Chapter 24
"God Soma!" Zanis Lustra suddenly marched into his Deity's office, ignoring the expression of the only other Lever Two in the Familia seeing he served as a porter to their deity's office.
Zanis's eyes widened as he saw his God brewing what seemed to be a new batch of Soma.
'Oh! Now he decided to start over!' He thought, inwardly calming himself as he still put pressure on his wounded shoulder. "We have a problem."
"… I don't care." Zanis's eye twitched at his God's usual behavior. His patience had run dry, preparing to throw an outburst at his Deity. But surprisingly, Soma beat him to it. "I have always left you to do as you wish. The leadership, the economy, the administration of all the adventurers in the Familia… Everything."
Zanis didn't know why, perhaps it was the pain in his shoulder or the overall stress, but hearing his God being so vocal about it suddenly gave him the creeps.
"I never saw the need of saying this out loud because I thought it was clear enough," Soma stopped his brewing and lifted his head high enough for his uncaring eyes to be seen. "Don't bother coming in with the problems you yourself might have caused." Zanis flinched back for a moment, only to be enraged at the implications of what was said.
"Me!? It was you who wanted to approach that annoying blonde by having that stupid Pallum-!"
"But I never sent Adventurers to antagonize him, did I?"
Zanis's eyes narrowed in worry as his God was not supposed to know that.
"You would be amazed how much you can hear from a balcony when I am not focused on making Soma." Zanis's eye twitched in annoyance, there was a clear antagonistic tone in his Deity's voice before he started brewing again. "You have never had any need for me other than status updates, my Soma, and my overall name… while I have never really needed anything from you; none of you have given me a reason to do so."
The blue-haired Adventurer gritted his teeth as Soma looked at the balcony with a soft hum.
"I would suggest you get ready."
*Boom*
Zanis's eyes widened as a sudden explosion was heard in the distance, most likely at the entrance of the Familia Home. The Captain soon heard more explosions happening in the distance, quickly followed by various screams, no doubt from fellow Familia members.
"Because he's already here."
The Soma Familia Captain gave his God one final glare before he bolted out of the room; shouting orders to several Familia members and commanding that he was brought a potion for his injury.
"Chandra," Chandra Ihit looked at Soma just when he was about to close the door. "When he arrives, let him pass."
The Adventurer nodded before closing the door, leaving Soma alone. The God walked a little closer to the balcony, softening his gaze at the crescent moon in the sky. It wasn't full, but its intense brightness had been the same since over a month ago.
Simply majestic.
A few minutes ago
"Lili had her doubts. But now, she understands why you don't like that waitress." Liliruca Arde explained as she walked between Drake Aurion and Zelos Wilder in the middle of the night. "So creepy."
Syr Flova had been staring at Lili after she went inside the Hostess. She hadn't outrightly approached her in a pushy manner, but she had asked 'Did you do something recently? You look radiant.'
After that, Lili had felt a stare on her back while she waited for closing hours; it was truly bothersome and creepy.
This of course didn't go unnoticed by Drake or Zelos.
"Are we still going to pretend that girl is normal?" Zelos asked, his usual flirtatious smile gone for the moment.
"Never considered her one. But she has yet to do something… but to be able to see that in Lili…"
"About that," they eyed the Pallum, who was staring at her hands again; as if trying to find something in them, but seeing nothing in the end. "What exactly did Boss do to Lili?" She couldn't explain it properly. But if she had to put it into words… it would be like she felt she could accomplish anything.
"Hope"
Lili narrowed her eyes in confusion before looking at Drake. "Hope? What does that have to do with Lili?"
"Don't get it?" Zelos said.
"Then don't ask about it." Drake continued.
"Nor think about it."
"Just embrace it."
Lili pouted at both, seeing they were pretty much speaking in tandem on purpose. "Lili doesn't like when you do that."
"We don't like when you speak in the third person, either." Both replied at the same time.
Lili ignored the remark. "Also, Boss… Lili would like to know if you are going to explain… that." She gestured to his whole body and hair; noting they were faintly glowing.
Drake stopped walking as he looked at himself and then at the moon with an annoyed expression.
"Any problems, little Moonlight?"
Lili felt a sudden chill run down her spine as soon as Zelos spoke; never had she ever seen the blonde glare so deathly at someone. For a moment she really thought he was going to murder his best friend, only for him to close his eyes before he breathed in and out as the glowing died down.
'Too much energy?' Zelos, who had been laughing at Drake's previous glare, asked mentally before looking at the moon.
"Yeah. Hard to keep it suppressed when an external source keeps pumping energy in me." The Former Noble replied before giving a final glare at the moon. 'Good thing it's not a full moon. Otherwise, I would not be able to suppress it if I wanted to.'
"… are you just going to ignore Lili?" The Pallum just stared as both ignored her, sighing in defeat as she followed them to the corner of the street; Soma Familia's home was now in sight.
"So… how are we going to do this?" the Pallum asked, not sure of what was going to happen between her Boss and her God. She was just here to see what was going to happen between her, her Captain; and subsequently, Lord Soma himself.
"We could go through the roofs," Drake explained as he looked at her. "Sneak into your God's office, secure him, and then find Zanis without raising any alarms."
She raised an eyebrow. "Boss can be sneaky?"
Drake nodded. "Me, of course. Although I can't say the same about…" he looked around, noticing the annoying redhead in the group. "No." Both looked over the corner to see Zelos walking nonchalantly to the massive wooden door of the Soma Familia HQ. he turned around and waved at them with a childish smile on his face. "Why are you like this?" he thought out loud as a medium-sized red glyph appeared above Zelos's head.
"Lili worries about Boss's choice of friends." A [Fireball] was shot off the glyph, destroying the wooden door with ease before Zelos calmly went through the newly created entrance.
"Greetings, all you Alcoholics Anonymous! How are you on this fine night?" Zelos's question was met with confusion. Many stared at him before scowls took place, soon followed by screams of chagrining with unsheathed weapons. "Bad you say!? No worries, then," several glyphs appeared above him, making the Adventurers stop dead track as Zelos raised his hands before he started snapping his fingers; shooting [Fireball] with each snap. "You get [Fireball] and you get [Fireball], everyone gets [Fireball]"
"Oprah, what the fuck?" Drake asked as he and Lili stood next to him, watching the chaos that unfolded in mere seconds while also ignoring the screams of terror of the various Adventurers on fire.
"Come on, bud. Do you really want to go with some over-complicated plan when you can use the back door?" Zelos asked, recalling that was pretty much what Drake and Yuri did during the Aeshma incident.
"You could at least try to keep a fucking low profile." Drake rested his face on his palm. It was only a matter of time before Ganesha Familia showed up. "And don't fucking call me bud." He was about to keep arguing with his friend, but Lili got his attention by gently pulling on his sleeve.
He looked down, but she wasn't looking at him. Rather, Liliruca Arte was looking straight ahead at her target; Zanis Lustra. The blue-haired man stared with an almost beast-like scowl at them before he dashed into a building with several of his underlings in tow.
"Boss," She looked at Drake, the green spark in her eyes faintly burning. "Lili is going."
He stared into her eyes for a second before he handed her a weapon; The High-frequency Blade. The very same weapon she had used to defend herself back in the Dungeon from Canoe and many others… and also the same weapon she used to kill them.
"I don't have to tell you to be careful with the edge, right?"
She nodded, taking short notice in seeing he hadn't had the weapon with him when they were on their way here. But she shook the thought away, leaving it for later.
"They grow so fast," Zelos said with crossed arms, looking as Lili gave chase to her prey. "Someone! Should probably keep an eye on her."
Drake sighed.
To be honest, he was about to do the same thing Zelos was doing. "Yeah! Something might happen to her." the blonde stated, putting some obvious fake enthusiasm in his words. "If only there was someone who could do that for us…"
Nothing.
"Oh, come on!" Drake looked over his shoulder at the top of the wall near the entrance of the Familia HQ. "You expect us to beg or something?"
Again, nothing; this made both Guardians twitch.
"We know you are there, you perverted Elf!" both shouted in perfect sync, making a familiar, green-themed rogue-like Elf drop a couple of feet away from them a few seconds later.
Ryuu Lyon glared at both with a hint of disgust in her eyes before she focused solely on Drake. "No," she stated, knowing they wanted her to keep a close eye on Lili.
"Oh pretty please?" Zelos approached her with a twirl, only to be met by the edge of one of the kodachi she always carried around when in her questionable attire. The redhead pretty much twirled back and hid behind Drake. "Did Mama send you to keep an eye on Drake?"
"No. I-"
"So you are stalking us willingly, then," Zelos faked panic as the Elf gave him a pretty tamed, but nonetheless murderous glare. "It's ok. You don't have to say it is because you are worried about this emotionless bastard." he amicably tapped Drake's head. "But I am with him, so you don't have to worry about him," his head popped off one of Drake's shoulders, and made a clear motion with his hand. "So, shoo shoo."
Ryuu's glare just became blank at the whole interaction, but her annoyance was still there; as it was in Drake's eyes.
"I came here of my own volition, not because I was worried about you."
False
Drake fought the urge to roll his eyes at the Darkness' testimony on Ryuu.
"I am worried things might escalate as much as they did with Aeshma."
Drake opened his mouth, but she beat him to it.
"Even if it wasn't you that killed them."
He inwardly sighed. "Can't promise a lot. If anything…" his eyes moved to the balcony for a second. "The worst that I could do is beating a God to a pulp."
He could feel her glare at how carefree his statement was.
"What do you call this?" she gestured at the chaos near the entrance.
"That wasn't me." He pointed at the redhead behind him. "That was him. You may not know this, but redheads are volatile by nature."
Ryuu internally twitched, recalling her Captain; famous for a lot of things, one of them being setting herself on fire, sometimes voluntarily.
"I still see no need to go check on her. From what I heard from Mia, she handled herself very easily in the backyard of the Hostess."
"Believe me, one never knows when someone will become vulnerable."
Ryuu didn't know Lili's background. But Drake did, otherwise he wouldn't try to push the Pallum's safety on her without giving her the context out of respect for the girl.
The Elf sighed in defeat. She focused on the redhead, who still hid behind his friend. "Keep him out of trouble."
"You do realize who you are asking, right?" Drake asked blankly, while Zelos gave a mocking salute.
"He's your friend," she shrugged before turning around. "That says more about you than me."
Zelos slowly stopped hiding behind Drake, both looking at the retreating Elf with no expression on their faces.
"… Did that perverted Elf just get one over you?"
"Looks like it… also." Drake suddenly punched Zelos. "Stop trying to raise my fucking flags!"
Zelos ignored him, a sly smirk remained at the thought, only wiping it away as both looked at the buildings a little further from where they were standing. "Only one thing to deal with left before going after this month's annoying deity."
"Don't you dare to fucking make this a monthly thing," Drake replied as he looked in the same direction; both of their eyes glowing. "Four of them… all from Freya Familia." The blonde looked at the tower, but he didn't feel her gaze on him.
"Want me to deal with them?" Zelos started to crack his knuckles, but Drake just stared for a moment as he saw another Aura signature coming from where the Freya Familia Adventurers were; something Zelos also noticed.
"Let's leave them for now." Zelos just raised an eyebrow as he saw his friend going into the biggest building of the Soma Familia Home, making him shrug as he followed suit.
"Stupid blondie and dumb redhead, insulting Lady Freya in her face."
"Stupid blondie and dumb redhead, causing so much trouble for us."
"Stupid blondie and dumb redhead, can't wait to see them squirm."
"Don't forget Lady Freya asked us to retrieve the Pallum."
"Shut up, Alfrik!" three out of four black armored Pallums shouted, making the one left out simply stare at the Soma Familia Home from afar along with his brothers; he was already used to this.
"Why would Lady Freya suddenly ask us to retrieve such an ugly little girl?"
"We don't question our Goddess' choices, Dvalinn," Berling said as they noticed the blonde and redhead looking in their direction; straight at them. "You don't think…"
"We are several buildings away, nor have we done anything to raise suspicion."
"They did seem to notice that Elf, though," Alfrik muttered. "Perhaps they have some sort of detection skill?"
"Don't compare us to that Elf, Alfrik." All of them muttered, keeping their guard up before Drake and Zelos stopped looking their way.
"But… that doesn't mean they aren't dangerous." Grer thought out loud. "The first blonde already broke the leg of that dirty alley can and even left him looking like one during their first bout."
"The other blondie managed to beat the Elves with ease as well; even if they were vague with the details," Berling said. "Hedin hasn't left his room; mainly to hide his bruised face while muttering curses from his room. Hogni on the other hand has been shouting more nonsense than usual; about how he will surpass his limits, or how the day of the black reckoning will come."
"And that annoying redhead. He was able to cast several spells with only the name of a spell as a trigger, no need for incantation either. And that power output felt like a Middle-level Spell for a simple Fireball."
"Good thing they are not our main target."
"Shut up, Alfrik!" all but one of them shouted. "I am sure we could take them on, easily."
"Not so sure about that. I heard that the blonde is so nuts he once ripped the throat of a torturer with his own teeth."
"Nobody asked you, Alfrik!"
Alfrik Guilliver blinked for a few seconds before his eyes narrowed under his black helmet. "… It wasn't me who said that." They looked at each other, but none of them reacted before looking to the other side of the building to see a short, cloaked figure waving at them.
"Evening," Lett the goblin waved at them; he could feel their unfriendly gazes before each of the four raised their weapons at him.
"Are you perhaps with those two pests? You seem awfully familiar with one of them." Alfrik asked.
"Originally, I came here just to keep an eye on them. But all you simps might just make things escalate if you intervene."
'The hell is a Simp?' all of the Pallums asked in confusion as Lett pointed his fingers at them with a rather eccentric pose.
"That's why I will make sure to keep you all occupied." Sudden olive-greenish energy surrounded his body, lifting his head a little to reveal his yellow glowing eyes, making him seem a little more menacing than usual. "For that, I shall unleash my secret technique."
The four Guilliver brothers took their stances as the energy around their enemy increased… only for him to suddenly turn around and jump over the building.
The Pallums just stared for a second before each gritted their teeth and turned around to the Soma Familia House.
"What a waste of-"
"Freya is a WHORE!"
All of their heads snapped back, not wasting a single second to give chase to the offender of their Goddess. They jumped off the building without hesitation, landing in a back alley. Alfrik, being the one in front, quickly looked up, only for a cylindrical metal object to bounce off his helmet.
His eyes narrowed as his Level Five instincts managed to analyze the object as it bounced off him.
'… property of DMAY… who the fuck is-!' his thoughts stopped as the object suddenly started to release a blinding light that was soon followed by a deafening noise.
"My eyes!"
"I can't hear anything!"
"Don't push me, you idiot!"
"Arrrrgh!"
Lett looked from afar at them with a grin as he took several handmade grenades composed of electric Dust crystals. He took off the pin of all of them with his mouth before tossing them over the Adventurers.
"Did anyone hear that!?"
"We can barely hear shit, Alfr-"
Their usual gimmick was interrupted as six purple electric explosions went off, creating a chain reaction in the area, leaving Lett laughing out of breath at the results.
However, his laugh soon started to fade as he felt four killing intents, all focused on him.
'… right… Level Five.' Lett concluded seeing they seemed to be ok after that. But he didn't decide to find out how much effect his trap had done; because by now, he was already running away, flaring his Aura to the maximum without looking back.
'At least my plan worked!' he thought, his instincts screaming for him not to look back. "But boy, did it work too well… Adam! Please hurry up!" he thought out loud as he continued fleeing from four angered Pallums
Liliruca Arde went through a trip down memory lane as she walked to her Captain's office.
Always stumbled upon, ignored, beaten up, and so on… but now.
Now…
"Someone just stop her already!" The shouts of the Soma Familia Adventurers made no real change as they threw whatever projectile they had in hand at her. But the Pallum seemed unfazed as she just walked forward, stepping calmly from side to side as she got closer to them.
It was a weird feeling.
She wouldn't say that her whole body was in some sort of automatic trance. Rather, she was just sure of her movements; as if someone had imprinted in her subconscious what she should do.
But the most notable change was without a doubt-
"Isn't she supposed to be a mere Level One!?"
Her stats.
She dashed through the hall, bouncing off the floor and walls while handling a blade that was obviously too big for her; with a speed that definitely didn't belong to someone of her Level.
As she did, Lili pondered for a moment about what her Boss had exactly done to her. He had stated he had given her Hope. The blonde had always been extremely vague with his answers, but this one easily took the cake. In the end, it didn't matter how much she pondered about it, she just could come to the conclusion it was some sort of skill… but it didn't feel like that. It was as if what she was feeling right now was completely unrelated to her Falna. In the end, the more she thought and tried to understand it, the more unsure she was of the gift given to her.
"My arm!" An Adventurer screamed as his limb fell to the ground after Lili cut through it easily as she kept bouncing through the hall with her Boss's high-frequency blade.
She had been in a complete panic the first time she used it.
She didn't even know what exactly Tsubaki's creation could do.
But now it was a completely different story as she only made sure to critically wound or cripple them as a last option; at least that was the case at first. It was hard to hold back against people that were the main reason for the terrible environment she grew up in. So she really didn't care at the moment if they had to stop being Adventurers; keeping them alive was enough for her.
It was more than they deserved, anyway.
"… Please… someone… anyone." Many Adventurers -the last one standing behind her target and her- started to beg as the Pallum now seemed unstoppable in his eyes.
Liliruca Arde just stared emotionlessly at them, making a gesture with her head to move aside, which they did in a heartbeat; leaving no one to protect the door to Zanis' office.
Her hands went to reach the doorknob, only to suddenly move her blade back. The Pallum looked over her shoulder to see the tip of the blade millimeters away from the face of one of the Adventurers she spared; frozen in place with their weapon up and ready to strike from the back.
"Don't."
The aggressor could only stare in fear at the green flames in Lili's eyes, trembling as he fell to the ground. She looked at the rest of the Adventurers behind her, none of them dared to even look straight in her eyes before she looked back at the door in front of her, turning the doorknob to open it and enter the office.
"…" she stared at her Captain, his coat removed most likely to use a potion on his no longer wounded shoulder. He was sitting behind his table, both of his hands interlocked while his elbows rested on the table.
"… Do you have any idea how much it will cost and how long it will take us to recover from this?" His voice was low, but his eyes were completely bloodshot; his anger was controlled. "But it doesn't matter. I forgive you… because I am a benevolent person."
"Lili calls bullshit."
His lips twitched, letting a small snort escape his lips. "Looks like someone has become ballsy."
"Captain Zanis might be right… I used to insult you behind your back, cursing your name in my sleep… no more." She pointed the blade at him. "Insulting you doesn't seem enough for Lili anymore."
To his credit, Zanis hid behind a faint laugh. "Now, now… no need to be so hasty. I recognize my mistakes. Maybe trying to dispose of you and your… Boss was not the wisest idea."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Tell me… did he do something to you? Was it some sort of skill, perhaps?" He asked, clearly wondering about the sudden strength she obtained to so easily overpower him earlier today; recalling her boss had addressed the Pallum before her whole demeanor changed, it was easy to connect the dots. "Perhaps there was an actual reason for our God's interest in him."
There was a small silence as Zanis studied Lili, his gaze focusing on the flames in Lili's eyes; it was increasing little by little.
"I want to propose something to you." He suddenly said. "He listens to you, right?" his lips twitched up a little. "I think it is possible for all past transgressions to be forgotten if you speak on behalf of the…our Familia. I will forgive your transgression towards the Familia and even kneel for forgiveness if that's what he wants…" Lili just stared as Zanis' lips formed into a maddening grin. "After that, we can use him to boost our Familia's power and make it even greater than it has ever been before." His grin became a chuckle, and soon a maddening laugh; not realizing a sigh escaped Lili's lips.
"Now that Lili thinks about it, Captain Zanis has always been really simple-minded."
His laugh suddenly stopped, focusing on the Pallum; whose face looked at him boredly.
"Lili doesn't have any kind of influence on Boss. As a matter of fact, Lili has been the one being used since the day she met Boss."
"But, he's helping you-"
"Out of his own benefit." She replied, partially lying. Even if she still wasn't certain as to why her Boss was taking the extra step of helping her despite not really being any need to.
"But even so," She could see her captain's jaw tensing, trying to find the right words as his hands started to shake in frustration. "What does he expect to achieve with this!? There will clearly be repercussions for this! The Guild will surely label him as a criminal! Only I can-"
"Lili doesn't really care." Her grip on her blade tightened. "However, Lili does have to agree with something Captain Zanis said. Whatever it is that befalls Soma Familia tonight…" She started to walk towards him. "It will surely be better without Captain Zanis."
Zanis just stared frozen at her, watching in slow motion as the Pallum approached him. He started to grit his teeth, having the urge of tearing up his own skin due to the frustration he was feeling.
Soon, his vision started to darken little by little as his own breathing started to become erratic. Visions of his past in the Familia started to come to him; how hard he had worked, how much had he lied, cheated, and killed to reach the top of his Familia… all of it about to be taken away by the Reaper taken form in the Pallum in front of him.
'No…' he thought, his trembling hand going for the sword hidden under the table before an angry growl escaped his mouth. He suddenly flipped the table and kicked it in Lili's direction. "I am not gonna let everything I have worked for be taken away by a mere supporter!" he charged, leaving his anger to guide him, and not really thinking through what the Pallum would do.
It never crossed his mind that Lili would slash through the table, nor that the strength behind the attack would be enough to create a small wave that cut through everything, including Zanis' dominant hand and part of the ceiling.
The Supporter saw as her Captain fell on his knees, holding his crippling hand out of instinct as he screamed in pain. But it looked like he had enough self-reservation to recognize Lili kept walking toward him.
"WAIT! WAIT!" Zanis stumbled back on the floor. "I WILL GIVE YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT! MONEY! POWER!" Lili didn't stop. "EVEN A CHANCE TO LEAVE THE FAMILIA!"
Zanis' eyes brightened a bit, especially when he saw her dropping that accursed blade. He was about to say something, but Lili beat him to it with a sudden straight to his face.
"Captain Zanis is a liar." She stated, standing over him only to grab his collar and force him up. "Do you think Lili wanted any of this?" she started to punch him. "All this chaos, all this damage… Lili never wanted this!"
Zanis could do nothing but keep listening as her slow, yet strong assault continued. "But Lili was given a choice… and Captain Zanis made it clear he would never stop harassing Lili; so this is my choice, even if Lili doesn't like it." She didn't notice it herself, but tears started to leak out of her eyes.
"I-" she suddenly stopped, managing to hear the muttering coming out of his mouth. "I- I am sorry." Zanis could barely see how Lili's eyes snapped open. But it wasn't in shock, no. He was conscious enough and had enough life experience to see when someone was pissed.
"…Sorry?" Lili asked, starting her assault once more, with more force in her punches as she gritted her teeth.
'How many times did Lili say that for things that weren't even her fault? And how many times did Lili say that to those Adventurers she had left to die when she became a supporter?... and when did Lili stop feeling guilty about those Adventurers she left to die?'
"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" She had let go of his collar at some moment after that, opting to use both of her fists as the intensity of flames in her eyes increased for a moment before they started to fade, as did the emotion in her attacks; making a bigger mess of Zanis' face in the process.
In the end, when it was done, Liliruca Arde stood there emotionless.
She stood up, turning around to pick up her Boss' sword. She picked it up, only to stop for a moment as she finally noticed she had started crying; falling to her knees as she cried her heart out, not noticing the sudden shadow looming over her.
Zanis Lustra lifted his weapon with his remaining good arm, being as silent as possible. His eyes only saw red, only anger and hate filled his thoughts as he prepared to strike the Pallum down.
However, he never got the chance to do that.
Instead, he fell on his knees as he suddenly felt a strike at his throat from a blunt object. He never managed to see the owner of the attack.
"… Did Boss send you?" Lili asked between whines, trying to stop her crying as she looked over her shoulder; hiding her surprise to see a green-cloaked Elf that seemed awfully familiar. It didn't take her long to figure out she was the stoic Elf from the Hostess that her Boss enjoyed bullying.
Ryuu Lyon nodded.
She now understood why Drake had asked to keep an eye on the Pallum. "You are too emotional," she looked at the now unconscious Zanis. "Which made you leave your guard down."
"Can you blame Lili?"
No, She could not.
The Elf had heard and seen enough to know the girl was releasing her anger on one of the tormentors that had forced this life on her.
"Do you need a minute?"
Lili slowly shook her head, gripping the handle of the weapon as she stood up. "Lili still has to confront Boss." She addressed the Elf, only to see a little hint of confusion at her sudden statement. "Boss used me, just like she used him." Lili looked down in thought, not noticing Ryuu had tightened the grip on her wooden sword. "And still Boss helped Lili… even when she didn't deserve it. Lili wants to know why."
Ryuu internally sighed, loosening the grip on her weapon as they started to walk out of the room, only to stop at the sound of a familiar, yet somehow triggered voice.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?"
A few minutes ago…
"He's waiting for you." Chandra Ihit stated, looking at both Drake and Zelos in front of him; focusing a little more on the former for a moment. "Please, do come in." The porter opened the door.
"And here I was preparing to knock you out," Zelos said, flipping a coin to Chandra; who seemed a little annoyed by the gesture as if he was a vagrant, but said nothing as he closed the door after both had walked in.
"Welcome." Both looked to the side, landing their gazes on a rather peculiar individual.
He had long black hair with long bangs that covered his eyes, concealing most of his face. Average height with slender limbs and almost delicate in appearance. He was currently wearing his work outfit consisting of a loose-fitting robe with sleeves and hem dirtied with soil.
'… Wow… this guy is the very image of an hikikomori.'
There was a snort before Yuri addressed Luke's statement. 'Of course, you would know.'
'I was bedridden!'
'Guys, not now.' Flynn interjected, knowing things would escalate if he didn't stop them.
"I can speak for all of us when I say you were not what we were expecting at all." Zelos thought out loud as the Deity continued his brewing. They had already heard that God was a recluse, but this was just a little too much.
"My apologies for the lack of order in the room," The wine God suddenly said, stopping his brewing before serving two cups out of it. "Here," he said, placing the cups on his table before he sat behind it and stared… and stared. "… Is something the matter?" he asked, seeing as both of his guests were looking at him as if he was the weirdest thing in the room.
"… Noooooo," Zelos said in a rather unsure tone, especially since his best friend only stared at God with a slight twitch in his eyes. "It's just… how do we put this… you were not what we were expecting?"
The God raised an eyebrow.
"Is this perhaps related to whatever the members of my Familia might have done to you? If so, I apologize, even though it was all of their own free wills… or perhaps was it something Lili did?"
Zelos clapped his hand, trying to gather their thoughts seeing there was a lot of miscommunication. "We figured your Familia with the exception of Lili were acting on their own, only because she confirmed they were going against your will due to the lack of your beverage, and the issue of your income. So, while she's out there retaliating against years of abuse, we decided to come to the guy who suddenly dropped all of his work," he pointed at Drake, who was right now pinching the bridge between his eyes. "apparently because of this asshole."
"He seems disappointed."
Drake forced a sarcastic chuckle. "I had prepared to deal with a fucking asshole, trying to force me into joining his Familia or use me in some way. Again!" He wasn't disappointed, he was annoyed; because it looked like there was indeed something the blonde wasn't expecting, and he didn't like where this was going.
"Why would I do that to such an eminence?"
Soma didn't know about it. But he had pretty much confirmed all of Drake's first assumptions, something the others easily caught up as he could hear some laughter in his mind.
'This is not happening.'
'It is.' Many replied between laughs.
"Excuse me… " Zelos, who was mentally laughing as well, if the twitching of his lips were any indication, decided to inquire. "But what exactly makes you want to drop everything for him? And when did it start? When you crossed eyes at the market about a month ago, perhaps?" he asked, as Drake sat on a nearby chair in front of the table, resting his face on his palm while his elbows rested on the chair's arm.
"Hmm… actually, it was a little about a week or so before that." Both tensed, because that was about the time Drake arrived in this world. "There was something off with the Moon and it has been like that since around that time. It might seem brighter to the common eye than it usually was." His eyes narrowed. "But for a Moon deity, it is easy to tell how the Moon seemed to be full of power and resonating with something… or someone."
Soma didn't notice, but Drake threw him a dangerous glare as his face still rested on his palm.
"Any Moon deity would think it was 'just some idiot in Tenkai messing up with it', and I was one of them until I felt a very mild sensation familiar to the Moon." Zelos raised an eyebrow seeing there was some brightness in Soma's eyes; which he could tell was uncharacteristic of the Deity, even if he had only known him for five minutes.
"I still remember it as it was yesterday."
Soma didn't exactly know what exactly inspired him to leave his room, his Familia Home, to take a walk into the city. But he knew it was related to his domain with the Moon; which was getting stronger with every step as he entered the market area in the city.
For some reason, he felt something rather overwhelming nearby, almost leaving him in a sort of trance until he stopped still, now realizing all of his surroundings had vanished into an empty void of Darkness… with the little exception of a small silver orb.
'No.' the God thought, realizing that it was no mere orb as it started to get bigger by the second; it was a Moon, a 'Full' bright radiating silver Moon that easily illuminated the whole place, to the point it made Soma's eyes hurt.
But even so, he couldn't look away.
Even if he was a Moon Deity, he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the imposing yet magnificent presence of such a thing. It was radiating, powerful, beautiful… and inspiring.
Sadly, the whole awe-inspiring experience changed the moment he surrendered to the urge of blinking, bringing him back into reality and staring straight up at a pair of green draconic eyes a few feet away from him. None of them moved or said something to one another.
But the Wine God had the urge to approach him and say something.
However, Soma remembered something about himself at that very moment…
"I don't know how to talk to people."
Zelos, and the rest of the Guardians listening just face palmed, while Drake's twitching eyes had been focusing on the God's table; more specifically on the small mountain of books on it. All of them with titles like 'How to stop being an introvert?', 'Get out and touch grass', and the most recent one; 'How to treat your guests.'
"Realizing my lack of knowledge, I started to try and see how I could improve my social skills. But as I did that, I realized I really didn't have any way to approach you: I didn't even know your name."
"So you asked Lili to try to find him, and collect basic information about him." Zelos concluded.
"Sadly, besides finding him, she wasn't able to gather much."
"She was a lot of sus." Zelos said, suddenly eyeing Drake standing up from his chair.
"I am going to use your balcony for a second." Soma just nodded as he and Zelos just heard some mumbling.
"Of all the stupid… asinine… shark jumping bullshit," the mumbling continued as Zelos noticed a little of his lightning as well as Aura leaking before reaching the balcony. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?"
Both just stared, the God in confusion while the redhead with a blank face; it wasn't the first time he reacted like this because of something so incredibly stupid.
"… I need a drink." Drake pondered out loud, pretty much saying everything that came to mind at that moment after laying back in his chair while looking at the ceiling. "All of this happened because a God didn't know how to talk to people; it is like dealing with my mother all over again."
"Luna isn't that bad…"
The redhead received a deathly glare from his best friend. "I can't fucking lie, and if I force it out I end up with brain damage. All because her Little Moonlight should not lie."
When he had told Hephaestus his mother was a divine mess, he was not kidding.
"… At least we helped Lili." The Second Guardian tried to find the positives of these past two weeks; the most stellar one being staining Finn Deinme's reputation by accusing him of being a cradle robber.
"If it helps in any way," they looked at Soma. "Be grateful it wasn't someone like Artemis who took notice of him." he said with a stern expression, making Zelos raise an eyebrow.
"Bitch who?"
"Exactly," Soma said, with an uncharacteristic twitch on his mouth. "Also, I was already planning on making a cleanup of my Familia. Starting with Zanis."
They both stared at him blankly due to Lili already doing that as they spoke.
"At least it is something… why all of the sudden, though?"
"Seeing you that day…"
Drake internally groaned, not liking being the center of attention.
"Make me realize I am just an insignificant grain of sand in a bigger place," Soma said, recalling how his divinity didn't even seem to match Drake's on even the smallest of levels. This made both of them tense, as did the rest of the Guardians. Because this meant a Moon deity could easily spot his divinity if they focused enough. "But it also inspired me to be better."
There was a moment of silence, only to be broken by Zelos. "How does it feel being someone else's muse?"
"Eat shit and die." Drake muttered, loosening his scarf a little before grabbing one of the glasses Soma had offered, making God's eyes widen as he tried to reach out and say something; but nothing came out of his mouth as both of them continued bickering to notice him. "I am having a headache just thinking how we are gonna deal with this," he said before drinking the content of the glass in one sip… making him drop unconscious a second later.
"Drake?" Zelos muttered, watching as the wooden glass fell on the ground. Seeing him unconscious made him feel a very familiar sense of dread. No, Drake hadn't been poisoned with some sort of lethal venom or anything like that. He was dead either, otherwise, Zelos would have vanished in the spot seeing he was using Drake's shadow as a medium to appear in the physical world
No. This was far worse.
"Soma… what did you pour in those cups?" Zelos tried to hide his fear. He picked up the cup his friend dropped and brought it closer to smell it; his eyes widened.
"It was Soma. My best batch up to date, closer to the one I was able to make in Tenkai." Zelos could smell the sweetness in it, but could also identify the high and well-hidden inhumane dose of alcohol; almost to the point he would say it was Divine. Zelos could tell it wasn't as strong as a certain drink he was thinking about, but it was pretty fucking close to it… which was bad.
"I wasn't planning to on letting you drink it, thinking of the risk of both of you falling into its numb effect."
"Then why did you serve it?" Soma didn't flinch at the clear annoyance in the redhead's tone.
"It said in one of the books I read; about serving something to your guests." Zelos pinched the bridge between his eyes. "But since I had nothing else, I served you my newest batch of Soma." The God looked at the now unconscious Drake as Zelos looked at him.
"Do you have any idea of what you have-" Zelos never got to finish his sentence, mainly because the Guardian had suddenly vanished in black smoke.
"Origin, fucking damn it." Zelos cursed as he was suddenly forced back into Drake's soulscape. The green aurora in the night sky seemed erratic, and there was a rather ominous feeling in the strong wind that suddenly appeared. But the most notorious change was without a doubt-
"Everyone, get ready!" Lloyd suddenly ordered as all of the Guardians sans Zelos stood in formation with replicas of their weapons at the ready; each with a serious scowl on their faces.
Zelos looked at where everyone was looking, making him form a scowl of his own as he spotted a standing coffin in the distance with a plate on its front. The Second Guardian narrowed his eyes to read what it said.
'… ah hell naw.' Zelos thought after reading it.
Here lies Drunk Drake, AKA, Drakey Motherloving Warsta-
A fist suddenly punched the top of the coffin from the inside, making everyone tense at what was coming.
"… Fuck my life." Zelos cursed.
Soma just blinked at the spot Zelos had just been standing at, even though he looked completely unfazed.
He approached the unconscious blonde to check his pulse, sighing in relief as it seemed he was still alive.
"Boss!" Liliruca Arde and an Elf he didn't know suddenly barged in; the former dropping a katana she had been carrying. She looked in shock as she dashed to the blonde while the Elf just stared at the God with a rather dangerous gaze.
"I didn't do anything." Soma said, already figuring out what they might be thinking. "He passed out after drinking some of my Soma."
"But Soma doesn't make people pass out like this!" Lili recalled the few times she had tasted it in attempts to leave the Familia. It numbed all of the senses with the exception of the taste, making the person who drank it fall into a drunk-like state of pure joy; completely disconnected from the world before they dozed off.
"Maybe it is because it was a new batch." He started to ponder. "Although, his red-headed friend seemed quite panicked at the prospect of him being drunk."
"And where is Zelos?" The Elf asked, her eyes searching across the room only to see no trace of the red-head.
"He suddenly disappeared into a black poof soon after Drake passed out."
He didn't need to look at them to know they didn't believe him. But he could hear the Elf gripping her weapon tightly.
However, Ryuu Lyon didn't get to do anything.
"Boss!" Lili's scream broke the Elf out of her thoughts. Her eyes widened as she saw Drake suddenly standing up, with no clear reaction. He suddenly turned around to see Lili, with no clear expression on his face despite suddenly grabbing her to lift her up. "Boss?"
There was a sudden sensation of dread inviting the Pallum as she stared at his emotionless face, only for it to shift into a joyful one in the blink of an eye.
'…what?'
"Lili!" The sudden joy and intensity in his voice made everyone perplexed; as If they didn't know the person they were seeing right now. "Were you able to let out all that repressed anger and resentment towards your Familia!?"...especially if he said things like that.
"… Y-Yes?"
"That's great!" He suddenly brought her closer to embrace her, making both Pallum and Elf twitch at the action. "Doesn't it feel better when you make things happen by yourself!?"
Something in Lili's mind clicked.
And for some reason, the words that Zelos had told her earlier in the day came to mind. About Drake helping her, but not solving her problems. She wanted to ask him about it, but he beat her to it.
"My brothers and I had a long discussion on what to do with you when I met you."
LINEBBREAK
Flashback
"No." Drake replied, resting his back on a bench as everything around him seemed frozen with a scale of gray.
"Oh, come on!" Lloyd suddenly exclaimed, sitting on one end of the bench while Zelos sat on the other one; the rest stood around them.
"We can't discard the possibility that Moon Deity might have noticed your divinity," Jude pointed out, shifting his gaze at the freezing supporter with a massive bag. "She might be your best chance to find out."
"Oh, I get that." The blonde replied before pointing at the Pallum. "What I don't get is why you want me to focus on her."
"Do you really want to go into another 'night walk' without knowing if you are in hot waters or not?"
"I am down for it."
"Shut up, Yuri!"
Yuri Lowell snorted as he rolled his eyes at his brothers' reaction.
"Drake." Flynn started. "We are not telling you to go and fix the girl's life, only to find out what she's trying to achieve and get some information of your own. Nothing else."
"… You do realize you suck at lying, right?" Drake just stared as Flynn gave his usual innocent and charismatic smile.
"Dick."
"Also…" Luke said wearily, standing behind the bench to slightly sit on its back, not looking at Drake's eyes. "You did say you were gonna do your 'Good deed of the month'."
Drake's jaw dropped slightly before looking at his friend. "Oh, Fuck you! Stop using my words against me, you assess…" he rubbed the side of his head. "This better not be all of your guilty consciousness for not telling me about the state of Sofia Flores right away." He said, recalling the whole Aeshma incident.
"It isn't," they replied in a heartbeat.
"Consider it as killing two birds with one stone," Lloyd suddenly said. "You find out what that Moon deity knows and help the girl at the same time. Easy peasy."
Drake sighed.
"… I hope you all realize she's no good Samaritan; even if life handed her a bad hand of cards."
"Her number barely enters the two digits numbers. Compared to some people I can count, that's nothing."
"Not a damn competition, Yuri," Guy said. "But he's right… we are gonna leave the decision to you, Drake."
He mentally cursed them, and they knew it.
"… I am gonna do this like I usually do, just giving her a push. It's up to her to see how she reaches her conclusion. So, anyone else have another smart-ass comment to make?"
There was a collective 'Nope' before Drake's mind stopped going a mile a second, making his surroundings start moving again as the color returned.
'Fuck my life.' He thought, before calling for his future supporter.
Lili stared with widened eyes as she had finally been let go.
Drake had obviously left some details out of his little tale, like how he had been in contact with his brothers since she recalled not seeing a single one of them when she met him.
But her mind had focused on the important thing.
He had intended to help her from the beginning, even if it wasn't his main objective.
"But then, why set up Lili?"
He suddenly raised his fist before he started to count. "Because I am an asshole."
'That one is a given.' Both Elf and Pallum thought as he continued.
"Because there had to be some karma for all of those before me."
Lili tensed, knowing she meant all the previous Adventurers she had offered her service to, and then set up to die in the Dungeon.
"And most importantly," his smile tightened. "You wouldn't have reached your own choice if you weren't put in that spot a little." He clapped his hands. "But hey! I will say everything went just as planned… kind of!"
He never planned on giving Lili an ember of Hope, but the situation called for it. There was also that little incident of her killing others in self-defense, nor did he plan for Soma to be some recluse introvert wanting to meet him. Even while drunk, it was still a feeling worthy of cringe.
"Boss is indeed an asshole!" The Pallum exclaimed, opting to kick him but then instantly regretted her action as she felt like striking a wall of concrete.
"So you regret overcoming everything that tortured you since birth?"
"No! But Boss is still awful!" she started to cling to his pants as she started to cry again. "… Thank you."
Drake rolled his eyes, gently patting her head.
"Also, you might have to leave Soma Familia after all." he made a motion with his head to Soma. "The Hikikomori over here was planning on making a clean-up."
The God seemed offended by that. "With all due respect, I do go out."
"Huh… I am surprised you know what that even means." Lili had let go of the blonde watching her Deity with a glint of light in her eyes. "I feel like we can leave things as they are for now."
He looked at the High-Frequency blade lying on the floor, making it sink into a shadow.
"So that's how you always took things out of nowhere." He blinked a few times before he looked over at Ryuu, who was staring at him with her usually stoic expression, despite a very noticeable tone of smugness in her voice.
"No shit Miss Tsubaki said you didn't need a Supporter!"
Both ignored her as Drake just kept staring at the Elf.
"I can already see Mia also putting you on permanent re-stocking duty, or Lunor trying to get back at you for always letting her take care of all the bags or the heavy stuff… Uhh, Drake?"
She had tried to get another on him. But it seemed to have no effect seeing he just stared at her…intensively.
She was happy the bottom half of her face had been covered, or else the redness of her face might have been revealed.
"…Ryuuuuu!" and she was even more glad about that fact as he shouted her name before suddenly embracing her, making her head feel dizzy as her senses caught the slight smell of alcohol.
It was at that moment she recalled he had drunk some Soma before they arrived. His whole behavior could be attributed to the fact that he was under its effects. So she just had to either knock him out or-
"Have I ever told you, you are my favorite Elf!?" every reasoning and thought in her mind suddenly stopped, leaving the Elf with wide eyes as her whole face started to heat up.
Yes; had stopped working… or rather, it was overheating.
"I mean, the list of Elves I know can be summarized in just four, counting you. But you are still the best of the best. I even think I can actually ask you something without you judging me. I really appreciate you coming to look after me, even if it is a little stalker-ish… but hey, that's also an Elf thing according to Baalbuddy… Ryuu?" he separated himself from her, still holding her by the shoulders.
"… she passed out," He said before shrugging, calmly placing her on a chair. "Mind taking care of her until she wakes up?" he started to walk to the balcony with the same positive attitude. "I have to deal with one final headache before the night ends." He turned around and started to walk backwards. "We will talk about this whole thing later." He sat on the handrail and waved at them with a smile before letting himself fall backward, leaving the God and Pallum just staring at where he had been standing moments ago.
"… God Soma isn't allowed to offer alcohol to Boss, ever."
In all honesty, seeing Drake being so cheery freaked her out a little.
[Cyclone]
[Tidal Wave]
[Indignation]
Those were the names of Highly Advanced Magic Artes, among many others.
Some of them that were stored in the storable spell knives Lett the Goblin was carrying. The only problem with the spells was that they were so powerful that they could damage a large part of the city.
'Ratatosk damn it.' The Xenos cursed as he hid under a wooden box he had managed to find after losing the four Pallum brothers of the Freya Familia with the use of more Flash Grenades, which he was running out of. 'I didn't pick up a single knife with a Mid-Level spell.' He thought, wondering if that would even affect a Level Five, seeing as various grenades charged with Electric Dust just merely slowed them down.
He took out his Scroll and opened a conversation with Adam.
Lett: Where the fuck are you!? It's only a matter of time before those Simps find me!
That message had been sent about ten minutes ago, and the receiver had read it ten minutes ago.
Lett: Don't you fucking dare to leave me in 'seen', you asshole!
Lett just stared frantically at the screen as he saw the person on the other end was now typing.
"I am sure that shorty came this way."
Lett's heart skipped a beat as he heard four pairs of footsteps getting closer to his location.
"This is a dead end, Dvalinn."
"Shut up, Alfrigg! I noticed, but I am sure he came this way."
"He probably jumped onto the rooftop."
Lett breathed in and out calmly, calming his heartbeats as he read the message Adam just sent him.
Adam: What? Too much for you?
The Goblin's eyes twitched. This was clearly a provocation for going on his own.
Adam: You will have to wait a bit longer. I am almost there.
Lett internally sighed in relief, relaxing his body a little.
"Maybe. But…"
*SMASH*
The Goblin's body tensed again as he heard one of the many boxes near him had been broken. "...just to be sure." Dvalinn replied, preparing to use his hammer again to smash another box.
'Adam, please hurry up!'
"I think you are being a little too cruel." Ray said, looking a little over her cloak to see Adam watching down from a nearby building as the hammer-wielding Pallum started to smash the Boxes in the Area.
"I am not always gonna be there to fix his messes." Adam sighed, seeing as Dvalinn Gulliver destroyed another box. "Guess this is it." He said, preparing to jump down seeing the Pallum was getting closer to where the Goblin was hiding… but then, his instincts kicked in.
"Adam?" Ray asked, seeing as the Bull Faunus had not only stopped all of the sudden; but the grip on his sword was also shaking.
Ever since he started to use his Aura more like an Artes user, his instincts had increased exponentially. So he could tell when something bad…something ominous, was about to happen. But this…this was just too familiar for his liking.
It wasn't until he recalled a certain memory that he knew what was coming.
"… fuck."
"Will you hurry up already? The more we waste our time here, the more that damn shorty will be able to get away."
Lett could hear Dvalinn groan.
"Fine… let me just break this one just in case." Lett gritted his teeth, tensing his body as he suddenly took a position to burst out of the box and prepare to run away again. But then, his ears caught something; the distinctive sound of chains.
And he was not the only one.
"Did someone hear th- Arg!" Lett heard one of the brothers suddenly stop talking, only to then once again hear the sounds of chains before something crashed against a wall, followed by the sound of broken bones.
"Berling!" Alfrigg shouted, making Lett smile as he thought Adam had finally arrived. He was about to get out of the box, but a sudden message on his Scroll stopped him.
Adam: Whatever you do, DO NOT get out of that box under any circumstance!
Lett blinked, reading the message a second time to double-check. Adam Taurus would never engage in a fight while texting unless the situation called for it; this didn't seem like one such situation.
'But then… who's fighting those Pallums? '
"You!" The three remaining brothers exclaimed, making Lett wonder how he didn't hear any footsteps or indication that someone else had arrived. "Surround him!"
Lett could only hear as a fight started to break out. He could tell most of the surroundings were getting destroyed, but there didn't seem to be any direct hit from any of the parties.
"Stay put, blondie!"
Lett's eyes widened, already figuring out who the brothers were dealing with and understanding Adam's message.
"Ok." The blonde suddenly said, only for the sounds of chains to echo once again.
"Grer! What are you doing!? Move!"
"I- I can't! Something is holding-"
*SNAP*
*CRACK*
"Aaaaaaaaargh!"
Lett flinched.
For a moment he heard the snap of fingers, followed by the very distinguishable sound of several bones breaking, and then finally Grer Gulliver's scream.
"Grer!" Alfrigg shouted before Lett heard something big crashing against a wall. "You bastard blon-! Dvalinn, wait!"
"I am getting really tired of your whole Familia." Lett heard one of the remaining brothers suddenly start to struggle as Drake spoke, but he didn't hear the sound of chains this time. "First a stray cat, a narcissistic Elf, then a cringy Elf. And now the four damn hobbits from the Lord of the Rings. At this rate, I might be fighting Ottarl next month."
"Don't discard us so easi-!"
The struggles of Alfrigg and Dvalinn Gulliver were heard, making Lett reach the conclusion Drake Aurion was most likely shocking both with his own hands.
"I am-"
*CRACK*
"-getting-"
*CRACK*
"-really-"
*CRACK*
"-tired of that whore's bullshit!"
"Do- don't you dare to- insult Lady-"
*CRACK*
"Oh shut the fuck up, Frodo." Lett heard before both bodies fell to the ground, leaving an uncomfortable silence to take place for a while. "… so, are you just gonna stay up there? Or are we gonna talk?"
"… You are drunk." Adam Taurus stated, trying to stay calm in the situation; something that shocked Ray seeing Adam had never shown any sign of doubt, hesitation, or fear.
The blonde had suddenly dropped into the scene after one of the Pallum brothers had been sent crashing against the wall by what Adam described as Shadow Chains, and even though she didn't see any of them, she did at least hear them.
Soon after, another one of the Pallums was held in midair by those same chains, only to have all of his limbs pressured to the point of breaking by them before being tossed away just like his brother.
And the last two… he held them by their throats. But instead of shocking them until they passed out, he started to smash their heads with one another; breaking their helmets, and then their skulls, in the process.
And now…
"I am not that drunk." Drake Aurion replied as he waved his hand in front of his face with a rather humorous face. "Believe me, even I would be wary if I were one-hundredth percent drunk."
He knew his brothers currently were.
He could hear the shouts of pain, agony, complaint, and annoyance coming from his Soul as they tried to subdue the hazard that was that guy.
"So come down and let's have that talk you proposed the last time, seeing as this is a good a time as any other."
Adam understood why he said that. Even if he was not drunk, he was still a little intoxicated; enough to dull some of his emotions, especially his Dragon-like anger.
"… Stay here." He motioned to Ray before he dropped off the building. "Give me a moment." He gestured to Drake before gently kicking off a nearby box. "Get out."
The box was lifted a moment later, revealing Lett, who didn't dare to look Adam in the eye.
"What did we learn today?"
Lett looked away as he replied. "Not to think I am tough shit?"
"… Not the words I would choose, but yes."
"Loose cannon?" Drake asked humorously to which Adam nodded. "If anything, if it hadn't been for his distraction, my plans for tonight might have been ruined… so for what's worth… good job, Goblin."
Lett tensed under his cloak, checking if some of his skin was showing; but nothing was.
"Don't bother." Adam said, noticing Lett's confusion. "Your own shadow probably ratted you out."
"Although I do not appreciate him using my stuff so freely." The blonde raised his hand to show a used flash grenade; his initials were carved on it.
"Hey!" Lett pointed at Adam in a heartbeat. "He's the one who told all of us to use your things as we please."
"Pretty sure I said moderately, you damn Goblin." Adam replied, growling internally as he held back the intent of smacking the goblin for throwing him under the bus like that.
"Now that we are addressing this race, I have to add… does he have Goblin tendencies?"
Adam's eyes twitched behind his shaders, while Lett narrowed his eyes. "Huh… Adam and our Lord make comments about that… but I still don't know what they-"
"Go away, Lett." Adam suddenly said, gently pushing the Goblin away.
"Hey, but I want to-"
"Go. Away. Lett." He put more pressure on his order, making the Goblin flinch before nodding and jumping to where Ray was.
"… I forgot how loose your tongue was when drunk."
"I do a lot of weird shit when I am drunk… seriously though, what are you gonna do when that Goblin starts to-?"
"Don't. Just, don't." Adam said with a serious face before he sighed. "I fail to notice the lack of a pillar of light, so I assume you didn't kill any deities tonight… I take it you buried him alive, as well?"
Drake laughed, rubbing the back of his neck as he recalled Aeshma. "Keeping tabs on me, are you? But no." He clapped his tongue and looked away in annoyance, at what Adam could identify as cringe. "Please don't ask."
"Also, where are your brothers? I thought there had been an agreement of not letting you get drunk unsupervised."
Drake's face shifted in a solemn one as he could hear the shouts of his brothers in his soulscape.
'Oh shit, he's got Zelos!'
'But we managed to immobilize him!'
'Flynn! Punch his light outs while we can!'
'Got it!'
'Thank you for your sacrifice, Zelos!'
'Don't you fucking there to throw a punch with me in between! Wait! Wait! Not the face! Not the face!''
Drake closed his eyes, paying a moment of silence in the memory of-
'Still alive, you bastard!'
Nevermind, then.
"They are occupied. And speaking of things that we should be doing…" Drake suddenly pointed a finger at Adam with an accusatory glare. "Shouldn't you be keeping an eye on the Dungeon for Centurion Activity? You are one crappy underling."
Adam's mouth twitched; finding this version of him completely obnoxious. The normal Drake would have also pointed something like this, but not in such an annoying manner.
"I have been keeping an eye on the most recent one past floor Sixty."
Drake took a dumbfounded expression, blinking several times before he replied. "… I was talking about the one near floor twenty-seven…"
"… Beg your pardon?" Adam asked, in a rather confused tone.
"You know, floor twenty-seven, the great fall? giant ass waterfall? Where monsters suddenly started to gain ice attribute attacks and the whole floor seems to be freezing… that floor twenty-seven?"
"Don't you fucking sass me." Adam cursed under his breath as he pinched the bridge between his eyes.
"Then again… that Centurion seems to be keeping a low profile despite being in a sealed state, so even I am having problems finding it." He snapped his fingers. "So, it would make sense if neither you nor Ratatosk felt his presence if you were already hunting another Centurion…" Drake narrowed his eyes for a moment. "Which one is it, anyway?"
Adam gave a similar glare behind his shaders, understanding really well why he was asking that. "… it is-"
Their eyes suddenly widened.
Their heads snapped in the direction of the Dungeon, standing frozen as an ominous silence took over before the whole city was suddenly hit by a massive wind that was strong enough to shatter every window of every house.
"So… Ventus?"
Adam nodded in confirmation, but with a scowl on his face as they started to hear the sounds of people suddenly screaming in panic, while others questioned what had happened all across the street.
Ventus, the Centurion of Wind.
The one which Adam had been searching for past the Sixtieth floor.
And now, someone… something had most likely not only found it… but also subdued it.
"I could really use some of the stuff you drank right now."
"… Me too… me too."
AN: Welp… we have reached the last chapter of what I managed to have ready in the schedule. The next one is about 20% done at the moment.
Hopefully, will be able to finish it over the weekend; even though lately I have been having the idea of writing a story for a game called Path To Nowhere, which is funny since I never thought I would grow obsessed with a tower defense type of game.
But anyway, back to the topic at hand. In case I don't manage to write the next chapter by the deadline, I will stop with the weekly updates to take my time and finish the current volume, which as of now should be finished within the next five or six chapters, seven if I know myself and end up writing more than I should.
Thank you for your support and time until now. and since I am doing AN, I will ask again for your thoughts so far.