After the Second Ritual

{Author's Note}

Hey everyone!

Just so all of you know, my Patreon subscribers actually got to read this chapter way before you did! As of posting this chapter, they are already 3 chapters ahead of you! If you want to be that far ahead, you can go over to my Patreon and pay me 5 dollars a month to be that far ahead in this story, and any other stories I've written!

Or, just go over to my Ko-Fi and tip me 5 or more dollars if you can't make the monthly commitment! I just lost my job 2 weeks ago and am still not sure whether or not my unemployment will be approved or denied. If even 1/10th of you were to donate at least 5 dollars, or subscribe on pat reon, I'll be able to not only pay my rent, but also my phone bill, my internet bill, and repair my computer

Join the Discord: h ttps://disc ord.gg /3CBa zz8C4H

Support me on Patreon: https://w ww.patr eon.com/unfor tunateG ambler

Give me a Tip on Ko-Fi: https:/ /ko-fi.com/ unfortun atega mbler

Watch me play games on Twitch: http s://ww w .twitch.tv/fort unateGa mbler

On another note, this chapter is a more emotional one with the jokes and references, with most of it going over the new emotional connection between Gnome and Kevin, and their plans for their next destination. I hope you guys enjoy!

On WiTh ThE sToRy!

~~~

{Newly Constructed City - On Top of the Unnamed Castle}

Surprisingly, Kevin wasn't as mentally or emotionally disturbed as he expected himself to be after regaining control of his body. Sure, there was the immediate tension in all of his muscles due to the indignity he felt at having had literally ALL of his autonomy taken away from him for the duration of the Ritual, but the irritation wasn't strong enough to cause an outburst like last time. In fact, it was already fading away into the background when the Eeveelution System spoke up..

[The Eeveelution System would like to offer the Host congratulations on his Marriage!]

[As a result of the [True Bonding Ritual of Earth] conjoining the souls of the Host and Earth Spirit Gnome, the "Obsideon" and "Terrareon" Eeveelutions have been granted immunity to the {Transformation Limit} Downgrade implemented in the "Eeveelution System Update 2.0: The Downgrade." The Host is no longer limited in the number of times per day he can transform into the "Obsideon" and "Terrareon" Eeveelutions.]

[Additionally, instead of being limited to 25% control over the power of Rock and Ground Type Energies in the Host's Eevee form, as is so with all other elements, the Host will be capable of accessing 50% of the full potential of Rock and Ground Type Energies without needing to evolve.]

A rare smile made its way onto the Eevee's face. With those two forms having most of their restrictions removed, he would have a lot more options with his future battles. The fact that his Obsideon form was the 'strong and silent' type, and thus unlikely to make him regret any amount of time spent in that evolution, was enough to spark a mixture of joy and relief in his heart. He had enough chaotic eeveelutions already, thank you very much!

His attention was pulled back to the outside world when he felt a tug on his right arm. Turning, he found Gnome standing next to him, their eyes at an even enough height for him to see the tears silently streaming down her cheeks. She didn't sob, or make any sound that would reveal to anyone not looking directly at her face that she was crying, but that was to be expected from the voluntarily-mute Spirit.

Without thinking, the teenager extended both of his arms and pulled her into a hug. Even though she hadn't said a word, he could feel through the new link between their souls that she was reacting just as badly to his memories as Sylph had, if not worse. With Sylph, she had at least been social enough with all of the elves and fairies in the Forest of Spirits to be intimately familiar with the concepts of loss, fear, and depression. Monsters weren't immortal, after all, and the cries of their loved ones would often be carried to the small Spirit by the winds, allowing her to immerse herself in the worst emotions the world had to offer.

Gnome, on the other hand, was a solitary existence that preferred to avoid making connections with the denizens of the deserts around her. Through the memories she's been forced to share with him, the Eevee had seen how the Earth Spirit had realized early on in life that she and her sisters weren't like other creatures that roamed the three continents. They were immortal, and thus making connections with the short-lived humans and monsters around them would only end in a broken heart whenever they inevitably passed on. She'd concluded that it was easier to isolate herself and spend her time creating her mud dolls, setting up walls around her heart that few could penetrate. It was safer that way.

Sure, there were the few Hosts that she had shared with the other Spirits in the past, but none of them warranted an attachment that would drag her down. None of them penetrated the shell she put in place to keep her heart free from the damage that would inevitably bring her crashing down in the end.

Unfortunately for her, this left her incredibly vulnerable to Kevin's memories. Her defenses had been reduced to nothing upon their souls being merged, and she had been subjected to the full brunt of the emotional trauma that lived within the boy's own heart. With nothing protecting her anymore, she cried for the first time since her birth at the beginning of the world.

"Let it all out," Kevin whispered, gently stroking her hair with one hand while the other continued to firmly hold her close. Comforting someone wasn't one of his strong suits, but the newly-forged emotional attachment to his new 'wife' wouldn't allow him to step away and hope that she could work through the emotions on her own. "I know it hurts, but if you learn to ignore it, the pain will fade."

Instead of a verbal reply, he received a mixture of doubt, annoyance, and resignation from the girl in his arms through their link. They say actions speak louder than words, but the pure emotions she just sent him told him exactly how stupid and unhelpful she found his advice to be. Even for someone as socially stunted as Gnome, it was obvious that just pretending that these negative feelings weren't there wouldn't lead to anything good.

Her new Host was a perfect example.

It was twenty minutes into their emotional-support-hug when Alice finally decided to approach their location atop the castle. She came alone, as Sylph had already disappeared back into Kevin's soul once the Ritual had been completed and was remaining uncharacteristically silent as her Host and sister embraced each other. Then again, she'd already displayed multiple times by now just how mature she could be when she wanted to, so it wasn't that much of a surprise.

The Monster Lord was taken aback the moment she was the state of the Spirit of the Earth. :"What happened?"

"Remember when Sylph told you that we shared all of our memories when we went through the first [True Bonding Ritual]?" the boy asked, his voice soft so as not to startle the sensitive girl in his arms.

Alice nodded.

"Let's just say that what I was put through would break most normal people, and leave it at that for now," he concluded.

She was speechless for a few minutes as she processed that statement. Having a hard life was something that the lamia could understand, as her childhood and upbringing had their fair share of scars; but for Kevin's own memories to cause the Spirit who embodied stoicism and stability to break down like this? She found it difficult to fathom what the short Spirit could've seen and experienced to make her this way.

Finally taking note of Sylph's presence in his soul again, Kevin sent a mental plea to her to help him out. Luckily for him, she had been waiting for this exact cue to come out and join the emotional support hug. Still remaining in her fairy-sized form, she materialized right next to Gnome's head and proceeded to hug the side of her face.

"Don't worry, Gnomy," she whispered. "It'll all be okay."

They remained there until the sun finally dipped below the horizon, plunging the empty stone city into darkness. At some point, the trio had sunk down to the roof, holding each other tightly as they sat on the smooth sandstone surface. It had already been an hour since Gnome had fully calmed down, but she didn't want to let the feeling of comfort she received from Kevin's embrace go away, so she had eventually pretended to fall asleep. The boy knew exactly what she was doing, but didn't bother her until the temperature started noticeably dropping.

Alice had already left to explore the castle, making mental comparisons between it and her own residence back in Hellgondo. She quickly noticed that it was bigger, more beautiful, and had better defenses than the Monster Lord's palace. All it would take would be the right assortment of furniture and weapons, and it could be claimed as the greatest castle in the world.

It took her hours to finish a full inspection of the entire building, culminating in her arriving at what had to be the Royal Chambers. The room was almost twice the size of her own bedchambers, which was emphasized even more by how bare it was. A few sandstone dressers, a wall-spanning mirror, a door leading off to what appeared to be a bathroom fit for a king, and solid stone bed frame were the only features the room really had, yet all of them were so artfully sculpted that she couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

What really stood out at the moment, though, was Kevin's backpack that currently lay in the middle of the bed frame. The contrast between the massive slap and the small bag almost made her laugh, but she stifled her chuckles when she noticed that the [Bag of Bedding] compartment was currently occupied.

The Eevee boy was in his full transformation, as usual for when he slept, and curled around the tiny form of Sylph. What caused the Monster Lord to raise an eyebrow was the sight of Gnome's head sticking out from behind Kevin's fox-like body. She had apparently shrunk herself down to fit inside the backpack with him, cuddling him from behind and burying her face in the mane of white fur around his neck.

She contemplated alerting them to her presence and asking where she was supposed to sleep, but shot that idea down almost immediately. What kind of monster would she be to wake them up after seeing how heavily the [True Bonding Ritual of Earth] weighed on them? She may be a bit mean, but she wasn't heartless! Instead, she left, closing the large double doors of the room gently, and set off to find one of the larger guest rooms she had discovered earlier.

***

{In the Dream Room}

Sylph's boundless energy and ability to resist the calming effects of the Dream Room had always baffled Ilias. The room's primary purpose was to keep everyone inside of it as calm as possible, to the point where even Ilias' own madness was suppressed; and yet, the fairy-sized Spirit somehow managed to randomly gain bursts of unbound energy that made her fly in circles at speeds that would boggle most mortal minds, talk for hours on end without pausing to take a break, and sometimes even challenge the other denizens of the Dream Room to wrestling matches that would inevitably end in her loss due to her refusal to increase her size. More often than not, it would break the soothing atmosphere the room was known for, so it made absolutely no sense for it to be allowed.

Case in point: on this particular night, the Wind Spirit was releasing an excessive amount of energy by both flitting around Gnome and excitedly gushing over how happy she was to have the other Spirit join her connection with Kevin's soul. By this point, the short girl had mostly recovered from the emotional rollercoaster she'd experienced from Kevin's memories, and was back to her stoic self as she sat next to the teenager on the edge of his bed and stared intently at Ilias.

In Gnome's opinion, Ilias' circumstances were understandable. If she hadn't been the embodiment of stability and strength, her own self-imposed isolation might have driven her just as mad hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago. For a Spirit that represented the mind, heart, and soul, the loneliness had likely been harder on the self-proclaimed goddess than it had on any of the other Spirit. How heartless would you have to be to hate someone for being a victim?

Unfortunately, the Earth Spirit's attempts at non-verbally conveying her acceptance of the Light Spirit's presence were currently being overshadowed by the antics of a certain annoying little sister figure.

"-and it was amazing! I wish you were there to see it! But you're here now, and our adventures are going to be so much more fun! We can play games and fight monsters and humans with Kevin and braid each other's hair and pull pranks on Alice and eat delicious-"

SMACK!

Time seemed to stand still for a minute as Gnome partook in a pastime she hadn't in years: slapping Sylph out of the air and finally silencing her. Her outstretched hand remained in the air for a second as the tiny Spirit dropped to the ground like a sack of rocks. The fairy-like Spirit's face was frozen in a look of shock as she bounced off the floor a few times, remaining motionless as stars clouded her vision.

Nodding in satisfaction, Gnome lowered her hand and turned back to address Ilias once again. She wordlessly nodded her head and transmitted feelings of understanding and acceptance, which the Dream Room was more than willing to carry over to the white-winged woman. This triggered a sigh of relief from the Spirit of Light as she finally felt comfortable enough to take a seat on the bed, and leaned back until she was laying down.

"Is this going to happen every time I bond with a Spirit?" Kevin asked as the stress visibly left Ilias' body.

"Is what going to happen?"

"You freaking out over how they're gonna react to you, and being proven wrong when they accept you anyway?"

The self-proclaimed goddess shot him a light glare. "How about you try reconnecting with family members who you've been plotting to kill or imprison for thousands of years, and then tell me how easy it is?"

"...fair enough."

Before they could continue to banter, a voice game from the floor. "Why is nobody checking to see if I'm okay!?"

Glancing over the side of the bed, the Eevee raised an eyebrow. "You look unhurt to me."

"Gnomy smacked me out of the air! Can't you show some sympathy for your first wife!?" Sylph cried, writhing around in an approximation of a child's temper tantrum.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, including his own, the boy didn't react badly to the 'wife' comment. In fact, he merely nudged the fairy-sized Spirit with his foot. "I would, if I didn't know that you had it coming. How many times has she, or any of the other Spirits, done something like this when you're being annoying."

"..." Sylph was silent for a moment, before pouting. "Just because you're right, doesn't mean you have to be mean about it."

Smiling, the teenager leaned back to lay back on the bed next to Ilias. "I may not need to, but when has that ever stopped me?"

It was obvious to all of them that his new connection with Gnome had at least partially established the stability that they were hoping for. If the word 'wife' had come up before in reference to Sylph, especially in the week leading up to the ritual with Gnome, his mind would've immediately gone down the spiraling rabbithole of examining his own emotions and fighting with himself over the artificial love and bond. It was a topic that he, Sylph, and Ilias had avoided at all costs.

Now, it was slightly different. He still felt the irritation, and his train of thought had tried to jump off the rails and down into the ravine that that thought process led to, but the structure and strength provided by the Earth Spirit's presence in his soul put up enough resistance for him to ignore it in favor of asking a sarcastic question. The urge was there, but it wasn't as urgent as it was before.

An hour passed in silence as all four of them relaxed on the impossibly comfortable bed. A bit of repositioning resulted in Kevin laying in the middle with his head resting on the pillow, Sylph using her small size to sprawl out on his chest, Gnome on the boy's left side wrapping her arms around him and also resting her head on the pillow, and Ilias on the right side sitting on the edge of the bed. It wasn't that the Light Spirit didn't want to lay down with the others, but the twin-sized bed just wasn't big enough for all of them. Kevin would need to conjure up a bigger one in the future, considering the fact that he still had three more Spirits to go.

Speaking of bonding with more Spirits…

"So…now that I've got Gnome, who's next?" the Eevee suddenly spoke up, breaking the tranquil atmosphere.

Surprisingly, it was Ilias who provided an answer. "If you ask me, I'd say it's best to head to the Noah Region and bond with Undine first."

Kevin turned to give her a questioning look. "Why?"

"Well, I just thought you would prefer to put off your next encounter with Granberia for as long as possible," the winged woman replied with a sly smile.

That caused the boy to sit straight up, throwing Sylph into his lap and removing himself from Gnome's grasp. "What do you mean by that?"

"Salamander's home, Gold Volcano, is a location that is frequently visited by the Heavenly Knight of Fire," she explained. "Your luck so far with encountering Queen Class monsters, or rather lack thereof, would indicate that the moment you step into that volcano, Granberia will just happen to be dropping by to say hello to her former teacher."

Despite having somewhat forgiven the dragonkin for her heinous crime back in Iliasburg, the Eevee still had a small fragment of the smoldering hatred for her in the depths of his heart. He may have a lifetime supply of Hershey's Chocolate- or month's supply, considering how religiously he eats it - now, but that initial despair at losing such a delicacy forever was still a sore spot for him.

Sighing, he swung his legs over the side of the bed to sit next to her.. "So what you're saying is: the Noah Region has less of a chance of me running into a Heaven Knight that I want to punch in the face until my fist bleeds?"

There was a moment of silence, before the angelic blond's expression became conflicted. "Well…that honestly depends on how you see the other Heavenly Knights."

"...what?"

"The Noah Region is actually where the other Heavenly Knights can be found most of the time," Ilias continued. "Tamamo's Kitsune Village is there, Alma Elma is the reigning champ at the Grand Noah Coliseum, and Undine's Spring is where Erubetie spends her time keeping the many slimes who call it home safe from human pollution."

Kevin's shoulders slouched at this revelation. "Fucking typical," he groaned, his face in his hands. "I have to decide between the dragon who murdered my chocolate bar and the succubus who tried to rape me for the crime of defending myself." He sighed, flopping backwards, his head coincidentally landing in Gnome's lap, as she had been moving to hug him from behind.

"On the bright side, Tamamo was one of the only monsters that you could not only tolerate, but seemed to actually get along with." the Light Spirit interjected.

"Yeah!" Sylph flew up to stand on her sister's shoulder. "Not only that, but the other two kitsunes with her seemed to like you! Maybe we could visit the Kitsune Village and meet them!"

Gnome remained quiet, as always, as she ran her hands through the boy's hair. She did emit an aura of encouragement and sympathy, though.

"Hmm…" he hummed in contemplation. "Well, I haven't met whoever 'Erubetie' is yet, but she couldn't possibly be more annoying than Granberia or Alma Elma, so I guess the Noah Region is a safe bet."

Ilias was about to point out the fact that Erubetie was actually the most volatile Heavenly Knight, with her hatred for humans being so strong that every single one she encountered had been digested by her, but she chose to hold her tongue for now. After all, it was possible that her hatred wouldn't extend to him, seeing as he technically wasn't human. Maybe his Vaporeon form would further convince her that he meant no harm, since its full-transformation was practically a slime in and of itself.

With that decision made, the four of them spent the rest of the night relaxing, talking about nothing important, and enjoying each other's company for as long as it would last.

~~~

Join the Discord: h ttps://disc ord.gg /3CBa zz8C4H

Support me on Patreon: https://w ww.patr eon.com/unfor tunateG ambler

Give me a Tip on Ko-Fi: https:/ /ko-fi.com/ unfortun atega mbler

Watch me play games on Twitch: http s://ww w .twitch.tv/fort unateGa mbler