Chapter 6: One head cut off
The throne room was pretty much any castle throne room that you'll see. There were two thrones, a big one for Riala, and a smaller one for one of the dogs probably? There was also another throne. But it was smashed up and is currently being used as firewood for the fireplace. It was fireproof apparently since the chair refused to burn even after being in the flames for so long.
As I got closer, there was this one farmer dude who passed out on Riala's throne. His hair was disheveled with stubble growing on his chin.
Usually, I wouldn't blame a person's unhygienic lifestyle on drinking, but I'm totally blaming it on drinking. The signs of alcohol to some degree were obvious. Excluding the plethora of bottles around the guy, his clothes were drenched in wine and alcohol. It was so bad that I could smell it from the other side of the room. He certainly needs a shower and fast.
"Alright bitches, and Leo. I sobered myself up for this so let's get this- oh I forgot he was here. Melinda!"
"I'm on it." The cow maid groaned as she dragged the supposed farmer out of the room. On his way out, I couldn't help but notice a miniature rake on his hip. I was joking about the farmer look but I guess I was right.
"Don't question him, he's a drinking buddy of mine."
"You mean you go drinking with your landscape artist?" I joked.
"That's not important right now. Let's get this meeting underway."
Entering the room. Riala was, followed by several other guards and a ghost-like hawk on her shoulder. She wore a black dress that went down to her knees, along with sandals and an odd red sash wrapped on her shoulder.
Out of all her soldiers, the one behind her is what caught my attention. He was an elephant who dwarfed Riala in size, both in height and muscle. He wore a grey suit and fedora, along with a long light blue coat that stretched down to his calves. More importantly, his belt, hat, shoe, and coat were all lined with weapons. Daggers, boomerangs, swords, and even hammers were all equipped in some odd fashion. That's not evening mentioning the hidden daggers I saw peeking out of his sleeve, Note to self, never mess with him ever.
"Ricten, you're back!" Leo cheered.
"I heard both of you succeeded, nice work you two." Ricten began to scratch Leo and Shogietsu behind the ear. Apparently, having animal traits mean you literally have animal traits. I'll test more of this out later with a stick.
"Alright, I want to get back to bed so let's knock out the important stuff. Lizen why are you here?"
"Is it suddenly a crime for me to enter the castle now? Seriously, no need to be such a bitch."
"W-wha?"
"In the derogitory term."
"Oh fuck you!"
Riala got out of her chair but was stopped by Ricten.
"I thought you two were out of the pettiness stage already?"
"And stop messing with this beautiful stag? Absolutely not!"
"I'm a doe, thank you very much."
The tension in the room was high. I felt my soul start to get pulled once again as Lizen and Riala stared each other down. It looks like I have to add domestic situations to the list of possible deaths here. Overall, this places gets a 2 on the safety scale.
"Perhaps we should change the topic to something more important," Ricten interjected.
"Give me a minute, have to deal with my ex."
"Wait what!?" The wings, carefree additude. Damn Lizen how can you fumble the bag like this.
"You do realize that the whole reason why you sent half your guard out was to find, oh I don't know… the assassin sent to kill you standing in the middle of the room right now." Ricten scoffed.
All eyes were immediately turned to me. I never liked attention before, but this is unsettling.
"Oh yeah ha. Forgot about that." Riala chuckled a bit. "Darkness of shadow, extend from my arm. Strike my foe and cause him great harm. [Star Shadow Spike.]"
Riala raised her hand. Her shadow mimicked the same action before shooting a projectile of darkness at me. Why can I never catch a break?
"Slab of earth, rise from the ground, protect my ally from the shadows abound. [Star Earth Barrier]"
Thankfully, Leo quickly chants his spell and deploys a wall in front of me, stopping the attack before it could reach my heart.
"Sister, please. Leave violence for last."
"Trust me, there is another to blast."
"Aww, I was going to make him a shishkabob for later."
"Before you try to kill him again, you two haven't formally met. Morale meet train, train meet Morale?" Lizen terribly introduced.
"...Morale as in inspiration? Your parents really wanted to gain favor with the church didn't they?"
"No, my name is Flores. I also think he means Morale as in the weapon I wield." Pointing to the obvious flag on my back, many of the guards in the room do a double take. Is it really that hard to notice the weapon?
"Wait. You're the holy hero? Oh, Miguel I just completely dodged a bullet there, my bad." Riala chuckled as she scratched her head. I don't know what's worse for the world. The fact that I'm down an arm. Or the train hero being both an intimidating powerhouse and a ditzy airhead at the same time.
"... Lizen, I think the world is doomed."
"I say that to myself every time I look at one of you."
"What does that mean!" Both Flores and Riala exclaimed.
"Anyway, I have reason to believe Flores was framed. So that means one of your spies spilled the beans."
"Katarina?"
"Most likely."
There's this Katarina again. So she's a spy? That makes sense a lot of sense. Still, the reason why she'll even do this is unknown.
"We were planning on investigating after meeting you."
"We need to find out why she'll try this coup?" Shiku and Leo explained.
"Well, I got nothing else to do. Might as well." Riala sprung out of her chair, performed a flip midair, and landed next to us. "Ricten, you coming along?
"You're asking your butler to help you track down a possible fugitive?"
"Absolutely!"
"Fuck it then, let's do it."
/~/
We traveled through to the bottom layers of the castle. More ghosts, or what Riala called "spirit monsters" layered the halls. Apparently, Riala's species is modeled after a powerful creature called the soul Peryton. So she can rip the souls out of creatures' bodies and leave them in a state she calls "unrest." Another person to add to the, Don't fight ever list.
After a bit of walking and a lot of stairs, we finally make it down to the residential hall. Many servants walk in and out of their rooms, going about their daily business. A few stopped to say hi while some others fell to the ground and praised the glory of the omega, Needless to say, those were the weird people in this place.
"So this is Katarina's room?" I reach over and turn the nob, but Lizen pushed me aside.
"Geez Flores, ever heard of knocking?"
"You didn't knock when entering Riala's room?"
"It was second nature. You still need to have class." Lizen cleared his throat and knocked on the door twice. When he went for the third knock, he instead kicked the door, forcing it open.
"See what I mean. Class."
"Oi, what's the big ide-. Oh, fuck."
Katarina stood in fear as we entered the room. She seemed to be some sort of dog with a hand at the end of its long monkey-like tail. I think the monster was called an ahuizotl.
"Katarina hey. We have some questions to ask.." Lizen pulled out some rope before Riala entered the room.
"Before we begin, would you like a drink?" Riala produced a bottle of wine labeled "dragon killer", and tossed it over to Katarina.
/~/
"Alright Katarina, it's time to play a game of piano or no piano. Katarina, do you want a piano."
"No!" The girl cried out.
During Riala's drink break. Ricten set up a mechanism that would make a piano fall on Katarina if he cut all five ropes. Very resourceful, just questioning where he got the piano from.
"Well, that's sad. This was an expensive piece made from Yang Sho wood. Very durable, and can easily crush a body if it were to fall. Not that I'm saying it would fall, that all depends on your answers." Lizen cut a rope with one of his arrows, lowering the piano a set distance before the other ropes stopped it.
"Don't you think this is a little too extreme? We don't even know if she's the culprit yet."
"That's exactly why we're interrogating her. We have more spies anyways."
"And if you want proof of her being a suspect. Katarina is the only one I know that could have leaked your identity." Riala added.
"Really?"
"She's the only one I send to Ken'bitch. She does give intel sometimes, but she's mostly there to keep an eye on Neila."
"I met with her the day you went drinking. She drew a picture of you and everything so she can pass it on to Riala." Lizen added.
"Getting into the castle undetected and especially uncontested is also a difficult job. The animal guards will be enough to stop most intruders, especially with Akuma, the cassowary, and our twin Inu." Ricten added.
"So the only way for someone to enter."
"Means that someone had to act as their mentor."
"A spy in this case."
"Has plenty of knowledge of the place."
"That's how they made it to the center." Leo and Shiku explained.
"All good points. Well, I guess dropping a piano on her won't be so bad then."
"I swear it wasn't me. I'm being framed." Katarina cried.
"Not what we're looking for. Rope number 2." Lizen cut the rope once more, dropping the piano another set distance.
"Alright alright, I'll talk. Just promise you won't drop that on me."
"No promises. Actually, because you asked that." Lizen then cut another rope, leaving only two left. "Start talking!" Lizen threatened.
"Alright alright. There was this man who had this weird ability to summon boxes with items in them. He promised me money and luxury if I told him how to get to where the omega sleeps. I said no at first, but after he gave me this necklace I couldn't help myself."
Since she was tied up in a chair, she gestured to the necklace on her neck with her head.
"...Are you dumbass?" Ricten asked.
"Please, have mercy. I didn't think he'll try to kill you!"
"What did you expect was going to happen!"
"I don't know, he'll sleep with her or something. I know it's been awhile with your separation and all."
"...Lizen, another rope please."
"With pleasure honey." Lizen cut the 4th rope, dropping the rope just over her head. That's probably the first time they agreed with each other since we got here.
"Seriously, I can't believe you allow her to watch our daughter."
"What? She's a good babysitter?"
"I'm sorry, how long have you two been separated for again?"
"Around three months." Everyone answered simultaneously.
"Alright, I think we're done here. Lizen." Ricten order. Lizen walked over to the final rope and started cutting.
"Wait wait wait wait wait. He's from the dark hydra, he has a base east of here. That's all I know I swear!"
"You sure? I can finish cutting this rope right now?"
"Yes I'm sure! Please, I don't want to die!" The girl was crying at this point. A very efficient interrogation method if you ask me.
"Ugh. Dark hydra." Lizen groaned.
"Dark Hydra?"
"It's a mercenary guild of Arcadia's most devious. Their leader is unknown, but the 5 people under him are some of the most dangerous mercenaries. They call themselves the boys."
"Well I heard weirder… this place never ceases to amaze me."
"Still. Fighting Riala is a stupid idea all around. She's arguably stronger than Yomiko and can hold her own against Mihare just fine. Even if she died, nothing would change. So why try anyway?" Lizen asked.
"We can go ask him ourselves." Ricten cut the final rope, releasing the piano. Pleading for her life, Ricten quickly moved her chair away from the impact zone, sparing her life.
"I'll take her to the cells. You guys prepare for departure." Ricten ordered. Pulling out a smaller piano from his pocket. Ricten slowly played a tune as he walked out. I know he wanted it to sound intimidating, but its beat sounded something close to something you'll play while on a bizarre adventure.
"Okay, before we go. Give me a minute to drop off Hol, then we can go murder."
"...Who the hell is Hol?"
/~/
When Riala returned from dropping off her gardener, she grabbed me and dragged me I through the castle, this time without the murder of Cassowary blocking the halls. As we reached the end of the hall, we took a left and entered a descent down some stairs.
"Why are you draggin me again?" I asked, not really having the energy to deal with this situation.
"Because you need armor. We can't have you losing another limb before the wave begins. That will be a death sentence at this point." Riala explained, taking me deeper and deeper into the castle depths.
I guess I never did get a chance to fix my chainmail after the fight. Hell, I had to find a new set of clothes after my original got damaged beyond repair.
At the bottom, we got a door with a hammer hitting an anvil on the front. On the outside, I could hear the sound of metal being hit, and water boiling. I've only seen this type of stuff in movies, but I can clearly tell where we were.
"Cadenza!"
"Agh!"
Riala kicked open the door, and a crash was heard on the other side. Peeking through the entrance? I see the blacksmith had dropped her tools on the ground and was now mourning the loss of molten metal on the ground.
"Was this a bad time?"
"My prototype. Why must you do this to me, your Riala." The girl cried.
"Sorry sorry, I'll get you a new sword okay? I just found a client for you."
"Oh, a client?"
The girl stood up and dusted away some of the molten metal off her body like it wasn't currently on fire. She was average height for a woman and had fox-like ears. Her greatest feature was the 6 large tails with several hammers poking out from it. Other than that, she just wore a black jumper and jacket.
"If she's a Kitsune. Then those tails mean she's over 600 years old." I heard a legend that Kitsune grow a tail every hundred years of life. By this logic, H'lock would only be a child compared to this one.
"Flores. I'd like to introduce you to the royal blacksmith, and my sister Cadenza."
"Hi, I'm Flores. Nice to meet you."
"I'm Cadenza, but you already knew that so I'm just wasting time by reintroducing myself- I'll stop now."
A shy fox. I don't know why I'm surprised anymore.
"I'm looking for some armor, and maybe some weapons to copy."
"Copy?" Cadenza then gasped. "You must be a hero. Wait, did something happen to the paper?
"What no. I just got summoned."
"Summoned? Oh, my God! literally. You're the morale hero! Strongest support mage in the world. Master of several forms of combat and instruments! Inventor of the taco!"
"Taco?"
"You're the successor of Miguel! Oh my god, it's a huge honor!" Cadenza ran at least 7 laps around me before coming to a stop in front of me.
"Oh my gosh, you're still so weak. No armor, missing an arm. And are you wearing loose clothing! Who has been treating you like this!"
"Myself kind of."
Lizen gave me his extra pair of clothes that were at least 4 sizes above mine. I don't know what to say, he is a unit.
"Oh, this will certainly not do. Here, follow me."
The option of following her wasn't a request. She just picked me up with one of her tails and carried me with her. Sure it was very fluffy, but it was also very startling.
Being taken into the back room, I see the full extent of the castle armory. It carried all forms of weaponry and many forms of armor, one of which she was inspecting.
"6 foot, 172 pounds. Age 19 … wait no, 20."
"How did you-"
"Knowledge of the body is what all tailors need to master. You have 6 scars on your body. 4 stitches, and a body mass index of 24… wait. Right, 23.3"
"You got all of that from just carrying me?"
"Absolutely. The tail senses all. With this knowledge in mind, I will start crafting you a set of armor immediately. I am thinking of a split type of armor. We can drop the grieves if you like?"
"Anything will do but I need an armor piece right about now."
"Oh, I see. I'll prepare this one once you return. Feel free to take a chainmail and absorb some of the items in the room as well. I got flags, Pom Poms-."
"Pom Poms?"
"Yeah. Miguel said it's for morale as well, and gave my master's master the schematics to build one."
"Huh. Well, I'll be damned." Looking through the basket of instruments, I indeed found a set of of blue and gold pom poms.
Weapon copy successful
Entertainers Pom Poms
Abilities locked: HP 3, Def 2
Special Effect: Cheer: Grant extra endurence to an ally or group of allies
Copying all the weapons I could get, I got several new flags. They weren't that interesting, most of them just gave small bonuses to health and attack. I also absorbed some of the materials here. Most were flags obviously, but a few actually gave me brand-new weapons.
Conditions Met: Yang Sho Drum unlocked
Equip Bonus,Abilities locked.: Atk 2, Skill: First Solo
Changing my weapon, a small red circular drum appears in front of me. A strap was wrapped around my body and was currently keeping the drum held up. I also heard a drumstick in each hand, both of them being beige wooden sticks.
"Oh great a drum."
"Is something wrong, hero?"
"Nothing. I'm just not good at playing instruments. The most I've ever had were those "drum lessons" my grandma made me take at the mall."
"What's a mall?"
"Don't worry about it." I sighed. "I have so much to do."
"Don't be so glum sir hero. I failed over 2782 times before I made my first armor piece. Just ask Lady Sinclair and she'll help you out with those instruments no problem."
"Sinclair? Who's that?"
"Oh. Sinclair is the family name of the leading branch of Ken'bitch. The current leader was supposed to be Lizen, but his forbidden relationship with a monster lead to his adopted sister being chosen instead."
"Wait? Mihare is adopted?"
"That's what Lizen told us. She was abandoned in Rinoth and the Sinclair family saved her. I feel bad for her though. She spent half her childhood training, the rest in a mountain. Then she had to live her early adulthood trying to lead a nation all by herself after the family that saved her was killed. The pressure she's under must be heavy."
The Kitsune finally picked up a chailmail with some pauldrons and stuffed them in my hand.
"Welp. Mihares business isn't mine. Here's your temporary armor until I make you a proper set. Also, some new clothes. These will replace your old ones."
"Thanks. Hey, do you think you can do me a favor and try to restore my original as well?" I reached into my bag and handed her my very ripped up outfit. Holes from the bundrill littering the shirt, and burns and cuts from the battle I had with the orc captain. Hopefully it isn't beyond repair.
"Anything for you sir hero." Cadenza gave me a salute. The same salute of the Ken'bitch military. I do wonder who was lazy enough to copy them.
/~/
"All Aboard!" Riala shouted.
A black train with red streaks pulled up to the castle's backyard train sation. Decked out with my new armor and perfectly fitting clothing, I opened the train door.
"Guess I'm the first to arrive?"
"Not even close." Lizen seemingly appeared out of nowhere and jumped off the tree he was on. "I was on this tree the whole time."
"Why?"
"It's a great vantage point."
…I will never begin to understand his thought process.
"Lizen is just weird. Don't mind him." Ricten insulted. As he arrived, he seemed to be wearing the same exact outfit, and brought even more weapons.
"Where's your armor?
"Being a monster, my skin is made of normal leather elephants can't achieve. This makes my body a natural amor."
"Wait, you're a monster? I thought you were some kind of half-human half monster thing." I placed my thumb on my chin. If Ricten is a monster, then that means Riala is a monster. And if Riala is a monster, then what the hell did Lizen have sex with a Peryton?"
"Yes. Monsters as intelligent as myself can cast a form of transformation magic that gives up a human form."
"But don't you have to rhyme to do that?"
"It's an advanced form of erudation. And the human tongue isn't the only language that exist." Ricten crossed his shoulders.
"He speaks the truth, monster speak does exist."
"I don't use it much however. Unlike me and my fist."
Shiku and Leo had decided to join in. Shiku had kept her shinobi outfit on, sleeves blown and all. Leo on the other hand changed his clothes to another ninja fit, but this time it was white and blue with a black strip across his waist.
"So what you're saying. Is something something magic."
"Yes. Something something magic." Leo replied. He shook his head in disappointment, but I don't have the energy to figure out a whole other language.
/~/
The ride was uneventful. It was a 40-minute ride with a good majority of the trip being us running over every poor monster that crossed our path. It was cool for the first 5 minutes, but without a book or phone, and the scene outside being the same thing, it became boring quickly. Free levels was great and all, but I needed something to do.
"Hey? Is that the place?" I asked. Everyone else of the train went over to the left window and looked out themselves.
"Possibly? It does look out of place."
"Then let's go for it."
The train stopped a fair distance away from our location. Stepping outside, we all see a small shack, far away from any form of civilization. I was also generous in describing it as a shack. The correct term would most likely be a tool shed due to its size.
"Things may get ugly. Be ready for anything."
"I'm going in first, be ready to intercept." Lizen stepped forward and knocked on the door. Seconds later, the door slightly opens, with a deep voice answering.
"Who goes there?"
"Just a single head, trying to regrow on the main body."
It was a weird passphrase, but it seemed to work as the door fully opened. Standing in front of the door was a man wearing something akin to a green power ranger suit without a helmet. He had black hair in a bowl cut, and seemingly carried no weapons on him. His appearance did look familiar though, I just couldn't figure out what.
"Who the hell are you? Boss didn't tell me he was send-"
"All Cannons Fire!" As soon as the man stepped out of the shack, Riala's train transformed from a locomotive to a cart carrying a large 12-inch cannon. And several Gatling guns on the side.
Needless to say, the entire shack was decimated, with the man standing there was nowhere in sight.
"What the hell Riala, we needed to get answers?!"
"Sorry. Force of hab-"
"Dynamic Entry!" Jumping out of the smoke, he launched himself at Riala with a flying kick.
*clang*
The attack connected, with the sound of metal playing throughout the forest. Not only did Riala not flinch at all, but there was also no sign of damage to her at all.
"... What?"
"Oh, he's weak. Anti Personel."
Calling out another Skill, Riala fired a barrage of bullets at the poor guy.
The spandex combatant seemed to somehow dodge every bullet coming at him. He wasn't even struggling either. He was doing cartwheels, flips, and even handstands to dodge the barrage until Riala called it off.
"... Okay so he's not weak?"
"Haha. You fools. Thinking you can surprise attack the great R. Lee. Not with my autonomous instinct always active."
"... autonomous what?"
"Who cares, take him out!"
Shiku leaped forward and slammed the ground. The resulting waves of earth knocked me off my feet and forced Lee to jump away.
"Spirit of the land pick up sand, conjure spears and make it grand. [Star Sand Spear]"
A mound of sand flew into the air and formed into a hail of spears that fell from the sky. Ricten also joined in the action, but instead of magic, he grabbed several of his hidden daggers and tossed them all at the power ranger.
however dodged every single one of them while simultaneously balancing on the distorted ground.
After he successfully dodged, he went over to Ricten and the tornado kicked him in the jaw. There was no clang this time, but Ricten barely budge. He sent his own punch, but R. Lee just flipped back to dodge.
"Hold on. R. Lee, Autonomous Instinct"
"What is it?" Lizen asked as he was midway through a summoning another.
"They're all terms from my world. But, how would he know them?"
"Flores. No."
"I'm going in."
"No Flores he's going to-. Daughter of a bastard"
I stopped listening halfway through and immediately ran into the fight. I couldn't let him die yet, I needed answers.
"Stop. Truce!"
"Huh?" Shiku stopped halfway through her attack, allowing R. Lee to get in a grapple and pull out a knife.
"Yeah, let's listen to the… flag guy? You don't want the little thing hurt now would ya?"
"Shut it you rip-off. Tell me how you know of these references. Where are you truly from!"
"You understand? So you're one of us?"
"One of you?"
"Shit I said too much. Distraction."
Clang
R. Lee thrust his dagger on Shiku's head, but the same metal sound played again as the knife shattered on contact.
"What the hell is up with you people."
"Hya." I grunted as I thrust my spear at the guy, but his auto-doge activated, and he rolled backward. He then pushed off his back and kicked me in the gut. If it werent for Shiku, I would have been sent flying.
"He keeps dodging everything we send at him, but he has to have a limit. Leo, Riala, Lizen. Blast him with every aoe magic or skill you have. Don't let him catch his breath."
"So you're finally making orders midway through. I'm proud Flores. Nox!" Nox filled the prism with his electral energy as Lizen loaded it onto a normal arrow. He then pulled out a charmes disk and placed it on the arrow as well, enhancing the power of the lightning like before.
"Oh I'll also have fun with this." Riala's train all focused their weapons .
"Spirit of the earth, I call out to you. Descend and come forth, let the way become true. I pledge my heart to the earth and land and call upon a great plateau of sand. With the might of the world and my magic one, gather it all, and make him run."
The three of them stepped forward, all of them ready to release their attack. I quickly got out of the way, and did some preparation myself.
"Attack Order!" Dropping my field of gold, I point my hand at R. Lee, who was currently being attacked by Ricten and Shogietsu.
"Don't waste this opportunity. Fire!"
"Galaxy Sand Storm!"
"Skybound Stormcall!"
"Gatling Cannon!"
"I can help too. First Solo!"
Leo was the first to move. He conjured a storm of sand that crashed into R. Lee's position. As expected, he did dodge the hit. But it trapped him in the eye of the storm with very little space to move.
With his movement and vision limited, Riala and Lizen wasted no time and attacked as well. Lizen's shot the arrow up into the air. Once it reached it peak and started to fall, the prism and charmes activated, sending down massive bolts of lightning in the sandstorm.
My attack wasn't as powerful as the rest. I just hit my drum and a singular sour note appeared and flew into the storm as well. Thankfully, my music-playing skills didn't hinder my skill damage, so I kept hitting my drum until I ran out of sp. And Riala being the laziest of the 4 of us just sat back as her cannons fired.
At first, I thought the attack was a failure since he was able to dodge the initial hit. But my worries soon came to an end as we heard a grunt of pain. The grunts soon turned into a scream of bloody murder, as I see getting hit by everything sent.
Once the tornado subsided. The man came out barely standing. Riddled with bullet holes and having. How he survived all these bullets and lightning was beyond me. But if he's still alive, then we can still extract information from him.
"Shiku, Grab him now!"
"On it. Spirit of the lion, hear my roar!" Shiku disappeared in a cloud of smoke and reappeared as a white lion with a very fluffy but obviously stone mane. Pouncing onto R. Lee, his injured body was unable to dodge for long, and was quickly pinned to the ground.
"Ricten, Help Shiku hold him down. Lizen, you're with me. Riala and Leo just chill out there."
"Yes sir." Leo did the same salute Cadence did earlier. Riala didn't do it, but she gave me a thumbs-up to signify she heard the command.
I walked forward with Lizen by my side and held my flag's spike to his throat. Lizen also pulled out a few of his special charmes and handed them over to me.
"Alright Lee or whatever your name is. Start Talking."
"Ha… not a chance. Kill me for all I care, it won't matter in the long run."
"So you don't value your life." I thought for a moment before looking over to Lizen. He's our resident torture master… why do I consider that a good thing.
"Bring him to the train. Lizen, do your thing."
"On it commander." Lizen cleared his throat. "Congratulations, you're now a contestant in a game I like to call quick death, slow death. Give us what we want, and you die fast. If your answer isn't satisfactory through… well, I guess you can put together the rest."
Lizen chanted a quick rhyme and summoned a black cloud above us.
"So. Let's do a test run shall we?"
"Wait what. No, don't. AGHH!."
/~/
Earlier, in another world
A train fell from the sky and crashed into a floating airship.
"RIALA, WHAT THE FUCK!"
Opening the door of her train, Riala got out and picked up hol."
"Relax, I remember to debuff myself this time. I'm just there to drop off Hol. Physically and Literally." Riala positioned herself above a railing and dropped Hol onto the ground.
"Anyhow, got to torture a man. Later bitches, and Clara."
Instead of getting back into her train. Riala stood at the edge of the airship.
"I've always wanted to do this. Sing with Me!"
