The Chimeric Ascension of Lyudmila Springfield-Update – 9 January 2026 (Illustrations!!!)
Hi!
I’s about that time for the regularly scheduled Update Post!But it's not going to be like the previous updates since this is just Part 1 of Arc 5. So, I won't go too in-depth in what changed between conception what was actually published (I'll save that for the Update Post that goes up after Arc 5 Part 2) But I will talk a little on why I decided to break it into two parts.
Why Two Parts?!?!?!?!
Talk Talk Talk / Blah Blah Blah
Let me be clear: It's not a length issue. This Arc isn't so long that it needs to be divided into two. (Arc 4 is still much, much, much longer.)
The actual reason is this: I wanted there to be a clear divide since the Arc itself is divided into two. The part that we just read (mostly) focused on handling confrontations with words rather than actions. It's more about talking things out and coming to an understanding, but the action WAS still there (Sekh VS Arella, the incident at Ria's ruins,) but I'd argue that it wasn't the primary focus since I wanted to showcase just how much Mila can control the narrative battlefield using her words and Tris's information acquiring abilities.
And, you know, to show that not everything has to end in violence. While most things might, it is sometimes better to talk things out if the goal is to punish. I'd argue that, if Mila were to head straight for Hymn, wipe it out, and then confront Gloria, I don't think it would've hit the same. To me, outright telling Gloria that Hymn will be destroyed, and then giving her a chance to bolster its defenses is way more humiliating since it's Mila, you know, telling her that "You can do whatever you want and throw your entire army to defend it, but just know that whoever you send will not come back alive."
It puts the ball in Gloria's court. She can not send anyone and let them die, or send her trump cards to protect Hymn, but there's no guarantee that anyone she sends will be strong enough to defeat Mila. So whoever she sends will be sent to their certain death.
So, what should Gloria do? Send no one? Send her Soul Warriors, Arella, and Glintfang? What about Bellerophon? That organization is corrupt as shit, and I'm certain Gloria could pay a bribe for them to falsely frame someone like Quella or Elly as a chimera. Of course, that would anger Seraphina, so that leads into other issues that Gloria may or may not be ready to handle.
So, you see? It's a bag of worms that Gloria doesn't know how to close.
It's not just her. It's the Mesalitos, too. What happened to them destroyed their family, and they are rich, so once Gloria has a chance to sit down and really think, maybe she uses their wealth to hire mercenaries or assassins to go after Niva? I'd imagine the family is angry enough to act on Gloria's behalf.
Really, the only good confrontation came from Erin and her grandparents, yeah? They aren't dead. They aren't hurt. Yeah, they had to leave the city, but I'd argue that was a positive since it means they're free from Gloria's influence.
So, Arc 5 Part 1 had three separate conflicts that were (mostly) resolved by speaking rather than taking lives. (If you ignore that little 'curse' a certain Mesalitos is dealing with, that is...)
Fight Fight Fight / Clash Clash Clash
So, if Arc 5 Part 1 was about resolving things with (mostly) words, then Arc 5 Part 2 is about resolving things with (mostly) action. The current goal, after all, is to travel to the Ashlands, deal with the flame spirit inside the ruins of that volcano, and then get rid of Hymn / whoever Gloria decides to send to their death. I don't know about you, but, to me, that sounds like a lot of fighting is about to happen.
Of course, maybe not EVERY conflict will have to end in deaths. Maybe some will be solved with words, but do expect far more fighting than Part 1. (I also don't expect Arc 5 Part 2 to be as long as Arc 5 Part 1. And, maybe this is jumping the gun, but Arc 6 is, right now, at least, looking to be shorter than Arc 5 Part 1)
And speaking of the action, that brings me to this...
A Log about Hunting...?
Okay, so our MC is a chimera. A chimera is someone who assimilates their prey to grow stronger / to fix their weaknesses, and Mila's kind of been slacking on the whole 'fix their weaknesses' issue if you ask me. Yes, she's immune to fire and ice, but what about the other elements? What about the acid / venom she can produce? Why not search for something more stronger / potent?
Why not, you know, act a little more like a chimera?
So, Arc 5 Part 2 will have special intermissions called Hunting Logs. That's really all I can say without too much spoilers. (I hope the name isn't one. I don't think it is)
But maybe the next thing is. It's an image of Mila's first chosen prey. So, look at it if you want, or you can wait until the first Hunting Log to see the image. (I'm going to try to have an image of each major monster Mila hunts down)
Spoiler
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Fixing Issues That Should've Been Fixed?!?!??!
Did You Forget About Something Important?!?!
So, this section is going to be pretty short, but I want to talk about some issues that should've been fixed, but haven't. Again, maybe potential spoilers, but I don't think they are because the ground work was laid out in late Arc 4, and it should've been followed up in Late Late Arc 4 or Super Early Arc 5 Part One, but they haven't.
Just to be on the safe side, though, I'll put it in a spoiler box.
Spoiler
Okay, so in Arc 4, Mila used a quirk of the loyalty system to give Niva and Tilde A LOT of SP. SP that, as of now, has yet to be used. The reason is kind of embarrassing (I...sort of forgot Mila handed out the SP until a recent comment mentioned it...), but if we're being serious, then I should've had them use the SP the moment they received it.
It's not just Niva and Tilde, though. It's Mila, too. She still has hundreds of thousands of SP just waiting to be used, and I didn't forget about that part. It's just that I was too determined to have Mila do things 'organically,' when, if we're being honest, Mila would've used all that to max out everything she has. Tokko and Mia are 6-Stars, and Meruria is likely the most knowledgeable person in the world when it comes to the void, so why the heck would Mila handicap herself and give her enemies the advantage?
And why would Mila not actively search out powerful monsters to add to her power? Why wouldn't she go down the list of monsters that Bellerophon must, above all else, not let a chimera assimilate?
After really thinking about, for as powerful as Mila is right now, it feels like she should be much stronger.
So, yeah. I don't know if I'd call it a retcon, but I did come up with in-story reasons to explain why the above didn't happen. Just hope it's not too much of a cop-out, haha.
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A Certain Good Girl Dragon?!?!??
So, Ira...
Realistically, at the start, I had no idea what I was going to do with the Essence of Wrath. It was a 'figure it out as you go and hope the glue sticks' type of thing. The EoW was just...there. And now she's not just there, Ira's become one of my favorite characters precisely because of what she can offer.
She's part of the Seven Deadly Sins, someone who embodies Wrath, Anger, a desire to wage war and spread even more Wrath and Anger, and now here she is, someone who found joy in the GGP Rehabilitation program. Ira's not about death / destruction / wants to destroy the whole world / steal Mila's body.
Ira's changing for the better, and I think it's time for her to shine a little more. So, for those who like Ira, I can say that she's going to show up more in Arc 5 Part 2.
Maybe she has advice that could benefit Mila. Maybe she can do something that Sekh or Tris can't...
Maybe Ira gets to showcase something super unique about her...
And, who knows, maybe, since Mila ended up changing her mind about Team Q, she may just change her mind about Ira...
Basically, I'm just really excited to write more Ira.
Oh, as for why Ira is in the (Fixing Issues That Should've Been Fixed) section? I don't think she's a mistake, (Far from it!) but I do think she's very important to fixing another issue that you can maybe guess from the above.
When Upload?!?!?!?!!?
I don't know. I'm working on the outline. I got everything sectioned out, including what happens, the battles, etc. But I'm also reorganizing the outline for CA to make it more readable / easier to add too. I think I mentioned doing that back in Arc 3's update. Or maybe it was Arc 4's, but I kinda made a mistake and went too in-depth for no good reason, even for the minor characters.
(Basically, if I did a CTRL+F for "Lyudmila Vredi Springfield," it gave me like 40 results because I did something dumb and gave every main, major, and supporting character a detailed relationship mini-outline.)
I've, hopefully, learned from my mistakes, and this new one will be streamlined and very easy to follow and find information.
I also have my other story (Interconnected: Spliced Souls) that hasn't had a chapter uploaded in quite some time. My intention was to do an Arc of CA, then an Arc of I:SS, then an Arc of CA, repeat. That, of course, assumes I had a lot of stuff written in advance.
And for a while, I did. You probably recall me typing about my hand issues, and the issue is my back. I have a bunch of badly pinched nerves that's causing my hands and feet to go numb / occasionally burn.
So, instead of uploading Arc by Arc, Story by Story, I'm going to do an experiment and upload as soon as something is edited to have content to publish while praying I don't change my mind and have to emergency retcon something, haha.
I have kind of a bad habit of completely redoing something at the 11th hour. I think I'm getting better, though. Everything, thus far, in Arc 5 Part One has been, more or less, 99-ish% of what I had intended. It's not like Arc 4 that needed a super late rewrite to include Team Quella.
So, that's an improvement. Yay for me!!!
More Illustrations!
Anyway, I have two more images.
The first of of Aello, the friendly Harpyfolk (Elder of Aetos Village.)
It's more or less what I envisioned her to be.
Spoiler
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I just really like the way watercolor looks, so that's the style I went with. I didn't specify a background, so just take it as a portrait.
Overall features – harpy
Hair – long and orange
Wings – orange
Feathers – white tip
Birdlike feet – orange and black, sharp talons
The above is what I described her as, and I think it's pretty accurate.
This next image is of Renata. Remember her? She's part of Team Salim.
Spoiler
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Height – Short
Build – Thin and frail
Hair – Curly black
Eyes – Brown eyes
That's what I have in the outline as her rough appearance, and I think it fits. She's kind of like the 'girl next door.' Again, just take it as a portrait and not a specific moment.
I also have an image of Ruru (remember him? The Deerfolk from Arc 3) but it didn't turn out the best. So, his image will have to wait.
Closing Remarks / Resolutions
So, that's kind of what I wanted to say. If things keep going as they are, then Arc 5 may be the one Arc that's changed the least, so the update at the end shouldn't be that long or detailed about the various 'what-ifs.
I don't have a date for when the uploads will resume. I don't like giving a deadline and then missing it.
My NY's resolution (as it pertains to writing and SH) is to upload more often instead of waiting until everything is done. That goes for both stories, too. I:SS's current Arc is kind of like CA's Arc 4. The end of that will mark a drastic change in the story, but that's that story, and this is this story.
In Arc 4's update, I stated that Arc 5 was about confidence and pride, and I meant it. In my eyes, Mila oozed confidence during the meeting with Gloria, and maybe it wasn't to the same degree, Niva was confident in her encounter with the Mesalitos, although her emotions almost got the better of her.
And Erin, in my eyes, found pride when talking with her grandparents.
Maybe it's a bit of a stretch in some cases, but it kinda makes sense to me.
Anyways, I think that's going to be it for this update. (Didn't have much time to edit this update, so hopefully I didn't make too many mistakes and errors...)
Thank you so much for reading!!!!!
RuggyRuggy
Update – 9 January 2026 (Illustrations!!!)
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