AN: So, I started writing an omake around the time I posted the last Chapter. 10K words in, and I didn't like how it was turning out around two weeks ago. So I decided to just write the next Chapter right away. Also, I'm gonna be busy with FFXVI this coming week. (hopefully, it will only take me a week.)

Chapter 31

Tione Hiryute.

Level Five.

One of the Executives of the Loki Familia; the most responsible one after the main three leaders. As such, it was her job to deal with some of the most delicate manners of the Familia, like a fuck-up for example.

"Was the damage really that bad?" Anakitty Autumn asked as she and some others followed Tione and Tiona as both recalled the state of Rivira after Bete had gone through it while he had the Divine Artifact, the Centurion, inside of him.

He hadn't picked any fights like he would usually do. According to the Adventures, he just walked through the whole town while surrounded by an ice storm, which got bigger as he proceeded.

The whole town was already a mess when they arrived, to the point not many had the time or the luxury to demand an explanation from them. The same thing could not be said about Bors, who dared to grab her Captain by the collar of his clothes despite his state to demand an explanation. Finn had given him none, going as far as to limit his words and say Bete was not in his right state of mind.

'He's never in his right state of mind!'

She recalled Bors' outburst, admitting he was right. But everyone could tell this was beyond Bete's usual tantrums. Luckily, they didn't have to deal with any of the habitants of Rivira when they returned after their encounter with Drake. No one was in the right state at that moment, neither psychically nor mentally to deal with the collateral damage done by Bete.

Now that they had recovered after a few days, Finn had instructed them to take some provisions and help Rivira with the construction repairs in order to save some face.

"It was massive, as if a storm had literally walked through the whole town." The youngest Amazon commented.

"Prepare to get a lot of negative glares and insults thrown our way the moment we step into Rivira. We need to be as supportive as we can so we can save some face regarding this fucking mess." Her sister commented, mentally gritting her teeth and cursing Bete's name; who wasn't even there with them.

The Werewolf had gotten a sudden change of character in the last few days after the incident. The whole thing of being possessed and seeing memories that weren't his had changed him; he was still an asshole, but his usual tantrums were mostly gone now. He even started practicing meditation after Finn suggested it in order to control that whole Aura thing, but everyone could see his face twitching while doing so. He took no joy in the action.

Even so, with his current reputation with the Adventurers' of Rivira, it was better to not involve him in this 'Peace keeping' mission.

"We are… here." Her younger sister's voice brought her back to reality, realizing the uncertainty in her voice.

The older twin looked up, her eyes opening a little in confusion before an "Ah?" escaped her mouth.

The reason was the state of Rivira, which was now a complete one-eighty to how they last saw it.

"Well, well, well…" Bors approached them near the entrance, followed by a small group of Adventurers. "What are we doing here, Loki Familia?"

The hostility in his voice was easily noticeable, as were the others' glares toward them.

"We came here to provide our aid in Riviria's reconstruction." She deadpanned for a moment, seeing past him to have a double take of the repaired town.

"As you might have easily noticed, your help isn't needed here anymore."

Tione forced a smile on her face, making her best impression of her beloved Captain. "We are happy you and your own are fine after our fellow Familia Member caused so much damage."

"The audacity of this bitch! I almost lost my fucking legs!" one Adventurer commented, making her façade twitch as many others voiced their dislike of Loki Familia being here.

"Please understand, we can't go into much detail on the matter. But Bete was being manipulated by something beyond our comprehension-"

"We are aware."

"Oh, great…" Tione blinked a few times before she realized what she just heard. "… say what?"

Bors' scowl remained. "We received a visit a few days ago, a Werewolf with a bandana covering his eyes and a tattoo of the number seven on the back of his right hand came to check on the wounded on behalf of a… acquaintance of mine."

"Oh boy." Tiona muttered as she eyed her sister, whose eye was twitching uncontrollably; having a pretty good idea of who the acquaintance and the Werewolf were.

"He explained that what happened was beyond their control while he focused on healing those that had been affected by Vanargand's visit."

"Great!" Tiona exclaimed, clapping her hands to get their attention seeing her sister was trying her best not to have another rage episode. "Seeing how all of it has been explained and all of you are ok, why don't we all leave this behind and go for a drink, I am starving!"

"However-" Tiona's usual smile cracked for a moment; knowing getting out of trouble just like that was too good to be true. "After that Doctor guy left, another long-haired guy with a different number appeared to help with the repairs." He looked back at Rivira for a moment. "He was stupidly fast; we were able to get over with the repairs in half a day thanks to him." His eye narrowed at her. "And he said something very interesting about the whole thing, care to guess what it was?"

Tiona sighed tiredly, she already had a good idea of what that might be.

"We didn't get the full context of the situation. But it seems Loki Familia was warned of the dangers, and completely overlooked it."

Tiona mentally sighed, already seeing this whole thing as a lost cause; her sister on the other hand, not so much.

"By the way, here." She raised an eyebrow, receiving a paper being handed by Bors. Her eyes widened as she saw its contents. "… What Black Dragon bullshit is this!?"

"A bill."

"I noticed! But what's with this cost!? This is almost as expensive as my Urga!" she shouted, noticing that the labor covered most of the bill.

"Seeing this is Loki Familia's mess, we expect you to pay us for the damages," Bors started to rub his hands like a greedy fly, as did the rest of the Adventurers with him. "And if you have a problem with this, we can always take this to the Guild."

She flinched, reading the total cost before rubbing both sides of her head in frustration.

"Having said that, have a nice day." Bors turned around, only to be stopped the moment he felt a strong grip on his shoulder; Tione Hiryute wasn't done.

"That acquaintance of yours is a very dangerous individual, how exactly is it that you know him again?" She didn't even care if her scowl was visible for all to see while getting info about Drake, seeing she and her whole Familia knew close to nothing besides the memories Bete had shared.

To her surprise, Bors simply snorted before brushing her off. "The guy that helped us said you might try something like that, so here's a statement from all of Rivira."

Loki Familia looked confused as all the Adventurers cleared their throats before voicing their statement.

"This here is our own private domicile and we will not be harassed… Bitch!"


"Did you actually tell them to say that?" Mia Grande asked between laughs as one Yuri Lowell sat in front of the counter, checking the Hostess' numbers. "I know they stepped out of line, but you could give them a break already, right?"

"So… what we are hearing is," The Third Guardian raised a paper bill for her to see. "You don't want to charge them for the damages Loga did to the Hostess."

Mia's eye twitched with a grin. "Let's pretend I didn't say shit."

"Figures." Yuri snorted before going focusing on the numbers again before Drake walked next to Mia, placing a cold one on the counter. "Remind me again why I am doing this and not any others? Last I recall, Guy was also good with numbers"

"Because you are the fastest and have experience at managing." Yuri rolled his eyes as he took a sip from his beer. "Besides, I am busy, Jude is technically blind-"

"Why do you always say it like that?"

Mia's question was ignored. "-Wouldn't trust the redheads with this shit, and Lloyd also enters in that list."

'Hey!x3'

"And Flynn already took one for the team a while ago."

Mia chuckled in amusement as she looked at the whole place, not an empty table, not an empty mouth, and an overall good atmosphere.

"Be honest with me," both looked at Mia. "Have you ever pulled that kind of stunt in the past? because that was way too smooth-"


Flashback – around half an hour ago

"Access denied nya~" one May the Chef stated with a fierce determination while wearing a pair of shaders; courtesy of Drake. "In the kitchen, my word is the law; You shall not pass nya~."

"Oh really!?" Mia Grande said from a distance with a tick mark. She and some others had been watching the exchange between May and Flynn play out.

"Miss May," Flynn calmly put his hand on his chest. "I am only offering my services to help in the kitchen. I recall you helped in there not too long ago, I fail to see why I can't do the same."

Everyone could see the cat girl twitch at the mention of Yuri. "That man is no longer welcomed in here nya~!" After Bete's incident, all of the staff had been left incapacitated. But even so, Drake and Yuri had decided to open after they made the repairs to the place; managing to offer the usual service with Drake serving while Yuri cooked. Of course, even if Drake could be considered the ultimate waiter -leaving aside his behavior towards the patrons- there was still the fact that preparing so much food in time was supposed to be impossible.

'Unless you have a super speed power nya~!' she recalled returning to the pub with the rest of the kitchen staff, only to see a black blur moving through the kitchen with ease while cooking several dishes, leaving a trail of pink petals wherever he went. Of course, she was surprised, but also incredibly salty because he made it look so easy; it only got worse when she tested his food and it was better than anything she or anyone else could cook.

Suffice to say, her pride had been damaged..

"As for you, nya~!" she slammed the wall next to the entrance, there was a poster with his image and the words 'DO NOT LET THIS PERSON ENTER INTO THE KITCHEN. HE WILL RUIN THE FOOD.'

Flynn made a one-eighty, looking at Drake with a bland face. "Seriously?"

"Hey, be glad I was the one that made the drawing and not someone else."

Flynn sighed before looking back at May, taking a deep breath before unleashing his secret technique.

"Incoming!" Drake muttered in a rush before covering Anya's eyes while everyone looked at him confused, only to then be blinded by a bright light coming from none other than Flynn.

"My eyes! My eyes!" Lunor commented before dropping to her knees while covering her eyes.

"Miss May, although there have been issues with my cooking in the past, I can assure you I have learned from my mistakes, and I can be of assistance to you." Flynn said with a sweet, soft, and innocent tone, accompanied by what many would consider the smile of an angel.

"It's so beautiful! Ryuu! Let me see! Let me see!" Syr Flova demanded, even after being tackled into the ground by Ryuu; the Elf covering her friend's eyes for dear life.

"… No nya~" May managed to mutter, ignoring the drop of sweat rolling down the side of her face, making Flynn sigh as the bright light faded.

"Anything else I could help up with?" he asked Drake in a calm tone, making his brother cross his arms.

"It's your free time. You can literally go out and use it as much as you want."

The Guardian shook his head. "You know I would prefer to invest my time well if I don't have any time, unlike some people."

'… that was a jab at me, wasn't it?'

Both blondes ignored Luke before Drake sighed. "Ok, Commander…" he darted his eyes to the side, noticing the pub was rather empty today…

"…"

"… I don't like that look on your face." Flynn frowned, seeing the empty look his brother was giving him.

"Me neither… how much do you want to take one for the pub?"


"This is degrading."

"You are free to have a change of opinion and take that off," Drake commented as he saw Flynn carrying a board in which Mia was writing the pub's promotions.

"If it makes you feel better, kid; I don't feel good about this, either."

Both deadpanned at Mia. "Good, now say it as if you weren't gaining clientele when this works."

"Hey! Business is business." She faked offense. "And it is not like we are whoring him or something."

Drake snorted, while Flynn frowned. "Yeah, Flynn. Besides, this is no different from Judith showing off his boyfriend."

Flynn gave him a glare. "The only difference is she's not here to keep the hyenas away." Flynn sighed just as Mia was finished writing. "Well… off I go…"

"And for that-" Drake stood straight and punched his chest, making it look like a military salute. "-We salute you!" the fact that Mia mimicked him and both had straight faces didn't make Flynn feel any better.

"Don't forget to smile!" Drake shouted, noticing Flynn's shoulder dropping for a moment before Drake and Mia headed into the Hostess while most of the staff awaited them.

"How are your eyes?"

Lunor flipped him off as she kept staring down with her eyes closed. "What the fuck was that? It was like staring straight at the fucking sun!"

On the other hand-

"Don't be rude!" Syr wouldn't have bothered if she had been blinded. "It was the most beautiful smile I have ever seen!" She glared at Drake. "Why can't you be like that!? The fact that you two look nearly the same doesn't make it any better."

He ignored her. "Remember what I said about Zelos?"

"That he's the ultimate scumbag?" Lunor asked with a snort.

"That he hates women?" Syr asked. "Also, can you go a little into detail about that?"

Drake simply ignored her.

"...Maxed out charisma?"

He snapped his fingers at Ryuu. "Ten points for the perverted Elf." He ignored Elf's bland look. "Flynn's the same but think of it as if he had already been born with it maxed up."

"At least that explains why you gave me this nya~" Mia stated as she pointed at her shaders. "I would have failed had it not been for this nya~"

"Don't mention it… I will have to give you another pair, though."

She raised an eyebrow, seeing as the shaders she was wearing were-

*CRACK*

Her eyes widened, seeing as the shaders broke down before turning themselves into dust.

"My shaders nya~!" she fell on her knees and shouted tragically while the rest just watched with a similar thought in mind; Flynn's smile was deathly. Beautiful, but deathly.

"Such bullshit." Lunor blinked several times, finally recovering her vision. "Is he really that bad of a cook? Like… Syr level of bad?" she pondered out loud, ignoring Syr's glare.

"Not really. If anything, I would say it is like playing roulette. It's either really good… or just plain horrible."

"By this point, I stopped questioning logic with you guys," Lunor said before snorting. "Funnily enough, Flynn doesn't seem like the bad guy you and Lloyd made him out to be."

Drake raised an eyebrow. "You mean with the whole one-punch man story?"

"One-punch man?" Syr looked at Ryuu, who replied with an 'I'll tell you later' while Lunor nodded at Drake's question.

"Besides Jude, Flynn is the overall nicest guy I know. And the most responsible between me and Guy. He's charismatic, and overall a good leader, even inspires the people under him despite being in a shitty situation." he winced a little before putting his index finger and thumb together. "He just has a bit of a short fuse when things shit go down."

Lunor looked amused. "Basically, Finn Deimne 2.0; Taller, stronger, more inspiring, more handsome… overlooking the whole cooking thing, he really is the whole damn package."

"Being able to cook isn't everything; a person doesn't have to know how to do everything to be perfect."

Everyone deadpanned at Syr. "That is the most thoughtful thing I have heard you say in the time I have been here, and I would commend you if it wasn't that your cooking is worse than Flynn's." The blandness in Drake's tone was so lackluster that Syr could only laugh softly before her shoulders dropped.

"Back on topic, the only bad thing I would say he has is, as mentioned before…" he winced a little before putting a very small distance between his thumb and his index finger. "that he had a bit of a short fuse in certain situations."

"You are gonna have to be a little more specific."

Drake pondered for a moment before focusing on Mia, who narrowed her eyes.

"… I would say exactly like Mia."

"Oi! What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Remember during my first month here how you tried to break off a fight and one of the patrons accidentally punched you?"

Everyone winced at the memory, recalling that guy had been sent flying five whole blocks out of the pub not even five seconds later.

"We personally called those moments the Flynn Sparks; getting him to cool off after the fact is near impossible."

Lunor paled. "Someone with Mama's temper, and with that strength…" Ryuu was no better, recalling the whole thing with the giant elephant monster.

"And you still say he's a nice guy," Lunor said in disbelief, only to then ponder what Flynn was doing at the moment for the Hostess. "Ok… maybe he is, no one with a sense of self-dignity would agree to this."

Lunor flinched, feeling one of Syr's unusual smiles on her face. "Why do you make it sound so bad? What he's doing is no different from what I do to get new clientele."

"Syr has a point but…" Ryuu looked at Drake strangely. "Will this really work out? For what I understand, you only send him to take a walk around the block while just smiling, is that really gonna be enough to get patrons?"

Drake sighed. "Ryuu, if Syr can get a dumbass with the oldest trick of-" he suddenly clapped his hands and made his best plastic impression of Syr. "Mister Adventurer, you dropped this; may you please come to the pub later and enjoy our food." He dropped the act. "Then my plan will work."

"You could have put a little more enthusiasm into that impression."

"Sorry, but let me remind you there isn't a bit of fakeness in me." For a moment it seemed as if there were sparks of war between the two.

"Give it a rest already…" Mia's eyes darted to the counter for a second to notice a single glass full of water… with small ripples that seemed to be increasing by the moment.

"The hell?" her question went to deaf ears as she started to hear a large crowd approaching."… Are you being serious right now?" she looked at Drake in disbelief.

"Never underestimate natural charisma," Drake muttered before picking up May like a sack of potatoes and taking her into the kitchen, seeing as she was still not getting over her shaders.

The door of the pub opened, revealing a Flynn with a tired smile while a large group of female Adventurers followed closely; some of them clinging to his arms, while others poked his cheeks and even ruffled his hair to get his attention while trying to flirt with him.

"… Help."


"You guys are the worst," Mia stated as she saw both Drake and Yuri laughing at the memory, to the point they used the counter as a support to not fall while sharing a high-five.

Drake had returned soon after, managing to place each patron at a table with some sweet talking from Flynn. After that, it was up to the staff of the kitchen to keep their clientele with their food; which was working by the way.

As for Flynn, he had a really defeated look in the end before disappearing into the corner, only for Yuri to appear a few minutes later while laughing.

"Seriously though," Mia showed a little bit of guilt. "Is he ok?"

"Yeah, I left him sulking in a corner," Yuri stopped laughing for a second. "It was both depressing and hilarious."

"But mostly hilarious," Drake commented before both started to laugh again. "Oh, don't you have the audacity to judge me; you went along with the idea."

"I did, but I didn't expect him to end up in that state. Don't get me wrong, I only leave Syr to do that because she enjoys that shit."

"Mama! Don't make it sound like it is something bad!" The waitress said in a rush as she served table after table.

"But to put someone who doesn't like that kind of stuff to do it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth." The Dwarf said with a little remorse before Lunor placed a big bag of Valis as payment on the counter before going to offer service to another table. "But then again, work is work, gotta make sacrifices to make a living!" all remorse disappeared as she secured the bag.

"And she says we are horrible," Yuri commented before handing over the papers. "Everything looks good here, the place is in the green despite the days it was forced to be closed. Of course, no money was spent seeing this bastard and I-" he pointed at himself and Drake. "-did the repairs for free."

"Which I appreciate." She replied without a hint of shame.

"And here's what you will be charging the Loki Familia for the damages." He slammed the last paper on the counter before releasing a sigh while looking at Drake. "Next time, ask Guy to do the damn numbers; he also has experience in management."

"As you wish your Highness," Drake said as someone placed another bag of Valis down. "Any problem, Ryuu?"

The Elf didn't say anything, limiting herself to only look at him with a face that hid her murderous intent before retreating.

"How long are you gonna keep this going?" The Dwarf asked, seeing the Elf retire while Drake just held a smirk of amusement.

"Until she cries or asks me to stop, whatever happens first."

An Aurion always keeps his word, after all.

He had promised Ryuu he would bully her for what happened in Tsubaki's forge not too long ago. Since then he hadn't wasted a moment in throwing a comment that would make her feel self-conscious; whenever she let out a moan when she ate something delicious, whenever she trained in the mornings, whenever she made a mistake as a waitress.

What was happening now was just taking things one step further.

"Look at her."

They were all small things, but they started to sum up until she would blow up.

"Look at her. An Elf in a waitress outfit; how scandalous!"

"I know right? Like, an Elf stooping down to such a mundane job… she probably enjoys people looking at her wearing an uniform."

"What aa total perve! Like, for real!"

And so went on the comments.

"When did you manage to bribe the patrons?" Mia asked in amusement. As long as things didn't escalate to a certain point, she would allow this to happen… that… and she found the whole thing a little hilarious.

"Since the moment they entered the pub."

Ryuu's ears only twitched as she heard from afar, something everyone around the counter was aware of.

"In his defense," Yuri commented. "He held back from replacing her uniform with something similar to her Adventurer's attire."

Ryuu's ears turned red, as did her face; something every patron noticed.

"Oh, look at that blush!" an Amazon stated out loud. "Wonder what kind of perverted thing is going through that Elf brain of hers! Who could have thought such an arrogant race could be so perverted!"

Laughs erupted throughout the whole place, making Ryuu reinforce her stoic mask before glaring at Drake, who waved at her.

"You did that one on purpose, didn't you?"

Yuri shook his head at Mia's answer while Drake spoke. "He didn't. But the idea of changing her uniform did cross my mind, however, that one is reserved for when and if she ever decides to go running her mouth again."

"Do any of you mind helping out?" Lunoire Faust exclaimed tiredly, sitting next to Yuri before slamming her head on the counter. "We are already full, and it isn't even rush hour yet."

"Sure… I will take the next table for you." Drake said, feeling a little bit sorry for Lunor seeing they were down a waitress thanks to his actions. "How's Chloe doing, anyway?"

"Still twitching."

Ever since Adam returned most of his stuff to him, Drake decided to finally invest time in a lot of things he had been postponing through the years. From simple things like reading a book, to more useless things like binging a lot of movies, series, and playing a lot of games without having to worry about training, fighting against a Deity, or preventing the end of the world.

Of course, he also took the chance to remodel his room to look like a modern one… which was the start of it all seeing members of the staff became curious as to why there was a metal door that said 'Stay away or you will be shocked, seriously.'

Many of the girls rolled their eyes at the message, calling on him for being immature and for not wanting them in his room. Of course, their curiosity started to increase after some things got their attention; like Drake screaming for no absolute reason all of a sudden, or loud sounds like explosions or other things unheard of by anyone, and of course, there was also that chill air coming down below the door.

That last one was the most important, seeing they were in the middle of summer. Knowing that Drake had a source of cold air in his room incited them to form a small group to demand and enter. One Chloe Rollo volunteered herself as a sacrifice in the front line to open his door by force.

"In my defense, I thought a Level Four Adventurer would be able to withstand a charge of that quantity." He said, recalling he heard a sudden 'Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaa' while he was playing a classic platformer. When he opened the door, he was met by an electrified Chloe; twitching on the ground as if she was an actual wounded cat.

Suffice it to say, he promised to build an AC in the common area for the Hostess.

"Seriously though, what would have happened if someone without a Falna touched your door?"

"One, there was a clear warning on the door; I expect at least a normal person would have that in mind before touching the door knot." He looked at Mia with a deadpan. "And two;" his eyes sparked a little, showing a hint of emotion. "If anyone would be stupid enough to ignore my warning, I hoped it would be Syr."

The Dwarf face palmed, at this point, she wasn't even surprised. "Now that we are on the subject, mind installing one of those cooling things in here and in the kitchen?"

"I was already planning to. But the kitchen is a solid no."

"OH COME ON!" various voices coming from the back shouted, making May scold them for not focusing on their tasks.

"The reason being food may get cold in a chill space."

Mia nodded, seeing a good argument regarding the quality of their food. "Anything else in your things that you will share with us?" She eyed him from the top to the bottom. "Or is that new get-up all we are gonna see?"

Drake chuckled, taking a look at his clothes. It consisted of a simple white shirt with a black vest and pants, along with green sunglasses; he looked like a legit bartender. "It was a gift from my uncle when I worked in his bar."

"Definitely better than wearing a damn jacket and a scarf most of the damn time," Lunor commented. "Seeing you with so many damn clothes on you was making me uncomfortable with this damn heat."

"Not my fault you can't find ways to get cold," he sighed in relief, enjoying the silence for a moment.

"… What?" Drake didn't react, making Mia look at him in confusion as he just stared. In the end, it was Yuri who answered for him.

"He's enjoying the moment, taking this tranquility in mind before the World decides it is time to fuck him again."

The women rolled their eyes. "Talk about being pessimistic."

"It's realism, Mia." Yuri replied.

"Listen,"

"Please don't give a speech." Drake almost had a pleading tone in his voice, but Mia ignored him.

"I know the past two months had been hectic and all," by this point, both he and Yuri had panicked faces while both shook their heads at her. "But you have to start thinking positively that the World is not always against you-"

'You have no fucking idea how ironic that is for me.' Drake thought, giving up on stopping her, resting his face on his palm and waiting for the inevitable.

"- and believe that nothing is gonna go wrong." Mia waited for a moment before grinning. "See… nothing ha-" her voice died in her mouth, along with any noise inside of the Hostess.

Drake didn't even sigh and just waited while his hand still covered his face. Soon after, he heard a set of footsteps walking to the counter; they were slow, but heavy… very heavy.

'Care to guess who it is?' Yuri asked with no humor in his voice.

'There's no need.'

There were only two people Mia of all people would stay quiet for; one being her Goddess. But as much shit as he would love to give Freya, she was neither fat nor heavy.

"And this, Mia, is why we don't say shit like that."

Which only left one other possibility.

"So! Porky!" he took his hand off his face as he scowled at the sight of the strongest Adventurer, Ottarl. "How are you, your Goddess and your Familia ready to fuck over my peace?"

A deathly silence invaded the whole pub, even the screams in the kitchen seemed to stop abruptly; it wasn't only because of the presence of The King, but also Drake's clear proof of his dislike and disrespect towards him and his whole Familia.

"Brat-" Yuri raised his hand at Mia while his eyes remained glued on Ottarl.

"No, no, no, Mia. You knocked on Fate's door; you lost the right to say anything."

Drake snapped his fingers at his brother. "What he said."

The King grunted, getting their attention. "My Goddess requests your presence in Folkvangr."

The Guardians blinked, looked at each other, blinked again, looked at Ottarl, and finally snorted. "I am sorry, but if you Goddess has such a desire to meet me then tell her to drag her ass here."

Nobody saw Syr Flova's eye twitch; what everyone saw was Ottarl's fighting the urge to clench his fist.

"You know what? Scratch that, my fist has an itch every time I remember her plastic face." Mia closed her eyes and pinched the bridge between her eyes before snapping her head at a bottle of rum, only for it to be snatched away by Drake. "Nope."

Mia clenched her fist in frustration before Drake addressed The King again; his fist was completely clenched, a very low growl coming out of his mouth.

"I am not gonna give Freya a Booty call; she has plenty of Children to do that for her."

Some patrons slammed their heads on their tables, fearing and praying to each of their Gods seeing something was about to go down and thinking the blonde bartender had a death wish. But surprisingly, the Boars relaxed his fist while his eyes seemed to go into a deep focus.

"… What is that?" The silence was broken by the sudden question, making the Guardians raise an eyebrow. "… Booty call… what is that?"

"…" Once again, nobody dared to say a word. However, the intense atmosphere of dread had been replaced by one of pure astonishment. It wasn't until a patron failed to hold their snorts that many more soon followed suit.

"… Congratulations, you are the first person that has left me without words since I arrived here," Drake said before giving a sidestep towards Mia to whisper. "I knew Freya liked them dumb, but this is just depressing."

"That guy doesn't know anything that isn't related to fighting or some Familia matters." She whispered back in a rush; recalling the latter was only because Hedin drilled them into his head.

"What? Every high-profile Familia in Orario has a Wallenstein in them?"

She glared at him. "Hey! I tried to be a better role model and give him a good education." She looked away with a scowl. "But when 'Lady Freya' is the only thing in his mind, teaching him things like multiplication is impossible."

"So, you are telling me he doesn't know the multiplication table of the number two?"

Both looked at Yuri, who had a raised eyebrow along with Lunor.

"… Does he?" the blonde asked, making Mia just stare back in silence. "And now I feel bad."

Ottarl growled, getting their attention.

"Oh right… not going." Drake replied eloquently. "I promise to help with the tables here now."

Lunor gave him a solemn thumbs up and a serious look.

"I will wait-" Ottarl's words were swiftly interrupted.

"Then I have a personal and important project waiting for me in my room."

Yuri deadpanned at him. "Finishing Megaman X7 can't be a priority, if you keep avoiding it."

Drake scowled. "It's the worst in the fucking saga; the first attempt at going from 2D to 3D and the damn Devs fucked up royally." he sighed. "And I have a movie night planned later so we have some free time."

Mia face-palmed, knowing he was doing this on purpose… but she was curious about something. "Do you have any idea of what they are talking about?"

"I gave up a long time ago." Lunor replied as they continued.

"Feel like playing Smash? We can take turns between the others seeing only one of you can be present at the time."

"Pass, playing along with a dirty Pyra main is annoying."

'Word!' Zelos exclaimed in their mind. 'But kind of hypocritical coming from a Sonic main; all you do is kick and run.'

'Says the Paulatina main.' Yuri deadpanned. 'Going to the corner and sending that fucking fireball!'

'If you are gonna bitch about that, then the same applied to Zelda and her fucking knight!'

'And now I am involved.' Luke sighed. "Also… it's a fucking legitimate strategy! If you guys want to bitch about something, look at the Link main; a three-hit combo! That's broken!"

There were hums of agreement, except for the Link main himself. 'Wait the fuck a minute! If you want to talk about brokenness! Look at Jude with Terry! A KO move after reaching a hundred percent damage!'

'… Are you guys really going to bitch… to the ONE GUY THAT CAN'T SEE THE SCREEN!' the youngest Guardian shouted in a legit rage. 'I haven't even been able to play since I lost my sight!'

Nobody said anything for a moment, truly guilty of the provocation.

'… there's also Guy and Roy…' Lloyd said, trying to change the shame.

'Oi!' Guy complained.

'Please!' Jude said sardonically. 'Nobody ever complains about Roy; because as every player knows-'

'Roy's our boy!' every Guardian shouted, making Drake sigh, in reality a couple of seconds later.

"Guess we are not playing Smash, then… What about Mortal Kombat?"

Yuri blinked, contemplating the idea. But before he could say anything, The King growled again.

"… I completely forgot he was there."

"Same." Drake replied, making Ottarl narrow his eyes as he went for his pockets to take out a piece of paper.

"You let me know the choice then…" The Guardians looked in confusion as the Boars unfolded the paper and read it. "Oh no…"

"Let me guess, he's also a slow reader?" Mia's eye twitched as Ottarl continued.

"Without your assistance, Allen Fromel; Vana Freya, will die from his wounds!" he said with a very loud voice.

"Ok… Allen might die, but why are you raising your voice so mu-"

"My Brother nya~!"

Drake's face went completely bland, realizing Ottarl's intention as Anya, out of nowhere, got a hold of his sleeves; clinging to him with tears in her eyes. Using Anya to get to him…now that was dirty.

"You clever bastard," Drake muttered. Ottarl didn't react, but the Darkness told him The King's current emotion as the words 'He's been smug' appeared above the Boars.

"Wipe that thought; we both know Freya came up with the plan." Ottarl's eye twitched at Drake's uncaring tone before he looked over at Anya.

"Please nya~. Help my brother! I don't want to lose him nya~!" She pulled from his sleeve; back and forth as he looked at the ceiling unfazed but tired as she continued. "Please nya~"

He made a mistake by looking down, seeing her sad cat eyes before groaning in resignation. He gave her two shoulder taps, making her stop and letting go of him before he looked at Lunor with legit regret.

Lunor's eyes widened as he walked to her, tapping her shoulder solemnly. "Don't you dare."

"If anything… blame Mia." He said before walking past her. "Also, hang in there." He walked around the counter before snapping his fingers at Yuri. "Let's go, Your Highness."

The Third Guardian sighed before following suit, soon followed by Ottarl.

"…" Everyone just stared as they left, letting murmurs and voices flow free once the King was out of sight.

"… Do you think Drake calls Yuri your Highness because he's actually a King or something?" Mia asked, trying to ignore what just happened before Lunor gave Mia a critical look. "Oh come on! How was I supposed to know that was going to happen?!"

"Excuse me! Can I order something?"

Lunor looked around, seeing the rest of the staff already busy, forcing her to end her recess; but not without glaring at Mia as she walked away.

"… Those boys might actually be cursed." Mama Mia thought out loud; not wanting to take responsibility for what just happened…or what would happen.


"So… that's what it is," Drake commented as they walked through the streets of Orario, ignoring all of the onlookers that tensed as they saw Ottarl walking in the middle of the street. "Allen's still afflicted due to his fight with Bete."

The King grunted in confirmation as Drake recalled for a moment Jude had to check on the Hostess' staff, the people or Rivira, and the Soma Familia members that were in the Hostess that day… basically, everyone that was close to Bete while he was extruding so much malicious Aura due to the Centurion in him.

"Looks like we overlooked someone in the end." Yuri commented, making Drake sigh, seeing how he could not reply with a 'We did not' because they really did forget about Allen being involved as well.

"Let's get this over with, then," Drake darted his eyes back. "Hanging out with this guy is almost as bad as hanging with Zelos; both get too much attention for all the wrong reasons."

'How dare you…' his best friend genuinely sounded offended. "Hot I may be, but I am also fucking smart; this guy can't even do basic math operations!" He took a deep breath. 'Also, he scares pretty much everyone, I get the ladies; there's a clear fucking difference!'

'And of course, that is what he would get offended about…' Guy commented, letting the subject drop before the older Guardian finally addressed another important thing. 'How long are you gonna keep this going?'

Both Drake and Yuri looked at each other, slowing their paces a little. "Hey, Porky." Ottarl didn't say anything, not even to acknowledge he was listening. "I am gonna ask this in the nicest way possible, and we will know if you are lying," Yuri looked over his shoulder with an edge in his eyes. "Did you Goddess send someone else to watch over us while you escort us?"

His confusion was obvious, even if he didn't show it. "She did not. I am all my Goddess needs for such a simple task." He expected them to say something antagonistic, but instead stopped instantly and turned around with calculative eyes; searching for something.

'Can anyone spot them?'

They had felt someone watching over them a little after they left the Pub. Contrary to the stares Ottarl gathered, they were just temporary and out of nervousness, awe, or fear… but this one was longer, more intense, and directed at Drake and Yuri alone.

'I can't… not with this many people staring…' Yuri commented as their eyes glowed, only to feel the sensation of being observed disappear.

'Loki?' Yuri commented as both resumed their walk, ignoring Ottarl's confusion and inquiry.

'None of the symbols of the Adventurers in the street belonged to them.' Drake sighed, already starting to feel a headache out of all of this.

'Pretty fucking sure Tsubaki doesn't have to deal with this bullshit.'


"What the actual fuck, Drake?" Tsubaki cursed as she once again eyed the first High-Frequency Blade she gave him. The edge would still cut her own skin at the mere contact with it. However, there were dents and bends on the entire length of the edge. Something she thought impossible seeing this was an Aura weapon; something she thought not even Ottarl could do.

'… then again… seeing whom he was facing, it shouldn't be a surprise.'

Adam Taurus; a person Drake had faced many times in the past, someone blessed by a Great Spirit; just like Drake. The person responsible for the wound in Drake's neck… and her friend's first death.

But even so, her weapons held out against The Knight of Ratatosk pretty well. Even if neither Adam nor Drake went into Divine territory, her blade did a very solid job.

"Nice work, me." She complimented herself before gently letting the blade down and looking at the new one she had been forging for Drake. He still had a spare one, but it was nice to have more just in case.

She looked at the Ice Dust Crystals at her side, getting the urge once again to try to infuse them with a weapon. But a little trip to flashback land reminded her it wasn't such a good idea until they found a way to 'Refine' the Dust.

Thanks to the Scroll Drake had given her, she began to do some research of her own, only to growl at the mention of needing some sort of special machines for the process itself, something Drake confirmed seeing the concept of refining wasn't introduced without them.

Now that Drake got his stuff back, she hoped there would be something she could use. To her surprise, Adam of all people had said there might be something in all of Drake's things she could use, but she needed help retrieving it, seeing it was inaccessible.

This puzzled even Drake. When asked about it, Adam only chuckled and said they would figure it out the next day, seeing as he himself needed Drake for something.

So, here she was now, waiting on the new blade to rest before proceeding with the running process.

Funnily enough, she started playing around with the Scroll; investigating a little on the web about Drake's world… and about the man himself.

She regretted it later because the first suggestions that came when the most recommended searches after typing his name were something among the lines that were 'Drake Aurion X -Name literally anyone else, mostly a male name-'

To say she looked at the screen as if its content were walking trash, looking at the 'Fanart' done about Drake and many of his brothers and even people she didn't know would have been an understatement. And sadly, most of it was from the people that would be the equivalent of her own people from the far east… not surprising, really.

"Let's try my luck again," she thought out loud before taking her scroll to search for some distraction. "Might as well, seeing as my other side-project is awaiting testing." She eyed a wristband with a metal plate on it; several runes engraved on them.

"Lady Tsubaki."

Her eye never left the screen as she hummed at Ranko, her head maid. "Aye?"

"There's a visitor requesting your presence."

Her eye looked off the screen for a second, knowing it wasn't Drake seeing he was always welcome. She instantly pulled the Scroll away from unwanted eyes before covering Drake's old blade. "It's someone from Loki Familia."

"The more reason to hide things." She muttered. "Guide Gareth to my living room, I will be there in a bit."

"That's the thing Lady Tsubaki, it's not Lord Gareth who is visiting."

Her eye arched as she turned around. "Then who-" her face showed her surprise, seeing as behind Ranko there was a familiar face. Tsubaki's expression made Rank react quickly as she instinctively pulled a dagger from her pocket while turning around to attack the person that had managed to get behind her without her notice, but her wrist was easily caught.

"… I told you to wait outside," Ranko said as the individual let go of her hand. She rubbed her wrist as she stared straight at the dead-looking eyes of a blonde girl. "Miss Ais."

"Fuck my life." Tsubaki thought out loud before internally groaning, realizing she was now displaying some of Drake's usual antics.

"Ranko. Lead Miss Lack of Manners to the dining room, I will be there in a moment." The Blacksmith said, clearly disregarding Ais' presence.

"I would like a weapon." But it seemed like Ais had a similar thought regarding Tsubaki's words or Ranko's presence; the latter tried to push Ais, but the Adventurer didn't even bulge.

"Somehow saying 'Fuck my life' again would be redundant now." She sighed, waving her hand to dismiss her head maid. "Let her be, it seems she's more broken now than the last time I saw her."

Tsubaki noticed a very subtle twitch from Ais' eye, making her realize the Sword Princess wasn't as emotionless as she thought… then again, it was Tsubaki herself who had given Ais trauma when she was a mere child by calling her a 'Broken Weapon' when the Loki Familia Adventurer demanded a weapon that wouldn't break.

Did Tsubaki feel bad about that?

'Fuck no! I am too old to take shit from anybody.' She thought, thinking that Drake would have done something far worse if he were in her shoes.

And speaking of said event-

"Didn't we have this dance years ago? You were starting to look like a decent person; what happened?" She asked with her usual smile, partly taunting her as she knew the reason for the girl's behavior. She wasn't blaming Drake; it wasn't his fault the girl had issues.

"That doesn't matter," she stepped into the forge, making Tsubaki lose her smile while her eyes narrowed, the fact that Ais roamed around her forge freely just irked her even more. "There's a Monster I need to kill."

The Blacksmith unconsciously clenched her fist but still managed to give a sardonic smile. "What about your Desperate? Does the work of Goibniu Familia no longer fancies you?" She noticed her usual blade was not resting on her hip, but instead, there was a lower quality blade; Tsubaki deduced it had most likely broken in one of her encounters with Drake or his Brothers.

"They are not good enough," she looked at her own hand, seeing something only she could. "I need something to withhold my power."

The Blacksmith couldn't help but look at the girl as if she had some screws loose… more than usual, that is. "Ooooook." She replied unsure.

"I remember you forged a new Ax for Gareth; a black one," Tsubaki recalled the Ac forged using the Udaeus' ingots she got from its sword. "I looked at it…" She looked at the Hephaestus' Familia Captain with a lost look, accompanied by a creepy smile. "It was strong."

By this point, Tsubaki didn't care about being nice by smiling. The girl was triggering too many flags in her to not notice her mental state was a fucking mess right now.

That Drake had already warned her about it. She disregarded it a little bit because news flash-

'That girl has never been okay in the head! But this is just straight-up creepy!'

"Well… guess what? I am not even gonna sing it or bother in acting like a child when I say this like I did the last time you asked for this." Ais almost flinched the moment she saw the Blacksmith's serious expression. Every Adventurer has a dark side inside of them, something rotten or even inhuman once they started to dive into the Dungeon, but it was weird for someone like Tsubaki to show that face. "NO."

She approached the Sword Princess and grasped her shoulder, hard.

"Now, begone with you. I have plenty of stuff to do, and dealing with a special child is not one of them." That was a fucking lie and she knew it, seeing as she had a little bit of free time.

"… When did you Level Up?" Ais suddenly asked, making Tsubaki look confused for a moment.

"Ais, last I checked, you and I are on the same fucking Level."

"And I am supposed to be stronger," Tsubaki's eye twitched at the fact that Ais wasn't taunting her, but saying it as a fact. "And yet I can't get out of your hold."

Now that made her stop, making her stare with widened eyes at the wristband on her right hand. 'A whole fucking Level?'

Ais took the moment of Tsubaki's distraction to get off Tsubaki's hold, only to stumble back and unto the table that had the edge of Drake's previous blade, making it fall off the cover and the table, doing a slight cut on Ais' leg before hitting the ground; stabbing itself with ease into the floor… something that didn't go unnoticed by the blonde girl.

Tsubaki tensed, seeing as there was a very big chance Ais would recognize Drake's blade.

"This weapon…" Ais muttered with a narrowed look before pointing at it. "… I want that."

The Blacksmith could only blink a few times, realizing that Ais didn't recognize the blade. Maybe because Drake always coated it with his Aura to change its color, or because she removed the handle… or simply out because that girl was too much of a literal airhead to pay attention to it.

"Could you make it a rapier?"

'… I might as well talk to a wall and it would actually get the message across then.' Tsubaki pinched the bridge between her eyes, opting to just continue to drag Ais out of her forge.

"No."

Ais scowled, not liking the sound of it. "Then… I will just take this one." Her hand grasped the edge, cutting her immediately as she tried to get a solid grasp of it. But it was futile, seeing as it instantly tried to cut through everything at contact. Even coating her hands with her famous wind would just get the Magic cut, as well.

"Awaken… Tempest!"

And yet she still tried, and it happened just as the Blacksmith thought, seeing as the edge of the blade cut through her wind and her hand faster than she could produce it.

By this point it was just plain sad, seeing the girl grit her teeth in exasperation as she just tried to grasp the weapon with all her might.

Tsubaki meanwhile just saw a child throwing a temper tantrum, one that could not get the toy she so desperately wanted. She opted to just cross her arms with a stern face, waiting for said child to give up… but this child was just relentless.

"Tempest… Avenger"

The wind in the forge intensified as it changed to a black color, making an even bigger mess inside her forge.

'I think I now know what Drake meant by a putrid wind.' A black wind so unnatural that just made her of all people feel a slight chill run down her back. Too bad Tsubaki was already used to weirder things by now.

"I just remodeled the forge you stupid bitch!"

Ais could not listen to her, she was too distracted in trying to grasp the blade to do so… or to notice that Tsubaki Collbrande somehow made her way through her black wind without suffering any damage, and with a low fist glowing in an azure light…

"[BEAST!]"


"Keep an eye on her, Gareth. It would be just like when she was younger, Gareth. I think she even knows what's at stake, Gareth." A certain Dwarf said as he walked through the streets of Orario in a hurry.

"Gareth is too old for this shit." He thought out loud as if his own Goddess could hear him.

He had only taken his eyes off her for no longer than five minutes, and the next thing he knows Ais was already gone.

He thought back to the last things she had been doing since their conversation with Bete. She had been quiet in her training, closing her interactions with anyone from the Familia; not that anyone even wanted to get close to her seeing her expression as of late. And then he remembered, it was a long shot, but she had shown some interest in his new Ax.

So here he was now, walking in a rush towards Tsubaki's forge. The fact that he was now getting to feel a rather familiar chill he only got when Ais used that skill just made him start running. However, he stopped dead in his tracks the moment he heard a Lion's Roar, making him and every bystander look around to see if there had indeed been a lion on the loose.

"… Mommy, what's that in the sky?"

The Dwarf didn't know why, but the words of a mere child just made him feel worse. He looked up, staring at the direction the boy was pointing… coincidentally in the direction of Tsubaki's place.

'Shit'

His dread just increased when he noticed what the toddler was pointing at. To the untrained eye, it would look like a white blur with a hint of yellow… to Gareth, it looked just like who he was looking for… falling from the sky after being sent all the way up there.

'Definitely too old for this.'


"… Damn… I really should consider practicing my hand-to-hand combat." She muttered as she looked at the black combat gauntlets made out of Udaeus Ingots, infused with Aura. She flipped her wrist to force the metal around the finger parts to retract, turning the gloves into a set of gloves.

'There's this one stupid convention in Remnant besides the one that 'Every weapon is also a gun' and that is 'Every weapon transforms in some sense of fashion' kind of stupid.'

Drake's words played back in her mind, snorting, thinking a completely different thing.

Suffice it to say, Lunor was gonna be more than happy with her new combat gloves… and sadly enough, she was gonna need to remodel again…

"I am also gonna need a new roof." She thought out loud, looking up for a moment before giving a step back to see how Ais Wallenstein fell on the floor in front of her; completely knocked out.

"And you are gonna need something for your jaw…" she mildly scowled down at the girl before her ears caught various steps coming in her direction, one of them heavier than the rest.

"Ai-!"

"Kind of late, aren't you Gareth?" Tsubaki stopped him, making sure the annoyance in her tone was noticeable. "Also, don't worry I am fine, thanks for asking." And now she was being plain sardonic with a plain face.

She walked past him before he rushed to Ais.

"Ranko," she took off the gloves and handed them to her head maid while the rest of her maid stood in line behind her. "You and the others find any tool and weapon in this mess and store them together," she looked at the blade that was still impaled on the ground. "Except for that blade over there, stay away from it as much if possible."

"Hai! Tsubaki-Sama!"

The maids didn't waste time in dispersing, making Tsubaki sigh before looking back at Gareth with an uninterested expression.

"I have been hearing a long of things as of late, Gareth." She walked to him, picking up a chair that somehow hadn't been destroyed. She sat, both elbows resting on her knees while she rested the bridge between her nose under her intertwined hands; looking down as Gareth rested on his knees while checking on Ais. "A Pub in the city, Rivira, and now my precious -recently remodeled- forge. How is your Familia not in the red right now?"

The Dwarf didn't react, opting to see how bad the damage done to Ais was.

"… She came in demanding me to forge her a weapon. You can already guess how things developed from there; to the point, she even unleashed her skill when she tried to grasp that sword over there; The only reason I managed to uppercut her with ease was because she was more focused on it."

Still nothing… and it was then that she realized Gareth was no longer looking at Ais, but at the blade itself.

'… shit.'

"Lass… that blade… did you forge it?"

Of course, any other executive but Ais Wallenstein would feel a familiarity with the blade.

"I fail to see how that is relevant at the moment, Gareth." Her eyes ran through the whole place. "Or are you going to overlook all this damage?"

"I know I am in no place to ask or demand anything… but Lass… I… We… really need to know…" he finally looked at her, showing very steeled and determined eyes in getting an answer.

"Gareth, I am not talking to you as your friend, nor even as your Blacksmith. I am talking to you as the Captain of the Hephaestus Familia." She gestured at the unconscious Ais. "Someone that piece of doll over there disrespected in every single turn in less than five fucking minutes."

"She…" he wavered for a moment. "… hasn't got it easy lately."

"Neither have -name any person that doesn't even have a Valis to afford food or a roof to sleep under-. So cry me a river." She sighed in exasperation, waiting to see if he had the audacity to say anything else.

Nothing.

Good.

Now she needed to cover her tracks, and Drake's. "I met this asshole not too long ago." She sounded as annoyed as she did, putting her deception up to eleven. "Blonde, mean look, weird ass eyes, and overall asshole attitude."

Sadly, and humorously, all of those were true.

"I met him by chance in the Dungeon. And it was even more chance that I was able to look at his blade."

Gareth just listened, knowing full well how intensive she could be… and how that blonde could be when someone bothered him.

"As I said, he was an asshole and not one for talking. He didn't say anything about his weapons, so I had to limit myself to just look at it."

The Dwarf grunted in acknowledgment as he looked at the blade. "You even got the runes memorized?" he asked, seeing the runes on the face of the blade.

"It's a bust, Gareth. Just look at the state the blade's in. It became like that with just a test run."

Gareth agreed, seeing the overall state of the blade.

"I apologize, Lass. For everything." He said, carrying Ais over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes. "I will let Loki know of the damages, and Ais' latest skirmish."

"Is that what we are calling this?" She narrowed her eye. "Gareth; your Familia is in deep shit because of Bete's last tantrum, and now my Familia is added to the no-doubt list of fuck ups Loki Familia has done in less than a month; I can already hear what my Goddess will have to say to Loki and Finn."

"Not entirely our fault, Lass."

Tsubaki didn't need Drake to know that one was bullshit.

"Oh, and Tsubaki," he looked over his shoulder with a serious look. "If you meet that person again, stay away from him; he's bad news."

Tsubaki fought the urge to clench her fist at the comment. "And you make sure to put a leash on that one."

To Gareth's credit, he didn't have any counterargument; but it sure stung not being able to defend Ais.

He left, making Tsubaki lean back on the chair as she sighed in exasperation. She looked at the clear sky, looking at her wristband with a small grin as she caught a dim azure light embracing her body. "Well, you are a fucking success… wonder how that will go for Rose." She took out her scroll, going through her very small list of contacts before tapping on the name 'Little Moonlight' and messaging him.

Baki: "So… I am gonna need to remodel again."


"We are here," Ottarl said as he stood in front of a massive bar gate. "Welcome to-"

"Hold that thought, Porky." The King still didn't understand why her Goddess' current target of fondness called him that, but he didn't care one bit. He limited himself to looking down, seeing Drake staring at some strange crystal-like device.

He recalled his Goddess talking about it, about how Drake seemed to have some sort of item that allowed him to take pictures. She, of course, threw a tantrum about wanting one after a few too many bottles of red wine. In the end, all Ottarl could do was just listen to her, unable to do anything seeing she didn't want to antagonize him for now.

He recalled their last 'altercation', resulting in her Goddess getting a cut on her precious face. The only reason he or the other members of her Familia didn't act in retaliation was because his Goddess ordered them not to; still not knowing what Drake or the rest of his brothers were capable of. But, knowing full well their role in the demise of Aeshma Familia, made Ottarl and the rest understand the need of dealing with Drake seeing he had no hesitation of hitting, torturing, or perhaps even killing Gods.

"Is it Tsubaki?" Yuri suddenly wrapped his arm around Drake, looking down at their conversation in their scroll.

Captain One-Eye: "So… I am gonna need to remodel again."

Drake: "What happened?"

Captain One-Eye: *Clown emoji* *Tornado Emoji*

Drake and Yuri jerked their head back, groaning in annoyance; it was easy to figure out the first one, the second one most likely meant The Sword Princess.

Captain One-Eye: "I will tell you the details later. Think you and Yuri can give me a hand with this?"

Captain One-Eye has sent several images.

Drake narrowed his eyes at the pictures of the state of her forge.

"I find it amazing she hasn't got a scroll for even a week and she knows how to chat and send pictures." Yuri muttered.

'Well… you know what they say about women and their phones.' Zelos commented, making Luke snort sardonically.

'The same could be said about every Gen- Z child.' Sadly, there were some hums heard in agreement. 'By the wayDrake, did you warn her about how she should search out names on the web?'

There was a moment of silence, followed by a synchronized 'Fuck' as Drake adopted a blank expression.

Captain One-Eye: "Btw, We have to talk about how the people of your World seem to think you are fucking your brothers. lol"

His eye twitched, tapping his reply angrily.

Drake: "Don't be a smartass. You know it's fanart, let's not forget people from the far east basically invented this shit here, as well."

Captain One-Eye: "Sad, but true… still doesn't explain why people think you are the passive one between all of your brothers."

'…' there was a collective silence.

Drake: "I am going to block you."

Captain One-Eye: "Ok, ok, ok…. Geez… we still down to movie night, right?"

He internally sighed for a moment.

Drake: "Yeah, I am just gonna deal with something in the harlot manor and I will head there to set everything up."

Captain One-Eye is tying…

Captain One-Eye: "?"

"Give her a moment." Yuri commented, seeing as Drake was about to type the answer.

Captain One-Eye: "!?"

"Now she knows."

Captain One-Eye: "What the fuck are you doing in the Whore's den!?"

Every Guardian snorted; it was actually a better name.

Drake: "I meant Folkvangr. What you just mentioned would be her floor in Babel."

Captain One-Eye: "What the actual fuck, Drake?"

He gave a final sigh.

Drake: "I will explain later, gotta treat a grumpy cat."

He closed his scroll, looking at Yuri before the latter rolled his eyes. "Yeah… I will help with the repairs, certainly better than being an Emperor."

The blonde rolled his eyes. "Get over it already." He then looked straight ahead, seeing the closed door that was the entrance to their destination. "… Why is the door still closed?"

Ottarl just cleared his throat in reply, getting their attention before he raised his voice. "Welcome, to-"

"Please tell me the only reason that thing is still closed isn't that you wanted to give a bloody welcome speech?" Drake interrupted him again, showing as much annoyance as Ottarl now had seeing how he was once again interrupted.

"It is of a good education to present guests to the place they are walking into."

"I think we already agreed that you are the last person to speak about any kind of education," Yuri commented drily. "If anything, this looks more like a reason to show off. We could have literally walked in already while Drake and I were having our conversation."

Drake rested his face on his palm. "… Just… open the fucking doors." He said with a sigh, only hearing a low grunt for Ottarl before the big gates opened… and then he only became more annoyed at what lay in front of him. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

The blonde's eyes didn't even reach the main structure, seeing as his eyes got fixed on the path ahead with what it looked like all of the Adventurers of the Freya Familia organized in two lanes on each side.

"Wow… this actually looks like some Yakuza shit," Yuri commented as they walked in, ignoring the looks of disdain thrown at them.

"That would imply they would bow their heads," he stated with an uncaring face. "This looks more like if we were walking into a trap."

"Rest assured."

They stopped, seeing a rather familiar long-haired blonde Elf with red-eyed wearing glasses stepping in front of them.

"Greetings, Drake Aurion. I am-"

"I remember you, Barbie."

"Hedin." The Elf corrected stoically, already mentally prepared for the level of disrespect he was gonna have to deal with. "I take it Ottarl already explained the situation to you."

Drake simply nodded, noticing Yuri started to sniff the air for some reason; not being subtle as the time passed.

"In that case, please follow us. We will guide you to where Allen is," he gestured with his hand. "This way."

The blonde only stepped forward, just as every other Adventurer around him. "… Nope" he instantly stopped. "Are every single one of you gonna follow me like a damn kettle of vultures?"

"You have to understand," Hedin fixed his glasses. "Given your reputation, we decided it would be best to take some precautions." He could feel their disdain towards him increasing.

"What? Afraid we might beat you to death, Blondie?"

His eyes darted to the side, only to see absolutely no one.

"Down here, Blondie." He looked down, seeing four Pallums, each with a different theme of color.

"We haven't forgotten the humiliation we suffered last time, Blondie."

"We will get revenge when the time's right, Blondie."

The blonde in question just deadpanned. "And here's an example of four idiots sharing a single neuron?" They looked at each other, confused at the term while Drake adopted a confused expression. "… also, I can't recall ever dealing with you."

All four Pallum took offense to that.

"You cracked our skulls against each other, Blondie!"

"You sent me crashing against a wall, Blondie!"

"You crushed my limbs, Blondie!"

"Yeah… doesn't ring a bell." He honestly didn't remember.

"They are the four Hobbits of the community of the ring." Yuri offhandedly commented as Drake started to recall the night he got partially drunk on Soma.

"Oh, right… the four Hobbits that didn't last three minutes against me," their eyes twitched. "While drunk no less."

"We are not Hobbits, Blondie!" all four shouted in sync.

"In their defense, you are scarier when you are drunk," Yuri replied as he continued sniffing the air, making even Drake look at him in confusion. But before he could ask about that, Hedin decided to interrupt.

"As informative as this talk was," he tilted his glasses. "It doesn't change the fact that you cannot be left unsupervised."

"Then I guess we will just take our leave." He grabbed Yuri by the back of the collar before dragging him to the entrance.

"Really?" The Elf sounded smug. "What would Anya say if she finds out her dear brother died before you let him die?"

Drake didn't stop walking. "The truth; We could not tend to his affliction because you and your Familia didn't want to cooperate. And since everyone knows I can't lie, who do you think she's gonna believe in the end?"

Hedin mildly scowled. "She would still feel down seeing her only brother would have passed away."

He shrugged. "I will give her a black cat with blue eyes and name him Allen; at least that one won't treat her like literal shit."

The High Elf hated to admit it; seeing how easygoing the girl was, he could see the possibility of a mere cat replacing her brother after some time happening.

"And in the worst-case scenario, I will be there for her; the best part being I don't need some cheap charm to make her like me."

Obviously, that was a jab at their Goddess. And of course, Ottarl would be the first to react by clenching his fist and giving a step towards them, only to be stopped by the Elf. "Don't go causing a ruckus, Meathead."

Drake stopped dead in his tracks, looking back along with Yuri with a bland expressions on both their faces. "Meathead?"

They could see Ottarl's features twitch at the nickname; apparently bullying him for his intelligence was also a Familia thing.

"All brawns,"

"No brains,"

"It fits." Both Guardians thought out loud, seeing as even the four Pallum and Dark Elf that had been hiding out of sight started calling him that as well.

"Seeing as we are getting nowhere, I alone will accompany you," Hedin narrowed his eyes. "I hope you don't cause any problems."

He rolled his eyes, not really having the energy to argue back about how he had literally never started a fight. "So… mind telling me what the hell you have been sniffing? Jude's the Wolf Faunus and even he refrains from doing that."

'And just like that, we reached the racist quota of the day.' Jude was swiftly ignored by both.

"It hit me right after we stepped in here… a familiar smell that could only be considered as shitty," Yuri commented with crossed arms while being still dragged by Drake. "One that I would usually smell around in the Hostess of Fertility."

For a moment, Drake stopped mid-step, narrowing his eyes in instant realization as to what Yuri meant. "Oh…"


"… wow," Yuri commented as he and Drake looked over Allen's bed, the cat person looked paler than a mummy, his air turning white, and his breathing almost nonexistent. "A little more than that, he would legally be a white walker."

"He has only gotten worse for wear since he arrived." They turned around to see a red-haired Adventurer, her tired eyes bored directly at Drake's.

'… Wow, this Familia really sucks the life out of people, huh?' Luke commented before Zelos snorted.

'… that… or Freya is actually a Succubus.'

'Luke might actually be onto something.' Drake commented as he saw the Darkness showing him words pooping above her head.

Heith Velvet

Works seriously.

Devoted.

Pretty much done with everyone's bullshit.

"We have tried everything, including our most powerful elixirs." She walked next to the bedridden Allen. "The only positive thing has been the silence I have been able to enjoy as of late," Every Guardian looked in astonishment after she raised her hand to slap him. "Shame that will be over soon."

Allen's eyes opened, clearly putting much effort into such a simple task.

'The 'Done with everyone's bullshit' was not an exaggeration.' The blonde thought as Allen's eyes widened slowly the moment he noticed who else was in the room. "Hey Garfield," both Guardians flipped him off. "Don't worry, I am not here to break your other leg; but worry not, that future is not that far away."

Allen's eyes dilated in anger, not being able to move his body or even growl as Glacies' energy was making his body worse by the second.

"As much as I would love to see him silently raging, his health is deteriorating." He looked over at Yuri. "I was expecting a Blind Werewolf along with you, seeing as he's your Healer, was I mistaken?"

"Actually, I was wondering the same," Hedin commented, standing in the corner of the room.

"Oh no, you are not mistaken." Yuri walked to a nearby chair, grabbed it, and placed it next to the bed before sitting. "But we didn't come here to heal Allen, just to take away his affliction; the healing is up to his Familia."

Heith scowled deeply. "Great, more work for me." Yuri gave a solemn apologetic look. "But… I don't see you doing anything."

"You may not see it, but Yuri is already doing his thing," Drake commented, placing a chair around the other side of the bed to take a seat. "He's absorbing the foreign energy in Allen's body, Allen will eventually be able to move." His eyes glowed at Allen for a moment, seeing indeed how Yuri was siphoning everything. "I also seem to notice the wounds he sustained at the hands of Bete; they are frozen at the moment, but that won't be the case for too long."

Heith got the message, sighing as she prepared to properly tend Allen, who started to twitch his body after so long. "Oh…" she muttered, seeing the Cat Person trying to say something.

"D-…D… ie"

"Huh?"

"…Die!"

Everyone looked blandly at Allen, not really surprised those were his first words, to Drake of all people. "You wouldn't happen to have some tape on hand?"

"Afraid not." Now Allen stared at her, repeating the same curse as before. "I already miss the silence."

"While we are at this, do you mind if we ask you something?" Heath retreated as both Guardians looked at Hedin. "What exactly happened to Bete Loga? There's a whole Level of difference between the two of them and yet… are you listening to me?" Hedin asked with a low tick mark seeing both of them were just looking everywhere but at him, completely uninterested.

"Sadly, we are."

"And we are not going to answer anything," Drake commented after Yuri. "We are under no obligation to say anything. You are free to keep going with your suggestions. We will just ignore you."

"… That means you do know something." He fixed his glasses, only to receive another shrug. "Fine… in the end, we are getting something out of all of this. Thanks to the damage done by Bete, Loki Familia's reputation is suffering and it is collapsing because of this." He continued, recalling this kind of thing started even before when rumors of Braver being a pedophile started to surface. "The same can be said about their wealth with the damages to Mia's pub and the damages to Rivira."

'And what just happened to Tsubaki's forge.' Drake thought as he left the Elf to run his mouth.

"Funny how all of this started with you appearing out of nowhere."

Drake rolled his eyes behind his glasses. "Right, because I am always to blame for the misfortune of -name every arrogant bastard that thinks they are untouchable-"

"Like Aeshma?" the Elf gave a narrowed look of his own, the reply was another shrug.

"Where exactly are you taking this conversation? Narcissistic Elf."

There was a low snort coming from Heith, who looked away the moment Hedin glared her way. "Everything that has been happening in the city, started the moment you appeared. So far you and your own have managed to beat every one of the executives of Freya Familia with the exception of Ottarl-"

"And we are hoping it doesn't escalate to that due to your Goddess machinations."

Heith sighed, knowing Drake's affirmation was a matter of time; so did Hedin.

"As do we," funnily enough, he didn't say to avoid a fight with Ottarl. As much as Hedin hated to admit it, Ottarl was an unreachable mountain even the rest of the Familia tried to climb over and beat to earn their Goddess's favor. In his eyes, he didn't see Ottarl losing to any other than them… the problem was how far someone like Drake Aurion was willing to go, to the point of personally hurting their Goddess in some form. "We would like to avoid that."

"Oh…" Drake blinked in honest surprise. "What pray tell brought this up? Going around your Goddess back?"

"Simple, I am smart."

Yuri instantly snorted before looking at Drake. "We found your Elf counterpart; put a little more edginess in his voice and he will sound just like you?"

Drake didn't hesitate to flip him off in that instant as Hedin continued.

"That's why, in order to prevent any more conflict, I would like to ask you," he narrowed his red eyes. "What would it take for you to willingly join our Familia?"

The first one to react wasn't Drake or Yuri, it was Allen as he suddenly started to move his body as if he were having a seizure.

"Die… fucking… Elf." It seemed he was getting better by the second.

As for Drake…

"Hedin…" The Elf felt a chill run down his back the moment he heard his own name spoken with such a tone of indifference. "… How much have you heard from that little mole you have in the Hostess?"

Hedin tensed, but didn't show it. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Lie

He really didn't need the Darkness for this one, but it was good to finally have confirmation.

"The only thing I have wanted to do is to enjoy the rest of my life in peace," he looked down at Allen, who stopped forcing his own body the moment he noticed Drake's eyes glowing behind his green glasses. "But it seems some people just find it amusing to try to fuck over someone's life because of the amusement of another." He looked back at Hedin. "Be it your Goddess, the fucking clowns, or even Aeshma…"

He gave a tired sigh while Yuri silently facepalmed.

"There are two things I have to say; the first one being something I think you and your own are fully aware of," he took off his glasses, only to look at him straight in the eyes so he would get the point across. "I. Hate. Deities. And it would be the World's end before I let any of them brand me as their own."

"And yet you have allied yourself with the Goddess Hephaestus." The Elf regretted saying those words, his Adventurer's instincts put him on an instinctual edge; as if he had poked a monster he shouldn't have.

"Allied doesn't mean I have her blessing on me," Drake commented, remembering he had to deal with Hephaestus as well. "As for the second one, being the most important of the two-" Hedin's instincts screamed at him now, seeing how Drake's sclera turned black. "If I were to act against your Goddess… do you think she would be the first Deity I have killed?"

Whatever bravado Allen had maintained in his mind to be an ass, it finally died in an instant.

"Aurion… what you just mentioned-"

"It's a taboo, geez weez I know," he rolled his eyes. "I already had this conversation with Tsubaki and the perverted Elf."

"Perverted Elf?" Heith couldn't help but ask, even if the mood was clearly not the right one.

"And I am not afraid to raise that counter if I feel generous. Because I can promise you, there are fates worse than death."

"… Like Aeshma?" he asked after recovering his breath- By all accounts, the God was still in the mortal realm after the massacre of his Familia seeing there were no reports of pillars of light going into the heavens.

The blonde simply shrugged, but Hedin swore he saw a ghost smirk for a moment.

"Besides," his eyes returned to normal. "I can't see myself joining your Familia at all."

"For Anya Fromell?"

"Oh, numerous reasons, I can assure you." Everyone being a simp being the number one among them. "But yes. Anya is a good reason to reject the idea."

Allen's anger returned the moment his sister name was brought into the conversation.

"Trash… she… die."

Drake just stared boredly, feeling that he was hearing a broken record by now… but something caught his eye.

Lie

"… Say… Garfield," his eye twitched in anticipation, feeling he was about to find out something incredibly stupid after asking his question. "Do you really hate your sister?"

Had Drake been looking at Hedin, he would have seen his eyes widen exponentially. As if Drake had found something he shouldn't have.

"… Detest… her…"

*Lie*

Trash level siscon

Loves her very much

"Wow, congratulations. You just took Zelos' spot in being the creepiest brother ever." Yuri commented, already getting the information from Drake's mind.

'Hey!' Zelos was, of course, ignored.

"I wonder what kind of stupid line of thought you followed to fake hating your own sister."

And for the first time since he joined Freya Familia, Allen Frommel averted his look from everyone.

"Wonder what your sister would do when we tell her the truth, that her brother actually loves her dearly." Yuri continued taunting him with a smug smile as the color in Allen's face started to return to normal.

"Don't you… fucking… DARE!" sadly, he still couldn't move his arms to strangle Yuri.

"… Allen… why in your Goddess's name would you push your sister away?"

The cat gritted his teeth. "I have… nothing to say."

'Too bad I wasn't asking you.' He thought, seeing Allen's shadow materialize for Drake's eyes only.

"Because… I have to get stronger, for her sake."

"Somehow, you are making even less sense now." Hedin and Allen looked at him funny, but he ignored them.

"The One-Eyed Black Dragon." Drake felt the urge to brush his neck the moment he heard those words. "My sister will never be happy or safe until that thing is dead."

"… It's still too fucking retarded to push her for that."

Allen's eyes widened, completely unaware of what was going on, but suddenly knowing he was found out.

"What else could I fucking do!? She followed me everywhere like damn glue! To the point her clinginess almost got us both killed… so I chose her safety over our relationship."

"You didn't." Drake scowled, to the point Allen flinched. "You chose your mission over her; abandoning her to her own."

"Kettle calling the pottle black?" Yuri asked with amusement, knowing the rest of his brothers were scowling.

"Hey, I succeeded in my task; so at least I can say it was all worth it." He said, recalling keeping his dead as a secret; abandoning his brothers in a way. "He-" Drake pointed at Allen. "- hasn't attained shit."

Allen's eye twitched at the sound of those words.

"Fuck… you," Allen commented, just as Drake dismissed the Cat's shadow. "Do you… any idea… of the… kind of destruction… that thing has caused!?" Allen forced himself, not questioning as to how Drake Aurion knew his most well-guarded secret.

"… He means the-" Hedin tried to explain, but Drake beat him to it.

"The fucking Dragon, We are aware," Yuri commented.

"Honestly, No, I have no idea."

Allen had no idea why, but the way Drake said that without care and his lack of knowledge infuriating; to the point he didn't care how much his throat hurt. "A Monster… so fucking big… calling it as such wouldn't fit…"

Not just Drake, but the rest of the Guardians felt a sense of dreadful Deja Vu when they heard those words.

"… It's mere glare…. Enough to make… any mortal-"

"Freeze in Despair." Allen's eyes widened, seeing as Drake took over his speech. "Tall and imposing that not even the sky could be over it,"

"And yet all could see its eyes looming down on the mortal life as if they were nothing but mere insects." This time, it was Yuri who continued, completely detached or uncaring as he just looked out the window, as if remembering something even he didn't want to.

"It's black flames, erasing everything in its path as if everything they touched never existed… "

"Wings so massive that a simple swing would create a storm of disaster…"

"And a tail so big that a mere slam on the earth would create an earthquake…"

Both Guardians had been speaking in tandem, each time with a more somber tone to the tale, until they said the final part in unison. "Such is the tale of the Strongest Monstrosity of Nature."

Nobody said anything, to the point not even Allen dared to spout a single word as he stared at Drake's eyes, feeling lost as he recalled the moment in his childhood when that Monster appeared.

"So you are familiar with the tale," Hedin got their attention. Although," he fixed his glasses. "I can't help but notice your version has some differences; like it having both eyes instead of one, and how you called it Strongest Monstrosity of Nature. He's only known as One-Eyed Black Dragon in the original version."

Yuri shrugged. "We were told that little tale years ago, but it was for a completely different monster."

"A different Monster… and yet they sound so similar."

The Third Guardian snorted. "Same can be said about the attitude of all Elves being the same." Hedin's eye twitched as he ignored Heath's snort.

"You and the Broken Doll should form a fucking therapy group, seeing as you both want to kill the damn thing."

Everyone from Freya Familia raised an eyebrow.

"Ais Wallenstein."

"Huh…" Heith commented on Drake's comment. "Why does it fit so much better than Sword Princess?"

Hedin was wondering the same at this point. "I wasn't aware she had a feud against it."

"Obsession would fit more; religiously even," he looked at Allen. "Dumbass has gone as far to try to kill me from behind, only because according to her, my eyes remind her of the fucking Dragon."

"And here I thought all the Executives suffered from mental degradation," Heath commented, looking at Hedin… who was uncharacteristically looking at Drake with realization.

"Now that you mention it-" The words of the High Elf died in his mouth, staring with widened eyes as Allen suddenly forced himself to sit on the bed and move his arms to grab Drake by the collar to look at him straight into the eyes.

"… Fucking… same." He said with a growl full of hate and disdain, making Drake narrow his eyes as he noticed his wounds had finally been unfrozen, as had his blood been.

"Did Loga hit you in the head and we didn't realize?" He easily forced Allen to let him go before Heith approached him to force him down into the bed. "Or is there a part of your brain frozen and we didn't realize!?" he asked in annoyance, seeing as there was another person that compared his eyes to those of the Dragon.

"Quite," Hedin approached him. "Even if I do admit that the resemblance is almost uncanny," Drake didn't hesitate to flip him off. "It is impossible to think that something like the OEBD has been here in human form."

"Congratulations, Hedin," Yuri commented, seeing as all of the Centurion's energy had been completely absorbed by Allen. "You have proved you are smart." He snorted before looking at Allen's bed, tainted with the blood of his freshly unfrozen wounds. "… my part here's done by the way."

Heith's eyes widened as he called for the assistance of other healers with potions.

"Now, we will take our leave," Yuri commented before tapping one of Allen's wounds, hard. "Take care, Garfield, try not to get better too soon. I wouldn't want you to miss out on all those 'get well soon' baskets of fruits."

Allen shouted in pain, throwing curses at him as he left the room while Drake talked with Hedin. "Freya currently has One Out and Two Strikes," he points at Allen. "If he comes at me because of a fucking misconception like the Broken Doll has, that count will increase."

"Duly noted," he narrowed his eyes at Allen. "I am sure even Allen is smart enough to know the difference between an actual Dragon and a Mortal."

"The same applies to Freya."

Hedin remained silent, knowing full well that it was gonna be hard, if not impossible.

"Also," he put his glasses back on before tapping Allen's wounded leg, harder than Yuri did. "You still owe me a broken leg, but I will let it pass for now."

"FUCK YOU!" Allen shouted in pain, making Heith frown as Drake walked out.

"Goodbye, Silence my good friend." Heith commented.

"Oh, and one more thing," everyone stared as Drake turned around near the entrance with a massive grin . "I will debate whether I should let Anya know her dear brother loves her very much."

A vein popped off Allen's forehead.

In the end, the only thing Drake heard after exiting the infirmary was Allen cursing his name.

"Now… to the other reason I am here." He said, taking a detour from the exit to head to where Yuri was. It wasn't hard to figure out where his brother had gone, seeing he left a trail of Sakura petals for him to follow.

A couple of corners later in the Freya HQ and he found Yuri pulling a kabedon on a gray-haired girl that resembled a certain waitress he disliked a little too much.

"Sir, I would appreciate it if you would let me go." Her voice also sounded familiar, even if her tone sounded like that of an introvert going through a depression crisis instead of a cheery voice.

"Girl, believe me," Yuri said annoyingly. "I am already taken, this is usually something a scumbag brother of mine would do, and you are not that hot either."

The girl twitched, preparing to walk out from the side that wasn't being blocked by Yuri's hand.

*CLAP*

She made a jumpscare as she noticed another hand suddenly covering her escape route. Her eyes widened seeing a blonde covering her route, looking at her; menacingly.

"… Have we met?" Drake asked, focusing on the girl dressed in all black, with the left side of her hair covering the right side of her face.

She didn't reply, opting to just do her best in glaring at him with some familiarity, and clear disdain.

"You were right, Yuri." His eyes narrowed dangerously behind his glasses, making the girl unable to see where exactly he was looking. "It is a shitty smell, indeed." He pulled back, walking uncaringly before tapping his brother's shoulder. "Let's go… there's nothing remarkable about her."

Horn managed to catch a mocking grin before he turned his back on her. She clenched her fists in anger, cursing the name of the person her Goddess was infatuated with.


"So… wanna talk about it?" Yuri said, a couple of minutes after leaving Folkvangr, accompanied by a very uncomfortable silence.

"What is there to talk about? We now know there are at least two Syrs… still doesn't explain what the other one is."

'Plot twist, we are dealing with a Replica situation again.' Zelos comment was met by multiple facepalms, while Drake could feel Luke's livid intent of wanting to punch his fellow redhead. 'We were all thinking that could be the case, don't you fucking deny it!' he shouted in defense of his argument.

"I doubt people here have the technology to pull that off," Drake commented, trying to disarm the situation from escalating. "Gods may have such power, but I am pretty sure that would be a straight ticket to Tenkai." He pondered for a moment. "… I have a theory… but… I am not in the mood to test it out."

"Cool," Yuri commented as they continued walking through a crowd of people. "But we both know that's not what we have to address."

Drake didn't reply, pretty much letting Yuri know he didn't want to address it; leaving him no other choice than to pull his trump card.

One step.

Two steps.

And by the third step, Drake noticed the rhythm in Yuri's steps changed to another familiar one. "Really? On a street full of people?"

He eyed his right side to see his big brother walking next to him instead of Yuri.

"Hey! You are the one that says that people are never truly aware of their surroundings." Lloyd shrugged before the blonde sighed. "I respect your privacy, but I am asserting my authority as your big brother by asking anyway."

Drake eyed his brother with a hint of annoyance.

"What are we going to do if there is a version of it… HIM, in this World?" Both thought back at their interaction with Allen and Hedin.

Drake's eyes only looked forward, reaching a decisive answer the very moment they realized there were too many coincidences regarding THAT monstrosity to just ignore it. "There are a lot of things not even You, Me, Zelos, Jude… or even Yuri can kill, let alone beat." Flashes ran through their mind, of a fight that had been so one-sided it couldn't even be called a battle.

"So that's it then, we will just be fucked?"

Drake made a somehow redundant nod. "Quite royally and epically, may I add." He walked in silence for a moment. "Even if your Original counterparts were here, along with your contracted Spirits… I don't think we… I would have what it takes to get the job done."

"…" Lloyd frowned. "… Can't or Won't?"

"Yes." He replied in a heartbeat. "In the end, all the wisdom us mortals can obtain can be summarized in two simple words-"

"Wait and Hope." Lloyd sighed, not being used to Drake of all people to just wait and see how things develop and Hope the outcome is favorable without him directly interfering. "I really hate that novel, you know?"

"And yet is a fucking classic."

"Only because you are a Revenge obsessed prick," Lloyd sighed, giving up in trying to think ahead for once. "Speaking of which… what movie are you gonna show Tsubaki tonight? Because she doesn't look like the type whose first movie should be 'The Count of Montecristo'"

Drake simply smirked.


"I fucking hate you, you know that?" Tsubaki said as she saw what Drake called the 'Credits' roll. When Drake suggested they should watch a movie, she didn't know what to expect when he described it as a recorded play.

Suffice it to say, she had never been one for such things, let alone reading books of stories and such things; preferring to live in the present and the real world rather than trying to fantasize about something that wasn't her own life.

He had brought some type of machine that generated a transparent screen to see the damn thing, he even turned an empty room she had in her manor into a place to feel comfortable and watch it. He had brought some things called beany bags to sit on; really fucking comfortable in her opinion. He also set the food, and snacks for her full enjoyment.

Suffice to say, she was really fucking comfortable. But her skepticism got the best of her when she read the title of the movie they were going to watch; 'Hot Fuzz'.

"I really hope this is not one of those adult movies you described your world had."

She had been so fucking wrong.

The movie had turned out in some confusing way to be serious, action-packed, and hilarious enough all at once; all well balanced. Still, it didn't change the fact that it was overall silly… and she fucking loved it, and was really salty about it.

"Believe it or not, it's my favorite movie."

"A whole fucking town, acting like a damn cult, killing people, all so their town could look good for a damn prize that consisted in just looking good… why doesn't that bother me in how stupid it is?"

"The greater good, ain't I right?" He asked with a smirk, making her snort before flipping him off.

"It's still too early to call it a day," she checked her scroll, noticing it was a little past nine. "I think we still have time for another one."

Now he snorted. "Invested now, aren't we?"

"Don't be a smart ass and just give me something action-packed." She said, picking up one of his white stuffed chocolate cookies.

"… I think I have the perfect pick for that one." He picked up his scroll, searching for the film, which gave Tsubaki time to question him about why he was in Folkvangr.

"Huh… so Allen was just a fucking siscon this whole damn time… props to him, he fooled everyone."

"Not gonna tell Anya," he said, having given it some thought after a while. "He got himself into that mess alone, and he's gonna have to drag himself out of it before it's too late."

She snorted. "Or what? Are you gonna steal his sister? You know NTR is a trash fetish, right?"

He glared at her for a moment.

"Anything else happen while you were in there?"

He pondered for a moment, leaving the whole thing with Syr aside, there was also that other subject he wanted to avoid like the plague.

"I will tell you later."

She narrowed her eye. Since he was unable to lie, he could not say 'Nothing worth mentioning'. But his words could also be translated as 'I don't want to talk about it.'

"What about you? What exactly happened to the broken princess?"

"Boy, where do I start?"

She knew he was deflecting, but he respected her privacy; even though it must be something serious if he wanted to keep it to himself.

"The audacity of that bitch! Entering my fucking forge as if she owned the place." Tsubaki said, earning a thoughtful glare from Drake after hearing what happened.

"I am more worried about Landrock, even if you manage to lie your way out of it, it's only a matter of time before Finn starts making connections and finds out about me and your Familia." His reasoning irked her.

"As if that fucking Pallum were in a position to do anything." She recalled her Goddess face when she told him of today's event, seeing her Hephaestus being livid was something that didn't happen every day. She had gone right away to Loki Familia to demand an explanation, surprisingly, Loki had pulled a dogeza of all things rather too quickly to Hephaestus' surprise; it clearly meant their Familia was already in deep shit as it was. "It's bad enough Freya knows there's something going on with you and your Familia already." She said, recalling the whole incident with Lili and the two stuck-up Elves.

"Surprisingly, Hedin knows how to behave against a threat, lowering his pride and arrogance when he knows there's a big danger in sight," he sighed. "However, he can't put a leash on his Goddess…" he blinked for a moment, raising his hand to make a small object being shot out of the shadows. "Speaking of the whore, catch."

She narrowed her eye, only to raise her eyebrow at what she was holding, a white ring. "Drake, honey, you are supposed to be on one knee for this."

He deadpanned at her smirk. "Be grateful I have given you a ring, I am sure you have received none so far."

"For fucks sake, you sound like my mother." She noticed the dragon head-like design. "I assume it does something… also, this is badly forged; amateur work at best."

"Back when I was Seventeen, with Lloyd still supposedly dead and with no knowledge whatsoever about the Divine, the rest of my brothers; who were in the loop by the way," he sounded angry at the last part. "Had a meeting with the other Spirits they were contracted with to see what to do about my situation."

"You mean the Spirit of Darkness?" She recalled Drake had told her and Hephaestus that said Spirit had been taunting him for a long time, trying to weaken his mind in order to take over his body. The moment Drake fell into Despair it would have been over for him.

"Seeing as there was a risk of me falling for his tricks at some point, they decided to have this ring forged; Yuri and Flynn did it back in their kingdom, following the instruction of the Spirits to forge it. Its function serves as there isn't any kind of connection with Divinity, nor suffer any effect of the Divine kind."

It was then that Tsubaki realized why she was given this; for being unaffected by Freya's charm.

"I notice there aren't any rules in here, what gives?"

"It was because the Spirit of Light Flynn is contracted with is Asta; my uncle. He blessed the tools, the metals used, and of course, the ring once it was finally done."

She grinned. "Are you telling me I have a divine artifact in my hand?"

He nodded. "Sadly, seeing as he wasn't a great Spirit, it could do nothing against the curse Ratatosk put on my back, which I wasn't aware of at the time either."

"Chances it will work against Freya?"

He snorted. "I have already gauged it; pretty sure it's gonna be effective, even if her Divinity were to be released."

She frowned for a moment, before blinking at a realization. "You know, you have mentioned your mother, Luna. Now your Uncle… what about the third spirit of Light?"

He took a deep breath, laying back on his beany bag. "Rem, the Spirit of the Sun… she's an elitist, racist cunt."

She almost lost her balance at how blunt and calmly he said that. "She was that bad?"

"She basically invented racism, going as far as calling the Faunus an impure kind. The only reason as to why she didn't wipe them was because even the other Spirits were against that level of Genocide."

"What about you? You are technically part Faunus."

Now he scowled. "Believe it or not, she wasn't aware of me being her Nephew. Of course, my Faunus traits were suppressed at the time, so even she didn't know that part."

"And yet she still went after you for a reason?" By this point, Tsubaki had started eating popcorn without him realizing it, she was too invested in this.

"My connection with the Spirit of Darkness…" he sighed. "You know some of the details of my conception," he cringed a little. "Rem could sense the connection vividly. Just like Ratatosk, to her, I was just something that couldn't exist. She had even tried to take over Lloyd's body when we were younger to kill me; something I also wasn't aware of."

Her eye widened for a moment. "Time up, I recall you saying a Spirit was responsible for keeping your brother in a coma after receiving a mortal-"

"Making me think he had been dead." He nodded. "In reality, she had not kept him alive and healed him, she had also taken the soul of his body in an attempt to brainwash him in a second attempt so Lloyd would let her take over his body."

Tsubaki pondered for a moment, recalling Lloyd had been thought of as dead for three years. "… Three years… and she still couldn't pull it off?"

Drake snorted. "Because he's a dumbass; and stubborn at that. It didn't matter what she showed her, he simply denied the reality she showed him."

"You as the big bad Monster of the story?" he nodded.

Her eye didn't show any pity as he explained everything

"And when she found out you were nephew?"

She caught sight of his Lightning sparking for a moment as he scowled. "She considered everything as dust under the carpet as if nothing has happened."

"… You really hate her, don't you?"

He pinched the bridge between his eyes. "She's the reason I was brought back after the Battle of Beacon, Tsubaki."

'Right he mentioned he needed to die at that point… but you never told me as to why?' Knowing him, it might have been a necessity in his eyes.

"She pulled the same trick she did with Lloyd, only taking an extra step as she made my body disappear as if I had faded from existence… Six months later, she managed to take over my body."

"… I take it everything turned out ok seeing how you aren't saying racist shit like a fucking elitist?" She joked, trying to make him feel better, but his frown told her otherwise. "I have to know… Lloyd managed to hold out three years without falling to her influence… why did you?"

He snorted. "Because I was family… she wasn't gonna put me through the same torture as Lloyd went through… no… she put me in a lie… a dream in which everyone that meant something to me was ok, alive, well, and overall… happy."

Now she frowned.

A World where his sister hadn't been killed, where Jude hadn't been blinded, where most of his brothers hadn't been orphaned… that's what it was… a beautiful dream… and a cruel lie.

"In the end, it was thanks to the others that I was able to get off that… but the price was too big…"

Inside his Soul, a certain Guardian only watched the night sky full of stars, ignoring the look he was receiving from the rest.

'… Technically speaking, I killed myself. So your conscience should be clean.'

"Oh, shut the fuck up, Yuri." Drake thought out loud, letting the silence wash away the conversation.

Tsubaki just watched him, looking the conflict in his eyes because of the things he clearly had no control over, even though he doesn't see it that way. She wasn't gonna tell him it wasn't his fault, because those events were long past; her words would change nothing. And keeping poking that wall in an attempt to make him feel better would just make him feel worse.

The sad thing is, it would be like feeling pity for him; something she herself would hate if the roles were reversed.

"What about your uncle, Asta?" The best way to salvage this was to distract him with something else.

He raised his eyebrow while still looking at the ceiling.

"I mean, Rem is a fucking bitch; that one is clear. But what about Asta?"

"… Ironically, he is the best." He said, only to snort a second later.

"The fuck do you say it like that?"

"He's a good listener, very nice to be around, good at giving advice despite being a Deity… the only issue would…"

She raised her eyebrow, blinking as if making a double take at what she heard. "Excuse me… please say that again."

"He's a two head bird."

"…"

"…"

"Your family is fucking weird man." He looked dejected, knowing it was the truth. "What about your paternal uncle, Mithos?"

He deadpanned at her, heavily.

"The fuck's that look for?" she shouted. "You yourself have said that despite being drastic, he was always practical." She recalled the time he had told her his uncle had severed his right hand, only to then defend the man saying it was for a good reason.

"Mithos is a different, deeper, and wider rabbit hole talk. His social skills deteriorated a lot in Four Thousand Years, to the point he didn't know how to approach me after Lloyd 'died'. To the point, he approached me while pretending to be someone else." He said, recalling he didn't even know he had a blood-related uncle at all. "Had he been forward with me at the time, a lot of things could have been avoided…" he sighed. "Even so… he's probably the only person I won't throw shit at… even if he was a little too drastic with the things he did."

"Like the arm thing?" she asked amused, which he returned with a chuckle.

"I was about to do something stupid… so he severed my arm as a countermeasure…" he looked at the ring in her hand. "Said hand had that ring around one of its fingers-"

"Wait," she mocked him. "So not Rem, but the Spirit of Darkness took over you at least once in the end? The fuck dude, I thought you were a badass."

He gave her the middle finger. "As I said, a lot of things could have been avoided if he had told me the truth…" he sighed. "I had fallen unconscious after losing my arm, Shadow took the chance to take over. Thankfully, no one was hurt in that one, but only because Mithos had the quick thinking of shoving the damn ring in my chest."

Now Tsubaki had to make a second double take. "So, you are telling me, this ring has literally been inside of you… Ewww." She said with a hint of disgust, only to then put it on the right-hand ring finger. "How does it look?"

His eye twitched. "Just don't go on showing it as if it were a new pair of shoes."

She was honestly confused by that. "… Why the fuck do I feel offended by that comparison?"

He didn't reply, instead, he gestured towards the digital screen in front of them so she could see the film he had selected.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Hey," he lazily smiled as he laid back. "You underestimated Hot Fuzz, I can assure you someone like you will love this one."

She stared blankly at the screen to read the synopsis. "John Wick, a man on the path of Revenge against those that stole his car and killed his dog." Her eye caught something else. "This shit has four movies in total? What the fuck? Are you sure you aren't being biased because it's a revenge movie?"

Drake just pressed the play button. "Just watch the first one; you are gonna beg me to binge the damn thing when we are done with it."

Tsubaki snorted, feeling sure such a plot wouldn't get her attention.

They ended up binging the whole thing in a single night.


Omake – Titles and Aliases

Drake could be considered what people called an Item Hoarder, seeing as he kept a lot, A LOT, of things. But neither Tsubaki nor Hephaestus could blame him seeing he literally had infinite storage space in the shadows.

So, here they were now; Tsubaki, Hephaestus, Drake, and because he wanted to be sure there wasn't anything dangerous in their search, Adam Taurus.

"You don't have to complain about my room, ever, again," Tsubaki commented seeing her backyard was full of stuff she had questions about, like that piece of metal with handles and two big tires. But Drake put it back away before she could even ask, along with some other things he clearly didn't want to talk about; most of them in black boxes, clearly to keep the content hidden from prying eyes.

"… this fucking thing," Drake commented, getting her attention as Lloyd materialized next to him, both looking down to the ground to see a crystal plate; she thought it was a Scroll for a moment.

"Oh… that," even Adam scowled as he noticed what the Guardians were looking at.

"You touched it?" Drake asked the Bull Faunus.

"Unfortunately," his eye twitched behind his shaders. "My lord told me what it did…" his scowl deepened. "I just didn't expect it to be so… creative."

"You can say that again." Both Guardians stated with a serious tone.

"Hello!? Yes!? It's me! The owner of this garden which you are currently using to display all of this." Tsubaki said while clapping her hands before getting their attention. "Mind quitting with the ominous chatting regarding something I clearly don't know what it is?"

"This, Tsubaki… is the title giver." Hephaestus, who had been drinking a cup of tea choked for a moment before coughing; memories of all previous Denatus came to mind; cringe was all the feeling she got from the memory.

"… That doesn't sound so bad."

They deadpanned at her before Drake piqued it, using his Aura to charge it. "This was something way before our time."

"Like 'Four Thousand Years ago' before your time?" he nodded. "Damn."

"This evaluates every feat or event you have gone through… and it gives an accurate title and description of it."

"Still don't see what the fuss is about," the table lit up, making a holographic image appear in the air. "Updating…"

'The Warrior has gained a lot of new titles since the last time!'

Third time's the charm: For someone that says 'I wait for Death with open arms' you keep coming back to life. Man up and stay dead, bitch!

Terrible Avenger: You said you would kill the Deity that made your life a living Hell, and yet he still lives.

Loophole Motherfucker: You outsmarted the King of Spirits after the trials, but we both know he just let you pull that shit out of amusement.

The Black Dragon: Might as well just call you Edgelord instead. Also, wear something else that isn't black.

"Oh… I get it now." The damn thing had a twisted sense of humor.

'Seraph of Hope, Avenger, Embodiment of Despair, Spirit of Balance,' she snorted at the next one. "Mommy's little Moonlight." She said with a smug look as she watched Drake scowl as a vein popped.

"Oh… it keeps a registry." She mentioned, seeing as she noticed Lloyd's name, along with the rest of the Guardians, even Adam was there.

She tapped it, changing to Lloyd's column.

The Ill-Fated Hero: Destiny set you to be the best of your generations, a pillar of Hope, the slayer of Monster. But you pushed it all aside, hoping it was worth it.

Tsubaki, and even Hephaestus looked at Lloyd with a hint of worry.

"I just learned that Heroes, actual Heroes, just suffer in the end and wonder if everything they did, in the end, was worth it." He smiled uncaringly. "I decided just not to be that guy."

"And abandon your Kingdom in the process," Drake said with a mix of sadness… and pride?

She shrugged, not feeling like digging into the rabbit hole that was 'Heroes'; Drake's uncle already got the prize for the most depressing guy on that one.

"Wow, look at this one." She smirked. "Peeping Tom: Even if your intentions were the best, you are now the scumbag in all of your female friend's eyes." She raised an eyebrow with another smug expression. "Care to explain, Mister Justice?"

Lloyd's smile twitched into a very forced one. "Never go with Zelos to a hot spring, only bad things will happen."

She looked at Drake for more context, only to see him sigh. "Zelos, being Zelos, decided to pull the see what's on the other side of out bath-"

"The Women's side." She stated.

"The Women's Side." He confirmed. "Suffice to say, we tried to stop him… and in that attempt, the bamboo wall between the sides fell…"

"Oh Gods…" she winced, already knowing what came next.

"We got a beatdown… and that redhead piece of shit got out of it scot-free as he managed to escape as the wall fell." He could hear Zelos' awkward laugh inside his Soul. "We explained the situation… but it didn't change the fact that all of us and him got the title."

"Wait," she stopped for a moment. "Even Jude?"

"Apparently, Women abandon all reasoning when someone sees them naked." Lloyd's tone held a clear grudge before Drake looked at Adam.

"…" The Knight of Ratatosk sighed. "Go ahead, might as well just get this over with."

Drake moved to Adam's titles, only to internally wince; legibly feeling sorry for the Bull Faunus. "Dude."

Knight of Ratatosk: You spent all your life going against authority, and yet here you are serving a Deity.

Get over her already: Just accept it already, you are not Blake's little Pogchamp.

Assman and Catgirl: You have a clear taste, nothing bad about it; even though everyone is calling you out for being specific. Also, get over your EX already, geez.

From Love To Hate: Congratulations, you and your enemies now have a common hate for your EX; You may now have a meeting and say mean things about her.

He recalled the moment the messages appeared when he first touched the damn tablet; the male Zenos of course would say 'bruh'… the females on the other hand were looking at him with pity.

"Blake… Blake… isn't that one of the names you curse out of nowhere sometimes?"

"Blake Belladonna, a piece of shit."

"A liar."

"A Hypocrite."

"A Coward."

"A gullible fool."

"And overall a piece of shit!"

"For crying out loud," Hephaestus muttered from afar. "There has got to be something positive about her."

The men looked at each other, and not even a split of a second later-

"Her ass." All of them replied.

The Goddess facepalmed, while Tsubaki just laughed. "Of course, you would be thinking with the wrong head."

They looked at each other again before replying to a different answer. "Her mother."

By now, Tsubaki was holding her sides as her Goddess just stared emotionlessly at them.

"She was everything her daughter wasn't… plus hotter." Adam commented, making the Guardians nod reluctantly.

"So… you are saying she was everyone's to-go MILF".

"Pretty much." They replied.

She shook her head in amusement while her Goddess just sighed in resignation. "Anyway… give me that, I want to see what kind of roast comes out of this thing."

She didn't notice, but Hephaestus' face became paler by the second once more.

"Sure thing… go… ahead?" Drake said unsure, looking past his friend to see Hephaestus shaking her hand with an expression of panic, using her hand to make a motion of slicing her throat.

Translation: Don't let her touch it!

But it was too late.

'New Warrior recorded, Tsubaki Collbrande. The Warrior has achieved a lot of titles!'

She smiled, seeing indeed a long list of them, most of them Blacksmith related; some crude in their message, others incredibly creative. But there was one that made her raise an eyebrow… her own Alias.

Cyclops: Wow… someone really fucking hated you.

"I don't get it." She said, getting a confused look from Drake, only for realization to hit him a second later.

He had been familiar with the naming convention of the Gods of this world for their Adventurers; every single alias had a hidden meaning that could be translated as a satirical cringe humor from part of said Deities; like an inside joke between them.

Even though the most powerful Gods and Adventurers were saved from such a fate; for example Ottarl, the King… no hidden meaning there.

Tsubaki on the other hand… wasn't so lucky. Worse of it all, it was that it seemed she never found out the hidden meaning behind hers.

"… Why the fuck are you looking at me as if I was a kicked puppy?" she asked, clearly starting to become annoyed as she noticed everyone was looking at her in the same way; they all realized what was going on seeing as they all averted their sight from her.

"Tsubaki…" Drake said, stopping the moment he noticed Hephaestus literally praying to him not to say it. 'Woman, you literally know I can't lie!'

"What?" She turned around, just in time to see her Goddess in a normal carefree position. "Can you just tell me what the fuck is going on here?" The Goddess returned to pray to him, now on her knees the moment Tsubaki's eye was back on him.

"… Tell me… what's a Cyclops?" Hephaestus made a silent scream to the Heavens before slamming her fist on the ground in pure defeat.

"… It's a big monster… what's this about?" She said, thinking the meaning of it was because the Gods considered her a massive monster for her unhinged behavior… she was only partially right there.

"Be more specific."

She scowled, ready to ask for straight answers for him. But she hesitated, seeing the pure effort in his eyes in what he was trying to make her see. "Fine…" she sighed. "… A Cyclops is a One-Eyed Big Monster…"

Silence took over… waiting for her own words to reach her subconscious… her whole face shifted… posing now a dumbfounded expression with dilated eyes.

'Title for the Warriors has been updated!'

Cyclops: Don't worry, you are not the only DICK in the streets.

"Well, everyone, it was a pleasure to spend time with all of you," Hephaestus said, walking past them and towards the exit. "I have a lot of paperwork to do." She said with a forced smile… a smile that remained even though her Child held her by the back of the collar of her shirt.

"Who was it?" Tsubaki asked in an emotionless tone as she made her Goddess look at her, still having a hold of Hephaestus' back collar. "Tell me whose Familia I am gonna charge a one hundred percent increase for equipment in all of my stores and whose Deity's nose I am gonna break."

"Why are you making a fuss out of this? You didn't have a problem when you thought people were just calling you an asshole."

Tsubaki's eyes narrowed. "Because I have no quarrels when I am insulted upfront because I can either laugh it off or answer back." She made her Goddess' face come closer to hers with an even more menacing look. "It's a completely different story when I don't know I am being insulted in a different way."

Hephaestus gulped, seeing as her Child wouldn't let this go so easily.


"Is there something wrong, Lady Freya?" Ottarl asked, seeing as his Goddess suddenly started to rub her nose, a little too intensely.

"I am not sure, my dear Ottarl… my nose suddenly started twitching for some reason."


AN: Here we go, the start of the next Volume, nothing much to say besides that the first big event out of two will start in like, two Chapters. Spoiler alert, it's gonna be a fucking mess.

Now, onto the notes:

-Ottarl bullying: Yes, it is canon, his own Familia members call him 'Meathead', straight in his face. Go on and check the Freya Chronicles, the Novel, or the Danmemo event is fine.

-Tsubaki sucker punching Ais: Girl was distracted, enough said. Her mind is in the darkest place it could be right now; no Heroes are here to care or give her the time of day. On the subject, NO, Tsubaki can't use Beast, those were just the Gauntlets she forged for Lunor with the Arte already preloaded in them. (beta reader: I call BS) AN's Reply: The fuck do you mean bullshit!? You read the bloody interlude!

The Tsubaki event when Ais was a toddler: I already alluded to this event in one of the early Chapters of the story. Check Danmemo's Recollection of the Winds event. Tsubaki's only scene consists in meeting Ais on a rainy and cloudy day after the latter was throwing a tantrum about wanting a sword that wouldn't break. Tsubaki managed to conveniently get shelter from the rain, after a short conversation, Ais demands she forges a weapon that wouldn't break. The Blacksmith proceeds to say no, saying she doesn't have the stomach to do it, and says 'If you want a sword that isn't broken, there's one here right now', Ais realizes Tsubaki is talking about her; Ais proceeds to have a meltdown. Mind you, this was even before the Dark Age of Orario, and Ais was already plenty unstable in that one.

Allen being secretly a Siscon: Yup, also canon, revealed in Vol 18th of the main novel. Kind of disappointed and at the same time not surprised seeing they used the OEBD as an excuse for his behavior.

Hedin being rational: He is. Incoming Spoilers from Vol 18th. He pretty much backstabs the Familia, and proceeds to convince Hogni to do the same, only because he knows that Freya won't be happy if she wins the War Game under these terms, and knows that only Bell will be able to save her from herself. The only thing that pisses me off about it is that it almost seemed too convenient, again, that an Executive would side with Bell in the crux of it all. Anyway, I feel him being rational with someone that has proven to outpower most of the powerhouses of Freya Familia is something in-character.

Horn: If you know, you know.

Plot of the original story: Said it once and I will say it again… I really should write a full summary for the Original story… one of these days I swear? (beta reader: heh, I'll hold you to that)