Another Hunter's Story

[XxKiraYamatoxX]

I dont know why others havnt read Kira's Fanfic its so good it would be a good sticky and an inspiration to all

Doubt it. Way too many sexual references.

[Avax]

Suppose your right Kira and theres always the site aswel.

Kon i have started reading your fanfic its came along way since i last read. still havnt finished reading sweet revenge never mind the sequel.

Will get round to it aventually just revising for my Mock exams coming up.

[XxKiraYamatoxX]

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 ******** 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. Roy... Mei Ling... Lacus... Lopez... Jullian... What the hell was Alexis thinking!? Almost our entire world was in Kerning...... Now, I was the only one. I gritted my teeth. If Alexis really was behind this, I didn't know how I'd respond. "We've lost some real good guild members these days. I don't want to lose another." I clenched my fists tighter. "Let's find whoever's behind this... and make him or her pay." Ares said. I started sobbing gently. "Alone......" I sank to my knees. "You're not alone. I'm with you. All the way." Ares patted me on the back.

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.

To be continued......

[Avax]

Lol part horntail what the heck green 3 headed dragon form :D

[XxKiraYamatoxX]

Chapter done. Things might get a little more violent from here on in. Be warned, you'll be reading a lot more about severed body parts, or even cannibalism.

Chapter 86: A Shocking Betrayal

I somersaulted backwards to avoid Alexis's slashes. One managed to nick the left breast on my belly, and the wound was leaking blood. "Alexis, stop!" I shouted, rolling aside. A horizontal slash cut a tree in half and it went sliding down. I heard a few screams from below. Poor fairies. "You always get the good stuff!" Alexis yelled, continuing her slashing at me. "Power, love, money, everything!" She added. I didn't have a response for this. "For that reason, I've always dreamed of surpassing you. Now, I can, and I'm willing to do it." She smiled devilishly.

"I'll give you anything, just stop this!" I yelled. Ares was taking cover behind a tree. Even his armour couldn't stop a big nasty sword like Alexis's. "Anything? Even your life!?" She shrieked. Her eyes were filled with bloodlust and anger. This wasn't the Alexis I knew...... I tried scanning her life energy. It was her all right, but... her energy was tainted black. All life energy I saw was represented as a coloured flame dancing inside the person's body. The colour of my life energy was silver, but Alexis's was blazing pure black. How could she get tainted like that in such a short time......?

"I'm sure we can-" I was cut off by Alexis, "There's nothing to talk about! Killing you will be a sure way for me to see that I can really surpass you!" She was going crazy! "You wanna surpass me? Then let's beat Saevio together!" This was the last chance. "No. Saevio admits that he's weaker than you are, but, he gave me the ability to suck up the powers of people I kill!" Alexis screamed. She managed to hit my right shoulder and slice my arm clean off. "ARRRGGGHHHH!!!" I screamed, clutching the wound. I couldn't hurt Alexis, even if she was like this! "STOP THIS!!!" Ares ran out of nowhere, blocking Alexis's sword with his own.

"How can you even have the heart to attack your own twin sister!?" Ares yelled, trying to stop Alexis's sword. She was applying more and more pressure, and the tree branch he was on was starting to crack. These trees were magically enhanced to have the same properties as stone, which was why people could stand on the leaves and not fall. Purple blood was streaming steadily out of my severed arm now, and it hurt a lot......

"Get. Out. Of. My. WAY!!!" Alexis shrieked, finally applying her full strength to the sword. Ares's sword didn't have the integrity to stop it any more, and I was forced to watch, horrified, as my future husband was sliced vertically down his spine. "Artemis, I did all I can." His hollow voice seemed to linger in the air. The two halves of his body fell apart in slow motion as I screamed, "AREEEEESSSS!!!"

Alexis wasn't even panting as she brought her bloodied sword back up. I fought the tears welling up inside me and reached my left hand to my back, grasping the hilt of the Genesis Tempest. "Unforgivable." I whispered, no longer able to fight back the tears streaming out of my eye sockets. "Unforgivable." I repeated the word. Black magic was flowing out of the Horntail part of my body, and my own heart was pumping, struggling to fight back the magic. I could feel my own life energy being tainted, and I was powerless to stop it.

"UNFORGIVABLE!!!" I screamed. My heart finally gave in to the black magic, and the magic flowed towards the stub of my right arm. A sudden outburst of black magic blew my hair upwards, and my severed arm began to regenerate itself. The new arm was significantly larger than my original arm, and more muscular, covered in green dragonskin. All my teeth became pointed, and the nanomachines in my left arm kicked into overdrive, supercharged by black magic. Muscles grew at an astonishing rate, and my legs followed suit. I still remembered the Omega Sector project to create superhumans by injecting nanomachines into the subject's bodies. I had taken part in the experiment, hoping to augment my own strength. Those superhumans were originally intended to be used for fighting the aliens, but the facility was attacked halfway through, and I was the only survivor. Up until now, I had absolutely no idea how to activate the nanomachines. Now, I knew.

My clothes were strained to the limit, but didn't break. They felt really tight. Muscles were clearly visible through the stretched fabric, results of the activated nanomachines. I let out a demonic roar as I reached the final stage. Alexis reared back. "Unforgivable, unforgivable, unforgivable." I kept whispering the word as black magic opened up new magical veins throughout my whole body. Strained veins popped up all over my body and I leapt towards Alexis. Her sword was pointed upwards. Pain erupted throughout my body as the sword rammed through my chest, narrowly missing my tainted heart and making a big hole in the middle of the shirt. However, black magic quickly regenerated the wound and I punched Alexis in the stomach with my right hand. A hole opened there, and blood sprayed out. She screamed in pain and started trying to cut my head off, but my left hand held her sword arm down.

I punched the struggling Alexis repeatedly until her entire frame was still and unmoving. Her heart was still beating weakly though. I roared and opened my mouth. A row of sharp teeth glistened in the light that wasn't blocked by the treetops, and my teeth sank into Alexis's right shoulder. She screamed in pain as I started to eat her right arm. Her screaming stopped when I got to her chest. I only stopped when I had finished with her entire body. One loud roar sent a shockwave resonating around the whole town, then I reverted back to normal. My swelled muscles contracted, and my right arm turned back to a normal human arm. The strained veins disappeared and I shrank back to normal in the middle of a massive crater twice the size of the Kerning Crater.

I lifted my right arm, staring at the hand. "What have I become?" I asked myself. Ellinia was completely vaporized. "Ares...... Alexis......" I whispered, limping towards the side of the crater. My bloodstained clothes and mouth were evidence enough. "I ate my own sister......" I sank to my knees, crying loudly. "My...... own sister......" I sobbed. "I'm a monster!" I shrieked, bashing my head on the ground. The ground cracked. "No way I can live with myself...... Alone...... Ares... Roy..." I continued crying.

I gripped the Genesis Tempest on my back with both hands and pointed the blade at my own chest. "I can't live...... I'll hurt more people if I do......" I whispered. The sword was vibrating terribly as a result of my shaking hands. "Farewell, world." I closed my eyes and pressed. The sword bounced off my chest. "What?" I looked down. The Genesis Tempest's blade had melted, and there was a glowing key mark right in between my breasts. "Weird, I've never seen this key before." I examined it. It was shaped like a heart, and I was pretty sure I hadn't done anything to get it. Hold it. Alexis said that Saevio had given her the power to suck out her victim's powers. "No way...... Saevio gave Alexis a Key..." I breathed, realizing that this was the king of all four keys. The Life Key. How did he get it?

I knew the Life Key had the power to revive a dead person for some reason. A Bishop's Resurrection skill could only revive a person if the body was nearby, but the key went far beyond that. It could drag a person into reality from either heaven or hell without needing the body nearby. This was how Saevio had tainted Alexis's life energy. I quickly closed my eyes and started to concentrate. The magic came out easier now, because I was utilizing the Horntail's black magic. The veins popped up again, and I struggled to maintain concentration. Soon, a ghostly naked image of Alexis's body appeared in the air, then solidified into a body. It started to glow blue, then it collapsed. I ran towards it, noting that my skin had started shedding again.

"Uggh...... Where am I...?" Alexis's familiar voice sounded out of her body's mouth, and she got up, rubbing her head. "Back from the dead." I smiled and helped her up. "Artemis...? Where am I..?" She moaned. "In what was once Ellinia." I sighed. At that, she stood bolt upright. "The last thing I remember was someone that looked like you biting me!" She collapsed again. "I did eat you, but I wasn't the one in control back there." I explained. Alexis looked horrified. "I'm sorry about trying to kill you like that...... I don't know what came over me..." She hurriedly apologized. "It's okay. Saevio was controlling you all the time. Anyway, it's time to bring Ares back." I smiled, creating a mental image of Ares in my mind. Almost instantly, he popped out of nowhere right beside Alexis, naked. "What the heck-" He jumped to his feet, holding an invisible sword. "Hold it, tiger." I chuckled. The Genesis Tempest's blade seemed to have completely regenerated.

"Lemme get this straight. You ate Alexis and got the Life Key which Saevio gave her, then used it to revive us?" Ares asked after a lengthy period of explanation. I nodded, starting to scratch my chest. Shedding yet again. Alexis looked on, disgusted as I used a Soul Arrow to cut the top layer off. "You do not want to put that on." I advised, pointing at the extra breasts on my belly. "It'd make a nice jacket though." She lifted the shedded skin up, looking at it. "If you want your chest to look like mine, go ahead." I snorted. She kept staring at the skin, and eventually put it on. I groaned. Her cheeks suddenly turned red, and she clutched the breasts of the skin, which seemed to have melded into her body. "Gosh, you really envy me that much?" I smiled. "Well, you could say that." She poked her chest.

I quickly used the Reality Key to make clothes for us. "Where will we go from here on? Alexis is wanted, and you're probably wanted too, after nuking Ellinia like that." Ares pointed out. "Dunno. I could just use the Reality and Time Keys to change the whole thing around so it never happened, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep myself from going nuts after that. If I do go nuts, I'm pretty sure Victoria's gonna just be one flat pancake after a few days." I sighed. "Good point." Alexis groaned. I knew she felt guilty for destroying Kerning. Her dragonskin didn't seem to have granted her any Horntail powers though, it just looked like a skintight jacket, albeit a rather shapely one. This gave me an idea. "Alexis. I'm going to pass to you all my powers except for the Horntail's magic, and I'm pretty sure you don't want that." I said. Alexis gasped. "It's the only way. What if I go berserk someday and Victoria is completely leveled? I need someone who can stop me then, and you're pretty much the only person." I explained, placing my hands on her back. "I'll need to be careful as not to transfer some Horntail magic over though." I mumbled, starting to concentrate.

The power transfer took about an hour, considering the massive amount of energy needed to e transferred. My split personalities joined Alexis too, since I didn't want any of them wreaking havoc. Now, Alexis had four Inner Beasts and the five Keys. Her original Siren, the Dark Dragon, the Phoenix and the Archangel. "I feel a lot stronger." Alexis flexed her fingers. "It's natural. Now, you have to work up the heart to kill me if I do go nuts." I started scratching all over. Since the other powers in my body were now gone, the Horntail magic was flowing into the empty areas left behind. I shedded a piece of dragonskin about two centimetres thick as Alexis watched. "Arrgh!" I screamed. The outburst had come sooner that I expected. Dragonskin was growing all over my body, and two big wings were already rooted in my back. I felt something poking out of my right shoulder, and automatically assumed it was another head. Another similar feeling popped up in my left shoulder, and I roared a Horntail roar.

......

"Oh my god......" I gasped at the Horntail-Artemis hybrid. The two heads growing out of her shoulder were miniature Horntail heads. Ares was silent. Then, she stopped changing. "The Genesis Tempest...... before the Horntail gets... stronger..." Artemis gasped for air. I grasped the sword tighter, pointing it at Artemis's chest. "I know." I sighed. After that sentence, she started changing again, and I quickly rammed the sword through her chest. A sickening sound resonated through the air. The green blood spraying out of the wound and onto my face made it even more sickening. I turned away as the Horntail-Artemis hybrid roared once. A sorrowful roar. "Thanks...... Alexis......" Artemis managed to squeak as her body fell in slow motion. She didn't manage to complete the transformation, which was good. However, she was also dead. I started to cry into the dead Artemis's chest. "I know what you're thinking. Don't try to revive her. She was fused both mentally and physically with the Horntail before she died. Reviving her will bring it back." Ares said. His voice was filled with emotional pain.

Channeling the Archangel's magic right into the Time and Reality Keys did what I hoped it would. Ellinia and Kerning magically reappeared out of nowhere, inhabitants blinking in surprise. The Archangel's magic was almost on par with the Horntail's when directly channeled, but it required another person to help the caster. "Good job." Ares smiled as he helped me up. I just got up when I saw black hair billowing from the side of my head on a gust of calm wind. Apparently, my hair had turned black during the power transfer, and so had my eyes. "You could pass for Artemis now." Ares wiped a solitary tear from my cheek. "Maybe because...... She compressed her very soul into me." I forced a smile, pointing at an apparition in the air that I had made. It had the appearance of Artemis, and it was smiling. "You mean......" Ares gaped. "Yeah. She's living inside me now. The compression of her soul helped her stay alive, as she pushed out the Horntail's magic. She's just waiting for a new body to inhabit. An uncontaminated body." I smiled, then relaxed.

......

"And I thought I'd never live again. That compression thing was something new I found in the Archangel's diaries." I smiled at the stunned Ares. "Artemis?" He whispered. I nodded Alexis's head. "I'm just using her body temporarily until I can find or make a new one. Since I'm pretty much just a split personality inside Alexis, I don't have access to the Keys. She'll need to make me a new body using the Reality Key, but she's just too tired to use it now." I explained. A slight memory loss was a side effect of the compression, but at least the Horntail wasn't part of me anymore. I took the Genesis Tempest and looked down at my original contaminated body. "I have to destroy it, so that no one can use it again." I stuck the sword into the chest wound, twisting it 90 degrees. "Beam Genesis!" I shouted, concentrating my energy into the sword. A bolt of light shot down from the sky and bathed the body. When it disappeared, the body was gone. "More precise and concentrated than the Bishop Genesis." I smiled, then relaxed, giving Alexis control back over her own body.

......

I blinked. The Genesis Tempest was stuck in the ground, so I quickly pulled it out. "Now you know she's safe." I smiled at Ares. He nodded. "And I know that you can help her." He smiled back. I nodded, then collapsed.

To be continued......
_________________

If you think it's over, then you're dead wrong.

[Avax]

Gruesomely good i like the gore keep it up:eek:

[XxKiraYamatoxX]

Chapter finished. If you think it's over, then you're dead wrong.

Edit: C'mon guys, I won't be inspired to write more if you don't comment.

[Avax]

Yeah guys comment Kira's work and to provide inspiration fro him. lately i seem to be the main commenter.

Cool another key the life key.

At the moment Artemis is like another Jakito situation. Alexis power over the key could the split personalities be given bodies if in a desprate situation to help fight?

Well coming on nicely cant wait for the next chapter or two.

[Slerotin]

I think the main problem is that most people who normally comment on stories already have commented on Kira's. It's hard for newcomers to catch up to the current chapters in order to comment.
He's definitely come a long way in skill. Much better descriptions and his dialogue flows better. Probably needs to still work on using separating paragraphs in his dialogue whenever there is a new speaker since I did get confused once or twice on who was talking.
I'll admit, I've been out of the fanfic loop since chapter 40 (been too busy IRL), so I haven't caught up to current chapters yet. I'll try and work on that.

[XxKiraYamatoxX]

You've got more than half the entire fanfic to catch up on. Thanks for the comment, Slerotin! I feel inspired again. :D

Chapter 87: The Maiden's Revival

Several days of rest later, I was finally ready to revive Artemis. By then, the confused angry mobs that had chased Artemis away from the ex-Kerning Crater had calmed down. "Don't use the Key in a confined space. It draws the magic it needs from the air around us, so if you use it in a small room, you'll blow the whole house to smithereens." She advised. "Okay." I replied, walking out to the field behind our Kerning house. Surprisingly, Roy and the others had survived the first explosion and had come back to find the city in the state it was before the boom. Apparently, Lacus had got into tarot cards and had predicted the catastrophe. Mei Ling had tried it, then Kagome, all getting the same result. Agreeing that it the agreement was too great to be coincidental, they had evacuated.

"You'll have to provide the mental image. I don't really know your body's composition." I said, closing my eyes. "Sure." She smiled. A mental image of her bod instantly appeared in my mind, along with labels and colours depicting the composition. Surprisingly, she had chosen to keep the Horntail's dragonskin, just it covered her somewhat oversized breasts only. The body she designed was quite a sexy one, but also dared people to mess with her, as depicted by the black dragon tattoo on the right arm. It was also a human body this time, without the pointed elven ears. "You sure? What if people see the dragonskin?" I asked. "I'm sure. Besides, no one will see the skin if I don't go stripping in public." She confirmed her decision.

With Artemis's body image in my mind, I opened the gate to the Archangel's magic in my mind, channeling the outburst to the Reality Key. The mark began to emit a white glow, and Artemis's designed body appeared in the middle of a partial vacuum devoid of air, also emitting a white glow. Then, the surrounding air rushed in to fill the vacuum, causing the space to look warped. "You're done." Artemis said. I smiled, then walked over to the soulless body. It had the same eyes and hair as the Artemis's original body, only the hair was slightly longer and also, she was as tall as her lover, as was with my body when she revived it, it was naked. "I'm going to transfer into it. Prepare for a sudden feeling of nothingness." Artemis warned, and my mouth opened on her command. Her soul, represented as a puff of black light, floated out of my mouth, and as warned by Artemis, I felt like something was missing in my mind. The black puff of light hovered above the soulless body for a moment, then sank into the bare dragonskinned chest. Instantly, the body began coughing. "Better test it out first." Artemis stood up in her new body and began flexing her limbs. "Motor functions are okay......" She mumbled, then closed her eyes. A blue aura of magic surrounded her. "Magical pathways are fine too. Mental functions checked." She opened her eyes, smiling at me. I smiled back. "Welcome back to the real world. Sis." I laughed, hugging her tightly.

Alexis insisted on transferring all of my original powers back into my newly created body. Smiling, I let her do it. She was a good woman. That thought led me to wonder how Saevio had taken control of her that time. Magical control was the likeliest option, since I had also been controlled once. I shuddered at the thought of Ikfarion, who had transformed me into the Dark Angel and nearly made me level Kerning. Saevio had murdered many people to achieve his goals. Hold on. He got shot back in the castle though. Nah...... He was too powerful to get killed by a shot like that. Most likely he had some Horntail powers inside him, and had regenerated the wound, just like I had regenerated an arm.

"Good to see you back, Artemis." Rushuna smiled as she reentered my body. "Honestly, I thought you were dead when Alexis rammed your old body through. I didn't sense your soul flying into her body with us." Sakura laughed. The Archangel, Phoenix and Dark Dragon were recreating their own spaces inside my mind, and the split personalities proceeded to do the same. The familiar keys felt like they had been in this body before it was created. I lay on the back, admiring the body I had designed. All the properties of my previous body were on it, with the exception of the dragonskin breasts. My battle clothes had been brought back by Artemis and I tried them on, frowning at the hole in the middle of the shirt. Some of my throwing needles had fallen out, but that wasn't a problem.

Alexis seemed to have inherited a bit of my personality from when I was inside her. For instance, she enjoyed wearing revealing clothes, and was now frequently wearing my clothes, and sometimes even my swimsuit. Her dragonskin shedded a few times whenever she used her magic, but it didn't assimilate into her body like mine. Actually, it was the other way around. Her skin began assimilating the dragonskin, and a few days later, it was her skin colour, and it had stopped shedding. It was the same with my own dragonskin. "Pity. I thought it looked cool." I poked my now normal breasts. Alexis and me were now sitting on the side of the swimming pool, looking very much similar. I had cloned my own swimsuit for Alexis's personal usage since I was getting tired of her bagging it all the time. The only things that differentiated us from each other was our classes and Inner Beasts. She had even copied the black dragon tattoo on my right arm, and she kept her black eyes and hair.

"Alexis, let's go make dinner!" Lacus came down, addressing me. I simply stared at her. "She's Alexis." I pointed at Alexis, who waved at her. "Geez, you two really look like twins now. I can't tell you two apart!" Lacus groaned. I laughed. "That's because we WERE twins from the start." Alexis chuckled. "When's Ares coming anyway? We still need to talk about our marriage." I asked. "I was right here all the time and you didn't even see me?" Ares's cheerful voice rang out from a corner of the room that was covered in shadows. "When did you get there?" I gasped. "I didn't make it to Paladin without learning a few Magician skills. Teleport's one spell I'm good at." He laughed, stepping out of the shadows. "I need to brush up on my senses." I sighed, embracing him tightly.

"Did you revive Dray? He was back in his Orbis house yesterday looking rather confused. Said he was standing in the middle of a group of angels, then he was back in his house while I was cleaning up." Ares asked over dinner. "Well, maybe I did." I smiled. Dray was an important member of the guild, and no one wanted him out of action.

Ares joined us for dinner that night and slept with me that night too. Alexis went to sleep in Kagome's room, winking at me. Later, I heard a knock on the door and opened it to find a bottle of wine lying innocently on the floor. "Thanks, Alexis." I whispered and brought the bottle in. Suddenly, Ares appeared behind me and wrapped his arms around my midsection, lifting me up and placing me gently on the bed. "Did I scare you?" He chuckled. "Nope. Want a drink?" I smiled, holding up the wine bottle. "I'd prefer it if we do this first." He slipped my shorts off, exposing an undersized pair of panties. "Hey, it's more enjoyable if we drink first." I popped the cork on the bottle, dripping a single drop onto my outstretched tongue. One drop was all it took to get me drunk, a side effect of the Archangel's presence. "Or maybe we should do both at the same time." I laughed, already drunk and taking off my shirt.

"Wake up, Artemis. Now!" Ares's voice rang in my ears as I slowly got up, rubbing my eyes. "Wha..." I mumbled. "We need to find cover. Now!" He shouted, forcefully pulling me up. I looked around, sensing something amiss. "Whoa!" I shrieked, stumbling backwards just in time to dodge a giant sword that had come out of the ceiling. The sword slid right between my breasts and between my legs. It felt really cold. "What the hell's going on!?" I jumped backwards, snatching my clothes from the side table and putting them on. No time for underwear. "Someone set loose a few giant Tauros in the city, but these guys were really souped up and mad. Not normal Tauros either. The ones in the dungeon don't use swords and they're not that big either." Ares explained as we ran for cover behind a ruined wall, although it wasn't really much use. Those Tauroswords could cut through a few centimetres of concrete without a problem, and were classified as S10 demons. What the hell were demons doing here!? Not to mention there were hundreds of them clanking around the city in heavy battle armour. So much for Ares's 'few'.

I quickly led Ares down to the swimming pool. The others were already gathered there in the empty pool. "Over here!" Roy shouted as another sword came slicing through the roof. It narrowly missed me, and went up again. "These things are nuts!" I shouted, running towards the group. Alexis was fumbling with a handle in the middle of the empty pool, and I dashed over to help. "We made an emergency exit here just in case we might need to evacuate." I explained to Ares. He nodded and started helping with the handle. Soon it was open, revealing a raging river of underground water under it. There was a raft floating under the hatch, bobbing violently on the river. "This river leads directly to one of the hot springs near Henesys, so get ready to feel some heat." Roy yelled over the sound of the water as a rope ladder dropped out of the side of the hatch's entrance. He climbed down first, then proceeded to help the girls down. I climbed down after Ares, noting that he could see up my shorts.

There was a sudden explosion from above, and the shockwave blew me off the ladder. I landed in the water, and the river's flow started carrying me along. "Ares!" I shouted. I felt my shorts drift off my hips, carried by the water, and started kicking my legs in a breaststroke. Even I couldn't outswim a raging river, and I was soon drifting on the water, helpless and drowning. After I went under, the last thing I felt was another shockwave buffeting me, then I blacked out.

I woke up several hours later and found myself drifting on a swampy area. The Kerning Swamp? How did I get here? The underground river was supposed to lead to a hot spring! I got up and started trying to get my bearings, noticing that I wasn't wearing anything on the way. My clothes must have drifted off with the river while I was out. Looking around, I could see alligators. Although, they really looked like oversized alligators, because they WERE oversized. Each alligator was twice the size of a normal human, sporting a longer tail and way nastier teeth. "What the hell..." I gasped, then noticed an alligator staring at me intently. It's eyes were filled with insatiable hunger, and I knew I had to run.

As soon as I began to run, two of those alligators were on my tail. These things weren't just supersized, they were fast! I ran through the swamp, dirty feet leaving footprints in the muck, searching for the exit. The alligators were thumping after me, sludging through the mud on strangely agile legs. I was pretty sure they could reach their backs now. Eventually, I found a mangrove tree that looked sturdy enough to climb up. However, I regretted climbing the tree when the alligators caught up. Their feet were lined with claws, quite good at gripping a tree trunk. Soon, I was on the run again, with those things nipping at the heels of my feet.

I saw the entrance to what looked like a concealed cave behind a few trees and I started thinking about hiding there. However, the trees were relatively close together. Would I be able to squeeze through? No time to waste. Those alligators certainly weren't small enough to get through, and this might be the only place to hide for a few kilometres. I ran towards the opening and dived through it with my eyes closed. When I opened them again, I was staring into a dark cave, but I wasn't standing on my feet. "Oh man." I groaned, turning my head around. I had gotten stuck halfway through the opening. Apparently, my butt was too big. I started pushing the tree trunks, trying to get myself free. Those alligators were closing in real fast, and they were snapping their jaws already! "Sh!t." I cursed, pushing harder. Finally, I got through, scratching my hips on the way through. "Owww..." I rubbed the injured area, then heard a scratching sound from behind the barrier.

"Those things don't give up easily!" I moaned, then ran into the inky darkness of the cave, only to stop dead at the sight of a cave-in. "Oh boy...... I'm in deep trouble..." I breathed. I could tell by just looking at those monsters that they were completely immune to magic, so I couldn't use the Keys or the Archaeion, as it fired magical arrows. I could whack them with the bow, although it would be pretty useless against such thick skin, and I'd just get myself killed in the process. I climbed up to the top of the rocks, and noticed a barely visible gap between the ceiling and it. "Maybe I do have a chance." I mumbled, scrabbling the rocks down. Soon, the gap looked big enough for me to pass through, and I quickly squeezed through the gap, only to find out that this time, my butt got stuck again. "Not again!" I groaned, quickly trying to move a few more rocks. Growling noises came from behind me, and I knew the alligators had made it through. "I won't die, I won't die, I won't die......" I repeated, scrabbling more rocks down.

Another tight squeeze pushed me through, again, with bad scratches on my hips. "Why do I have so much bad karma......" I moaned, continuing running through the cave. It was pitch black in there, and several times I bumped into stalagmites. "Where the hell does this lead?" I panted. I felt like I had been running for a few hours now. Those alligators seemed to have stopped chasing me, I couldn't hear them any more. I stopped for a breather, bumping into another stalagmite. "What's with all the stalagmites anyway?" I sighed, sitting down. Right on top of another tiny stalagmite. "OW!" I jumped up, rubbing my butt in pain. Suddenly, lighted torches lit up on the walls of the cave, and I discovered that what I had sat on wasn't a stalagmite, but a small switch in the floor.

"What is this place...?" I looked around, amazed. This was a small circular tunnel fabricated out of white bricks. I summoned the Archaeion just in case there was something dangerous lurking on the other side. I walked through the tunnel, marvelling at the craftsmanship. Those bricks were perfectly smooth, and there weren't any missing ones. They seemed to have been made out of marble too. The tunnel ended in a circular door the same diameter as the tunnel. There was a strange energy in the tunnel, but I couldn't place it. I noticed a few items floating in the air right in the middle of the tunnel, then noticed the torches were stuck into the bricks. "Gravity blocks?" I noticed that my hair was floating in the middle of the tunnel and jumping. A sudden pull of gravity pulled me into the middle of the tunnel, and I hung in the air for a few moments trying to figure things out. I felt dizzy. "Their gravitational pulls are holding objects in the middle of the room......" I swung my arms to a side and felt the gravity on that side take hold, pulling me back onto solid ground, painfully landing on my face.

"Ouch." I stood up, rubbing my nose. The Archaeion's magical arrows weren't much use here. The gravity was way too intense, and would pull the arrows down before they even hit a potential target. Unless, of course, I was shooting point-blank. I noticed that the end of the tunnel wall had a depression in it, and I examined it for a few seconds, then gasped. The depression was shaped like the front of a female human body. To be precise, it was the exact same shape as my body after I tried standing in front of it. "Is this......" I reached a hand into the depression. The inside felt organic. All of a sudden, intense gravitational pull sucked me into the depression. A wall closed down behind me, leaving me stuck in total darkness with my nose stuck in some kind of squishy jelly that I couldn't breathe through. I felt my cheeks turn slightly red as a sucking sound came into hearing range and my breasts felt like they were being vacuumed. Then, I was sucked into the jelly. "What the hell..." I accidentally let my breath escape, but found that I could breathe now.

This space was a zero-gravity area, and I found myself floating around inside the jelly towards yet another depression in a wall. All this time, the vacuum sensation pulled on my breasts and now was starting on my buttocks. The scratches I had gotten from squeezing through those tight spaces were healing themselves now. What was this stuff? Yet again, I found myself sucked into the depression, and this time, what happened wasn't pleasant at all. Slimy worm-like objects began poking through my skin in several places, and I let out a muffled scream, as one had pierced through my heart, yet I was still alive. When I was released, I saw tubes of green stuff stuck in my body. They seemed to be pumping something in, and I guessed that it wasn't good. Trying to pull those things off was like pulling my own body apart, and I finally gave in. My body felt strained, and a layer of green slime was forming around me, covering nothing but my private areas. The coated area soon merged into my skin, and the sucking sensation intensified covering my entire body. More of those green tubes shot out of the walls and forced their way into me, forcing strained veins to pop up everywhere. I struggled to break free, then drifted into yet another depression.

Then, I was free. My body felt like new, and my skin was radiating a pale white glow. I felt refreshed and relaxed. All that was a purifying mechanism? How unusual. I was standing on the edge of a pool of clear white water with a waterfall supplying the same water to it. A few trees dotted the side of the pool, while the sun shone down into the place through a transparent dome. "Paradise..." I whispered, moving unconsciously to the edge of the pool and dipping my right leg in. It was cool and it felt like liquid air with the smell and taste of honey. I immersed myself in the water completely, forgetting about the crisis at hand. The sweet smell of honey seemed to purify my entire body as I let out a relaxed sigh. "You seem to be enjoying yourself." A female voice said. I whirled around. There, standing on the edge of the pool, was a silver-haired woman just my height and size, holding a diamond-set golden bow. She was clothed in a silver robe that accentuated her bodily features.

"I'm...... I'm sorry..." I quickly got out of the pool. "It's fine. May I ask what is your name?" She took off her robe and set her bow on a rack near the pool, sinking into the pool herself. "Arte....Artemis." I stammered, not entirely sure now to react. "Interesting. Do you know that you are named after the Greek goddess of archery, hunting, and the moon in the human world?" The woman lifted a smooth leg into the air. "I do, why do you ask?" I asked, more confident now. "Because I, am that person." She replied.

"Wha... what?" I stared at her. This silver-haired woman person was the Greek goddess herself!? Why was she in this world? "The fact that you are able to access this sacred sanctuary proves that you are a gifted one." She smiled at me, pointing at my breasts, then at my forehead, then at my belly. My hand seemed to move by itself to cover the marks of the five Keys. "I take it an army of demons is rampaging outside, no?" She looked at the overhead dome. I nodded. "It has begun. The ancient legends foretold this, but I never dreamed it would come so early." She sighed. "Ragnarok?" I gasped. The end of the world. "I saw that an elite Horntail visited this world a few days ago, and you were the one who received it's powers and later committed suicide. If an elite Horntail enters this world, it means that the dimensional barrier has already crossed the dangerous point. If the demon's army appears, then it marks the end of the world. Ragnarok himself will appear after the four barrier crystals are destroyed." Artemis explained.

"I take it the four barrier crystals reside in the houses of the four Job Masters." I said. "You catch up fast, my child." Artemis nodded. "Two have already been destroyed. Kerning City and Perion. Dances with Balrog and the Dark Lord have already begun marshalling forces to Ellinia, since they cannot allow Ragnarok to progress any further. Henesys is being marched upon as we speak." She added, staring at the waterfall. An image of Henesys was projected on it, with hundreds of gigantic Tauroswords marching on the paths leading towards it. Panicked residents were fleeing, but 9 figures stood still behind the gates. All of them had their weapons out, and several people were beginning to join them. "No way..." I gasped. The others were there. Alexis had obviously cried her eyes sore after my separation, they were red. "Judging by the look on your face, you want to help." Artemis smiled at me. "Of course I do! My friends are down there, and I can't just let them get killed!" I yelled, looking around for an exit. There were no visible exits. "If you go there now, you will get yourself killed." Artemis said calmly, getting out of her pool.

"I can't just stand her and do no-" I shouted, but Artemis pressed her bare body against mine and kissed me. I stood there, surprised. "I am neither alive nor dead, and hence, I cannot help. However, I can grant you my powers permanently, on the condition that you will not misuse them......" Her body condensed into silver stars of blinking lights, passing into my body. I collapsed to the ground, panting. A sudden magical infusion wasn't something anyone liked to receive. My hair extended by a full metre, snaking onto the ground and changing colour to silver. The same sucking sensation that had occupied my entry arose again, and I started to feel like I was experiencing orgasm.

To be continued......