(A/N)
Hello peoples, I have returned yet again for another chapter upload. I aint gonna lie to you, this shit is getting harder to do every week lol, but I'm finna keep trudging through these trenches so you guys can eventually read a completed story. I promised that I was going to finish this thingy thang so I'm going to do it, no questions asked. I just want it to happen sooner rather than later. Now, with that being said, allow me to kinda outline how much story we really have left so you can get an idea of where we are heading moving forward. (If that is something that you don't wanna know about just skip this part and head to the chapter! I hope you enjoy!)
So, basically what we are looking at right now as far as arcs moving forward its a bit complicated I think. Essentially I believe that there are five arcs, of various sizes, left to write before the Remnant portion of this story is completely finished. In these Five arcs various things are supposed to happen that may extend or shorten the story by large or small amounts, but its hard to say how long this story will end up being because of how horrible I am at actually moving the story forward lol. What I'm predicting overall is that each of the upcoming arcs will have approximately 3-5 chapters (6-10 in chapter chapters) in order to reach completion.
As far as the content goes in these arcs I can't really say what will end up happening within them because that'd be spoilers and I also don't know the specifics either, but I can say this. Almost everything that is looking to happen in the future has been/ will be hinted at in the story thus far, so you should have a general idea of what is going to happen later in the story. If you want to know more specifics than feel free to hit me up in the PM and I'll tell you whatever I can, but until then this is all I can really say. Also as of right now, we haven't even started the first of the five remaining arcs which is tragic.
Basically I'm saying that this shit ain't getting completed for another 10 million years. If I keep writing consistently throughout the rest of the year, and don't stop to play Bayonetta 3 and God of War Ragnorok, then I might be able to complete this shit by like new years-ish, which is too late for me. I literally just want to be done with this damn story. However, I promise I won't rush through the ending or anything like that, I'm going to make sure that the quality only continues to improve even if that increases the length of the story as a whole.
Another thing that I want to get a bit of feedback on for this story in particular is how you all feel about its overall pacing. I think that its too slow, but at this point now that we're this far in its hard for me to gauge what portions of the story created this kinda issue and how I could improve it going forward. The other thing I wanted to get your input on is the inclusion of Canonical events in Rwby's story. More specifically I wanted to know if you enjoyed the fact that almost everything in this story is completely original or if you felt that I should've made sure I showed more of the canon events. I think that these are the two issues that'll effect my writing a lot more in the future and thus change how I approach the rest of the story.
I've been putting the pedal to the metal but goddamn there just isn't enough time in a day to write all this shit. However, I'm gonna keep putting my best foot forward in trying to finish this story in a reasonable amount of time, hopefully sooner rather than later. I really hope you guys can stay patient with me as I work to complete this lowkey dumpster fire of a fanfiction.
Thank you for reading if you did! Please review as always and I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 64: Divided
"It has been more than a week since you've begun preparing for this human woman's arrival" Lilith said matter of factly, not bothering to turn her attention towards the two individuals that arrived behind her. The place that they found themselves in was for the most part unfamiliar, an empty abandoned building on the far south side of the industrial district. The building didn't look much different from the ones that the Demon Clan had control over, and it seemed to be more spacious than even there largest buildings, but because of how out of the way and isolated the building is Nova guessed it was the reason it remained completely abandoned. Although it was similar to the buildings that Nova knew the interior was a quite a bit different.
It was as if the entire interior of the building had been completely renovated, having absolutely nothing inside except for scorch marks from what looked like fire, deep gashes from bladed weapons, and numerous other wounds that appeared to be from a battle between powerful beings. The Basilisk alerted Nova that she would meet with Byakko once more, but she said that she would only do so on her terms, and this building seemed to be those terms. The abandoned warehouse was extremely out of the way from everything, having Nova and Byakko travel far passed Hel's Kitchen to arrive at Lilith's chosen location. "Why here, sister!?" Before Nova could even get a greeting out Byakko growled out her question, flashing her fangs as she spoke.
"You know this place Byakko?" As her master asked her the question the angered tiger suddenly turned somber, avoiding meeting her master's eyes in an expression that Nova could only recognize as guilt.
"Sorry Master" she responded, giving no context to her response.
"Sorry for what?" he thought.
But the question that he didn't vocalize wasn't answered, instead he was greeted with Lilith's enthralling antagonistic tone of voice as she continued speaking as if Byakko didn't speak at all. "Eight days of time focused entirely on a human woman that may or may not arrive and also may or may not assist you in your goal in 'bettering the future' of Remnant. Is that right My King? This is your goal is it not?"
For a moment the King was given pause, not exactly sure what Lilith's goal of asking the question was, but then he chose to answer the question anyway. "Yeah, I mean, it's one of my goals."
"Would you say that it's your main goal? The objective that you wish to accomplish the most?"
"…uhm," it took a moment for him to find the answer to Lilith's question within his mind, but at the end of the day it only came down to two goals. Solving the problems that Nova knew were going to occur in Remnant to leave the world better than where he found it and protecting the world from the Stygian~Animus invasion, that was it. Although they were two different goals, they still both fell under the idea of 'bettering the future' of Remnant, so his answer was simple. "Yeah, I guess it is. But why are you asking me these questions?"
The white-haired lamia then slithered towards the duo, effectively ignoring the increasingly aggressive glare that she received from Byakko. "I could very easily guess that this was your main objective, My King, and it is a goal that I respect to a certain degree. You've sacrificed quite a bit thus far in your attempt to make things right, caring not for your own desires in order to achieve the betterment of Remnant kind. Not a moment missed since you've arrived in this world. Truly impressive. I am in awe." Lilith's sarcastic haughty tone wasn't missed by either of the woman's guests. While Nova was used to the way that she spoke and actively looked for the underlying intention behind them, Byakko was only moments from pouncing on the snake woman. "But" she began, "the real question is not 'what is your main objective?', the real question is why do you feel the need to do this?"
"Why? Because it's my job. It's my duty as the Awakened One or just as one of the Awakened in general to do so. You know this Lilith" Nova replied.
The woman who had her name called rolled her eyes at her King's response. "No, wrong. That is not your duty. It is not my duty, it is not Byakko's duty, and more than anyone else it is especially not your duty" she repeated. "You are the Awakened One, you are supposed to be stopping the Stygian~Animus invasion by killing the Legion King, and in the process grow more powerful so that you may eventually lead the rest of the Awakened to victory in destroying the Animus all together. Have you forgotten this?"
Lilith's responses were getting a bit more concise each time and for the first time in a while he felt that he was finally getting closer to the truth of the Goddesses feelings, but even still he didn't understand the reasoning behind her sudden accusation. Was it because she felt as if he lost sight of his duty? Did it also tie into the fact that she might think that he was interfering too much in Remnant's timeline? To a certain degree it would make sense, but then again with only pieces of information and Lilith avoiding direct answers it still left him guessing. "I didn't forget about it. I couldn't forget about it. My whole reason for being alive right now is because of that purpose. But even still, there is no telling when the Stygian~Animus will invade so in the meantime while I 'wait' I figured that it would be best if I tried to help out Remnant and prevent the negative events that I know are going to occur. What is your point Lilith? Do you think I'm associating to much with the people of Remnant or something? Am I doing something wrong? Please tell me."
For a moment, only a second, Lilith's straight-faced façade faltered and behind it Nova was greeted with a somber expression filled with concern, but as quickly as it appeared it disappeared. "How do you not understand." With clenched fists and barred fangs Lilith began with, "since you don't seem to want to understand My King, allow me to put it this way. We've been speaking often about the importance of Dungeons not only to growing more powerful in this world, but also to weakening the invading Animus. 'Dungeons are mass gatherings of Animus that exists within a World waiting to be released.' As we spoke before, this sounds like the Animus are lying in wait in Dungeons awaiting an event that will allow them to begin reigning destruction upon Remnant. Whether the trigger for their release is the arrival of the Legion King or some other meaningful event is not important. The important thing is that destroying dungeons is key to ensure the safety of Remnant's people." From here Lilith began using her magic to create a illusory map of all of Remnant, highlighting the important cities in red.
"Up until this point, in the months that you have arrived here, you have completely cleared two major areas. Vale and Atlas. In doing so you've grown quite a bit in strength and more importantly to yourself ensured the safety of both of these nations if the invasion was to occur. However, what about the other dungeons that need to be conquered?" From here, she eliminated two small markers on the map that represented both Vale and Atlas respectively, leaving the rest of the red map marks glowing actively.
"To my count, there are still five major locations that need to be cleared of their dungeons. The Kingdom of Mistral, the large city Mantle, the Kingdom of Vacuo, the entire continent of Menagerie, and of course the odd Draco shaped continent. On the continent Anima, all of Mistral needs to be cleared which will take time, lots of time. Mistral is a very large kingdom with cities of Vale's proportions in numerous places. Mistral is however the least of your worries."
Once she finished the plight of conquering Mistral's dungeons, she eliminated that continent from her black mist of a map, then focusing on the red marker that was right below where Atlas was previously. "You still must find a way to access the city Mantle without drawing attention from the city above. I highly doubt Atlas will allow a foreign flight vessel to pass through its air space even if it is flown at a low altitude, so you will need to configure a way to do so. Before you even think about it, I already checked and found that jumping off the floating city of Atlas is neigh impossible to do without heavy resistance."
"That then accounts for both Solitas, the continent which Atlas floats over, and Anima, where Mistral is located." Once she removed both Anima and Solitas from her map, she then pointed Nova's focus towards the other side of the largest continent in Remnant. "After both of these you still need to find way and reason to travel to Vacuo. Where you will be met with harsh climate, nomadic peoples, and a weak government with no structure. This could mean one of two things, one, the people are so spread out that no dungeons can form, or two, there are just enough people in these tribes for dungeons to form, thus making it even more difficult to complete them all in a timely manner."
"Then you must conquer the dungeons in Menagerie where the Faunus are packed like sardines, thus making the number of individual dungeons increase astronomically. Taking up even more of your precious time." From here it was pretty much clear to Nova the issues that Lilith was having not only with Nova, but Remnant as a whole, but the way she was going about things was pissing Byakko. However, she remained in control of her own actions long enough to allow Lilith to continue speaking. "Lastly, you then have the Draco continent where according to you Evernight exists, Salem lives, and thus Grimm are created. There aren't any people here, but you will be met with much resistance whenever you step foot on that continent, and somehow you are expected to conquer every dungeon that forms on it if you wish to protect this world." The snake woman's eyes suddenly turned aggressive as she glared at the map she presented to her King, unintentionally pointing the anger at Nova himself. "However, instead of attacking the Dungeons in mass, skipping school in order to focus on growing in strength, or even simply ignoring the people of this world to do your proper duty, you've spent the last eight days preparing for the arrival of a woman of no true importance. A waste of time." In a bout of clear irritancy Lilith crushed the map beneath her first, throwing the misty black substance to the side as she glared uncontrollably at her King.
"You've been doing the same thing since you've arrived in Remnant. Wasting your time assisting Remnants Inhabitants that have no importance in the grand scheme of things, building personal relationships with pointless people, helping with menial tasks that do nothing but add meals to your already full plate! You constantly allow more and more of these meaningless people to bring you more and more stress, harming you to an unnecessary degree! I cannot stand for this! They are meaningless, and they don't deserve to hurt you!" Nova was astonished from Lilith's exclamation, not realizing that the little stress that he's been going through had been affecting Lilith this much. Especially not thinking that it would get to the point that she'd renounce everyone in Remnant if it meant that her King would experience a bit more ease.
Byakko however did not see things this way for the only thing that was preventing her from starting a fight that she was sure she'd win was the man that stood next to her. She had full knowledge of Lilith's beliefs since the beginning, and now all she saw was that Lilith was glaring in anger at her master. She was livid beyond anything she felt before. But instead of attacking, she opted to vent her anger through her words. "What is your purpose in asking these questions snake?! You request us to come to this location, you intentionally demine Master in my presence, you act haughtily like you are superior to anyone here! All that leaves me to conclude is that you wish for another battle! If it is a fight you want, it is a beating you deserve!" Nova raised an eyebrow at Byakko's words, eyes moving between the tiger, the snake, and the numerous battle scars across the building, quickly creating the connection between each of these pieces of evidence.
"Wait, they've fought here before?" He thought, connecting the dots between the way Byakko spoke and the physical evidence of a battle on the abandoned building.
"Oh, Sister, are you sure you wish to use those kinds of words in front of your Master? He may learn of the things that you've been keeping secret since I've grown." Once she finished that one thought Lilith turned her attention back to Nova, and after taking one look at his face she let out a light chuckle. "It would appear it's too late Sister. Would you like to explain, or should I? I would do so gladly if your too afraid to fess up to your own betrayal-"
"Be silent, Lilith" Byakko said, cutting off the Basilisk before she could safe anything else. "Allow me to make myself clear, I have never, not once, not even through thought, have ever even remotely betrayed my Master. Not a moment in time goes by when I do not think of how to improve upon his own life while also valuing his wishes and goals more so than my own life. Lilith, you are the only one here that has betrayed Master's wishes. You are the only one at fault for what has occurred."
Lilith scoffed at her words, "feel free to believe that nonsense. You've brought me here on numerous occasions to 'hash out our differences', it is not the other way around. You thought you could put me in my place, force me into submission because of my love for my King. As an equal, not as a servant. I will always do what is best for My King, not allowing anything to get in the way of his health. After all, what kind of servant allows her master to risk his own health to help the helpless?"
"A servant that truly loves her master, unlike you" Byakko replied smugly.
"A lie. It's a servant that doesn't truly care for her Master. Remnant's inhabitants are not worthy of My King's wellbeing, so if they must be left to their own fate then I will let them! And you are not worthy of forcing me to do otherwise! No one is." The tension between the duo had grown beyond containment and Lilith began filling the room with her black fog and the demonic red eyes of her Grimm Disciples began peering through the substance.
Seeing the smoky mist begin to fog the room, Nova immediately spoke up to stop the battle that was about to take place. "Woah, wait calm the fuck down. Let's talk this shit out" Nova exclaimed, but his words fell on deaf ears as they continued their electrified screaming match that was rapidly evolving into a death bout.
"You'd rather chain your King to his throne than respect his wishes to put his life on the line to help others. You'd kill thousands of innocence that your King wished to protect if it meant that he'd experience only the slightest reduction in stress. That's not love, nor is it even respect. That is pure malicious insanity. The people of Remnant are under my Master's care and since that is his wish, his desire, I will do everything in my power to make that desire become a reality. I refuse to allow you to inflict your insanity on my Master or the people that my Master desires to protect! So, if I must put you in your place once more, beat you into submission so you will fall in line, than I will do so gladly!" At this point Byakko was electrified, baring her metallic claws completely without care for the consequence it would bring later.
Lilith's rage peaked; the crimson magical circuits that ran across her entire form glew brighter than they ever had before. Without warning, the Basilisk unshackled her own limits, rapidly growing back to her original size, growing far taller than either of the two before her. "I cannot stand you! Since the day I appeared in this world you've been trying to chain me underneath your wretched idea of servitude! I refuse to abide by the ideals of one who believes that they are less than! I am no man's slave! I am no woman's servant! I will never again exist underneath anyone, not god, not devil, not even Nova Pollux himself! So, I will certainly not exist underneath you!" By the time the Goddess had finished her denouncing of Byakko, and her beliefs Lilith had already grown back to her full size. In her massive state it was the first time Nova could truly say that he understood why she was called the Consumer Of Worlds.
Even while coiled her length seemed to be at least 100ft (30.5m) long and her massive humanoid body, even without legs, had the size and stature of a 10ft (3m) tall Demoness of incredible power. The crimson symbols etched into each and every void black scale along her tail began pulsating with energy and the long-linked chain that snaked across her entire form like a tattoo glew brighter than everything else. With every passing moment the surrounding black mist whipped wildly like a tornado, swirling, slashing, and shearing through the air, creating a building wide storm of malevolent energy. Through the storm same the peering eyes of her disciples, waiting patiently for the command to be released.
At the same moment, Byakko's fur turned from white to black and her former claws transformed into a massive great sword that was more than the full length of the seven-foot-tall (2.1m) woman's torso, ending in its downward hold at her ankles. Even as massive as the blade was, the woman held it in a single hand like a tree branch and with her free hand she applied a razor-sharp, chainsaw like, emerald, green wind edge to her weapon, massively boosting its sharpness. The Grimm assimilated tiger then wasted no time gripping her chosen weapon in both paws then cladding herself in blue lighting that crackled loudly even in the whipping tornado of blackened mist. She was more than ready to demolish anything in her path as she prepared to put Lilith back in her place once more. "This Is The Final Time I Will Force You To Obey! After This There Will Be No More Dissent Towards My Master!"
Lilith chuckled a maniacal laughter that came out distorted and evil through the storm of mist. "Feel free to try. However, there is no chance that I will allow you to beat me down again. Tonight, is the night I break free from your shackles Byakko. I will never lose again!" The peering eyes suddenly became more than eyes as their bodies glew a bloody red and the crimson chain tattoos along Lilith's body looked as if they were about to burst.
| Lilith |
Lilith is requesting your permission to shatter her shackles, surpass her limits, and unleash the Legions of Demons that are being withheld by her shadows.
Lilith is about to activate the Skill Rapture! Will you allow her to do so?
Y/N
Nova watched what was unfolding before him with wide eyes and a slacked jaw. Even as the notification popped into his mind, he couldn't gather himself together to fully understand the reasoning why Byakko and Lilith were about to come to serious blows over such a simple difference of opinion. As the mist sliced against his ears and the crackling of lighting echoed throughout his eardrums all he could wonder was, "how did this happen? Is this what Lilith wanted to happen? Is that the reason she asked Byakko to come here? She wanted to settle the score with Byakko over all the times she beat her down before, but even still, why have they been fighting in the first place?" The question baffled him. Lilith and Byakko were his companions that he himself brought into this world via the use of the System and because of that he had a deeper connection with the both of them that he didn't share with the other people in Remnant.
No matter how close he got with Neyah, Nix, Glynda and everyone else he was romantically involved with, Lilith and Byakko would always be a level deeper. So, seeing them fight on this level, over what was essentially himself, brought a level of sadness to him that nothing in Remnant hit him with yet.
However, even in this depressive state he knew that he couldn't allow them to destroy one another over a disagreement of ideals as small as this. Nova hardened his heart for a moment, blocking out the fact that these two were people that he loved more than anything in life, and thus he allowed himself to think clearly for a moment. "No, don't let Lilith activate Rapture."
Lilith's request to activate Rapture has been declined!
In that instant, the glowing red bodies of the emerging Grimm from Lilith's shadow disappeared, reverting back to the red eyes peering through the cloud of darkness. The Basilisk physically grimaced at the rejection, but (YN) managed to ignore the expression and think, "Angered Roar, Bind, Bind," Pink chains suddenly erupted from the ground, wrapping themselves around both the massive serpent Lilith and the muscular tiger Byakko, holding them tightly in their positions for moments. The angered goddesses then turned their attentions to the only man who could've done an attack like this. Once their eyes met Nova angrily said, "You have exactly three seconds to stop this bullshit before I have to step in and stop it for you… One" the angered roar effect took hold of the two women for only moments, but then the fear and stat decreases disappeared soon after.
Byakko said somberly as she looked at her Master, "I'm Sorry Master, But I Cannot Let Lilith Get Away With This Any Longer. She Does Not Respect Or Love You Enough To Listen To Your Wishes, Thus She Must Pay For Her Crime."
"Two."
"Byakko must be corrected regardless of whether you want this to occur or not My King. I will not apologize for liberating myself or doing what is best for you. If you choose to get in my way… then…" Lilith never finished her thought, instead she grimaced further and flexed her tail hard enough to shatter the chains that surrounded her. At the same moment, Byakko did the same, lifting her arms slightly to remove the chains from her body and turning her sword so it was prepped to be swung at any moment.
"Thr-" Before Nova even finished counting to three a trumpeting roar suddenly erupted from beyond the mist and immediately following the roar came a massive Elephant Grimm trampling its way through the building with its tusks pointed directly at Byakko. The Grimm barreled its tusks into the Tiger Grimm, but Byakko managed to block the beasts charge with her sword. However, the attack sent her flying backwards towards the wall of the building, just barely recovering midair, and planting her legs on the wall to stop from taking any damage. The tiger then launched herself off the wall, sending herself soaring down towards the elephant Grimm. As she flew, she began spinning to gain strength for her swing, and once the Mammoth was within her range she angrily grunted as she slashed a deep gash into the Grimm's mask.
After slicing a gash into the beast's mask causing quite a bit of shadowy black blood to erupt from the wound, the Mammoth retaliated with its tusks, thrusting upward at the woman. Byakko easily blocked the stabbing trust, listening as the metallic clang from the clash echoed throughout the room and allowing the attack to send her higher into the air. At the same moment, Lilith ordered her Disciple to attack once more, having the beast shoot masses of Ice Crystals from its back into the air, targeting the free falling Byakko. The tiger woman took the attack head on, allowing her Aura to take the damage from the shards of ice and at the same time she activated two more skills, "Táifēng, Qiángfēng," filling her maw with wind mana and cloaking her blade in wind blades. Once the hail of glass like ice slid across her Aura Byakko allowed the compressed wind to flare from her lips, sending it soaring into the face of the Grimm's large head. The moment it made contact with the beast the ball of compressed torrential wind erupted in blades that cut deeply into the Mammoth's already damaged mask. However, the beast didn't react in the slightest, taking the blow as if it were a gust of wind.
The Megoliath instead stood up on both of its hind legs on Lilith's command and slammed it's massive feet against the ground, allow large pillars of rocks to fly from the ground like a bed of nails waiting for Byakko to impale herself on them. Instead of adjusting her trajectory to better avoid the incoming spikes, the Grimm clad tiger kept falling at an increased speed, getting closer and closer to the jagged rocks below. However, right before she made contact with the extremely jagged edged rocks, she activated a skill. "Demonic Walk." The Skill she attained from deepening her relationship with her Master allowed her to teleport from the air, right above the spikes below, to directly in front of the Grimm Elephant's already severely damaged mask in an instant.
Without a moment of hesitation, Byakko reeled her sword back, holding her sword in both hands in an overhead stabbing motion, and thought, "Cì chuān." Byakko's once reeled back sword suddenly began glowing with black energy before being rocketed into the Mammoth's damaged mask. The super powered piercing black energy attack Skill that was enhanced by the wind blades slipped deeply into the Megoliath's mask, piercing into its head with ease. Byakko's blade was able to sink half of itself into the skull of the beast, and once the blade was snuggled into place Byakko activated another of her Skills, "Mábì Fāzuò." Blue lighting was immediately conducted directly through Byakko's godly body, into her weapon of choice, and into the entire body of the Alpha Megoliath, frying the beast from the inside out.
The electricity illuminated from the Grimm and the sounds of cackling lightning emanated from the still standing Grimm. As Byakko's attack completed its course and she removed her blade from the inside of the Grimm's skull, the Megoliath's body began releasing smoke from every open orifice on its form. But even from that devastating attack, upon Lilith's command the beast let out a bellowing Trumpet and rammed its tusks at Byakko once more, but from the shadows emerged a massive Bear like Grimm that was covered in ice and large wolf like Grimm that was also covered in ice.
Each of the new Grimm attacked without warning, the wolf like creature dashing in quickly to slam its jaws around her shoulder and the bear emerging from behind her to gouge a massive chunk of flesh out of her back. However, Byakko's fur turned from black to white, and she used the immense speed boost from the form to dodge the incoming attacks. In the same motion she turned the large great sword into metallic claws that functioned as finger blades. Even while being outnumbered Byakko immediately got to work attacking the surrounding Grimm, starting with the smallest of the group, the Grimm ice wolf.
Name: Boss Alpha Megoliath
Age: ?
Race: Grimm
Title: Disciple of Lilith, Area Boss
Lvl: 100
HP: 81750/81750
MP: 2675/26750
Attributes:
STR; 1310, {+350}
END; 2509, {+500}
DEX; 505
VIT: 1515
INT; 105
LUK; 101
Nova watched as the Mammoth Grimm slammed its tusks into Byakko's sword, sending the tiger woman flying towards the wall. Normally he would immediately start to help her out, but now was not the time. "That should keep her occupied for a while" he thought, turning his attention from Byakko's onslaught to the snake woman that summed the beast in the first place. Lilith was curled up in a coil with her humanoid body raised high into the air. After she ordered the Megoliath to attack Byakko she quickly allowed another large Grimm to come into existence in front of her, guarding her from her King's harsh glare. The beast that Lilith summoned was best described as a quadrupedal wingless dragon, or possibly the unholy offspring between a T-Rex and a triceratops.
The head was that of the prehistoric armless apex predator with its toothy mouth, angular shape, and sharp bloodshot eyes. The top of its head was covered with the usual white and red armored Grimm mask, but atop its head, and extended from its armored face, were three long thick horns like that of the triceratops. Each of the horns were the same size and were in a triangular shape, tho they were angled backwards so they didn't appear to add any offensive capabilities. From there the rest of its body was fairly standard for most Grimm, back covered in spiky bone-like protrusions and plated in bone armor, fours clawed paws, and an extremely long muscular tail that swung side to side eagerly. On all fours the Grimm was still about seven and a half feet tall (2.3m) and within its partially parted jaws was a mixture of both fire and ice energies.
Name: Komodusk
Age: ?
Race: Grimm
Title: Disciple of Lilith
Lvl: 113
HP: 48200/48200
MP: 34525/34525
Attributes:
STR; 1755
END; 821
DEX; 944
VIT: 831
INT; 1379
LUK; 120
From behind the large Grimm Lilith spoke, "this doesn't concern you, my King. Allow me to quickly handle my business with Byakko and from then onward everything will remain as it were. I cannot allow her to continue treating me like this. I'm sure you understand, my King." Amidst the thrashing black mist that was completely under Lilith's command the Komodusk began pacing back and forth, waiting patiently for its master to allow it to attack. Once Lilith's words reached him, for a moment, he allowed his heart to soften once more and unclenched his fist to respond to her comments.
"Because this issue deals with both you and Byakko it has everything to do with me. I believe I do understand why your doing this, but I can't say for sure. But why does it have to come to this? Why can't we just talk things out?" After he asked the question, Lilith grimaced and the Komodusk began to get antsy, gnashing its teeth and growling deeply. "I'm not sayin that you don't deserve your freedom, nor am I saying that Byakko wasn't in the wrong here. She shouldn't have done what she has done to you but trying to beat her ass in front of me isn't gonna help. It'd be for the best if you called off your Disciples and we settled this in an orderly manner" he spoke, vocally giving Lilith one last chance to back down before he had to get involved.
Lilith hissed loudly at Nova's response, "you don't seem to understand at all! If you did you would allow me and Byakko to finish this the same way it began. Alone. One versus One. She brought me here when I was just a Snakelet, forcing me into submission with her own much greater strength. She abused her power to make me obey! But now that I am powerful enough to stand up for myself, to fight on her level as an equal, you want me to stop and talk things out! I cannot allow it! If you truly understood or even cared, then you'd allow me a chance to make things right." After seeing the passion in Lilith's eyes Nova was given pause and he allowed himself to think about the current situation unfolding before him.
As soon as everything began to boil over his first thought was to stop Byakko and Lilith from fighting by any means necessary. From this thought birthed the belief that he needed to physically beat both Byakko and Lilith into submission so they could then talk things out from there but looking at the current situation he had already failed. Turning his head, Nova watched as Byakko elegantly slashed through three different Grimm that were ravenously attacking her from all angles, each acting on Lilith's commands even as they spoke. "They're already fighting, and they already are mad enough at one another that they completely ignored my plea for them to stop. So, maybe it will be good for them to hash things out now and talk about it later. Plus, if Byakko did really start this as a way to force Lilith to obey her than this is a big deal, and she will need to be reprimanded." After mulling it over for a moment the man who brought the duo into this world came to a conclusion. "Fine. I'll let you duke it out, but the instant things go to far I'm stepping in." Without saying another word Nova leaped far out of the way of the snake and tiger's battle, allowing them to go all out in there bout for supremacy.
Name: Alpha Sabyr-Wolf
Age: ?
Race: Grimm
Title: Disciple of Lilith
Lvl: 126
HP: 53900/53900
MP: 9550/9550
Attributes:
STR; 1293
END; 771
DEX; 1678
VIT: 892
INT; 379
LUK; 127
Name: Grizzled Major
Age: ?
Race: Grimm
Title: Disciple of Lilith
Lvl: 124
HP: 90050/90050
MP: 50/50
Attributes:
STR; 1275
END; 258
DEX; 630
VIT: 1657
INT; 0
LUK; 0
The moment Nova decided to step out of the way it was as though the waring Goddesses simultaneously stopped holding back for his sake and within a moment's notice it felt as if the entire massive, abandoned building was about to crumble to the ground. Lilith wasted no time ordering the Komodusk forward having the beast join in on the onslaught that was hailing on Byakko, but that wasn't nearly enough to satisfy her. From the now thinning mist came numerous Grimm that immediately began attacking the tiger with all of their strength, sending hails of feathers, swiping with their talons, and shooting ice from their breaths to bring a swift end to the tiger.
However, through the onslaught Byakko fought valiantly, dodging whenever necessary, taking hits in order to retaliate greatly with her own strength, and rapidly enhancing her own prowess during the fight to eventually gain the upper hand on Lilith's disciples. In one such attempt, the entire structure was suddenly cloaked in a mass of paralytic electricity and a swirling whirlwind of green mana blades erupted from where a now orange furred Byakko stood, and from these wind blades came oozing chunks of blackened flesh that had been torn apart from their owners. Lightning then began to chain across each of the surrounding Grimm, cooking the beasts from the inside as they were helpless to respond to the attack.
Immediately following the paralysis and searing of the masses of Disciples Byakko teleported outside of the Grimm's immediate attacking range and made a quick attempt at Lilith's health. However, she was met with an array of crimson laser beams that halted her movement slightly as she needed to defend against the attack. While she dodged the snakes beams of death, Lilith formed three masses of tar like mana at her sides and launched them at Byakko. The now white tiger was easily able to dodge the tar and continue closing the distance on the world consuming serpent, using her blades to send slashes of wind and electricity at Lilith to keep her from retaliating quickly.
Instead of defending against the attacks, Lilith allowed her Aura to shield them for her, and while she had a moment of free movement, she pulled an electrified yellow dust crystal from her shadow and quickly consumed it. The effects were immediate, and Nova watched as Lilith's hair turned from white to bright yellow. A similar thing happened to all of her Grimm and using their newly acquired electric properties they easily broke free of Byakko's lightning bindings.
Without regard for the sudden effect change, Byakko leaped at Lilith with her claws poised to strike and Lilith was forced to snake out of her way in order to avoid taking a dangerous slash against her more vulnerable humanoid portion of her body. Byakko's metallic claws instead scratched deeply into Lilith's hardened scales, cracking them heavily on impact. It then became apparent to the Celestial being that the only part of the body that Lilith was able to cover with her aura was her human portion.
Byakko then immediately coated her claws once more in wind and attempted to make another slash at the same damaged scales across the snakes body, but before she was able to capitalize, she felt a stabbing pain erupt from her side. At the same moment, a dull electricity found its way into her form, not effecting her in the slightest bit. Byakko turned and immediately recognized that the pain came from a large yellow snake that she hadn't seen before. It was far more physical than Lilith's usual summons and she quickly recognized that it had risen from the now electrified tar pits that the basilisk had launched at her earlier.
Byakko immediately slashed her wind enhanced claw across the neck of the yellow summon, severing its head from body and sending it back to the realm it came from, but she was quickly met again by the other two beastly snakes that her opponent had brought into existence. The power of the two snakes was just barely enough to by the horde of Grimm enough time to maul her once more and soon Byakko found herself in the same situation that she was in before. Except this time the Grimm had been enhanced with Yellow Dust making her paralytic crowd control attacks much less effective and with every moment her disadvantage only increased.
She did however still manage to easily navigate through the numerous attacks from the Grimm, continuously slaying the weak links while chipping away quickly at the much larger more powerful Disciples. Using her Celestial White Tiger forms unmatchable speed and the quickness of her claws it was almost impossible for the Grimm to land powerful attacks on her. Plus in this form she was able to activate her Semblance Venus's Heat which slowly burned the surrounding Grimm to death.
Nova watched the battle unfold with a hint a nervousness, seeing how they were truly being cutthroat about 'taking care' of one another. He cringed with every hit of damage they laid on one another and every moment the fight continued on part of him wanted to step in and force them to stop. However, he knew he couldn't, at least not with a clean conscious he couldn't. "This is what they wanted. They wanted to fight it out so I'll let them fight it out." It was a painful sight to see. Two people that he loved greatly viscously attempting to tear the other apart and having the skillset, power, and ability to do so. It made him sick. But still, he watched with an analytical eye to ensure that whenever a clear victor arose, he could step in and stop it. Unfortunately, that time never truly arose.
Byakko was far stronger than Lilith and in a true one on one she would come up on top every time. The only stat lines that were comparable for the two was their attack potency, INT or STR, although Byakko still had the upper hand whenever she switched to either her Grimm or Champawat forms. However, Lilith easily made up for it in flexibility. With her being able to summon numerous different creatures of unique backgrounds and abilities, control each of the beasts individually, completely change the elemental property of all of them on a dime, and freely blast magic whenever she wished, she was too much of a wild card to easily handle.
This wasn't even taking into account the fact that she can decrease her opponents strength and effectively shrink them in size, or the fact that she could do the same thing to herself to hide from her opponent until the battle was over. However, it became evident very soon that Lilith wanted to win straight up with no real bullshit. She didn't shrink herself in size or run away, she didn't spam magical attacks while her Disciples were hording her, she wouldn't even change the Dust enhancement she applied to her Disciples until the previous effect wore off. Lilith wanted to win, but she wanted to do so on her own terms.
It was a long and drawn-out battle. Byakko would take numerous hits as she battles through the hordes of Grimm and Lilith's MP and AU would slowly decrease in size as Byakko culled through her Disciples, and whenever Byakko broke free she'd manage to do massive damage to the Creation Consuming Basilisk before eventually being forced to back off again and fight through the horde of Grimm to do damage once again. However, it eventually came down to the wire. Lilith was extremely low on MP and couldn't hold a proper Summon for longer than a minute while also being completely out of Aura, so all of her Dust properties had disappeared. Byakko wasn't doing much better as her Aura had long since run out and her HP wasn't doing much better either. Her mana was gone so she was unable to enhance herself further or use any of her special skills that allowed her to attack from a range, but even still she had a prideful expression as if she had already won. "You're out of Mana for your Disciples I see" Byakko exclaimed with a small grin. "I believe that spells trouble For Your Ability To Remain Effecting In Battle." As the tiger spoke, she transformed back into her Grimm assimilated form, transforming her claws into its great sword counter-part.
Lilith still continued her confident expression, not even hinting at the possibility of being in a bad position. "Do you really think so? How unsightly of you to believe that your win is guaranteed now that I may not summon freely." The Basilisk slowly allowed her scales to crawl up into her human form, transforming her back into her natural beastly shape. "I have been prepared to end this fight with my own strength." In her fully blackened Basilisk form Lilith's body was covered in cracked scales bleeding acidic crimson blood, numerous magical circuits like tattoos, a mouth that opened with the color of blood, and two large black fangs that were poised to strike. Byakko on the other hand remained in her Faunus form, choosing to take advantage of the smaller size and greater swiftness to guarantee herself the victory.
Nova watched in silence as he unknowingly held his breath, waiting for the victor to be decided. "You Will Respect My Master's Wishes. Allow This To Be The Final Blow To Certify Your Submission!"
"After I pin you to the dirt and threaten to swallow you whole there will never be another day, another night, another moment in which you will command me to do a damn thing! I will do what I see is best for My King!"
Chapter 65: Upside
Without a moment of hesitation Lilith erupted from her coil, springing herself extraordinarily quickly at the standing and waiting Byakko. The large Basilisk flew forwards with her jaws filled with razor edged teeth wide open and within moments her fangs were in optimal position to tear the flesh from Byakko's body. However, before the fangs managed to sink into the tiger's skin Byakko lifted her large sword and blocked the incoming attack with ease. The clang of a sharpened sword meeting deadly black fangs echoed throughout the empty building, but the snake and tiger's initial clash was far from over as the two of them refused to give the other even a centimeter of advantage. Lilith used her incredible size and weight to push back against Byakko's immense natural strength, shoving her deeper and deeper into the concrete below. The Basilisk's strength was far too much for the ground to hold and after only a moment of her exuding her maximum physical strength the concrete crumbled underneath the demonic strength of Lilith, putting Byakko into a deep crater beneath the massive snake.
Although Byakko was much stronger than Lilith, she couldn't overcome the snake's weight driven might and with her now being on uneven ground in the crater it was even tougher for her to utilize her full strength to push the fangs from her sword. Lilith's fangs slowly pushed Byakko deeper and deeper into the ground, expanding the crater with every further expulsion of her strength, Byakko instantly determined that it wouldn't be long before her arms gave in and she was forced to take a harsh attack from Lilith's fangs. Thus, Byakko was forced to take the loss of their initial interaction. The Grimm assimilated tiger then released her arms from her weapon of choice, immediately leaping from the jaws of the Basilisk in the process. Lilith's fangs closed with unimaginable strength at a speed that could barely be registered by the naked eye, missing Byakko's tail by mere millimeters as they slammed shut on the woman's great sword.
Lilith's snake body rose from the crater that she had created with an eerie smirk and once she had reached her full height once more, she looked down upon Byakko with her crimson slitted eyes and spoke, "oh, it seems that you've lost your weapon to my jaws, Byakko. I believe this spells quite a bit of trouble for you to remain effective in battle. In this sort of situation, don't you believe that it'd be best if you simply give up and grant me my victory?"
"Sword Or No Sword, I Will Never Give In." Byakko then allowed herself to transform from a tall Faunus woman to an absolutely massive tiger Grimm, armed to the teeth with sharpened fangs, elongated claws, and a spiked tail reminiscent of a mace. "I May Have Lost My Weapon, But That Does Not Mean I Do Not Have More To Utilize." The Celestial White Tiger and Infinite Void Basilisk stared daggers into each other once more, but this time was truly different. The air fell entirely still as the intensity between the two grew and for a series of moments it seemed as if the intense glares between the duo brough upon a physical toxicity in the air. This toxicity, this intensity, these glares, it was quickly becoming clear to Nova that the feeling permeating through the air was not a simple form a battle determination or even an establishment of will. Byakko and Lilith were emitting pure bloodlust. The battle between these two was no longer about overcoming odds or making the other understand their ideals, it was rapidly turning into a death match.
"HRRRGGGGIISSSSSSSSSSS!/GGGRRRRAAAAAWWWRRGGGGGG!" With the sudden eruption of battle cries from the duo, Byakko immediately dashed at the snake, leaping into the air to bite directly into the snake's neck, at the same time Lilith rapidly coiled into her defensive position before launching herself at the tiger. At lightning speed Lilith's widened jaws were wrapping themselves around Byakko's body, but at the same moment Byakko's jaws were doing the same. That bottom of the Basilisk's jaw slammed its small razor-edged teeth into the large Grimm, hooking the tiger into place for her large fangs to meet their target. As the teeth sunk into Byakko's skin soliciting black blood to drool from the teeth's point of entry, the Grimm used her claws to strike backstabbing each of them into the Basilisk's lower jaw. Once her claws were hooked in, Byakko flexed her back muscles immensely and in moments the bone protrusions that lined her spine suddenly increased dramatically in length, jutting out from her spine like swords that were each twice the length of Lilith's fangs.
Although each of them was in immense pain from the others attack neither of them flinched in the slightest, and even though Lilith noticed the swords on the tiger's back she wasted no time slamming her fangs deep beneath Byakko's tiger form, stabbing her main weapons into the beasts body and just barely managing to close her jaws fully around the Grimm. However, at the same moment Byakko's bone swords dug deep into her head, stabbing all the way through her soft blood colored skin and exiting from beneath her scales. In mere moments both Lilith and Byakko had fully impaled one another in a sight that was not for the faint of heart. Shadowy black and an acidic crimson blood sprayed out from Lilith's jaws like a combusting firework, spraying everything within the area with the hellish combination of demonic blood. As the red met black the substance it created bubbled freakishly and as that same substance reached the metal walls the structure crumbled in moments allowing the blood combination to ooze down the walls like tears. The bloody tears only left holes in their paths and as they reached the concreate floors they only sunk deeper until eventually the acidity became weak enough for the concrete to keep shape.
However before Nova managed to even call the match quits the duo continued to hash out their vendetta in the most aggressive ways possible. Evidently the gruesome sight was only the beginning as neither party felt like giving up. Byakko, who had Lilith's fangs embedded deeply within her body, managed to muster a great amount of strength into her tail and swing the appendage with an amazing speed. Using the wined up of the swing, Byakko slammed her wrecking ball spiked tail into the Basilisk's eye, sinking the bones deeply into her iris and leaving her fully blinded on one side. "AAAARRRRRRRRHHHHHH!" Lilith erupted in pain, unconsciously releasing Byakko from the death grip between her jaws, As the fangs exited from Byakko's body the tiger leaped from the world consumer's jaws, landing harshly as she was too weak to properly hold herself up. "You fuckin bitch" she hissed in pain, reeling from the damage she had received on her eye.
From the ground, as Byakko slowly managed to regain her footing, the tiger chuckled quietly, "This Is What Happens When You Go Against My Masters Wishes. Since Words Aren't Good Enough, Allow Pain To Make You Understand!"
From high above the grounded Byakko Lilith slowly managed to return herself to her coils, turning herself back into her Faunus, Lamia, form to further protect her face from being attacked. "Fine!" she hissed out as she nursed her wound. "If pain is the only way for us to reach an understanding, I'll show you a similar kindness! Wrath!" As Lilith spoke the word a crimson ball of energy was formed at her side and within moments the energy beamed itself at the weakened Byakko, stabbing itself through her front leg. The beam simultaneously stabbed and burned as it seared its way through the tigers front leg, bringing the tiger back down on her back.
"GRRGGHH" Byakko groaned as the beam made contact with her limb, effectively making the appendage useless to her.
From her perch atop her own coils Lilith smirked at the grounded Byakko, watching as she struggled to stand. "It is over Byakko. You've lost."
"I… Haven't… Lost…" in the middle of her sentence, Byakko lost control of her form. Nova and Lilith watched as Byakko slowly turned from Grimm to white tiger, and when she couldn't manage to stand on her own with three out of four of her legs, she turned to Faunus to barely get back on her feet. "I… can't… lose" she could barely speak. In her Faunus form it became truly evident how much damage she had taken.
There were numerous gashes across her entire form, each of which bled a whitish blue colored blood without stopping, her right arm was hanging on by a thread of blueish flesh, showing off her rippling blue muscles and black bones that was always beneath her fluffy exterior. However, the worst of these injuries were the two large holes in her abdomen, one beneath her breast and the other diagonally across from it creating a hole in part of her pelvis. These holes were just that, holes, making it so anyone could see clearly to the other side of her body if looking at the right angle.
Lilith on the other hand looked much less worse for wear but the damage that she had taken was still severe. The snake woman's face was shredded with numerous deep cuts that left skin hanging off, her lips were practically non-existent with how many gashes removed the meat from them, and her eye was completely shredded, bleeding acidic teas from the wound constantly. Lilith's snake like body on the other hand was damaged heavily in numerous places from Byakko's attacks, removing entire portions of her scales to reveal her crimson muscle tissue below.
Looking at the two of them from a far left Nova in shambles. He knew for sure that they'd be fine as he was closely watching each of their HP's and had Meta alerting him whenever anything permanent might take effect, but even still seeing them taking this much damage and leaving one another in these dire states left him depressed. He let this happen. He wasn't vigilant enough to recognize that this conflict was rising between them. It was his fault. But amongst his self-pity and sadness there was still another feeling boiling inside of him. Anger. "Byakko" Nova spoke, getting both women's attention, "it's over. Your done. Humanity's Encouragement, Humanity's Encouragement." As soon as the skill activated the small wounds across the beastly summons bodies instantly disappeared as they were healed, and at the same time the bigger injuries that the duo received began healing at a rapid pace, stopping the bleeding and starting to close.
As Byakko's arm began slowly repairing itself, the woman herself immediately expressed her dissent to her Master's sudden healing. "What are you doing Master, I could've still fought! Lilith's victory was not assured!"
"Byakko, you could barely walk, your arm was useless, your hp was almost in triple digits, and Lilith still had MP in her tank. It would've only taken a single well-placed Wrath shot to put you completely out of commission, this fight is over. It's Lilith's win."
Byakko couldn't refute her Master's words, but at the same time she couldn't accept these results. "Do you understand what you are allowing her to do Master!? Lilith is unruly! She is purposefully undermining your own wishes to do what she believes is best for you! She's taking advantage of your kindness!" As soon as the words left her mouth a deadly energy filled the room and she was met with a glare that shook her very soul. Byakko's master stared at her with a hatred that she had never seen before and the look itself was enough to bring the tiger woman to her knees. "…what have I done, Master?" As Byakko fell to her knees tears began growing in her eyes. "Why do you look at me so, Master?"
"What do you call this then Byakko" Nova asked as he pointed around the room, showing off the location that they found themselves in.
"What do you mean Master? This was Lilith's doing."
"No the fuck it wasn't!" As her Master raised his voice Byakko must've shrunken to at least half of her original size. "What do you call bringing Lilith here to 'straighten her out' without my knowledge?"
"But, Master, I only did so with you in mind. I couldn't allow Lilith to continue to get away with disrespecting you and your wishes! Ever since the beginning she's been undermining your authority, going behind your back, and dissenting against the protection of Remnant! I had to do this for you Master!"
Byakko's heartfelt response only fueled Nova's anger even more, "the hypocrisy coming from your mouth is insane! You go behind my back and attack Lilith because you thought that it was what was in my best interest, right? But that is the exact same thing that you just chastised Lilith for in the first place! So, why is it ok for you to do it if its not ok for Lilith to? Is it because of your self-righteousness? Do you think that your better than Lilith? Morally superior to her?"
The more her Master's words slammed into her the further Byakko shrunk and eventually her ears folded in on themselves as her hypocrisies were revealed to her. Her tears continued to flow, but even still she mustered up the courage to answer her Masters questions. "No that's not why Master, I promise-"
"Then why?! Tell me!"
The words barely reached her quivering lips. Through Byakko's anguish she barely managed to cry out, "I-I don't…know. I just wanted to help you, Master." In a sudden moment of clarity Nova looked at Byakko's crying face and felt the tears being to well up within his own eyes.
He was beyond livid. Mad at Byakko, mad at Lilith, but more than anything he was mad at himself. Nova took a moment to take a deep breath of air to calm himself before gently placing his hand atop Byakko's soft hair. As he let out the inhale of air, in the softest tone he could manage, the woman's master said, "do you truly believe that Lilith doesn't feel the same way?" Byakko's master's words seemingly broke through her tears for a moment and with Nova's comforting hand on her head she managed to look up into his eyes.
"I'm honestly not mad that you felt the need to protect my goals, in fact I appreciate that, but I'm mad that you didn't tell me you felt this way. And more than anything I'm fucking pissed that you would ever put your hands on Lilith!" Nova lost control of the tone of his voice for a moment, but as he saw Byakko flinch back at his harsh tone he reigned his anger back in. "Listen, and listen closely, there is nothing more important to me in this universe than you and Lilith. I love Nix, Neyah, Glynda, and everyone else more than anything, but you two are the most special to me. We are connected deeply and that will never change. So, when the two of you fight it is by far the worst thing that could possibly happen to me."
Seeing the emotion within her Master's eyes made Byakko understand the depth of her mistake. She took advantage of her strength over Lilith, she went behind her Master's back to do so since she knew he wouldn't have approved of it otherwise, and in the process, she hurt the man she swore to help in anyway possible. "I am so, so, deeply sorry that I did this Master. I promise that I will never even think about doing anything without your notice ever again. I swear I will tell you any and everything. And above all, I will never attack Lilith ever again, under any circumstances, nor will I attempt to control her actions."
Nova breathed a sigh of relief at Byakko's apology, "thank you Byakko, that's truly all I could ask for." He then planted a kiss on her forehead and removed his hand from atop her head. "Also, apologize to Lilith. You started this shit and she beat you fair and square. She's the one that needs an apology even more so than me." Byakko seemed a bit reprehensive at first but eventually she turned to the shrunken snake with only a light bit of irritation present on her face.
"I apologize for attacking and trying to subjugate you Lilith. It will not happen again."
The Basilisk looked at Byakko with an arrogant smirk and she simply replied, "good."
"Lilith, your not in the clear either." Nova said, getting the woman's attention. "What the fuck is up with all the mysterious bullshit you keep pulling? Baiting Byakko to bringing me here just to get her in more trouble with me as a form of sick revenge is fucked! Byakko is your partner, you two are a duo whether you like it or not. You should always look out for her the same way you look out for me. Don't you ever even think about trying to hurt her again in any way possible! You got me?" Lilith's arrogant smile deteriorated with extreme speed and soon she was wearing the same somber expression that Byakko had only a moment ago. Truly she had already gotten what she wanted, her King to scold Byakko for her actions, breaking free from Byakko's authority, and an apology from the woman herself. But seeing as the way she went about it got everyone involved hurt, and managed to get herself scolded as well, left her feeling a bit regretful about her actions.
"I… understand My King."
"Now, apologize to Byakko as well" he said, pointing to the tiger woman.
Reluctantly Lilith rolled her eyes and faced the woman that had just given her the sane apology moments ago, "I am sorry for setting you up for failure and making it, so you were seen in a negative light by My King. I will try my best to ensure that it will never happen again."
"I accept your apology…. Sister."
"I do so as well, Sister."
Seeing the two of them make up after the atrocious battle that had just taken place brought a smile to Nova's face, but even still there were things that clearly needed to be discussed. But first he had something to say. "If I have to make you two apologize to each other for anything ever again I swear to fucking god I will lock you in the system menu and only allow one of you out at a time. Do I make myself clear?"
Just the thought itself make a shiver run up both of the women's spine and they quickly responded with, "understood Master/yes My King."
"Good." For a moment Nova's smile remained, but soon it turned as straight and emotionless as it was previously. "Now, let's get back to the other issue at hand." After the quick comment Nova took a step back from the duo, putting a good amount of space between himself and them. This action seemed to have the desired affect on both Byakko and Lilith as the two of them applied their full focus on the man. "It's become clear to me that you both have some issues not only with one another, but also the people in Remnant, the way I've been going about things, and possible our entire 'situation' as a whole." He then turned to look at Lilith specifically and said, "Through talking with you this week and hearing what you had to say to Byakko only a moment ago it's clear that you have issues with the way I'm handling the Remnant situation. I can understand that to a certain degree, but I really need you to explain in the clearest way possible. Lilith, if you feel something say it, if you think I'm doing something wrong tell me, if some shit is happening that you don't like then alert me. I know you have trouble being direct and, in most cases, its fine because it is fairly easy to assume how your feeling just from your responses, but in situations were conflicts are arising I really need you to be clear cut about things. Please, can you do that for me?"
For a moment Lilith paused, looking as if she was fully considering how to respond to her King's question, but soon enough she exhaled a long breath and said, "fine. I'll try my best."
Nova's face lit up in a smile, "Great!" Then with a smile he turned to the tigress clad in white and added, "Byakko, I don't need you to growl or get aggressive over Lilith's opinions this time. Were done with that now. If you disagree, you'll get your time to express how you feel as well, but right now I need a coordinated conversation. You got me?"
The tigress flashed a quick smile before saying, "Of course Master!"
"Thank you both for your cooperation, now lets start with you Lilith since you seem to be going through the most as of right now. But first, give Byakko her weapon of choice back please." Lilith's eyes lit up for a moment as if Nova's words reminded her that she had consumed the weapon in the first place before she reached into the fog she generated in the surrounding air before effortlessly pulling a massive sword from the space.
"I apologize for coveting your weapon for so long sister. I had forgotten that I had consumed it" the snake said as she returned the weapon.
Instead of reaching out to take the weapon, Venus's Queen (the sword) began de-materializing within Lilith's hands and suddenly reappeared a top Byakko's head as the tiara she often wore day in and out. "It's not of any issue Sister, I had let my weapon slip my mind for a moment as well. Thank you for returning her to me."
"You are very much so welcome Sister" Lilith responded with a genuine smile.
"Good to see there already back to how they were before even though they just finished literally tearing each other apart" the man thought. "I guess they really are like siblings in that way. Fights like this might just be a normal thing to them." Nova let the thought sit in his mind for a moment before he returned his focus to the Basilisk Faunus woman that had been saying some odd things as of late. "Now, Lilith, what's been up with you lately?"
The woman in question shrugged her shoulders slightly and recoiled herself to get a bit more comfortable before replying. "That is a very broad question my King. Where would you like me to begin?"
Nova let out a small huff before saying, "preferably that night a week ago when you began speaking about how I should be focusing my efforts on growing stronger instead of talking with Zeb and Junior. Also, did I make you mad when I told you that you were free to do whatever you wanted?"
Lilith stayed silent for a moment, taking the time to gather her own thoughts and assure her words so they came out in a direct and concise manner like Nova had asked her too. "For starters no, I love it greatly when you say I can do whatever I want. I was simply irritated that it seemed like you were purposefully ignoring the message that I was sending you with my words." Once again, Lilith's response left Nova a bit more confused than before, but he stayed quiet and listened none the less. "I believe that the essential source of all of my issues, gripes, and problems with… well… everything, including you and Sister, stems from the fact that I…" the snake paused for a second, choking on the words in her throat before forcing them out with a sour expression, "the fact that I despise the people of this world." Apart of Nova was somehow still shocked that Lilith was feeling this way, but the majority of his mind was having a moment of clarity as they had suspected as much from the things that she had been saying as of late. Looking over, to his surprise, Byakko remained with the same expression she had before, a light smile that was covered with her serios intent gaze towards the discussion at hand.
She clearly wasn't shocked by Lilith's statement which was expected, but at the same time there seemed to be something deeper within her expression. However, he would move onto Byakko next, so he continued his focus on Lilith for now. "Why? What made you suddenly build this disdain for Remnant's people, and who does this dislike fully extend to?"
"Allow me to begin by saying this, I dislike them all. All of Remnants inhabitants that feed from your assistance like a babe from a mother's teat. I have no personal qualms with those that you lay with… they are wonderful people that fully appreciate your existence and wish you nothing but the best. But even still they cannot help what they are. Infinitely limited, weak, helpless in the face of true danger." Lilith paused for a moment, before continuing with, " allow me to take a step back and answer your initial question. This feeling wasn't a sudden appearance; it only appears this way to you since Byakko kept my views subdued with her own strength." Nova took a quick glance at Byakko to see her reaction to this, but she kept the same expression, prompting him to continue focusing on Lilith. "I've felt this way as long as I have had a sense of higher sentience, and it became even more so after I matured once you unlocked my Forbidden Knowledge. Details are not necessary so I shall explain it like this, 'knowledge is power only in the hands of those that may wield it as such.' You remember these words do you not?"
Of course Nova remembered that phrase, "yeah, I remember." In a flash of remembrance, Nova replayed the conversation that occurred between the two of them about a week ago.
The question caught Nova off guard for a moment, seeing as she completely disregarded his greeting, but none the less he still responded honestly. "I mean, yes to a certain degree. Knowledge is of course extremely powerful in itself and can be used to create great change, but knowledge means nothing if you can't act on it" he said as he approached the snake woman. "If you knew that there was a dust mine filled to the brim with immeasurable amounts of the stuff then you could easily become the wealthiest woman on the planet, but if you don't have a pickaxe or the resources to get one then that knowledge is worthless to you."
As she listened to his response Lilith commanded her serpents to turn to the next page, "or something similar to knowing the probable future of the world in which you live, having the possibility of changing it for the better, and knowing the ways in which you may do so, but not having the ability to properly make those changes. Is that right?"
"...yeah... I guess so" he replied with an odd look.
"It would be best if the saying was knowledge is power only in the hands of those that may wield it as such." Even as she spoke, Lilith's eyes never left the book that she was flying through at an incredible speed, flipping multiple pages in what felt like seconds.
"It was from the time we were in the library during enrichment time on the first day of school. But when you brought it up and was acting all cryptic I kinda just assumed that you meant that my efforts were in vain, and I should stop involving myself with Remnant as a whole or I'd just keep messing things up. It didn't help that if I asked you directly, you'd just avoid my question." The snake Faunus exhaled lightly and flicked her tongue in the air in light irritancy.
After shaking her head 'no', Lilith continued with, "that was not the purpose of my stating that. I was trying to show you, without angering you, that the people of Remnant are hopeless. My King, you've told them of numerous future events that are set to occur, showing them who their enemies truly are, and telling them about a way in which they can solve their own problem. However, at the end of the day, you still feel it necessary to guide their hands like children. On top of this when this world is invaded by the Animus, even if they know that it is coming, this world will be destroyed without your assistance. Whether they know the future that is coming or not, they are doomed to their own fate without relying on your assistance. Hence making Remnant's inhabitants people with knowledge but no capabilities."
The world consumer took one more pause before continuing, preparing her mind to see the reaction on her King's face when she dropped her final bomb. "I hate the fact that these lesser beings are relying on your help. Sapping your strength when you could be doing much greater things. Wasting your time, effort, energy, and health on those that do not deserve it." The woman paused once again, peeking her eyes upwards to ensure that her King wasn't reacted negatively too her comments, and once she saw the encouraging look on his face she chose to look into his eyes as she finished off her feelings. "I know you love them, I understand this, but it does not change the fact that while we will be off fighting a fight for eternity, they will have died a millennium beforehand. To me, you are simply wasting your efforts on Remnants beings. All of them." It all seemed to click within Nova's mind and he felt as though he completely understood Lilith's mind space regarding Remnant. It seemed as if everything else she spoke about was a simple distraction, a diversion for her true feelings to not shine through.
Arguing about petty things with Byakko, taking so much interest in Dungeons, discussing the history of Remnant, and pushing growing stronger more than anything else was all a front for her to push the agenda that involving himself with Remnant's daily affairs was pointless. Although the strength agenda was also at least partially related to the fact that she wanted to be able to beat Byakko in a fight and the information about the Dungeons was extremely helpful towards their futures. Speaking of which, " Byakko, how do you feel about the people in Remnant and Lilith's opinion. Honestly."
The Tigress's ears perked at her Master's sudden question, and she seemed to be a bit contemplative about her response. Her tail began swaying side to side in quick succession whilst her beautiful blue iris became shifty and couldn't meet her master's eyes. However, while looking at the ground, Byakko checked her own nervousness and responded honestly at her Master's request. "I believe that all life has value no matter where it comes from. Those that you identify as your lovers are ones that I quite like, and I must say the I enjoy the company of Nix and Neyah especially. However, I cannot say that I completely disagree with Lilith's assessment." The celestial tiger gently nursed her still healing arm for a moment before continuing with, "they are mortal. They will pass on eventually unless you go out of your way to learn of a way for them to survive, but even then, they cannot enter the realm of the Awakened. You, and by extension us, are simply too high of a being to be seen as the same level of them."
Byakko seemed to establish some confidence with her words as she looked at her master and said, "however, that is the limit of my agreeing with Lilith's world views. Master, your word is the equivalent to life itself to me, and because of that I will do anything to see your ideals through. Because you choose to spend your time assisting Remnants people it is impossible for me to see it as time wasted. So, while I believe in acting on whatever word you speak or idea you believe, Lilith believes on acting on her own accord for your benefit. This is the impasse that my Sister and I met upon while we were on that roof that fateful night." The tiger and snake seemed to reminisce about the events that unfolded that night for a moment, but neither of them got upset over the topic which showed a bit of progress for the both of them. "That night I believed that in an extreme scenario Lilith may act radically and potentially bring harm to those you desired to protect in an attempt to make you understand that helping them is pointless. Instead of allowing that to happen I ended up acting radically instead, forcing Lilith to stand down before me. I… apologize again Sister, that was very unsightly of me."
The Basilisk allowed a sinister grin to slither across her lips at her Sister's apology, and she responded in a lighthearted tone. "To be wholeheartedly fair Sister, it was entirely a possibility that I would have chosen to… snack on a few of them if I were able. I was young and volatile then as I tend to be at an incredibly young age. Luckily my King matured me incredibly quickly, so he did not have to deal with the wrath of my once unruly violent tendencies as a young one" she finished with a chuckle, Byakko joining in on her laughter as well.
"That is very true Sister," the Tigress added with a chuckle, "you were very quick to fire in those days. Master was, and still is, much more patient than I in those kinds of situations."
Nova watched as the two joked back and forth, talking about the various mental arguments they had with one another while Lilith was just a snakelet without a proper voice. It was… a bizarre sight to say the least. "Are they light heartedly joking about how Lilith wanted to take the opportunity to eat Neo whole while we were sleeping?! Byakko was really the only thing stopping that shit from happening. Holy shit. This story could've gone so much worst." Nova let the vile vore-ish image wash itself from his mind as he continued listening passively to the Goddesses conversation. "Lilith was only a baby for like… 2 days! Then after that she grew to her Faunus form which put her at age… 16, I think. Your telling me all of this shit happened in like 2 fuckin days!? Lilith must've been fuckin bat shit crazy! And Byakko barely even cares at all! If Lilith ended up eating Neo or anyone else, then she'd be mad for the simple fact that I'd be mad about!" The revelation took Nova out of his mind for a moment. It was something that he should've saw coming, especially since they just eviscerate people on command without any kind of fuse or qualms about it. For a moment he realized that he had done the same, killing hundreds of people without batting an eye simply because they were in the way of his objective. It made him feel… odd. Not odd in the 'oh no I killed a bunch of people' way, an odd in a 'Damn, I don't care that I killed a bunch of people' kind of way.
Either way, all of his thoughts quickly culminated into a single phrase that he couldn't be bothered to keep stuck in his mind. "Poor Neo."
That comment seemed to get both Byakko and Lilith's attentions, and after a quick moment of silence they said, "sorry my King/ sorry Master."
"No…. its fine. I'm just glad everything got resolved nicely. Even if there was a bit of bloodshed that happened in the process." With that being said, Nova stood up from the ground and stretched out his arms and legs before starting to walk towards the exit of the now even further destroyed abandoned building.
"Master, where are you going? Aren't there still things that need to be discussed?"
"Yeah, My King, are you not going to reprimand me for my thoughts about your lovers? Have you not decided on how to approach my views on your place in Remnant?" Lilith added, stopping the man dead in his tracks.
Nova let out a small huff before turning to face the duo and saying, "I… quite frankly don't care. Lilith, I know that you won't go out of your way to hurt them, or else you probably would've just done it already, plus Byakko will probably remind you not to anyway. I'm not worried about anything else you do because I know that your acting in my own best interest, and it doesn't truly matter what happens because I promise I'll love you for it regardless. You both are entitled to your own thoughts and opinions, and if those don't align with my own then we can always talk about them later and try to find common ground. But for now, I'm going to do what I came to Remnant to do. I appreciate and value your thoughts and feelings Lilith, but as things stand, I can't just give up on Remnant because it's a bit stressful. The same way you both are independent beings that can do whatever you wish I am exactly the same way, and because of this I'm going to put all of my effort into saving Remnant from itself, then Imma do the same thing when I slaughter the Legion King." A cheeky knowing smile made its way across Lilith's lips as she listened to her King's exit speech, seeing the exact reasons why she loved him so much within his words.
With a sly smile Lilith then asked, "so, you really have no care for what I do or the limits I go to in order to express my own freedom and keep you safe from any dangers you may face?"
"Nope. None. Do whatever you want. But promise me you'll tell me if your going to do anything rash or extreme that might fuck up what I'm doing. I know you know everything that I want to happen so just try to avoid that stuff. The future is already fucked up anyway." He added in thought, thinking about the numerous changes that had already begun to occur.
"I promise I will adhere to those wishes my King. I will also not hurt anything that you have going on with your own lovers, what happens between them and you is none of my concern. However, I hope you will respect my wish to remain out of connection with them and the rest of Beacon for any period of time." Lilith said, already knowing the answer that her master would provide her with.
"Yeah of course, I'm not gonna force you to talk to people you don't want to. They'll probably miss you a bit but I'm sure they'd understand… well, maybe not the looking down on them part, but at least her wanting to do her own thing. It does kinda suck that Byakko and Lilith view them this way, but at the same time I can't act like a portion of what their saying isn't true. I'm not going to try to force the view of 'everyone is equal' on them since they can think for themselves. It doesn't change how I view about my lovers anyway."
"Master, may I continue to act in the same facet as I have been thus far?" Byakko asked, taking up a position very close to her Master. "Although I believe that know one is more important than the people within this room, I still wish to assist your effort to save this world in anyway possible. That is… if that is still what you desire me to do."
Nova wrapped the large tiger woman in a tight one arm embrace that made the Faunus swoon quite a bit. "Of course, you, you my right hand, my go to. Listen Byakko, my main concern was never how you guys felt about Remnant, the people in it, Dungeons, the Animus, or anything in the ballpark of those ideas. My main concern was always the both of you and how you felt about each other." That comment seemed to strike a cord within the two of them, "I never want to have to see you guys fight again like you did today. You may have your differences in opinions and how things need to get done, but as of right now I will never let you two come to blows again. Especially not over me."
"I understand, Master" Byakko responded as she wrapped her Master in a bear hug, or tiger hug rather, and began snuggling him within her soft fur. "I love you so much Master."
"aih ruvah uuhh toohh (I love you too)" he replied from within her fur. After a moment of snuggling, a familiar smooth muscular sensation began wrapping itself around his body and quickly the sensation began squeezing comfortable around his back. Looking up, Nova quickly saw that the familiar sensation was being caused by Lilith joining in on the embrace. He then wiggled his head slightly to free his mouth from Byakko's fluffy chest to say, "I love you as well, Lilith" to the snake woman.
The woman reacted with a sly smile and gently stroking his hair with her free hands. She then slithered her lips to the tips of his left ear and softly whispered, "I know you do" into the orifice.
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