Mae calculated the trajectory of the monster, laying a bullet in its head as soon as she had. Once she had received Eye of Laplace, the hardest part was actually aiming where she wanted to. With Eye of Laplace, that was also something that could be done near-perfectly, it just took time, and she prided herself in her speed. That time was rapidly approaching 0 and was already down to the point where it could be considered a rounding error.

But she had missed Isa. Multiple times. That fact ate at her more than anything else had in the short time since she’d been “born”. She’d failed her mistress. There was always something with Isa; she would emerge from her cloud of smoke with her trajectory subtly altered in ways that just shouldn’t have been possible, or a rock would hit her out of the way of Mae’s bullet. Eye of Laplace was good, but it couldn’t read the whole battlefield at once.

She looked over the Skill again, frowning slightly as she saw the level.

Eye of Laplace Level Max Rank: Unique Born of a fusion of analysis Skills with King’s Knowledge to fill in the gaps, this Skill allows the user to compute any given vector they observe and increases the speed of the calculation by 10,000%. All relevant variables are given to the user when calculating. I see you. And where you’ll be 5 seconds from now.

It wasn’t getting any stronger. Yes, it was already quite strong, but it wasn’t omnipotent. She could only focus on so many things at once, and in a situation where there were many different things to keep track of, she had to prioritize.

The raccoon-like thing she had just shot stumbled slightly but rushed forward anyway. It was the size of a bear and fed off of the mana generated by the barriers around Haven’s cities, granting it limited protection against spells.

They also had a Skill that let them act after their HP reached 0. It generally lasted for around a minute or until they took another wound, and they would almost always die when it deactivated, so it just seemed to be a way for them to get one final frenzied attack in on whatever killed them. She sighed internally and placed another bullet right where the first had hit.

The body fell to the floor, lifeless. She itched to Assimilate it then and there, but, unfortunately, Kali had instructed her mistress to leave the bodies. It was a way to show the people just how strong she really was, so as to assure them she was powerful enough to back up her claim of being a peacekeeper. They’d already left a few dozen bodies in their wake today, and Carmen was out at one of the other cities doing the same.

After a while, the work just became monotonous. None of the enemies were strong enough to really threaten Mae, so she was able to go on a limited sort of autopilot, giving her ample time to think as she slaughtered her way through the various monsters that lurked around Haven. To be fair to them, they were strong, around level 60 or 70 at the weakest, and from what she had been able to tell, each individual level for a monster was more valuable than one would be to someone with a Class. It was more like that level was their Racial Class level, and didn’t even count all the levels they had gone through before any evolution they might have had.

But they had become predictable and being predictable meant that she barely had to put any effort into dispatching them. Hardly anything was able to make it to within melee range anymore, which left her mistress without a job. Mae had forced her mistress to leave anything that required aiming to her, arguing that she was by far the best equipped to deal with it.

So, her mistress was chatting with her family over their mental link, and Mae didn’t really feel like joining in. There was no need for her in their conversation, so she was content to put it in the back of her mind while she worked through her issues.

Her working theory was that Isa had some way to confuse Eye of Laplace, or she had some sort of probability manipulation. Or both. When looking over Isa’s Skill list while attempting to steal one, she had seen several Skill names that referenced fortune or luck, so she was currently leaning towards probability manipulation.

And that made Isa a dangerous opponent for Mae. If she couldn’t accurately predict where someone would be, she couldn’t hit them, not without the interference of magic. Or luck, but with that set of Skills Mae wasn’t counting on it.

Mae, are you OK? Her mistress asked. You’ve been kind of out of it.

Mae shifted her focus to her latest kill, puzzled. I didn’t miss, did I?

No, you didn’t. You’ve just been quieter than usual, and your movements aren’t as focused.

I’m fine. Mae lied. She didn’t want to trouble her mistress over something so small, so she didn’t need to know.

There was silence for a brief moment, and then her mistress spoke up. Is that true? Please don’t hide anything from me. I need to know.

Mae hesitated before responding. No. Not really. I’m still thinking about the fight with Isa.

She felt her mistress’ expression shift into one of understanding. Oh. Because you missed?

Yes.

It’s honestly not a big deal. That sort of thing is to be expected; there are all kinds of situations that Skills and magic will bring up that could throw off your aim without you knowing beforehand. That just means we have to adapt. It’s not your fault.

I suppose not. She let the subject drop and tried her best to stop thinking about it. That was what her mistress wanted, after all.

Are you nervous about later? Her mistress asked suddenly.

Not particularly. There won’t be any danger to us at all, so it’s not worth worrying about. Are you?

A little. Her mistress admitted, I mean, we don’t even know them. Yeah, they’re our grandparents, but…do they even know about us? Will they approve of our parents?

It doesn’t really matter. What happens will happen, and if they don’t like our human parents that’s their problem.

I guess, but I still can’t help but be nervous, you know?

That’s understandable. Any way I can help with that?

Just listening to me is fine. Now, let’s hurry up here. We’ve almost finished the lap of the city.

Of course, mistress.

---

Lilith gripped Siph’s hand nervously as the two stood in front of the cave.

Siph squeezed gently. “It’ll be fine. Dad may give you a bit of trouble, but he should settle down once he realizes how strong you are. And I’m sure mom will love you, so it’s fine.”

She faced forward and called out in her family’s private language. “Mom, dad, it’s me! And I’ve brought a guest!”

There was the sound of shuffling from the cave, and then two young-looking people walked out.

The woman rushed over to Siph and caught her in a hug. She was the spitting image of Siph, and the two looked like they could be sisters. Benefits of not aging, Lilith assumed.

“It’s been so long!” The woman said, clearly delighted. “What have you been up to? And who’s this?”

Siph smiled and gently pried her mother off of her, turning her to face Lilith. “This is my daughter, Lilith.”

Siph’s parents froze, staring at Lilith. There was a long, awkward silence as they digested the new information, and then Siph’s mother walked over to Lilith, looking her up and down appraisingly.

“As I thought.” She said gravely. “You’re adorable.” She reached up and pinched Lilith’s cheek, smiling. Letting go of Lilith’s cheek, she turned to her daughter. “And I thought the day would never come. Who’s the father? What’s his race? Obviously he’s a hybrid, but I’m dying to know who produced a cutie like this.”

Siph smiled happily. “His name’s Mike, and he’s a human. He’s the sweetest thing, though, and–”

She was cut off as her father forcefully dragged her away, starting a conversation in a hushed tone.

Lilith’s grandmother looked back to Lilith and tilted her head. “Oh?” She said, confused. “If that’s the case, does that mean that Siph didn’t give birth to you?”

“No. She’s still my mom, though. It’s…complicated.”

Her grandmother snorted derisively. “It’s really not. You say she’s your mom, she says you’re her daughter, case closed. I’m really happy she taught you our language, though. It means she’s serious about this. What happened to your birth mother?”

“She didn’t teach me the language. And my birth mother is married to Siph and my dad. Again, it’s a bit of a long story.”

Her grandma threw a glance at her husband and Siph. “They’ll be a bit, we have time.” She pulled Lilith into the cave, leading her into a small room that had some simple furniture in it. She dragged a couple of chairs around so that they faced each other and sat in one, prompting Lilith to sit in the other.

“I haven’t really introduced myself, sorry. My name’s Tiamat, but you can call me grandma!”

Lilith now slightly more nervous, spoke. “And I’m Lilith Clements. Nice to meet you.”

Seeing Lilith’s expression, Tiamat laughed. “I’m not that Tiamat., just like you’re not that Lilith. It’s just a common name among dragons. Well, I assume you’re not that Lilith, since she’s older than me, but it’s apparently a long story so I guess it’s not off the table.” She said, cracking a smile.

“No, I’m not the original. I, uh, am the other one, though.”

Tiamat looked puzzled, but then lit up. “Oh, from the broadcast! Ah, now that I think about it, you do look just like her. So, that means you’re…No, wait, I want to hear it from you. But, first, let me ask so it doesn’t get confusing, how do you refer to your moms?”

“Uh, I’m still not 100% sure yet. I was thinking mom and dragon mom, or maybe human mom and dragon mom, it’s just usually not much of an issue, since people can usually tell who I mean when I say mom.”

Tiamat frowned. “I see. How about mom for your human mother and mama for your dragon mother? I think it works pretty well and isn’t too wordy.”

Lilith thought that over. “I like that. I’ll let them know after we finish up here.”

Tiamat clapped excitedly. “Alright, so, with that out of the way, tell me everything. You said you were a human living on Earth, right? Start from there.”

And she did. They talked for upwards of an hour before Lilith actually reached meeting Siph, as Tiamat was very interested in what her life on Earth was like before she was introduced to magic. Several times Lilith had to explain what something was, usually leading into tangents as she explained other things.

Eventually, though, they did reach meeting Siph and the circumstances surrounding Siph’s entry into Lilith’s family.

“That’s a wonderful Skill you picked up, dear.” Tiamat said once she found out about Familial Bond, “could you add me too? I don’t want to be left out.”

Lilith nodded. “Yeah, as long as your husband agrees to come in too. I don’t want to cause a fight between you two.”

Tiamat rolled her eyes. “He’ll agree, but he’ll probably complain about it first.” She paused, then gave Lilith a worried look. “He’ll probably want to fight you. Can you handle that? He’s stronger than your mama for sure, and you lost to her…”

Lilith laughed. “It’ll be fine. Let me get through the rest of the story and you’ll see.”

And so, they kept talking for another hour. They finished Lilith’s story after another thirty or so minutes, briefly discussed what to do about Tiamat’s husband, and after that was done, they just talked to get to know each other better. They would have talked even longer if Tiamat’s husband didn’t storm in furiously.

“You.” He barked, pointing at Lilith. “Outside. Now.”

Tiamat stood up and walked over, placing her hand on his arm. “Kirdin, honey, shouldn’t you talk to her first? She’s a lovely young lady and I think if you listened…”

He brushed her hand off. “No, Tia. Siph’s gone too far this time. I want that girl out of my house, and then I want her to watch and see as I beat some sense into our daughter. Then, I’ll make her understand that Siph is not her mother, no matter what the two of them might think.”

Lilith stood up and walked over, giving Kirdin a cold look. She didn’t want to greet her grandfather like this, but it had been her grandmother’s suggestion, so she went along with it. Besides, he was threatening to beat her mother, and she couldn’t let that slide.

“I won’t accept that.” She said frostily. “Mama has done nothing wrong. If you want to fight anyone, you’re going to fight me, understood?”

Kirdin glared at her. “Watch your tone, missy. I don’t want to have to beat a child, but I will if you keep acting like this. Siph’s clearly been too soft on you.”

Lilith snorted. “As if. You couldn’t beat me if you tried, old man.”

“I’ll give you one chance to take that back, and then I really will beat you.” He growled.

“You can keep the chance, you don’t scare me.” Lilith replied levelly, locking eyes with Kirdin.

“Fine. Have it your way. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Tia, make sure she comes outside.” He said, turning and stomping out of the room.

Tiamat smirked and patted Lilith’s arm. “Told you he’d be like this. Go teach him some humility, will you? He hasn’t lost in far too long.”

Lilith followed her outside, to where a Kirdin and Siph were staring daggers at each other.

Kirdin pointed to the entrance of the cave. “Siph, get into the entrance right now. You’re going to watch while I discipline this kid for you.”

“Make me.” Siph retorted. “I’m not letting you lay a finger on her, got it?”

“It’s alright, mama.” Lilith called out. “I was the one who wanted to fight him.”

Siph rushed over hurriedly. “Are you sure?” She asked, concerned. “Dad’s strong, don’t underestimate him.”

Lilith smiled. “Don’t worry, grandma gave me an idea of his stats. He’s not nearly as tough as Isa, so I don’t think he could do much.”

“Trust me, she’s a lot stronger than he is.” Tiamat soothed. “The only one getting hurt here will be him.”

"Alright.” Siph conceded. “I’m going to step in if it looks even a little dangerous, though.” With that, she and Tiamat went to the mouth of the cave, where they sat down and looked out at Lilith and Kirdin.

Lilith walked over to Kirdin, who took a step back and shifted into his dragon form. Unsurprisingly, he was even bigger than Siph, and absolutely towered above Lilith, who didn’t even flinch as she started into an eye that was as big as she was.

In response, she sent him a Geas.

Lilith demands you admit you’re wrong and apologize. If you do not, you will take 10 nonlethal damage, and lose 10 Mana and Stamina.

There was a low, gravely rumble as Kirdin chuckled. “That the best you can do? No chance.”

Lilith smiled as she saw his HP tick down. “No. I just wanted to drag things out a little.” She strode confidently towards Kirdin, who lashed out with a claw.

Lilith stopped, and Mae lashed out with a tentacle, coiling it around the claw and immobilizing it. Kirdin struggled and tried to pull free, but it wasn’t any use; Mae was gripping too strongly.

Then, Mae changed the tentacle into a sharp ring of carapace and constricted, cleanly slicing the hard nail of the claw off. Kirdin jumped back quickly and let loose his acid breath, only for Lilith to activate Zoan’s Barrier and absorb it completely.

She flew quickly towards him, getting up in his face before he had much of a chance to react. Then, Lilith sprouted eight tentacles, which entangled Kirdin’s legs, wings, tail, and neck, then unceremoniously flipped him onto his back. Lilith flapped above him lazily, watching as he thrashed in a vain attempt to free himself.

“Give up.” She said. “I haven’t even used most of my Skills and you still can’t do anything to me. This isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

He didn’t respond, choosing instead to continue to struggle. Lilith tightened her grip, immobilizing him. “It’s rude to ignore people.” She said.

“What are you?!” He panted.

“Oh, did mama not tell you?” Lilith said sweetly. “I’m a Perfect Chimera, and also probably the strongest thing alive at the moment.”

Kirdin shifted back into a humanoid form, freeing himself from Lilith’s grasp.

“Fine.” He huffed. “I can recognize when I’m beat. You win.”

Lilith landed and walked over to him. “Let me fix you up.” She said, healing him with Kindness’ Kiss and watching as one of his fingernails reformed.

Tiamat and Siph reached them at about this time. Siph was smirking triumphantly, and Tiamat just rolled her eyes. “I told you to listen.” She scolded. “Now, are you going to come listen to our granddaughter’s story or not?”

---

“Sorry.” Kirdin mumbled. “I was being overprotective again.”

They had just finished explaining everything to him, and he was sitting in his chair looking rather sheepish. “I just…it’s never, um, not usually a good idea for dragons to fall in love with humanoids. They’re almost always looking for something from us and even if they’re not our lifestyles aren’t really compatible. So, when I heard my baby was with a human I got upset.”

Tiamat raised an eyebrow. “Really? I’ve got several friends who are happily married with humanoids, and there haven’t been any issues there. Are you sure it’s not just personal bias?”

Kirdin huffed. “I just don’t want her making the same mistakes I did. That’s all.”

“Alright, so, you’re going to let Lilith add you to Familial Bond, right?”

“Yes, dear.” He replied, looking down.

Lilith let Familial Bond prompt the two, and they accepted. Kirdin scratched the back of his neck and slowly began to speak. “Uh, I really am sorry, kiddo. You’re a good kid, you know that? I’m really happy that you wanted to protect your mama. Will you forgive me?”

“Yes, grandpa.” Lilith replied.

Kirdin brightened immediately, reaching over and rubbing her head affectionately. “Good to hear. I don’t want to be on bad terms with my only grandkid. Now, is there a reason you two came over or are you just introducing yourself?”

“Ah, right.” Lilith said, straightening. “I was kind of hoping you two would let us put one of our transfer gates here.”

“Of course!” Tiamat said happily. “Anything for you, sweetie.”

“What?” Kirdin asked, confused. “What gates?”

“I told you you should have watched the broadcast.” Tiamat said, exasperated. “She talks about it there. She wants to make some permanent gates between Earth and Haven.”

“Right.” Lilith said. “We’re putting one where mama used to live, and we’re going to ask some other dragons too, as well as clearing out some hostile, equally powerful monsters and placing ones there. Since strong things tend to avoid places where much stronger things live, it makes those places perfect for the starts of new settlements.”

“I’m not sure I want a bunch of humanoids living near me.” Kirdin said slowly. “That’s begging for trouble, especially if they’re from Earth and aren’t familiar with dragons.”

“You’ve got a point.” Lilith said. “Um…you could come live with us, if you wanted. It’s mostly humanoids there, too, but we’re all used to this sort of stuff so no one should give you any trouble.”

“I couldn’t live somewhere my grandkid made for me.” Kirdin replied. “I like to feel like it’s a place I earned myself, you know?”

While Lilith thought this over, Tiamat started to talk with her husband. “Are you sure you can’t give this whole gate thing a try? If we have any issues, we can always have Lilith be a mediator for us and the people. It’ll be nice to be able to have access to more things again, and I’m dying to try some of the stuff Lilith’s be telling me about. Come on, if worst comes to worst, we can just move somewhere else. It’s not like this place was hard to make.”

Kirdin sighed. “Fine, we’ll let you put a gate. Just make sure people know not to mess with us, alright?”

“Thanks!” Lilith said brightly. “I really appreciate it! I have to leave soon since it’s been longer than I expected, but do you two want to come see the place? I’d love to introduce you to everyone!”

“Of course, dear.” Tiamat said. “Lead the way!”