20.10.2023

It is I, the Absolute Madman and I've come for me weekly dose of comments!:

DeltWolf2038 - Yeah, I imagine that binging 50 or so chapters can't be good for your health, especially with the kind of content I'm putting out! Don't be a stranger though!

I See Your Secrets - Every guy is straight unless there's twenty bucks involved in the equation

n1ght4ury20 - I'll do my best!

And now, the chapter!:


The progress was steady and not even that slow. Once they found a stable rhythm, there was nothing that could stop them. Exaggeration for sure, but a minor one.

A couple of days into their construction of the outer palisade, the howls grew louder, unsettling everyone with their volume. Day after day, night after night, the primal sounds seemed to reverberate across the forest more and more, eventually reaching a point where they could no longer be ignored. What good would the perimeter wall do them if they got themselves eaten during the construction?

This mostly logical line of thinking saw Momo withdraw from the construction site - having first marked out a larger portion of the palisade's trench of course - and return to the lonesome of her improvised workspace. Within a day she was able to concoct a suitable solution to their workplace safety hazards.

Izuku already had his Tek Spear - the pointy techy stick proudly collecting dust in the corner and waiting to be summoned in times of need - so he wasn't on the list to begin with. Momo had her Tek Carbine - which she had donated to the trench squad for the time being - so she was also in the clear.

Arming everyone would be the optimal course of action, yet as amazing as their mines were, they had yet to stumble upon substantial amounts of Element which seriously limited Momo's options and stalled her creativity. Alas, she had to cope with what she had. She really hated half-assed solutions, but those could be righted later on, preferably when their lives are no longer in danger.

Yui and Kyouka - who both displayed a scary aptitude for bladed weapons - received a pair of Tek Dirks - serrated daggers that Momo hoped would suit at least one of the girls well and wouldn't need to be replaced in the future. Mina, Tooru and Setsuna already had the Tek Carbine, but as that was just a temporary solution, Momo fashioned out a Tek Morningstar and gave it to Mina, the weapon itself being as blunt and obvious as the pink-skinned girl's attempts at subtlety and the name itself being a jab at the fact that Mina was not at all a morning person. With both groups somewhat secured, all that's left were the haulers.

Izuku already had his spear, though he had to get accustomed to carrying it with him again, so that left only Itsuka and Stormy. The amber-haired girl was great at hand-to-hand combat and so a pair of Tek Greaves was what Momo created to enhance her fighting style. Stormy was a bit trickier due to her tsundere-like personality, but even that wasn't enough of an obstacle for someone like Momo! Stormy had a rather petite build, but she definitely packed a punch and so her weapon had to reflect that, hence why Momo decided to create a massive warhammer with a single-shot .50 cal boomstick hidden inside the head.

Was it necessary? Most likely not. Was it overkill? Probably. Could she justify her decision? No, not really no. Was it cool? Abso-fucking-lutely. Did Stormy love the gift from her mommy? You bet your ass she did. Did she call Momo per 'mom' afterwards? Anyone with a brain will know that this is a trick question that should not be answered as long as Stormy has her warhammer.

Momo's intrusive thoughts almost had her make a spiked whip for Ibara, but managed to stop herself once Shu proclaimed that she could simply make flash powder and scare off anything that dared to approach them.

With the OSHA sufficiently off of their backs, they could once again focus on the job.


Knocking out a third of the wall and getting a running start on the next part of their fortifications warranted a celebration, at least that's what Mina declared.

Knowing the importance of rest, the girls folded quickly enough and together they managed to convince Izuku to take an afternoon off as well. They were definitely making progress on reigning in his overzealous workaholic tendencies as he was easily swayed with sweet words and puppy eyes. A couple more steps and he'd end up being the one to suggest taking a day off to go on dates and stuff. The girls would not be complaining.

No celebration was complete without drinks and snacks, but seeing as they had to get up tomorrow and go right back to work, the Devil's Drink was out of the equation. At least until Mina suggested to simply water it down and drink responsibly. Yeah, Mina suggesting to act responsibly was another unexpected thing that evening, but it definitely happened! Still, it was not the most unexpected thing to happen, far from it actually.

They were already immersed in the festivities, sitting around their campfire, chatting and laughing, when an unexpected guest decided to drop in. Literally.

Silent like a phantom despite wearing a heavy metallic suit, Martin appeared out of nowhere, stepping out of the shadows and into the campfire's light which illuminated the jet-black paint job and the red spider that spread all over the torso of his armor, reminding Izuku of that one spider-themed heroine - Arachnid-Girl or something like that. Exiting the armor in a much less dramatic fashion, Martin was content to plop down on one of the logs as if nothing happened.

"Dude, where'd you come from?!" Mina exclaimed. "We didn't even hear you fly in!"

"That's because I didn't!" He proclaimed smugly as he got up from the log and waltzed over to the stranded suit of armor. "This is the newest Spinster-series model, my preferred 'tuxedo' for close encounters during quiet evenings. This baby's micro fabricators are optimized for the production of a kevlar-titanium web-like material that can be woven into a wide array of things, like parachutes for example." He explained with a smirk.

"Wouldn't it be easier to call it something like the Iron-Spider?" Kyouka asked.

"Name was still copyrighted back when I started working on this." Martin stated. "Laws of physics are fair game, but I ain't fucking with the corpos." He made a pause before returning back to his log of choice. "Anyhow, I swung by to check up on you kiddos, wasn't expecting to crash a party."

"Nah, you're good. You seem like a cool dude." Setsuna assured the man.

"Well, if you don't mind I'd love to join in." Martin responded after a few moments, pleasantly surprised by their hospitality.

"It's far from gourmet cuisine, but it's really good." Momo stated as she gestured towards their snacks.

"Never was one for the gourmet anyways. Nothing beats a home cooked meal!" He proclaimed proudly, his words resonating with the crowd immediately.

For all the mystery, insanity and craziness that surrounded him, Martin wasn't that different from them in that moment. Or maybe he simply went full circle back to being an ordinary guy? Yet another question to throw onto the pile of unanswered questions. Tough, but that's life for ya.

Martin merged seamlessly into their conversations, quickly becoming a part of their group despite being a complete stranger at best. There was something about him that allowed him to relate to everyone and act as if they knew each other for years at this point. It wasn't troubling as much as it was simply peculiar. Maybe they were generally alike? They were human after all.

The evening was bordering on night when they realized something.

They had snacks, they had drinks, they had a campfire and they had fun. But something was missing. They couldn't put a finger on it, but something was amiss. Kyouka - being the most intimately immersed in the subject - was the one to finally notice what they were missing all along.

"Man, I wish I had my acoustic with me…" She whined out of the blue, catching everybody's attention thanks to the sudden silence.

"Like an acoustic guitar?" Martin asked curiously, his demeanor uncharacteristically tame.

"Kyouka is like a virtuoso!" Mina exclaimed, behaving like a top-tier hype-woman.

"I'm not THAT amazing…" The purplette in question responded, a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks.

"Nonsense." Momo interjected. "You should really give yourself more credit, you know?"

Martin withdrew from the conversation at this point as the girls focused on bringing Kyouka's self-esteem sky-high. As the man stood up once again and approached his stranded suit of armor, Izuku watched a strangely melancholic expression overcome his face. He saw the man whisper something to the armor before returning to his spot.

Mere minutes later they heard the tell-tale sign of thrusters descending rapidly from above. It caught everyone's attention and they watched as the new arrival parked themselves right next to Martin's Spinster, a heavily reinforced case in their hands.

"One treasure delivery." A familiar voice stated from within the armor.

As Martin got up to retrieve the case, the others decided to welcome their new guest.

"Hello Martha." Izuku began with a smile and a wave, catching the woman by surprise as others joined in with their own greetings.

"Good evening to you all as well." She greeted in response as Martin unlocked the case.

"Whatcha got there?" Mina wondered curiously.

"See for yourself!" Martin stated with a smirk as he opened the case and stepped back.

Inside the case was… another case. A guitar case to be precise. Kyouka - once again being the most intimately familiar with the subject - decided to fish out the case out of the box. Martin watched with no small amount of pride as the girl's eyes lit up in excitement.

"Give it a try." Martin offered with a smile, one that was a far cry from his usual expression.

He didn't have to repeat himself as Kyouka was more than eager to get her hands on the guitar after being separated from instruments as a whole for so long. Justifiable worries crept up her spine, but as she started strumming the strings it was clear that her skill had not diminished one bit despite the prolonged - and involuntary - break.

The girl was absolutely ecstatic and wasted no time, recalling all the campfire songs that her parents drilled into her head during her childhood and giving one hell of a performance.


Somehow over the course of the festivities, Martin was roped into playing the guitar as well, being the owner of the aforementioned instrument, he had to have at least some skill, right? And some skill he had. He started off slowly, as if recovering bits and pieces of knowledge that was long since almost forgotten.

Once he got back into the swing of things however, he started absolutely shredding. On an acoustic nonetheless. And just as they thought this couldn't get much better, Martin threw one last curveball by playing an original song called Fire & Flame which was something akin to a rock ballad. At least that's how he introduced it.

As Izuku watched the performance from the sidelines - the girls being way more immersed in it than he was - he noticed Martha circling around the group, approaching him way too stealthily for someone - once again! - wearing a full suit of armor.

"I wish to thank you for offering him a brief moment of normalcy. He could definitely use it." Martha said, surprising Izuku with the emotions in her voice.

"Why's that?" He questioned curiously, his interest peaked.

"He's a workaholic and constantly has to worry about many things, though I'm afraid I cannot go into more detail about this." She explained dutifully. "I can't remember the last time I saw him so relaxed. I'm quite jealous actually." The secretary added a few moments later.

"Well, I'm glad we could offer him some reprieve. I used to overwork myself all the time in the past, but the girls are starting to correct me." Izuku revealed, no doubt giving the woman something to relate to.

"I only wish he'd start listening to me whenever I tell him to take it easy once in a while." The secretary complained with an exhausted shake of her head.

"I'm sure he'd listen if you were to sit down with him and talk things through." Izuku offered, hoping to provide some semblance of optimism.

"It won't hurt to try I guess…" Martha eventually responded, her eyes glued to the man in question.

There was a spark in his eyes that she missed for a long, long time already. For this brief, fleeting moment, she was thrown back into the past, to a time when that joyful look seemed to persist on his face day after day after day. She had to admit, she was definitely not complaining about this sudden dose of nostalgia, though she really wished they could go back to how things used to be.


Martin stayed for a while, though he and his secretary excused themselves before the festivities were officially wrapped up. Izuku was happy to see that the spark in the man's eyes was still there as he left, the joy no doubt still coursing through his veins and there to stay for a while. Before they left though, Martin made sure to share one more thing with them - a custom from his homeland called 'rozchodniak'.

Thankfully the concept itself was infinitely easier to understand than the name was to pronounce. This custom was apparently a mandatory part of every social gathering where alcoholic beverages were involved, always performed right at the very end for good luck. It involved sharing one last round of drinks and… that's basically it. None of them had an idea as to how that was supposed to provide good luck or a safe trip home, but customs were customs.

Watering down the Devil's Drink - while being far away from their desired final form of the beverage - was fortunately mild enough to consume without risking the very severe side effects. Or so they thought.

"Ow, my head…" Izuku groaned to himself as he woke up the next morning.

As it turned out, a couple of rounds of the watered down version of the Devil's Drink had the exact same effect as the original itself. Not that anyone was complaining. Well, the headache was annoying, but as Izuku quickly learned, it was easy to manage the ache while having your dick serviced by an overly enthusiastic Yui. And once Itsuka woke up and joined them, the pain went away as if by magic.

At least this time he only had to satisfy two girlfriends as opposed to the last time so they wrapped up their fun relatively quickly and managed to make themselves look somewhat presentable before Martin paid them yet another surprise visit. This time however he came to drop something off - a guitar.

Kyouka was of course ecstatic about the gift - or at least would be if she was awake at the moment - but Izuku made sure to thank the man in her stead. Although he did have to ask if Martin really was okay with parting ways with his guitar. It was at this point that the enigmatic man explained that this was merely a replica of the guitar he brought with him yesterday. He was too attached to the original to give it up, but making a copy was a piece of cake and he thought that it'd be a good way to reward them for their hospitality. Izuku suspected that Martha might have something to do with it, but he wasn't about to go poking the bear.

Even though they planned to hit the ground running early in the morning to get back into their construction groove, it was blatantly obvious that only a small fraction of their group would be operational enough to function right out of the gates and so they had to postpone their plans for a couple of hours. It wasn't a major setback or anything like that, so it wasn't exactly a big problem.

Besides, the fun they had last night - and the fun that some had in the morning as well - was well worth it all things considered.


Fire & Flame baybee! We making it out the countryside with this one!

Some R&R before we return to building that wall. The construction would go way faster if they could just make the saber-tooth tigers pay for that wall.

Have a great day and I'll catch y'all in the next update!