Capitulum 1 – A Different Dark Forest

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Now, nothing but darkness filled my vision.

If I recall the recent events, we once again found ourselves in a predicament.

Don Quixote: „O-Ow… Doth you all too, feel pain in thy arms and legs? "

Rodion: „Ahhhh… It feels like if I had been frozen over stiff and broken out of a block of ice…"

Gregor: „Ugh, you tell me. I came to my senses with a mouthful of dirt."

Outis: „Stand up, soldiers! We need to have a routine check and assess the damage! Is the Executive Manager safe?!"

Gregor: „Oh, yeah, Manager bud, you alright?"

Dante: I believe so. Everyone else?

I hear a couple of groans, but it seems no one was too particularly hurt to complain loudly about it.

I guess that spares me the need to turn the clock.

Sinclair: „W-Where are we even? This seems to be a forest of sorts… Ah, and it's already getting late!"

Hong Lu: „Oooh! Are we perhaps back in District 4? Or is this somewhere in The Outskirts? I didn't know The Outskirts could be this lush and green~"

Meursault: Unlikely. The atmospheric pressure is of a vastly different composition.

Dante: So we're still in The City, huh? Then, could we really just be somewhere in District 4 again?

Faust: „We are not in The City."

Gregor: „Boy, so we ARE in The Outskirts then, no? Haah, why am I no-"

Faust: „We are not in The Outskirts, either."

Gregor: „Uhh..."

Outis: „Hm, but this certainly aren't The Ruins."

Faust: „Indeed."

Sinclair: „B-But then…"

Faust: „We can't be sure of where this is. For Faust is certain no one from The City has been in this place before."

…

Silence engulfed the Sinners. It was a silence filled with dread.

I couldn't picture it. Could we have entered a completely different realm? Could it really be different from, say, the Mirror Dungeon or Railway Refraction?
Looking at the face Faust was making, I could tell that the situation was serious.

Ishmael: „Haaaah… Nice going, Heathcliff. I know I started, but you really didn't need to go all out violent bat swinging."

Ishmael sighed and wandered closer to Heathcliff who was a bit further away from the rest of the Sinners.

Heathcliff: „…"

Heathcliff remained silent.
Looking at him, I could tell he himself was looking at something further down a path going through the forest we found ourselves in.

The night was about to settle in, so perhaps he spotted a wild animal?

Ishmael: „Heathcliff? Hey, what are… you…?"

Seems Ishmael also spotted what Heathcliff did.

What could it possibly that it silenced them so much?

Heathcliff: „Are those fai-"

Dante: …!

Outis: „Executive Manager! To the ground! We are under fire!"

I was brought to the ground when suddenly the buzzing and whizzing sounds of bullet like projectiles were going past where I and the Sinners stood.

Now, looking from the direction we were being shot at, I could clearly see what both Heathcliff and Ishmael had seen.

Rodion: „Fairies? Are they from some kind of Abnormality or Distortion?"

Rodya spoke as she used her axe to block some of the projectiles.

Dante: No. Those things are definitely not. Are they perhaps monsters?

After evading a few of the projectiles, Faust responded.

Faust: „Faust would say so, yes. However you might soon realize that they seem to be of a different kind."

Heathcliff: „Argh! You little shites!"

Heathcliff decide to charge at the fast approaching fairies.

As they got closer, I could describe them much easier.

They seemed to be wearing a blue dress with a white undershirt and other ornaments. Most of them held what seemed to be a flower of sorts.

Noticing something important was that they also seemed to have wings fit for a fairy on their backs. That would explain why they were flying above ground.

They looked like human children, with brightly coloured hair and a mischievous smile was plastered on their face as they kept shooting some sort of bullets at us.

It didn't take long when both Heathcliff and the fairies were only feet apart from each other.

Heathcliff: „Hyaa!"

After side stepping a few bullets send his way, swinging his bat with all his might, Heathcliff managed to smash the head of two fairies in front of him, leaving only two more left.

*Poof*

The fairies simply popped out of existence, leaving only fairy dust behind.

Heathcliff: „Haha! Alright! So a got whack to the noggin makes you pop, eh?"

The other two fairies flew past Heathcliff and attacked the other Sinners.

Before anyone could get caught off guard, Gregor and Ishmael quickly attacked and made them poof away.

Gregor: „Well, that's great and all, but these things are fast! And look, more are coming!"

As Gregor said, more fairies arrived. Ready to attack us.

Outis: „Executive Manager, your orders?"

Dante: We already dealt with fairy like abnormalities, we will deal with these the same way. Let's kill them before they even manage to hurt us.

With that, the Sinners had a clear objective.

To kill and push through the waves of fairies.

-Battle Start-

Dante: I know it's the same tired old face for you… but here I am.

Quickly ordering which Sinners will take the enemies up directly and which will support the vanguard from the rearguard, I was ready to analyse the attacks of the enemy and transmit my orders accordingly.

Dante: My clock isn't a magic cure-all for your problems… Don't just charge in all willy nilly, okay?

Alright, quickly looking over the enemies… hmm… fairies…

If I recall, the other types of fairies we fought in the past were mostly vulnerable to… slash and pierce, right? As for affinity… I recall Envy being effective on Fairy Gentleman… Oh wait, no… It depends if it was the Refracted version or not.

Ah, I'll just trust the Sinners in this. We have little to no info about those fairies in front of us anyhow.

Giving my orders to the Sinners on what to do to try and win a clash or evade, block certain attacks, I observe the battle play out.

Ah, so slash type attacks do seem more effective. Blunt appears normal… Oh, resistant to pierce, huh…

Oh! Sloth appeared to be rather effective!

Dante: Looks like that Sin was rather effective. We've got this.

Now with a little bit more knowledge, I might be able to order the Sinners around better.

Oh no! Sinclair lost a clash! Yikes! I can tell from his expression that that attack must have hurt!

What? Faust lost as well?! And Ishmael got staggered!?

Dante: Oh no, you're in for a nasty beating…

This isn't good. These fairies may be fragile, but they can still deal quite a punch it seems.

…

Uh, fire a nasty bullet? I… still don't really know what to make of this.

Dante: The enemy will win at this rate. When that happens, I'll have to turn my clock again.

A-Anyhow! I guess it's time to use an E.G.O!

I'm going to need Heathcliff to try and stagger a few of the fairies for Ishmael to recover.

After giving my orders, I once more observe the results.

Excellent! The Sinners managed to stagger most of the fairies!

Dante: The enemy is staggered. It's safe to attack.

Good. The Sinners should have this in the bag.

…Or not. Yi Sang somehow managed to get staggered by the last fairy who was able to still attack.

Dante: Looks like things are in our favour? Let's keep it going.

But even then, this battle should be over. I'm going to have to check the information we managed to gather about these fairies to see how to deal with them better after this is concluded.

Once more as I give my orders to the Sinners, I observe them charge in and beat each fairy on the field out of existence one by one. Heathcliff was the first to beat a fairy to a pulp.

Dante: Good, a Sinner has taken down a foe. Let's keep this up.

Before I even finished my sentence, the battle was concluded.

-Victory-

Heathcliff: „Haa… This got me all knackered."

Ishmael: „Haaah… pff… you're one to talk, huh? Don't think I didn't see you smile like a psycho just before smashing the skull in for that one fairy there."

Heathcliff: „Yeah? So what? Little bastard had it coming."

Outis: „Good work, soldiers. Now, stop bickering and let us continue down this path."

Ishmael: „I don't know, Outis. I don't recall hearing Dante order us to do that."

Seeing Ishmael catch Outis taking charge, several Sinners chuckled for themselves as Outis tried to hide her embarrassment.

Outis: „A-Ah. Of course. Ahem."

Regaining her composure, Outis turned to me in silence. Awaiting my command.

Faust: „Dante. I would advise you to take extra caution. Faust hasn't yet fully managed to find a way out of here."

Dante: Huh? Wait, does that mean…

Faust: „Yes. There isn't a door to return us back to Mephistopheles this time."

Gregor: „Great. Just our luck, huh, Manager bud?"

This is bad. Last time we were lucky enough that the door which brought us into The Outskirts was still there and even if it wouldn't have been, we could have walked back by foot, despite the hardships.

But now, no amount of walking could guarantee us a safe way back to the bus.

Ishmael: „Even then, we need to push on forwards, right?"

Ishmael suddenly spoke up.

Ishmael: „I could go on all day and blame Heathcliff and what not, but that wouldn't get us out of here, would it?"

Heathcliff: „Tsk… Bollocks…"

Ignoring Heathcliff muttering to his side, Ishmael continued.

Ishmael: „Instead, we should just start moving into a direction. We are bound to find something to give us a clue as to where we are and how to get back."

Ishmael then turned to face me, a smile shinning on her face.

Ishmael: „Just like a compass to lead us. Right, Dante?"

I nodded.

As their Manager, I had to take responsibility. So, I pointed towards the path between the trees.

Dante: Lets go follow this path. Perhaps it will lead us to where we need to be.

Without any further words, we walked down the path, just as the night truly began.

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…

What none of us knew, was that this was going to be a night we won't be forgetting any time soon.