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Chapter 29: Chaotic Devolution

Betareader: Ant0nius

“Are you certain you’re not going too far now?"

Bengala’s voice almost snapped her from her current focus. Which was smacking a few trouble-makers with her staff. It’s been a while since the foes changed from seemingly mindless plans attacking them to actual chaos magicians, and while that would have brought a change in their pace, this proved to be untrue. They were moving as smooth as before, taking the initiative to rush in and get to where their missing teammate had gone.

But going back to the Courage Crest’s question, the Gazelle Prime found herself in a moral dilemma that had a rather forced reply to it. The truthful answer to that question, considering her current aggression on their enemies and the unrestricted use of her powers to have some bash against each other would be ‘yes’, but-

“No.”

Grace was upset.

At first it was just because Theo had been kidnapped by the Life Crest. That wouldn’t have been worrisome considering how good he was in talking his way out of situations, and knowing how this Crest was meant to be quite cordial with humans, the girl was hopeful the situation would have solved in a good way. That was her thought before the newest issues, Narakhans bearing the marks and using tainted Chaos magic started to appear and try to ambush them. If before Grace had been quite lenient against all enemies of hers and her friends, ever since the time Carmesi got hurt by the Emperor the Gazelle Prime had conceded that ‘moderation’ was no longer an option. These people, those tainted ones, all had the chance of turning in the Emperor.

To be the final foe that no one at the moment could defeat. Hence why they had to be dealt with as quickly as possible, offering them no chances to attack them by surprise. Her voice was shaky, but not out of fear. Out of irritation. Not aimed at Bengala, but nonetheless enough to put the Tiger Prime to silence for the time being as they handled the resistance to their advance. There was much to do, and idle chatting wasn’t feasible at the moment. Not with the chances of Theo being hurt and kidnapped himself. That just she couldn’t accept. It happened to her, it was how she was captured.

It was how she came to risk being imprisoned again. In that lonely prison, to be woken up from her mostly endless slumber just to facilitate the suffering of others, the lie of those that said believed in her. But no, Grace was not planning to let this happen to herself, nor she wanted her Theo to get subjected to that or anything worse than this. So, her hooved feet moved swifter than normal, her staff slamming around with unforgiving strength and her powers, albeit relentless, still held under check to not reach for Bengala and focus primarily on those against her. Nothing too extreme, just distractions. The books she read about how nerves reacted to being stimulated in the right way. Stiff muscles, shaky legs, difficulty to breath through hyperventilation, small symptoms normally common in sicknesses, but that were hers to recreate through the right ‘teasing’ of senses.

So, here Grace was, facing enemies left and right by bashing skulls, then claiming names and finally making sure to deliver as many concussions as she could without going too far with a murder or two. She remained within her safe space while her mind repeated Theo’s explanation regarding some of the moves she was using, most of which were now different as she had long adapted to become stronger, more flexible- to be independent from relying heavily on what he could teach her. It was only for the best, and he had urged her to experiment on changes.

The result was a destructive style with her staff that made her incredibly dangerous to face in most circumstances tied to close-combat. The path up ahead was steep with troublesome individuals, and while some of them made a compelling defense with their positions, sheltered from her approach and giving them the distance to strike at them from afar, both her and Bengala were moving fast enough to dodge and actually take down the issues at hand with ease.

Eventually they made it through the entire deep forest without much of a delay, and found themselves staring at a raging battle up ahead. Theo was there, mostly unscathed. Beside him, a Prime. Blue-hair, lizard-like, cute yellow eyes and a battle-axe that was cutting through tendrils of violet darkness trying to reach for them. Theo was seemingly busy with a single enemy, a Narakhan that looked different. That felt different than the rest.

His sword clashed against a barrier that formed timely around the single foe, an amused grin spreading on the pink-furred sorceress as her own attacks tried but failed to get through the human’s defense. Why was she amused? Grace was perplexed by this, but didn’t allow her confusion and surprise at the extent of the combat to stop her from actually joining the battle herself. Bengala followed shortly after and provided as much assistance as possible.

Both Crests were enough to tilt the fight into a favorable outcome, something that the Narakhans were quick to pick up as a retreat was called. The magician fending off against Theo? She hesitated to truly leave, but it wasn’t due to anything negative like anger, pride or stubbornness in leaving before ‘finishing the job in front of her’. No, Grace could see something was different compared to the rest, something only she could see.

Was that… attraction? The mere sight of it just made her feel disgust, even more when the woman finally backed away, using new tentacles to provide herself some protection as she rushed back to the leaving ships. But not before blowing a kiss in Theo’s direction and leaving a confirming mark within her own suspicions. An enemy attracted to her Theo? One that could potentially try to kidnap him and have him hurt to convert him? That she couldn’t afford!

And as the fight finally halted to an end, Grace dropped from her combat stance and bolted towards the human. Theo glanced at her just in time as she reached for a hug and he was quick to return it as she was pulling him in that embrace. There was a moment of quiet, one where her serious mindset fully dropped as relief poured deep into her heart as she knew he was safe and sound.

“I’m fine.”

_ Yes. Yes, he was fine. _

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“I’m fine,” I hummed, yet Grace didn’t relent in her hug.

It’s been a very long day. Between finding Geecku, befriending her and then dealing with a chaos attack from some sorcerers that had breached into the region and tried to capture us… yeah, it’s been an exhausting adventure. Especially when I ended up dealing with a flirting foe that seemed to be the one that Addie had said was the big bad at the moment. Like, I was fine with bantering with my foes, but flirting felt just off-putting.

Even more when the individual in question actually started to flirt by mistake and, as I brought it up that she was actually flirting, she went the extra step to willingly ‘try to seduce me’. I wasn’t sure that was something someone like the Emperor would have condoned, but I still got that kind of treatment for some unknown reasons. Not only that, she mentioned something about my ‘chaos’ being something that she will wait to see fully unfold.

I wasn’t sure how that exactly worked as I had hardly perceived much of that situation as there were no common ways to ‘pull out’ chaos from within. Normally it was just easy to use if one had it in their bodies, but for some reasons that wasn’t the case for me. So, my attention was aimed at Grace as I looked at her current condition after being missing for a while and having to fight her way through to get to where we were. Her staff was slightly bloodied- not her blood. She had no injuries within her body, and even her dress looked to be barely ruined by the extreme combat situation we were all put through.

Bengala sighed as he finished off two remaining troops that had failed to evacuate, taking a moment to study the situation in front of him before glancing briefly at the approaching Geecku. As I had expected, the Tiger Prime ogled her frame a tiny bit, with the Life Crest ignoring the attention as her gaze was aimed at Grace and I… or rather, at the hug itself. I would have expected jealousy from the wild girl, but instead of feeling excluded by it, she offered me a questioning look that said it all:

Can I join too?

I offered a smile, and she was quick to jump at the occasion by entering that hug. Grace tensed up at the pair of arms wrapping around her and me, but she seemed to grow at ease as she heard a happy giggle from Geecku and the lack of anything too tight or upsetting within that invasion of the embrace. Both girls took a while to eventually unwrap for me much to Bengala’s amusement and brief chagrin. I could see that he wouldn’t have minded being pulled into something like that too, but considering the circumstances, that wasn’t within the girls’ minds.

“Grace, this is Geecku. Geecku, this is Grace.”

“Hello!” The Life Crest greeted chirpily, with the Gazelle Prime beaming at the friendly attitude.

“Nice to meet you, Geecku.”

The two shared a smile and I decided to check on the overall situation.

“She is going to join us, but I wish to make it clear that while her vocabulary is a bit limited, she is as smart as all of us. Right, Buddy?”

“Yep, Buddy!”

“So please, nothing about that. Okay?”

“We will not say anything about it, also… I’m Bengala.”

“Ben… gala?” The girl asked quietly, getting his name down.

“Yep.”

“Nice meet ya,” The Life Crest answered earnestly.

He chuckled. “Likewise, Geecku.”

“And we should get going. We had a bit of surprises and… we need to get to safety,” I remarked, getting nods from the rest as we prepared to leave the area altogether.

Ships were called and soon we were being brought back to where Adela and the others were, Geecku falling asleep on me through the trip and being the reason for amused glances from Grace as she leaned on my shoulder and Bengala sat in front of me with a joking tone. He could have been a bit jealous of it, but he could tell that having two girls being this tightly close to me while trying to rest wasn’t exactly an ideal circumstance for anyone. Not when you didn’t have enough patience and connection with these two.

_ I just could say that having Geecku around was definitely going to bring more fresh air within the group. That was for sure. _

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“It’s impressive,” Ambar hummed as she studied the recent reports from the group that had been sent to recover the Dark Crest.

The pictures of Carmesi’s new form were now on full display for Archie and Adela to look at too. The queen studied the sight with awe, while the Nanozell Spirit looked less surprised and more intrigued by the development in front of them.

“This could be what we had been looking for, the step needed to fully use our Crests to the fullest with maximum control,” The Bear Prime muttered, her excitement in full swing within her mood. “If we all trained to reach that level, we might be able to finally unlock the secret tied to our hidden powers and be the solution to the threat poised by the Emperor.”

Adela nodded slowly at this, surprised by the circumstance, but letting Archie inquire things that were slowly coming up about that novelty. Specifically the reason why that actually happened.

“Still, did Carmesi mention how she reached that form?” The Spirit asked with a curious tone. “I mean, it’s definitely not something that is just tied to physical improvement. What kind of situation was she in to unlock this form?”

“Pulsar has yet to ask that. He just provided me with some pictures of it,” The Wisdom Crest admitted nervously, but where the Spirit picked up unease before the lack of details, the young queen sitting beside him saw something else in Ambar’s behavior.

“So, it was Pulsar that took the pictures.”

Instantly, the Bear Prime’s posture stiffened. Just briefly, and yet it was enough to confirm Adela’s suspicions that there was something going on between these two. After all, the Hamster Prime had grown a bit less interested in playing around and more into chatting with the Wisdom Crest. A situation that Ambar saw no reason to oppose, but actually expanded on from time to time.

“W-Well, he is the only one that can handle the device and- and he isn’t a terrible photographer.”

Addie felt the need to tease the fellow redhead for more, but decided against that. Too soon, she thought as she knew there was much more she could do but only after she got these two to do… well, more with what they currently had.

“Yes. I would have been surprised if it had been Kate with her dislike for technology, while Sem isn’t exactly keen to take pictures. And I guess they are coming back now.”

“They will be back in a few minutes with Howl. The Dark Crest has agreed to fight in this battle,” The Bear Prime beamed at the good news before deflating a bit at the other section of the report. “Nonetheless, there were some issues with the other recovery operation.”

And that perked Addie’s full attention. “What happened?”

“A few bumps with the Life Crest, like it happened with the Dark Crest for the rest, and no one was endangered by the situation… that was until our newest chaos-related issue struck and tried to capture all in a single battle. Darcy was involved.”

“And?” The queen pressed nervously, with Ambar’s smile persisting despite the unpleasant development.

“They are on their way back to the ship too. The Life Crest, Geecku, is currently ‘sleep-hugging’ Theo as we’re speaking.”

A fascinated look appeared on her face. “Oh?”

“It’s quite the discovery that this Crest is quite friendly. I will not lie, but I had a bit of doubts he was going to befriend this one but… from what we got out of the interactions with her, from all three members sent, we know that she will be a formidable team-player once brought up to speed. Ignoring her limited capacity to speak.”

“Hmm.”

“Also… I don’t wish to be the bringer of bad news, but we will have to engage in another conference with Earth’s superpowers to give them new insight on what is going on. Now things will get more intense with Darcy here.”

Which meant more headaches on that front but… it was bearable. Maybe. At least it wasn’t going to be as troublesome as keeping watch over the most recent decision she took. A very risky one, but one that had to be made eventually. And this time…

_ Minos could really be a big headache if he decided to betray the mercy she was willing to concede him. _

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Minos didn’t need to look to know that Kayin was back to visit him.

Meditation had done him well in recent times and right now he felt like his mind was less influenced by the very anger tied to his current confinement. Instead of speaking, the former captain waited for something to happen- no, for someone to speak.

“Darcy has been spotted. She attacked the Grand Knight and tried to capture him, along with the Life Crest.”

Feather. Minos’ eyes finally opened as he stared at the traitor. The Avian Prime stared back at him, no shame in her face, only unease before the development. Truth be told, he knew that the Sky Crest was the one that would fare the best with that betrayal despite Sem’s own interest to break free from the Empire.

Her indoctrination was never too extreme compared to others, with her lack of ambition allowing to be a subordinate without feeling the need to be more, and her interest in supporting good initiative being the driving force for this betrayal. That and her affection for the Death Crest which further lessened the loyalty to the empire.

“As expected,” The Bull Prime hummed. “Are you planning to free me?”

“Do you want to be freed, Minos?”

That was a good counter to his interest, and one that left him in a troubled position. Even if he tried to act as a double-agent, there was no way he was going to be taken back by the Emperor. Fighting or not, stubbornly clinging to the old teachings or not- he was still labeled a traitor for failing. And no success could ever put him back in the spot he was once set within. No, Minos was not interested in being freed, but between the chances of fighting for his life and lying down without fighting it, he felt compelled to pick the former. But… his pride was still up and running. And unwilling to let him accept the ultimate humiliation.

“I would like it, yes.”

But as much as he despised it, as much as Minos would have loved to fight it more, he knew that they couldn’t afford to lose now. It was no more about betrayal, but being given a chance to survive. And as much as he hated it, this was the best bet he got to not die in this losing side of the war. He could use the haze of the battlefield to escape, to be free, to not be traceable by either side and hope this matter would blow up and make his image disappear from existence. A pipe dream with how resourceful the Emperor was, but he saw it as the best bet.

He was indeed freed from his cell, but the Bull Prime was restrained by a pair of reinforced cuffs that bound his hands together, and a reinforced chain around his ankles. Huffing, Minos conceded that this freedom wasn’t the best he hoped for, but it was still something that let him leave the cell he had spent days within. He needed to see what was going on, to study the circumstance and think of any detail that could aid him in his escape plan.

Not much could be said about his current circumstance. Except that he was bound to a very strict schedule of freedom, with a non-negligible amount of guards and his powers fully suppressed. It wasn’t good, but it was far from ‘not good’ of being stuck in a cell with those limitations. Small steps, then he would be able to move more freely and be given the chance to take steps in the directions he wanted.

_ But for now, it was best to wait and see if this situation was going to turn out positively or not… _

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AN

Geecku joins the gang. Prepare for lewd (where it can be posted) and wholesome for all channels! Huzzah!