She was going insane.
No matter for how long she'd been here, the Backrooms didn't slow down its assault on her senses. Whether she had been alone or accompanied, there was always that one sound, that one feeling, that one sensation that relentlessly aggressed her.
At the beginning, it was that damn buzzing electrical noise. It wasn't enough to just endure it for hours with the only company being the rancid smell of an old carpet, nooo, she also had to deal with that ever presence of a looming threat still hanging over her head.
Then it was that drip. That perpetual drip that was just irregular enough to grate her ears. She welcomed the moments the light fell and the monsters attacked. They made for good practice to stay sharp.
It was followed by the echoing noises coming from the pipes. The first few times, it sounded like she was no longer alone. She used to check each time. And each time there was nothing to see. However, this world then decided to prove her wrong and threw a few bizarre entities made of clumped limbs at her. The abomination had barely been more than an inconvenience, but one dangerous enough to keep her on her toes.
A few… hours? Weeks? Some time later, she heard the sound of rippling water. Water never rippled on its own. There were no current, nothing justifying its movement. And yet, she could never see the cause of the rippling by herself.
Her reasoning continued. She didn't see anyone else. She knew that the others had ended here as well, but somehow, she could never find them. And that place was taunting her repeatedly by making her think that everyone was just slightly out of reach.
Granted, she wasn't always alone. Sometimes she met those… poor parodies of human lives eking out a living in this land. But they were not even really humans. They barely showed sentience, definitively no sapience, and, overall, they had nothing to offer her.
She missed her world. She missed her companions. She simply moved forward because that was the only thing she could do to increase the odds of finding them.
She considered letting a trail to tell them she passed here, but, deep down, that small voice told her that if they didn't leave her a trail, that was because they didn't want to be found. And she didn't want to be the one making them run that risk.
Still… she wanted to find them again. Loneliness was surprisingly more painful than every last one onslaught she had suffered in all her life. She simply couldn't acclimate herself to those Backrooms and always longed for her home, even as her own souvenirs of the place had become incredibly tenuous, almost abstract.
But first, she had to find her way again. She had no idea where she was in the first place, and what little info she had about how to change floor wasn't as helpful as she wanted. No matter where you were, and even with the perfect knowledge of how to reach the floor you wanted, there was still one little issue.
How were you supposed to find what you wanted in a place that could go for millions of kilometers?
Even if you were on the same floor, there was no guarantee to be anywhere near your destination. In all aspects, their benefactor had proven more than right about this place.
Of course, said benefactor had still left out a few too many details to her taste, but somehow, they had still taken her to her word. It might have been for the best, but it certainly was for the worst.
She shook her head and focused back. Her mind kept fusing in every direction, getting sidetracked by the smallest detail in an attempt to distract itself from this harrowing place.
An exit eventually arrived in sight. She didn't exult. She didn't even feel relieved. It was just a lead to troubles of a different nature. Even the discovery of a new strange, unique supernatural environment was barely enough to wake her up from her torpor.
And indeed, a new surreal world appeared in front of her the instant she crossed over the threshold. She tried to marvel at the scene of the endless ocean appearing in front of her. Instead, she simply ran in and started looking for the next exit.
Again.
Like she would do once she exited this floor.
Again.
And again.
Until she found them. One day.
Tamamo was perambulating, absolutely fuming. "Not only SOMEONE has toyed with us by throwing us in this dimension, but they're also actively messing with us… you felt it too, didn't you?"
Raphaela nodded. "They ran in your direction with Adramelech on their tail and brought her to you. She wasn't charging us. She was chasing something else. Something had deliberately tried to keep her hidden in an attempt to make sure that we wouldn't be able to react until Adramelech was right on top of us." She rested on her staff. "Unfortunately, further details about that teleportation completely elude me. The best I can say is that it wasn't a spell designed by The Goddess."
"I'm not completely sure how it worked either, and I couldn't track its destination…" Tamamo growled. "This is just another taunt from an entity that thinks she's invincible because she's out of our reach. When I'll find her, I'll destroy her mind so thoroughly she will beg for the sweet release of death."
"I would rather leave this place than try to claim vengeance on that entity."
"And I will get both!" Tamamo slowly breathed in and out, pulling out her fan to refresh herself. "But you have a very good point. We should first focus on exiting this place and then come back more properly prepared. However, I originally relied on leaving through the way apoptosis came from, but we both saw that their portal would lead us absolutely nowhere. There are other exits, but…" Tamamo snapped her fingers.
Ben stepped forward. "There are several possible exits, but so far most of them have been untested. Rumors are that there are even singularities on this very floor that can lead one back to their own world, but so far all of them have been disproved, sometimes at a great cost…" He sighed. "A few lower floors have been confirmed as exits, but we didn't get any feedback from those that actually left the Backrooms through them, to say nothing of simply reaching them."
"Will you accompany us to them?"
Raphaela gasped in shock at Tamamo's proposal. Ben scratched the back of his head and turned toward Sam. The large man nodded.
"Yes. This is going to be a long way, however, and as I said, even reaching them is incredibly random." Sam questioned the two remaining human companions. "Leo?"
"Yes! I mean, yeah, I'm ready to help them as much as they need."
Figure…
"And what does the novice think of it?"
Jack just shrugged. Something in the behavior of the man ticked Raphaela off.
"Perfect. In that case…" He made an invitation gesture with his hand toward Ben.
Ben pulled out his notebook. "The best plan is to look for a singularity on this floor to directly bring us to a deeper one. If we noclip to the first floor, then we might just end up having to cross several more levels before we can remotely approach them. It can take some time, but the alternative requires us once again to go through an unwelcoming selection of places I'd wish to avoid, and that's not even considering the city."
"Good. How about we take the opportunity to rest a little?" Tamamo's voice took a seductive tone. "You must be exhausted after that harsh battle, and I wouldn't mind a night of sleep in good company myself to relieve aaaaall that stress." She used her tails to bring the four men closer.
Raphaela disapprovingly clicked her tongue, but she agreed. Driving their human companion to exhaustion would just increase their chance of dying before they fulfilled the grand design of the goddess.
Besides, she had her own examination to do.
Raphaela carefully waited for the sound made by Tamamo's nightly activity to die down before getting up. At this point, it was just a drop in the bucket, but she still wanted to take a look in the mind of the man named Jack to sate her own curiosity.
The novice… I do remember that one of the companions of the hero in that Land of Night incident was named Novissa for that reason. I even remember seeing him when I assisted them to deal with those swarming Nightmares. There's already been Laura and Freya. They were quite like the companions of the hero, but they weren't them either. Did the Backrooms change the race of those monsters to human? They're leaving so many question unanswered… looking won't amount to much, but I must still see for myself.
And so Raphaela started checking the memories of the sleeping man. She spent longer on his latest memories than she consciously wished, and moved to his past. He was indeed an exceptional warrior, able to take on some entities with barely more than an oversized machete when said monsters had killed his fair share of humans. However, once again, his oldest memory was one of ending in the Backrooms, as it was always the case.
Then she compared her own memories of Novissa with the man in front of her. There were a few common points, but it was far from enough to confirm that he was indeed one of the Heroes of the Seven Worlds, one of the companions of Luka himself.
"What do you think? Is he the real deal or not?"
Raphaela gasped and looked up to see Tamamo smirking at her from the ground, her body cushioned by her tails. She castigated herself. Of course, there was no way the kitsune would stay asleep as she examined the man. Tamamo was certainly awake from the moment she casted her spell and simply let the angel do her little work before revealing that she knew. Raphaela sighed. Trying to play dumb and pretend that she had no idea what the kitsune was talking about would just be a waste of time.
"He isn't. Something is quite off about him, just like Laura and Freya back there. It's… as if someone copied them, but in an incomplete fashion."
Tamamo nodded. "I came to the same conclusion. The question is are they actually related to the companions of the heroes in the slightest, or are they just so many red herrings created to waste our time and entertain our tormentor as we keep fruitlessly searching for them?"
"It can only be the second possibility." Raphaela didn't hesitate for a moment before answering. "I cannot imagine how they're related to the actual companions of the hero."
"I would tend to agree." Tamamo sighed, her gaze losing itself in a further hallway. "I heard about a team specialized in rescuing people led by a certain starry-eyed man named Luka. For a moment, I considered searching for him, but as hindsight is setting in, I realize just how much I was a fool for thinking he would be the real one… that one joke is on me, and another reason to make our tormentor pay."
Tamamo let her last words hang in the air. Raphaela herself wanted to show the one responsible the errors of trying to fool with the designs of the Goddess. That perpetual buzzing noise alone was enough of a reminder that someone was trying to toy with them, trying to push her away from her mission, and doing their utmost to torment them in petty ways.
"Oh, well!" Tamamo shattered the solemnity of the moment with her sing-song voice. "This is not home, but there is still some food to savor, some enemies to destroy, and some company to enjoy. It could be worse! I'm going to try to rest, we have no idea what is waiting for us after all, and the first rule of war is to take any occasion that presents itself…" The kitsune turned around to make herself more comfortable and closed her eyes, letting Raphaela to ruminate her thoughts on her own.
She's right, we need to rest for tomorrow… we don't know what we will face. Maybe if we're lucky, we'll be back to our own worlds at each other throat, and I won't let her have an advantage by wasting that precious resting time.
However, for all of her words about those pale copies that wear the name of the hero and his companions, I am certain that she will still try to get her hands on him, if only for the chance that he actually is the real deal. Should I follow on this action as well? Getting him will offer us the advantage we need over them…
No. I must escape. I must return under the grace of the Goddess. And she will make the decision.
After a solid rest and a few additional hours of walking, Tamamo started wondering if she had made the good call. They had happened upon a large number of singularities, from simple bear traps lying around to childish waterslides directly embedded in the wall, but none of them looked like a way that would instantly bring them deeper.
Or, more exactly, a way that would bring them deeper while looking safe and give them an idea of where they would end. She focused on the memories she had acquired from the human residents. The only relevant information that she got from their mind was that no one who ever entered them reported afterward. She didn't want to try her luck, and only incited Raphaela to test one of them once before giving up.
In this unbearable situation, skirmishes against entities were a welcome relief. Violence against them was the only sensation she could limitlessly indulge herself in. She even had to hold back on sex, a quick check on her followers showed that while they were still ready to fight and following their military procedure, they were occasionally leaning against the walls or taking short breaks because of exhaustion.
I went gently on them… I hope I'll find a few more people to suck dry.
At least, it isn't as boring as the first time I ended in that maze. Granted, I have to mind Raphaela, but she's bearable when she's not nagging about Ilias.
As they approached an intersection, a small pack of hound appeared in front of them. Tamamo and the two men in front nonchalantly shot them down without wasting a second. These entities barely qualified as entertaining fodder as far as she was concerned.
I wish something more stimulating appeared…
"…Didn't we already pass through here?"
Raphaela pointed at the corridor away. The intersection indeed looked familiar to Tamamo. As they approached, another pack of hound identical to the first appeared from the next hallway. Once again, the party quickly dispatched them in a few well-placed shots. The last body had barely hit the floor that Raphaela deployed detection spells to check for magic. To her surprise, there was nothing.
"There's no magic. It's just a coincidence."
"A strange one. Let's keep our eyes out if it repeats again."
The party progressed for several minutes before approaching yet another identical intersection. Just as they expected, another pack of skinless dogs appeared. This time, Tamamo threw a talisman in their direction. A large pillar of rock spawned under the group when they were still at the opposite end, crashing any unfortunate entity in the ceiling. Tamamo allowed herself a dark chuckle of self-satisfaction.
"That way, we'll have the confirmation whether it is a physical loop or not in a moment."
"Should I say that we have spray paint exactly for that kind of thing?"
"I don't think it's a good moment to talk about that…"
The party resumed their progress. Once again, another identical intersection appeared, a rock pillar standing at the entrance located at the rightmost entrance. Tamamo groaned.
"Great… it's one of those mazes." She removed her helmet and cleared a strand of hair from her face. "I know you burn of desire to say it. Just get it out of your system."
Raphaela obliged in the most monotonous, insincere voice she could. "This is just karma for the same torment you inflicted on those that endured your games. How does it feel?" She grasped her staff with both hands and sighed, her usual soft motherly tone resurfacing. "No. I cannot find pleasure in taunting you when I'm suffering it as well. And as you said yourself, we must at least work together to survive. We need to put our disagreement aside, if only because while this place did not present any challenge so far, we have no idea for how long we will be stuck in it. Insulting one another is just a waste of energy."
Tamamo leaned against a wall, an eyebrow raised while ignoring the small skirmish behind her. "I'm relieved to see that we can finally agree on something. Now, let us continue and deal with the current maze. Since you seem to have a lot on your plate and are unwilling to find your relief in the pleasures of the flesh, may I invite you to take the lead and annihilate the next pack of hounds? I did notice you enjoyed destroying the abominations residing in this place quite a bit."
Raphaela nodded with a small smile. Even if she wasn't one for destruction, she did enjoy eliminating those annoyances. Tamamo put her helmet back on and pointed in the direction the group came from.
"More than half the time, those loops get broken when you go in the direction you came from. Let's just go for it."
Unfortunately for her, Tamamo was proven partly wrong. The party spent several additional hours crossing the same intersection from different entrances, dealing with the same pack of entities, and marking the floor in hope of exiting the place. Everyone was relieved when they ended in another large room, confirming them that they finally escaped the place.
"Finally… whoever deployed that trap just gave me ideas about how I'll torture them." She removed her helmet and leaned against a wall before spawning a metallic bottle. "Let's take a short break and discuss about our next step. Go take a minute to relax."
As the angel and the fox-girl started talking about their next move, Leo pretended to walk around to relax while he was actually trying to find the best place to gander at Raphaela's lateral cleavage. Eventually, he leaned against a wall far enough to be out of their notice while still getting a good view of pink skin and took a metallic bottle from his backpack. Barely a minute had passed before he felt something pinch at his ear, making him jump in surprise.
"Hey!"
He turned around to see Sam grinning. "You have no shame, do you? I'm not sure our leaders would like you staring at them like a creepy voyeur."
Leo massaged his still painful ear. "Tamamo No Mae loves the attention, and I'm pretty sure that Raphaela enjoys it as well given how she dresses. Speaking of voyeur, I want to remind you that Jack is currently watching Ben take a leak."
Sam's smirk disappeared. "That's a necessity on floor zero. You spend one minute out of sight, you can as well be dead."
"Yeah, and it's a necessity to enjoy the best sight there is in the Backrooms as well! Don't you agree that they're the best eye candy around?"
Sam severely looked at Leo and gestured down with his hand. Getting the message, Leo checked on the two ladies. They either didn't remark them, or they didn't care. Still, Leo decided to continue in a whisper.
"Sorry… but you get what I mean. They're easy on the eye, and I want to enjoy it for as long as I can. For how long do you think we will accompany them?"
"I honestly don't know." Sam shrugged. "We're searching for something on floor zero, and as Ben would say…"
"Whatever happens on floor zero has zero chance to be what you want." When Ben and Jack showed up again, Leo felt surprisingly relieved to see them reappear. "And yeah, I agree that searching for a singularity on this floor to get us closer to an exit isn't the soundest plans. But the alternative is trying to descend through tens of floors, hoping each floor change doesn't throw us a million kilometers away from the closest exit. I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea…"
"Yeah." Leo stretched himself and nearly fell. "Woops, I overexerted myself a bit…"
Sam chuckled. "Let's pretend it's because of the maze and not because of what happened yesterday evening. Damn perverts."
"You enjoyed it too."
"Yes. And then what?"
"Damn honest."
Sam felt Tamamo No Mae call out to them, putting an end to their break. Visibly, the two demi-goddesses that hated each other had come to a new agreement.
"We'll spend one more day searching for a remarkable singularity on this very floor. Afterward, we'll start descending through the classical mean."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Tamamo showed a carnivorous smile. "Perfect. Please, don't overexert yourself now, I intend to enjoy this evening as well…"
Sam didn't show any reaction, but he felt heat rise up his head.
Yeah… I get Leo's point. Her company is as good as anything one can ever get in the Backrooms.
The party resumed their progression, Sam cautiously eyeing the hallways in front of them. He occasionally noticed some random furniture lying around, rarely to the good dimensions. Sometimes it was a chair barely bigger than his finger. Others, it was a table that filled the room. Sam ignored them and continued forward. Those sights had become extremely mundane.
"Stop."
Sam instantly obeyed the command from Tamamo, even feeling his body freezing in front of her power. The kitsune stepped in front of them and firmly walked into the next hallway, her step surprisingly stiff. Guided by his curiosity, Sam cautiously followed. There was a large spray of blood on the floor reaching the base of a wall, and a black screen on the wall right before. For a reason, Tamamo No Mae was frozen right before the spray of blood. Sam was surprised by the sudden change in her stance, and glanced from afar in the hope of understanding it.
Lowering ceiling… a classical trap. Looks like someone got caught in it. That blood, however, didn't belong to a human. It's not one from an entity either. In fact, there's power coming from it, like our companion, but a bit different, so I wonder…
…Oh. Oh shit.
Raphaela gasped in shock when she arrived and saw the blood trail, confirming his fear. In the meantime, a murderous aura had started pouring from Tamamo No Mae. Visibly unconscious of the danger in front of him, Leo started fiddling with the screen.
"Well, that's the first time I see that in the Backrooms. Six out of fourteen... hey, it's a touchscreen."
Sam felt his heartbeat increase at the same rate the tension in the room ramped up. Their two partners had completely switched their attention from the grisly scene to the screen, even as Leo was still fiddling with the screen and muttering to himself.
"Status request… error, too many active users. Huh. That's weird. Is it because that slime multiplied herself or…"
"Yes." Sam could sense the threat in the tone of Tamamo. He positioned himself right behind Leo, ready to shove him away in the very likely case the kitsune would explode. "Is there any info to pull from it?"
"Give me a minute." Leo pulled out a hand-sized device. "There is no network of course. It's weird, but somehow, this doesn't feel like it comes from the Backrooms themselves. That would require some further testing though…"
Getting the hint, Sam instantly pulled Leo away from the screen. Barely the blink of an eye had passed before the sound of crushing plastic and electricity sparking filled the room as the screen exploded at the other end of the hallway. In front of them, Tamamo was immobile in a throwing position.
"You're right. It isn't generated by this place. It's breakable. The walls aren't."
Her stance relaxed after a long-drawn breath. On her side, Raphaela was back to muttering a prayer near the blood splatter.
"Please, Goddess of Light, may Sandalphone's soul find a way to your embrace, may you welcome it, may she not suffer alone in the darkness…"
Tamamo No Mae wasn't saying a word, and her face was still hidden by her mask, but her anger was obvious. She was staring at the large stain that was everything visible remaining from her sister, visibly trembling. Once Raphaela was done praying, they simply left, without another word. Tamamo No Mae had taken the lead, and they were forced to jog to keep up the pace with her.
They quickly came across a large room where a small group of people in hazmat suits were examining a lone, isolated switch designated by a large number of crudely drawn arrows.
Researchers… I wonder if those ones can help us, or if they're too much decayed for that?
Before Sam could call out to them, Tamamo jumped at them like a torpedo and tore through one of them before slamming another one in the wall with enough strength to turn him into a splatter. Right afterward, she grabbed the limbs of another one with her tails before pulling them apart. The last of them started running away before she threw the torso of her last victim with enough strength to trip them down. Surprisingly, her last victim turned around as if they were offended.
"Hey! Watch it! It hurts…"
Tamamo didn't answer and instead grabbed her gun, releasing a barrage of energy bolts on her target until it turned into a small heap of ash.
Nevermind…
"Was so much violence against those poor creatures necessary?"
"For the sake of my nerves, yes, it was…" Tamamo removed her helmet and shook her head, refreshed. "I want to make sure that whoever puts those in our way get the message and stop with these pathetic distractions." She nonchalantly showed the button. "There is no way we will fall for such a vulgar trap."
"Huuh, sorry to interrupt you lady Tamamo, but when it comes to singularity that could lead us deep, it's as good as it can get."
Ben flinched when both monster and angel looked at him. The kitsune sneered and pulled out her signature fan from her armor.
"Then assure me that it will not annihilate us or worse upon activation and I will accept giving it a chance."
Ben gulped and started examining the button and the wall around, supported by Leo. Sam made sure he was out of sight before shaking his head. As Tamamo was busy watching over the two men on their fruitless work, Raphaela approached him.
"Do you happen to know anything about these researchers? They're… like humans done wrong."
Sam shrugged. "I heard everything and then some about them. Some people say that they've been created by the Backrooms. Others said that they're humans who were transformed. The consensus is that they're to lull us in a false sense of safety, but they've never shown any sign of hostility. They tend to do stupid things though. As in, lethally stupid. I'm pretty sure they would have pushed that button and remained their arms crossed as something appeared and tore them apart. By the way, you might want to prepare a shield, just in case."
Raphaela focused back on the button. Ben was visibly panicking as he was repeatedly shuffling around while groaning.
"Okay. I admit, I have no idea what will happen when I press that button… can anyone at least shield me?"
"No."
Ben gulped loudly and stared at the switch. Getting the hint, everyone stood up at the ready.
"Fuck it then."
Ben pushed the switch. As soon as the button sunk into its socket, a deafened rumbling started filling the room. While the four men were frenetically looking around, startled, Tamamo kept her cool and started elegantly walking toward the nearest exit.
"I cannot discern any mechanism operating, and I do not think that activating this switch did anything good. Let us leave."
However, before Tamamo No Mae could reach any hallway, the ceiling slid sideways to reveal a cloudy sky. As if it was a signal, the floor itself started retracting into the walls which were also folding on themselves, gradually revealing grassy rolling hills.
In less than a few second, every single sign of construction disappeared, leaving the small group in a middle of a green valley. The damp air had turned fresh. Sam could even hear birds chirp in the distance as well as the sound of a river run. For a moment, Sam let himself appreciate this new scenic landscape. There was no strange entity around, no oppressive hallway, no ethereal presence looming above them… There was only unaltered nature as far as the eye could see.
And yet, he had no doubt that they were still in the Backrooms. As tempting as it was to stay here and let go of the mind-breaking maze, he knew deep down that it would come back to haunt him. That place would eventually reveal its true nature and become yet another improper non-euclidean maze. Or maybe it would just throw them in a loop. Or the earth would split to swallow everyone alive.
And even if none of that happened, what would they do here? End up alone and insane? No, it was better to move forward.
Tamamo and Raphaela were both looking down on Ben. "…This is somewhere different and we're all alive. This will not call for any punishment. This time."
Ben slowly exhaled. Sam empathetically grabbed him by the shoulder, shaking the limp man a little to reassure him. Tamamo No Mae ignored them and joined Raphaela as the latter was flying to better see their surroundings, quickly followed by everyone. The plains surrounding them were indeed exactly as he expected: bucolic forests with a river lazily flowing down amidst a green forest, with a few rocky outcrops periodically popping up.
Of course, even from afar, Sam could notice some slight uncanny details that revealed the artificial nature of their new environment. The river was turning at perfectly square angles. The elevation was roughly doing the same, and he could differentiate a limited number of elevation levels. It was as if someone tried to copy a world, but used a simplistic program that couldn't deal with the numerous subtleties of nature.
However, while he was taking in the view, he completely missed the utter shock of his companions.
Under her mask, Tamamo No Mae was completely aghast. A quick look at Raphaela confirmed her that the Archangel was just as shocked as she was by the plains in front of her. If, for the men around her, this place was just another trap from the Backrooms, for Tamamo, this was as close to home as it could be.
This is the Noah region… no, this is a pale copy of the Noah region as it is in the singularity world… Raphaela noticed as well. Of course, I can't feel any monster or trace of local magic… it's just those Backrooms messing with us!
On her side, Raphaela was shaking her head in denial. "A sick joke… in the name of The Goddess of Light, this is a sick joke."
"For once, I agree. Let's see if Grand Noah is where it should be. Everyone follows me, and not a word."
Tamamo No Mae quickly stepped in the direction she knew the city was. The stone walls of the city quickly appeared in sight, and even from afar, the kitsune could tell that something was off. There was no sign of life, and the city looked as if it was reduced to its essential structures. A few houses were present, but certainly not enough to host the massive population of the city.
"A medieval city… I wonder if they have good chow lying around?"
The perspective of sinking her teeth into thin fried tofu was nearly making Tamamo salivate, but her brain was quick to put a stop to any reaction by reminding her that this place wanted to screw with them. There was no way she would actually be lucky enough to get some remotely good food. Growling like a beast, she walked to the first building with a visible entrance and tore the first door she saw from its hinges. She growled out loud when she saw the yellow hallways on the other side.
Calm down… it's just another deliberate elaborated taunt to wear you down… we can't check on every door of every house. Maybe the essential or personal ones, like my old shrine, Ilias Temple, the Monster Lord Castle, and…
"Raphaela? Can you…" The magic senses of the kitsune quickly informed her that she was talking to a projection of the archangel, irritating her. "…tell me what you currently see at the Esta Tartarus."
"I don't see anything." Raphaela's projection answered in a haughty tone. "Are you really offended that I went to check the way to my home without your consent? I at least left a projection to keep an eye on you."
"I'm offended by the fact that you left me and a group of vulnerable humans with a mere limited copy all while further exposing yourself by flying alone in the sky."
"There is no danger in this region. We would have already detected them otherwise."
Unless they're powerful enough to hide themselves from our senses like that earlier pest. Let's just move on, any problem we face will be her own to deal with. Fighting the stubbornness of that angel in seeing no wrong following the exact actions of the Goddess will only give me a headache.
"I should also inform you that there is no Tartarus in Esta, nor anywhere else. Otherwise, this world indeed looks like a cheap copy of the singularity. The other villages are reduced to their most identifiable components as well."
"Yeah, the Backrooms tend to do that… show familiar places, but not quite right." Ben gulped loudly. "We never quite understood why or how though. Gotta say, that place blows ninety-percent of the Backrooms out of the water when it comes to habitability."
"Your remark has been noted. Raphaela, please check on Ilias Temple and the Monster Lord Castle. If neither option leads us anywhere, we can as well take any exit. I have neither the patience nor the desire to check every single door in this world."
"I agree."
"Good." Tamamo stretched and sensually moaned, enjoying the lustful looks from her human followers while Raphaela was wasting her energy looking around and keeping a copy near her. She felt the angel rush south, then north toward the Monster Lord's Castle.
"Mmh?"
A large deployment of energy pulled her out of her relaxation. Decidedly, that world kept throwing unpleasant events at her… however, she was going to enjoy that one. The kitsune started quickly tracing a series of flying runes in the air.
"Stand down. This is not someone your weapons can kill."
Raphaela teleported back near her and fused back with her copy, visibly shaken. "I did warn you. Consider the disgrace of being protected by the terrible White-Faced Golden Furred fox your punishment."
A powerful beam of energy struck down from the sky, only to get reflected on itself by Tamamo's barrier. The colliding energy was enough to make the beam explode, creating a shockwave that shook the city up, kicking a few tiles down from their roof and revealing their aggressor in the sky. Tamamo No Mae grinned and called out to her.
"Greetings, Saja! It's been a while, hasn't it?"
The yoma was grimly glaring at her, slowly descending while her aura was flaring. "It has. And I see that you made yourself some… quite interesting friends."
"Yes, I did." Tamamo pulled out her fan and smirked. "How about you join us in our search to escape this place?"
The eyes of Saja narrowed and started glowing with power. "How about you give me a reason?"
Nope… nope, nope, nope, I'm out of here. I don't want to be there when they start fighting and those three are not falling for the bait in the first place. If they decide to work together, we'll be able to see that from afar anyway. Besides, I've seen more than enough with that apoptosis, it's time to report and dip back in that hot spring afterward…
Thank you Tamamo No Mae for wrecking that door, it is very hard to open a door with paws… I wish I had been given more magical abilities than teleportation and an invisibility field, but "that's everything a familiar would need", they said. "We can't afford more energy than that", they said.
Then they better say "we thank you, you were great" and offer me some of his cooking or I'll leave.
Oh, right... I'm not sure I can.