MICHAELI had become pregnant, and so I couldn''t retain my form as a male. I didn''t want to address embarrassing questions, so I bound my breasts, and I wore a bit longer of a toga than normal. Not that anyone noticed that. Although, Ambrosia did seem to notice that I wasn''t quite as swift at dispatching bounties as I should have been. I couldn''t really help that. While my child had no physical presence, she (and I knew it was wanting to be a she, even though there hadn''t been female angels in millennia) took a large portion of my strength and speed, the aura I used to give me incredible powers. I wasn''t confident flying, I couldn''t use more than 30% of my protective aura so I felt extremes in heat and cold, and my physical traits were gone. My skin was even getting pimples! I had to use creams and makeup to make myself look normal. But whenever she “kicked”, the pain would tear at my body. I wasn''t well adapted to the female form as it is, and the angelic equivalent of pregnancy issues made my Script all out whack. For instance, I could say, “Longboat - Duration: 1 Day,” and it would give me a long boat (an extra long canoe), which wasn''t quite the same thing. Or it would screw with the duration, making things that should last a day suddenly fail. Or it would give antonyms of what I intended to create, punny versions, or even summon based on Google Translate versions of what I said. In other words, my lack of concentration made created distortions in my language similar to what a writer would wind up with if they felt tired, dehydrated, and a bit dizzy.

    Some of these pregnancy symptoms I could cover up. I had frequently in previous battles refused to help the party, with the intention that it would help them develop better if they didn''t depend on me. I could try to act like this, I suppose. But angels are bad at secrets. Sooner or later, it would show up on my face. Or I''d be forced into a situation where I''d have to use Scripts, and I''d say the wrong thing.

    It got worse. Since my pregnancy itself was not physical, I also got to experience the symptoms of menstruation! And since the baby was developing first as an energy being, I had to stay out of sight during the light of a full moon, as my belly would glow.

    AMBROSIA

    I had not stalled nearly long enough. Improvising a little bit, I told everyone, “I think we should get Lilith a better knife, something she can use for cooking and for fighting, so she doesn''t always have to use her claws.” Lilith protested, “But I like ripping up stuff with my claws!” I shrugged, “But what if you run into something that is strong and needs to be dealt with using a strong weapon? Also, didn''t you say that you wanted to be a cook?” Lilith changed her mind, “Okay, but I get to decide what it is. I want it to be metal.” I nodded, “Okay, what kind of metal? Steel? Silver? Bronze? Durasteel? Titanium? Elven?” She shook her head, “No, like... Metal.” Now I was confused. Aqorm clued me in, “She means like heavy metal. You''ve seen those badass fantasy genre things where they make swords out of weird stuff, just because it''s awesome? She wants a unique sword.” Ohhhhhh...

    I drafted out several models. One involved waiting around for meteors to strike, then making the sword out of space metal. Another involved harnessing lightning. Lilith yawned. Around the fourth suggestion, she said, “Yeah, let''s do that!”

    That, it turned out, was fighting a freaking dragon and using its bones and blood to make a sword. And not just any dragon. The legendary black zombie dragon Fafnir. Flying to some obscure and probably even godforsaken place near Phoenix, we found the creature sitting there. It shambled towards us. In its day, Fafnir was a mighty dragon, but then it was slain by a powerful warrior who knew no fear. Later, a necromancer wanted a zombie dragon, but the process didn''t really suit flight well, so now there was a dragon at least as powerful as Bahamut as a result of the dark energy poured into it, but it was landlocked on this island.

    The dragon was still very dangerous, even though it crawled along on all fours. From its back came a set of steam vents, and a strong acid gas burst out. When Yazim Jianne got close, his arm began to redden from the strong acid. “Everyone, get back!” Elias warned, “this caustic solvent is nothing to be messed with.” With the gas present, Aqorm and most of the humans couldn''t fight at close range, so Elias used his prayers to hit it with Light, Azrael hit it with some solid spells and powerful effect symbols, and Zoe used his elemental magic to burn and freeze it. It was a tough critter, so all of that wasn''t enough. Bahamut tried fighting it with her breath, but the other dragon roared and blasted black breath on her. She was not used to fighting other dragons, as powerful as she was, and now she had a group of people that she was responsible for transporting. She couldn''t afford to put herself in danger, and so, with one last exhale of her prismatic breath, she flew off.

    Her weapon did make an impact, however. The acid from before had dispersed, and the vaguely warm heat of her gentle breath was protecting us by preventing more from forming. And so I rushed in and used Alexander''s Crest to blast it with a tornado of light. The dragon, far from being destroyed, looked healthier than ever. Suddenly, it stretched its wings and flew. “Congratulations,” Azrael said, “you managed to cleanse its undeath. Now it''s a fully conscious legendary black dragon.” It flew off wreaking havoc in the nearby island, which happened to be Phoenix. The mountain town to the west of the castle, all was peaceful until we (and the dragon) came. Fafnir gobbled up livestock and then blasted at the shrine where Nevras''s old girlfriend worked.

    NEVRAS

    Koren!

    AMBROSIA

    It wasn''t pretty. Things hit with darkness attacks had a way of decaying. This building was covered in rust for the metal parts, the brick had instantly crumbled, and the girl inside looked withered. I could tell that she was the same young girl that had talked to Nevras and me awhile back. As we held her in our arms though, she looked about 120 years old. No, it hadn''t actually aged her. More like she was withered as a flower might after the water had been drained from it. She lay on the ground, fully prepared to give her last words. Elias and Azrael set to work healing her condition, but it wasn''t easy. I wasn''t sure she would pull through. “*cough* *cough* Nevras, so good to see you again,” she said, ignoring me, “I don''t see that shameless hussy with you so I guess you''ve finally left her.” I stood off to the side, and right now she couldn''t really turn her head or anything. “Nope, shameless hussy right here!” I called out. I was surprised though. Last we met of her, she seemed supportive of us. Maybe in her last moments, jealousy was getting the better of her? I didn''t like her like this, it was ugly. “Look, I''m sorry I took your old boyfriend, but,” I told her watching her withered face wrinkled in annoyance with me, “wait no, I''m not sorry, I wouldn''t have him in the first place if you had really made him happy. If anything, I''m grateful to you.” Elias and Azrael continued work on her, and her face was beginning to restore. She thought about what I told her, and as much as she seemed to want to be angry or jealous, she finally let out a long sigh, and her face relaxed. “I suppose you''re right,” she said, “he was never really mine to begin with, or he wouldn''t have left this town for other things. For you. You can care for him, as I cannot.” She sat up. The two healers had wiped away the darkness, and her face looked its true age again. The side effect of so much magic inside of her right now was that her hair turned white, but that would go away in about a week or two.

    “Actually, about that, I have something to confess,” I told her, walking away from the battle lines. Bahamut was breathing blast after blast of iridescent fire at Fafnir, Nevras was using his sword techniques, and the others were casting spells or prayers, so it was only a matter of time before the giant dragon fell to the ground. I had something more important to talk about, and it had to be done out of earshot from the others. We walked up a mountain path to an overlook. “Surely, you''re not planning to push me from here,” Koren said. I quickly shook my head. “No,” I responded, “definitely not. I''m actually having troubles here.” And I recounted our journey, how we had actually made it to the battle with Belial and the whole time travel thing, but before that, Nevras had left the group. “That does sound like Nevras,” she said. Noting my shocked face, she clarified, “Listen, Nevras didn''t bail on me, and he didn''t walk out on you. I know it looks that way, but I''m pretty sure right after he left, he regretted it and came back. And I''m pretty sure he was waiting on the other side of that portal if you all hadn''t gotten killed off.” “How do you know?” I asked. She explained, “Nevras has had pretty impossible expectations growing up. I got to know him as he was a boy. I played dress-up with him, and we climbed trees together. He wanted to be a girl sometimes...” I smirked, “You noticed that too, huh?” She nodded and continued, “But more importantly, he wanted to just be an ordinary villager. He wanted to shop and earn a living honestly, never to run other people''s lives.” The dragon blasted a barn below us, turning it to dust. “So, why did he leave me?” I asked. Our group retaliated with a volley of spells. She explained, “As I say, he didn''t leave either of us. He left the town of Phoenix, after he chose to become a soldier rather than be king. He left before they married him off, and decided to fight creatures instead. And based on what I know of him, he left before the Void , because he wasn''t clear on your feelings and his own feelings. If you two were really into each other, he''d be fine with that, you have a future together. But what do you think happens if you''re just friends?” Apparently, it was a rhetorical question, because she answered, “You defeat the demon, and he goes back a hero, along with the others. But then, as a hero, he''d more than anything be expected to fulfill his duty alone as crown heir. So you see, he didn''t leave you. He''s been running from this life, and his feelings all along. Show him you care, and I know the rest will work out.” I nodded.

    “So what happened after your time reset?” Koren asked. I told her about my plans to stall for more time with him, even at the expense of Belial possibly destroying everything. She frowned, “I can understand this. But I''m worried you''ll break his heart, if he finds out.” From the overlook, we saw Fafnir fall from the sky, and Nevras and Lilith slash at it. This battle would be over soon. “I know that,” I admitted, “but I want to spend as much time making him happy. Even if it takes an eternity.” The wind blew, and from this height it was kinda cold. We should get back. “I should really push you off this cliff,” I said. She smiled, “But you won''t.” I struggled with the idea, of having Nevras to myself. But nahhh. Pretty sure the guy wouldn''t like his childhood crush being offed by his current interest. Instead, I hugged her, “You''re a good friend.” She surprised me by kissing me on the lips, “And I love you for loving him for me. Take care of him.”

    I was later to learn that Koren would get married to the owner of an inn nearby, who helped rebuild her shrine. She kinda swung both ways, so it wasn''t that shocking that the owner was a girl. But they had to elope, since many towns didn''t do gay marriage. It was really up to the priest, and a priest couldn''t always do it publicly if the town had laws against it. But they seemed happy.

    We held hands going down the mountain, as we had a better understanding of our man, and each other. Fafnir had many bruises and cuts, but Lilith was determined to make the final blow. Before she could though, I used Aiken''s Crest to walk through Fafnir''s body, grabbed its heart and pulled it out, stealing the kill from her. Lilith was understandably pissed, but I set to work helping everyone prepare the dragon. I gave the still-beating dragon heart to her, which she promptly ate. The heart of a dragon stores its blood, while its soul escapes on death. Its blood tends to have properties of its element. In a black dragon, the “black blood” tends to wither and decay most of those who consume it. But demons are made of sterner stuff, so its second effect came into action. While she screamed in agony from the pain, her skin turned a grayer shade. To test he body''s changes, she lobbed a boulder in the air and let it hit her. The old her could shrug off bullets, but would still be hurt by something like this. But here, when her skin broke, black blood oozed out and formed a coating harder than steel. The boulder broke, and her demonic body quickly scabbed and healed up. Nevras tested his sword on her, which being a sword made from light, should have badly hurt her. But again, areas where he slashed oozed this blood, that seemed to harden and reflect blows. The holy energy surrounding the weapon did seem to have some effect, causing tiny high-pitched noises as the blood apparently “screamed” from this type of energy. I doubted it could hold up to prolonged strikes of holy energy, but for basically any physical attack, it was basically like armor. She cut her arm with her sharp claws, just to see. She had two types of blood now, her real blood, and the protective black blood, which she could use to defend herself. She could still be hurt as normal, but her blood prevented attacks from penetrating her organs.

    But this wasn''t all. We pulled away the scales of Fafnir, and made a dragonscale bikini for her, selling the rest of the dragon''s scales to the local merchants for making professional armors. And then we had the bones. These would make a nice weapon. Through this whole battle, even falling through the sky, they showed no sign of chipping, cracking or breaking. The trouble was, how to use this? Anything this indestructible would be difficult or impossible to carve into a weapon. The others were likewise confused, so they worked on the problem for some time, until seeing the armorers who couldn''t penetrate the scales nonetheless rearrange them into armor. Seeing this, I suggested maybe we try to transmute the bones, changing their general shape into that of a sword, while keeping the toughness of the bones. Yazim Jianne and Elias worked on this project for quite some time, and soon Lilith had a white bone sword. But it wasn''t done yet. Using the sword, she cut herself and her own blood mixed with the black blood, turning the blade section of the sword jet black and giving a hard outer layer. The sword had also bonded to her as a result of her own blood. Not only was it durable and very sharp, but she could call it to her by willing it forth. With a quick slice, she split Christina, her pet rock, in half. We held a memorial, as she mourned her dear friend for all these years. “I''m a murderer,” she sobbed, when she was just testing out her sword on a rock. No matter. She had real friends now.

    As for the rest of the dragon, the regions around Phoenix didn''t want the dragon''s evil aura to persist, so they made a ceremony of burying it at sea with a Viking funeral. Unfortunately, normal flames couldn''t burn the bones, and the black blood from the carcass wound up in the sea. This was the same region, by the way, that they dumped off intelligent bacteria which could use runes, and in the days to come, the two would eventually combine to form Dark Life. Phoenix was a town which resisted the sick monetary system that many other cities adopted, but they did have to answer for this. Heaven knows we weren''t responsible for any of this.

    But let''s forget about that for the time being. Lilith tested out her sword, which was pretty much just a long knife for cutting meat or veggies, or the bodies of huge creatures in battle. Tonight, she worked on chopping some of the meat from our ship. We had boar meat from awhile back that had been preserved, so she sliced it into thin strips. Making a fire in her hand with the power given to all demons, she started to cook up this wild pork, cutting it into thinner and thinner pieces, until at last she made a truly heroic-looking sandwich, with onions and peppers. She called it the “hero sandwich” since it was only after we had gone on a heroic quest to obtain such an incredible weapon that she was able to make this dish.

    NEVRAS

    Since Koren was safe and the dragon was defeated, and we didn''t foresee the eventual rise of Dark Life that we were sorta kinda remotely responsible for, and anyway this didn''t come about until about four years after our mission with Belial was over, I decided to throw a royal ball, in honor of Not Getting Destroyed By A Giant Freaking Dragon. What, you expected there to be an official reason like the 15th Anniversary of Coronation? No, we tried stuff like that in our early history, back when taxes were still a thing. People kinda revolted. Now, we pay for it out of pocket, and only hold one when something major happens. I assume this counted. I invited Koren, Kurasawa my old swordmaster, Admiral Blackfang, villagers down to the shopkeeper Alyndria (who we shall never mention again, even though she managed to scrounge up an awesome red sequin dress), and many of our royal guards to the event. Against my best wishes, I wound up in a tuxedo. Ambrosia was dressed in a sheer brown dress, much like her normal outfit, except floor length and without the apron, and made of chiffon instead of cotton. Most of the others simply wore frillier or fancier versions of their own outfits. For example, Yazim Jianne wore formal robes instead his typical ones. I''d like to say that everyone looked completely stunning but the truth was, many of us had to budget costs. Despite having claimed 75 Million Gold as a bounty, we wound up paying 50 Million back to him to apologize for the whole blackmail thing.

    Ambrosia wanted to see what 5 Million Gold looked like, so I pulled some out of the bank. I''m sure some people would imagine a briefcase filled with coins of Gold, but it isn''t like that. Money has denominations, after all. The lowest denomination of currency is a Copper, then Silver, followed by Gold. And after that, you occasionally see (among the rich, anyway) coins of 10 Gold, 100 Gold, Copper Egg (1k), Silver Egg (10k), Jewel Egg (100k), and finally the Million Gold egg (it was reduced in weight). Ambrosia was shocked to see that 5 Million Gold just looked like five golden eggs, but quickly amused herself by juggling them. She sucked, but thankfully the yoke wasn''t on her, she just got some bruises from objects landing on her.

    As for the house we were promised, we wound up with a receipt from King Charis. He said something about it being a poor time to build houses, on account of having to repair half of the city, and how we''d feel better if we knew we could have a house during our worst times. So he put a raincheck on the house, to be built later. Lastly, we asked for a weapon as promised. Instead, he gave me a key to the catacombs, saying they''d hidden it there. So when all was said and done, we had to save most of our bounty money on the off-chance that my dad wouldn''t follow through on his promise. We basically got discount prom dresses (and by discount, I mean free from the royal storage) instead of something fit for a royal ball. Nobody seemed that concerned though, since the villagers and the guards weren''t much better off. In fact, only Selqui was much of a change from their normal outfit, and this was because Selqui didn''t even have any outfits normally, and was definitely not going in just underwear. Lilith had showed Selqui how to dress, since Lilith did know how to put together a sexy outfit, though she just normally preferred to go around in underwear too. With Aqorm''s occasional nudism we had three members of our group severely lacking in modesty and decorum, but it wasn''t so here. Selqui was wearing makeup, had on a sea-colored dress made from silk, and her brown hair was pinned in bun using a fork. Don''t ask me why, I don''t get it. She quickly chucked her heels, so she wound up looking shorter than most of the other women.

    The music started playing, and many of us picked our partners. I grabbed Ambrosia. Yazim Jianne and Selqui clasped hands. Aqorm decided to dance with Elias while Lilith paired with Michael. Not that an angel and demon dancing together didn''t get odd looks.

    As enlightened as society was, interspecies romances were sometimes frowned upon. Marriages to angels, djinn, or demons often carried the same stigma as marrying a pet, while others thought that sex with a demon might corrupt your soul, and still others believed that it was impossible for demons to be faithful. As for marrying angels, there were plenty of people who blamed Noah''s Ark and the worldwide flooding that followed on such unions. Among royalty however, they had a long list of things that were “simply not done” and they said as much in snobby upper-class accents. They weren''t too keen on two women dancing either, though they couldn''t give any reasons.

    Thankfully for mousy intellectual Azrael, a brash woman like Zoe simply shrugged off what those people thought, and kept dancing. Not that they were any good at it, as Zoe routinely stomped on Azrael''s toes or wobbled in her heels, threatening to trip and send both of them sprawling to the floor. Azrael on the other hand was far more poised in her dancing, and it was through her help that the two didn''t in fact make a scene. Well, more than one. While spinning around, they crashed into another couple, who sneered at them, but Zoe stuck out her tongue at them.

    Michael and Lilith''s dance was similarly awkward, as it felt like Elias and Aqorm, Aqorm and Lilith, and Lilith and Michael were all holding some kind of secret. And it felt like Lilith had the most issues right now. If I had to guess, I might think there was some sort of romantic polygon going on right now. Probably a rhombus or trapezoid. In any case, Lilith finally shrugged it off and stopped looking longingly at Aqorm, instead focusing on her current partner. And then awkwardness of a different sort prevailed. You see, angels view dance as an expression higher spiritual principles, that is to spread joy and happiness among others. Demons on the other hand, view dance as a vertical version of a horizontal action. So while one partner was all joy and light, the other was practically wanting sex on the dance floor.

    Elias and Aqorm were slow dancing much like two friends that had decided to go to the prom together, after their first choice wasn’t an option. Elias''s first choice was probably books, and judging Aqorm''s eyes locking with Lilith, I was pretty sure I could tell her choice too. They spend some of their time talking, and while they seemed friendly enough, after a few songs Elias waved for her to go ahead, while heading to the refreshment table. “May I cut in?” she said to Michael, grabbing Lilith''s hand. Michael looked at the two of them for a second, before heading to other refreshment table. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    The two of us were having fairly low drama compared to them. Ambrosia''s eyes were on me, and I could see her feelings for me. But I couldn''t help getting the sense that she was making up for lost time. I mean, for quite awhile, she was all about her quest, and barely had any time to talk to me. Then all of a sudden, she stalled her quest for “training” as she put it. She looked at me. And I looked at her. And we looked at each other for a long period. And then we both blushed, and looked over somewhere else.

    In the royal ballroom, there stood two tables, one for food and one for wine. Elias, being a scholar and having misgivings about killing his brain cells, largely avoided getting seriously drunk. On the other hand, Michael could get drunk on a thimbleful of alcohol even if his body would flush toxins out when they got near a fatal dosage. But then, he seemed to want to wipe this night from his memory. You can trust that since this table was stocked by the royal family, it had everything from mead and brandy, to various fruit wines, to drow liquor (a strong wine-like brew which involved sugar, mushrooms, various chemical starters for fermentation, and even some salt), absinthe, and strange brews that seemed to have lizards in the alcohol or baby mice. Then there was one drink called Centzon Totochtin, which I noticed when helping stock for the ball that it read ?400 Proof.? The secret to its abnormally high proof was that the alcohol was condensed down to thick droplets using a process called supersaturation. It was needless to say that this brew was expensive to make, and you had to be a certain age, weight, and race to even be allowed to drink it. Michael barely sniffed some and fell unconscious, awakening only after the rest of the party was over.

    At the food table, Elias had better luck. The hors d''oeuvres were personally prepared by our royal chefs, and some of them were imported at great expense (tariffs being what they are) from overseas. Crab rangoon and crab puffs, angels on horseback, blooming onion, chicken or oyster fritters, buffalo wings, fried mushrooms, onion rings, and jalapeno poppers were all native dishes to Phoenix. We had a strong fried food culture. The imported foods were baozi, samosa, bruschetta, gravlax, caviar, and something called tokwa’t baboy(a mix of tofu and pig parts dipped in a mixture of soy sauce, pork broth, vinegar, chopped white onions, scallions, and red chili peppers). They also had several dim sum dishes, mixed sushi, and assorted kimchi. After a few dances, Ambrosia and I joined him, and asked about what was going on with his relationship with Aqorm. He blurted out my exact suspicion that Elias had given away Aqorm to Lilith because he thought she could love her better, and mentioned in passing that Aqorm was sorta pregnant. Kinda. “But don''t tell her that I told you,” he made us promise. We promised not to mention this, and I decided not to mention to Ambrosia that I thought Michael might also be involved with Lilith. I don''t think she could take all of this. In fact, I''m not sure how well she Ambrosia remembered what she had just been told, because she made it over to the bar herself.

    While we pigging out on food that was delicious but of dubious nutritional value, Yazim Jianne and Selqui were dancing the night away. While the others enjoyed dancing to be with each other and for the fun of dancing, these two had decided to sabotage other dancers. Selqui materialized her trident and used the back end of it to trip a few dancers. Yazim Jianne spread some thick viscous substance near some others, and watched them suddenly stop dancing. It was probably time to leave.