Whew, here it is, my friends! 

Trust me, this story hasn't been forgotten at all, I've just been really busy.

This chapter is pretty different than everything else in the story so far, so tell me what you think of it after you're done reading. 

Of course, whether or not it's liked, I feel like this chapter served the story very well, but I'm still very interested in how the change feels.

For this chapter's question: If you have any theories about the future of this story, what are they? If you don't have anything, what's a hope you have for this story?

Regardless of all that, I hope you enjoy the chapter! I'm pretty proud of what this chapter does for the story overall! I'm excited to continue this story in the near future!

-----

Kale hit the ground of the inside of the Carian Manor, water flying up to create a beautiful scene of falling rain. Several feet back, Hyetta softly landed, a gentle smile sitting on her face.

Just a few feet away from Kale, a spiritual being on horseback began to shimmer into existence. This was the Carian Family's Royal Knight, Loretta. She wielded a polearm that could be easily enhanced with magic, creating a threatening set of different weaponry.

Loretta immediately understood the danger of Kale's presence, and her steed bucked up on its hind legs as she held her weapon like a bow, magic doing a ton of work and creating a beautiful arrow of energy.

Kale stood up patiently as his red garbs flowed wildly. He glanced back at Hyetta, giggling and gesturing towards Loretta. "You'd think the Moon would be wiser than to trust a mere spirit to protect one of her choices, right?"

Hyetta bowed her head lightly in agreement. "Perhaps this would be a threat for a simple mortal warrior?"

Kale hummed in disbelief, and just as he turned his head to reface Loretta, she unleashed her attack. It flew towards the merchant, but as it reached a foot from him, the spell simply dissolved in a vibrant yellow lightshow, as if it had never been spawned at all. Kale whistled, "If so, maybe mortals are even weaker than I thought!"

He took a step forward, and it wasn't inaccurate to say that Loretta's form began to fade out of existence. Frenzied flames began to devour the spiritual form entirely, and in less than a second the Royal Knight was obscured and destroyed. There wasn't even any time for her to fight back.

Kale crossed his arms and frowned as the flames devoured the lingering spirit of the Royal Knight but failed to extinguish them. He shrugged casually and strolled through the yellow frenzied flames as the makeshift rain fell, unaffecting the flames.

Following quickly behind him, Hyetta spoke lowly. "My Lord, you will regain your true power. Our dear merchant's body is still getting used to the depths of your abilities."

Kale huffed, rolling his eyes. "I know you're just sucking up to me because of my cosmic awesomeness, but...." A grin began to rise to his face. "It's working. Y'know, this is why you're my favorite."

Hyetta's eyebrows rose minutely as the Three Sisters — three towers were where Ranni and her associates stayed — became vaguely visible within a thick fog. "My Lord, are you positive that isn't because I'm currently the only one?"

"Pshh, no, never!" He laughed, completely unperturbed as an ominous Glintstone Dragon began to form out of the fog. Before the dragon could even finish forming, Kale's eyes glowed with frenzy before a mix of frenzied electricity and flames spilled over the reptilian monster.

Unlike with Loretta, Adula let out a screech of pain as the frenzy and chaos gnawed through its incredibly strong scales. Even as the golden insides of the dragon were being revealed by the chaos, Adula didn't back down, howling to the sky. However, despite the dragon's clear pain, it didn't attack.

Kale's eyebrows rose, and a second later, he felt several presences approaching. The fog only thickened as four figures appeared. Even with his extraordinary, supernatural senses, the fog obscured the presences into an odd mesh of anonymity.

"You have pushed your luck quite far, Frenzied Flame," A woman's voice, Ranni's voice, chided. "Your actions have soured any chances of an alliance with the Dark Moon. If you push more, we will engage in a—"

"Blah, blah, blah. To me, it sounds like you've been waiting to talk with me for ages. Did you go over these lines in your spectral mirror this morning?" Kale cackled, clapping his hands in an applause at his own joke.

Ranni was silent, completely ignoring Kale's jab. In her stead, her Shadow spoke. He had a lighthearted tone, but it was clear that he didn't necessarily feel as light as he sounded. "Frenzy, it's brilliant to use (Y/n)'s battle against the serpent as a distraction." There was a blur of movement, and a greatsword was pointed towards Kale. "But you've aimed your weapon towards my lady, and you will pay for this transgression."

Kale yawned dramatically, picking his nose, and blowing a booger into the wind.

Next to Blaidd, the sorcerer Seluvis held a wand with runic symbols inscribed within it. He waved the wand nonchalantly. "Your death will be quick and quite painful."

Kale looked at his wrist, as if a watch would be there. He looked closer as if he was reading the time and then he let out a large sigh, nodding to himself.

The largest figure of the four was a troll with a mirror-helmet on, Iji. Whenever Kale tried to reach out with his supernatural senses, he was blocked unnaturally, as if Iji wasn't truly there at all. The golem's voice was gravelly and hard. "After such a long time, the stars have resumed their movement. Lady Ranni's fate will not be cut short by a maniac like yourself."

Kale glanced back at Hyetta and thumbed a finger at the group. "Get a load of these guys. At this rate, the big fight'll end before anything important happens. I should fix that, hm?"

Hyetta bowed her head gently, "Of course, my King."

Kale observed Ranni, even as her figure was obscured by the fog. Chaos and frenzied flames radiated from the man in waves, and he could see powerful waves of empyrean strength rising from her doll body.

Kale opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Adula let out a howl, bringing his attention back to the mighty beast. In all his talking, Kale hadn't forgotten about it, but it also hadn't done anything worth a reaction. Even now, it just seemed to be feeding mana to Ranni, who wasn't doing anything noteworthy with the excess energy.

Then, as his attention went up to the beast, there was a blur of movement, and Kale stopped Blaidd's Royal Greatsword with two fingers, catching the blade. Blaidd backed away just in time for Seluvis to effortlessly throw out a Glintstone Cometshard.

Just like Loretta's attack, the magic simply dissolved. At the sight, Seluvis scowled behind his mask.

Iji let out a ghastly roar and brought his hammer down atop Kale, only to be stopped when the man whistled and suddenly held a helmeted head in his hands, standing on the wide shoulders of the giant. The golem's body stilled and then fell to the ground, and his head quickly followed after, plopping onto the ground.

Blaidd growled, taking a few steps back only to be covered in frenzied flames from head to toe. The half-wolf warrior let out a howl, but didn't succumb to the flames easily, bounding forward on all fours and aiming to crash into Kale.

Kale grinned, "Oh, feisty. That's cool."

Kale didn't take a step forward as much as he simply existed elsewhere, and appeared physically there, his hand wrapped around Seluvis's throat. The man began whipping together a spell, but was stopped when Kale's squeezed his hand once.

Instead of disgusting gore coming from the throat of the man, there was nothing, as if he was simply a—

"Puppet? Well, that's quite fitting, isn't it, Miss Ranni the Witch?" Kale hummed, tossing Seluvis's body aside like a scrap of trash. His casual words showed that he knew far more than he let on, like the fact that Seluvis was a puppet being controlled by one of Ranni's hidden associates, Pidia.

He eyed Ranni, who hadn't yet moved from her spot. Her four arms were clasped together, and while she was clearly beyond infuriated at Kale's actions, she didn't move. Her focus seemed to be elsewhere, even as such horrific events happened before her.

Blaidd, even covered in raging flames of frenzy, regathered himself and returned to Ranni's side. His fur still burned with frenzy, but insignificant shadows dulled his pain and recentered his head.

When Ranni didn't respond to him, Kale frowned and pouted. "Is there really nothing for you to say? Spectral horse got your tongue or something?"

Ranni opened her mouth gently, and when she spoke, she had a confidence that didn't befit the circumstances. "It's quite intriguing that after settling into your body, you've chosen to attack the Vassals of the Moon. With the Moon often representing fate, it would almost seem like you're trying to —!"

Before the demigod could finish, Kale appeared on the other side of her, her and Blaidd's heads in his hands. Despite his rude interruption, she continued as a decapitated head. "—Prevent fate."

Just as Ranni uttered, the Moon and the stars were associated with fate. And even the fates of the demigods were read by the very stars. However, the fate of an Outer God was a different, unforeseen circumstance.

By killing the Vassals of the Moon, the Frenzied Flame was attempting to kill the very essence of fate.

Kale scowled and flames engulfed both heads, and a second later, the bodies crumpled to the ground, lifelessly. He relaxed his hands and took a few deep breaths. He turned and gave Hyetta a small smile, "I think it's about time we exit."

Hyetta bowed her head gently, as if Kale hadn't lost his cool. "Yes, I'd agree."

Kale approached his maiden and extended a hand, but at that exact moment, a beam of Destined Death cut between them, and Kale pulled his hand back just before it could touch him. Compared to everything else, it was the only attack he attempted to avoid.

He blankly observed the split ground and bobbed his head. "Yeah, it's about time for us to exit."

Hyetta shared Kale's sentiments. "Yes, I'd agree... again."

-----

The beam of Destined Death bisected the Hydra and Carian Queen, and there were a few seconds of bated silence as the water of the lake desperately began to fill the attack-created pit.

(Y/n) blinked slowly and looked down at the Serpent-Hunter. He'd used the weapon in his past life, but the weapon wasn't quite as strong back then. As it turned out, the buffs provided by the Synergies when added to the Serpent-Hunter being used against a Hydra, and being used in the hands of the Shadow Sovereign created an incredibly powerful weapon.

(Y/n) smiled awkwardly, "I'm constantly floored by the strength I've grown into. I probably should start getting used to it. Right, Salem?"

(Y/n) glanced over to his strongest Shadow, but he found her completely still, her mouth half-open. She still had Legacy, his scythe, in her hands, but something was clearly off.

With a frown, (Y/n) scanned the area.

Giant Dragonflies were frozen midflight, the water of the lake was stopped entirely. Even the gargantuan form of Rykard was stuck within the air, as if nothing had happened at all.

Despite the frozen state of everything, (Y/n) could still move just fine, causing him to frown deeper.

"Oh, Rennala, I'm sorry it came to this."

A voice that was vaguely familiar to (Y/n) rung out from beside him, and his head snapped towards it fast enough to create a sonic boom, if everything hadn't been stopped.

It was a beautiful, black-haired petite woman standing there. In a way, she reminded (Y/n) of Sellen. It was a bizarre experience. She looked back at him, and within her eyes were exploding supernovas.

And as soon as they met eyes, the area suddenly shifted.

They were standing atop the moon, with the universe revolving around them. (Y/n) looked around with wide, massively confused eyes.

In his experience with his new abilities, he hadn't been at the far end of so much confusion yet, and it suddenly reminded him that he had a long way to go. It also put his senses on maximum overdrive, because he hadn't realized the woman was there until she actively announced her presence.

'If she can change the area like this, then what can she do to me?' He thought.

Her eyes of supernovas scanned (Y/n) methodically. She spoke without hesitation, "Shadow Sovereign, the Outer Gods are moving, and I need your help."

"W-Who are you?"

"I don't have a human name, but I believe it would be most accurate to say I am the Moon. I will repeat myself; the Outer Gods are moving, and right now, I'm asking for you assistance. What do you say, Sovereign of Shadows?"