There was a loud commotion going on downstairs, waking me from my sleep. Emery and I had been up all night working on the armor, and while it still wasn't done, we were close to finishing it. Unfortunately, we had to tap out as soon as dawn broke, since we were both dead tired. Also, she had to get to sleep for work, but that'd be stating the obvious. Wait, if I just stated the obvious, was there even the need to say that it'd be stating the obvious? Thus, making stating the obvious both useless and kind of obvious?

Fuck, it's too early for this shit. And by early, I meant the evening. Damn it, Mack was going to be so pissy about this.

I clambered out of bed, running my fingers through my hair, and pushing it back. Equipping my boots, I stifled a yawn and went downstairs, ready to figure out how to go about my day. My sleep schedule is ruined now.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I blinked as Emery shouted some very unkind words towards Auden and stormed out. She looked pretty pissed off too, slamming the door behind her and everything. The only question is, do I go and involve myself with that whole mess?

…Holy shit, I'm an asshole.

For realizing a core part of who you are as a person, you have a gained a Poor Gacha token!

The sass is unhelpful and unwanted.

I sat down at the bar and knocked on the wood, calling Auden over. "So uh, what was that about?"

He glared at me and placed his hands on the table. "Well, apparently Emery has been lying to me. She's been claiming that she's been sleeping with you, and that was why she was denying other customers. Turned out that was a fucking lie. I confronted her about it, and she got defensive, refusing to do her damn job. So, I fired her."

Oh. Damn it, I was definitely gonna have to talk to her then. I mean, while I couldn't exactly blame her for not wanting to whore herself out, it was technically a part of her job. I'm not sure how to feel about the fact that I'm defending prostitution.

Placing my hand in my pocket and summoning two silvet from my inventory, I placed it on the table and slid it towards Auden. "I'll take two bottles. Something tells me I'm going to need it."

Auden snorted and reached behind the bar, grabbing two bottles of mead, and handing them to me. Right, so if my math was right, a single silvet was worth about five bucks or so in American currency. Give or take a couple cents, or dollars. I wasn't too sure on the whole five dollars thing, but I'm sure it was around that.

Right, time to go cheer up a cute ex-barmaid. Getting up from my seat, I left the tavern and went to the first place I thought Emery would go. The forge. The early night sky really gave me an early 2000's romcom vibe, as I walked down the road with two bottles of mead in my hands. Depending on how this goes, I might not drink any of it.

The front light of the forge was on, the lantern slowly rocking in the wind. Placing one of the lead bottles under my arm, I opened the door and greeted Avery. "Hey there. Is Emery in here?"

Avery grunted, rubbing her forehead and sighing. Honestly, this was the most worried I have ever seen the woman. Then again, this is like the fifth time I've ever really talked with her, so I don't have much to go by. She gave me a tired stare and answered. "She's here all right. Practically demanded to be let in too. She's been working in the forge ever since she got here. I think she's cursing out society at the moment."

Curse my bleeding heart and my softness. I could be in the bar watching drunk people make fools of themselves and laughing, but nooo, I had to be a nice guy. Fuck, I really should've gotten more sleep before doing this. Giving Avery my thanks, I headed to the forge. Let's see, I should probably come up with a game plan before heading in there. I don't think television knowledge is going to help me here, since that's kind of the worst role model for human interaction. Besides porn of course.

Damn it brain, now I'm thinking of porn! Doing my best to remember the entirety of Yakko's world from Animaniacs, I adjusted my pants and entered the forge.

Emery was in the corner by the workbench, angrily muttering to herself. I could catch a few words as I made my way over to her, and none of them were very polite. Standing behind her, I cleared my throat. Her head whipped around fast enough to make me wonder if her neck was made of steel, and she kind of just stared at me. Right, time to pull the pin on this grenade. "Hey. So, I heard what happened and I thought that you might want to talk about it. I brought some mead if you want."

I offered her the bottle of mead, and she wasted no time in taking it from me and popping the top of it. Raising the bottle to her lips, she chugged the mead in a very unhealthy manner. I mean, I knew she could swallow, but god damn. I'm kind of impressed, and only a little bit intimidated. She finished the bottle, slamming it on the workbench and taking a deep breath. "Woo, that's the stuff! I haven't had any in ages!"

Haven't had any in ages? Wait a minute, was Emery a recovering alcoholic? God damn it Darius! You had one job! Well, I may as well give her the other. If I was going to fuck up, I was going to go all in with it.

Handing her the other bottle, I leaned on the workbench as she began to rant to me. "So, this fat asshole began to try and feel me up, right? And I was all like, "Stop that please" and he was all like "No way baby, you got a nice ass" and I was just not feeling that. So anyway- "

How strong is this mead?! How did she get drunk already?! There is no physical way that's possible, and if there is then science has lied to me. She continued to rant about how unfair the situation was and how pissed she was, drinking from the second bottle and getting progressively more drunk.

"-and then I was like, "I'm not gonna fuck some fatty douchebag" and Auden, the fucking asshole, was all like "You better do it Emery, it's your job Emery" so then I was all like- "

This has been going on for like fifteen minutes now, and at this point she's started to repeat herself and get into random tangents. Note to self, do not give a pissed woman alcohol. It will only make it worse and take up the rest of your day.

"-then you have the whole, "Best night of my life" thing to compete with, and there is no way they'd be able to compare. Like, it was soooo great and shtuff, when you did the thing with your thing and then the thing went- "

At this point, I'm not sure if I should feel annoyed or complimented. On the one hand, she's been talking my ear off nonstop for almost half an hour. On the other, she's telling me about how me doing the thing with my thing was really awesome. I mean, I'm assuming she's talking about sex. She could also be talking about our nights in the forge, where I would help her with how to properly work the forge. Both would make me feel good about myself, but only one of them involved my penis.

"-and it's not like I was cheating him out of money! I was paying for it out of my own pocket! Do you know how expensive harlots are? Cause they're like, reeaaally expensive."

She burped loudly, before continuing as if it never happened. As she began to regale me on why whores were expensive and overrated, I turned my head towards the armor she had been working on. It looked to be mostly finished, with the only exception being the metal plates that hadn't been installed into the armor. Still, that could be added without much effort. Hell, I could probably do it myself if push came to shove. Not that I would need-

The door to the forge slammed open and Avery poked her head in. "Darius, Emery! There's been some trouble regarding those adventurer friends of yours. One of them was found without an arm, and a note was written in a strange language."

Well, way to make me eat my fucking words. Emery tried to get up first, but her drunken wobbling made her give up that plan of action. Instead, she sat down in her chair and waved me forward, slurring at me to go on ahead.

It took all of my willpower to not straight up run out of the smithy. This willpower would later fail me as I left the smithy and saw the large crowd of people coming out of their homes. God damn it, do these people have nothing better to do than gossip?! I ran through the crowds, cutting my way through them and heading towards the first place I could think of. Mack's house.

Running up to the front door of the house, I was stopped by one of the guards. "I'm sorry sir, but no one is allowed to see the Chieftess at this time."

Mother fucker, I didn't have time for this shit. It wasn't the time to get angry though, so I took a deep breath and made my case to the guard. "I'm a friend of the adventurers. I'm also multilingual, so I might be able to translate the writing on the note."

The guard scowled to himself, muttering about gossiping citizens before he sighed and nodded. He yelled out to the others and led me inside. There was almost a dozen well-dressed forestkin within the house, and they were all yelling amongst one another. Mack was sitting on her throne, barely hidden annoyance and contempt easily visible on her face. She must've noticed my presence, as she turned to me and question the guard to my left. "Why is Darius here? I said no interruptions."

The guard stiffened, slamming a fist over his chest, and looking down toward the ground. "He claims to be able to translate the language present on the note."

Well hang on a second, I said maybe. If I weren't a hundred percent sure that the system would translate it for me, I'd have been pissed. Mack wasted no time in calling for what looked to be a healer of some sort, telling him to retrieve the note. He came back in record time, walking up to me and handing me the note. I adjusted the paper and began to read in my head.

Dear Seven,

Hi, it's me, your favorite Aspect. I was enjoying my day, waiting for you to arrive and investigate this mansion, when the craziest thing happens. A group of adventurers showed up claiming to be investigating the house, and you weren't there. Now, I was understandably upset. After all? I had been planning this since I had tracked you down in that cave. I knew it I didn't act, I wouldn't have been able to find you again, so I made sure to "convince" your horse to bring you here. It was a foolproof plan you see, since once you'd get here, your obviously here about the abandoned mansion overlooking the kingdom and investigate. Unfortunately, your sheer idiocy seems to have renders this plan null and void. Don't fret however, as you now have a second chance to make it up to me! You have twenty-four hours to come to the mansion and save your friends, otherwise I will be very nettled with you.

With love, your favorite Sugar Momma, Daria.

P.S. Sorry about maiming one of your friends. My children can be awfully excitable sometimes.

I'm so fucked. She's so not fucked.

I relayed the information to Mack and the others, making sure to keep a few of the more significant details to myself. I didn't need them wondering why the woman in the mansion wanted to see me. Besides, it wasn't like I was going to wait around for them to do anything. After all, it was an invitation for me.

"Thank you, Darius. You may return to where you were."

I gave a nod, bowing my head slightly and making my way out of the house with haste. My brain began to go into overdrive as I thought of everything I could to make my survival odds just that bit higher. I was under no illusion that I was going to be able to beat Daria in a straight up fight, so I was going to have to level the playing field as much as I possibly could. I know for a fact that she's weak against fire and light, but at the same time I'm kind of on a time limit. I only have a day to get to the mansion and save Brynjar and Citrine. That means waiting until day might be a dangerous idea, and Daria would expect that. I have to get it done tonight and take advantage of whatever element of surprise I can get.

I should arrive at the mansion with two hours till dawn. I'm also going to need a lot of torches and explosives, because overkill might be the bare minimum for this fight. Damn it, that's not even mentioning her weird ass eldritch abomination spawn. They're probably just as weak to light, if not more so. The mansion is also probably made of wood, so I'll have to be careful with my explosives and fire, otherwise I might ruin my biggest surprise.

There was probably a lot more I could do, but as I pushed through the crowd and made my way to the smithy, I realized that I was a bit starved for options. I hadn't been preparing for this, and a lot of my supplies were fairly low. If I didn't have Enchanting, I might've been screwed. I had a decent amount of limestone, so the quicklime bombs shouldn't be an issue. However, I didn't have any gold and I was limited to only around three gold blood vials and a mildly effective healing potion. The potion seemed to make my regeneration stronger, so I used it with Reinforcement, I might be able to get some decent healing in.

Barging through the front door of the smithy, I gave a quick wave to Avery and all but ran into the forge. I opened up the system menu and began to look at my stats, hoping to get some inspiration.

Darius

Title: None

Race: Aspect of Destruction

Influence: Unknown

Age: 23

Health: 20/20

Magic: 20/20

Levels: 8

Experience: 8/23

Well, that did jack shit to help.

I switched to my perks, hoping that I had something there that could help turn the tide. Still, there wasn't much there. I had the Prodigious Learning perk, the Otherworldly Charm perk, the Poison Resistance perk, and a bunch of others that wouldn't have too much immediate impact. At least I had the Death's Door perk to fall back on just in case. An immediate 67% chance to not die from lethal damage? Yes please. Just as I was about to close the screen, a specific skill caught my eye, one that I had completely forgotten about.

Appetite for Destruction

Wielding the wrath of destruction, you can imbue your very skills with its power.

Well now, things just got way more interesting.

Emery was snoring on the workbench, apparently having had enough of consciousness, and calling it a day. Not that I could blame her though, since today has been quite the shitshow so far. Still, if I wanted to get any work done, I was going to have to move her out of the way.

Placing an arm on her shoulder, I tried to shake her awake. Unfortunately, she seemed stubborn in her desire to sleep, and refused to wake up. I didn't have time for this. Picking her up from her seat, I held her bridal style and carefully left the smithy and began to head to the tavern. Sure, it might not be the best idea to go back there, but I had nowhere else I could go to place her, so this would have to do.

As I walked, Emery began to wriggle in my grip, trying to get comfy. It would've been cute if it didn't fuck up my balance, and I almost bumped into some forestkin multiple times. Eventually she got comfortable, resting her head against my chest, and gripping my shirt with her hands. Again, it would've been adorable had it no been in this situation.

I ignored the mildly sour looks I got as I made my way to the stairs of the tavern. The hearty sounds of moans echoed throughout the upstairs, but luckily my mind was a bit too busy worrying about the fucking minefield I was planning to walk into to care. I managed to jimmy the door handle with my pinky and let us into my room, and I quickly placed her in my bed and pulled away.

Emery seemed to disagree with that course of action, as she refused to let go of my shirt, making any attempt to get away futile. This was the worst time to be acting adorable, and I couldn't stop and indulge her for even a minute. Instead, I unequipped my shirt and reequipped it, making her grip on the garment vanish with the shirt.

Right, now it was time to go and save the princesses from Bowser. I need to work on my analogy game.

…

It's been a while since Daria has actually taken care of a human child. In her defense, all of her other children were very low maintenance. In fact, they didn't need anything than her undying and everlasting love, and she was willing to give that in abundance. Human children were far more complicated, as they needed food, water, a home, love, affection, and most importantly of all, constant supervision.

She had been doing pretty well with the other requirements, even if she had a few hiccups with the whole food and water thing. Unfortunately, she had forgotten about the supervision.

It wasn't necessarily her fault, as she had a lot of other responsibilities for the night. She had to keep her prisoners nice and unconscious, she had to figure out how to cook meat with a cold fire, and she had to figure out how to get rid of frozen meat. Then she had to risk being weakened outside in the moonlight in order to go and find some edible food for poor Merritt.

Daria pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. Merritt had decided to play hide and seek, without telling her. It was amusing at first, after all, she was just a child. How long could she stay still for without getting bored?

That was four hours ago, and she still couldn't find Merritt.

Her other children worked tirelessly, searching through room after room in order to find Merritt. The mansion was on the smaller end of the scale size wise, so it shouldn't be taking this long. And yet a small child of maybe ten years was somehow evading the combined forces of both Daria and all of Daria's children, simultaneously. She'd be impressed if she weren't so unbelievably worried.

"Merritt! Come out please! Momma Daria is worried, okay sweetie?"

Nothing. Either Merritt wasn't here, or she was being mean and ignoring her. Either way, the girl was in for a world of hurt when Daria got her hands on her. She was lucky that Seven wasn't likely to show up until morning, otherwise she'd have to be even more anxious. Who knows what kind of brutish destruction the man had planned for her and the mansion.

The soothing warbling of one of her children caught her attention, and soon her heart began to race. Why was Seven here now of all times?! Surely, he knows that striking during the day would be the most effective strategy, right? In any other circumstance, Daria would laugh at his idiocy, however, now was just not a good time. Not only was she missing Merritt, but the rest of the mansion wasn't completely set up yet. She was going to have to stall.

"Children, lock all of the doors in the entrance hall except the east wing entrance. Take up positions throughout the mansion, but do not stop looking for Merritt. Ince you are in your stations, I want you to search around it until you are able to find her. Once you do, bring her to me immediately."

It was the best she could do now that Seven was here. Honestly, he chose the worst possible time to get his friends back. Daria took a deep breath and calmed herself down. Now wasn't the time to panic, after all, her children were capable. Then again, who knows how strong Seven was right now. Sure, it might not be a problem for her, but the children she brought here were young, and haven't had time to truly grow into strong, capable beings.

She snarled lightly to herself. She was letting her anxieties get the best of her. Everything was going to be fine, and any children she lost here would be replaced a thousand times over if need be. The idea of replacing her children like broken toys made her cringe slightly, but it was an inevitable part of their lives.

Let's not get too caught up with such morose thoughts, after all, she still had to figure out what to wear. It was a good thing she had an idea of what she wanted to do, otherwise this whole process would take far longer than necessary. "Let's see, a lonely mansion at the top of a large hill? Well obviously we should go with a good vampire look, really get that aesthetic going."

Daria stretched her arms out and let the shadows of her dress stretch and turn, covering her arms and hands up to the elbows and shifting into a pair of long black evening gloves, and the rest of her dress shifted from her more casual cocktail dress into a very fancy evening dress. She sighed slightly to herself. Unfortunately, being able to create clothes out of shadows meant that you were forced to stick to black as the only color you used.

For the final touch, Daria summoned a nice black mini top hat and adjusted it, making it sat on the side of her head. Ah yes, the finishing touch. She spun around slightly, admiring the way her dress flowed around her as she spun. She pumped herself up for the coming event, walking towards the top of the stairs, listening as her heels clicked against the wooden floor.

It was time to let in the guest of honor.

…

Time passes far to quickly for my liking. One minute I'm enchanting each individual piece of armor for my gear, the next I'm walking towards a mansion of antediluvian evil ready to stab a female version of myself in the crotch.

Wait, antediluvian evil? Did Daria style this whole thing after Darkest Dungeon? Despite the situation at hand, I couldn't help but feel a certain bit of pride at having figured it out.

As I walked through the dark forest, I shifted my new armor around to get comfortable. It was just like it had been in Emery's drawing, though now that it was actually on me, there were a few details that I could now figure out. For one, the outfit was strangely tight for some reason. Even equipping it through my inventory didn't do much to change that. The black leather cling to my arms and upper body almost like a second skin, though it was actually rather comfy. The elongated collar reached just below my eyes, and the fur on the side of it went a bit higher than that.

From the collar, there was a slightly large gap leading down towards the rest of the outfit, the two sides coming together at the bottom of my pectorals. The default tightness of the outfit meant that I was forced to forgo an actual shirt, leaving an almost uncomfortable amount of my chest out in the cool air. Is this how women feel with low neckline shirts? If so, respect.

Where the zipper of the coat would be was just fur lining, and the only thing holding it together was the belt strapped across my waist. It wasn't large of a belt, but it was enough to force my coat together. The buckle was actually my favorite part of it though, as I had managed to cut a piece of lapis into it and surround it with a bit of bronzed gold. Now I had a power source in my armor.

The ends of the coat reached just around my ankles, and the fur continued around the edges of it. Thankfully, my pants were a bit luckier than my coat, as it was still baggy enough that I could move around comfortably. Unfortunately, they were also the least armored part of me, as the pants were made of some cloth rather than leather. Though there was no way I was sticking my balls in leather pants. I've seen that episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

And that led to my boots, or more specifically, my heavily armored boots. Really, they were less boot and more armor at this point. They were made of bronzed iron, though Emery had been able to color the metal with her weird magic marker thing, so they were instead a dark blue. She must've been trying to get them to match with my eyes, as all of the metal bits of my armor other than the bronzed gold was colored that same shade of blue. I wasn't opposed to it, since it was better than having them look like dirt metal.

The boots themselves were rather bland, and the only thing special about them was the cleat-like spikes I could activate and retract with a small flex of my magic. Useful for keeping your footing in an emergency.

Speaking of retracting, I admired my gauntlets as I flexed my magic slightly, making the parrying blades on the side spring out. I had managed to place the same mechanism in them, so that way I wouldn't walk around looking like discount Batman all the time. The rest of the gauntlets were left mostly untouched, with the exception of changing the color of the metal and wood. The wood was turned black, because what else wood it be, and the metal was turned that blue color.

Of course, I hadn't stopped there, oh no. I then proceeded to enchant all of my gear, picking and choosing what would be best for what. As a base, all of my armor got protection and unbreaking. From there, I had one enchantment slot to play around with for each piece of gear. For the boots, it was obviously going to be feather falling. I mean, come on, what else would I have picked? My gauntlets were a bit more complicated, as they didn't exist in game. So, I just put sharpness on them since I had both the claws and the parrying blades on it. My pants, coat, and belt all just got mending, since those were the things that covered the most of me, and I did not want them being broken for too long.

However, these weren't exactly normal enchantments. See, I had used Appetite for Destruction to imbue the enchants with, well, destruction. Now, what this meant for each enchant, I had no idea. What I did know, was that I was absolutely dying to find out.

Passing by the final layer of trees, I was greeted with the sight of the mansion in all its glory. Well, glory probably wasn't the right word for it. The wood was old and decrepit, and there were leaves and other bits of flora growing all over it. It was definitely abandoned, but there was a foreboding atmosphere to it that tickled the back of my brain. Well, if this wasn't it, I'll burn down the entire forest myself just to find it. I looked up toward the night sky, keeping a close eye on the moon's position. I was a bit later than I had hoped, but I probably still had close to an hour and a half or so before dawn broke. Let's just hope I can distract Daria long enough for her to forget that little detail.

I gave a quick once over on all my equipment. I had a good supply of quicklime bombs and explosive tags, so I didn't need to worry about those. I had taken a gold ingot from Avery, so I was able to make another five gold blood vials, bringing my total to nine. It sounds like a lot but considering what was about to go down before me, it's probably enough. Not only that, but I only had four of the stamina potions Evanora gave me, meaning that the stamina drain from both fighting and healing would be a major problem.

Magic bombs were also a positive, but I was a bit more limited with those since I haven't been able to restock my supply of lapis in a while. Plus, I wasn't too sure how effective these were going to be, since they were better against magical enemies than standard ones. If the creatures that are undoubtedly in there didn't have magic, then the magic bombs were borderline useless when I could just use normal ones. Of course, I ended up imbuing Craft with destruction while I made them, meaning that these might have a bigger yield than I expect. So best to be careful with these.

Honestly, I was surprised that I was able to get all this equipment together so quickly. I was worried that I'd be a bit under equipped, but by combining Appetite for Destruction with Craft and Enchanting, I was able to make the most of what I had.

Right, enough stalling, time to go inside.

Gripping the door handle, I pushed forward and shivered slightly as the temperature within the mansion seemed to be several degrees lower than what it was outside. The insides of the mansion were in slightly better condition, though it still looked old as fuck. The walls were adorned with those cold flame torches, casting an eerie blue light throughout the room. And what a room it was. It was a grand entrance hall, with old read carpets lining the floor and an almost smooth wood floor. All in all, very flammable.

"Ah, the guest of honor. Tell me Seven, what do you think of my home? I made sure to clean it to the best of my immense ability."

Immense? Me thinks that someone is overestimating herself, at least, when it comes to cleaning anyway. Daria stood at the top of the staircase balcony, dressed like someone couldn't decide between vampire and gracious hostess. The smirk on her face was annoyingly familiar, and she threw her arms to the side of her in a very overdramatic manner. "No need to answer Seven, after all, I doubt you're here for the décor. No, you're here for your two friends. Well then, why should I keep you waiting? After all, we will have so much time to get to know one another."

A door on my left opened, the hinges making a loud creaking sound like something out of Resident Evil. Daria must've left while I was distracted by the door, as she was gone by the time I looked back to where she was. Bitch just pulled a Batman on me.

I approached the door that had opened, Master and Pupil at the ready. Sure, it may be the longer way towards my goal, but I do need to distract her for another hour and twenty minutes or so. And what better way to distract someone than by following along with their games? Either that or showing them funny cat videos, but I didn't exactly have those at the moment. "Craft: Explosive Tag – 1 hour and 20-minute Delay."

Fun fact, manipulating the time it takes to have an explosive tag detonate is actually incredibly easy. It's so easy, that the blueprint itself had an explanation on how to do it. All I had to do was say the time delay while Crafting it, and there you go. One delayed explosive tag ready for all my needs.

Slapping the tag on the wall next to me, I continued down the hallway. The corridors were wide, but not nearly enough to allow for actual melee combat, so it looks like I'm stuck with ranged for now. I vanished my blades and summoned my recurve bow, the dull bronzed iron meshing with the shine of the bronzed gold surprisingly well. I had specifically enchanted this bow for, and I hate saying it, close to medium ranged combat. Honestly, close range with a bow is closer to medium range for a weapon, and even then, that's risking it. Still, technically it was possible with the enchants I had chosen for it. More specifically, quick charge for faster shots, infinity for the infinite ammo, and then multishot for, well, the sheer absurdity of it. This thing was basically a shotgun bow now.

I could hear a low warbling sound coming from deeper within the hallway, though the low visibility of the small number of cold flame torches meant that I was limited to only ten feet of clear visibility. Then again, who needed to see when you could hit everything in front of you?

Nocking the bow, I watched as an arrow made of magic appeared in the bow. I let it fly, and four other magic arrows materialized next to it and proceeded to obliterate whatever decided to offend them by existing.

+30 Experience

Level Up!

8 - 9

Experience: 15/25

Right, time to move on and-

My internal thoughts were interrupted by the sound of several loud warblings, and I began to curse out the ten feet visibility thing as six humanoid creatures began to sprint towards me. Their heads were just one large tentacle split in half, bloody red meat pulsating as more tendrils swung around from within the hole. Their bodies were an oily black, and there were random holes throughout them that seemed to shift positions every moment I started at them.

Warbler

Race: Eldritch Abomination

Health: 10/10

Magic: 5/5

Level: 4

They didn't seem to have much of a mind for strategy, as all six bodies simply rushed me. way to make it easy on me guys. I shot another arrow, marveling at the speed of which I was able to do so. I only managed to get three of them, and the others were far too close to comfortably use my bow again, so I vanished it and summoned my blades, keeping the walls of the hallway in my peripheral.

The closest one slashed its hand at me, its arm stretching longer than should be possible. Well, if you're going to offer such an obvious avenue for attack, you may as well be obvious about it. I sidestepped its wide attack and sliced the arm off, before reversing my grip on my right blade and stabbing another of the warblers through the chest. Now all I had to do was-

The warbler stuck on my blade gripped my arm and began to climb up it, forcing my hand into its chest and then some. Oh god, why was it wet?!

I lifted my leg and kicked it off my arm, freeing myself just in time to dodge another wide swipe from one of the warblers. Right, so body shots weren't good for jack shit. How about headshots? I slashed at the closest warbler's head and smirked in satisfaction as it let off a scream of pain. Right, aiming for the tentacle bits seem to work pretty well. Time to avenge all those Japanese schoolgirls.

Jumping back to avoid the two standing warblers, I activated my boot and slammed it into the head of the downed warbler, watching as its body thrashed in pain before eventually going still. Right, time to test out a theory of mine.

I gripped my blades and applied all of the enchants I could on them, with the exception of the useless or redundant ones like frost walker and fire aspect. The fun thing about these blades, is that they aren't limited by the restrictions of my skills. Meaning I can apply all the enchants I want to them, no repercussions.

Rearing my arms back, I threw the blades forward like a boomerang, grinning as the spinning blades beheaded the two warblers and begun to spin back to my hands. Gotta love that loyalty enchant. I wonder what I'll get if I Deconstruct the bodies?

+12 Eldritch Essence

Huh, gross. The essence seemed to be constantly writhing, almost as if it were still alive. Yeah, I'm not going to be touching that with a forty-foot pole held by someone else. Though I was still going to yoink it, if only because it might be useful.

+90 Experience

Level Up!

9 - 13

Experience: 24/31

Right, I've got about an hour and ten minutes left. Let's keep going.

The corridor began to turn and twist as I walked down it. None of the doors on the sides of it were opened, and every time an intersection came, I was blocked off by some strange oily wall. Either Daria was just too lazy to set up the mansion properly, or she wasn't expecting me to be here so quickly. Then again, it might've been a bit of both.

The echoing of my footsteps and low visibility was starting to get on my nerves. Now, I'm no bitch, but walking alone in a mansion of antediluvian evil, I am so going to milk that word, with little to know lighting is kind of nerve wracking. The eerie quietness of the whole thing was unsettling, as the only sounds I had to comfort me were my own footsteps, and I swear I keep hearing someone walking behind me!

Eventually, I reached an open door to my left. About fucking time too, cause I was five minutes away from saying fuck it and blowing this place up so hard the Taliban would feel jealous. It's moments like these that I'm glad no one can actually hear my metaphors, otherwise I would've been dragged into the most awkward conversation of my life.

The door led to a large ballroom, a massive chandelier still hanging despite the obvious rusting that colored the whole thing a slight brown. At least, I think it's brown. The lighting from the torches were still a light blue color, so I could be off. The floor didn't have any carpets, and all in all it was a very bare room, almost as if all the actual decorations had been moved elsewhere. Speaking of moving elsewhere, where the fuck was I supposed to go? This was the only way forward, and it's led me into a giant dead end. Don't tell me that there were actually a few doors back in the last corridor that I was supposed to try and open, because I gave up after the fourth door was locked.

Fortunately, the warblers must've gotten the memo as they soon all began to jump out from the shadows. Wow, that is definitely a lot of the tentacle bastards. I lost count after twenty, but there were definitely way more than that. I am so glad I have my longbow, as I shall now call it, my "Fuck Off I Win" bow. The ballroom was long enough that I could shoot it without too much worry about splash damage or getting ganked while I was getting ready.

The enchantments for this bow were just for pure power, as I had used punch, power, and piercing to make an incredibly overpowered bow. And that wasn't adding in the Appetite for Destruction bonuses or the fact that I could add even more destructive power on my sword arrows with Affinity for Destruction. The results of this orgasmically powerful combination spoke for themselves, because as soon as I let the sword arrow loose, it rocketed forward and exploded, killing of a third of the warblers with one blow.

+225 Experience

Level Up!

13 - 18

Experience: 33/43

Ha! Take that you vermin host wannabe fucks! I'm too overpowered for your weak ass bodies to handle!

The ground rumbled all of a sudden, as if offended at my taunting. From the shadows, burst forward what might as well be spite personified and began to charge towards me, and I was only able to mostly evade it. One of the beast's claws clipped my shoulder and sent me flying into the wall.

Health: 15/20

Oh… fuck that noise. That giant tentacle shark giant looking mother fucker barely touched me and that was enough to shave off a quarter of my health!? I climbed to my feet and activated Reinforcement, feeling my body strengthen and heal, albeit painfully slowly.

Health: 27/32

Ah, that's the stuff. Right, so melee is a giant no go for me there. First, I had to Observe, my enemy. Ten out of ten on the jokes Darius, but now is not the time to pat yourself on the back.

Crasher

Race: Eldritch Abomination

Health: 25/25

Magic: 10/10

Level: 8

That's a mighty interesting name there, almost as interesting as Bob. So, it had two and a half times the amount of health as the regular warblers, and twice the magic. However, that's still not a lot of health or magic. Grappling away from the approaching mob of warblers, I began to cut them down and maintain my distance from the Crasher and began theorizing.

These eldritch abominations either have immortal bodies, or they heal incredibly quickly, as the only way I had been able to truly damage these things was by hurting the tentacles or by making things explode. So maybe their health wasn't measured by their absurdly strong bodies, but by their pathetically weak heads.

The crasher began to charge once more, and I was thankful that indirect kills counted towards my experience count, as it killed a quarter of the warblers.

All I needed to do was avoid as much damage as possible and lead the crasher into the warblers, and I'll be home free. Well, mostly. I still didn't know how to kill it exactly. Its tentacles were covered by a head of sorts, and the only time I had been able to see them was right before it charged, as it roared, and its tendrils swung around freely from its mouth.

Despite my claim that I could do this without taking anymore damage, that seemed a bit too much to ask. The sheer number of warblers made that particular challenge a bit difficult, as their durable and fast healing bodies meant that I couldn't simply aim for their chests with my recurve bow, or slash through them properly with my blades. Instead, I had to toss my falchions around and have them boomerang back with loyalty, doing as much damage as I could.

Health: 20/32

Thank fuck for my armor, otherwise I would've been paste like three times over.

The warbler horde began to thin, and eventually there were only ten or so left. Unfortunately, this made killing them using the crasher way more difficult than it had to be. Damn it, this is just like those god damn cyclops things from God of War!

Well hang on a second. Now there's an idea.

I baited another charge and threw both my grapples towards it's back, launching myself towards it and on top of it. It began to thrash, trying to buck me off, but I had managed to get a grip on it after activating my boots, pushing my spiked feet into its back. Recalling the grapples, I gripped them in my hands and stabbed them in either side of its "head" and began to pull on them like a horse's reins.

The crashers hands started slamming into the ground, killing off the remaining warblers. Once those fuckers were dead, I summoned a quicklime bomb and forced it in the crashers gaping maw, watching as the ceramic jar shattered and let out the burning gas. I chose to jump off it's back once it began to fall over, grappling to the chandelier instead.

Okay then, I only had one shot at this. Better make it count.

The crasher was still lying on the floor, writhing as it tried to let out the gas from its tentacle head. Its jaw was wide open, meaning I had a clear avenue of attack for this. I climbed on top of the chandelier, ignoring the groan it made as the rusty metal began to creak under my weight. Gripping the chain holding it to the ceiling, I began to swing the chandelier back and forth, building up momentum. From there, I cut the chain with my blades, and held on tight as the chandelier slammed into the charger's tentacle head, crushing it completely.

+473 Experience

Level Up!

18 - 27

Experience: 14/61

For winning against monstrous odds, you have gained a Common Gacha!

Fuck you, that was definitely at least worth an Uncommon.

…

The pain of loss was something Evanora was both painfully intimate with, and almost naively ignorant of. She had been too young to truly understand her parent's death, and by the time she could, the pain of it had long since faded. However, as she lay down on the bed provided to her by the town healer, she began to refamiliarize herself with the feeling.

Truth be told, it hadn't quite hit her yet. Her body and mind felt numb as she tried to process the events leading up to this. And yet she couldn't think of anything else, as the painful throbbing of where her arm once was continued to remind her. Citrine and Brynjar, both her mentors and family, were in the clutches of a creature that she once thought religious nonsense.

Her heart raced and her throat tightened. The Abyss Mother, a story she had been told as a child, a figure of corruption and despair, had taken her family into its dark dungeon and let her go. It didn't make sense. Why was she spared? Why was she left alive? Why was she responsible for telling Amethyst that her mother and father were dead?

Why did it want Darius?

That had been a question that plagued her the most, as it was the one that she couldn't even remotely understand. Why was Darius significant to this creature? Was it the physical resemblance they had? It had to be. The two of them were almost uncannily similar in appearance. Was Darius also a monster?

Evanora shook her head. It wouldn't make any sense. For one, he had no issue going out in the light. So, unless that was just a myth, it wouldn't make sense. Another thing was the fact that it seemed intent on finding Darius. So, the two weren't working together.

She snorted to herself slightly. Not even a full day after she finds a monster that was used to scare children into behaving, and she's already theorizing about it.

Her moment of humor cost her, as the snort agitated her injuries and she winced. It took all of her willpower not to try and grab more healing potions from her hat, as both the pain from doing so would be agonizing, and the potential for addiction would be detrimental. All she could do was lay down in her bed, useless and broken.

But that was fine. It didn't matter if her body was bruised and bloody, so long as her mind stayed strong. And at this point, her mind was the only thing she really had left at the moment.

And she'd be damned if she let anything change that.

…

Existence is pain, and there was no end to my suffering.

Alright, fine, that may have been a bit extreme. However, I think it's pretty fucking accurate. Apparently, besides being a rapist who uses her victim to spawn eldritch abominations, Daria was also a god damn sadist. Over the past forty-five minutes, I've already cleared out two more of those god damn ballrooms and used a stamina potion, and it was the exact same thing both times. At this point, I don't even think she's trying to kill me. I think she's just trying to piss me off.

And as much as I hate to admit it, it's working. Still, there were some benefits to all this of course. This one being the prime example.

+1,396 Experience

Level Up!

27 - 45

Experience: 6/95

This is easily the highest number of levels I have ever had before. And as for what I would use it on… I had no idea actually. Sure, the obvious thing to do was to rank up Reinforcement and use the enhanced power from it in order to make killing these abominations easier, but there was a slight problem there. The stamina drain would probably be way too high.

See, unlike the actual benefits given to me by the skill, the drain seemed to increase at a much higher rate. For example, rank one was something I could maintain with no sweat. Rank two was slightly draining, but not to the point that it was an inconvenience. Rank three on the other hand, is something that makes long term battles an absolute bitch to handle. I could only imagine how bad rank four could be and unlocking it in the middle of a situation like this was just suicidal at best. Maybe once I get used to rank three, I'll unlock it, but until then, it's going to be a no from me.

That put me in a predicament, as I didn't have many other offensive skills. Hell, I only really had one. Affinity for Destruction was the only other skill that actively augmented my damage output, and that only changed what rank I could apply the skill to. Enchanting was a hard maybe, but that didn't unlock new enchants as I leveled it up, so it would be borderline useless for now. Especially since I wasn't exactly keen on trying to come up with my own enchants, as that would require time and patience. Two things I didn't have the resources to spend.

As much as I hated it, my best bet was to wait until this whole thing ends and use them then. Though that was being a bit optimistic, since I didn't exactly have a guarantee that I'd be able to make it through this unmolested, in any sense of the word.

Unfortunately, all those levels came at a cost. I only had around fifteen or so minutes before dawn broke, and I couldn't be inside when that happened. At this point, I was either going to need a miracle, or just incredibly bullshit luck in order to pull through.

"Hey papa, what's going on here? Why are the walls so weird?"

Or both apparently.

I didn't bother familiarizing myself with the beast in front of me, instead I Crafted an unenchated recurve bow and shot it through the tentacles twice, killing it. Didn't want to risk hurting whatever it was that spoke with my actual recurve bow, since that thing might've shred it.

Experience: 21/95

"P-Papa!"

Ah… shit. It was a little girl, her tiny hands gripping the strange warbler's body and shaking it. Unlike the others, this one had an actual face, with the exception of its mouth which still held the exposed tentacles. Honestly, I'm just lucky I aimed towards its lower face. It wouldn't have died otherwise.

"Y-You killed papa!"

And that brought me to my main issue. What the fuck was a little girl doing here? And why was she calling a warbler her papa?

Merritt

Title: None

Race: Forestkin

Age: 9

Health: 10/10

Magic: LOCKED

Level: 2

Status: Cherished by the Abyss

Oh, so she is just straight up a little girl then. And I apparently just murdered her papa in front of her, as she continued to scream as she pounded her tiny fists on my coat.

Still, what the hell was I supposed to do with… a… child. Oh brain, I hate you sometimes.

I bent down and grabbed her by the waist, holding her under my arm as I turned around and made my way backwards. As I walked, I passed by dozens of explosive tags, all ready to go off in about fourteen minutes or so.

To be honest, I was really going off guesswork at this point. The whole "Cherished by the Abyss" thing may have been a red herring but considering she's currently in Daria's domain and that Daria herself is the only person that can be considered "The Abyss", I'm pretty confident in my theory.

"P-Please l-let me gooo!"

That didn't mean I felt any less horrible about it.

The girl, Merritt, was bawling her eyes out, begging for her life. A thing that no child her age should be doing. And yet here I fucking was, ready to use a child as a bargaining chip. The sheer hopelessness and fear in her voice just made things worse, and even as I felt my throat tighten listening to her cries, I knew that I wasn't going to regret it.

Why did that just make things worse?

I could hear the angered calls of the warblers behind me, and yet they didn't approach me. They must've understood the situation at hand and refrained from attacking. Still, if they're here, then that means that Daria must already know what's going on by now. Well, that made things easier.

It was a far faster walk back than it was forwards, as I no longer had to worry about any warblers jumping out and attacking me. Instead, I simply had to deal with the sobbing and begging of a small child who believed that she was going to die.

The worst part is, she might be right.

I pushed the final door open, walking into the large entrance hall and meeting face to face with Daria, a look of sheer rage stuck on her face. To her sides were Brynjar and Citrine, each unconscious and having seen better days.

We stared at one another for a while, and I did my best to ignore how Merritt began to beg to Daria to save her. Daria herself glared at me, a cold anger piercing through me, and her voice was absolutely chilling. "So, I see you've resorted to child abuse. Well done Darius, you've managed to piss me off."

Somehow, I doubt that was a difficult thing to do. "It wouldn't have come to this if you just let me be. Besides, I don't want to do this anymore than you want me to. Just met Brynjar and Citrine go, and I will happily let the kid go."

Despite my agreeable words, I didn't want to risk Daria simply overpowering me before I could do anything about it. I summoned one of my falchions to my hand and held it near Merritt. Not close enough to scare the child too much, but not far enough as to not allow me to… follow through on my word if need be.

Fuck this whole night.

Daria seemed to understand my movement, as she scowled deeply to herself. "Very well then. It seems you have me cornered, for now. Children, I want you to do the same thing as you did with that hat girl. Leave them outside the town gates safe and sound, and don't get caught."

Even if I wanted to argue with this method, I didn't exactly have enough leverage to do so. Instead, I watched as Brynjar and Citrine were carried off into the shadows, disappearing within them. As soon as they did so, I gently placed Merritt down on her feet, watching as she ran up to Daria and began to weep into the woman's dress. Daria knelt down, hugging the poor girl, and doing her best to comfort her. Despite the circumstances, it was heartwarming.

Eventually, the woman stood up, telling Merritt to go with some of the Warblers. As they walked into the shadows, Daria turned to face me, still glaring heavily. We stood there for a while, staring each other down, until suddenly, her body tensed, and I barely had time to pump all of my magic into Reinforcement before I was flicked into a wall.

Death's Door!

Health: 0/35

My body was broken in places that I didn't even know I had and breathing became an impossibility. Despite this, I knew I had to act. The adrenaline provided by Death's Door was enough for me to take a gold blood vial and jam it into my leg, though it was agonizing to do so.

Health: 14/35

Unlike the healing potions provided to me by Evanora, the gold blood vials had the quirk of acting instantly. However, this came at the cost of quite a bit of my own energy, and I wasn't exactly running on full when I got here. still, I had enough left to use another vial and drink one of the shot glass sized stamina potions.

Health: 28/35

Right, so I had about seven left. I needed to distract her for just another minute or so, then I'll be golden. I slapped another explosive tag where I had been laying, masking the movement as me struggling to get up. Daria climbed through the hole in the wall and walked towards me.

"Sorry about that, I was just a little bit absolutely livid about the whole using one of my children as a bargaining chip. Though looking back, it was a bit hypocritical for me to be so upset about that."

You fucking think? Thankfully, she seemed a bit absorbed with her monologue, otherwise she would've noticed the several explosive tags around us. Honestly, I just got lucky that she decided to flick me, since that led us straight into the hallway I had rigged to blow. Thirty seconds.

"-and really, the whole "scaring you in the cave" thing was just immature of- wait, what are all these paper things?"

I shifted away from the tag I had placed on the floor, crawling back a bit, and watching as Daria took a step forward, unknowingly standing right over the tag I had just placed. "Oh, you know, decorations. They say happy birthday in Japanese."

Fifteen seconds.

"But you don't even know my birthday. And do you even know Japanese?"

I placed my hands on my stomach, pretending to be holding it in pain when in reality, I was preparing to summon my shield. "Whoops. I'll do better next time."

Five seconds.

Daria folded her arms and huffed slightly. "Right, you bette- "

One second.

I summoned my shield and reinforced both it and me, bracing myself as the hallway began to explode. Despite my preparations, I hadn't prepared for the yield of these destruction enhanced explosives, and was sent flying out of the house, vanishing, and summoning my shield in order to move it behind me and have it take the brunt of the impact.

Health: 18/35

Groaning, I quickly used a gold blood vial and drank another stamina potion.

Health: 32/35

I only had one stamina potion left, and there was no way I was saving that for later. Drinking it I leaned against a tree and realized I had made a fatal mistake.

It was still nighttime.

The moon was setting, sure, but the sun wasn't out yet. I don't know if Daria is weak to moonlight, but if she is then it's definitely not going to be anywhere near as bad as sunlight. Despite the fact that the moon reflected the sun's light, it wasn't a lot of light. Meaning, that I might be fucked.

Speak of the devil, and she will rape your ass. That might not be the correct phrase, but as Daria climbed from the wreckage and glared heatedly at me, I had the distinct feeling that it was the most accurate way to phrase it.

"You absolute DONKEY! Do you know how long it took to set this up?! Weeks! This was the culmination of straight up weeks of work, all down the drain!"

I decided to chance it, Observing Daria as she began to angrily rant at me.

Daria

Title: Mother Goddess of the Abyss

Race: Aspect of Destruction

Influence: Monstrosities

Health: 300/300

Magic: 500/500

Level: 577

You know that feeling when you realize that you are just completely outclassed in every way possible, and it just doesn't seem fair? That was the easiest way I could sum up just how fucking terrified I was at the moment.

As she ranted, she began to stomp towards me, each footfall leaving a slight indent in the ground. I looked behind her, watching as the moon began to set and the dawn was mere minutes away from breaking. I wasn't completely out of hope just yet. I just needed to distract her a little bit longer.

"Well Daria, you have my apologies. If I had known about how long it had taken, I would have asked first."

Her frown twitched upward, before she scowled once more. "You're not as funny as you think you are Seven."

Damn, she's really going for the throat here.

Daria dashed forward, her speed, while still great, was much easier to follow. I resummoned my shield in front of me, activating my boots and doing my best to tank the hit. My feet dug into the ground and began to sink into the dirt. I needed to lead her closer to the mansion, otherwise we'd be in the shade of the dark forest.

Summoning a quicklime bomb, I looked over the side of the shield and threw the bomb directly in Daria's face. She hissed as she gripped her face, and I used the momentary distraction to vanish the shield and grapple to a tree on the edge of the mansion property. From there, I leapt towards the mansion, tucking and rolling once I landed. Ranged weapons were probably a no go, since she was fast enough to dodge any shot I made, or just tank them if necessary. Melee was slightly better offense wise, but it would put me far closer to Daria than I'd like. Oh well, I didn't need to close to her for too long anyway.

I readied my blades, tensing as Daria turned her face to glare at me. "So, you're going to try and hit me with a few pointy sticks? Well, it's your funeral."

This was a dangerous situation if there ever was one. I had to try and predict her movements in such a way that I could react before they happened, and it was a challenging dilemma. Thankfully, her strikes were clumsy and weren't well executed. She clearly wasn't much of a fighter, and that gave me a slight advantage, as fighting against people way stronger and faster than me was something I was used to.

One of her wild punches hit me in the shoulder, sending me back almost a dozen feet. Hurt like a bitch too, but it was no where near as strong as when she flicked me through a fucking wall. I'm still a bit salty about that, not gonna lie.

Health: 26/35

A quick glance to my left revealed the purple pigment of the sky, dawn beginning to break as the first rays of sunlight began to shine. Right, let's go for maximum effort. I threw my arms back, holding my blades to my sides as I hurled my falchions forward. Daria managed to dodge them both, smirking as she saw me weaponless, and completely unaware of the two swords curving back towards me.

"Did you just use your swords as projectiles? Seriously, that was the dumbest thing I have ever- "

She stumbled forward in shock as two twin blades erupted from her chest, and she began to choke on her words. And her blood. Speaking of which, holy fuck her blood was pale! There wasn't any red or any other color, just a strange clear fluid leaking from her chest. That, and breast milk, but that was neither here nor there.

Despite the lethal injuries inflicted on her, Daria seemed more annoyed than hurt. She growled, her own blood gurgling as she did so. Any amusement she had towards my frankly amazing strategy was lost as she began stomping once more, intent on tearing me to shreds.

Or at lest she would have, if not for the sudden beam of light that hit her as she left the shadow of the mansion. Her growling turned into a pained whine as she collapsed in front of me, the pain from having two swords through your chest finally catching up to her. Her once clear blood having turned a healthy crimson, and her pale flesh began to color. Huh, the resemblance was way more unsettling now that she didn't look like she colored her face in with chalk.

Daria

Title: Mother Goddess of the Abyss

Race: Aspect of Destruction

Influence: Monstrosities

Health: 7/30

Magic: 50/50

Level: 7

Right, now that that was all said and done, I could go back to town and enjoy a nice nap. Vanishing my blades to my inventory, I began to walk forward, stumbling slightly as my exhaustion began to make itself known like a rowdy drunk. As I was about to leave Daria behind like a used condom, her hand gripped my ankle. Fucking hell. "Look Daria, if you're trying to recreate that scene from Wolverine, that's a new low. Even for you."

"Y-Your coat is tacky."

Really? Even when she's knocking on Hell's cellar, she's still trying to piss me off. It'd be funny if she weren't dying. Daria's grip on my ankle was weak, and it would be laughably easy to just walk away and let her die. But there was a slight niggle at the back of my brain that told me that was a bad idea. I mean, she's made the point that she didn't exactly want to kill me multiple times, and even went so far as to keep Brynjar, Citrine, and Evanora alive. Even if they were injured. And the benefits of having someone of her power in my debt was definitely something worth considering.

Damn it, curse me and my bleeding heart, wanting to spare her and trying to find an excuse to do so. "Daria, if I save you, I want you to know that you will owe me your life. Do you understand?"

She glared at me, an impressive feat considering that she was a few minutes away from dying. "I-I'd rather die, you d-donkey."

Despite her words saying the contrary, there was a slight hope in her eyes. I bent down and gripped the neck of her dress, dragging her out of the sun and into the shadows of the mansion. "Fine, I'll save you. But only because you have nice tits."

I dropped her face first into the dirt, watching as both her skin and blood paled considerably. Her gurgling stopped as her wounds began to heal, and she got on her feet shakily. I stepped out of the shadows, keeping to the light as she regained her strength. Eventually she abandoned the effort, instead choosing to sit against the rubble of the east wing of the mansion. Despite the situation, Daria seemed to find something funny about it, as she began to laugh. It wasn't boisterous, or very loud. It was a quiet laugh. "Well Seven, it seems you've won. You're right with one thing, I do owe you my life now, don't I?"

Is that what she was laughing about? I feel like I'm missing some context here, and I'm not that much of a fan of the feeling. Still, I nodded, not bothering to use any words as I watched her continue to ramble. "You're definitely an interesting one Seven. It's been a long time since I've seen an aspect anything like you, and he's long since abandoned his humanity. Lucky bastard. So, what does this make us?"

There were a lot of ways I could've answered that, but as I crossed my arms and smirked at her, I knew exactly what I was going to say. "Whatever the word is for two people who don't kidnap each other's friends and family and instead just send a fucking letter saying that they'd like to talk."

She snorted, bringing her hand to her face as she covered her mouth. "That's fair I suppose. And I think the word you're looking for is friends, Seven. Maybe even friends with bene- "

"Don't get ahead of yourself Daria."

Grunting, she climbed her way up to her feet and began to walk into the light, her skin coloring as the sunlight hit her. Alright then, so she was just weak in the light instead of going up in flames like an actual vampire. Consider my immersion ruined.

She stumbled slightly, the loss of power probably disorienting her. I should probably back up, but I was mildly curious as to what she was going to do. Besides, push comes to shove I could no doubt take her. She stopped, smirking at me, raising a hand to my face, and flicked my forehead. That bitch.

From there she twirled around, walking back towards the undamaged part of the mansion, laughing in her smug self-satisfaction as she left me alone in the ruins of the east wing.

I definitely needed a nap.

…

And there we go, the end of the second arc of ACH. It's both a bit late, and a bit early, but it's here. some of you might disagree with the notion of letting Daria live, and that's perfectly fine. Not everyone would do the same thing given the circumstances. On a side note, this marks the longest chapter I have ever written at just under 12K words, so it's an extra thick one.

I don't have a review of the chapter ready for today, so instead I'll just give you an idea of what I have in store for the next arc.

"Aye. Though I have a rough outline for the next arc. It's an unholy combination of Romeo and Juliet, Dragon Ball, and Anime references that I only half get."

-Me, in a random discord message.

This has been A most Decentest Hoonter, and I don't care that it's not a word.