Chapter 45: Monstrous Stepfather

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Hector should have been dead by now. Henrietta's attack aimed for his life. He felt his entire body burning and his life fading away. After having finally been given an opportunity, he should have lost his life there against the wrath of the righteous.

Yet, he did not die. He had already become an important puppet for Leviathan, and Leviathan's powers, although they didn't provide much in the magic department, enhanced their vessel's physical regeneration abilities by an insane amount.

As long as they were not completely killed, as long as their heads were to remain intact, they would slowly begin to regenerate, and such regeneration speed was hastened by the blood and flesh he had digested before.However, as he slowly crawled his way out of the snow and onto the surface, the voice of Leviathan echoed in his mind.

"My slave. Although you are weak, you are a unique soul."

"Huh?! L-Lord Leviathan?! Is it your voice?"

"I have not eaten such a delicious soul in a long while, so filled with malice and sins... So tasteful."

"M-my soul…?"

"Your fate is entwined with that of the girl I desired for myself. I will give you power. Use it, and kill her."

"Power... kill her? You don't mean... Dan Baihe? She's alive?!"

"She is very much alive. And I want her dead. She has rejected my offer and instead became the incarnation of a lowly girl who is not even a Constellation! Kill her! And I will reward you with even more strength."

"Kill, Dan Baihe..."

"Wasn't that what you wanted to do anyway? To provoke some accident to kill her anyway? Now you can get rid of her right now, with your own hands."

"My own hands..."

Hector smiled as he accepted.

"I… I will."

A dark, red aura surged from his heart as a power coming from his contract with Leviathan enhanced his body even further. His hands suddenly started to melt, and his legs shifted horribly.

"W-What is this?! UUNGGGH…! I-IT HURTSSSS…!"

His transformation was agonizing, but his aberrant body continued growing larger and larger, resurfacing from beneath the snow and spreading everywhere.

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(Anna's POV)

When we were finally closing in on the battlefield, we saw two enormous forces fighting against one another. A giant humanoid black lion was fighting against Henrietta, whose entire body was overflowing with divine and cosmic power.

Both were the incarnations of a powerful archdemon and an archangel, but a battle between Leviathan and Gabriel was something that happened much later in the story. Is this happening because I've changed the original story too much now?

Events that happen much later are happening much sooner, just because I wanted to save someone's life.

CRASH!

The impact between Leviathan and Gabriel's Incarnations echoed across the heavens. My brother and Dan Baihe were shocked at the scene. Fenrir groaned furiously.

"Dammit, is that bastard of Leviathan already fighting Gabriel again?!" Fenrir groaned.

"A battle between Incarnations?!" My brother asked. "That's Henrietta! Did she come here to help us out and end up coming across the Demonic Humans?! But who is that giant lion guy?"

"Darius…" I sighed.

"Wait, what? Darius? Darius the Guild Master?!" Jack asked in shock.

Not even my brother could believe it. In the novel, it was a very sad story. Darius had his entire family killed by a psychopath who was the previous incarnation of Leviathan. It was all staged so he would descend into madness and then end up taking the hand of Leviathan as he offered him his help.

Eventually, it was all staged so he could become the Archdemon's new incarnation. His transformation and madness made him completely different than before; even after avenging his family, he couldn't fill the void in his heart, so he kept hunting and killing and blaming his misfortune on the entire world.

And of course, Henrietta... She was one of his disciples. A veteran hunter like Darius trained many of the high-rankers of today's America. Henrietta was included; she was the brightest and strongest of his disciples.

Once she learned the truth, she would have a fit of fury, frustration, and sorrow, to the point where she would let Gabriel possess her and settle this once and for all.

But in the original story... Henrietta dies at Darius' hands; he is too strong, and her synchronization with Gabriel is too weak. He overpowers her and kills her. Jack then steps in and defeats Leviathan after he is weakened by Henrietta.

He spends everything he has and creates an Elixir similar to the one he used to wake me up from my coma and gives it to her body. Using Gabriel's magic's help, he manages to somehow revive her. It was a very tragic moment. But now that the future has changed, we don't even know if he'll even be able to revive her like it happened there; it was very Deus Ex Machina, in my opinion.

"We have to save her! Henrietta's channeling the powers of her constellation, but she won't be able to win against Leviathan and Darius; they're too strong and their synchronization too powerful! Let's go; we have to help her!" I said, quickly commanding everyone.

"Dammit. I'll have to go. A monster like that... It's not something you girls could handle in a million years." Jack sighed.

"I agree! You're staying here! Actually, go help those two over there; they're fighting a giant army of monsters!" Fenrir said.

I quickly noticed it. It was Henrietta's brother, Kevin, and the tanker of the Golden Shield Guild, Berth. His brother is a newbie hunter who is sponsored by Odin, the King of the Aesir himself, while Berth is a powerful tanker whose sponsor is Gawain of the Round Table. I think they can handle themselves just fine, even now!

"No, we'll go help-" I tried to argue.

"You're staying here! I trust your strength, but this is too much, Anna! Don't be ridiculous!" My brother said.

Quickly spreading his hands into masses of shadows and grabbing me and Dan Baihe alongside my tamed monsters, placing us over the snow. What does he think he's doing?!

"Hey! Wait a second! You said you would trust me!" I complained as he jumped off into the air to go help Henrietta with Fenrir. "Ugh, dammit!"

If I don't get closer to Darius, I cannot use Anubis' judgment to weaken him! Even if he doesn't want me to go, I'll just have to chase him down and get into the battle.

"Anna, you really want to go?" Dan Baihe asked.

"I… I don't want Henrietta to die." I sighed.

"But this battle... It feels like it belongs to a completely different realm than ours."

"I FOUND YOU~"

Suddenly, the snow around us exploded into the air as several gigantic fleshy tentacles filled with eyes emerged from the ground!

"What the hell?!" I asked in surprise. "Ah, Baihe!!"

"Aaaargh!" Dan Baihe cried in horror as a tentacle suddenly grabbed her away!

The entity, whatever it was, quickly emerged. A mass of flesh, hair, eyes, and jaws connected with many tentacles glared at Dan Baihe with his many eyes. What in the world is this thing? It looks like an Abyssal Horror from the Third Awakening!

Yet the presence it had was definitely demonic.

"That's a Demonic Human, Anna!" Said Sepa, glaring at the entity angrily. "And he serves Leviathan too!"

"Leviathan?! This thing? I thought- Agh, no time to talk!" I quickly leaped in midair with all my strength, swinging my Dragon Tooth Dagger and unleashing a slashing explosion of divine flames against the tentacle, grabbing Dan Baihe, slicing, and burning it!

The monster squirmed over the snow, quickly retreating due to the pain he felt. He was surprisingly cowardly. I managed to grab Dan Baihe as I landed in the snow; she seemed slightly dizzy.

"Ugh… Thanks. But what the heck was that thing?!" Dan Baihe asked, quickly standing up and beginning to channel her mana.

We covered each other's backs as we got ready to fight. The monster's tentacles began appearing out of the snow once more as his main body glanced at us from afar, popping up like a giant, aberrant head from the snow.

"Thing?! How can you not recognize your stepfather when you see him, hm? DAN BAIHE?!" The monster roared. His aberrant voice slightly sounded like someone we heard back in the restaurant.

"W-What?!" Dan Baihe realized it much sooner. "W-What? You?! S-Stepfather?!"

"I am glad my adorable little stepdaughter has realized who I am!" The monster laughed. "Do you like my new appearance?! It… suits me much better! It feels so good to be so big and strong… So powerful!"

He had completely gone nuts. Well, he was already a bastard, but he had surely gone down an even more monstrous path. Is this also staged by Leviathan to kill Dan Baihe now that she didn't become his future Incarnation?!

"W-Why?! You became a monster?! A Demonic Human?" Asked Dan Baihe, she looked completely traumatized. Despite being such a bastard, it seems she still somehow appreciated him a bit. "W-What… What's happening right now?!" She couldn't take it.

"What's happening right now, you ask?! This is reality! This is the REAL ME!" He laughed. "You've rejected my lord's suggestion to become his slave, and now you'll suffer the consequences of your insolence, Dan Baihe!" laughed Hector. "I'll kill you the same way I killed your mother!"

"What? My mother?!" Dan Baihe asked, and her eyes quickly began crying. "Y-You're lying… Y-You…"

"YES! I KILLED HER! I staged her DEATH! So I could get her pitiful restaurant and her stupid dumb bitch of a daughter!" Laughed Hector. "I originally planned to work you to almost death and then do the same for you afterward... But I guess destiny had bigger things prepared for me!"

"You killed my mother?!" Dan Baihe was having a panic attack. "Y-You're lying… Y-You…"

"Dan Baihe! Be strong!" I hugged her from behind, imbuing my powers into her. "I know this is hard; I know this is horrifying, even... But there's much more to life than this! I know it! So please, don't lose it! Stay here!"

"A-Anna…" Dan Baihe's pulse quickly slowed down a bit; it seemed it was working.

"Oh? It seems you've got yourself a fellow bitch to cry with, Dan Baihe~! You're really a pitiful little piece of garbage." Laughed Hector. "And now.. you'll die just as the GARBAGE you are!!!"

Several tentacles coming from the snow reached towards us as I channeled my Sunlight Powers to defend Dan Baihe with everything I had! Violet was at my side, ready to slice them up.

However…

"Don't worry, Anna. I can also fight." Dan Baihe sighed. Her eyes were shining bright blue as several tattoos resembling snowflakes and lines emerged across her face and arms.

A powerful aura of magic and frost emerged, channeling into a wave of frost. The wave of frost immediately froze the tentacles, and then they shattered into pieces.

"UUAAGGH…!" Hector cried in agony, his entire body squirming around and stepping back. "T-That power…!"

Dan Baihe glared at her stepfather with a furious gaze, filled with resolve.

"With this power you've given to me, Anna... I'll avenge mom!"

[Character: Dan Baihe] has undergone Character Growth!]

[All her Stats have increased!]

[The control over her Skills has sharpened!]

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[Player Name]: [Dan Baihe]

[Title]: [Frost Princess]

[Sponsor]: [Anna, Protagonist's Little Sister]

[HP]: [254/254]

[MP]: [2860/2860]

[STR]: [53]

[VIT]: [82]

[DEX]: [87]

[AGI]: [117]

[INT]: [1575]

[WIS]: [650]

[LUC]: [300]

[CHM]: [350]

[Innate Skills (6)]

[Brave Heart (C)] [Exhaustion Resistance (D)] [Frost Queen (S)] [Great Sorceress (S)] [Frost Wyvern's Breath (B)] [Glacial Wolf's Claws (C)]

[Privileges (1)]

[Super Growth Package Gift (D Rank Privilege) (Currently In Effect)]

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Character Growth? Her Lone Heart Skill suddenly changed to Brave Heart, and all of her stats rose a lot, especially her INT and MP…

[The Cosmic Throne {Giantess Queen of the Frost Throne} seems interested in Dan Baihe.]

[She has sponsored 1000 Plot Points.]

And is this Skadi?!

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Author's Note: Don't forget that there's 13 Chapters Ahead over on Patreon for only $10 a month. The number is increasing every day too! https://www.patreon.com/pancakeswitch