Argentum: Time for some fun!
Slayer: Sure about putting in what you're planning into this chapter?
Argentum: Absolutely not! But I'm doing it anyways as I cue up the random room and fight generator while listening to steam punk!
Grel'Slyfer: Wait you're listening to what?
Argentum: Steam punk songs.
Slayer: Which ones?
Argentum: Currently Paul Shapera - A1S2: New Albion 1 (from The Dolls of New Albion).
Slayer: Sweet.
Shirone: I must agree.
Grel'Slyfer: Oh no…
Shirone: So how are you? You nasty Darkwraith you?
Grel'Slyfer: Was much better until this little shrimp showed up-
Slayer: No! No one gets to be mean to my little sister!
Argentum: Yes because unlike Slayer here I will not tolerate my home exploding.
Grel'Slyfer: That happened?
Slayer: Multiple times…
Shirone: Yeah we had to replant the garden quite a few times.
Shadow: Fun times. But I have something to say about this chapter!
Grel'Slyfer: Really?
Shadow: Yes. We have some special guests in this chapter! If you want to know more about them read the-
Slayer/Shirone: Read the Adventures of Slayer Infinium Redux!
Shadow: I don't like people interrupting me.
Argentum: Yeah well, no one cares. But enough of that! Time to start! Gorn! It's your turn!
Shirone: Sweeet! Ahem… We here at the Dark Guard productions unfortunately do not own anything besides our Reality building ideas and OC's. All of this belongs to their respective owners. Now without further ado…
Everyone: Here's the story!
Hello= Regular talk
Hello= Thoughts
[Hello]= Radio
(Hello)= Telepathy/Mind reading
Chapter Forty Eight: How we got involved in a gameshow or… How we had a crossover…
Zapping forward Zenitsu aimed another strike at Daki's neck; however leaning back she caused it to fly over her head. Smirking she lashed out with a kick only to be blocked by Nezuko. As their legs met Daki winced as a loud crack was heard.
"Just how strong are you?! That broke my leg you bitch!" I was honestly more surprised that was the only thing that happened. I had seen the demon girl kick people's heads off after all. Seeing my opportunity however I dashed forward, sword lit ablaze as I swung.
Ichi no kata! Shiranui! Seeing my sword coming in hot, no pun intended, Daki used her flexibility to twist out of the way. However this led to her being backed up against a wall, with a smirk I took advantage of this and swung again. With a tsk the uppermoon slammed the back of her head into the wall. Crumbling it before jumping out of the building. I couldn't help but let out a breath of annoyance as we followed her. Looking around us I couldn't help but wince. The battles across the block had destroyed many buildings.
There were also people screaming and running in the streets. "We are going to be in soo much trouble later." Nezuko and Zenitsu could only nod with wry expressions on their faces.
"Wrong! You're going to be dead later!" With a yell Daki jumped between us, lashing out with her sashes as we all dodged. Though I did get a cut underneath my eye, shallow one, though it still bled quite a bit. Annoyed I wiped my hand over the cut, healing it before any problems occurred. The demon woman scowled at that. "I missed the times where only we demons could heal so easily. You brought in a whole new way to fight us and that really annoys me!" I couldn't help but smirk enraging her further. I on the other hand could only smile at how magic was slowly spreading within the corps.
That's when I heard a crash behind me, taking advantage of my distraction the uppermoon struck at me. Only to be cut off by Nezuko who punched her in the stomach. As Zenitsu followed up with an attack of his own, I ran over to the only roof that wasn't collapsed. Or well it wasn't collapsed; now it currently was with Muichiro gritting his teeth in pain.
"Yo! Any injuries that need healing?" Looking up at me he shook his head before looking straight forward. I did the same and frowned heavily, Gyokko was now fighting Tanjiro in close combat. It wasn't going well as Tanjiro's sword kept chipping on Gyokko's hard scale like skin. Even with his demon slayer mark activated, he could only leave small cuts on the demon. "That's not good." Looking down at his own chipped sword Muichiro nodded.
It was then that Gyokko punched Tanjiro away; thankfully he was caught by Kanao as Tengen launched more bombs at the currently empty pots. This only infuriated Gyokko more and he retaliated with more fish abominations. Hearing another explosion we looked to the side as Mitsuri and her group landed next to ours. All three of them looked rather beat up; even Genya looked a little worn despite his eyes indicating how he ate more demon flesh. Seeing how we were now all gathered together again, Tengen jumped next to us.
"So this situation is currently FUBAR isn't it?" Normally I'd be surprised that he knew what that meant, however at the moment I could only nod as I helped Muichiro up. It was then that the three uppermoons surrounded us.
Kamanue in particular was rather cocky about the situation. "HA! I can't believe Kokushibo and Akaza failed to kill you all! This has been way too easy!" As he laughed the other two uppermoons laughed with him. At their attitudes I couldn't help but sigh and turn to the others.
"So… any ideas? Because at this rate we're going to die. I mean I could use my dark flames but then I'd be left completely vulnerable afterwards." The others seemed to be in thought as we all formed a circle. We were cornered now and I personally didn't like it. "Well if no one has any other ideas then I'll just go ahead an-" I was interrupted by something I didn't think I'd hear again, or at least for a while longer… a radio.
[Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and girls of all ages!] That got all of us to pause as my eyes widened a bit. [It would appear we have an enormous team Deathmatch going on here folks! Too bad it's taking place on some boring old rooftops! Let's spice things up a bit shall we?!] As soon as those last words were said a large rectangular metal frame started falling from the sky. There was nothing in the middle and so I didn't do anything as it fell on all of us. In hindsight I would later learn to avoid such contraptions, but also learn it was useless in the current situation.
For once it fell on us my vision went black. If anyone saw what happened they would've seen us completely vanish as it landed around us. As if we were never there to begin with.
I am the game master line break and I say let the games begin!
When I had regained my vision, I found that our group was now standing in the middle of a large brick room. Around us were modern day appliances and furniture. What's more was how there were cameras and speakers lining all four walls near the ceilings. I did not like our current position, but before I could say anything the voice from before spoke through the speakers.
[Ah! Now we have three teams for our little competition! Welcome team A! Otherwise known as team Void!] That's when old nineteen eighties crowd clapping sounds came in through the speakers. [Next up is our recently acquired team B! Team Demon!] Cue the sound track once again. [Not letting them speak we come to the last but not least! Team C! Or team Dragon! Give them a round of applause!] Again that damnable sound track. [Now let me explain the rules!] I could see everyone around me grimace as the voice continued. [First off no killing your teammates! That's a big no no! Secondly your team wins if one of you makes it to the end of the maze! Thirdly you may kill the members of rival teams. Fourth! You may use anything you find on in any of the rooms. Fifth! No cheating by trying to break down walls. Anyone caught cheating will be terminated.]
I didn't like that and spoke up. "What do you mean by terminated? Do you mean disqualified or outright killed?"
There was a laugh over the loud speakers before a different voice answered me. [My brother would've told you, but we do mean simply kill. Now then any questions?] There was a question, though it didn't come from my team. Instead another voice spoke up.
[Yeah I have three actually! First why is my little sister also here?! Seriously she's eight! Secondly! Who in the halibut are you two?! And three! Why does this remind me a video game I once played?!]
There was a pause before the original voice spoke up. [Uhh… okay that first one was completely accidental, we'll make sure nothing targets her. That and anyone trying to harm her will be eliminated. Secondly you'll learn who we are if and only if you win. As for your last question… I may have gotten bored and played a certain game from the early two thousands. But hey! Least it wasn't the Skyrim SD remake twenty three version right?] It would seem both I and the other guy who asked the questions couldn't quite keep silent on that front. And so both yelled out the same thing.
["God Dammit Bethesda!"] All of my "teammates" looked at me confused as the second voice spoke up again.
[Yeah that was our reactions as well. Now then~! Time to start!] With that a door that was previously closed opened up. Sighing I turned to everyone only to see their very confused expressions. I couldn't help but grin wirily at their expressions.
"Now I understand you have a lot of questions, but suffice it to say there's really only one thing you need to know. And that one thing is that we've all been kidnapped and put into a death game." That got them to start really worrying; Mitsuri in particular grabbed my haori and started shaking me.
"What do you mean by death game?! Where did those voices come from?! And what in Kami's name is Bethesda?!" It took me about fifteen minutes to explain everything. By the end of it Mitsuri was on her knees crying and I was petting her head.
"There there, I promise we'll get out of this alive." Turning to the others I gave a quick game plan. "Our best bet is to see if team void would be willing to work with us. For I know for a fact that team demon won't." They nodded at my suggestion before I helped Mitsuri up. "Alright if you have any questions about anything! Please do not! Hesitate to ask them to me. For while I can't promise to know everything we may find. I'd rather you all have some basic knowledge from what I can guess about it." Everyone but Muichiro nodded in understanding. Speaking of Muichiro… "Wait! Where did our second youngest member go?!" Looking around we noticed the mist Hashira was nowhere to be seen.
Genya quickly summed up our thoughts on the matter. "Oh shit." Turning around we saw that through the opened door was a long hallway. There were four doors, and the second on the left was opened. I quickly pointed towards the opened one.
"Quick! Through that door before something hap-" I was cut off by the sounds grinding metal. "Pens… Oh crab nuggets. Let's hoof it people!" With that we ran to try and either save or provide our mist Hashira with back up. Once through the door I couldn't help but pause as Muichiro cut down his last opponent. Zenitsu true to form was the first to cry out in panic, followed by Mitsuri.
"What the hell is that?!"
"Is that some kind of metal doll?!" Grimacing I approached one of the "bodies". Kneeling down I picked up an arm, looking at its sack cloth "skin" and metal "bones" filled me with dread. It was then that a voice spoke over the loud speakers again.
[As you can see! All of our contestants have now faced their first few foes! No casualties yet, which means the game is still going strong. Also I'd like to apologize to our audience for my sister's current obsession with steam punk. The mobs were originally supposed to be undead, but then my sister decided to change them to clockwork dolls last minute!] That's when the voice's sister yelled at her brother.
[Hey! You can't deny that their awesome!] There was a sigh as she yelled at him. [Why I ought to… Get over here!] There was a yell of panic from her brother and then a click.
I could only shake my head while dropping the arm. "Well this should prove interesting if nothing else. I always did like steam punk fiction." Unfortunately that only got me more questions from my team.
I am the game master line break and I say let the games begin!
Safe to say everyone was now wearier than before. Well besides Muichiro who didn't seem to care about the clockwork abominations. Then again besides how he seemed to care about Shura, the mist Hashira didn't seem to care about anything else. Though I was still curious as to how the spider girl wiggled her way into his life. My best guess was that she simply kept making him food and talking to him. Most teenagers do like having a cute girl interact with them.
Shaking my head I began searching the room, there were a number of empty boxes lying around. Though in a few of them we did find some gold coins. Me and Mitsuri were on those in an instant. Though we had to promise to equally split them once and or if we escaped. Room now looted we examined a few doors, there were seven of them scattered throughout the room. Unfortunately for us we had no way of knowing which one would be safe to enter. Of course Muichiro took that choice from us, seemingly not caring about anyone else's opinion. I couldn't help but frown at his actions.
Guess I'm going to have to talk to the kid. I knew I would have to do so because I doubted Tengen would, despite being the oldest in our group. As for Mitsuri the second oldest… well while I trusted her, I couldn't see her getting too strict with the kid. For despite knowing how she had a number of siblings from all of our talks. Muichiro wasn't her family. Neither was he my family for that matter; however I've pretty much taken on the role of older brother for the younger members of our team.
Shaking my head I decided to let it be for now and simply followed the mist Hashira to the next room of his choice. Of course when we actually reached the room I put a hand on his shoulder and spoke up.
"We were lucky before, however we don't know what kind of traps might be on the other side. For now let me go first, after all I am the one with the best chance to escape if there is one." After a bit of thought Muichiro nodded before brushing my hand off.
"I suppose that is fair. Best let the expendables enter first." I couldn't help but give the kid a very unimpressed look at his words. However! That didn't deter me and I examined the door using my Lyb'Craeft. For a moment my eyes and mind almost melted, and I couldn't help but yell out in pain as I held my eyes.
Mitsuri reacted instantly and pulled me back with a worried expression. "Michael Kun! Are you alright?! What happened?!" It took a moment but I finally recovered and rubbed my eyes. Looking at my sleeve I could see blood. I couldn't help but grimace before answering Mitsuri.
"Well… I used my Lyb'Craeft, which I believe activated some kind of trap. For while I was able to get everything I needed, I think they made this place to mess with people like me." That got everyone even Muichiro to look at me a bit warily. Everyone there knew of my eyes and what they could do. In fact those a part of my main squad were getting used to relying on my sight. Unfortunately this brought something else up. This means that they've been preparing this for a long time. Shaking my head I walked back to the door, ignoring the worried look on my friends' faces while I slowly opened the door.
Looking through a small crack I saw that the room was devoid of enemies. Seeing this I gestured to the others to follow me. Once we all entered a banner dropped down with confetti. Along with the banner a table was lifted up from a hole in the ground, on the table was a box wrapped in a bow. That's when the brother's voice came from the loud speakers.
[Well done team Dragon! Through luck, and random generation, you've discovered your first safe room! Now every time you need to rest you may use the device in the box to teleport back to this room! Provided that you defeated all the enemies in the room you were in of course. But be warned! If you come back here you'll have to walk all the way back to where you were. At the same time you'll have to fight through all the enemies you just fought through. So take care on how you choose to proceed!] Having said his piece the brother spoke no more. So with a sigh I walked up to the table and opened up the box. Inside was some sort of watch that I put on.
Feeling a surge of energy as I did so I turned to the others. "Well guess we got lucky." Nodding Nezuko walked up to another box.
"Guess so, but we might as well search the room for anything else that might be hidden away." We all agreed to that and searched the place. This time we found more coins and medical bandages. So it was a good find, only issue was where we could keep everything. Thankfully Genya had the foresight to carry a number of bags. I couldn't help but be impressed with his preparedness. After that we were once more following Muichiro's lead.
We honestly should've expected our luck to run out. You see when I opened up the latest door the Mist Hashira had chosen. I was grabbed as the door exploded. Everyone but said Mist pillar freaked out as I came face to face with a large sack cloth clockwork doll. It was enormous, ten meters tall, bladed finger tips, and a mouth full of razor sharp metal. Thinking quickly I gathered some lightning into my hand and tossed it at the abomination. The electricity was enough to force it to let me go. The clockwork doll screeching in "pain". As I landed on my feet I had to quickly unsheathe my sword and slash to my left.
As I did so I cut down a smaller doll. That's when the others ran in and more small dolls popped out of floor. Seeing what was going on I turned to Muichiro.
"Did you deal with this in the first room?" Muichiro only shook his head no and I couldn't keep in my curse. "Shit… while I knew each room would be harder, I didn't expect such an exponential difficulty curve." Gritting my teeth I turned back to our enemies, now recovered from my attack the large doll roared mechanically at us. "Well time to go on the offensive then." As I said that the mist Hashira ran out to attack. "I meant as a team!" I was ignored as Muichiro clashed with the large doll. Sighing I swung at a nearby small doll. "Why is he like this?" At my question Mitsuri shrugged as she took out three other dolls.
"He's always kind of been like this as far as I've known him." As if to give credence to her words Tengen simply nodded. I could only sigh as I took out another doll, the sound of screeching metal rang out as I cut it in half. It was loud enough that I couldn't help but wince in displeasure.
Much different than cutting into flesh. As I finished off the dolls in front of me I turned to Muichiro who was having some difficulty. He was able to cut into the doll, but his blade wasn't going deep enough to disable it. I couldn't help but frown at that. We're about even in base, yet he isn't able to cut through it. Raising my blade I used my mark and jumped, swinging my blade at the doll's neck. With a smaller screech I cut through and the doll collapsed. Nodding at my handy work I sheathed my sword and let my mark go dormant. "You okay?" Muichiro ever the petulant child only frowned before turning around.
I could only sigh as Tanjiro walked up to me. "Did you really need to use the demon mark for that doll?" I nodded and he frowned. "I see… guess that means we'll be in trouble if things do get progressively harder." I shrugged at that as the other's started looking around the room. This time there wasn't anything special. Instead we actually found my ammunition for Genya's shotgun. This only proved my theory that we were being watched for a while now.
I can only hope that the ones hosting this "game" are fair hosts.
I am the game master line break and I say let the games begin!
After looting the room the brother spoke up over the speakers. [And like that team Dragon has killed their first boss! Can they keep it up? Or will team Void overtake them?! Of course seeing how it's only the beginning of the game. Team Demon still has a chance, however they're currently behind. Pick up the pace Team Demon!] We could hear team Demon yelling through the speakers in annoyance. Team Dragon on the other hand didn't make a peep. No doubt they were like us and only wanted to get out of there. Little did I know we would soon meet a rather interesting individual.
It started after we forced Muichiro to the back, we then had Mitsuri pick the next door. She of course picked one that was pink in color. Cautiously we walked through, and even more cautiously did we walk through a larger empty room. Around us were multiple levers of various colors and material. Above us was a banner telling us to pull only one. Humming I counted that there were about twenty four.
Rubbing his chin Tengen spoke up. "I wonder how many of these are traps." Genya nodded before speaking up.
"Based on what we know those bastards forcing us into this game would likely make of them traps. Wish there was a way to find out which ones were the worse ones." As all of us thought heavily on the situation Muichiro walked forward.
Seeing this Tanjiro grimaced. "Uh… Muichiro San? Maybe we shouldn't be too hasty in choosing one." The mist pillar simply shrugged before giving his opinion.
"I don't see why we should hesitate. If they're all traps, then it doesn't matter which one we pick. Doubly so since we can't tell which ones are worse." We couldn't help but acquiesce to his reasoning. It made sense in the end. However seeing this I turned to Tanjiro.
"In that case I suggest we have Tanjiro pull a lever. With his sense of smell he could detect when a trap goes off." After mulling it over everyone agreed and Tanjiro looked at all the levers. After a moment of simply sniffing he walked over to a white and pink lever. Folding my arms I watched in anticipation as he grabbed onto it. I could've never have guessed what happened next. For when he pulled it a hole opened up in the ceiling. As we all jumped back to prepare for whatever was coming out of it. The sound of a scream of panic was heard through the pitch black hole.
After a moment it got louder until the floor underneath the hole opened up. Out of the new hole pillows popped up on a platform, my confusion only grew when a figure crashed into the pillows. It was groaning a bit as the hole closed up. Getting a better look I could see that whoever this was, was rather small. The white trench coat it wore also obscured its features. However with how it wore a light pink skirt I figured it was female.
After a moment of simply groaning she spoke in some pain. "What was that about me not participating again?! Man is Onii Chan going to murder some people." That was when I realized that this was the little sister of whoever spoke up from team dragon. Also based on how he sounded, as well as what this little girl had just said… well I knew we were in some trouble. So much so that I couldn't help but turn to Tanjiro.
"Your luck freaking sucks!" His forehead vein seemed to bulge as he turned to me angrily.
"Not like I meant for this to happen!" The little girl hearing us argue turned to us and simply watched for a moment. After said moment she developed a rather unimpressed look and turned to Mitsuri.
"Are they always like this?" The pink haired Hashira laughed sheepishly before shaking her head.
"They actually aren't, I think this was just too much of a shock for both." The girl nodded her short white bangs bobbing a bit.
After a moment she put a finger to her lips. "I actually know a few people like that as well. Calypso and Onee Chan more specifically." She then gave us a look of suspicion. "So… here to take me hostage so you can win this game we were forced into. Because I warn you! That won't end well for any of you." Zenitsu with a quick shake of his head was the first to refute her suspicions.
"We'd never do that! We were just instructed to pull a lever and we did so! We had no idea that you would fall from the sky like that!" It was enough to get me and Tanjiro to stop fighting and turn towards the girl. She took a few sniffs before smiling.
"Well I can smell that you're telling the truth. So I guess I'll trust ya for now. However the one you'll really have to convince is Onii Chan. For he'll probably just attack you the moment he sees me with you. That's what happened the last time I was actually kidnapped." That didn't fill us with confidence. Didn't help that the girl's hood slightly shadowed her amber eyes and bright smile, something that somehow made her look menacing.
With a smile Nezuko walked up to her. "Seems like we both have protective older brothers then." The girl looked at her and smirked as Nezuko pointed to Tanjiro. "That one there is my older brother. Though the guy he was arguing with is also kind of like our older brother." The girl nodded sagely with folded arms.
"Yeah I get that. I don't want to even think about what will happen when I start dating." Seeming to bond over their over protective big brothers, Nezuko sighed before raising her arms up in exasperation.
"Ugh! I know! I'm dating Zenitsu, the blonde over there for your information, and Onii Chan has tried to kill him a few times already!" That got the little girl to giggle before holding her hand out.
"Heh! You know what? Well met! Names Shirone Infinium! What's yours?"
Taking the offered hand with a smile Nezuko shook it gently. "Kamado Nezuko!~ A pleasure to meet you Infinium Chan." Blinking the girl seemed to realize something.
"Oh! Sorry first names Shirone, last name is Infinium. Been so long since I've introduced myself to another Japanese, that I went with the western way of introducing myself." Letting go of the girl's hand Nezuko nodded in understanding.
"No worries." She then gestured to the rest of us. Introducing each of us as Shirone bowed her head in greeting.
"It's nice to meet all of you, and I hope we can all get along." All of us beside Muichiro greeted the adorable girl back.
That's when the sister spoke over the intercom. [Amazing! Though we forgot we had the lever there, Shirone Infinium of team Void has been brought over to team Dragon.] That's when we heard Shirone's protective big brother.
[If you hurt her I swear on the Outsider that I will tear you limb from lim-] He was cut off from as the brother started speaking again.
[And that's enough of that. Now please continue onward team Dragon! And please don't harm the adorable neko. We don't want to be murdered by the angry eldritch voidwalker.] With his piece said a buzzer rang before a small part of the left wall lifted up to reveal a grey metal door. It was then that I turned back to Shirone.
"What did he mean by Neko? And what in blue blazes is an eldritch voidwalker?!" The smirk the young girl gave me sent a shiver down my spine. I don't think I'm going to like the answers to my questions.
I am the game master line break and I say let the games begin!
Argentum: Well I'm dead.
Slayer: Only if a certain someone gets hurt. Right now I still blame the dice rolls for all of this. Though you're team has been rather lucky in that regard. My own team got sent into a swamp covered room with a poisonous doll.
Mitsuri: That sounds awful! But at least you don't have to worry about Shirone. We'll make sure she's fine!
Shirone: You better or else Onii Chan will kill you.
Slayer: I've done it before.
Shirone: That poor army…
Tanjiro: I understand your reasoning completely!
Slayer: Heh! Big brother alliance high five?
Tanjiro: Sure!
Grel'Slyfer: Great now there are two of them.
Mitsuri: Heh heh…
Shadow: This is what I enjoy about being the youngest sibling.
Grel'Slyfer: No one's ever treated you as the youngest.
Shadow: Which does make me sad.
Argentum: Ugh… okay enough of that. Tanjiro how about you end this off?
Tanjiro: Huh? Of yeah sure. Ahem… this has been a Dark Guard production now signing off!
Everyone: Goodbye!