And flying through the portal that came up again were around 5 people. Claire Kagenou, Aurora, Mary the Vampire Hunter, Elisabeth the Vampire (former) Queen of Haven, Juggernaut of the Black Tower and Yukime of the White Tower… the last three of them are from the Lawless City.
Mary is a tall, red-headed woman with golden eyes, whose face is permanently serious. For a Vampire Hunter, she was dressed… in an unusual way. Big, willowy cloak with golden linings above the black clothes, with the only difference from SG attire being two red triangles on said cloak around her chest, and a tricorn hat. Minoru immediately "fell in love" with the aesthetic, for, in his humble opinion, that's how Shadow Brokers dress. Strangely enough, once realising that both she and her "target" were in one room surrounded by mostly unknown individuals, she immediately sprang to defend(?) Elisabeth.
"How to tell the world you play Bloodbourne, without saying you play Bloodbourne." told Advisor mentally to Seiichi, who had to hold back a chuckle.
Speaking of, Elisabeth was a petite girl(?) in a large crimson dress with red eyes and long red hair - a walking stereotype for a vampire. Said (former) Queen was… lethargic, very similar to Eta in that regard, as if she had trouble staying awake.
"Say, can I do something… unorthodox, to fully wake her up?" Seiichi mentally asked Advisor.
"I actually have an idea myself" grinned Advisor, before removing his mask and hood and morphing his face to that of Minoru and with a move of his hand exposing his ribbed torso. Elisabeth, while still with lidded eyes, suddenly grinned and started slowly moving towards the man, hands outstretched, before suddenly catching herself and taking a deep breath. "Well, my idea worked" smirked Advisor, before changing himself back.
Then there was Yukime, a tall busty theriantrope (nine tails should be a perfect hint), who was wearing a broad eastern-style hat with a veil covering her face. Her dress was, as Minoru noted, similar to those of oiran from Japan. Final touch was a fan with some sort of bell tied to it, which Zeta identified as a sign of being married among some clans.
Finally, there was Juggernaut (Advisor coughed in his hand to hide his snicker upon remembering how he was called by Delta). The man was a Brute among all Brutes, a large and tall mass of flesh and muscles, with black messy hair and unkept beard and brown eyes, evil and constantly looking for prey.
Upon realising that a)he wasn't in his Tower and b)he was surrounded by several powerful beings, he charged with his large blade in the fight… or at least tried to, before some invisible force lifted him up, slammed him into the ground head first and , while he was dazed, chained him up head to toe with the conjured metallic chains and put him in the corner face to the wall, like a misbehaving child.
Minoru then remembered something, and had Seiichi recover Claire's memories. She miraculously learnt some restraint in her time without knowing.
Anyway, Seiichi and Advisor (or Addy, as Seiichi tends to call him, to the slight dismay of the other) paused time for everyone else except Minoru, and Seiichi gave him a rundown of how time and this mass of worlds works.
"Right. So here's the thing about time. Fucking around with it is generally not advised. I think you can, and probably will do it regardless, but you'll need some knowledge on how time works. Imagine a tree. There's a trunk, from which you have boughs, right? Those boughs have multiple branches, which branch off as well, and so on and so forth. At the end, there are leaves and fruits. With me so far" Advisor was nodding along, but Minoru was confused on why he was having to imagine the tree.
"Each leaf or fruit is a world. Like your current and previous world. These are on a small branch, right? That's the multiverse. The small branches also connect onto a bigger branch- call it the megaverse, a cluster of multiverses. These bigger branches connect to a bough, right? That's what's called an omniverse. And the boughs connect to the trunk, which we call the Hyperverse. The Hyperverse is where we dimension-hopping immortals reside." Here Minoru understands why he's imagining the tree, but listens anyway.
"The flow of time, as well as what happens in each world, is regulated by the branch of the leaf in question. And time is the main factor in all this- the hyperverse is where time as a whole concept is realised. Then we let time flow to each world, through the boughs and all. A new branch forms whenever a change occurs in the timeline. In fact, we have pruners for this tree as well… And so what we are seeing is truly an alternate version of your life- the prime version, as it were. The moment Aethra and Seiichi dragged you lot out originally, we altered the timeline drastically, so a new multiverse appeared to document it." Advisor jumped in to explain it to Minoru.
"So the past can't be changed, only the present can be changed? What is this Negima-level bullshit!? And why are you telling me about this!?" Minoru raged at the two of them.
"To pound into your noggin why Aethra earlier, Addy and I took such a huge risk by letting you guys see your future." Seiichi replied, taking the wind out of Minoru's jacket… literally. "You understand right? Exactly how risky what we did was in retrospect?" Minoru simply nodded, stunned. "In any case, the way the hyperverse works, which even we dimension hoppers don't fully understand, every part of the hyperverse criss-crosses on some level…"
Here, Seiichi looks at you, the reader, before looking back at Minoru. "Just as explained in the Nasuverse, writers of some worlds WILL receive some visions of this and proceed to publish it as fiction, which will spawn some fanfiction. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if some hack from India is co-writing this line right now, to publish in a dingy site for his/her own entertainment, alongside some other hack from Ukraine after both of them watching this... In any case, if you do fuck around with time, don't bother with the 'changing the past' shit, because you won't succeed, and more importantly, you won't return." Seiichi warned Minoru, Addy being menacing over his shoulder.
Minoru, understanding just how careful he must be with time for the first time, just nodded. He was going to try some time-travel to make his legend immortal and seem to be from the beginning of time… but decided that wasn't necessary anymore.
With that, time resumed, introductions were made, Shadow Garden explained, and everyone sat to watch the alternate world.
"Elisabeth-sama, perhaps we are here because you are about to be awakened in the near future…" Mary said.
"Perhaps, but I sense you are about a thousand years older than me, Mary… Care to explain the changes to me?" Elisabeth asked. Mary looked perturbed, but was about to do as she was ordered to, when…
"The viewings will explain it, but it's not good, and I unfortunately will not allow you to regain your memory until the point in time where you meet Shadow passes." Advisor responded, Seiichi nodding along.
"Very well, then, we shall begin. Juggernaut, I'll remove the seals of your damn body if you decide to be a good boy, OK?" Seiichi mildly threatened Juggernaut, who despite a large amount of killing intent coming from Seiichi, just smirked.
"Let him be, Seitsuba. Morons like him never learn." calmly said Advisor. "For now, he will be confined to 'The Corner' while watching" he added with amusement while spinning a remote in his hand at ridiculous speed, before vanishing.
And the play button was pressed.
The scene opens with [Delta] running up a cliff before howling at the moon… which is red. As the camera pans up to said celestial object, it just as quickly descends to a set of doors, which open to a meeting of {Shadow Garden}, with many members kneeling. [Beta] reports no disturbances from the {Cult of Diabolos} since the disturbance at the {Bushin Festival}... which is credited wrongly to the cluelessly sitting dumbass codenamed [Shadow].
Then comes some worrying(?) news from [Zeta] and [Eta], about increased cash flow to the {Lawless City}. Cue infodump on said city. And then [Shadow] opens his blessed mouth to say he smells something. In front of more than 25 women. Why he wasn't slapped is a new question. He clarifies that he smells blood in the {Lawless City} and of an impending bloody storm. Which is coincidentally when the red moon is finally noted.
And the resulting murmurs of the legend of a bloody tragedy from 1000 years ago is ingloriously brushed off as a simple red moon. And this is accepted as mere reality, as we briefly return to [Delta], who is now sleeping on the ground where she howled, before we return to the meeting, where every woman is singing praises of the man who, quite literally, is questioning the veracity of these legends. Like the dumbass he is.
The only reaction is confusion for the newcomers. Mary, however, is also seething at the nonchalance with which the situation is being treated, both on-screen and off-screen. Seeing the Seven not even react to this disaster prompts a rather… explosive reaction from her.
"What are you seven even thinking!? The RED MOON is upon us and you seem to think it's a joke, both on-screen and here, in reality! Do you NOT fear for your life, or for the life of the male you seem so enamoured with!? WHO DO YOU EVEN THINK YOU ARE!?" Valid question.
Minoru looks at Mary. He does not see anyone impressive. "You know about this legend in great detail, then?" he asks her. This serves to piss her off even more.
"That legend is the result of Lady Elisabeth rampaging under the Red Moon for three days and three nights, destroying three countries in that time frame!" she emphasizes, which saves her being looked at badly for her words- which seems like a hypewoman bragging.
Minoru took one look at Elisabeth, and snorted. "I think Alpha and Zeta here can defeat Elisabeth with enough time and preparation. Delta too, if she feels like Elisabeth's good prey." he commented disdainfully.
She was struck speechless by that admission.
Scene shifts to a broken tower, which we admire as we hear voices talking about
Said tower… the {Crimson Tower}, which is hyped up. The voices are revealed to be those of [Quinton] and [Goldoh Kinmeki/ Goldy Gilded] and as the two hype themselves up to enter the tower, a man in a white hooded cloak cackles from the top of the entrance. Said man also says that the two aren't worthy, before outlining the ones allowed. As [Quinton] and [Goldoh] continue to be arrogant, the cloaked man removes his cloak, revealing that he lost his hand for exactly what they were about to do. He also tells them that he was once called the [White Demon]. An apparent high-ranked criminal was now just the watchdog of the {Crimson Tower}... so as the two of them realise their folly, they charge at each other.
Seeing as Minoru had replicated telepathic abilities, he communicated mentally with the Seven Shades. "Is this White Demon any good?" he asked.
"Not really, but that weapon of his is hard to use." Beta replied. "I don't know how to use that thing he wields either." Zeta concurred.
"Hmmm… For future reference, Zeta, think of it as a dual ended spear with swords for spear tips" Minoru responded.
Meanwhile, Mary growled at the sight of Crimson and the other vamps on the screen, much to the others' confusion.
As night turns to day, we see [Cid Kagenou] being dragged by his sister, [Claire], by the neck along the streets of the {Lawless City}, admiring the sights. He monologues in his head about it being perfect, as she admonishes him all the time. As she rants an infodump about the system for unaffiliated Magic Knights, he mentally recaps the events prior to this viewing. Very badly. And since [Claire] won the {Bushin Festival}, he had to use connections to have a nice and fancy dinner with her. Which is how she was able to convince (read: threaten and then drag) him to accompany her.
As he reflects aloud that he values his freedom to act more, she rebukes him, again . Which is when she's stopped by a slave-trader… who offers her [Quinton] and [Goldoh], who are vaguely familiar to [Cid]... and are being offered for 40 million Zeni. At first. The offer changes with the flaws being pointed out to 35 million before she drags her brother out. This sparks an argument about whether [Cid]'d get lost if left alone or not… which ends in her favour when he ends up lost alone. Not an issue when he picks the pockets of everyone who tries to pickpocket him. "Wolf eat wolf" as he calls it.
"I have a point. It's lawless, so do whatever there." Minoru contemplated this new idea. Juggernaut started getting shivers up his spine due to this, same with Mary, who silently prayed for her lady's safety. As for SG, the girls emitted smirks of various degree of smugness. Delta even growled, which caused the already tense Lady Maria knockoff to get even more tense, with Yukime joining her.
Speaking of Yukime, all of Shades minus Eta noticed the way the kitsune looked at Minoru and did NOT like that (which is ironic, considering the current state of Shadow's Garden). Delta even growled at Yukime too. Upon seeing this, Advisor just dropped on the knees of each Shade a set of books with a note "Read that later and in private".
{Ghouls} being attacked is common. Normally, this is normal, totally normal. But with the {Red Moon} striking, [Cid] feels a wave of mana. And {Ghouls} start rampaging. Meanwhile this motherfucker(?) is thinking about his cover. A passing-by redhead with a tricorn hat comes across this scene, and moves to protect him… Obviously, she isn't part of {Shadow Garden}, else she'd have known better than to do that. Her name is [Mary], an {Ancient Vampire Hunter}, apparently. And she warns him to run away… in the worst way possible as far as he is concerned, since he gets borderline aroused instead as she leaves. He's even forgotten about [Claire], who's now pissed at him leaving. She starts angrily looking for him… after casually killing a ghoul.
Meanwhile, we cut to [Jaga Imo/Po Tato] and a tanned [Hyoro Gari/Skel Etal] , who have also come to the {Lawless City}, though they're looking for pussy in the red-light district. Their perverted ways backfire, since the {Red Moon} strikes… and the bozos try to book it.
Someone who isn't aware of the danger- an abused prostitute, really- is rudely informed of the situation, due being targeted by one of her recent customers. She is saved by [Shadow], though, as he gives her the warning and opening she needs to get the fuck away from this city. He repeats [Mary]'s warning. Twice. SOMEHOW, [Shadow] manages to partially rizz up this prostitute, named [Marie], with this cringe antic.
I think we can all agree that SG, Claire, Mary, Aurora and even Yukime facepalm at the ease with which Minoru seems to pull girls.
"I don't think it's a problem to leave. This one is smart to do so using this confusion, though." Yukime notes about one of her lowest 'henchwomen' trying to run away.
"Agreed. Though I have to ask, how do you deal with anyone in your employ who ends up 'Possessed'?" Minoru asks her.
"Oh, we burn them, since they can't be saved, though it IS a shame." she answers, playfully, but also with a hint of stupefaction at that question.
" Alpha, negotiate for recruits with her. She'll do very nicely as our liaison in the Lawless City. " He turns to Alpha and commands mentally, to which she nods, if reluctantly.
Advisor then appears in front of him, as if hanging from the ceiling, not looking amused.
"Do you have even the slightest idea how painful it was for me? At that moment, you were more of an NPC than others." one can feel distaste in the voice of man, before said man retreated back where he appeared from. Aurora and Claire just giggled at Minoru, who looked like someone told him Eminences aren't real. Which is to say, he was shocked.
As chaos reigns, we see a white kyuubi no kitsune on top of the {White Tower} commenting on the same. Given the voice, we'll assume it's [Yukime]. We're proven right in our assumption. Scene cuts to [Claire] holding a random corpse and lamenting [Cid]'s death. One problem. Who the everloving fuck can kill [Shadow]? Anyway, [Mary] encounters her and assures her that he's alive, and they team up to find him. As they discuss what's happening in the {Red Tower}. They also decide to HEAD TO THE {RED TOWER}! Did no one inform them that [Shadow] is in town!? Do they not know not to interfere in his business!? Whatever, I'll cut the glazing.
Anyway, [Hyoro] and [Jaga] are also running from ghouls. [Goldoh] is carrying [Quinton] and doing the same… shame on them- are they even warriors? Up on the {Black Tower}, [Juggernaut] is laughing… (And no, it should be obvious at this point that this is not Cain Marko, so run along, Wade!) and raring to fight. The {Knights Association} is also being invaded, mercenaries abandoning the {Knights} as they prepare to die. Except [Shadow] saves them and repeats the same warning again. Broken Record alert! (no, Buggy NPC alert)
{Crimson Tower}, rooftop, a ritual is being performed. As the ritual performer, one [Crimson], performs it, he also dismisses both [Yukime] and [Juggernaut] as threats… Given that [Juggernaut] initiates battle with [Yukime], it's understandable. [Shadow] who couldn't care less about anything not part of his LARPing, just inserts himself in the middle of the battle. Like it don't matter one fucking bit. Cue intro.
While the newcomers don't understand anything about the ending, Shadow Garden are noting everything down on this set of events as well. And, of course, they were still ignoring Minoru's NPC-ness.
Meanwhile, we have Minoru putting Claire into seiza and lecturing her about her stupidity in assuming that he'd be targeted for some ritual- One, he beats her easily. Two, he's a mob character in technicality. Not someone easy to find and use in said ritual.
Juggernaut is raring to fight both Yukime and Minoru. He's annoying enough that Minoru is getting pissed about it. Seeing this, Advisor asks Seiichi mentally:
"Same deal as with Iris? Though, I doubt it will teach him some humility."
"Sure, it won't, but he's getting killed anyway, so letting him know how powerful Minoru is in combat is a good thing- you DO realize he's the only one who isn't remembering jack shit at the end of this viewing, right?" Seiichi retorts.
"Now that you mention it… Yeah, let him die. If Minoru isn't against it, I may even replicate some of the moves we both designed." Advisor pondered.
AN:Seiichi here. Right, so how was the chapter? Took me a while to get into the groove of the reaction field again, since, y'know, been a while. ANYWAY, I think there no problem in admitting that we have Juggernaut here just to show him who kills him... before Minoru decides that he likes how it was done and thus he does it again.
So, Read and Review, and flames will be saved for Barbecue... or shashlik. Whichever catches our fancy.
Seiichi and Ace, with their brand of insanity, are off to the Races!