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Chapter 85: What Is She? Lorenia quickly changed me into winter clothes when we got back to her temporary camp in the castle, but she seemed somewhat disturbed when she took the remains of the suit off. "Sorry for ruining the suit by the way." I apologized. "We do not have much use for it. It regenerates by itself over a period of time anyway, so there isn't any need to apologize." She hurriedly replied. "Oh." I smiled, then tried to get up. "Argh." I winced. I felt sore all over, but I managed. "You should lay down." Lorenia quickly pushed me down, but not before I saw something that horrified me. "What the hell happened to my body!?" I shrieked. "That Horntail is not a normal one. It is an elite variant, which grants whoever defeated it a portion of its powers... It seems that it has chosen to give you its most important part." Lorenia explained as I poked my chest. It was covered in thick green dragonskin that wouldn't come off no matter how much I scratched it. "And how do you know this?" I inquired. Lorenia hesitated for a moment, then rolled back her left sleeve. I reeled back. "I defeated it once before." She said quietly. Her left arm was covered in green dragonskin, just like my chest. There was a band with runes on it around the center of the dragonskinned area. "A Container Band. Seals the power of the beast so that I can't endanger myself or my people. I'm afraid I cannot procure one for you, since youre... not a full elf." She sighed. "The chest area of the Horntail contains it's heart and the limitless source of magic inside. A warning; if you choose to draw on the Horntail's magic too much, you may start turning into the demon itself. Once that happens, the elven army will have no choice but to...... terminate you." She explained. I groaned. Part Horntail, part elf, part human, part demon, what next? Part dwarf? The dragonskin on my chest maintained the original shape of my chest, although it was slightly thicker. Suddenly, I remembered something. "Did Alexis come to help?" I asked. "Of course she did! Come to think of it, I haven't seen her around ever since you got supersized though......" Ares replied thoughtfully. "Oh crap." I whispered. Being suspicious of things had become my second nature lately. "Check." I said, quickly getting up. The medical room was filled with injured people, but after a bit of checking, I found that Alexis wasn't among them. I closed my eyes and tried scanning for her life energy, but I only found mine. Of course, we were twins, so our life energy would be the same. "Where the hell is she?" I cursed. A bit of talking with the rest of the guild confirmed Alexis's disappearance. I was very worried by now, and ventured off into the woods, afraid that she had gotten lost. I forgot to bring a weapon though, and was saved from a group of zombies by a bored Kyrios who had gone exploring. He took me back after that. Ares found me sitting on my bed solemnly and approached me. "Lightning's outside trying to pick up her trail now, but he can't get a lead." He said quietly, when whispered in my ear, "Lorenia explained the Horntail to me. Don't overwork yourself. I don't want my wife turning into a total monster before we can get married." I forced a light chuckle and got up. The guild stayed at the ruined castle for a few days to let the injured recover and bury the dead. The elves had lost about 50 of their men, while the guild was down to 203 members. Dray was among the dead, we had found his scorched body as flat as a pancake under where the Horntail's foot previously was. The guild was still mourning as we left for our homes. The two thief brothers took it especially hard, Dray had been their best friend and gambling companion. Lorenia had totally forgotten about our marriage, but we couldn't blame her. It seemed that one of her children was among the dead. When we arrived at Ares's Orbis house, I changed back into my normal clothes, although I was careful to not let them expose the dragonskin on my chest. Ares insisted on escorting me back to Kerning, and I accepted gracefully. Ares escorted me back to Kerning to find that...... there was no Kerning. The entire city had been replaced by a massive crater that looked like a nuclear missile had hit it. Tents were pitched everywhere around, and frantic Priests were running or teleporting around. "What the hell......" He gasped. I pulled a nearby Shadower towards me. "What happened?" I asked. "I dunno myself! I was just coming back for potions when some tall blonde lady appeared out of nowhere on top of a tower and then a big blue bang later, everything was gone!" He shrieked, then ran off screaming for his brother. "Blonde? Tall?" I mumbled. No...... it couldn't be...... Alexis wouldn't do such a thing! "Hey! Isn't that her!?" Someone suddenly yelled. I looked towards the source of the voice and saw a Crossbow Master pointing at me. "Huh?" I thought aloud, then suddenly, I was surrounded. "Na, it can't be. That lady was a blonde. This one's black-haired and taller." A Bishop shook his head. "It could. She could have swallowed some kind of growth potion and dyed her hair black." A Crusader remarked. A nearby Archmage seemed to be concentrating. "It's her! Both their life energies are the same!" He suddenly opened his eyes and shrieked. No way...... That got everyone's attention and a couple of trigger-happy Gunslingers opened fire. Ares dived into the line of fire and brought his shield up, deflecting all the shots. "I'm pretty sure this is a misunderstanding." He enunciated out loud. "Misunderstanding my foot. Both of them are one and the same!" The Archmage shouted. I held my hand up. "I have a twin who's blonde, and shorter than me. Does that explain the same life energy?" I said, a bit louder than I had hoped for. I felt a little guilty about putting the blame on Alexis, but it seemed that she was the real culprit this time. I needed to talk to her, and I needed to stay alive to do it. "Anyone can easily fabricate a lie like that! Get her!" The Archmage yelled, and a few warriors charged. I thought two words. Sonic Shield A bubble of solid air formed around me, and my hair blew up. The charging warriors were knocked back, and so were the arrows that had flown out of the crowd. I sighed. "If I was that same person, I'd have bulldozed through you like a hot knife through butter and you wouldn't be anything but severed body parts lying on the ground." I said calmly, but the words sounded cold to me. This would need quite a bit of talking to get out of. "A lie. Give me my father back!" The Archmage roared. I sensed a cloud of magic gathering over me and quickly dodged a Meteo spell, then a Genesis spell hit me, but I blocked the ray with another Sonic Shield. Raising the full barrier around Ares and me again, I started to talk, but Ares stopped me. "This isn't the time to talk. These guys are willing to kill to avenge their relatives or friends, and I doubt talking will do much to calm them down." He whispered. He was right. The entire crowd looked murderous, thanks to the Archmage's agitation. "Heck, I'm endangering myself by helping you." Ares added. "Sorry." I apologized, then sent a wave of air blowing over part of the crowd. The affected area was blown aside gently, leaving a path wide open for Ares and me. I dropped the barrier and we ran, dodging or blocking attacks along the way. The crowd was too stunned to do a thing as we sprinted through the path towards the Perion mountains. "Nice one." Ares remarked once we got to cover inside a cave. "Non-lethal spells are handy sometimes." I winked at him. Sorrowfully. AN: After this note, be warned that there might be a little twist that might get some people going 'WTF!?' Using the Reality Key to find Alexis was somewhat of a trivial matter, and to stay conscious after using it, I needed to utilize the Horntail's magic. "If I turn into a monster, kill me. Immediately." I whispered, unsheathing Ares's sword and closing his hands around the hilt. I pointed the blade at my throat, then closed my eyes, only to be interrupted by Ares. "There has to be another way!" He shouted. "There is no other way. She might be destroying some other town right now." I said softly, then closed my eyes again. Forcing my magic to resonate with the Horntail's was rather easy, and I soon had the power flowing to the Reality Key. The dragonskin on my chest started to feel rather itchy, but I kept concentrating on an image of Alexis. My mind's eye opened somewhere in Ellinia. Alexis was walking, alone, towards a tree right in the middle of the town, cutting magicians in half with a sword that I recognized as the sword I had taken from Sixela. "She's in Ellinia. We need to hurry!" I opened my eyes, then started to scratch the irritated skin on my chest. "Argh." I scratched harder, then took off my shirt and bra to scratch. Almost immediately, I felt a strange sensation and the dragonskin covering my chest slid down over my belly to reveal another layer of green dragonskin. This new layer was lighter in colour. I was shedding my own skin! "Ahhh..." I sighed. I felt way better, only there was one minor problem. The old layer wouldn't come off me no matter how hard I pulled, and it was beginning to assimilate into the skin on my belly, retaining the original shape of my chest. I stopped pulling when I felt a strange sucking sensation and the breasts of the shedded skin felt like there was flesh inside. "Now this. Is really weird." I groaned. "Next time, cut the skin off before that happens again." Ares commented, grabbing my hand and pulling a scroll out of a pocket after I put my clothes back on, wishing that the shirt was a little bit longer. Ares ripped the scroll apart, then we were instantly teleported to Ellinia. Not only that, we had appeared right in front of Alexis. A lot of dead bodies were lying beside her, some grotesquely mutilated, some disfigured, some with only half of their bodies. What the hell...... "Alexis, why are you doing this!?" I yelled. She eyed the extra dragonskin-covered breasts on my belly. "Simple. I'm jealous." She replied. Shockingly. "What......" I took a step back, and Alexis's sword lashed out, narrowly missing my waist. |
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