Chapter 28: Love and War

Momo was not overthinking this.

Okay, she was lying to herself. Momo was definitely overthinking this.

But, why wouldn't she? Before her team left, General Kayama had basically pulled her to the side to basically talk about boys. Well, just one boy. Shoto. But what was so amazing about him? Sure, his eyes may have mesmerized her when the two of them first met, and he may have had a backstory that made Momo want to hug him, and he tried to protect her from his father by claiming she was a countess Shoto was interested in courting, and broke her out of Tartarus, although that last one might have been more Fuyumi's plan, but still –

Oh, my God, I have a crush on him.

How did she not notice? How the fuck was she this dense, it made no sense! This was real life, not those saucy romance novels and fanfics she read as a teenager where the hot idiots basically danced around each other's feelings for hundreds of chapters on end…

Wait a minute.

Was that what she was currently doing right now? Did Kayama see this coming from a mile away and attempted to just skip to the ending where the hot idiots fucked? No. No, no, no, she was probably overthinking this, there was no way that Shoto had feelings for her.

Right?

The raven-haired soldier sighed, as she looked out from the port side of the airship. The sun was beginning to set, and it would still be a whole day until they reached Endeavor City. She figured that rather than squirm around for the next twenty-four hours, she would confront Shoto directly about this and get it off her chest. If he didn't like her, fine. If he did like her, then…

…well, she'd cross that bridge when she got there.

Looking around, she could see that everyone was going about their usual ship business. Awase was on the wheel, with Kendo, Monoma, and Fuyumi making sure their bandana-wearing mechanic-slash-navigator was staying on the right course. Uraraka and Aoyama were manning the massive harpoon cannons on either side of the ship. And Kaibara and Tsuburaba were running around, playing tag, while Rin was chastising them about it. Which meant that everyone else was inside the lower cargo bay with the LAVs, or in the corridors. Including Shoto.

Good, everything was still normal. So, naturally, no one would be suspicious if the captain decided to retire into her own personal cabin at the moment –

"Lieutenant."

JESUS CHRIST ON A UNICYCLE! Momo jumped, as she was startled by Kodai, who had seemingly spawned in from nowhere. Holy fuck, that woman was full of suprises.

Okay, okay, time to act cool. "Ah, Sargent Kodai. Is there something you need –?"

"I know you're looking for the Todoroki prince," the medic bluntly said.

"Oh, really?" Momo began to sweat a bit. "How can you be so sure…?"

"Even without telepathy, Shield can read your mind."

Momo looked out towards the open skies, staring straight at the blonde angel who was currently soaring through the air like a majestic bird, before looking back towards the airship and waving at everyone. God, Momo was super tempted to shoot her down right now.

Instead, she simply grit her teeth. "So, the two of you are having conversations about your senior officer behind her back. How wonderful. And you care, because…?"

"He's in your quarters."

If humans could bluescreen, Momo would have crashed right now. "What?"

"I decided to speedrun this, so I told him you wished to speak with him in your personal cabin," Kodai said. "He's waiting for you there as we speak. Also, here, take some of these."

Kodai pulled something out of one of her many pockets, and handed them to Momo's still-limp palm, as the young heiress opened her now-full hand to see… a bunch of condoms.

"Wha…? Kodai, why…?"

"I am many things, Lieutenant Yaoyorozu," Kodai said, her expression as blank as ever. "A pervert, a degenerate, and a sexual deviant of all manner, but what I am first and foremost is a medical professional. And as such, I will always make sure all of my patients, including you, have access to the necessary medical care, including those needed to practice safe sex."

"KODAI! I DON'T NEED THESE! IT'S NOT LIKE I'M GONNA GO GET LAID –"

Momo immediately clamped her mouth shut the second those words exited her mouth. Looking around, she could see everyone on the airship staring at her. Wonderful. She could feel her face turning a different shade of red with every passing second. Time to improvise.

"ALL OF YOU, BACK TO WORK!"

If the scrambling around and sudden increase of casual whistling was any indication, it seemed like that worked. Especially after seeing Kaibara and Tsuburaba hit each other's heads in an attempt to run out of the main deck as fast as humanly possible.

But deep down, Momo knew her reputation had just taken a major hit.

Eijiro felt the wind flow past his hair, as Dark Shadow flew through the skies.

It had now been a little over a day now since Tokoyami had agreed to give him, Mina and Bakubro a lift back towards the Collibus Hills, and for the most part, it was a quiet ride.

Bakubro was busy asking Tokoyami a bunch of questions, probably trying to figure out the limits of the birdman's vocabulary. He really wasn't interacting much with him or Mina, but that was probably because he was still disappointed in Eijiro abandoning his post.

Now that the artificial redhead thought about it, that was kinda his fault, wasn't it? Sure, the local spirits might have lured them to where Mina was playing the ocarina, but he was the one who decided to chase after it. The only thing he didn't understand was… why?

But he figured there was one person who did know.

"Hey, Mina I got a question…" he called out, getting the attention of his tiefling girlfriend. "Why were all of those forest spirits so interested in getting the two of us close together?"

"Well, for starters, you have a good soul."

The redhead thought over that answer. A good soul? Him? He didn't see it. Yaomomo was a good person, same with Shield, and pretty much everyone else on the team. Ehh, except maybe Kaibara and Tsuburaba, those two were probably gonna go to Hell.

But Eijiro himself? Yeah, he wasn't convinced. "And the other reason?"

"While I am an expert in acid-based magic, and have combat prowess with a spear, another one of my talents is a minor spirit affinity. I can call out to them for help." Mina seemed to look down, almost as if in shame. "And… I asked them to find you. So… I could apologize."

"Apologize?" the Japanese soldier repeated. "Apologize for what?"

"For the attack on your city! I was low on money, and it seemed like a quick and easy job! I didn't know we'd be hurting innocents, or how dangerous you actually were –"

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down, it's cool! It's totally okay –"

"No, it's not!" Mina cried. "I willingly worked with the Empire for some… coins! I should have died back there, just like the others, but… I didn't… you… you spared me…"

Eijiro remembered that day. While to everyone else, it was the Musutafu Incident, the event that started this entire mess, to him, it was the day he decided to show mercy on an enemy. Scooting closer to the crying Mina, he asked, "Can I share something with you?"

The pink woman looked up at Eijiro, with tears in her eyes.

"For months on end, I wondered whether or not I did the right thing, letting you go. I felt like I wasn't a real soldier, or even a real man, but at the same time… it didn't sit right with me to shoot someone who was clearly surrendering," Eijiro said. "Like, I know what the right call would normally be, but this was a completely unforeseen scenario. I didn't know what to do. So, I just went with what felt right in my gut. And I'm glad I did, even if it felt wrong at the time."

Mina remained silent, as she kept listening to his words.

"And then, you showed up again. I never really understood why you did that. I figured that I was the big, mean soldier with the scary weapon that insta-killed people, and that you'd wanna run away from me as far as possible. So… why'd you keep coming back?" he asked.

"I guess… I felt indebted to you," Mina softly said. "I almost died back there, and for such a stupid reason. I didn't really value my life like I was supposed to, and I think a part of me knew that you would show yourself in my realm soon. So, I… I took it upon myself to protect you. I owed you my life, and I would make sure that you would keep yours."

Eijiro was silent for a moment, before saying, "Well, then, Mina Ashido… consider your debt settled. You don't have to look after me any longer. You're free now to do whatever you wish."

"Then… what I wish to do… is stay with you," she said, hugging him.

The redhead chuckled at that. "Yeah, I figured as much."

Momo walked down the ship's corridor, making her way towards her personal quarters. The truth of the matter was, the airship was quite small, and could only comfortably hold about twenty crew members, at most. So, while the rest of the crew was either bunking it up in their own smaller rooms or sleeping in the cargo area, Momo had a room all to herself.

Getting there wasn't that big of a trip. She just went through the door behind the wheel Awase was steering, and went straight on through, first door to the left. Past those rooms were the limited quarters for the rest of the crew, shared lavatories, kitchen, a brig, and then downstairs led to the cargo area, where supplies and the LAVs were currently located.

She remembered the first time she walked into the captain's room once they left Hatsume's airspace: The room itself was six meters to six meters in dimensions, with a window on the far side to admire the view, and curtains to cover it up whenever the captain felt like sleeping in. It came with a desk and dresser, but the crown jewel of the cabin was the luxurious-looking bed that took up more than a fourth of the space in her room; clearly a sign of status.

Only this time, when Momo opened the door, she saw that Shoto was in her room, standing around as if he didn't know whether to sit down or to just look out the window.

"Oh, uhh… hello," Shoto greeted her. "You wished to speak with me?"

"Uhh, well, technically, I wasn't planning on confronting, well, uh, more like talking to you just yet," Momo stuttered. "But I was eventually persuaded by Kodai and Shield to… yeah…"

Smooth, Momo. Smooth as sandpaper.

The dark-haired soldier figured that she should probably sit down before further embarrassing herself in front of literal royalty, as she quickly made her way towards the side of her bed, and sat off there. Which then Shoto proceeded to mimic, sitting down right next to her.

This was not the plan. Hell, she didn't even prompt him by patting the side of the bed next to her or anything! He just plopped down next to her. Wow, she could feel the heat coming off him…

No! Bad Momo! Focus! Coughing into her fist, she looked out the window, to see the last of the sunset begin to fade away. "Quite the view, isn't it?"

"Indeed," the red-and-white man said. "I've heard legend that when there's a green flash that shoots up from the sky during the last glimpses of sunset. Quite rare. Most have never seen it, and some… some say it signals when a soul comes back to this world from the dead."

Huh. Momo wasn't sure how an optical phenomenon was able to tell when somebody came back to life, but given their team had two healers capable of reviving the dead, she figured there might be some truth to that. "This world is certainly full of amazing things…"

"Yes, but so is your world," Shoto said. "Your colleagues have shown me a plethora of amazing things. Images with sound and pictures, like the ones mages use, are everywhere. Metal carriages without the need for beasts to draw them. I also discovered some… very choice drawings of my older sister your world's artists decided to create."

Oh, no. Momo didn't need to be an expert on the internet to know what Shoto was talking about. After her address to the world, Fuyumi Todoroki was a big celebrity now, so naturally, there would be lewd art about her. She just couldn't believe that Kaibara and Tsuburaba (deep down, she knew it was them) would be stupid enough to show said art to her younger brother.

Thank God for Shoto Todoroki's emotional resilience, or everyone would either be a popsicle or a piece of charcoal right now. But… was it emotional resilience, or… suppression?

"Shoto… I've noticed that you always speak in such a calm and collected tone, and while it is impressive, I do have some questions," Momo said. "About your emotions, I mean."

"What is there to talk about?" he asked. "I can still feel joy, anger, sadness, it's just… hard for me to express them. Father always had his focus on me, to make sure I was his masterpiece. He didn't leave me alone like he did Natsuo, and I didn't have someone to hold on to like Fuyumi, and Touya… I was on my own. I learned how to… keep up the mask, the facade –"

Shoto stopped talking, as he felt two arms wrap around his body. "I'm sorry," Momo said, as she kept hugging the scarred man. "You shouldn't have gone through that, you or your siblings."

"Your… sympathy is appreciated, but on that topic, there is something on my chest," the heterochromic prince said. "Literally. It's making it a bit hard to breathe sometimes."

Momo quickly let go, her worry spiking. "Oh, my goodness! Are you sick?!"

"I'm not sure, but… it's only been happening recently, after I met you, actually," Shoto confessed. "It was at its worst when my father had you locked up in Tartarus, but now, it only mostly spikes up whenever you're near me. Plus, I think that whatever is causing this, might be giving me more symptoms, like, giving me stomach discomfort, sweaty palms, a stiff…"

As Shoto kept lifting off the different symptoms he had been recently experiencing, Momo kept her expression carefully blank. While it did make her look calm and collected on the outside, on the inside, she was a mess. She knew what these symptoms were: Chest pains of the beating heart, butterflies in his stomach, sweaty palms from feeling hot, these were all symptoms of…

L-L-L-LOVE?!

Momo could feel the blood rushing to her face right now. There was also a good chance that her eyes would start to dilate, and that her voice would get higher. No, she couldn't be seen like this. She was a member of the JSDF, dammit! Momo needed to look like she was in control.

Coughing into her fist once more, she made sure her voice was as deep as possible (a bit of a tall order at the moment), looked back towards Shoto, and said, "I believe I might know what is ailing you. Furthermore, I believe I might have… the proper remedy to help you."

Holy fuck, I can't believe I'm actually gonna do this…

"Really?" Shoto looked at her with mild surprise. "That's good to hear… thank you."

"Okay, so… close your eyes and stay still."

"What?"

"Please, just do it!"

Shoto seemed confused by the request, but decided to comply, closing both of his eyes. Momo kept her breathing slow and calm, because she knew if she thought about what she was gonna do, her heart just might explode out of the raven-haired soldier's chest.

Slowly, and making sure her hands weren't trembling by any considerable amount, Momo placed them on Shoto's cheeks. The peppermint-haired prince seemed confused by this, but kept his eyes closed. This was it. She slowly leaned in towards his lips and…

Their lips touched. Holy shit, their lips actually touched; Momo had never had a kiss on the lips before. Sure, she had seen them in movies and stuff, but she never knew how they were supposed to feel. Seconds later, and Momo wondered what she was supposed to do now. Should she go in deeper? How did people actually do that? Use her tongue? Maybe, but –

OH, FUCK! Shoto opened his eyes, and Momo knew she was officially screwed. Their lips quickly parted, and the black-haired woman's brain was now going a hundred miles a minute. How would Shoto react? Would he hate her? Wait, he technically didn't consent to being kissed by her, would this fall under sexual harassment?! That's it, she blamed Kayama for this –

"That… was an amazing cure," Shoto said. "Can we do it again?"

Momo didn't even wait five seconds before connecting their lips again.

Kota was starting to get used to this place… somewhat.

With the majority of the JSDF forces now gone to kick whoever's ass, most of the people who were still around were either the upper-ranking officers who were more busy with meetings than actual combat, or some low-grade soldiers who have been relegated to guard duty.

The other people who were currently around here were all of the locals, naturally. Minotaurs building houses, wizards setting up shops, that one guy always fretting over his pregnant wife… Now that Kota thought about it, maybe he should really figure out how to speak Latin.

Sure, he and his aunt would be leaving her by tomorrow, but if this Aizawa dude decides to have another bigwig meeting that was gonna last for days on end, there was a good chance that Kota would once more be dragged along by Auntie Shino. He didn't want to have to play charades with every single person here every time he wanted directions to one place or another.

Still, he was glad he'd be out of here soon enough. Back to Japan, and back to relative normalcy. No more wizards, or monster-looking guys, or white-haired girls with horns…

Speaking of annoying menaces, where the hell was Eri? She didn't spend most of her time harassing Kota, the black-haired teenager had seen her talking to some of the other locals, and even attempting to communicate with the Japanese soldiers here, but most of the time, she was next to him, like she was a crow and Kota was the shiniest thing her eyes had ever laid upon.

She didn't seem to be at the general store, or the tavern. He highly doubted she was anywhere near the JSDF buildings… maybe she was next to the magical gate? Kota did know that visitors passed through quite a lot, so maybe she wanted to see the thing in action –

BOOOOOM!

An explosion rang through Kota's ears, as he was knocked back by the blast. It was instant, but he saw one of the army trucks next to the gate suddenly flip over, like a bomb was placed underneath it, or something. His ears hurt, but he could hear people screaming –

BOOOOOM!

No, not one explosion; multiple. There were several blasts going through, all of them hitting a major part of the Collibus Hills. The first one was next to the gate, the newer ones struck the main base, followed by some of the buildings that were built for the locals. Everywhere Kota looked, he could see smoke, and he could still hear the terrified screams and –

BANG!

…gunshots. Kota could hear gunshots.

Turning his head around, the cap-wearing teen could see a bunch of people wearing JSDF uniforms shooting at the locals, sending everyone in a panic. What the fuck was going on? They were supposed to be the good guys, why were they shooting at innocents –?!

"KOTA!"

The teenager barely recognized his aunt as she pulled him out of the main street. All he could see around him were some people dressed as soldiers killing indiscriminately. One of them shot a fellow trooper, while another threw a canister of… oh, God, was that tear gas –?!

"Kota, I need you to listen to me! We're under attack! I'm not sure who they are, but they're not with the JSDF! They're just… wearing our clothes! Please, run! I need you to get out of here, run as fast as you can! I'll come look for you when it's safe, so, please –"

"What?!" Kota shouted, his mind finally registering what the hell was going on. His aunt was coerced in soot and wounds. "NO! You're hurt! You need to get out of here, with me –"

The brown-haired woman shook her head. "I can't. I need to stay here, to protect you. Listen, I promise you, I'll be alright. Now, please, promise me, you'll run and hide, okay?"

"Aunt Shino, I can't lose you, too! I can't leave just you behind –"

"KOTA, PLEASE! YOU NEED TO GO, NOW!"

The black-haired teen remained silent for a moment, before he weakly nodded his head, and turned tail. He ran, like a fucking coward. He could hear the cries of everyone, being hunted by those monsters, and he left his aunt behind, just like… just like his parents…

He wasn't sure how long he ran, maybe a few minutes at most, but by the time he stopped running, he could no longer hear any more screams. Any explosions that were going off now we're just far-off noises, like thunder in the distance. Looking at his surroundings, all Kota could see was the grassy plains, some forests creeping in from the distance, and turning back around… the entirety of the Collibus Hills base in flames, smoke filling the dark sky.

"Well, well, what have we here?"

Kota turned around to see a tan man with equally brown hair and eyes smiling at him. His uniform looked Japanese, but his accent definitely wasn't. That man wasn't a soldier.

"And here I thought Imasuji was paranoid to have me patrol out here for survivors, but looks like the boss was right once again," the merc said, as he brandished a sword. "Now, most people would give a quick and painless death to a whelp like you… but I ain't like most people."

Kota immediately bolted, knowing what that man was talking about. Unfortunately, he was tackled down before he could reach any distance, and pinned down into the grass.

No… please… not like this! Someone… anyone… Please save me!

"Whoo-wee, we got ourselves a fighter!" the brown-haired creep said, bringing the sword closer to the teen's face. "I'm gonna enjoy slicing your skin off like a potato –"

WHAM!

Before Kota could even comprehend what was happening, he suddenly felt a lot lighter. In fact, the merc wasn't pressing down on his body anymore. Getting up from the grass, he saw…

Eri?

It was Eri, alright, but… she looked different. Her horns were bigger, there were claws where her hands were supposed to be, and there was a pair of pinkish-blue butterfly-esque wings on her back, along with a white tail full of white scales and spikes trailing out from her dress.

But the thing that was the most different about her was her face. No longer was she wearing the expression of a bubbly girl, now… she looked pissed. No, beyond pissed. Furious, even.

The merc, however, didn't seem to get the memo, despite the fact that the newcomer literally removed her from on top the boy near-instantaneously. "What the hell? Some kinda chick –?!"

SLAM!

In a flash, with Kota barely registering it, Eri lifted her hand and smacked the merc's face, sending blood and teeth flying. The brown-haired goon screamed in pain, but that's when used her other arm and sliced the man's leg clean off, followed by a kick to the head.

For the next thirty seconds or so, the same cheery girl Kota had met less than a week ago was now finding new and creative ways to break the mercenary's body, without even giving the man time to let the current pain dull the last one. Punches to the chest, the breakage of bones, making limbs explode in geysers of blood, seemingly nothing was off the table. All Kota could do was watch in silent horror as Eri created an orchestra of screams with that man.

Eventually, the thirty seconds ended, and Kota nearly threw up. The man no longer had any limbs, there were multiple massive holes all over his body, and the top of his skull was clearly caved in. And yet despite that, he was alive, and able to speak. "You… fucking… bitch…"

Eri simply remained silent, as she began to… grow bigger. The black-haired teen kept watching in silence and confusion as Eri's hair receded, with massive horns taking their place at the top of her head. She grew a snout, and sharp teeth, and her skin all over became scales.

"D… dr… drag…"

Dragon. The red-eyed girl was gone, and in her place, was a massive monster of legend, one that walked on all fours, had massive leathery wings, and a tail. In short, a dragon.

The giant white beast stepped on the dying mercenary with one of her hind legs, rubbing it into the grass like you would when stepping on a cockroach, before her head turned, and her eyes zeroed in on Kota. The teen tried to run, but he was far too exhausted, and the behemoth right behind him was far too big, able to catch up to him in just a few quick dashes.

He could feel her claws wrap around him, hard enough to make sure he wouldn't move, but not so hard that she'd break his bones. And then, he felt the sheer weight of the wind overcome him, as the white dragon's wings spread, and she took to the skies, flying off.

By the time Kota passed out from the screaming, the Collibus Hills were long gone.

Momo Yaoyorozu woke up surrounded by warmth.

Looking around, she could see the ceiling of her quarters, the desk and dresser to the left of her, alongside the door, and to the right of her, the draped window, and Shoto…

Holy crap, Shoto!

The black-haired woman quickly did a double-take, as she saw that, yes, Shoto Todoroki was still in her bed, and yes, he was wrapped around Momo, and yes, they were both naked.

The memories from last night immediately came flooding back to her, as she remembered that, once Shoto asked for that second kiss, they went at it, followed by immediately stripping down, and… wow. Kodai made the right call in giving Momo all those condoms.

She seriously doubted that there were any left from last night.

Speaking of last night, she severely doubted she would be able to move without any sort of pain today. Like, her hips were seriously aching her, and all of the hickies littering her neck and below were gonna be noticeable to everyone, unless she decided to wear her entire combat uniform, and she knew those were gonna be annoying every time she brushed up against something.

Despite that… totally worth it.

During the long twenty-six years of her life, Momo didn't understand the appeal of sex. Yes, she understood it was needed for the continuation of the species, but she didn't understand, in the modern era, why people obsessed over it, recreationally-speaking. In her opinion, all someone needed to feel good was their hand, some saucy reading material, and they were golden.

Boy, did she realize now how wrong she was.

As it turned out, what really mattered was the partner someone had. She theorized that if they had the right amount of compatibility, they could turn such an activity from good to absolutely amazing, and both Shoto and her just happened to be the right kind of partners.

…As both of them had no idea what to do.

Not to get her twisted, but it was somewhat understandable that two (former) virgins would have no idea what the hell they were supposed to do. Especially when their brain cells were checking out for the evening due to the fact that their minds were currently focused on getting as much of the happy brain chemical that came from fucking into their system as soon as possible.

Thankfully, the two of them were both determined enough and had enough brain power combined, alongside a basic understanding of biology and sex ed was enough for them to get going. Once that was done, they went at it all night, testing every position and move possible.

And now, she was enjoying the morning after the fact. Shoto was still wrapped around her waist, eyes closed, and… wait, was he purring? Like a cat? That was so cute!

Momo simply stared at Shoto, with a soft smile, staying incredibly still, as she believed any move she made might possibly wake him. However, she didn't account for her mesmerized sigh, which immediately caused Shoto to open his gray and blue eyes.

"Morning."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Momo apologized. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's fine. It just means I get to see more of your beautiful face."

Momo could feel herself blush already. "So… yesterday happened."

The peppermint-haired prince nodded. "That, it did."

Momo was silent for a moment, before she asked, "Do you regret it?"

The red-and-white man shook his head. "No. Not at all."

The raven-haired woman smiled softly at that. Oh, she really was in love, wasn't she –

SLAM!

"LIEUTENANT YAOYOROZU, MA'AM!" Kendo shouted, as she slammed open the door. "We have a –" Kendo immediately covered her eyes. "Oh, my gosh, I'm super sorry!"

"Kendo?!" Momo yelped, covering her body with the blanket. "What are you doing here?!"

"There's an emergency, ma'am!" the orange-haired woman explained. "Our jet fighters have spotted enemy wyverns on the horizon! Also, congratulations, ma'am, about –"

Momo didn't pay attention to what else Kendo said, as she immediately leapt out of bed, and grabbed all of her clothes scattered around. In less than sixty seconds, she was in her basic military outfit, running out towards the main deck of the ship, where everyone was.

She could see them, out in the distance.

Multiple small dots littering the sky. She knew that Kendo had already told her that it was wyverns… and there was only one group she knew that rode those beasts into battle.

The Todoroki Empire had just arrived to battle.

Izuku Midoriya was sitting on his throne, thinking about what his next move should be, when Eri came into the room. Ah, had she returned from her mission already? Except…

…she was clearly holding something in her arms. Oh, boy…

"Eri, what do you have there?"

Author's Note: Hooray for the progression of couples in my story! Momo and Shoto are now officially an item, Eijiro and Mina have reaffirmed their love for each other, and Eri has abducted Kota! Well, technically, it was more of a rescue, but still.

So, in terms of some in-universe lore here, Eri is a unique "one-of-a-kind" dragon. Due to how the mana exponentially mutates all life in the Special Region, anything super-sensitive to the stuff experiences evolution on a music faster timetable, hence why Eri is basically a cross between Seath the Scaleless and the Ancient Dragon Senessax here. She's got the physical appearance of Seath, but with healthy eyes and working legs, along with the red lightning attack of Senessax (that will appear later). I also tried to add some lore from Re: Zero on how the spirits of this world work, as that will be a surprise tool that'll help Eijiro later. Also, for those wondering, that thing about the green flash of light being a person coming back from the dead is a reference to the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. But that's enough of that! Now, it's time for the comments!

Shin: I'm glad to see somebody here knows what a kenku is. I was somewhat wondering if I should have just called Tokoyami a "birdman," as that would be easier than potentially calling him a race unknown to the general populace, but seeing that one person got the reference, then I'm good. I also remember seeing Gaijin Goomba during the old days of Game Theory, but I didn't go out of my way to see any of his personal videos, unless the topic was something that I was really interested in, so I never knew that he had a D campaign. Glad you also liked Dark Shadow's appearance. Imasuji and his group may have begun their attack now, but the big fight will be happening later on.

Quanto: Hut? Are you referring to, like, Jabba the Hutt? But I understand Zorzal (though I think he's much worse), so I think you're going to enjoy what happens next. And also, yeah, I don't want the Americans anywhere near an undeveloped world like this.

VinHD15: Let me guess… this is a Jujutsu Kaisen reference?

GreenBoy9000: I hope you enjoyed this popcorn appetizer, because the next chapter is the entree! And make sure to bring the Dark Souls soundtrack with you!

valkrus: Ugh. One of these days, I'd just like a non-typo comment from you…

Anyways, back to the regular old shilling…

I'm pretty sure as you all know now, I have also made a Twitter account to post my art, so if anyone is interested in checking it out, /ErnaloreProf is the link.

If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is /3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules.

Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!

- Ernalore