I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

It was sure a surreal feeling, she was seeing his old army buddy after what felt like an eternity and could only think about getting nailed by him, she had memories of how they used to interact but got only a disembodied feeling from them, and could actually feel them leaving her grasp. Nothing was replacing them either, it wasn't like she had access to Elizabeth's memories even if she had her body.

 

It seemed that she could only get a few remnants that had stuck to the [Soulscape] that Alexanders had built around the soul of the brat, at least the body seemed to have enough memory reflex to get her going through, anything else she depended in hormones and memory to work. Maybe that was why she felt so compelled by the muscular bodies of men?

 

Seeing how Jack had grabbed by the neck Max and carried him towards the spot where the other members of the [Twelve] were coming did got her in the [Mood] once more. She didn't mind it that much, he was good-looking looking, and while he might be Elizabeth's Father...He wasn't anything to her besides an interesting prospect for a toy.

 

"Eli-Eli..." Now the problem was Catherine. "...I promise this will hurt me more than it will hurt you."

 

Now that...That sounded like a problem, Catherine was an interesting problem to solve, she was almost 100 levels above her and held the status to prove it, 500 hundred points in Wisdom and Intelligence?

 

Yeah, no way she could overpower nor dodge her, even her Dexterity and Agility she was above her, how to deal with her?

 

"Let's not do anything dangerous here okay?" Elizabeth asked, she could only ask after all.

 

Trying to funnel her inner spoiled brat made her want to throw herself into a figurative mud pit and roll in it!

 

...Actually, she might do that one day, if she managed to get a boy toy to go with her that is.

 

"I promise it will hurt me more than you okay?" Catherine continued speaking at her, but not to her.

 

That was...Annoying, "Anyone home?" Asked Elizabeth in a derogative tone.

 

She hated when people spoke at her instead of to her, was it too much to ask to get some respect? No wait, she hated that? But that was basically life at the army...No wait...Was she in the army? Huh?

 

["Cleanse"] Murmured Catherine while a golden halo of mana started flowing from the woman.

 

She raised a hand summoning a wall of shadows while trying to jump backwards, using the good old trick of puppetering her body...Only for it to fail as her shadows started to resist her control.

 

"What...?" Exclaimed Elizabeth feeling the golden mana start to cling to her body, slowly and methodically it seemed to travel through her body, first going straight to her head.

 

She started to pump her shadow mana straight to her head to fight it off, but even so, the mana seemed to go without stopping, slowly, methodically. Checking everything in their way and ignoring all.

 

Once the mana arrived at her head it started to go over her brain, it checked every nook and cranny and she felt it all, but even while it was uncomfortable as the golden mana seemed to be anathema to her [Taint], it moved on, in the end, it moved on.

 

But while that gave her a sense of relief, the dread of feeling this foreign mana in her body and not being able to do anything...It was...It was as if her whole being was being violated...Ravaged...And not in the good way.

 

"W..wh...what......are.....you.....doing...?" Elizabeth said through clenched teeth as she could see her skin crack and show golden light chasing after the red pulsating veins that were under her skin.

 

"Shhh...It's okay Eli-Eli..." Crooned Catherine walking towards her.

 

She was feeling...So...Weak.

 

Her armor disintegrated and gave way once more to her uniform, her legs gave away and she felt light...So light...

 

Before she noticed she was falling forward into Catherine's embrace, the older woman caressed her face and placed her head into her lap while sitting on the floor, the golden halo of mana around her seemed so...[Holy].

 

"St....stop...." It took her great amounts of energy to say those words, she could feel [Proliferation] in her hands, and with an effort she let it fall into the ground.

 

The seed shot straight down into her shadow where it connected itself to her and afterwards...It started to work its way into the mana leylines in the world.

 

Catherine ignored that, she didn't even try to direct her golden mana into the [Seed], what was this woman thinking? Instead, she directed her golden mana this time...To her heart.

 

"It will be okay...I promise." Said Catherine.

 

It was a lie, it wouldn't be, she would ascend!

 

She would get [Her Wish]!

 

She would....what was her wish? She had fought so hard...She had spread her [Taint] over the world trying to achieve her wish! She had tainted everyone and everything so that when [Her Seed] tried to bloom she would get access to it!

 

And it had worked!

 

Not like she expected of course, but she had got access to Elizabeth's body and to [Proliferation]! Now she only needed to stay in control long enough for the [Skill] to finish its work!

 

But...But...WHY WAS THAT WOMAN SMILING?!?

 

"Almost there Eli-Eli..." She could see cracks forming in that woman's face!

 

The Golden light was barely being restrained in her body, the scars from some kind of wounds that scarred her full body and allowed mana to leak! And even so, that woman kept her mana searching through her body!

 

It inspected her heart and when it found nothing it left, it went through her veins...Through her organs...And finally, it went into her torso...Searching for her [Core], her [Soulscape].

 

"You...will....die.....mana.....over.....drive....lethal...." She knew what this woman was doing.

 

Some [Magical Girls] in the war used to do that in desperate situations, they would crush their [Soulscape's Core] to allow the mana to burst in one wave that would let them go over their natural limit, it would grant them great power, great magics, and some even managed to make the impossible and break the laws of reality.

 

But...That was still depending on their [Signature] magic, the specialty that they held...Catherine seemed to be a [Healer], and since her body wasn't injured, nor was she dead...

 

What she was doing was useless!

 

Even if they didn't like her, she was [Elizabeth]. Maybe not the one they had raised, maybe not the one they loved, but [SHE WAS ELIZABETH]. Her soul had merged with this body, and whatever Alexanders had done to the original [Soul] and [Soulscape] didn't mean anything.

 

She even had [Chloe] the missing half of [Elizabeth] in her [Shadow Prison]!

 

She would [Devour] her body and assimilate it to achieve perfection before ascending!

 

"[There you are baby girl.]" Catherine said with a smile on her face.

 

And she felt dread, "That's........impossible....there's....no....one....there....but.....me." Spat Elizabeth.

 

She looked inwards and indeed, no one was there, not the previous lesser and brain-addled Elizabeth, not Alexanders, not the [Thing] that pretended to be Alexanders's sister, not even Chloe...

 

Wait...Where is Chloe?

 

"Now...This is my [Vow]." Catherine started speaking, she struggled, she tried to raise her head and move away from Catherine, but her body was full of cracks that emitted golden light, now only her eyes remained red, everything else in her body was either showing a golden light...Or nothing at all.

 

"[You will live, you will survive...]" Catherine started to glow brighter, her eyes now instead of showing her green eyes had light coming from them, every time her mouth opened it only showed light, and somehow her voice was [Holy]. "And as my [Wish]..."

 

She stopped speaking after a single tear fell on her cheek, "[May you strive beyond what will be your Fate, may you forgive me for this heavy burden...May the world accept you for what you are."] And afterwards...

 

Catherine fell to the floor and suddenly she was no longer feeling heavy nor did she feel the golden mana coursing through her veins, "HAH! YOU FAILED!" Elizabeth said quickly summoning her armor once more and flying away from Catherine's body.

 

She was still breathing, but her mana felt muted, shadows started creeping over her body and surrounding her in a cocoon, she...Wasn't doing that.

 

But she felt the mana from [Proliferation] in that cocoon, so maybe the skill was defending her?

 

Either way, she ran her mana through her body and filled it once more with her [Taint], lest whatever Catherine did could do serious damage. Now she could kill her...But...It didn't feel right, somehow she got a feeling of dread at the idea of trying to do it.

 

She couldn't feel any mana from Catherine anymore, but...No one gets to that level of power without a few insurances to their name, and since the [Shadows] seemed to be dealing with her, she could ignore her.

 

Instead, she materialized a pair of leathery wings made of shadows in her back and flew to the skies, she needed to find Jack and make sure he wasn't dead...Or fully dead yet, she needed to convince him to part with his [Seed].

 

She had activated [Proliferation] and was feeling the feedback of the skill while it wormed through [The World], it would start connecting with [People] soon enough, and while she was used to managing the [Taint] at a world scale, she wasn't sure if a flesh brain could do as well as her [Soul] did when she was [Ethan].

 

And since she had already dealt with Cloe she now only needed [The Seed], maybe she could connect her mana with him?

 

Follow the example of what Catherine tried to do while trying to fish for the older Elizabeth?

 

Whatever Alexanders had done had saved her life if nothing else, she almost felt bad for killing his teenager form, he was quite the looker too now that she reviewed her memories. While he wasn't her type (he needed more muscles) in his teenage form, she had memories of his more adult forms and how they had hidden abs in his baggy clothing.

 

Why did she know he had a toned form though? She didn't have memories of him naked nor without a shirt...

 

"Weird..." Mumbled Elizabeth while extending her senses and summoning the maximum number of puppets she could (20) "Go and find me the heaviest mana-dense people around."

 

She commanded her puppets to find the right type of people, they would use the standards she had from her old life and find the [Twelve], maybe she would finally see how they looked in this generation.

 

So far two of three were quite good-looking..."I mean, Catherine was pretty, but the whole scarred thing wasn't my thing..." Said Elizabeth to no one, "Not that I mind them scars, but...You know...She looks like me alright, it would be weird!" And continued making excuses to no one.

 

"Besides, I don't swing that way." Huffed alone Elizabeth. "Wonder what she wanted to do...It hurt...Even if it failed." Said the blonde girl while placing a hand on her chest, just above her heart.

 

And for the first time since she had that body, she didn't squished her breasts nor played with them, just took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to calm her nerves.

 

"That was close, if Catherine had used her mana in an offensive way...." She would have died there and then.

 

She could barely survive against Max because he was built as an assassin and she knew exactly what his status was, and what his skills did. But even while knowing how many status points Catherine had...She didn't know what spells she could use, nor what they did.

 

And even if she knew...With the amount of Dexterity and Agility she had...Catherine could probably trounce her without missing a breath. And yet..."She wasted her chance, she probably was high on mana and saw something that wasn't there." Smirked to herself Elizabeth.

 

Even so, she still looked inwardly and found nothing, the [Soulscape] was still how she had left it, the wounds made by the separation from her soul to Elizabeth's still stung, but the wound was already healing. She couldn't feel Alexander's remanents anymore, the part of the [Soulscape] that housed his pod was destroyed, and the door into the weird space that [Thing] used as home was missing too.

 

Only an empty laboratory with a library as an annex remained, it would probably change into something else after a few days when her [Soul] finished settling into her body, that would hurt like a bitch, but it triumphed to not having a body...And besides, by that point, she would have stolen [Administration] rights from [The World] again, so she could probably tweak it manually to save herself some hassle.

 

"[&$!#~@*-+_=/?|><{[X]}]" One puppet came by and reported as such.

 

"So you found a group of three people fighting a man that had a guy with broken hands and legs behind him?" Asked Elizabeth, the puppet nodded in confirmation.

 

"Perfect, it seems Daddy dearest left me a gift and is preparing another...Are the other three people male?" Elizabeth said with a smile on her face while she licked her lips.

 

The puppet, however, didn't understand the question and as such didn't know how to answer "Uuughh, who even designed you guys. So dumb, wish Beato was around." Said without thinking Elizabeth, "Hah? Who is Beato?" And asked herself as such.

 

After half a second of thinking she dismissed the idea and just said "Guide me there." It was probably nothing important.

 

Before leaving she gave the cocoon one last look, "Guard it, and don't let anyone close to it." And ordered into a shadow, she received an affirmative grunt and left.

 

She didn't look back, nor saw the form of the figure that rose from it, she was busy thinking about how to get [The Seed] from Jack, as such, she didn't notice the figure that rose, a puppet with a suit that spoke at length of his care for personal presentation and the mask of a dragon. If someone saw it, they would see the image of a perfect butler.

 

It was the 21st summon that Elizabeth had done this day, and perhaps a last gift from Catherine, if nothing else, it spoke of something to come.

---

It didn't take as much time as she expected to find the site, and the spot was quite easy to find once you knew what you were looking for, why is that a building flying?

 

A rock the size of a street flying?

 

"Yeah, that is probably Daddy fighting alright ♥" Mumbled Elizabeth while dismissing the twenty shadow puppets she could summon.

 

That gave her a stop thinking she was forgetting something, but it was probably nothing important, so she ignored it and continued flying that way.

 

When she was a couple of streets away her bracelet started emitting a warning sound that said "[Warning, currently The American Crusader, Shadow Pact, The Juggernaut, The Monk, and The Warlock are fighting against an unknown threat, please vacate the area.]" And it started to loop.

 

So she was en route to find at least five hunks huh. "Neat," Elizabeth said to herself while destroying the bracelet, she didn't know why she had kept it around, to be honest.

 

It was probably being used to locate her after she destroyed the Alexander's remanent in her soul it was probably a moot point, but better safe than sorry, besides...Daddy could always give her a new one ♥.

 

What she found when arriving at the spot though...That...That was something she didn't expect, she thought it would be the battered and wounded [EXPOSED] torso of Jack, surrounded by equally exposed bodies of muscular men, maybe in the middle of one of those hug moves they do in wrestling?

 

And perhaps some tears here and there at the fact that old friends had to fight for her heart?

 

But this?

 

"Guys, please stop!" She found a blue-haired midget in a swat uniform (Bulletproof vest included) crying while hugging the leg of a demonic-looking man.

 

"Jack please we just need to verify if Shadow Pact is telling the truth or not." A scrawny monk spoke, trying to keep a calm voice, but she could [Taste] his fear, her shadows allowed her to tap into that kind of emotions to grow their strength and range after all.

 

Oh, her old skills seemed to be returning.

 

"And I told you so, [Shadow Pact] went rogue, attacked an unpowered [Civilian], and gave false reports," Jack answered in an even tone.

 

"THE TAINT IS GONE IT WENT STRAIGHT INTO HIS DAUGHTER HE IS COVERING THINGS, YOU NEED TO CALL IN [The Prophet] AND DEAL WITH THIS...SADFASDF" Max screamed only for his jaw to be dislogued, she didn't even see Daddy dearest move, but by the face of everyone else.

 

They all knew he had done that "Oh, it seems his jaw dislogued by his raving crazy screams..." Jack said while shrugging and then turning his attention to the rest. "You all see what I mean? It seems [Shadow Pact] has been affected by the [Taint] after all, we should probably get him into decontamination...Since he is quite a powerful shadow user...Oh Yes." He smiled and turned his attention to [The Warlock], "We can use that method you wanted to use in [My Daughter] with him to test it, it was harmless right?"

 

The warlock for his part seemed to question his decision of coming here as he only nodded, "That would leave him maneless for a month..." Said [The Warlock] while trying to flex his mana without hurting the blue-haired brat.

 

If the monk-looking guy was [The Monk], Daddy was [The American Crusader], Max [Shadow Pact]...Where was the hunk of [The Juggernaut]? Did they send a brat with his bracelet or something?

 

"STOP IT GIO I WILL GET MAD AT YOU IF YOU ATTACK JACK!" Screamed the high-toned voice of the girl, making [The Warlock] stop on its track.

 

"Thank you, Jenna," Jack said to the little girl who nodded back.

 

"So long you don't hurt more people, Maxy was in the bad since he attacked you first, but if you hurt Gio or Wu I will get mad at you Jack." Answered back the little girl with narrowed eyes.

 

Could...Could it be?

 

"YOU ARE THE JUGGERNAUT?!?" Elizabeth screamed at the little girl, making her presence noticed.

 

"THERE SHE IS, DO YOU FEEL HER MANA SHE IS [TAINTED]!" That was probably what [Shadow pact] tried to say, but she only heard something along the lines of "ASDASLASLDF ASLDKJF TATA SAD JI [ASDFASD]"

 

"..." Daddy dearest only narrowed his eyes at her "Where is Catherine?" and asked as such.

 

To which she of course answered "That is the first thing you ask? It's rude to ask a girl for another woman's whereabouts, you will hurt my feelings Daddy ♥." He instead only narrowed his eyes and turned his sight to where the cocoon was.

 

"Jack...That...What is that?" The Warlock asked, his eyes dilated showing like those of a cat in the middle of the night, "That is [Taint] wrought into the world, how...It's connected to the earth?" And he turned to look downwards.

 

Oh, that could be a problem, "[Shadow Spear]" Intoned Elizabeth while willing a spear of shadows to rise bellow [The Warlock] to attack him.

 

"[Demonic Shift - Shield]!" The warlock screamed in a hurry to defend from her attack, only to frown after her spear failed to penetrate his shield. "What is the meaning of this?" And ask as such.

 

"Do you still believe [Shadow Pact] report?" Asked in a neutral tone Daddy.

 

Huh?

 

"She is [Tainted] that is for sure, and it's the highest condensation of [Taint] I ever seen..." Started speaking The Monk. "But...her attack power does not correlate with the logs we have of [The Stygian Bane]."

 

Well, that was just rude!

 

"But I'm her, I have her powers too!" Elizabeth said while summoning one of her Shadow Puppets from her hand, the small little adorable thing even had a cute little dress!

 

So adorable!

 

"...So adorable..." Mumbled the little girl, why she now looked quite adorable too, she knew her stuff.

 

"The puppet has the right composition, but the power is lacking..." Spoke The Warlock while dismissing some magic circles, when did he summon those?

 

"As you can see, my [Daughter] while she has some troubles with her [Taint] does not have the [Power] nor [Skill] to be [The Stygian Bane.]" Jack stated, "And as such I will state it again, any attacks against a [Civilian] will be met with extreme prejudice."

 

She almost could hear them gulp, so hot.

 

And he was right, for now at least, when [Proliferation] ended she would have enough power to recoup her older power, should she correct them?

 

Nah..." So with that out of the way, any of you want to...You know...spend some quality time together?" She said while making an obscene gesture with her hands that implied nonfamily friendly content, and while they didn't hit her strike zone...They ought to have quite the good amount of mana.

 

Maybe she could use them to strengthen her body?

 

She would rather get [The Seed] of Jack, but some extra mana extracted from the source was never a bad idea.

 

"What does that gesture mean?" Asked the little girl while prodding the demonic-looking man.

 

Ah, kids, gotta keep them away from bad influences "Well well little girl, it means..." One never knew what would a bad [Villain] tell them after all.