Once Lily was mostly healed, she approached grey's now massive figure and started examining him all around.
"How did you get this big?" She questioned as she rubbed his fur.
His fur was soft to the touch but the skin beneath it was rough like dense and dried leather.
Grey smiled smugly as he spoke with a hint of arrogance "I was testing something based on Terra's blood Scion and tried something similar with my chimera form on the troll's heart and now I look like this." He stated while gesturing to his whole body.
Sky flew near the top of greys head and stared down at him. "Are you any stronger in this form or is it just for show."
"Hmm I don't know let's, see?" Grey said as he approached a nearby tree jumping slightly and just kicked the side of it as hard as he could causing the bottom of the tree to shatter upon impact.
After kicking through the tree, a little too easily grey lost his balance upon landing.
Before he fell face first his eyes flickered red as instinct kicked the ground which sent him flying over the tree line.
Everyone just watched the massive rabbit flew into the while screaming until he disappeared from view.
A few moments later they all heard and felt a loud thud as the earth shook around.
Sky turned to Lily "so anyways you're looking, better want to talk now?"
Lily just stared at sky and the grey supposedly crashed landed as she kept looking between the two before she simply gave in. "Sure"
"Don't sound so defeated, plus I'm sure grey is fine his body now has the resistance of a troll."
Lily just silently nodded as sky continued.
"You made quite a few mistakes but given this was your first time I'll overlook your overconfidence and running away. But as a summoner your greatest asset is support even if you can use your beast's runes your main role is to strategize and support."
Lily looked down sadly. "I know, I just got really excited and kind of jumped in without thinking about it."
Sky nodded seriously "yes for your first time you managed pretty well at escaping and buying time, but you only gave broad orders to your summons. Can you explain what you think they can each do?"
Now Lily was excited "Well grey is fast and strong while Adam is sneaky… and apparently can capture fallen enemies. Oh, and crystal is just really strong."
Sky could feel the pride in the little girl's voice but couldn't help but click her teeth. "TCH!"
"No! Grey wasn't allowed to participate because of his speed, and versatility which allows him to overcome most challenges with enough time. Adam is more than sneaky he can ambush enemies and seems to use his weaker attacks to do maximum damage by hitting vitals only, while wearing down his foes by messing with their minds."
"And finally, there is crystal she may be very strong, but she seems to excel at defensive maneuvers, but you had her on the attack. Not to mention you had all three summoned which would still take its toll on your body even if grey takes almost no energy to maintain you still had three creatures from different realms anchored to you."
Lily thought about everything sky said and the more she thought about it the more true it seemed to be as she realized her energy reserves seemed to only have at quarter.
she quickly told them she was sending them back home and deeply thanked the two before she unsummoned both Adam and crystal while the troll corpse that Adam subjugated sunk into the shadows probably following after Adam.
when Adam reappeared in his underground graveyard his troll rose from his shadow like a statue
"What is that" a creepy voice asked from the shadows along the ceiling of the cave.
Adam turned to face the direction of the voice. "Hey mason, come check this out I've managed to make a corpse move to my will to aid me. that means you won't have to worry about losing any more pet spiders." he said in an exited voice.
"Hmmm, and who came up with the original idea?" mason asked with obvious doubt that Adam came up with it on his own.
Adam had a mock pained expression on his face but decided to continue "well the original idea was mad by a runeless goblin who forced her energy into corpses to control them, she happens to be friends with a rabbit I know so when he spoke about her I just had to know everything after a few questions I got a vague idea of how she did it and after a few tests and one big body later i got this!" the experiment in his voice was infections.
mason slowly emerged from the darkness of the cave ceiling reveling his figure to be as skinny and pale as Adam. it was only when he stepped fully into the light that his bulging black veins seemed to be throbbing around his flesh like worms and near his empty eye sockets would one notice how truly horrifying this ghoul was.
"Can you teach me how to do that?" mason asked staring deep into Adams eyes despite his eye sockets being empty until a spider crawled out of one of the eye sockets.
Adam didn't seem to mind as he was too busy once again studying the troll "Sure but help me check to see if this corpse has any damage as I don't think it will heal."
mason used his hands covered in black ooze claws to examine the body carefully "master will be so pleased!" muttered mason to himself.
"Did you say something?" Adam asked from atop the troll checking its head for damage.
"Nope, just thinking aloud how cool this is." as paused noticing energy on the troll's groin shaped in a circle with odd line patterns on it.
he quickly traced the odd pattern with a thin silk thread hidden from Adam's view.
'It's faint but this odd energy symbol seems to be on the fist and groin? I wonder wat these symbols mean but I'm sure master will find it useful.' he thought to himself.
grey soon emerged from the Forrest with a lump on his head but his usually floppy ears were now perked up listening to everything nearby as he approached Lilly
lily smiled gently as she asked, "Can we ride on your back, we will get where we need to much faster and we can carry you when you need to rest."
grey thought about it for a while before he gave in after she pleaded a bit more "FINE! But you owe me many yummy snacks."
lily and terra hopped on greys back while he was still enlarged while sky was laying on a bed made out of clouds never too far from the three as the zoomed past many creatures.
they only made about two stops for resting and a night of rest and in less than two full days the made a weeklong trip in two days finally arriving.
grey was exhausted but wasn't one to give up without a fight "What do those shapes mean?" he asked curiously.
sky sighed tiredly while lily explained "It says now entering new ARS kingdom! we made it to our first destination.
grey looked Ahead of the dirt path they were on was a bunch of blue metal looking buildings and wall made of pure light protecting it as flying boat soared around the sci-fi looking kingdom.
and at the very center of this kingdom was a bright pink castle with hints of purple "The coloring is... unique." grey committed.
everyone stared at the distant kingdom in awe "So our target is the queen of this land who we have to convince to join us or stay out of it despite her being powerful enough to destroy entire forests not even including her army. How are we going to convince her, we don't even have anything to offer to persuade her, do we?" terra asked.
everyone just took a deep gulp at the realization.
"How about we find a spot to rest for the night while we come up with ideas tomorrow." sky said sounding unsure herself. everyone just agreed and walked at a lazy pace to the inspection line in front of the main gate at the entrance.
Around the same time in a land full of hills and mountains a pale girl in an all-white bear cloak was walking out of a village surrounded by stone golems guarding the area.
she kept walking for a long while as if escaping something till, she arrived by a lake when she dropped her cloak her full figure was revealed a pale human with ginger hair, blue eyes and a face twisted in pure hate while covered in a fox furred armor.
in pure rage the girl started screaming and punching a unfortunate tree that happened to be nearby as blood and tears fell. "ITS NOT FAIR!"
she started slowing down after a while tears were still falling down her face. "Just because she was born lucky everything is just handed to her? born with six scion slots, the next chief? And even permission to leave with a strange creature in exchange for Statues?" despite her fist being bloody she once again hammered away at the poor tree.
"AHHHHHHH! Even when she is gone all those fools do is praise her despite her never working for any of that power while I'm stuck with my single fox scion." the moment he rage peaked once again a loud cracking sound reverberated as a tear in the sky above the lake near seemed to open.
she watched as in less than a second a black blur emerged from the tear in space and slammed into the lake itself splashing water everywhere.
she just sat in acceptance of her fate as a strange figure emerged from the water.
what stood towering before her was a massive black and purple frog that stood on it muscular legs in an almost human way giving her massive creepy vibes.
before her awestruck face the armless frog man grew tentacles from the arm stumps that slowly wrapped around her bloody face and speaking in a language she couldn't understand.
the frog was about to eat her when its purple eyes flicked to all black a few times and it head twisted and snaped so unnaturally that despite being a completely foreign species, she was sure he should have died.
after an uncomfortable amount of time passed its head snapped to her speaking in an echoing hoarse voice that sent chills down every living being nearby.
"We sense great a great hunger for destruction in your child, would you like the power to change your fate!" despite the horrifying voice and creepy smile those words were the salvation she wanted to hear for so long that she clung to this sketchy hope.
the girl gulped deeply before speaking up "I would love to but I'm stuck with this bloodline I stole." she said showing off a fox tattoo made of blood on her left shoulder.
in less than a second of her explanation a tentacle full of teeth lashed out and whipped the shoulder she showed him.
the girl cried in pain silently not daring to scream.
"There now you can steal another bloodline, right? what an amusing ability I can't wait to taste this unique planet." the eerie voice spoke aloud.
the girl was in shock as her fox blood scion which was supposed to be permanent until her death was removed with a simple lash causing her tears of joy until the voice spoke again causing her blood to freeze slightly.
"Now we wonder what will happen if you try stealing your own species bloodline, or better yet how about you take your own blood and try forging that blood brand of your."
its tone suggested it wasn't asking as it watched the girl whilst emitting a heavy pressure that felt like the agony of trillions. "How can one being cause so much pain?" she muttered almost fainting
the girl realized her savior might have actually been a demon but at this point she had no choice, so she slowly and shakily put her hand on the blood puddle she made while punching the tree.
the blood on the ground started reverberating as it climbed up her arm carrying some syrup from the tree she broke earlier. The blood convulsed unto her back draining the very blood in her hands slowly turning her entire body into an empty husk leaving her screaming in pain and agony was her pale skin turned greyish.
what was worse was she could feel her own soul essence also being drained away with her very blood which felt like a mental scar from hundreds of blades.
the figure now possessing Jim swamps body watched for a full day and night as the girl squirmed and screamed in pain only passing out a few times to be awaken once more by the pain.
when it was finally over the poor girl rose to her feet hesitantly her once ginger hair was now snow white and her beautiful blue eyes now glowed a menacing red as it stared at the figure watching her with some hate but mostly Terror for now that she stared at it she saw both souls in the body.
one soul was a lost frog creature and the other was a black ocean full of teeth and eyes that smiled at her gleefully.
"Now you have control over your very own corpse and your fate, so tell me child what will you do?" it asked in the same creepy voice but now that her hearing was so much better, she could hear why his voice was so creepy it sounded like eight people speaking in unison each with a unique tone.
"I Scarlett stone have decided to follow this great one in its path of destruction."
the frog creature looked off in the distance smiling in a crooked manner, "good start by killing those clansmen of yours and show this vessel of mine the area, i have other vessels that need my immediate attention."
with that Jims body dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes while scarlet licked her lips hungrily recalling two small fangs.
when Jim fully awoke, he was surrounded by dead bodies of animals and humans all drained of blood and a pair of bright red eyes staring at him with eagerness.