Watching the fight between Kiki and Kaya filled with awe, and more than a little fear. Neither one used martial techniques or magic. Instead, they fought each other using raw, brutal strength.
As they fought, they tore up the rear yard, leaving craters and deep gouges in the earth. Each exchange resulted in a shock wave. They fought so hard and so fast that they threw up a cloud of dust into the air, obscuring their figures.
However, what scared the most was their control. Despite the destruction they wrought, they limited it to each other and the rear yard. They left the rest of the residence alone, with little to no collateral damage. In their shoes, I doubted I'd be able to pull sothing like this off.
Still, as brutal and terrifying as Kiki and Kaya were, I learned a lot from their exchange. Despite everything that happened to , cultivation and martial arts remained the foundation of my strength. I gained a lot of inspiration as I watched Kiki and Kaya, even though neither one used any martial arts techniques.
Kiki's fighting style was like the earth itself, solid and heavy. While she was slower than Kaya, her defenses more than made up for this. So while she got hit more often, she was tough enough to tank those hits.
Kaya, on the other hand, fought a lot like . She favored speed and agility, hitting fast and hitting hard. Each blow exploded like thunder. However, her defenses left a lot to be desired. While she could dish out a lot of damage, she couldn't take much at all. Her greatest defense was to avoid getting hit in the first place.
Watching these two filled with inspiration, even though I favored the sword over unard combat. I planned on applying what I learned here to my own martial arts.
At so point Aurora joined , sitting down by my side and resting her head on my lap. The two of us watched as Kiki and Kaya exchanged one blow after another, with neither saying a word.
That was the strangest part about all this. The two of them fought in complete silence. Given their shared history, I thought they'd be more talkative with one another. At the very least, I expected them to exchange insults. However, that wasn't the case.
Either they had nothing left to say to one another, or they knew each other so well that they didn't need to exchange words. Maybe it was both.
Kiki and Kaya fought for hours, with neither side holding the advantage. In fact, Leroy, Cally, and Anna returned well before the fight ended. They arrived in the rear yard and joined and Aurora. All three of them watched the fight with incredulous expressions on their faces.
"What the hell is going on?" Anna demanded, yelling to be heard over the fight.
"Kiki is fighting an old friend of hers," I said, raising my voice to answer her.
"Why?"
"A grudge."
Anna raised an eyebrow, before she shrugged and sat down next to . She grabbed my arm and snuggled into my side. Leroy and Cally sat down to join us as well. However, to my surprise, they settled down right next to as well. Their bodies pressed against my back. All in all, I felt a little boxed in.
"What are you two doing?" I asked, glancing back.
Cally snorted.
"What?" she asked. "You have a problem with this?"
I gave her an incredulous look.
"I'm just confused," I said. "Why are you in my personal space?"
"Just shut up and be grateful that I'm willing to go this far for you," Cally snapped.
Despite her harsh words, I noticed that her ears burned red. My confusion deepened. If she found this embarrassing, why would she do this?
I looked over at Leroy. He also seed a bit embarrassed. I thought about asking him, but decided to focus on the mastermind behind this.
"What is going on?" I asked Anna.
Anna leaves with our friends and after everyone cos back, they're all touchy-feely? Yeah, she was responsible for this sohow.
"Nothing much," Anna said in a nonchalant tone. "I just brought the others to the House of Love."
I grimaced.
"Why?"
"To help with the matter I learned about the last ti we were there."
I sighed. She ant the reason why I acted reckless a lot of the ti. I denied this reason even existed, but this was getting more and more difficult.
"Marcella suggested that we help you experience different kinds of love," Anna continued. "Such as the love between friends."
I glanced back at Leroy and Cally, who nodded despite their obvious embarrassnt.
"Thank you, I much appreciate it." I paused. "However, why is everyone touching ?"
Leroy cleared his throat.
"Grand Priestess Marcella said that you crave physical affection," he said. "So we ca up with this idea."
"Sounds ridiculous," I said.
Cally pinched my side.
"Ungrateful lout," she said. "Do you want us to stop?"
I took a mont before answering.
"I said it sounded ridiculous," I said in a quiet voice, hoping the fight between Kiki and Kaya would cover up my words. "I never said it was ridiculous."
Unfortunately for , my friends all had excellent hearing.
"Then shut up and let us help you," Cally said.
I shook my head and focused my attention on the fight. It looked like it was drawing to a close. Kiki and Kaya both fought with increasing ferocity. So much so that the shock waves from their exchanges grew more and more powerful. Several nearby windows trembled, before shattering.
This was also when the insults started flying.
"Traitor!"
"Lapdog!"
"Scumbag!"
"Bitch!"
Considering their true ages, I found these insults a little underwhelming. In fact, I preferred the complete silence from before.
The fight ended when Kaya broke through Kiki's defenses, shattering the latter's arm and half her torso. However, Kiki retaliated by breaking Kaya's legs and throwing her into a nearby wall. And I an, into the wall. Half of Kaya's body was embedded in it. Afterwards, Kiki collapsed to the ground.
Silence fell over the rear yard as the cloud of dust settled down.
"Alright," I said, pulling free of my friends. "Let's get them inside. Cally, help with Kaya. Anna and Leroy, you pick up Kiki." I looked at my familiar. "Aurora, return to my body."
It took so effort to remove Kaya from the wall, but Cally and I managed in the end. It helped that she was still conscious and aided us.
Once we pulled her free, we brought her to one of the guest rooms inside the residence. Aurora trailed behind us and settled beside Kaya. This one had two beds in it. Anna and Leroy brought Kiki in and placed her on the other bed.
Afterwards, I assessed the damage. Kaya's legs were bent and twisted at odd angles. anwhile, Kiki was missing most of her torso. However, despite their horrific injuries, neither seed bothered. I wondered if this was because they were spirits/ghosts.
"So," Anna said, raising an eyebrow at the two ghosts. "Why did you bring Kiki's friend here?"
Kaya scoffed.
"Don't associate with that treacherous serpent," she said. "We are not friends."
"I should be the one saying that, you overgrown lizard," Kiki snapped back.
Kaya raised herself up and threatened Kiki with a fist.
"Why don't you co over here so I can shatter the rest of your vessel? Try and mouth off then."
Kiki snorted.
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"Next ti I'll skip your legs and just snap your neck."
Killing intent exploded out of both of them.
"Enough!" I said. "Save the fighting for later." I gestured to Kaya. "If you don't behave, I'll send you back to the Temple of Tempest." I gestured to Kiki. "If you don't behave, I'll take away Lord Dominic's workshop."
That got them to settle down.
"Maybe we should place them in separate rooms," Anna suggested.
"No!" Kiki and Kaya said in unison, before glaring at one another.
"I need to keep an eye on this snake," Kaya said. "To make sure she doesn't stab you in the back."
"This overgrown storm cloud gets bored easily," Kiki said. "If you don't keep an eye on her, she'll cause trouble."
I looked between the two of them, mystified. Considering how much they hated each other, both seed oddly reluctant to part from one another.
"Fine," I said. "As long as you two behave. We already have enough problems. The last thing we need is for you two to start fighting with each other."
I looked between the two of them. After a while, they nodded.
"Cally, can you heal Kaya's legs?" I asked. "I'll go find Lord Dominic so he can repair Kiki's body."
Cally patted my shoulder before walking over to Kaya's side. anwhile, I left to go find Lord Dominic.
As I walked away, I shook my head. I knew I was going to regret bringing Kaya along. My intuition warned that dealing with her and Kiki was going to be a headache.
Damn you, Tempest!
After dealing with Kiki and Kaya, my companions and I relocated to the room with the gods' relationship board. Well, all of us except for Aurora and Lord Dominic. The forr refused to leave Kaya's side. The latter remained with Kiki to repair her body. I hoped that the both of them would serve as deterrents, so Kiki and Kaya wouldn't end up fighting again.
I sat on a couch. Anna settled on my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck. Leroy and Cally sat on either side of .
I sighed.
"I appreciate what you two are doing," I said. "However, you don't have to maintain physical contact with all the ti. I'm not a child."
Anna pouted at .
"Does that an you want to get off?" she asked.
I rolled my eyes at her before flicking her nose.
"You know I wasn't talking about you," I said. "Stop acting like a brat."
Anna nodded, before lifting my chin with a finger.
"You're right," she said in a sultry tone. "It's more fun when you're the one acting like a brat."
Cally shuddered and stood up. Leroy followed suit a mont later.
"Okay, I'm not doing this if you're going to act like that," Cally said, glaring at Anna.
"Please," Anna said. "Gabriel and I act like this all the ti. You should've known what you were getting yourself into."
Cally made a disgusted sound, before sitting down in another chair. Leroy sat beside her.
"So," Cally said, acting as if the last few minutes hadn't happened. "How did you end up bringing this Kaya here?"
I gave my companions a brief summary of what happened when I visited the Temple of Tempest. However, I kept the part about Aleah Jeffers to myself. For now, at least. I would tell them later on. Right now, I wanted to deal with her on my own.
Other than that, I told them everything else. being so kind of anomaly, the gods' plans, the Order of the Infernal Star, etc.
"That's a lot to unpack," Cally said.
I nodded.
"Let's start with the gods' plan for you guys," I said.
"It appears the gods intended for us to have Holy magic this entire ti," Anna said, frowning.
"Then why didn't they say so from the beginning?" Cally demanded. "Or let us know sohow?"
I shrugged.
"I think they're restricted in their actions sohow," I said. "We don't know how regression works. For example, why did the gods pick you guys as regressors? Why not the Voice of the Sun? Or even the Sun Emperor?"
This was one of the questions I intended to ask Tempest, but forgot due to everything else that happened.
"Still," Cally said in a bitter tone. "Why do we have to use our favors from Grand Priestess Marcella to get Holy magic? Why couldn't the gods just give it to us?"
"Maybe it needs to be so kind of exchange," Leroy said.
The three of us looked at him.
"Priests and priestesses gain Holy magic by serving the gods," Leroy continued. "They give up their freedom. It's a form of sacrifice. Maybe we need to do sothing similar. However, instead of freedom, we sacrifice favors."
"Huh," I said, mulling over his words. "That's not a bad theory. I don't know how accurate it is, but it makes sense." I gestured to him. "Besides, you and I aren't regressors. The gods never intended to give us Holy magic in the first place. We would've needed to use the favors to gain even a chance at acquiring Holy magic." I paused. "Well, you. ? Not so much."
"That's sothing else I don't understand," Anna said. "You said your fate was severed. How did that even happen?"
"According to Tempest, it happened because I died right when the regression occurred."
Cally narrowed her eyes at .
"Either that's a huge coincidence," she said. "Or soone orchestrated it."
"Soone orchestrated it," I said. "I even know who is responsible." I held up a hand to forestall their responses. "I'll tell you about it later. However, for now, I want to deal with this situation on my own."
"Just be careful." A shadow flashed across Anna's eyes. "I don't want anything to happen to you."
"I promise I'll be careful," I said.
My companions all gave skeptical looks.
"What? You don't believe ?"
Cally gave a sardonic look.
"No, we don't," she said in a dry tone. "Given your past actions, do you bla us?"
I paused, before shaking my head.
"At least you're aware," Cally said. "Now then, let us focus on our enemies." Her expression darkened. "After all these years, we know what to call them. The Order of the Infernal Star." She spat in disgust. "A grandiose na for a bunch of murderous demon worshipers."
"Don't underestimate them," I said. "According to Tempest, they have people all over the Solarian Empire and the Lunarian Kingdom."
Cally gave a look.
"Did you forget who you're talking to?"
Right. Anna and Cally knew exactly how powerful the Order of the Infernal Star was.
"Sorry," I said, chagrined.
Cally shook her head.
"No need to apologize," she said. "Your warning ca from the right place."
"Still, as dangerous as the Order of the Infernal Star is, I doubt they're that powerful," Anna said.
I frowned at her.
"Why do you say that?" I asked.
"They never openly revealed themselves in the First Tiline," Anna said. "Even towards the end, when the demons were winning, they remained hidden. Instead, they let the demons do most of the fighting while they operated in the shadows."
"Maybe they never saw the need to reveal themselves," I pointed out.
Anna shook her head.
"I don't think that's the case," she said.
"Did you forget that Blood Demon is on their side?" Cally asked. "He's a force of nature all on his own."
"Blood Demon is working with them, but he isn't one of them," I said. "He has his own agenda."
"Even so," Cally said. "As long as he fights for their cause, that distinction makes little practical difference."
I conceded the point to her.
"Regardless," Anna said. "The Order of the Infernal Star isn't powerful enough to operate in the open. At least for now. Maybe that will change later on. This gives us the opportunity to deal with them before they beco a bigger threat."
"As Tempest said, dealing with their base in Mirkvale Forest is a good start," I said. "If only because it's the only base we know about."
Cally tapped her chin with a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Mirkvale Forest," she muttered. "Why does that na sound familiar?"
I shrugged.
"Don't ask ," I said. "I never heard of it until Tempest ntioned it."
"I know about Mirkvale Forest," Anna said in a quiet voice. "My brothers died there in the First Tiline."
The mood in the room turned somber. I embraced Anna to try and comfort her. She gave a grateful smile in return.
"I rember now," Cally said, grimacing. "It happened about seven or eight years from now. A behemoth erged from that area and laid waste to the surrounding countryside. Several Houses banded together with the Adventurers Guild to destroy it. They succeeded, but took horrific casualties in return. That was when everyone started to realize that sothing terrible was on the horizon."
I sucked in a breath. Behemoths were powerful demons, akin to living natural disasters. I never fought one myself, but I heard stories from other hunters during my ti on Earth.
Behemoths were Tier Five demons, each one was the size of a mountain. This made them more dangerous than other demons at the sa level. While cultivation mattered most of all, size accounted for a lot. Taking a behemoth down required an entire team of Fifth Ranked Awakened.
"My brothers joined that expedition as part of a mission for the Martial Arts Alliance," Anna said. "According to the survivors' accounts, they sacrificed themselves to give others the opening needed to slay the behemoth. My parents never recovered from their deaths."
"This gives us an even bigger reason to deal with the base at Mirkvale Forest," I said. "We can prevent the behemoth from ever getting summoned, aning Anna's brothers won't have to sacrifice themselves. At the sa ti, we'll save countless lives in the process."
While Anna's brothers disliked , and the feeling was mutual, that didn't an I wanted to see them dead. They were her family, aning that when Anna and I married, they would beco my family.
Anna kissed on the lips.
"Thank you," she said.
I sat there with a goofy smile on my face, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.
"What can you tell us about Mirkvale Forest, Anna?" Cally asked.
"Not much," Anna said, shaking her head. "After my brothers died, I focused more on the people who summoned the behemoth rather than the place where they summoned it." She frowned. "From the little I do know, it's a place infested with all kinds of monsters. Many adventurers make a living hunting those monsters and selling their body parts."
"It's similar to the Icefall region then," I said.
As I said this, a plan started to form in my mind. Rather, I decided to reuse an old plan. I an, it worked before. Why not try it again?
"In that case, I'll research Mirkvale Forest," Cally said. "As soone who grew up in a monster-infested area, I'm the best suited for this task."
"I'll join you," Leroy said.
Cally studied him for a mont.
"Very well," she said. "I could use the company."
I eyed the both of them. Was there sothing going on between them? I thought so before, and this interaction just deepened my suspicions. Regardless of the truth, I didn't plan on interfering. They were both adults (kind of), they could sort things out themselves.
"In the anti, Anna and I will focus on matters here," I said.
We still needed to finish dealing with the Church of the Sun, which sounded like a headache and a half. They promised to support us, but they never specified how much support. I had a feeling that the next few days were going to be a hassle.
We also needed to get ourselves a base of operations. Moving around as needed worked when it was just my companions and I. However, it wouldn't work now that we had people from the Church of the Sun joining us. It would be too cumberso.
I had a few ideas, but I would need to wait until after we finished dealing with the Church of the Sun. Unless… Now that was a possibility. I would need to ask my family for help to make it work, but it was a viable option.
With that, we hamred out more of the details before we separated to complete our various errands.
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