Inside Isaac's consciousness
"So that's what happened to you. No wonder you hate humans so much."
Karina, who was slumped on her knees tilted her head up in shock.
"Y-you went through my memories?!"
"You entered my body. You're in my domain. Naturally you can't hide anything from me but..."
Karina was suddenly strapped to a cross.
"...even though you suffered greatly and I empathize with you, it doesn't change the fact..."
I activated the 3rd Stage Kansatsume on both of my eyes as they looked like three petal lotuses.
"...that you almost killed my closest companion."
Two clones appeared besides Karina and they had sharp-pointed rods in their hands. They immediately pierced her abdomen.
"You need to pay for what you've done."
I summoned my broad black sword and pierced her chest. Karina coughed out blood.
"Why? WHY DO YOU HATE US CHAOS BEASTS SO MUCH?!?!?!?!"
"To me, I don't care about who's what and who's who. I only care about who offended me..."
I retracted my sword and prepared to stab again.
"...and who didn't."
I pierced her. I retracted it again.
"About who's an enemy, and who's not."
I pierced her.
"To me it's simple."
I slightly moved the sword up, causing her immense pain.
"If you touch what is mine, be ready to pay the appropriate price."
I pulled out the sword and held it.
"Race matters nought to me."
The clones probed their rods even deeper into her abdomen as they pushed her up a bit. She winced in pain. I stepped closer and cupped her chin in my hand.
"You touched Ashley. Usually the price would be a slow death but... I'll let you live since she asked...as long as you survive this."
I let go of her chin and used my right hand to create chaos fire, a purple black flame with a highly corrosive effect. It was an upgraded version of my Hakushi. As my hand was covered in chaos fire, I pressed the open wound on her. She slowly started to burn and her screams were immense.
"I'll see you in five years."
I vanished. My clones stayed by her side, constantly healing her whenever the wounds got too serious. I opened my eyes and I saw the concerned faces of Ashley and Maria. Quick on her feet, Ashley immediately drew her dagger at my neck. With a serious expression, she spoke.
"What was the first mission we did?"
I sighed as I realised she wanted to confirm who was who.
"I don't know. I never read the mission paper. I only remember taking off as soon as I heard we had to go to the Blanca Forest."
She looked at Maria and nodded in acceptance. She then looked at me again.
"Who was your first kill?"
"..."
I was silent since I knew very well who it was I killed as my first.
"Let's not talk abo-"
"SAY IT!!!"
I sighed.
"Leo...Steelwater."
The story was quite tragic. When she arrived at the Blake Mansion seven years ago, she never knew her father was already dead and his body was occupied by a demon. Only my father and I noticed his particular demonic aura but it was already too late by then. To Ashley, I was the bastard child who killed her father in front of her but after a bit of explaining and consoling, she accepted the truth but the subject is sensitive for her. I cancelled my transformation as my hair turned back to its normal messy blonde and the chaos aura around me subsided. I looked at them spoke.
"I'll be leaving first for the Familia Mansion. I'll take the beast corpses with me. I'll trust you Maria to handle the chaos that is surely about to ensue. I'll have some of the Familia members help you. As for you Ash, I hope you'll return to the Familia Mansion as soon as possible. You have to recover."
Maria spoke.
"Wait Isaac. Is she..."
"She's still alive in her soul form. Her body is already destroyed since she used that spell and there's nothing I can do about that but I do have her soul trapped inside of me."
As I walked away, I stopped and slightly turned my head around.
"Why did you want me to spare her life?"
Ashley smiled.
"Naturally because I wanted to fight her myself and also..."
She walked and hugged me from behind. She whispered in my ears.
"It's just a hunch but, imagine the wonders those tails could do in b-"
"I'll take my leave now."
"WAI-"
I vanished. I left both Maria and Ashley behind as I appeared by the edge of the crater where the corpses were. I used my telekinesis to pick up all the corpses simultaneously. I then opened a large portal to my dimensional storage and placed the corpses in there.
"Looks like that's all."
I opened a portal to the Familia Mansion and went in. Within a few seconds of arriving, hundreds of people arrived and bowed in front of me.
"GREETINGS TO LORD SHINOKAGE. SUBORDINATES ARE HAPPY FOR YOUR RETURN!"
"Good. Make sure to clean up the battlefield properly. Rescue any survivors and kill anyone on the hit list. Also, help the queen in any help she may request. That is all. I want the Originals to stay. The rest of you may leave."
"SUBORDINATES WILL OBEY."
Just like that, hundreds of people vanished, leaving behind the Original 50.
"Looks like all of you have been busy these days. Our numbers have greatly increased alot. I congratulate you for your work.
"THANK YOU LORD SHINOKAGE."
I activated my Kansatsume and confirmed no one else was in the area.
"Good. The reason I kept you here is because I want you to take care of Ashley. She was greatly injured by a chaos beast. Although it died in the end, Ashley will still need ample amounts of time to recover properly so your mission is to do whatever it takes to take care of her until her mana returns to its proper capacity and her physical condition is at 100%. If I'm right, she'll need at most a year. I don't want anyone else knowing about this."
"WE'LL OBEY THE WORDS OF THE SHINOKAGE."
Everyone vanished except for Alma Rodias.
"Is there a problem little Alma?"
She was silent...and then spoke.
"Your body. What's happening to your body?
I sighed.
"So you noticed?"
I went closer and placed my hand on her head.
"Don't worry. I won't die."
"But your condition is in turmoil right now."
She had a worried expression on her face. I smiled.
"I'll handle it. Don't worry."
"But I can feel it. Your body is degrading at an extremely quick rate. I can feel your cells dying bit by bit. At this rate, you won't survive a year."
"Don't worry about that minor detail. I'm not one to die so easily."
She hugged me tightly.
"Please Isaac. Don't leave me...us...behind. We still need you."
"Okay. I understand. I'll undergoe seclusion for the next few years. I need to solve the situation in my body. I'll trust you to handle the affairs of the Familia together with Ash."
She let go of me and bowed her head.
"I will do so Lord Shinokage."
I vanished and appeared in my cultivation room. I placed barriers on all sides of the walls in order to block everything. I took off my tattered clothes and sat down in a meditative position.
"I've already lost 3kg of my total weight. I'll soon be skin and bones if this keeps up."
I started circulating the chaos mana in my body, analysing what it does to my body's veins and organs.
"This is not good. This chaos mana is similar to demonic mana. It lacks healing qualities but excels in destructive properties. It'll be hard to heal myself like this. I have to be able to properly assess and control this mana or else I'll risk demolishing my entire body should I use it improperly."
I then thought of a good idea.
"Maybe she'll know what to do."
I went inside my own consciousness and visited Karina who was suffering immense pain from being constantly burned and healed. I stopped the flames and healed her.
"Originally, I was going to keep you here like this for five years but, it turns out I'll need your help sooner than I envisioned."
She breathed heavily.
"As if...I'd help...you...DIRTY HUMANS."
"Don't lump me in with the humans from your memories. You know exactly why I'm doing this to you. I could care less if you had annihilated an entire city or kingdom but, you just HAD to touch my companion and humiliate her. Dying under the foot of an enemy is a worse disgrace than stabbed from behind."
"But I'm still not going to help you. To hell with that. I'd rather you die along with me."
"Is that so? Then I guess you don't mind suffering under these flames for a year then?"
She was afraid as she began shaking in fear. The flames dissipated from my hands and I spoke.
"I'll most likely die in a year and since your soul is trapped in my body, you'll either remain trapped in my corpse or dissipate into nothingness. But...if I somehow manage to survive on my own and solve the problems of the chaos mana in my body, I WILL MAKE SURE YOU SUFFER FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY."
"..."
"If you help me, I'll release you from this torture and I'll help you make a suitable body for you to house your soul in."
She was silent...and then spoke.
"How can I trust you human bastards. What if I help you but then all of a sudden you betray me?"
"I'm many things. I'm a murderer, a villain, someone who can kill on whims. I'm someone who accelerated a war between two countries just because I wanted to. I'm someone who murdered kings because I felt like it. I'm someone who destroyed entire families. I've killed the sons of fathers and daughters of mothers but...I don't even feel anything even after doing all of that."
She was silent. I continued.
"I simply pursue strength. So me betraying you will be detrimental to me. If you die, then who will I fight? I know full well you weren't at your full power when we fought. I want to see you at full power and exchange pointers. If you get stronger, I'll get stronger. You're the perfect partner for me."
"But what about your little girlfriends. Won't you fight with them? Won't they help you get stronger to?"
"That's true but there's a fundamental difference between you and them. I greatly do not want to kill them so no matter how hard I try, I'll always hold back when I fight them. But when it comes to you, I very much do not mind killing you."
She sighed.
"Very well human. I accept your proposal. I hope you won't disappoint."
I released her from the cross as she fell to her knees. I extended my hand and held hers.
"And I also hope, you won't die too quickly Fox."