Rupegia

Chapter 88: Reunion – Part 1

We cross through the [Eternal Gate] and find ourselves in a huge vault filled with precious items. Arreira's gaudiness and adoration of gold is shown again in this room, but everything is so chaotically disorganized that it reminds of his "personal room," though instead of mansions and ginormous trees, there are piles of coins and pillars of colorful bricks.

Directly ahead, there's a small set of steps that leads up to a raised stone platform where three lines of suits of armor are prominently displayed, with each line showing off ten sets of armor. The first line shines with a pure white color, but they lack the grain and circular patterns of wooden armor, so I think they're actual metal armor. The second line is made of bark and is covered with branches, leaves, and flowers, just like the ent-like armor that the Generals inside the dungeon wore, though this time they're more than just one color. The armor in the third line isn't plate, but simply scale armor instead, where each scale shines like a mirror, just like mine do.

Arreira floats past us, phasing through the treasure like a ghost as he indifferently explains, "This will all be yours, and though I'm sure the current Crown Lords have more coin than I do, they certainly don't have this…"

He stops before the first line, then motions towards it with his hand and starts explaining, "This armor is called Bastión, and it's made of an alloy of Okross, steel, and Kanal. Elven wooden armor is better for mages, but it can't form an alloy with Okross, so the absolute pinnacle of defense is held solely by metal armor. It might not be our specialty, but these suits were made by the finest elven Fire and Earth mages of my time, and they are so thoroughly enchanted that they could potentially rival those 'Hands of the Emperor' I've heard so much about."

Yunia frowns, making her sharp gaze even sharper, and points out, "Having all possible enchantments won't help us much if we don't have enough mana to use them."

Arreira rolls his eyes and replies with a slightly flippant tone, "Then just don't fight the Hands and choose another, weaker enemy."

I share a look with the wives, and we hold back our smirks.

Without giving us a chance to quip in return, Arreira moves on to the next line and continues explaining, "This is Ramodia, the standard armor for our higher nobility. This set is very advantageous when you're in a forest. With it, you can manipulate nature better than a dryad, so it's almost a requirement to wear it if you're leading elven troops. Though its offensive and defensive power isn't as good as the Bastión, its potent utility makes it a very versatile suit of armor."

Then he floats over to the last line just as we reach the first one. "This is Camalo. This set is intended for mages, archers, and assassins. It has perfect mana efficiency, making it almost completely undetectable, and coupled with a good [Silence] enchantment, it's the perfect suit for infiltration."

He grabs the forearm of one of the suits, then starts fiddling with something, and the scales all start changing color. Black, white, green, brown, red, they pass through a rainbow of colors, then they become transparent. It doesn't seem like perfect invisibility, but it'd be really hard to notice it in the dark. This is a perfect camo suit.

Hana whistles, and Alissa and Yunia echo her feelings, though silently. Ciel is more interested in the first line of armor while Aoi and Lina are wondering about how they'll fit into them. Roxanne is primarily interested in the last line since it seems to be far less bulky than our current wooden plate armor.

Again, he doesn't even give us a chance to ask a question before he continues, "I'll make you all learn [Equip] before you leave so that you can have these three suits readily available at all times." -He suddenly grins, beaming with pride and annoying sexiness- "But the most important item you'll ever possess is right over here."

He takes a few steps back, grabs the white cloth covering a box behind him, and pulls it off, revealing a very long greatsword embedded in a small pedestal.

"This is a Heavenly Weapon," he announces with a low rumbling voice that's absolutely dripping with excitement.

Alissa chokes on her spit, Lina freezes in surprise, and Yunia gasps. Ciel frowns as she tries to recall something while the rest of us just stay still, waiting for the coming explanation of why that sword is so important, so I curiously observe it in the meantime.

It's as tall as Arreira himself, but it's thinner than a usual sword. Its blade is simple, straight, and perfectly polished like a mirror. I notice that there's no place to grip the blade near the guard, and that its width is too narrow to comfortably grip it, meaning that half-swording is impossible with this weapon. Its cross guard is thinner than that of a typical greatsword, and it's completely rounded, like a teardrop, so it wouldn't be effective for blunt attacks. Its hilt is also shorter than I expected it to be and is the only part with any color since it's made of a bundle of leaves where the glinting of hidden gems shines through. The pommel is a small, dark sparkly globe that reminds me of the starry skies we saw throughout the dungeon.

Arreira grips the hilt and pulls the greatsword out of its almost imperceptibly small pedestal. He effortlessly swings it once through the air with just one arm, causing it to whistle as it cuts through the air almost like a lightsaber.

Seeing that all of the girls are too stunned to explain, Arreira does so himself, "This is Patrono, a Heavenly Sword that was forged out of pure Okross during the Dawn of Civilization." -He holds the sword upright with the edge pointing forward, but it's so thin that the blade is now invisible to us- "Its creation led to the rise of the first dynasty of God-Rulers and the establishment of the High Forest as you know it."

He points the sword straight down and lets it fall towards the stone floor. The blade effortlessly sinks into the stone up to the hilt as if it were nothing. It's so amazingly sharp that it cut through over 1.5 meters of solid stone with just the force from its own weight. This is fucking insane.

"Wolfy's cock," Roxanne mutters in amazement.

Arreira assumes a teaching tone and continues like a tour guide, "It has been used in countless battles and bathed in the blood of all kinds of enemies, but it wasn't enough to prevent the fall of its wielders, just as it didn't prevent my own fall." -He smiles wryly- "That was partially because Ajax also had his own Heavenly Sword and Heavenly Armor, but I digress. This stands among the most powerful swords in existence, but it won't make you invincible. As an example, [Divine Lance] was created by the Chimeras specifically to annihilate foes armored with Okross."

As I stare at it, I feel a "calling" drawing me towards this weapon, and my feet start moving on their own. The mirror-like quality of Okross is so familiar to my own new scales that I get a nagging feeling that this sword is also a "part" of me, as if I were seeing someone else wearing my clothes.

I grab the hilt of Patrono and feel my hand being massaged by the bundle of leaves, then I cast [Telekinesis] to float upwards and unsheathe it from the floor.

This sword feels like it's as light as a feather, which is impossibly light for its size. I look closely down the edge of the blade and feel like I'm going insane from how it literally disappears from sight. It must be thinner than a hair's width!

Reading my mind, Arreira explains, "The blade is actually two Primordial Particles thick, which you Earthlings named as 'atoms.' Between two layers of Okross are the gold channels for the enchantments."

I summon a steel earth elemental, making sure that its shape doesn't remind me of Lina, then I swing the sword and cleanly disarm it, leaving a mirror-like finish where its arm was connected. I didn't even feel the slightest hint of resistance.

Aligning the edge of the blade with the direction of the slash is essential for a good cut, so I purposely tilt the edge and swing again. It still cuts clean through, though this time I feel some resistance.

"What can even defend against such a weapon?" I ask while staring at it in disbelief. I get a chill as I realize how easy it would be to accidentally kill myself with it.

Arreira lectures us again, "Physically? Only Okross armor. Magically? Only spells that don't directly touch the Okross, like [Dead End], or [Telekinesis] if they have enough precision to 'grab' the blade with the spell, but because it's so thin, it would be a challenging endeavor. Even [Wind Shield] is useless against this sword."

Yunia finally snaps out of it as a grim suspicion surfaces in her mind. "I have a feeling that the Council will try to depose us just so that they can get their hands on this weapon," she soberly comments.

Arreira snorts and waves his hand dismissively with a pompous gesture. "Which is why none of you will be leaving until you learn [Equip]. Also, I'll give you a writ declaring you all as the sole rightful inheritors of my treasury."

"What about the royals?" Yunia presses on.

"I'll disown them," he casually answers without hesitation. "I'm still 'alive,' so it's within my rights. You can use whatever 'truth checker' that Avgi has to certify its veracity."

Yunia remains skeptical, but she doesn't think that we'll be killed on sight for possessing Patrono anymore.

I look around at the incredible wealth and sweat cold. If Yunia wasn't here to help us manage all this, I'd be having a stroke right now.

Women, wealth, weapons, power, and now the only thing left is drugs, but there are multiple damn Eia farms in Escanso, just waiting for our return. The true challenge of Lordship might actually be to not ruin yourself with hedonism in excess.

I turn to him and give a short respectful bow. "Thank you for your help. What you're giving us will help secure my 'destiny,' and we're all extremely grateful for that," I sincerely express my feelings.

He turns his head away haughtily, which reminds me of Yunia, and tries to downplay his actions, "This is just another monster for the Lord, as your kind would say. I can't name you my inheritor and have you be shamed because you lack the dignity expected of a royal."

With a smirk, I deposit Patrono back into its pedestal, which I notice is also made of Okross, then we start exploring the assortment of weapons available to us.

Alissa gets a compact bow enchanted with [Arrow of Annihilation], [Sapping Seeds], [Constricting Vines], [Mana Arrow], [Charge], [Lava Jet], [Loosen], and it's even auto-buffed with [Perfect Arrows]. It's a fucking beast and far better than what even the Arquirandos had. The first enchantment is what Noblewoman Silvina uses, and it's kind of a pseudo-[Divine Lance] that also lights things on fire. The second enchantment drains her quarry's HP and MP if the arrow hits and continues while she remains within a relatively close range, which is really good against tough monsters like Ogres.

Roxanne gets a new elven staff that's as beautiful as any of the ceremonial ones. It's made of two amber-like materials, one of which is blue with a variety of dark line patterns within it, while the other is red with yellow carvings all over it in circular patterns. The gem is wrapped in a basket nest made of these two materials, and it flashes chaotically with a rainbow of lights whenever she casts a spell. Mage staves aren't enchanted to prevent them from interfering with their casting, so it looks impressive, but it doesn't do much besides improving her spells, though there's a small hidden blade at the butt that she can use in emergencies, and it's even stiff enough to be used as a spear.

Hana salivates over Patrono, so I'll probably let her use it if that's possible, but she'll get her own weapon, too. Most of the practical weapons here are all enchanted with the same spells, so we only need to find the type of weapon that she wants the most.

We get her a wooden bastard sword with [Morph Length], [Double Strike], [Bleed], [Flame Slash], [Searing Blade], [Heat Reversal], [Fissure], and a double [Switch] that lets her change it into either a spear or a shortsword. [Flame Slash] is what Rande uses to throw burning oil at his enemies, [Heat Reversal] is the counter to [Searing Blade], and [Fissure] splits the ground apart to trap opponents.

Lina gets an axe with those same enchantments, though her double [Switch] lets her change it into either a hammer or a spear. With [Morph Length], she can use it as a pole or single-handed weapon.

Ciel gets a glaive with the same enchantments as well, and her double [Switch] lets her change it into either a shortsword or a polehammer. Her Chimeric glaive wasn't actually destroyed, so she can still use it, but none of the elven weapons have [Beam], so we'll have to analyze that enchantment and add it to her new elven glaive.

We find a longsword for Yunia, making her old one obsolete. Though the new one doesn't have [Dead Zone], the gauntlets for our sets of armor are all enchanted with both it and [Wind Shield].

Aoi gets a halberd with the same enchantments as the rest of our melee weapons, but her double [Switch] lets her change it into either a hammer or a shortsword.

Lina, Ciel, and I all get kite shields with [Earth Armor] to counter blunt weapons, [Fire Wall] to harm anyone trying to grab it, and both [Dead Zone] and [Wind Shield] for redundancy.

Our armor is enchanted with [Regeneration], [Manasynthesis], [Wind Armor], [Heart of Fire], [Earth Armor], [Fly], [Ice armor], [Rush], [Refresh], and it's auto-buffed with [Wind Armor], [Swift Foot], [Rainbow Shield], [Rainbow Crystal], and [Reinforce].

There's just so many enchantments in our new equipment that we'll need to train ourselves in how to use them, or else we'll just fumble and activate them all in desperation when shit hits the fan. [Heart of Fire] is definitely an enchantment that needs a lot of control since it's quite easy to actually kill yourself or drain away all of your mana with it.

Aoi, Lina, and I don't fit in this armor made for tall elves, of course, but there's a spell to get all of this armor to properly fit us, and even change their shape for Aoi's normal form. It's incredibly mana-inefficient, though, but that's nothing more than a temporary blip for Arreira's mana organ.

While he works, I use [Sense Soul] on him and suddenly feel like I've entered an infinite corridor from how all the "mana particle containers" line up further than my soul-sight can see.

"Don't do that," Arreira suddenly warns me with a glare, and I reflexively stop using [Sense Soul], then he softens his expression.

"You could feel that?" I ask while trying to get my heart back under control. This is a first for me.

"Yes, and it wasn't pleasant," he responds coldly, and we leave it at that.

There's some equipment with high-level spells, like [Haste], [Reflection], [Unbreakable Skin], [Abyssal Fire], [Blood of Gaia], and [Petrifying Gaze], but they're hardly practical. Aside from [Fissure] from [Earth Magic], enchanting is mostly limited to the mid to lower level spells because the complexity required to recreate them inside a gem increases exponentially with their magic school's corresponding skill level. Maybe one day, there will be high-level enchantments thanks to automation, but that day certainly won't come soon.

I notice a lack of [Space Magic] enchantments, but it's probably because that's an Avgi specialty that the ancient elves knew little about, so we'll have to buy [Blink] from somewhere if we want to fight like Yunia's father. Though, even if we do, there's the problem that the elven equipment is so filled with enchantments that adding any more would likely ruin it all.

Maintaining this delicate equipment will also require a really powerful enchanter, or I could use my Gift to temporarily give Lina the points she needs to understand how to do it.

Aside from the Bastión and the Camalo armor sets, all of our equipment is decorated with small branches, leaves, and flowers that fall off and disintegrate at the slightest touch. This isn't entirely for decoration, though, since this is a side-effect of the wood being able to self-repair, but that feature won't fix broken enchantments.

After we're done perusing through the treasury, Arreira snaps his fingers, and dozens of large chests appear, floating above us, then all of the treasures we didn't pick start flying into them.

Seeing our expressions of surprise, he smiles smugly and explains, "This is something I created after taking a look at some of the baggage from the Crown Lords that came here. They're all enchanted with [Warp Space] to increase their inner dimensions, but since Ryder seems to have an endless [Item Box] as a Gift, that shouldn't be a problem for you.

"If Wolfy ever gets killed, all these heavy chests will bury both him and anyone else nearby," Roxanne comments and chuckles softly.

"I have a whole furniture shop and a farmer's market inside of me. If I die, I'll just explode like a piñata," I retort as I send them the imagery through [Bind], and even Arreira chuckles, though Alissa and Ciel aren't particularly fond of this kind of banter.

The treasury is soon emptied into the chests, leaving only the suits of armor and weapons chosen for us. The wide hall is now stripped bare, becoming rather lonely and depressing without all the treasure to give it life. The colorful stone slabs that Arreira likes to use everywhere feel out of place without the fine decorations to accompany them.

Arreira lands in front of us, looking rather content with himself and still a bit smug. "You still have to deal with the Chimeras," he reminds us, and we frown because this also means talking to Hihiriwa. "It seems that not all of them will accept their 'deaths' so easily, and if you want to reclaim their ships and armor, then you'll have to convince them to cooperate since some of the Chimeras are haunting the ships while the Celestial Horns are haunting their own armor."

"What about Pua? What's going to happen to it?" I question, totally not stalling.

His chiseled face softens with a surprisingly kind smile. "I'll free it if you don't have any objections. If I direct it towards the Broken Skies, it'll easily thrive there while being harmless to civilization."

"I'm a little concerned about its true power," Ciel chimes in.

Arreira shows a hint of worry that quickly gets replaced with his usual sexiness. "It's fairly weak, actually. It's a magical being with low 'Magic Power,' and I can easily place it below one of your Lords in actual fighting prowess," he tries to convince her.

"We have to make sure it knows that it owes its freedom to us. Having it on our side will definitely be a boon," Yunia advises. Ciel seems a bit skeptical, but she'll trust Yunia on this one.

I breathe in to gather my courage, then my tail wags like a whip on its own. I just sigh internally at my lack of control over it. "Let's deal with the Chimeras first," I counter. Let's pull the tooth out before we eat the candy.

Arreira nods, pleased with our choice.

A portal opens to a cozy, elven styled room, and I cross through it alone. Hukarere awaits me on the other side, weapon drawn and wary, but also very confused. Her wolf head looks fearsome with her lips raised in a snarl, exposing her long teeth and making even me a bit hesitant to approach her.

She hears my footsteps, and her ears turn to me, quickly followed by her head. She immediately softens her demeanor into a pup and happily shouts, "Wolf! What wild winds have brought you-… well, me here?!" Then she notices my new race and lowers her saber while also letting her mouth hang open in surprise. "Divines step on me. Are you a Chimera?"

I smile bitterly and sit down on the sofa prepared for us. "No, I'm not. I was a human, and now… I'm something else," I hesitantly reply. Saying that I'm not human anymore feels so wrong that my mask of calmness almost breaks.

While I tell the truth of her situation to Hukarere, Arreira deals with most of the common Chimeras, explaining their circumstances to them, then stimulating their memory. As soon as he turns off his memory-wiping powers, the Chimeras start to remember the truth, though for many, it's a bit confusing and blurry.

The memory wipe can only be done with short-term memories, but it also affects long-term ones as well, making them feel like these memories aren't actually "real." I know exactly what they're going through since that happens whenever I try to recall my previous meetings with Arreira. It all seems like a weird dream that gives me déjà vu, as if it were something "detached" from reality.

"So, this is the end…?" Hukarere sadly asks, her ears flat, her large dragon tail limp on the sofa, her snow-white hands barely holding onto her teacup.

I hold her hand and squeeze it reassuringly. "Not exactly," I gently whisper, breathing a wisp of life back into her lifeless eyes. "You can still come live with me, but you're a spirit, and your existence will be tied to a gem. It might not be possible to keep you solid all the time, and you can't exactly touch or feel things while in spirit form."

"Can you take my gem with you anywhere you go?" She immediately asks.

I frown in confusion. "I guess…"

She narrows her eyes in thought, then she turns a sharp look towards me. "So you could say that I'm… portable?"

We both hold back a snort as all the tension that was building up is instantly wiped away.

"Yes, you could say so…" I agree, straining myself to not laugh.

"Then take me everywhere," she demands with a sultry tone and licks my face.

She's not the only one who feels this way. Yunia is talking to Kaatohe, and the haughty "aristocat" demands the same, including a regular dicking from me, though she didn't say it explicitly, and also, she denies wanting to be part of my harem.

Ciel pokes us through [Bind] and sends a few stern words to us, so we're forced to remind these carefree spirits of their reality, "Do you understand that, as a spirit, you'll slowly lose yourself until you become a shell if you don't go towards Paradise?"

Hukarere's tail starts wagging rapidly as she suggests, "Can't I join with a nature spirit to extend my… uh 'dead-time'?"

I look at Gify on my shoulder, and she just shrugs.

"Gih."

Hukarere frowns, and her tails stop moving. "It doesn't have to be now, right?"

I nod and hum in agreement. "Arreira isn't sure, but he said that you should last for at least a few years in this state."

Her excitement comes back, and her tail wags. "Then we'll talk about this again in a few years. I don't have many people waiting for me in Paradise anyway, so if I can last long enough here, then it might be better to give up my 'self' to extend this short life of mine."

Ciel definitely isn't pleased with Hukarere's idea, but her priest training tells her to let people be free to do what they want with their lives and afterlives.

Hukarere smirks, and her fingers trace along the outline of my hard cock pressing against my pants. "Well, you did say that you're travelers, so I'll be fine, no matter where we go," she assures me with a suggestive tone. Then she leans over and whispers into my ear, "but first, how about I drain you of your cum while you fuck me with that thick, manly dragon tail?"

I lick my lips and growl like an animal.

"Not now," Arreira's boner-killing, spine-chilling voice resounds through the room.

God fucking dammit. I'm starting to really hate him.

Seeing that we're not giving up, he insists with an even more imperious tone, "I know that you want to spend a whole day fucking every female in sight, but I don't have the patience to wait until you're done. There's work to do." He actually manages to kill my boner, then we both grunt in dissatisfaction and separate.

Our offer to Hukarere is extended to all Chimera. If they want to continue living, they'll have to become our subjects once we become Lords. It might be a bit complicated at first, but we're all certain that we can find a way to accommodate them in Escanso or perhaps even find a way to give them back their freedom.

Next up is Oritiki.

For her, for our friend, we all enter the room together to address both her and all the other Celestial Horns.