Our elation matching hers, Yue connected our minds to Siv's and we strode toward her at a brisk pace.
"Sir!" she almost shouted upon seeing me. She matched my pace and met me in the middle, where I caught the flash of surprise on her face as I swept her in full hug and stole her lips.
My hand went around her head and found her fluffy ear while she came to her senses and responded in kind, her own arms locking around my neck.
We shared the lip lock for however long it took both of us to be satisfied before breaking apart, immediately sending the blushing tiger a mental "good girl."
Her tail which had already grown hyperactive kicked things up a notch, and boy did I love that sight. I don't think I'd ever grow tired of watching the effect I had on this woman.
"Is everyone okay?" I asked, getting nods all around. "Great. Now for the metamorphosis magic. I wonder how the labyrinth will give it to us."
Yue and I reached for our compasses at the same time, but before we could engage them, we heard some crack. We all turned and found the tree in the center of Siv' trial room splitting open to reveal a staircase that led downwards.
In wordless unison, we followed the revealed path without hesitation, our steps brisk and confident as we travelled the length of the dimly lit corridor. After five minutes of this, we arrived at a dead end.
It was an ice wall with another of the liberator's crests engraved on it, glowing with white light.
"It's a teleportation circle," said Yue.
"This is the end," I said, unbelievably relieved.
"We're finally getting out of this place," Siv added.
"Mn."
Choosing to go first just in case of anything, I touched the glowing crest and appeared in a wide open room. Not even a moment later, the girls joined me in taking in the make of the room.
Everything was made of ice, from the ceiling, to the walls, and even the gigantic pillars that supported this place. Unlike the rest of the ice architecture though, the pillars were completely transparent.
They enhanced the opulence of the room. When paired with the body of water in the center that bubbled and steamed like a hotspring, it was not hard to deduce that this was where Vandree Schnee called home.
"Let's find the magic circle and get out of here. I don't know about you girls but I've grown a bit tired of the cold."
'And I loved the cold too. Damn you liberators.'
With our combined efforts and infallible compasses, it didn't take long for Yue and I to find our targets despite the size of Schnee's palace, as we'd come to discover.
Unlike Oscar's simple style mansion, Vandree Schnee went full tilt in the opposite direction, designing his home to be as extravagant and lavish as possible.
Having done this song and dance enough times to know the drill, the three of us stepped onto the most complicated and detailed magic circle we found and braced ourselves for the brain blasting.
We all remained on our feet, our repeated exposure to this process giving us the needed strength to endure it. Once my vision cleared up and I could move without feeling like I'd fall, I looked to my left and right and asked, "Both of you got it right?"
Nods all around. Good.
"Babe, take us home," I said, conveying my exact meaning mentally.
[Rick-Updated Skills]
Reverse Cursed Technique, Cursed Tool Creation, Increased Cursed Energy Output, Black Flash, Simple Domain, Domain Amplification, High Speed Cursed Energy Recovery, Increased Cursed Energy Efficiency, Heavenly Restriction, *Metamorphosis: Shapeshifting, basically. Lightning Resistance, Night Vision, Poison Resistance , Paralysis Resistance, Petrification Resistance, Fear Resistance, All Elemental Resistance
[/spoiler]
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Walking down the streets of Ankaji in the nighttime reinforced my decision to settle down here once things calmed down.
The city that looked breathtaking and refreshing in the day somehow managed to look more impressive when the only sources of light were street lamps, illumination crystals lining the streets, and the bulbs brightening up most people's front porches.
"At this point, the only way I can get chocolate is to travel to another world," I said while thinking about Hajime's original world and Tortus' utter lack of the sweet and addictive cocoa products.
Both hands in my pockets, I moved at a leisurely pace in fresh, loose, and comfortable clothing, the slippers I'd replaced my boots with barely making noise as I went on a leisurely walk with the girls.
They were dressed—not similarly—but in more comfortable wear as well, no tightness to be found anywhere on them.
"Do you want to return?" Yue asked.
"To my old world?"
She nodded.
"I don't think I can, but if I could, yes. I'd like to see my parents and friends. Let them know I'm alive and okay."
Yue interlocked her fingers with mine and smiled at me, a reassuring and comforting thing. I returned the gesture and then looked straight, my feet not stopping as my other hands searched for Siv's own.
"Sir," she said as we interlocked fingers, "I know you've already said Beastmen don't exist in your world, but I want to know more."
"You can ask me anything," I said and kissed her hand.
"Is everyone there… strong like you?"
I fought to hold back a chuckle. "Nope. My world is completely nor–no, not normal, mundane. No supernatural powers exist there. Maybe they do, but humans haven't recorded tangible evidence of their existence, barring some strange and unexplained things."
"What kind of things?" the tigress asked, intrigued.
"Well, I had this friend in college. He was from Africa. Crazy smart guy. Dude would always go on about witches, wizards, juju, miracles, and a lot of other things most Americans considered nonsense."
The tiger's confusion couldn't be more obvious. I turned to look at her. "America is the country I'm from. Think of it like a kingdom, but the people choose who leads them. At least… that's how it should be. Most of the world's countries are this way."
Yue and Siv nodded, prompting me to continue. "So this guy right, he's in America to attend college, and he's having a major shock, he can't believe it. Me and all of our mutual friends, and most other people, don't believe in the supernatural at all. We don't believe that it exists.
He didn't try to convince us by doing anything weird or voodooey, but I think he expected his stories to convince us. According to him, growing up around this stuff was normal.
Even as kids, he and his friends would threaten to curse the other if they'd been wronged and couldn't take revenge the normal way. Those never worked, he himself clarified, considering he was still alive and he'd been cursed many times.
But there were instances where adults would utter these curses or go to Juju men for aid in putting these curses and hexes on people who'd wronged them or people they just plain didn't like.
By his own words, it was more of the latter, most at times due to jealousy or greed. That part of his story I believed.
So anyway, one of the stories he told us was about a man who cursed his own brother. You see, back in his country in some tribes, when a man dies or his wife dies along with him, anything he leaves behind goes to his brother, not his children."
Yue and Siv frowned, the nature of that arrangement clearly not sitting well with them.
"That was my reaction too. It gets worse though. If the wife is still alive, she doesn't become a widow. She goes to the brother too. She becomes his wife.
So for my friend, it was rare, but not so much, to see husbands die and leave behind everything for their brothers to swoop in and take all their hard work. He'd personally seen 4 of such occurrences growing up.
And no one ever stopped them. The man would have the full support of his extended family and community.
In the case of the one who cursed and killed his own brother, he didn't even 'keep' his brother's wife and children for long. He kicked them out after a few months, another thing which was fairly common and accepted in his community.
Men could just stop taking care of their family. They would not leave, they would not vanish suddenly. They'd remain in the same house and just decide that their wives and children were too much of a burden, and they'd have someone to support them in this insane decision."
I put more strength in the grip I had on the girls. "Don't you guys worry. If I ever give in to such stupid thoughts—should they ever arise, I know you'll find me in whatever hole I'm hiding in and beat some sense into me."
They both laughed, even though in our silent thoughts they both expressed the inability to attack me in such a manner. Thankfully, apart from the Metamorphosis magic, the Schnee labyrinth had been good for something; our connection.
They knew I'd never ever do such a thing to them. Not even if my life was on the line.
"He told us many other stories, most of them sounding even crazier than the last," I said, trying my best to recall said tales.
"Witches cutting off people's heads in the spirit realm and using them as soccer balls while they slept, multiple demons possessing people, especially young girls, women cursing men who wronged them by rubbing their butts on the walls of the man's house… don't laugh, I'm serious" I said when I felt the laughter bubbling up on both sides.
"It was some truly wild stuff. Another, very common thing according to him were extended family members sabotaging their brethren in the big cities with witchcraft to ensure they were not successful in anything.
This usually manifested as business ventures failing unexpectedly, inability to maintain jobs, unruly children that did terribly at school, bout after bout of illness, and the like.
Of course, the only thing he managed to achieve by telling us this was to terrify and humor us a bit. We didn't believe him at all. Especially when he talked about how pastors laid hands on people and successfully cast out demons and healed the sick.
For that one though, he actually brought proof. Multiple videos and articles. We laughed at the videos and dismissed them obviously. There were just too many ways they could be faked. But the articles though… they were about a phenomenon scientists had recorded.
Apparently, hospital patients who were prayed for recovered faster than those who received no prayers. That wasn't all though. My friend was an honest guy, you see. He showed us all the sides of that story.
Yes, there were people that got better quicker, but there were also those who remained untouched by whatever higher power was being invoked and some who fared even worse after they were prayed for.
I don't know about the others, but even with this he didn't manage to convince us. For me though, this piqued my interest in such things, making me search up more weird and strange stuff on the regular.
And boy let me tell you, there was enough that I didn't stop finding new stuff. The Earth was a much more mysterious and dangerous place than I'd imagined."
"Will you…" Siv asked, "Look for the source of these things if you ever go back?"
I thought about it for a moment before responding. "Ehh, I don't know. Maybe? I have a vampire on my right and a beastman on my left. That's enough for me… I think. Why go look for things that clearly don't want to be found?"
"Mn… you could endanger the common folk," Yue chimed in.
"Yeah," I said with a nod, one Siv mirrored in understanding. "What else do you want to know?"
"Mn… your plan to start a business. I want to know more," Yue said and flicked her eyes over to Siv. "Especially the part about having a secretary."
Ah, this. In one of our many discussions, I'd told them about what I wanted to do once Ehit was dealt with. Immediately upon hearing that I'd need some kind of assistant, Siv jumped right on it, beating Yue by milliseconds.
This led to the situation where I now had to explain exactly what a secretary did to let Siv know what she was in for and for Yue to know what had been stolen from her.
Knowing better than to favor one side and neglect the other, I merged the job descriptions of housewife and secretary together and explained them as one job but in different contexts.
"Remember what I showed you about my dream world?" I asked while referring to Yue. She nodded and I continued, "Being a secretary is not that different from being a housewife.
In both jobs, the one working has to ensure that the boss is comfortable and updated on anything they need to know to work effectively. Not only do they maintain an environment suitable for work, they respond to their every call and need asked of them.
You see the similarities?"
That sent the minds of both girls churning and I smiled, doing a mental fist pump at having successfully evaded that minefield.
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It was the night before we'd challenge the final labyrinth, and if my memory served me right, there were two ways of challenging it and obtaining the promised reward.
The first was challenging the church openly and defeating whoever came out to face us in combat. Now, not to toot my own horn, but I was certain that no one on Tortus, barring Ehit and Yue if she went scorched earth, could defeat me in single combat.
When you added the already established prowess of my busted vampire queen and the rapidly progressing tiger beastman, we could walk up to the church and steamroll whoever walked out to confront us… even if they were all apostles.
Doing that however, would draw attention, not just from the populace, but from their puppetmaster, Ehit. And I really didn't want to lose the one advantage I had over that guy.
It wasn't lost on me the insanity involved in going after him, that's why I wanted to scrape the barrel of every advantage I could find, such as hiding our existence from him till the very last moment and even convincing Miledi to join us.
To that end, I wanted the girls and I to take the second route to conquer the labyrinth, and from what I remembered, it involved tests that brainwashed the challengers into serving Ehit just to see if they could break free.
While I had no doubts about the girls' ability to see through the falsehood, especially Siv due to her status as a Beastman, I wanted Yue to know the truth about her imprisonment before we subjected ourselves to the experience.
I had kept it from her long enough.
"Babe," I said, her expression and emotions quickly shifting to match mine, the only difference being the confusion regarding the sympathy she could obviously sense. I retrieved a crystal from the Treasure Trove and handed it to her.
"When I broke you out of the sealing rock, I found this among the rubble," I said while I passed it to her, wrapping her small, delicate hands around it.
Fearful and confused, she looked up from the crystal to me and I nodded at her to go ahead, sending her feelings of support and reassurance. It lit up when she channeled her mana into it and she displayed a rare scene of intense emotion at what her actions summoned.
"Uncle?"
Standing before her was indeed her uncle, Dienleed Galdea Vesperitio Avatarl, his hardened and heart-wrenched visage fixed squarely on his niece. Frozen and tensed up from the sight, Yue's wide eyes stayed fixed on her uncle's image as he started to speak.
"Aletia. If you're seeing this, a long time must have passed. You probably hate me with all your heart now, and if there's something beyond hate, you probably feel it too.
What I did to you was—no, I'm sorry. This isn't what I wanted to say. I've thought about it endlessly, but now that I'm actually doing it, I don't know what to say."
A smile displaying nothing but sadness on his face, Yue's uncle closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. After a similar deep exhale, he opened his eyes again, calmness shining in their depths.
"First off, I'd like to express my thanks. Aletia, I imagine the one who rescued you is someone you can trust wholeheartedly. Not only are they strong enough to free you from the prison, they have the integrity to face my guardian and protect you instead of running away and leaving you behind."
Yue's hands were trembling, and I wanted nothing more than to hold her tight, but I didn't want to butt in on this private moment.
"Who are you? This person by Aletia's side. Are you a man? A woman? What does she mean to you? Are you her best friend? Her lover? Her new family? Or are you simply comrades on an adventure?"
Dienleed smiled, as if he could somehow see the life of freedom Yue lived now. "I wish I could express my gratitude in person, nevertheless, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you so much for saving my beloved niece, and being a source of support for her."
"Aletia. You must have so many questions. Do you know why I betrayed you and imprisoned you in the darkness? It is because of who you are, and who your true foe is."
From this point onward, Dienleed explained Yue's special birth and circumstances, things I already knew but were news for Yue. In order to save her from Ehit, Dienleed concocted a desperate plan where he acted like he'd grown greedy for power and used that facade to betray her and usurp the throne.
In the guise of killing her, he sealed her deep within the Orcus labyrinth, putting so many safeguards in place so Ehit wouldn't sense that she still lived. He desperately wanted to tell her, but he refrained, doubting that such deception would hold up against a god's scrutiny.
So he went ahead with the plan, keeping Yue ignorant so that her hate for him would spur her to live on and not give in to the insanity her imprisonment came with. As long as she had something to live for, even if it was hating him, he was fine with it.
"I know I don't deserve your forgiveness. I just… I just want you to believe me. This truth probably means nothing to you now, but I'd still like you to know it."
Dienleed smiled, tears welling up in his eyes, his aged expression radiating sadness and love simultaneously.
"I love you, Aletia, from the bottom of my heart. Never once did I wish for your death or suffering. You're like a daughter to me."
"Uncle... Uncle Dien. I-I love you too!"
Yue was overcome with emotion. Now that she knew for sure that the suspicion she'd had upon defeating herself in the Frost Cavern was true, she couldn't hold back her tears.
'You were like a father to me too…' she thought while her tears became a downpour.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry I had to entrust your future and safety to someone who may or may not even come. I'm a failure."
"That's not true!"
The image before them was just that… an image. Yue's words would never reach him and she knew this, but she didn't stop, even the mere thought of it was like knives in her chest.
Both father and daughter had tears in their eyes, but Dienleed kept his from spilling and continued or rather, ended his message.
"I wanted to be there as you found happiness. It was my dream to give the man who might become your husband one good punch, then go out drinking with him and tell him he better make you happy or else."
He looked off into the distance, likely thinking of a future he knew he'd never get to see.
"I'm out of time. There's more I want to say to you Aetia, but… this is the best I can do with my shoddy creation magic," Dienleed said with a self-deprecating smile.
"No, don't go. Unc—no, father!" Yue reached out toward the hologram, and I stepped forward wrapped my arm around her.
"I no longer have the right to be by your side. But so long as I'm alive, and even in death, I won't stop praying for your happiness, Aletia, my beloved daughter. May your life be filled with warmth and kindness, and may the path you walk be blessed."
"Father..."
Dienleed then looked to the side, presumably at whoever might be standing next to Yue. "Whoever you may be, please make my daughter the happiest girl in the world. That is all I ask."
"I will."
Closing in his eyes in satisfaction as though he heard the words I'd uttered, Dienleed began to fade. Yue threw herself into me as the crystal dimmed and her father uttered his last words.
"Goodbye Aletia. May you find eternal happiness."
Catching the dimmed artifact from Yue's trembling hands, I embraced her as she buried her face into me and bawled her eyes out, her tiny hands gripping my shirt for dear life.
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Safe within Oscar's sanctuary, we waited an extra day before leaving for the headquarters of the Holy Church; the Divine Mountain.
No matter how much Yue convinced me that she was okay, it just seemed wrong to jump right into another labyrinth after what happened. Maybe it was just me, and this was a really small maybe since Yue was fine on all fronts—mentally and physically—but it just didn't feel right.
No matter how masterful her control over her emotions was, everyone needed time to grieve. So we spent the whole day at my behest laying in a field of grass, the three of us clinging to each other and simply enjoying the downtime and company.
We stayed there and watched the artificial sun turn into an artificial moon. Only then did we get up and prepare, my clothes a bit damp from the silent tears not just Yue, but Siv too shed from time to time.
By this point, we'd done this song and dance many times, so our gearing up, Yue's summoning of the portal and our travel to our destination was entirely silent.
Using both of our compasses just for the extra layer of certainty, our group carefully and stealthily avoided the main cathedral and maneuvered to the group of mountains behind the one the holy structure sat on.
Nestled between their gargantuan forms was a hidden route that led straight down. Yue provided illumination when things got too dark. About half an hour of walking later, we ended up in a large room, one we quickly realised was the first floor.
Arranged in a neat formation, were a group of hundred knights constructed of light but consistent and dense enough to pass as the real thing. Even the white clothes with crosses embroidered on them waved about as they moved to encircle us.
'Take em down,' I sent to the girls and dashed forward, reinforcement in full effect and my sword still in its sheath at my hip.
I struck a knight knee first, sending him and the one at his rear careening backwards into the wall. They formed separate cracks upon impact and fell to their knees, their status as illusions allowing them to stand as if nothing at all had happened.
Stumped by their toughness but too experienced to let them recover, I was on them that same moment, pumping more cursed energy throughout my body and concentrating more of it into my fist.
BAM!
The punch I threw embedded itself into the first knight's head, went through it and then struck the wall behind him, cratering it in a wide diameter.
He turned into light motes around my fist, the sense of weight that came with his head around my fist disappearing. Right then and there the spear of the other knight hit my forearm, the tip nicking me despite how much cursed energy I had running through me.
Pulling my fist free, I seized the spear and yanked, planting my fist into the knight's midsection. From then on, I unleashed a barrage of blows too quick for him to mount any meaningful response or defense and reduced it to light particles in seconds.
Illusion after illusion fell to my fists and kicks following that, my pace at eradicating them slower than Yue but faster than Siv's. The vampire had discovered that her magic was useless against them so she took control of the ground they walked and simply buried them.
Siv's fight overall was the longest yet the most entertaining to watch since her means of combat matched that of the knights' closely. With the successful integration of spatial magic into her skillset, she was untouchable and progressing nicely towards the near unbeatable status Yue and I shared.
She weaved between the spears, swords, and shields, all enchanted with magic nullifying effects while landing hits non-stop. Hits that did little damage despite her strength and the volume of attacks.
Still, we let her have her fun. This was good practice, and it's not like we were in a hurry. This was the final labyrinth, we could afford to take a little time and milk it for what it was worth.
The number of floors this labyrinth had was not mentioned in any of Oscar's books, and my metaknowledge had nothing to provide on the matter. One saving grace was the fact that it was nowhere near as long as Oscar's.
It kinda made sense, since the primary purpose of this one was to test how well one could resist Ehit, not in terms of body possession but rather worship of and loyalty to him.
Once Siv had her fill and notified us, Yue swallowed the rest of the knights up and the way to the next floor was revealed. Curious about what lay ahead, we climbed down the stairs without hesitation only to end up in a room similar to the one we just vacated.
Unlike that one though, only ten knights awaited us, and none had helmets on. Their faces and the hate and contempt they wore was plastered on their faces like neon signposts.
"Heretics! Surrender to Lord Ehit and pray for his forgiveness so his light may shine upon you."
I'd have done a double take if I didn't know this labyrinth's deal.
"How about, no?"
"You dare defy Lord Ehito," the aged pope, whose beard was so long it went the entire length of his torso, said from his throne. "Templar knights, show them why mortals should not go against their god."
"HA!" The knights roared in unison and dashed forward.
With our own wordless charge we met them head on, me with my sword finally free, Yue with her construct dragons, and Siv growing to a height that would discourage most men.
Yue alone took on four of the zealots while Siv and I equally shared the remainder. The Darksword whirled about in a blur around me as I danced, twisted, dodged, and parried the endless series of attacks both physical and magical.
If it were one on one, none of these screaming fanatics would last a minute against me, even with their even stronger armor, weapons, and equipment.
When they worked together like this though, the only way to hurt one was to let an attack hit me so I could land a successful one. Or that would've normally been the case if I were a normal person.
'Girls, be careful,' I warned and sent a mental heads up of the kind of attack I was about to unleash.
As soon as I got the go ahead, I did a full 360 spin and swung the sword along, the cursed energy I'd pumped into it tracing a thin purple line around me before expanding rapidly, the slash nearly forming a full circle like I'd wanted it to be.
Clearly, I needed more practice with it, but this was enough.
All the knights in the room were caught in the radius, the ones closest to me getting the worst of it. Their torsos slid off their lower bodies before the six separated parts dissolved into the light.
Two of the knights desperately fending off the breaths of Yue's dragons didn't get bisected, but the injury caused by the slash made them falter.
The golden and icy blue breadths took advantage of the gap in their defenses and consumed their forms completely, ravaging where they stood long enough for the familiar light motes to be visible within the maelstrom of elemental energies.
None of the knights tangling with Siv were harmed enough by the slash for her to earn a clean hit, but that didn't matter. Assured that Yue would finish off the rest of her opponents in no time, I darted to Siv's side and took some of the pressure off her shoulders.
On her request, I 'stole' just one of the knights away, leaving her with two. That was when the singing started. After a quick parry followed by a kick to earn some breathing room, I looked toward the pope and the three bishops singing along with him.
Their song, which sounded like a hymn when it picked up, hit me like a physical thing. The constant surge of strength I felt when reinforcement was active wilted like a flower in the desert, the drastic change making me stumble and stagger backwards.
Out of the corner of my vision, the knight I was supposed to be fighting pointed his sword at me, the yellow lightning crackling over it leaping towards me like a bucket sized laser.
I thought it was the experience with the wolves all over again, but it was much much worse. The electricity didn't just drop me, my clothes and skin caught fire like they were flammable things.
'Rick!'
'Focus on the pope!'
'No Rick, Siv!'
Finally noticing that I could no longer sense the tigress' thoughts, I fought through the pain and activated Reverse Cursed Technique. The agony melted away like snow in the midday sun as my eyeballs regrew in their sockets.
What they picked up and transmitted to me filled me with so much fear and rage that I discarded the thought to deal with the electric knight and rather pounced on the duo about to kill Siv, crawling like a beast toward her.
Back in her normal size with her shield arm detached at the shoulder and her tail laying on the ground, Siv struggled to hold on to consciousness despite the blood pooling beneath her and the sword that had pierced her chest all the way through.
Directing more reverse cursed energy to my hand while I launched my fist forward, the knight who held a growing orb of fire right beside my girl's head got a faceful of freshly healed flesh and dense cursed energy that jerked his head to the side and bounced it on the wall nearby.
Stunned beyond words, the knight lost control of his firebomb and it unravelled, enveloping not just him, but me, Siv, and his partner in the explosion.
Within the epicenter of this no doubt, mushroom cloud, I hugged Siv tight and channeled RCT into her while cranking up reinforcement without stopping, not just to withstand the explosion, but to fight back against the active draining being done by the hymn.
Slowly, Siv regained her strength and hugged me in return, the sensation of both her arms and the strength in them filling me with relief beyond words.
There was another loud explosion followed by the sudden stop of the hymns. No longer weighed down by anything, the true effects of reinforcement shot up and filled me with unbelievable strength.
Scared that I might snap the tiger in half, I quickly dialled it back down and felt a strong gust of wind hit the both of us and clear away the dust, smoke and debris.
Yue floated down to meet us and I freed one arm to welcome her in. She joined us in the hug and I said something I should've said long ago.
"I love you guys. I don't care if we haven't known each other for long. All I know is, if any of you were to die… "
Yue silenced me with her lips, communicating in the way she best knew how. We pulled away from each other, reassured of the other's undying affection and I turned to Siv, who wasted no time in declaring her own affections.
"I love you too sir."
We joined our lips after that and made each other know the depths of those words.