So, uh, a while ago, I put on my Patreon page that once I reached over $250 a month, I would read through the terrible, terrible fiction press novel that I wrote when I was 15, or actually I started it when I was 15. I wrote it over the course of like 8 months, so I didn't finish it until I was 16, but not that important, not that important. For all intents and purposes, I was a young teenager, let's say.  And I was expecting it to be edgy, I was expecting it to be cringy, I was expecting it to be in a lot of ways, wish fulfillment, or self-insert wish fulfillment, excuse me. But I kinda forgot how bad it was, and after reading back over it the past couple of days, I forgot how genuinely disgusting some parts of this are. So uh, yeah, this is neither gods nor masters. This is the introduction song, it's not very good, but it's not too long. So I guess let's start with the title and summary. So the title, neither gods nor masters, it doesn't really mean anything, like there's something that comes in at the end where it's trying to say, oh look, this is what it means, but I really just threw that in there for no reason. Like, at the beginning when I said neither gods nor masters, I just thought it was kind of a cool saying, so whatever. And then there's also the thumbnail image is just a guy wearing a skeleton hoodie, which is a still image from the manga called The Breaker, which I was reading at the time and I really liked it, I don't remember much about it other than that image. And then uh, let's go to the summary. After witnessing a murder in her neighborhood, Lorelei El-Lolietz winds up in Maier, the land of demons. What's the truth about this strange boy? And how will they survive the mysterious group Psychic, rated M for violence, language, and sexual content, including rape? You have been warned. Yeah, it's rated M, it's clearly from the beginning you can tell, edgy story, and I do just want to take a moment to say like, yes there is a lot of stuff in here that, as I said before, is genuinely disgusting and not at all handled well, because you know, I was young, I didn't have the skill to handle it and I didn't have the knowledge to handle it. If you don't want to hear about, and I'm not going to read some of the worst passages, but if you don't want to hear about extreme, extreme violence, sexual assault, suicide, parental abandonment, and well, a lot of swearing as well, then you should probably check out now. So chapter one of Neither God's Nor Masters, in the chapter selection it's called Introducing James and Laurie, in the actual story it just says chapter one, the boy with a chip on his shoulder, so not sure what to do with that. And yes, the main character's name is James, by the way, again just like the title, couldn't think of a better name, and obviously it's teenage self-insert, I've already cringed it that far more than you ever could, so go right ahead. Not reading this opening passage, because it literally just describes the main character James murdering a woman, and it doesn't explain why, but it is pretty graphic, so not going over that. And then it cuts to Lorelie L. Lolly, it was merely walking along her usual route to school in New York City when she saw a small teenager walk out of Miss White's house. She walked in her tracks and stared. She had never seen anyone go in or out of that house besides Miss White herself, nor had she ever seen the woman speak to anybody in a friendly manner. The whole neighborhood had tried to make friends with her at one point or another, but all of them were shot down. Yeah, because that's something people in New York do, they try to make friends with their neighbors, obviously. So why is there someone there now, she wondered. Then she shrugged and kept walking while the boy jogged away in the opposite direction. Maybe he was her nephew or something, it didn't matter. What did matter is that she needed a haircut. Her blonde locks were constantly getting in her eyes lately. She pushed a streak of hair away and took a left turn to her school. So it just goes through a little bit of Lorelie's day, it was a normal day for the most part, but then it cuts to later at night she's hearing a new story, and it's obviously talking about the murder. Several eyewitness accounts have described this young man, a sketch of a boy with an oval face and high cheekbones appeared next to him, leaving the scene around Marcy's time of death. He is described as being about five foot six with short scarlet hair and green eyes. If you see anyone matching this description, please inform the police immediately. So there are at least two ways in which this is not wish fulfillment. One, this James is short, and two, he's a ginger. Lorelie started in pure shock. She had seen that exact boy at that exact time, he killed Miss White in her house. That's why he was there. She gaped at the screen, open mouthed.   I was right next to a murderer today, and I never knew what if, what if he, the girl looked down at her uncontrollably shaking hands, then she had an epiphany. Why am I panicking over something that could have happened. I have nothing to worry about. Tomorrow I can just tell the cops what I know and be done with it. So again it goes through normal rest of the night, and her parents tell her like, there was a murder in the neighbourhood so we're just going to give you this taser and we're going to tell you, be careful and try not to go anywhere alone. Which seems pretty reasonable, I suppose. And then the next day, she's going to school, but then, at a brisk pace, Lori moved east, towards the nearest precinct of the NYPD.  He was across the street, waiting at the bus stop. The murderer. And then it cuts back to James. James was not having a good day. It was not even close to his worst. But getting hit by a driver who had to have been drinking and dislocating his left shoulder, then finding out that the cops were on a manhunt and he had to sleep in the park to not get caught before his scheduled use of the portal. Yes, a shitty day indeed. As he sat at the bus stop, he knew that he would have to hurry if he wanted to get to Meyer on time. A girl with blonde hair and a black trench coat crossed to his side of the street and sat on the bench next to him. Not right next to him. She sat half off the bench, as though she was leaning away from him. Not surprising. I probably look homeless. Which he did. With his unwashed hair and body that hadn't seen a shower in four days. Whatever. I ain't here to make friends. The bus arrived a few minutes later. James stood up and walked on, moving all the way to the back of the bus before sitting down. Even at this early hour, there were half a dozen others on the bus.  I'm not sure why I'm doing this. And James realizes that. But he tries his best to lose her and then he goes into an abandoned warehouse and closes the door behind him. And then, as Laurie is outside it, she feels this weird pressure coming from it. And there's like static in the air and she doesn't know what the hell's going on.  She pulls the door open and she points the taser at him. But it turns out he was actually making a portal. And he was going to the demon world and then her coming in makes things go wrong and then everything goes crazy. And then they land in a swamp. After a few seconds, which felt more like years, they were spat out into a bog. Laura Lyce screamed and scrambled for her taser. James growled in anger and literally tore open his gym bag, pulling out a strange sword. Laurie's fingers closed around her weapon and brought it to bear. James smacked it aside with the flat of his blade and pointed the sword at her throat.  However much they're paying you, it's too much. You owe them money at this point. Now tell me, he lifted her by the collar. Who are you? And that's the end of chapter one. So yeah, that's kind of basically just a standard, oh, a normal person gets introduced to a magical world opening.  And also apparently a lot of people thought Laurie was supposed to be the main character of the story based on that and the summary. That was never the intention. It was always going to be James the demon, sort of demon. You'll figure that out later. But yeah, so far it's just kind of normal.  And having read this recently, I will say that the first 9 or 10 chapters are the worst. And then the next 10 are still pretty bad. Don't get me wrong, but they're a little more focused because by that point I kind of knew where I was going with the story. And then 20 onwards is still cringy. Don't get me wrong, but it's not that awful or at least not as awful as the beginning. I am of the opinion that that's the case at least. I'll let you guys judge for yourselves. Authors note, before I get into anything else, the last chapter bomb, I wrote the whole thing in about an hour and only did one draft. However, I went back and edited some, so if you want to reread it might be a good idea. Now without further ado, chapter 2, The Drogion Swamp. Now, I will say Fiction Press doesn't allow you to edit chapters after they've been published the way Wattpad did, so with that one I literally took it down, edited it to put it back up, but yeah this whole thing is a first draft. Well, who's paying you? I'm asking nicely for the last time. James's earlier anger was gone. His voice was a deadly calm now. He was holding Lorelei away from him at arm's length with his left hand and pushing his sword's point to her throat with his right. You don't need to specify which hand is doing which. Lorelei tried to claw his wrist off of her, leaving deep gouges in his flesh, but he showed as much reaction as a statue. She tried kicking him, kicking his legs, stomach, and crotch. He grunted a bit when she hit his manly parts, but his grip didn't loosen. Jesus Christ. Nothing? All right, time to employ violence. James tilted his sword's blade so it was pressing against her stomach, just above her belly button. He pressed forward slowly, first cutting a hole in her coat and shirt, then breaking the skin. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Lorelei cried. James stopped and dropped a small trickle of blood soaking into Lorelei's shirt. What? I'm listening, James said coldly. I saw you leave Ms. Whitehouse yesterday and then I heard that she was killed. She stopped when James held up a hand. You followed me. On your own, virtually unarmed, and you expect me to believe that you're just a regular girl with bad luck.  He sniffed at the air and came to a realization. She smells scared. His sense of smell was good enough to let him know when people were feeling emotions. It wasn't perfect, even when they felt something very powerfully, he could barely get enough information to make an educated guess. But fear. Fear was easy to pick out. It smelled prickly, like he was sniffing a cactus. Weird, James thought.  Could it be that she ain't lying? Why does he keep saying ain't? I don't talk like that. No one I know talks like that, and he doesn't... This James doesn't talk like that after the first couple of chapters. He hoped she wasn't lying. He really did. If she was sent, he would have to hide her body or make it look accidental, which was far more difficult than it sounded. All need to be sure. And here comes the first really gross bit. He pressed his thumb to her midsection, covering his finger with blood. Then he raised it to his nostrils and sniffed. And finally, he licked it off his finger. Laurie cringed inwardly. James had a sudden look of surprise and disgust on his face and spat out the blood. He spat a few more times and wiped his toad on his shirt. Well, you're definitely human. And you have some magical ability, but you probably have never used it, though it's hard to tell with all that energy we absorbed from the portal. Very well.  Okay, so there's a lot going on in that sentence. Basically, his sword is...  And then the white half, which is the part with the edge, also has a bunch of barbs running along it. Now, even at the time, I knew that that probably wouldn't work well as a sword, like that wouldn't cut very well. Like, you could probably still stab with it and then the barbs would work well, but I just think it's a cool image. You know, it's a neat visual and not to sound like I'm defending myself too hard, because this is still really cringy and stupid, but I am of the opinion that, yeah, that's still a neat image, it's not realistic, but none of this is realistic. So, basically James just says, you know what, I think you might be telling the truth, I think you might be human, and if that's the case I'll help you get home, but you also might be here trying to kill me, so I'm gonna have to put these handcuffs on you, which are they're like special handcuffs which suppress magic, and then they start walking through the swamp. And then it cuts too. The two men pulled themselves out of the tree. They had been merged with it a moment ago, so it was like watching the bark give birth to two wood people who gained their color back seconds later. One of the men was huge in every sense of the word.  The other one was average in every sense of the word. He had dark brown hair going down to his ears, neither tall nor short, neither thin nor wide. He would blend in well with most any crowd. The only thing that stood out about him was the tomahawk at his hip with an ivory hilt and a steel head. They watched James and Mori disappear into the bog silently. The average looking man took out a cell phone, hit a button, and put it up to his ear. Sir, he's in the Drogion swamp. He thinks it was a portal malfunction caused by the girl, just as planned. No sir, they do not know that we're here. Yes, she'll be no trouble. I can take them now if you wish. Yes, he knows my face, but yes sir. He turned his gauge to the large man and continued speaking. I'll take care of it. I would need to think about that one. I have some ideas. Can I get back to you? Okay, I'll give my next report in three hours. He pushed a button on the phone and put it back in his pocket. Theta, the large man, said in a deep booming voice. What's the boss say? He says that we did our job well. Theta said plainly, I have no idea why I'm making them talk this way, but... And he asked my opinion on who your replacement should be. He then took the tomahawk from his belt and slashed it at the other man too fast for most people to follow and it would have killed most people instantly. Delta was not most people. He grabbed the axe below the head, halfway down the hilt. What are you doing? He hissed. We've been partners for years and yet we don't know each other's names. Theta responded coldly. So Theta kills Delta and then he calls back his boss. Sir, you asked my opinion on Delta's replacement? He looked out in James and Lori's direction. I have an idea, but you may not like it. Author's note, thanks to every yo who stuck with me this far, these chapters were pretty slow, but it will speed up somewhat after this. Also, when I say I'll update weekly, I mean at least once a week. I might do it two to three times if I can. You know, I remembered, like looking back on this, I remembered, yeah, I updated it every Wednesday and I was pretty good about actually sticking to schedule, but then there's like 18 different author's notes that say some variation on sorry for the delay, or sorry for the late update, so you know there's that. But anyways, basically let's talk about Theta and Delta. Now, later on in the story I will finally have an actual solid idea of who they are and what they're up to and what who they're working for, all that, but at this beginning part I had, again, no idea what I was doing, so there's kind of, they act kind of well unsure about what to do with James. It's like first they supposedly messed up the portal and that's how they were able to show up here, but there's no explanation given as to how they did that and also it really does seem like it was just an accident based on the rest of the story, so yeah, there's that. And they also go back and forth between whether they want to kill James or they want to recruit him for whatever their nefarious plans are, and if they do want to recruit him why don't they just go up and talk to him? Anyways, here's chapter three. Explanations and separations.  Laurie asked, exasperated as she was prodded in the back and marched through the thick, humid air of the swamp. I'm not sure if you are who you say you are, but I'll answer like you were. Well, I was trying to go to Shriek. There's a lot of demon words and names in this, which are, I kind of purposely made look really weird and unpronounceable and I do put pronunciation guides there, but I put it like in the middle of the sentence in parentheses. I probably should have just put it at the end of the chapter, but whatever. So, well, I was trying to go to Shriek, a major trading city in the east. However, I think we wound up in the Drogion Swamp, a massive bog with almost no one living in it. Also, I'd just like to point out his. I'm not sure who you say you are, but I'll answer like you were. That's him basically just saying, yeah, I'll expose it for the audience. That's not exactly what I meant when I asked where we were, the girl said, still debating whether to run or not. He looks like he could cath me. I should wait. Oh, James chuckled at the missing obvious. Well, this gets weird. You've heard of demons, right? Creatures from stories who, depending on the story, are Satan's minions, the embodiment of sin, etc. Of course, everyone has. Are you saying that they're real? She asked in disbelief. Yes.  I've been kidnapped by a crazy person. She wanted to vomit. And okay, I could understand that if you were like still back on earth, and he kidnapped you, but like you went through a magical portal and were teleported into a swamp, like you don't, are demons really that strange? And then it cuts to Theta, and basically he's talking with his boss again, and then it turns out he is able to open portals without meeting a magical hot spot the way James is, and I know that isn't really explained yet, but a little bit later they explain, yeah, James needs a magical hot spot in order to open portals, whereas Theta can just kind of open them whenever he wants. And so he opens one up and there was a boom and a flash as the portal opened, the shield blocking the sound and magic, so nothing and no one would come to investigate. When the flash was gone, there was a man and a woman standing there.    First, don't use and twice in the same sentence. Second, edge. Sigma?  He, he sent you to deal with a human and a brat? The man in black, Sigma, nodded and spoke in a gravelly voice. We knew you and Delta weren't suited to this mission, even less by yourself. Theta hesitated before nodding in acceptance and turning back to the rock. He focused on it and began to glow once more. He dripped more blood from his still bleeding arm onto the rock. There was another boom and a flash before Theta disappeared. Alpha, Sigma said to the woman. She turned to him, still looking bored. I want you to go ahead and prepare something for us. And then it cuts away again. So I think I could skip over most of those as just being bad guys talk. They say we're evil and then goes back to the good guys. Good guys.  Laurel I asked. Myer, home realm of the demons. I don't care if you believe, I won't repeat it again. Where are- she was cut off by a cuff on her ear by James. Ow, she said plainly. I said I wouldn't repeat it.  Don't call me by my last name.  He cuffed her again. Okay, okay. If we're stuck in a swamp, why don't you just open another one of those portal thingies? You took that wand out of the mud, why not use it again? He sighed deeply. Well, for starters, it's called a still. And I only have enough magic power and knowledge to make one for an individual. I didn't plan to drop off in a pool of mud when you came in. Or it was like adding weight to one of the wings of a plane. All my calculations were off. Jesus, dude, use commas. We're lucky we didn't turn to ash. He said it while looking all around them, watching for something. Occasionally he would sniff the air and mutter about everything smelling the same here. Weird. I'm from New York. I can usually smell crazy. Right now I'm hearing crazy, but I'm not smelling it.  Lorelai barts a laugh at that. You sound like my grandpa. I think if you took off these cuffs we'd get along well. Next question. All right, if we're in the demon realm, are you a demon? No.   I do just want to point out that it's great how likeable the main character has been so far. Like this James kid, he's just so nice and cool and awesome all the time. Just amazing. He's just amazing. He really is. He pushed the animal off of himself and stood up, taking out his sword in the same movement. He slashed it at the creature, slicing the head clean off the shoulders. Its dark gray coat of fur was now stained by dark blood. Sorry, Egoon. Author's note pronounced Egoon. He said while looking at his sword, I had to make sure it was dead. He glanced in the direction where Lorelai sent was spading. Guess she thought it was smart to run off. Well, she's Mother Nature's problem now. So, yeah, his sword is named Egoon and he talks to him. Also, he refers to his sword as a hymn rather than an it. Lorelai was looking for a dry piece of wood, almost impossible in the current environment. Environment? Oh yeah, I spelled environment wrong. She needed fire before it got dark, or she would likely die a myriad of deaths. Eyes focused on the area around her, she failed to notice the root under the water, subsequently tripping over it. She landed faced first in the water.  A weight pressed against her back, holding her down and something pulled on her legs, dragging her back the way she came. She screamed, releasing bubbles into the water as she unwillingly went to her fate. And that's the end of chapter three. I really had no idea what I was doing. I don't know if that's coming through yet. Chapter four, Trial by Fire. So it starts off a brief conversation. James is like cooking the dead animal that he killed.  And he goes to sleep, and then we go into a flashback slash dream sequence. Why can't I go? The six-year-old James wind while he craned his neck up to look at her. Tempestade sighed and looked down at him. Because it's dangerous. You have to wait until you're old enough to handle it. She brushed a strand of silver hair out of her face. You're only ten years older than me. I can handle it, Tempe. He cried out as only a young child can. She smiled warmly. But what if you can't? Then I'll have to protect you, and I'll be held back. Then how can I ever get stronger? You don't have to protect me, even if I'm in trouble. The boy said stubbornly, still hoping to go along. Of course I have to, Tempestade declared. You're my little brother. I'll always look out for you. James' heart finally melted. Okay, he said submissively. His sister smiled and ruffled his hair. I'll be back soon, once I finally grasped that new sword technique. Your sword is the best, she cut him off. Igun. Swords have names for a reason. Call him by it. She was adamant about that with everybody she met. Swords had personalities absorbed from their masters, just like houses and ships. Okay, Igun is the best. You'll get it in no time. Then you can teach me, right? He was excited again. I can't eventually, if you want me to, she said. And, okay, end of flashback. So foreshadowing, that's all I can say.  Like something bad's gonna happen here and it's gonna be part of his tragic backstory. That's obviously why he has his sister's sword, because something bad happened. So it cuts back to Lori as she's getting dragged away by whatever it was that caught her at the end of last chapter.   And then it cuts away and that's about it. And then it cuts to James waking up and he just continues his hike with nothing going on. But then he runs across the giant pit or whatever you want to call it, where Lori and the animals are being held. The majority of the swamp was under a few inches of water, hiding roots and small animals that ran off when people got too close. There were some dry islands, few and far between, with larger trees on them than the wet areas. Walking towards the squeals, he arrived on one of these islands. It seemed strange to James. It had some sticky white strands on the ground. Author's note, that sounded dirtier than I meant it to. Dude. And he decided to stay away from whatever made this. I think that his thoughts stopped when a strand of web hit him on the side, pinning his left arm. Twisting to avoid the second and third shots, he pointed in the direction of the shots and shot an orange bull... Stop saying shot! And shot an orange bolt about the size of a candle flame head into the shadows. There was a high-pitched scream and a flaming spider came running out. James moved to avoid it and it crashed into the water, putting out the fires. The giant arachnid twitched several times and lay still. The boy looked at the webbing on his arm and it burst into flame, melting off his body almost instantly. He walked off again, wary of more spiders. Very soon, he came to a clearing with web all over the place.   Another, like, mama spider, it's like 50 feet tall appears. A gigantic, enormous, big spider, exactly like the others, but more than 50 feet tall, the size of some of the trees, each of its legs could have crushed James like, well, like a bug. It had hair bigger than most people all over itself, except its eyes and fangs, which were dripping with poison. When it noticed the flames, it went ballistic. Its cold, shiny eyes saw James and it charged. It stepped on the fire on the way towards him, lighting the hairs on fire, causing it to screech in pain. It pointed its back end towards James and shot a stream of web at him. James jumped out of the way and ran behind a tree. He moved up to the top by jumping from branch to branch.  So, yeah, he basically just burns the giant spider over the course of like a paragraph and then he goes around and decides, you know what, I'm gonna free all these animals that are here. And so he cuts them all free and then he gets to the last one and Lori is in there. Lolly it, he said triumphantly. I told you not to run. What would have happened if I hadn't come? Or if I decided to leave you here? He got the webbing off the rest of her body and stood up. She stepped forward and put her cuffed hands over his hand to wrap him in a bear hug.  All right, all right, enough with the emotional thank you.  You're crying? Really? He sniffed the air. I mistake her for being horny with all the smoke in the air. Stop it, he snapped. Stop crying over what might have happened. She stared at him dumbfounded. What are, I said stop crying over what might have happened.  It's annoying and Frank, he collapsed suddenly, twitching on the ground like a fish. Lori knelt down and noticed the bite marks on his leg. It wasn't just a trickle of blood anymore. It was a fester and green pot of pus. Maybe a spider bit him. Are those things poisonous? Fuck, if that's true, then she knew how you were supposed to deal with poison without an antidote.  Chapter five. Think of your own chapter title. I have to write four plus pages today.  So there's a brief moment where Lori is like looking at this and thinking, okay, I need to cut his leg open so he can let it drain.  So then she's like, well, I'm gonna have to bite it. And then it cuts to Alpha. And Alpha is like watching him be in pain and she's like really turned on by it. Like not sure why I decided to put that in there, but there it is. And then she's like, well, I need to regain some energy that I lost so she wraps herself up in a cocoon. And then it goes to another flashback. The man backhanded James with enough force to knock out a molar and send him sprawling. I'm sorry, the young boy sobbed. I'll get it next time, I promise. The man stood over him, imposing. You've been practicing for two weeks and you can't even light a candle.  You can't carry my legacy. I can't stand to look at you. He pulled a knife from his belt and stepped forward. No emotion shown in his pure black eyes. A white and black flash crossed James's vision and Tempeh was standing between them. Weilding Egoon.  Don't defend him. You're strong. You either step over the week or stomp them down. Now get out of my way. Tempeh, James stood shakily. I'm fine. Just go back to your training. She looked at her brother, then back to her father. Sheathing her sword, she said plainly. Give him another two weeks.  If you can't agree to that, I'll leave and you'll have to start over from scratch. She walked away. James's father put away the knife and smacked him again. Get back to work. Hashtag edgy. And then it cuts back to Lori.  And I am not gonna go into detail about this, but basically it's James as a kid again and then his father, who is named Rybeck by the way, and his sister take him off to this one area. And they're talking about like different types of angels. And I really wish that I could find my notes from this because I had this long list of like different types of angels and different types of demons and like what the differences were between them. Unfortunately, I couldn't find them and I don't really remember it and it's not explained very well in this. But basically there's one type of angel called Pain Angels and it's pretty clear that Alpha is one of them. You know, she just enjoys inflicting pain on others and she also enjoys it being inflicted on herself because I didn't know how to write characters that were anything other than edgy. And basically another Pain Angel shows up and he and Rybeck throw James into this magical box where it feels like he's getting torn apart by animals and stuff. It feels like he's dying over and over again and then they throw Tempeh in there and then it's all part of training to toughen them up for whatever reason. And then James wakes up and he sees Laurie sleeping and he's like, oh well, okay, I guess she's cool. We can keep going tomorrow then and then he goes back to sleep. Chapter six, a deal is struck. And then this is mostly them walking with some exposition and it's basically like James saying, like I said before, he needs a magical hotspot in order to open a portal so they have to go to the city, which is Shriek like he mentioned earlier and it'll take a little while to get there. And he mentions that Laurie has some magic potential that she doesn't know how to use. And like I said, this is very much just exposition and dialogue. So do you have a family? She asked after a few hours after they left the tent. No, he took another bite from his strip of meat, which was lunch.  James stayed silent.  That might explain the black eyes. I'm not a clone. And when did you see my eyes? You lift my eyelids when I was asleep?  There's no reason for it. She explained about his episode right after he collapsed. Wait, you said we're in a demon world, which I'm more inclined to believe after the spiders, but you said you aren't a demon. Are you a half demon? Yep, I'm what's called a nephilim, which is basically a half breed. There are nephilim that are half demon, half angel, and both. That's not very well explained. Basically, you can be half human, half angel, half human, half demon, or half demon, half angel, and those are all considered nephilim. What was that you mentioned earlier? Psychic? C-Y-K-I-K. It's a revolutionary group made up entirely of nephilim. There were nine members when I last heard, but I've only met one. Theta.  James stepped back and looked at her with his pure black eyes. Never mentioned that conch in my presence. And yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, yeah. Also, that bit about Theta is a massive plot hole because later on, he meets him and he's like, wait a minute, I know you. And he doesn't know him as Theta.  And so he attacks him. And Jesus Christ, this is so bad. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to everyone. It cuts to Alpha and her partner Sigma. And they're like, wait a minute, James is gone. And Sigma's like, well, you said he would be here. You said he would be comatose. And she's like, well, I thought he would be. The poison was supposed to do that. And then they're like, well, we gotta go find him. And then Alpha sort of feels out with her magic sense. And she's like, oh, okay, I'll go find James over here. And then it cuts to another flashback. And I am not, not at all going to read this one because this is one of the other parts that are, as I said, genuinely disgusting. And it just straight up doesn't make sense. Basically, James as a young child is being crucified because in my mind, I was thinking that Rivek would do that to make him tougher, make him stronger. And because he's a Nephilim, he'd survive whereas a normal person wouldn't. And I'm just thinking, what sense does that make? Like, what sense at all does that make? And then the really gross part though is that Tempe comes out, takes him down, and then some other people that are there, some people that are there that work for Rivek, work for their father show up, and they're like, hey, we're gonna tell them about this, but you know what you can do to make us not tell them. And the implication being that Tempe is gonna get gang raped and that this has happened many times in the past. But she's doing it to protect her younger brother. God, this is gross. And then the rest of the chapter is, he wakes up because Alpha found them, and then they have this big fight scene, and he kills her, and that's the end of chapter six. Chapter seven, Meyer, Earth, Meyer.  And James is like, well, she tried to kill me. I think she might be from Psychic, I don't know, but whatever, it's not a big deal. And then he takes the phone that Alpha had and they continue their journey. With the deaths of Delta, Iota, and you were down to six members, Sigma said as he squatted over his dead partner. He peeled open her eyes and inspected them. They were completely destroyed by what appeared to be flames, judging from the burns covering the rest of her body. He couldn't get a record of the fight from her eyes if they were destroyed. Sigma rooted around her from her phone. It wasn't there. He clenched his fist. That brat has one of our, his thoughts trailed off. The phone was password protected, but if he could crack it, he would have access to sensitive information. Nothing too bad. Alpha herself didn't have access to most of Psychic's database, but the boy posed enough of a threat to begin with, if he got even a whiff of their plan. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. She should have gotten me. She didn't need to die. Sigma closed his eyes for her and walked away. Wait, is this supposed to be he closed her eyes for her? Whatever. Towards the newly opened portal. He didn't look back at her body, but he felt more alone than he had in a long time. Sigma's an emptiness demon, Nephilim, by the way. Wait, not emptiness. James is an emptiness demon, because get it, he's empty and dead inside. Sigma is a loneliness, I think. I genuinely don't think it even says in this story, but I had it in my head at some point. So they walked through the swamp for a while longer, and then all of a sudden they just hit a road, and on one side of the road is swamp, on the other side is this really hot, sandy desert, which is one of the few ideas in this that I think is kind of neat, like, oh, when you go from one biome to another, because it's magic, it's literally just like a straight line drawn down the middle, there's no gradual progression from here to there. And they follow the road for a while, and then they reach Shriek, and Laurie is surprised that it seems kind of normal. Like, there are some demons there that have like horns and shit, which has never really expanded upon. Like, in fact, later on when people get introduced, they look mostly like humans, but they have like weird hair colors and stuff.  And then he makes a portal and pulls her to Earth, even though James said earlier that he only had the skill to take one person at a time, but whatever. And then he walks her over to where her house is, it's not out of any desire to be a gentleman, it's just because it takes a while for the portal to close, and he didn't want to sit around waiting. And then this happens. Well, this is goodbye. I sincerely hope we don't meet again. I don't want to talk to you. Laurie did a two-fingered salute and tried to open the door. It was locked, so she rang the bell. James walked away. We're even now, he said, with his back turned. Laurie was glad for that. She wanted to forget this whole thing. Someone finally answered the door, her father. He did not look amused. Of course, that's difficult to do when you're rubbing sleep from your eyes and your boxers.  You've never been a morning person, dad, Laurie said with a smile on her face. Her dad squinted at her.   What? Dad, what are you? Laurie was flabbergasted. She thought there would be a joyous reunion, not threats and angry parents. One, two, three, four.  Five, six, seven, eight, nine. Laurie knew it would be wise to jump off the doorstep at that point. The door slammed behind her. Was he, was he joking? No, he wouldn't do that. Did he forget? No, that's impossible, unless magic. And she only knew one person that knew about magic. You know, there's a really bad habit here of using the same word multiple times in a sentence or multiple times in subsequent sentences, and it's very distracting.  And then Laurie runs after him, and he's like, wait a minute, there's something weird with the magic here, and he looks and there's like, some weird strands coming off of her and connecting her to her family. And then he's like, oh, okay, I think when the portal went off, it caused some sort of weird effect where everyone forgot about you. And then so she's like, well, how can we fix it? And he's like, um, well, I really don't want to help you, but okay, fine, I will. And so he doesn't know himself how to do it, but he can take her back to Meyer and they can find someone else who can undo the memory loss, whatever you want to call that. Okay, this is a shithole. As I said, the entirety of Shriek is, but it's our home for the moment. James opened the scratch wooden door and Laurie stepped inside the hotel room that he was living in. After they returned to Shriek, James was silent, but for one statement, welcome back to hell, relax a little. There are humans that live in Meyer. Well, I think we're both tired. I'm going to go to sleep. But before that, he rooted around in his suitcase and pulled out a crystal that looks like the one on the wall. This glows when you pour magic into it. I said I teach you, but we're doing it my way. He handed it to her. Now, I want you to focus on the crystal. Imagine your energy going into it. When you learn to control your power to the point that it glows, you can go to sleep. He took Egon off and set him on the floor, plopped face down on the bed and clapped his hands. The light turned off and left Laurie in the dark. So yeah, she's starting to learn magic and basically just has a rock and needs to focus on it so that you can learn to draw it out. Cut back to psychic. Sigma sat down at the round table with three empty seats at it. Theta was directly across from him and next to him was Gamma and the other four psychic members were already there.  Wait a minute, wait a minute. Wasn't Sigma supposed to be a full head taller than everyone else? Okay, he had been Iota's partner before he was executed and he wasn't pleased about having to start working with someone else. Now that we've all arrived, as some of you may know, Alpha was killed in action earlier today. Three days ago, Delta was executed for selling information to Lilith. He spat after speaking the name of the demon princess. And last week, Iota was killed for insubordination. It's time to pick an Aida, an Upsilon, and Psy. Omega told everyone, onto the candidates. He rattled off names and ways they could be useful to the cause, but everyone here had made a decision regarding the new partners of Theta, Sigma, and Gamma. Theta looked at the list and underlined a name with his pen. James, last name unknown. That's another big plot hole because later on, they very clearly know who James is and that's why they're interested in him. Chapter 8, Tempestate and Egoon. Most of this chapter, I'm genuinely not gonna read at all because it's bad. It just starts off with Laurie doing some more training and she's angry with James and he's like, hey, I have never actually been to Earth before until last week, so I don't know what's going on over there, which she thinks is weird, but whatever. And then there's another long flashback with James as a child and again, I just apologize to all of humanity for putting this out into the world.  Again, in my defense, I was 15 when I did this, so I did not have the skill necessary to handle that well, but that does not change the fact that it is genuinely really gross that I would put anything like that out into the world and I'm just, I'm just sorry. And then it cuts back to James in the present and he's kind of angsting about it and he's like, man, I wish I could have just left Lori to her own fate, but I just, I just can't bring myself to do it because get it, his sister protected him and even though bad things happen to her, so he just can't bring himself to not protect this helpless person because I guess he has a heart of gold under all that. He doesn't have a heart of gold, but you know, Chapter nine, one of the three. Now this is another just pure exposition chapter. It cuts to this temple called Kyo, Kyo temple, and it's just where a bunch of angels and live, and they're all priestesses, they're all women, and they, I'm not gonna get into a whole lot of this because a lot of the exposition comes later, but there's this woman named Fayem, who's one of the high priestesses, and she hears about, they found this magic super special stored called Masamune. Masamune has been found, Unir said simply. The entire world seemed to stop turning. The other priestesses seemed just as shocked as Fayem. The table exploded into conversation all at once. Where was it found? Where is it now? Who knows about this? What about the others? Unir held up a hand for silence. The room quieted. There was an ape archeological team on earth that discovered the sword, they call humans apes by the way, it's not, there aren't chimpanzees going out there digging. Most of them were killed by the release of magical power, but one survived and nearly went insane. He began rambling on about ancient ghosts and one of our members caught wind of it. Fayem stifled a laugh at the ancient ghost a bit. Humans in their ignorance never cease to amuse her. So they bring out the sword and it's really cool and powerful and all that. And then the priestesses say like, oh okay we need to go find the other weapons that are also super powerful and cool. We will prepare for the arrival of Ragnarok and Excalibur by gathering the other 10 swords. Fayem finally found her... Tuldunga? No, finding the others would take too many resources. Not to mention that most of them have masters. They won't just give them to us. We don't need them enough. Actually, the other priestesses, another priestess said boldly, wow I'm bad at this. There are rumors that I was planning on bringing up during our next meeting. Rumors regarding Ravec D'raiu. Achille went through the room when she said the name of the man who had nearly toppled Meyer's government and killed thousands of people by himself. My favorite part of this is how there's so much exposition here and all of it comes in mid-sentence. Ravec disappeared more than 20 years ago, another priestess stated. No, the rumors don't pertain to Ravec specifically. Rather his son and Igun, one of the 10 legendary swords. She continued her speech, eyes around the table getting wider with each word. Each pair of eyes saying the same thing. The blood of the true demon lives. Can you tell that I had no idea where I was going with this? I'm just constantly throwing in new ideas, trying to figure out what to do with it. And I even mentioned it in a couple of authors' notes. But yeah, at the end of the day, I was not receiving much feedback at this point. Or hell, the whole story only has like 12 reviews on it. But I just wasn't getting much feedback. And even I kind of knew that this was trash, but I just did not know how to fix it and I did not know what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong. So it cuts to Phyame talking to another younger priestess named Fear, which is spelled weird because, I don't know, I had a lot of weird names here. And she's like, she tells her, I need you to go to Meyer and retrieve something.  And then it cuts to James and Laurie again and she's trying to make the rock glow and it's not really working. And then she gets angry, throws it at James, it goes into the wall because she's super strong now.  So he just talks to Laurie for a second and he's like, yeah, she's telling the truth.  And then James is basically like, okay, your training's coming along okay, we're gonna move to the next step. And then it cuts back to psychic in their meeting and they're like, yeah, we're not gonna make James a member of us because we're schizo all about this. It doesn't make any sense. And Theta is kind of angry about that privately, but he doesn't say anything. He's like, ugh, James could help us so much because he's so powerful and so cool and special. They also mention, hey, the priestess has found Masamune and then they're like, oh okay, this helps our plans as well. So there's like so many different groups with like vague evil plans going around. Chapter 10, Move Me. Being taken out of the city and into a desert by a strange boy always seemed like something that I would be drugged for, Laurie commented. She looked back at Shriek and marveled at how she was able to pick it out from the landscape now. James said that all of her senses would be improved just like her strength. The sun beat down on their heads like a hammer of fire. James seemed unaffected. Laurie didn't see a drop of sweat on his brow. She, on the other hand, was very grateful for the hood on her shirt. Get it? Because like, he has fire magic and everything so hot and cold don't bother him, yeah. The desert wasn't simply an ocean of sand, like you would think if you looked on from a distance. Rocks and boulders dotted the land and broke up the monotony. James stopped when they reached the top of a dune. This is a good spot. What you need to do is simple. Move me from here. If I take even a single step, then we're done for today. Use any means necessary to move me. Don't worry about injuring me. I know what I'm doing. Worry about yourself. He, the, promptly grabbed Laurie by her waistband and called her and threw her down the dune. So, yeah, basically they just play king of the hill for a while and it's trying to help her bring out her magic. They go back into the city after they're done and they get separated and, again, again, just kind of gross. Laurie goes off by herself. She winds up in an alley and this dude tries to assault her and then this mysterious woman shows up, kills the dude with a sword and Laurie's like, wow, thanks. Who are you? And she's like, hi, my name is Fear.  They're already here, already coming after James and Egon. Chapter 11, no gust, no glory. You know, there's a lot of little moments like that where I was trying to add humor in there and I don't know how well it works.   So James is walking around the city. He realizes he's been separated from Lori and then he realizes he's being followed. Some young woman, no more than 25, with a spear longer than she was tall, slung across her back that was trying to be discreet. Everything about her looks suspicious. She tried to glance in his direction without looking like she was staring. She was wearing clothing that blended in a little too well and she completely ignored everyone else in the crowd. Her most outstanding feature was the half-hidden tattoo on her wrist, a swan eating a bolt of lightning, the symbol of the priestesses of Kyo, a religious group devoted to finding the 13 Holies. It was obvious that the priestesses found out about his possession of Igun, something they frowned upon. James abruptly left the salesman and started running. The woman began running after him, confirming what he already knew. Using his full momentum, James sprung onto one of the stalls and leapt towards the roof of a nearby five-story building. He grabbed the edge and managed to pull himself up. That was sloppy, he thought. The crowd members thought he was a street performer and started applauding. The woman took off her jacket, revealing her 16-foot pure golden wings and took to the air. Now James knew she was desperate. Angels were not held in the highest regard in Shriek. He took out her spear before closing the distance before most people could blink. James was not most people. He sidestepped her thrust and snapped the steel head off and tossed it aside. She landed and swung the shaft at him in a sweeping motion. It was a decent swing with real power behind it, but this girl was pretty green if she hadn't realized that she needed to use fast jabs to even have a chess at harming her much quicker opponent. Oh yeah, I kind of skipped over it earlier, but during James' fight with Alpha, she talks about, ha ha, you're an emptiness demon. You guys are super weak. And as he's fighting her, he's like moving around almost too quickly for her to follow. And in his inner monologue, he's like, yeah, we're the weakest, but we're also the fastest. Gotta go fast. He doesn't say gotta go fast, but he might as well. So James fights the one angel lady and then another one pops up and he fights her too and then it cuts away to fear and Laurie and fear has like this magical beacon that goes off and she's like, oh, my friends are in trouble. Sorry, I gotta go. And then she runs off and sees James and he's up there and he knocks them unconscious, but they're still alive.  And she has wind magic and she makes her sword covered in wind. So it's like pew, pew, pew.  So I'm sorry, there's a lot of action scenes in here. I really don't have time to read them all. In fact, I think this whole book is like a third action scenes. I don't know if it's that much, but it is a lot. And anyway, she's using wind and James can't really move around quickly. So he's like, okay, I'll just put a lot of fire out there and that'll change the wind currents and it'll make it weaker.  I really just want you to leave me alone.  He really is all they say he is. I've never been beaten before. It was true. At Kyo Temple, all of her sisters had remarked about how she was a genius at fighting. They will not let us home without Igun, she moaned. Find a new home. I'm not giving him to anyone. Fear's thought process stops for a moment. She had heard of warriors who called their weapons he. It was a tradition for warriors who had no companions. With when each Kyo priestess is first brought to the temple, they have their future shown to them in a mirror, whose name was lost to time. Most of it is cloudy, but everyone gets a few snippets of useful information. There will one day come a warrior whose only true friends are his sword and his only kin are his skills. The voice had told her, when you meet him, you must say the following exactly as I do. Fear sat up and kneeled down in front of him that, okay, I'm not, she doesn't. Okay, cutting off at that point, you might have sounded inappropriate, but basically she says, okay, I need to swear my life to you because reasons. So you're my master now. I swear I will be your servant.  That's weird. And then it cuts to Kyo temple.  He's going after Masamune. And he's like, I can feel it. I'll get the sword and then I'll be all better. And then he's hearing voices in his head telling him what to do. And then he opens the case and the sword is gone. He's like, no. And then one of the priestesses kills him. And then the high priestess, Oonir, who's the one like in charge, in charge, is the one that kills him for real, for real. And then she's talking to Fayane, who remembers the one that sent fear off.  This is so, this is so sad. And then it ends on the line. Fayane scowled at the corpse. You fool, I told you to sneak in. How will I get the sword now? Get it because Fayane's evil. She wants the sword for herself because she's an angel of servitude.  And this cuts right back to James and fear. And he's like, yeah, this is kind of awkward. Please just leave me alone. And her other angel priestess friends are kind of like, yeah, you probably shouldn't be doing this. And she's like, but I have to. The mirror told me, which after a while, they start to respect that.  Yeah, I guess we'll just have to go back on our own and tell them, yeah, there's no way we're getting the sword. But James is like, I seriously do not want you around me. So he runs off and then the angels try to follow him, but they have difficulty. And then they run into these two guards who are wearing porcelain masks. And then it cuts back to James and Laurie. So Laurie asks James a couple of questions about Egun and why people wanted it. And so he tells her this legend about how it was created. And he's like, basically, there was this dude named Leor many, many long time ago. And he was trying to create unbreakable metal, but he just couldn't do it. And so eventually he started going crazy. And young women in his town started going missing. And after 10 of them went missing, people broke into his house and started searching for him. But he was gone. And so one guy, who was the older brother of one of the girls who got missing, continued searching for him. And eventually he found him in this cave where Leor was already half crazed and barely alive anymore, but he still killed him.  And all together they're called the 13 Holies, which that's a dumb name. But yeah, basically Masamune was one of the three super ultra powerful ones and then Ragnarok and Excalibur are the other two. And then of the 10 other Holies that are not quite as powerful, but still super strong and cool, Egun is one of them. And at this point, pretty much all we know about it is that it can only be wielded by the person it's bonded to. So like I said, Laurie's hand slipped off of it. She literally could not hold it at all. And that would work for other people as well. James is the only one that can use it. And it's also completely unbreakable. So then James just wanders around. He runs into the three angels again, including fear. And fear again tries to like pledge your life to him. And he's like, look, there's no need for that. But if you really want to stay with us, if you want to pull your own weight and everything, then sure, whatever, you can stay. Just don't cause me that much trouble, which, okay, yesterday, and I don't know when this is coming up, but yesterday before this was filmed, I was going through my re-through of this on Discord. And if you're one of the people that was there, I hope you had as much fun as I did because that was hilarious. And someone pointed out to me that this is basically just a harem manga. And I genuinely didn't intend to do that. But yeah, at this point, it kind of does start to become a harem. And there's more members of the harem, members of the harem, whatever you want to say later on. But yeah, this is really the beginning of it. Fear knew Laurie could understand what she said, and she knew it was because of the translator in her ear. If she had been wearing it long enough, she might be able to form a few sentences in kandori, kandori being the language that demons speak. Grabbing her shoulder, fear whispered in her ear, this question awkward, but where do babies come from? Laurie stared at her and replied with a horrid accent. How old are you again? And then it cuts back to Theta. So Theta, Fekgore, the new Eita, began.  How is that? Theta pinched the bridge of his nose. His new partner wasn't too difficult to work with, but tactful didn't seem to be in his vocabulary. There are only two times where I've been close to death in my life. The first was when I was in Dorva and broke into the treasury.  An angel stabbed me three times in the chest of the kitchen knife and threw me in the river. I was fished out the next day by a friend. The second time Theta swallowed. The second time that I've come close to death was when I angered a 12-year-old James. And then it cuts to flashback and it's like, oh Theta was, his real name was Theoris, was one of the employees, if you want to call it that, at Rivex Mansion that was there. And he, you know what, we'll go back into that later. But basically, James almost killed him when they were both younger. So I'm back after a lunch break and while I was eating, I figured I should probably say, wow, this is kind of an accidental harem story. There's really no romance or sex in here at all, because I didn't want to put that in. And quite frankly, I'm bad at writing it. Chapter 13 from Theorist to Theta. How old are you again? Laurel, I asked, fear. Well, it's a bit of a long story, but I need to get pregnant as soon as possible. The problem is, no one ever told me how that works. Is there a spell or something? James was muttering to himself and didn't appear to have heard the strange conversation. Oh, this is just too good to pass up, Laurie thought, doing her best, not to completely burst out laughing. However, she couldn't stop an evil grin from spreading across her face. Okay, a small giggle slipped out. I can't explain, but James can't. Just go up to him. She sucked in a deep breath. Just go up to him and say the following words. James almost listened to the girl's conversation, but decided against it. They deserve their privacy. If they become friends, my life will be that much easier. They had been lip-gearing behind him in the sparsely populated streets for most of their trip, but after a few minutes, fear sped up so she was alongside him. Excuse me, she began politely. Could you please put a baby in my belly? We're not even friends. My clothes are going to stay on when you're in my pre-kence. He heard laughing from behind them.  I don't understand. Why is she laughing? Fear's eyes were full of the complete innocence that could only come from a sheltered upbringing. James shook his head. Let me explain it to you so we don't have another scenario like this. When a man and a woman love each other very much. Yeah, that, uh, that part was meant to be comedy. It, uh, did not work well. So then it cuts to, uh, Ferris slash Theta's backstory. Basically, his, he was a Nephilim who lived in the Angel realm, uh, that's called Dorva. And while he was there, he was super poor and stuff. So he tried robbing a treasury with some friends. They got caught. He got stabbed and thrown in a river. And then he was fished out by Rivec, who remembers James and Tempe's father. And then, uh, he decided to, you know, sort of devote his life to this guy who saved him. And then he helps him out with his, you know, building his hideaway. And he helps him with, uh, raising Tempe and James. And when, uh, and when Tempe is killed, he's like super sad and stuff because he's like, oh, I helped raise that girl and I loved her and blah, blah, blah. And then he describes how James is like super quiet and numb, I guess is the word. And then, uh, Rivec shows James how to use this new type of magic to use. And then James, it's like, goes crazy, kills Rivec, uh, tries to kill Theta, doesn't do it, obviously. Uh, and then kills everyone else there and burns the place down. And that's when Epsilon saved your life. Ada finished. Don't use our boss's name. He's no one now. Theta slash theorist wasn't very accustomed to telling that story. He hoped you hadn't given anything secret away. Nobody could know what really happened. So then, why are you so loyal to our boss if you were supposed to serve Rivec and then James? That's on a need to know basis and you don't need to know. That's, uh, really just a way of saying the writer of this story doesn't know what that means yet. So then it cuts back to James in fear and she's like aghast at what he's telling her, like, oh, babies come from sex, what? And then, uh, they get back to the place where they're living and he pins her up against a wall and he's like, why are you suddenly so interested in Egoon? And then that's the end of that chapter. Chapter 14. Gold or Iron. Gold or Iron. A euphemism used to give someone an ultimatum. Gold and silver representing riches, the peaceful path, and iron and steel meaning violence. So in other words, I literally just created a euphemism or saying idiom? Is that an idiom? I don't know. I created that and then explained it here and then use it very quickly and then never use it again. So he questions her for a minute and he actually breaks her hand again.  But yes, so he questions her very aggressively, let's say. And after a minute she tells him, okay, okay, they want Egoon because Masamune was found and only a couple of the high priestesses, and those who came with me know about it and they want Egoon in addition to all the others so that we can do, I don't know, something cool.  It's never explained very well, but this happens. You're late, Mixon said, not even glancing at the other teenager who entered the room.  What have you got for me? James asked. Mixon checked his pile of papers. Well, there's a small contraband ring operating out of a warehouse. It's not too dangerous and it pays decently. James shrugged. That works for me. He took the sheet with the information and started on his way out of the abandoned house. A quick and easy conversation, just how he liked it. Before he could leave, he was interrupted. Hold up a minute. James looked back. He could see Mixon's face. He thought it would have been concerned. The council is coming to Shriek next month. You know what that means. James nodded, almost imperceptible in the dark and left without a word. I'll deal with it the same way I always do, violently.  So it cuts to Theta again briefly and he just talks to their boss, Epsilon, for a minute and he's like, oh, hey, we should go after James and take the sword and all that. And Epsilon's like, no, we're not going to do that. And he's like, but sir, we should. And he's like, no. And then Theta leaves. And then he runs into another mysterious figure. Theta's body completely froze mid-step. He recognized this feeling, as well as the voice that followed. Masamune, that sounds fun. The figure stood in the shadows, completely obscured from view. Oh, you're here. I, Theta's mouth was involuntarily shut. I never asked you to speak. You merely need listen unless I state otherwise. Understood? The figure twitched its fingers and Theta nodded. Good. Now Masamune was found under the shrinking endless. I want you to ponder what the dragon's belly is. Don't even think about the Clouds of Night. We have to find them in order. Understood? Theta again nodded. Oh, by the way, that's references to a riddle, which says where all the swords were hidden. Good now. If you'd be so kind as to make a portal for me, I have some priestesses to visit. Theta's hand moved, Theta's hands moved at their own accord and his mouth moved as though it was its own person. Let's sit you and briefly look kimp. It's said as Theta's blood dripped to the stone floor, a flash of light later. The figure was gone. Now, so then it cuts to Fayyim at the temple and there's been another attack just like before and this mysterious hooded figure is the one that's done it.  And the figure's like, oh, that's weird. And then the figure literally cuts off her leg, like runs towards her, cuts off her leg, grabs it, then runs back and holds it up in front of her and then Fayyim for a moment is like, wait, what's going on?  You know what, like if you can already get that close, okay, whatever. So anyways, the figure gets Masamune, or at least it's very heavily implied that he gets Masamune because no one can stop him. And then James comes across someone in Shriek who killed a young Nephilim because Nephilim are like kind of an oppressed minority for some reason, even though they're all, like they're about as powerful as everyone else and they're also immortal. Like immortal in the sense that they live forever, but if you stab them, they'll still die then.  And then I end with author's note, I should stop coming up with new characters and scenarios. Chapter 15, Scars. Yeah, you can tell just from that, you can tell this is going to be another edgy flashback chapter. And yeah, it just, it's, James comes back to the hotel room where they live and he sees the girls are asleep and then he goes to sleep and then it cuts to flashback and it basically shows the same thing that we saw from Theta's perspective, but it's James again and he, he learns new magic, which is Flames of Midnight by the way, it's just fire that's black.  But anyways, yeah, he learns that and then he's like, wait a minute, I can use this to kill everybody, so he does. And then he tries to cut his wrists with Eagoon. Again, I apologize for this, it's not handled at all well. He tries to cut his wrists to commit suicide, but then he hears a voice in his head which he thinks is Eagoon and it basically just says, hey, don't, don't do that. And then he decides, you know what, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go find my mom. So he goes off to find his mom and he searches and searches for about three years.  And also, I keep apologizing but I need to keep doing it. I'm sorry for this. Turns out she actually got raped by Rybeck and she didn't want to have anything to do with James so she just left him and then he's like, wait a minute, you abandoned me and he's super sad about it.  And so he's super angry and that's when he kills her. And then after that he runs into Laurie and that's the rest of the story. So that's the big twist, that's it. And I knew that from pretty much the beginning. I, if you had read it normally, I don't know how obvious it would have been or how out of left field it would have been. Maybe it's a twist that makes sense and works, I don't know. So then there's just a little bit more talking with Fear and Laurie and a little bit more training and that's the end of chapter 15, Scars. Chapter 16, The Beginning of the End. James's normal flashback dreams didn't happen that night. As soon as he fell asleep, he found himself in a large field with weapons stuck into the ground bows and arrows and pikes and spears and axes and hammers and swords. So many swords, long ones and short ones, heavy ones and lighter ones, curved ones and straight ones, bronze and steel and iron and others that are too rusted to tell what they were made of. James was dressed exactly as he had been when he went to bed. Only Egoon was missing now. He began to walk through the field in hopes of finding someone or something. Hello? He called out to the endless nothingness. No soul answered his voice. Well this is just dandy. It doesn't feel like a dream, but it has to be. A whistling sound came from behind him and he moved his head to the side. A familiar sword was now sticking out of the ground in front of him. Egoon, I wondered where he went. He picked him up and began to sheath him before he remembered he wasn't wearing his belt. I thought you might want it. A cluster of voices in unison came from behind James. He turned and saw a humanoid figure standing amidst the strewn weapons. The left half of her body was black as the night sky. The right half was as white as a summer cloud. James compared her with the sword in his hand. I shouldn't be talking to you, but are you Egoon? James subtly shuffled his feet into a stance where he could attack if he needed to. Yes, I am sword. I am shield. I am the one who is of two worlds. This is me. Suggested to the expansive world around them. You're inside of me right now. So yeah, basically Egoon, after not talking to him at all for four years ever since he bonded with her, now she decides, you know what? Yeah, there's something bad going on, so I gotta talk to him. And so she brings him into her inner world, which is like inside her mind, I guess you'd call it. And she talks to him and she basically says, hey, Masamune has been found and someone has it and now they're gonna look for Ragnarok and Excalibur. And when they have that, they can complete the circle. And he's like, well, what's the circle? And Egoon's like, I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it's something bad. And it's never really explained what it is, and it's barely even brought up after this. So, uh, you know. But anyways, the world starts shaking around and he's like, whoa, what the hell's going on? Egoon's like, oh, you need to wake up now. And he wakes up and Laurie's like shaking him. And she says, hey, the city's under attack.  The city's a war zone. People are killing each other in the streets. First things first, stop straddling me like a luchidore. Laurie blushed and got off the boy. Secondly, relax. We'll just hole up in here and wait for the fighting to die down. The odds of anyone coming in here is low. And if they do, I think we could handle a few foot soldiers. James had sat up by then and was leaning against his headboard lazily. What about fear? What do you mean? James looked around, but the priestess was nowhere to be found. She said she was going to help people.  James muttered as he left out the door. Lolly, stay here. You'll just get in the way. He slammed up the door behind him and ran into the city. So yeah, fear went off to investigate the fighting and find out what was going on. And James is going after her.  It turns out they're all members of psychic. And he's like, wait, I thought there were only nine of you guys. And they're like, oh, no, it's actually the ones with the letter names are Killions. Those are like the leaders, the super powerful ones. But the rest of us are just, you know, we're still members. We're just regular foot soldiers. And it turns out that their goal, which was kind of stated earlier but not made that clear, is that they want Nephilim to be in charge because they're the most powerful. And I still don't know how it makes any sort of sense that there are any sort of oppressed minority here. Then it cuts to fear and she's running around.  So she just tries to defend them and she kills a bunch of them, does really well.  You remember he was Alpha's partner from near the beginning. And he is using like ice magic and stuff.   And then he just tells fear, hey, get out of here. I'll fight this dude and Sigma's angry.  And that's the end of chapter 16, chapter 17, Sigma's vengeance. So this one starts with James just telling fear, hey, run away. I'll deal with this guy. And she's like, no. And he's like, well, just do it. And she's like, okay, fine. And then he starts fighting Sigma and he's like taunting him. But he's also like, oh, Sigma's way more powerful than I thought. Sigma punched Igun with enough force to knock James through the air. He landed on his feet and continued taunting his foe. Were you hitting that? I guess all women are the same when it's dark. And from the waist down, she was probably at least presentable. A field of ice spikes erupted from the ground at his feet. The sharp ends didn't penetrate the steel soles of his boot. But James was thrown through the air again from the force. James landed on his feet on the other side of the plaza and tried to tighten his grip on Igun's hilt. Tried. His fingers were numb.  I'm releasing almost 300 degrees Celsius of heat right now. If Sigma wasn't here to counteract it, this ice would all be steam right now. How are my hands numb? Then he noticed. It was hard to tell him the dim light, but the icicles that nearly killed him were black. As dark as midnight. It is, it is a good thing that he specified it was 300 degrees Celsius and not just, I'm burning really hot. How is, how is the ice, how am I cold? So it cuts to Lori and some soldiers break in and try to attack her. They're not trying to rape her this time at least. And she actually manages to beat them using the little bit of magic that she's learned. And she's like, wow, cool, I'm actually good at this. And then it cuts to that guard from before, Mixon, who is in bed with a woman named Lilith, who is actually the princess of Meyer. She's, she's not the leader, but her mother is the leader. And apparently they've been, you know, a thing for a while. And then Mixon's like, hey, wait a minute. There's something, there's an attack going on now. I should go and help. And then he goes out and starts fighting soldiers, same as everybody else. It's getting a little repetitive now. And he feels magic or a crazy amount of magic coming from the fight. And he's like, wait a minute, is that James? And then it ends. And that's the end of chapter 17, Sigma's Vengeance. Chapter 18, Heart of Winter.  Sigma said as he attacked James with more black ice. He, Alpha, was a joke compared to this guy. James thought, trying to deflect an icicle, which stuck to Egoon. More ice crept down the blade, and James dropped it before it could reach his hands. Pick me back up, Egoon ordered it in his head.  So it just continues like that for a while. And pretty much this entire chapter is just one big fight scene, really. And James has to avoid attacks for a while while he can build up enough power before he can activate Flames of Midnight, which just makes his fire all black and powerful. And after that, it's just, yeah, they fight for a bit, and then James wins. And I mean, I know that it's the journey, not the destination, but when there's this many action scenes, there's not much to say. And then he used up too much magic power during the fight, so he kind of collapses and passes out and mix in, grabs him, and he's like, hey, you're all right now. And that's the end of this chapter. Chapter 19, almost difficult. I don't like it. Me neither, but let's just be thankful that it isn't us. It could be James knew up there soon. Well, it's not, Lorelai said, sounding exasperated. They were in the remains of the entrance plaza to Shriek, along with most of what remained of the city's population. A large, impromptu execution stand had been set up in the aftermath of the battle. Less than a day later, the news had spread that the attacking army was made up of Nephilim. The smart and the lucky made it out of the city before the purge started. Old men, teenage girls, infants, guards who had fought to defend the city, it didn't matter. Mobs lynched most of them within 10 yards of where they were caught, but a handful were brought into the plaza. Some of them were spared being beaten to death by their neighbors in favor of being sold to more affluent citizens as slaves, that was hard to say. If you're wondering what kind of person would write this, a person with undiagnosed depression, that's who would write this.  And he's like, sorry, it was... I was forced to, and then Lilith, the princess of Meyer, who apparently James knows, again, never explained how he knows her, but he met her at some point in the past, and she tells him, and she goes up to him and she's like, hey, what do you know about psychic? And he's like, I don't know anything. And she's like, what do you know about psychic?  And then she starts torturing him and stuff. Again, please don't cycle analyze this. But while he's talking with Mixon and Lilith, James smells Mixon or Lilith sent on Mixon, and he can kind of tell like, oh, okay, you guys have been having sex. And he knows that if he reveals that, then they'll both be in a hell of a lot of trouble. So Mixon agrees to help him escape, he gives him a key, and then James breaks out, and he finds Egoon, who he has been separated from, and he kills a bunch of guards, and then he goes back to where Lori and Fear are, and that was it. That end of chapter 19. Do we have any food, he asked, looking around? That's when he noticed that Lori had her bags thrown over her shoulder, going somewhere. She finally found her tongue. I did not know how to spell the word tongue. I don't know why that's so difficult for me. What took you so long? The words were out before she had thought about them. She wanted to kill him a minute ago, but somehow that didn't happen. Lori was just relieved. So James eats a bunch of food and tells them like, hey, I was held prisoner for like three days. It was awful. And while he's doing it, he is going through the phone that he took from Alpha way back when, and he sees that there is a psychic cell. Or psychic cell. That sounds really weird, but a cell of psychic members who are in Ku, which is the capital city of Meijer. And so he decides, well, might as well go there, see what they're up to. And the others are like, okay, we don't really care, we're just heading along with you. And then it cuts to Lilith, and she's super angry that James escaped.   She's not just super powerful politically, but also her magic is supposed to be insane. And she's called Hera, but her real name is Lilith. I don't know why I decided to do that, but I did. Mother Lilith hugged her tightly. This is a pleasant surprise. Sweetheart, what did I tell you about lying to me? Hera smiled and her daughter's blood turned to ice. I'm sorry, mother. How was the trip here? Does the doorway work as it should? It works well, but it's expensive, and only someone with a lot of power can withstand it. Maybe in a few years it will be commercially available. She clapped her hands. Enough pleasantries. The reason I'm here is because I heard you had James in custody, but then when I arrived, he had already escaped. I don't know how he got out. We had him wrapped up in suppression chains. He must have had help. Yes, and that help came from you. Silence. What? From what I heard, you assigned regular city guards and the least capable Ares in the city to watch him. If you hadn't helped him by doing that, we could have him in our grasp. Here aside. So they go through a whole conversation, and apparently Hera knows that James is the son of Ryvek Dorayu, and Lilith is like surprised by that. She's like, whoa, that was... Geez, okay. That guy led a rebellion and tried to overthrow you many, many years ago, however many years... I don't actually care how long it was, but the point is, yeah, he was a super powerful dude who was defeated, and then he went into exile. And also, apparently, there was this empire called Demetrius, which covered Meyer, Earth, and Dorva? Shit.  But the angel realm as well, and it covered everything, and it was ruled by Nephilim, and it was many thousands of years ago, but it's still... There's still remnants of it kicking around. And so basically, Hera says that Ryvek was powerful noble, but he wanted to bring back the glory of Demetrius. That's why he rebelled. And so James is technically nobility, even though I feel like that title would have been stripped from them after they rebelled, but, you know, James is technically nobility. Think, why would I bring up the Dorayu House if they were all dead, if we were all talking about a boy with no past? Here's something that should make it abundantly clear. A few years ago, why would your father and I try to marry you to a random homeless Nephilim? The truth hit Lilith like a hammer. You mean to say, yes, Hera smiled, and Lilith's blood seemed to freeze even more. After you, that boy is next in line for the throne, and if we have him, we can pacify psychic. Oh yeah, that was one of the few small bits from the story that I totally forgot about, is that it's mentioned that the way James met Lilith is that apparently psychic tried to get them married a couple of years ago, like after he killed Rybeck and was just wandering around. That's never expanded upon. So then it cuts back to the mysterious hooded man who stole Masamune, and it's just him using it, and it's also called the Sword of Light and Shadow. So he is shooting out powerful shadows and powerful blast of light, and he destroys the pyramids of Giza on Earth, and that is the end of chapter 20. We're about halfway done now, and as I said, the cringe is really not as bad from this point forward, at least I don't think it is, because from this point on, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do. Not just from chapter to chapter, but I had a good idea of how I wanted things to end. So while I won't call anything from this point forward good, I will say that it's focused, you know, it's not as bad, and also once you get to like chapter 30, the last 10 chapters are all basically just nothing but fight scenes. Chapter 21, Forest Lake Grave. So basically James, Fear, and Laurie all sign up with a caravan that's going north up to Ku, where they're, you know, where that psychic cell is supposed to be, and it's pretty uneventful, you know, they go into this really cold area where they all have to wear coats, except James because, you know, fire, he just doesn't get cold, and then they see this one spot which is not covered in snow, it's like off in the distance, and it looks like it's warmer in there, and they're like, hey, what's that?  I need to take a detour into the forest, you and Fear keep going, I'll catch up to you tomorrow. He turned towards the green trees and began to walk as though he had just asked her what day it was. Hold on, what do you need to see in the incredibly dangerous forest? Laurie knew he would be fine, probably. I need to visit someone. He started walking faster. Tell Fear what's going on when you see her. He disappeared in a blur for a moment until he reached the trees. He resumed his usual long stride, dissolving into the landscape. Why are you returning, Igun asked, because I haven't been here in three years, and I don't know, okay, Igun, I don't know why I came back. So yes, this is the place where Rivec and all them were hiding out before, and he's just coming to visit his sister's grave, and when he goes to see her, he sees someone else's there, and it's actually Fiam, you know, the High Priestess of Kyoh, and it comes out that Fiam was Tempe's mother, because, yeah, him and Tempe were actually half siblings, because he's half human, half demon, and Tempe is half angel, half demon.  All thoughts in James' head slowed to a crawl. Someone else asked Fiam, your Tempe's mother? You knew her. Tempe, or Fiam, looked down at the tombstone sadly. James nodded stupidly.  She pointed her finger at James and gathered magic at the tip.  A few nearby leaves burst into flames. You abandoned her. Did you know that?  Did you know that? She hanged herself off of that tree.  Now Fiam was disturbed. Disturbed and angry.   She didn't seem like the type to stutter often.  I'm the one who had to take her off that branch and put her in the lake far more than you ever did. Did you just shove her out from between your legs and think, my work is done here? A white beam hit him in the chest before he could react and threw him into a tree trunk, or rather, through several tree trunks. His shirt was burned, where the beam hit him and his skin was charred and smoking. Blood was quickly filling up his mouth. James tried to sit up, but his body refused to obey him. He tried to spit out blood to no avail. He couldn't breathe. Fiam appeared over him seconds later. You think to lecture me, you. She trail off and examined him. You look a lot like him. Are... Are you his son?  And then they talk for a minute and he's like, hey, why the...   And she's like, no, I was actually okay with it. Basically, I just believed in what he was saying. I believed in the vision. Like, I don't anymore, but you know, that's what was going on. And she's kind of sad because like, oh, I tempt my daughter's dead, but I never knew her. So it's not that bad.   So then he goes to the remains of his father's study because he thinks that there might be some information there on the leaders of psychic because they might be people that were connected to his father in the past. In fact, they probably were. And so he just looks around and then that's the end of that chapter. Chapter 22, Bad Liar. This is another one where there's just not much going on. James comes back and he has some notes on memory magic that he found in the study and he gives them to Lori and he's like, hey, this might help with your predicament. I don't know. And then he's just talking a little bit with them and then he goes to sleep and then Lori has a nightmare where she's like all alone and it's super sad and stuff. And then her and James go outside and they talk some more and it's kind of edgy.  And that's the end of that chapter. Chapter 23, Mount Asmet. Hello, James, Hera, the Empress of Myerkud. I have a proposal that you'd love to hear. Another explosion of magic and Lilith was standing next to Hera, looking dazed. She shook her head and looked James overwarely. James was gripping Egoon so hard that blood was seeping from his cuticles. More people appeared, first someone that smelled similar to Mixon, then another Airy that James didn't know, then another, then another, not including Hera and Lilith. There were now nine people surrounding James and Lori. Shit, I couldn't even beat Hera or Lilith by themselves. Okay, okay, she said she had a proposal. Let's just listen to it and go along. So what's this proposal, Your Majesty? He swallowed hard.  Lori looked around at the group surrounding them. She was unconsciously releasing more magic than normal in preparation for a fight. Stupid girl was going to get herself killed. Lolly, it's don't do anything.  He had taken his hand off of his sword for the same reason. Lori realized what she was doing and stopped. She glanced at James with a nervous look on her face.  Come on. I knew you were heading to coup anyway so this will be faster. So James, Lori and Fear just go through the doorway and then they pop up in the palace and as they're talking, Hera apparently wants James and Lilith to get married so that psychic will see like, okay, one of not only is a nephilim in a super important influential position, but it's one of Rivek's kids. It's one of our leader's kids. So, okay. And she's thinking, okay, they'll start to be more pacified after that. Like the more militant members won't, but most of them will. So then James agrees to it, but he has some conditions and then it cuts away to a new character. Brian McCafferty had never liked excursions to Meyer. He was a human. Humans belonged in Earth. The dimension of humans. He didn't like volcanoes either. What was there to like? They were large pieces of rock that shot out more melted rock that destroyed most of what it touched. So why was he on the edge of the tallest volcano, volcano in Meyer, so high up in the sky that a normal human would have trouble breathing without acclimation? Brian didn't know either. Well, Captain, am I getting through? Brian said, pressing his fingers to the radio at his ear. Captain Elijah of the fourth witch hunter battalion answered. Witch is spilled with a Y, by the way. It's totally very original. Loud and clear. Let's try to keep the conversation to a minimum. We still don't know if anyone can listen in on this frequency. Brian sighed and kicked a rock off the edge of the crater into a lake of magma. He swore that it got even hotter where he was after that. What's my objective here? Your objective is to investigate Mount Asmet for any suspicious activity. Short and to the point. Typical of Elijah. So, yeah, there's this whole rigmarole where Brian is just kind of looking around the mountain, hoping for any sort of, I don't know, spikes of magic or anything. And then there's a huge one like so powerful that he can't even get close to it. And then the volcano goes off so he has to run away. And then out of nowhere, all the magma just turns to water and trees start popping up out of there. And then a figure who is pretty clearly meant to be the mysterious hooded figure runs off with a spear. Brian could have sworn that he had suddenly heard mad laughter from farther up. He cocked his head and listened. Yes, there was definitely someone laughing loudly. The temperature dropped almost instantly causing Brian to shiver. What happened? Looking around, he was surprised to see all the lava had turned to water. A regular river had replaced the river of death. Well, that's interesting. The large source of magic disappeared, literally, just snuffed out like a flame. The water remained water, however, and Brian continued to run, his run to civilization. A sudden volcanic eruption, lava turning into water, a massive source of magic power, could it be Ragnarok? Chapter 24 The Captains. Hera tapped her chin and thought after hearing James's three conditions. I think you reached the three of those. The last one, though, I can't let an opportunity like that go to waste. I'm keeping any of the holies you find. Then the deal's off, Your Majesty. James bowed at the end and turned towards the door. Don't walk away from me, he recommended. She didn't even raise her voice or change her tone, but James listened. I'm sorry, but unless you let me keep any and all holies that psychic has, then our deal is off. Lilith spoke up. Why don't we just give him one of them, mother? He turned back around. I'm not bargaining with a greed demon. Stay out of this. James couldn't say what was different about the way that the two women talked, but Lilith simply wasn't as terrifying as her mother. Neither of us is in a great position to negotiate. Hera paused. Okay, we'll give you half of the holies we find. If there are any mythic blades, I want one of them to be included in my half. Deal. The two shook hands to cement their agreement. Now, James, we have a lot to do before getting to the wedding. Let's get started.   And I realize upon rereading this that it's never really explained what the witch hunters are. Basically, there's supposed to be these just a group of magical humans that keep Earth safe, like they prevent demons from causing too much trouble and occasionally they go out into the other realms and do stuff there. Brian shifted nervously after giving his report to the captains. He knew that he sounded completely crazy. Lava changing to water, Ragnarok, but what else could have happened? So let me get this straight. Captain Picton of the 10th Battalion began. You're telling us that Mount Azmet erupted in events that would have been felt in almost every corner of Meyer, but only you witnessed it. Then the lava that killed all of the other witch hunters on the mountain changed to water after you felt a massive source of magic power up here, and it did so just in time to prevent you from dying.  And above all else, you think that this source of power was Ragnarok, the spear of life and death? Man, all the men in this are really tall, except for James. I don't... I don't know what that says. The captain of the 1st Battalion spoke up. Quiet, you two. We aren't gathered here, so you can bicker. Even though the 15 captains were seated at a round table, Captain Damien's voice carried far more weight than anybody else's. He was the longest currently serving captain, as well as the oldest, and even with the recent death of his daughter, he was more than competent at his job. This is worrisome news. Whether what Private McCafferty said is completely true or not, what we know for sure is that we lost 11 of our people yesterday, and if they were betrayed, we have to find out who they were betrayed to. I think to mean who they were betrayed from? Whatever. If they were taken by surprise, we have to find out who did it. Either way, I have a propose. We have a word with Empress Hera. Murmurs rose up around the table. The captains spoke amongst themselves, some questioning the proposal, others agreeing wholeheartedly or objecting vehemently. Damien slammed a gavel on the table for silence. It took several hard swings, but the other captains quieted after a few moments. Private, you are dismissed. Brian saluted and walked out of the conference. Have I worked with the Empress? Why would that be so controversial? Unless he must have meant something else. But what? Damien, we can't vote on something like this without all 16 captains present. Captain Saline of the Second Battalion objected. We need to have all currently serving captains present. Captain Marcy isn't currently serving. Besides, we have to have at least two battalions in Earth at all times.  So if you missed that last bit, turns out James' mom was a witch hunter captain. And also at the end, authors note this was just me saying that I was taking a month-long break so that I could write a different story for Nano-Rymo back in 2013, or no, 2012. And maybe I'll read that one one day. Chapter 25, Brink of Insanity. So after Hera introduced James to all the nobles, they go like, What? That's crazy. And then she tells him quiet down and one guy objects and so he's killed. And eventually the rest of them all agree. And so like at this point, it's official that James and Lilith are engaged. They're gonna get married. And so he gets brought down to his own room where he's supposed to be staying. And then he tells Laurie and Fear all about the engagement. James swallowed unconsciously. I have to tell them eventually. They're going to notice that I start spending a lot of my time with Lilith. Well, it's a funny story, really. You see, I'm now engaged. The silence in the room could have been cut with a knife. After a moment, Laurie spoke up.  Whether out of politeness or fear was hard to say. Who are you getting married to? The princess, he said plainly. The tall twat that we saw on the other side of the doorway. Everyone's just tall in this. She's more tense silence. So you're going to be banging a princess soon. Laurie asked with her face in her palm. Is there a reason behind this? Don't tell them, James's mind said. But his mouth ignored it. And I love this next part. This next part is USDA grade prime choice. Just the absolute best edge you will ever find. You want to know why?  His voice was raising as he spoke. Laurie seemed cowed slightly. No, I'm just wondering why the Empress, the only person I know of who seems to scare you, suddenly came out and asked, or maybe told, you to marry her daughter. I'm not an expert on Myron politics, but that strikes me as strange. It's because, James paused, wondering how to put his next words. Lolly it. In your time here, have you heard of Rivec Dorayu and the Dorayu Rebellion? Laurie thought for a moment, then nodded. Fear looked nervous now. She was fiddling with the hilt of her sword like it held the secrets of the universe. Yeah, Dorayu was a powerful nobleman who tried to take over Meyer about 27 years ago, but he failed and he died. Well, he didn't die. James laughed.  He laughed more and more until tears came out of his eyes. He was obsessed with leaving his mark on history. He started to go crazy. His children were put through insane trials to make them stronger. They were beaten, stabbed, raped, set on fire and crucified. But in the end, what killed his daughter was herself. She hanged herself off of a tree because she couldn't take it anymore. Imagine that. A girl who survived 21 years of torture kills herself. His laughter had descended to fitful giggles. I failed to see the humor here, Laurie remarked.  James said, starting to roll up his sleeves. After a few seconds, his arms were exposed up to the elbows, showing his scars from his crucifixion, from his suicide attempt, and the burn scar from where he cauterized the wound. After she kills herself, I killed the refs. Rivik, his men, and Theoris, the one man that might be considered my friend, and I killed him. I threw a spear of fire through his gut and watched his organs burn to ash, and then I slaughtered them all. Those animals that called themselves revolutionaries, even heroes, I cut them to pieces and burned down the walls around them. He continued to giggle like a madman. Laurie was getting worried. James knew, what are you saying? I'm saying that it's funny. The whole shitstorm abortion that started with rape and is going to end in blood and fire known as my life. It's the funniest thing you've ever heard. Don't deny it.  I think that, I think that's enough for now. God, that is, that is just, that's just... That's, that's a, that's a lot. That's what that is, that's a lot. And then, so yeah, he is now officially told Laurie and Fear all about his backstory, and then he runs off alone and he's, well, he's just angry and angsting about, why can't I forget? Chapter 26, Beginnings and Endings. So it cuts back to Hera and her husband and Lilith, and Hera is like coughing very, very, very strongly, and apparently it's because she has this power called the Ronkek, which is passed down through the royal family, and she's been using it too much, so it's causing her to slowly die. And then it cuts back to James, who I should mention, he also threw Egoon out the window during his little, let's call it what it is, it was a tantrum. And then he's by himself for a while, and then Lilith's father, Hera's husband, comes up and gives him back Egoon, he's like, hey, you dropped this, basically, and then Egoon's really angry at him and James apologizes to her, and he's like, okay, I'm sorry about that. And then he talks to Lilith's dad a little bit, and I guess this is supposed to be a heartwarming scene, but it really means nothing, this is a character that comes out of nowhere and just tells him like, look, fire doesn't have to always burn, it can be life too. Then the next day James has to get up and go to a meeting with Lilith and Hera, and then this happens, nodding, James moved as quickly as he could to Hera's room, he made a few wrong turns, but managed to reach his destination faster than he thought he would. Upon arrival, both Mixon and Lixin were guarding the door, they admitted him, the room was bright, lit by sunlight streaming through the windows, as his eyes adjusted, James heard the breathing of four people, he also smelled Hera, Lilith, a stranger and, wait a minute, you finally arrived, Hera said, gesturing to the two men, sitting on ornate chairs across from her, I'd like to introduce you to the two men here to negotiate the piece, the one with white hair is Eda, and the other one is Therys, James completed, too quickly for most people to follow, he rushed forward and drew Egoon, slashing sideways at Theda's neck, no, he was alive, my friend was alive, he lied to me, no, he betrayed me, and that's the end of the chapter. Now, chapter 27 is called Zried versus Egoon, and look, I'm not gonna go over this one, because this is another chapter, it's mostly just fight, a fight scene, and apparently Zried in Kandori means two anger, and that is also the name of Theda's axe that he's been holding, that he's been carrying around, turns out that's also one of the Holies, and so they're fighting for a bit, and James uses flames of midnight on him, and he's like, well, I gotta actually use the power of this, and he uses it, it suppresses all of his emotions other than rage, and then he gets, well, obviously, he gets angry, starts attacking James, they both fall out the window, and then Kira stops them. Actually, that covers two chapters, really, so hey, chapter 28, Freefall, that one's done, chapter 29, Purpose and Sacrifice, Lori and Fear were prisoners, they weren't called prisoners, but they were politely asked not to leave their room, at the one time, Lori had dared to venture into the hallway, the airy that showed up with James, Lexi, or Lorex, or some other weird name, escorted her back, they had running water and electricity, which Fear was enraptured with, but Lori was not impressed, she paced back and forth around the room. We've been here for an entire day, and other than James's episode, we haven't had any people come here. Lori had tried not to think about his speech, but it was difficult, it explained almost everything about him, where he got a legendary sword, why he was such an asshole, why he seemed so withdrawn, why he wore long sleeves in the desert, the list went on and on. There was a knock on the door, Lori stopped pacing, and Fear stopped flicking the lights on and off for a minute. Lori hesitated and opened the door the rest of the way, allowing the stranger in, the airy left to do whatever it was he did, the stranger bowed again at Fear. Greetings, my name is Aira, the foremost memory magic expert in Meyer. I've been informed by the Empress herself that you have disappeared. He was wearing clothes that looked plain, but they were crisp and cleanly pressed, just like Aira himself. How would she... Oh, right. Lori was a little miffed that James had told her secret. It gave others leverage on her, but if it helped solve her problem, she was fine with it. So, do you know how to fix this? Aira smiled nervously and shrugged. Well, this isn't exactly an uncommon occurrence, but it is difficult to solve. I have to spend time learning about you, your friends, your family, and the I need to spend time preparing the exact spell to get things back to normal. Even I make mistakes, and even I don't know everything. My best estimate of success? Maybe 20%. So, yeah, Aira is this memory magic expert that's supposed to reverse what was done to Lori and make everyone remember her again, which, okay, sounds great. But the magic system in this oscillates between being semi-hard magic and just not making any sense all the time. Like, if it was supposed to just be some sort of soft thing that isn't explained all that well, then sure, that would be one thing. But it kind of tries to be a hard magic system where, like, he's training Lori, he's trying to get her to bring magic out of herself. And at one point, it's kind of explained that if you have more magic in your body than when people attack you with magic, it doesn't hurt you as much.  So, just the idea that this is how you would fix it never really gets a proper explanation, and so it never really makes any sort of sense. So James goes back to the room that he was in, and he sits down and starts sort of meditating so he can speak to Igun because he saw that Theta was able to use Zryed's power really crazily, and he's like, well, maybe Igun has something like that. Igun, I need to speak to you privately. Take me back to that world you brought me to when you mentioned the circle. Why should I, Igun, ask spitefully?  No one ever told me that the Holies did anything beyond being unbreakable. The sword's side. An odd idea, to be sure. All right, I would have preferred you learn this on your own, but I guess it's time. James' consciousness went into the other world. He opened his eyes and saw himself in the familiar field surrounded by weapons. A copy of Igun flew through the air and landed at his feet. He picked it up and looked to see Igun's humanoid form sitting on a rock casually.  You think you know everything because you know of suffering, hardship, combat, and abandonment. Tell me, what do you know of friendship, of love, of purpose, and sacrifice? The boy clenched his teeth.  Now I'm spending the rest of my life destroying what's left of my father. If that's not purpose and sacrifice, I don't know what is. And friendship and love? I know enough to know I don't care about anything. So Igun makes a sword appear. She starts fighting him. End of chapter 29. Then we go to chapter 30. Master. And that one is, again, mostly just a fight scene between James and Igun, and she's like way too powerful, but James does barely manage to kill her. With lightning speed that he was accustomed to by now, she grabs the blade between her fingers again with her good arm. It would have been like last time. Only this time, James let go of the hilt and reached for Igun's dropped weapon. He slashed twice, and from her position, she couldn't block, and the boulder next to them meant she couldn't dodge. The first attack cut through her thighs, separating her legs from her body. The second attack sliced through half of her torso. She fell, and James caught her, discarding his blood cover sword. Blood spouted from the inconceivably deep wound on Igun's side, as well as out of her mouth. Is that really a wound on her side if he was cut in half? James felt the familiar presence that he hadn't realized he missed. Magic. He shoved his hand into the wound and created some flames. It burns the blood vessels shut. All right, I won. Now tell me how to get your power, he said, holding up her mutilated body. She smiled, blood pouring from the corners of her mouth. Thank you for trying to help me, but several of my... organs were destroyed. You already have my... power, James blinked. I don't feel any different. You... will, she coughed weakly. Master, I have one last thing to... say. So Igun briefly goes over the legend of how all the holies were created, and apparently it was mostly accurate, but Igun also mentioned that she volunteered to be created, like this, and she refers to all the other swords as her sisters. And she says that Masamune, like she said earlier, has already been found, Ragnarok has already been found, and he needs to do something about that. But also James just killed her, so she's not going to be in his head anymore, and I guess that's sad and stuff, but he also has her power, so rock on. James opened his eyes. He was in his room, with Igun set across his lap, just the way he had been when he entered the other world. Igun, he thought, hoping to get a response. There wasn't one. He stood up, the sword in his hand felt much heavier. He stared at the blade. Goodbye, friend. And I know that's supposed to be, like, a sappy moment, I guess, where it's supposed to be like, aw, he finally made a friend, and then he had to kill her for the good of the world, or whatever, but at the same time, like, was she really his friend? He only knew her really for a couple of weeks, because before that, she didn't talk to him at all, she just ignored him. So I don't know if I would consider that person, my friend. Chapter 31, Witch Hunt. James could feel his body crackle with power as he stood up. It was dark now, but the colors of the carpeting seemed more vivid than ever. He could hear footage from three footsteps, from three floors below. Okay, hearing footage, that would be much different. He could feel the carpeting through his boots and smells. He had learned to shut out most smells years before so that he wasn't constantly distracted, but he would need to retrain himself now. So James is more powerful now, great, but then he goes out into the hallways and he gets attacked by men with guns, and he realizes, oh, these are humans and they're attacking me with magic guns. That means they must be witch hunters, which means they're attacking.  And the thing is, I didn't quite realize that while I was writing it, partially because, well, entirely because, well, I wrote it one chapter per week, so even if I never, or so I never went back and re-read it and realized, man, there sure is a lot of action and fight scenes going on here.  Bum, bum, bum. Is that the appropriate turn, time for whatever? So yeah, there's that, and then they're attacking and yeah, from this point on, the last quarter of the book is basically just nothing but fight scenes. So I'll probably be able to cover this a lot faster. Chapter 32, Blitzkrieg Bop. James goes off looking for fear and Laurie, because they're hanging out with Era down in some other part of the castle. Captain Damian and the other witch hunters launch their assault like full on, rather than just probing attacks. And then Laurie starts talking to Era and apparently when she gave him, she also gave him the research that James found in his dad's study. So she gives that to Era and then he's able to work around with it and he's like, okay, I made this potion for you. Basically you'll drink it and then it'll undo what was done to you so everyone will remember you again. But the problem is you have to take it at the exact right time and that's not until three years from now. Again, none of the magic in this is properly explained. So whatever. And then Theta is hanging out on the roof of Curth which is the giant castle that they're in by the way. I don't know why I decided to give it a name, but you know, I did. And then he hangs out with Epsilon who remember is the leader of psychic at least on paper. And then apparently those guys are attacking too. Everything very fortuitously happens all at once at this point.   I don't know why that was so hard to say. The man was now in front of James again. The sound from his footsteps made it seem as though he was still 90 yards away. God damn, he's fast. Pulling out his sword the boy managed to slash the mystery man before he gets attack again. They both paused for a moment gauging the other.  James asked. The man slowly moved into a combat stance palms facing his opponent. My name is Damian White and you're about to pay for what you did to my daughter. James blinked and whispered.  Damian pulled back both his hands and thrust forward. Vacuum cannon because you know it's like it's like a shonen anime where they say attacks before they do them. Yeah. A wave of nothingness wrecking the stone around it slammed into James who had somehow brought up Eagoon to defend himself. Only now the pure white half of the sword had faded. Schwartz Eagoon. The vacuum that had previously sent him flying now stopped in its tracks. The force dispersed to the sides oblitering the rest of the walls along with the floor and ceiling. The boy smirked. It's nice to know that part actually works. Damian seemed surprised but anyone could tell he was seething with rage and surprised. That normally works. I guess it's my turn. Who are you? James gulped and paused. I'm no one. He said simply and charged. And then Laurie hears this and goes off looking for him. And then Chapter 33 Memories of No One. It starts with James and Damian fighting a whole bunch and then Laurie pops up and shows up just in time manages to save James before he gets killed.  That's really how most of the dialogue that's what it boils down to. So then there's a fight between Era and Damian and they both kind of beat each other really badly and Damian is injured but he's alive still and that's the end of Chapter 33. Chapter 34 Kirk the witch hunters go out and attack people and then some members of psychic show up and also start attacking people and then Lilith wakes up and they're like hey we gotta get you out of here and then she tries to go and then she's confronted with Epsilon and then she starts fighting him because apparently she has tons of magic and stuff too which is cool I guess Era shows up kills one of the psychic members with no trouble and then James in fear run into somebody interesting before she could respond something wrapped around her ankle and tripped her James was 50 feet ahead before he stopped and got a serious look on his face and put his hand on Egoon's hilt he was looking behind her fear run go back now not even wondering what he meant she rolled over quickly and in Acts hit the ground where she was looking up she saw an average appearing man holding it he looked at her and that look in his eyes was terrifying he didn't have a murderous look he just seemed empty and resigned like he didn't want to do this but he had no choice fear swept her leg and sent a sharp gust towards the newcomer he blocked the attack with his axe and twitched a finger roots emerged from the floor all around her bound her arms and legs he made his way to attack again but before he could another person came between them James had Egoon out now and he was in an offensive stance flames burned away the roots holding fear freeing her go now James said and he attacked the other man fear obeyed she left quickly she didn't look but she could feel a sheer power coming from behind her so Theta shows up and James is gonna kill him chapter 35 return so this one is like a whole bunch of different fight scenes which are all back and forth it starts with James fighting Theta very briefly then it goes to Brian fighting his people and then he dies and then it goes to Mixon and Mixon fighting a member of psychic and then they die and then Lilith is like super upset she felt Mixon die she's like no I loved him I guess and then she's still fighting people and then James fights Theta and then the mysterious hooded figure shows up before she died Egoon told me something she suspected I hope it isn't true but it would make sense if it is his hands began to shake and heat spilled off of him while his eyes changed to black Theta is he was cut off as a bolt of black lightning struck where he had been standing the spot was destroyed and a disappointed looking figure stood up in the hall black lightning the wrath of heaven only two people I knew could use that the figure was wearing a white cloak which obstructed his face and also must have suppressed his magic and his smell because James couldn't get a whiff of either I missed the figure said hello James it's been a while he smiled wolfishly how can you tell you smile wolfishly if you can't see his face his voice sounds similar but different and there's no mistaking that lightning James' hands began to shake and even more heat spilled off of him Theta was forced to move next to the figure in the white cloak yes it's been a while hasn't it James said his voice more intense than he could ever remember it being it's nice to see you again dad bum bum bum Rivek is alive it uh I don't know how that would make any sort of sense but you know it is it is in fact a twist so then we go to chapter 36 revelation and James is just seeing Rivek and he's super pissed off and he starts attacking him but then Rivek is like shooting him with lightning and then he manages to sort of control him like puppet master like he was doing with Theta earlier and James realizes like oh okay this this isn't like what Fiam was doing or what angels of subjugation can do this is just her or him sending out lightning magic into me so that he can sort of control my limbs but he can't control my magic and so he's still able to shoot fire out of them and then he burns the man but it turns out he's not Rivek Rivek was expecting his magic to protect him but at this range he took the full force of the flames to his face releasing a yell of pain he sent a blast of lightning into James's body before elbowing him in the nose James saw white and his body twitched uncontrollably you burned me an oddly feminine voice said James smirked see Rivek is dead you just needed his name to take control he picked Igun back up and lowered his magic output if he kept releasing that much he would pass out quickly standing up the boy held his sword in front of him and glanced around looking for the imposter he was nowhere in sight the massive amount of magic from Masamune was gone and the smoke was covering up any smells the girl laughed again in triumph before her prey fell through the now gaseous floor the smile fell from her face and a pillar of fire erupted from her feet it didn't turn her to cinders but her cloak was burned away along with the floor beneath her feet it was simple for her to step back before she fell but James shooting out of the hole like a rocket did take her by surprise the look on his face before he attacked her however was easy to see coming and it was priceless he knew that face that mouth and smile that pale skin and that beautiful silver hair tempestade brushed a strand out of her eye well you've seen my face now I suppose the charade is over double bump bump bump but it briefly cuts to Damien and he gets healed by another one of the witch hunters and he's like oh that kid he he killed my daughter what's his name his name's James oh that's kind of weird and that that that's it for chapter 36 chapter 37 the gathering storm we're almost there for the third time that day James was looking at someone who was supposed to be dead but this time he felt confusion instead of rage temp... tempeh? he whispered your surprise is understandable tempeh said surprise me nonchalant after all my plan was pretty foolproof if I do say so myself blinking James shut off his flames of midnight and sheathed Eagoon I can smell you now and your magic feels exactly how I remember it suddenly he felt very tired why? he said simply tempeh's face darkened considerably why? why? using her free hand she lifted up her shirt displaying a white scar on her abdomen it's all because of you and uh then it goes into another flashback which again not reading because this is again genuinely genuinely disgusting basically she wound up getting pregnant from getting raped all the time and she stabbed herself in the uterus to prevent that and now she can't ever have children but then when she went out and killed all the guards and everything she actually made apparently she knows memory magic too which that comes out of nowhere and she used it to make like a corpse of herself which fools james and then he's like no she's dead and then so she faked her own death basically and then after every after james killed rybeck and everybody else she went back and found therus aka theta there and she was like okay so yeah I now I can do it and so she just wants to take over everything now without warning she drew her sword and rushed forward in a blur james didn't move even when the tip of masamune was pressed against his throat you aren't going to fight back tempiasque confused she seems almost schizophrenic with these mood swings you know james that's not what schizophrenic means she gritted her teeth why not he closed his eyes and smiled slightly I don't care about the worlds or the people in them I never have if you can conquer them do whatever you want that's not important to me but if my death will bring you some peace then just kill me a single tear rolled down his cheek everything has been a lie anything that comes near me dies and all I can do is kill if I can help this one other person then maybe this will all have been worth it yeah so she's about to kill him and she summons a whole bunch of shadows and like tentacles and monsters and stuff to attack stuff and then fear shows up and she's like no I don't think I can just let you die and he's like no fear you should just let me die but then she gets stabbed by shadows chapter 38 the power of a genius fear james yelled at the sight of her collapsing he was at her side in a moment turning her over gingerly there were several gaping holes in her body each of which was pouring blood onto the floor so james tries to grab fear and run away but tempeh stops him she wraps him up with shadow tentacles and he's stuck but then he manages to escape because apparently igoon you can just turn it like just full black and it'll be like a super powerful shield and block everything or you can turn it full white and it'll cut really well it'll actually cut through not only physical stuff but also like lightning and fire and such can you? can you even cut through those? yeah she stabs him and it uh does some sort of weird attack where she sucks out half the life of his body which causes one of his eyeballs to explode because this is just suffering porn at this point and it also nearly kills him it apparently it's when it destroys half the light of his body it destroys half his soul and then fear dies because he was unable to save her but then lori pops up and i don't know how she got there but you know she pops up and grabs james and then before tempe can kill her hira shows up and stops her and she's like i'm gonna kill you chapter 39 ron kek author's note we're nearing the climax here guys i doubt that the story will be more than 45 chapters in more lighthearted news one of my friends got a new kitten he likes to play with the hem of my pants now that's actually true and my friend still has that kitten only now she is a really really fat cat that refuses to ever move like seriously they put her on a diet and everything but it doesn't matter because she just doesn't want to move off of her cushion all day so anyways tempestade and hira fight a bunch and hira apparently the ron kek allows her to like create things out of nothingness like anything she can imagine she can create or almost anything she can imagine she can create and like i said before it's slowly killing her so even as she's about to kill tempeh she goes into a coughing fit and then tempeh cuts her head off and she's like yes i win but uh then you cut to lilyth apparently went as soon as her mother died the ron kek passed on to her so she's able to kill epsilon and then it cuts to lory and james and they're running through everywhere and then damien and oleg show up because oh god there's there's like so many characters in here all doing like one thing each and anyways damien and james talk a little bit and they're like wait a minute what do you mean you killed my daughter and he's like well she kind of abandoned me i'm sorry bro and damien's like well i can't bring myself to kill you so oleg can you heal this guy please and then he does chapter 40 here to end this so like i said hira is killed lilyth gets her powers back and then it cuts to oleg and apparently he can only sort of heal james because like he said it it destroyed half his soul but the other half is still leaking out i've lived through more than this shit james said using egun to help himself stand i'll be fine in a few hours none of them really noticed but the explosions of magic from outside had stopped you don't understand the captain replied half of the light was ripped from your body you lost more than just your left eye he was referring to james's now missing eye yeah i think we could have figured that out dude you lost a part of well the best way to describe it is that you lost a part of your soul think of your soul as a glass of water now imagine that a hole has been poked in the bottom of the glass and all of the water is pouring out if it wasn't for me you'd be dead already finally reaching his feet james stared at the floor how long he asked simply maybe a day if you're lucky bullshit lori yelled at him with surprising force i know you can save him now do it she was about the same height as oleg but she knew even with two good hands she couldn't fight him and where the fuck is fear we need to leave fast there was a moment of silence lolia james said as gently as he she'd ever heard him fear is dead my sister tempestade killed her just to torture me it's my fault the girl stopped and swallowed your sister fear then lila shows up and they're like hey we should get out of here and then lori asks lila hey can you make him a new soul and she's like well i could but he wouldn't be the same person it wouldn't really be his soul and i just why bother making that more complicated and it needs to be 15 year old james or i guess 16 year old james at this point just just say no i can't make souls i can make pretty much anything else but i can't make souls lori gets really angry and tries telling them no heal him heal him and then james is like no no it look i'm gonna die but i have a plan and then everyone's like what you have a plan and he's like yeah just get everyone out of here get get everyone out of curse and i'll deal with tempeh turning around he walked away with his few last words don't worry i won't die in fact this is the first time in a while that i've really wanted to live oh my god shut the fuck up please cut back to tempeh hero was dead epsilon should have dealt with lila's by now and her father anto yawn wasn't a member of the robise family by blood maya would soon fall apart then earth and finally dorva things were looking up for tempeh i am so close she screamed to the heavens electricity arcing off her body leisurely she flew back into kerth through a window and folded up her wings do you hear me little brother if you somehow survive that just gives me more opportunity to torture you beyond but you can fathom you'll know my pain tenfold no ten thousand fold and she laughed maniacally her laugh cut off as she just saw a hole melt in the floor of her feet a smile crept across her face as a scarlet haired boy climbs through with obvious effort there's no need to shout james said struggling to a speech and panting like a dog i'm here to end this chapter 41 a white flash so this one is again pretty much just a fight between james and tempeh because apparently even though he had lost most of his magic when he did that and he was also super injured she had also lost most of her magic when she was fighting hero and because masamune can like sucks it out really fast or something i don't know it doesn't make much sense considering that it literally just described her as having lightning arcing off of her but whatever basically it's him saying look neither of us can use any more magic it's just gonna be sword fighting so yeah they sword fight for a little bit and then tempeh stabs him she stabbed forward and james made to block he was too slow and the sword sunk in up to the hilt james yelled in pain and dropped shvards grabbing masamune right above where tempeh held it this new moon was almost a mirror of the one he had received earlier tempeh smiled and she panted you see you cannot beat me i will become a goddess she laughed weekly i guess i couldn't win james bowed his head fuck i promised i would well i didn't want to do this tempeh had stabbed him with her left hand so she couldn't grab him without letting go of her weapon as quickly as he could james let go of masamune's hilt and grabbed his opponent's wrist as tightly as he could she tried to pull back but he would not release you know vice igoon cuts anything i wanted to fire lightning air anything he raised the white blade over his head i wonder what would happen if i split some atoms tempeh realized what he was saying and ripped her hand away pulling her sword with it she tried to raise it to block vice or vice sorry james smiled after everything that's happened i hope you find some peace he swung there was a white flash and the final chapter epilogue the gift of the future lory and everyone else manages to escape and they look back and they see giant nuclear explosion caused from when james split all the atoms so he killed himself and tempeh he had to sacrifice himself to save the day because he's just that heroic all of a sudden and i guess i guess that's a thing i don't know if you really really wanted to stretch it you could say he didn't do this to save the world he did it to help out his sister but nonetheless dude and then there's a brief scene with lory and damien at james's grave and lory's like well i got three years to kill so i guess i'm gonna go wander off and stuff and then she just says goodbye to damien and leaves but then there is this one final fuck you that i just want to throw out there a young girl trekked through the forest she had been separated from her friends when those bears attacked and had been searching for them the