AN: What excuse will I say today to explain my delay? Life, Work, thinking about how to approach certain things in the story, scenes getting longer than they should, getting the platinum in RE4… you know, the usual.
Interlude 2
The Humbled Werewolf
"Anything else, Bete?"
The Werewolf left the question flowing into his brain; putting it in a pile to wait as he gave priority to his own thoughts.
He was sitting on the edge of the window inside the infirmary of the Twilight Manor with the sole of his right foot resting on it while his left leg hung in the air.
It had been a few days since the incident in the Dungeon… and he felt great; at least psychically; all of his wounds had healed overnight without the need for potions. But he thought that was probably thanks to-
"Bete."
His ears twitched, changing from watching the view outside the window to looking at the face of the Pallum that usually smiled at anything, his Captain.
"I know you are mentally exhausted; the faster you answer, the faster we can all rest."
The infirmary was currently filled with the Executives and his Goddess; but the usual attitude of each person was gone… with the exception of Gareth.
The Twins were usually almost in sync, now they were at complete ends of the spectrum; the older one seemed to be plagued by a deep scowl on her face, while the younger one seemed depressed and worried for her sister. Seems that being called sister killer gave them both trips down memory lane.
Riveria, on the other hand, seemed in the same state as Tiona, even though she still had a strong front; but her voice gave her away. She also kept watching the conscious, yet bedridden Ais next to her.
The dull Princess kept staring at the ceiling for her part, only looking at him from time to time the moment he was brought into the topic.
His Captain on the other hand was in full business mode; his smile and all appearance gone. Something Raul had commented was that the last time the Pallum was in such a state was during the Dark Age of Orario.
But, the one that bothered him the most with her current attitude, was his Goddess. Loki had been sitting on a backward chair, her arms and chin resting on top of another while her eyes remained narrowed in a dangerous way.
"Is there anything else you can tell us?" His Captain pressed once again, making him recall the last thirty minutes.
They had been surprised when word of Bete recovering overnight after the first night after the incident. And despite his Captain and Goddess showing relief for his state, they didn't waste their time in questioning the Werewolf about what had happened.
Apparently, Loki and Riveria had paid a visit to Drake Aurion, only to end up talking with Lloyd.
'Whatever it is the duty, divine law, dreams, great scheme of things, or anything of the sorts; I shall not forsake my Justice.'
He gripped his head for a moment when they mentioned him, forcing him to recall flashes of a spiky-haired brunette aiming his blade in his direction.
The oldest Aurion had somehow explained what had happened to him, and why it affected him of all people. In a sense, it was his pride and the rejection of the idea of more people around him dying that made him push forward unlike the rest… sadly, that was also the same reason why he was manipulated and used.
However, the conversation took a serious twist when they questioned him if he saw something else while being possessed; the artifact… the Centurions, were apparently sentient.
Their eyes widened the moment he muttered the name of the artifact as if it was natural to him. From there on more questions continued to pour out, but he couldn't answer them all right away. But the more they continued, the more memories started to flash before his eyes.
"Is there anything about that strange light that surrounded their bodies? Or even the way they cast spells like Flynn did? What about any kind of items they could possess?"
Bete groaned, having a headache with each question.
"You had mentioned they used something called Aura-"
"The manifestation of a person's soul." Bete interrupted him. "I don't have the feeling many people in their land used it but-"
'Who's the lazy fuck now, bitch! Come back here and face me like a fucking man!' the memory of Zelos Wilder running from a large number of [Fire Balls] played in his mind, all while a young brown-haired cat girl that resembled Anya Fromel just walked menacingly while more Glyph circle appeared above her to shoot more; no incantation or such thing needed to cast them.
"Besides the physical… Artes Drake or that Flynn guy used, magical ones seem to be usable without the need of incantations… such bullshit."
Riveria's eyes narrowed, recalling how Flynn was indeed able to cast multiple beams of light to defeat the Grimm without so much as a word needed. "It is safe to assume Aura is needed for such a process. Is it possible we can acquire it?" Her demeanor changed if only a little, detecting the eagerness in her voice.
Had it been any other day, he would have thrown a comment like 'Seems like the hag is getting excited, better late than never', but he wasn't in the mood for any such thing.
"… I don't know." Nothing came to mind. "Wouldn't discard the idea, though." Bete looked back out of the window.
"What about who they are as people? Because none of them have given the vibe of being someone with a normal background."
Tione snorted at the Dwarf. "What gave it away? The arrogant attitude?"
"Lass, if arrogance was a definite trait of someone with an important background, this city would be filled with either Nobles or more Elves."
The only Elf in the room retained herself from arguing against the reasoning, even though her ears twitched at the comment.
As for Bete-
"… He might be a Noble." He said, trying to understand the many flashes going through his eyes in an instant; the word 'Noble' being heard in most of them.
"As Tione said; with that attitude, I doubt it," Finn commented, recalling every single interaction the Pallum had with the blonde; Drake didn't give off the finesse of a Noble, the arrogance he displayed was of a different kind.
"I wouldn't be so sure," everyone looked at Riveria. "When we spoke with his brother, Lloyd had moments in which his whole demeanor and speaking changed; he gave an air of authority that now that I think about it reminds me of the High-Elves that serve my father." Her eyes narrowed. "Besides, he called on us on every suggestion we made him; even deducing we went against the Guild's orders and used that to dismantle our attempts to ally ourselves with them."
Finn knew where this was going. "A normal person wouldn't be so crafty." His scowl deepened. "Even so, even if they are Nobles of some faraway kingdom, they have no political power whatsoever, so why come here?"
"We told you," Loki pinched the bridge between her eyes. "That spiky bastard stated they were forced here and wanted nothing to do with us; no lies detected, whatsoever."
Finn could only stare at his Goddess, her eyes suddenly opening a bit. "From here on out, every single one of you is prohibited from getting close to them; that of course means no fighting, either."
Everyone's eyes sans Bete widened, some of them with scowls on their faces.
"Are you fucking serious!?" Tione prepared herself to throw a fit, but a gesture from Finn was all she needed to stay quiet.
"Why the sudden change of heart? You more than anyone had been eager to find something against them and then eventually take them down."
Her eyes remained open, but still narrowed a little as Finn realized an emotion reflected in them. One that was normal for every Adventurer, but not for a God; especially one like Loki.
"What are you afraid of?" His question made everyone look confused; they as well couldn't fathom the idea of Loki of all people being afraid of something.
"The Light of Judgment shall fall as rain upon those impure souls who crawl in the world…" Her hands started to shake. "Ever since I heard those fucking words, an image has been playing on my mind; Pillars of pure light-"
"-descending from the heavens," Loki's eyes were now looking wide open, looking at Bete's unfazed expression as he continued. "Erasing everything under them, as if they had never existed."
"…Another memory?"
The Werewolf nodded at Finn's question. "Can't really explain it, but I can't help but feel chills at the thought of what I just said." Bete looked at Loki. "… How the fuck do you know that?"
It was a fair question. Bete most likely knew because of the flashes due to being connected with the Centurion.. but what about Loki?
"… I don't know… But my body does," seeing her in a serious mood was weird enough, but seeing her trembling with an expression unseen by all was a new experience; a sad one, and an ominous one. "The feeling of being erased, bit by bit until there was nothing left; a light So. Fucking. Bright that I could see my own eyes burning by looking at it…"
"There has to be something!" a pained voice said.
"Ais-" Riveria started, trying to gently put push the girl back into bedrest to avoid making her feel pain due to her wounds; no real results there.
"NO!" She ignored Riveria's pleas, glaring at Loki with a frantic look; showing another side of her besides the dull princess to them all. "He's right there! I can finally avenge my parents!"
"He's not the One-Eyed Black Dragon, Ais!" Riveria tried to make her see reason; another failure.
"Because you haven't seen it! I remember those eyes and the presence he radiated!" she gripped her sheets, tearing them apart without realizing it. "It's him! It's the same damn Mons-"
Her eyes widened, feeling pain in her cheek. Her eyes moved toward Riveria; her hand still raised after slapping her.
Despite the outcome of her conversation with Lloyd Aurion, she could not deny the fact he had been right about not giving Ais the correct help she needed, and that they were too lenient with her.
It has been a long time since she had been forced to use force to scold Ais for something she had said or was doing. "We told you, Ais. We were warned if we do as much as lay a single finger on him, the whole Familia would suffer the consequences. Do you want that, Ais?" She maintained her stoic mask; but in truth, the High Elf was in a haze for making the girl desist in her desire for Revenge.
"He's only one person!"
"Along with Gods knows how many more of his brothers!" Riveria argued back.
"Not counting Drake, pretty sure there are seven of them." Bete replied nonchalantly.
"We can take them!"
"Lass," Gareth said with a scowl. "Let me remind you that the one that helped us, Flynn; he eradicated an army of those… Grimm in a single moment while we were unable to do anything. And let's not forget what he did to a Monster Elephant that was even bigger than a Goliath."
A fucking single punch was all it took.
"There's also the long-haired one that beat you in less than half-minute after you tried to kill Drake in the Great Fall!" he kept raising his voice, trying to do the same as Riveria regarding Ais.
"And Drake and that redhead beat Udaeus on their own, apparently." Everyone looked at Tiona; her sister scowled at the memory.
"… We are still more numerous than them." Surprisingly, it was Tione who said that. "Even if they might be at a higher level than us; we still surpass them in number." She looked at her Captain; her usual lovestruck look was nowhere to be seen by the Pallum. Instead, what he saw was a determined Amazon pretty much pleading with him to think of something against them.
"Bete," the Pallum looked at the uncaring Werewolf one last time. "Try to think. In those memories, is there something we can use against them?"
Bete narrowed his eyes; trying to drag another flash that might tell him something, anything. He couldn't get many contexts on what he was seeing; different points of view of different moments.
He could see Drake Aurion at his best, and at his worst… and he always managed to just keep going. Going as far as seeing the blonde smugly grinning at someone while he lost a lot of blood, obviously on the verge of collapsing.
"…No… there isn't anything I can see being a weakness." If anything, he was more tempted to believe you either beat him or you didn't; no way to go around it.
"Come on, you stupid Werewolf! Think of something."
To their infinite surprise; Bete didn't react, and instead just continued looking outside the window.
"Bete," he narrowed his eyes, hearing the desperation in Ais' voice. "Please, that thing took away every single person I have ever cared about… please, there has to be-"
"I already said there isn't anything, Ais. Accept the fact and stop being so self-centered about it."
Her eyes widened, making her eyes start to water up as she gritted her teeth.
"Watch what you said you dumbass!"
He looked at Tione uncaringly. "She might as well cry me a fucking river." Their eyes widened. "I don't care what kind of tragic story you may have. It doesn't give you the fucking right of being so stubborn and put the whole damn Familia in danger."
"He's being an asshole, but he's right."
Everyone ignored Loki's comment.
Meanwhile, Bete was hating himself right now; because he was pretty much saying the very same words Drake had told him the last time he saw him. And now that he thought about it and knew what was at stake; he agreed with the fucking blonde.
"And what gives you the right of being so fucking high and mighty all of the sudden?! What do you know about what she's been through, huh!?"
Loki pretty much facepalmed, something Finn was considering doing at Tione's outburst; because they knew the answer to that question.
"My whole family and clan were butchered by a Monster in a single night," absolute silence. "And when I went on to kill the damn thing years later, the only thing I got in return was a dead member of my former Familia because I chose Revenge over my responsibilities as a Captain, which led to the banishment of my former Familia… happy?" Tione didn't say anything; losing any will or right to say anything at all while Bete looked at Ais.
"And as someone who pretty much knows what you are going through, let me make this clear; you will end this Familia if you continue with this."
Riveria looked at Ais, hoping a bit of life advice from Bete of all people could make Ais realize the dangers they were facing.
Nope!
Her face was unreadable, to the point she actually looked like a doll with how dead her eyes looked. She didn't say anything, opting to just stand up while ignoring her wounds; ignoring the call of everyone around her as she left the room.
"Go with her." Riveria hesitantly nodded at Loki's command.
Nobody said anything after that.
And yet, for some reason, Bete swore he could actually hear the gears of Finn's head overworking themselves to find a solution against Drake; he still contemplated the idea.
"… Finn," Bete called his name before turning to look outside the window once more. "… how far are you willing to go for that dream of yours?"
As far as Bete was concerned, the Pallum wanted Loki Familia to be the number one. Recognized by everyone as the best and the strongest. Thinking about it, the whole thing as to why they went against Zeus and Hera Familia could be summarized in that ideology; as far as Loki Familia was concerned, Freya was just being a bitch about it.
But speaking of her…
The reason why Loki Familia didn't go against Freya was not only because of the Guild's regulations seeing it would affect Orario greatly. But also, because of the six feet tall brown mountain called the King. The chances were not in Loki Familia's favor if a fight were to break down.
"Whatever it is we have to do, but not by compromising our virtues."
Finn, the ever Braver, said words that could be easily translated to 'We will get our hands dirty, as long as our image isn't compromised.'
Loki knew this, but the rest didn't seem to see the underlying message if Tione's fangirl mode was anything to go by.
"… what if it came down to killing a god… would you do it?"
The silence this time seemed heavy… It was more accurate to say that time had seemed to stop for a period before Tiona finally said the most obvious thing in existence.
"… Bete… that's taboo."
The Werewolf narrowed his eyes as a certain memory kept playing over and over again in his mind.
'This is OUR Revenge against the World! Against you, RATATOSK!' The image of the current Drake played, his brothers around him as they pointed at the owner of the memory. And although it wasn't mentioned that the person they were facing was a Deity… something within his very soul told him that was the case.
"Pretty sure they killed one before coming here." He sighed. "And although I don't have all the details, I am sure that God had his Arcanum unsealed."
"… now that's some bullshit," Loki muttered… but for some reason, it made sense after everything that had happened since she found out there were Divine Artifacts lying around as if they were discount toys; very dangerous toys. If a God was responsible for this, what stopped him or whomever Drake faced from using their Arcanum freely?
'… I wonder how much of this you know, Ouranos.' She thought to herself as she looked at Finn; his whole expression devoid of emotion, rivaling Ais in the department of emotions. She figured Bete's intention, desist in going against Drake by making him realize the blonde was not just powerful, but was also willing to go to extreme measures to achieve his goals; another wall, bigger and sturdier than even Ottarl… that was what Drake Aurion had become to Finn Deinme in that very moment.
Sadly, Bete's statement also reaffirmed Loki's fear… something she was keeping to herself until everyone was gone.
"I feel I don't need to reiterate my orders about staying away, right?"
Everyone nodded, Finn included despite still maintaining his dull expression. "And someone, please! Let Ais know I am being serious about this."
Gareth nodded, being the last one to leave the room.
"… that last bomb really shocked them, huh?" Bete didn't answer, making Loki sigh. "So… how are you doing? Feeling better?"
"… I should be the one asking that," Bete stated, looking over his shoulder to see Loki's hands trembling. She narrowed her eyes, holding her hands with one another to calm herself down.
"… A God, fearing for her life… sounds like the beginning of a very bad fucking joke."
She found relief that her dark humor managed to make him snort a little, but it didn't help her at all. "Hey… Bete… could you hold me?"
His ears twitched, making him look with a raised eyebrow at the Goddess who would usually laugh off and threaten all threats. She actually looked quite docile at the moment… sadly, he could not comfort her.
"Sorry," he said, raising his hands as an icy blue Aura surrounded his body; releasing a chill wind around him. "I am afraid I might actually freeze you if I do that."
'Having a power that relies solemnly on emotion is a fucking hindrance.' A final memory of Drake played before his eyes. Bete was really hating the fact that he found himself agreeing with the blonde more and more; because maintaining himself calm would be without a doubt his biggest challenge to date.
Afterwork steam-burn
Rose Fannet could feel a migraine slowly throbbing its way into her head as she eyed the documentation for the registration of a new Drop Item.
The Item in question being the Udaeus' Black Sword dropped by the Monster Rex of the same name.
Yes, said event happened over a month ago and it was only being processed now; the reason behind was due to the last events that Rose had categorized as 'Too weird, even by Dungeon standards.'
The Events in question were the incidents with the Monster creating earthquakes, the sudden gust of wind that assaulted the city, and most recently, the environmental change.
'Two out of three involving him.' She narrowed her eyes. She didn't have proof but didn't have any doubts that Drake might have had a hand in solving those situations, either.
She shook the thought away; only because she didn't want to think about him right now, for obvious reasons.
But back to the task at hand, the reason for her current annoyance was the data being shown in the form.
"… The drop item can be acquired by fighting the Monster Rex; it will eventually summon its Sword to fight it." The Werewolf tone clearly held back her annoyance as she read the paper.
"Pretty much, yeah."
Her eye twitched, the fact that the individual on the other side of the table was enjoying her misery didn't help at all. "In the question, what move set does the Monster execute with the Sword?, You simply filled it with 'It swings it, duh!'"
"That's what I put in there, indeed."
"And finally, in 'How the Monster was defeated?' your answer was, 'No idea.'"
"Hey," Tsubaki Collbrande flexed his elbow on the table before resting her head on the palm of her hand with a smug expression. "You know I didn't kill it; I'm not even sure why we are going around this again."
Hephaestus, who was sitting next to Tsubaki in a similar position could only plant her face on the palm of her hand as she sighed; at least Rose wasn't the only one suffering through this.
Meanwhile, the one other individual sitting on Rose's side looked in between all of them with a conflicted, if not confused, expression. "That's… precisely why we asked to meet you both, Miss Collbrande and Goddess Hephaestus." Eina Tulle timidly fixed her glasses. "We wanted to corroborate the facts better so the registry of the Drop Item could be completed appropriately."
Rose sighed, just as Tsubaki and Hephaestus looked at her with raised eyebrows; the Half-Elf realized she was out of the loop about something.
"Cyclops wasn't the one that defeated Udaeus… it was a third party contracted under Hephaestus Familia."
Eina raised an eyebrow, only for her ears to twitch at the mention of a third party; she knew whom they were speaking about. "Oh…" her face adopted a light scowl. "Him."
The Goddess raised an eyebrow as she looked at Tsubaki. "I feel I am missing something."
The Blacksmith snorted. "You know how his luck is when it comes to Elves."
Despite what Eina might have felt about the blonde, she started to understand the issue with the current situation.
Every Adventurer and Familia that found a new item had to register it with the Guild… but what about someone that wasn't affiliated with it? Even if the blonde worked under Hephaestus' Familia, that was all it was; there was nothing connecting him to the Guild.
Even if he had given the Drop Item to Tsubaki, he was under no obligation to give in the details of how the item was obtained.
"Maybe we could approach him," Eina swallowed her pride as the words left her mouth, her dislike clear to everyone in the room. "I think I can be professional enough when dealing with him."
Tsubaki gave her a sly smile. "Oh, it's ok for you…" her eye moved to the other staff member inside the private room. "But what about you? Feel like talking to him now?"
Eina raised an eyebrow as she looked at Rose; her confusion only increased as she noticed the Werewolf's face was completely red while her eye twitched.
"… I hate you so much, you know that?"
Tsubaki's smile only widened. "Pretty sure that thought never crossed your mind while you were being rammed from- Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" The Blacksmith exclaimed in pain, she turned to the side slightly only to see her Goddess pulling on her ear with a deep scowl.
'… oh, right.' Tsubaki realized her mistake, recalling her Goddess wasn't in the best of moods when she found out that her Captain had set up Drake with Rose.
"Why don't we move on?" Hephaestus stated, still pulling Tsubaki's ear for a good moment before finally letting her go. "We don't want to involve him in any Guild procedure, if possible," she said in a calm manner. "That's why we didn't list his name as the one who was responsible for taking the Monster Rex down."
"That," Tsubaki rubbed her ear as she continued. "As well as not mentioning him at all, if possible."
Eina was confused for a moment, only to remember what had happened around the time of the news of the new Drop Item. Finn Deimne had come asking for Drake specifically for some reason; being really insistent about it. Had it not been for Rose, she would have accidentally revealed he was associated with Hephaestus Familia.
"I have already been keeping him a secret; Braver was very annoying the last time they were here."
"And it has probably just gotten worse with time," Hephaestus said as Eina scowled.
"Even if they insisted again, Loki Familia is in no position to demand anything." They all knew what Eina was talking about; Bete's most recent rampage. "The Guild still hasn't submitted a punishment for his actions. But it's only a matter of time before that happens."
The other people in the room narrowed their eyes. Each knew the Guild, or in Tsubaki's and Hephaestus' case, Ouranos was moving the string to cover up the weird events happening in the Dungeon. Even so, what Bete did was simply too big to cover, nor would a spank over the wrist be enough, either. Hephaestus could already see the Guild defining the whole thing as a simple rage fit, but how are they going to explain the ice elemental power he displayed?
"So…" Tsubaki got their attention. "do we agree in not mentioning tall, blonde, and brooding in any type, shape, or form?"
Eina looked at Rose, the Werewolf's glare telling her she was already on board with this.
"…" She sighed in defeat. "As long as it is only other Familias, I am ok with this."
Hephaestus released a sigh before pinching the bridge between her eyes. "Covering for him is becoming more complicated by the minute."
"I really don't see you complaining to him as of lately," Tsubaki leaned back on her chair. "But yeah… I could use a drink just about now."
"Oh!" Eina exclaimed, seeing a tea set prepared on the side of the room. "I forgot to serve all of you." Even if the Guild was the authority that had asked them to come, it was still of good manners to offer something to those that came as requested.
"This was our last task of the day," Even Rose relaxed, seeing as she started to rub the back of her neck. "I think we can take some time for ourselves." She looked at Eina, gesturing to serve them some tea, which she happily obliged.
Tsubaki shrugged. "I would prefer some good old sake… but this is fine as well."
The Half-Elf served the tea, giving each time to enjoy its smell. It was quite calming really… or it would be if Rose didn't feel Tsubaki's gaze on her. The Werewolf mentally sighed before guiding her cup of tea towards her mouth; savoring its savor before-
"So, how was it?"
To her credit, she didn't spit her drink; already expecting this from someone as unhinged as Tsubaki… the same could not be said about her Goddess.
"… I am so sorry." The Goddess gave a slight bow after spitting her drink right in front of one Eina Tulle; her eyes completely shot and her body completely rigid due to being taken by surprise.
"… please, don't worry Goddess Hephaestus. I am sure this happens to everyone." Honestly, the Half-Elf wondered if these kinds of things actually happened to anyone else.
"…" Rose calmly put her cup down, all while the Blacksmith ignored her Goddess' glare as the Hephaestus helped clean up Eina. "I don't see why I should reveal what happens in my private life to you of all people."
Tsubaki ignored her glare, opting to just keep smirking. "Come on, it's the least you could do after I helped you get the best night of your life."
To her credit, Rose didn't blush at the comment. "Please, that's an over-exaggeration." Hephaestus' eye suddenly landed on her, making her remember there was a Goddess in the room; the fact that said Deity blushed clearly meant she had detected her lie.
"Rose, Honey! I don't need to ask my Goddess for truths of lies when your tail is doing that for me." Her stoic mask twitched, not needing to look back feeling how her own body betrayed her; her tail wagging from left to right in excitement.
"I am sorry…" Eina said as she cleaned her glasses. "But I think I am failing to see the context here."
"Well, you see; your dear Senpai over here-"
"Tsubaki, that's enough." Her Goddess scolded her, putting a stop to this before things escalated. "What Miss Fannet went through was a natural process of her kin; it's nothing to make a scandal over."
Rose gained an appreciation for the Goddess at that moment… or at least she would have if it wasn't for the massive blush on her face while she averted her gaze from everyone; it was obvious the Goddess wanted to know, as well.
"Huh," Tsubaki faked surprise. "Really? Because that's not what you told me when you found out what I did." Hephaestus looked at the other side, refusing to look at Tsubaki as she tried to drink from an empty cup of tea. "You even went as far as strangling me while shaking my body and shouting 'Why you little!?'."
Meanwhile, Eina just stared at the three for a moment; absorbing all information before finally reaching a conclusion. "… Is this about Miss Rose's most recent heat cycle?"
The Werewolf turned to Eina, her eyes reflecting a sense of betrayal from her work partner, seeing the conversation would continue now even though she didn't mean it.
"Oh yeah, heard about that, huh?"
"Of course," she tilted her glasses before methodically explaining her thought process. "Everyone in the Guild knew Royman had forced her to work in that state," she sighed, recalling how greedy and stern that Elf was. "So much for work ethics."
"Sadly, it's Royman; nobody expects much from him when it comes down to the needs that are not Guild related." If Hephaestus of all people thought as such, that spoke volumes about the Elf. "Yet also sadly, there's no one else more qualified to take over his job."
Both staff members sighed in defeat before Eina continued.
"I also heard how Miss Collbrande came the next day reporting Miss Rose wouldn't be able to work while asking for a new set of… uniform." Her words drifted by looking between the Blacksmith and the Werewolf, coming to her own conclusions before her face turned red.
"Oh…"
"Easy there," Tsubaki chuckled, recalling she had to report Rose's state to the Guild instead of Drake because the blonde had to check on Loki Familia in the Great Fall. "I wasn't the one that did the deed." Eina sighed in relief, making the Adventurer's eye twitch as it somehow came off as if sleeping with her was the biggest offense in existence.
"If that's so, I fail to see who could 'help' Miss Rose…" Her mind started to ponder again for some reason. Subconsciously, she wondered why she was giving so much importance to trying to find out who exactly accompanied Rose during her heat cycle. But she didn't give too much thought about the why, seeing as her friend's state was something she was to blame for.
Her eyes narrowed, trying to think harder about whom they could be referring to, it wasn't hard to figure out who if she started to discard people by association. Someone who Rose, Hephaestus, and Tsubaki acquiesced with. "…!"
Her jaw dropped, realizing who the person was. "REALLY!?" The Half-Elf looked at her friend, who was currently flexing both of her elbows on the table with intertwined hands while her forehead rested on them.
"Eina," The Werewolf stated in a deathly but low tone. "How many times have I told you to maintain composure when being told something in confidence?"
The Half-Elf composed herself, recalling in an instant how many of her Adventurers had complained about those little outbursts of hers. '… I wouldn't act that way if they just did as told.' She shook her thoughts away, focusing on the matter at hand with a clear blush on her face.
"… Did he… take advantage of you?" her question was somehow warranted, given Drake's overall attitude she would expect him to be some sort of predator in this situation. This, of course, earned a glare from not only Tsubaki but also Hephaestus.
Luckily, Rose herself disarmed the situation. "Not at all…" she calmly said, slowly closing her eyes. "He offered his help before the fact after someone had clearly set us up-"
"You are welcome."
She ignored Tsubaki's smug look before continuing. "And after the deed; he gave me a bath, bought me a new bed after breaking my old one, brought me breakfast to bed, and cleaned my whole room… all things considered, he was a gentleman."
She looked up, noticing how proud Tsubaki looked for some odd reason. Hephaestus on the other hand looked mesmerized; to the point it almost looked like she would let out an 'aww~' out of jealousy.
"… I don't get it." Eina got their attention. "If everything was so great… why are all of you treating this as if it was a big deal?"
"… That man ruined my sex life." Rose said bluntly as her eyes narrowed at the table, drawing a confused look out of the Elf while Tsubaki just laughed.
"… does that mean… he was bad?" The Half-Elf didn't have any sort of experience in that area, something everyone noticed immediately before sighing.
"Virgins." Eina was suddenly taken aback by everyone's comment about her, they even rolled their eyes at her.
"… he ran his hands through my body, instantly finding all of my spots to the point I felt he knew my own body better than myself." Eina didn't realize it, but she started to listen intensively without realizing it. "He was rough, bit me, licked me, made me beg for more, commanded me, made me surrender into submission as I asked for more. Even if I was in heat, I reached such a height that I don't think I can simply blame my state for how much ecstasy I was in." her tail and ears kept twitching and moving uncontrollably. "He knew exactly what he was doing, even did things I had never considered… It was without a doubt the best night of my life."
"Again," Tsubaki's smug smile didn't help her situation one bit. "You are welcome." She said, thinking back at Drake's ability to hear a person's shadow when their desire and intent are too high. 'That's just straight easy mode, dude.'
"… but then, why did you say he ruined your-"
"Because when it comes to this, Eina; your own body is your worst enemy." Even if her heat cycle had partially calmed down, her own body started to crave for more. It remembered everything that had been gone through that night with him. The fact that her own mind then went to imagine the act over and over didn't make things better. Hell, she was madder about that than the fact she could not walk for almost a full day the morning after.
"… I don't get it."
Again, everyone sighed before replying in sync. "You will."
At this point, the Half-Elf was getting terrified of the mere act of Sex if someone like Rose Fannet struggled because of it.
"And now that we are on this subject…" Rose looked at Tsubaki. "Why?"
Her friend Sophie had already said why Tsubaki had set them up like that, but she still needed to hear it from the perpetrator herself.
"Hey," The Blacksmith shrugged. "You needed someone to take care of you, and I needed someone to take care of Drake's stress… win-win."
Rose twitched a salty smile, raising her head a little off her hands for everyone to see. "What? You couldn't fuck him yourself? Too much for you?"
To her surprise, Tsubaki remained calm. "Nah… our relationship is strictly platonic."
"… I call bullshit." Eina sweat dropped, seeing Rose abandon every bit of professionalism… then again, is such a thing needed for this kind of conversation?
"Sadly," Hephaestus intervened, with a clear twitch in her good eye. "it's true… even though they have slept in the same bed, cooked for one another, and pretty much stay close to one another whenever they have nothing to do."
Rose couldn't raise but raise an eyebrow at how the Goddess knew so much. The answer was, of course, Tsubaki herself had told her Goddess what they did if only to get even at being forced to hear her Goddess complain about everything that bothered her over and over again; whatever if it was good or bad.
"Honestly, that guy has a better head on his shoulders than any person I have met. I am sure we could take a bath together and he wouldn't even pay me attention," Tsubaki shrugged. "That's just the kind of friendship we have."
"… the way you say that with such confidence makes me believe you are more unhinged than you actually try to look," Rose said, perplexed. "From what I am hearing, you two might as well be boyfriend and girlfriend by how you handle things."
For a fraction of a second, she saw Tsubaki's attitude crumble, only to hide before a sardonic snort. "… It wouldn't work out in the end… one of us would be left behind in the end." Hephaestus narrowed her eye at her Child, noticing how she said the last part without realizing it. "Anyway, in the end, my plan worked… partially; seeing as only one of you seemed to enjoy that night."
"Yeah, I…" Rose blinked, not realizing Tsubaki had subtly changed the subject. "… What did you just say?" Tsubaki just rubbed the back of her head awkwardly with a sorry smile, knowing full well she was just taunting the Werewolf. "You are bluffing… how do you even know that? Because I think I know Drake enough to know he doesn't kiss and tell."
"Rose, dear… I am no Goddess of Love, but I know my best friend better than anyone." Tsubaki said confidently. "Besides, let me remind you something… Drake is a High-Level Adventurer, while you don't even have a Falna."
She lied through her teeth with no more difficulty than breathing. But there was no other way to cover why Drake barely could feel any psychical sensation without revealing the actual reason.
Meanwhile Rose recalled her night with him in detail. Despite how intense it was, and how long they went at it, she recalled that contrary to herself, Drake had only finished once. It was natural for High-Level Adventurers to have less physical stimuli; hell, that was the sole reason why the red district earned so much seeing Ishtar's Amazon took care of that problem.
"… Makes sense…" Rose just accepted it, seeing no issue in the fact that she could not satisfy him… and it was obvious deep down that was a fucking lie.
"Does it really matter, though?" Hephaestus asked calmly, showing some composure after being a hot mess throughout the whole conversation. "There isn't really anything between the both of you, so something like that shouldn't really bother you."
The words dived down into Rose's mind, calming her a little… but not really making her feel any better regarding not making the blonde feel anything at all. Even if it all had been an offer of help on his part, the fact that only she got to enjoy it gave her the feeling she just used him; kind of ironic, really.
"… yeah, I suppose you are right, Godd-"
"How big is it?"
"… Why are you like this?" Hephaestus asked, right after Eina had spitted her own tea on the Goddess.
"Hey… it's an honest question," Tsubaki replied as if there was nothing wrong with her inquiry. "I would ask that perverted Elf, but she would most likely pass out by the mere thought of it."
"No offense, but I can hardly see any of my kin -full-blooded Elves especially- finding him appealing; I know I don't," Eina said, calmly helping Hephaestus clean herself.
"Funny you mention that," Tsubaki snorted. "Because from where he's from, all Elves are perverts."
Something inside of Eina snapped. "…Huh?"
"Yeah. They even have a whole hierarchy system to separate how needy all of you are."
"That- that's ridiculous!" Eina shouted with a bright blush. "I would never go on after a guy just to have some… some-" she couldn't say it, all of the growing a conscience about the whole conversation, finding it difficult to say the word-
"Sex. See, it's that easy. Now you say it."
She gave a step back, her red face not going down as even steam seemed to start venting out of her head. "No! I would act like a depraved person only because of doing that!"
"Don't say things like that until you try it." Eina looked at Rose, clearly seeing a smirk on her face; realizing they were just messing with her. But even so, there was only so much her pure heart could take. So without too much of a hassle, she picked up her things and left the room after bowing to Hephaestus and saying her goodbyes.
There was a moment of silence before both Rose and Tsubaki just chuckled.
"Ah… I needed that." Rose commented before serving herself another cup of tea.
"… Come on… don't tell me your pride was hurt." Tsubaki leaned forward, seeing the Werewolf had some cloudy eyes and a duller expression than usual. "Unless it's something else?"
Rose's eyes narrowed dangerously, knowing full well where Tsubaki was going due to her smirk. "You know my policy; no dating nor falling for Adventurers." Tsubaki was about to say something, but Rose beat him to it. "Even if he doesn't see himself as an Adventurer, and he is more capable than any of them; he still dives into the Dungeon. That goes against my policy."
Tsubaki raised her hands in peace.
"Besides, this was probably just a one-time thing." She smiled. "You said it yourself, he has a better head over his shoulder than most people."
Tsubaki narrowed her eyes, her lips turned thin. "… What if it didn't have to?"
There was a moment of silence, as everyone who remained in the room held narrowed gazes.
"… You either feel sorry for me; in which case, don't," she said seriously before snorting. "Or you are actually pimping your best friend…" silence. "… are you actua-"
"Geez no!" Tsubaki waved her hand. "… But what if I told you there's a way all of us can help each other and end up winning something?"
Rose deadpanned. "I would say this would be a deal with the devil."
"More like a crazy person, but that works too." Hephaestus earned a glare from her children before continuing.
"… I want to test something I have been working on; leaving all jokes and Sex innuendos aside, this would help you in more ways than one."
Rose entered business mode, seeing as a deal outside of the Guild was being made. "… What's the catch? And why me?"
Tsubaki smiled, raising her finger. "Complete and absolute silence regarding what we are doing to all parties outside of this room."
Rose raised an eyebrow. "Even Drake?" for some reason, she knew this was related to the blonde.
"He will figure it out himself, eventually." She raised another finger. "As for the why; it's because, for one, you don't have a Falna." Tsubaki could feel Rose's confusion in her gaze. "If I want to see how effective this is, it would be best if a person without a Falna were to use it. The other reason, it's because this is related to something Drake taught me."
Rose's lips twitched upward, seeing she was right. "And since I am one of the few people that know him and are keeping secrets for him besides not having a blessing; I am the perfect candidate."
"That's pretty much what I just said, don't be a smart ass." She snorted before her gaze shifted to a serious one. "So… what ya say?"
Rose pondered for a moment, not seeing any negatives on this. As a matter of fact, the fact that Hephaestus was allowing this just made her sure this was a safe deal seeing she was one of the few responsible Deities around.
"… If I wanted to approach Drake with whatever this was-"
"It would be on your own accord, geez." Tsubaki rolled her eye. "You make it sound as if I had control over both of your actions."
Rose gave her a blank stare. "Had to make sure…"
"So… Do we have a deal?"
Hephaestus just stared as both women shook hands.
In all honesty, it was easy to forget why someone like Tsubaki was the Captain of her Familia, and it was not just because of her Level.
Even if the initial reason for coming here was to talk about the Drop Item, Tsubaki had other plans in mind; at this very moment, convincing Rose to accept the deal.
In a term, it could be said Rose Fannet was marinated to reach this very point. From starting the conversation regarding what happened with Drake, to making Rose feel bad and doubting herself by making her realize everything between Drake and the Werewolf was one-sided, to then finally using the Half-Elf's pride and naivety to make her leave the room.
However, what was not part of her plan was that little exchange about her relationship with Drake. As much as the Goddess hated to admit it, Drake and Tsubaki were too close. More than just friends, but definitely less than a couple. She still felt jealous whenever they had one of their moments, whether it was intimate or not.
She wanted to ask Tsubaki if she actually felt something more for him. But the Goddess didn't; out of respect for her Captain… and in fear for her answer.
But her little slip-out from before about how things would end up with someone being 'left behind'... Those words alone could mean a lot of things, and she didn't want to press Tsubaki on the subject.
One thing was for certain.
Despite her attitude, Tsubaki Collbrande was one of the more realists and mature mortals she knew. If something like that made her put on such an expression, it was an indication Tsubaki had really put a lot of thought into it.
In the end… all the Goddess could do was wait and see how her Child went on with this until finally the time came to confront this.
"Wanna know something funny?" Tsubaki suddenly said as she leaned on the table. "Despite saying there were no more Sex innuendos, this idea came to me when I found out Drake barely felt anything."
Rose rolled her eyes before grabbing her cup of hot tea. "Would you please stop rubbing it in?"
"Yeah, yeah… but anyway, this brings me to my next question." Her face turned deadly serious, making even Rose flinch in anticipation. "… How do you feel about wearing a collar?"
Her response came in the form of Rose dropping her tea on Tsubaki's face, making the Blacksmith close her eyes before wiping her face.
"I hope you realize you deserved that one." Hephaestus said with a smile as she rested the side of her head on her hand after flexing her elbow on the armchair.
"Yeah… kind of figured it out the moment it left my mouth." She wiped her face. "Probably should give a little more context."
Hephaestus sighed. Remembering her Child could also be quite enthusiastic to the point she would overlook some things. Then again, that's partly the reason why she met Drake.
The Uncertain Pallum
Liliruca Arde sighed.
She honestly never expected to find herself in this position at all, and even less inside what looked like a classroom.
She sat in front of a small table; flexing her elbow to let her head rest on the palm of her hand. Her eyes subconsciously took in the room to see who else was there; the most notorious ones being a long black-haired Renard, and a Silver-haired Hume-Bunny, both from the Far East.
Those two were what Lord Zelos would call 'Poster Girls'. It kind of made sense to Lili, seeing as they were one of the few groups of Soma Familia Adventurers whose sole focus was to attract clientele to sell Soma.
Once upon a time, the young Pallum used to resent them. Even if they were tricked into joining the Familia and were also used by Zanis, the treatment they got was still better than hers due to their looks. They still hated the way things were handled in the Familia, however, that was the only thing they had in common.
Her eyes narrowed, making a list of all the people in the room. Yes, some good-looking members were in the room, most of them around her age. But there were also some of the craftier people that used to work under Zanis.
Why were all of them in the same room?
Because her Boss apparently scouted them for something.
Her eyes softened for a moment, sighing as she recalled her last conversation with the blonde and Dr. Jude regarding her unknown skill.
Flashback
"Holy shit, it actually looks like an RPG status." Lili could hear the genuine amusement as his eyes ran through the contents of her status sheet.
They were currently inside Soma's office, the God himself sitting behind his table drinking a cup of tea of all things, while Drake and Jude partially sat at the front of said table.
"… Well… Fuck." Drake cursed in a low tone, annoyance clear in his tone as he finally reached the part which explained her new skill. "This is what I fucking get for helping people."
Lili deadpanned at him. Even if he had already mentioned he doesn't regret helping her, his bluntness was as always incredibly blunt.
"D…" Jude sighed, calling on his brother with a scolding tone while Drake pinched the bridge between his eyes. "At least it is someone we can trust and not-"
"I know, I know." The blonde stopped him before addressing his brother. "And I am happy it's your aspect and not another one… " he sighed. "I just fucking hate surprises."
Lili could feel the seriousness of the situation. She had seen her Boss annoyed in the past-
'Although he's annoyed around eighty percent of the time.' She thought to herself. But this time, the Pallum could feel there was something different about his current behavior. The fact that he rubbed the back of his neck while avoiding looking at her told her as much.
"Ummm… context?" Lili asked after a short while, seeing as Drake and Jude just kept staring at each other as if they had a telepathic talk… she honestly wouldn't be surprised if they could actually do that.
"…" With a final sigh, Drake lifted his two hands before he started counting. "Justice, Friendship, Resolve, Conviction, Courage, Sacrifice," He eyes Jude. "And lastly, along with it being the root of your current predicament; Determination."
Lili just got more confused, and it was easily noticeable to everyone in the room.
"Believe it or not, Drake used to be a very reclusive and quiet child way before I first met him." Jude smiled, he went down memory lane while Drake just planted his face on his hand while looking down; he clearly didn't want to hear this. "If I had to draw a comparison right now to someone that resembled him it would be-"
"Don't you fucking dare." Drake said with a tired tone without looking at the Wolf Faunus.
"Ais Wallenstein."
Lili couldn't help it, but now she had the image of a very younger Drake; emotionless, socially awkward, with clear unresolved issues in her mind.
"You just called me retarded."
Jude just turned at Drake with a bright smile and a thumbs up.
"Suffice to say," Drake intervened, thinking it was better if he told the tale rather than let Jude sabotage him. "As I met these assholes, I learned from them as time passed."
Lili couldn't help but have a disbelieving look. "Even Lord Luke?"
Both Guardians snorted while said redhead just ranted in Drake's soul. "Yes, even Luke."
"So… those things Boss listed before-"
He nodded. "It is what each of them represents," he took another look at Lili's status sheet. "This brings us to this skill; Determination of the Blind Wolf: The user will remain calm regardless of being affected by any fear-related status at all times, being able to act and think without doubt and figure out how to overcome any problem."
Her eyes widened, finally hearing what the skill was seeing how not even God Soma could read it.
"The more I think about it, the more it sounds a lot like Luke's semblance." Jude thought out loud, making Lili confused for a second at a term she had never heard before.
"As you might have figured out, I was not expecting things to turn out like this when I gave you a little 'help'." At least this time he didn't make it sound as if his act of kindness had been a mistake. "But I think we all know who -or rather what- is to blame for this?"
"Falna."
Drake snapped his fingers at Soma. "Ten points for you," Lili swore her God's lips twitched upwards at Drake's compliment. "From what I read; Skills can appear as a way to reflect the actions of an Adventurer. But me giving her Hope shouldn't have translated into getting a skill with one of my aspects."
Lili noticed how her Boss said that as if it was something he had just recently learned, not something that he had known since he got his own.
"Yes," Soma said, calmly placing his cup of tea on the table. "What many overlook is that strong emotions, thoughts, and beliefs could be interpreted by the Falna, and then translated all of the previously mentioned in the form of a skill."
There was a heavy silence in the air. Even if the Pallum didn't know that tidbit of information, the way Drake and Jude looked at the God with scowls on their faces didn't give her a good feeling.
"That's… dangerous." Jude concluded.
"Tell me about it; the thought about someone out there using this knowledge to their advantage gives me a really fucking bad feeling," Drake rubbed the back of his neck again.
"Lili doesn't know why this is so bad," she exclaimed. "I am not saying that what God Soma said was a lie… but wouldn't there be more powerful people out there if it were as simple as that?"
"That's the thing, it's not as simple as that." Drake looked back at her. "When I gave you Hope, you entered a stage in which you really believed that you didn't have anything to worry about and went forward without any hesitation. Even if I was the one that triggered that, your emotions and thoughts were genuine; which triggered the creation of the skill. It doesn't just take self-suggestion, in a way that would be just faking and forcing something you don't really believe."
The idea sank in Lili's mind, seeing where Drake was going with this.
"Now, imagine there's someone out there who took advantage of this; let's call him 'scumbag'."
Lili raised her hand. "Would it really matter? If this scumbag knew about how the Falna worked, trying to force a skill with his emotions would still be self-suggestion."
Drake clapped his fingers at her. "Correct, grasshopper!" Lili was taken back a little, not expecting a tiny bit of emotion in his tone. "But here's the catch; the scumbag wouldn't apply that knowledge on him, but someone he could nurture as he wished with his own ideas and believes."
It took Lili a moment to realize where Drake was going with this; it was basically gaslighting and manipulation.
"You caught up, good. Because it gets worse."
"It does!?"
"It always does," Jude took over with a sigh. "Because if you think about it, there's no one more naïve and innocent than a child."
Yup, it definitely got worse.
"Or a newborn child." The fact that Drake took the chance to add more salt to that mountain didn't make it any better.
"Yeah… nurturing as the scumbag wanted since near birth; raising him as he desired. Eventually, that child would get a Falna, and then it would eventually translate that person's emotions and beliefs into a Skill."
Drake scowled. "As to what kind of Skill that would be; supposing that the scumbag truly and fully understood how a Falna worked, the naïve individual in question could break the power scale in Orario. He would become-"
"The Last Hero"
Drake's eye twitched furiously, looking back to see Soma; the individual in question looked deep in thought for a moment, which was a little surprising for anyone else in the room.
"…?" The God blinked, noticing everyone's stare at him. "Sorry… it's just that what you said… reminded me of a certain God that used to blabber something similar about Adventurers… the fact that he was a scumbag in every woman's eyes just made him fit the role all the more."
Drake and Jude looked at each other, shrugging before the formed sighed. "I swear, I already had enough in two lives from dealing with Ruby Rose. I really don't have the patience or energy to deal with another brat with a Hero Complex."
"Two lives?" Lili asked with a raised eyebrow as Jude feigned a cough.
"I feel we have gotten off topic enough as it is." The Blind Doctor said before everyone looked at Lili. "I personally don't think it's a bad skip-"
"Of course, you would say that."
Jude ignored Drake's snark. "If anything, I think it will help you get out of many hardships."
As much as she respected Dr. Jude, Lili couldn't help but adopt a sour expression as she recalled the incident in the Hostess. "Lili insulted Loki Familia due to her Skill; if anything, Lili fears her mouth is gonna get her killed."
Drake snorted. "Oh yeah, the staff told me about it. You gained a lot of fans that day by the way," his eyes reflected a feint brightness as he looked at her; it almost felt like he was proud of her. "You even double-flipped Allen… wish I had been there."
Yup, he was definitely proud of her.
"Lili doesn't need that kind of acknowledgment! What if I suddenly go on calling Freya a whore?!"
He raised an eyebrow. "What else is new?"
"Boss!" she exclaimed, not liking how carefree he was being.
"Lili," he sighed. "If you are so afraid of blabbering something, just try to clear your mind, then."
Lili blinked, only to then deadpan; she clearly didn't get it.
"Let me handle this," Jude took over. "Lili, Determination could be considered having the intention to see something done no matter what. However, this is not necessarily a fight against fear. Being determined to save someone doesn't involve you fighting the fear of that person dying; it's simply the individual grabbing that willpower and using it." he gestured at Drake. "What Drake meant by cleaning your thoughts, is simply the prevention of thinking anything that might trigger the Skill."
"Like the idea of calling a Familia of Clown on their bullshit, or the idea of just shutting off an overgrown grumpy cat."
Lili whined, recalling the events again. "So, basically being thoughtless…" she chuckled in a sad way as she recalled Zanis' time in the Familia. "Lili's used to it, just like the good old days."
"I don't know why, but that felt like a jab against me," Soma said, still struggling in understanding social cues and similar concepts.
"It wasn't…" Wait for it. "But it might as well be seeing God Soma didn't lift a finger around those times." She covered her mouth as the last word left her mouth, leaving Drake and Jude cringing as they looked at the God. It was a good thing Soma looked mostly emotionless, otherwise, Lili would have felt guiltier.
"… This might actually be a challenge."
Jude rubbed his chin, snapping his fingers as an idea came to mind. "Why not just be Determined to not just blabber everything you are thinking?"
"No offense, Doctor. But that's a very poor loophole."
Drake snorted. "Lili, believe me; even the smallest loopholes can be exploited in the biggest of ways."
Jude scowled as Lili looked at Drake; recalling an incident of the not-so-distant past regarding the Blonde and the King of Spirits. "Sadly, he's not wrong."
"As for me… I am gonna be more reserved about how I help people from now on. It's bad enough Loga is having after-effects thanks to that incident."
Jude pondered about it. "Yeah… my guess is that his Status sheet won't be readable when it comes to his changes, just like it was for Lili."
The Pallum in question only stared, having more and more questions piling up as she heard them talk. Her God seemed to be in the loop, giving an insight into small moments. In truth, she wanted to know more about her Boss and Doctor Jude… but she was more determined to ask about something else.
"Train me." She cursed herself, but also noticed how Drake's explanation of her skill seemed awfully accurate.
"Huh?" Jude exclaimed, knowing the sudden request.
Lili on the other hand knew she had already put a foot in a metaphorical hole, so might as well go fully in. "Lili's been thinking about a lot of stuff ever since Lili was forced into the Captain position."
Drake and Jude mentally heard Luke's apology to the girl.
"Lili wants to become strong." She steeled herself. "Not just because of the position Lili is in right now… but because Lili doesn't want to feel weak and forced to do anything ever again."
Drake narrowed his eyes a little. "And you want to learn from Jude."
She nodded, making him sigh.
"Lili, you are not exactly t fit for hand-to-hand combat-"
"Is that a jab at Lili being a Pallum?" She asked with a blank stare, seeing it wasn't the first time her Boss had made fun of her stature.
"No, but it says a lot about the type of fighting style you should learn."
Lili scowled. "Even if Boss is right, Lili is determined."
Drake's lips twitched upward, it was clearly an annoyed smile "Oh, fuck you-" he looked back, only to see Jude giving a smug smile as well. "Both of you."
Jude turned to Lili, his humor fading. "He's right, you know." The main issue here was the fact that Lili didn't have Aura; she would never be able to replicate anything Jude did unless they awakened it; and that wasn't an option. Maybe if she was at a higher level, but that wasn't anything to go by either. "Why not learn something other than CQC? I can think of a few of us that might actually be better at teaching you?"
"Lili doesn't care; Lili wants to learn from Dr. Jude." The skill was clearly speaking for her, even if her emotions were genuine.
"Why from me, specifically?"
Lili sighed, trying to form the right words in her mind. "Lili didn't have time to think about herself and the future when Zanis was in power… but sometimes, Lili couldn't help but wonder if she could be something more; imagining being someone else."
"Like Finn?" Drake asked humorously, earning a glare from Lili.
"Not anymore." That earned a thumbs-up from the blonde. "Although… Lili used to, feeling that a weapon like a lance called Lili from time to time. She even had dreams about someone that looked like Lili using a lance… it felt nostalgic for some reason…but now… Lili doesn't have that kind of feeling anymore. Lili also wants to be a better person… so who better to learn from than the person Lili admires the most?"
Jude couldn't help but sigh, looking over at Drake; knowing full well he was asking for the blonde's acknowledgment.
"The hell are you looking at me for?" Jude just knew there was a snarky smirk behind his friend's scarf. "It's not like I have a leash on you."
Jude forced a smile as he flipped him off. "Keep going with the racist jokes; I am gonna get you one of these days." Drake just shrugged before looking at Lili. "You are asking for a big compromise, Lili. It might not be as tough as the training we went through, but it will still be hard."
Lili nodded excitedly, all while Drake sighed with a single thought out loud. "Please don't die."
The Pallum didn't pay him any attention, thinking it was an exaggeration from her Boss.
He wasn't exaggerating.
Jude himself had woken her up at Six o'clock in the morning. She whined a lot; even though she did every sit-up, push-up, and every other exercise whose names she didn't know… best part of all, was just the warm-up.
Ironically, Jude kept throwing unconscious comments that started with the phrase 'At least you-'
Like 'At least you were not woken up with a bucket of cold or hot water.'.
The most ridiculous one was 'At least you are not going through underwater training in a lake infested with sharks.'
She wanted to call him on that last one, but the sound of his voice sounded so genuinely broken she didn't dare.
The actual training did consist of hand-to-hand combat, making her understand why stature was a huge detriment to the style she was learning; starting with the fact that she would never be able to throw a punch to the face of someone who wasn't a Pallum. But at the very least, she would be able to fend off any Pallum around her level with CQC eventually.
Jude of course could not come to train her every single day. So he had set a routine of exercises and what to practice on for the days he couldn't make it. Suffice to say, she followed everything in his instructions as if it were her own Bible. However, for some reason, Drake had suggested updating her status in hopes of making her training as steady as possible seeing a change of stats would make things too easy for her.
She sighed.
She was honestly happy with the way things were going on in her life; all of it was thanks to that one blonde in need of an attitude check… but Lili supposed it was thanks to that very attitude and way of thinking that brought on this change.
That's why, out of respect for him and the rest of his brothers, she would not question all the inconsistencies and weirdness she had started to notice. Hoping that someday, she would be a part of the secrets they held around them.
"Ok, people!" The door of the classroom suddenly opened, revealing none other than Zelos Wilder; walking into the room while sporting a suit, his hair tied in a ponytail, and wearing a pair of glasses. Suffice to say, he actually looked like a teacher… and as much as she hated to say it, still looked incredibly hot.
"You all may be wondering why such a diverse group of people has been gathered in this very room." He took a piece of white chalk out of his suit pocket before spinning it in the air. "That is because my brothers and I have been thinking about a long-term plan that will certainly benefit all of us in the future. So, having said that-" he turned around and started to write on the board. "Welcome to Spy Network 101; or how we like to call it-"
The eyes of many adopted a curious look before their eyes widened in surprise, and in the case of Lili, a little bit of excitement as she read the full name of this 'class'.
"How to take over Orario in case things go FUBAR; Part One," he turned around with a smug smile on his face. "So! Any questions?"
Everyone raised their hands. Lili knew the many turns in her life were not over, to say the least.
Their Little Moonlight
"… Let me see if I get this straight…" Tsubaki Collbrande pointed at the three waitresses sitting on their knees inside her Forge, excluding the fourth one sitting to the left of the rest.
"Their weapons got rendered useless by Loga's ice attacks when he went on a rampage…" She then pointed at the tall blonde resting against the wall; arms crossed, head down, and closed eyes with his big brother sitting a few feet away from him. Had it not been for his mere nod, she would have believed he was sleeping. "And because you feel responsible for things only you and I know, you want me to forge them their new weapons?" another nod, making her narrow her eye at Lunor, Chloe, and Anya. The first two felt the Blacksmith's heavy gaze as sweat drops ran down their heads, although the fire of her Forge wasn't making things easier, either.
On the other hand, Anya Fromel represented the vivid image of innocence; with a bright smile and stars in her eyes as she stared at Tsubaki. The girl either didn't know what was going on or was really looking forward to the prospect of a new weapon.
She inwardly sighed, moving on to the final waitress sitting next to the others. "What about you? Last I checked your sword was left unscratched."
"Indeed," Ryuu Lion commented as she looked at Drake. "One of his brothers asked me to come as well to discuss something," she looked off her shoulder; her Alf's Lumina wrapped behind her back. "And he asked me to bring my sword."
"We will address that later," Drake commented as he yawned before looking at Tsubaki. "So?"
Tsubaki gave him a kind smile, tilting her head to the side in the process. "Do I look like fucking charity to you?"
"Nah, you look like a bitch who was complaining a few days ago lacking creativity to forge new weapons."
Her smile cracked, adopting a more sardonic one. "Because someone keeps calling me an unoriginal bitch."
"Tsubaki, a fucking explosive sword is the first thing every basic bitch goes for when forging something 'special'." He pointed his thumb at Lloyd. "This dumbass agrees with me."
"It is, indeed, a basic bitch mentality." Lloyd nodded wisely, making both Drake and Tsubaki start arguing with each other.
"Great," Lunor groaned. "Another dose of 'I cannot believe they are actually not fucking'."
"Oh, put a sock on it," Tsubaki commented, pinching the bridge between her eyes. "I still hear remnants of that rumor of me and this dumbass being a thing every now and then."
"Oh yeah nya~," Chloe said. "I remember those. But I didn't know you were also part of the rumor nya~"
Both groaned, making Tsubaki sigh before looking at the three. "Fuck it, I will bite. Tell me what you want."
Lunor and Chloe looked at each other, uncertain of what to say. "I mean… a couple of gauntlets and… whatever the hell her dagger used to do," Lunor pointed her thumb at Chloe.
"Poison nya~"
"And a high-quality lance for the queen of accidents over here."
"I haven't had an accident in a month nya~!"
Anya's complaint went ignored while Tsubaki just stared at both Aurion brothers. "And I am the basic bitch."
Drake sighed. "As you might have heard, Tsubaki has been learning a few new things… this is a chance for her to try and test those new skills to Forge something not so ordinary."
"Think of this as a chance," Lloyd took the stage. "Think of something you might have always dreamed to be capable of and could not; let your imagination flow… see if something interesting comes out of it."
Lunor narrowed her eyes. "Anything?"
"Anything." Every person that ever held a forging hammer replied.
"…" The three waitresses looked at each other, and in the end, it was Lunor who spoke first.
"I want something that helps me shoot multiple beams; like that one other brother of yours."
Tsubaki grinned excitedly.
"Now that's a good idea!" She moved to the table to pick up something. The waitresses looked at the Blacksmith and took something that seemed awfully similar to what Drake called a Scroll. "Let me write that down."
"Wait, you have more of those?!" her gaze fell on Drake.
"Of course, among the many things Adam had 'borrowed' from me, there were several Scrolls I had 'secured' throughout the years." He pointed a Tsubaki's. "That one, for example, is a military-grade one, it doesn't matter how rough she treats it; she's never gonna break it."
Tsubaki stooped typing in the device before narrowing her eyes. "You make it sound as if I was some type of brute."
The blonde deadpanned. "Tsubaki, you smash things with a hammer for a living; better safe than sure."
Tsubaki's jaw dropped in indignation as Lunor wondered something.
"So, you got more or those then? Mind-"
"No." Drake interrupted mercilessly. "Mia made it very clear not to give you lot anything that might distract you from work."
Lunor snorted. "Please," she elegantly placed her hand on her chest, "I am a responsible adult. I wouldn't get distracted in my daily work by just taking pictures of myself or anything else that thing might be capable of."
Now it was Lloyd who lazily snorted. "Said every intern on their first job ever."
"The hell's that supposed to mean?"
The older Aurion promptly ignored her question to ask one of his own. "By the way, which of our brothers did you mean when you proposed that idea? Last I checked, with the exception of Ryuu, none of you had seen us fight."
"Oh, our resident Elf told us about what happened in the last incursion to the Dungeon nya~." Ryuu's eye twitched, not because Chloe ratted her out but because of the 'friendly' back pats the cat girl was giving her.
"Oh, Flynn." Both Aurion brothers stated before Lunor continued.
"Yeah, him. Ryuu said he made a sword appear before making multiple beams of light disintegrate all of the Monsters. Figured it was due to the sword."
Tsubaki looked at Lloyd, seeing he was the one that forged all of the Brotherhood's Weapons.
"The Prayer Of Rag Querion." He sighed with a scowl. "Flynn had asked me to forge him something that would help him improve what the good-mannered bastard considered his 'deficit'."
Lunor raised an eyebrow, but it was Drake who continued. "Flynn decided to specialize himself as a Magic Knight. His swordsmanship and defense are outmatched only by a few. And his Magic is also diverse between offensive, supportive, and healing spells."
"That seems like a pretty complete Knight to me."
"We know!" both replied annoyingly, making Ryuu startle a little in surprise before Lloyd continued. "And yet that asshole has the audacity of giving me a bright smile and say 'Lloyd, I would like to have something that would give my spells more of an effect in battle'… so, I forged a sword that could halve the consumption cost needed to cast a spell besides also decreasing the time of execution."
Ryuu's jaw dropped. "… That's-"
"Stupidly broken."
"Yeah, that," Ryuu commented as she recalled her last incursion in the Dungeon. "But he managed to cast not one but multiple spells at once besides forming a Shield of Light to protect me and Loki Familia."
"The shield is his… Skill," Lloyd commented, almost slipping up in that one. "As for the multiple spells, it's just multicasting; nothing out of the ordinary… what?" he couldn't help but ask, seeing all of them had astonished looks.
"… Why do you say that as if it was normal? Adventurers can only do a Spell at a time."
Lloyd simply shrugged. "That sounds more like a you problem to me." Ryuu's eye twitched, finally seeing some resemblance between the brunette and Drake simply by how easily she was disregarded.
"Wait! And what about that monstrous strength!? Ryuu said he beat an elephant-like Monster even bigger than a Goliath!"
"Funny enough, that Monster is also called a Goliath back home," Lloyd commented off handily before Drake replied.
"Sorry to break it to you, but the raw power behind that fist was nothing but his well-earned strength."
Lunor adopted an incredulous face. "Buuuuullshit! To quote Ryuu; 'His fist was so strong that it made it seem as if the Monster had blown up into pieces out of nowhere. That kind of strength, against something of that size; it's a feat I think not even Ottarl could pull. There's no way that kind of strength comes just from training."
Lloyd gave a lazy smile. "It's incredible what push-ups, sit-ups, and plenty of juice can do, huh?"
Lunor's eye started to twitch. She obviously didn't know the reference, but she just knew he was messing with her.
"As I mentioned before, Flynn had asked me to forge him that sword thinking a boost in magic was his deficit… when in reality his real deficit was his hand-to-hand combat."
Drake snorted at the memory. "It was incredible how sloppy he was at the time. He had been practicing with the Sword and Shield for so long that he never focused on that particular area. Stat wisely, he had every field covered to be a great fighter… his technique was the problem. At best, all he could do was throw a very solid fist; but that wasn't enough." He grimaced, feeling the urge to yank his jaw as Lloyd continued.
"It wasn't until my father came in and muttered these words of wisdom that gave birth to the horror that was that damn fist," Lloyd cleared his throat for a moment. "I shall not fear the man that knows a thousand techniques, but the one who has mastered a single one." With the exception of Drake, nobody else could help but listen in complete silence at the words that Lloyd said seeing his tone and expression demanded attention; clearly, he was imitating his father. "After that, he told Flynn to spend a week punching a tree."
"Wait… a tree?"
Drake and Lloyd nodded.
"For a week?"
Another nod.
"… the more I hear you both, the more I just feel like giving up in trying to find any logic in this bullshit."
"Welcome to the club," she looked at Tsubaki snorting. "I gave up from day one."
'Because you already knew my secret.' Drake deadpanned before he took over the current subject.
"In the end, Flynn did as told. He punched a dead lumber tree with his full strength for a full week; no eating, sleeping, etc." he sighed. "And by the dawn of the eight-day, he came to training with his usual calm and happy-going expression asking for hand-to-hand combat against me."
Ryuu narrowed his eyes. "… Why do I feel like there was a part of this story that both of you left out?"
Both brothers couldn't help but unconsciously get a hold of their jaws as they looked at the ceiling.
'Go ahead; finish the story.' Flynn said in a positive, nonmalicious tone before both sighed; somehow, they had the image of him giving them a very terrifying smile.
"We may have bullied him a little through the whole thing…" Lloyd said, going down memory lane. "I recall pulling his face while he was doing that one-week training; not once did he react or stop."
"I drew him a mustache," Drake said without a hint of remorse. "Definitely better than Yuri or Zelos just standing next to him and annoying him for hours about any stupid thing that came to mind."
The waitresses only stared blankly at what they were hearing.
"The fact that we also called him on his fourth-rate boxing before the whole thing might have something to do."
"Yeah… most likely."
"You guys are terrible friends."
"Hey, we were twelve. That's the age when brats are at their worst." Lloyd said as he addressed Ryuu. "Also, last I heard some of your Former Familia members were treating you just as badly."
Ryuu's eye twitched, not seeing any kind of counterargument to that statement.
"So… what happened in the end?" Lunor asked, intrigued by how things developed in the end.
"I agreed, of course, seeing as Flynn is not the type to do anything malicious… but he might as well have. The moment the signal to start was shouted, I froze in place. Yes, his fist had certainly become faster and certain. But that wasn't was my eyes were seeing; instead of a fist all I saw was a massive white construct coming at me; with two blue glowing eyes watching me with so much intensity that I froze in place… the next thing I knew was waking up in the infirmary with the rest the very next day with a casket around my jaw."
"… Just like that?" Lunor asked with a sweat drop in complete disbelief.
"Just like that… it was so sudden and instant that my mind skipped the whole chance of dying… hell, I didn't even go through the whole 'I saw my whole life run before my eyes' bullshit, and I have experienced it before."
"Wait… did you say the rest nya~?"
"Oh yeah," Lloyd took over. "One second I am seeing Drake fly through at least a dozen of trees after being punched by Flynn, and the next thing I know is him saying 'Lloyd, front, and center; you are next.'"
Everyone grimaced at how eloquently he made it sound. "Although, I think we got off easy; compared to the state Zelos and Yuri were left at in the end." Both sighed before they moved their jaws in an unnatural way, making the girls cringe as they heard cracks coming from their chins.
"So that's why you do that nya~" Chloe said, figuring out that unnatural move was the result of the aftermath of receiving Flynn's punch, a trauma of sorts.
"We can't help but do this every time we recall that event."
"Yeah, but could you please stop it, it's creeping me out." Lunor sighed. "… Nothing else comes to mind… unless you somehow can make me something that can replicate that thing Drake does where he releases a Dragon made of energy after throwing a fist."
"Oh, you mean his [Beast]. Yeah, I might be able to do that one."
Drake and Lloyd blinked a few times before watching Tsubaki. "You can?"
Tsubaki just hummed, not taking her eyes off her scroll as she kept typing. "I have been thinking. You guys developed the Storable Spell Knifes to cast Magic whenever you saw fit. This had me thinking, why not do the same for Martial Artes?"
Drake and Lloyd looked at each other, and with each second they could see each going through a different expression. It was almost as if they were having a mental conversation.
"Do you have any idea of what Tsubaki was talking about?"
Ryuu simply nodded at Lunor's inquiry; recalling how Drake seemed to use two kinds of knives to call for some type of High-Level spells. But that was as far as the knowledge went.
"So, is it possible?" The Blacksmith asked, remembering the materials used to forge the Knives; a special type of memory alloy with dynamic Formulas encrypted in them, allowing the Artes users to overwrite them to charge a Magic Arte in them. But what if instead of using a dynamic Formula, she would instead use a static Formula charged with a Martial Arte in place of a Magic one to cast the same technique over and over again?
The only real issue was figuring out the Formula needed for a specific Arte, something that could only be possible thanks to Rita Mordio; Zelos' girlfriend.
"… We had a similar thought of mass-producing weapons like that. But we didn't see the need for it since the Knights of our Kingdom could already perform Martial Artes."
She raised an eyebrow. "What about your Mages?" this earned a deadpan sigh from both of them.
"I am gonna quote Rita here and say 'Do I look like a fucking savage to you?'"
"I don't know why, but I feel targeted just by hearing that." Lunor commented, feeling a little insulted by the comment.
"Silver lining; yeah, we might be able to do it. Even without Rita here, we do recall the structure of the Formulas used, so the rest might just be trial and error."
"Neat." Tsubaki started typing on the Scroll again. "A pair of Gauntlets that can cast [Beast] for the brawler lady with the horrible haircut-"
"Hey!"
"Does Your Highness want anything else?" The Blacksmith ignored her outburst, not expecting Lunor to actually say something.
"I don't know, do you have something that could raise my stats?" Lunor asked sarcastically, making Tsubaki stare for a moment before replying.
"Sure thing. They are still in the testing process though, so those might take a while. Remind me to give you some when they are finished."
Drake stared with an eyebrow. "Testing process? When the hell did you start the testing process for something?"
"Oh, Drakey. A lady needs to keep some things for herself."
The blonde raised an eyebrow, looking at his brother with a puzzled expression. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see any ladies in the room."
"Hey!/Hey nya~!" Lunor and Chloe were ignored while Tsubaki's smile simply twitched.
"On a serious note, should I be worried about what you are doing?"
"Relaaaaax~" she waved him off. "If anything, by the end you might either be pleased, or annoyed… or at worst a mix of both."
Drake couldn't help but groan; now he was definitely worried.
"Moving on, anything Miss Plain but Deadly might be interested in?"
Chloe simply smiled, only for her eyes to widen realizing Tsubaki was calling her flat. "Rude nya~." Lunor rolled her eyes, not amused in the slightest that the dumb cat was as slow as always. She wondered how long it would take her to decide what kind of weapon she wanted. "Daggers that paralyze the nervous system nya~" Or not!
"Huh, short, simple, but effective. Yeah, I can work with that."
Lunor simply blinked before looking at Chloe. "Sometimes I forget you have more common sense as an assassin than as a normal person."
"Aaaaaaw," Chloe blushed as she waved her hand at Lunor. "Thanks, nya~"
Lunor face-palmed while Ryuu just sighed.
"And finally; adorable but klutz. "
"Thank you nya~" Anya Fromel commented with a bright smile, making Tsubaki twitch for a moment as she recalled who the car girl was related to.
'Seriously though, how the fuck are you two related?' she wondered as she saw a literal sunshine of innocence surrounding Anya.
"Anya would like… " her eyes lit up, to the point it almost seemed like stars were adorning them. "A Spear that will let Anya fly nya~"
"Anya!" Mia Grande shouted, looking up in the sky as she saw one Anya Fromel hanging from her spear for dear life; a good few dozen meters in the air, and going higher. And yet, the cat girl just laughed it off with enthusiasm. "Let go of your spear this instance!"
"No, nya~" she shouted happily, starting to swing as she laughed while everyone on the ground became paler with every passing second. "I am having fun nya~"
"Absolutely not." Anya snapped a little seeing every person in the room had said that in perfect sync.
"… Did all of us imagine the same thing nya~?" Chloe asked, making everyone but Anya look at each other.
"Most likely," Drake muttered before looking at Anya. "Sorry, but I can't have you turn into the Sailcat."
Everyone but Lloyd looked at him with confused expressions; while said Guardian only snorted in return. "Nobody and their mothers are gonna get that reference."
"Think of something else." Anya frowned a little before putting her hand under her chin, adopting a thinking pose… and so went on for a while.
"Aaaaand she's gonna stay like that for a while." Lunor suddenly said, making Tsubaki sigh before looking at Lunor and Chloe.
"I am gonna put both of your weapons in my backlog."
Lunor rubbed her hands together with a greedy look. "On, don't worry about it; a free weapon from such a talented blacksmith is worth the time."
"Kissing my ass will get you nowhere."
The Blacksmith stood up and walked to the side, taking a pencil and paper to start the design of the weapons.
"Now that that's done; let's talk about the reason you are here," Drake looked at Ryuu.
"I think I already know." She held her wrapped sword in her hands. "My previous talk with your brother Jude made me figure out my Sword protected me from the effects of the Apathy." She eyes him. "But why?"
Both Brothers looked at each other for a brief moment, their eyes narrowed at one another before addressing her.
"When you spoke with him, You mentioned your Sword being made with a piece of wood from a special tree; could you go into detail?"
"Yeah, a Holy Tree… what?" Tsubaki's pencil stopped writing. She wasn't looking at the group as her eyes kept looking unfocused at her notes, but she didn't need to look back to know both Brothers had tensed significantly. Because in their minds, there was a chance that tree was actually a Great Tree like the one from Drake's World.
"That tree… how big is it?"
She mentally facepalmed, all seriousness gone in a single moment at Lloyd's poor choice of words.
"… Is there a sexual innuendo in here or-"
Drake sighed, seeing as Lunor decided to transmit the confusion everyone was going through.
"Sadly… the size is a very important question." Ryuu could feel the annoyance in his voice just by having to say those words.
"… It's big."
The blonde groaned. "Yes, but how big is-" his words died down, and his eyes started to twitch as he noticed the ghost smile adorning the Elf's face. "Oh, you are enjoying this, aren't you?"
"Only a little," Ryuu confessed without shame before leaving the jokes aside. "It was big, about thirty meters tall."
Drake and Lloyd raised an eyebrow. "That small?"
"… Uh?" Ryuu thought out loud seeing the lackluster reaction of both men. "Small? The Tree my family has guarded for generations is anything but small."
"Careful, your inner Elf is showing." She ignored Lunor's comment.
"Or is that perhaps you have seen one bigger?"
"That's what she said nya~" Chloe snorted, earning a glare from Ryuu that was also directed at Lunor; they got the message, 'Shut. Up'
"As a matter of fact… We have our own special tree back home; definitely taller than mere thirty meters," Lloyd looked out of the window; his eyes focused on the tower in the center of Orario. "Definitely taller than Babel."
Lunor laughed awkwardly. "Now that has to be an exaggeration. There's no way there's a tree that big." She looked at Drake for confirmation; taking his inability to lie into account.
"It isn't…" his eyes landed on the blade. "The Tree -our tree- has very special properties. And now We are curious if said properties apply to your Holy Tree." Drake continued as Lloyd stood up from his chair and walked towards her.
"May we please have a look at it?" Ryuu nodded as she unwrapped her weapon, extending it for Lloyd to grab.
"Than-!" his words died down; his instincts kicked in just as he was about to touch it. But it was already too late as he got a full grasp of its handle, making his white Aura suddenly flare up around his body.
Everyone's eyes widened, including Drake as he saw how Lloyd's normal Aura output was not only forced out but increased fivefold.
"What the shit!?" Lunor commented, seeing the display of power in front of her. But something else also caught her attention. "Ryuu! Your sword!?"
The Elf's eyes widened, seeing how her own weapon started to turn white; the same color as Lloyd's Aura.
"Can you control it?"
"Way ahead of you," Lloyd replied to his brother as he controlled his breathing; closing his eyes and calming down as did his Aura until it looked like a mere sheet covering his body. "Ok… We are good now."
Drake nodded before making sure of something else. 'Everyone, you good?'
'All System's green here, Chief.' Zelos commented in his mind. 'Even we felt the surge of power in here, what about you?'
'Kind of felt like something trying to reach me,' He looked at Lloyd. 'My guess is since Lloyd is using my shadow as a medium, it tried to make a connection to me, as well.'
'There's something else…' Jude suddenly spoke as he tried to think of the right words to say. '… Is it just me… or did anyone else have a familiar feeling running through their bodies… almost nostalgic if I had to be direct.'
'Oh Yeah/ Definitely/ Yes/ mm-hhmm/ Agreed'
Drake couldn't help but narrow his eyes as he looked at Lloyd; his own eyes looking at the blade in a pure analytical process.
'I think I might know what that familiar feeling is…' he presented the weapon to Drake. 'You will figure it out in an instant… careful when you grab it though.'
Drake simply extended his hand, his gaze full of caution as he grabbed it. Everyone else was already prepared for the sudden outburst of energy, but this was different. Because contrary to the previous time, a small shockwave pushed everyone back the moment Drake touched it.
"Oh come on!" Lunor shouted after being pushed back along with the rest, with the exception of Lloyd.
"D!" The brunette shouted, seeing as the reaction was bigger seeing Drake's black Aura was expanding through the whole forge.
"I know! Just give me a bloody second!" he growled, trying to do the same as his brother as he calmed down. And little by little, his Aura calmed down a bit. "… that's as much as I can lower it."
Lloyd frowned as Drake opened his eyes; trying to absorb every sensation the Sword was giving him. "… It feels…" His eyes widened as he instantly recognized the feeling the weapon emitted. "Homely… it feels like home."
Tsubaki snapped the pencil in her hand; eye widened with a slight panic at what she heard, not noticing how her own hammer was resonating with the event.
'How the fuck is this possible?'
Mortals will always rage and act negatively at the things that they could not understand; Drake Aurion was also one of them; because if there was one feeling going on in the deepest part of his mind, it was no other thing than pure frustration.
"Hey… your Lightning." Lloyd's words stopped his train of thought as he saw sparks of green and black Lightning surround his body.
"… It's fully charged," his most logical side took over. "Not only that, but my Aura is flowing perfectly."
Tsubaki's eye twitched. "Oh, that's some bullshit!"
"Quite." Drake stated as he felt how little by little his base Aura was becoming stronger. It also made him question as to why the sword had a bigger reaction to him than it did to Lloyd.
"Drake, your hair!" His thoughts were interrupted again.
"What about my hair?"
Tsubaki didn't answer, nor did the others as they saw the blonde's hair alternating between his natural color, black, and green.
"Shit." Lloyd's eyes widened as everyone noticed how his Aura also started to have a mix of green colors mixed in it. "Drop it!"
Drake did as told, dropping the sword in an instant as his Aura died down completely.
Everyone just stared with wary eyes at the now black wooden sword glowing in the ground; Drake's Aura leaking out of it.
In the end, it was Ryuu who gave the first step to try to pick up her weapons.
"Don't." Her eyes widened as she heard a very serious tone coming out of the usually goofy Lloyd. She looked at him, noticing how his red eyes were glowing as did Drake's; looking at the sword. "The energy is dying down, wait for a bit… at least until its color is back to normal."
The Elf just nodded, waiting in silence until the time was right.
"So… we gonna talk about what just happened?"
The Brothers were about to reply to Lunor's question, but someone else had a different idea.
"Damn right, we are!"
Drake sighed tiredly. "Tsubaki…"
"Nope." She walked closer to them. "We had been struggling in obtaining materials and tools with your same energy and now here comes the world's most naïve Elf with something similar or better…" Tsubaki blinked once, and twice and so on. "… better…"
'Oh-uh… brace yourself, bud. Here comes a question that's reserved only for couples.' Zelos' warning only annoyed him more, but Drake still took his words to heart seeing he had more experience with the opposite sex.
"Tell me… is her sword better than my High-Frequency Blades?" she asked with a narrowed eye, her voice as low as it was deathly.
'Called it!' and Zelos as always was barely of any help.
His best friend wasn't being of any help, and Drake himself wasn't in a good position either. If anything, he was not standing on a metaphorical minefield. Yes, he has been blunt with Tsubaki in the past, but never in a situation in which she was jealous and in a subject she actually cared about; her forging skills.
The fact that he could not lie his way out of this one made it so there were mines in every direction… in this situation… there was only one thing he could do.
'Help'
"How fucked up am I?" Drake asked as everything seemed to stop while his surroundings turned into grayscale.
"Deep," Zelos said to his right before wrapping his arm around Drake's shoulder. "The way I see it you can't sugarcoat this one; I am predicting at the very least a slap under the excuse of simply 'being an ass' for preferring other weapons other than hers…" The redhead became really conscious of what came out of his mouth. "Huh… that is one end of a sentence I never thought I would say."
"Just tell her the truth; even if Ryuu's wooden stick is better due to its Aura adaptability, hers are still better in every other aspect."
"Yeah, that shit ain't gonna work." Luke walked to Drake's left. "The last time I pulled the 'I liked hers, but yours is better' card, was when I told Tear I liked Velvet's Miso Soup." He scowled. "And let me remind you, I ate Miso Soup for a damn week because she held a grudge. Also, another reminder, my Girlfriend is the most rational in her group."
"Debatable." Many of the Guardians said before Jude decided to intervene.
"Are we really gonna overlook the fact that Ryuu's sword might have an actual connection to Remnant?"
"There won't be a Home to think about if Tsubaki slaps me into next year." Drake sighed before looking at Guy. "Guy… you have the most knowledge about 2D and eroges on your side; there has to be something in that encyclopedia of yours that can help me out."
The third blonde sighed. "I really hate the fact this might actually be useful," he snapped his fingers to make three options pop-up in front of Drake.
A) "Stop being a Drama Queen; it was just a small comparison. Stop making a scene and act your age."
B) "It was just a small comment, don't think too much about it."
C) "You know you are the only one whose weapons I am willing to use."
Drake's eye twitched before looking at Guy.
"You asked for my help and I gave it!" the oldest Guardian pointed at the options. "The answers structures in Visual Novels consist of one negative answer, a neutral one, and the good one."
Zelos snorted. "Is the third one always the positive one?" Guy's nod just made the redhead sigh. "No shit Virgins prefer this over real life; picking up girls in VN is pretty fucking easy."
"And the other two will get me a KO either way." Drake groaned, rubbing the side of his head before Lloyd made an act of presence in his mind.
"You good?" he asked calmly with crossed arms, even though the brunette seemed to be tapping her finger repeatedly. "Did you reach a way out of this one?"
Drake simply shook his head.
"Well… too bad, because we are under attack."
Everyone blinked and looked at him weirdly. "Under att-!"
Everything suddenly flipped on them before the surroundings broke, making it as if all of them were falling into nothingness.
"… Ouch," Drake exclaimed as he realized he was now staring at the ceiling of Tsubaki's Forge. He looked down as he rubbed his forehead, feeling a little bit of pain as he noticed Tsubaki's finger had flicked him back into reality; the fact that there was even smoke coming out scared him.
"… Damn," Lunor exclaimed, seeing as Drake didn't answer for a good five seconds before Tsubaki looked at him suspiciously, prompting her to flick his forehead; she even swore he heard a small crack the moment she hit him. And for some reason, she was confused as to why Lloyd seemed to be whining a little as he rubbed his forehead as well.
"Don't think I don't know you are asking for your brothers' help," she whispered after getting closer to him. "And your 'Fast Processing' won't get you any extra time, either." She said in the said deadly tone and narrowed eye before stepping back while he just stared with his own glare… and mentally gulped as well.
"So… I am waiting."
In the end… Drake Aurion opted to go for the fourth option; say nothing. However, he also couldn't avoid the action of rubbing the back of his head while looking away, making Tsubaki gasp in indignation.
"So that's how it is, huh? All of my best efforts of crafting weapons suitable for you were beaten by a piece of wood, wow."
It was now that Drake honestly considered going for option 'A' from Guy's suggestion. But a certain Elf decided to act as more fuel to the fucking fire.
"It might be a piece of wood," Drake only felt the urge to face-palm as one of the corners of Ryuu's lips twirled upward. "But mine is still better than yours."
Lunor's and Chloe's jaws dropped as they started to grasp each other's shoulders at the way this drama was developing.
"I knew she was evolving, but I never expected this much development from her." Lunor said excitedly.
"Shut up; let me watch nya~" Chloe showed as much enthusiasm.
"Bitch, why are you being smug about this?" she pointed at the still-energized sword on the ground. "I know the story about that Sword; a member of the Goibniu Familia made this during the Dark Age of Orario. You didn't forge shit!"
"Maybe, but it still doesn't change the fact that a mere Blacksmith surpassed you… and he wasn't even trying."
By this point, Lunor and Chloe were just slapping each other at the new development while Drake could hear Zelos in the back of his mind saying 'Catfight, catfight, catfight', over and over again.
"I hope you are willing to back up your words because I am gonna test that damn thing against my weapons," Tsubaki said as she got closer to Ryuu; something the Elf reciprocated.
"Go for it. Who knows, maybe my Alv Lunima got an upgrade by what just happened. Let's see how much pride you have in your creations after this is over."
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
By that point, the only thing missing was each of them gritting their teeth at each other seeing as they were centimeters away from each other with deathly gazes in their eyes.
"None of you will be doing shit." Too bad Drake decided to hit the brakes on that train by grabbing each of them by the back of their necks before forcing them to look at the ground.
'The fuck are you doing!? You never stop a catfight! Never!'
Drake rolled his eyes as he ignored Zelos' tantrum.
"First, you," he lifted Tsubaki's head to look at him. "had your moment to show you are upset, now drop it. I am as surprised as you are by this development, and even if it was a better weapon in one single aspect, it would still be too damn risky to use that Wooden Sword." Drake replied, deciding to say fuck it and just be as honest as possible… even though it was thanks to Ryuu making Tsubaki focus her anger on the Elf so that he could say this without a chance of being hit.
And speaking of that Elf.
"And you," He raised Ryuu's head, ignoring the faint blush painted on her face as she put on a stoic face. "Stop making things worse. Otherwise, I will tell Mia any damage that comes out of this was your fault alone."
The Elf paled for a moment, only for her gaze to become serious and then smug; giving him a bad feeling for some reason. "Whatever you say… My Little Moonlight."
Drake's grip on their necks loosed while his eyes widened, only for him to adopt a murderous glare as he recalled he himself had made a reference to that cursed nickname when he, Zelos, and Lili were going to assault Soma Familia while the Elf tailed them… she had heard it back then.
And since Bete Loga had shouted his full name out loud while being possessed by the Centurion of Ice, she was now able to connect the pieces.
"You. Bitch." Drake said as he focused on her smug look. But the worst was yet to come.
"Little… Moonlight…" his eyes widened in terror as he looked at Tsubaki; deep in thought in a thinking pose with her hand under her chin.
"Tsubaki-"
She raised her palm at her to stop him. "Let me cook, I am about to have an epiphany-" and indeed she had as her single eye widened in realization. "Drake M. Aurion Y." And she also understood the hidden implication behind that second name. "Your mom wanted a girl."
And then hell broke loose as Lunor and Anya started to laugh maniacally, soon followed by Tsubaki herself while Lloyd just rested his face on the palm of his mind.
Drake just turned to Ryuu, who kept smiling while he just gave her a bland stare before walking to her; surprising her the moment he planted both of his hands on her shoulders. "You must be really fucking proud of yourself for finally getting one on me…" Ryuu froze as he lowered his head towards her, making it seem like it was going straight for it. But no, he just moved past her to reach her ear. "But this means war." She gulped, completely denying the fact that his breath on her delicate ears gave her a blissful chill; what a perverted Elf.
"Up until now all of your embarrassment had been revealed by none other by yourself; including the others finding out." She recalled seeing him naked by accident, and then the others finding out due to her own fault. "But now… now it will be different… because I will bully you so hard and your friends in Heaven will praise my name to the fucking Gods by how much embarrassment I will make you go through; so be ready."
The Elf was left speechless as he then looked at the two waitresses laughing uncontrollably; laughter that died the moment they felt their glare on them. "You know, it's suddenly not that funny anymore." Chloe just nodded at Lunor's remark before his gaze finally eyed Tsubaki, who was holding her sides and panting because of her laughter.
"Ok… ok… ok… I am calm." She said with a humorous smile, resting her hand on the sides of her waist as she looked back at him.
"All cool, then?"
She scowled, looking at the Wooden Sword that seemed to be recovering its normal color. She took a deep breath and sighed before waving her hand. "Still fucking salty about it… but yeah, we cool…" she smiled wickedly.
"Don't you fucking-" his warning came too late.
"My Little Moonlight."
A vein popped on Drake's forehead before he eyed the hammer and chisel he had given her. "I am taking those back."
Her eyes widened in panic.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey! One can't take back presents." She said as she tried to pull him by his jacket, but he was being pretty fucking adamant in his quest.
"One can when they are an asshole; which in case you have forgotten, I am fucking certified as." He replied calmly as her struggle continued.
"We went back to the romantic comedy nya~" Chloe commented as they just kept watching before looking at Ryuu, frozen in place. "Wonder what he told her nya~"
"Oh, you will know," Lloyd said as he rested near a nearby wall to them. "Although I am more worried about Anya."
Both waitresses blinked before looking down to their side to see Anya, blinking while staring at the ceiling; she had been knocked out by the outburst generated the moment Drake touched the Ryuu's Sword.
"… Don't tell me she has been thinking what kind of weapon she wants this whole-"
"I got it nya~!" Anya suddenly exclaimed, only to blink a few times as she noticed something. "… Why am I laying on the floor nya~?"
Lunor and Chloe just sighed while Lloyd chuckled before looking at the now normal Wooden Sword on the ground with narrowed eyes.
'… Things are gonna become more complicated again.' He and the rest of the Guardians stared in silence, feeling a sense of awful curiosity thanks to this new development.
The Secret Circle 2
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"… I am Gane-"
"We are aware, Ganesha; for the twentieth time today." The God Ouranos commented, his patience reaching its limit for the night as the members of their little group awaited the arrival of the foreign Deity and his Knight.
However, it had already been two hours since the appointed time, and yet neither Ratatosk nor Adam had made an appearance.
This had already happened before, but never this late.
"… I don't think they are coming." Shakti thought out loud.
"There must have been a reason for his delay; he's the one that asked for this meeting in the first place." The Elephant God commented as he looked at the oldest God. "Did he tell you the reason behind this meeting?"
Ouranos shook his head. "But I can take a wild guess about the subject of discussion."
Ganesha scowled under his mask. "The events in the Great Fall, Bete Loga's rampage… those make two as a matter of fact."
Shakti eyed her God with caution seeing he was in serious mode now. She recalled her orders, not to say a word about the state of Water City and limit themselves along with the Guild to stay away from those floors; that could be easily covered under the excuse of 'We and the Guild are investigating what's going on.'
Said excuse could not be said about the literal havoc and trail of ice left by Bete Loga's rampage while he was under the possession of the Centurion of Ice. Leaving aside the Hostess of Fertility, there hadn't been any issues in the city…though Rivira didn't have the same luck.
And as much as Shakti hated to say it, she was glad the Adventurers were demanding an apology, remuneration, and such from Loki Familia and not asking questions of 'Where's Ganesha Familia when you need them?' but she knew such advantages were not gonna last for long, especially if future events would be similar to this one.
"We can't let things like this happen again."
"The fault rests solely with Loki," Ouranos commented. "She disobeyed a direct order from the Guild, and look where that got us."
"With all due respect," everyone looked at Shakti, noticing that she unconsciously started to rub her own hands at how cold she was. "It's Loki. It's not the first time she and her Familia have done something off the record."
"And this time things didn't go as she have planned," The God commented as he himself started to feel cold. "Hopefully, this will serve as a lesson…"
There was a pregnant silence as they all reached the same conclusion, Loki learning something out of all of this was as impossible as it was for Ganesha not to shout his name every five minutes.
"We have to do something about her, then. The only issue being she calling us out on everything weird that has been going on in the Dungeon…" Shakti blinked a few times before noticing she could now see her own breath.
"…" Ouranos narrowed his eyes, acknowledging the fact that the sudden drop in temperature was unnatural; this could only mean one thing. "He's here."
The massive door to Ouranos' chamber opened with a bang, followed by a strong and cold wind that almost made everyone fall back. "Ouri! I am Home!"
"So it seems," The oldest God replied, ignoring the chill he was feeling throughout his whole body. "And with a new power, it seems."
"Oh! You noticed! I thought it would be good to share some cold air with my competent partners in crime!" Ouranos narrowed his eyes, instantly figuring out the foreign entity was angry at them.
"May I ask what we might have done to inquiry your ire?" he narrowed his eyes before pointing at the others. "If possible, with a higher temperature in the room."
Ratatosk looked at the others, seeing Ganesha with trembling teeth and hugging himself, Shakti faring a little bit better as she tried to remain standing, and Fels… he swore there was a joke about 'chill bones' somewhere in there, but he could not recall it.
He snapped his fingers, making the temperature return to normal so everyone could try to heat themselves; too bad Ratatosk wasn't gonna give them the chance to get comfortable.
"Let's start with you Ganesha; or should I say, Shakti."
The Captain of the Ganesha Familia looked at Ratatosk with a stern expression. "You were explicitly told that you should not attempt any way of contact with our VIP."
Shakti twitched, knowing he meant her investigation into Drake.
"I approved her search, Ratatosk." Everyone looked at Ganesha, who was standing firm between them… even though his body was still trembling. "In the end, it all falls to me."
Ratatosk lifted his head enough to show his red slit glowing eyes. "Yes, that may be so… but I find it hard to believe you thought or even ordered the search for him."
"I am Ganesha! Do you think me for a fool to not think of the idea in the first-"
"Yes/Yes" everyone interrupted without hesitation, even his own Child said those words with a straight face.
"Now, Shakti." Ratatosk ignored Ganesha's cries of betrayal as he focused on his Child. "When I accepted for all of us to bring an aide into this meeting; I agreed to do it solely because I would not deal with the sudden swings of stupidity of your Gods. You were supposed to be the smart one! You were supposed to be the reasonable one, not join your God in the list of stupid shit that happens in his mind!"
"Ganesha feels bullied."
Ratatosk rolled his eyes before continuing. "So, I ask you. What the actual hell was going on in your mind for you to come up with the idea of seeking him?"
"…" She sighed. "Someone with that kind of power should not be left unchecked. What if he decides to abuse the authority he has and it affects the city?"
Ratatosk just stared at her as if she had grown a second head before pinching the bridge between his eyes. "… It's during moments like this that I remember one of the main reasons I wanted to wipe the slate clean back in Remnant by genociding every single mortal."
Everyone in the room sans Ouranos flinched at how easily he said that. "Shakti, the most influential Familias in Orario do whatever they want; there's the whore at the literal top of Orario that abuses her charm to use and steal away everyone she so pleases before she gets bored and just adds them to the collection of former boy toys. Then there's the less elegant whore who is less subtle about what she wants and even manipulates poor girls into serving the Familia business, who also just happens to cover her Captain's little fetish of torture sex. Let's not forget everyone's favorite clowns whose rabid dogs pick up a fight often, and all it takes for people to not raise their voices saying they belong to Loki's circus. There's also that one red-haired bastard who began a whole drama of completely destroying a Familia just to get his hands on an Adventurer that he fancied from said Familia. And of fucking course, let's not forget Aeshma, who forced his Adventurers into breeding just so they could breed the perfect Adventurer."
Ratatosk kept going, on and on. Despite being in the Dungeon until recently, the foreign God knew pretty well all of the big names in Orario, and their habits. "And the only consequences they get in the end is a fucking penalty fee like if it was a simple slap on the wrist only because they have some kind of influence." He narrowed his eyes at the Captain. "Now, I want you to take all I just said into account and realize that before you start making stupid decisions, the person you are trying to get ahead of is far more dangerous and can do far more damage than all of the people I just listed before despite not having any renown in this city."
She looked down, clenching her fists; unable to answer back at everything he had said.
"Moving on!" he looked at Ouranos. "When I told you what happened with the Centurion of Wind, we decided all of my efforts and resources would go into finding out who managed to take it into their possession."
Ouranos nodded. "Yes, you would start looking over those floors beyond the Seventieth Floor-"
"And you would tell me if there was any unusual activity that might allude to another Centurion," the temperature o in the room started to drop again. "So why the hell wasn't I told of what was happening in the Great Fall?"
They narrowed their own eyes at each other. "I simply gave more importance to the matter with the Centurion of Wind." The oldest God explained calmly. "I had ordered the Guild to issue a mandatory order to all Adventurers to not enter Water City until you or Adam had returned. However, Loki Familia decided to ignore said order."
"I am aware of that little detail." Despite being so deep in the Dungeon, the Great Spirit managed to get into the floors of the Dungeon; just in time to see the Abnormal Amphisbaena blowing itself up. "But here's what I realized when I saw the Monster Rex kamikaze itself; the most obvious one being It did it the moment It sensed him approaching the Great Fall, out of fear no less."
Ouranos tensed for a moment.
"Of course, the moment he arrived, I was forced to look away, seeing he may have detected me…" Ratatosk narrowed his eyes. "But guess whom I managed to spot before looking away…" he pointed at the one other being using a cloak in the room. "Little Miss Fels." He clapped his hands. "So, a thought came to me after some thinking… You wanted this to happen." Ouranos didn't react, nor did he say anything as he simply stared. "Loki Familia may have not been part of the plan; but you know that if things escalated until a certain point, he would get involved in the matter; and he did."
Ratatosk snorted before pointing his thumbs at Shakti. "Here I am criticizing Miss Varma, and here you are pulling the same stunt; a little riskier approach of course."
The oldest God closed his eyes in contemplation. "We agreed not to seek or approach him; we never agreed on him conveniently appearing in a scene out of our control."
The thing that annoyed Ratatosk the most, was the fact that the Old God said those words with such a straight face that he didn't know if he was being practical or just smug.
"Something I have noticed as the situation in the Great Fall escalated was that I could no longer see or sense anything in the Dungeon. So, I sent Fels to be my eyes and ears." His glare became stern. "Even with equipment to tolerate the harsh cold temperatures and another one to erase her presence, she couldn't get much information; not even a glance was spared from your former enemy."
Ratatosk mentally snorted at the mention of Drake.
"I had remained well hidden in the floor as Loki Familia battled," everyone looked at Fels. "However, my very instincts told me not to move a single inch the moment he appeared. And when I tried to do so, your friend almost spotted me despite being camouflaged. The only thing I managed to get from being in such a hard environment was only his first name."
Ratatosk raised an eyebrow as he looked at Shakti.
"And here I thought you would have shared your findings; talk about a lack of teamwork." The Captain of the Ganesha Familia twitched, even though Ratatosk knew that her little one-sided investigation was meant to be a secret.
"The Abnormal Amphisbaena -one with Divinity- had complete and total control of the situation before he felt Drake's presence… and yet it decided to kill itself."
Ratatosk could only snort under Ouranos stern gaze. "Maybe now you would actually listen to me when I say you should leave him alone."
Shakti could only do her best to not look down as Ouranos spared a short glance at her. "Even if that would be wiser; such a presence could still be useful for us. If not for our cause, at least to secure the other Centurions."
The Foreign Deity sighed. "Of that… I am sadly aware… that's why Adam should be speaking with him at this very moment to see if they reach an agreement."
"Is that wise?" he looked at Shakti. "Last I recall, Drake hates Adam as much as he hates you. Putting them in the same room could be a detriment!"
Ratatosk chuckled a little before waving his hand at her. "Hates Adam as much as he hates me; don't be ridiculous." She could see his smirk under his cloak. "He hates me at least ten times over."
'I am pretty sure that's not something to be proud of!' was more or less the thought everyone had at Ratatosk's remark.
"And I suppose whatever agreement comes between their meeting might affect us in some way."
Ratatosk shook his head at Ouranos. "Knowing him, besides asking for his things back, he will ask me to yield the Centurion of Light if it ever comes to appear." He clapped his tongue. "And he no doubt will make sure I keep my part of the deal."
Ouranos kept quiet, wondering why that specific Centurion was to be used as the condition. He didn't particularly trust Ratatosk, or mistrust him as a matter of fact seeing his intentions towards their cause were genuine to a certain point. But given his past, it was hard not to be so wary of him.
"What about his Brothers? Will they be a problem?"
Ratatosk snorted again. "That one is a little more complicated… Drake was the only Guardian that made it to this World."
He could feel the confusion in everyone's eyes, but it was Fels who broke the silence.
"Impossible. I myself heard how one of them single-handedly defeated the Sword Princess when I was hidden in the Great Fall."
"And yet, they aren't here… I don't know how Drake did it… but he managed to create echoes of his brothers to the utmost perfection. Tenebrae realized this when he confronted one of them after Bete Loga had been dealt with. They take Aura directly from Drake in order to manifest and fight…" he narrowed his eyes. "But even if they are not real, they still have enough power as their original counterparts; The Echo of Flynn Schifo almost managed to completely kill Tenebrae in a single swing. Even now, my Centurion is having a hard time creating a physical body."
Everyone in the room tensed as those words sank in.
Yes, they had met the black cat-like creature known as Tenebrae, the Centurion of Darkness. An entity that both Gods in the room confirmed it was a divine being; even if it was supposedly weakened due to the lack of the other Centurions, it still emitted a dangerous feeling if it wanted to make a point.
"Then I suppose we will have no other option but to wait and hope to see the outcome of Adam's meeting." Ouranos inwardly sighed. "Onto the next point; this is our first meeting after that sudden gust of wind assaulted the city, we know it is due to something, or someone."
"Someone," Ratatosk clarified. "Someone with enough control and focus to keep the Centurion's presence hidden at will. That is the only reason why I haven't been able to pinpoint the perpetrator's location."
"I am Ganesha!" The God shouted. "You said its location was something beyond the Seventieth Floor correct?" he scowled as Ratatosk nodded. "Then I am afraid the list of whom this might have been shortened by a lot."
Shakti gave a scowl of her own, knowing way too easily whom her God was speaking of.
"Evilus."
There was a moment of silence before Fels started to make a count.
"If we are to suppose the person in question has to be strong as a minimum, then let's focus on their current heads." The Living Skull raised her bony finger; her face would form a scowl at the thought of the first name. "Dix Perdix." A feeling that was transmitted to Ratatosk after hearing that name.
"Didn't Adam deal with him a couple of months ago?"
Ratatosk sighed at Shakti's question. "We never found his body; if there is a rule mortals in my World have set a trope and be right about it, is that never assumed someone's dead until you see their body. His brother is still missing, but he's way too unstable to actually consider him at all."
"Valleta Grede?"
This time, it was Shakti who shook her head. "If she of all people had the Centurion in her power, then this city would have already been hit by a cyclone." She placed her chin on her hand to think. "Vendetta; dead. Vito; most unlikely… Revis?" her eyes narrowed at the name of the monstrous redhead.
"… Also unlikely, seeing she falls in the category of people who are presumed dead."
"… Huh?" she looked at the Foreign Deity, who raised an eyebrow seeing everyone was looking at him.
"Oh… right… back when Drake first arrived here, Adam had gone to his location to confirm it was him after all. What he found were indications of a fight… and Revis' arms."
"But there wasn't a body to confirm her status." She said, seeing an actual positive thing in the existence of the being known as Drake.
"Good; someone's learning." She ignored his jab before he sighed. "And it's safe to assume Thanatos didn't get his hands on it either; same reason as Valleta… which means that would only leave-"
"Evilus' current leader," Ouranos commented. Currently, the higher echelon of Evilus consisted of Thanatos… but he wasn't an evil mastermind or anything of that sort. If anything, he was at best an emo version of Ares, if only a little creepier. That led to the theory that there was someone else operating in the shadows. "Supposing your former enemy is willing to help, I must insist on it being as soon as possible."
Ratatosk sighed. "If I could do anything about it, I would do it personally. But unless I have more of my Centurions, or if the person with Ventus in their possession does something, I won't be able to find them; it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack."
Ouranos silently groaned, not liking having to leave things to chance and blind Hope. But there was nothing he could do about it, and speaking of which-
"There's one last thing I would like to address." His eyes narrowed at Ratatosk one final time. "As I said, I could not see anything when the Centurion was in the Great Fall, the same applied when Bete Loga and Drake fought. However, I still could not see anything as what I assume was Drake and Adam fighting." Ratatosk confirmed the event, already knowing where this was going. "But then… All of a sudden, there was a moment I felt absolutely nothing… no, it would be more accurate to say the Dungeon had suddenly fallen completely quiet… as if-"
"As if a feeling of dread crept on the Dungeon?" Ouranos could only see the top of Ratatosk's cloak, but the tone in his voice told the Elder God his expression was deadly serious. "As if they felt an ominous sense of Despair and hopelessness awaited as the cruel claws of mortality and death came at it?"
The way he said that last part… made a chill run down the backs of the other Gods in the room. "… Ratatosk… What did Drake try to unleash?"
He raised his head to show his red glowing eyes. "Drake tried to cast a Mystic Arte of his own creation… one that stands in the line between his Mortality and his Divinity; rendering anyone that doesn't have strong Divinity to defend themselves in a state of dread in anticipation of what he might do." he sighed. "It was a good thing he didn't continue with his chant because I am sure every single Deity would have felt it."
Shakti felt uncomfortable.
Because she could tell not just her God, but also Ouranos were really worried about what they heard. As if they were facing something beyond their wildest imaginations, something they as Gods could have never considered. It was soon after she reached the same conclusion as Ouranos; the Dungeon had been paralyzed in absolute fear.
"I can tell you the incantation," he suddenly looked at Shakti. "Only so you can get away as far as possible the moment you hear the first verse."
Now it was she who was frozen in place, feeling pressured after just hearing his words. It was at that very moment she couldn't help but ask herself again-
'What kind of Monster had arrived in Orario?'
Adam had replied 'A Dragon' the last time she asked… but now she couldn't help but think such a comparison didn't fit anymore.
Chapter Notes:
- It was mentioned in a previous chapter that Ratatosk had placed a curse on Drake since he was younger in order to see Drake's life through his own eyes. The visions Bete saw were of Ratatosk due to the connection with his Centurions, but also Drake's because of what was just mentioned.
- In Lili's segment, in the beginning, there's a vague mention of the characters Shinonome Momiji and Tsukinokami Kaede, they are from the game Danmachi Orario Rhapsodia. Will they have any prominent role? most likely not. But I thought it would be nice to throw that little info out there in case they are used in the future.
- Lili's rejection of using a spear; I don't know how many of you are familiar with the 5th Danmemo Anniversary Event, I won't go into detail and avoid spoilers, but Lili's basically rejecting the idea of being someone like Fiana in an unconscious level thanks to her skill influencing her soul, deciding to be her own person from now on and rejecting everything that came before.
- The whole thing about the bit of the perfect Hero, was my impression of what Zeus did to Bell while raising him. Also, the God Soma thought that filled the description of the manipulative scumbag was Zeus.
- There were two more scenes in this interlude. The Great Spirit Origin pretty much gives a hint as to why Drake was sent to Danmachi. And Freya talking to a certain God that would be part of the focus in the main arc. But as you noticed, this is already dragging on too much
