Luna swooped over the small horde of troglodytes, raining death and destruction upon them. Her arrows of pure shadow not only seemed to contain a hint of the void on them but left a gaping hole wherever they hit their target.

The stone-kin looked up in horror at the angel of death that was killing their tribe with ease. As Luna knocked and fired, they would scatter in hopes of evading the arrows. Some even went so far as to run as fast as they can, then skid to the side at the last second, only for their eyes to widen as the arrow just swerved to follow them and take their life.

Soon, some of the troglodytes grouped up, in the hopes of defending themselves by bringing up makeshift shields and overlapping them on top of each other.

This seemed to incensed Luna, who swooped down and blasted her way through the small bunched-up group. With brutal efficiency, she would snap necks, deflect spear thrusts, and kick so hard that a few were sent flying. She moved so fast and with such grace, it almost appeared like she was in two places at the same time, confusing her attackers as to where they should aim. Her training in shadow weaving paid off as she left shadowy afterimages in her wake.

It was then that the stone-kin elder made her appearance, walking slowly with her cane through the busted-down doors of the fort. Upon seeing her children killed so, her anger reached its peak and she flung out a hand pointed in Luna’s direction.

“How dare you kill my children with such ease!” the elder yelled, and a wave of something hit Luna.

Luna was flung back from where she was, she was nowhere near the entrance of the gate. And yet she was still hit by a powerful force she couldn’t describe. After sending her flying a few feet, Luna stood up, determined to avenge the affront. Only to find she couldn’t move.

For some reason, her whole body felt like it was under intense gravity. And not just her body, but her mind as well. Her mentality was already a bit shaky after everything that happened, but now she felt the cracks in her psyche she wasn’t even aware were there. She gritted her teeth, trying to snarl her way out and brute force it. But the pain her brain felt was too much, and she still couldn’t move.

---

Van woke up, or at least it felt like that. His mind was still hazy and wispy. More importantly, he kinda wanted to cry. The soft warm thing that made him feel so good was gone. He longed for its warmth, for the release he desperately needed. His power was boiling over and desperately needed an outlet. At the same time, he was unbelievably hungry and wanted to feed on energy. A mix of contradictions that left him confused and even a little angry.

Getting up he saw fire, there were a lot of things burning, and a lot of dead things on the ground. He looked at it all like someone would a dream that was not a dream. Slowly getting up, he realized he was naked, but felt apathetic about it and moved on to find his warm thing.

“Master!” Gwen shouted and so did Anna. Both of them were worried and surprised that he suddenly got up and walked right out of the circle.

They were surprised when Luna changed and flew out, now their master was just walking out as well as if nothing had happened. There were still a lot of enemies nearby, but when they rushed to get to him, he jumped unbelievably high and off into the distance. Shouting after him all the while.

Van didn’t really hear them though, he was more focused on finding a nice warmth thing to use. And while he found a few, they were either dead or engaged in hitting each other for some reason. So he had jumped to get a better look at the goings around and to see if he could find his original soft warm thing.

Seeing it, he fell nearby, planning to continue where they left off. His body was ready with anticipation.

But he paused when he saw his soft warm thing in pain. Something was not right, and for some reason, his head was beginning to buzz and annoy him. But he pushed it off and instead tried to figure out what was going on.

His soft warm thing was in pain and wasn’t moving, almost like something was keeping it in place. Something about the soft warm thing also brought… memories and… feelings… he couldn't quite place them, but the soft warm thing was very important to him for things other than satisfying him. A confusing thing to acknowledge, and something that gave him a headache.

But his thoughts were interrupted when a flying stone woman came hovering above the soft warm thing, looking like she was planning to attack.

That would not do, Van did not want his soft warm thing hurt. He glared and growled at the flying stone woman, though she was too far to hear or see. Angered, he Instinctively brought out mana orbs that floated around him. He wasn’t entirely sure why, but he felt like his power would go rampant if he used his mana right now. So using the several mana orbs to help control and focus his power he sent a lance of fire at the flying stone woman.

The gargoyle was planning to dive bomb Luna, but at the last second had to fling herself to the side. She was only a few inches away from being shishkabob by a lance of fire. Something she only saw from the corner of her eye. If she hadn’t trusted her instincts, she would have been dead.

Van’s eyes narrowed in anger at the fact that the flying stone women dared dodge his attack. He raised his hand with a commanding attitude and all of his mana orbs began to react. Soon, half a dozen lances of fire were being shot at the gargoyle in rapid fashion. Her eyes widened in fear as she began to do evasive maneuvers to avoid them.

But it wasn’t enough, one of the lances clipped her wing, and that was all it took for the rest to hit their target. She was engulfed in a blaze, but Van didn’t stop his attack, flinging lance after lance until even her stone skin wasn’t enough and she cried out in pain before she died.

When the elder stone-kin saw that, she cried out in anguish, and her force now spread out wider. Indiscriminately affecting friend and foe alike.

Van felt like something pushed him to the ground and his headache got even worse. It felt like his mind was going to explode.

“How dare you! Forget about being a breeding stud! You can die alongside everyone else!” the elder said, and soon a big ball of mana started to form above her head as she kept all the others down on their knees. She prepared to blast the ones who took away her favorite children, even if it meant a few casualties on her side.

Neither Van nor Luna could do anything, they were both too tired and their minds and body were not in the best condition. So they couldn’t fight off the power the elder stone-kin was using to keep them in place.

Gwen and a few of the Annas were also unable to do anything. They had come as fast as they could to help their master but were unable to do anything as they got caught up in the force that the elder projected.

“Now, it's time that you all-!?” a lightning bolt took the elder from behind straight through the back of her head. Her body took a few steps forward as if confused by its sudden lack of a proper brain. The elder's one remaining eye blinked and raised a hand to the now missing part of her face, feeling the whole that took half her cranium. Troll-kin durability at its finest. She then fell forward.

And the giant ball of mana went off…

---

Van woke up with a start. The last thing he remembered was a blast that sent him and everyone else flying. His head felt like it was killing him, and he tried to sit up only for something to hold him down. Panicking a little he looked down to find Luna snuggled up to him and holding him tightly.

Or at least… he thought it was Luna? She certainly looked like her, but she was also a little different. Something about her body made Van blush, he had long gotten used to Luna’s body or for that matter, most women’s bodies. But for some reason, looking at Luna now gave him a strange yearning that he couldn’t place.

As he looked at her he then remembered what happened a bit more clearly. It still was mostly fuzzy, but his face went red with what little he could recall.

He then blinked and blinked some more, his eyes widening. His vision was amazing! He could see things far more clearly than before. Looking at things from across the tent as if they were right in front of him. He also felt weird, not a bad weird just a weird weird. He brought his hand to his face and opened and closed them over and over again.

He now knew why whenever someone ranked up they did that. Van could literally feel the changes in his body. The way his muscles in his hand moved with greater strength and efficiency. It was like day and night, he was just so much more stronger than he was before.

Just then Anna walked in carrying a tray of food and some medicine. She nearly dropped them when she saw that Van was awake. She quickly set the tray down and rushed to hug him. Squeezing him with all her might, tears formed on the rim of her eyes as she began to cry a little.

“Umm, there there?” Van said, awkwardly giving her a hug back as Anna rubbed her face on him.

Slowly and gently Van pushed Anna off and began to ask her the important questions. “Anna, what happened? Is everyone okay? How long was I out? Was anyone hurt?”

Anna opened her mouth as if to say something, then hesitated and kept it shut. Almost as if she had something against talking.

“Anna, please… I need to know.” Van said, pleading and looking into Anna’s eyes.

Hesitantly she began to speak. “Y-you w-were ou-out of it f-for two days. W-we Los-lost a lot of p-people, but we a-are okay.”

Van’s eyes widened, not only did it sound like Anna had a slight speech impediment, but it was strangely echoey, like several voices overlapping each other.

“What happened to you!?” Van asked with worry and fear, only to be returned with silence as Anna looked away in shame.

(“calm down, I can explain, and help with this predicament.”) a voice said in Van’s head.

(“Ren?”) Van said, surprised to hear Ren back in his head, but then his head spasmed like a migraine was coming on and Anna leaned forward in worry, checking up on him as he grabbed his head.

(“calm down. Don’t think too hard. You’ve been through a lot. Just let me do the talking, alright?”) He then waited for a reply, and Van stayed silent, waiting for Ren to continue.

(“alright… do you remember that soul seer? She stopped you from accessing your soul realm. That prevented you from hearing my voice and bringing out the two Annas you have in reserve. But it didn’t just prevent You from accessing it, but Anna as well.”) Ren began, taking on a serious tone. (“this meant that should you have stayed and fought in those caverns, and Anna were to die, she would have done so permanently…”)

Van’s face paled, confused and scared where Ren was going with this.

(“Afterall, when Anna dies, her sliver of soul that inhabited that body is just transferred back to the collective that is inside your soul realm, to rejoin the rest. But without access to it…”) Ren paused to let that sink in before continuing. (thankfully… that didn’t happen. But, when the fight started here in the fort, a few of the Annas died, and your soul realm was in no condition to accept those slivers of her soul...”)

Van’s hands tightened on the covers of his blanked, shaking all the while, fearful and wide-eyed at what he might hear next.

(“thankfully… again… they simply moved onto nearby Annas. Which is why it sounds like she has a speech impediment and several voices. She has several Annas inhabiting one body, which is putting a great amount of strain on both her body and mind. Your soul realm is still cut off, but give it some time to heal, and you should be able to help her.”)

Relief fell off Van in waves. His body was relaxing so much he almost felt like he was going to faint. (“wait… what about Isa and Gwen? And Kella too? And what happened to Luna!? And was that Lyn that killed the soul seer? And what happened to my body!? and-”)

(“ENOUGH!”) Ren shouted, silencing Van and giving him a headache.

(“calm down. While I don’t know everything that happened, I can tell you this much. You have ranked up your dhampir/vampire race and have fully awakened your incubi one. Luna has also fully awakened her succubi blood, so don’t be surprised if she starts acting a little different and becomes more needy. As to why… well… it was necessary to save your life.”) Ren then gave a yawn. (“I'm done now. I have spent the last few days healing you the best I can from my end. The rest is up to you. At least for now... Good night…”) and with that, the connection was lost.

Van tried to re-establish the connection but to no avail. And trying to do so only worsened his migraine so he gave up.

Soon, Kella, Gwen, and Isa walked into the tent, being led by another Anna.

Kella looked down at Van, her hard expression softening. “Good to see you alright. How was your sleep?” she said kindly, standing at attention.

Gwen and Isa held no such reservation and ran towards him to check if he was okay, asking many questions and just generally worrying about him.

But Van’s thoughts were on another thing. “Kella… what happened to your arm…” Van asked, horrified at the stump where her arm used to be, as well as noticing the many bandages all over her body.

“Oh, this?” she said, waving her stump. “Don’t worry about it, I lost it to the troll and her mother. Good news is we were able to find it. So we should be able to reattach it soon. Hopefully…”

“What do you mean?” Van asked, a little confused.

“One of the benefits to being a greater ghoul, it's very hard to kill us, and we can reattach cut off pieces of our body given enough healing and a little luck,” she said confidently, clearly doing her best not to make Van worry and act like it was no big deal.

Van was silent for a moment, he wanted to ask more about it, wanted to apologize, but knew that Kella wouldn’t accept it, so remained silent and asked about something else. “I see… and Lyn? Is she here?”

“Actually, the person who did that should be coming right now. She was a bit busy with helping fix the aftermath of all the damage. And she feels a little guilty about not being here to help you, so she might be having a hard time coming here.”

Just then Van heard shouting as another Anna came trying to drag a green fairy through the tent.

“Amie?” Van asked, confused upon seeing her.

Amie stopped struggling and gave up. Looking strangely ashamed she didn't look him in the eye. “Hey, Van… I'm… I'm sorry. I should have come sooner and…” she couldn’t continue. It was obviously eating her up that she couldn't come to help him. But Van didn’t really blame her for that.

“It’s fine. Not your fault you were busy with shipping zappers to Lyn and back again. Speaking of which, where is she? I have to thank her for dealing with that soul seer.” Van said, still confused as to why Lyn wasn’t one of the first people here.

“Well… the thing is… I was the one that threw that lightning bolt.” Amie confessed.

Van blinked. “...how…?” was all he said, not denying what she proclaimed.

Amie looked down, tears starting to well on the rim of her eyes. “I… had a few zappers with me… I saw what was happening and… I knew I couldn’t do anything with my own power and… they… volunteered. They said it would be an honor to sacrifice their lives for the sake of their queen's mate... So… I used their life energy… to fling a bolt of lightning…”

“I was so scared… I didn’t know what to do… I knew I could die… but I still wanted to protect you… and if anything were to happen to you, Lyn would be devastated, so I…” Amie then began to cry.

Van felt like he was stabbed in the heart… slowly, he got up, his body hurt, and groaned in protest. But he forced himself to do so anyway, reaching out to Amie and wrapping her up in a hug. Normally the girls would protest him getting up so soon, but they did not say anything in this instance. Luna was still asleep and looking uncomfortable that her hug pillow went missing.

Van didn’t say anything. He just let her cry onto him.

“I, I killed them all!” Amie cried. “I killed them all!”

“Sh, sh, sh.” it's going to be okay. It's going to be okay.

Van continued to hug Amie for what felt like a long time. Her pain at the actions she did finally helped set in what he should expect beyond the curtains of his tent. He probably was going to see and hear far worse. And he better prepare himself for it.

If there was one thing that was nailed home more than anything else. Was that he was going to have to get stronger. So that things like this wouldn’t happen ever again.