C104: Level 9, News and Action
Overall Word count = 2808 on 6/26/2024.
I think I'm back in the groove with this chapter. Hope yall enjoy. Maybe drop a stone on my head if you agree
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"I'm done with my mission, once the guilds reviews my report we should receive the payment from that. But I'm here to update my falna." His words make Raikou understand that he might be under a similar if not harsher level of pain than he did before. While Axel was away, she had sent out a few letters to the Saint magicians of Orario to understand what could possibly be happening to Axel.
They don't have the entire picture but the general theory is that a human with a falna would undergo a sublimation of sorts, similar to the procedure that an immortal would have undergone when they were exposed to a divine energy. All Immortals/Saints understand that their very being…possibly their souls had changed. This change accommodated the divine nature of the gods' energy that they absorbed.
After all, many immortals gained various new talents related to professions that they had never touched upon before. Like Raikou who used to be a pure battlefield terror had been able to pick up sewing and other household skills even when she had never used a sewing kit before except its needle to stab a monster in the neck.
Overall, Raikou now only understands that there is something from Axel's soul, further exemplified by all his unique abilities that don't outright seem humanly possible or even divine in nature. Yet she can't understand why Axel didn't outright become a god if that was the case. He was still mortal and even now in danger from the falna which she has to now update.
Axel leads Raikou to his personal room as Serenity has already left after changing the sheets due to her ... .nefarious desires. Axel lies down, undressing his upper body as Raikou stands over him. She prepares the drop of blood to update the falna while Axel gets comfortable as Axel only wants to turn around after updating his falna and getting the newest development skill.
She soon confirms that he had reached level 9, sensing the state of his emotions and general thoughts during his time as level 8. From the original fear and pain he experienced, to the sympathy he felt for Hassan of a hundred faces. A myriad of destructive emotions created by the purple sludge he touched and then his wariness before fighting the draconic beast. Yet he turned resolute when the final moment arrived.
Sigh
Raikou sighs as she witnesses her child's difficult journey but understands his decisions as she resets his Falna. She is then given the options for his development skills.
"You still retain the ones from before as the only new skill is Esper. Do you want it or stay with Revenant like you wanted last time?" She questions and Axel understands that the esper skill is related to his newest fragment which is an esper. The skill already makes him borderline untouchable but that only applies to weaker foes, he has to excavate the fragment and ability more so that it can work against stronger foes. Yet that is true of all his abilities so he would prefer to boost his soul weaponry as it is the most diverse boost to his power.
"Revenant" he makes his choice and Raikou sets it up. The Falna is retracted and copied onto paper which Axel reads before the familiar soul wrenching pain spreads across his entire body and not just his back like last time.
"AGGGGGHHHHH" The falna itself previously was just bright red but not it releases a mesmerizing glow and with that, comes an unimaginable heat that seems to burn Axel's back whole. A heat much worse than the body melting sensation that Axel felt during his mantra ceremony. This burn is a physical burn that spreads to his soul and thus his soul fragments.
Due to this, Axel himself is not the only one who is suffering from the pain as all the fragments inside his mind are also writhing in pain from it. Only Radahn seems fine but that is because of its stoic nature of the undead demigod allows it to appear 'carefree' when it is suffering just as much as the others.
(A/N: reminder that the radahn fragment is post mental death, the version who the players actually fight and kill)
Raikou tears up as she watches Axel writhe in pain but at least he doesnt have to be moved this time around and can just rest. Nevertheless, she sits down beside him, holding his hand with both of her own as she provides the bit of comfort that she can.
Name: Axel Gram
Title: Titan
Level 8->9
Cleanse-simple cleaning spell that dispels dust, stains on clothing or substances upon one's body.
Create Water: a simple elemental spell that converts humidity in air into water. Water can not be more than 5 ft away from user, otherwise control is lost (dnd style)
Flame Wave: An intense blast of fire magic that spreads out in a 10ft cone in front of the user.
FlameBolt- fire formed into a spear-like structure that possesses exceptional piercing power.
Mind manipulation- low leveled mind control spell that is only useful for making suggestions, can be overridden if intellect is high enough (weak monsters only)
Minor Illusion control: Create small scale sounds and flashes of images that could serve as distraction
Lightning shock-close quarters lightning spell that can be enchanted upon a weapon or armor for extra dmg/defense.
Bolt Lightning- a lightning bolt that can reach up to 100ft.
Wind Blades- sent out 5 or more blades of wind that can inflict injuries of various size and severity.
(A/N: these last 3 spells are part of the AOE book given by Gorgon to Axel)
(First few are reminders of recent abilities or changes to other skills and last one is most recent, aka Accelerator)
AS (Odr): A binding of love and commitment that can never be broken. This skill serves as the eternal reminder. You share aspects of those you love and love you back.
Freya - enhanced charm.
Raikou - enhanced strength growth
Syr Flova - enhanced Charm.
Murasaki Shikibu -illusion resistance
Kiara Sessyoin-enhanced sensitivity and magic capacity
AS (anima resonantia arma):Manifest thy soul into thy weapon. Bring about the soul slayer to greater heights. Hunters, Witches, Kishin, Genies, Death made manifest through thy resonance. Soul in question cannot manifest in other forms.
1. Magisters Daemonium = N/A
2. Parasitica Corpus = Flexible chain whip
3. Umbra Sui = Sword, half broken sword and bow
4. Caro Irae/Invictum Furorem = Pair of hammers that can be merged during resonance.
5. Stella Flagelli/ StellaIntuitu = Pair of Cestus
6. Vestibulum Vitae larva = Long set of chains
7: Lacedaemonius deus = 2 Chain linked swords of Fire and a Frost Axe.
AS (Lacedaemonius deus): Rage, Rage against the gods, Rage against the Titans. Exert your rage for your family. Be Better. Be divine, be humble, Be Better, For Rage is simply a medium of one's own will. Exert it. Control it
AS (industria reflexionis) [Energy reflection]: Flow and cycle but remain untouched for you control the flow and might OF the cycle. (this is accelerator)
(A/N: for anyone who is not paying much attention or forgot, all skills besides protoss have leveled up once)
Berserker: E->C
Mystery: G->E
Chain Attack: G->E
Life Resonance: H->F
Abyssal Body: H->E
Protoss: I->G
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Axel writhes in bed for two hours before the falna settles down so that Axel can fall asleep. Raikou gives him a kiss on the forehead before letting him sleep. Though she does take the status page with her to show to the other members of her familia as they have no reason to have secrets. After all, to Orario, having a level 9 is a monumental event.
Granted the city is rapidly changing due to Axel's actions. Such as the Loki familia which is growing rapidly under Tiona's persistence. With her new divinity, she has haphazardly summoned stronger monsters in the upper floors, thankfully it was already in the boss rooms but they too had the introduction of the hydra, granted it was not black like Axel's.
Still, an unknown rex created by Tiona sparked quite a bit of controversy as a mortal with the power of a god. Under Finn Deimes persistence, Tiona was able to discover the ability to infuse her power into various equipment, a sort of blessing. This equipment has allowed them to travel deeper with much greater ease and unlike when Tiona herself uses her divine abilities, this does not trigger any Monster Rexs to spawn. The death rate of their younger members has dropped into a ditch and the next generation of executives, the Second Strings, is rapidly getting stronger since they can fight and defend against stronger monsters than themselves.
Of course the Loki familia has ensured to restrict this information for as long as they can to not let their rival the Freya familia know so that they can overtake them in one fell swoop.
Loki is here biting her nails as she overloops documents cataloging the behavior of their members and even the goddess herself. "She has been hanging out at the hostess of Fertility way too much, and even with that girl Syr [2]." Loki marks down some new news regarding the movement of Ottar and the others. "They have all been moving through the dungeon quickly but they aren't going deep. It's as if they are only fighting for money, but why?" 'Why is Freya obsessed with a random pregnant woman, why are they moving around so much'
"GAGH." Loki erupts as she cant reach a conclusion, "hah, i'll just ask finn about it tomorrow"
In the entire divinity debacle the only one who doesnt agree is Tione who has been avoiding her sister. Her reasoning is that she doesnt want power if it comes at the cost of her sister's chastity. She remains unaware of Tiona's and Axel's dirty deeds but Tiona finally puts her foot down and confronts her sister in their room.
BANG
Tiona slams the door to their shared room, a shiver flows down the amazonian sisters spine as she turns to look at her now towering, beautiful sister. Tiona has her arm crossed as she questions,
"Why have you not made a decision already?" She questions her now nervous sister who has been holding off on making a decision in relation to her own potential divinity. Tiona is releasing bits of her power into the air to apply pressure to her sister.
"I won't choose if YOU have to pay the price for it. I won't!!" Tione denies making any choice at the cost of her sister. The pressure dissipates as Tiona groans at the idiocy of her sister.
Tiona walks towards her sister, pulling her on her own bed, the two hug before Tiona pulls back and looks her sister in the eyes. "Tione, me and Axel have already fucked"
"I'M GONNA KILL HIM!!!" Tione yells out as she tries to get up but Tiona holds her down and so she can only needlessly thrash around like a dead fish. "LET ME GO"
"TIONE, SIT STILL. I AM TALKING TO YOU" the pressure resurfaces and Tione can only begrudgingly settle down.
"Let me make this clear, I approached him, I chose to screw him. I already wanted HIM. I just got more than I bargained with. You have no idea how much I want to be with him right now. But we are not close enough that I can just do that since Loki would also cause problems for us. Which is why I'm keeping this a secret." Tiona begins explaining her feelings and goes into more detail about how it started during their first spar back in Rivira a few months ago when he was level 3 and she was level 5.
"Sister, let me be clear. I will have his babies. It's not a matter of when or how but a certainty. Now will I be pregnant of my own free choice or do you want to share in the glory of being a demigod alongside me? I don't want to lose you due to old age" Tiona makes her stance clear while Tione for once uses her brain to understand what is going on.
'Old age? Lose me? Tiona, pregnant?' her mind swirls around in a loop of confusion with smoke coming out of her forehead and ears. Luckily Tiona was already prepared for this and has a fan close by to cool down her sister while she thinks.
This progresses for a full minute before Tione seems to have a strange look on her face before getting up. She begins to walk towards the door and Tiona stops her but the sister only says, "I just want to talk to the captain for a moment. Ill be back soon" She sidesteps her sister as Tiona watches that she truly approaches Finn's bedroom door.
While Finn is a bit tired, he still meets with Tione. Tiona overhears their conversation as Tione asks if she and the captain can actually be together but after a bit of silence, Finn explains that he will only marry another Pallum in this life. He mentions a bit of his goals for the Pallum as a whole race. The clear rejection brings Tione to tears but she calmly returns to Tiona who hugs her and the sister fully bursts into tears.
Luckily Tiona had already closed the door so nobody else could eavesdrop on the situation. Though a certain little blonde voyeur has learned to enhance her hearing with her mothers wind and uses it to eavesdrop on the amazoness' the moment she felt the initial burst of pressure.
The overall conversation she hears is quite depressing and makes her think back to the bond her mother and father had when she was just a child. The love and adoration they held for each other reflects negatively on her mind as she ponders her own desires for strength and the lack of such a bond. She ponders if she can even share such a bond with Axel if she moves towards the path of power.
Finally the voyeur overhears the last section of their conversation before falling asleep whilst hugging her knees to herself.
"Tiona, I still will not let you bare the burden of my growth. I will pay the price while you will choose love."
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[1] Reason Poison Resistance is not in the development skills is because it can't be. Development skills only appear during level ups. Nothing can be added except those. Which means if level 10 is the last level, one can only ever have 9 of these skills in total.
[2] yes I know Syr is technically Freya but from my own standpoint, Syr is Horn but whenever Freya wants to play as a mortal, they swap places, So Syr is freya AND Horn. but Horn is pregnant as the surrogate mother for Freya.