Raphael sighed, turning off the viewing room’s projection. She had spent much of her time extensively pouring over her grandmother’s history, and she had finally come to a conclusion.

Her grandmother was…not a good person. She was, once, but that was a long time ago, before the war, before Raphael’s grandfather died. It was certainly a long time before Raphael was born. And the death of Raphael’s parents certainly had sent her spiraling even more.

She blamed everyone else for all her problems, even ones that had been directly caused by her actions. She treated the people around her like they were objects, and Raphael was beginning to realize just how close she had come to becoming like her.

Raphael didn’t want that, not anymore. Even she could tell that her grandmother didn’t live a particularly happy life. But…she held hope, hope that maybe she could turn her grandmother’s life around. She…just had to remind her of who she once was, of the woman Raphael’s grandfather had fallen in love with.

It was a frail hope, though. Her grandmother’s life seemed entirely unaffected by Raphael’s absence. Yes, she couldn’t remember Raphael, but even so Raphael had expected her to have some difference in how she acted.

That made her…lonely. She hadn’t realized what she was missing until she saw how her grandmother had treated her father while her grandfather was still alive. She wished that she had been treated like that, not like…like a possession.

She sighed again, leaving the room. She just wished she had someone to talk to, someone who would understand what she was going through. Lilith was a pleasant conversation partner, sure, but her life had been…good. She had a very loving family, she just…wouldn’t get it.

And she didn’t know much about Siph or Kali’s situations, but she felt too intimidated to talk to Siph, and she was still working through the vague distrust of demons that her grandmother had instilled in her.

Her hand strayed to her tailbone, idly rubbing the spot that her tail had been in. She was technically a demon now. That alone disproved many of the bad things her grandmother had said about demons, but the things she had held as truth for so long refused to die that easily.

She gave one last sigh as she reached her room. She didn’t want to think about it anymore, and her train of thought was starting to run in circles. She was going to sit down, watch some TV, and hopefully forget about it, at least for a little bit. She didn’t have high hopes, but it was better than nothing.

“It’s about time we really solidify your combat style.” Kali said. “The raw stat difference will work for a bit, but people, especially the other Perfect Chimeras, will eventually get to the point where they’ll be able to overcome a status difference. So, I’d like you to start thinking about what your main method of combat will be so we can start getting those Classes and Skills.”

I have a few things I would like to review before we continue. Mae supplied. I do not believe mistress has ever fully checked out the Skills we got from High Arbiter. I also evolved several Skills, and have compiled a list of notable changes. If you would like to review them, may I suggest we start with the High Arbiter Skills? Those are all in one place so it would be simpler just to pull up a window with all of them.

Lilith nodded. “Do you mind?” She asked Kali.

“By all means, go ahead.” Kali replied. “It would be best if we were all on the same page here.”

Lilith nodded. “Alright, I’ve finished reading the High Arbiter Skills.” She said. “What’s next?”

Next, I explain the highlights of what I did. Mae said. I’ve taken our Class Experience Up Skill and got it to as high as it can go, giving us a bonus of five hundred percent more experience in our Classes, same for Racial Classes. I also maximized the general Growth Up Skill, which nets us an additional two hundred percent experience for everything.

I wasn’t able to max out Skill Experience Up, though, I got it to about halfway through the Major version of the Skill, which is giving us about one hundred and twenty percent more experience.

Those aside, I was able to get us a Skill that’ll let us scan through a target’s Skill list and get a rough idea of their HP, Mana, and Stamina. I haven’t been able to level it too much since I haven’t done too much direct combat, but it should be passable for now.

And that brings me to the last two big ones. First is a Skill that combines Parallel Processing and Eldritch Abomination into one called Hivemind. It improves our stats when we all work together on something, makes Parallels have no stat downsides compared to the original, and makes sharing memories in bulk slightly less taxing.

Finally, I obtained the Eye of Laplace Skill. This allows me to accurately obtain information on almost any natural property, including things like how fast something is going, how much force is behind it, its mass, its angle, basically anything like that. It’s all dependent on how fast my brain can process it, but with all this extra brain matter I’ve packed in and repurposed to work just on calculation, I can muster enough processing power to make most supercomputers look like non-scientific calculators.

Basically, I can near-instantly calculate where almost anything around us will be in the next few seconds. It’s like a limited form of future sight, but only if no unexpected movements happen. Which, unfortunately, includes a lot of muscle movements and the influence of magic. So, it doesn’t work nearly as well on things like weapons held by people, spells that adjust course, or the claws of a monster. It’s phenomenal for aiming our attacks and for dodging projectile attacks, though.

Lilith blinked. “That’s…really good. I already had an idea of what I wanted, but I think that just cemented it.”

Siph raised an eyebrow. “Really? I’m curious to hear it, then.”

“Guns.” Lilith replied. “I’ve checked and there are a bunch of Classes that deal with guns, so with what would amount to near-perfect aim, I think they would be really effective.”

“An excellent choice.” Kali said. “Have you put any thought into where you’d get your guns, though?”

Lilith shrugged. “I was playing around with using Eldritch Abomination to make parts of me into a gun, and I think I have a way to do it. There are some eldritch creatures that can consume and mimic tools, so I figured if I got a few different types of guns, then I could start modifying things myself. And to get those, I thought I would just ask you, surely, you’ve got ways to get guns, right?”

Kali chuckled. “You better believe I have ways to get guns. I’ll get a bunch of stuff for you to play around with.”

“And ammo would come from the dungeon, so that shouldn’t be an issue either. Oh, and I also want to get more used to using magic in a combat situation, could you teach me a few things?”

Kali scratched her cheek in embarrassment. “Actually, I’ve never been good at fighting. I have something I’m currently putting together, but it’s not going to be ready until about the time I want to get the new system rolled out in about a month. Fortunately, said raw stat difference should hold until you’ve been decently trained, so it shouldn’t be that big an issue.”

“I…see. Then, I’ll start taking gun related Classes, and…then what?”

“And then we’re going to allocate more time to getting your level up. I’ve still got a few last lessons I want to teach you, but we’re getting really close to ready. I’ve finished most of the preparations on my end, so we just have to wait for me to get those last stubborn bits all done and then we’ll be off to the races.”

Siph shot her a worried look. “Are you sure we need to be so…hasty?” She asked. “Can’t we just delay this until that other thing you’ve mentioned is done and she has some more time to get used to things?”

Kali shook her head. “I’ve been on something of a timer ever since I stuck that new system onto her. Maintaining two systems is pretty taxing, and I don’t have the Worship to keep it up for that long. Hopefully, once I reveal myself to the public, I’ll start getting more Worship than I have been, and I’ll be able to recuperate the losses.”

“What’s the maximum amount of time you can hold out for?” Siph asked. “I would like it if Lilith was as prepared as possible before we do this.”

“A month and a half if I spend everything I have on it.” Kali said. “But that’s probably not ideal, I’d like to have a safety cushion to fall back on if things go bad. A couple shows of force would probably go a long way in making sure people don’t want to mess with us.”

“I’ll be fine, mama.” Lilith said. “All their abilities will be reset, and, if it comes down to it, Nuwa’s installed a lot of traps in the main hall. No one should be able to touch me for a while.”

“I…fine.” Siph said. “If you’re sure about this.”

Lilith nodded. “I am. It…well, it feels like I was born to do this. I’m ready.”

Siph gave her an oddly melancholic look, then shook her head slowly. “I suppose you are, then. I’m not going to stop you, if you’re so sure about this.”

“Thanks, mama. I won’t let you down”

Siph smiled weakly and rubbed Lilith’s head affectionately. “I’m sure you won’t. I’m going to go round up some more monsters so we can get you leveled up, you just…keep at it, alright?”

Lilith smiled. “I will, thanks mama.”

Siph made a somewhat awkward exit, prompting Mae to speak up. I’m going to hop into the main body and take care of the levels and Class stuff for you. You shouldn’t notice a difference, just keep focusing on learning, okay?

“Alright, sounds good.” Lilith said, turning back to Kali. “So, more lessons now, or…?”

Kali nodded. “Yeah. Get comfortable, we’re going into cram mode.”

Lilith jumped onto her bed, leaning back against the headboard. By this point she had given up trying to call it anything else; it might have been Kali’s originally, but Lilith never slept in “her” room, and Kali seemed weirdly pleased by the arrangement, so she had chosen to let it be.

She took a further moment to get herself a little more comfortable, then focused back in on Kali. “Ready when you are.”

Roughly a month later, Carmen fell asleep and once again found herself in that inviting-looking living room that she had come to associate with Kali giving her a nighttime visit.

“So, what’s on the agenda today?” She asked. “Another new Parallel?”

Kali shook her head, smiling. “No, though I do have another in mind. She’ll have to wait until things are a little more settled, though. You see, tomorrow’s the big day, we’re going public.”

“Finally.” Carmen said, pumping a fist. “I was starting to get a little impatient.”

“Sorry,” Kali said, scratching the back of her neck, “I had to make sure everything was perfect before we began. Anyway, I wanted to talk a bit more about how tomorrow’s going to be, because it’s going to get hectic.”

“I’m listening.”

“So, as soon as I’m done here, I’m going to call an emergency meeting of the Council and give my resignation. Then I’m going to go to…pretty much everyone important and let them know there’s going to be a sort of press conference I’m holding tomorrow where Lilith is going to help explain everything and answer questions.

“Of course, the first thing Elenoa’s going to do is try and kidnap you lot to use as leverage against Lilith. My guess is that she’s going to send someone, probably Gabriel, to do it for her. If she does, Yamato will probably try and get him to instead bring you guys to Lilith so Elenoa doesn’t have that kind of power over you.

“Knowing him, I think he’ll do it. I’m going to be keeping a careful eye on the situation in case something unexpected happens, but if it all goes according to plan, then you just accept Gabriel’s offer, and you’ll all be set. If it doesn’t go according to plan…well, I’ll contact you and let you know, we’ll figure something out. Worst case scenario I just teleport you guys back to my place using some Worship and she can do literally nothing to stop me.

“Once you’re safe I’m gonna knock you out while I reconnect you with Lilith. And then you’ll have access to all their memories from while you were away, and we’ll be ready to start everything for reals. Any questions?”

Carmen paused. “Can I assume we’re going to be staying with you for a while, then?”

“Sort of. They’re…going to be more like neighbors.”

Carmen raised an eyebrow. “They’re?”

Kali blushed. “Um, well, you’ll get what I mean once you get the memories. Long story short Lilith and…maybe you, depending on what you feel like, will be a bit closer to me.”

“Alright then.” Carmen said. “I think that’s about everything I was wondering.”

“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

Carmen nodded. “Until then.” And, with that, the room faded, and she slipped back into sleep.

Fighterman481

So, this is it, the last of the 'deep' rewrite. Everything going forward will have a lot of copy/pasting from the original, with (mostly) minor edits to preserve continuity, add foreshadowing, or similar. 

What this means is that there will probably be something of a quality change going forward.  Or, if not quality, then style? I don't know quite the wording for it. Basically, that stuff was written a year ago, and I've evolved as a writer since then. I don't want to fully rewrite everything because that would take forever and would lead to a sort of 'when does it end' cycle where I'm constantly rewriting my earliest stuff, so I'm forcing myself to keep it mostly as is.

If there are any easy edits that make things flow better I do them, but I'm not writing most of the chapter from scratch with the original as a guideline like I've done with the rest of this.

Expect 2-3 chapters a day for the next while, though the chapters with bigger changes (there are one or two that had to be pretty heavily rewritten) might be the only chapter for that day.

Anyway, that's all for now, so, as always, thanks for reading!