Apocrypha - Book 2: War

by LoneTaker

After weathering the storm of Demons, the world lulls back to a normal calm. But with every calm, a new storm brews as ghosts of the past and new threats alike all ready themselves for the second wave. If the world desires peace, then they must be ready for war.

30. Saga 30: Forest Part 6

Disclaimer: Black Clover is owned by Yūki Tabata, Studio Pierrot, and Shonen Jump.

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Saga 30: Forest Part 6

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"-orr-"

Eyelids felt as if they were encrusted with lead-based paint.

"-orri-"

Head felt as if someone was sitting atop of it.

"-orrin..."

Words were spoken as if it were uttered from miles down a dark mine shaft.

"Corrin."

She wakes up, finding herself napping one a table, its surface littered with worn maps, near-empty ink bottles, and many quill pens that she'd found herself lying on.

"It's getting late," a voice was spoken from outside the open door. "Mind sorting out the place before you leave? Thanks."

The door closes shut as Corrin then got up from her little catnap. She wanders around for a moment before coming across a full-length mirror, dressed plain-looking career clothes with numerous rulers and compasses tucked into her numerous pockets. While looking at herself, she ruffled her messy hair while adjusting her large-lensed glasses.

"... This is fine," she shrugged in absolute content. "... Welp, time to close up."

Corrin then returns to her table as she began stacking up the outdated maps of Clover Kingdom after receiving a commission from the Golden Dawn, whom had discovered a massive Dungeon that has permanently altered the surrounding landscapes, prompting a redrawing of the Clover Kingdom's western borders. All the ink bottles had their contents allocated into one container while the ones that were emptied out were then put to the wash to remove the hardened residue gunking up the bottleneck and the very bottom of the jar. The quill pens were put back into their baskets and had their pen tips washed out for tomorrow's use, with said tips being placed in order next to where the quills are contained.

She then inspects her workplace from a panoramic viewpoint to see if anything is out of order or if she'd forgotten anything. "... Oh right, the mailroom!"

Corrin then strides towards the smaller room with numerous mailboxes stuffed to the brim with envelopes and parcels. Wandering why, she then finds a note on the desk reading the following:

"... 'Mailroom guy out sick today," she read. "Whoever's reading this note, can you please sort out the letters by the name of each recipient so that they receive it all by tomorrow morning? Thank you for your help. Signed, Director of the Royal Cartography Society.' ... Goddammit."

Since she's last on leave, she then heads back to the door before locking it while flipping the "Closed" sign through the window right before heading back to the mailroom to sort out her last task for the day. Upon returning, she then finds that a bottom segment that was folded under that she'd failed to notice the first time around. Curious, she then reads the missed out contents printed at the bottom of the letter.

"P.S., whoever is in the mailroom for today (or tonight, depending on the time this letter is read), you may open the deliveries that are addressed to you while working. Just be sure to sort out your scraps from others. Failure to comply will result in a permanent pay cut," read Corrin as she then saw her name "Corrin Index" printed on one of the envelopes jutting out of the mailbox. "... Eh. Couldn't hurt. Probably from mom or something."

Her mother, Jules Index, the "Theological Railgunner," was a bit of a folk hero around the nobility's academic circles. An absolute genius both in and out of the battlefield, she was unparalleled as a Magic Knight, even working up to the rank of Captain of the Coral Peacocks during her heyday. Now willingly-demoting herself to a regular operator in order to make way for the new blood, she was praised for her humility and brilliance that had saved many lives as it has inspired many more.

Unable to live up to her mother's renown, Corrin willingly bowed out of becoming a Magic Knight and joined the Royal Cartography Society as an academic pursuit. To her surprise, everyone around her were okay with this. Since then, long after the Magic Knight Entrance Exams were over, with an existence of a Four-Leaf joining the infamous Black Bulls, Corrin continued simply existing in this simple life of drawing maps before redrawing them again.

"Wonder what it could be this time..." she then grabs a letter opener before tearing it into the lips of the envelope and retrieving her letter from the open mouth.

But upon opening said letter, her heart stopped for a moment as she absentmindedly had dropped the knife onto the floor.

"Jules Index has been killed on the battlefield. Please report to the nearest conscription post before the 11th of February or you'll be subject to legal penalties."

Before she knew it, Corrin Index found herself in a company of other noble children and talented commoners to be sent to the frontlines, all of them wearing maroon and teal Magic Knight-styled robes with furred collars. All of them were deployed to Clover Kingdom's Western Borders, where Ulsterian raiders have been coming in since the Dungeon's discovery.

Then the actual report of the situation as a whole was then revealed: the Magic Knights that were sent to deal with this incursion were slaughtered down to their last man. The reason why said truth got through was that the last team that was sent to investigate were their 6th attempt, and communications being established in time before said grapevine was cut-off mid-transmission.

And now, every single Magic Knight squad sent there was to reclaim the captured territory. Everyone assumed that this would be an easy in-and-out job.

The incursion lasted for ten months. Corrin herself was in the meatgrinder with the rest of her peers for that allotted period of time.

"Hey..." heaved [UNKNOWN], "... holding up?"

Corrin nodded, unable to fathom the fact that mere bandits had already overpowered several Magic Knights, leaving the men beheaded and the women taken before finding them later beheaded.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened to the latter gender. Corrin herself was thankful that she wasn't one of those who were taken.

"... Here," [UNKNOWN] then hands Corrin a slither of dried meat. "Our supplies are now gone. All communication orbs are broken from the battle, anyone who made a run for it got shot in the back by their magic or their arrows... I dunno if anyone else is left. At this rate, the Wizard King himself is going to have to step in."

"... So why didn't he do so sooner?" Corrin asked.

"Beats me," [UNKNOWN] then gets up. "... Can't afford to stay around for too long, so come on-"

A crimson spear impales through [UNKNOWN] head, with blood splattered all over Corrin's face as the Magic Knight conscript fell.

Corrin looks up to find that the Ulsterians were perched up above the trees, every one of them leering at her as if she were a delectible piece of meat waiting to be devoured on the spot.

"Oi," spoke one of them as they all brandished their weapons, something that her [Magnet Magic] couldn't affect due to their armaments being made of bones that were harder than conventional steel, "... ye 'oldin' still long enough te butcha ye properly?"

"Nah, make sure she runs," spoke the female raider, licking her salivating chompers that looked as if they belonged to a predator animal. "I like me sum fast food."

Corrin runs like the wind, prompting the Ulsterian raiders to chase after her. Magic and weapons alike were flung towards her, each with a velocity of that of a Magic Knight Captain's projectile spells that were fired at their enemies. The rest tried to pounce on her, but Corrin uses her [Magnet Magic] onto herself (specifically the tacks and buttons on her uniform) to propel herself away from the clamoring horde of bloodletters.

As she continued to run, she then comes across a row of heads each placed atop of endless rows of pikes. At which point, her legs just gave out at this ghastly sight.

"Surprised?" a magenta-haired Ulsterian remarked from behind Corrin, crouched down to her eye level as she skittered away. "They're the ones who at least put up a good fight. So we placed their heads on pikes rather than leaving their corpses to choke the gutters of your so-called society."

"... What?" she mumbled as the magenta-haired Ulsterian then cranked her head towards a certain direction, directing her eyes through a gap in the surrounding woods and let her witness the entirety of Clover Kingdom being put to the torch by Ulsterians riding atop of fire-breathing [Wyverns] and [Drakes].

"The buildings were in the way," he explained. "There's a saying in Ulster: 'Teach a wolf how to fetch a stick, and call it a dog. Starve a wolf and let it hunt, it'll become a stronger and deadlier wolf.' In short, Clover Kingdom and its surrounding landmass shall be assimilated into Ulster's wildlands. Burning buildings will make way for grass and Wilderbeasts, opulent nobles and starving peasants will be replaced with free men bound by nothing but their own inclinations, and all legal codes and doctrines shall be eradicated in favor of survival of the fittest between fluctuating cycles of predator and prey."

Corrin was utterly loss for words at what she was witnessing. And from atop of a burning hill stood a giant, grotesquely muscular, top-heavy-looking man with lighting-blonde hair flowing down to his thighs, holding a sword that looked miniscule to him in one hand, and the dead body of the Wizard King in the other.

"... The Wizard King was easily the greatest thing we've found in this land of spoiled brats and coddled children. An intact and immaculate rune-engraved stone in the ruins of decayed masonry that you called 'Clover Kingdom," said the magenta-haired Ulsterian. "Unlike your so-called Magic Knights, he actually managed to kill our guys. Aged about a majority of them into dust or unalive them back to fetuses to boot! Too bad for him, the boss lived for centuries, so the Wizard King kinda sealed his fate when he accidently aged him to his apex."

Corrin crawls back, only for herself to back into a pole where the rotting head of her own mother was staked at, the fetid droplets of blood dripping from the severed trunk and the sanguine dew splashing onto her face.

"... Someone... anyone..." whimpered Corrin. "HELP ME!"

She runs, adrenaline pumping from her brain and into her legs. She runs and continues to do so as her eyes when blind with fear, her nerves went numb from the excess strain that she's putting onto her body, and her lungs that are on the verge of rupturing from her uneven breathing.

Corrin then trips over herself, desperately scrambling to get back up and run from her pursuers, only to find herself running through the snow.

"Someone... anyone..." she plead as her body begins to give out, "... help me."

Just as her face planted itself into the snow, her ears perked to hear a child grunting in pain followed up by laughter of ridicule.

She then lifts up her head to faintly spot a black-haired boy slouched against the wall, being protected by a ash-gray haired kid shielding him with his own body.

"... Where am I?"

---

Unknown Forest?

---

"FUCK, SHIT, FUCK FUCK FUCK, SHIT!"

Meanwhile, in the actual world of the awake, Brigid, all by herself, was fending off against the endless horde of sprawling [Myconids] with her [Anima Magic], protecting herself from going into a bad trip like the others have by encasing herself in a full suit of armor made of dry ice to prevent any fungi from latching onto herself. And due to it being made of dry ice, only she could protect herself without suffering lethal freeze-burns (that and she only had enough time to make one).

Normally, when it came to protecting herself from particles, she'd use [Wind] from her [Anima Magic]. Unfortunately, Brigid quickly discovered that each spore, when viewed microscopically, had the physical composition of that of a thinly-bounded cluster bomb, meaning any outside disturbances (like wind) causes it to explode and cover more area with hallucinogens.

Oh, and they're also fireproof, due to their subatomic wax sheen that protects the spores from combusting.

"Of all the days to play babysitter, why now?!" she growled as she took out a spread of the waddling mushroom-men with a bolt of lightning, with more taking their place shortly after. "I know drugs are a thing in Ulster, but at least we're sensible enough to not get high during a Dungeon crawl!"

Realizing that the surrounding forest's air moisture was what was causing the [Myconids] to endlessly respawn, Brigid then comes up with an idea.

"... Chapped lips will be the least of your worries when you all wake up," she rolled her eyes as she looked back at everyone else in their really bad trips (no thanks to Ogmio's [Memory Magic] linking all of their brains, meaning that she's watching their hallucinations on the sidelines while soloing the [Myconids]) as she then blasted the mushroom-men with a stream of subzero dry air. "[Anima Magic: Cryoclysm]!"

The waxy stocks and their web-like growths spreading outwards like a disease all literally froze in their tracks, with all moisture being erased from the blast's wake and leaving nothing but frozen wastes behind that not even the remaining [Myconids] would dare step foot on.

"... Now to make sure that they don't get caught in the blast-" Brigid then looks back only to find everyone gone. "FUCK!"

The mushroom-men then all pounce towards the dry-ice armor as the spirit inside blasted jets of dry air that freeze-dried everything that it came contact with. This presents a boon and a bane for Brigid. While now she's able to unleash her full might upon these mushroom-men without having to worry about friendly fire, the fact that now she has to go looking for them while said area is littered to the brim with hostiles is in it of itself another layer of annoyance that she's now forced to contend with.

"If I knew that they go wandering off..." Brigid growled as she continued blasting [Cryoclysm] at the surrounding [Myconids], "... then at the very least, a dome of dry ice freeze-burning them would've been the least of their worries!"

---

At the Enclosed Clearing...

---

"INCOMIN'!" Dagda cried out he blocked [Chloris]'s dual blades with his [Fragrach] while Cernunnos took Lugh elsewhere.

"RUN IF YOU WISH! THERE IS NO ESCAPE!" declared the [Leshy].

"Gods, this has-been sure loves to gab..." sighed the survivor Fae as his stuffed dog doll carried the emaciated Highlander.

"Quite the cliché for the opposition to boast of their capabilities," Lugh commented. "... Although, we aren't so exempt from committing said vice on occasion."

The giant [Chloris] then raises her magma blade over her head before slamming it down, forcing the three to evade the swing as the explosive blow before the possessed goddess then swung her glacial glaive across them, forcing them to block the blow, knocking all of them into the wooden walls.

"We have to get those plants off of her somehow!" Cernunnos remarked as he transformed his stuffed animals back into his Relics. "Boss! I'll try rotting them out of her system while you bait her!"

Dagda nods before Lugh raises his hand. "... Guess I'll just try not to die nor get in your way," he commented. "I'm in no mood to test the limitations of my own immortality."

"Rite," the half-Demon nodded as they all faced the possessed Danu. "... 'Old on. We're comin'!"

With Lugh hanging onto Cernunnos, Dagda then draws the Goddess's attention towards himself by attacking her with his [Counter Magic] deflecting her bipolar blows. As the two continued to clash, the Fae was lining up his shot towards the spot where the plants were coming from, his [Gae Dearg] placed behind his [Gae Buidhe], ready to deliver the one-two blow that would kill the plant matter inside of their friend.

"Grit your teeth, Danu," he muttered. "This is going to hurt like hell!"

The two spears then lunge themselves towards the possessed Jotun's ears, only for [Chloris] to plant her glacier glaive into the earth and raise a cluster of ice hands to intercept the shot Relics.

"WHAT?!" the Fae exclaimed while Dagda attempted to deflect an incoming from his friend's magma sword, only when before his own Relic could make physical contact with the blazing blade, the latter explodes into a pyroclastic cloud that evaded Dagda's [Counter Magic] while managing to blow him back as the Goddess obscured her own presence. "BOSS!"

"... Wat do ye take fur, eh?!" the half-Demon's voice exclaimed from the other side of the haze. "... Careful! Her feet ain't on de ground anymore!"

Cernunnos looks up and spots [Chloris] wielding Danu's hammer Relic as the latter fell down with the intent to swing the hammer into this enclosed space of earth. "CRAPBASKETS!"

Having no other choice, Cernunnos was forced to use his magic. Placing both his hands into the ground, he then sprouts a giant dandelion flower that quickly matures into its seed-dispensing state of life. The Fae then quickly grabs onto one of the fluffs while taking Lugh into his arms.

"HANG ON!" said the Fae as the hammer crashes into the ground, unleashing a geyser of scorched earth and frigid glacial matter alike, the resulting thermodynamic phenomenon shooting both of them up through the canopies above, outrunning the stream of blasted earth.

Upon the breach, the two quickly glimpsed at the sight of a full moon before they quickly fell back down as the fluff caught on fire. As they fell, both were caught by Dagda, the latter sliding his foot and knee across the rough dirt as he held both of them in his arms.

"... Yer welcome by de way," he smirked before dropping the two of them. "... Any sun up dere?"

"Nope," answered Lugh. "Full moon. Even though moonlight is merely reflected sunlight, I cannot recharge with a diluted substance."

"That bitch wearing Danu's skin is already onto us," Cernunnos remarked. "It knows what my Relics are capable of, so it's keeping herself away while performing mix-ups to trip us over."

"I can stop 'er attacks, but area of effects?" Dagda pointed out. "... Shite, unless der castin' de spell on de ground itself, I can only defend meself from gittin' hurt too badly. Dis whole place is basically me skill check."

The [Leshy] then hollers a cackle throughout the surrounding weald. "GIVE UP!" the god ordered. "THIS IS THE ONE FIGHT THAT YOU CANNOT WIN!"

"Ninety-two..." muttered Lugh.

"[CHLORIS] IS INVINCIBILITY INCARNATE!" boasted the disembodied god. "NOTHING SHALL MAKE HER SUMBIT!"

"Three hundred and fifty-five..."

"NOW SUMBIT AND... and..." the [Leshy] trailed off, "... what are you -?"

"Oh no no no, don't mind me," spoke the emaciated man as he hung over Cernunno's shoulder. "Go on."

The god goes silent for a few moments before resuming his monologue. "... AND PREPARE TO PERISH BY MY HAND!"

"Ooh wow, four hundred and nineteen," commented the Highlander.

"That's it, what the hell are you doing?!" the god spoke in an exasperated tone.

"Oh apologizes, it's a little hobby of mine," Lugh explained. "We've heard of those kinds of monologues from those who have challenged us throughout our long-lived lives wearily often. So I opted to keep a mental list of how many times that we've heard certain lines."

"... Insane bastards," the [Leshy] replied in disbelief.

"One hundred and ninety," Lugh smirked with Cernunnos and Dagda.

"Oh yeah?! Well..." the god lost most of his composure as he tried to regain some credibility, "... I'm gonna fuck your faces starting from your eye sockets!"

Lugh turned towards Dagda for confirmation. "... Dat makes twelve."

"KILL THEM!" ordered [Leshy] as the possessed Danu then raised her hammer before swinging it down.

But upon its second descent, Dagda parries the downward swing with his [Fragarach] emitting his own [Counter Magic] back at her, the repellant force knocking her back and into the surrounding walls, causing a segment of the woods to crash through the outside rim.

"... So Lugh," asked Dagda. "How many does dat make?"

"Five hundred," the emaciated Highlander confirmed. "But that aside boss, are you sure that exerting that much force is wise? That could've killed her!"

"... Not de first time," grimaced the half-Demon as he brought his gripped [Fragarach] closer to himself as [Chloris] stood back up. "... Doesn't mean dat I like it."

Lugh then looked towards Cernunnos for context. "... Oh right," the Fae remarked. "... You weren't there back when I first saw it."

"Are you insinuating that she's also a Highlander?" the emaciated man asked as the possessed Danu then raised her hammer into the ground, forcing Dagda to block the incoming blow. But at the same time, the possessed Jotun then stamps the earth with her feet, causing the surroundings to start erupting in geysers of magma, transforming the whole forest into that of a volcanic hotspot. "Just what is Danu really?!"

"Closer than you think, bro!" Cernunnos remarked as he lifted himself and Lugh away from their fiery deaths as Dagda trudged through the melted stone as if he were crossing through regular muck. "... We'll explain later after we have to put her back together all over again."

"Again, what is she?!" exclaimed Lugh as Dagda lets out a demonic roar as he leapt towards his possessed friend.

---

"ALRIGHT YOU FREAKING BRATS!" Corrin shouted as she chased off the hooligans surrounding Zenon and his bruised friend. "BACK OFF!"

Once they were cleared out, Corrin then offers her hand towards Zenon, which the boy took and got back up with her help.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Cut the crap, Corrin Index," the boy remarked curtly. "This isn't real."

With those words alone, the whole reality around them then turned into an empty snowscape, much to the Zogratis child's disappointment.

"... This is all a mass hallucination," he explained. "... I clearly recall you not living in Grinberryall territory, given your attire."

Corrin looks at herself to find that her garbs were back to their career clothing-style. "... What the fuck is going on here?!"

"Regarding the hallucinations, I'd say it's showing the worst fears of our own lives, whether real or conceptual," he explained. "Tell me, what were you going through before you arrived?"

Corrin then briefly explains her sudden shift from working in a peaceful job to finding herself being pursed by Ulsterian raiders while the Clover Kingdom itself was being "assimilated."

"I see," Zenon remarked. "... So fear seems to be the common denominator. At least for those who were affected."

"... So wait," Corrin remarked, "does that mean that I kinda saved you from going through what I went through-?!"

Zenon nods, grateful that Corrin arrived in time before the spores could trudge up the "memories" he had with his adult relatives within his Clan. "... Let's go find the others," he suggested, clearly wanting to avoid the uncomfortable topic that he'd nearly plunged into, "before they accidentally try to kill us during their freak out."

The two of them resumed navigating through their shared hallucinatory landscapes, trying to find the others going through the same thing as them.

"... So, why are we sharing the same hallucinations?" asked Zenon as he grabbed onto Corrin's hand. "I recall drug trips being individualistic, even if it is area of effect."

"... Might be because of Ogmios's [Memory Magic] linking all of our brains together," she answered. "In hindsight, that inadvertently saved us from being lost inside our own prisons."

"If a shared penitentiary is better than individual cages..." Zenon muttered under his breath as the two then come across bloodstains on their "snow". "... Hopefully, that's a marker and not a wound."

The two then follow the trail of blood ahead of them, eventually leading to a ruined outpost village littered with dead bodies of both Spade Kingdom soldiers and Clover Kingdom Knights alike.

Zenon reaches out towards one of the corpses only for his hand to phase through them. "... It's a memory," he confirmed. "We're in someone else's hallucination."

"Seems like it," Corrin noticed the kind of robes that the dead Magic Knights were wearing. "Knew anyone who encountered with the Silver Eagles specifically?"

"I'd say Vanica, but she's killed so many that even I couldn't keep up," Zenon replied as he then noticed the tattered banner of the Grinberryall clan lying on the snow. "... But this, definitely confirms that we're in her memory, or at least in close approximation-"

"lEt HEr gO nOW!" a distorted voice of a woman roared out from afar, prompting Zenon and Corrin to sprint towards where it had come from.

Upon arriving, the two then spot the now-young adult Vanica taking a young girl hostage while being stared down by a female Magic Knight clad in steel armor and wielding a large jousting lance. However, what was wrong was that her entire head was completely obscured with a chalky-gray cloud of static.

Vanica however, was looking more bothered than actually threatened. "... Ugh, seriously, like, I should be able to remember how you looked!" she exclaimed. "I know what happened, and this was supposed to be my greatest day ever!"

"lEt HEr gO nOW!" the distorted voice spoke in ad infinitum.

Zenon then takes notice of the child, whom, despite looking afraid for her own life, was actually frozen in that said expression as if she were just a doll.

"Okay, that's it. I'm cutting the crap," Zenon remarked as he walked up towards the taller Vanica. "Vanica, this all just a hallucination. Wake the fuck up."

"But c'mon!" she whined as she pointed towards the faceless Magic Knight. "I gotta figure out what she looked like-!"

Zenon then slaps the little girl held in her arms across her face, the scene of carnage disappearing in conjuncture with the little Vanica's return.

"Worry about that after we aren't in the middle of a mushroom nest," he pointed out. "Corrin, how do you take her little hallucination for?"

"That felt like an outlier," she commented. "I don't see any form of trauma that might've affected her greatly."

"Nah, it was supposed to be my best day ever!" Vanica moaned. "And it's ruined because I can't remember why it made it so memorable!"

Zenon nodded. "I get it," he remarked. "So if you have no prior fears that can cripple you, then it'll destroy your greatest dreams instead."

"Yeah, that lines up with what I went through as well," Corrin pointed out, avoiding going into detail once again. "... So why isn't she affected as much as I am?!"

"Guess being born into the Zogratis clan does have one advantage," Zenon deadpanned. "Sanity is considered a disadvantage."

"Yeah, though, one thing's bugging me," Vanica remarked, "and no, it's not about my memory, but rather why this hallucination is so... not fun."

"Elaborate," Corrin demanded.

"Normally, when one gets high, they usually come out feeling like heaven, hence the addiction to said substances," Vanica explained. "I mean, I used Pixie Dust a few times myself, and all I saw was color and I felt great until the crash came along. But this?! This doesn't feel good at all, but more like someone threw us into a dark room filled to the brim with roaches! How are we supposed to feel good from that?!"

"... Yeah," nodded Zenon. "This all does seem counterproductive."

"Well, we gotta find everyone else," Corrin pointed out. "Come on. We'll rack our brains together when we all reunite!"

"EVERYONE!" a girl's voice cried out from afar.

The three then turn to spot a girl riding atop of a panting pig.

"Aengus!" Corrin remarked.

"Emergency Food!" Vanica exclaimed.

"I'LL IGNORE THAT LAST PART!" Moccus barked back as the two then met the three up in this illusory snowscape. "... So, you guys alright?"

"Right back at you," Corrin remarked. "So, what did you see?"

"Oh nothing much," Aengus explained. "Just that daddy and Brigid allowed me to go outside until suppertime!"

The three then look at the talking pig for explanation.

"... Eh, yeah," Moccus stammered. "I regularly eat all the mushrooms I can find like a child eating out of place-candy or a stolen cookie jar. As for her... just one whiff and she's out of there. Thankfully, she's extremely cooperative, even when high as a cloud, so playing along as the role of house pet is doable for me."

"Anything traumatic for her just yet?" asked Zenon.

"Shouldn't be," the pig replied. "Dagda kept her inside the tavern as long as she could remember how to walk. She was practically raised like a fairy tale princess."

Suddenly, the ambient wind began to howl from afar.

"... You guys hear that?" asked Vanica.

"We all hear wind," Corrin remarked. "We all have working ears."

"No no, like, you hear something behind the wind," the Zogratis girl explained. "... Like if someone is whispering something."

Everyone then cupped their ears to see if Vanica's claims were true.

"... ap... r... e... a... p... r... e..."

She was correct. Something was speaking through the winds.

"... Ra... Ra... Ra... Ra... Ra... Ra..."

It was saying something.

"... pe... pe... pe... pe... pe... pe..."

"... Uh," Corrin began breaking out in a cold sweat, "... why am I sensing a feeling of unfathomable dread?"

"... Rape... Rape... Rape... Rape... Rape..."

Zenon felt his stomach drop like a stone in water upon hearing what the wind itself was saying. "... We should go. Now."

Everyone nodded as they bothered not to stick around what was hiding in the hidden recesses of Aengus's mind. No one even thought of speaking a single syllable of what they've heard, or seen, or figured out about this little phantom that had just seared its malignant presence into their very souls.

They continued to walk in complete silence. They kept walking until the snow itself thawed into a fresh blades of grass that lead them into a scene of immaculate nature.

"What a view!" Aengus exclaimed as she rode Moccus further out to this despoiled paradise.

"... Yeah," Corrin shakily chuckled in agreement, still semi-traumatized about why Dagda might've kept her inside as long as she'd lived.

She then looked back at Vanica, whom surprisingly was keeping herself semi-reserved to not bring up the fact that a sexual predator of the highest caliber might be after Aengus, and just stuck to placating her.

Guess even she has some standards... thought Corrin as the three followed after the sheltered girl's absolute jubilance.

"You know, I'm starting to think that we might've underestimated her-" before Vanica could finish her sentence, Corrin and Zenon then tackle her to the ground.

"NOT. A. FREAKING. WORD," hissed Corrin. "I thought we had silently agreed on that, huh?!"

"Forgive her, she's a slave to her own impulses and never learned to keep her mouth shut at others' discretion," Zenon remarked. "Trust me, I know. Because our mother hired tutors to whip some manners into her, and Vanica ended up killing all of them. We stopped after we found our seventh one rotting at the bottom of a nearby well after I've heard the locals complain of how the water tasted."

"Because they're such fucking killjoys!" she pouted.

"Hey!" Aengus cried out. "Is this a game?! Can I play?"

"No, game's over," Corrin and Zenon then got off Vanica.

"Aww," the white-haired girl adopted a downcast expression before perking back up. "So! I have a question."

"Yes?" asked Zenon.

Aengus then pointed towards a rising plume of smoke ahead of them. "Is someone cooking luncheon over there?"

The other three then looked towards where Aengus was pointing towards.

"... Nope," Corrin shook her head. "... I don't think you need that much smoke to make a jerky."

"We'll see whose memory is this when we get there," Zenon remarked. "Come on! Hallucinatory daylight is burning, and maybe someone else..."

"Now you're speaking my language!" Vanica then runs ahead of the group, prompting everyone else to follow after her. Treading through the thickening smoke, the four (five including the pig) come upon a burning homestead with numerous squat-bodied golems firing beams upon fleeing villagers, all of whom were being directed by a lone, feminine-looking figure sitting atop of a murder of crows, wearing a wide-brimmed pointed hat and a beaked and tinted lensed-doctor's mask that shrouded her entire facial features.

The few villagers tried to fight back, but their veins turned bright purple underneath their skins before all of them erupted into sanguine bursts.

"... Okay, whose memory is this?" Corrin asked as she felt bile well up through her esophagus at the sight of seeing people explode like water balloons.

"Mine."

The group then looks back to see Ogmios watching the whole scene of carnage unfold before him and the others, his glasses's glare hiding what his eyes were looking like, hiding his true emotions at this horrific carnage.

"... Yours?" Zenon then turned towards Aengus for answers. "You there, explain!"

"I don't know!" she confessed as Aengus was slightly panicking at the chaos. "All I remember is that Brigid brought him home all beat up and starving! He just stayed with us ever since!"

Ogmios then chuckled to himself after hearing her statement, almost as if he was busting a gut over his invoked irony.

"... Well, at least I can guess that he's some survivor from some backwater village that fell into Ulster's cracks," Vanica bemused.

"Close, but you might wanna stick around," said the magenta-haired young man as a child that looked like him ran past him only for him to be shot through the back and falling dead through Ogmios's shins. "... Gather around kiddos. It's story time."

---

At the Lit Forest Clearing...

---

"INCOMIN'!" Cu cried out as the serpentine [Tefnut] jumped up into the air, arched up its slithering back during its descent before crashing headfirst into the earth, but rather than simply stick into where it had landed, the beast uses the flames spewing from the gaps of its scales to maneuver around the ground, while granulating its footing into the finest kind of sand to reduce friction between itself and the earth.

With that built up momentum, [Tefnut] then slithers backwards before raising up its tail and slamming it into the dirt, kicking up a giant wave of white-hot sand while scattering about cherry blossom-like embers that each exploded like a hand grenade upon physical contact.

Which to say, the entire clearing and the surrounding kilometer has gone through desertification within a minute. Everyone caught in the blast either came out with severe burns all over their bodies, or are putting out said fire by ditching their clothes.

"Holy shit, bro," commented [Leshy] as he regrew the fauna with tower-sized cacti to repair the damages caused by his fellow. "Calm the fuck down-"

The [Tefnut] belts a shrill roar that resonated throughout the dim desert area of this forest as it began spinning itself around in a coil, stirring up a vortex of flames that scattered even more cherry blossom-shaped embers.

"... Wow, time wasn't kind to you at all, man," sighed the lost forest god. "... You know what, I'll spare the color commentary and deal with the other intruders. Good luck!"

As [Leshy] made himself scarce of this awkward situation, everyone else now focused on escaping from the flames on top of having to contend with a terrain disadvantage, as their shoes and bare feet alike sunk into the loose sands.

"Fuck me!" Salim exclaimed. "The ground is too loose to even walk through and the air is filled to the brim with magic bombs!"

"I'll establish a footing!" Bizon then slammed the sands with his [Labrys] to solidify the ground that they were walking on. "Alright, we should be able to-!"

Suddenly, the Inquisitor's boots then combust into flames, now exposing his bare feet to a solidified surface made of hot sand now acting as a grill's surface. Bizon's bare feet sizzle on the smooth face before he retreated his feet into the sands.

"Apparently, they're excellent conductors, too," Makarov commented as he pinched the sand's grains to observe it while using his [Aura Magic: Ghost Game] to let the blossoms phase through his body as if he were a ghost. "... Composition is majority iron. Damn it, the already iron-rich soil turned into iron sand upon desertification!"

"ARE YOU SHITTING ME?!" Jericho exclaimed as he gritted his teeth through the hot sands while shielding the explosions with his [Stardust Knuckles]. "MAGIC OR NOT, THERE CAN'T BE THAT MUCH IRON IN SOIL TO GROW THIS MANY TREES, LET ALONE CACTI!"

Letoile then began racking her brain for solutions to get them out of this mess while using her [Compass Magic] to redirect the cherry blossom embers raining down unto them. "Captain Dorothy, can you use your [Dream Magic] connect yourself to Kirsch?"

The witch Magic Knight then closes her eyes to connect herself to his mind, but she ran into one problem. "... He's got no brain left," she revealed with horror tinging her tone of voice. "It's literally split in half!"

"Fuck," cursed the Golden Dawn Magic Knight as she then turned toward David. "Hey David," she asked. "Think you can turn things around with your [Dice Magic]?"

"I mean, if you can rig it for me," he replied, with Letoile picking up a loss of confidence in his voice. "... One problem, my [Dice Magic] can only work on flat surfaces, and sand doesn't count!"

"Try that grill that Bizon stepped on," the [Compass Magic] user suggested.

David nods, and together with Letoile, he then throws his strongest dice that he has in his arsenal. "[Dice Curse Magic: Hell's Dice - Devil's Gambit]!"

As the cursed dice is let out, the shadowy apparition taking refuge inside of the object appears before David. "Relying on me again?" it then looked back towards the still-spiraling [Tefnut]. "... I suppose there is no greater gamble then to bet against a god."

"DAMN IT! DON'T LAND A SIX!" David then throws the cursed dice onto the flat surface as Letoile began manifesting various compasses around the dice.

"FOOL!" roared the dark spirit. "YOU CANNOT CONTROL WHERE I LAND WITH SUCH PALTRY METHODS!"

"Maybe if it were you," smirked the [Compass Magic] user. "But what if it was more... forceful?"

One of the petal-shaped embers then touch the dice, causing an explosion that veered the thrown die into a completely different trajectory.

"WHAT?!"

"YOU'RE SURROUNDED BY BOMBS THAT I CAN FULLY CONTROL!" she declared as she began to nosebleed from the sheer strain that her multi-directional focus was aiming at. "IT'S JUST SIMPLE MATH, AFTER ALL! EVEN A RIGGED GAME OF POKER CAN EASILY BE SURMOUNTED WHEN YOU CAN COUNT THE CARDS!"

The timed explosions bounced the cursed dice around until the cube was properly aligned into facing a single pip up.

But before it can land on a one, a searing glass blade then splits the dice down the middle before it could even hit the flat surface, the split halves no having its internals face-up.

"A NO CONTEST?!" the dark spirit then turned its fading head head towards the spinning [Tefnut], now its spiral of flames producing an array of glass blades edged with iron. "DAMN YOOOOOOOUUUU-!"

Just as the cursed dice and its bound spell was erased from existence within David's grimoire, the serpentine god then whips itself out of its spin cycle to throw a storm of glass blades each a size of a lamppost towards the group.

"COME ON, WORK!" Mudo plead desperately as she casted her spell. "[DARK CURSE MAGIC: OBSOLESCENCE]!"

A pulse of negative energy radiates throughout the whole area, but only a third of the blades shatter midair.

"SHIT!" she cursed. "EVERYONE, FIND COVER!"

"WHERE?!" Salim cried out. "THERE'S NOTHING BUT SAND!"

"DEN GIT BEHIND ME!" Cu then leapt up into the air full of blades and fire alike as he then ripped off an entire row of knife-length thorns from his [Gae Bolg]. "I'LL BE COVER!"

The wild man then throws all of his grabbed blades into the glass swords, all of them shattering upon from his precisely-aimed volley of his impromptu throwing knives, but not stopping the conflagration from spreading the now-shattered blades into a storm of shrapnel.

Letoile then takes David and Mudo behind herself as she summons a compass wheel to act as an improvised shield, Bizon then uses his [Gravity Magic] to flip up the sizzling panel of solidified sand to block the shrapnel as Makarov dragged Jericho and Dorothy behind himself and Bizon, while Cu, experiencing the full brunt of the blast, was in cloud nine as pain of the greatest magnitude stung themselves all over his body, as evident by the throbbing bulge coming from his pants while his bare chest was being lacerated and burned at the same time.

Cu was sent flying out of the explosion's epicenter before being stuck onto one of the sword-sized nettles running down the cacti.

"OH FUCK!" Salim cried out.

"Hang on, I got 'im." Cissonius then uses his [Snatch Magic] to retrieve the impaled man from afar. "Aw damn it, I missed 'is liver."

Cu then gets back up in his feet despite his injuries that were bordering on fatal. Yet here he was, walking about treating a missing organ akin to a scraped knee, much to the Clover Kingdom Magic Knights' befuddlement.

"... Wat?" he remarked. "Dun't yer organs grow back or anythin'?"

"... Uh, no," Jericho remarked as he and the others saw a half-formed liver literally being grown back inside Cu's open body cavity. "... Am I seeing things?"

"... No, he's very much alive," Dorothy confirmed after she'd pinched her own cheeks to see if she was dreaming. "... Seriously, that would've killed Meroleona on a good day! Even she's smart enough to dodge!"

Cu then lets out a cough of blood that splattered onto Dorothy's face before he resumed speaking. "... Was dodgin' an option te begin with?"

"Fair enough," sighed Jericho as he saw [Tefnut] spinning himself around into a spiral of flames once more, now with him seeing the kicked up sand being hardened into more blades around the spiraling monster. "... Also, I don't think you can take another shot. So we should retreat for the time being-"

The wild man passes by everyone else as he retrieved his Relic, the snapped-off barbs now growing back to their default state. Once [Gae Bolg] is fully healed on its own, Cu then snaps off the main spearheads from both ends.

"What are you doing?!" Letoile cried out.

Cu smirks as he looked back at the other, while pressing the two crimson blades into his forehead. "... If I go crazy te de point where I start attackin' ye lot," he warned with genuine concern, "... forget about me and fekin' run."

Makarov immediately knew what Cu was insinuating. "EVERYONE EVACUATE! HE'S GOING INTO RAGE!"

"Wait, what do you mean 'rage'-?!" Salim was then yanked off of the sand by Bizon as everyone else bailed when Cu jammed in his spearheads into his own head.

The direct contact with the bits of his tamed Demonic parasite begins to distort his body, the bones beneath his pulsating mass that was his flesh growing and stretching outwards. His canines and nails grew longer and sharper, turning into that of an actual beast's fangs and claws, with the twin spearheads that he'd stabbed into his forehead growing into a pair of crimson-colored horns. His stature became more hunched as his whole body mass kept growing and growing, his skin threatening to rip open to accommodate for all the excess meat growing beneath it, turning red as violet-black fur begins growing out of his very pores. The sudden rush of blood then turns his eyes and exposed bones red as death, transforming the wild man into nothing short of a monster.

"... [RaGE]... [mAGiC]..." Cu's voice trembled through his growing pains, loud and bellowing enough for all to hear through his own body's metamorphosis. "[WARp]... [spaSm]... [BEASTMAN]!"

The chains around his pant legs snap as the broken linked scattered around the desert sands as Cu Chulainn fully morphs into an abomination that can be described as a cross between a mutated human being and that of a wolf that was unleashed from its imprisonment that was ready to go on a starvation-induced rampage. As it then let out a echoing howl that was loud enough to prompt everyone else to cover their ears, [Beastman]!Cu then pounces onto [Tefnut], breaking the latter out of its spiral as the two began wrestling each other in the sands.

"... So," Salim remarked as he and everyone else watched the two monsters fight it out, thrashing their bodies across the sand, "... someone kindly explain on what just happened."

"I've only heard of Cu Chulainn's [Rage Magic], but this is really my first time seeing it in action," Makarov admitted. "But going by its designation, my guess is that it allows Cu to tap into his rage and turn into... whatever that is."

"You know, that almost reminds me of the man with the leg-sized ding-dong's [Love Magic]," Dorothy pointed out as [Beastman]!Cu was then constricted by the serpentine [Tefnut] before the former bit into its ear and punched its face until its fist was bitten and both returned to their deadlock prior. "... Only a bit... different? I think Fergus's magic just boosted his strength to let him chuck around that monolith of a sword whereas Cu... just goes berserk?"

"But why the self-mutilation? Is that some sort of activation clause?" asked Jericho.

"Given that Fergus's spells are powered by his 'love' and 'desire,' aka, horniness, I can hazard a guess and claim that Cu's [Rage Magic] runs on his own pain," Mudo surmised. "Which, makes sense why he didn't use his spells until after he lost a whole organ... That and he specifically warned us to run when he starts attacking us implies that he uses his own magic sparingly for said reason."

"Great, so he's also a hazard," David sighed as [Tefnut] then breathed a stream of cherry blossom-shaped flames into Cu's face, but the [Beastman] simply plugs the god's esophagus with his fist, choking the beast from the inside as he then bit into the monster's eye before ripping the ocular orb out of his socket. In retaliation, [Tefnut] bites into Cu's arm, its fangs sinking into the monster's biceps and triceps before ripping it off of shoulder blade, to which the [Beastman] struck back with a headbutt that crumpled the god's snout, folding it within its canine-like skull like an accordion pump, right before retrieving its severed arm and began beating [Tefnut]'s head over with it as soon as he mounted onto its back. "... So what do we do? Make tracks and risk it following us?"

"No," Letoile rebuffed. "I have an idea on how to control this situation from backfiring on us. But first, I need someone to throw me towards Cu."

"... Wait, WHAT?!" Salim exclaimed as hot sand was sprayed towards them, only for Bizon to shield their heads from being scorched by the deluge. "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR FUCKING MIND, WOMAN?!"

"What's your plan?" Bizon asked, cautiously optimistic.

Letoile then turns towards Dorothy. "Captain Dorothy, can you check how mindless is Cu right now?"

The witch then scans his brain from afar right before relaying back the results. "... He's gone," she confirmed. "More specifically, those red nails that are stabbing into his brain have shut off all sapience in favor of unbridled bloodlust."

"Perfect," Letoile then manifests two plate-sized compasses in her hands before grabbing each of them by their needles' axises.

Bizon, Makarov, Mudo, Cissonius, and Jericho's eyes all widen as they figure out what she was planning. "Oh I get it," the Inquisitor nodded as he then brought down his [Labrys] behind himself. "Get on the flat. Someone be my spotter."

"I'll do it," the red leather-clad man remarked as he peeked over the dunes to spot Cu and [Tefnut] ripping each other apart like a pair of murderous gingerbread men come to life and had developed a taste for sugar. "... Careful though. Dose two ain't sittin' still."

"Just tell me when its back is exposed!" Letoile remarked as she got on top of the axe's flat with her knees bent.

"Here!" Jericho then applies light platinum armoring onto Letoile's limbs and torso. "Just in case, here's a helmet!"

"So in case of failure..." Mudo then prepares a [Dark Curse Magic: Obsolescence], "... I'll act as our kill-switch."

"Kill-switch,' by which you mean us?" Salim remarked.

"Don't ask," Makarov ordered as he peeked out next to Cissonius. "... Okay, so the monsters are still pounding the living daylights out of each other without slowing down. We're gonna have to wait until the break off from each other unless one likes their death to leave a little of a mess as possible."

"You mean like now?" David commented as the now-three of them saw [Tefnut] throw [Beastman] Cu off of itself before slamming its tail into the downed abomination.

"IT'S BACK IS OPEN!" Cissonius cried out.

"And one less reason to utilize a kill-switch," sighed Mudo as she maintained the preparing spell. "... Gonna keep this at the ready for a possible last resort."

On signal, Letoile was then launched towards Cu's open back. Upon her feet landing on the furry surface, she then locks her twin compasses onto the [Beastman]'s diluted nervous system. "Alright, you son of a bitch," she growled Cu was roused from his funk before getting up, her compass needles now acting as the Magic Knight's control levers over the [Beastman]. "LET'S DANCE!"

[Tefnut] then pounces onto the pair, only for Letoile to maneuver him out of the way before Cu automatically retaliated with a jumping swipe.

"She's controlling the beast?!" Salim exclaimed.

"With a degree of difficulty," Bizon pointed out as he saw Letoile's hands going white-knuckled around her compass needles just to prevent them from spinning out of control, twisting them around with great force behind each pivot in order to maneuver Cu towards certain directions. "That said, this now leaves us open with two options."

"We either let her fight alone or jump in and help out?" Jericho pointed out. "Former we run the risk of losing a teammate and leaving no guarantee that one or the other would come chasing after us. Latter, and we all run the risk of dying in the crossfire."

"Anyone have any long-ranged spells that they can work with?" asked Makarov, to which Jericho, Salim, and David raised their hands.

"Guess it's my time to shine," Salim smirked as he opened his grimoire.

"Just don't fry Letoile in the meantime, alright?" David remarked as he readied his [Gambler's Fallacy] dice to act as a hand grenade.

"Bizon, Captain Dorothy," spoke Jericho as he manifested a set of [Glitter Darts] in his hands. "Can I ask you two to coordinate our attacks with Letoile's riding of Cu?"

"I'll slow the god down," Bizon acknowledged.

"And I'll ready my [Dream Magic] to act as her safe-zone in case if she's in a pinch," the witch nodded as she opened her grimoire. "... Hopefully, his [Rage Magic] doesn't bleed over into my brain."

"We have our plan then," Makarov nodded. "Cissonius, you and I will be in charge of pulling our support out if things become dire!"

"Rite," he nodded. "Gud luck."

Everyone then got into their positions as Letoile riding atop of the berserk [Beastman]!Cu wailed at [Tefnut] while the latter did the same to the former in the violent exchange, with the only reason why the Magic Knight wasn't sent flying off of his back was that she'd anchored her footing onto Cu's back with the help of her [Compass Magic].

Even then, she could feel her hands ready to break at any moment, for riding Cu was equivalent to riding a flying bull; improbable as it was impossible.

"MOVE DAMMIT!" she roared as she then twisted her needles towards their right, causing Cu to drift around the sands before delivering a spinning buck-kick before landing back onto his feet, prompting the god to counter with a shoulder check whose impact nearly sent her brain rattling to the back of her skull.

She didn't even dare to loosen her grip around her needles, lest she was to send Cu on an indiscriminate rampage with her being thrown off to her death.

"LETOILE!" David cried out as he then threw his dice at the [Tefnut]'s sides, causing a row of explosions that distracted the monster long enough to divert its attention away from the [Beastman] and towards the [Dice Magic] user.

With this diversion, Cu was able to land a solid hit onto the beast's head with its severed arm club, causing the beast to retaliate with a tail slam with its serpentine body wound up like a whip that was about to snap.

In the last moment, Dorothy then pulls Cu and Letoile out of the way by abducting them into her [Glamour World], opening up a chance for Jericho and Salim to unleash a unison raid spell.

"Charge em up," Jericho remarked as he then threw up his darts into the air and over [Tefnut].

"Gladly," Salim then struck the darts with his [Lightning Magic], supercharging the sharpened nails before they all descended like a heavy rain of high-speed projectiles. "I call this... [Platinum & Lightning Compound Magic: November Rain, Revenge of Fallen Salim]!"

"... Still a mouthful," Jericho critiqued as the supercharged [Glitter Darts] all struck the serpentine god, peppering it into a hail of explosions. "Although, not bad."

"If ye two are done suckin' on each others' dicks..." Cissonius then snatched the two back into the rear lines, "den dun't make me do dis next time or I'll just leave ye both te fry, ye hear?"

"WE'RE IN THE CLEAR!" Makarov exclaimed as he carried David out on his back. "BIZON! MUDO! NOW!"

Mudo then unleashes her [Obsolescence] onto the recovering [Tefnut], the dark mandala appearing over itself before it was then shocked all over by the accursed spell.

"IT'S DOING SOMETHING!" Mudo cried out as she kept up her spell's engulfing curse. "BUT IT'S STILL MOVING!"

"Allow me to fix that," Bizon then slams his axe into the sands before spectral chains of [Gravity Magic] burst out of the ground before they all tied down the serpentine god in its place. "NOW STAY DOWN! [GRAVITY BINDING MAGIC: BLINKING ALGOL]!"

The chains around [Tefnut] suddenly increase in weight, as evidenced by the monster suddenly erupting a sizable geyser of hot sand from its sheer weight sinking into the sands alone.

"WE'RE IN THE CLEAR!" Bizon confirmed as he turned towards Dorothy. "RELEASE THEM NOW!"

"GLADLY!" Dorothy, feeling if Cu himself had ravaged her brain while being in held captive inside her [Glamour World], released the rider and mount pair.

Upon [Beastman]!Cu and Letoile being released, the former then lets out an especially loud roar that reverberated the surrounding sands like disturbed water before a stockpile of blood-red energy then welled up inside of his mouth as he got onto all his fours.

"Uh... guys?" asked Salim. "What's he doing?!"

"... I think he's going to fire a beam," answered Mudo.

Everyone else (including Letoile) looked back at her with concern.

"... Is [Rage Magic] even capable of doing such thing?!" David asked on behalf of everyone else.

"When angry enough and/or is in enough pain?" replied the Libratium ex-FAMAS pilot. "... Hypothetically and now-realistically? ... Yes."

Jericho then tackled down as many people as he could into the ground with the rest (save for Letoile, although not of her own will) hit the dirt as Cu then unleashed a massive stream of pure, blood-red anger in a form of an all-devouring laser blast in a roar that sent everyone caught in its shockwave flying off of their feet. Letoile especially felt her eardrums rupture from being so close to the fallout, right before she felt all ten of her fingers snap like twigs before she was sent flying off of Cu Chulainn's back and hurling towards the cacti barbs around them.

Before she could be skewered, Letoile was then rescued by Cissonius's [Snatch Magic], teleporting her from her original trajectory and into his arms as the blood-red beam devoured [Tefnut] whole. From within the violent light, its silhouette was disintegrated into nary but ash along with everything standing behind the monster, punching a clean hole through several cacti, trees, and even the foundations of the forest itself.

Once the beam of crimson light subsides, all that was left in its wake was complete and utter ruin. Upon the light dying down, the barbs stuck inside Cu's head then purge themselves out of their nesting place, snapping this bestial berserker back into reality, his once-grotesquely morphed body deflating back to its prior state. Save for a pair of bleeding wounds on his head along with a missing arm, Cu Chulainn was perfectly fine.

"... Oi guys," said the wild man as he pointed his thumb toward the utter ruin made in his wake. "... Did we get em?"

Everyone nods in confirmation.

"Oh gud," he replied with relief as he then go and went to retrieve his [Gae Bolg] along with his severed arm, the former's broken spearheads now growing back to normal length and sharpness. "... Well, de baddie's dead, so come on! Let's make sum tracks!"

"What?!" Letoile replied as she cupped her ear with. "Speak up! I can't hear you!"

"... She's now deaf, isn't she?" David pointed out as Letoile noticed her broken fingers before she then cracked all ten of them back into their original alignments without hesitation nor signs of any pain. "... At least that's one less problem to worry about?"

"... I'll see if I can fix her," Dorthy sighed as everyone went and moved on.

As the group walked, a question comes up to Salim's mind. "... So how did you get your arm back?"

"Eh, just stuck it onto de bleedin' stump 'nd let it attach itself from dere," replied Cu. "... Let me guess, ye lot can't do dat?"

"Forget I asked."

---

"This little shindig that is currently on fire? This used to be my home, but I suppose you already knew," spoke Ogmios.

"And that kid bleeding out on the ground is you?" Vanica pointed at the dying child phasing through the storyteller's shins.

The magenta-haired storyteller lets out a semi-sarcastic nervous chuckle. "... Not exactly."

The woman in the beaked mask then descends onto the scene of the carnage as it began fizzing out. "... Search for the survivors," she ordered as she manifested a stake of blood in her hand. "Leave none alive."

Everyone then sees the red needle be staked through the boy's head from behind before he could even crawl away from this woman right before the scenery cut to black.

"... That more or less confirms it," Zenon commented. "... So how are you still alive?"

"We're about to get to that part," Ogmios remarked as the scenery then transformed into a small forest village with the whole populace being composed solely of males with metal collars welded around their necks. Around their hovels was a giant wooden wall that resembled an animal pen, with the same boy, now whose hair is magenta in color, stared out of the gaps. "Let me explain, that is not my original body. Rather, all the male populace trapped in this little pen are replicants of the villagers that the woman riding atop a whole murder had did the very act on what she was riding on."

Corrin grimaces at his wordplay. "... All that for a pun?"

"This is easily the worst parts of my life, and I'm forced to relive it with you all watching. Let me have my moment," Ogmios smiled beamingly, in complete contrast to what he was saying. "... As I was saying, here, this entire populace are classified as Warlocks, a male subspecies of Witches. Unlike the latter, we were specifically created to be breeding fodder for the latter in order to keep their population stable while providing the proper dumping grounds for any 'failures.' My guess is that when my village was anal-fucked by that masked crone, she used our corpses as genetic templates to create said Witches and Warlocks."

"... Come to think of it, I think I know that Witches, although similar in appearance, they're genetically distinct from us humans to be their own race," Corrin recalled. "I mean, there have been records of them being able to mate with humans and have children together, and doing so allows said children to inherit great magical power, making them sought-after partners for various would-be nobles."

Vanica notices Ogmios clutching his right arm. "... Whoa," she remarked. "... That kind of bloodlust is normally reserved for those you have a personal vendetta on."

"You'd be surprised," he remarked with a strained smile as the boy of his likeness looked back at the zombie-like villagers. "So here I was, some stupid brat named Harold who's one of the rare few who'd retained his past-life memories as a son of an Arborean acolyte, with my father Duncan not even remembering me, and my mother Courtney, now reincarnated as a Witch, living apart from us untouchables. Hell, when I saw her, she just referred to be as #063105 before beating the shit out of me with her new friends."

"... 063105," recited Zenon as Corrin covered Aengus's eyes at the sight of witches beating the boy to near-death for the crime of going outside of the fence before being thrown back into the pen. "... That literally spells 'Ogmios'."

"Wow, someone get that brainy brat a cookie," the magenta-haired storyteller remarked with seething sarcasm before kicking Zenon in the gut and stomping onto his head and pinning him down. "... Don't remind me, aight?"

The scenery then continues, with the male Warlock villagers being routinely called out day after, having their blood taken for tests, a few of them chosen to be led out of their pens to be bred, all the while, the young Ogmios watched in increasing horror, unable to accept his new lot in life where the people he knew not only cannot remember him besides his registered number, but also the life he'd life before that fateful day was effectively burnt to oblivion.

"... Wait, I don't understand," Corrin spoke. "... If Warlocks existed, then where are they now?"

Ogmios actively masked in intent/desire to cave in Corrin's face with broken laughter before acting upon his impulses, sending the girl flying across the ground with a single punch that crumpled her nose into her skull.

"OGMIOS!" Aengus cried out. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

He ignores her, not even bothering with hitting her or Dagda will find out and bring his wrath upon him. Instead, he answers Corrin's little insensitive question while actively holding back the urge to murder her on the spot. "... If you must know, I'm the last living Warlock in all of existence."

Then the scenery shifted again, with the whole village being surrounded by more golems and the masked witches that wore the same mask that the woman riding atop of a murder of crows wore. Before their daily role calls could come in, all of them fired their spells upon the Warlocks, repeating the same exact massacre that took place in the village in Ogmios's past life, including some of them trying to fight back, only this time, their collars glowed before exploding their heads off, leaving the Warlocks the options to either run or die. All the while, an authoritative and dispassionate voice echoed throughout the surrounding woods through the other surrounding sounds of screams and explosions in repeat, as if she were reading a daily announcement at a workplace.

"Attention all Warlocks, as of today you are all marked for immediate disposal. As of today forward, I've achieved a perfect genetic singularity for the Witch species, rendering your given roles as redundant. Thank you all for your contributions, little and insignificant as it may have all been. Glory to Sephira, Mother of all Magic."

Corrin's stomach dropped like a stone upon hearing those words coming out of someone's mouth. The fact that it was so cold and unfeeling while committing genocide twice over to the same people sickened her to the fundamentals, but what was even more distressing for her was seeing Ogmios chuckle bitterly and brokenly at the horrors that all of them witnessed as of now.

Zenon tried not to vomit at this utter violation of human sanctity, for willing to do the same thing if asked, was feeling like if he's seeing his own reflection. Vanica was more disappointed if anything, as one-sided slaughters are a bore to her, but slightly impressed at the ruthless efficiency of human lives being eradicated. Aengus was now screaming and bawling like a child, unable to comprehend on what her sense were presenting to her, the feelings of despair and horror being utterly alien to her and is able to do nothing but other than cry. And Moccus did his best to comfort his companion, little as he could, given the fact that he's a talking pig.

Ogmios watched in utterly broken glee and sadistic amusement as he watched his own younger self run for his life, all the while, shots from both his mother's likeness and her compatriots scratching at his heels as the young Ogmios ran and ran, barefoot and fearing for his own life.

"... Seriously, why did I survive?" he asked rhetorically as he and the others saw him being blasted off of a cliff before his head hit the rocks below, with the Witches retreating as soon as they saw blood in the waters. "... Was it a stroke of luck? A divine intervention from the goddess my people worshipped that is now long gone? Or perhaps a denizen of Hell keeping me alive for sport? Honestly, I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!"

He kept laughing, over and over again. It wasn't a laughter of sadism at his own plight. It was more akin to a stomped on-music box being forced to play its given tune under the foot known as "abuse." He continued laughing even as tears spilled from his eyes, laughing and crying uncontrollably as he entered into a psychotic break, as evident by the scene of his younger self hitting the rocks again and again, until the whole river running below was dammed up by a pile of corpses of himself.

"... I should've died back then and there," he confessed, looking down at his monument of his weakness. "But here I am, alive, in debt to an artificial magical spirit, a half-Demon and his brat with her pet pig, and all the while, living day after day scared for my life that one day, I would be hunted down by that fucking Witch bitch, just so that she can finish the job. ... Then it hit me."

The dam bursts into a scenery that literally spilled out onto the others, ending up at Ulster's wildlands with Ogmios, now growing up into his mid-teens, training under Brigid and Dagda on various forms of martial and arcane combat, later transitioning into a scene where he comes back with a dead [Minotaur] and [Lamia] as his first kills.

"... 666 years," the [Memory Magic] user coldly remarked. "All of those lives that died on that day brushed aside like a mere afterthought. I need to break even. So I had to get stronger-no. I needed to become stronger."

The days pass by, with Ogmios either coming back with a fresh kill or him being treated by Brigid to remove the former's developing brain tumors. The sun and the moon rose and fell, with the same routine happening again and again, with each day's differences being new people coming into his life, the tavern that he'd lived in becoming bigger with more rooms to accommodate more people, and various visitors and more raiders/challengers coming by before their departures, none of it affecting Ogmios as he further self-isolated himself into his growing obsession of growing stronger, keeping it quiet under his facade of being the "quiet kid" of his new family.

"... You know, it's really fitting on why I developed [Memory Magic] in the first place," Ogmios remarked as he resumed cackling. "... I was the only one to remember everything. I remembered my past life, my current life, and my reason for living, all of which, I can never forget, no matter how much I tried. Did the Witch Queen who burned down my village know, not caring that I did given that in her eyes, I'm probably nothing more than a mere tick to her titanic might? Or is she that ignorant, thinking that I was weak like the rest of the Warlocks and let me live out of pity? I'll wring the answers out of her as soon as I make her my personal bitch, make her suffer like I did, but a thousand times worse, or I can just kill her right then and there, but really, I'm spoiled for options of what I'm going to do to her once I wrap my hands around her jugular."

Corrin was utterly blown away at this revelation. A journey of revenge dating back before Clover Kingdom's inception, a story of the world of magic's most enigmatic figures having a history so sordid and monstrous as this, and her thinking that Ogmios might have lived beyond his supposed shelf life by sheer hatred alone.

"... You don't have to do this," Aengus begged, weeping all the while. "... Ogmios, you the kindest and gentlest person I know!"

Ogmios smiled. "Sorry if I lied to you for the past 666 years that I lived with you and boss," he mockingly apologized. "But watching you grow up nomrally, in Ulster of all places, while I was breaking backwards to gain more power... I sort of-no, I despised your very existence. I resented you, from the moment where you were just an ankle-biter to you, right now, still a child after centuries while having a body of that of an eighteen-year old!"

After venting, Ogmios then calms down.

"... But, if I so much as leave a nick on you, Dagda's going to beat the daylights out of me, and I can't fool him, since the times I did, he knew and beat the shit out of me," he explained to Aengus as he then turned towards Corrin. "So instead, I'll show what would've happened to you if he wasn't around."

With a snap of his finger, Corrin then collapses onto the floor, struggling as if she were being strangled from the inside.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Aengus cried out.

"Oh nothing special," he answered with a serene smile. "I just blocked off her brain's memory of remembering how to breathe with my [Memory Magic]."

"Holy crap," Vanica gulped. "... Zenon, RUN-!"

Vanica then collapses onto the ground, now unable to breathe in oxygen as her body could no longer remember how to do it, with Zenon falling down shortly after.

"PLEASE!" Aengus begged. "PLEASE STOP THIS! THEY'RE OUR FRIENDS!"

Ogmios then hogties Moccus before suspending him in the air with his [Ionróir] Relic.

"As the 'big brother' of this family you call it, I guess it's up to me to educate you," he stated. "The first lesson, actions and words spoken, have consequences."

"... Then why Corrin?" she asked, trembling in fear. "If you're mad at me... then why not me?"

"Like I said, even I'm not dumb enough to cross bossman Dagda before I can take my revenge. Get that through your thick skull, you dumbass bitch," he answered as Ogmios then looked towards Corrin. "That, and someone has forgotten that I'm the one allowing us to share our brains together, ainnit? 'Shelf life'? Like I'm some sort of produce? Not cool, man!"

None dared to speak lest they wasted what little oxygen they had left in their lungs.

---

Inside Twrch Trwyth Tavern...

---

"... Ugh," someone stirred themselves underneath the sheets. "... *yawn* Is it morning?"

Emerging from the bedsheets was a silver braid before Nozel himself came out of it. Upon waking up, he looked around and noticed one thing missing.

"... There should be the smell of food coming from downstairs right about now," he commented as he strapped on his boots before approaching the door. "... Something's wrong."

Grimoire in one hand, and a clenched fist in another, he then kicks the door down to find the whole hallway leading downstairs infested with walking mushroom along with actual mushrooms.

"... Son of a whore."

His eyes were then immediately assaulted by visions of people who resembled him and his family, with the male one having hair similar to his sans the braid while the other was a young female with a pair of pigtails hanging by the sides of her head.

"Why do you do this to me?" spoke the female. "Why do you not shed tears for the ones who have fallen?"

"You left me to rot, brother," spoke the male. "Shirking responsibilities as the oldest sibling? For shame-!"

Nozel immediately cuts the hallucinations down with his [Mercury Magic] along with the [Myconids] that were trying to jump him from all sides through the illusory masquerade. "Who are you two anyway?" he asked coldly. "I don't recall dead people."

Knowing what the enemy's game is, Nozel then wastes no time cleaning out the hallways of the mushrooms that were spreading the hallucinatory spores all over the place. One hallucinations of the two after another, they were all cut down along with the mushroom men that puppeteers them from behind.

"... It appears that I'm the only one in this place," Nozel observed as he looked across the counter and into the kitchen. "... So why am I the only one here?"

As he then exited the deserted tavern, he then comes across a familiar face.

"... Oh all times," he shook his head. "Mother?"

Acier Silva's likeliness appeared before Nozel, bearing a disappointed look on her face.

"How could you?" she spoke. "How could you treat your siblings like dirt? I thought I raised to be better than this-!"

Nozel immediately cuts her down, exposing a [Myconid] cluster that stacked themselves like a totem pole. "... You honestly don't know my mother, do you?"

"You're impossible to please," spoke the forest around him as it then manifested its "mouth" from one of the hanging vines. "No hesitation to seeing those that were consumed by this forest? Even your beloved brother and sister who met their end too soon?"

"I clearly recall being the only male sibling in the family," Nozel answered. "As for the sister, she's dead, and I moved on."

The [Leshy] blinked awkwardly. "... Wow, you hardened you heart to that much an extent, did you?"

Nozel glared at the tree with the mouth before sending a mercurial eagle at to scratch it out of existence. "Sentimentalities are merely weaknesses I can destroy and have done so repeatedly," he coldly remarked. "I did so after my mother died. I did it again after I realized that my father didn't have the heart to shed a tear for her. I did it once more when the weakest of us died trying to fly too close to the sun. I am a Magic Knight before I am a human being. As long as I am alive, nothing will deter my sense of duty to my Kingdom and the Kingdom only."

"Let's test that," the [Leshy] then cuts loose Nebra from the vines she was hung from, revealing her to be covered in a hulking mass of fungi that resembled a muscular man with minuscule legs, with only her head and shoulder being all that's left of her being human. "Behold the [Mantango], the queen of the [Myconids]-"

Nozel shoots a small bullet of [Mercury Magic] through Nebra's exposed head, causing the fungal colossus to collapse under its own weight without a semi-functional brain to run its workings. "Thank you for telling me that, you utter nincompoop."

"... What... how?!" the [Leshy] cried out. "I clearly offered you a chance to save her! I THOUGHT YOU CARED! EVEN THE SLIGHTEST!"

"You assume incorrectly," Nozel answered as he walked past his dead sister. "Caring is reserved for those who have something to lose. Your mistake was taking her hostage and rendering her worthless in my eyes."

"... This is what's wrong with you humans," the [Leshy] remarked in disgust. "Without a god's guidance, you no longer have a reason to care for your fellow squalors. It is only through humility that you are able to learn empathy! Yet here you are, thinking that you're above everyone else, including me!"

"Why should I, an eagle that soars across the heavens, regard the feelings of those who tread beneath me?" Nozel replied coldly. "Gods are nothing more than superstition made manifest. I'm too busy dealing with actual facts to even care what you, an obsolete has-been, has to say. And here are the facts: I'm the last of my own family, the others have been separated, and you are on my kill-list."

"... I am a god, ergo, I am this forest," the [Leshy] plainly declared as he took direct control over the remaining [Myconids] with their queen no longer there to direct them. "You will never kill me."

"We'll see about that," Nozel then jumps down from atop of the sleeping giant boar as he crushed more of the mushroom men underfoot. "... Send as many as you wish. All of you will break first."

The [Myconids] then all charge towards him in a coordinated pack assault, but Nozel with his silver tendrils from his [Mercury Magic], cuts and skewers them all out of the air.

"[Mercury Magic: Silver Arsenal]," declared the Silver Eagles Captain, revealing the tendrils to be tipped with all sorts of blades ranging from swords, lances, and axes. "I don't even need to move from where I am standing to defeat you all."

But just before either the [Myconids] or Nozel can make their next move, an all-consuming blizzard sweeps over the whole area, forcing the Captain to transform his [Silver Arsenal] into a ball of shields to take shelter in or risk freezing to death. One the snowstorm subsides, he then peeks out of his shell to find the mushroom frozen in place and the air being both subzero and dry, causing his lips to chap.

"HALLO!" a muffled voice called out from afar, revealing to be Brigid, encased in a globular-looking suit of armor made entirely of dry ice.

"... You look ridiculous," he commented as he then walked across the freeze-dried wastes with his spell as his legs.

"Sue me," Brigid flipped him off. "... So, you've seen the others? Assuming if they're not hallucinations?"

"The latter I cut down without a second thought," the Captain remarked. "As for the former, I woke up atop of her."

Brigid then looked towards where Nozel was pointing at, and found the Twrch Trwyth Tavern, napping away. "... Good, the old girl's unharmed."

"I suppose that clownish armor is there to protect you from the spores?" asked Nozel.

"That and I'm the only one who can wear it without suffering freeze-burns," explained the artificial spirit. "... Damn it, Ogmios is going on another mental break and he's choking out three of them while giving Aengus a scare."

"Are you suggesting that we go find them?" asked Nozel.

"That or stay here and guard where the pig is napping," she suggested. "And no, I checked the mushrooms, and they're not for consumption, unless if you're her or Moccus."

Nozel then follows Brigid in search of the others lest they start killing each other out of mushroom-induced psychosis.

---

"PLEASE! PLEASE LET THEM GO!" begged Aengus. "WHAT DO I NEED TO DO FOR YOU TO LET THEM GO?!"

"Honestly, nothing," he coldly replied as he kept Moccus hostage while Corrin, Zenon, and Vanica were all suffering from oxygen deprivation. "There's nothing for you to do that'll convince me to let them go. ... Okay, there is, but I ain't doing it or boss is going to kill me."

Corrin, feeling like her brain is being juiced while her lungs slowly ran out of oxygen as her body now no longer knew how to breathe, struggles to think. ... Just what then? What is his real end goal?

"Simple really," Ogmios answered. "I'm going to kill the Witch Queen. Plain and simple."

... What of... possible consequences...? thought Zenon, correlating the fading thoughts of his body's creation and belonging to the Witch Queen.

"I already know for the fact that my current body is bio-synchronized with the Queen's own," he revealed, "so unless she chooses a 'successor' to take her place, she shits the bed, then the entirety of the Witch species, myself included, will all drop dead. And honestly, I'm fine with that. Living after taking revenge and left with nothing? Cliche central, man. I'd sooner die as a martyr for my own existence than live on as some pretender who can only fake being happy living a relatively normal life. My existence is a lie, an affront to nature, so as the monster of the Queen's own creation that she let get away, it's the monster's role to kill his arrogant creator in the ultimate for of hubris! I AM GOING TO DESTROY HER LEGACY, SET IT ON FIRE, AND THEN PISS ON THE ASHES!"

"... That's not true," Aengus remarked. "... You're real, Ogmios. You're here, you have been here since I first saw you! I felt your hand, it was so pretty and soft! I remember you, reading me stories before my bedtime! Ogmios, those years we spent with the others at the tavern... ARE NOT A LIE!"

Ogmios lets out a disappointed sigh as he then picked out a switchblade from his pocket before flicking the blade open. "... You made pissing me off an art form at this point, dontcha?"

He then stabs Moccus into his side, causing a red ichor to spill out as the talking pig squealed in agony.

"NO!" Aengus then clung onto Ogmios. "DON'T DO THIS!"

"You made me do this," he then brought the bloodstained knife close towards the white-haired girl's face. "When we get back, be sure to thank Dagda for existing or otherwise, I could've done much worse to you specially. As long as it is not towards you, I can do whatever the fuck I want-"

Moccus then suddenly bites onto Ogmio's arm as hard as the pig could, causing him to let go of the knife and accidentally scar Aengus's cheek upon its drop. In retaliation, Ogmios then kicks Moccus onto his wound and across the ground like a ball. "YOU FUCKING PIG!" he snarled as he then kept stomping onto the same place that he'd inflicted grievous pain onto. "YOU'D BE BETTER OFF ON MY TABLE AS A SPREAD OF DINNER THEN PISSING ME OFF-!"

"OGMIOS!" Aengus cried out as she placed the switchblade onto her own throat. "... Stop it, or you're gonna have to explain to daddy why I'm going to be like this."

Ogmios smirked, almost impressed at her quick wit and a new row of spine that she'd just metaphorically grew. "... Clever girl."

"I'M SERIOUS OGMIOS!" she snarled, no longer the scared little girl that she was prior.

In honesty, Ogmios was aware that he was in a serious pickle. Last time he tried to mess with Aengus's mind by making her into his errand girl, Dagda immediately figured out that her mind was tampered with by using his [Counter Magic] to assess for any "modifications" and locate the culprit/him within seconds, with the end result being that he was spanked to near-death in front of everyone and had to get his buttocks replaced. So the option of using his [Memory Magic] to make her body forget how to utilize its motor functions isn't the case unless Dagda were to find out and put an end to his plans.

He has no desire to live, nor he had the desire to die before the Witch Queen could. But his plans might've been thrown into the shitter when he'd accidently dropped his switchblade across the girl's face.

But just before either one of them could do anything rash, a glinted sword's flat then bashes Ogmios's head in from behind, knocking him out and revealing Roland in all of his naked glory.

"MR. NAKED MAN?!" Aengus remarked.

"And me," Rinaldo raised his hand from behind as he and his partner looked at the struggling Corrin, Zenon, and Vanica along with the brutalized pig. "... Need help?"

"PLEASE!" begged Aengus as she then tried to collapse the blade back into its handle, only for her to cut her hand.

"I got the girl," Rinaldo stated. "Roland, please heal them."

The nude Paladin then plants his [Durandal] into the ground, casting an autonomous healing aura onto the four. As the verdant light was cast upon them, Corrin and Zenon gasped back to life as Moccus's stab wound sealed itself shut.

"... Ugh," the pig grunted. "Thanks for saving our bacon, mister naked man!"

"It's the least I can do," he replied as Corrin coughed before her body regained its equilibrium. "... You alright?"

"... Almost died," she replied as her paled face regained its pigment. "... Seriously, why?! WHY IS HE ABLE TO CONTROL OUR BASIC BODILY FUNCTIONS WITH HIS [MEMORY MAGIC]?!"

"Theoretically, [Memory Magic] can do that as long 'A' remembers 'B' in correlation. Ergo, as long as your 'body' say, 'remembers' to 'breathe,' then said person can hypothetically shut off the proverbial tap," explained the ex-Clover Kingdom Paladin. "... Never thought in the history of magic where we'd see said theory put into practice."

"... Geez, glad to think that our near-death experiences was an enlightening moment," muttered the [Magnet Magic] user as she then turned towards Zenon, who was scrambling towards Vanica.

"... She's not breathing!" he cried out as he held onto his motionless sister. "SHE NEEDS CPR!"

"Or we could ditch her..." Roland rolled his eyes as he then looked back at towards Zenon, who looked more and more like a kid scared for someone's life rather than a monster from a Zogratis Clan that had ruined millions of lives. "... Fine. One time."

"I'm going to have put this in our after-action reports later on..." sighed Rinaldo as he then bound Ogmios with his [Mercury Magic].

Zenon then set Vanica flat on her back as Roland then inhaled a large volume of air, puffing up his bare chest as his lungs inflated behind his pecs.

"COME BACK TO LIFE!"

In one swift motion, Roland then locked lips against Vanica's as everyone else watched. For the latter party, time itself slowed down for dramatic effect up until the point where Vanica's chest puffed up with an insertion of oxygen right before the intertwining lips broke off from each other, allowing Vanica to gasp back to life.

"She lives!" Aengus cheered before she glomped onto Vanica.

"Gonna die gonna die..." gagged the [Blood Magic] user before she was let go.

"Be grateful, you snot," Roland grimaced as he then took up the bound Ogmios over his shoulders.

"Oh why wouldn't I be?" Vanica teasingly remarked. "After all, you stole my first kiss."

Roland grimaced even further at her words. "... Don't think about it, don't think about it."

Rinaldo rolled his eyes. "... Come on," he spoke. "We're going nowhere at this rate."

The now group of eight traverse through their shared drug trip, wading through the wispy and shifting lands that they've all perceived, praying to whatever divinities that they worship that they would find the others before either of them are lost to this woods forever.

"... Can I... ask you two misters something?" spoke Aengus as she rode atop Moccus's healed back.

"Ask away," replied Rinaldo.

"... Did you two... see or hear anything during your... you know," she fidgeted as Aengus tried to ask her question, "... bad dreams?"

"Eh, nothing really," Roland answered first. "Mental attack don't work on me. And yes, that includes [Memory Magic]. So if pinky here tries anything funny, I'll bonk him with my sword, [Durandal]."

"... Can we just kill him?" asked Corrin. "Seems safer that way."

"That's not our choice to make," Rinaldo replied. "Ultimately, it's up to Dagda on what happens to him, since Ogmios is his charge. Otherwise, we're gonna be the ones who's going to have explain everything."

"... So how much of his spiel did you hear?" asked Zenon.

"Enough," Roland replied as he looked at the unconscious [Memory Magic] user. "... Poor bastard's gone through what we could only imagine. Little wonder why he fits in Ulster."

"If, by chance, we are in audience with the Witch Queen herself," stated Rinaldo, "then first we'll let her explain her side of the story, then we'll have to wing it from there."

"That is, if she's willing. But given Ogmios's testimony, I doubt she'll even listen," Roland sighed. "The universal language is violence, so if all else fails, then so be it."

The eight continued to traverse through the woods in their hallucinatory daze.

---

Outside of the Breached Enclosure...

---

Dagda deflects back another hammer blow from [Chloris] as Cernunnos tried to close in with his [Gae Buidhe] and [Gae Dearg] to break the hold of the plants pervading Dana's mind, but the possessed Jotun host pounds the earth with her fist to grow a wall of trees to take the hits for her.

"DAMMIT!" cursed the Fae as the tree he'd hit all withered away before [Chloris] swung her hammer towards his direction, forcing him to dodge the attack as [Treants] perching above then ambushed him by throwing boulder-sized pinecones at him. "JUST WHY DOES THE GOD WANT HER?!"

"I would give my two cents if you'd explain what's going on!" Lugh professed.

Cernunnos then sends his twins spears to slay the tree monsters standing over their current battlefield as Dagda managed to get close and latch himself onto the possessed Danu.

"ALRITE! I GOT 'ER!" Dagda hollered as [Chloris] tried to scrape him off of her, only for the former to keep a tight hold onto her skin like a tick digging into someone's skin. "TAKE 'ER FLOWERS OUT!"

"Hang on tight!" Cernunnos remarked to Lugh as both of them sped towards the possessed Danu.

The goddess then immediately makes her retreat, cutting down several trees behind her while sprouting more to take their place, leaving behind a trail of blockades made of fallen trees tangled with [Jabberwocky] serpents.

"THIS IS STARTING TO PISS ME OFF!" the Fae growled as his dual spears spun themselves around into red and gold discs as they tore through the monsters and wood alike, only for the latter to be replaced with more of the same. "LUGH, ARE YOU HOLDING ON?!"

"TIGHT AS POSSIBLY COULD!" he replied.

"Alright, this next one is gonna be a little rough," Cernunnos then takes out a seed before flicking it in front of him as it then transformed into a magic circle. Upon its formation, he then ends both of his spears through said circle, causing them to reappear out of a bigger circle cast above them, but now as a rain of red and yellow blades. "[Fae Arts: Perception]! [Mode: Sunshower]!"

The miniature copies of [Gae Buidhe] and [Gae Dearg] then rained upon the serpents and the fallen trees, spraying the poisonous and armor-piercing needles onto them right before they were all either rotted or chipped away into nothing. During the deluge, Cernunnos effortlessly dodges all of the blades raining from while keeping Lugh unharmed.

"You know! This is the first time I've ever seen you use your magic!" Lugh remarked. "... [Fae Arts], you say?!"

Cernunnos nodded. "It was either keep it hush-hush or I get hunted down and have my bones turned into drugs," he explained. "Strong as I am, that is not how I want to live my life! I need my sleep!"

Before Lugh can say anything, he then spots something coming up from ahead. "INCOMING WATERMELON!"

As per his words, a watermelon the size of a two-story building was hurled towards their direction. Thinking quickly, the Fae then flicks out another seed before it then transformed into another magic circle, for which then he'd flew through in order to grow giant-sized.

"[Fae Arts: Perception]!" the giant-Cernunnos (with the still-regular-sized Lugh hanging on from his shoulders) declared. "[Mode: Mountain]!"

The giant Fae then shoulder-tackles through the melon before shrinking down shortly after and resuming his pursuit towards Dagda and [Chloris].

"... I'll reveal one thing though," Cernunnos spoke as his [Gae Buidhe] and [Gae Dearg] flew up next to him. "... Danu's default size was her giant form every time that she got angry or emotionally roused. My [Fae Arts] was the only thing that kept it in check, and the latest I've done to maintain it was last week."

"So wait, Jotuns can't naturally go giant-sized?" Lugh asked.

"They were able to back in the Golden Age of Magic, but now, it's a lost art," the Fae revealed. "Either that, or it got phased out for being too impractical and they invented [Mana Skin] to take it place."

Then from below, spires of briars burst from the earth and streaking towards them, forcing Cernunnos to fly up higher. However, the briars then shot their thorns, clouding the air with sharp debris that forced the Fae to act.

"Give me a freaking break..." he muttered as he then took out another seed as the pip then transformed into another magic circle. This time, he first threw Lugh into it before he himself entered, with both of them coming out completely transparent as the shot thorns phased through them while they flew past them.

Upon getting past another blockade, both Lugh and Cernunnos then reappear back to their normal selves, prompting Cernunnos to catch Lugh out of the air before resuming their flight, now edging closer towards the fleeing [Chloris].

"I'm running out of seeds..." sighed Cernunnos.

"... So [Fae Magic] uses objects of nature as their catalysts?" asked Lugh.

"Not necessarily," he answered. "It's really a matter of preference, but the condition is that said object has to hold a degree of sentimental value to said Fae in order to gain access to their [Fae Arts]."

"So you were a sort of gardener back then?" Lugh recalled the time where Cernunnos sprouted a giant dandelion.

The Fae lets out a nervous chuckle in an evasive tone. "... We'll talk more about me after all of this is over," he stated. "Last thing I want to happen is for a leak that I might as well be the last living Fae alive and suddenly, about 60% of Ulster's druggies come after me in my sleep, and no, it'll escalate into just being more than a 'me' problem."

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Lugh promised as he then spotted the giant flower-head up ahead. "THERE SHE IS!"

"And bossman's about to lose his grip," Cernunnos remarked. "... We're gonna have to do this in one blow. Lest she does this whole song and dance again."

He then feels the inside of his pockets, counting only four remaining. Hesitantly, he then takes one out before transforming it into a magic circle that he'd sent both of his spears into it.

"[Fae Arts: Perception]!" Cernunnos declared as both of spears fused together into a singular, composite greatspear. "[Mode: Arms Fusion-Birgha]!"

The spear then sped towards the possessed Jotun's back right before sticking itself into her back. As the venom circulated throughout the plant-infested body, the petals and leaves sprouting from her body began withering away.

"WHAT?! NO! IMPOSSIBLE!" [Leshy] exclaimed.

"And that makes five-hundred," Lugh pointed out as the dead goddess's grip around their friend rotted away before their eyes. "Boss! Do your thing!"

Dagda nods as he then jumps towards Danu's neck and sinks his sword into her nape, causing her body to convulse violent as she then let out an echoing shriek. "Sorry if dis 'urts," he apologized as he wretched his [Fragarach] around, streaking it through her flesh, but with no blood spilling out of her wounds. "But I gotta shut ye off fur a while."

He then roughly carves the word "מת" into it. The command then causes Danu to cease up before she then fell onto the ground, breaking apart into pieces of earth and stone upon landing through numerous trees and the uneven ground.

"... Ye knew dat she's a Golem, rite?" Dagda glared at the trees.

"Oh please, you're the one hiding that fact from everyone else," the [Leshy] pointed out. "I just felt her up and found that she's literally made of dirt and rock and planted the seeds from there. If she were flesh and blood... well, 'body horror' would've been more literal."

"A Golem?" Lugh remarked as he was let down by Cernunnos. "You mean like those earthen dolls that are created by magic?"

"According to the boss, one of the very first," Cernunnos explained. "The Dwarven Empire's line of autonomous mobile weapons to wage war against Da'at and other surrounding nations. After their collapse, the instructions to create these instruments of war were disseminated and modified throughout the generation, with roughly about 90% of the original recipe being lost during the transition and countless translation errors."

"To think that those squats would actually succeed not only in mass-producing [Gnome] ala her and her lost contemporaries, but also improve upon the original design..." commented the [Leshy]. "... I should be offended for making this light of us gods, but the fact that the Dwarven Totem Gods approved of this affront... I'm having complicated feelings regarding this."

"So yer gunna stay 'ere 'nd yap, or are ye gunna stay and git yer arse kicked?" Dagda glared back.

"Normally, I'd contest the former, but given that none of you are giving me the respect I am due..." muttered the god as he slinked away, "... I'll make our next encounter a surprise."

The three of them are left alone with the pieces of Danu scattered around the forest floor. As the silence settled in, Dagda then looked at Lugh with a forlorn look before bowing his head. "... Sorry if I didn't tell ye soona. Needed de propa time to reveal it. ... Guess it's now."

"Apology accepted," sighed the emaciated man as he looked around the pieces around them. "... Now what?"

"What we did before you joined," Cernunnos remarked as he then transformed his [Birgha] back into [Gae Buidhe] and [Gae Dearg] before transforming them back into a stuffed dog and bear dolls respectively. "Put her back together again."

The three then got to work putting their Golem friend back whole.

"... So, being that I'm the recent addition to the Tavern, aka, about roughly a good century's worth of years ago," Lugh remarked as he picked up Danu's broken-off foot with the help of Cernunnos's stuffed animals, "... how did you end up finding her? Given that she's about tall as these trees around us, I suspect that she's quite hard to miss."

"It was just me, Brigid, Aengus, Moccus, 'is mum, and Cernunnos," the half-Demon explained. "We found 'er being worshipped as sum sort of village's local goddess guardian or sumthin'. Anyway, we were just stoppin' by for a refill of an ale 'nd sellin' our shite. Dat iz, until one nite, sum band of raiders led by gud ol' Cisso came knockin' at our door, and one thin' led to another, and before we all knew it, while I was trying to pry me [Fragarach] out of Cisso's 'ands... Danu, who just sat dere, being worshipped a few hours earlier... went on a rampage."

"Yeah," nodded the Fae as he then stuck the broken finger into the separated hand. "The very village that she was supposed to protect, she accidentally destroyed the whole place along with its entire populace, with the group, Cissonius, and Danu being the only ones alive in the aftermath. Took us about a whole week to get her to calm down until Brigid discovered her serial number tattooed on her nape."

"DE-6427,' de exact kind dat de Dwarven Empire used to organize der military's assets," answered Dagda. "... Dose were de numbas dat we 'ad te scratch out in favor of writin' 'מת,' meanin' 'death,' te git 'er to calm down. Wen she came to, she doesn't rememba anythin'. Not 'er name, or 'er past. Anythin'."

"Hell, it was she was basically a newborn that could speak," explained Cernunnos. "... So going off by her prior serial number, we named her 'Danu' and took her in with us. As for Cissonius, now that his boys were dead, we basically threatened him to stay with us. He complied, only to try and steal bossman's sword. He gave up after three centuries and became our line cook."

"... Normally, I'd complain that you all didn't tell me sooner," Lugh pointed out as he then dragged Danu's earthen arm closer towards the Golem's shoulder stump, "but given the lives we lead, with all the dine-and-dashers, raiders, challengers, and now this whole looming Demon calamity hanging over our heads... I suppose I can't complain."

"Glad ye understand," nodded Dagda as he then lifted up Danu's broken-off head.

"So... with that said," spoke Lugh as he then looked for other missing pieces of Danu, "... any other secrets from the others are keeping from me?"

"Tell yours afterwards," Cernunnos teased as the three of them shared a laugh.

---

"Come oooonnnn," egged Ogmios as he was being carried by Roland. "Let me go. I'll behave."

"Bullshit," growled Corrin. "YOU NEARLY KILLED US ALL!"

"Correction, almost all of you," he spoke insufferably. "Aengus just happened to grow enough of a pair to threaten me to off herself."

Aengus, riding atop of the healed Moccus, stuck out her tongue before huffing.

"Screw you, you pasty cunt," Ogmios huffed back.

"Ooh, we got an ankle-biter here!" giggled Vanica.

"So says the actual ankle-biter..." Ogmios rolled his eyes. "... Speaking of, why did you two suck face?"

"Normally, I'd let her die," explained Roland. "But if I did, I'd be no better than the very same clan that had brought the Reign of Terror."

"... You know that the line to be better than the Zogratis Clan of all people is low that it's practically abyssal, right?" Rinaldo pointed out.

"I know," Roland grumbled. "... But there's something in my gut... that's telling me that I should be better. That I shouldn't be the one to decide who lives and dies just because I feel like it."

"Oh! Now you're preaching pacifism after you of all people got banned from Ulster?!" Ogmios caustically pointed out. "The 'Jockstrap Incident' happened because you of all people can't control your murder boner for someone with an erectile dysfunction!"

"... Come to think of it, can someone please explain what is this whole ban about?" asked Corrin.

"I'll do it," Rinaldo raised his hands before he began speaking. "So, about a year ago, Roland along with Ruggiero and myself went to a Dungeon to check what it was about, and when we got there, several small Ulsterian tribes turned the whole place into a pit fight arena. Pay-per-view, too."

"Why didn't I hear about that?!" Vanica remarked.

"Probably because you were too busy torturing little animals to watch them bleed to death," deadpanned Zenon.

"Gross," gagged Corrin. "So then what?"

"Roland, being the ever-brilliant idiot that he is, decided that it would be a wonderful idea to participate in said deathmatches so against our better judgement, we let him register," continued the Paladin. "But, when it came time for the weigh-ins, Roland refused to comply with the dress code, which is to at least have one article of clothing to denote who's fighting who, and all they had lying around was a jockstrap."

Roland looked away awkwardly. "... It was three sizes too small and they threatened me to kick me out," he confessed. "... And I got upset."

"By 'upset,' he means 'murdered everyone in sight with his bare hands and accidentally destroyed the Dungeon's core in the process,' which then caused a mass cave-in that killed over half of the audience, and injuring the rest, myself and Ruggiero included," Rinaldo filled in the blanks. "A lot of bodies were buried at that day, and after running away with a broken leg and shattered ribs with not a single MASS pack in sight, Roland was made scapegoat of the whole 'Jockstrap Incident', there has been reports of Ulsterians sneaking into Libratium to try and kill Roland in his sleep, only for them to end up imprisoned on Château d'If. It got so bad that Premier Charlemagne had to directly negotiate with Chieftain Fergus to come up with an agreement. Roland would be legally not allowed in Ulster's borders unless if its for critical reasons, and in exchange, Ulsterians wouldn't come into our city state and kill people for the hell of it."

"... Doubt they even enforced said agreement," Corrin muttered.

"Eh, it's true," shrugged Roland. "Although in Libratium's defense, the Chimera we produce in an attempt to resurrect the Fae as Siths are sneaky little buggers. And regrettably, getting an Ulsterian to stop killing people indiscriminately is less likely than a cannibal to go vegan. Both sides just didn't enforce said agreement for the reasons of 'collective insanity."

"... So ultimately, it was all for nothing," Corrin pointed out.

"Such is life," sighed Rinaldo.

Everyone then silently agreed to not talk for the duration of their traversal through their collective drug trips. That is, until Ogmios broke the silence (designating himself as the group's annoying parrot).

"So, you two Paladins gone through your hallucinations?" he asked in a deliberately-annoying of a manner as possible.

"Nothing I haven't seen before, if you must know," Rinaldo remarked in a detached tone.

"And I'm a meathead," Roland remarked straight to the point. "Slowly getting memories back aside, all I saw was color... and some far-off lands I might've visited but not remember it clearly... and fought an eight-headed dragon."

No one dared to reply to his ridiculous claims lest they lost more their brain cells, to which Ogmios quietly apologized.

As they kept walking through the woods filled to the brim with mushrooms, they spot a faint silhouette in the distance, which was then followed up by pained moaning.

"... CAPTAIN!" Corrin then ran past everyone before everyone else followed.

As they all came towards where the sounds and the shadow was standing at, they all witnessed a naked elf clutching his head as if his brain was about to split in two. The group then all began seeing what the suffering elf was bearing witness to.

On one side was a forest village caught on fire with a giant magic circle placed up on the pyroclastic skies where as the other side was a small farming village situated next to a flowing river of clean water with a windmill looking over the whole commune, its axis gently turning by the serene winds paired with the calm skies.

"... What the fuck are we even seeing?" asked Corrin.

"My two cents?" suggested Ogmios, "either his brain is that fucked up or legit, he has two different memories with only one of which belonging to him."

Their collective drug trip has now taken a turn for the even more bizarre and worse.

---

To Be Continued...

---

Author's Notes: Sorry for the late upload, but develops IRL has forced me to take a week off from writing. Now that I'm in a search for a legit paying job, I'm thinking of reworking my upload schedule to accommodate my time for writing, playing Monster Hunter Rise, and my eventual job. Said job won't be anything glamorous, but really, given my circumstances, let's just say that I'm too desperate to be picky.

So, this chapter is one giant-ass drug trip with boss fights from [Tefnut] and [Chloris] sandwiched between it. In all honesty, this chapter is literally two chapters superglued together and to prepare for this long-ass arc's endgame.

Secrets are revealed in this forest where everyone's slowly losing their minds. Now that all of this arc's players have been revealed, there will be a time when they all reunite, in the next chapter.

I swear, I just write this thing. Whatever control I have on the plot I've drew up is nigh-nonexistent.

Also, one last thing. This website has been bugging out lately for us writers. I can no longer keep count of how many people actually read this fic, all of my notifications related to this website have been shut off, and the only thing I have to count are the number of reviews left behind. So please, leave a review for this chapter so that at the very least, I may be in the know that this fic is having readers.

References:

- Corrin's hallucination of her ending up in a ten-month incursion with Ulsterians is a reference to the real-life Battle of Verdun that took place during World War I. Also her war attire is lifted from the Royal Knights's during the Elf Reincarnation Arc.

- Lugh's "hobby" of keeping a "mental list" of certain monologue cliches is a reference to Dragon Ball Z Abridged's Frieza keeping count of "heroic speeches."

- Cu Chulainn's [Rage Magic: Warp Spasm-Beastman] is named after the titular character's feat in Gaelic Mythology where he just flat out turns into Marvel's Hulk. The form is designed after Yu-Gi-Oh's Unchained Abomination Link-4 Monster, with the bipedal body structure of Woodwose (meaning "the wild man" in Middle English from the 12th to 13th century, the very exact description for Cu Chulainn throughout this fic) from Fate/Grand Order's Lostbelt 6: Avalon le Fae and Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak's Lunagaron. The process to activate said spell is based off Warhammer 40k's Butcher's Nails, a set of neural implants designed to make the already-bloodthirsty World Eaters even moreso (and that's an understatement of the goddamn century).

- Letoile's method of "controlling" Cu Chulainn's [Warp Spasm-Beastman] form is based off Monster Hunter Rise's Wyvern Riding Mechanic, with her dual compasses acting as her Wirebug stand-ins. Also for which kind of monster Letoile is riding, it's basically Monster Hunter 2's Rajang, with its "Kamehameha" being more akin to Crimson Glow Valstrax's Dragon Energy Cannon from Monster Hunter Rise.

- Jericho and Salim's [Platinum & Lightning Compound Magic: November Rain, Revenge of Fallen Salim] is a reference to the Guns n' Roses song with the same name and it's heavy projectile rain is also a shout-out to Jodio Joestar's [November Rain] stand from JoJo's Bizarre Adventures: The JOJOLands.

- Bizon's [Gravity Binding Magic: Blinking Algol] is named after one of the stars in the Perseus constellation, with its 'blinking'-part being derived from the star's title, "The Blinking Eye of the Demon," a reference to the titular hero's feat of beheading Medusa and taking it for itself as a tool (and said star being classified as an eclipsing binaries).

- Nozel waking up alone in a tavern room is a reference to Leon Kennedy waking up in a motel room during the middle of a Raccoon City Outbreak from Resident Evil 2.

- Roland's CPR to Vanica was lifted from Episode 1 of FLCL.

- Cernunnos's [Arms Fusion-Birgha] is named after Fiacha's venomous spear that was used to slay the monster, Aillén, a fire-breathing monster who'd sing its victims to sleep before incinerating them.

- The word "מת"/"meth" carved into Danu's nape means "death" in Hebrew, which is basically an off switch for the Golems.