Chapter 569: An Affinity For Chess

"Everyone at the orphanage listened to you though," said Sylvie, "I know that everyone did whatever you asked pretty much straight away. Most people also liked it when you paid attention to them, though I'll admit none liked ton spend as much time around you as I did. They saw you as a larger then life figure really, not the adorable big sister you are"

Kat looked over to Lily seeking some confirmation but the traitor just grinned and said, "Well, she's my girlfriend now and I'm not opposed to worshiping her a bit. I wonder if that makes me a heretic? Worshipping a demon? Of course, she's also a girl… and the Catholics are still rather split on that issue. So I suppose I was already a heretic by their standards. Same as quite a few other religions around the world. Hmm. Maybe I should convert to Buddhism or Shintoism"

"I thought you were an atheist" said Kat.

"Well I was until I found out magic is real Kat. Plus remember right back at the start when you found out you only count as truly dead if you've been dead for a millennium or whatever it was? Also how part of that was that you might have been reincarnated with your memories in-tact? I mean that's sort of what I'm doing with this body switcheroo I'm going through with. I imagine that something godlike has to exist now. I have enough evidence for that. Angels might count if the one you talked to on that cultivation world is anything to judge by. Plus, we know your already quite strong at Rank 2. Imagine a Rank 8 or 9 demon. They might as well be gods at that point" explained Lily.

*She makes a compelling argument. Hey System, how do knew universes get created.* 

User Kat does not have the required Rank for that information. 

*Well, I suppose the knowledge on how to create entirely knew universe would be outside of a Rank 2's need to know facts. I wonder how common knowledge it is though? Kamiko might actually know and Nira probably does. It feels like something that you likely can't do anything about for a long time so it would be no point in trying.* 

"So what was the answer?" asked Lily

Kat's head snapped to the side. "How did you know I even asked D.E.M.O.N.S for a question?"

Lily froze. "Did you just say… well I can't say anything other than demons of course but how did I hear it as D, E, M, O, N, S? That doesn't make any sense. Also I told you before when we were cuddling that you get a very particular look on your face whenever you ask the system anything"

"Well, the D.E.M.O.N.S thing is a trick of the translation ability I have. I just say demons while thinking about its proper name. I learnt about it while I was in the Hub and I wanted to try it out. As to what was said… basically that I'm not high enough Rank to know hot to make a knew universe," elaborated Kat.

"Wait… is that why so many demon names are impossible to pronounce? They abuse the translation feature and just say something close enough?!" asked Lily

"I had the exact same thought!" said Kat happily and giving Lily another kiss for her answer. This caused her to fumble the move she was trying to make on the chessboard, but based on the slight frown on Sylvie's face this new move was actually a better one.

After that conversation drifted to a close because of the look of concentration on Sylvie's face. It quickly became apparent to the two playing chess that the mistaken move on Lily's part had almost completely changed the game around. The fact that it was a valid move they both should have seen only made it worse. Sylvie was looking for ways to turn things around while Lily was trying to comprehend the full scope of what she'd done and what she needed to do to keep her slight lead. It took a good five minutes before Sylvie's next move was actually made and Lily didn't fare much better. She took six minutes and clung tightly to Kat's arm as if squeezing her hard enough would give the answers.

After Lily made her responded move… Kat still had no idea what was going on. Chess wasn't really her game and she never learned the rules in depth. She had a rough idea of what was going on but no more than that. She certainly didn't know any of the strategies behind what they were doing. Purely by count of pieces Sylvie was ahead but Kat knew enough about Sylvie's expressions to guess Lily was actually winning somehow… or at the very least close to turning things around.

Kat happily sat in silence with them for over half an hour until Lily spoke up again. "By the way Kat any good ideas for my affinities?"

"What do you mean?" asked Kat

"The three kinds of magic I'll be best at. I found out I can pick up to three when it comes to my knew body so I've been thinking about it. Healing would be good, but I'm wondering if I want to dedicate a slot to it. I know you can heal with water light and a few others. Heck, you can heal with fire if you're good enough. You just need the spells, the power level, and the image for it." Explained Lily.

"Well that should be your choice shouldn't it? You can pick whatever makes you happy." Said Kat

Lily sighed, "Kat I actually want your opinion here. Like ice affinity just for example. I think it would be nice and pair well with your own powers… but if you have ice covered already maybe it'd be better for me to pick something else and branch out?"

Kat shrugged, "I'm not sure. If you're concerned about me, ice and fire basically do nothing to me. I'm not sure if even at the highest levels of spells they could do anything. I'm basically immune to temperature changes it seems so taking one or the other would let you blast me with them and not have to worry. Though an ice spike in my shoulder would hurt me just as much as everyone else" said Kat.

Lily bit her lip. "Hmm, I didn't think about that. Depending on how ice spells work exactly if I end up with little bits of hail ice might not be worth picking for the safety… but if I can control the ice you create that would be nice. That's just raw elemental manipulation though and apparently on the higher level of things. Oh actually speaking of higher level. I won't start with all my affinities, I'll gain them as I gain in power or time passes. Some combination of both, so we'll also need to decide what I should start with" explained Lily.

"Well, I'm on the fence about healing. I don't need it and probably never will. My regeneration means that anything you would be able to heal on me would I could regen, and anything higher level would require a demon hospital say. That being said… I wouldn't be happy if anything happened to you. So having it to heal yourself would be very nice." Said Kat

"Eh… it takes a really good healer to heal yourself" answered Lily, "I wouldn't count on me being able to heal myself all that quickly so maybe picking something to avoid damage would be better. Shadow was something I considered and then focusing on using it for avoidance. Shrouded by shadows, and eventually hiding myself and a bunch of things IN the shadows. It'd be hard to force me out if I hid in the shadows on your outfit. Normally you wouldn't be able to do something like that, but with the connection we'd have to have, it'd be possible and likely very effective.

"I'm also thinking of space. I was hoping for space-time, but apparently, they are separate affinities. You can get them to affect each other, but you can't just grab both together in one. Also, it isn't very good at the start. I should probably make space my third affinity just because I wouldn't be strong enough to power anything worthwhile with it."

*Hmm, space and shadow would be cool utility powers. Especially if they can combine together. That does mean it's probably best for her first power, if it isn't shadow, to be an attacking one.* "Would you take shadow as your first or second affinity?" asked Kat

Lily bit her lip to consider the question. "I… I'm not sure? It has some low-level spells but it's not like I actually get them wholesale, just examples of things shadow affinity CAN do. Something else might be better first… but if I do go with healing Shadow would be my first, and I guess primary, affinity."