The story is now on ON.
Chapter 13: The Purification of Sugar
The Batter looked at the teleporter that led to Zone 0. Looking between it and Omega, he answered, "It's not pure. I haven't defeated its guardian." Though it was never explicitly said, the Batter had a good idea on who the Zone's guardian was.
"We'll check it anyway." Alpha huffed.
The Batter turned away to look at him. "You don't believe me?"
"Well... you did lead us to believe your quest is... righteous." Omega said, a hint of an accusing tone in his voice. "Allow us to be suspicious."
"My quest is righteous." The Batter said firmly - oh, they just don't understand.
However, knowing how small the Zone is, the purifier rationalized that investigating would be a non-issue. He stepped up towards Omega and onto the teleporter, the only one that did not require a card, and waited to be delivered...
ZONE 0
Thankfully, the Zone is not changed, the small yellow isolated island completely untouched by purification. The Add-Ons look on curiously, either because it's the only Zone that none of them had seen and/or because after looking at the purified Zones, an untouched Zone seemed like an enigma.
"My my, who is this?" A voice is heard rasping. "Are you hallucinations of mine? Haha, probably."
A cat strolled out of the lone buildi-
Oh wait, it's just Zacharie.
"Heh, I'm just messing with you all." Zacharie turned around to switch masks before facing the party again. "I'm here too!"
None of them expected him to be here but even Alpha felt welcoming to him, seeing a new soul that wasn't upset. The Batter approached him. "Do you have new weaponry?" They do need to prepare for the last leg of the journey.
"But of course! You are heading for the final dungeon, after all!" Zacharie said.
A few minutes later and with a lighter monetary load, the purifiers begin equipping the new equipment they got. "By the way..." Zacharie murmured. "Have you seen Pablo? He hasn't been here in awhile."
"Ah, he's down in the dumps." Epsilon answered. "Perhaps he'll get a happy ending."
"Don't we all want happy endings?" The salesman chuckled.
"Wait, what's that?" questioned Alpha.
He referred to the small shack that is connected to the main building. The Batter could look into it and he recognizes the numbers on the wall as one of the first annoying puzzles he did.
However, what he did not recognize is the new set of stairs leading underground.
"Those were never there before." The Batter muttered, walking toward the shack to investigate. Did they get built in while he was out in the other Zones?
"Wait, where are you going? Weren't you going off to the last dungeon?" Zacharie questioned; in his voice, there seemed to be a hint of... desperation?
"It won't be that long." The Batter answered. There was definitely something fishy about the staircase.
"Ahahaha, no, going down there will cut into your time." Zacharie said, now with a hint of truthfulness.
"Oh, so there's a bonus dungeon?" Epsilon asked, playing along with the game terminology shtick.
"No. There's absolutely nothing down there." The merchant's desperation was growing increasingly obvious. However, the Batter was a determined man that couldn't be stopped, and the Add-Ons were curious as well. Of course, Zacharie had to let them pass and investigate, despite his denial. He is, after all, just a supporting character, and he is not written as an opposing force. He could only watch from the sidelines as the party descended...
The stairs led onto an underground hallway that led towards a room. They stopped. Inside the hallway lingers a scent. A sweet sensation. The smell of death.
And of course, the resident of Zone 3 was receptive to it. "This smells like sugar... no... it is sugar!" Epsilon exclaimed.
"Really? Here?" The Batter questioned.
"Yeah... it's coming from that room." Indeed, the sickeningly sweet smell of the dead was coming from the sole room that laid ahead. Was sugar stashed there? Was there anyone inside? Did Zacharie or the Judge secretly have an addiction problem?
At least two of those questions were answered when they set foot inside, answered with a resounding "yes".
Like the sugar storage of Zone 3, the hidden room of Zone 0 is filled with piles of filtered corpses. Underneath the flecks of white that dotted the floor is the emblem of a majestic bird - a swan perhaps. At the very end of the room, there is a person, a half-dressed woman who was dancing around, for seemingly no real reason but for the fun of it. She swayed on her feet, as graceful as the bird that was on the floor. She spins around on one foot whimsically -
- then stops when she sees the newcomers.
"Uh... hello." Omega squeaked. "I-I give your dancing a 8/10."
The woman stared at them; her gaze was similar to that of the sugar-addicted Elsen: completely manic. She seemed ready to attack -
She tilted her head, smiling. "Ah, I must improve then." Omega did not say that seriously, but was grateful that she isn't hostile.
The Batter casually used a Wide Angle whilst she was distracted. "Sugar."
"We know there's sugar in the room." Alpha hissed.
"No, that's her name."
"He knows my name." Sugar spun on her heel, gaze focused on the Batter. "I'm ignoring why everything's so frightening."
:)
"What." Was all the Batter could really say about this. He looked at her analytically; there may be the chance that he had guessed wrong, and that the true guardian of Zone 0 is standing before him...
"I'm never hungry." Sugar made a huge grin before continuing with her nonsensical ramblings. "Think of something beautiful really hard and maybe you will see it tomorrow. Like a beautiful day for example. With a huge ducky. A frightening one. The three wedding rings he carries for his beloved."
It takes the protagonists a bit to realize that she was referring to them. "The Batter is not a ducky. Unless you squint really really really hard." Epsilon said.
"What... what are you talking about...?" Omega asked. "...the sugar is messing with you miss... we, uh, can offer our help..."
Sugar ignores them. "Let's not lose any time to useless introductions." She rose an arm, and it's only now do the purifiers notice the strands of strings attached to her forearms. With her arm rose several spherical objects from the piles of sugar, which now float around her.
Another quick Wide Angle, while the Batter's grip on his bat tightened. "Those are Dummies, her candy based assistants that could buff and heal."
Epsilon excitedly floated forward. "Oh, I can buff as well, your Dummies sound fun~!"
"My, you're an eager one. This dance will be more fun than I thought." Sugar said, with her perpetual grin.
"Dancing? What do you mean? What are you doing down here?" The Batter questioned.
His interrogation falls on deaf ears as she got into a stance. "Let's dance, dear friends."
:)
With a surprising swiftness, she ran at Epsilon, and before the Add-On could react she was hit by a roundhouse kick.
With Sugar being the aggressor, the Batter had absolutely no problem running at her and delivering a bat to her stomach. However, despite her frail appearance and the wound left behind, Sugar did not even flinch. In response, she leaned forward and...
"Gah!" The Batter screeched, hand over a bleeding wound.
Alpha looked stunned. "Holy shit, did she just bite you?"
The Batter did not answer.
Or move for that matter. The humanoid was locked in a paralyzed state.
"The hell did she do?" Alpha asked, question directed at the other Add-Ons.
"I-I- think that she palsied him. I'll get to heal-" Omega said. But before he could do so, Sugar bounded toward him and swung, hand outstretched. Her nails scratch across his ring body...
Suddenly, Omega let out a frustrated scream - not toward his attacker, but toward himself, His body shook violently as he uncharacteristically roared, cracks and wounds appearing in his body. Somehow, Sugar had infected him with some kind of madness.
Perhaps all the sugar that Sugar had consumed had made her blood poisonous; she could resist it, but she could freely spread that poison around, infecting palsy and madness. Sugar is suddenly much more dangerous than they had first thought. Gleefully running back to the Batter, she kicked him, and the frozen body flies a few feet into a pile of sugar; the Batter did not get up or respond, still as still as a statue.
Alpha couldn't help but laugh. The Batter honestly deserved it.
Sugar decided to ignore the Batter, turning her attention onto Epsilon. This time, the Add-On expected the attack, flying back and dodging the strange woman's strings. However, as Sugar attacked, the Dummies attached to her was radiating a sort of energy - she seemed to be getting stronger, and the small wound that had been inflicted by the Batter was healed off.
"Hey, Epsilon, you gotta destroy those things!" Alpha shouted. Those Dummies are making Sugar more dangerous than she already is.
"I got it!" She shouted back. After all, she was the only one in the party with the means to attack groups. She let out a loud tone as she dodged yet another strike. Sugar twitched a little, whilst the Dummies that floated around her head cracked.
While Epsilon handled the Sugar and Dummies situation, Alpha got to work handling their inflicted comrades (while internally noting that he's usually the one that gets affected by status effects and they're the ones that take care of him). He first went to the Batter's frozen body and fished meat out of his pants (please don't take that the wrong way). He was going to shove his meat into the Batter's mouth (that too) but was interrupted when he heard a frustrated scream. He turned around and saw Omega, who was near the point of death, still tearing at his own body, so Alpha decided that he was a priority.
Alpha threw the meat through Omega and watched it disappear to... wherever. Omega pauses. "What.. what was I doing?" He asked, having returned to a stable state. "..er... why am I dying?"
"No time for that. Heal that prick." Alpha said. Omega remembered his original objective and got to healing the Batter of his palsy with a little perspective.
The Batter shot back up, stepping out of the sugar pile, ready to return to the fray. "Thanks." He muttered, using his own healing magic on the injured Add-On as repayment. "Where's Epsilon?"
That was answered by the sound of a tone, followed by the sound of several objects shattering. Epsilon had managed to evade Sugar long enough to hit her and her Dummies with another tragedy - the result being that her Add-On like allies shattering.
"What a sad noise." Sugar said, not bothered by the destruction of her familiars. "This is unbecoming for a marriage, dear ducky."
"...I don't know what you're talking about." The Batter said. He pointed his bat at her. "Sugar, it does not matter if you're a specter or a guardian - you're hostile and must be destroyed."
She didn't even seem to take his threat seriously.
:)
"Then let's tango." She said, launching back into battle.
And so, the fight continued. To the strange woman known as Sugar, the battle is like a choreographed dance, or a musical. To the party, it is grueling fight. The Batter and Alpha are the main attackers, while Epsilon buffed everyone up with various dramas before joining in on the assault. Omega however decided to hang back, taking shelter between the various piles of sugar while the rest of the party kept Sugar occupied; they needed a dedicated healer to heal off the various afflictions Sugar kept giving the others.
The fight wears on. The Batter passed around luck tickets and fleshes to keep them all going. It was a rather long fight. Seriously, I could do with Sugar having less HP in the game, her fight was just tediou - anyway, back to the narration. Sugar is starting to wear down, actually flinching from attacks, her perpetual smile sometimes fading into a frown. Her 'dance moves' falter, her excited drive diminishing.
And then the Batter cracked his bat over her head.
Sugar spit up blood, stumbling. She futilely lunges to go in for another scratch, but falls flat.
"That... wasn't a very nice dance."
:(
She was now full on frowning, happy giggles now gone. She sat up and hacked some more blood on the swan emblem on the floor.
"Looks like the frightening ducky has won."
She got on her feet. But instead of pressing on the assault, she wandered toward the room's back wall. She turned to look at them - and collapsed. The wall supported her back, leaving her sitting up in her last moments.
"Say goodbye to Zacharie for me."
She doesn't move or say anything else after that.
...
The group wordlessly leave the sugar filled room and head upstairs. Zacharie is no longer outside.
"...Zacharie?" The Batter called out. The merchant doesn't answer.
They go inside the building, and they find Zacharie there. He stands stiffly, staring at them; he heard the fight in the cellar, and the fact that the purifiers returned alive could only mean one thing...
Zacharie does not chuckle. Instead, he shakes his head. "I suppose it's better that way."
They have the feeling that he's crying behind the mask.
"...we're sorry, Zacharie." Epsilon apologized.
"...Just go. Isn't there a final dungeon you guys have to go to?" Zacharie said, a hint of hostility in his voice. "Stop wasting time with sidequests."
"...He's right. Let's go." The Batter said.
They walk out the back door of the building and head to the red block that would return them to the Nothingness. While they let the block heal them first before letting it spirit them away, Omega brings up an astute observation:
"Has... anyone realized that there's been so few females in the zones?" Omega questioned. "I mean... h-has there been any Elsen that identified as, well, female?"
"The Elsen are all male." Said the Batter.
"Then... how do they r-reproduce?" Omega had to admit, he never really thought about it before. He just assumed that the Elsen that he came across just happened to be male instead of being only male...
"They don't. As I said, this world is already damned." The Batter said.
Suddenly, they're back in the Nothingness.
"I don't know who Sugar is, but she sure wasn't the guardian." Said the Batter.
"She never told us who she truly was. She just wanted to dance." Epsilon said.
"Guess it's just a mystery." Alpha said.
"...You know... there's something suspicious about all that sugar. M-maybe she used to be from Zone 3... maybe..." Omega paused. "No. That's dumb."
"What's dumb?"
"I was going to say that... that Sugar may have been E-Enoch's daughter. But that's just... ridiculous."
Yeah. Pretty ridiculous.
Without anything else to do, without anything else to sidetrack them, the second Add-On decided to give back the Batter's card. With determination, the Batter stepped toward the last destination:
The Room.
The story is now on PAUSE.
Author's Note: And thus, we enter the last leg of OFF. You know, it's funny; when I first started this story, I believed that I could finish it in a year, and here we are, two years after I started it, just getting to the last part of the story. But I can now confidently say that I will finish it this year. Keep our fingers crossed here.