"Thank you." Julia said as she hugged me. I didn't know what I was thinking when I kissed her despite the fact that she didn't remember me. But when I did, all of a sudden, Julia had all her memories returned, like her mind wasn't even reversed. I guess they weren't lying when they said that love is the most powerful force in the universe.

That's when all of a sudden, Julia began coughing again. I immediately lay her on the ground just as a splotch of blood flew out of her mouth.

"My, she looks even worse than before." Hazel said behind me. That's when I noticed it too, Julia's normally tanned skin was now pale, paler than mine. And considering that she could barely move now, it didn't look like she had a lot of time left.

"We need get that old man now." Jonathan said, "Ash, you think you could locate him again?"

I help up the All-Seeing eye, closed my eyes and thought really hard about the old man. But nothing showed up. That's when I opened my eyes and noticed something: its gold iris was now a dull grey color, as if had been exhausted of its mana and had to recharge.

"I know where he's going." Julia said weakly, "He's going towards the end of the beach where the forest is, that's where he said his daughter was." She coughed up another splotch. "Just please, hurry..."

"Hold up." Arthur said, "If we're too late and Julia dies, then couldn't you just resurrect her Xhymza? I mean, I know that she has that barrier, but Jonathan said it himself; if the Overlord herself used her own mana, she could overload it and then you would just have to resurrect her. I mean, sure, Ash would have to get used to her being a ghost or a zombie, but it should work, right?"

"I'm afraid that's not possible." Xhymza said. "I'm starting to remember when I've read that book now. The barrier is bound to Julia's soul, and it will stay bound to her even when it leaves the body. In fact, it will become even more powerful as it will have more spirit energy to use as fuel. By that point, Hel would be the only one capable of interacting with her, but not even she would be powerful enough to break her barrier. I could revive her body, but it'll just be an empty shell, no soul or conscience."

"Which is why we have to find him now!" Jonathan yelled.

"One more thing." Julia said. "The old man, he was going to make his daughter a hero, one that would lead an entire squadron of heroes who would use those artifacts to defeat the monsters. He would've probably made me one of them too if you hadn't showed up."

We all gaped at what she had just said. I couldn't imagine Julia, the one person in my life who cared about me, becoming a hero and becoming a threat to us, let alone several heroes, all wielding crazy magical artifacts bent on destroying the monsters.

"Yeah." Arthur said to Jonathan, "I would say you're right."

As the others were preparing to go after the old man, Julia whispered to me. "Go with them Ash."

I turned to her. "Wh-what? No! I d-don't want to l-leave you."

She smiled, "Please do it, for me Ash." She coughed another splotch. "Ever since the day we met, I've always wanted you to do one thing, move on with your life. You were always living in the past, afraid of a man who lived miles away from here was going to get you. You can't deny that what he did to had ever happened, but you also can't dwell on it forever. I only want you to move on from it so you can enjoy your life while it lasts. Now's your chance to finally do it. Just promise me you will."

Hazel walked over and knelt down besides Julia. "Don't worry Ash, I'll take care of Julia. I'm not much of a fighter anyways."

I turned back to Julia. "I-I promise."

"Come on Ash!" I heard Arthur yell. "We need to get there now!"

I took one last glance at Julia in her weak and sickened state, then I turned and ran towards the end of the beach alongside 3 of my friends, Arthur, Jonathan, and Xhymza."

(000)

We ran for what seemed liked miles; it was only thanks to my incubus physique that I was able to keep up. When we were close enough to see trees in the distance, Xhymza immediately skidded to a halt.

"There." She said, pointing towards the forest. At first, I couldn't make out anything but when I looked closer, I saw what she was pointing at. It looked like a blob of purple slime in the shape of a girl. The "blob-girl" looked to be having sex with a young man about my age. That's when I noticed something: another blob-girl. This one not only looked smaller than the first blob-girl, but they also appeared to be partially fused together.

"Well, I guess we found his daughter," Jonathan said, remembering the old man's backstory, "and it looks like she's married too."

"But where's the old man?" Arthur asked, "Shouldn't he be here too?"

That's when all of a sudden, a figure swooped down and landed right in front of the couple, a figure which we all immediately recognized as the old man.

"Hello Angie!" He snarled as he glared at them. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

The 3 of them immediately turned their attention towards him.

"Uh, who are you?" the young man asked.

"Father?" The blob-girl, Angie, said when she recognized him."

"Yes, who else?" The old man responded, "Did you really think you could just run away from me? I had to find the artifacts on my own!" as he said this, he pulled out the Orb of Absolute Reversion. "It is now time to turn back so you may continue your destiny."

Angie looked at the orb as if she recognized it.

"Mama, what going on?" Her daughter squealed.

"Everything will be okay honey." Angie ushered before turning back to her adopted father. "I told you all those years ago, I preferred my new body father. I thought you changed when you defended me from those guards coming to arrest us, but when you told me you were going to change me back, I realized I was wrong. Can't you see that I have a family now? I just want to be happy!"

The old man snickered. "Sorry, but it's the will of the Chief God." He raised the orb towards her and prepared to fire.

That's when suddenly, Arthur came at his side and tackled him. While they were talking, we were advancing towards the old man in order to attack him.

"What, you again?!" He yelled as Arthur got up. The old man, orb still in hand, immediately got up and placed the orb back in his satchel in order to grab another artifact from it. That's when Jonathan intervened. From behind Arthur, he fired a beam of magic at the old man. At first, nothing seemed to happen, until I realized that the old man wasn't moving anymore.

"Wh-what's happening?" The old man asked as his body suddenly became stiff.

Jonathan then turned to his wife. "Hurry, use that spell you were saving while he's still paralyzed.

Xhymza nodded and immediately pulled out her spell book and began chanting a spell.

Meanwhile, I tried to get Angie and her family to safety. Normally, I was always afraid to come close to strangers. But this time, I wasn't afraid. Whatever Julia told me must've given me the courage to do so.

"Hey, who are you?" asked Angie's husband when he saw me coming, "and what's going on?"

"I-I'll explain later, j-just come with m-me."

The couple and their child, having no other choice but risk dealing with the old man, did so and I led them away from the battle. I wanted to help in any possible, even though I wasn't a fighter. I explained to them what has happened during the past few days. Angie the dark slime looked visibly distressed when I told her about Julia. She especially looked distressed when she learned how her father erased Julia's memories, and even more distressed when she learned that Julia was now going to die thanks to her demonsterization.

Meanwhile, Xhymza's chants were growing louder as her eyes started to glow a bright purple and purple sparks formed in her hand.

"What is this? What is she doing?" The old man yelled, still paralyzed thanks to Jonathan.

"It's a spell." Jonathan answered. "A special one that my wife here was saving for emergencies, such as this one. She's going to summon every low-level and unmarried undead monster girl within 5 square miles of here and make them attack you and fuck you until you faint."

"So he's going to have an undead harem?" Arthur asked.

"Yep, seeing that he's a devout follower of the Order, I would just love to see his faith wash away when he experiences the pleasure of a monster girl.

"Wait, wouldn't she need to be near a graveyard or something? I don't think there would be that many unmarried undead monster girls nearby."

"Oh, well..."

Then, at that very moment, Xhymza finished her chant and thrust her hand onto the ground. Immediately after, there were flashes of purple lightning as the ground ruptured around Xhymza. But instead of multiple pairs of decaying arms of zombie and ghosts rising from the ground, there was only one. Not one pair of arms, just one arm, a single arm rose from the ground, and then the thing that clawed its way up afterward was a zombie. Except this zombie didn't exactly have a full body. Her other arm was missing, along with one of her legs, an eye, and huge chunks of flesh. Instead, bite marks were in their places. Claw marks covered what wasn't bitten or torn off, and her clothes were mere rags, barely enough to cover her private parts.

"That's it?" Xhymza said as the zombie looked at her new surroundings, wondering why she was summoned here for. "Just you? You were the only unmarried undead mamono within 5 square miles? I was hoping for an army!"

Jonathan looked at the mangled but still moving zombie. "It looks she was attacked by something that ate part of her. Then it looks like someone resurrected her as the zombie we see now. Actually, the only time something would've ate her and left her body like that would've been during the Age of the Former Overlords. In other words, she was wandering, or dragging herself, around for centuries, unable to get a husband of her own."

"Well, she's better than nothing, I guess." Xhymza said as moved towards the half-eaten zombie. "Hey, you see that man over there." She whispered as she pointed towards the old man. Being a lich, she was able to command low level undead monster girls like the half-eaten zombie she summoned."

The half-eaten zombie looked where she was pointing. "Husssband?" She moaned as her instincts recognized the man as unmarried. What was left of her body flushed as the remains of her boobs swelled. I can bet that what was left of her womb must've began throbbing also.

"Yes, that man can become your husband, and all you have to do is get the satchel from him. Then he's all yours."

The zombie looked at the old man excitedly, "Husssband!" she shrieked as she dragged and pushed herself towards the old man.

When the old man saw this, he tried to break free from Jonathan's paralysis spell, but to no avail.

"Here." Xhymza said as she used her magic to lift the zombie from the ground and towards the old man, which made him struggle even more.

For that moment, we all thought it would be over. The zombie would get the satchel along with the artifacts and give it to us before raping the old man, destroying his faith in the Chief God. Then we would take the orb back to Julia and make her a succubus again, hereby curing her disease. Then our lives would go back to normal. Except this didn't happen. Instead, as soon as the zombie was close enough to even touch the old man, he was suddenly able to move. In an instant, the old man pulled out the Blade of Absolute Slicing, which he used to cut through Jonathan's spells, and in one swift motion, sliced off the zombie's half-eaten head. Jonathan's spell had worn off, the old man can now move and use his artifacts all he wants. We all just stared at the old man. Xhymza even let go of her magic grasp on the zombie's half-eaten body, which fell to the ground and began dragging itself as it looked for its head which was now moaning in confusion about 3 feet away. Being an undead, the zombie was immortal which allowed her to survive being decapitated.

"You really think I would let you fools stop me when I have already gotten this far?!" The old man yelled before looking at me and Angie along with her family. "And you!" He yelled as he instantly appeared in front of us, having used the Sandals of Hermes to move really fast and making me fall backwards, "Where do you think you're going?" He yelled and before any of us could move a muscle, or in Angie and her daughter's case, move a droplet of slime, he pulled out what looked like a bag of some powder, which he blew onto Angie. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but when I noticed that neither Angie nor her daughter were moving, I realized what the powder had done: The powder had hardened the slime that made them up. Now they were living statues of slime, unmoving yet still alive. And Angie's husband, having his hand held by her, was now stuck with them. I watched him try to pull his hand out of his hardened wife's grasp but to no avail.

"Don't think you can just run away," The old man said, "not until I had cured you. Even when the powder wears off, the bag will just create more for me to use."

"No, you don't!" Arthur yelled as he, Jonathan, and Xhymza were closing in on the old man. But before they could reach him, the old man had another trick up his sleeve, or in this case, in his satchel. He immediatley pulled out a ward, different from the one he used to suppress our magic back at the apartment, and struck it into the ground. Instantly, A large bubble appeared and encompassed the old man, Angie, her family, and me.

Xhymza tried to fire a bolt of magic at the bubble, but it dissipated as soon as it hit it. Arthur tried to ram into the bubble, but he was instantly thrown back by an unseen force when he hit it.

"Dammit!" Jonathan yelled as he recognized the bubble. "Of all the artifacts, it just had to be this one. That bubble won't go down no matter what we throw at it. The only way we can go through it is if the ward generating it is deactivated!"

The old man just laughed as my friends could only watch what happened inside. Then, the old man noticed me, huddled against the wall of the bubble, unsure of what to do. And using the Sandals of Hermes, he instantly appeared right in front of me, almost as if he teleported.

"You." The old man said as he grabbed me by the collar and lifted me until we were eye-level. I was paralyzed, unable to do anything but watch. "You're that boy, the one who was at the floating island, and at the apartment. The one who always seemed like something was bothering him." I just shuddered, and my body began to shake uncontrollably. "Perhaps it was something in your past, hmmm? Well, seeing as you're a heretic for being with these..." He pointed at my friends, "these unholy abominations, you need punishment. And what better punishment than to use this?" He reached into his satchel and pulled out another artifact. This one resembled a staff. It was black with silver engravings and a large silver skull on it's tip to top it off.

"This is the Staff of Phobos." The old man said, "Any thinking being that it's used on will live their .worst fear in an eternal nightmare that they'll never wake up from. I just needed something to try this out on. And who better than someone who appeared to be disturbed by something, something that happened in their past, hmmmm? I hope you enjoy.

I tried and tried to struggle against the old man's grasp, but it was no use. I hadn't worked out as an incubus, so my strength wasn't on a superhuman scale. The old man raised the staff to my head, and then just tapped me between the eyes. And in that moment, everything went blank.

(000)

I woke up, dazed and confused.

'Where am I?' I thought before I suddenly recognized where I was. 'No, no!' But there was no denying it. I was "Here."

And then came the all-too familiar voice.

"Well, well, well," I heard as "He" loomed over me, "look who finally decided to come back. DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN JUST RUN AWAY WITHOUT PUNISHMENT?!"

He then knocked me to the floor and began stomping me with his foot. Every dream was different. Each time, he would hurt me in a different way, be it with or without a weapon or tool of some sort. He would curse me, blame things on me, random things that there was no way I could've caused. And whatever I "did" always stayed in his mind. Nothing was ever forgotten. He would always use them against me over and over again. And that's just what he did, and each time, there were more things added to his list of things he claimed I did, and each time that list grew longer.

"Had enough?" "He" asked when he had finally stopped stomping me. "I don't think so." He raised his foot again when he suddenly stopped. "Oh, and if you think that little bitch is going to take you away again, I already took care of her, just look." And then he showed me Julia. Much like in the last dream, she was in her human form, except this time, she looked just as she had when I saw her on the beach: Skinny and pale. Thankfully, it didn't look like what "he" did to her wasn as bad as in some of the other dreams. Her entire body was covered in cuts and bruises, there wasn't a single patch of skin that wasn't hurt in some way. And the way she stared, it reminded me that I wasn't putting this nightmare behind me, that I wasn't moving on with her, that by being afraid of "Him" coming for me, I was letting these memories take me over.

"I took her here along with you," "He" said as he looked at the same place I was, "and then I gave her what she deserved. Now how about I give you everything you deserve as well." And then he continued stomping my face.

"YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SCUM!"

What was I doing here?

"ITS YOUR FUCKING FAULT IM POOR!"

I should be helping my friends defeat the old man, stop him from building brainwashing his daughter into a hero that would defeat the overlord, and save Julia from her disease. But I wasn't.

"ITS YOUR FUCKING FAULT MY WIFE LEFT ME!"

I was just letting all these terrible things happen to me and to others. And I wasn't doing a thing about them.

"YOUR ONLY PURPOSE HERE IS TO SUFFER AS LONG AS YOU LIVE!"

I closed my eyes. I really am nothing but a worthless piece of scum, who should just suffer my whole life.

"Don't say that to yourself." A voice suddenly said out of nowhere. What's more, the pain from being beaten by "him" along the sound of "him" had suddenly stopped. I opened my eyes, and I was no longer in that room. Instead, I was floating in an empty black abyss, and I couldn't believe who was flying in front of me there: Julia. She not only appeared to be in completely healthy like she wasn't sick at all, but she was also in her succubus form, complete with her pleasure runes, in the exact spots I requested on the day she got them. But the strangest part of all was that this Julia appeared to be alot cuter than before. Her body was much smaller than normal, about half my size, and her head appeared to be a bit big for her body.

"You aren't worthless Ash," the cuter Julia continued, "You just need to be strong. Are you just going to let him treat you like that? Are you going to just let me die while an old man causes the end of the monster kind?"

I shook my head, "N-no."

"Then get up and face him."

"B-but what if I f-fail?"

"You won't. I've always believed in you Ash. You just have to believe in yourself as well."

"H-how do you k-know that?"

"I just know Ash, I just know. You've always had it in you, you just never used it. Don't think you're useless just because someone says you are. Do you remember the day I saved you from killing yourself and from that man?"

I nodded.

"I didn't just do it so I could have a husband. I wanted to give you a second chance in life, to find your own purpose. I've already found my purpose in life, and now it's time for you to find yours."

I closed my eyes. Then I opened them and looked at her with determination. "I'll do it."

"That's the spirit!" The cuter Julia said "Now go out there and kick their asses! Your father's and that old man's!"

I smiled, and then she disappeared, and I was back in the room.

"Maybe that was enough for you tonight." "He" said as he approached the door, my already battered body already feeling like it was about to crack open. "Or maybe..." He stopped and turned around, "Maybe you need more. ONE ROUND FOR EVERY SINGLE FUCKING DAY YOU WERE OUT THERE MAKING ME MISERABLE!" He then rushed towards me, but he didn't expect what happened next.

In one swift motion, I went from laying on the ground to up on all fours. And immediately after, just as he was about to reach me and in a rush of adrenaline, I headbutted him. Not expecting it to happen, the man who claimed to be my father fell to the floor, shocked and confused as to why I was finally fighting back instead of just taking his hits.

Immediately as soon as he fell over, I rushed over to Julia.

"Come on, let's go." I said as I hoisted the surprised Julia over my back and walked to the exit.

"OH NO YOU'RE NOT!" I heard the rushing of footsteps and turned to see my captor had gotten and began running towards me, his fist raised and ready to attack. "YOU THINK YOU COULD JUST HIT ME AND THEN JUST LEAVE! YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT! I'M GOING TO FUCKING-!"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled and just as his fist hit its mark, I stopped it with my hand. And in that moment, the man faded into nothingness. Then everything else faded into nothingness, until all that was left was me, an inky black void, and the door. Julia was the last to fade. Before she did, I looked at her one last time, and she was smiling, like she was proud of me for defeating my nightmare that tormented me as long as I was with her. Then she was gone too. Now it was just me and the door.

I finally realized what my nightmares meant. It wasn't saying that my time with Julia was just a temporary vacation from the pain and the torture and that I was soon going to be back in that room, enduring it all over again. It was telling me that while Julia had saved my life and had taken care of me for a long time, there was going to be a time where I needed to save her life as well. And that time is now.

I opened the door and walked into the light beyond.

(000)

"I told you, I'm not going back father!" I heard as I had my eyes slowly opened from my nightmare and I took in my surroundings. Angie and her daughter were still hardened by the old man's powder. Thankfully, it appears to be wearing off as some of the slime was now liquid again. Albeit, only enough so they could talk. Her husband still had his hand stuck in her and he was harder and harder to pull it out but to no avail. Their daughter, though, looked visibly frightened at the ordeal. On the other hand, the old man was right in front of them, holding the Orb of Reversion in his hand. Meanwhile, Xhymza, Jonathan, and Arthur were desperately trying to break the bubble,. Xhymza and Jonathan were firing spells while Arthur kept pounding it. None were making any progress.

"Yes you will!" The old man yelled.

"No, I won't!" Angie yelled back, "You always blindly followed the Order's and their teachings and wanted me to do the same! You were also obsessed with these artifacts all your life, while everything about my life was about training to become a hero! You never allowed me to have a childhood! Every rule in the Chief God's Bible had to be followed or else! I'm finally happy now that I'm free! I have a family now, and you're just going to take it all away?"

"Of course I Will! You must return to your true form in order to fulfill your destiny. You won't even remember being a monster."

"Oh yeah!" Yelled Angie's husband, "Well Angie here will still remember something, something that she wont forget, that will still make her not want to go back with you even if you do erase her memories of being a monster! Tell him Angie!"

"You always told me that my parents were eaten by monsters. But I know the truth. They were executed. All because they were stealing food to feed themselves. And you were the one to order their execution."

"What?" The old man yelled, "How could you know that?"

"Because on the day I was turned, you left your personal journal on the table, and I decided to read it out of boredom. It told me EVERYTHING! When I was going for a walk, I was actually running away. Then Big Sister found me, and gave me this body. When you saved me from those guards, I thought you might've changed your ways, but I saw that I was wrong. Even if you turn me back and erase my memories my memories of being a monster, you won't erase the truth. And also, you'll kill my little girl!" I knew she was talking about her daughter. "She's not fully grown yet, and without me, she'll die!"

The old man shrugged, "Very well then. I'LL JUST HAVE TO ERASE THAT PART TOO! And what do I care about that little unholy abomination of yours, she's a monster, so therefore, she must die! It's the will of the Chief God." Then the old man began charging his orb.

"Mommy, I'm scared." Angie's daughter said to her mother.

"It's alright," Angie said, "Just close your eyes and it'll all be over soon."

"Okay."

I knew I had to act fast, but what could I do that would stop him. That's when I remembered something.

Slime Nostrum. It makes you secrete slime out of your skin and with enough practice, you could manipulate it like it was part of your body.

I still had the bottle with me. It had been in my pocket since the incident at the floating island, and it was in my pocket ever since. I had forgotten about it over time. Julia had probably bought it for me so I can give ourselves a unique sex experience, but now, I was going to use it to stop a madman. I gulped down the potion and waited. Then it happened; purple slime, like Angie's began secreting out all over my skin. I looked at the old man, and saw that the orb was about to fire. I immediately rushed forward and thrust my arm out, hoping it would do something; and it did. All at once, the slime secreting on my skin shot towards the old man.

"What the?" The old man shouted as the slime latched on to his arm. I immediately pulled his arm back, causing the orb to miss Angie and hit the bubble's interior instead, instantly making the bubble disappear as it "reversed" into nothingness. The orb then landed harmlessly in the sand. I had just manipulated the slime like it was nothing. It was like I instantly knew how to use it.

"How?" The old man yelled as he saw that I was not only no longer in my eternal nightmare, but also wielding tendrils made from slime. I didn't answer, I just grabbed the old man with my new slime arm and dragged him to me.

"You!" I said towards the old man as everyone else watched in awe, especially my friends. They saw that I was no longer stuttering, no longer paranoid. I had put my past behind me and was now focusing on the present. "You're the reason Julia is dying!"

"It's better than her being a monster! Besides I was just doing what I had to do! It's for the good of humanity, the good of the Order and the Chief God!"

"Oh really?" I grew visibly angrier, "Well what if I told you that one such follower of the Order and the Chief God used to blame me for everything that happened to him! He locked me in a room where I was chained to a wall and he would always beat me, torture me, and berate me on even the smallest of things!" Tears welled up in my eyes as I pulled up my shirt and showed him what was underneath. "Do you see this? These were the scars that man gave me. And do you want to know who that man was?" My friends must've thought I was going to say "Him" because they gasped at what I said next "My own father! Every scar here was from his whip or his cat of 9 tails! I was force to endure all that for years! Years! Then one day, I managed to escape that room. I was forced to run while my own father, my prisoner, ran after me. Then I found a cliff and I probably would've jumped off it and to my death so I would no longer be tormented. But then, she came. Julia rescued me from both of those fates. If it wasn't for her, I would either be dead or still in that room, being tortured until my very last breath!"

"Is that so?" The old man responded, "True, it was very terrible of your own father to treat you like a prisoner, but that's no excuse to go with a monster! You would've been better off jumping off that cliff!"

At this, I grew so angry that using my slime tendril, I threw the old man all the way back to the forest.

The old man screamed as he was launched several feet forward only to be cut short when he landed in some shrubbery, breaking his fall.

I then retracted my long slime arm and ran towards the old man in the forest, a trail of slime being left behind in my wake. As I was getting there, I noticed he was already recovering from his fall. I shot my slime at him, hoping to subdue him before he tries anything, but it was too late. Right before my large arm made of slime could even touch him, the old man immediately unfolded the Wings of Maat from underneath his cloak and flew upwards, out of reach of my huge slime arm.

"Let's see your puny slime reach me now boy!" The old man mocked. Little did he notice my slime arm stretching to reach him. But the more I stretched it, the thinner it grew and by the time it reached the old man, it was a mere tendril. I grabbed the old man by the foot with the slime tendril and immediately yanked him down.

Seeing this, the old man flapped his wing artifacts to keep himself aloft. But as more slime secreted out of my skin, the tendril grew bigger and stronger until it became a huge slime tentacle. Using this tentacle, I slammed the old man into the ground, the Wings of Maat having used up all their magical energy trying to keep him aloft. The old man immediately reached for his satchel, probably to obtain another artifact. His hand never made it in. Using my other arm, I shot out another arm of slime, latching it onto the satchel, and immediately ripped it off the old man before hurling it far behind me, into the sandy beach.

"No!" The old man yelled as he watched his precious artifacts land out of reach for him. He immediately charged the Sandals of Hermes and was ready to run towards his satchel, but once again, I stopped him. Using both my arms this time, I shot out a huge pillar of slime towards the old man. The slime pillar knocked the old man off his feet before he could use the sandals and pinned him to a tree.

"This ends here!" I yelled. But at that very moment, something weird began happening: the slime pillar was shrinking? Then I realized what was going on: the slime nostrum was wearing off. Drips of slime pooled underneath the shrinking pillar as I slowly lost control over it before evaporating.

The old man chuckled, "You really thought you've won there, hadn't you?"

But then, out of nowhere, Jonathan and Xhymza appeared by my side, having used teleportation spells to get here.

"What the? Guys?" I asked, suprised by their sudden appearance.

"Umm, Ash, where did you get a slime nostrum?" Xhymza asked, recognizing the effects of the potion.

"What I want to know is, how did you escape the nightmare from the Staff of Phobos. And how did you just, change all of a sudden?" Jonathan added.

"I'll explain later, right now, the nostrum is wearing off." I motioned them the shrinking pillar of slime that was going to release the old man very soon.

"Oh, Just keep holding him Ash!" Jonathan yelled, "We'll get the artifacts off him!"

"I already got the satchel and threw it far behind me! He's still got the sandals and wings on him!"

"Right then!" Xhymza yelled.

Jonathan and Xhymza began using their telekinesis to remove the wings and sandals off the old man.

"What? No! Stop!" The old man yelled as his precious equipment was being taken off him. The wings came off almost instantly, before being hovered back to our position, but the sandals remained on.

"This would be so much easier if he wasn't flailing his legs around, I can't concentrate on the sandals then."

Jonathan ran over and tried to hold the old man's legs in place, but was immediately kicked by the flailing legs.

"Hey guys!" I heard Arthur yell as he ran over. "Why did you leave me back at the desert. Also, I found this." He held up the satchel that was on the old man.

"Arthur, a little help here?" Jonathan yelled.

Arthur dropped the satchel and ran over. Using his strength, he held both legs in place.

"Oh no you don't!" the old man yelled as he punched Arthur, the slime pillar having shrunken enough for his arms to be free. Jonathan then used his telekinesis to hold the old man's arms in place. Now Xhymza could remove the sandals. It wasn't easy, since she had to unstrap the sandals first in order to take them off, meanwhile, the old man kept yelling in vain. However, as time went on, the slime pillar shrunk more and more. Soon, it would be too thin, and the old man would break free and could use the sandals to recollect his artifacts at an extremely fast speed, and we would be back to square one. I walked closer to the old man to save slime for the pillar, but it did little to help.

Come on guys. I thought as I closed my eyes. Suddenly, I heard the thing I was dreading the most, the sound of the slime pillar breaking and the old man plopping to the ground. I opened my eyes, expecting to see the old man about to rush to the satchel and get his artifacts back after being freed from his slime prison, but he didn't. While he was free from my slime pillar, he didn't have the Sandals of Hermes on anymore, instead, they were floating in the air, away from him. Xhymza had taken them off before he could use them.

"Wait! Give them back!" The old man yelled as he tried running after his flying sandals but was stopped by Arthur.

"You're not going anywhere old man!" He yelled as he shoved him to the ground.

The rest of us surrounded the old man as he backed away from us on all fours. "You can't do this to me, those artifacts could've saved humanity!"

"Saved humanity?" I yelled, "The Order isn't saving humanity by killing the monsters, you're just trying to save their religion from becoming outdated!"

The old man responded, "We're just trying to restore the world as the Chief God originally intended! But regardless, you may have stopped me, but there will be others! Other people, other weapons, other magical items that will be capable of destroying you! You may stop as many of them as you like, but there will always be more. As long the Chief God reigns in this world, her victory against you and those abominations that were once her creations will be inevitable! You hear me? IT IS INEVITA-AAAAAH!"

All of a sudden, the half-eaten zombie Xhymza had summoned lunged out of a bush that was behind the old man, and bit him on the shoulder. She had apparently managed to find her head and reattach it before sneaking up behind him in the bush.

"Shit! No!" The old man said as he realized what just happened. Being bitten by a zombie, he was now inevitably going to become married to a zombie.

"We already got the artifacts." Xhymza said to the zombie as it moaned in excitement, ready to finally have sex with someone after centuries of being unmarried, "He might as well be all yours."

But the old man wasn't having any of it. "No, I refuse to have myself be defiled by this unholy creature!" He immediately pushed the half-eaten zombie as she tried to climb on top of him, holding her back with his harm while his other arm held the zombie's only arm in place.

"Of course you will." I said angrily as I walked over. I wanted to do a number of things to the old man for what he did to my Julia, but I knew she wouldn't want me to do most of them, so I did the only thing she would approve of. I grabbed the old man's arms and began loosening his grip.

"What? What are you doing?"

"If you don't like monster girls," I responded, "then let's see how you like it when you're being fucked by one!" And with that, I yanked the old man's arms off the half-eaten zombie. The half-eaten zombie fell to the old man, but then undid his pants and underwear, exposing his penis, erect thanks to her bite.

"No, no!" The old man struggled against me, but I held my grip on his arms. I only let them go when the zombie-girl inserted his penis into her vagina, as at that point, it was already too late.

I turned my back and walked away as I heard the old man's screams turned into involuntary moans of pleasure as the zombie rid him like crazy, destroying his absolute faith in the Order. With a pleasure as great as the one a monster gives, even someone who is so devout to the Chief God, they blindly follow her every rule and command would instantly lose that faith.

"Wow Ash," Xhymza said, you've really changed.

"Yeah!" Jonathan added, "I don't know what finally got you to do it, but you've made it from a traumatized boy to a guy who just kicked a villain's ass! There was no way we could've beaten him without you, or that slime nostrum, however you got it."

Arthur chuckled under his breath, "I'm sure Julia would be proud."

I smiled, "Thanks guys." Then I remembered something, "Oh no, Julia!" Immediately, we ran back where we came, picking up the satchel as we did.

"Hey!" Yelled Angie as we passed her, the powder the old man used on her had already worn off to the point where her husband was able to break free, but not enough so Angie and her daughter could move from their spot. "Where are you going? Aren't you going to help?"

"No time!" Xhymza yelled "We have to save our friend!" And with that, we went off, running as fast as our legs could carry us, back to where we left Julia.

(000)

We ran back the way we came for what seemed like forever. When we finally reached the spot where we left Julia, Hazel was waiting for us.

"Oh, thank goodness you're finally came back!" She exclaimed as soon as she saw us, "Julia hasn't been moving since you left, I'm barely feeling a pulse, I-I think she may be..." Her voice trailed off.

I immediately ran over. Julia looked pale as a ghost now, her was body shriveled almost beyond recognition, but I knew it was her. Her eyes were halfway closed, and her mouth hung open like a hole.

"Quick, the orb!" I yelled to my friends.

Arthur looked around in confusion. "Umm, I don't remember any of us grabbing the orb. Did any of you two maybe grab it?" He pointed towards Jonathan and Xhymza

Jonathan turned to Xhymza, "Did you happen to grab the orb while we were back there?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

Oh great. I thought as a sudden realization came over all of us: We left the orb back where we fought the old man. By the time we go there, get it, and come back, Julia could already be dead.

Just then, we heard someone. "Hey!"

We all turned to see someone we didn't expect. It was Angie and her husband, along with her partially fused daughter.

"You forgot to bring this!" Yelled Angie's husband as he held up something that gave me a sigh of relief: the Orb of Absolute Reversion.

"I remembered you telling us about your friend and how she needed help!" Angie added, "So we decided to help you since you also helped us!"

"Oh my gosh, thank you!" Xhymza yelled as she took the orb. "I was so worried we were going to lose her. Quick, get it to Ash!"

Xhymza tossed the orb to Jonathan, who cached it. Jonathan then immediately tossed the orb to Arthur, who quickly tossed it to Hazel, who finally tossed it to me. I immediately catch the orb and hold it towards Julia. After brief moment of nothingness, the same voice that told me how to use the All-Seeing-Eye boomed in my head again. "To the one who wishes to use this object, be it to restore an innocent converted to their proper form, to restore something destroyed, or to heal one in need, think with your heart, think about their previous form, to before whatever happened to them happened. What was it like? How were they altered. When you decide which point in time you want to restore them to, be it body or mind, the orb will do its work and their proper form shall be once more."

As soon as the voice finished speaking, I knew what I had to do. "Here goes nothing..."

I closed my eyes and thought hard. I want Julia to be restored to before this orb was ever used on her.

Then it happened, I opened my eyes and saw the orb pulsate with yellow light. I immediately pointed it towards Julia as everyone else watched, their breaths held and fingers crossed. Then it fired, and as soon as it hit Julia, the same holographic from when she was first hit by the orb appeared underneath her again, going counterclockwise like before. I watched as Julia's body went from Shriveled to plump and her skin from white as a ghost to the heavy tan I was familiar with. Just when Julia resembled a healthy human again, the holographic clock slowed down before skidding to a halt. Then it glowed a bright yellow and began rotating again, this time going clockwise. First, her body became more voluptuous until it was as round and curvy as I was usually used to. Then her familiar horns, wings, and tail began growing out from their original places and her ears once again became pointy. Finally, her familiar purple pleasure runes faded back onto her skin, right where I wanted her to get them on the day she got them: Her entire cheek, her boob along with the cleavage, her shoulder, and her hip. Then the holographic clock vanished, and I beheld the very sight before me. Julia, back in her succubus body, just as I always knew her.

"You did it Ash!" Jonathan exclaimed. And for a moment, we all thought so.

But our brief moment of joy ended shortly when we all noticed something: Julia hasn't moved, she hasn't even opened her eyes, or moved her mouth, nothing. Julia just layed there, perfectly still.

"No." I grabbed Julia by the shoulders. "Please don't be dead Julia."

The others surrounded us as I held up her body, tears welling up in my eyes as we all thought the worst.

"No..." My voice trailed off; I couldn't think of anything else. Julia was the only real family I had. She meant the world to me. As a human married to a monster, she was like a part of me. An irreplicable thing, something I would be lost without. She made me feel what it was like to be loved by someone who cared for you after so many years of torture. Without her, I would've been dead, or worse, still in that room, being tortured day by day by my own father. She couldn't be dead, she just couldn't.

"I'm sorry." Someone said, but I couldn't identify who it was through my crying.