The last week had been a nonstop party for the angels; rave lights blared courtesy of Helel while the angels partied and drank to their up-and-coming hero. While he had his issues, they had been managed by NTRing fallen heroes. As far as the angel faction was concerned, Atom was a great hero who took his role as an angel-aligned hero seriously. With so few heroes remaining with them and more dropping the longer they persist on Echidna. For a while, they had run on a deficit, seemingly only able to summon heroes without monster interference because those heroes would eventually fall to them. 

 

When Atom had asked Medy, the metal slime girl, if she wanted to change sides, Uriel was prepared to make her some wings out of paper. Losing heroes and power in the world had stripped them of most of their ability to act. Monsters were allowed to prey on humanity with impunity, and there wasn’t a thing they could do to stop it.

 

Uriel herself couldn’t wait to be summoned. Atom chose the fire element, and who better to mentor him than the archangel of fire herself. She was prepared to show Atom all her moves and even give him the chance to seduce her with his talent with the element. It had been a while since she had a good dicking down, and everyone was jealous of Helel’s shiny disposition after the fact. The angel of fire only wanted to be useful to the boy who remained faithful to them.

 

Oh, she knew why Atom chose fire; he had his aura that gave him a constant supply of heat to use on a whim. There would be no need for campfires or matches. One guy tried to use spark gloves, of all things, to use fire and was killed by trolls. That was a black mark on her record, but she taught him how to manipulate fire, gather heat, and feed mana to the flames. Brandon tried to use a spark, which would have already taken a large amount of mana to grow. Michael claimed the fool tried to feed the spark oxygen.

 

Controlling fire through magic didn’t give the ability to control the air. They were two different elemental branches. Magic energy control wasn’t something a tier 3 hero should have trouble with.

 

“Did anyone see the recording of Atom training?” Satanos said with a lecherous smile on her face.

 

Uriel felt her eye twitch. “He’s my student look, but don’t touch.”

 

“Don’t be so defensive; he could have just as easily been mine. With all the darkness flowing through his veins, it’s a wonder he didn’t choose dark. He certainly studies the subject enough to have more than a passing interest.” Satanos said.

 

“Do you think he will try and multi-spec?” Uriel whispered.

 

“You haven’t studied him as well as I have,” Helel said.

 

The current picture on the viewing screen was of Atom talking with a filthy independent at a bar. She liked it when he introduced himself as an angel faction hero. It soothed everyone’s worries that when put on the spot, he freely admitted to being theirs.

 

“I know something you don’t,” Helel said.

 

Her sing-song tone was getting on Uriel’s nerves, but she needed to focus; this was important.”

 

“What are you hiding?” Satanos asked.

 

“Guess it's no fun if I tell you,” Helel said.

 

“He plans to multi-spec,” Uriel said.

 

Their leader crossed her legs, showing off that she wasn’t wearing panties, flashing everyone. Screens appeared showing Atom training in high gravity, doing push-ups with his shirt off, going through katas, and training his first spell.

 

From what she could tell, it was all normal stuff except for the technology allowing him to strengthen himself. Seals were worth tossing him in Queen Persephone’s territory. That old queen has been obsessed with her research for countless years but never shirked her duties. If Atom had ever stayed in a place for too long or lacked his seals to hide himself, he would have been ambushed while he was weak. With his current power, not much was a threat to the hero outside the castle.

 

The video shifted, showing Atom experimenting with visual symbols used to control fundamental forces for their mortal heroes. A device was in the works, replicating them using seals and blood.

 

“Close but not quite right either,” Helel said.

 

“He plans to use every specialization. There are no rules against having multiple mentors so long as he makes progress in his chosen field of magic without losing skill in the others.” Helel said.

 

There was a lot more to the rules, but that was the gist of it. Diablos would spy on their training, but if Atom succeeded in his experiments, the monsters wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it. Uriel chuckled at the thought of that bitch seeing them all on echidna training their most promising young hero and being completely unable to do a thing about it. She couldn’t wait to hear the demands of their appearances and rewriting of the balance accords. With so many of them in the world, they might be able to bring the vote to a deadlock. Wouldn’t that be terrible if the monsters couldn’t outvote them?

 

She let her giggle turn into a full-blown evil laugh as a group of chimeras rolled into town.

 

“This could be a problem; our hero is consorting himself with a rumor-mongering filthy independent,” Satanos said.

 

“I believe that’s the one who asked to see your breasts when he appeared,” Helel said.

 

“They apparently weren’t enough to keep the trash loyal. Gray fell in love with a peasant girl the Persephone kidnapped. Her flesh was most likely pulled away for the dolls. You know how that necromancer is.” Satanos said.

 

Uriel heard the bitterness loud and clear; they had all done their part to ensure loyalty, but how could they keep their heroes loyal from the heavens. They could only watch and, on occasion, help. It wasn’t fair that they had to stay out of their heroes’ journey until heroes could summon them as mentors.

 

…

 

I should have built a pistol or a long rifle with lots of bullets. Why I didn’t was beyond me. I must have been high on training for the last week; that was the only excuse I could give. A gun would end the chimera quickly; they weren’t much to look at, and certainly not in a fight. I didn’t mean to brag, but I was pretty strong, and I had a rather large PL after all the training I went through over the past week. Jokes aside, the monsters could tank water jets capable of rending flesh and splitting grown men in half bones and all, with no damage.

 

There was a little blood, but the wound quickly healed, leaving a little redness on the chimera’s skin. I didn’t want to say anything, but it looked like Gray wasn’t going to be very useful. What was I going to do? Should I phone it in and let Gray do the lion’s share of the work? That would be fun, but I apparently needed to pull my own weight in this. He wanted to form a party, and no one wanted weak members in their party.

 

It wasn’t that I wanted to join, but a few extra hands would make invading the castle easier. I wouldn’t have to become a long-range build and then learn a whole new spell for the cramped confines of a castle. While yes I had three spell slots, cool-down times depended on the power and complication of the spell. Multiple effects could take more time to cool down.

 

That wasn’t really my issue. Gray liked to talk; he talked too much.

 

“I don’t normally have performance issues; trust me, this doesn’t happen. Maybe I should have gone to the monster side and gotten a slime or water elemental. I heard the eel girls love a man who can make them squirt.” Gray said.

 

The mantis lunged, scythe raised, ready to take his head off. Gray took a single step back, and one of them shot their tongue out, and it stuck to Gray’s chest like crazy glue. The tongue reeled back until I grabbed ahold of it and stuck my feet to the ground. The monster paused and threw her ass down. The counterweight didn’t do a thing to move me. It wasn’t strength that kept me on the ground, only pure aura control.

 

After training for a week, I had gained greater control over my aura and, with it, my combat potential. I haven’t yet trained hard enough to give my body the muscle memory it needed to act almost on its own, but I was working on it. In this situation, my next move was obvious.

 

My energy blade formed at the end of my fingertips and came down like the executioner’s ax. The monster girl screamed as her tongue reeled back just as the giant monster girl surrounded us. Hands from numerous girls reached out for us with no barrier to protect them; instead, if felt a wave of electricity gather. Suddenly, I realized I had made a terrible mistake.

 

I grabbed Gray and jumped out of the entanglement just as a massive shockwave blasted the ground. The mantis girl appeared and slashed down at the back of my neck. I shifted in the air and kicked her full force in the chest.

 

My awareness, thanks to my energy sense, hadn’t let me down yet, and the mantis girl was no exception. I had more or less sonar telling me where everything was on the battlefield. While it was honed by the original, I made use of it in my training. Here in this scrap, my training seemed to have paid off.

 

“Let me go. I can pull my own weight. I don’t need you to do everything for me. Just let me catch my breath, and I’ll show those girls what a hero can do.” Gray said.

 

“Besides the bar, I don’t think there is much water around us. Unless you can fire water droplets at supersonic speeds, you better pick up a sword, ax, or a bar stool and defend yourself.” I said.

 

“I didn’t think you were the talkative sort like me; you seemed like the quiet, strong guy every party needs. When my words can’t get us what we want, the strong, silent intimidator seals the deal.” Gray said.

 

“You’re an idiot. Do you have anything that can thin the herd?” I asked.

 

“It's funny you said supersonic because I do have something that might help, but after I use it, my magic reserves are going to be gone. Water is super versatile, but to get it to move at the speed needed to be deadly requires a lot of energy. After I use it, I’ll be worthless in the fight.” Gray said.

 

In my humble opinion, my fellow hero was already worthless in a fight. His value at the moment was meat shield. But I wasn’t confident he could block more than one of the mantis girl’s attacks. So far, the snake woman proved that they can use magic evening the playing field. My fire spells were limited to a single long-range attack spell. I hoped it could punch through a shield like what Walter used. Unfortunately, the spell could only be used a few times before even my reserves were spent.

 

I measured the distance between our duo and the monster girls and decided to risk it.

 

“When I use my spell, I expect you to run; that’s the only way we’re making it out of this,” I said.

 

My voice felt a little dry as I prepared to use a spell in public for the first time. I wondered if my original father would roll in his metaphorical grave at my deviancy.

 

I smile lit my face at the thought my original worshipped the ground his father walked on while I felt more aligned with his stoic magic, loving brother. A little rebellion against his parents wasn’t a bad thing.

 

Molding my energy to form in preparation helped as I ramped up my aura. “Ge,” I spoke the word as I held my hands together and formed a ball of super-heated aura. “hen,” I called as all the heat from my aura concentrated to a single point. While I controlled my aura, the heat was somewhat a byproduct. My fire magic allowed a more thorough control over the thermal energy my aura unleashed naturally. While my aura concentrated, I gathered the heat produced by its condensing back to a single point. Heat waves should have already started arcing off my charging attack. Still, my magic held it completely, keeping its full destructive power concentrated where I wanted it to be. I pointed my hands out as a pea-sized source of energy violently struggled against my control.

 

“Haha, look at that; his spell is so puny, all that charging while we politely let him only for that. How disappointing I don’t even want to fuck that one. I don’t want to pass on his shit genes.” The centipede girl said.

 

“Na,” I said, and a contained beam of heat wider than my head blasted out and turned quickly before vanishing. My attack had only lasted long enough to give them all my attack’s power and then dissipated at my command. The second part of my spell was only implemented in this village. Normally, I would let my spell linger once unleashed for maximum damage.

 

While my spell had lasted moments, the silence was telling. The smell of burning flesh hadn’t hit us yet, but it was coming. The mantis remained on the ground with its blades covering its head. I missed it in my initial sweep. My energy reserves had been cut to a third after not only using the spell but also cleaning up after myself.

 

The giantess stilled as steam rose from the monster’s body. Its blood had been flash-boiled in the moment my spell hit. Extreme concentrated heat like I had used was quite deadly.

 

Chimeras, hit by my spell, fell over, unable to continue the fight. Magic didn’t allow me to create fire; my aura did that in spade; it allowed me to control what existed in my limited area of control. The limits were magic was why people like Walter partnered up with monster girls like Medy. Her natural metal body was the perfect addition to his power. He even developed spells using his control to liquefy metal and feed Medy, further strengthening their reserves of metal through his monster girl.

 

Chimera surely had a similar application, though I didn’t see it. Medy, for me, was more useful as a sex doll and furniture than a walking metal storehouse until I finished the metal seal. Then I guess I would have my own little suit of armor like Walter had, only better because it would be mine.

 

“That was brutal; how did you get so much heat its autumn?” Gray asked.

 

“I started a campfire earlier and stored the heat in a tiny ball in case I was ambushed,” I said.

 

The lie was plausible for a tier 4 or higher hero. I might be able to store a campfire in a reinforced steel container, but it would always be easier to use my aura. My aura had all the fire I needed. The only better element might be wind; once mastered, flight was guaranteed. I was surprised more heroes didn’t choose wind.

 

“Why did you choose water as your specialization?” I asked.

 

“That is an incredibly personal question you're asking me. Heroes, as a rule, don’t tell each other why we take on our specializations; it's practically taboo. If we’re going to work together from now on, I need a promise from you to never ask such a personal and important question.” I blinked. “Nah, I’m fucking with you. I wanted to fuck mermaids, and I thought my best bet was water magic. Breathing underwater has nothing to do with water magic and requires tier 6 bio magic. I didn’t know that beforehand and have no intention of dumping water magic for bio magic. Hear me out; I plan to eventually turn our party into a guild and attract or raise up a bio magic user.” Gray said.

 

Gray was kind of an idiot, but at least he had his priorities straight. I had no idea how he was going to have sex with a mermaid; they don’t seem to have the bits required for sex. I decided to leave that alone.

 

“I’m glad you told me,” I said.

 

“Why did you choose fire?” Gray said.

 

The mantis girl looked between us and her fallen turn while I lifted my finger and pointed it at her. Her wings flashed, and she flew quickly. A beam of aura pierced her back before she flew over the rooftops. She fell onto the giantess’s still-burning body. Flames occasionally licked up the sides of the giant monster girl’s flesh, blackening it. I watched the mantis girl try to escape, only to fall into a weakened part of the corpse’s flesh. A sudden bubble of boiling fat exploded, splattering the mantis. She screeched before falling into the new hole in the corpse.

 

“I thought that one would get away. The monster queen is going to be more brutal; now we should find another member and start posting a rotating town guard. We will show the queen she can’t get what she wants that way.” Gray said.

 

“I’m pretty sure we just doomed the town to destruction with our little defense. Monarchs aren’t likely to contend with checks on their power well. I’m certain if she has an elite force, she’ll send it to destroy the town immediately. If preserving the town was the goal, we should have fled the moment we saw the monsters approach.” I said.

 

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