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Overheat

Execute Program 21-RG

Wrath of the Witch Queen

What a terrible nightmare…, Rei thought as she slowly opened her eyes. Staring right back into her own were the eyes of a pink haired Dark Knight Ah… I am still dreaming. Rei closed her eyes again and then the Dark Knight started to poke and pinch her cheeks. No, no, no, I am definitely still sleeping. I did not get kidnapped by those scary people. No way, right? I'm just sleeping off being exhausted from picking fruit. Yes, that's gotta be it. I bet my brain is really sorry about this dream already.

"Vert! She's pretending to be asleep. I think she's in denial! Should I drop her over board?" Neptune shouted and that immediately woke Rei, who tried to back away but found herself surrounded by wooden walls from all sides. Where am I?

Neptune was promptly bonked on the head with a long spear. "That is not how we treat our guests, Neptune." Vert was going to grab this chance by its head and complete her roster of completely overpowered individual players. Inside her head, a tiny Vert with a devil costume was snickering by herself, before breaking out into a full blown Ohoho laugh.

"I-I don't have much money. I-If you kidnapped me for a ransom, I-I can't pay it!" Rei tried to back away as far as possible and hid behind a large barrel that stood in the room. They were just below deck, having brought Rei with them.

Peashy dragged Neptune away by her collar, the Dark Knight sliding over the ground, looking slightly confused why this was happening to her.

Vert returned to her civil clothing and approached Rei. "Do you know who you are?"

What kind of question is that? "Kiseijou R-Rei." She couldn't help but stutter a bit because she was still scared as hell. What did those people want from her? She hadn't done anything wrong. Except that one time she gave out wrong change by mistake, but… goddesses wouldn't track you down for a few credits, would they?

"Half-right. You see, with our convenient deus ex machina, Histoire, we found out that you are actually the former goddess of Tari. A great many things seem to have happened to you, and your memory and old personality are floating off somewhere in space because of this."

"Me? A G-Goddess? Of what n-now?" Rei refused to leave the relative safety of behind the barrel. A safety that only she perceived as such.

"Shouldn't we just show her?" Blanc approached the scaredy-cat and her partner. "I asked Kei for one of the transformation items." Pulling an item out of thin space, her inventory, Blanc handed it over to Vert and retreated a few steps. I can't believe the goddess of Tari is such a weakling.

"Use this. If you can use it, it does prove you are a goddess. There are a lot of circumstances behind all of this, I am sure, but the important thing right now is that our guild needs a Magic Archer such as yourself. And truth be told, it would be very convenient for us if you, as another goddess, decided to join our guild of goddesses and related people." We do have two regular people in here, but I can tell her that later.

"That… isn't going to suddenly turn into tentacles that wrap around me, dissolve my clothes and do this and that to me, is it?" Rei still wouldn't leave the cover of the barrel.

Vert looked at Rei for a few long seconds before drooling a little. "That… that might be good, too." Brought back to the harsh reality of no such items existing by Blanc kicking Vert's ass, the blonde put the item on top of the barrel. "No such thing will happen, disappointingly. It will simply spawn an error prompt if you cannot use it."

Rei reluctantly reached for the item. Why do they think I'm a goddess? It's true I don't remember anything, but there isn't any nation called Tari around in the world. Successfully using the item, which paralyzed Rei's thoughts for a moment, she just sat there, in her transformed state. W-W-W-What is this?! And to give her thoughts some voice, she repeated it out loud. "W-W-W-What is this?"

"Isn't she supposed to go all crazy and dictatorial on us?" Blanc whispered to Histoire. They had heard a little of what Rei Ryghts had been like before all of this, but by far not the whole story.

"I told you that her entire memory bank has been wiped," Histoire hissed back. "There is no way of knowing what her personality will shift to now."

"So… So I'm really a goddess? But what is this Tari nation? I never heard of it! And why didn't I know I'm a goddess! Someone has to explain things!" Rei actually left the cover of the barrel now and slowly stepped forward. She looked identical to what her appearance had been back then, when she ruled the nation to the west.

"Here we go," Blanc whispered to Histoire, again.

Rei shrieked when a wild Neptune suddenly jumped on her back, holding on to her so tight that both of them crashed to the floor. "D-Don't hurt me!"

"You were saying, Blanc?" Histoire's smug smile really irritated the Lowee goddess.

The transformation wore off early because Rei freaked out and Neptune was, a second time, dragged away by her collar, by Peashy, who looked so pissed that Neptune turned a little pale. "Y-Yo Peashy, let's just talk about this, right? There's no need for any hasty decisions like testing the maximum speed of a free falling Nep."

"That is a great idea, actually." Peashy dragged Neptune to above deck and there was a very loud scream from Neptune. Then; silence.

Did she really just throw Neptune over board? I told Peashy to keep her in check, but I think throwing her over board might be a little much. But before Vert could worry any further, Peashy returned to below deck. "Peashy, did you just-"

"She's going to be fine. Dark Knight's are sturdy." And having her around at a time like this will just make things really complicated. Peashy was not really eager to see Rei Ryghts again but the fact that the Tari goddess hadn't even looked at her directly until now made it pretty clear that she didn't remember.

"Now, Rei." Vert turned her attention back to where the Tari goddess had been. But she was gone. "Oh my?" Taking a quick look around, Vert spotted Plutia giving headpats to the woman, behind the barrel from earlier. It wasn't that strange a sight for Vert, but for Histoire, who had known Plutia in her original life time, it was unbelievably strange.

"Ploot, can you stop assimilating everyone with headpats please?" Peashy gave the new Rei a stern glare. "Talk to our guild leader already."

"Y-Yes!" Rei was too overwhelmed by the situation to really retort. Standing in front of Vert, Rei was a few centimeters shorter than her, the blue haired woman really didn't know what to say and that made her unnecessarily nervous. "Um…"

"Everyone, could I have the room please?" Vert didn't see this going anywhere until she got Rei to settle down.

"Eh~? But I think~, staying here is gonna make it easier~, for Rei~." Plutia initially refused but when Vert gave her a pleading look, she obliged. "See you later, Rei~." Waving as she walked past the guild leader and the potential recruit, Plutia saw the woman almost reach out to her.

A minute later, the room was finally empty and Vert assumed that this was where the real work was going to start. "You are Tari's goddess. Sadly, your nation met its demise a long time ago. None of us know how exactly you survived until now. It also appears that everything you could call your soul was ripped out of you not too long ago. Possibly right before your current, first memory was recorded." Vert couldn't see this going anywhere without giving Rei some sort of explanation. "That is really almost everything we know. Histoire, which is sort of like a living instruction manual, and a troubleshooting guide for us goddesses, managed to find out that much only because of her powers."

Rei just stood there, processing information. "So… what do I do now?" Knowing all of this just confused her. She was a goddess. But what now?

"As I said, our guild is in need of a Magic Archer. And I am sure that Plutia would not mind having you here. There is also the point that only our guild knows who you really are and based on that, we might be able to look into options on what you can do once we return to the real world." Vert gave Rei a moment to properly understand her offer before she put on another layer. "Personally, I would like to keep an eye on you. Based on what Histoire was willing to say, you used to be a very powerful goddess that also happened to end up being very dangerous to the rest of the world. With this, you have a chance at a new start." Although it is certainly impossible to bring back Tari. And this will upset the power balance that Histoire created all over again, but I get the feeling that leaving this woman to her own devices will result in something truly dangerous, eventually. Having Plutia, Blanc and myself to steer her in the right direction might avert such a scenario.

"D-Do I even have the option of saying no?" Rei wasn't sure this was such a good idea. She was pretty bad around people. Especially important people.

"Of course. But even if you say no, when we return to the real world-" And while we're in here, too. "I will need to have someone make sure you are doing alright." Telling her I need to have someone watch her so she doesn't turn back into a crazy person would probably not go over so well.

"What… would I even need to do in a guild?" Rei didn't really think all that much about being a goddess. It didn't really matter while they were all in this game anyway.

"You're a damage dealing class, so technically, nothing that unusual. We have a few rules I would be happy to explain to you but largely, you are free to do whatever you want unless the guild as a whole sets out to do something. I have to admit that we are very active so outside of mornings and evenings, you will most likely be occupied all the time. You will have your own room on this ship, and obviously access to everything the guild offers. I can really recommend our bath." Vert let out a long and relaxed sigh. "I would take a bath two times a day if my guild members wouldn't start thinking I am a spoiled rich lady."

"And if I… if I want to quit?"

"You can quit if you're truly uncomfortable here. But if we, the only ones in the world that are like you, won't be able to make you feel welcome, who can? I'm sure that Blanc and I will be able to teach you everything you need to know about being a goddess, too. I would have included Plutia in this list but her preferred method of working as a goddess seems to be napping and giving beautiful women headpats." Vert was a little confused when she saw Rei blush. Did I say something strange?

"If I can just change my mind later… I suppose I… I'll give it a try." Rei really just didn't know what else to do with herself. Working on her own, leveling up on her own, she always felt really lonely. If she was a goddess like the others, maybe she should just go with the flow for now. "But what about that… scary Manipulator?"

"Remember that I told you that you used to be a dangerous person? She thought you still were. Now that she knows you are not the same person anymore, she should not trouble you anymore." After getting killed by Windy, I think she got the message. And in-fighting between guild members is absolutely not allowed, Queen of the Night or not.

"I can't believe that… I used to be a person like that. I mean… I froze up when I was suddenly attacked." Rei believed most of what that goddess was telling her. "You haven't told me your name yet."

"I'm Vert. I used to be the goddess of Leanbox but due to various circumstances, I rule Lowee with Blanc now. Ah, Blanc is the short, busty, Knight with light brown hair. She's also my absolutely most adorable lover and sister. You should see-" Vert shivered when she felt murderous intent. Is Blanc listening in?

"I-I think I am okay without seeing." This woman is really weird.

Up above deck, Ram was monitoring the guild menu. "Oh, she's joined! Our old sis can be pretty per… er… persuasive!" Ram was giving the refined lady thing another go but it wasn't going very well.

Coming up above deck, Rei had switched to her class clothes and so had Vert. "Everyone, please welcome Kiseijou Rei, goddess of Tari." Vert shot a quick glare towards Noire, telling her that no matter what her position in the real world was, here in 4GO2, she was their leader, and her own word trumped Noire's.

There was a slew of welcomes for the new member. Notable exceptions were by the absent Neptune, who was currently stuck in the pavement in the town down below, and Plutia, who chose to welcome Rei with a big hug, which made the Magic Archer very embarrassed, and Peashy slightly jealous.

Noire kept her distance. She didn't trust Rei. No matter how much Histoire argued that her personality was different, that everything that had made Rei into Rei Ryghts was gone. She didn't accept it. And what worried her even more than Rei was how she had just lost control over herself. How could someone that flew into a frenzy at just the sight of another person be entrusted with the governance of the dark world?

"To give Rei a taste of what this guild is all about, we are going-"

"To have free time? Yay! I mean, Maleficent!" Ram didn't even want to finish listening.

"Ram, I think you mean magnificent," Windy corrected her half-sister. The former Lowee candidate had some big holes in her vocabulary, ones that needed filling.

"We are going to go straight for something special. I received a message earlier that the Arcanist King has been spotted not too far from Torcraft, and that it is going to wander into a low level zone soon. We are going to kill it." Vert had expected the widespread groaning and complaining that followed. "Usually, this would be a difficult battle that would require a lot of preparation. But in our case, we can just cheese it."

"C-Cheese it?" Rei hadn't heard that term before.

"It means we can take it super~ easy." Plutia was still hugging Rei because it was sort of comfortable. With Peashy, the girl's overly large breasts were always in the way.

"Famitsu?" Vert looked around and found the Sage at the bar, hastily emptying her glass now that she had heard her name. "You already know what I am talking about, yes?"

"The Blessing of the Omega Four." It didn't take a genius to figure out what Vert was talking about. Famitsu hadn't made the connection of using that skill to cheat the Arcanist King but it made sense.

"What's that?" Rom wanted to know what they were talking about.

"One of the three skills I got. Blessing of the Trillion Lords, Blessing of the Fencing Pixie and Blessing of the Omega Four. The last one grants the party 100% damage reduction for the next hit but also reduces offensive power to nothing after I apply the blessing," Mitsu explained and then realized an obvious flaw. "But the cooldown is 5 minutes. I can't keep using it for every attack."

"That's why we will have you repeatedly die. Windy will enter PK mode after every blocked cast, kill you, and then Zelena will use her Phoenix Mount to revive you. Being revived by Phoenix also resets all your cooldowns." There were other applications for this setup but nothing that useful. The Phoenix Revive had nearly a minute of cast time and it attracted every enemy in the vicinity when it did that. A single hit, for as little as 1 damage, and the cast got interrupted and the Phoenix would die, dealing massive fire damage to everyone around it. "The Arcanist King, Origin of Magic, Ganmor Lay Fa, has a very high casting speed but the spells it uses are all variations of Altmer imbued with elements. It takes 90 seconds for one cast to go through. I expect that even Ram would be one-shot killed despite her 75% magic damage reduction without additional damage reducing buffs or elemental defense gear."

"So we don't really need me. Or Nepgear. Or Chika." Blanc was glad she didn't have to come. It made her feel a little… unappreciated that Famitsu was used like that, like a tank, however. "Where is Chika and your doppelganger anyway?"

"Don't call her that." Windy didn't like it when people spoke badly of Zelena. She might not be Vert but she was still her big sister in a way.

"Chika followed Zelena, who said she was going to the Tamer Union," Mina had seen her leave earlier. Zelena had acted a little odd, constantly repeating the same numbers. Why didn't she write them down? It isn't like anyone here is going to undercut her prices. Mina assumed that Zelena was simply going to update her Union, on what she was selling and capturing, in person.

"Everyone will attend. That for the most part only our damage dealers will be required to act does not mean we can't have a situation on our hands." Vert's expression made clear that any and all complaints would be heard, but also immediately discarded.

"My.. equipment is not really made for boss hunting." Rei wasn't very confident about things. She was a very high level for a solo player, 81, but that still paled in comparison to eight level 99 people the guild already had.

"Rei, is it?" Kei figured that the easiest way to solve equipment issues was by going through the market. "Before we depart, we can go take a look at the market. Every new guild member receives a 5 million credits well-fare gift. I handle most of our finances, so if you ever need anything please speak up. It is also considered very rude to turn down these 5 million as they are designed specifically to help new members attain that high level of efficiency that Lady Vert would like them to have." Kei lied to Rei with a straight face, not a hint of hesitation in her voice.

"Hey, I-" Ram was cut short by Mina, who covered the candidate's mouth.

"Please Lady Ram. Someone like her would be too embarrassed and polite to accept a monetary gift. Show your understanding of high society, and how to make those around you accept a gift they would not accept normally." Mina played at Ram's ego and it worked.

"Get Rei equipped with something useful. A small number of different bows for different purposes." Vert put her hand on Rei's shoulder. "Welcome to Celestia, where goddesses reside and where games are brought to their knees."

===OVERHEAT===

"Are your glasses real or are they just for fashion?" Blanc was mildly bored and talking to their new recruit, who was using her newly bought equipment to fire away at the pale skinned, black haired woman that was charging up another massive spell. Altmer Blaze, or as Ram kept calling it, Ultima Fire, was like a supernova exploding right in front of them. Zelena burned through a summoning token, and then a recall token, for every cast. Windy repeatedly kept dying to the attacks, taking upwards of 600,000 damage, more than 20x her maximum HP. Famitsu was also constantly killed by Windy and then revived by Zelena. It was a very broken and absolutely unintended setup.

Famitsu on the other hand burned through 114 yellow stones for every cast, to protect 19 targets from one of the Ultima spells. She couldn't carry nearly as many stones as she would need, which was why Kei kept making trips back to the guild to access her storage. She had enough of them stored up that she was never going to have to buy them again.

"My glasses? I… haven't actually tested it. But I think I need them. A lot." Rei kept firing away and kept running out of MP, even with Dengekiko's Aether Ascension that quadrupled her regeneration.

Vert landed next to Blanc and Rei with a quiet thud. "If you're this bored, Blanc, please attack the boss, no matter how little damage you do. There is plenty of time to talk while you hit it." Jumping back into the air and unleashing another attack, Vert kept going. It was a somewhat relaxed fight for everyone but Zelena, Kei and Famitsu. Chika in particular had so little to do that she was about to nod off. While Blanc's weapon had at least some decent base damage, even without her having much in the way of strength, a saint really was useless when there was nothing to heal or protect.

Because Windy was entering PK mode over and over, she couldn't stay in the party, which meant she died to every single enemy cast. Entering PK mode so many times had ended up attracting a lot of other players, mostly high level ones that thought they were going to right a wrong by getting rid of that PK idiot in a low level zone. A lot of people had tried to run up to Windy and only then realized it was all an elaborate setup.

Another cast went through, Ultima Earth, and Famitsu's spell blocked it. Just seconds after that, Famitsu was stabbed repeatedly by Windy and died. Meanwhile, Zelena had summoned her Phoenix again and now started reviving Famitsu. Sixty seconds later, Famitsu was back alive, her cooldowns reset and Zelena returned the Phoenix back to her ranch.

"I wish the Phoenix revival worked on my level 99 skills..." Nepgear was pretty bored herself.

As it turned out, the Phoenix Revival didn't actually remove cooldowns. It just reduced them by 10 minutes, which had the same effect for most skills. But for skills that needed a full rest, 8 hours, it would need to be used 48 times, which was not useful, or realistic, in any way.

"Do you have any hobbies, Rei?" Nepgear tried to make conversation with the new girl. Uni was busy damaging the boss. As a Paladin, Nepgear had extremely little damage output, which made it really pointless for her to attack the enemy. Blanc didn't really follow Vert's instruction either. Even if Blanc and Nepgear hammered away at the boss for a full minute it dealt less damage than a single of Uni's skills. They were amazing when it came to attracting enemies but not so much with killing them.

"I like reading." Rei noticed that Blanc was suddenly looking at her with very obvious interest. Did I… say something strange? "I also prefer being outside. Whenever I'm inside buildings I end up feeling depressed. I'm sorry."

"What kind of books do you like? I am looking for some feedback on this High School Zombie Apocalypse Slice of Life Parody Deconstruction I am writing." Blanc was eager to get the opinion of someone that wasn't already terribly biased against her, like Vert was.

That sounds terrible. Nepgear couldn't say it out loud. But she was sure that Vert was going to do just that the moment she caught wind of that.

"M-Maybe later." That sounds awful. Even Rei thought so.

The boss hit 50% HP and fell to her knees, blood rapidly running from her arms and legs, a rather macabre sight for the party. It then started to cast a new spell. "Famitsu, Fencing Pixie!" Vert changed orders. "We have 5 minutes before it casts Altmer of Altmer. Make them count." The three great blessings couldn't be used with each other but they could override each other. Every 10 casts after hitting 50% HP, the boss would use Altmer of Altmer.

Granting the party infinite MP, Famitsu then started buffing the hell out of every damage dealer by buffing their souls and using Road to Victory. Uni in particular started to unleash hell on the boss. The gunner class had very little cooldowns on their skills but not a particularly big MP pool. Burning through 100% Max MP lowered damage output by 1% while under the effect of Fencing Pixie. Uni was all the way down to 25% damage output when the 4 minutes, 30 seconds mark rolled around and Famitsu got ready to protect the party again.

The ultimate magic spell that even the Arcanist King could only cast every so often was a gigantic green explosion, like a magical atomic weapon. Windy took so much damage that she was sure there was no actual way to survive that attack without a level 99 Paladin or level 99 Sage blocking it. Which made sense, since this was the second to last tier of challenges the game offered.

Blanc kept bugging Rei about reading her latest masterpiece and Rei kept awkwardly changing the topic, hoping that she wouldn't have to commit to reading some abomination of plot and direction. The mood was the complete opposite of when they had fought the Sorceress King. It was almost too easy to cheese the Arcanist boss like this.

"So what kind of girls do you like?" Chika was curious what type Rei preferred. She had to be prepared in case it was someone like Lady Zelena.

"I… never thought about that." As much as I appreciate them making an effort… couldn't they wait until we have killed the boss? Rei was impressed by how relaxed they all were. She was tense and every time the boss cast something, she thought that they were going to be wiped out. But the guild functioned like perfectly oiled clockwork. "Is that something that happens a lot for goddesses? Being interested in other girls, I mean."

"Let's see.. we have gay Oracles, gay goddesses, gay candidates…" Chika glanced at Famitsu. "And if my instinct is right, gay reporters. I want to say it runs in the guild but it seems more widespread than that. I never actually looked into how exactly we maintain our population count, I have to say." Thinking about it like that, Chika wondered if shares were playing into that on some level.

"So it happens a lot." You could have just said so. "But I never thought about it, I'm sorry. I only have a few weeks worth of memories, so… I don't think I would make a good partner for anyone. At all."

No self-confidence at all. "It makes sense if you think about how long goddesses live and everything." We Oracles actually out-live our goddesses all the time. We should probably date a bit more.

Rei kept firing elemental arrows at the boss right when her MP became unlimited again. "Do you… hunt these things a lot?"

"We killed the Inquisitor by abusing some mechanics, the Sorceress one legit, and now we're killing this. The Sorceress was really hard. It helps that we can use Histoire's Mindflayer abilities to read what attacks the enemy has before we start and under what conditions they are used."

"Histoire is…?" Rei had trouble remembering all their names. She did remember Kei because she had been talking to her a fair bit earlier.

"The mini girl Mindflayer over there." Pointing at the floating book and a tired looking Histoire, Chika was glad that they had her in the guild. The thing with Rei and Noire would have gotten way out of hand otherwise.

"I'm so far behind everyone in level… I'm so sorry about that!" Rei felt inadequate compared to the really powerful damage dealers like Uni or Peashy, who both really let loose with unlimited MP.

"Getting to 98 is easy." Chika waved her hand. "We can just get Rom, Famitsu and myself to follow you around out of party while you shoot stuff."

"I appreciate all of you becoming friends-" Vert landed next to the group that had gotten comfortable around Rei. "But I would appreciate it even more if you would help out the rest of us."

"Don't be absurd, Vert. Even if Nepgear, Chika and I hit the boss for an hour we wouldn't make even a 1% dent." Blanc didn't really care about making Vert mad. In fact, she enjoyed refusing her orders. "We'll have to work hard with the other kings, so just give us this."

Vert couldn't really argue with this without bringing up principles so she just let them.

"Are you two close?" Rei was not all that good at reading people. In fact, she wasn't very good at anything, she believed.

"They're married." Chika dodged a swing from Blanc's fist and got behind Rei, using her as a shield. "As good as married, and you know it is true, Lady Blanc!"

"W-Who would marry that stupid thunder tits woman?!" Blanc still got embarrassed when topics like marriage were brought up.

"Blanc, I am not sure you should be calling her that anymore." Nepgear had a really awkward smile on her face. Blanc suddenly jumping up and trying to hit Chika had produced a nice boing despite the heavy armor.

"Shut up! Vert is always gonna be thunder tits for me!" Blanc still tried to get a hold of Chika, the two of them visibly inconveniencing Rei, who didn't complain at all and just endured.

"Does she command electricity in real life?" Rei asked after Blanc's comment. It was so out of the blue that Blanc, Nepgear and Chika didn't know how to explain this. "Did I say something wrong? I-I'm sorry!"

"Vert controls wind. It's just… Blanc, that's your thing, you explain it." Nepgear didn't know how to explain where thunder tits came from.

"If she controls wind, shouldn't it be storm instead of thunder?" Rei still didn't understand where that wrong elemental affinity came from.

"What~ are you talking about~?" Plutia had heard the words thunder and electricity and that was her thing.

Oh goddess no, Chika thought. "We were just asking Rei what kind of girl she likes." Better that topic again than try to explain what we were actually talking about.

"I-I already said, I don't know. But… does every goddess have an elemental affinity?" Rei knew very little about goddesses and how they worked. And now, suddenly being one of them, she had to learn all of that from scratch.

Chika thought that was actually a legitimate question. "Lady Vert uses wind. We don't know about Windy's and Natal's abilities. Lady Blanc uses ice and I think Ram and Rom also use ice." Chika tried to remember if the Lastation girls had any elemental affinity but she came up empty. "What element does your girlfriend use, Nepgear?"

"G-Girlfriend? I-I suppose she is, but… jeez, saying it like that." Nepgear still didn't handle it very well, her relationship being discussed openly like that. "Uni… I don't think she has any elemental affinity. And for that matter, N-" Nepgear paused just long enough to make the atmosphere awkward. "Neptune and I don't use any element affinity either either."

"I~ like to go all biribiri~," Plutia joined in on the conversation.

I'm pretty sure Yellow Heart's affinity is tits or muscles, I can't tell which. Chika's rude thoughts were somehow picked up on by Plutia who stared at Chika strangely.

Another huge green explosion rushed past them. And moments later, a big monument materialized not too far away, almost right on top of Neptune. The boss was down. "G-Good work everyone!" Rei bowed to everyone. I can't believe that I was still picking fruit to sell, just this morning.

It had taken them roughly one hour to kill one of the mightiest enemies in the world and now Rei's name was on the monument with those of all the others. Because it was another mage class boss, the mages got their stat bonus and so did Mina. Another column in the guild menu lit up and Mina went to collect the loot.

"Based on my estimations this would have taken more than 10 minutes longer without you here." Vert came down next to Rei, who quickly bowed to Vert. "You should not bow to your guild mates. We might not be allies in reality, but in here, we are one great family."

Vert caught Zelena being warped away by Famitsu. Where is she going? "Famitsu." Leaving Rei to talk to their Sage, the new member of the guild went ahead and caught up with Mina, who was just picking up her items in front of the great monolith. Rei felt in awe as she saw it up close. For as long as the game was running, everyone would knew her as one of the people who first destroyed the Arcanist King, a member of the living legend guild.

"What did you get? What did you get?" Ram was overly excited to hear her tutor was provided with.

"Tome of Ultimania, double cast every spell at the cost of 15% longer cast time." Mina knew that Ram would be all kinds of upset if she didn't lay out the effects. And Vert would want to know later, too. "Crown of Betrayal, if an enemy resists an element it reverses the element on my spell. And the Boots of the Black Witch, lets me store up 5 spells to unleash with an item skill." Mina was very happy with those items. Especially the Tome. That was a ridiculous damage boost for her. Casting Altmer twice in one go at only 15% extra casting time was going to just wipe out any normal monster.

"I never played with an Arcanist, are those good?" Rei had gone solo for almost her entire time inside the game.

"Very good. As expected of the Arcanist King. I am curious if there is equipment other than those three."

"We spent around 198,000 credits in consumables on yellow stones and tokens for our Tamer and Sage." Kei came to took a peek as well. "If we have a free hour, we can kill it again next week. Worst case scenario we can dismantle the equipment or pawn it off to Makers."

"Makers?" Rei thought she had heard that word just recently.

"The other guild with the air ship, right next to ours," Ram happily pointed that out.

""Oh, thank you." Rei still didn't know how to talk to these people without being polite.

"You're so stiff!" Ram's smirk caught Rei off guard. "Just say thanks!"

While Ram kept telling Rei how to not be so stiff, and Rei kept apologizing, which made Ram mad, Blanc and Vert had a discussion of their own. "You really want us to do a trial quest now? Vert, you need to give people a break."

"We have 8 people at level 99 and 12 to go. And then we have 17 kings to go. And the towers to scale. I do like being inside a game and living here, but… don't you feel like we should hurry? People are settling in and are getting used to ruling themselves. And that is before we even consider what is happening in the outside world."

"What brought this on, Vert?" Blanc thought this was coming out of nowhere. Yes, if she thought about it, she did worry a little about the outside world. But if something really bad was happening to it, the game would suffer, wouldn't it?

"When Noire lost control this morning, I was reminded who, what, she really is. And after I thought about that, I started to think that no matter what is happening in the real world, it cannot be good. That is why I want to hurry and at least have the means of getting out of here." Vert's voice lost a lot of volume before the next words. "I am scared, Blanc. What if the world we return to is nothing like what we left behind?"

Blanc could sense that Vert was not lying. She really is afraid. And the moment Blanc realized that, fear set in for her as well. Nothing overwhelming, but enough that she saw Vert's point. Looking over her shoulder, seeing how Ram and Windy were teaching Rei all sorts of strange stuff with a big smile on their faces, Blanc wanted this peaceful life to continue. But she also understood why Vert didn't want to go about things slowly.

"You're right." Blanc wanted to support Vert. Even if they had reached the way out, it was not a one-way street, not something that would affect all of humanity the moment it became a possibility. So for now, they had to continue their quest.

===OVERHEAT===

The Saint's trial was next on the list. It turned out to be one of those trials that were a puzzle. Chika was to decide which of two women were to live. Both claimed innocence, and both were accused of heinous crimes. After failing the trial over a dozen times, trying all sorts of things, the solution turned out to be that she had to slay the executioner and protect both of them women, for both were innocent. Protecting them against enemies and hazards, the trial was, once they had figured out the logic behind it, incredibly simple.

45 minutes and they had cleared the quest. A record time. Chika's new skills were of the number three. A party buff that bestowed all Baptism buffs to the whole party at the same time, a special heal that could sacrifice the Saint to grant invincibility to the team and a permanent buff that cost the Saint a permanent wisdom point for casting it. But the buff was worth it, at least for some classes.

"That was surprisingly quick. Congratulations, Chika." Zelena was happy for her lover. "And please don't waste casting Angelus on me." I hope I can go back to the library now. Vert called me back earlier, before I could even get started.

"I- how did you know I was going to do that?" Chika had barely explained the skills to everyone when Zelena told her not to cast it on her.

"Because you love me. But I am not a class that really profits from the 33% damage reduction." Zelena hoped they wouldn't go anywhere else. She had a place to be.

"With the Saint King dead, you will get a 10 point boost to Wisdom. Including the other priest kings, that will amount to 25 Wisdom total. Including all Kings in general, 41 Wisdom. You should spend the 20 points on giving Angelus to everyone." Vert intruded on the conversation. "More wisdom will just improve your MP regeneration the size of your MP pool and you can always augment it with potions. Not to mention, with 20 Angelus members, you will have 500% MP regeneration, and that is before Dengekiko's Aether Ascension."

Chika didn't hesitate and immediately cast Angelus on Zelena, followed by casting it on everyone nearby. "Now Lady Zelena, and everyone else, is protected when I'm around." Twenty points of wisdom were permanently gone but Chika didn't mind at all.

"I-I've just joined so should… you really have cast that on me? Shouldn't I have to earn something like that? The guild already gave me money, so..." Rei was still very humble about herself.

"The +25% regeneration I get is worth more than one point of wisdom." Chika patted Rei on the shoulder. "But I am glad someone shows me some respect! Finally!"

"Don't let it go to your head, Chika." Kei enjoyed reminding Chika that while her skills were useful, so were everyone's. "What's next, oh great leader?" Kei was sure that with it still being bright outside, Vert still wanted to drag them somewhere.

"Natal's trial. I have a distinct feeling that it will be similar to Denko's. If it looks like it will take too long, we will postpone it until tomorrow." Vert was growing used to ignoring the groaning of her guild. She drove them hard but they always achieved results and she felt that they could sense that it wasn't just glory hogging ego stroking that drove her. Although that played part in wanting to be the first to clear everything.

"My turn already?" Natal was surprised it was already time. If she reached level 99, it would mean the halfway point to getting the entire guild there. She couldn't even fathom what kind of skills she would get. Maybe she was chosen now because, against expectations, she worked hard whenever they all went out. Because she put in a lot of effort to make the most of her class.

"Good things happen to those that work hard." Vert was proud of having a little sister like that. She didn't really spend much time with her yet. But that was fine. Natal seemed to like Rom and they looked like they had a positive effect on each other. The same was true for Ram and Windy, even though they did end up getting a little wild from time to time.

Looks like I will have to go to the library after Vert is finished leading us around. Zelena couldn't forget that dream she had from reading that Mek Rou book. She had to find it again, see if something was up with it. The book and that eerie voice she had dreamed about just gave her a bad feeling. If something was really wrong with it, she had to take it out of the library by any means necessary. She couldn't let it fall into the hands of anyone. I need to get that book.

"Where is the trial located?" Famitsu was, of course, in charge of transportation. Zelena handled short distances or any journey where they had no warp. Famitsu handled far distances.

"The far south of Leanbox, in the deepest parts of the Halo forests." Natal had memorized exactly where the quest was. Her calm exterior belied her excitement. Seeing the nice skills that everyone else was getting, she was excited to see what she was getting herself. She really hoped for something that would improve her usefulness in boss fights, as that seemed to be the thing the guild did the most.

Vert's hunch turned out to be correct. The trial to 99 for the Magic Trapper was an enormously long parkour exercise with countless traps that required the Magic Trapper to know exactly how big the trap was, what kind of damage and debuffs it caused and most of all, how to avoid them. The original idea had been to use one of Zelena's flying mounts but the trial didn't allow for that. It did allow for Vert's jumping ability. Still, getting through all the traps without dying would be difficult. So Vert devised a genius plan that didn't sit all that well with Chika and Natal.

"Is there no better way that this?" Chika would have loved to be carried by Vert like a princess just a few months ago. But now, she was worried Zelena might become jealous. But the goddess had immediately left when it turned out that the trial was not a group exercise. Natal was holding on to Vert from behind, her arms tightly wrapped around the tall woman's neck.

"This should be the easiest way. I would take Ram, but I am more worried about instantly dying, rather than dying slowly over time." Vert knew that something like this would absolutely not work if this was still just a game. I should put forth some budget for virtual reality games when we get back. This experience will certainly take the market for MMOs to the next level.

"Everyone else is free to do with their time as they please for the rest of today." Vert was driving them hard but they had limits, too, and she was not going to break anyone.

"Good luck." Rom waved to Natal, who waved back.

Most of the guild left while Vert looked around. "Natal, you need to tell me where to land. I can go about 30 meters at a time."

Chika cast Baptism on Vert, followed by Baptism: Faith, raising Vert's damage resistance. Adding a few more buffs to further up her resistances, Chika kept some MP in reserve for healing. The party buff from Angelus worked only for people in the same zone, so she was limited to just plus 50% regeneration.

"26 meters up ahead is a spot between several boiling tar traps and spike traps where it is safe." Natal has a discerning eye. Not only because she was very observant but also because she she spent a lot of time sketching out trap setups for use in various terrain.

Jumping into the air, Vert realized that this was the first time she was alone with Chika or Natal in quite some time. "How well do you get along with your sisters, Natal?"

"Normal." Natal still wasn't the overly talkative sort. "17 meter ahead, 4 meter right." Natal gave instructions as they landed. Getting sort of a bird's eye view of the situation helped tremendously.

"Unlike Windy, Natal seems to take more after Lady Blanc." That is odd, though. Windy is the Lowee candidate while Natal was born in Leanbox. Chika wanted to have a closer look at the sharicite of Leanbox because of this but that wasn't exactly an option inside the game.

Natal could tell that Vert was trying to get to know her a bit better. It was really obvious because, so far, they hadn't really spent much time together. "I like Rom the most. Windy and Ram are too noisy." Natal didn't really hold back with her opinions, like a tiny, well-behaved, Blanc.

"Ram looks more like Windy's and Nepgear's age now." Vert was sure that Blanc was still upset about that. Ram was taller than her older sister now, after all.

"She only looks like that. I really wish she would learn from Nepgear or Uni." Chika knew she had some hard times ahead of her. "I ought to ask Mina a thing or two about raising a candidate before we go back."

"With who do you wish to stay, Natal? Leanbox or Lowee?" Vert hoped she was going to say Lowee. Natal was quite cute, like a tiny, adorable, version of herself.

"With Rom." If Leanbox and Lowee are not going to be enemies, we can just visit both towns whenever we want. "11 meters ahead, then 19 meters ahead from there."

"Rom was staying in Leanbox before this, with Ram. But I think we shouldn't have all four of them stay together. If Ram and Windy form one unit, and Rom and Natal another, they would be evenly split between nations," Chika said this with the balance of political power in mind. "At least officially."

"Taking care of Ram and Windy..." Natal sounded a lot like a depressed adult as she said that. "Poor Mina. Poor Chika."

"I'm right here!" Chika complained. "But yes, poor me, if Windy turns out to be as rambunctious as Ram is."

"There is no safe spot from here. Jump into the tar pit 30 meters ahead, go around the acid spray traps, then jump straight up." Natal felt her arms tire out from holding on to Vert as they soared through the air.

Vert took quite a bit of damage from the tar trap, despite Chika's protection but nothing a heal or two couldn't fix. Making their way to another safe spot, Natal jumped down. "My arms hurt."

"I wonder how long this trial takes on your own." Vert hoped it wouldn't take too long with their combined powers.

"Hours, probably." Natal had seen most of the track so far in bird's eye view and she could tell that it was a whole lot of back tracking and going around large traps. "If you step into a hole trap, you will most likely die."

"You like drawing, Natal?" Vert remembered this vaguely.

"Sketching," Natal replied. She didn't really intent to sound all uninterested but she hadn't really talked to Vert that much before, so it was difficult for her to hold a real conversation. "Sketching real things." She was a much, much better artist than Rom. Her age belied her skill, really.

"Do you maybe want to sketch me and your other beautiful older sister later?" Vert liked the idea of having a portrait of herself.

I like objects more… "I'll try. People are hard to draw. We can continue." Waiting for Vert to squad, Natal got back on her back. Chika was picked up as well and Natal gave further instructions.

"For the longest time, Leanbox had no candidates at all. I'm really glad I have little sisters of my own now." Vert smiled happily, landed, and jumped off again. She couldn't see the end of the parkour in the distance just yet.

"I have so many sisters. Eating together will be crowded. Zelena. Vert. Blanc. Windy. Ram. Rom… Chika and Mina are part of the family, too." Natal thought about how Uni had no one but Noire and Noire was not really her sister anymore. It made her a little sad.

"I'm pretty sure we have a table big enough. But Kei might get jealous if we only have Chika and Mina at the same table." Vert landed again and jumped off.

"Stop saying that!" Chika blushed and she noticed Natal look at her in a really strange way. "I'm faithful to Lady Zelena! Don't give Natal any weird ideas!"

"It's okay. I know you do things with Mina and Kei." Natal's words were so surprising that Vert nearly dropped Chika.

"W-Where did you hear about that?" Vert wasn't sure she wanted someone so young looking to know about things like that.

"I'm not stupid. Even Ram and Rom know. We only look like we're 10." Natal was just a teensy bit irritated that those two didn't realize this.

"Little sisters are different from what I expected." Vert wasn't unhappy about this. Having just another Rom or Ram would have been really silly. Windy was less aggressive than Ram and Natal was more mature than Rom. In a way, they were like Leanbox versions of Ram and Rom.

"I'm sorry." Natal was surprised when Vert suddenly landed.

"I did not mean it like that. I'm glad you are different from Ram or Rom. The little sisters I had in my dream, in the Heartdimension, were just extensions of myself. You are so much more than that and I'm glaD." Vert couldn't really look at Natal right now but she felt by the pressure from the tiny arms that the young girl understood.

"I hate to disrupt your family bonding but we are standing in a trap and I am going to run out of MP," Chika was pointing out that they stood in the middle of some acid spray traps and it was rapidly dropping Vert's HP. Thankfully, Chika could prevent and cleanse any debuffs, otherwise they would be dead already.

Continuing on with their quest, they eventually made it to the end. Natal received her golden aura and two new skills. And what skills they were. By the time they returned to the airship, Vert was almost annoyingly excited about them. Bosses ignored the physical aspects of most traps and were immune to the trap imposed status ailments. The first of Natal's new skills bypassed that. The other skill created a zone that caused all traps to deal quadruple damage to normal monsters and double damage to bosses. And any monsters affected by a trap also took quadruple, or double, damage from other players. It was an absolutely amazing boss killing tool set.

But for that day, they were done playing. Now it was time to play around. Vert returned to the ship to find a massive party going on. Makers had dropped a rare boss soul during their hunt and sold it to Celestia at a discount. And now they were throwing a party as well.

"Oh, you're back! Come, get something to drink! Let's celebrate!" Lid, already a bit hammered, approached Vert. Chika quickly ran off to look for Zelena while Natal went to check out what the other candidates were doing.

It took only a few sentences, shared on the way to the bar, to explain what the party was about. "When Jene talked to your Machinist about buying it off us, they went totally crazy haggling it all out. So I decided we'd sell it to you at a discount and throw a party in exchange for getting some good deals on hand-me-downs, like equipment and stuff." Lid's speech was really freed up by having some alcoholic drinks. "I keep saying, alcohol is humanity's oldest friend. It was with us back when civilization first begun and it is with us now."

That is some amazing logic, Vert thought but grabbed a glass anyway. She was quite good about holding her alcohol. She didn't want the party to last deep in the night but if they were already partying now, and it was not even 6 PM yet, people would probably go home before it was midnight. "What soul did you happen to find? And congratulations on the rare drop."

"The Lizard King, Rovser. Jene! What did the damn soul do again?!" Lid shouted so loud that the entire ship could hear it. Kei had improved the gadget that played music and it was currently playing the Amestris Military March, one of 23 songs in the selection, but even that couldn't drown out Lid.

"A summoner soul. I has a 15% chance to call down Bamut Ter every time the summoner takes more than 100 damage." It wasn't Jene who explained this, but Ryuka, the summoner from Makers. "We haven't managed to do the quest for that so we sold it off." Let's not tell them we actually really needed the money. And that I am not actually going to take Bamut Ter. "Cheers."

"Plutia must be happy." Vert was glad for her. But this was also a great chance to tackle something she's been meaning to address. "Since all of you are right here, Lid, what do you intend to do after everyone returns to the real world?"

"I guess you're asking because there most likely won't be another war in our lifetime?" Lid paused, let out a really irritated sigh and then looked back at Vert while scratching the back of her head. "I honestly don't know. We're mercenaries. We could fight monsters, but that is more a job for the guild."

"This is nothing concrete I can promise at this time but I am sure that there is space in the higher ranks of Lowee's military forces for you and your girls. If possible, we would send a number of them to serve in Leanbox to ensure-"

"Political bargaining chips, huh. I don't know. I think it'll all come down to what the real world looks like when we get back. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Worst case scenario, me and my girls will fight our way through whatever gets in the way. Better to go out in a blaze of glory than waste away being bored to death."

This woman is a problem. Vert hoped she wouldn't have to take measures to ensure that Lid and her merry band of mercenaries didn't start another war just so they had somewhere to fight.

On the other end of the ship, Neptune was just teaching Ram, Windy, and everyone else that wanted to have a look, how to play Spin the Bottle. Rei was one of the people that was curious about this. And as it turned out, the very first spin hit Rei. "Come here, you!" Neptune jumped at Rei, who was so surprised that she just froze. The ex-Planeptune goddess gave a big smooch to the Tari goddess and girls around them giggled and whistled.

"I'm next!" Estelle spun the bottle next and she spun it a way too hard. It flew off the table and was caught by Windy. "Um… should I go again?"

"Am I not pretty enough for you?" Windy smirked. She didn't mind getting a little touchy feely with the other girls. At least, she didn't mind being that way with those girls that weren't part of the guild. She wasn't tied down, unlike Vert and Blanc, and she liked having no real emotional responsibilities.

Estelle slowly took a step back, then another, when Windy approached her. She had been swept up in the moment. I'm not ready for this! Trying to back away even more, the failed hero got caught by the pretty blonde, who didn't hesitate to kiss the brunette right there, open and in public. She tastes like cherry. Estelle struggled a little but quickly gave up, falling into Windy's arms. With her face flushed red, the mercenary felt her knees give in just a little.

"I am still gonna play." Windy licked her lips and looked at some of the others girls. A few of them looked interested while others seemed a tad intimidated by how forward the candidate was. But you didn't get to make out with a goddess candidate just any day.

A few rounds later, it was finally Rei's turn. Spinning the bottle as hard as she could, which was embarrassingly weak and earned a good laugh from the others, it pointed back on Rei herself. That meant a free pick or spin again. And in Rei's case, it meant a bully was going to pick on her. Grabbed by the front of her collar, Rei was handled quite roughly by Sango, who could spot a bullying victim a hundred meters away. "So, you had the audacity to think you're hot enough to get with the rest of us?"

"I'm so sorry, you're right, I shouldn't-" Rei didn't get to apologize in peace. Sango pushed Rei to the ground and took off one of her own shoes at the same time.

"Lick it." Sango pushed her foot in Rei's face, looking down on the goddess with playful contempt. "And make it sexy."

Rei opened her mouth, wanting to protest but Sango immediately stuck her big toe in. Rei gasped in surprise and tried to back away, but Sango sunk her hands into Rei's blue hair, pulling her close. She didn't get much further than that. Ryuka pulled on Sango's ponytail and got her away from Rei. "She's a goddess, show some respect." Ryuka then whispered something to Sango.

"T-Thanks for saving me-?!" Rei couldn't get a break. Sango was unleashed on her again, with some of the other girls even cheering lewdly and whispering. This time, the sadistic girl pushed Rei to the ground, right in front of everyone, sticking her finger in Rei's mouth.

The situation escalated when Plutia happened across the group. "I didn't know~ you liked~ being taught, Rei~" There was a glint in the eyes of the Planeptune goddess that promised both pain and ecstasy. Not exactly in very equal amounts.

Natal and Rom had made an emergency exit right before Plutia laid her hands on Ryuka, who had also attempted to flee. They stumbled across Chika, the oracle searching for Zelena without much success. Nobody had seen her. "Rom, did you see Lady Zelena go anywhere?"

"I think she's in the great library. Famitsu warped her earlier." Rom quickly answered and put some more distance between Plutia and herself. I better never get on her bad side.

Jene, Wac, Cave, Mina and Kei were sitting at a table and tried to hold up Chika when she rushed past them. "Isn't it a bit early to rush to the toilet?" Wac's mocking words remained unheard by the Leanbox oracle but this didn't faze the blonde, whose age remained a complete mystery.

"Chika could probably drink most of us under the table. She's looking for Zelena." Mina stuffed her cheeks not with alcohol but some chocolate treats that one of the Maker girls had brought over.

"Who was that again?" Jene had trouble keeping up with the rapidly changing political environment of Celestia and its members.

"Lady Vert's predecessor." Cave was well informed in all things Leanbox. "She was returned to life during the war and assumed the ruling position of Leanbox."

"As expected of the dreadful Leanbox special forces." Wac never truly let up on her meanness.

"You worked under Chika?" This intrigued Kei now. "What is she like, as an employer?" I can probably use this to blackmail her later. Maybe improve import taxes a little or take some of her exclusives.

"Very busy during the war. Very boring before the war." Cave couldn't talk about any classified missions. Which, for her, meant every mission.

"So you worked on the front lines during the war and mostly engaged in spy activities when we weren't fighting." Kei made the most logical and probable assumptions and it worked. Cave struggled to respond.

"Freezing up, just like your country's hardware likes to do." Wac landed a devastating blow and Cave blushed. Out of the four nations, Leanbox consoles were the most prone to locking up from internal errors, but their network was superior to Lastation's, which ended up hacked at least once every couple years.

"Chika would be furious if she heard that." Mina was hard to understand with her mouth so full.

There was a loud scream that grabbed the group's attention. Neptune came flying through the air and landed right on their table, throwing all the sweets to the floor. "Keep your grubby paws to yourself, Nep!"

A tremendously flustered Moru had shot Neptune over the heads of several party goers. They had continued to spin the bottle and it had hit Moru, who had just been passing by. And Neptune had been foolish enough to lay her hands on her.

"You deserved that." Noire walked past Neptune, the Planeptune girl seeing stars all over. For how tiny Moru was, she was surprisingly strong.

"Looks like someone is is playing with the heartstrings of some powerful people." Jene grabbed Neptune by her collar and dragged her off the table.

This is happening to me a lot today, Neptune thought and managed to land on her butt. "Noire, wait, it's not what it looks like, I actually love only you!" Neptune was grinning wide as she ran after the black haired queen.

It took only twenty seconds and another one of Neptune's jokes before everyone heard the Dark Knight scream again, this time as she went over board. This is the second time this happened to me today and the third time I fall out of the skies in two days.

"Someone is embarrassed." IF had a good view of Noire's face when Nep had ran after her. IF realized only after she'd opened her mouth that not only could Noire hear her, but also that Noire was a very dangerous person.

"Do you want to go over board too?" Noire was not in the mood to deal with Neptune's jokes and people's stupid comments. The incident from that morning was weighing heavy on her.

Someone else was also dealing with an incident from that time right then.

Chika had arrived in the infinite library, a courtesy of Famitsu's new skills. Asking about visitors to the library at the info desk, she quickly found out that Zelena was still there and looking for a specific book, the Accord of Mekaroul, one of the forbidden books.

Running up the stairs as soon as she learned where Zelena was, Chika just had a very bad feeling about this. Why would she skip out on the party, go back to the library, all on her own? What was so fascinating about that book that she went to all this trouble? What was it about again? The diary of some kind of philosopher, I think?

Chika didn't think that her lover was really interested in philosophy. And the book probably dated back to long, long before Leanbox was founded. Once upon a time, there had been another nation far in the south, Chika knew about that, but nothing much was known about the circumstances that led to its creation or demise.

Making it all the way to the floor where Zelena was supposed to be, Chika found chaos. Numerous books were thrown on the ground and there was no sign of Zelena. Something was scaring Chika, some kind of thought she couldn't quite place. Like something was wrong, very wrong, but she had no idea what it was specifically.

Looking through the books, Chika saw that they were all about the same thing. Ancient history. Before the calendar of the True Goddess began. Centuries before goddesses roamed the world. What little information we know about that world. That time period was like the stone age for Gamindustri. People living in tiny groups, only just learning to work the land. The time when humans first settled down and started living in an organized society. Why would she want to know about this?

There was no sign of the obsidian bound book that Zelena was really looking for. And no sign of Zelena either. Chika felt every single hair on her skin stand up as she continued along the floor, shelf by shelf, seeing the chaos unfold in front of her.

Why is… my heart beating so fast? Why am I cold? Chika was scared of something. More so than anything she had felt in the war. Like there was something, something, just around the corner, that was much more frightening than Noire, much more frightening than Mages. This is a game… just a game. There can't really be anything dangerous there. I'm a level 99 Saint. I have no reason to be afraid. Breathing quickly, breathing in the dust and fear that was in the air, Chika continued on, every step of hers accompanied by the creaking of the wooden floor and the silence of the library.

Standing still all of a sudden, Chika thought to hear wooden creaks in the distance, the rustling of paper close by. There was no way someone else was there. Nobody but Zelena. Chika told herself that she would take another step forward, then another, until she found her partner and flew into her arms, all her worries disappearing.

The air felt cold. The dust dancing in the dim light of the library appeared like wild shadows, about to jump at her. What was most unsettling for Chika was that she couldn't explain where this fear she felt was coming from. She had lived for over a thousand years, fought in many wars and she was strong. And yet. What could there possibly be that should scare me this much? It was so obvious that she was afraid that there was no point in lying to herself. Her hands were shaking. Her knees felt weak.

And still she went forward. Each step felt like it was making the library a little darker. Like the light was being dimmed by her advance, until she would soon stand in complete darkness. The floor ended and there was a particularly enormous pile of books at the end. Big enough for a person to sit behind it and leaving me unable to see them. But the fear was overwhelming now. Every instinct of hers was shouting Go back. But Chika knew how to ignore her instincts. Her loyalty and love for Zelena was greater than that. Stepping forward, the temperature went down significantly. Almost as if she had stepped into a freezer. And another step forward. Chika was sure that if she looked at her hands or arms, she would see white frost on her skin, so cold was she. Shivering, the oracle took yet another step forward. Only one more step. One more step. And she would be able to see behind the pile of books. She had felt this exact fear before. The fear of death. Her body was screaming at her, telling her that if she went around that pile, she wouldn't ever see the light of day again.

But Chika only hesitated for a moment. Stepping around the pile, it felt like the blood in her veins froze for an instant. There is… nothing here? Chika was confused by what had scared her this much if there was nothing there. Had she read too many horror novels? Played too many horror games? There was that one, Amnesiac, that was really scary but was this not too much?

The temperature felt like it was back to normal, the fear was leaving her body. She had been worried about nothing. Surely, she was just overworked by Vert and her nerves were playing tricks on her now. What's that? Seeing an unusual book covered by others, Chika knelt down to pick it up. It's the black book. But why is the title all covered up? Mek Rou. It was like an uninvited thought in Chika's head.

Getting back up, standing there with the book in hand, Chika opened it. Mek Rou. There it was again. That thought, that reflex to read the name and repeat it inside her mind like a command. Is this some other language? Did Histoire mess with the book so it would become unreadable? Is that even possible?

Flipping the page, Chika felt all of it return. The fear. The cold. And her heart stopped when someone, something put their hand on her shoulder. Frozen stiff, Chika didn't dare turn around. It was difficult to see, so dark was it suddenly.

"Chika, oh my dear Chika."

Chika should have felt delighted to hear her goddess, Zelena, talk to her. It was clear now that it was her who was playing a trick on her. But still the oracle couldn't turn around. There was something unsettling in the voice of the goddess. Almost… almost as if there was another voice beneath hers, speaking from her shadow.

"Shall we read a tale together?"

===END OF LINE===