"Hold."

I pulled on the reigns, stopping Champ as Mason ordered. The horse shook his head and neighed, the metallic power armor I had made specifically for him being flexible enough to allow such movement. He was covered head to toe in the armor, allowing him to survive in the toxically hot environment of The Nether.

My eyes turned to look towards Mason, his own skeletal mount standing tall and strong. Evetta sat behind Mason, a thin veil of frost separating the two and surrounding her. Probably so that she didn't melt or something, since she seemed so fond of the cold.

Focusing back onto the environment, I eyed the massive expanse of netherrack. Just behind us were the warped trees of the previous forest, which had given way to a large and flat stretch of netherrack that stretched far past what the eye could see. A purple fog hung low, obscuring what could be seen.

Finally done taking the situation in, I opened my mouth and voiced my curiosity. "Hey Mason, why are we stopping exactly? I mean, the way forward looks pretty clear. Forward."

A quiet laugh echoed out from Evetta as Mason just grumbled. "This realm is not like that of the living. Assuming such things will certainly lead to your death."

Well, thanks Mr. Cryptic. "That explained absolutely nothing Mason. Where are we going now?"

His helmet may be on, but I could still feel the glare he was aiming towards me. "The fog masks the ever-present storm within here. Lightning strikes down frequently, and without pattern. Not only that, but the laws of existence are far more flimsy. Look towards the walls."

I did as he said, turning my head towards where the forested cavern behind us funneled into the large expanse in front of us. Holy shit. Right on the edge of the forest, trees and other flora were growing on the wall. Almost as if it was the floor. "So, does gravity work weird here?"

He nodded, pointing to where the trees were. "Indeed. One of the more frustrating things about this place is it's incredibly inconsistent rules. There are some places where the walls can be walked on as if they were floors, but it isn't everywhere. This is one of those places."

Inconsistency, the killer of a clever and well thought out plan. Still, this must mean something in regard to our journey. Mason wouldn't have pointed it out if it weren't. "I see. So, I'm assuming this is a part of your plan to get us towards the Soul Sand Valley."

Another nod. "Indeed. If things go as planned, we will be able to ride up the walls directly to the top of this accursed realm. The Soul Sand Valley rests there. About a day of constant riding."

If things go as planned. I'd eat my left testicle if things went perfectly right. Pushing my pessimism to the side, I gripped the reins on Champ. "Well then, what are we waiting for? Hyah!"

Champ neighed once more, before galloping towards the wall at top speed. The armor hummed as it enhanced his natural speed tenfold, the speed-oriented armor serving its purpose perfectly.

Faintly, I could hear Mason riding right behind me. Horse's hooves clopped rapidly against the Netherrack, catching up to Champ as we rode straight into the wall.

I squeezed my thighs, and Champ leaped upwards and stuck onto the wall. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. Somehow, the gravity of this place kept us stuck to the wall. Even as Champ continued to gallop through the fog.

"Boy! Be careful! The lightning can strike at any moment! Look for a purple glow! That will be your signal to dodge!"

Purple glow? Now this is starting to feel fucking video gamey. What's next, a multistage boss fight that kicks my teeth in before-

A portion of fog began to glow, and I could hear the crackling of energy coming from it as the lightning began to form. I yanked on the reins once again, squeezing Champ with my legs. He understood it immediately, turning to the left as a bolt of lightning casually passed by us. Or at least as casual you can get with something moving faster than the eye can see and then exploding a moment later.

My hand rubbed the side of Champ's neck, petting him as I gave my approval. "Good job Champ. Keep it up, we've got a long haul ahead for us."

I looked back up to the way ahead of us, and my eyes narrowed as they saw another obstacle. A large rocky wall of netherrack was jutting out the ground, at least ten feet high. I scanned the sides of it, noting a gap in the wall just a little bit to my right.

I went to pull on the reins, before the telltale purple glow of the forming lightning blocked my way. Damn it, I won't be able to get around the lightning fast enough to get to the gap. I'll need to find a different route.

My gaze landed on Mason, and I watched Horse leap into the air, just making it about halfway up the height of the wall before an icy platform formed below the horse. It jumped again, this time clearing the wall.

Well, there's an idea.

I snapped the reigns, pulling upward slightly and tensing my thighs. Champ let out a whinny, before leaping upwards. The horse armor combined with his already impressive momentum allowed him to clear the wall in that one jump, which was when a new challenge appeared.

Right below us was a long expanse of netherrack spiked jutting from the ground. Even if landing on them didn't hurt, it would make riding Champ impossible. Mason seemed to have bypassed this rather easily, a light blue glow coming from Evetta's hand has a bridge of ice formed beneath them, evaporating after s few seconds.

Champ and I began to fall downwards, the spikes coming closer with every passing second. Reaching to Champ's side, I placed my hand on it and pulsed my magic. Two glider wings folded out, stabilizing us as two thrusters popped out of the sides of Champ's ass. I held my breath as the thrusters fired off, pulling on the reigns as we turned upwards.

It seems that flight test three-four-two is a resounding success.

Not only that, but it seemed The Horseman's innate mount control skill allowed me to fly Champ like I'd been training for this moment for years. I grinned, petting Champ again before dropping back to the ground once the terrain evened out. Mason and Evetta were just ahead of me, and I decided to indulge in an old curiosity.

Mason

Title: The Ashen Rider, Horseman of Death

Race: Embered

Age: 57

Health: 120/120

Nether Energy: 100/100

Levels: 169

Jesus Christ on a holy cracker. I really didn't stand a chance, did I?

"Boy, look up!"

I did as he told, turning my head up. My jaw dropped as I beheld the sight in front of me. There were large hot air balloon looking things just floating above us, with several tall spires on the sides and one in the center, some kind of energy being pumped up into the balloon. Speaking of the balloon, it was made of some weird membrane looking thing, its milky white color reminding me of what I pictured a ghast would look like. As if to confirm my beliefs, several ghasts wearing a sort of netherite armor floated around the balloons, and what looked like more of The Damned rode them.

Great, so a hot air balloon made out of ghasts, along with ghasts being ridden. Fucking hell.

A bolt of lighting arced towards one of the ghasts, before swerving out of the way and hitting one of the tall spires on one of the balloons. The spire glowed purple for a moment, before it transferred to the rest of the balloon. These cucks were harnessing the lightning as a power source for their balloons.

Another few balloons rose up from behind us, though these were sideways somehow. No wait, they were the right side up. They were using the natural gravity rather than the weird wall gravity, while still being close enough to get lightning to strike them.

I slowed down, stopping right next to Mason as we took in the oncoming challenge. "So… I think we just got ambushed."

"Indeed."

The balloons surrounded us, blocking all avenues of escape. I could see a few of what looked to be giant ballistae armed on the sides of the balloons. "Gotcha. Let me guess, stall for a bit while we listen to their demands before finding the perfect opportunity to attack?"

Mason tightened his grip on the reins, his posture still portraying his indomitable nature, despite the situation. "Indeed."

Evetta clapped softly behind him, a small smile on her face. "It's been quite some time since I've done anything as bold as this. How exciting!"

I eyed the balloons, watching as their imposing figures closed in on us. "Yeah, exciting."

One of the balloons came closer than the others, stopping right in front of us. A man stepped forward, wearing an armored trench coat and tricot hat. On his hip was a saber of some sort, held with his belt. The guy's face was his most distinct feature, in the sense that it wasn't a wrinkly ball sack. It looked relatively human, and he even had a beard and hair.

Jack

Title: Pirate King

Race: Netherlite

Age: ?

Health: 130/130

Nether Energy: 150/150

Levels: 134

My eyes narrowed. His stats were way higher than Mason's, and yet his total level count was lower. The hell did that mean?

I focused my thoughts as a woman walked up behind him, her attire far more fetishistic than Jack's. It consisted of tight pants that hugged her legs and rear like skin, and a low-cut tunic that showed far too much skin to be appropriate. As a guy, she was totally hot. As an engaged man, she was still totally hot, but the difference is that I felt more guilty for thinking that.

Sparrow

Title: Lightning Bird

Race: Sparked

Age: ?

Health: 70/70

Nether Energy: 90/90

Levels: 90

Jack and Sparrow? My life is a fucking joke.

The Pirate King stretched his arms out, almost as if he were ready to embrace us. "Why hello there. To think, I'd find The Ashen Rider riding down my territory. You're an up and coming star, and have quite the bounty on your head from a few… less than savory individuals."

Jack's eyes turned away from Mason, landing on both me and Evetta. "And what's this? You brought a few friends. A frost maiden, and… a curious individual with quite the aura. A human. Well now, this changes things. A human, a living breathing human, has found a way into The Nether. Well if there's a way in, then there must be a way out."

The balloons closed in even more, their ballistae turning to aim at us. "Now, I'm going to ask you all nicely. Please, surrender so that we can steal your things and find a way out of here. I doubt you want to fight an entire armada. Especially with a human and frost maiden to worry about."

I looked towards Mason, catching his eyes as he glanced at me. For a moment we just stood there, quiet and still. And then, ever so slightly, he nodded.

The message was clear. I jerked the reins, urging Champ forward as we turned to the side. I couldn't see what Mason and Evetta were doing, but I had a feeling that they were just fine. Though that may have been because of the surprised shouts that echoed soon after.

A loud whoosh sound echoed out, and it didn't take long to figure out that they had fired the ballistae. I squeezed my legs, pulling up the reins as Champ jumped. The glider wings popped out, and soon we were flying through the air and towards one of the balloons.

Letting go of the reins, I got to my feet and leapt off of Champ. My hands outstretched, I summoned my recurve bow to my hand and pulled back the string. A spectral arrow materialized in my hand, and I let it go. The arrow shot forward, splitting into several other arrows as they all flew around and met their mark in the chests of the pirate crew.

Both my feet and their bodies landed with a thud, only I stood hp afterwards. The rest of the crew looked on in shock, before pulling out their swords and charging at me. Right, guess we're doing this now.

I held out my hand and caught one of the swords by the blade, ripping it out of the pirate's grip and kicking him off the balloon. Letting the blade slide down my grip, I thrust it behind me and into another guy's head. Turning around, I shoved my hand into his chest and tore out his core, vanishing it to my inventory.

Wiping my hands on my armor, I crossed my arms and stared at the rest of them. "So… you guys still gonna charge at me like headless chickens? Or are you just gonna drop your swords, and let me do my thing? I think you know which one ends up with you not becoming a corpse."

They looked at each other, silently debating the question before one stepped forward. "It don't matter if you kill us. Cause we can come back, but you? All we needs to do is kills ya once."

…That was a fair point. Though here's my counterpoint.

My absorption blade appeared in my hand, and I rushed forward to stab one in the chest. The blade punctured the man's flimsy armor, severing his core in half. The sword glowed all of a sudden, and the poor welp began to shrivel up and deteriorate. That was… new.

I wretched the sword from his chest, staring deep into the hole I had made. Sure enough, his core had been cut in half. So, maybe since I had stabbed his core rather than just his body, my sword absorbed his energy? Or soul? Would explain why Gilbert and his sister didn't shrivel up like that.

Brandishing my sword, I heaved it up and let it rest on my shoulder. "So, like, I'm pretty sure I just stole your friend's fucking soul. Now do you guys wanna back off?"

They stood quiet for a moment, before the same guy from last time stepped forward and stared at me angrily. "Oh my gods, he killed Kenny. That bastard! Get em' boys!"

It's like these assholes just want to die.

Reversing my grip on my sword, I tossed it into the core of one of the approaching pirates, his body beginning to deteriorate. Once that was done, I summoned Master and Pupil to my hands, deflecting an incoming sword and slashing someone else's face off.

Another one came running in, so I ducked low and cut his leg off, forcing him down. From there, I stepped on his shoulder and leapt off of him. Let's see, there should be a guy at a ballista right, about, there! I tossed Master at him, the blade spinning as it cut through his head.

With that taken care of, I thrust my now free arm out and shot a grapple out. The grapple hooked onto one of the large spires, and I swung around it. The balloon began to tilt, as my armor enhanced weight pulled it to the side. Still, it held on just long enough for me to swing back around. I summoned a grenade from my inventory and pulled the pin, tossing it into the group and watching it land right next to the center spire just as I swung by and yoinked my absorption blade from the other dude's body.

Landing on the ballista, I yanked my grapple free and took Master from the previous ballista dude's regenerating body. A loud boom rang out from behind me, and the balloon began to fall towards the ground. I didn't have much more time left then. Gripping the ballista controls, I aimed it towards another balloon and pulled the trigger, watching as the large arrow shot through the air and into the top of another balloon, sinking it.

Speaking of sinking, I needed to get out of here.

I stretched my hand out, gripping the crank for the ballista and pulling it back. Once it was in place, I climbed out of the gunner's seat and got into the ballista proper. Finding my current trajectory satisfactory, I sighed as my hand reached back and grabbed my super shotgun, pulling it out and aiming it behind me as I pulled the trigger. Looking back confirmed my actions, as the body of one of the pirates lay on the ground, slowly healing.

Making sure none of the other pirates were about to try and jump me, I moved the head of the shotgun down and pushed the release lever. My body was launched through the air, shotgun in hand as I flew towards another balloon, the clanging of blades colliding and the screams of the pirates making for great background noise as I noticed a problem.

I may have misjudged the trajectory of the shot. I had accounted for my own weight, yes, but had neglected to take into account the weight of the armor. A rookie mistake to be sure, but one I had already made. Already I was starting to fall downwards, just barely over the halfway mark to my target.

This was fine. This could be salvaged. Immediately, I dismissed using my jetpack. Even if I managed to aim myself properly, I still didn't have a way to slow down quickly enough. I'd just crash into the balloon. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed one of the ghast riders closing in, a ball of Nether energy being launched in my direction.

Today is a good day for ideas.

I raised the shotgun in my hand, aiming at the ghast rider. My free hand reached to my back and grabbed my absorption blade, pulling it free and swinging it just as the Nether blast was about to hit me. The energy was sucked into the blade, making it glow crimson for a moment before it returned to its normal moonlight blue. With that taken care of, I shot out the meat hook on my super shotgun and watched as it dug into the ghast. The chain tightened, and I swung around it, switching my destination to one of the sideways facing balloons. The ghast had been pulled along with me, being pulled down by both my momentum and weight. Thankfully, it was still enough to get me to the next balloon.

Passing some kind of invisible barrier, I grimaced as my sense of gravity was rotated. It took me a moment, but I managed to angle myself upwards once again, no longer about to face plant into the balloon. Holstering my shotgun and sheathing my blade, I summoned my repaired gravity hammer and charged it as I fell towards the balloon. The pirates looked up and began to shout, a few of them grabbing bows and trying to shoot me out of the air. Luckily enough for me, their arrows weren't strong enough to really pierce my armor.

The balloon was approaching rapidly, and I could feel the thrum of power vibrate from my hammer. Electrical energy sparked from it, scorching part of the actual balloon of the magical hot air balloon. Just as I was about to land, I swung the hammer down.

The netherrack body of the hot air balloon cracked and fissured from the impact, spreading throughout the rest of it and crawling up towards the spires. The cracks disrupted their function, splitting the sigils apart. Said sigils began to glow, their powerful and uncontrollable nature priming them to explode. Not that I had to worry about it, as the kickback from the hammer had sent me rocketing back towards the wall, switching my gravity once again.

As I flew through the air, my eyes fell upon Evetta. She was encased in some kind of thin ice armor, and was currently running along floating sheets of ice as another balloon sank behind her. A balloon that I was rather close to.

My mind went into overdrive, summoning Master and Pupil to my hands and Altering them at their hilt. Happy with the new hole at the bottom of it, I inserted my grapples into the blades and grinned as they clicked into place. Giving the falling balloon another look, I tossed the blades to it and watched as they sank into the netherrack, getting a deeper and stronger hold on it than my grapples usually would.

My body was yanked to the side by the blade grapples, swinging me around and towards the side of another hot air balloon. Extending my boot spikes, I slammed my feet into the side of the balloon. The sudden friction from my boots' grip on the other hot air balloon helped me find a decent foothold, and I began to pull on the grapples with all of my magically Reinforced strength.

The falling balloon began to swing to the side, my boots digging into the side of the balloon, making deep grooves as the falling hot air balloon's weight put pressure on them. My muscles straining against its sheer weight. Even with my Reinforcement at the max, and my armor increasing my strength by several times, it was still a huge struggle to do so. This was much different from just lifting something. I was trying to make what basically amounted to a small mountain swing to the side, while outperforming the pull of gravity.

I may be slightly exaggerating, but not by much.

Watching the broken hot air balloon crash into another one, I let out a strained groan of satisfaction and pulled my blades back. They ripped free from the hot air balloon, flying back towards me as-

A figure covered in electricity flew by and grabbed them from the air, yanking me off my position on the balloon.

"Mother's nonexistent ass!"

The electric figure had no issue carrying me, pulling me up into the air before stopping right where the barrier should be. I, on the other hand, kept going past the barrier, feeling as gravity rotated ninety degrees and I began to fall in a new direction. My hands gripped the metal wire of my grapples, pulling on them as I attempted to swing back around. Unfortunately, the figure had other ideas.

I was pulled along once again, my gravity rotating as I flailed around uselessly. Every time I thought I was just about to get my bearings, I would be flung in a new or forced to have an abrupt stop before starting up again.

Finally, the flying dickhead let go of my grapples. Bad news though, since I was currently rocketing towards another hot air balloon and wouldn't be able to-

I slammed into the hot air balloon, sending fissures throughout it, though thankfully not enough to damage the spires.

Health: 45/50

Gotta love my frankly ridiculous defense.

Groaning, I crawled out of the small crater I was in and got a hold of my surroundings. There were more pirates on this one, and it hadn't taken them long to realize that I had crashed onto their balloon ship. They began to brandish their weapons, a mixture of swords, axes, hammers, and even a few bows. I in turn tightened my grip on Master and Pupil, ready to rend flesh from bone.

And that was when a feminine voice echoed out from above. "Leave this one to me boys. You'll only get in the way."

They obeyed, falling back and leaving me alone with the newcomer. She touched down, and it only took me a second to realize that it had been Sparrow this whole time. Makes sense in hindsight, with her being a Sparked and the whole electricity flight.

She walked forward, stopping a dozen feet away from me and crossing her arms under her bust. "You're surprisingly powerful for a human. Reminds me of those stories my granddad used to tell me, about how sorcerers used to walk the earth back in his day."

Back in his day? That means this lady might be older than the Age of Enchanting, if her grandpa had lived to see sorcerers. Pushing that to the side, I let my blades fall to my sides. "Sorcerer? Sorry lady, I'm not anywhere near that level when it comes to magic. Hope I don't disappoint."

A smirk crossed her lips. "Well that much is obvious. However, you do reek of magic. Is it that enchanting thing I hear about from the newer Damned Souls? Then again, there's also the taste of Nether Sigils on you as well. Once we capture you, I'd like to learn what strange magic you wield. Don't worry, I'll be sure to warm your cot for it."

Huh, so I was fifty fifty on the whole stupid pirate wench thing. She probably isn't stupid, intelligence-wise as least. "Sorry miss, I'm afraid I'll have to decline. I'm engaged, and even if I weren't, sleeping with someone who's captured me doesn't sound like fun. Well, it does, but you get me point."

She raised her hand to her face, humming softly as electricity arced between her fingers. "A pity. Though if there's one quality in a man that's tolerable, it's loyalty. Speaking of which, I should get you to the boss."

I didn't say anything, though I made my position on the matter clear as I tightened my grip on my blades. She noticed this, and just sighed to herself. "I suppose you're going to resist then?"

"Afraid so Ma'am."

Another sigh, only this time she raised her hand up towards me, her finger glowing with power. "A pity indeed."

Electricity arced through the air, bending and curving as it raced towards me. I had seen this coming however, and quickly sidestepped the blast. It had been fast, but not too fast as to not allow for dodging. How convenient.

Disconnecting my blades from my grapples, I dashed forward with the help of my jetpack and swung down at her. She rolled her eyes, lifting a hand up and stopping my attack with a barrier of electricity, which was kind of bullshit.

She flicked her hand, the barrier expanding and tossing me off the side of the hot air balloon. My jetpack flared, and I soared through the air semi-uncontrollably, utilizing my grapples to make fast turns. The unmistakable crackle of electricity followed me, coming closer with every moment.

I switched Master from sword mode to gun mode, aiming as I shot a few magic bullets at her. As I thought, the electricity surrounding her automatically arced out and lashed at the incoming bullets, protecting her from my attack without her even needing to do anything.

Good.

Sending my grapple out, I pulled myself upwards and rocketed towards the gravity barrier. Feeling it coming close, I deactivated my jetpack and let my dying momentum carry me forward, turning around and looking back towards the ground.

Sparrow was making her way towards me, closing the distance between us with every passing moment with the speed reminiscent of a bolt of lightning. I summoned my longbow, letting out a deep breath as my muscles relaxed and my mind focused. Crafting a sword arrow, I knocked it on the bow and began to apply three random enchantments to it. The enchantments didn't really matter, as soon as they were in place, I forced another one onto the sword arrow.

The arrow began to glow blue, cracks forming on it as it began to break under the pressure of having too many enchantments. The sword arrow just wasn't built to house that much power. So, I added a bit more with Affinity for Destruction.

Red energy began to flail wildly alongside the blue, swirling together but never quite mixing. The cracks began to spread even more, the broken arrow barely able to hold onto its form.

So, I let it go.

The arrow streaked through the air leaving a blue and red trail of power behind. Sparrow must've realized that trying to yank it would be dangerous, as she tried to swerve out of the way. What she didn't account for, was her aura of electricity to see the arrow as a threat, and for it to lash out in an attempt to destroy it. And when that small whip of electricity made contact with the arrow…

At first came a sudden bout of silence, the energy spreading faster than the sound could. And then came the loud clap of the explosion, wrecking any nearby hot air balloon like it were sand on the beach. The sky seemed to shift in color for a moment, and all stopped.

And then the world resumed.

My eyes were wide, and it had nothing to do with my sudden descent towards the ground. That attack was way too powerful. It shouldn't have had that much oomph to it. That was reminiscent of when I used Spada against Juliet. My brows furrowed as I pulled up the screen for Affinity for Destruction, and my mouth grew dry.

Affinity for Destruction

You can imbue items with destruction itself. Due to [ERROR] your power with this skill has grown substantially. WARNING: IF [ERROR] CONDITION CONTINUES, YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO PROPERLY CONTROL THIS POWER.

RANK 5 – You can imbue any rank item and even people with destruction.

Oh… well that looked ominous.

Putting that on the to-do list, I turned my attention back towards the falling form of Sparrow, who was set to land on one of the balloons. Twisting my body, I vanished my longbow back to my inventory and summoned my recurve bow, switching on the ice and fire lens' and rocketing there with my jetpack.

She landed on the netherrack base with a thud, her body twitching as she struggled to get up. The confused pirates began to surround her, but the heavy crash of my arrival spooked them off. I stared down at her, pulling back the string on my bow as her body slowly healed. She looked up towards me, glaring as the meat and flesh of her face slowly knit itself back together before my eyes. "Kill me all you want, it doesn't matter. I'll just wake up back at one of our revival stations up top, and I'll be back. You hear me?! I will end you?!"

Hm. Maybe she is stupid after all.

I let the string go, watching as several magic arrows covered in ice and fire flew towards her. As the fire and ice began to settle, they began to mix, leaving both a trail of steam…

And a trail of water.

The arrows hit her, barely doing any damage and instead just wetting her. I took a moment to admire her soaked form, before unholstering my super shotgun and aiming it at her. She growled, throwing her hands forward with the intent to fry me, only to go still when her electricity just sparked all around her, ignoring her command.

The other pirates looked on in frozen horror and macabre fascination as I walked up towards her. Try as she might, she couldn't hide the fear in her eyes as I placed the twin barrels of my shotgun to her head. I tilted my head at her, making a show of fingering the trigger, before I pulled it.

Her head exploded, bits of bone and brain matter flying everywhere as her body jerked backwards. The constant sparking surrounding her form diminished greatly, leaving only a few errant bolts to arc around her.

Her chest was wide open, so I held my hand out flat and straightened my fingers. The tips of my fingers were sharp, more than enough to pierce her body. Looking back towards the pirates, I watched as they struggled to hold their weapons in hand. The innate fear of death still strong within them.

The twitching of her body brought my attention back. Her head was beginning to heal, tendrils of flesh writhing as they sought to reform her. Not that I'd let that happen. I shoved my hand through her chest, gripping her core and tearing it out. Any sense of life her body did have vanished immediately, rendering it a mere corpse. The core on the other hand sparked with electricity, floating in my hand of its own volition.

Vanishing it back to my inventory, I turned back towards the crew. A few of them began to step towards me slowly, brave faces plastered on them even as their shaky movement betrayed them. Sensing the fear in them, I simply held my shotgun up and stared at them intently. They got the message very quickly, dropping their weapons and scampering away.

Holstering my shotgun, I looked up towards the main hot air balloon. I wonder how Mason and Evetta are doing?

…

And there we go, chapter 46 in the bag. This is one that I had trouble with at first, as I really didn't know how I wanted to continue the rest of this arc. I had ideas, sure, but none of them really clicked for me. But then, Hidetaka Miyazaki graced us with the gameplay trailer for Elden Ring, and my god my pants had never felt tighter. Combine that with the fact that I've been playing through Bloodborne again recently, and inspiration just flowed. I started this chapter earlier this week, and finished it today, the day of release. So yeah, I'm feeling pumped.

Rather than everyone's favorite segment, Review of the Chapter, I'm doing something different. The main reason being that most of the reviews are just a bit to self-masturbatory for even me. Instead, I'd like to give another announcement. Nothing drastic of course. With this arc coming to a close in another, I dunno, 2-4 chapters, I'm thinking about ending the story there. Now before you get all keyboard warrior on me, let me explain.

ACH has gotten way out of hand, like, a lot. There's so much that I've set up, and to be honest, I feel like we haven't even scratched the surface. As such, I want to do a sneaky little thing. Rather than pile all of it into one story, I'm gonna shift the next part into a new story. A second book, if you need the mental image. It'll pick up probably right when Emery is gonna give birth, and yes she's gonna live. Seriously, ACH is almost entirely supported by the characters at this point. And to have such a pivotal one die? Well it'd be hard to keep the plot and tone as it is now.

Anyway, That's my plan for ACH as of now. Finish up this arc, and prepare a good end for this first part as I ready up a second part. Probably call it "ACH: And Then Stuff Happens". If I do call it that, it's because I'm taking the piss and you should be sure to remind me to change that.

This has been A Decent Hoonter, and holy fuck January 19, 2022 cannot come fast enough.