I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

This was wrong, so many layers of wrong. "It is her, but something is going on, my defenses are gone and her [Soulscape] seems fractured.” Her baby girl was...Wrong.

 

Her mind felt alien, the defenses she had left in her were long gone, traces of the mana that made them broken and currently trying to escape the void that was in the place that her soulscape should be.

 

And then there was that...Her [Soul], it was...fractured, the [Soulscape] was collapsing into itself while only the barest functioning part stayed afloat. Whatever Alexanders had put in her girl was struggling to keep afloat.

 

She didn't even know what was going on, "So...Catherine...Mind if I nab Jacky boi for a few hours after this?" Like that, her baby girl had never talked like that before.

 

She threw a few extra monitoring spells that flew and scanned her whole body, at least till she exploded in [Shadow Mana] and broke them apart, "Rude." They had gone over and sent her the diagnosis anyway.

 

She was fine, physically her body was at the peak of what her mana saturation could tolerate even!

 

She didn't find any example of magic nodes or spells in her though, and that worried her...She was adept at magic...Even if it was a side effect of whatever Alexanders had done to her, but her baby girl knew how to weave mana like the best!

 

So why was her body devoid of it? "[Identify]!" She felt it before it came, a rush of mana went through her body before echoing back into her baby girl, it felt...Different than the previous time.

 

"Hmm...So much mana in that little body...You are indeed the [Mother of Magic] aren't you?" Mumbled Elizabeth as if she was reading something in front of her.

 

Was that her [Skill]? She didn't get to ask how that worked not that she thought about it, but that was mostly to prevent Elizabeth from suffering from backlash again.

She wasn't sure what to think, the body was of her daughter, the mana was of her, the soul though?

 

That seemed...Different, it was like her soul had folded into herself and something else was at the top...Was this what Alexander's play was at? He had made her eat that crystal...And that thing had disappeared after she gave birth to Elizabeth. She never found what it was, only that Elizabeth's Soulscape had settled after birth.

 

Solidifying into form as soon as she was born, the thing was as sturdy as her own [Soulscape], and impenetrable to all her prodding, that was the reason she was sure that she would be a powerful Mage, and she somehow had awakened skills even!

 

That was a prodigy alright...The most important part was that she was also not affected by [Fate], that was what she had feared the most...But after this, "Hmm...You aren't Elizabeth are you?" Asked Catherine.

 

The blonde girl just smiled sweetly at her "Indeed, so long no see Catherine." And answered as such.

 

"Who are you?" She needed to prepare her best [Soul Magic], with some luck she wouldn't even need to use her [True Shift].

 

"I'm hurt that you don't remember me with how much trouble you made for me." Answered Elizabeth with a smirk, only for the shadows to grow in her body creating an armor.

 

A very ominous armor...

 

"Ethan O'Connell, [The Shadowcaster]...Or well I guess I will need a more feminine name now...Oh, I know!" Said her baby girl smiling how she did when she had a good idea to skip in her work, "I will use Elizabeth! It suits me right?" And she did a small twirl while the armor shifted to change from full metal pants to a mini metallic skirt.

 

Slowly the armor shifts from an ominous form to a more girly form. That...That gave her hope, no way in hell that gruff old man would act like this.

 

"Lies." Came the voice of her husband, "If that were true..." He continued saying while radiating his mana around, suddenly the atmosphere turned [Heavy].

 

"...You would know to not do something as senseless as possessing my Daughter's body." He stood proud and firm, while his body oozed mana, it was almost a physical phenomenon at this point. "No one place on this plane would be safe for you afterward."

 

If some civilian was around he would probably [Trigger] tomorrow if not now.

 

"...But this is the safest spot isn't it Daddy ♥?" Purred Elizabeth, "...[Family is important.]"

 

She finished saying with a smirk while her hand went into her husband's torso and she caressed his abs, "You wouldn't hurt me would you?" Asked Elizabeth with a sad tone.

 

That...That "[Stardust Explorer] give me options." Came the voice of her husband.

 

He was focusing almost all his raging mana into his fists, the first thing he punched would probably be obliterated to atoms...And in any normal situation that would be whoever put Elizabeth at risk...Only...He couldn't do that now, could he?

 

Not without killing their daughter first.

 

"...The body and mana signals are of Elizabeth," she started speaking, her mana already preparing and going into her core. "The soul seems to have folded into herself and gone deep within, her [Souslcape] may have fractured from that."

 

"Oh no, that was Alexanders doing, he didn't take my offer and decided to be a bitch about it." Said Elizabeth in an off-hand mode while taking a few steps back and a twirl while checking herself in a mirror made of shadows that she summoned, "Really, he should have taken the deal...Oh right, I meant the real one that lived in this body's Soulscape managing the things, not the clone or copy that you guys have going around."

 

The what?

 

"...Are you implying that a man lived in my daughter's Soul?" Said with a low grunt Jack.

 

"That's impossible." Added Catherine, summoning a few magic circles around her.

 

"Well, he did it, kept the [Soulscape] in one piece preventing whatever was going to happen that had you all worried." And with the snap of her finger, a blue screen projected a feed of Elizabeth speaking with Alexanders in a laboratory.

 

She recognized it of course, it was the main laboratory Alexanders had in her home world [Terra Invicta], the place where she had gone to make the deal to redesign her body to allow it to withstand the birth of Elizabeth...

 

And now it was in its full glory being projected in a blue screen that looked oddly familiar like one of those [System] screens some worlds liked to use... And inside it was her daughter at five years old speaking with an old man with blonde hair and some white streaks on his head... Alexanders like how she remembered him when she returned home.

 

Then a fast forward saw her daughter in her uniform speaking with a younger looking Alexanders, then another fast forward with a younger...And a younger one...

 

Till it arrived at one that seemed to be almost the same age as her daughter "He went through four or five bodies I think?" Said in a questioning tone Elizabeth, "To be honest I only have some fragmented memories, Alexanders cut me out before I could [Eat] her, so I only have some muscle memory and an imbalanced hormonal brain chemistry right now."

 

Oh, so that's why she was acting weird?

 

"Not that I mind it, it's fun not having to worry about twenty different things!" She smiled if only behind that face wasn't a slimy bastard puppetering her daughter's body! "It's refreshing only thinking about being nailed down instead of worrying about war and crap like that."

 

She what?

 

"Catherine, solutions?" Said her husband bringing her back.

 

She in turn took a deep breath and started weaving the mana in her core "[With the magic of ancients as the starting line...]" The mana in her veins started to funnel into her [Core], flowing steadily around the breaks that had formed when she shifted her [Soul] from healing to [Space].

 

"[....I transform the language of runes into a soothing embrace...]" Slowly ever so slowly she could feel her [Core] cracking as the mantle that she had weaved over it started to recede, her shift being canceled and her body returning to normal.

 

Instead of her perfectly crafted figure her true body manifested in the real world after almost 40 years, her hair disheveled, her eyes had bags under them, and her skin was cracked with severe dehydration...

The body she had after the remodeling surgery Alexanders had done and one full of scars, but she didn't stop, her body still standing proud, "[...Symbols, words, paintings, and language...]" Her core was already shining in golden light as it was about to burst, but she gritted her teeth and carried on.

 

She would probably not be able to undo this...But it was needed. "[...As the understanding and radiance of knowledge comes into fruition...I call upon thee...Grant my wish, bring forth the beacon of hope...Guide the light upon a new era!]"

 

And like that, the external part of her [Core] broke apart, the core that once held the mana of space and stars in it, the meaning of travel, exploration, and space gave rise to the [Core] that she had created in that first world she traveled to.

 

"[My Wish is my Vow]." She finished her chant...The original chant that had created her transformation into a Magical Girl.

 

Unlike most modern magical girls she didn't end with a cute name, no...It ended with a simple statement, a promise she made to the magic and to herself, that she would fulfill it no matter what...

 

She didn't let herself stop at how her hubby was frowning, he probably understood what this meant, "Oh...That's nasty." Nor at how the voice of Elizabeth said in a dismissive tone.

 

No, she had work to do "[Sacred Domain.]" And called upon her mana while raising her hands in a prayer gesture.

 

A wave of mana spilled out from her destroying most of the shadow mana around, only those that stuck to Elizabeth remained intact, and even then her armor seemed to struggle to keep her mana at bay "Yikes Cath, I don't swing that way...If you looked like daddy there tho ♥" She ignored those comments too while focusing on her spells.

 

She didn't have access to most spell nodes nor magical circles stored in her [Soulscape] like most modern magical girls, instead what she had was pure control over her magic. "[Heal]" And as such she raised a hand and pointed at her daughter.

 

The word held Power and it washed over her body as a chunk of her mana dissipated and Elizabeth got bathed in golden mana, she could feel her spell working in her body, closing wounds and purging her body from viruses and diseases, she focused it on her mind.

 

An aspect that not many worry about when building their spells nowadays, but one that she had focused quite deeply after she noticed how her mind seemed to hyperfocus on pleasing the [Hero] of her [Party]. It was that aspect of her magic that helped her free herself from [Fate's plans].

 

And now...It was her hope of saving her daughter.

 

"That does feel nice." Said Elizabeth while the spell washed over her. Only for her to frown and touch her chest, and then pat her belly. "It removes the good feelings? Why would you do that?"

 

"Catherine?" Asked Jack while looking at her.

 

Removes the good feelings? Her spell didn't do such a thing...It removed diseases, healed wounds, and neutralized toxins...And...And...

 

Removed the feeling of arousal since [The Hero] of her party had [Mind Magic] style magic that he liked to use to brainwash their party...

 

"Y..Y...You..." She stammered while Elizabeth thoughtfully played with her chest, "...I...I...I don't know what to do."

 

She turned to her husband while going over the magic she had available, she could fix any kind of wound, she could even regrow brains and revive someone from death within a minute of their demise!

 

She was able to fix soul tampering and reverse engineer it...But...Elizabeth's soul wasn't tampered with, her soul still resided within her body, somehow Ethan was controlling her and trying to meld his soul into Elizabeth's.

 

But she didn't know what soul was which, she could see them circling inside, but both held [Shadow] affinity, so both were black... and while they didn't mesh together, they were close.

 

The only clue she had to work with was the fact that the soulscape seemed to be collapsing upon itself, but that was impossible in itself, a [Soulscape] didn't collapse!

 

Not without the death of the owner, so the fact that she got that feeling meant that whatever Alexanders had done to her daughter Ethan had undone it. The question was...Why?

 

"So with that out of the way...[Kneel]." Commanded Elizabeth, making both her and her husband frown.

 

"No." Answered Jack, quite simply the answer.

 

"You can't stop me, Jack, you could delay me if you decide to come with me to a motel, but besides that what follows is inevitable." Said Elizabeth while smirking.

 

"We can stop you from moving around." Catherine quickly added they couldn't kill him while he was in Elizabeth's body, but they could probably contain her while finding a solution.

 

"Now while I wouldn't mind being chained down by Daddy ♥" Purred Elizabeth, that...That just looked so wrong. "It matters not."

 

And in that moment she raised a hand and she felt a shiver run down her spine that she hadn't felt in ages...It was the same feeling she got the first time she was summoned and was granted the seed of what would become her magic.

 

The feeling of something [Powerfull] " My [Wish] will come into fruition after I use the [Skill] granted by [The World] I will ascend...Maybe not as a [God] as I planned...But it isn't that bad to be a [Goddess]" And in the palm of Elizabeth's hand was a small seed made of shadows.

 

"You see, your daughter is a very special being Daddy." She started monologuing, "She was supposed to be born from your [Seed] who was bathed in [My Skill] while being nurtured in the womb of a powerful [Shadow user]."

 

Something in that was wrong "I am not a [Shadow User]." She said frowning, she didn't like what that implied.

 

"We know Catherine, mommy dearest was supposed to be Eleanore." She stated without a care in the world, "Dunno what [The World] saw on her...Or what I used to see, looking back in my memories I don't see the appeal of her...Or you for that matter." Shrugged Elizabeth.

 

Oh right...Ethan used to try and date Eleanore, but she never responded back.

 

"Either way, this girl." She pointed at herself while speaking, "was supposed to be the union of my mana and the [Skill] to summon shadows around."

 

She raised her hand and from that, a Shadow Puppet jumped out, the signature skill of [The Shadowcaster], "This skill was a side effect of [The Seed], this is just a reflection by the way. My [seed] is currently in Daddy dearest [Core]." She pointed at Jack's loins... "I very much would like it back tho ♥." And made a very vulgar gesture with her hands about how she wanted it back.

 

Jack of course remained stoic through it all...And she found it kinda hilarious, to be honest, she looked more like a little girl saying that she would marry her father than anything else. But it was still somewhat disturbing.

 

"Eleanore was supposed to mature enough to hold in the mana of Jack while gestating her daughter and then die at birth...You weren't supposed to survive the pregnancy and the seed would return to Jack." Elizabeth said while pointing at her, "You cheated by using the Saintsworth's Brat and that meant that half the seed ended in this girl's body while the other half returned to Jack...And Eleanore had a daughter who held the right body but not the needed mana to nurture the skill, and in turn ended away from the [Shadow] heritage."

 

Eleanore had a daughter?

 

"So Chloe was supposed to be my daughter?" And hubby knew that girl?

 

She would need to have a talk with him about meeting up with a woman who wanted to date him at dinner...Wait...Chloe?

 

"Chloe Ashcroft?" She asked in an even tone, "The same Chloe that has his former last name?"

 

She hadn't made a fuss about it since Jack stopped using the name and just thought that Eleanore had married another member of that family, "The one and the same, I have her in my shadow too!" Smiled Elizabeth.

 

"Release my sister!" That was the moment Maximilian decided to slink forward, jumping out from a portal that manifested half a meter away from Elizabeth, knife in hand and eyes sharp.

 

"[Shadow Dance]" Of course she wasn't worried, and the voice of Jack was enough of a reason to be, since he invoked one of his skills, moving faster than any living human had any right to and punching Maximilian away. "I will not tolerate harm done to any [Civilian] Shadow Pact, this is your last warning."

 

"Thank you Daddy ♥!" Elizabeth said while trying to jump into Jack's embrace, usually, he would accept the hug since he was such a softy on her daughter.

 

But this time he moved away and reappeared by her side, eyes narrowed at Elizabeth, "Continue your explanation." He demanded.

 

"So hot ♥" "So hot♥"

 

...She and Elizabeth said at the same time, both looked at each other and after a minute of silence Elizabeth carried on saying, "This meant that this body had the correct software but the wrong hardware." Shrugged Elizabeth.

 

"The software is the [Skill] in this case." She said while raising the seed in her hands, that feeling she got while looking at it was the same she had when Elizabeth first spoke about her [Skill] the first day of classes...Almost a year ago.

 

"But her body couldn't survive the backlash from it, I am reinforcing it even at this moment, but we only need to survive the activation...Of course if you daddy help...Your daughter may survive." She smirked and her eyes turned a deeper shade of red. "You only need to give me your [Seed] ♥." Said Elizabeth while licking her lips, a predatory smile on her face.

 

"Catherine?" Asked Jack turning to look at her.

 

"I mean...That girl Chloe had a sturdy body and good resistance to mana, and good conductivity in her muscles to tolerate a high amount of mana, she climbed to almost A rank faster than anyone else after all." She started speaking, that girl was talented if nothing else. "And while Eli-Eli has talent in mana manipulation...Her body was always weaker, she did suffer mana atrophy after the incident when she was five..."

 

And that had taken almost a month to fix even using their influence as members of [The Twelve], but if each girl held half of the key...And Hubby was the one that held the Master Key...

 

"See? Now sit back and watch me ascend or give me [The Seed]...I may entertain you a little but...Tch..." Stopped speaking Elizabeth while raising her hand, "We got company, you got your time cut out."

 

What was she talking about?

 

"[Reporting in, hostile powered, member of the cult of The Stygian Bane. Situation urgent, code Black 2457.]" She heard someone speak through gritted teeth, it was Maximilian once more donning his mask. "[I repeat, The American Crusader and The Stardust Explorer have gone rogue. They are colluding with a hostile power.]"

 

Oh...Yeah...That...That might be a problem.

 

"I will deal with the others, you try and help Elizabeth." Said Jack before turning his back and grabbing [Shadow Pact] by the neck while walking towards somewhere, his eyes were already locking in the teleportation nodes probably.

 

"...[Proliferation]." And while she was seeing her husband walk away Elizabeth uttered the words that sounded like a ruined disk in her ears.

 

Shadows darting from her feet all around and then...

 

Something she dreaded more than anything else in the world showed in front of her.

Ethan was bringing in tampering from [The System] into this world...And he was using her daughter as a medium. She could feel the nasty mana from the center of the planet starting to saturate the environment, eating away at the mana she was using to neutralize the influence outer gods and similars had in this world.

 

And since he was using her daughter's body...She couldn't even make a move to stop him!

 

She...She...She would need to do something drastic...She only hoped Elizabeth would forgive her.