A/n: Hello everybody, welcome to another chapter of Holy Nail War. Hopefully your senses are blissfully numb from last chapter, now here we shall delve into how Honda will escape from the unknown dungeon he currently resided in, alongside a currently cooperative Assassin. Will their truce last long enough for Honda to reunite with Saber? Let's find out!
--Underground Dungeon: Holding Cell–
After a long and much needed RR, Honda redressed, a proud and giddy facial expression on his face as he zipped up his pants and straightened his shirt.
He was tying on his sneakers when he realized that one was missing. He looked around, a little confused as to where he may have dropped it.
"Dammit! I got so caught up with the fun that I completely forgot where I put my shoe!" Honda scratched his head, observing a little closely at all the pelvic bones, shattered rib cages, and skull fragments of what he presumed to be highly detailed skeleton props.
"These are some serious production value props. A little too realistic for my taste." The self proclaimed Warlock shuddered as he saw a few maggots still tearing off dead flesh from inside a skull fragment's eye. The smell alone was enough for Honda to take a step backwards. His face was green at the horrid smell of death.
He felt a light nudge on his back. He jumped from the intrusive stimulus on his shivering back and turned around to see the remasked face of none other than Assassin, his current companion for this quest.
The walking shade was in her attire as well, however currently she had both hands obscured behind her.
"Oh Assassin, ready to bust outta here? This place gives me the creeps." Honda asked, a little glad that as much as he would love to fool around some more, Assassin was dressed up again. He was blue in the face from the horrific smell and bones in the room.
Assassin nodded, understanding that time is of the essence, and they need to get a move on.
She then extended both her arms in front of her. Cradled in her hands was Honda's missing shoe. Honda smiled, appreciating the help from the silent being in front of him.
"Hey thanks Assassin I was looking for that!" Honda thanked the servant.
Honda, being a little taller than Assassin, petted her head and caressed the left side of Assassin's mask, the purplette nuzzling her face against it.
--Underground Dungeon : Hallway--
The metallic door leading to the outside underground hallway creaked with every gentle nudge made by Honda when opening the door. Honda edged it enough for him to bend his body and slide through albeit by sucking in his stomach in order to do so. Assassin on the other hand slipped through perfectly with sheer flexibility and practiced movements, practically gliding through the small opening of the metal doorway. Honda couldn't help but admire the cat-like manner in which she moved.
The two saw nothing but a big expanse of a hallway on both sides. Both led to an unknown and deep abyss, any means of deciphering their way out denied to them. It was clearly apparent that this place was deep underground.
"Well shit…I don't see any way out. Can't even tell which way is the right way." Honda thought aloud. He looked forward and backward, noticing that there was nothing different about both directions. There was no way in the magician's eyes to know for sure as to which direction to take.
"If we are underground then we should head in the direction of the wind. Wherever it comes from should lead us to the way out." Assassin whispered behind Honda's ear. Her hand grazed his shoulder tentatively as she passed him.
Assassin proceeded forward, Honda admiring every sway of the purplettes hips as she walked. Honda blushed eyebrows raised in sincere interest at her rear.
Assassin looked back from the corner of her eye, noticing Honda's attention to her buttocks.
The hips began swaying more in her stride. Honda gulped but then shook himself out of his lust to focus on completing this quest. He jogged after Assassin, who immersed herself in the darkness.
'Alright Honda, it's showtime! Time to get your game face on! This is the most immersive experience of my life to date! Though I gotta admit, with me not at the residence, I can't help but wonder how Stria and Saber are doing?'
--Velune Residence: Artifact Warehouse --
The doors to the Velune Residence treasure hold slammed open as two figures entered. One was currently walking in a purposeful stride, conveying a resolution with each step. The other simply followed after the first, on guard and analyzing the very strange room.
"What is this place?" A voice asked. This was the voice of Saber, curious as to the nature and purpose of this part of the residence, since this was her first time here.
Another voice answered the servant. "This is the artifact room of my master. In times of great emergency, I was ordered to utilize whatever I deemed necessary to ensure victory in the war. I myself never used them, but I was educated as to each of their purposes as well as their potential in and outside of combat."
Saber looked at Stria. "I didn't know Honda was a master with such a collection of ancient artifacts. I thought he was a novice mage?"
Saber tilted her head in curiosity as she questioned Stria.
Stria blushed in embarrassment at that slip up.
"It doesn't matter, what matters now is getting to Honda before he is hurt, whoever took him clearly wanted him alive…for the time being at least." Stria eyes appeared forlorn at that realization before she recomposed herself, looked around and grabbed a few dusty looking scrolls, each one appeared faded, as they were written on parchment. As she touched them however, small bluish rune-like decals spread throughout the wrapped up scrolls, indicating the power that resonated deep within the otherwise useless looking rolls of paper.
Saber looked around noticing things such as daggers, a shield, small rings, necklaces, tonics and solutions, and crates, all of unknown origin. They, like the parchment, seemed dusty, but glowed with each grace of Stria's finger as she gathered what she needed.
Saber asked Stria. "With all this preparation I assume you have a plan as to locating Honda? I couldn't sense his disappearance earlier…I failed him as his servant." Saber looked to the side clenching her fist with her eyebrows furrowed in self frustration that she failed to keep her master from danger.
Stria placed her hand on Saber's right shoulder, seemingly comforting to the sorrowful servant. "Saber, it's not your fault Honda disappeared under your protection." Stria didn't mean to offend Saber, being a socially inept homunculus being the sole reason behind her poor choice of words.
Saber sweatdropped. From what she could fathom, Stria was trying to console her, unfortunately she made things worse.
Stria then took a nearby red gem from one of the shelves.
Saber looked at the gem. "What is that in your hand Stria?"
Stria held it in front of Saber.
"This is what is known as a pheromone tracer. For us to locate and secure Honda, we will need it." The homunculus explained.
Saber blinked at the description. Saber admittingly never heard of a gem by that name.
Stria went back to the living room with Saber in tow.
--Velune Residence Living Room--
Stria and Saber looked at the couch from where Honda was last seen before his rather abrupt disappearance.
For Saber she had a great deal of many questions. For one, exactly who took Honda? How did someone sneak in broad daylight and somehow haul Honda without a sign of struggle?
Stria stared at the spot with a fixation, noticing that the couch had a suspension of where Honda was laying down.
"Stria, no matter what we will succeed in finding Honda and bringing him home. I swear to you as a knight and as Honda's servant." Saber spoke with conviction, a steely determination showing itself in her emerald eyes.
Stria looked back at Saber. If one were to notice, Stria has a flushed expression on her face, with a lone stray bit of spillage emanating from her right eye. Her fingers were slightly shaking as well, though the reason as to why Stria was reacting this way was unknown to the homunculus for the time being.
"Right. You're right, Saber. We WILL save Honda." Stria whispered out.
She cleared her throat and breathed in deeply, calming her senses.
Stria looked back at the suspension of the couch where Honda last rested. She held the pheromone tracer in front of her, and laid it on the couch, a faint jingle of the accessory could be heard within the still silence of the living room as the two women awaited for something to happen.
After a few seconds of tense patience, the small tracer began to twitch, a faint blue tint appeared to appear from within the accessory. The suspension on the couch began glowing a faint wispy aqua color, depicting a silhouette representing Honda's body when he was last laying down.
Saber's eyes went from the couch to Stria. "Stria how exactly will the trinket find Honda?" Saber asked before noticing something.
"To put it simply, it is a gem designed through alchemy that could locate someone's life force. Could be through anything, including sweat, saliva, and blood. If memory serves, blood is the most potent." Stria explained.
Saber noticed something that made her pause.
There were faint aqua hand shaped imprints glowing on Stria's and Saber's persons. Being that this was a pheromone tracer, it would seem that it exposed Honda's pheromones on the two ladies' respective bodies.
Stria and Saber both blushed out of embarrassment as every touch made by Honda only yesterday was brought to literal light. Saber was coated in hand prints and ghostly blue hickey's from last night while Stria had handprints all over her hips and breasts.
Stria explained further as to the gems' purpose through her embarrassed blush. "It simply detects Honda's pheromones the moment it detects his scent. Almost like a bloodhound, it will reveal the scent for us. Look!"
An almost transparent smoke-like trail started from the couch and traversed to the outside. Being that it was the most recent place Honda was, the trail glowed the brightest of all the other remnants of his pheromones.
Stria took a bag filled with her necessary equipment for the trek ahead.
"Come on Saber, we must be quick!" The homunculus pulled Saber as the aforementioned servant followed along in a sprint. Being both magically infused beings, the girls were in peak physical condition for this otherwise exhausting trek.
--Underground Dungeon: Hallway--
Assassin and Honda continue traversing the very dark and strange hallway. Both were unsure as to what they would find; the assassin remained on guard, muscles flexed, ready for action ready to pounce at the slightest provocation. Honda on the other hand was walking quite merrily, his arms swinging to-and-fro without a care in the world. It was quite in contrast with the shadowy figure in front of him, however, he couldn't care less and neither would the servant.
Honda was humming to himself in this darkness echoing against the walls. Assassin turned back to Honda and with a single gesture after placing her pointer finger against his mouth Honda remained silent.
"Sorry." Honda apologized.
Assassin pointed to a purplish light emanating from a lone doorway. It seemed to dim and relight, signifying an open flame or even a ritual in progress.
Assassin was just about to open it and stealthily discover what was inside the room. Honda stopped her before she could jump to action.
"Pssst! Are you sure it's a good idea to just go in there without some form of plan?" Honda asked Assassin.
Assassin tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
Honda explained, albeit through whispers. "I mean if you really think about it, a purple light leading us to god-knows-where and here we are free without any form of guard or personnel on site. If I didn't know any better I would say that this was a setup, a lure if you get what I'm saying."
Assassin looked to the side, contemplating what the street performer was saying. When she thought about it, it wasn't impossible.
Honda then thought back. He was technically a "master" of the Holy Nail War, which means based on that fact, his supposed kidnapper wanted Honda more so than Assassin as she was simply an escort. He held value otherwise he would've been attacked, not captured. Being that Assassin was obviously more of a stealth based escort, this gave him an idea.
"Let me go first and if anything happens at least you'll be there to take on whoever it is from behind. I'll be the main distraction and you come in for the kill." Honda recommended.
Assassin wasn't sure if Honda was suicidal or crazy, as his plan placed a great deal of danger on himself. A master of the Holy Grail War must not sacrifice themselves for a servant, least of all put themselves in immediate danger.
Considering that Assassin was not under his command seal, his entire plan was detrimental to himself. In fact, his plan hasn't taken into consideration that Assassin could simply escape and leave him behind.
Assassin needs to reunite with her real master. It is unfortunate but this would probably be the best opportunity to both escape this place and also dispatch a master at the same time, maybe even two if the opportunity presented itself.
Assassin nodded, though by the silent almost detached way she responded to Honda compared to earlier transgressions, it was clear she was trying to make the departure as impersonal as possible.
'I am an Assassin, this is how the war is fought.' Assassin thought to herself, steadily steeling herself for what must be done as her role was intended.
Honda eagerly went to open the door.
He took a peak, looking left and right as he explored his surroundings.
In the purple glowing room, an altar of purplish flame could be seen at its center, the flames constantly turning almost like a tornado without spewing smoke and retaining its cylindrical shape. All around were hilltops of books, scrolls and trinkets used for experiments in the magic arts. The stonework was of a finer make than the cages here, however just by looking in the back one couldn't help but notice a blood drawn ritual circle on the farthest wall. It's intent is currently unclear.
"Woah, this place is a lot bigger than I thought. It's got a lot of books that's for sure!"
Honda said aloud before walking inside casually.
Assassin, utilizing nearby shadows to conceal her presence, looked forlorn at Honda as he walked near the flame altar. What Honda didn't notice was that the center of the pillar was actually a containment field.
Honda went to the pillar, beginning to notice something resided behind the twirling purple flames.
"Hey there's something in here! Whatever it is it's big!" Honda looked around, noticing a tome-like book in front of him.
He read it aloud.
"Log 36, efforts to awaken the golem was once again a failure as of last night. Though the current cause of said disturbance is unknown this also means that golem use will need to be heavily reworked from the ground up before use in the Grail War. I fear premature release of the golem would be a costly mistake as they currently have no proper command manifest placed until their structure is restabilized."
Honda looked at the golem. On closer inspection he noticed that the stone-like creature was stiff, practically crackling into sediment. It looked somewhat sickly.
"A golem? More like cheap animatronic" Honda looked humorously, still thinking this whole thing is a role play.
Honda, out of curiosity was about to touch the purple flames, completely unaware of how real the magic actually was.
"My, my you are a crafty one to escape from your chains so quickly." Honda heard a voice.
The voice was unknown to Honda, however, it was definitely feminine. It sounded sensual, filled with an airy wanton in its delivery. Sounded really sexy, if Honda was honest.
Honda looked at the source of the voice. The woman in question was wearing a black colored dress. It was skin tight, enabling Honda to notice the hourglass figure she possessed. A white fur sash draped over her shoulders, one end bearing a hound like face on it. A slit ran through the right side enabling one to see her shapely toned thigh to the side of her glutes. The woman had porcelain like skin. Unlike the albino Honda already came to know, this individuals skin seemed more sickly, considering that there were places on her skin which held subsurface black veins, as if she was suffering a viral parasite. It still didn't detract from her beauty but did cause concern to appear on Honda's face...
Her face was heart shaped, youthful in skin texture. Currently the stranger is bearing a smirk. The woman's lips were glossed in black, mascara and eye shadow matching the lips. Her ebony hair was styled in a wavy deep side part. This left her left eye covered by thick wavy locks whilst her right was piercing Honda's with their magma orange color. The orange unnerved Honda as it was akin to staring at fire. Her hands were adorned with black arm length dress gloves, the tips of their fingertips were silver and seemed sharp, almost like claws.
She slowly walked, the clicking and clacking of her dress shoes echoed throughout the room.
"When I sent my servant after you, I didn't think that you would actually escape from your prana binds. Having your guard down as you did is either a sign of carelessness or self confidence. I find the latter…alluring in a man. The former I would find…tasty." The woman spoke slowly, emphasizing each word.
Honda gulped. This woman was a femme fatale if ever he saw one. Those orange eyes certainly had him. Although now that he thinks about it, it would seem she was gauging him now that he had escaped his confinement.
"Wait servant? You have a servant too? Oh, are you another master of the war?" Honda asked.
'I know that the Holy Nail War was an escort service for those with excess wealth, perhaps it's also like an mmo, where other so called masters could be met and potentially even…'
Honda blushed like a cherry.
The woman's eyes closed in a self assured smile. "My aren't you an observant one, and to think I had you pegged for a greenhorn." The now identified master subtly insulted Honda.
Honda slicked his hair, relieving it of strays and fixing his posture. He may not have his Warlock mask, but he knows how to play a character.
"And I thought I had you pegged for a seamstress considering how humble this abode is." Honda subtly insulted back using his Warlock voice.
Assassin waited in the shadows. There was a teleporter in the area from where the mysterious woman appeared. This was her chance to leave now. As she was now, Assassin knew she couldn't risk combat. She needed to reunite with her master.
The woman's eyes widened in recognition. "Mmmm a little fight in you, finally one with a little fire in his tongue as well as his fingertips. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Mara Malga, and I am a master of the Holy Grail War. I am the one who brought you here." The woman stopped her movement a little over 15 feet between herself and Honda, the towering flame pillar emanating light by their sides as they were in their staredown.
Honda couldn't help but feel that nothing good would come from this interaction no matter what he said. At least based on this scripted event.
The woman flicked her wrist as root like appendages tied around Honda's legs, ensnaring him.
"No need to struggle. I will not kill you so quickly now that I have you. You have a certain role to play that I find most intriguing." Mara said as she walked over to the altar with the data log book and held it in front of her cycling through pages with a calm smile and relaxed body posture.
"The truth is, I know all about the Velune Residence and its defenses. Combined that with that house slave, I doubt there was any real method for me to collect you without raising suspicion."
Honda gasped. These roots were tight. This must be some form of kink play. Still a good actor does not break character. He will have to endure it a little bit more.
"And for what purpose have you brought me? Surely if you really needed to gain my attention, it wouldn't take much to notice one such as you." Honda spoke.
Mara with a smirk still on her face looked in Honda's direction.
"You are a charmer. That's good. Very good. As for why I brought you here, I have a proposal for you." Mara leaned downward, her breasts in front of Honda as she did so. One of her clawed fingertips grazed Honda's chin and lifted his head up to face her.
Honda looked at her like she grew a second head considering he was tied up.
"One master to another, I would propose an alliance with you." Mara said, her orange eyes fixated on his.
GULCH
Assassin had leaped from the shadows, stabbing Mara from behind in her right lung with a sharpened rock as the woman had her back turned while talking to Honda.
Mara gasped out as blood sprayed and hit Honda who could only stare in disbelief.
CHAPTER END