're not supposed to look at me like that." Circe leaned backwards as if my pitying gaze was a dangerous fire creeping towards her.

"How long has it been since you stepped away, did something else for a period of time besides lead your part of the Heros Clan?" I asked. For the first time, I worried about Circe.

"A very long time, Bran," she said after a moment. "A very, very long time." She sounded exhausted. Her flirty mask cracked, and behind it was a tired old woman, who kept on going because that was all that she knew.

"Well, perhaps it's time to think about yourself, at least for a while." I held a frail hand out to her, hating myself for being too weak to give her a hug. "Come sit. Perhaps you could keep me from being blown away by the wind." I’d seen her type. She needed purpose.

She smirked. "You're not quite that frail, are you?"

"I don't know, the backlash from using both abilities at the same time kind of makes me feel like I could just crumple into ash if I don't concentrate on keeping myself together," I answered honestly.

She looked me up and down. "Don't worry, you'll bounce back. Abilities with drawbacks like these only make you weak. They don't kill you."

"Ah, but weakness kills more often than not. I'm sure you've experienced that in your long life, or have you been too busy taking care of everyone else to notice the systematic flaws." I smirked, holding out my hand.

She rolled her eyes but joined me on the couch, hovering close enough that it was almost like she could snatch me up should something dangerous come around the corner. "Maybe I will take a bit of a break." She smiled, a soft light entering her eyes as she pulled her arm over her head, pushing her chest nearly into my face.

When Circe playfully stretched, I grabbed her arm and pulled her down.

Given that I had no strength, it was clear she didn’t fight me as I managed to knock Circe over headfirst into my lap, forcing her to relax a bit more.

I laughed. "You must really need a break if that was enough to get you to lie down." I put a hand on her shoulder to gently keep her in place, and to my surprise, she didn't fight me.

All she did was turn over slightly to look me in the eyes, a moment of vulnerability filling them.

I ran my hand through her hair, and she closed her eyes, sharing a moment that maybe only two leaders could understand.

In that moment, we were able to take a few breaths separate from all the people who relied on us.

But it was only a few more moments before the Mul Branova came rushing back, this time with a dozen healers in tow, only for them all to freeze at the doorway, seeing Circe lying in my lap.

I waved them all away. "It's fine. Circe's going to take care of me." More than a few eyebrows popped high up, nearly touching their hairlines at those words. I ignored them, closing my eyes and relaxing back into the seat as my hand continued to comb through Circe’s hair.

"I'll take care of you?” Circe spoke from my lap, and I cracked an eye open to look down at her. She had her eyebrows raised as she waited for my response.

“What? I just wanted them to go away. Otherwise, they'll fuss over me too much." I gestured loosely in the direction that all of them had just disappeared.

"What a horrible fate," Circe said sarcastically.

"When they really swarm you, it can be a bit much." I groaned. "So thanks for the protection, Circe. Much appreciated." I gave her a purpose for lying in my lap.

She rolled her eyes, but a small smile was on her face as well. She let her head settle back into my lap.

"So if I'm going to get you to take a break, what would you like to do?" I asked.

Circe scowled off into the distance as she thought, before she flicked her hand towards the doorway. "Perhaps we should start by simply taking a rest. You're incapacitated at the moment after using your frankly obnoxious mix of abilities,” Circe started.

“With debilitating downsides after they end,” I pointed out. “You avoided the question because you don’t have a single idea what you’d do if you took a break from everything for a bit, do you?”

“Yes, yes.” Circe waved away my words, clearly not liking it when I forced her to confront her workaholic nature. “If I lie here, then no one will bother you. I might as well do us both a favor and get some rest while I provide cover for you."

I did my best to keep from smiling. "Of course, just a little rest. You certainly deserve it."

"Nighty night, then." She patted my thigh and nuzzled into my lap for a brief moment.

I took my hand, running it over her head and across her shoulder, before returning and simply petting her head as her breathing slowed and relaxed.

***

It was hours later when Simone burst into the lobby, loud enough to startle Circe. Simone stopped, a giant grin spreading across her face.

For whatever reason, no one had been passing through here.

"Was I interrupting something?" Simone put her hands behind her back and batted her lashes at the two of us.

"You interrupted my nap," Circe grumbled, beginning to fluff the hair that had gotten plastered to one side of her head.

"Oh, well, it's good you got some rest, and it's good that Bran recovered.” Simone looked so smug.

“I guess she was protecting me while I recovered." I gestured over at Circe, who was now sitting beside me, looking me up and down.

Her eyes lingered on the tattered clothing that barely covered my chest.

Simone came over and plopped herself in my lap, claiming Circe’s prior spot. "Is that so? Do you think we have enough time for a quickie?" she asked.

Circe grunted and rolled her eyes.

"Stop messing with Circe," I told Simone, even as I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her firmly on top of my legs. "And yes, I recovered. Did we manage to get everyone out?"

"We lost two." Simone grimaced. "Before we tried to retreat," she clarified. "One of the Nesters, and one of Jenny's girls. Unfortunately, there were just too many demons to protect everybody." She shook her head and sniffled. "I should have done a better job protecting them."

I wrapped my arms around Simone and pulled her back against my chest. "We can't save everyone. That we were able to do something like that and only two not be able to make it home is a considerable victory against an army that would have taken many more lives. Rather than beat yourself up about the two who died, praise yourself for all of the others who managed to survive."

"I know." Simone waved a hand but didn't make any move to extract herself from my arms. "I just can't help but see the failures and want to make them better. But you're right. I made a considerable difference during that fight, and things will only get better, right? Each of those ladies will now have experience. Perhaps we'll call them the veterans, and they can help the newbies gain their first experiences as well. Nyx is super excited, though," Simone said, turning around in my lap and flashing me a giant smile as she moved on to something better.

"What happened with Nyx?" Circe asked before I could.

"It's a big secret." Simone mimed zipping her lips. "But I'm sure Bran will figure it out soon enough. Otherwise, since it looks like our Lord Bran is back on his feet, we should split up the loot and then get back to our plans. When do you think we're going to attack again?" Simone asked.

"We should start sending out parties twice a week," I said. "We'll let the demons fatten up their forces and then send groups to farm them. If we wait longer than that, it'll become too dangerous. Not to mention, they'll continue to spill out in the other direction." Both ladies gave me a strange look.

"Shouldn't we stop it entirely?" Circe asked.

"Stop what? The never-ending tide of demons?" I asked, with more than a little edge to my tone. "Good luck. Honestly, even if I could, I wouldn't close the hell gate. It's simply too valuable of a resource for us.”

“They'll spill out farther into the country, though, day by day, and reap a horrible number of lives," Simone argued.

"And if we do stop the demons?" I asked, only to answer the question myself. "Then everyone's going to just continue working at the office or the factory and pretend like it's not their problem, not until it's on their doorstep. And right now, these are demons that people could actually deal with if people group up at low levels. In a month? A year? Those demons will be so powerful that they can sweep through entire cities by themselves. They would harvest everybody and use their bodies as hosts for more low-level demons. I refuse to allow that to happen. We have to force humanity to face down their demons, literally. Otherwise, they won't grow, and when something strong enough escapes our grasp, it'll just make everything that much worse."

"Lovely. Well, I think it’s about time for me to freshen up." Circe got up and breezed out of the room as if an invisible wind was tickling at her clothes and hair.

Simone's eyes snapped back to me as soon as Circe had left. "Do you see that? She really wanted you to watch her walk away."

I blinked and stared at Simone. "Not everyone has sex on the brain like you."

She pouted. "I don't always have it on the brain, just most of the time."

I sighed and shook my head, pulling her in close to me. I took a deep breath, breathing in her scent and letting it help me relax a bit more, knowing in a moment we would have to get up and go continue helping humanity grow stronger.

It was a mantle I’d worn for too long. A responsibility that weighed heavy on my shoulder from time to time, even though I had gotten so used to it that I hardly noticed some days.

Chapter 27

I grabbed Merlin as she sagged. Teleporting a group of our size had clearly been difficult for her. I held out a mana potion between two of my fingers. "Drink up, it's the least I can do.”

“The least you could do," she confirmed, snatching the bottle out of my hands and quickly slugging back the potion.

The doors of our new Denmark fortress boomed open in front of us. A line of Mul Branova stretched down the entire hall. They were all dressed in red and white nun-like outfits and bowed in unison. "Welcome, Lord Bran."

Circe turned and raised an eyebrow at me.

"What? I didn't ask them to do this," I groaned.

Meanwhile, Simone clapped giddily as if everything had gone perfectly to plan. She had bought or stolen places all over the globe for her budding branches of the Mul Branova to call home.

I turned my focus back on our hosts. "Thank you for the warm welcome. How are things here?" I stepped forward into the stone hallway, my boots echoing with each step. The stone seemed old, but one glance out the window proved that it was more than a single structure. There were several row-like buildings along the side and no ornate garden that would mark it as a tourist attraction.

Simone did well—yet more proof that she could handle much on her own. We’d all been incredibly busy these last few weeks. It was hard to imagine that the hell gates opened a mere month ago.

One of the Mul Branova fell in line with me as the two lines began to collapse after I passed each person. They all trailed after me.

"The cities are struggling. At this point, they've given up on maintaining electricity. Thankfully, we were able to prepare before the situation devolved too badly.” The woman spoke with only a hint of an accent.

"I suppose you have Simone to thank for that." I glanced at the Saintess who followed behind me with happy, light steps and a giant smile adorning her face.

"Yes, the Saintess has been very helpful. However, about half of Copenhagen is completely ruined. All of the forces were focused on the hell gate only for instances to start popping around the city. Monsters decimated areas before even the two clans could stop them. It did enough damage that people fled to where they felt a little less like fish in a barrel.”

“And your neighboring countries or cities even?" I asked.

She shook her head. "They had it even worse. I hear Spain didn't take the threat seriously. And so when instances started popping in their country, they were overrun within three days, though pockets of resistance have popped up. Their country is gone. It’s completely in a state of anarchy. And we've lost communication with the island nations like Ireland and the United Kingdom."

We all knew losing communication was a polite way to say they were most likely fucked. Even if cell towers and landlines were severed, they should be able to communicate via satellite like the Mul Branova seemed to be using.

I frowned. I did not remember that level of destruction in those two countries in my past life.

"Either way, we're here to get all of you some experience in some higher-rank instance. I'm told most of you have at least managed a C rank?" I checked.

"Yes, Lord Bran." She nodded quickly.

I flashed her a smile. "Good. You'll need that strength." My eyes shifted over my shoulder to Simone. "Gather the 20 strongest, and we're going to shove them all into the SS-rank instance. I want Gloria, Nyx, and yourself in there at a bare minimum. Circe, Merlin, you're welcome to go as well if you wish."

Both of the older ladies shook their heads. "I'm happy to come in as the cleanup crew, though." Circe flashed a smile, following my logic.

"Exactly." I turned back to Simone. "Circe, Merlin, and myself will not be coming with you. We will be entering two weeks later. At this point, our singular goal will be to clear the instance and reset it. Then we can rinse and repeat with another batch, hopefully earning as many of the Mul Branovas as we can higher-ranked skills."

Simone took a deep breath and nodded. "Permission to have Gloria and Nyx spend gold on their stats? I think we'd all feel a little safer if we bolstered those quite a bit.”

“Agreed,” I answered. “You can also make some simple chitin armor like we made for ourselves for the Mul Branova. And there’s no issue with Gloria passing her shield around as well. The goal is to keep them alive and let them stab hivnara as much as possible. I think Nyx's petrify should be at a point where she can keep hivnara down and let the Mul Branova whale on the monsters." I looked back into the group, spotting Nyx behind Simone.

Her serpents were bobbing their heads in agreement, seeming pleased to have been given recognition.

"This is the level 100 instance?" the leader of the Mul Branova chapter asked hesitantly.

"It is. But it is not too much for you. All of you can handle it," I reassured her.

My words made a difference, and her back straightened. She held her chin aloft. "Of course we can, Lord Bran. We won't let you down."

We were continuing to walk through the almost castle-like structure that Simone had obtained—I didn’t ask how.

I could tell that it had been updated. In particular, there were a large number of inscriptions etched into the stone walls. I glanced at the inscriptions, checking them as I passed. Simone spotted me, and I gave her a small nod. They were satisfactory, at least for the current level of the invasion.

We continued moving and entered a larger space that appeared to be a cafeteria of sorts. Wooden tables lined the room with simple benches. The Mul Branova fanned out, finding seats, while Simone grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side.

"Now, Bran, I'm going to show you something, and I don't want you to get upset," she said.

I scowled at her before she turned and gestured to one of the many new devotees. I had simply not had the time to look at every face. However, before she even introduced the woman, I knew her name.

"Rylee, meet Bran," Simone introduced us.

I froze. It was like someone had just nailed my feet to the floor and glued my tongue to the roof of my mouth.

The Rylee in front of me quivered nervously, but I couldn't help seeing the overlap of the two faces, the one I had known in my prior life and the one standing before me. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. She looked like Rylee, only there was a soft youthfulness to her face, rather than the hardened jawline and the scars I remembered from my past.

There was a sharp dissonance like when you thought you recognized someone only for them to turn around and it was the wrong person. Yet, I knew it was the same.

She looked back at me nervous because I was Lord Bran but also confused as to why she was getting the introduction. That lack of familiarity was like a sharp knife to my heart.

This wasn’t my Rylee.

I took a deep breath and held a hand out. "Pleasure to meet you, Rylee." I managed to break myself from the shock and plaster a smile that I'm sure looked terribly forced onto my face.

"Pleasure to meet you, Lord Bran." She dipped her head and looked at Simone worriedly as if she had done something wrong.

"That's it, Rylee dear. You’ve been adjusting well, and I thought an introduction was an apt reward. Please hurry along." Simone shooed her away.

"Why?" I growled under my breath as soon as Rylee was gone.

Simone turned to me, the light smile never fading. "Because I think it would be wonderful if you saw her flourish. You’ll see the difference you made in this life. I bet she looks really different, doesn't she?" Simone's eyes were dead serious.

"Very. Yet the same. If that makes any sense at all," I muttered half to myself. "Still, why did you find her?" I was still indecisive about what I wanted to do with those I knew from my past life more intimately.

Simone poked me in the chest, a stern expression flashing across her face. "I want to heal part of you, you doofus." Her expression softened. "I can heal any cuts or wounds that the demons might put on you. But I think, Bran, there is something far deeper inside of you." She poked at my heart. "There are wounds and scars that you carry from your past life. You haven't told me how, but I assume Rylee died. I assume all of them did. And whether or not you want to engage with her in any way, I want you to see that she is alive. She might look a little nervous in front of you, but she is fed. She is smiling. Look over there." Simone glanced to the side.

Rylee had joined some of the other Mul Branova who were all huddled up, casting glances my way, giggling and prodding Rylee. She was likely recounting moment by moment of our introduction.

"Does she look better than your last life?" Simone asked.

"Much," I said without hesitation, a sigh escaping me. "She looks whole in a way that she never was when I knew her." I blinked, a small tear threatening to escape my eyes.

Something deep inside of me broke. Or perhaps that was the wrong word. It was more like a pressure vented deep inside of me. I suddenly realized I might have more hidden scars than I realized. Wounds of the soul that needed to be broken and reset.

And I’d found a woman with terrifying insight and perception. One that was doing her all to support me, even in ways that I couldn’t anticipate.

Simone threw herself into my chest and wrapped me up in a hug. "See, Bran, you are making a difference," she said, nuzzling into my chest.

"I know." I rubbed her back and squeezed her tight against me, only for her to push back and look up at me.

"Do you really? Do you know? Do you understand the differences in the lives you are making? This entire chapter of the Mul Branova has 800 people. All of them got SS-rank classes from you. And all of them are getting training that they never would have gotten before, including the advice you've given me and the other Mul Branova distilled down into little booklets." Simone fished around in her spatial ring before handing me one.

The book was about 50 pages, and I thumbed through it, seeing many of the abilities that the new devotees received explained as well as guidance on how to rank them up as quickly as possible. There were guides on how to work on your resistances, as well as simple guides on how to gain proficiency with a weapon or element to guide the otherwise bland class forward. It was rather simple but a very good primer into being initiated.

I handed it back to her, and it disappeared into her spatial ring.

"Do you see? Mul Branovas as a whole are over 10,000 worldwide and are only growing." Her expression became increasingly serious. Her emerald green eyes bore into me. "Bran, you have changed so many lives. Each one of those Mul Branova have become an extension of your will. They have protected, they have defended, and they have killed monsters before those monsters would otherwise be a problem. Each one of those Mul Branova have saved a hundred lives, at least. And while compared to the whole population of the world it might feel like a drop in the bucket, Bran, our organization is growing daily. If it weren't for the silly requirements"—she rolled her eyes—"it would have been growing so much faster."

"Requirements?" I asked, frowning down at her.

"Oh, you know." She waved a hand dismissively and turned away, dodging the subject.

I frowned over and glanced at the whole group of the Mul Branova. All of them were young, female, and none of them seemed to have anyone with them, whether it be parents, children, or significant other.

"Simone…" I put a hand on her shoulder before she could escape explaining.

"Those joining have to be women and unattached." She gestured vaguely. "Not that they can’t have a family, but they should be free spirits and willing to go wherever we lead them." She gave me an overwide smile.

"Simone," I growled.

“It's not my rule; it's self-imposed by all of them." She slipped out of my grasp. "It's better in Vein City because we work alongside the Nesters. Many women have brothers and have siblings and parents who join the Nesters while they work in the Mul Branova. Perhaps we can find some partner organizations like that for these other branches, but they're still new." She beamed.

I could only shake my head, "Whatever. Start assembling your group and get them into the instance. You have two weeks to train them up as much as you can before we come and clear."

Simone slapped a playful salute and hurried off, leaving me all alone for a moment.

My eyes tracked back to Rylee who had been staring my way.

She blushed and spun away, nearly sprinting from the room.

I needed to find something else to do. To occupy my mind and let my subconscious digest what Simone had thrown at me. It was good but unexpected, and I needed time for it to settle.

Circe and Merlin were talking in the corner. Somehow, when Simone had begun talking to me, everyone had given us a wide berth.

"Circe," I called to her as I stepped up, "I think it's time we check on the Heros Clan and the Borrson Clan. It sounds like they are still around.” The hell gate’s red beam could be seen from the windows; we weren’t far.

“You're not going to pick a fight, are you?" Circe watched me carefully, waiting for my answer.

"Of course not. However, if they pick a fight, I'll be sure to defend myself. I simply want to get a few answers, and then I would like to go back to Tartarus's abandoned cave." Both of them looked at me quizzically.

"You said there is a Trial of Kings there?" Merlin asked.

"I did, but we're not pulling the sword from a stone." I chuckled.

"You have been holding on to that one for quite some time." Merlin scoffed, but there was a playfulness in her voice. "As if I haven't heard enough jokes about for hundreds of years.” Merlin paused. “Though I suppose anywhere with something that important probably should be a place that I visit at least once so we can teleport there later."

I nodded along. "I think it would be good for you to be able to teleport there. But mostly, I want to head that way so that I can put a few"—I hesitated—"surprises in place for anyone else who might go snooping about.”

“Do you think there are going to be issues?" Circe asked. "I thought the First People didn't clear it for some time?”

“There were a few anomalies when they cleared it. I heard the stories after I became the Wandering King,” I told them. "Besides, I'd really like to just make sure that it's secure and that nothing else deviates from my expectations. Or if it does, then we are aware and ready to react.”

Chapter 28

"W ho would have expected that I would be so quick to miss modern transportation?" Circe said as we walked along the now-defunct train line in Crete. Merlin had gotten us as close as she could with teleportation, but we were going to have to walk the rest of the way to where the Tartarus branch had previously had its base.

It was startling that we’d been here not too long ago, yet the landscape had shifted drastically, and monsters wandered the island. It seemed that the people weren’t prepared for B-rank monsters when an instance popped.

"You get used to it after a time," I said, flashing both ancient women a quick smile. “Honestly, the slower speed can be nice from time to time.”

Merlin just shook her head. "I can't believe the whippersnapper is trying to pretend he's older than both of us."

"On that, we can agree," Circe said, pulling out her phone and flipping through some documents she had picked up from the Heros Clan. Unfortunately, cell towers in this area weren't working, and the likelihood anyone would get them back up was slim to none. Still, the ability to hold quite a bit of information in a small package was valuable.

I ignored Circe as she read, turning my focus on Merlin for the walk. "Is this going about how you expected it?" I waved my hand to encompass everything around us.

The wizard shrugged. "I don't think I'm capable of being surprised by humans anymore, if that's your question. As for how the actual apocalypse is progressing… well, I think I hadn't really put too many expectations on it, if I'm honest."

"Fair. Better to expect the unknown than be surprised by what you couldn't know," I stated.

"Was that a quote?" Merlin asked.

"I'm sure someone famous has said something like that, but no, that came from the heart just now. You know, after many, many years of living, I do have a few insightful things to say." I gave her a smile.

Merlin chuckled and pulled her dark hair behind her ear. "I'm sure you do. But I doubt any of us are going to be writing books about philosophy anymore. Will we?"

"Not for a while. But all of this will calm down. Humanity will try and blossom," I said, "only to get knocked down, again and again. We have a lot in common with weeds it seems."

She gave me a steady gaze, and I could only grin back with a helpless shrug.

"We've both lived long enough to understand that humanity and everything we do ultimately seems to be quite cyclical. I wouldn't say that changes at all for the new world order. Build and destroy, build and destroy," I offered.

My mind wandered to events of the past before I physically shook off those thoughts. That was the past, and perhaps Simone had been right, at least to some degree.

I was living a new life, and I was making a significant difference. Perhaps I could build up a force among humanity to repel future demonic waves. However, that would mean I likely had to launch a decisive victory in the war for supremacy, or at least become big enough, strong enough that everyone else backed down for fear that we’d pick a side.

It was not quite mutually assured destruction, but at least I would have a big enough stick that when I said no fighting, people dropped their weapons and pretended to get along.

Circe began grunting as she read through her phone.

"If you're going to keep making noises, you might as well share the information with the rest of us," Merlin said, looking over.

"Just reports of demon attacks," she said, though a frown marred her otherwise beautiful face. "I'm not sure if you left these ones out, Bran, or if they're a significant deviation. Either way, Hercules and Zeus are making a category of their report, that is"—she hesitated—"deviations from what you supplied them."

"I mean, I didn't give them everything, but I gave them the major brushstrokes,” I answered honestly.

“They're quite concerned with the absence of what, in your report, happened to the United Kingdom,” Circe answered.

“That was a bit of an odd one to me as well," I admitted. "Why? What else have they discovered?"

"Reports that the Demon Lord himself led the attack, and the UK isn't gone, but London and the southern coast are almost completely leveled," she replied.

I looked at her in surprise. "That is a big deviation from my past life." I frowned, trying to think about what I might have changed to cause such a problem. "Perhaps some of the people who died in the vault had repelled that attack." I frowned again, trying to think through the names and where they should have been.

"There's another bit that is strangely interesting. The Demon Lord personally led an attack on a small town in Ukraine," she added.

I raised an eyebrow. "Was there someone strong he went after?"

"Not that we can identify. It's just very odd for him to show up there, kill a town, a population of what"—she frowned and seemed to be swiping through something—"maybe 300, only to leave like he'd accomplished what he wanted."

There was a small tickle in the back of my brain, like something about a Ukraine town should have made more sense to me. "Can I see that list?"

"Sure." Circe handed me her phone, and I quickly flipped through it. With my stats as they were, particularly my spirit, I had near-perfect recall, at least for the information I had learned after I’d reached a decent level. There was a limit on how much information I could actually consume. So I scrolled through the list quickly, only for a name to give me pause, and I tapped on her screen, showing it to her.

"Is there a chance you could get me a picture of this one?" I asked, trying not to sound concerned.

"I can get one when I’m back in communication. I'm sure Zeus has gotten his hands on more than a few federal databases," she replied.

I gave her a look.

"What? He's the kind of man who says 'knowledge is power' at least ten times a day. So it shouldn't come as any surprise that he's happily snatched up all of that data that people let float about and also paid for the data that people don't let float about," Circe replied.

"Well, I don't know how useful all that data is going to be in this world, but I can see why there is some resistance to completely letting go of it.”

Merlin glanced at the phone. “It's pretty useful, especially when Simone showed us your little charging brick."

I frowned at her before my mind went back to one of those adapters with half a dozen cords hanging off them, and Simone had made me inscribe several long-lasting low-charge lightning talismans. I closed my eyes for a second in disbelief, realizing exactly what Simone was using them for now.

"I'll have to make use of more of them,” I mumbled.

“It'll be a while until we get the information. Can you at least tell me what might be catching your interest?" Circe asked.

"It's a little silly for it to be something," I said, not wanting to answer.

“Bran, your suspicion could help us in many ways," Circe insisted.

"Well, I told you that after Shiva fought the Demon Lord and failed, the first three people to pass the Trial of Kings then worked together to defeat the Demon Lord."

Circe nodded along, and Merlin was paying rapt attention.

"Well, of the three, one was from a small town in Ukraine. I don't remember exactly where. I didn't quite have the stats I had now when I heard the old stories of him, but I do remember he was from a small town in Ukraine, and I'll never forget his name."

Circe glanced down at her phone. "Kevin Boyko."

I nodded. “Kevin Boyko was the King of War.”

Circe's eyebrows nearly jumped into her hairline.

"Powerful title for a powerful man," I agreed. “I fought on the same front as him on more than one occasion. He was good, at least at leading his men. I never got to know him personally, but his people seemed happy. That's usually a sign of a good leader in my book. He was the second to pass the trials.”

"Who was first?" Merlin asked the most obvious question.

"Don't know. Not even sure that the first is a he," I answered.

"You don't know?" Circe asked, sounding confused.

"Nope. That would be the King of Shadows. Always wore a heavy cloak. And gloves. You could never see the person inside. They had complete control of the shadows and hid themselves in them their entire life. As far as I know, no one knew the King of Shadows’ true identity. They had a small kingdom underground that lasted onto the Third Demon War. Fought like hell to the end. If you ever meet them, give them your respect."

Both ladies were frowning next to me.

"Look, it was a crazy world after all of this. There was a lot of backstabbing. A lot of killing. The seven kings started dividing up the land eventually, as did the sects and the clans. Most of the kings came from the common people. Those are the first two. So obviously, there's a third. And that's where it gets a little funny."

They frowned, clearly waiting for me to continue.

"All I know is that he lived in the United Kingdom before this all started. Perhaps it was London. I never knew him well. And honestly, he died fairly early on in the War for Supremacy. He might have gone into direct confrontation with the Borrsons, a little too cocky after he killed the Demon Lord.”

“So there have been two obvious deviations from your plans, both of which include the destruction of areas that might hold the two of the first three humans who banded together to kill the Demon Lord.” Merlin put it all together, giving me a strange look. "Is it possible anyone else came back from your past life?"

I chewed my lip. “Yeah, I considered that. And that starts to feel much more scary. I've been operating under the sense that I'm the only one who essentially has the playbook for what's supposed to happen. Obviously, I've made changes to try to alter the outcome. If there's another or multiple people who came back with me, then everything could change much more rapidly.”

“If the Demon Lord, or someone advising him, has events of the past, what do you think would be their first move?" Merlin prompted as if to look for proof of the idea.

"Well, killing the three people who defeated the Demon Lord sounds like a good first move, as well as targeting heroes from the first Demon War who stopped powerful advances of his army," I offered.

Both ladies' looks were growing harder by the second.

"And if you wanted to capture all of the heroes and, say, possess them," Circe offered, "then perhaps you'd give the group trying to open a vault full of demon souls a few hints on how to open it."

I winced at her logic and looked at the blue sky. It was so bright and cheery, I wanted to focus on that and not the potentially disastrous reality that was staring me right in the face.

"Bran, this is a significant concern," Circe said, trying to get me to focus back on the present.

"Oh, I am well aware. The question remains, though, if that is the case, and I'm not saying it is, what do we do about it? And how do we prove it?" I looked at both ladies.

Merlin frowned pensively, looking at the ground as we continued to walk. Meanwhile, Circe rubbed her temples.

"Bran, this is a massive problem," Circe grumbled.

I stayed quiet for just a moment before letting out an explosive sigh. "Yeah. Yeah, it is," I admitted.

"Is this why you wanted to go check out Tartarus?" Merlin asked.

"Sort of. There were a few other oddities around Tartarus, and I would very much like to put some enchantments down here so I can monitor the entrance," I told them. Perhaps I should have done it before, but the Tartarus branch still needed to move out, and I thought I’d have more time.

"Oddities like what, Bran?" Merlin pressed. "I don't think now is the time to be holding back."

I held my hands up defensively. "Not holding back. It's just that for all the people who went through the trials, including those who were among the first, there are eight statues. But there are only seven kings," I explained.

Merlin tilted her head, intrigued.

"There's always been a little bit of a rumor or a wives' tale that someone beat the original three. But we have no idea who it could have been," I told them honestly. "It would be nice if I put some enchantments to keep an eye on the place and perhaps get a read on who it might be. Who knows, maybe it happened a thousand years ago, and that person lived a full life and died. Or maybe they died in some SSS-rank instance between now and then. But on the off chance that someone else takes the Trial of Kings, I'd be very curious to know who the 8th king was in my past life.

Circe spoke up. “Given how important all of this is, perhaps we can know when the first Shadow King goes through his trial, and we can recruit them for a battle against the Demon Lord."

"Exactly," I agreed.

"Right now, humanity is cutting its teeth and getting its first few levels and skills. And while we might be able to help some, helping all of them is impossible. Instead, we need to let the strong survive, grow, and flourish. Perhaps then we can start recruiting more broadly, and then eventually, we're going to have the numbers where we can take the fight to the demon armies themselves.” I spoke with a confidence I did not entirely feel.

Behind my back, where neither of them could see my hands, both of my fists were clenched so tightly it felt like my knuckles might snap.

Once again, like the trickery at the vault, it felt like someone was robbing my plans from me. And if someone else on the Demon Lord's side had knowledge similar to mine, then I would have to accelerate my plans and gobble up every resource that I could before I came face to face with an enemy I thought I had more time to prepare to defeat.

Chapter 29

"B ran, are you just going to ignore the problem?" Circe asked.

"I'm not ignoring the problem, I'm thinking," I replied. There were already too many things on my plate. Having lost a year and a half, I was, admittedly, scrambling to put the pieces together to protect the entire world.

There was already too much to do, and now there was the additional weight that the Demon Lord might have inside information about the future. At least, that’s what his actions suggested.

I took a deep breath. There were a number of plates I was trying to keep spinning at the same time. Right now, though I couldn’t give any of them my full attention, they were still spinning, and the people in each of our bases were growing more independent by the day.

It was time to focus on the now. "Have you got that up and working yet so we can get more information?" I gestured over to where her head was buried in a hidden closet.

Tartarus had kept some modern technology so they could stay in communication with the Heros Clan proper. While Persephone could create clones out of smoke as her eyes or ears, others needed their own methods of communication.

"What are you doing?" a voice I knew well asked. Persephone appeared in a puff of jet-black smoke.

Circe jumped, smashing her head into something loud enough for me to hear her curse. "Trying to figure out this stupid system,” Circe grumbled.

“Simple, you just don't use it." Persephone smiled. "While I find it highly amusing that you're digging through my trash, do tell me: what are you doing? Besides setting off the alarms I have inside."

I shrugged and waved at Persephone. "How are you doing, Great-Great-Grandma? In fact, you coming probably solves all of our needs," I said, working on carving a few enchantments into the walls.

"Oh, and what can I do for you, Grandson?" She said the word slowly as if she was still getting used to the idea.

"I may have had some revelations, as it were,” I started off.

“We think someone else from his timeline is here and working with the Demon Lord," Merlin spoke up, taking all my thunder.

I turned to her, slightly annoyed at having so bluntly laid out the situation. Then again, it was going to get this moving faster.

Persephone studied Merlin for a moment. “I would approve of you in being one of my granddaughters-in-law."

Merlin gave me a funny look, and I held my hands up as if to say, I have no part in this conversation.

"I think he has enough, don't you?" Merlin turned back to Persephone.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. Heros Clan men are more than capable of handling a few dozen children. Besides, with his bloodline, given the option, I would stick him in a cell with the prettiest women I could find. In fact, I would just keep filling it to the top and rotate them out every time one got pregnant."

I blinked and looked at her incredulously. "What?”

“For the sake of our clan, fostering a generation of stronger bloodlines would go a very long way. It's just a simple reality. If you're going to call me your grandmother, you might as well do some part in helping the family line continue." She folded her arms.

"I think we have more pressing concerns," Circe called over from her closet. She stuck her head out, and I frowned. Given her stats, the head bump shouldn't really cause her any prolonged discomfort, yet she looked rather uncomfortable.

"Right. Someone else knows the future. That's all great and good. Now, if I put much stock in my grandson's little booklet, perhaps I would be caught unaware. But I'm not as conceited as the other two. They might take shortcuts in making decisions. I will operate off the facts present before me. Now, if my lovely grandson had led me somewhere with a level 100 SS instance, perhaps I would be more inclined to do something to help."

"I didn’t know exactly where it was. Besides if I told you where it was after I found it, I would have had to tell Hercules and Zeus, and I, quite frankly, didn't want to." I flashed her a broad smile. The hivnara had been a wonderful whetstone for my abilities.

Persephone smirked. "That's why I'm not too upset with you. But you can't leave me out of all the good stuff, Grandson, or I'll think you don't actually consider me a relative."

"Noted." I nodded to her and went back to the inscriptions. "But Circe is right," I said, still struggling with the idea that I wasn't the only one who had come back in time.

But I also could not ignore that there was evidence to suggest there was at least another knowledgeable hand stirring the pot. Even if I discounted the idea that the Demon Lord or someone working for him was helping, the presence of the map telling me where instances that had yet to be discovered were located told me there might be others with profound knowledge that could be a guiding hand.

I wasn’t entirely convinced that they lived a past life; there were many strange abilities in the system.

It was best for me to start operating under the idea that I was not the most knowledgeable person about what was going to happen. The worst that would come of working under that assumption would be me wasting some of my time and energy coming up with contingencies. The best would be it saved us from making the wrong move and better protect my women.

"But Circe is right; we could use more information. It may not be someone else coming from my past life. It could be someone with some sort of clairvoyant ability, or perhaps even someone so close to Hercules and Zeus that they have access to the book that I gave them.” I started listing out alternate options I had to consider. “However, the book didn't have the information on the future killers of the Demon Lord."

Persephone’s eyes grew concerned as I spoke those words. "The people who killed the Demon Lord in the past are now dead?" she asked for clarification.

"It would seem so. Or worse, they have now been possessed by the Demon Lord’s followers. I can't confirm they're entirely the same people, but two of the three kings from my past life who destroyed the Demon Lord seem to be targeted at the very least. So, I can’t expect the Demon Lord to follow the same path as last time. I have to start thinking several layers ahead. Not only do I have to think about what the Demon Lord did in my past life, but I also have to consider that if he has the same knowledge, what would he do potentially differently. And if he does take those actions, what is my best recourse to either stymie him or go in a completely different direction." My brain started to work.

"Or you can simply get the greatest advantage you can," Persephone said as if the situation was that simple. "Think about it. If two of you both have knowledge, though perhaps from two different sources, ultimately you two will clash, and the most important part is that then you're the one who comes out on top. The instances won’t change and neither will the talented humans."

I grimaced because there was a part of that plan that she wasn't saying aloud. Going after sources of strength for me would mean abandoning all the people who the Demon Lord was targeting. They were not yet strong enough to take him on.

Persephone read my expression. "This is war, Bran, and I know you've gone through it before. His actions are in no way, shape, or form a burden to place on your own shoulders. Allowing him to do so only allows him to drag you down with your own guilt."

I looked at the ceiling and nodded. This was a lesson I knew. A lesson I had learned more than once in my past.

Yet, somehow, this time around, I felt more responsible than ever before. I was at a supreme point of advantage, one that I had hoped to use for the benefit of all humanity. Coming to grips with the possibility that this advantage might no longer be there almost made me feel like a failure. My response to failing was simple: do not let anyone else down.

Still, it was crucial to understand what was happening. There were some battlefields that couldn’t be surrendered. On the grand scale of the situation, many extra people could die, deaths could shift, and humanity was incredible in its ability to adapt.

The fact that two of the three responsible for killing the Demon Lord in my past life were gone did not mean that another three couldn't rise up and fill the same role.

I glanced over at the giant doors that held the Trial of Kings. We needed to find people who could face them. I bit my lip, anticipating the question that was going to come next.

"Well, why not us?" Circe asked.

Persephone had enough wisdom in her to wince. "Circe, if he hasn't already begun preparing you for it, then I'm afraid to say he doesn't think you're capable."

Those words made Circe scowl in my direction.

Gee, thanks, Grandma . It would have been better for her to use some tact to answer that one.

"The trials are dangerous. There are multiple of them, and they aren’t just about strength. One of the trials makes you lose your memories. The system is only interested in giving the power here to people who it thinks will wield it properly," I answered.

"Right, because you believe the system is some sort of intelligent creature," Persephone said with no small amount of skepticism.

"Or at least it was designed to look like one," I conceded, knowing that asking anyone to believe Sissy was an actual thinking being was going to be hard. Not many people wanted to admit that there was something thinking that held the level of power that the System held over our lives.

"Alright, we're going to lose our memories if we go in there, so anything you tell us can't be used to our advantage,” Merlin said.

“I understand that,” I grumbled.

“What's so dangerous?" Merlin asked.

"Do you think if it came down to it, if you were about to die, if you were being tortured, you were at the very end of your rope, do you think you would sell out your kingdom to survive? Your memory is selectively filled with holes to the point you almost believe it's real," I answered.

"I see," Merlin said, staring down at her boots for a moment. "I wouldn't give many people the benefit of the doubt that they would pass a trial to that extent.”

“What was it for you specifically?" Persephone asked.

"I was given a system message that said if I survived, I would complete the Trial of Kings. I was even still aware that I was in the trial, but I wasn’t really sure what it was. However, in the same breath, I was in a doomed scenario. I was behind enemy lines, only left with a few loyal retainers. The obvious option was to get myself back to my kingdom in the scenario where I would be safe." I spoke about the memory I wanted to forget.

"Except, I discovered traitors amongst my number. If I didn't push farther into enemy territory and complete a mission, my kingdom would be gone. Yet, the farther I went into the mission, the more I believed that saving the kingdom was part of my survival. Ultimately, I was given a choice: to protect my kingdom or myself. Given that I was in the Trial of Kings, I believed protecting my kingdom was part of the trial and I’d have to figure the rest out. Only, that mission turned into an absolute suicide mission. I went all the way, risking my life, to give what was needed back to my kingdom so it could survive.” I looked at the group to gauge their reaction.

"But clearly, you did survive," Persephone prompted.

"Actually, I don't remember what happened,” I admitted.

"You don't remember?" Circe asked incredulously.

"Right. I vaguely recall the panic, the concern, racing to finish, but I don't recall actually finishing. Given my spirit, that means something interfered with my memory at the end. All I know is that I made the choice to save the kingdom instead of myself, and I was in a completely unwinnable situation, trapped in the basement of my enemy's fortress with incriminating evidence." They all stared at me like a lunatic.

"But you passed," Circe pushed.

"Seems that way. Perhaps survival was not necessarily my survival but the survival of my legacy, the kingdom." I shrugged; most of the kings had some fuzzy memories regarding the trials. "But for every person who says they want to take the Trial of Kings, I wonder if they could make that same level of sacrifice without knowing it was a trial or knowing the right answer. When those questions still exist in your mind and it's not simply a game or a quiz to pass, would you die for a bunch of fictitious people?"

Circe looked almost pained by the end of my story. "So, you need to find a bunch of lunatics as crazy as you.”

I laughed. "Perhaps. Perhaps that's the safest way to go about it. And just get enough people that someone manages to pass."

Persephone and Merlin, however, were quiet, calmly watching me as I finished my story.

"I don't think I'll participate," Persephone said after a moment. "Bran's right. It takes an uncommon person to be able to make that call." She looked sideways at Circe. "To be perfectly honest, it’s hard to go against the basic survival instinct. Preservation is baked into our very DNA.”

“And this makes the loss of the people who had passed the trials in your last life even more painful," Merlin said mournfully, realizing just how much we’d lost if those two were really dead.

I finished up with my inscriptions on the wall before I handed a talisman to Persephone and another to Merlin. "Given your two's ability to travel, do me a favor and hold on to these. Who knows, maybe I'll need you to come check the trials." I had another handful of talismans, and based on Circe’s face when she had not received one of the talismans, I reached out to give her one as well.

Well, sometimes perception was most of the battle. No need to exclude her.

“Did you think I was going to leave you out?” I teased. Though, truthfully, she already had plenty on her shoulders.

Chapter 30

"W hat are we doing here?" Nyx asked, her voice sugared despite the harsh circumstances. At the moment, her serpents were wrapped around her body, stretching out like a living coat. "I thought only penguins lived on this island."

After their first two weeks, when they learned of my new plans, my women had insisted on coming with me. It had been two weeks of me rushing about to make sure each of the fortresses was as protected as I could with my inscriptions. I used that time to come up with a plan to counter the Demon Lord.

"How do you think an island that has nothing but penguins actually got so many protections?" I replied with a smile. "There was something to hide."

The area seemed more like a floating ice chunk than an island, though supposedly there was land under all the ice. The giant floating ice chunk was cold beyond any mundane reason.

I knew the real reason. After realizing an inevitable clash was coming, and the other side had a greater advantage than I had initially assumed, I knew that I was going to need more allies. Allies that were completely off the Demon Lord’s radar. The kind that I could take some of my own burden off my shoulders and let run loose once again in the world.

As a result, we were now on this freezing chunk of ice.

"There's no one here, Bran," Simone said.

In response, I activated Soul Gaze, my eyes glowing and piercing the enchantments surrounding the sect.

My little trick caused the illusion over the island to waver, and Simone gasped.

"What is that?" She breathed as a massive castle made of crystal-clear ice flickered into view, along with dozens of women wearing chilling expressions. Simone was giddy with excitement.

One of the women spoke up with her chin raised. "We are The Sect of the Frozen Moon. Certainly among the top sects in the world. To come here uninvited is certain death."

"I'm glad you spoke. I half expected you to pretend we didn’t exist, but I’d warn you not to do more," I retorted.

As the ice palace disappeared, the woman stepped forward. With a wave of her hand, she parted the curtain of illusion.

Simone was still happy, like a young woman who had just seen an excellent magic trick, despite the gazes we were getting from everyone present.

"Uh, Bran, should we be here?" Nyx hesitated.

Meanwhile, Merlin stood back with a wary familiarity. Given her age and her affinity for ice magic, I should have guessed she was familiar with this sect.

"Did you bring them here?" The woman scowled at Merlin.

"Trust me, Bran already knew you existed. I didn't need to bring him here. He's well aware of more information than I think I can even give him credit for," Merlin replied

"Well, thank you," I said before turning back to the women who very much did not want me to step foot in their sect. I bowed politely to them. "Are you going to make me stand here or let me in? I know you have no love for men. I assure you that you'll benefit from my presence, and Madame Delery and I go way back."

The woman in front of me scoffed before she began laughing. "Now I know you're absolutely full of shit."

"Well, you're welcome to try and gut me to see if that's what comes out, but if you really insist on going that direction, I must warn you, I will fight back." I used Soul Gaze on the woman in front of me. "Is that what you want, Natalia? For me to fight back so you have an excuse to draw your weapon?"

Her gaze flickered to me strangely. Of course, she was hoping to irritate me enough that she could act in self-defense.

I watched her. “After all, no matter how important you are to the sect, your sect leader doesn't make exceptions. You break the tenets, and she'll break you. Most likely, she'll turn you into a giant ice sculpture to display in front of your peers for, oh, I don't know, ten or fifteen years before she holds a ceremony. Then, some nearly powerless student will crack that ice sculpture easier than a fancy plate of china, just to show how weak you become once you break the tenets of the sect.”

The more I spoke, the more the woman in front of me's face fell into disbelief.

"Who are you?" she hissed.

"A friend. Well, friendly. I certainly couldn't join your sect. I'm not that nice," I answered.

She scoffed. "I doubt 'nice' is the term most people would use to describe us.”

“No, they'd probably be a little more blunt and call you insular, isolationist. After all, you've gone as far as to live amongst the penguins so that you don't have to deal with people, particularly men." I stood with my arms crossed behind my back and a giant smile on my face, doing my best to project confidence and only confidence as I strode through their barrier.

These women could be more brutal than demons if they sensed any weakness.

She tilted her head to the side as if she was listening to something. "Please, come right in."

"Don't mind if I do." I turned to look at a small inscription at the corner of the entrance. "Thank you. I'm glad after all this time I can still at least pop by and say ‘hi’. You've been so out of it for so many years. I bet you don't even know what's happening back with the rest of the world."

"I am well aware," a woman’s frigid voice echoed in the room. "However, given your pertinent knowledge, I will refrain from saying that I know more than you. Because you seem to have a knack for knowing things that you shouldn't."

"Born with it, I'm afraid." I smiled at our guide and gestured for her to lead us in deeper. Everyone was giving me strange looks as we went through the parted curtain of their enchantment.

"Was it wise to upset her?" Merlin asked, referring to the disembodied voice of the sect leader.

I put a finger to my lips. "It's better to assume you are always being watched in here. I'm more than happy to talk more later." I glanced meaningfully at her and then the rest of my group.

Simone shrugged without a single care in the world. "I'm just here for the free meal. You said it would be a good one, right?"

I chuckled and couldn't help the smile that threatened to split my face. "Yes, Simone, I'm sure we'll be treated to a fantastic meal. But they won’t get friendly until after the meeting."

We were led through the sect, spiraling up through the tower.

The entire palace was full of women who looked like they hadn't seen the sun in decades. Their skin was various shades of pale, as if it was a competition to see who could look more like a ghost.

Simone bobbed her head in some sort of assessment as she followed our guide. "This would be a very good place to recruit," she said, and I winced.

"Probably best you don't try that. You will understand more in a bit," I told her.

Normally in this type of structure, the most powerful individual would live at the very top. But that wasn’t the case in this situation. We went straight into the heart of the ice palace and down each step, growing significantly colder, to the point I even saw Simone cast a barrier over herself to keep the chill at bay.

Finally, we entered a regal hall, and our guide stopped. "She's at the end. Please don't have any wild ideas. Know that if you give us an excuse, the entire sect will be happy to turn you into slush."

"Friendly," I said, folding my arms behind my back and waltzing down the hall, only to kick open the big door at the end. "Finally, it's been too long," I boomed as the woman flinched at my exuberant entrance.

"I'm racking my mind, and I'm fairly sure we have never met," she said, trying to pin me in place with her eyes, but I dismissed her efforts. Madame Winter Delery was as most initiated beautiful, her skin so pale she looked nearly like an ice sculpture with long white curls that framed her very angry face.

Waltzing into her study, making myself at home, I picked off a few hard frozen berries from a plate. "I do wonder how you get food here. I mean, I assume you do eat more than just penguin eggs?" I asked, somewhat hesitating as the berries crunched.

"We do not eat penguin eggs. Perhaps if you knew me well enough, you'd know the mere concept of that is insulting,” she replied.

"Winnie, you and I go way back. So far back, in fact, that I brought you a gift." I swished my hand in the air before presenting a bracelet I had made out of the hivnara chiton that we had gathered.

It had taken significant effort to bend one of those plates around to make the bracelet. I had diluted S-rank acid in order to make it soft enough for me to bend it, and then I had wasted two more pieces of chiton in order to reconstitute the first once I had bent it in the correct shape. Beyond that, inscribing enchantments on the tiny jewelry had been a pain. Not to mention Winnie had an ego that needed to be smoothed by adding a few jeweled flourishes and design.

She glanced at the bracelet, inspecting it before her eyes flew open wide. Disbelief flashed through every inch of her form. The look only lasted a second before she snapped the bracelet on and inspected me once more.

I wasn't going to give her that satisfaction, so I dismissed the inspect.

"Now, now, the polite thing to do is ask. Or perhaps I should introduce myself." I rolled my hand and dipped my head in a small bow. "Pleasure to meet you. I am Bran Heros. Yes, Heros Clan, though I didn't grow up there. I would say, at best, I use them for their resources."

Simone coughed into her hand, muttering some comment.

"What was that?" I asked, looking over my shoulder.

"She said you use them," Winnie accused. "You use them for their women."

I put on a thoughtful expression and rubbed my chin. "I guess that's fair," I admitted. "I've been putting Circe and her Odyssey branch to work, and, of course, Nyx Heros is my girlfriend... or whatever exactly we should call it. I don't think the two of us have really put a label on it yet. Perhaps that's something we should do. What do you think, Nyx?"

I looked over at the serpent-haired woman, whose locks had stretched up and down, nearly hiding every inch of her body save her eyes in an effort to stay warm. She blinked and gave a muffled reply that I couldn't hear through the serpents.

"It seems she's a tad uncomfortable here," Winnie observed.

"It would seem so," I said with a grin as I turned back to the sect leader. "But now that I've given you my name, you can leave this horrid room. Isn't that right, Winnie? Perhaps you can even go get revenge on the Heavenly Fist Sect."

The woman's cold exterior nearly shattered with burning fury at the mention of the Heavenly Fist Sect.

I leaned against a chair, happy to see she was as incensed as I remembered.

"Is that why you've given me this?" she demanded, her passion undiminished. She glanced down at the bracelet on her arm.

"What if I were to tell you that the Heavenly Fist Sect has been co-opted by demons?" I asked.

Her eyes narrowed into pinpricks. "Are you mocking me?" she asked.

"No." I frowned, tilting my head before my eyes went wide. "You've known. For how long, Winnie? You never told me that."

Ice escaped her as if she had lost control over her strength. It was strange to watch ice freeze a second time. It apparently could grow so cold that it froze a second time, snapping and crackling along her desk and across the floor between us.

Even my regeneration kicked in just being close to her.

"Quit your games and explain to me who you are now, Bran Heros," she demanded.

"I'm the man who wants to destroy the Heavenly Fist Sect," I said calmly. "Because they are trying to kill me."

She would join, as would the other eleven who hadn’t participated in the first Demon War, for myriad reasons. The clans clearly wouldn’t bend a knee to me and become my forces.

Which meant to fight the Demon Lord and his generals, I needed my own.

Chapter 31

A s a group, we strode into a fortress filled with Simone's Russian and Chinese recruits as well as the locals from Kazakhstan. It looked more like some plantation that had been rapidly fortified with makeshift walls, slammed together by superhuman strength and no knowledge of engineering.

The familiarity made me smile.

It was expanding daily; we’d come into conflict repeatedly with the surrounding population and the growing number of people turning into feudal lords.

At this point, anything that wasn’t a major city had completely lost all national infrastructure, and while those would take longer to go down, it was just a matter of time. They were too population-dense. Without outlying farmland producing for them, people would eventually starve if they stayed.

No one thinks about how much farmland is needed to sustain each person until the food starts to run dry, and then that number is far larger than anyone expects.

As we walked through, Winnie and her sect watched soldiers and Mul Branova gleefully shove each other's hands into the fire pit. Meanwhile, others held stopwatches, trying to see who could endure the longest.

Simone's brow pinched ever so slightly, her focus shifting to something in the middle distance as she inspected the troops.

I had forced the issue and allowed anyone to join. We needed numbers, but that didn’t stop the Mul Branova from becoming their own unit, clearly elevated above the rest.

“They haven’t made much progress,” Simone grumbled. “Are you even working them, Gloria?” Simone spoke louder.

Our group had turned more than a few heads. Simone, Nyx, Merlin, and me walked with Winnie and most of her sect. Some had stayed behind to continue it, but Winnie had enough loyalty that her anger had become the rest of her sect’s.

"Oh, they're plenty hungry for power." Gloria chuckled at Simone, greeting our group as she walked out of the main castle. "You just might not see it because you haven't been out there while Bran's been taking you to collect people left and right."

Gloria stepped up to Winnie. "Pleasure to meet you. We can take you to join the rest if you'd like." She held out a hand to Winnie, who took it curiously.

"The rest? Don't tell me you have a dozen of these artifacts lying around." Winnie held up the bracelet on her wrist.

"Oh, I made that," I replied. That hadn’t been part of the pitch.

Winnie’s eyes flashed with surprise. "Wait, you made this?" Winnie paused, her words catching in her throat. "That means you already knew about my curse before we met.” She turned to me as if demanding an explanation.

“As I said, Winnie. We're old friends now. Sorry we don't have time to reminisce. I needed to find people who are motivated and strong enough to start fighting back," I answered.

As we continued through the fortress, we saw all manner of people working on building out our information collection. Some were gifted with skills that allowed them to move quickly or unseen, while others were able to process large quantities of information. Between those two and what still remained of the digital age, we were doing our best to compile what we could for the oncoming war.

Winnie paused, glancing at a map that was being updated by hand in real-time by a woman who seemed to be talking to the falcon on her shoulder. Winnie squinted again, inspecting. "That's a very interesting collection of skills. Where'd you find her? I'd maybe like to get one myself.”

I chuckled. "She only had two out of the three herself. We had a skill book for the third. I think I would have spent much longer looking for one with all three. Demons are much better for skill book drops."

Our words must have caught the woman’s attention because she flinched and turned, seeing me. She bowed so low that she knocked the falcon from her shoulder.

"Lord Bran, it's wonderful that you're back.” The woman was completely oblivious to the fretting bird next to her.

"At ease," I said. "I think you're upsetting your pet."

Only then did she realize that she'd disturbed the falcon. She stood back up straight and beckoned it to her shoulder.

"The Far Speech ability you gave me has been wonderful," she said quickly.

"Then continue to put it to use.” I flashed her a smile and kept moving.

We were getting closer to our destination. Winnie's curiosity with the woman who could speak and hear through animals, as well as control a small swarm of pigeons, was understandable.

The armies we were forming could only act as fast as communication could travel. This meant some of my first priorities were making sure that as digital communication became scarcer, we had our own ways of staying in contact and scouting ahead.

The woman with the falcon wasn't technically a member of the Mul Branova, with the class, as Simone would have liked. However, I had gotten Simone to expand her recruiting to include those with incredibly valuable skill sets as long as they fit the other requirements.

I opened the door to a large common room. Over a dozen high-level individuals were sitting around. Antonio shot to his feet and appeared before me in a sweeping bow.

"Lord Bran, your knight greets you," he stated.

"At ease, Antonio. I don't need the formalities." I waved it away but nodded to him as he rose.

"You perhaps do not like them, but you do need them, Lord Bran. Otherwise, how are people going to treat you with the respect you deserve?" he asked, joining my group and me at the front of the room. I’d had him watching over the guests.

Even then he wasn’t strong enough to restrain them should they really cause a stink.

I snorted. "Usually, the first time they see me swing my sword, I get all the respect I could ever need." My gaze raked over the motley group in front of me.

"This is him?" a wiry man in dire need of a shave with an eyepatch over one of his eyes spat on the floor as he tried to inspect me.

I dismissed the inspection without even giving him an ounce of my attention. "Thank you all for coming," I said, stepping more firmly into the room. "All of you are probably still curious as to why you're here."

"Something to do with the Demon Lord, I imagine," Winnie said, taking her seat and giving off a frosty air.

No one approached her, which was good because she was the most powerful of the batch, though more than a few of them had odd abilities that could defy a simple comparison of stats.

"What you may not understand is that this demon invasion of our world is coordinated," I said to the confused faces after Winnie’s comment.

Those words caused several of their expressions to shift drastically.

"You're telling me there's an ugly bastard behind all of this?" Rogers, the man with the eyepatch, leaned forward as he licked his lips.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. And in order to do something about him, I need more than an organization. I need generals," I said, looking over each one of them.

The bald man in rags sitting in the corner laughed out loud, nearly falling out of his chair as he spilled a jug of alcohol so strong the people near him winced. The chair leg that the alcohol touched began to disintegrate, melting into a puddle as yellow gas billowed up from it.

The lady closest to him jumped to her feet and drew a metal fan to keep the gas away from her face. "What the fuck are you drinking, you crazy old kook?" the woman exclaimed. “You’d put him in charge of other people?”

I stared at the monk with a smile. "Calm down now, you all. There's no need to get at each other's throats. What I need from each one of you is not necessarily the ability to lead an army. What I need from each of you is the ability to deal with someone of similar strength to yourself."

Those words caused the room that was beginning to grow rowdy to sober.

"You mean there are demons as strong as us?" Winnie asked.

"As strong as you? Only a few," I said.

Winnie was incredibly strong; my current self was not her match. It wasn’t uncommon for the sects to each possess a talent or two on the level of the clan elders. She was once the shining star of the Heavenly Fist Sect, the number one sect in the world.

If she had been involved at all in the First Demon War, perhaps my past life would have ended up differently. The Demon Lord cursed her to either get her for himself or to get her out of the way. I could only imagine the headache that would have come if Winnie had allowed herself to become possessed or otherwise controlled by one of the demon lords and his generals.

"What I need from all of you is to be the elite, to be the generals in name. I'm sure I can either pair you with someone with enough sense to lead an army of people or be happy to help you learn to do it yourself. But in the present world, personal power is your key to authority. I need each of you to lend that to someone so that we can start moving forces to fight back,” I told them.

"And your promise to supply more booze?" the monk asked, tipping back the gourd he had been drinking from. He had spilled some, only to drain the last of it in his mouth and wipe it away with the back of his arm.

"I'll give you as much booze as you can get, old monk. And to make it even better, I have plenty of poison, so you can mix it up just how you like it." I grinned.

The monk let out a cackle. "You might have to get me someone who can ferry my drunk ass around, but if you get me where I'm supposed to be, sure, I guess someone can rely on my authority to order the troops around."

He wasn’t really as bad as he seemed, but a monk who moved away from the world was filled with more cynicism than poisoned booze, which was saying something.

I gave him a nod of thanks for being the first to concede, only for my eyes to rake across the room.

The one-eyed man stood up. "Bullshit, I'm not fighting anyone else's battle." He stepped up to me and jabbed a single finger into the center of my chest. "Now you hear me—"

I grabbed his wrist before he could even react and twisted it down, forcing his body to follow until his face was nearly kissing my boot. "You're going to have to speak up if you want me to hear you from down there," I said calmly while giving him a glare that made him visibly shake with fear.

"What I meant to say was sign me up," he said, and I let go of his wrist, only for him to snap backwards. He grabbed his wrist and checked to make sure it was still fully functional.

Rogers might lean into the pirate captain aesthetic that his class had given him with his changed eye, but he wasn’t actually that tough.

My actions caught the attention of the rest of the room. While none of them could inspect me, they could certainly inspect the man I had just forced down to the ground. And with that, the rest of their complaints died on their lips.

"Wonderful. From henceforth, you will be known as Humanity's Twelve Generals. I look forward to working with each one of you." I gestured to Gloria and gave her a slight nod.

She stepped out of the room for only a second before the door opened.

Eleven older men and one woman, dressed in fairly simple adventurer gear, entered. They gave off a stern discipline that told the world they were anything but simple.

"These twelve have actual experience in leading people to war. I hope each of you can find one to your liking and establish a healthy cooperation." I gestured to the new entrants.

I had been busy scouring the world for people of power who hadn't participated in the first demon war.

Thus Gloria had gone off with Circe and strong-armed more than a few governments into handing over their top brass or finding those who had recently retired. After running them through enough instances that they wouldn't die at the first stiff breeze, as well as informing them of their new longevity, they were more than happy to commit to the new cause.

"Winnie, a special one has been prepared for you." I gestured to the side at a rough-looking German woman who marched forward, her shoulders squared and her head proud before she stood in front of Winnie.

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm General Knallhart," the woman said.

"Pleasure." Winnie extended a soft hand, giving me another one of her overly curious glances. Winnie didn’t play well with the boys, and it was harder than I’d like to admit to find a female general.

I nodded to each of them as the tepid welcome did little to dissuade the military leaders, who began actively speaking to a number of my new generals, trying to get a feel for which ones would work best for them.

I stepped back and turned away, only for Gloria and Simone to follow me.

"Do you really think it's okay to leave them all?" Nyx asked. "There's a lot of big personalities in there."

"They'll figure it out." Gloria waved a hand. "Besides, if any of the generals piss off the… generals"—she hesitated—"which ones are the real generals?”

“The ones with the experience, our former military leaders, will function as advisors. I think the ones with the actual power are worth being called generals," I answered.

"Right. Then if the advisors piss off the generals, we can always find new advisors." Gloria corrected herself on the nomenclature.

"The biggest problem is going to be getting enough forces to support them," I said. "Any headway on countries willing to give us their military?"

All three of them shook their heads. "I was hoping some of our new advisors might be able to help in that regard, but ultimately, the second they joined us, their countries turned their backs on them,” Simone said, shaking her head. "That makes no sense to me because all of those countries are practically defunct now anyway."

She had checked out the communication systems in place. Any countries of reasonable size had completely collapsed into their smaller units. Even that was tenuous at best. Power would determine who ruled, and politicians didn’t turn out to be the strongest initiated.

"Transportation and communication," I said as if quoting something. I was remembering a lesson from my past life, though it wasn't even one from the Demon Wars.

In fact, it was a lesson I had once heard about Rome in school or perhaps read about Rome in a book. The only reason they were as successful as they were was because they made crowned roads to simplify travel. That invention and expense to build them everywhere on the country's part was often hailed as the single reason the Roman Empire had been able to spread as far as it had under singular leadership.

"While we don't have the manpower yet," I advised, "as modern systems continue to collapse, we should start to build our little fiefdoms up around a road system. This only gets more complicated when it needs to be a road that can handle a wandering monster scrabbling over it. Even something like a hoof from a deranged monster could blow chunks out of an asphalt road."

“Understood.” Gloria nodded. “We already have the hub-and-spoke model for Vein City. Perhaps we can repeat that here?”

Chapter 32

"T hank you again, Merlin," I said as she teleported our group to Egypt. It felt like we hadn’t stopped moving since we recruited the generals weeks ago.

The massive battlefield was more attention-grabbing than the colossal red hell gate stretching out to the sky above. From atop the sand dunes, I could see nothing but blood-soaked sands and thousands upon thousands of people fighting an endless pitched battle, though I knew that many of them were summons—after all, that was the Ennead Clan’s specialty.

Several humanoid figures made of sand pulled themselves from the ground at our appearance.

"Identify yourself," one golem said, crossing its arms in a very human-like gesture. Probably the same gesture as the one controlling it. A low-rank technique then.

"Bran Heros, here to meet the Ennead Clan," I replied.

"Seems we have a busy day," another golem said, uncrossing its arms and gesturing for me to continue. "Right this way. If you miss it, go get your eyes checked and come back." It gestured behind it at the massive structure that appeared to have been ripped up from the ground and dominated the landscape.

The golems collapsed into piles of sand upon completion of their oh-so-welcoming greeting.

Merlin and Circe were the only others with me; I had left the rest with plenty of tasks. We were officially moving full steam ahead, doing everything humanly—and inhumanly—possible to get ready for the war that I had set us all straight towards.

I had been busy hopping around the world, collecting elites, but at the same time, I couldn't let myself stall. I used my travels to also pick up a large number of high-level or high-ranking instances. There was no slowing down, and there certainly was no going back.

I looked ahead, taking in the massive structure that was hard to miss. It was built out of giant chunks of limestone like the pyramids themselves. Only it was even larger.

It felt as if I was intimately familiar with the castle, though I'd only been in it once or twice before. The one I had known had certainly undergone some renovations that weren't yet present.

People were moving quickly around the structure and its many terraces. There was a mix of people in modern clothes and those stuck in some old age. The differences made it really easy to pick out who was actually in charge.

A fair-skinned man stuck out like a sore thumb and spun around as we approached the gate.

"DeGritos, you'll have to forgive me," he said as an assistant flitted away and turned to me. "Bran Heros, pleasure to meet you. Circe, you as well." He nodded to her before focusing on Merlin. "I don't believe we've had the pleasure, Merlin.”

“And you are?” Merlin asked, and the man chuckled.

"Most people call me Ozzy, and no, not like the rock star. My father's Osiris, and he named me after himself. You'd be surprised at how much it takes to walk around and be called your father's name all the time. Ozzy works much better and gets me out of his shadow." He grinned like an old friend.

"Pleasure to meet you, Ozzy." I held out a hand and he grabbed it, pumping firmly.

I continued scanning around us. So far, I hadn't seen a demon or anything unexpected amongst the Ennead. Though I hadn't had the chance to meet Ozzy this early in my prior life, they were about what I expected as far as strength and stature.

He went on to do great things, sharper than his casual demeanor implied, but he was genuinely a man of the people.

"Water, any of you?" Ozzy asked as a servant walked by carrying a platter. He scooped up four glasses without even waiting for an answer and passed them out. "I don't know about any of you, but being on the surface like this, somehow I am always thirsty." He took a long drink before letting out a contented sigh and waving over his shoulder. "Follow me, and we'll work through whatever it is you need, Bran." He said my name as if he was working to remember it.

"Thank you. I'm happy to see that things aren't too bad here. Are they worse elsewhere?" I prodded.

"Don’t know. Unlike you, I haven't had the chance to travel around and see the world remake itself. It's awe-inspiring. A pivotal moment of the world as the old order crumbles and a new one rises up to reshape it in their image. I wish I could see it for myself, if nothing else, to say that I did. But there's more work here than even I could try and put into words right now." He shook his head and led us into a room before closing the door behind Merlin.

Unlike many of the other clans, the Ennead embraced recruiting wholeheartedly the second they emerged from The Rapture. Seeing people still shellshocked from The Rapture in the halls meant that they were each newcomers, still adjusting.

"And I apologize if you wanted to meet one of the big names. But unfortunately, they are all booked up from now until eternity, I think," he reported.

"No, you are certainly enough. Thanks for taking the time, Ozzy," I said, wanting to make a friend of the man eventually.

"Sure, sure." He waved for me to sit down as he rounded into a rather empty meeting room.

The decor was gaudy with most of the items on the wall made of solid gold or even painted with that vibrant blue they seemed to love. Everything felt solid and old; any sharp corners had disappeared long ago.

"I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting before," he said after a moment. His eyes searched me for something, but I couldn’t tell if he got what he was trying to confirm.

"I'm rather young in the Heros Clan, though, already saddled with too much responsibility," I said, playing the part of at least a moderately important member of the family, only to get a giant scoff from Circe. I turned in my chair to give her a droll look.

By manner of letting me do the talking, she’d lent me a considerable amount of credibility. This was just an act to further enhance that.

"Does the peanut gallery have an opinion?" I smirked.

"I would say, more than anything else, you took your responsibilities with an iron fist,” Circe replied.

"I wasn't that harsh on Hercules and Zeus." I chuckled and turned back to Ozzy, whose expression had turned more serious, regarding me far more diligently. "She exaggerates, well, a little. I've had some slight friction, but I haven't solved it all with my fists. I have used a decent amount of diplomacy," I said, looking pointedly at Circe before turning back. "In fact, I would say even now, I don't represent the Heros Clan. I have my own organizations that are running quite the gambit behind the scenes."

"Oh," Ozzy said, leaning back in his chair, taking me in again. This time, he was assessing me by more than just my name. "If you didn't introduce yourself as a Hero, I would have thought you were one of those Borrsons."

I winced. "Thorin Aegir is my father.” And I saw something click for the man.

“That explains it, and also why I haven't heard of you, though I have heard rumors from Vidar of a secret child.” Ozzy nodded.

“Do you speak to Vidar often?" I asked, wondering if I was about to try and drink from a poisoned well.

Ozzy waved his hand dismissively. "He's an asshole like the rest of the Borrsons, but he gets around far easier than most. Hopefully, you got your tact from your mother and not your father. I have met Thorin, too. He doesn't fall far from the Borrson tree. Vidar's been the face of the Borrson clan for the last 50 years or so," Ozzy said, waffling his hand. "But now, I'm curious. What organization are you with, and what is your aim?"

"It's a small but growing group. I have a number of powerful elites. We’ve managed to recruit Winnie from up north. Our total size is about 12,000 core members with SS Classes and a growing contingent of foot soldiers," I answered, enjoying the way he began to frown before he put together who ‘Winnie’ was and sat up straighter.

Ozzy pressed his palms into the table, dragging them until he cupped the edges. "Foot soldiers," he said, using the word with caution. "Not a term I see thrown around very often. It almost sounds like you're preparing for war, Bran.”

“Is your clan not? I would think between demons spilling out all across our world and instances becoming so commonplace, a war would be the first thing on everyone's mind." I took a long sip of my water.

Ozzy shifted his posture, and I could tell he had been expecting the conversation to take a different direction.

"Are you asking for the Ennead Clan to assist in this war of yours? In case you haven't noticed, we have our hands full." He gestured in what I assumed was the direction of the hell gate.

"We do, too. My forces are blocking off two hell gates," I replied.

"Two." Ozzy leaned forward. "How? We are recruiting every summoner for ten thousand miles to keep our side of the battlefield full."

"Well, one I put under significant protections before this whole catastrophe even started. Those defenses were instrumental in ensuring that it has been kept under tight lockdown. No demon has even wandered a mile from that hell gate alive." I couldn’t help the confident grin that spread across my lips.

The hell gate in the Citadel of Blood was the best-controlled one on the planet by no small margin.

Ozzy's eyes grew incredibly sharp at that information. "And the other?"

"It is located about an hour away from one of my fortresses. We're going and clearing it out frequently. But, as you can imagine, that's easier said than done. Without constant vigilance, I'm sure some of the demons have run off and caused problems, but we've done what we can to stop a full-blown invasion while giving people time to adjust." I shrugged.

Ozzy was nodding along with me. “The adjustment is key. We can’t shelter them from the new reality.”

"Agreed. The rest of humanity needs to get a little experience fighting demons. My people won't always be between them and the closest hell gate," I answered, happy to find someone who thought the same way as me.

"Cold but not unreasonable. A guiding hand is far better than an iron vise," Ozzy said. "And where would this war be fought if not between those two hell gates? I'm afraid it sounds like they're off on another continent. This is the only one anywhere within traveling distance for us. We are officially out of oil even if we had working vehicles."

"Lucky for you, I think the army is going to come much closer. We have reason to believe there's a significant demon army massing in China," I said.

Ozzy leaned forward and shook his head. "The Wukong Clan is as territorial as they come. Heck, they built a wall around their country, and then when the digital age came, they built a second one to keep people and ideas out. If you want to launch forces into their territory, I think you're going to find much more resistance than you expect. And I am not picking a fight with the Wukong Clan for any level of benefit."

I waved my hands in front of me, lest he get the wrong idea. "I'm not picking a fight with the Wukong Clan. They simply have too much territory. Demons have spilled out around their forces and embedded themselves in their population far beyond their ability to contain the invasion. I can already see the army massing."

I paused before continuing, making sure he was paying attention. “They will either go across into Europe or down over the Middle East into your land. We both know that if they have even half a brain, the demons will be terrified of Shiva. They won’t go to India."

Ozzy nodded at that fact. It was widely accepted that no one could even challenge Shiva.

"It wouldn't surprise me if some forces probed that direction, only to turn tail and find Egypt as the next closest piece of meat,” I finished. “After all, if they can secure another hell gate, their forces will only swell.”

“If what you say is true," he said, emphasizing the word ‘if’, "this will be valuable information to the rest of my clan. However, I cannot yet confirm that information."

"It's fine. I didn't expect an answer here today. I wanted your clan to be aware of the situation and to know that we have a significant number of forces building up on the north side should they choose that direction. If they come for your clan, I would love to support what you need, either directly or indirectly pushing on them from the other side. After all, not only is this a chance to kill demons, but I think we all know in this new order, coming in and saving a population will reap you bountiful rewards in the long run." I tried my best to sweeten the pot, but war was rarely sweet.

Ozzy licked his lips, letting a little of his greed slip past his otherwise calm mask. "You have a good point, Bran. I'll make sure my clan considers this information carefully. While you seem to have solid numbers, that's barely even the start of an army. I assume the demons number in the hundreds of thousands, possibly millions. If they're pulling from the population of Western China, then they could be massive in just a few short weeks.”

He had no idea. Though there were plenty of hosts, the demons would actually need to stop splitting their souls eventually, and the rest would become little more than cattle or fodder. If this went on long enough, just millions was a generous underestimate.

I nodded. “We are well aware and doing what we can to recruit. The unfortunate reality is those who are safe are complacent and those who are in danger are panicked. Panic and desperation are wonderful motivators given the right pressures. We need someone who is both determined to do the work and desperate enough to pick up a sword. I am giving an open invitation to the Ennead Clan to send some of your summoners my way. I'd be happy to keep them safe while netting them a large amount of experience and gold."

Ozzy restrained his greed this time; however, from the rumors of my past life, I knew I likely already had his full attention. "Interesting proposal indeed, Bran." He flinched and glanced towards the door like he’d received a message from one of his summons. "Now if you'll excuse me, it seems I have other guests. Perhaps we spoke his name too loudly and summoned him."

I frowned, replaying our conversation quickly in my head. I came to the only logical conclusion as to who might be visiting him. It suddenly made sense why he thought I might be a Borrson.

"And apparently, because the big names are all predisposed right now, it leaves either my sister or me to entertain Vidar. And by that, I mean it leaves me." Ozzy rolled his eyes and stood up. "Pleasure to meet you, Bran, Circe, and Merlin. You're welcome anytime. Perhaps when we aren't preparing for a war or in the midst of stopping a demonic invasion, we can have a longer, more relaxing meeting." He clearly was shooing us out as politely as possible.

I got a few steps into the hallway before I locked eyes with Vidar and his adopted daughter.

Chapter 33

V idar let out an incredibly fake laugh. "Oh, Bran, it'll take a lot more than your face to anger me." He stepped forward, and I could feel the purpose behind his movement.

The years of fighting had honed my instincts, and I noticed how his hips shifted down slightly as he took that step. His entire posture went loose like a fighter ready for the first punch.

With his next step, he kicked off the ground, crossing the distance between us in the blink of an eye. His fist was about to slam into my face.

Yet, I didn't so much as blink. There was no need to be concerned, not here next to Ozzy.

A hundred skeletal hands broke out of the walls in every direction grabbing onto him and halting his attack as if he’d hit a solid wall. Most importantly, stopping his fist an inch from my face.

My dark hair blew back with the breeze.

"Vidar, I know you Borrsons have a horrible temper, but unfortunately, Bran is currently my guest," Ozzy said, stepping out from behind me, his eyes alight with ghostly fire.

The skeletal hands pushed Vidar back before retreating into the walls. The sandstone smoothed back over, hiding them once again.

We were standing inside the largest crypt ever made. Hundreds of thousands of the dead initiated over the years had been prepared by the Ennead Clan and entombed within the building. Each and every one of them retained some measure of their strength from when they were still alive.

As a core member of the Ennead family, and also a lich, Ozzy most certainly had access to all of that strength when he stood inside its walls. Even if it was me at my peak in my past life, I wouldn't pick a fight with a core member of the Ennead in their home. To do so was absolutely stupid beyond measure.

Vidar clicked his tongue and stepped back. "Little whelp had the gall to try and upset me. I wasn't going to kill him, but he did deserve a lesson."

"I'm the one who deserves a lesson?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "You can't even inspect me, Vidar, and yet you tried to throw a punch. Who knows if you'd have kicked a wall far harder than your fist."

Vidar laughed and glanced over at Ozzy. "I assume he's attempted to be mysterious with you as well. Let me dispel the notion that he has any strength. The boy ," Vidar emphasized the word, "standing in front of you, is eighteen years old. I think even if he was Zeus' firstborn, he wouldn't have the strength or experience to come close to matching me.”

Vidar turned back to me, eyes sharp with anger. “You need to learn to respect those who are your elder in age and strength. As far as I'm concerned, all I see is a cocky twat who needs to learn a few lessons."

I knew that Vidar was doing his best to anger me. I let the jabs roll off with the smug satisfaction of knowing just how surprised he would be if he learned my actual strength.

Ozzy gauged both of us evenly. "If I had to bet which one of you is eighteen years old, I would have picked you, Vidar," Ozzy stated before turning his back to all of us. "But you've come, and I owe you a meeting. Come now, Vidar. And, Bran, do be careful on your way out."

Vidar gave me a smug grin, though I felt half of the look was him attempting to re-establish some sort of pecking order after Ozzy's words. "Seems I interrupted something. Oh well." Vidar turned and followed behind Ozzy.

His adopted daughter went to keep up with him, only for me to place a heavy hand on her shoulder that stopped her from taking another step.

"And where do you think you're going?" I said, having other plans for her.

"Unhand me, you mutt," she growled, her eyes flaring with venom.

Perfect, her anger would work wonderfully.

“Bran…” Circe warned, but I ignored her.

"Oh, perhaps I assume you're closer to my age than your adoptive father. Why don't we have a little match? Ozzy? I'm certain your clan has a space that we won't completely destroy. Just to test each other. I don't think a Borrson would turn down a spar. After all, that’s how we learn. Especially not when the alternative is to sit in a room while people far older than them talk their ears off." I raised my eyebrows in challenge at Venthra.

She looked about as fiery as her hair.

Ozzy paused before turning back as if assessing what I was trying to do.

"I will make you eat those words," Venthra snapped.

I grinned, knowing that I had gotten to her.

Despite Vidar's brashness in every other action, he hesitated, his eyes calculating as he searched over me. He might talk down to me, but he wasn’t so sure. "It seems you really do like my adopted daughter. That is fine. Go play and flirt to your heart's content. Just don't break too many of his bones." Vidar laughed and waved us both off.

Ozzy stood for a moment before making a gesture. A pile of bones spilled out from the ceiling with hollow clinks before they scrambled together, building themselves up into a whole skeleton. After that was done, he led Vidar away.

"Right this way," it gestured with a hollow voice.

"Bran," Circe said, walking up behind me, her tone filled with threats. She wasn’t the only one who didn’t like this plan. Merlin’s gaze was filled with caution, but she didn’t object.

"What? I am a Borrson. And she is, too. From everything my father's told me, this is how we get to know each other.”

“It can also be how to subtly break someone's leg, poison them, or otherwise incapacitate them in the long run,” Circe cautioned. Most of those could be healed, but for most, a severed limb required very specialized skills.

“Or that. But you wouldn't do that, would you, Venthra?" I said, speaking up, knowing she could hear Circe's words given how close we were and how little effort Circe had put into whispering.

Either she was leading Venthra along or she’d conveniently forgotten about my Immortal Body. I’d guess the former, and I was happy to know she was at least more in my corner than she appeared.

"Of course not," Venthra said. "And after all, the great Circe Heros will be observing. We couldn't slip anything underneath her watchful eyes, could we? And she could intervene before either of us got hurt or permanently injured."

"Great point,” I offered, now absolutely sure she’d pull a dirty trick or a dozen. If Circe was here to ‘watch’ and didn’t stop it, then Vidar could blame the Heros Clan.

Circe shook her head. "I'm not taking responsibility for what Bran might do.”

"Why not?" I asked, sounding offended.

"Because I'm not going to be responsible for when you cave her skull in. You and Vidar seem to be like oil and water. Can't even put you two in the same hallway together without the two of you looking like you're about to start trading blows,” Circe answered.

“Blame the Borrson. Every time he sees me, it's like he just wants to rip my heart out and eat it like an apple," I told her. “How can I not bristle when someone looks at me that way?”

Venthra laughed. "Hearts are far sweeter than apples. If you were a real Borrson, you would have known that."

"Oh, and I suppose you're more of a real Borrson than me? Sounds like you were adopted," I observed.

Venthra spun around and hissed at me, only for the skeleton to touch a panel that slid away and revealed a large arena in front of us. It was enough for her to compose herself and straighten up rather than put on some unsightly display.

She was a wild one when no one was watching. I’d bet she did some pretty nasty work for Vidar. Poisoning my mother was likely the tip of the iceberg.

A number of people who I assumed were Ennead Clan members paused in the midst of duels. Most of them were low levels with a few higher-level ones in participation. Probably training new recruits.

The two of us, clearly with no love between us, stepped down into the amphitheater-like seating to the floor below. As if by some prior agreement, the spars stopped, and people scattered up to the stands, a few running out of the arena as Venthra and I stepped down to the floor and walked to different sides.

"Rules?" Venthra asked, loud enough that all the spectators certainly heard.

"Anything goes, of course. Just stop before killing the other. I'm sure Vidar would be most displeased if I returned you in a body bag, but in a wheelchair or a sling, he'd be fine. After all, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." I grinned at her, having learned quite a bit from my father on how to be a Borrson over our time together since he entered into my life.

Showing any interest in the clan's ways had turned into an outpouring from my father. It was as if he'd waited his whole life to explain the barbaric and violent rules of the Borrson Clan to me.

Venthra snorted. "Fine by me. It's alright if you try and pretend to be a Borrson. I will quickly dismiss that notion from your skull around the same time I start bouncing it around the floor." She gestured to a spot as if she'd already planned out this fight and knew how it was going to go.

"Well, since you're so sure of yourself, I'll let you come first." I relaxed myself into a fighting position and motioned her forward.

She didn't hold back at all. Her red hair flew behind her as she threw herself across the arena. To many of those present, she probably looked fast and skilled enough to win this fight.

However, to me, she was simply far too slow.

I stepped in quickly, catching her fist.

Only for a spear to fly out of her spatial ring and try to spear my palm.

I twisted back, brushing aside the tip of the spear and striking her forearm hard enough to make her drop it before coming in with an open palm to her chest and sending her flying back.

Since no one could see my stats, the best thing I could do at that moment was to make it look like I was playing with Venthra.

If I could handle someone with all of their stats in the 2000s as if they were a joke, then their evaluations of me would rise significantly. One of the best perks of hiding myself from everyone's inspects was to be able to create the illusion of any strength that I desired.

"You're stronger than I expected." Venthra got up quickly despite the harsh landing. But she was a Borrson. She’d been raised in brutal duels and a constant battle; getting up was second nature—otherwise, they’d beat you while you were down. She should at least be able to handle a few solid blows.

"That's a shame. You're weaker than I expected. I thought a Borrson would be a little more than a single cheap trick. Throwing in the towel already?" I egged her on.

"Just warming up," she insisted, bouncing back on the balls of her feet. "You said anything goes, so there's no such thing as a cheap trick," she shot back.

A small crowd began to gather around the amphitheater. It seemed our little duel was going to be the show fight of the day for the new recruits.

"I'm going to make you regret this fight," Venthra spat. "Make you regret attempting to step on the entire honor of the Borrson clan." She stood proudly in the center of the arena, retrieving her spear and striking a heroic figure.

So proudly, in fact, I wanted to break her down. I was ready for her to lose the prideful edge.

Venthra lunged at me again, her determination unwavering. Her spear scraped the ground, a faint green light glowing at the tip. As she struck, a serpent of magic coiled around the shaft, attacking from a different angle than the spearhead.

I deflected her spear, my other hand seizing and dispelling the magical serpent.

It vanished in a burst of light as I disrupted her spell.

But she used the momentum carrying her forward, a spike protruding from the toe of her boot.

I raised my knee, colliding with her heel as I leaned back, causing her kick to swing short. I spun around, seizing her ankle. Using her momentum, I shifted my weight and hurled her over my shoulder, slamming her into the arena floor.

The crowd gasped at the force of the blow, but I merely crossed my arms and looked down at her disdainfully. "Get up, Venthra," I taunted. "Prove to me that you're more than a disappointment. If anyone here has inherited your father's ferocity, it's not you."

I needed her angry and to go too far. That would give me the justification to really take out my anger on the woman who killed my mother in my past life and tried to do the same in this one.

She growled, flipping onto her hands and knees before charging at me, driven by nothing more than raw rage and instinct.

I sidestepped, kicking her hand aside as she swiped at me. I noticed for the first time the bright red nail polish on her fingers. I wondered if it was poisonous like everything else about her.

"Is that all you've got?" I goaded her.

She lunged at me, wild and uncontrolled.

Chapter 34

T here was nothing special about the brute force fighting behind it. She was likely trying to lull me into a sense of complacency for her next sneak attack.

I would have to keep my eyes open for it, yet the more I watched her, the more I felt a pang of pity from where I’d been hoping to get satisfaction.

She activated some device hidden up her sleeve that would stab into my thigh.

Instead of trying to identify the move, I focused on regenerating, feeling the power surge through my body.

Suddenly, a sword pierced my foot. I didn't flinch, merely blinked at her as she jumped back, wiping blood from her lips and sneering triumphantly.

But as she sneered, I calmly stepped off the blade and set my foot back down. In her eyes, I needed to become indomitable, a force she could never even hope to touch. "You owe me a new boot," I said, crossing my arms and waiting for her next move.

Venthra was a pawn. But she was clearly Vidar's pawn and fought like it, too. There was nothing special in her skills. They were all basic save for a few sneak attacks. Perfect to catch a seasoned fighter unaware. She was literally trained and raised to kill such people.

A tool, nothing more.

I hadn't known of her in my past life, which spoke volumes about her fate once she outlived her usefulness.

There had long been rumors that Vidar had poisoned the current chieftain of the Borrson Clan before challenging him to a duel and seizing leadership. Now, I was facing a woman filled with venomous abilities and a penchant for deception.

"I feel sorry for you, Venthra," I said, just loud enough for her to hear.

She charged at me again, leaving herself vulnerable in her single-minded pursuit. Whether she could poison me or not, either she or Vidar would try to deal with me later after the poison had robbed me of some strength.

I allowed her next hidden dagger to pierce my side, though it didn't penetrate as deeply as she'd hoped.

[Poisoned - Body Rotting Poison D]

[Poison Resisted]

Could she be any more obvious? At least I focused on my resistances. Perhaps it was my mother’s poisoning that caused me to have such a focus, but either way, I was glad for it now.

I caught her by the throat with one hand, while the other slammed into her stomach, only for me to let go of her. Trading a scratch for this was a powerful statement.

She doubled over, spitting blood onto her own boots. Her breath came out in ragged gasps.

"Venthra, I wasn't raised amongst the Borrsons," I said to her, grabbing her hair by the roots. "My understanding is, when one person beats another, it's because they're teaching them a lesson. Let me give you some valuable advice. You've been around Vidar your whole life. I'm sure he actually raised you in some capacity, whatever that might be. But I hate to tell you, your future doesn't look very bright."

She glared hatefully at me, but without air in her lungs, she wasn’t ready to fight yet again. Perhaps she was ready to listen.

"You've gone around poisoning plenty of people, including my mother, Elle Heros. You remember her, don't you?" I said softly enough that the crowd wouldn’t hear.

Venthra tilted her head up slightly just to look me in the eyes.

I could see much of the fight had died in them; instead, a little fear blossomed.

Fighting someone who her father didn’t get along with was one thing. Fighting the man whose mother she tried to kill? Well, a fight like that tended to have a very different outcome. Her life flashed in her eyes.

"Good. I don't hate you. I pity you. It's like blaming a knife rather than the man who wields it. You're nothing but a tool, one that's rapidly losing its usefulness. If I had to guess, in the next two years, you'll be either asked to plan to kill the current chieftain or you'll be handed a plan that you're to poison him. And once you do that, Vidar will challenge him, defeat him, and leave you as nothing but the last loose end. Tell me, Venthra"—I stared into her eyes that were trembling back at me—"what does Vidar do with loose ends? I am guessing his poisoner knows the answer." I let go of her hair, and she fell to her knees.

She clenched her teeth so hard I thought they were about to crack. Perhaps part of her did, though. Because she did not try to attack back like the feral fighter she’d been up until now.

"What is the meaning of this?" Vidar boomed, storming into the arena.

I ignored him, focusing on Venthra for another moment, even though her head snapped in his direction like a good little dog. I needed to push her a little harder. "Remember that I beat you this easily, and I wasn't even aware of your tricks. Vidar must be completely aware of each and every one of your abilities. He probably taught you most of them and gave you the items you use for the others. Every single one of your tricks is well within his grasp, and he and I are of equal strength. Just think how quickly he could take care of you once you become that loose end," I offered.

She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye as Vidar stepped up to the edge of the arena.

Only then did I give him my attention because the rest of the room certainly couldn't ignore him.

"Oh, just a little Borrson duel. One you were well aware was happening,” I told him, reaching over and lifting Venthra up.

But his eyes were locked on Venthra, who had clearly lost miserably. “It looks like you just used her as a punching bag."

Ozzy scoffed behind Vidar, apparently done with the brutish manners.

"Yeah, but that's the Borrson way. How else will you learn new tricks?" I said, grabbing Venthra by the shoulder and turning her to me slightly before clasping her hand in a more formal way.

"Wonderful duel," I said, only to watch as her eyes jumped in surprise, probably not only by my shift in attitude towards her, but she also probably felt the second that our spatial rings brushed together, and I put something in her spatial ring. "Fighting is how we grow better and learn ways to fight different styles. Who knows, she might have picked up a new trick while she was here with me."

Venthra started to look at her ring before hiding the gesture. Good. Hide it from Vidar until you need it. That she’d even think of hiding from him told me that I’d made the cracks and planted the seed of doubt. Hopefully, it would blossom, and if I knew one thing, it was that those roots were strong enough to rip apart any bond.

I flashed Vidar a broad smile and shot Venthra a wink. "But it seems the lesson's over. She probably can't handle any more lessons for the time being. Do remember that one, Venthra, for when things get dire." I nodded at her and stepped away, only for Vidar to jump down into the arena himself.

He was heavy enough that the arena boomed with his landing. "Well, given you have been so kind as to teach my daughter a lesson. Why don't I return the favor and teach you one?" Vidar said, standing tall.

If it went the way he should have expected, I’d be poisoned and slowly weakening. Fucking coward used his adoptive daughter to soften his targets.

I knew I could probably put up a good fight against him. But in order to beat him, I would have to pull out all of my aces, of which he certainly had plenty of his own given his position amongst the Borrson. And there were likely a few tricks in his spatial ring that could give me real trouble.

Even if my father’s side were brutes, they wouldn’t send out their representative without ways to ensure he could return.

"Now, now, Vidar. He's not even of the same generation," Ozzy argued, casting me a worried glance.

"What do you mean? He's my cousin." Vidar held out what looked like a familial gesture like he was calling me to give him a giant hug.

"It's true. My father and his were brothers. Only his father cast mine out of the clan, and Thorin didn't have me for many years later," I added.

Ozzy scoffed. "Fucking Borrsons. He's eighteen."

"Nineteen," Circe corrected from the stands. "I'm not robbing the cradle that badly."

Her words caused several people to do a double-take, and it was my turn to roll my eyes.

"She's joking. Don't encourage her flirting." I now understood why Circe was a legendary nymph.

The older woman laughed in the stands, and even I was having trouble understanding her motives. Not a problem for now. Vidar was a much bigger concern.

"If you want to go a few rounds, though, Vidar, I'd be happy to see what there is to learn." I activated Soul Gaze and quickly began scanning through his skills as quickly as I could in order to prepare.

He still had me beat in raw stats, and he had even grown significantly since I'd last seen him. Everyone was taking full advantage of the oncoming wave of demons and the plethora of instances.

Vidar, despite his constant travels for the Borrson Clan, seemed to have seized plenty of opportunities while I was helping others grow stronger as well.

Still, I wasn’t out of his weight class. If I played this right, he might be a little hesitant to pick another fight with me. Last Stand should keep me from the worst-case scenario, but I’d rather not reveal it if I could.

For now, I just needed to understand my opponent better.

"See?" He gestured to me. "A Borrson would never back down from a fight."

Thorin told me that even before they awakened they had to fight beasts like gorillas, though it was a hundred to one. Borrson teens didn’t even need prompting; they threw themselves at the fight without hesitation.

"Do you want to include me in your clan that badly?" I asked. "The Borrson Clan must be desperate for more members. I've heard there's been a lot of infighting in the clan lately. I wonder, did Venthra's mother get caught up in that? Perhaps you adopted her out of some sense of guilt," I continued, planting seeds of doubt in Venthra's mind.

It was a cruel thing to do, but I needed to chip away at their relationship if I was to turn her against Vidar. Her flipping was a critical step in the plan I was hastily putting together.

"Shut up and fight!" Vidar snapped.

All smug arrogance vanished from his face as he took a step that seemed to bend the laws of time and space between us.

He threw a punch so hard it cracked the air it passed through.

I didn't even have time to use a skill or summon a weapon. My instincts kicked in, and I tried to deflect the blow. It was only partially successful, and I knew my Immortal Body was healing that bruise even as it formed.

He stuck to me, coming on hot after that first punch.

I weaved to the side and jabbed twice at him to keep him off for a moment.

Vidar brought his fists up like a seasoned boxer, weaving forward and taking both jabs on his forearms. He stepped in close and dropped his right fist for a gut punch.

I stepped in even closer, bringing us nearly face-to-face and forcing him to land his punch early. It hurt, but thankfully, it wasn't strong enough to do any real damage. I grabbed him by the biceps and threw my weight backwards, trying to rip him off the ground.

Boxing with the bigger man was not ideal for me, and I was far more inclined to use his weight against him.

I smirked as if I was in full control, only for his eyes to glow like two starfields.

Suddenly, I threw him out of the amphitheater and past the clouds, well into space, nearly letting him go before I realized what ability he had used and clasped onto his forearm with all of my strength.

We were out in space. Vidar was no longer being thrown, his foot stepping on a piece of debris.

I barely adjusted to the new environment before it shifted again. It was beyond disorienting.

Vidar chuckled, and a second later, we reappeared in the arena, only this time his feet were on the ground and mine were up in the air, our positions completely reversed. He grabbed onto my wrists where I held him, clamping them tightly as he spun and slammed me down into the hard arena.

I assumed the area was built with ranked material given the way it didn't shatter and disperse some of the energy from my impact. Instead, I felt the bones in my back rearrange themselves before Vidar stomped on my shoulder for leverage to rip my hands off his arm where they were still instinctively clutching with my full strength.

He grinned down at me with a face that deserved a punch and lifted a foot to stomp my skull.

There was no time to understand completely what happened. Instincts kicked in, and I rolled to my feet and twisted my arm back into place.

My Immortal Body did its work. The rib that had broken through the skin receded with a wet sucking noise as the wound healed itself over.

Things appeared whole, but I could feel more healing happening inside. I cracked my neck, rolling it and focusing back on him as if I wasn't bothered in the slightest.

Staying in control of the situation was too important.

"That was a fun trick," I said. "Kind of like one of those old amusement park rides where they bring you up really high and then drop you down for excitement. Only you kind of ruined it by stomping on me. That was just rude."

Vidar's eyes narrowed into pinpricks as he watched my regeneration.

"What kind of bloodline do you have?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, it's a titan, in case you haven't felt the physique," I answered, cracking my knuckles and preparing for another round like I was fresh once again.

His expression grew harder. He had felt that my weight was off when he tried to throw me.

I'd only confirmed his suspicion and made myself more of a threat.

He stepped in close with another of his moves that broke the laws of space. Somehow, in a single step, he crossed ten feet and went straight for another gut punch. The man really liked to play dirty.

However, what really had my attention were the next words he spoke. "I'm going to kill you, you fucking mutt."

The next second, Vidar’s fist buried itself into my gut with a blinding pain as something ripped straight out through my stomach, severing my spine.

Chapter 35

V idar had started with his fists, and I had been happy to continue that type of fight, feeling like we’d established an unwritten rule that we weren't fighting with weapons. The only skills he'd use were for movement, along with passive enhancements we had in our own bodies.

So, I felt betrayed and cheated by the sudden stabbing sensation, only for it to disappear nearly as quickly as it came.

Whatever blade he'd stuck through me had held me up for just a second. Long enough for him to come around with his left hand and clock me in the side of the head.

With my legs currently unresponsive, I couldn't stop myself from flying through the air and smashing into the wall of the arena, where I promptly coughed up a mouthful of blood, and once again, my Immortal Body skill kicked in, repairing my spine as well as everything else he'd just destroyed.

Thankfully, I had upgraded that recently; otherwise, some of these injuries might not have healed.

Yet Vidar seemed in no hurry, having severed my spine. "Tough thing about Regeneration"—he chuckled with a smug smile—"it's really slow on the spine. Lots of little nerves have to get realigned back up." He wiggled his fingers together. "But like you said with Venthra, I'm just a Borrson. I’m teaching a weaker one a lesson."

He stepped forward. He knew enough about Regeneration to know what it could and could not do effectively.

I flashed back to my father ripping out my heart in my past life. Somewhere in the Borrson teachings, there was probably extensive knowledge of regeneration, especially if my father learned how to upgrade the ability.

But Vidar was wrong to believe he knew everything about me. I did not have Regeneration. I had Immortal Body. I waited, appearing weak as he stepped up and swung his leg back in a well-telegraphed kick.

Choosing my moment, I shoved myself off the wall underneath his kick and snatched up his other leg, grabbing it and rolling with it as my legs began moving again. I brought both of us into a tumble.

He couldn’t step into space if he couldn’t move his legs.

On just one leg, he fell over sideways, twisting in ways that could not be comfortable, only for me to finish the roll on my stomach and kick my legs underneath me.

I launched myself to my feet well before he could, attempting to grab his ankle and toss him around. But thinking through the ability he’d used before, I simply satisfied myself with a heavy kick to his chest.

He did his best to block the hit, but I heard his arm snap as I launched him across the arena.

"What was that about lessons? Perhaps a good one for you, Vidar, would be to not play with your opponents. After all, that was a nasty ability you used behind that punch." I spoke loud enough for the crowd to hear and glanced to the side, only to see several people shocked and looking at their neighbor.

He’d used something subtle enough that nobody else had seen the move.

"Perhaps this has gone on long enough." Ozzy jumped into the arena. "After all, even if this is some odd Borrson Clan tradition, you are still our guests. I do not want to take on the implications if one of you dies while I am hosting you."

Vidar got back to his feet, and his arm wasn't fixing itself as quickly as mine was able. He might have me beat in his raw stats, but it was clear that in a long, drawn-out fight I could probably take him.

Of course, I couldn't account for every trick he held in his spatial ring.

"Yes, I think we've all learned valuable information. Venthra, with me." Vidar jerked his head to the side.

For the first time, she hesitated to listen. But that hesitation lasted only for a brief moment before she jumped down into the arena.

He roughly grabbed her by the shoulder, the two of them winking out of existence as he stepped forward.

Ozzy turned to me, looking decidedly less friendly despite the smile on his face. "Perhaps it's time for the rest of my guests to go as well, unless you'd like to smash someone else's face in my arena."

I chuckled and scratched the back of my head. "Sorry, it just kind of turned out that way. Sometimes when we Borrsons fight, situations can get a little heated." I chuckled again, remembering the excuse that Vidar had given Hercules when he nearly killed him after fighting the Gate Guardian in Copenhagen.

"Wonderful," Ozzy said, unamused.

Merlin and Circe were already coming down to the arena floor. "We'll be on our way shortly," Circe assured Ozzy. "It will just take us a minute. Our ability to travel isn't quite as fast as Vidar's." She sounded apologetic, but her politeness was simply factual.

Ozzy gave a shooing motion, and Merlin was already beginning to cast her teleportation spell.

It didn't last long before the three of us winked away from Egypt and landed somewhere decidedly more humid.

"And what was that?" Circe spun on me the second my feet touched solid ground.

"I was testing him," I repeated with a shrug, not particularly liking her tone.

"Vidar is the face of the Borrson Clan," she emphasized. "Which means if you upset him, anything and everything that the Heros Clan says is liable to get warped on the way back to them. He controls most of the information that flows to his clan. That means even a small bias twist from him, even without meaning it, could do serious harm. And by the way you two are fighting, I'm sure there will be a very strong intent from him to do you and anyone working with you harm. He's an asshole," she spat, "but he is in a critical position.”

I shook my head. He had poisoned my mother, and seeing how he treated his adopted daughter, turning her into a tool that I was sure he was going to discard, was another massive count against him. I had seen the type before.

“Playing friendly with Vidar all the way up until he doesn't need you isn't the right approach, Circe. I'd rather let him piss off the Borrson Clan enough. Someone else comes out to swing their weight around, and then perhaps we can give them a decidedly different impression than the one Vidar gave them," I told her. Perhaps even sprinkle some divisiveness into the Borrson Clan while we’re at it.

"I thought you hated this part," she said.

"I do hate politicking. But just because I hate something, it doesn't mean I'm bad at it. It just means I don't like to engage in it. Besides, the clans were never really that friendly, to begin with. Some friction might get us more control of the hell gate in Copenhagen and all of the instances of popping over Europe. They are clearly in the Heros Clan territory. Let Vidar go run off to the Americas if he wants or perhaps tell the rest of the Borrsons to be happy with the Nordic states and Antarctica. After all, I'm sure the Borrson Clan would love to collect instances that are so far away. Thankfully, they have Vidar to shuttle anyone who wants to go places around. I'm sure, given how much his stats have improved, that he's been using his ability far more for his own benefit than the rest of the clan." I was sure that Vidar was taking a disproportionate benefit from what he was discovering while out and about. That ability couldn’t carry many people.

"You won't be able to drive a wedge between him and Borrson leadership so easily," Circe warned me. “They are insular; living in a colony in Antarctica doesn’t make them very friendly. More like polar bears—and not the cute version on commercials.”

"We'll see about that. Now, Merlin, where are we?" I asked in confusion, glancing around and not recognizing anything surrounding us.

"Greece," she said. "I thought it more important to get us out of there rather than where we're going. Speaking of, where exactly might that be?" She raised an eyebrow.

***

Several weeks passed in a blur after the fight with Vidar.

After getting humanity's generals and their advisors more accustomed to each other, I began sending them off with as many local recruits as we could gather. This allowed them to train in groups and build camaraderie organically. I, along with the leadership across the Mul Branova, took turns as well, ensuring they understood the larger organization and operated as a whole.

I had forced some others groups amongst the armies, but the Mul Branova was separate and the core of our forces. It was important that I continue to keep them growing, lest the armies catch up.

After all, I was letting them help train the armies so they’d be recognized as a higher authority and an extension of my will.

Training an army was not something done easily or quickly despite people's literal abilities to level up pertinent skills. We needed instances and time to run people through them. And that time, I feared, was quickly running out.

The demons and other forces were training just as hard; everyone's lives depended on it. A race for power had already begun. The war would just be measuring ourselves against one another.

Despite having many instances, we also had an increasing number of people. The instances that had opened in the early stages of The Rapture, with plenty of runs available, were now running dry. We could only run them as fast as a charge would recover.

Thankfully, a new problem arose. Instances had popped in pockets of the world that were sparsely populated, leading to the beginning of an ecosystem of monsters flourishing throughout the world.

One such instance was not too distant from our fortress. Although it could be easily overhunted, it provided much-needed stress for the new recruits. After all, learning to swing a sword correctly under stress was a far different skill than learning to swing it in an empty field with a peaceful master waiting patiently.

I stood with my arms behind my back, watching twenty new recruits march through the forest in front of me. "Heads up!" I called out as another group came into view, and too many of them had missed it.

Then again, they had been marching for over ten hours, and their eyes were beginning to droop, some of their heads nodding, nearly falling asleep while walking. My words caused them all to snap to attention. Several of them called magic to their hands.

The people moving through the forest were our own people, and they realized that quickly, lowering their weapons.

The other group looked far fresher, and Simone waved her hands excitedly as her eyes met mine. “Bran!” she shouted, rushing past her troops.

I’d expect them to react, but there were a number of Mul Branova with her that were too busy staring.

In no time, she slammed her body into me and molded herself into my chest, letting my arm hold her aloft by her rear.

“Having fun?” I asked, kissing her on the forehead.

“Wonderful fun. The Mul Branova need some leadership experience, and the troops are reacting well to them. These are some of Winnie’s while she teaches those from her sect who came with her. Speaking of other women, how’s pursuing and pinning down Circe going?”

“Men, take five!” I shouted, and my group nearly collapsed onto the forest floor.

“Ladies, refreshments and healing, please!” Simone called over her shoulder. “Make it ten; I’ll buy you all an extra five minutes.” She winked at me before returning to our hushed conversation. “So, Circe? Need some time to chase her down?”

I figured the best way to keep her from pushing that line of questioning was to walk with her still held in my arm behind a tree and keep her mouth busy.

Simone moaned as her luscious lips melted under my own. The question was forgotten as she pawed at me like she wanted me to push harder, though any harder and our teeth would be touching.

I pulled back to breathe and look into her beautifully flushed face.

“More.” She groaned only to grab my head and kiss me passionately before pulling back and gasping. “So, Circe. Don’t think you can avoid the question with kissing. I’m hot for you, and you’ll have to solve that before we go back, but the question won’t go away.” She trailed a finger down my chest.

I gave Simone an unamused expression. "How about you take over my batch of soldiers to give me that time?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

Only for her to surprise me. "Sure. Give me your batch. They look worn down to the bone," she answered with a shrug.

"They are," I said. "You have to keep them under a lot of pressure and then keep them from making mistakes. It's tough, but you don't fight without being under pressure. They need to learn to operate under it."

Simone gave me a weird look before shrugging. "Sure, that's fine. I'm certain I can make plenty of pressure." She giggled and shooed me away. "Now go make it nicey-nice with Merlin and Circe. Remember, that's why I'm giving you a break from this. You’re mine tonight, though. Be ready and rested."

I stopped pressing her to the tree and let go of her rear that had been comfortably in my palm.

She hopped off me after one last lingering kiss before waving her hand at my group in an overly sweet voice. "Yoo-hoo! I'm in charge of you now." And after she said those words, she shouted, “Duck!” Then she fired off a heartbreaker beam straight into my group. Two that were, unfortunately, slow to react, got knocked off their feet and shot into the forest.

"Oh no! Two of our men have been disconnected from us! Quick! We have to find them! Healers be ready!" she shouted in mock concern, only for the rest of my group to snap to attention and rush to help their fallen comrades, while also falling out of formation.

Simone began firing off more heartbreaker beams to trim them back into formation. And with that, I knew her soldiers would learn plenty about how to operate under pressure.

It seemed she was decently tough on them after all.

Chapter 36

I waved to Circe in greeting, putting my best smile on my face as I approached.

She chuckled. "You’re chipper for somebody about to lead a war. Although I guess it’s not your first time.”

“Well, technically I didn’t lead much in my last life, and this is all moving much faster. I was more of an elite force. Get in, destroy some demons, and get out kind of fighter before,” I admitted. Though more than once that meant getting in before the demons showed and whipping forces into shape.

This was a much longer endeavor, and while it was moving fast in the midst of things, wars could easily take years.

“You’ve done amazing at getting humanity ready in what little time you were given,” Circe offered, her tune from when I left the vault having changed considerably.

Then again, it was fairly reasonable for her to be upset with me when I went missing for over a year. Perhaps that’s why any romantic feelings that had been blooming had been cut short. Maybe Simone was right, and I needed to put some effort in, if nothing else than to heal the rift.

"Well, now that you've fluffed me up, what's the problem?" I asked, half-joking, only for Circe to tilt her head. "Fuck, is there an actual problem?" I asked after she hesitated.

"Don't worry, it's not that bad. However, as expected, the Borrsons are pushing hard against us. And it seems the Ennead Clan has their back. You didn't upset them when I wasn’t looking, did you?"

I waffled my head. "I don't think so, but if I'm perfectly honest, Ozzy didn't really seem too excited to have me when I was down there, anyway."

"Well, do your best not to make it worse," Circe instructed, pulling back her blue hair.

I slapped a sloppy salute to my forehead. "Will do. Perhaps you'll just have to come with me, though, just to keep me from causing those sorts of problems."

"Seriously?" She gave me a strange look. "Are you asking me to come with you or be with you?"

"Something like that. After all, the leadership in an organization needs to build close bonds if we're going to work together effectively when we're under pressure," I answered, doing my best to keep a straight face.

She raised a singular blue eyebrow at me in curiosity. "Now this is where I'm supposed to ask you what problem you caused that I'm going to have to clean up. You are being far too flattering for the Bran Heros that I know. Or perhaps did the demons finally get to you?" she teased and stepped up close, putting a hand to my forehead. "Or can you get sick?"

"None of that." I swatted her hand away, feeling a little extra warmth from her touch. "You're a lovely woman by all accounts, and from everything I know about you, I sincerely want to treat you well. Well enough that you stay at my side through all of the craziness we're about to go through."

Circe chuckled. "Has Simone ever told you that you're a terrible flirt?"

I blinked. "Maybe. She certainly wouldn't call me a romantic."

"Few men are, Bran. Few men are. Most are really only concerned about one thing, and that's getting a woman's dress off. If you let them think for just a minute they possibly could, they become significantly more amenable to just about everything."

"I know. You’re an incorrigible flirt," I replied.

Circe gasped and put a hand to her chest. "Bran Heros, do you really think of me like that?"

"Am I wrong?" I looked her dead in her red eyes.

"Absolutely not. I am a flirt, and it has helped me in numerous ways. However, I do draw the line at actually going on my back to get what I want. Flirting has generally worked well enough." She felt the need to clarify, her beautiful eyes searching my own to see if I understood.

I raised an eyebrow. "And why would you want me to know that?"

"Because despite many things, I do care what you think about me, Bran." She clarified, "Like you said, members of an organization need to get along, and they need to respect each other. I fear you wouldn't respect me if you thought I did more than flirt to get what I want."

I held my hands up, worried about how sensitive this conversation was going. "You would have had my respect regardless. There are many strange individuals—as you saw with the generals. What really matters is if you're capable at what you do."

"Refreshing to hear that, Bran. And though many people give that lip service, I believe you," she told me, nodding to herself.

I cleared my throat. "However, Simone calls me block-headed at times. She's been trying to tell me that you're more than just a flirt. I decided to flirt my own way, and it’s rather direct. Flirting like a punch in the face. So, accompany me?"

Circe broke into laughter. "Straightforward. I see. And what if I don't want to be so straightforward? What if I want to make you work for it?"

I shrugged. "Then I guess I don't have much of an option, do I?"

"No, you don't." She stepped forward and put a finger under my chin. Despite the gesture, she somehow managed to make me look down into her eyes. She was a fair bit shorter than me. "I'm glad we understand each other. But, Bran, you might be a little immature for me."

I chuckled. "You are probably one of the few women in the world who can say that and actually be true. I have far more life experience than this body, remember?”

“I'm so glad I have the honor." She smirked, drawing her finger away with a small scratch of her nail in the stubble that had grown on my chin since I had been out working with the new recruits.

"I'll pick the time, and you pick the place," she offered, leaving her the easier decision. And the one that stressed me out because I would have to try to figure out what was romantic enough.

"Simone, Nix, and Gloria are going to take a day off with me here soon. As long as we can work around that, it should be fine," I said, after a moment.

Circe gave me a long look that I could not decipher. "Your first move is to remind me that you have other women?" Circe prodded when it was clear I was not following whatever was going on in her head.

"Direct, remember? There's no point in me hiding that fact. Though perhaps you'd like me to make it less upfront?" I asked after a second.

She shook her head, clicking her tongue. "What in the world am I going to do with you?” Circe asked.

"Well, I'm sure Simone could give you a dozen quick-witted replies to that. However, my biggest ask, Circe, is just to give me a chance." I looked her dead in the eyes. "I do know if you're anything like the many people I've known over the years who've lived past a certain age, something like romance isn't exactly your top priority. So give me a chance to prove to you that I'm worth the effort. Because ultimately, I think we both know, that's what's holding us all back."

Her lips curled into a slow, steady smile, this one far more realistic than the quick, flirty ones she had thrown my way since we met. "That sounds like a plan. And, Bran," she said, starting to walk away, only to turn and look over her shoulder, "don't remind me of my age too often. And be sure to look at my ass as I walk away. You’re supposed to enjoy watching me. I’d prefer you stare at me and my assets often. Bran, I like attention, and you already have yours split three ways." With that, she turned and swished her hips dramatically as she took a few test struts while looking over her shoulder.

I did as she asked, dropping my eyes to her rear, even if this went against my nature of trying to be respectful.

The sway was particularly pronounced as her loose dress accented every movement of her hip. That white toga was somehow fitted like it was grabbing each and every one of her curves.

I had a feeling I had just gotten way in over my head. But the problem about jumping into unknown waters was always not knowing just how deep they were until you were in. Circe was old enough to have strange depths.

Perhaps Simone had been more correct about Circe than I had initially believed. It seemed there was at least some interest.

However, I knew that people as old as Circe came with a fair amount of edges to their puzzle pieces. I would have to discover those over time and see if we were in fact compatible. But she might be worth that effort. I'd really have to spend some time figuring out a plan for whatever date she would expect from me here in the near future. And that's when I realized as I walked away that she hadn't given me a time.

Fuck, she did that on purpose. To make me wait on her? Look for her to ask for it? She did say she wanted attention.

Chapter 37

W e’d been busy training everyone the last few days, yet Simone had managed to keep the plans for tonight a complete secret despite my best attempts at persuasion, which were usually effective on her.

As instructed, I was getting dressed in a nice suit, something that felt out of place given the current state of the world. But the suit had been Simone's request, and I wasn't about to disrupt whatever plans she had made.

People needed a break from time to time. Constant training wore down people the same way it did blades. To keep yourself sharp you had to remember to enjoy life.

Tonight would be wonderful, if nothing else I was going to be with my three loves for the evening.

As I adjusted my tie, Jenny poked her head into my room, a flash of disappointment crossing her face when she realized I was completely dressed.

"Have they managed to get ready?" I asked, turning to regard one of the leaders of the Mul Branova.

"Almost. Just one more minute. I wanted to make sure that you were all done," she replied. Rather than the white and red habit that most of them wore, Jenny and Amanda had stuck to looking like professional drivers.

I gestured at myself. "As you can see, no problem here. It's just going to be another minute. I'm happy to head down. Are you driving us somewhere?" I asked, only for her to tut and wag a finger at me.

"Simone said you would ask questions, and I am explicitly forbidden from answering any," she told me.

"Not even how they look?" I prompted.

"I'll tell you they are certainly worthy of you, Lord Bran," she answered.

"They don't need to be worthy of me. They just simply need to be ready for a good time. At least, that's what I hope to show them." I straightened up and took one last look in the mirror, only for Jenny to slip behind me and run her hands across my shoulders to flatten out any last creases.

"You look great. And you didn't ask, but they'll love this suit," she said, chuckling to herself before dancing away to a more respectful distance. "After me, Lord Bran."

When she reached the door, she bowed deeply.

I still wasn't used to all of the worship and attention I received from the Mul Branova. For some of the older members like Jenny, it was amplified several thousand times what it should be. Yet, I knew that being a leader I couldn’t be everyone’s friend. The respect and the worship were part of what gave me the authority that let me lead them.

Power was a strange thing, and I thought it healthy not to savor it too much.

Jenny was dressed in her classic driver's uniform, a pantsuit, that once again belied our present reality. She walked me down the fortress and past a long line of Mul Branova women who were standing about as if waiting for something, only for me to realize they were waiting for me.

Their eyes drank me in, looking me up and down with sly smirks and flirty winks.

But another sight quickly drew my attention from their antics.

Simone, Gloria, and Nix all came out, dressed to the nines. Simone wasn't illusioning her hair, instead keeping her classic curly black, only it was a touch more styled. I couldn't tell you exactly what was different, only that there was an effort made. An effort that I vastly appreciated. She wore a simple yet tantalizing short black dress that had only a teasing view of her chest through a sheet strip.

Gloria came next, just as stunning, wearing a silver dress that contrasted beautifully with her purple hair. And she had put on a pair of earrings that were like dripping silver crystals that cascaded nearly down to her shoulders. As usual, she had a classic coat over her shoulders, a black fur thing, but otherwise preferred simplicity.

But what really caught my attention was the last of our party.

"Nyx," I gasped, seeing her done up as she came out from behind Gloria's larger frame.

Nyx had tried to tame her serpents, pulling them back, only for them to continue to spill out behind her. I didn't want to discourage her, but her attempt to style them had somewhat failed.

While Gloria's dress was silver, hers was a rich, dark gold. The gold should have matched her scaled underbelly, but what drew my eyes immediately was that the serpent part of her was gone.

I activated Soul Gaze to inspect her, only for Simone to come up and playfully bat my chest. "Don't do that. It takes away the mystique and the mystery."

"Really?" I asked, looking down at Simone. "I can't even see the new ability?” It was probably the surprise she’d gotten from the gate guardian.

I realized that while I was arguing with Simone, Nyx was biting her lip and looking nervous.

"Nyx." I held my arms out, walking up to her and sweeping her off her feet, giving her a long-lasting kiss, one in which her tongue decided to deepen like it was trying to dive down my throat. I chuckled and pulled her back to breathe. "You look stunning."

She bit her lip, and her face blushed bright red. "Thank you. Do you like it?" she asked.

"I think the dress is great." I looked her up and down. It was fairly low-cut. It was clear that Nyx wanted some attention tonight, and I’d give it to her. Drown her in it until she begged me to take her back.

"No, my legs, silly." She laughed.

"Oh, those," I said, pretending like I had barely noticed. "Well, I guess stairs will be easier, but you're just as beautiful either way."

I knew immediately that I had given the right answer as Nyx’s serpents began swinging back and forth happily as if this had finally released the tension.

Nyx dove back in for more kisses, and she simply didn't stop, even though we had an audience of Mul Branova. My typically shy Medusa was not currently shy at all. She continued kissing me, her soft lips melting into mine, her face and body burning with passion.

After a moment, I realized she wouldn't stop unless I stopped her.

"Nyx, you're going to have to stop or we're not going to have time for whatever Simone has planned." I poked her nose.

But based on Nyx’s look, she was genuinely considering if it was worth picking a fight with Simone to stay here and make out the rest of the night.

"It's fine, Bran, she's just excited." Simone giggled from the side.

Nyx bit her lip and nodded vigorously. "I mean, I know you said you didn't mind the tail. But hearing your reaction to my legs just made it all that much more real."

I struggled not to smile at being right. "I told you before. Did you not believe me, Nyx?" I chided her, though there was no heat behind my words.

"I did, but there's something different between you saying it's one way and seeing that it is. I guess seeing really is believing," she said with a blushing chuckle. Her transformation had made her appear far more mature with greater curves and sharper features, but it was times like this that reminded me she was the youngest of my harem.

"Well now, how about we get going before we stir up too much more of a crowd?" I said gesturing at what had to be at least half of the Mul Branova all hovering around the entryway watching our interaction like we were the show of the century.

"Also, now I get to share clothes and shoes with Simone! What do you think?" Nyx lifted up the hem of her dress to show off a pair of shoes that I was guessing were fancy based on what she’d said. But they were simply heels to me.

"They're wonderful," I said with a blank face.

"He has no idea what he's looking at," Simone translated.

"Hey, now," I chided Simone.

“Tell me I'm wrong." A smile spread on her face.

"You're not wrong, but perhaps we let her have her fun showing off whatever the shoes are," I replied. "I assume they're expensive?" I looked around to the women surrounding me for a hint.

They all nodded their heads with wide eyes.

“Very,” Gloria spoke up, brushing her hair off her shoulder and showing off her earrings. And for Gloria to think they were expensive, they were likely more than I wanted to know.

"But technically, they weren't expensive at all," Simone countered. "In fact, they were free." She and many of the Mul Branova around us began laughing.

"Ah, they were collected as part of your preparing for the apocalypse?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

Simone nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, I'm glad they're getting some use rather than being left in some store. Not like anyone's shopping for expensive heels nowadays. So, Nyx, I'm glad you had a chance to wear them. You look different, but different is good." I continued to emphasize it by letting my eyes roam over Nyx, drinking her and that golden dress in.

Which then prompted her to grab my head and begin making out with me again. Laughing at her enthusiasm, I scooped her up and gestured for the rest of them to lead us out, realizing that Nyx wasn't going to stop. And indeed, she continued all the way until we got to a limo.

"Are you done yet, or are we going to pick up where you left off?" I asked, prying her off long enough to duck my head into the back seat.

Nyx giggled. Her face had a radiant smile that put her already beautiful face on another level. The way her seafoam eyes shone and the edges crinkled only made it better, not to mention her dimples were cute, making me want to encourage her and see them more.

"I don't want to stop. Perhaps I could keep on going for far, far longer," she said.

"Do remember to let him breathe," Gloria said as she slipped into the limo herself. If she was bothered by Nyx taking my attention she didn’t show it. However, her eyes lingered meaningfully on mine as if to say that she would be getting some time tonight.

"Yeah, breathing," Nyx said before diving right back in, pressing her body to me and stealing my breath.

Nyx was so enthusiastic that Simone ended up joining her, and the two of them passed me off back and forth, only finally letting me come up for air when the car stopped.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking around at whatever part of the city we were in. It had been spared much of the destruction that had stripped the rest of the city of its beauty.

"Old Town," Gloria said, not giving any more clues. I looked around again.

I didn't recognize the particular block, but if we were in Old Town, this would have been familiar territory for me.

"Really?" I asked, turning back and forth, still not finding anything familiar.

But down the street, I saw a restaurant with a sign hanging with no damage from the apocalypse.

"I was told this was the best place in Old Town," Gloria said, checking with Simone.

"If it's the best place, it's also probably brand-new," I said, chuckling. "The good places never lasted long."

"Well then, I'll take you to a new restaurant," Simone announced, popping out of the car the second Jenny opened the door. She nearly skipped as she led the way.

"All of this looks so...undisturbed," I hesitated.

"My treat for the date is trying to bring you someplace that won't make you think of the war or everything else the entire time," Simone answered, spinning around with the kind of smile that I couldn’t refuse.

Chapter 38

I grinned at the three ladies as I stepped out of the limo. "With the three of you, I don't think it'll be any problem forgetting about the war, at least for a time."

Simone took those words as some sort of signal, grabbing my arm and pulling me to the restaurant door, only for Jenny to rush around us and open that, too. Inside, a small platoon of Mul Branova bowed as we entered.

That explained why they weren’t all there for my lovers’ dress reveals. The rest were here.

"Welcome, lord and ladies," they said in unison, seeming to really be enjoying this.

I wanted to tell Simone that she'd gone overboard, but the hopeful expression on her face stopped me.

"This is better than I deserve," I said a little more tactfully. "You really outdid yourself."

"Oh, it's not just me. Grumpy over there"—she hooked a thumb at Gloria—"is the one who found an excellent chef for tonight."

"Oh. Is that what we're calling you now, Gloria?" I asked with a smile.

"She gets away with it because no one can seem to hold a grudge against her. You, on the other hand, aren't nearly as peppy," Gloria replied with a grin.

I clicked my tongue. "I'll have to work on that. Maybe Simone can teach me how she peps herself up all of the time." I let my eyes rove over Gloria for a moment, especially the way that the coat over her shoulders trimmed down her figure and made the way her hips pinched in even more obvious.

Simple but effective.

"It's easy," Simone said without missing a beat. "All you have to do is think about the next time you get to have Bran all to yourself. Oh, whoops. I guess for you, we'll have to invert it. The next time you get the three of us all to yourself." She said the words as if it was a mistake, but Simone was incredibly intelligent and insightful. It wasn't a mistake.

"Good evening, lords and ladies," Amanda began, stepping forward. She was dressed like Jenny. "If you will follow me, we have your tables ready.”

“Thank you for doing this.” I nodded to her and the rest of the Mul Branova who were putting this on.

“It might sound silly, but we're all really excited. In a way, Bran, by you relaxing for the evening, it tells the rest of us that everything is going to be okay. So please, don't feel self-conscious and just enjoy yourself."

I shook my head, looking at the ladies. "You spoil me too much. All of you do." I extended my words to the rest of the Mul Branova, and on a whim, I decided to take it a step further, bowing to all of them. "You've all been working so incredibly hard. To then also take the time and set this up is incredible. It means the world to me. Thank you, Mul Branova."

I decided to stop there, and the Mul Branova all excitedly clapped their hands, sweeping in around our table and doting on the four of us in every way imaginable. I didn't have to push my chair in. A napkin was laid across my lap.

One of the women even tried to get me to drink water as she held the cup, and it wasn't just that it was a little ridiculous, but also it was rather hard to drink when someone else held the cup.

They all flitted about, disappearing from our table as soon as we were settled.

I glanced over at Simone. "So, how many promises did you make to all of them in order to set this up?"

Simone gasped and held a hand to her chest. "What promises would I make?"

Rather than respond, I gave her a long, slow glance.

"Alright, a few. But they were more than happy to do this regardless. I mean, really, Bran, I don't think you quite understand how popular you are with all of them." She straightened the napkin on her lap.

"Oh no, I understand how popular I am, which is why I'm very careful. Lest I give them the wrong idea," I told Simone, putting additional meaning into my words.

"You don't have to worry about that. It's not been promised," she said, taking a sip of the wine that one of them had poured for her to sample.

"I don’t have to do anything?" I pushed.

"No, of course not. They all understand this is for fun. And it's not like I promised that you'd sleep with them or something." Simone waved away my concern.

I let out an explosive sigh of relief. "Good, because I was worried you had promised just that."

"No, silly, you're all mine. Well, mine, Gloria, Nyx, Circe, Merlin, and... Winnie?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Trust me, the last thing Winnie wants is men. You do understand the curse that was put on her?" I asked, before realizing I hadn’t explained it in too much detail.

Simone shook her head. "I could see the name, and that... But I wasn't making assumptions."

"Well, suffice to say, because she was stronger than the Demon Lord whenever he met her, he managed to send a demon, have it die, and curse her." With that, I gestured vaguely to my side. "She is essentially cursed with lust that becomes a feedback loop with her body heating up. It's so bad that her body physically heats up to the point that even with her stats she could just combust and become a charred lump. She has to keep any arousal at bay and keep herself cold as well; otherwise, the cycle will start and run out of control."

I could only imagine why she was cursed with something like that. Demons had a foreign sense of love that was more akin to widow-spider mating. Only they wanted their stats so they could bud off a new soul.

Simone leaned forward. "And she lived like that?"

"She did, though she was suppressing it as best she could. She did not decide to isolate in the Arctic because she liked penguins."

"Ah," Simone said, "so she was actually using the cold there to suppress part of the curse."

"Exactly. And that is why she's uninterested. Heavily practiced disinterest in all things romantic,” I answered.

“Oh well. I already have an ice princess, Merlin, who you still need to make moves on," Simone didn't hesitate in reminding me.

"You know, it's quite odd to listen to a woman push me towards another. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were sick of me, Simone," I teased.

"Never," she said, looking at me over a wine glass.

"Well, that's good, because we're all going to be very long-lived. And it's going to be a little embarrassing to the whole of the Mul Branova if we ever break up." I chuckled. In my past life, there were more than a few examples of people who were utterly infatuated with each other, but a hundred years changed many situations, including more than a few marriages.

"I can't even imagine that…" Nyx said, squishing herself up against me in the booth. "Living and being together that long. The human mind's really not good with big numbers."

I almost said, 'wait until you see a battlefield,' only then to realize tonight was supposed to be about anything but the war happening.

"What about you, Gloria? What's your biggest concern if we grow old together?" I asked.

"Kids," she said quietly over her drink. Someone had gotten her what I assume was fine whiskey.

I coughed, my own drink going down the wrong pipe. "I guess the Nesters are all pretty big families, aren't they?" I said nervously. "It'll be hard to find the right time. Also, I'm sorry that we never got the formal marriage done. After coming out of the vault, there was a lot to get done before the gates opened. Planning a wedding just hadn't been a priority."

"We'll find a solution," she said with confidence. "And what about you, Bran? What are you most worried about? Getting old together with all of us? Do you think when you're old you'll be able to keep up?" She smirked.

"Oh, you won't have to worry about that. Even at 500 years old, it was never a problem. I will say, keeping everything interesting at that age does get a little difficult,” I admitted.

“We'll just have to get you plenty of variety." Simone giggled and gave me a look like she knew some of the ideas that had crossed my mind.

"Hello, lord and ladies." An older gentleman came up to the table, his arms politely folded behind his back. "It is our pleasure to have you dining with us today. We have a full five-course meal planned for you. Please sit back, relax, and if you need anything... I am Chef Pierre, classically trained in École Ducasse."

"Oh! French!" Nyx exclaimed. "They really are the best chefs, hands down."

I gave her a strange look, and she clamped her mouth shut.

Every now and then, I forgot that Nyx was raised in a fairly upscale environment. At least, I was fairly sure that was the case. She hesitated while I stared at her.

"Well, if Nyx says so, then I am certainly going to look forward to it," I said, nodding towards Pierre. "Have your way with us. I don't think there's anything we can't eat."

"I'm well aware," Pierre said with a strange chuckle. "It's the first time I'm ever incorporating poisons into my dishes. A unique challenge, if I might say so myself."

I turned and gave Simone a surprised expression. "You didn't."

"I did." Simone beamed. "I love you, Bran. And if you like to put poison in all of your food and drinks to grow stronger, then so be it. Even on a date, I will let you have that, at least."

I rubbed my hands together. Somehow, knowing that this fancy date night out was also going to be training my resistances made it even better.

Pierre looked at my excitement and bowed to Simone. "Thank you for the recommendation, Saintess. I can see the work I've done to add that element will go a long way." Pierre bowed again and backed away from the table before moving with a purposeful urgency to go and live up to whatever masterful creation he had planned.

The night continued, and I leaned into flirting and giving attention to my ladies. It wasn't often I got time to entirely focus on them, and I found myself genuinely relaxing.

I let go of that part of me that always tried to be polite and respectful, and instead, I couldn't keep my hands off Nyx, pulling her in close and stealing kisses from time to time. I even interrupted one of her stories just to kiss her for a minute and have her forget where she'd been.

"What was I saying again?" Nyx paused, faintly scowling at me.

"Oh, I don't know. I was distracted by your beauty," I teased.

"I'm going to have to strut around in legs more often." Nyx swung them back and forth.

I glanced under the table. I completely forgot about their transformation.

"All I'm interested in is what's up here." I cupped her head and tapped her temple with my thumb. "And occasionally these." I ran my hand along her cheek and brushed her lips with my thumb, only for her to nip it ever so slightly.

We came around with the third course of the meal. "Now I have for you lemongrass and truffle arancini." Pierre placed a plate in front of each of us that had three quarter-sized balls of some fancy dish that I had no idea what it meant.

It wasn’t like five-star dining often occurred in my past life. By the time I had any prominence, the culinary arts of modern day were long lost.

"Thank you," I said as he hurried away and let us get back to our conversation. "Nyx, you were talking about the recruit who couldn't stop tripping."

"Oh right." Her eyes shone as she dove back into the story.

I nibbled on the plate in front of me. It was absolutely creamy and delicious, though I couldn't quite tell what was in it. What was very apparent was that it was likely incredibly caloric—as all good things seemed to be. Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about that anymore. Instead, I just watched Nyx being excited at telling her story.

It wasn't my natural reaction to praise and give affirmations as often as I was on our date, but I noticed not only Nyx but also Simone and Gloria had all perked up considerably as a result.

And the environment did not hurt either for being able to relax and connect. I realized I needed to be more deliberate with handing out praise, especially after learning how much "Good Girl" set Simone off.

The other day I had caught Simone bent over picking something up in the bathroom, so I had walked over to say "Good Girl," and run my hand along her spine.

In response, she braced against the counter, and the two of us worked off our morning energy before we had to deal with the tedium of training new recruits.

It hadn’t been my intent, but it was apparently very welcome.

Gloria seemed to also have a positive response to it, though it was more in an after-care sort of situation. There was nothing soft about what I did to her. While I was breaking her down and making her stare in the mirror, she realized just how much she liked what we were doing in the bedroom.

Simone cast a furtive glance in my direction as I felt her feet inching up my leg and over to my thigh. I tried to figure out how her leg could be extending so far to do all that she was doing.

But then the Simone sitting at the table winked at me as a pair of hands went for my zipper. The one sitting here was an illusion, and she was under the table. The little minx.

I chuckled, causing Nyx and Gloria to stop in the middle of their story.

"Was that funny?" Nix asked self-consciously.

"Oh, no, sorry," I replied. "I just thought of a tangential comment that Amanda made the other day." I struggled to keep up the ruse as Simone's hand cupped my balls and drew my length out of the warmth of my pants and into the different, but very wet, warmth of her mouth.

Her mouth sealed around my cock as she slowly and silently suckled me, her tongue lashing at my sensitive underside.

I coughed into my hand to hide a grunt that threatened to escape my lips.

"Is everything okay, Bran?" Gloria asked.

“Peachy.” I cleared my throat. "Where were you?" I tried to restart Nyx's story, and thankfully, she had no trouble continuing.

Simone was doing everything she could to make me cum in her mouth, yet at the same time, to be quiet, she was going painfully slow, and it wasn’t going to do more than drive me nuts.

As Nyx got a little more animated, her serpents bobbing up and down with her story, I reached a hand down to grab Simone by the hair and help her hurry along, pulling her along my length, speeding up the process and emptying my first load of the night right down her throat.

“And then she went Boom! Setting the whole place on fire,” Nyx said excitedly.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal. They were just raiders coming from down the highway.” Gloria tried to wave it off.

“Oh, but it was.” Simone came up from ‘picking up her napkin’, swapping back with her illusion. “By the way, these are incredible.” She picked up one of the little fried balls of creamy deliciousness. “I just love the flavor.” She grinned with bedroom eyes at me, only to wink once they picked the story of dealing with the various little problems that had been happening in the fortresses.

Chapter 39

I woke up the next morning both spent and refreshed in a way I hadn't realized I needed. This was why, after Simone's antics, I ended up taking Nyx both with and without legs several times, proving to her in every imaginable way that there was no significant preference between the two. My preference was simply her. I then reminded Gloria of who was in charge before spending the late morning cuddling Simone and finding the most casual places for her antics to continue. In the end, I found myself smiling as I kicked off my morning of meetings.

I was pulling up with the leaders of the Mul Branova, the generals, and their advisors.

"There is going to be a slight change of plans," I said, looking over the group. "We've been training nonstop, and the broader group is starting to get antsy. We can run them through as many instances as we want, and that'll certainly get them levels, but it won't give them the experience they really need, which means it's time to get them experience."

Simone's head jerked up from where she'd been whispering to one of the Mul Branova who often came and went from her presence. "Wait, we're going to war?" she asked.

"No, that would be a little more extreme than what I'm planning. I want us to deploy four of our forces in the north, four in the central region, and four in the south. We’ll sweep for demon forces to the east; I have no doubt we'll encounter some given the scouting reports. How many remains to be seen, but this will be a live exercise. Each of you generals will be in charge of stopping their elite. If you want to protect them, find leaders for each ten-man unit to try and cover. For the others, you've all organized them your own way or not at all." I glanced at the monk, who even at this hour had a drink in hand and had zero compunction about slurping in the middle of the meeting.

"Isn't this a little early?" Winnie asked, though she was the most prepared having brought a number of women from her sect.

"I'd rather you all go out now, sweep the field, and get a few small wins under their belts before we have a huge engagement, one that will undoubtedly cause us to lose forces. Besides, I think we should start showing our teeth with all of the noise we've been making. I think it's impossible for the demons to be completely unaware of our presence. You all have rockie-talkies. We'll have our scouting units doing sweeps and updating everyone who remains here. If you do find a massive force that you end up engaging in a fight bigger than you can take, the reinforcements won't be far away. The goal is to sweep, let the demons know we have teeth, and most importantly, brush off the green from the new recruits. Do I make myself clear?" I glanced out over those in the room.

"Understood." Several of the advisors snapped a salute. All of them were more familiar with the chain of command than the powerful initiated.

The generals were initially rebelling at the idea of being told to go fight. However, my troublemakers took one look at me and nodded.

"Well then, dismissed," I said, walking away from my group.

"Are they that good?" Circe caught me as I left the room.

"Who? What?" I asked in response.

"Your ladies. Were they that good?" Circe was nursing a cup of coffee early in the morning. "I mean, I assume after the big date that you and your three had a fair amount of fun."

"What fun we did or did not have isn't for me to say. But I had a very pleasant evening, and I woke up with a much clearer mind," I answered.

"The best defense is a good offense," Circe hazarded.

"We're over-preparing. We need to do something with all this training, or these recruits are going to start to burn out or slack off. We give them a little experience and, yes, we might even lose a few. But that's going to give them the motivation to turn around and complete any training we have yet to do," I explained. You could only keep people on edge for so long before the edge was worn off.

Circe nodded in understanding. "That makes sense. And since you're sending everyone out, I assume that means the Mul Branova are going to babysit the base. We’re the emergency response team?”

I turned to her. “Are you okay with that? I could certainly use a second set of eyes. And you and Merlin are far more mobile than the rest of us."

Circe nodded with satisfaction. "I'm glad you realize that. And, Bran, for our date, I hope I walk away with as much of a glow as Simone and Nyx have this morning." She was trying to keep me off balance.

"Right. You didn't give me a date for that," I remembered to follow up.

"I didn't? Huh. I'll get on that soon," she said and turned away from the direction I was walking.

I half wondered if I was supposed to chase after her but dismissed it for now. Sending people to battle meant I had just filled my plate with a lot of work, and I didn’t have time for any games.

Things could get away from me if I wasn’t prepared.

I headed straight to our little scouting division that consisted of three people manning much of it, all with abilities to control flying animals or monsters. "I need updated maps, ASAP. You'll have the generals and their advisors sweeping in here within ten minutes."

One of them snapped away from the ability they were using. Their eyes had been glowing softly white but were now wide with fear.

"Sooner now," I said, turning my wrist over as if checking a watch before glancing at the map.

The main map that they worked off was kept clean to avoid marking it up. We had made a large number of little wooden figurines, each to mark the enemy forces and our own. Our fortress was dead center of the map. The outlying territory of the west was largely clear with a few markers for instances that we used. There was another marker for an S-ranked monster that I had left alive, hoping he would have some offspring and fill the forest with more things that our troops could use.

To the east, however, were scattered dots representing demon scoutings. There were also black tokens where the animals they were using to scout were shot down before they could confirm what had killed the animals.

Largely those were considered more dangerous areas if they could detect and kill the birds before they even knew what they were fighting.

"Where are we attacking?" one of the scouts asked, quickly pulling up a fistful of tokens, ready to mark the maps.

"Generals one through four will sweep this region"—I gestured with a finger— "five through eight this, and nine through twelve here."

They were quickly placing tokens down. "All of them?" they asked, almost in unison.

"We'll leave a reserve of the Mul Branova for the fort," I said. There were always a number of Mul Branova who had been trained and had gotten levels but weren't incorporated into any of the standing armies. It was more correct to say they were Simone's personal army. The more we worked, the less we involved the Mul Branova with the armies, keeping them separate for our own purposes.

Those in the scouting area quickly laid out tokens and looked amongst each other. "We'll split up. I'll take scouting for the north, you for the central, and you for the south." They quickly began organizing themselves, even as the advisors all swarmed into the room, looking at the map and picking up sheets that had more expanded details on what they'd found.

"There's not that much here," one of the advisors said.

"There isn't now, but I guarantee if you move through, your army will be like honey to the demon's flies. They're very hierarchical, and you can bet one of them's going to think they can sweep in and take out your entire army to use them for possession fodder and rise up the ranks."

The advisor scowled at me. "Do you not have any way to prevent that? The possession?"

"Not cheap enough to cover your entire army," I said before handing out stacks of talismans. "However, this can stun a demon during possession. If you have a Mul Branova with you, they might be able to create one of those blood simulacrums and send it into their heads, hopefully to deal with the demon."

The advisors picked up those talismans like they were some sort of fragile art piece worth more than their entire lives.

"We will take great care of these and see if we can’t hire a Mul Branova or two for the mission." One of the retired generals bowed in my direction and put them in their spatial ring, watching to see if I was going to take them away.

If Simone allowed them to go out then that was fine. Not only could they stop the possessions, but they were decent healers with an ability similar to my Blood Transfusion. I rarely seemed to need that ability myself; healing others was rarely my priority.

"Good. While you may not get the title general within these forces, I want you all to know your opinions are highly respected. Those who you are sent to advise have the kind of personal power needed to lead. However, if despite that and your advice, they are less capable than you think is worth working with, please inform me after this exercise. It's not just a trial for the recruits but for everyone involved."

Winnie walked into the room as I said those words and gave me a raised eyebrow. “Is this secret information?”

"You get the information if you come to the meeting where there's information." I gestured at the map and then at the advisors who were lacking any of the other generals at present.

"Noted," Winnie said, frostily. "I came to confirm the intelligence myself." She breezed across the room, and I gave her a wide berth, as did all of the other advisors, save for her own.

Power was rightly respected. Every day I could see people’s personal abilities becoming a more prominent signal of power. Rarely were people trying to strut any monetary or political power that used to be held.

Some slight conflict with the nearest governance had been dealt with firmly enough that no one else seemed to think they could influence our little fortress. Or at least not yet.

"While you're out there, you are in charge of your people. Make what calls you think best, and if things go too badly, call Merlin. Our goal is to get everyone experience. Part of getting experience is understanding where your weaknesses are, preferably without losing everyone involved so that experience can be passed on. Each of you has your own rockie-talkies. Don't let your general get out of hand. When you are finished collecting your things, you are dismissed," I said to the group, only for more salutes to slap their foreheads as they scurried out, with the shuffling of papers back into stacks to be left here.

Winnie glanced at the information one more time, turning to leave. But she paused, waiting for the room to empty.

"I want you to know that I think this is dangerous, just as you are getting information on them from these three"—she gestured at the three with the ability to communicate with animals—"the other side is likely getting information from you. Everything in your information packets suggests that these demons likely understand large-scale warfare, probably even better than our advisors. Not to mention, their ability to possess humans means that even if they are physically weak, they might be tactically far sounder than us with greater numbers. This is rash, and you are exposing all of these recruits to more danger than is necessary."

"What’s your alternative?" I asked her, staring her down.

“Send just one or two forces, with a large support of generals or other elites,” she replied.

“No can do. We won't be there for the real thing, and too much for them to rely on will make them complacent. Dismissed, Winnie. I think you have troops to prepare," I told her.

She was too risk-adverse. We needed these recruits tempered, and if you were too gradual, it would only make the end result soft.

Chapter 40

"W here are these even coming from?" Rogers yelled at his advisor as the demon swarm seemed to come without end.

"Underground, sir." The retired general had his hands neatly folded behind his back. Not a single worry creased his face.

It made Rogers want to punch it off. The old man was insufferable, but he thought about Bran’s reaction if he did something to the former general and shivered. "What do you mean, underground? Do something about it!" Rogers continued yelling.

"I'm afraid you're the one with the authority. I am just advising you. However, my current advice would be to retreat and reassess who you have available to either detect or fortify your troops while traveling. It seems we've stepped into a trap."

"No, shit. Hank. Lou, did you hear him?" He pointed at the retired general. "Find someone who can fucking sense underground. There's got to be someone who's got earth magic or something."

His advisor nodded sagely to the side, and Rogers wanted to rip that little white beard off of his chin. It was bad enough that he got stuck with an advisor. Worse yet, he was stuck with some old man. At least he had found some decent men amongst the ranks to use as his elites.

"We can work on that, but what do you want us to do about the current situation, boss?" Hank hooked a thumb at where his two thousand soldiers were scrambling in a circular formation, trying to keep the swarm of demons at bay.

These demons were disgusting-looking things, like some sort of weird freakish cross between a goblin and a werewolf. The short, green-furred bastards were an endless source of pain for him these days. And it seemed they would be his unfortunate companions for as long as that freakishly strong Bran forced him to be a general.

Since getting the system, Rogers hadn’t found a single person who could make him afraid, but then that fucking giant came, and he knew real fear.

"Tighten up that line. Everyone's far too loosely organized. They're going to blow through that formation like it's nothing if they get their momentum going,” the advisor stated.

“Fuck you." Rogers spat and turned to Hank. “Get them shoulder-to-shoulder before they all die.” He saw the smirk from the old general and once again was reminded of his desire to beat his face in. Perhaps when they were done with this fight, he would find an excuse to at least hurl him off the fortress walls a few times. He could have a healer on hand, and no one would know. No one would be the wiser of what he'd done.

Hank and Lou were already off, trying to hem the men back into something that vaguely resembled a formation.

"They aren't doing badly," the general said from his side as if to mollify Rogers’ anger.

"That's nice. Didn't ask you." Roger's scowled. “I didn't ask for any of this shit.”

His advisor turned slowly. "Then why are you here?"

"Because I'm terrified of Bran," Rogers replied.

"Is he really that strong?" his advisor asked, only for Rogers to scoff.

"Strong? No, he's not strong in the slightest. Your perspective of strong is being able to lift weights, perhaps shoot a bullet, fire a tank? No. No, while you're stuck in the old world, Bran is very much in the new one. I am positive that even if you brought your entire country's arms to bear on the current Bran, even at your country's peak, he would walk away unscathed and then could likely break each and every person's individual will with the same calm, stony face he uses for everything else."

His advisor's eyebrow steadily crept up his forehead. "Truly?”

“Yeah, Bran is a nightmare on two legs.” Rogers shivered, remembering how he'd been recruited by force before he suddenly looked over his shoulder to make sure Bran hadn't somehow ghosted behind him.

The man had shown up out of nowhere, walked straight onto Rogers’ growing compound, and broken the legs and spirits of everyone Rogers had recruited. Then he had stood still and taken everything Rogers could throw at him before asking if he was done and ending it in a single punch.

"Enough of this," Rogers said, taking off his eye patch, only for the eye underneath to be blood red with a slitted black pupil that opened wide as soon as it came into contact with the sunlight.

This was what he’d used to become as strong as he had so quickly: Doom’s Gaze.

The world's colors inverted before lines crisscrossed Rogers’ vision, his pupil dilating as if it were engulfing the world before him.

Those lines became real, but only on the demons.

Something, however, slammed into Rogers’ eye like a physical force. He winced, quickly covering his eye and throwing the eyepatch back over it.

A hundred demons exploded as if they'd been cut a thousand times all at once. The line of battle became a fountain of thick dark demon blood.

"Push!" Rogers growled at his troops, holding his hand over the eyepatch and grimacing in pain.

His advisor didn't hesitate, springing into action and shouting orders left and right. Their soldiers dived towards the opening.

Rogers followed at the very back, using his personal strength to crush demons as they tried to swarm in on their backs. They needed to cut a line out of this encirclement, and he wasn’t going to be able to do that again so soon. There had been too many of them at once.

"Sir," his advisor began, only for Rogers to wave him away.

"Whatever it is, it can wait a minute." To his surprise, his advisor waited patiently, hands folded behind his back. When Rogers finally looked up, he noticed not only his advisor but many of his soldiers were also looking over their shoulders expectantly for the next order.

"If I may say so myself, you've done quite well," his advisor complimented him.

"I didn't ask for your opinion," Rogers snapped; his throbbing eye made his mood sour. But he still liked it better than being smashed to a pulp by that freak, Bran.

His eye had done nothing to Bran. Nothing at all.

*****

"It seems they can grow," Circe said as I stood with her and Merlin.

Despite my many words, I was not about to leave the entire combat up to green generals. Instead, I was keeping an eye on things from a distance. When left with no other option, most people would take care of those who followed them. But I had to be sure.

Rogers would find himself if given time, but I was worried when I’d found him living like a fucking despot.

“I received a scouting report that they'd fallen into a trap. I needed to be here lest I lose an entire goddamn army,” I told Circe.

"Sure, that must have been it." Circe smiled. "I won't tell anyone that Bran Heros is a softie, looking out for everyone when they are supposed to be toughening themselves up."

"If you did, I'm not sure anyone would believe you," I shot back with a wink, at which Merlin actually chuckled.

It was rare for me to get a laugh from the frosty woman.

"Well, at least he's doing okay," I said, holding up the rockie-talkie. "Any other news?" I asked into the device.

"General Cao is experiencing significant forces," came the reply from the scouts.

"Describe 'significant forces'," I asked, unsure.

"They're not underground like Rogers’. Instead, they seem to be swarming over land. Running on all fours," the voice said. "It looks like they're going to engage nearly ten to one against our soldiers."

I bit my lip, hearing the bad news but also not being too worried in the immediate moment. "Any other groups encountering significant problems?"

"Negative, Lord Bran," they replied dutifully.

"Good, keep me updated. Circe, if you would, without causing a stir, get us out of here. And over to that drunk monk's group," I ordered.

"I thought Merlin was our ride," Circe said, hooking a thumb at her despite the wind picking up around us and lifting me off my feet.

"Merlin's the emergency ride," I mused aloud.

“I’m unsure whether to feel flattered or upset,” she groused.

"Why not both? I'm happy to take all of the emotions you throw my way."

Merlin glanced at the two of us as we began to fly low to the ground. "Is there something happening between the two of you?" she asked cautiously.

"Why, yes. Bran has asked me out on a date. Not sure how I feel about it just yet," Circe said, practically shoving her nose in the air.

Merlin gave a slow nod. "I see." Her eyes shifted to me, asking some questions that I didn't recognize.

Circe latched onto my arm and pulled my attention away before I could puzzle them out. "Don't be cold now, Bran. You've asked me on a date. No need to back out now," she said.

"Well, you're the one who's supposed to pick when. And though you said yes, leaving it as an undetermined date doesn't give me the highest confidence that it’ll happen. Though I'm sure you won't disappoint," I replied with a stare that I hoped would make her rise to the challenge.

"This is what happens if you're too loose with men, Merlin," Circe said, laughing hard enough to make her chest bounce. Given our proximity, they nearly slapped me in the face.

Merlin pursed her lips. "Somehow, I suddenly feel like a kettle."

"Oh, Merlin, your wit never ceases to astound me," Circe said, still laughing despite being called a pot.

"I'm glad I impressed one of us," Merlin replied dryly.

I pointed to the forces that the recon team had indicated off in the distance. "I do think there is trouble that we'll need to clear up. As much as I see myself as a strong combatant, I have to admit that you two have a far greater ability to shift the tide of an entire battlefield than I do."

We landed flanking the oncoming enemy, out of line of sight for the drunk monk and his forces.

I didn’t want to come behind his men and have them relax when I charged in deep.

Circe and Merlin squared up like they were ready for a fight, but I held my hand up to stop them as the drunk monk stumbled forward.

"This is the one you said took poison resistance to a whole new level?” Circe observed.

I nodded. "That's him, though he's not at that level yet. I'm hoping to get him there quicker now that I'm essentially giving him an endless supply of booze and poisons."

"Aren't you worried that's going to change the outcome?" Merlin asked.

"Situations are already changing too much for me to draw the line here. I am just curious to see how he reacts," I replied. Things were shifting wildly, especially since it seemed there was another out there with similar knowledge to my own. To handicap myself by trying to keep things in line with my past life, I’d be giving up too much. Besides, I’d already dragged them out of their current trajectories. What was another push?

"Do you think he could pass the Trial of Kings?" Circe asked, crossing her arms.

"Not a chance. He is a selfish bastard, which is why I am curious to see him step out front." I shook my head; she was still stuck on that.

The drunk monk stumbled forward as the enemy army raced to him. He took a long swig of the gourd flask at his waist before dropping it and letting a cord it was tied to catch it before it hit the ground. Ambling forward, tripping over his own feet, he seemed entirely outclassed by a loping wave of demons.

The demon army continued to charge, and he seemed almost unaware, to the point I wondered if he was actually too drunk to fight.

"I can't watch this," Circe said after a moment, turning away. "Just tell me what's happening."

"The drunk monk looks drunk," Merlin said matter-of-factly. "That's about it. Oh, he nearly fell over."

"So helpful," Circe said dryly.

"It's the truth." Merlin only shrugged as I watched the monk clash with the demonic forces, though clash was perhaps the wrong word.

They swarmed on him, diving from every angle, tooth and claws bared.

Only for him to miraculously stumble out of over a dozen attacks at the same time. He swung out his hand, his powerful stats crushing the head of the largest demon at the front of the pack before he spewed his precious liquor in a spray over the demons present.

Even from where I stood, I could see that he shouted something furiously before spinning about, shaking his gourd at all of the demons.

The encirclement around him, however, turned into a mad scramble to get away. The demons howled in pain, several of them dropping dead before they could get far enough away from him. Even then, some jumped and bit him, only for the weird green little wolf demons to stagger back, grabbing at their mouths as foam rose up, and they fell over, twitching.

I laughed as he continued to chug from his gourd, the bite marks all over his body healing. Now that he was so resistant to poison, it actually healed him.

"Wow," Merlin said, only for Circe to turn around slightly and see the situation before us.

"The demons are running from him?" she asked, confused.

"I think he's literally so poisonous that those attacking him are actually dying," Merlin explained, only for Circe to glance at me as if to check that the information was correct.

"I'm as shocked as you are that he's stepping up forward and using himself like that, though perhaps he might be quite literally drunk on this newfound power of his," I offered.

Circe must have agreed with me as she let out a long, knowing groan. "That makes far more sense. Well, now that we know he can handle this, why don't we go back?"

"What if he runs out of liquor?" Merlin asked.

"He won't. That gourd is actually a ranked item, kind of like a spatial ring. We've given him an absolute obscene amount. If he ever tells you that he's running out, please feel free to call him on his bullshit." I scoffed.

Both women made a noise of understanding, and while it did seem like he had it all in one hand, I was concerned about the size of the forces. It seemed unlikely that a group this size wouldn't have an accounting number of powerful elites amongst their number.

He might be able to handle the small fries for now, but they’d overrun him.

The drunkard was thrown from his encirclement, and the forces were no longer stalled around him. A significantly larger wolf-demon made himself known amongst the pack, howling into the air and leading a charge on the monk's forces that he had left behind to wade in on his own.

"That's a decent reason to stick around," Merlin said. "Is it our turn now?"

"Yes. Flank the army. Merlin, take this side. Circe, take the other. Hem them in so a group that size can't surround all of our forces. I'll deal with this sudden problem and hopefully attract the attention of any others who think our people are an easy target."

Chapter 41

H urtling myself into the massive melee, I swung my Bloodiron Blade back and forth like a scythe through wheat. The small, hairy demons fell swiftly beneath my strokes as I bodily shoved and checked my way to the central combat.

The bigger demon, though still barely coming up to my waist, was a green wolf-like creature. It spun on me, its claws gleaming red.

I stepped back, and the claws passed within a hair's breadth of my gut. I threw a heavy fist into the demon's muzzle.

Only for it to twist with the blow, agilely throwing its weight around to reduce the impact. It cartwheeled back onto its feet and lunged at me with a speed that was difficult for me to match.

However, regardless of its speed, all I needed to do was keep it busy while dealing as much damage as possible to the demonic army as a whole. This fight was far from challenging. Especially with my Immortal Body repairing any damage I was taking.

I swung my sword around, cleaving through any and every demon that got within reach.

Plenty of them circled around our fight, trying to get a swipe in on me. What little damage they did healed over quickly, while the sweeping strokes of my blade often left bodies for the system to reabsorb.

I chuckled, playing with the elite. Any time it dodged, I would simply carve through all of the demons behind it. It was a brutal yet effective strategy, which some may have considered gruesome, but I didn't have enough respect for demons to care if I was playing dirty.

This was war. As they say, anything was fair.

The elite came at me, slashing at my shoulder for a second.

I thought it had somehow moved even quicker than before, only to realize there was a second fast furball joining the fight. I grinned and spun, letting the two of them take turns dealing superficial wounds to my dense body—wounds that would heal a moment later and leave more of my blood on their claws.

The two elite demons jumped back together after I carved away another section of their allies with a Sanguine Slash that missed them. They glanced at each other in confusion.

I smiled, taking the opportunity. I activated Sanguine Locking as a second Bloodiron Blade appeared in my other hand. I pinned both of them to the ground with swords through their guts before Sanguine Slashes began racing out in every direction from the two blades skewering them.

The effect left them twitching and thrashing as edges of the ability escaped from what parts of the blade poked out of the surrounding demons.

The demons around me tried to dogpile me only for their two leaders' bodies to melt off my blades. I grabbed both blades, spinning around, and letting loose with everything I had, carving a swath through the pile of demons that had collapsed on me.

There was an exhilaration on the battlefield that couldn't be found anywhere else. In so many ways, I was in my element. This was far preferred to grousing over my documents and other leadership minutia.

I became a whirling dervish on the battlefield, not too dissimilar from a blender, only with more carnage. My two blades swept across the field only for me to come to a sudden, panting halt as a new opponent made himself known, the demons parting around him.

Unlike the demons I'd been dealing with so far, this demon had not come through the hell gates. This was a fresh possession, with half of the human face still relatively normal.

Unfortunately, it was a face that I recognized. A hero from the First Demon War, and a man who had gone through the vault. It seemed that even saving him there hadn’t stopped the Demon Lord from getting his hands on him. He leaned leisurely against an overly large and wicked-looking spear.

"It seems you are the source of the anomalies," the demon said in clear English. The demons that had just been trying to swarm me with every ounce of their lifeblood stopped for a moment, mewling and backing off as if terrified of the demon who had appeared.

I suspected this was the newest demon general. A replacement for one of the ones I had made disappear in this timeline.

"Anomaly?" I asked with a tilt of my head.

"Our dear leader is very interested in you, Bran Heros." The demon spun its spear back and forth. "I don't suppose I could get you to put down your weapons and come have a meeting with him, could I?" The bubbling black skin did very little to make the request seem even remotely reasonable.

A meeting with the Demon Lord at this juncture would only have one outcome.

"And get possessed like you?" I asked.

"It's that or die. Personally, I'd prefer this." The demon gestured at himself. "After all, at least this way I get to keep on going, even if it is as a demon. You and I fought together in the vault. Does that not get me at least some trust?"

I realized what the demon was doing, and I laughed. "You and I didn't fight together. Me and the body that you currently possess fought together." The demon might have his memories, but pretending to be the person was disgusting.

The demon general waved a hand back and forth as if I was speaking nonsense. "I took all of his memories. If all his memories exist to me, am I not him?" The newest demon general struck a pose as if it were a philosophical question.

However, that question struck me deeper than this demon likely realized. Demons weren’t the person, since their motivations and goals shifted so drastically. But, I’d have to be a bit more careful with what I said to people I trusted. It was easy to forget the infiltration that a demon could cause with someone’s memories.

A smile spread across the demon’s face as I had an obvious reaction.

"See? It's really me." The demon tried to adopt the man's actions, accent, and gestures.

I blinked and shook off the strange thought that had overcome me. "You're not him, and you never will be. I'm sorry you misunderstood me there. It wasn't that your persuasion was working. I just considered something else for a second," I replied.

The demon's eyes flashed dangerously. "I would advise you not to get too distracted while dealing with me. I would hate for anyone to say that I took a cheap shot. After all, I gather you're the leader of this ragtag band behind you." The demon gestured with a roll of his hand.

"And here I thought we were looking pretty put together." I chuckled before summoning another blade. My wounds had already healed completely from the prior fight while we’d been talking.

"Oh good, you still have some fight left in you." The demon raised his spear. "I'll let you in on a secret. There's a bounty on whoever can bring you in alive. Our dear leader is very curious why you seem to coincidentally act as a wrench thrown into all of his plans."

"You think you even have a shot at taking me alive?" I asked, only for the demon general to hit the back of its spear against a rock behind it.

I hadn't realized there was an almost tuning fork-like butt to the weapon. I had been more distracted by the wicked pointed end.

The second the weapon hit, there was a disorienting wave of nausea that rolled over me as the air rippled with sound.

Using my moment of weakness, the demon general swept up next to me, attempting to sever my arm.

I dodged the nasty blade, only to realize it had been a feint as the spear’s other end came around.

The demon general struck the side of my head with the tuning fork end of the weapon. The resounding soundwaves that went through my head were ten times worse than the initial nausea.

It felt like someone had stuck their hand inside my head and attempted to scramble my brain. The world turned topsy-turvy as I blacked out, and even as my vision returned, it was of myriad colors as I stumbled, blinking. Thankfully, my Immortal Body was working overtime on healing whatever injuries had just been inflicted.

The demon was calm as it approached me.

I stabbed up with my Bloodiron Blade. I must have still been somewhat affected by the hit because my movements were sluggish compared to what I had expected.

The demon managed to twist out of the way in the nick of time, with the tuning fork weapon coming back around for my head.

It was a nasty weapon, and despite the damage, I quickly processed what I needed to do. I dropped prone, rolling out of the way as the tuning fork whizzed harmlessly over my head.

I knew that blocking that in any fashion was likely to set off the disorienting sonic attack, which was annoyingly effective against me. The sound didn’t need to pierce through my flesh or challenge my spirit to hit me. It went right through my defenses.

The demon general swung again, and I rolled out of the way as the tuning fork struck the ground.

Another wave of nausea rolled over me, and blood came out of my nose before welling up in the back of my throat. I spat out blood as I wobbled to my feet.

"You see? This is the best part," the demon general said, caressing the weapon. "Even if I miss, I hit. It's like, what's the human expression"—he paused—"horseshoes and hand grenades? Yeah, that's the one."

"I think you got them mixed up," I said, staggering backward and wiping away blood that was trickling down my nose.

"Really? You're the one who looks a little addled, not me.” The demon spun the spear while swinging it back and forth.

"If you ask me, you're looking a little unsteady on your feet. Here, why don't I give you a hand?" The demon reached out to try and snatch me while smacking the tuning fork on the ground behind him.

Another wave of nausea rolled over me, and my balance faltered. Weaponizing sound was really a terrifying ability. Not to mention he was terrifyingly skilled at timing it with other attacks.

Working through my next move, I decided to let the demon catch me. The second he was in range, I spat some of the blood oozing over my lips at the demon.

Any inscriptionist that was worth their salt would have had to ward rooms against eavesdropping. Functionally, the inscription dampened the vibration of sound waves.

The demon did as I expected, bringing the spear between me and him to block my blood.

"Some cheap trick in there. Perhaps your blood is as poisonous as that monk's?" the demon said, trying to rip through my spirit to inspect me.

At that point, brushing aside an inspect was perfectly natural, and I did it without even needing to think.

The demon general glared at me, and then he went to smack the butt of his spear on the ground again.

I smiled as this time the sound that rippled off was much lower, actually within the range of hearing. And though it was a grating noise, it didn't scramble my brain like before.

The demon's eyes shot down to his spear, where hexes made of my blood were wrapping around the shaft. His eyes opened wide, just in time for me to regain my footing, and my fist connected with his jaw hard enough to snap his head back.

I really enjoyed a good punch, and this one was satisfying as the demon soared into the air in a graceful arc. I jumped after the demon, going straight up and dropping my elbow, following his slower arc with a plunging drop, one that met the demon as he hit the ground.

Instantly, the demon’s body folded upwards around me, and my big fist clobbered him again, hopefully scrambling this demon’s brain.

I grabbed the demon’s spear out of limp fingers and hurled it as far away from us as I could. At this point, I was pissed off at the cheap tricks.

Yet all he relied on his weapon, perhaps he had a few abilities with sound, but I’d just have to beat those out of him.

At this point, I was in the mood for a beatdown. I spat, wiping blood off my nose. Inscriptions began to form on my knuckles, increasing their hardness and weight. I started pumping them back like two pistons with mechanical efficiency, slamming my fists into the demon’s face and chest so hard that the ground around us cracked and sank. I didn't let up even as the smaller wolf demons leapt at me and shredded my back. I had a single-minded ferocity and a calculating efficiency as I reduced the demon’s upper body to mush. I didn't stop until the system began to reclaim the demon’s body.

Knowing I had just killed someone of value, I brushed my hands along where the demon’s had been, only to find the spatial ring and tuck it into what little remained of my pants.

I looked around, prepared for my next attack. But somewhere between our conversation and me brutalizing the demon, the battle had largely concluded. Demons were hurrying as fast as their little furry legs would carry them, trying to escape the second of our armies that came clashing with their flank.

Women with scythes made of ice ripped through the demons, moving gracefully like they were dancing.

The retreating enemies had no momentum, being ground down by my soldiers and absorbed by the system.

Winnie stepped over me, a permanent chill surrounding her as she glanced down at all the blood that soaked the area around me. "You don't look so hot," she commented.

I grunted, pushing myself up off the ground and wiping the blood on my face off with the back of my arm.

"He used sound attacks," I said as if nothing else needed to be said. "Tricky bastard, but he couldn't actually do more than make me bleed."

I cracked my neck back and forth and rolled my shoulder before standing tall like I was ready for another fight, knowing my people were watching. I knew from countless experiences that the lower ranks would always look towards their leader.

If a leader stood tall, the army would be filled with vigor and a fighting spirit. If a leader looked broken or exhausted, others would be pulled down as well.

Winnie looked me up and down before nodding. "Sound can be a prickly weapon, disorienting and bypassing a lot of defenses. But I guess for a brute like you, it's not enough to deal with your toughness."

"Essentially," I said, grabbing onto her reasoning, even if it wasn't perfect. "And why are you here?" I asked, the words coming out more harshly than I expected.

She held up a rockie-talkie. "Recon said there was a large battle, and you said our men needed experience." She waved around us as if the situation explained itself. “They are harvesting plenty of experience.”

That was the moment that Circe chose to sweep in on a gust of wind. "Do we go back to watching from the sidelines, or do we let them know that we've been watching their backs this whole time?"

"Go back to watching. I want them to not feel like we're looking over their shoulder"—I gazed at the routed demons—"though I suspect after this we're not going to see a whole lot of them. I think I just fought the leader of the region. If I had to guess, he was a new demon general, though he seemed to know quite a bit about me." My eyes hardened.

"Turnabout's only fair play," Winnie commented. "After all, you seem to know far more than you're supposed to about the rest of us."

Circe chuckled, grinning and enjoying being in the know unlike all of my generals. "You don't know the half of it," she said. "Bran, if you would." Circe held out her arm. "I'll take us back to Merlin. You can get out of here to let these two clean up. We're not needed here anymore."

Before I could even agree, wind pulled at my feet and lifted me up and away from Winnie.

I glanced sideways at Circe. "Are you jealous?"

"Me? Jealous?" Circe let out a strange chuckle. "In your dreams. I simply want to get out of here and take a bath. Something about demons and all of this blood makes me feel terribly unclean."

"I'm sure that's it," I said, trying and failing to hide a smile.

"I'm glad you think my sense of hygiene is funny. I'm always willing to let you walk back," she said, puffing out her cheeks.

I held her more tightly after that threat. "No need for that. And no need for you to be jealous. You're the lucky woman I have a date with, isn't that right?"

"Why, yes it is. A date we should have soon," she said more to herself than to me.

Chapter 42

"R eport," I commanded, returning to the fortress. Only Simone, Nyx, and Gloria were with me. The generals and other leaders of our forces were still occupied with the aftermath of their battles. Circe and Merlin were watching over the retreat.

I had noticed that the other two major sections of our forces had encountered more problems while I'd been preoccupied. A group of analysts from the recon team were hastily using laptops and the occasional lined notebook to compile what I hoped would be an answer to my question.

"Lord Bran," the analyst began, hesitating. "We lost some."

"Of course we lost some," I replied, sitting down, understanding his apprehension. He felt as though any loss was a failure. "It's war. We're going to hear that a lot."

He nodded. "Well, our early estimates suggest about a 5% fatality rate and 25% wounded."

I pursed my lips, processing the information before I spoke. "That's not bad at all."

"Not bad?" he asked hesitantly.

"Wounded are fine. It's practice for the healers." My words seemed to make the man a little queasy. But that was the truth, not to mention the Mul Branova were quite adept at healing, even if the abilities were steeped in blood and made more than a few soldiers look uneasy.

"What Bran means to say," Simon interjected, giving me a stern look, "is that our people will be back on their feet. It will just take time. And our healers could certainly use some practice to improve their skills."

"Right. What she said. " I gestured to Simone. “The priority is going to be the transportation of the healers and their protection so we can get the wounded to walk themselves out."

“My girls can handle themselves, but a few extra eyes wouldn’t hurt.” Simone seemed almost offended that I’d offered them protection.

The analyst began scribbling furiously before I looked over at a nearby group. "Recon team, you aren't done yet."

"We're not?" they asked.

"Not even close, unfortunately. We need to keep an eye on this whole situation so that we can get the healers out of there if it becomes at all troublesome. Keeping them alive is essentially the same as keeping our wounded alive," I told them. “You are our eyes and ears, and even though the fighting is done for now, I can’t have you turn away and stop listening. Work in shifts if you need a break.”

The recon team nodded in understanding.

"Five percent is an unfortunate number, but fatalities are inevitable. Was there any group that was particularly hit hard?" I asked.

"The worst was the group that you went and aided, Lord Bran. Others also faced smaller ambushes, but nothing was quite as severe. General Delery’s forces were ambushed, but she only lost a single man."

"That's our luck. Let's hope it stays that way." I nodded. It was no surprise that Winnie fared well.

"Sir Bran." Someone rushed into the room panting, stopping as he spotted me.

"Yes?" I said slowly, wondering what emergency had arisen now.

He hesitated, at least intelligent enough to read the room. "There's an urgent request from the Heros Clan. They asked for you or Circe, and I cannot find Circe." He said the words like it was an admission of guilt.

"Thankfully, you have me. What's the message?" I prompted.

The messenger paused, holding up an actual letter. “I didn't open it. I was just told it was urgent for Lord Bran or Circe. The man's waiting in the lobby if you'd like to ask him yourself.”

I held my hand out for the letter and ripped into it, unconcerned whether somebody would try to poison me through the letter. Really, that would simply be training. However, once my eyes fell upon its contents, I grew increasingly concerned.

I was already halfway out the door, with a trail of Nyx and Simone following me. Apparently, Gloria had pulled the short straw; she stayed behind to talk to the team.

"What's wrong, Bran?" Simone said, practically jogging to keep up with my long stride.

"Trouble," I replied, "but that was easy enough to guess, wasn't it?"

I reached the lobby and stopped, sweeping the room quickly with my gaze before I picked the Heros Clan member out of the crowd. Without even being introduced, I stormed right up, wagging the letter in my hand.

"Is this true? Who sent it?" I asked both questions without giving the poor messenger a chance to respond to the first.

"Zeus sent it?” he eeked out, stepping back and looking over his shoulder like I was about to eat him or something. “Yes, it's real. I would never..."

Based on his reaction, it seemed I was making a name for myself. Fear was a terrible motivator, though if it came with an edge of respect, it was worthwhile in my opinion. It was a good way to influence those people around you.

"Start explaining then. How long ago were they hit? How bad is it?" I prompted.

"Bad," the messenger said, "and as far as how long ago… it's still going on."

I swept around the room. A number of Mul Branova had stopped what they were doing. "Someone get ahold of Merlin for me. Tell her it's urgent. I need her. Right away." I tried to remain calm; however, I could not stop the urgency from filling my voice. Every Mul Branova in the room literally and figuratively dropped what they were doing and scrambled to go find Merlin.

"That'll get her quickly," Simone said with a proud smile.

I began rifling through the various rockie-talkies in my spatial ring before pulling out the one for Circe.

"Circe, you need to meet me in the fortress’s front lobby. And if by chance you're with Merlin, bring her, too. We'll meet you there in just a second," I commanded.

She responded immediately, her own urgency almost palpable. Perhaps I had been a little too firm in my tone.

"Who else do we need?" Simone asked, beginning to pick through her own sets of rockie-talkies, ready and waiting to call on whoever we needed.

"Right now, no one. However, I rushed the healers dealing with our troops. I think we're going to have another job for them soon…the Heros Clan. Apparently, the Heros Clan got hit hard. As did two of the other five clans." It had been a coordinated effort. I wondered how close we’d been to the forces we’d found converging and marching on us.

If they’d been one solid unit then we would have had significantly more losses. Based on the timing, I’d say that we set off these attacks early.

For the Demon Lord to be attacking this early on, with such force was surprising, especially since I had robbed him of the spare hell gate, and he wasn’t amassing forces within the Heavenly Fist Sect.

Circe was obviously concerned about the situation as she swept in on a gust of wind that was strong enough to knock over high-level Mul Branova. "Which other clans?" she asked.

I was shocked that her first question wasn't about her own family. "Surprisingly, the Kailash and the Wukong," I replied, "though I'm fairly certain we can ignore the Wukong's cry for help because they're secretly in league with the demons."

"Are they?" Simone asked.

"Yes and no,” I answered.

“If they're secretly evil, I would very much like to know that before I go visit next time," Circe said, stepping up behind me. Merlin was there as well, the world warping around her as she arrived.

"It's a long story. How about we get going before I share it? Merlin, can you get us as close as possible to the Heros Clan islands? I doubt you can punch through their protections after I helped enhance them. We'll have to rely on Circe getting us the rest of the way."

Both of them nodded, and Circe’s eyes bore into me for a better explanation.

"The leadership of the Wukong is compromised," I offered.

"Bran, I know you know plenty of things, but that is ridiculous," Circe said. "You know that the Wukong…"

I held up a hand to stop her, but she continued anyway.

"Are impervious to any sort of attacks on the soul or spirit?" she finished.

"Well aware, Circe. That's what makes the demon's plan so devious. They're only immune to soul attack after they awaken the Monkey King bloodline, correct?" I pressed.

Circe frowned. "Correct," she said thoughtfully, "and those who they identify at a young age with the bloodline are immediately sequestered and go through intense training."

I smiled at her. "Of course they do. They have to be prepped to be the perfect host, after all. That sequestering means there's no need for significant imitation because no one's going to know the original host's personality. But that's only those of the Monkey King bloodline. And they cannot be inspected.”

Her face began to fall. She realized it, too. It was perfect, and even if you knew, it was impossible to prove unless you watched it happen yourself.

I nodded. “That's how they've hidden so seamlessly amongst the five clans. The lower echelon of the Wukong Clan has no idea what's happening, but I'm not quite ready to dive into that particular den of vipers just yet, so we'll ignore Wukong's request for help. I'm far more concerned about the Kailash. Shiva was lured away from the rest of the clan due to a significant threat at their hell gate. They got the king out of the castle and went to take the castle. My assumption is Shiva is unscathed in all of this, which at least is good news. He makes up for the vast majority of his clan's strength."

Simone crossed her arms and looked at me as if I was being too cold and calculating. War required an analytical mindset, not one of emotion.

Besides, this was the truth.

"Does that mean we're going to India?" Merlin asked.

"No, the plan will remain to go to the Heros Clan. I'm sure Shiva can sort his own concerns out. At a certain point, we're just inviting his ire by sticking our noses into his business." There were more nods all around from the group.

Most likely this was going to cause Shiva to race back home and stay with his clan rather than wander the battlefield. It was likely to sequester him rather than do any real harm. Though, they’d have to deal some damage to keep him from marching out again.

As Merlin's spell grew stronger, we blinked, and in the blink of an eye, we went from standing inside a fortress to floating over a massive body of water. Simone yelped and scrambled to latch onto me, only for Circe's wind to pick up and catch all of us, cradling all of us in a gentle cup of wind.

"Don't worry, Simone, I wouldn't let you fall." Circe reached over and pinched the other woman's cheek.

"Of course, you wouldn't," Simone said, smoothing out her illusioned outfit and regaining some of her confidence.

Simone was a little startled by the sudden change. As she said that, we were already beginning to hurtle through the air towards the large, enchanted dome not far in the distance.

To my surprise, the dome was still intact. The message had seemed far more dire and slightly accusatory towards my upgrades to their enchantments.

Instead, battle was largely occurring outside of the structure. Clusters of Heros Clan members were charging past the barrier, either with abilities to move over water or on small structures, only to attack the side of the demon army that was busy smashing itself against the shield and trying to crack it.

"Bran," Circe said as the demon army came into view.

"I know, I see it, too." The demons that were present largely resembled those that were coming from the gate outside Vein City. I had no idea how they had managed to get all the way here. But regardless, the simple answer was that something would need to be done about them.

"I have no idea how they got here. Just throw me down. Circe, I'm going to hop into the thick of it," I told her.

"Won't you sink like a brick?" Simone asked, and I frowned briefly.

"I'll figure it out," I answered as several options spooled out in my mind. Water was terribly hard to fight in, but I’d make it work.

Circe shrugged and dropped me. The blue-haired beauty had absolute trust in my ability to manage.

Figuring it out took me a few seconds, but a plan already formed in my mind as I dropped Crimson Barrier underneath me. I pushed the ability to form a half circle that crashed into the water. And even with my weight, I was able to stand in the center without it sinking in the slightest.

There was a splash outside my barrier as Nyx, her tail converted back to a serpent, landed and immediately shot through the water with surprising speed.

"Huh," I grunted. "She’s in her element. Glad to see she understands that it’s better for combat.”

She popped out of the water a few seconds later, firing off waves of arrows into the demon army.

Meanwhile, I was somewhat stuck floating without means of propulsion until Circe landed on the barrier and wind picked up behind both of us.

"You realize something is going to shatter this," she said.

"Until then, we'll have to do our best," I answered.

Circe didn't bother with more talk. Instead, her wind whipped around her before firing off a hail of blades that cut into the demonic army.

"And where's Merlin?" I asked, turning only to see the other woman on a small ice float with Simone, the two of them chasing after something that I couldn't make out.

"They're focusing on providing emergency aid," Circe said.

I shifted in what was essentially a giant red bowl as a Bloodiron Blade formed in my hand. We flew forward, and anticipation built inside of me. Another battle had begun, and I was ready to kill some demons.

Chapter 43

O ur presence bolstered the Heros Clan's efforts, the extra support giving the broader group a new wave of energy. Circe’s presence in itself seemed to make their spirits rise.

It didn't take long for lightning to fill the sky and bolts to crash down into the demons. Zeus had joined the war effort along with us, and it quickly became apparent that the demons were scrambling to retreat. Unfortunately, many of them simply dove straight down into the water where we couldn't chase them.

"Damn it. It's seriously cursed. I wanted to farm them for more experience. That's what the kids say these days, right?" Circe asked, turning to me.

"Do you want to say what the kids say?" I asked, looking at her like she was stupid.

"If it's the cool thing to say, then sometimes you just have to follow the trends, Bran. But no, I don't want to sound like a kid, I suppose," Circe answered, glancing away.

"Well, I'm sure if you want to pretend to be one, you could accomplish that. You certainly don't look a day over a thousand," I teased with a wink.

"You say the nicest things." She cupped her cheek and laughed. "But while I would love to play and flirt with you, I do think the clan needs both of our attention."

I nodded as she controlled the wind and moved us closer to the island. We were met by a glowing-eyed Zeus with lightning crackling around him. He descended to the front of our little craft.

"Bran, Circe, wonderful timing," he said, his voice booming like a clap of thunder as he floated with his arms crossed. Zeus looked younger than you’d expect of the god of thunder. Technically, he was Zeus the 2nd, and Circe was older. He just had white hair that I was fairly sure wasn’t natural to look old and aged.

"You as well. Looks like we really managed to scare them off." I chuckled.

Zeus waved his hand. "I don't think this was a real problem." He gestured at the forces that had disappeared almost instantly by diving into the depths. "By retreating and not showing the elites of their forces, they put us in a tight situation," Zeus grumbled.

I looked out over the water, his words making sense to me as I re-evaluated the situation. "If you go anywhere, they could pop back up and resume attacks on the shield.”

“Precisely. What that unfortunately means is that our most powerful members can't run off into instances." Zeus said those words with a pointed look in my direction.

"Oh, don't worry. The demons are providing plenty of experience for me, though I had perhaps hoped to run that SSS-ranked one at some point,” I said, trying to bait him.

“You are not alone in that one," he groused. "But you simply can't, nor can I. If we are to do any, we'll have to be incredibly quiet about that fact, as well as ensure we have some way of getting back as quickly as possible. Something similar to this was just done to the Kailash and the Wukong as well. They're trying to isolate several of the clans.”

“For what?” I thought aloud, though my mind immediately dove into several possibilities.

"By keeping us busy, it gives them a lot more free reign," Circe said, biting her thumbnail and glancing at me as if I might have an answer to the situation.

“You’re right.” That was the most obvious answer, and while I might be suspicious of the Demon Lord, the most obvious answer was often the correct one. “It won’t be a quick victory, but if we all turn into turtles, then the demons can sweep the world’s resources and outgrow us by a mile,” I said.

“There’s got to be something you can do.” Circe tried to hide a smile as she practically gave me a perfect pitch. It was nice when you had a second in your act.

"Well, I can certainly use some of the materials we picked up to work on the Heros Clan barrier. If nothing else, it will give everybody more peace of mind," I offered. “It’ll hold up a lot longer, so our elites can range for resources with less worry.”

"Peace of mind is always valuable," Zeus agreed. "But can it stop the Demon Lord himself?”

“I can make something that stops a lot of things once. The question for all the barriers, essentially, is how long can they stop something strong enough?" I answered.

“Better than before?” Circe asked softly.

"Believe it or not, I learned quite a bit from the instance that the Heros Clan initiates go into," I said, keeping my voice low as Circe floated us into Zeus' palace for the rest of this conversation.

"It's best that you don't talk about that so casually.” Zeus glanced about, paranoid. "However, that is good to know. I will take any reinforcement you can do, and I will open our resources for you to do that as well.”

Zeus was struggling with the idea that he would have to bench himself for some of the higher-rank instances I had described in my gift from the last time I was here.

I just needed to push him a little more. He wanted this to be the answer to his problems.

But before I could jump into anything more, he had another question. "Do you have resources to improve the Awakening inscription?" Zeus asked, looking expectant.

"No, but while I'm here, perhaps we could use the war and the battle as an excuse to awaken any bloodlines the Heros Clan might have," I suggested, hoping to keep him happy and pliable before he had me and Circe stay here.

Zeus shook his head. "Those golden rams." He then paused, partway through his excuse. "Actually, they're no longer needed, are they? Somehow, in this whole chaos, I had forgotten that everyone who was of age was now initiated.

“You're right. We'll open up the instance, and they may not get the full experience of running it, but I'll let you pop their bloodlines. It'll make a lot of those who fought very happy. It'll be a good way to help rebuild morale.” Zeus was already rubbing his chin, thinking about how to spin the opportunity. "While you’re here, perhaps we could use the war and the battle as an excuse."

While I detested that part of politics, I reluctantly understood the need to lie and spin things to the populace. Individuals might be intelligent, but people were stupid and just as likely as sheep to follow each other off a cliff if you put it in front of them.

"I’d be happy to help. Too many people have been hit today. Somehow, the Demon Lord has far more forces already at the ready than I expected," I said.

Zeus gave me a pained look as if he was disappointed in me. In that way, he actually looked old.

"And before you point it out, I'm aware there are some"—I hesitated for the right word—"major deviations from the book that I gave you. I'm currently operating off the theory that someone close to the Demon Lord has similar knowledge to me, or perhaps he has someone with precognitive abilities. All I know is he's purposely gone after the people who are supposed to kill him, as well as several other anomalies that speak to some awareness of coming events."

It was grave news, but the man didn’t seem to be all that upset.

"You have 16 hours until we'll perform the ceremony," Zeus said, glancing sideways at Merlin, who had managed to join our group, albeit a little late. He glanced out over the balcony, where Merlin's ice float was ferrying Simone about. "My understanding is you can travel quite quickly, but you have to be here. If you do not arrive on time, don't show your face in the Heros Clan again."

I nodded to him sharply and turned to Circe. "Do you have to stay behind?" I asked, hesitating for a second.

"Unfortunately, I do. I haven't been around much, and after something like this, it's important for me to show my face to help calm any concerns," she replied.

I nodded, completely understanding. "I'm going to check in on Vein City, and if everything is fine there, I'll be back shortly to spend the night here. Toss me down to Simone?" I nodded to both of them, only for Circe's wind to scoop me up and carry me over the balcony.

***

Simone hadn't wanted to leave the injured at Heros Clan until I mentioned that the Mul Branova could be in danger. At that point, I found myself whisked away and teleported by Merlin back to the Citadel of Blood—as it had begun to be called. I only grudgingly used the name because otherwise, they wouldn't be sure which fortress I was talking about.

Thankfully, the fortress hadn't been under any threat.

I started walking the grounds, trying to ensure that all of the inscriptions that I had placed along the fortress wall were still in place. It was a quick check just to calm my mind and let Simone run around like a mother hen and check on her Mul Branova to make sure they were all there.

While the Heros Clan benefited greatly from their long past and copious resources, I was essentially working on someone else's canvas when I worked on their inscriptions. For my home base, I spared no resources and set up the best that I could. An inscription that would continue to improve based on the resources used to power it.

"I heard that you had come back in quite a rush." Carmen found me examining the inscriptions. "Now I see you're checking our defenses. Do we have anything to be worried about?"

The leader of the Nester family stood not far away with his arms crossed behind his back. He was a big man with an imposing presence. Even though I could probably fling him over the wall with a single hand, he just had a particular aura of command that surrounded him.

In my past life, he’d been a mentor, one that even now I had no problem paying respect to. The Nesters had become the backbone for Vein City when everything had gone to shit the first time.

"No concern. However, there was an attack on three of the clans, one of which included forces that appear to have come from our hell gate." I blew out a breath. Thankfully, the Heros Clan didn’t know or at least recognize that yet. Otherwise, there would be some paranoid rumors going around.

Carmen blinked and looked in the direction of the giant red beam. "I'm surprised forces would be pulled away from there. If they were to attack anyone, shouldn’t it be us? I assume getting his hands on a second hell gate would do far more for the Demon Lord’s campaign." He spoke with the sound of leading me to a different conclusion.

Carmen spoke with surprising logic as I looked at him, a smile blossoming on my face. "You're absolutely right. If he didn't attack us here and instead attacked me at our other fortress, then that means he probably doesn't even know that we moved the hell gate’s location here. Doubly so if he managed to take forces from here and move them to the Heros Clan rather than build up for an assault here."

Carmen tilted his head to the side. "That may be the case, but assuming so will only cause you problems in the long run," he cautioned.

"I agree. Eventually, the Demon Lord will learn its location and alter his strategy. My hope is by that point, we won't need to be as concerned as we are now," I murmured to myself. Every demon that came through the gate now fed my people’s strength. The longer he wasn’t aware of it, the stronger my grip on it got.

Clearly, the attacks had been a coordinated effort. The Demon Lord had done damage to the Kailash family with his attack on them. I assume the attack on the Wukong was largely a misdirection to make the forces seem bigger and more powerful.

As for the attack on the Heros Clan, perhaps it was to prevent me from getting reinforcements with their plan to kidnap me. Or perhaps, in general, they were going to make moves around the Mediterranean, and they needed the Heros Clan with its head stuck back in its shell.

"Did my words cause other concerns?" Carmen asked, watching me carefully.

"There are a lot of moving pieces," I admitted.

The man was someone I respected, and perhaps he could be of some help. I quickly explained the number of attacks and tried to guess at our opponent's understanding. Carmen, of course, was perhaps not the master of an actual battlefield. However, at the global scale, the pieces moving weren't that different from gangs in a city.

"If he truly does have knowledge, and from what you have shown so far, he has some, then it's the anomalies that he's trying to quash, as well as fix the problems from his last... war, which you said he ultimately lost. It sounds very much like him cleaning up loose ends before making a larger move."

"Correct, but he's killed two of the three people who were responsible for taking him out,” I added.

“He seems like a schemer. The best thing you can do for those types is to disrupt them enough that they stop using their brain and start acting emotionally.” Carmen nodded to himself. "I think the most appropriate next step is to speed up those going through the Trial of Kings. If I were in the Demon Lord’s position and was going out of my way to corrupt and possess those who foiled me in my past life, watching fate be fickle and undo all of my work might be one of the most frustrating things I could imagine."

I nodded along with Carmen. "He's simply got too many more pieces on the board compared to the rest of us," I said after a moment trying to come up with several plans, but each one came with terrible downsides.

"Then you need to team up," Carmen offered. "If you try and push into a bigger organization's territory, you have to keep them on the back foot while you peck away at their resources."

I chuckled. "In this situation, who's the larger force? What you're describing is more like what the Demon Lord is doing, trying to get the Heros Clan, Shiva, and Wukong from roaming the globe. The Borrsons and the Ennead both aren't that mobile to begin with, so they are less of an issue. Many of the Borrsons would have to travel by sea, and the Ennead are far too reliant on the crypts they keep in Egypt. Their power significantly diminishes the farther they travel, unless, of course, they travel with a massive army, which will be far slower and easier to react to.”

“If you aren’t the larger force, then you just have to become it through alliances," Carmen said.

"Hmm." I frowned. So much of me was trying to be different than my last life, though. The direction my thoughts were going felt far too close to being the Wandering King.

No. Running around with a small force would be useless. I needed more, a way to bring the clans to my banner and push as a coordinated effort. But how to win them over?

"Seems I have struck a chord?" Carmen asked.

"Something like that. Perhaps I was trying to be too independent," I wondered aloud. Even though I wasn’t the Wandering King, had I really changed, or had I just enlarged my footprint? I was still not gathering the strength of others.

For this First Demon War, I needed to find a way to bring the clans into direct conflict with the demons. They were still too comfortable. Even after The Rapture, they weren’t striking out against the demons. Either they were too concerned with gathering resources or too blind to see the larger problem slowly growing beyond their vision that was too narrow and only seeing what was right in front of them.

"Knowing when to stick to your strength is a strength in of itself, one that few people possess," Carmen answered. “But there are times that you must go against your own weaknesses.”

"Thank you." I stood up from where I had finished inspecting the inscriptions. "Your words were a great help.” Several ideas were swirling on how I could pull the clans into the conflict, but I hadn’t come up with a solid one just yet.

“Just keep me in mind when there are some other opportunities going around. I know I might be an old man, but I would like to get out from time to time," Carmen told me.

I chuckled. "You'll jump to the top of the list, no doubt, especially anything around here. I think I'm going to be in a hurry to go do something about the ideas bubbling up in my head."

Carmen gestured to the side and gave me a way around him.

As I moved quickly in search of Merlin, my mind was abuzz with several thoughts.

I needed a strike force ready to respond, and I needed to expand recon. On top of that, I needed to start helping those who weren't in my immediate organization. Perhaps by extending some goodwill, I could bring them into the fold in some regard or at the very least establish communications that could be used to help us understand when a crisis was brewing in the distance.

The first step should be expanding even more. Enough that I had the right to talk on an even level with the sects or the clans. They only respected strength.

Unfortunately, sometimes not everything could be solved simply by swinging my sword or crushing skulls. There was some finesse required when it came to people I didn't necessarily want dead.

The idea of trying to bring up several more kings had occurred to me before, but I hadn't really thought of how to accomplish that until now. I knew the other kings that would come after the First Demon War. I could have some confidence that the core of their personalities would already be formed. Thus, their success in passing the trial then relied on growing their personal strength rather than trying to change who they were.

And if training them up was the mission, I was certainly more than qualified to do that.

If I could raise up the other kings earlier and launch them at the Demon Lord, then that would take a significant amount of pressure off me and the other clans, perhaps enough to give Shiva and the Heros Clan the flexibility they needed to continue, because being turtles in all of this was not a viable strategy. The longer any of the clans stayed put, the more they fell behind in the mad dash we were in to gain power against the demons.

I halted mid-step. No, I’d have to force them out of their shells. Show them the real danger, by putting it at their doorstep.

My mind solidified. I would find Merlin and return to the Heros Clan for now. It seemed there was nothing to be concerned about with the Citadel of Blood, though I wouldn't assume the Demon Lord would remain ignorant of us for long.

But for the moment, I had an idea forming on how to further encourage the clans while pushing forward.

Chapter 44

I stepped into the ornate room, Circe’s office.

A desk dominated the room with what seemed to be an endless stack of paperwork trying to creep over everything, including the woman who was just moments from being buried. The other end had a curtain and a fold-out bed peeking out from where it hadn’t been fully closed.

Looks like she usually worked until she dropped.

"Bran," Circe said, sounding surprised. She looked up from the mound of paperwork on her desk, blinking at me several times as if expecting me to change.

"Come on," I gestured. "If you don't, I'm going to come drag you away from that desk. You've already proved to me once that you won't stop working so easily."

Circe looked at the paperwork and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "It's fine. I was starting to not make much progress anyway."

"Sure you weren't." I smiled. "Now, come on. Unless you'd like me to drag you away.”

“You'd like that, wouldn't you? Are you a brute in bed? Wait, don't answer that. I'm sure Simone will happily answer it for me." Circe’s pink lips stretched into a smile. "I'm afraid I'm not as well-dressed as you are today—a rarity given that sometimes you fight in so little." She wore yet another toga, this one simple with the only splash of color being a few gold bands and a pink pendant on her chest that matched her earrings.

"What can I say? Heavy armor gets in the way. Now, up." I shot her a look, not letting her stall any longer. "And besides, you look wonderful in everything."

"Why, thank you. Also, I would point out that I get to choose the time of our date, and I haven't chosen anything yet." She narrowed her eyes playfully.

"Yep, yep." I was done waiting for her to move, so I went around behind her and gently guided her out of the room. "And if this doesn't want to count as our date, then it doesn't have to. However, I am taking you out of here. I'm going to make sure you take care of yourself and get some fresh air."

"Oh, we can go do that." Circe shrugged, stilling.

I grabbed her by the shoulders and more assertively led her out of the office.

"Stars, bath, bed," I commanded. My tone brooked no argument, and Circe dropped her head like a scolded child and more reasonably let me guide her.

"You know, you can't just barge into a lady's room and demand she do things for you," she told me.

"Want to bet?" I grinned at her. "And also, if you were a little less obedient, that might have a little more truth to it."

"I can't help it. Your arms are so big and strong." She batted her lashes at me as I pushed her through her building. Several of her elites stopped and paused as they saw us. There was a look of utter disbelief as they saw me guiding Circe about.

"Don't mind us," I said with a smile. "Sometimes, you need to just make her do what's in her best interest." I thought the balcony that we'd first met on would be the best place to watch the stars and carefully guided her that way.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked, though there was no anger in her tone.

"Do you remember where we first met?" I asked, ushering her up the stairs.

"Ah, right. When I compared you to a fledgling little bird that had gotten lost," she chuckled. "How wrong I was."

"That's okay, I couldn't exactly introduce myself. 'Hi, I'm Bran, and I know the future. Pleasure to meet you. Will you let me take over your clan?'" I held out my hand as if I was asking that question here and now.

Circe chuckled, "You're right. That would not have gone over well."

"Exactly, so I didn't bother. Would it work better now?" I teased. However, instead I ended up with the Mul Branova, which, if I was honest, had worked out better.

"Given all we've seen, Zeus might do it for a price," she answered.

I groaned. "Why is he so concerned about system gold? Does he want more stats that badly?" In a way, I was asking her as well.

"Yes, Bran, we all do. Some of us don't have the freakish ability to reset our stats. It’s hard to keep up.” She muttered the last, but I caught it. “By the way, when are you going to do that again?" she asked.

I decided to pretend I didn’t hear her muttering. "Not soon. You're right, it's too good of an opportunity. I have the blood. That's not the problem. However, it's the stats that I'm more concerned with. Think about how much gold I'm saving every level I get before resetting it again," I mused.

Circe grumbled under her breath, "You cheat."

"I don't cheat, I just have an unfair advantage. It's different. It's not like I'm actively doing something to cause this.”

“While you did send yourself back in time, perhaps we can count that as your instance of cheating," Circe grumbled again.

Opening a door to where I was fairly sure the balcony was, I realized I had made a grave error. The balcony we were heading for was attached to her bedroom.

Suddenly, me holding onto her tightly and dragging her back to the bedroom had a very different connotation than I was prepared for.

Only a large curtain separated her actual bed from the room that I had remembered. It seemed that from the direction she had taken me from the balcony before, I had never noticed that aspect.

I cleared my throat. "I didn't realize this was your bedroom."

Circe hummed and batted her lashes, "And here I thought seeing the stars from my balcony was the new Hetflix and Chill. How disappointing."

I tapped her on the forehead, "Don't be a fake flirt with me. You don't need to do it to get any sort of advantage. All I wanted was to make you take a break from working.” I brought her over to the balcony to look out at the stars. At this point, I couldn’t not do it. Besides, it was relaxing.

"Is there something we're looking for?" she asked.

"Nothing in particular. I have always found the stars calming," I said, glancing up at the tapestry of the night, little glimmering dots like holes in a cloth.

Circe glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes. "You're well aware that I've stared at the stars enough to have them memorized, right?"

I shrugged. "It doesn't make them any less beautiful or the idea of space any less vast. I've told you there are other worlds, right? People come from them during the Second Demon War." I gestured out at the stars. "Perhaps those people I knew are out there right now."

Circe looked back up at them, a new expression on her face. "I hadn't thought about that. The question of whether there's life out there has always kind of been a stupid rhetorical one to me. Because whether or not there's more life out there doesn't matter because we'll simply never see them."

I crossed my arms and leaned against a pillar, turning away from the stars and regarding Circe. "That sounds rather embittered if I do say so myself."

"It's not embittered." She gestured at the stars. "Something we will never reach. Certainly, humans are ingenious, and we've reached relatively close planets. And perhaps there's the dream of reaching even farther. Bran, you and I both know, logically speaking, that the difference between here and the next star is like the difference between an atom and a planet. Our success so far is a rounding error in the scale of things."

I shook my head and turned back to the balcony, leaning against it. "You care too much about that logic. Why does it matter? It's not like you're going to die in the next ten years, hundred years, thousand years. Instead, we can always progress, march forward."

Circe's expression grew sharp. “By your own words, my death is already coming. Don't I die in the First Demon War? Or perhaps the other me of your time would already be dead because she wasn’t strong enough.”

Her words brought down the mood. There it was. Some of Circe’s more recent hunger had a purpose. Not that she’d die standing next to me, but then again, she wasn’t the kind of woman to want to rely on others.

“If you're so concerned about dying, then why not live a little? From where I stand, I admit to only having a partial view. But since traveling with me, you've been smiling more. Even Simone has noticed that you've seemed happier." I tried to cheer her up.

"Is that so?" Circe smirked. "Perhaps with you, I've seen a few new things. And when I'm around you, I don't feel like all of the burden is on my shoulders. Every now and then, it's nice to be a follower. Thank you." Those final words came out as almost a whisper.

"You can be a follower anytime you want, Circe," I said, stepping up close to her.

She was forced to tilt her head back due to our size difference. Her eyes reflected some of the stars like little diamonds floating in her vision. "Doesn't quite work that way, Bran," she replied.

I only shrugged. "You can make the decision here and now to just follow me wherever I go. If the decision fatigue has you so bad, then just give it up."

"And what, be like one of your many Mul Branova that go starry-eyed every time you enter a room? Only to do whatever it is you say or want?" she retorted.

I shrugged again. "You're your own woman, Circe. I wouldn't expect you to act like anyone else. However, even if you want to just take a break from everything to follow me for a time and let me make the decisions, all you have to do is be there to lend your strength. It's not like I'm going to go against your morals or the clan you care so dearly about."

"Just give it all up…" Circe said again, though it wasn't really a question or a statement. It was her repeating the idea to herself. "I don't think I can do that, Bran," she confessed.

I held my hands up. "I'm not asking you to. I'm simply giving you the option. Should it all become too much, you're welcome to lay your burdens on my shoulder. And I'll carry them until you want them back."

Her eyes searched mine for a long moment in the starlight. She stepped forward, and for a brief second, I thought she was about to kiss me. Instead, her forehead softly thudded against my chest.

"Damn you," she mumbled under her breath.

"You're welcome," I said, choosing to misunderstand her words.

She looked up through her eyelashes at me with a glare. "Thank you," she said more clearly this time and went up on her tiptoes to place a peck on my cheek. "Now," she said firmly, settling back on her heels, "I'm going to go rest."

"Perfect," I said quickly. "I'll get someone to stand outside your door and have them directed to me in your office."

She watched me carefully and then shook her head as she walked away. "Tomorrow morning I'm going to remind you that you offered this and did it to yourself."

I smiled. How bad could it actually be?

Chapter 45

C irce stepped into her office, looking absolutely radiant. Her hair was done up with a few strategically placed strands that had escaped to frame her face.

I looked up and over the massive stacks of paper that had begun to drown me at her desk. Once last night I nearly punched a man who came in with a four-foot stack and was about to literally dump them on me.

"How did it go, Bran?" she asked, stretching in her barely-there blue silk robe. It wasn't tied tightly, and I could see her lacy underthings peeking through.

"I'm getting you an assistant. It'll be my gift to you," I said, sifting through the papers and rubbing the bridge of my nose. I blinked, trying to get my eyes to focus, even as they tried to stage a revolt.

How the heck was this harder than fighting world-ending monsters?

"Can’t. Too much of this is sensitive information," Circe said, sitting down. She began to work on a pot of tea.

"You let me look at it," I argued.

"Yeah, but I trust you, Bran. It’s too hard to risk my clan for others who may not have their best interests at heart," she said, beginning to heat the water. She sifted through the cabinets to find loose leaf tea.

"You have to find some way to balance this, Circe. This is truly too much." I gestured at the desk in front of me. "If it's absolutely necessary, we can find someone competent, and I'll etch some inscriptions in them to ensure they can't betray you."

Circe perked up and turned around. "You can do that?" Her eyes were alight at the idea.

"Yes, but I would highly prefer not to, at least not for anyone working for me. I think putting that many restrictions on someone is bound to chafe at their sensibilities and ultimately more likely to lead to betrayal than picking a random person. Of course, the other option is always to split the work up amongst a number of people so they can never put the entire picture together. That does take a little bit of extra coordination," I grumbled, sticking my nose back in the pile of papers.

"You sound like you have more experience organizing people than you led us to believe, Mr. Wandering King," she said, pulling a seat over to sit next to me. “You made it sound like you ran from place to place to avoid being a leader in truth.”

"Just because I move from place to place doesn't mean I didn't have plenty of correspondence and other minutia to manage. Besides, I showed up at war fronts months early hundreds of times. In those instances, I took up the reins and led for up to a year as they fought back." I glowered at her until it sank in. "Find someone you trust."

"I have," she said, gesturing at the table and then to me with a wink. "My new assistant seems to be doing quite well, if I do say so myself."

I rolled my eyes. "If you think you're going to trap me into being your assistant for any longer than a day, then I've got a bridge to sell you."

Circe puffed her cheeks out. "Rude. And here I thought we were working so fantastically together."

"The question is not if we could work well together, it’s the tasks we choose to tackle together that need to be evaluated," I said, glancing down at the stacks of paper before me. I split off half a stack and slapped it down in front of her. "Since you're up, and I only promised to protect you from your dreaded responsibilities for a night, enjoy."

She made a show of pouting, but she got to work with surprising speed, flipping through the stack of papers, some of which she barely reviewed.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Well, a good number of these people are just going to waste my time." She waved to the ones she had put to the side. "I'm not even going to read those."

My jaw went slack, and I stared at her. "And you couldn't have told me that last night?"

"Well, it's a good thing that you went through them. They need to feel heard once in a while." She raised an eyebrow with a quirk of her lips, looking very pleased with herself.

I wanted to strangle the beautiful woman next to me, but instead, I let out my frustration with a sigh and gestured to the side of the desk at the stacks of paper that I had completed. "Well, these are done and can be sent off. I'm sure you can at least get someone to send them back to the right person."

"Easy enough." She waved her hand. "It's the decision-making that's hard to delegate with confidence." She waved her hand, and her magic spun out from her just as the kettle began to scream, scooping it off and pouring it over the tea and into the pot.

I smirked. "You have been working on your control."

"It can be useful," she replied defensively, only to lift the teapot carefully and float it over to the desk we were currently sharing. "Now, what of you and your plans for the day? You said you were going to work on the enchantments?" she asked with barely hidden curiosity.

"Yes, given that you're already visually hiding the islands, I thought some more subtle concealments would be useful. I am thinking about ones that push awareness away or distort space so that people physically can't find the edge of your barrier." I worked through my thoughts aloud. "I have come to realize that the Demon Lord likely does not know about our little project hiding in my Vein City fortress."

Circe made a long noise of understanding. "And you want to keep awareness away from all of your places as long as possible.”

“That would be ideal.” I nodded. "Of course, the Heros Clan would get the same treatment.”

“Well then, I'll have you to myself at least for a couple of days. I've even managed somehow to separate you from the rest of your entourage." She gestured at the room that failed to contain Simone, Nyx, or Gloria. Even Merlin had left me here, likely heading off to work on other challenges for our budding organizations across the globe.

"I guess you're right, Circe. It's just you and me, at least for now." I reached over and scooted her seat closer to mine.

"For now," she said, gently holding the top of the pot so it didn't fall over as she poured us two cups. She gave me a sultry look through her lashes as she filled my cup.

*****

Gloria was back at the Vein City fortress, acting as a bridge between the Mul Branova and the Nestors. The mood was especially tense as food within the city became scarcer, but the dwindling population was slowing the concern, as grim as that was. Still, plenty of people were coming to their walls every day to be angry or depressed at their situation.

They couldn’t hand out bread, but they were taking those willing to work for it.

Whether from deaths or those who decided to take their chances outside of the cities, the population had shrunk considerably. As a result, Gloria was quickly snatching up resources for both organizations' manpower.

"Mistress Gloria." A Mul Branova appeared in her doorway, wrapping her knuckles against the open door.

"Yes." Gloria spoke with as much patience as she could manage, putting down the pen and stretching her wrist. She had found the transition back to paper immensely frustrating. Her wrist, even with her enhanced abilities, was not used to so much writing.

"It seems we have a large number of… guests." The Mul Branova clearly hesitated on what to call the new arrivals, and that told Gloria about all she needed to know.

She was on her feet a moment later. The coat hanging off her shoulders made her feel powerful. It felt like a cape. She'd often spent time in her youth cultivating a look that would make the old men of the Nestor Clan respect her. And besides looking like a complete bitch and them wanting nothing to do with her, something about the coat over her shoulders always made them sit up a little straighter when she walked into the room. It also made them stop staring at her ass every time she passed them by.

"Well, show me to our new guests," she said, charging ahead of the poor girl who was rushing to keep up with her longer strides.

"There are quite a number of them," the woman said hurriedly, "and their levels don't seem to be insignificant."

"Doesn't matter. Worst-case scenario, they cause a problem, and I turn them to ash." Gloria walked out the side entrance, allowing her to go straight onto the inner wall and take two bridges to reach the outer wall where the guests were already quite visible.

She'd seen it in the reports, but this was the first time she'd laid eyes on it herself. Gloria clicked her tongue as she saw the rowdy crowd amassed outside the Citadel's walls.

The mass of people teemed with anger as they couldn’t stop themselves from shouting, competing for the few Mul Branova on the wall’s attention.

She didn't even take a moment to contemplate the situation. What needed to be done had been ingrained into her with years of following her father.

Fire leapt from her fingertips as she crouched ever so slightly before launching herself into the air in a burst of fire. This gave her more lift, allowing her to soar briefly through the air before coming crashing down outside the wall and in front of the rowdy crowd.

The first step to controlling a mass of people was to show confidence. That wasn’t standing behind walls. That was joining them. Besides, she could fry them. Bran had given her a boost that none of these people could hope to match.

More purple fire danced from her fingertips, brushing against the ground and slowing her only slightly as she landed. The way she approached had the wonderful secondary effect of making them all get out of her way.

Next, she needed to show them that she was above them and their anger didn’t even matter.

"Guests," she spoke loud enough for several of them to wince, stepping backwards, "I hadn't realized we had so many coming today. If you had told me, perhaps I would have prepared a little better."

Their voices quieted just enough to hear her but certainly not out of respect. No, that was a glory she would have to earn or perhaps force from them. Right now, they were just curious who had the gall to come out here.

"We're looking for the one in charge." A man stepped forward, sticking his neck out, perhaps in an attempt to lead the motley crew around him.

"You don't have near enough qualifications to meet Bran. You should be happy that I came out to meet you myself, rather than just send some of our guards to shoo you away." She was above them.

The man hawked up a large glob of spit at Gloria's feet. She grimaced, not because it was close to hitting her, but because she was now going to have to make an example of him. "Well, if your leader isn't coming out, perhaps you can entertain us," he said with a smarmy smile.

"Oh, and how do you propose I do that?" Gloria asked, her arms crossed under her chest. She meant to look stern, but by the way several of the men's eyes dipped, she realized the gesture had not had the effect she wanted.

"I can think of a few ways that you can entertain the boys." The man’s eyes dipped down before raking over Gloria's body.

Gloria glared, making a mental note she might also need to remove his eyes. But for now, she wanted more information. "I'm more interested in where you came from and why you're here. You wouldn't happen to be one of those roving packs we've been hearing about?" she prodded.

"And what do they say about those roving packs?" The spitter ran a hand through his greasy hair, and apparently, there was enough oil in it that he managed to actually slick it back.

Gloria tried to hide her disgust but knew she’d failed. It was probably about time to stop being civil anyway. "Well, they say that you are useless, no good freeloaders who are just swinging by population centers for what food they can scrounge up," Gloria answered, enjoying as her words had an almost physical reaction to the man.

"I think that's a touch too far," he growled, taking a step forward.

"Their words, not mine." Gloria shrugged, remaining poised as she scanned over his men, not giving him the satisfaction of keeping her full attention on him. "But I’m sure you are done here because I can tell you that this city’s all out of food. So feel free to move along."

The man looked around the fortress, his eyes gazing past the walls to the multiple fields that Mul Branova had prepared and were actively tending.

"Looks to me like you might have quite a bit to share." He spoke with a slimy tone that made Gloria want to remove his head from his shoulders.

"Don't tell me you think you have a chance of getting any of that." Gloria stood her ground feeling several inspects brushing over her.

"I don't think you are going to be able to stop me." He stepped forward, only for one of his friends to suddenly grab his shoulder and shake his head urgently.

Gloria grinned. "Think your friends realize something you haven't, but don't worry, you'll realize soon enough." With a snap of her fingers, the leading man went up like a purple pyre. He had been getting on her nerves, and it was clear she had to let this group know that they had no power to negotiate here.

The group behind him scattered, each of them pushing their fellows, trying to get away as fast as they could.

Gloria wasn't going to let them go so easily. Small cracks filled with purple fire raced across the ground, diving through and behind the group. Flames leapt up twenty feet into the air all around them, with plenty of them being caught in the blaze.

After witnessing them herself, she realized they weren’t a dog to be tamed but rather a rabid animal that had developed a taste for blood. The best course of action was to put them down before they infected anyone else.

One of them, brave enough to avoid the instinctual human reaction to fire, charged at Gloria. His sword slammed into her shoulder, scratching her dress but failing to penetrate her skin.

She grinned at the idiot who could only stare at his sword in shock as he stumbled backwards, checking the blade and seeing that it had dulled against her body.

Fuck Bran and his father’s training, but that was satisfying enough that being beaten by monsters and thrown off a cliff was almost worth it.

"Glad to see you understand just how fucked you are. Ladies," she called up to the wall, "please come forward and help me clean up this mess in front of us. I want a few of them alive to tell us more about what they have been doing and where they originated."

At her words, Mul Branova who had been watching the situation on the wall swarmed over the group of raiders like locusts. They hadn’t been standing back because they were afraid. No, it was because they were disciplined.

Each of them had a high growth curve with an SS-ranked class and was far higher level than the mob of miscreants.

The raiders barely stood a chance, putting up a pittance of a fight before being swiftly and brutally crushed. There were no questions asked, no mercy given. Skulls were bashed, guts were torn out, and a few were dragged away with just enough breath in their lungs for them to tell Gloria what she wanted to know.

The Mul Branova in their red and white habits were painted with blood, and they relished in it, taking a lick here and there to empower themselves as they drank the blood of Bran’s enemies.

"Please," one begged as he was thrown at Gloria’s feet, turning and looking at the Mul Branova with pure terror.

"Oh, don't worry," Gloria promised as she stepped up, stomping on his leg, causing it to crack as she ground her heel into the break, making an example of the man. "I'll put you out of your misery as soon as you answer my questions. Where did you come from, and where is your base?" She stared at the man who sobbed up at her and refused to answer, only to glance over to assess the number of people the Mul Branova had grabbed. She had a solid dozen chances to get the answer she wanted.

"All of you"—she looked over the Mul Branova, and the few members of the Nestor family woven in between them—"pick your favorite. The first one who gets someone to talk wins. And we'll heal the one who gives up information and send them on their way. The rest you can play with for as long as they last." She wasn't actually that brutal, but she knew the illusion would do far more to hurry this along.

A man was already screaming. "I'll talk! I'll talk! I know everything," he shouted hurriedly, even as others piped up, seconds too late.

Gloria stepped over and grabbed him by the collar. "He's mine. Make sure not to kill the others just yet until I can confirm he has all of the information that I want," Gloria said, looking over her people before dragging the coward away.

She'd find out where they came from and go and make sure that lessons resonated in the surrounding area. She knew that fear could be powerful, and she wanted all to fear Vein City. She wouldn't allow anyone to think Vein City was an easy target.

Chapter 46

G loria and a team of three dozen Mul Branova managed to track the raiders all the way back to their camp. Although the word camp was being generous.

The place looked as if it could have been put together by giant toddlers the way everything was precariously stacked. The entire camp was made of lean-tos that largely resembled ripped-out walls and aluminum roofs propped up with whatever they could find. There was little organization beyond how the people were segregated. Women, children, or otherwise weak and who looked as if they'd been plucked straight out of an office, only to be thrown out on the streets like beggars, they were huddled, cowering amongst themselves.

Meanwhile, those with grim determination in their eyes were far more plump and seemed particularly happy with the present situation. Then again, Gloria could imagine exactly why they were so pleased with the situation, given that they were now in power.

She held a hand up for the Mul Branova to stop.

They had run hard for over three hours to discover the raiders. Along the way, they had encountered more than a few burnt-out buildings, likely those who had encountered the raiders before they had reached the walls of the Citadel.

"Mistress, what do we do?" One of the Mul Branova stood, crouched beside her, anxiety plainly written on her face. Yet none of them were panting from the hard run that had covered ground far beyond human capabilities.

"Just ask yourself, what would Bran do?" Gloria said slowly. "I need you all to ask yourselves what you want him to find you doing when he gets back. Will it be cleaning up scum like this, or will it be hiding away in your little Citadel of Blood, with the knowledge that people like this are out here?" She gestured. "Not only do I see people who need help, but I see people who need a purpose. They may not be able to become Mul Branova, but perhaps they could worship Bran and help us grow more secure at the Citadel." Her words sank into all of them, and their eyes began to shine red with fervor.

Gloria was almost perturbed at the way that using Bran as a focus for these ladies made all of them suddenly eager to kill. There was a disturbing level of loyalty from them. She didn't fully understand it, and she suspected she never would. After all, most of the women were borderline insane. Zealots she’d call them, and they’d probably celebrate the name.

These women lived entirely for their Lord Bran, and through the very nature of their worship that Saintess Simone cultivated they would do anything for them. It was an incredibly powerful connection. To literally watch a religion spark up before her was unsettling, to say the least.

One of the Mul Branova pulled a bow from her spatial ring, and the action rippled through the group as they drew their weapons.

"Perhaps all of them could be some use?" One of them spoke quickly, and Gloria let a sigh of relief escape her. Perhaps they weren't all entirely crazy. "I don't think they're strong enough that we have to kill them. Perhaps we could capture them and turn them into conscripts for Lord Bran's army."

That idea got the rest of them excited, their eyes glowing again.

Gloria closed her eyes, knowing while she had some influence over these ladies, too often they were lost in their own machinations.

They at least looked to her before rushing in, waiting until Gloria gave them a nod.

“Go, capture all you can. Kill those who won’t yield,” she said.

Just like that, three dozen Mul Branova jumped from where they had been hiding, swarming the camp.

Gloria stepped out, ready for her fire to do considerable damage, but she paused as she noticed the large amount of dry, brittle wood around the area. She paused and cursed, realizing that if she let loose, she would undoubtedly burn this entire place down and undo all of their efforts to rescue people from this horrid situation.

In her hesitation, the Mul Branova swept in and attacked. Their blades and maces dove straight for the grim men, smashing joints and severing tendons as they swept across the enemy group.

Disturbingly, many of them would lick the blood off their weapons or straight from an enemy’s veins only to experience a surge of strength. All of them were nearly unkillable as they clashed in melee with the raiders. What attacks managed to break the skin were healed quickly.

Rather than using her fire offensively, Gloria instead used it to make barriers. When the opponents threatened the Mul Branova with powerful ranged abilities, her purple fire leapt up and clashed with lightning and water, saving more than a few of the over-eager zealots from being focused on by a barrage from their enemies.

True to their word, the Mul Branova didn't kill. However, they brutally maimed and crippled anyone who held a weapon.

Gloria could already imagine them putting the men back together once they were successfully cowed. She could only shake her head as the Mul Branova tore them apart with practiced ease. She had felt like many of them were too green for something like this mission.

However, their actions proved her completely wrong. It seemed Simone’s training was harsher than Gloria had realized. They didn’t even flinch before smashing knees and hurling men twenty feet into the air.

One of the Mul Branova picked up a raider, lifting him high over her head before she brought him down back first, straight into her knee. The man let out a silent cry that barely squeaked out of his throat as he bent backwards at an angle that ensured very little was still where it was supposed to be. She then tossed him to the side.

"Please, wait. We will pick you up and deliver you to our Lord Bran soon enough," one of the Mul Branova said with glee in her red and white outfit before zipping through the crowd.

Gloria thought the Nestor's men knew how to lead with brutality to send a message, but the Mul Branova had apparently invented more brutality than even the Mafia Family knew.

One of their bruisers had made the trip with her and hung back, turning to her with a stunned expression.

“What?” Gloria asked.

“I thought they were just pretty ladies for Lord Bran,” he said, sounding unsure of himself.

“I guess they are, but roses are more thorns than petals. Don’t forget that, and let the other men know not to fuck with them. I really don’t want to have to break up a fight if someone disrespects them.” Gloria stared the man down.

He just nodded and swallowed around a lump in his throat, turning back to watch the women in red and white habits tossing grown men around like they were stuffed animals.

The battle felt long, but it couldn't have been more than five minutes before everything settled. There were about a hundred men groaning painfully on the ground while the beautiful Mul Branova checked over each other's robes, inspecting them for blood or tears that would need to be repaired.

Because, apparently, that was more concerning to them than the moaning men.

"How did we do, Mistress Gloria?" One of them stepped up and bowed low. If Bran had been with them, he certainly would have enjoyed the view.

"Not bad," Gloria said, folding her arms behind her back and refusing to be impressed to their faces. Still, apparently her words were enough as that devotee and the rest all beamed and began bouncing with excitement.

"All right"—one of them turned—"who wants to be the battery?" One of them grudgingly raised a hand. She then dipped her head in almost prayer and stepped towards the center of the group.

Gloria watched with rapt attention, not entirely sure what they were doing. Their actual combat training was largely Simone’s, who likely pulled ideas from Bran when she had him at her mercy.

They began to organize what looked like a healing ceremony. They formed around the raiders' prisoners and the crippled raiders, and the Mul Branova began casting crimson streams about the width of a finger from themselves into the prisoners. The longer they cast, the more pallid their skin became, until they would take a break and another finger-width of red would stream from the battery, as they had called the one, into those who were healing.

Gloria watched what was happening with fascination. Bran had a similar ability, but often he was the one who needed healing rather than giving it.

Apparently, the New Devotees of Bran were not powerful enough to keep the health regeneration up for long, so they were using one amongst them as the battery. She sat down, bowed in prayer, and appeared to be regenerating her health far faster than the rest, or maybe hers was a higher rank. Whatever she was doing, it was allowing them to heal dozens of the captives with only short breaks in between.

One of the devotees smiled at the captives who were struggling to come to terms with their present situation. "Praise to Lord Bran," she spoke with a brilliant smile, her blonde curly locks framing her face with a few splashes of blood at the tips and making her look like a bloody angel amid the apocalypse.

"Who is Lord Bran?" one of the captives asked hesitantly.

"He is our Lord, and over in Vein City, there are thousands of my sisters and I who worship him and keep order. While many of you don't seem the type to pick up a weapon," she said, somehow managing not to sound judgmental, "there are more than fighters needed in this new world. The Cit…" She hesitated.

Gloria knew she was about to say Citadel of Blood but at least had the wherewithal to realize it was not a good way to introduce someone. Only for the Mul Branova, who were all hard at work healing, to crack their eyes open, glancing at their fellow, for which she continued, "The Citadel of Blood has room for many more. Never mind its fierce name. It's named because Lord Bran's power comes from blood, and as his worshippers, we’ve been granted a portion of his power."

A teenage boy with cracked spectacles pushed them up on his nose. "Are you all like vampire brides or something?"

The Mul Branova stopped what they were doing, looking amongst themselves with smiles on their faces. "Something like that. Though with significantly less blood drinking."

Gloria groaned. "This has gone on far enough." She stepped forward, her arms crossed. "Ignore them. They can be a little crazy. I’m Gloria Nestor of the Nestor Family. Given the complete lack of leadership, we and the Mul Branova have taken over Vein City. You're welcome to come with us or, I don't know, stick around with this lot." Gloria gestured at the raiders who were either sobbing or passed out on the ground.

"Though, actually, that's not an option either now that I think about it. The Mul Branova, the lovely ladies here, are going to be taking them and putting them to work back at the citadel. So, you can stay behind on your own," Gloria clarified.

One of the young women stood up. "You're no better than them. How dare you treat them like prisoners?" However, her words only caused her own people to turn at her strangely.

"What?" she shouted at all of them as if they were the crazy ones. "Just because they did bad things, it doesn't mean we can treat them like they aren't human."

Gloria shrugged. "Honestly, letting them work for us was our more merciful answer. The original plan was just to kill them all off."

One of the raiders gasped. "I'll work, I'll work!"

Gloria gestured in his direction. "See? Great option. And it's not like we're going to let a violent neighbor fester in our backyard. The only reason we found you is because they sent a couple hundred people knocking on our fortress. They did not have good intentions or a good ending."

The lady who had protested gasped. "Wait, you mean..."

"Oh yeah, that group that left is largely dead. There weren't many survivors before we started the questioning, and I don't think they were allowed to live afterwards. My offer is safety in Vein City, but you have to pull your weight. Take it or leave it.” Gloria folded her arms.

Many of the older folks pulled themselves up by whatever lingering desire they had, moving closer to Gloria and the rest of the Mul Branova.

"You guys can't go. They're slavers!" the woman shouted. "What if it were you being put into whatever horrid labor camp they're going to put these people?"

An old man stopped partway walking and turned back to her. "Dear, I think it's a new world and new rules. I didn't fight in two wars only to let a group of homegrown thugs be my end. Civilization is gone." The old man gestured broadly to the horizon where there were once buildings. Now stood scrapped ruins of whatever small town this had once been. In the backdrop was the giant red beam piercing up to the sky and dyeing the surrounding clouds red, casting an ominous hue over the land. "I, for one, will do what it takes to survive, and I won't raise a hand against anyone until they've raised theirs against me."

"An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind," the woman spat.

One of the Mul Branova spoke up, her voice cheerier than the rest of the discussion. "Good thing we can heal and regenerate our own eyes. I think at the end of the day, we won't be the ones left blind."

Gloria shook her head and gestured for people to start moving. Given the low levels across the group, it was going to be a long trek. She only hoped they were worth the effort.

Chapter 47

I arrived back at Vein City with Merlin and Simone in tow. The small group included Cao, the drunk monk, and a few of his top performers, who had all shaved their heads to imitate him.

I was fairly certain the old man was naturally bald or his drinking had knocked out all his hair. His group had begun dressing like him, too. Coincidentally, they all had classes with some poison utility, taking the monk's way of training and following it themselves to become powerful embodiments of poison.

"This is a nice place you have here." The lead drunk slurped from his gourd. Cao was pleased with himself.

"I'm glad you like it, and I'm glad to give you and your close group a bit of a break from the front lines,” I told him.

“In this instance, you think we'll be okay?" he asked, squinting at me as if I was leading him into a trap.

"You'll be fine. It has resources that I need. It's also filled with poison slimes. Terribly ineffective for most people to fight their way through. They're resistant to poison and physical attacks. However," I said, glancing at him and his group, "you should all have no problem despite the otherwise high difficulty if you take a few elemental weapons. I want you to go run it. All of you soak up that experience and gold, as well as the poison. It's a perfect training ground for you." I crossed my arms, frowning slightly, not at them but at the fact that the Mul Branova all seemed to be flitting away as if avoiding me.

Simone must have noticed, too. She had a giant pout on her face.

Gloria strutted over to us, looking at the group. "Drunks." She nodded at them in acknowledgment and kept walking until she got to my side. "Bran." She pressed herself to me. "I hope you're not going to leave me behind the next time you go somewhere."

"Depends what's next." I shrugged. My plans weren't completely out of control, but I was simply juggling too many. "Seems like something's changed here." I glanced about.

"Oh, if you're talking about the Mul Branova, they're worried that you're going to disapprove of them." She shrugged.

"Oh?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and expecting it to continue.

"They reinvented slavery," Gloria said.

"You can't reinvent slavery. It's always been a thing. People just love to give it different names and different ownership concepts. What did these people do?" I prodded.

"Raiders. They attacked the citadel," she told me.

"Did anyone die?" I looked around.

"Not on our end," Gloria replied.

"Okay then. Make sure they're all aware that they have a heavy strike hanging above their head. Don't do anything so brutal as to physically mark them. Perhaps put it in a ledger for the Mul Branova and the Nestor leadership. They step out of line again and prove to us that they cannot reintegrate into society, then get rid of them. Otherwise, let them live somewhat normally. But don't worry about providing any opportunities for them.” That felt relatively fair to me.

We needed the hands around the city, and if we didn’t provide them the kind of opportunities that we were giving our people, then they’d never really be a threat.

“So what, just make them day laborers and ignore what they were doing?” Gloria pressed.

“Pretty much. To not give them a second chance is a disservice, especially when none of ours were lost. Survival can make people cross lines they otherwise would not, but they can either learn from that mistake or forfeit their life. And we need hands working the fields. It takes a lot more manpower than you'd ever think to not only provide food but extra food. Food enough to feed an army. So I won't turn down the help, for now, and give them another chance.”

As I finished speaking, I turned my head to the side where a Mul Branova was hiding behind the wall, listening in. "Did you catch that?"

She squeaked and jumped out. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop." She bowed low.

I held up a hand to stop more apologies. Really, it was time-consuming and unnecessary. "Please, share this with the others. I don't want to see these people in shackles or chains, nor do I wish to see them branded. Unless, of course, we have repeat offenders. Everyone deserves a second chance and a true second chance at that. Don't destroy it by marking them as offenders."

The woman nodded rapidly. She pecked her head like a chicken before disappearing.

"Anything else?" I asked Gloria.

"We brought the raider’s prisoners in, and a lot of them are settling in as non-combatants," Gloria reported.

"Good. Civilization needs more than spears and shields. We need people to make shit if we're to last very long.” I sighed and turned back to Simone. "As for my ruling here, please pass the message along to the rest of the Mul Branova locations. I'd hate to have to repeat the lesson, and we simply do need more people working in each of our little fortresses that are slowly becoming small towns. Eventually, they’ll bloom into city-states hopefully."

Simone nodded but didn't immediately do anything. After all, we had some plans of our own for the rest of the evening.

"We'll get back to it in the morning. Let's rest our bodies this evening and focus on getting an update on the situation." I spoke to those who had followed me. "After that, we'll talk about next steps."

The war we had started with the demons in the east had turned into two more conflicts, both smaller than the first. The attacks felt more like the demons probing our reaction time than actually fully committing forces. It was also possible they were poking at us to keep us tied up defending.

The very last thing we could do was sit still, and we had simply exhausted all of the instances surrounding that fortress. Thus, it was time to begin rotating troops in and out of the various Mul Branova strongholds that Simone had so wonderfully created.

I moved swiftly through the citadel, only for my father's ever-present thump to echo down the halls.

There were two smaller footfalls in between every one of his steps, and I turned to find both my mother and father ready to greet me.

"Hello, both of you," I said, checking over my father's stats which had swelled once again. It was possible he could start to give Vidar a run for his money soon.

Apparently, staying at the citadel and doing nothing but killing demons and clearing the higher-level instances that the Mul Branova were too weak to handle alone was dramatically increasing his strength. I was almost a little jealous that I simply couldn't take a break from all of my responsibilities and do the same. My mother was similarly improving at lightning speed, though her foundations were simply not as comparable.

"Welcome back, Son,” my father spoke.

“How long will you be staying this time?" My mother jumped in quickly.

"Not too long I'm afraid. We're doing our best to rotate people around. Merlin has her days busy. Without her, I'm not entirely sure how we'd get any of this done," I answered honestly.

"Travel's always been a problem," Thorin boomed, rubbing at his chin. "There used to be an artifact in the Borrson Clan that could at least send people one way. Perhaps if you had Merlin move that around, you could shunt people off far more easily."

I shook my head knowing exactly what he was talking about. "Sorry, but I'm fairly certain that's no longer working. Some person or demon sabotaged it years ago."

"Really?" Thorin asked with a raised eyebrow. "That's strange. That shouldn't be news to me. I understand why the clan would want to keep it quiet, but they shouldn't have been able to keep it this quiet."

"Well, Vidar has become the face, and he's running around with his ability to move quite easily."

Even as I said the words, my brows pinched down, and I couldn't help but marvel at how things were continuously falling into Vidar's favor. With that artifact gone, his ability would be able to take over considerable external influence for the clan. The idea that he would destroy or disable such a powerful artifact however was mind-boggling. It was a level of cunning and greed that went beyond what I was able to truly understand.

"Anyway," I said, ignoring that line of thought because it would not serve me at that moment. "Speaking of Vidar, I had a run-in with him a while ago. He really seems to have it out for me."

"He's an ambitious one." Thorin nodded. "He takes after his father that way.”

“I don't see the appeal," I grumbled.

Thorin shrugged, clearly completely unbothered about the fact that he had lost his position in the clan to deceit or perhaps he had long since come to peace with reality. "If you want my advice, you should take him head-on if you can, rather than trying to sidestep the issue."

"I'll add it to the list," I grumbled, nodding at him. "Anything else I can help you two with?"

"Join us for a family dinner." My mother gave me the kind of motherly smile that told me it was more of an order than a request.

"Um, sure," I said after a moment, wondering how despite my age, my mother could still compel me as if she had used some sort of ability. "If it's a family dinner, would you like me to bring the ladies?"

My mother's stern face cracked into a more amicable smile. "Of course. I'd love it if Simone and the others joined us."

Thorin and I looked at each other, sharing the kind of instinctual body language conversation that only two men could have. My mother was planning something.

The look he gave me told me he did not know what she was planning, but I had best dress up nice and be on time.

I grunted as we broke our quick, silent communication.

"We'll be there tonight, or do you need some time to prepare?" I gave her a way out.

"Tonight, before you leave again," she said, turning sharply. "Come on, Thorin, it seems we need to scavenge the fortress for groceries. Our son is finally coming home for dinner."

Thorin and I shared one last moment. He looked amused at the whole situation, giving me a look that wished me luck.

I made a gesture, hoping he could get her to relax a little, maybe fill her with wine.

But based on the smile he gave me back, I was going to get to fight whatever battle was coming on my own.

I sighed and shook my head, muttering under my breath, "To think I saved her life and altered the course of history." I now needed to work through a few of my tasks more quickly, making sure I did not miss dinner.

Turning, I headed over to the tower that held our hell gate. Many Mul Branova were lined up outside the doors, looking like they were preparing to charge in and begin killing demons for experience.

"At ease," I said as many of them began to dip their heads in prayer. "Are you all about to go in?"

"Yes, Lord Bran." One of them lifted their head, giving me a starry-eyed expression. "We have to sweep the floor for loot. It can get a little tricky, especially if anyone gets a little too loot-focused and forgets that they're amidst a never-ending wave of demons." She looked at one of her fellow Mul Branova, who had the sense to look down in shame.

"That's fine." I rolled my shoulder as blood pooled out of my hand, dripping down into a Bloodiron Blade. "I needed to do some thinking, so I thought I would come to keep my body busy. I always find moving through my fighting flows relaxing."

The Mul Branova looked at me with stunned awe. "To do some thinking," one of them repeated as if to confirm.

"Open the doors," I said, striding forward and twirling the blade in my hand. The second the doors were wide enough for me to step through, I kicked off the ground explosively, launching myself into the room with a wide sweep of my Bloodiron Blade. A crimson crescent dripped off the tip, splashing off and sweeping through the crowd of demons. Easily a dozen demons were instantly sliced in half, their bodies falling and being reabsorbed by the system, immediately leaving small, glimmering piles.

My entrance had caused the demons to all snap to attention and focus on me. But I wasn't really giving them much of my own attention.

Instead, my mind was already hard at work, trying to figure out which of my projects needed my attention the most, so I could focus my plan for the next day. At this point, I was having to take it all day by day. We had successfully stalled the demonic invasion, but there was more at play now as I maneuvered around an unknown opponent who had some awareness of future events.

I paused, trying to contemplate further as half a dozen gremlin demons leapt into the air to attack me. With a flick of my wrist, they were all cut in two. My mind swirled, trying to identify the common thread that I was missing.

The Demon Lord had control of the Heavenly Fist Sect, though information from there was currently quite scarce.

Information in general simply wasn't flowing, dropping by the week. At this point, the internet was slowly becoming a graveyard of unanswered messages. Whatever servers ran the more complex things were long gone. The simple things that survived the early days might still exist, however, the number of users only continued to fall. Every time someone broke a phone, for example, they didn't have a replacement. Slowly but surely, the digital age would completely crumble.

Was the Demon Lord waiting for that? Waiting for humanity to become so divided he could act without being tracked?

I frowned. That was a possibility. The other was that there was something I didn't know about happening in the background. After all, even in my first timeline, the Demon Lord did not become active right away. In fact, he became active with the attacks in the UK and Ukraine far too early this time. Though in both of those he’d devastated the human population. Why wasn’t he pushing harder?

I ran through a few possibilities. The Demon Lord could be dealing with some third force or perhaps consolidating its generals and its forces, building them up before launching a real attack. Another possibility was that the Demon Lord was waiting for the barrier to weaken enough for forces of a certain strength to join him. The last two seemed like the more likely options.

Going on the offensive and taking the Demon Lord and the Heavenly Fist Sect on myself was not currently possible. In the same breath, the Demon Lord was now well-known and a large threat. The five clans could come together and suppress him. That would be ideal if I went against the Demon Lord on my own. Even after preparing, I was going to come out weaker for it. My forces would become easy pickings for others then as the War for Supremacy came about.

There had to be a way for me to show great strength while also allying the clans against the Demon Lord. That way would put me in the best position for future struggles.

I rubbed my chin as my blade moved almost without thought, slicing through demon after demon. No, the Demon Lord was likely growing its forces while trying to stay off the clan radars. That was the most likely reason he wasn’t becoming too active. If the clans all worked together right now they could probably crush him.

It was a delicate dance where all the people involved had their own plans. I needed to force their hands.

Thus, if I wanted to foil the Demon Lord's plans, I would have to make more obvious strikes, perhaps force them out into the open, especially where down to the lowest members of the clans understood the threat and put pressure on the upper echelon to act.

My brain tickled at that, but I couldn’t think of a solution at the moment. So, I let my mind wander as my body moved, flowing through the sword forms. Like I was at practice, each flick of my blade caused Sanguine Slashes to ripple off, tearing through the demons around me.

Practicing my sword form was always meditative and a good way to think. And this time was no different.

The Demon Lord was certainly one of my problems, but it was not the only one. Vidar and his takeover of the Borrson Clan was another massive problem that was likely to rear its head. And I wanted to control when that occurred.

And now I had the added headache of the upper echelon of the Wukong Clan. Those with the Monkey King bloodline had been possessed prior to its activation, and when we least expected it, they could strike back at humanity and deal a crippling blow.

There had to be something that could force these issues to pause and then come to a head publicly where I could control the narrative.

I moved through my next motion, my brain once again settling on my need to get stronger. I needed to prepare for the Trial of Kings and find a way to fill the power void that would be left by the death of two of the first three kings.

That meant I needed to force a calm before the storm as well.

My thoughts swirled and formed a plan as I killed the last demon present before the hell gate. I had a giant grin on my face as I figured out my next move.

Chapter 48

H igh above the world, nestled in the Himalayas, lay a mountain even taller than Mount Everest. It was capped with a shining silver city, inlaid with white gold that glistened across its walls. The rays of the sun beamed down on it and on the tirelessly working and training members of the Heavenly Fist Sect.

On a terrace that overlooked all of it stood a man of indeterminable age. He had the handsomeness of youth but the heavy gaze and the rigid posture of someone far older. He overlooked the mountains with eyes of determination.

"Lord!" A woman fell to her knees at his side, and he turned away from where he was admiring Mount Everest, devoid of its constant stream of wealthy tourists.

It was sad that the numbers had dwindled; they had made great targets for possession, a way for Camden to seed the upper class of this world with demons. It hadn't even been a plan at first, but when the wealthy started making hiking the mountain a bucket list item, he had simple and easy access to some of the most powerful men in the world.

He turned his attention away from that to the kneeling woman. "Yes?" he asked, wearing pristine silver and platinum robes.

"Unfortunately, there have been more issues reported." She hesitated, her body shaking in fear.

Camden clenched his fists but didn't lash out at the woman. Not that he didn't want to. It's just his plans had not been going nearly as well as they should have. His generals, and then even some of his replacements, had already died. The nexus of these strange occurrences all circulated around that half-Borrson, half-Heros Clan annoyance. Bran Heros.

Camden released his fist and let out a sigh. The boy was but a singular fly, one that had been disturbing his plans. However, the year and a half of time he had bought trapping Bran in the vault had solved many issues. Camden couldn't help but grin to himself at the surprises he had in store for humanity on their pathetic little planet.

"Speak. What are the issues now?" he asked.

"We are still unable to locate the missing hell gate, Lord. However, we have managed to relocate the one that was in the center of the ocean," she reported.

"Good." Camden nodded. "That one would have gone to waste anyway. That damned undersea kingdom is as strong as many of the sects. And their princess would only use those demons as fodder to grow strong enough to give me momentary pause."

"Truly, Demon Lord?" The woman cowered next to him, although she was a woman no longer. There were only a few humans left alive in the Heavenly Fist sect, mostly to act as a facade to the rest of the world.

Since he had been given a second chance, Camden, the Demon Lord, had swiftly rooted out any and all opposition within the Heavenly Fist Sect before the invasion began. The few surprises that had gotten him on his first round were all swept away and tidied up this time before they could even become a minor nuisance.

"That sounds like good news. What are the problems you speak of?" he said to the demon reporting to him.

"We failed to locate two of the items you requested. Also, Winnifred Delery is now with Bran Heros." She wheezed the last few words as he found his grip tightened around her throat in reflex to his annoyance.

He nearly severed her head before forcing his hand to relax and dropping her on her ass. He ran his fingers through his hair and laughed, his voice carrying over the world from its highest point. "I see, I see. The man who your organization is supposed to surveil but keeps losing track of has gone and taken her from her isolation. And I'm only learning of this now… after it happened. Give me one good reason to keep you alive. Clearly, you're worthless," the Demon Lord spat.

"We don't... We didn't know," she begged, crawling backwards. "We haven't been able to get a single spy into his organization. Anyone who even gets remotely close just disappears as if they never existed. The cult around him seems to be unique."

The Demon Lord tilted his head and calmed himself. He felt himself begin to lose control over his shapeshifting ability for the first time in millennia. "You're right, you're right. I cannot blame you." He walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Not entirely. But you do understand that this must be fixed."

"Of course, Demon Lord." She wouldn't lift her head and look him in the eyes. But then, what could he expect from drivel like the demons in front of him?

Oh, how he yearned to return to the world from whence he spawned, where demons were powerful enough to snatch the stars and ride the billowing waves of dust in the universe, to conquer worlds far and wide. Instead, he had been forced to bide his time on this world for far too long to prepare this invasion that had failed the first time. And by some miracle, he'd been given a second chance.

His mind suddenly filled with the alternate timelines memories as a weakened version of his soul attempted to take hold. He shoved the soul back down, nibbling at its knowledge, making sure that he would take what rightfully belonged to him. He would have dominion of this world, and with it, all the resources that came from one of the burial grounds of six ancient beasts. In order to reap those benefits, he would have to subsume the world of demons and change its very nature.

Camden grinned at the idea of doing so and returning with enough power to walk amongst some of the greatest demons in the universe. With it, he would be complete. He let out a breath of hot air.

"Winnifred is of no matter. Even if she has left her island, that curse will make her less than useful against me. Perhaps it may even be a boon. It could cloud her mind enough that I could gain another demon general." He said the last part more to himself than the intelligence officer in front of him. "I need to understand her whereabouts. Perhaps we will launch a group to capture her ourselves."

The demon seemed to gain some composure, no longer trying to press herself against the wall and slowly rising to a kneeling position of subservience that fit her station far better.

"In other news, your plan has worked. Shiva is now remaining in India and no longer chasing the tails of your operatives elsewhere in the world," the demon reported.

Camden nodded. Shiva was terrifyingly powerful compared to the others on the planet.

Shiva had almost managed to kill him in another timeline, but only after amassing substantial power. This time, he would not get the chance.

The Demon Lord needed time to train small hosts of demons that were split from his original soul, have them sweep instances, and return to him. Only then could he kill them and reabsorb the strength he had given them in the first place, along with the extra they had accumulated.

This was the true power of a Demon Lord, able to split his soul for growth and have it return to him even stronger. Humans couldn’t hold a candle to demons no matter how hard they tried.

For now, he was actually weakened. His split soul was drastically decreasing his stats. However, from his knowledge of the past war and the modifications he'd made to the first one, the demon invasion should have been well underway.

Yet again, Bran Hero’s name was on the lips of nearly every informant who came to visit him, including the woman still kneeling. She was part of a special team formed of no less than four general-level demons.

They had formed an information network providing complete access to all information pertaining to Bran Heoros and those who circulated around him. They were to develop a plan and eradicate him, as well as this organization that had cropped up. It didn’t exist last time—yet another anomaly around Bran.

Camden gritted his teeth at the thought. From what the information network had gleaned, the man was poised to turn himself into some sort of god, being worshipped by a large number of people and whose religion was apparently spreading like a rash across the land.

To think that rash would even consume the woman that he coveted all those years ago. It was a shame Winnifred rejected his advances and even managed to bear the weight of the curse of infernal lust. Truthfully, it only made Camden want her even more. After all, only the truly exceptional possessions required effort and patience to acquire. Anything that was too easy was simply a commodity.

Her soul would be delicious, and he’d make a permanent split in honor of her.

"And the other sects?" Camden asked, turning to the informant.

"The plans are well underway, Demon Lord." She kept her eyes on the ground. "We have already planted our seeds in a number of them, and the roots are growing stronger by the day."

Camden's face split into a sinister grin, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction. "Perfect. We have been denied the experience of one hell gate to a potent enemy, but I will still reclaim the army as it should be. Our forces swell beyond my greatest expectation." Camden's eyes turned to the informant. "You have done well. I hope your next debriefing includes Brian Hero’s death." He paused and then handed a small trinket over to her. "To the generals that take up the job, this will let them preserve his head from the system. I want to see it mounted.”

The Demon Lord turned to look over the area once more. “If it weren't for more important matters, I would have dealt with him already. Don’t make me intervene personally." The Demon Lord turned, eyeing the woman on her knees and making sure she understood he was still strong. However, the truth was he would need his soul fragments back to make any big waves. It was too risky for the clans to try and corner him now. He had to be unpredictable until he could whittle them down.

And he was slowly taking down his enemies. He had yet to find the third figure who appeared in the memories of his death, but eventually, they would appear, and he would take out another possible challenger.

"And the final question. The shrine of rulers in this world. Has it been found?" he asked.

"No, my lord." She shook her head. "We've taken your description and spread it out amongst the generals and their elites. We continue to search for the shrine, but it eludes us."

The Demon Lord's eyes grew hard as he gazed once again over the world. Not once did the mention of its location or its image flicker through the memories of the prior Demon Lord. How had he not found it the entire time? The world itself may protect it from otherworlders like him, but if he could find it, if he could seal it, then his worry about the third figure would disappear entirely. Then he would have none to challenge him.

The shrine was a way for the world to protect its own inhabitants, a powerful boost to those who completed it. Sadly, those it didn’t recognize would only be destroyed for entering. It must be sealed before anyone dangerous took on a ruler’s mantle.

But even as he had that thought, the image of Bran Heros, back in the world seed, flickered through his mind, and he let out a huff, banishing the thought away. Bran wouldn't live long enough to become a ruler.

Camden would see to that.

"Lord." Another of the demons posing to be a member of the Heavenly Fist Sect ran in at top speed, panting before he nearly slid to a knee. "Lord, we have visitors."

"Fine. Serve them tea. Let them enjoy the pretty sights of the sect and keep them away from the inner circles."

The guard shook his head. "They're here to see you. They're here to issue the Heavenly Fist Sect a challenge."

Chapter 49

I stood outside the gates of the Heavenly Fist Sect, trying to appear as casual as possible. I couldn't let them know that I was aware of their true nature. It wasn't yet time to put them on high alert.

For a place filled with so much evil, it was opulent. I snorted. Overcompensating much?

Simone stood next to me, disguised as Winnie.

The real Winnie was about a mile away, with Merlin trying to calm her down. She had insisted on coming, but as soon as she saw the Heavenly Fist Sect, her rage had nearly consumed her. With the little self-awareness she had left, she knelt on the ground and began meditating to keep herself calm. Merlin stayed with her in case she lost control.

I had pieced together much of Winnie's story from her tales later in life. After the Demon Lord died, the curse on Winnie had dispersed, and she had rejoined the world. Once, she had been the core disciple, the pinnacle of the Heavenly Fist Sect's younger generation. Of course, they had plenty of teachers and elders. However, besides the elders, she had been the singular authority of the sect. That was until a new rising star ascended even faster than she had in her past.

Upon meeting her, the new entrant had pursued her relentlessly, even managing to drug her on two separate occasions. Winnie had shrugged off all his advances, only to try and kill the rising star and earn the scorn of the sect's elders. She had tried to get them to understand the sadistic grin and underhanded tactics the rising sect member wore behind the others’ backs, but nobody would listen.

All they cared about was another top-tier talent.

I had never heard the full details of what happened next, but he had somehow cursed her with the curse of Infernal Lust. This caused her body to spark, warming up at the slightest desire, and that heat contained aphrodisiac effects, becoming a feedback loop that fed on itself. It drove her to near insanity while cooking her body from the inside out. The only solution had been her leaving, isolating herself in the cold, breaking a part of her in the process.

I shook my head to clear the thought and looked past the gates again. They had kept us waiting long enough. Frankly, we had been standing for far longer than was polite, even if they were trying to display their authority.

"I'm so sorry," a rich voice spoke from inside the gates just before they flew open. A handsome man with golden hair slicked back greeted us, though his eyes were laser focused on Simone, in her Winnie illusion.

Simone glared back at the man appropriately before stepping behind me, just as his eyes began to flash with some form of inspection.

His gaze landed on me, and to my surprise, I was able to brush aside the Demon Lord's curiosity.

I quickly processed that information. There was the briefest of thoughts to strike him down now. However, seeing the sect behind him bustling full of demons, I knew that wasn’t going to end how I wanted.

The Demon Lord should have been far stronger. Whatever he had done to weaken himself explained why he may have delayed further attacks on the human world. And that also meant my plan might just work.

"Camden Luther," I said, greeting him with as much cheer as I could muster. I focused on my plan and its success, using the smile that came from those thoughts to try to appear more genuinely excited to see him. It was hard to fake emotions, but it was easy to let others interpret them differently. "Well, aren't you a handsome devil," I said.

His eyes flashed strangely at me.

"What? Oh, I guess with demons now roaming the world, that might be a tad offensive, is it not?" I chuckled. "Forgive me for using some older expressions."

Camden stepped back away from me, his focus shifting to Simone as he leaned to the side. "Winnie, my old sister in arms, will you not come to greet me?”

“I'm only here because Bran has asked me, thinking my name would get him past the front gates," Simone answered, in her best Winnie impression. She stayed hidden behind me.

Camden really looked like a charmer as he flashed her a warm smile.

I didn't dare use Soul Gaze, for fear he would recognize the more powerful inspect and know that I was suspicious. We couldn’t risk riling up the hive of demons behind him. “Maybe we'll pass the message along and be on our way.” I smiled, an ornate letter coming out of my spatial ring. His eyes locked onto the note.

"And what is that?” he pressed.

“Could be anything… Maybe it's a wedding invitation between me and Winnie," I teased, only for Camden's eyes to flash in deep rage. With that anger, I worried for a moment I had pressed too far and was about to die. Standing on his turf in front of the Demon Lord and no doubt many powerful demons within the sect, he had the upper hand despite his weakened state.

This was not a place for me to pick a fight.

"I kid," I said, and the air diffused immediately.

"Of course. Winnie would never," he said. "I thought she'd given up all contact with men. I am surprised to see her cling so close behind you. Winnie, please come out from behind him and let me get a better look at you," he said, and I could see the intensity in his expression, no doubt readying his inspect to verify it was indeed Winnie.

"Unfortunately, we can’t stay. Besides, it feels like Winnie's body is becoming an inferno behind me," I replied, watching as Camden's smile grew wider.

"Oh, well, if she's not well, then perhaps she shouldn't linger. We're happy to accept the letter, but please, do share more about this invite,” he prompted.

“There is to be a tournament of sorts, a gathering of the elite, as well," I replied.

"Oh," he said, turning the letter over in his hand. "A gathering of the elites. Well, I'm sure the prize will interest even the Heavenly Fist Sect.”

“Somewhere in killing all of those demons in Copenhagen, someone got an item to evolve their bloodline to an M rank," I said, shaking my head in utter disbelief. "But there was one sect and two clans present. Fighting over it was disastrous, and leadership stepped in. Rather than let so many die over the incredible item, they decided to make it the perfect focal point for the new powers of the world to gather. They want to promote the newest generation, and what better way than a mythic-ranked bloodline as the prize?"

As I told my story, Camden's eyes flickered from confusion to surprise to something bordering on suspicion.

"Is that so? And you would extend the invite to the Heavenly Fist Sect, myself included?" He folded his arms behind his back, and a practiced expression of curiosity whipped across his features. "Well, if it's for an M-ranked bloodline, even I would be interested in participating." He turned the letter over in his hands. "I assume there are some requirements.”

“Yes. To avoid the same world-shaking disaster of the elders competing, the decision was to open it to the 'younger generation'," I air-quoted, "but what is youth in these days? So to manage that, we will hold a level requirement to compete for the M-ranked bloodline. Several other artifacts and potions that would similarly help people have been gathered together for other brackets. But the contestants for the main prize all have to be less than level 100."

Camden rubbed his knuckles against his lips thoughtfully. "A tempting offer. I assume all of those details are in here?" He wagged the letter at me.

"Indeed, all you have to do is come." I held my hands out as if the concept were simple. "I am simply the messenger." I thought of the plan and of it working to keep a friendly smile on my face rather than my hands dripping in his blood. I suppressed my killing intent, my hostility, and thought of warm fields and sunshine.

"Will you come, Winnie?" Camden asked, trying to look around my large frame and failing as Simone hid behind me.

Frankly, we hadn't been expecting the Demon Lord himself to come answer our call. But him coming and his response told me one fact clearly. The Demon Lord was obsessed with Winnie. He was not infatuated. The look on his face was darker and more primal. He wanted to control, possess, and consume Winnie.

I'd heard during the Second Demon War that demon courtship was different. Those that came from other worlds tried to detail it in ways that I could understand. Demons first made one subservient to the other, and when they grew bored, they feasted upon the soul of the weaker one in the pair, absorbing their strength and allowing them to bud their soul off into more demons.

The concept felt so foreign. It was such an alien version of relationships that I really struggled to see it as anything that could be classified as affection. It was more like stalking to me.

"Well then, if Winnie promises me she'll let me see her at the event, then I think you have my word we'll be there." Camden held out his hand to shake.

I chuckled, deflecting the offer. No doubt he’d use that as a way to inspect Simone behind me, and I didn’t want him breaking that illusion. "Sorry, I think I have my hands full. Winnie, let's go." I turned and grabbed her so that I could shield her with my body the whole way as we moved, but I made sure to give Camden small glimpses of her form.

Getting Simone as far as I could from the sect and ensuring that no one was following us, I shuffled her down the mountain to a small concealing enchantment I had set up for Winnie and Merlin. "She's still struggling?" I asked, looking down at Winnie whose face was twitching.

Her lips continually dropped in a scowl, and I could feel the heat wafting off her as if I were standing next to a bonfire. Steam was rising off her and the small puddle that hadn’t been there before. Even with the bracelet I made her, it wasn’t enough.

"She's having too many issues," Merlin said. "I think we're going to have to put her back on her island and see if we can't get her to cool off. Otherwise, I'm not sure she can deal with this on her own." There were puddles all around Winnie as if Merlin had tried to freeze her and failed.

"Fine, let's go there first, Merlin. The last thing I need is Winnie to go crazy on all of us," I answered.

Winnie’s eyes snapped open, glaring at me as she ground out the next several words. "Was he there?"

"He was. And as long as he sees you, he promised to come to the tournament. Now, I need you to get your shit together so when he comes, you can kill him." I knelt down, glaring at Winnie. "You can't even control it after my bracelet is suppressing it? How do you hope to do it then? I can't have you lose control, not in front of all of the sects and clans."

Winnie let out a sharp breath through her nose that was so hot it steamed out of her. "I will get it under control. I will become even stronger before then."

"I'm sure you will. We have three months to prepare before the tournament. He’s committed to coming, which may buy us a bit of calm before the storm. And I will gladly help you grow stronger in that time," I told Winnie, giving her some hope. She was likely somewhere amongst the top three on Earth, but she needed to control herself better. If she couldn't even control her curse with her years of practice and the bracelet I made her, she was next to useless for actually fighting the Demon Lord.

We needed to put on a strong front at the tournament. This was all about showing strength enough that the Mul Branova could put themselves on the world stage. As well as gathering the sects and clans for me to figure out who was infected and who would be helpful.

It was all an excuse to get those who could change the world together and hopefully draw out enough of the demons that they would realize they had to act.

"I'm done," Merlin murmured. She had been casting with her eyes closed to the side, and seconds later, the scenery all changed, and we appeared on an island that was a little more than a floating sheet of ice with waddling penguins everywhere. Simone dropped the illusion and wrapped her arms around her shoulders.

"Even having been here before, the cold is startling," Simone said, her teeth chattering. However, I could see that Winnie had relaxed slightly, that cold helping her fight the curse and the feedback loop that fed it.

"Merlin, let's help get her back into her office. Winnie, I know you can still hear me. Get control over this thing, and we'll come get you in a few weeks."

She cracked her eyes open. "You will come get me in one day, and I want any instance you can give me. I will be stronger, and when the time comes, it will be my blade that ends the Demon Lord.” Her eyes were full of ferocity.

"One day and we'll get you. And I'll put you through hell if I have to, Winnie. You'll be ready when the time comes," I confirmed.

She closed her eyes, and her expression softened as Merlin made a sheet of ice that scooped Winnie up in her meditative position. Merlin then began moving, bringing the platform with her as she walked Winnie into the inner chambers of the sect.

Simone turned to me. "She might be a liability, Bran."

"I know," I said, looking after her departing figure. "Which is why we need to prepare. Even if she's a ticking time bomb, we need ways to deal with her, ways to make her effective. I think when we get back, Simone, we need to start taking pieces of our army to the Trial of Kings."

Her eyes flashed. "Are you going into the trials?"

"That's not the plan. But while we run instances and demons dry, the first trial has an endless source of experience and combat practice. That’s what the Tartarus Branch had been training on. The loot's shit, but we can figure out another solution for that problem. Shuffle around the Mul Branova so we can get the most down there. I want to show them off as a new sect during the tournament."

Simone nodded sharply. “Will do. By the way, How's Circe?" Simone asked, flashing a smile as she changed topics to something lighter.

"Is that really the topic we're going to discuss? With everything else going on?" I pressed.

Simone shrugged. "Adding her would really be some additional power, especially after you gave up your own bloodline to tempt all of the clans and sects into this."

I grunted. My own bloodline had decreased to Golden Titan SSS as I drew on my own blood to make the prize to entice the clans. I had to show them something. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have believed that it existed. "I'll make up for the loss. Especially when we can pour all of the bloodlines we've collected and passed to the Mul Branova into me to reset my levels." There was a secondary problem that my titan physique wouldn’t rank up at all now. It seemed without the bloodline it wouldn’t progress.

Simone's eyes flashed excitedly. "You mean you're going to do another not-a-vampire power expansion?”

“Is that what we're calling it?" I grumbled. “Here I though you would have made it into some Mul Branova ritual.”

Simone tapped a finger against her lips. "Good idea. I’ll make one by the end of the day.”

“I think I'd rather talk about Circe now." I groaned. "She's rain-checked our date. Four times? She’s a workaholic."

Simone stared back at me, waiting for me to come to some sort of conclusion.

"What? She does work too hard. Just because I also work hard does not make me a hypocrite." I folded my arms.

"It's kind of the definition of a hypocrite, darling," she said with an innocent smile.

I did my best to glare back at her, but Simone was completely unfazed by any level of reaction I could give her.

"You're only mad because it's true. I think because she's putting it off really is a clear indication that she feels something," Simone told me. “She’s afraid to lose something.”

"Is that so?" I said slowly, the doubt clear in my voice.

"Absolutely." Simone's head wouldn't stop bobbing. "She's smitten! So smitten. She is primed and ready for you to sweep her off her feet. You just need to, you know, start sweeping. And perhaps if you don't go after her, there’s always Winnie and Merlin. Seems like you and Merlin have stalled a little." Simone tsked as if disappointed in me.

"Well, you little minx." I grabbed her by the rear and pulled her up over my shoulder before slapping her other cheek. "I'm gonna start punishing you if you keep trying to set me up with all of these other women."

Yet my punishment didn't go as planned. Simone smiled and moaned like a woman in heat. "Harder," she breathed with the kind of voice that sent tingles shooting down my spine.

If you keep this up, I don't know if you get to be called good girl," I teased her.

Simone gasped and smacked my back, though there wasn't any strength behind the hit. "You wouldn't dare take that away. You enjoy it just as much as I do. Don't deny it."

Even though I couldn't see her, I knew she was crossing her arms and giving me the cutest of pouts. I set her down. Sure enough, she was exactly as I pictured. "You are my good girl," I said, whispering the words into her ear and causing her face to blush bright red. "But good girls don't get ahead of themselves. We have a world to save, a Demon Lord to foil, and enough problems as it is without inviting romantic ones."

"Well, there's your problem," Simone said, throwing her arms into the air. “These things are all important, Bran. Romance most of all. What’s life if not worth living?”

Simone turned to spot Merlin walking back towards us alone, then gave me a cheeky smile. "You see it as a problem, and I see it as an opportunity."

I glared at her, daring her to continue, but she wisely stayed quiet. Merlin walked up, a look of question in her eyes as she took in each of us. But she let it all go, starting to cast her spell to take us to our next stop.

Chapter 50

"W hat?” the Mul Branova said, sounding beyond confused as the stone statue she'd been fighting bled into the ground, disappearing, only for another statue to grow back up on the platform in front of her.

She picked up a single system coin. Not even an F-ranked monster would drop something this low. She cursed and looked at the two others who had supported her in the fight.

We had just begun training in the Trial of Kings, and they were not expecting such poor drops.

"Don't worry about the gold," I said, my voice causing all of the Mul Branova to stiffen. "Just continue fighting."

Our group had been traveling for about two weeks over land, working to reach the Trial of Kings. There were not enough resources to go around in our eastern fortress bordering the Demon Lands, in what used to be China. We’d run all the instances dry, and even sending forces out to probe the demons just wasn’t cutting it.

This was one of the more difficult parts of making a large force. Keeping them stocked with food was difficult enough, but to keep them all growing we needed monsters and instances. Yet, concentrating them in a fortress meant that for several days travel in every direction it was completely clear now.

In fact, Mul Branova from every fortress that didn't require a boat had rushed here. Over six thousand of them were here training. I had also cycled three of the generals and their armies into the group while spreading the others out as best as we could. All reports we'd gotten thus far were that the demons had pulled back, which meant that my idea for the tournament was working out wonderfully.

All clans and powerful initiates had their eyes on the opportunity to get an M-ranked bloodline, causing them all to shift into their own preparations. Though, I wasn’t entirely convinced that was the only reason.

Clans had been separated for so long that they hadn’t really had a chance to test each other in a long while. This was a time for each of them to show where they stood. It was a time to show power and earn respect. They were going to establish a pecking order.

Even though they were competing through their younger generation, they took it personally, wanting to put their best foot forward. And while the demons might have held the Wukong Clan, the Heavenly Fist Sect, and possibly others, the Demon Lord knew he had to show up and present the sects well for the very same reasons. And the M-ranked bloodline was a nice little temptation for everyone involved.

While I did not specifically care about showing off at the tournament, I certainly had my own purposes that I would reveal to all of them when the time was right.

Merlin’s voice broke me from my thoughts. She leaned against her staff, resting her head on the crystalline structure. "I think I'm going to take a break from teleporting around if you don't mind, Bran," she groused.

I flashed her a giant smile. "One of these days there will be enough SSS-rank materials to go around that people will start building portals."

Simone turned to me in a flash, her smile lighting up. "Do you think we could get some between the Mul Branova Fortresses?"

"Eventually," I promised. "But not now. We have to continue to let our forces grow."

I was now traveling with thousands of Mul Branova, as well as Winnie, Roger, and General Cao’s armies. All of them were throwing themselves at the first few ranks of stone soldiers. Every time someone got close to a platform, a single level-150 soldier would jump off it. The soldiers were odd in that they had no rank when inspected.

The Trial of Kings was unlike instances. While it gave full experience for killing something that was level 150, it gave only a single system gold coin. The experience was nice, but the lack of any other goods or loot made it less appealing than other farming.

Yet if instances were scarce, this was much better than nothing to keep my army growing.

Most of the fighters currently stood in small groups of three to five, taking on a single level-150 stone soldier. The stone soldiers came equipped with a simple gladius and shield. They weren’t overly difficult to pin down with multiple fighters. Really they were meant to, as a whole, challenge an army.

Beyond the rows of stone soldiers were more pedestals. First, they contained bronze, then silver, and then gold. Each of the pedestals grew larger with more soldiers on them with each wave. By the gold set, there were well over a hundred.

The purpose was for some leader to bring their army and open the way to the Trial of Kings. However, in the first life, I cut through this room with five people, far beyond our current strength.

I stood there with my arms crossed, watching everyone work. Some of the men in the army were trailing over to the Mul Branova, and slowly, they were all working together. Soft steps came up behind me, and I turned to see Winnie standing alongside me.

"So, this place," she said slowly, "Circe says it grants a few people quite a bit of power. Does it?" she asked, noting the massive scythe made of ice resting on her shoulder.

"It does, but I'm not sure any of us are prepared for what's within the trial," I said.

She watched me, her eyes saying more than her words.

I waited, seeing if she would press further. Her eyes narrowed. I was afraid this day was going to come, and I could feel it coming sooner with each second. The problem with Winnie was that while she was strong and had a life-or-death grudge against the Demon Lord, she was a drawn weapon ready to strike at any moment.

“You may not be prepared, but I would do a great number of things for the power to kill the Demon Lord," Winnie said, turning to look at the doors beyond.

I stared her down, hoping that she would stop.

She was a very rigid woman. But then she lifted her scythe off her shoulder, spinning it around and stamping the butt into the ground as she glared at me. "Then I would like to challenge you, Lord Bran." She said my name with a disinterested tone as if she was only saying it because it was the same way an old woman might refuse to shorten someone else's name.

I let out a sigh and shook my head as a blade made of my own blood slid into my hand. I perched my palms on the pommel, blade down, as the weapon bit ever so slightly into the stone between my feet.

"I suppose you were always going to test me. Why not today?" I smiled at Winnie.

She grabbed her scythe and spun it artfully around herself, picking up a small frosty wind that pulled at the edges of her robe.

"If I beat you, I'm going to go in there," she said.

"You have to go in through all of that." I gestured at the massive army of stone and metallic soldiers before us. "While I can assume you're able to push yourself fairly far, Winnie, I can say with confidence you cannot push yourself all the way to the end. Not as you are now."

Her eyes flashed dangerously, and she moved.

I stepped to the side, my blade striking the shaft of her scythe, only to duck low as she jerked it towards herself.

The blade passed a hair's breadth above my head, and a few cut strands drifted to the ground.

Scythes were odd weapons that often had two stages or more with each attack. Of course, the giant blade was dangerous in its own right, but at many points, it could be spun or pulled back.

Unlike a sword or axe, you had to be cautious with how you blocked and always aware of that blade’s position.

"You have fought someone with the scythe before," she said with a smirk, stepping back and squaring up against me.

My sword rested loosely in my hand as I watched her carefully.

Winnie was above me in stats, and she was once considered the star of the strongest sect in the world. Her scythe was a unique weapon, and I was sure she destroyed many who went against her treating it like a strangely shaped axe.

In truth, I thought they were quite easy to deal with after figuring out the standard attacks. There were only so many. However, the same could also be said for swords depending on which system a person used to train.

Winnie disappeared like a chill breeze, appearing beside me as her scythe blade ripped through the air.

I caught it with my sword, turning my whole body against the blade and pushing with all my strength where the blade met the shaft. I had to lean back. The reach of the blade at that point was enough to punch through my chest if I guarded too close to my body.

Winnie clicked her tongue as she used my strength to somersault through the air, her blade making a last attempt to cut me as it sliced away from my sword.

If I had rushed to follow her, I would have fallen right into the particular trap she was setting. So, instead, I waited.

She landed in a crouch and exploded forward. She was fast, far faster than me. Instead of trying to match her speed, I needed to minimize the movement required to react to each of her attacks.

The truth of the scythe, despite its large size, was that it was a weapon of speed. The bladed crescent at the end was large, but its weight wasn't a problem for any initiated. Instead, the concern would always be how quickly it could be swung back around, and the finesse of the wielder, of which Winnie proved she had plenty.

Each time her scythe cut through the air, it was more than just a slash. It was also like a fisherman's hook. If she could get the blade behind any part of my body, all it took was a simple, swift tug from her, and she'd rip that blade straight through me. Add in the blade’s size and it severely limited where I could move at any given time.

Instead, I stood still in this fight. And beyond strategic placement, it was fun to watch Winnie get frustrated as I stood still, and she continued to fail to hit me. Yet she continued to zip around me, attacking from nearly every conceivable angle.

"I told you, Winnie, you aren't ready," I repeated, blocking another attack from her.

So far, she had kept it to a fight with weapons and not skills, for which I was thankful enough that I wasn't going to point that out and open up the opportunity.

I caught her next slash, letting its force carry my sword over my shoulder and keeping my blade on hers, closing off the option of her pulling back and slicing off my arm at the shoulder.

Winnie's eyes flashed, and she only grew more animated, her strikes becoming more complex, sliding through several combinations.

Yet I focused on minimizing my movements to combat her steadily increasing speed.

She came at me again, striking as if she were wielding an ice pick.

I caught the very tip of her blade, turning it aside, rolling my shoulder underneath the shaft, and transforming my parry into a horizontal slash aimed straight at her midsection.

She kicked off the ground, launching herself backwards, and my blade only managed to cut a warning scratch through her robes. A single drop of blood congealed at the edge of the cut. She glared at me, furious, but she stamped down that fury a split second later, her expression icy as she glanced down the hall to the massive set of doors at the end.

What lay beyond them was left up to our imagination.

"If I go through there, I'll get even stronger, too, and trust me, I will go through there eventually," I said. "But it's not just a challenge of whether you can swing your weapon the correct way. It's a challenge of whether or not you're worthy to hold the power given." I glared and waited for my words to settle in, realizing as I waited that everybody surrounding us was staring at our fight.

All of Winnie’s disciples, as well as a fair number of the Mul Branova, were watching us with shock on their faces. They had stepped back away from the stone statues to gawk at our fight.

The Mul Branova had bright faces with wide smiles; meanwhile, Winnie’s people had a strange look of confusion. It seemed that they didn’t even understand why Winnie lost.

"I don't believe I called for a break," I said, turning to our onlookers. "Back to work."

Their spines quickly straightened, and nobody met my eyes as they went back to fighting the statues.

I turned back to Winnie but gave Circe a knowing look as I turned, hoping she heard my next words as well.

"If I told you, Winnie, that stepping through those doors would mean you could kill the Demon Lord with a snap of your fingers, what would you do?" I asked.

She glanced over at the trial once again, a look of longing in her eyes. "I would take that power at all costs," she said. At least she wasn't lying.

"And that is why you cannot. As I said, the trial is not just a test of combat; it tests who you are." I jabbed a finger at her. "And a woman who would throw all of this away for the power to kill her enemy is not the person who's going to get the power that lies behind those doors. So forget it, Winnie." I could tell she wasn't as dissuaded as I would have hoped. Her eyes kept being drawn back towards the door. My gaze then shifted to Circe.

"As for you, you're coming with me," I told her.

Circe jerked like a marionette who had had her strings tugged. "You say that like I'm in trouble."

"Who says you're not? It's clear you told Winnie at least something about the Trial of Kings." I gestured over at the doors.

The name only seemed to make Winnie's eyes burn more fiercely.

"And now she is going to become a problem. Are you mad that I said that you could not successfully take the trial?" I pressed.

"Water under the bridge," Circe said, waving her hand dismissively. “She asked about this place is all.”

In truth, I believed her that there weren’t any ulterior motives. Yet it still had something to do with her. "Come with me, Circe. Simone, keep watch, please. And if Winnie should try and run into the trials, don't stop her," I instructed, not wanting Simone to get hurt.

Those words caused Winnie to turn around and frown at me.

"Just make sure to find the second-best amongst her sect to replace her as general. She won't be coming back if she enters those doors." I put steel into my voice.

On one hand, I completely understood Winnie’s desire for more strength, especially after the rise of demon armies. Having strength became everything. But I also couldn't have these women throwing their lives away.

Chapter 51

A fter pulling Circe away from everyone else, I snapped my fingers. A crimson barrier shot up around us, twisting with inscriptions and blocking out all of the outside noise. The noise outside stopped immediately, and I knew our sound wouldn't spread out.

"Are you that upset that I told you you would die if you went in there?" I asked.

"That's not what this is about, Bran," she said, crossing her arms. "You said we need a bunch of crazy people to jump in and become kings." She gestured over to where we had just been standing. "Who better than your newly minted generals?"

I searched her eyes for something, anything, trying to get to the heart of what was motivating her latest thinking. "Are you obsessed with loot, with whatever might lie beyond there?"

Circe scoffed. “No Bran. Not obsessed with loot.”

“Well, I know there’s something, and I need to understand,” I answered.

“Do I have to spell it out for you?" She rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air. "Bran Heros, you forget how many years I have lived.”

“Yes, yes, I know. You have more life experience than any of us could imagine. Paint a picture, if you will, for me. What it must be like for the rest of us near mortals.” I was growing frustrated.

“I just watched you, the proverbial carp, jumping through the dragon gate, and not only is there you, but behind you, you're dragging an entire fucking army of women who are steadily becoming more powerful than the clans have built over the last several thousand years. No, Bran, it's not greed, it's trying to keep up with whatever next absurdity you're about to pull out of your hat and launch into the world," Circe said in a single breath.

I frowned at her. "The Heros Clan is benefiting from many of my plans."

Circe rubbed at her temples. "It doesn't matter how much the Heros Clan is benefiting. In the blink of an eye, if we don't scrounge together every scrap we can get, we will be entirely left behind." She pointed at herself. "I am not used to this feeling of watching someone grow so fast that I can't even comprehensively keep up. That someone who was level 1 when I met them could catapult themselves over not only myself but the other leaders of the Heros Clan to the point that you could fight all of us."

I tilted my head just slightly, beginning to understand the problem. "And what would you like me to do?"

"You? Nothing," she answered quickly, a tad too quickly for my liking. "I would like to be able to keep up on my own two feet, but that's impossible, isn't it?" she asked in challenge, a touch of defeat in her eyes.

I gave her the honest answer. "Yes, I have more knowledge and know how to get resources more than you do. It's a completely unfair advantage, one that if I am allowed to completely utilize for myself, I could completely outstrip even Shiva. But I don't do that because being an overlord of billions of people who can't even hold a sword will not get me where I need to go. I need people. I need allies, Circe. And in particular, I need ones who are still living and breathing and not dead in the Trial of Kings," I emphasized, staring into her red eyes. That meant her, too. “Besides, you're not falling behind," I tried to assert, somewhat sympathizing with her concerns.

She scoffed. "I am absolutely falling behind. Every day," she pointed out. "The Mul Branova continue to get stronger. Every day, they get multiple new levels. They're taught how to rank up and upgrade their techniques with speed we’ve never seen before. Somehow, you're managing to give each and every one of them the kind of opportunity and training that only the best of the Heros Clan could have possibly received. And even then, we'd be squeezing out our resources to get them there."

I shrugged. "The Heros Clan should be doing far better right now. It is a particularly resource-rich environment right after The Rapture."

"Oh, they are. Those who already have some strength are rapidly gaining more. Honestly, it's a little scary how quickly they can improve. However, our new recruits, the ones who have just unlocked their bloodline, are being sent out to low-level instances, and we're having an abysmal number come back. As a result, we've had to send stronger guardians to watch over them," Circe explained. “Mostly because they are encountering random individuals rather than the challenges of the instances themselves.”

"Greed is more dangerous than monsters," I agreed. "What I'm doing here isn't unique. The Heros Clan can copy the strategy." I gestured to the side.

Circe shook her head as if I was being dense. "No, they can't. Not in a thousand years, Bran. And not only are each and every one of these people growing more and more powerful, but the amount of system gold that the Mul Branova is sucking up into your organization, trickling up towards the top, is enormous and growing almost exponentially. Because as they level, they are taking less for themselves and filling Simone's stupid tithe chest."

I frowned at that information, not being entirely aware of the amount of system gold that Simone had apparently been collecting, but I put that aside. She probably had a plan for it, and I was letting her handle the Mul Branova.

"All the Heros Clan would have to do is find a large number of people and ensure their loyalty. Simone and what she's done with the Mul Branova is brilliant. Even if I was not sure about it from the start, and it still does not make me entirely comfortable, I cannot deny the results. But there are results happening all around the world as everybody experiences explosive growth. It’s a sort of gold rush, Circe. It will slow down.”

"Exactly! A gold rush. Yet I find that I can't seem to grab enough, especially by the way that you are so rapidly catching up to me and will launch yourself into the stratosphere far above me. I look at Simone, Nyx, and Gloria's stats." Circe’s voice was filled with frustration and was clearly coming undone in front of me. "Even though they've been following you, they are nowhere near your equal in the system."

"Well, that's because I have an extreme advantage in being able to: A, sample bloodlines, and B, reset my levels. I'm experiencing repeat explosive growth. Eventually, if Simone has been collecting all of this gold, it can be used to bring them up to the same level as me."

Circe jabbed a finger in my direction. "So, you admit no one else is at your level."

I shrugged. "Yes, Circe, if that helps you in some regard, I admit that it will be hard to reach me. There aren't a ton of other people who have my very specific and very lucrative set of advantages. But if I could, I would give them to more people. I want the world to grow stronger to collectively head off the demon threat. I’m not going to slow down. Is this going to be a problem?" I stepped up closer to her, close enough to be standing over her.

She huffed, her eyes not quite able to make eye contact, but I could tell that she was softening. “I just want to be able to keep up. I am used to being at the top.” Circe’s cheeks darkened with a blush.

“I will help you where I can, Circe, but you need to understand that with my abilities, you will likely not be able to keep pace fully.” I pushed, needing her to accept this fact.

“Of course, Lord Bran,” Circe grumbled, using my title, and I felt a little distance open up between us.

“Don’t start. Now, is this going to be a problem? Are you going to let this come between us? Because I was under the impression we have a date ahead of us.” I needed to know where Circe stood.

Circe’s eyes grew large before she seemed to soften further. “No, Bran. This does not change that.”

"Great, then stop letting this get into your head. I pursued you for a reason, Circe. So just focus on building your own strength, and stop focusing so much on everybody else.” I understood her to a fair degree. There was a point in my past life where I looked around me at everyone else growing more powerful with each level. At that point, I was a B-ranked class with a poor bloodline.

However, I didn’t stop. I pushed forward, eventually mastering the sword to an absurd degree, and between that and temporary buffs, I was able to stand amongst the best in humanity.

Some of the tension left Circe, and at least she looked a little guilty. "What about..." she started to try and find, I'm sure, some other reason, but I put a hand up, a finger against her lips, stopping her from speaking.

"You know what I think, Circe? I think you're making excuses. You're coming up with any and every available reason that you don't have to chase after me. Because while you might have said that you're looking for someone to match you and someone to challenge you, perhaps now that one has come, the reality is you're scared. You're so scared of losing that you want to scrounge for every available resource. Just to put yourself up higher and higher. Maybe if you get completely out of my reach, then it's safe to challenge me. How long has it been since you last lost, Circe?"

"I haven't lost in a very long time," she stated proudly.

I grabbed her by the chin. "Perhaps it's time you do. Date tonight, bring a weapon," I said, quickly letting go of her chin. I was done waiting.

Her red eyes sparked with challenge, though perhaps there was something else in there. A slow, smoldering heat that glared back at me.

Chapter 52

I drew a sword from my spatial ring and tossed it over to Circe. The woman snatched it out of the air with a small gust of wind, holding the blade and turning it over in her hands.

"I must say, Bran, this is exactly what I thought a date with you would look like," she said, striking a pose that told me it wasn’t her first time with a sword.

I chuckled in response. "You told me I got to pick the date. You know, in many cultures, they say you don't really understand another warrior until you fight them," I offered.

Circe smirked. "And here, I thought you had given up much of your Borrson likeness."

"Well, I wasn't talking about the Borrsons. I was talking about the Orak. Unfortunately for you, one of them taught me swordsmanship, and to a certain degree, I must agree with his sensibilities. You learn a lot about someone by the way they fight."

Circe swished the blade back and forth in front of her. "Just swords?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just swords," I assured her. "Though, of course, you're more than welcome to use any of your passives. I know it's hard…"

Her sword flicked out in a perfect thrust to shut me up.

I caught her blade on my own, using my weight and shoving her to the side.

Circe quickly recovered back into a fighting stance and circled me. "Do you know how many men back in Ancient Greece thought to draw a sword on me? I can tell you that the best way to cripple their spirit and make them leave me alone was to beat them at their own game. Often times I put a hand behind my back even to make sure they knew that I was out of their league.” She folded her other arm behind her back.

“Do you think it's in your best interest to give yourself a handicap against me?" I asked with a low chuckle. It was insulting, but that was precisely what she wanted.

She came at me again, her technique incredibly simple, yet she had perfected the few moves that she used. Her skill was clear as I exchanged a handful of blows with her before backing off.

The swords we were using were blunted and B-Rank. If we started using skills, we could certainly chip them, but this was about non-skilled abilities.

I came at her again, not giving her a break for rest. My sword came in heavy, two-handed swings, each one threatening to crush her if she caught it even an inch off the mark.

Circe fought light and quick, much like the wind she often controlled. Her blue hair danced behind her, and there was a gleam in her eyes. She was enjoying our fight.

I may not have picked it up before, but Circe had quite the competitive spirit inside of her. This fight ignited that spirit beyond my expectations.

Seeing that she could handle what I had done so far, I pushed harder. The best aspect of my sword style was that it was an application of brutal raw strength.

As I began using more, Circe's parries had to be even more precise. If she was off by even an inch, I would have enough force to overwhelm and disarm her.

I continued upping my intensity, a grin splitting across my face as Circe was just a fraction off on her parry, her blade not turned entirely from the previous blow.

Some of my force was carried directly to the pommel of the blade in her hand. Her knuckles went white as she struggled to keep hold of her sword, and her eyes narrowed.

When her parry turned more into me knocking her blade aside, Circe came back around, her toga twirling as she redirected that force and spun low, sweeping for my legs.

I stepped into her, playing a dangerous form of hopscotch. Once I got close enough, I barreled into her with my shoulder, knocking her to the side.

She stumbled but was light enough on her feet that she didn't go all the way down. It almost looked like she had slightly misstepped in a dance. She quickly got her footing and regained her fighting stance. "So, is that all you can do? I was expecting more," she taunted as she twirled back around.

I matched her strike only for her to give way and try to spin again, catching me on my other side. My blade wasn't quite back up yet, and I was forced to dodge, taking a small cut across my shoulder.

"I win," she said when I paused.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "First blood? Really? Are those the rules of the game?" I asked. The scratch that she had cut me with was so small that it had already healed back over, not even shedding a drop of blood.

"Well, it's not like I'm going to let you break me, not on a date." She crossed her arms and dared me to challenge that statement.

"Well, for fighting to first blood, my sword style is certainly not suited to that," I chuckled. "Then again, perhaps you could use the advantage."

Her ruby-red eyes turned ferocious at the notion of me giving her an advantage. "You're right. That was far too soon to end the date," she said, playing with her sword. "But at least I know if it ever came down to it, I could certainly beat you in a duel."

I let her think that. It seemed important enough to her. I wasn't going to rob her of the small victories.

"Just surprised you actually have so much combat experience." I lifted my sword again. "Allow me to experience it a little more."

I rushed at her again, though this time I altered my style. She was forced to twirl away from me.

"You're really entirely brute force, aren't you?" she said, switching her sword to her other hand and shaking the other one out when she got into her stance.

"Comes with the territory, I'm afraid," I said, smacking her blade aside and coming in close, my sword brought in against my chest, almost like I was going to use it as a bladed pauldron.

Circe danced out of the way, refusing to meet my challenge of strength. Which, in fairness, was a wise decision.

"If I am all brute force, then you're all flight. Your style lacks substance," I said, the words harsher than I had intended but too late to take back.

A sudden flash of anger crossed her face. "It's not a lack of substance," she shot back, her sword suddenly faster than before. A small glow of wind, a faint breeze of magic, carried behind her every action. It was some passive allowing her to move with the wind.

"You know, usually when someone gets offended by something, it's because it's a little too true." I chuckled, moving quickly to avoid losing a few inches of my hair. She harrumphed as I managed to dodge her again.

"My style doesn't commit, so I can be light on my feet, agile, and swift in changing directions when needed," she clarified through gritted teeth.

"Ah, the fear of commitment. That makes sense," I teased and earned myself a hole in my side as she came at me again, this time refusing to match my strength. Instead, she used her speed to the utmost in trying to find the chink in my guard.

"Perhaps you overcommit." Circe growled, fighting me in a short flurry.

I could tell that her strikes were meant to force me forward, to overcommit myself. "And what makes you think that?" I chuckled, keeping my blade close to my chest. Even without the proper leverage, I had enough strength to deal with her sword.

"Three women already, Bran. You're spreading yourself far too thin," she tsked, her blade crossing mine.

I saw the setup for me to exert my full strength on her, and I did so even though I knew it was a trap.

The second I stepped into the attack, she shifted her weight and twirled around. Her sword raced at my cheek.

Grinning, I turned and snapped my mouth shut, only to bite down on her blade. The metal scraped against my teeth, but I managed to stop it in time before it cut through the edges of my lip. My own sword swung back around, the flat of the blade slapping against her hip, making her stumble to the side when I let go of her sword and stepped back.

"Careful now. You could get a little too overconfident, thinking you can escape from every situation and control the fight. Now, you said you used to use duels as a way to scare suitors away," I prompted, wanting to hear more.

"I did." She laughed, and it was a light, heartfelt laugh. There was no trace of the mocking in it that she'd used when she'd first described those fights.

"Careful now. It seems this is quite the opposite. Really, I think getting to fight you has only made you more transparent, more interesting," I offered.

"Oh, you have a thing for women who are flighty, lacking commitment, and overconfident?" She squared back up and pointed her blade at me. "As of right now, the score is just one-to-one. I'm not sure you get to call me overconfident when you're the one already celebrating your victory," she told me.

I grinned at her, and she matched the grin with her own. We were enjoying this as our blades clashed back together in the dance of a duel. I was understanding her more deeply each time our blades connected.

Circe was capricious, confident, and unused to losing in the same breath. That confidence, and her lack of experience in losses, was also one of her greatest weaknesses. For at this point, she had gone so long without losing, that to lose was tantamount to losing everything.

A person could only climb so high before the fall would kill them. Circe was at the top of the tallest cliff I had ever seen. A rigid pecking order amongst the clans had been established over thousands of years, and she had her spot ironed out, likely even written tediously into contracts.

Where she stood in the world was entirely known to her, and it was near the peak.

But that was all changing. I had appeared. People like those I described going to the Trial of Kings had appeared. As I crossed blades with her, I could see the fear in her eyes.

Circe was afraid of the change that was coming, and in so many ways, I had become the very embodiment of the change she feared. Thus, I became the metric used to measure said change. If she could remain constant, at least in relation to me, then she could convince herself that nothing had changed.

And if I went into the Trial of Kings, then she would have to go through as well. Circe still needed to face the fact that she may not be at the top of the ladder for much longer.

That realization made me pause in the middle of our fight, and Circe spun, taking advantage of my hesitation, only for her blade to stop a hair's breadth from my nose.

"It's no fun when you're distracted." She frowned.

"Oh, I'm not distracted. I'm focusing exactly on what I'm supposed to." I chuckled and slapped my blade against her hip. "Let's call that one a draw."

She glanced down, not realizing how close my blade had been to cutting her apart at the waist if this had been a real fight. She clicked her tongue and backed up. "I see, I see," she muttered to herself.

"Do you really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "I think this date has certainly helped me get to know you better."

"Oh, me as well," Circe purred. She looked over the edge of her blade at me as she drew it back for a thrust.

I had to admit, bedroom eyes were not common amongst my previous duels. But apparently, I had a preference that I had not realized before because I started getting aroused. It was hard to even know the difference between the tension from the fight and the sexual chemistry when I looked at Circe.

Suddenly, the door to the room we'd been staying in burst open.

I frowned but stepped out of my stance, turning immediately to the new entrance. Simone came streaking in, her face lined with worry.

"Bran!" she shouted, and I saw Merlin rushing in just behind her.

"What is it?" I asked, immediately knowing that something was very wrong.

"It's the Dutch Fortress. It's under attack," Simone told me.

"Who would be that stupid?" I scoffed.

"The Borrsons. Well, they have a reason, maybe." She hesitated. "Venthra just came asking for shelter, and I gave it to her." Simone gave a tight smile.

"So when you say Borrsons"—I stared at her—"do you mean Vidar?"

She bobbed her head quickly. "The very same. He's come with about a hundred men."

I grunted and stabbed the B-rank sword into the ground hard enough to pierce through solid stone. "What are we waiting for? Merlin, if you would?" I asked.

The wizard was looking back and forth between Circe and me but seemed to snap out of it when I spoke to her. She nodded and focused on her crystalline staff, her eyes closing as she began the teleportation.

I moved to stand next to her, only for Circe to speak out.

"Well, you're certainly not going without me. I just got all warmed up," she said, stepping up to Merlin. Her eyes dared me to try to keep her out of this fight.

Chapter 53

B y the time I arrived at the fortress, the damage was startling. Walls were smashed in, and people were strewn everywhere, lying on the ground, moaning and bleeding. Pools of blood marked where bodies had once been before the system reclaimed them.

We had left a skeleton crew to man the fortress, but I had expected them to last longer than this.

I ground my teeth in anger and shouted at the top of my lungs: "Vidar!" My bellow was so loud that the panes of glass in the fortress rattled. I knew he had to have heard my call, no matter where he was in the fortress.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the one who appeared. Instead, a small gang of giant Borrsons came around one of my walls. One of them was still dragging a Mul Branova by her hair.

"Look who it is," one of them said, grinning. "Is this your Lord Bran?" The giant chuckled and threw the devotee to the side. "Just watch. Maybe after you see this, you'll worship me instead."

She looked up pitifully at me, like this was exactly what I was supposed to stop from happening in this new world. The white of her habit was completely stained red from blood, and her eyes were strained from crying.

In the short time that it had taken for me to get here, they’d already been through hell.

My vision went red, seeing what they had done to my people. This fortress, the strength of these people, was something I had been building not just for myself but also for all of humanity. The people within most of all.

I would protect the Mul Branova as if they were my own children.

Before I could do anything, a pink beam erupted from Simone. Her Heartbreaker ability slammed the giant in the chest and threw him back like a toy for an even larger giant.

The bubbly saintess looked more like a pot about to boil over. Her hands flared with magic, and the giant screamed as if he was being tortured.

I thought I was angry, but Simone was absolutely furious. I had never seen her look so terrifying.

Circe looked over, taking a large step away from Simone. "So that's what that ability does." Circe chuckled nervously.

"It's called Wracking Pain," Simone said through gritted teeth. "It's supposed to hurt. A lot." She turned her eyes on the other giants, all of whom began howling like a pack of wolves as she activated the ability on each one of them. "Don't just stand there," Simone seethed. "Go all Bran on them. They hurt our Mul Branova. They deserve the worst."

I didn't say anything for a moment, staring at my beautiful, terrifying woman. I made sure to save that mental image, and she caught me staring and smiling.

Simone stuck out her tongue. "Don't get used to it. I don't plan on letting people do things that'll upset me this much often. I much prefer the happier day-to-day life that you give me."

Merlin looked Simone up and down. "I think you're going to find more people invested in your happiness after this."

"Aw, you say the sweetest things." Simone flashed Merlin a smile and then turned back to the giants whose howling redoubled as she focused her spirit against theirs.

Taking another moment to appreciate my woman, I turned, ready to do my part.

Storming forward, my Bloodiron Blade emerged from my wrist. I went to put them swiftly out of their misery, but they deserved worse, so much worse.

Gathering my strength, I used Bloodline Manipulation and pulled. They were too busy screaming to fight me as I ripped their bloodlines from their bodies, gathering them up in a small bead floating above my hand before I ended each of them with swift strokes of my blade.

The moment they were clear, Simone flew forward. She picked up the wounded Mul Branova and began tending to all of them in the vicinity like a mother hen suddenly collecting her chicks and making sure they were alive.

"Go on without me," Simone said, casting healing spells with each breath.

"This is worse than I thought," Circe said, swinging out several blades of wind that punched through the throats of the Borrson men who had so foolishly attacked our Mul Branova. She wasn’t taking any chances for them to be left alive.

"This is the advantage that the clans have, Circe. We might have been scrambling to build up our own resources and very successful at that, but even if they've had less, these Borrsons have likely had decades to improve themselves. Not only did they use system gold, but they also trained how to apply all of that strength. It's important to remember that even as we grow stronger, the application still matters.” My tone dropped off at the end as I ran through the ruined outer fortress, feeling sick to my stomach at what Vidar had managed to do with a single sweeping attack. "And frankly, my wards should have held up better than this. When this is all done, I need a firm account of what exactly happened. I need to make sure we're never caught so weak again."

The Mul Branova weren’t prepared for a real war with the clans.

"Well, look on the bright side. At least now you have cause to beat Vidar's face in." Circe smirked.

I wished I had the same confidence. It hadn't been so long since our little sparring match. If he had come here already, it was highly likely he would have come prepared. He would not have come intending to lose, and he had a recent accounting of my strength. I skidded to a stop at the opening to the fortress.

Three more Borrson giants stood in my way, clubs patting into the palms of their hands like a gang of thugs. "So you're the half-breed." One of them looked me up and down. "You don't seem like much of a threat."

"Great. Are we done with the random taunts? I have places to be and people to kill." I shot up next to him in an explosive burst of speed, my Bloodiron Blade coming into contact with his club and biting deep into the ranked wood. I gritted my teeth and pushed for all that I was worth, causing the giant to slide steadily back. My muscles bulged under the effects of Blood Boil, my body straining as I twisted and slammed him against the fortress doors.

This time another application of force was enough for my blade to slice through the club and bite deep across his chest and both of his biceps. But, of course, he had a titan physique of some sort. My blade didn't go deep enough to stop him.

I heard the crackle of ice and the gale of wind as Circe and Merlin joined hands to stop the ones behind me. I shoved hard again. "Where is Vidar?" I asked through gritted teeth, though the giant had the gall to laugh.

"Ruining your little fort. You aren't half as strong as you think you are, you arrogant little half-breed." He chuckled.

I pushed hard again, and this time, I drew my blade across his chest and his arms. The blade sliced deep enough for his blood to come gushing out. "It's only arrogance if I can't back it up."

I punched my hand deep into his chest and began drawing out his bloodline, hiding the ability inside of him.

The giant’s eyes popped open wide, and he began to scream, his body swelling and stretching as he activated some last-minute ability in hopes of saving his life.

I had to guess it was some sort of physical growth, which did very little to help him as I ripped his bloodline out, along with much of his strength.

He sagged against the wall like he suddenly didn't have the strength to support his larger form. His eyes were fixed on me in undisguised horror before they flicked to his menu, no doubt consulting it for confirmation.

I snapped a fist straight into his jaw, shattering it and knocking his head against the wall. The last thing I needed was him shouting some sort of warning for the others. I grabbed him by the head and slammed him down on the ground. He might have been bigger than me, but he certainly wasn't stronger.

I stood above him, my blade punching through his back, only for two more swords to emerge from my wrists, joining the first as I skewered him to the ground. He wasn't a particularly challenging opponent, except for testing my patience. I turned back around to see how Merlin and Circe had fared. The two of them had their opponent pinned with wind and ice.

"I don't suppose you want us to finish this one?" Merlin asked.

Circe glanced down at their defeated opponent. “I mean if you can take their bloodlines…”

"By all means, but give me a moment." I stepped up and shoved a hand straight into their chest, rooting around for the briefest of moments while the ability worked its magic and pulled out another bloodline.

"In all of this, if you can keep them alive for a minute, I have use for them," I told them. Their eyes flicked to the hands I had shoved inside the Borrsons.

Circe likely had a solid guess as to what I had just done. "Do you think that's wise?" Circe asked. "If they realize what you're doing, they aren't going to be happy. Not at all."

"Too bad. They lost the right to an opinion the second they went after my people. Besides, maybe for once it would be good for Borrsons to know that they are not the hunters but the hunted. But I’ve got this. Go. Both of you. Tell Simone that after she starts getting our people back on their feet, I want every Borrson here captured."

There must have been something particularly terrifying in my eyes based on the way they both practically fled from my presence. I regretted that I wouldn’t be able to take all of their bloodlines. But I had a feeling there would still be more to collect.

Showing off this ability could ultimately hurt my cause with the clans. Bloodlines were deeply personal and protected. They could avoid me and not want to join forces against the demons if they were afraid to be near me. Hunting me down to remove this ability or force me to use it for them wasn’t out of the question either.

But at the current moment, I was all out of patience.

I stormed through the fortress, its walls painted with blood that told a story.

My Mul Branova had not given an inch of this fortress without fighting for it.

I gave myself a moment to remember that a good chunk of this fortress, especially those who were stronger, had been with me at the Trial of Kings. We had left a skeletal force. But even with that reminder, it was a bitter pill to swallow.

Another splash of blood reminded me how much I had lost. With every step I took, I grew more determined. I was ready to vent some anger.

Chapter 54

C harging through the fortress, I heard a scream from farther up. I gave a small silent apology to Simone before I swung the Bloodiron Blade high above my head with four quick flicks of my wrist releasing Sanguine Slashes that carved a square chunk out of the ceiling that fell with a boom, announcing my presence to everyone above.

But I was done with subtlety, and I was done waiting as I jumped up through the hole. I wanted Vidar’s head separated from his body for what he’d done here.

Whoever had screamed continued screaming as if sending me a beacon to follow.

I cut another chunk in the roof, and this time, the noise came far more clearly. I shot up, rushing down the hall, only to see two bloody simulacrums of me fighting a small contingent of Borrsons.

These men weren't quite as big, but they had three scared Mul Branova pinned at the end of the hall.

I chuckled at the thought of the giants trying to navigate these halls, but at the same time, amongst Borrsons, more powerful physiques contained their size better. That meant these were more likely to be elites of Vidar's.

They spun away from the Mul Branova and to me just in time to get their weapons half-raised.

I slammed into them like the bowling ball at the end of the alley.

Two went flying into the walls before I crossed weapons with a third, having lost enough momentum that he managed to hold out, his feet dragging against the ground.

The two blood simulacrums didn't pause; the remaining two of the gang of five held them off before they could stab any of them in the back.

I dropped one hand off the sword and reached past our braced weapons to grab the Borrson by the throat and swung with all of my weight until I smashed him against one of his fellows.

The two of them went down in a tumble, and the simulacrums were able to press the one still on his feet while the rest recovered.

I glanced down the hall at the three Mul Branova. "Drain him," I ordered.

Without a moment of hesitation, they all switched to the ability I'd seen plenty of times. A red tether of blood shot out of their hands, connecting to the Borrson, only for the flow to reverse the second it snapped into place. They began draining the health of our brutish invaders.

One of them was wise enough to realize what was happening as he got his feet back underneath himself. "Stop them!" he shouted. "I'll handle the giant idiot."

I chuckled. "Good luck with that." I attacked that one, letting our blades slip apart and allowing my attacker to punch a handaxe into my side. It didn't matter. I ignored the wound. Instead, I pinned him against the wall, brutalizing him with one free hand, using my chest to stop his weapon.

Even as he sliced and twisted it, trying to pull it out, my anger was greater than any pain he could inflict.

I made a knife hand, stabbing it into one of his wounds, and began twisting it myself. At the same time, I began drawing out his bloodline.

He screamed. He must have felt something terribly wrong, and his shouts for help caused his fellows to gather their strength and stab me in the back.

The Mul Branova weren’t enough to keep them all occupied.

But as soon as I finished ripping out his SS-ranked bloodline, his strength had fled from him, and he sagged with a look of utter despair. Losing that many stats felt horrid. He wasn’t a problem for the moment.

I spun. Even with three weapons still in me, and my body covered in cuts, I was able to ignore the pain and smash him against his allies. I used him like a giant club despite the axe being shoved into me, pulled back and forth every time I jerked him around like a saw in my side.

The others hesitated to use their weapons on their ally and backed up, holding their attacks.

The pain and rage bled together, and I smashed through them in a blind fury. I briefly registered two skulls caving in under my fists and a small ball of five bloodlines appearing in my hand before I flicked it off to my spatial ring.

Things ended sooner than I would have liked, and reality snapped back into clarity.

I panted as the last of their bodies disappeared into the ground, and several red tethers attached to me as the Mul Branova pumped healing into me. "I'll be fine," I said, standing up straight and looking them in the eyes. "When this is done, I will find a way to reward all of you who remain."

"Lord Bran," they cried, throwing themselves to their knees. "We prayed for you and you came!" It was bittersweet.

Their shouts filled the air, but I was so consumed with anger that I barely heard them. I was driven to push forward, to crush everyone who had dared to invade my fortress. But I couldn't. Instead, I stared down at them, the small ball of blood swirling in my hand. It contained myriad bloodlines. "The blood of your enemies makes you stronger," I reminded them.

Three streams streaked from the small ball, each one pushing S-ranked bloodlines into them. The Mul Branova already had bloodlines, but they were weak, B or C rank at best. The sudden surge of power was enough to make them double over, gasping in pain as their bodies accepted the new bloodlines.

I gestured to the blood on the floor. "Drink the blood of your enemies and become stronger."

One of the Mul Branova looked up with feverish devotion before diving forward, laughing as she lapped up a pool of leftover blood.

"Go gather as many as you can and any enemy you find. Do your best to contain them," I instructed

The three of them reacted in their own ways. One had thrown herself into the blood, another was staring at a system menu in front of her, and the third looked like she was about to pass out on the floor.

"Come, sisters," the one who had lapped at the blood on the floor said, wiping it off her chin and holding up a bloody hand. "We shall drink the blood of our enemies and rise up against them!"

I was worried I may have created something more dangerous than I had anticipated, but if they felt empowered to go after our enemies, then that could only be a good thing. They looked at me for a brief second as if expecting me to stop them. I shooed them away with a flick of my wrist. "Go. I need to find the one who led these people.”

“He's climbing the tower looking for the new visitor," one of them stated.

"The saintess put her in the tower." The one who had been staring at her screen hissed. “If I had known that she was going to bring such a disaster down on our heads, I would have never let her in.”

"We don't know the future," I consoled her. "We can only operate with what we know now."

"Yes, Lord Bran," she replied, dipping her head as if she'd been scolded. She glared at the others before rushing off, but not before they managed to get a lick of blood.

I could almost see their spines straightening and their stats growing as they tasted our enemy's blood. It was a peculiar ability, but at the moment, I was going to take every ounce of help that the system would give me. I didn't balk at the idea of letting them drink blood if it meant they would survive in the end.

They had to survive. My Mul Branova were not so weak as to be crushed by this.

I turned with a singular focus in my mind. I was going to find Vidar and crush his skull. I knew that Venthra had been put at the top, and so that's where I was going. I smashed out a window before grabbing onto a chunk of rock and hauling myself out, climbing the exterior like a giant, muscle-bound squirrel.

Down below the yard was filled with shouts as it seemed the counterattack had begun.

I managed to reach the top tower in short order, throwing myself straight through the window.

Venthra screamed, spun on me, and hurled a fan of knives glistening with poison.

I smacked half of them aside, letting the other half scratch me as I glared at her furiously. "Is that the welcome I get for housing you?" I grumbled.

She backed herself up against a wall, though her eyes didn't look like she was going to back down. "You jumped through a fucking window. That's not something a host does. That's what an assassin does. I should know.”

“Well, at least you're being more honest with me," I said, pulling one of the knives out and lamenting how shredded my shirt had become. And now the fabric was absolutely caked in blood. It was going to get harder and harder to find clothing that would stand up for long.

"Vidar's here in case you weren't aware," I told her.

Her face went pale. "I heard fighting, but I..." She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't have anywhere else to go."

"Speak quickly and give me a reason not to throw you to him when he finally makes his way up here." I folded my arms across my chest.

"It was like you said. Exactly like you said." She gestured with open hands and then looked at them as if her own hands appalled her. "He gave me Powerful Poison SSS rank and told me he wanted to poison someone close to the clan leader. I…" She hesitated. "I decided to do a little more research on my own before I did the job. A few months ago, I would have just done what he said. But part of me wanted to prove you wrong," she said, her eyes beginning to water. It was odd seeing the fierce assassin starting to break down.

"Sounds like I wasn't. So let me guess, you were actually poisoning the chief?” I waited for her to continue.

Venthra nodded. “I faked it. Said I poisoned him, and instead, I tried to pass a message to the chief." She put her hand on her forehead, her eyes wide.

"I thought maybe I would have more time to figure something out. But the second I reported back to Vidar, he grabbed me and teleported me into the middle of nowhere. He was about to kill me."

"So you ran here?" I asked.

She shook her head, "Not at first. I blinded him with one of the talismans you gave me. You're right. There's absolutely no way I could beat Vidar with my own bag of tricks. So I blinded him and ran, only for him to find me at every turn. I thought this would be the last place he would look for me."

I held my hand out. “Give me everything in your spatial rings."

She stared at me like I was a lunatic.

I rolled my eyes. "He's got some way to track you if he found you here."

She hurriedly slipped off her spatial rings as if they were vipers.

"Yeah. Of course." She was starting to panic, and it was making her make poor decisions.

I took the rings. "Now what's about to happen is Vidar is going to come up those steps. And if he doesn't, I am going to charge down. You understand that he's been killing all of my people here? And unless he runs away, I am going to kill him for that offense. I need to know you are not going to interfere. Are we good?"

She nodded. "I'm dead if I try to go back to the clan. And I'm dead if he gets his hands on me.” Her head fell like her world was collapsing around her. “I'm a dead woman walking. The only thing that's keeping me alive is you, so no, you have my full support. Whatever you want from me, whatever you need from me, you have it."

She couldn’t entirely be trusted, but everything about her demeanor told me she was being honest.

I grinned at her. "I'm so happy to hear that. Because I have a plan, and you need to listen to me closely. I need you to do a few things for me." My tone turned hard.

She bobbed her head quickly. “Anything."

Chapter 55

T he door to the room where Venthra had been staying shattered inwards as a thick-booted foot entered the room. Venthra flinched and ducked low while I moved my body in front of her, standing firm with my arms crossed. My clothes were plastered to me with drying blood. However, my body was perfectly fine, Immortal Body had done its job in keeping me healthy despite all of the stab wounds.

Vidar grinned at the sight of me. "Two of my problems in one place. How perfect," he said. The large Borrson, even taller than me, seemed to bloom as he stepped through the doorway, rising to his full height. He was wearing a set of ranked gear, all of it faintly green, matte armor, with a cloak of fur that swept the floor behind him.

"I only see one problem here." I smiled back. "It seems you've just tried to murder the chieftain of the Borrsons, and I conveniently have a witness." I gestured at Venthra, who had scrambled to get behind me.

"You think they would believe the words of an adopted daughter and an exile's son?" Vidar scoffed at me. "Not a chance."

"Well, we won't know until we try," I replied. "I mean, if nothing else, it would put him significantly on guard. I assume that would make whatever plans you have incredibly difficult. Perhaps the Borrson Clan would send someone else out to deal with the rest of the world? I'm sure everyone's getting a little tired of your ugly mug." I stepped forward to further block him.

Only to realize he had slipped past me. A spear came out of his spatial ring as he tried to drive it straight through Venthra.

I only had a split second to activate Crimson Barrier to catch the edge of his spear as the sphere expanded.

Vidar’s thrust was thrown off course and stabbed through the stone wall behind Venthra.

The scrappy redhead was already scrambling across the room, trying to put my barrier between her and Vidar.

Vidar broke the barrier with a swish of the spear, and I noted a small glow of some ability.

"You'll forgive me for my lack of patience," he said. He turned the spear on me and tried to run me through, but this time, I was far more prepared.

I caught his weapon with my Bloodiron Blade and pushed it aside just in time to catch his wrist with my other hand. I leaned into him and pushed like a linebacker against the enemy line.

Vidar's greaves slid across the floor until I smashed him into the wall. "You don't know what you're getting yourself mixed into, exile," Vidar warned. He tried to push back, but I was in the position of leverage, and we were nearly matched for strength.

A gleam of light entered Vidar's eyes.

Knowing he was about to use his ability, I stepped back, releasing him before he vanished. I turned around, thrusting my Bloodiron Blade behind me and towards Venthra.

She gasped and flung herself away, her eyes full of betrayal.

Vidar filled the space as my sword stabbed into his chest.

I rammed it all the way to the crossguard, pushing against the floor with enough strength that the stone cracked with each step. My anger surged as I remembered the puddles of blood throughout the keep.

Vidar gasped and struggled, but I had caught him off guard. Given his constitution, this impact was not going to be the thing that took him down. But I had, in fact, surprised him. He growled and tried to fight against the weapon currently pinning him against a new wall.

He wasn’t the first opponent I had fought who could teleport. I grinned at him.

It was always satisfying to catch a teleporter, to see their own ability used against them. Those I had encountered who could teleport often got too used to relying on it in times of battle.

"Fath— Vidar," Venthra corrected herself. "I've already prepared my statement for the chief. You'll be exiled for this, if not killed."

Vidar turned to her with a grin still on his face as he began pushing back against my sword. He grabbed it with two gauntleted fists, twisting the blade with enough strength that even my Bloodiron Blade was beginning to crack.

"Yes, and who's he going to believe, hmm? A blood family member or an adopted wayward daughter who fights like an assassin and a liar rather than a real Borrson?" He chuckled darkly. "Or perhaps the exiled son?" Vidar grinned like a loon as his gaze shifted to me. "It doesn't matter what you do. Today, I will have you both killed. And even if by some miracle you do survive, the clan might as well be mine. My father can respect a little callousness anyway. After what he did to Thorin, he probably wouldn't respect me if I fought him in a fair fight anyway. The best thing about brutes is that they rely too much on their strength. Only those like him and me who can match it with wit are really meant to lead the clan. The rest of you are nothing more than convenient fodder."

I rolled my eyes as he broke the first blade. I quickly formed another that pierced him lower in the gut. "Is that so, Vidar? The same grunts that followed you here to their death? That's what you really think of them?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"Wonderful," I said, clapping my hands. "Too bad they're all dead." I pulled out the little ball of blood filled with their bloodlines, letting it float in front of me. "I even took their bloodlines, the very thing they used to call themselves Borrsons. I wonder how it'll be when I take yours."

If there was anything the clan members were particularly proud of, it was their bloodlines. Threatening to strip him of that was beyond insulting. It was a thing of nightmares. Not to mention, it would be a fantastic way to take over his identity for me to push my way into the Borrsons.

Vidar laughed. "Of course, you have some ability like that. Now you having a Titan bloodline makes perfect sense. You cooked it up yourself to pretend to be one of the clan, I bet."

I chuckled. "Not actually too far from the truth. I'm impressed. You do have some brains, after all."

Vidar, however, started laughing, and he couldn't seem to stop. "Pitiful fool, you showed too many of your cards. In the end, I will have the Borrson Clan come to take you. I'll chain you and your women to my purpose, but don't worry, I'll let you all live long enough for you to use that ability to build me an army of people with powerful bloodlines."

I smiled at him because, in fact, that was what I was already doing.

Vidar pulled something out of his spatial ring. "And since you have a Titan bloodline, then it's even easier to bring you to heel.” He activated a small orb.

I felt like my Golden Titan Bloodline betrayed me. Sudden weakness filled every inch of my body. My stats for my bloodline hadn't just been taken away; they had been reversed. I gasped, having never even heard of this item in my past life.

Vidar laughed as both Venthra and I staggered on our feet.

"I found this a while ago," he said, confident enough to continue taunting. "I needed something more than just poison to be able to help me with the old man. But I’ll admit, I could use a test run. So nice of you to provide the opportunity."

Vidar was almost giddy as he watched the effects of his item sapping us both of our strength. He slammed into me, a new spear in hand.

I didn't have time to worry about Venthra or anyone else. I threw myself on Vidar's spear, grabbing it and pulling on the window I had already shattered on entry. Vidar and I smashed through what barely remained of the window pane. We were both hurtling to the ground.

Venthra cried out, but it faded away quickly as we fell from the tower, and the ground leapt up to greet us both with a hard welcome. As we smashed into the stone below, neither of us had enough strength to do more than gasp amidst the pain and damage from the fall.

"You fight dirty for a Borrson," I grumbled.

Vidar was the first to get up, stumbling to the side and clutching his chest. He wasn't the one with a spear run through him at present though, and I had more to worry about than his next monologue.

I staggered to my feet, ready for his next attack. "But a real Borrson can handle a little fall," I mocked him, gathering my strength even reduced as it was. I pulled out his spear and threw it into my spatial ring.

The wounds from it and the fall already began to heal right in front of his eyes. I knew he had the advantage in stats now, and he most certainly had more tricks in his spatial ring.

However, if I could turn this into a battle of attrition, I would certainly come out victorious. The other man had no ability to heal. Even if he had something in his spatial ring to heal himself, those resources were still limited.

Sure enough, Vidar pulled out a red vial that beat like a thrumming heart. He slugged it back, and his own wound began to recede. "You aren’t the only one with regenerative abilities, even if mine comes from a bottle," he retorted. He put it back in his spatial ring and drew another weapon. This time he chose a massive axe—the same one I'd seen him hurl at Hercules not long ago.

However, as he held the weapon, his face became more ferocious, his eyes sinking into the deep red of some berserk state, going so deep red they eventually turned purple. His eyes took on a deeper purple, starlight speckling in them, and his body swelled with strength and size.

I rushed forward, splattering my blood on him and working quickly to create half a dozen inscriptions that began to show up on his body and the axe.

When his transformation finished, he flicked his wrist. An inscription, a powerful talisman flickered to life for only the briefest seconds before exploding and wiping away my own. "If you think that for even half a second that your meager tricks will work on an esteemed member of a clan, I regret to inform you, Bran, you're walking amongst the dead already," he taunted.

Seeing that, I knew exactly how he’d gotten through my wards so quickly.

I growled and didn't respond as he threw himself forward with his oversized axe, which at the moment looked like it was a fit for one of his hands given his current size.

He swung the axe in a rapid series of strikes, and I met his swings with a Bloodiron Blade.

Within a few hits, it was clear that I could not fight him with these enhancements. My heart pounded in my ears as I staggered back under the weight of each of his strikes.

It was only after he nearly sent me flying that I heard the screams of the Mul Branova chanting: "Lord Bran."

Dozens of women stood outside the fortress, their faces smeared with blood, as streams of crimson stretched across the yard. Unlike my past life, I wasn’t alone. Here I had built something greater than myself.

I tapped into Bloodrage Ascension as all of the blood spilled on my fortress began to creep across the ground to me. I regained my footing as strength flooded my limbs. Each and every drop of blood built me into something greater. As my body swelled, my muscles stretched and ripped my skin open, the power not only of Bloodrage Ascension but of all the Mul Branova's worship continuing to fill me.

Their voices drifted past my ears asking for protection, wishing me strength, but most of all, they demanded revenge.

Chapter 56

I moved forward, striking back at Vidar as the blood within me sang. Each swing became stronger and stronger as whatever shackles he put on my bloodline cracked away.

He stood, his massive form beginning to twinkle as he prepared an ability. When he threw his hands forward, it was like the stars themselves poured out of his palm to attack me.

The blood flowing to me seemed exceptionally receptive to my thoughts. I wove a blood hex in mid-air that managed to intercept the strike.

The strike blew through it a moment later but was weak enough for me to take on crossed arms. Each speckle of starlight in the beam twirled and spun, ripping at my skin with each pass. Vidar threw himself to his feet, roaring and charging after me.

I met him, matching him blow for blow. The two of us were literal titans, duking it out amidst the fortress. Our strikes shook the earth, crumbled the concrete around us, and scattered what workers remained in the fortress. The workers had managed to hide themselves in every nook and cranny during the attack.

I tried to guide our fight away from the places where I saw our farmers and tradesmen escaping like ants scattering from a smashed anthill.

Vidar's eyes shifted over my shoulders, where trails of blood led back to the Mul Branova. He pulled a strange orb from his spatial ring, hurling it over my shoulder.

I couldn't ignore him attacking the Mul Branova. The entire reason I had come to the fortress so quickly was to protect them. I turned and spun, reaching out after the orb, inciting a flurry of Sanguine Slashes to destroy the ability.

The sphere opened up, inscription scripts flying out of it in a symphony of light, scorching the air where it passed. Vidar's laughter boomed behind me. "They're dead, and so is your support!" he shouted, already relishing in his triumph.

I ignored his words, instead working to scan all of the inscriptions while they spun in the air. My powerful spirit was ripping through their meaning far faster than even Vidar could have predicted. Blood hung in the air, and I swished through it, painting my own addition. My finger swirled impossibly fast through scripted loops and complicated patterns, interweaving a massive web to the orb’s inscriptions.

With a final flourish, I connected mine to his, only for the solid column of light that erupted to go up instead of down.

It pulsed with nearly blinding power. The smell of burning ozone filled the fortress as the beam cut through the clouds and ripped its way harmlessly through the sky above.

I chuckled and turned to Vidar, whose triumph was dying on his lips.

His face was growing increasingly cold as I felt the support from the Mul Branova redouble.

A few of the women had paused in fear, but the majority had continued on, trusting that I would protect them. Each one of those members beamed with joy, pushing everything they had into me as if they were reaffirming their faith.

I focused on my opponent. It was time to end this. But I needed a little more strength if I was going to make a decisive victory.

Vidar wasn’t one I could take while holding back.

I cracked open my spatial ring, pulling out a drum that appeared like a soda can in my hand. I crushed it before bringing the mixture of so many bloodline samples to my lips. I felt the stats hit me like a gut punch, even in Bloodrage Ascension, and flicked away the system message.

[493 Bloodlines have been added to Bloodline Collection]

[Blood Hegemon has upgraded to SS Rank]

[Level has been reset to 1]

I grinned. Part of me would have lamented this loss, but having the extra power just to shove it in Vidar's face was going to be worth using it at this moment. I charged back at him. This time our fists met, and I blew him backwards. The other giant stumbled, surprise flickering across his face.

"What was that?" he gasped. "Some potion for temporary strength? You have no idea the depth of the Borrsons’ power."

He flicked something tiny out of his spatial ring as he jumped backwards, going further than expected. Once again, he tapped into his spatial power, buying himself enough time to throw a shining bead into his mouth. The second the bead entered his mouth, the stars that swirled around him picked up speed and luminosity, glowing so bright that I winced.

Refusing to look away, I charged after him, a massive Bloodiron Blade growing from my wrist and slapping into the palm of my hand.

Whatever Vidar had done was now complete. He came back at me, strong enough that I felt my ribs cave in as his fist blew past my guard and sent me staggering backwards.

"Tricks," I groaned as I spat out blood. I slashed at him quickly in response.

He brushed off my strike, letting it hit him in the arm, opening a nasty gash. But he treated it as if it had been a simple scratch, continuing to march forward, murder in his eyes.

I took the blood and flicked it back behind me off of my blade and to the Mul Branova. I hoped that continuing to drink the blood of my enemies would continue to strengthen them and the ability they were granting me. But they would have to figure that out on their own.

Vidar charged, and the fist that hit me was powerful enough to send me sliding backwards, even as a giant.

I could feel that I was outmatched with the strike, and he appeared before me a moment later ready to deal the next blow.

A glowing white blade extended from the back of his fist as he crouched down to punch me in the chest.

I roared defiantly at him as he twisted it in my gut, ripping out a good chunk of my health.

"You should have known your place, exile. You couldn't ever fight a real Borrson!" Vidar roared.

I grinned at him, no doubt blood staining my teeth as my skin lost its color.

"Is that so?" I said, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him down with me. I felt my stats explosively increase, and my own Bloodiron Blade appeared in my hand, already stabbing through him when it wasn't even half-formed.

Vidar twisted his weapon and ripped it out only to stab me again.

The fight must have looked incredibly awkward. Bystanders would see two titans, rolling around the ground, stabbing each other repeatedly, and cursing to the heavens.

I managed to roll on top and smash my forehead into the bridge of his nose.

Vidar howled and used the same swirling blast ability from before, but this time he was using it at point-blank range. The blast ripped through my chest, shredding skin and muscle, threatening to tear apart everything inside of me.

Yet, I didn't relent. There was no giving up at this point. Last Stand was active, and I had to end it now. I held on to him, activating Blood Siphon and draining as much of his life as I could, using anything I had from my skull to my elbows to my knees to smash away at him.

Every movement smashed into him while he kept twisting that blade of light in my gut.

With Last Stand fully active, my strength eventually peaked, and I grabbed Vidar by the throat before I hurled him off me and staggered to my feet. Another Bloodiron Blade formed, my other one forgotten in the brawl, as I loomed over him like death itself. I speared his knee to the ground before making another blade and cutting off his arm, including his hand with his spatial ring.

The last thing I needed to do was rip out his bloodline, and I needed to make sure he couldn’t pull out another trick as I began to use Bloodline Manipulation, and streams of rich blood flowed from his wounds.

He glared at me, still defiant, and turned to the side. "Venthra, now!" Vidar boomed.

For a split moment, I spun, wondering what deep plan he had worked out. There was a real chance Venthra was a plant and was about to betray me. I turned, only to see several Mul Branova already holding her as if she was a hostage.

When my eyes spun back, Vidar tore his leg forward, ruining it, and flashed, his titanic form disappearing into the air as he managed to take the smallest of steps.

I roared in frustration as the man managed to escape certain death and punched down, rocking the earth and making a crater where he’d just been.

Ventra fell to her knees, looking at me fearfully. It wasn’t her fault; he found exactly what would distract me for the moment that he needed.

I scoffed and waved a hand. "You're not worth my time. Get up." In my hand was his bloodline, and he wasn’t going to recover that arm or his knee.

For a moment, I hoped he’d pop back up with a last-ditch attempt to kill me, but as soon as I was certain Vydar wasn't coming back, I released everything, shrinking and growing weaker by the moment.

Yet even this weakness was an improvement. After all, after consuming so many bloodlines, my base stats were far above where they had been.

"Do we need to worry about him coming back?" Circe asked.

“He used some sort of item, which means the boost would have worn off. He’ll want to recover and grow stronger before we go head-to-head again. He's going to be out of commission for a while.” I wanted to let out a roar at losing the chance to end him.

I glared at Venthra. "You’ll get your spatial rings later. And you need to strip. Someone give her something to wear," I growled, and she hurried to comply. Even in my weakened state, no one was taking me lightly.

Simone glanced over at Circe. "Are you that scary when you get serious?"

"No, I don't get giant. And I’m not as strong one on one. I'm far better at leveling armies and cities," Circe commented, crossing her arms.

"She could escape me in a heartbeat," I answered Simone, "and then wait out my abilities, coming back when I'm weakened. At least, I assume that's how you'd take on an opponent who fights with pure strength," I said, glancing at Circe.

Circe simply shrugged. "That's the way I've done it when Hercules and I have gone all out to test each other."

Chapter 57

T he Mul Branova moved around, working to rebuild from the wreckage.

The fortress was shattered, but thankfully, there were people amongst us with the abilities and power to fix it far more quickly than one might expect. Each member of the Mul Branova possessed the strength to be their own piece of industrial equipment, making the task move far faster than it could before The Rapture.

"What are we doing with her?" Circe asked, over at Venthra.

I had just finished ripping through her spatial ring, finding multiple trackers and destroying them one after the other. I burned her clothes, explaining that given how many trackers I found, there was no doubt some were sewn into them. It wasn’t worth my time to dig through them and find each one.

Vidar had wanted to keep a tight hold on her.

Satisfied there were no more trackers, I turned and leveled a look at Venthra that told her not to lie to me. "I need you to tell me that you're not here to betray me and mine."

"I swear on my soul," she replied. The fierce warrior woman I had fought one-on-one was gone and replaced with a defeated warrior. She had just lost so much of what she had once held as important. Her own adoptive father had turned on her, and she knew she wouldn't be welcome back into her broader family, not until her father’s betrayal was proved.

"Well, you certainly can't stay here," I said, glancing around.

Too many inscriptions had been broken. We'd be able to repair this place quickly, but not quick enough. Vidar might send more here thinking we were a soft target after the fight.

"For now, you're coming with me. We're going to return back to where we were training," I said, this time addressing Circe and Merlin.

Simone had disappeared, most likely doing her best to heal any of the injured.

"Is it wise to take her there?" Circe asked.

"Even if he has an inscription etched into her bones, he won't be able to find her there," I replied, glancing at Venthra. "She'll have no idea where she is, and she won't be able to send any messages."

I handed Venthra's spatial rings to Circe to hold onto.

"We'll come back in a couple of days. We'll have Merlin shuttle a few more Mul Branova back here with one of the generals," I told them all.

Many of the Mul Branova were glancing over, watching me with barely contained awe as they started sifting through the rubble. They glanced over their shoulders, holding my gaze whenever our eyes met.

I knew I needed to do something to thank all of them. The care you treated your troops with after a hard-fought battle was often the most important. It rallied their spirits and made them prepare for the next one eagerly.

"Those of you who stood your ground, come," I said, my voice booming despite my weakness. I'd harvested a good number of bloodlines, and I'd been collecting even more in the hopes of forming a second M-ranked bloodline that I could use for the tournament while restoring my own.

That didn’t matter right now.

The Mul Branova all hurried forward, many of them throwing themselves prostrate in front of me. These women had just been through a heavy battle, and many had lost friends. They needed a reward, and they needed hope.

I began looking over each and every one of them, my eyes slowly passing through the crowd. "For your steadfastness, for staying here and fighting for what was yours, you deserve a reward." I grinned at all of them as I held up the globe of blood, streams flying from it and into the several dozen Mul Branova before me.

Many of them gasped, hunching over, arching their backs. Some sounds were of pure, unadulterated joy, while others were of pain comparable to childbirth. Regardless, the effect did not take long.

I transferred bloodlines to many, soaking up others back into the ball where I advanced their bloodlines all at the same time. My spirit worked wonders. It helped me multitask to an inhuman level.

The globe of blood revolved in my hand, shrinking and giving them upgraded bloodlines. After a moment, I gasped, feeling a wave of weakness. Altering their bloodlines had robbed me of some of those empowering me.

Simone reappeared and must have known what was wrong. She took over, raising her hands high. "Lord Bran has seen your accomplishments and rewarded you for them!" she shouted, getting all of their attention.

Murmurs of ‘Saintess’ rippled through the crowd.

"Those of you who've received new bloodlines, reaffirm your oath to Lord Bran. Give him but a drop of your blood, newer and stronger. Commune with your lord and complete the cycle." Simone pulled out a small silver bowl that she cupped in her hands as if it were some religious artifact.

As she passed by the Mul Branova, they hurried to cut their fingers or their wrists. Those who were more excited than others splashed far too much blood compared to the drop that Simone had requested. But one and all, they added their blood to the bowl excitedly, glancing from it back to me.

Simone walked at a sedate pace through the crowd, never breaking her stride once as the Mul Branova orderly shed their blood into the bowl. By the time Simone reached me, the bowl was three-quarters full, sloshing with blood.

"For you have given to Bran, and he has given to you, thus we must complete the cycle. We will renew the bonds between Lord Bran and his devotees." Her words echoed around the courtyard. She bent her knees, dipped her head, and raised the bowl above it. “We offer a token of ourselves so that you might protect us in our darkest hours.”

I took the bowl delicately from her hands, mostly because I was worried about my weakened state and spilling the bowl. But the move had the added effect of looking particularly reverent as I accepted my worshipper's blood and tipped my head back, pouring it down my throat.

Blood was not exactly my favorite drink, but I managed not to grimace as it flowed thick and rich down my throat.

As I consumed the liquid, I felt all of those bloodlines blossom once again, and my stats bloomed even in my weakened state. The sudden influx of bloodlines helped cover up my weakened state after using Last Stand. My body filled itself back out, my complexion returning to normal as if it had all healed me. In truth, I had just regained stats, buffs on top of a debuff, to cancel out a portion of the debuff.

The Mul Branova, however, took the effect differently and began cheering with excitement as it appeared I had healed from the effects after using their blood. As if this was something they needed to do to restore me after what I’d done.

My Saintess didn’t miss a chance. "As Lord Bran has strengthened each of you, you have strengthened him in turn. Your connection to Lord Bran is deeper now than ever. As I've said before, fighting for our cause only makes us stronger." Simone held a fist up, and the Mul Branova cheered.

I watched her, still amazed at how well she could manage the group. If there was one among our group who had a good shot at the Trial of Kings, it was Simone. She was a natural at leading and controlling the Mul Branova.

Their combined shouts were loud enough to shake the ground. Nearly fifty of them, all rippling with stats, used them to their full effect as they squeezed their lungs and shouted, "Lord Bran!" in unison.

I grinned at them, satisfied with the display, not because of their fervor, but because I knew that each and every one of their lives had been irreparably changed for the better by joining Simone's Mul Branova.

By giving them a powerful class and the structure needed to start their new life in the new world after The Rapture, they had become the core of my army, my most dedicated forces. I knew that whatever would come from here on out, they would have my back, as I would have theirs.

For a moment after I'd come out of the vault, my plans thrown aside, I had worried that I wouldn't be able to raise a force to make a difference in the grand scale of The Rapture or the Demon War to come. Instead, I now looked proudly over the Mul Branova and knew that without a doubt, I had made a difference to each and every one of them. They, in turn, would be my hands onto the world, and they would change the lives of dozens each, magnifying my purpose in this second chance and passing it on to more than I could alone.

The scrambling I'd been doing since the beginning of The Rapture had worked; it had been worth something more.

The Mul Branova continued to chant, "Lord Bran," and Simone stepped back with one foot, kneeling before me. While chanting, all of them fell to the same kneeling posture. Their chanting grew louder until I raised a hand and motioned for them to quiet down.

"Thank you, all, for everything you gave to build this fortress and protect it when our enemies approached. Your training has helped you get here, but the passion and ability were all your own. This was your first real battle that tested your resolve, your will, and your faith in me. To each and every one of you, I like what I saw. You fought with courage, and you fought in my name to protect each other from our enemies. And in turn"—I gestured over the fortress—"they are dead, and we have drunk their blood, growing ever stronger.”

I looked over the crowd, not just the Mul Branova in front but also the laborers who hung in the back. “There will be more who come for us. There will be others who think that they can stand up to you, that they can stand up to the Mul Branova, but they cannot. You are greater than the sum of your parts together. You sweep away all obstacles, destroy all barriers set before us. You are the devotees of Lord Bran. We do not falter. We do not tire, and we do not fail. Instead, we grow stronger with each fight, more powerful with each enemy that bleeds on our blade. Together, we will make a difference. In this new world, it will be our new world," I said, holding up the empty bowl for lack of other ideas. "Let the world bleed and restore us!" I boomed.

It seemed that was enough because it resonated through them to the point that my blood shook, and I knew theirs did, too.

They immediately repeated my call. "Bleed and restore us. In Lord Bran, we trust." Those words began to echo amongst them as they became more and more excited. A fervor built up amongst them that I knew would ripple out and infect the rest of the Mul Branova once they were allowed to mix.

I glanced at Simone, who had peeked up from kneeling, a giant grin on her face as she nodded rapidly, telling me I had done well.

I turned back to Circe and Merlin. "If you two wouldn't mind, let's head back to Tartarus. I don't want to leave them alone for too long, and we need to bring some more people back here to the fortress. I will not leave it as unprotected as before."

"Yes, please," Circe said, glancing around. "I feel like if we stay too long, they're going to start sticking knives in me and taking drinks."

Simone laughed from where she now stood, skipping over to rejoin our group. "That was wonderful, Bran! I'm glad you finally embraced it." She grinned from ear to ear.

I noticed her illusion had changed ever so slightly. She was still the sexy blonde-haired nun, but now her eyes glowed red. I noticed a few of the devotees had noticed Simone's newly red eyes and were whispering.

"Don't cause too much trouble," I chided her, but there was no heat in the words. "Let's go get them some help, so they can get all of this patched up sooner."

Simone bobbed her head eagerly, and I glanced over at Merlin, just in time for the world to flash as she finished her teleportation.

"I'm going to go gather some of our warriors," Simone said hurriedly, skipping away to collect some of her Mul Branova. I had a feeling she was going to grab more than enough. Simone would want them to see the excitement and adoration permeating our fortress.

It was certainly showmanship, but it also could move people into action. The energy of the group could buoy those who were nearly depleted. And I was glad to have been able to give them that infectious energy; it would sustain them through far harder trials to come.

Chapter 58

I t hadn't even been half an hour since I had returned to Tartarus from the fortress and my fight with Vidar before more startling news quickly began spreading.

Mul Branova came rushing towards me, both of them flying like arrows from a bow. They came to a skidding stop, panting as they bent over.

"Lord Bran, forces approach. It's an army," they gasped.

I turned to both of them, stunned. "Demons?"

They both looked at each other and hesitated. "I don't know. They're wearing armor. I haven't seen a whole lot of demons wearing armor. But they're coming out of the ocean. Marching in lines."

"What color is the armor? Demons sometimes wear armor," I mused. It was a rarity in my experience, and usually, there was something else to mark them as not quite humans. I’d seen all sorts of deviations throughout the years of different horns, wings, tentacles, and the like.

"Bright blue? Though I think there were horns on some of them.” She held two fingers on her forehead as an example. “I couldn't tell if the horns were decorative or because there was something underneath them.”

"Either way, pull everyone out of training, and let's greet our new guests," I said with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.

The Mul Branova sprinted away towards the doors to the first phase of the Trial of Kings, where we had thousands of soldiers fighting. If demons were marching towards us, it wasn't going to end well for them.

Less than a minute later, people came streaming out. Many Mul Branova took a moment to send a crimson tendril of healing towards the others. They quickly began to gather up in their respective forces, lining up and looking like a real goddamn army.

It brought a small tear of pride to my eyes.

Winnie came out with a bunch of her sect in tow. She looked like she was ready for a fight, her icy scythe resting on her shoulder. "Problem?" she asked.

"Wait and see. We don't know if friend or foe," I replied. I stood in front of the powerful welcoming party as the sudden sound of heavy boots thundered through the stone at our feet. That told me that this force was organized, marching as a single unit. Each of their steps was a drum in a band synced perfectly.

That also told me that it was unlikely that the approaching force was demons. Even though the demons could be fairly disciplined as a result of how deeply they feared their superiors, they were never this unified.

The army came marching down to Tartarus, weaving themselves through the collapsed maze.

I stood with my arms crossed, greeting them in a way that I hoped was neither friendly nor unfriendly, but I had enough show of force to gain respect.

As soon as the forces rounded the bend and they began to see me, as well as everyone splayed out behind me, shouts rippled down their line. Commands echoed back and forth in a language I did not recognize before another loud voice boomed over all of them, and the entire force that had to be about eight hundred soldiers stopped on the same step.

"Damn," Circe said beside me. "Who teaches them marching? We should get whatever leads their program to help our people."

I smiled internally but kept my face passive as I used Soul Gaze to gather more information.

The result was an oddity. They weren't demons, but they also weren't humans, at least not completely. It was more accurate to call them half-sea dragons. Their forces stomped as one and stepped to the side, creating a corridor. As soon as the opening was created, three armored figures marched down to greet us, stopping right in front of our forces.

The one standing to the right of the central figure bristled. "Show some respect! You are in the presence of royalty."

I raised an eyebrow, not wavering in my stance. And I heard a huff from behind me before Simone spoke. “You are in the presence of Lord Bran.”

“Kneel before Lord Bran!” all the Mul Branova yelled in unison.

I could tell the enemy forces were particularly confused. Inspects began hitting me by the dozen. But I didn't let a single one of them see my stats. I stood with my arms crossed at the very center of my forces, letting the strength of Circe and Winnie tell a far grander tale of my status than reality.

But the inability to read my stats made the three pause for a moment before the first one stepped forward and swept off their helmet.

Even though all of their chest plates looked identical, it was very clear this was a woman as her helmet came off. She had completely white hair that rolled off her head. Like a massive cresting wave, it messily splayed out to the side before cascading all the way down to her hips. How she kept that much hair up in her helmet was a feminine mystery I would never understand. She had piercing blue eyes with serpent-like slits, and the horns on the helmet were certainly there for a purpose. She had blue horns slightly smaller than those of her helmet prominently coming out of her forehead. I couldn't help but notice that there were matching scales along the side of her neck.

"I am Princess Almeria, chosen by my people to take on one of the mantles as this world's ruler," she said, lifting her chin high.

I tilted my head strangely at her. "Your people were underwater, and you battled the hell gate in the sea," I guessed.

She turned slightly to one of the men next to her. He whispered under his breath, speaking quietly to her.

"Ah, demonic invasions, yes, we did fight a hell gate; however, it has closed. Our reports indicate that the ones on the surface have not yet closed. Perhaps if you fought as hard as our people, yours would close as well." She held her helmet to the side, and her chin never drooped in the slightest.

"I can guarantee you that your hell gate was not deactivated. Have you found the base device?" I had a sudden, ominous feeling.

She frowned and conferred with the two advisors. "There was no device."

"Then it was not turned off. It has been moved," I said pointedly. "We've captured one of them ourselves. It still produces demons but in a controlled environment where they can be simply harvested for experience," I explained, simply for her to understand that we had a solid grasp of how they worked.

I had always wondered what had kept the hell gate in the ocean so busy. There had been rich debate amongst people years after. Most assumed, like the other hell gates, that there were instances popping up, and perhaps down there had been a particularly vicious instance that the demons had not overcome until well into The Rapture. That was, by and large, the leading theory.

However, there were always those who had pointed out that the Greek and Egyptian gods had turned out to be real after The Rapture. Their theory was that Atlantis was real as well or perhaps the Mayans or the Aztecs could have fallen into the sea. I knew more than one person who had shouldered being called a lunatic for such conspiratorial beliefs.

However, now standing in front of me was a clan of fighters. If this was any indication of their forces, I'd suspect they could rival the existing five clans. And they all carried differing qualities of Sea Dragon bloodline. That was a perfect bloodline for somebody living in the depths underwater where this group likely survived.

And the oceans were so poorly explored it wouldn't take much of an inscription to have hidden them this entire time.

"I see, Princess. Have you come to take the Trial of Kings or, as you said, take up a ruler's mantle?" I asked.

"It will not be a king but a queen," she insisted. "Now, do you stand in my way? Or will we have to force our way past?" She gripped her helmet even more tightly.

I stared at her and then at the Trial of Kings behind me, remembering the one statue that all my previous life's kings had seen empty. Looking back at the princess in front of me, I smiled.

"You're more than welcome. I've been using the front section of the trials as a place to train my forces. After all, unlike you"—I glanced over at her men who appeared to have had a way to mass-initiate their people before The Rapture—"many of ours didn't get initiated until the hell gates arrived."

She nodded thoughtfully and this time looked relieved. "I understand.” There was still a bit of hesitation from her.

“Do you have confidence in pushing through the statues to the end?” I asked while also probing to see how much she knew about the trial.

“I should be able to reach it. There is no need to halt your exercise.” She stood proud.

"On the contrary, we'd love you to join it. With our forces together, we can certainly push through the first phase of the trial," I said with a grin. It would be a good chance for me to test my own forces. Besides, I wasn’t sure her people were enough to push through the trial as it was.

This time the princess frowned at me.

"To pass the first trial, you must show you have either the singular strength to be a kingdom in your own right or have a kingdom supporting you." I gestured behind me. "You need an army to pass."

She glanced behind her at the soldiers stacked out in rows, all of them in gleaming blue armor, looking fit for a battlefield. "I have an army."

"Not one big enough. For this, I would happily help combine forces." I suspected that when she had attempted the same in my previous life, she had either lost a good chunk of her men in some sort of reckless effort to get to the end or the events I had changed in this life had altered when they arrived at the trials. I highly suspected the latter. The disappearance of their hell gate likely pushed this forward. Otherwise, these forces would almost certainly have been held back to continue defending the ocean.

She glanced momentarily at her advisors. "We accept."

"Wonderful. Welcome in, then." I gestured as if I was inviting guests to my home and stepped back. The rest of my forces behind me made way for what I hoped would be future allies.

In my mind, this was the emergence of a sixth clan. The Demon Lord likely knew about them, but the rest of humanity didn't. And I was ready to create some new relationships and unite our plans.

Chapter 59

"S o." Circe stood next to me. “You're certain I can't defeat the trials?"

I turned to her slightly, trying to get a read on the real question. I now understood she had a significant desire to keep up with me, and everything I was doing was making that harder and harder. If I passed the Trial of Kings, it would be nearly impossible for her to catch up.

There were a few others in my past life who had managed to come up to be the same level as the kings, at least when they were alive. But they were few and far between, often having fantastic bloodline and class pairings, similar to Nyx. One of the reasons I was so determined to keep Nyx progressing was knowing that kind of pairing would often give rise to incredible power one day.

I worked to keep any of my thoughts from my face as Circe waited for my answer.

"Perhaps I'm just a touch greedy, and I don't want to lose you. I think knowing you a little better, there's definitely a chance you could succeed. But again, I don't want to risk anyone," I answered.

She glanced down the hall where our forces were squaring up and beginning to push through the stone soldiers. Our people were concentrated to only a third of the hall, pushing through like a spearhead, fanning out to protect those who pushed farther up from nearby statues that were coming to life. The hardest part was pulling our forces in at the rear without them getting too bogged down by the statues respawning behind them.

"Really?" Circe said, a light kindling in her eyes.

"Yes, really.” I turned to the broader group. Nearby were Simone, Circe, Merlin, Gloria, and Nyx, as well as General Cao, Rogers, and Winnie. And Princess Almeria was with us as well. She held herself with a sort of regal poise but cautious, as if she was expecting a dagger in the back.

“Many of you have the potential to pass, but it is far from any guarantee. Many who try will die,” I told her honestly.

“And what would that do to humanity?” Simone asked, turning away from watching the Mul Branova to join our conversation.

"It's the kind of power that we'll need, if not today then eventually. Are you going to push through here?" Nyx asked. Apparently, everyone was just going to listen in on the conversation.

"No. First off, my bloodline is still incomplete.” It was currently demoted to an SSS Golden Titan. It had been downgraded to SSS when I made the tournament's prize, and I was still hoping to restore it. The ball of bloodlines I had been generating for that had been used to upgrade many of the Mul Branova who had defended the fortress. In the end, upgrading their bloodlines and consuming them may have actually been better for me.

I would need to restore it if I were to ever work on my Primordial Titan physique. It was locked, and I assumed that meant it would not rank up any further until I restored that particular bloodline. Perhaps then I would feel more comfortable entering the Trial of Kings, especially if I could get my resistances higher. You could never have too much resistance.

"It is a shame you don't feel comfortable taking up a mantle," Princess Almeria said, where once again it was clear that everyone was listening to the conversation.

"I am not in my best condition, and I have been using my resources to improve my troops over myself. So don't worry, you won't be the only ruler for long," I promised.

She smirked. "The world doesn't need many. You shouldn't wait too long."

I chuckled. "After you're done, I'm sure it'll have room for at least a few more."

The forces continued to push forward. The lines of stone soldiers had made it to the bronze. At this point, the formation became even more tightly packed. Everyone was crushing together as they tried to hold off the sudden tidal surge of metallic soldiers pressing in on all sides.

Several people in my group cast a glance my way. When I didn't so much as react, they breathed more easily and simply waited. And the wait wasn't long.

All of the forces had a sudden excitement under the pressure of the bronze soldiers. The push forward had a hunger and urgency to it that could not be ignored.

We began moving forward at a clipped, hurried pace, almost frantic. The soldiers shoved the metallic ones aside, sometimes not even finishing them before passing through more quickly. They had begun understanding this trial was not focused on killing statues; it was simply about getting past the statues.

The Mul Branova focused on healing and protecting those on the exterior of the formation.

Others began to pick up on the strategies. Statues that were staggered by the man in front of them were shoved aside even harder by the man behind him. As one and all, the army began to move even more like a spearhead, and this time, they were close to a spear actually penetrating flesh.

"We're picking up," the princess said, sounding surprised and hopeful.

"Now that they realize it's not about destroying the statues,” Simone said, trying to look at me, "right?"

"Yep." I shrugged. "At least they figured out the trick."

Circe glanced at me. "If you knew it, why didn't you tell us?"

"Either way, it's good training," I replied casually.

"Will we participate at all?" Circe asked, her eyes fixed on the fight ahead.

"Pay more attention to the fight than our conversation. When we get to the gold, we'll throw ourselves at the tip of the spear for one final push," I answered before glancing at the princess standing beside me. "I assume you have some idea what you're facing." I waited.

She shook her head back and forth rapidly, and I let out a heavy sigh.

"The Trial of Kings," I began. "You're going to lose some of your memory, or it's going to get foggy. But essentially, inside there, you're going to be tested to see if you deserve the power. I can't speak to what exactly you're going to face. It seems to be different for every person. But it'll be yours to deal with. You can't prepare much besides perhaps being raised like one day you're going to have to be a queen."

When I said those words, a smirk slid across her lips. And I had guessed that those words would help settle her for what was to come. For her to have known this location, somebody had mentored her to some extent.

Perhaps her ancestors knew far more than the Heros Clan.

I was deeply curious about where a dragonling came from underneath the sea, but if I had to guess, they had their own equivalent of the five beasts that founded the five clans. So perhaps theirs was a real dragon, unlike the fake in the Heros Clan.

By the way she held herself, I had known instantly that someone had prepared her from birth, likely instilling all the qualities that would likely be tested. I wasn't saying that she would certainly survive, but it seemed like she had good odds.

"Since our whole forces don't need to reach the door, only you do, we’ll make the final push on our own, get you to the door, and then immediately retreat. I don't want our people to get caught up in the middle of the never-ending army," I told her.

The princess's eyes shone with understanding. "Of course. That is a wise approach," she said, dipping her head. "Thank you for your wisdom."

I grunted noncommittally and gestured for everyone to focus forward because we were already beginning to push into the silver statues, and our time to move would happen soon. I drew my sword, leaning forward as our forces began to push into the silver soldiers.

After a few more moments, I started walking, slowly but assuredly, towards the looming doors that would be the next stage of the trial ahead of us.

I passed by soldiers from all of our factions, fighting hard, gritting their teeth, and pushing themselves to their utmost.

Meanwhile, my group followed closely behind me, moving our way up the formation as it stabbed through the silver statues.

I reached the tip of our army just in time for it to brush against the golden statues. I held my fist high, calling out with a boom, "Hold!"

Everyone planted their feet and fought the silver soldiers. Thankfully, we outnumbered them by keeping our formation so tight.

I drew a Bloodiron Blade and charged straight into the golden statues, the first group of them coming to life and jumping to block my way. I didn't pay them any mind, letting my Blood Boil ability swell my muscles as I simply shoved through them.

Even for me, the golden soldiers weren't easy to dispatch. If this required actually eliminating each and every one of them, I would struggle before too long under the never-ending tide.

But that was not the goal of this trial. Just as I had instructed my soldiers to do, I shoved the golden statues out of the way, using abilities and brute strength to send them flying so I could move through to the next group.

Circe and Merlin were just behind me, using their wind and ice to try to part the crowd. But even then, the golden statues were heavy enough to hunker down and weather their attacks, stalling instead of flying.

"Now!" I turned to the princess.

She nodded and charged through, unsheathing a sword and roaring more like a general trying to rally her troops. It was very performative, but perhaps that was how she'd been taught. She charged up behind me as I made a thin and hopefully very quick line to the door.

Several others followed me, creating the space. But a few stepped further forward than expected.

I looked back, my attention snapping to one specifically.

Winnie was there, and her eyes were locked on the door ahead. She threw herself into the fight with a reckless abandon that I had seen many times before.

I shouted at Winnie. “Get back!”

But she shook her head. “I've made it this far. I'm not turning back," she told me.

Only then did the others realize we had a Winnie-sized problem on our hands. If we continued supporting the princess in getting to the doors, we would lose Winnie.

"Princess, you're on your own for the rest of the way. We have to turn back." I went to snatch Winnie and stop her from throwing her life away.

Only for the woman to remind me of her speed. She blurred to the side to avoid my grasp, her weapon flashing out. She managed to scratch my arm. "You said this is the kind of power we need to kill the Demon Lord? Well, then I'm going to get it myself!" Winne screamed, clearly losing her ability to form rational thought.

I spat a curse under my breath. "You're going to get yourself killed. Get back.” My voice became a growl.

Yet once again, Winnie slipped away to make her way towards the door.

I was done playing. I threw up a Crimson Barrier to push her off course, but she evaded it once more.

Then she activated an ability that split her into nine forms, all of which attacked me at once.

I used Soul Gaze to try and pierce the illusions, only to realize they weren't an illusion. These were true clones. I swung my sword, slicing through many of them, only to have several scythes stab into me from various angles, each of them like their own little hook to keep me in place.

Winnie was messing in areas she did not understand, and she could mess it all up. "You have been kind, Lord Bran"—she nodded her head in acknowledgment—"but the world has not been kind to me. I would rather take a chance and die than live another day in the same world as him."

The princess paused, assessing the situation before her advisors began shouting at her to go. They waved her on.

I nodded the same.

This was our problem, not hers.

One of the Winnies made a break for it and dove toward the Trial of Kings.

I gritted my teeth, preparing for the pain that was about to come. I pushed forward, allowing the scythes that the clones had been using like hooks to rip themselves out of me as I threw myself to stop her from reaching the doors.

She was far too important for me to let her throw herself away.

I explosively shot forward putting all my strength into a single leap, grabbing her just before the gate. "I will find you another solution," I promised, though anger still seeped through my voice.

She struggled against my grasp, but when it came to strength, I had her outmatched by a fair margin. And given how slippery she had been to grab in the first place, I was not letting up at all.

Some of the others turned back like the job was done, and I could see just how raw Winnie’s desperation was to get her hands on any tool she could to kill the Demon Lord.

When I saw a flash of regret in her eyes, I thought for a moment it was the regret of giving up.

But she proved me wrong yet again, hurling a bright red ball behind me. It exploded in a fiery cascade that scorched my back, piercing through my fire resistance. It sent me hurtling forward as a sickening feeling gripped my gut. Her move had not been to immobilize me or move me out of the way. That move had been to propel us forward.

And forward was only one thing: the trial.

Epilogue

I staggered to my feet in an empty void, unsure where I was given everything around me was nearly pitch black. But when I held my hands up in front of me and wiggled my fingers, I could see them clearly despite the lack of light.

Suddenly, a speck of green off in the distance began to swirl and spin, growing closer and closer.

The last thing I could recall was being thrown into the Trial of Kings by Winnie when she’d used an explosive to push us through the door. I was starting to really regret recruiting her. I’d known her anger towards the Demon Lord would align our interests together, and her power would make for a valuable asset, but I hadn’t considered how much that anger would become a liability.

The green light spun closer and closer until it turned into a figure that began to swirl and grow into a beautiful young woman with startling green hair and flowers growing in between her locks. She came to a stop in front of me. She looked friendly, a giant smile spreading across her face.

"My Wandering King!" she screamed and threw herself onto me.

I blinked and tried to use Soul Gaze, but my ability didn't work. Wherever I was, there was not even the flit of a system. I stared at the young woman in front of me, baffled.

"You know, you're my favorite, Wandering King. There were the others. Shadow King. She was really nice and broody. The Tyrant King? Well, as you can expect, that didn't go off very well in the end. But you, the Wandering King? The best. So when you tried to go back and start again..." She shook her head back and forth. "I may have fudged the numbers. It's not going to work again, though. My mother caught onto what I had done, and she's pissed. Father, too, but he's just so busy he has no time to be angry with me."

I blinked, staring at the young woman, a thought starting to bubble up but seeming nearly impossible. "Are you the system?"

She grinned up at me. "Oh, come on. That's not what you call me." She wagged a finger.

I raised an eyebrow but decided to appease this woman. "Sissy, is that you?"

"Ta-da!" she said, spinning around and throwing her hands in the air. The black space dissolved into what could only be described as paradise. It was a floating island with ripe fruit trees all around, a waterfall cascading into a pond with a permanent rainbow coming out of the mist.

"Don't worry. I'll give you your title as the Wandering King again. You just have to sit here for a couple of months and make it look like it took some effort." She did a little dance and gave a nod like she had solved a puzzle.

"Not a chance. I'll need to be back as soon as possible," I told her.

Sissy's smile dropped. "But then you'll have to go through the trial again. It'll be a real trial, Bran. And the trial depends on the person. When you did it the first time, you were a very different person than you are now."

"So I'll just have to pass it again," I said, crossing my arms. "I simply don't have time to spend here while the rest of the people are in danger. Have you been paying attention at all to what's been happening in the outside world?"

Sissy cocked her head to the side. "Of course, I have been. There's nothing that passes on Planet 00496 without me seeing. And I'm well aware that the demons are trying to corrupt me. And if that happens, well, poof ." She threw her hands out to the side. "Poof. Yes, your dear Sissy will be destroyed. I mean, I might have had some personal interest as to why I sent you back last time."

She hesitated and ground a foot into the mossy floor beneath us. "And I may have also been punished quite heavily for sending you back. Not to mention that small little gift I managed to squeeze through for you on your bloodline, only for you to give it away. By the way, don't try to make a different one, just regain it. I don't want to have to go to my mother for authorization again. I'm already in deep shit."

"Your mother?" I asked, wondering who could give birth to the system.

"Oh, yeah. If you pay attention to those messages, she's 003. I can't say her actual name." Sissy glanced around, looking as if the sky might come down and assault her. "She's a little bitter about being number three. Dad's number one. But he doesn't use his authority very much." She shrugged.

I was not even trying to understand everything she was saying. I just needed to get her to send me into the trial so I could get back to my women. "Well, regardless, I will just have to take the trials again," I said, staring down the system, Sissy, who I now had confirmation was a real living being. And that living being was looking very nervous at the moment.

Her smile cracked, and she snapped her fingers. A large number of attractive women who looked vaguely like her appeared all over the paradise as a waterfall turned into whiskey and soaked through all of their clothes. "How about you stay here, and we just give you the Wandering King title? Really, I just hid it anyway." She snapped her fingers again.

Without even needing to check my system, I could feel the power that had been given to me with the title swell back in me.

"See? All yours. You just need to wait here for a little bit. I'll be here to keep you company. Well, from time to time. I'm decently busy. Especially with all of the spatial anomalies and those parasites pushing for all sorts of strange oddities in the system." She rolled her eyes. "That's what you get for injecting literal embodiments of chaos into the system of order." She tsked. "Now, just sit here and relax."

During her babbling, I noticed a door that was carefully hidden behind the waterfall. I began marching towards it, ignoring the gaggle of women swimming in the lake at the base of the waterfall, beckoning for me to join them.

"No, no, no, where do you think you're going? These ladies, they're lovely!" Sissy tried to cling on to me and stop me from entering. Strangely, despite all of the power she had with the system, she couldn't seem to do more than be dragged along with each of my strides.

"That door looks like the ones in the trial," I said, continuing my march.

"But you don't understand, Bran, it's not the same trial. You can't simply charge in there and expect it to go like last time. It's going to be much, much harder." Her smile strained.

"My apologies, Sissy, but I will go. And I will go with the knowledge that my success not only determines my life but so many others. I now understand yours included. If the demons take over and terraform this world, you'll die." I pushed.

She shook her head. "Worse than death. My family will likely come down here and put me out of my misery. So, I guess death isn't inaccurate. You’re my hope, though. I brought you back because you were the best."

I winced. "Then I understand. And I'm still going. Trust me to be the best again."

She finally relented, looking lost and forlorn.

There wasn’t time for that. I walked around the edge of the waterfall, using my arm to shield my face as I pushed through and stepped into the Trial of Kings proper.

*****

The explosion blasted everybody near the doors to the trial back. Circe got up quickly, about to use her wind to charge her towards Bran, only to find that he was gone, and Winnie was nowhere to be seen.

The princess had been caught up in the blast but quickly snapped back to her feet, even with one arm dangling uselessly to her side. Not even hesitating, she activated an ability, becoming a surge of water. She crashed forward and through the last line of golden statues to make her way to the doorway. The second she crossed it, she vanished.

In that moment, Circe realized she had a decision to make, an important one, one that she would desperately like more time to consider, but there was no more time.

She bit her lip, only to spot Simone rushing forward to the doorway. "What are you doing?" Circe shouted, calling on her wind to push her forward as she raced after Simone to stop the saintess.

However, the second Circe caught up to Simone, she knew the decision was made. She had never seen such calm determination on Simone’s face.

"Bran is in there, and I'm going in with him," Simone stated, staring into Circe's eyes as if daring her to argue.

"Bran was hesitant to enter,” Circe reminded her. “We can come back and attempt it again.” Circe was going through the same arguments in her head.

Simone shook her head back and forth, her hair cascading all around her. "Where Bran goes, I go. If he went in there"—she pointed at the gate, even as golden statues collapsed on them—"then I'm going in there as well."

"You're crazy," Circe said, finally feeling a touch of fear as they stood far too close to the Trial of Kings, one that Bran had made sure she understood could break her.

Simone smiled a touch too wide. "Of course I am. I'm crazy for Bran." Simone turned and ran straight into the trial without hesitation.

Circe didn't even know if she should stop Simone or not. In fact, Circe admired the woman. So much determination, so much willpower to go after exactly what she wanted.

Circe still couldn't make up her mind, only to turn back and realize it had been made up for her. Though their forces had rushed forward and speared through the golden statues, it seemed that after the princess went through, her entourage had pulled back.

Merlin, Nyx, and Gloria were unable to keep the path back open and had been forced to retreat.

That left a wall of golden spears pressing in around her. Circe had nowhere to go but into the trials.

Before she stepped inside, she pulled out a piece of paper. She backed away from the golden statues, scribbling a note on the paper. She then stuffed it into the collar of her toga before retreating from the statues and into the trial itself.

"I hope I don't regret this," she said as everything vanished around her.

Afterword

Hello!

It's your wonderful author here, Bruce Sentar. Phew this book was big, but I got it out in time. We'll spend a chunk of the next book in the Trial of Kings, I have the whole thing planned. I have a strong direction for this series and will keep at it.

Next up is Dungeon Diving 301. The Kickstarter's bonus content ended up being about a quarter of a book, but that's done and polished now I just have to twiddle my thumbs and continue sleeving the cards while I wait for those to print and ship.

Webcomics are still being worked on, keeping my mouth shut on those until I have a release date from Webtoons because the process has been more out of my hands than I anticipated.

Otherwise, things are well. The boys are healthy and my youngest is starting to talk. That certainly makes a lot of things easier once you can communicate.

I'm mostly buckling down and keeping myself writing. A few craft things are being worked on for overall story structure and trying to push a little more descriptiveness into my books. Consistency across these long series is always a challenge, but I'm also trying to force myself to take more notes when I edit. I don't know what I'd do without my patreons coughing into their hands and reminding me that I already named something 3 books ago offhandedly and forgot about it.

Please, if you enjoyed the book, leave a review.

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Legendary Rule – Complete Series

Ajax Demos finds himself lost in society. Graduating shortly after artificial intelligence is allowed to enter the workforce; he can’t get his career off the ground. But when one opportunity closes, another opens. Ajax gets a chance to play a brand new Immersive Reality game. Things aren’t as they seem. Mega Corps hover over what appears to be a simple game. However, what he does in the game seems to affect his body outside.

But that isn’t going to make Ajax pause when he finally might just get that shot at becoming a professional gamer. Join Ajax and Company as they enter the world of Legendary Rule.

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A Mage’s Cultivation – Complete Series

In a world where mages and monster grow from cultivating mana. Isaac joins the class of humans known as mages who absorb mana to grow more powerful. To become a mage he must bind a mana beast to himself to access and control mana. But when his mana beast is far more human than he expected; Isaac struggles with the budding relationship between the two of them as he prepares to enter his first dungeon.

Unfortunately for Isaac, he doesn’t have time to ponder the questions of his relationship with Aurora. Because his sleepy town of Locksprings is in for a rude awakening, and he has to decide which side of the war he is going to stand on.

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The First Immortal – Complete Series

Darius Yigg was a wanderer, someone who’s never quite found his place in the world, but maybe he’s not supposed to be here…Ripped from our world, Dar finds himself in his past life’s world, where his destiny was cut short. Reignited, the wick of Dar’s destiny burns again with the hope of him saving Grandterra.

To do that, he’ll have to do something no other human of Grandterra has done before, walk the dao path. That path requires mastering and controlling attributes of the world and merging them to greater and greater entities. In theory, if he progressed far enough, he could control all of reality and rival a god.

He won’t be in this alone. As a beacon of hope for the world, those from the ancient races will rally around Dar to stave off the growing Devil horde.

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Saving Supervillains – Complete Series

A former villain is living a quiet life, hidden among the masses. Miles has one big secret: he might just be the most powerful super in existence.

Those days are behind him. But when a wounded young lady unable to control her superpower needs his help, she shatters his boring life, pulling him into the one place he least expected to be—the Bureau of Superheroes.

Now Miles has an opportunity to change the place he has always criticized as women flock to him, creating both opportunity and disaster.

He is about to do the strangest thing a Deputy Director of the Bureau has ever done: start saving Supervillains.

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Dragon's Justice

Have you ever felt like there was something inside of you pushing your actions? A dormant beast, so to speak. I know it sounds crazy.

But, that’s the best way I could describe how I’ve felt for a long time. I thought it was normal, some animal part of the human brain that lingered from evolution. But this is the story of how I learned I wasn’t exactly human, and there was a world underneath our own where all the things that go bump in the night live. And that my beast was very real indeed.

Of course, my first steps into this new unknown world are full of problems. I didn’t know the rules, landing me on the wrong side of a werewolf pack and in a duel to the death with a smug elf.

But, at least, I have a few new friends in the form of a dark elf vampiress and a kitsune assassin as I try to figure out just what I am and, more importantly, learn to control it.

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Dungeon Diving

The Dungeon is a place of magic and mystery, a vast branching, underground labyrinth that has changed the world and the people who dare to enter its depths. Those who brave its challenges are rewarded with wealth, fame, and powerful classes that set them apart from the rest.

Ken was determined to follow the footsteps of his family and become one of the greatest adventurers the world has ever known. He knows that the only way to do that is to get into one of the esteemed Dungeon colleges, where the most promising young adventurers gather.

Despite doing fantastic on the entrance exam, when his class is revealed, everyone turns their backs on him, all except for one.

The most powerful adventurer, Crimson, invites him to the one college he never thought he’d enter. Haylon, an all girls college.

Ken sets out to put together a party and master the skills he'll need to brave the Dungeon's endless dangers. But he soon discovers that the path ahead is far more perilous than he could have ever imagined.

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There are of course a number of communities where you can find similar books.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/haremlit

https://www.facebook.com/groups/HaremGamelit

And other non-harem specific communities for Cultivation and LitRPG.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WesternWuxia

https://www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPGsociety

https://www.facebook.com/groups/cultivationnovels