168 CHAPTER 168(Devotion)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

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CHAPTER START---

"Try not to speak much alright, this is only temporary, your friend insisted he make the permanent one so it would be more durable," Airmid pleads.

Sitting on the hospital bed in front of her Thalie was pulling on her top, with her body fully recovered and a temporary prosthetic lower jaw in place she was ready to leave the hospital and begin her house arrest.

Looking up at the doctor she gives her a slow nod, signaling she completely understood.

"Alright, then just be sure to take your medication to prevent any potential infections," Airmid takes a look at her clipboard and makes a few notes before turning her attention back to Thalie, "we can begin working on your scars as soon as tomorrow, just come in whenever you're ready," she says.

Looking down at her midsection Thalie sees the massive burn across her otherwise perfect abs, running a hand over it she feels smooth skin, not the rough scar she expected.

"My magic already worked on it a bit but to really remove scars I have to actually focus on them," Airmid answers the unasked question. "I don't have any appointments tomorrow afternoon so---"

The doctor is cut off by Thalie raising a hand to shush her. With a sad headshake the message was clear as day, the scars would stay. A memento of her failure.

"Oh...well, that treatment was a bit pricey just for some scars anyway, you can barely even tell this prosthetic isn't the real you anyway so once your properly dressed you'll look the same as before. Atleast until someone feels it," Airmid says.

True to her words without actually focusing you could hardly see the different shades of brown between her skin and the apparatus.

"Mmm, hmmnnd, hnd!" Thalie tries to form words, only making strange grunts as she visibly struggles to talk. Raising her hand and gesturing to it the doctor thankfully gets the message.

"Oh, Yang's hand?" she asks, Thalie nods in response. "Well, he only lost about half his forearm on his left hand, they're moving him in here later today since he had some kind of episode recently and fell back asleep, but he's perfectly fine otherwise," she says.

Getting all the information she needed Thalie stands up, taking a moment to steady herself by holding the bed, getting up on her feet for the first time in almost ten days. With a nod to Airmid, she makes her way over to the doors to be escorted to their floor.

Lazily walking into the hallway of their floor within Babel, Thalie casts a tired glance at their doors. She couldn't even frown to express how she felt at the sigh of this. A place build for their team, for the people she caused so much pain.

Taking a deep breath she shuffles over to her door and places her hand on the cool metal, the enchantments open up and the door swings open, but she stops. Seeing the clean and welcoming apartment before her, it just felt wrong to enter and wait for the next thing to happen.

She had to do something. So she did.

She followed the almost impossible-to-feel vibrations to the Forge's door. Opening it she sees Welf shirtless hammering away at a heated ingot. Now sporting a much more muscular physique after sharing Yang's diet of ration bars, still nowhere near as many as Yang since he simply couldn't burn that much food.

With a clap of her hands, Thalie pulls his attention away from his work and toward her. He gives her a soft smile and sets his hammer down to walk over to her.

"Glad to see you're up, feeling ok?" he asks.

She nods in response. Pointing to her mouth she makes a talking gesture with her hand.

"Ahh, can't talk, gotcha. You should get some rest," he says.

Thalie only gives him a blank stare. Knowing he should be doing the same since he spent days in jail after a week on the road taking care of them, instead he's here.

She gestures to the barrel of swords at his workstation.

"I've been busy, we caused a mess for Hephaestus, the guild emptied our accounts and took three-quarters of the familia funds. Including money from every member, I figured since my name has some value now I might as well get back to selling stuff to everyone and pay it back, still no magic swords of course," he says.

"Mmm, mhm," she understands what he means. "H-how...much?" she asks, taking extra care to focus on her words.

"Too much for you to worry about right now, you need to focus on getting better, then we can put our heads together and figure this mess out," he says.

"Mmm, jaw?" she asks, pointing at her prosthetic.

"I got some designs from Airmid, had to promise her some extra extra sweet prices from whatever drop items we pull up on the next expedition but her prosthetic patents are the best in the world, I just need to alter them for us," he guides Thalie over to a large drawing board on the wall with designs for her jaw and Yang's hand. "I need to make these a lot more durable, plus I need to make them able to channel magic, not just any magic but Elementalist Magic, after the main combat familias are back from their mission maybe I can get Ottar to go kill a Rok or two. Hopefully before Yang wakes up so we can actually operate with him being asleep for a change," he says.

Thalie winces at the thought before tapping Welf on the shoulder, "we, can, go?" she says.

"No, we can't. We're under house arrest plus they seized our weapons. I can't really keep up with you guys without Mosoka against something like a Rok," he says.

"Then, I, go," she says.

"Again, we're under house arrest, and besides you don't have a weapon. Adamantite will definitely break. Not to mention it's like four hundred meters(1300ft) in the air and you're bad with heights. We've gotta just wait," he turns back to the board, only for her to roughly grab his shoulder and lock eyes with him.

For the first time, he saw Thalie look, human, scared, vulnerable. Tears in her eyes threaten to overflow as she tries and fails to look intimidating. Even now at her lowest point her training still shone through.

"P-please, let me, do something, good," she begs, fingers digging into his shoulder as she moves her gaze to the floor, silent tears falling to the hot stone floor of the forge.

Not sure how to react to this kind of outburst from Thalie, Welf gives her a very loose and even more awkward hug, he almost can't contain his surprise when she actually hugs him back.

"We don't blame you for any of this you know. We knew the risks and exactly what could happen, it's not your fault. I don't blame you and I know Yang won't either," he says while gently patting her back.

With heavy tears escaping her eyes and falling onto his shoulder, her shaky voice barely gets the thought that's been dominating her mind out, "I blame, me," she says.

'Crap,' Welf had no idea how to deal with this. Thalie isn't a very emotional person, so he folded to her demands.

"Alright, I have something," he says before breaking the hug.

Taking a step away from her as she tries to wipe her tears with her sleeves he opens a small ornate box and pulls out what appears to be a large badge the size of his palm.

Clipping it onto his belt he makes sure she's watching him," don't take your eyes off me ok," he says. As she nods he focuses a minute amount of magic into it.

And suddenly he disappears.

"Hm?" she leans back in surprise.

"It's made from a design Asfi showed me, she had something called Hades Helm, a mask that lets you go invisible the same way. Hers is a single-use item because once the magic in it ends the mask shatters," he says as a disembodied voice before he reappears in front of Thalie handing her the badge. "Mine is more long-lasting since it needs the user to actively put magic into it, that way you could just keep one on you and bright it out whenever. I've been working on something like a 'Magic Battery' for reloading things based on this design and something Yang had in his book, but you can use this one to get past the dungeon guards."

"Thanks," she says and immediately fixes the badge onto her belt.

"You should probably stock up on weapons too. All the good stuff is in Yang's inventory or Hephaestus locked it up when you left. So grab a few of these swords, they'll break against the Rok but you can carry a few and stay invisible, I haven't had time to make any Durandal yet, or any armor," he says apologetically.

"No, I'll use the spear, it's unbreakable," she says.

"The guild locked Mosoka and Liberty in their vault remember, I don't think we can get away with breaking into another guild building, just saying."

"The new spear, it's not magical for me, but indestructible and sharp," Thalie says.

Welf's eyes widen as he finally realizes what she's talking about.

---Freya's Penthouse...

"Blue or purple?" Freya asks aloud. She was alone in her room looking at two dresses laid out on her bed.

"I need to make a good impression when he wakes up... well, I could just..." she walks over to her closet and walks in. The closet itself was like a small bedroom of clothes and jewelry that would make any queen jealous. And the thing she couldn't wait for him to see her in was at the very back safely hidden away.

A long white dress with a thin veil tiara, her ideal wedding dress.

"One day Odr, one day," she mutters to herself before putting her hands in the pockets of her hoodie, formerly Yang's hoodie, and walking out. Deciding what she was wearing would be enough of a statement anyway. Simple blue shorts and his hoodie would make her point clear when that's the first thing he sees when he wakes up.

Picking up the small bag on her bed, her essential supplies for staying overnight in the hospital with him she saunters out into the living room.

"Ahhh!" he drops the bag, her heart nearly leaps out of her chest when she rounds the corner to see Thalie standing silently waiting for her. "Why are you here, how are you here?" Freya asks, trying to catch her breath from the scare.

"The door, was open," Thalie lies unconvincingly, especially since she was lying to a goddess.

"No, it wasn't. Just great the day Ottar leaves on his mission someone breaks in, what do you want anyway?" Freya groans and she quickly moves to sit on the couch.

"The spear."

"Of course," Freya narrows her eyes dangerously at Thalie, "you realize I have half a mind to charm you into killing yourself with it, right?"

"Yes," Thalie doesn't give any real reaction.

Finding this strange Freya peers into her soul, trying to see what exactly her true desires were," oh, you've considered doing that yourself. Didn't take you for the suicide type." Getting no reaction out of Thalie, Freya takes the moment to continue talking. "Look, I can't say I like you. I've never really had a conversation with you and the first one we're having is after you put Yang in a coma and cost him a hand, plus pretty much ruined his reputation, not to mention all the stress you've put my sister through. So we aren't on good terms to say the very least. But he saved you, and a certain idiot has been teaching me, reluctant as I may be, that every life has a purpose and shouldn't be wasted, so even if you don't want to live, live for him. Because that idiot saved your life, you owe him," she says.

"I know, I'll make this right," Thalie says.

"Mhm, make it right before Adrestria decides what to do with you," Thalie's eyes immediately widen at the mention of Adrestria. "She marked your soul you moron, she hasn't reformed in heaven so you have a year before she decides to ruin your life or something. Seeing as you hate her so much she could just follow you in the next life and make you her servant or something," Freya says.

"I...expected this, it's fine," she says.

"Mhm, honestly don't tell anyone I'm telling you this but, unless the god gives a damn about you they usually ignore you. If we had to track every mortal that ever sent us to heaven throughout eternity we'd never get sleep. But Adrestria is a cruel, vindictive and...effective, deranged bitch. She's a war god, as pure as they get. Hell might be a morning sunrise compared to whatever she has planned for you, especially since she's never getting her spear back as long as Hephaestus and I are here," Freya says.

"The spear, I need it," Thalie reminds Freya.

"Why?"

"To kill a monster, get the drop item for Yang's hand," she says.

"You're going into the dungeon?"

"Yes."

"The guild won't like that," Freya narrows her eyes at Thalie.

"I have something, I won't get caught," she says.

"Sigh, take a seat," Freya pats the couch beside her, moving over a bit to make more space.

Seeing the gesture Thalie decides to just play along with the goddess to get the spear.

"Yes?"

"Hephaestus named you Thalie, right?" Freya asks.

"She gave me this name when I came to Orario."

"Yeah, I figured, too much of a coincidence otherwise," Freya shrugs.

"What?" This immediately gets Thalie's attention, "what coincidence?"

"Thalie, Hephaestus daughter, not how mortals have children, a servant girl she took in when we were very young, for gods at least," Freya says.

"W-why did she name me Thalie too?" she couldn't wrap her head around it, maybe Hephaestus wanted a daughter again. The very thought made her heart ache.

"Because, Thalie was picked up as nothing, and became something. And she never disappointed Hephaestus in any way that really mattered, but I guess hoping to find two mortals like that... is like catching lightning in a bottle, right?"

"R-right," Thalie wipes her eyes with her sleeves as she stands up.

"Down the hall, last door on the left. It's on my bed, just raise the sheets, good luck...Thalie." Freya says, making sure to put more focus on her name.

"Thank you... why the bed?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Don't judge me...I just, I haven't been able to sleep there since we broke up ok," Freya mumbles out.

"Hmn, he sleeps on his couch too," Thalie says as she begins walking toward the bedroom.

'What? He really misses me that much,' Freya begins daydreaming once more, her thoughts drift toward putting on the wedding dress to wake him up...

---Dungeon Floor 36(The Valley Floor)

'Annoying,' Thalie thinks to herself as she stabs the giant brown bear through its chest with The Champion Spear, shattering the crystal within.

As another of the three bears take a paw swipe at her she casually catches the massive paw with her bare hand. Giving it a bored look she slashes down with the spear splitting its skull in two.

As the fresh monster corpse hits the ground the final bear charges, walking toward her target she casually throws the spear forward. The weapon pierces the monster's throat and exits its back leaving a clean hole in the beast.

Not even sparing the loot a glace she makes her way over to the spear stuck at the bast of the two hundred foot sheer cliff face she'd have to summit.

Withdrawing the spear she looks up at the cliff, trying a failing to take steady, slow breaths to stop her trembling hands and quivering lip.

"C'mon Thalie, don't disappoint them again," she says.

In one burst the pushes off the ground and soars up to the edge of the cliff high above.

Barely reaching the top she panics, "Ahhh!" and sinks the spear into the stone wall. "Fuck," she mutters while leaning against the edge, lifting herself to the top she rolls away from the edge of the cliff and enters the forest above.

Not even looking back at the drop she'd inevitably have to traverse, with her fear of heights already begging her to just sit down and wait for help, she marches onward.

The forest above was exactly as they'd left it. Other adventures and the guild had no information about this place, most people didn't look up from the monster-infested valley much less actually decide to explore up here.

The trees were still thin like pine trees, their canopies were wide enough to cover the dozen meters between each tree trunk, covering most of the short grass on the floor with shade from the crystals above giving constant light.

At the end of the floor at least three miles away was her target.

Deep within the canopy of this tree, hundreds of meters tall was the Rok's nest. A bird that could pick up entire fishing boats was sleeping in its home with drop items attached to its feet. The only material that can allow skills to flow through it, the only material that could make the kind of prosthetic Yang would need.

The prosthetic he'd need because of her.

With relentless and uninterrupted steps she marches forward until she's standing at the base of the tree, staring up at her greatest challenge yet.

'Time to conqueror this fear Thalie,' she mentally hypes herself up before leaping upward.

"Ah!" she stabs the spear into the bark just as she did on the cliff, only this time with hundreds of meters above here there is no ledge. She stabs the fingers of her free hand into the bark to make her own handhold.

Taking a deep breath she does the natural and foolish thing people can't help but do, she looks down.

"Ahhh fuck, ok, fuck, no, no!" she immediately presses her face against the tree and her grip becomes like a Durandal vice. Seeing the grassy floor hundreds of feet below with nothing to grab onto on the way down was the last thing she needed.

For ten minutes she's frozen in place. Eyes shut and body unmoving as fear overtakes her.

'C'mon Thalie, move! Move!' she commands herself, but nothing works.

'Are you really gonna fucking disappoint everyone again?!' her eyes shoot open as she reminds herself why she was doing this.

Craning her neck up she sees the canopy high above her.

'Don't disappoint them!

You're a warrior!

They sacrificed for you!

They risked everything for you!

They lost so much for you!

Welf was in jail because of!

Hephaestus went through hell because of you!

Yang lost a fucking hand because of you!

They did it all for you!

The familia is almost broke because of you!

People think Welf is just a warmongering Crozzo because of you!

Yang might never get home because of you!

AND YOU STILL FUCKING FAILED!'

Repeating these thoughts over and over in her mind. Her manic wide eyes were unmoving as she quickly climbed the tree. Leaving gashes and finger holes in the bark as she made her way to the top.

"And you still failed... you failed, you failed, you failed!" she chants over and over as she finally arrives at the top.

Out of breath and covered in sweat, not from the exercise, this wasn't enough to have her drenched in sweat with her stats. But she was tired. Her mind was tired, her heart was tired. She'd gone through more emotions in one day than her entire life.

The weight of expectations and having people actually care, having people to disappoint was new to her, she had to live with it now.

Looking out at the forest below she leans on the spear and takes a deep breath.

"Yang was right, the view is always better from the summit," she admits. Standing at the edge as she casts her fears away.

"I can make this right, for all of you, I don't even know how. But I'll make it up to Hephaestus, and Welf, and everyone. And for Yang... fuck, you lost a hand, I don't even know where to start. But I'll get you home, that's the least I can do, no matter what, I'll get you home," silent tears flow down her face as she speaks.

As she speaks from the heart, her oath is recognized, her devotion was finally accepted, as her skill was tested long ago. Both halves finally became one.

An overwhelming bright golden light radiates from The Champion Spear in her hand. In a moment of confusion, she tries to drop it, but her hand wouldn't let go.

"What?!"

She feels her entire body burning as the light flows into her, lava in her veins moving toward her back, moving toward her falna. She feels her falna blazing like a white-hot branding iron pressed against her back.

"Urghh!" she groans in pain. Feeling like her mind was being broken and rebuilt over and over to accept whatever this was.

"Ahhhhh!" she cries out in pain, blood now flowing from her eyes like tears as her enhancement magic appears in a flash before shattering and disappearing.

After minutes of the worst pain of her life, Thalie falls onto her back on the massive tree trunk. The spear rolls out of her hand and rests beside her.

The simple spear was now solid gold with blue metal flourishing. A simple curved arrowhead and a yellow gem with light shimmering like a mid-day sun. One long ribbon of blue and gold flowed down the entire length of the weapon, with Adrestria's symbol on both sides of it.

At this moment every god and goddess the world over and even in heaven felt this event.

The hierarchy of power has shifted for the first time ever in the domain of war. Athena no longer held her eternal seat.

The new leader of the domain of war would be Adrestria, and her Champion Of War shall go down in the legacy of the gods as the soldier bred and built by her own hands, her greatest creation, the warrior, Thalie...

CHAPTER END---

This chapter is just so much better when chapter 73(The Forest Hidden Above) is fresh in your mind, the foreshadowing was pretty neat, yes this was all planned almost 100 chapters ago :)

Volume 4 is officially complete and the title has been added, the new volume starts Monday so make your predictions right here. It starts with Yang finally waking up so no worries there :)

Did this volume feel like a roadblock? I'm writing more of an 'Epic' style story so all the adventures mix but I can't tell if this would have felt like an annoying volume or not :/

Drop a review if you can please :)