Jess was about to create her Anchor, summoning the being from Limbo that could potentially kill everything in its path. But she didn't care, she has a task sent by the gods, and if she doesn't complete it... all life could be wiped out.

She stared at the frozen surface of blood, protruding downwards into the snowy ground, deep into the remains of the Clockwork Fortress, and into the many tunnels Slab built while Isa spread blood in a thousand block diameter to every one of the twenty-four villages that were destroyed by her homunculus son.

Ping!

Your steam guardian has been destroyed!

Jess didn't have to look behind her to guess what happened. "You really are persistent, brother," Jess turned around to see the dissipating steam, pulling away like a curtain to reveal Jesse struggling to stand on his feet.

"...If I give up now, I couldn't face my daughter." Jesse said, his right hand was outstretched and clenched in a fist, opening to reveal the shattered remains of the steam guardian's core. At that moment, Jess saw with [Mana Vision] that her brother's Mana reserves are rapidly refilling.

But with [Observe], Jess could easily see that his HP was increasing while his wounds healed. Normally when using healing-type magic, the caster uses Mana to heal their injuries in exchange. But this green-white energy is not only refilling her brother's Mana reserves, but also healing him.

'Where is getting all of that energy?' Jess thought as she narrowed her eye at the strange green-white energy coiling around Jesse. But due to her brother's confused looks at the swarming energy, she can conclude that he doesn't know what's going on either. 'What is that energy?'

Ping!

Quest: Family Part 2

Your brother, due to his genes, has awakened his inner ????? and is unconsciously using it to replenish his MP, HP, and granting him immunity to all detrimental effects from any mental attacks. Any offensive abilities from your Hell Rings won't have any effects on him.

Objective: Defeat your brother!

Failure: Quest: Deicide, will automatically fail!

This is mandatory!

Jess dismissed the blue screen. She looked at the time on her Hell Ring, Despair, to see that the numbers had reset back to 666. This quest wasn't even giving out an award, just another obstacle in her path.

"I don't have time to waste on you, brother," Jess said as she ran at her sibling. "This time, I'm making sure you stay down!"

The falling snow was pulled towards Jesse's hands, condensing before forming into spikes of ice. "Then I better get started!" Jesse thrust his hands out, the spikes of frozen water flew at rapid speeds towards his sister, who used [Leap] to jump over the projectiles.

"And now you manipulate water too," Jess said from above, flipping once at the apex of her height and pulled out her Chaos Blades. "And so easily too..."

Could she have achieved the same thing? She easily dismissed the thought, even thinking so would be an insult to Ivor's lessons on alchemy. She's achieved so much thanks to his potions, passing on his forbidden knowledge of alchemy.

Jess could have easily summoned more elemental guardians to fight her brother, but that would have been a waste of Mana considering that he can use all five primary affinities to counter the guardians. With those ice spikes, it's proof that he can use sub-elemental affinities too.

If it's one thing Ivor taught her, it's that knowledge is power. And if it's one thing War taught her, you just need a strategy to win in life.

"I guess I'm just full of surprises," Jesse blasted fire behind him, to boost himself out of the way when his sister stomped the ground where he just stood. She turned around and swung her chained, serrated diamond blades at Jesse.

He turned around and hardened his skin using as the green-white energy flowed around his body. 'When those blades strike, it'll bounce off and I'll-'

Jesse screamed as the blades sliced through his stomach, and a second later his body was set on fire. He screamed in pain as coughed blood as the wounds were burned closed while the green-white energy repaired his body.

But Jess didn't stop swinging her blades, she followed through with the momentum, twisting her body to allow an overhead strike with her weapon.

Jesse willed the fire covering his body to pool around his right hand before gathering a strong gale in his other. With a bit of concentration, he aimed both at the incoming blades before unleashing a scorching blast of heat.

With this cold air, and with the sudden increase of temperature, it would make it easy to destroy the chains, maybe knock them off course. But none of those things happened as the blades continued to follow it's trajectory before stabbing into Jesse's shoulders.

Jesse fell onto his back in pain, fire covering his body and blocking his vision again while the serrated blades were deep into his shoulders. He held still, concentrating to extinguish the flames.

And when they did, no longer obscuring his vision, it revealed that his sister wasn't holding onto her weapon anymore as the chains fell onto the ground.

As the green-white energy continued heal him, he looked up just in time to see Jess drop down from above, using each foot to stomp on the wounds on his shoulders.

Jesse blacked out for a moment due to the pain, the green-white energy managed to dull the agony. His vision cleared up to see his sister jump once again, flipping backwards as he painfully lift his left hand and tried to blast compressed air at her.

Jess easily dodged the attack, landing near her brother's head before pulling her fist back. Jesse rolled out of the way to the left, anticipating the punch as he twisted out of the way.

However, Jess never intended to punch him; it was merely a way to cause her brother to waste his energy, and leave him open for attacks. So as Jesse moved, Jess simply opened her fist, and aimed as her brother got to his feet; both of them faced each other as Jess used [Mana Arrow].

With the runes in his right eye, Jess managed to clearly see the dozens of projectiles flying at him. Jesse quickly channeled lightning throughout his body, stimulating his muscles and reaction time. He gathered the snowflakes to instantly cover his body like armor as he tried to dodge the arrows made of Mana.

Despite his dodging, the serrated blades in his shoulders were dragging the chains they're connected to. And with that added weight, it caused the blades to shift and move, making his wounds worse as the snow armor is quickly dyed with his blood.

Even as Jess continued to spam [Mana Arrow] over and over, Jesse wasn't getting exhausted as he dodged; most of the projectiles bounced off the armor and his hardened skin. 'Could it be, that this green-white energy is fueling his stamina too?' Jess thought before Jesse leapt backwards from the incoming projectiles as several Mana arrows managed to pierce into his injured body.

As Jesse retreated, Jess willed the chains to straighten out before pulling them back to her. Gently pulling them was enough to drive her brother to his knees as the pain was too much for him.

That didn't stop the undead colossuses from breathing fire on him again, melting his snow armor and burning his body.

The fire cleared as Jesse's burned lungs coughed out smoke. He defiantly glared at his sister while his regenerated, although that glare didn't last long as she simply tugged on the chains again, slightly moving the serrated blades that are deep in his shoulders to send a wave of agony throughout his body.

"H-How..." Jesse grunted, taking steady breaths to prevent him from hyperventilating. His stepmom always said to take deep breaths when in pain, but make sure they're steady to keep focus; otherwise, it'll just be panic and pain. "How are your weapons able to do something like this?"

"Enchantments," Jess answered, as the cuffs on her end of the chains snapped tight around her wrist to secure them in place. "And a lot of magic. Just like how you thought you could harden your skin to use as an advantage."

"You knew?" Jesse said in disbelief.

"I gave you those runes in your right eye," His sister glared at him as she used her strength to pull him forward. "It's my original power... you really think I'm stupid enough to forget that?!"

CRACK-!

Jess' uppercut punch launched him up into the cold air as she pulled the chains down, ripping the serrated blades out as Jesse let out a pained scream; his blood rained from above, mixing with the falling snowflakes before crashing to the ground.

Jesse couldn't let out a grunt as the chains suddenly wrapped around his throat. Jess used [Geo-kinesis] to manipulate the obsidian covering the chains, giving her an advantage; it's why she bothered to do that in the first place.

On her end of the chains, Jess made them wrap tightly around her waist before the cuffs clamped down to secure it in place.

"I've killed elementalists with more combat experience than you; you're not special." Jess lectured as she used her weapon as a tail to lift him up and over her before slamming him into the ground behind her. "I can move earth and metal too, remember?"

Jesse tensed as wave of pain flowed over his body, cracks formed under him from the impact. Jess repeated the action while standing in the same spot, slamming her brother into the ground and then lift him a second later before smashing him again. Then repeating this again and again, as Jess watched with a small smile.

Even Jesse's newfound regeneration couldn't keep up with the numerous injuries. At the apex of the lift, Jesse grabbed the chains around his neck with his hands before pumping Mana into them. But his focus was broken when Jess made the chains throw him into one of the undead colossuses that are holding up the platform.

He bounced into the decaying monster before falling onto his face again. Jess' 'tail' retracted back before poised to strike. "I can see Mana," Jess ran at her downed brother. "You really think I would let you break my weapons?"

"That's what I intend to do- whoa!" Jess pressed his hands down on the platform, and unleashed a shockwave of air under him to launch him up into the cold wind.

Jesse let out a startled yelp as he went way higher than intended. His sister jumped again, easily matching his altitude before her chained blades struck forward like a snake.

Jesse panicked and quickly pointed both of his hands at his sister; the green-white energy wrapped around and on his palms before lightning shot out of his hands.

Jess immediately forced her blades to pull to the side, dragging her away from the electricity as she tumbled around in the air before landing gracefully on the platform.

She watched her brother scream as he fell before pointing his hands down and creating a current of air under him to keep him elevated.

"Whoa..." Jesse said in awe. "I can fly! This is pretty awesome!"

"Fine by me," Jess mentally commanded her undead colossuses that are holding up the platform to turn their decayed faces at Jesse. "Makes it easier to hit you."

Jesse created a platform of condensed air for him to stand on. Fluidly moving his arms upward to redirect the incoming white fire to shape it into a sphere above him.

He held his arms up, focusing on directing the endless heat while he hovered in the air. But then his sister was gone. His green eyes widens as he frantically searched for her while continued to compress the sphere of fire above him.

As the roaring flames assaulting his hearing, Jesse felt something tug on his legs. With the runes in his right eye, he glanced down to see blue threads of Mana attached to his body.

He followed the threads, leading towards his sister as she deactivated her Hell Ring, Sigh, to make herself noticeable again. Jesse panicked as he saw a steady pulse of Mana flow from his sister to his body.

That green-white energy is refueling his Mana, but she can still force her will through the Mana threads to disrupt her brother's internal flow that converts the Mana into the elements.

Jesse fell as the fire he compressed above him expanded, unleashing a scorching shockwave that blasted him down, and nearly knocked his unconscious friends off the platform.

Jess, however, simply summoned a lich and took advantage of its yellow, transparent shield that it uses to defend itself. She ordered her lich to teleport to her downed brother, who weakly stood back on his feet. He let out a surprised, startled scream when he saw the misty-red eyes of the lich.

Due to that mysterious energy leaking out of him, Jesse is immune to the nightmares a lich can inflict on people when they staring directly into its hollowed eyes.

The lich turned Jesse around before grabbing him from behind, holding a weakly struggling Jesse in a headlock as the lich drains his health.

Jess walked up to her restrained brother as he tried resisting the lich, his HP draining as the green-white energy strained to heal him. But with so many injuries, that healing effect was too spread out, and could barely keep up with the lich's life-draining power.

Her brother slumped against the lich's body, too exhausted and wounded to hold up his own body as the lich keeps him in place. "Why..." Jesse coughed; his eyelids felt heavy. "Why do I keep losing to you...?" he asked as Jess walked to the surface of frozen blood that protrudes down from the platform, deep into the tunnels underground.

"Tell me, brother," Jess started to remember a special lecture Ivor gave her. "What's the one thing every leader needs?"

..."Tell me, Jess," Ivor lectured. "What is the one thing every leader needs?"...

Jesse was thrown off by the sudden question. "...It's a good heart," He answered instantly, yet even that was exhausting. "It's the good intentions to help those close to us."

..."It is compassion," Jess answered her friend. "It is so we can understand one another, in order effectively benefit and help those we lead."...

..."A good answer, but no." The alchemist denied, twirling a potion bottle full of chemicals in amusement. "You want to know the true quality every leader needs?"...

"You really didn't pay attention to PAMA, did you?" She was disappointed, but not surprised. Although Jesse is wondering how long she was down there with them. "No good deed goes unpunished, Jesse. But still, it's a good answer, just not the right one."

Jesse raised an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

...Jess raised an eyebrow. "And what would it be?"...

...She felt scared when he saw Ivor's manic grin. "It's simple really," He began; she could easily the passion in his single eye. "The one thing every leader needs? It is-"...

"Destruction." Jess recalled the answer, and spoke it without hesitation as she stood on the surface of frozen blood.

"Destruction?" Her brother repeated.

"The will to destroy..." Jess clarified, retelling the entire answer before gesturing to her own burned body. She has a psychotic grin on her burned face. "Even your own self!"

Jess stomped her foot on the frozen blood and activated [Demonic Anchor].

Ping!

The god of Limbo, from the plane of existence where Chaos Sorcerers gain their power from, will be summoned to the Overworld at your current location! Everything in the god's line of sight will transported to place beyond reality, becoming nonexistent. Its sheer presence will erode the sky, as gravity will fluctuate beyond repair!

A/N: I'm glad to see comments and support for this arc of the story, despite my long breaks as school is starting to pile up my life! But the one thing I regret about it, is the OC Bailey. Not her existence, but simply how frustrating it was to work with the OC creator who submitted her.

Fun Fact: I wanted to have this huge character growth where Jesse's group would have taught her their own person skills, and ultimately learn to have confidence in herself. But even the slightest hints of character growth would cause a negative reaction from the OC's creator, who changed her name again; she really likes to use emoji's and other faces to express it.

That's what I find sad in a story: where the characters stay frozen, never changing or growing while the world moves on. So the only thing that I felt was satisfying, was her dying and keeping true to herself in the end. Despite all the horrible stuff she's been through. Her character growth, and the story it would develop into, could have been something else, maybe something better, but we'll never know... except me since I'm the author! Ha!

But I have to ask, who is your favorite OC so far and why? Let me know! And if you all want to know the specifics on what I had in mind for Bailey, message me on my profile's message board and I'll give the details, and everyone who wants to see will be able to read it.