Despite my reluctance, I was following Gallon with Micheal around Little Leto. This place, the more I walked around… it was peaceful here. Safe… some bits even reminded me of home…
"Wonder if they have clubs here?" Gallon said aloud.
"I'm sure there is." I said, now liking how I can only assume my new biology was practically enjoying this place. "Would be surprised if there wasn't some bar here at least."
"Heh, it's definitely incredible looking." Micheal said as we walked down the roads. I looked up, seeing flying of people who could. Around me, all kinds were walking, some seemed to have speed, either through magic or maybe their biology. Others just walked, rode bikes, some had vehicles, motorcycles and cars. Learned a lot about them when I was traveling, like trains back home but smaller, more compact and can be very much heavier.
"Club first! Promised you I'd take you to one if we ever managed to rebuild enough to enjoy one, and I'm assuming Button here has never been to one before." Gallon said with a smirk.
"I haven't been to one before." I admitted.
"Sweet! Maybe next time we come here we can invite Tina. I have a feeling that girl knows her way around a club." Gallon said with a grin as he walked ahead a bit.
"Heh… Hey, are you good?" Micheal asked me.
"I don't really want to be here." I sighed "I have other things to do, and all this might feel great but…that could just be me being a Nokori speaking and not how I actually feel."
"I doubt just being a Nokori now doesn't make you happy just being in this city." Micheal said, taking a look up and around. "But, maybe you feel good being here because it's safe. Everyone here was a victim of this new Y Labs and this Violence guild, including you. Maybe feeling that you aren't alone in what happened to you is comforting?"
"Maybe? Don't know why though…it feels like home but I doubt that's it…" I sighed, shaking my head. "I need a drink…"
"How does it remind you of home?"
"I suppose some of the more…farm town kind of buildings." I motioned. "It's…peaceful here…"
"Yeah. It's nice here, it reminds me of Leto back on our world, it's everything Gallon, Frost, Ridge, Pike, Midnight, everything the lot of us wanted to build and rebuild it as and then some. Yet… at the same time I feel sick being here…"
"And why do you feel sick being here?"
"Because, seeing all this… it feels like home but… I know it isn't. And I guess it makes me feel homesick…"
"Yeah…I know that feeling all too well." I shook my head.
"Yeah… on top of that, Gallon and I are considered prominent historical figures and… that just feels weird. More like we jumped into some weird alternate future rather than a whole nother world."
"Yeah, that also is quite a thing to experience." I admitted. "But at least you two are respected here."
"I mean, sure I guess… just feels weird."
"Eh, fair." I shrugged, looking around for a good place to drink.
"Guys I found a club now come on!" Gallon yelped as he ran back and grabbed Micheal and I by the wrists and dragged us to a large building. The bouncer was actually not… or… huh?
The bouncer was… maybe a cyborg? His body metallic and robotic but appeared in an animalistic shape. He even had what seemed to be a fully organic mouth and eyes. He looked like a mix between a shark and bear, and yes he stood on two legs and was humanoid, his metal looking like a tan brown leather with a metallic sheen.
"Uh…hi there." I said to the cyborg.
"Hey." The bouncer nodded, handing us some clipboards with pens. "Fill this out."
I took the clipboard and looked at the paper on it… huh…name, sexual orientation? Preferences? DTF? Not DTF? Those two are on checkboxes…
"Uh…the hell does DTF mean?" I asked, as I haven't really seen that anagram before. "And why is like…half of what's on here…on here?"
"DTF means Down to Fuck." Gallon spoke up. "I went to a few clubs like this. You fill out a form and if you're here to meet and get laid, you fill this out and the club issues you some kind of identifiers, like a wrist band, and it lets others all know your interests and such so they can decide if you're worth making a move on, or for you to make a move on them. It all depends."
"That's pretty smart." Micheal said.
"Well…that's…interesting." I admitted…and wrote down my name, that I was willing to bang, go either way…
Once we filled them out, the bouncer took them, took the papers off and then put them through some small machine. Out came three wristbands with our names on them and colored in various ways. Micheal's and Gallon's I noticed had a red line across the middle of theirs. Mine was just colored in various hues. Once we had them on we went inside and were greeted by various flashing colored lights and Some loud and fitting music.
"Well…this is a thing…" I muttered.
"This is an active club!" Gallon laughed.
"Rather louuud-" Micheal was saying, then got dragged by the arm by Gallon to the dance floor.
I chuckled and found my way to the bar. I got up on one of the stools, seeing the barkeep was actually human, a slender man with black combed hair, a thin mustache, and wore a red and black shirt and vest with some gold trims.
"Greetings. What brings you to the bar?" He asked with a small smirk as he was wiping a cup clean.
"Got any hard cider?" I asked. "Cause I need a good drink after…a lot of things…"
"Sure thing." He said, reaching under the bar and… I recognized the bottle. I'd seen it all the time during Cider Season at Barnyard Bargains… He popped the cap off the bottle and placed it before me.
I took it, the cold glass producing some condensation already now exposed to the room temperature air and I took the first sip… it was… exactly the same. The bitter of the liquor content and the sweetness of the apples it's brewed from… I haven't tasted this in over ten years… yet…
"H-how and where did you get this?" I asked carefully. "This is the…exact same brew I had back home…"
"I get my stock from here and there. Think this one was purchased from a small bottling facility out in Eden." The barkeep said. "Got lots of my best stuff from there."
"That's impossible, this is straight from Barnyard Bargains…the taste, the smell…everything is the exact same…"
The barkeep shrugged. "Don't know what else to tell ya. Maybe they use the same recipe?"
If that's true… then an Apple has to be living over in Eden…
I looked over the bottle, looking for any district apple family marking cause they always have their seal of approval on the stuff they sell.
There it is. Stamped into the glass of the bottle itself, the mark of an apple with a check mark inside it.
"Holy hell…an Apple really is here..." I muttered, taking another swig of wonderful cider.
"Hey there cutie~" I turned, seeing a winged fox with some antlers leaning against the bar next to me. His fur was actually a light blue with red endings on his tail, hands and feet. "I see you're looking for a fun time~"
… Crap! I suck at flirting! Let alone being flirted at…
I took another swig to try and get some liquid courage up. "I am, what kinda fun ride are you offering?"
"Well that depends, are these pretty wings of yours durable? And if so, do you like them being grabbed from around the front or from behind~?"
Now I was blushing. This guy is direct…
"They are indeed durable and…honestly haven't had them grabbed like that in…a while." I managed as I wasn't sure how to go about this flirting stuff.
"Really? Care to… correct that misfortune?"
"Well…" I blushed brighter at that. "Y-yes."
"Then follow me, there's a motel next door that charges by the hour~"
"Dude, where'd you go? Micheal and I looked everywhere for ya!" Gallon said as he and Micheal found me outside the club. I was as red as a tomato and felt… different.
"Did you shower?" Micheal asked, he was now sporting some neon colored glow bands around his neck and horns.
… The sex was good… almost scary good…
"Uh…yeah, just had to get cleaned up from some…stuff." I admitted sheepishly.
"... Did you get laid?" Gallon asked with a smirk.
"Button did not get- oh my god you did…" Micheal added, noticing my tomato blush get even redder. "That was fast…"
"Was it good?" Gallon asked with a chuckle.
"Maybe I did, and it was good…" I admitted. "But also I have many significant others that I've had sex with a lot, so don't act like I never had sex before."
"True… but you fucked a guy didn't you?" Gallon grinned. Against my will my wings flared out. "Called it! So where is Mr. Stuck-it-in-ya?"
"He left already…" I admitted.
"What, really? Ah, got boned then left. Yeah, that's typical for a club hookup."
"Did you even get a name?" Micheal asked.
"No…"
"Wow. Really was a casual hook up."
"Eh…" I shrugged. "Just…needed something to vent some frustration on…and he took as well as he gave I'll give him that."
Gallon whistled. "Damn. Didn't think you had it in ya to go out and have a throw away fling."
"Well, club's done for now so… anything else?" Micheal asked.
"Hmm… Not much I can think of. Think I saw a Greed weapons shop a bit down the road."
"Why would we go there?"
"Big guns. Bigger guns… Guns from Wolfenstine and Doom~"
That made Micheal's ears perk. Huh. So he can move them. "Well… I guess looking won't hurt…"
"Well…I suppose doing some shopping might help." I admitted.
Gallon took the lead ahead some and Micheal walked next to me again. "So… are you alright?" Micheal asked me again.
"I'm fine." I admitted. "Also learned there's a member of the Apple Family somewhere in Eden."
"Uh, alright? Don't know what the Apple Family is but alright. Still, just surprised you had a fling with a stranger in a club. Your other partners back home won't be mad?"
"The Apple's are a family line of Apple Farmers back on Equis, grew and sold the best apples in all of Equestria and made even better Cider…it was shocking to say the least." I said. "And…as long as I'm not pregnant, which I made sure, it…should be fine."
"Right… So, are they all as… open as you? I know Tina is but the others?"
"All of them are in a big poly relationship, they're expecting me to date my kid's teacher, a…sexy dragon named Barb, and Tina was just added…so at this point they probably just put up with my antics." I admitted.
"Well, I guess as long as they are alright with it… Guess I just worry about you."
"You don't have to." I admitted. "But thanks."
"Heh, I feel like it's my job at this point. You and Tina are power houses, even before you became this, which in itself because of how it happened broke you… you've been through a lot, even before Gallon and I showed up. Then, heh… Gallon has always had a… gung-ho attitude and a sense of curiosity that can sometimes override his sense of self preservation. Someone has to take care of you all when we're out and about. Might as well, if this Custodian title means anything at the very least I can make sure you're all doing alright."
"I know, I know." I nodded. "But there's just a lot of things I have to think about and…not a lot of time…"
"Well, for what it's worth, Tiara is a Time Walker right?" I nodded. "Well, from everything I've been hearing and told, Time Walkers are stupid strong… so I doubt she's gonna be at risk. No idea what she's doing or planning, but she did this to you to prevent something from happening to you, you and your family… so at least she cares… even if her actions make her out to be a criminal to her own guild and home."
"She's doing this to spite DG…but she has other Time Walkers after her and I don't know when or where she'll be and I need to find her before they have the chance to kill her."
"True… still, she can't have started all this without a plan… wonder what her end goal is?"
"I have a feeling it's to end this 'game' that is Armageddon." I said. "To stop this playground of pure evil…but that would be a problem because it might…also let the Chaos Guild's run free…"
"... So the options are… keep the game going, and stay on this planet forever, or end it, and let the Chaos Guilds run free across this reality, but we'd also be free to come and go… That is a tough choice… it sounds like her goal is to end the game… which makes me wonder… did she do that because she knew your choice would be to stay stuck here?"
I paused at hearing Micheal say that…
"I'll never know until I find her…" I admitted. "Which could be soon, could be later…could be never…"
"... Would you have?" Micheal asked me. "Knowing that beating this DG guy would free the Chaos Guilds from Armageddon, would you have chosen to stay?"
"I don't know…" I sighed. "But this is my game now."
"Heh, well at least you're determined." Micheal said, sighing but giving a small smile. "Hey Button." He said, making me turn to look at him. "Happy new AD."
"Thanks…you too." I said, wondering just…why they want to suffer the same immortal burden as me…
"We're a team. First thing you should know about that is when one member has a problem, it's the party's problem as well. We might not all be fire-proof immortal power houses like you, or even Tina, but you aren't alone. We'll all share the burden, ya stubborn mule."
"Just…be prepared, cause you said that you'll suffer the same immortal pain as me." I said.
"I know." He nodded, still giving me a smile. "It will suck, but hey, this journey of ours isn't gonna be pleasant anyway. Something tells me Gallon and I will become accustomed to pain sooner or later…"
"I just…don't want you to suffer because of my ability." I said. "So…am I under your Custody now?" I asked, wanting to make sure this works.
"Yeah. And I ain't letting you off the hook from it."
"Yeah yeah." I chuckled. "So I get what bonus to all my stats?"
"Two percent. Small and kind of useless." Micheal chuckled. "Still, at least it's something I can contribute."
"That's fair." I nodded. "And…two percent is still two percent."
"Heh. Well, if anything maybe I can help with planning. Raw strength and rage is good but… rather have a plan of action before we actually attack. Otherwise you'll be all exhausted the next time we clear out a hoard."
"I've been getting skills to mitigate all the exhaustion from rages." I admitted. "The Rage skill tree is…rather in depth all things considered."
"Are you putting all your skills into rage based ones?"
"Well, not all of them, as I'm doing some stuff with magic, I have done some stuff with the Symbiote skill tree…just trying to give myself a proper build here." I explained. "Went through the Rage build since I got Cheat and…well it's worked out a lot."
"Can I see?" Micheal asked. I nodded, bringing out my Assistant to display my stats, skills, skill trees and such. "Hmm…" He hummed, taking an inhale. "You said you played games right?"
"Yes, yes I have." I nodded. "I've just got back into playing games, and as you can see most of my skills are because I got Cheat, a rather strong symbiote and the like."
"Hmm… This is a hot mess…" Micheal said.
"It's not a hot mess." I huffed. "Why do you think it's a hot mess?"
"For starters your Energy Resistance and Magic resistances are very low. Especially given the other stats. Your HP and Attack are good but your MP is also pretty low and your Defense while good your Physical Resistance is also really low for a berserker build. You have zero Psychic or Status resistance at all, and from the looks of it all your skills went into Defense, HP, and Attack damage. The rest of your defenses are all rather… lackluster. Sure you have some skills here that help negate this, you're leaving yourself far to open to hits from enemies that could priorities attacks and such you lack in, not to mention most of these rage based skills only boost your lacking resistances temporarily, either while you are enraged or when your HP gets low enough to trigger them so even if that's useful you'll want to prioritize more permanent additions to your stats otherwise someone strong enough could KO you before your skills even have a chance to trigger."
… Well… Damn…
"You forget, I do have a skill that lets me straight up ignore damage while raging." I admitted. "But jeez boss, no need to put the hammer down on me like that."
"Yes but they have a built in time limit so even with that factored in, going up against powerful monsters or people could run out before the enemy is defeated. Not to mention these only really negate physical damage, only one of these worked to decrease magic and energy damage and even then it's not by that much."
"It stated it did any damage though." I frowned, looking at the skill again. "I still have a crap ton of skill points though from my travels…"
"Yeah but while I can see where you're allocating them you are mainly planning it out for immediate damage to your opponent and immediate attacks and defense from them. Your low level Psychic, Acid and other resistances could spell bad news for damage over time attacks and your zero Status resistance means you could be stuck with a nasty status effect for a long time."
"Rage gives me high Psychic defense due to the obvious thing, Acid and other Resistances…well, at this point I don't really have to give a shit given my immortality ability."
"Right… first off, while true, from this point on, when you die I will feel it." Micheal said. Crap… "So you're going to have to take better care of yourself in battler otherwise. Second, just because you can't die doesn't mean you should let yourself get hacked and slashed and blasted and melted and whatever just because. I highly doubt you are a masochist, even if you don't feel it because you're numb to it, you should invest is a more broad defensive line up otherwise it will bite you, and now me, in the ass later."
… He… put himself on this line knowing that I won't want to cause him harm by dying… I chuckled. Clever…
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say boss." I rolled my eyes but held a smile at his decision.
Micheal grinned. His grin then fell to a confused frown. "Uh… huh… Do Titles ascend?"
"Uh…maybe?" I said. "Why do you ask?"
"It says Custodian has ascended to Perfect Custodian… and I got three new abilities and… wow… oh wow…" He said.
"What did you get?" I inquired.
"Uh… Let's meet back up with Gallon, then after that go find Tina cause… this feels like a group discussion." Micheal said.
"That big huh?" I asked. "Well…I suppose that's for the best, let's get going."
With a nod, Micheal and I caught up to Gallon, who was standing outside a building labeled 'Guns Of The End'
We walked in… woah… these are some very big guns.
"Holy shit…" Micheal said, looking around.
"Heh, told you." Gallon chuckled.
"Yeah…these are some really big guns." I admitted.
"I'm sorry is that the fucking BFG!?" Micheal yelped, rushing over to a massive and heavy looking gun that looked to shoot some kind of energy rather than bullets. It looked like it was built to be held with two hands and lugged around. Next to it were some canisters of glowing green energy that looked ready to either explode or vaporize whatever the energy hits. "Woah…"
"They also got bladed weapons too!" Gallon said. I looked over to him, seeing some rather impressive blades, all ranging in size and shape.
I shrugged, walking around the place looking for something specific…but then I noticed a rack of strange looking katanas, the blades placed carefully on their proper rack but the blade looked…colorless? Like even the steel which normally had a simple gray color was just…not there. "Uh, excuse me," I asked one of the store staff. "What are those katana's and why do they not have any color to them?"
"Hm?" The shopkeep, a tall bull looking Nokori with bat wings on his back, hips and head just under his horns. "Those are called Nichirin blades. Also commonly called Color Changing Katanas. They're made from special ores that absorb sunlight and are mostly good against dark magic, necromantic, and enemies that can't really survive sunlight. They're supposed to change color depending on the wielder, and the colors all have meanings."
"Huh, that's cool." I nodded. "How much?"
"Five grand." He said.
Huh. Cheaper than I thought.
"Sure, also how much would a custom Nichirin blade be? It's for a…big Zinogre."
"Feral or anthro?"
"They can shift between Feral and Anthro." I admitted.
"Alright, I got one in the back, one minute." He said, heading through a door. He came back out with a large sheathed blade that would take two hands to wield for a normal sized being… but Tina can easily one hand this weapon. "Alright, so three standard ones and one larger one that's twenty five thousand rem."
I nodded and pulled out a bag full of the amount of rem. "Twenty five thousand."
"Alright." They said, handing me the four blades. I put the large one for Tina away in my Assistant and took the three normal length ones.
I gave Gallon and Micheal theirs and we all pulled them out, the blades each gaining their colors.
Gallon's was purple along the blade.
Micheal's was red.
Mine turned black.
"I forget, what's purple mean?" Gallon asked.
"I think it's royalty or something?" Micheal said. "But sweet! I got red! Also… uh… sorry in advance?" Micheal said to me.
"Why?" I asked, honestly confused here as I looked at my sword. "Is there something wrong with a black sword?"
"Well… In the anime and manga, Black is considered a… cursed color…" Gallon said. "Main character literally gets told because his sword turned black he isn't gonna live long."
"Yeah but it also is supposed to mean or represent The Sun which is a rare and actually forgotten Breathing Form." Micheal added.
"While that's all really cool…what are we talking about?" I asked. "Cause you said it's an anime and manga and I have been…having to go through a lot of them…still on One Piece…"
"Demon Slayer." Gallon said.
"Oh yeah, it's in my backlog of things to watch." I nodded.
"Yeah… well… like we said, it's considered cursed since the owners of black blades don't live long, at least in the manga and anime, but it represents Sun Breathing which is a forgotten/lost style and the strongest." Micheal said. "Well, this was a cool trip. Next time we are definitely bringing Tina."
"Yeah, but I also bought one sword for Tina." I added. "Also…gonna need to figure out what the hell Sun Breathing is cause I doubt I can literally breathe a Sun into existence…"
"Oh no it's more like… gaining control over your body and senses through breathing and inhuman levels of training and willpower." Gallon said. "I think each color represents a breathing style but I'm pretty sure anyone can learn any breathing style. Some in that show were invented by the people who use them and they're only known to them."
"Right…so I just have to figure out how to breathe good…okay this just sounds like Hamon with extra steps…"
"Eh… it's kinda like that? But the fact these katana's exist so we need to maybe find a teacher. Sounds like fun." Micheal said.
We went back to the New Foundation and I gave Tina her sword. She was extremely happy about it, and it turned an indigo-gray color.
With that done, it was time to see what Micheal's new upgraded title does.
"So… first off. The boost to stats increased." Micheal started.
"By how much?"
"... Two hundred percent."
"Excuse you what?!" Tina yelped.
"That…that means our stats are three times what they normally were…" I said weakly. "Uh…that's…okay so what else did you get?"
"I also got three new Abilities… and they all seem to be Legendary."
I blinked… including the Final Thanks Ability he got with Custodian, that makes four Legendary abilities!
"Uh…okay, so what do they all do?"
"Well, first up is… Super Nanny…" He sighed.
That got some chuckles from Tina, Gallon and I.
"Alright, so what does our new super nanny do?" I asked.
"Anyone under my Custody with the Custodian Title giant Skill Points three times faster and I can directly apply healing magic, potions and other air from my own inventory to them instantly." Micheal said.
"Wow that is useful." Gallon said.
"Yeah, that is rather useful." I said honestly.
"Yeah, the next is… Who's A Good Boy/Girl…" Micheal said.
That got a laugh out of me.
"Is it wrong I wanted to ask 'me'?" Tina asked.
That got a laugh out of all of us.
"It's not wrong, because you are a good girl." I said, reaching up and giving Tina ear scritches.
"Heh, so what's this one do?" Gallon asked.
"It says that if I cheer on someone from my Custody, they gain a temporary double boost to their stats, and for every group of five others that witness the cheer, they gain an extra times two boost per five people that witness the cheer." Micheal said.
"Wait… does that stack with the base stat boost your Custody gives us?" Tina asked.
"Yes." Micheal nodded.
"Oh…oh no, I have the dangerous idea…"
"So do I." Gallon said, but was grinning wide.
"I am not wearing a cheerleader outfit Gallon…" Micheal huffed.
"Firstly… dang it.. Second… but your hips work so well with skirts!"
"It's just my fur!"
"No, it's your hips." I admitted. "But no, see I have an ability called Loop that…constantly increases my parties stat's and abilities as time progresses."
"Huh. That's Cool… and I think I see what you're getting at. Actually that brings me to my next and last new Ability. As The Twig is Bent, So Grows The Tree." Micheal said.
"Now that is a wordy Ability." Gallon said.
"What's it do?" I asked.
"It lets me see your Skill Trees, use your own or my Skill Points to purchase Abilities for you, regardless of where they are on the trees, and even lets me assign you all tasks to complete to gain the Abilities rather than buy them. That last part is apparently how I can help you all get more Legendary Abilities since it let's me see your Legendary Skill Trees as well."
… Holy…
"That's insane…" Tina squeaked.
"That's some bullshit right there…who the hell thought this was an okay thing?" I asked incredulously. "Like…how has no one abused the fuck out of this?"
"Maybe Perfect Custodian is a rare title?" Micheal suggested.
"I mean…maybe? I mean, I just called Micheal boss as a joke that shouldn't…really make a difference right?"
"Well, whatever the case, I got this now and I can really help out the team… little pissed the stat boot doesn't apply to me but oh well… now let's see…" Micheal said, using his Assistant hud and seemingly checking out our Skill Trees. "Okay… wow… there are… a lot of options here. These trees are bigger than I expected…" He hummed. "Alright… ah, here's the Legendary Skill Tree. Button Mash… what?"
"What?" I asked. "Is there something weird about my Legendary skill trees?"
"Uh… one second…" Micheal said, looking like he was checking some things out. "Alright, so it's not just yours, all your Legendary Skill Trees are like that… So, your other skill Trees, the tasks I can assign you to gain the Abilities seem to be normal or related to the Ability. Like a defense boosting Ability, block so many attacks that would deal over half damage to you, but Legendary Abilities all seem to have… weird, unrelated, and downright odd trials to earn… and they're all largely different for each of you."
"Right…so just give us an example for each of us." I said honestly.
"Well, this one Legendary Ability, Copy Cat. For you Button, you have to… Shapeshift into a cat or cat-like being one hundred times. For Tina, you have to demolish a one hundred story building in a single attack… and Gallon, you'd have to… kill a god."
We were all rather… confused… though I noticed Gallon took out a pen and paper.
"Adding that to my bucket list…" Gallon said.
"So…none of that makes a lick of god damn sense." I admitted.
"I know. I don't get it either but that's what it says for each of you…" Micheal sighed. "On the bright side, you Button and Tina can probably do your tasks for that fairly easily."
"I wanna kill a god." Gallon said.
"... Maybe when you're stronger hun…" Micheal sighed.
"Well…I am a Symbiote and have devoured infected tiger's so…I can get Copycat easily." I said.
"And with the two hundred percent bonus and some cheering…I should do that." Tina nodded.
"Any I can get fairly easily?" Gallon asked.
"Uh…" Micheal hummed as he seemed to skim through Gallon's Legendary Skill Tree. "Uh… Ah. Says here you can get Generation by getting ten thousand headshots on enemies."
"Oh I can so do that." Gallon smirked. "So Button, next hoard cleaning, save some for me."
"No promises." I admitted. "What other easy Legendary abilities can we get?"
"Uh… well um… oh…" Micheal said. "For you Button, this one called Salvation. Says you just need to survive a lethal attack on one HP ten times."
"Well that would be piss easy but…you'd also suffer Micheal…" I said nervously. "Plus I…don't know how to get to one HP when I'm always regenerating…"
"Final Thanks only applies if your HP hits zero. I'll feel your death, not your injuries unless you do hit zero… but yeah, your Regeneration would make that tricky…" Micheal hummed. "Well, we have a lot to do and I have a lot to plan."
"What does Salvation do?" Gallon asked.
"Quadruples all attack damage when HP is below ten percent." Micheal said. "And keeps it there until HP is above ten percent."
"Neat." I nodded, again thinking about how the hell that's supposed to work when I constantly regenerate.
"Any cool things for my Nokori Magic ability?" Gallon asked.
"Oh, yeah let me see… Ah, here it is… wow, okay yours doesn't level up but it's got a lot of… uses…" Micheal said.
"I'm sure it does." I chuckled. "But what other uses does it have?"
"Uh… here." Micheal said, displaying his Assistant screen.
… Woah…
[Custody Gallon
Ability: Body's Gift.
Description: When using magical items or enchanted accessories, the effects are multiplied by x10. When another ingests part of you, their powers and abilities are multiplied based on the amount they ingest.
Hair: 2 Seconds of boost at X1.2 increase per milligram.
Skin: 5 Seconds of boost at X1.5 increase per milligram of skin. If turned into Leather, objects will be able to be enchanted/boost magical effects X2 increase.
Sweat: 25 Seconds of boost at X2 increase per milliliter.
Urin: 30 Seconds of boost at X2.5 increase per milliliter.
Saliva: 1 Minute of boost at X50 increase per milliliter.
Blood: 1 Minute of boost at X150 increase per milliliter. If stained or mixed into dyes, paints, ect, will boost effects of magic used with them by X145 Increase.
Semen/Vaginal Fluid: 5 Minutes of boost at X200 increase per milligram.
Flesh(Muscle/Organs): 30 Minutes of boost at X500 boost per gram. Same rules apply for Skin if used as magical materials but at X400.
Bone: 1 Hour of boost at X1,000 per milligram. If used as a magical ingredient, object magic is boosted by X1,000 as well.
Soul: 24 Hours of boost at X50,000 per sliver. If used in Core Repair or magic enchantments/crafting, items will be boosted with X25,000. Soul takes one week to regenerate slivers.]
"Huh…that's…interesting." I admitted.
Tina whistled. "That's impressive… Does it stack?"
"Based on prior experience… yes…" Micheal said.
"I was making these little blood based capsules that others could inject and get the boost but I never got to make very many." Gallon shrugged.
"That makes sense." I nodded. "Would probably still be tough to get enough here as well."
"Well, we have a lot coming up, a lot planned, and all kinds of op stuff to get." Tina said.
"Let's start tomorrow." Gallon said. "Gives us time to prepare."
"And me time to plan cause I'm gonna go through a lot of this." Micheal added.
"Yeah…there's a lot of things to think about."
With a nod, Micheal and Gallon went to their room. Tina went to her room with Lovely, and I sat on the couch in the livingroom.
"Hey." I looked over, seeing Cream walk in. She sat on the couch next to me. "How was your day?"
"It was a day." I shrugged. "How was your day?"
"Usual. Did some shopping." She shrugged. "You've been away for a while."
"Sorry about that, just had…quite a few things to do." I admitted. "Did some shopping myself, looked around a Nokori town and…well, Micheal got an upgraded Title."
"Really? That's cool. So you'll be out and about more then?"
"Getting stronger, doing my job as a guard…have to find a teacher to teach me whatever the hell Sun Breathing is…got a lot of stuff to do."
"Right…"
I sighed. "I know…but there's a lot to do and I need to get it all done soon…especially if I'm going to be searching for Diamond."
"I know… I know…" She sighed, and I noticed her eyeing my wings and new talons.
"What up?" I inquired. "I've had wing's before and…my new talons are a…change I will admit."
"I guess I just… still don't find them real." She said, putting a hoof to my wings. "I've felt your wings before. They were… different. And now, you have six and… well, eight including these." She said, giving a light tap to the ones on my head. "And these…" She said, taking my talons in her hooves. "You've been changed against your will… I know Cheat more or less did the same but the option to revert was always there… like this… it's not…"
"Yeah…and I just got her back but she's….only a passenger at this point." I said, gently holding her hoof with my talon. "This is…a lot I have to go through…but Diamond wanted me to be like this for a reason, and I'm still searching for the bastard she's working with…only thing stopping me is proof with who I still think it is…"
"I just… what happened to her? Did becoming a Time Walker change her that much?"
"I…I don't know…" I shook my head. "And I want to get answers…but sadly the only one that's kind of given me answers I've personally told to fuck off, I'm gonna do my own thing and not play his game."
"Right…" She sighed.
"So many things keep happening…but know that I'll always be here for you and everyone else." I said softly.
"... I know…"
"What's wrong?" I asked softly. "Besides my new form."
"... I guess it's just a lot. All the stress and these new things that have happened to you… All that's happened… what will… It's just… hard. I don't know how you do it. Just… keep going."
"Because I have to." I admitted. "I have to be strong for myself and the ones I love. Even if I want to break…even if I want to just crawl into bed and not leave for a good few years…I have to do this…I need to be strong."
"... Even if it keeps you away from us again?"
"I…I don't want to be away from you again…those ten years were brutal on me." I shook my head. "But life hates me and want's to keep me away from family for some reason…"
"So… if you have to… you'll go again?"
"If I have to go…I doubt I'll truly have a choice in the matter." I admitted.
"Well… then I guess I'll see you around the house when you are here…" Cream sighed, getting off the couch and heading to the hallway.
I sat there for a while… then laid on the couch…
I took a deep breath and put my palms over my eyes and groaned. "Come on…why can't life just be fucking simple for once?" I mentally groaned.
"Okay! I am over caffeinated, sleep deprived but I made a game plan! Words I never said before in my life!" Micheal said, some bags under his eyes holding up a composite notebook with the words 'Reasonable Ability Goals' written on the front.
"He legit did not sleep at all last night." Gallon said. "Last time he did that was when we found a warehouse where they apparently kept a whole lot of unreleased games that were gonna hit the market but, well, Event stopped that."
"Heh, sounds appropriate." Tina nodded.
"Alright, so I'm surprised words on the notebook were coherent and not in some strange new language he invented in his caffeinated sleep deprived brain."
"Har har." Micheal huffed. "Well, first off on this list is Tina."
"Cool, is this for that Copy Cat Ability?" She asked.
"Nope. One I found that's even easier. Transpite. Basically it lets you force evolve your body to best fit a dramatic shift in environment and you can retain those evolutionary changes and change between them at will."
"Neat." I nodded. "Depending on how that works you can get some pretty neat abilities from it."
"It's almost like the ultimatrix." Gallon chuckled.
"Huh… wonder how that would even affect us?" Micheal hummed. "Anyway, this one will be easy for you Tina. All you need to do is devour ten enemies five times your size."
"Oh that should be easy enough." Tina shrugged. "Plus I could become a Howling Zinogre by all that logic."
"What's a Howling Zinogre?" I inquired.
"A Howling Zinogre is the Zenith of all Zinogre's, the strongest bar none after fighting and surviving for a long time." Tina explained.
"Neat. So I spent some time looking into how to accomplish this. You are rather big. And after a few trips to a New Foundation portal facility got a list of their guarded settlements and the zones they inhabit. I found a perfect candidate for this in Macropolase."
"And that is?" Gallon asked.
"As the name implies all enemies in this zone are anywhere from three to fifty times the normal size and therefore strength." Micheal said.
"Woah."
"Bright side the loot they drop is multiplied based on their size and this applies to any normal animals that can be hunted in this zone."
"Then you're going to need like…ten of these." I said, handing Tina ten of the really good item multiplier trinket's. "And yes…they stack."
"Cool… uh, this is gonna feel a bit awkward though…" Tina said, putting on three around her neck and managing to tie the rest around her arms and tail.
"Right. Now let's go!" Micheal said.
We warped there from the Portal Hub the New Foundation has, the area we ended up in was a city full of towering, ruined skyscrapers. Outside this settlement I could see some of those giant enemies and yeah… some were very big…
"Well…certainly lives up to the name." I admitted.
"Yup." Tina nodded. I did notice her… lick her lips.
"Alright so some of these monsters are also pretty strong so, Gallon, you know what to do." Micheal said.
Gallon nodded, pulling a small knife from their Assistant. "So… you want me to just bleed into your mouth or in a cup?"
"That sounds very wrong even with context…" Tina said. "Uh, cup I guess."
Gallon nodded, pulling out a small plastic cup from their Assistant and then cut along their hand. Their blood dripping into the cup for a while until a large sips worth was in there. Once there was he quickly drank a healing potion, the wound sealing up.
"Welp… cheers." He said, handing the cup to Tina.
"Cheers." Tina said, taking the cup and downing the blood.
"And with that, I shall also do this." I said, activating Loop to start the bonus snowball to roll here.
With that, we got to Work.
Tina managed her first kill of some giant six legged rabbit monster. Rather fitting. The loot multiplier necklaces all working and getting her even more of the drops.
Her second kill was some giant cyclops.
Her third kill was a giant praying mantis.
Fourth a giant three headed bull with magic.
And so on and so forth.
It took some hours, but Tina killed and ate all ten monsters. Her reward was Transpite.
During that time, Micheal got a good nap in.
"Alright…" Micheal yawned. "Next up, Gallon."
"Sweet! What am I getting?" Gallon asked.
"Out of all these Legendary Abilities I found, this one was the easiest for you to get and the most useful. It's called Amplify. Basically it works Amplifying the effects of your abilities power based around your MP. In your case, with my Custody boost your Abilities get Amplified by 12,000%, meaning your Body's Gift Ability gets one hell of an upgrade…"
"Okay yeah that is incredibly overpowered for Gallon." Tina nodded.
"Yeah…also, didn't you say you had Consume Tina?" I inquired, which she nodded. "What kinda things did you get from it?"
"Well, besides my muscle and bone density going up a shit ton…I got a speed boost from devouring that rabbit, toughness from the Cyclops…I can produce mantis like blades from my arms so that's cool…I can use Magic easier from that Three Headed bull…and a whole lot more" Tina explained. "Yeah I got quite a bit."
"Awesome." I nodded. "So, what's Gallon gotta do to get Amplify?"
"He needs to use a power boosting ability at least twenty times. With Tina he just used that once already." Micheal said.
"... I can think of nineteen much more fun ways to get that counter full~" Gallon said, giving Micheal a perverse grin.
"Well, just remember to drink plenty of fluid if you have to do it nineteen times." I chuckled.
"... I'm still too tired to reply to that in kind…" Micheal sighed.
"Is that a yes?" Gallon asked.
"... Fine. But only because it's you and, well, it has been a while…" Micheal said, now red as a cherry.
"I got some lubes you can have. Unopened." Tina said with a grin of her own.
"And I have some stamina potions, also unopened, to help keep you two going for a good while." I said with my own grin.
"You three are enjoying this more than you should…" Micheal groaned, then yawned.
"Oh I know I'm gonna enjoy it~" Gallon teased, giving Micheal a quick kiss.
"Pfft. Ever the horny teen energy with you." Micheal said, managing a laugh.
And so, we went home. I got Micheal and Gallon a small but cozy pop up RV and let them pick a place in the Planet Room in the house.
I spent this time trying to help around the house. Took two days but they eventually came back. Gallon was grinning, Micheal was rather red, and-
"What do you mean you got another Legendary Ability?!" Tina and I practically screamed.
"It uh… just appeared…" Micheal said in a hushed, embarrassed tone.
"Heh, Micheal getting the best RNG in the world. Just like back home." Gallon said with a small laugh and a smile.
"Alright…so what's the Legendary Ability?" I asked carefully. "Cause if it's named 'Seed Collector' I'm gonna flip." I said, seeing Micheal blush even brighter at the name I gave it.
"N-no! Nothing like that! It's called Township and… it let's me make settlements, towns, upgrade existing ones and even keep track of town citizens…" Micheal said.
"Yet another game genre you loved." Gallon laughed.
"And here I thought I was the town bicycle." Tina joked.
I laughed. "I'm sorry, but it's just…a bit too coincidental that you got Township after getting stuffed harder than a Thanksgiving turkey there."
"H-hey!" Micheal huffed.
"Oh don't worry… we took turns~" Gallon said, Micheal covering their face with their head wings, back wings and hands.
"So that's what took so long." Tina laughed.
"Let me guess, the shower also needs to be cleaned out given at least one of you doesn't look like a bloated mess?" I asked.
"Please stop…" Micheal begged pitifully. Gallon just gave his husband a hug.
"Alright, alright." I said with a raised hand. "We'll stop."
"Even if you are just so adorable." Tina giggled.
"I am not!" Micheal huffed.
"Yes you are." Gallon chuckled, still hugging Micheal.
I looked at the two with a smile…but my own heart ached as these two would always be together…while I was…"So…what Legendary Ability am I going to get?"
Micheal took a moment to compose themselves. They were still blushing red but they pulled out their notebook. "Well, the best one for you is this one, it's called Hatred."
"Gee, fitting for what I'm going for." I admitted. "So, what's it do and how do I get it?"
"When fighting someone you hate with your whole being, you deal triple damage with your attacks and take half as much damage from your opponent. And, well, how you get it is… it says you have to… self mutilate one hundred times…"
"I…Micheal, I can't, especially when you'd suffer just as much as me." I said worriedly. "Isn't there anything else?"
"I told you, I only feel it if you die. And the only other easy ability you could get is called Agony, and you have to spend a decade in a personal mental hell."
"The fuck? What does that do that makes it worth doing that?!" Tina asked.
"It… makes it so each time you are in pain, physical or emotional your stats increase… the more painful the experience the more your stats increase and they're permanent." Micheal said.
"No, Micheal, you're remembering it wrong, you gain stats when people die…but with Immortals you share the pain." I said, having that specific point stuck in my head which was why I didn't fully want this and was scared by it. "And…just to prove my point." I said, bringing my talon up and stabbing my right arm with my sharp talons as I wanted everyone to know what's going to happen before I get to wondering about Agony.
Micheal grit his teeth, his arm, the right arm, shook a bit.
"... That's one…" Micheal managed to say.
I pulled my talon's out as the lava healing started as I hissed in pain from it. "And the feeling of molten lava on your arm?"
"... I actually don't feel that…" Micheal said.
"And you just lucked out." I frowned.
"Maybe that's because while it is painful it's healing you, not damaging you?" Tina offered.
"That would make sense." Micheal said, flexing his right arm some.
"Great…" I grumbled. "So…ninety nine more times…" I said carefully.
"Yeah… suffering together…"
I nodded… and began.
It took a whole day. Taking regular breaks to make sure Micheal could recover…
In the end, I got Hatred… were it not for Gallon being there I don't think Micheal could have held out till the end.
"Okay… okay…" Micheal breathed. "I uh… think I can… feel my body again…"
"Don't do that again…" Gallon asked.
"Heh… no promises hun… like I told Button… Pain is gonna be part of this stuff. Better to be used to it than not…"
"At least you didn't feel like molten lava was constantly burning you every waking moment…" I admitted carefully. "So…next up is Agony…" I said. "Now…does it mean I have to spend an actual decade or a decade in this mental hell? Cause I'd rather not waste another ten years…"
"An actual decade. Hence why Hatred was the better option."
"Oh then fuck that, I'm not wasting ten more years of my life." I frowned.
"I figured. Well, for you those are the easy ones. The rest are really specific and… odd." Micheal said.
"Well…might as well ask, what do I need to do to get Starfish Clone?" I asked, cause if I could just get a clone to be with my family I'd feel a little better about all this.
"... You don't wanna know." Micheal said.
"I'd like to, what kind of nonsense did I randomly pull to try and get it?"
"Trust me… you don't want to know…" Micheal repeated.
"How bad is it that me spending ten years in my own personal hell is fair in comparison?"
"Two words. Porn tags."
"Wow. How bad is it on a scale of one to ten?" Tina asked.
"Easy ten."
"What the hell…" I muttered. "Yeah…yeah of course the one thing…" I growled, before shaking my head. "Whatever…so we each got a nifty new Legendary Ability each."
"So it seems." Micheal sighed.
"So… what now?" Tina asked.
"We take the day off… then tomorrow go out on something I've been wanting to do for a while." Micheal said.
"That's fair." I nodded. "You especially need to recover after all of that."
With that, we all went to do our own things.
I walked into the kitchen, seeing Sweetie cooking something.
"Hey Button." She greeted but kept her eyes on the skillet she was cooking on.
"Hey Sweetie, how you doing?" I inquired.
"I'm alright… Cream's been a bit down lately."
"Yes…I know…" I said carefully.
"I figured." She nodded, stirring the dish.
"What are you cooking?"
"Egg and fried rice. It's filling and Jada only wants to eat quick and easy meals so she can keep training for the next tournament."
"She needs to take a break and take care of herself that's what she needs to do." I stated.
"Well, she's following your example." Sweetie said.
"I take breaks." I huffed.
"In between exhausting missions and painful training."
"Yeah, that's a great excuse for Jada to ruin her life and harm herself for days on end while I'm doing my job and trying to get stronger to make sure DG's bullshit doesn't hurt any of you."
"She's still young Button. These tournaments mean the world to her. Yes I wish she'd remember to take better care of herself but it's also how she copes."
"Self harm is not 'coping'." I stated bluntly. "The tournaments meaning the world to her…sure, I understand, I was like that when I was growing up, but there's a point where 'coping' leads to 'obsessive denial' and I don't want that to happen to her." I stated. "And this…it's starting to get to that point if not already there."
"Well she just lost a mother that she's known since infancy leave without so much as a goodbye, her father she reconnected with after being gone for ten years hasn't even spoken to her outside catching her at her doctors appointment while he was there for an entirely unrelated matter, and of course, you're spending less and less time home." Sweetie sighed. "You promised you'd stay… that you'd make up for all that lost time…"
"Well apparently I'm never allowed to, I'm never allowed to have time for my family, I'm never allowed to be happy, and whenever I try to do the thing's I mean to and promise reality just tells me to go fuck myself I'm not allowed to enjoy anything." I explained. "I'm not allowed to get strong at my own pace, I need to be forcefully turned this," I motioned to all of me. "I'm not allowed to be with family cause one's on the run because of her job and the Family themselves are personally threatening my family, I'm not allowed…anything…" I teared up. "But no…all I do is keep breaking promises when all I want is to be here for you all when I…I'm not allowed to…"
"Who says you're not allowed to? DG? If I recall you said he made you an offer… and you chose to fight…"
"That's because he threatened to hurt all of you, and I don't know when it'll happen…it could be today, it could be tomorrow, who the fuck know's."
"And what if he was lying to mess with you and make you mess your own life up?"
"Because he said that he was going to attack us anyways whether Diamond did a thing or not." I answered, shaking my head as I'm going through a lot of shit and pain and…just having it be ignored cause I could be doing something else when I don't have the time to do it…
"... So, what should we do?" Sweetie asked. "What do we do when you have to leave again for another ten years or more? What do we do when keeping us safe means you leave us?"
I looked at Sweetie…"I don't know…I don't know, I'll never know, and at this point I just have to wonder why any of you put up with me, think I'm worth it when all I do is fail, abandon all of you, and am just the biggest piece of shit this side of this Mother forsaken planet." I said weakly. "Cause at this point I'm not worth anything really…just a kid struggling against too much with no time and everyone slipping away from me…"
"So, a dungeon." Tina said as she looked at the building before us. It was some large hotel.
"Yeah. It's a trial dungeon." Micheal said. "When looking up the area I got a map with lots of them we beat it in under three hours we get a bunch of rare items and even Skill Points."
I walked past all of them as I activated Loop. "Let's just get this over with." I said carefully.
As I was heading inside I paused… what was that noise?
"Is anyone else hearing that or is it just me?" Tina asked.
"I don't hear anything." Gallon said.
"Me neither. What's it sound like?" Micheal asked.
It sounds like…
… explosions…
"Explosions…" I said, as my eyes widened. "We need to move, now!"
"Button look!" Tina said. She pointed out in the distance… towards home I saw, from here they were thin trails of black smoke…
DG's attack has begun…
"No…no no no…" I muttered, my fists clenching. "We need to get back now! Micheal doesn't that Township thing have some form of teleporting for all of us?"
"No, but I used it and took a list of your family. So far it says they're all still fine." Micheal said as we booked it to the ship we flew here on.
"I fucking knew this was going to happen…I fucking knew it!"
"Button calm down, at least keep yourself from melting out ship!" Tina brought up, as I knew my fire was with my rage…
"I know…this fucking sucks…"
"Save the 'I told you so's' for after we make sure our home isn't in ruins." Gallon said.
The flight took minutes but it felt like hours. Gallon gave Tina and I some of his blood to boost us.
Once we were close enough I saw the massive hole in the wall. A few of the infected around.
I ran inside, seeing New Foundation shooting at infected that entered and escorted civilians to evacuation areas.
As I ran through the streets I came across a street filled with the mangled corpses of New Foundation MTF… in the center of it was… he wore a white shirt with all black vest, pants and dress shoes. A red tie hung loose around his neck, his dark green and black hair was a bit unkept, and he was muttering while writing in a notebook.
"And who the hell are you?" I growled, donning my armor and ready to fight this bastard. "And what are you doing here?"
He looked up from his notebook, turning and looking at me… he was human… and he looked like a kid! He couldn't be older than fourteen!
"Huh? Hmm…" He hummed as he flipped through his notebook. "Ah. Yes here you are. Button Mash. Threat class S. Legendary Ability, Loop, recently fused Nokori with Symbiote Berserker Armor, Blades of Chaos Symbiote weapons, a Synthetic Symbiote, a Basic Symbiote and a Super Volcano Phoenix…" He said, reading from that notebook.
"Listen kid, I have no idea who you are, but you either need to evacuate or I have to fight you, which is it?"
"Oh, sorry." He said, giving me a bow. "My name is Deku. A pleasure." He said, giving another bow before closing that notebook of his. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait your turn around and leave. My partner is looking for someone that can be of great use to us."
"And I'm not having a good day right now, so who are you looking for and why are you doing this?" I growled, taking a step forward as I was just about ready to tear this kid apart for helping cause all this bullshit.
"He is the unwanted son of the Lust Guild Leader David Alchem. Our Intel states he resides here, and as someone's Breeder at that. How pitiful, reducing a Hacker to such a lowly thing. But I suppose with the new Pills on the market he was obsolete anyway."
"What group are you from?" I asked. "And how do you know these things?"
"Intel gathering is my specialty. As for our group, that's quite simple. My partner and I are part of the remnants of a long dismantled guild, The Majority. We have but one goal and one goal alone. To bring permanent death to everyone under The Mother's stars."
"Then I don't feel bad about what I'm going to do." I said, given the amount of time that past plus the boost and my own rage having grown a lot I leaped forward and slashed my Chaos Blade at the bastard.
He raised an arm, his skin turning like stone at my blades cut in but stopped maybe halfway.
"Interesting. You actually damaged me." Deku said, seemingly unphased by the attack, but his arm was shaking. "You're stronger than my Intel stated. I'll have to have a word with my info broker about this…" He said, his arm suddenly becoming four as his three other arms managed to push me off. Once my blades were out I noticed his wound heal rapidly.
Is he immortal? No… no… that was just advanced regeneration and self healing abilities…
"And I only get stronger…" I growled, hating this rat bastard so much, acting like just some dumbass informant as he was only here with his 'partner'...this bastard not only wanted to help hurt my town, my family, but also take what's mine…I hate him…I lunged again and swung down even harder.
"Again with this?" He asked, his arm turning like stone again but also becoming coated in what looked like metal. I cleaved through it, slashing down his torso as and knocked him back into a building.
"And that's only the beginning ya fuck!" I snapped angrily.
"I see my Intel was very shoddy then." I heard them say. They walked out of the rubble, their arm I hacked off back was regrown. His body then sparked and glowed with a dark green electricity. "I suppose if you want something done right you should do it yourself." He said, raising a leg as he spun on his heel. "Full Cowling, five percent."
He swung his leg across the air, and the blast force it created nearly blew me away. I stayed still my anchoring my blades to the ground. Much of the buildings behind me were leveled.
"Is that all you got?" I growled.
"If you insist." He nodded, curling one hand into an O shape and putting his other hand behind it, palm side facing through the O. "Explosion, AP shot, ten percent One For All Boost."
I dodged the first shot, the explosion behind me nearly knocking me forward… the second one hit.
I felt my armor crack and regenerate, shit… hope Micheal is safe and far away…
The third and fourth shots I managed to dodge as well, the explosions from their impacts leveling blocks of the neighborhood.
"Right…" I muttered, digging my feet into the ground as I dashed towards the bastard again and let out a flurry of attacks against him.
He dodged and evaded, fast and nimble as he-
"Gah!" I gasped, a shadowy form erupting from his stomach and upper cutting me away. I felt my jaw crack and the heat from the healing kick in to fix the damage.
Sorry Micheal…
I rolled back up, seeing that shadow thing was attached to him. "Dark Shadow, thirteen percent One for All Boost."
"That's…interesting…" I muttered carefully, as I spread my wings and flapped a gust of flame towards him, hearing the Shadow thing shriek at the sudden bright light from the flames as I leaped forward for a spiked dive kick.
He kneeled down, touching the ground as-
"Gah!" I coughed… blood pooling as several spikes of earth rose up and impacted me.
"Overhaul, ten percent One for All Boost." Deku said before standing and quickly placing a hand to my face. "Decay, thirty percent One for All Boost."
Before I could react… I felt my armor, skin and bones dry, not akin to a hot day in a dry environment… followed by darkness. The feeling of being rendered to ash was agony and I was still somehow conscious for this.
I felt my body, the parts not turned to dust burst in magma, and as I regenerated I screamed.
I am so sorry Micheal!
"Interesting. Your Immortality is quite a useful skill."
All this Agony…all this Pain…my friend going through this exact thing…so many people suffering…and all this fucker can do is talk like this is some science project!? I grabbed him by the neck as I felt myself burning hotter from my rage. "This…isn't some fucking game." I growled, melting away the pillar I was attached to as I choke slammed the stupid kid. "This is my City, these are My people, and you will suffer because of it!" I shouted, raising my fist and just slamming it down into his head as hard and fast as I could, even as the ground cracked and cratered underneath the both of us.
"Is it not wrong to want to end suffering?" He asked, putting his right hand on me. I felt a chill that broke through my flames as I was covered in ice. I managed to back up, seeing he was half covered in frost and ice was forming around him. "Suffering is what the Majority, the founder, wished to inflict before ending it when his victims were broken shells. We simply wish to end suffering before it can be prolonged. Would everyone's suffering not end if they were to all die like they did before The Mother changed the laws of nature?"
"And this is helping end suffering!?" I snapped, motioning around to everything. "All this destruction, all this carnage, all this needless, pointless death and violence all to placate some bullshit about 'ending suffering'? Please tell me your joking cause if your not then I'm gonna need you to shut your fucking mouth you actual useless sack of shit."
"Which is why we need a Hacker. Only Void Admins, Time Walker's and Level Five Dungeon Monsters and bosses can perma kill. Our founder found a bypass and was imprisoned for his discovery, and the technique to make the weapon made impossible to replicate by The Mother's word. If we can not end suffering in the normal means, nor the way our founder created, then we must find a new way." He said, his body sparking with that dark green lightning again.
"And you won't find a new way." I growled, melting away the ice as I stomped towards him. "All your spouting is a bunch of bullshit of a crybaby, thinking that 'death is the solution' when you're just a band of weak feeble fucks that think some stupid death cult will solve all your problems." I growled. "And you will know suffering with what I'm going to do to you."
"I know suffering." He said, rushing me. We clashed. Fire met ice… he then sparked with more green lightning, then electricity. Various energies swirled around him before he raised his hands up at me. "Combination Quirk. Rotting Explosion, fifty percent One for All Boost."
The explosion hit me head on.
My body decayed, regenerated but decayed again to regenerate. Over. And over. And over.
It felt like hell.
It was hell.
I don't know how many times this one attack of his killed me but it finally stopped after some time.
"Fascinating." Deku said. "Phoenix regeneration really is- Gah!" He said.
I looked up, seeing Blades of Chaos impaling him through his neck and torso. The blades were burning white hot.
I looked back… Micheal?
He was standing easily at Tina's height, his wings were huge and made of pure magma, and his eyes were burning white hot.
"M-Micheal?" I asked weakly. "Wh-what happened?"
"Turns out… each time you die, Final Thanks effects stack." He said. Oh… "You died twenty three times, in case you were wondering."
Then that means… he basically got my skills, abilities and powers at twenty three times power…
I grinned. This kid is fucked.
Micheal sent pure magma down his blades, hitting Deku and melting them to ash and burned human flesh and bones. As happy as that made me, It annoyed me that he didn't scream.
"Alright…that's great, but also we need to hurry, they're after one of my people." I said quickly.
"Tina and Gallon are already there. Plus according to Township all your family members are alright. Map shows they're all in another New Foundation settlement. Looks like they all evacuated in time."
"Is Yuri still on that list?" I asked quickly. "That's who they were looking for, and the bitch had a partner…"
"Yeah." Micheal nodded.
"If he did then they're not here anymore." Tina said as she arrived, in her feral form with Gallon on her back.
"House looked ransacked but everyone was gone." Gallon added.
"I caught their scent but it cuts off just outside the hole in the wall. Guess they left while you were fighting that villain Deku." Tina said.
"Alright." I nodded. "Thank Mother…and…I'm so sorry Micheal…" I said sadly.
"It's alright… after the fifth time I got a bit numb to it… thankfully this also loans me your healing factor cause I'm pretty sure that was me going into shock…" He said. "Still… wasn't expecting this."
"How long are you gonna be like that?" Tina asked.
"Uh… well the time limit also stacks so… eleven, almost twelve hours."
"Well that's…good to know." I admitted. "I…still didn't want to die that many times and put you through all that pain…"
"I know. But I accepted this as a possibility when I put you under my Custody. Still, I plan on going to so much therapy when this wears off… until then though I am going to live out a wild power fantasy. At least until my sanity catches back up with me. Come on Gallon let's go clear dungeons!" Micheal said as he headed back towards the hole in the wall.
"... I am so bottoming before he turns back." Gallon said as he jumped and flew after Micheal.
"Don't forget to upgrade fire resistance!" I called out to Gallon.
"If I get burns they'll be worth it!" He called back.
"Heh… well, all in all, this turned out well… town is… more or less destroyed but the family is okay. We all survived DG's attack from his death cult pawns." Tina said as she sat down next to me.
"Yeah…everything…thankfully worked out for the best…" I said, falling flat on my back. "This…this still fucking sucks…"
"Yeah… but hey, a win is a win. Still, from all that I expected Tiara meant for you to beat them getting this power… but Micheal dealt the killing blow because of his Custodian, Final Thanks insanity."
I chuckled. Yeah… still… if Tiara never turned me into this, then I wouldn't have survived those attacks to end up giving him those stacking effects… even before, twice powerful pre Nokori me might not… no, would not have been enough for fighting that guy…
And Tiara knew that… and acted ahead…
"I'm still not strong enough…" I said weakly. "Only reason I'm here…is because Tiara forcing this on me, and even then I could barely scrape half his strength…"
"True… but, thanks to Micheal, you know how strong you have to be to beat that asshole next time." Tina pointed out. "He gained a twenty three times stack of your power, so, now you know how much stronger to get."
"But I can't…" I said. "I can't do it, cause if I do then I'll just be abandoning my family…I don't want to abandon them, but life just wants to show me I don't have a choice in this…"
"Hey. Today was a win. Take it. We'll figure things out later, alright?"
I sighed… I want to-
"Button Mash?" I looked up and over. I saw an elderly human male, he was surrounded by MFT Agents all in much more advanced armors and weapons than the standard. "It's good to see you're here and alive."
"Hi there…and who are you sir?" I asked, sitting up and wondering why this old man wanted to see me.
"I am O5-1." He introduced. I blinked… the head of the New Foundation. Correction, the head of the heads of the New Foundation… is talking to me. "We have much to discuss."
"Sir, I swear I didn't do it." I said quickly and nervously like a child getting caught…which made the head laugh at my statement.
"Nonsense. These things regrettably happen. We have protocols that help prevent casualties amongst civilians." He waved off. "Come. The rebuilding teams will be here shortly." He motioned. I followed.
He led me to a table that was decorated with some fine cloth and a tea set. He sat in one chair, and motioned for me to sit in the other.
I sat down in the offered chair. "And…what do you want to discuss sir?" I asked nervously.
"Several things." He said, pouring himself and me some tea before taking a quick sip. "Firstly, your Custodian friend. Micheal."
"Yes, Perfect Custodian is a bit busted and he still has half a days worth of my powers amplified over my twenty three deaths." I nodded. "Since all that stacks…"
"Yes. Custodians are rather rare. Tell me, do you know about the unlisted benefits of Perfect Custodian and it's Final Thanks ability?"
"Micheal is currently having a power trip fueled dungeon run at the moment because of what I assume is what you'reyou're talking about."
O5-1 shook his head. "No. Close, but not quite." He said, taking a breath. "There is an unwritten benefit to Final Thanks and Custodian. You see, by it's nature, Custodian acts as a form of… taking magic, and as such Micheal could easily tame wild monsters and animals. They can grow and get strong, but should these animals die, any powers and abilities they have are transferred to their Custodian at the twice effective bonus… permanently. This also applies if a person under their custody dies from a permadeath."
I blinked. "Huh…that's…pretty cool." I said. "Can someone be under two Custodians buff effects or just the one?" I inquired.
"Just the one I believe. But on that topic, I have some things for you. Both gifts, as requested by your Tiara."
"...What are the gifts, and where is she?" I asked carefully.
"First, a letter." He said, handing me from his shirt pocket a small folded piece of paper. "Second, this." He snapped his fingers. One of the MTF's brought over a large metal and glass canister holding what looked to be a ball of energy of sorts.
An Ability?
Confused, I opened the letter first.
[Button, if you're reading this, then the attack has passed and you're alive. I'm sorry. I know I made you think you were the one to finish the fight, but I couldn't tell you details because I knew how'd you react. Right now as you read this Micheal is probably enjoying himself and the power fantasy.
The Ability in the capsule is called Fast Travel. Before you open and take it for yourself, wait. Give it to Micheal. It will combine with the Township ability he got while being… while having fun with Gallon when they were getting that one Ability.
The two will combine to create a combination Ability called Frontier. It will allow Micheal to create portal based outposts only his township residents can use. Meaning no one can use them that we don't want using them. This will allow you to also expand and explore and grow more without having to leave the family behind, because with Micheal there, you always have a means to go back home.
I know this all seems convoluted and odd, but I promise, when this is all over, things will… well, they won't be normal, but they'll be better.
Sincerely, Tiara.]
"...So why couldn't she just give Micheal Fast Travel herself?" I asked, as this letter was pretty much only about Micheal and only had some slight sprinkling of me being involved.
"Because the Ability was in my custody. What she has done already makes her wanted by the New Foundation for working with a high ranking member of Violence. She didn't want to add theft to her charges as well." O5-1 chuckled. "I remember the Majority Guild. Back in Era One in those early years their power rivaled and even surpassed Nexus."
"Well that parts concerning…so why send me this letter of she just wanted to ask you to make Micheal more special?" I asked, feeling like some unimportant middle man here.
"Because I need to explain things." He chuckled again, taking another sip of his tea. "You see, in all my years I have seen much. People like Micheal are rare, and now Tiara told me two more similar to him will appear in the world soon enough."
"And do you want me to find them or what?" I asked, as part of me still wonders why I'm the one being talked to here when I'm not the special one Diamond wanted to help.
"No need, they have their places and their roles to play. I know what you are thinking. 'Why am I here when the special one is elsewhere?'." O5-1 said with a smirk. "Because for all a Custodian is, they are, for a fact, rather powerless alone. What makes them special isn't so much the abilities they get but the Custody's they keep. I'm sure you noticed that all their abilities largely benefit their custody's, yes?"
"Yes, I do notice it being a big support theme set of abilities…but at least the letter is making me wonder why she bothered when it practically only talked about Micheal getting more things."
"Yes. More things that support you. I believe you were having that trouble at home with your mates and children wanting you home more." He said, making me blink. "I'm an O5. And O5-1 at that. If I want to know something I'll know it." He laughed. "Point is, you're looking at this from the wrong direction. Everything Tiara is doing she does to help you in some way, with problems you otherwise can't solve alone. So, she's getting your Custodian ready to help you when you won't ask for it. It's what they do, they take care of those in their Custody, it's in their nature."
"While that solves travel time, it doesn't solve the breathtakingly large power gap here…" I admitted.
"Yes, that is a problem, but your travel time issue is also how you will solve your power gap issue."
"How so?" I inquired.
"I believe the letter spoke for it best. 'Go, explore and grow without needing to leave the family behind'. Basically, it's rather impossible to grow in power more when stuck in one area. You need to travel, explore and grow, battle new enemies in new lands. As you do, you can drop an Outpost and always be home with your family for dinner." The old man laughed. "I believe the phrase is, you can have your cake and eat it too. It's why I agreed to what she asked of me that I'll be initiating as of today."
"Well…I suppose that works." I shrugged. "Just…too much keeps happening and I don't have enough time…"
"Heh. Isn't that always how it goes?" O5-1 sighed. "Once upon a time I believed that whole heartedly. Now, I've lived longer than this reality has existed, and sometimes I find myself wondering if I will ever run out of time. I spent so long thinking I had too little, and never enjoyed anything. Now, here I am, old, older than the dirt under us in fact, and while I have done much, I can't really say I enjoyed my life."
"Well…I suppose that's fair." I said carefully. "I…hope I can enjoy life here."
"You want my advice?"
"Any advice can help me with this giant mess I'm in."
"Firstly, reach way up into that ass of yours, find the stick that's stuck in there and yank it out." He said, making my jaw drop. "Second, you have to learn one very important thing. Armageddon is pure chaos, and sometimes the chaos is less than ideal, but you have to learn to enjoy the chaos and make it work in your favor. Believe it or not, there are some beautiful sights if you know where to look. Lastly, is to remember, life is a cold heartless bitch that will spit on your grave and ignore the fact you ever existed. So live life to spite this uncaring indifferent life and make it Life's problem. Hell take your new lava powers and literally burn your name across a whole zone if you want. Or, just find a nice lovely place to set up an Outpost and take your lovers there for a date every so often. This world nor this life is gonna hand you what you want, but you got a girl out there risking everything to do just that for you and if you want to make sure what she's doing ain't for nothing, live your life as best ya can and don't you dare leave behind regrets when Madness finally takes ya."
"Itll be hard to do that when I told DG to go fuck himself and his kill order on Diamond…" I admitted.
"Ha!" O5-1 laughed. "You actually told a member of The Family to go fuck themselves? And DG at that?!"
"I did when I learned Armageddon is their 'playground' and they were going to send other Time Walkers to kill Diamond for getting involved in said game." I frowned. "Especially when I had a bit of a crisis with my own free will when I became this thinking my life is just some predetermined bullshit that the Family is stringing along to do their good vs evil thing."
"Pfft. Yeesh. You really must hate the idea of peace and the concept of ignorance is bliss, don't ya?" O5-1 laughed. "But, heavy is the head that bears the knowledge of the world. No wonder you're wound up tighter than The Clockwork's."
"Life isn't some game you can make or break because you think it's funny." I frowned. "I understand why this world exists…but considering what I heard that people are being kidnapped and forced onto this world because the World Soul just wants friends and being forced into DG's games is…bad to say the least."
"Heh, no arguments here." He said, taking another sip of his tea and I did the same. "Which is why starting today you're the head of the new Expansion and Exploration division of the New Foundation."
I spit out my tea.
"E-e-excuse me what!?" I coughed, pounding my chest as the tea went down the wrong pipe there for a moment.
"You heard me. Like I'm gonna pass up abilities the likes your Custodian has, and this gets you into some easier work you can do and be back home for all the time, and you get to explore out and take on new dungeons, monsters, and most importantly, take settlement and compounds away from the likes of Nexus, Violence and Lust."
"Well…that sounds good." I nodded. "Gonna take a long as time though." I admitted.
"Yup. So buckle up buttercup. You're in this for the long haul." He chuckled.
"Yeah…long haul it will be." I admitted. "But where is everyone? Especially my family since the Majority wanted to capture Yuri."
"Everyone was evacuated to other settlements under our care for temporary housing til this place gets rebuilt."
"That's good." I nodded. "Everyone's safe and sound."
"Secure, Contain, Protect. These days it's mostly the first and last of that. Still, containing is still a large part of what we do." O5-1 said. "And we will make sure to take more measures to avoid another incident like this again."
"Thank you." I nodded. "Got a long road ahead of me…"