Return of the Fallen Volume 3 Chapter 63
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch63
Everyone’s Mage core entered a new level. Even Mei and Tsura, though for some reason Retsu could only improve their Beast core’s while they were in Mangshi form. Still, after their Beast cores were improved, both of them in their bird form grew. Mei stretched to over 30 feet in length due to being Queen of Mangshi and Tsura grew a few feet as well and now stood at about 10 feet in her Mangshi form. The sight of which was a little funny. Seeing a child dwarfing their parent, Tsura appeared like a newborn chick compared to her daughter.
Besides the growth of the two, the appearance of their feathers changed slightly. Tsura’s went from a glossy metallic-like sheen to an even darker color. The glossy sheen was removed and her feathers seemed to steal the light from around them. Mei, on the other hand, gained a tinge of silver specks to her feathers. Each one still as black as the night but now had tiny dots of silver like stars in the night sky sprinkled about randomly. Neither one could see their own appearance but they could sense the changes and admired themselves and each other. Rubbing their heads into each other’s feathers affectionately, the two were clearly mother and daughter.
The two returned to their human forms and quickly put some clothes on. Mei and Tsura smiled at one another.
“Your father would be so incredibly happy if he were here.”
Mei felt a few tears gather at the edge of her eyes. Burying her face in her mother’s chest she rubbed her tears on her mom’s shirt and nodded.
Danny’s expression seemed to soften for an instant before it returned to normal but Kazuki had caught it.
(How unusual, Danny looked like he cared about Mei for a moment or rather.)
Kazuki’s eyes shifted to Tsura curiously.
Speaking of Danny, he as well felt energy coursing through his body but he decided to not reveal his newfound power and thought over some things.
Kimi, on the other hand, laughed out loud as she squeezed Sam’s arm in delight.
Sam as well had a physical change. His height impressively stretched upwards and he was now almost 6 foot 5 from his original height of 6 foot 2. His muscles bulged and expanded, growing in every aspect as well as become more defined and toned. Kimi’s eyes were filled with hearts. Grabbing his arm, she hung off of it like a monkey from a branch.
“I wonder, your height grew and everything seems to have become slightly bigger.”
Kimi suddenly reached her hand into Sam’s pants and grabbed him from the root. With that, her eyes lit up with lust.
Tsura quickly covered Mei’s eyes and Asuna and Nunully both blushed.
Shin was envious and once again Kazuki spotted Danny’s eyes shifting to Tsura.
Sam held the same unbothered expression as always before Kimi grabbed him by the shirt and began pulling him away towards the exit of the cave.
“Sam hurry up. Let’s put your new equipment to the test, shall we?”
Tsura switched to covering Mei’s ears but Mei was starting to struggle in her mother’s arms. Even now, Mei’s strength surpassed hers and she easily shook her off. Looking up at her mother she curiously asked.
“Mama, what new equipment is she talking about?”
Tsura pinched her cheeks and stretched them a bit.
“Why can’t you be a good girl and stay still in my arms? Always so restless. You weren’t supposed to hear that you wild child.”
“Ow ow ow. Mama that hurts!”
Mei began to bug her mother with more and more questions but Tsura just pinched her cheeks more and told her that she was far too young.
Shin, on the other hand, felt a little jealousy watching Sam being dragged out of the cave by Kimi. He looked at Asuna, Nunully and Tsura’s bodies all at once.
“Damn it all, it’s not fair. Why does he get some action and then I’m stuck beating my meat like it owes me money?”
Shin wasn’t quiet at all and Tsura looked at him a bit disgusted.
“How vulgar.”
Nunully turned her body away from his lustful eyes and Asuna’s eye began to twitch. Cracking her knuckles a few times she slowly walked over to him.
“How many times do I have to teach you this lesson?”
Asuna swung a fist and Shin laughed as he took to the skies. Asuna snorted and clasped her hand in front of her.
(Lock.)
Shin’s body froze in the air and Asuna teleported in front of him.
“Tch, your powers a cheat.”
Asuna smiled and threw a punch.
“Serves you right.”
Just as her fist closed in on his face though her hand stopped a few inches from him. Shin grinned as he willed his power with much more ease.
(Just like Alice, this is how it’s done.)
A thin barrier of wind had wrapped around his body and blocked Asuna’s blow completely. Asuna’s looked at Shin confused at first. Shin’s grin grew wider as he spoke.
“Expand.”
The barrier that was only a few inches thick, generated a torrent of wind and expanded outward rapidly. The air became like a wall and threw Asuna toward the ground. Asuna’s eyes flashed with a purple glow and she teleported safely to the ground. Her lock released Shin from her grasp and he flew around her in circles all the while taunting her and teasing her.
“Oh, what’s wrong queen of fury? Could it be, you can’t hit me anymore? Bwahahahaha, what a shame what a shame. You advanced and now so have I. It seems, things have returned to normal. From this day forward, I’d like to see you lay a hand…”
Shin’s words froze in his mouth as he watched Asuna pick up a rock.
(Hmm, what is she…)
Just as he had that thought, Asuna chucked the rock forward and Shin raised his barrier in front of him. Just before it hit his barrier Asuna’s eyes glowed with purple light and the rock disappeared.
*Shwhoosh*
The rock appeared right next to Shin’s face and with the same momentum it had before it vanished, it came toward his face. Shin’s reflexes took over and he tilted his head slightly. The rock flew right past his head and just barely missed. Shin felt a bit of cold sweat form on his brow and he became pissed.
“You freaking red-headed asshole! You almost hit me!”
Asuna covered her mouth as though she were surprised before she replied.
“Oh, what’s wrong queen of fury? Did my rock almost hit you? Don’t tell me you can brag about not being hit and then become upset when someone takes you up on that challenge. Isn’t that a bit small of you? Not like I’d expect much from a guy who flys around in the air like a fairy.”
The two began to exchange one verbal abuse after another but the two no longer stooped to anything physical. Not because they couldn’t but they both recognized what the other could do after that small bout. This was no longer something one could do willy nilly. With their strengths clearly advanced, their antics would no longer be antics, especially since the two did not have a lot of experience controlling their new power. Maybe later when they mastered their abilities but for now, they would stick with words.
Retsu laughed at the two’s back and forths and the Clan head found his decision correct to not recruit these mortals into his clan’s service.
While they were creating their own scene, Kazuki noticed that Nunully had been silent for a long while.
“Nunully, your even quieter than usual, is something bothering you?”
Nunully stared at her hands before looking up at Kazuki.
“Is…is this really alright?”
“Hmm, Shin and Asuna are always like that, no?”
Nunully shook her head.
“Not that, this power. It feels like we got it too easily. Others spend their whole lives getting to this level and yet we were just given it like a dropped bun from a stall. It was covered in dirt and therefore given away for free. Is something like this ok?”
Kazuki scratched the back of his head. He never imagined that this was what was bothering her. At the same time though he couldn’t quite agree. Shaking his head he told her exactly how he felt.
“You’re wrong. This…receiving these powers from Retsu, what part of it was easy. Not only was it not easy, but we were also lucky in some aspects and also didn’t make it. How many people do you think would agree to have a life or death battle not only once but twice in order to receive Retsu’s power? Not only that but did you not see how anxious a few people were. They not only fought with their life on the line but some of us were actually stuck within our souls or minds or whatever you want to call it. In there, we all experienced a long time of isolation from all of our senses as well as from people.”
Kazuki lied slightly. He had been in what seemed more like a world and had even seen his dead brother and was shown memories. Granted the memories were once he despised but compared to what the others went through his experience was akin to a cakewalk. He didn’t experience the isolation they did but there was no reason to add that to the conversation.
“Not only that, when I was in Zetsu’s layer the villagers…”
Kazuki saw the curious expression on Nunully’s face and was about to tell her his failure in Zetsu’s layer. He was gonna tell her how he failed to kill them all at once and a few had suffered because of it and were burned alive. The thought though twisted his stomach in knots and a pang of guilt weighed on him. Kazuki shook his head and changed his mind. The shame and guilt, he didn’t want Nunully to hear it for some reason. Clearing his throat he changed what he was going to say.
*Ahem*
“Anyway, the point is, the struggle was real. The pain we endured. What we witnessed. This reward was earned in full. So what if we skipped years to gain this power, no matter what, we worked our ass’s off and risked it all. We broke ourselves and literally spilled our own blood for this, how many people do you know who would do the same?”
Kazuki posed the question and Nunully became tongue-tied.
“Besides, its too late now, the power is already ours and there’s no point thinking about the past. What’s done is done, let’s keep moving forward.”
Nunully felt a little better and felt Kazuki’s words made sense. A small weight was removed from her shoulders and she felt more confident about the whole situation.
Kazuki, on the other hand, cringed inwardly at his own hypocrisy. Even Retsu turned his head over towards Kazuki, an odd expression on his face. Remembering what Kazuki told him of his past, and what he planned to do in the future, he felt his words were wrong. Kazuki and Retsu shared a look before the two looked away.
Retsu decided to ignore Kazuki’s words and felt rather that it was time to leave. Stretching himself upward, he spoke with a powerful voice.
“With this our deal is complete. Now, little mortals, I shall take my leave.”
Although he spoke as though he were in charge, Asuna and Shin were still fighting back and forth with words and completely ignored his presence. Mei, Tsura, and Danny had unbeknownst to everyone, already left the cave long ago. Nunully as well was still thinking on Kazuki’s words and didn’t even bother to look up at Retsu. Only Kazuki was paying attention at this point.
Retsu’s antenna twitched in embarrassment. This, however, was entertaining to the Clan head who started chuckling at his son’s situation. He had never experienced a situation like this where mortals literally ignored a god. His usual strict manner fell away as he genuinely found this funny. Hearing this laugh though was creepy, to say the least. Everyone else stopped what they were doing and went silent as they stared at him frozen.
Retsu thought they were finally showing him respect and smiled.
“That’s better, mortals, I bid you farewell. Should you ever make it to a higher realm, I would gladly welcome you into…hmm?”
Retsu felt his mind slipping from him. The next e opened his eyes he was back in his original body, looking at his father in the flesh.
Kazuki and the others quickly dodged Retsu’s falling body and looked through the portal in shock.
Retsu jumped to his feet on the otherside.
“Father, what the heck was that for? I was in the middle of giving the mortals a moving speech and I.”
“Enough! You were dragging things out and besides those mortals do not care. A god who can’t even recognize when a lower lifeform doesn’t give a shit, hmph, boy, you still need more training.”
Retsu looked back into the mirror at Kazuki and the rest feeling embarrassed.
“But father, to just leave without goodbyes is simply rude is it not?”
The Clan head stood from his throne.
“That’s twice now you’ve called me father. It seems a lesson or two is in order for you.”
The Clan head slowly approached his son and Retsu’s face filled with panic. The Clan heads servant walked over to the liquified mirror and gave a nod of recognition to Kazuki and the others before he waved his antenna and his eyes lit up.
The liquified mirror suddenly condensed and shrank out of nowhere and the liquid became a solid.
*Crack crunch crack*
Fractures appeared over the mirror and shattered like glass. The portal to a higher realm, just like that, it was gone.
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