Some time ago…
Davi brought his sword down as hard as he could, and Olivia struggled to block it with her scythe. She gritted her teeth as she felt her bones rattle, but Davi gave her no time to collect herself as he began to attack again.
He was a blur, moving between stances and slashes, and Olivia felt her eyes burn as they tried to keep up. Davi was strong and fast.
That was one of the many reasons she liked and respected him so much.
Davi thrust his blade out and twisted it. Storymaker rammed into the handle of Olivia's scythe, and she felt the wind be knocked out of her as she was sent crashing to the ground. "O-Ow."
"You okay?" Davi placed his blade down and offered his hand to Olivia.
"Yeah." Olivia took his hand and smiled. "Let's go again."
"Alright."
Off to the side, Ken watched the two with a bored gaze. Both Davi and Olivia had been at it for hours, dancing through the junkyard, practicing their moves back and forth.
"Enjoying the show?" Ken didn't react as Ragna appeared next to her and also began to watch Davi and Olivia practice. "I'm sure they'd be willing to let you train with them if you just asked."
"Why would I want to train with them?" Ken scoffed.
"Aren't they your friends?"
"Of course not."
"Really?" Ragna raised an eyebrow. "I thought they both cared about you and you cared about them."
"Nope." Ken let out a popping sound with her lips. "You're wrong. Sorry."
Ragna let out a chuckle. "You and Sieg are a lot alike. It's fitting that you two joined the guild at the same time."
"What do you want?" Ken demanded. "Why are you over here bothering me?"
If Ragna was bothered by her tone, he didn't show it. "What do you think of the guild?"
Ken's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Do you really want to hear my thoughts?"
"I do."
"I-" Ken hesitated for a moment. "I don't like how the people in this guild act sometimes."
"What do you mean?" Ragna raised an eyebrow. "Has someone done something that offends you?"
"It isn't that." Ken shook her head. "I just don't like how everyone is so talkative or nice. It just feels weird. Davi and Olivia, you as well, and a bunch of the others. You all act as if you know me, but that's not true. It just makes this ugly knot appear in my stomach, and I get so annoyed. We're strangers, yet I am expected to eat in the same room as you all and act like we're on friendly terms together."
"Well, I obviously can't speak about the others, but I think I've gotten to know you." Ragna gave her a smile. "That's why spending time with people is important. You learn more about them every day. Sitting under the same roof, breaking bread together, sharing drinks, laughing, talking, or, as the kids would say, hanging out, is all part of life and what is required to get to know the people around you. I'm not saying you don't have to spend time with us if you don't want to, but if the issue is you don't understand someone, then spending more time with them can help."
"I know." Ken nodded. "Look, it isn't that I dislike any of you, but it is hard. I-" She bit her lip. "I don't like seeing people I care about get hurt. It's just easier not to care at all."
It was so hard to feel affection for others. Perhaps that was why the other Yuans were always so lonely. She sometimes wondered how Han Yuan felt. Trapping herself all alone, separated from her people. Doomed to go mad.
It was a tragic fate. One that all of her children continued to march toward.
Ragna placed a hand on her shoulder. "If you ever want to talk or just spend some time, I, as well as anyone else in this guild, will gladly do it. I won't say something cheesy, like we're some found family, and I also won't act like we're perfect either. The truth is we aren't. We are just a group doing what we can. I am glad you can be part of this group."
Ken looked away, her face turning a little red. "Don't say something dumb…"
Ragna just laughed. "You know, there is one good thing about having friends. When you need them most, they'll be there to help you out."
***
Present day…
The Lord of Threads swung his hand down and sent out several razor-thin wires. Davi sliced through them with Storymaker and then opened his vault, attempting to catch the other man's foot in it.
The puppet master easily escaped, but that left him open for a single moment. Sieg charged forward, coated in lightning, and stabbed out with his spear. The Lord blocked it, more threads of pure mana growing out of his fingers, which formed into a wall of string that managed to block the attack.
He then twisted his body and went to strike Sieg, but before he could, Davi appeared next to his brother and jammed his sword into the Lord of Thread's arm. He was unable to cut his flesh, but he did shove the limb away from Sieg, allowing the two to step back.
Bruno then began to fire out several spears of ice, which all rained down toward the Lord, who effortlessly dodged them all. Ken stood on the sidelines with Olivia, watching the battle unfold, and she was instantly reminded of Ragna's words.
"You're all insane."
"What?" Olivia turned to look at Ken.
"Nothing."
"Right… Well, I have a plan."
"You do?" Ken smirked. "Let's hear it, little snake."
"Oh, the nickname is back…"
"Do you not like it?"
"I do." Olivia shook her head. "Wait, no time to discuss this. Listen. Here's my plan."
Ken listened to the plan and gave a slight nod. "Do you think something like that will work?"
"It will," Olivia announced, full of determination. "It has to." The two of them turned back to the Lord of Threads and got ready to enter the fray.
The Lord of Threads dodged both Davi and Sieg, and he sent a wave of razor slashes toward Bruno, the dark-skinned man, narrowly forming an ice wall in front of him. He managed to block the attack, but the force of it still sent him flying back. Bruno crashed into the horde of puppets and cursed as several of them began to strike him, forcing him to deal with the small army.
While that happened, the Lord of Threads used a Mana Step and appeared behind Davi. Bruno had been the most significant threat, something the Lord decided based purely on the feeling of mana. Now that the ice mage was out of the way, he was free to attack the two brothers who had been constantly shielded by Bruno.
At least, that was what the Lord thought, but as he slammed his hand into Davi's back and created a wave of razor wire, which dug into the man's flesh, he felt himself be struck over the head as Davi whipped around and smashed the hilt of his sword into the old man's nose. Even as his armor was breaking and his back became a bloody mess, Davi didn't stop attacking and made an opening for Sieg!
The lightning mage came railing forward, covered in electricity, and he fired out dozens of bolts of energy, which burned the puppet-master's robes. The man himself was mostly fine and twisted his body in time to reduce the damage when Sieg slammed his spear into his gut.
"Do you two really think you can beat me?" The old man sneered. "You can't even pierce my flesh. I'm out of your league, kiddos."
"You're right." Davi swung again, and his sword bounced off once more. "Someone here did manage to leave a mark on you, though!"
Simultaneously, both Davi and Sieg jumped away. The Lord of Threads was about to slash at them again with his wire, but before he could, his vision was blocked by a mix of white and red as Olivia jumped directly in front of him. She raised her wand, and his eyes widened.
"Row Blood Scythe!" Point blank, her scythe erupted from her wooden wand, tearing the air in front of her apart. The Lord fully bent his body back and awkwardly twisted down, practically snapping his spine as he narrowly dodged the strike.
Olivia didn't stop there, though, and her body glowed as she entered her polymorphed state! As it began to form, she recalled Ken's words about making an outfit different from Evelyn's. She knew exactly what she wanted. Black robes with purple ribbons formed around her, as well as her witch hat, but now the skirt was far longer, the sleeves covered up more, and a long black cloak appeared over her shoulders.
"Davi!" Olivia brought her scythe down on the Lord, and he somehow dodged it, but as she did this, her new cloak fluttered, and the shadow it cast went directly under the man.
"Vil Shadow Vault!" Shadowy hands jutted out and tried to bind the Lord, but he just kept twisting, his body snapping more and more, until he rolled away in some messed-up ball shape made of flesh and blood. "He can do that?"
The Lord began to inflate and reexpand himself, but then Ken came rocketing in and struck out with another punch. He managed to catch her arm, and as his hand made contact with her flesh, it erupted into dozens of cuts as his mana wire tore into her. Ken didn't care and kept forcing her arm forward, fire flowing off her, until her fist met his face.
"Vil Flame Bolt!" The fire kept gushing, forming out of her elbow as she propelled the limb like a rocket and smashed it straight into his stupid, grinning face! "Die! Vil Flame Dragon!" The fire twisted into the jagged maws of a dragon, which bit down into the sides of the Lord of Threads and began to drag him through the woods.
Davi's eyes widened slightly as he stared at the spell. "Dragon?"
"Not the same dragon!" Sieg said quickly. "Snap out of it, and let's get back to kicking this guy's ass!"
"Right…"
The Lord of Threads remained trapped in the maws of the fire construct. The fake dragon flew further and further into the forest, shoving him through trees and even hills. He possessed the ability to break out of the attack at any time, but he didn't and instead remained within its jaws, simply pondering.
The Knights were all weaker than him. If he flexed his full power, he knew he would win, but there was something that was stopping that from happening.
The one with the mask was from Mordheim, yet used a spear. It was an interesting combination, and his mana was sturdy, fast, and robust like a mighty tiger. The redhead from the Yuan family was strong, hot-headed, and bonded with her flame spirit in ways he had only seen Han Yuan be able to do. No shocker there. After all, that woman and Han Yuan were practically one and the same, thanks to the yucky experiments going on in Rossum.
On their own, those two wouldn't have been a big deal, but what caused him some issues were the last two. That raven-haired man with the scar had mana as intense and cold as Monarch. He had on similar armor as well, and the Lord felt the eyes of that blade upon him. It reminded him a bit of Adam's sword.
The last one of the four, though…
That snow-haired woman.
The Lord of Threads frowned. "Blood magic? None of Adam's scripts spoke of that. Not to mention, just looking at her hurts my eyes."
Adam gives them all the scripts. These scripts are more or less potential things that can happen. They aren't entirely accurate, not like his final script, which is where he writes someone's death, but the scripts do help with deciding the best course of action. He had been given a few, and one of them had mostly come true.
It said that he'd likely engage several Arcane Knights: a shadow mage, a lightning mage, a fire mage, and an ice mage.
No mention of a blood mage. None of the scripts said anything about a blood mage. They were always vague and lacked full details, so they did require guesswork, but even then, they shouldn't have omitted an opponent he would fight. Especially not one as weird as her.
His eyes still burned just from looking at her. She was like him. Someone who didn't belong. Her form had shattered and reformed over and over again before his eyes, and it was like looking at a glitched character in a video game.
Whoever that blood mage was, she was someone dangerous. Especially because she used Polymorph-
"Wait." The Lord of Thread's eyes widened. "Polymorph? Bloom failed to kill his target… He said he was sure. We all thought his target had Roads Polymorph, but what if it was-"
ꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖ
The Lord of Threads blinked. "Why am I just sitting in this useless attack?" He growled and flexed, shattering the fiery maw that was around him, and then he landed somewhere in the middle of the forest, miles away from his army of puppets. "I need to defeat the ice mage, the shadow mage, the fire mage, and the lightning mage. That shadow mage troubles me since he has Roads Polymorph-"
"Row Blood Bolt!"
The Lord of Thread's eyes widened, and he narrowly stepped to the side. "What? A blood mage? Why is a blood mage here?" He glared at the snow-haired girl with piercing red eyes, whom he was seeing for the first time. "Great? Another one. She must not be important, as she didn't even appear in Adam's scripts. I'll simply kill her and be done with it."
Olivia glared back at him. "The only one dying is you!" Davi, Sieg, and Ken both appeared next to her.
The Lord of Threads frowned and felt his head throb. Something was wrong. This girl? Why was she here? She didn't seem like some random Knight; the others seemed to know her. Also, blood magic? Why did she have-
ꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖꀷꊿꃔ'ꋖ ꏳꊿꃔꈜ꒐ꀷꑀꌅ ꒐ꋖ
The Lord of Threads winced and grabbed his head, feeling it throb again. He shook it and then glared at the 'three' Knights before him. The fire mage, the lightning mage, and the shadow mage. These were the only three people who stood before him.
"I'm not sure why you three made it this far? But I'm done playing now." The elderly man dusted himself off, and his burned robes mended and began to fix themselves up, new threads weaving around them. "It was fun playing with you kids, but this grandpa has work to do."
"Three?" Davi frowned but didn't comment any further.
Olivia smirked. "Oh yeah! Think we're going to lose that easily!" The Lord of Threads totally ignored her. His gaze didn't even shift her way, which made her low-key annoyed. "Hey! Don't ignore me!" Olivia puffed her chest out and placed her scythe down. "Fine, I'll show you my trump card. I had this idea and tried it a few times, but it never worked. Mostly because I used it on myself." Olivia reached out and placed her hand on Ken's back. "Polymorphed Polymorph."
Ken's body suddenly lit up, covered by a golden glow. The Lord of Threads took a step back. "This is- Ah, so the rumors were true." His eyes locked onto Davi. "It seems you do have the ability to use that! How interesting. I wonder if Bloom is fine with us trading. I think I'd much rather have you all to myself!"
Before Davi could consider what the old man was talking about, he felt a rush of heat hit him as Ken began to change. She had been hot before, both literally and in terms of looks, but now she was entirely on fire! Thick flames erupted off of her and began to grow, causing him, Sieg, and Olivia to all have to jump back.
Olivia cackled and threw her arms into the air. "Yes! Yes! I'm so freaking cool!"
When she used Polymorph, it would use up the once-per-day Polymorph ability she had. It was sort of like she only had one use of it slotted and would burn that use up and need to rest in order to regain it. The skill also took a ton of mana, but for a while now, she had wondered something.
When she used Polymorph on herself, she entered a completely new state of being. Her version of Polymorph was different from monsters and even Sieg's. Sieg and others were able to constantly spam theirs and slightly alter or twist their form, but they were able to mend their flesh; however, she wasn't able to do this and instead created a brand new form.
A normal Polymorph allowed a person to transform themselves into something else, but they were still them, and the damage they took carried over between forms. For example, if Sieg was slashed in the gut, and he used Polymorph to grow more scales, he'd still be himself and have the slash mark. He could use Polymorph to heal the slash mark, but that wound still happened, and he was more or less covering it up, and the mana was burned up.
Polymorph worked like a form of illusion magic, but it made the illusion real. It also couldn't be used to drastically alter someone's form. Sieg could only use it on himself, and he could only slightly change things, so he couldn't become a completely different creature or take on a new body or way of being.
Olivia inherently knew her version was drastically different. When she used her Polymorph, she was able to affect not just herself but others as well, and she wouldn't just simply alter how they looked. She'd completely remake them. They'd gain a new body and even a new Core. This was why she had all her mana back whenever she used Polymorph, as her Core would fully replenish just like her blood did.
That made her curious. If her new body was a total reset and lacked all wounds or damage, then wouldn't the timer on Polymorph also reset? She had tried several times to recast the ability on herself, but it never worked out. She had the ability to use it, but once she was polymorphed, she didn't seem to be able to re-polymorph herself.
What about someone else, though?
As she just found out, that was something she could do.
It took almost all her mana, and used up this new form's Polymorph use, but she successfully pulled it off and used Polymorph on Ken Yuan.
As the trait went off, Olivia found herself in a new place. A realm forged entirely by thick orange fire. She wasn't burned, however. Instead, she watched in amazement as, amongst the flames, a wave of golden fire started to swirl and take shape, bending and mending. It was gentle and delicate, and it almost formed around her like a warm hug.
She suddenly snapped out of it and was brought back to the real world as Ken's form began to finish its transformation.
"Holy hell," Sieg said in shock. "Is that Ken?"
"Wow." Davi whistled. "Nice."
Olivia blinked and gazed up at her friend. "That's… I didn't expect this." When she used the skill on herself, she mostly stayed the same but got a new outfit. When she used it on Davi, he seemed to be pure and free. And when she used it on Ken?
Well…
"What the fuck is that thing?" The Lord of Threads asked.
Ken was as big as a bus and covered in thick golden fur. She took on the appearance of a fox, similar to the dreaded Kitsune monster. She had a snout, four legs, and tails, but she was no mere Kitsune. Where feet should have been were jagged talons like those of a crow, or perhaps a hawk. From her back, long, bird-like wings also expanded, flapping back and forth. Lastly, her tail was actually a long snake, complete with its own separate head. It was covered in white scales, and it hissed, purple, red, and golden flames dripping out of its maw.
Ken stood tall and raised her head high. She almost looked majestic and divine. It was instantly ruined by her voice, which came piercing out of her fox-like mouth. "I'm about to fuck you up, you little bitch!"
And with those elegant words, Ken charged.