(rolling MATTS OUUUUUT) (receive matt: tech trance arrange)
/ / / / SHIMOKOA'S PERSPECTIVE / / / /
Genkan...
I've seen it too many times, already. All six times. A beautiful sister, taken by the awfulness that is other youkai, and humanity.
I still wonder what became of Ori and Uki. I say this, but I know they're dead. They were melted a hundred years ago.
Yuki was never heard from again, when she went down into the lower caves. I was never brave enough to go looking for her. She was like me. I considered her vain and needlessly stressed out. I'm sure someone found her in her weakest moment, and that was the end of her.
After the humans killed Tae, Yei lit herself on fire. They reminded me too much of Ori and Uki. The Hakurei maiden made it clear that this world was not ours to live in.
Zarame was a strange one. Strange, but likeable. She wore a bright, green kimono, and wasn't afraid of almost anything. I loved her.
I found her dead, in a tanuki's cave. They'd taken on the impression of her, and had almost taken my life, too.
The sight of someone so brilliant, so pleasant, lying on the floor, filled with seed and eyes devoid of life…
"Hk-..." I hiccup.
I'm sobbing.
My ice cave feels empty. The world feels empty.
Genkan…
I think over them all again. I've seen it too many times, already. All six times. A beautiful sister-
Knock knock. Something raps on the leg of the western bed I've spontaneously placed in the common room. "Hey."
"Wh-" I'm horrified. "Who-"
Then, I see who it is. That apparition, Mima. Mentor of Marisa Kirisame, and a woman of dubious character.
"...Wh- what do you want?" I want to be left alone. My face- it's still all wet-
"Hmm. Nothin' much." Smiling, she gazes down at me, floating into the air. Her body glows in the dark of my lonely cave.
I don't trust her. That's my gut reaction.
"...What do you want?" My mind runs over the prospect that she'd kill me. But, if she wanted that done, she'd have done it earlier, surely. It doesn't stop my eyes from watering harder.
My head hurts.
"I can't help but notice…" Mima leaned closer. "Somethin's eatin' you right up."
"...It is none of your concern." I hadn't expected her to follow me here. She wants something from me.
Mima smirked. "Yer such a sad, strange little girl. All a' this grieving."
"Please, go away." I want to be alone.
"...So. What's wrong?" Mima requested of me.
I say nothing. I start to quell my emotions, and just sit here. I miss all of my sisters. I had even made an effort, not to become so attached to Genkan, yet-...
Mima smiled. "This's all about those sisters of yers, isn't it?"
"How-..." This woman is danger.
"People don't grieve so hard over nothin'." Mima recognized.
...I feel like giving up. If Mima wanted to kill me right here, I'd let her. I'd hold out my arms, and make it easy for her.
"You wanna get even?" Mima offered plainly. "...You gotta be like, what? One hundred, two hundred? Years old, I mean."
"...Something like that."
She floats closer to me. "How about… I show ya, a thing or two? You feel powerless to protect people, don't 'cha?"
I think that goes without saying. If only I was of the older, more elusive generation of yuki-onna. Maybe I wouldn't be so devastated, that so many sisters I knew had died.
I stand from the bed, floating into the air, past Mima. "Fine. If you'd truly show me power…"
I'd be able to go into the caves, and kill any youkai who stood in my way.
I'd be able to walk down the roads of the human village, decapitating their bladesmen with leisure.
Those who would harm my sisters wouldn't see any mercy. They wouldn't deserve the thought. The me of fifty, or a hundred years ago would scorn the thought of such quick judgment. She couldn't have known what the world was like.
Maybe then, through their deaths, I can finally live again. Art, relationships and life all seem so meaningless, when death is quick, and everyone is much happier handing it out than they are helping one another.
I turn to face Mima. "Please, teach me." I may be a hypocrite. But, the world doesn't deserve unpaid kindness, after all. Instead, it will feel my unkindness, and beg for my mercy.
She was nose-to-nose with me. "This's gonna be good."
She floated into my body, as I held my arms out.
That's when I felt it. A moment of clarity. From my blackest moment, I felt something out of this world.
"Nn-... nn- hehehe!" It felt so good. I need more.
This power.
I am the hand of a God.
/ / / / MATT'S PERSPECTIVE / / / /
My back hurts.
...I get off of the floor, still on the third floor of the guard HQ. My fucking spine.
Being a cat loli only slightly offsets the insanity of sleeping on a hard, wood floor. My body is still humanoid, after all. Unless I missed the memo on how to curl up into a deformed cat puddle.
Myself and Vanilla were forced to nap here, last night. The world is cold and unkind, and I had not planned for winter. Fortunately, I can walk around in this HQ like I own the place, because I might as well actually own the place.
"...Oo- oh." Vanilla is still curled up, for some reason snug up against me. She's sitting in a ball, while I'm just… splayed out. Also, in pain.
Her face half-behind her knees, she watches me flop around on the floor in cold, abject misery. "Hi." Yeah, hi.
...What the fuck's that katana doing, just sitting near us. Oh, right. Last night happened.
"Nngh." I'm going to ache all day. "...We... made a bad decision."
"...We- we did?" Vanilla is blissfully unaware. This is every night for her. Beds are truly heaven.
The guard headquarters is filled with grey, vague midday light. Not sure if it's overcast, or if it's just really early in the morning. I can't see the sky from this shitty little corner.
...There's no one even in the main desk yet. I must not have slept very long.
This third floor of the guard HQ is just one big room, with a big desk before a large sliding door that leads out onto a tiny balcony. There's a small skylight over the desk itself. Behold, glorified pencil pushing.
Standing up, I remember how short I am. Short cat adventures.
"...We should get moving." I decide. Nothing good could come of this corner.
"I guess." Vanilla must agree.
...So, we stand in the midst of this room.
I don't know what to do next. We need to find things to burn to make a fire. It's a cold morning.
Since I'm a masochist, I'm going to go look out on the balcony. From here, I can see it is indeed fairly sunny out. That's nice.
shoof. I slide the door open, and- wind. It's windy. It's very cold wind, too.
You know what? Makai'd actually be alright, right now. Makai's at least not fucking cold. Most of the time, that is. It can't really make up its mind, ever.
At least it's not consistently cold. This sucks.
I shiver in the doorway, and slide it shut. Fu~ck that.
...Looking back over at Vanilla, I see Mima smiling, floating behind her.
...Reading my gaze inadvertently, Vanilla gets the urge to turn around and find out what's going on.
"He~y, kids!" Mima suddenly booms, raising her arms.
Vanilla jumps visibly, before striking a cute albeit angry pose back at her. "Hh- hey…"
"I've been up all night!" Mima proclaims with perhaps too much excitement. "...Not that I ever sleep. But, shit's exciting!"
"I thought you were going to let us do our thing." I step up to her, trying to muster my chilled face into a glare.
Mima gives me a vague look. "...You're freezin' yer damn whiskers off, kid. Hey, come wit' me, and you'll have a nice warm fire. Huh? How's that?"
...Honestly? Hard to argue with.
Vanilla picked up the plain katana off the floor, in all her skimpiness. Skimpy perhaps isn't the right word. More like, 'butt naked'. Panties and a cape do not an outfit make.
...Mima gave the katana a smug look, before holding up an arm. "We all ready…!?"
As I'll ever be.
fwi- WIOUM-
/ / / / INFERNO / / / /
FWAASH. We appear somewhere still damn cold. In fact- it's even colder than that balcony. What the fuck.
...It's a cave of ice.
I look for Mima- there she is. My expression towards her is both parts incredulous and angry. Seriously, this is probably the most ingenuine place she could have taken me, next to the arctic ocean.
Fwoom. Then, she lights a log on fire, and plops it down before me. "Fire." Good.
The log came from a currently snow-clad fireplace, amidst the mint-colored ice.
"Alright!" Beaming brilliantly, Mima leaned away from myself and Vanilla. "I'm really excited 'bout this chick!"
...Shimokoa was in here, sitting on a king-sized western bed. It's in about eight pieces, and she's sitting on one of the chunks.
Shivering, she gazes down at the floor.
...Now that I look around, I can see deep marks in the ceiling. The ground around us is all damaged, like the broken glass of a car windshield. It's all cracked, speckled ice.
Random furnishing lay around the place, broken, partially frozen. Wind howls through the cave.
"...Oh, yeah." Mima looked around. "Shit, forgot ta grab the drummer boy, what's-his-face."
"...I- I think it began with S." Vanilla remembered. It's a good thing, too. I sure as hell didn't.
"Hol' up." Mima floated into the floor.
Now it's just me, this pitiful flame, and these two girls.
"Hau~." I yawn. What a way to wake up.
Shimokoa must be cold. Wait… she's a yuki-onna. Maybe she's having a manic episode, or something.
...Vanilla rubs her hands together, and leans over the fire. I need that heat more than she does, so I get close to the single log. This fire is not going to last long, is it. Maybe we can burn that broken bed next.
"You." Shimokoa speaks to me, from her bed chunk. I look over at her.
She floats up to me quickly, at a static rate. She has frozen tears on her cheeks, and her brows are slightly furrowed.
"Why did you attempt to have me killed?"
...It's too early for this shit.
I look up at her casually-
WHAM. Wh- fuck-
SHING. Shimokoa has a long, jagged, crumbling mint-colored blade, sliding from her left sleeve. Her right arm has me against the wall, forearm pressing my neck against the rough ice.
"Hey!" Vanilla to the rescue, maybe. I hope.
"I'm-..." She exhales. "I'm tired."
Go fucking sleep, then. It's not that deep. I've had it up to here with getting pushed around by random hooligans.
"Let him go!" Vanilla tries.
"I'm-..." Shimokoa smiles, not even looking at me. "All you-... all of you-..."
Then, she leans in closer, getting in my face. Holy shit that's cold. "If my life, and my happiness mean nothing to you…"
She lurches on me while holding me against the wall, her unevenly cut black hair brushing my nose.
"...I- I'm pathetic." She correctly assesses.
Her expression drained, she gives me the most neutral of looks. "Just-... die." Oh.
"Stop!" Vanilla suddenly hollers.
She thrusts her blade up at an awkward angle, to threaten Shimokoa with it.
...Shimokoa gives it a plain stare, as it shines before her face, its glitter flickering from the weak flame before us.
"Why?" Shimokoa looks even more tired.
"...Wh- why kill him?" Vanilla countered. "What'd he do to you? And-... would killing- really be the right answer?"
Shimokoa smiled again.
She lets go of me, and I- clutch my throat, where her elbow was. Fuck…
"For days, nearly weeks now, I've been haunted. I've lost one of my most cherished friends." She relayed flatly.
She gestured her head towards me. "That-... young wench attempted to have me murdered. I treat threats of death, with death." If only Aiko'd succeeded.
Something's funny, about this. Lolis and a yuki-onna have a tussle in a dark cave before a pitiful fire. It's just blunt and weird enough to be sort of amusing...
"...Ho- how did you lose her?" Vanilla tried to communicate with her. "Your… friend, that is?"
...Shimokoa closed her eyes. "I'd attempted to prudishly protect her, from the deceit I knew humanity capable of. I'd misjudged her, and I'd misjudged the humans around her. If only they were dead. Everything would go back to normal, and soon, she'd have seen that I was right-... I- I'd even help her see, if she needed me to."
"...Aa- are humans, really that bad?" Vanilla doubted her insanity.
Shimokoa sighed. She didn't want to argue. "I-..."
Fwaa~sh. Ah. Mima's back. Sanjiro was deposited near the mulched bed, and hit by the wave of cold.
"Of course. Of course." Mima smirked, drifting up out of nowhere, near Shimokoa.
Shimokoa smiled, glared, and recoiled at Mima's presence all at the same time.
"People are capable of a lot." Mima rested her hands on Shimokoa's shoulders. "S'really awful, isn't it?"
...Shimokoa tried half-heartedly to look back at her.
Walking up to them, I point at the burning log, which is dying. "Put another log on the fire."
Thunk. Mima does as asked without even looking at the fire.
She brought her left arm under Shimokoa's chin from behind, caressing under it, and Shimokoa herself didn't seem to feel it.
...Shimokoa glared over at me. I stay near the fire, since it should in theory be like oil to a snow woman. If the snow woman were water, that is.
"...I hate it when people thoughtlessly kill each other." Shimokoa becomes very hypocritical, all of a sudden. "It's a waste of intellect, and love, and life. It's thoughtless, it's stupid-"
I have to say something. "You were literally just about to kill me."
Her expression and fatigue flares.
"Here's where you never understand. You attempt to destroy my life- my love- and I have no ground to-... I can't defend myself!?"
Vanilla isn't sure what to say. I don't really care to say anything to that. She's not in a good mood to receive anything well, probably.
"I doubt they'd say so." Mima spoke, instead. "I'm sure they'd tell you, that you have no right. They needn't care about you so much."
"I- have no right…?" Furrowing her brows, Shimokoa closed her eyes again. "Of course. No one cares. My friend is trapped- and my life is threatened, and all we've experienced is erased- just for trying to live."
"Yeah." Mima continues to play off her. "It's ta be expected."
"Is… is that so?" Shimokoa continues to shake, like earlier. "That's what you said earlier."
"You need to be able to channel yer anger at any time." Mima told her. "Your thirst for vengeance. Even lettin' it smoulder and simmer now, is like… it's like givin' up, ain't it? It's like yer sayin' Genkan ain't worth that much outta you. Like sayin' all the abuse you saw wasn't shit. Like deceit happens, but it's just whatever."
"So what if that guy makes her forget what she loved? So what if she regresses, an' forgets about art, and being happy?"
"So what if people just randomly kill you and your sisters? One day, yer caves will all be empty, and no one will give a shit. No one will talk about your hobbies, and those who do- the humans- will talk about it in cute little stories."
"No one will understand you."
...Shimokoa exhaled. Shaking, tears streaming down her cheeks, she frowned back at Mima.
Then, she shifted her wet-eyed gaze to me. "I wish- I wish we were alone. Us yuki-onna, on this world. Even if that wouldn't be rid of deceit and death."
"You know yer pro'lly too late to do anything, too." Mima brushed both of Shimokoa's cheeks. "In like, every way."
...Shimokoa sighed.
"Yes." She admitted, standing back up straight. "You told me quite a lot, last night. It's just-... getting angry again… it- it's not like me, to be so-..."
Mima looked her in the eyes. "An' this is why Genkan'll die. Because you couldn't bring yerself to defend her."
"I- won't let them kill her." That seemed to do something. "They don't know- of the things we did together. Our conversations, the texts we shared- our opinions-"
"They know." Mima smiled. "An' they find it funny, being so damn stupid. 'Cause they don't understand."
"Leave-..." Eyes widening, Shimokoa seems to start hyperventilating. "Leave me alone!"
Woosh! She swing a mint-colored katana of ice at Mima. Beaming, Mima held out her arms.
KRI- KRAK- FWIFWISH! As the blade passed through her, Mima floated herself into Shimokoa. Sparks and electricity of varying colors flared out from between the two of them.
"That- human-" Shimokoa and Mima's voices overlayed one another. "That human, and his smirk…"
She spoke with a degree of reverence, as if something had clicked. "That was where he found his amusement. He took pleasure, in his victory over me…"
Then, Mima slipped her form fully into Shimokoa's.
FWA- FWASH! Blue and mint-colored light flared out from them for one moment.
"Nn- hehe- hehehe~!" She reels back, and laughs. "This body~!"
Her whole head is shade black, her mouth instead an array of mint icicles which glimmer in the light, and her eyes two flares of green.
"People-..." Shimokoa was most likely speaking now. "People are not meant to be bonded with. I remember, now…"
KRAK- KRABOOM! She swung her arm to the left, and cleaved a straight line right into the icy wall beside herself. She had a katana twice as long as she was, and it was colored a light blue.
"Bonds only end in ruin. Be my expectations misplaced…"
She faced the wall she slashed, and flicked her left arm up-
KRA- SHUSHUSHUSHUNK- KRAKRAM! Eighteen or so katanas rocketed into the wall like missles, boring massive holes into the ice, drilling into the stone beyond the frosty layer.
"None of this can be changed." Shimokoa decided. "I am a hand of the gods. Frost's Messiah. The sword that will cleave through ignorance, with violence."
...Then, beaming, she faced us. "Y'all should be takin' lessons! She found a perfect excuse ta be mad about!"
Idly, I look over at Sanjiro, since he's just kind of been here for awhile, now. He actually came up to the fire earlier, but I didn't mention him because whatever.
He looks as unenthused at life as ever.
"Alright…" Speaking more casually, the icy, spiky-mawed maybe-a-yuki-onna strolled towards the fire. The light from the flames couldn't illuminate her face. "Maybe be more graceful 'bout it, though!"
I already am angry. Well, now I'm more disappointed, distressed and drained, but still angry.
Shimokoa speaks to herself. "...This feeling, of elation…"
...I'm not sure why I thought of this, but, do ice women have periods? Actually, that might be a stupid question. I'm not sure why a youkai would need to have a period, other than to fit in with humans better. Considering most eat or scare humans on principle, that'd be silly.
Cr- crack. The lowest log of the pile before me becomes ash, and the topmost one flops into its remains. The ice beneath the fire has melted a little, making a black-green puddle.
...Looking unnecessarily standoffish, Sanjiro slowly held forward a tray. Seems like he got food, for some reason.
"I have purchased… breakfast." He gazed around at us, looking oddly suspicious.
fwish. Azure energy ran up Shimokoa's multi-meter katana in her left hand. Her left eye flared from green to cyan. "Human waste-"
Her right eye flared with green light, and her right arm stopped her left from swinging the blade wide and probably instantly killing all of us. "Easy, girl! They're yer minions- not yer food!"
"Mi- minions…?" She seemed taken off-guard by the idea. "...Why would I-"
"Y'can't get shit done without power." Mima made her icicle teeth grin. "An' people are power."
"...Re- really." Shimokoa stared down into the fire. Between Shimokoa's frown and Mima's grin, their mouth became an awkward spiral of icy digits. "...I suppose, you are right. There is little to most people, after all. But they may act out an will. If only wrestling control were easy."
Mima snorted. "S'easier than you think!" I'm sure Mima is guffawing internally.
...Sanjiro seems to have gotten us some fish, or something. Better than starving to death in this frozen fuckland.
"What's the plan, today?" I ask whatever the hell Mima is right now. "Are we killing time like a bunch of assholes, again?"
Mima looked over at me, and I saw the light-addled stares of the two women as one. "Sorta, kinda. Well, there's a buncha shit we could do. Been thinkin' it over: an' I think I know just how ta turn you all inta semi-badasses. An' it doesn't just involve chuggin' elixirs out the ass like a buncha low-level crooks!"
cra- crack. Oh. Looks like the fire's almost dead.
sniff- sniff. From the ash under the last log, something horrible emerges.
A fluffle sticks its face up from the ash, a small cloud of dust accenting its arrival. "im snug"
"...Oh. One a' you things." Mima sees it. "About as useful as fuckin' fairies, in the end. Y'see-... I was real bored, a month or so ago. I tried usin' these fuckin' fluffle things, but there's really no good way ta screw wit' 'em. Got my ass kicked tryin'."
"...I don't know what these are." Shimokoa confessed.
Click. Sanjiro placed two plates of fish before me and Vanilla, before moving for Shimokoa.
Her face back at him was fierce. "Take your human gruel, and cleanse yourself in that fire." ...It's hard to tell what her expressions are like, now. She's either grinning skeleton-like, or frowning. Again, I can only see her bright, icicle-like maw, and her flaring eyes.
"...Typical." Sanjiro shook his head, and sat down before the dim fire, placing the last of the food beside himself. He got about two or three plates more than he should have, somehow. Did he get one for Mima? He totally got one for Mima.
"So." Mima spoke up, while I figured out how to eat whatever the hell this kind of fish is. "I'm gonna take ya all somewhere even more cruel than Gensokyo here. Somewhere where we can get all the good weapons. And, somewhere I can really teach ya all about magic an' shit. Yer all gonna need a little knowledge; this ain't a world where ya can just lift everyday and style on idiots. Unless yer an oni."
"More cruel?" Shimokoa tilted her head back. The darkness across her face also stretches down her neck, all the way into her kimono, which now has a splash of blue from Mima's outfit. "I assume you mean, it's harsher. As long as people are there, it will be cruel."
Mima made her smile. "That's the spirit!"
"Wh- where is this?" Vanilla wondered.
...Mima made her body smile hugely, her icy maw emitting a fog of frost. "Makai."
It's too bad I have been spoiled.
"sniff" The ashen fluffle sniffs along the floor, coming closer to my food. "...hi" It looks up at me, looking both quadrupedal, and standoffish.
"Fire." I swing out a pair of scissors, and poke them at it.
fwoom. A tuft of flame rolls into it.
Fwoash! Its form lights up from the flames, healing energy washing over it. Oh. "im loaf" Relaxed by the fire, it folds back onto its limbs, becoming an ash loaf.
...Why do I have chopsticks, and no knife. Oh, fuck it.
I pick up the cooked fish with my hands, and bite into it. It comes apart in my mouth insanely easily, and-...
That tastes fucking good. Holy shit. Wait- yeah, cat genes. What the fuck.
I take everything back. This is the ideal start to a morning. Despite feeling like shit, this cave at least looks nice.
"No matter what happens…" Shimokoa looks down at her own chest. "I must grow stronger."
/ / / / YOU'RE STRONGER ON YOUR OWN / / / /
Fwaa~sh. Well. Here we all are. Presumably draped in magic that prevents us from turning into sand. Not sure if Gensokyo's youkai are exempt from the human-killing gas here.
We're on a green plain of just slightly off-color grass. Not sure where Mima plopped us all down.
...Vanilla looks around, at the faded blue sky above us. "Um…"
"This is Makai?" Obviously it was Mima who asked that.
The actual Mima replies. "Mm, yep. I just put us somewhere kinda unassuming ta start us off. We're pro'lly gonna hit up one of the smaller-time armories. We need some weapons, that ain't like…"
She looks over at Vanilla, who still has that iron katana, at me, at Sanjiro, and at Shimokoa's ice blade.
"Some weapons that ain't total shit!" Mima declared. "...An' I'm hopin' yer all gonna learn some shit along the way."
"Honestly…" Shimokoa huffed. "All I wish to do is kill humans."
Mima snorted. "You gotta one-track mind, y'know that!?"
"Why-..." Vanilla seems to have a problem with this, still. "Why insist on killing humans?"
"They've destroyed their last life." Shimokoa's voice echoed. "I'm tired of everything. Of their destruction of my life, of my sisters-... I'm tired of other youkai, too. I'm tired of people."
Her eyes of solid, flaring light glared ahead. "This world is as good as dead."
...Mima nodded their head. "That's the spirit! Again! Anyway, c'mon- we've got a place to be. And, don't wander too far; the direction you leave this field determines where you end up. Weird shit."
I just realized. 'That's the spirit' is awfully cheesy, coming from Mima. Oof.
So, we follow the multi-spirited ice being ahead.
"I- I…" Vanilla refuses to let it go. "I think, just because your sad-... it doesn't mean you should hurt other people."
"Look where that got us." Shimokoa forced her head back, to glare down at Vanilla. "I lost my friend. That cat lost hers. Sanjiro lost his… humans. And, I'm sure you were pulled from your situation, for some reason. Why do you walk with us?"
...Vanilla huffed. "I- I don't care too much. My new life is-... fun enough, I guess."
"Hey- I'm gonna turn off the part that makes us talk in unison, fer now." Mima suddenly spoke up. "Yer talkin' my damn mouth off!"
"How unfortunate." Shimokoa now had no echo. But, her voice was still noticeably different, due to her icicle-ridden lips.
As she drifted ahead, she replied after a minute or two of progress. "Little vampire. The world is full of hate, pain, and unexpected loss. Over your long life, you will come to realize this. The gods frown, and we only think of momentary pleasure, even at the cost of other lives."
"...I- I can't help but feel you're looking at it backwards, though." Vanilla must have the patience of a saint. I don't think there's any arguing with this maniac. "Like-... is the satisfaction from killing one human... nn- not unlike wh- what you um, accuse them of?"
"...I guess not." Shimokoa admitted. "But, I do not care. I have been wronged, wronged and wronged again. This is my retribution to an unforgiving world. They will be dead, and that will be good. If the world sought my compassion, it should have been compassionate. Now, it is too late."
"You know…" Sanjiro spoke up, tapping his fingers together for really no good reason. "If you have been wronged, should you seek retribution?" ...Not sure if he was listening well or not.
...Shimokoa just gave him a puzzled look. Somehow, his stupidity spurred her from her constant bitchiness. "That question was so stupid, that I have nothing to say."
"Wow, okay." Sanjiro looked vaguely dejected.
Mutually, I have nothing to say to her. I don't really know why she's angry. Let's blame Brad. He runs around with a yuki-onna, so this obviously must all be his fault.
Whether or not I guessed correctly is yet to be determined. I should ask. "Was this human's name 'Brad'?"
...Shimokoa stops her body dead in her tracks, and pivots around to glare down at me. "How did you know?"
Huh. Should have trusted my gut, I guess. Dumbass always fucks everything up.
"I guessed." Time to dig my way back out of this hole. Metaphorically. "I'm used to western names."
...She centers her gaze on Vanilla, before turning back around and allowing Mima control again. I suppose she put two and two together, and decided I was western. Or, at least of western influence. Therefore, I'd totally just pull 'Brad' out of my ass as a random name.
My eyes are drawn to the airy, semi-blue sky above. There are no clouds, and there's no visible sun; light pours down all around us.
Then, suddenly, I see a blue sun. A really blue sun.
It's night. At least, everything is nearly as dark as night. I look back ahead at Shimokoa, whose angry eyes project light ahead for us. Perfect: yuki-headlights.
We're walking on sand, now. The whole backdrop changed the moment I looked up and back down again. I suspected this would happen, but didn't think it'd actually happen. Because, yeah. The fuck.
The trail amidst the plain we were on became a trail of parted sand.
The sand's particles around us are arranged in waves. They glitter red under the navy blue light cast by the blurry, blue sun over us.
It was a very saturated, evening-looking desert. This navy light was still very dark, despite this sun's light. Maybe it's a moon. A smuun.
"...Huh." Vanilla, despite being barefoot, seems comfy with the red particle-speckled sand. "Pretty…"
Sanjiro's eyes are wide, as he beholds the ruby grains. "...By the gods. What is this land!?"
Ahead of us in the sand, there is a huge crag of purplish rock, which stretches into the 'evening' sky. Ah, just what I was missing. More fuckoff, unclimbable rocky cliffs. Makai sure needs more of that shit.
"This- what colorful- land is-" Mima and Shimokoa try to talk at the same time. "Gods- hold yer horses!" But, Mima wins in the end. "...As I was tryin'a say, this is the armory we're gonna ransack a bit!"
Before us in the desert sand, stood a tall tower of faded stone and ruby red plates. The plates marked the sides of the big windows.
"Joint's operated by a succubus." Mima briefed us on what stupidity we were about to partake in. "She keeps her stash of toys and goodies here. But, there ain't much in the way of defenses. Some imp girls and slime, maybe; whatever she lets just wander around. Most people ain't dumb enough to cross tails wit' 'er, but we're a special kind a' stupid."
"Are we raiding a dildo armory?" I suspect.
"Yes." Mima declares with confidence. "...Hey- there's some S 'n' M shit here that'd make actual weapons! But, if ya want a dildo stockpile, shit's fine too."
Sanjiro gives us all a strange look. "...Dildo armory?" Yes, we already know you seem to have severe dementia.
Vanilla blinks. "Di- Dildo… Armory?" You see, it's cuter and more justified when Vanilla does it, since she's actually not someone who'd be familiar with dildos.
Shimokoa's body faces us, its zipper of icy fangs neutral-looking. "Do neither a' you know what a dildo is."
Both Vanilla and Sanjiro shook their heads.
...Mima focuses the body's stare on Vanilla. "It's like a dick, but made a' plastic, and you put it in your vagina to feel good, and pretend to have sex."
...Vanilla's eyes slowly widen. "Oo-..."
"So, a female pleasure apparatus." Sanjiro is an indescribable sort of person. "Okay, that's all I need to know."
"The fact ya didn't know before is somehow fuckin' scary." I didn't know Shimokoa's edgy face could actually express raw disbelief, but it's somehow possible. "You're like twenty. Holy fuck. Dude…!"
I like how we wondered into a desert full of what seems like ruby-encrusted sand, with a dim blue sun, and the most baffling thing so far is that this stupid fuckin' guy never learned what a dildo was until he was like twenty-something.
"In my defense- it is a female pleasure apparatus!" Sanjiro has no defense. "I've no need to know of such-... paraphernalia!"
"Yeah, whatever." Mima isn't in the mood to explain why he's fuckin' retarded. "Well, yer gonna get real intimate with that shit here! Should make up for the past decade."
Real intimate, huh. This is going to suck. Hopefully not literally.
Little is said as we approach the tall, stone tower. It's quite wide, and protrudes high up into the dim blue air.
Before us is a huge double door. It's ruby red, reflective. The crystal-like exterior seems deep crimson, but the glow of Shimokoa's eyes make the ruby lining shine.
"...Ain't locked." Mima determined. I'm sure that definitely doesn't mean whoever holds this fortress is confident in their abilities.
CREA~K. Shimokoa pushed both doors inward.
Inside was a lobby with pink carpet. Muddy sand was tracked across it, leading towards the rightmost stairs.
There was an open back door, with sand leading into the tower.
In the middle of the room, there were couches tilted ajar randomly. There were modern-looking lamps at the room's edges, hooked up to nothing, shining with pleasant, sightly lavender light.
Bright chunks of glowing stone sat on the roof here, looking like a coral array. They casted natural, clean white light down on the weird main room.
"Nn-..." In this room, there were lolis. They were clad in pleasant, light pink and white dresses.
Most of them were on the floor, or on the ajar furniture, their outfits cut up, only looking slightly disheveled and tired.
Shimokoa drifted ahead of us, towards the red and blue-haired girls. The girls with red hair had it done up in ponytails, while the blue-haired girls had long, straight hair.
...One of the blue-haired lolis gave us a flat look. "More? Ugh. Just- just go."
"The hell's with her face?"
"I don't get enough gold for this shit…"
Shimokoa looked around, her luminescent blue eyes unable to be traced. "What happened here?"
...Sanjiro looks incredibly intimidated. He's still at the door behind us, his crappy pike-rapier-bolt-thing held up cautiously.
The blue-haired loli pouted up at her. "...What's it to you? Some-..." She looked past Shimokoa, and narrowed her eyes. "Mmh. Y'see-... some friends of the mistress came by, and made a mess. Maybe 'friends' isn't the right word. Acquaintances…"
Then, standing up, she smiled. "You have humans with you, too. What? Did the lady fuck your hubby, or something?"
"They travel with me, against my will." Shimokoa made things as clear as possible. "In my ideal world, humanity is extinct. That said…"
fwi~sh. Slowly, Shimoko's two meter long ice katana starts to grow from her left palm, into existence. "Show me to your weapons."
...Grinning, the loli looked up at her, after having stared at her chest the whole time. "We don't have weapons, frosty. Your armory's in another castle."
I step up next to Shimokoa and correct her. "We're here for your BDSM toys."
"Aa- oh, shit." Suddenly, the blue loli knew we meant business. "...The hell makes you think we're gonna lead ya anywhere? The humans who just stormed in, they here had a hell of a time stumblin' past us."
There are other humans, in here? I got the impression that Makai had next to no humans. Unless, they're crusaders from another realm, or something.
Floating into the air, the long-haired loli smiled, and felt at her own modest chest. "...Since we're all frustrated, after our last encounter, you all look like goo~d stress relief. I'll tell ya what. If you four can last a round with all of us, we'll take you to the lady. How's that sound?"
...I mean, they're all lolis. At the same time, they all look like low-tier succubi, so that'd probably be terrible.
"Um-..." Vanilla shakes her head. "I- I don't know exactly what we're doing here- but-"
"You're a fucking cute little vampire…" The blue-haired loli licked her lips, while the other lolis all around the room began to leer at us. "You know. One of the lady's friends would love you. It's not often, she talks to other vampires."
"I don't have time for this." Shimokoa began to float into the air. "If-... if you don't stand down and show us to the-... the 'toys'-... I will kill you."
"Hehehe!" Beaming, the loli floated right up to Shimokoa. "Drop that dumb sword. You're awfully awkward, for someone with such a spooky face."
"Her tits are so bi~g…"
"Like-... we- we gotta get out the phallic spells…!"
"I wonder if that face thing's just magic. I bet she has a really pretty face."
Shimokoa closed her eyes, and began to poise her sword back.
"So…" Mima's voice blended with hers, and cold began to emanate from her. "This-... is how it's meant to be."
The blue-haired girl floated up for the sword. "Yu~p. C'mo~n, I know you'll like it. We'll be gentle."
"Really, really gentle!"
"I call dibs on the catgirl!"
Shimokoa opened her eyes.
A flash of white filled my vision. "Fatal Blizzaga."
The half-second flare of white energy was gone. Shimokoa was now across the room and past the furniture, her blade held way out wide.
The blue-haired loli before her was an ice statue, in the air.
sh- shoof. She was now in three pieces. They slowly slid apart-
thu- thu- thunk. The girl was left in three solid pieces on the floor, all tumbling away from one another.
...All the girls in the lobby blinked, staring down at the three pieces.
"...Aa-... Azul?"
"Nn- no…" Vanilla's hands met her own mouth.
With that, slowly, the bunch of other succubus-like lolis backed off, frowning and looking away.
"Aa-..." Stepping up to the chunks, one red-headed girl leaned down to pick them up.
cli- click. She tried to put them back together, but they kept sliding apart. "He- hey, Azul. Um-..."
shoof. It didn't seem like she was going to be able to put her back together.
...The short girl began to look tired. "Wo- wow. Didn't-..." She swallowed. "Didn't think it'd end like this."
Shimokoa stepped up to her, katana held pointed at her. As such, Shimokoa couldn't really get too close at all.
Or- huh. As she stepped closer, the blade got shorter, so as to not skewer the kneeling, red-haired girl.
"Show us." Shimokoa demanded. "Get up and lead."
...Nodding, the girl smiled, and looked up at Shimokoa.
"Kill me, too." She requested. "I'm tired of living."
Shimokoa reeled her left arm back-
FWISH! She whipped the sword forward like a bat. A gale was drawn in the air before her, multiple blade tips joining her swing, creating a diamond-braced arc of six different swords.
They all lop clean through the smaller girl.
thu- thu- thud. She's spread in a diagonal direction across the floor, red staining the carpet something fierce. She's in many different pieces, and probably remarkably dead.
"...We- we're all fucking dead…"
"Damn it, Azul…"
"I knew this day was coming. We're just the grunts, after all…"
...I just noticed, but Sanjiro's gotten off to somewhere. I don't know if he ran the fuck away, or went deeper in, but he's probably dead. Not that anyone will care.
"Um-..." Vanilla held her arm up. "Stop! Stop killing people!"
Shimokoa looked at her, and promptly ignored her.
Stepping towards one of the other blue-haired girls, Shimokoa pointed her sword at her. "Show me where to go."
"Ok- okay!" Holding her arms up, this long-haired girl moved for the rightmost stairs, where the sandy trail was. "Just-... please, don't fucking kill me. Please."
"We'll see." Shimokoa lowered her blade. "Go."
...I guess we're following her, then. I want a huge dildo I can shove up people's asses.
/ / / / ICE BLADE / / / /
After proceeding up a curved stairway, we arrived at what was approximately… the fourth floor, or so.
"Nn- nnh." These steps are huge. That was a fucking workout.
Left of the landing we arrived upon, there was a half-circle of exposed room. To our right, more stairs. True horror.
"Wo- wow…" Vanilla's somehow fatigued, despite the fact she's a vampire, and-... you know, I'm not sure. Does her blood not flow? Is that how vampires work? That might be how some vampires work. Regardless, she doesn't need heat, so she probably doesn't need her blood to flow. I guess in that sense, she wouldn't need to breathe, either. "This- is a big castle…"
...The blue-haired girl who lead us up here looks back at us. "It-... it's a tower, not a castle."
"Go." Shimokoa beckons her.
"You- you know…" As the girl moved ahead, she frowned. "That- really wasn't fucking cool."
"Go." Shimokoa's left hand began to billow with frost. "We'll walk down and get another guide if we have to."
"I'd rather we didn't." I speak up. As fun as exercise is, that last thing I'd like to be killed by here in rape country is the generic stone steps.
The other two floors beneath us had the same staircase room design. As in, each floor was basically comprised of two half-circles that were connected to one another.
On this fourth floor, there was no carpet, unlike the lower floors. The second floor seemed to be just beds, and the third held actual sane things, like stoves, some bookshelves, and board games and crap.
This fourth floor, however, has the kinky shit. Here, we can already see strange black and silver steel devices, some with shackles and clamps, and others with chains.
Leading us into the central door, the blue-haired girl pushed it open, and floated ahead.
...Ah, yes. Here we are.
Dildos as far as the eye can see. I'm sure this was well worth the murder of two random girls.
"He- here." The girl spread her arms out. "Here's… your things. I'll just-..." She moved to escape on the stairway on the opposite end of this room.
"Stop." Shimokoa walked towards her, and she stopped.
...Turning back around, the girl glared at her. "Wh- what? Um-... oh- come on..." She grimaced, as she saw Shimokoa raising her sword. "I- I hardly collected any power yet. Why kill me?"
"When you die, you'll know why." Shimokoa's voice was flat.
"But- that's fucking-..." Eyes wide, the blue-haired girl snapped her arms towards one of the things nearest herself.
She picked up an iron paddle from the steel table next to herself. "I hate stupid bitches like you! We're not just some-"
FWOOM- FWAM! Shimokoa thrust her free arm forward, and a black-red orb was pushed into the smaller girl's face, exploding into a fiery gust. "Nh- ah-"
WOOSH. Then, Shimokoa slid forward, swinging her sword out wide.
thud- spla- splack. Clack. The girl fell apart in half, and red began to bleed out everywhere. Her iron paddle became two, broken on the ground beside her.
"hh" Now crying, she stared up at an awkward angle, her upper torso shaking as it lied on its back. "kha"
Then, it stopped moving. This is so sad, can we get fifty likes.
...Shimokoa gave the dead girl a nod, as she let her ice blade crumble, the blood on it flaking away with it.
"Killing others…" Shimokoa reflects on her three recent murders. "...Once it's done-... it's easy to look past it. Yet-..."
"You're-... you're horrible." Vanilla also looks depressed, right now.
Oh, right. For some reason, whenever Vanilla gets upset at her, I'm surprised. I forget whether or not she knew Shikome slaughtered people. I'm pretty sure Shikome was just on an entire different wavelength than other people. There wouldn't be any of this shitty drama if she was here.
...Shimokoa- a name too close to Shikome, I now realize- simply nods back. "Then I'm horrible. This is the price they pay for their attempted rape. I hope they remember this lesson." They won't.
She looked back down at the vacant eyes, and the bleeding body of the now dead imp-like girl.
...Oh, look, the scissors aisle.
Some of these are more kinky than I'd bargained for. A few have blades on the handle, making them impossible to hold.
I wonder if any of these are actually better than my steel ones. Let's get Mima's ass over here.
"Hey." Turning, I call out to her. "Mima. Get over here." Her name is awkward to say.
Shimokoa was looking over the iron paddles, next to where that girl died. "...I'm busy."
"Wh- what, now…" Suddenly, Mima returns to us. "I was chillin' out while y'did your things. Oh, you already found the shit we were lookin' for?" She makes Shimokoa's body look around. "Damn. Nice."
"Tell me which of these scissors isn't a horrible idea." I'm not even sure why I'm sticking to the scissors theme. Some of these look pretty intimidating, however. And, if there's anything I'll be good at as a cat, it's leaping onto people and snipping their throats in half.
Shimokoa slips a big iron paddle into the back of her kimono- which must be really uncomfortable- and strolls lazily over to me.
"...Oh, shit." Mima-Shimokoa realizes something, meandering into the aisle where I was. "There's an adamantite pair here. The stupid shit you see in Makai…"
Adamantite scissors. "Which?" I need these.
Mima gestures to a red-white pair hanging on a rack.
There's just one, and a bunch of weird pubic hair trimmers sit on the rack behind it, or whatever the hell those are. Maybe they're people-neuterers. Who the hell knows.
Picking up the adamantite scissors, I twirl them around. "Are they just really sharp, or…?"
"Kinda, yeah." Mima reveals. "They should make certain spells easier just by virtue a' bein' such powerful metal. If we get into a bout, ya should spam spells and shit."
It took ten years to learn how to cast Fire. Although… I should be able to apply those concepts elsewhere. I've sort of cared more about being disgruntled and discomforted, until now.
Well, I have what I came here for. I need some dildos for bludgeoning purposes, too. Let's get on that.
Crea~k! The door we came in from rattles, pushed past by someone. "Alma-Elma!?"
We all look at the doorway.
There was a young, brown-eyed man, with brown hair, in a black and green hoodie. He has an array of kiss marks on his face, and holds a black-green sword.
"Tomo-kun-..." A girl with black hair done up in a ponytail follows him in. "Slow down, you idiot."
Looking back, 'Tomo-kun' gave her a grin. "Aw, it'll be fine. I gotta feeling the staff here's all bark 'n' no bite."
...Then, he focused on all of us. "But I don't know who these guys are."
"Servants of Alma, of course!" The black-haired girl glared at the back of his head. "Look- let's just go back- and wait for the others."
"Hold o~n." He waved off her concern.
His glowing, black-green weapon ready, he gazed between Vanilla, Shimokoa, and myself.
"So…" He smiled. "Who're all of you? Alma's guests?"
"Human." Shimokoa approached him. Good name.
"We- we aren't." Vanilla stalks up beside her, before she can take this in the obvious direction. "...We, um, came to steal-... some things, I guess." She seemed to become sad, realizing what this whole trip was about.
…'Tomo-kun' smirked. "That so? None of you would happen to know where Alma's room is, do you? Turns out, it's not as straightforward as going up."
"How do we know they're not lying…!?" That girl with him is quite flippant. Understandably so, in this instance.
"But, I'm not…" Vanilla pouted.
"All I came here for, were these implements." Shimokoa gestured to the dildo gallery. "I'm feeling generous. Leave us alone." She's feeling generous because it's a dildo gallery.
...At that, the brown-haired guy adjusted the grip on his sword. "How's about I don't? I really doubt someone spooky lookin' as you is just some lackey." Whelp.
Shimokoa's icy maw began to curl its lips. "...Please, leave me alone."
At her insistence, 'Tomo-kun' frowned. "I came here 'cause Alma-Elma nearly killed one of my friends. I'm not backin' down just 'cause you asked me nicely."
...Shimokoa began to stroll closer to him. Vanilla kept back, keeping her clunky iron katana raised cautiously.
"Tomo-kun-" The black-haired tsundere tugged on his shoulders. "She's giving me a bad vibe-..."
"Everyone here gives you a bad vibe." He countered. "If we have trouble, I'm sure the others will come running."
"If I knelt down, and hung up my arms, what would you do?" Shimokoa asked of them. "Would you slaughter me?"
...I wonder if they've noticed the huge red puddle that used to be that lesser succubus yet. Maybe it's just out of their sight.
"I mean, I'd still hafta clobber ya." The guy grinned. "Better safe than sorry, right?"
"...Better safe than sorry." Shimokoa echoed. "Yes. That is the way things-"
VUUM- THUNK! That's when 'Tomo-kun' slid forward, and swung his blunt-looking, green-black blade into Shimokoa's gut. Energy flared along the edges of his blade.
"Unh-" She recoiled, red splashing from her middle, and from within her icy maw. "Yhou-"
Fwish! Skidding back, he held up his blade, now stained red. "...Hu- huh. Squishier- than I thought-"
"How- how dare…" Feeling at her new, wide gash, both in her flesh and her kimono, Shimokoa's maw expanded up where her cheeks would be.
"Um." He lowered his blade. "You good?" Even the girl next to him seemed to purse her lips, taken aback by the damage the single attack had done.
"You idiot." The girl next to him shook her head. "If she wasn't pissed before-"
"The moment I give you a millimeter…" Her body shaking, she began to float. "The moment one cares, you destroy them."
"Hey- I didn't mean ta- like, those demon girls had really thick skin!" The guy waved his free hand at her. "...Look. All I came here for was to do something for a friend. I'm not here ta destroy anyone… 'cept maybe Alma-"
"Culling Curaga." Shimokoa reeled her body back.
A polygonal crystal of ice encapsulated her, and became opaque, seemingly solid.
'Tomo-kun' held his sword up and ready, eyes sharp.
SHUNK. Shimokoa came down from behind and above them, her sword plunged straight down into 'Tomo-kun's' skull, and through his whole torso.
Her solid eyes blinked at her own damage, and her grin expanded. "...I will cull humanity. You cannot resist."
KRA- KRACK! The crystal of ice in the air exploded outward, like a frag grenade.
TINK! Vanilla accidentally parried an oncoming icicle, while I ducked under the side of a table. "Nn- ah…!"
As Shimokoa victoriously stood away from the skewered man, a wreath of healing energy coiled up her body, the wound in her side closing.
"Uuh-..." The girl looked over at 'Tomo-kun'. "To-... Tomoaki?"
CRACK! Clenching her left hand, Shimokoa made the ice blade piercing his whole body shatter.
thud. He collapsed instantly, blood pouring from his chest in countless places, like the blood was trying to leave his body from every angle.
The girl's jaw hung open, and she froze, staring down at the probable corpse.
With a look of satisfaction, Shimokoa faced her. "...He is dead. How do you feel?"
WHAM! Her body roaring forward in a near instant, she punched Shimokoa in the stomach. "Uuh-"
FWAWHAM! The woman's arms lit ablaze, as she roared an overhead punch into Shimokoa's shoulders.
"Aa- unhu-" Shimokoa slipped hard onto one knee, her solid eyes glowering up.
Stepping up to her, the woman lifted Shimokoa by the hems of her kimono, and pulled her towards the room's center.
Thu- thud! Rolling across the ground, Shimokoa was left on her back by the throw. "Nnh-"
"I-..." The human woman's gaze was fierce. "I loved him, you worthless monster."
Shimokoa tried to get off the floor-
Pap! Running up past her, the girl got Shimokoa by one of her hands, and began pulling her along the floor on her back.
"Hu- humans…" Eyes wet, the girl looked around, until she saw knives on the far left of the room. "Humans can love too. Fuck you."
"What- a bitter lie!" Shimokoa suddenly blurted from the floor. "Heh- heheh!"
"Fuck you!" The woman roared back. "I hate shallow fucking demons like you!" ...How ironic.
"Shallow…" Shimokoa echoed, staring up.
Gripping an mythril dagger from the collection of dangerous things upon one of the leftmost tables, the woman centered her wide-eyed glare down at Shimokoa.
SHI- SHI- SHI- SHINK! From the floor, azure-trailed icicles plowed through the woman's chest like arrows.
"Rrh- hu-" Her form lit ablaze with magic, and she gritted her teeth. She seemed to run in place, to counter the momentum of the icicles.
Shimokoa sprang onto her legs. "I am the enlightened shadow of my former self. I am the last gift to humanity's greed-"
whish! The woman swung the knife fast enough to leave a flaming trail in the air.
Shimokoa's left hand, the one holding her sword, fell off.
Then, Shimokoa's body snapped back.
FWASH! Azure and black magic exploded from inside her body.
Where her left hand was, the magic coalesced into an outstretched hand, stars and planets visible through the dense matter. That must have been Mima's magic.
"I'm the hand of the gods." Shimokoa thrust her left arm forward. "I am frost's messiah. I am a woman of the snow."
FWAM- FWOA~SH! Then, like a Master Spark, that left palm became a beam of pure, cosmos-resembling energy.
KRAK- KABOOM- BOOM! Despite all her force and hardiness, the woman flailed her limbs, as she was shot straight through the brick-reinforced wall many meters behind herself.
As the cosmic flare trickled out into sparkles and rippling space, Shimokoa turned away from the hole.
In the distance, I could see the woman's limp body get decasected by a circlet of katanas, creating a firework of blood and bits in the air over the desert.
"Nnh- he- hahahah!" Shimokoa broke out laughing. "...What power! What incredible power! I- I love you, Genkan!"
...In the meantime, I've already obtained my selection of inappropriate armaments. Since dildos will likely not make effective weapons, I simply took one comically large one, and a bunch of littler ones meant for chucking into people's eyes. If I fuck up my aim, it should at least startle them. Fuckin' dildos.
I look back at the hole Shimokoa made. Around it, there are now inscriptions in the shattered rock. How absolutely overkill does something like that need to be? Mima's playing this lunatic like a fucking fiddle.
...Also, I have no idea why a beam of cosmic energy should have any right to inscribe things onto the point of impact.
"Loo- look." Vanilla has had it up to here with Shimokoa's lunatic fringe antics. "...Please, stop killing people." I'd gesture to justify how big 'up to here' is, but you couldn't see me anyway.
"No." Shimokoa's retort is surprisingly devoid of needless romanticism. "It's too late for that. I want others to feel my suffering."
...Vanilla just disbelievingly looks over at me, as if begging me to say something about this. To be honest, I don't really care that much. Big surprise, I'm sure. She's just fuckin' crazy.
"I want others to feel the suffering they cause." Shimokoa's icy maw beams down at us. "They will no longer keep me- or my sisters- trapped in fright. And-... I- I'm so tired now, I just can't care."
With that said, she strolls up to us, while her left hand visibly begins to regenerate. Blood spritzes from the reforming flesh, and she starts to silently hiss.
"I- I just-..." She closed her eyes. "I want them to see how powerless they are. It's exhilarating. It's a greater thrill, than I've felt in the past month. It-... it makes me feel like peace is in reach."
Just the past month, huh. Your life must be a rollercoaster, surely.
"Do you ever masturbate?" Let's change topics. As interesting as her murderboner is, I'd like to do something other than obtain dildos today.
...Shimokoa blinks.
It's sort of dawned on me how surreal this whole situation is.
Me- a cat girl, an idiot, a loli vampire, and a psychopath assault a loli succubus tower in order to steal dildos. Meanwhile, the ice bitch has a near-constant, consistent mental breakdown over her absolute lack of comfort, inadvertently guarding the dildo safehouse from intruders.
"...I-" Shimokoa was taken entirely out of her groove. She looked down at her healing hand, before meeting my gaze again. "...So- sometimes. And, skinship, with my sisters..." Oh? That's actually interesting.
"Mm-..." Vanilla almost calls me Matt. I don't think Shimokoa is together enough to catch that that'd be an English male name. "Sa- Sabrina. What do you think-... about her killing people?"
"Honestly don't care." I admit. "She's probably too into it. Especially don't care when it's self-defense." After all, I'd kill in self-defense. Shimy seems like she equates everything to self-defense, but that's a whole other issue that isn't mine.
"...See?" Shimokoa gave Vanilla a smile. "This human can understand. I'm sure, if we opposed one another, she would have no qualms in ending my life, as I would hers." Is this an edginess contest? She knows not who she trifles with.
What a fucked up little party this is. We need to find Sanjiro's corpse. Everyone, place your bets. Was he fucked to death, eaten, or bludgeoned?
"You know." Still, I'm curious. Legitimately, even. "What did you do for fun?" I ask Shimokoa. If only because, she makes it seem like she lives in a very limited, small world.
...She frowned, and let herself lean to the side slightly. Particularly jarring, since her face is still just shade, two angry eyes and a maw of icy spikes. "I read. Sometimes, play amidst the snow. I found joy in company, for much of my life, and my interests have shifted since."
Quickly, she realizes her mistake. "...My words are wasted on you, I realize. If you toy with my sympathy again, I will kill you."
"You've figured out my master plan." I congratulate her on being anti-social. "You are slightly more inconvenienced, now."
"Congratulations." Shimokoa may have seethed. Or, she may have just been disappointed. It's hard for me to tell, because of her inhuman face. "Is this how you live your life?"
"Yes." I don't know where she's going with this, but I agree.
Apparently my answer was the correct one, because she finally stopped.
...We're probably going to keep climbing the tower for different reasons, or something. We haven't done a whole lot of practice or anything. Shimokoa's just killed a bunch of random people.
The respite wasn't long, and she began again. "We've obtained what we came here for."
Seems so. Dildos.
"Wa- wait…" Vanilla moves to select stuff. "I haven't gotten anything yet."
"So?" Despite everything else Shimokoa has done, this was just rude. "We are finished here."
"No we're not." Vanilla is surprisingly assertive towards someone who could turn her into ice cubes in seconds. "I-... I want- whatever these are too. We came here for a reason!"
"...Fine." Shimokoa puts up with us. "Then, I will continue without you."
...Vanilla smiles strangely. "Is- that how this works, th- though?"
"It will be." Shimokoa began to coast towards the door, ahead of the blood puddle that was Tomoaki. "...In the meantime, I will find out more about this place. If you find those humans, yell."
This place is getting a bad Yelp review.
...Man, this room smells like shit. And, my nose is nothing to trust typically, so that's saying something.
Looking more tired now, Vanilla looks over at me. "...Wh- what do we even take?"
You don't really use any weapons, or so I'd imagine. That, and support magic is more of your thing; loli vampire and everything. That's how it seems, at least.
Maybe something here helps with hypnosis, or date rape. "We should find something that plays into your abilities." I worded the idea more eloquently than in my head. I still keep thinking a guy's voice will come out, and consistently surprise myself every time.
/ / / / FUNK GOES ON / / / /
I already had that pair of adamantite scissors, so I'm happy.
cli- cli- cli- click. Vanilla lazily spins the dizzy, black-white swirl of some kind of shitty wand thing. "What even is some of this stuff…?"
It looks like a fuckin' lollipop. "Good question."
...Noticing my stare, Vanilla holds the dizzy lollipop to my face, and spins it.
cli- cli- cli- click. Nothing happens, it's just a spinny thing.
"I wonder." Vanilla lowers it, before holding it up again and spinning it.
cli- cli- cli- FWI- WASH! What-
A cyclone of prism-like light flares from the dial- and, hmm. The fuck…
The world around me looks like it's in quadruple or quintuple, for a few moments. After the fragmented images come together, the rainbow filter over my vision fades, and I'm left slightly dizzy. "...What- the fuck, was that?" I'm rubbing my eyes. That better not have degraded my vision, from how bright that was.
"Did- that really work…?" Vanilla smiles awkwardly, looking down at the dizzy lollipop thing. "I- I think this could actually help me! It like- sorta amplifies the initial-... thing I do, and makes it go a little wider, than just a cone in front of me." That's how that worked? ...I suppose that makes sense, considering how eyes work.
Then, that might actually be useful.
...Vanilla looked up, and met my gaze. "Hey, Matt." Oh, right. That's my name. Feels weird to be called that. I prefer Xavier, or Sabrina, or anything else that feels less weird.
"Sit down." She requested-
Awkwardly, I check the shitty carpet beneath myself, and sit on my butt. "Nnh. What-...?" Oh, good. Yes, this is just what we needed.
...Reading my furrowed brows, she gives me a sheepish smile. "I- I'm just experimenting. Um… release."
Her eyes glow red, and then the world around me becomes a slightly different tint; this one the original one, I now recognize. The previous one was somehow very altered, but I didn't notice until everything reverted.
Also, my strange aversion to getting off this shitty carpet is suddenly gone. Wonder why. For some reason, doing as she said felt good, in some indescribable way. The hypnosis probably applies itself to your pleasure center in some way, to make it actually worth a damn.
"You took that a lot better than um, those guards." Vanilla noticed something that I didn't think of immediately. "They just blanked out entirely. Unless-..." She proceeded to do complicated calculus in the back of her head. "Oh! It's probably like- 'cause I didn't wanna completely blank you out, or something."
Well, that's convenient. Sure wish I was a vampire loli. In this scenario, that'd be marginally more helpful than being a cat loli. I'd go to the SDM, have lesbian sex with Remilia, and then storm Eientei with whatever crappy bat spells I'd have on hand.
I twirl my adamantite scissors around one of my left hand's fingers. "I'm gonna experiment with these." I look Vanilla in the eyes as I say this.
She gives me a slanted smile back. "...What do you mean by that?"
Well, if she didn't immediately get the veiled threat, I won't push it. It was meant to be a joke, anyway.
I look back at the doorway of this strange toy room. Tomoaki's body is now lying in a puddle of browning, blackening blood. Super dead.
Dlido brick repository, check. Dildo 'blade', check. Actually useful- potentially- scissors, check. Honestly, I could really do with more magic, or something. Getting ganked by literally every living thing under the sun really sucks.
Vanilla traces my stare, and sees the body. "...That- ice lady, she really-..."
Where'd Vanilla get that dizzy dial thing from? There might be a bazooka wand or something similarly broken and retarded there.
Oh, I found them. There's actually just a pile of these wand things. Not very useful for myself, sadly. Vampiric hypnotist I am not. I take two anyway 'cause I'm a hoarder.
...Otherwise, there are stones and crap. I don't want to take too many things, for both my own sanity, and because I can only hold so much.
There's a bookshelf in here? There is. It's somewhat ajar, sitting some meters away from the wall Shimokoa blasted a hole into.
The inscriptions along the giant hole are visible as I near. They're small, detailed carvings of Shimokoa and her sword, in various janky looking poses. Some are just her staring forward, looking pissed off. Her beam literally inscribed her pissed off energy into a small, nonsensical story on the walls.
Something about that is really funny. Not funny enough to do anything more than grin at, but also oddly fitting.
Now that I get near this bookshelf, I fear one of the books might bite my dick off. Or rather, my cunt. What an incredibly cursed thought.
What a strange world I live in. That moment when you can't read after you've been turned into a cat loli, because you're afraid books will literally come to life and eat your genitals. If someone said something like that on the outside, it'd either be a very retarded anti-intellectualism metaphor, or the babbling of a schizophrenic.
Regardless, now I have only two options. Read the books, or burn the books. I must pick one.
"Vanilla," I need a second opinion, "should I destroy these books?"
...Vanilla gives me a sort of sad look. "What…? Why?"
"They might bite my vagina if I open them." I express concern.
...She's experiencing multiple contrasting emotions, it looks like. "I- I don't think they'd do that." What do you know about fantasy dungeon tropes? Though, I suppose I did ask her. I should've known better.
"Alright, look." She buckles down, and hustles up to the bookshelf. "I'll open each one for you, if you're so scared."
"Don't." I try to save her. "Or they'll bite you."
...She gives the bookshelf a sizable stare, nodding at it. Then, she looks back at me, brows raised. "They- don't really do anything like that, do they…?"
"It's what I'm counting on." I am taking no chances.
Vanilla however is. She puffs her cheeks, and claims a vague, blank cover book from the shelf.
Wincing an eye shut, she leaned back, and began to peel the book open. She stops, however. "Let me- use a like, stick or something." Genius.
So, with the book on the floor, and me helping, we slowly lug one of those huge fuckass iron paddles towards the book.
thump. We did it. We opened a book with excess force.
...Vanilla beams at me. "See!?" For some reason, this annoys me. But, she's too cute and half-naked for me to stay mad.
Nothing has sprung out. I just realized: I probably won't be able to read that shit. I don't know if Vanilla could read this shit.
"I guess this one's safe." I start to step closer-
thu- thump. Book's moving on its own. Everything's gone wrong.
thu- thu- thump. After bouncing in place for a moment, it hovers into the air. Oh.
"Oo- oh, um." Vanilla gets behind me. "That's-... oh, no…!"
FWII~SH. Expanding, the tome sits back on the floor, and the pages begin glowing. Pages flip rapidly, and arcane symbols begin to emanate into the air, because yes.
Two arms grip the sides of the tome from inside it, and once the pages settle, someone begins to emerge from inside.
Her hair is navy colored, and she's wearing round glasses. "Hmm…" There are bags under her eyes, and she frowns ahead at us. "Where am I, now…?"
She's a rather middle-aged looking woman, but her eyes don't have pupils. After glancing around, she frowns. "Somewhere strange, no doubt. This is not Lady Shinki's library."
She rose into 'sitting' before us, her butt atop-... something odd, brown-grey and fleshy.
Her ears were long, and had strange geometry. Akin to elf ears, but perhaps stranger. Her tired, dull gaze ran over us, and she frowned. "...Even stranger."
shu- shunk, click- sqeck, shunk. From the tome's pages, black, hard carapace-clad tentacles began to emerge around her. Oh, boy.
They were thick, but ended in very fine tips, fine enough to curl, each holding paper, or books at their edges.
"Well." Folding her arms, she gives us a stuffy look. Her hands were to her conservative, plain librarian outfit. "What did you want, of me?"
"What the hell are you?" I begin.
...She leaned back, and her pale hand pushed up her glasses. "I'd like to know that myself. Yet, I am the conqueror of books. I am page sixty five thousand, five hundred, thirty seven."
"...Exactly?" I ask. That seems like an oddly precise number.
She gave me a slow blink. "...That's how many pages I've consumed." Oh. "The domain of text is the godhood I have earned."
I wonder if she's conquered the pages of Huckleberry Finn. "How does that work?" I'm actually genuinely curious. "Conquering books, that is?"
...Pursing her lips, she folded her arms. On her lap was a book, and she seemed as if she was sitting on something, even though her black skirt covered up that 'something' completely. On her lap was a book, of course. "Hmm. Where do I even begin?"
On page one. Hur, hur.
"It's about as it sounds…" She supposed. "It isn't literal, however. First, I read the text. If it's non-fiction, absorbing the knowledge into my mind is a fairly summary process. Such books create mindscapes, not worlds. Fiction, on the other hand, requires me to experience that world. Then, I eat it."
Just like that, huh. "You rip the pages out and gnaw on them." Obviously.
Her gaze flicked up. You've got to love how even eons-old eldritch women will sometimes still roll their eyes. "As a metaphor, it is perhaps best left at that. The alternative explanation would be, at best, long-winded."
...I suppose there's one way to figure this out. "What did you think of The Great Gatsby?" I'm sure everyone in existence, across fucking dimensions, has had to read this shitty novel.
She licked her lips, looking around before meeting my gaze. "It was an interesting, mundane, but bright era. A world of humans, set in a dirty time of money, trashy glamour, and the usual superficiality that follows young life. If not even moreso. It was truly an era of a world that promoted a lack of care."
shlick- shunk, shunk. Her herd of tentacles around herself shifted as she adjusted her strange seated posture. "Nothing interesting came of the people there, even in their final days. Yet, there was something beautiful, about a world so empty. A world with lights, but without sounds. While unrealistic, books aren't necessarily bound by the common laws of reality. Since electricity and power production weren't brought into question- unless I or the author willed it so- then it would not matter."
...Reading my vague gaze, she had a small frown. "What? Did you expect something more dreadful? Yes, in the process of consuming the book, I killed everyone inside it. That's not the point. If anything, such is a mere footnote in my procedure, and my experience. I first read, then I live. Then, I change it, dismantle and observe it; and then, it is mine."
"Do you go in the book, or something?" That seems to be what she's getting at.
...She closed her eyes, before giving me a level stare again. "Was that not implicit? Or rather-... no, I don't go in the book. I experience its world, as if in a dream. In the end, my actions do have bearing on the text. I always keep a spare copy of anything I make my own."
This must mean she has a copy of The Great Gatsby, except where a demonic tentacle librarian girl shuffled in and ate everyone and observed the world in its final days. Honestly? That sounds more interesting than what we got.
"Can I have your new copy?" It sounds like something to read when Mima's being an asshole, or when Shimokoa inevitably continues her acid trip.
...She shifted awkwardly for a moment, before looking complacent. "Well-... alright. Allow me to-... copy the copy, as it were. Seldom would one such as yourself ask something like this of me. I admit… I'm intrigued."
"It sounds more interesting than the real one." The original was dry, boring and had a theme no one really gave two good shits about. It gained reverence well after the author's death just because it had a basic theme, as well as an air of pretentiousness to it; a prerequisite for anything 'serious' to most people, I'm sure.
...Page 65537 nodded at that, after a moment of thought. "Most likely. I would argue, but to one such as yourself, I'm sure books are just words. Something so conceptually dry and perhaps needlessly long-winded would be such a bore."
I don't know what she meant exactly by that, and to be honest, I don't really give a shit.
From the softly glowing tome paper beneath herself, a copy of The Great Gatsby hovered up, and began to glow with a faint green light.
"Request a language." She offered. "The default would either be Shinkiscript, Japanese, or English." Ss- Shinkiscript.
"English." I know how to read at least that.
fr- frar. Odd, black seams form in a sphere around the glowing text, and it opens up, the pages flapping wildly.
Fwash! Then, in the air near it, a second copy materializes. At first, it's solid green and made of light, before the paper and plastic drain in like water filling a container.
As the new book flaps open, letters are written on every page simultaneously. They too glow a bright green, before dimming.
"Aah…" Page 65537 nodded idly. "I could see that. In a script language, the prose would be rather boring, compared to a character-based one. That, and the original text was in English. Reverence to the source language couldn't hurt."
Yes, quite. It's certainly not because I can only read English.
"Here, little human cat." Leaning forward, grasping the new text, Page 65537 hands it to me. "...Fresh off the press, as they'd say. Hmhm."
Let's smell that new book smell.
...Or rather, let's not. I can't place this scent for the life of me, but it's not fresh ink and new paper.
"Um…" Vanilla stares down at my new copy. Staring up, she riles herself into speaking. "Why-... when you went into a book- or whatever-... why would you kill the people in it?"
...Page 65537 gave her a dull look. "Because it's interesting. That, and I am of the opinion that people are the most interesting before and during death. In an interactive but replicable world, to me, death doesn't have a price. So, it's interesting when those who inhabit such a world believe there to be one."
Bringing her hands up, she stroked her own dark navy hair, and began to look around at the decaying bodies around the room. She couldn't see them, but she most likely knew they were there.
"I'm sure someone here agrees with me." She smiled. "...Neither of you smell of enough blood, however. Or perhaps, I've simply been cooped up, too long."
Leaning back, she stretched herself, and her black carapace-clad tendrils stretched out too, keeping hold on their tomes and parchments. "Hnn~h…"
Basically, destroying literary worlds to her is like playing sandbox games to regular people. She's living in 3015, while we're living in 2015.
I put away my new copy of The Great Gatsby: Tentacle Horror Edition, and start to look around the room again. What was I doing again?
Oh, right. I wanted to learn magic and shit.
"I'd like to learn magic." I inform miss tentacles-and-books. "...At least, one spell more." I know how fire works. Getting it explained to me was a boring and lengthy process, but still a somewhat interesting one.
...She purses her lips again. "My tutelage is limited. You'd have to go through channels now esoteric to even myself, as I was relegated to a guardian some time ago. Though…"
She smiled down at me. "You bear a simple puzzle from Lady Shinki. Perhaps then, I should show you something as a gesture to her. I may feel somewhat neglected, sitting… wherever I am." She began to look around. "...Somewhere amidst the sands."
Page 65537 played with her own hair, which was done up in a long braid in the back. "What magic do you know?"
"Fire." That's all I can do realistically. Gravity and Saw, while essential parts of my toolkit, are not understood well to me.
"...Hmm." She frowned at that. "Perhaps I should teach you something responsible, then. While it is only natural, that most aspiring magi learn fire… it is by far the least favorite of my elements. It would do you good to learn something like water or ice."
shu- shunk, shif. From the surface of the huge tome she sat in, a thick tendril came up, holding open an empty, black tome. Its pages were facing me.
"If you understand mana, this lesson will be quick." She gave me a nod, resting her arms on her 'lap'. "Remember what you may have been taught, regarding visualization and mana allocation."
Clack, clack. That's when there was a sound behind us. Like the metal of boots stomping on the stone.
Splack. He stepped in the blood of Tomoaki.
...Me and Vanilla turned, facing him.
He was a tall, human-looking man, in dented iron armor. Over his shoulder was a fairly realistically-sized broadsword.
"Mmm?" Page 65537 raised one brow at him. "...My. Really busy day here. Is it always like this?"
...He glanced down at Tomoaki's soggy body, and up at the hole in the wall that Shimokoa had made earlier.
He had greying hair that betrayed some lingering brown. "...I was lookin' after those kids, you know."
"...That's a disappointment." Page 65537 delivered plainly. "Not a good job of it, apparently."
"Yeah." Slowly, he seemed to frown deeper. "So. Whose fault is this?"
...Me and Vanilla look at each other. Page 65537 shrugs very slightly. "I wasn't here for it. Judging by the clotting, and the scent, it happened some time ago."
Clack, clack. He began to stomp closer. "I have a feeling one of you little worthless shits knows. An' it's gonna be real unpleasant 'till I find out who."
"I wouldn't use that tone." Page 65537 frowned. "...I may be of assistance, if you'd-"
"I don't need-..." His old face began to flare. "Any goddamn- ill-willed help- from any fucking monster! I'll lop all yer goddamn heads off!"
...Leaning back in her 'seat', Page 65537 adjusted her glasses. "I give you one last chance. Calm down."
"That was my fuckin' nephew." He reeled his sword arm back, as if to flick it down into the floor. "Like fucking hell-"
KRANG! He slammed his sword into the ground before us.
FWISH! A circle of holy light appeared in the air- and something impossible to look at began to creep out.
KRA- KRA- KRAKAK…! It was a huge, broad blade of pure white. It had shot out, meant for Vanilla, who fell over, eyes wide as it stopped before her.
Page 65537 had gripped it with her tentacles.
Her glasses shone rapidly with some kind of brilliant energy. "Come…!"
Fwi- fwi- fwi- fwish! The black tome held in her frontmost tendril dropped from her grasp, and flailed open in the air.
FWA- FWA- FWASH! An aura of green wrapped around all our bodies; except for the page woman's body.
woosh. Then, suddenly, my gaze was very limited, like I had forced, extreme tunnel vision. I couldn't move my eyes.
Wait-... what the fuck.
I'm looking up from the page of a book. Page 65537's large face peers down at me, a smile spreading across her features, as she moves to shut it. I see the blank page close in over my face.
+=+ Book of Experimentation +=+
...Well. This has been an entirely unique experience.
I'm floating in a black and navy void. Here, I can see particles of wind or dust; cosmic winds, and huge grey clouds against an eternally dim sky thousands of miles away.
"Aa- ah…!" Vanilla's vague outline is near me in the dark. We're falling somewhere. "Matt!"
I'd figured the combat in Makai would be a little more insane than in Gensokyo, but this is kind of ridiculous.
Then, there was a dim, green light.
Ahead of us as we fell in the airless, resistanceless void, Page 65537's pure black, humanoid form zipped around, gazing over us.
"Let's kill two birds with one stone." She spoke levelly. "...I'll teach you a simple ice technique capable of dispatching well-armored foes."
Our descent began to slow, and then beneath us, the ground began to grow.
Cli- click. I land on my shoes, and Vanilla on her bare feet.
A blinding, piercingly bright spread of magic began to overtake everything, and I had to shut my eyes. What the fuck…
"What-..." Vanilla spoke up amidst the blinding light. "What the heck."
...After being physically incapable of opening my eyes for some moments, I finally did.
We were standing on a concrete poolside. Big, stone fencing contained the strange lake-side yard we stood in.
At the end facing the lake, there was a white pier. There were no fancy yachts to go with the pier, however.
Further inland, there was a huge mansion with an ivory exterior behind us. I could make out huge, gold lights upon it that shined in the strange, timeless dark light of this inner-book realm.
Across the water, there was now a full moon. Suddenly, the fence all around us had gold lights, too.
vhir. With the world respectably lit, Page 65537 appears before me. She's now in her librarian outfit again, and her skin and body has definition. Also, she has actual legs now, ending in casual shoes at the bottom of her long black skirt.
"Welcome back to the nineteen twenties." She greets us. "...We are in the backyard of the Gatsby estate. Somewhere you might recognize, I hope."
I always wanted a book demon from the semen slurping dimension to self-insert me into a post-cthulhu version of The Great Gatsby. You know- even retracing my steps, I'm still confused as to how I got here. What the fuck.
"The other human is being kept busy." Page 65537 informed me. "So, we will have plenty of time to catch you up on what you need to know."
"Wh-..." Vanilla is altogether overwhelmed. "What-...!"
cla- cla- clack. On the concrete before us, black tomes slap down.
Fwi- fwi- fwish! From each, once they snap open, a person is created.
All three of them are identical, looking like generic, ragamuffin men of the nineteen twenties. They don't move or say anything, or even move their eyes. They simply stand completely still.
"Let's be quick." She faced me. "...Draw your foci, if you use one."
I raise my adamantite scissors. They feel good to hold, somehow.
...She furrows her brows a little, but shakes it off. "Good enough. Show me fire."
Mankind's gift of fire. Sure.
Closing my eyes, I visualize my mana. It's somehow easier now, running through my body and finding the color and heat of it.
It rolls up into my adamantite scissors, and I swing them. "Fire!"
fwoom! The fireball rolls off of my swing, and traces towards one of the men per my vision.
fwam. It hits one of them in the chest, and expands outward, catching his clothing ablaze. He has no reaction, but the flames start to lick up his outfit.
"...I see." She adjusted her glasses. "That's a rather simple way of enacting a fire spell. I suppose you must be a simple person." Excuse me for not having studied literal magic ever before. "Then…"
She stepped around the generic men, and then came closer to me. "I want you to instead slow the mana, in your scissors. I want you to slow it to a halt. Make it as solid as you can, as if it were crystalizing."
So, ice. You're telling me to visualize ice.
I close my eyes, and draw my mana to my scissors again.
Slow it to a stop, then. I do so. Or, try. It's surprisingly hard to keep still, even as it obeys my mental commands. Losing focus can make it become very active again.
What should it even feel like? I try to slow and stop the mana in my hands, but it doesn't feel cold. It just feels weird-
Oh. Oh. That- kind of feels cold.
"Don't freeze your blood." Page 65537 speaks up with a surprisingly stern voice. "Slowing the mana of something is like slowing its energy. Which, in turn, takes energy to force upon other objects. There won't be an immediate effect, without a lot of power."
...Makes sense.
Once the scissors are cold, and cold enough for my hands to feel it despite the adamantite, I poke them forward. "Blizzard!"
...Ah, hmm. Nothing happened. I tried to make the mana travel, but when I did, it just all became lukewarm, because it traveled. How the fuck's this even work.
"Tsk." Page 65537 shook her head. "It's not so easy as fire, to do such a thing. Besides… that is not the magic you will be performing, today." Oh? "A far more fitting spell for a focus novice is the spellsword variant, Fatal Blizzard."
...That's what Shimokoa used earlier. Provided, she'd used Fatal Blizzaga. Probably the same thing.
Also, that was an actual spell name? I thought she was just being edgy.
"When your foci is the coldest, do not move the mana in it." She held her hands up, for some reason. "Append additional mana to the outside of it, and translate the properties of the still mana to the new mana. Like this, you will begin freezing the air."
...As I do so, I begin to be able to see the small wind of shifting mana I've worked up around my scissors blade. Flakes of snow begin to form very occasionally around it, and my hand starts to tighten further from the cold…
"Now…" Page 65537 began to smile. "The more of this mana you compile, the greater the spell becomes. When you are ready to cast, stroke your foci over your enemy. At melee range, mind you. Hit them, I mean." Thank you.
I step up to the leftmost, scruffy looking man. My left hand is freezing and shaking, scissors gripped tight. The building air is precarious to bring with me, as I creep up to him.
"Fatal Blizzard!" Snapping towards him, feeling the wind around my left arm rip around as I flailed it, I hook it down.
FWISH- SPLACK! Surprisingly, my scissors meet… very little resistance.
Despite the blunt side of the scissors blades meeting the man shoulder-first, a spike of frost shot well over the arm and into his torso, and my scissors blade cut straight through the ice.
Bloody slush stains the concrete aside the pool. It's like the cold air around my scissors swept into his body, and partially froze a part of it.
Page 65537 nodded, smiling. "An attack like that will have its magical effect pierce most conventional armor. This simple form of the magic is also trivially easy to perform. However, even the simplest magical enchantments on rags will stop a spell like this from being even remotely lethal."
Good thing most humans don't walk around with the simplest enchantments.
"If you can control cooled air like that, you can also make updrafts." She continued. "I figured that would be particularly useful to you, considering your feline parts. Anything that could enhance your agility should prove beneficial."
Assuming I figure out how the fuck you do that. Unless, it's as simple as standing in a lot of cold air and jumping.
pap- pap- pap! Running along the concrete, Vanilla slings her plain iron katana at the rightmost vegetable. "Fatal Blizzard!"
SHUNK- FWI- SPLACK! She cleaved the katana right halfway into his torso with a swing, and ice crept up the rest of him, up to his neck and down to his pelvis.
Ice and blood carved a path straight across the rest of him.
thu- thud- splack. The training dummy's top half fell off, and Vanilla darted back from him, eyes wide. "Oo-... Aaa~h!" Wow.
Ignoring her outburst, Page 65537 smiled and nodded again. "...It's only natural, that a vampire would pick up on magic at an accelerated pace."
I focus on the centermost man.
"Fatal Blizzard!" I swoop my left arm in-
Fwish- splack! From this smaller preparation, comes a smaller spread of ice, and a simpler incision.
Focusing on some of my cold air before it leaves, I get very little of it, and force it down towards my legs.
whish! "Nya!" The air does a very strange turnabout as I leap off of it- and-
It makes me do a backflip as I ascend. What the fuck- nnh…
FWISH- SPLACK! As I come down, I swing the cold, adamantite scissors down into the man's head.
THUD- SPLAT- SPLACK- thud. He was split straight down the middle. Holy shit.
When I land, I almost fall over to get out of the way of the bisected person. Despite the cold that had unevenly carved straight down his form, everything inside him was free to spill out, and the concrete under him was free to become red and black with blood.
"Mm-..." Vanilla looked sheepish at it, before looking away.
"...A vampire, not jumping pleasantly at the sight of blood?" Page 65537 looked surprised, somehow. "I suppose she is young, after all."
"I- I just-... the idea of killing people-... and it's kinda gross looking…" Vanilla defends her sanity from questioning.
"...Regardless." Page 65537 shifted her arms behind her own back. "Inside the mansion, is the man. You will be killing him, before I let you leave here."
"Wh- we have to kill him?" Vanilla gave her a frown. "Why…?"
"Pure humans shouldn't be in Makai to begin with." She declared. "Above that… I have been asleep for some time. A being like me cannot simply subsist on air and ideas. I need to eat, too."
Vanilla shook her head. "Then- like, eat a-... a sandwich, or something."
"I require souls." She delivered in return. "My power is not without a price. Above that, I've transcended material consumption. It's either him, or one of you. I will only let two leave this book today. Consider it my fee."
So, that was the catch. Not a really stingy one, to be honest. She could probably just off the guy herself, but the point is for us to actually use this magic.
...Vanilla shook a little, and held up her sword. "Oo- okay. If-... if I have to…" There's the spirit.
Page 65537 gave her a soft smile. "In time, you will become used to killing. Now, go." How straightforward.
I start to walk up the back steps of the Gatsby estate. Wonder how the hell I'm actually going to find the raging barbarian roving around inside.
+=+ Book of Experimentation +=+
Oh. The lower level of Gatsby's mansion is mostly a huge foyer, or party hall.
SHUNK- SPLA- SPLACK! Immediately, I'm greeted to the sight of a guy with a tommy gun getting cleaved straight in half by a steel broadsword.
"I'll- kill s'many as ya se~nd!" The old, armored man hollers-
PATATATAT! His armor shudders, as a scruffy, brown-hatted man rumbles down the stairs, spraying a tommy gun at him as well.
SHUNK! He stabs his blade into the floor-
KRING- SHINK- SQUECK! Brambles of iron pierce up from within the stairs, coiling around the mobsterly man and crushing his organs. "Eghk- hu-..."
Hmm. Facing him head-on seems like a bad, bad idea.
...Landing a blow directly on his head, however, is a not so bad idea. I just need to come from somewhere that isn't dead forward.
"Hey!" From a door near us, a man with a black, bowl-shaped hat comes out, and flicks open a switchblade. "You can't be here, asshole!" ...We have infinite gangster backup, if the many corpses and disfigured limbs around us are any indication.
Turning, the armored, grey-haired man sneered, and reeled his broadsword back again. "Just fuckin' try me, specter!"
I turn to Vanilla. "Go left." Then, I run to the right.
If Vanilla got him to focus on her, she could use her eye hypnosis. At the same time, being focused on by the man at all seems like a horrible idea. Especially considering he has those ranged skills, like those iron brambles. He's not just a dumb villager swordsman.
SHUNK! As the mobster gets near him, trying to slide his switchblade into his steel armor, the swordsman hulks his blade straight into the guy's ribs. "Ngh- rh-"
Whunk! Then, as he drew the blade out, he kicked the guy in a thigh, sending his soon-to-be corpse flopping back uselessly. "Uu-..."
I'm around his rightmost side now, and Vanilla is around his left. He starts to look in both directions, first at Vanilla to his own right, then me to his left.
"There you two fuckers are." He starts to ready his broadsword. "About time you cowards showed yer damn faces."
I run forward before anything else could develop, and start storing mana in my scissors.
"Do you two even know what ya've fuckin' done?" He starts to get angrier, as he faces me for coming at him first.
"Fatal Blizzard!" Vanilla yells, despite only being a little closer.
He turns to face her, sword ready to cut down, but she'd never gotten into sword distance in the first place.
I reach him fast, and strafe around his backside as he turns around to try and meet where I was.
Swish! woosh! "Ny- ah!" I swing my scissors down to bring the air into a whirl beneath myself, and then I jump, doing that fuckass backflip as I ascend over him-
WOOSH! He swung where I was. "Little harlot piece of-"
"Fatal Blizzard." Once I'm upright, I plunge my adamantite scissors straight down, for his scalp.
SHUNK. My fists meet his hair, and my blade plunges deep into his skull.
His body's stopped.
So, the old guardian crumbles. I have to ask if this was worth all of his trouble. Probably not. I don't think those little shits were worth his time.
...Eyes wide, now teary, he seethes up into my chest.
drip. drip. Blood trickles down from the crotch of his armor.
...Letting go of my scissors, I push myself off from his shoulder- nnh- and land on my legs.
Clack. He lands on his ass, and I lunge my arm ahead to steal the scissors back. A stream of blood is flecked from my snagging motion.
Clack. Now, he's on his back. "hh- aa-."
That's that, it seems. Could have gone a lot worse, so I'm excited that it went so well.
"...Mm- mmh." Closing her eyes, Vanilla nodded. "We… we won."
Protecting people's a waste of time. I say this, as someone who expects to be protected.
...Although, I'd let Vanilla use me so that I could protect her. Now that I think about it, in reference to Shikome, I'm probably fairly hypocritical. As shameful as it may seem, she may need my assistance. Or, at the very most, a nudge.
But, she's useful, you see. This old fuck was worthless, and so were the idiots he followed.
Then, everything went black.
/ / / / FREAKIN HAKUGYOKUROU / / / /
Fwi- fwish, fwish- Fwi- fwish, fwish… With the fluttering of pages, me and Vanilla are back about where we were before everything had happened. The only thing missing, was that grey-armored man.
...Oo- oh, woah. My body felt strange, all of a sudden. Was it from using magic in that strange dimension, then coming here? Maybe.
Thump. Page 65537 shut the black tome, and slid it back into the odd tome space beneath herself, amidst her carapace-clad tendrils. "...That's all I have patience for." She decides. "Now… I must decide whether or not to stay here and hibernate, or discover the latest objectives of Lady Shinki."
Hmm. "...Would you owe us, if we brought you back to Shinki's castle?"
...She gave me a pensive sort of look. "You'd bother with such a task? ...I suppose, if you were to take me there, it'd expend less energy than flying. In that case, I suppose so."
We might have a deal on our hands. "...Your original form was a book, right?" If we can quietly sneak you over to the capital…
"I hibernate as an inert tome, yes." She confirms. "If you were wondering, don't get any funny ideas. Even as a closed book, I am sensitive to stimuli. I'm a book that takes more than a match or some water to destroy."
Considering she can trap people in pocket dimensions, doing something to her would probably be criminally stupid in and of itself.
"Well." I hold open my backpack. "Hop in." Come with me, and you will see, a world of pure imagination.
Fwi~sh. Her tentacles retract into her big tome, and she herself sinks down into it.
THUMP. Loudly, it shuts, and its size reduces to that of a normal book.
...Not quite 'hopping in', but it's the thought that counts.
Coming up to her, I bend down, and stuff her into the backpack. That turned out marginally better than 'book with teeth that bites your crotch off', I've gotta say.
...Vanilla begins to move for the door out, with her new hypno-wand in hand. "Le- let's just get outta here. I don't like it here." Can't say I even blame her. What, with all the decaying flesh around.
We push into the hallway with the big person-crushing S&M devices. Wonder where Shimokoa went. Probably exploded in the same way Sanjiro did.
"Let's…" I don't exactly know where to go. There's sluts down below, so I guess we're going up. Maybe we'll run into Shimokoa again, and she won't Shimo-shank us for surprising her. "Let's go up."
"...Sure." Vanilla sees no faults with this idea. "I- I guess." Or, more likely, there's less problems with going up than going down, for now.
/ / / / tower of shell noses / / / /
That was the fourth floor we were just on. Now, we're on the seventh.
The previous floors had various lobbies of… variable worth. More kitchens, a small library, so forth.
This floor had no wall partitioning it into two half circles. It was lit by a single chandelier made of gold and rubies.
Under the light, a huge circular bed sat in the middle. There was an awning over it, shading it from the huge gold chandelier.
...Within it, there was a nearly naked woman, with only a red robe on, tied loosely around her waist. She had a cup of some faintly green, luminescent tea. It was in a teacup, so it's tea.
"Mmm?" Her red eyes meet us, as she takes a sip.
Her body is fair and her chest modest. If there was one word I'd use to describe her, it'd be 'remarkably average'. She had short black hair, and two impossibly styled, curved bangs at the front.
...As she sits up, legs spread, she leers at us, and we see her fangs. "Today just gets more and more interesting." Tell me about it.
Cr- creak. Shifting to the edge of her bed, she gives the both of us an interested look. "...Another vampire? Do you know where you are…? Little girl?"
"Hell." I answer for Vanilla. "Looks like nothing interesting's on this floor." Let's get the hell out of here before we have to have some dumb clumsy skirmish.
"Aa-..." Then, we hear a different voice, from somewhere. "It's-... it's you guys! Help!" Who the fuck is that.
A young woman with straight shoulder-length, pale blonde hair was here, and I didn't even see them. Probably because they were behind whatever vanity that is.
Cli- clink! Oh. She's chained to the vanity, by her wrist. She's got a whitish dress on, similar to the one the sluts downstairs are wearing.
"Do I know you?" I eye the young adult woman over. That's a lot of forehead room she has. Her bangs are very out of the way of her forehead.
"Uu- um-..." She looks down at her own chest, where her dress exposes a moderate amount of cleavage. "I-... um-... I- I'm- you know!"
"No, I don't know." What the fuck.
...Her face reddening, she shuts her eyes. "It's- it's me. Sa- Sanjiro. Gods-... da- damn it…"
...What.
I look at Vanilla, relatively blown away. Vanilla gives me a bewildered look in return.
"Oh!" The vampire woman on the bed stands up, her chest bouncing. "You're friends of hers! I don't even-... this tower's attracted a lot of raiding parties, today!"
So it has. It's getting raided so hard, the raiding parties are fighting each other, and awakening books best left unopened.
Her red-yellow robes billow, as she sauntered over to us, looking satisfied. "...You're all so damn cute already, too. Any of you hungry? There's some bloodied meat on the kitchen level below us."
"I-... I'd never eat- another man's flesh!" Sanjiro's voice is way more whiny now, that he's a she.
"...Never said they were human." The vampiress rolled her eyes. "Not that you're human anymore, either. You're already hungry. If you don't eat, you die. An' I'm not letting a cutie like you just wither away before me."
"I'm not cute!" Sanjiro shuts her eyes and states a falsehood. "...I- I'm a proud man!"
"Eh- ehehe!" The naked vampire girl giggles. "Whatever you say, Pearl." Pearl, huh.
"I'm Sanjiro~!" Pearl clenched a fist and held it near her chest.
"I like Pearl better." I admit. "What about you?" I ask for Vanilla's input.
...Vanilla looked away. "Pe- Pearl is cuter…"
"He- hahahah!" The black-haired vampire laughed loud enough to fill the whole room. "See!? Even your party agrees!"
"Da-... damn it…" Pearl tried to tug on the chain that bound her wrist, but ended up just slipping onto one knee. "Nn- no…"
"A~nyway." The vampire girl played with one of her perfectly curving black locks. "I'm Azalla. Or, Azal."
Good.
Well, I can take or leave Pearl, honestly. Her safety is in someone else's hands.
I turn to head up the stairs-
Vanilla stops me. "We- we can't just leave Pearl here!" I- I like how even Vanilla began using the new name seriously.
"We can." I offer.
"But- we can't!" Vanilla grins back at me. "We're-... I- I'd like to think we're all in this together."
Shimokoa's just a low-operating psychopath, Pearl is an asshole, and I care more about the both of us not getting annihilated or enslaved. Neither of them would do the same for us, I'm sure.
"We are." I confirm. "We." I point at myself, then Vanilla. "There is no 'us' in 'them'."
...Vanilla frowned back at me. "We- well-... if- if we were just kind to them- then maybe-..."
I've got this feeling they wouldn't reciprocate or recognize kindness if it bit them in the ass.
...We both look back at Azal, who's just giving us a stare.
"If it's any consolation…" She began to smile warmly. "There is a 'you' in 'us'."
"Nope." Fuck you.
She grinned at the bluntness. "That's what Pearl here said! An' that didn't stop me."
Ah, yep, here we go. "We're not supposed to have a choice in the matter, are we?"
Azalla smiles. "Ooh, c'mon. You totally have a choice. You could hop on my bed and relax with me, o~r you could resist, and I could just chain you to the bed. Either wa~y…!"
I wonder if there are fluffles under the bed. Not a pleasant thought, but it might be our golden ticket, somehow. And so, I've thoroughly disgusted myself. Maybe I should accept her offer, so the mindfuck can wipe my brain of the very concept.
Someone began walking up the opposing staircase.
Oh, good. It's Shimokoa. I could tell that luminescent, edgy monster face anywhere.
She's dragging a body up the stairs with her free hand. It's a mature, red-haired girl, and she's missing her arms. Wonder what the hell even happened.
"Oh, hey!" Azalla waved at her, cape billowing from her boisterous action. "You the new hire? Aah- s'that a fresh human…!? Holy crap!"
shoo~f. Shimokoa saw the rest of us, and began to stalk towards the room's center, dragging the body along.
"You don't see yuki-onna in a desert often…" Azalla smiled, coasting around her bed to come up to her. "...What's with that flashy mask?"
Shimokoa held up the dead woman. "Take her."
...Shrugging, Azalla did so. "Don't mind if I do…"
With that, Shimokoa began to stalk around the bed herself, towards us, her 'mask's eternal grin unchanging.
SWISH- CRACK! She breaks Pearl's chain with a swing of her katana, then moves for the stairs.
"Aah- hey!" Azalla sets the corpse down by the bed, and hustles up to us. "That was my chain, lady…"
Shimokoa looked back at her. "I don't care for chains."
...Azalla began to grin hard. "A challenge, then? Nnn…"
"We just want to leave." Shimokoa's bizarre adventure: part two. Or maybe it should be 'Shimokoa's Bizarre Acid Trip'.
...Azalla smiled, shaking her head. "Well, nah!"
SHUNK, SHUNK. Stone moves to block off either stairway, so that the stairs are still there, but the ways up and down are blocked off.
"...We have things we want to do." Shimokoa began to hang her head. "We have dreams, and people to see. You'd deny us that, forever?"
"Ki~nda forfeited that when you walked into my room." Azalla gave her a bright smile. "Sorry, honey."
Shimokoa began to beam wider.
"No, really." Azalla gave her a plainer look. "What's with the mask…?"
"I never want to show my face again." Shimokoa decided. "...But, soon, it will no longer matter. The world will see me. It-... it will see my pain."
...Azalla awkwardly grinned off Shimokoa's rambling. "I hope you realize… my specialty is fire. And, I am a vampire. A low-level, non-native like yourself cannot hold a candle to my power. No matter your pain, you will kneel, and swear obedience to me."
Anticipating the inevitable, I look back at Shimokoa.
Huh. You can't really tell she's crying, but tears are dropping from her chin.
Then, she began to float into the air. Eyes widening, Azalla beamed, taking into the air too. "Oh? Nothing to say, then…!?"
"I used to be- so weak inside…" Shimokoa gained Mima's voice again. Here we go~. "Now- this power-... I won't hide."
"Melt!" Azalla spread her naked body out, and her red-yellow cloak expanded tenfold. Heat and fire drifted forward, a huge wall of red blinding everyone. Oh. "Ahahahaha!"
It's just above all of us on the ground- so as to not burn us, her goods, but the searing heat is still something else. Vanilla and Pearl crouch down, shying away from the intense, volcanic pressure.
Shimokoa drifts back as it comes closer.
Then, in a windless, energyless motion, her body circles the entire room, skirting around the inferno.
"Dusk Magnega." Her voice was heard across the room.
...From where I stood, the flames began to peel back. In fact, they even washed past Azalla. "Aah…?"
FWOOM- FWOOM, FWOOM. They all combined in a sun-like orb in the back of the room.
SHI- SHI- SHI- SHINK! Icicles smash through Azalla's chest at many angles. "Ah-..." Only somewhat disturbed, she snaps her gaze around faster than anything could move its head.
"Genkan…" Shimokoa's already in another world. "Why- didn't you listen, to me?"
Click! "Blaze!" Azalla snaps her fingers, and glares.
FWA- FWOOM! Shimokoa's body lights on fire.
"Ngh- haa~h!" She yells, understandably.
"Nn- hehehe!" Azalla giggled at her. "Thanks for playi~ng!"
SHI- SHI- SHI- SHINK! The fireball that Shimokoa had became snapped up into Azalla's face, and an armory of icy spikes smashed through her like a wall. "Eh- hahah-"
WHAM! Suddenly, both of them hit the wall near where the magnetized orb of fire was.
"MY SOUL IS COLD..." Jesus. Turn down the volume, why don't you? "IT ISN'T FAIR!"
kri- krack- KRACK! Oh. We're all catching colds, after that temperature whiplash.
...The entire opposite half of the room is encased in ice.
The chandelier dimly lights up our asscrack-sized pocket of air. Yet, it itself is amidst the spikey, frozen rock-like ice.
"Sleep…" Shimokoa's voice alone came over the ringing emitted by the ice. "Forever."
shoof. A stone of the tower raised from the ground beneath us, to shield us-
The ice shattered like glass, and my ears-... they just stopped.
No more hearing, I guess. What a world.
thud. Behind the shield, I flop on the ground, my limbs unable to coordinate. My ears are probably actually bleeding. Fuck, fuck-... ugh…
Like a curse, Shimokoa's voice can be heard over my deafness. "I want to see a world of snow."
"A world of carefree and light."
"I wish my sisters were alive again."
"I- I'm… I'm lonely."
You're not a poet.
...Fwoash! Aa- ah, fuck me. Healing magic runs over me, and suddenly, everything is no longer agony.
Standing atop our cracked, incredibly smashed stone barricade, Shimokoa glares down at us.
...Oh, good. Pearl and Vanilla are apparently fine. Fuckin' vampires.
"Shi-... Shimokoa." Vanilla stood up, looking around the room. "It-... it'll stop hurting as much- if you just-"
Shimokoa had her by the neck. "I-... I cannot forget. For Genkan- I cannot forget!"
"Nn- hk…!" Vanilla dug at Shimokoa's arm.
"Shimokoa!" Pearl yelled, before pausing abruptly at her cute girl voice. "...Don't forget who you are!" Becoming one hundred percent more feminine didn't stop her from being completely retarded, however. What's that advice even mean, in the context of this situation?
As one would expect, it does actually nothing.
I can't believe I have to be the voice of reason, here. "Hey, Shimokoa." I speak up, just so she listens. "You should sit on a dildo."
thud. She lets Vanilla go instantly. You know-... even if I didn't stop her, Vanilla's a vampire. She don't need to fuckin' breathe. Probably still hurts, but whatever.
"...My-..." Her voice is quiet, and whiny. "My head-... it- hurts…" Wonder why.
She drops onto her knees before us, and starts crying. Just, outright. Her sword clatters to the ground beside herself, and she hides her face in both her hands. "Hh-... nn-..."
Vanilla, despite having just been choked, drops onto her knees beside her, and hugs her. "It-... it- it's okay…"
"Nn-..." Shimokoa, through her edgy mask, peers down at her. "...I- hate this. I hate this…!"
"Mmh…" Pearl purses her lips, and frowns away. "Y- youkai."
Oh, good. Let's rain on her parade. "You do know you're a youkai now, right?" You've got the red eyes and everything.
...Pearl looks at me with wide eyes. Life comes at you fast.
"I-..." Curling up, Shimokoa buried her face in her knees. "I- I want to go home. I want to have fun again… I-... hh-..."
Standing up suddenly, she glares up at the ceiling, and all around. "Nnh- hh-..." Gasping, sobbing, she rotates around in mental pain.
"Calm down…" Vanilla's about to cry watching her. "Pl- please! Calm down!"
Pearl slouches. "Now I hate myself." Shimokoa should take lessons. Pearl came to terms with being her own anti-thesis in literally a sentence.
"What do I do~!?" Shimokoa literally is just breaking down, now. "Wh- what-... do I do!?"
"Wh-... wha~t the fuck."
Azalla is, by some fucking miracle, still alive. Even though the rest of the room is basically obliterated, a huge hole sitting where this entire floor used to be almost…
She's there, floating, half her body missing.
"I-... I got ransacked- by this sorry sack of shit?"
Shimokoa focused her wet face at her again. "Please- leave me alone! I-... I just want to curl up- a- and die. Is that too much to ask?"
Azalla smiled, as her half-vaporized body loomed closer. "What the fuck is wrong with you? ...You're pretty fucked in the head, aren't'cha?"
Shimokoa brought up her left arm, and thrust it forward.
VRRR- FWOA~SH! Once again, a cosmic spark was unleashed. The trail Shimokoa shot had stars and planets depicted within it, like the beam itself were a portal to the great beyond.
"I will bring everything down." Shimokoa seethed through her icy maw. "I will strike all fear!" It's like I'm watching a car wheel wobble on its side after a car crash. "I am the frost!"
FWISH! As the beam narrowed into nothing, the vampire girl was somewhere hundreds of meters off into the desert aether ahead of us. There was no wall to even maybe stop her.
...Shimokoa lost strength in her legs, and leaned on the ruined stone block before us.
"...I- I'm so strong…" She weeped. "So-... so why- do I even-... I- I feel the worst I've ever felt. I'm miserable…"
...She panned her edgy masked gaze to us. "Do- don't look at me. I'll kill you all. I- I don't trust you."
"Just-" Vanilla is actually angry. "Let us help you, you idio~t!"
...Shimokoa just looks at her.
"I'm-... ff- fucking- tired!" Vanilla is done with her shit. "I- I'm sorry, Shimokoa! But-... I just- I just want you to be happy! I want everyone to be happy! I want everyone to stop d- dying! I want everyone- to stop-... killing eachother! I want-..." She held her own head. Good. "Aaa~h!"
"I wish I was a human again." Pearl's got the straightest priorities.
You know. Suddenly, my situation doesn't feel so bad. At the same time, half of this shit wouldn't be happening if Shikome were here. Hell, Shimokoa would be just dead. Easy fix to this shit.
"You know." I regard Shimokoa. "If you wanna die so bad, why not just do it?"
...Shimokoa looks up at me.
Shink. Aa- ow fuck fucker you fucking-
"Matt- no!" Vanilla springs up, holding up her sword. "No~!"
"I-..." Shimokoa gasps her words out between hyperventilation. "Genka~n!"
Vanilla's at my side, while I bleed. Shimokoa cut halfway into my torso- and it fucking hurts. Fuck-
Vanilla's eyes flash at me, with a pale green light.
Fwish! ...Ww- wait. That-... Vanilla healed me like that.
Well. I take back everything I thought. Shimokoa, proceed to bitch and piss and cum everywhere. You might unlock more of Vanilla's latent vampiric magic.
Party morale is at an all time low. We need to go to the village and drink beer or something. I'll be the one selling it.
...Pearl shook her head. "You know what? You guys aren't so bad, I think."
And this is what it took, to make you say that.
...Shimokoa shakes where she sits against the stone blockade, body convulsing.
Vanilla just looks at her in despair. "Shi- Shimokoa-..."
"He- hehehe…" Shimokoa's now in the fun whacky woohoo pizza time stage. "Hehahaha!"
She smiled widely up at Pearl. "You-... are abjectly retarded!"
"...See if I compliment you again." Pearl frowned hard. "You know- now that I'm a youkai too, you don't need to be so mean to me!" You switched teams pretty fucking quickly. What happened to being a proud human.
Jesus. This entire party is eating itself. There are just so many problems, and none of us are the therapist. The only thing that we do is clumsily make each other's problems actively worse by fumbling about.
So, we're literally just gonna spend another couple hours shitting and pissing our mindless emotional sprawl everywhere. You know what?
I sit down on the rocky edge of the tower, which overlooks the windless, nighttime desert, and pull out my new The Great Gatsby: Ass Apocalypse Edition. Maybe we'll come to a resolution before I finish reading.
/ / / / OLD SPORT / / / /
Everyone is quiet. Shimokoa is lying on the floor, her luminescent eyes dark, as she just… sleeps, I guess. Tuckered herself out.
Pearl is- fondling herself while no one is looking, naturally.
Vanilla sits next to me, gazing off into the eternal, deep blue sand. Up here, we can see the glitter of the rubies in the desert, like a sea of dancing white specks. It's like water with really awkward graphics.
"...Life is weird." Vanilla starts to monologue, as I get bored of reading. "I hope Shimokoa gets better."
Really, now. "Why?"
...Vanilla frowns slightly at me. "She-... she seems like-... I- I just feel like, she'd be a really cool person, if she was happy, and not-... all screwed up."
Yeah. If. It'd be really cool if Shikome didn't get captured by fucking idiots. If, if, if.
"If Shikome was here, she'd just be dead." I state. "...Shi- Shimokoa, not Shikome." In case it really wasn't clear.
...Vanilla shook her head. "Matt? ...Matt."
"Hmm?" I look at her.
Slap! She slaps me in the face. Good. Fucking perfect.
"I didn't like that." She decided. "It was stupid of you to say that. Don't do it again."
Yeah, right. "I'll say it as often as I damn well please."
...Vanilla just looks out into the sand again.
"No, really." It's not just going to end with that. You wanted to argue? "If Shikome was here, we wouldn't have to put up with her shit, Mima's shit, any of this shit."
Looking more tired, she met my gaze again. "Was-... was really none of it fun, or interesting?"
"...Well. Some." Quipping in my head was mildly entertaining at least. Learning that magic was okay.
"And-..." She met my eyes, and really focused. "You-... you might not care about some people… but, I can't not care. She hurts so much… a- and-... because she hurts so much, she must have had the capacity to care a whole lot. That's why it hurts me, too. Somewhere-... she lost her purpose. Something horrible happened. If only she'd open up-... if only someone could reach her."
Vanilla shut her eyes. "I almost want to cry for her… but, still, I don't-... know really exactly why she's mad. She might have lost a loved one, or something. Or, a lot of them. I don't think she knows what to do with herself."
"She killed people." I point out something that seems strange. "Doesn't that just make her fuckin' evil?" Since you're so against killing, why not let her just fester?
"...What's done is done." Vanilla decided. "I- I might not like it-... but, well-..."
"Why not cry for those random dead people you know nothing about?" I know why she can't.
"No one could do that." Vanilla retorted. Her eyes seem sharper, somehow. "Aa- and anyone who could- would be lying. Putting on a show. I might be horrified by their pain and the loss in the moment-... but Shimokoa is here, and she can still be helped."
We'll see where that gets her when something just offs her for being uppity, or when Mima drains her soul or something. Pretty sure the best philosophy here is to just not care.
Anyway.
You'd be surprised how boring the first part of The Great Gatsby still is. There's a strange, navy-haired woman in the text now, so I at least know who to keep an eye on.
...I wonder when Mima will intervene. Maybe she did when Shimokoa voluntarily healed me earlier.
Oh, right. I should probably give an actual damage report of what happened after the big ice crunch.
There's still a few stone wall bits up. Luminescent, lavender magic stretches along some of the huge holes, implying that something strange is keeping the structural integrity intact. Whoever made this tower anticipated for it to be shat on.
At the same time, those luminescent panes are sporadic, which is how I'm able to very unsafely sit on the edge of the stonework like this, and look into the infinite sand.
...I scoot further back, so that there's no risk of me accidentally sliding to my doom. That's at least a ten story drop into the sand below.
"Over here, too…?" Then, we hear someone. Oh, boy.
fwoof. Alma-Elma ascends, a hand on her chin as she surveys the damage. Then, she sees us. "...Oh! Oo~h, it's you…!"
Vanilla blinks, as Alma-Elma floats up closer to us, her absurd chest slightly swaying with her movements.
"I missed you, kitty!" Alma holds her arms out for me. "Gimme a hug."
"No." Fuck off. I will nunchuck a thot into outer space.
"...Ma~n." She drifted past me and Vanilla, and landed on the floor behind us. "You leave the place alone for one week, and someone gets their period blood everywhere. The imp girls are gonna have a lot of carpet to clean. Not that they aren't used to having their faces in carpets."
Looking around, she seemed to take in the damaged stone work. "...Ye~p. Gonna need to call some of the stoic types, at some point."
"Um-..." Vanilla blinked up at her. "Who-... who're you?"
Alma gave her a brief look. "Mmm? ...Ah. Tourists, huh? How have you four been liking my castle?"
...Vanilla just looks displaced. "Um. It's cool, I guess."
"I am a youkai now!" Pearl reminds me she exists.
...Alma gives her a big smile. "You weren't before? Hmm. I did smell a lot of human. It got me kind of excited, but… mmh. Most of them died, already. Not sure whose head will roll for that. Humans are such a rare delicacy around here, as it is."
"Aah…" Vanilla gave her an awkward smile. "Do-... do you like to um-... not kill people?" That sounds like a very loaded question, Vanilla.
Snorting, Alma skirted near Shimokoa, gazing down at her sleeping form. "...Mmm. I eat humans, sometimes. But, that became a lot less common, when they became so rare and expensive. They're much more useful enslaved."
"...Oo- oh." Vanilla looks uncertain whether or not that's better.
Pearl gets dangerously close to Alma. "Well-... can you talk to your vampire lady, here? She turned me into a vampire, and I really wanted to stay human!" I really have no words to describe Pearl.
Alma's expression back at her is, at first, blunt. Then, she grins wider. "I suppose I can't be angry about how you turned out. You're precious."
Cla- clunk. She pushed a rock block over, and it shook the ground when it flopped over.
"...So." Alma looked down at Shimokoa. "What graces me with your presence, Mima?"
...Slowly, Shimokoa's body got up. Circular, neutral-looking green eyes shine from the shade around her face. "Was wonderin' when someone'd spot me! 'Course it's just you."
"I take it you're not just here to fart around." Alma sat on the block she tipped over, and folded her legs. "...Unless you are. In which case…" She felt at her own chest.
"Not quite!" Mima made Shimokoa's icy maw grin. "...Gods. I spent too long in that shitty crystal, under that shrine. This new body-... it's so damn rich."
"Wasn't it only, what, sixish years?" Alma supposed. "It'd be a crying shame if you lost your edge in just a decade. If anything, you'd think being kept in solitary for so long would make you more vengeful."
"It gives ya a reason ta hold on, not a reason ta get more vengeful." Mima clarified. "An' just holdin' on gets really damn dull, real fast."
"...I'd imagine." Alma agreed. "Mmm. So…"
"I came here ta catch these little shits up ta snuff, a bit." Mima explained to her. "...Turned out ta be more productive than I thought! Especially this body, here. Giving her power was the right choice. Just-... nnh! So much raw emotion!"
"Oo~h." Alma saw her idea, now. "...That sure explains all the blood everywhere. Were the humans also your doing?"
Mima looked away, grinning huge. "Mmm~. Not tellin'."
"Awh."
Vanilla got up, and moved closer to Mima-koa.
Mima used the body to face her. "...Also, you're the party healer now."
"Mi-... Mima, was it?" Vanilla frowned up at her. "...Let-... Let Shimokoa go."
Mima clicked her tongue. "Tch. Little late for you to be growing a conscience. Well, look. I'm helpin' her."
"For a definition of the word." Alma had a big grin, in the background.
"Shut tha' fuck up." Mima gave her an intense grin back.
"She's really upset." Vanilla insisted. "...Aa- and, I want to see her stop hurting. Fueling her with a buncha power isn't gonna help her get better."
"Aw, c'mo~n. Killing shit's therapeutic." Mima somehow made her two orb eyes look incredibly lax. "...At least, t'me! 'Sides, we're in Makai. If it wasn't us, it'd be some other band a' miscreants. An' they mighta been less instant about it!"
...Putting away my new book reminds me. "We got an errand to run at the capital." I inform Mima.
...Mima tilted her body's head at me. "Wh- from who."
"I'm to deliver a book there, and maybe learn more magic in the process." She'll probably like it, when I phrase it like that. Surprisingly, Alma doesn't really seem to know what I'm talking about.
"...Why, though?" At the same time, Mima was skeptical. "Who wanted the book?"
"The book wanted the book." I tell no lies. "You see, the book wanted to go to the capital. Probably to see Shinki."
...At that, Mima shrugged. "Nnh, couldn't hurt, I guess."
This is good. One of the few things today that may be described as objectively good.
...Vanilla's returned to being quiet and fluffy, apparently.
"I think, that that Shimokoa lady, could be a little nicer." Pearl is running one battery shorter than the rest of us.
"You're takin' the whole 'being a vampire' thing a little too easy." Mima actually shares my sentiment. Feels bad man.
"Oo- oh." Vanilla faces Pearl. "...You're um, a vampire, right?"
"...I think so." She frowns at the fact, before putting her arms on her hips. "I mean, I'm just trying to make the best-... of the hand I've been dealt, so to speak."
"Maybe I should uhm, tell you some things." Vanilla is the senior vampire now.
/ / / / SHIMOKOA'S PERSPECTIVE / / / /
Shoof. We push the book shelf deeper into the cave, the wood's bottom scraping the mint ice as we shoved it.
"...I see what you mean, now." Genkan looked down at the skid marks in our trail. "This is more secure than floating it in, and letting it slide around."
There are a few easier ways of doing it, but I don't want to damage the books on the bottom. If I'd emptied the bottom shelf, I could so simply freeze the base of the shelf wherever I wanted it to be.
"Mmm." I hum in agreeal.
Shoof. With some more pushing, we get the shelf along one of the walls in my common room.
"...Hfu~h." Genkan exhales with me. "That… took more effort than I'd expected."
"It did." I agree.
...We casually approach a couch in the room's midst, and sit down.
"It's been some time." Genkan's eyes met mine. "...What's new with you?"
"Nothing much." Not like us snow women ever have anything new going on. "...I've been restless, lately."
Genkan looked down. "...Are you still thinking about our sisters?"
"...Of course." The fact she got there from mere restlessness shows how well she knows me. "I'm scared."
"Well…" Genkan smiled. "Don't be. We're strong. And, we have one another's backs."
Scooting across the couch, she gave me a hug. "Aa-..."
"We won't be destroyed." Genkan reassured me. "...Please live. They would want you to live on."
That's easy to say. Some day, you too will be defiled or broken, and no one will care, but me. I don't say this, of course…
"Anyway…" Genkan ceased this uncomfortable train of thought. "I brought something interesting with me, today."
"Oh?" Anything would be more interesting than wallowing in my own misery.
On my lap, she put down this strange gray box. This was just- in her kimono, the whole time? "...I believe the kappa called it a 'radio'."
"Radio…?" I'll be honest in saying, that it looks like a brick.
"I'm not sure how it works." Genkan confessed. "But… when you turn the knobs, sometimes you can hear people in the box."
"...You bring me the strangest things." I smile at her. "What's the point?"
"To be really weird, I- I guess?" Genkan was anything but certain. "Let me see-..."
She turned the device on, and began to play with the knobs. For awhile, just static came from the device.
"...Well, if I'd wanted white noise, I got it." I criticize the noisy little box.
Genkan's lips are pursed. She's so cute. "For some reason, it doesn't seem to be finding anything."
Then, suddenly, fruity music. I'd never heard this kind of music before.
...Genkan beams. "That's-..."
clack. Slowly, she drifted the radio down onto the floor before us. Very staticy, fruity music continued to echo out, filling my cave with a lively, very mixed rhythm.
"...So, that's what it's for." I realize. That's really interesting, actually.
Genkan shifts in her seat, displaced by the dissonance in the fruity music and the dark cave. "It's really energetic…"
For some reason, it's soothing. It makes me feel like it's morning.
For awhile, me and Genkan simply appreciate our own, staticy, personal music concert being played from 'the radio'.
...I move to lie down on my end of the couch. I'm getting tired.
"Tired?" Genkan asks.
"...A little." I want to nap.
...She moves towards my end of the couch, and slides into the free space behind me.
"Me too." She gets snug between me and the couch's back. "Pushing that shelf was draining, certainly."
"I'm sure."
So relaxing.
Today was the first time I'd seen Genkan in a month in a half, since our last excursion. I try to keep our meetings fiercely brief. I try to make them revolve only around what I've witnessed, and the lessons I've learned, so that she may not repeat the mistakes of my past self.
Keywords being the repeated instances of 'try'. I miss all my dead sisters. Genkan fills that void intensely. She's smart, friendly, and overall pleasant. I feel like this is a one-way track to disaster, but I can't stop myself. I want someone to know. I don't want to be alone.
I don't want to die alone, either. I dread to believe that my mother's words- of interaction being pointless and an overall waste of energy- being true. I believe social interaction, in part, validates one's personality. She is to imply… that a personality is nothing more than a painful facade over our raw, animalistic existence.
I don't want my intellect to die, in that sense. Not that I'm particularly bright, but… all my effort and care feels wasted, when the world takes the ones I love away from me so easily.
Maybe my mother was right. I've been wasting my time…
No. Stop thinking about that.
...I turn my head, and see Genkan looking peaceful beside me, somewhat sinking into the back of the couch cushions.
I will protect her. Even if I must die, she mustn't. If she dies, everything was worthless. I might as well just kill myself, then.
So it is decided.
/ / / / CHAMPION OF DESTRUCTION / / / /
That's when I woke up.
As in, I was dreaming of my past. 'Was'. The situation… has changed.
My eyes open, but my body's already moving.
"Aah." Mima's voice comes from my mouth. "Rise an' shine, huh, Shimmy?"
We're in some sort of glittery, amazing hallway. Sabrina and Vanilla walk idly ahead of us, and-... that cream-haired woman who seems suspiciously like Sanjiro is pressing her breasts together, again.
"...Where-...?" I don't recall this area.
Then, my anger comes back to me.
Sabrina- or Matt- tried to have me killed. I will not forget that.
Mima-...
Defensively, for comfort, I lock my arms around my torso.
fwish. My kimono whirls almost impossibly to encapsulate my limbs, making a perfect, diamond-shaped shell of cloth around my body. Like this, I appear as only kimono cloth and a head.
I don't want to be hurt again. I need a new strategy. Incorrigible anger hasn't managed to dissuade Vanilla, or anyone else for that matter.
"Ooh, this is neat." Mima observes my kimono shell thing. "...Really comfy, actually!"
My eyes are still feel freshly wet, from when I was crying earlier. "...Yes. Very comfy."
I'm so tired of these people. I may fear loneliness, but it is superior to spending time with those who care so little. Being with people like them is suffocating.
"Vanilla." While we travel down this strange hallway, I decide to make some moves.
...Pausing, she looks back at me. "Ye- yeah?"
"Have you ever been raped?" I smile. I keep even my mouth hidden, right now. This way, she sees it in my eyes, or under my mask.
"...Wh- what kinda question's that?" She gives me a hard grin back. "Who asks that?"
"Me." I let my eyes gently pulse with light. "Passing thought."
I think that was sufficiently creepy. Ah, perfect. She seems to be moving around Sabrina's side, away from me.
"You know," Sanjiro-but-female looks back at me. "Raping people isn't very nice."
...I say nothing. I- that is just Sanjiro, isn't it? I feel no attachment to him- or rather, her.
"Why-..." But, I have to say something. The urge just rises. "Raping people is very nice." I grin widely. "Don't some forms of youkai use it as a greeting? Or maybe, a 'get well soon' sort of gesture?"
"The- the fuck." Mima makes my body chuckle. "...Succubi, maybe." Ah, so I was right.
Very good.
...This feels too comfy.
Fwi- fwish. So that I don't have to take my arms out again, I use my telekinetic and cold abilities to create two claws of ice, in the air around myself.
"Tomorrow, can we take a break?" I ask politely. "...My home will need renovating, after my outburst." I've also got better ideas of where to look for actually decent weapons.
...I'm keeping the giant steel paddle, however. It speaks to me, somehow.
"Mmm?" Mima's curiosity is piqued. "...Sure, whatever." Neat.
...I draw the giant steel paddle. I hadn't given it a good look before, but this is nearly as big as me. It's cartoonishly huge.
My stare meets Sabrina. "...Be still, little cat." I start to raise the paddle. "I'm going to whack your ass."
...Sabrina gives me the fiercest glare she can muster.
"Wh- why…!?" Vanilla gets in my way, as I reel it back. "Don't do that!"
"Are you volunteering to go first?" I don't care who I smack, I just have to smack someone.
"No!" Vanilla smiles anxiously. "You shouldn't smack anyone!"
"I should smack anyone." Let's start with what's-her-face. "What's her name? Is that Sanjiro?"
She nods fervently. "Yes! Thank you! I'm-"
"Um-... she's Pearl, now." Vanilla ironically intercepts. "Pearl."
I'm fine with this. "Pearl?"
"...Figures." Sanj- Pearl folds her arms. "This kind of thing always happens to me." Does it?
WHACK! I swing my paddle long, and ram her right in the ass with it. "Enh- aah!" I sent her flying down the hall.
"No!" Vanilla's holding her twin-tails. "Why~!?"
"She's going into orbit." I beam back, even if she can't see it beneath my shade mask. "That stupid cunt."
"Don't do it, Shimfield." Sabrina replies in a vexating way. "That's our pet dog Pearlie."
...I stare at Sabrina's small ass. "Would you like to be next?"
"What'd we do to you!?" Vanilla beams too, except in incredulity. "...Don't!"
I begin to reel my paddle back. Since Sabrina is especially tiny, I'm sure she'll fly particularly far.
...Sabrina faces me. I can't paddle her ass, because it's facing away.
"Why." Sabrina wishes to know.
"...Why not?" I really want to hurt you. Since I won't be killing you, it's okay, right?
Vanilla stands in the way. "...Please, um-"
WOOSH! I swing the paddle intensely up, intentionally missing the two girls barely. Vanilla recoils fiercely, while Sabrina's eyes widen from the velocity, and the air off of the paddle.
I begin to reel my paddle back again. "Please present your behinds."
"No!" Vanilla refuses. "...If- if I have to, I'll fight you!" Awh.
...Holding up the paddle, I focus on it.
Fwash. An azure crystal layer coats the steel, turning it into an icy claymore.
Since they won't be generous, I'll just have to be creative.
"Hnn!" Reeling the claymore up over my shoulder, I leap. Icy wind resists my upward movement, and I plunge back down hard.
KRACK! While landing, I embed the steel-ice claymore in the ground.
KRINGK- KRINGK! Beneath Vanilla and Sabrina, stout but thick tundral tips shoot from the illusion-like, crystal-like ground.
"Aa- nh!" Sabrina ends up thrown off her feet, and she slides down the side of the smooth slope.
"Eee!" Vanilla springs right off of the spike, flailing her arms. "Cold!"
Now is my time to strike. I accelerate forward, bring the claymore back like a golf club, and-
WHACK- FWASH! "Nh- hehehe!" Wow!
I smashed Vanilla in the butt. Not only did I send her skidding meters down the hall, I froze her completely. It was a spontaneous idea, but it turned out to be a brilliant one. Look at her go!
We watch her skid way away, looking surprised about it the whole time.
"Uuh." Mima chuckled through my mouth, masking my own amusement. "Yer gonna hafta go get her, y'know…!"
"Mhm." I'm still satisfied.
...As Sabrina jumps back onto her legs, I hover up to her, looming down.
"What the fuck." She gives me a tired look-
KLACK! "Nnh." I slam my claymore down on the ground next to her, and she jumps from the impact.
"Did you finally fucking lose it?" Sabrina had her adamantite scissors drawn.
"Yes." I jump. "Hnnh-"
BOOM! I land on my legs as hard as I can, and wince.
The hall segment shudders, and Sabrina stumbles back-
KRINGK! Another spike of tundra erupts under her, except she fell back onto the sharp point of it. "Nnh- owh!" Her eye widen from the pain, and she springs back up off of it.
Body anticipating the sword's shock, I spin around, reeling up my claymore. I will send her to another entire dimension-
Mima stops my body, before I strike. "Yo, yo. You'll kill her wit' that."
"...It'd be only fair." I return. Oh, well.
Fwash! As Sabrina stands up to glare at me, ready to yell something back at me, I freeze her just so I don't have to put up with her sass.
...I look over at Pearl, the last unfrozen girl. She's frowning, and has her… sword rapier thing out. "Mirror!" Oh?
Fwash. ...She tried to freeze me.
cla- clack, clack. The ice falls off of me in clumps. It turns out, that you cannot freeze a snow woman.
Pearl held her arms up. "Pl- please, don't hit me, again!"
If anyone but Pearl said that, I might be somewhat sympathetic.
Clack! My sandals click against the floor as I jump towards her. "Hrr~h…!" I bring the claymore overhead.
WHAM! I cleave it straight down into her. It meets her shoulder and chest.
KRINGK- KRACK! As the giant, ice and steel slab smashes her down, I erect a stout ice spike under her, and her back meets it hard. That second 'krack' sound? That was probably her.
Mouth ajar, she slid off of the ice cone, and onto her side. It seems she has no words. Eheheh...
"Pft- uh- hahaha~!" Mima guffaws. "He- heal!"
Di- di~ng! A wreath of healing magic forms over Pearl's limp body.
Fwoash! The caring light ebbs into her form, and slowly, she writhes, showing us she's still alive. "...Oo-... o- ow…" Looks like it hurt, a little.
"Mmm." I am pleased. This party may not be so bad. It is, if nothing else, effective stress relief.
So that I am never hurt again, I will never become close to another person again. That is, of course, easier said than done. My natural instinct, especially when so sensitive like this, would be to find someone to share my pain with.
fwish. Unfreezing Sabrina, I step up to her. Saying nothing, she shivers back.
Finding such quick comfort would be too easy. That would be disgraceful. It wouldn't put anything to rest, but it would give me just enough of an excuse to stop caring.
I've gone too far for that.
"Are-... are- are you done?" Sabrina looked very cold.
"No."
Before she can react, I grab her by the neck.
Thud. I throw her down the hall, a little. "Nnh…" She bounces on her forearms and knees, before fighting back onto her legs. "Fuck off." She faced me again, as I came close.
Raising my claymore, I stalk closer menacingly. She looks scared… or, maybe she's just cold.
"Fire!" She swings her scissors.
Fwoom. The amber tuft created by her meets my chest.
"Ngh…" It's not very powerful, but the uncomfortable, intrusive heat pierces my chest. It stings. Unlike before, I don't recoil violently, even if this heat is the antithesis to my body.
I'm so much stronger. My whole being would feel irritated before, when fire hit me, and it made me dizzy. Now, it hurt greater than even physical blows, but it didn't make me feel like I was… any less.
...Looking up from the char mark on my kimono, I see Sabrina.
"Hnn!" Shifting up to her, I lug my claymore up over my head with my right arm only.
She reels her scissors-wielding arm back as if to stab me.
Whack! I punch her in the face with my free arm. "Hnh-"
WHAM- THOOM! Then, I snap my right arm down, cleaving the icy claymore into one of her arms.
Crack! Oh. That sounded good. "Nn- nha~h!" Sabrina roars in pain. I think I broke her arm.
"Heal." Mima's voice defines a spell.
Fwoash. "Nn- nnha…" Sabrina shuts her eyes, while her arm clicks back into place. "Fuck…"
"Yeah, hey, not ta rain on yer parade…" Mima forces my face to grin. "Can ya save the property damage an' domestic abuse fer after we get outta Shinki's pad?"
Sabrina pushes herself from a slightly bloody place on the cracked, crystalline floor. The cute pattern the floor made is now somewhat ruined from the damage I've inflicted. To be honest, that kind of makes me want to break more. It looks satisfying.
Considering Shinki is the god of this place, from what I remember, I might not want to keep doing that, however.
...Through semi-teary eyes, Sabrina feels at her arm, as it's finally totally righted.
I pull her by that arm onto her legs. "Go." ...Look at that angry face of hers. I'd be lying if I didn't say it was kind of cute.
Still, this feels good.
...I think I see Vanilla up the hall ahead. She went very, very far. I could just fly up to her and thaw her… but, I'll wait for Sabrina to reach her.
"You know!" Pearl yells, once she's standing again. "I don't think I very much appreciate- you beating us up like-"
"Hup!" I leap at him- her, I mean- again, claymore overhead.
"Fuck!" Pearl crouched down. "No!"
BAM! I stomp the ground right before her, and don't swing. She falls back in anticipation. "He- hehe…" These people who would kill me… they're so powerless, now.
/ / / / MATT'S PERSPECTIVE / / / /
What a fucking bitch. Considering I can't fucking just kill her, all hurting her would do is make her hurt me. At this point, I almost don't fucking care if Mima just offs me for killing her.
I do have that gun on my back. I'm sure one shot to her head would do it. Fuck.
I walk orderly beside her, doing nothing to invoke her fucking stare. Before I didn't even have a problem with her, but now that she's fucking hitting us, she needs to go.
More importantly, she could break something I'm carrying, just because she's being a fucking insane dumbass.
This is why everything would be better if Shikome were here. I've already said my reasons, but this just reinforces them. These morons.
Fwish. Once we finally reach Vanilla, Shimokoa thaws her out.
"Nn-..." After brushing herself, she glares up at Shimokoa. "Wh- why~!? Just stop! Stop!" I suppose the cold wouldn't shock her system as badly as it would mine.
"Be quiet, and I'll stop." Shimokoa insists.
...So, Vanilla trusts her. Ironically, that trust is not misplaced.
The walk to Shinki's door is quiet and unhappy. No one is happy with this.
Once again, we come to the clearing with the large, red door. Somehow. Still not sure how this place works.
Crea~k. The door folds open for us. The magic around it hints at Mima's telekinesis.
...Before us is the infinite gray around Shinki's orderly platform. It's like the sky, but stranger, and in all directions.
We see Shinki herself at the black garden table she was at last time.
Shimokoa roves forward ahead of us. "...You!"
"Oh?" Shinki looked up from what seemed to be… a plate of pancakes, and a crossword puzzle. Genuinely. "Me? ...Oh. Back so soon?"
"Who are you?" Shimokoa held her broadsword ready. Wait- she isn't-... oh, boy. She is.
...Shinki smiled at her. "Who am I? ...Well. Who are you?"
Shimokoa let her 'blade' lower. It was more of a bludgeoning tool. Fucking thing. "I am frost's messiah."
"...Charmed." Shinki gave her a patient sort of smile. "...My. There's certainly a lot of you. Not very good friends either, I take it?"
"Who are you?" Shimokoa reaffirms.
...Shinki gazed down at her crossword, before looking up at her again. "Hmm. No one of particular note to you, I don't believe. Just an old soul, eating her breakfast."
"Bring me to your god." Shimokoa demanded of her.
"...Ooh. Pushy…" Shinki let her brows furrow a little. "What's the big hurry?"
"The big hurry is that you will show me your god." Shimokoa's icy maw became visible again, fading into being. "Or I will swallow your soul."
...Shinki laughed. "He- hehehe. If I had a coin for every time I've said- and heard someone say- that."
"...Then, so be it." Shimokoa's grin widened. "All who I hate, should know: annihilation is unavoidable."
"Am I who you hate?" Shinki let her brows raise.
After a pause, Shimokoa made her decision. "You're in my way. And-... I hate this dismal world. I hate others, and the pain they spread. I just want this nightmare to end."
"Is violence and hate really the answer?" Shinki questioned plainly.
Shimokoa's body tensed. "...I- I'm not the bad guy. I'm doing what I have to. I'm paying the world back, for the misery it left me. There is no blue sky for anyone. I want everyone to feel my pain."
...Shinki nodded. "Mmm. I see. You've been hurt bad."
"Be quiet." Shimokoa held her paddle up higher. "You don't understand."
"I understand more than you'd think." Shinki closed her eyes. "...Yes. I've felt pain like yours time and time again. An extended lifespan must feel like a curse, huh? It's something. But, you have to remember… that, everything comes to an end. So first, I ask you: why not look back with fondness? Why not create more happy memories?"
"It always ends in pain!" Shimokoa roars back. "Do you get anything!? No matter how hard I try- everyone I love- just dies! And so-... so it shall be, then! Everyone dies! I hate the world!"
...Shinki had a big smile.
"Then, come to me." She stood, her chair sliding out behind herself. "End my world."
Click! Shimokoa's sandals clicked against the stone ground, as she leapt at Shinki, paddle over her head.
Then, she stopped in mid-air.
woosh. Mima floated out of her. "...Uh, yeah. Yo." She leaned into Shimokoa's face. "Yer welcome ta try, kid-... just not with me in tow."
"Wh-... what!?" Shimokoa's mask of shade was gone, revealing a tired face with bags under its eyes. Her eyes were somewhat red, and her cheeks were well-stained with tears. "Why!?"
"Someone's gotta cast cure when it's all over!" Mima began to float back, towards the rest of us. "An' it ain't gonna be us, if I stick with you!"
Once Mima was at a safe distance; one noticeably near the door, farther back than me, Vanilla and Pearl, she released Shimokoa from the telekinetic hold.
"Nn-" Now marginally more unsure about her grip on the huge paddle, Shimokoa continued trying to slam it straight down on Shinki's head.
A light flickered, for just a frame of time from within Shinki, and then-
FWOOM- FROOOAAA-
An indescribable noise that was past the sense of hearing; an actual churning of the senses.
The ground beneath us became round; an arena of early Earth, dark rock of indescribable purity spreading around under us in every direction.
VROOOO~M! Shinki's presence was-... it was something else.
Everything around me becomes sharper. I feel like I can see forever-... all the pain I felt earlier, which lingered even after the healing, was gone.
My headache and anger faded, and I began to float. What-... what the fuck-...
A sound like a jet engine emanated from somewhere unknown. Shinki's all-black form was in the air before us, two massive wings of light devouring intensity spreading for what had to have been-... I don't know how big they were.
...Shimokoa landed near us, her body floaty after her failed attack. "Wha~t…!?" Her hair was flying up from the sheer intensity of Shinki's mere aura. We were all floating up, gently into the air.
My vision shook, as I gazed straight at the infinite black that Shinki was.
...Her body shaking, Shimokoa leapt. "...Ih- Ice Blade!"
FWASH- VROOM- FWAASH! When she held the paddle over her head, her ice blade formed instantly, stretching ten stories high. "Whoa~h!" She couldn't anticipate that, apparently. In fact, as the aura pushed the giant blade away, it took her with it.
"There's no place like home." Shinki's voice drowns out the chaos. "...And there's nothing quite like, doing what you enjoy."
Fwish! Shimokoa dispelled her huge blade in an instant.
Vanilla was next to me, body spread freefall style as she ascended next to me. "Oh my go~d!"
"Wo~w!" Pearl swam in the air- you know what, I think Pearl is actually just retarded. "This- is so much fun!"
PATATATATAT! Shimokoa shot streams of pure white at Shinki from the palm of her hand. The ice exploded into cataclysms of snowflakes and ice against Shinki's dark from, but didn't visibly do anything useful, despite the clutter.
"I love Makai." Shinki expressed. "And, you see to take that away from me. Why can't we be friends?"
fwish. Shinki took on Shimokoa's form, except in full shadow. She had a shadow paddle of equal size to Shimokoa's.
WHAM- BOOM- BOOM- BOOM! She was in front of Shimokoa in the next moment. In three strokes, three nova-like blasts of stars, shade and light echo out across everything.
thud. Shimokoa flopped down next to us, unconscious. Wow. Also, since gravity is so weak, she just bounced off the floor, and limply spun around in the air, unconscious.
Then, everything stopped.
thu- thu- thud. Me, Vanilla and Pearl flop down. I feel myself just-... stop. All the strange energy Shinki emitted is gone.
The platform we're on returns to normal. Shinki's standing before her pancakes and crossword puzzle again, and her form of shade is gone.
Di- di~ng. Healing magic coalesces in Shimokoa's fallen, lumpified form.
...Shinki looked over us, next. "Would anyone else like to go next?"
"I want to feel really good again!" Pearl… is, if nothing else, honest.
"...I'll take that as a 'no'."
Returning to peace, Shinki sat back down. "...You sure picked yourself four horsemen this time, Mima. Any reason it's a team?"
Mima drifted up to us, and began to lift Shimokoa bridal style. "Nnh. Well, I got different uses fer the all a' them. Shimmy here just feels damn good for me to be around. Kitty's motivated to get shit done, an' Pearlie there…" Mima still didn't have a reason to justify Pearl. "Well, headcount. Wait, yeah, she's a vampire. So's Vanilla, there. ...Somehow, Vanilla's the senior!"
Shinki smiled, as she adjusted the newspaper on the table, which was slightly displaced after her display of creative and destructive power. "Mmm. If I had to name them…"
She pointed at Shimokoa. "Wrath."
She pointed at me. "Death."
She pointed at Pearl. "Ignorance." Perfect.
Last, was Vanilla. "Good intent."
...Smirking, Mima plopped Shimokoa down on the table. "Those ain't the horsemen I remember."
Shinki nodded. Looking down at her puzzle, she responded after a moment. "They still have negative context. It sounds like a pretty… effective team, if nothing else."
That reminds me.
I reach in my backpack, for the tome holding Page 65537.
/ / / / FREAKIN HAKUGYOKUROU / / / /
END OF CHAPTER 100.5
PROTAGONIST: Matthew, the Debatably Sane Outsider, Lord of Edges, Scissor-Slinging Slasher, Insurance Fraud Expert, Used Goods Reseller, Evil Spirit Cultivator, Shrine Maiden Evader, Professional Youkai Developer, Legitimate Business Man, Transfeline-Loli
=o=
SKILLS:
Gravity - Basic space magic. Slowly expands a dark, spherical field from above the target, which weighs them down when fully initialized. Only works on the feeble at the moment.
Saw Blade - Advanced non-elemental attack. Summons a saw blade to fall from directly above the caster, which whirls forth into infinity before dying. Very effective slicing on those not resistant to it.
Fire - Small, homing fireball of doom. May ignite foes. Doesn't do much damage.
Fatal Blizzard - Physical ice skill, which imbues the opponent's form with ice and crumbles away their skin. With enough force and magic, it may instantly kill foes, or inflict a serious, armor and defense buff-piercing incision. When used on nothing, allows the user to do a high jump.
Magic Mark - Magical residue. Of unknown purpose, but likely related to Mima.
=o=
PRIMARY WEAPON: Dash Scissors - Succubus training tool. Doubles as scissors for kinky, cloth-cutting occasions. Or stabbing. Sleek, black design.
SKILLS:
Succubatic Slide Dodge - Slide artificially in a horizontal direction of the wielder's choosing. Spammable, but makes the wielder tired with excessive use.
=o=
OFFHAND ITEMS: [A Single Rubber Glove] - For those moments one needs to touch a live power wire with one hand and fap with the other. Protects hand from zaps.
INVENTORY:
Pocket Mirror - For admiring my loli-ness, and other mirror-related activities. Contained in suit pockets.
[Bag of Holding] - Takes up no inventory space, because it is the inventory space. Has nine slots, and is easily accessible.
Big Dildo - It's a big fuckin' dildo, man. Not actually a weapon. Would probably kill you if you sat on it.
Many Smaller Dildos - Throwables. May surprise enemies. Minor physical damage. May berserk the foes. May make user get bullied by foes.
Steel Scissors - Sharp, shiny, and to the point!
Quick Scissorang - Non-elemental scissors that are enchanted to return to the owner with ferocity. Not that powerful of a weapon, but combined with strong string it can be used like a powerful grappling hook. Looks like it belongs in a Barbie catalog.
Shadow Hell Scissors - Red scissors accented with elemental gems. Fire elemental weapon. Ignites with every swing. Boosts power of fire spells.
SKILLS:
Fire Aura - Confers forty percent fire resistance when equipped.
Fire - Small, homing fireball of doom. May ignite foes. Doesn't do much damage.
Fira - Sizable fireball with less effective homing and speed, but greater ignite chance and initial fire damage.
Dark Fire - Basic dark and fire combo spell. Very slow, tight homing black fireball. Does both dark and fire damage. May ignite foes.
Dark Fira - Moderate dark and fire combo spell. Even slower black fireball, with even weirder homing. May ignite foes. May reduce target's magic defense.
Hellfire - Low-tier vampiric fire spell; less effective when used by me. Vertical wall of three fireballs, with no homing. May ignite foes.
=o=
Adamantite Scissors - Red-white scissors that are practically impossible to break. Very valuable outside Makai.
STATS:
Moderate boost to magical attack.
Moderate boost to casting speed.
Moderately less self-harm from various spells.
=o=
Blessed Steel Scissors - Stained lightly with dried blood from a young human female. Sharp, shiny-ish, and to the point! Also blessed...
Steel-alloy String - An experimental item provided by Alice as part of her testing. She uses these herself to manage her dolls, or so I'm told.
A Tuft of Cloth Strings - Pink, regular cotton string. It's soft, and clean.
Danger Scissors Plus - Let's get dangerous. Randomly spawns anything from anywhere at any time at all, dependent on the power of the party or people around it while it is equipped.
(one more space remaining)
[Backpack] - Allows extended inventory, of twenty slots. Can hold larger items, but it takes longer to pull them out. Items inside are safer. It's also baby barf green.
Hedge Cutters - Rusty lawn pruning tool used by farmers to keep the vile hedges at bay. They're also sharp, so they've probably been used more than once in self-defense.
Teal Stone - Cool and refreshing to hold, exuding power of the wind. It's sort of shiny, too. Perhaps usable as a reagent.
Hackjob Rifle - A pseudo-railgun, made from an AK-47 barrel and a mangled toy gun. Laced with duct tape and wires to function, powered by electrical scissors, and uses small iron pellets as ammunition. Explodes violently if fed anything non-iron as ammo. Outside is coated with vegetable oil and must be wetted regularly to avoid violence upon powering up. Quite powerful.
Water Scissors - Scissors that continuously produce water. How troublesome.
Goldfish Snack Crackers - They're smiling. They might make a good snack...
Modern-ish Surge Protector - Protects against surges. Not very useful without unified electrical practices in housing. Can still be used as a paperweight and a brick, though.
[Rubber Pouch] - Stores electrical objects safely. Too small to add extra inventory, but doesn't take up any space when it's filled. Currently holding electric scissors.
Electrical Scissors - Must be held by gloves at all times, lest they cause electrical fires. Can cause severe shocking and electricity-induced stunning in individuals susceptible, including myself if I'm stupid. Unable to be turned off.
Holy Pot - A torso-sized holy pot used as a vehicle by flufflekind. Has holy properties and resistances for obvious reasons.
Financial Officer's Card - A card handed to me by the chief financial officer of the human village. Bears a complex triangular insignia and shines depending on the angle you hold it. Has some Japanese printed on it.
Love Dart - Some dart with strong aphrodisiac mixed into the tip, which pierced me.
Red Organ Cooler - Secure cooler capable of storing ice for great periods of time, as well as organs. Small, but big enough to get a single job done easily.
Officer Hat - Nazi officer hat. Has a skull ornament on the top.
STATS:
50% darkness resistant.
Wearer is immune to instant death.
=o=
Officer's Coat - Nazi officer coat. Comes with pants and boots, too. Has the red armband, too. Not much as far as meaningful medals to make it look pretty, which is appropriate, I suppose.
STATS:
50% darkness resistant.
Wearer is immune to being cursed.
Slightly boosts defense and magic defense.
=o=
Child Eater's Yukata - Navy blue yukata, with warm cloth. Smells of sweat and curves. Really big on me.
STATS:
50% moon resistant.
Wearer is silencing immune.
-50% wind resistance.
Boosts the power of Pizza used by the wearer. Slices of pizza now heal health and mana when distributed and used.
=o=
Mother's Pendant - The pendant of that one child, who was abducted. Brimming with holy energy. Maybe useful as a reagent.
STATS:
50% increased chance to encounter and attract mature women.
=o=
Sigh of the Moon - Unremarkable looking moon-elemental ring, which glows with ominous energy and expands when equipped. Seems to be some kind of strange technology. Found in the yukata that slut gave me.
STATS:
100% percent moon resistance.
Silencing immunity.
Increases defense moderately.
=o=
Dizzy Dials - Some dizzy dial things I took from the dildo armory. Amplifies eye status magic.
Page 65537 - Tome holding a being who devours books and absorbs them, creating distorted, malformed copies. If I bring her to Makai, she'll teach me some magic, apparently. Unwise to stir with violence.
(three more spaces remaining)
==o==
PARTY:
Mima, the Vengeful Spirit, Ghost - Piece of shit ghost. Versed in a variety of spells, but of unknown strength.
STATUS:
Halved damage from magic attacks.
Immune to purely physical damage. May be struck by enchanted weaponry, but holy and dark arms work best.
Halved duration of all status effects.
Immune to magical binding.
Immune to silencing.
Immune to cursing.
Immune to electrical stunning.
Immune to freezing, burning.
Immune to tired.
Immune to various other statuses that wouldn't affect something without a body.
Immune to most time statuses.
Immune to spatial statuses.
SKILLS:
A lot - I'm not listing them again. Too fuckin' many.
==o==
Shimokoa - Earth-flavored yuki-onna, who gave Matt trouble by not getting killed by Aiko, and by being general dissatisfied with the village. Seems depressed.
INVENTORY:
Gaia's Kimono - Mint-green kimono. Shimokoa's favorite.
STATS:
50% Earth resistance
100% Tired resistance
=o=
Frozen Pride - Shimokoa's shield of ice she can summon. Familiar, and easiest for her to use.
SKILLS:
Diamond Guard - Guards all attacks from the front, be they physical or magical. Ice magic passes through, healing Shimokoa. Fire magic is exempt.
=o=
From the North - Giant metal paddle infused with ice magic that makes it into an icy claymore. Very powerful physical weapon, if the user can handle it.
=o=
SKILLS:
o - Yuki-onna Skills
Bushido * Iceberg Blade - Shimokoa summons an almighty ice dreadsword, which she can slowly swing around to crush opponents. When she's done with it, she may break it against the floor to create a great ice shockwave that may freeze or chill opponents.
Reform - Shimokoa repairs her shield.
Freeze - Shimokoa freezes the enemy. May actually be avoided by fast opponents.
Tracer Needles - Shimokoa's successor to Glacier. Punching into the floor, Shimokoa creates ice spikes out that erupt in a line that follows a particular opponent.
Ice Breaker - Shimokoa's standard melee combo with a shield. She bashes an enemy, spins around, then punches the floor, erecting a huge ice spike before herself. If used on a frozen enemy, this punch will shatter them, with a high chance of instant death if they're not very resistant.
Yuki-Onna's Embrace - Ability to drain heat and life from targets by hugging them. Doesn't work on those resistant to ice magic. May comfort and make targets tired, too.
Yuki-Onna's Entombment - Ability to kill targets by hugging them. Those with more than 50% Ice resistance are immune. May also be resisted with 100% Instant Death resistance.
o - GENKAN I LOVE YOU
Hate and Destroy - Shimokoa cleaves her paddle down twice in rapid succession, blowing away foes. Last hit makes a tundral spike under her opponent when, and if her attack lands, it deals extreme spinal destruction.
Threaten - Shimokoa jumps at foes, but doesn't swing, and lands hard. Erects tundral spikes beneath all foes.
The Blackest Moment - Relying on Mima's power, Shimokoa fires a spark of cosmic energy at her foes, drilling them through structures. If they're launched into the air, a circle of ice katanas will slice through their form, turning them into a parade of gore.
Fatal Blizzaga - Instantaneous slash where a foe is frozen, then cut into three pieces. Allows the user to teleport after use if they're a yuki-onna.
Dusk Magnega - Dark-powered magnet that draws in magic. When it finishes, it explodes into an outward burst of raw, neutral magic that anyone may use.
Culling Curaga - An execution where Shimokoa teleports, then drives her blade into someone's skull, out their ass. A fragmentation blast is made where she was, and the blade explodes inside the skewered person. Fully heals Shimokoa regardless of what happens.
==o==
Sanjiro Coda - A loser who can't even fight a little mage girl. Might be schizophrenic, or at least stupid. Has long, pale hair, and a soft but broad face.
INVENTORY:
White Sundress - Honestly better than his previous outfit.
Village Centrifillia - Weird fraction-of-a-lance-on-a-stick made of solid platinum, with ridges encrusted with rubies. Must be worth a fucking lot. It's sort of like a jousting lance, but made for very squished knights and horses.
STATS:
Item Boost - All items do 50% more of whatever it is they do. Now the potion seller's strongest potions are even stronger.
Prize Boost - Enemies are more likely to drop rare items.
Money Boost - Enemies drop more money. Somehow, they always drop 1.5x what they had.
SKILLS:
Wind Thrust - Lame thrust attack which makes Sanjiro eat shit.
Wind Art - Sanjiro flails wildly, hoping to hit something.
Godly Form - Sanjiro poses, bringing his 'fencing sword' over his head. That's it; this doesn't do anything useful. Leaves Sanjiro open to attack.
Magi-Reflect - Using his weapon, Sanjiro copies the last magic spell used. May be to his detriment if he copies something stupid.
==o==
Vanilla - Everyone's favorite three-quarters naked vampire loli. Kind of naive. Friendly. Uses powerful status magic.
INVENTORY:
Her Cape - Black cape. Hard to unequip.
Her Panties - Vanilla's panties. Pink, with a little bat where you-know-what is.
Iron Katana - Cheap ass katana for self-defense. It cuts.
Dizzy Dial - Spinny wand thing that increases the range and effect of Vanilla's eye-induced magic. Does nothing on its own.
SKILLS:
Eyes of Hypnosis - Hypnotizes weak people into doing her bidding. More dynamic than it used to be, somehow.
Fatal Blizzard - Same as Matt's. Physical ice skill, which imbues the opponent's form with ice and crumbles away their skin. With enough force and magic, it may instantly kill foes, or inflict a serious, armor and defense buff-piercing incision. When used on nothing, allows the user to do a high jump.
Eyes of Healing - Moderately powerful healing spell that targets anyone who meets Vanilla's direct gaze at the time of casting. Notably, both gazes must directly meet one another's.
==o==
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
starring mima as "the vengeful one"
this was a pretty odd-feeling chapter to write! it's kinda supposed to ride off the leftover charisma from the end of last chapter, bu~t if people couldn't feel brad's angry vibes, then they won't know what they need to know if they wanted to take shimokoa's situation kinda seriously here
at the same time you're kinda not supposed to take it entirely seriously! and matt's perspective here is anything but (except for when shimokoa starts paddling his ass)
i couldn't get a really good tone read on the very last part in proofing because i was interrupted, but yeah! i THINK IT'S GOOD
i would like ta get some impressions but i think right now there's a margin more ground for things to stand on and for some good gears to get rollin'
this was almost more of a shimokoa chapter than it was a matt chapter, which is kinda also why i wanted to make it long, but honh
as always, see you all next time!
