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NEXUS CAMPUS TOWN
There are as many avenues of learning in the Nexus and inequalities between them as the districts of the sprawling city-state differ from one another, but most of its prestigious higher learning institutions gather in one place: the complicated and lively Nexus Campus Town. Workshops, investigation labs, student housing, shopping streets and entertainment centers fill the gaps between campuses and their lecture halls, archives, and department buildings, with newly risen technical schools across from ancient art academies meeting in shows of frankensteinian architecture repurposed by students for any amount of reasons.
Nearly every field of education and academic research has a notable presence in the district, including magical ones that offer alternatives to the insular atmosphere of the Citadel of Magic. Invariably high tuition fees and exploitative student loans allow the institutions of the Campus Town to maintain some of the most modern resources and equipment, and encourage the continued activity of highly experimental clubs and courses with dubious safety standards. All in all, the variety of schools lends itself to some pretty wacky stuff.
Student-organized events are a common occurrence, whether their goal is funding, recruitment, or simple entertainment, but district-wide events are organized by each of the biggest universities on a fixed rotation. Each institution contributes to law enforcement and security in some way, with management of these aspects also periodically rotating, not between the biggest institutions, but between those that train and possess the most pertinent assets to the tasks.
Mundane activities in the district are frequently broken up by minor incidents involving demons summoned at frat parties, overenthusiastic magical girls interrupting public disputes, susceptible sentai heroes fighting crime, and magical girls fighting sentai heroes, with students and staff for whatever reason often finding themselves tangled in convoluted magical plots along with these characters.
Albeit a hotly debated topic, the female dress code in much of the Campus Town’s faculties mandates skirts that end halfway down the thighs and shirt size limits that don’t quite accommodate bustier individuals.
Notable Residents
The Headmaster - A cloaked, cryptic young woman who serves as the Chief of the Nexus Campus Town, whose hands are perpetually stained with blood. She has been the sworn protector of the district for many years, and its de facto premier authority figure, despite being largely hands-off in the majority of its decisions. By default, she has a place in the directors' board of every university in the Campus Town, and tie-breaker rights in its communal administrative council.
Despite her mysteriousness, she speaks pleasantly to everyone, and occasionally sponsors or mentors a handful of students elected by standards only known to her. She is fond of advising people as much as her experience allows, but it seems that due to a reckless promise, she is obligated to speak vaguely of important information and not address it directly unless unavoidable or speaking to someone who is already in the know.
Strength: Amazing
Agility: Incredible
Durability: Amazing
Magic: Extremely High
The Headmaster's magic allows her to animate and control any inanimate matter within the Nexus Campus Town, and magically reinforce it by one or two ranks, up to Heroic durability. This is a kind of instantaneous enchantment, which allows her to take control even of materials that are already imbued with magic, unless it is of at least Very High potency - and with the creator's consent, she can control even these things. Controlled matter can change shape in an instant, and when in need, she transforms the very brick and stone of the streets into giants primed for battle, and grants such things limited autonomy based on her purpose.
A powerful contract ensures that she cannot physically leave the boundaries of the Campus Town, but within it she is effectively immortal - she is not immune to injury, but endlessly recovers from conventional injuries in moments, and even if she were decapitated or reduced to ash, she would reappear somewhere in the district within an hour.
She can also magically project her senses anywhere in the Nexus Campus Town, and magically link any two passageways within it, allowing her to travel basically anywhere there in an instant provided there's a door or something similar to use. In order to attend meetings outside the Campus Town, the Headmaster creates a half-solid astral projection that she can control as her own body.
Instructor De La Fontaine - A popular professor from the Institute of Modern Magic Research, whose charm and availability for seemingly free consulting on her extensive knowledge in magic theory have made her beloved by students and colleagues alike. She doesn’t show up with the same hairstyle or eye color twice, and her honeyed, tranquil words have the reputation to compel people to open up about a great many deal of things.
Places of Interest
Library Island - In the middle of a lake occupying a small portion of the Campus Town is an island entirely occupied by a castle, which serves as an incredibly extensive modern library. Many people come here daily for some book or another, but most steer clear of the innumerable underground floors, where the bookcases grow taller and the curation of the library less reliable. But documents allegedly dating back to the earlier history of the Nexus lie in storage somewhere in these labyrinthine depths, attracting adventurous historians and explorers willing to brave traps and other obstacles to rescue information valuable to many.
The Clocktower - A elaborately decorated clocktower where much of the administrative services of the Campus Town operate from, it also doubles as the residence of the Headmaster. The highest floors, where light passes dimly through obsidian windows, are always open to anyone who wishes to consult them, provided they can be found, and from the balconies over the great clock one can look over nearly everything in the district.
The Faculty of Robotics - A few highly angular buildings of smooth, unassuming construction make the front of this university. The expensive but plain reception halls and classrooms, however, conceal extensive underground installations laden with hangars and blast doors, where advanced machinery, electronics and computer science are put into practice to their utmost by the most eager of tinkerers. Of interest to many enterprises in the Nexus, a burgeoning cybernetic research scene has a home here, but members of the faculty have also created a lot of automated security, for the Campus Town in particular. And they’re working on giant mechs, of course.
The Institute of Modern Magic Research - Students of magic of all stripes and practices gather here, in a hybridized enclosure of buildings with aged lecture halls and shiny laboratories that hosts (at least on paper) open discussion and studious breakdown courses on wizardry, sorcery and theurgy. Its courses focus on distilling a myriad of traditions into unified theories, experimenting with the combination of wildly different schools, and integrating traditional magecraft with advanced technology tools and methods, such as app programming.
Seto Kaiba Achievement Center - Supposedly created after a brown-haired billionaire managed to have the entire board of education fired for refusing to include deck building as a graduate degree in one of the colleges. It is an after school center focused on teaching students study skills for higher education. In addition, the entire staff is required to be at least "a second rate duelest with a third rate deck." Naturally, the duel monsters club gets the funding priority, but somehow the center has some of the best facilities among the graduate prep schools.
Neighbors
The Nexus Campus Town has a long-running relationship and business arrangement with its closest notable geographical neighbor, the Citadel of Magic. Aside from a small amount of interchange borne of overlapping education fields - although officially, the management does not condone the Citadel's isolationism and cutthroat policies -, the university city regularly imports homunculi and summoned slaves as labor to maintain the grounds and experiment on, such as for medical studies (after all, who needs cadavers for dissection when you have a fully functioning tool that is a perfect 1:1 for the human body?).
It also seems plausible that the magical incidents that frequently trouble the Campus Town's public order spill over from the Citadel's more unruly parts, but its government disowns any association with these events.
Other than this, the Campus Town provides promising professionals straight out of training to many places in the Nexus, and receives funding to pursue advancements in primarily the areas of science and technology.
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Sakura and Shirou
3:30 PM
Sakura clung onto the horse as it sped towards their destination, anxious to meet her beloved and ensure that he was safe. And, soon enough, they arrived at the Nexus campus area and headed for the clock tower in the centre, where her beloved would be waiting.
As they approached, she desperately looked around for his distinctive red hair. Until, finally, she saw him, standing next to the clock tower as he had promised he would be. Immediately, she shouted out to him.
"Senpai!" she shouted, the joy clear in her voice as the horse ran towards him.
As soon as she got close enough, she jumped off and ran towards him, grabbing him into a firm hug.
"Senpai! I'm so glad you're OK!" she said, hugging him tightly, tears of happiness forming in her eyes. "What did she do to you? Did that bitch hurt you? If she hurt you, I'll...."
Shirou sighed as he returned Sakura's hug, relieved that the whole thing was finally over.
"No, I'm fine, she didn't hurt me", he said, before looking at her companions.
"Are these the people you recruited to rescue me?" he asked.
"Yes, I called Nanako, then I met the other two and I offered them a bounty for helping me rescue you", she said, before turning to the two newcomers. "Would you like to introduce yourselves?"
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Justice
3:30 PM
He felt out of place here. Their whole group did, but Justice in particular felt irritation seep into his mood, events at the edges of his memory as though nails pressing painfully into a swollen pimple. The records of Ulthar, the library of Alexandria.
The rider dismounted and offered the young man a gloved hand. "You can call me Justice."
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Suerte
The cowgirl found herself tilting her head back, a hand pushing her hat down onto the crown of her head. Her hazel eyes locking onto the grand tower shooting upwards into the heavens. It was at once spectacular and offputting, similar to how she felt with Vanilla truthfully. Then, her gazed returned to the earth and she took in her company. Firstly there was the mage couple, greeting each other like two lost pups. They actually did not look out of place. In fact, their modern city garb made more sense within the context of the school. No the odd one were her, Justice and the bimbo. She was wearing a top and bottom that broke every school dress code, while the bimbo somehow wore even less. The cowboy hats Suerte and Justice were wearing probably weren't helping.
"Suerte," she said, hopping off the butt of the horse. Her breasts made one last final bounce as her feet touched the ground. "You don't have to pay me though. I hardly count this as a job when we didn't actually do any work."
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Nanako
Nanako looked around curiously, a little surprised by what she assumed were the uniforms around here, before finding her gaze drawn to the skyscraper of a tower. A little part of her wondered what she might find there, but she put it aside for now, deciding she'd check it out later. Despite herself, she couldn't help a small smile at the sight of Shirou and Sakura together again. For all the squishiness, they were pretty cute together.
"Heya Shirou, good to see you're still in one piece!" Nanako piped up, hopping off of Punishment with a bounce in her step and her chest before zipping over to Justice, wrapping her arms around one of his and pulling it up against her chest as she waved to the couple, tail swaying excitedly behind her as she glanced back for the briefest of moments at Suerte before returning her gaze to the reunited pair.
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Shirou and Sakura
Shirou took the offered hand and shook it.
"And I'm Shirou", he said. "Nice to meet you. And you too, Suerte."
Then, he turned to Nanako, smiling at the hyperactive squirrel's antics.
"It's good to see you again, and thank you for helping my wife", he said.
Then, he turned back to the cowgirl.
"Well, you did help nevertheless, so I feel like we should pay you something, at least", he said.
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Yusho
7:00 PM
Yusho languished. He famished, cursing his weakness for wanting to so quickly end the last meatbun stored away in his flowing jacket merely because of his lack of progress. Who could have imagined that there were hardly any scripts he understood to be found among those employed in Nexus City? He understood the language (several languages, in fact) just fine! What sigh of sense did that make? Truly this world operated on some convoluted rules.
Now, good deeds through martial might were all well and good, but there was only so much he could do in Valerie's domain without breaching propriety, and at least for now he did not see it as a fair effort to test that. Just this morning he had crossed more than a couple of her bloodsucking brethren when he witnessed them accosting workers seemingly returning home from their shifts. Their predatory intent was barely hidden behind the polite assumption that the human citizens owed them whatever they were asking for.
He waved his left hand slightly in the air, reminding himself of the quickly fading soreness and the vampires' almost comical outrage. At least it had been relaxing exercise.
The reminder he had taken from that was that there were more ways to help ailing communities than fighting. He'd jumped into it quite often the last couple of days, to be honest, and like a capricious storm, he'd forgotten his usual ways a bit. Teaching, healing and public services were more common to his routine through the lands than duels, and there was almost certainly no lack of people who wanted for these things.
If only he knew how to fucking write! Yes, that was how he'd ended up here, at Valerie's recommendation, after realizing that neither the contents nor the manner of her personal library were useful in the slightest because they might as well have been the unknowable scriptures of a drunk foreigner. She'd quite loudly taken him as illiterate then, and offered to teach him for a price. The gall of that woman!
Well, she hadn't opposed his decision to learn for himself, merely being stoically puzzled by his insistence in taking the long road. And in one point, he had to admit to that. It would have been faster than the time he had spent here to finally find a script he understood among the many volumes of this public (public, wholly open to anyone to consult, it was both a fun and surprising thought) archive. Volumes written in the sacred and ancient language of Old Realm, of all things. There was at least one accompanying volume with translations, and he could work with that.
It was progress. Progress free of Valerie's charming and grating grin over his shoulder. The dragon-blooded took another look at the bright, high ceiling-built space of the library, and its free space over many meters of lacquered floors, and launched himself back into it, the air around him lighting up as his mind and brush - pen, it was a pen - raced.
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Justice
He took Nanako's proximity in stride, and gave a single pat to her furry tail before refocusing on the reunited couple. His voice rumbled with assurance.
"Knowing where to find help if the need arises is a reward," Justice said, glancing at Suerte. "But there's no reason to refuse small offers."
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Suerte
Suerte stood next to Justice, staring at the purple-haired client. The sight of her with her happy husband and Nanako wrapped around Justice's arm forced a disgruntled groan from her lips. Her hazel eyes ran over the cowboy, before her eyelids closed ever so slightly, her chest heaving in and out with a sigh.
"Well than give my partner here the entire reward. It was his horse that took you to your husband," she said, wrapping her arms around the cowboy's arm. Her giant breasts completely engulfed Justice's, squishing those beefy arms between two soft orbs. "Besides he is my new partner, so i'd like to give him a little bonus for putting up with my silly games. That is a fight in of itself."
That was about as upfront as she would get. The fact of the matter was that she knew what she was doing. In fact, she knew he knew that she knew what he was doing, and he appreciated him putting up with her. However, it was also a statement that assured him that she wouldn't stop anytime soon.
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Nanako
Just as Nanako's move hadn't gone unnoticed by Suerte, the cowgirl bimbo's move hadn't been missed by the squirrel girl either. Even if Justice patting her tail was a little distracting. Nanako frowned for a brief moment, her tail going still for a moment as hugged Justice's arm tighter to her chest for a moment, glaring over in the blonde's direction for a moment as she was briefly tempted to take another shot at giving the bimbo a tour of suplex city. She quickly decided against it, however, less because of getting into a fight in front of the couple, and more so because Justice would probably get between them again.
Still, she definitely wasn't going to take that lying down.
"Hm. Seems fair, seeing as he did most of the legwork. Anyway, looks like we're done here, so I'm off," Nanako noted before releasing Justice's arm and stepping away, pulling her jacket back on and giving the Rider a quick wink, "I'll see you tonight, then."
Locking eyes with the cowgirl still hanging off his arm for a moment, Nanako zipped off, being careful not to accidentally knock anyone over.
Some distance away, in a nearby park, Nanako sat among the branches of a densely leafed tree, lounging about and enjoying the breeze filtering through the leaves, tail flicking behind her as she tried getting in contact with Carin. The little goddess had mentioned praying, but Nanako had never really paid too much attention to that sort of thing growing up. She'd never seen the use of it, really, and after that it was a matter of not being in the habit of it. Still, she remembered what she saw from her parents, and from a couple of the newbies she'd caught in the locker rooms back at her promotion.
Frowning a bit as she thought it over, the squirrel girl clasped her hands, weaving her fingers together, and focused as much as she could.
Hi Carin, just wanted to let you know I'm out of the Dojo. A lot's happened, and...what you did really did help. Thanks.
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Joseph
7:00 PM
How does one siege a district with such a stalwart defender? Even assuming proper numbers it would be so simple to neutralize any concentrated force, so dispersing his gaggle of monsters was rather necessary. He was so lucky those plucky young blood drinkers had asked him to attempt this! Martial arts were always quite fascinating, the capacity to regulate the flow of energy in one's body was one of the many keys he had attempted to solve his condition. There was no shame in trying again.
At least he had a head start. A little mutant rat here, a twisted up insect there, Joseph flickered as a shadow is prone to do across the campus, and wherever he stopped his shadows twisted open wide, and horrors poured out. While most of them were too stupid enough to do anything but kill, a few more specialized creations were prone towards capturing. Whether it was their ribs opening up and yanking people in before sealing themselves shut or the unhinged jaws of serpentine aberrations that swallowed someone whole, they would move to flee the district by whatever means possible. But as for the major specimen himself...
The castle was quite fantastic. It shouldn't be said that Joseph had no appreciation for architecture! Serpentine, chiropteran, and draconic all at once, the monster tore itself through the wooden floors right before appearing before the prospective research subject himself.
It was a horrific chimera. While its body appeared roughly similar to that of a western dragon, there were too many deviations to mistake it for such. Fur jutted out from the scales, large paws took the place of the front claws, its neck was overly elongated and its head was a freakish malforming of man and bat. Although... there was almost something recognizable in the features to Yusho. Upon its back was Joseph, an easygoing smile on his face as he waved. His shadow stretched out, bloated in its monstrosity and vomiting forth horrors down into the hole the creature had made as well as alongside him.
"You're Yusho, yes? These lovely gentleman," he patted the creature's back, "asked me to deal with you. I don't usually do these kinds of jobs; I'm a researcher, you know. But there were so many curious things they had to say about you! Just stand still and let this child take care of you. They've never been much use for anyone even until now, so I think it would make them feel better if they could do at least one thing right."
It opened its mouth, and needles like javelins thrusted out towards him.
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Sakura and Shirou
Shirou and Sakura watched on curiously as Nanako and Suerte seemingly fought to woo Justice. They didn't know exactly what was happening, of course, but it was obvious that something had happened between him and the two girls previously. Before they could say anything, though, Nanako simply said her goodbyes and left.
"See you later, Nanako", Sakura said with a smile as she wrapped Shirou into a hug once more, relieved that he was safe.
Then, they addressed the remaining two.
"Sure, if that's what you want", Sakura said to the cowgirl.
"Anyway, I guess we'd better get going, and leave you two alone for a while", Shirou added. "Unless you have something else to discuss."
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Nanako
Some distance away, in a nearby park, Nanako sat among the branches of a densely leafed tree, lounging about and enjoying the breeze filtering through the leaves, tail flicking behind her as she tried getting in contact with Carin. The little goddess had mentioned praying, but Nanako had never really paid too much attention to that sort of thing growing up. She'd never seen the use of it, really, and after that it was a matter of not being in the habit of it. Still, she remembered what she saw from her parents, and from a couple of the newbies she'd caught in the locker rooms back at her promotion.
Frowning a bit as she thought it over, the squirrel girl clasped her hands, weaving her fingers together, and focused as much as she could.
Hi Carin, just wanted to let you know I'm out of the Dojo. A lot's happened, and...what you did really did help. Thanks.
Carin
The response was immediate. In hindsight it made perfect sense to Nanako - the presence had been with her this entire time, watching over her. And now she felt as if arms were wrapped around her from behind, a soft face against her back.
Most of that is just you, silly.
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Nanako
Nanako sat up a bit straighter, her ears perking up as she felt a soft presence behind her, wrapping around her and pressing against, her bushy tail flicking back and forth just a bit faster.
Then realization bit her, the squirrel girl going stiff and still for a moment. That presence...it felt like it had been with her the whole time. Did that mean she knew...
Wait, don't think about it, she shook her head quickly, Ah, I guess. Turns out a friend on mine got kidnapped while I was sleeping, but we didn't end up having to do much to get him back. They just...let him go. Bit weird, really...
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Library
7:00 PM
The island was in total chaos. While the mundane students fled, the land and castle was quickly thrust into a war zone. Burly adventurers, resting from their latest excursions into the depths of the library, engaged clashed with the writhing abominations. Whether it was by fist, whip, or rope, they wrangled with the abominations with everything behind them. Bespectacled scholars and historians supported their comrades, unleashing magic from their materials. Alongside more traditional mages, they unfurled scrolls and unleashed books written in long dead languages. Curses of lightning, fire, and withering spilled out from them while other cared for the wounded.
Yet it still wasn't enough.
If the creatures were consistent, if some general rules could be applied to them, the inhabitants of the district might have been able to mount a proper counter attack. It was too varied. Some exploded upon death. Others spat poison or had venom in their claws and fangs. Some blended in with their environment while others charged forward armored with spines. They flew, they crawled, they ran, they slithered, they burrowed. Despite their relative lack of strength, their sheer number and unique abilities began to overwhelm the defenders slowly but steadily.
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Shinji
7:00 PM
Amidst all the rampaging chaos, a man was sprawled on a bench, a book sloppily laid on top of his face. If it weren't for the lack of blood, one could assume it was just some corpse. Scream, monstruous cries, the hissing of acid, explosions and the clashing of bone and metal... none of it seemed to matter to the man on the bench. It was as if he was taking a long, long nap, and couldn't be bothered by the troubles of this world.
Actually, he was taking a long long nap. Why he had come to this library, no one other than him could say.
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Library
In the chaos, it wasn't as if anyone could spare any time for him. As the battle lines slowly collapsed and the defenders had to pull further away from the castle, soon the sleeping man was beset by the beasts as well. Freakish snake-headed birds from above came down with razor sharp talons and poisonous spit, intent on tearing him apart.
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Shinji
The man was still as a baby, as quiet as a rock. Just peacefully laying back with the book on his face
If the birds could read, which they.... probably couldn't, they night just notice the title: Cursed flowers and species of the Nexus. They certainly got close enough to do that.. Closer, closer-
Sadly a dozen shotgun shells got in the way of that page turner. In a sudden twist, the sleeping corpse raised his arm and pulled the trigger, and nothing more.
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Library
The birds were torn apart with the sound of explosives and a spray of blood. At the display of violence a part of the horde shifted, attracted by the opposition, swarmed towards the man. The tide of flesh was toxic in every sense of the word, from their fangs to their blood they were filled with poisons and venom to kill the man.
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Shinji
A voice came from behind the book, almost responding to the shifting of the horde. "Hey, can't you kids zip it and let an old man sleep? Give me a break..." He yawned and stretched up of the bench. Finally, he was standing over the wooden chair. He seemed to have a large guitar case on his back, and was lazily holding his shotgun. Before he could take a better look at his surroundings...
-!
Monstrous beasts pierced him. His neck, his torso, his guts, even part of his shoulder were mauled and torn up by fangs like daggers, claws like scythes, and hard cold sword-like limbs dripping with venom. The man was literally a pincushion, closed in by all sides by a dozen poisonous stakes of flesh and bone, metal and meat. Other than a final, tired wheeze and the generous helping of drop spewing out of him, wasn't a twitch or a sound to that dead body.
The venom alone should kill him, and if not, his liver, kidneys heart, intestines and lungs were ripped to shreds. And yet, all of a sudden, a red fog seeped from his body, like a grim smoke. His muscles, his chest, his whole body was clenching around the chimera's prized weapons like a vice. And his body seemed to bulge and almost grow in size by a little. But most surprizing were his lifeless eyes.
Despite being trapped with them... They looked down on the animals, with a disappointed, unimpressed look. He tapped on his head with his finger dispassionately, giving them the very simple easy to understand memo-
Before he grabbed the guitar case and unleashed the massive axe inside with a violent sweep, a whirlwind all around to hack the beast's heads like baseballs with unmatched brutality, all in a single impossible swipe.
Cuz they were the ones trapped with him.
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Library
Poisonous and acidic blood spewed all over the man. Blood dissolved into black slurry, flesh rotted, and his body numbed. Others exploded at the death blow, sending spikes and bones flying like shrapnel. All of it was enough to kill any normal man many times over, and even if it couldn't do that it would at least slow most of the supernatural denizens in this place down. Especially since the waves simply didn't let up. The show of violence only encouraged more of the horde to center around him. Monsters ran straight for him, sailed down from above, or tore themselves out of the earth right under him, unconcerned with the casualties.
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Yusho
It wasn't enough that Yusho made trouble for himself. Worse troubles seemed to have a mind of their own, and came after him like a knife-fish school after a bleeding goat.
His hands moved for themselves as he beheld the gruesome and visceral beast, shoving the books and writing materials to the side. It emerged after the vibrations under his feet that promised danger, but instead its multitudinous, unrelated pieces filled him with crawling unease, as if reading a dissonant hymn, contradictory scripts blotching into one another in praise of a duplicitious god. And its priest, or maker, in the ill-fitting guise of a youth, upon its back.
The dragon's foot crashed into the table, and it flipped forward onto the path of the creature's expulsions. The wood burst into splinters around Yusho's face, stopping the javelins as they cracked and bent through. Yusho's consulting materials fell at his feet with a soft thump, and he inhaled before swinging his torso into a right-handed straight.
Lightning from Yusho's fist split the screaming oak and crashed into the thing's maw. Wind and elemental light filled the room anew, as his eye scanned the surroundings for bystanders and the appearing aberrations. "If you wanted to treat me right, you'd sit and chat," the former monk spat, and rocketed himself off smoking feet. He dashed under the serpentine neck, and acrobatically kicked off between its legs, bounding up to the conductor. His voice rose again as he prepared to strike.
"Who are you, and what have you done?" And why did this monster look familiar?
-
Nanako
Nanako sat up a bit straighter, her ears perking up as she felt a soft presence behind her, wrapping around her and pressing against, her bushy tail flicking back and forth just a bit faster.
Then realization bit her, the squirrel girl going stiff and still for a moment. That presence...it felt like it had been with her the whole time. Did that mean she knew...
Wait, don't think about it, she shook her head quickly, Ah, I guess. Turns out a friend on mine got kidnapped while I was sleeping, but we didn't end up having to do much to get him back. They just...let him go. Bit weird, really...
Carin
There was a sigh of relief behind her. I knew she would do the right thing. Then small, soft arms moved from Nanako's waist to her big fluffy tail. Now what was all that about? Mortals and their jealousies are so strange to me... that's what that was, right?
-
Nanako
The squirrel girl gasped a little as she felt those small hands moving back, her tail going still as Carin wrapped her arms around it. Then her eyes widened and an embarrassed blush spread across her face as it turned out that Carin did in fact know about her trying to suplex the blonde bimbo.
It's not like that! She just sneaked in while I was away and fucked him, and I may not be sure of how I feel about Justice yet, but...hm. I guess it is like that.
Nanako's ears drooped a bit, the squirrel girl glancing back despite herself. Of course Carin wasn't physically there, but it still felt nice.
Well, I don't blame him for it, either way. She is pretty hot, all things considered.
-
Carin
The goddess let out a soft hum as she wrapped herself around Nanako's tail some more, sounding for all intents and purposes content with this.
Does that mean you want to sleep with her, too?
She sounded so curious too.
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Library Island
7:10 PM
The colors of dusk were starting to fall slightly on the palatial island, but there was no harmonious silence to accompany it. There were roars, yells, and screams echoing out, and smoke rising off some of the windows. As bystanders and students tried to evacuate, alchemical monsters made themselves obstacles.
But along the main exits of the castle, at the end of decorated stairwells, and at the gate of the principal bridge to the town, dolorous statues groaned and came to life, one set at a time. The guardians interposed themselves between the struggling defensers and the beasts, taking the frontline with spear and shield. A half-reptilian half-insect beast saw itself surrounded, and rather than barrel through, leaped out of a second story terrace.
The boy captive in its yawning ribcage of spiked carbon screamed woozily at the fall, but it didn't stop. Brick cracked as it landed on an empty walkway of yellow brick, on one of the outside paths of the castle. It was separated in height from the sands and rocks that briefly preluded the shore only by a low battlement, and the creature's corrosive droll spilled on the road as it reared up towards its escape.
But the space wasn't empty. A figure robed almost entirely in a dark cloak stood to the side, brilliant hair and shining eyes peeking from under a large hood. Then the ground trembled, and with a light swing of a feminine hand, separated itself from its foundations. A curtain of bricks was pulled loose from the length of the road, rising to block the sunlight, and clattered in menace.
The thing could not move another step before a brick shot forward like a bullet, taking its twisted ankle out from under it with a splatter of green. It growled viscerally, and stumbled into the path of more projectiles. Meat flew off its twisted legs, joints cracked, and its skull shattered, sending it reeling.
The wave pelted the monster without restraint, booming like a continuous salute of cannons until there was nothing left but a puddle of gurgling flesh bits, green blood, and drops of acid. The cage-like set of ribs, ripped from it, clattered down and broke open with a click. The sweating, heavily breathing student fell out, and the cloaked woman caught him softly.
"You're alright now," she said, patting his tussled hair for a second.
His head shook, as if unable to decided between nodding and saying no, as she pulled him to the side of the ravaged path, next to a small door, adjusting his crooked glasses. She opened it and without another word, pushed the boy inside, to the safety of the Clocktower. When she swung it closed, it was back to being a mundane door to the corridors of the castle library.
"Now then."
The Headmaster closed her eyes for a moment. And then threw herself through the door too, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. She emerged in one of the underground floor of the library, out of a service closet, and swung her hands together, crushing five monsters between the accumulated weight of the titanic bookcases. To the adventurers and fighters there, she nodded before moving on, rushing back into the closet door.
-
Joseph
With an almost total disregard for his safety, although there wasn't much he could do anyways, the alchemist stayed still as the blow struck his head with explosive force. Blood and shards of bone were all that remained of Joseph's head after such a strike. But his body remained upright.
The beast reeled as well, wailing almost like a human in pain, but its winding head turned about sharply despite the burns on its face. Instead of needles a red haze poured out from its mouth, filling the room. The black spikes burst from its body instead, intent on impaling the martial artist while he was still in the air. They were rather odd, all things considered. While black there was an almost transparent quality to them. They almost looked more like syringes then weapons.
-
Yusho
Wha-
The crease of Yusho forehead flickered out. He pulled his arm back, as if the ease with which it had splintered a person's head was alien to him, mouth inexplicably drooping open. The occultist hadn't even tried avoiding or blunting it, he'd just let the dragon-blooded crush his skull!
His surprise while still bouncing on top of the wounded monster left him in a poor position for what came next. Wind flowed around him as easy as breathing, pushing away the red haze whether it was poison or hallucinogen, and against the spikes, he twisted himself in the air, breath burning from the forceful motion. His knifehand and elbow smacked away a handful, and his knee broke another against it, but two would have stuck his chest and instead stabbed into his arm.
Yusho flipped off the beast, snapping off the spikes and speeding back. As he pulled out the tips of the broken projectiles, he aligned his body with the form of the Air Dragon, and reached into his coat for a set of razor discuses.
The body of the beast's conductor hadn't fallen over yet.
-
Nanako
Nanako quivered contentedly as Carin snuggled up closer with her tail, trying to resist the normal urge to flick back and forth excitedly to keep it from moving out of little goddess's grasp, a task made much harder by Carin not being physically there. Her question, however, had her going still for a moment, her blush darkening for a moment as her ears perked up. It actually gave her a moment's pause as she realized Carin did have a point, part of her wondering if this was going to become a running theme with the little goddess.
Ah, yeah, guess I do, Nanako admitted after a long moment, Like I said, she's hot. Didn't seem too strong, but that's not a total deal-breaker.
The squirrel girl quickly realized where she was going with that and cut herself off, glancing away, slightly embarrassed by the idea of having to explain her masochism to the cute little goddess, a warm shudder running through her at the brief thought of how Carin might judge her for it.
-
Joseph
A warrior with a keen enough eye could notice the spikes that had struck him were no longer a pure black. A deep red color had filled them, and the broken spikes spilled blood across the ground. In that instant the creature had already siphoned some of the blood from Yusho's body. The beast wasn't sated at all by such a small amount given the hissing of its elongated head, but it was kept in check by the raised hand of its headless master.
Tendrils emerged from the ragged, bleeding stump of Joseph's neck. They wrapped in on themselves before fusing and changing coloration, revealing a ruined face. But that too changed so quickly one could mistake the image for an illusion. Bone fused and flesh knit together in a near instant, revealing the alchemist's carefree face.
"Well that was rude. Don't you know how hard it is to regenerate a brain? It's a very complicated organ." The chiding tone in his voice was more reminiscent of one of the man's childhood teachers rather than an opponent. "I was going to let you off lightly. Once I was done with one or two of your limbs I was going to give them back, I swear. But that just made me change my mind."
The beast advanced upon a floor of horrors. Squirming tendrils, canine horrors of warped bone, screeching avians whose lower bodies more resembled mosquitoes, they trampled and crushed each other in their rush towards him. But in comparison to its siblings, the batlike creature was slower and more ponderous. Its eyes gleamed with animal cunning, ready to strike out with beastly claws and draining needles at any opening.
-
Yusho
That was just wrong. The phantom taste of bile rose up to Yusho's throat, and he pushed his wariness under his tongue. The chakrams whistled, flying through the necks and limbs of the least horrors running ahead. Not mighty enough to cut them in twain, but good enough to disable. The beasts stumbled into one another with the crunching of bone and squelching of torn meat, and the spinning blades cut over the sides of the chiropteran horror before veering off.
"Don't grow it back, save yourself the trouble!" The ex-monk bellowed, ducking under a row of teeth, snapping the neck of a monster with a chop. He flowed past the claws of the next and threw its weight to crash over his shoulder, before slamming his palms together. The sand scattered in his anima turned back to lightning, and every bookshelf and skull in the room shook with the thunder.
The stunning shockwave bought him all the space he needed in the middle of the pack and through the cunning of the batlike monster to lift off the ground towards it - Yusho spun into a whilwind of kicks, all of his speed mustered against his foe.
-
Joseph
Even the massive creature reeled back at the sound and fury of the thunderclap, and Joseph had his hands over his ears as he complained about the pain. It was the perfect strike. But then the beasts mouth unhinged.
It wasn't a voluntary action, the writhing of its neck was more than enough evidence. It was as if someone had forced their hands into its mouth and forced it open wide from within. Three almost humanoid figures with glossy black skin, their bodies swollen with some liquid that shifted across their bodies. They were conjoined at the hips, their forms ending with a wiggling tail. Their mouths were gaping holes filled with teeth. And they struck with horrendous strength even greater than the martial artists. Their arms bloated red with power and blood, six strikes with fingers like syringes, and their mouths extended. One to suck the essence from his flesh, one to spit yet another draining javelin, and one vomiting up a thick concotion of blood.
-
Nanako
Nanako quivered contentedly as Carin snuggled up closer with her tail, trying to resist the normal urge to flick back and forth excitedly to keep it from moving out of little goddess's grasp, a task made much harder by Carin not being physically there. Her question, however, had her going still for a moment, her blush darkening for a moment as her ears perked up. It actually gave her a moment's pause as she realized Carin did have a point, part of her wondering if this was going to become a running theme with the little goddess.
Ah, yeah, guess I do, Nanako admitted after a long moment, Like I said, she's hot. Didn't seem too strong, but that's not a total deal-breaker.
The squirrel girl quickly realized where she was going with that and cut herself off, glancing away, slightly embarrassed by the idea of having to explain her masochism to the cute little goddess, a warm shudder running through her at the brief thought of how Carin might judge her for it.
Carin
The little goddess released her tail, and seemed to vanish. Despite this her voice could still be heard by Nanako as if she were directly behind her, talking conversationally.
'So why not just sleep with both of them?'
-
Nanako
Released from the small goddess's ghostly grasp, the squirrel girl's tail suddenly began flicking rapidly from side to side, almost a blur as the sheer speed of its passing chipped bits of bark away from the branch she was sitting on. Carin's warmth lingered in her core even after she'd vanished, the squirrel girl relaxing against the branch as much as she could without accidentally tearing the tree trunk apart with her tail.
Carin's newest proposal gave her pause again, though not for quite as long. Nanako frowned a moment as she considered the chances of that against that blonde bimbo wanting to go for round two. Nanako bit her the corner of her lip as she thought back to Suerte's next choice after Justice had insisted that they not try to beat each other up.
Hm. I can try it, at least, the squirrel girl said to the little goddess after a moment, No promises she'll go along with it. Still, I'm not going to let her just run off with Justice like that. Fucking him is one thing, but...hrm...
-
Yusho
His responsive eye widened. Yusho didn't dare blink in the face of the next horror that unwound itself from the jaws of the beast. Human shapes wrapped in the skin of a leech, melted together like rot, swinging at him like surgical knives. The air tightened in opression with its speed, and a tempest raced in the dragon-blooded's veins in response. It was lethal, but he was smaller and moved more easily.
He twirled, his elemental body offering no resistance to the instant change to defense, and the needle-sharp claws grazed his chest and thigh, drawing thin wounds through his torn clothes. Yusho allowed the sickenly red emission to spill against his sleeve so the spear could fly just under his arm - too close to an artery -, warding off the face which was little more than teeth with a strike of the hand.
But the face - no, he warned himself in vain. He recognized the shape of it. Of all three, the day's morning flashing through his eyes.
The smell of ozone and throat-numbing chill filled the room from the dragon-blooded, as his aura erupted. Yusho threw all the breath out of his lungs in a primal roar, concussive fury blasting both monster and occultist.
WRATHFUL WINDS KIAI
And he dashed with wind-carried strength, unmindful if he had to had to take another spear or wound to his torso and limbs - aiming to catch the undying madman by the throat as he was thrown off his creature.
-
Joseph
The young looking mage let out a surprised shout as he was tossed back, but that was soon silenced by the hand wrapped around his throat. But it wasn't as if Yusho had managed such a feat freely. The leech creature turned about in the mouth of its vehicle, not needing to wait for the chimera to twist its far larger body to start attacking. A volley after volley of javelins flew at Yusho, uncaring of the fact that they would also impale their own master as well. All the while the beast turned around, charging directly at him.
-
Shinji
BLAM!! BLAM!! BLAM!! A volley of bullets smacked against the javelins, causing them to fly off course and smash into the walls and ground.
Smoke seeped from the barrel of a shotgun. Holding it, a skeleton with half-charred bits of meat hanging from its face and limbs grit its teeth. Meat slowly throbbed on the left side of its face, and torn pants were about the only sort of intact attire he was wearing, along with a ripped tank top. He was holding his guts in his stomach with one hand, just how many times had he died fighting those things?
"Heya. Looks like you've seen better days..." You couldn't tell if he was grinning or gritting his teeth, but the orbs in his eye sockets glowed red before he smashed his axe's blade on the ground. "Mind if I cut in?"
-
Nanako
Released from the small goddess's ghostly grasp, the squirrel girl's tail suddenly began flicking rapidly from side to side, almost a blur as the sheer speed of its passing chipped bits of bark away from the branch she was sitting on. Carin's warmth lingered in her core even after she'd vanished, the squirrel girl relaxing against the branch as much as she could without accidentally tearing the tree trunk apart with her tail.
Carin's newest proposal gave her pause again, though not for quite as long. Nanako frowned a moment as she considered the chances of that against that blonde bimbo wanting to go for round two. Nanako bit her the corner of her lip as she thought back to Suerte's next choice after Justice had insisted that they not try to beat each other up.
Hm. I can try it, at least, the squirrel girl said to the little goddess after a moment, No promises she'll go along with it. Still, I'm not going to let her just run off with Justice like that. Fucking him is one thing, but...hrm...
Carin
It's so strange to me though. You think so poorly of her, but you also want her. Is this a mortal thing...?
Nanako got the impression the little goddess was confused. Or amused. Possibly both.
What are you going to do now, Nanako? If you don't have anything in mind, I would like to ask you to help me with something. I have someone I want you to check in on...
-
Nanako
The squirrel girl's tail slowed down for all of a moment as she thought it over, before she finally shrugged, her tail speeding up again.
Must be, Nanako admitted at last, arms crossed under her breast, pushing her chest together and bouncing it up a little, It's kinda complicated I guess. On one hand, she's hot, on the other, she's just barging in on me and Justice while I'm still figuring out how I feel about him.
The squirrel girl shook it off at Carin's request, her ears perking up as she turned halfway to face the little goddess before remembering she wasn't physically there.
Alright, sure, Nanako nodded eagerly, Who'd you want me to check in on?
-
Carin
There was a pause, as if the goddess was considering something.
I would like you to check on someone I'm worried about. Her name is Tsumiko, and she lives in the slums. If she's there, that's fine. If she's not, I would like you to leave a note for me.
-
Nanako
Nanako frowned a little at the idea of heading back to the slums so soon, but nodded all the same after taking a calming breath.
Sure, I can head over and check, she pulled out her phone, pulled up the notepad and waited for Carin, What's she look like? And what's the message you want me to leave if she's not there?
-
Yusho
Yusho's expression tightened in surprise and stretched in relief, as he let out an uproarious greeting. "Dragons mark me, I'll buy you as many noodles and pork buns as you want after this!"
The dragon-blooded dropped the aberrant boy's throat, only to swing him around and in an instant twist his arms behind his back, locking the wrists in a manacle-like grip. He was pushed forward like a human shield. Yusho threw his fist around him, releasing a bolt of consuming flame as a threat to the chiropteran hybrid, and all but roared.
"Make them stop, now!" By the ear of the restrained madman.
-
Nanako
Nanako frowned a little at the idea of heading back to the slums so soon, but nodded all the same after taking a calming breath.
Sure, I can head over and check, she pulled out her phone, pulled up the notepad and waited for Carin, What's she look like? And what's the message you want me to leave if she's not there?
Carin
'Close your eyes...'
And then, as if in a trance, the squirrel girl felt herself filling with the knowledge of whom the little goddess sought. Hetero-chromatic eyes, long purple hair... her hands and fingers moved as if held by another's to write words which went unseen. By the time Nanako understood where and to whom she needed to go the letter was already folded over and out of sight.
'Forgive me. The words are not meant for your eyes.'
Still, Nanako could feel they were meant well. The sensation of being held returned.
-
Nanako
Nanako closed her eyes as instructed, before letting out a small gasp at the feeling of the new information flooding into her. Stranger still, those features...they bore a striking resemblance to her friend.
Wait, is that the person who-
But before she could think much longer on that, she realized her hands were moving on their own, a familiar warmth brushing against them as she wrote words she couldn't see. The information was still coming in, however, and by the time it was finished, the letter had already been finished, folded up, and tucked away in her cleavage, with Carin's explanation coming soon after. Nanako pouted for all of a moment before letting out a sigh as she was held again, the squirrel girl leaning back slightly into Carin's ghostly touch.
Alright then, I won't look, the squirrel girl replied, tucking her phone in between her breasts as well, right next to the letter, I kinda wanna stay like this a bit longer, but... Hm, guess another minute can't hurt...
As promised though, she'd get up after another minute of enjoying Carin's ghostly warmth, hopping out of the tree and making her way off.
-
Joseph
Oh, this really was quite a pickle. He had only planned for one major test subject! Although the chief of this place had seemed quite interesting. He didn't quite have a way to deal with her yet, but her immortality...
The uncomfortable tightness around his wrists did distract him from that line of thought. "Hey hey, not so tight. That's really uncomfortable! I'm not that strong. If you just hold a little lighter I still won't be able to get loose." Joseph futilely pulled against that unyielding grasp for a bit. Meanwhile the beast didn't stop at all.
It leaped forwards, the leech creature pulling itself out from its body while the batlike horror charged towards the new, bleeding arrival. It swiped with its mighty claws across the wound to tear him in two while its elongated neck allowed its head to dart for the wounded man's face with a gaping maw. The leech was equally relentless, firing spikes long enough to pierce the man straight through its master, charging with strikes that would simply tear the alchemist asunder to tear open Yusho's neck amd belly.
-
Shinji
A red aura seeped from his wounds, and his muscles throbbed for a split moment. There was a lifeless lack of gleam in his eye while the beast charged at him. It came so close, its jaws so very close-
A skeletal palm slammed straight up its chin, sending its jaw slamming straight into its skull. A whirlwind of power sent a gust into its chest at the same time, in the form of an elbow that smacked into its side! Avoiding its claws and bite, it was enough to send a bear plummeting down face first into the pavement. There was no grace in that assault, it was the brutality of a killer focused on taking the monster down. But surprisingly, the beast didn't look all that messed up. Was he going easy on it?
His axe ground against the ground, waiting to be raised up again. The corpse hunter stared down the bat with a dispassionate look. What a slow boy.
"Oh? Have you dropped a coin somewhere? Yare yare daze..."
-
Yusho
He clicked his tongue and spun, as guarding rather than ravaging wind flowed out of his skin and made an arrow-turning curtain. Yusho pulled and a spear crossed through the occultist's midsection and broke at the tip before it touched him, as the others slipped by his clothes and mid-section.
The dragon-blooded came out of the spin and thrust out his palm, shooting a maw-shaped gout of fire fed from his anima at the leech-devil. He could trust Shinji to take care of himself, but this thing that had once been others was persistent. The immortal boy swung in his grasp closer to him again.
"What do you want to stop them?!" Yusho snarled.
The building shook for a second around them, and dust fell in trembling clouds from the many bookcases and stairways.
-
Joseph
Really this was quite sad. His experiments were doing so poorly even for the haphazard wrecks that they were! The flesh of one of the leech's heads burnt and peeled away, the extreme heat revealing the skull as the muscle simply sloughed off rather than burn. The other was confused, uncertain at the sudden speed and strength of the other man. What a shame. But he was getting distracted; he had to focus on the man waving him about! "Well I'd need a donation of blood, a few limbs but I could regrow them for you, and that old man's guts seem--" He paused then, as if some thought had suddenly come to mind. "Oh, you're standing near my shadow."
The darkness cast upon and around Yusho suddenly grew pitch black. Jaws burst from it, hooks of bone dived for his skin, whips of flesh moved to restrain his limbs, soon he was covered in vaguely humanoid and canine beasts. The leech, uncaring of the damage to its third head, continued to spear the restrained man through with its claws. Meanwhile the beast followed its example, turning around and leaping with monstrous force right after the captured enemy rather than fight this strange newcomer.
-
Shinji
A venomous killing intent trembled right behind the bat creature, that so carelessly turned away. He flicked his middle finger in a 'get over here' sort of motion, and all of a sudden a flash of gold zipped through the room! It slammed without mercy through the white haired little kid, carving up a bowling ball-sized hole between his torso and lower spine, only to then slam straight into the bat's face, caving it inwards and forcing the creature to reel back hurling away from Yusho, towards Shinji. Or rather...
"Oh, looks like I found it. Too bad it won't be enough to fix it though."
His fist. Which only slammed into the skull harder, punching the coin deeeeeeeeep into its brain matter, straight through his eye socket.
"Your face that is."
Yare yare da.
-
Yusho
Hooks and fangs dug into his body, tearing capillaries, sinking through hardened muscle and skin, and the dragon-blooded groaned in agony. The chimeric trap tasted his blood in shallow rivulets, though it refused to flow like from a ruptured well, and it happened too fast. Its master was blown through violently, but the aberration's claws still came for his face.
It couldn't be helped - Yusho dropped the youth and shielded his neck. Spears scraped against bone and rent other flesh instead, and his teeth ground noisily like clashing blades. But his impromptu help had given him enough space for something.
The man thundered, the dragonic image of his aura flashing in tandem, and a whirlwind flailed into existence. Yusho scythed through the shadows in every direction, forcefully freeing himself and shredding the leech's appendages. Roaring, unheeding of opening his injuries wider, the once-monk chopped sharply at the leech's necks and spun into an accelerating chain of hooked kicks.
-
Joseph
Blood, guts, and flesh... that was more than enough, wasn't it? He stumbled back a bit, it was hard to move without a spine after all, and for a moment his movements seemed a tad sluggish. His spine was visible through the unsightly hole in him for a split second before it connected. By the time he was paying attention to what was around him again everything had settled. The bat horror's head was currently spilling out onto the floor and the heads of the leech had fallen atop the ground, its body still twitching.
It wasn't too surprising. They were such haphazard things, nothing close to a true chimera. He smiled at the scene, even letting out a small chuckle. "Well well, that was pretty exciting, wasn't it? I don't get out too much, so sometimes it's worth it to get moving around." His shadow greedily swallowed up what it could of the dead creatures and the materials they had gathered.
"You couldn't have tried being gentle with them though? They're not cheap. Culture tanks, getting the parts, assembly, that's all a pretty expensive process." He walked towards his dead subjects, intent on gathering up all that he could.
-
Shinji
The skeletal figure dropped the monster down the ground and sighed, before picking up his axe and sharpening it against the ground. His flesh was slowly reattaching itself, now it looked like some skin was recomposing around the face area. His eyes were starting to fill with a lava-like gelatinous substance too.
"Gentle doesn't keep the neighbours down, and It's about time you were..." He raised his axe with a clean swoop against his elbow.
"Evicted."
He turned to Yusho, giving him a ghastly look, or perhaps it was his appearance that was ghastly. It was the look of a warrior about to communicate battle strategies, the look of-
"Did you get it? You got it right?"
-
Yusho
Was it appropriate to laugh or cry here? Yusho couldn't do both, he only had one eye left to shed tears with, but he tried anyway through his exerted, heavy breaths. It was a dry, hacking sound that was soon replaced with silence and a heated glare at the callous, aberrant youth. As he thrust his hand out, his crackling anima dimmed into a winter day's brighteness around him, forming a spear of electricity.
"I wouldn't want to live anywhere with such gross visitors anyway, no matter how low the taxes were." He mouthed without meeting Shinji's eyes, before pointing the speartip forward in an aggressive stance. If the boy moved an inch, he would skewer and burn him like exorcism bells to misfortune.
"Talk to me, or by Mela I'll immolate every one of your limbs until you're as stuck as a quartered turtle. What are you?!"
-
Joseph
"Me? I'm more interested in asking the two of you that question. But for me..." He trailed off for a second, face scrunching up in a bit of confusion. "I'm human. I think. I've lived a very, very long time and humans don't usually do that so it's hard to say. What about you two? I was curious if your unique attributes were directly related to your physiology or not." It wasn't as if Joseph was necessary motivated by fear to stop moving. Pain was just so... uncomfortable. He'd rather not feel it if he didn't have to, so he stopped for now.
-
Shinji
Before he could get to the whole I was curious bit, the huge axe went hurling down straight into the kid's mouth and lodged itself straight into his teeth, splitting his jaw in two neat bits. Kids who asked too many questions gave him a headache. "You talk too much." His stance was lowered into a throwing position. Who could have done such a terrible thing?
"Slip of the hand."
-
Yusho
The exalt was keeping his eye on the boy's shadow, gone still as a lake hiding the mother of all predators, but suddenly recoiled at the axe's interjection.
"Hey!" Yusho snapped at Shinji, as unamused as a bodhisattva carved of stone. With a finger, he tapped his brow, sighing. "I don't suppose you have anything reliable to restrain him with?"
Not for the first time, he pondered the questionable merits of demonology for tasks like these.
-
Joseph
Something between annoyance and anger overcame Joseph at the sudden, violent interruption to his talking. His head leaned forward with the weight of the axe, so it was awkward to get his hands around the handle to try and yank it out. There were a few moments of grisly pulling then; blood, saliva, and bits of teeth spilled from his mouth. By the time the axe hit the ground it splashed in the small pool of the stuff. Then there was a bit of spitting afterwards as the wound healed, more pinkish than red as the bleeding stopped.
"I don't like pain. I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that again." He paused again for a moment before spitting one last time. "Bleh. It would make this whole thing worthwhile if you two decided to help me as research specimens!" There was so much potential here, even just with the bits he had collected.
-
Shinji
A dark mood flashed over him when he touched his axe, but despite the tough act his body took a lot of damage. He just gave him a glare, hands in his pockets, while his skeletal body started growing more and more flesh back. It was mostly the superficial stuff, but his head was starting to regrow skin and hair back at an accelerating pace, until you could see the semblances of a face on three quarters of his skull.
"Yeah, tough luck. Turns out I don't either, and lo and behold."
He spared a glance at Yusho and shook his head, before taking a step forward.
"Cut the crap, I don't need a nose to smell the stench off you. You're the same as me aren't you?"
-
Yusho
In the heat of battle, he had barely taken notice of the miserable state of Shinji's appearance, and now that he squinted in his direction, Yusho couldn't help but remember his own, far less gruesome injuries. He winced in a full-body shudder, leaning on his elemental spear as it touched the dirtied flooring with a thunder-like clack.
The same though, they weren't the same. Shinji hadn't ripped into a place of reflection and study with horrors and beasts and attacked him for no reason. Yusho could still hear fighting reverbating through the halls. He should be going, moving, helping but his gut warned him against leaving this seeming culprit alone.
"Research specimens, are we" he said, laying a firm hand on Shinji's shoulder where it looked the least torn, and looking to the boy. If he could discharge storms from his gaze, there would be one covering him now. "And everyone else in the castle?"
-
Joseph
He addressed Yusho first, hands clapped together with a bit of a smile on his face. "Of course they are as well! Very useful, very unique. I'm sure that I've managed to collect more than a few of them as well. But there's just something about you and him..." The boy shifted his weight from one foot to the other for a bit, almost tottering over himself. "It would be very useful for my research. I need to build a proper chimera after all."
Joseph nodded at that thought. He wasn't quite sure where it had come from, but it felt right. "But as for you!" His gaze switched over to the other man. "We're not the same at all. If I was that hurt I'd be healing up as fast as I could; anyone normal would do the same. You seem just fine."
-
Shinji
"Yeah, I'm definitely not normal. I'm actually a pretty messed up guy. That ain't what I'm talking about. And 'sides, this hurts plenty." God, that bastard sure loved to talk. It almost made his throat hurt, having to try to keep up with such a blabbermouth kid. He just kept walking slowly up to him. As he did that, his skin around his body started growing back, till he started looking like an actual person.
"My nose's too old for dog tricks, but I don't need to get closer to you to smell it. That thing clinging on you, it's got the same stench that I've been stuck with all my life. You're cursed, a wretched soul thrown away and forgotten." He spat on the ground, put his axe down. "I'd feel bad, but I'm afraid I don't have the heart to cry. The only tears we're shedding tonight..."
In a flash, he vanished with a gust of wind! The next moment, he was above the boy, right up the ceiling! His body was upside down, two pistols crossed to stare down at the bastard.
"A r e y o u r t e a r s o f b l o o d."
And bullets rained down on the boy, while he spun down like a dancer.
-
Yusho
His mind didn't make sense of all of Shinji's words. Yusho's good eye like bright ice, jovial even in the midst of fighting and bleeding, dimmed over like thunderclouds had covered the Autumn sky, and turned it to a distant Winter.
Shinji was faster than he could follow out of nowhere, so full of injuries, but the dragon-blooded was already moving when his mouth was moving, thrusting with his spear. The crackling length came out of the back of the youth through where a lung and the heart would have been, and made a sound like a punishment gong. That sound burned from the inside.
He hastily pulled it when the curtain of fury descended on that vulnerable form, like a precipitation of flechettes invisible to the eye. Yusho would have marveled at such a thing first of all, but his grip was numb around his weapon. He barked harshly at Shinji.
"Quit it!"
The tone was barbed, like he was angry that the other undying one was the one tearing his enemy to pieces. It grated like food being dangled before a caged lion, that he could so easily do it, and Yusho would likely not be able to stop him. Wasn't that what his martial strength was for? He struck himself and emerald essence rippled through his body like a surge, closing many of the injuries that now dotted it with the same brutality as a flood broke dam after dam. The exalt inhaled, but he didn't breathe.
-
Shinji
His glare narrowed at the monk's roaring command. Quit it? That wasn't even funny as a joke.
His body flipped down and landed gracefully on his feet, eyes glowing red and an arm already pointed at the boy sideways, as if it was holding something that wasn't there. In an instant, a shotgun flew at monstrous speeds towards his open hand. The moment he grabbed it he pulled the finger. Then again, and again and again in just a moment, pulping the boy to the wall with a curtain of more bullets. Once five shells were down, without pausing or stopping his quick movements, he dropped his gun, reached for his pocket and pulled out-
A napalm grenade, which he was just about to bite the safety off to hurl into the mess of mince meat on the wall.
-
Yusho
This wasn't a joke. That thought made the cold in his tone spread through his veins.
The floor cracked under Yusho forcing his feet to hold, as the new weapon shredded the boy even more violently, with a blast there was no getting in the way of. But as soon as Shinji reached for the next thing, with the beginning of a motion that seemed like a throw, he somersaulted towards him like a cutting gale, throwing himself into a kick to send the item flying.
"He's not worth it," he exhaled.
-
Shinji
Despite his healing body, despite his immortality, Shinji was not invincible. The damage he took downstairs and earlier in the day had used up a lot of his energy. He might act like he was fine and dandy, but his healing had fixed the superficial first. Just moving or thinking straight made his shell of a body scream in pain. Such a pain dulls the senses, and narrows his concentration. He cannot afford to focus on anything else, therefore he fails to notice. When he does, shock and incredulity fill his heart for a moment, and he hesitates.
That hesitation, that pain, it slows one down. Therefore, the hit connects. The hit honed through years of training, sharpened by willpower rushes to meet the weapon before he can realize it. Therefore, the hit impacts.
His shock turns into a deathly glare, pointed at the man. The grenade bursts behind the two, coating the shelves and the books around them in a carpet of fire.
And the earth shakes a little. Barely enough to notice.
-
Joseph
Ripped and torn to shreds, blasted all over the walls and floor. It hurt. It really hurt. Even as bones regrew, even as muscle and sinew grew over it, he was rotting away bit by bit every time. It always hurt. But still, Joseph laughed a bit at it all. "I haven't been been hurt so bad in years. You two really are something, but when you're as old as me you learn to cut your losses sometimes." He held his hand out into the air, and a vial was pushed out from his shadow into his palm.
Then he gave it a single shake before it started to glow bright red. "I hate being hurt, you know. I usually don't hold grudges, but I'm a little upset now. When the timer is up on this vial, this whole castle will go up in smoke. Have fun, children." He tossed it into the air, and as he did so his shadow rose up to swallow him as he began to sink into it.
-
Yusho
They fire they started finally triggered something above their heads. Metal sprinklers clicked into action, and flooded the shelves and ravaged reading hall with with a dry, white cloud. The chemical rain supressed the fire into vapor, and covered up the youth's disappearing form like a rising stream of curtains.
Between the shock of the fire, the extinguishers, and the occultist's recovery, Yusho sprung into action a second too late, cursing incomprehensible words. "Stop!"
Despite the vial, his feet blazed towards the responsible for all of this, and not his threatening gift. He could sense him even through the smoke, and lunged blindly to grab him.
-
Shinji
For a moment, his decaying form staggered. His eyes narrowed at the boy's threat, staring right into the red vial furiously. His arm immediately whipped forward, aiming for the alchemist's arm before he could throw the vial. That is, until a chilling spark ran through his spine.
Perhaps it had been because he was standing back. Perhaps it had been because of his unnaturally quick body. Or perhaps simply instinct, honed by millennia.
The ground was trembling. These tremors were getting closer.
His anger turned to horror in an instant. Shinji suddenly burst into motion, gritting his teeth against the screaming pain. "YUSHO, GET BACK!" He dashed with all he had and crossed the distance between the two, just in time to punch him straight in the face, enough to send him away from the kid and his shadow...
And the floor beneath them obliterated.
A gargantuan black beast made of curses and corrupted body parts, with the form of a fox half flesh and half arcane leapt from the ground, swallowing the white haired boy with its massive maw while biting half of Shinji's body up, splitting him in half. The vial was sent hurling even higher. The beast lowered its form, revealing dozens of purple glowing eyes staring the monk down with mockery and hate.
The boy was somewhere in the depths of his stomach. However, he was not being digested. To begin with, this creature was not a living being, but a construct. Inside, he found himself in what looked like the halls of a castle, filled with cursed engravings from the void. An odd shape for a beast's intestines.
-
Library Island
In the midst of the chaos, a closet door at the very end of the hall slammed open, and a woman stumbled out. Her blonde hair was disheveled and falling in strands from her hood, and sweat dripped from her face, a sliver of panic barely contained in a burning gaze forward. She had finally made it over - not that the new intruder had made it easy for her to fail to notice.
"I have it!" She yelled, throwing her outstretched hand up. The suspicious vial, about to stop ascending, instead halted in midair. Then the cloaked woman whipped her arm diagonally, and it flew out with a loud whistle, accelerating up, towards the nearest window!
-
Joseph
Well, that was convenient. It was a chaotic transition that left Joseph with a rather sore behind as he fell right onto the ground. But he picked himself back up soon enough. He walked forwards without too much concern, taking in the strange surroundings. All of this strange script... it was making him rather dizzy. "Hello? Is anyone here home? This place is rather nice."
-
Yusho
Yusho hit the unstable floor with an instinctive roll, a number of sounds ringing indistinctly through his skull. Shaking himself out of a daze, he propped himself to his feet on the butt of the lightning-shaped spear.
The exalt was only vaguely aware of the dangerous vial flying higher through the air - only suddenly had he realized the implication of the youth's threat - and an uneven half of Shinji's body falling away gruesomely, his entire field of vision occupied by the cursed, ridden shape of a fox-like fiend.
His ingrained skills made a split-second call, and purifying gold surged around him. "JUSTICE!!"
Yusho and his weapon leapt as one at the thing, stabbing with the force of an exorcizing hammer and testing it with twirling slashes.
The cloaked woman's eyes wrinkled, but she maintained her gesture, and on schedule, a window unnaturally swung open so the vial could fly out of the library. It zoomed into the sky, still accelerating, and she swung her other hand towards the newly arrived beast.
Shelves and bricks began to tremble like a taut bow, animated with violent intent towards it.
-
La Creatura
A shrill cry came from the beast, which swiped a clawed hand at the foe with violent intent. Its hand clashed with the golden light, throwing Yusho back into a wall, though unharmed. Its eyes trembled with a glimmer for a second, and he closed his hand...
And slammed it on the ceiling, shattering the foundations above and causing the roof to collapse along with everything above them, as vile flames spewed all around him. They weren't aimed at the two, but they surrounded the beast, and they quivered with power. If he unleashed them here, against the liquid splashed on the wall-
He'd kill everyone in this room. Even himself.
White golden cracks ran on its fingers, which began to crumble as the golden energy burst out of his wound. It raised its hand to its eyes and observed it before turning his head 180 degrees upside down, twisting his neck with a pleased smile at the warrior. He turned one of its many purple gem-like eyes to the woman and purred. "T h e p e o p l e o f t h i s c i t y . . . a r e n o t m y e n e m y . P l e a s e , d o n o t i n t e r f e re."
-
Library Island
The crash thrummed through his back, but Yusho jumped back to his feet in an instant, wiping a line of blood from his torn lip. Wilting petals flew around the sparks and wind that surrounded him. As the beast smashed a claw through the roof of the hall, breaking a supporting pillar, he started to flip away from the imploding ceiling.
Only for it to stop. Silence ringing in the air, crumbling wood and steel and stone righted themselves forcefully between the flames, refusing to falter to violence and clattering back into shape. The cloaked woman's other hand was outstretched, pulling it back together, while the vial was high in the sky now, secured by her magic far from where it could be dangerous.
Yusho breathed in, and sneered at the creature's unsettling grin. "Shove your -"
"If so", the woman interrupted him, glaring at it. "Then leave. But first spit out the one you swallowed. He's attacked and injured our people, and it's our place to persecute him."
-
La creatura
" H o w p r e c i o u s . . . " He purred as flames flickered in its eyes, stretching while his surroundings crumbled. And what a terrible laughter escaped its lips, like a rusty blade gnashing against a wall.
" Y e s s s . . . Y o u r p e o p l e a r e n o t m y e n e m y . B u t . . . n e i t h e r i s h e . B u t y o u . . . h o w s t r a n g e . H a v e y o u f o r g o t t e n ? T u t , t u t . A r e t h e a n c i e n t t e x t s h e r e n o m o r e t h a n g r a v e s f o r y o u r k i n ? F o r y o u ?"
Appropriately, a claw ground against the stone, making a stomach churning sound, before he raised three. Three fingers were raised, casually as any man would, an utter antithesis to its own beastly appearance.
"T h r e e d a y s . T h r e e d a y s t o m a k e y o u r p e a c e . U n t i l t h e n , I w i l l l e a v e y o u b e . . . D o n o t l e t y o u r p e o p l e b e y o u r s h i e l d . S o m e t i m e s d y i n g a l o n e . . . i s m o r e p l e a s a n t ."
And with that, its massive legs crashed on the ground, destabilizing the floor even further while their surroundings fell apart, limbs ready to take off.
Joseph
Well, that was convenient. It was a chaotic transition that left Joseph with a rather sore behind as he fell right onto the ground. But he picked himself back up soon enough. He walked forwards without too much concern, taking in the strange surroundings. All of this strange script... it was making him rather dizzy. "Hello? Is anyone here home? This place is rather nice."
But there was nothing, aside a hot wind blowing in the air. Purple flames lit on every candle in the halls, yet it was utterly quiet.
Too quiet.
Until the castle began to shake.
-
Joseph
"Oh dear." He stumbled over himself, nearly falling onto the ground as his shadow spat forth a ruinous hound for him to lean on. Joseph was curious, but he also hated being buried. Crushed, and broken, and gasping for air were there was none under a mountain of rubble was an unpleasant fate, even if he could slip out of those binds.
But he was curious.
So on the back of the plant-wolf hybrid he charged down the halls, the beast barking constantly as they moved.
-
Inside la Creatura's Tummy
The brave scientist charged head on into the unknown, accompanied by its trusty dog! It would be so easy to get lost in this place, if it weren't for these helpful runes and inscriptions all over the walls, leading him forward!
What could they possibly mean? The dragon's curse should allow anyone in the Nexus to understand a language, no matter how alien. So why did these symbols look so different?
The lights started getting more intense as they travelled to the centre of its stomach, where all the digestion is probably going on. Actually, should he actually be going in that way? What if getting digested was dangerous?
Nahhhh. Keep going buddy.
The weirdest part was how it almost seemed like a voice was talking TO Joseph. Or at least about him. Hey, loser, can you hear me? Pft, no he can't. No way! Right Joseph? No, dude, turn to the fucking left. Goddamn it Joseph.
-
Library Island
"Whatever shadows you carry," the cloaked woman said, "Not a good show to continue destroying my district while speaking like you're doing us a favor.
Her hand clenched. And in defiance of the creature's continued hazard, every piece of the building it knocked loose turned against it in a sliver of a second. A torrent flew in from every direction like cannonballs, and clasped around the shadowy being's midsection and limbs like a giant manacle of bricks, planks, and glass. There would be no easy moving on her watch.
Yusho took his chance and jumped. Enshrouded in storm, the bright point of the spear dived for the spine of the creature of darkness like the sling of the Sun.
-
La creatura
How incredible. Truly this resistance was something to behold!
How deplorable! The struggles of worms before one's feet!
As if to spit on his kindness, all his surroundings immediately shot back into him with explosive force, hitting him all over and causing him to reel back in place, bound by the crushing debris that was only tightening him after the explosive hit. Something strange was going on though. The rubble was sinking into him, as if its body was more like malleable play dough, it cracked and split inside, even forcing his face to erupt and split apart into two beastly figures. But as the monk kicked its spine and sent a spark of pain reeling on its two jaws, something terrible happened.
It was unfortunate, but as he kept going the temperatures kept rising. The purple glow around the walls was only strengthening, and an uneasy feeling crept up, the sort that tightens around its throat. As it happened, that guiding voice crept into his ears too.
Joseph, hurry behind that pillar!
It would be his one warning, with no time to hesitate. If he did for a mere second, he wouldn't have the time.
As a literal hall of flames was rushing towards him from the hall, leaving no room to avoid it at all.
Fire erupted. Everywhere, covering the beast, from every angle, came bursting out from it and its surroundings, slamming into everything around with explosive force. Green flames just kept bursting from him as he freed himself and spread its arms, causing the explosive wall to break through the walls. A curse of old, forgotten by the stars. But of all the powers he had, this was the one thing he wished he wouldn't have to use.
". . . a m a z i n g . . . y o u a r e t r u l y h e r i n h e r i t o r . . ." An almost reptilian protrusion, like a dinosaur's half carved face, solemnly declared. Meanwhile, the fox cackled evilly as the flames stormed around it. "Hahah... kahahahah! Wow! That hit even harder than the last time! You people really never change, hahahah!!"
-
Joseph
Fire? He didn't like fire! Burning alive was terrible, horrible, awful-- The dog beast tossed him over behind the pillar with as much grace as possible before the advancing wall of flame swallowed it whole. There was all the rumbling too, the tilting and shaking of the halls! He should really leave now...
But something he couldn't describe stopped him. A churning in his stomach and an itch on the inside of his skin that asked him to stay. He pouted a bit to himself. "You should hurry up and get us out of here if you don't want me to just leave. The explosive won't-- I don't remember making any bombs." He usually did after all. That was an important thing to remember. Why in the world would he have said that there was a bomb? Hmph. He was probably just annoyed. It wasn't as if those children could tell the difference between a bomb and a glowstick after all. He got back on track soon enough.
"Well, if we don't get going I'll be taking my shadow home soon."
-
Library Island
The roar of flames overtook the reading hall, and Yusho was launched back at at the same time as the woman raised the floor in front of her. He crashed into the creaking, ashen floor with a thud, and a teeth-grinding scream tore itself from his throat. The curse burned through his muscles like needles and bit into his essence like a siaka, and he writhed in pain, rolling to the side. His knees shook as he forced himself to stand to his own defense on his feet.
The smell of cooked meat, burning hair and many other things filled his nose. Across his dragging field of vision, the exalt noticed that books were actually on fire, and the trap of debris around the twisting creature was shaking. But also, that most of the woman's cloak had been consumed into nothing.
She raised an arm which had crumbled into cinder and was growing anew, and through a cloud of vaporized skin, half of a fair face was gritted in concentration, eyes squinting aggressively under a burned fringe of golden hair.
(https://i.imgur.com/NgIqUPP.png)
"Don't speak of them," she whispered, and a stone globe twice the height of a person hurled itself at the beast like a meteor, flown in from who knew where. The restraints slithered like snakes and tightened around the new neck despite the swamp-like resistance.
-
La crea- bzzzzt -ekiel
The stone hurled at the creature, but a vicious paw clasped around the globe and clenched on it, stopping it short of its face as its surroundings began to melt.
"Kahaha! Game set! Didn't see that coming, did you!?" The fox gleefully cackled, clasping on the other chains wrapped around it and tearing off the molten remains. With a single movement, it spun to smash the globe with tenfold power into the wall! However, just as it was about to crush them with the fiery molten ball-
It stopped. It's not that the beast hesitated or had second thoughts. Its hand trembled, it pushed, but its as if an invisible force was pulling the globe back. It was as if something invisible was holding it back, forcing the molten ball to melt around his hands like shackles.
"You're so.... noisy..." Shinji was litterally a burnt half carcass, not a drop of living flesh in his body more than a moving plaque of coal. Yet he moved, weakly, just enough to raise his hand at the beast and hold the globe back. To pull it... towards him.... with all he had...
The draconian head's eyes glowered with rage, just as what was left of the chains around its neck tightened, and light burst from his all hating eyes. As it did, the flames swirled and conflagration with even more power, melting what little was keeping the floor together, trying to scald the undead corpse down to atoms.
"S h u t u p . . . n u i s a n c e . . . d i s s a p p e a r . "
-
Yusho
He bit down pain and coughed boiling blood from his throat. But the vitality of the wood dragon flowed through him, and still he moved. The ground broke under Yusho's feet, but he soared like the wind. His spear lit up like a purifying sun, and the Dragon-Blooded's barely functional gaze drove it home into an intersection of inhuman vital points.
A thundering dragon's image carried the spearpoint in its jaws, the icon of a soul placing its all in that moment into a tendon-tearing, blood and sweat-soaked movement, which he would have no chance to repeat. The final lesson of the golden janissary pierced into the shadow-wreathed menace: a lone spark lights the conflagration.
The shine infused into the devil flared out. A ghostly bonfire erupted from the inside out, and the area was washed in white light.
-
The Undying Vessel, La Creatura
The burning monk took this chance to charge through true hellfire! In shock, the fox yelped and tried stepping back, but its footing was too shallow, it couldn't deflect him in time! "N-no! Wait! Sto- stop it! Wait!"
And before the creature could cry, a flash of gold slammed into it, causing golden cracks to buld up and race all across the impact, before bursting into a dozen of golden flares, then hundreds, and before long thousands of unbelievably small golden flashes began to erupt through his body, growing as the area kept expanding into his chest, then torso, and soon its whole upper body! The two heads screamed as they began to crumble, his arms began to crack and fade...
Crrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaccccckkkkkk!!
The sound of bones snapping filled the room, but it wasn't his bones, or the ones of his borrowed body. It was none other, none other than Yusho's spine.
A third arm had erupted from the vulpine mass of void curses and organisms. A third arm had shot straight into his belly, with a single finger pointed straight into his spine, with a single slaw punching straight out of it. The golden monk who braved hell so bravely looked no better than all the rest, impaled by a gigantic claw. And the once golden glow turned into a sickly green as the creature's body emerged-
Utterly unharmed.
"I t o l d y o u . . . I t o l d y o u t o w a i t . . . u f u f u f u f u ."
He flicked the fool into the woman like a piece of trash, the wounds that should have resulted in him being utterly decimated now gone. As if they were never there.
-
Joseph
"What an interesting body you have. It reminds me of the things from that district." He patted the pillar a bit, having finished taking the beast around him from the point of death to the peak of health. "If you are going to kill them, swallow the pieces at least. A complete specimen would be... useful."
-
Library Island
Yusho puked blood, all the oxygen fleeing from his chest through a ruptured lung, what was left of his flowing jacket stained at the back by the blood that splattered from an open hole. The pain was difficult to bear, and all intent to move, nevermind the strength to do so, met a hail of noise.
The Headmaster caught the exalt's ragdolled body against her shoulder with a grunt of pain. His burned limbs shook and twitched pointlessly, hardly able to even seek support. It was testament to a Chosen's toughness that he hung on to consciousness, but the injuries had robbed him even of proper sensation on his extremities. She secured him, her now intact face twisting into a cold glare forward, but Yusho didn't even take notice of who had grabbed him.
Dragons don't fail him now. Don't let him fail the Dragons. Something had overturned his final blow, as if it was waiting for it. His thoughts raced, what capillaries weren't damaged twitching on his face with a complicated tension as the explanation clicked.
He still could not will himself to move. But the Headmaster thrust a fist at the beast, and the whole wing of the castle shook.
The next instant, a human statue large enough to have been carrying the stone globe on its shoulders rushed into the burning space, past the woman and the injured man with speed unnatural for its mass. Hardened to the point even rockets would not faze it, it threw its full body into a smashing fist blow at the monster.
-
Zeke
It was only sheer luck and battle instinct that had the beast cross its arms just in time, for the stone structures to slam into its arms. The fist's strength was ungodly, and the monster clenched its teeth to no avail before being sent reeling back into the wall, only for it to crash and the beast to fall.
But deep within the creature's guts and cavernous halls, there was a pleased guttural sound that roamed through the stone structures, like a gleeful wind akin laughter.
Nah. I think I'm done playing around... for now. As the voice spoke to Joseph, something flew past him. As it careened into the air, the beast grinned smugly and stared at the hole inside Yusho. Or rather... what was crawling inside that hole. A darkness that had already latched into his heart.
Above its shoulder too, a shirtless man was staring daggers right at the scene. His eyes as placid as calm as the most pleasant of lakes, and his smile more cruel than any devil.
"Remember, three days!" He pointed at her... no, Yusho, while flames engulfed the beast, turning the body into a comet-like rocket that zig-zagged away from the scene. The last thing she saw was that damnable man blowing her a kiss.
-
Headmaster
She didn't respond with words. She knew it was over.
Which didn't stop a dozen of pieces of rebar from flying after the thing like homing missiles, freed from the debris of this library floor, booming with speed. She hoped they got embedded as painfuly as possible.
She looked to the valiant man leaning on her shoulder, and saw that he had finally blacked out. As she set him down, seeing that he was miraculously still stable, and her gaze swept over the other man's still gruesomely surviving form, feminine and male voices rang in her head.
'Headmaster, all the threats have been repelled! The west wing kept shaking, are you fine?' 'On the bottom floors too! But...'
The woman shook her head and retorted. "Of course I'm fine. How many got away? With bystanders?"
There was silence for a moment. The male voice spoke first this time. 'One...' 'No, two. It was two. They jumped into the water and vanished, I'm sorry.'
"... Unforgiveable. But still, we have to go on. I'm taking someone to the hospital right now, wait for me."
Two stretchers floated in, and she deposited Yusho in one, before pulling Shinji's body to another. She swung her hands, and both rose in the air on their own, and everything there she was supporting began to return to its place, where it hadn't been melted or destroyed entirely. She headed for the door at the end of the hall, bringing the two injured people with her, and left behind the stone sculpture holding up part of the ceiling. When the door slammed closed, they were gone.
-
Zeke
"Woah!" His eyes stared wide at the stream of rubble, abd he crossed his arms with a stream of flame around them to shield himself.
It didnt do mych good.
--- 2 minutes later
"Tch. Godfuckingdamn it." He pulled one more piece of mortar from his eyesocket, sliding the jammed bit from his brain. It was mostly just curses and tentacle critters anyways.
"And here I was being nice... Pah!" He dangled it in front as the flame flew away. Then, he glanced down at the creature...
"Hey. Thanks."
-
Joseph
With a sigh of relaxation, Joseph rested his back against the pillar. "I wouldn't let you just die there." He was far, far too useful as a specimen after all! This might not solve anything, but Joseph definitely felt the seeds of progress sprouting all around this little excursion. "You don't mind taking us back to the district, do you? There was a wonderful restaurant that the locals showed me to, and I've worked up a bit of an appetite."
Enough blood and flesh for a new range of specimens along with two fully intact bodies! They were even alive. Very rare.
-
Zeke
But sadly he forgot that he was now outside, and Joseph was in there, and so he couldn't really hear.
Sad.
-
Seto Kaiba Achivement Center
8:00pm
The seto kaiba achivment center, supposedly created after a brown-haired man fired the entire board of education for refusing to include deck building as a graduate degree in one of the colleges. It is an after school center focused on teaching students study skills for higher education. In addition, the entire staff play are required to be at least "a second rate duelest with a third rate deck." Naturally, the duel monsters club gets all the funding priority, but somehow the center has some of the best facilities in among the college and graduate prep schools.
The typical day of a student here starts with doing homework from school. If they still somehow have homework to do after the program is done, they are considered utter failures. When homework is finished, the real programming begins, teaching students elite study skills for every level of education, even if they have no desire to go to graduate programs or college. The program is said to have taught a dog to speak English, but that one probably isn't true. Although, there is a language program within the school. Students can expect to be completely fluent within their chosen language within a semester.
Steaven sat down at a desk. Despite how elite the school looked from the outside, the classes looked like average college lecture halls. One would think the place would only have a few students, but anyone who could afford this place were from the richer districts. Most of the people here were either from pine guardian or swole city. Needless to say, the atmosphere was not fun.
"God damn it," Steaven groaned, sitting down at his seat. The lesson would start soon. He was doing pretty good all things considered. A lot of the fit girls from swole city took classes here. It made it really hard to concentrate. Ever since that thing with Nanako, he developed a thing for girls with big breasts and butts, as well as strong bodies. Also... fur? He really liked fluffy tails. The fit girls here were the closest he could get to that. He couldn't stop thinking about that whole experince, the shaman, locke, the count. Yet it all faded away so quickly. He was expected to return to his normal life now?
No. He didn't want to.
-
??
"Hey the lessons here aren't that bad or are you just that bad at dueling~"
She saw him walk in with an almost constipated and that the seat next to her without even noticing her. As she addressed him, she hunched forward just a bit and rested her head on her hands. Of she felt the mandatory uniform shirt slide up to expose her bellybutton when she moved, it was already straining to contain her impressive as it was. Whoever made these things really had a thing out for the girls. Even her skirt refused to stay down and revealed most of her pantyhose clad thighs.
"Surprised to see me here Steaven? Hehehe.... i don't blame you thought, my hair looks like a black mop when I wear it down like doesn't it?"
-
Steaven
Weird it sounded like...
"HOLY SHIT!" Steaven shouted, falling back into his seat. A creaking noise accompanied his slow train crash like fall to the ground, except instead of a loud boom there was a soft thud. Rubbing his head, he got to his feet and said,
"Lucy? Magic-"
Wait is that like a secret identity thing or...
-
Lucy
"Pfft really? Letting my hair down isn't some magic trick you know...." There actually wasn't anything magical involved with her ending up here. "This is just regular every day me.... This is how I look when I'm not running around doing that. It really takes the mystery of it doesn't it? When you know what I look like I mean."
-
Steaven
"You go to school here?" he asked, an eyebrow raised. She seemed like she was Locke's age. Now that he thought about it, she was probably here to practice for graduate school. How much money did she and her family have? Locke made it sound like she was just some girl.
-
Lucy
"Uh yeah I'm 16 why wouldn't I?" She raised an eyebrow back in response, it was a weird question. Why else would she be here? "Aren't you going to sit down, the teacher is gonna come in soon..... What about you, do you just come here to check out girls?"
-
Steaven
When a man gets to a certain age, he learns a set of skills. One may say that to be a man is not experience, but deliberate practice aged into a fine wine by that experience. Shaving, grooming, social skills, the ability to look at a girl and not make it obvious that you are staring at her boobs: these are all skills that one only has the opportunity to learn as they prepare to come of age. To have these sought after traits is to possess untapped charisma and wisdom beyond the peasants.
Steaven is not one of those people.
"Yeah..." he retorted, as if he were going "duh." His butt hit the chair pretty quickly though and his eyes lingered on her chest a little too long. 16?! Thats BULLSHIT... Well some girls have bodies like that at their age. Shes going to age like a piece of chicken on the side of the road though....
All of the sudden his eyes widened. "I wasn't checking out girls!" he whispered, leaning in ever so slightly. "I was just... you know... making sure they were ok! She looked like she was a little sore from her last workout you know?"
The girl sitting in front of them turned around and raised an eyebrow as if to say, Really? No you weren't.
-
Lucy
" That's not very nice."
Lucy leaned towards him and whispered back while throwing a quick glare at the girl in front of her as if to tell her to mind her own business.
"Lying to me like that, you gotta try way harder than that if you wanna fool me. Why don't you fess up and tell me who you think the hottest girls are."
-
Steaven
Steaven's face flushed blood red. "Wait why do you care?" he asked back.
"What are you two whispering about?"
The voice belonged to a tall man, almost Steaven's height but still taller than Lucy. He was a fairly decently built teenager, barely visible muscles, the kind a man gets from working out without pushing himself much. The guy gave Steaven a mischievous grin before eyeing the busty girl. "And who is that?"
-
Lucy
Lucy instantly brightened up in response to this newcomer and stood up to her full height, which wasn't as impressive as either of theirs. Even so, she leaned across the table and offered the new guy her a handshake.
"It's Lucy, I was asking him who the cutest girls were to know my competition, but he's just so adorably shy about it~"
-
Paul
The man stared at Lucy for a moment, merely blinking as Steaven's face continued to brighten. He ran to the side opposite to Steaven and whispered ever so quietly, "What the hell?! Your too ugly and scrawny to get a girl like this. Where did she come from?!"
It was sort of sad to think this was someone closish to him. Steaven would hardly consider them friends, but he was nice to him at school and he was pretty cool, at least cooler than him. Most of the girls here went for the handsome, smart and strong men (or the ones with good duel monsters skills) but for a guy who just sort of worked out for fun, he was pretty popular. That had to make him cooler by proxy right? No. Sometimes he just felt like it made him look dumber.
"I don't know man," he whispered back. "A lot has happened. I think she has a crush on my brother.... like all the girls."
"Dude she's stacked... everywhere," Paul insisted. "You couldn't get a girl like this if you tried."
Steaven frowned. "Hey watch it jackass. I'll have you know I had like three hot stacked girls show up at my house just yesterday! And they were...mostly paying attention to me. I even felt a boob man, a boob!"
Paul raised an eyebrow. "You must be joking. Next your going to tell me you had one in your lap."
"I mean.... I was on hers..."
A knife was plunged right into Paul's ego, but rather than be straightforward he instead said, "What a bitch! A real man has the woman in her lap!"
"I like to feel protected!"
You also like to dominate! the shaman chimed in.
SHUT UP! DON't MAKE ME WHIP OUT THE JOURNAL!
There was nothing more from his head.
-
Lucy
A cute giggle interrupted them.
In their eagerness they'd forgotten she was standing there, right next to them, and even without her supernatural abilities she'd been able to make out what they were saying.
"You boys are pretty sad, if you get that excited at the idea of agirl sitting on your lap."
She forced her way in front of Steaven's seat, and then she slowly sat down on his lap, making a small show out of it. "And you.... you're way cuter than your brother."
She held her breathe there like she was going to say something more but then withdrew and stood up before sitting down on her own seat again.
-
Steaven
To say eyes were wide was an understatement. Steaven and Paul froze as the soft supple cheeks barely contained by black transparent fabric touched down on his lap. It was like two soft round pillows, fresh from the store touching down, gently squeezing his tiny virgin shaft. Instantly he felt himself harden, punctuating those delectable cheeks with his hardening dick. At that moment he realized, she wasn't as firm as Nanako, but she was much much bigger. In turn, Lucy would realize, Steaven was a grower not a shower.
FUCK. Now I can't concentrate....
The instructor walked by them, passing out worksheets for them to work on. They were titled warm ups and asked the writer to list reasons why a red eyes deck was terrible and embarrassing. For some reason, the school was sure this would help them in college. The instructor was a beauty, one of those attractive teacher types. She wore a tight button up shirt that barely contained her cleavage, as well as a miniskirt that went down to her knees. The fabric clung to her ass, as plain to see when she turned around.
Steaven squinted, hoping no one would look at his lap. He tried to write on the worksheet, but the only thing he ended up scribbling down was "big butts.." He hoped no one would see that either. Oddly enough, he had this strange urge to strangle Lucy and it wasn't just anger....
-
Lucy
This quiz was far too easy, making her lazily scribble down something like If you use that you don't believe in the heart of cards. As for Steaven... He was clearly still thinking about what had happened, just one glance at his paper and his lap would confirm that. Still she hadn't expected him to be quite that large, that was quite the positive, and to think he was still in his human form....
She pulled out a notebook and ripped a page before scribbling something down on it, the she subtly shifted it sideways to him when the teacher was looking in another direction.
Can I sit down again after class?
-
Steaven and Paul
Steaven's pupil's darted towards her paper than back at his own as he realized that she had seen his paper. Paul glanced over at him, only to frown. "What?" he asked audibly. Some of the other students looked at them before the teacher's glare was set on him. "Are you having that much trouble with the warm up Paul?"
He shook his head and the class returned to their worksheets.
Meanwhile, Steaven stared at the sheet, then wrote on his, you'll make a scene. He pushed the paper under his arm, showing Lucy only the words.
-
Lucy
Lucy kept writing down answers on the worksheet at a quick pace, Even if your card fail you, money will never fail you! Just buy your opponent. This was pretty mind numbing, it sure made you ready for college, ready for the indoctrination.
she spared his response a single glance and then wrote down her reply, sliding it back the same way.
I Don't mind.
-
Steaven
Steaven hated these sheets. He loved running a dark magician deck. Why did he always have to rail on it every time they had study hall? It didn't matter in the end, its not like he could concentrate enough right now to care. As his eyes drifted towards her sheet, he gulped. It was all too good to be true. After all, he was just a teenager. Having a girl that hot would put him right next to the biggest sexiest guys in the school! Plus, he could get laid, a lot!
But was he really ready for the attention?
He didn't think, not anymore. It was best just to be honest with his feelings. The pencil pressed onto the paper, his wrist flowing freely. The paper that was passed back read, Well then if your going to do that make it a show. I want to rub it in Paul's face.
-
Lucy
Lucy continued writing down answers in much the same way as before, and then shoved the paper back at him. It was truly a marvel how she managed to write it that quickly, like she took no time at all to think about it,
I'll try, but I'm no succubus ^~^
-
Steaven
The instructor walked down the isles, collecting each sheet from the students. Steaven was about to write his answer to Lucy, but was forced to instead erase what he had already written for her. It took a while since he really had to make sure it couldn't be seen. By the time the instructor picked it up, it was filled with nothing but their answers. He would have to spend the entire time waiting for that moment, the moment where he could feel her ass on his lap once again.
9:50pm
The instructor stood up and walked out of the room. Paul leaned to his right and prodded Steaven. "So what the hell were you two passing notes for?" he asked, turning to Lucy. "You weren't serious about wanting to be with Steaven right? C'mon you could get anyone in this school with a body like that. Don't you want like one of the jocks or one of the smarter guys?"
Steaven frowned at him. I swear. Why does he always have to make me look bad in front of girls? What happened to having a good wingman?
-
Lucy
She flung her hair to said with one hand and turned to his rude boy. "I thought you were Steaven's friend, but all you do is demean him. and if macho muscles is all you care you about, he could easily bend you in half if he wanted to. And you, I doubt you could even beat me."
She put her hand down on the desk like she was about to arm wrestle.
"And if you say some dumb shit about me being a girls means I'm weak, I'll beat you into next week. Come on.... or are you a chicken?"
-
Paul
"What? It was just a question," he said, raising an eyebrow at her sudden aggression. The boy couldn't help but feel that sinking feeling grow even stronger within his heart. How the hell did he get a girl this passionate, this willing to stick her neck out for him? Ah well, at least this will be a quick little match, not much to gain from beating on a girl though.
He placed his elbow on the table, a claping sound reverberating through the classroom as his palm clashed with hers. While a good portion were in the hallways gathering their stuff, the ones still inside slowly gathered around. "I wasn't going to call you a girl, but you do look a little soft. How about this, if I win, go on a date with me."
Steaven snarled. "Excuse me? Whats gotten into you?"
He couldn't belive this. Paul occasionally threw put downs but he's never seen him just outright try to steal a girl he was interested in. In fact, Paul usually encouraged him to chase after girls he liked. Whatever, if he was going to act like this, Steaven hoped Lucy would put the man in his place. After all, Paul didn't know she was a supernatural. At this point, he didn't care who did it, as long as it was done.
-
Lucy
She smirked as he raised the stakes with his condition. "Wow someone's jealous but sure, I'll go on a date if you beat me." Lucy spoke loudly enough so that no one could miss her declaration.
The girl got ready and an intense look of concentration came over her face, and as the match started her arm shook from exertion as she tried wrestling his arm down. Tried being the operative word, as she made sure to put on a show of trying her hardest while only using about half of what this guy's strength was based on his build.
-
Paul/Steaven
Paul smirked a little bit as his hand pushed Lucy's about halfway to the table. His hand was shaking, but it would be over in mere moments. "So where do you want to go when we are done?!"
There was now officially a circle. Boys and girls alike stared at the pair in the epicenter.
"Wow all this for a date?"
"I kinda get it. I mean look at her!"
"Actually who even is she?"
Steaven didn't care about any of that. His eyes widened, his face twisting as he realized Paul might actually just steal Lucy away just for the fun of it. I mean, he wasn't pining over her or anything but this was just stupid. First of all, if they did go on a date, there would never be an end to the drama. A freind taking the girl from another freind? Thats the kind of thing you see in a trashy drama and he was the scrawny nerd character!
"Damn it Lucy don't lose to him. Your a-"
Right can't spill the magical girl thing...
"Your an important person.... to my family!"
The crowd began chattering amongs themselves. "Important memeber of the family? What is she his cousin?"
"Thats sort of weird."
"No they are probably childhood friends!"
This was getting out of control.
-
Lucy
"I know Steaven, I'm not going anywhere with him!" And just as she made her decleration, she actually started pushing Paul's hand back to the halfway point. But just as she was about to pass it her strength faltered and she was pushed down almost all the way to table.
" I'm not losing! " Somehow she managed to push him back to the halfway point again but most of her upper body was shaking and she was breathing heavily.
-
Steaven
As the crowd continued their chatter, Steaven gasped. Her knuckle was floating mere inches above the table before shooting back up to the halfway point. All the while, Paul smiled and said, "Well that was pretty neat, but thats probably all your going to get!" With that little taunt, he tightened his grip and thrust downward with the last of his strength, his bicep bulging on his arm.
"Lucy! Do something!"
THe crowd was silent. The chatter had stopped the second Steaven had gasped. At this point, they were just interested in how the match would end.
-
Lucy
"I... Don't.... Think..." Her panting made it hard to follow what she was saying, but with every second her hand inched ever closer to the table. Her whole body shook as she desperately tried to summon all the strength she had, but it was for naught.
With a resounding thud her hand met the desk and ended their mask, and just a second later Lucy herself followed. The black haired girl fell onto the desk, far too tired to support herself. She looked like she would pass out any moment.
-
Paul/Steaven
Paul shot up, his arms high in the air as he shouted, "YEAH I DID IT. Now you gotta..." He paused and looked around. Everyone had closed body language. Folded arms, toes tapping: it was clear he was now the bad guy.
"Wow... she really looks hurt."
"Maybe she has asthma or something."
Still, that did not make his triumphant smile falter. He was the bad guy sure, but the ladies love a bad guy, especially a bad guy with a hot girlfriend. "Alright so how about that date? I'm thinking moonlight walk on the docks."
Steaven rushed over to Lucy, blushing a little bit as he got a big old eyefull of her tits and realized the rest got a big old look at her ass. "Woah its huge...." one voice said. The girls were rubbing their rears selfconciously.
"Are you alright?" Steaven asked, offering her a hand.
-
Lucy
Her head shot up at his question, proving that she had some energy left in her. Still, the ferocity behind her glare was impressive for a school girl.
"Can't we settle this some other way? I really don't want to go on a date with you, least of all on the docks. Just how boring can you get, are you a fucking NPC or something?" Even as she yelled at him, she didn't move from her position on the desk.
-
Paul/Steaven
Steaven raised his hands as he felt the icy glare of Lucy. Although, he did sort of like the spunk. It was kind of endearing. Meanwhile, Paul took a step back for a second before putting on his smug grin.
"Well i'm not that mean, we can go somewhere else," Paul said.
"She doesn't want to go on a date with you!" Steaven finally said, poking at his chest. "Good lord, whats wrong with you today?!"
Paul turned to face Steaven. "How about you huh?! Who even is she?"
Steaven tilted his head back. "I don't know jackass, how about you ask her when your on a date with her!"
"Jealous?" Paul said with a grin. He flexed his arm, showing off a little speedbump of a bicep. "I might not be popular, but I think i've proved my point."
Finally having enough, Steaven grabbed Lucy by the hand and tried to pull her to her feet. "C'mon lets get out of here! I'm sick of looking at his stupid face!"
-
Lucy
She was actually too focused on Paul to notice that Steaven had pulled her up to her feet. It actually worked though, until she stumbled and leaned onto Steaven as support instead of the table.
"Thanks Steaven, But this doesn't let you off the hook!" Suddenly her glare was now focused on him.
"Whadda you mean you don't know me? We used to play together all the time, don't tell me you forgot!"
-
Steaven
What?
Steaven looked at Paul and realized what she was doing. Paul's shit-eating grin had been wiped clean and replaced with the jealous frown from earlier. No, this face was mad. "Wait... childhood?"
"Yeah... why do you think I said she was important to our family...." he wasn't sure if a childhood friend should be clinging to him like that, so he tried to nudge her off. Not that those soft breasts pushed up against his skinny arm didn't feel good.
"Are they going to fight?" one guy asked.
"I guess so?" A girl's voice chimed in.
Paul finally turned to Lucy and said, "You keep looking at me like that, but I still get a date. He's not your man until this is done."
Wait? I'm her man?
-
Lucy
"Like I'd ever accept that!" She pulled herself away from Steaven and marched over to Paul, her ever present glare pointed at him. "This isn't over yet, I challenge you again, and if you lose you'll have to crawl on the ground and beg for forgiveness!"
She declared that even as her short stature made her look anything but 8mpressivr as she got up right in his face
-
Steaven/Paul
To say she looked unimpressive was a misnomer. She looked small, weak, even helpless to the crowd but unimpressive was not an adjictive to describe what was going on. In fact, some were so impressed with her they let out audible gasps. They were no longer just gossiping spectators, they were invested. Paul grinned and said, "What? You already lost the bet! You can't chicken out now! Why would I ever agree to a second match when you've already lost!"
The crowd booed. "You jackass! Just let her go! She clearly doesn't like you!"
"Creep!"
Paul sighed. "Fine, i'll give you another shot, but you have to offer up something worth more than a date in return."
Steaven placed a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "You don't have to do this. Lets just get out of here. We can figure something out later."
-
Lucy
"No I won't let him walk all over you." She looked over her shoulder at Steaven as she spoke to him. Then her glare returned as she looked back at Paul.
"Can your limp pencil dick even handle anything more? You jackass. You're the kind of guy who only thinks about sex and sees girls as nothing more than future conquests, you're despicable."
-
Paul/Steaven
"Oooooooooooh!" The crowd said in unison.
Flustered Paul sat in the chair. "You must really want to look stupid," he said, throwing his elbow on the desk. "I am fine with kicking your ass a second time, but are you sure you want to talk all that good shit without backing it up? You may have won the genetic lottery in the tits and ass department, but you don't have an inch of muscle on you to stand up to me."
Steaven glared at Paul before returning his gaze to Lucy. "You don't have to do this for me. This is getting all out of hand. Paul's pig headed sure but.... well, hes clearly stronger than you. Plus, you just got here! You don't want to look stupid when you just got here!"
-
Lucy
"You know what fuck the secrecy, you're just a hot shot who doesn't realize..."
Lucy suddenly appeared behind his chair, leaving an after image behind. "What a fucking loser they actually are. I was going easy on you since you're just a regular human, but guess what, playtime is over." She slowly walked around the table and took the seat opposite him. She calmly grasped his hand, and the next moment his hand met the table and the rest of him got acquainted with the floor.
-
The crowd
"WHAT THE-"
That was the closest the crowd got to reacting before a loud thud filled the room, followed by a pain-filled scream. One moment Paul was glaring at Lucy, the other he was on the ground, gripping his arm as he sucked his teeth. "Oh my god you twisted my arm!"
Steaven couldn't help but smile after seeing his stupid "friend" fall on his ass. Honestly serves him right after all that. It would be nice to see the man beg after all that showboating he did. Then again, more than anything he wanted to know why he did it to start with. Meanwhile, the a girl in the crowd roared, "Oh shit! She is a super!"
-
Lucy
A super! Did she look like some sort of superhero to them? She completely ignored the whining Paul was doing and scanned the crowd for the girl who had said that. She turned towards them and bowed. "I'd prefer Magical Girl personally, I could show you my uniform but I don't think the boys would be able to handle that." Lucy smiled brightly as she continued her search.
-
Steaven
The crowd began murmering to themselves, gossip already spreading before their eyes.
"Magical girl? What?"
"Dude she just threw him on the ground!"
"Wait how did she lose before?"
"Maybe she can only use her powers in specific circumstances!"
Steaven impulsively smacked Lucy in the back of the head. "Shut up!" he whispered in her ear. "We have supers in this district! We can't let them know your a magical girl too! You could be targeted... well more than you already will be after this!"
He grabbed her by the wrist and tugged, hoping to get out of the room.
-
Lucy
"If you say so, it's not like they have proof anyway..." She whispered back to him as she let him grab her and pull her out of the classroom. Getting tugged away like that made her short skirt flair up and reveal most of her thighs. Then they were out of the room and in some hallway.
"But Steaven.... I wanted to meet more of your friends, I know you have more..."
-
Steaven
Heads cocked forward and jealous curse words were spewn as Lucy exited the room. Although, that was quickly replaced with murmurs and speculation. It was quickly apparent that the people in the classroom wondered what kind of supernatural she was and what ties she had to Steaven. After all, he was just a normal kid right?
"Its not just that Lucy! Your connected to me now... I don't want you getting into trouble. People here have nothing in their lives but their studies and their status. Gossip spreads like wildfire! Plus, i'm trying to keep myself on the low so people don't wonder about my family. I mean... you know what we are."
"W-who is that?"
A blond teen emerged from a nearby classroom. Her shirt hugged her chest so tightly that it looked like it was too small. With every step that she took, it bounced. A white meaty thigh seemed to almost shine in the blazing lights of the hallway. Amber's eyes widened as she laid eyes on the raven haired girl. What was she doing with a girl? Steaven had female freinds sure but... he wasn't that touchy. Why were they holding hands?
Today was supposed to be the day. Who was this chick?
Steaven blinked, dropped Lucy's hand and replied, "Oh hey Amber!"
-
Lucy
She pretty much ignored his whining about people gossiping, they wouldn't get anywhere without spreading their new and it was needed for what she had in mind, what did catch her attention though was what happened next.
"Steaven! How did you bag a girl this hot? And you say you aren't popular." Lucy shook her head before turning to introduce herself to the newcomer.
"Hey I'm Lucy, nice to meet you!" She then walked closer to whisper to this Amber chick. "I'm a family 'friend' of his if you get what I'm saying." This girl surely had to he aware of Steven's family, even from surface reads she could tell they've known each other for a long time.
-
Amber/Steaven
Steaven watched as Lucy approached. He ended up staying silent so he could watch how her skirt inched up ever so slightly. If she leaned in just a bit more, he might be able to see her panties, which means he could also see the shape of her ass.
"I didn't 'bag' her! She's just a childhood friend!"
Amber's shoulders slumped. Just a childhood freind? Are you kidding me? Who is...
Then the girl said it. She claimed to be a family friend. Was Steaven hanging out with someone else? Wait, did he like her better? Did she know about the werwolf thing?!
She shook her head at the remark. "No!" she said, blushing. "I have no idea what your talking about? Why did you say that with air quotes?! How long?!"
This probably wasn't the best way to ask, but she was so shaken that those words were the only things that came from her lips.
-
Lucy
she took another step forward and leaned closer, her curious eyes taking in the form of this human. So this girl did know about his secret and from the looks of it she had a really big crush on him too.
"You serious Steaven? She's a total bombshell, I think her tits might even be bigger than mine. Don't tell me you can't get it up for her." Yup she totally ignored the question while totally checking her.
"Oh right, how long we've known each other? I'd say it's been a while.
-
Amber/Steaven
Both Steaven and Amber blushed. "Thats not true!" she said in response. Although, Steaven was not blushing for the same reason. As the people around them passed, he blew in her general direction, causing the skirt to flow upward ever so slightly. It was probably the biggest butt he had ever seen in his life (outside of porn). It looked so nice underneath her panties. Although, those silky black legs probably made it look even juicier.
"What do you want from him?" she continued. "Is this about.... that thing? You want to use him for that? Or do you just have a thing for that?"
"Umm... can you two not talk about that right now? Lucy has already started a bit of a stir.... without that getting out."
-
Lucy
"Sure are, maybe you don't have any mirrors in your side but you'd have to be blind not to see how cute you are Amber... And for the record it's technically a bit of both, I helped him out in the past and I might need a favor soon..." She then grabbed hold of Amber's hand and pulled the girl towards herself.
"But enough about me, you've read up on the sexual traits of werewolves haven't you?" She whispered to the girl although she wasn't listening for an answer and instead went the more direct route and looked into her mind.
-
Amber
Amber's face stayed pink, her breasts pressing against Lucy's face. "Wait are... are you hitting on me?"
Amber could still remember the drops pelting the ground like bullets, the roar of the rain washing over her. She wanted to see him, feel his touch on her body. The blond wasn't an idot. She knew that if she came to him like this, he would take her no questions. After scaling the gate, she found herself wondering over to the first floor window. According to Steaven, this was his mancave, where he and his brother hung out. According to her research, he would be here right around this time.
A roar echoed through
That wasn't Steaven. It couldn't be. He was so big, hairy, manly..... Oh god.... and so big.... and muscular.... No that was Steaven. There was so much Steaven she couldn't take it anymore. Fists slammed against the window, the werewolf turned to face her, eyes widened then fled.
That was the first time she saw Steaven in that form.
-
Lucy
That was an interesting memory but not really useful for now. She didn't pull away though, on the contrary she tightened her grip on the girl and pulled her towards Steaven until Lucy could touch both of them and the moment she did.... The three of them suddenly found themselves in Steven's room.
"Are you happy now? No one can see us here." Their positions weren't quite the same as before she teleporter them. Steaven had been placed on his bed and she just happened to dump Amber on his lap.
-
Steaven and Amber
It was a blink, a single moment in time. When his eyes opened from that second, he found a blond busty girl on his lap. Her rear was smooth and squishy, not unlike Lucy's, but a little less mass. Either way, he felt her weight, even as he began to rise under her. Amber's eyes widened, but she didn't move, enjoying the feeling of being poked down there.
"Who are you really?" she asked.
"Thats.... Lucy, a magical girl..."
"Like in anime? Or like the district?"
Steaven sighed. "Yes."
Amber finally stood up, her fists balled at her side. "You just want him because of the werewolf thing don't you!"
-
Shinji
NEXUS TIME 11:00 AM
The unkept hallways, the barely fixed up windows, yep, this was home alright. Not like garbage like him was worth much better anyways. Just another day hearing the key click and rattle against the lock, and-
"Woof woof!"
A beast of old emerged from the darkness and gnawed on his leg. A terrifying monster, with teeth like daggers, ravenous eyes, and a pounce quick as a bullet. It was a small pomeranian stray. One of its eyes was missing, and one of its paws was stumped. Even so, it didn't mind. As far as it was concerned, every day was the best in its life, because its friend would always come home!
The Shinji who'd have normally just walked right it was now all of a sudden embarrassed. He tried leaning his head away, like a bashful brat, and just glanced away from the pup and the kid he brought along.
"Make yourself at home."
-
Entheo
Entheo scanned the unkempt hallways with a slight grimace. Its been a while...
Didn't you get banned from the nearby school for branding a weapon and talking to no one? the red orb floating next to Entheo sent.
"Yeah no one. What are you getting at?"
Is that why you never went to school?
"I was homeschooled by ghosts because people thought I was crazy. Plus something about not wanting the mafia to get involved with the school. I still think thats unfair but I learned a lot more talking to Julius Ceaser's ghost than reading about him in a textbook."
Entheo I sense a presence!
Entheo raised his fists, ready for anything coming at him, only for it to be the man's dog. The ghostly figure of custurd that had been following behind them leaped up and hissed at the dog, ready to fight for its afterlife. All the while Entheo wondered if the dog was accute enough with the afterlife to even register custard's hostility. Not everyone was born with an affinity for the paranormal, even animals. Still, the dog was a nice little guy. Whenever he saw people with real pets, Entheo was never sure if he should be jealous of knowing the animal during its life or appreciative he gets to spend eternity with his cat.
"This isn't really your place is it?" he asked. "I mean I know i'm the kid who lives in graveyards, but this place is a dump."
-
Shinji
A sudden aura of death assailed the room. No, to call it an aura would be utterly wrong. It was a pure killing intent, unlike anything the kid saw earlier. Doom incarnate, misery unending, demi-
SMACK!
Ow! Wh-what the!? Excuse me!? Shinji! Did you just.... did you just hurl your shoe at me!? How... how dare you. Your own narrator, the bard of your tale, your muse.... you'd just abuse me like so, after all I've done? How could you be so ungrateful! How could you! How-
Hey. S-shinji. Caaalm down. Relax. Okay, fine, fine, I'll behave. O-okay.
*ahem*
Shinji just casually tossed his shoe, his very precious and expensive shoes, down into the wall like they were nothing. He didn't even consider the fact they could hit a poor soul, like the dear narrator who works tirel- OW OW OKAY FINE! OKAY! OH GOD! STOP IT! OOOOW!
Ungrateful brats.
A-anyways, once he kicked the shoes away, he just turned to glance at the kid.
"It's my place. Got a problem with that?"
And so he sighed, not even carrying any energy to get angry anymore.
"Shoes off."
-
Entheo
A normal person would probably look at the would be assasin and wonder why he seemed so irrationally angry. It felt like he was interacting with someone that wasn't there. However, all Entheo could think to himself was, Oh god is that what I look like?! No wonder people bullied me.
Folding his arms behind his head, kicking his shoes off and walking into the room he said, "Sure sure. But you know. I probably should know my hosts name."
Meanwhile, Custard began pawing at the dog.
-
Shinji
The dog flinched... only to excitedly wag its tail. Without pause, it pounced on the kitten and snuggled it with its face, letting out happy woof woofs.
In contrast, Shinji looked less than cheerful as he closed the door, walked into the kitchen, and didn't so much as turn to look at the boy.
"...Slayer."
It wasn't the name he was born with, nor the one he adopted, but the one given to him by others. He figured it was as good as any.
-
Entheo
Entheo laughed and said, "Then you can call me god killer."
But you didn't kill any gods.
"Shut the hell up!"
The cat leaped back, perhaps not expecting the dog to be able to touch him. It proded the dog once again with its tail, shifting back and forth.
-
Shinji
Shinji paused for a second. Then, he turned to Entheo, utterly unimpressed.
"But you didn't kill any gods."
-
Entheo
Entheo slumped to the ground. "I tried my best..." he said falling on all fours. "I was so damned close!"
Entheo grabbed Shinji's shirt. "And what the hell did you do huh? Failed to rob dead people and kill a hobo kid."
I mean he has a house, Gezo said. Aren't you friends with no one?
"You talk a lot for a dead man."
-
Shinji
Shinji's body was forced up by the sudden jerking motion. He glared at the kid, and for a second there was something dark in his eyes. But didn't fight back. He just... sighed.
"Would be nice if I were. Better than listening to your moping."
He slapped the brat's hands away. Then, he took some crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and slammed it on Entheo's chest.
"Do you even listen? I wouldn't have tried to kill you if you didn't have this..." He paused. "And I wasn't going to rob the damn grave. That was a taunt to psych you up. Ugh, I can't believe I even have to point it out."
The paper slowly fell down the ground. On it, you could see Entheo's portrait, and a bounty for... one million dollars. On it, a few simple words were written.
MONSTER HUNT CONTRACT
GRAVE HAUNTING DEMON
WANTED FOR WANTON SLAUGHTER, DESECRATION OF THE DEAD, DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY, DEMONIC RITUALS
POSSESSES A PHANTASM - DANGER LEVEL ABOVE FANTASTIC THRESHOLD
BRING HEAD AS PROOF OF CONTRACT
Someone, somewhere, wanted the brat dead. This was clearly a setup... and Shinji now knew it too. This wasn't a joke at all... and with a bounty like that, he was bound to get more than just the sort of hunter that looks for profits.
-
Entheo
Entheo rose to his feet, chuckled and said, "I know I know. I told you before. I could tell you were a nice guy and I still think that, no matter how many nasty nicknames you throw at me."
Just then, the sound of paper wafting filled the air, Entheo's head turning to watch the paper slowly fall down to the floor. How did they even get a picture like that? He looked so angry and nasty. Eyes furrowed, a nasty smile and... sharp teeth? It almost looked.... photoshopped to come off nastier. It was a damn good job too. The red orb floated between Entheo's extended hands, its ethereal gaze landing on the paper as well.
You don't think it was the old lady do you?
Ignoring Sakuyomi, he turned to the slayer and said, "Can you tell me about the employer, anything? Actually, what was that area? I mean was it just me or was that place stupid rich, like Bill Gate's fucked Steave Jobs and populated a country with their pompous overprivileged children? You don't think that was some sick clean up service for non rich people right?
I think you mean to say graveyard hobo.
"Your in a snappy mood today. The hell is your problem?"
We spent so long trying to find the perfect graveyard to live in and now we are going to have to do it again tonight. I'd rather spend that time doing something more productive.
-
Shinji
He shook his head. "Even if I could, that sort of thing is a serious taboo in the industry. Bounties are posted anonymously on the board, as to protect employers and employees both."
But what about the target? You could tell despite his cold persona, he was seriosuly bothered by this.
He managed to smile weakly, even through the pain. "It's fine though. You're safe here, I'll make sure to talk to the chief of the district. No one will touch a hair out of your head, but you'll have to behave."
He sighed, but held a hand out. Just like before.
"It's not much, but you can always crash at my place. It's nice having a home."
-
Entheo
"Well look at that," Entheo said. "I think you should thank him. Go ahead, ill give you my body."
The red orb flew into Entheo's chest, causing the boy to shine with a blinding light. In his place that familiar man (https://i.imgur.com/vXu2wfS.png) took his place. A hand was extended, reaching out to meet the one known as Slayer.
"Thank you for taking care of him. It is hard when I can only take this form using Entheo's body."
-
Shinji
"If you ask me, you're pampering him too much. Brat needs to be smacked down a peg or two. Maybe that'll teach him some manners." He just talked aloud and aloofly like Entheo couldn't hear him loud and clear, and shook the geezer looking man's hand.
"And don't thank me. I don't recall doing any of you a favor. Far as I'm concerned, I'm just trash who almost shot down a dumb kid. Nothing honorable about that."
There was a dark aura about him. No, not quite. Perhaps this was the weight of regret, dark and suffocating.
The pup smacked the poor ghost kitty on its back playfully a bunch of times at hyperspeed in the background. He was so excited!
-
Sakuyomi Gezo (Entheo possessed)
Hey! he said withing Sakuyomi's mind, forgetting the "slayer" wouldn't hear him.
The old man simply laughed at Slayer. "Perhaps," he said, his voice bellowing. It was several pegs deeper than Entheo's. "Honor is a complicated thing. The only universal truth of honor is that you stick to your principles and I think you did that today. Besides, I appreciate not having to spend all day looking for a new home."
-
Shinji
"Tch, whatever." He grunted and broke off the hold, brooding. It's only because he had his back turned from the geezer that no one could notice Shinji blushing.
With that, he decided to be the responsible and productive adult and walked up to the kitchen, opened the fridge and began the search for ingredients.
"Any allergies?"
-
Sakuyomi Gezo (Entheo possessed)
With a confident grin and his muscular chest puffed out, the old man said, "I have none and neither does the boy. Do you happen to have any cat food?"
Meanwhile, the cat stared at the dog, dazed and confused, its tail wishing back and forth as it backed away.
-
Shinji
"Yes, I just so happen to sprinkle it on my strawberry parfaits when I'm feeling it." He answered sarcastically. Cat food? Really!? Did he look like some frigging charity?
He guessed he'd have to cook some.
With that, he chucked some meat, vedgetables, eggs, fish and tofu from the fridge. He got more spices from the pantry, put on his apron and chef's hat, and started putting all the categories next to one another on the counter. He moved with such efficacy, it looked like he'd practiced this sort of thing for centuries. Once he set the necesary ingredients up on the cutting board...
He grabbed his massive ax and started hacking at them brutally. It was absolutely terrifying to watch. His grip, the sweat, everything about this made it look like a cyclone of death. Each slash was enough to cleave a man in half, let alone cabbage.
Yet the counter did not receive a single scratch.
-
Sakuyomi Gezo
The old man immediately got to work assisting the man. His thick forearm reached for a bottle of soysauce, grabbing it and tossing it to Slayer. "Good good, I think we are both tired of feeding Custard scraps," he said. "Although I guess that doesn't matter too much since she's dead!"
He let out a hearty laugh.
"So tell me what you are doing here on this campus young man? I assume your studying something right? Are you seeking more honorable work?"
-
Shinji
"Hands off, I didn't ask for your help and I sure as hell don't need it." He took the soy sauce anyways and started by marinating the cuts of beef and pork he had chopped up alongside thinly sliced ginger, garlic and scallions. With a swipe of his axe, he separated the meat from the rest of the ingredients and began to vigurously and finely preparing the vedgetables.
"I guess I got nowhere better to be. And unlike at the citadel, I can study curses peacefully here without some crazy bastard trying to tie me up on a medical table."
His eyes darkened under his shadow, and for a moment he had his back completely turned from his guest.
T h r e e d a y s . T h r e e d a y s t o m a k e y o u r p e a c e . U n t i l t h e n , I w i l l l e a v e y o u b e . . . D o n o t l e t y o u r p e o p l e b e y o u r s h i e l d . S o m e t i m e s d y i n g a l o n e . . . i s m o r e p l e a s a n t .
What nonsense. No good could come from such a monstruous way of thinking. But if these bastards would strike the innocents here again, he'd be there to kick their asses. He wouldn't let them get the drop on him this time.
Since they took care of Yusho for him, he owed them that much.
-
Sakuyomi Gezo (Entheo Possessed)
Once again, the old man laughed and said, "Nothing wrong with asking for a little help. Someone strong but alone might as well be a gnat. Besides, if you are going to be so kind as to help us, let us help you help us."
He tossed him some salt. "By the way, I enjoy my food lightly salted. Before I died, I did as all old men do and learned the joys of abusing table salt. Even when I am borrowing Entheo's body I prefer my food salted."
What do you think we should do about that bounty?
Well I suppose we should see if we can either get it retracted or take care of the guy who put it out.
What if its like 100 people who all put a bounty on us?
We make a list.
-
Shinji
"Don't even think about it." He ominously moved about as if he somehow read the kid's mind. Was he some kind of psychic? No, surely not, but this ominous feeling...
He grabbed the salt like a perfectly coordinated cooking machine, but put it on the side. If he salted the ingredients now, he might not be able to control the quantity later on. "If you really want to help, grab the beef and pork and start mincing it finely. There should be a knife somewhere in the back."
As he said that, he put the scallions, onions, ginger, garlic and a chopped chicken carcass with little to no meat left in a big pot, before filling it with cold water. As soon as he did that, he cranked up the heat so it'd gradually get warm and start simmering, at which point he'd lower the heat so he'd simmer the broth very gently.
At the same time, he tossed the kid three eggs. "Mix those in the mince when you're done. And don't worry about overworking them, we need them to be firm and cook for a while. Just don't turn them into a paste either."
-
Sakuyomi Gezo (Entheo possessed)
Huh?
It didn't even take a second.
A hand reached out and grabbed a knife while another hand pulled out a cutting board. A blur obscured the surface of the board, the only thing visible was a streak of silver, the chef's knife mincing the meat. In the middle of the carnage, the old man grabbed the eggs, slammed them into the table and poured the yolk onto the cutting board. His muscular hands kneaded the meat, fingers digging into the pink flesh.
"Why not?" Sakuyomi asked. "We will be hunted forever if we don't do anything."
Maybe the boy was psychic. It wouldn't bother the old man. Its not like they had anything to hide from him.
-
Shinji
His glare was grave, even as he added herbs and aromatics to the mince just as it got kneaded. With that, he moved to the fresh fish and began to fillet it expertly.
"Attacking others recklessly could be just what the bastard wants. An excuse to legitimize the bounty... And get more string enforcers to pitch in the prize money. You're both on thin ice."
The axe dropped on the head, which he then grabbed and added to the broth pot.
"I'll do it. That way you won't have to take the fall."
-
Sakuyomi Gezo (Entheo possessed)
The old man lined up each of the balls on the cutting board, ready to place them in a bowl or baking sheet upon request. Meeting the boy's glare with one of his own he said, "And what, you think taking the fall for us will fix anything? Where does that leave you?"
He doesn't actually think we would just let someone take the fall for us right?
Perhaps he has an actual plan.
-
Shinji
"Don't know. Don't care."
As the bones slowly simmered, their deep flavors enriched the broth. This was a slow, tender process that required love and care. And as the bones simmered, he'd use a spoon to draw the scum out of the water.
It was starting to smell super good... But not good enough. He added some spice to the water. And as he did, his eye glowed red.
"if they think they can curse an innocent man in society's eyes and cast him as a demon... Just to bleed him dry for someone's selfish games... I'll show them what a true demon acts like."
In hindsight, no one gets called The Slayer by playing nice.
-
Entheo
The body of the old man gave way to the young one, those massive muscles shrinking, the silver hair darkening to jet black. Clothes shifted and changed until the appearance of Entheo was restored. Those blue eyes shimmered, a frown focused on the strange zombie man known as slayer.
"Dude, its alright," he said, running his fingers through his hair. "No one has to become a demon for a dumbass grave dweller like me. I knew I liked you for some reason. Its because of that spirit. If you really want to help me that bad, help me help myself. I'm not looking for anyone to solve my problems for me."
-
Shinji
...
The red hue receded, and Shinji turned back to normal. No, he raised an eyebrow at the kid's own transformation... or rather him reverting back to normal.
"I don't remember telling you to stop with the meatballs." He pointed at the unfinished pile of mince behind Entheo and turned back to cooking the broth.
-
Entheo
Entheo grabbed the meatballs kneading them as Sakuyomi did. Of course, his hands were nowhere near as strong, so it took a little longer. "Did you know that the old man you saw is already dead?"
Are you sure its wise to tell him this?
Maybe not, but i'm taking a little leap of faith.
-
Shinji
"Did I know? Yes. Did I care? No. Keep working the meatballs or I'll use yours instead. And make sure you add the herbs." He stirred the broth like an old grandma. Somehow his words did not sound like a threat. More like, something he'd absolutely do if the brat kept slacking off. An ominous aura of death was flaring.
Meanwhile the pup was playing with the cat's yarn ball.
"Open your mouth."
-
Entheo
Entheo laughed but did his best to comply, leaving his mouth open. Custerd grabbed onto the yarn, trying to pull it away from the dog. Wow he already knew, go figure.
Its fairly obvious. You are a kid who hangs out at graves and hang out with ghosts. You should tell him you don't have any living friends too.
I don't anymore, not never.
Thats the same thing really.
-
Shinji
Shinji didn't give a crap about whatever the kid was thinking. As soon as the mouth opened, he shoved a spoonful of scalding hot broth. It was....
Delicious. Absolutely marvelous. This savory flavor was enough to send a man to heaven.
The broth was all that mattered. And now, the broth judges him. Will his soul fall before it like many others?
-
Entheo
Entheo fell to his knees as the savory goodness washed his dry mouth of all of its sin. Entheo never knew his mother, nor even cared about domestic living, but for the briefest moments, he regretted a life of borderline homelessness. What kind of life was he living, not tasting food like this?
"Goddamn it, where do you learn to cook like that?" he asked, the shock radiating from his tongue. What were they just talking about again?
-
Shinji
Heh.
"It's not where, it's when." He pulled the spoon out of the kid, unable to help himself to smile a little proudly. "Live long enough, and you need to be able to do this much. Otherwise not dying is just a pain, eh?"
He made it sound like he learned cooking for his own sake, just so he'd have something delicious and different to eat every day. But that couldn't be more wrong.
"Since I can't return to the earth, turning its fruits into something delicious for others was the one way I could thank i... for putting up with my nonsense."
-
Entheo
Entheo looked up and grinned. "It was a girl wasn't it?" he asked.
-
Shinji
A sudden impact slammed down on the poor crouched kid. The broth judged him guilty, and the guillottine crashed down on him in the form of an angry boot.
"Oops, so sorry, my foot slipped." He sounded about as sincere as you'd guess, and just turned to finish the cooking himself.
-
Entheo
"Agh!" he yelped, the boot crashing down on his back like a tree on a car. Still, a laugh followed the pain. "I'm right, aren't I? Was she cute?"
-
Shinji
"Oops. Wow. My bad. Real sorry. Didn't mean it. Oh shoot. My bad. Good grief. So sorry. Ouchie ouch." He just kept slamming his boot on the brat like a hail of hammers, all while apologizing for every kick in the least genuine, most utterly deadpan way possible.
Some things you just don't say.
-
Entheo
“Agh, that’s ok. She must have been really cute if you are... ugh... pounding me... ugh like this. I’m jealous... ugh. All I get are stalker... ugh girls obsessed with death.”
-
Shinji
For a moment, he stopped and raised an eyebrow.
A sudden sharp metallic feeling smashed right inbetween the kid's legs. The ax blade was just an inch away from the middle of his thighs. No way, Shinji wasn't kidding? But that would mean...
"Noticed you're slacking on the meatballs, mmm?" His eyes glowed red, and he smiled like an evil angry grandmother.
Entheo was in danger. If he knows what's good for him, he'll get back to work immediately.
-
Entheo
Entheo slowly got to his feet, a smile still plastered on his face. Rubbing his back, he giggled before putting his fingers back to work. The meatballs were done at this point, so there was only one thing left to do. “Where do these go?” he asked.
-
Shinji
Shinji crossed his arms accross his apron-covered chest. "In the broth, of course. But it's not ready yet. We need the bones to impart it with more flavor. Then we can add the meatballs and more delicate vedgetables."
But this meant.... to think a flavor this good was not even complete... was he seriously planning to kill Entheo with sheer deliciousness?
"Start cutting the cabbage thinly. We'll need it at the end to give it better texture. Have you ever kneaded dough before?"
Yes. This woul ddefinetely be the end of Entheo. It was starting to smell seriously good. If they went all the way... he'd never be able to go back!
-
Entheo
The waft of flavor alone was enough to send Entheo's brain into overdrive. The sheer level of stimulation was enough to drive anyone mad. The taste of the broth suddenly danced on his tongue, a demo, a promise of what else was to come. If he ate this meal, would he ever be able to return to his old life? It was strange. As he cut followed Slayer's instructions, thinly slicing the cabbage, he felt a weird thrill. It was like the thrill of battle.
This food was too powerful.
Entheo let me take your body again. I can get you through this. Let me take over.
No if I don't get through this trial, it means all our suffering was for nothing.
You fool! His cooking is too strong! Entheo!
I refuse to succumb to his delicious food Sakuyomi!
Thats right. He had to be able to return, go back to the gateway to the world beyond life. He couldn't be held down by the nourishment of life.
-
Shinji
"What we're cooking today is called Chanko Nabe. It's a japanese hot pot dish,sumo wrestlers eat a ton of it every day. Its got a ton of proteins, vitamins, and essential nutrients that infuse in the brothh and make it richer. You can make it with chicken, fish, tofu... whatever the hell you want really."
As he cut the tofu, he finally inserted the vedgetables and meatballs into the broth. The savory smell was filling the kitchen entirely, but it took a whole new dimension once he added the bok choi, meatballs, mushrooms and other vedgetables.
"I'll add the fish last, since its the most delicate. It's really important, its going to make you feel a whole lot better. I could tell when we fought, you lack sleep and your diet's pure crap. This will patch you right up and let your organs clean up and muscles regenerate. Healthy body, healthy spirit and all that crap."
Despite how harsh he sounded, the apron-wearing Shinji looked like he genuinely cared about the brat's well being. It was almost motherly.
"Don't get funny ideas though, brat. And quit slacking, you gotta keep your station clean." He pointed the giant axe at the kid. "Or I kill you."
So much for Shinji caring.
-
Entheo
"Chanko Nabe?" he echoed. Entheo wasn't a food expert, but he robbed enough people to know what different foods tasted like. Maybe he would recognize the taste when he took a bite. Maybe this wasn't something he could do alone. No. He would do as he was taught.
Entheo raised an eyebrow at the man's threat, already gathering a bowl to put scraps in. "Fine. Bring it on. I'll follow all your instructions to the letter."
-
Shinji
SHWING
"Okay, hurry up. What is this, a nursing home?" His aura changed and grew even darker as he crossed his arms and glared on, his axe set aside. "Sleeves on the counter, careful, dont get the soap on the ingredients. One twoo three go. One two three go."
-
Entheo
AGH!
Entheo sprung into action, coiling his sleeves back. Using all the speed given to his mortal body, he washed his tools, laid them out to dry and prepared his next tools. Grabbing the knife, he continued to slice the cabbage.
Wait shit he didn't say to cut the cabbage yet...
You sure you don't need help?
Shut up old man!
-
Shinji
He crossed his arms and nodded silently, observing his work.
-
Entheo
The young man took a minute, but he finally finished the cabbage. Gathering up the cut cabbage in his palms, he dumped the vegetables in a bowl to be used by Slayer himself. Now he waited for his next instructions. See I did it!
Your cutting was inconsistent. Some of those were noticeably thicker than the others.
How do I fix that? he sent back, handing the bowl of cabbage to their head chef. You can't
-
Shinji
"Fool."
A dark storm emerged, and the Slayer marched forth to get next to the brat, quickly catching on on what was stressing him out. Oddly enough, he put a comforting hand on his.
"If the cut difference is small, the effect will be negligible. In this case, you only need to worry about the outliers. Just take the pieces that stand out as too big or too small, and pick them apart as a bundle. You're going to have to put the bigger pieces slightly earlier than the medium ones, and the smaller ones last. But this way, the cook will be even."
His stern words were calm enough. With that, he used his hand to leverage Entheo's, as to help him get a good grip. It was nothing more than a man helping another man cutting vedgetables.
This sort of sight was the kind that'd make fangirls squee.
-
Entheo
All of the sudden, Entheo felt the urge to slice the rapidly building tension with the knife he was holding. He could feel the full weight of Slayer's judgment coming down on him. His head shrank into his shoulders, ready to bare the full weight of shame for his mistake. Instead, all he was met with was advice? Turning to the man in the graveyard, Entheo focused his icy blue eyes on Slayers, staring into them for a moment to read his intent.
"Thanks..."
Realizing he was being oddly genuine, he took the bowl and said, "So what do you want me to cut then?"
-
Shinji
"..."
He didn't even consider it until now, but upon thinking about it...
They were done.
"Cut a path into your future." He had to come up with something. With that, he let go, turned his back on Entheo, and looked onto the horizon cooly.
-
Entheo
Entheo followed Slayer's gaze, looking onward into the horizon. "I see. Thanks."
What the hell is he talking about?
I don't know.
For now it didn't matter. Entheo braced himself for his moment of truth. The food. Could he really be able to withstand the onslaught?
-
Shinji
Nexus Time - 1:00 PM
It was ready.
It was done.
Judgement was nigh.
Stacked on a low table accross a futon, a handful of large plates and bowls surrounded the even bigger bowl of hotpot. The chanko nabe was done, and it was divine. A warm, savory, gingery broth filled with vitamins, proteins and so delicious and caloric it would legitimately turn a scrawny stick into a bodybuilder in no time.
HOWEVER!
It was just scraping the surface. He also chopped up a healthy traditional salad, steamed crab legs, fluffy white rice cooked to perfection, green tea, fruits, stir fried veggies, kimchi, pickled seaweed salad, pickled radishes.
And it wasn't even done.
Something else was cooking, but in the meanwhile the four could enjoy this absolutely amazing meal. No, even more amazing... the vedgetables were cut in cute little flower shapes. Coming from someone as cold and brutal as Shinji, this was absolutely precious. It was almost a thin line between a kiddie meal and a legitimate feast.
"Eat up, brat."
-
Entheo
This scent!
One foot entering the room, thats all it took to be assaulted with the full force of the first wave. Entheo's knees shook, his body instantly lusting for the food on the table. The young man's soul called out for Gezo's afraid of himself.
I'm not helping you here.
Damn it thats just the scent! How am I supposed to resist the taste?!
The scent was one thing, but the presentation was another. THe white rice looked like a cloud, the vegetables cut into little flower shapes. Was he doing that while cutting the other stuff?! Damn it they were so cute! He wanted to just snack on them while he waited for the rest of the meal. Why did he spend all his time robbing people and taking leftovers?! He could have learned to cook like this!
"Please, I didn't ask you to cook this for me," he said, turning his head away. A movement he instantly regretted. Not being able to see the food made him crave it even more! "I guess I can try it, but don't expect me to be impressed."
-
Neil
1:00 PM Nexus Time
With his business in the Citadel over and done with, Neil was back in the Campus Town, slightly amused by the fact that going around as a wolf drew less attention than it did in human form. The wolf followed the familiar path to his temp roommate's home, soon catching the scent of his cooking as well.
Huh. Smells like a lot. Smells like there's someone else in there with him too. Might be empty calories for me, but I hope he made enough for three.
The wolf took off at a faster pace, quickly arriving at his destination. Sitting back on his haunches, the wolf canted his head as he wavered between shifting back up to open the door or simply scratching at it until he got an answer. Smirking as much as his biology allowed, Neil opted for the latter, getting up on his hind legs and scratching loudly at the door.
-
Shinji
"Heh. Come on, quit trembling like your cherry's getting popped. This stuff's got all the vitamins your body needs and more." He gave him a thumbs up and helped him to the futon. However, a sudden noise stopped him entirely.
Shinji froze. A cold glare turned to the door, and a scratching sound he recognized already.
With a sigh, he shook his head. "Hey pal, just wait a second here, okay?"
He walked up to the door calmly, scratched his back, pulled out his guns and blasted the door dozens upon dozens of times. The projectiles hailed like a storm, and once he ran out of ammo he took out a grenade from the shelf and threw it in the gap he tore off in his door so it'd blast whatever was left from the other side.
"Yo. How was your day?" He grinned at the wrecked door. Or rather, the one who knocked.
-
Entheo
Oh no he thought as the sound of gunfire filled the halls.
Instinctively, Sakuyomi entered his body, fusing with him in a flash of light. A guandao materialized in his hand, gripped by the young man as his cool eyes watched Slayer's back. Slowly but surely, he approached, taking a battle stance so he was ready to strike or flee at the opportune time. However, Slayer's reaction was odd. He said.... "hi?"
Entheo sighed. "Are you kidding me? Do you make all your friends by trying to kill them first?"
-
Neil
There wasn't a sound from the other side of the door as Shinji opened fire, bullets tearing into the wolf on the other side like hail stones, the momentary lull in fire a mere prelude to the grenade that followed them. The explosion kicked up a storm of dust and debris from the demolished door, and smoke from the grenade itself. There was a moment of silence as the cloud spread outwards, the commotion drawing little comment from the other occupants.
Then a massive clawed arm sweept out, tearing the man's head off and vanishing back into the cloud. The cloud swiftly faded to reveal Neil, once more in human form, holding Shinji's severed head dramatically like an actor in an oft-quoted play.
"It's been alright so far, how's yours?" Neil said before turning to the other man, "If anything, this is softer than usual. So what's the occasion?"
-
Shinji
The clawed paw smashed straight into his jaw and socked the daylights out of him, ripping it open and tearing the head off his neck. A splash of blood erupted from his body and sprayed all over the ceiling. But the food remained intact.
"Heh. Beats me, guess I don't like being stalked...you piece of shit murderer. You hungry?"
-
Entheo
Entheo didn't answer the man, instead turning to the severed head of Slayer. "Wait why do I have to share my food with this clown?! He didn't even help us cook?"
Doesn't that mean you are admitting you like the food?!
No damn it! It means he didn't work for it so he doesn't get it!
You know we are fused right? I know when your lying.
Entheo scratched the back of his head, letting his fingers comb his flowing hair. At last he turned to the other man and said, "So does that mean you met this guy in a fight or something? Or are you guys the type of freinds who always hated each others guts? Actually are you two even friends?"
-
Neil
"Nah, I was heading back after some errands," Neil shot back, "And yeah, a bit peckish after smelling your cooking."
The werewolf cocked an eyebrow at the handsome man's complaint, plopping Shinji's head back on the ruined stump of his neck as he stepped to the side to get a better look at him.
"We're roommates, so I can't say we met that way," the werewolf said, "Aside from that...not inaccurate I guess, though he'd sooner drink bleach than call it that."
-
Shinji
"You bet." He grabbed his head like it was a basketball he got tossed. With a twist or two, the limb reconnected and started to slowly attach. He probably wouldn't headbang any time soon...
"This is Neil. He's an asshole, a cheat, and eats peoples faces for free. Met him on a mission, and he would't quit stalking me. One bullet met to the next, and turns out we're not very good at killing eachother. Rest's history."
He stretched lazily and turned his back, so he could walk to the bathroom. Furry dick better take of his shoes...
"Hope ya get along. I gotta get some stitches."
-
Entheo
"Try to eat me and i'll skin you and wear you as a hat," Entheo said with a blank stare. "Honestly errands and murder sound about the same to a paid killer. What exactly do you do for work?"
A ghostly phantom of Entheo walked rushed towards the plates, grabbing each one and stacking it on his arm. Are we stealing the food?!
I don't know this guy! We made it!
What happened to the whole its not that impressive act?
We both know I lost that fight.
-
Neil
"Wasn't planning on it, don't worry," Neil said with a shrug, "And it depends. I do take bounties, but most of the time I'm coaching the Campus's tankwando team."
The werewolf looked over the food arrayed before them, then grabbed a plate and started laying out a decent meal on it from what was provided.
"So how'd you run into him? You get in a fight with him too?" Neil asked, eyes flashing with curiosity.
-
Entheo
"Glad we got that settled," Entheo said, rubbing the back of his head. "We met a little while ago, attacked me for some bounty in my home. We fought and now we are cool I guess. So what are you two a bounty hunting duo or something?"
-
Neil
"Bounty-hunting duo? Sometimes. More like I just show up to his hunts sometimes," Neil noted, "Usually not in this form though."
With that, the werewolf's flesh flowed like quicksilver, losing a few inches in height and filling out instead, her uniform shifting with him to fit her in a different way as she swapped to Nicole. The werewolf gave the man a warm smile with a predatory edge to it, looking over him once before locking her eyes with Entheo's.
"This one is more suited for those little adventures, I'd say," she said with a teasing edge in her voice.
-
Entheo
Entheo squinted at the man now woman and said, "Wait did you just grow boobs? Why would you specifically need to turn into a woman during.... oh."
Meanwhile, the phantom rushed out of the door, carrying all the plates it could. Still connected to Entheo's mind, Sakuyomi could see what was transpiring, feel what Entheo was feeling and could see what he thought of the woman. You know, the older you get, the more you tend to want to experiment. Regular sex can get kind of samey. Experimenting can keep the relationship strong.
Shut up you know thats not why i'm judging.
You know, I once had sex with a nun.
Dude!
Actually your right. I shouldn't underplay what I did. It was the entire church of nuns....
Dude! Shut up!
But you can already see all of my memories you know.
But now we are thinking about it! I don't want to relive it with you!
Entheo sighed and said, "So is this a sex thing?"
-
Neil
Nicole arched an eyebrow in response, resting one hand on her cocked hip and holding up her plate with the other as she gave the man a curious look.
"I wouldn't say it's a sex thing, so much as it's handy to be wearing a different face," the werewolf noted, blue eyes boring into Entheo's, "Well, there is that time Shinji and I stabbed each other in the middle of stare down, so I guess there's that. Or all those times he's stabbed me while I'm like this."
-
Shinji
A sudden aura of dread and malice burned its way into the room. Something so ghastly, so chilling, it could only predate one thing. His axe slowly grinded on the ground, causing sparkles to fly His body was cloaked by the darkness and shadows around, but his eye was visible and glowing red. His head was perfectly stitched and reattached. Yes, this only meant one thing.
Death.
"Interesting story. Got any more?"
His smile crawled ear to ear like a crimson moon. "C'mon! I'd love to hear!"
-
Entheo
"That sounds like a sex thing," Entheo said, folding his arms and nodding.
You don't think this is a ploy to drag us into some weird threesome thing right?
I actually think they could be looking for a third partner. What if the poster was just a ploy to get you here?
You think he's that smart?
Don't judge a book by its cover.
The two warrior's back and forth were interupted by the sound of the axe grinding on the ground. Turning away from the girl, Entheo stifled a smile as Shinji's glowing red eyes reminded him of home.
"I actually want to hear more too," Entheo said, his voice more casual and curious. "I mean, I don't know why you would need a different face except for making love and... passionate stabbing..."
-
Nicole
The werewolf felt a chill running up her spine in the face of that aura, standing firm as it blew past and around her. If anything, she was invigorated by it, sparks lighting in her eyes as she turned to face the restored immortal head on. As if in response to his malice, silvery wisps rose from the werewolf in turn, swelling into an aura of lambent moonlight, blue eyes shining like quicksilver. The very air around her was growing hotter by the second, errant sparks lighting along her skin as she stared at the man.
"If you're already this excited, maybe we can do better than a story," Nicole shot back heatedly, almost sounding like she was growling.
-
Shinji
Their auras flared, clashed against eachother. Suddenly, his foot already pressed straight on her face, pushing her away."Shaddup you freak."
It was still kind of embarassing. His ears were blushin a little, so he looked away.
-
Entheo
Entheo I think they are about to have sex...
What? But the guy said no.
I think they are doing what you kids call hate fucking.
Oh no.
Entheo could feel himself shrinking into the background, shrunken by the sheer strength of the tension in the air. It was both exciting and scary at the same time. "So... are you guys going to fuck now....? Do uhh, you want me to leave you two alone?"
-
Neil
Nicole held firm even with Shinji's foot in her face, eyes alight like a predator scenting blood. The werewolf's gaze darted over to Entheo for a moment as he started to back out, a grin splitting her lips.
"Oh no need," Nicole said, bemused, "Spectators definitely haven't stopped him before."
-
Shinji
A glance was all that was needed to be shot at the brat.
"Entheo, go eat your food."
Shinji then approached the werewolf. He was approaching him, yes, because he couldn't kick his ass without getting closer.
"And you... are you here just to piss me off? Because if you are... I'll let you know it's the worst timing in your life to try me."
He was glaring down at Neil. No, something about this glare was way more intense than usual. It was like stepping in a no man's land filled with landmines, sharks and lava. And the sharks fired laser beams.
That's the kind of danger Neil was in right now.
-
Entheo
The young man averted Slayer's gaze, turning his head lazily towards the door. "You know that doesn't sound too bad," he said, already walking towards the door. "i'm pretty hungry."
Weird people.
I don't think you can talk.
Shut up imaginary friend. I gotta eat.
Oh can I borrow your body to eat? That smelled good.
Sure. You helped cook it after all.
And so, Entheo made his way to the door, reaching for the doorknob and twisting.
-
Nicole
As Shinji stared down at her, Nicole stared right back, at least a little because of those lupine instincts poking at the back of her head to maintain eye contact. She was fine him coming as close as he pleased, the tension in the room rising with each step until it threatened to crush anyone with insufficient fortitude.
"No, I didn't. Like I said, I followed the smell of your cooking," the werewolf said after a long moment, sitting back on a convenient arm rest, "So who took a dump in your breakfast this time?"
With that, Nicole put her plate down nearby and crossed one leg over the other, blue eyes shining as she held Shinji's gaze.
-
Shinji
"None of your damn business." He snarled and reached for the door handle before the damn brat. He glared at both, opened the door, and looked like he'd slam it, but he actually closed it down gently and politely as to not disturb the other students.
Even though he threw a litteral grenade out there a minute ago.
-
Entheo
And so, the young man left the room, bolting out of the door, his phantom carrying whatever he could not. The food was all his and he would have to make sure to apologize to Shinji later.
-
Neil
Watching as both men vacated the room with surprising alacrity, Nicole heaved a quiet sigh. A quick glance at her plate revealed what the lightened weight had suggested to her earlier, the dark-haired hottie had gone and stolen the food right from under their noses. A little impressive, really, even if she'd been focused more on Shinji than on the food. Not that it would be much of a loss, empty calories that they were.
Lacking anything better to do, the werewolf figured she might as well catch up with Shinji. Abandoning her five senses and focusing on the sixth, the huntress felt the building thrumming silently under her feet, its passages drawing themselves out for her. Focusing on Shinji, the werewolf followed those same instincts, simply opened the window, and climbed outside. Finding easy purchase on the walls with fingertips and hardened nails, Nicole pulled the window closed, waited for a few seconds in silence. Without warning, the werewolf let go, the wind whistling in her ears as she fell.
Just as Shinji would be exiting the building, Nicole landed hard nearby, crouching to lessen the impact as her impact cracked pavement and kicked up a little dust. On a whim, the concrete dust burned away as she stood up again, eyes opening to meet Shinji's.
"Alright, you don't want to talk about it, fair enough," Nicole said with a shrug.
-
Shinji
His expression darkened, and he didn't even stop when she showed up. How in the devil did the mutt always find him so damn fast? That was one of the thousand reasons he got the creeps. But frankly he didn't even want to put up with this crap.
"Yeah, I don't."
He walked past Neil just like that. Without a single care.
Nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing happened between them absolutely nothing nothing-
A dark feeling of brooding trailed over his steps. It was as heavy as a storm of blood. No, it truly was heavy. Like the kind of weight you shouldn't try to shoulder alone but you'll be damned if you share it with someone else.
-
Neil
With Shinji's back to her, Nicole couldn't help a slight smirk. Keeping up with him was always a fun little challenge, with how he seemed to vanish from her senses once he was out of sight. Having to rely on what her instincts told her of his path and her own skill was fun in its own way, even if his lack of presence was strange. The curt reply and the general brooding air sparked a little more amusement and no small amount of curiosity from the werewolf, Nicole realizing that this was significantly more brooding that usual.
Shrugging, the werewolf tucked her hands into her pockets and followed along in silence, giving him enough space to be out of axe range, but otherwise curious to see where things would go.
-
Shinji
He grumbled in silence, but otherwise just kept walking. Upon further inspection, he was hiding a bag in his coat. A suspiciously ominous bag seeped with a menacing aura. What could it be?
Before long, they were climbing stairs, and hallways, and labyrinthian terraces that were still being repaired. Until they came about that place. The accursed, dark place that Shinji sought. An air of tension and menace filled the air. Shinji looked like he was stepping in a warfield.
He knocked on the headmistress's office door.
-
Headmaster
After a moment, her clear voice echoed from within. The door swung itself open with a slight creak. "Come in."
The dimmed rays of the sun fell from the great tinted windows over a wide, dusty office, papers and the prints of people's passage scattered through archival bookcases and waiting tables, all before an immaculately preserved oak desk that rose at the end of the room. The headmaster's golden hair was loose from its hood for once, and her amber eyes peeked over the edge of some folder or other spread in her hands.
"Welcome. I've been expecting you, I wished to know how you were holding up. My hopes are that you're not exacerbating the noise complaints in the dorm?" The papers were left to rest by her side, and she pulled a steamy mug to her hands with an unreadable frown. "But you don't seem the type to visit for a chat."
-
Neil
Nicole followed along, toying with the idea of swapping back over as they went. Still, there were a number of things to catch her interest. The menacing bag Shinji was lugging around for one, the battle-scarred tower for another. She doubted Shinji was in much mood to talk about it, but she caught the man's scent all over the battlefield. His, and...three or four more, it seemed like.
Wonder what someone would attack this place for?
The werewolf quickly shelved the question however, as they'd arrived at Shinji's destination. Following Shinji in quietly, Nicole stayed further back in the room, crossing her arms under her chest and leaning back against a conveniently clear bit of wall as she listened in.
To her surprise, other than the tang of ambient mana present throughout, there wasn't really much of note. The coffee had milk in it, the bag was still menacing, and the woman apparently had a sense of humor, talking about noise complaints after that noisy arrival.
Shrugging internally, the werewolf stayed quiet for now, simply watching and listening.
-
Shinji
"No, I just came here to talk about the weather." He sighed and shook his head, and walked into the office without much hesitation. With a deadpan, uncaring movement, he put down the bag on her desk. The bag with an ominous, unnatural aura that could strike fear into the hearts of men.
It was food. He just prepared some extra portions, and brought her enough to have a filling meal. He even brought chopsticks and clean bowls.
"Here. I hear you don't get very good nutrition lately. It'd be bad for everyone if you just croaked." He turned his back away from her, embarassed, but with a genuine yet rough kind of caring to his words.
It smelled delicious too. Once he wasn't carrying it, that is. Maybe it was less ominous when he wasn't the one bringing it.
-
Headmaster
She raised her eyebrows ever slightly, hovering over the meal with a careful whiff. A moment later, she took the chopsticks into her hand and uncerimoniously had a taste. "Mmm. This is nice. Surprising, but I appreciate it. You went out of your way for this, didn't you? There's no need to feel shy about demonstrating your care for others." Her eyes lidded in a quiet sort of delight, then fell on the other person in the room.
"I don't believe we've met." She titled her gaze towards Shinji's companion. "You can call me the Headmaster. Are you a friend of his?"
-
Neil
Nicole barely managed to hold back a giggle as Shinji revealed the contents of his sack of menace. A cute little box lunch. Well, not little, but still cute. The headmaster's reaction was almost as amusing, that oddly dreary face showing clear delight at the meal before her. It wasn't long before the werewolf caught the woman's attention though, Nicole's lips curled up in a slight smile as she watched.
"Well, he'd probably rather drink bleach than admit anything of the sort," Nicole noted, "Considering how we met, I'd say we're just terrible at killing each other. That and we've worked a couple jobs together, so maybe colleagues would be more appropriate?"
"Still, you really should smile more," the werewolf continued, glancing back at Shinji with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, "Seems like the place got torn up recently, and I'd imagine it'd help morale around here."
-
Shinji
"I'd rather get run over by a truck and get pulped into mincemeat." He put his hands in his pickets and sighed, brooding darkly in the corner. And more than anything, he wasn't smiling. "We're not friends. Besides, do you really think anyone would associate with trash like me? I'm no better than scum."
He couldn't even save those who fell in the library. There were many people who he did rescue, but the others fell to the flames and monsters. He clenched his fist and cursed himself. I can't even do one thing right.
"How about Yusho, is he okay? I didn't get to say goodbye to him."
-
The Headmaster
The response to the werewolf was left hanging over Shinji's sharp rebuke. The headmaster's gaze wavered, then settled on him with renewed sharpness, as she placed the chopsticks down with a click.
"There's no satisfying reason to be so hard on yourself," she said, features hardening. "The matter is not one of ifs and ors. It's nothing short of a miracle the confirmed casualties were few, and it paints poorly on both the helper and the helped to deny any value to those actions, or to believe no one would be willing to feel thankful to you."
The woman closed the tupperwares and placed the bowls back in the bag, leaning to the side to hide it behind her desk. When she returned, her face bore softer lines.
"He tried to wake you up, but he lost his patience not long into it. His thoughts were already flying away, and as soon as he was capable of moving without significant complications, he insisted on freeing up the bed. I didn't approve, but I never planned to keep anyone under observation against their will. The operation was demanding, but I suspect he'll be fine so long as he keeps out of trouble for a little time." She nodded. "Thank you for your consideration, however. I'll eat the rest during my next break."
-
Neil
Though the werewolf's face didn't change when Shinji spoke, the headmaster would likely see something pulsing in those blue eyes as he put himself down. Her hands visibly twitched before clenching into fists as a familiar pulsing heat stirred in her veins. The question at the end gave her pause, however, the heat fading as Nicole opted to wait for now. Having nothing better to do as the Headmaster rebutted his claim of being scum, the werewolf counted her heart beats.
Then the woman was finished, closing up the tupperware and putting the chopsticks away as she explained what happened to this Yusho fellow. Nicole allowed a moment of silence after the blonde finished speaking, but no more.
"You really are an idiot, you know?" Nicole said with a quiet sigh, turning around stepping right up to Shinji, a pointed finger mere inches from his face as she stared up at him resolutely, ready to flick the bridge of his nose if he dared to interrupt her, "Or maybe you're just blind, if you couldn't see what you accomplished?"
-
Shinji
Shinji sighed. Damn, why were things so difficult? Still, he couldn't help but smile a little, and scratched his ear in embarassment. But just as he turned around to thank the headmaster-
A daint finger stood face to face with his eyes. And whatever thankfulness he might have felt pretty much got thrown out of the window as he glowered at Neil. He wasn't in the mood for a lecture.
-
The Headmaster
"One more thing." Desk supporting her elbow, she propped up her chin with a sliver of a smile. "Shinji. I made a call earlier, and I found some interesting information. It looks as if one of the invaders was connected to an altercation in Halloween Town. Check the recent news there when you can."
-
Shinji
"That sounds bad. Guess I'll have to go there." He finally sighed and turned to the headmaster. Its not like he usually trusted chiefs, the politics and squabbling in this city were enough to make him puke. But despite that, he decided to put his trust in this woman.
So he really didn't have anything else to say, and just walked back the way he came, his back turned against the two.
"Thanks."
And like a speeding bullet, he dashed out like a red arrow, and flew out of the office. Despite sounding an dacting like he didn't care, he was moving awfully fast.
-
Entheo
A yawn filled the empty air outside of seven eleven. The young man had his back against the wall of the store, just under the window that listed the hot dog deals. Even he wouldn't touch those things. He was wearing the uniform of the magic division, a sleek collared t with some pouch on the breast of the shirt. A loose tie hung around his neck, guiding eyes down to his brown slacks. Two orbs hovered around him, a red and blue soul.
Magic huh? Why are you studying magic?
I told you before. I don't want to rely on you forever.
Don't you remember the rules of the world. There is only so much you can achieve on your own. That is the job of us guardian spirits. There is no shame in relying on us.
Entheo chuckled. C'mon Sakuyomi. I know that. But you saw the way slayer moved right? He wasn't channeling a spirit at all, or using other spiritual methods to enhance himself. That was all him. In this world, human limitations don't matter.
Well then why are we getting involved in a magic class?
Because I want to know more about magic here. Besides, there might be stuff that can enhance my current skillset right? Plus, I feel like if necromancy is a thing here we should keep an eye on that.
Then why are we hanging out at seven eleven like bums?
Because who cares about the first day of school? I don't. Thats boring.
-
Lawrence
A bell suddenly rung , and the entrance door opened slowly. The clack of the cane was plenty to warn of the man's arrival.
"Oh hi mister! How can I help you today." The clerk greeted him as if they knew each other for a while. At least, both seemed to be smiling. But the customer was pale as paper, and seemed like he was about to fall over any second now. Even his smile was weak.
"Hello. Sorry, I'll just have the usual. Today is rougher than I anticipated, all that paperwork is going to be the end of me." He sighed, and just before the door could close, a burning phantom dashed through and flew about. HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! OH YEAHHH!! POP CORN!!! POP CORN!!! POP CORN!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!
"Right, after that attack, you had to make sure everything was back in order. We were lucky the headmaster was around." The clerk scratched his head, but grinned at the bird. Reaching for behind the counter, he tossed a kernel in the air, which the bird caught with a dramatic flip. OH YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSS!!! CHOMP CHOMP!!
"Yeah..." That was probably why the ashen man was sighing in the first place. "Phenex, calm down. You're being troublesome." Is it because of that thing's influence? He thought for a moment. Maybe he'd have to chain its beak up and have it carry his books.
Weakly, he dragged himself to one of the counters and used his cane as a support, crouching down with some difficulty to look for an energy bar. Meanwhile, the clerk prepared a cup of black coffee.
That's when Lawrence first made eye contact with the boy on the ground. Raising a brow, he looked at him in confusion.
"Can I help you?"
-
Entheo
Entheo looked left, then right as if he needed to make sure the guy wasn't talking to someone else. With a tilted head, he said,
"I don't think so? I'm not an animal trainer, so I can't shut your bird up."
The blue orb morphed into custard, who rubbed its back on Entheo's leg before hissing at the bird.
-
Lawrence
"That is regrettable." He closed his eyes and nodded his head in understanding. Meanwhile, the bird circled around the cat and cackled evilly at it, grinning like it found a new lunch. "I haven't seen you around the premises before. Have you been skipping classes?"
-
Marc
Continued from the Citadel. (http://darksidemoon.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,744.msg66474.html#msg66474)
This had to be the right place. This time, he checked the notes and address details to be completely certain this was the right spot. The company better pay for the trip, this was wayyy too hella expensive.
But at least the sight was prettier in here.
With a sigh, he parked the motorbike, triple checked the paper again - and knocked on the door.
"Hellooo?"
-
Neptune
"Sweet niblets What is it now! I've not even moved in yet and people are alrwsdy knocking on the door!"
Thump Thump swoooosh....
The owner marched over to the door with heavy foot steps and threw the door open violently. Actually it was so violently the door was torn off its hinges and flung into the room behind her. There not being a door anymore did reveal the one to have done it looking like a girl of college age, late teens or maybe early twenties.
"We're closed."
She noticed that the sign next to the door actually said 'opened' and not closed as she had stated but that could easily be fixed. So with no care for how silly it was she reached out and flipped the sign around so it did say 'closed'.
Then she waved her hand infront if his face like she was a space wizard from some dumb franchise with too many sequels. "You didn't see that."
-
Marc
Ho... a college chick making a hardened gangster run all this way? Not bad, not bad...
"Oh? Did something happen?" He answered her with a deadpan stare as if he didn't notice anything. After all, there wasn't anything to see. He drove all this way, the least he could do was tease her.
"The door's open. That means I can come in, right?" He flipped the sign back to 'open' with the sweetest smile in the city. While he dressed nice, you could smell the booze from 7 feet away.
-
Neptune
Oh I guess...." She stepped out of the way to let him in to the shop. It was disaster now, all the moving boxes already made it look messy but with the grown door having crashed into them it was now looked like utter chaos. "Sorry for the mess, I've just moved over here cause the old place was in a bad spot for business and all, actually..."
She moved on closer to get a better look at him, and not even the stench of booze dettered her. "You don't look like someone who'd be a client, did you get the right place?"
-
Marc
Hm, that'd be bad... if I drove all this way for nothing. But that couldn't be right, this time he made sure to ask around before coming. Word-of-mouth is a solid foundation to any business enterprise!
"Ayup, I think so." He was relaxed as ever, even as he stepped into the wreck of a place. Glancing at the scattered boxes, even he managed to crack a grin and give the lady a thumbs up.
"Don't sweat it, I get it. But if you don't mind me asking, what do the usual customers look like? I hope they're not more adorable than me, competition's hard enough as it is."
-
Neptune
"PFFFFT-"
Is he for real? It's obvious what anyone else would think....
"Please, anyone else would agree I'm the adorable one here, you'll have to settle for second best.... You're way better than the regulars though, they're all a bunch of rich snobby assholes, and most of them hit on me... Wait!"
She circled around him as she noticed the rifle hoisted on his back, her eyes sparkled with mad interest and an intensity unlike anything else. Is that a Colt Lightning pump action rifle? I haven't seen one in a while but why are you using that model? It jams a lot..."
-
Marc
"Woah, you know your stuff! Haha, that's mostly a collector's item." He waved his hand aloofly, taken aback by the impressive statement. She could identify it from a glance? That's the real deal for you. He paced around and hoisted the gun off his shoulder, letting the shopkeeper take a better look.
"Antiques like that have their charm... like a sweet old grandma who bakes oatmeal cookies. Sure, it's no chocolate chip, but if treated with love, they are just as delicious! ...That and I got it auctioned at a killer price. It's an original 1884 model."
Basically, he was a cheapskate. However, would a guy embarassed by that manage to smile that confidently?
"If I fire that beauty, it won't jam." He uttered those words as if they were an undeniable fact.
-
Neptune
Neptune put her hands on the barrel, tracing her hands up and down with a fascinated expression. Her eyes suddenly glowed a myriad of colors, cycling through the whole spectrum of the rainbow before settling back on faintly glowing purple. She nodded to herself, so engrossed in examining the weapon that she didn't even respond to him, instead she just mumbled to herself.
"Regular ammunition huh, what a shame, the heights I could bring you to... May I..... Would you let me work on this? I haven't worked on a classic gun in soooo long, I'll make sure to keep the look and feel of it of course but there's so many upgrades I could add to that bad boy and make it the sweetest rifle you've ever had...."
-
Marc
The scruffy man beamed and put a hand on his hip.
"Hoho! Sure! And hey, I'm kind of curious to know what the 'Forger of the Stars' is all about. Do you like working on older models?" He handed her the gun. It's not like he was worried, the safety was on.
-
Entheo
"Only the boring ones," Entheo said with a shrug. He glanced at the bird. It was a spirit too. Who was this guy? The cat ran behind Entheo's leg, poking its head out to hiss at the bird. "Wait are you a teacher? What are you doing at seven eleven?"
Aren't you a little old to be talking back to a teacher? What are you like 16?
Shut up. Your the reason I still have this habit.
-
Lawrence
The ashen man looked down on the kid with two flat eyes, staring at him as if he were exasperated already.
"You know, I still need food like everyone else. Do I look too old for candy?"
Actually, he didn't look old at all. The guy would probably pass for a guy in the early twenties if he weren't so sickly. "Chocolare wrapped almonds, jujubes or caramel popcorn?" He asked the kid with the straightest face.
-
Entheo
Entheo simply stared at the man for a moment, letting those words hang in the air. "I'll take chocolate wrapped almonds," he said, lowering his eyes at the man. "I mean you don't really look that much older than me. Did you really just stop by here for snacks? You know there is actual food across the street right?"
Still, the young man couldn't help but smile. He chuckled at the thought of a teacher huddled in his office surrounded by candy and chips.
The truth of getting old is knowing where your childhood muses belong in your adult life, not simply abandoning them Entheo.
Shut the hell up! Weren't you just chastizing me a second ago for "acting like i'm 16?"
And my childhood muse is backtalking smartasses.
And mine is being a proud smartass.
And thats why we get along.
-
Lawrence
"Who said they were for you? Go buy your own candy." He picked the chocolate almond box and put it on the counter. That, the energy bar and the coffee... my, 4 dollars? Inflation was simply getting outrageous.
"You shouldn't skip classes, it'll make your brain rot." He added nonchalantly while paying for his stuff, not even sparing the boy a glance.
-
Entheo
Entheo once again shrugged and said, "fair enough. But no thanks, just blew all my money on two blonds and a good time. I think my brain is already plenty rotten."
-
Lawrence
He blinked for a second, then smiled as if he got it. "Then I feel sorry for the ladies." He tapped his cane and began to walk away.
Suddenly, something picked the kid up by the collar with a shocking amount of strength. Its cold breath and deep ebony color barely warned of its presence, but a massive lion made from some black shadow had gripped his clothes by the collar to drag the kid away.
"If you don't have money, then you shouldn't loiter a shop, it's poor manners. Come to my class, it's free." He could say the silliest thing in the straightest most deadpan tone.
It's not like he wasn't dragging him to it.
-
Entheo
"What the..."
Entheo was suddenly staring at the ground from above, his feet dangling as he hung from whatever was holding him from behind. Quick Sakuyomi, fuse with me! I'm getting out of here!
Are you kidding me? I'm not letting you use my power for class. Also, you didn't let me eat any of the pizza. The best part about being a ghost is now I don't have to care about my own nutrition, only yours.
"So you are a teacher!" Entheo said, waving his arms and legs around trying to get free. "Wait, i'm a college student. You can't just drag me to class? I'm not in high school damn it! I can skip when I want!"
-
Lawrence
"If you're not a high schooler, then cease acting like a child. You don't look like you're spending your time in any productive fashion anyways." He sighed and dragged him away from the shop, his fiery bird following along.
-
Entheo
"The truth of getting old is knowing where your childhood muses belong in your adult life, not simply abandoning them," Entheo said, pointing his finger to the sky with his eyes closed. He stopped kicking his arms and legs and slumped in the creature's grip.
You son of a- you know what. I'm just going to follow along and enjoy watching, the red orb said, floating behind Entheo. The blue cat turned back into an orb and slipped into Entheo's pocket, hiding from the bird.
-
Lawrence
"...Sounds like running away to me." He mused without looking like he paid much mind to the kid's words. As the sun shone through the leaves, he dragged him away and up the stairs to the academy's entrance.
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! LOOK WHO'SE TALKING!! H... OH W- OW OW OW OW OW! DON'T JUST SMACK ME IN YOUR OWN MIND!! S-SQUAAACK!!
"Right, I didn't ask your name." He sighed and spared the boy a glance.
-
Entheo
"Running away huh?" Entheo said, looking back and down at the teacher from above. He let the phrase hang in the air, folding his arms over his chest.
They passed through the immaculate campus, passing all sorts of lovely girls in school uniforms. Whomever designed them must have really loved legs, because the skirts were short and the stockings really only served to highlight the legs even more. What was interesting was that the shirts were pretty tight too, so it was easy to size up a lazy from a quick glance. The men wore similar outfits to Entheo, and thus a lot less interesting to look at. Well at least for the young man.
"Entheo," he said, smiling at the teacher. "What should I call you? Professor, candy man, bird guy?"
-
Marc
The scruffy man beamed and put a hand on his hip.
"Hoho! Sure! And hey, I'm kind of curious to know what the 'Forger of the Stars' is all about. Do you like working on older models?" He handed her the gun. It's not like he was worried, the safety was on.
Neptune
"Some people say my eyes look like the stars on clear night or something... I dunno I just like working on weapons, old or new alike. Buuuut... There is a sort of charm to genuine older models that are maintained this well, I can tell you treasure it and don't just have it just for show." Neptune spun around as she examined the weapon, then in a swift motion she removed the safety, twirled the rifle in her hand and took a one handed shot at one of moving crates that had already been emptied...
Bang...
The recoil was minimal, you could barely see her arm move, despite her firing such a high calibre weapon with just one hand, clearly something a regular human wouldn't be able to do. The purple haired weapon crafter then put the safety on again and handed it back to him.
"As cool as the pumping action is, you can't really fire it continuously with one hand, I could add an optional semi automatic mode to it though. It would really expand your options for it and wouldn't change the aesthetic at all.."
-
Marc
He raised a brow at the chick - but just as he put his hand up to stop her she already made the shot. Wide-eyed as an owl, he blinked while shreds of paper and cardboard flew all across the room. Now, they were getting all over his suit - much to his annoyance. But even when he was bowing the bits out of his clothes, he couldn't help but be impressed.
First the door, and now a shot like that? That girl meant business. He couldn't help but like that.
"Wow! Are you for real!? That is awesome. You're awesome!" He grinned wolfishly, wiping some of the cardboard debris off his stubbled mug before catching the rifle with one hand. He pointed it at another cardboard box, and -
"Blam!" His eyes were focused at the target. If that were a schmuck instead of a box, well, it wouldn't really look like one after it got in the middle of that shot. "Hahah...Not bad, I like the idea. But you know, I'm not expecting you to work for free. Speaking of which... I found this key lying around outside"
From all the giddy charisma and excitement in his voice, he suddenly hushed it down and looked a bit shyer about it, though still in a good mood about it. "I'm not sure, does it look like it's yours?" He raised a brow at her.
Thing is, it probably wasn't hers. So why ask?
-
Entheo
"Running away huh?" Entheo said, looking back and down at the teacher from above. He let the phrase hang in the air, folding his arms over his chest.
They passed through the immaculate campus, passing all sorts of lovely girls in school uniforms. Whomever designed them must have really loved legs, because the skirts were short and the stockings really only served to highlight the legs even more. What was interesting was that the shirts were pretty tight too, so it was easy to size up a lazy from a quick glance. The men wore similar outfits to Entheo, and thus a lot less interesting to look at. Well at least for the young man.
"Entheo," he said, smiling at the teacher. "What should I call you? Professor, candy man, bird guy?"
Lawrence
"...Lawrence will do." As he said that, a slight smirk crawled up his face. And with that, the two disappeared in the darkness of the academy's hearth.
The scholar soon dragged the boy to the lecture hall. A decorative, almost prestigious looking classroom, easily wide enough to fit a hundred people. And yet... today, it barely managed to house a quarter of that number. Those who were there looked roughed up, at least some of them.
And yet, the teacher clacked his cane against the gorgeous marble floor.
"Good morning everyone. I suppose most of you must have gotten my message last night. That is good. And that is why today will not be an official class. Instead, we will use today as an optional lecture to go over what we have learned until now. But before we begin, I would like to make an announcement."
He looked at each and every one of his students, even Entheo, and for a moment his expression darkened.
"Yesterday, as some of you might be aware, the district was attacked by an unknown entity. The damage... was not negligible, but as always we must thank our headmistress for the effort she puts in to ensure this is a peaceful den of learning. Reparations have, for the most part, been successful. But while she has the power to meld and control this school's every wall and structure by the atom... she cannot put together a broken pride."
Some students nodded in agreement... while others looked at their wounds in shame. And yet, Lawrence was looking at his very students with genuine pride from the deepest part of his soul.
"Our hearts. When those beasts attacked our friends, our families, our peers... they didn't attack a piece of rubble. Nor did they attack a mere library. They attacked our hearts. I am not encouraging anyone to seek them out, that is neither our place nor our duty. But in those times, we must be stronger than ever. We can show those who try to stomp our faces in the rubble that our hearts will not waver to their senseless violence. Against an unjust, unfair, and irresistible force, we all have a duty to oppose it with all-out might - and secure a better day for those we care for. Even if that is the will of the world. Your responsibility, for each of you, is to rest. Get strong. Those who wish to visit their loved ones, as I notified, are free to do so. This will only be a lecture to help those who need it in the moment."
-
Students and Entheo
Students walked into the lecture hall as usual, large oversized backpacks in hand or for some, only a pencil and laptop. There was an air of melancholic boredom, with a palpable tension. The posture of most students was slumped. Many who arrived simply put their head down. Others began feverishly talking to one another about the incident.
"I heard it was a 17foot tall monster!"
"No thats not right. It was a child!"
"Who cares they took out library island."
"Are we going to be able to finish our research projects?"
"Those poor families.... their students are just... gone."
Everyone stopped talking the moment Lawrance came in, hauling in some dumbass guy. No one really recognized him, their faces confused for a moment but ultimately uncaring. After being let down, the young man stuck his hands in his pocket and walked into the back. He sat next to two men, who shot him a suspicious glare before removing their things, not even a greeting was given.
After Lawrance's opening speech, the room seemed to darken even more. There was a silence that filled the space in between his words before one person raised their hand. "I heard the headmistress fought the attackers. Is she still alive?"
Entheo sat in the back, his arms behind his head. The blue and red orbs that were Gezo and Custard floated around his head. No matter how old I get, tragety never ceases to astound me. Perhaps that is because every one of them is tinged with uncertainty and coated with the great unknown that is death.
But your dead. Does it still bother you?
A dead man still has concerns for the living. Death itself is not so bad once your finished, but the anticipation is horrifying. Every living creature struggles against the monster known as death and most lose that battle. As a ghost, I only wish people could find a way to live without being so anxious about it all the time.
Well there is nothing we can do about it, Entheo sent to Gezo as he yawned. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Dealing with adversity is what makes life worth living right, that includes the anxiety that comes with death.
Yeah.
-
Lawrence
"There will be accommodations in place to ensure all projects are given a fair chance to be completed. I can assure you that you will be marked with consideration in mind. As for the lost..."
For a moment, Entheo could see Lawrence's fist, trying to keep itself from clenching. It couldn't be denied... that he genuinely cared about those students.
"We will find the ones responsible for that, and make sure that they face the justice they deserve. But do not worry, the headmistress is fine, if albeit a bit overworked."
You're a shitty actor. Gehehe.
"Before we begin, I'd like to leave some time for anyone to speak freely. Whomever you are, whatever you wish to say, I will listen. This is a place of learning... not just to nurture one's knowledge, but one's heart."
-
Students
Entheo merely leaned back in the chair, closing his eyes as his head rested against the wall. A man with wild hair, an unkempt beard and heavy set figure stood up and raised his hand. "Should we be worried about another attack? I mean, there is no assurance that if that happens again we will be safe."
There was a mutter that floated through the crowd. "I thought this was a high grade institution. Why don't we have better security?"
Its unfortunate not everyone can be strong or cleaver. Maybe then they wouldn't have to worry about their own safety.
Its not that Entheo. Your not the strongest in the city, even with me and Custard together. You have an intimate understanding of mortality and its consequences. These people are feeling death's gentle hand touch their backs for the first time in a while, and its a cold feeling.
Another hand was raised. "Professor. Aren't you scared?"
-
Neptune
"Of course I don't work for free! This isn't a charity.... Now what do you have there?" The blacksmith shuffled closer and leaned in close, real close, so she could have a real good look at the object he was presenting. It was a key, of that much she was certain at a first glance. There didn't seem to be anything special about though, however, appearances could be deceiving. She was herself a good example of that.
"Looks like a key to a vehicle, hmm...." Her gaze shifted from the key to looking directly at him... "Is this the beginning of a pickup line? Are you gonna say something sappy like 'This is the key to your heart?'... It's not gonna work."
-
Marc
The redhead shook his head. "Nope. I don't mix work and love, and this is a professional transaction, my friend." He tossed the key up, giving it a closer look as if he didn't know what it was for either. Let alone whose it was. He toyed with it a bit, then-
"Weird, but... let's see what it opens." He tossed it right at the shopkeeper and shook his head to point her out the door to the vehicle parked right by her shop.
It wasn't the bike he came with. It was a Ferrari Magnum Pi. One of the classic 80's models, kept in perfect condition! No, even for collectibles, this classic was something else. You didn't just get a vehicle like this in the nexus unless you were seriously into this stuff, knew where to look for it, and had the money to get a baby like this. And the baby was gorgeous, buttered up, and brand spanking new. Inside, a coworker of his was handling the wheels to get it here. He was a regular joe, but he had good eyes on the road, which is why he paid him handsomely to put up with him.
The money he gently borrowed from generous donors. Well, that's capitalism for you.
"There might be something in the trunk." He winked at her with a toothy grin.
-
Neptune
The purple haired girl caught it by reflex and blinked before following him out, only to be met with soaring excitement which was immediately followed by soul crushing despair.
Her shoulders slumped, reflecting her internal mood clearly. She wasn't nearly as good as her new costumer at hiding her emotions. "You.... You're totally teasing me here... How can you dangle it like this before me and not even let me have a look at the engine.... You're mean.... But fine I'll have a look at the trunk." She disappointingly slumped over to the back of the car and opened it.
-
Marc
But the disappointment was short-lived. Whoever said crime didn't pay clearly didn't run enough protection rackets. That's because inside the trunk was a gift box, dramatically decorated and filled with a couple of elaborate bottles. The sort you could only find in one place in the whole damn city: The Pleasure Palace. And this wasn't any kind of cheap swill. No, those were refill-bound bottles, filled with high-grade merchandise. Unopened and with the official seal of approval, if there was one legit bone in her body, she would totally be able to tell. This was the real shit.
But whatever name brand glowed gold right in the trunk was soon met with a wake-up call, in the form of a friendly headpat. She got one thing right, he was teasing her and absolutely loving it!
"I think you're getting the wrong idea here. You're free to look at this baby as much as you like, peek at all its secret places till you're satisfied. Engine, brake systems, it's all yours." He closed his eyes and smiled, arms crossed with words that were as calm as they were proud. This was basically the most over-the-top payment in advance you were likely going to get from a guy as lazy as him. Give or take.
"That includes whatever's inside. You are old enough to drink, right?" He pulled two glass shot cups from his pocket and let them clang cheekily.
-
Neptune
"I'd stop doing that if you like having hands..."
If there was one thing the purple haired girl disliked more than anything else, it was being treated like a kid, and getting headpats was pretty damn high on the list of being treated like a kid.
She closed the trunk of the car and turned to him with a much more serious disposition than he had. "Why are you bribing me? Who do you work for?" Neptune took a step closer and knocked the shot glosses aside as she got right up in his face.
-
Marc
"Wohoah! Sorry, got way ahead of myself there." He raised his hands in surrender and backed off as if she were a crate of TNT.
"And I wouldn't call this a bribe. It's not like I'm putting conditions here, this is a free country. Think of it more as a sign of friendship."
Well, their ideas of friendship might differ, but its not like he was heartless. In a perfect world, they'd both have a lot to gain.
"Look, the whole lying and manipulating and pulling people by the leg? That's not my style. So I'll be straight with you; I work with a security company, the sort that mainly focuses on protection. You must have seen the news, the city isn't exactly a safe haven right now. And because of that, business is booming... But the jobs are getting riskier."
He sighed and shook his head, rubbing his temple as if the thought alone was a headache.
"We can't exactly downsize if we want to stay competitive, but I don't want needless casualties. That's why we need to invest in better gear, and you're the best damn smith in town."
He made it sound like it was just about business, but you didn't need to be a genius to tell he was genuinely worried about keeping his comrades safe. If that was evil or wrong, then throw him in the 9th circle already. But a district almost totalled in an evening, monsters popping up left and right...
It was pretty scary.
"How about it, want to partner up?"
-
Neptune
"So you work with a protection racket. That's all fine and dandy but you've made one mistake pal..."The purple haired girl kept up her advance and grappled h by the shirt to stop him from getting away, then she got up on her toes so she could be eye level with him for the delivery of the message that he needed to head.
" You tried bribing me with a car, instead of being upfront about who you are." She said as she shoved the key back at him. "You can have your back, and don't think for a second I'm the kind of girl who's loyalty you can buy with gifts like that. Give me a sweet ride when I've earned it." She let go of him after that but didn't drop her challenging gaze.
"And if you did your research then you should know I specialize in weapons and not protective gear
So how is it? Is this gonna be a series of commissions or are you planning on hiring me full time?"
-
Marc
He looked at her straight in the eye... And smiled.
"I told you, it's not a bribe... And ideally the contract's full time. But it's less of a business-to-business and more of a partnership. We'll pay you, of course, but we'll also invest some of our shares in your company. That means we get first bid on your merchandise... But you don't have to worry about location, marketing, testing or production fees. You'll also get to move your product safely."
He caught the key smoothly, and handed it to the coach.
"And I knew that... It's why I vouched for you actually. I believe the best defense... Is a good offense. The car and the drinks? They're on me. Otherwise, you might think I'm not serious about this."
This time, it were his eyes that focused on her intensely. It was the sort that could burn right through you.
-
Students
Entheo merely leaned back in the chair, closing his eyes as his head rested against the wall. A man with wild hair, an unkempt beard and heavy set figure stood up and raised his hand. "Should we be worried about another attack? I mean, there is no assurance that if that happens again we will be safe."
There was a mutter that floated through the crowd. "I thought this was a high grade institution. Why don't we have better security?"
Its unfortunate not everyone can be strong or cleaver. Maybe then they wouldn't have to worry about their own safety.
Its not that Entheo. Your not the strongest in the city, even with me and Custard together. You have an intimate understanding of mortality and its consequences. These people are feeling death's gentle hand touch their backs for the first time in a while, and its a cold feeling.
Another hand was raised. "Professor. Aren't you scared?"
Lawrence
He looked, at each and every one of them, and finally closed his eyes. His tone, his heart, he was laying it all bare in the most honest of ways. Maybe that is why it was possible to trust him. He didn't sweeten his words with false anondynes.
"There is no way to tell anymore. Those born here might not know the feeling, but many of us were all stripped from our worlds and thrown into an illogical situation. If this world has a will, it probably doesn't follow natural conventions... that includes the law of the fittest. It doesn't matter how strong you are, there will always be something ready to take you down and try to devour you."
Hey...
It was hard to tell... unless you had the eye to see even the subtlest movements. But there was only one person here who had that ability. That's why he could see that ashen man, shaking and clutching at the desk. Why was he trembling?
"I am scared. To be honest, I can't stop shaking. The trauma of losing something precious, the shame of having one's dignity stripped away... I know that feeling too well. I am a coward. Sometimes, even the mightiest of lions falls prey to terror. But to live... to thrive... is to overcome that fear."
His words echoed through the auditorium. There was a conviction to them, a resolve that simply couldn't be denied. And yet, even a man like this will admit that his heart will waver. But even so, that shaking... was it truly fear?
What changes the nature of a man?
"The fact that innocent people had to face that trauma is unforgivable... I can promise nothing of an uncertain future. But I swear on my life, on every drop of blood in my marrow, that the ones responsible for this will not touch a hair of my pupils again."
-
Students
The hands fell, as well as the chatter that filled the room. There was silence. The eyes in the room all focused on Lawrance, perhaps lost in his speech. It wasn't uncommon for professors to become emotional during these times, but it was typically hidden behind a cracked mask of professionalism. Open passion such as this was rare. Who could really say anything in the face of such raw emotion? Who would dare be so insensitive?
"You can't save everyone," he said, standing up and leveling his cool blue eyes with Lawrances.
Wow. Really Entheo?
"Everyone who is given the gift of life has to one day deal with the possibility of death. The world gives and takes on its own time. You can't save anyone from that reality, nor should you. Because one day, everyone here will die."
And somehow, the room became even more silent than it already was, if that was even possible.
-
Lawrence
The room went quiet. Deathly so. But it wasn't just because of the students. The teacher himself was rent speechless by the man's comment. No, it's not that he was stunned. Lawrence was staring straight at Entheo's eyes.
Oh no.
"That may be so..." It wasn't visible to the students, but the tattoos on his body began to shift and crawl.
Lawrence, stop it. Just stop. Don't-
Lawrence was smiling at Entheo. He smiled... and closed his eyes. But it was odd, he didn't seem tense. This was more like an acceptance of the challenge... of a professor accepting a student as his peer.
"Inevitability is an unchangeable law of the universe. But we're not beasts. Certainly, we can only control our end's circumstances by a thin hair... but we can make sure to help one another in life. It's especially because people abide blindly to this cynical notion, that people ignore the other side of the coin. While everyone will eventually die, we can comfort and help one another even in our last moments. If people worked together, tragedies, where death and folly take their toll to reap the innocent, could certainly be avoided."
He waved his cane dramatically - and pointed it straight at Entheo as if it were a projector laser.
"Just because people will die should deter us from saving others? This logic is flawed. Should science not progress to heal the sick? Should people not strive to share their wealth to the needy? Boy... what you are talking about is nothing more than shallow-minded pessimism. You ignore the fact that humans can be better."
-
Neptune
"Smooth save hehe...." Neptune couldn't help by giggling at his sudden shift into seriousness.
"I can tell why you're the deal maker of your group, you're good but I remember what happened. You didn't research me personally or you'd known I was a cute girl instead of wearing that surprised face when you first saw me. Although I do get that look a lot, it's like people expect me to be a grumpy old man or something..."
"So what exactly do you want? I can make a lot of things, but I can't make anything if you don't put in any requests
-
Entheo
Entheo laughed and said, "No I agree. Death is an inevitability, but that fact alone does not control us. Its our duty as mortals to fight until the bitter end. Thats what it means to be alive. To comfort others in their last moments is the least anyone can do. In fact, its a unique joy, but..."
Why are you-?
Because you were right Sakuyomi. I was being ignorant to their perspectives. They aren't used to this so a conversation like this is important. Maybe then if I have to pass one of these people on, I can see them smile in their last moments.
The blue eyes became obscured by his eyelids as if rejecting the advance of the cane. "...but you can't protect people from that battle. Because death comes for all of us, you can't protect them from that fight. Thats just misguided self righteousness."
For someone taking such a pessimistic stance your being awfully naive.
Maybe but then... should I just ignore them?
Its just an observation.
"Do you seriously think you are strong enough to protect them all?" he said, finally opening his eyes, his cool gaze focused on the teacher.
One man spoke up. "Hey thats enough," he said, rising slightly from his seat.
-
Neptune
"Smooth save hehe...." Neptune couldn't help by giggling at his sudden shift into seriousness.
"I can tell why you're the deal maker of your group, you're good but I remember what happened. You didn't research me personally or you'd known I was a cute girl instead of wearing that surprised face when you first saw me. Although I do get that look a lot, it's like people expect me to be a grumpy old man or something..."
"So what exactly do you want? I can make a lot of things, but I can't make anything if you don't put in any requests
Marc
"Even the best can slack off once or twice." He shrugged. Well, it's not like she wasn't off the mark herself. Normally, his comfort zone was reserved for punching things really hard. It's not like he was some kind of business mastermind or anything, just a man trying to make a living.
"You could start with that rifle. I'm still curious, I want to see how you work." He sat on the Ferrari's hood and crossed his arms expectantly. "Think of it as a blank canvas to paint in your colors. Impress me."
-
Entheo
Entheo laughed and said, "No I agree. Death is an inevitability, but that fact alone does not control us. Its our duty as mortals to fight until the bitter end. Thats what it means to be alive. To comfort others in their last moments is the least anyone can do. In fact, its a unique joy, but..."
Why are you-?
Because you were right Sakuyomi. I was being ignorant to their perspectives. They aren't used to this so a conversation like this is important. Maybe then if I have to pass one of these people on, I can see them smile in their last moments.
The blue eyes became obscured by his eyelids as if rejecting the advance of the cane. "...but you can't protect people from that battle. Because death comes for all of us, you can't protect them from that fight. Thats just misguided self righteousness."
For someone taking such a pessimistic stance your being awfully naive.
Maybe but then... should I just ignore them?
Its just an observation.
"Do you seriously think you are strong enough to protect them all?" he said, finally opening his eyes, his cool gaze focused on the teacher.
One man spoke up. "Hey thats enough," he said, rising slightly from his seat.
Lawrence
Maybe you should take notes. This isn't doing you any good. Wouldn't it be better to just give this gig up and live a little for a change?
For a nightmare, you're awfully talkative.
Says you. Paint it as it fancies you, but it's not like this is about anyone but yourself. I should know.
...Now you're starting to sound like our other half.
Well, we are cut from the same cloth.
Do you think it's because I don't like him?
Pft. No way, you're head over heels. In fact, I haven't seen you this giddy in a heck of a long time. Just try to keep it in your pants, fuckboy.
Is that so?
Just an observation.
In response to the icy stare, he was cool and collected - but didn't look down on the boy. The truth was, it was another man who interrupted his from speaking up, and the folly of his sentimentality dawned on him once more. He shook his head and looked at the kid with mocking eyes filled with pity.
"We're getting carried away. This is foolishness, boy. But the bigger fool is I, for entertaining such a tasteless debate."
-
Entheo
"Yeah..." he said, sitting back in his seat, folding his arms behind his head. Eyes closed as his mind drifted off into the blank void of sleep.
So what about the lecture?
Don't care....
The man who stopped them sat right back down. He shot one more glare to Entheo before returning his attention to the professor and his notes. It was hard for the man to not notice that Entheo didn't have any books out, nor a pencil. It was as if he never even intended on studying anything.
Another student raised their hand, a young girl. "So.. you didn't answer that question. What are they doing to prevent another attack? Can't we hire some bounty hunters or something for extra protection?"
-
Neptune
"Uhm..." She instinctively took a step back. "About that..." Neptune scratches her head in embarrassment. She wasn't sure how to say this so it was probably just best to say, but damn it this might actually ruin a good partnership deal and that was such a shame.
"You see... I get all flustered when someone sees me do my magic and it's worse if I'm not totally comfortable, I might even blow something up. I don't wanna dissapoint your expectations this early but we're not buddies yet and you're a guy too. Its kinda like having someone watch you cook while you're naked... Sorry."
-
Marc
"Ho! Don't sweat it, I get that. You don't even need to apologize." He gave her a toothy thumbs up and hopped from his seat. "Lots of folks don't appreciate the pressure of the spotlight. This is pretty stressful for me too, you know? So... hmmm... how about..."
He thought for a moment, scratching his stubble until he figured it out. Of course, the moment he did he also pointed up with his index.
"I'll be back... you know, just give me a call when you're done. I'm not looking to rush you." He handed her a business card and a friendly smile. It had his name on it and everything too. "I figured it was that or put blindfolds on, but if we're not buddies yet I can't be sure you won't draw cat staches on my sorry mug."
-
Neptune
"Hey!"
Grab...
The purple haired smith grabbed him by his shirt and tried pulling him back to the shop. "Where do you think you're going after talking shit like that huh huh? You're so lucky I'm in a good mood now, so good I'm gonna show you how I do it, and you're gonna like it."
Her grip tightened on him, he was baiting ans she was gonna take that bait and devour it whole, along with the rod and the fisherman.
"Come on in... please."
-
Marc
Unfortunately for her, fishing was a favorite pastime of his. Now that they came this far, he was perfectly fine reeling her in.
"Oh? Well, if you insist." He put his arms behind his head and followed along. "So, how long have you been doing this?"
-
Entheo
"Yeah..." he said, sitting back in his seat, folding his arms behind his head. Eyes closed as his mind drifted off into the blank void of sleep.
So what about the lecture?
Don't care....
The man who stopped them sat right back down. He shot one more glare to Entheo before returning his attention to the professor and his notes. It was hard for the man to not notice that Entheo didn't have any books out, nor a pencil. It was as if he never even intended on studying anything.
Another student raised their hand, a young girl. "So.. you didn't answer that question. What are they doing to prevent another attack? Can't we hire some bounty hunters or something for extra protection?"
Lawrence
"We will be ready next time. And with the security forces from our campus combined supporting the headmistress, we will not lose. Security measures will be heightened considerably, and we will be prepared next time. Vigilance is the first key to victory, remember that." He pondered pensively for a second. "But for now, we must not neglect our studies! Knowledge is the difference between man and beast, and a powerful weapon against those who wish us harm."
"I shall go over the past notes on morphogenetic links and life-force manipulations. Now, may I have someone remind me, what is morphogenetic theory?"
-
Students (And Entheo in the back)
"Its the practice of understanding the information necessary to shape the form of a living thing and using magic to construct that thing," one girl said, standing up. She had orange hair, a bow and a slender frame. She sat down the second she finished speaking.
"Its used in necromancy right?" one kid said.
Hey dumbass wake up. They are teaching necromancy here. You should be paying attention to this..
-
Lawrence
"Close. Necromancy uses the underlying principle of connections, but their dealings are solely focused on the manipulation of the dead. However, more elaborate practices do manage to form bonds that go deeper. Resurrection, divination... even a ghost or a phantom could possess a living creature and slowly influence it. Its memories, its shape, and eventually... its sense of self. Unlike simple possession, which turns a body into a container for a necrotic force, these bonds can travel freely between life and death. No, it's more accurate to say that these concepts simply do not exist in the grander scheme of things."
His cane clacked against the ground, calling all to attention.
"Physical and spiritual deaths are merely transformative, they do not add or take energy or matter - only change it to a new state. It isn't to be confused with entropic death, the state where matter reverts to primordial nothing irreversibly. That is why spiritual and physical matter can still change and be manipulated. But that is a facet of morphogenetic theory. It isn't its underlying clause."
Through magic, the ink in his hands expanded and formed shapes and different figures, each illustrating different creatures forming through different patterns.
"Let us focus on living for a moment. It is not at all necessary for us to assume that the physical characteristics of organisms are solely contained inside the genes. That may in fact be analogous to transistors tuned in to the proper frequencies for translating invisible information into visible form. Thus, morphogenetic fields are located invisibly in and around organisms, and the manipulation of said fields through scientific or arcane means allows for the manipulation of flesh and mind of a wider scale. In turn, these links can form more complex patterns, as found in biological structures and plants - which remain consistant despite the circumstance. A pine will always be shaped as a pine. Forests will form through preset preferred shapes. A bird will always remain shaped as a bird. Cells follow a signal that directs them to form and interact in a specific way. This is a consistant law that is followed accross countless universes. But by tapping into these fields, the natural form can be changed, recorded, or transmitted elsewhere."
-
Entheo
A snore cut through the classroom, eyes gathering on the young man in the back. Then, they returned to the professor and the same girl stood up. "Is that going to be on the test or is this extra information?" she asked. "Are we expected to learn spells in this field or just the one you are showing us now?"
-
Entheo
A snore cut through the classroom, eyes gathering on the young man in the back. Then, they returned to the professor and the same girl stood up. "Is that going to be on the test or is this extra information?" she asked. "Are we expected to learn spells in this field or just the one you are showing us now?"
Lawrence
"Oh, this is just to illustrate. It's easier than the chalkboard. My muscles aren't that big..." His lecture was cut short, and he stopped in embarrassment. "And most spells can find some grounding to this theory, so it would be pointless to learn them all. Just remember the underlying theory. Those morphic links exist and determine the laws of this world at large, and to manipulate them is no different than to manipulate these laws through magic. There is one main difference though, could anyone illuminate me on its nature?"
He smiled and invited his pupils to the challenge. With a wave of his hand, a black kitten - a miniature version of that lion from earlier - appeared behind Entheo's shadow and bit his bum.
His smile took a cold quality. He got scary when students slacked like that. That's why most people didn't dare.
-
Students
There was a strange empathic connection students get with their teacher. When one is forced to spend so much time paying attention to one single person, they become privy to their mannerisms. A flow exists in a lesson. Good and bad students alike are able to pick up on that flow, as well as all the emotions contained within it. That cold stare: they all knew what was coming.
"Damn it!" he yelped, rubbing his ass and staring at the kitten. "Why is custard black now?"
No you fool. Thats his spirit, the teacher.
"Oh right."
The orange haired girl's eye twitched. Standing up she asked, "It requires a transfer of energy through mana, similar to the laws of thermodynamics right? Also similar to how energy is generated in the body, requiring a metaphorical spark and fuel to start the chemical process in the form of ATP, mana serves to force the transformation."
"Did I miss anything?"
Of course you did. Just pay attention. I'll pass on the information you missed later.
-
Lawrence
"That... is correct, yes, but it isn't quite right. Not all magic follows the natural laws, nor do all Morphic Links require energy in order to be manipulated. That is because the arcane is a craft made to wield the unnatural. Unnatural wielders can even negate thermodynamics. No, there is a special property that differentiates morphogenetic theory from magic theory. Both are able to manipulate the world, but..."
"He smiled and walked down the rows, and tapped Entheo's desk lightly with his cane. "When this boy dozed off in the middle of my re-cap, you all collectively had the same reaction. Despite being born in different backgrounds, even different worlds in some cases, regardless of culture or biological background, you all had the same idea. It was... an instinct, correct?
-
Students
The student body nodded in unison, further proving his point without even realizing it. Entheo's eyes were drawn to the cane, then back to Lawrance. "Shit. Gezo is probably right," he said aloud... still. "Damn it I hate when he is right."
-
Lawrence
"In your case, let's assume the excuse is nothing more than 'common sense'. But then... what of animals?"
His tattoos rippled across his body, and the fiery bird from before soared high and mighty, spreading its wings with an incandescent show.
"When a baby cub is born, it instinctively knows to seek for its mother's milk. When a baby turtle is born, it instinctively knows to seek the waters and follow its kin - despite the latter lacking basic self-awareness. And in the case of humans, even something called the sixth sense is possible. To avoid danger despite having never experienced it is only possible because someone, somewhere else, has experienced it. Habits, instincts, likes, dislikes, all of these are insignificant on their own... but they still float in the collective unconscious of every living thing. And somehow, through trial and error, humans have honed this 'common sense' into a link that provides each and every one of us with a blank slate. We might paint it later down the line, external stimuli might influence it upon birth... but all men are born equal in this way."
He smiled at each and every one of them, from the bottom of his heart. Fire danced, showcasing worlds, stars, and even the torrent of souls called the afterlife - but always splitting, always diverging. From reality to reality, from timeline to timeline. The world was an endless stream of possibilities. They are all based in reality...but whence is the root? What determines the constant values?
"Parallel versions of ourselves, through trial and error, leave their mark. And through morphic fields, subconsciously, we respond to the knowledge that flows through the streams of time. Each moment, every one of us leaves a mark on this intangible force. On its own, it's only a bundle of droplets - not nearly enough to change the natural order. But united, through trial and error, we pass our mark through history. The fruit of knowledge and time is what we entrust to future generations, and in turn, it becomes a torrent that can shape even mountains."
He paused and opened his book in a dramatic fashion.
"Page 236! Two plus two will always make four, as long as enough people believe it to be so. The connection that every living being shares... draws us closer on a fundamental scale. And through the 'common sense' we share, it paints the natural laws as per the collective unconscious. Unlike magic, which paints the world despite the natural laws."
-
Entheo
Entheo leaned back in his seat, one eye open, the other shut. With arms folded behind his back, he sighed. Look at that Sakuyomi. Even this power, magic uses strength from others, even another version of myself. You think its wrong to seek improvement in myself then?
No. But your folly is in assuming people are built from their own efforts alone. That is your folly Entheo. You can't just slink off into your corner and improve yourself. You need others to gain strength.
Then Sakuyomi... whats even the point of personal strength?
Another man stood up. Black hair, blue eyes and a cool stare. Indeed it was Entheo himself standing up now. "What about the dead, spirits, gods? Supernatural phenomenon that are both part of the natural laws and beyond the ones we know. Where do they fall?"
I'd say personal strength exists simply to endure, gather the will to improve and then contribute that to others. When everyone does this, we all grow stronger together and in our own ways. Thats why I don't think your wrong Entheo.
-
Lawrence
His eyes perked for the first time in the whole lecture. "I'm glad you asked. Well then, let us start with the simplest example. Gods."
With a dramatic wave of his hand, Phenex and the Grail king were summoned in the center of the lecture hall and stood proud as mighty spirits can be. Fire and shadow illustrated and coalesced to form otherwordly shapes, beings of worship and the humans beneath them.
"They thrive on the worship and adulation of others. That isn't to say it's emotional dependency. Rather, they draw power from the belief and worship given to them. In return, their power is granted to their most ardent believers, and even aspects of their being. Theoretically, this is the concept behind aspects and prophets, but on a more general scale, gods are shaped by their believers just as much as they shape their believers. In turn, this reciprocal relationship is almost like a contract. An unknown god with no one to praise him has no more power than the scattered winds. Rather, it's no different than a catbox. Without believers, a higher entity ceases to be an entity. Of course, there are exceptions... but in those cases, we can view these divines as no different than some humans in this respect. Powerful, certainly, but with connections that only go one way. A lonely, painful existence."
A human who embraced his connections and nurtured them was a fearsome thing, but as he said, a droplet alone can't change the ocean. Even in the grander scheme, a lone God is no different than a lone man. No, even less than that. Because at least, man still has potential. But a tool without a user is no different than junk.
Lawrence smiled. "In essence, a true God is nothing more than a slave. You've heard of the legends, right? That it was angels who came down from heaven to teach humans how to use fire? (http://darksidemoon.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,762.msg63275.html#msg63275)"
-
Entheo/students
So thats how gods work in this world.
C'mon thats still true to an extent in our world as well... Still, its a condescending way to present that information.
Why do gods get to be strong if they don't have anyone to grow stronger with?
Because they aren't strong, merely powerful. Entheo, you are stronger than a god, most humans are, but only in unison.
You stood up to a god alone didn't you?
Aren't I dead? It went a lot better when we did it together. Thats always been our strength Entheo and nothing you can do will ever surpass it.
Entheo raised his hand again, but the orange haired woman shot daggers at him with her eyes. "Can I take a turn? Thank you. Professor, what do gods have to do with any of this? They exist on another plane, their actions could be considered secondary at best. Even in the example you used of the legend, it was the angels, servants of the gods who came from heaven to teach humans to use fire. They never get involved, so why does studying their magic matter?"
Yeah your probably right. I kinda wish we talked about this before I signed up for classes though.
Why? We are both learning a lot from this.
"Before that answer my question," Entheo said, cutting in between the student and professor's turns talking. "I want to know where your going with this. What do legends have to do with the magic of the gods?"
-
Neptune
"Since the flickering of the first star~" Like she was gonna tell him that she'd been doing this for less than 5 years, he might not take her seriously and that was seriously bad for business.
"Oh and make sure to not touch anything funny looking, I won't pay if you accidentally turn into a eunuch but I will laugh at you post images all over your social media feed, maybe. Who knows hehehe..."
-
Lawrence
Lawrence's smile widened, and he spread his arms as wide as ever.
"Nowhere in particular. It's merely a story told to children. You know, people make up all sorts of nonsense when they're backed against the wall. Swords? Dragons? Magic? No, no, no. It's legends that stoke up the masses. And what better story than an all-knowing, almighty benevolent God? I say, an idea as ridiculous as that is something only a human could come up with."
He twirled his cane and pointed it at Entheo. Relaxed as ever... his eyes gleamed.
"And yet, they exist. Ever since... no, before civilizations were born, people looked to the heavens. We found guidance, healing, communities and power in the stars above. So what came first? The chicken? The egg? Does it even matter?" He smacked his palm with his cane, and pointed it dramatically to the skies. "Ah, of course, it doesn't. That's why faith is so powerful. It can make even the wisest man lose wisdom, and the most foolish be hailed as wise. More importantly, if enough people believe one thing, that belief will unconditionally become truth. To turn something that cannot be into something that is is only possible thanks to a leap of faith." He turned his gaze to the girl and grounded his cane decisively.
"This phenomenon is observable even in this world, dear. The Goddess of Liberty of Columbia, the Great Monarch of Albion. They are deities in their own right... and many more exist, scattered across the worlds that are drawn to the Nexus. There is even a world where game consoles are embodied by goddesses, and the worship of humans is turned into shares that grant them power. A truly fascinating contract, yes, but a mutual one. Because it's thanks to the worship that the collective unconscious has devised that the rules we believe exist turn into reality. That is the fire that was granted to people. The bond of worship... a truly devilish morphic bond, which binds and controls the world's laws at large."
He paused for a moment... walked through the class hall, and absorbed the bird and the lion into himself with a devious smile.
"Ah, but of course, the stronger the law, the more iron-clad the worship. Such is the nature of bonds. It isn't just a matter of quality, but raw ineffable quantity. To truly change the world, you would need countless planes to coalesce their beliefs into one direction... and even then, the sheer scale of a feat like this is impossible to quantify, let alone visualize."
-
Entheo
Both Entheo and Sakuyomi laughed together, remembering something long since passed. It had been a while since their journey together through that tournament. That speech reminded them of something from a while back.
The orange girl stood up and glared at Entheo. "I don't understand. Who the hell are you?! You barge into our class and start sleeping, talk back to the teacher and then you have the gull to laugh at his lecture! You cocky little..... ugh!"
You sure have a way with women don't you?
Hey I like the angry faces. They are cute.
That fetish is going to be the end of you someday.
-
Neptune
"Since the flickering of the first star~" Like she was gonna tell him that she'd been doing this for less than 5 years, he might not take her seriously and that was seriously bad for business.
"Oh and make sure to not touch anything funny looking, I won't pay if you accidentally turn into a eunuch but I will laugh at you post images all over your social media feed, maybe. Who knows hehehe..."
Marc
"Scary, scary. Don't sweat it, my hands are clear." He put them up, palms in the air, and waddled behind her pace. She was a nice girl, don't get him wrong, but if there's one thing he hated, it was secrets. Finding out wouldn't be hard, sure, but if he bothered to ask it was because he wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth. And that's why he wasn't going to show mercy here.
"Hmm, the first star... Two years?" He smiled innocently behind her.
-
Entheo
Both Entheo and Sakuyomi laughed together, remembering something long since passed. It had been a while since their journey together through that tournament. That speech reminded them of something from a while back.
The orange girl stood up and glared at Entheo. "I don't understand. Who the hell are you?! You barge into our class and start sleeping, talk back to the teacher and then you have the gull to laugh at his lecture! You cocky little..... ugh!"
You sure have a way with women don't you?
Hey I like the angry faces. They are cute.
That fetish is going to be the end of you someday.
Lawrence
"..."
Huh? DId chomethin happen? I, *munch* wasn't really paying attention. Phenex was savoring a freshly cooked bag of popcorn inside Lawrence's mindscape.
But ironically, the one smiling was Lawrence.
Hey...what's so damn funny?
Nothing, nothing at all. It's just ironic. That boy still hasn't caught on.
No duh. And hopefully, it's going to stay that way. Your body's a ticking time clock anyways, after lil' bro smashed you to splinters. If the book got damaged, you'd have been a goner.
That's what makes it exciting though. The risk of a gamble is simply addicting. It wouldn't be fun if the cards were utterly stacked in my favor. Why else did you think I refused Nep's offer?
Oh. I thought that was because you're a masochistic loverboy.
That too. You know, why don't you go greet them yourself for a change?
Tch. Fine.
It was sudden, without any warning. But Lawrence's hands clapped and commanded silence in the room. "Quiet, quiet." As he said that, his expression changed slightly. It was a bit more youthful... almost similar to Entheo in its uncaring cockiness. It's as if it were a different person standing in front of Entheo... but the difference was barely noticeable. If there was anything to see, it was only that the color of his soul had changed.
"Then again, my throat is parched after all that yapping. You know, I think this calls for a recess. Let's resume this after a break."
Even the eyes that looked at Entheo had a different quality all of a sudden. It was almost like a challenge.
And so, the uneventful lecture ended. He showed them a few cool tricks, like how to blow up things with magic and set up a barrier to keep peeping toms out of your dresser. But... oh man, just using this body was like walking in a fog. Couldn't get any gloomier unless they changed the girl's dress code.
Nonchalant, Lawrence walked down the halls, a carton of juice sipped casually as if he was trying to wash out an unpleasant taste from his mouth. Ugh. I hate coffee.
Well, in small halls like this, it wouldn't be hard to find the brat again.
-
Marc
"Scary, scary. Don't sweat it, my hands are clear." He put them up, palms in the air, and waddled behind her pace. She was a nice girl, don't get him wrong, but if there's one thing he hated, it was secrets. Finding out wouldn't be hard, sure, but if he bothered to ask it was because he wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth. And that's why he wasn't going to show mercy here.
"Hmm, the first star... Two years?" He smiled innocently behind her.
Neptune
"Wow..."
She actually turned around and looked at him with eyes as deep as the cosmos. Perhaps it was because of the power that dwelled within her, but whatever the case they truly looked like portals leading to an unending void.
"You flunked school didn't you? And it's been 4 years thank you..."
Yeah definitely some weird power, no matter how many seconds passed her eyes still looked as unnatural.
"Oh and your hands being clean, please.. You got some real intense muscle definition under your outfit, you walk like a martial arts master, don't even deny it. I've served a bunch of people from the Dojo and I know what they look like. And seeing how you're a mobster you've probably choked people to death..."
-
Sakuyomi Gezo
But the man wouldn't find the young one. Instead, a large silver haired old man with a chiseled face and large muscles leaned against the wall with his arms folded. Despite it being a school, he wasn't wearing a shirt, with a champions belt and gee pants being the only other thing he wore. His upper body looked as though it was sculpted by marble, large muscular arms, an enormous warriors chest and thick muscular back. His belly was flat, his skin tan. Not a single student was near him, perhaps afraid of his piercing glare. THe second he heard the professor's unique footsteps, he unfolded his arms, let them fall to his side and walked to meet the professor. He extended a hand, accompanying it with a warm smile and said,
"Hello professor. Did you enjoy our little debate? You probably don't recognize me. Its me, Entheo."
-
Marc
"Scary, scary. Don't sweat it, my hands are clear." He put them up, palms in the air, and waddled behind her pace. She was a nice girl, don't get him wrong, but if there's one thing he hated, it was secrets. Finding out wouldn't be hard, sure, but if he bothered to ask it was because he wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth. And that's why he wasn't going to show mercy here.
"Hmm, the first star... Two years?" He smiled innocently behind her.
Neptune
"Wow..."
She actually turned around and looked at him with eyes as deep as the cosmos. Perhaps it was because of the power that dwelled within her, but whatever the case they truly looked like portals leading to an unending void.
"You flunked school didn't you? And it's been 4 years thank you..."
Yeah definitely some weird power, no matter how many seconds passed her eyes still looked as unnatural.
"Oh and your hands being clean, please.. You got some real intense muscle definition under your outfit, you walk like a martial arts master, don't even deny it. I've served a bunch of people from the Dojo and I know what they look like. And seeing how you're a mobster you've probably choked people to death..."
Marc
Those eyes...!
The mobster stopped for a moment and just looked around, not even looking at Nep after what she just said. Instead, he just glanced at the ceiling lazily, like he was talking to just about anyone. "Hey... careful there. That's some scary talk."
He scratched his head aloofly and just toyed about, but there was a certain seriousness to those words.There went his doubts, she had to be the real deal. That, or suicidal.
"I've actually got a certificate in carpentry and masonry!"
He didn't even acknowledge the choking people to death part. Or maybe that was a bait-and switch. Anyways, he put his hands to his hip and grinned. "So you can tell that much just from the way I walk? Impressive. Do you... watch underground fights often?"
-
Sakuyomi Gezo
But the man wouldn't find the young one. Instead, a large silver haired old man with a chiseled face and large muscles leaned against the wall with his arms folded. Despite it being a school, he wasn't wearing a shirt, with a champions belt and gee pants being the only other thing he wore. His upper body looked as though it was sculpted by marble, large muscular arms, an enormous warriors chest and thick muscular back. His belly was flat, his skin tan. Not a single student was near him, perhaps afraid of his piercing glare. THe second he heard the professor's unique footsteps, he unfolded his arms, let them fall to his side and walked to meet the professor. He extended a hand, accompanying it with a warm smile and said,
"Hello professor. Did you enjoy our little debate? You probably don't recognize me. Its me, Entheo."
Lawrence
"Just because you disagree doesn't mean you have to dislike one another. But I don't remember having talked to you." He stopped and smiled wrily at the old man. "What's the matter? Came to whine and moan about your boy? Apologies, but you must mistake me with one of the care nurses downstairs. I do not care."
-
Sakyuomi Gezo
I told you it wouldn't work. No one is that dumb Entheo.
No look, keep selling it. You gotta work hard these days Sakuyomi. Its not like the old days.
The old man laughed, leaving his hand there for the other man to grab. "I told you, its me Entheo," he said, maintaining his gaze, only a blink to break up the intensity of his piecing gaze. His voice bellowed like thunder in a cave. "What would I be whining about? Besides, I don't dislike him. In fact, I respect the man."
Hey don't put words in my mouth! Your playing me remember? I don't tell people that so casually!
You should. People like a men who wear their hearts on their sleeve. Its a show of confidence in one's emotions.
Gezo glanced at his own hand, then back at the man. "Besides, if you really didn't care, you wouldn't have brought it up. I don't have any parents anyway, so you don't need to worry about any of those conversations."
-
Lawrence
"Nah. Miss me with that stuff." Lawrence put his hands in his pockets like a total punk and ditched the sorry schmuck. If there's one thing he hated more than anyone, it was liars and fakes.
But before he left to get the icecream he craved, he stopped in his tracks and spared 'Entheo' one more glance.
"Oh, but are you sure you should be drawing this much attention? You've got a bounty on your head, don't you?"
-
Sakuyomi Gezo
Damn.. fine fine.
Told you.
"The one with a bounty is Entheo," he said, maintaining his smile, but letting his hand fall to his side. "The one known as Sakuyomi Gezo has no such bounty. Besides, as Entheo would say, it really 'isn't our style' to worry about such things."
He turned around, shooting that piercing glance through the professor's back. "So then. What do you actually intend to do about this threat? Was that all talk or do you have some sort of plan?"
-
Lawrence
Lawrence raised a brow inquisitively and shook his head like he was correcting a kid. "Sorry, I couldn't care less about the dead. And who just tells a guy you're you and then tell them you're not you the next second? God, you're both hopeless."
With a tired sigh, he waddled up to the old man and pat him on the shoulder.
"Word of advice. Leave that stuff to your head. Otherwise people will think you're losing it."
Hey...
It's true though. Maybe if you didn't spend all that time talking to yourself you'd be more popular with the ladies.
"And no, no plan. At least not one I'm being told of. But word of advice, don't bother with schemes. Life has a habit of making sure plans don't go the way you intend them. Capiche?"
-
Sakuyomi Gezo
"I must say you are much more dower than that mask of an ideal professor you wore in class," he said, his smile finally reversing into a frown. "After all, when you phrase it like that, it makes it sound as if you don't intend to do anything. Although I suppose I could interpret that as you saying you want to take a more straightforward approach to solving this problem."
You are giving this guy way too much of our time.
Come now Entheo. Don't you think this man is curious?
Maybe but we can't go around solving every problem in this city. For an old man, your acting awfully naive.
Entheo, the world is much smaller than you would think. Experience is transferable, and people are linked in mysterious ways. Keeping an open mind in these cases often means looking in areas that aren't obvious.
-
Lawrence
"Nope. Just stating the obvious. Plans have a funny way of getting leaked and turned upside down. Oh, but what do I know. It's not like I've ever commanded anyone before." It was hard to tell if he was being snappy, sarcastic, or serious.
He was probably being snappy and sarcastic though.
"And why the heck are you hiding in there and making him do all the talking. Are you intimidated by a cripple or something? Huh? Huh?" He poked gezo on the head with his cane, but it was pretty obvious who he was talking about.
-
Sakuyomi Gezo/Entheo
A bright light enveloped Gezo's body. When the light faded, the young man reappeared in his place, a vacant look in his eye. A red orb flew out of Entheo's heart and floated next to his head. With a sigh and wave of his hand he said, "Because I don't care about any of this stuff. I just came to the class to learn magic after all. Whats your beef with me?"
He folded his arms behind his head, watching the man carefully.
You really think he is worth paying attention to?
Well at the very least, having a spirit companion seems fairly rare here. Besides, you don't have to act so coy. You don't dislike him do you?
No he's alright. He at least deserves respect.
-
Lawrence
His cane tapped the ground, and he rubbed his head as if there was a throbbing pain he didn't want them to notice.
"I dislike cowards, but even worse is a lying coward. Hiding behind your friend and pretending to be him just to make a point is low. And even worse, you suck at acting."
He grounded the cane to support himself better, but stared the kid in the eye. "That's fine though. I don't actually have beef with you. But saying all that stuff to those kids, don't you think it's a bit much? You should have apologized to them."
-
Entheo
See Entheo. Look at all the damage your pranks can cause. This guy thought you were hiding from him.
Eh who cares. Let him think what he wants.
Entheo sighed, meeting the professors gaze with his own, unmoving like a statue, even when the cane pressed against his forehead. "Everyone carries the burden of mortality. I'm the kind of person who believes in stronger people, not lighter loads. I spoke up without realizing most people forget about that burden as they go about their daily lives. I think it was the right thing to remind them of that."
Then, Entheo lowered his eyes at him, frowning. "You say you don't have beef, but your asking I apologize. What do you consider yourself some hero? You can't protect everyone, especially not on your own."
You hypocrate. Weren't you going to "save" those girls in the cafe?
Don't give me that. We both know I did that because their pessimism was bringing down the mood, plus its my job. Its not some self righteous idealism.
The red orb transformed into a ghostly form of Gezo, striking a pose similar to him at the cafe. One arm out, a knife pointed towards the would be Forest's throat. I can't turn my back on souls so tortured. If you don't want to die, then cling to life with all you have, he said, putting one arm dramatically over his forehead and striking a pose that looked like it belonged in a melodramatic theater play. Quit pretending you don't have a soft spot for people stumbling in the game of life. You don't have to do your job here.
Why is everyone grilling me right now?
-
Lawrence
He scratched his head awkwardly. God, this is why he hated kids. And he already had one annoying brat to babysit.
Hey... I can hear that...
Good.
"Look, I'm not telling you to do it. It doesn't really make a difference to me whether you act like a decent person or not. But... sorry, did you just try to sound smart? Because that didn't really sound right. Oh god... are you..."
He thought he was just dealing with a selfish prick with his head up his butt. But this whole talk about death, loads, and that overtly pretentious attitude of bringing up basic points, the utter uncaring way of pissing everything that surrounded him off and then talking like it didn't bug him.
I feel like you're still... dissing me.
You're damn right.
Lwrecne trembled in fear. This wasn't just your run in the mill asshole. He put his hand in front of his mouth in genuine fear.
"Are you a hipster?"
-
Marc
Those eyes...!
The mobster stopped for a moment and just looked around, not even looking at Nep after what she just said. Instead, he just glanced at the ceiling lazily, like he was talking to just about anyone. "Hey... careful there. That's some scary talk."
He scratched his head aloofly and just toyed about, but there was a certain seriousness to those words.There went his doubts, she had to be the real deal. That, or suicidal.
"I've actually got a certificate in carpentry and masonry!"
He didn't even acknowledge the choking people to death part. Or maybe that was a bait-and switch. Anyways, he put his hands to his hip and grinned. "So you can tell that much just from the way I walk? Impressive. Do you... watch underground fights often?"
Neptune
"Okay listen up twerp..."
The floor lit up beneath her and as the purple haired begun sitting down a couch rose up from the floor to met her. Was this an effect of her magic or was it just her workshop that was rigged this way? No it couldn't be. She had just moved in the other day.
Indeed she had just made that thing as she sat down.
"I'm a pretty patient girl but there's only so much stalling I can take. Now stop playing stupid or we're gonna have a real painful relationship... Tea or coffee? Or maybe you want something that pucks more of a punch.... Hmm hmm... I do watch those fights sometimes it's important for my business, and I make tons of shady deals.... Are you supposed to be famous?"
-
Entheo
Entheo laughed at the man's comment and expression. "I wouldn't give me too much credit. I'm not even smart enough to try to sound smart. Although, I did have a big titty goth GF and I do live in graveyards," he said, placing a finger on his chin.
Wait does that count?
Don't ask me. I'm older than the dirt your standing on. If you don't know what a hipster is I certainly won't.
"....probably?"
-
Lawrence
"Definetely." He looked at Entheo blankly as if he were the most hopeless kid in the world. Laughing, huh? You think this is a laughing matter...?
He shook his head and put his hand on Entho's shoulder, firmly.
"Look, first of all, nobody here except you gives a damn about load this or power that, it's just some pretentious poetic wax to make you feel good about being a nihilistic prick. Second of all, you can't just expect people not to care, nor should you. Do you think I care that I can't save everyone? Do you seriously think that others need a reminder of how they're powerless when their friends and families die in front of them? No, this isn't about duty or others. You don't care about any of that, you just want to be validated in your own little world. Guess what buddy? You're not doing anyone a favor, Entheo. You're being a dick. And worse, you're just projecting because you can't accept that people care - when you can't even be genuine about the same feelings."
Despite his frail body, he showed surprising strength in a moment - and lifted Entheo up by the collar, staring at him eye to eye.
"The only one turning a tragedy into a lesson in philosophy is you. And it's not exactly a newsflash for anyone here. No, I didn't force you to apologize to me - or anyone really. I just suggested you might try to act like a decent person, and of course Miss. Belle-of-the-ball is so far up her crack that she can't even take that with her chin up. Instead she whines, and moans, and starts crying... u-uwuuu, you cawnt just try to hewp pewplwe. Ywew shwewd bwe an edgwy liwwtwe hipwstew likwe mwe and accwept what happwensw withowt deawlwingw withw thew fawwowt nowr twy to hewp pewplwe~! Is that too much for you? Oh who am I kidding, of course it is, you subhuman fucking coward."
He suddenly dropped the brat as soon as he lifted him, sighed, and stared blankly at him as if nothing happened. The tension was utterly burnt to dust as soon as it appeared. Of course, that's because he held no animosity for the kid. In fact, he liked him a lot. That's why he had no qualms about utterly shitting on his plate.
"We cool?"
-
Marc
Those eyes...!
The mobster stopped for a moment and just looked around, not even looking at Nep after what she just said. Instead, he just glanced at the ceiling lazily, like he was talking to just about anyone. "Hey... careful there. That's some scary talk."
He scratched his head aloofly and just toyed about, but there was a certain seriousness to those words.There went his doubts, she had to be the real deal. That, or suicidal.
"I've actually got a certificate in carpentry and masonry!"
He didn't even acknowledge the choking people to death part. Or maybe that was a bait-and switch. Anyways, he put his hands to his hip and grinned. "So you can tell that much just from the way I walk? Impressive. Do you... watch underground fights often?"
Neptune
"Okay listen up twerp..."
The floor lit up beneath her and as the purple haired begun sitting down a couch rose up from the floor to met her. Was this an effect of her magic or was it just her workshop that was rigged this way? No it couldn't be. She had just moved in the other day.
Indeed she had just made that thing as she sat down.
"I'm a pretty patient girl but there's only so much stalling I can take. Now stop playing stupid or we're gonna have a real painful relationship... Tea or coffee? Or maybe you want something that pucks more of a punch.... Hmm hmm... I do watch those fights sometimes it's important for my business, and I make tons of shady deals.... Are you supposed to be famous?"
Marc
Impressive... is this how she crafts, or just a light show?
"Woah woah! Chill, it's all good. I'm just making small talk to get to know you better." He walked by Nep's couch and sat right next to her without the slightest hint of discomfort. It's not that he was playing dumb, being carefree was just in his nature. Why fight it?
He looked at her straight in the eye, like an equal. That was the kind of partnership that was best to build after all.
"I wouldn't go that far. I've fought a few times though, and I can tell you have a good eye. There could be some more money to be made down the line... oh, and I'll have a coffee, please. Black and boiling hot, no sugar. Thanks. But... you've done deals like this before? What were they like, if I can ask?"
-
Entheo
"Yeah whats wrong with me being-"
Entheo's cool blue eyes looked down and to the side at the hand that had come down onto his shoulder. Those same eyes quickly moved back to meet the professor's gaze. "Wow this is a lot. Your saying a lot to me."
Look, i'm sorry.
What are you apologizing for?
This man is making me feel like maybe I go a bit too far in teasing you.
Wow...
And thats when Entheo felt himself lifted off the ground. He stared at the floor before once again returning his gaze to the man. There was no more back talk. Instead, he took a deep breath and patiently listened to the man's rant. All the while, his mind drifted, influenced by the man's strong words. Can't accept that people care huh? Maybe back then...
10 years ago
“No I don’t need your food mom. I packed my own lunch before I left for school.” Entheo turned away from his mother, staring out into the distance beyond the window. It was highschool. The times when the world still felt so small, before he had met Sakuyomi Gezo.
A woman who looked to be in her late thirties smiled at Entheo, poking his shoulder with a lunch box. “C’mon honey. I came all the way here!”
“What is he talking about?” one guy asked. It was a group of boys all gathered together to play with some new fad toy that was getting popular. “More like who is he talking to?” another guy in the group responded.
“Honey you have to eat your food properly if you want to grow proper!”
“I’m in highschool now mom, this is embarrassing," Entheo said with a groan. He waved, pushing his mom away. She puffed up her cheeks and growled at him.
“I heard his mother died when he was young. They say he has some sort of mental disorder or something, talks to her to deal with the grief. Thats what I was told at least,” a girl in the group said. “You’d think by now he’d learn to stop talking to himself. Ugh its so creepy!”
The chair grinded against the floor, pushed back by Entheo as he stood up. “MOM enough! You can’t keep doing this every day! Your too damn overprotective!”
“I’m only doing this because I love you Entheo. C’mon a real man is secure in expressing his emotions for his mommy! Didn’t your father teach you that!”
“MY DAD’S DEAD!” Entheo said, storming off.
“SO AM I SOOOOON!" she yelled back, chasing the young man out of the room. "You can’t get rid of me so easily! Profess your love for mommy like a real man!”
“For the love of- NO ONE DOES THAT MOM ITS LAME! GODDAMN IT I WISH YOU WERE ALIVE SO I COULD HAVE SOME DAMN PEACE!”
The group of kids sighed. It was as if watching him yell at nothing was an emotionally taxing thing in of itself. “Yeesh,” one of them said, breaking the silence that followed the screaming. "I don't even know how to unpack that.
Back to the present
Entheo smiled at the old memories, even while looking into the man's eyes. His mom was a little extra, but when he thought back to those old times, all he could think about was how nice it was to always have her around. No I don't think I ever needed to be validated. As long as I have support from people who love me then.... I don't think I need any validation from anyone.
Well said but you realize it is precisely that attitude that makes people so mad right? People want you to care about what they say and how they feel about you.
Maybe, but I don't see how worrying about something like that helps anyone.
That reminds me, why are you letting him yell at you?
Why not? Its gotta be cathartic for him right? Besides, I want to be considerate of his feelings, listen to what he says. He sounds like he needs it.
Entheo fell to the ground ass first before standing up and brushing himself off. A hand rubbed his hair, one eye open and the other closed. "I don't know are we cool? All that stuff you just said, is that all really about me? I was just doing what I thought was right back there, no more and no less. If you didn't really care about those people then..... why do you care how I treat them?"
-
Lawrence
"...You're...god...I... of course I care about them, they're my students! And I care about you. Enough to know better than to order you like a horse, and enough to call out bullshit when I smell it." His eye twitched and he gripped his cane coldly, just about to smack the boy like a golf ball.
"Everyone who is given the gift of life has to one day deal with the possibility of death. The world gives and takes on its own time. You can't save anyone from that reality, nor should you. Because one day, everyone here will die. How the heck is saying something like that supposed to make anyone feel anything else than shitty? Do you go to school shootings to shit on the cop's desk in the middle of a memorial too? Would you like it if you lost someone you really cared about for good, and some douche popped in to rub it in your face?"
He poked Entheo's nose with his cane, eye to eye, and heart to heart the whole time. No, it was more like he was poking something behind the nose... inside Entheo's head.
"Guess what buddy, not everyone here gets to talk with their little ghost friends. The average joe? They lose someone precious, they don't get it back ever again. And whatever happy afterlife kumbaya you've got doesn't apply to everyone else in this world. For a lot of folks? It's not about death, it's about loss. That's what kicks you in the balls the most pal, the fear of losing."
And then he stopped. Goddamn it, this is why I hate dealing with you kids. I should beat the shit out of you for the crap you spew out of your mouth too sometimes, L. You're no better than this brat!
You know... now you're the one sounding like a hipster.
Shut up... Shut up! That's not even what the word means! You are butchering my language!
"I'm not mad at you, I'm dissappointed. You've got a fucking gift dude. Don't just waste it rubbing it on people's faces. Help them for real, I know you're better than that."
-
Entheo
Entheo turned his head away, at last breaking the eye contact. "Yeah, I know I forget that sometimes...." he said, refusing to look the man in the eye. "Most people don't get to talk to their dead loved ones, but.... thats ok too. When someone dies, you don't really lose them, you just can't see them or talk to them anymore."
Entheo finally returned his gaze to the man. "When you love someone, you take on their traits, their hopes and sometimes even their very way of life. For me, I can move forward knowing that, even when I have to pass someone on, but everyone needs to find their own answer. Sakuyomi told me those kids weren't used to having death around and they are afraid of it, so I reminded them that people die. Maybe now they can work towards that."
The young man paused, placing a finger on his chin and said, "You keep talking about helping them, but you haven't told me how. How would you tell someone how to deal with their own mortality in a situation like that if you were me?"
-
Lawrence
"Well, technically I'm not supposed to give details, but... well, it's just a rumor, but I heard a cult was involved in it."
He looked away in flusteredness, almost comically. Compared to the other one, he was a lot more honest with his feelings. That's why he could turn back to Entheo with a cheeky grin. I swear, this is the last time I do your job.
"How about we grind them to dust?"
-
Entheo
"Is that your answer?" he asked, grinning at the professor. "You sure you want to drag some student into this problem? There is no guarantee we can pull this off together."
-
Marc
Impressive... is this how she crafts, or just a light show?
"Woah woah! Chill, it's all good. I'm just making small talk to get to know you better." He walked by Nep's couch and sat right next to her without the slightest hint of discomfort. It's not that he was playing dumb, being carefree was just in his nature. Why fight it?
He looked at her straight in the eye, like an equal. That was the kind of partnership that was best to build after all.
"I wouldn't go that far. I've fought a few times though, and I can tell you have a good eye. There could be some more money to be made down the line... oh, and I'll have a coffee, please. Black and boiling hot, no sugar. Thanks. But... you've done deals like this before? What were they like, if I can ask?"
Neptune
Whistle...
Immediately after he made his request the blacksmith put her fingers in her mouth and whistled three times, but it was not aimed at him. In response to that The unimistakable sound of a coffee machine could be heard being turned on.
"Won't you just get more thirsty if you drink it black? It's quite dry..."
She leaned back into the couch as a small table appeared in front of them which she quickly put her feat on. It made her dress slid up though and reveal more of her thighs, hardly professional behavior. But that wasn't the point here...
"You should take your own advice, relax man, I just didn't like how you were dancing around the topic, staring like that is seriously creepy tho..." At this point the coffee machine made the sounds associated with it being done, and moments later a blue slime like think came out and was carrying two cups of coffee for them which it placed on the table.
"My old deals huh... Usually people from the underworld tend to talk tough, but all that dick waving is seriously unappealing, it's like they're compensating..."
-
Marc
Oh man, I didn't think I was doing that... He rubbed the back of his head and looked down like a scolded kid. He wasn't used to being the one making the deals, but opportunities were hard to come by lately. Even a guy only used to punch things needs to adapt. Still, her remark got a chuckle out of him.
"Heh, you got that right."
He took a cup of coffee and looked at it for a bit, or rather the reflection on it. No, it shouldn't be poisoned. He slowly raised it to his lips and savored the black concoction, letting the boiling liquid hit each and every one of his taste buds. He was glad, most people would give him a lecture after he came straight from the booze tank. The truth was, he didn't really care. Even cheap trhills like this were exciting, and he needed the buzz. The familiar bitterness felt good.
He relaxed his shoulders and smiled, the cup between his hands.
"I don't like boisterous types either. They're less like men and more like beasts, just gnawing at whatever's closest to them to show off their fangs. One good punch is all it takes, and then they're the ones acting like prey."
Their maws are even more brittle than glass, only good at making noise.
"I was wondering the kind of jobs they gave you though. I need to know if I can trust you."
-
Entheo
"Is that your answer?" he asked, grinning at the professor. "You sure you want to drag some student into this problem? There is no guarantee we can pull this off together."
Lawrence
"Hmm, that is true..." He talked with a faux-affable tone, like a mockery of how he talked earlier in the classroom. Then, his smug levels skyrocketed to levels beyond what was physically possible.
"You chicken?"
-
Entheo
"You dodged my question," he said, lowering his eyes at the man. "It doesn't matter either way. My job is to take care of the dead, not protect the living. Keeping some kids from dying isn't really my problem."
Then he took a deep breath. "But its hard to watch people live with such hopeless eyes. So lets knock some heads."
-
Lawrence
"Perfect..."
-
Neptune
"I don't break deals, but that doesn't mean I'm taking responsibility if your blow themselves because they can't aim properly, seriously some people don't get that big boom really means big boom..."
Neptune took her own cup and drank from it, unlike his it had milk in it. She wasn't a big fan of bitter things, and black coffee was a bit much for her.
"No but seriously relax, this is gonna get really awkward if you look all embarrassed every 5 seconds, at least you weren't starring at my tits non stop and that already puts you above like eighty percent of my regular clients. You look pretty strong tho so I you could probably handle my more powerful stuff, and like I said I don't cheat on my contracts, even if someone else would pay me more for the same thing I wouldn't, a deal is a deal. That said, hiring me full time is gonna be reaaaally expensive for you, I'm talking seven digits here, can your profit marginals handle that?"
-
Marc
"I'm fiiine. Just not used to getting chewed out like that, I can't help it if your eyes draw my attention. They're seriously cute. And I mean that in a professional way."
He took another sip of coffee. Oh man, this stuff's seriously good. He was practically hooked, and he wasn't trying to hide it.
"And a deal's a deal, you got that right. But seven digits..." Marc grinned. He was glad that she didn't answer the question. He would never work with someone with loose lips when it came to their clients.
"Seven digits... I hope that's not for a single weapon. Otherwise, I might have to break a district worth of kneecaps. But if I couldn't pay for this much, I wouldn't even have come here." He glanced at his surroundings a bit, to try and take a look at the sort of stuff that was lying around. "As I said, I want you to work on that rifle first. I'll pay you, but I want to see how you work firsthand."
-
Neptune
"Thanks... most people think my eyes are freakish...." She looked away in embarrassment, despite her own words on it she couldn't help it. Genuine compliments like that was rare for her. People either mocked her for her looks, looked down on her for being so young or a girl when they'd expected something else. There was even a rumor floating about that she was just the secretary of the real blacksmith... The fact that her workshop looked like a cluttered mess with designs spread out everywhere, regardless if she were moving or not certainly didn't help that image.
"Oh right the price... Yeah that's for hiring me, I won't be taking any other commissions while I'm working for you, so I hope you have more than one order, or else I'll get pretty damn bored." Neptune nodded and fetched the rifle in question.
"I don't have any materials on me so the stuff I can do is limited buuut...." As her hands danced over the pipe the weapon begun glowing and shifting in subtle ways. Her eyes were completely locked onto it and their color matched the color of the glow surrounding it. "Hmm hmm, Making it shift between pump action and semi auto by thought yeah yeah... Homing bullets why not... Transmogrifying every bullet within to be either, incendiary, explosive, normal or stun... yup... Here all done." She handed it back to him.
-
Marc
The drink he was sipping almost came spitting right out, and cheeks inflated as if he were a massive chipmunk. No way oh my gosh, that fast? This isn't a blacksmith, it's a compact arms factory! With a big heavy gulp, he swallowed the coffee and took the rifle in his hand, inspecting the make and changes of it more intimately and up close.
This, I like.
Feeling it up, Marc couldn't hide his wolfish grin. He was like a kid in a candy store, or right in front of Santa Claus! How couldn't he grin!
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
--------------------Time almost seemed.... to slow down.--------------------
WHOOOOSH!!
The gun spun in his left hand, and the other pounced down like a guitarist slamming his strings. He pointed a finger to the sky while posing like a rockstar - and the lights went out there and then. Only one shot down on him like a spotlight.
And suddenly, music started playing. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9X1Ta1jN8E)
"Ha! Hyah! Kah!" Sparks gleamed in the dark, as the gun flicked and spun around his body like a nunchuck, opening and closing to reveal the bullet shells flying out. A bullet flicked as he pulled it out, held between his teeth. Moving and posing to the rhythm, he showed off his gun's two-handed and one-handed forms thoroughly before tossing the gun in the air. As if surrounded by shiny confetti, he let the gun rotate and fall behind his back, only to catch it at the last second.
As the bullets he tossed in the air were all swept into the chamber, he threw his arm to the side and tossed a dozen of roses in the air.
"Un! Deux! Trois! Et voila! Bang!"
The light show of bullets sparked out of the chamber. One handed. Two handed. Noscope. The bright yellow sparks came out of his guitar and showered the flowers with love, homing and zipping into intricate patterns. All that was left was a bunch of rose-heads, each falling on one of the crates lying around while the bullets hit the floor with a dull thud.
It was almost like the sound of coins dropping one after the other...
Marc aimed the gun at the open exit one last time, right at the wall of an opposite building. The final shot fired straight out of his one unrecoiled hand. Posing, he had only one thing to say.
"Jackpot."
The burning bullet smashed against the adjacent wall and burst. Not enough to smash the wall... but enough to break a heart pattern into it. And as he blew the smoke off the barrel like a cowboy, the lights came back on to normal.
I always wanted to do that.
Meanwhile.
"GODDAMN IT JAMES! YOU ALMOST BLACKED OUT THE WHOLE DISTRICT!!" A construction worker smacked a scrawny looking guy. "O-ow! Sorry...!" The scrawny guy jolted, as he hopped back from all the exposed wiring.
"Seriously James... all you had to do was set up the guy's WIFI, not burn the whole place to toast. You're lucky I'm the one grilling you!" He smacked him on the head again for good measure.
"Guuh...I'm sorry..."
But the apology only got him smacked again. This time, on the back. Not that it did the poor kid any better, since even a friendly tap from his coworker sent his face straight into the concrete floor.
"Hm. Don't worry, it looks like we avoided the worst of it. The power should fix itself in a few seconds... hey James, you listenin'? GODDAMN IT JAMES! DON'T JUST DOZE OFF ON THE JOB!!"
-
Neptune
Thump.
The blacksmith had slumped onto the couch fully, lazily lounging like some empress looking over her riches, or at least her inventions. She was watching him with barely restrained apprehension, the tension might make her snap sooner or later.
"So ya like it or not? I could try harder if you don't...."
Please like it, I'd die if I handed over something dissatisfying...
-
Marc
He blinked at her sheepishly for a second. Wait, so something this awesome isn't even her 100%? Woah! The rifle twirled before resting on his shoulder, and he walked up to her with a relaxed wink. Now then, what part of that little show he put up didn't look like he wasn't loving every second of it?
"C'est magnifique." He kneeled in front of the 'empress' and kissed her hand like some prince charming.
-
Neptune
"Ah stop it, the princess treatment is really lame, and you don't even fit a knight, way way too much bad boy aura." She pulled her hand back and shook it, still she didn't seem to miffed by it.
"I'm super duper happy you liked it, But that's only natural, I have the best quality and you won't find anything as good anywhere else, and now you got full access to me. Now you gotten a first taste of what that means, or maybe you ant a more in depth evaluation, I have more toys you could play with..."
-
Marc
"Wait, no waaaaay! You've got more? That's just ridiculously awesome." He rested his arms over the rifle at this point, letting it rest on his shoulders like some kind of pole. "...Will it be okay though? I don't want to mess up your shop. Actually, I know just the spot where we can test toys out undisturbed."
He grinned at Nep cheekily.
"Whutchasay?"
-
Neptune
"Nah that would spoil you too much I'd rather keep you waiting for now, and fan your anticipation..." Neptune said as she flipped up from the couch.
Poke.
Her index finger pushed against his chest almost teasingly, with how close she was coming it was beginning to reach inappropriate territories. "Instead... Why don't you take me along and show me what your group does? If I see it first hand, then I'll have a much easier time making stuff that's customized for your specific needs, and I guarantee that will blow your mind hehe..."
-
Lily
Some time later that day
Lily idly twiddled with her new school uniform (https://i.imgur.com/yCdwzlv.jpg), the fabric was very soft and colorful. IT would be rather cute if it wasn't so revealing. The shirt left the bottom of stomach bared and her skirt, no it was more of a miniskirt, ending barely halfway down her thighs if even that, at least she demanded stockings to go with that, but that most likely only enhanced the sexual appeal of this uniform.
Whoever designed this uniform was a total pervert, and her inner succubi was quick to praise the work that must have gone into both designing this and mandating this particular dress code for females across the whole of Campus Town.
After leaving Coco and Hannah she'd quickly realized that something was wrong with her, that last attack had somehow drained her spirit, no damaged her spiritually somehow and she wasn't about to crawl to her new mother for help, again....
She wasn't above abusing her position to have some of the lower rank demons create a student visa with her name on it. Sure that would give away who she was but it also provided a perfectly legal way for her to obtain a solution by herself.
Or at least that was the plan, but she'd forgotten about one thing. The design of the uniform did nothing to lessen the blow of her supernatural charm, she was gonna have to spend time together with a bunch of horny teenagers who'd drool at her feet and probably beg to fuck her. Even feeding off of that passive lust almost wasn't worth the trouble.
Maybe this was mistake.
-
Lawrence
Continued from Albion (http://darksidemoon.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,843.msg68158.html#msg68158)
14 minutes later
The hallway was packed with students of all races, ages and sizes. A district built for the sole purpose of learning, where knowledge was a prized possession and scholarship was a valued trait. There was no wonder that many found such a place attractive. And to begin with, lunch break was done.
But of all the strange sights you could see, no one would have expected to see one of the more respected and stern teachers dashing about the halls along his zootopia of familiars, eyes driven with focus even as he dragged his body and panted. With that mountain of books and study materials on his back, it was no wonder that he wasn't already crushed by the weight of it all!
"SKWAAAACK!! GEEEET OUUUTTA THE WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!"
Running in the hallways was a most looked down upon practice. However, there are times where one must break the laws of this world if one wishes to attain a noble goal. Still, Lawrence seemed most composed compared to the panicking mass of fire and... panic.
" *pant* now now, relax. As they *heave* say... The hours of folly are measured by the clock, but of wisdom; no clock can measure.”
Still, there was no doubt making it this far this fast was straining. With all the materials carried about, he might trip any moment. No, just as he passed a certain redheaded girl, his body nearly collapsed on itself. It was then that catastrophe struck.
His balance shifted - no, broke. If no one saved him, the teacher would be crushed by the books - and worse, he'd be late for his lecture.
-
Lily
The redhead blinked, surprised by the sudden appearance of this strange individual and his falling heap of books. Surely he couldn't be a student here, was he the teacher? She blinked and watched on with fascination as he begun his descent towards the ground.
The sudden gust of wind by his arrival had made her miniskirt flutter and almost reveal her underwear for everyone in the hallway to see, but that was of no concern in comparison to the sitatuation unfolding before her.
Should she halt his fall, or merely help him up?
If he was a teacher, would that offend his pride, to he helped by a student?
The redhead decided she didn't really care and slid in underneath him to catch him before he struck the ground. And at the same she caught the falling books too.
"Are you okay sir?" Her voice was was soft and gentle, downright seductive even, which wasn't so strange when the tail that stuck from underneath her skirt gave away her race to all but the most dim.
-
Lawrence
The balance was breaking. Yet, just as the world seemed to turn upside down, a hero stepped in. A bold, burning being, who fearlessly strode into the unknown.
"...warm."
It was so fast, no one could have possibly appreciated the swift and graceful movements. But Lawrence was most definitely appreciating the person-shaped pillow under him. His eyes even sharpened at that, actually.
If he was smiling, no one in this cosmos could possibly see. "I'm... fine. Thank you. It was kind of y-" "HEY HEY! WHATCHA WAITING FOR!? YOU'LL BE LATE DAMN IT!"
If Lawrence was frowning, Lily could certainly see it.
" *ahem* A true master is never late, nor is he ever too early. He arrives precisely when he means to." He helped himself up, wiping the dust from his black coat, and gave the redhead a good look. "I can't say I've ever seen you before. Are you a transfer student perhaps?"
She was quite the beauty. If she had walked these halls, she'd have definitely have been swooned over a dozen or so times, given hundreds of compliments. But she wasn't getting any from him. Even grateful, his eyes were as devoid of life, joy and emotion as ever.
He did offer her a hand to shake though. "Lawrence Wright. A pleasure. Don't mind the bird, he's a hopeless skirt chaser."
"WOA WOAH WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!? EXCUUUUSE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!?"
Okay, devoid of life or not, he might've snickered a little there.
-
Lily
"Mhm..." She shook his hand and nodded. Her grip was just as warm, it wasn't a scaling heat though, more like a comforting bonfire after a long journey. In some ways it was even invigorating and Lawrence should be able to feel at least some of that fatigue be drained away. It wasn't his physical tiredness that was melting away.... No the redhead was passively draining some of his stress just by touching. Even a handshake was enough skin contact for a tiny portion of her powers to work.
She quickly pulled back and looked all embarrassed over it. "Sorry, I forget how strong my drain is sometime.... Uhm....." She cleared her throat and pulled out her brand new Student Id that showed exactly who she was. This poor teacher had fallen on the daughter of Elizabeth.... A princess of the Succubi race.
"I'm looking for the class about Life Forces but... but everyone I've asked has been too busy gawking to say anything so.... I'm pretty lost Sir..."
-
Lawrence
"Oh!"
Her powers had certainly worked something on Lawrence, yet it was most strange. There was a sensation like electricity, and they both instinctively let go of each other at about the same time. There was a familiarity though, almost as if this was also expected. Hrm, she’s the one who fought the elven whelp. How fascinating.
“I see, most curious.”
Her drain was a wonderful ability, but what Lily felt was more of an aftershock. As if she didn’t actually pull anything from him. Or as if she couldn’t. Like trying to drink from a desert, pull tears from a snake, or drawing heat from absolute zero.
As if he were fundamentally empty.
And yet he smiled looking at her card, with something close to genuine joy as he read the letters inscribed within. And for a second, that joy turned into a peal of sinister laughter.
“Fu fu fu. You have come to the right place, Lily. God, ember or demon, we welcome those who wish to learn in these halls.” And with a dramatic twirl of his cane, he advanced his stride with newfound vigor.
“Do follow. I don’t know if it is fate or your strength that brought you to me, but I shall not waste your time. Our lesson begins.”
And with that, he took his march to the classroom, grasping its gates with strength unearthly. A few seconds, precious as soul aetherial, but spent nonetheless. Yet in leisure and work alike, he'd act in his own time. And with a smile as wide as the abyss, he unearthed the classroom, opening its maw widely for both to witness. Spells flew about wildly, jocks messed around with the girls, and meek boys had their pants wedgied so fiercely, they squealed like babies.
The chaos inside... it was worse than he thought.
"My, my. What a predicament. I do swear, it's not usually this rambunctious." He glanced knowingly at Lily with a wry expression. "Oh, what shall I do? What would you do?"
-
Lily
That's sad, to be so empty was horrible. She almost felt like comforting him in some way, but it wasn't her duty to do so. She barely knew him, yet some part of her, some new fraction of her being, cried out at not being able to bring him comfort. That wasn't a true emotion tho, but rather a desire brought upon by her recent change. She let it go, instead she'd try to help him here as much as she could.
And that opportunity presented itself quickly.
"Hmm hmm... Maybe you should introduce me to the class Sensei? That ought to get them to shut up." It was true, even without actively doing anything, she'd appear to be breathtaking to those who looked like her. Not merely the boy but the girls would fawn over her too. "And it does give you the perfect excuse for running, you were showing me around after all..." A total lie, and one totally believable too, it turned the image of the teacher around from a lazy slob, to a caring professor, with just a few words.
It was an absolute win.
-
Lawrence
"Hm hmmm." He rubbed his chin pensively. This was quite the devious scheme, a deception befitting a demon. Ah, but that's why he asked her in the first place, even though he had that idea already. That way, it wasn't his clean conscience that'd bring up a scheme like that.
It made him feel more like a good guy.
Thus, with a dramatic snap of his fingers, he entered his classroom, guiding the succubus along with the room's... charming presence, one he genuinely held dearly. "My, my! I take my leave for a few minutes, and I see you youngsters are full of mischief already. Good, good. It will be my pleasure to squeeze this infantilism out of you all for the next few hours... down to the last drop." With the burning eyes and downright evil smile on his lips, he definitely came across as the more demonic of the two.
And yet, Lawrence bowed courteously - while Phenex flared up, ready to barbecue the first misfit. Was that what shut them up, or the stunning beauty that followed the ashen professor?
"Hrm, but I do welcome this excitement. I'd rather you all be awake right now, as we have a very special guest within these halls. I was showing her along with the facilities, but I wouldn't have dared spoiled the surprise. Oh, your faces look wonderfully lovestruck."
He waved his hand dramatically and brought it in Lily's direction with a deliberate motion. "She will be our newest addition to our class - please welcome her as a transfer student and an integral part of our little family. Oh, come, don't be shy miss. I'm not sure if I can handle the pressure of introducing you myself."
But all the while, every other student pretty much had a singular expression.
Something like Woooooooooooahh.
-
Lily
"Please don't tease them so much sensei...." Lily walked in and bowed before the class with a spellbinding grace. Her movements was like a performance right out of a movie, nah even that wasn't quite enough to explain how she moved. It was the perfect harmony between all parts, so fluent it was, that she appeared to have moved halfway across the classroom in a single step. Then she bowed to the class while making sure to hold her skirt so it didn't slide up anymore. "Most people can't really handle the presence of Succubi royalty their first time, especially not a bunch of virgins..."
She grinned a waved to them. "Hi.... My name is Lily, I'm the daughter of Overlord Elizabeth and second in line to the throne. Pleased to meet you all! I hope we can all have a pleasant time together, but first I'd like to set down some ground rules..." Her smile didn't change at all, but the tone of her voice dropped a bit. If this was meant to be threatening it kinda failed though, as she went from sounding like a cheerful young school girl, to a sultry mature woman who was begging to get laid.
"I know my presence is a bit overwhelming, so it's okay for y'all to look at me as much as you want, but if you feel like groping me.... Then ask me first, I'm not always in the mood..." The redhead made it sound like she was gonna beat them all up for it, only to subvert it in the end and green lit it all.
-
Lawrence
Oh? What a fascinating response. A wave of murmurs, embarrassed glances, and flustered faces soon washed over the classroom. And who could blame them? Being in the presence of such a high-rank demon would make anyone swoon, let alone royalty.
But Elizabeth's second herself? Even Lawrence had to express some surprise at the boldness.
"Ahem."
At least, until he realized Phenex staring wide-eyed behind him, with an expression that pretty much mirrored every student. A glare was all it took to get the elemental to stop, and it twirled into a wave of flame before vanishing. And with a dramatic thud of his cane, Lawrence spoke up once more.
"As you're aware, diplomatic tensions can be shakey at times. However, I will not ask you to treat our new student with royal authority. What I expect is for each of you to be decent, and include her in our group as one of our own. After all, no matter your background or origin, these halls view all as equals. We all share the same desire to learn."
And so they shall. So they shall.
With a reptilian smile, Lawrence snapped his fingers and conjured his Grail king from the depths of his coat. Pulling along the various tomes and bags he carried along, he lifted them up to his main desk. Strange clockwork devices, spherical arcaneums, tomes of old, and other scholarly apparel were laid bare before all.
"Please, take a seat Lily. Wherever you like. Our class shall begin posthaste. Welcome, to Campus Town's Life Force Mysticalities 101."
Really? Couldn't you come up with a better name?
Oh hush you.
-
Lily
"Alrighty-"
The redhead strutted over to the front row, shamelessly showing off her legs and her hips to the whole class. And when she finally claimed a seat and sat down, her panties were flashed for just a moment. They were quite indecent, and not something you'd expect anyone to wear to class, but not that strange considering what she was. The school dress code sure was designed by perverts though, she didn't mind though, not when she could feed freely on this much latent lust.
"Excuse me Sensei, but is puling out a bunch of junk actually necessary? I can't detect a hint of mana in any of those, are you actually a conman?"
-
Lawrence
"Absolutely." He nodded wryly as he finished neatly putting everything on his table. Indeed, it was as she said - a fact which only made the other students more confused. For no one could sense the tiniest sliver of magic or mana from these strange items.
Some shot worried looks at Lily. Talking about their teacher like that... that was bound to get them in trouble... right?
They never saw him smile like this. Gloomy as he was, it almost looked wrong.
"These may look like mere baubles and trinkets, but they will be essential for today's lesson." With a deliberate wave of his cane, he dragged the attention to each and every one. "There are many ways to manipulate life. I do believe necromancy is a popular facet of this science... but there are untapped surfaces begging to be touched and explored. That is why I'm here."
He took a few steps down his podium, and ominously walked down the rows of desks. His eye wasn't shimmering whatsoever, it was almost sucking the very tension into this room.
"But first, I'd like to ask you all a question. What does it mean to be alive?" He turned his sharp gaze to one of the male students, who was inadvertedly staring at the newcomer more eagerly than most.
"You."
The student
He nearly jolted, and had to shake his way back into focus. "Wuh uh uhhh..." Right, um, life classes. That's where they were. It was kind of obvious, he didn't really think they'd start with something so obvious.
"Uhhh, well your heart's still beating and you're here. Right? I mean, it's obvious if someone's alive or not."
The air grew a little tenser at the answer, the teacher was almost deliberately quiet. Was he trying to make the answer squirm out of him?
Just before it got unbearable, he spoke. Or rather, someone.
The burning bird cackled and circled the classroom, like a wild carrion.
"Duuuuuh. Of course that'd make you alive - most of the time anyway. But there's plenty of gizmos that don't have an actual body or that don't follow conventional rules like that. What if you had a golem and pumped it with lotsa juice from a battery? Would that make it alive?"
Lawrence smiled. "Under normal circumstances, you'd be correct. But this world isn't so conventional. To truly manipulate life, you must understand it intimately. Now then, what is the difference between the dead and the living?"
-
Lily
The redhead answered the question quickly with an almost bored inflection to her voice, this was pretty rudimentary stuff and not even more than the absolute core of this subject matter, or rather it was just pure philosophy. Despite her bored looking demeanor she was actually feeling quite invigorated though as she had quite the supply of lustful atmosphere to siphon off from here.
"The difference is self awareness sir. I think therefore I am, and the truly dead don't think. That is why the "undead" are technically part of the living and not the dead. Just because something moves doesn't mean it's alive either though, a golem may be animated but if it lacks any higher functions then it's just an extension of the caster's will and therefore not alive." she paused just long enough for everyone to keep up. She hadn't been an instructor herself for nothing, and talking for too long uninterrupted was a great way to ensure that your students didn't catch it all.
"On the other hand, someone's soul may been stuffed inside an inanimate object like a doll, in which case that doll is now alive."
-
Lawrence
If Lawrence wore glasses, this would probably be the part where they glowed to the point you couldn't see a thing past them. Unfortunately, he didn't.
That didn't stop him from pointing right where he looked, right at the succubus who answered his question. "As expected of Lily, that's exactly right." And suddenly, a glowing shine sparked on her desk, electrifying it with unknowable magic. Something appeared on it, something so incredible it glowed in the middle of the class.
A golden star.
"Indeed, awareness of self is a fundamental difference between something that is alive and something that isn't." His cane clacked severely down the rows, as he walked around the various students. "It is often confused or overlooked, as there are many living things that do not have a visible or noticeable ego. A plant or an insect, for example, can't be fully compared to a human, and in many cases smaller life forms aren't able to express it the same way or to the same extent as you. But it is possible - and observable on various scales. Ordinarily distinct, but drowned by the surrounding noise."
Despite his deathly expression and sternness, there was almost a melodic quality to his voice, like a cadence of intonation and song. It drew you into his words, while his eyes peered right into you. Something that might come off as creepy was overwhelmingly different when performed with overwhelming charisma. The words, expressions and syllables necessary to rouse a soul.
For indeed, this was a performance. Lawrence was a conductor, guiding the melody and intoning it until it reached their hearts and minds. The flow of knowledge was something he was no stranger to.
"All of this, however, is a symptom. It is far from the underlying cause, though it's the easiest to observe and prove." He looked at Lily with sincerity, then back at everyone in the class. "There is something even more vital. The difference between someone who can fully express one's life, and one who can't. The difference between a doll and a person."
He didn't smile, but his lips slightly curled upwards.
"A will. A true, genuine will that is born from the self. And to manipulate life... to control its flow... is to overwhelm it with your own. Your flow. Your will."
He waved dramatically to the objects lying on the podium. "Thus, I ask, what do these strange artifacts, lacking both self and will - these trinkets that cannot be controlled or opened with force or magic... what exactly are you going to use them for?"
-
Lily
The redhead was at it again, answering again but this time more cheekily. He was the one who just pulled out a pile of random junk after getting late to class so this was the perfect opportunity to make fun of him.
"To bash in the heads of scatter brained professors of course!"
She said it with such sincerity that it couldn't be anything bu the truth, yet it was so absurd that it couldn't possibly be anything but the truth. Or at least the petit girl believed so herself.
"If my will to kill you is strong enough then it will overwhelm your flow, and I'll have manipulated your life force out of existence. Check mate professor I now got a master's degree in Life Forces...."
-
Lawrence
"Oh?"
The most shocking thing was how seriously he took her suggestion. Lawrence tilted his head and blinked at Lily as if to acquiesce. "What a novel idea. Please, do give it a shot." He put a curious finger on his chin, before tossing one of the tomes straight on her desk.
"Hmm, no. I suppose I should say something like - ✨ ✨ good luck, you can do it girl! ✨ ✨ You rock! ✨ ✨"
-
Lily
"No."
She caught the tome in mid air before it even landed. "You should take better care of your stuff or...." Then Lily flung the tome right back at him with explosive force.
"Or they might just break."
-
Lawrence
For a split second, the tome glowed a faint, warm orange hue when Lily touched it - only for the light to fade as soon as she let go.
"A fair suggestion, fair lady. Duly noted." He caught the book tossed back at him, only to toss it back at the Lily who tossed it back at him in the first place. "However, I do insist you keep hold of it."
Hmm, how curious. It is quite a warm feeling. Nostalgic even.
"I think what the schmuck is trying to say is, you need to take one for the lesson. Something something practical experiment." The bird looked down with a pout, like he was totally exasperated.
So, with a flap of his wings, very slight burning vortexes pushed the trinkets in the air ever so slightly, as if moved by a bright orange tornado... slowly laying one before each student.
-
Lily
The redhead caught the returned book with some reluctance and sighed. Although the dynamic between him and the bird was quite the thing... Hmm could it be that? Lily looked closer at them as her eyes narrowed, she was trying to take in every detail to see if her hunch was correct.
"Are you the master?" She wasn't talking to the man but rather to the bird. Their relationship has been suspect from the start, and he didn't act like the regular familiar, it could be that the bird was controlling him and he was the familiar, or maybe the bird was an extension of him....
-
Lawrence
Ooh.
Ooh.
For the first time, there was a hint of... interest in their eyes. A sharpness that only the ancient could really recognize, or appreciate. But it faded as soon as it lit up on their faces, and Lawrence looked away with an awkward cough.
"Ahem."
"H-hey! Why would you ask something like that!? Do I look like some kind of freak, missus? Deviant! You deviant! You-"
Fascinating. What a perceptive specimen. His cane bonked Phenex on the chin, shutting him up. With an indignant flap, the fiery chicken turned away in tow, pouting. "It's been a while since I've heard such a refreshing theory." Was he smiling? No, he didn't really look like it, even if his lips curled upwards.
A sinister laughter restrained its echoes. "Fu fu fu... observe." As he grabbed a dusty tome, he exposed a luxurious flower to the whole class, brimming with life - before lightly smacking the book with its vivid petals.
As soon as he did that, some sort of light moved from the plant into the book, causing it to float in the air and rapidly flip its pages! The students gawked on, surprised - at the book suddenly moving as if it bore a life of its own... and the rapidly decaying flower, soon crumbling into ash. Even the most talented of mages recognized that this was no trickery - there was an eerie lack of mana flowing in or outwards. It was all pure life.
"It is a skill, to move the flows of life and ebb it in the path you desire. In some cases, to force the currents to split into multiple directions, separate from the source." His ash-wite features darkened with an ominous smile. "And these mere trinkets are like a crutch in that sense. I trust you've brought the necessary materials. Each contains different amounts of the essence needed to activate these items. For now, do not worry about reproducing it yourselves, I would like you to observe the different effects and take note of them in your notebooks. Lest you may overlook the process."
As the students looked through their bags and compendium, Lawrence slowly walked up to the elemental.
"Fret not, it must be your first time my? I'm gentle enough to share." He quietly handed something peculiar to the elemental while the other students worked with the different tools.
A burning orb, brimming with life so intense and flavorful - even a restrained demon would find it difficult to ignore its allure. "I almost feel bad, for a fellow brethren to have her ember wane so... it must be painful. I understand. Ah, forgive me. I am a little sentimental, I forget my place. Yours is a world of demons now, beyond my own limits."
Was there some kind of nostalgia in his words? No. What mattered was what Lily would do next.
-
Lily
The Elemental of flames snorted at his inquiry, this man obviously had a backer of some sort, that was the only feasible explanation for why no one had silenced his slippery tongue yet. "It is hardly as painful as your monotone drivel teacher. Perhaps your bird ought to teach us instead, he sure seems more than capable, unlike someone else...." Lily was sparing him none of the sass, this man was an utter fool. A charlatan. The way he presented himself spoke of him knowing something but his behavior was utterly disgraceful.
"And quit looking at me like that..." His complete non interest in her was starting to bother her. Her kind did feed on emotions, particularly lust, but to for this connection to be basically empty, was essentially the same as being served utterly foul food. It was disgusting and it made her stomach churn. Hmpfff, she didn't like this but she would have to get forceful here. Lily focused her Charm completely on him, blasting him at full force. If her passive allure didn't affect him, then perhaps the full brunt might at least make him see her as a woman.
-
Lawrence
"Is that so."
Lawrence cocked his head curiously, almost childishly. That's when a burning wing pushed his head down - soon giving room for the Armaggedon of Aviation to ascend and grin at the fiery lady.
"Aw hell yeah! Finally, someone recognizes talent when they see it. I knew you could buddy, clearly I am the realest of deals!"
The poor ashen man grunted, but oddly enough - indifferent to it all. Even Lily's charm barely moved his current. Was he simply that empty? No, there was some feedback. It did reach him, and yet - "What a wonderful charm. I'm sorry, hexes like this can only be effective... so long as the target wills it." He sighed and waved the wing off his head. "But I'm sorry. I wasn't lying, I really did not mean disrespect. You just... remind me of home."
For a moment, Lawrence seemed truly empty. Until the wing poked him on the cheek again, pushing him aside again.
"Yeah, yeah. No, duh. You're terrible with the ladies. Trust me, we know. " And for the first time, Lily saw something different on his face.
"H-hey, cut it out." Lawrence grimaced and poked the bird back, teeth clenched. Stupid chicken, I should cook you alive. "Hey gorgeous, can I tell you a secret?" The bird soon hurried to Lily's side, much to the ashen man's sudden grimace.
Don't.
You.
Dare.
Oh, you just try to stop me, biatch.
But the lesson...
-
Lawrence
"Is that so."
Lawrence cocked his head curiously, almost childishly. That's when a burning wing pushed his head down - soon giving room for the Armaggedon of Aviation to ascend and grin at the fiery lady.
"Aw hell yeah! Finally, someone recognizes talent when they see it. I knew you could buddy, clearly I am the realest of deals!"
The poor ashen man grunted, but oddly enough - indifferent to it all. Even Lily's charm barely moved his current. Was he simply that empty? No, there was some feedback. It did reach him, and yet - "What a wonderful charm. I'm sorry, hexes like this can only be effective... so long as the target wills it." He sighed and waved the wing off his head. "But I'm sorry. I wasn't lying, I really did not mean disrespect. You just... remind me of home."
For a moment, Lawrence seemed truly empty. Until the wing poked him on the cheek again, pushing him aside again.
"Yeah, yeah. No, duh. You're terrible with the ladies. Trust me, we know. " And for the first time, Lily saw something different on his face.
"H-hey, cut it out." Lawrence grimaced and poked the bird back, teeth clenched. Stupid chicken, I should cook you alive. "Hey gorgeous, can I tell you a secret?" The bird soon hurried to Lily's side, much to the ashen man's sudden grimace.
Don't.
You.
Dare.
Oh, you just try to stop me, biatch.
But the lesson...
-
Lawrence
"Is that so."
Lawrence cocked his head curiously, almost childishly. That's when a burning wing pushed his head down - soon giving room for the Armaggedon of Aviation to ascend and grin at the fiery lady.
"Aw hell yeah! Finally, someone recognizes talent when they see it. I knew you could buddy, clearly I am the realest of deals!"
The poor ashen man grunted, but oddly enough - indifferent to it all. Even Lily's charm barely moved his current. Was he simply that empty? No, there was some feedback. It did reach him, and yet - "What a wonderful charm. I'm sorry, hexes like this can only be effective... so long as the target wills it." He sighed and waved the wing off his head. "But I'm sorry. I wasn't lying, I really did not mean disrespect. You just... remind me of home."
For a moment, Lawrence seemed truly empty. Until the wing poked him on the cheek again, pushing him aside again.
"Yeah, yeah. No, duh. You're terrible with the ladies. Trust me, we know. " And for the first time, Lily saw something different on his face.
"H-hey, cut it out." Lawrence grimaced and poked the bird back, teeth clenched. Stupid chicken, I should cook you alive. "Hey gorgeous, can I tell you a secret?" The bird soon hurried to Lily's side, much to the ashen man's sudden grimace.
Don't.
You.
Dare.
Oh, you just try to stop me, biatch.
But the lesson...
test
-
Fu Hua
"Well, this place is a bit of a dump now." It was an uncharitable thing to say, considering the holes that had been put into the massive building. But Fu Hua hardly look impressed at the devastation that had wrecked the area. Acid burns, fire, shattered walls, and pages littered the ground. A wave of her hands moves most of the rubble and trash out of their way, but it is difficult to find any part of the place that hadn't been marked by the previous conflict. "It looked much better when I was here last time, Kore."
Of course, Fu Hua does not say the words herself. Why would she? They slip into Kore's head, pressed into her spirit by the energies that cradle her body. More intimate than the whispers of lovers in bed. There is no need to let voyeurs listen in.
Case in point, the hooded figure with bloodstained hands that now stood in their way. Fu Hua smirks, raising a hand as books tainted with her energy flow out of harm's way. The ones that Kore shows interest in hovers overhead. "You're the headmaster, aren't you? Shouldn't you busy yourself with repairing this shabby looking place rather than getting in my way? I'm too busy with my date to crush you."
-
The Headmaster
"I'm afraid access to the library is restricted at the moment." The hooded woman pushes the air in front of her to the side, black sleeve swaying, and a tilted bookcase on the floor level shook, dragging itself back into its place against its kin, not one book falling out. She speaks with a thrum of honed patience, "Part of that is so I can work easier on repairs. I have no intention to be a bother, and visitors should respond in kind."
Something invisible and arcane arises as she perceives them. It splits itself from the tasks where it slowly toiled, pushing against Fu Hua's reaching dominion, moving like the mass of an elephant before a creeping predator after its young. The Headmaster's magic does not purify, but it claims nonetheless, and the dark phoenix can feel it in the way it reacts like static against the low tide of her condensed desires.
"Were you looking for something specific? If you notify the groundskeepers, you can still be lent certain volumes." She pauses and tilts her head, slightly to the side, slightly forward, letting them see her golden eyes clearly.
-
Kore
"Wait, date-" Kore turns to look at Fu Hua, blinking in surprise. Her shortened skirt - courtesy of Fu Hua - flickers in the still air.
No, she decides, they can discuss the romantic (?) aspects of this later. She turns to the headmaster and places her hand on her chest (thunder booms in a clear sky).
"I apologise - I was the one who requested we come here. I have only recently arrived here - in this dimension, I mean - and I had... many, many questions. About everything."
She glances at the headmaster's bloody hands and then up at her golden eyes. It seemed an odd look for a headmaster. Not conducive to learning. Although, she supposed she was one to talk. Appearances could be... deceiving.
There were more pressing concerns, though - namely how she could feel Fu Hua’s mounting frustration through the strange link she had formed with the spirit. Which was also a pressing concern, but one that could be... Well, murder wasn’t immediately on the horizon.
Kore rested a hand on Fu Hua’s shoulder, rubbing the spirit gently as she tried to consider what might stop this situation boiling over into the kind of bloodbath that formed a ball of panic in her stomach.
"We could stay here and - read?" Kore paused to consider the idea of Fu Hua - who in the brief time Kore had known her, seemed to transition between moods at the speed of magnesium in water - having to stay and read. Or worse, stay and not reading. "Or we could take a few volumes and come back later, when it’s in better condition?" She offered, throwing a significant look at the headmaster.
God, she hoped this wouldn’t end in a fight.
-
Lawrence
Outside, an ominous bolt of lightning cracks, and for a moment the books lying around flip their pages sinisterly. An eerie note, foreboding of a mysterious stranger. A warning far from reassuring, in compare to the looming shadow that steps within the arcane library, and its burning comrade soaring around its ashen frame.
"My, my. There is no need to apologize, why, have you done anything deserving of repentance that I should be made aware of?"
A wry smile escapes its lips like a snake's, and the burning bird chuckles with a cold sneer. Each step follows the deliberate clack of an ornate cane, while Lawrence reads his book with great interest, not taking so much as a glance at the world around him.
“All our souls are written in our eyes - Cyrano de Bergerac. So long as our eyes see no evil, I don't see why a den of learning and academics would reject your fine presences. Knowledge is the ichor of life, but what secrets would drag you as far as these halls, mhhh?"
And with a dramatic clap of his book, he closes its pages shut and bows like an actor in a stage. "It is a pleasure to see so many new faces. Shall I prepare the tea?"
-
Fu Hua
She presses herself into pages and cobblestone walls. Her spirits spreads through the cracks in the floor and spills into the air. The Headmaster might wield the world around her as a weapon, but Fu Hua is the world entire. Would her own limbs rebel against her? How much of this place would that thing have to break apart to even try and harm her?
The phoenix chews the inside of her mouth a bit, imagining it. That thing has always returned here, like a spirit or a god. Perhaps it will remain until every last student has been butchered, every book burned, every foundation torn to dust. Or maybe it would become her, as she paints this place in her colors, until she has become so much of it that it cannot harm her no more than a hand could harm the person entire. A rebellious limb taken over from within, brought to heel. That is also a rather satisfying thought. That thing would look good if there was more of her in it, no? Yes, that sounds quite entertaining!
She raises her hand, fingers like talons, ready to begin it now. But the chirping of a stray bird distracts her. Fu Hua stops, even as the entire building groans in the wasted anticipation of a furious battle come to nothing by a whim. "Hmph, no secrets. She simply wants to learn everything about the ants in the newest terrarium she has found. Tea... is good" Her eyes turn to the robed figure, and the gleeful, murderous glint in her eyes is far gone.
"You, thing, stay out of my way. You are not the kind of being that can defeat me."
-
Headmaster
At any other time, the Headmaster might find it in herself to be amused at the endearingly awkward place where the specter's words leave this woman who is a walking axiom. Right now, she wishes to drown herself in a giant mug of coffee, and laments that she can't, because it would mean leaving this group unsupervised.
She squints under the hood, and the eyes half-concealed beneath golden bangs soar through memories that were not hers until she took them. The taunt of the one roiling in resentment is not meant for her, but the woman called the Headmaster is its only recipient. Does it matter whether you mean the shape of the river or the contents of it when you name it? It slips around her, yet hits with the coldness of bitter ages.
"And you are no longer the kind of being that can defeat anyone. Manners would go a long way," she says. Shaking her head with almost eager sincerity as she turns her face to the new teacher and the familiar. "Since you're here despite my suggestion, I hope you have a good selection of sweets to go with the tea, Interim Professor."
-
Kore
The tension leaves Kore’s body, and she slumps like a puppet with it’s strings cut.
She had no idea what she would have done if it had devolved into a fight. Fu Hua would have likely won, and - Kore couldn’t have stopped her. Even without the energy that now suffused her body, it was just... she didn’t think she could have stopped Fu Hua without using the second form.
She nodded gratefully at the dramatic man who had just appeared (magician - and a familiar? Fascinating-), and at the headmaster. The arm around Fu Hua’s shoulder remains there. It is by no means a harsh grip, or even firm, but it’s there. Thank you, she thinks at the spirit, inputting as much of her gratitude into that thought as she could.
People, she thinks, a rising surge of giddiness making her want to jump for joy. Her eyes flick between the three of them, etching their faces, the way they breathe, the way they hold themselves, into her mind.
"I haven’t had tea in a long time... It would be appreciated. And I would appreciate other perspectives on the history of this place - Fu Hua called it the Nexus? Ah, Kore is my name." Despite her excitement, she manages to keep her voice level and calm.
"And we can discuss - "the date" - later." She mutters to Fu Hua.
-
Lawrence
"My, my. My, my, my, my, my... please, do have a little faith in me. I would never betray your expectations." He uttered that last word sweetly and deliberately, as if there was some meaning rolling on its forked tongue before bowing dramatically. "I will keep every promise made, that in itself is a promise. Thus I swear... today's sweets will leave you breathless."
Well, he did make plans for today's teatime, but there were unfortunate miscalculations made. Phenex was oddly quiet too, watching the scene with keen interest... and the powerful intruder. Now, who could she be?
Ah. Another miscalculation.
And with that, he turned a cautious glance at the other girl. "Kore... how wondrous. I am delighted to share these humble halls with thee; So please, make yourself comfortable, the show has only just begun. I, Lawrence Wright, declare it with mine heart on the line."
A few moments later...
He closed his eyes, elegantly pouring tea from up high and preparing cups while the three ladies sat in one of the lounges. Theatric as ever, he used a few of Phenex's hexes to scald the brew to the perfect temperature. It was something that might surprise the headmistress too, his movements were more refined than you'd expect the typical bookstuck scholar, as if he had some experience serving. You could totally see him in a butler's uniform just now, smiling warmly as he slid the cups to the dear guests - and his generous host.
On the table laid platters of colored sweets, cookies made of rare fruit jams and candied rarities, while honeyed pastries made of nuts and nectars filled the room with a delectable joy. You could practically see just how giddy he was, preparing the most wonderful platters and serving them oh so dramatically.
"These honeyed treats come from faraway lands, some which aren't found in many worlds. The recipe is simple in essence, but the sweet flavors are quite complex. These baklava for example come from distant eastern lands in my world. Please, enjoy them."
As he bowed, the smells of fragrant tea filled the air. Why, this was no time for conflict, there was no reason why they shouldn't have a peaceful intellectual discussion.
He did hope the others agreed.
-
Fu Hua
Indulgence. Now this was something she could do. There was nothing she did partially. So she drank tea, and ate treats. Swallowed them, really. She would shift between practically eating things whole to slowly savoring them, taking minutes to chew over a single snack. "Ah, now this much better. I'm much more used to this." Fu Hua says it so casually, as if there was not a battle being waged right now between her and the headmaster.
Their energies snap at each other. Her corruption, her ego bleeding out into the world around her. A drop of ink turning the sea black. And at the same time the magic of that thing tries to stop her. It tries to serve as an obstacle. But it cannot. It controls but it does not change the substance. It can crush and mold, but it does not alter the fundamentals. It cannot prevent this place from becoming more of her, at least, not as easily as she can spread. The effort it takes to rid a canvas of paint is incomparable to the ease in which one can pour buckets of it onto the surface.
She loves winning. Especially when it is so easy.
-
Headmaster
If the cloaked woman is bothered by the way the scales of this invisible conflict tilt inevitably to the shade's side, she does not show any of it. Her lip barely curves even at the warmth and pleasant aroma of the tea, though she has thanked the shady professor for his troubles as always. Her mind is elsewhere, perhaps many places, but none of them with the smolder of bloodlust. Yet.
"So, Miss Kore, how much of the Nexus has -" And at this she pauses, rolling her next words under her tongue before voicing them, raising her eyes between the two other women at the gathering. "Miss Hua already shown you?"
-
Kore
Kore savours the bitter astringency of her tea, and stares between Lawrence, the Headmaster, and Fu Hua in turn.
They have the distinct feeling that their faces and forms are being memorised, each blink carefully categorised, as if Kore worries that they will disappear at a moment's notice.
It takes her a moment to respond to the Headmaster's question, clasping her cup with both hands and clearing her throat.
"Ah... Fu Hua brought me straight here. She mentioned the place I arrived at was the Northern Forest, and answered my simpler questions about this place. Its quite fascinating! A multidimensional meeting point, of such vast size, I wonder if-" If Order had known about it.
She cuts herself off, all excitement lost, staring at her reflection in the tea.
"Some of my questions were of rather an esoteric or obscure nature. About-" Kore gestures with her tea cup. "Soil, nutrients, politics - it's a complicated issue, and I don't mind that Fu Hua was uninterested in answering."
She presses a sense of reassurance at Fu Hua and wonders at the fact that Fu Hua had been flirting with her earlier, instead of it being some strange cultural norm Kore was unfamiliar with.
Which was actually rather disconcerting. There were any of a variety of reasons she could name for why she would not and could not reciprocate the spirit's interest. But - surely that could wait? Yes. It could.
She might enjoy the spirit's attentions, but she would need to think of how to let her down gently.
But first, there were questions to ask and answers to receive.
-
Lawrence
"Politics? How... precocious." Lawrence's finger suddenly crawls up his chin, and shadows form a mysterious smile on his moon-white face.
Boldly, maybe a bit greedily, he helps himself to a single biscuit, slowly raising it up as if the weight alone was taxing.
"Lords come and go, and many do find their crowns short lived. I've never understood the fascination with such a... temporary subject.
He swallows the sweet whole with the voracity of a snake, gulping it in its entire shape without a single shred of pity. "Now, this? This world... it is truly fascinating. Fu fu fu... *hack* *cough* *argh* "
As it turns out, ominously swallowing dry pastry without taking a breath, much like the crowns of this place's rulers... make life a short lived affair. Choking, he hurried for his cup of tea and gulped it down with a horrified gasp.
Only to scald himself completely.
"Hot hot!"
And the crimson bird in the back snickers.
-
Headmaster
She shook her head in the vague direction of the summoner, a thin and plastered smile playing at her face. "People are as transient as crowns, if not more so. Let one do as they please so long as they seek only to live leisurely or for the benefit of others."
The headmaster reached for a white pastry, thin and sugary in the shape of a cloud puff, and took a bite with the a modest crunch. "Mmm. Nowadays you'll find the Nexus is more dispersed than it has been for some hundreds to thousands of years. Relationships are as complicated as the enmity and debts between a dozen petty states, and every tiny problem they carry... but it is not my place to judge heterogeneity. With that division has come versatility and lessened dangers, at least for the moment."
She licked the sweetness from her lips and regarded Kore with an elegant flutter of the brows.
"I cannot claim expertise with soil composition or the like, but you should not have much difficulty finding an appropriate technician in Campus Town. If if would alleviate your concerns, perhaps I can write a note of address so one of our other professors will spare some time."
-
Kore
Kore reaches out to pat Lawrence on the shoulder, feeling terribly awkward. What did you do with people who nearly choked, again? She - well, it wasn’t so much that she forgot as that she had never know in the first place.
There wasn’t a lot of call for a Demon King who wanted to overthrow the order of the world to know how to help someone.
"It’s exactly becaause of how short lived and transient they can be that I’m interested in them, Professor? Lawrence." Once he’s stopped coughing in a way that makes Kore worried that slight frame will shatter, she draws back, plucking a chocolate biscuit and nibbling at it. It’s so sweet! How strange.
"And I would very much appreciate that, ah, Headmaster?" Kore takes another sip of the tea. "I grow plants, and I was curious about the... effects and such. And variation. Do you mind staying with me a little longer, Fu Hua?" She turns to look at the spirit, smiling sheepishly.
Fu Hua did not seem the type to take a particular interest in soil composition, the growth of plants and the like, especially given the rotted appearance of their meeting place. But she had accompanied Kore this far, and her presence was comfroting in it’s own way.
-
Fu Hua
So boring. Who could have guessed that someone so interesting would be swept up by so many meaningless things? She crams another pasty into her mouth, and she more swallows than chews it. They weren't bad, sure, but weren't they all getting a little tired of this? So she reaches over and taps the table with a finger. It pulses at her touch, wood blackening yet strengthening in response to her energies. Her eyes focus on the Headmaster's.
"Are you broken already, you old relic? He might be decrepit now, but him and his like are older than the foundations of this city. They've watched whole eras crumble. Yamada still lives, well, for now anyways. There are people who are more than just people." She tangles a finger in Kore's hair, ignoring the question directed towards her.
"That's much more important things for you to learn than the dirt. If you wanted to make something grow, that wouldn't be hard for you, would it?"
-
Lawrence
"T-thanks..." He wheezed feebly, but managed to smile all the same. Yet his eyes betrayed a certain... curiosity, at the sight of lady Fu Hua's display. It was similar to a craft he'd studied long ago, but different... and oh so distantly above his current limits. All in all, in essence... it was utterly different.
But an intriguing display nonetheless.
"That man.... Yamada. I can't say I ever met him, but for a single person to unite all the factions of old... I wouldn't call him a man, no. A calamity perhaps. Something that shouldn't be dared faced head-on. A devil perhaps..." He thought to himself pensively, sipping more of the tea like a snake licks at a gentle stream. "Ah, apologies. Back to the topic a hand... I may know a thing or two about certain plants and how to grow them, if it piques your curiosity. It probably isn't anything you wouldn't find out reading a book though." He sulked and looked down berating himself bitterly, yet with a curious candor.
-
Headmaster
She shook her head with a shallow sigh, and pushed the now-empty cup away from her end of the table. "A heart like the heavens is yet a heart. Are you sure you're not the one who's grown forgetful, Fǔ Wúyí?"
The Headmaster slid her eyes away from the shade as if she had nothing to add, shaking her head as she finished the words. With a flick of her wrist, envelope paper and an inkpen floated from somewhere indistinct into her hands, and she set them down to write what she had suggested.
-
Kore
Kore freezes, unsure if she wants to lean into the touch of Fu Hua's finger, or pull away. The idea of the danger Fu Hua might pose doesn't even cross her mind - she just thinks; "Do I deserve this?" And is not sure on the answer.
It is only the realisation that she has been asked a question, and a vague curiosity about this man, Yamada, that makes her (metaphorically) shake her head, clearing it of the pointless thoughts. If Fu Hua offers it, she ought to accept it, so she reaches up and twines a hand around Fu Hua's finger.
"I did say I could come here later." She mutters without heat. "And that we could leave if you got bored. Besides, I like making things grow myself. Whenever I cheat it... ends badly."
Plants not growing right, having to tear them out before the roots ate of their natural born neighbours. Polluting and hungry not because of malice, but because of their nature. Kore glances at the blackened table, and wonders how many years it took to build it, for the wood to grow. And how little it took for Fu Hua to change it.
But she has other things to focus on - not least getting Fu Hua out of this place before she actually kills someone instead of just threatening it. She finishes her tea, and stands up, taking the hand Fu Hua has at her head and holding it, letting their fingers entangle. She tries to ignore how nice it feels, this simple, simple thing of holding another's hand.
"I always find personal conversations much more illuminating then just reading." Says the woman who has not had any personal conversations for several millennia. She eyes Fu Hua carefully as she continues; "If you would both be alright with it, I would appreciate you accompanying me to the professor in question, so I don't get lost, Professor Lawrence? And thank you for your kindness..."
Kore pauses and tries to recall if anyone has referenced the Headmasters name. "Miss Headmaster? Mrs Headmaster? I assure you, I will be out of your hair soon enough." She presses her thumb into Fu Hua's palm, running it down in what she thinks is a soothing manner.
-
Lawrence
"Hmm, tremble in the eternal pits of fear? No, no, that one's already taken. Kneel before me? Nah, too cliché. Maybe something book related, a pun perhaps? My my, what to do..."
While Lawrence rarely acted up, he could sometimes say the strangest things. But even then, he was suddenly turned away from the three damsels, thinking with great focus while muttering what little he managed to scramble through his uninspired husk. Whatever he was thinking about had to be quite important, considering how intently he was taking his notes.
"Kh, I felt like throwing a cool one liner." His frail body trembled in disappointed, looking down in shame. Until he dramatically snapped his fingers, and a serpent large as a tree slithered out of the man's coat, like a misty fog that smelled of greenery and nature and life. With eyes like jewels, and scales that glimmered in the gentle candle light, it exhaled a pleasant aroma, and soon the table was adorned by fresh shrubbery, quickly growing berries and delectable fruits while trees sprouted freely.
Lawrence shook his head, smiling despite the timid act he put up earlier - if it was an act at all.
"Growing things is easy. Anyone with a mind to it could do it. But if you don't know how to tend to your creations, they'll just wither and fall. It's... difficult sometimes. Painful, when you try so hard - just to have forces beyond your control take it all away..." He grabbed an apple his dearest serpentine friend created, and toyed with it freely before taking a healthy bite.
"Its why I try to understand our headmaster. Pests and weeds can be problematic." He gave lady Fu Hua a glance and shook his head bitterly. "But in my humbly worthless opinion, I'd rather accept it. Whether its animosity, love, friendship - they're all welcome compared to silence. When you're stuck alone in the dark pits of regret, even the venom spats between enemies become cherished memories. The agony of being trapped in a dark place, unable to escape your own toughts... to be frank, I'm still not sure if I made it out myself... haha."
His black eyes looked... hollowed. Even now.
"You're all real, right?"
The snake and the bird just happened to be there, but unlike the usually chipper times... they were oddly silent.
-
Nanako
"So yeah, a bunch of schools and such decided to pool their resources and centralize, and a district sorta grew up around it like your average college town," Nanako explained to her vampire companion, throat dry and eyes flitting between his eyes, his fangs, and the strong arms holding her close. "They've got courses for pretty much everything around here, all sorts of events, and the kinds of whacky hijinks you'd expect with high schoolers and college kids with crazy magical powers. Headmaster's kinda weird though. Then again, weird is probably part of the job description when you've got a trading relationship with the Citadel and there's graduate courses in deck building."
The squirrel girl's tail swished lazily behind her, Nanako looking around for a moment before continuing, "Not quite as fight-happy as the Dojo district, but it's got its own charms. Aside from the dress code."
-
Costin
"Bro, who the hell cares. Do I look like a literate?"
He faced straight at Nanako and waved his hand across his sunglasses, smiling for emphasis - or because he was loving getting under the squirrel hoe's skin. "Anyways, what the fuck's the citadel? Aren't you missing a few steps here?" He put his hands in his pocket, leering at some of the hot students passing by before barking at them, scaring them off with a psychotic grin.
God, it smelled like shit here.
"Wait, let me guess. It's a nest full of mages, like here too? God, it reeks of witchblood and mana, get me the hell away from here before I seriously kill someone. Actually, forget it. I'll stay. Maybe if I breathe the same air long enough I'll grow a tolerance to their bullshit."
-
Costin
"Bro, who the hell cares. Do I look like a literate?"
He faced straight at Nanako and waved his hand across his sunglasses, smiling for emphasis - or because he was loving getting under the squirrel hoe's skin. "Anyways, what the fuck's the citadel? Aren't you missing a few steps here?" He put his hands in his pocket, leering at some of the hot students passing by before barking at them, scaring them off with a psychotic grin.
God, it smelled like shit here.
"Wait, let me guess. It's a nest full of mages, like here too? God, it reeks of witchblood and mana, get me the hell away from here before I seriously kill someone. Actually, forget it. I'll stay. Maybe if I breathe the same air long enough I'll grow a tolerance to their bullshit."
Nanako
Nanako's eyebrows twitched a little as Costin spoke. "Well, I'm sure they've got things you can listen to as well," she remarked, tail swishing erratically behind her, "And yeah, it's the Citadel of Sorcery. Honestly, this is hardly a nest, compared to that. We'd need to sit through a border checkpoint if we wanted to visit the Citadel though. Might be easier for you, though, seeing as you've got some magic under your sleeves."
She knew full well that he wanted her riled up, but all the same she couldn't help getting a little annoyed all the same. "Sorry to say, but it's sounding like the Dojo would've been your favorite place. Pretty much everywhere else is much softer. Well, that or the Vampire district."
-
Costin
"Are you kidding me? I'd rather die. If I see a magus here, I'll rape their fucking corpse."
Of course, he was blind. Hence the point. "They burrow and hide, fill the air with their putrid stench, and crawl about the streets like maggots. They have the nerve to reproduce. Sorcerers are like parasites, there's no cure for it. Only a bullet to their head."
He rolled his sleeve back and exposed his forearm bare - filled with a myriad of cuts and surgical stitches, some of which couldn't fully heal even after he turned.
"And the worst is having that shit blood running in my veins. Have some goddamn empathy, god." He sighed and cooled his jets in a split second. "Anyways, what's this about a vampire district?"
-
Costin
"Are you kidding me? I'd rather die. If I see a magus here, I'll rape their fucking corpse."
Of course, he was blind. Hence the point. "They burrow and hide, fill the air with their putrid stench, and crawl about the streets like maggots. They have the nerve to reproduce. Sorcerers are like parasites, there's no cure for it. Only a bullet to their head."
He rolled his sleeve back and exposed his forearm bare - filled with a myriad of cuts and surgical stitches, some of which couldn't fully heal even after he turned.
"And the worst is having that shit blood running in my veins. Have some goddamn empathy, god." He sighed and cooled his jets in a split second. "Anyways, what's this about a vampire district?"
Nanako
"Uh huh," Nanako gave Costin a strange look, then shrugged it off. Weird as it was, she wasn't about to question his distaste for mages. The squirrel girl's own experiences with magic here hadn't been all that pleasant either.
"Anyway, vampire district," the squirrel girl continued, "I mean, pretty self-explanatory. It's a district with a whole lot of vampires. Lead by this hot blonde called Valerie. Not sure if they're your kind of vampire though. They've got the district shrouded in constant mists so they can go out during the day, but I don't think Valerie herself needs it, so maybe that's just a matter of how powerful a vamp you are?"
-
Costin
"Hoooo. So she's overcome the daystar as well? Neat." He said that, but he didn't sound all too interested. Honestly, the politics of his comrades were lost on him, he simply wished to destroy back then. "This Valerie babe... is she strong?"
-
Costin
"Hoooo. So she's overcome the daystar as well? Neat." He said that, but he didn't sound all too interested. Honestly, the politics of his comrades were lost on him, he simply wished to destroy back then. "This Valerie babe... is she strong?"
Nanako
"Strong? Yeah, definitely," the squirrel girl said, thinking back to her brief tussle with Valerie, "She taught one of the dojo heads, among others. Probably the strongest among those heads, at that, but they all seem to have up and left."
-
Costin
"Neat."
He paused for a second, hands in his pocket and all.
"Aight, enough chitchat. Wanna fight?"
-
Costin
"Neat."
He paused for a second, hands in his pocket and all.
"Aight, enough chitchat. Wanna fight?"
Nanako
The squirrel girl gave him a curious look as he brushed off the explanation, stepping away as he paused, seeming oddly...sedate.
"Do you really want to now?" Nanako cocked an eyebrow, taking a couple more careful steps back, angling her body for a fight more on instinct than as a conscious choice, "I mean, this whole tour, the dance, the talk. Much as I want a fight, I can't help wondering if you just wanted someone to talk to. Someone who wouldn't break if you looked at them funny."
-
Costin
The apostle... laughed. He laughed, jovially, even under the sun's harsh rays.
"Pfft. You dumbass, fighting is how I talk! The two were never mutually exclusive, but this is this - and that's that." He grinned and ruffled the squirrelgirl's hair playfully before crossing his arms. "Besides, sick fucks and monsters like me aren't cut out for playing house. You wouldn't dump a carnivorous lion or a dragon in a pen full-o-sheeps, right? That's just common sense."
Yet this girl totally threw that common sense off balance. It made him a bit happier, if only for a short whole.
"But you were nice to me. Since you were itching for it earlier, as much as I love to fuck with you... it just doesn't feel right to blueball you any longer. Besides, its not like I don't have a bunch of pent up spunk in there. We get physical for a bit, go wild past our limits, and whatever happens happens. Tis what you humans call a win-win, no?"
And with a friendly grin, he stomped the ground - and the earth shook. A massive spider-crack formed around his foot, distorting the asphalt. Yet even that was restrained - like a spring, ever so held out and tempered. What would happen if he let go?
"Besides, aren't you a bit least curious? About what an Ancient can do?"
-
Lawrence
"Hmm, tremble in the eternal pits of fear? No, no, that one's already taken. Kneel before me? Nah, too cliché. Maybe something book related, a pun perhaps? My my, what to do..."
While Lawrence rarely acted up, he could sometimes say the strangest things. But even then, he was suddenly turned away from the three damsels, thinking with great focus while muttering what little he managed to scramble through his uninspired husk. Whatever he was thinking about had to be quite important, considering how intently he was taking his notes.
"Kh, I felt like throwing a cool one liner." His frail body trembled in disappointed, looking down in shame. Until he dramatically snapped his fingers, and a serpent large as a tree slithered out of the man's coat, like a misty fog that smelled of greenery and nature and life. With eyes like jewels, and scales that glimmered in the gentle candle light, it exhaled a pleasant aroma, and soon the table was adorned by fresh shrubbery, quickly growing berries and delectable fruits while trees sprouted freely.
Lawrence shook his head, smiling despite the timid act he put up earlier - if it was an act at all.
"Growing things is easy. Anyone with a mind to it could do it. But if you don't know how to tend to your creations, they'll just wither and fall. It's... difficult sometimes. Painful, when you try so hard - just to have forces beyond your control take it all away..." He grabbed an apple his dearest serpentine friend created, and toyed with it freely before taking a healthy bite.
"Its why I try to understand our headmaster. Pests and weeds can be problematic." He gave lady Fu Hua a glance and shook his head bitterly. "But in my humbly worthless opinion, I'd rather accept it. Whether its animosity, love, friendship - they're all welcome compared to silence. When you're stuck alone in the dark pits of regret, even the venom spats between enemies become cherished memories. The agony of being trapped in a dark place, unable to escape your own toughts... to be frank, I'm still not sure if I made it out myself... haha."
His black eyes looked... hollowed. Even now.
"You're all real, right?"
The snake and the bird just happened to be there, but unlike the usually chipper times... they were oddly silent.
Kore
"For my sins, yes," Kore says, and she can't stop her lips from quirking up in an ironic smile.
"And believe me, I understand completely. When the world is empty but for you and your thoughts..."
Was it that she went mad and returned to sanity? Or maybe she could not go insane in the first place.
Or, just maybe, she was insane from the beginning.
She had destroyed everything after all, even though her family was meant to preserve everything.
Hours watering a patch of sparse dirt, more dust than earth, hoping to see a sprout, any day now, any day. She had cried when she had seen the first hint of green push out.
Pouring through books on horticulture, farming - she had picked them up half on a whim, half to have something to talk about, with a certain sense of smug amusement, and blessed herself later as the garden had grown around her, a little patch of life in a dead land.
And talking aloud - not to herself, not to the plants, but just to hear a sound-
"I understand completely." She says again, quiet and intent, staring past Lawrence.
-
Costin
The apostle... laughed. He laughed, jovially, even under the sun's harsh rays.
"Pfft. You dumbass, fighting is how I talk! The two were never mutually exclusive, but this is this - and that's that." He grinned and ruffled the squirrelgirl's hair playfully before crossing his arms. "Besides, sick fucks and monsters like me aren't cut out for playing house. You wouldn't dump a carnivorous lion or a dragon in a pen full-o-sheeps, right? That's just common sense."
Yet this girl totally threw that common sense off balance. It made him a bit happier, if only for a short whole.
"But you were nice to me. Since you were itching for it earlier, as much as I love to fuck with you... it just doesn't feel right to blueball you any longer. Besides, its not like I don't have a bunch of pent up spunk in there. We get physical for a bit, go wild past our limits, and whatever happens happens. Tis what you humans call a win-win, no?"
And with a friendly grin, he stomped the ground - and the earth shook. A massive spider-crack formed around his foot, distorting the asphalt. Yet even that was restrained - like a spring, ever so held out and tempered. What would happen if he let go?
"Besides, aren't you a bit least curious? About what an Ancient can do?"
Nanako
The squirrel girl giggled a little as he ruffled her hair, squirrely ears twitching as his touch brought a more comforting sort of warmth than his presence had. She had to admit, common sense would say that keeping a predator like him near squishies wouldn't end well. Of course, she wasn't squishy and common sense had little to do with why she'd decided to stay with the vampire.
The slight shift in her balance as his backwards step broke the ground under them, shaking it under their feet for a brief moment. She heard worried murmurs from the schoolyards, but didn't listen. She only had eyes and ears for the man in front of her now.
"Ancient, huh? Sounds fancy name for a vampire," Nanako mused, "Guess you really are an old man after all."
The squirrel girl took a booming step back of her own, adding her quakes to his as she lowered her stance, tail flicking back and forth as a counterbalance. A hungry grin split her lips the way the earth split under their feet, every inch of the squirrel girl's body quivering slightly, ready to bolt off in any direction at the slightest provocation.
"Well, so long as you'll still be good to go once we're done."
-
Costin
The apostle scoffed in its magnanimous good mood, cracking a wild wolfish grin. "I like you a little, don't die okay?" Hands in his pocket, he closed his eyes for a second, tuning in to the sound of his walkman... and the voices crying out within.
Without warning, his claw snapped out of his pocket with a casual back-hand - a swipe you could instinctively feel slicing through your body. A thoughtless action, fueled by instinct, a predator does not need to think to swing their weapon. It is a natural thing, like breathing. That made it all the more destructive, with an instantaneous lethality unseen by those who didn't tread the same path.
The path of a swing swung to break. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmiH4V3Zpoo)
-
Costin
The apostle scoffed in its magnanimous good mood, cracking a wild wolfish grin. "I like you a little, don't die okay?" Hands in his pocket, he closed his eyes for a second, tuning in to the sound of his walkman... and the voices crying out within.
Without warning, his claw snapped out of his pocket with a casual back-hand - a swipe you could instinctively feel slicing through your body. A thoughtless action, fueled by instinct, a predator does not need to think to swing their weapon. It is a natural thing, like breathing. That made it all the more destructive, with an instantaneous lethality unseen by those who didn't tread the same path.
The path of a swing swung to break. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmiH4V3Zpoo)
Nanako
There it was again. That familiar edge about the vampire's very presence. The voice crawling in her hear dimmed in fright of this man, and she caught the attack coming out of her peripheral vision. Her eyes flashed down to track it, a smile curling her lips as she saw the clawed hand rapidly approaching for a backhand. It slammed across her cheek with a crack, knocking the squirrel girl's head to the side and forcing her to take a single step in the same direction to compensate. She didn't fall.
That delectable rush of pain throbbed in her face, an angry bruise already swelling as she tasted blood in her mouth. She spat out a wad of spit and scarlet blood, then drew herself up again, feeling the cut inside her mouth already closing, the bruise already receding from her face as she met his eyes, undaunted.
"Harder," was all she said before suddenly hopping up with both legs tucked to her chest and letting fly with a thunderous dropkick. A normal man wouldn't even have been able to process the blow before the blow reduced his torso to a fine red mist, but this man was beyond that.
-
Costin
He noticed the twitch of her muscles way before the gust of wind blew his hair back, declaring the earth-shattering kick. But before her kegs lifted her off the ground - the moment the committed to the kick his face already moved like a red streak of light. If it were more pathetic, he might just take it in the face for fun. Moves this telegraphed were like an open book even if you were faster. He tilted his body sideways as casually as one could breathe, swinging his elbow down on her spine in one move. It was brutal, and it was beautiful. The hammer sent violent tremors that made all nearby students flee.
"The fuck's that, kid?"
She wasn't bad - faster than him too. But with so many wasted movements, he didn't feel bad about giving her an arm's worth of his time. The other was tucked right in his pocket. This wouldn't be a fight, he had no interest in such things.
He'd bring her one sided domination.
His foot immediately boomed down her skull to give her the curbstomp of her life. With her monstrous speed, would she dodge?
-
Costin
He noticed the twitch of her muscles way before the gust of wind blew his hair back, declaring the earth-shattering kick. But before her kegs lifted her off the ground - the moment the committed to the kick his face already moved like a red streak of light. If it were more pathetic, he might just take it in the face for fun. Moves this telegraphed were like an open book even if you were faster. He tilted his body sideways as casually as one could breathe, swinging his elbow down on her spine in one move. It was brutal, and it was beautiful. The hammer sent violent tremors that made all nearby students flee.
"The fuck's that, kid?"
She wasn't bad - faster than him too. But with so many wasted movements, he didn't feel bad about giving her an arm's worth of his time. The other was tucked right in his pocket. This wouldn't be a fight, he had no interest in such things.
He'd bring her one sided domination.
His foot immediately boomed down her skull to give her the curbstomp of her life. With her monstrous speed, would she dodge?
Nanako
It looked like they were skipping the opening exchange of blows, then.
Nanako grunted as she was struck out of the air, his elbow digging into her spine. The squirrel girl crashed down into the dirt hard enough to send tremors through the ground, hard enough to kick up dust that wouldn't have stopped either of them anyway. Nanako blinked as she got her bearings again, then glanced back, catching Cossie's follow-up in her peripheral vision. Even with pain like pins and needles racing up and down her back, she moved, a sudden flick of her tail rolling her out of the way enough to see his boot crush the dirt where her head used to be, dodging at the last moment.
My turn, said her gleaming eyes.
Moving like lightning, the squirrel girl grabbed his foot, hooked the instep of his other leg with one foot to keep it grounded, and struck out with her other leg at the side of his knee, right where it would be weakest. There were no more wasted motions, the pro-wrestling style burning away to simple street-fighting instincts, and a bit more. The squirrel girl only stuck around long enough to land her blow, to hear the sound of ligaments and tendons snapping and joints popping, before rolling away and back up to her feet again, eyes on him all the while.
-
Costin
"See? I knew you had it in you!" He noticed the gust of wind before his foot smashed on nothing - the warmth and sounds assailing him as the hurricane moved to trap him. His foot was locked, and before his pallid face could change its expression, a kick cracked on his kneecap like a cannon, widening his grin like a beast. That's it! That's the stuff that kept him up at night! The roaring impact of flesh against flesh. The melody of bones breaking!
But before the sound of his bones could make the delightful pop, his body already snapped forward to punch Nanako relentlessly, attacking without being restrained in the slightest by the wound on the knee. It wasn't about speed or power, and hardly limited by a beast's senses or experience. He could almost outright see where she was heading before she moved, and bashed her before her body could fully escape him. Of course, this left him open for attacks as well. If it didn't.... he might not have taken the first hit after all.
And where's the fun in that?
"Eat this!"
-
Costin
"See? I knew you had it in you!" He noticed the gust of wind before his foot smashed on nothing - the warmth and sounds assailing him as the hurricane moved to trap him. His foot was locked, and before his pallid face could change its expression, a kick cracked on his kneecap like a cannon, widening his grin like a beast. That's it! That's the stuff that kept him up at night! The roaring impact of flesh against flesh. The melody of bones breaking!
But before the sound of his bones could make the delightful pop, his body already snapped forward to punch Nanako relentlessly, attacking without being restrained in the slightest by the wound on the knee. It wasn't about speed or power, and hardly limited by a beast's senses or experience. He could almost outright see where she was heading before she moved, and bashed her before her body could fully escape him. Of course, this left him open for attacks as well. If it didn't.... he might not have taken the first hit after all.
And where's the fun in that?
"Eat this!"
Nanako
Nanako gasped as the first blows knocked some air from her, her escape was intercepted as if he'd known where she would go before she did. Barely a moment into this fight and she was already taking good hits, the throbbing pain of growing and receding bruises and cuts sending delightful shivers down her spine. Still, this was different. What she'd felt when she'd heard his knee pop out of place, it was familiar and foreign at the same time.
"Had what in me?" she shot back, even as that voice crawling in her ear whispered to her
She didn't have time to think about it, however, Cossie's relentless followup coming down hard. She didn't have time to consider the new thrill that filled her when she heard his body give out, only enough time to latch onto it, to follow it. With the vampire's reckless assault, the squirrel girl quickly found her opening, hands latching onto his outstretched arm as it hurtled towards her, Nanako swinging her legs up to join her arms, wrapping tight and forcing the arm to bend in ways it wasn't supposed to. She wasn't foolish enough to think a simple armbar would stop him, however, instead using it and her grounding to try throw him to the ground by the arm she'd captured!
-
Costin
"Beats me! It ain't the sort of thing you can just put into words. As if a woman would understand." The impacts boomed like cannonballs - yet had that calm, violent smile about him. While his fists slammed into her meat like a hammer, the wounds reflected cleanly on his sunglasses. That is, until his fist was suddenly stopped. A titanic force suddenly latched onto him, moving him without warning.
Huh, jiujitsu? Nah, more like wrestling. Neat.
His body was being hurled towards the ground with her full body's force, but the blur under his sunglasses was utterly unsurprised. And that's when she'd realize why. Her throw halted so suddenly, one might not register it immediately.
"I'll teach you how to enjoy it, YOU MAGGOT!!!!"
She used all her body in there, and yet it stopped just as his legs left the ground. Did he stop time? Use some vampiric power? Nay, nothing as crass. He simply... stood his ground, rooting himself with the entirety of his body's power. Despite his arm being bent so unnaturally, it still managed to grab Nanako's collarbone with terrifying power - claws digging deep inside to the point he held it as if it were an armbar. This increased the strain on the limb even further, from the look if it it might just mangle and split off any moment now.
Not enough. If she didn't rip his arm off immediately, he'd slam her to the ground with it. With his claws, it might just rip it off her neck with all the blood vessels attached.
-
Costin
"Beats me! It ain't the sort of thing you can just put into words. As if a woman would understand." The impacts boomed like cannonballs - yet had that calm, violent smile about him. While his fists slammed into her meat like a hammer, the wounds reflected cleanly on his sunglasses. That is, until his fist was suddenly stopped. A titanic force suddenly latched onto him, moving him without warning.
Huh, jiujitsu? Nah, more like wrestling. Neat.
His body was being hurled towards the ground with her full body's force, but the blur under his sunglasses was utterly unsurprised. And that's when she'd realize why. Her throw halted so suddenly, one might not register it immediately.
"I'll teach you how to enjoy it, YOU MAGGOT!!!!"
She used all her body in there, and yet it stopped just as his legs left the ground. Did he stop time? Use some vampiric power? Nay, nothing as crass. He simply... stood his ground, rooting himself with the entirety of his body's power. Despite his arm being bent so unnaturally, it still managed to grab Nanako's collarbone with terrifying power - claws digging deep inside to the point he held it as if it were an armbar. This increased the strain on the limb even further, from the look if it it might just mangle and split off any moment now.
Not enough. If she didn't rip his arm off immediately, he'd slam her to the ground with it. With his claws, it might just rip it off her neck with all the blood vessels attached.
Nanako
The fight had started at a fever pitch, and only grew more intense from there. From the crawling sensation of her many bruises and cuts closing and receding, to the Grace's maddening whispers clawing at her mind, the heat racing through her veins like fire with each painful throb, and the new feeling, the one she couldn't identify in the heat of the moment. The thrill that had raced through her when she'd popped Costin's knee like a walnut in a nut-cracker, the dull ache as she felt his arm twist and give out by inches under her grasp, even as they came to a sudden stop.
Before Nanako had time to question why they'd stopped, claws dug into her, bringing a new, stabbing pain to the mix as she cried out, blood seeping from between his fingers. As his grip tightened, the squirrel girl realized what was about to happen, and only had enough time to process that before she moved, not having the time to think or shout back to him. With a powerful twist of her body, she threw her weight back against his already mangled elbow.
The sound of muscle tearing, tendons snapping like overstretched rubber bands, ligaments popping like kettlecorn, all of it rang in her ears in that brief instant before she twisted free. She tore his arm off at the elbow with a grunt, bouncing away and pulling his claws out of her clavicle, before realizing what she'd just done, and realizing how the sound of arm giving out had rung sweetly in her ear. Fresh heat filled her face as she swallowed hard and tossed the arm away, keeping her eyes on him all the while.
That was...new.
-
Costin
A dark energy screamed from his eyes like red hot suns, his arms and tendons tearing against Nanako and his own strength combined, his muscles bulging out of his black shirt, barely contained by the cloth. And the violence. "AWWWWWWWWWWWWW YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
And it tore. His arm ripped out of its socket like a mangled drumstick, spewing viscera and gore all over while the apostle cackled with orgasmic glee.
"HAHAHAHA! OFF WITH THINE HEAD!" The moment she was midair, his kick boomed forth even more violently to slam into her womb like a tactical nuke. Rubble, people, vehicles... all of it blown back, mercilessly ejected by their clashes, whose shockwaves were already strong enough to shatter walls.
Splurt.
The bone popped cleanly off his right shoulder, while his other hand was still relaxed in his pocket. But his grin, it was just like that bone... bright as the moon. The sight of his blood spewing off his socket calmed him down a bit, and he composed himself on the spot. But the hint of maddened glee was unmistakeable.
"Haha...haah.. phew, sorry about that. Art thou okay bitch? Can you keep going?"
-
Costin
A dark energy screamed from his eyes like red hot suns, his arms and tendons tearing against Nanako and his own strength combined, his muscles bulging out of his black shirt, barely contained by the cloth. And the violence. "AWWWWWWWWWWWWW YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
And it tore. His arm ripped out of its socket like a mangled drumstick, spewing viscera and gore all over while the apostle cackled with orgasmic glee.
"HAHAHAHA! OFF WITH THINE HEAD!" The moment she was midair, his kick boomed forth even more violently to slam into her womb like a tactical nuke. Rubble, people, vehicles... all of it blown back, mercilessly ejected by their clashes, whose shockwaves were already strong enough to shatter walls.
Splurt.
The bone popped cleanly off his right shoulder, while his other hand was still relaxed in his pocket. But his grin, it was just like that bone... bright as the moon. The sight of his blood spewing off his socket calmed him down a bit, and he composed himself on the spot. But the hint of maddened glee was unmistakeable.
"Haha...haah.. phew, sorry about that. Art thou okay bitch? Can you keep going?"
Nanako
In the same moment that the sound of ripping muscles and snapping tendons rang in her ears so sweetly, a booming kick struck home. His foot dug into her navel, bending Nanako double around his extended leg, the squirrel girl gagging as spittle and stale blood sprayed from her lips, her eyes wide as she felt his blow digging into her like a heated spear, her core clinching as a heady groan passed her lips. The sheer impact tossed up dust and dirt where she crashed down again, dug into the barren dirt, cracked and broken under their clashes.
There was a long moment of silence, then Cossie's severed arm flew from the cloud. The cloud was blown away with a sonic boom to reveal Nanako on her feet again, skin mottled with bruises, stale blood streaking her face, and a flushed, toothy grin curling her lips.
"Now that's more like it," Nanako said huskily, licking her lips as she met Cossie's eyes, her own eyes gleaming with manic excitement. Something still nagged at her about how the sound of his arm being torn off had sounded, but it wasn't a question she could answer by thinking about it. There wasn't time for that, anymore.
"You've got more where that came from, right?" she taunted, readying herself for his assault again, tail swishing back and forth as a counterbalance.
-
Costin
"Heh, you're not sane are you?" The first thing she'd note was a deliberate movement, as his right hand finally got off his pocket. He rose up and flicked his hair back, tapping his temple with his un-mangled arm. It was rich enough to laugh, even if he was really starting to get in the mood to slaughter. The truth was, he was starting to understand this odd prey he stumbled upon.
"There's plenty of fuck ups with brain disorders like you, with neurons wired all over the place... bah, even I can tell your brain's pumping heaps of serotonin and dopamine in response to the pain. In polite society, we call it fucked in the head. Not that I care how you get off, I just like fighting the strong." He rubbed his open wound like a woman's slit, gazing at his blood adoringly before running the gory hand on his mane, fixing it back smoothly.
"You said it was your turn, and I ain't changing that yet. Hit me with your best shot, cause I'll help you cope with your puberty."
-
Costin
"Heh, you're not sane are you?" The first thing she'd note was a deliberate movement, as his right hand finally got off his pocket. He rose up and flicked his hair back, tapping his temple with his un-mangled arm. It was rich enough to laugh, even if he was really starting to get in the mood to slaughter. The truth was, he was starting to understand this odd prey he stumbled upon.
"There's plenty of fuck ups with brain disorders like you, with neurons wired all over the place... bah, even I can tell your brain's pumping heaps of serotonin and dopamine in response to the pain. In polite society, we call it fucked in the head. Not that I care how you get off, I just like fighting the strong." He rubbed his open wound like a woman's slit, gazing at his blood adoringly before running the gory hand on his mane, fixing it back smoothly.
"You said it was your turn, and I ain't changing that yet. Hit me with your best shot, cause I'll help you cope with your puberty."
Nanako
"Ya-huh, but I wouldn't call this polite society, would you?" Nanako shot back with a heady smirk, "I know what I am, and you're the one calling yourself a wild animal."
The pause in their fight, brief as it was, gave her a moment to think. To ask what it was she'd felt as she was tearing his arm off, but...she couldn't. The child in her mind scrabbled harder at that moment, gouging into the walls she'd tried to put between it and her.
Or you don't want to, it whispered through cracks too thin to see through. Nanako's grin faltered for a moment as her eyes fell away for a brief instant before flashing back to Costin, focusing back on the vampire. There'd only be one way to find out.
"Hell of a thing to call it, but I won't refuse your kindness," she chuckled, that madcap grin coming back to her face. Then she moved, faster than she had before in this fight, eager to get back into the fray with this man, eager to pound him and get pounded. She darted low, almost low enough to go on all fours until she reached him and popped back up, a powerful leg scything out to cut his out from under him. With a sudden flick of her tail, however, the kick turned into a blade screaming for his neck!
-
Costin
Nanako already cracked the earth before the rubble got to rise or fall, with movements that were more like a lightning strike than the impact of flesh. But the vampire just reacted to her cooly, shifting his body to the side ever so slightly. If her speed and power were unbelievable, then the fact he'd see through and dodge it so casually...
No. Even the vampire had to give in at some point. She was faster. She had shown it before, the dead abomination could be outplayed. It could be beaten.
But would? No, not this easily.
After dodging the kick, his body was full of openings - his grin boldly invited Nanako to bite.
-
Costin
Nanako already cracked the earth before the rubble got to rise or fall, with movements that were more like a lightning strike than the impact of flesh. But the vampire just reacted to her cooly, shifting his body to the side ever so slightly. If her speed and power were unbelievable, then the fact he'd see through and dodge it so casually...
No. Even the vampire had to give in at some point. She was faster. She had shown it before, the dead abomination could be outplayed. It could be beaten.
But would? No, not this easily.
After dodging the kick, his body was full of openings - his grin boldly invited Nanako to bite.
Nanako
Gritting her teeth in building frustration as he slipped past the kick so easily, Nanako took his invitation without hesitation. She wasn't sure if she could have resisted even if she wanted to, the squirrel girl wanting, no, needing to hear the impact of a blow landing, that strangely pleasant sound of his body giving in against hers. She needed to know for certain, one way or the other.
A quick flick of her tail kept her momentum going, redirecting it as her first kick plowed into the dirt, sending tremors through the ground. She planted that foot down and anchored herself on it, her other leg coming around around for his head, only to shoot into his torso instead, the squirrel girl aching for something solid, anything at this point.
-
Costin
Her deadly kick flowed and shot out even faster than the last, darting like a snake before snapping unpredictably - an explosion moving forward only to crack unpredictably in another direction. To break something, anything. The wind pressure alone ripped everything apart, damaging the concrete around them and ripping the vampire's shirt apart.
There was the crackling sound. A feeling. Her hit connected.
And yet it felt wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong wrong, wrong wrong, wrong. As if holding someone's hand, only to realize your wrist exposed naught but a broken bone. It was a crushing pain that shot through her entire leg nauseatingly.
The leg Costin caught with his clawed hand, holding it just before his bruised body.
"You fight like old people fuck."
Suddenly came the monstruous wind pressure, the vertigo before the impact. The moment didn't last long enough. The apostle slammed her against a building with the violence you'd expect a killer.
-
Headmaster
She shook her head with a shallow sigh, and pushed the now-empty cup away from her end of the table. "A heart like the heavens is yet a heart. Are you sure you're not the one who's grown forgetful, Fǔ Wúyí?"
The Headmaster slid her eyes away from the shade as if she had nothing to add, shaking her head as she finished the words. With a flick of her wrist, envelope paper and an inkpen floated from somewhere indistinct into her hands, and she set them down to write what she had suggested.
An injured Student
There were a few tremors, shaking the tea ever so slightly.
Ever so subtly.
Then gates to the private study were soon opened shut, revealing something unexpected. A panicked upperclassman hurried, bandages on his head and slight wounds to show. "Headmaster...!" He gasped and panted, catching his breath as quickly as he could.
His injuries weren't severe... the physical ones at least. But his fear was very real, and palpable. "Monsters... something terrible's rampaging around? I couldn't get a good look, but there's blasts all over the far eastern dorms! I got here as fast as I could, evacuated the others with a teleport spell. Some got injured though..."
His breath was heavy, ragged. That's when he noticed the strangers in the study. "Y-you should get somewhere else. It isn't safe right now!"
Lawrence
His eyes turned like a viper, looking at the student with undivided attention - without so much as spilling a drip of tea. But there was another tremor, a less noticeable one. And that's when his reptilian gaze was deciphered for once. Something outside its usual hollow self.
Anger.
True, genuine anger.
"Is someone so bold as to attack here and now? I can't allow this. I won't allow my students to come to harm." His eyes turned quickly to the headmaster. "If this is true, we have no time to spare. What are your instructions master?"
-
Headmaster
No time at all passed from the arrival of the haggard student, to her expression twinging with bitterness under the hood. Rather than answer Lawrence immediately, she had crossed the distance to the messenger and steadied him by the shoulder. "I understand, and I'll go right away," she said, squeezing lightly. "You've done well, so go take care of your injuries and keep safe."
With a sweep of her cloak, she nodded apologetically to her guests, and flew the promised recommendation in Kore's hands. She paused severely only at the sight of Lawrence. "I'm afraid we must cut this close. Please take your leave, and I will see you later. You follow me, professor."
She did not walk, but strode to the door of the study of the study, and as she slammed half of it open, what gazed from the other side was not the interior of the building, but a scene of battle.
-
Costin
Her deadly kick flowed and shot out even faster than the last, darting like a snake before snapping unpredictably - an explosion moving forward only to crack unpredictably in another direction. To break something, anything. The wind pressure alone ripped everything apart, damaging the concrete around them and ripping the vampire's shirt apart.
There was the crackling sound. A feeling. Her hit connected.
And yet it felt wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong wrong, wrong wrong, wrong. As if holding someone's hand, only to realize your wrist exposed naught but a broken bone. It was a crushing pain that shot through her entire leg nauseatingly.
The leg Costin caught with his clawed hand, holding it just before his bruised body.
"You fight like old people fuck."
Suddenly came the monstruous wind pressure, the vertigo before the impact. The moment didn't last long enough. The apostle slammed her against a building with the violence you'd expect a killer.
Nanako
The squirrel girl shuddered with the thrill of impact, but quickly realized something was off. This was a much more familiar feeling, that of her own pain, and confusion showed on the squirrel girl's face for a moment before the dust cleared enough for her to see her leg caught in his clawed hand. Nanako quivered, her core clenching at nothing as that crushing pain raced through her, making a vain attempt at pulling her leg free.
She needn't have bothered, as Costin swiftly yanked her off the ground and slammed her against a nearby building, smashing a wall with the squirrel girl's body and adding a new throbbing pain to the fading remains of what he'd already given her. The impact knocked some air from her with a heated groan, but she stayed aware, the pain giving her focus where it might have distracted others.
"Sounds like you're speaking from experience, old man," Nanako shot back, lashing out with her free leg for his hand, trying to crush those fingers and free her leg.
-
Costin
"Pft! Good one."
A smile grew brilliant as the moon, yet the throbbing in his fangs wouldn't cease. The music blasting in his ears was the only thing that could drown it all out. It was his nature. He sensed the tension in her muscles, the vibration in the air, the power swelling in her body before Nanako even released it. The kick hurried for him. Close... But with a single flick he let go and grabbed the other foot at the last possible second, only to slam her violently in the opposite direction. "But no cigar." He treated her like a whip. The impact sent the whole street trembling, while the shattered concrete and dust erupted in the air along with a shower of debris.
"Ah, what a beautiful night. How it brings me back, to that night."
Shirtless, Costin's expression was indecipherable, while the rubble kept raining down. The apostle's muscles were clingy, hardened, coiling over one another like an armor of flesh. But it wasn't the most striking aspect. It wasn't his ivory complexion, nor his demonic bloodlust. Covered by serpentine tattoos, hundreds of scars could barely be noticed. Yet their placement, their shape was nothing like the scars you'd expect a warrior to bear. The cruel way they shaped his body was enough to give someone pause.
Cooly, he let go of Nanako and reached for his pocket, exposing some sort of glassy substance that flowed through his fingers magically. Soon, his mana reshaped it to take the shape of a cup, which soon filled itself with wine.
"Can I help you? You must be the leader here." He took a sip of the nice alcohol, playing around with the cup's contents.
Lawrence
Lawrence followed her lead, but stood back and glared silently at the pale man. His fists were clenched to the point his knuckles might erupt from his hand, but he stood silent. The grail king, Phenex, Mab... all of his nightmares trembled like the notch of an arrow - ready for release.
His eyes turned to the headmaster.
-
The Headmaster
In the face of it, the hooded woman appeared as unflappable as ever as she took a mere two steps closer to the bestial man. But he couldn't miss the way her fingers twitched between the folds of her cloak, and how her brows were creased with an old severity when she tilted her head his way as if half-hearted greeting.
"Yes, you may," she said, clicking her teeth. More tired than wrathful, almost indulgently so, her voice did not instantly snap the thread of tension between them. "You are providing a terrible example for my students, and if that was all, I would simply invite you to leave. But either you are not cognizant of the harm you're causing, or you do not care, and that is not tolerable. Perhaps you are ignorant that there are better places to break yourself and others."
She chanced a look at the other person, engaged in battle with the fiend, withering with disappointment. The stones and bricks all around them vibrated in warning when she returned her eyes to the first perpetrator.
A mental call rang in Lawrence's head, a telepathic message through magecraft. 'Hold until it seems I cannot easily deal with this. If otherwise, go secure the area, professor.'
-
Nanako
Even though she could see it coming, there wasn't all that much she could do about it. The feeling of being ragdolled around like that almost left her as breathless as the actual impact, the squirrel letting out a heated gasp as she was whipped through another wall. Hanging there in Costin's grip, she found herself face to face not only with the sculpted perfection of the man's body, but also strange, almost ritualized scarring covering most of his body.
Before she could ask about it, however, they were interrupted by someone new. Nanako yelped as she was unceremoniously dumped onto the rubble, pouting a little up at Costin as she lay there, her breathing a slightly labored and her body aching in all sorts of ways from the fight, even as her injuries healed. The rubble around her vibrated as the newcomer spoke, and despite the relative youth of the woman the withering gaze she fixed Nanako with spoke of someone older. Even as heated and wanting as the fight had left her, she winced a little under the stern gaze, looking away as she felt the rubble around her tremble.
She stayed where she was for the moment, biting the corner of her lip as she looked between Costin, the robed woman, and another newcomer with an array of cute and apparently angry pets. The trick with the wine drew a strange look from the squirrel girl, though knowing him there was a good chance of it being blood.
"R-right," she cleared her throat, "Guess we should, ah, get going then?"
-
Costin
"Hahaha, give me a little credit. I knew that much, just didn't care. No point living life with worries like that, don't you know?" There was a purr in his voice when stretched his one arm, the tension rising dramatically with each shift of movement. It really felt like he'd attack any second, yet the blow never came.
"Noroc!"
Costin held the glass extended, and raised a proud toast to the lot of them. Proportionally to as much as Lawrence was glowering, Costin grinned cheekily. Especially when he turned to the 'headmaster'. That's when an arm came crawling back to him, floating in the air until it reattached itself creepily. Its as if time was flowing backwards all of a sudden, and it was pleasant enough it made him wanna stretch a little.
"I don't... pwahh... get to talk with cuts of meat close to my age often, so I'll play nice. Want to screw around or something? You sound like you want to get bent, might as well offer. Fight well enough and I might even leave some scraps for your students! So come, don't be shy. I want all three of you to attack me at the same time."
He stretched his arms out in invitation, grinning from ear to ear in a terrifying T Pose.
-
Headmaster
"I'm a strict educator, being stringent with credit is second nature." She chuckled drily. As long as he stood without a care of being a threat to the campus' occupants, nothing he would do could draw genuine mirth from that dubious, icy face. "And so far you've not persuaded me to give you an alternative. You can enjoy whatever you wish, but I have no reason to be complicit in your lack of consideration for your surroundings, or to overlook my duties on your account. We will fight if you do not retreat, but it will not be for enjoyment, and I will not weep if my means upset you."
She snapped her fingers, and with a series of booms around them, revealed that these means included massive featureless warriors reshaped from the rent cement, bent steel and cracked brick left in his wake, and yet more drawn from beneath them.
-
Nanako
Nanako frowned as she watched Costin's arm come crawling back to him, floating in, then reattaching itself. Her own bruises and cuts, numerous as they were, were healing in short order as well, but all the same she couldn't help feeling a little annoyed. Least of all because of the fading aches, leaving her with little more than a flush and a sweeter ache than the rest.
"Well, aren't you insatiable," Nanako remarked, frustration making those whispers press all that much harder against the back of her mind, "We haven't even finished yet and you're already looking for someone else?"
"Or have you gotten bored already?" the squirrel girl cocked an eyebrow as the robed woman snapped her fingers, golems rearranging themselves from broken bricks, asphalt, and steel. She stretched her arms up for a moment and arched her back with a quiet groan, chest pushing out with the motion and straining against her meager top, already worn and torn from their scuffle. With that, she launched back into the fray, rapidly closing the distance and letting fly with a thunderous push kick, trying to launch him into one of the golems and curious to see how tough they were.
-
Costin
This time, he didn't dodge or block - he hardly had the time to even blink. The beastgirl's impact was something else entirely, caving his ribcage in with one swift strike. He was launched back wildly like a comet.
So why the hell did he look so happy?
"Woah!" Just as it looked like his body would slam into the golem, Costin arched back and flipped his body, using his momentum to arch over the first familiar and land a dropkick on its shoulder. An explosion of force. "Hey, aren'tcha pretty tough." And like a demon, his strike sent it straight into the concrete like a whack-a-mole, visibly cracking it somewhat. For the devil destroys, and all it destroys is sent back to hell.
More were coming, dozens upon dozens. Rather than wait, he took the initiative this time - running forward like a black lightning bolt, hands in his pocket and the same shit eating grin as ever.
"You've got a name meatbag?" He addressed the hooded girl casually despite shooting towards her with with the pure intent to kill.
-
Headmaster
The beastly fighter was fast, almost too fast to see properly. She couldn't keep track of the squirrelgirl at the same, and upon seeing her willingness to fight him away from here, the Headmaster almost instantly took her attention away and focused solely on his rabid advance. Either directly manipulated or given autonomy by her will, these soldiers of shattered architecture were rough, but by no means fell completely behind in speed. She could make smaller things fly as fast as bullets, pierce the air like artillery, but she did not need that here yet.
A handful of her familiars stood in his way as a phalanx, and in the same instant, another row jumped over them, closing the route to their master through the air, lunging with their strengthened fists at the sorcerer.
"If I did, I would not share with such a rude visitor," she retorted, hand outstretched like a conductor.
-
Nanako
At last, there it was again. The feeling of his ribs caving in under her foot echoed like they were surrounded by polished marble instead of dirt and powered brick. There was no mistaking it now, it was a sound she was growing to like. Something she wanted more of. In the midst of this fight, there was no room to think about it past that, so Nanako simply followed through. Though he clearly acknowledged her, that Costin was still going for the headmaster was a frustrating thing, especially with how much fun they'd been having. The squirrel girl frowned as warriors of brick and metal formed up in the vampire's path between him and the robed woman.
"Thought I told you so already," Nanako shot back, her tail flicking back and forth as a counterweight, letting redirect her momentum that much faster. She darted over the ruined field towards him, trying to intercept him with a swift axe kick across his back, trying to knock him to the ground again.
"Or did you not believe me the first time?"
-
Costin
The elder vampire's charge was met with such an icy response, even his reply was uncharacteristically dry - naught but a chuckle that almost sounded too amiable. "Fair enough." He darted across the rubble unperturbed - when the first wave of stone giants intercepted him.
A whistle.
The wild apostle's headset blared its music, and like a dancer he followed its tune, savagely outmaneuvering the first wall by stepping over the row of golem's limbs as if they were a scalable structure. His steps were mighty, they didn't carry the grace of a martial artist - only the talent for violence. But there was something else, a sharpness that let him observe the entire battlefield clearly. Its as if the golems were flailing children.
But his foe wasn't a stone, nothing as mindless or orderly. And this time, when it came rushing for him, the blow landed fully, blowing his pale body straight into the ground with a bloody splash... and the gruesome sound of bone snapping.
"Enough chitchat."
Nice... her moves are getting messy in a good way. Yet he impossibly grabbed the leg the moment it slammed against his back, all by snapping his own arm behind, dislocating it in the process. In a moment, he swung Nanako right into the ground just as he was being kicked into it, forming a gaping crater of crushed stone away from the mage. Thanks to the damage she dealt on him, the blow didn't carry the full extent of his power. How curious.
Only for the snapping of fingers to deafen the sounds of war.
Lawrence
Dozens of magic circles appeared on the site of impact, glowing a bright red orange. Far and above, Lawrence conducted his own array of spells, and with Phenex's burning cry, the crater was littered by a sea of fiery explosions, washing the bloodied and wounded vampire with a sea of flames - even if it meant hitting Nanako in the crossfire.
His expression was hollowed, but there was a hint of fury... and confusion. And perhaps, however small, fear. Questions, so many of them, with so little time to answer them. Only one laid on his mind incessantly right now.
"Why are you here...?" He bit his thumb in frustration.
There was something else, something strange. The blows he dealt on the golems, perhaps you could notice a pattern on them, unnatural cracks that were surely dealt by some kind of magic. They almost looked too decorative, too deliberate even for someone just playing around. And some uncannily seemed like letters.
But that couldn't mean anything. His grin back there... it shouldn't mean anything.
s e i l l a e r a e w
He was just a wild dog seeking attention and violence. Surely, his actions mirrored his words.
-
Headmaster
This close, the folds of the black cloak fluttered before the cascade of impacts like snakes caught by a hurricane, but the woman that wore it did not sway as if affected. Her form was outmatched against these forces, but her mind refused to allow even a blink to pass through and give away a weakness. Flung familiars tumbled past her, and without a sweat or missing a beat the Headmaster threw her palms forward. The street beneath all of them rolled like a wave, stone and cement bursting like crests of seafoam into the melee, separating the squirrelgirl from the barrage of the assistant professor and attempting to bury the bloodsucker.
As winds of combat blew a gap in the smoke, the headmaster could see the vampire clearly, and he would have been able to see her lips utter something without sound. A split second was all he got, as her soldiers reared up once more to resume their purpose. Your proof?
-
Nanako
There was an unfamiliar rush as her kick hammered Costin down into the dirt, then a far more familiar one as he dislocated his own arm to grab her leg and slam her down next to him. The fight was starting to remind her of her battle with Orcus, except this time there was no assurance of healers, no rules against killing your opponent. Here, he'd be entirely at her mercy if she bested him, and she at his if he did.
"You know, normally I like being on the receiving end of this," Nanako chuckled, "But for you, I can make a-" was all she got out before explosions cut her off, the squirrel girl bringing her arms up on reflex. The fires, however, cracked apart with lines of nothing as they touched her, tiny squirrels of abyssal nothing emerging and chewing through the flames. Annoyed, she kipped up to her feet in one smooth motion, then zipped through the flames as the headmaster's stony tidal wave crashed down behind her. In one swift motion, she grabbed the resplendent blackfire bird by its throat, her skin cracking like the fires it had spewed and her eyes shaded over like viewports into an endless night for a brief moment before they returned to their usual hazel.
"Hey shitbird, watch it with flambe, I'm not your next meal," Nanako barked at the oversized roast chicken, holding back a wince as a sudden sharp pain crawled down her back, distinct from all the other lingering aches from her destructive battle with Costin. This was less impact, and more...like something that had been stuck in her, sliding in deeper. Shards pushing into her back even though she didn't feel the warmth or wetness of blood.
-
Costin
"-!"
The flames poured down like comets, delivering heat and ash while eating the very life around them. Suddenly, the vampire's massive frame was swallowed whole by the black pyre, as if he was being eaten by it too. There was nothing to see there, naught but fire and death.
Suddenly, a crimson boot walked out the flames, gargantuan and metallic in hue. Thick, jagged crystals mixed and coalesced into a broken, halfway-formed bloody layer, like a plain crystal shell around some of his body parts.
Nonchalantly, the man took the first step, and walked. Calmly. Burnt. And perhaps, in a small way... hurt.
"Not bad."
The apostle coughed blood. In its hand, he clasped his headphones tightly, coated in his own essence. The moment they went back on, they fused with his own makeshift helmet's blood with the frames, encasing them in the protective layer that soon formed the shape of a hat. Meanwhile, the blood on his flesh and the crystal melted, spread out, and formed hundreds of needle-wide threads around his body, until it was no longer something as brute as crystal or as mundane as mere blood- but a coat, cloak and all. That of a hunter.
(https://i.imgur.com/sn6Kf94.png)
He looked at the headmistress curiously. For a moment, he stared and waited. Then, he vanished.
The murderous intent closed the gap, right behind the Headmaster.
-
Lawrence
"K-KHAAHHH! YOU BITC-KHHH! L-LET GO!" The blackbird roared in indignation, flaring furiously with each futile flap of its wings. But if that nightmare showed all of that burning emotion, the man next to it had a pallid, hollow face. Nay, it turned to the squirrel girl, and for a moment, their eyes met.
She had seen those eyes before.
The man who fought her in the dojo then. Their tint had that similar lifelessness.
The rebel who fought alongside her against the seraph. While that man had the most life and freedom in it than all the others, both carried the same conviction.
But compared to these imitations, there was one thing that felt truly, genuinely crushing. It was the ravenous, hungry emptiness. A hollow lack of anything other than what it had not, drawing everything closer to its ego. Like a black star, colliding and devouring until it met its own demise. The eldritch truth that dictates all life to crave, a blackened craving.
The black star-mud of draconic greed.
"How fascinating... Poor thing."
And that thing acknowledged the own girl's void. And it was terrifying. The seraphic thing inside her felt a horrifying fear that very moment.
His shadow created a chair for him to sit on. Its as if her power did not threaten or intimidate him at all.
"Since you've been so rude as to trash this place about, allow me to ask you a question. What led you here?"
-
Headmaster
Ah, so everything until now had been playing. The rumbling of her soldiers seemed small and distant as the vampire's figure grew taut with bloodthirst. While it wove itself in a figure of predatory chivalry, her human heart thumped once in its chest like it meant to escape. Every mortal fiber in her being ought to be warning her to not look away if she wanted to live, in disregard of the deeper ego that assured her invincibility.
Still, the corners of her eyes wrinkled at Lawrence's manners, away from this. What... was he doing?
And in that instant, the vampire slipped her senses completely. She slammed her foot down, and spears of steel rushed forth from the ground in a piercing net, but she was already open. This attack, she could not avoid. Was this his answer to her demand?
-
Nanako
Nanako froze when the man's eyes met hers, the squawking flame chicken forgotten for the moment. Those eyes, that look, she'd seen it many times before.
"Zeke?" came the words, even if she didn't believe them herself, "How are you...what?"
Her throat felt try as she felt like she was falling into herself, that same feeling when she'd first met the man, the endless void yawning wide before her as if to swallow her whole. The Grace reacted as well, burrowing deeper, the pain of a dozen cold knives sliding into her back that much faster. It almost felt like the chilling shards were converging, ever so slowly as they crawled deeper into her.
"It was...a guided tour," she said, tossing the bird aside dismissively the battle raging behind her forgotten for this brief moment.
-
Lawrence
"S-SWKWAAAAHH!!"
"Is that so..." Lawrence's eyes narrowed icily. A snap of his fingers, and a spark lit up between the two for an instant. Using that thing inside her to communicate was child's play, information transfer was what he designed them for in the first place. It took no time to convey his feelings to her.
No matter.
Like a scalpel burrowing in your brain.
You are no fool.
You knew what wild abandon meant here before you struck.
Was it carelessness...or something else drawing you here?
It matters not. However...
If you are to disturb this land further, I will be its sentinel... and I shall reap you.
Make your choice.
And in an instant, he was gone.
Costin
"..."
The mage was adequate, but not even worth picking his teeth with her bones. That attack was too telegraphed, too deliberate. She was distracted in her purpose, and that wouldn't do. The slightest tremors in the ground triggered his reaction before the spikes emerged to skewer him. He was simply a step ahead of her.
His curse swelled and burst. It was a heartbeat.
Instantly, numerous weapons tore out from his body, bloody and blackened. A sword that belonged to a stranger. A limb that belonged to a nemesis. A dagger that belonged to a colleague. A spear that belonged to a friend. The countless instruments of harm were a karma he bore and released, and for each steel lance, a bloody weapon shot out to intercept it.
But not the headmaster. For her, a weapon wouldn't do. His clawed paw swung down like a hammer to grab her face, but -
CRRRRRRACKKKKKK!
The next thing the headmaster saw wasn't the chunks of her body being flung about, nor the color of her innards. Lawrence teleported right in the way of the attack, covered by the blackened grail king. Even that protection cracked and screamed from the impact, but the grail king grew and grew, resisting with everything it had. Providing a shield and a spear with Lawrence's own life as fuel.
Lawrence
"This place is not yours to ravage." Black mud poured out of his chest, where the claws almost reached him. Lawrence's glare was unlike anything before. Even if the defense quickly cracked and gave way to his exposed body, he grit his teeth and truly resolved himself to defend the headmaster.
Costin
His look was of utter disinterest, and even disgust. Well, its not like he was seriously trying to kill that robed wench, so even a swing like that was soft enough to be held off for a bit. "Slow down there bud. I might just kill you for real."
A flash of crimson was the only warning they'd have of the kick launching their way. It threatened to decapitate the meddling mage here and there and crush the woman in one fell swoop.
-
Headmaster
And then, first in this exchange, her expression slipped into clear scorn, and a snarl tumbled from between her gritted teeth. If his ear was sharp enough, perhaps he could tell. The Headmaster had no intention, none whatsoever, of humoring him in the way he desired. This was no place for the mania of a fool who delighted in stoking the flames of death.
And so, with a minute flick of her wrist hidden behind Lawrence's body, in the instant the vampire swung his leg, the bars and meshes of iron he had so easily discarded split in the air, and double their number threw themselves in impaling arcs from his flanks, so quick the air was rent in their wake, and dozens of sharp pellets torn loose from the buildings and road too let loose sonic screams in hurling themselves at the hunter.
-
Nanako
Nanako felt that spark run down her spine like a jolt, lighting along the shards like a live current. Time seemed to grind to a halt as he spoke through them, just as Zeke had. What he said cut deep, words sinking into her head like knives as he got right down to the core of the matter. The shards sliding into her back started vibrating, whether with anticipation or fear she didn't know. The feeling of fiery heat piercing her back spread, as if it were following her veins and nerves to spread throughout her body. However, in the same stroke, he'd exposed himself just as much, opened himself to the same line he'd used to speak to her.
You have his eyes.
And nothing else.
There wasn't time to think, when Lawrence vanished. Fortunately, Nanako didn't need to, as the roar of battle came rushing back to her. She saw Cossie descending upon the headmaster, felt that growing need to hear his body give out again boiling in her blood, saw Lawrence interpose himself between them, saw the headmaster try to riddle him with steely flechettes.
The squirrel girl moved to leap back into the fray and suddenly the piercing molten heat turned ice-cold. Nanako was moving before she could process the sudden temperature shift, and the ground exploded under her feet, the sheer shockwave of her step carving a trench into the ground behind her, obscuring the building behind her in its dust cloud as the sheer force of her step cracked stone, rattled steel, and shattered glass even from this distance.
Nanako moved with more force than she ever had before, the sound in her wake more like an artillery report than the usual gunshot cracks. The screaming storm of shards was drowned out in that moment, and now Nanako stood where Lawrence had before, shining feathers tracing lines along her limbs, armoring her boots, covering her hands with clawed gauntlets, flowing around her tail like a wispy trail of steam. She'd caught his crimson scythe in her hand, the follow-up kick stopped cold with her tight grip on his shin. She tightened her grip and felt the bone begin to crack and splinter.
"Getting distracted in your old age, gramps?" Nanako growled, a hungry smirk showing pearly-whites, "You're fighting with me, she can wait her turn."
-
Costin
As his kick approached, his circuits flared with a vermillion hue, crawling on his limbs like tattoos brimming with magic. It was a quick, almost undetectable thing - the fact the hunter's expression changed. Even with this speed, even at the point air itself ceased to be a conductor, his senses were sharpened to the point he could perceive it. The stakes, the hurling debris... everything.
No.
Even they almost seemed to stop before the comet that crashed down. The explosion of force from all four of them colliding, their wills... for a second, even the future wavered before this clash, giving way to new uncertain possibilities, masked by an explosion of dust.
Lawrence
"Argh-!" The sorcerer let out a pain cry as the comet hit critical impact, the force so massive, it uprooted the grail king and launched them all backwards with the resounding explosion. The reverberation crushed his eardrums, and the shockwave was enough to crack his shell visibly as the grail king flung back - losing its shape in the process.
How... inelegant...kh..
Thrown back, he landed against a wall and broke his arm with a visceral snap, vomiting a spew of mud from the pain. If he wasn't pulped on the spot, it was only thanks to his shadow armament's defenses, allowing him little reprieve as he clawed on the floor in pain.
His eyes looked back at the Headmaster, his familiar covering her body in favor of his to cushion her own impact, to focus on defending her. The moment the master found her safe landing, the grail king spoke. "Are you alright milady?"
Meanwhile, his eyes darted around quickly, observing his surroundings. Observing the letters carved around them. Narrowing as he understood their intent. Immediately, Lawrence wiped the mud off his cracked jaw. "Please, don't exert yourself. The entire perimeter will soon be fully evacuated. I have a plan to take down this beast, but I need you to trust me."
Lawrence flicked his wrist once. Phenex cried out a hellish scream, and a pillar of flame came crashing down on the two like a wave. He looked like he was in agony right now, but he did everything in his power to buy his lord time and protect her.
Costin
The iron stakes and weaponized rubble yet to be knocked away sank into the apostle's flesh, the rest flung away by the booming impact. And yet, it was utterly absurd, for he somehow moved his body at the last second to avoid the shards breaking any vital limbs, making even this seemingly severe damage a cosmetic hindrance at best.
But it did hinder him. The fact was, the two women were good enough to warrant using this much power to begin with.
The hand crushed his foot, the grip was hardened. But his reaction wasn't delayed in the slightest. At once, his foot pulled out with a horrifying sound, utterly degloving the caught limb from its hide to break free. Blood, meat and raw bone exposed didn't matter at all, her pearly white smile met his own silent grin.
A red light flashed like a blade, finally revealing a true exchange.
The serpentine flurry of kicks came down like rain, his foot now a sword-like blade aiming for her vitals expertly while his long limbs swooped down like waves - hurling a terrifying combo. Each blow had an utter lack of wasted movements, and had the precise aim to either bait or hit the beastgirl where her body would break the easiest. Her liver, her gut, her nerves, her blood vessels. He spared none of them in his intent.
And then came a sea of flames, washing over them both.
-
Headmaster
If she ought to have been grateful, what instead the assistant professor found on her face was an uneasy scowl with no joy for his actions.
"I would have been fine," she said. "Take better care of yourself."
Lawrence soon found himself pulled up in defiance of his body's fragility, and his crippled arm hoisted around the Headmaster's shoulder, the better to support him to his feet.
Turning her face from the plea to play into his plan, the Headmaster only followed the chaotic confluence between the vampire and the re-emerged, transformed squirrelgirl, and at once she stomped her foot.
A telepathic warning sounded in Nanako's head for only the briefest interlude - 'If you don't want to be caught, quit this clash now.'
Every stone under the entire street reverbated once again, as did her remaining warriors of stone, and in an instant an avalanche of rubble, steel, cement, glass and rock thundered free into the sky. The numerous debris swirled around the flames led by the floating familiars and hurled themselves in a crushing rain to surround it like a dome, piece after piece streaming in to form walls on every side.
-
Nanako
The sound of Costin's leg degloving was a new one, another shiver up her spine, the same way the feeling of his bones breaking felt. That Costin now resembled a pincushion more than a man mattered little to her. That the headmaster was warning her to back off or she'd be caught mattered even less. The sea of flames washed around her like rain off her back, abyssal nothing swallowing whatever would have touched her, a singular oasis amidst the inferno, and it was already occupied. Her foe was before her, still moving, still fighting. He was more skilled by far, but she was faster. He'd stopped talking, but that was fine. Nanako had better things to do with her mouth right now anyway.
Hazel eyes tracked the sword-like limb with single-minded focus, the flurry of blows melting away before her eyes even as pain exploded across her body like firecrackers, fists and feet battering away at her with agonizing precision. She weathered the hits with that same smile, until the hardened leg finally descended. With a movement that was more beast-like than human, she caught the bloody blade between her teeth, still grinning all the while. Pain that would have crippled another woman drove her to greater heights, and in the same moment that she caught his leg, she brought an open hand around and simply shoved Costin away with a sound like a cannon shot, yanking back on his leg as she did.
As the Headmaster had warned, debris rained down around them, making a dome of stone and steel and their creator's will. At this point, it didn't matter to Nanako. If anything, the narrower arena only made their fight a more intimate affair.
-
Lawrence
The grail king stared, the shadowy mouth agape. "... that works too milady."
But Lawrence didn't share that sentiment, directly anyway. Hanging off his lord's shoulder painfully, he still focused his sorceries to the best of his abilities. He couldn't put his safety above that woman, she was too important.
He spoke.
"There's an old legend in my world of origin. Its founder... the Heaven Hunting Vanguard was famed for not creating any kin of his own. In exchange, if he happened to find someone of his liking, he gracefully taught them his martial arts, with utter disregard as to whether they were kinsmen, beast, or members of another origin. And once his pupils reached a satisfactory level of skill, he rewarded them with a Godkilling blade of his own, forged from his own blood, to further rule their own circles."
As he said that, his fingers trailed arrays of old magics. Weakened things that stood the test of time, calling forth the nightmare of the old fae queen. The once cute snake was now a massive serpent drawn from the earth, letting out a shrill cry full of poison, to draw the call of nature. Meanwhile, Phenex's wings fluttered, drawing more hellish incantations so the flames inside the dome may not die.
"The twin fangs and seven claws of the Qliporth. They were the floor administrators that ruled over my homeland's floors. I... knew them well. They were a rigid brotherhood tied not only by blood - but by arts and blade."
Cracks began to show on his face. As he spoke this tale, he showed visible disgust... and sorrow.
"But eventually, one of those kinsmen...had died."
And the cry of Lawrence's nightmares reached their apex. A wave of overpowering nature and greenery smoldered the earth, crawling towards the dome with alarming speed. Sinking its poison inside, and spreading vines and roots deep in that shell to fan the hellfire swirling. It would soon turn into an inescapable oven.
"Blade and seat were stolen by an aberration, a vampire who clawed from the bottom rungs of the tower. But that tyrant should've died long ago, it's something that won't stop until it reaches a heaven built atop its corpses. That calamity... was none other than..."
-
Costin Andrei
The flames didn't just burn, they ate away at the life in him. Despite that, his shit eating grin didn't fade.
The beastgirl's body showed no signs of breaking. Despite that, his shit eating grin didn't fade.
And so the storm of strikes showered the dome's interior. Burning flesh crashed against unyielding flesh, and the apostle's blood swung freely like a weapon. He noticed it all: the way her warm body resisted his strikes, the way his blade failed to sink into her - as if something dulled the mass of bloodied curses. Was it endurance or something else? When his axe-kick to her face was stopped by her savage bite, he already realized it.
Despite that, he kept smiling.
BOOOOOM!!
The follow-up was so fast it could hardly be observed. She struck his chest with explosive power and pulled to tear his leg, but he reacted in the nick of time and detonated the edge of his bladed limb. With a gruesome blast of curses, his leg was set free and his body shot back like a rocket, slamming hard into the debris to the point it visibly cracked. Enough to let him land on his hands and feet. The fact he avoided losing a limb was impressive enough, but there was something more to that. Even behind his sunglasses, his expression was still awake. That instant, the immediate spot he touched grew dozens upon dozens of bloody spears, sprouting up the sky like a murderous tree - reaching for Nanako there and then.
"Heh... la naiba." He coughed a spew of blood, a neat hole now cracked into his chest like a second mouth. And as if perfectly awaiting that impact, the flames that were bouncing around the dome's interior came swirling back, slamming against Costin's hunter attire once more. His bloody clothes bulged and shifted into something else. Something thicker and layered, holding vacuums between the blood fabrics to shield him from the flames.
The curses and weaved spells forming his bloody attire pulsed with hunger, his defensive circuits quickly filled to the brim. All it'd take was a moment, an instant, for the tides to crash once more.
I see... you want to die and be released from your suffering? Damn shame...
Despite all this, his shit eating grin didn't fade.
"Self taught, and not half bad..."
-
Headmaster
As she listened to the tale, the Headmaster's hold on the professor's body stilled, and then reasserted itself. She focused on the devastation still singing before them, but some tension bled from her grip as she made sense of something.
"Fascinating story, but have you considered he is an alternate self from the man you allude to?" She asked. "Such things are not unprecedented here."
The battle waged, and before the situation could change again, a final boom hammered the dome sealed. But the rain didn't cease. The Headmaster brought her foot down, and the strengthened debris continued to fall like a precipitation of nails, making the walls thicker and thicker.
-
Nanako
Instead of thrilling sound of Costin's flesh tearing at the seams, Nanako was met with an explosion just before she could pull. Her strike still landed, blowing the vampire away, but the only taste left in her mouth was a hint of blood and a curious heat. Dozens of throbbing aches racked her body even as they faded. She was almost a little sad to feel them go, but sure that they'd be replaced soon enough.
"Hrm. Spicy," the squirrel girl remarked, spitting what was left of Costin's blood out, "But you'd know, wouldn't you?"
Bloody spears rose from the ground where Costin first hit it, building on each other and branching outwards like a massive murderous tree. It rose between them, ravaging the space between Costin and Nanako with scarlet spears. Faced with such a sight, there was only one thing for the squirrel girl to do. She planted her feet firmly, then took off with booming reports, running straight at the welcoming storm of spears. Cracks of abyssal nothing ran through the structure as Nanako started raining punches upon it, turning spears into shards, glittering in the darkening dome like a enormous ruby chandelier.
Finally, the squirrel girl burst from the trunk of the great tree in a storm of sanguine splinters, rushing down Costin relentlessly. Hazel eyes gleamed in the reflected scarlet, Nanako rearing back for a powerful blow, only for her tail to whip out for Costin's leg, trying to trap the vampire for the moment it would take to pound Costin into the dirt with a short, powerful blow from her other hand.
-
Lawrence
"That would be most troublesome, master. One's already trouble enough as it is." He bit his nail in frustration. Meanwhile, the flames kept raging in the dome, growing in intensity while the vines and thorns seeped inside to reinforce the magic.
Costin
His cracked bones screamed a bloody curse. His [CROWNING JEWEL STORM OF KILLING THORNS] was a technique that few could unleash unscathed, and even fewer could master. It was a powerful curse that used blood as a medium to rush forth like a sea of stakes. It was folly to simply withstand it.
Nanako withstood it.
His bloody spears gave in to the beast girls raw violence. Sound, feeling, the tremors reverberating through the stakes. The scent of it all sent signals to the apostle's synapses. Even the smallest of barriers can make a difference between fighters, but more importantly... the feeling of his blood being crushed allowed him to read the following blow. In an instant, his face visibly cracked like porcelain and caved in with a bloody smash, a blow like that would kill a man with ease. It was something that should be avoided at all cost. It's why he didn't. After all, he could see she was chasing a feeling.
"...but still... your fist... it lacks something."
And so was he.
His leg dodged her tail before it came, and the moment she broke out was all it took to deliver his own counter. Drawn into the unorthodox shift of his body, her fist slipped off his bloody skull. Her fist caved in a massive shockwave behind Costin, blowing a crevice inside the dome.
It didn't follow, but hit at the same exact time. His shoulder slam that rammed straight into her chest - no, shooting straight for a point beyond her body, using the force of her momentum to increase his own power. Even with such a basic technique, his talent for raw violence was yet to be rivaled.
"Come and get it."
-
Headmaster
The whole thing shuddered like jelly that threatened to have even more holes put into it, such was the intensity of that violent dissonance. Even with the support of the professor's spells, the two warriors seemed to have vanquished anything but the contest from their brains, and all their ability was empowered to the same purpose. If the Headmaster could afford it, she might have graced Lawrence with a sympathetic glance.
But closing her jaw in hard decisiveness, she clenched her free hand into a fist, and thrust it into the air above her head. The immense mass slaved to her enchantments responded at once, and the dome that surrounded the fighters rocketed into the sky in a cloud of dust. Every loose piece of upturned terrain followed it, slamming into the near-spherical shape and joining the outer shell, as its walls flowed and hurried to shut the jagged hole.
The dome slid on its axis as it accelerated in an arc over the streets, and squirrelgirl and vampire could see the rapidly blurred scenery pass them through the gaps, before it closed them in the privacy of darkness.
If either was paying attention, they would see the sonic motion of their arena was propelling them towards the central lake.
-
Nanako
He was ready for her when she burst from the bloody tree, that much was obvious. It didn't matter, she was faster. An bloodthirsty evaluation seemingly proven correct as her fist caved his face in, bones snapping like wet driftwood under her fist, the strange inversion of the usual feeling of soft flesh to hard bone bringing new excitement to the squirrel girl. However, that excitement turned to ice in her chest as he managed to step out of the way of her tail swipe despite his pulverized face, only to come roaring back as he rammed into her, aiming beyond her as his momentum carried them back. The feeling of him concentrating his force onto the point of his shoulder, knocking the air from her lungs, compressing her guts, and bending her over around her opponent. It melted that core all over again, setting her aflame with wanton bestial desire.
Costin's counter flung them back into the ruins of the tree, the impact at her back a piddling nothing compared to the feeling of being run through like this. Then the dome lurched into the air, closing in dark around them as the sudden motion knocked them both over. She didn't know where the dome was heading and she didn't care, as finally they slammed into a wall that didn't give way under their violence.
"That so?" she shot back breathlessly, bracing herself against the wall, raising both arms, and slamming them down into Costin's back to knock the vampire down.
"Why don'tcha tell me what it is, then?!" the followup came without delay, the squirrel girl unleashing a vicious kick to knock him away like a football.
-
Costin
But the time of words had passed, and as expected, her taunt would only be answered one way. From the dawn of time, there was a manner of exchanging hearts truer than any magic, devoid of any lies or falsehoods.
All you needed was your fist.
"This job is starting to outweigh the paygrade..."
His synapses flashed like searing metal in his flesh, and his bones yielded no feeling anymore. The thrumming of the earth, the shifts in the air, the feeling of Nanako's muscles expanding and contracting - they guided the slight shift of his undying body, and he instantly dodged the arms before they were thrown, raising his fist to counter with a concussive punch to her chin. A terrifying blow that'd make any veteran submit, it wasn't without its price, for his hand exploded instantly, revealing raw exposed bone. And yet he committed to the strike, pushing the blow even further with nothing but his shattered stump. He felt grateful for this feeling. The hunt.
Was that why he smiled even now?
The dome shook with impossible vigor, and all directions reversed as he knew that the dome was hurling straight into the skies. The kick couldn't be avoided regardless, but he went limp to try and soften it. For his trouble, his entire lower half split horrifyingly, connected by nothing but a handful of bone and flesh while the explosion hurled him back - forward, somewhere even he couldn't see. Immediately focused down by a storm of explosions, he was focused down by Phenex's flames, but the tyrant's smile took a handsome quality, or perhaps that quality was easier to see under this violent light.
"Haah..." Or rather, that it was time to end the fight he entertained for fun - and finish his business.
Rammed against the wall, he grabbed onto it and used his mangled arm to strike the cracked dome one more time with his reinforced elbow, exerting his circuits while unleashing a powerful array of curses to weaponize his gushing blood. For a split second, red lines started flashing across the back of the dome. Somehow, its foundations cracked and corroded in a flash, and it cracked like an egg before the mangled apostle ejected, hurled back up the skies.
The setting sun looked down on him, but not a single ray touched his skin.
Even now, his body was shackled by darkness. His black sunglasses, ragged bloodied attire, the torn state of his body, the irony wasn't lost on it.
That's why even now, soaring above the lake, he smiled freely.
Costin's less mutilated arm raised. Was it a curse? An attack?
He closed his fist... and raised his thumb, facing the headmaster's general direction.
And to contrast an ascent... eventually... everyone must fall.
Lawrence
The sorcerer's throat tightened, and his fist clenched tight enough to draw blood. He looked at the headmaster worriedly but ultimately sighed. "How foolish."
-
Headmaster
What was reflected in those golden eyes that watched the mirth of an inhuman warrior swell through the gauntlet of obstacles? As though pain and evisceration were nothing more than fulfilling refinements to that gigantic passion, the vampire broke free of the arena she'd painstakingly made, and offered his taunt as a gift. If the Headmaster had any response she would bother to give, it was only this: he wasn't done falling either.
In turn, she raised an arm, closing her hand into a fist but for her raised thumb... and then pointed the thumb down in a firm swipe.
Every remaining piece of the dome split apart on its down, and in the blink of a superhuman eye, amassed into a single, hardened shape. It rose higher than him, and bereft of the ability to manuever mid-air, the vampire was slammed down to the water as by a meteoric club.
-
Nanako
Gore and stray flesh splattered her face as Costin shattered his hand against her, but the blow was effective. Even as the sound of his bones snapping like dry twigs and his flesh tearing filled her ears, the squirrel girl was too dazed to chase him as he was launched away. She lurched upwards dizzily, but by the time she was on her feet again, he'd done something to make the dome crumble and corrode away. Gritting her teeth, she moved to leap after him, only for the floor to vanish from under her feet. Blinking, she glanced down to see the rubble flying away to reform into a giant mallet above them. In the same moment, the feathery exoskeleton fell away from the squirrel girl's body, flowing into large wings ending in clawed hands resting on her shoulders.
What the- whatever, let's give it a shot.
"You ain't gettin' away that easy," Nanako muttered, ascending with a mighty flap of her new wings, rocketing up into the air to chase him. Too late, she realized she had no idea how to slow her ascent or change direction.
"Shit, how do I-AHHHHHH" she was cut off with a surprised yell as she turned her head to keep track of Costin, only for the unconscious movement to carry through to her wing, sending her spiralling downwards madly, falling just as fast as she'd risen.
-
Costin
It's not that he could've seen the shadow looking over him, but the sounds and vibrations in the air were more than enough to warn him. Staring up at the giant hammer, Costin could do nothing but sigh with a laissez-faire expression - his smile now edging between satisfaction and worry.
Good grief...
"Dumnezeule mare..."
And then the impact, sending him down the bottom of the lake with judgment and fury. But even so, Costin accepted it with his arms crossed casually, even if his body looked more like a bloody meat-rag. His sunglasses still perfectly placed, he passed the falling beast girl a curious glance before sinking into the depths.
Oh... I didn't even notice... heh, not bad ladies. Not bad.
It was the first time he finished a fight without his earphones, and yet he didn't feel the horrifying itch and the throb of madness. He felt.. content, for the first time in ages. It's as if their voices and blows were an enthralling melody on their own, just thinking about this fight was enough to pacify the beast. All in all, he had but a single thought, free from all regrets.
"What a wonderful world."
Thats why it was such a shame.
Lawrence
"..." With his one arm left, he wiped the cool sweat-like liquid off his brow. So that was it... it was over. With a satisfied sigh, he helped himself off the lady, limping weakly. It was embarassing being held like this, he disliked the idea of being held at all to begin with.
"Thank you, master. And... I'm sorry. If I were more competent, this could have been avoided."
As sinisterly as he always liked to exaggerate his mannerisms, his grief sounded genuine. For the first time, there was some melancholy when his black eyes looked at her golden hue. Maybe it's because he knew. Or maybe he felt it, deep down, that this was all as it was meant to be. He took a small step away from her. That's when it happened. If he'd have staggered at all, it was after the first five swords pierced his abdomen.
"Kuh...wh...what!?" Horrified, Lawrence vomited a spew of mud. That wretched thing was in the depths, its blood couldn't have shot out of it. There wasn't any way for him to suddenly hack him from there. So how?
The ashen corpse fell down weakly. Bleeding. Dying. He didn't see it, couldn't see it - half of his head was cleanly blown off. It was just... the blood squirrelgirl punched out of the vampire's wounds was still littered about. Was that the difference between the mage and the apostle? While she controlled this external pocket world, that vampire's essence was like a world unto itself.
In an instant, a flurry of weapons had already lodged inside Lawrence like gunshots, faster than he could possibly react. Punching deep inside like curses, with no hope to escape.
"G...raghh...!!"
But enough... to perform one last ditch trick. The grail king burst like a sea of black metal and covered him like a dome, pushing the headmistress away. Its why the sudden explosion was deafened by the tought-metal, cracking from the seams until it slowly began dissipating into smoke. Phenex let out a blood curdling scream as flames bled out of its breaking form. Queen Mab let out an agonizing ring as it cracked and turned inside out - then to nothing.
The burning blood exploded inside the dome, destroying every shred of the man. Not even a page of the book he held remained, nor did the ashen corpse leave any ash to mourn. But there was no mistaking that scream, and the finality of it all. The stakes blew up the ashen man to nothing.
Now, there was nothing.
Costin
Arms still crossed, he bled out while his wounds forcefully closed shut. He couldn't move... in the water at least, not that he'd have in the first place. That's maybe why he looked so bored - even though he managed to crack a sadistic grin in the end.
"Mission accomplished."
-
Headmaster
She watched her hand stretch towards the summoner too late to matter. "Professor!" She called out, tone pallid from disbelief. But the Headmaster could only stand witness to the sudden sacrifice, with irises as dull as stones, and be left with the sounds dissipating in the air like the echoes of a ghost.
Her weapons made of the city itself floated above the lake forgotten, for as long as that instant stretched.
"Fool... did I read you wrong all along?" She asked the emptiness. Not once, but twice he'd protected an immortal guardian over himself. With a last breath. What of the plans in his head, the hopes in his heart, now that he was gone? Perhaps the schemes she hadn't yet uncovered had brought this along. She looked away through a shivering breath. "Could you just not let go of your dignity?
The instant ended. Something different overlapped the shock and questions, as the Headmaster launched her senses beyond. She could see him, the sinking vampire, and without further delay her commands came into action. The surface of the lake rippled and thundered. Not just the dark depths, but stone, sand and buried stone also enveloped him, entombing the warrior.
"Stay there," she said, giving the waters a withered glance. The squirrel girl could fly herself out. It wasn't her concern right now. The headmaster crouched on the last place Lawrence had stood, and connected her telepathy to colleagues coordinating the evacuation of the area. While she updated herself, a flurry of bricks and steel began to flow back to the street that was stripped bare.
-
Headmaster
Clocktower, 700 Feet Below Ground
At a later time
It hadn't been difficult to remove the vampire from the bottom of the lake or to restore the basic shape of the street he'd helped ruin. Acquiring the right measures to keep him safely restrained had merely been a matter of making the right calls and demands. Transfering him to the appropriate location had been more logistically complicated. It was a welcome surprise that he seemed unable to move effectively within water at all, but passing him through a door to his new holding place and placing the bindings without risking his release set a nervous mood upon everyone who had made themselves available to help. The Headmaster had smiled firmly with a severe bent to her eyebrows through the process, betraying no sign of turmoil until it was done.
Which brought them here. This grey and onyx room deep into the foundations of her home, where the vampire sat on a simple chair. His ankles and wrists were weighed down and bound together to the other with thick electronic manacles, red-tinted chains wrapped around his waist to connect to pillars equidistant from the center of the room, and multiple magic circles that limited his movement and vampiric might shone dimly on the glazed tiles of the floor. Entangling and self-devouring knots were engraved along the arches above his head and the variable width of the pillars every few feet, and orbs mounted upon the mid-point of the walls illuminated the chambers.
The two parts of the black iron door slid shut behind the Headmaster, forming once more an undecipherable sigil in relief on its surface. She came in with a steaming cup and a chair, and saw about setting them both down, one on the utilitary table in front of her prisoner, and the other on the floor, unfolded, before she proceeded to sit.
"Now. I don't believe I caught your name," she said. After a moment, she pulled the hood down, revealing the slightly unkept bun and pinned braids of her hair. "What do you say we begin there?"
-
Nanako
Nanako could not fly herself out, as it turned out. The squirrel girl's abrupt turn being mirrored by her new wings had sent her into an unexpected deathspiral, hurtling down to the ground almost as fast as she'd risen before crashing down with a great plume of dirt and dust. Impact with the ground was short, sharp, sudden, and kicked the air out of Nanako's chest, leaving the squirrel girl breathless and coughing for a moment before she caught her breath, body throbbing for a moment with the crash.
With a quiet groan, Nanako picked herself back up, body throbbing with all the blows Costin had heaped upon her, bruises fading by inches as she stepped out of the dust cloud, breathing hard in the aftermath of the fight. The sight that awaited her, of the headmaster standing there, Costin's blood sprayed everywhere, and the tattooed man nowhere to be seen, told her more than she wanted to know in that moment. Confusion struck the squirrel girl for a moment until she remembered the bloody tree Costin had grown within the dome.
She hadn't known the man all that well, and didn't have anything more to say to the headmaster now, so with one last glare to the lake, the squirrel girl zipped off, trying to find somewhere to clear her head after that fight.
-
Headmaster
Clocktower, 700 Feet Below Ground
At a later time
It hadn't been difficult to remove the vampire from the bottom of the lake or to restore the basic shape of the street he'd helped ruin. Acquiring the right measures to keep him safely restrained had merely been a matter of making the right calls and demands. Transfering him to the appropriate location had been more logistically complicated. It was a welcome surprise that he seemed unable to move effectively within water at all, but passing him through a door to his new holding place and placing the bindings without risking his release set a nervous mood upon everyone who had made themselves available to help. The Headmaster had smiled firmly with a severe bent to her eyebrows through the process, betraying no sign of turmoil until it was done.
Which brought them here. This grey and onyx room deep into the foundations of her home, where the vampire sat on a simple chair. His ankles and wrists were weighed down and bound together to the other with thick electronic manacles, red-tinted chains wrapped around his waist to connect to pillars equidistant from the center of the room, and multiple magic circles that limited his movement and vampiric might shone dimly on the glazed tiles of the floor. Entangling and self-devouring knots were engraved along the arches above his head and the variable width of the pillars every few feet, and orbs mounted upon the mid-point of the walls illuminated the chambers.
The two parts of the black iron door slid shut behind the Headmaster, forming once more an undecipherable sigil in relief on its surface. She came in with a steaming cup and a chair, and saw about setting them both down, one on the utilitary table in front of her prisoner, and the other on the floor, unfolded, before she proceeded to sit.
"Now. I don't believe I caught your name," she said. After a moment, she pulled the hood down, revealing the slightly unkept bun and pinned braids of her hair. "What do you say we begin there?"
Costin Andrei
"Ah..." His messy hair dripped down the cool floors, the magnificent braided mane of his undone by the prior battle. Wretched. Defeated. But the apostle hardly looked like the loser of that battle. His form and wounds were mended perfectly. Not a single open wound, nor a broken bone to claim his. The only wounds and scars on his body were old, ancient things best left forgotten. But without so much as a rat crawling these dungeons, he amused himself scraping at the floors.
Scraping, scraping, scrape. Like a claw digging inside your skull. The sound reverberated sickly, like a mad pitter-patter. But it wasn't mad or senseless. Even a small ritual like this could hold off the dark impulses swirling in his mind.
Step. Step. Step...
And then the steps. He heard them from so far away, his lips quaked in anticipation. Hatefully, the vampire salivated. Her scent. Her form. The music-like sounds were this close to him - and as if by some sorcery, these sensations dulled the scrapings and the scratchings. As if her presence was more calming than any of that violence. In a way, you could tell he liked her.
Because of that, he took his time. He didn't act so abrupt as to spit out a curse or an injurious phrase. He took the time and care to answer her thoughtfully.
Extinction
"Former 14th member of the 27 Dead Apostle Ancestors. [絶滅] , Costin Andrei." And yet Costin's lips were curled up like the broken glass moon, betraying his good mood. Truth be told, for a guest, he was behaving himself extraordinarily well... at least in the cage. Even if he couldn't move through water, he hardly attempted to flee or resist - and he hardly harmed any of his jailors. Of course, she was no exception. "Ku ku ku... If I did, I would not share with such a rude visitor. Those were your words, nameless mage. And yet you'd ask me something so bold with your lonesome cup in hand, and after chaining me so thoroughly. What am I to make of that?"
-
Headmaster
With a slight smile that showed no effect on the rest of her face, the woman rested an arm on the table, and with the other pulled her hot drink closer. "You're under a misunderstanding, Mister Andrei," she said. "You were the guest in my house, and an exceedingly rude one. That you are now a prisoner is the consequence of your own conduct."
The headmaster inhaled deeply of the coffee, permeating her nose with the scent, and took a sip. She let out a steaming sigh of satisfaction and set the mug down once again, leaning forward.
"Apostles of who?" She asked.
-
Costin
The vampire chortled cooly. "Hah, I'm not complaining, that's that - and this is this. Still, it takes a hundred years for one of our kin to be sealed up, and yet you've managed to do it in a day. That alone is praiseworthy... you're pretty good." He pointed a finger gun at her with a friendly smile. So she isn't a mage from my world. Good, I can keep using this then. "Well, whatever. It doesn't really matter. Apostles... it's a long story, and not particularly interesting at that. Bloodsuckers, parasites, a function of the world... believe whatever you want to believe. After causing all that ruckus, It's none of my business how you live your life."
And with a satisfied sigh, he laid back - relaxing himself like he was in a spa rather than a prison. Then again, compared to the prison he once dwelled in, this was an actual tropical paradise.
"Don't be too sour on the details or the methods. If I didn't go wild once in a while, I wouldn't get to meet all sorts of interesting fellas. We wouldn't be having a nice chat over this fragrant smell, and that would be... inconvenient for the both of us. By the by, is that a mediterranean blend? It smells pretty damn amazing."
-
Headmaster
Not from this world. A group of elite vampires. How elite? He could have been saying only what he wished her to believe. Costin was the only issue she faced at this moment, not these hypothetical peers. There were more pressing factors to peel away.
The Headmaster inhaled patiently of the steaming drink. The scent was mellow but robust, and the blend lingered on her tongue from the first sip. She looked up from it with an unfriendly bent to her brows.
"Are you in the habit of killing interesting fellows shortly after meeting them?" She asked. "Doesn't that rather defeat the point?"
-
Costin
"Hoy, quit moaning like a deflowered wench, you're fine and in one piece. Can't say the same for your dear old friend there though, shame. Heh heh heh." His tone was grave and deadpan, but there was a lighthearted humor to the low growl-like laughter. A sick pleasure, as if he hadn't just killed a fellow teacher right in front of her eyes.
But even that subsided quickly, and Costin sighed.
"Look, I was careful to keep the casualties to a minimum. I'm not the type to go after women or children. The former can give birth to strong warriors, and with time the latter can become strong prey for my claws and fangs. There are only two kinds of people I'll kill: those with no rights, and those with worth."
A hint of something fierce and fiery slipped out his circuits, like a red haze shimmering for a moment. It was nothing more than his pure bloodlust, and the unshakeable voice that could pour out nothing but ironclad principled conviction. The earnes desire to wage battle, not just eat. Rather than a beast, it was the unmistakeable tone of a warrior.
"Villains with no right to live, and warriors worth facing with everything at my disposal."
-
Headmaster
If he had working sight, he might have taken note of the minute twitch of her lips. She allowed herself the reflex only because she had realized, and it would be funny if it were more tasteful. What did this arbitrary division make Costin himself, then? A warrior with no right to live? Perhaps that is what he would answer, with pride in his voice.
"Your care is merely self-serving," she said, dragging her drink close. "You give me no reason to sympathize, and even less to be impressive. You could not leave me in pieces even with a thousand years to try, Mister Costin."
She sipped at her mug, and set it down with a clack. "So tell me. Why did you go out of your way to kill my employee, instead of spending your remaining energies pursuing that worthy foe you were having so much fun with?"
-
Costin
"Ha, don't tempt me. I can tell you have the age to back that up, but I'm enough of an idiot to try that anyway. Not like I care about my life, it's an ill-spent pile of shit wasted moving blindly the only ways I could. If I could change that, maybe I would serve myself better once in a while. But then, I wouldn't be me."
Try. That was a damned word. Because its implication was clear. Against her, against the squirrel, even here, he hardly made an effort or attempt to truly exert himself. It was a game, a sham, a sick little amusement that surely had no bigger purpose.
Then why go out of his way to kill that one man?
Why try?
"Other than that, your guess is spot on. That's exactly what I am." He grinned like he guessed her exact thoughts before she uttered them, yet he hardly seemed offended. He smacked his lips and sighed casually. "As for the why... who knows? The moment the sun glared on my drowned body, Its warmth glinted on my wretchedness. I realized I could either shoot or not shoot."
-
Headmaster
"Quaint nonsense," she replied. The heat of the mug was still comforting against her palm, but a mere human would have wondered if the temperature of the room did not fall with her tone. "No one does anything without a reason, even should that be a mere whim to act. There is a root to all deeds that bear fruits, regardless of who or what planted them. Arbitrary actions predetermined to one's self are only inherent to machines. If you like repeating excuses, I would be glad to engage in a contest of them with you at a different time."
The headmaster tipped her drink and sipped loudly. The wobbling of her throat, the slurping through her lips and the breath of relief once she was done all echoed into Costin's skull.
"Did you come looking for him? Or was it opportunistic?"
-
Costin
Beneath his dark shades, the vampire's brow furrowed - almost sadly. It was the sort of innocent statement that could get even a monster to pity you. "That just ain't true. There's plenty of irrational, senseless things around. You try to scrutinize every little thing, you'll end up seeing things you shouldn't see, believing things you shouldn't believe, assuming things you shouldn't assume."
He relaxed and stretched his neck.
"But as I said, it's not my job telling you what to think. You're better off believing what you want, it'll spare you a whole lot of pain." And with a grin like the crescent moon, he laughed. "All I can say is that everything went according to the mission. Same as last time." A hint of malice gleamed off his smile. "Three days were promised to you to make your peace, but that didn't account for timezones."
-
Headmaster
It was her turn to shake her head. "Ideals and principles are as irrational and senseless as whims," she said. Her golden lashes fell slightly as she cast her eyes to the table. "Ah, so the deranged child and the merry beast. And what was your compensation?"
-
Costin
"The mission's details got wiped the moment I completed them, but I figure I must've been paid in advance to accept terms so stringent." He shrugged as if he weren't sure himself. "What I do remember is that the first part was to gauge five district's defenses. The second, to get rid of impediments that might get in the way. I didn't get to meet my employer face to face, but for insurance, they placed a mental lock on me to make sure I didn't spill any compromising information. As long as the target was eliminated, any secondary goal was just that, secondary."
He looked away for a second, his expression hiding some kind of mischief. But it was honest, in an odd way. He wouldn't have come this far just to bullshit her.
"Of course, the only reason I can say this much is that my employers must have deemed it unnecessary to hide... but I wouldn't pry too hard. Part of that lock included a killswitch that'd wipe my memory before... you know..." He feigned a dying expression to emphasize the point. "What matters is that the apocalyptic event didn't happen in three days. That means someone is working behind the scenes to stop it. That is my goal as well."
-
Headmaster
Her fingers drummed the table, one after the other, as if the Headmaster was playing piano one-handed. She raised her gaze, responding with candour like a quiet furnace. "The aid of someone who enacts such works for personal gain and has already played a part in weakening the district is neither desirable, not reliable in the first place."
Her drink was no longer producing richly bitter steam, and she pushed it to the side, resting her cheek on her raised palm.
"Why do you care to stop this?"
-
Costin
"Can't tell you. But maybe it's because I'm a nice sweet empathic lad deep down." He tilted his head with a casual expression, neither happy nor angry.
"And don't give me that much credit, I didn't weaken much - your defenses are already quite poor. I don't know what that idiot was spouting, but as far as the floor administrator goes, I'm one of the weakest. But if *they* show up at this rate, this city won't hold a day. That's all I can say, so don't ask further." His words were serious and as boastful as they might sound, his tone was nothing but sincere.
"Take our little amusement as a wake-up jolt. If you don't get your act together and start seeking allies, this divided kingdom will soon crumble to naught. With or without me." He sighed and stretched. "In the meantime, I see no reason why I should accelerate it. Your company isn't too terrible either."
-
Headmaster
"I see that an unceasing requiem of no-matter-how-many years does not dull glibness," she said. The Headmaster's lidded gaze brushed over his expression as an afterthought. "If that's all, then I better see us rid of you. Time bombs with a sense of humor sound like terrible allies."
-
Costin
"You're goddamn right. Don't call me glib again though, I resent that. Lies and pretty words make me want to grind things into nothing." There was no plead or fear in those words, and the light gleaming off his sunglasses didn't betray anything more than a sincere ember. An irritation at the predicament he was at, not the person before him.
He tried to be honest here. Still, he couldn't afford to be too honest. His job didn't allow personal feelings to get in the way like that. So deep down, perhaps the title suited him. That managed to make him angry, if only for a moment.
They say an immoral man trying to be moral is a better person than a normal man living normally. But that man would never agree to such a title. He never learned a different way to live. Only to follow his own path, wherever it took.
"Are you going to kill me?"
-
Headmaster
She seemed to ponder this, and pushed the near-emptied, cooled mug she had brought with her to the edge of the table, grinding with a low sound against the wood. If her face was made of stone before, now a minute crack shifted around her mouth.
"Do you want to die?" She asked in turn.
-
Costin
A simple shake of his head, calm and manner of factly.
"Whoever says out loud they want to die is full of crap. They actually want to live more than anyone, so they express that urge one way or another. On the other hand, if someone is genuinely willing to die, they end up disappearing silently." He answered her seriously, with words tinted with the bitterness of a life ill-spent.
He inhaled the blackened scent of cooled coffee. Softly, quietly, he took the time to enjoy its aromas.
"Besides, I've yet to meet a lucky bastard who gets to choose when death takes him. Friend, foe, good, evil... whatever misfortune or misery comes your way, it's not going to care about what you want. The best thing you can do is close your eyes and take it."
-
Headmaster
"Fortunate are those with the privilege to choose when and how they will die," she said. The Headmaster did not stand up, but her voice resounded as if she had taken a lone stand at a podium. Or perhaps as if speaking into the chasm that was Costin. "Convince me to not take that possibility away from you."
-
Costin
What came first was a grimace, the low animalistic growl of a monster, faint enough most would miss it. But then, and only then, a cracked smile, bitter yet with good humor. The chuckle was almost melodious in comparison.
With the warm mirth of a killer to its fellow.
"Goddamn, lady. You just aren't going to let up." He shook his head with a small laugh, bitter yet amused. Was it his own predicament that he found so ironic, or something else?
The apostle inhaled a deep breath, he savored her smell before answering.
"Killing someone means committing yourself to that idea, to the act. If you really wanted to fucking end me, you wouldn't be asking me for permission. You do it, or you don't, with no room for convincing or second-guessing. Otherwise, murder becomes a half-measure, something cheap to be tossed away like scraps, or a currency to give or hold back whenever convenient."
And with a sudden snap, the chain rattled and tensed with a lunge that jerked his entire body. The room suddenly shook, the sound cutting the air like a cold blade. But his body stopped, held back by its restraint. Only an inch away from her. An inch
I
nch
ing.
Close enough that they could embrace if they were lovers. Close enough her good smell could mingle with his acrid, bloody smell. Close enough she could dig her claws in his heart if she so desired. And yet his voice was soft and... kind.
"If you're so certain of this path, do it and don't doubt yourself over it. If you question that finality at all, don't bother, it's not the kind of choice you can make with regrets or half-measures in mind. That's the only thing I'll say on that subject."
-
Headmaster
She stared into his lightless pits without taking a breath, and bent her fingers. The floor and pillars rattled, and the chains jerked back at once, slamming Costin back into his seat. The feet of the chair grinded noisily against the tiles before they froze to her will.
"Don't presume to know me," she said, heavy to the ear with judgement. No scorned lover, but a rightfully jilted stranger, that was how she responded to his excitement. But giving no heed to the passing mood, the Headmaster freed a shallow exhale and slouched but a sliver on her own chair. "I don't like killing, though some souls would be better off buried. If you think that's strange... well, I'm not here to argue lifestyles. This idea is to my benefit. To extract what reparations are possible, if you care about such a thing, and to pacify my conscience. But it is also to your benefit."
The enchanter's face tightened with practiced mirth.
"Let me avoid assumptions by asking, this time. Are you ready to hear a proposal?"
-
Costin
Two abyssal pits leered beneath his dark shades. There was no love, no hate, no emotion in those eyes - but it wasn't because he couldn't feel. Instead of eyes, his sockets revealed an infinitely deep abyss, gouged inside his flesh so cleanly there was naught to see. Nothing but a pair of pits crowned not by lashes, but sets of sharp teeth, leering wide like hungry maws.
He didn't like showing them though, and if she could see them at all it was by accident. Maybe that's why he felt relief when she hurled him back against the wall.
"Ack-!"
He groaned and wiped the soot off his body, all while his long locks of moppy hair trailed down unsightedly. Despite that, he found good enough humor in things to laugh cooly.
"Heh, shame then. Killing's the one thing I'm good at." And with that, he relaxed and leaned back once more, so calm and collected you'd be fooled to think he'd never have tried to lunge at her in the first place.
"I'm all and nothing but ears. Shoot."
-
Headmaster
She curled her fingers into her palms, resting loose fists on the table. The words took their time to come, not because they were difficult to say, but because of the concession they were.
"Track down the ones who decided to count the days to our demise," the Headmaster said. "Pursue them, and capture, that their plans might be exposed. And, should you deem it, in good faith, that they cannot be reasoned with, that they will consume yet others without the possibility of stopping, or that restraining them is impossible - eliminate them, if you can. This is what I would have you do, with my clemency and your duties recorded in a mutually binding oath."
-
Costin Andrei
His maws gaped and blinked for a second, less so at the outrageously bold offer - but the fact she asked him of all people something like this.
“Hoy, hoy, hoy. I mean, I’m glad you can tell greatness when you see it, but my expertise isn’t exactly subterfuge slash cover-ops. With all due respect, are you sure I’m the right man for the job? I did just get caught and all.” He grimaced with sincere uncertainty, and a slight rictus crawled up his old mug.
It was the sort of smile a professor might see often, that of a student unsure of one’s own competency, with the familiar fear of expectations and the disappointment they harbor. And in a way, the small concern that he might do wrong for her.
Was that care that slipped past his ivory expression?
“Look, I'll try to make sure you don't regret it. It's the only thing I can promise, yknow?”
-
Headmaster
A single helpless little laugh escaped from her throat at his concern.
"You don't have to worry about that," she responded. Shaking her head, the magician smoothed out the creases around her eyes and the edges of her mouth back to a passably neutral look. "I wouldn't expect subtlety from you. Only that you will hunt them down. If you agree, I will have these terms engraved with magic upon the two of us."
-
Costin
"Heh, I see." So that's how it was. He wasn't dumb enough to ask what would happen if he refused. With a sardonic shake of the head, he sighed in resignation.
"Okay, okay. Luckily, this shouldn't conflict with my employment arrangements. I'm game."
The apostle's arm bulged and swelled with strength. There was a sudden rattling, and a tremor that slightly quaked the room. A creak, then a crack.
Rip. Tear. Then, the sudden spill of red and black ichor, as his hand's raw meat and bone laid bare. He forcefully ripped his hand off the restraint, and despite the excruciating pain, he looked at the headmaster with a blank sincerity.
"Deals should be honored with the shake of a hand." He extended his bloody limb with a chilling calmness, and an almost boyish expression.
The kind of innocent hesitation unbefitting a killer.
-
Headmaster
She looked at him not as if he'd ripped his own hand off to partially free himself of restraints, but like he'd spilled hot coffee all over it, or anything of similar import and resulting mess. And shook her head, as she was disapproving of a boyish display of excess, rather than holding back cold sweat from the gruesome pointlessness of the display by sheer will.
"We'll shake once we have the contract secured, not before," she said. Her eyes gave the bloody stump an unimpressed appraisal. "And with a clean hand, not a messy stump."
The headmaster leaned back in her seat then, and began to make the arrangements through her mental messages.
-
Costin
"..." His expression shimmered with a quiet discontent, but he kept to himself with a quiet simmer. He couldn't really blame her for that after all that, but that was that, this was this.
It looked like he'd have a busy road ahead of him.
Continued in the slums. (https://forums.darksidemoon.net/index.php/topic,746.msg69491.html#msg69491)
-
Noelle’s House
Small robots whirred around, busying themselves with cleaning up small messes while she sat lazily with her feet kicked up in her recliner, enjoying her space for the last time in a while. She was idly watching youtube on her HUD while she waited for her hired bodyguard to arrive.
-
Edelgard
Edelgard flexed her grip on the weapon to which she owed her life many times and rang the contraption that signaled her arrival. As she stared at the door, trying to not strain her eyesight over the traces of spellery she sensed beyond, she couldn't help but think the surroundings were simple and clean, and the whole building seemed to partake of an atmosphere of naive security.
The Forsaken warrior didn't think she fit in here, or in this sprawling urbanization of learning populated by hopeful younglings. Even with their moods hampered by some unseen event she had not seen but could smell the trails of in a section of closed-off streets, their world was entirely different from hers. It had been too long since she had been exposed to that simple joy, and her environment had not been anything like this. The animated plazas and rising centers of knowledge more brought to mind the city of Elewein at the time before bringing armies to its walls. Perhaps it was a mercy then, that others did not feel likewise about her. She drew eyes, but none appeared to scrutinize her for lack of belonging.
Sakura had convinced her to make more use of her "street clothes", since they had gone through such work as to acquire them, and heading to a new district was a perfect to do so, albeit she was here for work. Some vestiges of Edelgard's pride protested discarding her traditional vests for this function, but they lost their purchase when she gave herself a moment to reflect. The prestige the largely unprotective clothes of a devil lancer afforded her meant nothing in the Nexus, and Edelgard did not think she was worthy of the dignity they represented even if they did. She had not done enough to redeem herself, a quiet fragment of her heart echoed.
So here she was, answering this commission she had picked up not too long ago from her sojourns in the outer levels of the Citadel, in perfectly casual dress. Resilient "sneakers", slim black pants, a form-fitting silver and blue-lined top, and the white patterned jacket that half-slipped from her shoulders. And a giant polearms slung behind her.
-
Noelle
As she approached, small drones burred around in the yard about her. Lights turned on automatically, and before she could knock, the house itself greeted her. A magical eye just above the door focused down upon her—she could feel it scanning her for a few moments before the door swung open.
"Hello! Thanks again for answering my call on such short notice! Please, come on in so we can discuss our plans in a private setting, where prying ears are absent."
Inside, Noelle sat up and folded the recliner back, closed her browser and cleared her search history. She scurried towards the entryway to greet her guest. After all, just because she was an employee of hers at this moment didn't mean she shouldn't show her the same decency she afforded every person.