Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"Okay, I think I've got that under control now," Raven nodded to himself, shooting a wave of purple flames up into the air, before letting out a slow exhale as the flames petered out and dispersed.

About two weeks had passed since he woke up in Pearl Forest, and he'd been working tirelessly to get used to his new body and figure out how to use the various abilities that came with it.

While he certainly hadn't mastered any of it, he was now able to use his abilities with a semblance of control.

Deciding against wandering the forest and potentially ending up even more lost than he already was, the young man opted to stay by the lake he'd woken up next to, which also secured him a water source.

For the first few days, he'd sustained himself on nuts, fruits and berries that he'd gathered from the surrounding trees and shrubbery in the area.

He was then attacked by a pack of Hornboars, which are Low Level Monsters, defeating them without too much trouble and getting his first taste of meat in years.

He was also able to capture birds for food too, and while he had no idea how to start a fire to cook them in, he didn't need to thanks to his new ability to create his own flames, though it did take a bit of trial and error before he figured out how to cook them without burning them.

Having lived off mostly stale, near-expired bread, watery soups and overripe vegetables for the last several years, basically food that was about to be thrown out and therefore could be bought at heavy discounts, getting to eat fresh fruits and meat was like a dream to him.

The irony of the fact that he was eating far better in the wild than he did in human civilization wasn't lost on him, and he kept finding himself wishing that he could share this experience with his sister, who had always been much more outspoken about their barely-edible meals than he had been.

"Alright, let's see here...my flames are probably my most useful attack, I can cover a wide range with it and it seems to burn much more intensely than normal flames do. The lightning ability isn't very useful beyond close-range, I can't shoot it out, I can only form it around my body. It makes for a good defense though, no one can hit me without getting electrocuted, and it makes my physical attacks more effective too. Then there's the beams from my eyes, they're my best option for long-range attacks and can reach much farther away than my flames, but accuracy with aiming is important since they're pretty thin and narrow. But they're also really fast, so they probably won't be easy to dodge.

I've also got immense physical strength, I think I can probably kill most Monsters with a single direct hit. Well, I haven't encountered anything above a Mid Level Threat, so I can't be too sure of that, I suppose. My senses have been greatly heightened too, though maybe a bit too much...using my hearing and sense of smell at their full extent overwhelms me and makes it hard to focus. Same with my sense of touch, even a small pinch feels excruciatingly painful if I don't dull my sense of touch somewhat. I can even suppress it fully, which makes me feel no pain...that could be useful in a fight against someone or something stronger than me, I'll be able to keep fighting even if I'm badly injured.

I wish I'd had access to Recovery Magic Grimmoires with higher level Spells, Heal is the only useful one I've learned so far, and it only works on small injuries. My scales are pretty tough though, so I won't be as easily injured. As for the rest of my abilities...I can fly, which is great, and I've got the hang of it now. I do have some room for improvement with how fast I fly, but that should gradually improve as I get more used to it. I can also control my throat to change my voice, and I can also use that ability to fire out sonic screeches and deafening roars.

I'm probably resistant, maybe even immune, to heat, since my own flames don't affect me, same with my lightning. Can't be too sure of that until I come across an opponent with Fire or Lightning Magic, though, so until then, I shouldn't make any assumptions. I might have a resistance or immunity to poisons too...I was attacked by that Poison Slime the other day and it had no effect on me. Speaking of poison, I can produce venom from my fangs and claws, it's not fatal and is more like a tranquilizer than poison, but it's pretty effective in weakening its victims. And it can be fatal in large amounts...but I'd need to inflict bites or scratches to make use of it, so it might not be the best option against a human opponent," Surmised Raven, going over the various abilities he'd discovered and worked on over the last couple of weeks as he paced around the area.

Talking out loud to himself like this helped him stay calm and keep his impatience in check, he'd made an effort to try not to think about the church and his sister, since he knew that could result in him rushing to get back to the village.

While he was anxious about waiting so long to make his move, he was well aware that he could easily end up dead if he went back before he was ready and capable of defending himself. However, there was still one problem he needed to address...

"I've figured out how to use my new abilities, even if I haven't quite mastered any of them yet, but I can't go back looking like this, I'll create a panic just by walking around," He sighed, staring at his reflection in the lake.

It had only taken him a couple of days to figure out how to control his outward appearance, but he soon realized that he could only do so to an extent.

He was able to revert his head and face, as well as his left arm, back to a more human appearance, but the rest of his body was stuck like this. He couldn't recede the scales on his torso, back, legs and right arm, and he couldn't retract his tail and wings either.

He'd briefly even considered just cutting them off, but quickly decided against it. There was also a jagged patch of scales on his right cheek that he couldn't retract, and while he'd been able to revert his teeth back to white, they were still pointy and sharp, he couldn't get them back to their normal shape.

There were a few other minor physical changes as well, his hair was now a darker shade of blonde, his eyes had turned a darker shade of orange, and his pupils had grown vertically long and narrow like that of a reptile's.

Those smaller changes he wasn't too concerned about, but the scaly right arm, torso and legs, not to mention the wings and tail, were a problem.

"Hm...these wings are pretty flexible, I can fold them around my torso to hide them. And my tail is flexible too, I could probably wrap it around my waist like a belt. No, the folded wings would make my body shape look weird...wait, unless I can find a hooded cloak or something, like those people at the church were wearing. And I could stick some gauze or something over my right cheek. Okay, that would hide my more inhuman features, but walking around in a hooded cloak is pretty damn suspicious in and of itself," He mumbled as he let out a strained sigh, wracking his brain in vain to try and come up with alternative solutions.

To make matters worse, receding his Homunculus form like this made him weaker. His senses, physical strength, and all his new abilities, they were at only about half capacity in this partially receded form.

In order words, to fight at his best, he'd need to stop receding the scales on his face and left arm and fully transform.

However, unbeknownst to him, that wasn't the extent of the full power of his new body. There was a vast pool of additional power deep inside him, a power that, at his current level, would only arise in tandem with his emotions...the very power he'd unknowingly accessed when he destroyed the church.

"Well, as Ravella would say, whatever. There's not much else I can do to hide my body, so there's not much point in thinking about it. At any rate, the first thing I need to do is figure out which direction I need to go in to get back to the village. I still have a ton of room for improvement, but I...I can't wait any longer, there's no telling what those bastards are doing to my sister. I'll just have to make do with my current level," He declared, starting to spread out his wings to get a high vantage point to see if he could spot anything that'd help him figure out which direction to go in, before pausing and turning his gaze towards the trees as his nose twitched, picking up a scent headed his way.

The leaves rustled as heavy footsteps echoed out, several birds flying out of the trees as Raven caught sight of the approaching figure through the foliage, before it stepped out into the open with a deep growl, letting out a sharp exhale through its nostrils as it narrowed its eyes at Raven.

A Minotaur, a Mid Level Monster with a large, humanoid body and the head of a bull. Despite the bovine aspect of its appearance, the creature wasn't a herbivore, it was an omnivore. Though its appetite mainly consisted of plants, it also had a taste for meat.

"Alright, I guess I could use a bit of a warm up before heading back," Shrugged Raven, fully transforming as the Monster let out a threatening roar and charged at him, the ground shaking under its heavy footsteps as it closed in on him and swung one of its fists down like a hammer.

Raven spread out his wings and flew up to evade the strike, the Monster's fist slamming onto the ground with a crushing impact, before it snarled and reached out towards Raven with its left hand.

He swerved across the air to avoid the creature's grasp, before grabbing hold of its wrist and pulling it off the ground. He then began rapidly spinning around with angled, repeated and rapid flaps of his wings, dazing the Monster before flinging it high up into the air.

He raised his right arm, the scales with the purple pattern across his arm glowing intensely as the Monster hung in the air for a moment before starting to plummet, right as Raven unleashed a massive, blazing wave of flames from his hand, engulfing the Monster and roasting it alive, charring its body and killing it in a matter of seconds.

He then flew across a couple of meters, the scorched remains of the Minotaur's corpses crashing onto the ground in a smoldering pile, the stench of burnt hair and flesh billowing out as Raven dulled his sense of smell with a grimace, heaving slightly as he'd gotten a strong whiff of the stench before dulling his nose.

"Ugh, so gross...," He groaned nauseously, flapping his wings at the burned corpse to try and blow the smell away.

Meanwhile, not too far away in the forest...

"Okay, I'm just gonna come right out and say it...we've been at this for two whole weeks now, I'm starting to seriously doubt the existence of this Monster."

"Then how do you explain what happened at the church? I mean, it's not just going to come out and announce its location to us, it's probably hiding somewhere."

"You make a good point, but...why are we even doing this? I mean, seriously...if it's a Monster, it'll just attack us if and when we come across it. So, again, why are we doing this?"

"That's an important 'if' you just brought up...yes, that's all true, IF it's a Monster. But what if it was something else?"

"Huh? Like what?"

"Well, uh...I don't know. But there's only one way to find out, so we might as well-..."

Their words were cut off as a massive wave of purple flames rose up over the treetops in the distance, stunning the group.

"Purple flames...looks like we found what we're looking for."

"Come on, let's go check it out. Quickly, before it gets away!"

Back to Raven...

"O-okay, that takes care of the smell. Well, sort of, it's not getting worse, but it's not disappearing either. Well, I guess it doesn't matter, I was just leaving anyw-...," Began Raven with a sigh, before trailing off as he sensed several presences approaching.

For the most part, he'd been relying on his sense of smell to locate any approaching threats, which made him inadvertently overlook another detection ability he possessed. Specifically, the ability to detect Mana.

This particular ability was closely tied to his instincts, so it was hard to notice, in the same way that people blink or breathe without thinking about it.

But with his sense of smell currently suppressed to deal with the stench of the Monster he'd just burned to death, he was more keenly aware of this sensory ability, he didn't know that it was specifically Mana that he was sensing, but he was able to clearly distinguish and identify each individual Mana signature from the approaching group.

There were five in total, and his instincts were telling him that they were dangerous, far more so than any of the Monsters he'd encountered over the last two weeks.

He turned in the direction they were coming from, a stiff breeze blowing across the area as he prepared himself, waiting for the approaching figures to reveal themselves.

He focused his sense of smell and hearing, he couldn't see them yet through the dense foliage, but he was able to determine their distance from him.

But they could see him, peering through the gaps in the shrubbery as they steadily made their way forward.

"I've never seen anything like that thing before...what exactly is it?"

"Whatever it is, it's noticed us."

"I think it looks pretty cool, those black and purple scales are awesome."

"It looks like it's waiting for us to make the first move...in which case, it probably won't attack if we leave it alone. Therefore, our best move right now...is to just leave and never look back."

"What? No, we're not leaving. I'm guessing it must be some kind of Monster that the church was experimenting on, and it may end up attacking innocent people if we leave it alone. For now, let's test the waters and see just how powerful it is...Celia, mind sending it a greeting?"

"Yeah, okay, I can do that," Nodded a young woman, stepping forward and raising her right hand, before chanting as she took aim at Raven, "Now, [Exploding Bullet Scattershot]!"

Several small, glowing, dark red projectiles shot out of her hand and towards Raven, who swiftly spread out his wings and flew up, grimacing as the projectiles exploded the instant they hit the ground around the spot where he'd been standing.

He then glanced forward as a figure zipped out from the trees, a young man with red hair who appeared to be in his twenties. He had a ring with a blue orb on his right index finger, the orb began glowing as he ran his Mana through it, a large hammer appearing in his right hand which he then flung up towards Raven with a rapid spin.

"People? Are they from the church?" Muttered Raven, his rage bubbling up as he narrowed his eyes at the redhead and fired out rapid, piercing purple beams at him.

The man's ring glowed again, before a large axe appeared in his right hand. He quickly raised the axe in front of himself, the beams striking the head of the axe, the man's eyes widening in surprise as the force of the beams pushed him back, his feet skidding along the ground several meters as the head of his axe began to steadily turn red from the heat of the beams.

Raven quickly stopped firing and turned his body across with an angled flap of his wings as a young woman with pinkish blonde hair emerged from the trees and fired off a sharp, narrow white projectile from her palm, the projectile shooting up towards Raven, grazing the front of his chest and getting deflected off his scales as he evaded it.

"Huh? Was that...was that a bone?" He thought to himself in bewilderment, before picking up the smell of blood shooting up towards him, quickly turning his gaze down to see a tendril of crimson liquid zipping up towards him.

He flew across to evade it as it closed in on him and tried to grab hold of his ankle, before looking back down and seeing a young man with dark brown hair and an eyepatch, his palm cut open and the tendril of blood extending out of it.

Raven's eyes widened in alarm as he spotted a large, dark red sphere barreling up towards him, swooping down and narrowly dodging it before it exploded fiercely, a powerful shockwave bursting out from the explosion and knocking him off balance as it hit him, sending him plummeting down as the redhead shot towards him and leapt forward with his axe raised high, gripping the handle tightly with both hands.

He swung the large weapon towards Raven's chest, before his swing abruptly halted as Raven sent his tail shooting out and coiled it around the man's left forearm, constricting around it tightly before he coated his tail with lightning, zapping the redhead who let out a stuttering cry of pain.

As Raven then drove his claws towards the man's chest, he quickly stopped and pulled the man across to his left with his tail, as a figure emerged from the trees and fired off another dark red sphere towards Raven's left side.

"Crap, watch out!" Exclaimed the young woman who'd fired it, as Raven positioned the redhead in front of himself like a shield.

The redhead quickly reached into his pocket and took out a Spell Card, running his Mana through it and teleporting himself, along with Raven, several meters to the right, a deafening explosion ringing out as the dark red sphere crashed onto the spot where they'd been standing.

The redhead then swung his head back, slamming the back of his head against the middle of Raven's face, dazing him slightly, before wrenching his arm free of the grasp of Raven's tail and spinning around, dropping his axe and landing a couple of powerful hits against Raven's torso, sending him stumbling back before the man picked up his axe and backed away.

"Be careful, guys...this creature is powerful, and it seems to be pretty intelligent too," A voice echoed out from the trees, before the final member of the group, the leader, emerged out into the open, a man in his early twenties with white hair that had a couple of black stripes down the front and glasses, as the five of them surrounded Raven.

"This is bad, these people are strong and clearly used to fighting. They seem to be testing the waters right now, but it's only a matter of time before they figure out what I'm capable of and start attacking more seriously. The longer this goes on, the worse it'll be for me," Raven thought to himself with a grimace, looking around warily.

He then paused for a moment, as he looked at their faces one by one...there was something vaguely familiar about four of them, but he couldn't quite place it.

"It's about time you joined in, that could've gotten really ugly for me," Grumbled the redhead dryly.

"Sorry, my bad, this creature turned out to be more dangerous than I'd anticipated," Grinned the leader sheepishly, before a serious look appeared on his face and he called out to the others, "Keep it surrounded, don't get too close. Let's overwhelm it with ranged attacks and-...!"

"Huh? Are they...are they seriously discussing their strategies right in front on me? Yeah, like I'd just sit still and let you do that!" Snapped Raven, unleashing a burst of purple flames around him and flying up as the group backed away, bewildered looks on their faces as he continued, "You damned church bastards, you turned me into this and now you're here to kill me, is that it!? Well, fuck you! I never asked for these powers, but I'll use them to kill every last one of you, I'll make sure you regret what you did to me! But before I kill you, I need a question answered...where is my sister!? What the hell have you pieces of shit done to her!?"

A tense silence ensued as Raven caught his breath, his emotions bubbling up and starting to surge. He could feel a strange heat in his chest starting to swell, his mind starting to go blank as his rage and hatred began to consume him...

"Uh, wait, hold on a sec...I need a moment to process this. You, uh...you can speak? What exactly are you?" Called out the group's leader, after exchanging glances with the others, before adding, "Also, just to be clear, we're not with the church! Far from it, they're kind of our sworn enemies!"

"Huh? Wait, I thought some of you looked familiar...that's right, I've seen your wanted posters in the village," Recalled Raven as he recognized them, his animosity starting to recede.

"Looks like this is just a big misunderstanding...and since we attacked first, allow me to apologize! We kinda thought you were just some Monster. Given your clear resentment towards the church and what you said earlier, it seems you're a victim of some kind of human experimentation, is that right? Tell us what happened to you, we might be able to help!"

"I guess it's understandable that they'd mistake me for a Monster...although, considering that I'm wearing clothes, there should have been some room for doubt. Well, whatever, it doesn't seem like they're going to attack me anymore, so I suppose I should let it slide..."

With his volatile emotions dissipating, Raven took a deep breath to compose himself, before descending and landing on the ground, retracting the scales over his face and left arm.

"Oh, wow, you really are human."

He was still suspicious of them, but his rage and hatred had receded...after all, they weren't the targets of those emotions.

Still, he had no reason to trust them, especially since they were wanted criminals, so he kept his distance as he began explaining what had happened to him, keeping a wary eye on them and getting ready to react if any of them made a move.

But none of them did, they'd only attacked him because they thought he was a dangerous Monster, but now that they knew he was human, they no longer had a reason to fight him unprovoked.

Erring on the side of caution, Raven sharpened his senses and kept an eye on their expressions, looking for any reactions that might seem suspicious...in his mind, there was a still a possibility, however small, that they were from the church and this was some elaborate ruse to get him to drop his guard.

But he didn't see anything suspicious, and as he continued with his story, reaching the part about the Homunculus Ritual, all he could see in their expressions was sympathy and anger on his behalf. By the time he finished his explanation, he'd almost fully let down his guard, his suspicions all but alleviated.

"I see...that's awful, I can't imagine what that must have been like, going through something like that at your age, I'm sorry you had to experience all that," The leader spoke up with a grimace, after a brief, somber silence.

"Oh, uh...thanks. I'm Raven, by the way. Raven Kyzer," He introduced himself, feeling a bit awkward.

"Ah, right, we didn't introduce ourselves. As you know, we're a group who call ourselves The Irregulars. We possess rare Magic Classes called Irregular Magic, which only awaken in pure Commoners who have no Noble blood whatsoever. I'm sure you're aware that Commoners with no Noble blood usually have much less Magic Power than Nobles do, but we're exceptions to that rule...we Irregulars possess Magic Power comparable to that of even the Royalty themselves. Unfortunately, as a result of that, the Royals and Nobles saw Irregular Magic as a threat, and the church branded such people as Irregulars and if any were discovered during appraisals, they would be executed on the spot.

The five of us managed to avoid our scheduled executions, one way or another, and we happened to find each other and formed our group, The Irregulars. Our main goal is to crush the church, and take out as many corrupt Nobles while we're at it...so, it seems that we may have a common interest. You want to go after the church too, don't you? In order to rescue your sister and get revenge for what they did to you?" The leader of The Irregulars asked Raven.

"Yeah, that's right. I don't know about destroying the church as a whole, but at the very least, I intend to raze the church in Ruby Village to the ground and kill everyone in it," Stated Raven icily.

"Huh? Uh, you do realize that you already did that, right? The Ruby Village church is nothing but a pile of coal and ash now," The young woman with the explosive attacks chimed in.

"What?" Responded Raven in bemusement.

"That's right, that's the whole reason we came here. Witnesses saw a figure that matches your description flying out of the church while it was burning down, we came here to see for ourselves what exactly did that," Added the young man with the eyepatch.

"I see...I guess that's what I did before waking up in this forest. Damn it, I don't remember any of that," Frowned Raven in frustration.

"Hm...if we hit all the churches in the nation one by one and interrogate the respective leaders of each church, maybe some of them Inquisitors too, we should be able to find out where your sister is and what happened to her. Of course, you're free to pursue her on your own, we won't stop you or get in your way. But if you join us, we'll help you to the best of our abilities, and in exchange, you help us carry out our attacks on the churches and Nobility. I think that's a pretty fair deal, so...what do you say?" Offered the leader with a smile, holding out his hand towards Raven...