A kid who looks like 15 years old walks through the fields of the academy towards the water training part, "Let's check this form out" He thinks, thinking about his light form.


Having not been to a water dungeon before, the sight of the cavern before him once he arrived seemed unintuitive at best. What did a cave have to do with water?


During his walk towards the cave, the kid tried to focus on his emotions, tried to change his form. Thinking at the same time, “If this is the actual water training part… It’s looking kinda scary… a dark cave with monsters raising from the dark water” He shivered and continued walking towards the cave.


Inside, there didn't seem to be a whole lot of water.

A damp breeze came from the depths as he entered, and there was the faint sound of dripping in the distance, but the mouth of the cave only let further underground, without the slightest hint of even movement in sight.


He sighed, while standing on the start of the cave, letting his thoughts fly away and help his emotions, slowly, he started to shine brightly, changing himself and looks. When the transformation is finished, the kid looks down to the cave, smiling. “Oh boy! Let’s do it!”. He starts to walk downwards, towards the depths of the cave.


The base of the tunnel opened up to reveal a few plants growing at the side of what was unmistakably an underground lake. The plants themselves seemed to have small, package-like fruit growing from them.


As he saw the plants he stopped and looked around. “If there are plants here.. .There are life, and if there are life, probably monsters are around…”, mumbled and decided to be more aware of his surrounding than before. He walked towards the nearest plant, looking at it.


It seemed to have a similar shape to a tomato plant, growing several small green pods from its stalk.


Charlet leaned towards the plant to sniff it, behind his back he gathered with his hands Darkness and light for his unique spike attack, in case any monsters show up.

The shoots had a strange tang to their scent, not unlike reeds. He sneezed loudly, his voice echoed in all of the cave, if there were any monsters in the cave, they knew he was there.

There was no immediate response. There didn't seem to at least be anything stalking him… yet. He walked away away from the plant, decided that the surprise effect won’t help him now, he opens his hands and shoots light balls that stay in the air and light the surrounding area. He looks around, searching for enemies.

There really didn't seem to be anything in the chamber except for the plants and the lake.

“Rule number 1 kids… Never enter a pool if there is some kind of a machine working in there, it can electrocute you.” He mumbled as he reopened his hands but light didn’t come out that time, that time, it was lightning balls that he threw to the lake, making sure nothing is in there as well.

A loud snap echoed throughout the chamber as the electricity struck the water, a few limp fish floating to the surface.

“Hmm... “ He mumbled again to himself “This is weird… No monsters... “ He turns his back to the lake, changing back his form to his regular one, the kid starts to walk towards the opening of the cave, clearly disappointed. Then, suddenly, he stopped and turned around, looking at the lake, “Wait! Maybe the dungeon is not here… Maybe he is underwater!!!” He ran towards the lake changing his form back to the light one. He head jumped to the lake.

Sure enough, he spotted two things.

On the lakebed, a silver box caught his eye, and dead ahead was a colossal… castle?

Charlet eyes widen when he saw the colossal castle, a smile started to develop on his face “Let the fun begin…” He thought. He swam to the the silver box, doesn’t want to miss something.

In the box, there seemed to be a large iron greatsword with a peculiar flame-like shape and serrated edges. His widen with excitement when he looked at the flame-like sword. He took it into his hands and was surprised for how balanced it felt at his hands, he started to swim towards the colossal castle, still in his light form.

He got about halfway there before he realised he was quickly running out of oxygen. If he kept this up there was no way he was going to make it all the way through alive.

He swam quickly up and looked downwards, thinking, “If I can’t get that far to the castle.. Maybe I could get rid of the water…” He swam to the land, focusing on his emotions, slowly the area around him gets hotter, as he changes his form to fire. When he finishes his transformation, he is smiling a maniac smile while flames covered his body and clothes. He starts to shoot the lake with a bunch of fire, laughing maniacally and screaming “C’mon ya monsters! Get out of your hiding you little scumbags!”

As the steam rose off the lake, it began to fall, ever so slowly. If he kept this up for a few days he could probably drain the whole thing, Charlet noticed. “Dammit, it going off to slowly. I need to speedup the process..” He thought. He started to heat himself up even more and speedup his attacks. “C’mon you little jelly fishes! I dare ya to come outta here! Let’s see how much you worth when you are above water huh?!” He continued to scream at the water and rapidly, more quicker than before, throwing and tossing fire at the lake.

This… was taking too long. Much too long. He wouldn't get to the bottom at this rate. It would probably have been much more effective to look for a way to get to the castle faster, or some way to breathe underwater. He sighed with tiredness and sat down, looking at the flame like shaped sword, then back at the lake, he smiled. He stood up and walked into the steaming lake, he rose the sword and slashed the water with it, expecting something to happen. When he saw nothing is going to happen he sighed and went back near the plants. “Well.. If I can’t evaporate the lake… There is got to be a way for me to breathe underwater... “ He looks around, already in his normal form, no longer angry. Then, he walks slowly to the plants he saw earlier and took one of the fruits, he sighed again. “It’s not like I’ve got anything to lose…” He ate the fruit and started to go to the lake, holding the sword.


Sure enough, he suddenly found himself breathing the water as easily as air, giving him all the time in the world to get to the castle.He smiled with relief and started to swim towards the castle, changing back his form to the light one.

There didn't seem to be a gate leading in, but there was a window frame with nothing it. It wasn't exactly a door, but it was close enough. Charlet saw the window, smiling, “Finally, here we are, at the opening of our first dungeon” He thought while entering the window.


In the corner of his eye, he noticed movement.

Something was in here before him, and it either just hid or fled.


He looked towards the direction of the movement he saw, while he has light balls on both of his hands he started to walk towards there, he was nervous.

A shape, greyish-blue and not much larger than Charlet's arm, darted from a corner and down the hall at lightning speed. “Hey! Stop!” He shouted, he casted on himself a buff spell that helped him run faster after the thing down to the hall.

He caught up with it enough to recognise the shape of an eel. It turned around, darting about, jagged icicles materialising as it moved. Charlet was still running after him, in his light form, constructed some light balls behind his back. “I just want to talk ok little buddy? Where is your boss? Stop running, I ain’t gonna hurt ya…” He walked slower towards the eel, his hands still behind his back.

It launched the icicles at him like projectiles, arrows flying towards him like bullets. Charlet sighs and said “Don’t say I didn’t warn ya!” while he moved his hands forward and shot the ice arrows with his light balls, after that, he gathered light with his right arm and darkness with his left arm, ready to throw a bomb on the eel. “If you ain’t gonna tell me anything, you gonna die, horribly. He combined his hands, creating the bomb, big enough to kill him, but not enough to blow everything else.

The bomb soared forward, striking the eel with ease.and blasting it away with an explosion of light. Charlet smiled “Huh, that was kinda easy…” He thought and walked further into the hall of the underwater colossal castle, looking around, curious.

It didn’t seem particularly mossy or cracked despite the water. In fact, this place didn’t seem that old at all, as if it was built overnight.

There was no immediate movement in sight, but at the end of the hall there were three flights of stairs; two up, one down. Charlet started to walk towards the stairs, lighting his way by throwing light balls.

As he got further down, he began to feel a foreboding presence up ahead. Something was here, in the depths of the castle, and it was strong. It seemed like he’d need to head straight down to reach it. When he felt it, he shivered “Probably the boss…” He thought, going to the stairs, starts to head downwards, as he heads down, he lights up all of his surroundings, afraid that something will just jump-scare him.

He heard a hissing as he moved, more eels in the walls from the sounds of it. He was definitely getting closer, the steps leading to a room with one more flight down at the end. Down there, he knew he’d find the presence.

When he heard the hissing he jumped a little, then understanding it comes from the walls, he took a deep breath and continued slowly downwards, towards the last flight down. He held with both of his hands light balls, ready to throw them at the the eels, or the massive creature that he felt earlier, whatever will come first. He came down the the giant room, the room that was the deepest room in the castle. He looked around.


It was above him.

A colossal beast, covered in tentacles and eyes, all entirely focused on him. A low growl shook the entire chamber as the beast descended, poised to attack. Charlet eyes widen, he looked up, scared, looked at the beast, he threw the light balls directly at the beast. Unfocused, he changed his form, from light to ice.

Both blasts struck the creature, causing it to flinch only for an instant. It poised five tentacles towards Charlet in response, each beginning to emanate a shimmering glow for only a split second before each fired out a powerful electric beam that sprayed through the water in all directions. Charlet didn’t moved, he formed an Ice shield around him, to protect him from the lightning.

The bolts struck the shield one by one, cracking it as they did, with the last one punching straight through. Luckily, it was only enough to deal a slight electric shock. Charlet sighed with relief, happy that he managed to survive that attack, then, he looked back at the beast, ready to attack, he activated his Attack Expansion ability and held the Iron Greatsword he got earlier harder, ready to attack the beast. He start to run towards it.

The sword doubled in size as he swung it, but the beast ducked back with ease and fired another volley of lightning. Charlet eyes widen, the sword returned to normal size while he tried to dodge.

The beams struck hard, shooting a coursing pain throughout Charlet’s body. “Arrrrrgghhh!!!” He shouted in pain while the pain went through his body. He turned into his light form, absolutely uncontrol of it. He looks with anger in his eyes at the beast, forming light balls all around him and shoots them with all of his force.

The creature howled as the orbs struck it, taking a swipe with its tentacles at him in response. Charlet tries to block all of the hits with his sword, while the attack, he tries to cut the tentacles as he blocks.

The lashing was just slightly faster than his sword, and it showed.

Charlet’s left arm up to just below the shoulder went flying through the water, clouds of red in its wake. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH” He screamed in pain, tears fell down and combined with the red cloud that spread around the room. He panted while looking at the beast with pure hatred. “You are going to pay for this you little damn shit” He started to get out of control, his emotion, the situation, just helped this happening. He continued to look at the beast while gathering all of his power for the next spell he casted, he created 6 lasers, all shooting at the beast.

Shifting its weight, it managed to evade his attacks and fired another electrical attack at him. Charlet closed his eyes and let himself fall down, hoping that he will be able to dodge that attack, he didn’t knew how all of this is going to end.

The beams somehow shot past him, spraying lightning into the water as they went. He opened his eyes, surprised he is still alive, he turned into his normal form, hurt, he swims away from the beast and throws the flame-like sword away, hoping to distract it.

It batted the sword aside with ease, aiming its blasts at him again. “Argh… It’s too hard… I am losing my focus…” He thought, he slid aside, hoping his luck will be by his side once again.

The bolts shot forward, shocking him yet again. This wasn’t good -- he could only probably survive more hit. Tears continued to fell down, down deep inside him, Charlet vowed that he will never be that reckless again. He hides behind a stone pillar, the pillar was wide enough to hide him, he activated his blessing from Janus, “Eye of the deep”. He gathered powers within his hand, going to use a spike attack. He jumps out of the pillar, to be in front of the beats, he unleashes his attack, spiking the beast down with all he hopes that will be enough to stun or at least kill that colossal beast.

Lightning flew forth at full force. Arcing energy rippled over the creature’s body, eliciting a screech as it spasmed, cracking. Charlet smiled with relief, his eyes still full of anger, he ran onto the beast, gathering enough power for one last attack, he gathers light around him and throws 2 bombs directly at him, no way to miss.

That was that. The tentacled monster floated limply upwards, revealing a trap door behind it. Charlet sighed with relief, he swam towards the trap door and opened it.

Water washed through it, dragging it with him with violent splashing until it lost momentum a second later at the foot of a staircase. Finally, air. Charlet looked around, taking deep breaths. His wound still dripping blood. He looks around, examining the area.

The stairs led him up to daylight, the top of a keep. He was sure he would have been able to see for miles if it hadn’t been about a meter above ground. At the far side, he spotted a golden chest, sat unopened. He ran towards the chest, happy that he got rewarded after that terrifying fight with the colossal beast. He stood in front of the golden chest, and opened it. He took all of the stuff and sat down with relief. He looked on what he gained: a weird bandage that was covered in white dust, a strange black seed, an emerald nail and some potions. He stands up and walks outside of the dungeon, drinking the potion that meant for healing, his left arm is growing back to normal.
 
As much as Vivi had wanted to stay around with the cute black haired teen in front of her, she had taken to being embarrassed and sped off with her firefox with a squeak. The Nekomata then passed by the brightly lit portal, entering the white marble room that was the school’s portal room. Sighing as the chill grazed her skin, she drifted off back to the dorms and her still constantly destroyed room. You think the Catgirl would tidy up the broken furniture and random piles of blankets and stuffed animals, but this was her form of ‘organization.’ she dismissed her foxfire and landed on the floor on her toes gracefully in the poof of smoke that was her foxfire. Now felt like the perfect time to put on her new...armor. Hell, even if it wasn’t armor she still would love to wear the revealing clothing and show off the new clothing items. For...no particular reason of course. The clothes were actually quite cute on her, the thigh highs pinching lightly at her thighs, one legging white with a black ribbon and the other a black legging with a white ribbon, the short black skirt well fitting, flaring out as much as the short length would allow, only just barely hiding the soft cotton pink panties that were somehow the best well fitting panties that did not pinch as much as other panties. Truly a holy grail for panties. Her sleeveless shirt was thin in fabric, made from polyester that was bleached white, and to finish the outfit, her gloves that were short length and white, soft and smooth in texture with tiny ribbons on each wrist-band. To complete the look, she slipped on black pumps that were chunky in heels and rounded at the end. Ooooh was she going to show this off with everyone. And probably given weird looks. Well, that last one wouldn’t be so new. With that, the Nekomata pocketed her new wand in her shorts and panties, the end sticking out a bit.
 
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Aegle had been making her way back to the academy, happily humming a little tune she usually sang when she worked in the garden. She was pretty proud of herself, getting to the end of a dungeon and defeating the boss. She held her bag, glancing at it a few times, quite excited to check out the items once she had arrived in the academy. She stopped by at a castle tower that was submerged in the ground, noticing a person around the area. Charlet looked around, his left arm is fully healed now, he didn’t notice Aegle yet, he walks towards the direction Aegle is.


She tilted her head, studying the guy who came nearer, wondering if she should get his attention. He seemed a bit riled up and tired, as if he came back from a dungeon he took on on his own. She took a deep breath, then waved her staff, calling out to the person. “Hello there!”
Charlet noticed the girl with the stuff waving him, he looked at her and smiled weakly, he raised his newly healed left arm and waved back as he walked towards her “Hello there!”


Aegle smiled, then walked towards him, struggling a bit since she was carrying a lot of stuff.


“Sorry to bother you if I have, I’m just surprised to see another person around what seems to be the outskirts of the academy I wandered into,” she said sheepishly, then turned to the direction of what she thought was towards the campus grounds.
“No, no, it’s completely fine!” He said. “Hey. Where are you heading to? Ya remember where is the campus, maybe? Cause I forgot where it is” He blushed and walked after the girl.


“Uhm, back to the Academy,” Aegle replied. “Yes, I believe it's that way,” She pointed to where she thought the campus grounds was.
“Would you mind if I will--” He stopped himself. Deciding he will not ask whatever came to his mouth. He coughed and smiled, clearly hoping she didn’t notice it. “W-Well, thank you! Cya later I guess….” He turned away and starts to walk towards the place Aegle pointed.


Aegle tilted her head, a bit confused. She started walking, following behind him. “You don’t mind if I come along with you, don’t you? Besides, I am heading to there too soo…” she said.


“O-Oh. Sure” He slowed down, so he would be aside her. “My name is Charlet by the way… Nice to meet you!” He smiled warmly towards Aegle while they were walking towards the campus.


“Aegle,”She replied, shifting uncomfortably, since she was carrying quite a heavy bag and had a lot of items strapped on herself. “Nice to meet you Charlet, It seems like you’ve tackled a dungeon yourself,”

He chuckled. “Yes I did… A water dungeon to be exact. I can say the same for you, you seem to carry a lot of loot as well” He said impressed.


“Yup! Took on a light dungeon,” Aegle grinned, looking very proud about herself. After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the academy entrance. When Charlet excused himself to the infirmary because of what Aegle sensed was something wrong, she was left alone at the entrance, simply catching her breath.

A little ways away at the side of the entrance, there was a group that had what looked like… a headless figure.. And a giant white.. wolf? And… a huge... spider...

When Aegle noticed the weird bunch nearby, she jumped, surprised at what she saw. She let a little squeak out, then turned her head at a different direction, hoping whatever those were didn’t notice.

Rerarin continued to stare in awe at the buildings, before noticing some figures moving on the ground, looking down and noticing figures of different shapes and sizes moving about and around the buildings, unable to tell their races from here, but knowing she has never seen some of them before…


Aegle glanced back to what she saw, just to confirm if her eyes weren’t playing any tricks on her. She confirmed that it was a headless person with some sort of animals accompanying him or her. She shook her head, those things were not really abnormal. Honestly, that wasn’t the worst thing she saw in her whole life. Aegle gently laid down her bag, resting her arms from carrying it for too long.

Rerarin assumed this was some sort of giant city in the middle of the forest, though she’s never been to a city due to the risk of being found out, only going for villages and small towns, how did she do it as a dullahan? Never ask her, she never wants to relive those days…


Aegle tilted her head, then decided to check the person out, she seemed to be lost or something. The Hesperide waved her hands around, calling out to the dullahan.


“Hello there!” She shouted, hoping it was loud enough for the other to hear.


Rerarin was unsure on what to do in this situation, since she's never gone to a city or large town, and especially one that was in the middle of the forest, she could obviously see a lot of different races, and a few she doesn't recognize, but undead like her are typically the enemy of any living race, as for the few times she's been exposed, she had been treated as a vile monster, having to outrun Knights from time to time.


She heard someone shouting in her direction as she looked over, seeing what looked like a young teenage girl with a scythe of her own wearing a yellow dress. She looked over with a bit of nervousness, unsure whether or not the girl has seen that she has no head, Rerarin didn’t panic as she’s been spotted before and can more or less notice when they have bad intentions, like rounding up a hunting group or informing the knights, and she can just flee when she at a moments notice.


Aegle sensed a sort of unsureness within the girl. She glanced at the bag on the floor then back at her, wondering if it was safe to just leave it there for a few moments just to talk to her, but then again the bag had important loot in it that she didn’t want to lose.


“Uhm, you need help over there?” She called out again, trying to sound polite or welcoming.


Rerarin was able to hear her more clearly as she was paying attention, sounding like she asked if she needed help, as she becomes a little more determined, because she can see the girl quite clearly from this distance, so why wouldn’t she be able to do the same and see that she had no head?


She slowly approached the girl with Koliander and Jack on foot, one hand on Koliander in case they needed to bail, hoping her courage wouldn’t cost her, this place seemed big enough to send knights that are faster than Koliander…


Aegle smiled triumphantly when the girl started to come near. From deduction, Aegle guessed the girl was new to the Academy and was probably shy. When she finally reaches

the place where Aegle was, the hesperide does a little curtsy.


“Hi there, I’m Aegle,” she introduced herself.


Rerarin stopped a bit away from the girl, looking up at her from under her arm, as that was where her head was, even with her head on her neck, she would know that the girl is quite a bit taller than her, as she stopped growing ever since she turned into a dullahan, she roughly knows a couple of years has passed since she died and became an undead.
She also noticed the chest the girl had, a good amount, big even if compared to the board that is her own chest…

“A..are you not afraid?” she asked, with a bit of confusion and envy as her eyes darted from her face to her chest a few times.


Aegle stared at her, a bit confused but not surprised at the question.


“Afraid? Why would I be,” she replied, though to be completely honest, a person whose head is not connected on their head would cause quite a scare. But then again, that wasn’t the scariest thing she saw. She shivered at the thought of Typhoon.

Upon a closer look at the group, Aegle was able to make out that the giant white wolf was… made entirely of bones, and not that it was a skeleton of wolf, it was giant pile of bones shaped into a wolf stood taller than the headless girl but still being shorter than Aegle herself, and the spider she saw was around 1.2m in diameter and seemed to be covered in scrap armor and cloth, with holes that seemed to reveal bits of bone,its torso coming up to under the girl waist.

“Are.. undead.. not considered monsters here?...” she asked, her hand still on the wolf, so she could escape at moments notice.


The hesperide blinked, glancing at the other “animals” that accompanied the girl. What she saw was again, nothing really out of the ordinary, so she simply looked back at the girl with a smile on her face.


“Not that I know of. I’m pretty sure this place doesn’t regard their students…” She paused, wondering if this girl was a student. “As monsters,” She finished her statement.


“Students?” she wondered aloud, the previous time she had heard that word be used before was when she was still a human girl,being a student of the village elder who taught her how to read and had a collection of books he collected in his lifetime, that was how she used to spend a lot of her time during her childhood, just reading and reading.

She remembered a time when she read a really good book and couldn’t put it down and had spent the whole day reading it, while eating, while doing chores and even when going from place to place, she doesn’t remember how many people she bumped into


“There are students here? This is… a place to learn?” she asked, remembering that the elder had told her of grand places where you could learn almost everything under the sun. She remembered that when she first learned this, she had wanted to learn the strangest of things, from how to become a merchant, how to grow stronger and even how to become a princess, though she had forgotten what the elder called the place.


Aegle took a few moments to respond, thinking about how to reply to this girl. She has been here for what? About a few days in the academy, so she wasn’t quite sure if her answers would be correct.


“Yes, It is called an academy for a reason,” She said. “I believe this place is called the… Schism? That’s what’s written in my enrollment form anyways,” she waved her hand dismissively.


“Academy… is that what they’re called? Academies.” She thought out loud, speaking to herself like the millions times she’s done so before

“Can.. I learn from this.. academy as well?” She asked, a little hope could be heard from her voice. She’s been travelling the world not truly because she wanted to at first, but because there was no place that accepted undead, so she wandered to different places as she knew staying in one place for long periods of time was dangerous, so she developed a bit of an adventurous nature from travelling to different places for so long.


Aegle nodded. “Yes, as long as you were enrolled by someone… or maybe you can apply for yourself,” she didn’t really know how she got into the Academy since Lady Hera was the one who fixed all the things she needed.

“It is ok if you guide me? I’m still unsure whether or not undead are truly not seen as the enemy of all that is living in this place.” She was still skeptical of how this place treated undead, but the expression on the girls face showed no fear or even disgust, just an expression that said that nothing was out of the norm, it was the biggest thing that helped her confidence.


“Uhm, sure. Although I do need to put my things back in my dorm room. I’m pretty sure it’ll be a hassle if I carry them around,” Aegle glanced at her bag full of dungeon look, stretching her arms.


“A little detour never hurt anyone, so i’ll accompany you to your… “dorm room” to return your things” Rerarin had no impatience on her face, living in the wilderness had really trained her patience, like travelling for miles and miles on an empty plain for days, or even her recent journey through the giant forest, to find a graveyard and then an Academy. It was either that or that undead had a slower perception of time, and the fact that they don’t ever tire and thus never sleep. She resisted asking what a dorm room was, knowing that a new place was bound to have new terms, leaving the questions for after.


“Nice, I never gotten a name from you, haven’t I?” Aegle turned to her bag. She adjusted the scythe and rifle strapped to her back then touches the sickle hanging from her belt to check if it was still there. She picked up her bag with her right hand then tightened the grip of her left hand on the staff.


“Geez, I need to get a proper way to store the things I get soon,” She commented under her breath then glanced back at the girl, starting to walk slowly to her room.




She followed along, noticing the bulk of items on the girl as she followed.
“You said your name was… Aegle? Mine is… Rerarin..” She said her name coming out of her mouth slower than she had wanted, having not introduced herself or said her name in years, making saying her name seem weird and unnatural.

“Do you need some help carrying those? I could help, if you trust me.” She offered, wanting to make a good impression to the first person who had not treated her as a monster upon knowing she was an undead ever since she turned into one.


“Rerarin,” Aegle chimed, repeating her name. “Nice to meet you,” She glanced at her as they walked through the hallways.


“Well, you can carry my bag if you don’t mind, it's not really that heavy,” She could hear the number of items clanking around inside.


She nodded as she took Aegle’s bag off her hands, hand proceeded to place it in the wolf’s, Kolianders’ mouth, as it disappeared into itself.

“Ah.. before you say anything, he just put it in his body, nothing will shake so don’t worry and he’s totally dry on the inside” She quickly said before any misunderstandings occured.


Aegle made a sort of distressed noise when Rerarin had the wolf devour her items. But when she quickly explained that nothing bad will happen to her bag, she quickly relaxed, trusting her words.


“Alright...whew,” She let out a relieved sigh. Aegle could notice a few familiar faces while walking by, a few fellow students from her classes. One grinned at her when they noticed her new weapons, as if understanding that she finished a dungeon. Others waved at her, simply saying hello, but a few glanced at her new friend with weird faces.


She didn’t say anything, but on their way here, she was glancing at the figures they passed by, seeing some races she recognized like elves and orcs,but not seeing any humans, and not recognizing a lot of the races there, she saw a red person with wings and horns, people who had an upper body of a human and lower body of a horse, and even something that looked like a walking fish person.

Most of the people she passed didn’t even glance at her and her minions, only a couple looking at her with interest, but no disgust or fear on their face.


They arrived at the dormitories. There wasn’t any students around at that time count a few who were in their break times since there were classes on going. Aegle looks at the room numbers, trying to remember which one was hers.


“I think I was around… 209 or something,” She mumbled to herself as they continue walking.


At the dormitories, they saw a kid, who looked absolutely normal, waving towards them, he wore a bandage that looked like it was covered with white dust. The kid stood up and started to walk towards them, smiling. “Hey there Aegle!”, then he looked at Rerarin, tilting his head a little, curious. “Hello there as well…” He said and greeted Rerarin as well. “Who would think that I will not freak out when I will see an undead…” He thought for himself “I guess this life really changes people…”


Rerarin looked at the kid that looked human, but having a strange feeling that he wasn’t,and now that she thought of it, Aegle didn’t seem human either.


He was taller than her and Aegle. She frowned a bit at his words, feeling that he spoke the truth. “So you saw undead as monsters before? But not anymore?”

She asked with bit of venom and edge in her voice, cautious that this person could have once become her enemy.



“Hello there Charlet, back from your visit at the infirmary? I hope you’re okay now,” Aegle commented, glancing at his bandage. She looked at the two back to back, simply listening to them as she tried to remember her dorm number.


Charlet looked at Rerarin, doesn’t understand what he did wrong. “I did see them as monsters before, when I lived on Earth. There, undead were just mindless monster, but here, they are my friends you see, There are a few undead people that learn with me in classes, and at first I was frightened of them but I learned that they have emotions and opinions and are as sapient and kind as any other race.” He said and tried to control his emotions, not wanting to change his form in front of the girls and scare them, something told him that he should be careful right now… especially near these girls. But he could not help it, he felt light-hearted, he felt… happy…it was a long time he didn’t felt he has friends he can talk too. Suddenly, he shined brightly and after that, the kid gone, instead there was that kid who looked similar to Charlet… But somehow… Different, this new kid, who appeared in front of them now, wore yellow and white clothes, it looked like he shines with light. The only symbol that you could guess that he is still Charlet, is the white bandage.


Rerarin, upon hearing his words, wiped the defensive and cautious expression on her face assuming “Earth was a place she's never to, and unsure what to feel as no one had ever considered that undead could be more than just monsters, always assuming that she wanted to kill all that is living.

She opened her mouth to say something in response as the boy, whom Aegle called Charlet, flashed in a bright light, catching her off guard, she felt a stinging sensation on her skin as she stumbled backwards,her bone wolf, Koliander, catching her with his body, as he went into a pouncing stance and growled at the shining boy.

His light became less intense and revealed a boy who looked similar to Charlet but not the same, but with a bandage at the same place.


Aegle, who was staring at the numbers on the doors to their side, flinched as she noticed a strong source of light from the corner of her eye. She turned her attention to the direction of Charlet, but instead of seeing a Charlet he saw a similar looking boy with a brighter...everything. Clothing, glowing skin, it reminded her a lot of Lord Apollo when he visited Arcadia and started hitting on Arethusa.


She blinked, staring at the two of them. “209… what happened again?” She asked, confused.


Charlet leaned down, smiling widely, it seemed like this form changed his personality, not only his clothes and self-looking. He started to pet the bone wolf. “Ohhh… You are soo cute!!!” He said while smiling, then after petting the wolf, he stood up and looked at the 2 girls, “I hoped to keep this a secret, didn’t wanna to scare you… But I guess I can’t help it!” He smiled.


As the shining boy petted Koliander, Koliander whined in pain as some of the bones on his head had disintegrated a little, as the wolf backed away from the shining boy.

“Secret?! Yo..you're an angel?!” Rerarin shouted as she still felt her skin stinging from his magic light, as there have been a few times when priests used light magic and had injured her.

She assumed he was an angel from the stories that claimed that angels shone with a holy light and that they are the servants of the god of light that can be called upon by arch-priests and high priests to help them defeat demons and undead.


“Uhh….” When she got no response to her question she simply shrugged it off. She walked past Charlet then stood in front of a door a few meters away. She materialized a wooden key in her hands then placed it in the lock, opening the door. The key disappeared as she smiled triumphantly.


“Nice, I knew it was 209,” she looked at the other two, tilting her head at Rerarin who seemed to be in pain, though she couldn’t do anything about it since she doesn’t know what’s happening.


He returned for his normal form, confused, “A-Angel?! No! I am just a human who stupidly touched an unknown shining crystal from another world! Why would you think that?!?!” He asked, confused by her question, he doesn’t know the truth about himself.


Rerarin calmed down a little upon hearing that he wasn't a race that was literally the bane of her own race, gaining a little more confidence as she shouted out “Then stop using your magic light or whatever that is! Its hurting me!” She turned her head around so the light didn't shine on her face


Aegle stared at them, not really wanting to interrupt, she just wants to get her bag of items back so she could put them in her dorm room and relax.


“Well, my room is open for you guys to come in or something if you are done,” She said, then walks in, placing her staff on the side of her desk then took off the rifle and scythe that was on her back.


Charlet, still confused,sat down on the ground and held his head with his hands. started to get into a brainstorm with himself, “Is it really possible that she is right?! That I AM AN ANGEL? No, that’s not possible, right? I got a dad… But I don’t look even similar to him… M-Maybe she is confused as well… Undeads can be wrong sometimes as humans right?” He thought. You could clearly see that he is confused, he was changing forms rapidly, due to the storm of emotions he is feeling.

Rerarin looked on at Charlet in confusion as it suddenly became shock then just then became dumbfounded at the scene she was witnessing as he first had his light get replaced with something different and then change again, increasing the rate at which he changed.
She stepped around him as he contemplated his existence, backing up into Aegle’s room still watching the boy change into all the colours in the rainbow.
“You’re friends with that weirdo? He’s kinda freaky...” She asked, directing the question to Aegle as suddenly flashing a couple of girls and then becoming a rainbow isn’t the most normal of introductions.


Aegle looked up at her while she was fixing the braid of her hair. “Not really, I just met him along the way when I was heading back here to the academy,” she said as she finished braiding. “Well he does look weird, but its not that bad,”




Rerarin patted Koliander as the wolf lowered it head to the ground and opened its mouth, releasing Aegle’s bag gently onto the floor.
She looks around Aegle’s room and noticed how nice it is, almost a thousand times nicer than her room in the village, as she’s never had the courage to rest in an inn, nor did she need to, but she assumed this room was still much much nicer than any inn room.
“This.. looks amazing, I was kinda expecting it seeing how nice the buildings were..”
She said, looking at the nice looking room, the first thing she actually took the time to pay attention to its details, besides when she first say the buildings of course.

Aegle smiled as she walked to the wold, picking her bag up then gave it a pat on the head. She walks to her desk then gently places the bag on it, turning to Rerarin.


“It is, you’ll get one too once you’re enrolled,” Aegle looked at her room. It was quite comfortable and well kept. The walls were painted white, the floor was made of wood, and there was a single window at the back situated above her desk that had a view of the campus grounds. The room had a bed, a desk, a wardrobe, a table and chair on the corner and a door leading to the bathroom.


“Uh… how’s Charlet? He hasn’t went inside yet,” She commented, glancing at the open door.


Rerarin kinda knew what a dorm room was now, it was like an inn room but for students, she kinda guessed it as she was coming here, with students coming in and out of their rooms from time to time, seeing Aegle’s room solidified that.
Upon hearing Aegle’s question, she looked back out of the door, seeing that Charlet had stopped changing colors and mumbling, but instead was sobbing in his original form, the one she met him in. She got annoyed at how erratic he was, being normal at one moment, patting her dog with magical light at the next, then forgetting completely about them and sitting on the floor and changing rapidly. She decided she had enough as she grabbed her head tightly with one hand, hurling it strongly, straight at Charlet’s head while shouting, “Shut up and stop being weird ya weirdo!”.

Charlet turned around and dodged her head, he stood up, getting angry. “What the hell do you think you doing huh?!” He changed without knowing or noticing his form to fire. Making his clothes change to red and fire started to come out of them. He looked at Rera with pure anger in his eyes. “Ya wanna fight huh?!?!” He walked towards Rerarin.


“Ho.. you didn’t stop ey? How bout we do fight so you can change to..to.. yellow! For sadness! When I beat you!” shouts out the head on the floor, as charlet had totally ignored her head, and now is just angrily advancing on a headless body. Koliander in a pouncing position and growling once again, Jack just standing motionlessly at one side of the room.


Aegle heard the little commotion happening outside. She made her way out, finding herself staring at an angry Charlet and Rerarin’s head on the floor.


Now mad that he changed into something more aggressive, despite kinda guessing that this was his races trope. “Yellow is for sadness right?” She asked Aegle facing her head towards her from the floor.

Her body equipping her scythe from behind her back while facing the flaming Charlet.


She blinked, shrugging at Rerarin’s question as she walked to her head to pick her up. She raised her head to eye level, tilting to the side, then walked past Charlet to return the head back to the body.


Charlet continued to walk towards Rerarin, his flames grew bigger as he got angrier. “Shut the fuck up you little undead shit. If you want to fight, so let it begin!” He shouted.

Rerarin got even angrier as this was very different from being shouted at by knights and priests, who mostly shouted that she was a monster and an unholy creation, this was outright provocation!

“Lets fight then!! Lets go right here right now!” Rerarin shouted as she prepared to swing her scythe.


Aegle sighed, crossing her arms, wondering what her big sister did to calm her other two siblings whenever they got ready to kill each other. She patted Rerarin’s shoulder then walked to Charlet, doing the same thing as she hummed a little tune.


“Alright you two, fighting won’t get you anywhere. If you did right now, you’ll get scolded by the headmistress, and we don’t want that happening, right?” Her voice was soft spoken yet melodic in a way. “Why don’t we visit the mess hall for a snack? Or does checking out the campus grounds sound better?”


Charlet blinked when she patted him on the shoulder, he wasn’t used to affection from others, usually his dad just punched him to calm him down. He turned his back to Rerarin, mumbling “Whatever…”, returning to his normal form, his clothes as well. He turned back to Rerarin and blushed, smiling nervously… “I am sorry… For what just happened… Well, you see, whenever I change my form, it also changes my personality… So I am sorry if I had hurt you in any way…” He said to Rerarin.


“Tch..” She clicked her tongue in annoyance, seeing that he had turned back to normal, she wasn’t really angry but more so irritated by how his race worked. Seeing no reason to keep up the aggression she unequipped her scythe and raised her head up as high as she could with her hand, just being barely shorter than Charlet now as she stared at him.

“Aah.. yeah yeah, i’m not dense or stupid, I figured out how you worked the moment you started changing expressions and colors on the floor, how ‘bout keeping your aggressive side a little under wraps eh?” She said straight to his face, some annoyance still in her voice, despite him not claiming to be an angel, she still felt cautious and defensive around him for some reason. She brought her head back down as she exited the room.


Aegle looked between the both of them, a tad bit confused. “Hold that thought,” She said to Charlet, then followed Rerarin, catching up to her.


“Hey Rerarin, are you okay?” Aegle asked, worried.


“Hu? Oh I’m fine… I actually don’t know why I threw my head at him… I thought it was because he was annoying but now that I think of it… that wasn’t the main reason…”
She said with a little confusion in her voice, as she has never acted this way before to anyone. Although she’s had little social interactions as a dullahan and her childhood interactions aren’t much of a reference.


“I am trying… It’s not that easy… But I guess there is no reason for you to know…” He mumbled and sighed while being behind the two girls. He walked towards the girls and decided what happened will not happen again.


Aegle turned to Charlet, then back at at Rerarin, nodding. “I see, that means you two are okay now, right?” She asked, but she can see that both seem to be fine now, she just needed reassurance.

“I think so.” Charlet said, looks at Rerarin. “Wanna open with me a blank page?”


“Haa? Not really, this page is fine for me.” Rerarin said, as she jumped onto Koliander and proceeded to lie down on him.


“That’s good,” Aegle nodded, occasionally glancing at her room to see if anyone tried to sneak in, just in case. “Well, if we won’t be doing anything else I’ll be in my room studying,” She said, waiting for any reply.


Charlet nodded, “What classes are you taking Aegle? Except the usual ones of course…?”


Rerarin started hugged her head in her hands, as she looked up at the ceiling, just idly listening to Charlet and Aegle talk as Koliander walk along.


“Classes? You know… magic and stuff,” Aegle mumbled, not remembering the names of the subjects she took. She flinched, remembering something.


“Oh right, enrollment I think, I need to help Rerarin apply for the academy,” she said, trying to remember how Lady Hera and her big sister helped her out in applying.


She recalled it being mostly just a few sheets of paperwork. Apparently, enough dorms were absent at the time that she could reasonably have been given a dorm immediately, and so she was, but there was no telling if that was still the case. Still, it was hardly as though she had a whole ton of luggage....


Sure enough, Rerarin ended up doing much the same after receiving the forms from a woman claiming to be the headteacher -- uh, headmistress. Rerarin didn't really catch on insofar as the woman's oppressive aura was concerned, so her paperwork was done in mere minutes, and she was assigned a room in a dorm which, if the map was right, was only a little way down the hall from Aegle’s and right next to Charlet's.


Rerarin thought that the enrollment was quite easy, thinking that it would involve a lot of steps, as like the elder has told her a long time ago. She and Aegle walked back to the dorm rooms seeing as their rooms weren’t that far apart from each other, with Charlet going off as he had a class.

Rerarin and Aegle had reached her new room, as she inserted the key into the door and unlocked it, to show a room almost identical to Aegle’s besides the fact it was quite empty with only things like the bed and table,and had less personality. It was still an amazing room in her opinion, never needing to sleep or rest, and being homeless, she’s forgotten about beds for the most part, and the elements of nature didn’t bother a dullahan like her.


Despite all that, she felt… happy that for the first time in a long time, or ever actually, that she had gotten her own room, like the stress of running from place to place and escaping from knights and priests had been lifted off her shoulders.


Aegle smiled as she looked around Rerarin’s room. The enrollment went smoothly, and she got to see the headmistress again, though that woman had a strange aura surrounding her. What she still couldn’t remember was her name. Back to Rerarin’s room, it was pretty close to hers, which means it was easy to check on her.


“You’re finally enrolled,” she said, a bit proud of Rerarin. “What classes do you have? We might have the same ones,”


“Oh um..classes yeah.. I got.. Magic.. Crafting, Music..” Rerarin lists out the classes that she picked, mostly those that had her interest and could actually help her improve in strength and ability.


“Oh nice, we’re classmates in magic class, cryptozoology, health and religion class,” She said, trying to recall her classes. “I guess I’ll meet you in those classes. I’ll go ahead and let you get used to the place. If you need me, I’ll be in my room studying,” she smiled, waiting for a response before she heads back to her room.

Rerarin nodded as she saw Aegle out the door, turning around closing her room door shut, as she looks around it once more, as a bright smile came onto her face.
“He.. hahaha!! I can’t believe it! A..a home.. After all this time.. And all it took was a little courage.. I even got to be enrolled in a school! It's like i’ve always wanted..” She spoke to Koliander and Jack, but mostly to herself with a mixture of happiness and emotion, throwing her head onto the soft pillow and her body stripping itself of her armor, becoming completely naked, with only a pair of white panties on it as her body jumped onto the bed, feeling the softness and comfort it brought.

“Koliander I bet you know already but this is our new home!! You can drop all my stuff now!!”
She called out to her wolf as he barked in happiness, as the bottom of his stomach opened up, dropping a multitude of items, from a sack of coins, some clothes and changes of panties, and some nick nacks she’s collected over all her adventures that she kept, along with the stuff from that graveyard.


After an hour or so of just lying on bed, Rerarin decided to attend today's class, being crafting, as she went to put on her armour, then decided against it thinking she could be wearing something different for once, she went to pick out from the clothes that fell out of Koliander, these clothes being custom made ones from a small town’s tailor, she was kind enough to not question hiding her face, and even abiding by her unique requests quite patiently, she was one of the people who had not treated her unkindly ever since she’s become a dullahan, though that would’ve been different she assumed if her disguise was seen through.



After a bit of selection and dressing up she was wearing a black dress that hugged her torso and had a wide skirt, ending at about half her upper thigh, with white kneesocks and black shoes that looked like a ballerinas, She also had a gray hair bow that she tied onto her head to keep her hair up, and two white fingerless gloves that ended on her wrists.

She headed out to the class, leaving Koliander and Jack in her room as she didn’t think she needed them, as she head out the building and looks for the crafting classroom.

There was a gruff looking man in the hall, walking down the opposite way. He was large, imposing, holding a delicately decorated clipboard in one hand and picking what seemed to be dried leaves off his shoulder with the other.

She’s been lost for a little while now, not wanting to ask around as she was given the class location, despite not being able to find it. She saw the imposing man as she was just wandering around after noticing she was lost. Rerarin has been chased around by knights and sometimes adventurers more imposing than he seemed to be, well visually at least, knowing that people in this academy weren’t normal, or human even.

“Hello? Excuse me? Umm… I’m looking for the crafting class.. I just got enrolled you see and the class location given to me isn’t much help…” She approached the man from the front, hugging her head to her chest as she casually asked him for directions.

Something on his head twitched, and now that she was closer she could tell they were ears. Bear ears. A beastman it seemed. “Ah,” he gave a warm smile. “Your timing is impeccable. I’m your instructor then. Name’s Breghin. I was picking up supplies since my last class had an accident, I’ll show you the way..?”

She looked up to see his bear ears, showing little interest, as she’s seen beastmen in villages and towns before, with even a couple that resided at her old village, she knew about their talent in physical prowess, due to being part animal, like cat beastmen being agile and fast. She was only a little surprised that she met her teacher when she was asking for directions. “Aah! Hello, yes then i’m your student.. Rerarin, and i hope you could..”


He gave a laugh that made his beard quiver. “Don’t worry about being formal during lessons. The class isn’t that bad. You should be glad you’re not in my last one! Even with my troublemakers away they still do the craziest things.”

She furrowed her brows as she heard about the class, she didn’t think crafting would be that bad… since when asking about crafting when choosing her classes, she was told she would be able to learn how to create anything she wanted.
“It's only polite to respect those who impart knowledge onto others… that's why i always treat books with care.” She said as her morals for learning hasn’t changed much, as the village elder was her first teacher, and the villagers being teachers as well, as they taught her how to do things like farm, bake bread, knit, and she was thankful to all of them.


Breghin shrugged with a quiet, “Well culture’s different then.” He held his clipboard up to the overhead lights and flipped through its contents. “We’ve been getting so many late transfers… Hope you don’t mind the weird seating. First come, first serve with seats now.”

“I’m fine with anything…” She didn’t know how teaching and learning with multiple students work, as she’s always been taught alone and didn’t have anyone to learn with.
“Are.. there no humans in this school? I’ve only just seen other races, and even those I’ve never seen before.” She decided to ask, as she was curious for the answer, having no guesses as for there are no humans.


“You probably know already but,” he gestured between the two of them, “humans and us haven’t had a good history. There are also problems in the student body. That and most humans just… they don’t live long enough to really graduate, y’know?” He looked up like he had a sixth sense, waving at a tired looking woman with pink hair. “Their bodies are too flimsy, even if there are outliers.”


She already kinda knew the reason, just asking more to confirm it, though she really hoped it wasn't the case and that the reason didn't lie in humans xenophobia, especially since she was once human as well.

“I..totally understand that.. And i bet a lot of people here do too..”


“Aah, but don’t take it the wrong way,” he piped up. “We’re the gods of this land understand? Not a lot of us like the idea of the population going down so being reckless is off the table. There’s no sanctuary here for senseless killers. That goes both ways.”


“Gods? Sure… this forest was pretty big.. took me a while to go through it.. so you would kinda have a sanctuary in this place..” Rerarin muttered, remembering the amount of time she took to go through the forest, not knowing that she was teleported to another world while travelling through it in the first place, as it would have taken just a couple of days to get through it in her world.


Breghin looked at her oddly for a moment, blinking like realisation struck. “Rerarin, do you know what this world is called?”

“Huh? The world’s name? Umm.. I remembered it was called Delionus in books… Is it important?” She recalled multiple fiction books calling her world Delionus but never found any information on why it was called that and who named it.

“I can’t say I’ve heard of that place.” he admitted. “This is the world, Region, people call Schism. The headmistress is the goddess that controls this place since it’s pretty small. Does that make sense?”


“The huh? Region? You mean the name of the forest?, and goddess? That person.. a goddess?”

Rerarin was now confused on why he kept mentioning deities that people worshipped and had no chance of seeing in their lifetimes, still assuming that the name Schism, applied to the school and forest.


“One of those places huh...” He nodded to himself. “Delionus is a Region, or you can call it a world. Schism is a place… best way I can say it is that we’re separated from the other Regions. We have our own way and our own gods. I think some places call us, “the incubator of immortals” if that rings a bell?”


“Hu..Haa??! Worlds? You’re telling me this isn't Delionus?? A..and immortals.. I..is this.. Heaven?”

Though the explanation still wasn't enough to make the normal person understand their circumstances, Rerarin was able to infer that she was no longer in her own world, easily believing it as that would explain all the races she's never seen before.


His face lit up at the word, “heaven” but he did start chuckling halfway through her panic. “There are some places that are a bit behind, but Regions have been around for about ten millennia. No shame in not knowing, happens all the time. We’re not in heaven, even though your classes may have a few angels.”

Her face darkened upon hearing “angels” the admiration and awe she felt when reading about them in books turned into fear when she turned into an undead. “Angels huh? Isn't that nice..”

“Lots of different gods have them around,” he explained, “like I said, different culture, different beliefs. They have their own ways and judging too much isn’t healthy.” He tilted his head down to look at her. She couldn’t help noticing how sharp his teeth were despite his beard covering them. That explained its wild length at least. “Would you like to talk about Delionus? It’s usually a bit jarring to end up here like you did.”


“Talk.. About my world?.. Umm.. I don't know where to start..” She tries thinking of the history books she's read and things that was taught to her, about things in her world.

He gave a soft laugh. “No rush. I’m always open if you need an ear.” He reached down, patting her head still clutched in her hands. “Getting nostalgic about that kind of thing is good, in any case. Shows you had a good life.”

She flinches when she heard “good life”, though she had to admit her childhood were the happiest years of her life, only in comparison to the later years where she was hunted down and never had a roof over her head.

“Don’t make that face now,” he gave her back a hearty thump, sending her forward a few steps. “Think positive! Pies cooling on the window, cloud watching, being chased by bees, and all.” Even after sending her forward it still only took him one step to get in front of her to open a door, letting out a cacophony of noise. “If that doesn’t work, spend some time beating metal into shape. Come on in then. Class started!” The last bit he roared into the room, doing nothing to quell the sound.


She stepped into the room not really knowing what to expect, though she wasn't nervous as she didn't know what to be nervous about learning.
 
Today had been a busy day. Gabriella had only just arrived at the Academy this morning and already she stood before her first artificial dungeon. It had only taken her three hours to find an instructor and another two to discern the location of the dungeons themselves. She was proud of herself. On most days she wouldn’t have arrived until nightfall. The thought of her terrible sense of direction put a bit of a damper on her mood.


She stood in the antechamber that held the portals to the many artificial dungeons prepared by the faculty. Gabbie browsed the options nonchalantly, quickly becoming overwhelmed by the variety. The young angel let out a heavy sigh. ‘I guess I’ll leave it up to fate then.’ She muttered to herself quietly. With that Gabbie closed her eyes and spun, her arm outstretched away from herself. After a few spins she stopped and opened her eyes. Her outstretched finger pointed towards a dungeon marked with the element of fire. ‘Oooh!’ She exclaimed. This might be fun.


Without another moment of hesitation she bounded towards the portal and soon arrived in the dungeon she had chosen.


~~~



This was not fun.


The cavern she found herself in was heavy with sweltering air, rapidly heating both Gabriella and the metal of her armour. The interior was dim, only lit by a faint red glow, with her eyes having serious trouble adjusting at first from the natural sunlight to the shadowy cave. There was a pressure on her ears, some kind of rumbling from below as if she were underwater, but it was quite clearly coming from… something.


Just up ahead, the cave seemed to split off into three separate tunnels, each leading down into another chamber with a clear glow coming from it. She let out another audible sigh. More decisions. Not only that but this place was really uncomfortable. Armor sweats were not fun.

She picked the first cavern on the right, thinking it best because this was her was number one dungeon and it was in the right way. At least she hoped. She decided to take a stealthier approach and began to move forward cautiously and quietly. She listened for the sound of any heathens that might be ahead of her as she stealthed her way forward through the tunnel.


No movement just yet, but as she entered the chamber, she realised she had found the source of the rumbling.

A stream of magma was flowing at a rather alarming speed, gallons of molten rock rushing like rapids under where the first tunnel opened. She was stood on a ledge beside it, as was the tunnel on the far left, where she vaguely spotted what looked to be a box by the back wall of the cave. Everything about this situation seemed off, but unfortunately for Gabbie, she had never encountered a mimic before and had no way of knowing of any possible danger. She did step forward cautiously however, as she approached the strange box a creeping chill ran up her spine. It was a strange feeling considering the temperature of the cavern she was in. She reached for the box, she stared at it for a moment. She moved her hand forward slowly. Finally she worked up the nerve and placed her hand on it.


Nothing happened.


She sighed in relief, not entirely sure why this had been so difficult. She opened the box.

Inside, she found what looked like a metal hairpin, light reflecting off it in a fire-like pattern. It didn’t seem too well-made, but it did seem at least magical in nature. She put in on. She scanned around the chamber. She saw the tunnels from before as they connected with the cave wall as open ledges. She spread her wings and flew to the leftmost ledge, after she spotted another box at its end. She landed next to the box, this time with much more confidence, she opened it. More magical swag. Nice. She donned the halo and checked back on her remaining options.


The lava flow seemed to be the only way forward at the moment, at least that she could tell -- she was somewhat distracted by the heat getting trapped in her armour. ‘Well, here we go.’ She muttered as she took off in flight once more. She let herself float down to near the surface of the lava, while trying to keep as much distance as possible she flew forward, following the stream into the darkness.


It eventually diverged into a delta, one stream going left and one stream going right. She followed the stream to right, quickly finding herself over dry land again. A bridge-like formation of rock was above the lava stream, giving her a place to land, as well as having two caverns; one on each side. She wiped the sweat from her brow as she followed the cavern to the right.


Well, it wasn’t full of lava. She seemed to have stumbled into a peculiar hive-like chamber, the walls lined with humming gems emitting a small glow, the walls covered in sealed cells. She approached the center of the chamber quietly as she tried to see if she could spot any movement or tunnels going deeper into the cavern.


This place seemed to be pretty much enclosed, with another box dead ahead. This one seemed somewhat larger. She stepped forward silently and tried to open up the large box, her eyes scanned the walls and ceiling as she moved forward. She opened the box to see a large shape lurking inside. It seemed that a large reddish-brown creature, scaled with four legs and a finned tail, like some kind of bizarre cross between a dog, alligator and mermaid, had decided to use this box as a bed.


Gabriella was a little shocked at this discovery. She took out her shield and held it between her and the creature. She then reached out with her hand slowly and touched its head.

Its eyes snapped open, and with a hiss, it opened its mouth, spraying scalding steam at her as it got to its feet. Gabbie jumped back in shock at the pain. She then pulled out her hammer and brought it down on the creature’s head. Said head was reduced to a splatter under the hammer of justice. She then turned and left the chamber in a frustrated huff, turning down the remaining corridor from the room before.


The next chamber was a round, doughnut-shaped ledge moving around a towering torrent of white. It seemed like this dungeon had created its fair share of steam vents for above ground. Everything in here was so hot, it was beginning to get unbearable. She made her way around the ledge as quickly as she could. She did not want to spend much time in this room.

Around the other side, she saw yet another box, although this one was reassuringly smaller. She opened it quickly to find a cobalt breastplate in surprisingly good condition all things considered. Unlike the hairpin, it didn’t seem magical in the least, but the craftsmanship wasn’t bad. She picked it up and left the room.


Gabbie then took flight and followed the magma stream back to the delta from earlier. This time she followed the flow down the path she had yet to explore. Sure enough, there was a similar formation down there too; in fact, one of the paths seemed to lead back into the steam vent. It was no surprise she had missed the second doorway with all that fog, but it still seemed remarkably inefficient all of a sudden. She chose to avoid the path that lead to the steam vents and travelled down the newly found path.


This one had a dark, cool tunnel, with nothing in particular around, but it was also extremely hard to see even slightly in front of her. She moved forward slowly and quietly, trying to rely on her other senses to determine any danger. She didn’t see anything, but she was beginning to feel a ringing pain in the back of her brain from… something. She continued forward, preparing herself for anything that might lurking the shadows, she did however quicken her pace. Something seemed off about this place.


She eventually stumbled across a fork in the path, much like the delta before, but darker and with less magma. She took the right path first. It led her back out towards the magma stream again, illuminating a path onwards and further down. She followed the path forwards.


As she left the tunnel, she felt the heat hit her again, but at least her headache started to clear up. She came to a cliff within a few seconds, witnessing a rather uncommon spectacle in the form of a lava-fall, with another around a hundred yards away, clearly visible on the other side of the abyss. She took to the air and flew around the abyss, looking for landmarks or anything her initial scan of the room may have missed.


At the bottom of each stream, they seemed to pour into oddly-sculpted channels, spiralling around until falling down a kind of plughole, with there actually being four streams with one on each side of the room, instead of just two. She flew down the hole.



Now this place looked a bit more like a dungeon.


The walls were sculpted with all kinds of patterns, magma lit the jet-black corridor, everything was symmetrical with no stone unturned. Well, except for the fact that the walls still radiated heat as much as before. It was like an oven in here. She moved forward quickly. As she moved through the dungeon, she saw carvings on the wall -- bizarre, almost cartoonish images of rather gruesome scenes. Were these walls taken from somewhere else? Eventually, she came to a halt outside the door to a large, circular room. There didn’t seem to be another way forward, but this place looked to be practically a sauna. This was definitely where the steam vents from before were coming from boiling water at the base, and a whole room filled with searing fog. She removed her armour and placed it on the floor before entering the chamber. She couldn’t handle the heat of the metal any longer. She stepped into the large chamber and took flight, until she was hovering at its center. Gabriella surveyed her surroundings.


Sure enough, in the center of the room, in the bubbling pool, a shadow began to grow. A large, rather bulky lizard, like the one she had seen before, crawled out of the pool, snorting flames as it went. It didn’t seem to have noticed her yet, or if it did, it didn’t care. She channeled energy through her contracted spirit Braum, activating Northern Guardian as she charged at the lizard and struck at it with her hammer. It reacted poorly, hissing and spraying huge quantities of steam at her. She flew up to the ceiling, and pulled out her cannon. She let loose a shot at the creature’s gaping maw. It lazily slid out of the way, the explosion causing it to flinch.

Looking up and apparently realising it couldn’t fly if it tried, it opted for emitting more steam into the room by breathing fire into the boiling water. She kept the high ground. She took a moment, using Alleviation to shrug off the brunt of the heat affecting her and then swooped in for another strike with her hammer. The creature avoided her again, but didn’t attack, apparently charging up some kind of counter. She stared the creature down and activated another ability, Buffering, she brought her hammer down with another swing. It managed to evade again, finishing its move. Oddly colourful steam burst from its body in a wide radius, exploding towards her. She took a step forward, or at least, she thought she did. Unfortunately consciousness left her before her foot even hit the ground.


She was transported to a soft meadow filled with rabbits and teddy bears. It was wonderful, and so, so cool. A pink teddy bear waddled up to her and gave her a refreshing glass of ice water. She put it to her lips, when suddenly she became very hot. The glass of water replace with a glass of fire. The rabbits we being eaten by demons and the teddy bears had become demonic fire bears of death and hopelessness. She screamed as the horde of fire covered creatures swarmed her. ‘Not the Teddy’s! How could you defile the teddies like this!’


That was when she realised that the fire creatures were, in fact, a figment of her imagination, and she was still in the dungeon. Well, sort of. The “creatures” part was. She was very much on fire. She gritted her teeth and stood up to face the beast. She activated Eagle Eye as she charged at the creature one more time. ‘I may die here you heathen, but Im not going down without getting one good hit in.’ She raised her hammer and brought it down on the creature’s head.

It evaded yet again, another jet of fire spewing from its mouth at her. She blocked it with her shield arm and struck at it again. It ducked, spraying hissing steam at her again. She brought her shield arm up to block, the cloud rushing against the wall of metal but not managing to invade her territory. She charged forward and struck at the beast again, but missed once again as well. The lizard snarled, spewing flames at her. She responded by blocking again, but the flames were too fast, searing her shield-arm, consuming it and scorching it away right down to the bone. The pain hit her hard and fast. Gabriella glared at the creature, her eyes filled with rage. What remained of her left arm fell limp. She charged the creature once again, refusing to give up the fight and swung with her hammer a final time.

With another leap, it darted aside, blasting more flames. She attempted to dodge to the side, but was unable to escape in time. Everything grew dark as the flames consumed her. She lost consciousness as she was transported back to the school’s infirmary.
 
The pyramid was, needless to say, extremely large.
The structure towered into the sky, dwarfing everything around it, blotting out even the sun to those underneath it.
Those underneath it happened to have been none other than what Ren was rapidly concerned was liable to become a bunch of grave desiccators, but he was mostly sure that despite Miki, ghosts probably did not exist.
In front of the group stood the entrance, but there did not seem to be a door to speak of. Instead, five pillars were built into the front of the pyramid, each one attended by a different statue, each with a different head: a falcon, a hawk, a bizarre anteater-like creature, a jackal, and an ibis.
Viviane stared at the five pillars with a frown. “The jackal is the gatekeeper to the underworld right?” she asked. Her knowledge on Mshir wasn’t exactly top-class. Or mid-class really.
“Something like that,” Ren nodded. “There’s an inscription on these pillars, but…”
Viviane shrugged as she walked a bit closer. She wasn’t going to be able to read other languages, but maybe there was something else on the statues.
She noticed that at the foot of each figure, a guillotine-like blade, edge skywards, was fixed to the base of each statue.
“…that’s not ominous at all,” she mumbled. “Can none of us read this inscription? Ugh, we should’ve grabbed a translation book or something…”
“It looks like an older form,” Ren shook his head. “I don’t think a book would have helped… at all?”
Viviane gave Ren a pointed glare before sighing. “Okay, let’s try…interpret them or something I guess. They’re all pictures and stuff right?”
“I don’t think that would work either…”
“Then let’s just blow up the wall and make our way into the pyramid,” Viviane said in a sardonic manner, waving her arms to mimic explosions as she did.
"Maybe I should start calling you ‘Miss Vivi’." Miki deadpanned.
“Well do any of us have another way in?”
“We can try, but I don’t want to set anything off,” Ren frowned. “I think if it was that easy someone would have scratched one of the bricks already over the thousands of years this has been here…”
Viviane sighed, walking over to the blade in front of the hawk-headed man with a frown. “Honestly, what are these for…” she mumbled. Blades jutting up out of the ground like that? It was meant to draw blood or something right?
Miki squinted for a moment, focusing intently on the blade. "They’re enchanted. Probably. It's hard to tell."
“My guess is we spill blood on them in some order and we’ll get an entrance to pop up out of nowhere,” Viviane said. “Any takers?”
“Do we have anything to clean these with if it's not blood…?” asked Ren anxiously.
“I could spray some water over them,” Viviane replied.
“Well, you’re the one with the blood…” he muttered.
Viviane made an indignant huff, before walking over to the ibis-headed statues and pulling out her carving knife. “Just a few drops,” she mumbled, nicking her finger before letting it bleed onto the upturned blade.
No response.
“Terrific,” Viviane grumbled, suckling the finger she cut as she glanced at the statues again. If only they could understand hieroglyphs…
As Persephone stood in front of the place, she attempted to take all of what she was seeing in. She seemed to be a bit absent as the others talked about the statues and such. She’d never seen a place as strangely beautiful as this. Her eyes wandered around until she finally heard Viviane grumble, which snapped her out of it for some reason. “I wonder what this place is…”
“Well, it's a pyramid, so I guess it's a tomb?” Ren cocked his head. “They usually are, right? But this isn't the Valley of the Kings…”
Persephone blinked, unaware of what the Valley of the Kings was. “Ah, I suppose. My mother never really taught me anything about pyramids…” She spoke to herself, “So that’s what these are, huh? Ren, how do you spell that?”
“Well, there's a 'P’ in it,” he said jokingly. “P-Y-R-A-M-I-D. Pyramid.”
Persephone nodded and wrote the letters into her hand. “And what do we know about this pyramid? If it’s a tomb, who’s buried here?”
“Ah, I guess you weren't there back when we covered this in Soothsaying, right?” he said. “If you want, I'll show you my notes when we get back, but the short version is that a pyramid was built during a pharaoh's reign and they were buried in it once they died. The thing is, they were usually built in a place called the Valley of the Kings, so having one in the middle of nowhere is a bit of a curveball… That's why I wonder if there's a king buried here at all.”
“Maybe they built it to look like a tomb to ward off grave-robbers,” Viviane said. “Or try attract them with the idea of treasure and stuff.”
He shrugged. “All I know is my friend lives here.”
Persephone tried to take in this information rather quickly. “Mmhmm, so… These pillars have to relate to… What exactly? Pharaohs?”
“Egyptian gods,” Viviane replied, pointing to the jackal-headed one. “He’s…Anubis? I think. Protects tombs.”
Persephone nodded. “If it’s just gods, how do we find the way to open the entrance? The pillars seem random to me, but the blades are a little weird…”
Ren gave a small giggle.
“What’s so funny Ren?” Viviane asked.
“Ah, it's not important. I was just thinking that Persephone is cute when she's focusing on something,” he said offhandedly.
Persephone blushed a little and her tails swirled slightly. “Sh-Shut up… I’m just trying to be helpful…”
He nodded. “I appreciate that. I like that earnest expression of yours even more knowing you're serious.”
Viviane cleared her throat quite loudly. “Now as much as I would like to see you two get it on,” she said as earnestly as she could. Truly, without sarcasm. “We do need to get into this place first.”
Persephone turned bright red and was tempted to punch Viviane on the arm. “You know, I want to get into this place too! I wasn’t the one who started the flirting and s-stuff! B-But let’s just figure this out quickly. Who are all of these gods?”
“Uh… Hold on, I think I know this,” Ren frowned. “Let me see. There’s Thoth there, and Ra there, so that makes that one Horus, and that one must be Seth from the weird head. That one is Anubis, like Viviane said.”
Persephone nodded. “Do you see any pattern to the statues based on what gods they represent? Like… I know that sometimes religions follow a specific story and timeline…”
“Well, Ra is the sun god, and Horus is his… son, I think. Ra’s archenemy is Seth, and Anubis is kind of like Seth’s good counterpart? Thoth is just kind of there. He invented this damn language, whatever it says…”
Persephone pursed her lips. “Well… It’s good to know about all of that, but… Is there… Any way that they could be put into a pattern based on what they represent or something? I don’t know… I’m not too good with things like this.”
“Not really,” Ren admitted. “I’m having trouble working out a link myself…”
Miki looked at the animal heads blankly. “Maybe their age? Ra would be the first one that was created right?”
“If I remember the mythology right, even though I don’t think I do… Ra was created ex nihilo. That means all the other gods can trace themselves back to him,” nodded Ren.
“Maybe we’re supposed to pick the odd one out. Which god would have absolutely no reason to be in a tomb?” Viviane said, glancing about.
“You think it’s that simple…?” Ren asked. “Well, it would have to be Thoth.”
“I thought Set or Anubis maybe? Because the head’s are different? I also lean towards Set because Anubis is the tomb protector.”
“Thoth is just a literature god though.” Miki pointed out.
“Well I already tried spilling blood on Thoth’s blade,” Viviane said pointedly. “So if it were Thoth, what are we supposed to do?”
“Viviane, I really don’t think it’s blood…” Ren frowned.
Viviane rolled her eyes before staring down the blade. “Fine, not blood,” she mumbled, pressing a hand to the blade and trying to inject it with exin.
Miki prodded one of the blades with a frown. “It’s supposed to be more… fleshy from the enchantment. Seems a bit useless.”
Persephone blinks for a moment. “Oh right I can just check the enchantments on these blades and such.” Persephone focuses for a moment and almost has an instant epiphany. “Ah. Viviane, pour healing potion on Ra. Just trust me on this one.”
Viviane did just that. She didn’t really have a reason not to. They were expensive, sure, but she could manage. It wasn’t as if she aimed to fight on the front lines and stuff.

Something beyond the pillars seemed to shift, a sound of stone on stone as a wall opened to… another wall. This one, however, had only a single statue in front of it, specifically of Anubis on his knees, arms raised, with something in his hands. At the base of the statue, there was an inscription, as well as several marbles of various sizes, and a scale just above them with a block of gold on one side. Each of the seven sizes seemed bigger than the size before, and they were sorted by these same sizes.
“Please be Babel please be Babel please be Babel,” Viviane mumbled as she walked forward, leaning down to check the inscription.
It was still written in hieroglyphs.
“Fuuuuuucking,” Viviane grumbled, minorly flipping her shit before she sighed. “Great. More puzzles. Okay, Anubis. Three pots we have to balance this stuff.”
“Seems like it, but don’t these marbles seem too small to be fair…?” Ren pointed out.
“Well, I could make the gold into pearl. That would make it lighter right? Oh, before that, what’s in his hands…” Viviane mumbled, walking over to the statue.
Anubis seemed to be holding frogs in an awkward way, with two fingers on his left hand extended and three on his right. He held one frog in each hand, and they seemed to have a bunch of plants in their mouths.
“…why do we need frogs. Or plants,” she mumbled, glancing at the extended fingers. Maybe they were a hint, though it didn’t seem like it’d help much with how many marbles they had.
There seemed to be three plants in each frog’s mouth, each tied up by a coil of string.
“So there’s nine marbles of each type,” Ren frowned. “That makes 63 total.”
“Maybe we need the twenty third marble,” Viviane mumbled. “However you count 23. From highest to lowest or lowest to highest.”
Ren counted through them, and then took the fifth marble of the third smallest size. “This doesn’t seem heavy enough…” he muttered.
Persephone pursed her lips. “Maybe it’s the third marble in the second row? Maybe it has a special property about it or something.”
Viviane moved to try said marble.
She picked it up with ease. It really wasn’t that hard to lift.
“Fairly light on my end too.”
“How did you get to 23 anyway?” Ren asked.
“Fingers were two and three on the statue holding the frogs eating plants.”
“This is obviously a mathematical riddle,” he frowned. “I just don’t know if… Hm...”
“Voice your thoughts, Ren,” Viviane said, making a motion for Ren to lift his chest up more. “Confidence!”
He shook his head. “I’m working on it. Ignore me.”
Persephone looked at the frogs and was very interested in their construction. And did the string have anything to do with this puzzle or was it just there for whatever reason. Persephone also looked at the fingers and was in awe at the careful construction. “Mmm~ I certainly would’ve loved to meet the craftsmen who made these!”
Viviane instead took what Ren said about it being a mathematical riddle and walked back around the marbles. Perhaps they were meant to take the second marble from the first row, the third from the second and so on…
“…nah, you could screw up and pick the wrong marble still,” she grumbled.
Persephone’s gaze suddenly shifted to the gold block on the scale. It was… Curious. She imagined that they needed to… Do something with the scale to make it not so… The way it was. As this thought went through her head, Persephone picked up the middle marble among the middle-most sized marbles. She examined it with her eyes and pursed her lips a little, her tails swirling slightly to show her curiosity. “Ren… Have you come up with anything yet? Because… I’m tempted to just put this on the scale and see what happens.”
“Go ahead, I guess…” he shrugged.
Persephone nodded and went to place the marble on the scale, but right before she was going to release it onto the scale, she turned to Ren again. “Do all pyramids have puzzles like this?”
He shook his head.
“How would you know? Have you been through many pyramids before?” Viviane asked.
“A few,” he admitted.
Persephone smiled, her hand still inches away from the scale. “How dangerous do you think these puzzles are?”
“They’re perfectly safe if you get them right,” he said.
Persephone wanted to smack her hand on her forehead. “Ren, obviously that’s the case. But do you think we could die if we get it wrong?~”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’m still alive.”
Persephone sighed. “I guess I shouldn’t try this out then since we might die as a result. Let’s take our time to figure this out instead of me dying of curiosity.” Persephone put the marble back in its original place. As Persephone put the marble back, she turned to Ren again. “Do you know what direction hieroglyphs are read in? And… What kind of mathematics do Egyptians use?”
“I have no idea,” he admitted again. “I don’t have the most education on this at all…”
Persephone sighed. “I mean… I have an idea, but I need more information… I don’t want us all to die, after all.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Well… I figure that you could calculate the row and the number of the marble that you need to use based on the statue. However, I don’t know if you need to multiply the fingers and the plants or if you need to add them. Based on the direction of reading for hieroglyphics, I figure that will determine which one is the row and which one is the specific marble.”
“Well, it’s not a bad idea, but…” Ren muttered, then sighed. “Look, I think it’s a little presumptuous to think it’s only one marble with this much information…”
“So you think it’s only one of the sizes? This seems like an awful lot of information for such a general answer.”
He shook his head. “I think it’s probably a combination of different numbers of different sizes. Like a kind of ancient combination lock.”
“So… Maybe a marble from the 2nd row, then three 3rd row marbles?”
“Something like that, but these don’t seem nearly heavy enough, you know?”
“Hmm… Maybe three from the second row and three from the third row?”
Ren shook his head again. “That’s not what I mean.”
He picked up one of the largest marbles, weighing it up in his hand. “This isn’t even going to do it, see?”
Persephone sighed. “I’m really not much help in this instance, it seems… I’ve always been bad at practical things like this, but I suppose I can’t give up just yet. We don’t actually know how heavy that gold block is though. For all we know, it might be hollow.”
Miki shrugged. “I don't think so, it doesn't feel like it's hollow in any case.”
Persephone nodded. “I see… Well… I’m just trying to interpret what each of the numbers provided by the statue mean… But I keep coming up with things that don’t seem to make sense…”
“Like what?” Ren asked.
Persephone seemed somewhat upset with herself, despite the fact that she was still generating ideas. She was frustrated this wasn’t being figured out quickly. “Well things like we take all of the marbles from the second row and put them in there and then the third row and then the third row after the removal of the other two and then the third row after that one is removed, but I think that would be too many…”
“The gold is around ten kilograms?” Miki supplied. “Were we supposed to use only one of those?”
Persephone shrugged. “I’m not sure…”
“I’m certain we’ll need a few,” Ren pointed out.
Viviane grumbled as she continued to inspect the large amount of marbles. “Two three three three…” she muttered, moving to pick up one of the heaviest and one of the lightest marbles to compare their weights.
The smallest size seemed massively lighter than the largest, to a degree that made it seem like an obvious enchantment on the larger.
Viviane hummed quietly as she put them down again. “Is it a linear increase or exponential…” she mumbled. “…shit wait, I have my own scales. Fucking.”
A moment later, Viviane had her own scales setup, measuring a few balls to see how heavy they were.
The weights were massively inconsistent with their sizes, but it seemed like their masses went up by a factor of ten with every size, with the largest at a kilogram.
Viviane frowned as she finished measuring. “Miki, you said about 10 kg?” she called. “I think Persephone might be right in that we need to put a lot on except for a certain few balls, because if my measuring is right, we’d need to put…well, every single ball on to get super close to 10 kg.”
“Then it’s either not ten kilograms,” Ren said, “or we don’t have to balance it. I don’t know much about Mshir, but its engineers are mathematical geniuses. There has to be a twist here.”
“Isn’t there something about Anubis weighing people’s hearts when they die? I don’t remember it, but I think he eats it if you fail or something…” Viviane mumbled. “If we can’t get over ten kilos, maybe we should just put on those specific marbles.”
“Your heart had to be lighter than a feather. It was eaten by something with a hippo’s rump.” Miki supplied. “We had to write an essay on the afterlife around the time I came, I think.”
Viviane nodded. “So, assuming this…gold bar is the feather or our heart…” Viviane mumbled, frowning as she did. “It’d make more sense for it to be our heart, wouldn’t it? Because otherwise it’d be too easy to make one side lighter than the other if it were the feather…”
“How much does the heaviest lower the scale by?” Ren asked abruptly.
“A bit? Do you want to try it or…?” Viviane said. “It’s 1 kg, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“Why not,” he shrugged. He picked up the marble, holding it over the tray.
“…eh, why not,” Viviane mumbled, taking a step back just in case.
Ren dropped it, and the scale shifted, falling around a third of the way down, and a switch popped up.
“Ah, I get it.”
“Then go for it, I guess,” Viviane said, shrugging. “If it isn’t weight based…”
“It is. The block is under a material alteration enchantment.”
“So should we just assume everything has triple it’s initial weight and try to balance it that way?”
“No, it’s more precise than that,” Ren shook his head. “That’s what the statue is for.”
“Alright then. Two three and three three. What’re we to do.”
“One and five,” Ren corrected. “And two and six and two.”
Viviane frowned. “I can sort of understand one and five. Why two six and two?”
“The frogs and the plants and the string,” he explained.
“Fair enough,” Viviane mumbled, moving to grab said marbles and placing them on the scales.
Nothing happened.
“I guess… the switch?” Ren frowned.
“Probably,” Viviane mumbled, moving to flick it.

The statue and pedestal descended, the ground rumbling as the contents and boundaries of the room alike lowered themselves into darkness below.
In its place, a hallway lay ahead.
“I can’t see a thing,” muttered Ren. “But I think we did it.”
“That or we’re about to desceeeend into deaaaaath,” Viviane said over dramatically. “Ren, you go first? You can make a light and stuff right?”
“I… can try,” he nodded uneasily. “I’m really not sure about this murdery stuff, you know. I don’t think there’s anything down there, but…”
“If you don’t think there’s anything down there, then there shouldn’t be anything to fear from going first,” Viviane said calmly. “Of course, if you’d like one of us to lead instead, you need only ask.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You’re making fun of me again…”
“Yes. I am,” Viviane said pointedly. “Honest opinion though, no one requires you to lead if you don’t want to.”
He sighed. “Well, I guess I have the light magic, huh…?”
He lit a single sphere of white, carrying it down the shadowed corridor with him.
Viviane followed after him, idly staring at the walls to see if there was anything interesting on them.
There were what looked like murals, carved tapestries of old engraved into the walls, all unfamiliar and etched upon with characters foreign to her.
“We should’ve done more research into Egyptology before we came here,” Viviane murmured.
“They're a bit too faded for us to read anyway.” Miki muttered drily.
“Seems so,” Ren agreed. “Keep an eye out, everyone. I don’t know what’s here.”
“My eyes can see through the darkness,” Viviane said facetiously. “…honestly though, ocean floors are really dark, so this is…not horrible.”
“If you could do that, shouldn't you have gone first.” Miki deadpanned. “What kind of person is your friend anyway Master?”
“Well, he’s… a little like you. But he’s kind of bad-tempered. Like a grouchy old man,” recounted Ren. “Well, I can’t say too much bad stuff about him. He’s the one who taught me magic.”
“I'm hurt Master,” he drawled, “being like me is a bad thing?”
“I said ‘but’!” he cried.
“Exactly. He’s saying you’re everything but a bad-tempered, grouchy old man,” Viviane called back. “Meaning there’s a ton of other ‘bad’ stuff he has to leave out.”
Persephone kept quiet until now because she was upset she hadn’t been more helpful in the process of solving the last puzzle. She held up the rear of the group as they descended. To let her see behind her, Persephone also summoned a ball of fire that floated behind her. She made sure to look back every few seconds to make sure nothing was following them.

Val had just walked out of her final class of the day and was headed to her room, baby dragon trailing behind, with a sense of uneasiness. It had been unnaturally quiet in her life today, and she was having problems putting her finger on exactly why.
She had done all of her work, fed herself and her pets, and was left with nothing to do. This never happens. Val hasn’t had nothing to do in months, maybe even a year or two… Suddenly, it hit her. Now, what was the reason for her extra-hectic life as of late? Not a what, a who. Ren. He had been absent. Now that she was thinking about it, she hadn’t seen Miki around either, or Viviane, or Persephone.
“Oh god,” Valentina exclaimed, for she knew what must’ve happened. They’ve gone out for a “brief trip” and this time, without her.

“Still, shouldn’t there be more…well, they’ll probably pop up as soon as I say this, but traps? Or puzzles?” Viviane said. “I mean, two in a row immediately and nothing now? Seems a bit weird to me.”
Persephone nodded in agreement. “This hallway is very eerie… I don’t like this very much…” Persephone focused on her Exin Sense ability to properly see if there might’ve been anything dangerous in the area. Persephone senses four creatures ahead and whispered, “I can sense four creatures ahead, so… Be careful please.”
Ren nodded. “Got it. Let’s see if we can avoid them…?” he suggested.
“At least two of us have two left feet, I don’t know how well avoiding is going to work,” Viviane hissed. “Why not just knock them out or something?”
“I can fly and become invisible, but I don’t think I have enough firepower to manage to knock some creatures out… But if you do it Viviane, I can support you.” At this point, Persephone began to hum quietly, activating one of her abilities for her Singer job.
“If you think it’s going to work, go ahead, I guess…” Ren shrugged. “It seems too easy to me, so everyone make sure you have a weapon or something to hand.”
Persephone nodded as she stayed behind a little bit while humming. She didn’t want to alert the creatures to the others’ presences. If she flew, she knew she could reach them in time to offer aid.
Viviane nibbled her bottom lip a bit, before sighing. She already committed to this idea. Clearing her throat slightly, she sang a quick tune in key with Persephone’s humming, hoping it would knock out the four creatures that she couldn’t exactly see.
Silence. No immediate reaction came.
Persephone frowned a little bit. She was hoping something would happen. Maybe her feeling about the creatures was wrong? She still hummed to herself, despite this thought.
“…well, only one way to find out if they’re asleep or not,” Viviane mumbled. “One concrete way at least. Ren, lead the way?”
He nodded, taking another step forward. He only needed one.
Four creatures, comparable in size to great danes, made entirely of stone, leapt from the darkness ahead, a fifth the size of a lion behind them.

Ren held his hands out, condensing white light into them.
“Well, I guess it’s about that time.”
With a flick of his wrist, twelve blazing comets rained down upon the largest beast.
It did not have a single opportunity to dodge as the stars crashed into it, glowing cracks splintering the surface of its form. In response, it howled, the ground beneath it snapping upwards like fangs and launching several stalagmites towards him at lightning speed, slashing across his body, ivory flame marking his wounds.
Persephone flew into the air and spat oil on as many of the stone lions as she could, specifically focusing on the one that had just attacked Ren.
The spray covered the entire corridor, her allies included, and Ren spluttered a bit as some got in his mouth.
“Marvelous. Terrific,” Viviane replied, the rope around her arm coming to life as she flung it to try bind the nearest dane-sized creature.
She managed to rope the beast around its ankles, binding it in place.
The other three, however, were free to move around, and took advantage of this privilege immediately.
One of them rushed at Viviane, slashing with its claws as shadows enveloped its foot.
Viviane gave a small hop out of the way as the creature came rushing by. “Idiot,” she grumbled.
The next, however, was more interested in Persephone, lunging at her with glowing claws.
Persephone flew to the side of the claws, dodging them. “You’re not ripping up this new outfit I got.”
The last went for Ren, using the same move that Viviane’s opponent had used.
But even Ren saw this coming. Behind him, a shield of flame formed, separating into twelve huge barriers, which the stone beast ended up tumbling through with an enormous explosion of fire, reducing it to dust and magma.

The largest guardian seemed to take this as a cue.
With a roar, it released a blast of wind down the corridor, tearing up the distance between it and its prey.
Ren was blasted down the hallway, striking the ground with uncomfortable force.
Persephone noticed that Ren was getting battered and so she did her best to heal him a little bit.
He shot a meaningful glance of gratitude to her as his wounds sealed up slightly.
Miki drew his sword, waving it at the largest stone beast in an obvious taunt. He closed the distance in moments, aiming at its neck like it was any other fleshy beast.
He easily slashed across it, almost slashing it all the way through in a single clean strike.
Viviane, instead, decided to kick things into higher gear, and retracted her rope back to her arm as she grabbed the new bow-lyre from her bag.
One of the smaller beasts rushed for Miki in response to his attack, but he managed to cleanly avoid it without a hitch.
A third, now unbound, launched itself at Viviane, deflected by a wall of ice.
The fourth went for Persephone, slashing at lightning speed.
Persephone attempted to dodge the attack, but it was to no avail. The lion tore at her and she winced, but… Felt no pain. It was… Strange.
Ren moved as a white flash, aiding Miki with one last blow, punching the largest beast’s head off its shoulders and into the air.
Persephone smiled as she saw Ren punch the largest beast’s head off and decided that she was going to try and help as much as she could. It was time for her to ignite the oil that she had sprayed onto the smaller lions, especially the one who had attacked her. She summoned as many foxfire orbs with the staff she wielded and sent them as fast as she could at them.
The flames spewed down, bursting over her allies as well as her enemies, with only Miki escaping. Viviane was instead thrown out of the way.
It was Ren who was enveloped head-to-toe in azure flames, howling in pain as he was seared from the outside in, but once it faded, he still stood, teeth gritted, breaths sharper than a razor blade.
As Persephone’s foxfires went out, she fell back to the ground in tears. She… Didn’t think that she would’ve done that. She didn’t think she had that much power in her. H-How was she able to do such a thing? And… Make Ren go through so much pain… It was unforgivable.
She was clearly not the only one who felt that way, but there was something more important to deal with. “Ren?!” Miki ran to his side, pulling out a small vial.
The small boy wheezed, letting out a small choking laugh. “I’m fine,” he said. “I can heal myself, so don’t waste something that could save your life on me, okay?”
Viviane was totally fine too. Shoved aside, narrowly avoiding certain death. She’d really have to thank the small boy later.
Persephone, at this point turned invisible, but she was audibly crying.
He glanced behind him, and his eyes immediately widened, firing another rain of stars.
Despite the blaze, despite being reduced to shrapnel, one of the smaller beasts had gotten back up, but was fortunately blown to bits immediately.
“Get dead already,” he muttered, wincing as he got to his feet. “Everyone alive?”
“Sure. Alive,” Viviane shouted back, shaking slightly as she picked herself up off the ground. If Ren hadn’t thrown her aside…shit she needed to flip her skirt down again. At least no one was looking.
Persephone continued to cry in response, not even noticing that one of the beasts had gotten back up.
Miki continued to hover, not really touching him in fear of aggravating his burns. “Really Master, just drink it. I’ll take one of yours later if that’s what’s worrying you.”
“If you do that, how can I save mine for you?” he grinned, tapping Miki’s arm with the back of his hand, making his way over to where Persephone could be heard sobbing from and placing a hand on what he was reasonably certain was her head.
Persephone continued to sob, her head tilted upwards as if she was bawling like a baby. Her arms were relaxed at her side and she suddenly felt a hand… On her breast. She didn’t expect anyone to come over and touch her, so this scared her. “AH!” Persephone became visible and tears were still streaming down her face. “St-Stay away from me… I… I hurt you…” Persephone grabbed his hand and moved it back to his side. She wasn’t making eye contact with him and her tails and ears were completely relaxed and drooping, having none of the usual energy that they had in them.
Ren, flushing, rubbed the back of his head with his groping hand, and shot Miki a meaningful glance. “Well, you’re not exactly the first one to injure me this badly,” he pointed out. “It’s nothing new, so I’m not mad or anything. Just be careful to save the fried fish for dinner, okay?”
Persephone was touched that he was trying to help her, but she didn’t appreciate the joke at all. She felt more tears flow out of her eyes, but she tried to hold in her urge to wail once again. However, her willpower was not strong enough to stop herself. She got up and pushed past Ren, heading straight for Viviane. “VIVIANEEEEEEE!!!” Tears streamed down her face as she attempted to hug the siren.
Viviane herself was still fairly shaken from the entire ordeal, and gratefully accepted Persephone’s hug. She was going to thank Ren, but fucker called her a fucking fish. Fucker. He didn’t deserve shit from her now.
Anyways, hugs always helped near-death experiences. This was, of course, before she began reprimanding Persephone.
“PERSEPHONE HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING SO…SO…SO UNREASONABLE,” Viviane shouted, sharply bopping her nose. “WHAT IF I HAD ACTUALLY BEEN HIT? I WOULD’VE...GAH,” she grumbled, pushing away as she took a deep breath. “Never. Never again, Persephone. Don’t do something like this again, where you can injure us,” she growled, pulling out her pet slime as she began to stress-pet it. The cool and bouncy liquid pet was doing wonders to calm her down.
「I did it when you weren’t actually in danger.」 Miki pointed out. He apparently had enough tact to not say that out loud though, and just averted his eyes from the other two.
「I know, I know,」 he replied, 「I just wanted to cut any hard feelings off at the root. I wouldn’t be as comfortable with you as I am if you’d actually been trying to kill me, you know?」
He didn’t answer, apparently finding the potion in his hands more interesting.
Persephone walked away from Viviane to go back to Ren. “Do you need me to heal you? I know that we have potions, but… I feel like I owe it to you to help you out so we can save the potions for something more important.”
“If you would feel better helping, I'd rather we used magic for it,” he said, sitting down. “Save the potions for when we need them, right?”
Persephone nodded and sat directly in front of Ren. “I need you to close your eyes and lean your head forward. This is the way my Mother told me was the most efficient way to heal someone.” Then Persephone would touch her forehead onto his and touch his shoulders to imbue him with healing magic. As she could feel her exin leaving her, she smiled a little. It was… Nice to be able to do this to someone, rather than having it done to her. She could feel the heat of Ren’s body through her hands and head and she could tell exactly what she had done to him. It… Made her hesitant to continue, but she had promised to heal him and… She figured that this might patch up what she had done. It wouldn’t forgive it, but… It might things a little better. She’d make sure she didn’t make a mistake like that again. Not ever.

Val had asked around, much to her classmates dismay, as she was never the friendliest and kind of intimidated people. She much too slowly for her taste found out that the four had gone to Mshir. Without her.
Sighing loudly, she made her way to the portal room after picking up a small bag she always kept at the ready in her dorm.
“Those idiots better not have gotten themselves killed…” She growled, and stepped into the portal to Mshir.

Viviane sighed as she felt her heartbeat finally drop below ‘blood-rush racing’. Continuing to hold her pet slime, she jerked her head down the hallway from where the beasts had come from. “If we’re all good…we should get moving. Who knows what else there is,” she grumbled to the group, not really looking at anyone nor speaking to anyone directly before she spun around to face the darkness. As she did, she also placed her fire core into her bow-lyre, and the darkness one into her rope. To avoid having to frantically grab said cores again. “We can set up camp or something to rest once we know we’re safe.”
He wanted nothing more than to tear Persephone apart, if not physically than at least verbally. Accidentally hitting Ren wasn't an issue this close, but he'd hate to be that close to Persephone’s still warm body. “Yeah. A safe camp. Are you... two, okay to walk?” including Viviane was so obviously an afterthought, even Ren would've noticed.
“Viviane should be fine if I’ve done what I was supposed to do,” Ren nodded, “and I’ll live either way.”
“I’m fine,” she replied curtly to Miki, even if she was only an afterthought, still staring down the hall as she pet her slime. “Perfectly. Fine.”
“There’s probably a room or something up ahead we can use…” Ren frowned, leading the way.
Persephone smiled as she was content with what had just happened with Ren. “I’m just fine. I wanted to make sure Ren could walk.”
“Exactly whose fault is that?”
Persephone sunk her head down a little. “I… Know it was me… That’s why I’m trying to take responsibility by healing him.”
“Hey, are you guys coming?” Ren called. “Hurry up!”
Persephone poked her head up as Ren said this. It seemed as though Persephone was attempting to hide how sad she was. She followed Ren.

Val pretty quickly found where they had gone. She didn’t even need to track them, for she only had to see the giant pyramid in the distance to know that the group couldn’t have stayed away from something as terrible as that. She quickly found the entrance they had already opened, and very soon came across the scene of a massive battle. There was fire still burning in some parts of the room, and the smell of death. Val felt terror for a moment before she found the second door, and knew they had just gone further in. Not far, however, because she could hear just the faintest voices.

Sure enough, the group found themselves in a large room, lined with jars and statues, with sandstone steps leading further down to more dark corridors.
“There we are. This should be fine for now,” Ren commented.
Persephone attempted to sense if there were any creatures in the room by using her Exin Sense.
She found them just as she realised that she had no need for sensing at all. Four lion-sized guardians made their way out from among the statues, accompanied by two even larger ones.
“Oh, crap!” cried Ren.
Miki pressed a hand to Persephone’s shoulder, forming his sword. “Don’t do something stupid this time.” He pushed past her, slashing at the smallest statue.
His attack landed enough to almost shatter it in a single blow, sharp cracks forming across its body.
Ren followed up not with an attack, but a different kind of spell, gathering and condensing energy, forming a Res Novae.
One of the larger golem beasts took notice of Miki’s attack, slashing at him with its claws.
He brought his sword up against it, easily deflecting the blow.
The other seemed to snarl, lurching back as metallic wings sprung from its back; gears and clockwork dancing around each other.
Two more rushed towards Viviane, and the last two towards Ren, the main source of light in the room as of this moment.
Viviane…well, fucking dodged. She didn’t want to bother erecting another ice shield, so trying to dodge two attacks would be the next best thing. She didn’t even come close to success, the dual slashes slicing across her. Which hurt like a bitch. She’d have to make ice shields at this rate. Pulling her bow lyre around, she aimed down one of the smaller guardians that had just hit her before firing an arrow.
Ren took a good deal of damage as well, not having the slightest chance to evade before being hit hard.
Viviane’s arrow soared, striking home and chipping a small chunk off the side of the creature.
Miki pressed it further, sending a kick to its cracked body, shattering it.
“Miki I was going to use my fire core to send it into one of the other ones,” Viviane shouted.
Ren continued condensing. One star was enough, but its dust… Could he do something with it?
The force of the astral light inside him flared in intensity, roaring, miniscule particles bombarded with each other, fusing. A single silver point became a constellation, seventeen stars created from one.
Persephone spaced out for a short while, suddenly coming back into reality. She needed to attack something. She imagined that one of the larger statues would be an easier (and less risky) target to hit. She threw two balls of foxfire in the direction of the large beast.
It dodged with a dramatic margin, rushing at her in direct response to the spell.
Persephone scoffed as she went invisible and flew away from the large statue that attempted to target her.
It didn’t seem to faze it in the least, continuing its rush with a claw of such relentless speed she couldn’t possibly have avoided it.
“You idiot!” Miki snapped, running to push her out of the way.
He only just managed to intercept the blow, his body shielding the kitsune.
“This isn’t working!” Ren cried. “Viviane, Persephone, get back!”
As Persephone’s hit was taken for her, she bit her lip to the point where it bled. She was completely useless here and it aggravated her beyond all belief. All she could do was sit back and let Ren and Miki do everything for her.
Viviane had no problem stepping back and letting the two of them take care of things. She was not made for fighting toe to toe with things. “If we can’t knock them out, we should at least help Ren and Miki,” Viviane called.
Persephone nodded to Viviane, becoming uncloaked. “I’ll do my best to help Miki if you want to focus on Ren.”
“Uh…my focus is mainly on sleep and…okay I do have one thing that can help both of them,” Viviane replied.
Persephone nodded. “Then let’s do our best from here.”
A pair of lion-sized golems decided to pursue the pair that had leapt back, the other pair rushing at Miki and Ren.
With Persephone’s lip bleeding, she went invisible and flew away from the lion golem that was attempting to attack her.
Viviane had learned well from the first double attack, and threw up a few ice shields to block the attacks instead of trying to dodge.
The golem’s attack broke against Viviane’s shield, but Persephone was not so lucky, her lack of speed betraying her once again as she took a direct hit.
Persephone yelped as she was hit by the attack. She was tempted to spit oil onto the lion statue, but she held it back. She needed to support Miki.
Miki brought his sword up to counter, effortlessly deflecting the attack, whereas Ren attempted to evade with what little skill and grace he possessed, and failed dramatically.
The final, largest golem reared its head, prepared to strike, dashing at Ren with its claws bared.
It slammed him into the wall hard enough to crack it, causing white flame to spurt out of opening wounds.
Miki made a distressed sound when Ren hit the wall. “I hope you know what you’re doing...” he muttered, joining the other two out of his range.
Ren gave a wordless nod. He held out his arms, a magic circle forming in front of him, growing with layers upon layers as seventeen stars traced its outline.

“Pluit Astra -- Nocte Caelum!
An unstoppable stream of light spilled forth, dozens -- no, hundreds -- of comets rained down from his body in an instant, a silver aurora of destruction that shattered not just the golems, but even the surroundings, rending them to magma in a mere moment.

Viviane winced as the bright lights flashed in front of her eyes, bringing a hand up as she watched their surroundings melt away. “…fucking hell,” she mumbled giving Ren a very suspicious look. Who was he? She’d assumed he was just an adorkable kid who could take a few hits…
Persephone looked away from the attack, as all of the enemies burned away. She… Really wasn’t much help at all, was she? And… If she was, she was about to kill someone as a result. Persephone was afraid the party wouldn’t want her after this whole ordeal, so she kept eerily quiet after the attack.
Miki gave an unconcerned glance to the remains of the statues. “Master… you really need to take better care of yourself.”
Ren gave a sheepish laugh, rubbing the back of his head. “Sorry about that. I was trying to take their fates so I knew that I would be able to hit them, but I guess with that kind of speed, I didn’t really need to… Ow.”
Persephone looked up to see Ren laughing, which made a small smile come to her face. She may have been useless, but at least Ren was there to keep them all safe. At the very least, she could heal him once again. “Ren… Would you like me to heal you once again?”
He gave a single nod. “If you could… Sorry that I keep doing this.”
Persephone frowned a little. “You don’t need to apologize. I’m the one who can’t do much in these situations. At least you can get hit. I can’t even seem to do that without worrying everyone else.” Persephone planted herself on the ground, gesturing for Ren to sit in front of her like before.
He made his way over anxiously, slowly lowering himself to the floor in the least painful way he could.
“This one was pretty bad,” he muttered. “Sorry about this, really…”
He looked around a little bit as he shuffled in.
“Viviane? You look a little shell-shocked.”
Viviane shook her head slightly. “Just…coming to terms with some things,” she mumbled, still staring at the molten hallway. “How are we going to get across…?”
Persephone looked toward Viviane, moving almost sluggishly. “We can figure it out after I’m done healing Ren.” Persephone leaned her head toward Ren and expected that he would lean his in as well, which, of course, he did. She cast her healing seven times to make sure that he was healed up to something that was close to what seemed to be his maximum health.
After finishing her healing, she took a deep breath. “Does anybody else need any healing?”
Viviane shrugged slightly, digging into her bag for her old potions before popping the caps off and drinking two of them down.
“I’m fine for now.” Miki answered.
Viviane wasn’t taking a second of Miki’s shit, having taken hits from the guardians, and tossed him two of her old potions as well. “Drink. Now.”
Persephone sighed. “You don’t have to drink potions. I am right here. And I will get better at healing if you let me heal you.”
“And we need you to save your energy in case we need you to fight or heal more than these silly potions can later. So let’s just use my old potions when we can afford to Persephone. Please,” Viviane replied, glancing to the kitsune as she spoke.
“If we need to save them then I don’t need to drink any.” he insisted. “It was just a scratch.”
“Yeah, just a scratch,” Viviane said, air-quoting as she did. “Their old potions anyways, won’t heal as much. Save the ones I made today for when we really need them, and drink these ones now, Miki,” she finished forcefully, all but dumping the potions into his mouth.
Miki fumbled with the vials, not really having a choice unless he wanted to just drop them. He settled for a vaguely annoyed look as he nursed one of the potions.
Persephone stood up and dusted off her outfit. “Alright. Now. To the task at hand, what are we going to do about moving through this room?”
Viviane shrugged. “I could terraform something? Take the corridor behind us and put it in front of us.”
“Doesn’t Miki have metal and crystal magic? Could you make a path for us?” Ren suggested.
“The last time I tried to use magic on something molten, it just melted.” He answered sheepishly.
“Viviane has an ice spell, right? Couldn’t we use that as a foundation to buy us some time? Water has a high… uh…” Ren mumbled, wracking his brains for chemistry lessons. “Specific heat carpet or something.”
“I’m afraid that… That might not be the best. I remember my Mother used to add ice to molten sugar and… That went very badly for her.” Persephone added.
“Well, maybe, but we’re not adding it directly,” he pointed out. “Just lay it over the hole so it melts quickly enough.”
Persephone put her finger on her lip, which had stopped bleeding at this point. “You could always lay a few over it as well.”
Viviane sighed, flipping one of her shields face down so that it could catch things. “Miki, some metal. I guess.”
He nodded, conjuring a sheet of metal over her shield.
“Let’s go,” she mumbled, laying both over the top of the hole before hopping on and across.
Persephone was at the back of the pack and waited until the others would cross before she would in case something melted.
Ren followed suit… leaping straight over the ice and landing at the other end with arms outstretched like a professional gymnast waiting for a perfect ten from the judges.
“Ha! I can’t believe that actually worked!”
Miki was close behind. “Well if you thought of it, it couldn’t have gone that badly.”
“...Are we both talking about the same person?” Ren blinked. “You were there when I knocked the bookshelves over and stuff, right? And Taltic...place.”
“Well you weren’t really thinking with that stuff.” He reasoned.
“I thought the jungle was a pretty good idea actually,” he mumbled, clearly giving up Tlalticpac’s name altogether. “Anyway! Let’s get going, everyone!”
Viviane nodded as she tossed on her cloak before she picked up her slime and it’s bowl again, falling into step behind Miki.
Persephone made her way across the bridge and followed the others. “We should definitely get moving.”

The hall ahead led out to what looked to be a legitimate hall. No golems in sight, nor any sound or sign of movement. It was dark, but not built in such a way as to be hard to illuminate, and it was airy enough that the group had space to even light a campfire if they so pleased. This was certainly a rest stop if Ren had ever seen one.
Up ahead, there seemed to be a doorway, but nothing was blocking it off. On the left-hand side of the room, however, there was a carving in the wall -- no, a sealed entrance to somewhere, with four gaping lion maws positioned around the middle.
“Uh…anyone else scared that four lions will jump out and attack us?” Viviane asked as she pointed at the wall with the four mouths on it.
“Those holes look too small for that,” Ren shook his head. “Bet you my head wouldn’t even fit.”
“Let’s not take that chance,” Viviane mumbled, sighing as she stretched her back. “Should we set up camp to rest for a bit?”
“I’m getting a closer look then.” Miki said. “I think I can handle them if they actually attack.”
Viviane shrugged as she walked over to the wall as well with Miki. “What do you think the lion heads mean?
He shrugged. “I don’t really care. You might as well give me a white painted canvas and try again later.”
“What does that even mean…?” mused Ren in the background.
The lion heads, upon closer inspection, had suspiciously rounded mouths, at least on the inside. It didn’t seem like it was intended to be particularly natural in its design.
“…it pains me to say, but I think Ren’s idea of sticking his head in them may actually work,” Viviane mumbled.
“That wasn’t my idea!” he protested. “Don’t put words in my mouth just because you’re mad!”
“Hah,” Viviane replied dully, moving to inspect the wall to see if there was any loose spots.
There didn’t seem to be anything along those lines. On the contrary, it seemed to just be an embossed sheet of metal with ornaments attached here and there. Or, more likely, a slab.
Ren, apparently feeling left out, came over to inspect as well.
“These round bits…” he murmured. “I guess we have to fill these up, but don’t these seem like kind of familiar shapes to you guys?”
“Like the marbles back at the scales?” Viviane offered.
He shook his head. “More than that… I feel like this is exactly the right size to be something I studied recently… You know?”
“Ren, I’m not a mindreader. What have you been studying recently?”
“Ah, I don’t remember…” he grumbled. “Too much work, not enough nap.”
“I could make you nap right now if it would jog your memory,” Viviane muttered under her breath.
“No, please don’t. That won’t solve our problem.”
Viviane huffed as she regarded the mouths again. “Maybe we should look around for something that would fit?” She glanced around for a moment. “…if only there were something that would fit…maybe have Miki use magic to make some balls that would fit?”
“I wonder…” Ren said. “I feel like it was supposed to be something specific but…”
Metal gathered at Miki’s fingertips. “Whatever happens can’t be worse than Vortigern right?”
“How bad was Vortigern?”
“An undead dragon god possessed one of Master’s old friends.” Miki frowned. “She was our friend, right?”
Ren nodded. “What that fox woman said about Renya and you… still kind of bothers me…”
Viviane whistled quietly. “Uh…yeah, probably won’t be worse than that,” she mumbled. That story was a lot more depressing than she expected.
“Anyway!” Ren declared. “Are you guys sure you don’t have any ideas what this could be?”
Viviane shrugged. “Cores?”
Ren nodded. “Right! That’s what it was!”
“Why were you studying cores?”
“Mage class,” he answered.
“Okay. So should we go back and grab the cores we skipped then?”
“Sounds good. I bet those are the key here.”

A short trip there and back brought them to the front of the wall again with all four cores.
“So I guess we just put these in the lion’s mouths…” Ren raised his eyebrows.
“Yup,” Viviane replied, moving to place the cores in.
Sure enough, after a moment of silence, the wall began to shift, rising into the ceiling above with a grinding rumble.
And then, a booming roar.
A corridor was wide open, walls painted with images of the cosmos, and ahead a room filled with gold.
And just in front, the unmistakable form of a divine beast.
“A sphinx?!” Ren cried. “For real?!”
An absurd gravity emanated from the beast, a pressure that made it hard to breath. Its body was coated in flames, radiating with godly force that was barely compatible with the mortal plane.
“Ren, can you do the star thing again?” Viviane called as she quickly placed her slime bowl aside.
“That takes time!” he cried. “And more to the point, are we sure it’d even work on something like that?!”
“We can do that thing we did for Cath Palug?” Miki shifted in place, staring at the sphinx knowing his magic wouldn’t work.
“Is a roof going to work either? Cath Palug wasn’t divine, right?” replied Ren.
“Just putting the idea out there.” he answered blithely. “I’m not sure I can help if one of you gets hit.”
“…yeah, I think Ren’s star thing is our best bet here,” Viviane mumbled.
“A-alright, but you’ll have to cover me,” Ren pointed out. “Like I said, it takes time.”
The sphinx roared again, and from the walls, Anubis statues slid out onto pedestals, eyes glowing a verdant green.
“Oh that doesn’t look good,” Viviane mumbled, quickly digging into her bag for her smoke core.
Electricity rushed through Miki’s gauntlets as he eyed the glowing statues. “So your orders, Master?”
“Orders… Uh…” he pondered. “W-what are those statues…?”
“Not our friends,” Viviane grumbled. “Want to try blow one up, see if it affects the sphinx?”
“As long as you don’t die trying…”
As if on cue, the sphinx took a battle stance, a blast of blinding light tearing down the corridor at the group.
“Fuck,” Viviane mumbled, trying to get out of the way. It was a better chance than trying to block the damn thing.
Miki tackled Ren, trying to get them both out of the way.
All three evaded the blast handily, it shattering the wall behind.
“This thing…” Ren muttered.
He hadn’t encountered many sphinxes before, but he could tell at a glance that this was no ordinary one. From his best guesses, it was some form of ascended species, exalted with divinity, but that didn’t help much in discerning a weakness…
『What’s the matter?』 whispered a cattish voice. 『Can’t think of the opposite of “divine”?』
No, he wasn’t going to do that. Despite appearances, he definitely didn’t trust those swords yet.
Instead--
He focused, dropping firing hammers in his head. Right now, above all, he needed more speed.
Once again, gathering energy within his being, a Res Novae formed.
Viviane figured her attacks weren’t going to do much against the sphinx. Instead, she focused on Ren, using one of her newfound equips to give him what was most easily described as an accuracy boost. “DON’T MISS.”
Apparently deciding to step it up, the sphinx’s aura flared as it rushed towards the group, blades of flame springing out like claws.
Miki lit up one of his runes, leaving him with no choice but to brace for its attack.
It slashed firmly across his body with the first strike, the second pointed at Ren, who cleanly managed to evade with space to spare and followed up with a barehanded counterattack.
Thanks to the Res Novae, it sailed forth with incredible force, but the sphinx was easily fast enough to evade that too.
“YOU MISSED, I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU…AAAAAAGH.” Still, Viviane didn’t let such a setback get to her (okay it did a little, but she’d manage) and instead focused on making some shields after watching Miki take such a clean hit.
“I’m trying, okay?!” Ren cried.
The sphinx didn’t seem to be intent on giving him any leeway though, and fired a powerful blast of light once again at the small boy who had attacked it just a moment before.
The light struck him directly, not giving him an instant to spare, only to be immediately annihilated.
Miki’s breathing stuttered, but he could tell Ren was unharmed so he focused on conjuring swords that shot towards the sphinx.
It nimbly dodged through each of them, not taking a single hit.
Ren, meanwhile, focused his mind again, allowing a stellar wind to well within him as one light formed after another.
“Get ready!” he called.
Viviane mumbled something to herself under her breath that said something very unflattering about the sphinx as she glanced to Ren and gave him another accuracy boost for good measure.
The creature itself went for Miki this time, dashing at him with its fiery blades.
His gauntlets crackled and he brought them up to counter its fire.
Counterattacking seemed to do something to throw it off, but it evaded Miki’s blow quickly enough, throwing off its own attack too.
This gave Ren the opening he needed.
“Alright, now!” he cried. “Nocte Caelum!
Another blinding stream of stars shot forward towards the beast, light that subsumed even its divinity as a sudden burst of magnitude that practically vaporised the sphinx instantly.

Practically.

The light died down, but all that had happened was the production of rubble. Nine of the ten statues down the hall lay scattered in white-hot pieces, the last one still standing right next to the sphinx.
Ren took a step back. “N-no way. The statues resurrected it… nine times in a row?!”
“Fucking,” Viviane grumbled, pulling her bow. “Miki, get the statue too please,” she called, firing her bow. It was easier to hit a statue than hit a giant sphinx, after all.
The sphinx, however, was absolutely not putting up with that, rushing at Viviane immediately.
Miki ran towards her, trying to push her out of the way. 「Master, try using that again!」
「Right now?! I don’t have enough stars, it won’t work!」
Just then, the blades struck Miki, dealing another clean hit.
Viviane groaned as she was pushed out of the way, pushing herself up before the sphinx thought better and tried to attack her while she was done. “Thanks Miki,” she called, nibbling her bottom lip. This seemed to be a recurring theme for her; being pushed out of the way of danger. Maybe she should find a better vantage point or something.
Ren, meanwhile, was busy forging new stars, a silver light emanating from his body like streaks in the night sky.
“Let’s try something new,” Viviane mumbled, closing her eyes as a pale silver moon seemed to fade into existence, bathing the room in a new light glow that wasn’t. Well, wasn’t coming from an entity at least.
The sphinx, blades still burning, suddenly recognised Viviane as a threat again, rushing her.
Viviane grumbled, raising her ice shields to take the brunt of the flaming blades.
It cleaved through them, striking her directly.
Viviane made a quiet whimpering sound as the burning blade struck her.
Miki picked himself up from where the sphinx had flung him, sending swords towards the statue.
That was Ren took his chance again. Another Nocte Caelum spilled forth, bombarding the sphinx with falling stars.
The cracks that Viviane and Miki had made in the statue only worsened, spilling white light, shattering, and a moment later, the sphinx itself quickly followed.
Viviane sighed, dropping her bow as she fell onto her back, making a dull ouch sound as she did. “That’s over,” she mumbled. “Yay.”
Ren let out a long sigh. “I think we went hard mode, guys.”
Miki pressed a hand to the burns with a hiss. “Why was a divine beast even here?”
Ren shook his head, making his way over and placing his hands on Miki's wounds, emitting a soft silvery glow.
“I can probably make a guess… This is a pyramid, right? A tomb for kings. Pharaohs were always given divine authority, so that might have something to do with it…”
“At least it’s over,” Viviane mumbled, rolling over onto her front as the moon above her eventually faded.
“I don't know…” Ren frowned. “I-I mean… There couldn't be more of those things… Right…?”
“Don’t jinx it,” Viviane said, pushing herself up as she regarded her own burn. “At least I wasn’t wearing my dress,” she mumbled, fishing out another two of her old potions to heal the burn.
“Hold on, don't waste those! I'll heal you too!” he cried. “Just give me a second!”
Viviane gave a blank stare, before shrugging and tossing the old potions back into her bag. “If you say so,” she said, making her way over to Ren and Miki.
“We need to save your work until we really need it, you know,” he chastised. “Don't undervalue them like that.”
Viviane rolled her eyes slightly as she sat down. “Even the old ones that don’t heal nearly as much as the ones I made today?”
“Those are useful too. What if you get lost?”
“Get lost…? How would they help then?”
“They'd keep you alive until we find you! This place is a death trap!”
“That…” Viviane sighed, nodding as she shifted her bag. “Fine, I’ll save the old potions,” she replied, waiting idly for Ren to finish healing Miki. “So…Ren…how did you learn to do that star thing?”
“It's pretty simple once you get the hang of making the stars themselves. You basically make a bunch and blow them up by shooting your magic through them. Then the pieces go like comets or lasers or something and all crash down on whatever you're aiming at.”
Viviane clicked her tongue. “That’s a…well, okay,” Viviane mumbled. She probably would never get the hang of it, so she’d just have to take Ren’s word for it.
“Here, I’m done. Miki, you’ll be just fine in a minute or two,” he beamed. “Viviane. Hold still for a second.”
Viviane turned slightly to show her injured side before waiting for him to start healing. “You know, this may be the first time I’ve had healing magic cast on me. I usually just drink potions.”
“It’s important to save resources that valuable for emergencies,” Ren shook his head. “Let me tend you.”
Viviane made a half-hearted humming sound while she waited.
“Alright, you’re pretty much patched up. You’re pretty easy to heal,” Ren admitted. “Easier than I remember anyone else being, anyway.”
“So it’s good being easy?” Viviane said, flashing a smirk over her shoulder.
“...Sometimes,” Ren answered carefully, eager to not dig too deep a hole.
Viviane shrugged as Ren healed her, not too willing to dig deeper either. Brushing death so many times in a day took the wind out of her sails a bit. “Did the sphinx drop anything?” she asked, glancing at the remains from where she was lying.
“A core, I think,” he looked over. “I don’t know about anything else. Can we use divine pelt for anything?”
“Armour? Clothing? Who knows. May as well take it with us though,” Viviane said, picking herself up after Ren finished healing her.
He nodded. “We can go and check the next room too. I think I saw a glow in there.”
Viviane nodded, pulling out her knife to get the pelt and core to bring with them. They could decide who got what later. “This’ll take a while…”
“Want help?” Ren offered. “It’s probably quicker to take the body though…”
“Help would be nice,” Viviane said as she mapped out where to cut. “And…can the storage amulet fit such a large beast?”

It turned out, it could not, so they took the long way. Ren gave up halfway out of nausea, reliable as ever, as dragged himself inside the treasure room up ahead. The entire place was ankle-deep in shimmering gold, objects of all kinds sticking out from the piles, all surrounding a large gilded coffin.
“More hieroglyphs…” he muttered. “Hey, guys, this place really is a tomb!”
Viviane would eventually make her way to the room as well, wiping herself off with a red towel with splotches of white on it. “A tomb?” she asked. “I wonder who was buried.”
It was at that moment that the sphinx -- no, an image of the sphinx -- stood up, walking calmly into the treasure room and curling around the sarcophagus, a mirage whispering into existence. A young woman, surrounded by a trio of cubs running in circles around her, sat cross-legged atop the casket.
『I’m glad you asked,』 she smiled. 『My name is Nefertari, and I ought to be furious with all of you.』
Ren leapt back, yelping in astonishment at the sudden appearance of an actual ghost.
“I-I-I’m sorry!” he cried. “We’ll leave if you want! Um! Who are you…?! Are you dead?!”
『Quiet down. You could wake the… Well,』 she muttered. 『Now, explain yourselves. You have broken into my tomb, destroyed my custodians, vandalised the architecture, and murdered the eldest sister of these dear four. I should kill you all on the spot, but as my beloved, I shall at least hear you out before coming to my judgement.』
Viviane quietly nudged Ren.
“Ah?!” Ren squeaked.
『Well?』 asked Nefertari.
“Um! It's kind of… self-defence! We came here to meet a friend and then everything started attacking us!” he spluttered. “So we fought back! We didn't know it was a tomb, we just thought there was a possibility, so we didn't come as graverobbers or anything!”
Nefertari blinked, then gave a long sigh. 『You get into these situations a lot, don't you?』
Ren nodded. “A bit.”
『If you aren’t graverobbers,』 she announced,『then you are guests. Make yourselves comfortable. I am sure you have journeyed long and hard to get here.』
“...A bit,” Ren said again.
With a wave of her hand, the spectral sphinx materialised a physical body once again, revived with ease. 『I will call off the guards. Where have you come from, young ones?』
Miki glanced at the others. “We’re from Schism. There aren’t many people there compared to other realms so you might not know of it?”
『I cannot pretend to,』 she admitted. 『I have not exactly been exposed to news recently.』
“We can tell,” said Ren.
『I presume you are undead?』 Nefertari asked Miki.
“It’s close enough to being alive.” he shrugged.
『Never pass on,』 she advised. 『It’s usually not worth it. And you.』
“Me?” blinked Ren.
『What are you, little myriad?』
He blinked again, as if that constituted a response.
『I see. You do not know,』 she nodded. 『A pity. You are quite the curiosity with those countless souls.』
“With what?” he asked.
『Souls,』 she repeated. 『Did you not realise?』
Countless?” he echoed.
『I mistook you at first for a legion unlike any seen on this world. At first I thought the dead were rising,』 she said. 『You are not like any I have ever met. You are not a person, but perhaps a walking cosmos in yourself.』
“Is that why he glows white?” Viviane chimed.
“V-Viviane!” he cried.
“What, I was curious.”
『Perhaps,』 Nefertari said. 『After all, despite having the shape of a human, it is more accurate to think of him as an entire night sky. A universe of living souls, and yet only one possesses the awareness in such a state to hold consciousness.』
Her bright eyes became sombre for a moment.
『I cannot imagine what manner of power you must have originally possessed to become such a being, terrible spirit, but I fear the all-powerful Isis herself would be reduced to grovelling before you. Do you remember your name?』
He took a step back. He was pale to begin with, of course, but he was visibly shaken. “M-my name is Ren. Ren Vedas. I don’t know where it comes from. I just know it’s mine.”
She nodded, her expression softening again. 『I see. I do not know who you were or how you came to be as you are now, but to have forgotten everything is likely for the best.』
Viviane would’ve been drinking something if possible. This conversation had went to ‘holy shit’ territory quite a bit too quickly for her tastes. “It makes some sense,” she mumbled. “The whole star thing you did from before. Maybe part of your power is coming back, whatever it is.”
“But that’s just magic!” Ren protested. “I made it! You just make stars in yourself and then--”
『You are aware that being able to create stars inside your own being is only further evidence that you are a sentient cosmology.』
Viviane shifted quietly where she was before sighing. “I’m sorry Ms. Nefertari, but could we talk about something else? This is a…well, a lot to take in. For all of us, I think.”
『Quite right,』 she nodded. 『It is not a thing to dwell on. In the meantime, as honoured guests, you may take anything of your choosing in this room. I shan’t be needing it, after all?』
“Wait,” Ren said. “You were going to punish us for being graverobbers, but now you know we aren’t you want to give us stuff?”
『Ye who shall take forcibly not shall receive from hospitality,』 Nefertari declared, as if reciting it from memory.
Viviane blinked, mumbling a dull “Are you serious” under her breath before slowly looking around.
“Can you warn us if any of this stuff is cursed?” Miki muttered, scanning the room. “Curses aren’t exactly...”
『None of it will be cursed,』 she assured him. 『Only I have the authority to do such a thing.』
As she glanced around, Viviane’s eyes settled on a slight…glow, as it were. Walking over, she carefully shifted around in the pile until she came upon a seemingly golden chain, a shorter than usual short-blade attached to the end. “Ms. Nefertari?” she called as she turned around. “May I take this?”
She looked over. 『That chain… It is somewhat dangerous,』 she warned. 『As I said, it is not cursed. On the contrary, it is blessed, but by a somewhat disagreeable god who caused a bit of trouble for us for a few centuries.』
Viviane hummed as she carefully wrapped part of the chain around her arm, holding the rest in her left hand. “That’s fine with me. Thank you, Ms. Nefertari,” she finished, curtsying slightly.
『I am glad it is well-received. Please, as much as you need.』
Miki stepped around one of the piles, picking up a box. Locked. “You wouldn’t happen to know where the key to this is?” he looked around the room, picking up on even more boxes with keyholes. “...Or where any keys are?”
『They… can’t be far,』 she said. 『They’ll doubtlessly be in the pile, but I don’t know...』
He sighed, setting down the box to begin digging through the pile, setting aside any interesting things he happened to find.
Viviane, having already been semi-satisfied with her find, moved over to help look too.
Persephone, who had been somewhat absent during this whole endeavor, looked around at the large room and all of the treasures that sat inside of it. “Oh wow… This is certainly astounding.” She walked over to a piece of cloth that she could only assume to be a shawl and smiled. “Am I allowed to take this?”
Nefertari gave a silent nod, but just as she did, the cloth moved a little.
Persephone looked down at the cloth and realized that something was actually wrapped in it. She blinked and looked down at the small creature that was wrapped in it. It seemed as though it was a baby Sphinx, which made Persephone smile widely. “Hello little one!” She held the Sphinx in her arms and cradled it a little bit.
“You seem to have suffered severe trauma from that last fight,” Ren snarked, glancing up at the large one. “No hard feelings, right?”
It gave an uninterested glance in a completely different direction.
“I-I will take that as a yes.”
“Viviane, what do you think about this?” Miki called. He was still elbows deep digging through the pile, but he nudged an iron crown with his leg. There was a stone arrow already beside it, along with a collection of keys. “Oh, this one is good.” He pulled out one last key, holding it up for Nefertari to see.
『That should open the strongest box there,』 she said, demonstrating to the container in question.
Viviane happily twirled the crown before placing it on her head. “I like it,” she said cheerfully.
Miki nodded, moving over to unlock the box. Inside was a dagger, a bit on the plain side. He flipped it around in his hand, giving a few arbitrary spins and stabbing the air in front of him.
Ren stifled a giggle. “Watching you practice never gets old.”
Nefertari raised her eyebrows. 『Are you a blade expert? Your form is a little… No, it's nothing. I'm sure times have changed.』
“I wouldn’t say I was an expert… I just saw it so much that I picked up on it. Why?”
『For a knife like that, your posture is too rigid,』 she commented. 『Ram showed me. A fight is a time where it’s not easy to think flexibly, but as long as you’re calm, then a knife will come much more naturally than any spear.』
“Ram...” he echoed, “Ah. Right.”
The translucent ghost of Nefertari went a little pink in the face. 『What’s with that reaction?! Got a problem?! We knew each other from childhood, so what’s wrong with giving him a nickname?!』
“Aah,” breathed Ren. “So she does that thing as well. I suddenly relate to you a lot, Nefertari.”
『Mmnmngrr...』 she made an indignant, grumbly noise and fell silent.
“Would ‘Master’ count as a nickname?” Miki wondered out loud.
“I think it's more of a title,” Ren commented.
“Sex title,” Viviane mumbled under breath as she checked how the crown fitted.
“That's definitely not a real thing!” cried Ren.
“It definitely is,” Viviane replied. “Or it will be one day, if it hasn’t already come. Though I doubt it hasn’t.” As she spoke, she frowned as she pulled out a…jar? “Miki, isn’t this your colour?” she said, carefully placing the vase to one side.
“Bit too blue.” He corrected, picking it up. “It’s probably useful though… I can kind of tell what it does.”
“The terror of Miki wielding an ancient pot,” Viviane said in a droll tone before inspecting the keys. “Hmm…” Viviane hummed. “The key should fit the lock…” she mumbled, picking up one of the keys. Were they missing some? Well, who cares if they were. What was the worst that could happen?
Perhaps Nefertari should’ve been less generous, but Viviane really went crazy, having finally sat down with no less than three more items in her lap; an earring, a bell, and an odd cloth with a bunch of eyes on it. “Hmmm…can I punch a hole in my ear right now…?” she mumbled, bringing the jewellery up to her ear for a moment.
“I refuse to heal self-harm on principle,” Ren pointed out.
“Self-harm is but one step in self-beauty,” Viviane responded. “Dieting, for example, is restricting yourself from eating so your body will learn to eat away at itself so you look slimmer.”
“That's starvation,” he replied. “Dieting is just eating less and moving more.”
Persephone sat with a selection of music, a shawl, and a baby sphinx in her lap. The baby sphinx pawed at the shawl as Persephone suddenly began to sweat. “Uh… R-Right Ren, it’s just uh… S-Starvation… Right. Hahaha…”
He blinked. “Are you…?”
Viviane glanced over as well, squinting for a moment. “Persephone…are you starving yourself? You know, you should only get so thin.”
Persephone rubbed her cool hand against the back of her neck. “Well… Um… I’m not starving myself… Technically.”
“I am going to bring meals to all our study sessions,” Ren said slowly. “And we are going to eat together. And on days where we don't have any, we are going to go and have picnics outdoors so you get extra sunlight.”
Persephone waved her hands around and blushed. “Y-You don’t have to do that! A-And my Mother would have my head if I ate too much, so p-please! You really don’t have to! A-Although… That does sound lovely…”
“Life is different now, Persephone,” he reminded her calmly. “This time in your life is all about you. You don't need to worry about your mother, you just have to worry about what you want to do next. You know, there's no way you can perform at full potential if you don't eat. Haven't you ever heard of the Cognitive Revolution?”
Persephone pet her baby sphinx as she listened to Ren. She blushed a little more and looked off to the side, her hair covering her face. “I… I suppose you’re right. J-Just don’t hate me if I get fat, okay?”
“If we keep running into people like Zhihao I don’t think you’ll have an issue.” Miki pointed out.
Viviane quietly made her way over to Persephone, nudging her shoulder before sitting down with her stuff too. “Look at it this way,” she whispered, quiet enough so the others couldn’t hear. “You get to spend more time with Ren now. Isn’t that nice?”
Persephone looked at Viviane and said, “Yeah… You’re right. I’m just scared of gaining weight, you know? I’ve been thin my whole life… And… Things might be different if I put on some pounds, you know?”
Viviane gave a blank stare before glancing down at herself. “No, I don’t,” she replied in a deadpan voice before smiling again. “Plus, you heard Ren. You’d just need to exercise a bit more. You could go jogging or something.”
Persephone looked at Viviane once again. “Ah… Sorry. I said something mean. You’re right that we could go jogging. That could be a good opportunity to spend with Ren too!” Persephone pet her baby sphinx and nuzzled it. “Wouldn’t that be a good idea little…” Persephone suddenly shouted. “AH! I HAVEN’T GIVEN IT A NAME!”
Viviane hummed, shrugging. She hadn’t even named her slime, now that she thought about it.
Persephone turned to Nefertari. “U-Um… Would you mind if I asked you for a name?”
『For this little one?』 Nefertari asked. 『Well, my naming sense has never been wonderful, but for a name… I did always like 'Meryre’. I even named one of my sons that way, so…』
Persephone smiled and looked at the little one. “I like it. Meryre. It seems… Regal almost. Befitting of this little guy.” She scratched Meryre behind the ear and saw him become like putty in her hand. She turned to Nefertari. “It’s the least I can do since you’re letting us take things from here. Thank you for such a wonderful name.” Persephone bowed a little to Nefertari.
『A-ah, no, it's alright! Please don't bow, it's embarrassing…!』
Persephone laughed a little. “No need to be embarrassed. I am just showing you respect after all. Uh… Would you mind if I ask you for a favor?” Persephone seemed a bit embarrassed by this question.
『Of course not. Speak your mind, young one.』
Persephone looked off to the side. “I know I’ve already taken more than I should’ve, but do you know where I might find something for this little one to wear possibly?”
『Let me see...』 she pondered. 『It is not exactly magical, but there ought to be this tiny poncho in that pile there...』
Persephone went over to the pile and began to look for the poncho while she placed the little one on top of her head. It seemed to enjoy playing with her ears. “Thank you, it might take me a moment to look.”
Viviane hummed as she looked over the treasures she had, pausing as she turned slightly. “Ms. Nefertari?” she asked, bringing up the cloth. “What a…is this?”
『Ceremonial dress,』 answered the pharaohess, 『in the likeness of the unseen smiter Medjed.』
“Ah…” Viviane mumbled, turning it over in her hands. “How should it be worn?”
『Over your head. Make sure the eyes line up with yours.』
Viviane carefully took off the crown she’d been wearing before slipping on the smiter, putting the crown on her head again after to try make the cloth move less after she got it lined up. “This is…quite fun,” she said, her voice slightly muffled.
Persephone laughed as she grabbed the object she had been looking for. “That certainly is fun Viviane! I wish you luck if we ever encounter any wind.” Persephone laughed a little as she sat down and played with the little sphinx.
Viviane made a small huffing sound, putting her hands on her hips beneath the dress. “It’s not like I’m naked under this. A little wind would just make it harder to see if it blew the eye holes aside.”
Persephone smirked. “Well I know that, but wouldn’t it be fun if you were naked under there?” Persephone then laughed a little more.
Viviane hummed, turning slightly to face Persephone. “Be careful what you wish for,” she said, before humming more. “Though I guess it would be, wouldn’t it? Not like it’d be that different from how I usually dress. This one just covers my head too.”
Persephone laughed a little, not fully realizing what Viviane meant.
Miki blinked, shooting her a look. “You’re a lot more dangerous than I gave you credit for.”
Viviane turned to shoot a glare back. “Hey, you try shifting your legs to a tail with damn underwear in the way, then you can judge me.”
Persephone looked at Viviane with wide eyes. “WAIT! That’s what you meant!” She paused for a moment before bursting out laughing, holding Meryre above her with both hands. She was practically rolling on the floor as she realized that all this time Viviane was completely and utterly commando while wearing her dress.
Viviane crossed her arms, huffing again beneath the dress. At least no one could read her expression with the dress covering her face. “Don’t laugh. It actually hurt the first time I tried,” Viviane grumbled. “My tail actually got tangled up in it…”
Miki looked down at her harem pants completely blank faced. “Life is hard huh...”
“It’s hard,” Ren agreed with a nod.
“Knowing you, it’s probably not the only thing that’s hard,” Viviane grumbled under her breath as she knelt down to pick up the rest of her treasure. She’d punch a hole for her earring later.
“What's that supposed to mean?!” Ren cried. “Don't make me out to loose just because I get picked on!”
Persephone laughed at Viviane’s comment and then looked at Ren. “I don’t think it’s because you get picked on.” Persephone stood up, baby spinx in hand. Her tails began to swirl as a smirk came across her face. “I could just brush up against you with some of my tails and I’m positive I could get that,” Persephone quickly moved her eyes down to Ren’s region that would occasionally grow, “Kind of reaction out of you.” Persephone kept moving forward, never looking away from Ren. Her gaze would probably remind onlookers of a lion looking down prey.
Miki’s expression bordered on thunderous, but he seemed to be managing with just grinding his teeth.
『Ahem!』 Nefertari interrupted. 『Excuse me, but this is a place for dead things, not procreating things!』
Ren let out a tiny sigh of shallow relief.
Persephone’s smirk grew wider as she turned to Nefertari. Her tails began moving with more heavy and intense movements now. “Whoever mentioned anything about procreation? Now now now, you must be in a delirious state Nefertari. I would never do that inside of a tomb. I, at least, have the decency to do it immediately outside.”
“Aren’t you pushing it a bit?” Miki bit out. “Consideration for the dead and everything.”
Persephone’s smirk vanished. “You’re right.” She didn’t look at Miki and her tails stopped moving. “I’m very sorry for the inappropriate way in which I spoke. Please do forgive me. I will not desecrate the land around here with his seed either.”
Viviane coughed slightly beneath her dress as she made her way over to Persephone during all the talking. “That, and Miki probably would’ve made sure you joined the dead things if you continued,” Viviane mumbled under breath.
Persephone looked over her shoulder to Viviane. “No need to keep whispering. We’re all going to be together, so we might as well be frank. Miki probably would’ve nearly killed me if I did continue.” After a breath, Persephone seemed to suddenly lighten up. “F-Forgive me. I… I am a bit tired. I get… Less like myself when I’m tired.” She turned to Miki. “I… Hope you’ll forgive me. I say some…” Persephone blushed. “Some… F-Forward things when I get this way. I know we haven’t been here long and we still have part of the day, but I’m not used to exerting myself so much or being exposed to so much excitement.”
He grunted more petulant than anything now. “Realistically, I can kill you in one hit.” He muttered in lieu of acceptance.
Persephone sighed. “Thanks. That’s... Reassuring...” Persephone then turned to Ren. “I… I am sorry for how I acted. It was inappropriate and I get caught in my old ways of acting sometimes. I hope you can forgive me. I… I don’t really think that I can… Y-You know…”
Viviane coughed lightly. “I should take some of the blame,” she mumbled. “I did sort of provoke in the first place…” She then turned to Nefertari, curtsying and apologizing too.
“I-i-it’s fine!” Ren spluttered. “It's not a bad thing, it's just not for everywhere!”
『I miss Ram,』 mumbled Nefertari.
Viviane glanced up at Nefertari. “Uh…if you don’t mind me asking, were you very close with a…Ram?”
『Ramesses, King of Kings!』 she declared proudly. 『“Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!” Something like that.』
Ren blinked. “Oh! Ozymandias!”
『Right!』 she nodded. 『He was righteous and dignified and wise and just probably the best king ever born… I want to see him...』
“Why isn't he buried with you?” Ren asked.
『He was supposed to be in the other pyramid, but I heard he isn’t anymore… These were supposed to be part of the Ramesseum together. They got split up over thousands of years.』
Viviane awkwardly scratched the back of her neck. “I’m a…sorry to hear that,” she said. “You can’t check the other pyramid?”
『I can’t leave,』 she sighed. 『I have the sphinxes to keep me company though! It is not all bad!』
“Wait,” Ren frowned. “Backtrack. How can pyramids be separated from a huge temple complex hundreds of miles away by time?”
『Ah… I guess the Ramesseum Dendera can't fly these days after all.』
“...Come again?”
『Ram had his friend use his miracle magic to have the complex take to the skies because it was impossible to build on earth. It used to soar over the deserts where nobody could touch us.』
“His friend… Móxī?” Miki frowned.
『I’m… not sure about how you're pronouncing it, but I think it's who you're thinking of,』 she nodded.
Viviane cocked her head to the side. “Uhm…could someone explain it to me…?”
“I got lost too,” Ren admitted.
“He’s a prophet I think,” Miki explained. “He was a mage that could do godly feats even though he was a normal mortal. Master talked about him at one point.”
“Eh?” Ren blinked. “Did I?”
『He was Ram’s best friend, but they began to argue about what was best for their own people. Once he split the sea at the end of the world, Ram didn't send anyone to follow. He said to me that they had to go separate ways now. I don't know if he gave up, but I think he had accepted his decision.』
“I… see,” Ren nodded.
『Actually, the boy downstairs is somewhat similar. Maybe they're related?』
“Boy?! Iryankh?!” he cried. “He's just downstairs?! He's the one we're here to see!”
『Oh, really? How convenient. There is a stairway behind here that should take you to him.』
Viviane turned slightly. “Should we go down?” she asked in a deadpan voice, before turning again and bowing to Nefertari. “Thank you for showing us such hospitality.”
Persephone nodded. “Indeed. Thank you for showing us such kindness. I’ll never forget it and surely Meryre won’t either.”
Miki looked over at Viviane, mimicking her bow. "I'll keep your advice in mind. Thanks."
With a hasty bow and another word of thanks, Ren quickly hurried to the staircase, turning to wave to Nefertari before hurrying down. “Come on, everyone!”
Viviane hummed as she followed after, careful to make sure the top of her new crown didn’t hit anything. She was like a big bowling pin…
As Persephone positioned the new crown on top of Meryre’s head, she smiled and sauntered over to the staircase. “I’m coming, I’m coming.” Persephone decided to carry little Meryre so that she could move a bit faster.
“He won’t be far,” Ren said, rushing as fast as he could without tripping. “Oh, I should warn you guys, he won’t look at anyone.”
“As in he’s blind?” Viviane asked.
Persephone looked at Ren a bit confused. “Is something wrong with his eyes or something?” Persephone smiled and playfully said, “Will he turn us to stone if we look him in the eye?~”
“No, it’s not that exciting. He is just blind,” Ren said. “Don’t make him angry though. That part is exciting.”
Persephone smirked. “Mmm~ Someone who goes all out in a rage, hmm?~ Sounds like an interesting fella if you ask me.”
“Uh… It’s not really all-out…” he frowned. “More like when he gets mad he turns into something else.”
“So Persephone, don’t make him angry,” Viviane said. “Even for fun. I don’t know if I want to see what ‘something else’ is…”
Persephone pursed her lips. “I won’t make him angry. I’m just kidding… I don’t honestly want to see someone turn into something else and probably beat my ass.”
"Really? Your ass looks like it could take a pounding," Viviane chirped, smirking as she did.
“I don’t know if I could survive him,” Ren admitted. “So uh… yeah. He’s smart though.”
“Quit badmouthing,” a voice grumbled in the darkness.
Ren stopped in place, glancing around in astonishment, as a large black flower smacked him in the back of the head.
“Owowowow…” he whined. “Hi, Iryankh… Long time no see…”
There was silence for a second.
“...Not funny?”
“No,” grumbled a young man. Tall, with dark cocoa skin and blank eyes that stared at nothing in particular, clad in a dusty white robe from the waist down -- an imposing image, for sure.
Persephone looked at the young man and smiled. “Hello I-Iryan… Uh… I’m afraid I’m not too good at pronouncing foreign names, so I hope you’ll excuse me. I’m Persephone, a companion of Ren. Well… In case you couldn’t already figure that out.”
“Hi Iryankh,” Viviane said as well. “It’s nice to meet you. Ren’s said some nice things about you.”
“I somehow doubt that,” Iryankh said.
“I have! She’s right!” Ren insisted. “H-how are you doing…?”
“Same as ever. Come downstairs. We’ll talk,” he shrugged, the long flower staff clinking against the stairs as he guided himself down it.
Persephone felt the urge to scoff when she wasn’t addressed at all by the blind man, but she knew better. She’d been around blind people before and their senses were sharp. Ren didn’t want her to make Iryankh angry, so she held in the urge. “So… How did you happen upon this place? Did you build it or something?”
“The pyramid? It’s always been here, so I just holed up,” he answered. “Apparently, the heir of Solomon has that right or something.”
“You’re the heir of Solomon?” Viviane said, keeping ridicule out and genuine curiousity in.
“Seems so, since I have the staff right here,” he said. “I’m underwhelming, but I’m long-lived enough as a djinn that I have time to improve.”
Viviane hummed as she glanced at the staff. It seemed to be made of an exotic black metal, a thin shaft that bloomed into a large flower on the top. It was peculiar, but held an aura similar to divinity, only… darker. “I thought it’d glow more. And be white for some reason.”
Persephone observed the staff and continued to look over Iryankh. This was the first djinn she’d ever met and… He seemed… Odd to her. Maybe that was because he was blind.
“I’m a shut-in,” said Iryankh, as if reading her mind. “I have all of Solomon’s old tomes down here. I’m trying to decipher the Greater Key. It isn’t working.”
“What’s the Greater Key?”
Persephone nodded and said, “I have the same question.”
“The Greater Key of Solomon is a grimoire that is, for better or worse, the man’s greatest work,” he explained. “At least, I think it is. That said, I’m not familiar with the contents, but since the Lesser Key is a manual on how to summon and bind demon gods, I’m inclined to think this must be incredible.”
“Ah…” Viviane said lightly, her voice belaying a level of worry and disinterest. Summoning and binding demon gods wasn’t really her thing, you know.
Persephone looked at Iryankh and lit up. “Ah! Does that mean you can use the Lesser Key to do such things as summon and bind demon gods? If you can, that really is incredible!”
“I don’t possess the power to actually use it,” he explained, “but I have the knowledge and skill. One day I aim to summon Furfur to start.”
Persephone cocked her head to one side and her ears twitched. “I’m not very familiar with such names. Who is Furfur?”
“One of the demon gods,” he sighed. “Furfur is a low rank, so it should be easy enough.”
Persephone blinked. “Ah, of course. How stupid of me…” Persephone nervously laughed and rubbed the back of her neck.
“If you want actual details, I’ll be happy to teach you a few things about demon gods,” he offered, a little gruffly.
Persephone clapped her hands together. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d love to learn a few extra things! Ah, to think I’ll even be learning about demon gods while I’m learning to read and write from Ren!”
“I think only one of those things can get you tried for heresy…” Ren laughed anxiously.
“I doubt any of you actually have the predilection to actually dedicate yourselves to this kind of thing, but it is useful enough,” sighed Iryankh.
“Uhm…not that this conversation isn’t incredibly interesting,” Viviane said slowly. “But didn’t we come here for something else, Ren?”
Persephone looked at Viviane. “Ah! Right!”
“Y-yeah! We--!”
“Tell me in a moment,” said Iryankh, reaching the foot of the stairs. A large chamber, poorly lit, surrounded them, all kinds of what looked like sandstone furniture laid about in a questionable arrangement. “None of you are hungry, are you?”
Persephone rubbed one of her feet on the floor as Meryre started mewing. “Uh… Would you mind if I could get something for this little one?”
“I guess. How big?” he asked.
Persephone looked at the little one and said, “Hmm… What do you have to eat? Something moderately sized would probably be best.”
With a tired semi-sigh, Iryankh opened an odd box and dragged a slab of meat out of it around the size of his entire torso. “How’s this?”
Persephone blinked. “Uh… I would say that’s a bit… Large. Sorry…”
“Moderate means a lot of things, you know,” he grumbled, putting it back and looking through it some more.
“Ah… I suppose you can’t see how small this baby sphinx is. I meant moderate in terms of his size, so something probably half the size of him. Sorry…” Persephone squeezed Meryre a little bit.
Viviane glanced over at the baby sphinx. “I think something about the size of a human liver would tide him over for now,” she said, sorely tempted to pet the new pet.
Persephone could see that Viviane wanted to pet Meryre and so she moved a bit closer to Viviane and stretched out her arms for Viviane to take the little one.
Viviane made a small, excited sound before reaching over and petting the sphinx. That was enough for her. After all, she did still have her own pet slime.
Iryankh seemed to have given up on searching blind and just tore a chunk of meat off and chucked it to the floor.
“There,” he shrugged. “So what exactly are you all doing here?”
Ren raised a hand. “Actually, we were wondering about something called a paramatman.”
Iryankh’s face screwed up. “I do vaguely remember that name. Why?”
“Well… There are these hunters or something that keep calling me that.”
Iryankh paused. He almost seemed like he was staring for a moment, and then he sighed.
“A paramatman is another name for something called a World Soul,” he said. “Come on. There are paintings in the tomb about it.”
“Hold on,” Viviane asked. “Why are there paintings about it in this tomb? We couldn’t read any of them, so…this is sort of new.”
Persephone was simply interested and followed Iryankh without much of a thought until Viviane posed a question. “Ah… I suppose I’m also curious about that. Why are painting pertaining to a “World Soul” specifically here? Does this tomb hold special meaning to world souls?”
“This place was part of the Ramesseum temple complex once. The diagrams on the walls are a combination of a spell book and a spiritual encyclopedia. Think of this place as one giant sandstone grimoire,” explained Iryankh, leading them up the steps. “Lucky for me, the writing was carved out.”
Persephone gasped. “A-A giant grimoire?!”
“Wait, hold on again…how old are these tombs? Were they prophesying Ren’s existence?”
“They’re something like four thousand years, but they’re no prophecy,” he corrected. “Rather, they recorded phenomena that was both observed and theoretical at the time. In its prime, this complex was the largest collection of arcane knowledge in all of Mshir, and debatably still is.”
Persephone rubbed her head. “So you mean to tell me that this ‘giant grimoire’ has a bunch of magical knowledge in it? And… You said this is only part of the complex, right? Where are the other places in the complex?”
“Scattered in the desert. The other pyramid you saw across the town was another part of the same wing,” he explained.
Persephone nodded. “I see… Does each wing contain the same types of information?”
“In a sense, yes,” he said. “It’s generally what pertains to the function of the wing. I am led to believe that this was part of a spiritual hospital. We have restored some of the functions of the other pyramid, which has largely confirmed that theory.”
Persephone smiled widely. “So there might be knowledge on how to heal someone better?! If there is, might I be able to learn something to make my healing capability stronger?”
“Possibly. These spells are all high-level ancient rituals though. I hope you’re an expert at healing magic,” he said, “because I doubt you can work through these without at least a hundred years of study. These are things like repairing a soul that has been banished from the physical plane.”
Persephone raised her eyebrows. “Maybe I’ll have to come back here once I get a lot stronger to learn how to do that!”
Viviane coughed slightly. “So. Mr. Iryankh. Paramatman and why Ren might have people hunting him?”
“Right,” he nodded, walking up the steps. “Nefertari!”
“Back so soon?” the ghost replied. “Not that I dislike company…”
“Help me read this,” Iryankh said, reaching the top of the steps as he immediately approached the back wall.
There was an image, presumably of a planet, trailing white light as it fell from the sky like a comet, surrounded by hieroglyphs on all sides.
“If I recall, this details the creation process of a World Soul,” he said, placing his hand on the wall. “In the event of an afterlife being destroyed, souls are known to gather and gravitate towards each other. The effect wherein a disembodied spirit is drawn to others is how afterlives are formed in the first place in which the laws of the world allow it, but if it does not, it is likely due to a law of cycles or a mechanism of reincarnation in place.
Nefertari nodded. “Right. That was common knowledge in our time. A realm that you can consider an afterlife is a byproduct of wandering souls coalescing there, but not every world could sustain that.”
Iryankh kept reading.
In the event that souls are no longer bound to their own world, usually through the destruction of that world, then they will inevitably gravitate towards each other as normal. Depending on the mechanics of the world’s laws, they will either give birth to a new world, or condense into an entity in the image of any survivor if that survivor is compatible with the concept of a cosmology. In an ideal circumstance, the completed entity will contain the memories, personalities, and collective wisdom of all the beings it once subsumed, forming a being known as a World Soul.
“So in other words…” Ren frowned.
“A World Soul is the debris of a destroyed world,” Nefertari clarified. “That, I suppose, would be you, little one.”
Ren stared blankly at the image on the wall -- a fallen world, the illustration of what he was supposed to believe was his own birth.
“But… I don’t remember anything…” he whispered.
So he didn’t know where he came from because he hadn’t come from anywhere? He didn’t remember his parents because he never had any? He had never once found a member of his kin simply because they did not exist?
Viviane quietly motioned for Persephone to come over as she quietly rubbed Ren’s shoulder. “…this is a lot to take in for you,” she mumbled quietly.
Persephone went over to Ren and ran some of her tails across Ren’s back. She got down a little so she was at eye level with Ren. “Ren, will you look me in the eye please?”
“I-I…” he murmured, but slowly complied.
Persephone could see the pain residing in his eyes and it was breaking her heart. However, she knew that she had to comfort him in some way. “Ren… I’ve known only a few people in my life. Most of them never knew who their parents were if they were friends of mine and I can’t imagine how much this must hurt, but… Now you know exactly where you’ve come from and what you are. Although… It may be painful to think about what you’re missing out on, there is probably more for you than anyone else. You are a collection of many people and… Even if you don’t seem to remember, I’m sure that there is a way to understand exactly what happened to… The place that all of the souls reside from.”
“I… I don’t know…” he whispered. “I don’t know anything. Even before, I was me, but now…”
Now I’m not even that.
“That is not completely true,” Nefertari cut in. “You do, with certainty, contain souls beyond number, but there is only one that is speaking at the moment. Whoever it is, it is still you. The others merely reside inside you. I did not lie when I said that you are a walking cosmos.”
“Th-then… But I don’t remember anything…” he said weakly.
However,” Iryankh continued, “in the event of an imperfect creation, it is possible for the World Soul to fracture into pieces mid-creation, causing the asynchronous souls to deny the host access to memories and force a singular consciousness into a primary acting role. In such World Souls, it is possible to recover and absorb lost pieces, with primary consciousnesses competing for a dominant role. A conflict will be entirely resolved when a World Soul is complete, at which point it will be filled with blood.
Persephone now looked very confused. Did that mean that Ren could be considered incomplete? No no no. Persephone was almost sure that that might be how Ren would take it though. And how would they be able to gather the rest of his pieces? How could they restore Ren? Persephone didn’t say anything out loud, looking incredibly perplexed.
“Filled with blood?” Ren echoed. “That… makes sense. After all, I…”
“…you bleed white soul stuff?” Viviane supplemented.
He nodded. “That’s how I know I’m complete, I suppose…”
In addition, the model for a fractured World Soul’s bodies will also gain a share of the souls, allowing it to use the Soul Empathy, Soulburst, and Resonance of the World Soul if it has the capacity to do so,” Iryankh continued. “The model will have variations on its reflections, but they will all be fundamentally recognisable as the original model. The origin of the World Soul is considered a part of it in itself and will be able to become the true World Soul should it absorb all of its components.
Nefertari frowned. “This is sounding like a world that I know, but it could not possibly be destroyed, could it?”
Iryankh shook his head. “No such luck. Vedasaria was already annihilated around ten years ago. In other words, the vague memories of it formed Ren’s name. Vedas.”
Persephone frowned in response to this. This was much more… Pressing than she originally thought. If Ren wasn’t the original model, then he would be unable to absorb the other pieces. He would be absorbed instead. This thought resided in Persephone’s mind, causing her to be unable to speak for the moment.
“What are the hunters called?” Iryankh asked.
“I don’t know,” Ren shook his head. “They mentioned following a Great Black One, but…”
His eyes narrowed. “Pitris.”
“What?”
“Ancestrals, translated. They’re a cult to the transcendent being known as Kala. You’re in more trouble than I thought.”
“Kala?” Ren asked.
“He’s said to have 108 names, and that is only one of them. A vast dark entity that exists above and beyond reality itself, holding time and space in the palm of his hand. A supreme being that surpasses the very definition of a god. Omnipotent and all-seeing, with no escape from his machinations. He has taken roles from a lord of death to the conceptual cosmic force of destruction between cycles of his world, not fazed even once by the death of the ultimate reality itself.”
Ren took a step back. “Th-there’s no way something like that would be after me. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
“Exactly. He was most likely destroyed with his world, but if even a fragment of his power remains, his cult will still possess it, and that makes them extremely dangerous,” Iryankh explained.
Persephone frowned once again. “Oh dear… It seems like we’ve got our work cut out for us then.”
Viviane clicked her tongue. In all the time she’d been hanging out with Ren and Miki, she actually had yet to meet this Kala or these Pitrs…
“I wonder where they are now,” she mumbled, glancing around the room.
“Not in here, I assure you,” Nefertari promised.
“There are thirteen seats, as I recall,” Iryankh said. “I do not remember precisely what they entail, but I do recall that there are traditionally three deities and one herald.”
“A herald?”
“A summoner, in short. Someone who can pinpoint an exact location for their lord to descend. Useless without someone to worship though.”
Persephone pursed her lips. “Hmm…”
“So we can expect three gods and nine other followers?” Ren said. “So that's Zhihao, Namacuix, Lady Li… and Vortigern would be one of the gods, I guess?”
“I guess so,” Viviane mumbled, a little lost in thought. There were gods to fight on the other side…
Persephone was unsure who any of those people were, but Zhihao sounded like a cool name. She wondered what kind of person they were. Well… Evil, of course. But she wondered what kind of evil.
“I don't like how we don't know anything. They're all from different worlds,” Ren frowned. “We can't predict what we'll be fighting next… Zhihao must have been the weakest but it took four of us working together to take her out for real, and I got lucky with Namacuix. Li and Vortigern… I don't think we stand a chance. I mean, Vortigern blasted the top off a mountain with her breath.”
“I’m feeling faint,” Viviane said. “Are we supposed to fight these people?
“Running away is good too,” suggested Ren enthusiastically.
Iryankh folded his arms. “Vedasaria… There's a way to confirm it.”
“R-really?” Ren blinked.
“I just thought of it. There's something I want you to see in the other pyramid,” he said. “Come with me.”
 
It was a normal day at the academy. Nothing unusual, everything seemed to work just fine. Then, a young man appeared. The tall figure slowly approached the school entrance, walking with his hands in his pockets. He seemed a bit bored, his facial expression even showed that. He had a wooden staff on his back.

“So this is my new school, huh?” He mumbled to himself as he kept walking his usual, bored way.


A curious small black cat stayed in a prone position in the fields, stalking the new person with her ears flat against her head and her tail lashing left and right. Slowly, the cat demon crawled forward, letting out a meow to alert the new person of her presence before she would leap forward. Why she decided to take mercy on this newbie was by the request of teachers to not scare people as often or it would make them possibly regret coming to the academy.


The tall figure turned his attention to the cat as soon as he heard her meow. Raising a brow, he kneels down as he took out his hands from his pockets as he tried to pat the cat slowly and gently with his right hand. He was an animal lover and he couldn't hide his excitement when he saw an animal. “What a beautiful cat you are.” He mumbled slightly, still patting the cat gently. A slight smile would be formed on his lips while doing so. He would fix his hair with his left hand, then moving to the glasses, fixing them as well.


The Cat, named Vivi, purred and nuzzled his hand as she shifted into her humanoid form that was sitting down on the ground with her legs to the bent to the side. Her “armor” was still apparent, from her small black skirt to her white sleeveless top, and her slightly pitching thigh highs, which had one leg black with a white ribbon and the other one color switched, and her small gloves with ribbons on the wrist, her wand hidden by her leg on top. The Nekomata seemingly forgot formalities as she continued to loudly purr, leaning her head against the hand with a blissed expression apparent. Headpats, definitely a notable weakness she was rarely given.


The young man widened his eyes in surprise as he watched the cat's transformation into a humanoid. Surely he didn't expect something like that to happen. He jumped up a bit but he kept his hand on her hair, frozen by her actions. After some seconds, he finally came back to his senses, but he kept his hand on her head. Maybe he felt a little bit of connection between them? He shook his head as he finally sat down in front of her. “H-Hello-... Name’s Alex.” He said, his cheeks turning a bit red due to nervousness, maybe a little bit of embarrassment conquered him as well. “Wh-... What's your name?”


Vivi looked up towards Alex, her small smile becoming bigger as she returned the greeting. “I’m Vivi! Nice to meet you! Are you hot? You’re blushing…” she noted the blushing of the taller male. Looking at his appearance more, not only was he tall, but he was well built and slim, his hair short and black with one white horizontal stripe on the right side of his hair, his eyes a beautiful Cyan, and a bit of a beard. ‘Such nice bodily features…’ The Nekomata thought to herself.


Alex chuckled a bit at her statement. “Me? Hot? Nah, maybe you confused me with yourself.” He placed his hand on his neck,chuckling again, but this time a little bit nervously. Still though, he was confident enough to compliment her. He then examined her carefully from head to toe, as he bit his lower lip gently as he then shook his head again, so he won't show how much he liked her beauty. “Pleasure to meet you, Vivi.” He said as he gently grabbed her hand, kissing it gently. He in fact showed her his gentleman, kind side of himself. It was his true self after all.


The Nekomata blushed slightly at the compliment, flattered by the gentleman who had also just kissed her hand. This is normal, completely normal. Right? Right. This was perfectly okay for first meetings. Vivi instantly stood up though and almost yelled out, “How about I show you around?” her question trying to move things forward and forget the kissing hand part.


“Sure thing Vivi.” He said as he chuckled nervously once again. Being forward was a massive disadvantage for the young man. Though, he thought that was a bit too much to kiss her hand, he thought that his actions actually made her feel uncomfortable. He stood up, ready to follow Vivi wherever. The slight embarrassment and nervousness started being visible on his face, followed by a slight smile.


The Cat Demon smiled back softly before grabbing his hand and proceeding to drag him towards the building. “Come on, let me show you the classes and stuff!” she cheered happily, speed walking as she spoke. Holding his hand was...nice. What a strangely nice feeling, a feeling she had only slightly when cuddling up with Kheire, nothing compared to the large volume of this feeling. It was like a mix of embarrassment, shyness, and weakness, and that was not settling well with the usually strong willed competitive Nekomata.

The young man was surprised. He felt-... Happy. He felt something like an attraction towards her. Like a sudden spark igniting inside his body. He could feel the heat of his cheeks raising up, blushing even more as he was dragged by the young lady. That feeling was-... Something that didn't feel before and certainly he wanted to feel it again. He couldn't help but squeeze her hand, feeling safe and attracted towards Vivi.


Vivi stampeded through the halls, excitedly pointing out each room and its purpose, before nearly tripping on herself and wobbling back and forth. Finally her direction of falling was settled and she fell back against Alex with a loud squeak. “s-sorry! I’m not this horribly balanced I promise!” she apologized quickly at this embarrassment. Damnit…


Alex, instinctively wrapped his hands around her waist, making sure she doesn't fall completely on him resulting in both falling down to the floor. The levels of his blushing reached their limit, he looked like a tomato. “It-..It's okay, don't worry.” The words came out with small pauses as he felt like he was going to freeze completely. He slightly looked away as he didn't want Vivi to see his blushing. Don't be so nervous man! he thought as he spaced out for some seconds.


The Nekomata also took a few seconds of looking up at the taller male before squirming her way back to standing up. “uhm, thank you.” she mumbled under her breath before turning away to face down the hall they were originally going down. “Let’s erm...continue!” Vivi chirped up, smiling awkwardly as she grabbed his hand again and walked this time at a normal pace.


“Sure-...” He said as he came back to his senses once again, now allowing himself to be dragged once again. “This is quite a school to be honest.” He said, as he tried to start a conversation with Vivi, trying to get to know her even better. He surely loved how cheerful she was, how happy she sounded. That's what Alex wanted from her, even if they met not so long ago. She gave him those awesome vibes that he has never felt before. Truth be told, he never approached a girl like that before. He just felt-... Like he had butterflies in his stomach.


Vivi hummed in acknowledgement, looking back a bit. “Hm? Oh ya, it is! I love it here!” she continued, “It’s like a 2nd home, I got some friends here that I really like and we live in the dorms together all happy and stuff~” Vivi sighed happily as she recalled her friends. Especially her fallen friends.


Alex stopped for a bit as he froze. Friends? Alex was lonely for the most of his life. Having friends was an unknown experience for him. His facial expression changed to a somewhat depressed one. “Friends? How is it to have friends?” He asked while mumbling. It seemed as if his voice didn't want to come out. This was the start of his new life, he wanted to gather new experiences, having friends and potentially a girlfriend seemed to be one of them.


Putting a finger to her chin, the Cat Demon hummed as she tried to explain her feelings towards having friends. “It’s...exciting. To be around them, to feel accepted, to have people to mutually understand you as you understand them. You have fun with them and they start to feel like a 2nd family, where you love them and their presence.” Vivi explained, in the inside struggling to figure out her emotions, something she was never really good at.


Alex did nothing but nodded at her, listening carefully to what she actually said. “You know, I’ve been alone for the most of my life, I don't really know what love is-... Friend love and the other-... Love.” He said, looking down as he finished his sentence. He felt depressed, lonely. And most of all, he didn't want to ruin Vivi’s cheerful mood. It was worthless for her to have a ruined mood because of a complete stranger. At least, that's what he thought.


As they made their way towards the main building exit, Vivi frowned a bit, completely understanding the feeling. “You’re going to fucking love it, it's like Bill Cosby getting to have consensual sex, so fucking awesome.” She reassured in her own quirky way.


“I really hope…” He said as he followed,walking by her side. He then turned his attention to her, as he raised a brow, smirking slightly. “Love what? Which feeling?” He asked as the smirk grew slightly bigger as… Well, showed a little bit of his ‘dirty’ mind. He pocketed his left hand as he fixed his glasses with his right one, then shoves it in his pocket.


“All of it. The friends. Duh.” She grinned, obviously not getting the hint as she booped his nose. Before opening the doors, Vivi quickly changed her mind on heading to the dorms. “You know...since you just got here…” she trailed off with a grin that belonged on a trickster, the Nekomata still holding on to the Dryad’s hand as she turned around and ran towards the portal room.


“Hey wait!” He said as he got dragged by the demon cat, running behind her. “Where are we going?” He said. Surely, she had something in her mind but what? Does it involve fighting? Surely, the young man wasn't a fighter type, rather he was a support type of dryad. He was peaceful and kind, more of a healer type.


“Here!” Vivi yelled as she dragged him into the portal room. Closing her eyes and pointing outwards, she hummed as she moved her arm side to side. “I choooosee…” The Nekomata stopped at an Air aligned dungeon gateway, “This one! Now come on Alex!” Vivi picked up the newbie and threw him through the portal, jumping in after.


The young man fell through the portal. No, he wasn't afraid, rather surprised. “Why are we here, Vivi? You want me dead or something? What did I do to you?” He said, jokingly being afraid. He chuckled a bit as he awaited Vivi.


“Pfft-no. Of course not. This is lighter to the time I killed a newbie on a quest instead of a dungeon.” Vivi said in a jokingly sadistic way to scare the poor guy.

The pair had fell through on to a rough, wet concrete floor. It only went one way, a long tunnel down with no actual light safe for small wisps that produced only dim lighting. It seemed to go down to a black abyss from how long it was, holding more possible tunnels and rooms to go through.


The Dryad looked around, a little bit shocked. He put his hand on his staff, ready for a fight. He felt like something was wrong, so he was ready for anything. Truth be told though, he was kind of reluctant. He turned his gaze to Vivi, though he didn't let his guard down. “What's this place?” He asked, as he then turned his gaze in front.


“Pfft I dunno.” she answered, not particularly caring. “Man it's been awhile since i've been in a dungeon…” Vivi looked towards the on edge Dryad giggling a bit at how prepared he was for a fight, “don't worry I doubt we’ll see anything right now.” the Nekomata attempted to ease.


“Heh, you never know what will jump out of nowhere.” He said as he chuckled, as he took his hand away from the staff, still though, he was still on guard. “I’ll just follow your lead. I am more of a support type of guy you know. I know some healing techniques, that's all.” He said as he cracked his fingers, awaiting for Vivi’s orders.


Vivi grabbed the Dryad’s hand and tugged a bit, smiling happily. “Come on then, let's go!!” she cheered, walking down the tunnel.


“So cute when she is cheering up.” He mumbled to himself as once again, let the Nekomata drag him to wherever. The feeling of them holding hands, the same feeling he felt when he first met her, was still strong inside him. He couldn't help but smile, his guard always up.


The Nekomata continued on walking for a good 5 minutes, nothing interesting to see in the dull, damp, stone tunnels. That is, till the pair had come across a fork in the tunnel, seperating to 3 different tunnels. The first on the far left had more brightness, what seemed to be torches. The middle tunnel was the same as the tunnel they had walked down, only it went up slightly. The last tunnel however was plain dark, with no source of light available.


“Hmmm…” The Catgirl hummed, “you pick, I picked the last door!” she looked towards Alex for his decision.


Alex put his finger on his chin, thinking on what should he select as their path. “Hm, the most bright one might seem the safest one but nothing in life is handed so easy.” He shakes his head as he looks at the darkest path. “With no vision at all, I won't be able to sense any attacks.” He then pointed at the middle one. “We shall go through there. What do you say?” He would turn his gaze at Vivi.


The Nekomata nodded, “You lead the way, I got you covered if anything goes bad.~” She purred, letting the new person take the lead as this dungeon was not for her but to support her new friend.


The young man nodded as well as he grabbed Vivi’s hand once again, squeezing it gently, showing that he wanted her by his side and well… To show her he was interested in her more than a friend way. He started making his way down the dungeon as he dragged the young woman with him gently, keeping his guard up for anything.


Deeper into the tunnel, they would come across a double golden encrusted blue door that had light shining from underneath it. It was not something to ignore or pass by, as the door took up the whole tunnel entrance, the tunnel possibly continuing passed whatever...thing was behind this door.


Vivi peered over at the door curiously. “Well? Do you wanna go in it? Or would you wanna turn back and go a different route?” The Nekomata questioned the taller man. She was up for anything, but she mentally hoped he would choose the more exciting route with acknowledgement that the more experienced one of the pair would watch out for the Dryad.


The young dryad looked back at the female. “Is that even a question?” He said with a smirk, determination written all over his face. He then looked back at the door, walking closer to it, awaiting for the Nekomata to follow and open the door together. He was ready for anything.


Vivi stepped forward and opened the door with him, admiring the now determined Alex that was contrary to his usual shyness and constant guard.

Opening the door, a wonderful scent that smells like mint chocolate directly hit the two, accompanied by a dark, blur like figure appearing in front of them and cupping both their faces. The hand was small like and gentle, soft like a woman’s.


Alex smelled the scent as he felt a little bit off. Actually he felt like he was drunk, tranced. But the feeling was so good, that he didn't want and he couldn't do literally anything. He just remained silent, his facial expression turned into a somewhat happy one. “It's wonderful-...” he mumbled as he just stayed there frozen.


The Nekomata went into a daze, feeling sluggish. She recalled this feeling before, a feeling that made her feel so passive that could not bother to fight back.


The room became more visible to both as the original blur figure giggled seductively and moved back. She was an addition to the golden room filled with such fine silk luxuries and beddings, a pale woman who stood at least 5’9 with large breasts and thin torso that fanned out for her wide hips, her white and blue accented kimono hugging her hourglass figure. Her long black hair practically floated behind her, her almond eyes holding a look of pleasure and seduction, a clear sign she was the one who had made the sweet smell.

“Fufu, welcome you cute little ones~ is it your first time~?” the Seductress purred, paying extra attention to Alex as she ran a pointed nail finger down his chest.


The young man nodded slightly. “Yes-...” He mumbled softly as he felt relaxed as ever. He just stayed frozen, his eyes closed, enjoying that relaxed feeling the scent gave him. Lost in his thoughts though, it wasn't the Seductress, rather it was a very familiar face, a very familiar person, that person literally is next to him. The smile grew bigger, thinking of that certain someone. It soon changed into a grin, though.


Vivi was almost frozen in her place, before the Sexy Nymph cupped her cheek and blew in her face, her breath being the source of mint chocolate that had originally sent them into a trance. The Nekomata’s mind now fully charmed, she relaxed completely and kept her clouded gaze forward, almost like she was half asleep but aware.


The seductress cupped the Dryad’s cheek as well, only she had moved forward and let her lips brush against the corner of his mouth before blowing gently near his nose. Her lips curling in a smile, she drew back.


The young man smiled, as let out a slight moan. “What's this feeling?” he would ask himself, clearly loving it. He remained frozen, spaced out as the Seductress could do anything she really wanted with him, because of the state he was currently in.


The Air Nymph giggled as she pointed towards Vivi. “I want to have some fun.~ Go and lead your friend to one of the beds.~” she simpered.

Following her orders, Vivi held Alex’s hand and led him to the corner bed on the back left corner of the room. As she gently pushed him to the bed, the Nymph came over and sat down on the bed, nuzzling the side of Alex’s neck while giggling. Finally, her mind had started to recovered, the Nekomata beginning to win the mental fight and pushing only some of the Seductress’ charm off till she was still sluggish.


The young man fell on the bed. His body acted on his own, his mind though, he could actually think, that's all he could do.He could still feel the effects of the charm. He seemed happy, he felt happy, but all that was just a ‘fake’ feeling.


The Nymph trailed a hand from his knee to his inner thigh as she slowly moved more on top of him, kissing his neck ever so softly. However, before she continued she was kicked harshly into the wall by a more than furious Nekomata, who had recovered fully from the trance she was in. The corpse stayed upon the wall, a small wind core falling to the floor.


The young man just laid on the bed, he didn't realize what was going on. He still was at that happy state as before since he is still in the same room and smelling that amazing scent. He just remained there with his eyes closed. After a while, the effects start going off, he slowly came back to his senses.


Vivi glanced over worryingly, turning and leaning over you. “Alex?! You okay?!” she begged, maybe being a little too dramatic as it was just a charm.


Alex finally snapped out of his daydreaming, the charm effects finally vanished. He turned his attention to Vivi as he smiled at her as he lifted himself up. “What happened? Are you alright?” He asked as he hold his head, trying to figure out what happened.


Instead of answering firstly, The Nekomata tackled him in a hug and then continued. “A whore tried pulling a fast one on you and did a touch.” she mumbled into his shirt.


“Relax, I am alright-...” He smiled as he hugged her tightly as they both fell on the ground. “Don't worry about me.” He instinctively stroke her hair as he loved how they embraced. “Thanks for saving me, I guess, I owe you.” He extended his right hand and with a sign, he spawns a blue rose as he places it on her ear as he smiles.


The flower was given a proper response from the Nekomata, she blushed lightly and looked to the side, smiling a bit. But before this romanticism could continue, her eyes caught sight of a chest. Vivi tilted her head and shifted a bit to alert Alex she was going to get up.


Alex lifted himself up as he looked at where Vivi was looking at, spotting the chest. “What's that over there?” He asked as he looked back at Vivi. “I won't open it, you never know what slut will come out of that box.” He said as he chuckled slightly.

kindlying in response, the Catgirl replied, “It's a sort of treasure chest, usually holds nice goods!” She walked over and opened it to reveal a smooth, sharp quartz crystal scythe and a long curled feather made of iron, somehow still holding its delicate, airy texture. Vivi held the two in hand for Alex to see, “which on you want?” she asked, wanting him to pick first.


Alex placed his hand on his chin, thinking on what should he select. “I am not a weapon type of guy, so I will pick the feather.” He approached her as he kindly took the feather from her hand, then quickly plants a kiss on her cheek, blushing slightly. “Thanks for saving me-..” He said with a soft tone as he pulled back a bit, awaiting Vivi’s reaction.


Vivi was left, to say the least, a red tomato with cat ears and a tail. She was unable to form words, only pathetic mews as she wondered what the hell happened. She wasn't displeased, no, if she was the boy would have gotten curb stomped. She was blushing, embarrassed, having butterflies in her stomach, and her heart was fluttering.


Alex looked at her as he chuckled lightly as he crossed his arms, awaiting Vivi. “Are you alright?” He slowly approached her once again, this time placing his hand on her cheek. “You are so cute, you know that?” He said as he smiled warmly before fixing the rose on her ear. His heart was beating fast, he just wanted to straight up kiss her but he was afraid of her reaction. Well, the young man was brave and determined in his life but in this situation, he just wanted the ‘okay signal’ by the female.


The Nekomata let out an undignified squawk in reply, slowly turning her body’s direction towards the hallway that continued from the room. “L-lets go fight boss!!” was the only thing Vivi could pretty much handle at the moment. Her tomato face had refused to leave and her legs were shaky. She felt so...flustered. But, the Catgirl had never felt this type of physical contact from someone who isn't family, and that lead her to a decision, that she would make later, if this was okay or not.


Alex sighed as he chuckled slightly at her innocence. He tilted his head at her question. “Fight a boss? I couldn't even handle that Seductress and now you are telling me we should go for that boss? Are you trying to get me killed or something?” He asked jokingly as he fixed his staff, as he was up for anything. “Are you sure? I am bored for another fight but I’ll follow you on whatever you want to do.” He was up for anything and would follow Vivi’s decision.


“Oh, well, this is you dungeon. Just kinda wanted to dump you into a battle so you can get a taste for what a real battle will be like,” Vivi responded, “You obviously have no choice though as the boss is our only way back to the academy.” As her blush vanished the Nekomata became more serious as she tried to step forward. The key word was try, as she wobbled and tripped forward, skidding forward before squeaking and falling towards Alex with her arms out. She pushed him down and landed more...on top of him. As to say Vivi’s melons had found a victim to suffocate. Vivi’s mind stopped there, so embarrassed that the only thought in her mind was, “Oh fuck me.”


Alex blushed as he… Well, got turned on. He slowly pushed her off of him, gently laying her next to him. He chuckled slightly as he lifted his upper body up, hiding his crotch area with his hands as he looked away to hide his blushing. “Yeah, we should get going.” He said as he kept looking away. “Damn it, not only you like her, you got turned on on the worst time possible. I hope she will like me somehow after that.” he said as he sighed deeply, as he spaced out, obviously having dirty thoughts of what just happened.


The Nekomata grabbed the Wind core from the Seductress’ corpse before she walked down to the entrance of the new hallway, ready for the next boss fight. “Come on!” she yelled behind her excitedly, the Catgirl ignoring what had just happened and hoping he would not bring it up when they are about to fight. That would kill her fighting mood…


Alex calmed a bit as he got up, fixing his staff and glasses, ready for a fight. He ignored the whole scenery, he might bring it up after the fight. They need to have their mind clear for the fight. He followed Vivi closely. He wasn't a fighter type but surely he was there to support her. He would use one or two spells to attack the boss, but he would use certain spells to support Vivi maybe heal her or whatever she really needed. “I hope you are ready.” He asked as he clenched his fist, ready for a fight, as he grinned.


Not too long of a walk farther and the pair had made it to the Boss Room entrance. Pushing passed the double doors, they were greeted by...a human? With his back turned, the only thing visible was the bald, dark skin head and a long white fur coat, and what seemed to be a golden chain necklace around his neck. The boss stood at the height of 6 feet, his voice varying in pitches as he talked in a very slurred speech to a woman in a white kimono on her knees, holding her red cheek. She too was not too different from the Seductress she had just fought.


The Nekomata coughed a bit, not expecting to fight someone so simple looking. “Err…” she sounded her awkwardness. Just what type of boss was this? Was this a joke?


The young man followed behind. He looked confused but kept his guard up, this time being more careful, not to fall in the effects of a charm for a second time in a row. Alex turned his attention to Vivi as he kept his confused look on his face. “Are you sure that's the boss?” He asked as he stood literally next to her. He just started becoming much protective. Did he slowly start falling in love with Vivi? Well… That was the case. He grabbed his staff as he prepared for the worst.


The Boss turned around with striped sunglasses on, his necklace spelling the words, ‘Pimp Daddy.’ His outfit was exotic to say the least, with his black pants and golden belt, he had on a bright purple t shirt that was torn on the collar and hems.

“Who da fuck are deez lil bitches?” He manly-squeaked out, clearly unsatisfied with the unwelcomed guests. “Think you can jus’ come bustin’ in ta places wheneva? Ill show you some god damn respect!” the ‘Pimp Daddy’ spoke quickly, unbuckling his golden belt and snapping it.


Vivi flinched a bit, a little to uncomfortable from the memories the belt had brought back, but she regained composure and took out her sea green glass halberd. The Nekomata charged forward, jabbing at the Boss with her spear side.


The attack hit through, the boss hunching over before rising up and with a pissed expression, his sunglasses tilted a bit. “Oh now you gonna get it little girl!” He hollered as he took off his coat, blue bat wings and monkey tail now visible. The Boss attempted to smack her with his belt, but Vivi stuttered for a moment before moving away last minute. Her eyes were wide for a split second, wide with fear. But it was quickly concealed with anger.


Alex watched closely as he held his staff with his right hand. He extended his arm forward, aiming at the boss, as he tried to apply the drunk effect on him. Soon, a green orb formed in front of the staff as it got launched directly at the Boss. “The drunk effect should stay there for one or two minutes. I hope Vivi would do a powerful attack while he is drunk.” He thought as he smirked a bit. “Are you alright, Vivi?” He asked as he clenched his left hand.


The boss stumbled a bit as looked around lazily, confused and dazed from the spell that was casted on him.


Vivi nodded dumbly before running forward and jumping up a bit and twirling, her skirt flaring in the air as she kicked the man full strength in the head.

The Pimp Daddy’s head caved in with a loud sickening crack, blood spraying out a bit and covering Vivi’s leg in blood. Unfortunately for Alex, the only other person around as it has seemed the woman from earlier had ran off mid battle, had a full few of her panties that came with a strong charming spell to whoever saw it.


Alex kept looking at the scenery and how it unfolded. Soon, he saw the panties and well… He fell under the influence of the charming spell. He spaced out as he got slightly aroused by the charm. He closed his eyes once again, as he felt refreshed, relaxed. A smile formed on his lips as a result of his relaxation, he didn't even realize he was turned on at the moment.


Vivi looked over to Dryad with a big smile before noticing that he was looking out of it. “Uu...Alex?” She questioned, walking towards him and waving her hand in front of his face. “Alex??” the Nekomata inquired much more.


Alex finally snapped out of his dreaming as he finally realized that he was turned on once again, blushing deeply. “Can we go now or something? I feel a little bit tired to say the least.” He said as he turned around, trying to locate the exit of this dungeon. He scratched his neck in embarrassment hoping that Vivi didn't notice his…Well you know what.


“Of course! Lemme just go grab the loot and core!” the Nekomata replied, running over and harvesting the Wind core from the corpse and picking up 4 items. One was a Wooden Pan Flute, a Wool Tunic, a Stone Scythe, and a Malachite wand. Vivi turned around and presented the items to Alex, again silently letting him decide which ones he wanted.


The young man, finally in a cool down state, turned around as he faced the female. Scratching his chin, he would gently take the Panflute and Wand from her hand as he smiled back. As before, when he approached her, he gave her another quick kiss on her cheek as he fixed the rose on her ear since it was messed up due to the fight. “You made my day interesting. Thanks for that.” he said as he backed away once again. “Shall we go now?”


Used to the affection, she smiled with a light blush and nodded. “Yes!” Vivi cheered, proud of today of finally being able to let out some energy. And, meet a possible love interest…


With that, both of them went through the portal back to the school and went back to the dorms.
 
Sunlight spilled into the tomb as the doorway cracked open under some light exertion from Iryankh’s staff.
“Okay, so there’s a back door that doesn’t need any monster-slaying,” Ren muttered. “That is good knowledge.”
“Shut up a second,” Iryankh frowned.
“What?” Ren said. “There’s not a whole lot to hear, is there?”
Iryankh was silent for a moment.
“Exactly.”
“Wh… Oh.”
The town was quiet. They were at the wrong angle to see into any streets or buildings, but the town was blanketed by eerie stillness.
Persephone looked out toward the town and was a bit… Unsettled by this as well. She shifted uncomfortably a little bit and her tails swung back and forth a little bit.
“Come on,” Iryankh frowned, using his staff to guide him into civilisation.
Persephone followed closely, since she wasn’t exactly sure what the threat might’ve been. Persephone tried to sense if there were any creatures nearby that might give them a bit of trouble.
Nothing appeared. In fact, there was substantially less life around than before.

The street that the group entered was quite the sight.
Bodies lined the pavements, some completely still -- obviously dead -- while others stared up into the sky absentmindedly -- apparently close to it.
Somehow, the blind man located a corpse with relative ease, placing a hand on its chest.
“Poison,” he muttered. “It’s widespread, but there’s no gas. Something in the water supply.”
Ren would have blanched if he could get any paler.
Persephone stood completely still, realizing exactly what they had done. “No no no, th… That’s not possible…”
Iryankh didn’t move. “What did you do?”
Viviane decided this may be a good time to take point before Persephone had another panic attack from unintentional murder. “Are you…familiar with giant snakes in the area?” Viviane started slowly.
“Talk faster before I come to any premature conclusions.”
“Wemetthesetwopeoplewhenwefirstarrivedoneofthemgaveusapoisontoputinthewatersupplytoprankthetownspeopledeargoodnessdon’tkillus,” Viviane said in one breath, gasping for a moment afterwards.
“I see,” he said. “I take it they were a lot stronger than you. I can’t hold you at fault here, in that case.” With a sigh, he got to his feet. “Luckily, while I am first and foremost a summoner, I am still a necromancer. I do have the capacity to revive these people, but it will require going around one by one. This will be slow.”
“Oh thank god,” Ren sighed in relief.
“Thank me,” said Iryankh, cracking his neck a bit. “I’ll catch up, I suppose. I’m not too happy about it. Go to the other pyramid. Ask for Halar. Do not let him show you anything until I arrive.”
Persephone’s mood had sunk quite a bit. Even though the dead were able to be revived, Persephone still felt incredibly bad for killing them in the first place, even if it was unintentional. “W-We’ll see you later then, I suppose…”
“Don’t let it bother you,” he assured her. “Refusing would have meant your own deaths. I’m fairly certain of that. I wouldn’t have been able to revive you without knowing you were even here, so consider this a net gain or something.”
Ren gave a deep bow of apology, his sari almost falling off. “I’m really, really sorry about this, Iryankh, we didn’t--”
“Go. To. The. Pyramid. And. Ask. For. Halar.”
“R-right! S-sorry!” he spluttered. “Let’s just get going, guys…?”
"Those two… didn’t they say they were looking for something in the pyramids?" Miki asked at last.
Iryankh sighed again. “I’ll tell Nefertari to stand guard. It’s definitely hers. Get going.”
“Mhm,” Viviane mumbled, quickly pushing the others from behind before someone tried to get another word in that may get them killed.

The second pyramid was no less imposing than the first, but the plain but gleaming silver gates implied that this place was already substantially easier to enter.
“Well, at least there’s no puzzle this time…” Ren frowned. “Anyone have anything to do before we go in?”
Viviane quickly checked over her potions and items before shaking her head. “Not unless you know any plans that we can enact if we run into those two again…” she mumbled.
“Stars?” he suggested. “Maybe…?”
“We still need to charge that before…whatever, hopefully it works,” she mumbled, sighing as she looked at the second pyramid.
Persephone nodded and was already ready to go. If she was going to head into battle, all she needed was her wit and her new outfit that Ren got for her.
With a deep breath, Ren nodded, leading the way in.

Magical insignias of all kinds were marked on the walls, ceilings, and floors all around them as the interior of the pyramid bustled with activity.
There were what looked suspiciously like white mages left and right, all of whom chatting to each other about this and that. This place strongly resembled some kind of ancient hospital in its prime -- or would have, if it were less filled with more modern robes on any of these healers.
Viviane glanced around for exactly one moment before clearing her voice, trying to find a healer who was free so she could ask them about Halar.
Persephone sighed as she walked in. Everyone seemed to be a healer from what she could tell and it was frustrating since she looked nothing like them. Was this supposed to be her fate as a healer? Working in a boring hospital? Persephone crossed her arms, impatiently waiting for someone to approach them so they could ask for Halar.
Eventually, a blond man caught their eye, approaching the group.
“Hi. You seem lost,” he asked.
Ren nodded. “We’re looking for Halar.”
“It’s my break. What can I do for you?”
He blinked. “You’re Halar?”
“I am. I generally know when someone’s looking for me. Somewhat of a special talent of mine,” he boasted. “Iryankh sent you?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Something about Vedasaria.”
“Oh, that thing. Come on, it’s down in the bottom.”
Viviane quickly interjected before Ren was dragged off to look at some cool shit without them. “Iryankh told us to wait for him,” she said, grabbing Ren before he got dragged off or something.
Halar scoffed. “He always says that. Come on, I’ll show you guys what he wants you to see. Saves us all some time. He’ll be here to give the relevant details soon enough, but I can explain to you exactly what it is.”
Viviane gave a small glare before taking a step back. “I think we’ll wait. We aren’t so pressed for time. Thank you for the generous offer though.”
“Oh, come on. He’s not exactly going to be quick.”
“He might actually have a point, Viviane,” Ren interjected. “I don’t know how urgent this is, but if he’s going to be a long time…”
Persephone looked at Viviane. “I imagine if we see something that seems too important, we could always stop.”
Viviane glanced between the two with a look of slight surprise on her face, before turning around and stamping in a small circle as she let out a long string of frustrated Greek. If anyone understood Greek, they’d be privy to quite a bit of cussing, and some words about how Ren would be the death of her. “Fine, fine, do whatever,” she said afterwards, her eyebrows knit together in annoyance.
“Alright, down the steps then,” Halar said, becoming as he gestured to the other mages to clear a path. “So, destruction of Vedaseria. How much do you guys know about what you’re going to be looking at?”
Persephone rubbed the back of her head as her tails swirled slowly. “Uh… We don’t really know much at all.”
“You’re in for a treat then. Hope you’re not squeamish,” he winked. “We don’t think it can still talk, and it might well not be capable of thought at all, but we’re doing our best to find out precisely what’s wrong with it. It’s utterly fascinating, in both body and soul.”
Viviane was slamming the brakes in her head as she followed after Ren and Persephone. “…something alive?” she asked.
“Looks like it, but it’s taken some serious trauma,” he explained, stepping onto a platform, which began to descend silently with a wave of his hand. “It might well be in a vegetative state, but it’s impossible to tell much about it.”
Persephone immediately looked toward Ren and had a look of fear on her face. She assumed that this might be the original World Soul, which might take Ren away from her.
“What’s wrong, Persephone?” Ren asked, edging over. “You said you were ready coming in here. Did you forget something?”
Persephone looked away from Ren quickly. “Um… I… Uh… No. No, I didn’t forget anything. Just… Stay close to me, okay?”
Viviane made a loud whooing sound from the back after she heard what Persephone said.
Persephone quickly shot Viviane a look of… Not anger or embarrassment or disappointment, but… Fear almost.
If anything, Viviane didn’t really respond to Persephone’s fear with worry. No, with her single raised eyebrow, it was as if she was saying ‘told you so’ instead. Perhaps she was still feeling a little vindictive from Persephone almost killing her earlier that day.
“Hey, it’ll be fine,” Ren promised. “I’m sure I’ll know if it’s dangerous.”
Persephone didn’t look back to Ren this time, feeling her stomach tie in knots. “Okay…”

The platform halted perfectly smoothly without a single decibel of sound.
“Relax,” Halar said. “It’s totally unresponsive so far.”
Stepping into a room filled with potions on shelves and covered in insignias and inscriptions on the walls, he walked to join two more mages who were tweaking what looked like rune circles.
“How’s it looking, Kembis?”
The woman presumably named Kembis folded her arms. “As predicted. Last breath was almost 140 hours ago. We’re expecting another one by dusk as usual.”
Ren stumbled behind the trio of healers with a faint clearing of his throat. “There’s something that can hold its breath that long?”
“It’s not holding its breath,” Kembis clarified. “Its bodily rhythms have slowed down beyond what should be reasonably possible. This thing beats its heart once a day, from what we can tell. Hard to properly measure something you can’t scan.”
“Why can’t you scan it?” Viviane asked idly, looking around at anything else.
“Magic resistance,” Halar replied. “This thing has magic resistance like nothing we’ve ever seen. It’s not immune, but even magical analysis is practically a wasted effort.”
Viviane nodded slightly, yet she didn’t really have any other solutions. “How are you observing it right now…?”
Persephone looked to Viviane. “I imagine they can physically monitor it and that’s why they know the heartbeat and breathing rate of it. I would probably do the same for any creature, especially one with such high magic resistance.”
“It does make it nigh-impossible to heal it, even with equipment like this,” Kembis sighed.
“Wanna see?” asked Halar.
No,” Viviane said, glancing at the others.
Persephone looked toward Halar and said, “I… Would prefer not to see it… But… I am a bit curious. If… Ren steps away for a moment, I’d like to see it.”
Ren furrowed his brow. “...It’s hurting.”
“And your healing is magic based. Just let Persephone check on it or something,” Viviane said, trying to steer Ren away. “Maybe we can take a look when Iryankh gets here.”
"I trust Master’s judgment. Why not look at it?"
Persephone shot Miki an angered look. “Look. I’m not letting Ren see it. Period.”
He raised a brow. "When has someone not wanting us to do something ever done anything?"
“Maybe the first time can be now,” Viviane mumbled, still turning Ren away.
Persephone looked toward Miki and said, “Fine. He can see it, but don’t blame me if something happens.”
“It’s hurting,” Ren repeated, “I want to at least try helping, and maybe I’ll even remember something. There’s no reason to not look.”
“Of course not. A dark being who destroys an entire world misses a piece of it. Accidentally. It’s perfectly safe,” Viviane said, letting out a short string of Greek cusses out afterwards.
“If it’s a dark god, it wouldn’t be here,” Ren pointed out.
“It’s definitely not a god,” Halar said. “I don’t really know what you guys are talking about, but it’s not a deity of any form.”
Persephone sighed. “Just… Show us already.”
“Open the lock,” Halar nodded to Kembis.
With a few adjustments to the insignias, she nodded.
The far wall began to shift, turning wheels that were just a moment ago completely camouflaged. Gears within gears lined up one by one, a circular hole in the wall opening up to reveal an almost pitch-black room on the other side.
“Look, but don’t touch,” Halar said. “We don’t know if it will destabilise it.”

With a tentative step inside, Ren glanced around in the dark.
“H-hello?” he called. “Is anyone here? I’ve come to help. Are you alright?”
Persephone stood straight and stepped in front of Ren. “I’m not sure it can respond. If it breathes one in a while, it probably won’t move in response to your voice.”
“You never know,” he frowned indignantly. Letting out a little light, he illuminated the darkness some to reveal metal.
Chains were hammered into the wall, taut as they suspended a figure by its wrists. Clearly male, almost humanlike, with a few features standing out.
Bones protruded like spikes from its shoulders, wrists, ankles, and head.
Blade-like teeth were clearly visible in its slack jaw.
And it had been quite clearly flayed.
“Alright, we got a look, let’s go,” Viviane said, glancing about nervously for a moment, one hand in her bag in case she needed to grab something.
Ren was stood completely still, as if petrified, staring past Persephone at the figure.
“You have to move,” he told her.
Persephone saw the look on his face and she was tempted not to move, but Ren had never commanded her to do something in a situation like this, so she… Reluctantly moved. “W-What is it, Ren?”
He didn’t speak a word.
Silver lights surrounded his body, an already-familiar cue that he was charging his star magic.
“Aw shit,” Viviane mumbled, glancing behind her to see what Halar was doing in response to Ren charging his magic.
Halar, as it happened, was peering in in confusion. “What are y--”
He was immediately cut off by the sound of hundreds of white lights crashing down to burn the patient to a cinder.
Die! Just die!” he shrieked, a fear and fury so out of place that it seemed to shock even him. “Turn to dust and be burned away, damn you, DIE!
Persephone, at this point would try to keep him from doing anything else by stepping in front of him and charming him by kissing.
As he always did, Ren reliably halted, falling into a trance instantly.
Predictably, Miki’s expression soured. "There was probably a better way to do that." He turned to Viviane and opened and closed his mouth, failing to say anything.
“Well it worked, and that’s what matters,” Viviane mumbled. “Miki, please stand guard or something in case Halar tries to attack us,” she continued, trying to look at the damage done by Ren.
Persephone looked toward Miki. “No, Miki, take Ren away from here. He’ll wake up from the trance in a minute and he can’t be here. Viviane, you and I need to look at this… Person? This might tell us something about why Ren got mad.”
"Does that really matter?" Miki turned to watch the healers, pulling Ren’s arm. "I don’t think we’re that welcome now."
Persephone looked toward Miki and snapped at him. “I don’t care. I’m curious about who this person is and I’m going to figure it out, whether you like it or not. Now get out.
"You missed the point entirely huh." He listened though, pulling Ren out of the room behind him.
“Persephone, you should go too,” Viviane mumbled. “Miki can be a little abrasive, so it may be up to you to try smooth things over in case the others are…frustrated with Ren.”
Persephone looked toward Viviane with a slightly angered expression. “If you expect me to go apologize to them, it won’t be happening right now. As you can see, I’m a bit preoccupied. Now come over here and come take a look at this.” Persephone stepped into the dark room and toward the person in chains.
“I meant just getting Ren out of this alive and in one piece but alright, if this is how you want to do it,” she said, stepping forward, squinting in the darkness before reaching into her bag for her something to light up the darkness.
As Viviane stepped in and illuminated the room, Persephone observed the body of the person in the chains.
“If your friend is done,” frowned Halar, “then I'm going to take him upstairs. We'll wait for Iryankh at the top of the pyramid.”
Persephone waved off Halar as she continued to scan the body, looking at the flay marks. In fact, she became so enamored with one… She wanted to see what it felt like. She wondered what the skin of this creature felt like. Was it hard? There were sharp things protruding from its body, so… Maybe. But maybe it was soft and the sharp stuff was hard. She was curious. She wanted to know.
Viviane gave Halar an apologetic smile and nod before turning back to Persephone. “Well?” she called, frowning as she saw the look on Persephone’s face. Some other dumb shit was going to happen, wasn’t it…
Persephone waved over Viviane. “Come here! There’s… This curious flay mark right here.”
Viviane slowly made her way over, still frowning. “Persephone, remember what Halar said about not touching it…”
Right as Persephone saw Viviane moving toward her, Persephone reached out to touch it and did so by the time Viviane finished saying anything about what Halar had said not to do.
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING,” Viviane shouted, frantically trying to pull Persephone back as she scanned the body herself.

That was when the body let out a groan.
Yellow eyes rolled around inside the flayed head, focusing on Persephone.
“...Who…?” he rasped slowly.
Persephone widened her eyes and opened her mouth. “A… Ah… P-Persephone.” Persephone touched her chest to indicate that was who she was.
“Fuck this is bad. This is really bad,” Viviane mumbled, still trying to drag Persephone away.
“...Vikukshi,” he answered, the remains of his voice a grating, gravely husk of genuine speech.
Persephone smiled. “Is that your name?”
A strained motion of the man's neck demonstrated half a weak nod.
Persephone looked toward the other nurses. “HEY! GET OVER HERE AND HEAL THIS MAN!” Persephone looked back toward Vikukshi with a cheery expression. “Do you want me to stay with you for the moment until you feel a little better?”
He was silent.
“It won't work,” said Kembis. “The resistance is too high. His vitals are already dropping.”
“...Already… dead…” Vikukshi assured her. “But… to touch… would… be nice…”
Persephone looked at Vikukshi and frowned a little, sad that he was going to die so quickly after showing signs of life. Persephone hugged Vikukshi, granting him a little bit of touch.
“Vitals failed,” sighed Kembis.
Vikukshi let out a weak laugh. “Boy was… right… Sentimentality… has… benefits.”
And just like that, his teeth sank into her shoulder.
As his teeth sank into her shoulder, Persephone was tempted to let out a shriek. However, she opened her mouth and nothing came out. She looked toward the man and her face quickly turned white. “Y-You…” Persephone couldn’t even say the rest of what she was thinking as her voice was incredibly strained from all the pain.
She didn't get the chance. Flesh was ripped from her, the man swallowing in a single gulp.
“What the hell?!” cried the other mage.
“Vitals rising…?!” spluttered Kembis.
Vikukshi rose to his feet. With a howl of clear agony, steam began to rise from his muscles as fibers began to crawl. Dark skin began to reform from his protrusions outwards, long white hair regrowing from his scalp. Rising to his feet, with a single motion, the chains around him were shattered in an instant.

“So is drawn the curtain on the great harvest of my demise,” he announced. “To me.”
On his command, golden waves of light flashed like fireworks around his body, aureate plate armour appearing on his body piece by piece.
“Now then. What have I missed?”
Viviane quietly facepalmed and groaned. “Persephone, I think you fucked up,” she grumbled. “Unnaturally badly this time.”
“Quite so,” the man agreed. “I, Vikukshi of the Rairrata, hereby declare my return. In the light of my resurrection, I claim this world for the glory of Kubera!”
Get out!” ordered Kembis.
Viviane didn’t need to be told twice, cramming a health potion in Persephone’s mouth as she tossed the kitsune over her shoulder and made a break for it.
The platform they had come down from had already ascended. Luckily, Kembis thought fast enough. The wall rapidly resealed, cutting it off from the group.
Viviane sighed as she put down Persephone for a moment, furiously flipping through her bag for something that may prolong their lives for even a moment. “Useless, useless, useless,” she mumbled, pulling out the indestructible chain she’d just gotten and hanging on to that as she crammed Failnaught back into her bag. Maybe that would work.
“Relax,” said Kembis. “That's a Ra’s Eye lock. It has literally billions of combinations, and it's divine enough to be indestructible.”
“I will not relax because something that fucking strong literally just took a bite out of my friend. And what’s to stop him from going around the lock,” Viviane continued, shouldering Persephone with one arm and holding the chain with the other as she took a few more steps back, looking for another way out.
“The lock won't let him, it's fine. Look, we're white mages, hand her to me.”
It was at that exact moment that the wall began to shift again, very slowly.
I am, at least, impressed that you think divinity or numbers will protect you from the limitless might and wisdom of a Brahmarakshasa,” echoed Vikukshi’s voice.
“Enemy is a god. Terrific,” Viviane replied flatly as she spun to Kembis. “Where’s the backdoor out of this place. We need to go now.”
“It's the long way, but there are stairs. Come on!” she said.
“I'll stay here and keep it locked in,” the other mage said. “Go!”
That mage is going to die,” Viviane thought with a small wince of guilt as she followed after Kembis. “Can you tell the others what’s going on? Please tell me you’re telepathic or something.”
“We have an alarm,” she said, pulling away a wall to reveal steps upwards. “We have black mages too, so they'll be down here to defend.”
“I’d feel safer with a team of gods,” Viviane mumbled to herself, racing up the stairs as fast as she could with Persephone on her shoulder.
Persephone felt incredibly confused at this point. She was being carried by Viviane away from Vikukshi. How stupid was she? Honestly, every time she got into a situation here, she swore that more and more people were going to die as a result of her choices. Persephone let out a weak, “Thank you,” to Viviane.
Kembis stopped, letting Viviane run past before casting a shimmering white veil behind them. “That should slow it down.”
A scream echoed from below.
Viviane winced again at the screams as she kept moving upwards. “Thank me after we’re out of this alive, Persephone,” she grumbled. “Kembis, how much further?”
“We'll get to Floor -14 in a second. We're going to have to go up floor by floor,” she frowned.
The air cracked. The barrier behind them was reduced to nothing as the man in golden armour marched up the step behind.
“Keep running!” she yelled, turning and aiming a spell at him.
Persephone felt a bit of her strength return to her as she could feel the potion settling in. She… Still felt pain in her shoulder, but she might be able to just fly to try and help Viviane move faster. Persephone knew she wasn’t in the greatest condition, but Viviane might not make it out alive if she didn’t do something other than be carried.
The sickening sound of tearing flesh resounded from behind the pair.
Persephone looked up a bit from Viviane’s shoulder to look back. She knew she shouldn’t, but she needed to see what might’ve happened.
Red. She hadn't seen it happen, but it was as if Vikukshi had torn her to pieces in an instant. There was no body left, just a stain on the wall.
“Charm him,” Viviane shouted, inwardly thankful that she could not see behind her as she fumbled in her bag for her most recent terraform potion before passing it to Persephone. “Throw it for sunlight!”
Persephone flew off of Viviane’s shoulder and looked toward Viviane. “I… I will! Keep going!” Persephone looked toward Vikukshi and she… Stopped. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t… She couldn’t do it. She knew this was going to be the end and… She needed to save Viviane. That was it. “Vikukshi…” Persephone got on her knee. “What can I do to help you?”
Vikukshi stopped. “Do not think that I cannot see through your facade, girl. I have been a sage for thousands of years. You will not fool me with something so meagre,” he promised. “But it is you who allowed me my life, so you in turn shall be spared.”
Persephone looked toward Vikukshi and fear resided in her eyes. She hoped Viviane would keep running. She hoped she would be able to get to Ren and to safety. “Please… Just… Please don’t kill any of my friends. Please. It’s all I ask. I know it’s foolish for me to ask such a thing to someone such as you, but… Please.”
“Your terms are acceptable,” he said apathetically. “Now move out of my way.”
Persephone quickly got up off of her knees and flew in the direction where Viviane was. At least she’d be able to save her friends. Even if the rest of the people here were to die, at least she’d be able to save Ren and the others.
Viviane was still running up the stairs, pausing for a moment as she considered Persephone may try some dumb self-sacrifice shit before she kept running, even faster now. She needed some other help, and given the others were at the top…
Each felt a cold hand on the backs of their necks.
“I said to move. I did not give permission to leave.”
Persephone immediately stopped and looked to Vikukshi. “Y-Yes… And you do know who the other two you’re not supposed to kill are, yes?”
“You will tell me when I find them,” he declared. “Come.”
Persephone nodded and followed Vikukshi without another word, hoping Viviane would do the same.
Viviane did do the same, though not without a mix of anger and fear written across her face as she stared at the Vikukshi guy. Honestly, first chance she got she was going to ruin his day…

The trio were up to -14 before they knew it. If nothing else, these people worked fast.
Lines of black mages were already in formation, preparing to fire.
But they didn't.
“Sentimentality,” scoffed Vikukshi.
Persephone looked away from the formation of black mages, ready to see all of them slaughtered before her eyes by Vikukshi. She wasn’t sure she was ready for it, but if they had to die for her two friends… So be it.
Viviane, in turn, was still angrily glaring at Vikukshi. “So what’s the point of claiming a world if you’re just murdering everything in your way,” she grumbled.
“I intend to build an altar,” he replied, raising his hand. “And with it, I shall pray for guidance.”
The mages turned to scarlet, an overwhelming scent of rust filling the room.
Viviane winced as she watched the slaughter. Blood and the smell didn’t bother her so much, just the fact that they were all being killed and she couldn’t do a thing about it. “Pray for guidance from who? You’re from…Vedasaria?”
“I am. I will receive orders from Lord Kubera.”
Viviane clicked her tongue, about to say more when Persephone interjected. Persephone looked at Viviane and said, “I hope they come soon for you.” Persephone shook her head at Viviane, indicating that they shouldn’t bring up that Vedasaria was destroyed.
“They will come when I call. Let us continue.”

Ren bolted upright, gasping for air.
“What's going on?!” he cried.
“Oh, you're awake,” Iryankh muttered dryly. “This wasn't you, was it?”
“Was what?!”
“The Brahmarakshasa from the basement is going on a warpath. This is why I said to not let him show you anything until I explained the situation…” he sighed. “It's already cleared two floors and it's going for a third.”
Ren shook his head. “Rairrata Brahmarakshasa… What defenses do you even have against that?”
“Repeat that first word.”
“Rairrata,” said Ren. “A soldier in the army of Kubera, god of wealth. They conquer and harvest in the name of their lord.”
“You remembered something then.”
“Only that,” Ren shook his head. “I know that he'll be dangerous. Even without a weapon, a Brahmarakshasa is a sage who became a demon. Simultaneously holy and unholy, powers both physical and spiritual. With the armour of a Rairrata and magic resistance of that calibre, that thing is next to unstoppable.”
“In short,” Miki shot him a look, “None of us can do anything but die? What about Viviane then?”
“Where's Viviane?” Ren asked. “Where's Persephone?”

Viviane suddenly sneezed, rubbing her nose for a moment. “Lots of dust here,” she said.
“That is the natural consequence of explosions,” Vikukshi replied.
Persephone rolled her eyes and stayed quiet.

“Those two stayed behind since you tried killing that guy.” Miki gave him an expectant look.
“That’s because I knew this would happen!” Ren cried. “A Brahmarakshasa is dangerous enough, but Rairrata are even worse, and they're zealots at that! I have literally no idea what to do now it's loose!”
He sighed. “And you couldn’t just tell them?”
“It's not like Persephone gave me much of a chance to think straight…” he grumbled.
“So we're dead, I guess?” Iryankh folded his arms.
“Don’t people usually have a god to call on in times like this?” Miki asked like that was a totally reasonable solution.
“The gods here only act after the fact,” frowned Iryankh. “I could summon a demon god. Or try to. I don't think it'd work.”
“You're right. A Brahmarakshasa is a demon in itself, but it's still of a holy nature. A demon or an angel wouldn't stand a chance,” Ren agreed. “I need to talk to it.”
“The Brahmarakshasa?” Iryankh said. “You're not going down there.”
“Then I need help.”
Iryankh sighed. “I’ll call up Amdusias.”

Viviane winced as she watched another wave of mages disappear in a sea of scarlet. “Can’t you just scare them off?” she mumbled. “What kind of altar are you making that would require you to murder like this?”
“This is not for the altar,” Vikukshi answered. “This is because I respect their resolve as warriors and respond in kind. Even with no weapon, I will fight. I currently seek my astra.”
Persephone looked at Vikukshi and looked a bit confused. “So you kill them out of respect? And what is an “astra”? A weapon of sorts?”
“A knight of Vedasaria will always possess an astra. Some of them allow the killing of men, others of beasts, others of gods, and others of very worlds. My astra allows me to destroy a target irrespective of its nature,” he explained. “That is why I will need it to conquer this world.”
Persephone’s eyes widened quite a bit. Shit. She had brought such a strong person back into the world. She was going to cause Mshir to be destroyed all because she wanted to poke someone. “Ah… I… See…”
“So…can you sense your astra or something?” Viviane asked, hoping to keep this guy distracted. Maybe they’d be able to stall him long enough for Ren to do something.
“It is being kept at the highest point of this temple,” Vikukshi replied. “I intend to take it.”
Persephone nodded at this fact and needed to find a way to communicate this fact to Ren. They needed to secure the astra and keep Vikukshi from getting it. If he did get the astra, Persephone was sure that anyone wouldn’t be able to defeat Vikukshi. Persephone looked at Viviane, understanding that they needed to keep Vikukshi busy. “So… Tell us more about your Lord Kubera.”
“A noble king to us outcasts. A god of wealth, a protector of our world. Despite his virtues, he is cursed with insatiable greed, so we in turn seek riches for him as gestures of piety, gratitude, and dedication to his glory.”
“Uh…outcasts?” Viviane asked.
Persephone nodded. “Are you referring to those without divinity?”
“Demons. Asura. Rakshasa,” he said. “We unholy forsaken by the gods and our kind alike. Even as a foot soldier, one as weak as I can enter battle with the Lord of Riches on my side. Without him, we were nothing, and we would be so again without his light.”
Viviane let out a nervous laugh. This guy was weak?! “Ah…cool…” Viviane mumbled.
Persephone looked toward Vikukshi and nodded. In her mind, she frowned a bit and was… A bit uncomfortable with the fact that he was already so powerful and yet calling himself weak.
Vikukshi looked for a moment as though he was going to speak, but seemed to have already decided that he had nothing else to say, stepping forward through the pool of blood.
Without warning, the room was filled with the sound of brass.
Vikukshi of Rairrata! cried a familiar voice.
The warrior halted, looking up to the source of the phantom words, a white-blue ball of mist in the air above them. “Identify.”
Viviane blinked as she looked at the ball. “Please be Ren Please be Ren Please be Ren,” she thought.
Persephone opened her eyes widely as she recognized the voice. “Ah! Ren! Is that you?”
Persephone! Is Viviane there? asked the mist.
Persephone nodded and called out to the mist. “Yes! We’re both alive!”
Thank god. Vikukshi! Let them go!
“These two are mine,” he responded. “I would sooner ask you what your business with them is, butter thief.”
Persephone once again called out. “Don’t worry Ren! He’s not intending to hurt us or you! He promised not to hurt you guys!”
“The deal is off,” Vikukshi frowned. “For that one, at least. He is an exception to any deal I would make.”
Persephone looked toward him with anger. “No! You promised! You promised you wouldn’t hurt any of my friends and…” Persephone was about to finish, wanting to say that she cared about him more than anyone else. However, she didn’t want to offend Viviane or Miki, who was probably close to Ren, knowing him.
“Use blood next time,” Viviane mumbled. “Can’t break blood deals.”
“I apologise, fox,” glared the warrior. “But I don’t bargain when it comes to dairy farmers.”
That is unnecessarily specific, the mist mumbled quietly. Look, I don’t know what you’re doing, but you’re not going to accomplish anything. Nobody is going to benefit here.
“I have said it before and will say it a thousand times if I must. I will have my mandate from Kubera, and you will not stop me.”
I don’t have to! It’s never going to come! You know as well as I do, don’t you?! You can feel it! There is no Kubera! There’s no Rairrata! Vedasaria is gone!
A moment of silence passed.
“Then from whence cometh order?”
It doesn’t! It won’t! It never will!
Persephone looked toward Vikukshi with a look of fear. Ren had just said to him exactly what she didn’t want him finding out. She almost cursed Ren for this because it might come at the cost of Persephone and Viviane’s life, but… She understood Ren’s need to communicate this to Vikukshi. And now that the cat was out of the bag, there was no need to get so upset over such a thing.
Viviane made a low whistle sound. “Uhm…at least now you’re free to do whatever now?”
“No,” Vikukshi declared. “I am not. I now have an objective. I will burn this world. I will kill everything in it. That should grant me the power necessary to become a god, and so I will build Vedasaria anew.”
You won’t. You can’t sacrifice an entire world just for another.
“So says you.”
Try it and I’ll kill you! Ren cried.
Another moment of silence.
“You would make for a fine Rairrata.”
With a wave of his hand, the mist shattered and dispersed into nothing.
Persephone looked toward Vikukshi and put her hands together, almost begging. “Please don’t kill everyone. Please. There’s no need to do such a thing. I’m sure you can find a way to ascend to godhood another way. Just… Please. No more killing. Please.”
“There is no way more efficient for me than this,” he said calmly. “These lives have no value to me. To kill some million of the faceless is nothing. On the contrary, I would call it a better than fair exchange for my home.”
“You expect to kill many others just for the good of the few who have already passed? You can’t bring them back so easily! And just… Just because you’re a god won’t mean anything. You will not be the same to those people, even if you do bring them back.”
“There are far fewer here with much less value,” Vikukshi retorted, marching on. “I need not be the same. I only need to restore our stars to the heavens. I too can ramble in biases, girl.”
Viviane sighed. “Have you considered the possibility that someone out there who’s stronger and with better morality would stop you from murdering the entire world? Or does that not deter you from trying.”
“I am a soldier of Kubera. Killing is my every waking moment and my heartbeat is a drum of war. I do not fear death, only a life unfulfilled. I will not cease trying for fear of being bested.”
“You have a very boring life,” Viviane grumbled. “Who would ever feel fulfilled if all they’ve ever done is kill and wage war.”
Persephone gave Viviane a look of fear. As if to say, “We should be careful about what we say. He already went back on his deal with Ren. I don’t want him to go back with you too.”
Viviane’s glare back would’ve said a lot, mostly culminating in “NOW WE BE CAREFUL? NOT WHEN THE SUPER MAGICAL RESISTANT CORPSE STARTED TO TALK AND ASKED YOU TO HUG IT?!”
But she thought better of it and didn’t glare.
“You must live a similarly dull one if all you do is swim,” Vikukshi snapped back, advancing up the stairs once more.
Persephone laughed nervously and looked at Vikukshi. “Ha… Haha…”
“I do other things,” Viviane said with a small huff.
“Precisely,” he said. “There is a fine line between generalisation and ignorance. Neither are of the virtuous. Though I will not lecture you on such things whilst I kill.”
Persephone looked at Vikukshi again. “You know that the kid who you spoke to is from Vedasaria too, right?”
“I am familiar enough with him,” he confirmed.
“So you intend to kill one of the people who you wish to save?”
“This one is better dead.”
“Were you a…awake the entire time you were dead?” Viviane asked semi-nervously. Scratch that, not even semi, she was full on nervous, sweating buckets and fearing for her life. But only on the inside, so outwardly, it was semi-nervous.
“A passive awareness. It was only meditation. No, I know this farm-hand personally, and he is too dangerous to be kept alive,” Vikukshi said calmly.
“That’s…okay, how is Ren too dangerous? Like, I know he can shoot stars and utterly melt through most enemies with it but…well, it’s Ren. He isn’t really the ‘take-over the world’ type or anything. He also goes down real easy, speaking from experience” Viviane said with a frown, craning her neck a little.
“If I have a chance to purge the body of Mahakala in any capacity, I will do so.”
Persephone looked at Vikukshi with confusion. “Mahakala?”
Viviane piped up too. “He’s Ren, not some Mahakala.”
“I know no Ren. Whatever that name is, it is a false one. Mahakala is the true name of that one, and I will not be merciful because of an epithet regardless.”
“Maybe it’s a case of mistaken identity?” Viviane offered. “Or maybe you can tell us why exactly you hate this Mahakala so much…”
“It has never been an ally to we living. Without fail, Mahakala’s law has taken more lives than anything,” Vikukshi frowned, marching on. “The Law of Cycles must be abolished.”
“That…tells me nothing,” Viviane mumbled. “Uhm. What does this Mahakala look like…?”
“I have no time for inane questions with no answer.”
“Well I’m trying to tell you you’re going to kill someone who is most definitely not Mahakala,” Viviane mumbled.
“This is not a debate, little girl,” Vikukshi replied. “I cannot complete Vedasaria without abolishing the Law.”
Viviane sighed. “I still think you’re going to kill the wrong person,” she mumbled. “Going out to kill a lot of people really isn’t something Ren would do.”
Persephone nodded. “She’s right. Ren isn’t someone who would kill a lot of people. He’s not someone who is an acting part of the law… Or whatever it is that you think he is. It might not be up for debate on your behalf, but it is on mine. If you’re so unsatisfied… Then…” Persephone clenches her fists and frowns a bit. “Then you should just die.”
What happened to being careful about what we say,” Viviane thought, glancing over to Persephone with a frown.
“I will, in time,” he glared. “That is precisely my objective. While the Law is in place, our souls are trapped, and while that boy exists, the Law will continue to be in place, no matter how I recreate Vedasaria.”
Persephone looked at Vikukshi and realized something and hesitated before saying it. “That boy who you want to kill…” She paused once again. “Do you know what a World Soul is?”
“I am perfectly aware of the situation. And while that remnant of the old world exists, the Law will survive through him. Do you understand?”
Persephone sighed. “You do realize that killing only him will not get rid of the Law. He is not the main body. You’ll have to find all the copies of him too.”
“What gave you the impression that I intend to finish with him?”
Persephone paused, very somberly. “I can’t believe you’d kill all of those poor copies… And all the souls that are contained within them.”
“The souls are already dead. I intend to liberate them from the confines of the Law. The only thing perishing would be the fragments. Soulless beings in their own right. Nothing of value shall be lost.”
Persephone got angry at this. “How can you even say that?! Even if he doesn’t have his own soul, he’s still a person! It’s not his fault that he was made like this! And you’re just saying that because he was created because your world was destroyed that you’re going to kill him! I can’t believe that you’d destroy the creation made from all the people of your world.”
“It may not be just or fair, but it is right,” said Vikukshi. “I value the many over the few, and the few over the none.”
“You know the inherent flaw there is with that logic right,” Viviane said idly.
“Excuse you?”
“The utilitarianism approach. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Except if you do that, you can justify just about any mass killing or genocide without any regard for the actual killing or horrible actions you commit. Which, in the grand scheme of morality, is generally not a very ‘good’ or ‘right’ thing to do.”
Persephone nodded at this. “Exactly! And how do you think your people would react if they found out that they could be reborn at the cost of an entire world? You might be looking to ascend to godhood, but your people wouldn’t be the same if you take the most efficient path, which you deem to be this one. Your people might even renounce you if they’re anything like Ren. Maybe that’s the reason why he wishes to be rid of you. Maybe the souls are crying out for him to keep you from doing this!”
“So what if they are? You know as well as anyone that the masses are unthinking,” snarled Vikukshi.
Persephone got very agitated at this comment. “No. I actually don’t know that or think that for that matter. And. Even if they did, all it would take is one to stir up change and get you kicked out. I know that much.”
“I do not intend to rule, I intend to die. We will be free from the cycle. That is what life -- all life in my world -- has aimed to achieve for infinite eons, and now simply because we have the chance you think I will allow it to be squandered by disembodied souls who have forgotten their purpose?” he asked. “No. We will not be denied our release. You do not understand the matter on which you speak.”
Persephone looked to Vikukshi and looked him straight in the eye. “If you intend to die, just do it right now. Why should I wait?”
“If I die, then I will not free my brethren. You, on the other hand, need not wait.”
He raised a hand towards her.
Persephone immediately turned white. She had said something very… Risky. “I-If you kill me, R-Ren will be sure to kill you before you achieve your goal. S-So you better not do that.” Persephone was sweating at this point.
Viviane made sure to stay calm, or at least try. Freaking out was probably the worst thing she could do. “She’s right,” she said, trying to find a reason for Vikukshi not to kill Persephone that wasn’t a semi-bluff.
“That child cannot kill me. He has already tried.”
Persephone swallowed. “W-What if he tried to use your astra on you?”
“Use of an astra is impossible without a soul.”
“What makes you so certain that he’s the only person that’s up there that’s my friend?”
Viviane groaned. “Sneak attack is out the window then.”
“Nothing. But I am certain that he is the only one who would have the necessary knowledge to invoke it.”
Persephone paused. “There is one other who I know who might be able to wield it.”
“And what gives you that idea?”
Persephone looked up to Vikukshi, gaining a little color. “He has imparted more knowledge to Ren than anyone else.”
Persephone, please stop giving away any chance of an ambush victory,” Viviane thought.
“There is no mage here capable enough to withstand using it even if they knew its name.”
“And what makes you so certain that this person doesn’t have friends who could use it?” Persephone paused for a moment before saying. “If… You spare Ren, I could convince them not to use your astra to destroy you.”
“You are not even convincing me. You have also learned nothing, it seems.”
“Forgive me for not coming to your aid when you’re about to kill my friend.” Persephone almost snapped.
“Oh,” Viviane suddenly piped up. “The Pitris.”
“The few Pitris that would be left would also be delusional to attempt to fight a Rairrata,” scoffed Vikukshi.
Persephone saw this chink in his armor. He actually said something that made it sound as though he felt somewhat threatened. At least, that was her thought. “You know the Pitris are also hunting Ren. If you kill him, they may actually come in a group to destroy you.”
“Let them try. They will be slaughtered as easily as animals. There is not a single Astradhari among them, and none as strong as a mere Rakshasa. Their maya is useless against me.”
Persephone sighed. “Fine. I suppose we march on to imminent death because… I can’t seem to convince you of anything.” Persephone turned to Viviane. “I just hope Ren can do something about him.”
Viviane gave as reassuring a smile as she could. “Ren always finds a way. Maybe one of the gods will step in to help.”
Persephone frowned. “I hope so.”
“Your flaw is your arrogance. I have thought through this for thousands of years. I have had time enough to come to a stronger conclusion than a child can refute in a few sentences,” assessed Vikukshi, lowering his hand.
Persephone looked off to the side. “The amount of time shouldn’t stand as the foundation for the strength of your argument, but I won’t fight you any longer. I suppose a child like me has nothing pertinent to say to one so wonderful as you. How could I ever compare?” Persephone was very obviously being sarcastic.
“By having thousands of years to work out better alternatives,” he pointed out.
Persephone sighed, almost pissed off at his correction. “Sure thing.”

After a while of going up the floors, Persephone once again got fed up with the killing. She sighed and looked toward Vikukshi. “You know, I don’t understand why you want to go against the laws of nature and try to completely turn this world upside down.”
“I don’t,” he said bluntly. “This world is fine. It is my own world that I wish to correct.”
“Are they not one in the same?”
“You really aren’t very educated, are you?” Vikukshi frowned. “No, Vedasaria is not the same place as Mshir.”
Persephone rolled her eyes. “Of course I know that, I’m not an idiot. However, since Vedasaria isn’t around anymore, this world and yours are now the same. And if you intend to take this world for your own, wouldn’t that also still be the same?”
“I haven’t the slightest inkling where you have drawn your conclusions from. I intend to destroy this world and use the energy to fuel the creation of a new one.”
Persephone frowned. “You know… Why do you think the Law is such a bad thing? Isn’t that where you’re rooting a lot of this problem?”
“The Law of Cycles is the bane of all souls. It keeps them trapped, constantly reborn in forms befitting of their karma, rather than allowing them the release of death or even an afterlife. You pass through your hell, then your heaven, and then are chained back to the mortal coil, never permitted escape.”
“I think you’re making life sound a lot worse than it actually is,” Viviane said.
“Say what you want. It is the aim of all living beings to escape to the abyss,” glared the brahmarakshasa. “You would be no exception there.”
Persephone scoffed. “I don’t think you should make that assumption on behalf of an entire world. Plus, wouldn’t you just be bringing your kind back into the Law of Cycles if you create a new world for them? You bring them back into the mortal coil once again.”
“You didn’t seem to be listening when I said I would slay that boy to prevent that from happening,” he said.
“I don’t understand why you have such a problem with those souls being taken care of by someone. They might not be in control of themselves, but they will be well taken care of in his hands.” Persephone crossed her arms.
“It is imprisonment. Nothing more. Your naivete clouds your own ignorance from you, child.”
“Well you’ll be giving them death. And in my mind, that’s much worse. The souls at least have a chance to achieve a goal and make progress inside of Ren.”
“Your own feelings on the matter are irrelevant. We crave death, true and final death. It is our purpose in existence. As living beings, we are forced to strive to escape the cycle. We seek conclusion just as a traveller seeks their destination. Existence and destruction are intertwined, never to be separated. One cannot live under the Law of Cycles and not strive for the end,” Vikukshi said. “I will restore the souls for one final life, not dictated by fate, and they shall truly live before they truly die.”
Viviane scoffed slightly at a single line Vikukshi had said. “One final life huh,” she mumbled as she glanced around at the most recent slaughter room. “One seems to mean something different to you than me.”
“Be as snide as you like. It will not change a thing.”
“You say that everyone seeks death,” Viviane started. “What about children, whose lives have just begun?”
“Do you think infants are immune to the hands of fate?”
“They shouldn’t have their fate dictated by you murdering one kid.”
“Their fate was decided with the destruction of their world. The souls as you comprehend them do not exist. There is no identity nor differentiation among them. That is the curse of being a part of a paramatman.”
Persephone looked at Vikukshi and rolled her eyes once again. “I believe you make a large mistake on the part of anyone with a soul. Craving and having death be a necessity are quite a bit different. I do not crave death. If I did, would I not have already asked you to kill me? And I don’t think you can speak for me on this matter. I know I will encounter death, but it should not be decided so easily by one who seeks godhood such as you.”
“Your argument is one of semantics, nothing more,” Vikukshi assessed. “You do not seem to understand the concept of the Law to the extent that its victims do.”
“Making an assumption like that makes it seems as though I am not a victim of the Law either.”
“It is not an assumption, it is an observation,” he glared. “And you are certainly not a victim of it, so do not pretend.”
“What makes you so certain of such a thing?”
“The Law is a facet of Vedasaria, caused by the existence of an individual. It is not a multiversal existence, only a decree that forms the bedrock of our world.”
“Another question about the Law,” Viviane piped up. “Have you considered that perhaps it was due to death being such a horrid thing to suffer for all eternity that the law was made to help escape that fate?”
“The Law causes us to suffer our deaths for eternity,” corrected Vikukshi. “With every death, we are pitted through a hell, and then reborn to die again. That is why we wish for an end.”
“But…what if you die and are just left in a hell with no way out?” Viviane said, wrinkling her nose. “I’m not sure about this, I don’t know about this Law as well as you, but…well, I like living at least. You can’t forget that before you die you can lead quite a happy life.”
“At least you admit your ignorance. What we wish for is not an eternal afterlife, but a total cessation of the cycle in its entirety. Oblivion, to the extent that not even the world itself is reborn.”
Persephone rubbed her forehead. “I don’t quite understand. If you’re aware of this process, wouldn’t this give you incredible chance for growth and understanding what true happiness is?”
“It is as I said. Life and destruction are intertwined. To exist is to cause suffering to others, and to experience suffering yourself. If you begin to suffer, then you will not be happy, I’m sure you are aware of that much. What then would you consider to be the result of infinite suffering from infinite cycles?”
Persephone laughed. “Mindset.”
“Say something so patronising again and I will snap your neck where you stand. It is much easier for you to spit sweet little words when you are not the one forged in infinite hells.”
Persephone scoffed. “First off, you asked for my answer and I gave it to you. If anything, that was your fault. Secondly, you say that as if my life has been all gumdrops and lollipops. Don’t make such a mistake. I’m young, sure, but you do not get to assume such things. Sure, I’m not born from infinite hells, but all I need is one hell of a life in my one life to feel that I can make such a comparison.”
“Then you are wrong. Your existence is dimensions removed from ours. You can only accumulate a finite amount of pain in your lifetime,” he pointed out. “Infinity is unending. The soul simply inherits its wounds, no matter how many it sustains. I envy your state of being that you are in such a position where you feel you can compare the limited to the unlimited.”
“Well I am imagining our lives as glasses. Yours being infinitely larger than mine. If my glass is filled with water up to the brim and yours is also filled to the brim, you still have 100% of the glass filled. You may have unending life and I may only be able to get finite pain, but I believe that my feelings could be just as strong as yours. I can become just as resilient as you may be. And don’t worry about envying me, I’m quite used to such things.”
“That is an absolutely false analogy,” Vikukshi glared. “An infinite glass with infinite water would not be full, it would be overflowing for eternity.”
Persephone looked at him with a very confused glare. “I don’t think that’s how that would work.”
“Persephone, think of the biggest number you can. Then add one to that number. Then add one again. Infinity means to keep adding one forever, so that you’ll always have a new, bigger number.”
Persephone blinked at Viviane, then turned back to Vikukshi. “Now I’m really confused.”
Viviane sighed. “Nevermind, Ren will explain it when we get back.”
“The dead explain nothing,” Vikukshi said, and moved to continue.
Viviane made a small huff sound, but found herself sorely lacking in many other arguments.
Persephone frowned. “At least respect his existence. He’s smart, even if you want to kill him.”
“I have the wisdom of the late gods on my side. He has nothing,” he said.
“Just because you know a lot doesn’t mean that he knows nothing, okay?” Persephone scoffed and thought, “Hmph. What a prick.
“I can also read your mind.”
Super-fudge triple-chocolate brownie,” Viviane thought.
“You’re a child.”
“Of course I am. I’m sixteen.”
Persephone gasped. “Oh my god! I’m older than you, Viviane?”
“You’re all older than me,” she said with a small sigh. “I don’t know, I thought it was sort of obvious,” she mumbled, glancing down slightly.
Persephone looked at Viviane and shook her head. “How old are Miki and Ren?!”
“Miki is…sixteen, Ren’s…seventeen…?” she said, frowning slightly.
Persephone opened her eyes widely. “I’m the same age as Ren?!” She took a breath. “I wonder if we have the same birthday.”
Vikukshi was quite visibly being worn down by the gossip happening behind him. The atmosphere was perfectly tense enough for him to bask in just a moment ago… Where had it gone…
Persephone looked over at Vikukshi and smirked a bit. “Sorry, are we tiring you? Maybe you should take a break from your killing and have some tea with us.”
“I make great brownies,” Viviane mumbled. “Super-fudge triple-chocolate and all.”
Persephone nodded. “It’ll be killing-free zone too. So if your tea’s too hot, you can’t go destroying whoever poured it for you. Plus, the rusty smell of blood wouldn’t be fitting for such an occasion.”
“Is this what that boy does to people?” he droned. “Turns them into idiots with no sense of danger?”
Persephone looked off to the side. “Look, he’s a good person and keeps us calm. I’m the one who’s an idiot with no sense of danger.”
“You don’t have to convince me of the latter part,” he sighed.
Persephone put her hands on her hips and frowned at him. “Can’t you at least be somewhat kind to a lady when she’s obviously lying about how she feels about herself?”
“No.”
“If I wasn’t so sure you’d blow my head off, I’d smack you.” Persephone crossed her arms.
“You aren’t an idiot Persephone,” Viviane chimed. “You’re smart in ways we aren’t.”
Persephone nodded. “You’re damn right about that.” Persephone looked at Viviane and then blinked. “Ah, I could probably teach you a thing or two about that.”
Viviane cocked her eyebrow. “I can’t exactly read minds, so I can only assume, so…thanks? Maybe another time?”
Persephone clapped her hands and then smiled. “Ah! I should find someone to practice with you! I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to get someone since you’re very cute!”
Viviane made a dull laughing sound as she turn her head to the side. “Yeah, cute,” she grumbled. “Another time, Persephone.”
Persephone bent over a little bit, giving a perfect view of her cleavage. “Yeah yeah yeah I know, but still~”
Viviane made an idle humming sound, trying to keep it from slipping to disinterest as she kept her head turned.
Persephone then looked off to the side and didn’t say anything. Although her mind wandered to Viviane and Ren and what might happen if Persephone had Ren practice on Viviane. It might benefit her because he’d probably get better, but… Maybe it was worse. Ren might not like her anymore if she let Ren practice with Viviane too much. It was probably a better idea to just teach Ren herself.

Ren, meanwhile, had his mind focused on more weighty matters, closer to the cosmological scale.
Digging around the storehouse, throwing the lids off crates, he rushed around in a hasty panic.
“Miki! Iryankh! Check those aisles!” he cried. “His weapon has to be here!”
"How would I even know what it looked like?" he asked, dutifully pulling open another crate.
“It’s divine!” he said. “Like a spear arrow thing, aligned with a lightning god!”
“Lightning god?” Iryankh echoed. “What kind of soldier of a wealth god uses the weapon of a lightning god?”
“It’s a really long story, just look for it!” Ren cried.
"Why do you know this Master?"
“I know what he is,” he said. “The Nairrata are armed with whatever they can plunder, and that includes astras.”
“Astras…?” Iryankh urged.
“Now isn’t the time!”
"If you say so..." he pried open another box, turning questioningly to Ren. "So he uses something like this?”
Within the box lay a long, golden bolt-like lance, a sphere of aquamarine slotted into the arrow-spearhead. It radiated a divine aura, a force of godhood ancient and potent, the very act of looking at it exhibiting an enormous pressure, not unlike gravity.
This was the hand of a supreme being crystallised into physical form.
Miki flinched slightly, averting his eyes, and holding onto the crate’s lid like it was something filthy.
“M-Miki? Are you okay?” Ren asked, hurrying over. “Did you find something?”
"That’s it right?" He pointed to the spear. "It’s… hard to miss."
Ren nodded slowly. “Yeah. That’s it. For sure,” he nodded. “Right. I guess being undead doesn’t really help with looking at it…”
"Well what do we do with it? I don't think it'll help against him." He pulled a face at the thought of using it.
Ren shook his head. “That weapon is infallible. We only get one shot, but it will kill anything. Even a god.”
"Something like that feels a bit too convenient," he frowned. "...All we have to do is throw it at him right?"
“We have to invoke its name as well,” he said. “I think I remember it now that I’ve seen it.”
"If you say so."

Iryankh stayed behind, leaving Ren and Miki to descend the stairwell in silence.
Only a few minutes passed, and before long, the two of them were face-to-face with the brahmarakshasa. Golden armour stained in blood, eyes like embers, trained on the pair of them.
“What took you guys so long,” Viviane called. “He’s murdered like. Everyone.”
Persephone frowned. “Indeed… He did…” As Persephone looked at Ren, she had a worrying look on her face. She worried that Vikukshi would try to strike first.
“We went as fast as we could,” Ren said, raising the weapon at Vikukshi. “Rairrata.”
“Paramatman,” the demon snarled. “I suppose there’s nothing to say to you.”
“No, you got one thing wrong,” frowned Ren. “The Law of Cycles… Look, I don’t really get it, but you’ve missed the point.”
“You just admitted that you don’t understand it.”
“I understand this much. It’s not about being trapped in life. It’s about being able to relive life until you have no regrets left. You try again until you’re satisfied. It’s not a curse.”
“Called it,” Viviane mumbled.
“Don’t talk to me about curses.”
“It’s the truth and you know it. But that’s over now. Vedasaria is gone. The paramatman is the only thing carrying the souls now,” Ren said. “I’m going to find the rest. We’re going to save them. And you can try again with them. This time, with no regrets.”
“And why do you think I can trust you?” Vikukshi glared.
“I don’t. So you’re going to have to ask yourself what you’re willing to sacrifice to help us save everyone,” he said.
“All creation,” Vikukshi answered. “Will you end the cycle, paramatman?”
“No,” he said. “You will.”
Persephone looked slightly confused by this. “What do you mean by that Ren?”
“Nobody can end his cycle but him,” Ren said. “That’s the way it should be.”
Persephone blinked. “He can end it?”
“When he’s learned all he wants to and he’s lived the life he wants the most, then he can end his cycle willingly.”
“That sounds nice,” Viviane interjected. “Try everything you want, no time limit.”
Persephone looked at Vikukshi. “You didn’t tell me that that’s how it worked!”
“It isn’t! We’re trapped!”
“You aren’t. You just think you are, because you’re chained down by your own hatred for the world. Once you embrace the cycle, then you can end it. You will never reach enlightenment with anger and loathing,” Ren glared.
Persephone glared at Vikukshi. “You made me look like an idiot… And you planned to kill my friend over something you can’t seem to grasp completely.” Persephone scoffed.
“What’s infinity,” he retorted.
Persephone growled at him. “Don’t get stuck on old conversation. I’m smart in my own way and we all know it.”
“That’s an extreme double standard. I’m just not arguing with the guy with the astra.”
“Then I’ll show you what I mean,” said Ren.
He raised the spear, divinity exuding from its form as it was encased in gold and indigo light, wisps and arcs of energy pouring off the surface of the weapon.
“Prepare yourself!” he cried. “Vasavi Shakti!
Hurling it, it instantaneously became a flash of light, a monumental blast of lightning.

“Find your shadow, paramatman.”

And with that, the spear and the demon were wiped out in an instant, dissolving into a singularity and dispersing into nothing.
Viviane let out a long sigh of relief, collapsing onto the floor. “I almost prefer the sphinx again,” Viviane mumbled, her knees finally beginning to shake after having to follow the deity-like being for so long. “Thanks again Ren. I owe you one.”
Ren let out a sigh. “Don’t mention it.”
He hung his head, taking his forehead in one hand.
“...I killed someone, didn’t I…?”
Viviane rubbed her arm, nibbling her lip as she mulled to herself. “He would’ve killed everyone,” she gave weakly, wincing as she said it. She was just going for the utilitarian argument wasn’t she.
“I know, I just… wish I could have talked him down.”
Viviane hummed quietly, motioning for Persephone and Miki to come over too as she gave Ren a hug. “Group hug,” she called.
Miki gave Persephone a look. "Do we really need that?"
“Ren does,” Viviane shouted, shooting Miki an accusatory glare.
He grumbled something like, "Well if it's for Master’s sake." and gestured Ren towards Viviane.
Ren tottered over, squeezing Viviane tightly, and grabbing at Miki to pull him in too.
“Ow ow ow, too hard,” Viviane mumbled as she reached around and tried to pat Ren.
Persephone slowly moved over, somewhat reluctant to hug everyone considering everything that happened today that was her fault, but she did lightly hug the others nonetheless, and quickly found Ren clinging to her too. As she was grabbed by what she could only assume were Ren’s hands, her tails almost provided an extra cushion for all the others, almost like a warm blanket.

After a few seconds, Ren stepped back again, looking over the three.
“Thank you, everyone. I don’t deserve you guys, but I’m lucky to have you.”
He wiped away a shimmering ghost of a tear, beaming.
“I’m really happy you’re al--”

A shadow howled as a silhouette leapt from the darkness, a cannonball to throw Ren aside.
Miki was immediately surrounded by pitch-black shadowy stakes, whispering with dark blue light.
Viviane suddenly made eye contact with a figure across the room who hadn’t been there a moment before.
A dark figure had apparated behind Persephone, both petite hands groping each boob.
“Wow Squishy…” was the only thing the dark figure said in a silky deep feminine voice. The figure’s hands had turned slimy and started to thicken, wrapping more and more around the Fox’s body till it was completely covered in the thick substance and without any other disruptions, the huge ball of slime hardened, and a portal had been summoned to gulp the ball to an unknown location.

Miki took a step back, conjuring swords as he whipped around to find his attacker. "Master?!"
A figure in black dropped from above, standing up straight to tower a full head over the gheist.
“A bold move to worry about someone else right now,” he said calmly, raising a gloved hand.
In an instant, another stake appeared in Miki’s shoulder, a thin red mist splattering against the wall behind him.
He hissed, dropping his sword. 「Master?!」Seven swords materialized, launching themselves in a futile effort to defend himself.
「I’m alive!」 Ren cried in response. 「Kind of preoccupied with this damn fox!」
The seven blades were shot out of the air the instant before they reached the man, red eyes boring into Miki’s very soul, a sharp-toothed grin spreading across his thin lips.
“What’s the matter, caramel? Losing your nerve?” he cackled. “That mouth looks like it’d scream really sweetly.”
"You can just try," he growled. He raised his arms, shooting the clawed tips of his gauntlet at him. Electricity crackled from the chains that kept them together.
The man reached out, catching the claws.
“Ha! Not bad for a runt!”
With a sharp tug from him on the weapon, Miki suddenly found himself vaulting over the man’s head against his will, soaring through the air towards the opposite wall.
He cursed, making an attempt to kick off the wall, crystallizing his skin.
The moment his foot made contact with the wall, a stake jammed through it, stabbing his foot into the brickwork.
He inhaled from the pain, sending down seven more swords as he flailed in an attempt to dislodge the stake without his hands.
Six of them were knocked out of the air as before, the seventh caught by its own target.
The man grinned again, stepping forward, and a flash of silver accompanied the sickening sound of ripping flesh as one of Miki’s arms quickly found itself hanging limply from its shoulder.
“Now… How much do you like this thing? Because I’m starving.”
He didn't answer, gritting his teeth to keep himself quiet.
“Don’t want it?”
The man clutched his numb wrist.
“More for me.”
With a nauseating tear and a snap that threatened to drag Miki’s organs from his throat, his arm was pulled free from its socket.
He opened his mouth in a bitten off scream before biting down on his tongue.
The man gave a chuckle. “Just as I thought. Real cute. I’ll see if I can keep you.”
He sank his teeth into Miki’s arm, chewing and sucking at the flesh and the ruby liquid beneath it, tearing off a chunk and swallowing.
“You’re sour, though. Probably out of date,” he sighed. “I’ll just get the kid to stay away from you. I can still keep you as a little songbird.”
Miki shook his head, spitting blood at the man’s feet. "Get away from me."
The man took a step toward him, digging his fingers into the bloody stump.
“Sorry, didn’t catch that. What was that you said?”
His head swam from the pain and he shuddered. "F-fuck off."
“You’re really going to have to speak up. I can’t hear you mumbling.”
The man dug two fingers deeper into the wound, an iron grip digging down into a single point, like a barbed iron heated by flame.
Miki writhed, only setting his exposed nerves on fire. "Get the fuck away from me!"
“Nice, nice!” the man cackled. “And what are you going to do if I don’t, huh?”
He made an animalistic noise, lunging for his arm with his teeth.
With a swift movement, the man shoved the arm into Miki’s mouth, letting the gheist’s teeth rip off a chunk of his own.
“What do you think? We could always try cooking it.”
His eyes widened in shock before they filled with defiance. He made a deliberate show of swallowing his own flesh, looking like he wanted nothing more than to gag. "You’re free to try."
The man gave a stony, almost chilling laugh. “Oh, I’m going to love breaking you.”
Tearing him from the wall, he grabbed Miki by the cranium, and smashed his head against the stone floor.
“The name is Alkenar, Number II of the Pitris. Good to meet you,” he smirked. “But you can call me Baelzevull. I worked hard for that name.”
Spots filled his vision the second his head hit the floor. "’m not calling you anything."
“Let’s see if you’re still singing that tune in a day,” he said, dragging Miki by the hair. “Nah, maybe an hour.”
He could feel the strands being pulled from his head and was only half sure his nose wasn't broken, but still struggled violently against his grip. “What do you think you could do, huh?! I’m not screaming for you!”
“You started. You’ll finish,” Alkenar promised.

Viviane’s hand immediately reached for her bag, taking a deep breath before she burst into song. Now wasn’t the time to try risky shit, they were…really fucked. Probably. “BacktothetrackandI’mnevergoingtofuckingstop,” she exclaimed, the words tumbling out much faster than her usual lullaby and rhythm, though no less potent.
In the blink of an eye, a finger was on her lips.
“Shhhh,” bid a soft voice. “Just be calm. No talking.”
“I’d be calmer if you weren’t here,” Viviane grumbled, glaring upwards as she reached into her bag to throw her newest divine chain around the newest kitsune. Why were there so many kitsune?!
With a very casual flick of her wrist, the fox-woman backhanded the chain aside as if it were a mere blade of grass.
“You’ll have to do better than a particle of a decrepit god,” she said, holding her finger out. “Just look here, honey.”
“Don’t want to,” Viviane said, snapping her gaze away as she burned through her exin to make her next attack hit. She hoped. She really hoped.
“You should listen to your elders,” the woman smirked, the finger running down Viviane’s neck, the siren-mermaid suddenly feeling a compulsion to look back at her.
Viviane bit back the whimper in her throat, rallying her focus to make one last attempt as she snapped her head back up and tried to scream at the offending woman.
The wave of noise struck home easily, and warranted the whole of a blink from its target.
“How uncivilised.”
A soft cyan glow emanating from her eyes into Viviane’s.
“Let me teach you some manners.”
Her train of thought slowed, slowly overwritten by a burning, aching desire for a kiss.
Viviane whimpered quietly this time, nibbling her bottom lip as she looked up. “I-I…” she stammered, a flush going across her face.
“Shhhh,” the woman bid again, leaning in, their lips meeting. Viviane felt a small hard orb, and then a soft sweet tongue enter her mouth, teasing the edges of her own.
Viviane let out a quiet moan, her knees going weak as she leaned against the older woman. “Wh…wh…” she mumbled.
“Thanks for the tips, dearest,” the woman whispered. “Now then… Would you like to come see what else I have for you?”
Viviane barely paused, letting out an eager nod as she continued to cling to her, her knees still weak. “V…Viviane…” she mumbled.
“I’m Ji-Su,” she smiled. “And I am going to have a lot of fun. Come on.”
Taking Viviane’s hand, she led the girl away into the halls.
Viviane stumbled slightly, but did her best to keep up, any other worries erased from her mind as she found herself just…drawn to this woman, inexplicably and totally drawn.

As Persephone was groped and slime began to cover her body, she quickly frowned and turned toward the figure touching her. “How extremely impolite.” Persephone attempted to get out of the slime by becoming intangible, the slime dropping to the ground. Persephone would also take this chance to go invisible and begin to fly. “Expecting to take me out with something like that was a mistake.” As she looked over her attacker, she saw a girl that gave off an incredibly dark aura, dressed in black. And her ass stuck out of her clothing like a sore thumb. Persephone scoffed. “I didn’t expect a goth girl with scrawny wings and too much fat in her ass to try and overcome me today, although I suppose I should’ve expected as much with the day I’m having.”
“Says the prostitute demon. At least I have an ass to get the right attention, something you struggle with?” the woman shrugged, waving her left hand around in a circular motion. Vixie leapt up into the air, soaring towards Persephone, the darkness of her wings threatening to envelop her.
Persephone scoffed as the fat-assed woman soared toward her. “You call me a prostitute demon? I think you’re sorely mistaken on that front, emo girl. And I have no trouble getting attention. After all, I don’t need to rely on such a sorely large ass to get attention. I’m sure some men actually find you very ugly for such a large accumulation of fat there, whereas all men find me attractive for my sleek figure and perfect numbers.”
The insults getting boring, Vixie yawned and didn't bother to even respond. ‘What fun would that be? She’s just gonna yap more.’ she thought as she poofed into big cloud of smoke. Emerging from the huge smoke bomb, a Titan Vixie clapped her hands around the damned foxgirl.
Persephone watched as the fat-assed woman only got bigger and her ass also gained more fat. She attempted to clap her in between her hands. “Are you some sort of idiot or something? Maybe all that fat in your ass has made your brains mush.” Persephone flew through the emo woman’s hands and looked for any nearby windows. As she saw there were none, she flew through the wall into the outside. “Bye bitch.” As she exited, Persephone felt a pressure in her chest. She needed to find someone who might be able to help her keep her friends from staying captured.
It was a matter of seconds before the sun was blotted out.
A wave of silvery shadow shrieked as it cut through the air, screaming towards her.
Persephone felt her eyes quickly shift to the blotted out sun. This was… Certainly not good. Persephone attempted to dodge the wave of shadow whilst staying invisible and intangible.
She narrowly managed to duck away with a combination of luck and timing.
She did not dodge the next blow.
A monster, cloaked in darkness, a woman with tail and wings blazing with blackness, swooped down in the blink of an eye.
A single blow of her fist ripped Persephone away from her own invisibility, her own intangibility, sending her down like a missile into the wall of the pyramid with a shockwave in her wake.
Persephone suddenly felt someone immediately in front of her and all the effects she had on herself got taken away, which took her by complete surprise. As she flew through the air, she prepared herself for the impact. However, the blow was too much and everything turned black.
 
The night sky in the Black Realms was entirely devoid of stars.
The wind was crisp and sharp, despite a lack of potency or strength, and the slightest breeze kicked up dust, forming a fog-like cloud over the dull red wastes.
The sound of the Dragonkin’s claws scraping against the ground was the only other thing heard throughout the literal desert hellscape.
He had no idea where he was going, he just knew that he had to go somewhere. After Yui had saved him he had nowhere to go but forward
Waking up left alone wasn’t something that he was a stranger too, but now, ironically, he couldn’t help but feel frightened without his father there to protect him from the creatures in this hell.
As his wings gently flapped, propelling him lightly throughout the land, he gently dug out the dirt from his nails - or would they be called claws? - as he examined what was around him at the same time.
His scales tightened as he heard a sound. His talons burrowed into the ground, his tail flickered dangerously.
Draco held out his arms defensively in front of him, a sharp sound echoed outward as his jagged teeth slashed against each other.
He was too afraid to ask the question of what that was.
The haze made it hard to see anything for sure, but the wind was beginning to pick up. A light breeze before, a lashing of air now. If this got much worse, he would quickly be trekking through a sandstorm across an alien, hostile landscape, notorious for producing the most brutal tortures conceivable. Today was not turning out to be a good day.
As he fought his way against the wind, he noticed something up ahead. He was still almost blind thanks to the sand, but what little light there was seemed to be glinting off of some long object jutting out of the dust.
His breath hitched, his senses flared, and his body stiffened. He couldn’t help it as his mouth curved up into a smile.
It wasn’t a monster, it was his first piece of treasure! His heartbeat increased in pace, but he calmed himself down.
It was only one piece of treasure, but he wasn’t sure if it was even a good one. The Dragonkin slowly walked over, making sure it was safe before he went forward and grabbed onto the weapon.
It was a reasonably large object, and as Draco clutched the hilt, he could clearly feel the deep scratches that dug into its surface. This thing had clearly been damaged by exposure. How long had it been out here?
It had no hilt, being a thick hunk of metal -- iron, it looked like -- that had been fashioned into a heavy sword. The craftsmanship was not to be scoffed at; it still looked sharp. It wasn’t magical, from the looks of it, but it was something. A finely forged weapon to get him through at the very least. But from the looks of it, it seemed like the kind of thing that someone would have dropped traveling through here as they died. It was no guarantee of survival, for sure, but it was still invaluable.
Using his strength, he easily lifted up the heavy sword with one hand. He tested the weight, swinging it through the air. It easily cut through the air, the sound of the swish music to his ears. He’s never been one to use a sword, but he couldn’t help but feel an odd fondness towards the blade. Draco continued to walk, still swinging the sword through the air.
Perhaps it was because the wind picking up, or perhaps because he had disturbed the sands, but there was a very sudden disturbance beneath Draco’s feet. Thin, quick, and immediately gone as soon as it came, but it was unmistakable.
Something was under the desert, and he was being stalked.
His superior senses instantly sensed the disturbance. The Dragonkin’s heart skipped a beat and his legs moving for themselves. A huge gust of wind erupted as his wings exploded forward, sending him soaring backward.
Draco’s mind ran faster than ever before, his two hands firmly gripping onto the hilt.
“Sis,” a voice rang out, “look here.” A blue haired girl who looked no older than him was looking down and he could make out her mirror image in the distance.
“I… I see that,” she spoke to herself, slouching timidly. “What do you think someone like that is doing here? Are you… hurt?”
His head turned quickly towards the lady talking to him. He gripped his sword tighter. Taking a deep breath that he hadn’t known he needed, he answered her.
“My name is Draco… Who are you? Hopefully not an enemy?”
He wasn’t usually so paranoid, but she had appeared from nowhere. He felt the presence of danger and he didn’t know if it was her or something else, but he couldn’t tread lightly here.
The blue-haired stranger adjusted her hair and the hood that covered her head was pulled down, revealing heterochromatic blue and yellow eyes. “We’re Mei… and Lei.” He couldn’t help but feel like they were exchanging glances and laughing at him, but her companion was still far behind, and her eyes never left him.
A rattling echoed out in the distance, a foreboding aura from the same direction as the wind. Something was looming over there, but if was moving, it was moving slowly. Was it following the wind, or creating it…? There was no way to tell.
He made a mental note to himself that she didn’t say if she was or was not an enemy. He didn’t dare move his eyes away from the girl, he looked in the same direction that he assumed her sister came from.
He would be able to see any strange movement. The problem would be if he would be able to react to it fast enough.
“Okay, nice to meet you, I guess,” He examined her eyes as he spoke. If he hadn’t seen some shit in his life, he would call it exotic, “My question is what are you doing out here in literal hell? If you’re wondering, I live here.”
The Dragonkin sighed, it should be the last thing on his mind, but he realized he didn’t know how to really speak to others. It’s always been him and his father.
He continued, “Don’t worry though, I have an urge to leave as fast as I can. That’s why I’m confused on why you’re here.”
Mei… Lei? She blinked like she just realized she was looking at a caterpillar instead of a butterfly. “Mei has motherly instincts,” she reported. “We don’t like lonely hatchlings.”
He frowned, that still didn’t explain why she was in this place, and this time. He refused to let go of the impending sense of danger, but his curiosity was peaked about this lady and her not yet seen sister.
“That’s sweet,” He said with a small smile. “I’ve been here for a while, alone. It’s nice to have company. But I’m not just worried about me, I’m worried about you. We can talk later, but I’m sure that something is coming. You should go.”
He silently hoped she wouldn’t leave, even with his warning. His heart ached for the company. But it would hurt him even more if she were to die in front of his eyes.
Watching his father be murdered in front of his eyes, he wasn’t really eager to experience death again.
He couldn’t even tell when it happened, but whoever he was talking to wasn’t the same person, even if she wore her skin. “We are far stronger than you.” She shifted her cloak, and there was a gold sword slung over her back. “For us, something like this is a mere trifle.”
Draco couldn’t help but feel intimidated by the sudden change, one that even he couldn’t detect, and the golden sword she flashed at him.
He watched his next words very carefully, “I see. Not to be rude, but what now? Are you here to protect me,” He swallowed heavily. It felt like he had eaten his own throat, “Or are you here to start something? I prefer the former.”
She flinched like she was just scolded. “We’re going to help you of course. Lei likes children.” She flinched again and gave him a look that dared him to ask.
That wasn’t a good sign to him. He nodded and backed away a little bit. Not enough to make it seem like he was actively avoiding her but shifting the position of his body. He’d wait to see what happened next. Where was Lei, her supposed sister?
A howl from the distance urged them to move. Something really was approaching.
He cursed, moving at the same time, “Fuck, I knew it!”
He flew further backward, landing further away from Mei. He held out his sword, pointing it towards whatever was coming.
“You don’t need to stand your ground against that.” Lei or Mei hooked a single finger in his collar and gave a soft tug, and even that went through any defenses he could’ve tried to put up. “Sis- We found a place to go. There’s a cave which should be far more habitable than… this?”
He was confused. What had just happened? He turned towards the person who he assumes was Lei, but he couldn’t be sure.
“I think I’d enjoy that as well,” He said, once again in a polite voice.
Her movements stuttered for a second and she began to lead the way. “She said, ‘We don’t like you’.” She was glowing like it was an endorsement.
His heart felt like it had sunk into his gut as the words registered. He nodded. He wanted to retort, but he knew that her sister was strong, and so she must be strong as well. He felt himself nodding, still, and sweat nervously.
“I’ll be on my way then, Good day to you two,” He would then continue to go, hoping that they didn’t use any violent methods on him and let him escape this hell-hole by himself.
She waved her hands, hurriedly tacking on, “S-she also apologized?”
Now the boy was all sorts of confused. He had to ask, “I’m sorry, are you two okay? If you don’t mind me asking, what race are you two? I’ve only ever seen a Dragonkin and an Archfiend before.” He hoped that question wasn’t rude. Well, not rude to the point where he’d get his head chopped off.
She tilted her head, revealing stumpy antlers that looked like they were cut at the base. “But we’re also a dragon? We are the divine descendants of His concubines, Dragon Kings.”
His eyes flashed with awe, “Dragon Kings? That sounds important. Is your abode nearby?”
She hummed. “Well our home is wherever our Lord is, and this is far from home...” She kicked a stray pebble and walked without meandering. “Are you coming?”
“If I am allowed, yes,” He responded, cautiously following. He had nowhere else to go, no other people to be with, and no direction or sense of where it was he was headed.
This was the first thing that felt right in a while.
Although, he couldn’t help but still be curious.
“Excuse me, but which one of you is Lei and Mei,” That question was a must-have if they were to be traveling together.
She frowned thoughtfully. “Well, we are Mei and Lei… we’re never apart so telling us apart is a bit… redundant?”
It must have been the sandstorm, but he felt as if there were two people there before. Their presence signified two people, but there was only one.
He assumed that they were twins and the sandstorm prevented him from seeing the other, but apparently, they were of the same person.
“That’s… interesting. How did you two become one? Or were you born like that? Actually, nevermind. I have more important questions to ask.”
He scratched his chin, “Who is your lord? Also, you said this is far away from your home. Where do you live and how did you get here?”
She smiled, “Are you interested in following our Lord and brother? He has no interests in men but a being like him should not mind something that insignificant.”
Once again she hadn’t answered his questions. “I’d have to know who he was first. He sounds very strong.”
The bluette proudly thumped her chest. “O-our Lord Brother is the strongest of the Dragon Kings! No matter what they tell you, other gods cannot compare to one of love and change!”

The trio had managed to get deep enough into the sands to finally come across a small mouth, barely a meter high, in a jagged outcropping of rock. It looked like sandstone, or perhaps slate, but whatever it was, it was stained an unusual red like the rest of this dust bowl.
“Is there where we were supposed to be heading to?” He questioned the two-in-one sister(s).
She nodded, turning back to gesture at her sister for the first time since they met. “I’ll go in first then. How... how about you wait for her to catch up and head in with her?”
The boy quickly decided he would just go along with it, “Sure.”
She descended, and when her head dipped out of view he could faintly hear out-of-breath panting getting closer behind him.
He barely contained himself from jumping up in either surprise or fear, he couldn’t tell. He turned around to view the panting being coming towards him.
“Th-this... is… so stupid,” her twin gasped, kicking up dust as she finally slowed down, putting her hands on her knees. “Hey! Wh-what do you mean the connection is bad down here?! Hey! What do you think we are?! Don’t ignore me! Aaaagh...” Up close it was clear she wasn’t the same person that had just gone into the cave. In contrast with her sister’s cloak and broken horns, she had a set of antlers curling against her head and a revealing white one-piece that didn’t hide a silver sword on her back.
He would be lying if he said he wasn't confused. From what her sister had been saying it seemed that they had split personalities, but the same body. But it seemed there were actually two sisters. How were they communicating though?
His eyes gazed upon her from her head to her toes. He couldn’t help but flush. Now that he didn’t feel in danger in dying, he realized how pretty the two women actually were.
“Hi?” He said, testing the waters.
She groaned and stamped her feet. “Oh my god shut up, my stomach hurts.”
He stifled a chuckle, “Assistance. Do you need any?” She didn’t have the same feeling that her sister gave off, the feeling that she’d slit your throat at any second. He wasn’t fearful of her.
She looked at him scathingly. “I have plenty of help and I’m-- we’re perfectly fine.”
He nodded, “Want to head inside then? Your sister wanted me to wait for you before I went inside.”
“Yeah, yeah. We’re the same people so I know.” She waved him off, reaching back like she was checking her sword was still there. “Draco, or something? Let’s go.”
He was about to head inside but stopped as she said that, “What’s in there?”
She paused, her eyes glazing over for only a second before she announced, “Demons.”
He chuckled nervously, “Why don’t you lead the way?”
“Haa? What kind of swordsman are you, letting a delicate flower like me go first?” Like she didn’t have a sword almost half her size just sitting on her back.
“Mhm,” He muttered, gazing at the sword on her back. The Dragonkin took a few steps before he hopped off the ground and his wings propelled him forward into the cave with a massive gust of wind.
With his first step inside it was already clear the other sister didn’t leave him behind for no reason. The air was bitingly cold, and his breath came out in frozen puffs. Whatever occurred here wasn’t something he could’ve survived.
A swarm of things, small and dark, scuttled into the shadows ahead in response to Draco’s entry. Lesser hellions, or perhaps minor… Either way, there were on the level of mere insects to him. But Draco did know enough about hellions by now, given his wandering, to know that the smaller demons gathered around the larger.
The young Dragonkin continued to walk into the unknown. He wasn’t sure if he was being stalked or not by the weaker demon, but he continued on guard of an attack of any kind. He frowned at the cold. None of this seemed right.
The cavern quickly darkened to pitch black, alarmingly so, perhaps even unnaturally. Perhaps it was a lack of light outside, or maybe an aura of darkness from within, but the shadows engulfed the group much quicker than they had any right too.
Scuttling echoed around the trio, either approaching or retreating. The feeling of life was supposed to be verdant and refreshing, but in here, it was nauseating.
The boy came to a complete stop. He had a sinking feeling in his heart that there was something in the dark. He hadn’t fully re-adjusted towards the abnormal drop in light either. His eyes dilated, his ears twitched, and his breathing calmed as he searched his surroundings.
Something. There was something there. But he wasn’t able to completely tell, he couldn’t tell that something was off. The only way to continue was to keep walking forward. His claws clicked against the ground as he went forward.
As he progressed, the tunnel seemed to widen. If he had entered a mouth before, it felt more like entering a belly now. Everything seemed hollow, a hole just waiting to swallow, or perhaps howl. That was when he noticed.
Draco was being watched.

There was a shape on the ceiling, staring down, perfectly still and silent, not even breathing.
His fists clenched around his sword. Horribly so, that his knuckles began to turn white and his talons shook.
He once again stopped walking and his beady, clear eyes scanned the room.
There was not only one.
Reptilian, perhaps, but in shape looking more like draconic cockroaches. Easily three meters long, elongated heads, snarling jaws, six limbs all tipped with razor-sharp claws and lashing tails, tongues hissing as at least half a dozen nightmarish beasts closing in from ahead and behind alike.
There were beasts here, and they hungered.
He wouldn’t waste any time here. If he didn’t move then they would move first. He brandished his sword and flew towards the closest one, slicing at it with the intent to kill.

It darted aside, a dark blur as it evaded, lashing with its tail towards Draco.
The boy jumped backward in an attempt to dodge its attack, the whipping flesh not quite managing to touch him, the Dragonkin feeling the sharp rush of air against his skin. That would have hurt.
He slightly tensed. The darkness around them began to evaporate as a polearm made out of light appeared in his right hand.
Draco seemed to phase as he rushed forward, his polearm rushing out to meet with the creature, stabbing towards its’ head.
Once again, he missed his strike, the creature dropping to the ground as a pair of the beasts pouncing at him with a shriek.
He bared his teeth, slashing forward with his polearm towards the one on the right, phasing once again.
This time, he hit.
The polearm struck home, dealing a serious wound as the flesh of the feral demon ripped and tore. With a screech of agony and fury, it ducked back into the shadows, the second one baring fangs as it lunged to bite down on him.
He shoved down all his emotions at the sight of the monster’s flesh being ripped out by his polearm, as he used his wings to propel him to the side.
He cleanly avoided the monster’s jaws, but quickly found himself under more pressure -- he had moved into range of a third, slashing at his body.
Draco once again jumped backward, trying to avoid the third one’s attack. Those teeth and claws looked too sharp for comfort.
This time, however, he was both too close and too slow. The claws raked across his body, drawing blood in gashes.
He winced but didn't stop. His feet kicked off the ground and he phased for the third time, hoping to bury his weapon of light deep in the creature’s skull.
Once again, he struck, a howl from the monster as blood was drawn. Jumping back to gain some distance, it waved its tail in the air, icicles shooting forth towards him like missiles.
He brought up his polearm and slashed with it, deciding he’d cut down the icicles.
They were fast, far too fast to bring down normally, with ten icicles stabbing into his body.
He shook it off. He growled and used his Exinessence to summon a bomb created from ash inside his gut.
The growl turned into a roar as a massive amount of power was put into the Ash Bomb. Draco decided he’d want to try and destroy his enemies in one fell swoop.
The explosion shook the cavern, every single one of the hellions he could still see immediately bursting, with either limb, head, or entire bodies exploding into a red mist and bloody giblets. A splatter of gore covered the cavern walls with a dramatic splash, leaving little but mangled corpses.
Draco breathed heavily, his chest lifting up and down as he tried to catch his breath. Sure, he wanted to destroy them, but he hadn’t expected it to be such a… critical result.
The Dragonkin walked forward, making sure there were no other creatures. As soon as he was sure, he attached his sword to his back. He’d keep his polearm with him as a light as he began to collect the organs splattered against the cavern walls.
"Huh…" she sounded genuinely surprised, "didn’t think you had that in you."
The boy blinked, and then chuckled, “To be honest, I didn’t think I had it in me either.”
He continued to pick up the scattered organs but stopped as he saw something unnatural.
“What are these?” He said to himself as he cleaned the stray blood found on them. The color of the marble-like things was pale blue. Off of them radiated a mysterious aura.
She gave them a quick glance and a dismissive snort. "Just cores. Ice. You’d probably find them useful though."
He ignored her disdain and nodded.
Whatever helped him get through this crazy place, he wouldn’t mind.
“You guys can lead the way if you want,” He offered.
She smiled, flipping her hair and taking the lead. "Well, I was hoping to upsta- impress you."
He raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, “I'll be right behind you guys, but I'm gonna search a little more around this cave”
The Dragonkin continued to look through the stray blood and organs askew the ground but found nothing.
He shrugged to himself and continued.

The silence of the tunnel began to weigh down on him as they moved further in.
He didn’t feel watched anymore, but it did feel as though he could have been being stalked by anything.
The throat of the cavern was getting wider and wider as Draco and the twins moved down it, eventually opening up into a large chamber. Judging by the ceiling height, they must have been under a plateau or a mountain; a void towered up above them with no clear end in sight.
Draco took a few minutes to scan the landscape around them, taking note of the places where he could be attacked from.
Hopefully, when he searched around this time, he wouldn't be attacked.
The boy continued to wander around, peering at the dungeon with his keen eyes.
The chamber seemed to be lined with rounded bulges in the wall, all clustered together, all the way up as far as he could see, and a few on the ground too.
Draco raised an eyebrow. What are these? Eggs?

Down the tunnel of the cave, Vivi in her lewd armor and drunk was charging towards the Dragon Boy, screaming repeatedly, “FFFFFFUUUUUUCK YOOOUU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCKYOUFUCKYOOOOOUUU!!” and in full impact tackled the poor soul who fell victim to being Vivi’s landing pillow. At least it was a soft impact for the two plushie mounds on her chest. Owo.
The boy instantly spun towards the direction of the voice. Even if he had marked every single place an enemy could come from, one, he was distracted by the very erotic way the woman was dressed, and two, she was really coming in fast.
He was practically body slammed as his feet were lifted off the ground and he hit the hard, cold floor of the cave.
“Ow~,” he moaned. At least there was something soft on top of him.
He wasn’t fully sure how he knew, but he could feel the other dragon’s unimpressed stare. “If you had a partner you could’ve mentioned them. Going off on your own is bad.”
The “Dragon Boy” practically whined, “Didn’t you hear her screaming fuck you? I have no idea who this is!” He went to lift her off of him. In the back of Vivi’s mind, she thought she could just be decently logical but the other brain decided to fuck that. So, the logic being that the Nekomata WAS dating the cute dragon boy.
“YA WHY THE FUCK DID YOU GO WITHOUT ME, I THOUGHT WE WERE TOGETHER FOREVER,” Vivi whined and yelled, getting up a bit to glare at the bastard of a man below her.
He could hear the dragon’s footsteps coming closer and see her feet stop in front of him as she picked the cat girl up by the scruff of her neck. “Isn’t that a traditional greeting for you outsiders?”
“I ain't tellin you nothin, about nothin.” the Catgirl huffed, crossing her arms. “I may come from the academy. I may have the name, Vivi. I may be drunk. But I’m not telling you that!”
The boy blinked, “So, Vivi. I’m pretty sure you’ve gotten me mistaken with somebody. I’ve never met you or have been romantically involved with you, for that matter.”
"You're ending it already?!" The Nekomata squeaked, tears bubbling in her eyes. It was the sorrow of much pain, losing a loved one that you've held closely for years. This may not be the case, but Vivi was damn sure that was what was happening.
“Wow,” his only audience member deadpanned, “did I stumble on the worst man ever?”
Was this really happening? He was pretty sure this was actually happening.
He glared at the twin, “She’s drunk. I literally haven’t ever met anyone but my father, the guy who saved me, you twins, and now her.”
He took a deep breath, “We’re getting off track. Your sister should be waiting for us. Vivi, I wish you a nice day but I’m kind of busy.”
Vivi huffed and got out of the hold. "Oh no! I'm going with you! Who knows who the fuck you're gonna get squished by!" She boldly stated, very sure that she would accompany her 'boyfriend.'

Draco ignored her and continued to walk the caves. As soon as he was turned away from everyone, his cheeks flushed red. Being forced to live a recluse life for 17 years, there was no way he was socially developed.
He was lucky to know what a female was. It just didn’t help that he was with three of them, nothing short of the definition of attractive. He slapped his hands to his face and shook his head. He could think about that after they weren’t surrounded by things that could kill him in the blink of an eye.
The Dragonkin turned back to what he assumed were eggs and began to think.
Should he leave them, eat them, or destroy them?
If this lady was going to continue following him, he should at least get acquaintanced with her.
Vivi sighed a bit under her breath before happily following along, unknowingly holding on to the Dragonkin's hand to be romantic. It was a curse being such a frightening force of power and being a cute romantic idiot.
The boy instantly tensed up as she held his hand. He ignored it to the best of his abilities but his stomach twisted and turned, and his face began to get as hot as his father’s magma breath.
“W-What,” he accidentally stuttered, “What do you think these things are on the walls?”
The Dragonkin didn't know what they were, but he had a suspicion that they were some creature's spawn
“I wanna touch one. I think I'm going to touch one,” he exclaimed. He used his claws, pressing down in the middle of the egg-type thing, expecting it to explode.
It pulsated as if spasming, in response to his touch, the entirety of it twitching uncomfortably.
Draco frowned. He took a deep breath, brought his arm back, and brought his body weight forward as he slammed his fist into the sac.
It burst, spraying slime and pus with a wet splatter with his strike. He felt something wrap around his forearm, shrieking and howling and moist, sticky tentacles ensnaring his limb.
His body instinctively reacted. His bones quivered and burst out from each side of his arm, Twelve in total pierced through the disgusting creature latched onto him. He hoped that he pierced something that was fatal for whatever was on him.
It wasn’t. In fact, the bones didn’t even seem to make it all the way through. Instead, something dug into his flesh, as if the tentacles were biting into him, pus and mucus dribbling into the wounds.
This was horribly vile and repulsive. As his body was invaded with horrible, oozy substances. He began to freak out as his blood turned green from the poison. This was probably one of his worst ideas so far.
Even though he was in pain, he had received damage way worse before. He took a moment to examine the creature and find out what really made it hurt.
"What kind of person just stabs eggs like that?!" With a sound of disgust, the other dragon waltzed over, digging her taloned pointer finger into the tentacled creature’s flesh. "How did you even live this long? Are you a shut-in?" Draco felt a pulse through it from the slight movement of her hand plunging directly into the creature's body as if the air briefly pressurized.
The creature basically exploded. The Dragonkin sweat at the sight of it, he was happy he didn’t piss off the twins.
Draco ignored her for a second, wiping the excess blood that was a mix of his and the monster's off his body. He held his hands up defensively, “Hey, to be fair, I’ve barely been anywhere for all seventeen years of my life. So I guess I’m a little bit more than shut in.”
The Nekomata’s tailed puffed in fear for her ‘lover,’ holding the infected forearm. “Oh my god, are you okay?! Here let me try to heal!!” she shrieked, focusing her Exin around the wound to sink in and clot the blood as fast as possible.
Draco looked down at his arm as her exinessence wrapped around the spot he was attacked. He watched, intrigued, as it went deep into his arm. A cooling feeling was accompanied by the healing, causing a pleasant shiver to go up his spine.
Vivi looked up hopefully at Draco to see if he was feeling better, a silent question to him. “No more stabbing random things, okay? I’ll do that, it's more expected for me to-ehhh… hic! do somethin’ that stupid!” she slurred and hiccuped in her attempted heartwarming comfort.
He looked down at the girl and chuckled awkwardly, “It’s not the worst thing that has happened to me. I just need more experience, sure.”
His face contorted into a thoughtful expression, “You wanna fight another one?”
“No. Bad,” Vivi stressed out each word. “Let's find something that is full grown, there’s obviously shits popping out babies like a fly.”
He shrugged, “You’re right. Let’s continue on.”
The boy scanned the dungeon. He wasn’t able to see anything. He narrowed his eyes and expanded his senses, trying to see if there was anything of worth in this dungeon.
His eyes settled on a skeleton not far away, bare save for a single leather belt around its waist.
The boy continued over. He wondered who the unlucky person was who died here. He frowned as he looked at the belt.
Would it be disrespectful to take it? He shrugged. The skeleton didn’t need it anymore. He gently unhooked the belt, trying not to look directly at the pile of bones, as well as smell them.
It seemed like this could well have been the adventurer who was carrying the sword from before, or perhaps their companion. The belt was around the same level as the sword in power, although it seemed to be magical in nature.
He wrapped the belt around his waist, the magical attunements on it made the size exactly his fit. He took the crude sword from his back and placed it in the belt. That was way more comfortable than having his scales clang against the sword with every step he took.
After taking a quick glance at his companions to see if they were fine, the boy continued in the same direction, his tail flickering excitedly.

The Catgirl had only slightly sobered up from what had happened but had reverted back to being a happy drunk with no care in the world, tail lashing behind her as she watched in interest Draco’s tail flicker.
He seemed to notice the eyes of someone. At first, he thought it was another monster, but there wasn’t a super ominous feeling. He turned around, seeing the girl that was also a cat stare at either his butt or his tail.
Whatever one it was, he was positive he didn’t like it,
“Don’t even think about it. Just cause you’re cute doesn’t mean you can pounce on me.” The dragon-boy warned, but not too seriously.
After he scolded her, the dragon boy continued on in a giddy mood.

Vivi pouted at being caught, jumping on the Dragonboy’s back. And no, the boobs were not being pressed against his head, but rather his back as she was relatively short compared to him at her 5’2 size.
The boy blushed bright red again, he decided he’d make conversation.
“What are you doing all the way in Cephiet, Vivi?” Draco asked.

“Weellll at first I came here doing a quest for some legendary wand, met a dryad when done with that, went into a dungeon with the dryad, then almost got bitch slapped by some pimp daddy, and I found some sweet liquor at the dorms. Oh, I also found out I have some dope ass armor. Ya thaz cool.” the Nekomata rambled, recalling the memory as if in some sort of flashback montage that Draco would see. But this was a story, not a tv show.

The dragon-boy scratched his head, still trying to ignore the, ahem, “soft pillows” on his back. “That sounds… very interesting. When you say ‘the dorms’ are you talking about Schism Academy by any chance?”

“Duh, I fucked you there, remember? Wait no you fucked me...or did we fuck each other….or did we fuck the pear…” Vivi trailed off, trying to find which fuck suited best for their reply.

He turned away from her, ignoring her… it seems wrong to say charms. So Schism did exist. A place open for all kinds of people varying from any shape or sizes. He dreamt of it before, only hearing about it a few times. He wondered what it’d be like to go there. But he wondered if he would even get any benefit from going there now that he was getting stronger in the real world?
Something to think about later. Right now, the only thing on his mind should be loot. He headed further into the dungeon, taking every chance he could to examine things. It would be easier if he was able to see around him, but sadly, he didn’t have the ability to manipulate fire.
What he really needed right now was something to take care of the disgusting color that surrounded the thin scab on his arm.
An antidote and some cloth could probably work. Or he could just walk it off. It seemed that there was nothing let here. He’d head somewhere else.
Once again there was no treasure. His luck must be bad. He’d stop searching for now, and head deeper into the dungeon.

Ahead of the group was a tunnel, with plain steps down as well as a tunnel upwards beside it. “Let’s go… this way.” Draco said, heading up the upwards tunnel. The dragon boy didn’t want to continue without having the ability to see, he might’ve missed things, so he didn’t want to miss anymore.

As he searched for wood, he frowned to himself as he was lost in thought. He wasn’t sure what he was doing here. He knew that he needed to leave Cephiet soon, but the thought of going with the girls seemed fun.
He hasn’t ever really had fun before. Just tons of pain, regret, and loneliness. Exploring the dungeon and finding treasures seemed to bring him a sense of enjoyment that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
Maybe it was the fact that he was out of his “humble abode” or the fact that he could do what he wanted without being told if he was able to or not.
He shook his head, and his frown turned to smile. Right now, he just wanted to live in the moment.

Once again he found nothing.
He held back a sigh of disappointment and continued further up the tunnel. That was enough dungeon diving today. Right now, he had bigger fish to fry.
When he took a second to think and realized there were things in this cave that could probably kill him in the blink of an eye, even Vivi wouldn’t be able to protect him.
The sisters wouldn’t be there all the time either.
He has had his fun, but now it was time to find the out what was needed of him.
“I think it’d be smart if you twins lead us forward for the duration of this field trip. Would you mind,” The Dragonkin asked,
The bluette snorted. "Yeah, yeah, I was planning to. You can’t exactly handle things in here after all."
He frowned, but didn’t retort, “So, is there a reason why we’re in here in the first place? I was kind of looking for a way to leave Cephiet before you two came along and dragged me… wherever this is.”
She gave him a slow look. "We were here just for that. The surface is too much for you. This is the fastest route… Do I need to simplify any of that?"
He gave her a glare, “I don’t seem to recall ever mentioning wanting to leave Cephiet to you.”
"You didn't have to," she shrugged. "If something is unsuited for the environment, you relocate it. I saw you were going to die if you stuck around, so I decided you were better off somewhere else. Wasted youth, or something."
“A lonely hatching, huh? So you have no motive for helping me except for the fact that you want to?”
"Yes," she stressed, "people call it altruism. Though, I guess it's pretty rare here."
He eased up and chuckled a little bit, “You’re telling me. Well, that’s nice of you and your sister. But if I can recall back to before we entered this cave, one of you claimed to not have liked me, correct?”
She flushed. "W-we’re the same people! We don't have different likes or dislikes. She just understands it better than I do, since she’s older."
He thought it was weird that they were twins and the same people, but different ages. It wasn’t his place to question it though. He should be grateful for the fact that they’re helping him in the first place, not try to interrogate them and figure out their whole backstory.
There was one last thing that made him feel uneasy, “So, your Lord if I remember correctly, is what you called him or her. Are you taking me to them or…?”
She took longer to answer than she should’ve like she hadn't even considered it. "...No. He’s not interested."
“What is your Lord exactly. You say he’s very strong. Where is he and what does he do here?”
"He’s searching for something that will save us." She shrugged again with a careless sound. "Well, I don't really know anything else. Shouldn't you arm yourself?"
“Arm myself for what,” He said, rubbing his scaley palm against his sword. He gripped it firmly and pulled it from his belt. “I’m ready for whatever comes next. You just lead the way.”
He stopped her quickly, “What about Vivi? What will happen to her once I’m gone?”
“Well you don’t know her right?” she shrugged. “I don’t know, why do you care?”
He scratched his head, “Well, I think it would be nice if I had someone to go out to the rest of the world with. I assume you’ll stay here?”
“You’re right, I guess.” She looked down the tunnel and back towards a set of stairs, turning back like she expected him to choose. “Well make sure you don’t lose her.”
He nodded, “Lead the way then.” She nodded, gesturing for him to stay behind her as she went down the tunnel.
Draco would follow her taking in note of the dungeon as he continued.
Deeper into the tunnel, the group of intrepid, young adventurers of sorts felt colder the farther they traveled until they stumbled upon a group of about a dozen hellions, waiting in what seemed to be their nest. A light could be seen past them.
“Do you want me to or…?” Draco questioned, circulating the Exin in his body.
“I need to show off some time too,” she answered, stepping up. She reached back, drawing her sword of gleaming silver. Instead of aiming at the hellions, she set its edge against her shoulder.
“I present my tenure,
Three hundred taels of silver,
All of mine for thy gracious blessing!
Sunder this breast!
Steal my breath,
O’ lord of desire!”
In a single motion, too fast for Draco to see, a single strike split her in two. For a moment, her blood seemed to slow in the air. Innumerable droplets littering the air. Time righted itself, only it appeared to make a mistake. The pellets of blood shot forward, one after another, like tiny bullets that decimated every hellion in its path as if they were missiles.
One moment there were dozens of hellions and the next they were all decimated and torn apart. He sweats horribly, but shrugged with a smile, “Pfft, I could’ve done that.” He said with a humorous tone.
She gave him a lost look, pressing a hand to her wound as the flesh knitted together. “Who… oh. Alright. We have to go forward then, right? You can lead the way.”
Draco nodded, “Okay, let’s go.” He then continued to go down the tunnel, entering the light and dragging Vivi with him.
He walked out into a nearly vacant desert. Through the dust, he could clearly make out buildings not far away.
He turned towards the girls, “What’s this? Are we still in Cephiet?”
One of them spared a glance as she looked over her sister, who looked perfectly untouched. “We are. There’s a way out for adventurers in that town. You can handle yourself from here right?”
Draco went to say yes but hesitated. It seemed as if he was forming a good relationship with one-out-of-two of the twins. If you called petty bantering that. He frowned, “Will I ever see you again?”
One of them opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut off. “We have no, “I” there is only, “us”. You can handle yourself, yes? We will leave now.” She turned to her twin. ”Come on, our sister is waiting.”
Draco would be lying if he said that it didn’t hurt just a little bit, but was he supposed to do? Make a big deal out of nothing? “Thank you for escorting me. Hopefully, I’ll see you two- one- whatever, again. If not… have a good life? I can handle myself from here on out.”
She gave a tittering laugh. “We are more than two. A meeting is assured. Grow brilliantly, little hatchling.”
He nodded, more to himself, reassuring himself everything would be just dandy. He turned to Vivi, “Ready to go?”
The Nekomata, more sobered out from their past mini adventure nodded cheerfully in response. “Mhm!” she hummed happily. Although in the back of her head she was desperate for a shower, her hair felt...sticky. From a previous substance that seemed pleasant at the time.
He pats her shoulder and turned around, heading towards their exit. He didn’t know what the world had planned for him, but he would find out soon. His first stop?
Schism Academy sounded neat.
 
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It was a cold night.
Something that Draco wasn’t used to. In hell, it always seemed musty and cramped, humid and hot, sweaty and damp. The boy intentionally dragged his feet across the grass, enjoying the feeling of the soft blades instead of jagged rocks scraping against his scales.
At first, when he first reached Schism, he hadn’t expected the clean, crisp air. The warm sun that made his scales twitch with pleasure and anticipation to learn more about the world.
He laughed out loud, the wind blowing throughout his air as he soared through the sky. He spun, dipped, and flipped.
For the first time in a while, he felt free. He went on for a while, not even realizing that the grass disappeared and the air seemed to grow heavier.
His feet landed on the ground, letting out a content sigh as he wiped the sweat off his forehead and flexed his wings.
Draco took in his surroundings, his eyes widening. It seemed like he lost the sense of where he was going. At least he knew the general direction of where he had come from.
His eyes widened as he continued to walk and a huge temple seemed to appear out of nowhere.
The temple was yes, huge in size, but the particular design was that of a religious temple. Their looming dark, brick, circular, towers with huge fire pots and clay pointed roofs, their walls smooth and red with huge black iron double doors that sealed all out, a phoenix statue presented on each side. Next to the doors, however, was a scribe written on the wall, its words, ’All who come must truly desire the power of fire, or meet their fate to become one with our god.
Draco read the words and smiled, his sharp teeth flashing. He would be lying if he said that he didn't want to test his strength. Fire was something he always wished he could manipulate.
He hated his father but couldn't deny the kisses of flames were dangerous and well feared.
He entered the dungeon with his chin up high. For once in his life, he felt confident.
As the Dragon entered the dungeon, it was as if the world completely changed. The ceiling seemed endless, the air thick and red from the heat, and the floor a dark, jagged rock that was hot to the touch, that would melt the skin off a normal human. Lining the huge ballroom like area, lava was flowing as if a mini river providing dim light, potholes along the wall with burning embers. Out of the ballroom were 2 halls, one on the right, and one on the left, and in the middle was a black rod iron gate with thick chains around it, no key present.
Draco took in his surroundings. The place seemed really fancy except for the impending fiery doom.
He took a few steps and leaped forward, his wings propelling him forward down the right corridor, his sword in his right hand and his polearm in his left.
As he flew down the hall that stretched a long way, a slorping sound could be heard, getting louder and louder the closer the Dragonkin got. And further down, the torches dimmed and the magma came slowly to a halt, the hall dipping into darkness and dread as the walls began to look tattered and destroyed, cracks lining the walls and leaving the once beautiful scenery in shreds.
The Dragonkin closed his eyes and extended his senses, taking in all the information Around him. He opened his eyes and looked further down the hallway, two huge slimeballs were there, covering the entire pathway. He raised an eyebrow and smiled.
Hopefully, this fight would give him a good warm-up.
The slimes were like any other green transparent slimes, although their pigments were red in contrast and their core was a magma ball. They bounced in place and moved to face towards the Dragonman, Their bleak, cartoonish faces trying to pull off their most ferocious war face to show how upset they were to being interrupted-er...slorping.
In an attack, the one on the right spit a fireball at the Intruder, the ball bouncing up and down on the floor towards him. Almost like a certain old game, that no one could really put their finger on…
Draco moved, dodging the horribly slow fireball.
His dodge was successful, and the attack meekly bounced by, leaving an upset slime counseled by their mate.
The boy didn’t care for their love, rushing forward and punching one of them in the… face?
The attack to its front made it cave in and burst with slime spraying around the hall. And in complete horror, the other slime looked at where the lover was, then slowly did a small jump to turn towards the killer of their lover. A blubbering battle cry was made, and the slime with dramatically river like tears rushing down from its eyes spit many fireballs towards the Dragon!
Draco lazily dodged again. Should he feel bad for this?
The blubbering, shaking Slime spit more fireballs in its rush of hatred and despair. How dare this Dragonkin to have the balls to murder innocent slimes slorping it up?
He attacked, the spell missing him easily, as he popped the last slime.
And so, the slime couple perished to the Dragonboy’s hand. Their slime forever on his hands. What a bastard move. In their memory, two items were presented. A chitin whip and a...copper vegetable. Was this young man already paying for his awful deeds? That was yet to be known, as the Chitin whip had an ice texture to its design aside from Chitin, an item of the temple “god” where your karma was converted to faith and the ability to raise a bit of their own constitution. This Dragonkin would find it useless if all he did was slaughter innocent slime couples. The Copper vegetable, in the shape of a potato, had a corrosive like texture, gently squeezing out the corrosive liquid from its pores. This was also a gift from the temple “god,” the ability to lower a targets luck by the user’s own faith. In both of these items, little holes were present to what would be assumed to hold cores, the whip holding two and the vegetable holding four.
Draco looked on, surprised. He didn’t expect any loot from the two. He picked up the whip and wrapped it around his forearm. He looked at the copper vegetable strangely but still accepted it, placing it in his belt. He continued down the hall, waiting to see what else awaited him. Hopefully, no more slime couples that liked to throw fireballs at him.
As the cold-hearted dragon moved down the hall with the couple’s possessions, he soon came to light and came across an open concept room, something like a standard bedroom size. Maybe this is where the couple’s kids slept. Would the Dragonboy kill them too?
Luckily enough, there were no children slimes, only 2 smaller than normal griffin looking chimeras. Who also looked clearly offended for being intruded on. Oh were couples doomed to fall into the hands of this ruthless killer…
Draco didn’t have any sympathy for literal monsters. He took in a deep breath and exhaled, sending an Ash Bomb straight at them.
The couple quickly died on impact, their deaths quick. However, luck was not in it for him as he was too close to the chimeras to not be blocked by the ash. Something well deserved for this Killer to have his spell backfire.
So as it was, the room was now filled with ash, and he would not be able to find the sweet loot left by the chimeras.
Draco walked through the ash, easily in-fact. He was used to breathing it, as he literally just spit it from his lungs. He couldn’t see, but he could definitely smell and hear.
As he walked, he ended up kicking a small table that held the two items that were in possession, a Quill and a Paintbrush. The Quill held the power of health, holding six core slots along its spine, the Paintbrush held hardened ectoplasm. A little...gross looking but it held the strong power of electricity and would raise the Karma of the Dragonkin. Finally, something semi-useful to make up for his terrible crimes. And with it held two core slots.
Now, aside from the items not so well deserved, was the entrance to the boss room. The only thing available insight was a metal trap door in the corner of the room, a carpet lazily pulled over it.
Draco took the items, happily, in fact. If he didn’t use them, maybe he could give them to people at Schism who needed them. He walked towards the door and opened it, not knowing what to expect.
The trap door had a small, tight entrance down, like a dark sewage line, damp and wet from heat. It had ridges along one side as if bars to climb up and down, but they were not so sufficient as they were something for baby hands.
Draco would sigh and try to squeeze through it, tucking in his wings and tail tightly against his body so they would not tear. Who’s idea was this? Was this designed for dwarfs?
This was not information Draco deserved to know and must suffer through the dungeon. He must rectify his sins.
The further he would go, he would drop to the ground of a very large, very tall room. The whole cave was covered with red magma veins, a hot dense red air and one big magma pool in the center of the room. Now, the real battle would begin.
The boss was an ogre of sorts, large and rock made with bright red magma in its mouth and eyes of flame. His fast...looked like a magma more pointy Thanos. It was heavily built, pulling out of the pool slowly with a loud animalistic yell. One hand was a large boulder, to smash, and the other was that of an ax, ready to smash and slash as one would say.
Draco landed in a crouch, one hand holding him up from the ground as his tail slapped the hot rock and his wings exploded outward. His landing position was that of a superhero's.
He looked up towards the molten monster and grinned. Water pooled up in his gut and in the back of his throat, spitting out something akin to the Ash Bomb but instead made out of water. Spinning faster than ever like a gigantic bullet. One after another came out, four in total. They would fly at the enemy and hopefully destroy him in one fell swoop.
Each one hit at the Boss, the stumbling back with a loud growl and hiss as steam came from its body, magma cooling down. In retaliation, the Cherufe swung its ball arm at a fast pace towards the dragon boy, trying to smash him into the wall.
His wings contracted, tightening his muscles and pushing down with all their might, creating a huge gust of wind that sent him forward. Sword in his hand, he stabbed it into the skull of the beast, easily dodging his attack at the same time.
As swift as the Dragonboy attacked, the Cherufe crumbled to a pool of magma and rocks, his eyes of flames disappearing to coldness under the blade of the Maniac Serial Killer. No one could stand in the way of this killer. Nobody.
Left behind was one core, sadly no items left behind. A flame core. Which seemed...a little odd for a Thanos looking magma boss in a supposed flame dungeon. Were these people too dumb to see the difference when trying to worship this low demon?
Draco wiped the sweat off his forehead. It wasn’t that much of a workout really, but the heat in here was killing him.
Time to head back to Schism.
 
Gabriella awoke in the school infirmary. Her wounds fully healed. She was told by the on call nurse that she had been out for twenty four hours. She gathered her things and re-donned her armor. She left the infirmary and headed back in the direction of the dungeon portals. However, before she arrived she had a thought. Perhaps if she gathered some followers to join her on this dungeon delve she would be able to be more successful in her second run.

She spent the rest of the morning constructing a small stall at one of the main paths through the school grounds. A large poster, hand drawn by herself, read the following: ‘To all those interested! Join the Crusade! Time to kill monsters with the mighty Gabriella Swain!’

She then began calling out to passersby with no real success, but giving up wasn’t really her thing so she went on with this for hours. Finally a lonesome Hesperide passed by. She looked like she was a new arrival to the school, just like herself. Gabbie smiled, an easy target for recruitment, “You there!” She called out to her, “Come here for a moment!”

~~~

Aegle decided she wanted to go around the academy again to familiarize herself more with the place. She was walking quietly down the hallway with her little serpent dragon, Ladon, tagging along behind her while she was humming.

She suddenly jumped when someone called out to her. Aegle looked around to see an angel waving her hands at her.

“Excuse me?” She tilted her head, a bit confused.

“Hello! How would you like to join me on a fantastic adventure! The likes of which you have never experienced!” She tried to sound as excited as possible.

“An adventure huh?” Aegle thought out loud. “Sounds like a nice thing to have…” she remembered her little dungeon adventure. “I guess I’m interested.”

She looked at her new acquaintance for a moment. “Wait, that’s it? You’re just going say yes?” She shook her head in surprise. “This is new. Well I love your attitude, friend! Wait.. What was your name?” Gabriella inquired.

“Well, I don’t have anything else to do and an adventure sounds fun. Kind of reluctant because I might die? But still, I wouldn’t really be the one to pass up an opportunity to explore,” she replied, shrugging. “I’m Aegle, nice to meet you,” she smiled.

“Lovely to meet you Aegle, I am Gabriella. Well I guess the big poster above you head gave that away.” She laughed awkwardly. “Well in the meantime let’s try and recruit some more! Get on this side of the stall and start yelling at people with me!” The two girls began to yell at anyone who passed them by. Well, mostly Gabriella, did the yelling.

Kheire was feeling a bit unsatisfied with his most recent duel and decided to head towards the school’s training dungeons. They do not often have anything challenging for him anymore, but the items they leave lying around are always nice to have and the crafting materials are good. Maybe he will get another idea for his research like last time… Lost in thought, he was caught off guard when he heard the yelling of a young angel girl nearby. It seemed like they were looking for someone to join them on an adventure in a dungeon. He decided to approach and introduce himself. “Hello, my name is Kheire. I heard that you were looking for a third to join your group?”

Gabriella turned, honestly surprised at the sudden arrival. “Oh yes! You must have excellent ears then.” She could tell just by looking that this individual was very strong. Perfect, perhaps she could use him to defeat more powerful heathens. She laughed internally, a bit of a diabolical smile forming on her face. “Yes, me and my poor friend Aegle here,” she gestured at her new acquaintance without checking for her reaction, “we are in need of a strong ally. Today is the day for bravery! For heathen slaying! Yes that’s right! You Kheire have been chosen as the lucky winner to join us on a dungeon dive!” She extended her hand in greeting, hoping he would shake it.

Kheire reached out slowly with one hand and shook Gabriella’s hand with minimal grip strength. His desire to dungeon was curbed a little by her odd behaviour. “Yeah, that sounds… nice. Does a Toxic dungeon sound alright to you two?”

Aegle simply studied the new guy, whose name she caught was Kheire, wondering what got him to join this adventure. “Sounds good to me,” She replied.

“Awesome! Follow me to the dungeon portals then!” She repliestorming off towards the building that housed said portals. The three arrived quickly, and Gabriella stepped aside. “Now Kheire, show the way to the dungeon you mentioned earlier.”

Kheire lead them over to the portal that was a swirling mix of bright purple and acidic green. “This is the one. Ready?”

Once inside, the trio of troubadours witnessed the large amount of sticky substances coating every surface. Some of it seemed to even move and bubble. They seemed to be in a deep, layered hole of sorts. They could see the next floor beneath their feet. There seemed to be something alive down there. “You certainly have some interesting tastes Kheire.” Gabriella off-handedly mentioned as she cautiously stepped around the room. It seemed like the only
way to go down was to break through the floor. “Well, get ready,” she warned as she suddenly smashed her hammer into the floor they stood on with all her strength. As she did so, she took flight.

Kheire grabbed Aegle as he fluttered down since she didn’t have wings and had stayed standing near the entrance with him. “Are you okay, Aegle? Gabriella, stay close.”

Aegle didn’t have time to comprehend her surroundings. All she heard was the floor breaking below them then she finds herself being carried down to the lower level by Kheire. She stood there, dazed and confused. “I’m fine… I believe,” She looked to her side to see Ladon fly down to her.

Gabriella flew upwards, and took out her cannon in preparation for whatever might be lurking in the shadows.

Kheire noticed movement over at the far end of one side and lashed out with his new spell, a javelin piercing what seemed to be some kind of slime. “It looked like it was guarding something. We should probably investigate.”

Aegle simply nodded, tightening her grip on the scythe she was holding on to. She couldn’t really say anything, and was probably regretting going along with two random people she just met.

Gabriella looked around, the room looked similar to the one they had entered from. As she was scanning the area she noticed two things. First a strange gauntlet that she swooped in to inspect. It looked out of place in the strange dungeon. She put it on her right hand. Stranger still, it fit perfectly. The second thing had been a strange bubble, it looked like a weak point that if broken would lead further down. She walked up and punched it.

The bubble pops, allowing the three students to jump down to the next floor. Kheire had grabbed the cores left behind by the slime. Upon seeing another slime nearby, he impaled it with another javelin. “There should be another one of those nearby.”

Aegle looked around for anything interesting she could find or any other slimes to attack. She found a bubble and saw a potion on the floor near it covered in slime. She picked it up, looking at it in disgust, then puts it in her bag. She then swung her scythe to pop the bubble.

Once the Bubble has broken, Gabbie gestured at Kheire. “Well, lead the way Mr. bad ass.” She remarked as she waited to follow him down.

“I’m nothing special. I just have experience to draw from for these situations.” Kheire grabbed the cores left behind by the second slime before dropping downwards. He did his best to spot that floor’s slime and take it out as well. “It really isn’t that difficult once you know what you are doing. I am sure both of you will be able to do the same soon enough.”

Aegle shrugs, finding the next bubble. She swung her scythe again, popping it. ‘This is kind of fun,’ she thought, which was a bit of a surprise for her to find herself enjoying popping bubbles.

In the next room, there was slime all over the place. Not slimes, but the remnants of them. A large man, Keld, sat in the corner resting with his mighty axe at his side. Over nine feet tall, with dark skin and a bald head (save for his black and white mohawk), the Jotun wore minimal armor. The giant had come into the dungeon earlier, and took this chance to rest before proceeding to the next area.

At the sight of this Gabriella was quite taken aback, not used to those who were taller than her. All of her life, she had been the tallest individual around, as angels were not known for their. She approached the figure and looked at it with curiosity, turning back to gesture at her other companions. Without waiting for their reactions she stepped closer, poking at the man beast with the handle of her mighty hammer. She waited for a response.

Being jabbed with the hammer jolted Keld from his nap. He surged to his feet, hefting his axe and towering over the angel. He seemed surprised, but didn’t drop his guard. “You’re not a slime.” He peered at her suspiciously.

Then Kheire coughed, because that's what you do to let everyone know it is your turn to talk. “I assume you are the reason why there were so few slimes in the earlier parts of the dungeon? If you want, you could just join us so we could complete the dungeon together.” Kheire offered his hand in friendship and cooperation. As in, he stuck his left hand out for a handshake.

Gabriella stepped in between Kheire and Keld. Her hands planted firmly at her sides. She furrowed her brow and took in the man’s size. Running her eye’s across his form. ‘Hmpf.’ She grunted, ‘Impressive size, and based on the strength of the slimes we came across, impressive strength as well.’ Gabriella let out a happy grin and nodded at the man. “Indeed, you will be an excellent follo- I mean, Ally. Yes, I am Gabriella Swain, This is Kheire Hecatox, and Aegle Nyx.” She continued, gesturing to her comrades. “We have come into this dungeon with hopes of SMITING the HEATHENS that lay within. I, Gabriella Swain wish to invite you to join our party as a comrade in arms! What say you Man of Giant size and mighty strength!”

The giant shrugged, holstering his axe on his back. “‘Kay.” He grunted. “I’m Keld.” He looked past Gabriella seeing Kheire still holding out his hand. Keld reached out, grabbing Kheire’s entire hand in his giant fist. “Sorry if I made it too easy for you. That tends to happen.” He simply nodded at the third, turning back to the room.

“It’s fine. I was here to help them. Get to know new people. Get things off my mind. You know how it is. Nice to meet you. Look forward to getting to know you, all of you, better.” Kheire gave a solemn nod. He halfheartedly sent a barrage of javelins at the three slimes he had noticed within the room, obliterating them into a fine mist.

“...How did you miss those?” Gabriella inquired, raising her eyebrow at the giant.

Keld shrugged, drawing his axe out. “I didn’t see them.” He stomped into the room, scooping up a large handful of cores. “I’ll get the next ones.”

“If my eyes don’t deceive me, the next room is the last. As I am sure you know, the last room’s enemies are the most difficult to deal with. If any of you have methods of increasing your strength for the fight ahead, you should probably go ahead and use them now.” Kheire spoke while heading towards the bubble leading to the last level.

Gabriella took out her cannon and fired at it as Kheire approached. It exploded with a loud pop, and some of the gunk landed on Kheire’s face as a result. “Oh! Whoops! Next time don’t get so close I guess!” She stuck out her tongue playfully.

Keld nodded, pulling a bottle out of his satchel. After a moment’s thought, he pulled another one out as well. Popping the corks out, he quickly drained both bottles, tucking the empty bottles back into the bag. After a second, the potions took effect, and his skin turned rough and gray, like stone, and his muscles rippled subtly. He shuddered, a manic grin spreading across his face. “Ready now. Let’s do this!”

The four of them were able to take out the large slimes in the final room in short order. Kheire focused his magic on one while the three less experienced students were able to hold off the other. Aegle, unfortunately, was teleported to the infirmary near the end of the battle. The other three were able to acquire some quality loot from the stash. Gabriella took some nice, heavy plate armor. Keld got some medium armor of higher quality. Kheire got a ring to boost his magic damage. Afterwards, he distributed cores to infuse into the bones of Gabriella and Keld. Gabriella and Keld absorbed halos to gain new abilities and left soon after. Kheire returned to his dorm room.
 
The Dragonkin soared through the air, still enjoying the new sensation of a breeze. It was pitch black outside, the sky littered with thousands upon thousands of stars. They sparkled beautifully, intriguing Draco. In Cephiet, there weren’t such things as stars. Just a barren landscape without much anything to look at. Wherever Schism was located, he couldn’t help but love it. It was like he had come to a whole different world. Well… he had.

Morning time had come by the time Draco had gotten back. His accidental dungeon raid hadn’t made him any stronger, but he was quite happy with the loot he had gotten. Maybe he could give it to some people to make friends?

He entered the doors of Schism with a smile on his face. He wasn’t sure what to do first. Maybe he should do a quest? Meet some new people? Wait, did he have to enroll first?
He would look for someone to help.

As he searched around Schism he couldn’t help but look at the Quest board. He wanted to go and explore and see the world more. What other way to do that then a quest?

In the meanwhile, a young kid behind him, sitting on the floor, with a lot of books, trying to figure out what the black onyx seed that is in front of him, will grow into. He grunts loudly, not seeing Draco. “Aargh… This seed is just stupid… Better ask a teacher” A quartz baby dragon flies above him, the kid raises his head and looks at him. “Crys. You can’t eat this. It will not do you good.” The dragon makes a noise which is supposed to be a sigh but sounds like almost sending a fire breath at the kid. Charlet sighs again and stands up, putting his white bandage on his left shoulder and putting the emerald nail in his pocket. “I guess now it’s time for some fun, let’s go for a quest or something…”. He talks to his baby dragon.

Draco sniffed the air. Something smelled really familiar. He turned around his eyes landing on the little dragon.

A warm feeling bubbled up in his heart. He wasn't sure what it was, but, “Hey,” his mouth talked for him, “Is this your dragon?”

The kid looks to Draco and the baby quartz dragon lands on his shoulder, hiding his head behind the kid’s head. The kid tilts his head. “Yea, w-why you bother?” He seems a little scared and nervous.

His personality did a complete 360. He squealed like a teenage girl attending a boy band concert. “I'm a dragon too! Well, a Dragonkin.” He blushed shyly, “I haven't met many others of my kind. May I pet him? Or is it a her?”

Charlet pets the baby quartz dragon’s wing and looks at the dragon, after a second he returns his look to the Dragonkin. “You should ask him. We are friends and we have bonds, but I am in no control of him. Even though he is more than my best friend” He says as he pets and the dragon makes a noise like purring to the petting. The baby quartz dragon turns his look to the dragonkin and jumps off Charlet’s shoulder, he flies in front of Draco’s face, sniffing him, he then lands on his head, like hugging him with his tail and body. Charlet laughs slightly at the dragon. “Seems like he likes you…”

He grinned, his sharp teeth flashing, “He's pretty cool. Anyway, I feel like doing a quest. Maybe we could do one together? I'm completely new here.”

Charlet shrugs and then nods. “Sure, either way I was going to do a dungeon, so I guess a quest will be cool as well…” The baby quartz dragon flies back to Charlet’s shoulder. “By the way, my name is Charlet.” He puts his hand forward to a handshake.
“Draco. Draco Enkidu. Before we go, I gotta go say hi to a friend. Would you accompany me real quick and lead me to the library?”

Charlet shrugs again and nods, “Sure thing. I guess you already know where the library is.” He chuckles slightly and walks near Draco. He blushed, “Somewhat. I had a venture there earlier.”
He entered the library with Charlet. He seemed excited, excited to make a new friend already. Maybe he could make another one before he went?

As they walked he turned to Charlet, “Know anybody here?”

Charlet blushed slightly and looked at the ground as they walked, “Umm, not really… People not really like me because of my… personalities…” He said the last word with caution, afraid of Draco’s reaction.

He blinked, “Personalities?”

Charlet sighs and put hands in his pockets, still looking down “Yea… Let’s say that there are more ‘me’... That will appear according to my mood…” He is nervous.
Draco smiled, “That's really cool. Means I have more friends from one, right?” He gently punched his shoulder. “Awesome.”

Charlet blushes and chuckles nervously… “Yea, I guess you right… Here we are. The library!” He changes the subject as they stand in front of the library.

Draco walked in and yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice almost coming out as a roar, “Hey Vivi! Where are you!?”

That person had been strange. He was powerful however and she wasn’t about to complain about all the free stuff she had gotten as a result of meeting him. That dungeon was fun too. He was just… A little quiet for her tastes. The realization that her hands had stopped moving pulled Gabriella out of her own mind. She needed to finish this recruitment station. No time for idle thoughts. The Kiosk was almost done actually as she took several large steps back to survey her work. All it needed was a big sign up on top. Something along the lines of ‘Crazy adventurers with no sense of self preservation wanted!’ or maybe ‘In Search of Gullible Moro-’

She got cut off mid thought as she suddenly collided with someone behind her as without realizing it she had continued to back up. Maybe setting up her recruitment kiosk outside of the library had been a bad idea..

Gabriella and the stranger tumbled to the ground. The Angel ended up on top. She was now straddling a dragonkin. She cocked her head to one side as she looked at his scaly features. “Oh, well hello…” She trailed off before immediately hopping off of him and brushing herself. “I didn’t expect new hopefuls so quickly! The name’s Gabbie nice to meet ‘chya” She took the stranger’s hand without waiting for him to reciprocate the handshake. “I take it you and your…” Gabbie glanced at the other stranger standing nearby, “..friend? Are here to join my legendary Adventuring guild!” The let out a beaming smile and await a response from the two of them.

Draco didn't notice Gabriella was indeed not Vivi. When she toppled into him, he instinctively wrapped his arms around her and toppled to the ground. As she straddled him he blushed, “I don't believe this is the time Vi-” he looked down, only to confirm it wasn't his current romantic interest. As she got up he struggled to stand. That was definitely embarrassing. She seemed to shake it off and continue. “Legendary… Adventuring Guild?”

Charlet just raised an eyebrow at the event, confused. He putted his hands in his pockets again and was clearly nervous. His dragon was resting in his backpack. He shrugged at her, “I d-don’t really c-care for joining..” He looked downwards.

Gabriella turned to face Charlet now, ignoring any response the Dragonkin could have given her. “Oh really…?” Her eyebrows narrowed and a scowl crossed her face. “So you think you’re to good for me eh? Too good for my guild? Too good for an offer literally given to you by an angel?” She stepped real close to the second stranger and pressed her face against his.. Well more her chest than anything…

Charlet looked up to her as she got closer to him, he raised his eyebrows with surprise and then anger flooded him. He looked to her into the eyes, ignoring her chest pressing against his face, he walks a little backwards, so he could see her face. “Listen here. I said. I DO NOT CARE TO JOIN. And that means, it may be a yes. SO DON’T YOU ACT ALL DEFENSIVE NOW HUH?!” As he spoke and his tone went more angry, his appearance changed, it looked like his eyes are filled with bright red fire, and his clothes changed from regular blue to red and orange, small flames covering them. “AND WHO THE FUCK CARES YOU ARE AN ANGEL?! I AM HALF ANGEL AS WELL SO YOU BETTER SHUT THE FUCK UP AND ACT LIKE ONE!”

Draco blinked. For one, he was distracted by a literal angel with an angelic chest and on the other hand his new friend seemed to have some anger problems. How could someone. Be angry with those pressed against- anyway, he wasn't a fan of nonsensical fighting. He wrapped his arms around both of their shoulders and smiled, “Hey now, let's all calm down here! We're all friends!”

Gabriella smiled widely, ignoring the scaly hand on her shoulder. She looked the stranger up and down with their new fiery form. “NOW YOU I LIKE!” She exclaimed excitedly! “How many of those can you even do!? Oooh oooo! Do you have an icy one? How about a windy one? How does it work? Also! You both should join my guild!” She then produced, from somewhere, two printed out fliers introducing the two to her organization.

Charlet blinked and for a second you could see confusion in his eyes while bombarding him with questions, then he narrowed his eyes. “WHY DO YOU CARE HUH? NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!” He breathed heavily, his normal self tried to gain back control, Charlet closed his eyes and breathed slowly, slowly returning back to his previous form.

Gabriella’s eyes sparkled in fascination as the stranger changed appearances again. “UM MAYBE BECAUSE IT IS SO COOL OMG!” She excalimed again and pounced at him. “Tell me everything! OH wait first… I guess Im being rude huh?” Gabbie put out a hand to the stranger. “Im Gabriella Swain, what’s your name stranger?” Her smile widened further as she extended the greeting.

The Nekomata’s black fluffy ears flickered accompanied by her puffy black tail swaying behind her as she tiredly walked towards the comotion, her bare feet padding lightly on the cold floor like the stealthy rogue she was. Her appearance was lazily dressed, a thin white dress shirt exposing her light pink bra and a pair of tight black shorts squishing her thick thighs lightly. First to catch her sight was her lover, then came the 2 squabbling idiots who seemed to be the most cause of noise.
“Draco, honey, who the fuck are these loud asses and why won't they shut up?” the Cat Girl asked in a tone that was sickeningly sweet.

Charlet blushed lightly as Gabriella complimented his forms, he looked downwards and then back up, seeing her hand waiting for his, he stuttered a little. “M-My name’s Charlet… N-Nice to meet you… Gabriella.” He shakes her hand, then he saw a cat girl walking towards them and calling Draco ‘honey’. He blinked and looked back and forth between the neko and Draco. Then blushed deeply as she talked towards him and Gabbi like that.

Draco blinked once again. "Hey Vi," he waved. "This is Charlet, my new friend. And this is Gabriella, my other new friend. Know them?"


Gabriella spun to the new voice that had appeared behind her. Her expression immediately replaced with a scowl. “Huh…?” A strange, throaty accent came out that was almost scottish as her anger over took her. “And what’s this then? A stray? I don’t have any scraps for you kitty now shoo!” she then turned to the Dragon kin. “AND WE-” she stopped ehrself regaining control of herself as the accent disappeared and her sweeet feminine voice returned. “I wouldn’t exactly call us friends silly. We just met after all hee hee~” She then shot a look at the Neko. “I mean I have mounted you already so I guess we might just be friends..”

Vivi’s ears shot straight up, the comment clearly bugging her. “I wouldn’t be friends with such a loud, inconsiderate, foul mouth person who can not control herself enough to keep from insulting strangers. And what is this about MOUNTING~?” Vivi stressed, her halberd coming out and ready to put this little shit in her place.

Her accent returned “YOU CALLED ME A LOUD ASS YOU OBNOX-” Gabbie let out a loud cough as she regained control of herself. “No, no you’re right. I’m sorry little kitty. I’m sure you’re just tired and grumpy! Maybe a bath would cheer you up?”

Charlet blinked with surprise at the sudden event. He coughed loudly. “Um. Guys. I am sure we can all calm down. ALL of us.” He looks towards Gabi. “I am sorry miss, for us making loud noises. We are both sorry.” He turned his look to Vivi and lowered his head slightly, like a mini-bowing to her.

Draco began to sweat profusely. Why couldn't they just get along? He was relieved that Charlet tried to intervene, he would help as well. “It's nothing Vi, she just fell on me. Let's all get along. Actually, I have a great idea. Why don't we all go do a dungeon together? A quest of some sorts. We can release our tension on monsters and get to know each other at the same time!”

Please say yes, please say yes-

Vivi huffed and retracted her halberd back into her space pen, walking smoothly over to Draco and giving him a loving kiss to prove the point that the Dragon Kin was her’s only. “A lovely idea, what do we have in mind?” the Catgirl purred, a genuine smile grazing her lips.

Gabriella smiled coily as the words of both Draco and Vivi disappeared into background noise for her. What Charlet had said had given her an Idea simply Diabolical Gabbie, well done. She thought to herself before turning back to him. “You are right Charlet, and I forgive you, but you know what you could do to make it up to me?” Before her new friend could even answer she exclaimed “Well join my guild of course! Just sign here.” Out of her clothing she then produced a 20 page contract and a feather pen. “Just down on the dotted line and you will be an official member you see.” She gestured with the pen to where Charlet would have to sign.

Charlet looked at Gabi like she just fell out of space, he raised an eyebrow wondering what the hell she is talking about. “Umm, Gabriella? I was saying sorry to the nekogirl…”

Gabbie melted into a puddle of sadness almost immediately.
As Charlet saw her reaction he raised both of his hands. “But h-hey. Don’t be sad! I will gladly sign it up, who else is there? And what does it mean to be in a guild?” He asked before taking the pen, waiting for answers.
“R-Really…?” she murmured back at him.
Draco smiled at Vivi as he kissed her back. He turned back towards the other two. He was interested in what this was as well. “I’ll join as well! Just explain, and I’ll sign the papers.”
“Really…. R- really?” She murmured again, this time to both of them.
Draco nodded gently. “Really.”

She passed the contract to Draco. If he read it over he would find it to be surprisingly legitimate. After her failed recruitment attempt last time she had spent weeks researching and developing the document so it would be professional and satisfactory to other adventurers. She had even made cool badges to give out to members. Well, when she got them that was. Right now she was the only member and the Guild founder she had called the Guild ‘The Rogue’s Gallery’ and while they didn’t have a guild hall or anything like that yet the contract laid out that upon acquiring one the guild would offer comfortable residence to all members when they weren’t out adventuring. Furthermore Guild Member’s would be allowed to join freely upon approval from the Guild Master and have full access to all of the Guild’s resources without any fees whatsoever. The guild would just add a surcharge on to the reward of quests granted to them by those in search of help. Guild members take up quests at their leisure and all amenities will be paid by the guild upon the time of such resources being available to the organization. The symbol of the guild was simply a Dagger laying upon an angel’s wing. And the Guild member’s were required to wear it on their person in some manner. Furthermore the Guild Founder and the Guild Master would be separate titles. The founder would be charged with recruiting, book management, and general financial and job oversight while the Guild Master would be in charge of mission ranking and member approval/management as well as being the de facto leader of the organization.

Draco would stare at the documents. He slightly frowned as he viewed the requirements. He look towards Gabriella, “I’ll join, but I have one condition,” He smiled an idiotic smile, pointing to himself with his thumb, “I want to be the leader!”

“You mean the Guild Master?” Gabbie stood up and scratched her chin quizzically. “Well we do need one of those.. Technically without one recruiting is impossible.. Also..” She smiled “Okay fine but follow me.” she then took flight in the direction of the nearest lunch hall.

Draco waved at Vi and Charlet, “I’ll be back in a second.” He took flight as well, keeping up with the angel girl.

She landed at a table and took a seat. “Alright, you sit across from me.” she smiled. “The Guild Master should be the strongest in the whole world… Other then me of course. “ She smirked, “as such we are gunna have a contest. An arm wrestling contest!. I’ll only use one arm! You can use your whole body!” Gabriella prepped her posture.

Draco raised an eyebrow, “Why don’t we fight for real? I’m not the strongest,” He propped his arm on the table as well. “Although, I’ll try. What happens if either of us win?”

“If I win you become Guild Master in Training! You can challenge me whenever to gain the real title. If you win… which is unlikely.. You get to be Guild Master Officially!” She smiled innocently at him.

He smiled, grasping her hand tightly. She had soft hands. He made sure that his claws didn’t dig into her hands, “Let’s go.”

His arms bulged as his muscles flexed, he pushed against her arm, aiming to try and end this quickly as he could.

Gabbie’s face was lowered to the table, obscuring all but her mouth. As her arm fell quickly towards the table top she smirked and made eye contact with him.

As they made eye contact and he couldn’t push any further, he knew it was all over.

She flexed and slammed his hand against the table with all of her might. A loud thud resonated around them as she stared at the defeated Dragonkin. “So you lost, sad for you.” She stated as she got up off of the table. “But luckily for you, I like the cut of your jib. As such I’m going to make you a ‘Guild Master In Training.’ You can try and best me in a contest of might at any time to get the official title. Mind you you have all of the powers and responsibilities of a Guild Master under the contract now though, so really the change would just be in name.” she then gestured for him to follow as she took off back towards the library.

Draco winced as his hand was slammed hard against the table. She was really strong. He frowned and flexed his hand, ridding it of the pain. As she flew off he stared at her back with a determined smile on his face. Next time, he was positive he would win. He stepped out of the chair and took flight as well, back towards the library.

They landed back at the library where he had left Vivi and Charlet. “I’ll be right back again, gonna go pick up the Quest and we can be out on our way!” Instead of flying, he walked to the Quest Board. He grabbed the one he was looking at earlier.

“Corrosion Chimeras, eh. Should be easy with the three I’m going with,” He turned back and headed towards the group. He showed them the piece of paper, “You guys down?”

“Hah! Worry not little dragon! I’ll keep you safe, even if these other two end up being useless!” Gabriella winked at Draco as she said this, obviously referring to their bout from before.

Draco smiled at Gabriella, “I’m pretty sure I’ll be the one protecting you. After all, there’s no way you’d best me in an actual fight.”


“Huhh…?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Is that a challenge little dragon?”

He grinned even wider, “I’m not sure. Want it to be?” He cracked his knuckles.

“Sure, I’ll fight you little man, I know just the spot too. Follow me.” Gabriella then took off in the direction of her favorite arena.

Draco nodded. He would become the true Guild Master soon. Once again he took off after her.

The two of them arrived at a large circular arena made specifically for things like this. “Him I wish it was bigger, and more deserted.” Gabriella spoke to herself

“Eh, it's good to me,” Draco said flexing. “A place to let loose. So try not to kill each other, right?”

Walking from the library to the arena, Vivi finally made her way and went to take a seat. The Catgirl was still stiff and on guard, as the Angel had made her annoyed and peeved, and she would be more than willingly jump in if the Angel knocked out her Mate. Call her protective, because that's what she was. And someone who makes excuses to kick someone’s ass for being rude.

Draco was in the process of wondering why the angel called him a small man when in reality he was about 6’5” in height. He wasn't the biggest dragon on the block, but he definitely wasn't the smallest. “Oi,” He said to catch the Angel's attention, “If I win, then we're making some changes to the logo.”

“Yeah, no. But if you win I’ll buy you some sweets or something cute like that.” She then pulled out her hammer and shield. “Now zip it and pull out your weapon. It’s Taka Taka Time Dragon boy.”

He looked at his claws. Should he summon his gauntlet, use his sword, or his polearm? He grinned, sliding the great sword out of his belt and lifting it with his right hand. He admired it, the sun reflecting off the metal. He was going to enjoy this.

He took a deep breath. Time to start the battle with a boom. Ash manifested in the pits of his gut and travelled up his bowl. He brought his head back and roared, a bomb created from Ash hurling towards the Angel.

She brought her shield up to deflect the blast, but it proved to much for her. Her entire arm was cleaved off as well as part of her shoulder as a result. Her vision faded for a moment a particular abd memory cropped up in her mind. “Yeah, no, I’m not doing this again.” She muttered in between heavy pants. From what she could tell it was either put him down now or fall in the dirt. She charged.

Her vision went red as she let out a barrage of hammer strikes at a blinding speed. Adrenaline coursed through her veins numbing her to the pain in her side as she laughed maniacally and screamed at her opponent as he was slowly overwhelmed “GET SOME DRAGON BOY.” He managed to dodged some of the hits, but most of them strikes made purchase. She felt the satisfying crack of bone and smooshed flesh underneath her hammer which each swing that made purchase. With her final attack she brought her hammer down on his skull. Slowly the adrenaline faded as her sense returned to her. She was extremely light headed from the blood loss. Gabriella sized up her opponent to see how she did.

He hadn’t ever activated his Soultool Armor quicker. It appeared around him, but that still wasn’t enough to escape the wrath of the ginormous angel- which he was starting to believe was a demon. Pain erupted from all around his bloody. He had seen blood fly, blinked, and was stumbling backward with numbness throughout his whole entire body. He couldn’t feel anything, he didn’t know how he was even standing. On the brink of death. At least he hit her hard as well.

In a flash, Vivi had made her way in front of Gabriella on top of a blue fire fox to be a little taller than the Angel. And without any time for reactions, Vivi had already went to stripping. Yes. Stripping. She swayed her hips in a hypnotic manner and she went to removing her shorts to reveal the cotton panties that held the intense power of charming, an item she got from a quest in a...succubus temple or something.

Before she could do anything the stray kitty appeared before her. And suddenly she got very light headed. Not in a bad way though. All of her pain just kind of went away. It was nice. She smiled as a little bit of drool came out and her accent returned to her. “Oy there your a cute kitty ain’t chya?” She lazily muttered off at Vivi as everything but her just kind of faded away.

A snicker left the Nekomata’s mouth as she found this incredibly funny to see such a tall “powerful warrior” fall for charms. She continued her swaying dance, repeating the swaying, loose motions of rhythm that she had learned when learning how to properly dance for the god Zillium as a true priestess.

Gabbie’s pupils went heart shaped as her mind was filled with how adorable and attractive the stray kitty had become. “Oy I think yer cute ya know that?” She drooled some more. “What you want me to do for ya? I can lick your tail? Or lick your feet? Or lick your face? Or lick your (censored)? ….” Gabriella continued like this listing off various parts of the Neko she would be willing to lick upon request.

The Catgirl hummed to herself, finally stopping her dance as she turned towards the big Angel Woman, tapping a finger to her chin. “Hmm…kiss my hand!” she childishly claimed, a grin on her face as she held her hand forward.

Gabriella approached the Neko while hummin a happy tune, unawares of her insane amount of blood loss that would most likely kill her very soon. She kissed Vivi’s hand upon request. And then continued kissing it over and over and over and over and over and…

This went on for a while.

Although the Catgirl was not a fan of being touched by strangers, she endured it purely for the humor that she could hold this against Gabriella. To make the charmed Angel more humiliated for the future, Vivi considered her best source of humor. “strip naked and dance like a chicken till you pass out~” she grinned maliciously.

Gabriella sobbed as she remembered her arm was missing. “I am sorry that I cannot do a proper chicken dance for you Stray Cat Senpai! Please enjoy my one armed chicken dance.” she continued to weep in shame at her inability to completely full fill her master’s request as she finished stripping nude and then began to dance. And then she did so. Until after not to long. She lost consciousness and the time reversal effects of the arena took control, removing her from the fight.

Charlet came with them to the arena, grunting and asking himself why he isn’t in bed. He came late, and what he saw… He saw things that cannot be erased from his mind, he came to see Gabriella getting naked and then dancing like a chicken, then she passed out, he ran to the arena, looking back and forth to Vivi and then the unconscious angel. He looks at Vivi, worried she will do the same to him. “Umm, miss? C-Can I heal her if it’s okay by you?” He asked nervously.

Vivi looked over at the half angel boy from earlier with a curious expression, tilting her head to the side. “Why heal her? This is a school arena, it does this time rewind where her wounds will heal and she’ll be ‘revived.’ That is to say she wasn’t dead to begin with when first stepping foot here.” the Catgirl informed.

Charlet eyes widened with surprise, “R-Really? Woow… This place is dope... “ He looked over to Gabi. “Though I want to go out to a quest with you guys, and we just got sidetracked, so you sure you want to wait?” As he asked Vivi he turned his look back to her.

The Nekomata floated down towards Charlet on her fox fire and stepped down, shrugging. “It’ll just be a while, enough for Draco to heal up too.” Vivi waved off.

Charlet nodded. A quartz baby dragon flew from his bag and landed on his head, he chuckled and petted the dragon’s head. “Oh hey Crys, I guess you done sleeping” The baby dragon looked at Vivi and tilted his head with curiosity.

Vivi’s left ear flickered down and up, her tail swaying behind her even faster. Her last experience with a dragon was terrible, it was annoying and disrupting the battle. But this one...this one was cute? The Nekomata inched a bit closer, crouching down a bit to prove she was not going to attack or harmfully touch.
The baby dragon took off Charlet’s head, he float in front of the Nekomata’s face. Sniffing her, like deciding if she will be a food or a friend, Charlet just watched it from behind, smiling to himself.

The Cat girl sniffed back gently, at one point accidently booping the dragon’s nose with her own. She quickly pulled back and whined, ears pressing down flat against her head.

The little quartz dragon opened his mouth and it sounded like laughing, though for her and Charlet, more like trying to puke fire. Crys flew around her head, gently landing on her head between her ears, putting his head down on her forehead. Charlet laughed.

With her ears flickering straight up, Vivi perked up and giggled happily. The start of a new friendship was great. The owner was okay she guessed.

Charlet laughed one more, then he moved forward his hand, for a handshake. “My name is Charlet. And this is Crys.”

After Draco recovered from Gabriella being stripped naked in front of him, his romantic interest dance seductively, and his heart almost stopping he waited until time reminded and smiled from ear-to-ear. Did that make him Guild Master or what? It was a pretty close fight, although Vivi jumped in the end. He one that he could argue that he would've just hit her once again and she would have died without the cat girls help.

Anyway, he was ready to go dungeoning. He flew over to Vivi and Charlet, “Okay, so, we ready to to everybody? After Gabriella recovers all of her blood and stuff?”

Charlet looked over to Draco, Crys was still on Vivi’s head, He looked down and moved his foot a little.”S-Sure… Just l-let me focus…” He looked up to the sky, closing his eyes, he tried to take his light form, and for that he needed to fill great happiness, Crys flew from Vivi’s head and landed on his face, Charlet chuckled and that was enough to remind him that he has friends that will protect him and he will protect them. He shines brightly, bright like angel’s light. All of his appearance changed, his hair turned from blue to blonde and his clothes are a mixture of white and yellow. The new Charlet looked around when Crys finally moved himself away from his face, he smiled widely. “Heyo! Well… How are you my dudes?? So good to be haapppy” He spinned in place while he said the last word. He looked over at the unconscious Gabi, and his smile was gone for a second. “Yea… Right…” He ran to her and leaned down, touching here chest, where her heart is and casting a basic regenerate spell so that once she will be conscious he will be able to give her a healing potion. He looked back to Draco and Vivi and smiles. “Ta Da~!!!” He bowed and laughed.

Draco grinned, “That’s pretty cool, but this arena helps them regenerate by themselves. When she’s up and ready we should head out.”

The light form Charlet nodded, he still smiled, “That’s so doooope! But I want to go NOW,so I have casted on her a regen spell so it will be even faster combined with the regeneration of the arena!” He smiled widely.
“You know what, I like you,” Draco said with a short nod.
Light Charlet nodded back and giggled,”Thank you! I like you too!” He said it while smiling to him.

Vivi meows loudly for attention, an action not required but a go with the flow thing. “Hey! I'm bored!! Quest, quest, quest!! Nooowww!!” she whined at Draco, papping at the taller Dragon’s chest. The Nekomata was once again in her childish mood, and sooner or later might asked to be held. Although now thinking about it...the Nekomata was still in her panties.

Draco maid sure to look her in the eyes and not a inch lower, he had to stay on focus, “Okay, let’s go right now. We’re free to, so we should. Gabriella doesn’t seem like she’ll be able to do it, so let’s go.”