Soul Merger

One bit of dragon butchery later they'd escaped the arena and holed up in a building next door. This was apparently the hydroponics farm that Valorous had been using to help keep the kids fed, so after a bit of demon stabbing it was a great place to sit down and take stock of the situation.

And to count their losses.

Logically Alissa knew this whole expedition had been a miracle. Finding most of the kids alive was a stroke of luck, saving the majority of them from a hive of demons was excellent, and beating a dragon unprepared with only one death was insanely good fortune.

It didn't make the deaths hit any less hard. Especially since a lot of the kids were killed by other kids. They'd worked together to escape, but now that the threat of death was lifted old wounds, and new ones, had broken the group up.

As for their own group, Kotori was grieving, Clara was helping her, Rosalina was doing healing, and Akari was unconscious from whatever stunt she'd pulled off earlier. Leaving Fili, and herself to figure out logistics. With the help of a demon and an angel of questionable allegiance.

"So we've got three days worth of food you think?" Alissa said, looking over the numbers.

"More if we raid the stores in the arena," Fili said. "But hopefully we get out of here before then. It's not going to become easier to escape if we wait."

"It's more that we need time to get gear to protect the kids from Siren song." Alissa sighed. "That stuff is nasty. And since there's not a nice supply of handy magic earplugs we're going to have to rely on wax and a lot of preparation."

The demon, Nostrame, folded his hands. "I'd be willing to assist in crafting a silence spell. And Magniel will probably assist with your escape. But you'll still need to fight through rather hostile territory. With the added issue many of your allies will be unwilling to kill a foe for fear of being stuck with a poor merge."

Alissa grimaced. "Well if it's a choice between that or death hopefully they'll be fine with the merge."

"Actually I have a bit of a solution for that," Rosalina said as she walked over. She turned to face the kids and called out, "Anyone interested in a Siren or Armored Horror merge should tell us because they're free for the taking right now! Just let us grab one from the other side of the portal and do a bit of stabbing. If you want to check the abilities they give we've got a monsterpedia you can borrow."

To Alissa's surprise the kids quickly grabbed the book and started chatting about the options. "Really? That many people are interested?"

"They're orphans," Rosalina pointed out. "They were going to get whatever easy kill they could scrounge in a labyrinth's upper floors. A pick of a level III monster might be worth it even if it doesn't synergize with their job. Not that most of them have a clue what job they want."

"I suppose that makes sense." And it would solve a lot of problems. Having a bunch of merged fighters on the flanks would make escape easier. She nodded and put that aside for now. They'd be able to plan better once they knew the split of merged and unmerged. "How's Akari doing?"

Rosalina stretched. "She should wake up soon. Calling Izanami was insane, but it worked out. She's just exhausted from pulling down a very dangerous greater god."

"I thought her 'gods' weren't talking to her," Fili pointed out. "That's why she worked with oni and other less 'pure' supernatural forces."

"Yeah, well, Izanami isn't a goddess like the others in her pantheon. She's the embodiment of death and all it's impurity," Rosalina said. "That might have helped Akari out. That goddess has a personal issue around being ditched by other deities. She might favor Akari due to similar experiences. But she's also antithetical to life."

Fili shivered. "Embracing the concept of death, huh? That's something I wouldn't even consider as an experiment."

"Hm, so you are developing higher magics as well," Nostramus mused. "I'll have to investigate that at some point. However, for now I'm curious what she learned from the dragon's soul."

"Why are you so interested?" Alissa asked. "Not that I mind you wanting to kill this scumbag. And I do appreciate Magniel trying to off that succubus when she ran. But it mostly sounds like you have the same research goals."

"Research goals yes," Nostramus said. "Personal goals no. You see, he wishes to end the cycle of souls. And while I feel that's impossible, I'm unwilling to let him try. He could do quite a bit of damage with his mad schemes, which would ruin my own studies."

That seemed like a pretty good reason Alissa had to admit. She stretched her arms and gave another look around their hideout. It seemed Rosalina's little proclamation had brought the kids together again, and Trevor was among them taking notes. At least when he wasn't looking guiltily over at Kotori.

On that note Clara and Kotori were moving to join them. "Hey. So, we have a plan to make this story end happily ever after and not 'and then they all starved to death?" Clara asked with a certain forced cheeriness.

"We have the start of a plan," Alissa replied. She took a deep breath and looked at Kotori. "It's going to require your help though. There's no way we get a group this big through the Fourth Layer without your ability to talk down birds. Do you think you're ready for it?"

Kotori's eyes were still red from crying but she nodded vigorously. "Yeah. I can tell the other birds to stay away. Don't worry. I'll make sure everyone gets back. It's what Raiel would have wanted." She briefly looked over to where Trevor was sitting.

"It's not his fault," Alissa quietly said.

"I know that!" Kotori snapped before looking down. "It's just... in the end she picked someone else."

Magniel's feathers ruffled. "We angels can be just as selfish as demons honestly. I imagine though if she could have, she'd have chosen to bond with you."

"Mm..." the harpy gave a weak nod.

A soft groan from Akari broke the awkward silence that fell. The woman's ears twitched repeatedly, before she pushed herself up on one arm. "How long was I unconscious?"

"About four hours," Fili said. The mage's sense of time was probably best.

"Ah, fitting," she said before sitting up fully. "My apologies for all of that. I'm afraid I let my anger run away with me. It was unseemly."

Alissa shrugged. "It worked at least. And it probably kept Ibaraki from getting herself killed. Playing for time was the best move."

"I suppose so. In the end no one else died, and that's the important part." Akari stretched like a cat before standing. "So are there any immediate issues, or are you interested in the strange things I learned from the dragon's soul?"

Looking around it seemed they were out of immediate problems, so it was time to throw the demon a bone. "I think we're all curious about that. What was he so spooked about?"

"Apparently the dragon knew about some security codes," Akari replied. "A spell or key that would let the demon enter the fallen naval base and access their apocalypse bombs."

"Huh." Alissa blinked at the oddity.

Nostramus on the other hand went wide eyed. "Wait, those things were real? Not just a metaphor for the damage they could unleash? Your realm actually managed to harness the power of the sun?"

"They were, unfortunately, quite real," Akari said. "Two of the cities in my homeland were touched by those weapons."

Fili nodded. "We think they might be related to magic dead zones. However, it's hard to be certain, since there's not a one to one relationship between areas apocalypse bombs were used and where magic dead areas appear. And obviously we can't run experiments."

"Of course! He must believe the weapons can eliminate both magic and soul energy!" Nostramus leapt to his feet. "Where is this naval base!? We have to hurry."

Alissa waved him down. "It's at the bottom of the Salty Cove dungeon, but there's no rush."

"No rush?" Nostramus protested. "A madman has access to weapons that can rend apart reality and a strong interest in using them! Not to mention we're in the blast radius if your legends are true."

"They don't work anymore," Clara said bluntly. Alissa nodded.

"What." Nostramus blinked.

Clara chuckled. "Yeah. Suppose that's in the higher end history books and not the legends, but it's pretty common knowledge. Right after the Fall everyone was terrified the monsters would figure out the weapons and use them. Had a lot of failed raids to secure the things. But the ones near us apparently degraded after time, like a sword left to rust. The last apocalypse weapon in that base became useless centuries ago."

"It's a little different from rusting," Fili added. "But yes, there's no way they're still functional according to tower records. The best he can do is find some old relics that are slightly toxic. I hear some of the other weapons might survive, but the information he has will be useless for accessing those."

Nostramus relaxed a little. "That makes me slightly less worried in the short term. But I believe you're underestimating what a demon with millennia of experience and an insane determination to get something to work can achieve. He could try to repair the weapons. Or if that fails, build his own. And with enough determination and magic you can accomplish a great deal."

Alissa and the others winced. Nostramus had a point. Demons were infamous for achieving the impossible. "So there might be more work to do."

"There will be more work to do," the demon replied. "However, there is a limit to what can be accomplished in the short term. Let us focus on your escape first. Our mutual enemy will be busy learning his victory isn't as complete as he might hope. That will give us time to escape and plan his demise."

"Maybe we can get someone else to do the impossible raid," Alissa muttered.

"Or at least get paid for it," Rosalina said. "There's a limit even to my charity. And with us spending all the money we got from the dragon parts to help the kids put their lives back in order we're going to need income again soon.

Alissa sighed. "Yeah...."