Life Transmutation

Once she arrived, she noticed that Valerie wasn't mentally there. Checking with her 'vision', she noticed that through the various experiments Valerie's soul was breaking apart. What caused her current state was the massive influx of energy flowing into the Graal. From the Rizevim and his vampire cohort's perspectives, all they needed her to do was process a simple command.

The sad part about this is that the only way to save her would be to turn her into a pillar, which would piece everything together and fill in what's left using her own soul as a blueprint. The problem is that she wasn't capable of consent and the process would likely use her ideal of a loyal comrade and subordinate to fill in the gaps in her spirit; that's the actual goal of creating pillars, so that's what it defaults to if there are holes to fill. In fact, Demon God Pillars were the original form of the process Adjuka appropriated for the peerage system; it's just not widely known.

With a sigh, Rias reached out and initiated the pillar process. A Cerulean-black marble manifested and proceeded to cover Valerie in a cocoon of light. Once done, it was quickly absorbed into herself. Then, she felt something different.

'What is that?' She felt something cracking inside her 'Is that the Graal? So this is the process of my divinity superseding the Biblical God's.'

Graal continued to crack until it began to fully dissolve within Valerie. The process began to integrate the principles of life into her being. As this was happening, Rias felt the influx of knowledge and the birth of a new power. Though it would likely take a while for it to fully manifest. She should be capable to using it to a basic extent.

Since, the great evil is dead, she decided to move to the next phase of the plan, finding the source of the blood. Looking around the cavern, she noticed what appeared to another alter with a large broken dragon bone hanging above it. The bone appeared to have been broken in half with the broken half facing the alter; blood poured out of it in an unending stream. The alter has lines that connected from itself to Valerie's alter along with areas all over the mountain. Reaching out with her awareness she was able to confirm that this was the source. Thinking logically, there was only one dragon whose bones could produce an infinite amount of blood, the Infinite Dragon God. That said, this bone looks like its been around for a long time and by the remnant dragon energy lingering on the bone, this must be from one of the times she battled Great Red, the Dragon God of Dreams. How the vampires found it is a mystery in and of itself.

Deciding to get what she could out of the situation, she raised her sword and started plunging it into the bone. If this bone was still attached to its former owner, then this wouldn't work. Ophis is vastly more powerful than her, but by this point, her intent is practically gone. Absorbing it is possible, if barely. Once the bone was eventually assimilated into her. She decided to bundle the power into a small marble. It would be best to integrate this later.

With that thought, she disabled her spatial freezing and teleported to the other's position. Before she left though, she decided to curse the rest of the blood. Without much trouble, she created a concentrated ball of the curse and shot it at the alter where the bone was, letting the curse spread into every vein of blood carved into the mountain.

Other Group's Position

In a flash, Rias had reached the others. Though, they seemed to be in pretty bade shape. Laeticia, Hanabi, and Artoria were passed out lying next to each other in the middle of the room with Esdeath standing guard.

"How could you? You left me with the small fry while they got to have most of the fun!" Esdeath said, face painted with a cute pout. Rias smiled and moved up to her and placed a hand on her cheek.

"Really? I remember there being quite a few ultimate class devils in the base. I thought you would've liked a warm-up before the main event." She said as her face took on a seductive look. 'Maybe if I give her what she wants, she'll let me go'. She secretly thought, trying to resolve the situation without another fight.

"Oh really, well I wouldn't mind a fight with you a little later if you'd like. You can even choose the battlefield" Esdeath's voice took on a similar look as her head moved forward and planted a small kiss on her cheek, making sure Rias didn't miss the implied innuendo.

"Sounds good, but let me help these guys first. We can continue this conversation later." Rias finished before moving toward the others. 'It looks like I really can't escape anymore.'

She reached out her hand and a golden energy took form. The energy streamed forward to coat the others and within moments, their wounds were gone.

"Fancy. A new trick?" She heard Esdeath in the background.

"Yes, I made the Valerie into a new pillar. With it, the Sephiroth Graal fully assimilated into her pillar ability."

A shifting sound soon became audible to the two. Shifting their attention, they noticed that the three sleeping beauties were getting up. When they regained consciousness, Laeticia recounted the situation. Much to Rias's surprise, it was much closer than she initially expected.

"Oh, and Rias, I would like to introduce the two of you!" Laeticia exclaimed as she pointed toward Artoria "This is Artoria, a cousin of mine who inherited the spirit of King Arthur. I was actually hoping you would be able to help her out. Due to having the lance inside herself, she's been losing herself of late. All we know is that ever since it appeared for her following the merger, she's been getting… colder. We're not sure if it's the price of using the lance or what, but we wanted to figure it out before it became a bigger problem." Rias nodded at the statement, while Artoria seemed confused.

Shaking her head Artoria stepped forward. "Greetings. As my hasty cousin here mentioned, my name is Artoria. I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude for your help in rescuing us. We had indeed been hoping to find out more information on my…. condition, so if you could help it would be really appreciated." She finished. It was clear that she inherited Arthur's knightly mannerisms as well.

"You're very welcome. Though, I actually already have the solution to your problem. But, there's a catch. You would need to become one of my Demon God Pillars; there aren't a whole lot of other treatments that can prevent spiritual contamination. Based off what I'm feeling at the moment, it looks like the lance is bleeding its divinity into you. While it makes you stronger, it also comes at the cost of human emotion. The treatment would help contain that divinity safely. It would allow you to safely assimilate your divinity as a part of your pillar ability, freeing your mind of its taint. Saving you via that method came to me in a prophetic vision. It's one of the primary reasons I'm in the area in the first place. I've actually already extended an offer to both Hanabi and Laeticia over there."

Artoria furrowed her brow. Becoming the equivalent of one of the 72 pillars of Goetia wasn't something she'd ever consider. Then again, neither was god's death.

"What would the process entail?" Rias smiled, happy to get to this stage without too much fuss. She should thank Euclid. By weakening Artoria's will with twisted facts, he ended up solving the biggest problems with getting Artoria by her side. Her faith in the light and hatred of darkness. While she ordinarily didn't like playing on a potential comrade's weaknesses, she needed to in this case to get past the initial stubbornness.

Rias then proceeded to clinically explain the process and implications of the change. Before Artoria could respond however, Hanabi darted forward.

"I accept your earlier offer." Hanabi blurted out before settling down. Lowering her head, she continued "I realized in this fight that I don't stand a chance against my world's tormentors. No matter how hard I train, I just can't access the necessary potential." She looked up, staring into Rias's reptilian ruby red eyes. I need to be stronger. My only condition is that you help me resolve the crisis of my world, even if it's just killing the ones responsible" Rias nodded. She was glad to have another potential ally and the condition was rather fair, especially since she was asking for her eternal loyalty.

"I will accept as well." Laeticia nodded. "My revelation skill has been prompting me to do this for a long time and working with you has only confirmed it. You're looking to create a utopia and I'd like to be a part of that. That and we really don't have a role in this world as our spirits already have inheritors to our mortal mantles. We're only here due to the vampires messing with the Graal." Rias beamed. This is what she wanted to hear! Two people she was deeply interested in will join her.

Artoria looked conflicted. She didn't know Rias like her companions did. Sure, Rias organized the rescue effort and saved all of them from the Tepes faction, but eternal servitude was a lot. Then she thought back to the lance. If she didn't find an answer to that soon, there may not be much of her spirit left after long. After thinking of that, she looked toward her two companions, they needed someone to watch over them, especially her cousin. Laeticia may be one of the most intuitive people she knew, but she was also extremely trusting. She needed to be there and she had the lance in case she needed out. She didn't know if it'd break the contract, but she was at least fifty percent sure that it would.

Making up her mind, she turned to Rias. "Then I will join as well. I don't know you, but I trust Laeticia's judgement with my life. She has never been wrong and that's only become truer after merging with her ancestor. That said, I will be watching you. Betray our trust and I will destroy you; compulsion be damned." Artoria stated in a regal manner as Rias nodded. She definitely wanted to keep the inklings of her suspicions to herself. Hopefully this was the right decision.

Standing up straight and making sure she presented herself formally. "I vow to honor your trust. I will help you with your burdens and together, we will build a kingdom where conflict between the supernatural is a matter of history." Her eyes glowed with resolution as three cerulean-black orbs manifested out of her palms and cocooned the three new pillars, then they were absorbed into herself.

Satisfied with how things turned out, Rias decided to deal with the frozen Lucifuge. Before she could move, however, her 'vision' showed her an image.

A purple haired girl sleeping, her essence and soul trapped in the sacred gear in her body to escape a sleeping curse.

The scene shifted forward.

Euclid Lucifuge came into the room with a group of elders from the Leviathan clan. His gaze apathetic as he proceeded to rip the Sacred Gear from her.

The scene shifted.

[Euclid crafted a gauntlet and inserted the gear into it. "All that's left is to bond this to the boosted gear and everything will be perfect" he stated maliciously. "It doesn't matter how he resists; the Nereid Kyrie will force it into obedience."]

With that, the vision faded to black.

Digesting the vision, she realized that the gears on her person presented an opportunity. She could gain another pillar. Though it'd be another situation like Valerie, it would be the price this girl would pay for salvation.

Touching the ice, Rias began to reach for the black gauntlet with her newfound golden power. Once the power made contact, she felt the sleeping soul. She didn't have enough experience with soul manipulation to pull her out safely, so she had to do two things at once. With one hand, she injected the death curse into the Lucifuge, leaving only the head in a similar manner as Rizevim. Simultaneously, she sent the pillar creation orb into the black gear and guided it until it made contact with the girl's soul.

Once the two made contact, Rias realized she may have made a mistake. The soul was currently connected to both the soul in the original Nereid Kyrie and the Welsh Dragon. Although she wasn't actively commanding him, the Welsh dragon was still forced into a subservient capacity. The worst part about it was that she was currently connected with the soul using the life principle enhanced with the previously overwhelming life energy previously injected into the Graal; the Graal with the sub-species of life transmutation. All these factors ended up leading to one result Rias hated to admit she was extremely curious about, fusion. Since the girl was the soul receiving the pillar's protection, she started assimilating everything else. Both gauntlets wrapped in a cerulean-black cocoon, which was pulled inside of Rias.

When that happened, Rias felt a pulsating sensation in her core. When she looked inside, she saw all the new marbles of power gathering. Looking further she realized something she had missed. She brought in a life transmutation marble into her core with almost enough energy fed into it to cast a grand ritual capable of reviving multiple Satan-class beings. Valerie couldn't handle the excess energy in her weakened state, so it ended up in her. All these things led to the startling realization that the new girl wasn't the only one going through a fusion.

Realizing that she needed to get to a safe place, she looked toward Esdeath.

"I need to go into isolation to absorb these powers I've digested. The life power from the Graal is causing some changes." Esdeath nodded. She was surprised Rias didn't notice the possibility. Especially with all the abominations that they encountered along the way. The Graal couldn't do that in its base form, which meant that it was a sub-species, likely derived from Valerie's vampiric power to siphon abilities through blood. All that meaning, assimilation could lead to some interesting outcomes.

"Please find Akame and help her finish her tasks. Once you feel that you've done enough, meet me back at the Gremory mansion. I don't know how long this is going to take, so it may be a while." I'll try to send the new pillars to you once they're ready though. No point in keeping them inside my person during the entire duration of the transformation.

"Right. Don't be too long. Akame and I need someone powerful to spar with and I doubt the four Satans will be up for it; they have a reputation to uphold" Rias laughed.

"Somehow I don't think reputation will be too much of a problem for them. If anything, it'll be Grayfia that gets in the way. Oh, and I've condensed Rizevim and Euclid's memories in two crystals. I'll send them to my brother, but you should still give him the details of our operation, so he can deal with the aftermath." Esdeath nodded and went about her business.

Rias created a small teleportation circle leading to her brother's office and tossed the frozen heads with their memory crystals embedded in the ice into it. Thinking further, she condensed another crystal with the memories of her operation in this place and threw it in. She made sure that it contained only what was needed for her brother's investigation. Once done, she closed the circle and teleported away.