AN: There! a short chapter!

Beta reader: … 18K words are not short.

Chapter 39

Flashback (right after the incident with the Replica)

"So… you killed Ratatosk?"

"Correct."

"And then you died?"

"Also correct."

"The next thing you knew was being fucking iseka-id here, and you have been living here for the last three months; somehow managing not to start a damn genocide targeting the Divine?"

"Believe me, I am surprised about that one myself."

Tsubaki looked back and forth, watching the blonde and the hologram of the AI catching up.

"And this fucker also got here some time ago." she pointed her thumb at Adam, looking unamused at how he was being treated.

"Pretty much… yeah," he crossed his arms, getting tired of the questioning. "Anything else you might want to know," she just knew he was smirking behind his scarf. "Your relationship with Zelos, maybe?"

Rita's eye twitched. "Don't make me personally kick you in the dick."

For a mere moment, he almost flinched; all while Zelos just begged to be let out to be with Rita… truth to be told, Drake was really avoiding the pain of another pain on his crotch.

"What about my relationship with Judy?" She crossed her arms, looking away and avoiding his eyes. "Did we fix things up?"

The Former Noble tried his best not to snort, seeing as Rita went into Tsundere mode.

"… You two are best friends again."

She sighed in relief, seeing her Original did manage to achieve something in the social aspect of her life.

"You even formed a club with the other girls, and even called it the Sisterhood."

She snorted. "Cringe… that would be a very bad taste joke,"

"He's not lying," Luke commented from afar. "All of you mostly get together to complain about us."

"You can't be serious…" she looked back at Drake, hoping to get a positive confirmation in her favor, only to look away to avoid her ire. "Oh fuck me, My Original became an extrovert."

"Not really," Luke interjected again. "You mostly go to complain to someone about your relationship with Zelos; from what I heard from Tear, you also ask for advice in the relationship."

Rita's eye twitched as she glared at Luke. "You know, it is moments like this I wonder why I cried when I heard you were dead."

She raised an eyebrow, seeing as he didn't answer back and was instead focusing on something else. It was now that she realized he wasn't being his usual loud self.

"… ah," it was then that she realized what he was looking at… or rather, at whom.

"They are all dead… huh," Luke Fon Fabre commented, seeing the containers inside of the room meant to keep the Replicas; all displaying a monitor with a flat line. "I honestly don't know how to feel about it." He muttered unconsciously.

"Why would you say that?" Tsubaki grunted slightly, sitting on a chair as Drake and the rest looked at the pods. "One murderous killing machine is enough, thank you very much."

The Blacksmith didn't see it, but Luke's eye twitched as Drake motioned with his hand and neck.

'cut it out,' Tsubaki understood, despite raising an eyebrow at why the tension in the room rose.

"How did you manage to kill them all, anyway?" She turned to the side, looking at the one that had supposedly done the deed while she dealt with the Drake's Replica.

"All you have to know is that I kept calm and never panicked a second." Lett the Goblin voiced with a certain tone of pride, making all those present deadpan at him before looking at Aude.

"He was in absolute panic."


"DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT!" Lett shouted as he typed on the keyboard as the loading sequence of the Replicas activation continued; reaching its completion little by little.

None of the commands he typed were acknowledged; the system most likely had gone into lockdown due to the security measures.

"THINK YOU FUCKING GOBLIN! THINK!" He punched the terminal in frustration, flinching a little as he kneeled on the ground; dropping something in the process. His eyes widened, almost as if he had a revelation while he picked up the bottle of water he had kept of him.

He grinned, standing up as he kept staring at the bottle. "That's it! if I fry the system, then the sequence should be canceled." He grinned madly, tossing the bottle back as he quickly took one of the Portable Spell Knives out of his cloak. "[Tidal Wave, one of the highest Water Level Magic Artes! This should do the trick!"

The Goblin's grin kept widening as he stared at the blue glowing knife; he had been waiting for months to have a chance to use this particular spell.

"Here goes!" he raised it, ready to stab it on the terminal. "[Tidal Wa- Ouch!" he turned around, having felt someone smack his face. "Aude!? What the fuck!? Also, weren't you incapacitated by the Replica!?"

His eyes focused on the War Shadow, seeing he was indeed missing an arm that was slowly regenerating.

"I don't have time for this! I need to stop the loading before- hey!"

Aude ignored him, walking past the Goblin as he finally noticed Aude carrying the water bottle he had tossed earlier; dumping its contents down on the terminal before the whole thing started to fry itself, making the room's light start to flicker.

Soon after, Lett's ears started to twitch before looking back, seeing a strong current of Lightning surround the pods as all the Replicas started to have a seizure; stopping after a moment before the system in each pod indicated their signs were flat.

Both stared in silence, realizing they just killed a threat in a very easy manner… but Lett couldn't help to feel down for some reason.

"… My way would have been better!"


"No, it wouldn't have you stupid Goblin!" everyone in the room shouted before Adam smacked him from behind.

"You would have flooded the whole section of the ship with water, you dumb fuck." A hologram of Rita appeared in front of him to scold but the Goblin just shrugged it.

"What I wouldn't give to have a real body just so I could strangle you." She looked at Drake, who looked at Luke in silence as the redhead stared at the pod with his own Replica in a complicated expression.

She sighed, recognizing the blonde was concerned for Luke's mental state.

"Seeing as Atlas obtained the technology to make Replicas, I take it somewhere in this ship there's the machine to do this."

Rita nodded at Drake, making him sigh as he crossed his arms. "We need to dispose of it, along with all of these." He looked at all of the pods.

"I still don't understand something," everyone looked at Tsubaki. "I read the files in the ship for the three projects your uncle was working on, but it stated that your Uncle just acquired the technology; he didn't create it."

"Where the hell are you going with this?" She looked at Luke, staring at her with a glare that she could not tell if it was anger or sorrow.

"I am just curious… it is not normal for a Mortal to be able to create life; Drake's uncle I kind of get seeing he's blessed by a High Spirit… but if it wasn't him who invented the stuff that creates Replica, then who did?"

Drake, Luke, Rita, and even Adam sighed at the question.

"Jade 'Necromancer' Curtis," she looked at Rita. "The best Artes Mage of the generation before ours; even better than the current me." Rita addressed the Blacksmith. "He was a genius from a young age, adopted by another Artes Mage of her own renown."

"Soon after, he discovered his semblance," Drake interjected, his eyes narrowing. "The ability to copy objects with a mere touch."

The Blacksmith's eye widened, already knowing where this story was going.

"A few years after being adopted, his surrogate mother died; this of course was the fuel that made him research his own semblance to replicate more than just objects… resulting in him creating his own Replica before reaching adulthood."

Everyone who knew the tale groaned.

"What? What's with the expression?" She looked confused.

"The issue," Luke got her attention, his tone tense as he recalled the tale. "is that he did a pretty fucking fantastic job in creating his first Replica."

Drake snorted. "She was so powerful that it easily surpassed the power of the Original, but the problem lay in the fact that the Replica developed her own personality… a hungry power maniac… so Jade sealed her before she grew out of control."

Tsubaki couldn't help but feel more confused, seeing as a threat had been dealt with; so there was only one conclusion to this. "Let me guess, the seal broke in the end?"

"Not exactly" everyone looked at Drake, even Rita with a bit of confusion.

"It broke? The seal actually broke?" her surprise was visible to everyone.

"Right… you were created way before that," Drake recalled, seeing it was almost a full year after the fall of Atlas when these events happened. "You… the real you, noticed some fluctuations of Aura somewhere around Vacuo, after a little investigation we found out that was the place Jade had sealed the Replica."

Luke pinched the bridge between his eyes. "It turns out that damn bitch had been growing stronger inside of the seal… so we decided it would be best to put an end to her rather than for her to come out more powerful than she already was."

"So, it was a hard fight?"

Drake and Luke groaned, hell; she could even hear the other Guardians groan at the memory.

"We had to free her before doing that… and to do so, we had to gather eight fucking special keys that had been scattered all around Remnant." Drake sighed as Luke continued. "It was the most excruciating bullshit in existence!"

"You would think it was a really complex game of finding Waldo, but it wasn't," Drake continued. "It took us a full damn week to gather all the damn keys with little to no sleep in between… and then we had to deal with that bitch."

The memory was still fresh to him, a being that had reached the epitome of Power in Aura in only a few years. With no aid from a Blessing or such things. As a matter of fact, only a few more years and surely the Replica would be the same level as his uncle and father.

"That bitch was so stupidly powerful she could cast Mystic Artes in a heartbeat; no Overlimit, no chanting, just a simple snap of her fingers and you had an explosion that could wipe a whole city with ease."

Tsubaki blinked a few times, recalling something she had read from the documents regarding the project. "Hold it, aren't Replica's supposed to have an expiration date?"

"Not this one!" Luke snapped. "She was the first 'Perfect Replica' for a reason."

She looked at Drake. "As we said, Jade had done a pretty fucking good job creating her; it was only after sealing her he started to be more meticulous in his experiments in creating new ones so this wouldn't be repeated… sadly, the new versions had that defect… among many others."

Luke sighed as he finished the story. "In the end, it was only with the help of Rita and Jade we were able to deal with her; not even Divine bullshit seemed to faze that bitch."

Lett snorted. "Finding key items around the whole World, fighting someone that seems as strong as the final boss, and some extra lore as well… you are making this sound like some post-game content to a DLC type of bullshit."

Both Guardian flipped him off for that comparison because it did make sense.

"There's still something I don't get," they looked at Tsubaki. "Why did he continue his research? Don't tell me this Jade guy still wanted to create a Replica of his mother."

"… That was exactly it, to be honest; sadly, his intentions just created more problems in the long run. He still needed funds to do his research, that particular problem wasn't solved until my uncle approached him… but before that, he got the money from some shady dealing; which included blackmail, extortion, and even the use of some Replicas for other dealing such as…" Drake stopped dead in his tracks, adopting a complicated expression as he looked at Luke.

She raised an eyebrow, looking at the redhead as well to notice him looking back at the pod of his own Replica once more with the same complicated expression as he answered for Drake. "Including abduction… and replacement of a certain someone's identity."

The Blacksmith stared for a long moment, switching between Luke and the pod and recalling how Drake had indicated her to drop the subject before her eyes widened. "You are a fucking Replica." She muttered in realization as she grabbed Drake's sleeve before moving him in between her and Luke; shielding her from the redhead.

"Oh, fuck you, you bitch," Luke replied with a scowl.

"I am sorry, but I just dealt with a near-stoppable killing machine wearing the face of this asshole," she pointed at Drake, who was not amused. "Hell, even Lett thinks the same."

They looked to the side to see the Goblin subtly hiding behind Adam.

"What if you are some sort of sleeping agent waiting to snap or something?"

Drake and Luke looked at her for a moment. "How the fuck do you even know what that is?"

Their question remained ignored.

"Just relax, the most dangerous thing about him is how fucking obnoxious he can be."

Luke flipped Drake off in a heartbeat.

"Can we just drop the subject," Luke stated in annoyance.

"Do we have to?"

Everyone looked at Lett.

"I have grown really curious about this whole development; better than any drama on the internet to be honest," Luke's eye twitched, annoyed that his life was being compared to a show. "For example… what happened to the OG Luke? Was he killed?"

Nobody said a word, not even Drake as he rubbed the side of his head. As a matter of fact, everyone but the Xenos or Tsubaki looked uncomfortable at some level.

"Asch,"

Lett blinked, looking over at Adam after he muttered that name.

"Asch?" he repeated the name for a moment, his eyes widened as he recalled the exhibitions in the ship. "Asch the Bloody!? He was the Original Lu-"

"Enough!" Luke snapped, creating a strong shockwave of Electricity just as Drake fully stood in front of Tsubaki to block the wave. "We are dropping this subject, right now!" he stated before fading, quickly being replaced by Yuri.

Usually, the Third Guardian would make fun of Luke's outbursts… but never when it came to his particular subject. "It's gonna be a while before he calms down…" his statement didn't drop the tension, noticing Lett was now unconsciously trembling as he got a hold of Adam's pants.

"Fuck this, I am not dealing with this drama," Yuri muttered as he looked around the pods, looking for a particular one.

"Who are you looking for?" Rita asked, even though she already had an idea of whose Replica was looking for.

"Zagi… " he continued looking around. "I am not taking my chances if that undead Psycho comes back to life shouting my damn name."

"Technically, he wouldn't have any memory of you."

"Not taking my chances with that fucker; I would rather dispose of him properly." he stopped for a moment before looking at Rita, making her sigh before pointing in a certain direction.

"Thanks Tsundere, be right back."

The Hologram twitched as he left, only to sigh before looking at Drake and Tsubaki. "I thought he would get over this after all this time," she stated, referring to Luke.

"Some issues and grudges die hard, and some are even taken to the grave;" Drake looked at Luke's Replica for a moment. "Wait and Hope."

"I really hate that fucking sentence," she sighed, crossing her arms as she changed the subject; not wanting to feel depressed over Luke. "So, seeing as Yuri went to dispose of his thorn in his side, feel like doing the same?"

He raised an eyebrow in confusion as Rita deadpanned pointing in a certain direction. "Ruby Rose and her whole team are over there."

They stared for a moment, holding a stare context before Tsubaki just put an arm around his neck for support; her body still hurt because of her fight with the Replica.

"We both know you are gonna end up going, so might as well do it…" she stated… there was that, and there was also the curiosity of seeing the 'bitch' that was on top of Drake's hate list along with Ratatosk. "So, chop-chop."

He sighed, heading on his way… leaving Rita alone with Adam and his team.

"Something you might want to add?" she didn't hide the hate in her tone.

"… Nothing at all."

The hologram scowled at him before disappearing, leaving Adam alone with the Xenos; the former looking over the same Replica with a slight frown.

"… You ok?" Lett asked with concern, recalling he and Asch were supposed to be best friends.

"… no, not really."


Current time

"What exactly happened here?"

Jude M. Lowell couldn't help but sigh at the Elf's questions.

"Yeah, Jude. What exactly happened here?" Luke made his voice be heard, with a sarcastic tone.

"Can you tone down the Karen attitude for ten minutes? It is not like Jude was the one that decided on this plan." Yuri came to his younger brother's defense, keeping the redhead quiet.

"Thanks Yuri… as for your question…" Jude trailed off, knowing his next words would trigger Jude's anger . "Thanks to the intel we got from Adam's team, we figured the person responsible for all of this could turn into literal air every time someone was close to catching her."

"And they call us incompetent nya~." Chloe shook her head, sensing a glare from both Lett and Lunor.

"Okay, first; I better not be considered in that analogy," Lunor commented, seeing as the incompetent people in The Hostess were either a pair of dumb cats that broke dishes more times than Mia would like to count or Syr when a fancy boy enters the establishment. "Second, how can you even catch the literal wind!?"

"Thank you!" Lett commented with crossed arms as Jude continued.

"And that was what led to a little plan Drake had come up with…" he sighed, knowing Luke was ready to guilt trip them again. "Starting with the need of a bait."

"And there it is!"


Around two days ago

"Everything ready on your end?" Adam asked, looking at one Drake Aurion walking towards him and his group while carrying a big bag over his shoulder, which seemed to be moving, struggling from the inside.

"You prepared the failsafe?"

"It will trigger in the case a catastrophe happens. Hopefully, things will not get that far. I also warned Bors about the situation, no Adventures will be coming our way."

Adam nodded, looking at the bag the blonde had placed on the ground with a neutral expression.

"I take it, he still doesn't want to go with the plan?"

Drake snorted, kneeling to open the bag and shake it to drop one Luke Fon Fabre on the floor. "He was so stubborn the whole night, to the point we knocked him out and put him in a bag."

Lett snorted. "And you guys complain about me." The Gargoyle next to him just stared, critically. "Remember Gross, never let the intrusive thoughts win." The cloaked Goblin laughed nervously as the gray Xenos glared.

Luke growled, glaring at his brother. "Fuck you! I am not doing shit!" he stood up, cleaning himself off before looking at Drake. "There's something called consent for this type of bullshit."

"Look at it this way," Drake deadpanned. "You were chosen as tribute; you have no choice in the matter."

The redhead twitched. "Oh, fuck you Katniss!" he flipped him off. "I will just go right back to your soul and be done with this bullshit!" he stood there… and nothing happened.

Luke looked at his hands for a second and closed his eyes, managing to flip in and out of existence for a split second.

"Performance issues? Couldn't happen to me." Drake asked, completely unamused by this development as Luke flexed his knees a little while clenching his fist. "For fucks sake, you use that pose to power up, not to run away."

"… what did you do?" Luke asked, glaring daggers at the blonde as sparks of various colors ran through his body.

"Me… nothing," he looked as the redhead still tried to get back into his Soul. "The others on the other hand are keen on keeping you out."

"Fuck you, Yuri! I know it is you, you cunt!"

Drake sighed. "The longer we are done with this, the sooner you can return to freeloading in my soul, Luke."

The redhead groaned, slumping his shoulders as he finally calmed down. "… fuck my life…" he sighed, standing normally and rubbing the side of his head as Drake looked at Adam.

"Now that the obligatory temper tantrum is done, let's focus on what's important." He motioned his head to Adam, who glared at Luke for a second… receiving a scowl from the redhead.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" Sparks of electricity ran through his body, scowling at Adam.

"Nothing," Adam sighed, looking back at the whole group.

"We have figured out due to recent close encounters that the woman is taking rests between this floor and the White Palace."

Drake walked around, "We are hoping to get an easier time catching her with this collaboration," he raised four fingers. "We will be splitting into four groups, each will take a different path from the next Floor onwards,"

Adam took out his scroll before taking over. "If anyone detects a change in the energy around your location, DO NOT ENGAGE-" he looked specifically at Luke, who shrugged for a moment. "-contact the rest and keep your presence low… I think that's clear enough."

Lett narrowed his eyes, tapping his feet on the ground with crossed arms as he made the numbers. "… There are five of us, and yet you only said 'split in four'… what's that about?"

Drake and Adam looked at Luke and Lett respectively, making both redhead and Goblin raise an eyebrow, look at each other, and then snap at the rest of the group with widened eyes.

"Aw hell no!/ Aw hell no!"

"Aw hell yes/Aw hell yes"

Lett and Luke pointed at each other.

"I have read Adam's notes! This guy is supposed to be the weakest Guardian, right? Not to mention the most obnoxious!"

"He's a fucking Goblin! Do I need to say more!?"

They glared at each other, growling in the process as both of their 'superiors' sighed.

"Gross is stronger than you and doesn't need to have someone making sure you don't fuck up."

Drake nodded at Adam's words. "And I know how afraid you are when alone in dark places, so it's better for you to have someone as annoying as you to tag along."

Luke didn't waste a second in flipping him off, something Lett didn't dare to apply to Adam.

"Ok then," Drake clapped his hands twice. "Chop chop; better start with this before a fucking tornado forms and destroys the city."

Luke just continued glaring, sparks still running through his body. He sighed and relaxed before giving his brother one last glare. "This sucks."

He walked away, not saying another word as he disappeared into the distance.

"Hmm…" Lett looked at Adam. "This is my punishment for accidentally activating the Replica, isn't it?"

The Bull Faunus didn't reply, nudging his head to follow Luke.

The Goblin sighed, following the weakest Guardian.

Gross had been resting against a wall with crossed arms, looking at the whole thing with a silent growl… but that was just his resting face. In reality, he felt completely different about this plan.

"Are you two sure this will work out?"

Drake blinked, staring with narrowed eyes at the Xenos.

"What?"

Drake didn't really respond right away, just staring at Gross before looking at Adam. "The Gargoyle can talk…"

Adam sighed, noticing the legit voice of surprise in his tone. "Yeah… I was surprised the first time I heard him too…" They started to walk in a random direction. "Spooky shit."

Gross just started, his mouth twitching realizing he was being the subject of bullying.

"DON'T IGNORE ME."


"You know… I wonder about something,"

Luke yawned, resting against a wall in an open area as Lett looked around.

"How are you so tired by doing nothing!?"

The Goblin's anger went ignored as the redhead simply brushed his eye. "One of the mysteries of life… anyway, are you done yet? I am getting tired of just following you."

The Goblin twitched, seeing as the redhead had done nothing for the past hour; by all means, Lett alone seemed to be carrying this little operation in every sense but the literal one.

"Can you actually do anything?"

Luke simply raised his hands and clapped.

"Is that your attempt to cheer me on?"

"Not everyone can get a hot cheerleader, you are stuck with me."

Lett closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, sighing in an attempt to calm down. "Fucking Replica." He muttered unconsciously, not noticing the slight twitch in Luke's features. "Let's move to the next Floor, there's nothing here."

Luke only stared, following the Goblin with a neutral expression before catching up with him.

"Having an input in sensing the flow of Aura would be helpful, you know?"

Luke snorted. "You lucked out again because I am the worst at that."

The Goblin growled, seeing as he was stuck with the one Guardian that seemed to be the epitome of the word useless. At this point, he even wondered if the title or Guardian was only for show with this guy, or if he was actually good for anything.

"Surviving."

Lett blinked, looking at the side to see Luke just looking straight ahead. "Say what?"

"You were wondering if I was actually good at anything, right? I am good at surviving."

That, and talking shit to achieve something like a good politician; Soma Familia was a witness to that… and he could also annoy people with ease, but that was just a natural Guardian trait.

Lett just stared silently as they continued to head down.

'No… there has to be a reason why I was paired up with this guy other than being a simple punishment,' Lett pondered, recalling Adam had given him a file on all of the Guardians when he found out Drake Aurion had arrived in this World.

Suffice it to say, he had prayed there would never be an actual confrontation with them in the future.

A guy who could be considered a Master of Magic, one who could kill with ease without leaving a single trace, one who could be considered a Jack of all Trades and Master of a lot, one who could achieve the impossible… but when it came to Luke… his file was rather lackluster at first glance.

Such was the fact that Adam had underlined the word 'Weakest' in his summary; describing him as annoying, obnoxious, the one with the least martial prowess, the least knowledge and so on… the only thing that could be noticeable about him was a small note that stated 'had beat every single Guardian at least one?' and even that was questionable seeing not even Adam was sure about that.

"You say surviving, but I can't imagine you even managing to kill a damn roach," he sighed, unconsciously letting out his frustrations. "Hell, I even wonder how the fuck are you even alive? Don't you have an expiration date like the other Replicas?"

Luke simply scowled. "That's why I ate my Original."

Lett stopped mid-track, looking at the redhead's back with a pale expression; gulping out of instinct as Luke looked back, noticing the Goblin had stopped.

It only took the Guardian a mere minute to figure out why the Goblin was looking at him as if he were a-

"I am not a cannibal!" Luke shouted after his eyes had widened in realization; flustered at what he had said.

"Could have fooled me!" Lett gave a step back out of instinct. "You clearly said 'ate'; who the fuck says that when it refers to another living being?!"

"It was a fucking slip!" he blamed his brother for that one, referring to that specific verb to what he had done to Asch. "I absorbed him, ok? Absorbed him."

"That doesn't make it any better!"


None of them said a word for a good while.

One out of wariness, and the other out of embarrassment.

"Nothing again."

"Right."

Contrary to before, the interaction between the two seemed to be more professional… if only because of their previous exchange.

But even so, Lett could not help but wonder what Luke meant.

"Seriously, how are you even alive? Does that mean every single Replica could fix their existential problem if they killed their Original; is that some kind of doppelganger shit?"

Luke stopped, looking at the Goblin with an incredulous expression. "What kind of manga did you read to reach that conclusion?"

"I honestly can't remember the name." He admitted without a hint of shame. "So… is that the case?"

Luke rubbed the back of his head, not knowing how to answer. "… It's complicated… starting with the fact the whole thing happened while I was in Hell."

Lett stopped once more, this time looking at Luke with confusion. "… Hell's real?"

"… Neither Ratatosk nor Adam isn't the talkative type, huh?"

Then again, he could not imagine any type of conversation that started with 'Hey guys, did you know Hell is real!'

Luke deadpanned at the thought, continuing to walk as Lett caught up to him.

"The whole reason as to why Replicas disappear after some time is because they reach a point in which what could be considered their essence starts to crumble; both at an anatomy level and at an soul level."

Lett knew about this one, knowing Replica's could never fully develop an individual Soul; also being the same reason they couldn't develop a Semblance.

"So… absorbing him just made up for what your Soul needed to stabilize?"

Luke reluctantly nodded. "More or less."

"Hah… couldn't be me, having a part of another living being is just creepy."

Lett received a glare. "You really are an expert at making people feel uncomfortable."

"Bitch, you were the one that claimed to have eaten another person alive!" Luke didn't have a rebuttal to that one.

"Is there anything else you would like to know? My favorite food? Clothe brand? How many times I go to the fucking bathroom a day?"

Lett was being obnoxious, he knew about it.

And yes, there was something he wanted to ask, but couldn't; Who was Asch the Bloody -The real Luke Fon Fabre- as a person?

He recalled the outburst the redhead had when they were back at the ship, knowing that was a delicate subject. And he couldn't ask Adam either, seeing as it looked like the guy had a depression attack when the subject was brought on.

And when he asked Ratatosk all he got was; 'Asch was the first and only person that could understand Adam's rage; both being denied their lives by the World for being born different.'

He frowned a little, feeling a little sad and angry on Adam's behalf; even though he didn't want to judge someone without knowing all of the facts… it was really hard not to.

"I can feel your glare on the back of my head, if you have something to say; just say it."

Lett looked up, seeing Luke was now looking over his shoulder with a somehow defeated expression. "… It's just… it's not fair."

Luke stared ahead, and somehow down for a moment. "… No, it isn't," his frown turned into a scowl. "But that piece of shit made his choice, and so did I."

Now it was Lett's turn to glare back. "Easy for you to say, as far as I am concerned you stole his life; along with anything else that he could become while you lived a good life."

Luke snorted, mockingly. "Ignorance is such a fucking bliss." Small cracks of electricity surrounded his body. "You have got no idea what I had to do to get here; so shut up before I say I confused you for another Goblin."

The translation wasn't lost to the Goblin; 'I will end you'.

He gritted his teeth, not feeling like risking fighting the redhead; even if Luke was considered the weakest, he was still a Guardian; one of the people who managed to kill the Deity Lett now served.

"This is a punishment, all right."


Lett gritted his teeth, having already gone through three full floors after a couple of hours and still nothing.

He had messaged Adam and Gross; not much development on their side either.

The Goblin looked to the side, seeing his 'companion' sitting against a wall with crossed arms and closed eyes; relaxing with no care in the World.

"Don't you fucking know it is a bad idea to sleep in the Dungeon?"

They really haven't spoken a lot since their last exchange, limiting it to only exchanging words regarding their task. But just seeing him there without care annoyed Lett to new heights.

"That's why I have someone to do the hard job for me; including making sure nothing happens while I sleep."

Lett groaned loudly, not caring about what Luke would think as he sat on the ground.

"I give up, I won't be doing shit anymore; I will get scolded, but who gives a fuck?"

"Great… now shut up and let me sleep."

The Xenos just continued to groan loudly. "I just don't get it, there has got to be another reason as to why we were paired other than it being a damn punishment." He looked at his hands as if trying to find the reason for his mere existence.

"Because this is something only you and me can do," Luke commented, rubbing the side of his neck while Lett looked at him puzzled.

"The fuck that's supposed to mean?" The Goblin's question was accompanied by a subtle gust of wind, making Luke eyes narrow before standing up.

"Let me tell you a story," the redhead started, ignoring the Goblin as he extended his hands. "This little event happened around sixth months after Drake's first death-"

"You mean the 'Battle Of Beacon'"

Luke nodded; recalling the event.

More than one Guardian had wanted to call blood for blood at what happened.

But it wasn't a simple matter that could be solved by going in and executing a plan for Revenge; All of them were Nobles, and they had responsibilities to their kingdoms… What had happened that night was something that would affect all of Remnant.

For this very reason, Lloyd had told them to leave so they all could fulfill their roles… but even so, to let things go like that with the loss of a friend… every Guardian recalled that moment with a different emotion; Uselessness was Luke's.

"Even after six months, the whole Remnant was still in disarray. So it was decided that in order to create some order, all of the Kingdoms should be unified, including those that were not officially a kingdom."

Kuo Kuana was what many considered the Kingdom of the Faunus; a small part of land that consisted of a set of small islands. A 'reward' from winning a small scuffle with the Kingdom of Atlas many years ago.

It was also where the White Fang had been created before they went full radical/terrorist.

"Why go there, then?" Lett raised an eyebrow.

"Because the current White Fang and Kuo Kuana had no ties… supposedly."

Lett rolled his eyes, already knowing there was some political shit involved.

"Where are you going with this again?"

Luke didn't reply, flexing his whole body as he continued his tale.

"For that very reason, The Kingdom of Vacua -being the closest- was chosen to go in a Peace Mission in that place."

Vacuo was one of the less developed Kingdoms for too long, being considered a place where only the strong ruled. However, things started to change a few years back with the help of a new council and the Noble Families to the point they were able to create their military; Strahta.

"For that very reason, Guy, me, and another Noble called Hubert Oswald was sent on a newly state-of-the-art battleship to the islands… and then the generator simply stopped working."

Lett deadpanned. "So much for a state-of-the-art ship."

"That's what I said!" Luke snapped at him. "We found out later someone had sabotaged the ship."

Lett couldn't help but raise an eyebrow again but opted not to say anything seeing the sheer amount of venom Luke carried in his voice.

"We spent a good five days stuck in the middle of fucking nowhere until we reached the sixth day."

"Someone came to rescue you,"

"Oh, fuck no," he stared at the Goblin as he flexed his back. "Tell me, do you know what attracts the Grimm like a bear and honey?"

"… Ah."

Lett knew about it, having heard the explanation of the Grimm from his Lord; negative emotions… and if Luke's story indicated something it was that the crew in the ship would start to develop such feelings.

"Grimm Sharks?"

"Grimm Killer Whales," Luke corrected, recalling the monstrosity they had to face. "Worst of all, since the ship didn't have any energy, that meant the weapons system was also down."

"What about you and Guy? I mean, I know for a fact most of you have a pact with a Spirit; they are basically the version of Gods in your World."

Luke forced a smile. "All of our pacts had been jammed after the Battle of Beacon; we couldn't even speak with them."

"So… you guys had no way of fighting, stuck in the middle of nowhere, and pretty much waiting to be whale food…" Lett hated to admit it, but he was now invested in the story. "How the fuck did you guys get out of it?"

Luke adopted a blank expression, raising his hand a little as he let Lightning crack on it.

"You electrified them? Just like that?"

"Not exactly…" Luke continued stretching for a moment. "Guy and Hubert had an idea while the rest of the crew -me included- panicked; they discussed a plan amidst the chaos… the next thing I know they are ordering all the personnel to find chains of metal and wrap it around me… while the other end was connected to the generator."

Lett kept listening… not liking one bit where this was going.

"At one moment, Guy just placed both of his hands on my shoulders with a stern expression and said: 'I know you are gonna hold this on me for the rest of our lives, but for what it's worth, I just know you would bitch about it if you knew the plan.'"

Luke recalled, seeing how Guy pushed him off the ship the very next second before the redhead could muster a single word in return.


The waitresses, Lili, and even Gross just blinked as they stared in Jude's direction.

They had heard the story from Luke's mouth with attention, hearing only key details and omitting some things like the fact that Lett was, in fact, a Goblin, only to suddenly stop as they heard the little tail of how Luke was pushed into the sea as bait.

"I swear on my life I will never complain about my friends again," Ryuu stated with a bland expression, recalling all the pranks and jokes they made at their expense.

"… You know," Lunor suddenly looked at Chloe with a solemn expression. "I suddenly cherish our friendship a little more."

"Oh, this is nothing compared to other shit we have pulled on one another," The voice of Yuri was suddenly heard, making Jude use his only hand to cover his face in shame.

"You guys are the worst nya~"


"All of the whales were killed in an instance… along with most of the fish in the area," Luke snarked, recalling months later there was a notice about how the scarcity of fish was hurting the economy.

"It was an interesting story, but I still don't see how this relates to our current situation." Lett just stared as Luke continued flexing every part of his body, now noticing the sudden chill breeze in the area.

That little fact was enough to put him on alert, putting Aura in his eyes to then place a shocked expression on his face. There was a high but subtle concentration of Wind Aura right about them.

It was then that he realized Luke was not just stretching but warming up for this.

"I am going to contact the others," Lett exclaimed in panic, taking out his scroll. He didn't even have a chance to open it, seeing how it was easily destroyed by a wind bullet that came out of nowhere; piercing his hand in the process.

"Fuck!" he cursed, quickly stepping back to avoid another projectile. "Hey! Dumbass! What is the… plan?" his words died right on his mouth as he saw Luke running away in a random direction.

He stared blankly, snapping out of it after another shot at his life was avoided. "YOU FUCKING CUNT!"

Lett ran after him, catching up with him as attacks of winds came one after another.

"You left me to die, you piece of shit!"

"Ah, I knew that wouldn't kill you." Luke waved the Goblin's rage off, focusing more on avoiding wind attacks.

"Shut up and just contact the others! Tell them we already found the targets!"

Both looked up for a moment, seeing a green wave of wind above them; creating two sets of claws that waved to create wind-like projectiles at them.

"Focus on surviving and less on bitching!" Luke shouted back with the same emotion in his voice before zigzagging forward along with Lett.

"Just call them already!"

Lett noticed how Luke's face tensed, and not exactly because he was avoiding attack after attack.

"What do you think about my story?"

Lett just stared with a face that could murder a living being. "Are you fucking serious right now!?"

"Very." Luke replied solemnly, making Lett pop a vein as he looked up front, seeing two green glyphs appear in front of them. "Crouch!"

Lett did as told, sliding on the very ground as they leaned back to barely avoid a beam of wind as the Goblin's eyes widened, seeing there were now a great number of Glyphs on the sides of the walls.

He didn't even have time to curse this time, letting his instinct take over; he placed his hand on the ground, using it as support to lift himself and become airborne before taking out his daggers to spin in mid-air; blocking all of the [Wind Blades] aimed at him before sprinting into a run once he landed on the ground.

"So, about my story-"

"For fucks sake, just drop it already!" he snapped at the redhead again. "You really think this is the time to be bitching about a story of the past where you were used as-!" his words died right there, coming into realization as to where Luke was going with all of this.

The reason as to why they paired.

The reason as to why Drake, Adam, and Gross were nowhere to be seen despite all of them supposedly exploring the same floors.

And more importantly, the reason why their target finally appeared and decided to engage rather than escape like it usually did.

"Son of a bitch." He muttered, making Luke snort after finally reaching this realization.

Just like the redhead had been tied and thrown to the sea with a lot of Grimm waiting to eat him, they were now metaphorically thrown toward their target… like fucking bait.

"Welcome to the bait club; we don't have any cookies, membership card, or any of that shit" the simple reason for not being the only one in this shitty situation was a positive point in Luke's mind.

The Goblin gritted his teeth, not thinking about what to think at all of this when it came to how he felt.

"Ok, bitch got baited! Now what? Are we leading her to some sort of trap!?"

"Nope!"

"Oh, come on!" Lett could feel his own sweat at this point, feeling mentally fatigued as he kept avoiding beam after beam, claw after claw, wind blade after wind blade; it was only a matter of time before-

"The reason we were chosen was because we were the weakest."

"Go on ahead and open an emotional wound, you dick!" Lett didn't want to admit it, but he found how calm Luke was with everything incredibly vexing. 'Then again, this guy was probably already used to being the bait'

"Focus; whoever has the Centurion has been escaping you guys on every encounter you have met; and we both know it wasn't exactly because you were there."

Lett pondered for a moment, instantly recalling said encounters… Adam had been there in all of them.

The culprit knew she couldn't beat Adam, or Drake on that matter… so why not just place the two that could be considered the 'weakest' together to gain her attention?

"Oh, that is just wicked!" Lett ducked his head to the side, barely avoiding a beam that graced his cheek; causing a small cut after easily bypassing his Aura. "Ok, so we are not leading her to some trap, and I am pretty sure Adam and Drake are not near here… " his mouth remained open, but no word came out of it as he realized the actual 'plan' in all of this; they had to take care of the culprit themselves.

"Oh, fuck me."

"Yup"

Lett wasn't gonna lie; he had claimed millions of times he wanted more responsibilities… but this was just complete and utter bullshit.

"Ok, Sempai," and now he was unconsciously accepting his role as bait as he addressed the expert. "What's the game plan?"

Both kept running, keeping an eye on the massive ball of wind energy that had been flying in front and above them. It seemed as if the claws were about to make another barrage of attack. "First, we need a big open area; if memory serves me right, Udaeus' floor should be a couple of floors below."

Lett turned his head and stared; a couple of floors seemed to be the equivalent of five or more floors apparently.

"And then wh-"

"Incoming!"

The Goblin looked forward, seeing the claws now clenched into fists before slamming them on the ground; the whole area trembled, causing both to stop as they lost their balance.

"Aw, shit," Lett looked at Luke in confusion after hearing him curse, only to see the redhead performing a sloppy sidekick on him.

Lett rolled, quickly recovering and finding his balance; his eyes widened, seeing a massive hand of wind punching the space he had been in, hitting Luke instead against the wall and then getting punched down by another fist… sending him down into the next Floor.

Meaning…Lett was alone right now.

"No, seriously; fuck my life." He didn't wait another second before jumping up into a sprint; avoiding and evading every single wind construct or bullshit that was being thrown his way as he tried to solve the one other problem besides being chased; how do you hit something that was literally made out of air?

Theoretically, if Lett could somehow cage the target into a ball of fire there wouldn't be any oxygen; she would choke inside of it and he would be able to at least even the battlefield.

The only question now was-

'How in the living fuck do I do that?' he cursed, recalling that he did have a Portable Spell Knife with an Arte that could do the job, the problem was executing the whole plan for the target to take a direct hit.

The next issue now was how to actually identify the very spot his enemy was located at seeing there was air everywhere around him…

"Ah…" he looked back, realizing all of the attacks on his way stopped completely… but he could still feel a cold breeze around him.

The grip on his daggers tightened, taking a stance, strategically looking around him; not noticing how a hand got a grip on his throat before being easily lifted off the ground.

"He-y bitch," Lett struggled to talk, locking eyes with a woman that had green slit eyes; covering her whole body and face with a dirty and ragged old cloak… but for some reason, Lett could not help but feel he knew this woman. "Have w-e met be-fore?"

The reply he got from his assailant came in the form of raising her free hand as three short claws of wind took form between her knuckles.

The Goblin instantly slashed the very hand holding him up, only to see the edge of his weapon cut through it… as if it was made out of air.

"I am getting real tired of this bullshit," he let his daggers fall as he extended his arms to let one of his spell knives fall into the ground.

"[Stalagmite!]"

The knife created an orange-brownish glyph and a giant pillar of stone on the very spot where the target was standing a moment later, only to disappear after it made contact as small pillars also emerged from the ground; creating a wall that cut the way back for the Goblin.

Lett quickly stood up, recovering his weapons before dashing forward again, only to feel a sharp pain on the sole of his foot. He gritted his teeth, seeing a spike made out of wind impaling his foot.

His ears twitched, hearing the sound of small steps approaching him from behind; slowly.

He groaned, limping forward and ignoring he was being toyed with. Not a single time did she speed up after him or actually give him chase; just walking right behind him, menacingly, as if he was little more than prey already caught in a trap. To make things worse, his wound was not healing, most likely due to some negative attribute in her attacks.

No, that was a lie, the worst part was suddenly feeling a sharp pain going through his good ankle; no doubt from a high-pressure wind attack. His instincts had kicked in, but he couldn't move in time with an already bad leg.

He struggled, hearing her steps getting closer and closer… until he finally stopped after feeling her foot on his head; the only thing the Goblin was glad for was that she wasn't wearing any high heels.

"I have said this before, and I will say it again… fuck this bullshit." he let another spell come up from his sleeve, swiftly stabbing it on the ground as he closed his eyes. "[Sunburst]"

A bright red Glyph appeared below him; casting a massive ball of fire which took form above them, descending quickly.

Did Lett think he would die for this? No… probably.

Did he think it was going to hurt? Absolutely.

But as long as he was able to stand up and stab her right in her neck while she was weakened, it would be worth it.

Yes, this was done in a case of desperation. What else could someone do against someone that couldn't take a hit?

He clenched his body, prepared to feel his whole being burned alive… but all he did was feel a cold breeze above him. His eyes snapped open, turning his head to the ground to see his assailant calmly siphoning the ball of fire in her hand; reducing its size little by little until she closed her hands, killing off the last bit of fire of the Arte.

Surprisingly, Lett didn't seem afraid; rather, he felt exhausted for some weird reason.

"… another status effect." He thought out loud, seeing how the woman on top of him popped out the wanna-be wolverine claws made of air once more, not wasting any time in slamming them down towards his head.

*CRUMBLE*

Lett's eyes moved to the side, not paying attention to how the woman had stopped and also looked at her feet to see a hand gripping it, tightly.

"GOT YOU BITCH!"

The ground crumbled completely as one Luke Fon Fabre pulled the woman down; making them free fall into the next Floor.

"Kept you waiting, huh?"

Lett's eye twitched. "Don't you fucking dare to quote MGS. Also, the fuck took you so long?"

"My Aura vision isn't as good without my Elemental Spirit, so I had to ask Jude's help to pinpoint your location," Luke commented as they felt, putting Lett over his shoulder as he looked around; no sign of their target.

"So what? You kept a grip on the ceiling this whole time?" he asked, recalling how he was literally sent down by a punch made out of wind.

"What? No! I just jumped up once I knew where you were."

The Goblin blinked, making a double-take at what he heard. The distance between the floor and ceiling on these floors was no joke, the proof of it was how they were still falling.

"Can you see her!? I lost track of her because I had to secure you."

"Be grateful I am tired, otherwise I would fucking bite you."

Luke didn't reply, still looking around before he finally felt the flow of wind concentrating above them.

Luke narrowed his eyes, seeing the assailant taking form before creating glyphs that cast [Wind Blades] on them. Sparks surrounded his body before punching the air, sending a shock wave that altered the direction of the attack.

Luke landed on the ground, quickly backstepping to avoid the enemy stabbing the ground he had just landed on before giving chase on them.

The redhead quickly tossed Lett near a random path, not taking his eyes off her before he stopped backstepping; already securing a good amount of distance between them and Lett.

"What? You are not gonna run away, bitch."

He heard a snort to everyone's surprise. "This coming from the weakest Guardian; that is good enough to almost make me laugh."

Luke just stared, only to then grin madly as a vein popped on his forehead. "Five minutes… that's the only amount of time you will have to beat me."

The next thing Luke felt was receiving a massive fist of wind to his stomach, instantly breaking his Aura field before being sent crashing against a wall.

He spat blood right on impact, not wasting his time in getting off the wall to avoid the claws impaling the wall he had been in.

He backstepped to keep his distance, eyes widened as he noticed several glyphs surrounding him before shooting [Wind Blades] at him, forcing him to cover himself with his hands before receiving the brunt of the attack.

The assailant for her part didn't waste a single moment, closing in and performing a thrust with her claws; hitting his target inside the cloud of dust from her previous attack. The assailant waited patiently for the smoke to clear, eyes widened behind her covered face; her claws had met her target, impaling one of his hands instead of his head.

Luke's grin appeared on his lips again, despite all of the wounds on his body.

"Four minutes, thirty seconds."


Lett couldn't understand what he was seeing.

The Goblin had expected some power-up, shounen-like, deus-ex machina bullshit out of Luke after his five-minute proclamations.

But what he was seeing could not even be considered a one-sided beatdown, but a massacre.

He saw Luke taking attack after attack; starting with losing the mobility of his left hand from the claws the assailant materialized.

Their target then quickly proceeded to kick him in the chest, creating more Glyphs that shot high-pressured wind at him. Luckily, he had managed to avoid most of those by stepping to the side, receiving only a hole in one of his legs.

He was then suddenly chained by green chains, the sudden pull strong enough to dislocate his already wounded hand; Lett was sure of it because he was able to hear it the moment it happened.

To make things worse, he started to believe the woman in question was some sort of sadist, she could have ended him several times now, but still didn't.

But if she was a sadist, then Luke was a complete masochist; not dropping his smirk for anything, and keeping count of the time with every attack he received.

"Fuck this," Lett muttered, seeing the state of his body, none of his wounds were healing yet. He looked at the spell knives he carried; not thinking in any way of countering her 'being made out of wind' bullshit. In the end, he took out at least ten of his spell knives; ready to throw them all and call every Arte name in hopes of achieving something.

He raised his hands, ready to throw them, only to feel a tight grip on his wrists. His eyes widened, turning around to see none other than Adam; accompanied by Drake and Gross.

"Where the fuck have you-" Adam covered his hand, not wanting to give away their appearance.

"I am going to remove my hand, and you will not shout like a damn Karen, deal?"

Lett nodded, feeling offended by the Karen remark.

"What the actual shit?" he whispered in a rushed voice. "I figured the whole bait plain, but for us to beat up that bitch alone, come on!"

"Aurion and I discussed, agreeing this was the best approach to deal with her escaping."

Lett's patience slowly began to reach a limit. "Look at that," he pointed at Luke, being pierced by various high-pressure beams of wind; spitting blood in that moment. "How the fuck were we suppose to beat that?"

"You already played your role, Lett," Aurion suddenly said, grunting as he continued. "It is all on Luke now."

"I hope you realize that doesn't tell me shit."

Drake smiled behind his scarf, tilting his head from left to right as he groaned. "Just wait for another minute; you will see."


"Come on, you assassin wanna-be bitch," Luke Fon Fabre stated, body full of holes, clothes mostly shredded, arm dislocated and wounded. "Don't tell me that's all you can do with all that Divine power; what a fucking-" he felt a sharp feeling going through his back, looking down to see a blade made of wind piercing through his back before disappearing as he spat more blood into the ground. "-disappointing."

Fifty seconds left.

"It is confusing," she got closer to him. "The memories of this Centurion paint you as the weakest, most incompetent, most useless among other things without the help of your brothers; and yet I can't help but feel wary."

Luke snorted, eyes feeling heavy. "That means you have yet to see shit, you daft c- ah!" she punched him on his already wounded stomach, making him fall on his knees as she took hold of his scarf.

"But you have made me feel something I have never felt in the span of five minutes."

"Fo-ur minutes and tw-enty sec-onds to be exact." She punched him without hesitation.

"Ever since I got this Centurion, I have been experiencing feelings that I never felt before," she punched him again. "The one other time I felt something similar was three months ago… the feeling of certain death."

Luke blinked for a moment, ignoring the pain he was feeling as he focused on her eyes. "… Don't I know you from somewhe-"another punch, shutting him up. But even so, he still wondered why her eyes and voice sounded so familiar.

Thirty seconds left.

"And even I find it amazing I am able to feel something as petty as a grudge now after such a defeat," she punched, and punched, and punched; not caring how bloodied her hands turned. "You are not him… but you will suffice; you two are apparently close, after all."

Luke just kept pondering who the woman in front of him was.

By default, since she was a woman and held a grudge Zelos would be the culprit of whatever bullshit he did by default. But seeing the usual suspect had been a saint, that left no suspects…

'Three months ago… that was around the time Drake arrived here,' Guy commented, having been deep in thought along the rest.

'Yeah, that… tracks.' Luke, along with the rest, came to a realization. None of them had 'appeared' until the end of the first month.

A vivid memory came to mind; 'You are something that should not exist here.'

"Ah…" Luke commented, no longer struggling between her punches. "How are your arms?"

She stood frozen in that moment.

Twenty seconds left.

Luke snorted, spitting blood to the side.

"You got wrecked so badly that you decided to use Divine steroids," he snarked, addressing the very first person that Drake met since coming into this World; someone who tried to kill him. "Fuck, here I am wondering how someone as stupid as you hasn't got brain rot with all that power."

He could hear her gritting his teeth, his smirk widening in response.

"And here's what I find hilarious; even with all that power you still kept running away every time Adam was on your trail." She resumed her punching, far more viciously this time, but Luke didn't care one bit. "Did you have a stroke when you noticed Drake also tagged along this time? Do you need a teddy bear hug or something? Hahahahaha!"

By this time, he could even feel breathing becoming difficult.

"To make things worse, you opted to go against the guy considered the 'weakest' and a Goblin; fuck, you couldn't even kill the latter!"

Ten seconds left.

"I may be the weakest, but fuck if you aren't the most pathetic."

She growled, raising her fist as Divine energy accumulated on her fist; even the whole floor seemed to be affected seeing it was trembling.

Five seconds left.

"Really!? Is that it!? All of that power and that's all you can think of doing."

Four seconds left

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

Three seconds left.

"Oh come the fuck on Karen; are you gonna cry? Please do so already!"

Two seconds left.

"Come on, Bitch! Show me what you love!"

One second left.

Her fist slammed down, with enough energy to wipe out whatever it touched out of existence.

"Times up."

Her eyes widened, and she saw her fist caught with ease by Luke's hand; its energy was completely deleted at mere contact with his hand.

No… that was not the most outstanding thing… he was touching her, fully touching her… and she wasn't even able to turn into thin air to escape his grip… his strong and unbreakable grip.

"Ok then," he said nonchalantly, standing up while having a firm grip on her as all of his wounds started to heal. "Time for a PSA; courtesy of yours truly." His eyes narrowed dangerously, turning into white flame-like orbs.

"I may be the weakest…" his assailant's eyes widened behind her cloak while her hand remained within his with relative ease, no matter how hard she tried to pull back. "I know I am loud, obnoxious, brash, annoying, no good at a lot of things, and certainly the least reliable person… but there seems to be something you forgot despite having the Memories of a Centurion."

His body started to glow brightly, his hair turned into pure glowing white as the sparks around him increased as did his tattoo of the number five. "One, your five minutes are up; whatever Hope there was of you beating me is now gone. And Two," he crushed her hand; gripping towards him as he moved his head backward, only to then headbutt her, tearing her cloak apart by the Lightning around him before breaking her nose with ease. "You are facing a Guardian, you daft cunt," she rolled backward, barely managing to recover herself as she saw her 'prey' taking a step forward; a bright white flame and lightning surrounded his body as he walked towards her, menacingly. "Let me teach you what that entails!"

He punched the ground, electrifying the whole area before it erupted up; creating a dome of Lightning.

The assailant stood up, removing what was left of her destroyed cloak to reveal similar clothes to the ones she wore when she first tried to kill Drake. The only difference was her red hair was no longer; instead replaced by a bright glowing green, courtesy of the Centurion.

She greeted her teeth, creating various Glyphs around him that shot [Wind Blades] at him. But he didn't move, opting to simply wave his hand without care as a pulse of electricity surged around him; dispelling the attacks with ease as his eyes locked with the target's.

She had already started running at him, hoping to use her previous attack as a distraction to then deal a critical strike. But even so, she didn't stop running, deciding to turn into air when he was at close range in hopes of getting behind him.

"Nope!" The Guardian didn't waste a second, grabbing the very air she had turned into before slamming her on the ground.

She materialized again, looking at him with widened eyes. "Ho- How!?"

"Fuck you, that's how." He slammed his first down, only to strike the ground as she rolled in the last second.

Her eyes reflected her inner panic, turning into the air again but not charging at Luke this time. She now knew she had lost her edge somehow, so there was no way she would risk losing the Centurion in her. She flew towards the closest way out, only to be electrified once she had come into contact with the edge of the dome.

To her, this was inconceivable, having been able to fly through fire and water without getting any kind of contact while she was air.

"You are locked in here with me," she quickly turned around, only to see a white fist millimeters away from her face. "[BEAST!]" a white roaring lion made of Aura came out of his fist the moment it made contact with her face, knocking her back to the edge of the dome; her scream of being electrocuted again filled the whole area before she fell down on her knees.

Luke punched his fist together as the flames and electricity intensified. "You punched me and tortured me a good while back there… time to make us even, you cunt."


"… Ok, no, I call fucking hax," Lett commented blandly, despite being completely bothered by how the whole situation did a one-eighty.

"You sound rather disappointed for someone whose situation turned in their favor," Drake commented with crossed arms, feeling all of the pain he had felt because of Luke fading away.

"Oh, I am grateful. But I would be more fucking grateful if he pulled that shit twenty minutes ago."

The blonde eyes Adam, who sighed seeing he now had to do an explanation.

"The target kept disappearing by turning into the literal wind; we couldn't risk our Lord getting close, and using Jude Lowell's authority over the wind was also out of the question for the risk of using Divinity… so that only left us one single choice."

Lett just stared, listening in as the sound of fighting continued; Drake beat him to it.

"I was twelve when I met Luke; a scrawny anemic kid that had traveled alone to another kingdom and ventured into a forest in the middle of fucking nowhere to where we lived at the time for the sake of a friend."

He recalled, remembering the damn redhead had asked… no, demanded to repair a sword that belonged to Guy's Family after hearing of Lloyd's talent for forging… sadly, the first person he had come across was Drake, who opted to throw Luke over his shoulder for his arrogance.

"I almost killed him on our first meeting," Lett could feel the blonde smiling slightly at the memory; he seriously wondered just how all of these guys were friends with that kind of treatment.

"We found out years later that his condition was due to being a Replica… but at that time, Jude had diagnosed him with having a heavy Aura deficit." Drake took a deep breath. "Then Lloyd, in his infinite wisdom, decided to forge a sword that could 'feed' him."

It was thanks to that Luke could live long enough to develop his semblance.

Adam snorted a little. "I recall something Asch told me a long time ago, about how the name Luke Fon Fabre translated 'Light of the sacred flame'; intense, undying, strong against any adversity… it is kind of fitting."


The assailant roared in anger, refusing to accept another humiliation after being sent against the edge one more time.

She panted, face bloody and Aura field long broken; her anger fueled her, clapping her hands to create a massive glyph below Luke as she roared.

"[TORNADO]"

A massive gust of wind took form from top to bottom, taking the form of a massive tornado… but it didn't even flinch Luke, who raised his hands in the air.

"[Negative Gate]"

A purple glyph appeared below him, just as a sphere of the same color materialized on the very center of the tornado; sucking it in before there was nothing left.

The target just stared dumbfounded at it, failing to comprehend how things turned out this way.

Luke just stared, in a more bored-like attitude. Even though his eyes reflected a serious gaze "Is that all?"

Luke Fon Fabre

Guardian of Courage

Semblance: Adaptability; the ability to overcome any challenge after a five minute mark, even if it is Divine related. The bigger the challenge, the bigger the buff. It can continue to adapt the more the fight continues.

Truth to be told, Luke had conflicted feelings towards his semblance.

Yes, mortally speaking, his was the most broken one out of everyone; giving the user the ability to overcome anything.

However, this had two negative conditions.

One of them was having to hold out five minutes before the buffs were active. For a normal person, this wasn't much if they knew how to defend themselves… but for Luke, there was no limit to how much he could raise the difficulty level.

The first thing he discovered about his Semblance was that the buff increased if the difficulty was higher.

That's why there was a reason for keeping his Aura level to the minimum, that's why he took every single attack his assailant threw at her; raising his Aura just enough to hold out a bit longer and not pass out. All of that suffering was for the very moment the five-minute mark was met.

Madness? Probably.

As for the second condition-

"I will fucking deal with it later," Luke thought out loud, trying his best for something to be kept within him… but in the end, it was futile; a single bored yawn escaped his mouth. "No… seriously, is that all? Because I am getting… *yawn*… sleepy over here."

A vein popped on her face, releasing a growl from her stoic face as she charged at him with her claws out.

One step back, two steps back, one slight crouch… all of her movements were evaded with ease; it wasn't that she was being sloppy due to her anger. They were precise, with a follow-up prepared one after another in perfect coordination. But in Luke's eyes, all of her movements were perfectly read as if they were going at half their speed.

His eyes moved to the side, feeling a flow of Aura going in that direction; a set of glyphs took form on each side. He sighed, letting himself be chained by his hands and legs.

He closed his eyes for a second, letting his Aura and Lightning run through the chains, overwriting their properties. Soon, the green wind chains were no more; replaced by white flaming chains accompanied by cracks of electricity. He waved his arm back, making the chain break off the glyphs before the broken end slapped his attacker as she was charging.

"Karma, ain't I right?" Luke did the same with the rest of the chain, wrapping them around his limbs with a swift notion before charging at her.

The slap of the chains had almost knocked her out on the floor. But by the time she recovered and loved forward, she was met by a chained fist to the face, courtesy of Luke.

She raised her hands to block the attack, but the attack never came. Instead, she felt a blunt pain on her right knee, receiving a chained kick before breaking it; forcing her to bend before actually receiving an uppercut that sent her into the air.

Luke wasn't done, letting the chains around his arms loosen up a bit; sending their loose ends to wrap her up, charging them up with his Lighting before she let out another resounding scream.

"You are gonna break my eardrums at this rate," he swung the chains, sending them into the ground, making sure her head took all of the impact. "Are you dead? Please tell me you are dead." Luke said, letting the chains fade out of existence before he started walking towards her.

He already knew the answer to his question; his semblance was still running after all… and the difficulty seemed to be about to increase. He stopped, groaning in annoyance, rubbing the side of his head as her body started to glow as she moved erratically, as if she was having a seizure.

She started to levitate a moment later, healing every wound she had received as it began to be embraced by a green armor with claw ornaments.

"Hey dumbass! Just fucking knocked her out already!"

Luke didn't bother to look in Drake's direction. "You allowed me to use the damn kitchen! So let me cook for fucks sake."

There was a reason for Drake's worry, it was at this point when Bete Loga had been stopped; something that Luke seemed to allow to happen.

'… You are seriously gonna let this happen just because you don't want to lose an arm.' Guy spoke, his tone of annoyance was enough for Luke to imagine the blonde running his hand through his face in exasperation.

'Hey, I am not mental enough to mutilate myself like a certain someone.'

'You know… that argument loses all validity when we examine the fact that you already died once.' Flynn took the stage this time, sounding more annoyed than Guy.

"From an arrow to the back! It is not the same!"

'All I am hearing is bitching.' Yuri snorted. 'Besides, shouldn't your semblance protect you from that kind of damage?'

There was a moment of silence between the Guardians.

'You are afraid to test that theory, aren't you?' Yuri commented with a bland tone.

"Don't you fucking judge me!" Luke thought out loud, embarrassed at being called out.

'I hope you idiots recall I am still close enough to listen to your bitching.'

'We are aware,' More than one Guardian replied to Drake, ending the conversation as Luke saw the assailant finally transformed.

All of her clothes had been replaced by a sort of black tracksuit, soon covered by dark greenish ornaments with blade-like edges that complimented each other. But the most notable part was the helmet she now wore, bird-like in appearance that covered her face all the while the eye sockets glowed in a menacing green color. In all honesty, the sight reminded him a little of the times Drake or some of the others donned their armor… with the obvious exception how uncovered her chest area was.

'… Can we talk about why the damn transformation makes it so one only focuses on her breasts?' Luke commented, instantly ducking to the side to avoid several beams of winds; no warning or indication that the attack was coming.

'Fucking. Thank you!' Zelos commented, recalling the time the Centurion of Lightning had possessed Blake Belladonna. 'The same had happened with that bitch; except it put more emphasis on her ass.'

'Do you two think it is the really the time to have this conversation?' Flynn commented, pinching the bridge between his eyes.

Luke didn't focus on answering back, involuntarily feeling his whole body tense.

She extended her arm, siphoning the wind around her as a green nodachi was created out of thin air; she grasped it, not taking any particular stance as she just stared.

He blinked for a mere moment, noticing the assailant was now in front of him. She performed a [Sonic Thrust, forcing Luke to duck his head to the side, eyeing the blade as the energy around it started to increase.

He clapped his tongue, quickly stepping away before the blade released a burst of sharp wind.

Luke rolled on the floor, quickly recovering to instantly avoid a vertical slash that released massive waves of wind with every swing of her sword.

He could not get close for this very reason, and his Semblance had yet to adapt to it.

"…Ah" he groaned in annoyance, not having the patience to go through another session of masochism to speed up the process. For this very reason, he extended his hand as she went to deliver another slash. "Come forth-" The area around him exploded in electricity, finally adding his own Aura Level with the one given by his semblance. "Éclair."

A sword materialized on his hand.

A U–shaped white blade with a small fork running through the middle of the blade; letting sparks of electricity run through the edges of the void space while there was a keychain of a red tribal red lion attached to the pommel, resonating with the blade in tandem.

The sudden burst of power forced his attacker back.

She looked forward, raising her blade to avoid his incoming attack; having shortened the distance right after calling for his blade.

"[Fang Blade]" He slashed the sword down, clashing with her blade…

*CRACK*

Her eyes widened behind her helmet, noticing and hearing cracks form in her weapon before Luke reversed the strike and finished with a vertical uppercut that broke her blade as he became airborne.

She noticed his eyes still locking on her from above, preparing for a plunging attack. The assailant wanted to move, but couldn't. Her eyes quickly looked around her own body, noticing cracks of Lightning running through all of it.

Éclair; the sixth weapon forged by Lloyd Aurion. The idea of forging this weapon was done solely to combat Luke's Aura deficiency and stimulate his body and Soul.

Why make a sword and not some kind of armor? Because just like current Lloyd, eleven-year-old Lloyd was a dumbass; thinking only of swords and not any other kind of weapon.

Luke had complained a lot, seeing he had to be practically attached to his weapon to not feel anemic. Of course, this came with some positive side-effects; generating electricity with his own body being one of them. And of course, it was incredibly effective in battle, not only enhancing him but shocking all of those who didn't have any sort of Lightning resistance.

Realizing this, the assailant shouted in rage once again; pushing her Aura to the limit to release another burst of wind and knocked Luke out of the sky.

"Are you already throwing a tantrum despite not even having spent five damn minutes in that form?" Luke mocked her, being completely ignored as he suddenly found himself in a dome of green glyphs.

He sighed, just as every glyph shot to the center as six purple glyphs appeared below him. "[Thunder blade]" six massive swords made of Lightning, rotating around him to cover him from the beams before they increased the distance between Luke to cut the glyphs surrounding him.

She snarled, extending her hand to make the whole area a wind hazard zone as another sword started to appear; bigger in any sense of the word, even bigger than Udaeus'.

"… What is it with women thinking bigger is better?" Luke asked, looking around to see the whole area inside of his own dome being covered by Glyphs, all of them ready to cast different spells.

'Classic, isn't it?' Zelos commented, dropping any humor soon after. 'Her Aura is erratic, and she's burning stupid levels of it with this stunt; you can finish this now.'

"Fucking Finally!" His Aura bursted as well, seeing her take the massive sword before taking a stance to perform a thrust, making him do the same as his Thunder blades rotated around him. "Ladies first!"

Even now… no, especially now, he was just being obnoxious.

He could hear her gritting her teeth, charging at him with a roar as every Glyph around the dome casted their Artes.

"[Super Sonic Thrust]" he lunged forward, the thunder blades swiftly rotating around him to avoid any beam or wind blade aimed at him.

Her roar increased, blades clashed, and the power struggle started.

*CRACK*

The sparks of electricity in Luke's blade started to run on his target's weapon; lowering its durability as it started to crack.

'Now, you dumbass,'

Luke's grin intensified, ignoring Yuri's remark as he shouted with all his might. "OVERLIMIT!" hs Aura increased tenfold before cutting through the remaining blade with ease, striking her on her chest before forcing her against the wall; destroying his own dome of Lightning in the process.

"persistent, aren't you?" Luke commented, looking at his target grasping his sword with her own hands; a small barrier of wind blocking him from piercing her skin. "oh well!"

He pushed through, surrounding both of them in electricity before making a hole in the wall… not stopping from anything.

"St- Stop!" She shouted, barely being able to maintain the small barrier protecting her.

"Oh, you remember how to speak! Also, NOPE!" The grip on his hilt tightened, going in every direction as they kept tearing wall after wall until it looked like they were no longer on the floor.

'Do you want a map? Because I am sure you are going outside of the Dungeon now.'

"Lloyd, you and Jude are the only two people I don't wanna hear complaining about directions!" Luke commented, adjusting their direction to return to the Dungeon.

*CRACK*

His eyes darted forward, seeing the barrier and armor around her starting to break.

'Almost there!'

They returned into the Dungeon, landing on a completely different floor before Luke suddenly made his blade disappear; taking all the momentum he had delivered an uppercut. The [BEAST!] Arte made contact with her chin, breaking the upper part of the armor as the Auric lion roared.

"NOW-" he raised his arms, letting white Aura flow forward, harming her in the process. "-DIE!"

The flow increased as he aimed his arms at her; locking her in a vortex that tore more parts of her armor off.

"[MYSTIC ARTE: RADIANT HOWL]"

She screamed as the flow inside of the sphere exploded, destroying whatever was left of her armor as she hit the ground. Her body moved, struggling to stand up, managing to stand on her feet, trembling as her enemy walked toward her.

"Still conscious?" he asked plainly, not stopping for a moment. She tried to raise her hands, to cast any sort of Arte; not being able to do anything in the end. "I guess it is time for my secret, most destructive, absolute move."

She trembled, this time out of fear; backstepping at a really slow pace as she continued struggling on her feet. "Sta-y away!"

Luke didn't reply, finally shortening the distance to spread his arms… and embrace her into an tight hug.

She blinked, completely confused and taken back by this sudden action; forgetting the fact that the man embracing her was supposed to be her target.

"Disclaimer:" he suddenly stated, tightening his hug on her… as the crackling of electricity increased their oscillation. "The following is by no means an act of affection or love; only pain."

She screamed, shouting her lungs out as all the electricity ran through her body; burning it as it started to be set on fire.

"You know, I always wanted to do this to my Ex."

'We know.' All of his brothers replied.


"The fuck is on with you now?" Lett asked, having slid through the hole Luke had made a couple of floors above. Now, here he was, looking at the Guardian; hair returned to normal, crouching with his head between his knees… like a small child in pain.

"This is the second negative aspect of his semblance," Drake commented, seeing his brother groan at the sound of his voice. "Sure, his semblance adapts and buffs the user to counter the challenge… but the body still suffers from those changes."

"Like how muscles hurt the day after the gym?"

The blonde thought it for a moment, nodding reluctantly. "Can't think of a better example."

Luke just continued groaning. "My limbs hurt, as does my head."

He always forgot how knowledge could be so painful. The idea of a dome made out of Lightning to filter the air was not something improvised; the consistency and level to maintain it was something he gained though his semblance… and now he was paying the price for all of that, among all the other things he did.

"Would you have preferred to have to deal with me or the others?"

"FUCK NO!"

Using his semblance against his brother could be considered the worst experience in existence. Yes, he had managed to beat them once with it… but the aftermath pain was not worth it.

Gaining speed to match Yuri's? He could not move his legs for a day.

Gaining the knowledge of magic Artes like Zelos? His flow of Aura would be compromised.

What about Drake's, Jude's, Guy's and Flynn's strategic thinking? It felt as if his brain had an aneurysm.

Lloyd's way of thinking and combat prowess?... he paled, not wanting to have to think about it ever again.

"There, there." Drake patted his head, unironically nor sardonically. "Go on and rest, you earned it."

"… damn right I did," Luke whispered with a whimper, seeing Drake go to check on Adam and Gross, looking over the burned body of the woman he had been facing.

"… So that was the plan all along, huh?" he looked at Lett, crossing his arms at him before sighing in defeat; already in the loop.

Using the two weakest as bait so she wouldn't run away at a sign of a threat. Only to go deeper seeing one of those baits proved to be the perfect counter for the target; preventing her from escaping. From there, it was all about completely knocking her down so there wouldn't be another incident involving someone losing an arm or control; a reminder of what had happened with Bete Loga.

"Angry for being used?"

Lett pondered for a moment, shaking his head with a snort. "With how big my mouth is, hell no."

Not to mention he could not act for this, he would have sold them out in an instance… so it was better to leave him clueless and act as natural as bait would… "fuck, this sucks."

"It is a shitty role… but it is worth it if no one else can do it."

Lett stopped complaining for a moment, recalling hearing Luke had willingly volunteered for this role. Drake and Jude could have dealt with this, but that would have meant resorting to Divinity, a big No-No in the Dungeon or Orario.

He hated to admit it, but he felt a little jealous of the Guardian. Not of his overall set of abilities, but of the Courage he carried around him.

"… Sorry about everything I said before." He rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably, turning around to leave.

"He gave up his name."

He stopped, turning around with a raised eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Asch… the Original Luke Fon Fabre had given up his name." Luke started, feeling a need to make it clear.

Luke Fon Fabre was born into the Noble Family in the Kingdom of Vacuo and has the traits of a Lion Faunus. It had been a surprise seeing both parents looked completely human, but a blood test had revealed some Faunus blood from his mother's side.

Vacuo was considered the Kingdom of the Strong; it didn't matter if you were human or Faunus. If you were strong, then you were good in people's eyes. But even so, the mentality of Noble Families was something else even in that Kingdom.

They cut his Lion ears, mutilating their own son soon after his birth. But even so, some traits remained; his eyes were his biggest giveaway. His parents lived in fear of being discovered… until someone came and told them they could 'fix' their son; erasing every bit of their Faunus heritage.

And so, a fake abduction had been set; a ruse with the excuse of creating a Replica that would take the name Luke Fon Fabre.

However, the person who promised this had failed to dispose of the original Luke; a promising Arte user since a young age. He had managed to escape and arrive at his Family estate months later… only to find out he had been replaced by a faulty fake.

He could have broken in and made his presence known and be done with the fake… only to stop as they saw the brightness and kindness in his parents' eyes, an affection they rarely had shown him… it was then that he understood everything; turning every bit of affection he had for his parents and family into hate and resentment.

Asch the Bloody had made his choice, among many others that resulted in the dead of many; he had a hand in the death of Yuri's father, aiding an assassin whose last name he adopted as his own.

Lloyd's and Drake's sister was also included. The Bloody Winter had been partly orchestrated by him in an attempt to kill Luke; killing the wrong person instead.

The Replica that had taken his name, that managed to survive all of this time with the help of others, went through an existential crisis. But in a way, he became a little more humble out of that revelation… but he didn't give Asch the satisfaction.

"He saw himself as a righteous person; fighting for the rights of all Faunus, for a better future." Luke snorted. "But we all knew it was just an excuse to destroy the 'status quo' that denied his existence for being born a Faunus." He looked at Adam from afar. "If you think about it, that was the initial catalyst as to why those two got along in the first place."

He sighed. "I know my existence doomed him; being the biggest insult in his life… had he targeted me alone, I would have accepted it… but that didn't give him the right to ruin and target others." He stood up, staring straight at the Goblin before walking towards the others. "I do not regret taking his name, nor do I regret killing him; both of us chose who we wanted to be ."

The Goblin stared for a moment, recalling the file Adam had given him. There was a small note stating Luke might have an inferiority complex of sorts… it was there, Lett could notice it seeing how all of his brothers were capable individuals. Even so, he hated to admit it, Luke had far more mental fortitude than him… and that made him feel inadequate.

"… I really should focus on Level up."


"Gross," Adam looked at the Gargoyle, nodding at him so he would open his mouth towards the target; releasing a near-silent roar before turning into stone.

"A Gargoyle with the semblance of turning others into stone… " Luke thought out loud, earning a glare from the Xenos as the others thought the irony was lost to no one.

"Three months," Adam fixed his sleeve, ready to retrieve the Centurion without any struggle. "That was the last time I saw this bitch in the Dungeon," he looked at Drake. "I suppose I have to thank you for that one."

The former Noble didn't reply, recalling the first time he opened his eyes in this World; immediately facing a redhead that had successfully managed to trigger him in less than five seconds. "Talk about bad first impressions." He glared back at Adam. "What's her deal, anyway? I can tell she's a Xenos, but she isn't with you."

"Not in the slightest," he narrowed his eyes at the charcoal-like body on the ground. "Revis is someone that follows the 'will of the Dungeon'. Besides that, she's affiliated with the Remnants of Evilus."

Drake and Luke stared at her for a second, blinking while staring at her body before looking at each other; blinking once more before finally looking at Adam with raised eyebrows. "Who the fuck is Revis?"

Adam looked at Lett and Gross in a similar fashion, pointing at the body.

"That's not her name," Drake commented, recalling their first meeting. "Her name was blurry as hell, but I could make it out. Couldn't Tenebrae see it?"

The Knight of Ratatosk shook his head. "His Authority over the Darkness was weakened after you beat Ratatosk; that includes most of what you would usually see with the Darkness." He looked at him curiously. "What's her true name, anyway?"

"It says it's Alis-" he shut his mouth instantly, feeling his ear twitch erratically for a moment.

Lett stared confused, noticing the blonde just stayed still for a second; Luke was looking around with glowing eyes, as well. Lett infused his eyes with Aura, looking above in the process… the whole floor around them blew up in that instance.

"Everybody close!" Adam pushed him, already reacting to the situation better than the Goblin did.

"Flynn!" Drake shouted, seeing Luke being replaced by the Fourth Guardian, instantly raising his hands to create a shield of light around them. Meanwhile, Drake and Adam kept looking around, as if trying to pinpoint something among the infernal fire and stones descending on them.

"Do you see them!?"

"Just barely!" Drake replied to Adam, narrowing his eyes in defeat. "Brace yourselves!"

They fell, still inside of the shield of light made by Flynn.

"How the fuck were these planted!?"

"Focus on that later!" Adam looked up, the fire and debris of the floors still falling down. The intensity didn't seem to be going down; it seemed to be increasing. "There must still be more bombs going off up there." The flames overtook them, hearing more explosions around the area as they continued falling, not realizing the Floor below them had been completely wiped out.

*CRACK*

Lett's eyes widened, looking around. "Don't tell me the shield is breaking!?"

"It isn't the shield," Flynn muttered in an ominous tone, looking over his shoulder. Lett's eyes darted in the same direction, seeing Revis' stone body breaking free.

No one had time to say anything.

An explosion of wind took place inside of the shield, breaking it from the inside as they all fell. They got separated, being protected by their Aura from the flames until they finally got out of the radius, falling onto the next floor.

"Where's Revis!?" Adam asked, looking around as only Drake and Flynn stood on the floor, looking around the Darkness.

"I am look-" Drake stopped talking, instantly rushing at Adam, retrieving his blade from the Darkness before running past him.

*CLASH*

The Faunus turned around, seeing Aurion parrying a massive black hand from the Darkness. "Udaeus." Adam thought out loud, figuring out they had landed right on his spawn point… but something didn't make sense.

This part of the floor was usually brighter… but it was completely pitch black for some reason; being only slightly illuminated by the flames above them. "I will deal with him! You focus on the Centurion!"

Adam nodded, ready to go with Flynn to look for Revis after spotting her limping away.

Their ears twitched around, hearing something heavy falling from the floors above, straight into Udaeus.

"… that works for me!" he went for the others, ignoring the sound of a raging beast behind him; nor the two other massive bodies that landed on the floor near to Udaeus. "Any luck!?"

They continued looking around, avoiding the debris from above before Adam finally tackled Revis the ground. Flynn didn't waste a moment, creating shields that forced her limbs on the ground.

"We don't have the luxury of a safe extraction; do it now!"

The Knight of Ratatosk didn't need to hear it twice, instantly running his hand into her body to retrieve the Centurion; her screams almost overpowered the explosions above them.

The wind became erratic again, his body started to glow. "Not going to make it in time!"

'You have to stop it! She's gonna-' Flynn could no longer hear Jude's warning, feeling someone getting hold of the back of his shirt before being pushed back a good couple of meters.

"… Drake?" Flynn saw how his brother had forced him back, giving them a well-known look before Revis' body exploded into a bright green light.


"And that's what happened," Jude stated, explaining he had quickly switched places with Flynn to contain the domain made by Revis.

"Gross and I had been knocked out by the fall; Jude was already trying his best to keep that thing under check when we woke up." The Waitresses and Lili remained quiet at Lett's words. "It all just happened so fast."

Jude had explained neither Drake nor the others could have detected the bombs seeing the energy of the fight was polluting all of the area; this made it almost impossible to see through the walls in the Dungeon.

Ryuu took a deep breath, and sighed; her hands trembled unconsciously. "I take it the moment the dome was created was the moment the Tornado almost wiped out the city."

Jude nodded. "Drake could see how Revis' Aura started to leak outside the Dungeon. Fortunately, we had hope on the failsafe we left around the Hostess," he looked down. "Sadly, things went down south pretty quickly here."

"It was out of your control nya~" Chloe stated, looking over at Lett. "Don't let it get to you?"

The Goblin adopted a bland expression under his cloak as she patted his head. It was at that very moment he had wondered at what moment he ended up sitting on her legs like some kind of small child… no, he was being honest; he didn't know at what time that happened.

"Umm…" he looked at the others. "What's up with her?"

"Ah…" Lunor rubbed the side of her head uncomfortably. "She has a… type, and a certain obsession with it."

"Type?" Lett's question was answered with a motion of her hand; indicating someone of short height. "Oh hell no! I am not a brat!"

"You say that, but you seem pretty fucking satisfied, you damn Goblin."

He was. "Fuck off, Luke!"

"Yeah nya~" Chloe embraced him from behind. "Don't call him that nya~. Only because he's a Pallum doesn't mean you have to insult him."

The Goblin in disguise swallowed his pride, keeping quiet and just enjoying the moment.

"He even tamed a Gargoyle and taught him how to talk nya~."

Lett didn't dare to look in Gross' direction, knowing his fellow Xenos was pretty much murdering with his glare.

"Do you think Evilus was responsible for the bombing?"

Everyone looked back at Ryuu, railing the conversation back in the right direction.

"We can't rule out Loki and Freya Familia; Drake already had an altercation with them."

Jude shook his head at Lunor. "No," his hand traced the poster; being the sole reason as to why those two Familias could not be the Masterminds of these events. But he couldn't figure out how Evilus could get their hands on this, either. "Thinking about it, let's just get out of this situation first before we start pointing fingers. However, there's something I would like to ask you, Miss Lion."

Ryuu snapped, having been deep in thought.

"I can sense you are being rather tense; if there's something you might want to share with us, please do so."

The Elf stared for a moment, recalling all of the details of what had happened… as vague as they were. "After the floors were blown up… did you see a Monster lurking around?"

Jude raised an eyebrow, recalling the event from Flynn's and Drake's point of view. "I am afraid I can say I have."

Ryuu sighed in defeat, knowing things could not be as simple as they were. Even as she was sitting now, she could not hear but feel the breathing of the Monster right next to her neck. "Just like Udaeus has a condition for it to use its sword, there's a certain Monster that only spawns when a floor suffers a certain amount of damage." Her voice became tense. "It's called-"

"Ah, you mean the Juggernaut? Yeah, scary shit." Ryuu turned her head towards Lett, almost mechanically as her eye twitched. "What?"

"… how do you know about that?" Ryuu asked, feeling almost mocked at how easygoing he sounded with this subject.

"I live here; how do you know about that?" Lett countered, feeling pressured at the glare he was receiving.

"That Monster killed my whole Familia."

That killed whatever sound there was in the area, making Lett realize he might have fucked up without even trying.

But it was a pair of sighs that broke the silence.

"Oh, great," two voices came out of Jude's direction; the youngest Guardian face palmed as Yuri Lowell and Luke Fon Fabre continued their line of thought. "drama."

Ryuu Lion just twitched, not feeling like thinking about doing anything at all.


"Are you sure about this?" Shakti Varma asked, observing as Tsubaki was about to jump off a window from the inn they were staying at. "What if Loki Familia asks for you in the morning?"

Tsubaki stopped, having already placed a leg on the edge of the window. "Are you being serious?" she snorted, looking back at her friend. "There's already a person that's 'dead' -an asshole-, but still a person. The morale is so low that minor Familias have already returned to the surface, and many more will do it in the morning. The way I see it, this incursion was a magnificent failure." The Blacksmith had no shame in being joyful about it. Even so, she couldn't help but sigh at the glare Shakti gave her.

"Listen," she walked back, placing her hand on Shakti's shoulder. "If anyone asks, tell them I said 'I went back to the city to see if my friend was back.'"

The Captain of the Ganesha Familia gave her a blank state. "You honestly can't expect it to be so simple."

"Shakti, dear!" She walked back to the window. "It is that simple." And then she jumped off, leaving Shakti to sigh in defeat as she went to close the window.

Tsubaki sneaked through the streets of Rivira, taking the long route to head to the lower Floors. She took advantage of the failure of the incursion to go check on Drake and the rest.

However, not everything was positive.

Many Familias now had some level of insight regarding Drake, and the issue of who sent the poster was still an enigma. The peace that Drake had wanted, the peace that she and Hephaestus wanted for him was nothing more than a feeble dream now… and there was no face to put the blame on.

She sighed, sneaking around the guards to the lower Floors; not wasting any time rushing down… completely unaware of the pair of yellow eyes following her every step.


"Well… this was a fine mess." Gareth Landrock stated, taking a sip from a glass of ale.

"This is a fine mess," Finn stated, sitting on a couch, staring at a table with another glass full of ale with a complex expression; no usual smile to see on his face.

They were in a large room inside an inn in Rivira, with every executive except for Bete.

The Captains of many Familias had stated their resignation from the incursion. This, of course, included Apollo Familia; whose Captain was still unresponsive… just as the Good Doctor had stated.

He knew Freya Familia was still on board, albeit for their own reasons.

But anyone else… almost three-quarters of the incursion was gone. The fact that they decided to leave on his watch stung more than any other kind of failed expedition or incursion he has led in the past.

"If you have any way of getting past the Good Doctor; I am all ears." Riveria was the most analytical of the three, and even she couldn't see a way to convince Jude to let them help... or to beat him.

"He's just one person," Tione Hiryute made her presence known; having heard of the events that transpired on the lower Floors. "Even if he's resourceful, we are still more-"

"Tione," she instantly froze at the sound of her name in an almost scolding tone.

"Captain?"

"I want you to recall every single interaction with him and his brothers," the lack of his usual smile really unnerved her. "None of those encounters has resulted in our favor."

The first time they met Drake was in the Hostess.

The time Bete had been knocked out with a single kick by Jude, no less.

Her own little bout with Zelos in the middle of the street; ending up with her having a broken arm from merely punching the red-haired bastard.

The help they got from Flynn. Even if they were technically on the same side, they witnessed his martial and magical prowess.

And of course, right afterwards, when Drake had managed to subdue them without effort after his fight with an individual known as Adam Taurus.

And now most recently, the Blind Wolf who could control wind with ease.

… none of those scenarios paint the chances for Loki Familia.

Not to mention Freya Familia has a track record as bad as them.

"Sure, we might stand a chance against a single one of his brothers…" he pondered for a moment, tightening his hands together. "But the losses we could suffer are not worth it."

Tione looked down, defeated, with no words that could muster Courage among their peers.

"So, that lands the question… what do we do now?" Riveria pondered out loud.

The whole city had their eyes on them, expecting to get results. Now, it was only a matter of hours before the city had an idea of what was going on… and called on their ineptitude in the process.

"We did the right thing," The Pallum commented, justifying himself with how little information they had. "The city needed answers."

"And we got them," The High-Elf nodded. "How the city and other Gods will see it… it is not up to us."

Easier said than done.

Getting vague answers and no solutions were signs of criticism.

Gareth sighed, seeing Finn's head dropping more and more with every word exchange. "We can't win them all, Pallum."

Finn chuckled. "We can't lose them all either, and yet I feel that's all we are getting as of late." He sighed in defeat, finally taking a sip of his ale in resignation.

Riveria looked at Finn, finally hitting a breaking point, with no path to take in their current predicament.

"Maybe we should keep a small profile for a while," Riveria suggested. "Taking quests from the Guild to recover some of the money of our treasury; even those outside of the city."

Her idea went more with the thought of letting things die down a little. Hoping people would eventually forget about it, or that some other Familia would cause an even bigger mess.

Finn, of course, could decipher the meaning between Riveria's words. "I suppose there's a merit in taking things slow." He smiled a little, trying to reach for something positive out of all of this.

"Now that we are on the subject," Tiona Hiryute said, mouth full of food as she spoke. "I have been trying to test some things for a while!"

Riveria pinched the bridge between her nose. "Stop speaking with a full mouth."

"Sorry." Tiona swallowed. "Anyway, I was thinking we could test the rumor about Udaeus Black Sword."

"Ah, I have heard about it. That was the drop item Tsubaki had registered as her finding."

Gareth stopped for a moment, glass millimeters away from his lips; recalling a conversation he had with Tsubaki some time ago.

"And another rumor I heard, about a giant sword dropped from a monster." He stated, hearing the rumors from the blacksmith near the Hephaestus Familia district earlier in the day. "That sounds like a story to tell."

"Yeah! Apparently, the Monster Rex will only use it if the group he's facing is small! It has already been confirmed." Tiona continued enthusiastically. "I want to see if we can beat it and get one! Like the one that red-haired bastard had."

There was a long silence in the other room, which made the Dwarf feel confused. "Someone gave it to me, so there isn't much to tell really."

"Oh." He was about to press for more, but thought that perhaps her silence indicated it was something personal. "Mind forging something with it?"

"When you say red-haired bastard…" Finn raised an eyebrow.

"She means Zelos," Tione sighed. "It happened during the incident of the Monster causing the earthquakes. Zelos had dropped off Udaeus' floor with a massive black sword," she snorted. "Overcompensating for something much?"

Gareth's brain started to overheat, recalling more moments with Tsubaki; including the time she gave him his new black ax.

"Pay when you can," she stated, walking to her side before taking a seat while Gareth examined the Black Ax with golden ornaments. "My best normal up to date!"

He looked at it, recalling the timing he received it had been a little after the incident Tione mentioned.

"Could it be?" The Dwarf thought out loud, gaining Riveria's attention.

"… Gareth?" She asked, with a little tone of worriedness. His eyes were wide open; almost red by how long they had been open… and she swore her eyes would see smoke coming off his ears. "Are you ok?"

This earned everyone's attention.

"Not now Elf, I am about to have a… a… a…" he could not find the word for it.

"Idea, revelation, andropause?"

Riveria looked at Tiona with a hint of surprise. "Do you even know what that last one means?"

"Epiphany!" he slammed his glass on the chair's arm. "I am having an epiphany!"

The black sword the twins saw in Zelos' hand.

The black sword that all the Blacksmiths in the city had been talking about was in Tsubaki's possession.

The black ax Tsubaki had given him soon after.

And finally-

There was a ton of paper on the floor which Gareth could only identify as doodles at first glance. His perception changed when he picked one of them and checked it.

"High Frequency Blades…" ' Gareth raised an eyebrow at the title, looking at the runes below to see they were scratched halfway, just like the rest. 'Looks like the lass is having a hard time with this.'

"Anyway, what have you been up to?" he asked, recalling the papers in her room. "Learning something new, perhaps?"

Tsubaki groaned, rubbing the side of her head in annoyance. "You sound just like the asshole that gave me this knowledge."

There was another nod. "He told me he would come back when I decided to start acting my age… I kicked him out after that… literally."

That blade… that blade that Ais had been willing to take as her own and caused an incident with their Familias… it was not something Tsubaki had been trying to replicate from just meeting Drake by chance… it was something she herself had forged… from the very friend she was looking for; the very same friend that had called her OLD!

the very same friend who taught her how to forge those blades.

"Tsubaki!" he suddenly stood up, making everyone be taken aback by his sudden outburst. "We need to get Tsubaki here!"

"For Loki's sake, calm down you damn oaf!" Riveria exhaled calmly, trying to relax while Finn got back in business mode.

"Gareth, what are you talking about?" Finn's question was not answered. Seeing Gareth opted to take all of his remaining ale in a single go.

"The sword, the ax, the person Tsubaki was looking for is-"

*BANG*

The door slammed open, revealing one Bete Loga; looking around the whole room; killing Gareth's momentum in an instant.

"Bete… what's wrong?" Riveria asked, narrowing his eyes as she recalled he had said he would keep an eye on-

"Where's Ais?" He asked with a grave tone in his voice.


Tsubaki rushed through the Dungeon, having already run past Water City not too long ago; stopping as she reached a dead end in a massive hall… most likely where Monsters would spawn in an ambush.

No… she hadn't made a wrong turn; Rita had been guiding her the whole time.

"Make no mistake, this is solemnly on me," she said, rubbing the side of her head in annoyance. "I should have realized sooner I was being tailed… totally on me."

Her eye narrowed dangerously, looking over her shoulder with a deathly glare. "So come out already, you damn broken doll."

By this point, Tsubaki had no animosity towards the Adventurer known as Ais Wallenstein… now it wasn't the case either, seeing she already had her rapier drawn; eyes lacking any brightness whatsoever… carrying a certain darkness that was not new of the girl in front of her.

"I think I made it clear, I am not forging you a damn sword."

Ais shook her head. "No… I am not addressing a Blacksmith… but an ally of my enemy."

Tsubaki looked honestly puzzled at her. "The hell are you talking about?" She adopted her best poker face. 'Nope… Nope… Nope… hell naw! I am not accepting this; No snowball chance in hell that I was discovered by Ais 'Air Head' Wallenstein of all people!'

Drake would make it his life mission to make sure she never forgot that fact.

"I keep recalling the last moments in your forge; when you sneaked up on me."

The Blacksmith deadpanned. "You were distracted. Get the facts right."

Ais ignored her. "You shouted [Beast]… the same name as one of his techniques…" she narrowed her eyes. "After that, it was easy to connect you as the one that forged his blade… it was identical to his."

They stared at each other; with a slight scowl forming on Ais' face as she pointed her rapier at Tsubaki… who just chuckled as her hand went for the back of her neck.

"This is so fucking embarrassing," she sighed in defeat. "If anything, I blame Drake seeing he said some shit about shouting the attack to make stronger; and here's the dumbass who did it as well in the end! Damn!"

Ais' scowl deepened, seeing as she wasn't being taken seriously.

"Ok then Miss Airhead… " Tsubaki gave her a death glare again. "What do you expect to achieve at this very moment? Because we both know you didn't think this through seeing you didn't share this information with your Familia."

Tsubaki can't say she didn't see this coming; the girl had already become too erratic… and now she was even keeping her Familia in the dark. Suffice it to say, the Captain of the Hephaestus Familia had to admit she had been looking for this kind of chance. No, not beating a child who was clearly in need of a good disciplinary action… but a test subject.

"Beating you, and taking whatever you have on you to kill him."

Tsubaki's glare broke again into a snort, taking something off her cloak… what seemed to be some kind of short pole with a lot of ornaments… and runes. "You know… it is becoming harder and harder to take you seriously with every naïve thought that comes out of your mouth," she pressed a button, making the pole extend before the upper end expanded into the head of a hammer; cracking blue Lightning. "Keep dreaming, bitch."


OMAKE - Luke's Semblance Dependency

"Can you bitches stop glaring in this direction? You are making Jude uncomfortable." Luke's voice echoed through the dark halls of the Dungeons while Jude laughed awkwardly.

"I am sorry, we just can't get around how all of you seem to have some kind of stupid-like skill that could make anyone's lives easier," Lunor complained, earning hums of approval from the waitress and Lili.

"Although I am not one to complain about the things I don't have; I do have to admit all four repertoire seems incredibly useful." Ryuu commented, thinking about all the skills she had seen so far.

Drake's abilities with the shadows; being able to store things in them has saved them a lot of time and effort when re-stocking.

Yuri's speed; they all recalled the time he single-handedly managed the kitchen while the whole staff was incapacitated due to Bete's attack.

Flynn's sun-like smile… ok, that was not a skill, but it was still bullshit.

And now, there was Luke's adaptability… probably the most ridiculous but also the most useful out of the repertoire.

"To be able to adapt to a deathly situation is something any Adventurer would find great to have."

"Ryuu, honey," The Elf fought the urge to scowl at Zelos' voice. "You have to accept the fact you have no rizz whatsoever, and you are the target of everyone's jokes; having skills won't chage that for you."

The Elf could feel how her confidence took a blow, doing her best to keep her head up.

"Amen/True nya~/ Sorry Miss Ryuu, but he's right."

Her so-called party wasn't any help either. "Am I truly destined to always be the subject of everyone's joke?"

Everyone just stared at her for a second, seeing her head slump a little.

"Dark," Lunor muttered, looking back at Jude's direction. "If I had such a skill, I wouldn't have problems when dealing with the checks for the patrons at the Hostess."

"You are bad at math, we get it nya~" Chloe ignored her friend's murderous glare. "I wouldn't have to worry about breaking dishes if I had that skill, nya~."

"Pretty sure not even a skill can counter your stupidity." Lunor's comment earned the cat's ire, seeing Chloe didn't waste a single moment in tackling the Brawler to the ground.

Lili for her part simply sighed. "It would be useful for Lili to have such an ability; she would be able to tackle her daily Captain duties with ease with it"

"Good to know my training feels less anguishing than paperwork," Jude commented, not hiding the relief in his tone at knowing his training regimen wasn't too hard on the Pallum. "Even so, I wouldn't suggest such a mentality; you might find yourselves incredibly dependent on it if so…"

"... Don't think I don't recognize you are addressing me with that comment, Jude." Luke didn't waste a moment in snarking back. "I am not dependent on it, only when times call for it."

Yuri snorted. "Like fixing a broken wall."

"Oh, you motherfucker." The waitresses blinked. Luke had been the one who fixed the hole Drake had done after punishing Hermes; they recalled how Luke had initially just stood there without doing anything… like a small kid who didn't know what he was doing, only to suddenly start working as if he had been fixing walls his whole life.

"No shit you took so long to start! You were just waiting for your skill to take effect; you clever bastard."

They heard groans, making them imagine Luke blushing at the fact he had been caught up. "I. AM. NOT. DEPENDANT. OF. IT."

"No need to be flustered, dude; not everyone is good at everything… it is not like you use it for every aspect of your life."

Yuri snorted, again.

"Don't you fucking dare-" Luke tried to stop his brother, only to fail miserably.

"His girlfriend says otherwise."

Absolute silence.

"Why are you like this?" Guy asked, seeing an impending argument approaching.

"It has been a while since I messed with someone. Besides, it was either him or you, 'Mr. former I am afraid of women'."

Guy sighed, taking a metaphorical step back before Luke spoke. "I can explain."

"Dude, really, you don't have to." Lunor tried to stay away from this as well; not wanting to hear someone complain as to why they were bad in bed.

"I am not the one with the problem, it's her."

The waitresses could hear several facepalms from Jude's direction; including the good Doctor himself.

"Master Luke, you are not helping your case here," Lili commented, taking a little comfort in this as payback for the Simba incident.

"She's an opera singer, for crying out loud," Luke argued. No, that was a legitimate excuse in this case.

Misterica 'Tear' Grants was considered one of the youngest talents in the Opera field. However, that talent could be deathly when reaching a 'high note', to the point the listener's eardrums would be destroyed.

"Do you have any idea how many times I have gone deaf because of her?"

"Sure thing." they all replied, not believing one bit that he wasn't the one with the problem.

"My job here is done."

"You started this, and didn't even end it!" Flynn commented, painfully seeing how Luke tried to save himself with no real progress in that matter.

"Meh"


AN: It didn't take me two months to post this, nice!

Sadly, the next chapter is gonna take a while. I have to do a certification at least once a year… and I have been procrastinating with other 'important' things. So it might take a little while before I can post the next chapter.

There's also the fact that I would like to write a Path to Nowhere story; I really love that game. I would like to write a few chapters at the very least, but who knows if I will actually do it around this time.

There's also Black Myth Wukong… so many things, so little time.

Beta-reader: Don't forget about Space Marine 2.

Notes:

-The whole thing with 'post-game' content is a jab at JRPGs, seeing as there are usually stupid amounts of post-content after the game. And seeing as The Tales Of is basically a JRPG, the joke writes itself.

-The whole thing with the Replicas is from the Tales of Abyss, the game Luke and Guy are from. I have mixed feelings with this because I lost the motivation of writing the original story in the middle of this arc. The writing of RWBY was already poor at that time. So I tried to more or less summarize his whole character arc; I know, show, don't tell. but if I were to do that it would take me like five chapters… not to mention the danmachi section would be totally scrapped outside of the flashback.

-Miscommunication, hate to see it… or not. Funny how Loki Familia could have figured out the connection between Drake and Tsubaki if they had talked about other kinds of rumors. On that note, here I am now wondering if I made Ais a little too smart by figuring out the connection on her own merit. I am sure BR will have something to say about it.

Beta-reader: Nah, you did good. Ais is dumb, but she is not that dumb. She could figure at least this much by herself.

-This is more of a joke and not much of a note. Funny how every time Finn is about to give up on getting a W, something always pulls him right back in; no matter how small the chance of that W actually is.

-The consequences of three floors being wiped clean already spawned and made an appearance; it is implicit in the chapter.

-Finally, the fight that no one saw coming from a mile away (sarcasm). Not much to say about that besides Tsubaki finally having a test subject on weapons other than Drake.

Beta-reader:...I hope you have implemented that favorite weapon of mine in this fight. I'm watching you -_-