Interlude A


"What in the world have you been doing?"

The question cut through the silence of the board room as the rest of the board members looked up from the reports that she had put in front of them. Inside of the papers were the most believable spin that she could put on the situation of last week, and even that was stretching it. She resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose and stared unflinchingly into the eyes of the stuffy old man that was looking at her in concern.

"Dealing with the mistakes of Headmaster Fulvus," She returned easily, still seated casually in her chair and looking for all to see unaffected by the situation. No matter how untrue that was, staying calm was a tool, useful for keeping others calm in the face of bad situations. She watched as almost all of the people in the room flinched at the mention of the name, even the two backers that had entered into the business after the demise of the former headmaster.

Everyone knew the name, and they disliked the mention of him for different reasons; the New flinched because he sounded like a monster of a man and the old because he was a monster of their own making. That being said, the mentioning of their mistake was not enough to make the man back down, and he pursed his lips as he regarded her, "I trust there is an explanation?" The rest of the members rallied behind the forthright man, who gave off the air of a retired military man. She knew his wife more than him, but from what she understood, he had agreed to invest in the school as a form of charity; produce those that protect the world from monsters.

He had also been extremely volatile when Fulvus had been uncovered as a... nasty man.

"The short of it is that the effect that we had associated with Fulvus' Semblance was in fact the Semblance of another individual, and when said person was put under duress they activated the full extent of their Semblance," She made eye contact with him and saw him blink in realization as his skin lost all of its color. Good, she thought mercilessly, he bought it. "The most we can figure out from eyewitness testimony is that it produced an extremely hallucinogenic reaction in the staff and students ranging from near mind control to thinking they were in hell."

"And you?" Asked the refined older woman sitting to her right, the oldest benefactor of the Academy. She looked concerned, but more with her investment than Janette's wellbeing, "Did you suffer the effects yourself?"

She paused to consider how to answer, weighing all of the information that Marsha had provided her in her mind, before deciding to just go with what had happened to her. "Yes, it was quite trying," She answered with a smile. That was the most true statement she had said since the meeting had started, "Thankfully, it seemed that the perpetrator was most focused on those with strong combat ability, so I was not controlled. My Husband however…" She trailed off to let the lady fill in the gaps.

"The Report doesn't list the name of the person responsible for this attack," observed the newest investor, a polished young man that had made his money in the communications industry selling patents to the SDC. Put together, and entirely too observant for her liking, but that was useful in itself. You could count on the observant to catch the obvious information and ask the questions you wanted them to, "Any reason for that?" The entire room focused on her, and she was immediately thankful that She and Marsha had spent so long coming up with a good excuse for that lapse in information.

"That is because we never figured out who was responsible," She answered with a brittle smile, waiting for her cue to continue.

"You didn't figure out who was to blame?" The older man nearly shouted in fury, only stopped from jumping from his seat by the tight grip of his much calmer wife, "How can we be sure that this matter is settled then?!"

"It seems that whoever it was overextended and made a miscalculation. They focused so much on the staff and older students that they neglected to properly reign in one of the first years," Immediately she watched every single one of their faces drop at the mention of the first year class.

More specifically, one particular member that had been a large drain on their renovation fund.

Even the perceptive young man slapped a hand to his head in an attempt to stave off the headache that came with that particular student, "What did Staín do this time?" She suppressed the chuckle that threatened to slip out at the sight of what was usually a composed group of upstanding men and women all deflating in their seats.

If there was one thing she could throw at them as a distraction, it was him.

"Dealt with the problem as he is prone to doing," She explained reassuringly, drumming her fingers on the table as the only outlet for her happiness, "Unfortunately, that means that there was very little in the way of remains to identify the attacker with. On the other hand, there has been very little in the way of lingering effects, in fact the staff that have been around since Fulvus report that the effects of the semblance are gone entirely." She resisted the urge to cross her fingers for good luck and waited for the investors to regain their composure.

"Have you taken any steps to lessen the likelihood of this happening again?" The old man demanded sternly, and she thought that it was telling that he was the least affected by the shenanigans of Team ACRA, as well as their largest supporter at the table. A man of results over methods if she had ever met one.

"We've contracted a New huntsman that specializes in... Mind-altering Semblances," Which, if what Marsha had reported was correct, was understating it by quite a margin, "To be on the lookout for similar instances and train others in detecting, resisting, and breaking the effects of such Semblances before they become such issues. It is an elective at the moment, but I'm thinking of pushing it as a required course if he proves to be a capable teacher."

"An impressive skill to come by, and so swiftly after an attack of this magnitude," The younger man commented, and Janette smoothed her face out as she tried to think of a good response.

"He is the Twin of Fulvus' Assistant Headmaster, who had been tracking the assailant ever since he had fled the school. He landed on Campus the day after the incident and we immediately put the man to work," She strung the lie together and through it out there, and saw some of the older members nod in sympathy while the young man simply narrowed his eyes at her, and she knew that she'd have to offer him something to either sell the lie or convince him to trust her to deal with the aftermath, "The Board hasn't been involved with the hiring or application practice in a few years, but I'd be glad to introduce you if you feel the need," She offered politely.

"No, I'll trust your judgement headmaster," He said as he shuffled through the papers without even looking up at her, "I do have some questions about the report that might take awhile, but I'm sure everyone else would simply be bored by the conversation," He smiled politely at her, and she returned it before moving on to help the other members with a few more questions about the incident and other mundane policies.

Maybe fifteen minutes later the room was mostly cleared, leaving only her sitting at the head of the large wooden table and him seated half down the right side. She waited patiently as the footfalls of the other members faded away and only then did she start the conversation with a smile, "Well, don't leave me in suspense. What do you have for me?"

"A compliment for your acting ability to start," He offered in a much more relaxed tone as he pulled an envelope from inside his jacket, "You did well, up until that last part."

"If you didn't push me so hard, I wouldn't have to lie like that," She returned with ease, having had this conversation with the young man many times, "But enough of that, what of the information that I asked you to gather?"

He gently placed the envelope of disks onto the table, "You were right, somebody kicked the Hornet's nest in the SDC, and what happens in the SDC quickly spreads to Atlas and Mantle. The whole continent is up in a tizzy."

"Any idea who it was?" She pressed as she swiped the envelope before scowling at his shaking head, "How about what they did?"

He shrugged his shoulders as he stood, "They've been tightlipped and Jacques hasn't sent anything about it on his Scroll, so nothing concrete for me to report. Though, I imagine that those recordings might have something decisive in them, just might take you a few days to go through them properly. Why did you want to know, or even decide that something was going on with them now, of all times?"

"The First year teams are going abroad, and my daughter's team is going to be working with the SDC on Solitas. Information could save her life," She explained as she slipped the envelope away into her briefcase.

"Didn't explain how you know to start looking," Her informant pointed out casually.

She smiled as a faint light appeared in her eyes, "Call it a hunch. Now get out of here before your Bullhead leaves."

"I own the damn thing and I pay the damn pilot," He snarked as he headed for the door, "That dumbass better not leave me behind. Again. Good luck, Janette, you might need it."


End of Interlude.


I pushed through the door to the Arena and scowled at the lack of other students in the coliseum seating. I thought about pulling out my Scroll and checking for the fifth time, but I was interrupted by the voice of Mr. Gibraltar coming from the stage.

"Mr. Staín," He called in his usual polite tone, "I'm glad you came, I am in need of your services." Immediately alarm bells began to sound in my head, no mention of my "Services" ever meant good things. My eyes narrowed as I took in his attire, no longer in everyday dapper suit and instead replaced with a jacket the color of salt over a button up and combat pants. Hanging from his right hip was a short sword in its sheath, and along his belt were pouches upon pouches that rattled as glass hit glass.

[Colton Gibraltar]

[Level 50 Blade Dancer]

[Show, Never Tell]

All in all, he looked ready for a battle. Which just brought forth the question that had been in my head since I had read his message…

"What do you need me for, teach?" He shot me a disapproving glare, but I had been getting those literally since my first memory. He'd have to try harder than that to make any kind of headway.

Besides, names weren't exactly my strong suit.

"I'm in a rough situation," He explained slowly, "But after eleven years I am finally in a situation to correct it."

I quirked an eyebrow at the man when he trailed off into silence before shrugging, "Still ain't said what you need."

"I have an issue with going for lethal blows," He stated simply as he pulled his weapon from its sheath. I pulled in air through my nose as [Instinct] went into overdrive analyzing the smells on the blade, and I was immediately hit with the clear and bitter scent of Blue Dust, snorting when ice began to form inside my nose. Double-edged dagger, in the trench spike fashion for guards. Agility and Dex, if I had to guess at his stats. He continued on as I watched him. "I hate the sight of blood, bone, anything that should be inside of a body."

"Must make watching my fights pretty bad," I joked, but he only nodded seriously.

"That would be why I asked for your help. You can take lethal blows and survive where others cannot," He watched me with an expectant look, with his weapon held in front of him as he settled into a stance that I hadn't seen before, lightly shifting his weight from backfoot to forefront, "You also have very little issue going for the kill. I think you are the best suited for this."

"Sounds Painful," I considered thoughtfully, weighing why I should really help him. Saving people from death was one thing, helping them with menial labor was pretty close, but letting someone tear out my heart to become desensitized to blood? That was another. If Ashley, or Roman, or Cosma, or Taylor, or literally anyone on her team, or even Janette, had asked I'd have agreed without hesitation. What was a little pain when it would make them better?

But Mr. G? I didn't dislike him or anything...

I just didn't care. He was a big boy, he'd figure it out eventually, my help or not. And as I watched him standing there, regulating his breathing even as his heart beat slowly picked up the pace, I realized something. Something that kind of made me frown.

"You expect me to attack you?" I questioned, half-incredulous and half-resigned in tone. His shoulders tensed at the words, and his eyes narrowed. "Just like that?"

"You have needed very little encouragement in the past, One Mr. Nilah comes to mind," He replied evenly.

"He insulted someone who had done me right. Beating the shit out of him was the least I could do."

"Someone who you had known only… what was it, A week? A week at most and you defended her honor?" He gestured to his pant leg, "Pull the other one." Leave it to this man to make his first joke in the middle of an insulting conversation. That was when I realized that [Detect Bloodlust] was active, and this man was a red dot on my map.

He wanted to fight, he wanted to see me bleed.

"I don't know what you're doing teach, but the more you insult me the less likely I am to fight you," I watched as confusion skipped across his face, and pushed the point forward, "If that's what you want, then it's the last thing you'll get from me. So how about we start over, Why am I here?" I could feel Fenrir begin to pace in my head as I started to get angry. Not stressed, so I wouldn't fall into my sin or anything, but irritated because I knew he was lying to me.

He huffed a sigh and loosened his stance, though he still watched me wearily like he expected me to charge the moment he put his guard down. Ha, as if I'd make it that easy for him. "You continue to enrage me. Violent at the drop of a hat, and a pacifist at the next. I need to be able to… Kill. Or I'm useless. I can't go on missions, and I can barely protect my students."

"Get to the point," I growled, for the first time in a while. I had been doing so well too, acting human. "And stop lying to me. You ain't doing this to learn how to kill. The way you're sizin' me up says you're well past ready." I'd seen it before, in literally every enemy I'd been forced to kill. The glint in their eye, the way they watched, the way they moved. Like they were already distancing themselves from the action.

And now I was seeing it in one of my teachers. Interesting.

His shoulders were tense, but I refused to move. He was waiting for me to move, to give him a reason. "Stop pretending," He called clinically, like a surgeon sizing up a tumor they were about to remove. No emotion, no attachment. "We both know you want to fight, to kill. You've done nothing but that since you got here. I mean to put you down like the rabid dog you are."

Images flashed through my mind, entirely independent of the Game. I remembered every single face of those I had killed. They all watched with the same eyes that the man in front of me did.

Not a single face stood out to me.

"Never killed without a reason. Never when I had the time to do something else."

"Are you really trying to tell me that you did what you did because you had no other choice?" His voice was sharp and bitter, and his weapon hand gripped his dagger so hard the metal began to creak. He took a step forward, before snarling and reconsidering the action.

Then he leaped forward with a yell. His normally composed face was alight with fury as he descended, and I only watched as he fell towards me, screaming like a wild animal. I huffed a sigh as the blade flashed down, honestly impressed with how quickly he moved and how precise his swipe was. Where anyone else I'd fought could only achieve that level of acceleration with Aura enhancement, he was doing so without it. I felt the blade pulse with Aura as it came in, the Dust activating and spearing flesh, grinding against bone.

The dagger shattered the ice it produced and slammed home in my heart, and I watched as twenty percent of my Hp dipped from the strike while my feet skid across the tiles of the arena. My arm came up as [Block] activated just in time to catch his boot on my forearm. Instincts honed through constant sparring against quicker fighters screamed to life as his entire body flickered from view without a hint of Aura. [Instinct] blared out as the hole in my chest healed, but I didn't have to wait for long as he appeared in the space he had started in.

"You're a monster. You don't even die correctly," He grit out, now looking much more red in the face and angry. Not to mention that he moved with a noticeable limp. "You just have to act like you're not one because we're here, right? If I took you out into the Sands would you fight me? Try to kill me? What would it take?" He growled before he disappeared once more. I listened impassively as his voice began to take on a dual layered quality to my enhanced senses, like a whisper hiding in the wind behind his words.

His weapon slammed home into my eye socket as my Hp fell to half with a single strike, before dropping to around forty percent when he twisted and wrenched the weapon free. He took a single step back before executing a turning kick into my stomach, All the while he was basically foaming at the mouth as he swiped from left to right, aiming for every blood vessel in my body as he went, working methodically. I felt my Regen struggling to keep up, so I pumped my Hp regen with [Second Wind] and just bore the attacks without a single counterattack.

"You just kill and kill and kill," He spit out in his rage as he jumped overhead, and I sighed as the blow swept down once more to punch through the top of my skull. "And no one says anything to you. No one looks at you any differently, and you don't even look like it affects you! No more!" The first crackle of Aura sounded his activation of [Aura Enhancement] as he pulled my upheld arms down and he pivoted slamming me down on my back, forcing the air from my lungs. I rolled to the side as another spear of Ice impaled the ground where my head had just been only to catch a boot to the face for my efforts. "I felt sick everytime I thought about what I needed to do, all because of that ponce Fulvus. And then I felt worse every time I thought about all the people I could avenge. That I could save. But now!?" He punctuated the end of the statement by grabbing me by the front of my jacket and tossing me end over end away from him.

As I rolled to a stop he appeared above me and began to chop and hack at me, but thankfully the lack of a good angle made his attacks turn aside upon my metallic skin. I weathered the assault as his attacks picked up speed and began to punch through my shield. "How could they let you be anywhere near this school! Everything you touch rots or breaks! The people you talk to? Your "friends"? I'm watching them turn into monsters too!" My Aura spiked in response to his words as my irritation turned to Wrath and I hopped to my feet. The words seemed to come from all around us, and from nowhere at all.

When he came careening in for another volley [Overclocked] activated and my hand shot out to meet him as [Grapple] ensured the maneuver caught him dead to rights. I latched onto his wrist and twisted as my foot stomped on his own to ensure he didn't try to roll with the force to keep a hold of his weapon. His free hand slapped at my own, then my face, and then he tried to dig his thumb into my eye.

I ignored his struggles and twisted until I felt his wrist snap, and then I twisted further until the rest of his arm crunched as well. And still he held onto his weapon with a righteous fury. My foot lifted off of his for but a second before I slammed it down on his knee with an equally sickening crunch, and then I let him fall to the floor. He raged against the pain, and I let him for a moment, before I decided to put this to rest. "Let me get this straight; You think I'm a violent monster, hellbent on doing whatever the hell I want no matter the consequences. Apparently, your plan was to antagonize me until I snapped and tried to kill you, at which point you would feel justified and/or have an excuse when someone asked why you did it. When that didn't work, you decided that the world would be better off without me no matter what I did or said," He glared up at me as he clutched at his mangled arm with his functional hand. He instead spit a glob of blood at me, only for it to fall a few inches short.

With that it was decided.

This was not Mr. Gibraltar, at least not entirely.

My hand shot out and I activated a skill I hadn't needed to use in a long while; [Soul Tear]. My hand became coated in my Aura as his own light blue Aura became visible to my eyes, and I could clearly see the large shard of nearly translucent Aura that was almost the same size as his own Aura spliced onto his soul. My Aura coated hand caught a piece of it and tore it free, watching silently as the man fell unconscious as I began my meticulous work of trying to pull it off of him.

Something was using his disagreement with my methods to influence him, that much was obvious.

If he had been in control, he wouldn't have been so sloppy, I reasoned as I tore at the shard of Aura slowly and methodically, He teaches Cosma, he'd have easily thought to rig the place to blow. With pieces the size of my fist I chipped away at the thing that was easily the size of a small boat as it tried to futilely resist. Unfortunately, that means that he's thought of killing me, probably more than once. I paused in my work to cast [Purge] on the man to simultaneously remove some of the malignant Aura and get the man's body back into working order. Marsha said that magic like this can only mute or amplify someone's thoughts, never create new ones. As his leg bent back the right way and his arm unspooled like some macabre slinkie I saw his eyes snap open and then lock onto me as I worked.

"Gimme a minute here, teach," I growled at him as I grabbed the last big chunk and ripped it free, and I watched as the feverish fury that had clouded the man's judgement disappeared entirely. I stood and brushed my bloodied hands on my equally bloody jacket out of habit before examining my handiwork.

He was in one piece, and mostly sane if the tears were any indication. I ignored the man falling apart as I instead glanced over briefly at the fifty odd messages that indicated what I had been working on.

"Mr. G," I spoke seriously, even using his name to get his attention. His eyes were red when he looked at me, "I think you figured out how to go for the kill. Mission accomplished." I extended one blood covered thumb and smiled widely for him.

"I-I don't know what came over me," He spoke brokenly as his eyes went roofwards once again, "I tried to kill one of my students. I'm not fit to be a teacher. I'm a monster."

"Next time you feel like that, like the world would be a better place if I wasn't in it, just remember that I felt that way about every single person I ever killed," I let the words hit him and sink in before I continued, "The world makes monsters of us all, it seems."

Though it was less the world's fault on this charge, if the notifications were anything to go by.


[Divine Influence; ?] Removed by 1% on [Colton Gibraltar].


[Divine Influence; ?] Removed by 1% on [Colton Gibraltar].


[Divine Influence; ?] Removed by 1% on [Colton Gibraltar].


...


Divine influence eh? The brothers seemed to be tiring of me.

The feeling is mutual, turning people that think about killing me into actual killers. Because, honestly, who hasn't thought about how easy shit would be if I were dead? The Older brother was going to have an ever-growing list of candidates on his hands.

I closed out of the notifications and refocused on the man that simply lay in front of me, nearly comatose under the weight of what actions he had apparently taken against me, but rallying as he realized what I was saying. I nodded at him and turned to leave the building to start packing for the trip I was leaving for at the end of the day.

My point still stood, the man was a big boy. He'd get over it himself.

I jumped when my Scroll began to vibrate in my pocket, pulling it out and squinting at the screen in confusion.


My eyes darted between Cosma and the smoldering pile of wires in front of us. Hesitantly I reached my hand out and tapped the lightly charred construct as Cosma took a healthy step back, but despite our caution it didn't explode.

Again.

Cosma took the opportunity and stepped forward to point an accusatory finger in the direction of her partner, "So this is where you snuck off to, huh? Trying to replace me with these two, huh?"

"Snuck off..? I was dragged here by little miss moneybags to help her put together this monstrosity!" He growled as he wiped at his forehead, and continued to grumble under his breath, "...Couldn't tell a hammer from tongs..."

"What was this thing supposed to be?" I hedged as I eyed the odd grouping of people that were in the room. Roman, who looked exhausted, stood next to Shebul, who looked naturally similar, while Emily stood proudly in between them. I noted the clear lack of dirt and soot on her clothes and hands while Roman looked like he had taken a roll through a mine.

"A prototype for a new weapon," Emily reported with a glowing smile, hands on her hips. My eyes roamed the table and found a rather… crude blueprint alongside a few more technical designs that had been crumpled and tossed aside. "Lúin Celtchair isn't mine, and I want to design my own," She sniffed in disdain at me, "Though I suppose I shouldn't expect a Savage such as yourself to understand. A weapon is an expression of someone's uniqueness, someone's identity as an individual, and should be crafted by its wielder."

I exchanged a look with Cosma and she shrugged at me in response, so it wasn't something they taught at the school, "I don't suppose you see the issue of Roman and Shebul in this scenario?" Cosma pondered, but Emily had no response.

I turned back to her, only to find that she was back to the drawing board. Shebul and Roman shuffled closer, allowing Roman to hop behind me and begin furiously whispering to Cosma. Shebul and I watched as the pair ducked behind a table and began their exit strategy, only for Emily to disappear in a burst of speed and reappear in the doorway in front of them.

"Where do you two think you're going? We ain't done yet!"

I only heard two defeated sighs as she smiled at them in a disturbed way and cracked her knuckles and Shebul yawned beside me. I pulled the man down as a bench passed over our heads and the three devolved into a brawl. I caught the hammer that came for my head as there was a crash as the two escapees pushed their captor out of the room, and then watched impassively as she gave chase.

"I give her a four out of ten chance that she actually convinces him to come back," Shebul calmly stated from his position laying face down on the stone floor. I winced as a loud explosion sounded in the distance, shaking the walls of the building, and Shebul decided to reconsider, "Ah, Cosma has her bag, missed that. Half that, then."

"Emily is rather intent on this, isn't she?" I guessed as I looked around the room and took in the large stock of materials in stacks or hafts leaning against the wall. It looked like she planned on doing this literally until they left on their flight in two days.

"She agreed to meet with her family while we were in Mistral, and since she had told them a few months ago she had replaced her spear they asked for the thing to be returned," He informed me as he turned over and closed his eyes, "She's just a little stressed, nothing to worry about."

"I'll leave it to you, then," And that was really all that I had to say. I could think of nothing more annoying than someone shoving themselves into my issues, so I wasn't about to do the same to others. Not to mention that despite his demeanor, Shebul was a solid guy that cared for his partner enough to humor her nonsense.

I paused as I realized that Team TESL nonsense was miles away from Team ACRA nonsense.

"What brings you to the forges?" Shebul asked aloud, 'I thought you'd been banned', went unsaid.

"Cosma recruited me as a bloodhound when Roman was gone for more than four hours," I answered with a shrug, "And I ain't got much in the way of things to do before our flight tonight."

"I heard about that. Any idea why you're leaving in the middle of the night? Seems rather… covert if you ask me."

"All the Bullheads are still out returning students, last I heard. Midnight should give 'em enough time to refuel and get some rest before we gotta get out of here."

"All four of the School's Bullheads are on the Landing pad," he returned casually, but I got the message loud and clear. It seemed that being around this particular group of people had taught me how to listen properly, because I was beginning to pick up on little inflections in their voices when they spoke.

Didn't mean I knew what to do with this shit.

"I'll mention it to Ash." That was really all I could promise, the passing off of information to someone who could properly use it.

"Hmm." I watched as he closed his eyes in acceptance of my explanation and folded his hands over his chest, and only shook my head as I left him to his rest. As I passed the doorframe he spoke again, "Ya know, Taylor is a real pain in the neck on our trips, always complaining about how boring we are, like its our fault she's used to your stupidity."

"Can't promise anything, but it is Solitas, and most of our trip is through SDC company towns," I shrugged with a half-smile, "I'll keep in touch."

"That's all I ask."


The dark night was oppressive as I was forced towards my death. It felt like my feet were made of lead as I trudged towards my destination, the bag on my back filled with all of my sins-

My head snapped forward as an impact rung against the back of my head and the rest of my teammates dragged me towards the metal hell that I was about to be subjected to, and my boots scraped across the sandy landing pad. For a moment I cursed myself for not investing in the Perk that made me immune to Knockback, but I was snapped out of it as molten fingers clamped down upon my ear and twisted until it threatened to tear off my head.

"It's a bullhead ride, not your execution, you imbecile," Ashley snarled at me as I was pulled forward. I growled in response before gripping her arm and removing it from the vice-like grip it had on me.

"They suck ass," I whined, entirely aware of how childish I was being and finally making myself move into the barely lit cargo bay of the hellish vehicle. Cosma and Roman sagged in relief as they dragged their packs onto the thing while I grabbed Ash's in a small apology, "Ya can't blame me for not wantin' to get on it."

"I most certainly can," she retorted as she slid into her seat along the right side of the passenger area, Slowly and deliberately knocking on the door for the Pilot to signal that everyone was now on. "You're the one that petitioned my mother for the trip, surely you knew that a Bullhead ride was necessary to cross the Ocean. Now sit down and, what is it that you usually say?" she pondered as I sluggishly approached and flopped into the seat next to her. I shot her a depressed glare as she smiled sadistically at me, "Take ya lumps."

My glare slid from her to Cosma when she snickered at my predicament, and she grinned at me unrepentantly from across the cargo bay of the Transport Bullhead, quietly placing earbuds in her ears while Roman pulled out his notebook and began to write. I could only watch in dawning horror as the doors all swung closed and my friends all began to make themselves busy so as to not have to deal with me.

"Traitors," I grumbled at them as I heard the engines flicker on. In preparation I chanted the Stain Family motto to activate [Purge] to counteract the effect of Airsickness. My lips peeled back as I bared my teeth in fear when the transport shook in place as ascent began to take place. The feeling of steel and coldness fell upon me as my Aura imposed itself, and I grit my teeth as the debuff slowly began applying itself.

Then I smiled ferally as I watched it tick back down and disappear as the spell took hold. 'The world challenged me, but I will win!' I thought with glee as I endeavored not to move and break my concentration.

The buzz of an intercom interrupted my mental cheers, the apathetic voice of the pilot washing over the 'cabin', "Uh, I hope everyone is buckled in, because there's a hot front moving across the North Vacuoan Gulf, so expect some turbulence in the near future." My head leaned back against the wall as the little box on the wall crackled into silence and I felt my world begin to shift as winds tore at the metal hull.

Well, I thought blearily as I settled in for a certainly painful trip, At least I'll be power leveling [Purge]. Silver lining.


End of Chapter.


[Quest Page]:

[Quests];

-[Eyes in the Night]!

Finally, a fucking normal ass expedition.

-Meet up with your SDC contact.

-[0/9] Requests completed.

Rewards; +750 exp and + 2 Free Points per Request completed.

[Companion Quests];

-[Three Scoops]!

-Cosma's Little sister is lost in the South-Western peninsula of Atlas. Start your search there.

Rewards; Increased Relationship with Cosma Politan, [?], + 20 Free points, and 10000 exp.

Failure; Death by dishonor.

-[Ash and Burn]!

-Help Ashley investigate the Rumors of a Maiden on Mantle!

Rewards; + 10000 Exp, + 20 Free Points, + 10000 Reputation with [Ashley Charbon], [?] Trait, and -1000 Luck.


Alright, there's the chapter.

For a few of the reviews, I thought I'd address it here; Austin is an impulsive person. He makes decisions on his whims, and often this doesn't make sense to those around him (Such as when he and Taylor are in burgess and he agrees to be arrested instead of fighting and winning). He does not enjoy killing, he enjoys fighting. He kills when it is the most viable alternative, and feels very little in the way of remorse. This is not because he doesn't feel emotions, but because he thinks that everything has a price. The price of endangering his friends is your life.

It is that simple.

Next Chapter is The gang landing on Solitas and getting started on their requests.

That's my piece said, Any issues or messages you want to pass along, go ahead and review. Thanks for reading and all that.

Jericho Out.