AN:*Sighs* So… I did take more than a month to finish those courses… good news is, I passed on my first attempt… and now I have to do another one before October finishes… anyway, down to the Chapter.

Chapter 33

The Great Spirit Ratatosk.

The Deity that used to rule over the Domains of Nature, Monsters, and Gatekeeper to the Underworld… that last one always raised questions to whoever heard the title.

Compared to the Deities of Orario, he would be someone around the same level of hierarchy as Ouranos, Zeus, Odin, Osiris, and such.

But more importantly, he was the man responsible for every tragedy that befell Drake Aurion… all because the existence of the blonde was an insult to Nature itself and, therefore, an insult to him.

Said Great Spirit was currently eating a bowl of pasta with visible delight next to a Goddess who was on edge thanks to nothing more than his mere presence.

"Wow, boy! You sure are hungry!" Mia Grande exclaimed, completely unaware of whom she was speaking to. "It's almost as if you haven't eaten in weeks."

"Haha," The Great Spirit, or Emil as he identified himself at the moment, laughed awkwardly after finishing his third bowl of pasta… in the span of ten minutes. "More like a year and a half."

Mia just laughed as she walked away, making the Goddess clench her eye as she was left alone with him yet again.

'Don't abandon me, Demi Ymir!' her pleads were unheard of to the Heavens… which was quite ironic seeing she was a Goddess.

"One of the deficits of having forced a Mortal Vessel is the needs of every normal body." His voice and eyes changed again, this being the third time it happened whenever nobody was close by. "Even if I still have some Divinity in me, the moment this stupid nose catches the smell of food, it carves for the damn thing." He said, finishing his plate before eyeing her as if she were prey.

"Are you gonna say something or just stare? I admit it was funny to see you be scared for your life by merely sitting next to you, but I have already grown bored of it."

Her eye twitched, not out of fear but out of indignation seeing how he thought of her as nothing more than a source of entertainment.

Sadly, no, she wasn't being confused by a certain plain red-haired Goddess.

"… Why are you here?" she asked, her composure and body language remained rigid as her forehead remained resting on the back of her hands while her elbows rested on the counter.

"Mostly messing with Drake," he scowled a little at the name. "I saw the opportunity to observe how exactly he's been living since he arrived here as he's currently in the Dungeon with Adam and your Captain."

Hephaestus wanted to call on his statement; something so simple couldn't be the only reason why he was here. But then she remembered, even if Drake said he wouldn't willingly look for a fight for Ratatosk or re-start his Revenge, he didn't know how he would react the moment he saw the Great Spirit. So the simple fact of knowing he had been in the place the blonde worked and slept could trigger him easily.

"Suffice to say, I was also planning on playing you a direct visit," her train of thought crashed abruptly. "After all," she felt his gaze heavily focused on her. "I was irritably curious as to what Deity in their right mind would aid someone who hates Deities, and has actually killed a Deity."

'And yet, here you are.' She thought, whining a little in her mind.

"… You say that as if I shouldn't, or rather, wouldn't have." She thought, recalling the days she wondered the same, now… now not so much, even if the source of all of Drake's problems was sitting next to her.

"… Because you are cowards." There was no hate in his voice, no irritation… nothing of that sort. Only pure certainty. For a moment, the Goddess thought he meant only her, it was only after a double take she realized he was calling on every Deity in this World. "Be honest, the moment you heard about his hate of Deities, and what he was willing to and could do… you were scared." He rested his elbow on the counter, resting the side of his head on his palm to look at her as if she was something boring. "And no… it wasn't because you thought about the amount of troubles your Familia could get, but because he had…has the power to actually kill a Deity."

"… And yet, here you are."

She regretted saying those words, seeing that earned her a vicious glare. "Oh, I did die." He said it with so much certainty that made the Goddess skip a beat. "I felt myself fading during my last moment in Remnant… only to suddenly wake up here. So, make no mistake, he can actually and permanently kill you. I know. He knows it too… and so do you; it doesn't matter how much you try to overlook that."

Her whole thought process turned down, having some of her early fear of Drake resurface with just a few words.

"So… I am waiting, why did you aid him?" he pressed on. "The moment you heard about him, you could have gone to Ouranos himself and ratted him out." He smirked. "Hells, you could have played the arrogant prick and told all of Orario about the threat called Drake Aurion. Funny enough, one and a half years ago I would have killed to see The World vs Drake." He sighed in some sort of sick satisfaction. "But I suppose it was for the best that none of that came to happen here."

Hephaestus turned pale, imagining what would have happened if things turned out like that and Drake had forced himself to be the Monster he pictured himself to be. But the question still remained… why didn't she rat him out?

By all means, she had been completely terrified when Tsubaki explained the whole situation to her. And even when they met for the first time and he came clean with them, she still had her reservations; especially since they were a little bit antagonistic towards one another, had it not been for Tsubaki that conversation would have gone poorly…

'Ah… that's right.'

"My Captain…" she suddenly replied. "My Captain had vouched for him… she said he looked miserable." more specifically, something among the words of 'Guy looked like a hurt , lost puppy'. But she wasn't gonna say that out loud.

"… He trusts her." He concluded after a short moment. The Drake Aurion he knew would have had the mindset and skill to be a manipulative bastard. For this very reason, he had thought that he had played his cards right against Hephaestus' Captain.

But here was the catch regarding this situation.

"He would never play the pity card to gain someone's trust; he's too prideful for that." He concluded; not to mention a similar lesson was drilled into him by his father since Drake had reasoning. He didn't really know or imagine what Tsubaki Collbrande could have done to gain his full trust and for him to open himself up to her.

"You say that as if it was the most impossible thing in the World."

"Not at all. Drake has always had a good eye for judging people, even given their defects." He replied, almost begrudgingly. "So, a Deity listens to a Mortal's words and decides to go against their cowardly instincts."

She mildly scowled, something Ratatosk noticed.

"If you have something to say, say it; I am not a fucking mind reader."

"You call me and my own cowards. But what about you? During all the schemes and fights in Remnant, the thought, the fear of actually dying never crossed your mind? Or were you so confident in your plan that failing never came into consideration?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

The Goddess almost fell off her chair by his bluntness, even his face adopted a more normal expression as he replied. She was prepared to receive another mockery or even a rant, but not this time apparently.

"I spent four thousand years planning, Drake's birth only gave me more drive to go through it. So no, death or failure never crossed my mind." He took a sip from his drink for a moment, looking at his reflection as if contemplating something. "But when I arrived here… I gave a thought to what I felt as I died… and it made me realize why Drake considered the idea of Death so… freeing." He snorted, "Too bad his self-imposed task wouldn't even let him do that; I guess I succeeded at something in the end."

Hephaestus didn't notice it but she scowled at him as she stopped hiding her face.

One of the corners of his lips turned upward. "Say… you never answered my question," his eyes darted to the book lying on the counter. "What did you think of my book?"

She frowned slightly, only to quickly return to scowl at him. "You hate him, I know that much, but to implicitly share the message in that book is kind of obsessive." Her eye narrowed with a certain disdain without realizing it. "You put the blame for everything that happened on him; to me, it looks more like a form of venting your hate for him."

"Oh, far from it," now he just found the whole situation humorous. "Tell me, are you aware of the curse I placed on him when he was six years old?" A curse placed in order to see every bit of Drake's life through his life, she was aware. Just as she was aware the Great Spirit took those years to learn not just to spy on the blonde, but also to learn from him and the way he thought, Drake had been clear on that.

'Where is he going with this?'

"Every word uttered, every subconscious thought, every single thing written in there is nothing but the truth; Drake's every living thought he ever had until he was Seventeen plastered in the paper." Leaned forward, meeting her halfway; one of his eyes focusing on her single one. "And I then gave it to him… why do you think that was?"

The Goddess thought, almost in a rush as if trying to find a simple answer. She knew Drake was practical, smart, strong, cold-blooded if necessary. Facts that she had analyzed when Tsubaki had first spoken of him… but above all else, there were two things that fit in the Great Spirit's question.

Drake was a realist; to the point one would consider it pessimism, even if he was right.

Drake was caring; especially to those he felt he owed them everything…

Her single eye widened. "… You are a Monster."

He chuckled, pulling back as he returned to his former posture. "Well… that was one of my Domains."

For someone who saw the World as they were, accepting the truth came as easy as it was to breathe, even if the very air they breathed was polluted.

To Hephaestus' eye, Ratatosk's words could be considered hate work towards anyone else but to Drake's eyes… it was a reminder.

A reminder that all of the bad things that happened to his brothers, to his parents, to a lot of people whose lives he touched… all of it could have been avoided if Drake hadn't been born.

Yes. She already knew the fact that Ratatosk's hate for him came as being a Deity with the Domain of Nature… and Drake's birth was an insult regarding that. When the redhead heard that she never questioned whatever Drake thought about that; thinking he refused the idea by default and fueled his anger with it… but now she knew that wasn't the case.

"That's right…" he smiled evilly. "He may have won our War…" he tapped the side of his head. "But I won the most important battle of them all up here."

The meaning behind the book was to make Drake miserable; by accepting Ratatosk's Divine Will on a subconscious level.

"And boy did it have some unseen results."

Hephaestus turned to the counter, turning her eye down frantically as she realized something. If everything revealed was the truth, how many actions did he commit as penance for the suffering his existence caused to his Brothers and others? The biggest one being-

"His final plan as a Sacrifice-"

"And becoming the Core to awaken the new World Tree… yeah, you could say him dying might have been a sort of atonement on a subconscious level." He shrugged as if it was nothing. "But that doesn't compare to the struggle he went through because of the Spirit pact he did with his Brothers."

Her eye widened, looking at him in horror and confusion; something he realized.

"Well, well, well… looks like he didn't tell you everything."

Hephaestus recalled that the pact he had with his brother was symbolized by the tattoos on the back of their hands and that Drake had a fragment of each of their Souls in him… but what kind of struggle did that entail?

"Why?" she unconsciously muttered. "Why go so far? Why not kill him when you had the chance instead of torturing him in every possible way?" it was a stupid question, both knew that. Just as both knew the answer.

"Because I am a Deity, why else?" The boring glare he gave her could easily transmit how he was judging her. "Don't think you are better than me, even you must have felt moments in which an offense towards your Domains has made you do impulsive things."

The term 'Cursed Weapons' came to her mind, remembering wanting to break them and their Forger if one came in sight of her eye. She recalled years ago there was a time she had a Blacksmith's hands cut off because his Cursed Weapons caused the deaths of many; he was by no means a good man, but her actions might have been seen as cruel in the eyes of some. But the truth was, she didn't care… to the point she would have given the same order regardless if said Blacksmith's weapon hadn't killed anyone… The mere fact he forged them was enough for her.

"Get off that throne of almightiness you Gods have been sitting on from the moment you descended here. You came here with all sorts of excuses, but all of them could be summarized as an over-glorified vacation away from your duties. Forcing your Divine Will on your followers and mortals as you please all the while." The worst thing about his words was not the fact that he was right to a degree… but that he looked completely uncaring at his idea of Deities in this World. "So, take a good look in the mirror before thinking about criticizing me."

Even if the Blacksmith never abused her status most of the time, it was true that there were people who followed her word as if it were the law. The same could not be said about others' Deities... but that didn't change the facts… Whether her actions were right or wrong, mortals followed their Divine Will.

This brought on the question… Despite her previous interactions with Drake, was there a part of him that finds the idea of her being a Goddess as something awful?

"Goddess Hephaestus!"

She was startled in her seat, almost to the point of falling. Her hands reached for the counter as a support looking to the side to see Syr and Mia staring at her with visible worry in their eyes.

"Are you ok? You have been sweating for a while now." Syr Flova commented, both of them finding it weird that someone could be sweating in such a chill atmosphere.

"… Sorry…" she noticed the empty seat beside her. "… Where-" she asked, a little bit of panic running through her body as she recalled the conversation they had-

"Oh, you mean the brat?" Mia asked. "He's been gone for a while now."

Her eye widened, not realizing how much time she had been sitting there deep in thought.

"By the way, what were you two talking about so intensively?" The waitress beamed.

"…Huh?" Hephaestus stuttered, not knowing what to say to avoid everything she had spoken with Ratatosk

"Yeah… you two had been talking for a while about various things; laughs, whispering. Nobody bothered you for that reason." she looked at the Dwarf, showing nothing but honest confusion.

"… Is that what it looked like to you?" her puzzlement was noticeable, to the point both waitress and pub owner looked at her in worry.

"Yeah, you were so engrossed in it that your iced tea pretty much became just tea." Her eye moved to the counter, noticing her beverage had remained untouched. "Whatever it was you two were talking about, it seems to have left you in a trance," she pointed at the cases. "He told me to give those to Drake, and even to put the food on his name." she was actually arguing against that, but she got distracted for a moment, only to realize he was no longer there. "Just a third-rate author my ass." She walked away, leaving Syr looking worryingly at the Goddess.

"Goddess Hephaestus?" Syr called her name in worry, noticing the conflicted look in her eye as she stared at the book written by Ratatosk; the fresh memory of their talk came back to her mind, leaving her with a certain feeling of misery within her.

"… I need a drink."

'She's infatuated with him.'

'Oh, I could tell.'

Ratatosk walked through the streets of Orario, leaving the Hostess in a swift dine-and-dash after saying his part to the Goddess.

'Although the concept of being in love is foreign to me, I can easily see the signs thanks to Zu's memories.'

The Great Spirit could feel his centurion pondering on that. 'Out with it.'

'I am just not sure Drake's father is the best example to learn to identify emotions from.'

He tilted his head to the sides several times, somehow agreeing with Tenebrae.

'Now that we are on the subject… may I ask what you expected to get out of this, my Lord?'

The Centurion knew the answer; he did intend to leave something for the Guardian, but to mess with Drake on some level by the simple act of visiting the roof he was living under was also in his mind. That would be a plus if he could mess with someone close to him.

But that talk with the Goddess of the Forge was something more than just that.

'Many reasons, I may say,' The moment he found the Goddess that had 'allied' with him, reading the book Ratatosk wrote no less. 'Wonder if this is another play by Fate's hand.'

He wanted to know from another Deity's perspective, one that clearly knew that Drake Aurion was a predator to her kind, as to why they would overlook said threat and aid him.

The first time he met Ouranos, he didn't think much about the Deities of this World. He could feel their Divinity, weak and sealed as it was, but nothing beyond that.

And then he met Ganesha.

Suffice it to say, he understood why people like Zu and Drake felt the urge to punch annoyances out of the way. But antics and loud voices aside, he was able to come to a conclusion when Adam asked on his behalf why a Deity whose Domain was 'Masses' formed something akin to a Police Force.

The reply he gave was 'Because I felt I needed to! To keep the flame of Justice alive! For I am Ganesha!'. Feels he needs to… Ganesha could muster up his voice all he wanted, but Ratatosk could feel the insecurity and doubt in his words… traits not fit for a Deity… more like those of a Mortal.

It was at that moment that Ratatosk came to a conclusion. The Deities in this World were rather Humane in some sense. The history of the Spirits in Remnants was one that could be written in War and Blood, even before the events that kickstarted everything four thousand years ago. They fought for power, territory, their beliefs… and of course, the Mortals followed them.

But here… the idea of some Deities coming down from their Divine Realm into the Mortal one was a stupidity he had been struggling to understand for a time. It wasn't like they were irresponsible in taking care of this World seeing some stayed up there supposedly running things, but those that came down simply threw away their responsibilities just to have a mortal experience.

Before coming to Remnant, during the current time, he could see most Spirits gaining some empathy thanks to the people they had a pact with, watching them grow since they were young.

'Then again, being imprisoned for over four thousand years must have also given them a lot of time to reflect.'

On the other hand, the Deities here already followed their desires as if it was as simple as breathing. Resulting in them being more impulsive, emotional, and prompt to make questionable decisions.

'Exhibit B; Hephaestus.'

Suffice to say, he didn't think much of them; barely acknowledging them as Deities… with the exception of one; even after all his talk with Ouranos, he still could not figure out much about God. But he could acknowledge him as being the responsible one here.

'Is it safe to assume the apple didn't fall far from the tree?' Tenebrae asked, making Ratatosk snort seeing he was referencing Drake's father wooing a Spirit.

'Out of every emotion Drake has experienced, that kind of love is not one of them,' he almost felt a little bit bad for Hephaestus; she didn't know it, but she was already feeling something for the biggest threat in all Orario… feelings that may not be returned at all if he knew Drake as well as he remembered.

'Speaking of which…' he took out his scroll. 'Their group should be already inside the ship. Let's see how they are…' his eyes narrowed, seeing not just Adam's contact, but Lett's as well was out of service.

'Something must have happened.' Ratatosk ignored Tenebrae's words as he checked his connection with Adam.

'He's fine… The ship probably had some security measures in place to block any signal from outside of it.' He commented, hoping there weren't gonna be too many problems for such a simple task…

'Damn it…' he cursed, realizing he just jinxed himself… yes, even a Deity like him was superstitious.

"Hmm…" the hums of one Tsubaki Collbrande could be heard inside a closed space. "… Nope… this one isn't my size, either."

She said, dropping the piece of clothes to the ground before sighing. "Hey! Are you sure this is the biggest size you have here?"

The Blacksmith heard a small beeping sound right outside the door before she got a reply.

"I am sorry… but it seems there isn't a 'Cow Tits' size in stock."

The wooden door suddenly had a hand breaking through it, only so it could grab the source of the voice; a spherical metallic object with a blue glowing orb in the center.

"Are you… provoking me?" she asked, pulling the sphere to her side, breaking the rest of the door in the process. "From what I understand, there are hundreds of you in this humongous ship; one going missing wouldn't matter."

There were a few beeps.

"Reply: Do not take your anger out on the ship's equipment, May we suggest a balanced diet so you can lose weig-"

*CRUNCH*

The sphere never got to finish its reply, seeing as Tsubaki used her two hands to crush it. She huffed, clapping her hands to clean the rest of the object from her hands.

"Query: Are you calm? May we suggest a few books about controlling your temperament?"

She sighed in defeat, not even bothering to look to her side to see another sphere already next to her. "Pass." She said, picking up her Sarashi to start covering her breasts.

"Acknowledged…" There were a few beeps as she adjusted her Adventurer clothes. "Suggestion, you may want to go check on your friend, he seems to be struggling."

She raised an eyebrow, exiting the changing room and ignoring all the underwear and clothes of the store she had walked in. Tsubaki sighed, thinking for a moment about heading straight to Drake… only to remember one thing.

The area she was in was too fucking massive to know where exactly Drake was. "Lead the way then."

"Acknowledged."

The Captain of the Hephaestus Familia followed the sphere, her eye darting to the side and noticing all the stores around her… most of them of things that she didn't even know what they were for.

Such a strange place Remnant must be…

Around half an hour ago…

"… Wow… just… wow." Tsubaki commented, her jaw slightly dropping as they entered a massive space with several floors of the ship with a lot of what she guessed were stores.

"… Is this… is this a-"

"A mall, yes." Both Drake and Adam replied in perfect sync at the Goblin's confusion, in a tone that could only be considered plain annoyance seeing both men's eyebrows were twitching.

They had been walking for a while now; clearly having been led here seeing some doors were closing in their faces while others opened.

"You give the most arrogant Kingdom the most powerful technology in the whole fucking World… and they built a fucking mall on a giant fucking ship…"

"My guess is this is at least a tenth of the ship…" Adam eyed him. "I can already guess this is not the most outrageous thing we are going to find here."

Both sighed as Lett pointed to something close to them. "Found a map!"

They approached it, only for Tsubaki to narrow her eye at her friend. "You ok?" she asked, noticing he was walking a little slower than usual… just like Adam.

"My body isn't used to having its Aura completely sealed… feels like I am already in my forties."

Her gaze remained on him.

Ever since they entered the ship, Drake had been acting more guarded; and not because of the state of his Aura. She noticed the ship kept making sounds, all of them with no clear pattern or anything that could mean anything to her. But Drake kept making subtle gestures with his eyes as each beep sounded, that, and the strange twitch he kept doing with the fingers of his left hand.

He was hiding something, that much was obvious.

"Is it a map of the whole ship, or only this part?" Everyone spotted the words 'Welcome' and right below it 'Start'.

"We are about to find out." Adam commented, tapping the 'Start' option before making the lights of the whole place turn off-

"WELCOME!"

Tsubaki almost fell backward in surprise at the transparent image of a giant man with white hair and a mustache that gave asshole vibes appearing in front of them.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Once again Drake and Adam seemed to be in sync as they stared at the man; the latter having a very tight grip on the handle of his sword.

"Greetings! I am Jacques Schnee!"

'Oh… that explains it,' she recalled the earlier explanation about the person responsible for the ship's construction. And yes, just as she expected, the guy had such a punchable face… even more than a stuck-up Elf.

"If all of you are here and seeing this message, it means that we were forced to leave the planet. The situation must have gone so beyond hopeless that not even our mighty Kingdom could do anything about it."

Cue the rolling eyes of those present as the image of the man made a dramatic gesture.

"But worry not! For our great Kingdom has developed advanced technology that allows us to navigate the outer space itself!"

"When you described this guy earlier you failed to mention he had no shame." She commented, knowing full well the Kingdom of Atlas didn't develop any of the things he mentioned.

"I thought it was a given," Drake replied, pinching the bridge over his nose.

"With this, we will be able to find a planet worthy of us! Free of the Grimm or those Faunus animals!"

"Count to ten and breathe in and out, Adam; Origin knows I am doing it," Drake commented, pretty much hearing the not-so-silent growl of the Bull Faunus.

"I understand that some of you may be worried about the accommodations for this long and arduous search in uncharted territory. But fear not, for it was for that very reason-!" various holographic screens appeared and showed pre-recorded videos of people walking through what everyone guessed. "That this ship was installed with everything you need for your daily lives! "

"… A giant ass pool is a daily need?" Tsubaki couldn't help but think out loud, her jaw slightly hanging at the audacity of those people.

"Screw the pool…" the Goblin commented. "They installed a sauna, a cinema, and restaurants…" he kept going, only to stop as Aude the War Shadow pointed at something that made the Goblin's eyes widen in pure shock. "A fucking arcade!?"

"Among them, we have also created a Server that has accumulated every bit of Network information in Remnant and will generate a signal for everyone's use."

"Now it makes sense how the Scrolls are able to have access to the Internet and its contents."

"The most surprising thing is, it is free," Adam commented as Drake snorted.

"And of course, we have prepared the best staff and tools to serve you all in this well-planned journey."

Tsubaki raised her finger as a single screen remained, showing a lot of metallic bodies giving all kinds of services to the people. "Are those Automatons?"

Drake deadpanned, not at her words but at the Automatons themselves. "The latest model of the Atlesian Knights; previous models were surprisingly easy to hack."

Adam sighed. "Good times."

"So worry not, for everything was prepared and planned for this long trip in search of a new home. And once the promised day arrives, the Kingdom of Atlas will rise once more. So join me my fellow Atlesians, and together we will make Atlas GREAT AGAIN!"

Drake and Adam groaned as the presentation ended.

"You know… despite how much you have shit talked about these people, I think you didn't even reach the tip of the iceberg," Tsubaki commented, somehow impressed by how self-centered some people could be. "Also… I feel dumber for some reason."

"I think you speak for all of us," Lett commented, seeing as Drake and Adam were already interacting with the interface.

"Ok… this is a map of the whole damn ship… and we are here." Tsubaki darted her eye at the screen and focused on the really big blue arrow that said 'You are here'. "And the Security System should be-"

Aude stopped him, pointing his shadowy finger at a location a little further from where they were. Right, the Xenos had already been in the room before he was forced out by the security system.

"Now that I think about it," everyone looked at Tsubaki. "The only reason we are here is to deactivate the security thing that makes it impossible for you to store this in the Shadows, but when Zelos used that… 'Backdoor' and the previous… what was it again?"

"AI?" everyone but the War Shadow asked, each with a bland expression on their face.

"I am new to this; don't be smart-asses about it," she yapped before clearing her throat. "Wouldn't that mean that the new AI deactivated all the security? Including the thing that prevents you from storing them in the Shadows?"

"I tried before we entered the ship," Drake commented.

"But you do have a point…" Adam suddenly said as he looked at Tsubaki. "Rita's backdoor erased the Cordovin AI, and when we entered the ship… no security protocol had been triggered. And yet the Aura suppressor was activated… so something here doesn't add up."

"It's because Master Mordio never got to finish the whole configuration for the AI replacement. So my current functionality is unable to override that level of clearance in order to deactivate all the security measures."

"That makes sense…" Adam muttered, only for his eyes and everyone else sans Drake to widen in shock as they turned around… only to see a spherical metallic object with a blue glowing orb in the center hovering near them.

"Settle down people," Drake commented, placing his left hand on the top of the handle of Tsubaki's blade so she wouldn't unsheathe. "They would have already engaged us in battle if they wanted to." He looked up, making everyone do the same before their eyes narrowed.

"In what instance-" Lett's words died down, seeing hundreds of the same mechanical spheres floating above them.

"Gonna guess it was because we were so focused on that bloody presentation," The Blacksmith commented, eyeing Drake for a second before completely dropping her guard seeing he was completely calm despite the situation at hand.

"Seeing as you referred to Rita as Master; then that means-"

"That is correct, Mr Aurion. I am the AI designated by Miss Rita Mordio to overwrite the designated AI for this ship. Designation: Useless AI."

"Fucking classic, Rita," Drake sighed before looking at the map. "Seeing as you claim to have limited clearance, is it safe to head directly to the Security System?"

"That would be correct. Seeing as Master Mordio never finished my programming to overwrite all the protocols for the ship. The activation of the Aura suppressor is one of them in the case of unauthorized access." The Sphere looked at the map on the screen. "I am afraid all the protocols near the Security Room are fully activated as well."

"So we are gonna have to go guns blazing our way through the Security." Lett sounded a little too excited for everyone's liking.

"However, a safe passage through other sections of the ship is free of the previously mentioned protocols. A route can be traced to the sections above the Security Room. The vents to it are in the reach of my systems so it is possible to access the Room through there."

"Then it's settled," Adam stated. "Let's go at once." He almost groaned at that last part, just as he winced while placing a hand on his chest, making Drake narrow his eyes.

"Actually…" he looked over the map for a moment before he started to walk away. "Let's take a few; I need to look for something."

Adam was about to argue, only to feel an intense pain in his chest for a moment. They glared at each other, the blonde's eyes being more serious than the redhead's. "Fine."

The Xenos stayed with Adam, looking at him in worry as the Faunus tried to stay on his feet while Tsubaki followed Drake. "The hell was that about? Is it related to your Auras being sealed?"

"Honestly, most likely." He darted his eyes at her, Tsubaki's gaze discreetly scanned all of his body; most likely to see if he was suffering some symptoms as well. "Relax, at best I am suffering a little bit of fatigue."

She trusted in his inability to lie, making him mentally sigh as he looked around.

"You know… this might be the chance to search around for something for you." His statement made her raise an eyebrow as he went up a set of electric stairs, making her hesitate for a moment before she jumped on it; Drake laughed at her reaction.

"Don't be an asshole; it's the first time I see one of these." She snarked, to which he laughed.

"Oh, you have every right to be afraid, the kind of accidents that happen with these things, nasty." He whistled. "Getting trapped in engines, gruesome way to go." He looked back, moving down his scarf to show a small smile as Tsubaki scolded and pouted at him with a twitch of her eye; a little macabre, but a little funny when one experienced something for the first time; and then comes the asshole friend to ruin that experience. "Where was I before I started with this?"

"Something about me looking for something here."

"Right…" he stepped out of the stairs as did she. "Remember that problem you mentioned a while ago?"

She raised an eyebrow, only for him to make a very subtle gesture with his chest and then drop them heavily.

"You piece of shit," now she grinned sadistically at him. "I complain about my breasts giving me back problems when I forge one time and you never let it go!"

He rolled his eyes. "I meant your other breast problem; the one about your clothes?"

'Oh.' She thought, although her expression remained unchanged. "I complain about never having to wear one due to my breast size one time and you never let it go!"

He sighed, turning around before gesturing to a store to the side.

"… the fuck is this shit?"

He snorted. "The bane of every man, a domain one doesn't dare to enter alone; single or not… a woman's clothing store."

The Blacksmith laughed, already having a good idea as to why that would be the case. "Poor bastards would get the eyes of every woman the moment they stepped in." her smile disappeared as she noticed him walking away. "Hey, where are you-"

"I am just gonna be a couple of stores away, but don't worry; someone else is gonna keep you company. Go wild." Tsubaki looked puzzled, only to see something big poking her on the side of her face.

Tsubaki deadpanned, still feeling the poking. Her head turned, seeing one of the Spheres still poking her face. "…Fuck it." She said after a sigh, grabbing the Sphere and entering the store.

Meanwhile, Drake just scowled, slowing his pace as he gripped his chest; feeling a pain similar to Adam's.

"This could be avoided, but you are insisting on this." A Sphere appeared next to him, still using the same robotic voice.

Drake didn't reply, opting to just continue on his way as the Sphere followed him.

"It seems you made a friend… that one is surprising, honestly."

"Go get a virus and die."

"Go on and die for a second time."

He snorted. "Jokes on you; it would be my third." The Sphere stopped following for a moment, staring as he walked away, noticing he started to limp little by little.

'Well… this is kind of depressing.'

She stood at the entrance of what the Sphere called a 'Drugstore', watching from a distance as the strongest person she knew, the bane of Deities, part-time edge lord waiter and cook,… was now struggling to open what she guessed was the door of a fridge.

"You drop it already, you fucking bitch!" Drake shouted, completely unaware of Tsubaki staring as he tried to open the damn thing with his left arm; turning his whole body to the opposite side with no real effort.

"I insist that you desist this fruitless effort."

"Sure, I will desist," he said with a little bit of struggle. "When you open this fucking door."

Tsubaki's eyes darted to the side. "Context?"

"Mr. Aurion is trying to get a hold of a can of Coke."

'Right, his favorite drink.' She recalled once Adam had returned most of his things, he spent most of the time following that drinking the thing called Coke almost every time she saw him, to the point she had asked for a taste of it. It was a little too sweet for her liking, but she understood why he liked it… even though his need to drink it was a little too obsessive for her.

"The ingredients used to make it are not healthy. And seeing you are rather famous for your vast consumption of it, this System has taken it upon itself to not enable your addiction; especially given your current condition."

"What condition?" he froze, turning his head to the side to see Tsubaki; looking at him like a disapproving onee-san. "And don't go on saying it is your Aura being sealed."

The blonde sighed in defeat, letting go of the fridge's handle to sit on a nearby chair, limping his way there.

"Noticing the documentation of the Aura suppressor being used, it seems that the complete suppression of someone's Aura may have some side effects in the areas of the body that has suffered several psychical traumas in the past."

The Blacksmith's brain started to process the AI's words. She knew Aura healed a person's wounds, but it wasn't all-powerful healing seeing Drake still had marks of severe wounds on his body; some of them of the Divine kind.

"Are you saying he's experiencing pain in all the places he was severely wounded at?" She asked, going full Captain mode at that very moment.

"Affirmative." the glowing blue light on the center of the Sphere generated a transparent screen that showed Drake's body; various areas blinking red.

"He currently suffering from severe pain in the soles on his feet and his knees; most likely from the time the White Fang drilled screws on them during a torture session."

"His left shoulder is in a similar state; from the time he and Yuri had their first spar."

"The most worrying is his heart; it would be correct to assume this was from his first death, when Adam Taurus ran his blade through his heart."

"Technically, I let him do that."

A look from her was enough to shut him up for a moment. "You told me you were fine." Her eye narrowed. "Getting used to the pain and walking it off is not being fine."

"I was fine before I left you," he said, starting to sound a little sore now. "I had more or less an idea of what was going on when Adam started to feel pain in his chest-"

"On the very same spot you ran your blade through him when you killed him," Tsubaki concluded, not noticing the Spheres around them looked at them, almost as if they were surprised.

"So I went on looking for this," he took something out of his jacket, a bottle of pills. "They will numb the pain for a while."

Her attitude continued to be rigid before going for the fridge-

*CLICK*

-and listening to it unlocking before she opened it with ease and took out a bottle of water.

"There were also some wounds that are not on my records, like the one on your neck?"

"He got it from Adam," Tsubaki replied on his account, observing him swallow the pills with a bit of water. "What about your right one? You have been using it a lot more since we entered the ship; even though you are ambidextrous."

Drake's gaze rivaled hers, almost to the point she backed down from her current attitude. It was only then she recalled him always wearing an armband around his forearm; never speaking about the subject.

"And your Divine wounds?" she opted to move from the subject, knowing full well he avoided talking about that.

He exhaled after finishing the bottle of water. "My blessing is partially taking care of those, otherwise I might as well have had a seizure the moment we entered the ship."

The Captain of the Hephaestus Familia internally sighed.

Dealing with Adventurers under her who thought they were invincible because of something like a recent Level Up or obtaining a new Skill or Spell was nothing new to her. Usually, a stern talk from her or her Goddess would bring them down to earth again; worst-case scenario, she would toss them to the side with ease just to prove there were still stronger people or Monsters out there… but with Drake… such tactics would not apply.

It wasn't because he was normally stronger than her. He was just too used to walking off things like this that such tactics would not get the desired results. Tsubaki internally snorted, wondering if this was the famous men's pride in action; acting tough, and keeping everything bottled up… it probably was. In the end, she just knew Drake thought it didn't matter if it hurt him, in his mind everything was 'OK'.

That saddened her a bit.

"Is there anything else you are keeping for me?" Knowing he was compelled to not lie didn't mean he could not use misleading truths to get away from a question. She was sure he had done it in the past. Tsubaki usually wouldn't doubt him, knowing she had his trust… but given his current state… better be safe than sorry.

Drake was about to reply, only to be interrupted as they noticed both Spheres seemed to turn at him… almost as if they were viciously glaring at him. "I am."

Both Spheres started to poke the sides of his head, making him twitch as he just let it happen; the strange behavior was definitely suspicious.

Her mouth opened, ready to question him.

"I need you to trust me," he beat her to it. The way he said it sounded tired, most definitely his fatigue seeing his eyes look at both spheres in annoyance. The action made the Blacksmith recall the weird behavior of the ship after Zelos activated the backdoor, focusing on Drake, Zelos, and Adam with intensity…

'Almost as if it knew them…' she concluded, sighing out loud before walking closer to him to then turn around and sit on one knee. Tsubaki looked over her shoulder, her eye still narrowed as Drake raised an eyebrow before his own eyes widened in realization.

"Fuck no."

"Fuck yes," Tsubaki argued back. "It will take some time for the medicine to take effect; I recall these things mentioning your knees and the soles of your feet are in pain," her voice raised an edge. "So you either let me give you a bloody piggyback ride, or I carry your bridal style."

They glared at each other for a good moment, neither of them seizing in their actions.

"How is my back?" Tsubaki asked with the smugest smile and tone to describe how much she was enjoying this.

Drake on the other hand just groaned as he rested his head on her right shoulder.

"Speaking of embarrassing moments and blows to your pride," another very audible groan escaped him. "Are you able to contact your brothers?" She knew their manifesting consisted in using Drake's shadow as a medium, but also his Aura as an energy source.

"I am most curious about that as well," a Sphere floated beside them. "The records of the ship show that Zelos R. Wilder was with you when you entered the ship. But he suddenly disappeared when the security measures to seal Aura were activated."

"It's complicated."

The Sphere didn't say anything, but Tsubaki could feel its gaze on them.

"I have been thinking," Tsubaki started. "If the issue is that your Aura has been sealed, why don't I give you my bracelet? I mean, I still see its effects leaking and giving me Aura."

Drake narrowed his eyes.

Apparently, Tsubaki's side project besides forging weapons had been creating equipment like accessories. Like the one she had given Rose with the clear intention for the Werewolf to fuck him; it had the ability to leak some of the Aura locked in a person. Hers was no different from what he remembered from the short time he got to look at it.

"It won't work." She raised an eyebrow. "The conditions you set state the Aura must be 'Locked' not 'Sealed'. Those are two completely different terms and processes in this scenario." He sighed.

"May I ask why use such a tool in the first place? Wouldn't it be simpler to just unlock her Aura?"

"Because he's a terrible friend," Tsubaki snorted, joking and knowing full well Drake didn't want to risk passing down Origin's Blessing to her.

On the other hand, Drake simply remained quiet; looking over his side to see the Sphere never dropping its sights off him.

"You look like shit…"

"And you look awfully comfortable," Adam commented, not looking one bit amused as he rested against a wall. "I am gonna guess you too?" he asked, getting a hold of his left shoulder.

"Oh yeah, the phantom pain from drilling my knees and soles from our torture session is making itself known ."

Adam's lips twitched for a moment. "Funny, my horns are overly sensible, not to mention I still feel like one of them is piercing my shoulder." He replied, recalling his first fight with Zelos Wilder. The Second Guardian had thrown his shield like a Frisby into his left horn; absorbing his Aura, breaking his Aura Field, and breaking his horn, only to not waste even a second to perform a flying ax kick at said broken horn after shortening the distance, shoving his own horn into his shoulder.

Tsubaki deadpanned. Dick measuring contest was something she had seen before; metaphorically and literally.

'Those end-of-the-year parties always get out of control.'

But competing for who is in more pain?

"And let's not forget about when you ran your blade through my chest."

"Bitch, I have the same wound; made by your blade, may I add."

Tsubaki groaned. "Should I just let you guys alone so you can look each other in the eyes as you say this? Because it is getting rather tense. And awkward."

"Screw you." Both replied.

Drake tossed him that bottle of pills. "Lett and Aude?"

"I asked them to look for some water… this fucking fatigue is really getting me," he looked at the bottle of pills. "Speaking of which, you wouldn't happen to have brought some with you?"

"I was gonna bring you one," the subtly eyed one of the drone spheres close to her. "But the fridge lock seemed to… 'malfunction' when I tried to get it."

"My apologies. It seems the ship is having Hardware malfunctions due to the damages it sustained during the fall of Atlas."

The Faunus simply sighed; hoping Lett and Aude would be able to find some.

"We're back!"

Speak of the Xenos and he may appear… with everything but the one thing he had asked him.

"Origin, damn you, Lett."

The Bull commented, his eye twitching under his shaders as he saw the Goblin and the War Shadow approaching; the former dragging a market car filled with sweets, treats, sodas… everything with high contents of sugar… and not a single bottle of water.

"What?" he asked, confused. "Blondie here took back all of the treats," The Goblin pointed at Drake accusingly; even though those were his, to begin with. "We had to replenish!"

Adam just sighed, only to notice Aude offering him his much-desired water. "Thank you." The War Shadow then turned around and kneeled on one knee, making a gesture to Tsubaki giving Drake a piggyback ride. "No, my legs are fine. I just need a moment."

Aude nodded as retired.

"Now… where do we head now?" Drake asked the drone.

"The Museum. The route we have to take will start there." Everyone groaned, knowing full well they would have to witness more of Atlas 'Great Story'.

Lett the Goblin considered retracting his previous thought regarding the whole Museum idea as his jaw dropped if only enough for him to drool.

"… Metal Gear…" he muttered, looking at the five-meter tall white robot standing on display in front of him.

"… You do realize Metal Gear is meant to be three times the size of this, right?" Drake asked blandly, observing the Atlesian Paladin-290. "Besides, it doesn't have a Rail Gun, it can't fly, and it is also hackable."

Memories of the Battle of Beacon surged for a moment.

"Let me be happy, damn it!" The Goblin shouted as he followed the rest of the group; entering the section labeled as 'The Scourge of Atlas.'

"Wow… I wonder who we are gonna find here… fuck." Adam commented, regretting his words as he saw a holographic exhibition of a man with a mix of yellow reddish-pink, yet also black hair, he wore a black and dark red attire that gave him the vibe of an assassin. His left arm and right leg were replaced by visible cybernetic implants. But his more notorious trait was without a doubt his crimson red eyes… accompanied by a psychotic smile.

"Zagi the Bloody," Tsubaki read after approaching the plate near the hologram.

'The most notorious Assassin in Remnant. Responsible for the assassination of many important political figures all across the Kingdoms and known association with the White Fang. More infamous for the assassination of-'

"Lycan Lowell." Tsubaki's mind raced, looking over her right side to see Drake's head still resting on her shoulder, his eyes showing darkness and animosity that he rarely let her see. "Hey… this man-"

"Yeah… this psycho was pretty much the reason Yuri and Jude ended up being orphans… he got help though," Drake commented as Lett focused on the two daggers the Assassin was holding.

"Wait a second…" he took out his daggers from his cloak. "Those are my daggers!"

"Which were originally his," Adam commented, his voice almost mirroring the same animosity Drake had for the Assassin. Ratatosk had opted it would be wise to give the Goblin said Daggers, seeing he was the only one whose hands could fit the handle perfectly. "They had been originally created by Ratatosk; imbued with the ability to easily pierce living flesh and inflict a curse that wouldn't allow the wound to heal under normal circumstances; not to mention that the bleeding rate of the wound would increase over time."

"That explains a lot… neat!"

Tsubaki scowled.

What she heard was no different from what the Blacksmith of this World considered a Curse Weapon, something that was meant to just make the victim suffer rather than end them.

Her head darted to the side, seeing the rest move and then stop as Adam focused on the next exhibit.

A man with long red hair, wearing a mask that only revealed his cold blue eyes… gave Tsubaki a sense of familiarity for some reason seeing she had never met the man.

"Asch The Bloody," Drake muttered softly in Tsubaki's ear; most likely unconsciously.

'It is unknown whether Asch and Zagi are actually related. Most known for his role in orchestrating the Bloody Winter; taking the lives of dozens of Atlesian citizens, along with being the sole responsible for killing many Nobles; Luke Fon Fabre among them.'

She narrowed her eye, already recalling the Bloody Winter; Drake's and Lloyd's sister had been the only casualty of said event. By this point, the Blacksmith was no longer surprised by how much Atlas loved to bend the truth of events in their favor.

"Say…" she started. "It says here that Asch killed Luke… but wasn't he part of your party during your final fight against Ratatosk? Or is Atlas just exaggerating things here?"

"The Dimensional Crossroads." Drake's eyes widened slightly, realizing he replied while being deep in thought.

"The what?" he shook his head, replaying with a simple 'later' before sighing as they moved to the exhibit… someone who was familiar to everyone in the room.

"Well, well, well," Lett chuckled, looking over at Adam. "I take it this was your famous edge lord face."

The holographic image of a younger Adam was visible to all, wearing a fancy black suit with red blood rose theme on his back, wearing a white mask that covered the upper part of his face. The current image shows him almost snarling as he charges at something.

'Right, a part of his face was branded.' Tsubaki concluded as she read the digital screen.

'Adam Taurus. One of the most infamous Faunus of our time. The current leader of the terrorist group known as the White Fang. Responsible for the attacks on the HQ of the Imperial Knight in Mistral; attacks that caused the deaths of at least two dozen knights, and even a greater number of civilians. Also responsible for the event known as 'The Battle of Beacon' during the Vytal Festival, which resulted in a mortality count of nearly a hundred people and the supposed death of Drake Aurion. (This information is outdated and therefore pending revision).'

"Somehow I expected to read more racial remarks on this," Lett commented as he tapped the screen, surprising everyone with several screens of various recorded fights. "Oh, a demo."

Adam mildly scowled, watching some of his past fights. From times when he and some other members of the Fang assaulted Atlas bases; some with Sienna Khan no less. And more recent ones like the one he was watching; facing off against a Monster in Human clothes.

"Holy shit, is that?" Tsubaki instantly snapped her head to her right to see Drake rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah… that's me."

The image itself was very blurry. All everyone could make out was a form of energy surrounded by three sets of colors, and another one consisting of just black. They were fighting through a burning forest and destroying everything in their path as their blades clashed.

"You know…" Adam started, looking over at Drake. "It was our first battle after Beacon… along with being the first time I faced you as you used a Two-Sword Style." The video showed both stopping, with Adam panting heavily, his suit full of scratches. On the other side, all it could be seen was a cloud of burning smoke; a figure could be seen staring at the Bull Faunus, his green glowing eyes easily visible through the smoke, along with two glowing blades; black and white, each held backward as the figure placed them close to his hips.

"I still remember the first time I fought you with two swords… I had three Centurions with me at the time… and at that moment I couldn't help but see you as an Avatar of Death itself"

The video showed them preparing to charge at one another… only for it to suddenly end.

"Oh come on!" Not just Tsubaki, but also Lett exclaimed, making both Adam and Drake sigh before the former started to walk away, prompting Drake to tap Tsubaki's shoulder to do the same.

"You know… I am surprised you two aren't going at each other anymore," Lett thought out loud. "Especially with that Knights attack event," he looked at Adam. "How the hell did you pull that one off?" Not only Adam but also Drake scowled. "No offense, but from what I have heard you were more brawns over brains back then."

"I don't want to talk about it." Lett got the message, noticing Adam's tone of voice. However, someone… something didn't seem to care.

"The attack on Zaphias, the home of the Imperial Knights and over three hundred citizens." The Sphere suddenly spoke, being the first time after instructing them where to go. "According to Atlas' database; the attack took place on the day most of the Knight squads were out on a scouting mission after receiving a tip of White Fang activity near the area."

"How convenient," Tsubaki thought out loud.

"Just as it was convenient that many of the guarded entrances had been opened from the inside in the middle of the night,"

The Blacksmith looked at Drake. "Inside job?"

"Every organization has its corruption. The Knights were no different."

"Along with the sudden Grimm attack after the fight had already broken out?"

Tsubaki narrowed her eye. "Ratatosk?"

Drake and Adam just nodded.

"Everything had been staged by him," Adam commented. "Of course, at the time I was still loyal to my cause in the White Fang, and completely oblivious to his existence. We had received intel that a High Profile Faunus was being kept in Zaphias against her will; being forced to create technology and weapons for the Knights."

It didn't take long for Tsubaki to figure out who they were talking about.

"Rita Mordio."

The drone generated a virtual screen as they walked, showing an image that almost shocked Tsubaki. The picture of the woman she saw resembled Anya Fromel a little too much. The only main difference was of her tone of color which was a darker brown, her eyes were forest-green, and there was no smile to be seen on the face of the Cat Woman in the image.

"Born an orphan, recruited into the Imperial Knights at the age of six after creating a bomb that wiped out a pack of Grimm. Taken under the wing of both Lycan Lowell and Guren Scifo, she was able to create and experiment in whatever way she wanted; being recognized as a Genius at the age of eight. However, her appearance and age were left confidential to the whole Remnant outside of a few."

The Blacksmith looked at Adam. "So, I take it Ratatosk managed to give you misinformation? seeing as she clearly was there of her own volition."

"That pretty much summarized it." The Faunus replied. "However, when I and Blake were able to reach her we found out the truth; resulting in me losing my patience at the sight of a Faunus willingly aiding humans." He sighed. "In the end, our main objective failed. But at the time, I thought in my mind we had managed to send a message to the humans given all the casualties that occurred."

"You don't sound proud of it," Drake commented, in a rather tired tone.

"I told you, didn't I?" the Faunus started to recall. "My blessing helps me control my rage and think things more clearly."

"Does that mean you reject the atrocities you committed that night?" The Drone asked in the same robotic voice.

"… does it really matter at this point?" Adam commented in a somber tone before snorting. "Why the sudden question? Since when does an AI ask things out of curiosity? Did Mordio create a defective AI?"

The Sphere didn't waste time in replying. "Just confirming Lady Mordio's notes about you. It seems there's a lack of accuracy in her notes calling you a blind raging animal."

His lips twitched for a second. "Rather accurate…" he narrowed his eyes as the drone got off everyone's sight, stopping in front of a giant door. "Ok… we are here, now-" he stopped for a second, taking his hand to cover his mouth to cover a big yawn.

"Bored, Boss?" Lett chuckled, seeing it was the first time he had ever seen the Faunus show any kind of unprofessionalism during a mission.

"Yeah… not sure why…" he blinked behind his shaders, looking around to notice the drone had disappeared. "Where the hell did- *yawn*"

He never got to finish the sentence, the rest on the other hand were as perplexed as him.

"Hey Drakey, did you see-" Tsubaki's words died in her mouth, being interrupted by a very slight snore coming from her right side. "Really? Is my back really that comfortable?" she asked with a snort.

"No," she raised an eyebrow, looking over at Adam looking at them- at him – in disbelief while struggling to stand straight seeing his legs seemed a little sluggish; as were his hands seeing he dropped his weapon.

"Boss?" Lett asked worriedly, only to be ignored as the Faunus forced himself to go for his pocket to pull out the bottle of pills and give a quick sniff. The Captain of the Hephaestus Familia swore she could see his eyes widening behind his shaders.

"You absolute-" The Knight of Ratatosk yawned as he fell on the ground. "-bastard."

"The fuck is going on!?" the Goblin shouted as he checked on Adam… he was sleeping. "Oh… talk about no sleeping on the job." He playfully slapped Adam a few times, getting no reaction. "But seriously though, what the fuck is going on?"

Nobody said anything as Aude just picked up the bottle of pills, noticing something around the top of it. The War Shadow looked at them ready to get their attention, only to be beaten by a metallic wall that rolled down from the ceiling all of a sudden; blocking their only way back.

Tsubaki scowled, gently placing Drake down next to Adam, clenching her fist and giving a step forward before throwing a punch… that never got to make contact with it as she felt the floor suddenly opening.

"… Huh!?" she exclaimed, perplexed as she felt herself falling. Her head turned around, managing to see her conscious companions falling. Her eye widened, noticing this was not the same for either Drake or Adam as they were now being held by tentacle metallic hands similar to the ones she saw outside the ship.

The Captain gritted her teeth, using her only momentum to place her footing on the wall and jump back to reach for him. And just when she was about to get a hold of him, she saw another metallic hand appear right in front of her face, striking her in the face to make her lose her momentum before she fell.

"Fall bitch, fall."

Tsubaki's face twitched, opting to do the only thing she was able to at the moment.

"You cuuuuuuuuuuunt!"

He felt cold.

He didn't recall anything.

Nor did he question that his vision was horribly dark.

All Adam Taurus focused on was the cold… the terrible, and familiar cold.

He finally was able to open his eyes, with all of the effort in existence seeing it felt like they had weights hanging on them, forcing them closed… It was then he recalled his last moments before losing consciousness.

"… Fucking damn it, Aurion."

No.

This was solemnly on him for trusting him in the first place… even though Drake himself had taken the pills… This made him wonder things again. 'If he wanted to drug me… why drug himself? To make me trust in the fact we were taking the same medicine… but Tsubaki's reaction doesn't add up.'

Tsubaki Collbrande wasn't in the loop with whatever Drake was planning… but that begged the question... 'What exactly are you playing at? Why knock yourself out if the one other person who could help you doesn't know a thing?'

He groaned, fighting off the massive headache that suddenly invaded his head. He pinched the bridge between his eyes, clearing his thoughts as he tried to sit. His vision was still blurry, but it started to clear up little by little…

"What the-" he thought out loud… seeing as he seemed to be in some sort of massive tent; filled with nothing but stretchers that served as beds. The Faunus would have loved to say it was an unfamiliar sight… but for some reason, it wasn't… and to make things worse, he could feel his old rage stirring in him for some reason.

Adam slowly stood up, trying to gain his balance as he nearly fell, taking a better stance before taking a deep breath. He breathed in and out several times, feeling nausea hit him before resting his palms on his knees to calm down.

The Knight of Ratatosk continued to calm his breathing with closed eyes and face down. After a while his blurred vision finally went away, making him see things clearly… something he regretted the moment his eyes focused on the stretcher he had been resting. On it, there was the label of a familiar Snowflake and the words 'Property of the SDC' under it.

"No…" he said, snapping at the exit of the tent as his mind finally connected the dots as to where… when he was; realizing why the coldness felt too infuriatingly familiar.

His eyes widened behind his shaders the moment he exited the tent, seeing a lot of people, mostly Faunus, walking on snow while carrying mining equipment; their clothes were ragged, their hands were full of bruises and calluses, and their feet were covered only by overused ragged shoes that didn't protect them from the cold snow.

All of them walked towards a massive entrance to a mine as the sun rose in the early morning.

Adam clenched his fist, staring at the entrance of the mine with trepidation.

"Adam Taurus!? Where do you think you are going?" his eyes widened, his heart skipping not one but two beats. The first one, when he heard a familiar voice that almost forced him to tears… and the second one when he saw the face of his mother smiling at him. "Don't make that face, come here."

Adam tried to move, to say anything. But all he could do was just stand there, his hands shaking as he tried to muster something… anything… but someone beat him to it.

"Can't I just go with you? I am old enough already." His eyes widened, seeing someone literally walking through him…a boy with red-haired hair and a pair of Bull horns.

"It is too dangerous, son." A tall and well-built Bull Faunus approached them. "Besides, we are already full on hands in there, a little more and it would be overpopulated." His father said with the intention of joking… but the scowl on his face meant otherwise.

The workers were too many, to the point it was like bumping from worker to worker every minute. It was a risk, but the higher ups didn't care for that… they only cared for the profit.

"Tell you what," his mother got his attention. "Why don't you go back to the tent and study as we agreed you should have?" her smile turned downwards a little. "You don't want to grow up and be doing work here for the rest of your life, do you?"

The younger Adam clenched his fist, looking down on the snow as he nodded.

"Study!?" a guard that was close by got their attention. "Do you animals even know how to read? Even so, the only future you animals have is in this damn mine, now move it!"

All of the Faunus around scowled, but their expression quickly turned into frowns; swallowing their pride seeing this was the only way of income… of living they had in this accursed kingdom.

"Go back to the tent, Adam. We will return later, I will treat you to something nice if you show how much you have studied." His mother kneeled on one knee before giving him a kiss on his forehead then headed into the mine.

"Adam… only you can decide what future you have to take, even if you didn't have the best start." His father patted his shoulder, accompanying his mother into the mine.

The younger Adam just stared, turning around with a scowl at not being able to help his parents. But the older one… could not help but stare with a now empty expression; had his eyes not been covered by his glasses, it would show how empty his eyes looked.

He had resigned himself, figuring out this was a dream the moment he saw his younger self running through him as if he were some sort of ghost… Why was he seeing this now? He had no idea… and he didn't care.

All he did was stare at how his parents went into the mind… staring at the entrance long past their entrance until that one inevitable moment came.

*BOOM*

He ignored the shouts of those who were close to the entrance, saying there had been an accident, saying that many were buried, calling for help and being overwhelmed by the panic.

But it was all for naught, as Adam just stared the moment his life started to become hell.

He had been mistaken; this wasn't a dream.

It was a fucking nightmare.

"… You guys know that right now I am stronger than you, correct?"

Aude, the Armored Black Shadow, just crossed his arms as he stared at Tsubaki, showing no hostility whatsoever.

Lett though… that was a completely different story.

"Don't care, even without Aura this dagger had a damn sharp edge that could easily pierce the skin of a Level Five." The Goblin stated, branding both of his daggers to engage at Tsubaki at any moment.

The Blacksmith would have been amused, for a lot of reasons. But now, she wasn't in the mood.

Worse thing is, she wasn't even mad at the Goblin in front of her; ironic statement, let it be said.

Rather, her sour mood was directed at her best friend; not only for putting her in this position, but also for not explaining in detail what he had planned.

'I need you to trust me.'

His plea from when they were in the drug store came to mind, making her internally scowl.

'Nope… this is on me… I definitely should have expected this from a guy who said 'I have killed, blackmailed, tortured, crippled, and destroyed lives for the sake of my Revenge.' when we were having our first heart-to-heart.'

Tsubaki knew for a fact that Drake had pulled the whole 'Leave your friends out of the loop in my rather questionable plans' in an attempt to not involve them or in case they tried to dissuade him. The Captain of the Hephaestus Familia knew for a fact she didn't fit in that category.

'I didn't even try to stop him with the whole Aeshma incident was happening, for crying out loud.' Not to mention she lent him two shovels to do whatever he had planned… She was practically an accomplice.

No.

It wasn't that he mistrusted her.

It was pretty obvious he was in no position to talk, recalling the damn AI had been tailing them; very indiscreetly staring at Drake from time to time.

Whatever the case may be, she first needed to solve this mystery… without spilling blood if possible.

"I am as lost as both of you on this, believe me."

"Do you expect us to believe that!?" The Goblin asked, Aude on the other hand pointed between itself and the Goblin while shaking his head; clearly not siding with Lett. "Adam passes out from whatever blondie gave him, and then we are separated from both of them." Lett reasoned. "And before you say Drake also passed out, Adam made it clear for us to know how cunning that bastard could be; he probably took the drug himself just so Adam would take the damn drug without doubting the content."

'Yeah, pretty much reached the same conclusion.' Tsubaki internally sighed before raising her hands in a sign of surrender. For a moment, the Goblin was taken back, not expecting things to go his way so easily; the fact she seemed to be kneeling was harder to believe… but it was all a fluke, all so she could perform a quick drawing stance before her hands went for her blade.

The Goblin's eyes widened, noticing Tsubaki was now standing right beside him; her blade gracing his neck, to the point the smallest of moves would surely leave a cut on his flesh.

"I am gonna say this once, so make sure it reaches that damn tiny little brain of yours," pun totally intended. "I am out of the loop on this, same as both of you. If this was a plan Drake came up with and I was indeed in cahoots with him, I would have killed you both as we fell; something I could as well do right now." Her eye remained fixed on him, watching from the side as the Goblin suddenly dropped his daggers he trembled before turning his head towards her… sheepishly smiling as multiple drops of sweat ran down his face.

"Geez, girl; chill. We are on the same side, right? No need to jump to conclusions."

All of Tsubaki's seriousness left her face, adopting a more amused expression as her jaw slightly dropped. 'The audacity of this fucker.'

She retrieved her blade, turning around to finally take a look around the room they landed as Lett took his daggers and looked at Aude before mouthing 'Crazy ass bitch.'

The War Shadow made a sigh-like gesture before Tsubaki looked at him.

"You picked up the bottle of pills, mind I give it a look?" the War Shadow nodded his head, and extended its hand to reveal the bottle.

"Now that we are on this… there's something that's bothering me," Lett commented as Tsubaki examined the bottle. "Adam's Blessing allows him to decide if he wants to be under the effect of an ailment or not. Even if he had gulped the pills and let the effects take place, he should have been conscious enough to trigger his own blessing; so why didn't he?"

Tsubaki narrowed her eye.

Contrary to Adam, Drake didn't have such liberty; which is why he couldn't get drunk with normal drinks. But he still fell asleep under the effects of the pills. It was right there when she noticed Aude pointing at the top of the bottle. It was faint, but there was a trace of red on the top. She sniffed it, confirming it was blood… even if it smelled a little bit sweet for some reason.

It was then Tsubaki recalled something her Goddess had told her of when Drake forged the Chisel and their Hammers out of Drake's blood. He had thrown a comment that his blood in a liquid state could do far more damage if it fell into the wrong hands because of the potential it had; proving that her Chisel and the Hammers could be considered as Divine constructs because of his blood.

"My bet would be Drake used his own blood to counter his blessings, and Adam's by extension."

Lett considered the idea, recalling an event from their Lord and Adam's past. "The battle of Beacon…" Tsubaki's head perked a little, having heard of the event only by name from Drake. "Lord Ratatosk had managed to get some of Drake's blood, which was used to create something to nullify the Divine Pacts the other Spirits had with the other Guardians; resulting in an invasion of the Kingdom being possible."

Tsubaki whistled. Make no mistake, the event itself sounded terrible; Drake himself had made a comment about how the tables had been turned on them that day. But Lett's words helped her confirm his blood was just that powerful to overrule pacts, and therefore Divinity and Blessings; confirming her suspicions.

"So, Blondie used his own blood to overpower their blessings, making them both fall asleep," the Goblin took the bottle from Tsubaki's hands before reading the label. "None of the side effects of this mentions sleeping…"

"He most likely changed the contents of it while I wasn't looking." Tsubaki facepalmed, remembering his suggestion about testing some clothes. 'And that's why you always make the man stay in the clothing store with you, so they don't do weird shit like this.'

"Hephaestus fucking dammit, Drake." Tsubaki cursed as she walked to what looked like the door. "Ok, let's just go find them so I can tear him a new one."

'Even if it wasn't fully his fault' she thought, recalling the AI also had a hand in this.

"… what the fuck are you doing?" Lett asked, seeing the Blacksmith trying to force open the sliding door keeping them inside.

"The fuck does it look like!?" she clearly struggled. "Fucking Aura bullshit!"

The Goblin deadpanned, opting to just look to the side to see a small turned-off terminal on the wall next to the door. It had no energy, which made sense seeing the whole room was running on emergency lights.

"Hmm…" He looked over to Aude, making a motion to the War Shadow to lift him up.

Tsubaki meanwhile started to pant, having held her breath for a full five minutes with no little result. Truth be told, she was glad there was no one she knew there with her, seeing as they would most definitely make a comment about her 'age getting to her' at that very moment. Her eye darted to the side, seeing the War Shadow lifting the Goblin to his height while Lett moved some cables after finding a small door near the interface.

"… Think you can make that thing work?"

Lett snorted. "Better thing than trying to brute force it." The blacksmith didn't say anything, seeing she was way off her area of expertise.

In the end, all she could do was wait… although not patiently. "You done yet?"

"For fucks sake!" Let it be known that it was the tenth time Tsubaki asked the question in the short span of ten minutes. "Do people bother you while you forge a weapon!? No!? Then let me cook in peace, woman!"

She rolled her eye, opting to just rest against the door with her arms crossed and a closed eye.

"You know… You are taking this rather well."

She raised an eyebrow, although her eye remained closed.

"You know, working with a 'Monster' of the Dungeon; you seem surprisingly chill about it."

Her eye opened a little.

Drake already had commented about the whole talking Monster thing to her after the whole thing with Soma Familia. Even if she knew he couldn't lie, the whole thing sounded just stupid… stupid, but not surreal at this point.

"… no offense… but I have met weirder by now."

Her thoughts went to Drake for a second.

"Every bit of common sense has been thrown out of my mind as of lately… Monster being… well… Monsters… no offense."

"Some taken," The Goblin rolled his eyes. "Although I can relate… the possibility of seeing the sky was nothing of a far-fetched dream for a long time."

Her eye narrowed, reaching the conclusion Adam and Ratatosk had smuggled Lett and his group out of the Dungeon, more than once, something that it seemed was impossible before meeting them. "Now that we are on that subject… how exactly does it work… You are not exactly acting like a Monster."

Lett huffed. "Believe it or not we are still trying to fully figure that one out… give me a moment," he took a purple object out of his cloak, making Tsubaki almost take a step away in recognition; it was a grenade.

"You blowing us up in an enclosed space, that's your big plan!? And they say I am the unhinged bitch!"

"Relax, if I wanted to be a kamikaze Goblin, I would wear a damn suicide vest," he disarmed it, revealing a dark purple sparky crystal on the inside.

"Electric Dust?"

"This whole room doesn't have energy. Therefore, neither does the terminal." He connected the cables to the crystal. "Until now."

*BEEP*

The terminal turned on, making the door slide open in that very instant… making Tsubaki fall back in the process.

The Goblin heard a faint growl coming from her, looking at him with a narrowed gaze.

"Bitch don't you know you must never rest back against a door… geez." Aude let the Goblin down, both of them walking past Tsubaki as she just scowled at the ceiling.

"Now, let's go before the damn AI finds us; it definitely knows we are already out."

She blinked perplexed for a second. "… Huh?"

"The AI is connected to the ship; it definitely received a signal the moment that door opened."

Her eye twitched. "It would have been nice to find out about that earlier!" She quickly stood up, going after the duo.

"It's common sense!"

"How the fuck is that common sense in Orario!?"

A small figure rolled sneakily on the floor, crouching next to a corner as he looked around it; not a single thing in sight.

The Goblin raised his palm, making a lot of hand signs before giving the go; smoothly moving in the darkness.

"... He…" Tsubaki muttered, seeing the Goblin acting the same way ever since they left the room. At first, she thought he was just being cautious given the situation. But after twenty minutes, she could easily conclude something about his behavior. "He's enjoying this… isn't he?"

The War Shadow silently face-palmed as they followed Lett from a distance.

"I am a fan of Tactical Espionage Action; sue me."

The Goblin's remarks were easily ignored as Tsubaki deadpanned, trying to focus on her surroundings.

Contrary to what she had seen of the rest of the ship, she could tell the area she was in was part of the 'Still in construction' planning stages, seeing as there was a lot of work with what she guessed was incomplete equipment, signs of warning, and even something that Lett had called a Forklift.

'Goibnu Familia would kill for that kind of shit.'

They really had no idea where they were going; there was no map like the one that she had seen in the Mall section. But it was better than being locked in a room with no idea of what was going on with Drake and Adam… even though the latter was still an issue.

She decided to opt for Lett's plan to walk around until they found a terminal or a way up the ship.

"Authorized access only… if we don't find a terminal here, we are not going to find it anywhere on this floor."

There were several doors around the area, all of them fully locked. Her one eye managed to catch something in the near-perfect dark, an elegant label on one of the doors. However, even if she was trained to face Monsters in the darkest depths of the Dungeon. But that was completely different from reading in the dark.

Even so, she narrowed her eye enough to make out some of the writing.

'… Replica'

She didn't know why, but she felt a chill run down her back for some reason… Yes… she had definitely heard that somewhere before, but the question now was… where?

"Got it." Lett's voice brought her back to reality just as the door he was working on opened… along with all the others around them. "Huh… they must be working on a connected circuit." He shrugged, seeing more than one way to go now.

"Let's disperse." The Goblin looked at the Blacksmith dumbfounded. "We will cover more ground that way… what?" The Blacksmith raised her inquiry, noticing the Goblin's twitching eye.

"Are you stupid? You never separate in this kind of situation, you ignorant swine!"

She raised an eyebrow.

"Haven't you seen every single horror movie ever? You never separate the group to 'investigate'! That's usually the first trope to start the murders."

'Right… horror is also a genre.' Tsubaki commented, recalling Drake lazily commenting on that. "I have only recently been introduced to movies; none of them being of that genre." She rubbed the side of her head in annoyance. "Besides, this is reality; not a story of fiction."

Lett deadpanned. "Life imitates art." He pointed at her. "If anything, you are the one that has the most to lose; you might as well die first if tropes are anything to go by."

Tsubaki didn't know why, but she felt extremely signaled for some reason. "The fuck that's supposed to mean?"

The Goblin opened his mouth with a raised finger, only to re-evaluate what was about to come out of his mouth. "… Nope. Not gonna throw a comment that might get me canceled."

Now she just felt the urge to bash his face against a wall. "I am taking this door," so she just decided to go. "Scream if Death comes for any of you." The Captain raised an eyebrow, noticing Aude was raising his hand while pointing at its 'throat' with the other. "Oh yeah… I just realized you haven't said anything since you entered the ship, what's that about?"

"He needs Aura to speak… and since all of our Auras are locked, here's the result."

"Oh…" she tapped its shoulders for a moment before walking past him. "Welp! Too bad… make sure to run really fast if something scary chases you, then."

And so she left, leaving both Xenos alone and in silence before Aude made a gesture with its hands.

"Why am I the asshole!?" The War Shadow didn't give any sort of answer, making Lett sigh in exasperation before leaving through a different door.

Aude sighed as well, looking over all the possible ways before walking towards his chosen path; the one Tsubaki had been looking at with intensity earlier.

One would believe that only because Aude was a War Shadow, he could see perfectly in the dark… and they would be right.

But even so, that didn't serve him much to identify just what was going on. He could easily tell it was a massive room with the intention of containing a lot of 'things' if the big and large numbers of containers in the room were anything to go by, but little more than that.

He had tried to look inside of them, but they were all blocked by a metal plate. All Aude could tell was that inside it, he faintly heard the distinctive sound of water… that, and the labels on each of the containers.

But the ones that stood out the most were the ones that were twice the sizes of the others; with a different nomenclature on their labels.

In the end… none of this helped him with anything. He couldn't even find any sort of terminal or anything of the sort that could lead him to a way up the ship.

It was only as he was about to leave that he heard a few beeping sounds in the distance, coming from one of the bigger containers; the one labeled 'G-00'. For some reason, he felt his instincts kicking in, screaming for him to get out of there and seek the others.

But curiosity got the best of him.

He approached it, seeing how the big plate covering the front retracted itself to reveal a green bright glass. Aude took a step forward, noticing the insides of the container; filled with a green liquid… with something… someone inside.

*Starting Reanimation Sequence.*

The liquid inside of it started to be drained, making it easier for the War Shadow to see who was inside of it.

Had Aude had eyes, they would have widened. Had he had the ability to turn pale, he would have. Had he had a voice, he would have cursed… but he had legs. And even though he fell backward at first and forced them to not tremble, he slowly walked back, turning away as little by little his pace increased.

All of this happened as inside the container, a pair of green glowing eyes slowly opened before being hidden behind a retractable helmet.

A few minutes ago

"…There!" The Goblin exclaimed after connecting the disarmed Electric Dust Grenade to a Desk Computer. "Really hope this input isn't too much."

He had been incredibly lucky to find the office of the 'Chief Division' that in his own words 'sounded like a guy with a computer', and he was right.

He took out a bottle of water from his cloak, taking a sip of it before securing it. 'No liquids near electronic equipment.'

He stood on a chair, making it possible for his tiny frame to reach the keyboard as he pressed an input.

'Connecting to the Main R&D Server… Connection failed… Applying Security Measure… Contacting Main Server: AI Cordovin…'

Lett's eyes narrowed. Apparently, the Cordovin AI was not connected to this part of the ship; therefore the extra Server… which didn't happen to have an AI.

'Thank Ratatosk, otherwise, we would have to deal with a second Murderous AI.'

'Connection Failed… Imputing manual authentication.'

"Oh-uh." He thought out loud, seeing a pop-message on the screen that said 'Insert ten-digit password.'

"Fuck… 'AtlasIsGreat'… wait no… it says digits… 1234567890… no, too fucking simple." He slammed his head on the table, groaning in exasperation.

His ears twitched, hearing another notification on a pop-up. "… Great."

'The time to input the password has finished; no Password was ingressed… lack of response of user and system detected… applying Second Security protocol. Contacting R&D Security… contact failed.'

The Goblin snorted, figuring out that since some parts of the ship were out of commission due to its previous history, as several security protocols were called, all of them failed for one reason or another… all… but one.

'Every security protocol has failed. Probability of the ship being taken over highly probable.'

"Not the words I would use, but yeh." The Goblin chuckled.

'Accessing possible solutions… System of Project Replica is still functional… Proceeding with new security measures.'

'Huh?' he thought, repeating the name of the protocol in his mind; swearing on his God he had heard that term before… and it gave him a bad feeling.

'Measures established; Activating Replica G-00. Objective: Neutralize the intruders and look for the ARC's. Threat level assessed as Minimal.'

His eyes widened, not because of the words being displayed on the screen… but the image of the supposed Replica. His jaw dropped, having flashes as where he had heard the term before; it had been from none other than Adam and Ratatosk.

Now, having remembered that and seeing what it entailed… had left Lett catatonic as a loading bar had started to fill the screen.

His jaw trembled, as did his finger before he frantically started to tap a single key on the Keyboard… or rather, he started to spam it-

"ESC! ESC! ESC! ESC! ESC! ESC!"

But that didn't stop the loading… so he thought of implanting the alternate solution.

"ALT F4! ALT F4! ALT F4! ALT F4! ALT F4!"

Another failed attempt made him slam his head and hands on the table before his eyes widened. He looked to the side, seeing a disarmed Electric Dust Grenade connected to the Computer, the Goblin hadn't hesitated to hop on the table and kick it… successfully shutting down the computer before the loading bar had been completed.

The Goblin fell on his knees, letting out a sigh of relief before the Holographic Screen popped off in the middle of the room.

'Auxiliary Energy kicked off, resuming execution of security measures.'

The Goblin glared with a twitch of his eyes before letting out a defeated whine. "Fuck my life."

Tsubaki wasn't having any luck.

What exactly was she looking for, anyway?

An elevator that would take them further in?

A Map that would help her literally find herself?

Or a terminal that she barely knew how to use?

'It is a fucking miracle I know how to use a Scroll.' She thought, using the device lantern to light the way.

She hated to say it, but a little bit of Lett's whole horror movie bullshit had gotten to her, but only a little.

In the dark floors of the Dungeon, she at least had an idea of what to expect… but here, even if it was supposedly empty -with the exception of the AI- she didn't know what to expect. The empty and dark halls only served to be more immersed to be in… and truth to be told… she hated that she was enjoying this a little too much.

And she would enjoy it a little bit more, were it not for a certain blonde bastard friend of hers that put her in said position in the first place before putting himself out of commission on purpose.

'Your self-preservation tactics are such bullshit.' She thought, knowing his brother probably had similar thoughts in the past… even though the blonde bastard himself complained about them in exchange.

'… Archive?' Tsubaki read on the label next to the door, shrugging before entering to meet one of her biggest enemies… tons and tons of scrolls and books.

That was a lie, she honestly didn't have trouble dealing with paperwork, unlike a certain Goddess she knew whenever Hephaestus was going through one of her moods.

'… Nothing.'

The Blacksmith looked around, expecting to find anything that could help her. But the most helpful thing she could find was a very comfortable chair to rest on before releasing a heavy sigh after placing the scroll on the table; illuminating the ceiling as she closed her eye.

'Should I just wait for him? My guess is he did this to progress with whatever deal he had with the AI…' her eye narrowed at the reminder of the Artificial Intelligence… if what she got about the whole concept was true… she might have a good idea of who exactly this AI was based off… and why she was doing this.

As bad as it was for Lett and Aude, the way she saw things indicated Drake and the AI might be against Adam… but the only one that could decide whatever that situation ended up happening was none other than Drake himself.

So, there was nothing she could do for that moment… having said that-

'Fuck that.'

Tsubaki Collbrande was not the type to sit back and wait for things to take their course… unless fucking politics got in the way, but that wasn't the case here.

"I am gonna force him to a forging session after this shit is over." In her mind, if her Goddess got to get a seat in the first row no less, she deserved one as well.

She picked up the Scroll, accidentally knocking some papers. "Good thing I don't have to take care of… those…" her words died down, spotting a folder with the word 'REPLICA' on it.

The Adventurer grabbed and stared at it for a moment before opening the folder, her uncomfortable feeling returning. But unlike twenty minutes ago… she now remembered why that term bothered her when she read on the door, and from who did she hear it.

Flashback

"Oooooook… let me see if I got this straight…" Tsubaki Collbrande said as she gulped down a full mug of ale. "Your Uncle… Former Hero… lives over Four Thousand Years and gets fed up with Humanity's bullshit, so he decides to turn into a villain…" Drake twitched, mostly because she was making it sound like the background of a Villain from a storybook.

"For the sake of simplicity, yes."

"What bothers me is that despite all the shit you said he pulled… you seem awfully okay with it; I am just saying that because I can easily tell you are someone who doesn't let things go." She took a bite of some food, continuing as she chewed. "I mean, the guy pretty much severed one of your arms… and you just did it for a good reason."

"And my father broke my rib cage once. Your point?"

Tsubaki couldn't help but deadpan, especially since she wasn't near drunk enough to forget things, having already heard his father was being manipulated; a completely different situation than doing it willingly… even though she still didn't know the whole context.

"Ok, pray tell oh all-powerful deity-"

"Fuck you."

He ignored his jab. "What was your uncle's master evil plan, then?"

"Wait until the current hierarchy and foundations of humanity fell so he could take over." His response made her chuckle.

"Is that it? Wouldn't that be like the Hero arriving late after a catastrophe to give Hope to the people to rise up and move on…?" Her words started to die down the more she spoke, noticing the scowl on his face.

"My bad… maybe I sugar-coated it a little too much." He stared at his own reflection on his ale, focusing on his cold draconic eyes… reminding him of the same gaze his uncle had when he had come clean. "Mithos Yggdrasil… The Hero, the tale of a young boy no older than fifteen years of age. He who united the Spirits and the Kingdoms into a single side in the name of peace and equality…despite the losses he suffered along the way."

For a split second, Tsubaki could not see the person she had battled alongside with against the Abnormal Goliath hours before… but as something that could not be considered a Human or Mortal, all because of the disdain in his voice at the mention of his Uncle's tale.

"It took him a hundred years to create a kingdom that fulfilled those very ideas, all of it under his guidance… he knew that he couldn't do it forever however… that he needed to give Humanity as a whole the chance to walk on their own… I don't think I need to tell you what happened after."

Her gaze remained fixed on him, showing a cooly and narrowed look of apprehension before nodding slowly.

The Kingdom his Uncle had worked so hard for fell… how long did it take for that to happen? She honestly didn't dare to ask, afraid it would be like throwing coal into an already overheating furnace.

"' This is what I had been working so much for?' My uncle asked himself that question… so he just walked away with his followers and friends, never to intervene directly in the matters of humanity again; watching generation after generation as the cycle of rise and destruction of humanity continued."

'And all that for Four Thousand Fucking years.' Tsubaki thought to herself.

If one were to ask Tsubaki Collbrande what the biggest difference between a God and a Mortal was; her answer wouldn't be their immortality… that would be the second one. The biggest difference would be their mentality.

Gods have been here since the beginning of everything… supposedly.

Having lived eons would make one believe they would change in some way with time… But they don't… they remain constant in every way and form. At a mental level, they wouldn't deteriorate as time passed, retaining the same way of thinking through the ages…

But Mortals… Mortals learn… just as babies who had no idea what was around them when they were born, to children who adapted and learned of their surroundings and mistakes… to adults; mature and fully knowledgeable of what life had to offer… but what happened when someone outlived that…? They start to disconnect from their own humanity, thinking the actions and thoughts of others are futile despite their struggles simply because of how repetitive it all felt to them.

Taking that into Mithos' case… it would mean he had grown sick of Humanity's cycle of self-destruction… and Humanity as a whole.

Drake didn't notice it, but Tsubaki's eyes softened at him for a mere moment. 'That's why Mortals shouldn't live that long…' she thought, just as Drake collected his thoughts.

"My Uncle was gonna let the next great catastrophe that was caused by their own doing happen. He wouldn't have moved a single muscle to help… choosing to act just as both sides were on equal fields to eradicate them both himself… and then salvage what little he could after judging Humanity's remains before salvaging what he would find worth keeping… "

"And then what… just rule the world from there on until the end of time?"

"Basically… it was the only way he saw which didn't fall into the same damn cycle again… that, and his insurances."

Could Tsubaki blame the man that went through all of that… not really.

However, it was all a matter of perspective.

Were she in Mithos' shoes… she couldn't even fathom what her mental state would be after so much time and bullshit…

'Badass, I may be… but even I have my limits.' Her mind was definitely strong, but she still saw reason in her thinking. 'But were I on the opposite side…'

Were that the case, then Mithos Yggdrasil would definitely be someone who needed to be stopped… even if he was right.

However, it didn't seem that was the case, seeing as Drake had stated that they were on good terms now. That and other things he had said indicated Mithos' plan didn't take place. What could have happened to lead to such a development… she had no idea, only Drake could say.

But even so, the Captain in her couldn't help but ask… what would have Drake done? It was the most humane part of her that answered. Drake would have been against his uncle… not because it was the right thing… no. Someone who could see and feel the despair of people, and hear their inner-most desires… their negative ones… was someone who would also get sick of them eventually… but that wasn't the case for Drake.

No, the only conclusion she could come up with was that Drake would have gone against Mithos only because his brothers would have been against the idea. She honestly didn't know how to feel a single reason like that was enough to influence someone of such power… now that was the Captain in her speaking again.

"Insurances?" she asked, trying to move on with the topic seeing Drake just kept staring at his own reflection on the ale.

Drake let out a sigh. "Acceptance, understanding, and equality… Those are the ideas a good society should have in order to work properly and maintain itself… as you can guess, that is one of the reasons why my Uncle's Kingdom fell in the first place… so he learned from that." He looked at her with a tired expression before raising his fingers. "Three projects… he worked on them throughout the years… all three inhumane to some degree… but ironically all of them started with the idea of helping humanity… or rather… make it so they would go beyond that."

He started to count. "Projects Chosen, Angelous, and Replica; from oldest and worse to newest and less questionable… but still inhumane."

"Inhumane, but to help Mortals… take a pick damn it," her joke didn't raise the mood. "The projects… what did they consist of?"

"… Let's start with the lesser devil then… Project Replica."

"He's not gonna be happy about this."

Tsubaki closed the folder, finally recalling where she had heard the damn term. The Blacksmith had forgotten about it due to being quite drunk at that moment. She couldn't help but frown, recalling she had drunk a lot as Drake explained all of Mithos' project… they had truly been inhumane to a level.

Luckily, it was also thanks to her drunkenness that she had been able to lift the mood and they continued talking until morning… but she also forgot about the whole subject to a subconscious level.

"Hephaestus fucking damn it, Mithos."

He had given all of the technology to the Kingdom of Atlas at the time at Drake's request due to the state Remnant was in during the 'Battle of Beacon'. Her guess was that he had been so disconnected from everything after Drake's first death that he didn't realize just what he had given them in the process.

She walked out of the room, either to find her temporary companions… or a way up the ship. However, she stopped for a moment and narrowed her eyes as she turned off the light of the Scroll before putting it in her pocket.

She resumed her walk, her left hand resting on the handle of her blade, feeling the sudden tension in the area… the same she felt when there was danger in the Dungeon… Yes, her instincts were screaming at her, confirming something had been unleashed on the floor.

If there was a genre that Lett had learned to hate the most -In both movies and games- it was suspense.

You knew something was about to happen, and yet there was nothing you could do about it… or see in what shape or form said event would take place… ergo, the Final Destination Movies… he hated them with a fucking passion.

But this… this was worse, far, far worse.

He had unleashed a literal and metaphorical Monster… and he didn't even know where the Replica had been unleashed. Was it on this very floor of the ship? In a different area?... only one thing was certain; the system had most likely given the directive to go to this area… so it was only a matter of time before it arrived here.

The Goblin's Aura was still sealed, and because of that he couldn't use his daggers efficiently nor use his Semblance. His grenades wouldn't be enough to deal with the situation, either… and his current ground of combat felt more like a predator's domain… and he was the damn prey.

Tsubaki Collbrande… She was the best bet for him and Aude.

'… If only she hadn't insisted on separating!'

He walked slowly through the dark halls… to the point he was pretty much tip-toeing, reaching a corner and looking around it… no one in sight… as much as he could tell in the darkness.

He moved over, continuing on his way to return to where he had separated from the others. Thinking whether to head in Cyclops' direction or make sure his friend was okay…

Too bad he had been so deep in thought he didn't notice a dark figure looming over him from behind.

His eyes widened in panic as he felt someone swiftly placing their hand on his mouth before carrying him away. The Goblin struggled, but it was to no avail as whoever held him embraced him for dear life…

'… Wait a second,' his eyes widened, and he looked up to see his friend being the one carrying him. The War Shadow didn't take him too far away, only going into the hallway Tsubaki had taken before hiding behind a corner while still covering the Goblin's mouth.

Lett struggled for a moment, but even without Aura, he was still stronger than Aude. He managed to free his mouth. "Aude what the-!" only to be shut up instantly by the War Shadow as he just kept looking around the corner. It was in that instant that Lett noticed Aude's hands started to shake, making him curious and so he managed to move his head around the corner to see… nothing?

'No… something is not right.'

The Goblin narrowed his eyes, only to fight the urge to not open them wide as he managed to distinguish something… a silhouette coming right out of the corner Aude had gone when they separated.

The figure was tall, and Lett could not make out its appearance… as if the darkness itself embraced its body like a veil. But, what he could make out was the green light energy that emerged from where its eyes were supposed to be.

It continued walking, only stopping in the middle of the room before snapping its head in their direction, forcing both to pull back away silently but quickly from the corner. Lett held his breath as both stood still for a good moment before Aude looked around the corner once more with a hint of hesitation… that thing… was luckily gone.

The War Shadow let the Goblin down, pretty much dropping him as he rested against the wall before sliding down against it. Lett on the other hand fell on his knees, trying to control his breathing as he stared at the dark floor. It was only after calming down that he figured out two things.

One, the Replica's steps were silent; not hearing a single hint of anything for the moments his eyes were on it.

Two, It most likely headed to the office he had been to before… that gave them a limited amount of time before it became a hide and seek game… or worse… a hunting game.

'This is Metroid Fusion all over again.'

It didn't make it any better that he heard the damn SA-X soundtrack in his mind not even a minute ago.

His body snapped, feeling the contact of Aude. At the very least, he managed to contain his shout.

'We. Are. Fucked.'

The Goblin was no expert in hand signs, but he had learned the usual ones for their kind of situations, like this one.

"I know…" he mouthed silently, knowing Aude could see perfectly in the dark. "… And I may be responsible for it."

The War Shadow stood still for a good ten seconds before he made another familiar hand sign. 'Did. You. Fuck. Up?!'

Lett only sighed, nodding reluctantly as he looked into his eyes. But his demeanor returned to a serious one after a single moment. "We need to leave. That thing we just saw is a-"

Aude interrupted him. 'I. Know. Saw. It.'

Lett nodded, standing up while scouting the path ahead. "We need to find Cyclops, she's the best bet we have of surviving this."

The War Shadow nodded stealthily as they walked deeper into the area Tsubaki had chosen. On edge as they were they simply went at a slow pace, not wanting to shout for her as both were afraid of compromising their location to the new enemy.

'Come on! It can't be that hard to come across a single person!' The Goblin thought in exasperation as they walked around another corner, only to be stopped by Aude after a few seconds. He looked at his friends, noticing the War Shadow pointing at the door; more specifically, the label on it.

Lett just deadpanned, seeing as could not read due to being too dark. And he didn't want to use his Scroll's lantern out of fear.

The War Shadow opted to ignore him, deciding to just open the door. It was still dark, but Lett was able to recognize some of the things in the room in the darkness… It was an armory.

The Goblin didn't waste his time in disarming the door using his Electric Dust Crystal to use the terminal and open the door; only to close it once they were inside.

"Doubt anything here will work in the long run, but beggars can't be choosers." He turned on the lantern on his Scroll before going through all the equipment he could find.

It was too bad there wasn't anything that could make a literal impact; not even a firearm of any kind. All he could find were grenades and explosives that could be set up for the Replica. In the end, all Lett could do was replenish his own grenades, and take out some new ones.

"Think you can grab some of those moles miles and carry them with you?" The Goblin was simply met by a middle finger, only for them to freeze in place as they heard something faint… footsteps.

Lett didn't waste a second in reaching for his scroll to turn it off, each proceeding to take cover to the walls next to the door. For a moment, he recalled that the Replica didn't make any kind of sounds when he walked; this could just be Tsubaki… but even so, he didn't want to risk it.

His eyes widened, noticing the steps had suddenly stopped right on the other side of the door. The Goblin instinctively grabbed a grenade and one of his daggers as the tension and waiting continued. It was only after a while that they heard the footsteps… going away, at a rather high pace even.

The Xenos' sighed, making each look at the other.

"Let's wait for a moment-AAAARG!" Lett suddenly screamed, feeling a sharp pain on his left shoulder, making him drop the grenade he had on him as he looked to see a blade going through his left shoulder.

It was a High-Frequency Blade, and he knew it because he could feel the damn edge oscillating in his very flesh; cutting him constantly just by remaining inside him. His eyes widened in pain, seeing as the blade rotated; its edge pointing diagonally down towards his body. Lett became pale in realization.

'It's gonna cut through my whole body!'

That would have been the case, had it not been for Aude's quick thinking, rushing towards the Goblin's side to pull the arm out of the blade before it was cut clean off.

Lett gripped his shoulder, just as both saw the slash on the wall and a dark silhouette outside. It didn't take long for the figure to retrieve the blade, and then proceed to cut through the armored door with ease.

The Xenos stared in sheer terror as they saw the Replica, walking slowly inside of the room while holding a blade in its right hand.

"Assessing threat: Unknown creature, setting pattern recognition to Faunus. Treat with extreme prejudice. Threat Level: Low."

The Replica started to walk towards them, almost robotically. Meanwhile, Lett fought through the pain to grab a flashbang and throw it at the Replica, only for it to swiftly kick back at the Goblin.

"FU-!" he didn't even have the time to finish the curse, as the grenade went off right in his face. His screams echoed through the room, just as Aude rushed towards the Replica to take advantage of the Flash grenade, launching at it just as it had exploded.

Aude had extended his claws towards the Replica, intending to pierce through its skull. But to the War Shadow's surprise and horror, its claws didn't seem to pierce the Replica's head protection. At that moment, Aude had tried to jump back, but a swift swing of the Replica's blade beat him to it, severing the War Shadow's hand as it felt on the ground, releasing a silent scream as the predator raised its blade at Aude.

"Aude! Aude! What the fuck is going on!?" Lett shouted, still not recovering from the flashbang.

Aude tried to crawl back, but the Replica stood on its leg, ready to impale him on the ground… only to suddenly step slightly to the side to avoid a blade that would have pierced through his back.

Lett's sight started to return, recognizing a familiar figure in the darkness.

"Cyclops!"

Tsubaki Collbrande scowled, almost growling at the mention of her Alias; she had really learned to hate it after the secret meaning behind it.

"So much preparation for nothing," She twisted her blade, gaining momentum and strength against the Replica. However, it simply bent his back backward and gave several backsteps to avoid her consecutive slashes, then quickly took a step forward after avoiding an upward slash. It thrust its blade toward her, only for her to swiftly grab the handle of her blade to parry it upward, cracking it in an instant, but giving her enough of an opportunity to make another attack-

*CLINK*

Her eye widened, seeing the Replica had somehow already recovered his momentum after her parry, already blocking her blade with ease with its own. Her instincts kicked it, dropping her handle and going for a punch, only for it to easily catch it within its palm.

The Replica gripped its hands, proceeding to try to break her hand… but it realized it was a little harder than planned. It looked at her hand, noticing that Tsubaki was now coated with a light azure light… it was weak, more than it normally was, but it was Aura without a doubt.

"Hey Dipshit!" The Replica looked at her, only to be suddenly pulled towards her before slamming her face towards it.

*CRACK*

Something broke. But the Blacksmith could easily tell it wasn't its nose of any kind of bone. It felt like metal, the Replica was wearing a helmet, a very sturdy one.

'Props to not getting a concussion later.'

The Replica quickly jumped back, slightly shaking its head.

"Assessing new threat; Individual has a low-level form of Aura; strength still seems to inflict more pain than it should. Threat Level: MID."

Tsubaki's eye twitched. "Who the fuck are you calling Mid you little shit?"

The Replica didn't answer back, instead, it let its next action speak for itself.

It was still dark, yet, somehow, the Replica being surrounded by a Black Aura illuminated the room a little.

"Tsubaki…" she heard Lett's weakened tone but ignored him… ignored the warning he had to give her.

"Resuming previous execution; eliminate with extreme prejudice."

Her eye widened, seeing the Replica give a sudden step forward with its left foot… giving Tsubaki a sense of Déjà vu. Her eye dilated when she saw it lunge at her, performing a [Sonic Thrust] at her, forcing the blacksmith to raise her blade by placing her free hand on the back of it to counter the force of the Arte. But it was futile, her blade didn't break; it was also a High-Frequency one after all… but the strength of the Replica's attack was enough to push her back to crash against a wall.

The Adventurer gritted her teeth to not scream, looking back at the Replica to see it raised its free hand; Aura accumulated in its fist. She ducked to the side, avoiding a [Beast] to the face and ignoring the roar of the Aura Dragon made by the Arte ringing in her ear.

She rolled on the ground, quickly recovering only to see the Replica already standing in front of her, delivering an upward slash that Tsubaki wasn't able to block or escape this time.

The hit lifted her off the ground, not having any momentum nor the time to fight back as the Replica quickly jumped in the air, punched her, and then performed a downward slash sending her to the ground.

*CRACK*

Something had broken… but it hadn't been any of her bones. She groaned and looked at her own hand to see the Aura around her flicker a little. Tsubaki looked at her bracelet, noticing it had cracks. The only reason she didn't have any wounds on her after receiving two blade attacks was because of her Aura field, which the bracelet giving her said Aura seemed to take said damage for her.

'That was a [Tiger Blade]' Tsubaki thought as she stood up, albeit struggling a little. Even if she didn't get any wounds, the pain was still something she had to take with her.

The Replica stared at her, seeing her take a stance as she waited for its next move. To her surprise, and dislike, the Replica adopted its own position; slightly bending its knees, grabbing its blade with both hands, and placing it to its right side over its shoulder while the tip of the blade pointed forward… the sight only made Tsubaki grit her teeth in frustration, at such a familiar sight.

The battle of patience had started… a battle Tsubaki herself was losing by the thousandth thought and strategy going through her mind. In the end, she simply blinked once, holding her breath as she shortened the distance in a split second and went for its left side.

The replica reacted quickly, going for a parry. But the Adventurer changed the angle of her blade so it could just block it in order to keep close to it. Their blade clashed, just as Tsubaki struggled to step around the Replica before their blade repelled each other, only to then clash consecutively again before the Replica started to gain ground again by pressing forward, gaining ground against Tsubaki as she could not read up his pattern attack. Until for a single moment, she saw an opening, stepping to the side to avoid a one-handed downward slash, giving her an opening to perform a strike of her own with a full vertical swing.

But the Replica's mistake had just been bait, quickly twisting the handle of his blade before moving it up to swiftly parry Tsubaki's strike with ease, giving it the chance to plant its foot on her stomach before sending her back.

The Blacksmith steeled herself, planting her feet on the ground to stop the momentum. She didn't waste time looking back at the Replica, already expecting it to be in chase of her again.

But no, it was a mistake to assume that.

Because the Replica had kept a decent distance from her, only bending its knees slightly. And in a single blink, it disappeared, and dashed through her.

[Ghost Wolf], an Arte she had seen him perform more than a few times. The grace of the Arte was not passing through the target like a literal ghost… It was the two synchronous strikes that the Arte delivered… one on the front and one on the back of the target.

The Replica had already phased through her, and delivered both attacks… but none of them had connected. Blocking the frontal attack was something a few could do if it were well timed… the back one was the tricky one; the one no one expected. But she expected it, both. She used her blade to block the first one… and used the dagger Lett had dropped before to place it right behind her back for the other one.

The Replica looked back, seeing the dagger, realizing his mistake; Tsubaki had led him to this very position. She knew the only advantage she had against it was the knowledge of the Artes the Replica was using. But she needed another edge, literally, that's why she had subtly walked around him when they clashed blades… and then receiving that kick was the last thing she needed, sending her right to where Lett had dropped his weapon.

And now, there they were… looking at the dagger close to Tsubaki's back. Barely noticing Tsubaki fixing her blade to grab backward, moving it right under her arm and straight towards the Replica's head. It missed by a millimeter, seeing that the Replica managed to react, resulting in gracing his helmet.

But the Blacksmith wasn't just gonna let this chance slip, letting go of both weapons before hazily turning around to grab Lett's dagger and successfully thrust it over its right shoulder, forcing herself on him to pin it on the ground before twisting the knife. She could not infuse Aura in a weapon like Drake could, but it was still something.

*CRACK*

She heard part of an armor crack, no doubt from the Replica. The Adventurer then tried to run the dagger down its chest, but the Replica quickly grabbed her hand. She tried to use the other one to force it to let go of her, but no luck. As a matter of fact, she felt the grip it had on her tightening… and then it started to become hotter.

"Shit!" she shouted, realizing the Replica was about to blow up her hand with a [Raging Blast], she tried to pull back, using her free arm to viciously punch the Replica on its helmet; cracking it further… but other than that, it wouldn't bulge.

'I really don't want a hook for a hand! The pirate jokes would be endless!' make no mistake, she was in a panic; being snarky was just a habit in this case.

The glowing increased, indicating the Arte was about to go off. And just as it was about to explode, something passed between them. It was only because of the adrenaline that Tsubaki was able to distinguish it was a grenade… but one she was not familiar with. The grenade hit the wall, detonating a second later.

But it wasn't an explosion, not a discharge of electricity… it was some sort of purple-like energy that pulled her, the Replica… and everything else that was close by in the room towards it.

"Gravity Grenade, Bitch!"

She ignored Lett's shout, rubbing her head before her eye widened; she was free of the Replica's grasp.

"Run, Bitch! RUN!"

That one, she did not ignore. She took her blade and Lett's dagger, just as they kept tossing various things at it as they retreated towards the door, but not before taking the pin off various explosive grenades with his mouth before throwing them at it.

They ran for a good half a minute, falling on their step when the sudden, massive, and near-defining explosion went off, one after another.

"The fuck did you throw at it!?"

"It was an armory! You guess!"

The smell of smoke was already smelt by all of those present, standing up as they saw from the distance the fire coming out of the room they had just been in.

"We need to move," Lett said, holding and putting pressure on his wounded shoulder. "That is not gonna stop it, that is-"

*CLANK*

His eyes dilated, hearing the sound of metal falling in the room before all of them were able to a dark figure walking in the fire… towards them.

"Tsubaki," Lett called her name, giving a step back as he tried to warn her one final time. "We need to leave that's-"

"I know."

His eyes widened, looking at her after being interrupted in a heartbeat; her face was completely focused… a little too much… that emotion reflected in her eye… it was pure and controlled anger; all due to the knowledge she had.

Sometimes she really hated herself for being so stupidly observant.

Aura could take any color, all kinds of different tones. But she had heard before as to how colors like Black and White were extremely rare in Remnant… one might say it was a unique trait.

There was also the fact that all of the Artes it had used were some of the ones he knew, not to mention [Beast] taking the shape of a black dragon was something characteristic of only green Aura.

All of the signs were there… but life just found a way to rub it in her face as all of them noticed something. They had been so occupied with the fight in the dark, that none of them noticed the two sheaths; one empty, and one with its blade still inside.

"Re-assessing threat; Threat Level: High." It unsheathed its second blade as its Black Aura flared. "All limiters, released."

Everyone felt a weight on their shoulders as Tsubaki recalled another thing she heard not too long ago.

'I still remember the first time I fought you with two swords… I had three Centurions with me at the time… and at that moment I couldn't help but see you as an Avatar of Death itself.' Adam's words resonated in her mind, just as the cracked parts of the Replica's helmet started to fall, revealing a very familiar Draconic Emerald Green Eye holding both blades backward while taking a position exactly like the one in the video she had seen earlier.

Project Replica.

A project with the idea of creating an exact copy in body and soul; with no real mind of its own, perfect for disposal at their owner's content.

And by this point, she didn't really need to guess whose Replica she was fighting.

G-00… Guardian Zero.

"Replica Drake… none of the issues… all of everything else," Tsubaki commented, just as the Replica charged at them.

The gist of every chapter, I say it won't take too much; end up writing over 20K. Funny thing is, the whole ship thing -now a mini arc by the looks of it- was meant to be solved during this Chapter and up with whatever the fuck is happening with Rose.

Not much to say on this AN besides saying 'Sorry for the info dump', but anyway.

-Mentions of Zagi and Asch the Bloody. Both characters of Tales of Vesperia and Tales of the Abyss; no, they will not have a major role besides one or two flashbacks. But other than that… that's for the future.

-Replicas: Tales of the Abyss, if you know, you know.

Anyway, I am gonna take a break before I start writing the next chapter. (Beta-reader note: The hell you are, you little #####)

And apologies to my beta reader, who I had to revive once more from the grave just so his eyes could burn due to my wonky English.