The skies were filled, cramming with hundreds of aerial vehicles that were the starskiffs, Xianzhou's trademark across all the alliance. Small, medium, large, all of the seizes for either civillian, commercial or even military purposes. A truly technological marvel of this nation. And it would seem that as of today, the traffic in the sky was more occupied than ever before.
A thing that Morte took notice while looking up to it, his eyes pensative.
"Are you going to admire the starskiffs all day or something?" Acheron pulled him out of his thoughts as she was a few meters ahead of him already, the two having ported their spacecraft on the middle of the docks area of the Luofu mothership. "You want one or anything like that?"
"Nah. I was just counting them up." Morte turned around, taking his gaze away from the starskiffs to do what he did best. Smoking. "There are 2,370 in the sky from what I see." He told to Acheron while walking past her, both hands in his pockets.
"Don't tell me you've actually counted all of them un seconds." Acheron replied, a part of hers really wondering if Morte wasn't bluffibg at all and had actually counted them. "By the way, where's this friend of yours?"
"Way more down ahead. We're gonna have to do a bit of walking to reach him." Morte responded, sighing. "I was originally thinking to land the ship closer to his place. But with how busy everyone seems today, guess we had no better option but to stop here at the port. For how popular the Luofu is, they really are lacking on parking zones."
"Hm, you could say that again." Acheron responded, taking a look at how many starskiffs and ships were in the skies. "A special type of celebration must be about to happen in here indeed."
"Quick quizz time, Acheroni!" Morte put a finger up as he continued to walk in front of the Emmanator of Nihility. "What do you know about the Xianzhou and its culture?"
Not having any better to do, Acheron accepted to give an answer to him. "For what I can recall, the Xianzhou people used to share some of their culture with that of my home planet. While the Alliance is heard of pratically everywhere in the cosmos, the people of my planet used to have an even closer bond with them due to the similarities in both of our societies. The clothes, food, music. If I remember well, the Xianzhou was even our main customer as we were to them when it came to trading. It was almost as a feel of kinship despite the differences..." She said with a sign of sorrow, having barely the glimpses of the faint memories from those times. When her home still exited. When she had her previous life. "And then...all of it was gone. Fading in the dark abyss of space. Nothing mattered anymore."
"It came to its end then." Morte replied in the same seriousness Acheron was speaking, a short silence falling between them. "...Buuut look on the bright side, Acheroni." He smirked, pointing at her. "That would make you a relic of a lost culture! Isn't it awsome?"
"You're unbelivable." Acheron frowned with some distaste, diverting her gaze. Morte seemed to not have any limits when it came to joke about other people's tragedies whatsoever. But she had to agree, on some degree, that being a survivor of a destroyed plane that didn't exist anymore could make others consider her as unique. Her whole existence could be seen as unique. Yet, it was an uniqueness the the Self-Annihilator didn't asked for and never wanted. Leaving that thought behind, she continued to walk alongside Morte.
"..."
"!" However, her senses become aware. Something was approaching in the distance. The footsteps were steady and quick. The movements agile. Yet, the hearts and blood runned and beat faster, almost in a sick frenzy. A mindless instinct to kill taking on how violent and lunatic the sound of the heartbeats sounded. "..." Without warning, Acheron stopped walking, her hand subtly on her sword's hilt from the split second she detected hostile forces coming for them.
"Wow! You're getting the hang of it already!" Taking a few steps further, Morte also ended up coming to a halt. "Also...Sense of dejá vù?"
In the blink of an eye, two enemies appear from above the containers and tried to attack Morte, who slashed down the first one with his scythe whereas Acheron cut off the second one with the same precision as her companion.
Falling to pieces, the cut sliced bodies of the duo quickly regenerated, back on their feet.
"Ah, the famous mara-strucks." Morte grinned as he gave a look to the infected, zomb'ish' creatures. "Looking as lively as ever!"
"So this is the curse of the Plagues Author on mortals." Acheron commented, squinting her gaze on the enemies, more appearing shortly after, surrounding them. "Hphm. Another 'warm' welcome, it seems."
"Rinse and repeat, Acheron. Rinse and repeat." Morte told to her a bit exhaustedly. At this point, having these type encounters against nobodies was becoming quite redundant for him. A change on the welcome would be nice. "Anyways, play the requiem!"
And the battle begun. If it even could be called a battle as it hardly lasted barely half a minute, all of the mara-strucks having been soundly defeated without worries. As the last one had fallen, Acheron stored back her sheated sword, the zone they were in now filled with the corpses of the corrupted beings. She couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for how unpleasent was the state they ended up in. "Mara-struck...how awful. To have a fate as cruel as this. No control of thoughts, actions, speech. Nothing at all. Even their bodies cannot belong to them anymore. This is not living anymore. It's already being dead." She commented. Despite having many of her senses taken away from her since IX came in contact with her, Acheron still had control and fuctions over her own body. The same thing couldn't be said to these poor souls who have completly lost the sense of self. She wished that with this fight, their souls could finally get rest and depart in peace.
"..."
Being met with silence, Acheron found it weird that her mind was able to contemplate and ruminate on the scenario without having the annoying voice speak something about it. "Hm, what's the matter? Don't you have anything sarcastic to-huh?" Turning around, expecting to see Morte, Acheron instead was surpridingly met by the sight of nobody. The man was nowhere to be seen. "Where did he go? Morte?"
"Oi, Acheron!" Morte's voice speaked, responding to her. "Over here!"
Trying to find the source of his voice, the Self-Annihilator's eyes still weren't seeing him, confused. "Over whe-" As her feet were stepping around, she felt the tip of her foot touch something as well as the sound of something rolling.
"Down here." Morte speaked, gaining Acheron's attention who then looked down near her feet and got extremely baffled by what she was seeing just now.
"Ah?! What a..." Right next to her feet and on the floor, there he was. Morte. Or at least, what was present of him. "You're...a head?" Acheron said in face of the absurdity she was witnessing.
"Surpirsed?" Morte smirked to her, liking the reaction.
"What happened exactly? Where's the rest of your body?" Acheron asked as she crouched down, picking up Morte's head so that he could directly look at her in the eyes. The Emmanator of Nihility surely wasn't expecting for her travelling companion to end up like this at the end of the battle.
"Oh, Acheroni. I fear that I'm no longer in my prime." Morte frowned sadly, sniffing. "I was slashing down enemies flawlessly yet let one of them mara-strucks get the best of me and hit me on the back. Thus, my head got separated from the body."
"...You're joking, aren't you?" Acheron looked at him with a bland expression on her face, not believing that someone like Morte, who fought equally against her on the first time they had met, let himself get hit by a surprise attack of a random enemy.
"Unfortunetly, no I'm not." Morte said regettably. "Alas, now we're gonna have to find my body." He gave a look to all the deceased and mutilated mara-strucks that he and Acheron had killed. "Amidst somewhere in all these corpses on here."
"And by that you mean only 'I', to find your body. Isn't it?" Acheron questioned him with a monotonous face, to which Morte smirked.
"Keheh! Such smart girl that you are, Acheroni." He told her. "I can trust deeply in you to do that job, can I?"
A question that wasn't immediatly met with an answer as the Emmanator of Nihility's eyes gazed at the sky full of flying ships above them, pondering how much strenght she would have to put in her leg in order to kick Morte's head into the stratosphere to never ever come back. What was really stopping her anyways? Maybe his head could not be regenerated back to the body after a certain distance. Sure that some starskiffs and ships would get the risk of being hit, but that was a sacrifice she was willing to make if it meant ending Morte for good. The more Acheron thought about it, the more the intrusive thoughts would sound enticing like poured honey to her.
"Are you even listening, Acheron?" Morte pulled the Self-Annihilator back to reality, having made the question seriously.
"Yes, I am. But thinking about it, haven't I seen your head regenerate back into your body once?" Acheron gave a menacing look to him as she was holding him by the hair.
"!?" Morte gulped in response.
"You just want to make a fool out of me, don't you?" Acheron said coldly, figuring it out his intentions.
"Eeeh? Don't be ridiculous now, Acheroni!" Morte smiled, defending himself. "Do you think I'd ever play and joke with serious situations?"
"You really don't help yourself." Acheron replied boredly as she then stared to the sky above. "Well, let's test now how far I can kick you-"
"Over here, girls! This is the place of the battle!"
"Huh?" However, before the Emmanator of Nihility could act upon her dark desires, her ears detected a young woman's voice nearby, gaining both her and Morte's attention.
Entering the area, a young energetic red-headed woman arrived to the scene, followed by two other girls. "Are you still recording it, Huohuo? Make sure to not miss a single second of this here!"
Right behind her, a smaller girl of pale green hair and fox ears was clumsly holding a camera as she tried her best to accompany her friend. "I-I'm doing my best G-Gui!"
Meanwhile, the third one, a brown haired young woman, was walking tiredly behind, barely able to keep up with the other two. "Please...be a little...slower...will you?"
Yet, the first girl continued to run torwards the center of the commotion, spotting Acheron. "Oh! And look! A witness and everything! Oh boy, this is will really gonna blow up the channel's views!"
Instinctively, Acheron abruptly hid Morte's head behind her back, assuming that the trio would completly freak out if they'd saw a talking head.
"Hey!" Morte protested a bit, Acheron having given him no warning.
"Hush!" Acheron briefly told him right before meeting with the leader of the trio's face staring radiantly at her.
"Heya there! Care to tell us what happened here for the viewers? How many mara-strucks were there? Did you fought all of them alone? Are you hurt? Was it easy? Anything regarding the defenses of the Luofu on such special day as this one? By the way, never seen you here before. Are you a tourist?" The energetic girl made all of those questions without any break, giving Acheron little to no time to process them in.
"Uuuh..." Acheron at least tried to answer to one of them while feeling the small girl putting herself in her tiptoes to film well her face.
"Jesus! Talk about a blatherer." Morte speaked behind Acheron, easily gaining the puzzlement of the young woman.
"Hm? What was that voice?" She asked to Acheron with curiosity, an eyebrow raising.
"N-Nothing! Nothing at all." Acheron replied a bit apprehensively, rotating her body as the girl tried to spy her back, aware that the voice came from there. In doing so, the Emmanator of Nihility accidentaly bumped into the camera the smaller girl was holding, causing it to fall on the ground.
"A-Ah!" The foxian let out a brief yelp as she saw the camera crash on the floor, breaking apart, much to her displeasure and embaressment. "No..."
"And it seemed quite pricey as well. It must suck, kiddo."
"Hm?" Hearing the voice next to her, the small girl looked to her right to see Morte's head, tongue sticking out while playing dead. She immediatly got sent shivers down her spine as her whole body begun to tremble, getting progressively scared. "Ah...A-Ah...Ah..."
And taking the opportunity, Morte dropped the act as his blinked and stared deeply into the poor afraid girl, showing parts of his skull while grinning to her. "Boo!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" With all her hair standing, the foxian girl panicked and begun to desperatly run around before ending up comically hitting her head onto a container and falling unconscious.
Before Acheron could reprimand Morte for doing such cruel prank, the other girl quickly snatched the man's head away from her hands, holding him in admiration.
"Woah! A talking head!? Right here at the Luofu?" Her eyes shinned brightly in stars as she stared to Morte. "SO AWSOME! Now THIS is what's gonna break all my streams records for sure!"
Morte looked at her a bit annoyed as his cheeks were being pressed by her hands. "With all the kind of weird shtick they have here at the Luofu, a talking head is what impresses you?"
Quickly and with a face of responsability, Acheron snatched back Morte's head from the other woman's hands, much to her confusion. "Sorry, but he isn't suitable for content."
"Oh! I see. Is that one of those 'copyright' things?" The girl, apparently a streamer, asked genuinely. "If sooooo, then could I at least have your permission to make one vid with your friend?" She asked, giggling a bit sheepishly, much likely aware that the answer would be a no by the looks of it.
"He isn't my friend." Acheron responded. "Also, no. You cannot ha-"
"Fine by me." Morte interrupted Acheron, giving his answer to the streamer, much to the Self-Annihilator's surprise.
"Give us a moment, please." Acheron told politely to the streamer before staring directly to Morte's head, trying to have a private talk. "Care to repeat what you've said again?"
"C'mon now, Acheroni. Can't you grasp the bigger picture here?" Morte told her. "This girl's obviously a streamer. In other words, potentially and much probably, an e-celebrity. And you know what that means..." He smugged.
Acheron let out a sigh as she knew what Morte was referring to. "Darn it! Are you seriously with that idea still in your head?"
"What's the matter? You know it could be an easy way to earn some cash." Morte replied, keeping his voice as low as he could while the streamer was peeking behind Acheron. "I make some vids with streamer-girl, earn the good money, we divide equally and then we can be on our merry way with the whole financial problem resolved."
"..." Acheron let out a deep exhale from her nostrils, thinking about it. Truly, they were needing it. So, despite the reluctancy, Acheron ended up agreeing. "Fine. We'll accept her offer. But you better not do anything to her, understood?" Acheron looked sternly to him as she gave the warning. What happened back in Belobog, when they first met Bronya, was still present in her mind. Even to this day, she suspected he had done something to the Supreme Guardian. And she wouldn't tolerate something similar happen to this girl.
"Deal!" Morte responded,appearing to have taken Acheron's warning into account.
Having seemingly sorted the thungs out between them, Acheron turned around to respond to the streamer. "Guess what? It's your lucky day. You can have him for one of your videos."
A veredict that excited the streamer. "Seriously? No way! Thank you so so much!"
"But not without something I want first." Morte speaked, telling the girl to hold down her horses. Acheron looked at him with a stare of 'You better watch what you're going to say'.
"Oh? So we're not doing this for free. Well, makes sense after all I suppose." The girl nodded her head thoughtfully before crossing her arms and smilling. "Do tell me then! What is it that you want us to do?"
"For starts, are you seeing all these poor mara-strucks around here? I happened to have lost my body during the confrontation with them, you see?" Morte told to the girl the situation and also the explanation of why he was just a head now. "How about you and the other two chicks over there do your nice act of the day and find this poor man's body amonst all the corpses? If you do, then I'll agree appearing in your videos."
Acheron looked at Morte in disaccord. While it wasn't anything that awful, it was still a thing Acheron couldn't allign with other people doing it. "That's out of-"
"At your service!" The young streamer responded acceptingly, doing a salute while continuing with her happy smile. "Me and the girls will find your body in a jiffy! Or else I'm not called Guinafen, the famous Lil' Gui, for nothing!" She revealed out her name to the duo, ready to do the job if it meant Morte would do some clips with her.
Acheron was almost appaled with her decision. "Wha-You don't see any problem with it?" She asked to Guinafen. "Are you that fine with searching and rummaging through piles of corpses?"
"Meh! No problem at all, really." Guinafen gave a confident smile. "I've been inside this branch of the entretainment industry for quite the long time. I already went through some pretty wild things for some videos before. This is just another normal Tuesday for us!"
Acheron let out a weak breath from her mouth. "If you say so..." She said while watching Guinafen picking up her two friends.
"On your feet Sushang!" The streamer girl said, helping out the tired girl that was at the back of the trio to get up. "We got a mission to do!"
"Uggh...What is it this time?" The other young woman, Sushang, replied, still a bit exhausted.
Guinafen put a hand on her friend's shoulder and pulled her closer. "We'll have to find that fine gentleman of a head, his body!"
Suisahng raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Wait what?" Looking forward, she ended up catching sight of Morte's head, staring back at her.
"Hey there, sweetheart." Morte winked at Sushang.
The imagery was so freaky and unreal that almost made her fall unconscious. "Oh Lan almighty..."
Luckily, Guinafen grabbed her before she could lose balance. "Hey hey! Don't sleep now, Sushang! Go wake Huohuo up! We might be on the eve of an historical video for our channel!"
"Tha girl seems...quite airheaded." Acheron commented, taking it as her first impressions of Guinafen.
"What a subtile way to call her idiot." Morte replied as Guinafen and Sushang went to check on their other friend.
"Hey, Huohuo! Is everything alright? Can you hear me? Can you talk? Can you remember us?" Guinafen crouched down, softly shaking Huohuo's body to see if she would respond.
"Hm...Hmmmm..." Gaining back her conscious the small foxian opened up her eyes again, softly rubbing the area where she had hit her head. "Yes, I think I am-"
"Great! Then you're good to join us!" Guinafen picked her up from the ground immediatly.
Sushang tried to calm down her friend's enthusiasm. "Humm, Gui. Don't you think you're being a bit-"
But Guinafen's mind was already very into the goal of finding Morte's body, abruptly dragging her two friends torwards one of the piles of dead mara-strucks that Acheron and Morte had just killed. "Alright girls! All that we need is to find that man's body in the middle of this wreck!" She said, smilling full of glee. "It will be easy-peasy, right?"
"..."
"..."
Both Sushang and Huohuo stared at the corpses in utter apprehension and lack of enthusiasm, showing reluctancy in contrast with their friend who was ready to put her hands to work. The two wondered to each other silently if Guinafen was right in the head at all.
Feeling that their leader wasn't able to read the room at all, Acheron still decided to just observe the trio for now. As mildly disturbing as it could seem to dig out a headless body beneath a pile of corpses, as long as they weren't getting harmed, there was no reason for the Self-Annihilator to intervene.
For starts, Guinafen looked really committed and eager in finding Morte's body, her head just thinking about the end results and the streams it could result in. "Dig,dig,dig! Oh! Is that-Hm. No nevermind. Just another piece of mara-struck." She said, dismissively throwing out a chunk of the corpse away. "C'mon girls! Help me out here! Poor Lil' Gui can't do anything alone!"
"Y-Y-Yeah." Huohuo responded nervously with a tremble smile as her hands would shake while rummaging nervously through the corpses.
"Why are we even doing this?" Sushang murmured displeased as she would try her best to stomach the nauseating feeling of searching around the dead bodies.
"By the way, how does the body looks like?" Guinafen asked over to both Morte and Acheron.
"Well, let's see." Morte clicked his tongue while thinking of the adjectives that would fit the best. "Tall. Muscular. Healthy. Well-built. A bit of a tan. Ferocious. Some might even say it has the looks of a da-"
"I think they've got the picture already, Morte." Acheron responded emotionlessly as her hands clasped tightly around his head, wanting him to shut up a bit.
Guinafen made a thumbs up torwards them. "Got it!" She said before going back to the scavenge. "You heard him, girls! Keep searching!"
But has some more seconds would pass, Sushang's gut and feelings about this overall would get louder and louder as well as her hesiation. She eventually had enough. "No. You know what? I'm done. Forget about this." She said, giving up on searching the pile of corpses and beggining to walk away, much to Guinafen and Huohuo's shock.
"Eh? Why? Sushang, wait a sec!" Guinafen quickly approached her friend, grabbing her by the wrist. "What's the problem? I'm sure that once we find that man's body, we will take photos, videos with him and his alive head and win thousands of followers and likes on the internet!" She said cheerfuly, not seeing the problem. "Just imagine the-"
"That's exactly your problem!" Sushang almost shouted at Guinafen's face, scaring Huohuo a bit and even make Acheron's narrow her gaze. It seems things would start getting a bit more tense.
"..." Blinking her eyes a bit, the streamer still couldn't quite get it, puzzled altough a bit serious now. "Humm, what exactly do you mean by that, Sushang?"
"That you are always, ALWAYS thinking about likes and that sort of stuff! And I'm getting sick of it!" Sushang said, clearly annoyed. The girl had reached to her limit with her friend's antics. "It's always 'Uuh, can't wait to see the final results of this video. This challenge will give us so much likes! The followers count will definetly increase with this one. Views this! Likes that!' And it's never about your friends safety or opinion, is it?" Sushang confronted Guinafen, throwing more wood to a fire as she got the courage to tell it to her friend's face, as much as it baffled Guinafen.
"Sounds like we're about to see something amusing." Morte smirked maliciously, still having his head held by Acheron who pulled him closer to her.
"Do you want me to either gag you or cut of your jaw?" Acheron hissed at him, not wanting him to instigate the tension that was starting to appear between Sushang and Guinafen. However, she herself tried to comment about the situation. "What your friend is saying might hold some truth, you know?" She talked to Guinafen. "Despite this being the first time I'm meeting you, it seems you are a bit of obsessed with likes, viewers and whatnot to the point of doing things that your friends might not be fully onboard about. Is scavenging through corpses really worth it for...what the people call it these days? Clout?"
"Eh? You're calling me a lousy clout chaser or something?" Guinafen looked to Acheron as if she had told a bad joke. "Pff! You think I'm one of those lame scammers and grifters you see around on the internet?" She gave a smuggish and proud smile to the Self-Annihilator. "Lil Gui here's been doing this channel stuff for years and for the love of the game, you copy that?" She then turned around to give an indignant look to Sushang. "Also, excuse me? Never cared about my friends? Well then, how many times did I visited you to the hospital?"
"And how many of those times were because of your stupid challenges?" Sushang counter-argued hard, proceeding to do a mocking voice of Guinafen. " 'HeY suSHanG, Get beNeaTh This sLab of StoNE ThAt I'm GonNA crUsh wIth mY hAmMer. HoLD tHe FireWOrks iN yOUr Hand, SusHang. EAt tHiS exTrA DanGERouS sPicy food, SuSHaNg. HoP On to The stellAr sKIff as we're AboUT tO dRIVe lIke craZy, SusHang. Let'S GO tO tHe hAunTEd tEmpLE fAMouS fOr HavInG THe sOul of GhosTS RoamINg aROund Sushang!' I'M A FREAKING CLOUD KNIGHT!" She shouted highly. "I shouldn't be wasting time with that stupid nonsense of yours! Specially on a day like this!"
Being yelled at furiously by her friend, Guinafen's eyes narrowed. "Oh, sorry Ms 'Cloud Knight'. I just wasn't expecting that people with that title were supposed to have the courage of a mice when asked to do those challenges!" She also raised up her voice in response, the tension growing.
Being in the middle of it all, Huohuo tried her best to calm the two down. "P-Please you two! Don't discuss like that!"
"It's not about having the courage or not! It's a matter of responsability!" Sushang told to the other girl, Huohuo's plead haven't changed nothing at all. "I'm not doing any of your stupid stuff anymore."
"Oh yeah, right!" Guinafen scoffed. "What are you gonna say next? That you don't want to be my friend anymore?"
"I don't."
"..." Guinafen's face slightly broke for a moment, surprised how quickly and coldly Sushang responded to that question, being caught completly off guard.
"S-Sushang!" Huohuo exclaimed and looked at the Cloud Knight girl in full shock and dismay, not having seen that coming either.
Even Acheron could feel the sourness and tragedy of this moment between two people she had just literally met only for a few minutes.
"You can go and search for the body yourself for all I care. Call me a chicken or whatever." Sushang said sternly torwards the still stunned Guinafen. "From today onwards, I don't want to be around you anymore."
Has her brain took some good initial seconds to process those harsh words, Guinafen finally replied. "...Fine. As if I needed you anyways!" She exclaimed angrily. Still, a bit of pain in her voice could be heard. "Go back to your boring life if that's what you want! I imagine you must have loads of friends in there!"
"Girls..." Huohuo speaked in a sorrowful whisper, unable to call the two as the friendship between Guinafen and Sushang seemed to have shattered at that moment. A dreadful and agonizing silence falling in the area.
Until Morte decided that he had seen enough of the showand was done with it, his head beggining to dematerialize in Acheron's hands. "Well, this was a bit of a tragedy. Shame that we've only got to see the end of it." Dissapearing from the Emmanator of Nihility's hands, a green thunderous light begun to shine amidst the pile of the mara-struck corpses as Morte's own body emerged from the top, the head slowly being restored back in place. Bones, meat and skin. "Still, thanks for the so very dedicated effort."
The trio watched Morte's regeneration and full appearence a bit in awe, seeing him with the head back in place alongside the entire body. Sushang and Huohuo were more of speechless whereas Guinafen expressed an authentic smile of fascination. Phone already in hand, she rushed torwards him in a blitz, prepare for recording.
"Oh. My. Aeon! You can also regenerate your body like that?! Does that meany you are basically immortal?!" She asked to the tall man with her big glimmering eyes.
"Basically." Morte responded stoically to the streamer girl as he brushed off her hand holding the phone too close to his face.
"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I can't believe it! Now I'm mad for not having recorded that!" Guinafen's enthusiasm only grew more, able to temporarily subdue her bitterness with Sushang. "Then you can do essentialy everything without dying! Replace limbs, regenerate and etc.! You mister got me some interesting ideas for my next videos!" She exclaimed, excited with the existence of such person like Morte. "Humm, by the way. What's your name?"
"Morte. But that's only for the ones who really know me." He smirked down to her. "To you, it's Morty Johnson."
"Understood, Mr MJ! I can call you Mr MJ, can I?" Guinafen replied happily, the space in her head having no other thing occupying it aside from the so many ideas and streams she was planning on doing with Morte.
"Tsk! Eh, sure streamer-girl." Morte simply shrugged, scratching his own chin. He admit it had a nice ring to it. "Why no-"
"Then let's get going!" Guinafen didn't even let the man finish as she dragged him by the arm, beggining to leave the area. "I have quite the ideas for the challenges we're about to do next! I know you'll enjoy it! Unlike others." She gave a rough stare to Sushang as she walked past her, the Cloud Knight responding with the same stare. It was obvious the two's friendship had gone cold.
Despite not being warned, Morte didn't protested or said anything about her action, letting Guinafen guide him instead as a smirk appeared on his lips. She was a bit interesting.
Seeing them go away, Acheron crossed her arms. A part of her knew it was probably for the better to either accompany them as a matter to prevent Guinafen from walking around with someone as dangerous and unpredictable as Morte, a bit concerned about the girl's safety. But also, this was the Xianzhou Luofu, a place with many guards and patrols around. Morte wouldn't be fool enough to try something out in a place like the Luofu. And even if he did, it would only put him and even her in huge trouble. Still, the Self-Annihilator would make sure to check on Guinafen at the end of the day or tomorrow in order to guarantee Morte wasn't up to something. She hope she could at least remember that.
"Ah, finally! That guy is gone! He was giving me a bit of an unsettling feeling."
A voice speaked inside Huohuo, gaining the small foxian's attention. "Hm? You were also feeling that, Mr Tail?"
Meanwhile, Sushang looked to Acheron. "Are you going to chase after them or..."
"Not really necessary. He's able to take care of himself." Acheron responded to the Cloud Knight, hoping she would not come to regret this vow of confidence she was giving on Morte. Otherwise, she'd make sure he would have alot to answer for.
"Uh, I see." Sushang speaked, giving a closer look on the Self-Annihilator. "Those clothes...You don't seem from here. Are you a tourist?"
"Yes. You could say that." Acheron smiled softly to the Cloud Knight. "First time in the Luofu and everything."
"Oh, that's nice to know!" Sushang replied back with a smile, looking more friendly now. That was until her eyes gazed at Acheron's face again, narrowing a bit. "Wait a minute!...That face...Do I know you?"
A question that immediatly made Acheron get a bit tense. "H-Humm, no? I think you are mistaking me for someone else." She said. It was the Xianzhou Alliance after all. Obvious that some of her wanted posters, as that of a highly wanted criminal of the IPC, would be plastered around in places like the Luofu. At least she hoped that majority of the people here didn't knew about her, her existence being merely a knowledge between the high official of this mothership.
Looking throughly to the Emmanator of Nihility, Sushang let it go rather quickly. "Meh. Guess you're right. Maybe my memory is just fooling me." She rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish smile. She could never be sure after her meeting with that blonde stranger a few months ago. "Anyways, if you're a tourist, it is a bot of my duty as Cloud Knight to give you a welcome and guide you to the urban centers of the Luofu! You are actually lucky to be visiting it during this time of the year!"
"Why so?" Acheron asked to Sushang, curious.
"Because tomorrow, it will be the celebration and mark of the 500th Anniversary since our great leader, General Jing Yuan, became the general of the Luofu!" Sushang revealed with a big smile the grand even they were celebrating. That quickly explained the hundreads of ships and skiffs that were present in the sky.
"Really? Didn't knew it." Acheron replied, her mind going back to what Morte told to her about visiting a friend in here for a special occasion. "Then was Morte referring to..."
"Due to it, security in the Luofu is higher than usual during this week were we are making the celebrations. You were fortunate to find a Cloud Knight right at the beggining here!" Sushang continued to talk, seeming more joyful ever since Guinafen left. "Don't mind if I become a bit of your guide now so that you get to know the main places of the Luofu. With all the commotion and visits we're getting now, it can be very easy getting lost walking around here."
"Thank you. I sure don't mind. Name's Acheron." Acheron introduced herself, accepting Sushang's offer. Her bad memory with places and halls appreciated it.
"Good! Do you mind if I lead you to the Exalting Sanctum first? It will be the main stage for the great celebration tomorrow, so I'm sure you'd want to start with that." Sushang proposed to Acheron. "The Star Skyff Commition and Aurum Alley can also be great points of interest."
"I see. Do guide me to the Exalting Sanctum first then." Acheron responded, to which Sushang nodded proceeding to walk ahead, Acheron following her.
"But what about Guinafen?" Huohuo finally speaked, asking to Sushang. She was still thinking about their other friend.
"Don't care. She's on her own." Sushang responded bitterly, not caring about Guinafen. However, giving a bit of some footsteps ahead, the Cloud Knight realized she was perhaps sounding a bit harsh. "Look. About that...Sorry if the scene earlier made you feel a bit uncomfortable. I'm usually not like that."
"It's fine. Your friend- I mean, she's quite the energetic one." Acheron replied, speaking about Guinafen. "Just mind on guiding me to that place you were talking about. I'm sure it is will be beautiful to see." She smiled warmly to the Cloud Knight.
"Understood." Sushang replied, her smile coming back. "Follow me and you won't get lost!" She went back to walking. "Will you also come, Huohuo?"
"That isn't even a question. Of course I will!" The small foxian responded, not wanting to be left behind.
Thus, Acheron, now separated from Morte but with the new company of Sushang and Huohuo, walked all the way through the docks of the Luofu until reaching to the urban area of the large ship.
"You see, the Luofu is a place basically composed of the Comissions, each one designated to a specific area of administration of the mother ship." Sushang was reciting a bit of a lesson to Acheron, explaining to the Self-Annihilator the anatomy and structure of the Luofu as well as the functions of each area and the social structure its society was build upon.
"That does sound interesting." Acheron replied as she was listening carefully. So far, it seemed the Xianzhou was just like in the comments the people of her home planet used to describe. Or of what she could remember of those conversations. From the peripheral view, she caught sight of a nervous Huohuo walking by her side. "Hm? Are you feeling alright?"
The small foxien shyly tried to reply. "Hmmm...No. Not really. If I can, could I make you a question?"
"Sure. Do say what's troubling you." Acheron allowed to Huohuo.
"It's about Guinafen...I'm worried about her." Huohuo said, lowly in order for Sushang to not hear the conversation on her back. "It might be me being a coward but, that man looks really scary. I-I have an heliobus, a spirit named Mr Tail, that speaked to me about him. He commented on how your friend reeked so much to blood and death, that it was as if he had came straight from hell." She said apprehensive, her hands closing into fists when thinking back to that conversation. "Is it okay to let Guinafen with someone like him?"
Acheron quickly saw from where Huohuo was coming from. Morte's appearence alone, while seemingly just that of a well built pretty man at first, could also elicit some fear on others if he decided to look or speak more menacingly. "Well, he's..." Acheron thought carefully about what she was going to say. While it was undeniable that Morte himself was a monstrous danger, solidified by their very first encounter on that dead planet where he controlled and toyed around with the bodies of the deceased, the Self-Annihilator didn't want to make someone as Huohuo panick to the extreme. Hence why, she ended up lying. "He's a bit 'unhinged'. But nothing much besides that. Your friend is alright. I guarantee you that."
Huohuo chosed to believe in her words, sighing a bit in relief. "That's good to hear. Thank you for telling me that, Ms Acheron."
"You're welcome." The Emmanator of Nihility replied.
"And here we are! Exalting Sanctum!" Sushang exclaimed as the trio arrived to the big plaza of the Luofu. It was full of stands and stores settled around, overflowed with life as many the people walked here and there, many with General Jing Yuan's merchandise that the stores were selling out.
"It's amazing. This place is bustling with energy." Acheron noted, all of this liveliness making her remember about the Golden Hour back in Penacony. But hopefully without any schemes behind.
"I know, right?" Sushang looked to the Self-Annihilator, about to walk into the crowd. "I have a stand in mind that you could try it out first! Let's go!" She said as both she and Huohuo walked ahead.
"Eh. Oka-hm?!" Acheron was about to follow the duo when she accidentaly bumped into someone, a plum blossom flower falling to the ground. The Self-Annihilator went to pick it right up, crouching down. "Sorry. Didn't see you coming."
"It's alright." The stranger she had bumped into, was a woman, covering her head and upper body in a white hood and mantle with golden traces and more blossoms attached to the texture. "It happens." She told to Acheron, traces of brown hair showing underneath the hood alongside a bit of the woman's face, a blue eye staring right into Acheron. "I hope this celebration can still be of her affinity."
"Huh?" Acheron looked weirdly to the woman. There was something about her, that made her brain spark a bit. "Who...are you?"
The mysterious hodded woman got back on her feet. "No one of importance. Just merely passing by." She replied, proceeding to walk away, leaving Acheron to wonder about her identity.
"Acheron! Over here!" Huohuo yelled in the crowd, calling for the Self-Annihilator's attention.
"Don't get lost from us!" Sushang added, yelling as well.
Acheron's thoughts ended up leaving as she heard the two calling out for her, quickly taking her gaze away from the mysterious woman. "Already going!" She said, entering the crowd.
In the distance now, the mysterious woman watched the Emmanator of Nihility get emerged within the people at the center of the festivities. Her cold blue, clinical eyes analyzing her to the very moment she wasn't more visible. Truly, an Emmanator. What a peculair and interesting specimen. She was really here as it was told by her collaborators. The pieces were all here then. Very soon, the woman known as Ruan Mei, would get some fundamental answers to the grand question she had been surveying.
Post-Credit Special Scene!
'Cool Scythe Users' Groupchat:
Morte: Spunky-Girl! I would like to introduce you to our newest member!
(Morte has added Castorice to the groupchat)
Castorice: H-Hello everyone...
Seele: Yuppiiieeeeeee!
Morte: Yuppiiieeeeee!
Seele: Let's hope she doesn't have the bad habit of smoking like a chimney lol
Morte: Oh Seele, you silly girl xD
Seele: Hahahahahahahahahahahaha
Morte: Hahahahahahahahahahahaha(I was the one behind your gf's mental abuse those weeks ago btw)Hahahahahahahaha
Seele: WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAID?!
(Morta has kicked out Seele from the groupchat)
Castorice: ?
Morte: So, Cast or ice. I've heard you are very familiar with death yourself