Chapter 2 - Exploring Options

Somewhere in Far East Sector - God Eater World - The Morning after the previous chapter

(Scathach's P.O.V)

The Orgetail aragami screeches before I stab it with one of my spears right between the eyes, adding another dead aragami to the seven more of its kind dead around me. After having a nice relaxing sleep despite the fact I wasn't in a bed or anything, I ended up deciding to do some light exercise by killing some more aragami.

"It's strange just how fast I've gotten used to being a woman, to being Scathach despite lacking the Memoria that would have given me a greater portion of her personality.." I say as while technically the body lacked a personality in the first place, I can't help but be influenced at least in subtle ways.

My posture, combat stance, and even how I walk are so similar to the original Scathach. Still, it is admittedly far better than what I had to deal with in my first life, although admittedly it is lonely right now.

Although today I've noticed some Abandoned God Arcs nestled in rubble, most of them longsword types I think. I ended up not going to touch any of them, considering I don't exactly wanna find out if I'm able to use them or not without backup of some form in the event it tries to take a bite of me instead of an aragami.

While I am more than certain that I can handle the abandoned God arc alone, I'm not reckless enough to make the attempt while I'm in an abandoned and ruined city with aragami constantly roaming about.

Almost as if to make my point, another pack of Ogretail aragami are coming my way and I sigh while readying my spears. Once again, the hunters become the hunted, an ironically fitting end for these baseline aragami.

As they rush me, I decide to create a line of Ansuz runes and ignite them the moment they step on top of them. The entire pack goes up in flames as the scent of burnt aragami flesh fills the area, it honestly smells revolting despite how I've become accustomed to it rather quickly.

Once I'm sure I am safe, I put the spears away within my pocket space. That reminds me actually, I decide to pull out the company phone and ensure I can use the portal to get to the manor.

Yup, just had to be sure the build wasn't missing that vital perk. Once I've made sure of the fact I can open portals, I decide to jump up to the top of one of the ruined buildings, to ensure no aragami won't ambush me when I come back out, and head into the pocket dimension portal.

Pocket Space of Scathach - God Eater World

(Scathach's P.O.V)

The moment I step onto the beach, it was clear writing about this space was one thing, but actually seeing it is another. The smell of the sea behind me, the faint sounds of leaves and trees being buffeted by the gentle winds and the bright warm sun above.

Plus I can see the Warehouse district not far from here, although unfortunately, it will remain unused for now. Still no point in wasting time remaining on the beach, as such I start walking up the path to the manor.

Once I finally reach it, I can safely say I will live like a Queen for sure. With how big it is, I think I'll probably want a big family at one point, although not too big though as I don't want to end up trying to worry about potentially leaving anyone behind.

I should also note that since I woke up this morning, my curves have actually gotten…bigger. I quite literally had to check as to why I was suddenly experiencing breast and ass growth only to discover that yes the shroud can do that.

I guess in a way I am shroud-bound myself, but at the same time not exactly bound either. Although unlike with say Tempest Jewels, I can't make any specific changes. Thankfully the asset increase wasn't too high unlike perhaps how I wrote Arturia in A Golden Goddess.

If I had to give a rough guess, I might be an F-cup and until someone says otherwise, that's the estimate I'm going with. Still, it's not too huge and still allows perfect flexibility with my spears, although I won't lie and say I don't feel damn sexy in this body suit.

Anyway, as I head inside it seems that the entire manor is modeled as I had thought it would be, complete with Internet connections, Gaming consoles, an Anime library, and of course a fully stocked and automatically refreshing food storage.

And if my hunch is right..

I go for the fridge and find, to my delight, some cans of Coca-Cola waiting for me. I can't help but give a sultry smirk and grab one of the cans before opening it and taking a sip. The moment the sugary soda touches my tongue, I will not deny that I might have moaned in bliss.

No matter what, I will always enjoy a nice can of Coca-Cola. Not to mention when I check the drink storage I find a large shipping crate's worth of Coca-Cola Cartons, then not far away in another Isle in the storage space, another shipping crate.

I think I'll be enjoying my time here when I can, just a hunch~

Soon enough I reach what is designated as my room and walk in, looking around before deciding to take a look at what I have for outfits pre-arranged. When I do though, I kinda wish I hadn't..

"...Several maid dresses, Five bunny girl outfits of the exact same color, seven copies of the Biker suit that Scathach has in the Empire of Dirt Hentai Game….really Xigbar..?!" I can't help but say with a scowl.

Out of the three outfit choices, only the biker outfit is even remotely wearable as a casual outfit. However before I can look any further, my shroud suddenly covers all the outfits, and after a few seconds of doing…something…the shroud pulls away.

Looking over the outfits again reveals they've been refitted to suit my new sizes, huh how neat. Not gonna lie, having a semi-sentient shroud does make things feel slightly less lonely to be honest.

I decide to leave the outfits be, not exactly wanting to use them yet as I resume my exploration of the manor. There is a Hotspring room and amusingly a Sauna as well, with a laundry room not far away too.

I soon finish off my exploration, leaving me in the kitchen and pondering on what to do next. It takes me a moment but I decide to see what I can do with the shroud, so I head out of the manor via portal although I reluctantly have to leave the Coca-Cola behind to prevent any sort of contamination.

Somewhere in the Far East Sector - God Eater World

(Scathach's P.O.V)

As I leave the portal, I sigh as I look down to the street below the building I appeared on. It seems I was correct to put my portal on the rooftop as the area below has several Orgetail aragami prowling, likely on the lookout for my admittedly bubbly ass.

Well, it would be rude of me to disappoint, so I decided to jump down in the middle of the pack and simply say…

"Hello there~!"

The entire pack suddenly turns around to face me and before any of them can do anything, I blast most of them with a well-placed set of Ansuz runes. As for the remaining one, I dodge it trying to bite me before suddenly letting the shroud manifest in full and suddenly start wrapping itself around the Ogretail.

It tries to bite, writhe or tear at the shadowy shroud but it is entirely futile as it can do little to stop what is happening. Soon enough the shroud completely covers it and it finally stops struggling. I can't help but smirk as when the shroud finally peels away, the Ogre tail has gone from having the usual yellow eyes to a similar wine red to my own eyes.

The fur has also gone from its standard coloration to now having a jet black coloration with the tip of the Ogretail's….well…tail, now emitting a small black whispy amount of shadow. I think I'll call this a Shadow Ogretail.

As it gazes at me, I can sense that the primitive mind it has is entirely beholden to my will. I beckon it forward and it slowly wanders over to me, once it's close I place a hand on its head, smiling at how obedient the normally vicious and savage aragami is..

Somehow, I don't think Tempest Jewels can do something like this..

Looking around at the other dead Ogretails, I direct the Shadow Ogretail to devour the dead ones. As it does I can tell it's growing stronger as it does so…meaning I do believe I have a nice hobby to pass the time while I continue searching for Fenrir here in Japan.

Somewhere in the Far East Sector - Two days later

(Scathach's P.O.V)

The last two days have been rather…enlightening to say the least. I ended up finding the body of a dead member of Fenrir, likely the member that a certain other Newtype God Eater would end up replacing.

Checking the body, I was able to find a map that had the location of the Far East Branch. While good to know, it comes with a downside as the Map has a few printed notes stating that most of the gates that allow access in and out of the Den require the Armlets.

The remaining cases have access codes that only specific people can know about, and while I could take advantage of the clairvoyance that I know that I have now, I know for a fact it'll raise the question of how I got in through that gate.

And I'm pretty sure I saw it with clairvoyance will not be a valid answer and will get me thrown into a cell and an interrogation following shortly afterward. But what I can do instead is wait for a certain Trio of God Eaters to show up on a mission and approach them instead.

While the question of how I am able to survive out here will likely cause some questions to be asked, I think a certain doctor will be quite happy to have me around for my seemingly impossible ability to survive in the middle of aragami territory without being a God Eater myself.

With the plan settled, I just need to use clairvoyance to find out exactly when that Trio will show up. Upon using said clairvoyance, it takes some time carefully look through the exact moment and then rewind a bit to find any hint of the exact date.

As a result, I do end up managing to find it, but it's about three days from now. I turn to look at my particularly large Shadow Ogretail that's munching on some dead Zygote corpses, the damn thing is about the size of a fucking house now.

I end up checking my company phone and finding out that there is a fucking market for these things. I do not want to know, nor do I even want to consider what it'll be used for as I simply put it up for automatic sale and watch it suddenly disappear.

Not gonna lie, I have admittedly gotten slightly attached to it but ultimately I can't exactly bring it with me into the Den. Might look into getting a cat, much easier to handle, and to be fair while I had a dog in my first life, I do like cats a fair bit more.

I shake my head before thoughts of my past life regarding my old dog come into my mind, soon enough though I do get given some credits. A whopping two credits at that..

It is annoying to know that a particularly large Orgetail sold for so low, but I reason that since it's one of the most common species, it's not exactly hard to come by. Regardless with that sorted, I put away my company phone and take out my spears again as I've spotted yet another pack of Ogretails..

One carefully targeted Ansuz Rune magecraft use later, and I'm staring at a pack of dead Ogretails. I suppose in the end it doesn't matter how many cells an aragami's body is made off..

They still burn and still die as well as any other creature to flames. Admittedly supernaturally created flames, but still, fire is fire at the end of the day. At least I have yet to run into any aragami that are resistant to fire though, so might need to keep an eye on that.

Either way, I find myself jumping up onto one of the building rooftops from the streets below, pulling out the map before using a nearby landmark to finally get an idea of where I am on the map.

As it turns out, I am directly west of the Far East Branch. I wonder if that was a coincidence or not though as Scathach, who I am now, was from Ireland which in turn was west of Britain. In the end, I decided to err on the side of caution and assume it was an intentional drop-in point before deciding to spend the rest of the day in the manor.

At least I know how much time I have before I can get involved with the plot and where I am in terms of the world around me, that'll be particularly helpful in the planning ahead..

Author's Note

Another chapter of Wrapped in Shadows!

Let's the details out of the way

The Manor

Yea unlike in A Golden Goddess, it's just Scathach there so it's gonna be particularly lonely for her to be in such a big empty place to herself for now. Hopefully, that'll change over time.

Plus I couldn't resist filling her wardrobe with those three exact outfit choices beyond her battle attire that she has on currently. Expect her to rock the tight biker outfit a lot casually..

The Binding and Sale of the Ogretail

This is what I've heard the shroud can do that the Tempest Jewel tends to be unable to do as freely or as often. Not gonna lie I was tempted to give Scathach the Girlycard Template so she can flat out make her own Hound of Baskerville but in the end decided not to bloat her skillset when she doesn't need it yet.

Time before the original plot.

Yea, this is mostly to allow Scathach time to get ready to get involved in things, plus considering she's perhaps one of the few who may actually be able to know from the start what the Aegis Project really is, she'll need to keep things under wraps.

Doesn't mean she won't be snarky about it in her head though..

Now then, Next time on Wrapped in Shadows: Scathach meets Soma, Lindow, and Sakuya, entering the Far East Branch and meeting the GE1 Protagonist.

See you all again before the new year (Fingers crossed)!