Shoutout to the Calamity Lore Server on Discord for helping me write this story.

Unfortunately, I would also like to let y'all know that the Calamity mod is about to undergo a big lore overhaul at some undefined point in the future, and I'm not sure how it might affect the story.

Only time will tell, I suppose.

review corner

Spazmatism - you gotta share that story with us fam

Zapper - the dialog bit should be fixed now

Edit: Added a small teaser to the end.

Kuraima rolled out of the way as the scarf-turned-monster charged at him with its gaping maw wide open.

'Damnit! A sharp weapon would be really good right about now!' He thought to himself, as he gave the worm a strong thwack with his baton, which really didn't do much except mildly rustling its jimmies.

'I'm gonna need some time to build my Rage up. Maybe my Adrenaline, too— I haven't had a chance to actually use that one. Better late than never!'

"Astrum Bless!" Kuraima called out, causing [Stella Dominus] to manifest as his baton began to glow with Astral Energy.

Helenski gasped when she saw the medallion materialize out of nowhere.

Well, that at least addressed the issue of whether or not Kuraima was familiar with the world of the supernatural.

Now, onto more pressing matters…

The Astral Student quickly found himself in a repetitive loop.

Dodge, thwack, dodge, whack.

Though the beast was getting bruised with each hit, so there was at least some improvement.

"Hoh? You're still standing? Looks like I will have to switch things up!"

The Eater's jaws gripped the ground, anchoring itself as it hoisted Eatah into the air, where neon green flames formed in one hand, and a vile-looking spitball in the other.

"Haaaah!" She released a battlecry, throwing a fireball at him. It was pretty slow, so he was able to dodge it quite easily.

However, when it landed in the fountain's water pool, the water rippled quite violently, as if being displaced by the eldritch flames.

"Hohohoho~ Gaze upon my Cursed Flames! Not even water can extinguish them!"

Oh, so it's not 'as if'. As a matter of fact, it was displacing the water as it boiled it on the spot, leaving little to no room to bubble up.

…..Kuraima's face turned pale. If that shit struck him, he'd be in for a world of hurt.

'A-Alright, just...be calm...and distract her until my abilities charge up.'

"...O-Okay, but what's the spitball do?"

"...Excuse me?"

"The spitball! What the fuck does it do?!"

"What do you mean?! It's just a spitball!" She threw it at him, where he kinda just stepped to the side due to its surprisingly slow speed.

"...Oh, okay. Good to know!" He swung his baton, causing one of the many eyes on the Eater's body to pop like a balloon.

Whack!

"Hey! Don't attack me while I'm distracted!"

"Name one better time to attack!"

"Heh, nice try, but witty remarks won't get you anywhere!"

She swung around, firing a mixture of Cursed Flames and Vile Spitballs at the Astral Champion, who did his best to just simply move out of the way.

"You can't hop around forever!" She jeered at him, landing on the ground as she sent her worm beast burrowing beneath the surface. Moments later, it popped up out of the ground, sending Kuriama stumbling until he completely lost his balance and fell over.

"Kuraima!" Sola-san called out in worry, which unfortunately brought the worm master's attention to her. The wicked girl grinned as the sickening sounds of meat being torn came from behind as the worm doubled in length and detached itself from Eatah's scarf.

"Ohoh? You're still here? We were told about you…" She put a hand to her chin, as if deep in thought. "Ah, yes, apparently you're very important, in more ways than one~!"

She waltzed over to the short platinum-haired girl with a somewhat exaggerated swaying of the hips. Meanwhile, Kuraima scrambled around, trying to avoid the now-loose worm.

"A hostage and revenge, now that's a combo meal if I ever heard one~" Eatah cooed, gently stroking a lock of Sola's hair.

Her victim stood there, frozen in fear, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Tell me, little girl...what secrets do you hold?"

Once more, the visions returned.

"Kuraima" found himself in a wicked purple landscape, one that reeked of rot and other forms of sinnery.

The worm "Not-Kuraima" was fighting was several times bigger than whatever Eatah was controlling. However, the "faker" was using a different sword than last time; a short blade whose appearance seemed to ignore the proper lighting, refusing to reflect any light short of the brightest of shines.

[Bane of Light]

Of course, the faker seemed to struggle just as much like the real deal, given the blade's short-range.

"Do you see, my student?" The man in the mechanical red armor said, who had his arms crossed once more as he watched over his pupil. "You won't always have the chance to choose your battles. This may be a little extreme for a hands-on lesson, but given how Terraria works...well, who knows? This might pale in comparison."

The man smiled and shrugged. "Aye, but if you're struggling...well, a good warrior takes advantage of his or her surroundings." He smirked, his eyes indicatively darting between the samurai-wannabe and a dense patch of thorns growing out of the ground.

With that, Kuraima had an idea.

"[Third Eye]!" Kuraima called out, activating his wall-hack ability. In his vision, the world revealed its secrets.

The Eater of Worlds became fully visible, and so did the ground below.

Jackpot! His power was able to detect the presence of electrical cables running beneath the ground.

If he could lure the beast and trick it into biting the wires…

"Come at me!" The Astral Student called, trying to goad the Eater. The beast curled around to let its innumerable eyes get a solid gaze upon him, as if wary of something.

Roaring, it charged at him, so he just jumped out of the way as the beast dug into the ground.

All according to kekaiku! [TN's note: Keikaku means plan]

The Eater dove straight into the trap, biting into thick, highly dangerous electrical cabling, causing the nearby park lamps to flicker wildly.

An unexpectedly high-pitched squeal emanated from the worm as it seized up, shriveled, and finally collapsed, slowly fading away in coagulated flakes of dust.

"Whew…" He wiped the sweat off of his brow. "That was...easy."

"Aah! Get your hands off of me!"

He spun around to see Sola deliver a solid punch straight into Eatah's face. When the purple gal finally regained her footing, she pulled her hand away to reveal a bloody nose.

"You BITCH! You're gonna pay for that!" She screeched, pulling a knife.

"Ahem."

When she began to turn her head, Kuraima slammed his baton into her face, creating a visible shockwave as several teeth flew outwards. From there, she straight up collapsed like a bag of rocks.

Eatah, the wielder of [Corruptus Vermis] has been defeated!

Conditions have been met.

Deep inside [Stella Dominus], something stirred.

Glowing silver chains extended ad infinitum into the void of the soul, all while converging at a single point.

Two rather symmetrical chains turned bright gold and promptly shattered.

A pair of amber eyes opened and briefly gazed into the void, before slumbering once more.

"It's...it's over! We did it…!" Helenski exclaimed, looking up at the Astral Student.

"Yeah...I suppose we did…" Then, he looked down at his clearly visible Sacred Gear. "...I guess I have some explaining to do...heh."

Sola looked away shyly. "No…it's okay...you see, I—"

WHAM!

Helenski screamed as Kuraima went flying several feet through the air and landed in the fountain, courtesy of the flesh-colored tendril that just smashed into him.

"It's never that easy, you naive little imbecile."

Out of the bushes came a red-haired woman, donning a solid red tank-top and some equally red shorts.

Writhing and coiling behind her were three worm-like tendrils of various sizes that snapped at anything that moved, including each other.

She looked towards the fountain where the third-year student landed. "The name is Perfa, you should do your best to keep that name in your tiny noob brain for as long as you live. This is my Sacred Gear, [Parasitus Minuo], also known as the Perforators. I'm going to beat you to death. Are you ready?"

Kuraima pulled himself up, absolutely drenched. "Is...is that a threat?"

"No, it's a promise."

"Ah, I see. Not if I can beat you to it!"

"As in me beating you? Or you beating me?"

…

…

...

Kuraima shrugged. "Yes."

'That line was a lot wittier in my head.'

Perfa, the wielder of [Parasitus Minuo], has abruptly awoken!

Perfa began floating in the air through some unknown means, detaching and launching the smallest of her worm tendrils at Kuraima.

'Me and my big fuckin' mouth...I'm getting tired. Why does my body feel so hot?'

He scrambled to escape, trudging through the ankle-height water as fast as he could, grimacing as the "small" worm scored a glancing blow.

'Damnit, I dropped my baton…'

"Please, just sit down and give it up. Your resistance won't amount to anything but more pain and suffering."

Thankfully, his baton was still glowing, meaning he was able to easily locate it, so he grabbed it and jumped out of the fountain.

"Kuraima-san! Look out!"

But it was too late, for the student was struck by a glowing ball of red flame from above.

He screamed as his entire body felt like it was burning.

"How do you like it?! My Blood Flame is one of a kind! I'll boil you alive as your own body destroys itself from the inside!"

She then sat down on the fountain's edge, smiling smugly and crossing her arms. "But no, I won't stop there! My precious worms will tear you apart as well!"

Kuraima struggled to get up, only to be sent spiraling as the "small" worm slammed into his shoulder.

Sola ran over to his side, crouching down next to him.

"Ku-san! Ku-san!"

Kuraima held back the tears. "My...my arm! I...I can't feel it…!"

"Ah...don't worry...Everything's gonna be fine…!" She mumbled to herself putting a hand on the wound.

"Oi! Girl!" Perfa snapped. "Move it, or lose it! You're just a damsel in distress! What could you possibly hope to accomplish!"

"I...I-I…"

"Hey! LOOK AT ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU! You shortass white-haired little bitch!"

The untethered worm circled around, seeking to gore them on its boney proboscis. It lunged at them…

...only to get utterly smashed from above.

"W-What?!" The red-wearing adversary gasped, as the dust settled to that the worm's head had been squashed like a grape under Koneko's metaphorical boot, turning to ash just as the Eater of Worlds had done.

"You," She halfheartedly pointed at Perfa, "Take that back. Final warning."

"What? But...you're...HOW THOUGH?! You're so fucking short! You're...you're like the literal size of a child! That should not…what the fuck are you?!"

"R-Rook power, sista." Kuraima groaned out. "You had your chance to monologue as they always do in anime, but now it's my turn to play the Speedwagon."

He grinned through the pain, ignoring the fact that his arm was regaining feeling at a rather strange pace.

"Had you f-fucking goons done your research, you would've known that this town is the territory of TWO Devil clans! High-ranking ones, at that."

Perfa's face blanched.

"As the Rook, Koneko has immense physical strength! And...that's…shit, how the fuck do you villain types manage to get an entire paragraph's worth of dialogue just to describe your powers?"

The Astral student chuckled.

"Oh yeah, did you know that whenever you comment about her height, she grows in power!"

The Perforator queen opened her mouth to respond, before just kinda blanking out.

"Wait, is that...really her power?"

…

"Find out for yourself!" He didn't have the willpower to tell her that this is a normal ability almost all short people had, at least not in front of Koneko.

Kuraima's arm twitched as he found himself regaining control of it. "Huh, weird." He looked up at Helenski. "Did...did you work some magic there?"

Sola just looked away shyly. "U-Uhm…"

The Astral Student shrugged. "Eh, you can explain later, we're kinda in the middle of a fight."

He stood up, the jeweled nodes representing his [Rage] and [Adrenaline] glowing like stars in the sky.

The student looked down at the ground, spying Eatah's knife.

'Jackpot.'

"[Bless!]"

Kuraima's stolen knife glowed with power as it plunged into the tumor-filled body of Perfa's second worm.

"Wrrrrrryyyy!"

The Champion of Earth activated his [Rage]!

It took both hands in order not to lose his grip on the blade, even with his enhanced strength, as the beast's momentum worked against itself to leave a huge gash across its side. The worm came crashing down, where Koneko gave it a strong punch that causes various bodily fluids to go flying outwards.

The Perforator Queen winced as she saw the second worm finally go down.

"S-Stay back!" She held the last of her worms up defensively, like a snake trying to ward off a predator.

"Hey, Koneko. You haven't explained why you came here."

"Smelled like Fallen. Smelled it back at the candy shop too."

"...Are you trying to tell me that those fuckers are still up to something?"

"Not likely." She deadpanned, smacking the absolute unit of a Perforator aside when it lunged for her. "Smelled an even fouler stench. It was following you back then too."

Kuraima dug his knife into the Perfarator's main eye, spurting foul orange juices all over the place.

"I think I can see why." He nodded towards Perfa.

His short classmate grabbed the worm by the teeth, pulling Perfa into the air.

"Nooooo! Let gooOOOOO!" The worm master struggled to get the final worm to separate from her body. She was successful and started using her apparent levitation power to slow her movements through the air.

"Kuraima-san." Koneko called out. The Astral Student looked at her, and somehow, the two knew exactly what had to be done.

The shorty held her arms out as Kuraima ran up to her. He hopped, and she responded by lifting her arms, using her Rook strength to send him flying into the air.

Perfa finally righted herself, wiping the dust off of her clothes. If she could just make her escape, maybe, just maybe…

All of her hopes were dashed when out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kuraima flying towards her, enchanted baton in hand.

"URAAAAAAAAAH!"

He roared, activating his [Adrenaline] which engulfed him in a menacing green aura, blending in with the vestiges of his deep red [Rage].

"Monologue about this, bitch."

Time seemed to slow as he swung his baton with extreme prejudice. It hit her straight in the stomach, causing Perfa to spit up blood as one of her lower ribs cracked from being near the epicenter of the impact.

The force of the blow sent her cratering into the tiled pathway. She ceased moving, save for the occasional twitch and her desperate gasps for fresh air.

Kuraima landed, inspecting his handiwork as the rush from his power boosts wore out.

"Ah...that's…" He sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "...heh...I actually feel kinda bad now…"

Perfa, the wielder of [Parasitus Minuo] has been defeated!

The exhaustion finally caught up to him. "Whew...that...was a tough one. Sure am glad I had the two of you, huh?"

Helenski giggled nervously while twiddling her thumbs, meanwhile, Koneko half-heartedly shrugged.

"Well, we both have some explaining to do. So, no time like the present. Who's going first?"

"We will."

"Oh, come the fuck on!" Kuraima shouted upon hearing the unknown voice. "When will it fucking end?!"

The trio backed up against one another, frantically looking around for the speaker.

"[Third Eye]!" The Astral Champion called out, trying to find the enemy.

Instead, he found the enemies.

Dozens of large floating eyes stared back at him from every direction in the trees surrounding them.

'No…'

'No.'

'No.'

'NO.'

'NO. NO. NO.'

Two young adult males, both appearing to be roughly Kuraima's age, suddenly...teleported into the area, standing in front of the park's fountain.

Like the two girls that preceded them, they both wore outfits made up almost entirely of a single color, those being red and purple on each respective individual.

One wore a red lab coat that wove in the breeze as he menacingly stared down our heroes.

The other looked like a straight-up homeless person, with unkempt greasy hair and equally dirty-looking purple robes. Or, at least, mostly purple…

"Young adolescent male," the one in red began, "We've given you many a chance to repent for your unwarranted mayhem that resulted in the computer and utterly violent dismantling of our methamphetamine manufacturing facility, costing us massive losses in revenue and an especially huge blow to our collective morale. As such, we demand immediate retribution for your tomfoolery, lest our authoritative ringleader takes disciplinary actions against us."

"...What?"

"Eh, just ignore him." The purple hobo shrugged. "Thinks he's super intelligent because his brain is his Sacred Gear. Except he just uses big words, totally different thing."

"..." The trio just stared at them.

"...Less talk, more fighting?"

"...Yeah, let's go with that."

…W-What?!

Smar Tass, the wielder of [Sanguis Cerebrum] and Laye Z, the wielder of [Parasitus Cerebrum]...

...have awoken…!

When will it end?!

…

…

…

To be concluded in the next chapter!

A figured wearing a large brown cloak that obscured their figure inspected the ashes that remained of the warehouse which Kuraima had been accused of destroying.

They sighed, pulling their arms out from the secretive covers of their cloak, revealing a pair of bracelets. One containing a glossy red-orange gem, and the other a deep purple.

"Hmph. If you want something done right..."

The two orbs both began to secrete a strange, slime-like substance that dripped onto the blackened ground.

"...then do it yourself.