Hell Reigns

"So then I also have the dragon's combat seed?" discovered Jody. "I get it! Mother taught me that combat souls are able to augment our strength, and the level of augmentation depends on our realm and the grade of the combat soul."

"See? With just a bit of thinking, would you always need to ask these useless questions?" quipped Sylvester.

Jody instantly cut his link with Sylvester in frustration. Nonetheless, he was a bit excited.

His origin energy was far more vital than what he had previously believed! Had he not broken through to the ninth level of the Wimpy Man realm, his physical strength wouldn't necessarily be better than his origin forces. Even though it didn't help much with his attack, it allowed him to resonate with Fenrir, which added extra sword force to his strike! Although he wasn't sure exactly how much power was in that strike, he knew it was well above his current level of strength. It even surpassed his most potent strike with his divinity equipped.

Those knights must have been stronger than he initially thought!

Sweat appeared on Jody's back as he realized how lucky he had gotten.

"It is good that you realize now how reckless you are," Sylvester said to himself in the Host Space as he glanced at that giant Volos egg. "Maybe in the future, you will be more cautious."

Jody emerged from within the shadows in the tree hollow, which was rather dark in general. Even more so this late at night. However, Jody was a Sage and could see in the dark to some extent. Not to mention that his right eye had a fair amount of concentrated divine source.

In the tree hollow, he could see his mother was currently unconscious. Xavier slowly extracted a silvery liquid into a magical black light surrounding his left palm. He refined the poison inside her into a black blob of energy floating above his other palm. The energy blob was the size of a fist and slowly increasing in mass.

"There are a bunch of tiny spiders inside of her blood. This could take forever if I have to do it alone. We can ask Sly to burn all these bugs in her bloodstream. That way, they stop releasing venom. Then I can refine the remaining venom and get it out of her," Xavier's voice sounded anxious, warming Jody's heart.

Sylvester may not see Isis as his mother in their new and shared life, but at least Xavier took things more seriously. Xavier treated him like they were brothers, and this was his mother. Jody had long realized that this was just as much their life as it was his own. This behavior was rather appropriate in that case. Sylvester, on the other hand, was just an asshole. However, Jody didn't dislike him at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

"Sek, can you check the perimeter?" Thanks to Sylvester's earlier warnings, Jody was afraid to use his spiritual awareness right now if he had another option. He wasn't sure how easily others could detect it. Sek Si nodded, then disappeared into the dark. In the meantime, Jody took out a mid-grade origin stone to restore some of his energy. He preferred pure origin stones as opposed to mana stone since they made it easier to refine rukh.

A strange devouring power suddenly activated in his palm, and Jody knew Sylvester was silently assisting him. His energy quickly replenished.

"Jo...si...ah," a tiny voice like the softest bell chime reached Jody's ear, and he whipped his head around to see his mother, whose eyes were barely open and dazed. As Jody leaned in close to her, she silently slid a golden crystal ring onto the middle finger of his left hand, using her remaining strength to mumble an incantation before Jody could react.

Jody was startled, "Mom, no, relax! What are you doing?"

"I love you..so....much...ba...by..." Isis' blue eyes slowly turned pink as the incantation finished, and the golden ring emitted a bright light.

When Jody could see again, the ring had disappeared, and in its place was a tattoo spelling the name "Rah" in an ancient script. Jody was surprised he could read it.

"Ma what...Ma? Mom?! Mother, wake up!" When Jody looked back up, his mother was unconscious again, and she didn't respond no matter how she called her.

Within the host space, Sylvester frowned when he detected the strange soul fluctuations coming from Isis as her eye color changed. That aura was incredibly familiar somehow.

Three minutes later, Sek Si returned, "Reporting to the young master, the enemy knows that Lady Isis has been removed and his subordinates killed! Apparently, he can sense when the killing formation is activated."

"However, elder Slaughter also noticed what happened when she sensed your aura, and the Five Element Wolf pack started using terrifying attacks and spells! I underestimated them. They're only a bit weak. They have successfully tied down the big dark elf and his forces. I estimate we should leave in the next five to ten minutes, or leaving will become impossible once the big baddie catches up," Sek looked Jody dead in his deep oceanic eyes without blinking as she spoke.

Jody pushed his other thoughts away and immediately summoned the [Cosmos Revolving Grimoire]. Although he couldn't recover much, it was enough to facilitate his summoning of a combat guardian. In his haste, he summoned the guardian's child form. Yet, Sylvester was summoned in puppy form in a blaze of emerald skyfall flames. Sylvester seemed to be capable of transforming his shape at will, regardless of the form Jody summoned him in. The information in Jody's mind updated itself.

[Name: Josiah Goldwolf]

[Age: 8 years, 5 months.]

[Status: 63% Health, 65:59]

[Guardian 1: Cosmos Devouring Sky Wolf]

'Compatibility rating: 51%.'

'Tier 1 abilities unlocked.'

'Summon Status: Infant|Child Stage.'

'Summon Time: 6:55|0:51 remaining.'

[Guardian 2: Mighty God Sky Jackal]

'Compatibility rating: 42%.'

'Tier 1 abilities unlocked.'

'Summon Status: Infant|Child Stage.'

'Summon Time: 10:00|4:07 remaining.'

Without speaking, the little winged puppy floated over to Lady Isis and spat out a couple of swaths of flame, which he let engulf her before inhaling them again two minutes later. Sylvester landed on Xavier's head, and the black blob of energy rapidly inflated like a balloon. Three minutes later, once the black blob of power was the size of two watermelons, Sylvester turned into a purple beam of light that flew into Jody's glabella, returning to the host space on his own initiative.

"Show off," Jody grumbled. Notwithstanding this, he was genuinely grateful. Sylvester had single-handedly streamlined this process, then returned on his own to the host space, which Jody discovered conserved summon time and energy without dismissing the summon. "Truly convenient. X, can you come back the same way too?"

"Don't know how," shrugged Xavier, completely nonchalant. Jody didn't believe this puppy at all. Xavier's ears suddenly twitched before continuing, "Oh, so that it. Okay, watch this."

Xavier turned into a crimson light beam that shot into Jody's glabella.

After the princes Tricko returned to the host space, Jody put his arm around his injured mother before looking at Sek Si, "Let's go, mate. Back to the Villa!"

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— Trillwolf Villa, Event Hall

Osiris was dressed in the Trillwolf ceremonial battle armor, red and white caped armor with a black crescent moon crest on the shoulder. The cape represented a specific realm of strength, whereas the black crescent moon represented the House Lord, but they were both the same color. The Lord stood with his hands behind his back on a balcony overlooking the entire Villa. His face was stoic and emotionless, and a formless pressure came from his body. The two elders with him had to leave the balcony to re-enter the building due to the weight of this pressure.

It was too overbearing! They had felt their bones beginning to creak.

Ching-a-ling.

Suddenly, before the two elder's eyes, a shadow walked out of the Lord's shadow before a tall butler appeared. He had waist-length dreads that were long and white and had little silver bells tied to the end. In fact, the elders only noticed the man due to the presence of these bells.

"Urgent update from elder Fontaine, my lord," said Ke handing over a golden wolf head token to Osiris.

Osiris injected his true essence into the token, and his stoic face changed to one of shock and worry, "The capital under siege by fiends before the reports stopped? What of Saint? How could this be...did he deploy a second team that even the first didn't expect? How can this plan be elaborate to such a degree?"

"My lord, at this rate, we may lose our only chance to...hm? Oh!" Ke Si stopped mid-sentence and let out a startled shout.

He just noticed four shadows rapidly approaching his own shadow domain. Two seconds later, Jody walked out of his father's shadow with his mother in his embrace. Lord Osiris was absolutely dumbfounded. Not thirty seconds after he received the report about a missing Isis, he received word about the capital's peril. Less than twenty minutes later, Isis was emerging from his own shadow, successfully rescued by his son.

"Dad help me, ma's hurt!" shouted Jody as soon as he appeared.

House Lord Osiris quickly noticed how different his wife's aura felt. He came to a conclusion instantly. He sobered up and embraced his wife before vanishing without even acknowledging his son.

Jody frowned and looked at the startled head butler, "Ke Si, please, I need you to take me to my parents!"

Ke Si glanced at this unfathomable youth with appreciation evident on his face.

However, his face quickly changed to indifference, "Young master, you have done an excellent job. However, my current primary objective is to send you to safety. Previously, you disappeared. Now, we must leave."

"Ke Si... take me to my mother." Jody's voice was suddenly cold.

Ke raised his brow as a shadowy mist rose from his body.

"I apologize, Master Josiah, but you will accompany me to safety. Come this way, now. Sek Si, you will remain here," as Ke's words finished, he sealed Sek's avatar within his own and vanished from where he stood.

The next instant, he appeared behind Jody and touched the boy's shoulder.

Jody was enraged as he swatted at Ke Si's gorilla-gripped hand to no avail before being instantly dragged into the darkness! All nine of Jody's emptied astral points suddenly burst to life! He quickly turned his perception inward. To his absolute shock, his origin force was mysteriously and rapidly being drawn into his bright star meridians and back out through his astral pathways.

His origin was converting directly into astral force! This was apparently the result of his rage.

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Sylvester and Xavier were secretly shocked as they witnessed this phenomenon from the host space.

"How…is he able to do that?" asked Xavier in utter confusion.

"Absolutely incredible…this truth formula seems to turn the boy's rage into literal power. Indeed worthy of the infamous Titan clan of the Skyslaughter race. I suppose this should be a unique application of slaughter force," Sylvester's tail was wagging in appreciation.

"Are you sure it is only the Titanic Rage Law? You don't usually seem so stupid. Such a thing is impossible, even for a Titan. Otherwise, would they have been so easy for the Stellar Nova to eliminate? I think it's him. Do you think it's limited to just the conversion of astral light? How about the reverse? What if it also worked for true essence? Then he would truly be a beast," Xavier was growing intrigued with the mysteries of the Titan clan, but he didn't believe this was directly related to them. It should only be because this freak of nature was utilizing this technique. Jody must be creating something unique. "The twilight system is almost like training wheels for his own capabilities."

"Hmm, it should be that, but there should also be a limit. However, who's to say it's not also possible to surpass this limit?" Sylvester was once again indifferent since he was unable to fool his brother. "At any rate, we must first keep him alive until he can discover these things for himself."

"Right," said Xavier with a nod. "He clearly doesn't intend to go with this bellhop."

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Meanwhile, Jody was unaware of this conversation in his head since his fusion soul was in hibernation.

'Cosmo!'

The [Cosmos Revolving Grimoire] appeared in a flash of purple light, wrapping Jody in a purple light barrier that knocked away the butler's hand and sent him tumbling through the pitch-black darkness. Xavier once told Jody that heavenly grimoires have a natural origin barrier that protects the host to a certain degree, so he had taken a gamble!

Unfortunately, now Jody felt like he was falling aimlessly through the darkness for the absolute longest time. After ten minutes, he took the mid-grade origin stone from his pocket, recovering his energy. Even once the stone returned to dust, he still fell through darkness. After a while, he suddenly crashed onto the ground harshly. His grimoire floated next to him and flashed open to the first page.

[Status: 72% Health, 72:57]

"Ow! Shit! Wait, what!? F#&K, and it's already been over five hours?" Jody stood up and brushed himself off. He was low on energy before, but his astral light was suddenly replenished to 60% by draining his origin energy, which he had just recovered to 100% in the last few hours. Looking around himself, Jody paled.

He was standing on top of a coliseum's heavily battle-worn stone stage in the center of the Villa. Half of the Coliseum was missing, and there were blood and bodies all over the place. A few dead kids were on the stage around Jody, presumably participants of the Young Wolf Celebration Dinner.

"This…" Jody honestly didn't know what to say while witnessing this sight. He just climbed out of the hole in the Coliseum walls. This was just too gruesome and terrible. How could things have gotten so wrong so quickly? It was no wonder Ke Si was adamant about removing Jody from the scene, as it was far too dangerous.

The Coliseum stood on a hill overlooking most of the surrounding Villa grounds. Standing on the broken coliseum walls, Jody could see it all. There were several damaged buildings, and there were fights all over the place. Jody saw strange monsters, dark elf knights, and even some familiar faces from the Frozen Night militia. The force fluctuations in the air were fierce and beyond terrifying. In the night skies above, the Villa floats an enormous white castle. There were hundreds of black-horned creatures falling down from the castle. They looked like evil little demons.

Just below the swelling, dark cloud, a massive winged werewolf with fiery red fur stood his ground against a horde of fiends. His snarling jaws snapped, and his claws slashed rapidly through the air. Surrounding him were several men dressed in flowing white robes, their faces set in determined expressions as they fought alongside their fiendish companions. The clash of steel against fangs and claws and magical explosions echoed through the clearing, sending shivers down the spines of any bystanders who dared to watch the epic battle unfolding before them.

"What the hell…" at this point, Jody was no longer calm. This was like a doomsday movie. What in Gaea were those menacing-looking black things?

"Fiends feed off the power of dark thoughts like resentment or terror. But the main thing that feeds them is death. With so much death, most of these fiends have probably evolved. Below are low-level gremlins, all with about 50 BP, but there are hundreds of them. Above are balors with at least 500-800 BP." Sylvester informed Jody via telepathy. Jody was enlightened and creeped out. Sylvester continued his observation, "I can even sense the presence of high-level ghouls and upirs somewhere below. Those creatures are worse than balors. This is something you cannot possibly handle. I would suggest you don't move about randomly."

CRASH!

The ground vibrated fiercely as something crashed heavily onto the stage behind Jody, almost tossing him off the Coliseum walls.