Reborn 09 - Demon's Legacy
Author: D. W. Jackson
Date: 2015-10-31 00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Science Fiction & Fantasy; Fantasy; Epic; Two Hours or More (65-100 Pages); Literature & Fiction
Description: Ash has been saved from death thanks to the demon race. surprised and more than a little confused Ash learns that he has a rare blood ability that signals him as the next demon lord. With the war stalled Ash takes the time to learn more about the demon race as well as train and gain new abilities. **

9-1

With the speed of the demons assigned to scouting and spying, it only took three days for Ash to get a full report on what was happening with the war. So far the enemy army had pulled back and was holding near the border. Ash wanted to rush back home, but the sage advised against it.

“My Lord, right now the biggest advantage we have is that they don’t know if you are alive or dead. Our spies in the King’s palace haven’t reported back yet and I believe it would be best if you waited until we know all that is going on before we make a move.”

“You seem to know a lot about war,” Ash said harshly. He wanted nothing more than to tell his wife that he was ok.

“My Lord, we were bred for war. Even though we have hidden ourselves away, we have not allowed our skills to wither. We keep spies in most the kingdoms of men and watch the world closely. We train our young to fight and each clan has its own labyrinth in which to train. Every five years we have a massive contest where the clans fight in mock open battles for honor and glory. I doubt you will find better warriors anywhere.”

“Wait, every clan has its own labyrinth? That is over forty labyrinths. How in the nine hells are there so many?”

“The same people that created us learned how to make labyrinths. They were a group of the best mages of the time who studied many different things related to the world. If they had not drawn the wrath of the gods, there is no telling what secrets they might have uncovered,” the sage said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

“You can create a labyrinth?” Ash asked, his curiosity piqued.

“Yes,” the sage said hesitantly. “Though not easily. As I told you, long ago we helped a human king unite the lands. During that time, we were still young and our hearts desired battle. We took countless lives and used the secrets that we had stolen from the mages to build the labyrinths that we now use to train in.”

“How are they made?” Ash asked, trying to get the sage to get to the point.”

“You see, the mages learned that labyrinths tended to be found at the sights where large battles had taken place. After a lot of experimenting, they learned that wherever the land was soaked in the blood of more than 100,000 people, a labyrinth would be born. During the large wars we would capture defeated soldiers and sometimes whole cities and bring them back so that we could sacrifice them,” the sage replied sorrowfully. “It is not the most pleasing story for any demon to hear, though it is one that needs to be passed down so that we do not repeat the offenses of our ancestors. I ask that you keep this information a secret. I know I have no power to demand it, but if the secret was known, then there is no telling what might happen.”

“I agree, this is one secret that is better lost and forgotten then put to use,” Ash said without hesitation. There was no doubt in his mind that there were plenty of nobles and kings that wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice people if it meant that they could put a labyrinth wherever they chose. “I wonder how the labyrinths work?” Ash asked more to himself then to the sage.

“Ah, that is easy enough to answer,” the sage replied, not knowing that Ash had only asked out of reflex. “Labyrinths are alive. They can even be killed if one wished to, though I have never heard of anyone doing so on purpose since they give such great benefits. They live off vitality and will slowly drain it from living beings nearby, but as long as a large number of people gather, then the drain is so small it is seldom noticed. When one fights in a labyrinth, any action they take uses extra energy and that helps the laybernith strengthen itself. The creatures born in the labyrinth are much like blood to a human. Though when one is destroyed, it doesn’t hurt the labyrinth much since most of the creature’s essence can be reused. Everything you find inside a labyrinth is born of magic but it is what is called grand magic and uses levels of energy that no human or demon could ever control. It was theorized by the mages that labyrinths were, in a way, a kind of demigod created from the combined power of those sacrificed.”

“I see,” Ash said as he tried to digest the new information. He had never thought that the labyrinth as a living being, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Labyrinths were dangerous and every year many people died trying to gain the riches within, but at the same time it allowed many people the chance to grow and kingdoms to prosper. “Well if I shouldn’t return home just yet, then what should I do? I can’t just sit around here all day. I would be bored out of my mind.”

“My Lord, I would suggest you train your abilities. You are the twenty-third Maoh and over the years a training regimen has been designed to help the new Maoh become the pillar of the demon world. Most the time the successor is known long before the death of the previous Maoh so they are trained from a young age. In truth, we were all quite worried when the previous Maoh decided to pass on when there was no apparent heir.”

“How long will this training last?” Ash asked, hoping that it wouldn’t be something that took hundreds of years. Given that demons lived until either killed or they decided to pass on by their own will, it was a very real possibility.

“Your body is strong enough that you do not need the beginning stages of the training,” the sage said, his tone slightly contemplative. “I think that in five to eight years you could pass the basic portion of the training.”

“That long,” Ash said in a slightly depressed tone.

“Well demons train for the entirety of their lives. We don’t age so we do not slow like humans. Though with you being more human than demon that might not be the same for you. Only time will tell, but the basic training is simply acquiring certain abilities and then training them and learning how to use them to their fullest. I am sure that you have learned by now that even with a large number of abilities, they are useless unless you know the best time to use them and more importantly, how to use them.”

Ash couldn’t help but admit that the sage was right. He had learned numerous abilities, but most of them went unused. He had trained them to some extent, but he rarely thought about when and how to use them. During his battle at the fort, Ash had only used those abilities that were the most familiar to him and hardly touched those that he had gained when he first had come to this world.

“I guess it is better than just sitting around waiting to be of use,” Ash said, trying to hold back the surge of excitement. He felt slightly bad that he was excited about training when his wife and others might be in danger.

“Then we can start as early as tomorrow. If that is your wish my lord.”

When the sage didn’t leave as he normally would, Ash looked at the older man. It was hard to tell what the sage was thinking, but from the way he kept moving his forked tongue Ash knew that something was on his mind. “Is there something else?” Ash asked hesitantly.

“There is my Lord, but I do not know if it is the right time for me to bring up such matters. Especially given other things that are currently taking place,” the sage said, his shoulders slightly slumping. “It is about an heir my lord. We know that the young duchess of yours will soon conceive. It is unknown yet if the child will be the one to carry the blood ability and honestly the chances of it are slim.”

“Go on,” Ash said slightly leaning forward as the corners of his mouth started to twitch.

“You see my Lord, it is customary that the Moah take a wife from each of the main clans,” As the sage spoke for a moment, he stopped when Ash didn’t say anything and simply breathed a slight sigh of relief. “This is to keep from showing any form of favoritism. Also, as you know we are a long lived race but our women can only bare two children during their lives. This does not pose a huge problem as women are born more often than men, but the problem is that in the previous generations chance of an heir receiving the blood ability is very low. The previous Maoh had thirty children among his various wives and not one was an inheritor, though he was still relatively young. At only two hundred and sixty years of age.”

“What would happen if there was no inheritor?” Ash asked as he sat back slowly in his chair and digested the news. Something felt off, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

“That is unknown my Lord,” the sage replied apologetically. “It had never happened before, but I doubt the mages who created us would allow a chained beast to be set free.”

“I see,” Ash said. It made sense if the mages lost their hold over a race meant for war it would be devastating to say the least, or it should have been. They were sure to create some safeguards in that event. “Can you explain a bit more about the marriage and expectations of such for me? I am finding it hard to see how one person could entertain so many women.”

For the first time, Ash heard the sage laugh. It was an odd sight since the sage didn’t have lips. It sounded more like a raspy cough, but the wetness in his eyes made Ash smile. “I can understand your confusion my Lord. Though it is customary that you wed one from each, no person can value everyone the same. The only day you must attend to one of your wives is on her birthday. Other than that, your wives would make up your personal guard. When a child is born, after it is weaned from its mother, it is sent back to the clan unless the Maoh orders otherwise.”

“My wives would be my guards?” Ash asked tilting his head slightly.

“Yes,” the sage replied nodding his head. “It has been done that way for generations. Each Maoh is different though and there have been changes in customs from time to time on their orders. You must remember that in the end, your orders are supreme. We have our own wills and as such there will be different opinions, not only about you, but how to do things, however, in the end we have to follow your orders.”

“I don’t like it,” Ash blurted out without thinking.

“What do you not like my Lord?” The sage asked with what appeared to be a worried expression. Though with his features, it was hard to tell.

“I don’t like the idea of people having to obey my orders despite their own feelings,” Ash said shaking his head. “It…Feels wrong.”

“I can understand my Lord. That is why the previous Maoh never made many direct orders. Though as I said, the magic that binds us to you is stronger than slave magic that is used today. All demons bound by it can’t help but feel favorable to you, though that is never seen as much of a burden. Honestly, we believe that it helps since we never feel hatred toward our ruler. The magic also seems to weaken with each generation, though it will still be countless more before were are free of it.”

“No matter how you explain it…It still feels wrong,” Ash said again.

“The gods felt the same way. That is why they demanded the destruction of the mages. At first, many of the gods wanted the mages creations destroyed as well, but the goddess Altina stood against them. In the end she said that though we were created against the will of the gods, it was not our fault. She is the one that allows us to seek our end when we want free of the world. Altina herself spoke to the first free Maoh. She told him that even if all demons were bound to his will, it was his choice on how to use that bond. All kings force their subjects to obey, ours are just in a more literal sense. No one else can carry that burden for you, but I hope you can find some solace in the goddess’s words.”

After saying his peace, the sage left Ash alone with his thoughts.

Ash couldn’t believe that he was now a King or a Maoh as the demons called him. He had been married to Emelia for a good time now, but she was the duchess and he was just her consort. He had no real power within the duchy himself. Ash had liked it that way. No real power also meant that he had very little in the way of responsibilities. Now he had countless thousands depending on him. It was all too much.

“Master,” A weak voice said as the door to his room was slightly opened.

“Come in Allice,” Ash said as he tried to wipe the troubles from his mind and put on a warm smile.

Allice was wearing a long dark red one piece dress that hung tightly to her body. Her hair long blonde hair was pulled up and tied into a tight bun. Overall it gave off a very mature and enticing vibe.

“Ash, when will we go back home?” Allice asked as she wrung her hands.

“In time,” Ash said weakly as if he didn’t believe his own words. “There are things that we have to do here first.”

Allice clung to him tightly her small hands digging into his back. “Ok.”

9-2

The next day, the sage took Ash to the top of a small hill where large birds twice the size of horses flew in the air while others simply lay on the ground being groomed by a host of demons.

“Only a few of the demon clans can fly and the lands here are vast. Without them it would take days to reach our first destination,” the sage explained.

The large birds were fitted with saddles, though unlike horses, the rider was strapped in with a number of leather harness to keep from falling off during flight. A bird could only hold the weight of one person so Ash was given a quick demonstration on how to control the beast before he and the sage took to the air. Thankfully, Ash’s bird followed behind the sage’s, so he didn’t have to worry about getting lost.

The feel of the wind on his body made Ash’s heart race. Building up his nerve, Ash leaned slightly to the side and looked down. He was miles in the air and the ground below looked small and the creatures looked almost like ants running around. It was hard to gage the speed at which they were moving, but Ash guessed that it was at least three time faster than the best bred horses could go at a full gallop.

They flew for a little more than two hours before Ash spotted the first signs of a large village. In the center of the village was a large building about a quarter the size of the palace he had left behind. From the sky, it looked as if the other building had sprouted from the larger one. Near the edge of the city, Ash saw a large stone hill and knew that it was a labyrinth. From the air, it looked almost like the top of a large eyeless stone head sticking out of the ground with the mouth being the entrance. After learning that the labyrinths were alive, Ash figured that he might not be too far off the mark.

They landed in a large clearing next to the large mansion. As they descended, a number of people came out from the large house and the surrounding buildings. After bowing, a large demon with shining silver hair and deep red eyes approached them. “My Lord, it is a great honor to have you visit us,” the man said, his voice soft and feminine. Unlike the other demons that Ash had seen, the ones surrounding him now had thin bodies and no wings. From what the sage said, the beast men were mixed with animals while demons were mixed with monsters that were cultivated in different labyrinths. From Ash’s guess, the demons must have been created from one of the many spirit type monsters given their enchanting vibe.

The demon waved his hand slightly and a young woman that looked to be in her late teens took a few uncertain steps forward before bowing. “This is Celina, a daughter of a branch house that we wished to bring forward as our candidate for one of your future wives.”

“G-greetings my Lord,” Celina said, her voice slightly trembling and barely loud enough for Ash to hear.

“We would be honored if you would allow Celina to accompany you on your training so that you may gage if she fits your needs my Lord,” the demon said as he urged the young lady to move closer. “She is still young, but she is one of the best fighters in the younger generation.”

“Pleasure to meet you Celina,” Ash said nodding his head. Ash was still unsure if he should take a wife from each clan, but while he was deciding it didn’t hurt to meet the women who were his perspective wives. He had to admit that Celina was beautiful with her lithe figure, shining hair, and deep red eyes like unpolished rubies.

Ash greeted the young woman as well, but before he could say much the sage stepped forward. “As I had informed you, the reason for this trip is to train the new Maoh. Today I thought with Your Graces help, we could explain the difference in abilities and how best to put them to use.”

“Ah. Then it won’t be a direct dive into the labyrinth,” the demon replied with a slightly disheartened look on his face. “I guess that is just as well. Knowing how to use what you have is vastly more important than having them.”

Ash was taken inside the large mansion. He could instantly see a large difference between demon and human construction. While most human mansions were made of more than one level and made of stone the demons preferred single level buildings made of wood. Ash was taken to a large room with a low sitting, long table placed in the center of the room, but there were no chairs in which to sit.

Ash waited for the others to be seated first and followed suite sitting directly on the ground with his legs folded in front of him. The sage sat on his right while Celina sat to his left. Shortly after they were seated, a number of other female demons of the clan appeared carrying small clay cups of green tea. It was slightly bitter to Ash’s taste, but it wasn’t so bad that it was unpleasant to drink, though it wasn’t something that he would drink if he had been given the choice of something else.

“My Lord, I might be called the sage, but most of my knowledge is in managing the realm. As a demon I would be considered a disappointment since I have very little skill in battle. Lord Hallera on the other hand is the clan head of the Sheria Tribe that specializes in magic. In the terms of your guilds, they would be the wizards. They can use all four major elements equally and skillfully. First, so that he can understand your own knowledge, why don’t you speak a bit about your own abilities and how you have used them thus far along with any troubles you have encountered?”

Ash asked for a piece of paper and a quill and quickly wrote down all the abilities and skills he had, along with a quick description and handed them over to the clan lord. After giving the man time to read through them, Ash started explaining his fighting so far, focusing on the trouble he had with the heavy armored knights during the war.

“With these skills, I can see armor giving you a bit of trouble, but it still shouldn’t have been too hard,” the man said with a furrowed brow.

“I tried using Cone of Frost and Fire Ball, but neither of them showed much effect,” Ash said with a heavy sigh.

“I see,” the man replied looking back down at the sheet of paper. “First I should explain how the abilities work and why they didn’t work in that situation. Fire ball is a good skill to use to distract the enemy, but has little use besides that unless fighting undead. It isn’t very hot and it takes a lot of heat for armor to be effected. When you add in the padding, most warriors wouldn’t even notice. The same problem comes with frost attacks, but it can slow them down as the metal becomes weaker when it is cold. If you were to cast Cone of Frost and then hit it a strong attack with a spear, you could break through the metal. Given your current abilities, the best choices to use when faced off against a heavily armored knight would be Sticky Thread and Shock Strike. The armor is already heavy and restricts movements so Sticky Thread would make them an easy target. On the other hand, metal does bad with electrical attacks and the padding does little to stop its effects so Shock Strike works far better in close quarters.”

For the better part of two hours, Ash listened to the man tell him how to use his abilities more effectively. Some of the knowledge Ash would have guessed himself had he sat down and thought it out, but no matter what his life was like now, he was still slightly uncomfortable with fighting other humans. Once they were finished talking about his abilities, he started going over the different ways that they could be used together to make them even more effective. Ash tried to listen wholeheartedly, but he couldn’t stifle the yawn that forced its way out.

Hallera didn’t get mad as Ash yawned, instead he let out a light laugh. “We have been cooped up in this stuffy room for too long. Why don’t we call this to an end and tomorrow we can start the practical portion of why you are here,” Hallera said without a hint of dissatisfaction. “Celina, why don’t you show our guest around.”

“Yes honored uncle,” Celina said getting to her feet and holding her hand out to help Ash to his feet.

Celina didn’t lead Ash straight to his room as he expected, instead she led him outside to a large garden that lay in the center of the building. As they walked along a thin stone path that intertwined with a small flowing stream, Celina would often look at Ash though she never said a word. They stopped on top of a short wooden bridge painted the same colors as the flowers surrounding it. Looking out over the water as a few colorful fish swam by, Ash smiled. “Beautiful.”

“This is my favorite place,” Celina said happily. “When I was young I would often sneak here and lay on the bridge listening to the water as it passed underneath.”

“Sounds lonely,” Ash replied without thinking.

“It was,” Celina admitted. “Every generation the women are trained hard in case they become the next Maoh’s wife and guardian. When I was a child I thought it a great thing and worked hard. Then I started to resent it along with my other sisters in training.”

Listening to Celina, Ash could understand her feelings. It couldn’t have been easy to have be brought up just to be another’s shield. “What do you think about it now?” Ash asked, his eyes lingering on her round face as she looked down at the flowing water.

“I don’t know,” Celina said wistfully. “When I felt the calling, it scared me at first. It was as if my whole being was crying out. Then I learned the new Maoh had been found. You know we all felt it the second your blood touched the crown. It was as if something warm enveloped me, telling me everything would be ok.”

“But wasn’t that only because of the magic’s effects?” Ash asked, the disgust evident in the tone of his voice.

Celina gave a small laugh. “I asked my father the same question. He said that any freedom is an illusion. There is always someone at the top that wields the power to force others to do their bidding. Take the clan head. We are not forced to listen to his commands the same way we are to you, but we still must listen to them.”

“Don’t you hate it though?” Ash asked, forcing himself to look away from Celina’s smiling face. “Wouldn’t you prefer to marry someone you love instead of being forced to be with me?”

“That is the thing,” Celina replied awkwardly. “From the moment I saw you, I loved you. I know that the feelings are there only because of the magic, but they are still there.”

“I am already married,” Ash declared. “Even if you were beside me, I don’t think I could ever look at you with the same feelings of love that I have for Emelia.”

“You will have numerous wives,” Celina said, the smile never fading from her face. “I am not foolish enough to think that I will become a favorite or even one that is well liked. I am stubborn and hardheaded, but I still wish to be by your side. I don’t want to have that feeling of loss ever again,” Celina added her face going slightly pale. “When the Maoh died, it was as if my heart was ripped from my chest. Everything just seemed so bleak and hopeless.”

For another hour, the two stood on the bridge without another word said. When the silence seemed to press down too hard, Celina waved her hand and Ash followed. He was taken to a large room with a window that overlooked the gardens. Celina gave a short bow and turned to leave. “See you tomorrow my Lord.”

Celina didn’t give Ash a chance to respond and quickly disappeared down the hall. As he watched the young woman leave, Ash once again thought about Emelia and the child she carried. He knew that it hadn’t been that long since he had seen her, but to him it felt like an eternity.

While he was thinking, Ash heard a soft giggle from his closet. Unlike the doors made of hardwood and metal he was used to, the doors in the demon world were made of a thin light wood and what Ash thought to be a type of paper. Looking over at the closet, Ash noticed that a few dark shadows swayed on the other side. Pulling his sword from his inventory, Ash approached the closet as quietly as possible.

When Ash slid open the door what he found were six small eyes staring up at him. Ash put away the sword and bent down and tried his best to smile at the faces of the now scared children. “What is going on in here?” Ash asked trying to make his voice as joyful as possible.

After a few moments one of the children, a young girl with her hair tied behind her stood up and took a few steps toward him. “I am Deedra,” the child declared, her voice only shaking slightly.

“Hello Deedra, I am Ash,” Ash said as he took the child’s hand and gave the back of it a light kiss like he would do when greeting a noble back home.

The tense atmosphere from before was gone and the three children bombarded him with questions. Laughing, Ash tried to answer them as quickly as possible but before he could get an answer out three more questions were asked. Ash soon found himself drug about the palace to get in all sorts of mischief.

He was first taken to the kitchen where the giggling children stole a number of small pies. Then they went to the back of the large garden to eat. Once they were done, the children started picking up small handfuls of snow and dumping them on Ash. Laughing, Ash picked up a handful of snow and made a small ball and threw it at one of the kids.

Once the sun started to fall, two of the children disappeared leaving Ash alone with the young girl called Deedra who was currently curled on the ground sleeping soundly. Ash lifted her up gently, thinking it would be bad to leave her to sleep in such a place. After wandering the halls of the manor, Ash found one of the maids. She gave him a small smile when she saw Deedra in his arms and took Ash to another door and knocked lightly on it before disappearing and leaving Ash standing alone.

When the door opened, Celina, standing in a snow white gown, appeared in front of him. Her face blushed a pale pink as she quickly hid behind the door. “I was hoping you might know what to do with this little rugrat?” Ash asked before Celina had a chance to talk.

Celina looked down at Deedra who layed limply in Ash’s arms. Her eyes quickly softened as she pulled the child From Ash’s arm. “Thank you,” Celina said before she quickly closed the door leaving Ash standing alone and more than a little surprised at the whole encounter. With a short laugh, Ash turned and headed back to find his own quarters.

9-3

The next day Ash, Celina, and four other demons headed for the labyrinth. The other four warriors were each over level eighty and one of them had a level of a hundred and eight. Ash had always silently wondered what the highest level one could become was. He had read a number of stories while in Emelia’s study about great heroes that were above the level of two hundred, but to him they were just stories. Now though, he had witnessed someone over level one hundred himself.

Today they would be fighting on the nineteenth and sixty-second floor of the labyrinth. The goal was to gain three abilities. Two were passive and one was active. He wasn’t told much other than they would gain the abilities in one day and spend the rest of the week training them so that he had a better understanding of how they were to be used. Normally this would take a year, but Ash was on a short schedule so he was only getting a small dose of the true training and hoped to pick up the rest when things had settled down.

The labyrinth didn’t have a metal plate, but a stone sculpture of a large flaming dog in front of it that the head guard placed his hand on. The six people were instantly transported to the nineteenth floor.

Ash was excited to once again be fighting in a labyrinth, but that was short lived. The monster were earth spirits and before Ash had a chance to kill a single one, the four large guards threw up their hands and bombarded the spirts with their magic. Watching, Ash had to admit that they were indeed skilled at the use of magic attacks, but it left him feeling more than a little useless as he moved from one corpse to the next only absorbing them.

Seeing his face, Celina who had stuck close by Ash patted him on the shoulder as he stood from absorbing one of the spirits. “You will get all the fighting that you want tomorrow. I promise,” Celina said with a teasing voice.

Ash smiled back and prayed that she was right as he continued to absorb the dead monsters one after another. Ash had quickly lost track of the number as he went from one to the next so when he heard the welcome “Tring,” Sound in his ears he let out a cry of happiness.

[You have reached the absorption rate for lesser Earth Spirit. Abilities available: Earth Shield (active), and Heart of Stone (passive).]

“Tring.”

[You have been randomly awarded the ability Heart of Stone.]

[Heart of Stone: slowly absorbs the essence of the earth into your blood strengthening the body over time. Level max.]

Ash read the description of the skill a number of times, but was still unsure of how it worked. He wanted to ask either the clan head or the sage, but since neither were present all he could do was wait.

Once again Ash followed behind the four guards while they easily cut through the weak earth spirits so that he could absorb them. Time passed by slowly for Ash and he walked from one body to the next until he heard the welcomed sound once again.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption rate for lesser Earth Spirit. Abilities available: Earth shield (active).]

“Tring.”

[You have been randomly awarded the ability Earth Shield.]

[Earth Shield: Cost 40MP- create a stone shield made of condensed earth. Level 1-0%.]

Seeing the ability Ash knew that he could do the same thing without the ability but it would take him longer and most likely use up a bit more MP as he would have to use two abilities at once to do the same thing. At first Ash thought that his luck made him prefect to be a gambler and in some ways that was true. Without his Gambler’s Boost, Ash wouldn’t be nearly as strong as he was but at the same time it limited him. If he had chosen to be a mage or wizard Ash could make any number of spells using his different abilities. If he had chosen a swordsman he could do the same thing. As a gambler it limited him since very few abilities used luck as their main source.

Ash was lost in thought as they continued to the labyrinth door and flashed to the sixty second floor. As soon as his vision cleared, Ash could feel the deadly aura of the place. Unlike the floors he had been to before, Ash could almost taste the danger that hung in the air. Looking around, it was almost as if they were in some sort of jewel cave as the ground and roof both were made of clear diamonds.

“My Lord, stay close,” one of the guards said as he looked around. Unlike before when the guards quickly moved out, killing everything in their path with but a few blows, this time they stuck close to Ash, never moving more than a few feet from his side. It didn’t take long for Ash to get his first glimpse of the new enemy. It was a slender creature made of pure diamond. As soon as it appeared, the guards started to use their magic to bring it down. The diamond monster gave out a piercing scream and charged as three diamond spears flew from its hands.

The guards each threw up their hands and three stone walls jutted from the ground. The diamond spears flew through the first wall as if passing through paper, and then the second. At the third wall, Ash could see cracks starting to appear, but the spears were stopped. Before Ash could say anything, the guards were already at work and loud bangs made Ash’s ears ring and strikes of lighting bombarded the diamond being.

Seeing that the spears didn’t work, the diamond creature continued to approach the six people. Three of the guards focused on attack while one of the guards started using his magic to try and slow down the diamond monster.

At the beginning of the battle, Ash was more than a little startled and when the diamond spears were shot toward him, more than a little afraid. Now he was still slightly amazed, not with the monster, but how the guards fought seamlessly as if they were a single entity. Looking to his side, he noticed that Celina was watching the fight as if it were a show made just for her amusement. Shaking his head, Ash suppressed a laugh and turned back to watch the battle.

In the end, the battle took less than ten minutes though when it was happening it felt like hours to Ash. Once the diamond monster died, Ash quickly absorbed it while the others guarded him.

After watching the battle, Ash was glad that he had so many high level guards around him. He was a lot of things, but Ash was not an utter fool. He knew that if he was forced to fight the monster alone, there would only be one outcome and that would be his death.

The guards continued to fight while guarding Ash until once again he heard the welcomed sound in his ears.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption rate for greater Earth Spirit. Abilities available: Diamond Soul (passive).]

“Tring.”

[You have randomly been awarded the ability Diamond Soul.]

“Tring.”

[The new stat Soul MP has been created.]

[Diamond Soul: Ability to convert MP into Soul MP. Ratio 100/1. Level 1-0%]

“That is all of them,” Ash said as he read through the description of Diamond Soul again.”

“Then we should retire for the day my Lord,” the lead guard said as he began to lead Ash back toward the labyrinth exit.

Once they left the labyrinth, they were met by the clan head along with the sage and a number of other people Ash had seen the day before. “I see that everything has went well,” the clan head said happily. “Let us head back to my manor so that I can explain why these three abilities are important and why we are the clan in charge of their training.”

Ash was once again taken to the room with the long table and forced to sit on the ground. After a whole day of nothing but following behind others as they fought, Ash was already feeling restless. Being forced it sit on the ground while calmly drinking tea just made him want to scream in anguish.

“First let me explain a bit about my clan and our blood ability and normal abilities. Just like the Maoh, each clan head has a blood ability. Though unlike the Maoh, it is possible to pass it along to more than one person in each generation, though less than one person out of five will receive the blood ability. Our blood ability is ‘Affinity of Heaven.’ It makes it possible for us to use all four major elements with a reduced cost. The other ability that our clan often has is Diamond Soul. Which is the same one that you gained today. I know from the description it sounds like a useless skill, but it is honestly better than our blood ability. However, it isn’t unique since many of the other clans have it as well. The reason it is so useful is you can condense your normal MP into Soul MP. Now Soul MP has the same use as normal MP, the only difference is that there isn’t a limit to how much soul MP that you can gather and save. It allows our best warriors to have an almost limitless amount of MP to use for emergencies. My advice is that each night before sleeping, you condense all the MP you have left from the day.”

“I see,” Ash said nodding his head. It was true that at first he didn’t see much use in the ability, but now that he had head the head’s explanation it made sense. The main problem back at the fort was his lack of MP. If he had spent months or even better years condensing MP, he could have used his strongest magic over and over, devastating the enemy’s forces.

“The other abilities are slightly different than Diamond Soul. Heart of Stone is useful, but it will take years for it to truly show its potential. It creates a small Earth Stone in your heart and circulates earth essence through your veins slowly strengthening your bones and muscles. Earth Shield is easily enough to understand though it is much harder to know when to use it and how to use it flawlessly than you might think. That is what we will be doing over the next few days. First, what do you know about earth’s strength and weaknesses.”

“Earth is the strongest of the four elements in defense. Other than that I am not really sure,” Ash admitted.

“You are right, in physical defense Earth is the strongest. It has its weaknesses though. When faced against fire and wind, earth has the advantage but a skilled mage can find ways around earth since it is inflexible. Against water, earth is still strong but water can cut through earth better than the other elements, but it is still much easier for a mage to go around your defense then go through it. This is the reason that earth shield is one of the first abilities that a Maoh obtains. Unlike Earth Wall, Earth Shield can be formed in the air and can be called and recalled at will as long as you have enough MP. Over the next few days, you will learn how to do this, or at least that is mine and the sages hope.”

“Why not start today?” Ash asked, feeling more than a little impatient.

“It is already getting dark and I think it would be best if we didn’t push things too fast. For tonight I would suggest that you take the time to absorb what you have learned. Pushing too far too fast only leads to trouble.”

“Understood,” Ash said, slightly disheartened with the news. He knew that he could order them to continue the training today, but just like with Allice and his other slaves it wouldn’t feel right to do so. Sighing, Ash was left with no other choice than to wait.

The meal for the day was fish, just as it was the day before. Ash didn’t hate fish, but he wasn’t a big fan of it either. If given the choice, he would have chosen meat over it without hesitation, but sadly he wasn’t given a choice in the menu. Other than fish, there was a salty soup and rice. It was a good meal, but not one that was fit for his tastes. After eating, Ash returned to his room where he found the three kids from the day before along with two new ones.

“Ash play with us,” the young girl said her eyes wide and playful.

“What shall we play?” Ash asked without hesitation. After spending all day following others and watching them fight without being able to do anything himself, a little bit of fun sounded like just the right thing to get his spirts up.

“We can play hide and seek,” the girl said after thinking for a bit. “Johnna can seek this time.”

“Uhhhh,” one of the slightly older boys said in a whiney tone.

Though he complained, it seemed that the boy quickly lost out to the young girl in the argument. Deedra took Ash by the hand and led him into the garden while giggling. “He will never find us.”

Ash was taken to the far edge of the garden near the wall when Deedra sat on the ground and motioned for him to do the same. Her small round face scrunched up in concentration and then a large wall of dirt rose in front of them.

“Isn’t that cheating?” Ash asked as he looked at the young girl’s exhausted expression.

“Nope, this is how we always play,” Deedra exclaimed proudly. “One time Saare hid in the middle of a bone fire for more than two hours before we found her.”

“Do you always use magic when you are playing?” Ash asked slightly intrigued.

“Yep…All the teachers say it is the best way to learn. So we get to play lots every day, though it is tiring,” Deedra punctuated her words with a cute yawn before lying down next to Ash. “Tell me a story please?” the young girl asked her large eyes pleading.

Laughing to himself, Ash started to tell Deedra of some of the stories of the heroes that he had read about. When she didn’t look pleased, Ash chanced it to some of the better known fairy tales from his previous world. The young girl seemed to like the idea of a white knight riding to save the princess and eagerly asked him to tell her more. Soon Ash heard the young girl’s soft breathing as she drifted off to sleep. Lifting her up in his arms, he was about to bring down the dirt wall with it started to dissipate. “Found you,” the young boy declared, but upon seeing the sleeping girl he covered his mouth and just nodded his head as Ash walked by.

Ash took the young girl to Celina’s room again. When Celina saw Deedra sleeping in Ash’s arms, she just let out a heavy sigh and bowed to Ash. “Thank you for watching over my sister,” Celina said as she carefully took the young girl from Ash’s arms.

“My pleasure,” Ash replied as he looked down at the almost angelic sleeping face. “She is quite the energetic one.”

“She is always causing trouble,” Celina agreed with a small laugh. “You better get some sleep tomorrow will be very busy.

Ash returned to his room and before sleeping just as suggested he turned his 1300 MP into 13 soul MP. Once he was finished, he looked at the ability again and noticed that he had already earned 6% of the experience needed for the first level, though thinking about it 100 MP was not a small number and even more 1300 for only 6% was an even larger amount. He knew that the head had said it was a useful skill, but it still seemed a little too pricey just to have a little extra MP.

9-4

The next morning after waking, Ash checked his MP. In a little over eight hours of sleep he only recovered 743MP. Less than a hundred an hour. It was the first time Ash had completely drained his MP, though it did help him to fall asleep since it completely exhausted his energy.

Ash had figured that he would be taken directly to the labyrinth to fight, but his expectations were destroyed when he was led outside the main wall and led in the opposite direction of the labyrinth. When they arrived, Ash was placed at one end of a large circle while Celina was placed at the other.

“Celina will attack while Ash defends while only using the Earth Shield. The goal is to last until the end without taking any damage,” the sage said before handing Ash five deep blue potions. “Here are some MP recovery potions. They should increase your recover rate by 500% for two hours. Each day you will receive five of them. How and when you use them are up to you.”

Ash didn’t hesitate and quickly drank the first potion down. If he had five, that was ten hours of increased MP recovery and he didn’t see the need to not use them when he was below 50% of his MP capacity.

“Start,” the clan head said as he and the other spectators took seats on the ground to watch as the two fought.

Celina didn’t hesitate and quickly furrowed her brow as a blade of wind shot toward Ash. Responding quickly, Ash called forth the Earth Shield and a three foot long shield appeared on his left arm. When the wind blade struck the shield, it dissipated but it left behind a thin cut on the stone shield. Celina didn’t give up and she quickly moved into her next attack as a stream of fire shot forward. Ash moved the shield to block it, but just as the two were about to meet, the fire shot down and went under the shield hitting Ash in the right leg.

With a light yelp, Ash danced back and readied himself again. This time Celina didn’t use fire or wind, but shot forth a stone spear. Ash was able to block the spear but a large chuck of his shield broke and other parts of it started to splinter. Before Ash could think much about it, Celina attacked with two more wind blades. Ash blocked the first, but the remaining parts of his shield turned to dust and the second wind blade hit him directly in the chest cutting deep and sending blood flowing down his chest to drip into small pools on the ground.

Celina ran toward him, her face lined in worry. “If you are going to worry about it, don’t try to cut me in half,” Ash said to himself, but didn’t let the bitter words leave his lips.

“Are you ok?” Celina asked, her hands fidgeting slightly.

“He is fine,” the sage said before placing his hands on Ash’s wound. The wound instantly closed, leaving behind only a slight silver scar and a little pain.

“The earth shield is strong and can block most attacks but its strength will wain the more attacks it is subject to. When on defense, if you can outlast your opponent’s MP supply, you win but if you are not careful, all it takes is one attack to end your life, though that won’t happen with us around. When you think your shield is about to break, release the ability and recast it. There is no reason to hold onto it until it turns to dust and leaves you open for attack. Also, why did you attack it to your arm?”

“It just seemed like the right place to have the shield,” Ash replied meekly.

“If you attach it to your hand, then you will have greater range of movement and it will also be more fluid. This isn’t a metal shield that is strapped to you, it is made of earth essence so it is not limited in the same ways as a manmade shield is. Don’t think of it as the same, otherwise you will only be limiting yourself.”

Ash and Celina continued to fight though it was hard to call it such since Celina was the only one attacking. Celina lasted for the better part of an hour before she ran short on MP and was forced to rest. Ash himself had only had to cast the shield spell six times and still had plenty of MP to spare since his recover was increased greatly. Normally when one sleeps recovery is at 200%. His regular MP recover rate was 46 an hour. Meaning he could cast the spell once an hour and still gain slightly, but with the potions effect, using it six time only resulted in a slight loss of overall MP.

Ash had thought that once Celina had ran dry he would get to rest, but that was only half true. Celina would need most the day if not all of it to recover, but it seemed that they were ready for this to happen and another fighter was brought forward. In the end, Ash was only given half an hour to rest before he was once again bombarded with spells. This pattern continued until late in the day. In the end, Ash would fight for an hour then rest for half an hour. The only long break Ash had was when they stopped for lunch. Throughout the entire day, Ash didn’t go more than a quarter of an hour without receiving an attack. The sage had also had to heal him a number of times during the fights. Before, Ash had thought that he had gained some level of skill, but that was only with the sword. When it came to skills, he still seemed to be sorely lacking.

By the end of the day, Ash had recovered more of his MP thanks to the potions, but it was still only at 982. He also had one potion left, but decided he would gain the best benefits if he drank it right before sleeping since he would once again be turning his MP into Soul MP.

When they returned to the manor, the sun was still up but Ash had no urge to go to the labyrinth. He had received numerous beatings throughout the day and his body was not only sore, but his pride had been completely destroyed. Thankfully no one seemed to really care that he had been beaten over and over without once being able to completely block the attacks. Instead after each fight, they would simply point out errors and tell him when he had done something good. In a way it reminded him of how teachers treat young school children, which didn’t help his self-esteem much.

Once again Ash found the young children waiting on him, but unlike before this time Ash didn’t have the energy to play. When Ash told them this, they all looked down and Ash felt a pain in his chest but Deedra quickly asked him to tell them a story. Though tired, he had more than enough energy to tell a story or two so they gathered around his room. Today there were two more kids added into the bunch, but his room was large so it didn’t seem too crowded.

After the first story was finished, he was asked for another and by the third story he noticed that all the children were laying on the ground soundly sleeping. Ash went to the closet and pulled the blankets that were placed on the top shelf and started covering the kids, having no clue what else to do with them. After they were all situated, Ash took his own place in bed and converted his remaining MP to Soul MP before closing his eyes and falling to sleep.

The next two days Ash went through the same training. Once he was able to block the attacks completely against three opponents, Ash was met with a new challenge. Now the attackers were allowed to use mixed magic such as lightning, ice, and others. After another day, Ash had done well enough that the Sage and clan head decided it was time for him to enter the labyrinth and use his new ability against monsters. That said, there were still a number of rules, the main one being was that he wasn’t allowed to use anything other than the Earth Shield. Celina on the other hand would provide support while he defended. His new task was not only to keep himself from being injured, but to work with his guard so that neither of them received damage while they were fighting.

Having fought in the labyrinth before, Ash knew how hard it was to go through a number of battles without receiving any damage. He had been trained ruthlessly for that effect, but at the time he had been allowed the use of a sword and while there were some similarities with sword defense and shield defense, there were also a number of differences as well. The main one was the limited movement. Even though the shield was magical and didn’t weigh enough to cause him trouble, it still made it much harder to perform some movements. Ash could always cancel the ability and recast it, but that would waste precious MP. The night before he entered the labyrinth for the first time in his new training, Ash felt his stomach clench in anticipation and along with a slight bit of worry.

The next morning Ash’s group consisted of Celina, Ash, the sage, the clan head, and two of the guards who helped Ash gain the abilities. When they arrived at the labyrinth door, Ash expected them to warp to one of the floors on the tenth level or lower but the clan head just shook his head. “You have three days before you have to leave and head to the next labyrinth. As I explained, most the time each clan would get a year to train, you but sadly this time other matters have pressed in and limited out time together. There are a number of abilities that you could gain if you could stay here longer, but we have focused on those that would help you the best. For now you will have to pass through each level of the labyrinth, only moving on to the next floor when you can fight five battles in a row without taking a single hit. We will skip fighting the bosses since it would only be a waste of time. I hope that in the next three days, you can at least get to the thirtieth floor, but that might be asking a little too much given the time limit.”

Ash had learned that not long ago that the labyrinths were in a way alive and fed off the beings that lived around it. The life energy from those it gathered its life from were what help construct its floors. Since the clan that lived around them were born from spirit type monsters, most the floors contained spirit or fairy type monsters though there were some exceptions since there was also five lesser clans that married into the main clan and also lived nearby. Celina said it was so that the bloodlines didn’t stagnate and they could gain a little diversity in ability, but from what the sage said it also allowed for new and unique abilities to arise from time to time.

The first floor of the labyrinth enemy was the pixie. It used earth and water magic though it wasn’t very strong. Ash had always thought that nature, lighting and other magic were all separate but he learned that there were only seven true elements; earth, fire, wind, water, dark, light, and null. Other magic while seeming to be their own were called mixed magic and while there were skills and abilities that used them they could be made using a mix of others as well. Nature magic for example was a mix of earth and water. Lighting was a mix of earth and wind.

There were numerous ways to mix the different elements together, but one had to have both knowledge and talent to do so. That was the main difference between mages and wizards. A mage specialized in one element while wizards had two or more elements and specialized in mixed magic. One might think this made the wizards stronger, but it also came at the price of higher MP costs. Mages were seen as more useful in single combat and small operations while wizards were best used in battles with a large number of people. Once again Ash was reminded that every person had their place and he shouldn’t just jump to rash decisions based on his limited perspective. The Sage had said that most people were like frogs living in a well. They could only see a portion of the sky but believed that was everything there was to the world.

The pixies were small creatures, not even six inches tall, but they were fast. Ash had thought that the first floor would be easy and while the pixies attacks did little real damage and they were easily killed, it was much harder to react to their blinding speed. It wasn’t until their fourth fight that Ash was able to fight without a single strike hitting them. The pixies were indeed fast, but they moved in the same pattern. It was one of the first things he had learned to watch for when fighting. Most monsters were not that intelligent and moved in a set pattern based on their instincts. If you learned that, then fighting them became incomparably easier.

While Ash defended, Celina attacked. At first she was a little reckless, but after a few scolding’s from the head of the clan, she started sticking closer to Ash, making it much easier for him to block the attacks from hitting her. Ash quickly began to understand why they had been paired up the way they were. This wasn’t just his training, but Celina’s as well. She was to be not only one of his wives, but a member of his guard. She had to learn to work with him as well as for him and that meant getting used to working together.

At the end of the first day they were able to get to the seventh floor, though Ash was more than a little tired by the time he returned to the room. The crowd of children had grown a lot over the past few days and now as he sat on the bed with Deedra to his left and a young boy on his right, telling stories more than twenty children had gathered on the floor.

The first night, the children had fallen asleep in Ash’s room it had caused a big commotion and the parents of the kids begged forgiveness for the children’s rudeness, but Ash had laughed it off. Seeing that they wouldn’t get in trouble, the children had kept multiplying day after day. Ash had also gotten used to it as telling them stories each night was a way to relax a bit after fighting all day. The only downside was he was staring to run out of stories he knew well enough to tell and had started to mix them a little with the movies he had watched before.

Once the children fell asleep, Ash would quickly follow them after condensing his MP into soul MP. Even with a full day of fighting in the labyrinth, none of the monsters strikes had been hard enough to do much damage to his Earth Shield so he had only had to cast the spell four times throughout the day so he still had a full reserve of MP. He had also absorbed a number of monsters, but sadly with the speed they were moving through the labyrinth he was unable to gain any new abilities which bothered him more than he would have liked to admit.

Three days quickly passed with Ash and Celina making it to the twenty second floor. The last night, Ash was called to the head’s room alone.

“You called for me?” Ash asked as he entered the room and sat across from the older demon.

“Just requested,” the man said with a thin smile. “You are the Maoh so it is not like you have to obey my summons.”

“It would be impolite of me not to do so after everything you have done for me over the past week,” Ash said as he took a small cup of the bitter green tea that was offered to him. “Was there something that you wished to talk to me about?”

“Yes,” the head said without hesitation. “It is about the marriage. I wish to know if you will take Celina to be your wife and guard. I have talked to the sage at great length about this during your stay and he was unsure about your decision on this matter. Before you say anything first let me say that I understand your feelings. I myself have five wives from each of the smaller clans under my control and a sixth wife I chose myself whom I love dearly. Love is not something that can be forced and I don’t think it can even be built. It just either is or is not present between two people, but there can be fondness.”

“I will go through with the marriage but I can’t promise anything will come of it,” Ash said, having already made up his mind days before on the issue.

“It is good that you are thinking like a Maoh and not like an individual. We have little control on if we follow your orders so it is nice to see that you think things through and consider it from our side as well.”

“I just figured it would be best if I could hear the viewpoints from the others under my control. I figure this is the same reason that the marriages were set up in this way to begin with. It is easy enough to ignore people you don’t know, but much harder when one of the people speaking is your wife,” Ash said with a thin laugh. “So how do we go about the marriage? I must admit I don’t know much about how demons do this sort of things.”

“That is simple enough,” the clan head said with a chuckle. “Unlike humans, we don’t have large rituals for such things. All you have to do is declare that you are husband and wife before the statue of the goddess. You can do that early in the morning before you leave for the next clan.”

“Understood,” Ash said before taking another drink of the bitter tea.

The two talked for a short while before Ash began to yawn and he started to return to his room. The clan head called out to him once again. “Ash, if you could treat her well. I have no daughters of my own, but Celina is as close to one as I have.”

Thinking about it, Ash noticed that he had not met any children that belonged to the clan head. From the pained look in his face, Ash could tell there was more to it than just not having a daughter, but he didn’t have the strength to delve deeper and instead just nodded his head. “I will.”

The next morning Ash was met by Celina who was wearing a long silver gown that matched her hair. She was wearing a large smile and her eyes were slightly red. “Thank you,” she said throwing her arms around his neck. “I promise to be a good wife.”

“I am sure of it,” Ash said trying not to laugh.

After a quick ceremony before the goddess’s statue Ash, Celina, and the sage mounted their birds and headed toward the next clan.

9-5

From the sky, Ash took his time to look around. He was too far to see the mountains that separated the demon kingdom from the rest of the world. The demon kingdom was much larger than he had first thought. Ash had looked at a number of maps and the demon kingdom was about twice the size of the kingdom of Heluria but seeing from the sky was much different.

The clans were not close together and even with flying, it still the better part of three hours to reach the next clan. From the size of each land, Ash guessed they were about the size of a counts holdings. So it would take about three clans to equal the size of a normal dukedom.

The next clan looked much different from the sky then the last one. For one thing there were few building and most of them seemed really small. From the sky, Ash couldn’t even tell where the lord’s residence was. When they landed, Ash was quickly surrounded by a type of demon that he had never seen before. They looked human, but starting from where their legs should be, there was the long body of a snake. The other thing that Ash noticed was that the males were different as they were an assortment of other kinds of demons and not one of them had snakelike bodies.

“We welcome you our lord,” one of the snake demons said moving forward her large chest swaying as her lower body slithered forward. “It is an honor to meet the new Maoh. I am Silia the head of the Liam clan. This is my daughter Seia who is to become your bride and protector,” Silia said as another snake woman, looking in her mid-twenties moved forward. Just like Silia, her large chest swayed in a mesmerizing fashion as she approached.

“It is a pleasure,” Ash said giving a stiff bow.

“Well, no reason to stand around outside all day. Shall we go inside and discuss what the next few days will bring us,” Silia said charmingly.

Ash followed behind with Celina staying close by his side and was quickly joined by Seia. Ash was surprised when they walked through one of the large doors that looked to belong to a small shed to find stairs leading down into the earth. As they walked down, the area opened up and small globes of light illuminated the hallways. It reminded Ash much of the labyrinth, though without the same sense of danger and excitement. It was also much warmer underground than Ash would have expected and he was already sweating enough to take off the thick coat he had been wearing.

“Sorry about the heat my lord,” Seia said with a slightly worried look. “The people of the Liam tribe do not do well with the cold. We prefer the warmth so we tend to keep our caves a little on the hot side.”

“It is still bearable,” Ash said as he loosened a few buttons on his tunic to allow air to pass over his hot skin.

After they entered a large room, once again Ash found himself sitting at a table while on the ground. Ash had ended up sitting next to the clan head while her daughter Seia was to his left. “My lord, no reason to sit so far away,” Silia said as he tail pulled him so close that he could smell her hair. Ash tried to pull back, but Silia’s tail wrapped around his waist and refused to let him go.

Leaning down Silia ran her hand down Ash’s chest. “You smell divine my lord. Could that be because of your human blood? It is said that our ancestors had much better chances to produce offspring with humans than with other demons. Do you wish to test the theory with me?”

“Mother,” Seia said, using her own tail to pull Ash so hard that he was flung to her chest.

“Che,” Silia clicked her tongue. “What kind of daughter won’t even share with her mother?”

“There are some things you don’t share with your mother,” Seia shot back.

While the two women argued, Ash pulled from Seia’s grasp and crawled away to sit beside Celina and the sage. “I should have warned you,” the sage said slightly chuckling. “The Liam tribe is a little unique among the demon clans. Like the succubus tribe they don’t have any males within their tribe. Whenever a child is born, if it is male it is born as the child of the father’s clan, while females are born as a member of the Liam tribe.”

After the two women finished arguing and noticed that Ash had run away, they both pouted but the clan head pushed on with the discussion. “The sage already sent a paper showing your current abilities and after looking over them, tomorrow you will enter the labyrinth to gain five new abilities. The Liam tribe are poison users. You already have a few abilities in this area but they are relatively weak. After that we will train you on how to properly utilize poisons and things of their nature. The blood ability of the Liam clan is ‘toxic prism.’ It allows us to absorb any poison we come across and use it at will. There is no ability that we know of that can mimic it but there are ways to mix other abilities which can give you close to the same effect. That is the reason for the abilities you will be gaining tomorrow. As for today I would suggest that you enjoy your day of rest. From the letter that the sage sent you will have few of those over the coming weeks, and if you want I will be more than happy to help you relax during your stay.”

“Mother,” Seia yelled and the mother and child began to argue again.

After the meeting was over, Ash asked Seia to guide him outside. It was not that he didn’t like the underground but it felt more than a little stifling with the heat. The sage stayed back and talked to the clan head while Celina followed him sticking close to his side while he and Seia talked. She asked him many things about his life and seemed genuinely interested. When she heard about Emelia and the current circumstance within the duchy Seia’s eyes turned cold.

“That is unacceptable.” Seia said angrily. “We should crush the humans who have dared to raise their blade against the Maoh at once.”

Seeing the determined look on her face, Ash couldn’t help but suppress a laugh that was bubbling up inside him. Still she was an honest woman though a bit too open for his liking. As he thought about all the women around him he found it slightly odd even if there was a five to one ratio isn’t there a bit too many surrounding him. “Maybe it has something to do with my luck,” Ash said to himself as he thought more about it. “Though I don’t know if that is good luck or bad luck now that I think about it. They do tend to make my life much more difficult. There is no charm or charisma attribute in this world but then again luck says that it effect many things so maybe it affects that as well.”

“Something bothering you my lord?” Seia asked, her face taking on a worried tone as her chest swung close to his face.

“Just thinking about something,” Ash said shaking his head. “Definitely bad luck. Then again who said all luck had to be good.”

That night after having Seia show him around, Ash headed for his personal room that was close to the entrance of the caves. It seemed that all visitor rooms were done this way to help limiting people becoming lost. Seia said that the caves were extensive and some of the tunnels ran for miles. It was not uncommon for even those of the Liam race to get lost from time to time so it was a real worry when it came to visitors.

Opening the door to his room, Ash was surprised to find Celina waiting on him wearing a thin silver camisole. “I thought you had your own room?” Ash asked as his voice faltered slightly.

“Did you forget tonight is our wedding night,” she said with an impish grin as her face turned a light shade of red.

The next morning Ash was taken along with Seia to the labyrinth along with six other guards just like he had been with Celina. Celina on the other hand was forced to wait back in her room. Something she didn’t seem to like much, but she relented when told it was customary.

The plan was for Ash to absorb five abilities from three different monsters that was on the seventh, twenty-second, and forty-sixth floor. The monsters were the toxic salamander, coral snake, and the demon frog.

Once again Ash could only follow behind the guards while they fought. Even on the floors where he could easily kill the monsters, they didn’t let him fight. All he could do was follow behind them and absorb the monsters after they had turned cold.

Blindly following behind the guards, Ash and Seia talked as if they were out for a morning stroll. Seia was very interested in his life though the way she hung so close to him left him feeling more than a little uncomfortable.

It didn’t take long for the first monsters to die and for Ash to absorb them. In fact there were so many of the lizards that some disappeared before Ash could get to them.

[Toxin- cost 25MP: spew out a cloud of toxic poison that does 1 damage per second for five minutes. Level 1-0%]

[Poison Affinity: cost of using poison related skills and abilities will be reduced by 10% and power of fire related skills and abilities will be boosted 5%. Level 1-0%.]

The lizards were easy enough but the coral snakes even seem to worry the guards. One of the guards stayed close to them at all times while the others hunted the snakes. Ash felt it was silly at first until he saw the snakes attack for himself.

Coral snakes were small, only about a foot long and only about as wide as his thumb. The area was shallow water and given the snakes small size, it moved astonishingly fast when in the water. To attack it only needed to get close to you as the poison came through its scales and could be transmitted through the water.

Thanks to the coral snakes high speed and maneuverability, it took longer to kill thirty snakes than sixty lizards.

[Poison Control- cost ***: merge poison with mana to use it more freely.]

Ash thought the ability was much the same as the earth manipulation ability and from what he heard seemed much like the blood ability that the Liam tribe had. Thinking about what the clan head had said the day before Ash asked Seia about it.

“The Liam blood ability allows us to freely use poison. Not only can we manipulate it we can also merge different kinds of poisons to make new ones. Poisons have three ways to enter the body; blood, lungs, and skin. There are few poisons that can do all three, but if I merge them right I can do just that and with my innate ability I can even coat my arrows with it. That way if the arrow is blocked by a shield, there is still a chance for it to injure the enemy.”

The last enemy, the demon frog was much larger than Ash had expected. It was easily the size of a large dog and had oily black skin and six eyes. It attacked mainly with its tongue which was easily six foot long and coated with some type of acid that even ate through the guard’s armor when it connected. Thankfully the frogs were slow and sluggish but it still took time for each one to be killed.

[Secrete- cost ***: create a liquid form of poison that will last until needed. Cost depends on poison made and amount created.]

[Hemlock oil- cost 60MP: thin oil that can be used as medicine for swelling and pain when used in very small amounts. Causes complete paralysis when used in a concentrated form.]

By the time they exited the labyrinth it was already night so Ash was quickly ushered to bed where Celina waited on him.

9-6

The next morning Ash was taken outside the tunnels where he and Seia waited for the clan head to speak. This time he didn’t gain any defensive skills so he was wondering what his task would be this time.

“Ash, you have gained a few poison abilities. Usually, you would spend a year here gaining more than fifty, but since we are short on time I picked those that seemed the most useful,” Silia said with a slightly pouting face. “There are a number of ways to use poison while fighting so Seia will be showing you some.”

Ash quickly learned that it wasn’t as simple as coating you blade in poison. If he did that with a poison that came airborne during attack it could hit him as well as the enemy. He was given a long leather belt with numerous small hollow needles about half the size of his pinky finger.

“Sadly you can’t mix poisons yourself, but Seia can. So we have already filled these with the best poison that we can make. Be warned though, each needle takes a full day to make and fill so use them sparingly,” Silia said before handing Ash a second belt of needles. “These are for you to fill yourself. Using the secretion ability, you can place any poison you have in these needles. Simply press your index finger against the back part of the needle and activate the ability while focusing where you want it to go and what poison you want used. It sounds easy enough, but it takes time to master. Over the next two days you will be filling the needles while trying to hit moving targets, namely Seia. Since she is of the Liam tribe she has immunity to poison so there is no fear of her being fatally injured. The day after that, you will be using a special dagger in your off hand for the same purpose. After that, you will be fighting in the labyrinth. Sadly most the monsters there have poison immunity as well, but it is more so you can learn how to deal with poison during fighting. I won’t tell you how fast you should go during your short three days in the labyrinth, but I do hope that you take the training seriously for your own good.”

The needles were meant to be lightly held between the index and ring finger when thrown. It took a while for Ash to get the hang of it, but at the end of the first day he could hit the target thirty percent of the time. The hardest part was filling the needles before throwing them. After his third try, Ash learned that he could fill them before pulling them from their holding spot on the belt which made his movements much more fluid.

The second day Seia, started moving more sporadically making it even harder to hit her with the throwing needles but Ash was steadily getting better with his aim.

When over half the day had passed and Ash had gotten his accuracy up to over eighty percent, Silia gave him a long dirk. The dirk’s handle and blade were made of a single piece of metal and had a thin groove that ran from the pommel to the tip of the blade. It was made this way so that the fighter could secrete poison into the grove and use it while fighting.

Though Ash’s sword was a one-handed sword, he had never used a weapon in his offhand. It wasn’t that he never thought about it, but with both hands free, Ash could switch between which held the weapon. Ash liked the freedom his style gave him, but he could see the value of having a secondary weapon held in reserve to be used only when needed.

The last half of the day, Ash used both the needles and dirk to attack. It felt awkward using both hands to use the ability and his MP was running out quickly. The Liam didn’t give him MP recovery potions like he had got before, he had to rely on his own recovery rate to restore his MP.

Once the training was over, Ash still had plenty of energy, though his MP had been devastated. Just filling the tiny vial in the needles took forty MP and the dagger took sixty to fully coat the blade. So while he had plenty of stamina left, he didn’t have enough mental strength to use it, so he returned directly to his room to lie down.

Flopping down on the large mattress that was laid directly on the ground that the demons used for bedding, Ash let out a groan. Unlike with Celina who had to wait until the day he left, Ash would be marrying Seia first thing in the morning before they fought together in the labyrinth. This time when they fought, it wouldn’t just be the two of them, but Celina as well. Ash had thought that she would be forced to stay behind again, but it seemed that the training was as much for the guards as it was for himself.

The next morning Ash was shaken awake by Celina long before the sun crested the horizon. When Ash saw the worried look on her face, he felt that what she was about to say wasn’t going to go well.

“Ash,” Celina said while biting the edge of her lip. “The sage is calling for you. He said he has received some news from his spies.”

Hearing this, Ash jumped to his feet and quickly dressed. He found the sage waiting on him in the large meeting room that they had used on the first day. “Sage, I heard that you have received some word?” Ash asked, his words almost stumbling over each other.

“Calm down my lord,” the sage said as he signaled for Ash to take a seat next to him. Along with the sage Celina, Seia, and Silia were also in the room.

“My lord, a few of my spies have reported back some news. The king himself has declared you an outlaw. They will be trying to get the duchess to renounce you again, but from what we have heard, few believe that it will be effective. It will take time for the king to draft a letter and have it delivered, but during that time the King will start to gather forces to take over the Hawkwing lands by force.”

“So they have pulled back for now,” Ash said, more to himself than to the others. “How long before they attack?”

“It is hard to guess,” the sage said with a troubled look. “It could be as soon as a few weeks or a half a year. While the kingdom seems to have turned against your wife, the people have not. Every day more and more nonhumans have been arriving in the Hawkwing lands to fight, though it is still only a drop in the bucket when compared to what the king can muster. The reason I tell you this is to hear your orders my lord.”

Ash tried to think of something he could do to help Emelia, but he was too lacking in knowledge and experience. “I don’t know what to do,” Ash admitted shaking his head. “Do you have any ideas?”

“I would suggest you start to position your own people near the duchess so that they can protect her,” Silia said smiling.

“That is a good plan,” the sage agreed. “We can send in the Shad clan along with the Fienor clan. Is there any place outside the city that we could hide a large force? We have less than three thousand demons that can fly, so unless we get them in place before the battle starts, there will be no way that they will be able to help.”

“Well the Hawkwing duchy is fairly large with a number of forests and mountains, but I don’t think there is any place that can hide a large force for a long period of time,” Ash said as he scratched his head.

“My lord, can I make a suggestion,” Silia said as she batted her eyes seductively and leaned toward him.

“Y-yeah,” Ash said trying to move away but soon found Seia’s tail pulling him to her chest which made Silia laugh.

“We could have the Goren clan try to connect their tunnels to the duchy lands,” Silia said, her voice taking on a serious tone. “A few generations ago one of the Maoh’s had briefly thought about expanding and the Goren had started on that line, but it was abandoned. I have heard their clan head say that they could easily finish the plan if they were given a few weeks.”

“Excellent idea mistress Silia,” the sage said clapping his hands. “I had almost forgotten about the Goren clan.”

“I don’t blame you,” Silia said as if something distasteful had passed over her tongue. “They are an unsociable lot.”

“I see that you and lord Pern are still at odds,” the sage chuckled.

“Don’t speak of that oaf,” Silia said the look on her face full of disdain.

“Let us go with Silia’s idea,” Ash said, still not knowing fully what they were talking about but he knew that they had a lot more knowledge in this area than he did. “Can you organize everything?” Ash asked as he turned his attention back to the sage.

“I will see to it today my lord,” the sage said with a slight nod of his head.

“Just so I know, how long would it take for us to reach the Hawkwing capital if an emergency occurred?” Ash asked with a slightly pensive look.

“Do not worry my lord, even if we are at the far ends of the demon lands, it would at most take three days to arrive at the your ladies side.”

“Can the large birds really fly that long and far?”

“No my lord,” the sage replied, shaking his head. “At most the birds can fly for five hours while carrying a load, but we can exchange them when needed for fresh mounts,” he explained.

By the time all the details had been worked out, the sun had already risen into the sky. Just as before, the wedding ceremony was quick. Before Ash had a chance to wrap his mind around the fact that he had yet another wife, he was taken to the first floor of the labyrinth.

The first floor had an enemy that he had seen before, though it was slightly different. It was the slime, but unlike the slightly white jelly body before, this one was a dull green. Seia called it a poison slime and while its main attack was still a lunge, it would sometimes spit a green mucus at them that would bubble and boil wherever it landed. Other than the poison attacks, the slime was easily to deal with and died even with a weak strike.

Since he was not limited in his use of skills or abilities, Ash and the two women moved through the first fifteen floors of the labyrinth with ease. Not even the bosses gave them much trouble. A few times Ash had been struck by, poison but Seia neutralized it quickly. If it was an external poison she merely needed to touch it to render it useless and if it was internal she would bite Ash. Ash didn’t really enjoying being bitten, nor the warmth that rushed through his body afterwards but it was better than being poisoned.

As they progressed through the labyrinth, Ash learned more about Seia’s blood ability. Unlike Ash’s ability where he had to absorb numerous dead enemies to gain an ability, Seia only had to be struck by a poison once to be able to use it. Since four out of every five levels contained monsters that used poison, Seia had been training within it since an early age she had already gained poison from the first to the forty-fifth floor. Not only did she gain the use of the poison, but her body also produced a natural anti-poison that could cure anything she had encountered before. That ability alone made Seia a welcomed addition to his guard. As long as a poison couldn’t kill him within seconds, Seia could cure him.

At first Celina and Seia didn’t get alone, but with each passing floor they seemed to get along better. After reaching the boss room on the seventeenth floor they decided to exit the labyrinth. As soon as they were brought outside, Ash noticed that the sun still hung limply in the sky casting an orange glow over the horizon.

Ash wanted nothing else than to rest since he had pushed himself far harder than normal, but it didn’t seem like Celina and Seia were going to let him. Giggling, the two girls each grabbed a hand and pulled Ash back to the room. Like a pig being leg to his slaughter, Ash tried to reason with the two young ladies but they replied with silence and twisted grins.

The next morning, Ash left the room well before the two evil monsters were awoken from their slumber. Outside Ash enjoyed to cold air on his skin and noticed that snow had once again covered the ground. With a smile, Ash let out a deep breath and watched as it came out as a white puff of air.

“It’s cold,” Seia said exiting the underground tunnels and coming to stand beside Ash. Feeling slightly bad, Ash pulled a blanket from his inventory and placed it around Seia’s shaking shoulders. Seia grabbed the ends of the blanket and pulled it tight around herself. “You were supposed to offer to warm me up,” Seia said with puffed out cheeks while Celina laughed from behind them.

Rolling his eyes Ash ignored the two women and headed in the direction of the labyrinth to fight. The more time he spent with women the less he understood about them. Ash doubted that if he lived ten lives he would be able to gain that often sought after knowledge.

The small group quickly passed through to the twenty-fourth floor without trouble but that was where their luck ended.

The twenty fifth floor was a large forest and as soon as they entered he head Seia groan. Turning his head he couldn’t help himself. “What?”

“I remember this floor,” she said with an expression of revolution on her face.

“Don’t just end it like that,” Ash said with a slightly annoyed expression when Seia didn’t say anything further. “If you know it is going to be troublesome, then wouldn’t it be best to tell us what you already know.”

“This is the floor that gave me the most trouble out of all the others when I was in training. It is inhabited by the calius flower.”

“Calius flower?” Celina asked tilting her head cutely to the side.

“It has a unique poison that even gives the Liam tribe a hard time. Unlike other poisons, it doesn’t deal damage but instead blocks the person from using any MP or SP related skills or abilities. It even blocks my neutralize ability. So if I am hit, I can’t cure either of you from it either.”

“If you have been attacked by it before then shouldn’t you be able to use it as well?” Ash asked, thinking the ability would be useful in combat.

“That is true of most poisons, but we have learned that if we absorb the poison, it is constantly active within our bodies and for the rest of our lives we can no longer use abilities or skills. It is the only poison that I know of that we are warned against ever absorbing…Well there are a few others, but that is for different reasons.”

“Others…Like what?” Ash asked after having his curiosity piqued. What other poisons would be as dangerous as the one they currently faced.

As soon as he asked, Seia’s faced turned bright red and she shifted back and forth as her tail started to kick up dust from the ground. “Well, there are some poisons that effect the human body’s hormones. If we absorb them, then it tends to make us go a little crazy.”

“Huh,” Ash said, not understanding Seia’s meaning but when he noticed her red face and Celina’s impish smile it donned on him. “Ohh…” Ash said his eyes going wide. “Your mother must have absorbed some over the years then,” Ash said half-jokingly.

Seia nodded her head with a thin smile. “I never thought of it before, but she just might have,” she said with a serious expression. “It would explain a lot of her actions.”

The seriousness of Seia’s words left Ash slightly white faced, but he quickly recovered. “Now that we know the monsters troubling abilities, we are forewarned. Why don’t we go pick some flowers?”

The calius flower looked nothing like Ash had expected. It had a rotund body with a thick dark brown stem that looked almost human with a pale pink flower sprouting from the top. Thankfully the monsters was over four feet tall so it was easily to identify among the other plants in the area.

Ash led the group with Celina near his left side while Seia held the rear. They had used this formation during all the battles and it had thus far worked out well. Seia was skilled with her bow, but it was weak against plant style monsters. Fire would be the best choice and with both Ash and Celina able to use it, Ash didn’t overtly worry about the battle.

When they got close, the flower shifted its body slightly and three globs of white liquid shot from its center at the three of them. Ash twisted to the side allowing the poison to fly past while Celina used her magic to create a shield but as soon as the poison touched it, her shield dissolved. Thankfully she was already moving and the white liquid barely missed her. Seia on the other hand dropped forward, letting it pass over her. With the lower half of a snake, Seia had a range of movements that the other two couldn’t match and Ash had to admit that she had proven to be more than useful thus far.

After launching the poison, the flower started to move its body and a number of thin thorny vines erupted from its body lashing out at Ash and Celina who were nearing. Almost at the same time Ash and Celina used their abilities. Ash cast fire lance while Celina threw two daggers that looked to be made of white flames. The daggers hit first, each one of them doing 20% damage to the flowers HP. Ash’s flame lance hit last doing a paltry 25% damage in comparison. The damage honestly wasn’t bad considering it was still a level 1 ability. If not for his high levels in intelligence and wisdom, Ash figured that it wouldn’t have even made a mark on the creature. Feeling slightly defeated, Ash cast fire lance again while Celina finished it off with a final fire attack.

“Do you think I can learn the poison skill?” Ash asked as he looked down at the now dead enemy.

“I don’t know,” Seia admitted. “After learning the drawbacks to the Liam, none of the previous Maoh have ever attempted to learn it. The risk of losing everything wasn’t worth it.”

It was true there was a risk but the ability was also very tempting. “The poisons you absorb stay in your body?” Ash asked as he tried to work though the problem.

“Yes,” Seia said hesitantly. “Like snakes we have a gland that secrets poison so we can make a limited amount without using SP or MP. That is even true after being effected by the null poison that the flower has.”

“I think that it is because that it stays in your body that it affects you that way. All the poisons I make have to be made purely with MP so I don’t think it will have the same affect,” Ash said after thinking it through. “Either way, I want to give it a try. An ability like that would come in useful in any number of situations.”

Hearing his words, Celina nodded her head but Seia still seemed worried though she didn’t voice her concerns.

Within an hour of fighting, Ash heard the welcomed sound that he had been waiting for.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption level for the calius flower. Abilities available; sealing poison (active), and thorn strike (active).]

“Tring.”

[You have randomly received the ability sealing poison.]

[Sealing poison-cost 60MP 10SP: seals all MP and SP based abilities and skills for 120 seconds. Level 1-0%.]

“Got it,” Ash said happily.

“Can you still use your other abilities?” Seia asked her brow pinched in worry.

With a sense of dread Ash invoked “stab,” since it had the lowest activation cost. Ash’s right arm jumped forward as the ability was successfully used and Ash let out the breath he had been unknowingly holding in. “Everything still works fine,” Ash said as he clinched his fist.

After gaining the ability, he wanted Ash pushed forward and was able to make it to the twenty fifth floor before having to leave the labyrinth. Ash thought about how easy it was to move from floor to floor and couldn’t help but remember his first visits to a labyrinth. He had fought hard and desperately to reach the same level. It almost seemed as if the universe was having one big laugh at him.

The last day of fighting in the labyrinth was much harder as the monsters got stronger and stronger. Ash knew that if he had more people he could easily make it to the fortieth floor, but for now there were only three of them. Of course there were also three high level guards but they refused to fight unless Ash or one of the girls were in serious trouble and so far that had not come about. The truth was that they remained silent and stayed so far back most the time Ash forgot that they were even present.

In the end the three were only able to make it to the thirty-third flood of the labyrinth but that was still far better than Ash had ever done before. Both the girls were higher level than Ash and as the sage had said they had a better understanding of their own abilities so they fought at a much higher level with them. When it came to only swords, Ash was sure that he could beat them but when abilities were involved all bets were off especially when it came to Seia. Some of her poisons were so dreadful, Ash even felt bad for the monsters that they were used on.

9-7

Once again Ash was flying through the sky, now with an extra person following him. So far he had enjoyed his time in the demon lands, but not enough that he had forgotten Emelia, Shina, Yuki and the others and every so often a feeling of longing would well up inside him.

To help pass the time and to alleviate some of the guilt and fear that pressed in on him, Ash started to think of what the next demon race might look like. From what he had seen at first they all looked human so he just expected to see slight differences like among the beast tribe but after meeting the Liam clan, that thought had been erased.

The sage had said that the each clan was modeled after a certain group of monsters that had been cultivated within labyrinths. He had fought a large number of such creatures and read about even more when he was researching abilities. He knew that there were forty-two main clans and another two-hundred and ten sub-clans. Each clan was large but even with all its members wouldn’t be a fifth the size of the capital city. The real difference was that every one of them had been born and trained to fight.

Out of all the demons that Ash wanted to see, it was ones who could fly he wanted to see the most. The sage had said that there were not many clans that could fly and only one main clan had such power. The rest were of sub-clans and could only fly for a short amount of time having been mixed with the imp race of monsters.

Ash couldn’t help but think about many of the things he had learned while he had been in demon lands. It was all so different from what he had read when he was back at Emelia’s but then again, history often changed depending on who wrote them.

This time it was much easier to see when they approached the next clan as there were a number of houses that glittered in the morning sun. As they drew closer, Ash noticed that it was not snow or frost that made the houses shine but the fact they looked to be made purely out of ice. Flying behind Seia, Ash could see that her shoulders were already shivering. He wanted to move closer to her but unlike horses, the large birds needed room to fly and even if he could get close, the sound of the wind rushing passed drowned everything else out. It was so bad at times that Celina used an invisible shield to wrap their heads while they flew.

Once again when they landed, they were greeted by a large group of people. Ash had to blink his eyes a number of times before he was sure what was standing before him was real. He had seen a number of beautiful women before, but even the men seemed to radiate unfathomable beauty.

A large man at least eight feet tall with pale blue skin, bright blue eyes, and white hair stepped forward while a woman who was nearly as tall with the same crystalline features stood close behind him. “Welcome, my lord, to our humble home,” the man said in a deep booming voice. “I am the head of the Icsorth clan, Belgan. This is my niece Tolarea who has been chosen as your bride.”

Even though it was his third time being greeted in such a manner, Ash was still lost for words as he looked up at the large man. “M-my ple-sure,” Ash sputtered.

Belgan began to laugh loudly. “I see even the Maoh is left in awe at the sight of Tolarea.” Belgan grabbed Ash around the shoulders and pulled him close. Each one of his arms were the size of one of Ash’s legs and even with his abundant strength, Ash felt as if he was going to be crushed. “You are a lucky man, if she wasn’t my own blood, I would have taken her for myself,” Belgan bellowed with a hearty voice.

Suddenly Belgan let out a deep shout and moved away from Ash as he held his back. Turning his head, Ash saw that Tolarea was looking at Belgan with narrowed eyes. Seeing the look on her face, Belgan’s face seemed to blanch a little, though with his pale completion it was hard to tell.

“Sorry for my uncle’s actions,” Tolarea said as she massaged her slightly red knuckles.

“It is fine,” Ash said as his eyes drifted over the tall beauty in front of him.

“Good,” Tolarea said curtly. “Now let us go inside and see if this fool of a clan head can do his job of explaining what you will doing during your short time here.”

Without waiting, Tolarea turned and walked toward the largest of the ice buildings that looked more like a castle than a regular mansion. Before Ash had taken two steps, Belgan leaned down and placed his arm over Ash’s shoulder. “She has a bit of a temper, but that can be a good thing in the bedroom. I bet she will…ahhhhhh,” the clan head hit the ground holding his side.

“Keep it up and your son will be the next clan head before the sun goes down,” Tolarea said menacingly. Turning her eyes to Ash, she had a neutral look on her face as he took a step back. “If you would come with me my lord,” She said holding out her hand.

When Ash took her offered hand, he was surprised to find that it wasn’t cold. Instead he found his own hand covered in warmth though he felt slightly embarrassed by the fact that his hand looked like that of a child’s when held by her. Looking up, he noticed that the edges of her lips were curled up in an almost imperceptible smile and the cheeks were tinted just the slightest bit red.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, he noticed that Seia was shivering from the cold air that blew through the large ice castle. “Is there a place for Seia to warm herself?” Ash asked looking up at the large woman.

“My apologies,” Tolarea said as she looked toward the other women. “I am used to the cold temperature so I tend to forget that it can hinder others.”

Ash noticed the words elemental shield flash over Tolarea’s head and the suddenly he couldn’t feel the heat from her hand nor the cold from the blowing wind. Looking over to Seia, he noticed that she was still shivering slightly, but the pain on her face had disappeared. “Thank you,” Ash said grinning up at the taller woman.

Once again Ash saw the hint of a blush on Tolarea’s face, but it quickly disappeared. Though she had a stern, cold beauty to her, Ash thought she would look even more beautiful with a smile.

They were taken to a large room and Ash was happy to see that he wasn’t going to be forced to sit on the ground again. The only problem was that the chairs were so tall Ash’s feet dangled as off the ground. Seia sat at Ash’s left while Celina was on his right and Tolarea was situated across from him so that he couldn’t help but look at her emotionless face.

“My lord, since you have limited amount of time with us, I am sure you know what will be coming. First thing tomorrow you will enter the labyrinth along with my personal guards to gain eight new abilities. I know it will be tiring, but it was the shortest that I could narrow down the training. Unlike the other clans you have visited thus far, we have no long ranged skills, instead we focus on the sword and fight as vanguards. I have heard that you already have some training with the sword so I hope you will understand the abilities usefulness.”

“You already know the sword?” Tolarea asked her eyes shining slightly.

“Tolarea, can you wait until we are finished before you start assaulting your future husband?” Belgan said, looking Ash with a wry smile.

Tolarea reached over her shoulder but her hand only grasped empty air. Muttering under her breath, she narrowed her eyes while looking at Belgan. Turning back to Ash, Belgan let out a soft cough. “As I said, we focus on the sword. Since we are…Hummm what would be the right word for it; descended, born, created from. Ah hell the ice giants were used to make us along with other large monsters. We have great strength. Out blood ability is overwhelm and it grants us ten points extra in strength per level. Out of all the demon clans, none are as strong as we are.”

“What abilities will I be gaining?” Ash asked as the clan head started going off subject about the heroes of the past.

“You will learn that tomorrow,” Belgan said with a short laugh. “No fun is spoiling the surprise.”

Sighing, Ash didn’t learn anything else and quickly grew bored with the clan heads boasting and begged off feigning tiredness. As soon as he stepped out of the room, something grabbed his arm forcing him to turn around.

“My lord, would you be so kind as to honor me with a duel?” Tolarea asked with sparkling eyes.

“Ok,” Ash said, fearing to turn down the giantess.

There was a large training field in the back of the castle where Tolarea took Ash. He was given a wooden sword close to the size he was used to, while Tolarea wielded a two handed sword that was almost as large as Ash’s entire body.

Tolarea didn’t say anything as she advanced on Ash with her large sword resting lightly on her shoulder. When she closed in on Ash, she swung the massive sword at him so fast that he was momentarily surprised, but he was still able to react in time to dodge the strike. As the wind from the wooden blade caused his hair to flutter, Ash’s eyes widened. Even if it wasn’t sharp, getting struck by Tolarea’s sword would be immensely painful.

Though the fight had just started, Ash could see the weakness of the large sword. Though it was better than a spear, when one got close it the sword would have limited maneuverability. Kicking off the ground, Ash moved to shorten the distance between the two, but before he could take five steps another strike came in from above.

Ash was moving too fast to make a complete change in direction, so he leaned back and slid under the strike digging his sword into the ground to help propel him back to his feet. As soon as he stood, Ash struck out with his sword and struck Tolarea on the left shin. The strike did little damage and Ash was already preparing himself for a counterattack, but it never came.

Tolarea dropped her sword and bent down and lifted Ash slightly off the ground. “Well done my lord,” She said, her face turning a bright red as she hugged him close to her body.

Ash tried to struggle, but even with his advanced strength, he couldn’t break free from her grasp. When he looked up, Ash noticed that Tolarea had a warm smile on her face. “Beautiful,” Ash said without thinking.

Before he could say another word, Ash’s lips were covered by Tolarea’s. Her lips were slightly cool, but his body still warmed up. The longer they kissed, the more strength Tolarea put into it and soon Ash was having trouble breathing.

“Stop,” Ash gasped, pulling away from Tolarea’s lips. “I can’t breathe.”

Tolarea blushed and sat Ash down on the ground. “Sorry,” she said bashfully.

“It’s ok,” Ash said, holding his side as he drew in deep gulps of breath. “I think I need to lie down.”

“I will take my lord to his lodgings,” Tolarea said, her face returning to its emotionless state.

Ash was slightly afraid that Tolarea would insist on staying with him in his room, so when she left, he let out a deep breath. Dropping onto the large bed, Ash didn’t even notice that Celina and Seia were watching him from the doorway.

9-8

The next day Ash was taken by four guards along with Tolarea to the labyrinth. Ash didn’t know what was coming, but was looking forward to it. Entering the labyrinth and not fighting was like entering the bath, but not washing. It just didn’t make sense.

The first monster was on the seventh floor and was a simple low level goblin warrior. He had fought them before, but the skin of the goblin was light grey and was slightly larger than the others he had seen before.

As the guards killed the goblins, Ash noticed that he wasn’t the only one that wanted to fight as Tolarea kept reaching for the massive sword that was strapped to her back. Ash absorbed the dead goblins, one after another while Tolarea stayed close to his side with her eyes ever wary. As he was absorbing the third goblin, Ash heard an expected sound.

“Tring.”

[You have reached level 36.]

With a smile on his face, Ash started absorbing the dead monsters at a faster pace. Seeing that he got a level up, Ash decided to check his page while he was putting points on his luck stat and check his absorption level as well. It was currently at 82% of the needed experience to reach the next level. He had been absorbing a lot of monsters and it was getting close to reaching its next level.

After absorbing the number required, Ash heard the sound he had been waiting for.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the required absorption rate needed for Goblin Guardian. Abilities available: Slash (active).]

“Tring.”

[You have been randomly awarded the ability Slash.]

[Slash- cost 5SP: create a blade of light that extends the reach of your blade. Level 1-0%.]

The skill was simple and not very strong as far as Ash could tell, but he didn’t see the harm in obtaining it. After the goblins were finished, they moved to the thirteenth floor where they fought ice ogres. Just as before, Ash could only follow behind while the guards did most the work. When Ash let out a heavy sigh, Tolarea nodded her head. “Normally the Maoh would fight his way through the labyrinth gaining abilities one week and training them the next. It is faster this way, but not nearly as satisfying,” Tolarea complained with a slight frown.

Just like the goblins, the ogres didn’t give the guards any trouble. With just one swing of their massive blades, the ogres were cut down as if they were nothing. It didn’t take long for Ash to gain his second ability for the day.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption level for Ice Ogre. Abilities available: Sunder (active), Ogre’s Strength (passive).]

“Tring.”

[You have been randomly awarded the ability Ogre’s Strength.]

[Ogre’s Strength: +.1% to strength. Level- Max.]

Sighing, Ash took notice of the new ability and then continued following behind the guards trying to keep up with them. Once again, Ash noticed the dissatisfied look on Tolarea’s face. “Why don’t you fight with them?” Ash asked, knowing that she was more than skilled enough after their spar the night before.

“How can I?” She asked with her eyes narrowing. “My duty is to protect and stand by my lord. To do any less would be a dishonor to my family and clan.”

The sudden anger in her voice forced, Ash to take a step back. When he did so, her eyes softened and she turned away from him. “Hurry up and keep absorbing. The sooner you finish, the more time we will have to spar later.”

Watching her, Ash couldn’t help but smile. He couldn’t tell if she liked him or hated him, but he was relieved to see that she acted on her thoughts. After meeting Celina and Seia, Ash had feared that all the women meant to be on his guard would be as… serene. It wasn’t that he didn’t find them charming in their own way, but they lacked a certain willfulness that he found charming. Once again Ash’s thought about Emelia and how she would be beating him over the head from some of his actions. She never cared what others thought and did what she wanted. Part of him wondered if that was what he truly loved about her. Ash quickly shook off that thought. It was surely a part of her that he enjoyed, but he knew that there was far more to her than her thorny attitude.

While Ash was thinking he moved from body to body absorbing them paying little attention to his surroundings. It was at this time a loud roar sounded near him. As her turned his head, Ash found himself looking at a large ogre that had seemed to appear out of nowhere. Before he could draw his own sword, the beast was already on him, swinging a crude club of stone at his exposed head. Cursing his own inattentiveness, Ash tried to put power in his legs to dodge, but he knew that no matter how fast he moved it was impossible to completely evade the attack.

Just before the stone club hit Ash, a feeling of wind touched his cheek as a black and silver blur flashed through his vision. The club was turned to dust and pebbles as Tolarea’s massive sword collided with it, stinging Ash’s eyes and peppering his face. Before the ogre had a chance to understand what happened, Tolarea’s sword flashed again and the ogre’s head was quickly separated from his neck.

“Are you ok my lord?” Tolarea asked, her voice holding a hint of panic.

“Yes,” Ash said, his voice nearly sticking in his throat. After a few breaths to calm himself, Ash looked up at the slight from on Tolarea’s face as she continued to look around for further threats. “Thanks to you,” Ash said as he returned to his feet and gave her a slight bow.

For the briefest of seconds Ash could have sworn that her cheeks had turned red but it happened so fast that he was unsure of himself. “You should continue,” Tolarea said turning her face away from Ash as she continued to look around.

Ash had the slight urge to tease the giantess, but he quickly thought better. Tolarea might not permanently hurt him, but there were many ways for a woman to see her own version of punishment though he doubted that Tolarea would do anything underhanded. Most likely she would just drag him out to the sparing ring and beat him until he was black and blue.

As he was thinking, Ash kept his sense of awareness moving over to the now dead ogre and started to absorb it.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption level for Ice Ogre. Abilities available: Sunder (active.]

“Tring.”

[You have been randomly awarded the ability Sunder.]

[Sunder- cost 25SP 5MP: hard strike that has a large chance of crushing or cutting through armor. Level 1-0%]

Upon seeing the new ability, it wasn’t hard for Ash to understand how useful it could be. If he had been able to use the ability when he was fighting at the fort, things would have been much easier.

With the ogres finished, Ash was taken to another floor though he was left unaware of which one. This time, the labyrinth floor looked like a large open cavern with large pools of bubbling red liquid. At first Ash thought that it was a fire cave, but when a drop of the red liquid hit his face from the roof of the cavern he had to force the contents of his stomach to remain in place. “Blood,” Ash said as he looked at the viscous liquid on his fingers.

Before he could think of the meaning behind the blood around him, a large humanoid creature more than nine feet tall appeared from the darkness. With dark crimson skin and shining yellow eyes, the creature gave off an eerie feeling that Ash had never encountered before. “What is that?” Ash asked as the large creature sneered at them and a large yet slender red sword appeared in its hand.

“It is a blood titan,” Tolarea said calmly, as if she was simply naming a type of bird.

The blood titan moved fast, given its large size and the sword it wielded seemed to strike hard. It took two of the guards to take one down, though after watching the battle Ash was sure that one could do it, but not nearly as easily.

As Ash approached the dead titan, he had to once again hold the contents of his stomach in place. From afar it had just looked as if the skin was crimson in color, but up close Ash could tell that the titan had no skin. Its body was exposed and the red color came from the blood that dried and hardened giving the creature an earie glow in the torchlight. Forcing himself, Ash reached out and absorbed the monster. When he was finished, Ash had never been so happy to see a body disappear.

“Are you ok my lord?” Tolarea asked as she bent her waist slightly too look him in the eye. “Your face looks a little pale.”

Wiping the blood off his hand that had been left after touching the dead monster, Ash couldn’t help but suppress a shiver than threatened to run through his spine. “These titans are just a bit off putting,” Ash replied weakly.

“I have to agree,” Tolarea said though her face still showed no emotion. “They tend to leave the most undesirable stains on one’s clothes. I don’t understand why the gods deemed it needed to make such dirty creatures.”

Sighing at Tolarea’s words, Ash tried to find what was left of his shattered thoughts on the elegance of women. Looking back at Tolarea once again, Ash couldn’t help but shake his head before moving on to the next fallen titan.

“Tring.”

[Demon absorption has reached level 4.]

Just as he did every time it gained a level, Ash checked the description of the ability. When it changed from level one to three, there had been no change other than the number of monsters that needed to be absorbed but this time there had been. It no longer just needed 10MP to be used now it required 25MP. It wasn’t a large change, but if he used it a lot if could quickly drain him of mana.

Since he had already absorbed an unknown number of titans, Ash couldn’t use it as a count toward how many were needed now so he could only wait until the next time. He hoped that it was a large reduction, but he highly doubted it.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption level for Blood Titan. Abilities available: Blood Strike (active), Blood Strengthening (passive).]

“Tring.”

[You have been randomly awarded the ability Blood Strike.]

[Blood Strike- cost 40SP 20HP: a fluid strike that ignores all defense to strike directly at an opponent’s heart. Level 1-0%.]

Ash had long since gotten used to the sight of the dead titans and gave little thought as he wiped the blood from his hand. “One more ability down,” Ash said to himself as he moved to the next downed monster. As he absorbed the dead titan Ash kept count; one, two, five, nine, thirteen, seventeen, then twenty.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption level for Blood Titan. Abilities available: Blood Strengthening (passive).]

“Tring.”

[You have been randomly awarded the ability Blood Strengthening.]

“Tring.”

[You have received a new stat: Hardness.]

[Blood Strengthening- cost 10 vitality: gain 1 point in hardness. Level 1-0%.]

10 points for one. It seemed absurd to Ash, but that would depend on what the stat did. Not rushing too fast, Ash checked the description of his new stat. When he looked, Ash was surprised to find that he already had one point in his new stat.

[Harness- strengthens the bones.]

Bones were already hard, but they still broke under enough stress and while strength made his muscles stronger, he knew it did nothing for the rest of his body. Endurance had a little to do with strengthening the rest, but how much effect it had Ash didn’t know since it was hard to gage. Still unsure about the new stat, Ash could only resign himself to ignore it for now until he had a chance to ask the sage about it.

Other than his new ability, it seemed that when demon absorption leveled up it reduced the needed number of creatures by ten again. He had half feared that it would only be reduced by one. Smiling, Ash informed the guards that he had gained all the abilities and was ready to move onto the next monster.

When they left the blood titans behind, Ash had never been so happy to leave a floor of the labyrinth and he silently hoped never to meet the creatures or creatures like them again.

None of the other monsters that they faced seemed to catch Ash’s attention after having seen the blood titan. There was only a simple ice giant and a terra beast. The ice giant only gave one ability while the terra beast gave him the remaining two.

[Artic Shock- cost 45MP 15SP: send out a large wave of cold air with the fierceness of a tempest.]

[Maul- cost 40SP: unleash a series of violent strikes with each one holding more power than the last.]

[Devour- cost 200SP: completely devour certain monsters to gain 1 point in the hardness or endurance stat. Can only be used once per monster.]

When Ash gained the last ability, he started to understand the ones he had gotten earlier. With this, he didn’t have to sacrifice any vitality to gain points in the hardness stat.

By the time they exited the labyrinth, night had already fully claimed the sky. Tired and weary, Ash followed Tolarea to the large conference chamber where the others awaited him.

After a large meal, or at least a large meal to Ash, though it seemed only a snack to the larger members of the group the sage started explain the abilities he had received.

“Other than the fighting abilities, which I am sure you can see the use for yourself, the main abilities you came here for are the ones that deal with the hardness stat. The Icsorth and a few other clans have this when they are born and can put points into it as they gain in level, but for you the only way to do so is through using your gained abilities. First off, how much vitality do you have?”

“I have seventy-seven points in vitality,” Ash said, not counting what his abilities gave him as a bonus.

“That is all?” Belgan shouted. “Where have you been putting everything? Vitality is needed for everyone. Without it, you’re as good as dead. With your level, you should have at least put forty points into it and even with poor training, it should be near 100 points. Just what do humans do sit around all day watching the clouds pass?”

Ash couldn’t help but flinch at the clan head’s words. It was true that he hadn’t put many points in anything besides luck lately. The only reason that his vitality was as high as it is was because of his training and the few monster cores he had used. “I put most everything into luck.”

“I see,” the sage said then his eyes widened as he remembered Ash’s abilities and skills. “I see.”

“Am I missing something here?” Belgan asked, his face still holding a hint of anger though a lot of it had been replaced by a look of confusion. When the sage explained how Ash’s abilities and skills worked, the large man quickly changed his tone but after a while he shook his head again. “It works well over all, but that means for every point he removes from vitality, his health will take a major drop.”

“Is hardness really that useful?” Ash asked, not understanding why the large man was so agitated.

“Cuts, even deep ones can be healed rather easily, but broken bones and destroyed limps can’t. If your arm is cut off, even the most skilled healer can’t do squat about it. Once hardness reaches one hundred, it would take a titans strength to break it and at two hundred even a dragon would have a hard time. Once you get it high enough, there are some other abilities that would make you almost indestructible, unless you faced off against some really nasty enemies.”

Ash gave the clan head’s words a lot of thought and decided that it might be best to start putting some of his points into vitality. As long as his HP was at 1000 he didn’t really worry much about dying too easily, but he didn’t want it to go below that, even if it meant that his bones would be harder to break. There was also the chance of getting more monster cores, but lately he hadn’t been doing much of the killing so his luck was only partially in effect when he was in a party. They still gained a great number of item drops, but the higher quality ones came in less often. He wasn’t sure how it all worked and he didn’t think he would anytime soon.

“Well, no reason to fret over it now,” Belgan said shaking his head. “Tomorrow we will start the training after you and my niece tie the knot. I just hope that she leaves enough of you after the nuptials night to be of any use…ugggarrauuu,” Belgan’s words were drowned out as Tolarea struck him so hard that he fell back in his chair. She didn’t stop there as she continued to mercilessly kick him. Watching the scene, Ash made a mental note not to make his future wife made. He didn’t think he could live though that kind of beating.

9-9

With his new abilities learned, Ash knew what the day would bring. He couldn’t help but be slightly excited as he strapped on his sword after pulling himself from the bed. Before leaving he looked back to see the two young ladies still sleeping soundly. “Have I changed that much?” Ash asked himself.

Ash knew that he had been questioning himself a lot lately. He had never been a philosopher or even much of a deep thinker but the longer he lived in this world the more it seemed to change him. Flexing his wings he let out a short laugh when he thought that the changes to his body were the least of what had happened to him.

Unlike with the other two clans, it didn’t seem as if Belgan wanted a quick ceremony. When Ash exited the ice castle, he found so many people gathered that he couldn’t see the end of them and there in the center was his new wife to be and Belgan. Having seen the same scene a number of times before, Ash could only hold in his smile as Tolarea chased the clan head with her sword while he nimbly dodge her attacks.

“Calm down,” Belgan said as the blade passed so close to his head that it could have cut a bead of sweat.

“I have to marry the Maoh,” Tolarea said, continuing her attack. “That is fine,” She said kicking out with her foot, striking the clan heat in his right hip and knocking him to the ground. Tolarea walked up and placed the blade of her sword at Belgan’s throat. “But I will not have you hand me off as if I am some sort of trophy.”

“Just calm down and listen,” Belgan said, holding his hands up trying to stay her anger. “I just thought I would add some of the human marriage rites into the ceremony to make the Maoh feel more comfortable.”

Watching the scene, Ash could only shake his head. “Is everything ready?” Ash asked walking up to Belgan who still lay on him back on the ground.

“My lord,” Tolarea yelped with a slight blush. Looking at her, Ash had to admit she was charming when she was flustered.

When Belgan started laughing, Tolarea shot him a fierce look that quickly silenced him. “We are ready my lord,” Belgan said as he got to his feet while his eyes shone brightly showing that he still wanted to laugh.

Even though Belgan grumbled, the ceremony was held quickly with only a few vows said before the statue of the goddess. One it was finished, Ash started to turn to leave when Tolarea grabbed his arm her face turning a bright shade of red.

“My uncle said that it was customary that in human wedding for the bride and groom to kiss at the end.”

Holding in his laugh, Ash lifted himself up on his toes, but still was unable to reach higher that Tolarea’s chin. Before Ash could think of what to say, Tolarea grabbed him and lifted him up and kissed him. It was not the quick soft kiss that he had expected, instead she pushed in so hard that their teeth banged painfully together. She did not letup lightly either and for a brief moment, Ash was slightly scared that she was going to try and have her way with him while everyone watched. Suddenly Tolarea let Ash slip from her gasp and his backside crashed hard with the ground below his legs having lost their strength. His head swinging, all Ash could hear was Belgan’s loud and deep laughter.

As soon as he was able to regain his footing, Ash was taken to the same training field behind the castle where he had sparred with Tolarea. Looking across the field, Ash found himself face to face against his new wife though unlike before she now wore heavy plate armor. The only part of her body that was exposed was Tolarea’s head though her already short hair had been pinned up.

Before they started, Belgan stepped into the center of the large arena. “Ash, the rules are simple you are only to use direct fighting abilities. The battle is over when one person is left unable to fight.” Before Belgan left the field, he walked over to Ash and placed his hand on his shoulder. “I would suggest you fight with everything you have, otherwise we might be looking for a new Maoh by the end of the day.”

So far in his battles, Ash had never really hurt any of the people he had trained against. The first time he could only guard and the second he was using poison against a group that was immune to it. When the horn sounded, Ash was more than a little nervous as he lifted up the sword. Looking across the field, Ash found that his counterpart didn’t seem to be filled with the same thoughts as she was already rushing toward him her massive sword in hand.

Slightly panicked, Ash tried to think of what abilities he could and should use. In those few seconds, his mind and body seemed to freeze. By the time Ash could break free, the sword was already rushing toward his chest.

Ash felt himself flying through the air as pain ripped through his body. There were a thousand thoughts going through his mind but before one could solidify, the pain coming from his chest drowned it out. As Ash landed hard against the ground the taste of copper touched his tongue as he coughed up a mouthful of blood. He tried to sit up but the pain made it impossible. With what little strength he had left, Ash called his status screen into his view. Ash was shocked he had lost over 400 HP from one attack and gained the status of bleeding and injured.

“Lord,” Ash heard a panicked voice yell and a second later, Tolarea’s flushed and nearly crying visage entered his view.

“Girl, I know you like to fight, but I didn’t think you would try to kill your husband even before the nuptials,” Ash heard Belgan say a hint of a laugh in his booming voice. Ash had expected Tolarea to get mad like she had before, but instead large droplets started to fall from her eyes. “I was joking,” Belgan said, his voice losing all sense of humor. “Tegan, heal him quickly,” the clan head ordered.

Soon the pain in his chest started to disappear as a demon with light white wings that looked like an angel bent over him. Ash had seen numerous healings before and had even had them cast on him more than a few times, but nothing compared to what was happening now. All the pain disappeared and within moments Ash got to his feet with only the large rip in his clothes to show that he had even been injured. “Thank you,” Ash said as he took off his now badly damaged armor.

“My pleasure my lord,” the man said with a bright smile. “By the way, I am Tegan the clan head of the Nehalem clan which you will be visiting next. Normally it would be one of my children who attend the training, but since it is only for a few days I thought to come myself.”

“I am glad you did,” Ash said with a warm smile.

After Ash’s was given new armor to wear while his was repaired, the training started again. This time Tolarea didn’t charge at him, instead she held back her face showing uncertainty. Ash felt bad not only for his previously bad reaction, but also that it had left a deep mark on Tolarea. Reaffirming himself, Ash rushed forward with all of his strength.

Ash noticed that Tolarea was moving slower than normal so he restrained a little of his strength. Ash could still see that her face was perturbed but Tolarea was able to block his sword with his own. Ash continued to press the attack though he didn’t use any abilities. Tolarea sword started to move and by the time their swords had met for the fifth time, her face had regained its composure and Ash could once again see a hint of a smile on her face.

Ash was happy that Tolarea had regained her fighting spirit, but now he was being pressed hard. His strength was high, but he still felt his hands numb with each strike. With little choice, Ash decided it was time to use some of his abilities. Most of them he had required him to land a strike for them to be truly effective. Even the ones that ignored defense wouldn’t do much good if she was able to block them with her sword or dodge the strike. Thinking quickly as he was starting to be pushed back Ash invoked both pounce along with blood strike.

Ash had always wondered why pounce was so cheap when it was effective but after going through a number of battles he now understood that it was not something that could be used lightly. As soon as it was activated, his body would surge forward in a straight line making it impossible for him to dodge any incoming attack and if he was not ready, he could easily cause his own downfall. That was why he waited until he could dodge one of Tolarea’s strike to cast it. As the sword flashed passed his head, Ash jumped forward, his sword taking on an eerie crimson glow as it stuck the large woman just above the stomach.

It was a hard hit and coupled with the blood strike it forced Tolarea to take four steps back. Tolarea grunted as a small line of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Using the back of her hand, she wiped away the blood while Ash was frozen in place due to the cold smile on her face

A second later Tolarea rushed back into the battle her strikes much heavier than before. Tolarea was fast and strong but Ash was faster though thanks to the size of her sword it didn’t help him much. Within moments Ash had been pressed so hard that he was nearing the edge of the training circle while large beads of sweat rolled down stinging his eyes.

Tolarea used a number of abilities but they were all pretty straight forward. She was skilled with her sword and even given its size she was able to handle it easily. The only real downside that Ash could see was she allowed herself to get too invested in the battle and the longer a battle lasted the more straightforward her attacks became. Ash was hard pressed but he could start to make out her movements the longer the fight lasted.

Ash continued to dodge the attacks until he noticed an opening then moved. He was too close to use pounce so he only hoped that he was right about what attack was coming next. As the blade of the large sword came in at the side he stepped in close moving slightly to the side so that all he needed to do was extend his arms to hug Tolarea. When he reached the desired position, Ash unleashed his sunder ability.

Ash felt as the blade of Tolarea’s sword hit him, but he was so close most of the force was gone, though thanks to her immense strength she was still able to force him to take one step. At the same time Tolarea’s attack landed Ash’s did as well. Just like with Tolarea’s attack the force was reduced though due to his position and the fact his blade was much smaller it wasn’t effected as much.

The positing and timing of Ash’s attack forced Tolarea to stumble. Not missing his chance, Ash took a quick step forward while swiping his leg hitting Tolarea right above the ankle causing her to fall back. Before she had a chance to regain her footing Ash rushed forward and placed the blade of his sword to her throat.

“My win,” Ash said as he removed the blade.

Ash had thought that Tolarea would take losing bad considering what a battle nut she was, but the look on her face was anything but displeased. It was the look of a hunter. Her look was so piercing that Ash involuntarily took a step back.

Getting to her knees, Tolarea grabbed Ash’s arm and pulled him to her. The action was so unexpected he didn’t have a chance to resist before his lips were taken by force. He felt her hand moving over his body and quickly moved to stop its advance but even with his boost his strength was less than hers.

“I don’t think this is the right time,” Belgan said laughing. “Wait till tonight and you can have all the fun you want. Today, the young lord still has plenty of training left to do.”

Tolarea let go of Ash and let out a disheartened sigh before shooting her uncle a fierce glare.

Ash continued to fight with Tolarea as his main opponent, but sometimes the clan head would ask another fighter to take her place. Tolarea refused, but she was quickly overruled. The first time that Tolarea left the field Ash thought that one of the gods had answered a hidden prayer but it was short lived. Before two rounds had been finished she reappeared and attacked with even more energy than Ash had remembered

By the end of the first day Ash was hurting so bad that he had trouble standing. Tolarea seeing him stagger back toward the palace lifted him from the ground as if he were a child and quickly carried him back to his room where Seia and Celina waited for him.

Seeing the sorry state that he was in both girls cried out but they were quickly quieted by Tolarea who then ran them out as if they were small children.

After the other two women were gone Tolarea turned back to Ash who was desperately trying to think of a way to escape when he noticed the same gleam in her eyes that he saw before a battle. All he could do was let out a small whimper when she advanced on him.

9-10

After two days of intense training, Ash still had trouble fighting against Tolarea in a pitched battle, but he was getting more accustomed to his new abilities. The main benefit was that Ash was becoming more aware of his abilities and what each one could do. Before, he always had to look at the list and try and pick which one would be of use, but that was hard to do during the heat of a battle and sometimes it caused him a great deal of trouble. Part of it was inevitable as he just had too many abilities, but the more he used them the more he got to know them and the easier they came to mind. Just like with his sword training, the abilities were being relentlessly trained in how to use them.

Ash couldn’t believe that it had taken him this long to understand the true meaning of the training he was currently going through. He had been in the demon lands for almost a month now and most of that had been spent doing nothing but training his abilities. Most people only had a few abilities the rest of their fighting ability came from personal strengths and skills.

Unlike abilities, skills were almost all focused in one direction. If you were a warrior, they would be related to fighting up close. If you were a mage, then they would be focused on magic. On the other hand, his abilities were very diverse and spread out and could be used in a number of different ways. He could fight on the front lines or cast magic from the back. He didn’t have many support abilities yet, but he was sure that they would come in time.

When it was time for him to enter the labyrinth again, Ash was escorted by his three wives. Since the number was increasing, there were two parties formed this time. One was made up of him and his wives and the other was made up of higher level guards in case they ran into unforeseen trouble. Unlike before, Ash wasn’t the only one to lead at the front when the fighting started as Tolarea walked right beside him with Seia in the middle and Celina bringing up the rear. It was a good combination and the only real thing Ash felt was lacking was a healer, but from what he had learned earlier that was going to be the next step.

The first day thanks to Tolarea, Ash and the others were easily able to reach the nineteenth floor. While it was easy it was not easy to keep with the large woman who rarely stopped long enough to catch one’s breath. In fact had it not been for Celina’s limited stamina they would have made it much farther before they were forced to retire from the labyrinth.

The second day in the labyrinth went much the same as the first with Tolarea rushing through the enemies as if they were made of paper. Ash was able to get in a few hits, but it wasn’t until they reached the twenty-sixth floor that Ash was truly able to enter the battles though it was not much. The only real thing that bothered Tolarea was that it was a large humanoid creature using a shield that was large enough to block her sword.

The sage had told him that labyrinths grew depending on the type of creature that they fed on. Since Tolarea and her tribe were warriors who used force were the main ones who fed the labyrinth most the monsters were much the same. There were a few times that the monsters used magic or other arts to fight but it was less than 15% of what they had encountered so far.

“Doesn’t it make it hard for you to fight against other kinds of attacks if all you train against are the same king of foe?” Ash asked as they preceded to the next floor.

“That is why when we are younger we tour different clans to fight,” Seia said as she moved closer to Ash. “We spend five years moving among different clans spending six months training at each one. Not only does this help us fight against monsters that we otherwise would be unable to battle it also helps smooth relations between clans.”

Time passed by quickly and soon it was time for Ash to leave. As he mounted the bird, Ash thought about Allice who was waiting for him back at the Maoh’s palace. Even surrounded as he was, Ash missed her. He had wanted to bring her with him, but the sage advised against it and Ash had ended up leaving her behind.

When they reached the next clan, Ash found the elder winged man, Tegan, waiting on him along with a large group of others.

“Nice to see you again my lord,” Tegan said bowing before he pushed a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties forward. “This is my granddaughter Li. As you might have guessed, she will be your future wife. She is a bit shy but she is an honest and good woman so I hope you treat her with care.”

“I will do my best,” Ash said trying to put on a warm smile.

After a number of introductions, Ash was taken inside a large open building. Unlike the other palaces he had been in, the building was square and the roof was done in glass so Ash could easily see the sky and feel the warmth of the sun.

The look and feel of the whole place was completely different than what Ash would attribute to the demon race. If you had asked Ash before what he would imagine it would be a dark castle filled with the bones of their defeated foes but what he found was completely different. For one thing he learned that demons were only demon in name and not in stature. If they were a mix of human and monsters than of course there would be a clan that was mixed with the creatures belonging to the light element. So far Ash had not fought any of these creatures and from what he heard they were a rare sight so he was looking forward to entering the labyrinths of Nehalem clan.

“My lord unlike the other clans the Nehalem clan have only a few ways to attack so there is little need for fighting practice. Instead all you really need to do is gain the abilities and understand how they are best used. Still we ask you to stay the full week so that you don’t make our clan lose face to the others.”

“What abilities will I be gaining during my stay?” Ash asked getting straight to the point.

“One is for attacking, one for defense and a number of others for healing. As long as you have Li in your party, she can do most the healing but it is still a good idea to have some abilities that allow you heal in the case of an emergency.”

Ash had no abilities that related to healing at the moment and they were something that Ash had always desperately wanted.

During the whole discussion,Li never said a word. She just silently looked down at the table only looking up every now and then to Ash her face turning a light shade of pink each time. Ash couldn’t help but watch her and her. Each time she blushed Ash could have sword that her wings even took on a pinkish tone though it could have just been a trick of the light. Along with her snow white wings Li had a milky white completion and large round sliver eyes. Her hair was also white though it didn’t make her look old instead it gave her a dazzling pure feeling.

“Now that everything is settled, why don’t we get the wedding over with so that it is out of the way?” Tegan said, shocking Ash out of his thoughts. Each clan had held the wedding on a different day but he had at least been given a day to get to know his new bride. Ash looked from the clan head to Li and finally to the sage but none of them seemed to give him an option. On each face it looked as if they were saying that he might as well get it over with.

Sighing, all Ash could do was to nod his head and be led to before the statue of the goddess like a living sacrifice. When it came time for their oaths, Li still never said a word and only nodded her head when she was asked if she consented to the bonding of the two. Ash didn’t know why but all he could think about was what her voice might sound like.

Once the wedding was over, Ash was taken and Tolarea tried to follow him and Li to the room and only by the combined efforts of Seia, Celina along with the sage were they able to dissuade her though from the look on her face she was anything but happy with the decision.

When Ash closed the door and turned around, he found that Li had already removed the thing white cotton dress that she had been wearing and now stood before him only wearing a nervous smile.

“Morning,” Li said her voice weak making Ash think for a moment that he had only imagined that she had spoken.

Since the night before Li had only said a handful of words and none of them had been strung together to make a full sentence. From her shy demeanor to her weak looking body Ash had the urge to protect her. At that moment it was Allice who popped into his mind. The two women had a lot in common and they brought out the same feelings of wanting to protect them in his heart.

After getting dressed Ash and Li left the large room only to find Tolarea and the others waiting on him in the hall. “Morning,” Ash said happily as he waved his hand at the three waiting women. “Shall we get the day started.”

Unlike what Ash expected the Nehalem clan didn’t have any strong guards among their own numbers. Instead the guards came from the smaller clans that served the Nehalem clan. Ash had been unclear between the differences between a main and sub clan but the sage had enlightened him. The people in the main clans all had the blood ability while those in the sub clan were married into the main family. Ash didn’t really get it so the sage explained further.

“Let us say that a young man in one of the clans was born without the blood ability. As I told you the blood ability is passed down but unlike yours it can be present in a number of people at any given time. When someone is born without it they lose their place in the main family. At first they were wed to other families but when children as more children were born without the ability small clans began to form. Now the clans keep these people to marry into their own families so that the chance of having a child born with the blood ability increases though still a number of them are married off to other families so that the bloodlines don’t stagnate.”

It seemed a little complicated to Ash but it wasn’t information that he had to know. He wanted to listen to more but when the sage started talking about how the first sub clans were born only thanks to captured human and other races used for breeding stock Ash quickly lost interest. Well more that he didn’t want to think about the darker history of the demon race than he lost interest.

Once again Tolarea had to be held back from going into the labyrinth with Ash when it was time to leave. Ash wasn’t sure if she was overprotective or simply jealous.

Oddly enough the first floor they went to was the first floor where they found a monster Ash had seen before. It was a slime though it had a slightly different color than normal. Unlike the others he had seen it had a slight golden sheen to it though it could still easily be seen through.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption level for Radiant Slime. Abilities available; Heal (active).]

“Tring.”

[You have randomly received the ability Heal.]

[Heal: cost 10MP- heal 5HP. Level 1-0%]

“Only five HP for ten MP didn’t seem very useful but in a dire situation it was better than nothing,” Ash said to himself.

After they finished collecting the radiant slimes they headed to the twelfth floor where the guars slaughtered their way through what appeared to be cupids. The first time Ash bent over to absorb one of the miniature white winged pixies Ash couldn’t help but feel bad.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption level for Angelic Pixy. Abilities available; Mend (active), Light Arrow (active).]

“Tring.”

[You have randomly received the ability Mend.]

[Mend: 20MP 5SP- Mend a cut. Level 1-0%.]

As the day passed Ash watched as the guards killed a number of different monsters though few of them really looked like monsters. In fact most of them looked as if they were something out of a children’s storybook. While he was absorbing the monsters Ash tried to talk to LI but no matter what he said she would only answer with one or two words. Giving up the conversation as a lost cause Ash checkered his newly gained abilities as they left the labyrinth.

[Light Arrow: cost 25MP- shoot an arrow of light to attack an enemy. Level 1-0%.]

[Recovery: Cost 100MP- recover 25% of HP. Level 1-0%]

[Clear: cost 40MP 10SP- remove curses or other abnormalities.]

[Holy Light: cost 60MP- fill the air with a holy light that drives off and damages creatures of the darkness element.]

Once the fighting was over Ash was once again called to the large meeting room where they would discuss the abilities and how best to use them. Being from a family of people who used light magic Tegan was the one who did most the talking but the sage did explain things when they seemed to flow over Ash’s head.

For the most part the abilities were self-explanatory. As they leveled they would work better or at a reduced cost. Of all of them though it seemed that mend was the one he most needed to level up. At level 1 it could only seal external wounds while once it reached level 15 it could reattach severed limbs. If one wanted to it could even regrow limbs though the number of times it would have to be cast was so high that it was nearly impossible for one person to do alone without years of time.

“So what will you do next my lord?” Tegan asked once the discussion was over.

“I will enter the labyrinth so that Li can get some experience with working with my other guards and wives. I don’t think it would be right just to rush ahead so we will stay for the remainder of the week. After we fight in the labyrinths I will also be practicing my new abilities. I really need to get them to a higher level so that they can be of use when they are needed,” Ash replied having given it a lot of thought during his quite hours within the labyrinth.

“I thank you my lord,” Tegan said with a smile and a slight bow of his head.

9-11

The next day Ash and his four wives went straight to the labyrinth after they finished eating.  “I don’t want to run through the floors like we did before,” Ash said as they entered the first floor. “I want to gain all the abilities I can since it doesn’t seem like the clan head wishes us to rush like the previous ones. During the fighting I want Tolarea to stay near Li and the others so that if they find themselves in trouble you can help her. Li I want you to heal anyone if they seem to be in danger but if it is not urgent allow me to do it after the battle so I can level up my new abilities. Seia and Liam I want you to fight as normal.”

“My lord our job is to protect you not each other,” Tolarea objected harshly.

“I know that and if it should seem necessary then you may do so but unless it does I want you to stick to my orders,” Ash said firmly.

Tolarea didn’t look pleased with Ash’s order but she didn’t raise another protest. Since Ash already had the abilities of the monsters on the first floor they quickly passed through and moved onto the second floor. When they were fighting before to get the abilities they just skipped from one floor to the next so Ash was unsure what they would be facing so he enjoyed the unknown anticipation.

Though Ash knew the monsters would be weak he didn’t let his guard down. He had learned long ago that even a weak creature could pose a threat if it had an unexpected or dangerous ability. The boss of the first floor was a giant radiant slime. It was not Ash’s first time to fight such a monster but unlike before when the slime’s health got low it would heal itself, making it far more dangerous though with the damage that Ash could do alone it didn’t take long before the monster dissipated into a pile of liquid.

On the second floor Ash found a small creature that looked as if it was a mix between a fairy and a plant. Signaling for the others to stay back Ash moved toward the odd looking creature. The small fairy watched Ash as he approached it while tilting its head. The small petals surrounding its face curled slightly as it gave Ash a devilish smile but it never made a move.

Ash felt a shiver run up his spine but ignored it as he swung his sword down at the smaller creature. Just before his sword would have touched the fairy it started to spin and burrowed into the ground. Once it was within the bounds of the earth only its head was visible and it moved around as if the dirt was water. After circling around a few times it let out an ear shattering yell that made Ash flinch and did five damage to his HP.

Ash didn’t respond and simply watched the small creature as it moved only attacking whenever it stopped. After the fairy had attacked three times Ash noticed a pattern. When it was circling Ash it moved outside the range of his sword but when it attacked it moved in directly behind him and was so close that if he took a step back he would flatten it. Once he noticed the pattern Ash waited until the monster had made three more circles around Ash and then he felt it moved close behind him. Suddenly Ash turned around and stabbed his sword into the ground. As soon as his sword entered the ground it spilt the monster down the middle making a small pool of green liquid puddled on the ground.

After having faced the monster alone Ash went to find the next one. Unlike before Ash allowed the others to help and the monster died when it was cleanly shot through with an arrow before it even had a chance to enter the ground.

With all five of them fighting together it took less than an hour for them to kill enough for Ash to gain a new ability.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption level for mantagora. Abilities available; earth shroud (active), screech (active).]

“Tring.”

[You have randomly received the ability earth shroud.]

[Earth shroud- cost 15SP enter the earth to hide. Level 1-0%.]

Though there was still one ability left Ash decided that it would be best to move on. Ash already had a number of abilities and had one that already was based on sound and didn’t see the need for a weaker version of it.

Ash and the others continued through the floors just as they had the second floor with Ash fighting the first monster alone and the others joining in afterward so that he could gain abilities.

Due to the slow pace Ash was taking the first day they were only able to make it to the boss room of the ninth floor before Seia informed him that it was time to head out. Out of everyone he had knew she had the best ability to tell how much time had passed even when they were in the lightless world of the labyrinth. Though their pace was slow Ash was able to gain a number of abilities.

[Light shield. Cost ***Sun mana. Blocks attacks using the power of light energies.]

[Sun mana. For every one hour spent under the sun gain 1 sun mana.]

These were the favorite of all the ones Ash had gained and he had gotten them from a small floating ball of light that they had fought on the eighth floor. Ash wasn’t sure how much it could block or the real cost but anything that might save his life was welcomed. The other skills were not as useful but he was still glad to add more to his repertoire.

[Light strike: cost 15SP- coat your weapon in light when attacking. Level 1-0%.]

[Light ball: cost 20MP- create a ball light. Level max.]

[Hemostat: cost 20MP- stop bleeding. Level 1-0%.]

[Light arrow: cost 10SP- attack using 1 arrow made of light. Level 1-0%.]

[Flare: cost 25MP- create a flash of light to blind your enemies.1-0%.]

[Burst: cost 20SP- infuse your body with energy allowing increasing damage by 5% for 5 minutes. 1-0%.]

After they were finished fighting the small group starting quickly left the labyrinth. Normally at the end of the day the group would spilt up with only one or two of them following Ash to act as guards since there was little threat as long as he was within the boundaries of the demon kingdom.

“Hold for a moment,” Ash said when they reached the manor of the clan head.

When the four women turned they each looked at him. Though all the women were demons they were all different. Li looked at his with a pure look on her face. Celina looked at him with a warm smile. Seia looked had a devious look on her face and lightly leaned forward to show off her ample chest. Tolarea though looked the most dangerous of all of them as she looked as if she was ready to hit him over the head and drag him off like a caveman.

“I know you ladies a little and while I know we are all married none of us have really sat down to talk,” Ash said after collecting his thoughts. “I think it would not only help us personally but also during battles if we understood each other better. That is why today I would like for just us five to have a small dinner together.”

“I will take care of it my lord,” Li said her voice dainty and Ash had to question himself if she had truly spoke. The other women were just as surprised as they all looked toward Li as if she had sprouted a second head.

Blushing LI excused herself and quickly disappeared into the manor. Less than fifteen minutes later Li returned and told Ash that a small room had been prepared in the center of the manor for their use. Ash had thought that would be it but Li had a bright expression as she declared that the meal would be prepared by his wives.

Ash’s eyes darted over the other three women and he noticed that Celina still sported her warm smile but Seia’s face looked slightly worried but that couldn’t be compared to Tolarea’s face. She looked as if someone had dumped a bottle of ice water down her back. “I can’t wait,” Ash said teasingly his eyes never leaving Tolarea who looked even worse by the moment.

Still wearing a confident and innocent smile Li took charge of the other three women and pulled them inside the manor while Ash was left to himself. After a little bit the clan head found him and led him to the small room that they would be using for their dinner party.

The room was located right next to the small kitchen that the women were using and Tegan wearing a very odd smile showed Ash a small hole in the wall where he could see his wives while they worked without being seen.

“Why is there a hole in the wall?” Ash asked before looking through it.

“All the rooms connected to kitchens have holes in the walls to allow some of the heat to dissipate. It also allows the smell of the food to fill the dining room to help increase hunger or that is what the first clan head said as the person who designed the building. Truthfully I think he just enjoyed spying on people,” Tegan said with a light laugh.

Shaking his head Ash looked through the peephole. He had a very narrow view of the next room but he could clearly see most of what was going on. Li was happily standing over a large pot while her large wings were slightly twitching. Celina was off to the far side of the kitchen and Ash could only slightly see what she was doing. From his viewpoint it looked as if she was cooking something on top of the large stove. Seia was in the middle of the room along with Tolarea. Seia was mixing a number of items together in a large bowl while Tolarea was cutting up a large red vegetable.

Even though Ash knew that he shouldn’t be spying on them he couldn’t pull himself away from the peephole. The cooking itself wasn’t very interesting but just watching the way the four women acted without him present intrigued Ash.

When Ash was present LI hardly spoke. Ash had tried to talk with her but nothing really seemed to pique her interest. Now though Ash could clearly hear her voice as she ordered the others in the kitchen like a general on a battlefield. Celina seemed the same as always calm and happy. Seia on the other hand who was always very forward seemed unsure of herself and would often ask Li a number of questions before she did anything. The biggest change though was Tolarea. When Ash thought of the giantess he always figured she would do everything with the same energy that she fought with. She was bold and unafraid but now Ash couldn’t help but feel bad for her. Tolarea looked like a lost sheep in the kitchen and more than once the other women had to show her what to do or help her. Tolarea didn’t get mad but she did look ashamed whenever she messed up.

It took the better part of an hour for the women to finish the meal. Each time something was finished one of them would bring the food to the small room and place it on the long table. Whenever this happened Ash would quickly leave the peephole and sit down at the head of the table. The best time for Ash was the short time between when the food was finished but before it was brought out as the women each argued about who was to bring it out to place it on the table. Ash couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh whenever he watched the scene unfold.

Once all the food was finished the four women joined Ash in the main room. They each talked about the meal and who had made what dish. There was a number to choose from and Ash could tell the women’s own preference and skill from what was laid out before him.

Li had made three dishes and most of them were made from fish. There was a broiled cod soup, backed salmon, and a fresh loaf of herb seasoned bread. Celina had made two dishes one was steamed vegetables over rice while the other was a very fragrant meat pie. Tolarea had only one dish to her name though Ash knew that she had helped the others. She had made fried steak that looked a little charred but Ash still smiled as he ate it. Seia had made one dish as well. It was a mix of meat and vegetables in a thick broth. Looking at the assorted meal Ash knew that his stomach would be hurting later but he knew it was worth the pain. If he left out one of the women’s meals then he knew it would be far worse than a little stomach now.

While they ate Ash asked the women about themselves. What their likes and dislikes were and what they thought of him. At the same time he offered to answer any question they had about him as well.

The time passed quickly and Ash was enjoying the meal even if it was slightly unusual. He had learned a number of surprising things as well about his new wives. For one thing none of them had been forced to become his wife. Ash had thought that they were just told by each of their clan heads but it seemed that each of them fought in their own way for the privilege. Ash couldn’t really understand the demon’s way of thinking about marriage but he wasn’t unhappy with his new brides.

Li was quiet through most of the meal but she did talk whenever she was asked a question. She enjoyed cooking which after what he had seen it didn’t surprise Ash. She didn’t like fighting and she loved the feel of the sun on her wings. She could fly but didn’t like heights very much so she preferred to use her feet or use the large birds if traveling for any period of time.

Celina liked to cook but her real hobby was fishing. She said she just enjoyed nature and enjoyed the sound of the water as it rushed past. Ash promised her that he would go fishing with her as soon as he could though he himself had never tried it before.

Seia didn’t have anything she called a hobby. She said that she spent most of her time training and hadn’t really had a chance to find something that she considered fun. The only thing she really had to say was that she enjoyed fighting in the labyrinth alongside Ash and the others.

Tolarea was the one Ash thought he understood the best through he quickly found out that he was wrong. Tolarea enjoyed fighting and training but her real hobby was carving. It seemed that she had spent years learning how to carve as the clan head said that only fighting would ruin the soul and forced all trainees to pick one thing to do for relaxation. After meeting her clan Ash couldn’t help but agree. If Tolarea didn’t have something other than fighting then he was sure that their clan would have started a war just to keep themselves entertained.

Once the meal was finished Ash and the four women each went their own way. Since it was already late one of them followed him back to his room. Ash smiled as he lay down to sleep. It had been an enjoyable day. He enjoyed fighting but that alone would leave his soul barren and after the talk he had today he decided it was time for him to find a hobby outside of all the fighting.

9-12

The next morning Ash readied himself for another day in the labyrinth but everything changed when he found the sage and Tegan waiting on him outside his room.

“My lord we have some news,” the sage said with a serious expression. Ash nodded his head not having to ask what the news was about and followed the two into the large meeting room where his wives and a number of others awaited him.

Ash sat done at his appointed seat at the head of the table and looked around the room. “What is the news?” Ash asked once he noticed that no one was willing to speak first.

“The king has started to move his troops,” The sage said with a concerned look on his face. “It seems that our interfering with the last large battle has caused a bit of trouble and many of the nobles in your land have used it as a means to push the king into adding his own army into the conflict. So far he has only pulled about forty percent of his men from the border but that is still a much larger number than we had anticipated.”

“Can we win?”” Ash asked as his stomach knotted from the news. He was still unsure of the total number of demon soldiers available to him and even though they were part of his army it didn’t feel right to make them die for people that didn’t know them. In fact many of the people that would be saved outright hated demons and used them as the scapegoats for anything that happened that couldn’t be explained.

“Winning isn’t a problem but it won’t be as easy as we had expected,” the sage replied without a pause. “We need to move more troops into position and ready a secondary battalion that can make it in place within a few days after the initial engagement. The king’s army is well trained from all reports but they are expecting to fight against a much smaller and weaker force so they when we flank them they will most likely fall into disarray. If their leaders are smart they will retreat and regroup. We can’t let them run too far so we should set up a secondary line in the direction that they will most likely escape to so that we can heard them in place. Once they calm down and reevaluate the situation they will do one or two things. They will either attack the town at full force or try to break through our lines and escape. I won’t lie and say that there will not be any casualties but I believe we can still limit the damage to our side.”

“What should I do?”

“There is not much for you to do my lord,” the sage replied. “We just thought it would be best to let you know what was happening, though you will need you to start moving around the troops in two weeks and in three weeks we will all need to head to the front lines so that we can get a full understanding of what is happening and we can respond accordingly.”

Ash thought over the sage’s words carefully. “That means only two weeks left to train,” Ash said more to himself than the others.

“Well a little more than two weeks but that is the main point. At most you will be able to visit two more clans before you need to start thinking about the coming war.”

“Understood.”

The rest of the meeting was mainly talking about which clans would be best used in what situations. Not having a very good understanding of the many different clans and their abilities Ash was left in the dark and could only listen while the others discussed the issue.

While they talked Ash started to fall into his own mind and lamented the fact that his training time was almost over. He wanted to see Emelia and the others again soon but at the same time he was also enjoying his new life.

When that thought crossed his mind Ash felt as if he had done something wrong as he was instantly wracked with guilt. Here he was enjoying himself while the people he loved were worried about him and facing a threat that they know there is no way to survive from.

Leaning back in his hard chair Ash looked through the glass ceiling and stared into the blue sky. The sun was out today and it hadn’t snowed in over a week. The sky was so blue if Ash let his eyes unforces he could imagine that it was the sea and the few clouds in the sky were foam from the waves.

Ash was jolted from his thoughts by Li who gently shook his arm when the meeting was coming to an end. “My lord do you wish to train today or are other things on your mind?”

Ash looked at her kindly and tried to smile though he knew that it didn’t reach his eyes. Li didn’t speak often but when she did her voice was soothing and it always seemed concerned about him. “I think a few hours in the labyrinth would be good for me,” Ash said limply.

“Understood my lord,” Li said bowing her head slightly. “I will gather the others so that we will be ready when you call for us.”

“Wait,” Ash called not wanting to be left alone at the present. “Why don’t I go with you?”

As they walked down the hall Ash’s mind started to wander once again. He found it so hard to believe that in just a few short weeks he would once again be standing on a battlefield. Ash clenched his fist when he thought about everything that was at stake. “We will win,” he mumbled to himself as his eyes darkened slightly.

Stats

Notes

Name: Ash

Level: 36

Experience needed for next level: 332,824

Race: Human/Demon 70/30

Occupation: intermediate gambler

Title: First Knight

Blessings: Blessing of the reaper

HP: 1400/1400

MP 1320/1320

SP 267/267

Strength: 74 (+10) (+2) (+1) (+10) (+10) (+194)

Vitality: 77 (+3) (+202)

Agility: 51 (+10) (+5) (+132)

Stamina 73 (+5) (+191)

Spirit 38 (+10) (+97)

Intelligence: 67 (+175)

Endurance: 40 (+10) (+1) (+2) (+10) (+102)

Luck: 231 (+999) (+1)

(Special stats)

Hardness: 1

Soul MP: 260

Sun Mana: 13

Abilities

Passive:

Devil’s Luck: 500% bonus to luck.

Fleet Foot: +10 to agility. Max

Wolf Eyes: See in the dark. Level Max

Mining: Ability to use a pick to extract ore from hidden locations. Able to tell where mining locations are located. Level 2: 23%

Poison Resistance: level 2-81%: 10% poison resistance.

Grave Domain: Damage resistance to whole body with the exception of the head increased by 10%.

Spider Senses: able to detect prey that is up to three levels higher within a 200 foot radius. Able to sense hostile intent within a 100 foot radius. Level max%.

[Fire Resistance: 15% fire resistance. Level 3-32%.]

[Natural Armor (small). When fighting your skin acts as a natural armor blocking 10% of physical damage. Level: max.]

[Frost Resistance: 10% resistance to frost damage. Level 2-47%.]

[Yeti Strength: +10 to strength. Level Max%.]

[Electric Resistance. 5% resistance to energy attacks. Level 1-87%.]

[Water Glide. When moving in water it flows naturally around you decreasing water resistance by 25%. Level max.]

[Cloak of Shadows: When in a dark area cloak of shadows wraps you in shadows making it harder for you to be detected.]

Dragon Sight: You can see the magical flow of items and creatures

[Reaper’s Sight: people who have received the ire of the goddess will now appear with a small sickle above their head.]

[Reaper’s Soul: after killing a person who has been marked by the goddess you will absorb a portion of their soul and receive any abilities they possess.]

[Earth Affinity- cost of using earth related skills will be reduced by 14% and power of earth related skills will be boosted 7%. Level 3-54%.]

[Mental Resist- 5% bonus when attacked by a mental attack. Level 1-36%]

[Iron Stomach: for each ounce of iron you eat your strength will raise by 1 but at the same time your intelligence will be reduced by 1.]

[Fire Affinity - cost of using fire related skills and abilities will be reduced by 10% and power of fire related skills and abilities will be boosted 5%. Level 1-13%.]

[Blood Drain- ability to absorb 1% of a person’s experience by drinking their blood after their death.]

[Heart of Stone: slowly absorbs the essence of the earth into your blood strengthening the body over time. Level max.]

[Diamond Soul: Ability to convert MP into Soul MP. Ratio 100/1. Level 1-15%]

[Poison Affinity: cost of using poison related skills and abilities will be reduced by 10% and power of fire related skills and abilities will be boosted 5%. Level 1-34%.]

[Ogre’s Strength: +.1% to strength. Level- Max.]

[Blood Strengthening- cost 10 vitality: gain 1 point in hardness. Level 1-0%.]

[Light Shield. Cost ***Sun mana. Blocks attacks using the power of light energies.]

[Sun Mana. For every one hour spent under the sun gain 1 sun mana.]

Active:

Demon Absorption: Cost 25MP: Absorb defeated enemies to obtain skills. Level 4- 32%

Bash: Cost 1SP - Slam into enemies with your body to do X10 damage. Level Max%

Rabbit Punch: Cost 1Sp- Using feet or hands quickly lash out with a lighting quick attack. Level max.

Stab: Cost 1 SP- Thrust forward with weapon (sword, spear.) level 2-98%

Poison Spit: Cost 5MP. Level Max%: Spit a corrosive poison that sticks to enemy doing 5 damage a second for ten seconds.

Analyze Ability. Cost 5MP: Ability to see opponents name, level and skill as long as they are no more than 5 levels above you. Level max.

[Poison: cost 10MP- ability to make a small amount of toxin that paralyzes. Can be placed on weapons.]

[Sticky Thread: cost 15MP- shoot out a stream of sticky thread to trap opponents.]

Stealth: Cost 20 MP. Erase your presence from enemies any movement cancels the ability.

[Fire ball: cost 10MP. Create two ball’s of fire and throw it at an enemy. Level 3-15%.]

[Cone of frost: Cost 15MP: send out a cone of frost freezing everything in its path. Causes 15 frost damage every second for eight seconds. Level 3-42%]

[Crushing blow: cost 5SP: strike with a hard blow bypassing 55% of opponent’s defense. Level 2-32%]

[Shock Armor: cost 12MP. Covers a small area with electoral energy that will stun an opponent struck with it for two seconds. Level 2-11%.]

[Shock Strike: cost 25MP. Hit an opponent with an energy attack that paralyses the part struck for seven minutes. Level 2-54%.]

[Pounce: cost 5SP jump straight forward with great speed doing 2x normal damage.]

[Poison Vine whip: cost 40MP. Call a vine dripping with paralyzing poison to strike your opponent. Level 1-99%.]

[Reaper’s Blessing: cost 50MP- bless a weapon or item with the goddess’s power. Lasts for twenty-four hours.]

[Sharp Strike: cost 10SP- strike with a bladed weapon to deal 1.5 the normal damage. Increased chance for a critical strike. Level 1-61%]

[Fire Lance: cost 25MP- casts a long lance of fire. Level 1-87%]

[Ice Spear 15MP- coat a weapon in ice giving it an added ice attribute to its attack. Level 1-72%.]

[Ice Shield 20MP- created a shield of ice that can fend off attacks. Level 1-21%]

[Lullaby of Subduction: cost 20MP- chance to charm an enemy confusing them. A strike releases the confused state. Level 1-21%]

[Death Wail: Cost 40MP- a loud wail that strikes at the mind of them enemy deal direct damage. Damage based off of spirit. Level 1-14%]

[Shadow Whip: cost 20MP, 5SP- attack with a whip made out of pure shadow that will follow the enemy wherever they try to run. Level 3-51%.]

[Shimmer: cost 10SP- surrounds the body with light making it hard to discern movement.]

[Shadow Armor: Cost 25MP 10SP; creates an armor made of shadows to protect the caster.]

[Mana Manipulation: Cost: 30MP- able to manipulate pure mana and give it form. Level 4-13%]

[Hide: Cost 10SP- erase your presence.]

[Boost: Cost 50%SP- Double all stats.]

[Dark Eyes: cost 50MP- strike directly at the soul of the opponent causing them to lose strength and dealing a small amount of damage. Level 1-32%]

[Flame Sword- cost 30MP coat a weapon in flame essence.]

[Burn Out- Turn 10% of your HP into a white hot flame to attack your opponents.]

[Infuse Earth-cost ***- infuse earth with magical energy to strength it. Level 3-29%]

[Earth Essence: cost ***- ability to infuse MP with earth essence. Level 3-7%]

[Earth Shield: Cost 40MP- create a stone shield made of condensed earth. Level 1-18%]

[Toxin- cost 25MP: spew out a cloud of toxic poison that does 1 damage per second for five minutes. Level 1-88%]

[Poison Control- cost ***: merge poison with mana to use it more freely. Level 2-9%]

[Secrete- cost ***: create a liquid form of poison that will last until needed. Cost depends on poison made and amount created. Level 2-13%]

[Hemlock Oil- cost 60MP: thin oil that can be used as medicine for swelling and pain when used in very small amounts. Causes complete paralysis when used in a concentrated form. Level 1- 32%.]

[Sealing Poison-cost 60MP 10SP: seals all MP and SP based abilities and skills for 120 seconds. Level 1-91%.]

[Slash- cost 5SP: create a blade of light that extends the reach of your blade. Level 2-17%.]

[Sunder- cost 25SP 5MP: hard strike that has a large chance of crushing or cutting through armor. Level 2-30%]

[Blood Strike- cost 40SP 20HP: a fluid strike that ignores all defense to strike directly at an opponent’s heart. Level 2-4%.]

[Heal: cost 10MP- heal 5HP. Level 1-18%]

[Earth Shroud- cost 15SP enter the earth to hide. Level 1-3%.]

[Light Strike: cost 15SP- coat your weapon in light when attacking. Level 1-1%.]

[Light Ball: cost 20MP- create a ball light. Level max.]

[Hemostat: cost 20MP- stop bleeding. Level 1-0%.]

[Light Arrow: cost 10SP- attack using 1 arrow made of light. Level 1-4%.]

[Flare: cost 25MP- create a flash of light to blind your enemies.1-0%.]

[Burst: cost 20SP- infuse your body with energy allowing increasing damage by 5% for 5 minutes. 1-7%.]

Skills

[You have gained the skill gambler’s boost (passive) .2% boost to all other stats for each 1 point in the luck attribute. Level 2.]

[You have gained the gambler’s gambit (active) skill. Cost 20MP: boost all stats for one minute. Boost is random. Level 1.]

[You have gained the poker face (active) skill. Cost 5MP: forces a calm face no matter the situation. Level 2.]

[You have gained the bluff (active) skill. Cost 5MP: bluff opponents to make them think you are stronger. Level 1.]

[You have gained the read (passive) skill. Chance to see what skill your opponent is using. Based on luck.]

[Gambler’s game (active). Cost 100 MP. Call of The gambling god using your stats as chip to play against another gambler. Can only be used against those of the same rank or higher. Can only be used once every six months. Time until next use 0 days. Level-Max.]

[Luck shield: passive/active. When attacked has a chance to block attack. Amount of MP used is depended on the attack.]

[Gambler’s stake: cost 40SP- During a battle you can sacrifice gold in order to temporarily increase you stats. The amount of gold sacrificed determines the rise in ability.]

[Lucky find: Cost 25MP- search the area for hidden treasure.]

[Luck toss: cost 100MP- toss a gold coin if it lands on heads your luck will increase by 10%, if tails luck will decrease 10%. Can only be used once a day. Effect lasts for eight hours.]

Equipment

Silver gambler’s emblem: emblem signifying that one is an intermediate gambler of the gambler’s guild. Durability 10/10 luck +1.

Sword of the Hawk: Sword belonging to a great hero of the Hawkwing family. Durability 50/50 attack 20-32 strength +10 stamina +5.

Mithra armor: Armor blessed by the god of light. Durability 40/40 defense + 20 Endurance +10 spirit +10 agility +5.

Dragon skin gauntlets: durability 25/25, defense +10, magical defense +5, strength +1, endurance +2

[Studded Liro leather pants: made from thee tough hide of a Liro lizard. Durability 30/30, defense +7, endurance +2, agility +1.]

[Necklace of the dragon: defense +15- when HP reaches 0 necklace will break fully restoring the persons HP.]

[Superior mana ring: increase mana by 10%.]