Chapter 7
Persona
All four party members were sitting around the table at the inn for lunch. Natsume enjoyed watching as RelicPetals went to defend her shojo-yaoi-bishounen stuff while Cool_Blue_Sky fully intended to know all the juicy details. EagleEye just shook his head, as if disapproving of the content of the manner.
"Uke and Seme are the best types. you can't not like them!" RelicPetals exclaimed to the other girl while EagleEye finally choked on his food. Cool_Blue_Sky went to defend her piece.
"I hate to disappoint you, but Riba couples are the best."
"I feel like I've learn a brand new side of you Petals. Like the veil is being pulled from my eyes."
Natsume hid his laughter behind a pawed claw. "You should have seen our PM's afterward. Since the discovery of her collection, our relationship completely changed. Totally made it better."
RelicPetals lifted a wooden spoon up and pointed it darkly to him. "What I said in PM is completely and irrevocably not allowed to be discussed at this lunch table."
Cool_Blue_Sky looked between Kuroneko and EagleEye. RelicPetals seemed to have gotten then what she was trying to imply. "Definitely UkexSeme. You can't argue with me on this one!"
EagleEye regained his composure long enough to catch both the girls glancing between the two of them. Natsume merely sighed before crossing his arms. "No. I'm not having you try and imagine me with my best friend. Just like how I don't imagine you with your best friend." He shared his piece sternly.
"Well I can already tell you. If we were males, Cool_Blue_Sky would be the Uke. Hands down."
Natsume quirked an eyebrow. "Let me guess, you'd be seme?"
RelicPetals nodded. "So it's not terrible to speculate. Don't you want to know?"
The ruby eyed feline declined. "No."
"But it's purrrly speculation." RelicPetals purred, and was immediately shut down.
"No. And another no because of that purr pun."
Cool_Blue_Sky snapped her fingers as if disappointed. "Damn."
"Moving on," EagleEye finally responded, as he was finished with his meal. "How long do you think it will take to finish the ring?"
Natsume looked at his wrist console and then back at the door. "We could just walk over there. It's not like it's too far."
He stood up from the table, as if the signal that was the end of that conversation, and headed toward the door. EagleEye, Cool_Blue_Sky, and RelicPetals all gathered their belongings to follow after him. When he pushed open the Inn doors, a large gust of purple mist rushed in and swirled around.
Natsume covered his face, not liking the scent, taste, or color of this mist. Even as he took a step outside, he could feel the gusts of wind pick up and heavily soar through the main village space.
Cool_Blue_Sky choked on the air, while EagleEye eyes began to water.
As the winds died down, Natsume and his party of friends could see a lone male figure standing in the linear dirt road wearing a white mask covering pure white porcelain skin. His raven black hair, unkempt and wild, almost like the aura around him. His wardrobe also matched his dark hair color, wearing nothing but simplistic black. His hands adorned a multitude of rings, mostly silver. There laid a person on the dusty ground, his lifeless form happened to be the familiar person of the accessory shop; Vormud.
Natsume's negative feeling intensified. "Get your weapons ready." He called out and rushed out to the middle of the street. EagleEye followed suit of Natsume's dash while Cool_Blue_Sky stayed clear of the front lines. RelicPetals went into the middle of the group to help support healing spells if they needed it.
The first to approach the man standing in the street was none other than the ruby eyed leader. He drew his cutlass and stood in an offensive stance. "Who are you, and why did you threaten Vormud for that ring." Natsume couldn't tell if the accessory maker was alive or dead at this point due to the fact he wasn't moving.
The male in question merely knelt down to grab hold of the lifeless body in his search. He seemed to have finally found what he looked for, and easily tossed the man to the side. Vormud's back knocked into several wooden boxes, collapsing the sides under the weight.
RelicPetals went running to his side, almost immediately, and tried a healing spell. "Cure!"
The man with the silver rings chuckled darkly. "I'd hardly waste mana on a dead man."
RelicPetals realized that her spell didn't work, and then turned a horrified glance back to the man standing alone. "You killed him, but why?! He did what you asked!" She immediately recognized the voice of the assailant when she first stumbled upon the transaction.
"You must have been that eavesdropper that day, I see." He merely replied and revealed in his clenched hand the ring that Vormud had made with the materials. "I have to thank you. If it weren't for you and your friends, I would be without the Ring of Allocated Time."
Natsume clenched his cutlass in his palm. "Sorry, but that ring doesn't belong to you. It belonged to Vormud, but since you killed him I suppose it goes to us. Hand it over, douchebag." The feline male did not take well to antagonist's who murdered for no reason.
Cool_Blue_Sky summoned her own wand and began to chant. "Go ahead and attack him Kuro, talking won't settle anything."
EagleEye brought forth his bow and readied his shot. "I didn't know Vormud, but he seemed like a semi-decent guy. You'll pay for taking his life."
Their enemy in the road just laughed at their commens. RelicPetals cast scan on him, but noticed something odd. The aura around the ring he carried was different, not to mention the fact that his HP/MP bars were all question marks.
"Guys…GUYS, He doesn't have—!" She yelled, but before she could say anything more he silenced her with a swift hand stroke. A black whip emerged and cracked against RelicPetals' right cheek. The force of the blow was enough to send her flying away from Vormud and past the three standing fighters.
Cool_Blue_Sky gaped in horror before turning to look back at their friend. She was unconscious in the dirt, her HP bar barely survived the hit. She was straddling the zero with barely two HP left.
"My name's Persona." He murmured and cracked his whip again. The sky erupted into dark clouds and purple mist began to billow down from the area. From within the clouds, a large bird emerged. It's shape was not solid, but rather a gaseous state. Purple clouds continued to pour out with each wing stroke it created.
The down stroke of the wings caused whirlwinds of the same purple smoke to flow into town. People who were in the streets in Mydalr started to drop to their knees. They were choking on the purple mist that swirled around them. The huts and makeshift buildings near the center of the whirlwind had started a slow melt from the roof down.
"And this ring is one of the many offerings I offer to the Goddess Lumina. Your God of Time Chronos will never succeed in winning this war. Now, do me one last favor and die!" Persona called out to his large bird of smoke which then screeched boisterously.
RelicPetals slowly arose off the ground, her cheek ached against the strike as she used cure upon herself. Cool_Blue_Sky went back to facing their opponent, only she suddenly realized she felt terrible.
Her legs buckled underneath her, and she started to violently hack. Soon the others were doing the same as she, collapsing to their knees and struggling to stay up.
"Ah, I see the poison is finally setting in. This whole town is as good as dead."
Natsume coughed up blood when he pulled himself back up to stand, he had not realized how poison affected their bodies until that very much. What do we have against poison? Anything?
It was at this moment he heard Petals yell: "Esuna!" A large gust of pure clean air gushed through the purple mist, dissipating it and stopping to swirl around his body. When he realized she had cured him of his poison, he knew what he had to do.
"Petals, keep healing at maximum output. EagleEye, bring that eagle down. Sky, you keep an eye on MP levels." Natsume shouted before lunging forward, he did his best not to get buried deep in the pockets of the poison mist, and charged straight for Persona.
"Esuna! Esuna!" Mikan cast again and again, "Esuna!" She cast once more on herself and then charged up her next spell.
"I call upon the purest winds to blow through. Aero!" She summoned gushes of white magic wind to push out all of the poison mist in the central area. Meanwhile EagleEye laced his arrows with his special fire crackle concoction.
"Here's hoping it's weak to fire." He stretched his bow before releasing the arrow into the sky. The large gaseous bird from above screeched as the fire combusted a part of his wing upon contact. "Fire seems to be the magic trick. Sky, prepare your stronger fire spell. I'll keep it distracted."
Mikan glanced over to Kuroneko's fighting and noticed he was barely able to keep up with Persona. The whip danced blithely around him, almost like a scorching dance of tango. She noticed a small increment of health had been chipped away from the question marks, but not as much as Kuroneko would have liked.
She raised her wand up and shouted, "Cure!" as she targeted him with the spell.
Persona merely jumped back from Kuroneko's lunging form and readied his hand holding the ring. He was still going strong, and he was only using his left hand to crack the whip.
"I didn't think your healer was that strong, she dissipated my poison with her spells." He sighed before turning his attention to the ring. "It's unfortunate I have to use this on the likes of you, but it will save me the trouble later of having to defeat you."
Persona smirked before chanted, "Ring of Allocated Time, bring to me the sands of time from this boy!"
Kuroneko watched the ring slowly darken under his grasp. The aura that encompassed the ring had grown larger and larger until it finally grew into a huge circular dome. Dark matter pushed upon his body until he dropped to his knees. In front of his wrist console, the warning symbols were going off. It blared and beeped at him as if he were close to death. He stared horrified as the dark matter brought out his own hourglass and the glass started to shake abruptly. The sands inside were slowly slipping out from it, and he felt weaker. He noticed his infinity symbol start to flicker, and the sands of time started to enter into Persona's ring.
"You'll soon be as if you never existed." Persona called out over the screams Kuroneko created.
Mikan knew that EagleEye and Cool_Blue_Sky would be fine on their own, so she darted past them to where she saw Kuroneko in trouble. She noticed her own wrist console vibrating, warning her not to get too close. There was no other option as she charged in with her hand held up. Her wrist console lit up as she screamed: "Natsume!"
A bright flash of light exploded from her console and everything turned gray in color. The other thing that happened to be vibrant in color happened to be the bright, shiny god hovering above Persona's frozen form. Mikan watched in shocked awe as his brilliance shined almost enough to blind her. She tried to glimpse past the light toward his face, but she felt more blinded the harder she tried.
"Child of Chrona, the will of your perseverance has been blessed with the powers of Chronos. Use your power wisely, for if you run out of time, you will be lost to it forever. Now, destroy the Ring of Allocation."
Mikan saw a small timer appear in her peripheral. Fifteen seconds. She only had fifteen seconds to destroy the ring. She raised her wand up before charging in like she pictured Kuroneko would. She screamed her best warrior cry and before the timer hit ten seconds, she had already slammed the wand into the gem of the ring. It shattered upon impact, and time snapped back into place.
Mikan's own wand cracked under the pressure, but the dark matter surrounding the three of them quickly dissolved. Kuroneko collapsed to the ground, and his wrist console finally quieted. She would have breathed a sigh of relief before a hand violently clutched her throat.
She stared up at the man in front of her, and she could see his dark onyx eyes behind his white mask.
He was royally pissed.
"You—How did you destroy the ring! You can barely stand an attack so how!?" He didn't allow her a chance to talk, depriving her of the very oxygen she needed to survive. It was in that moment that he noticed the shining light within her wrist console.
"Chronos, you filthy instigator! I will kill your chosen one right before your eyes!" He all but screamed. Mikan barely attempted to bat his hand off her throat, but she was not strong enough to have him release her.
"Let her go!" An arrow shot straight at Persona, and had he continued to hold her, he would have been hit. He jumped out of the way, with her still in his grasp. He was about to inflict the last bit of damage against her but stopped. From Mikan's view, she could see a small message screen pop up and saw his face darken at the sight of it. He grimaced and glowered, but he did not argue with what had been sent to him.
Almost in reflex, he tossed the girl to the side and heard the delayed crunch of the wall crumple under her weight. She dangerously hovered in the low 2-3 HP range after the throw.
"It seems my Goddess Lumina has offered her grace upon your worthless lives. But trust me when I say, we will meet again and I will kill you." Persona closed his eyes and darkness encompassed his body. Before Cool_Blue_Sky and EagleEye could react, the man had disappeared in a black wall of shadow.
With the battle over, a wash of experience rushed over everyone. Mikan could hear her console chime as it congratulated her on her level ups.
Congratulations on making it to level 18!
Here is a tutorial on how to use Active Bursts [Stop Time].
With the increase in level, she too also gained back all of her health and mana. Whenever they grew a level, they would instantly heal all wounds. She noticed the broken wall behind her and she groaned as the phantom pain still played a common effect on her mind.
Kuroneko had been pulled up by EagleEye, and though he was shaky, he managed to pull out his hourglass. The sands of time that had been stolen had somehow been returned after the ring had been destroyed.
A holographic figure appeared in front of the party with a huge smile. He wore round glasses, and his hair was the same dirty blonde as his avatar in the console. It appeared Yuu Tobita had appeared to greet them.
"Good Afternoon, or should I say good evening! Congratulations on fixing the irregularity. With that, Mydalr should return back to normal. Please hold up your hourglasses." Yuu smiled, and with a flick of his hand all of their hourglasses had been filled with purple colored sand. "The God of Time, Chronos did not anticipate Lumina's henchman to have caused this irregularity, so he graciously stepped in to help you succeed. Now, please use your hourglasses to activate the sand to your next quest."
Yuu disappeared while the group stood in dumbfounded horror. Mikan stared at her wrist console, and then went to grasp her throat. She could feel the pain of Persona's grip still clenching against her vocal cords.
Kuroneko stared at his hourglass, seeing the time of sand he had, and felt he had been merely moments away from actually dying.
"This—doesn't feel like a game anymore." Mikan replied as she lightly felt her neck.
Cool_Blue_Sky went over to examine her neck. "We need to be extra careful from now on. If we make any mistake..."
"Let's not start that." EagleEye remarked before looking to Kuroneko. "Are you alright?"
"Hn." It seemed to Mikan that he was not avoiding the issue, but trying to keep the group from falling apart.
EagleEye and Cool_Blue_Sky clenched their fists as if they had nothing else to add. They had just witnessed firsthand the destructive power that their potential main enemy possessed. Mikan was also curious about this world's system and wondered who this Goddess Lumina was. It almost sounded like someone she knew. She would have to see if there were some reference materials available in this game to put the scrambled facts together.
Kuroneko looked to the blackened logout button on his console before he clenched his fist. A notification popped up on their wrist consoles, and they all silently looked to each other.
The one to break the silence was Kuroneko as he raised his console in the air. "Come on, let's complete this quest." The four of them counted down, before effectively pressing the "accept" button on their wrist. A bright white light enveloped them as they shifted between the dimensions of time and space.
Main Quest 1: Complete!
You and your friends fought a perilous fight against a new foe. He has introduced himself as Persona, who worships the Goddess of Creation Lumina. You stopped the poison mist from consuming and destroying Mydalr, and prevented Persona from taking away the Ring of Allocation. Your group decides to find a safe place to rest until the next irregularity becomes evident. As you accept your next destination, your hourglass transports you and your party to Bellcester Shore.
T.K. HERE!
WOW, first quest done and we are well on our way to the next main quest! I hope you have enjoyed so far! Here's to new adventures!
Wind of SilentBell: I'm really glad you are enjoying the story so far! I thought Mikan's collection would have more of an impact compared to any other thing. Haha she's such an innocent lamb. Haha Hotaru really does enjoy talking about things that she's invested and intrigued with. Plus Crab brains. I am hoping she will continue to grow as we get further into the story! :)
SunBabyBoss: Thank you Kindly! I am definitely enjoying my work-definitely different from what I had done previously! Life is swell! :)
RandomGuest: Welcome! I am glad to hear that you have enjoyed! Yes, this story is slightly different than Sword Art Online. (After one of the few comments about SAO, I finally watched it). I CAN say that this fiction won't really be similar to SAO schematics... hopefully. Haha. That is a good question about the chapter title-To be honest I didn't have a title for it but it could change later on. Or I'll incorporate this tiny fact of title in the next few chapters. Everything has a purpose!
