WIEDERGEBURT Act II: Chapter 46

 It took Kari and Fay ten minutes to reach the Imperial Royal Palace from the amphitheater. While that still felt like a long time to her, Kari understood that it generally took about two hours to reach home from the amphitheater if they traveled by carriage. The amphitheater was about 54 kilometers away. Given that, the amount of time it took her and Fay to reach her home was impressive.

Their appearance must have startled the servants. Garret, who’d been standing by the doorway when they rushed in, let out a startled yelp.

“Mistress Kari, what is going on?!” he asked.

“Demon Beasts are attacking Nevaria!” Kari said in a hurry, even as she and Fay raced up the stairs. “Hurry up and inform everyone in the palace about what’s happening! Tell them to lock everything down and prepare for potential combat! Also! Have someone prepare Mother’s battle outfit and send it to her!”

“D-Demon Beasts?! So that alarm was—I understand, Mistress Kari! Please leave everything here to us!” Garret recovered from his shock admirably and made haste to do as he was told.

Kari barely paid attention to Garret’s response as she and Fay dashed into the hallway. Fay was preceding her as she turned a corner and rushed toward the door that led to Eryk’s room. She burst in. Kari followed close behind and found Fay already rifling through the chest where Eryk kept all of his alchemy pills.

“Found them.” Fay held up a bag of pills, tossed them to Kari, and then reached in and grabbed another bag of pills. She stood up as Kari caught the bag she’d tossed. “Now we just need to get dressed and grab our weapons.” She looked down at her clothes. “I can’t move very well in this.”

“Yeah,” Kari agreed. “Me neither.”

After traveling out the door and down the stairs, Kari and Fay ran into her bedroom, which she now thought of as their bedroom. Both of their battle uniforms, aka their armor, had been placed within her closet. Kari was quick to strip out of her clothes, open the closet door, and begin pulling out the outfit she used for battle.

Kari slid on her white and blue blouse, black stockings, and brown boots. Then she put on the light leather chestplate, attached her vambraces, and made sure the gloves on her hand were snug and secure. It only took a few seconds to put on, and then she was grabbing Fay’s clothes and armor next.

“Fay, I’ve got your clothes!”

Kari turned around to find that Fay was wearing nothing but her laced underwear and breast bindings. However, she had also grabbed Kari’s ranseur and her gauntlets, which she set to the side in exchange for the clothes.

Deciding to help Fay get ready faster, Kari helped the redhead put on her inner tube shirt, and then her sleeveless vest with the long ends that trailed down to her ankles. By that point, her friend had already slid on her black pants and stockings. It was easy for Kari to cinch up the belt around her waist, and then the smaller one under her chest, before sliding on the black shirtless sleeves. Lastely, Fay put on her knee-high black boots and gleaming silver gauntlets.

“Are you ready?” asked Kari as she grabbed her ranseur.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Fay said, grabbing the bags of pills and placing them in the large pouch at her hip. “Let’s hurry.”

As they raced out of the room and traveled down to the entrance hall, a loud shriek filled the atmosphere. Fay and Kari didn’t even need to converse. They changed directions immediately, heading toward the informal kitchen attached to the dining hall. As they got closer, the sounds of crashes and clangs of pottery echoed to them. What they found upon entering was several Pteranodons that had crashed through the wall and were attacking the head chef.

They reacted quickly.

Fay took two steps forward, rotated her hands as she brought them into her torso, and then thrust them out in a powerful double punch. She added an extra rotation at the end, turning the spiral flames into a pair of arrows. Each arrow slammed into the face of a Pteranodon. They exploded with an incredible force that caused even Kari to feel like her skin was being singed. The Pteranodons were even worse off, and their now headless corpses fell to the ground.

That was two, but there had been four of them.

Kari had started racing toward the Pteranodons the moment she saw what was happening, and so, as the flames from Fay’s Spiritual Fire Technique took out two of the four Demon Beasts, she rushed at the remaining two. Her first attack was a simple jab. She stabbed her ranseur straight into the Pteranodons throat. Then she pulled it out, spun around, and channeled Spiritual Power through her weapon. A beam of golden light suddenly shot from the tri-pronged tip. As the first Pteranodon thrashed and flailed, blood spraying from its neck, the second had a hole blasted straight through its chest.

Ignoring the two dying Demon Beasts, she turned around and faced the frightened woman holding several pots and pans in her arms.

“Are you okay?” Kari asked her head chef.

“Y-yes, Mistress Kari,” the woman stuttered. “Thank you. You two saved me.”

“Don’t worry about that. Listen, you need to get out of here. Meet up with Garrett and do whatever he tells you. Your safety takes more priority than our kitchenware.”

“Yes, Mistress Kari.” The middle-aged woman bowed her head to Kari, and then dashed out the door, disappearing in a hurry. She was still holding the pots and pans.

Kari sighed.

“What was that about?” asked Fay.

Giving her friend a frustrated smile, Kari said, “Madam Valka is a great chef, but she’s a little too obsessed with her cookware. I’m almost positive that these pots and pans mean more to her than her own life.”

“That’s… pretty extreme,” Fay admitted.

“Some people are extreme about some things.”

The two of them took a second to reflect on that comment, but then Fay shook her head. “We don’t really have time to waste here. Let’s hurry up and head toward the north gate.”

“Good idea,” Kari agreed.

The two of them raced out of the kitchen, leaving the pots, pans, and other cooking appliances behind.

***

I reached the north gate alongside Lin and the Kriger Family in about twenty minutes. We were lucky the amphitheater wasn’t that far from the gate. I’d say about 20 or 30 kilometers. Even battling nonstop as we have, we were able to reach this place pretty quickly.

The walls surrounding Nevaria were about 20 meters high and 10 meters thick, with their primary feature being the massive gates made from a combination of wood at steel at the north, south, east, and west entrances. At that moment, the north gate had been completely decimated. It wasn’t even destroyed. The gate and the archway that had been keeping it shut were gone and Demon Beasts were pouring into the city.

“Damn it!” This was going to make defeating this invasion that much harder. “Lin, you and I are sticking together. Watch my back and defeat any Demon Beasts that get too close.”

“Yes, Darling.”

“Catalyna and the rest of you! I want you to gather in groups of three or more and begin cleaning out this city! Don’t stray too far from the gate, but do what you can to protect the people around here! The Nevarian Spiritualists and Imperial Royal Guard should be coming! We only have to hold out until then!”

“Ha! Just leave this to us!” Catalyna shouted.

“Ohohoho, it’s been a long time since I could cut loose,” the old man said as his bright green aura flared to life, and then quickly retracted into his body. So the old man had reached the Second State of Spiritualism. Good. He’d be a big help.

As if his words had brought life to the Kriger Family, all 20 individuals activated their Spiritual Auras. These 20 auras went all across the board of colors. Green, blue, red, yellow, brown. The only colors missing were black and gold, the colors of the light and dark elements.

Following my advice, the 20 members of the Kriger Family split up into groups of four, meaning five groups of four individuals raced off to begin battling the Demon Beasts. Seeing this, I nodded and turned back toward the gate. I didn’t activate my Spiritual Aura. Instead, I took that aura into myself and activated the Second State of Spiritualism. I would need speed and power over extra protection right now.

“Let’s go, Lin!”

“Yes!”

I smashed into the Demon Beasts pouring in through the now derelict gate without relent. Most of them were weak D and C-ranks like the Dire Wolves, Man Eating Pythons, and Foxbears. However, along with the D and C-ranks, there were also a few B-ranks like the Silverbacks.

“Lin! Take out one of its legs!”

“Leave this to me!”

Lin was quick on the uptake, creating a series of ethereal snakes that sprang forth and bit into a Silverback’s calves and thighs. The Demon Beast howled as the numbing poison spread through its body. It went down on a knee.

As it was kneeling there, I used its distracted and incapable state to rush forward, appearing before it within a Flash Step before I kicked it square in the face. I could almost feel the bones of its skull caving in. My attack crushed its face and lifted the Demon Beast off its feet. Because it was so big, when the Silverback crashed into the ground, it crushed several smaller Demon Beasts beneath it.

“This princess has never seen so many Demon Beasts before!” Lin shouted as she used her long tail to swat several Dire Wolves across the face, breaking their necks and killing them instantly. Her attacks were so fast most humans wouldn’t have been able to see them. “There are even more than when we were attacked on our expedition!”

“The ritual they are using must be dozens of times stronger!” I shouted back. “We need to hurry up and take care of these Demon Beasts, and then we need to find the ritual site and shut it down!”

I felt like the most important thing to do here was actually to stop the ritual, but it wasn’t like we could leave the north gate unattended. Until someone could come to replace us, Lin and I would have to do our best here, to push the Demon Beasts back and protect the people who remained.

“Lin! I’m about to activate Flash Step Version 3! I’ll use it to push the Demon Beasts back! I want you to follow me, and then cover for me once I’m finished. I won’t be able to attack for awhile.”

“Please don’t worry, Darling. This princess will protect you with her life.”

I didn’t like it when Kari, Fay, or Lin said things like they’d give their life to protect me, as it implied dying for my sake, but we didn’t have time to argue. I also understood that my thoughts were hypocritical. The battle was continuing to wage. If I didn’t do something drastic, then we’d have Demon Beasts continue streaming into the city.

Flash Step Version 3: Lightning Step. This was the name I had come up with for the transformation technique in which I turned my body into pure lightning. I’d been practicing as much as I could. I still hadn’t mastered it in this life, but I was at least confident in my ability to keep it up for five minutes.

“Keep these Demon Beasts away from me for a second!”

“Leave everything to this princess!”

I leapt back and Lin took my place. She slammed her tail on the ground and created numerous ethereal snakes that leapt from the earth and attacked the Demon Beasts around us. Many Dire Wolves and Man Eating Pythons were taken down in a single bite. A dark purple spot appeared wherever the Demon Beasts were bitten, and then the darkness would spread quickly to the rest of their body, resulting in the Demon Beasts keeling over. Those she couldn’t kill with her snakes, she killed with her whips. Lin was like a storm blowing everything that came near me away.

While Lin protected me, I took a deep breath and loosened my body, and then I summoned as much Spiritual Power as I dared. I could feel it coursing through my body, struggling to break through my skin. It wanted out. However, I gritted my teeth and refused to let it travel beyond the vessel that was my flesh and bones. With nothing but willpower, I kept the power contained, and then transformed it into lightning.

Lin leapt forward as a Dire Wolf tried to attack her. She didn’t use a Spiritual Technique this time. Striking the Dire Wolf in the underside of its chin with her fist, she launched the beast several meters through the sky. However, while she did that, another Dire Wolf attacked her with a paw swipe. I could hear her hiss of pain as the claws tore through her dress and skin. She spun around and broke the Demon Beast’s neck with a mighty tail slap, but I was able to catch a glimpse of the four claw marks on her skin before she was attacking more Demon Beasts.

A strange tingle crawled over my skin. It was numbing in a way, but at the same time, it felt like when you generate static electricity by rubbing wool socks against the carpet. When I looked down at my hands, I could see that they had become a pale blue.

“Lin,” I said in a garbled voice. “Stand back, please.”

At the sound of my voice, Lin turned just her head to look upon me. Her eyes widened. She’d never seen this technique of mine since practicing it with others around could be dangerous. The number of times my body had exploded with lightning and destroyed my surroundings when practicing this technique were too numerous to count.

“Darling?” she asked as if she couldn’t believe it was me.

“I’ve got this. Remember to protect me once my technique wears off.”

“M-mm.”

Technically speaking, The Flash Step Version 3: Lightning Step was just a combination of the Flash Step combined with the Third State of Spiritualism to equalize the lightning element within my body. However, since my body was pure lightning, the speed I could move around at was increased by several factors. That was why I called it Version 3.

I took one step forward, and then I attacked. I appeared in front of a Dire Wolf and punched it so hard that its body exploded, then appeared before a Man Eating Python and sliced its head clean off with a powerful heel drop. Because my body was just lightning, which increased my ability to cut through things, I had essentially turned into a blade. Another Dire Wolf lost its head from a simple karate chop. A Silverback had a hole blown through its chest when I punched it. Without stopping for even a second, I continued to attack anything that emerged from the gate, and then…

I began pushing the Demon Beasts back.

Because I had never actually seen anyone else with the lightning element who could use the Third State of Spiritualism, I didn’t know what I looked like to others, but if I considered how fast I was moving, then they probably couldn’t even see me. Hundreds of Demon Beasts were killed within less than three seconds. I was sure that, to a normal human, I was nothing but a flicker like lightning flashing across the sky.

Within five seconds, I was already standing outside of the gate and continuing to drive the Demon Beasts back. Thanks to my body being composed of lightning, I was able to perceive the world around me at a slower speed. I think it was something like… because my body was made of lightning, my brain and eyes were also made of lightning… or something like that. I didn’t understand the particulars. The only thing I knew was that things that moved incredibly fast for a normal person moved at a snail’s pace for me. This allowed me to process information far more quickly than I could when using the normal Flash Step.

That was why I could see the Demon Beasts moving around the wall and toward the east and south and west gates. Given how much time had passed, I was sure many Demon beasts had already reached those gates, but I wasn’t going to let these ones get away clean.

I held out my hands and fired off several hundred bolts of lightning. Each bolt pounded into a Demon Beast. Each bolt of lightning exploded on contact, destroying the Demon Beasts and leaving nothing but burnt corpses in their wake. It wasn’t long before the acrid scent of burning flesh filled the atmosphere.

For five whole minutes, I kept this up. For five minutes, I defended the north gate and killed any Demon Beasts trying to make for the other gates. For those five minutes, I did everything I could to contain the force threatening to destroy Nevaria.

And then the five minutes were up.

Spiritual Techniques like Flash Step Version 3: Lightning Step required vast amounts of Spiritual Power to activate and maintain. A normal Spiritualist who could activate their Spiritual Aura wouldn’t even have enough power to activate this technique. Even attempting it would probably kill them. Kari and Fay might be at the stage where they could activate this technique, but they wouldn’t be able to use it for longer than maybe half a minute. It was an extensive and exhausting technique that left the user burned out and unable to fight back once done.

My body returned to normal. I slumped to my knees, sweat pouring down my face, as I took in several deep breaths. A wide area around me was free of Demon Beasts, but even as I knelt there, that space was being filled with more Demon Beasts. I had no idea how large the Demon Beast Invasion was in my previous life. However, it seemed endless in this one.

A shadow appeared above me. I thought it was a Silverback at first, but as my vision sharpened, I realized that what I was looking at was no Silverback.

The creature before me had a massive body covered in dark fur, six legs sprouting from its carapace, and a large spinnerette sticking out of its abdomen in the back. Fang-like mandibles jutted from its ugly mouth. Meanwhile a pair of round, red eyes sat atop its head. This creature, which looked set to skewer me with one of its pointed legs, was an A-rank Demon Beast.

Acromantula.

I glared at the creature, not in defiance but in exhaustion. I was weakened from having used the Lightning Step. Weak and powerless.

However, just as the monster was about to attack, a beam of light struck it in the side. The light detonated, causing it to release a hideous shriek that was like nails scraping against a chalkboard. 

Before the Demon Beast had a chance to recover, Lin appeared before me like a spring. She created several massive snakes out of Spiritual Power and wrapped them around the legs of the Acromantula, causing it to fall over. Then Fay, appearing above it within a Flash Step, threw her fire-covered fist down and pounded the creature. Flames exploded from the top. The Acromantula shrieked more as Fay leapt off and landed beside me. However, aside from some basic burns on its hairy body, it was unharmed.

Fay grimaced. “After performing such a perfectly coordinated assault, all we have to show for it are a few black marks? What is this thing made of?”

I was going to answer for her, but Kari suddenly appeared by my side and answered first. “That is an Acromantula. They live deep in the forests located all throughout the Demon Beast Mountain Range. Most of them are small and only rank around C or sometimes B-level threat categories, but Acromantula who live for a long time can achieve an A-rank like this one. Once they reach that level of age and power, we refer to them as Great Acromantulas.”

“How do we beat it?” asked Lin.

“If you can strike it in the same place several times with multiple powerful A-rank Spiritual Techniques, you should be able to kill it,” I said.

“Which means it’s nearly impossible for anyone who’s name isn’t Eryk to kill on their own,” Kari joked.

“Eryk, here.” Fay tossed me two pills. “Use these two recover your strength. Please leave the Acromantula to us.”

Catching the pills, I recognized the blue and red pills as the Spiritual Recovery and Blood Clotting Pill. I wondered why she’d given me a Blood Clotting Pill, but then I felt the sting of several cuts on my body and realized I was injured. There was a gash going up my torso, cuts on my arms and legs, and blood streaming from a wound on my neck. They were the injuries I had ignored before activating the Flash Step Version 3.

“I’ll leave this to you three,” I said, popping both pills into my mouth and swallowing. It would take awhile for the pills to take effect, so I was essentially useless until then.

Kari smiled at me. “Then I guess you’ll get to see the fruits of our training now. I’m actually a little excited.”

“Don’t get too excited,” Fay muttered. “This is a battle with Nevaria’s safety on the line.”

“I am aware of that.”

“This princess will back the two of you up. Please be careful.”

As the three girls faced off against a ten meter tall spider, I stood back and watched them. There was nothing I could do right now, and to be honest, I wanted to see how strong Kari and Fay had grown.

***

“Are you ready?” Kari asked as she spun her ranseur in her hands.

“Not really,” Fay admitted, even though she was pounding her gauntlets together, “but it’s not like life waits for us to be ready. We just do the best we can with what life throws at us.”

“This princess is always ready,” Lin added.

“Before you fight, take these pills. You’re in rough shape.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

Fay handed Lin a Spiritual Recovery Pill and Blood Clotting Pill, which the Lamia didn’t hesitate to pop into her mouth and chew.

Most of Kari’s attention was focused on the giant creature before her. The Acromantula was a hideous thing. She’d seen a lot of Demon Beasts in her life, both in real life and in books, but this one was definitely one of the ugliest. It was also one of the strongest she had seen before.

An A-rank Demon Beast. Not even her mother could defeat one of these on her own, though Eryk could.

“I’ll attack first,” Kari said. “Fay, when I distract it, you can and Lin can do what we did the last time. Trip it up and strike it with your most powerful attack. Keep striking it if you can. Retreat if you can’t.”

“I’m not sure my most powerful attack will be enough to deal with this, but I’ll do my best.”

“That’s all I can ask for.”

Kari took a deep breath and centered herself, then rushed forward. She took two steps. The Acromantula spotted her and released several threads of thick silk that it tried to wrap her in, but she used the Flash Step to avoid them. Appearing underneath the creature, she danced around in circles. Her ranseur glowed a bright golden color as she charged Spiritual Power through it.

Then she sliced into the Acromantula’s legs.

As she expected, the amount of damage she could do was minimal, with barely a scratch to show for her efforts. It seemed the hair covering its body was tougher than steel. Even with the power of the light element giving her blade a sharper edge, she only managed to leave a scratch. However, that just meant she needed to attack the same place more.

The Acromantula raised its legs and tried to stab her, but Kari danced around its attacks. Each leg struck the ground. It kicked up dirt but nothing else. And while it continued trying to pierce her body, she continuously cut its legs, aiming for the same spot over and over again. Nothing seemed to happen at first. However, after nearly a dozen cuts in the same location, blood began flowing from a gash that appeared.

“Kari! Get away from there!” Fay shouted.

As the Acromantula raised its legs once more, Kari used the Flash Step to dart away from the Acromantula just as several ethereal snakes broke through the ground and bit the Demon Beast’s legs. Steam hissed from the legs as the poison in the snakes’ fangs tried to melt the hairy armor. They couldn’t, but they still held the creature in place, allowing Fay to rush up underneath it without being attacked.

Fay bent her knees and held her hands above her head. She put them at about two palms distance from each other, and then moved them around. As she did, a surge of Spiritual Power flowed through her body and into her hands, which began glowing a vibrant red. Wisps of fire soon began gathering. Then the wisps agglomerated into a tiny sphere, which increased in size seconds after forming.

“HA!”

Thrusting out her left hand, Fay slammed the sphere of fire into the creature’s abdomen. However, the fireball didn’t explode. It remained above her palm, hovering their as she continued digging it into the Acromantula’s body. The hair around its skin quickly melted. Then the outer layer of skin turned boiling red as it began melting as well. It looked like she’d be able to deliver this Demon Beast a punishing injury.

Then something unexpected happened.

The spinnerette on the Acromantula’s abdomen lowered and fired a thread at Fay, catching her around the feet. The redhead only had enough time to squawk before she was sent to the floor. Her Spiritual Fire Technique sputtered out, and then the giant Demon Beast was reeling her in.

“FAY!”

Kari shouted as she used the Flash Step. Her body was already moving through the motions, her dance helping her activate Light Cutter, the technique that caused her blade to glow a bright gold. She sliced into the threads attached to Fay’s legs. They didn’t break at first, but Kari sliced into them one, two, three more times and managed to severe the threads.

However, by this point, the Acromantula had broken free of Lin’s snakes. It turned around and tried to attack them with its mandibles. Kari and Fay had been so busy dealing with their last problem that they couldn’t react to this one.

A whip struck the Acromantula across the face. As the creature reared back from the powerful blow, Lin threw out her other whip, wrapping it around one of the mandibles and yanking on it. The Acromantula, unable to withstand Lin’s impressive strength, was pulled face first into the ground.

“Attack it again, you two! This princess will keep it occupied!”

Kari and Fay accepted Lin’s offer, leaping back and moving around toward its hind end. During that time, Lin began what was essentially a tug of war with the Acromantula. She wrapped both whips around its mandibles and pulled. The creature struggled, but strength wasn’t what made this Demon Beast an A-rank. Lin continued to show her superior physical strength, and then she added insult to injury by slapping it in the face with her tail, further enraging the monster and causing it to shriek at her.

After reaching the back, Fay used the Flash Step Version 2 and launched herself high into the air. Once more, she created a sphere of fire between her hands. The molten hot flame seemed more like lava than a fireball. She descended onto the Acromantula’s back again, and slammed her attack into it once more. Smoke poured from its body as the hair was burnt off, and then its durable flesh soon turned bright red and began bubbling. Finally, she managed to sink her fireball into its back, but her power ran out before she could go further.

As the Acromantula screeched and thrashed, Fay jumped off and Kari appeared in the air above. She twirled her ranseur around her body. This helped channel her Spiritual Power into her weapon, the tip of which appeared to burst into golden flames. Then she pointed the tip down.

Her aim was perfect.

The ranseur’s tip pierced the soft area that Fay had melted with her fireball. Black blood oozed from the creature as she shoved her weapon in as far as it could go. Then she released all of the power that had been stored in the tip of her blade, causing the insides of this creature to ignite. Light poured out from the holes in its body—namely, its mouth and the wound her ranseur had pierced through. The creature fell onto its belly, legs twitching several times before going still.

“We… we did it,” Kari whispered as if she couldn’t believe it. She looked down at the others from her place on top of the Demon Beast and grinned. “We did it!”

“We definitely did,” Fay said with a smile, though she appeared quite exhausted. Her shoulders were slumped as she wiped the sweat from her brow. “Ugh, that was really hard. Acromantula aren’t even ranked that high on the A-rank charts, right? They’re nowhere near as strong as a Giant Rock Golem, but this was easily the hardest battle I’ve ever fought.”

“But we did good, right?” Lin asked as Kari hopped off the carcass and walked over to them. “Even if this isn’t all powerful, it is still an A-rank Demon Beast, correct? That means we did something only a few people in Nevaria have been able to do, right?”

“That’s true.” Kari beamed at the two of them. “We defeated a Demon Beast even Mother would have trouble with. That is something to be proud of.”

“It certainly is,” Eryk said. Kari, Lin, and Fay turned to find Eryk walking over to them, a smile on his face. “You three did a great job. However… there is still a problem.”

Kari frowned. “What is the problem?”

“That.” Eryk pointed at something in the opposite direction, and the three of them turned their heads to find another Acromantula skittering toward them alongside several dozen smaller ones. The three of them paled, but Eryk chortled. “Relax. My Spiritual Power has recovered enough that I can fight now. Please leave this to me.”

“No, leave this to us,” a voice suddenly said before the girls could respond.

All four of them turned at the voice to find none other than Empress Hilda, now dressed in gleaming silver armor, standing naught but a few meters away.