Beyond Your Expectations

[Sairento]

Co-write with pretty much everyone

Veryx had fallen asleep in her comfortable room on her comfortable bed, but she did not share her bed with anyone last night because of the children that were staying in her home. Persephone slept with the rest of the children, and Veryx was sure that her daughter would pull some kind of stunt with Ren. However, that did not upset Veryx in the slightest. In fact, it made her getting up a little more relaxed. But Veryx was so excited by the idea of seeing her child in the bed of a strong individual that she couldn't help herself. Veryx got up and got dressed rather quickly to wake up the children and begin their journey into the capital city. As she moved to the room they were staying in, she made sure she was as quiet as a mouse. When she opened the door, she found the children practically in a pile around Ren.

Ren, hilariously enough, was the first to open his eyes, looking somewhat disheveled, his hair undone and tangled, perhaps woken up by the opening door.

"A-ah. Um. Good morning, Miss Veryx. I…" he began sitting up, and then looked around him and yelped in surprise. "U-u-um! This isn't what it looks like!"

"It's exactly what it looks like," Viviane groaned, comfortably at the top of the pile. Not-comfortable because she still had a hangover.

Vivi woke up slowly, her cat eyes fluttering open as she stretched and yawned. "Mreww…" she whined.

"How did this happen…?" he whispered, mostly to himself. "G-guys, if you could… get up and stuff…!"

"You say some strange things in your sleep, Master." Miki interjected completely unhelpfully with his eyes still shut and unmoving.

Veryx laughed as the children groggily interacted with each other.

Vivi meowed in distaste but jumped off of him, padding out of the room.

Persephone, by this point, had woken up from the commotion. One of her tails happened to be wrapped around Ren. Persephone groggily opened up her eyes and looked toward Ren. "What's all the commotion? Can't you guys wait a little longer before getting up?" Veryx raised her eyebrows and looked at Persephone. "Is that how a young lady wakes up in the morning? Demanding her friends go back to sleep?" Persephone suddenly felt very awake and quite startled. "Oh wonderful, Mother's here."

"I mean, she does live here," Ren pointed out. "M-more to the point, we're all in agreement that nothing happened, right?"

Miki rolled on to his stomach and propped himself up. "Nothing you didn't agree to."

"I--! You!" Ren squeaked. "Ahem. Blaming my maiden heart is not cute at all, Miki."

Persephone stifled a laugh. "If you want to call it that, by all means, please do." Persephone's tail slipped around Ren and off of him. "I do hope my tails provided some warmth as well. We don't have many blankets here, for obvious reasons."

Ren could only hold down a small whimper at that.

Veryx still stood in the doorway, waiting for Persephone to get up and help her with breakfast. She didn't need to say so because she knew that Persephone already knew of her plan. Persephone spoke to the few in the room. "Oh, and I'll be back soon. Hopefully with some nicely cooked food for all of you. Any of you are welcome to help, if you like." When she said this, her eyes went straight to Ren.

"A-ah! I can help!" he nodded. "But… what are we making?"

Persephone turned to her Mother who shifted from her position in the doorway. "I believe some quiches would be acceptable. I do have enough eggs to feed all of you and there should be some nice vegetables growing out in the garden."

"I haven't eaten a quiche before," he blinked. "There are a lot of things I have not eaten before."

He stumbled to his feet, almost tripping as his hair tangled around his thigh a little.

"H-how did this get so tangled…?!" he spluttered. "Can someone help me with this…?"

Persephone, at the sound of the word "help" immediately jumped into action, moving to the bathroom. Thankfully, they bought an extra hairbrush earlier this week because one of theirs was falling apart. Persephone came back in wielding the brush.

"Ah, that's useful!" he said. He sounded inordinately surprised, considering unlike quiche, he actually knew what a hairbrush was. "You're actually a diligent person, aren't you, Persephone?"

At this question, Persephone blushed. "I… I suppose I am, aren't I?"

Vivi appeared behind Persephone and rested her hands on her shoulders. "Blushy blushy doki, senpai love me~" she teased in a sing song voice.

Viviane snickered as she dragged herself up, before immediately grumbling as the splitting headache came to her. "I call bathroom first," she growled, making her way out of the room.

Ren watched her leave, wondering if it was worth it to try an intervention before she turned herself into an alcoholic, but decided to let her have fun this once. Or lack of fun.

With that he turned his attention back to Vivi. "What's a senpai?"

Persephone smacked Vivi off of her shoulders and looked toward Ren. "Whatever they say, it's… Not true."

The Nekomata laughed as a maniac as she explained to Ren, "An older person specifically in a higher grade. Also seen as handsome and moe~" she lied at the last part, thinking it was mostly stereotypical.

"I-I'm concerned," he frowned, but mostly brushed it off. He was about the same age as Persephone, or at least he was pretty sure, so he didn't qualify. "Still, for a moment I thought you were making a joke at my expense…"

He began running the hairbrush over his tangled thornbush of a head, catching the occasional knot.

"So are we leaving after breakfast?" he inquired. "I think I'm pretty much ready. Not that I have much equipment or anything."

Veryx smiled as she gestured to Persephone to follow her. "Absolutely, but we need to get cooking really soon if we want to make headway quickly."

Vivi perked up quickly, ears flickering straight up. "Food?!" she half asked. "FOOOOOOD!" she yelled and ran down the hall towards the kitchen.

Veryx looked toward the child who ran past her and shakes her head. "Oh dear, that one is quite a handful. I worry for her." Persephone nodded. "She may be more than a handful Mother."

"She's two hands full," Ren mumbled

Viviane walked back into the room, her skin damp from the water she splashed on her face, and a grimace as she held her forehead. "Not so fast, Ren," she said as she stalked towards the white boy. "There's still something we need to do..."

"...and that's braid your hair," she said, getting behind him as she snatched the brush out of his hands. "Let me," she said as she started brushing his hair. "Can someone get started on the brushed hair?" she asked, stopping her brushing for a moment as she screwed her eyes shut to ignore the headache.

"Eh? Eh?" he blinked in astonishment. "V-Viviane, we have things to do!"

Vivi peaked through the doorway. "Here's a tune you might know Viviane, it's, LEZ GO ALREAADDYY!" She sang. "DO IT AT THE TABLE I WANT FOOOOOD."

"T-to be fair, we still have to make it, but…!" Ren spluttered.

"No excuses, FOOD." the Nekomata roared, near dragging their asses to the table. Wait, that didn't sound like a bad idea…

Veryx prepared the stovetop and the eggs while Persephone went and gathered a few vegetables from the garden in the time that people were talking to each other. It seemed her mother was going to solo this mission to make quiches. Persephone walked back in, hearing that Viviane wanted to braid hair. "AH! Braiding hair is one of my favorite pastimes! I do it to myself all the time!" A gleam suddenly got into Persephone's eyes. "Viviane, hold him down."

"H-hold me down?!" he echoed, a little panic slipping into his tone.

The Cat Demon got enough and picked up Ren, giving a battle cry as she ran down the hall to the kitchen. "TOO SLOW!!!" Vivi yelled.

Persephone yelled after Vivi, "H-Hey! You can't just keep picking up Ren and taking him away from me! Especially not after I got the idea to BRAID HIS HAIR!" Persephone had half a mind to try and charm Vivi, but she decided against it since they were in their home. In the meantime, Veryx was cooking away in the kitchen, putting the quiches into the oven. "Now dear children, if you're going to make so much noise…" Veryx's tone suddenly got very dark. "I suggest you go outside."

Vivi set down Ren and shook off the dark tone of the voice. "Pff, whatever 1v1 me." she said in a careless tone that held no fucks given.

Veryx laughed as she looked toward the child. "I'm afraid I don't like your tone young lady. And might I remind you of the event that happened when you first arrived at my house. If you're willing to fight over food like this, I can only imagine your idiotic resolve when it comes to your actual mission."

"G-guys…" Ren muttered. "Please just calm down, Vivi. Miss Veryx is letting us staying in her home and giving us meals for nothing at all. The very least we can do in return is follow her own rules for under her own roof…"

Persephone stepped back to the point where her Mother would be unable to charm her if she decided to pull out her aura. "V-Vivi… I wouldn't suggest doing anything further to anger my Mother… She's been very kind, especially considering she still let you stay here despite all of your shenanigans." Persephone was specifically speaking about her barging in on her private conversation with Ren.

"W-we should go outside," said Ren, tugging against the hem of Vivi's shirt.

Veryx turned to Ren, about to say something, when the oven went off signalling that the quiches were done. It seemed it was time for breakfast for all. Veryx's mood suddenly turned brighter as the quiches were done. "Ah, everyone, time for breakfast!"

He squirmed in place. "I-I'm sorry, I said I'd help, didn't I…"

Viviane had walked after them after Vivi ran off with Ren and Persephone followed, only just arriving. She still had a headache; she wasn't going to run. "Oh, quiches," Viviane said as she walked around the kitchen, looking for plates and forks to set the table.

Persephone grabbed the plates and let Viviane handle the forks. They were better friends now that they had a common mission to braid Ren's hair. Persephone would make sure that Viviane would be able to sit next to Ren with her.

"Wait," he cried weakly as the girls began to rush around him. "Can't I help? I promised…"

Persephone smirked as she assigned him a special task. "You know Ren, we do need napkins! They're in that corner cabinet over there!"

Viviane paused, glancing at Ren with a small hum. "You could also do the dishes afterwards," she called as she set forks.

"R-right!" he nodded, hurrying over and getting into the cabinet as quickly as he could.

"He really tries hard," Viviane said offhandedly to Persephone as she continued setting forks, straightening one out when it didn't look just right.

"Indeed he does, but it's really heart-warming." She smiled as she set plates down. "I just want the people in this group to let me have a little time with Ren, you know? He's the one person who tried to understand what I was feeling when you guys kil-" Persephone paused. "Ah, I guess I shouldn't bring that up…"

Viviane waved her hand. "It's my fault, should've checked the lake properly before I tried getting water from it. Plus, might as well air out the dirty laundry now," Viviane said calmly as she set the forks. "Tell you what. I'll leave for a little 'bathroom break' if we ever do get the chance to braid Ren's hair alone, give you some time with him, okay?"

Persephone set down the last of the plates as she heard this proposal. "Oh, Viviane… I… I don't know what to say, but that would be very nice. That would mean we'd have to get the others to keep away for a little while without Ren around. I have no idea how that might happen, but maybe we'll get lucky. Thank you."

Viviane smiles. "I've always been quite lucky. Who knows," she said, setting the last fork as well. "I can probably try stand watch or something while on my bathroom break? Try to stall anyone from coming in at the door. That might work, right? Or of course, make it a big 'project' and tell others they can't peek before it's done."

Persephone nodded as she indicated Viviane should sit in the chair two away from her. "I like the sound of that idea actually."

Viviane nodded. "It'll give me a better excuse than 'bathroom break' to disappear for too," she said as she sat down, carefully smoothing the edge of her dress. "Ugh, even if I did dive into water twice yesterday and it's technically clean, it sucks wearing the same dress for so many days," she grumbled.

Ren was just about done setting napkins on the table when they made their way over, looking among those present expectantly. He was already used to having his seat dictated by now.

Viviane grinned as she turned to face Ren. "So, Ren, Persephone and I had a thought while we were setting the table," she said. "And that if we were going to braid your hair, we're going to do it right and make it look amazing. Say yes?" she asked, still grinning.

"W-what are you going to do if I say no…?" he mumbled, mostly to himself.

"Do it anyway," she said flippantly. "Don't you want to look nice? It'd be a shame to have so much hair and not make full use of it, don't you think?"

Persephone smiled. "I do want to braid your hair, but if you say no, then… I can't force you. I want to, but it looks like I need to start being a bit more mature. Otherwise, I'll fall in line with some of the others who are acting erratically." Veryx's eyes shifted toward her daughter, the emotion behind them unintelligible.

I think I'm glad that she lacks competitive spirit here? he reasoned to himself. It was a refreshing change of pace at any rate.

"Anyway… Where should I sit?" he asked.

Persephone stood up from her chair and walked a little ways away from the table. "You know what, since I've decided to do this kind of thing, sit wherever you want. If you don't sit by me, that's fine. I would understand. After all, we have been chatting a whole lot. And maybe it'll give me a little time to get to know Viviane better." Persephone smiled to Viviane. I want to do as my Mother says and capture his heart in some way, but… After all this time and spending the night thinking about it, I don't want to. He's wonderful and kind, but there's so much to lose here. The others would hate me if I came out on top.

He blinked. "I appreciate the gesture, but I don't really have a preference. I kind of know everyone well enough already, I think. More or less," he shrugged with one arm as he just grabbed a chair and sat down opposite where Persephone had been just before.

Persephone smiled as she sat back down in her chair, patting the seat next to her for Viviane to sit in. Persephone smiled at the deed she had done. She felt she was slowly coming to fit into this group and make peace with some of the members.

Viviane idly moved to the seat next to Persephone, picking at something on her dress. "Persephone, you wouldn't happen to have some extra clothes I could borrow?" she asked.

Vivi came up behind Ren. "You don't know me very well…" she pouted. As the Nekomata could recall, Ren and her have only spent two or so times together minus their first meeting. Weird that she cared for him so much even if their times were so little...

 

[Sairento]

More Co-write with everyone

As they approached the outer walls of the city, they were able to recognize that the walls were built from the hulls of ships harvested from what could only be assumed to have been harvested from merchants that attempted to trade with the oni nation.

Veryx turned around to show the party the view of the capital city. "Well my dears, here is the capital city of the Oni nation. I'd keep your eye out for anyone suspicious looking in this town, as they might kidnap you and ransom you for money~ Oh, and by the way, I'd act quite inconspicuous as they have many people who will absolutely rain down hell on you with magic~"

"Right," Ren nodded, clutching the sword at his side tightly. "Don't worry. We'll be fine. Thank you very much for your help."

"You're very welcome for the help dear~ After all, I do owe you a favor for helping out my daughter~"

"Can't ransom someone with a guardian who gives them out for free." Vivi chipped in.

"That's…" Ren tried, but stopped himself. "Anyway, we'll be sure to keep Persephone safe in here. I don't intend to get us in a fight to begin with."

Veryx smirked. "Don't you worry too much about Persephone, my dear. As I said before, this is my little test for her. I wouldn't want you messing it up too much now~" One of Veryx's tails brushed against the underside of Ren's chin.

Persephone nodded her head. "Indeed. I need to prove that I'm helpful in some way. Don't worry about me too much, I should be able to handle myself… I think."

Viviane idly tapped her foot on the side, still somewhat miffed they didn't get to braid Ren's hair. "So. Shall we?" she asked, staring into the city.

Ren shuffled on the spot, blushing a pure white. "R-right! We'll be back soon!"

He started on his way in, waving to her and beckoning for the others to follow.

Vivi turned into a small black cat and padded forward. "Come on losers, time to save Twinkle Toes."

Persephone's eyebrows raised in confusion as she moved forward behind her mother. "I'm afraid I haven't met this person, so I'm not entirely sure how much of a joke that is…"

"Lets…just go," Viviane said, sighing as she walked forward holding her fishbowl-slime. It'd been too long a morning…

Veryx sauntered forward, keeping an eye on the children behind her. "Now now children, if you don't keep your composure…" Her eyes darkened for a moment. "I'll have to inflict some punishment in the form of ratting you out to the security here~"

"We'll be good, we'll be good," Viviane said, waving her free hand.

The Nekomata ignored Veryx for the sole fact she pissed her off, but she wouldn't let the flirtatious woman know that.

"So," Ren observed, looking around, "if I were a betting man… which I'm not… but if I were… then I would probably bet an exorbitant amount of money on that colosseum being the place to go."

Veryx turned her head slightly and smirked. "You've got good intuition boy." Her eyes shifted to Persephone and Persephone cast her head down a little.

"Oh no, it isn't intuition," he insisted. "I just realised that if the oni have beef with the fae, then an oni would be a legal participant in bloodsport, and it would let the spectators see some fae blood. It would be a business opportunity too good to pass up."

Veryx laughed heartily at his comment. "Well you're not wrong about that in the slightest. In fact… I happen to know someone, in fact, Persephone knows them as well. He… Visits my establishment every once in a while, doesn't he Persephone?" Persephone nodded and swirled her tails. "Indeed, he knows who I am. WAIT. Mother, do you intend to leave me to do the negotiations with them?" Veryx's mouth curved in torturous pleasure. "Indeed I do, daughter of mine."

"If you know someone inside, that will definitely make this easier," Ren said. "Who is it?"

Veryx and Persephone said at the same time, "I'm afraid I can't tell you that, clientele are kept secret by business policy."

Ren blinked. "B-but aren't we going to meet him…?"

Persephone nodded. "We are. But we're not meeting him for business, so it's alright to interact. As long as we don't bring up business transactions or future appointments."

Vivi choked on her own laughter and accidently fell to her side.

Veryx scoffed. "Dear girl, as much as you think that may be a joke, it's the foundation of my business practice. They need privacy and I give it to them."

"That's not all she's giving them," Viviane coughed.

"Oh it's not that. It's imagining the discussions of future appointments in front of Ren that's making me lose my shit." Vivi managed to calm herself down.

"What? Why me?" he asked.

Veryx smiled. "Well dear, it's because you're oblivious."

"Not sooooo oblivious," Viviane said. "He's had very long…stress relief sessions," she said, grinning as she walked and nudged Ren. "Isn't that right?"

Vivi proceeded to mimic Ren's voice. "Oh boy, you didn't tell me you were a Surgical Doctor Ms. Veryx!!" she began to cackle.

Ren pouted. "You can all... stop."

Persephone frowned. "I didn't say anything…"

"Not you. I like you."

"He also really likes Miki and Val, going by the sessions."

Persephone smiled and her tails began to swirl, then Viviane said something and her tails stopped.

"Viviane, I will hit you! You'll barely feel it but I will!" Ren insisted.

"Ooh yeah, pound me softly Ren," Viviane drawled.

Veryx suddenly clapped to get all of the children's attention. "Dear children, we're almost at the colosseum, and I need you to know that there must be no formality missed here. Do you promise me that you can do at least that?" Persephone nodded in response to this question.

Ren made an affirmative noise.

The Nekomata bit back the venom she wanted to say, settling to just swiveling her left ear.

"Yes yes, I'll lay off Ren," Viviane said, waving her hand as she returned to holding her fishbowl, her slime making a small bubbly noise as well.

Veryx nodded and moved forward. "Alright, I'll get you inside, but you'll be on your own after that. I do hope you can make it back. And once you're done, you should all come back to my home for a celebratory banquet. Or maybe I'll give you some sort of special surprise, if you like~" Veryx's tails swirled toward Ren. Persephone's tails slapped out in front of her and stopped her Mother. "Mother, I think Ren would appreciate the banquet more than your 'special treatment'."

"You don't know that," Viviane called. "It's been soooo lon-yeah I said I'd lay off," Viviane replied, stopping herself as she focused on feeding her slime some fresh water. Said slime made some very appreciative bubble noises.

Ren gave a sidelong glare with all the ferocity of a mildly displeased toddler, but said nothing. "A-anyway, um. Let's get inside for now," he said. "I want to try this while I still have any self-confidence at all."

"Oh you should have plenty of self-confidence," Viviane said as she kept feeding her slime. "Look at all the…'friends' you've gathered," she said idly. "Totally all for friendship."

"I am exactly the right height to punch you in the shin!" he warned.

"Oh nooo, you wou-ugh, I need to learn to stop," Viviane grumbled.

"Being the exact height to punch her shin doesn't help your case." The Nekomata noted.

After bribing the guards to the inner portions of the colosseum with the wine Viviane had with her (which she was very disappointed to part with), they were able to meet the Warden, who was a prime example of what the other Oni they have seen in the city so far tried to be. He is large, scarred heavily, muscular, more than a little drunk, and had a very gruff voice to match his disposition. "Who are you and why are you here?"

Ren turned to the others behind him, lowering his voice.

"Okay. I'm hoping to get this done peacefully, so everyone please don't say anything unless spoken too, okay? I'll take the lead as best I can; I've got a plan."

Vivi mewed softly in agreement, continuing an act of being a pet hellcat.

"…what if he calls me a fish…" Viviane mumbled.

"Even if he calls you a fish. Especially if he calls you a fish."

Viviane grumbled as she stared down at her fish bowl. "Fine."

"If he calls you a fish, you needn't worry. We can get our revenge by getting Kherie out quickly." Persephone nodded enthusiastically.

Ren, satisfied, turned back to face the large man, stepping forward and clearing his throat and engraving a slight, conversational smile onto his lips.

"Good morning, sir. My name is Ren Vedas of Schism Academy. We come in peace, for lack of a better phrase."

"That's disappointing, but you still haven't told me why you are here."

"Actually, Mister, um…" he started, but trailed off, looking up at him expectantly.

Persephone, at this point, disappointed in Ren's persuasion skills, stepped forward. "Dear Sir, I realize that my friend here is a little less assertive than he likes to think, and I-"

"Persephone, please calm down a bit. I'm just trying to negotiate with him on even terms, so I'd like to at least exchange introductions first," he said quietly.

Persephone nodded and stepped back, locking eyes with the man. She did not intend to charm him, but she did intend to catch his attention lest Ren's tactics did not work.

Vivi flicked her tail against Persephone's leg, giving her the look to cut the shit and let Ren do his thing in peace. Staring at someone weirdly wasn't giving the best first impression, and Persephone being Persephone, she'd try shit talking in her own head.

"I am the warden of this fine colosseum, Ibaraki of the Red."

Ren nodded. "I see," he said. "I do definitely admire the architecture, even if I haven't seen the main event. Anyway, if I might cut to the chase, since I don't really want to waste your time… You seem to be holding a fellow student of ours, as a… gladiator? Not much taller than me, very green, half-oni… You might have seen him if you work as the warden here."

"Yes, him. The one who looks like a Fae and more than likely is at least half. We have been putting him through his paces in the pit, along with a kappa. What about him?"

Ren nodded again. "I respect your claims to your combatants, Ibaraki-dono, but he is still a student at Schism Academy. You do have to take legal permission for your claims. Have you filed the necessary paperwork to the headmistress to take him on educational leave?"

"No, of course not. He was taken into our custody on our land. Thus, he is under our jurisdiction."

"That might be so, but Schism offers special exception to the rules for students in the event of no common laws being in place, so the staff do have the authority to take him back at any time if he is taken on leave without your permission. Actually, I'm here to help you with that."

"I am sure you are. Show me the proper paperwork from your teachers, and I will be happy to hand him over."

"About that… You actually have to requisition the forms in person…" he said sheepishly. "That's the main issue. Considering they let a student leave for as long we like, we're not actually allowed to carry them ourselves. That's why I was sent to assist you myself, instead of, say, a firmly worded letter with paperwork attached. I do respect your society's jurisdiction and laws to the highest degree, as well as your right to enter members of your own species into your own sports, but there are plenty of oni with purer blood around the area, as well as in Yamato itself. There's no need to capture a student from Schism Academy."

"Fair enough. Take one of my men to Schism Academy to get the paperwork, and I will lead you to your friend personally."

"Certainly," Ren nodded. "We're willing to overlook your kidnapping of a student, and I'll supply you with anything you might need as recompense for the effort it must have taken to capture him in the first place, but since you don't actually have formal permission yet, I'll have to request that you leave our peer in our hands for now, at least until you've finished the official procedure."

"I cannot leave my post, so we will have to both wait for one of my men to fetch the proper paperwork. It would go along much more smoothly if one of you guided him. As for payment, I would like to request alcohol for my men and me."

"I don't actually have the authority to approve deviations from procedure," Ren stated. "Though if you were to name a substitute and come to negotiate a change yourself, I'm sure exceptions could be made with the proper adjustments to the system in this case. Or, alternatively, you could always write a formal request to the headmistress to ask to change how things work, and the restructuring would be in place within the decade. One way or another though, I do have to insist that you send our friend back for the moment while everything is sorted out. We can provide recompense for any income your colosseum would lose as a result."

The two negotiators went on like this for quite a while.

Viviane idly stood by, staring at her slime and playing with her.

Vivi sniffed the air and closed her eyes, letting all the scents sink in. She could still smell the scent of Kheire's Flowery Sugar scent, but this time stronger. Looking at Ren and the Oni, she quietly walked back and jumped into the shadows, blending in and disappearing. The Nekomata took another sniff and surged forward towards the scent, eager to see Kheire and greet him with a hug.

As the Nekomata got further from her starting point, she came across a wooden cellar door and an oni guarding it. It seemed to hold the scents of many different races and Kheire, and it didn't seem like they put effort into guarding the gladiators with just one person. Going around the Oni, Vivi pawed at the door to figure out if it was a pull or push. Yes. That was her ultimate confusion that led her to getting caught.

The Oni Guard kicked back Vivi, making her give a meow of shock. Pissed off beyond belief, Vivi growled a bit but kept silent as she turned invisible again and pressed both paws against the door. The small cat let her fire burn the wood as the guard remained oblivious, finally burning a small enough hole to go through. She padded through the row of cells, finally finding Kheire's after a few turns and storming into it, now visible. Looking up, her eyes widened, then watered as she tackled the fae/oni while meowing repeatedly for attention, her fluffy paws clenching on to his chest gently.

Kheire looked at the small cat, taking a moment to figure out why she looked so familiar. "Vivi? Is that- no, of course it is you. You are the only cat I have ever seen be this energetic and affectionate."

The Nekomata turned into a human form and ended up straddling Kheire, still clinging to him. "I missed you!!" she cried, constantly nuzzling him repeatedly.

Kheire smiled and pat her on the back. "I missed you too."

Vivi sniffed and pulled back, rubbing her eyes before looking at the cuffs. "Okay, time get you out. I'm going to hope someone notices I'm gone so their asses can get their ass in gear."

Miki prodded the room with his senses and perked up.「Master. Miss Ne- Vivi is gone.」

「Yeah,」 he replied. 「Hopefully she'll be back eventually. I was hoping this would happen.」

If he had a face, Ren could tell he would be raising his eyebrows.「I hope you know what you're doing.」

「I… might. I just need to be able to tell when Kheire's free.」


The Nekomata grabbed the cuffs and grinned as she used her strength to rip the chains off of each hand.

"Before we leave, there is a friend I made here that I would like to bring with us. We fought in a pit against a few monsters together. He is the kappa to the cell a little to the right."

Vivi raised a brow but ignored it, sighing as she opened the door to cell and went into the Kappa's cell. "Okay bitch time to go, pack your shit. Just kidding, but seriously get your shit ready."

Tirien, the kappa, followed along without a word. He seems to be in shock.

Vivi went to breaking off his chains as well and went to dragging him out by the hand, entering Kheire's cell. "Okay, I got him, let's go." she went to the wall with her claws out and started punching and digging the softening walls. After just a minute already a tunnel was beginning to form. Eventually they surfaced in an abandoned alley in the slums.

Vivi sighed in relief, her claws disappearing as her poor hands were left damaged from the rough dirt.

Kheire made cloas out of dark plant matter for Tirien and he to wear.

"Okay, you 2 stay hidden, I'm going to get these dumbasses trying to negotiate."

Turning around, Vivi looked at the building they escaped and took out 3 grenades. "My favorite part~" she smirked as she took out the rings and threw them through the windows, the trio running away afterwards. With that, explosions were set off in 3 different locations, hopefully signalling Vivi was fed up with this talking shit. "Fuck this shit, god I just want food…" she mumbled to herself.

The warden, hearing the explosions, told them to get out and that they could talk to him about their friend later.

"Right," Ren nodded. "Good luck. Come on, Viviane, Persephone."

He dragged the two towards the door, stepping outside.

"Yessss!"

"Finally, that was really boring," Viviane grumbled as they walked away from the warden's room.

Persephone heard the explosions and was a little confused. There was never any sort of signal communicated between the group. Persephone had just assumed that since Vivi left (which she knew because of her exin sense ability), she'd be able to procure Kheire. She worried that since the city was being attacked that it would make it harder for them to get out. Fortunately, the guards seemed to have abandoned their posts at the gate to check on the explosions.

"Wow, this is even easier than I was expecting!" laughed Ren. "Vivi actually did it. I said so, Miki!"

 

[Sairento]

-Epilogue-

"Ren, come on, we're braiding your hair."

Persephone shook with excitement. "Yes please! Come here, come here!!"

"H-hold on, there's only one of me!" the small boy cried, to no avail.

Persephone sat the boy down with a twinkle in her eye. "Now now Ren, make sure you don't move too much, otherwise it'll hurt."

"No peeking," Viviane said as she shut the doors to the others. "And now I'm off; going to find some nice flowers to put in Ren's hair," she said excitedly before running out the door.

"Ah, this is…!" he spluttered, but sighed, doing his best to smile over his shoulder at Persephone. "You know, it just occurred to me, but we're still on this island. I can't believe we've only been here three days. It feels like it's been a year."

Persephone smiled. "Well I feel really lucky to have bumped into you then. I know it hasn't been that long since we've been around each other, but I feel like it's been pretty long since we met as well. Maybe the passing of time is just getting slower and slower as we go through life." Persephone looked down at Ren's hair, which she began to comb out. "Don't you think?"

"It's getting slower much faster than I thought. If that makes sense," he said, a calm tone colouring his voice. "Well, I say that, but to be honest, I do have some mysteries to solve. So maybe things will get a bit faster for you if you come with us after all."

Persephone laughed and her tailed swirled with excited enjoyment. "I do hope it will be that way. After all, everyone seems to be nice enough and I seem to fit in well enough. I'm getting to know Viviane better and I'm definitely getting to know you better. I'm thankful, if I haven't said this already. I don't think I told you this, but… I've… Never really connected with anyone my own age before. Not unless it was through my Mother and… Well, that's a conversation for another day. But anyway, enough about me. I've never really heard anything about your past."

He gave an awkward chuckle. "My past is a mess. To be perfectly honest, I don't even know what I am. According to a certain princess, I just appeared one day. I got caught in a situation that people construed as indecent, got exiled, went travelling through the worlds. Eventually, I stumbled into Kheire, and he signed me up at Schism… The rest is history. So, you see, I owe him a lot."

Persephone nodded and her tails continued to swirl. "Well, I'm glad that you met Kheire. After all, if you hadn't met them, you definitely wouldn't have met me. But I'm excited to go to Schism as well. I've heard schooling can be fun, although I've never had the pleasure of experiencing it. Oh! That reminds me! Can you teach me how to read?"

Ren blinked. And then he laughed. "Of course I can! What alphabet do you want to learn first?"

Persephone looked up for a moment and then blinked. "Uh… The basic alphabet? I, uh… I'm not sure what it is. I know what the alphabet is, but… I'm not sure which one I would want to learn. What's the alphabet for the language we're speaking now?"

"Unified Tongue. The Babel alphabet," he explained. "It's literally magical. It allows you to understand it even if you've never learned, as long as you know how to actually read in the first place. So it's perfect to start with. You'll need to record notes some other way in the meantime though. Oh! And I'll need to show you how to write your name too…"

Persephone put down her brush and hugged Ren. "Thank you, Ren. My Mother would never teach me because I was never let out of the house. When I went places, I was always confused by signs and things, but now I'll be able to understand! And if I'm going to go to school, I've heard it's important to understand things. I want to do well… And I don't want to let you down, whether it be in battle or in books!"

"Aha, don't worry about that!" he beamed. "To tell you the truth, Miki is actually training me in sword fighting, but… Well, I'd invite you to join us if he didn't always throw rocks at me, so I'll tutor you about stuff in private, okay?"

He winked, and held a finger to his lips.

Persephone's tails swirled rapidly and brushed up against Ren's back as Persephone blushed. "S-Sure thing Ren. I'd be happy to study in private with you."

He laughed again. "What's that face for? I didn't even know you could make a face like that!"

Vivi put a notebook in between them. "Get studying, boi. No time like the present.~"

"VIVI," a voice shouted, before Viviane came flying out of a nearby door, tackling the nekomata before dragging her out of the room. "OUT."

Persephone's face went from a face of blushing to a face of shock when there was a notebook placed between them. She even fell on the floor because she was taken by surprise that much. "Why does this happen every time I get close to you? I feel like everybody is just out to get me in this group. I mean, all while trying to be my friends. I don't know… It's very odd."

"It's pretty lively," Ren admitted. "They do it to each other too. I guess you can think of it as them honestly seeing you as one of us?"


Viviane took a deep breath as she walked back in, brushing her hands as she closed the door behind her. "Sorry, didn't think Vivi would barge in," she grumbled to Persephone and Ren, before brightening up as she placed a flower basket down. "Now then, I think purple would be maaarvelous," she said, grinning from ear to ear.

Vivi came in with a smoke bomb, leaving the room covered in smoke. "AND THAT'S ALL WE HAVE FOR TODAY FOLKS, YOU KIDDOS NEED SLEEP, DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?" she tsk'd like a mother.

"VIVI OUT," Viviane growled, clearing her throat as she tried to get the smoke out of the room. "Excuse me. I'll try deal with this," she grumbled, dropping the flowers as she stalked out after the nekomata.

The Cat Girl ran out of the room with a battle cry. "THE CAT BEAST SHALL NEVER BE BEATEENN!!"

Ren sighed. "Well… Vivi is often away these days, if that encourages you any."

Viviane cleared her throat before doing what amounted to a screaming lullaby at Vivi, dropping the nekomata in her tracks before shutting the door. "I'll keep watch," she called, glaring about in case anyone else tried to sneak in.

"This is really a big deal to you two…?" he smiled anxiously.

"D-Don't make this into something that it's not!" Persephone said with a slightly embarrassed expression, her tails moving around slowly.

"I wouldn't," he said. "After all, if there's one thing I've learned here, it's that you can never be too sure about what's important to people."

 

[Meleleleleleleleleleleophone]

Geoffrey, on his way to find dragon blood in dungeons. Not knowing where he was heading. On the path he found a new path that headed to a dark place. He didn't know what it was, so he entered and found out it was a dungeon.

The interior was cavelike, a sweltering heat floating up from the mouth as he stepped further in. His way was lit mostly by trickles of lava, flowing down the walls and down into the cavern below. As he entered he ignites his elven joystick and has it at the ready for any unexpected foes. The walls lit his way through this mysterious cavelike dungeon. He comes across split hallways and he must decide which to take. The left, the center, or the right one. Choosing the right path, he finds himself in what looks like a main chamber. He retracts his elven joystick attaching it back to his belt until he needs it next. He goes exploring in the chamber he had come upon. It initially seems rather empty, nearly silent, and much darker than the rest of the cavern. If nothing else, the air is much cooler, but it's difficult to see past the end of his nose. He conjures up a light to light his way through the chamber. He walks for a couple steps and stops. Nothing seems to happen. This particular section seems to be useful for a campsite, if nothing else, but it appears to be so far off the beaten path that there's nothing here to begin with. He sets up a camp and gets ready to sleep for the night. He lays down falling asleep. He wakes up hours later. The campfire is out. He stands up and conjures up another light so he can see. He walks around alittle to explore the chamber he found hours before. Once again, it had not changed. It was still relatively small and lifeless, barely more than half a dozen metres in radius. It seemed that the creatures more accustomed to heat had no business in a dark, cool offshoot of the main cave. He decides to go back to the three way split. He decides to go down the center one this time. He grabs his elven joystick but doesn't ignite it. Only having it ready for anything that might come ahead. The halls we're still dripping with lava, he can see down the hallway. He enters another room.

The offshoots all seemed to look the same. This one was a little warmer, but only because it was more open. It seemed everything interesting was down at the bottom of the tunnel, in the main cavern. He decides to turn back around. And he goes down the one path that has no light whatsoever. Before he goes he conjures up a light so he can see. He enters the hallway. There seems to be stairs leading to what looks like a cavern below. He goes down them slowly but not slow enough to we're he's scared just enough to be aware. As the light he conjures goes out he trips and falls down a couple stairs. When he gets back up he sees an opening with light. He decides to go to it. He enters.


There seems to be a much more open cave at the base of the tunnel. Magma boils around the edges of the room, and not just the ground, but even the air is scalding hot. Geoffrey catches sight of several rock-coloured lizards scuttling about, around the size of fish tanks, most having not noticed him. He decides to try to not attract any attention from them. So he tries to stealthy go around them. He gets passed without notice. He keeps walking further into the cavern.

The path leads him on to what looks like a lake of magma, and he notices what look like grey-red bats on the ceiling of the cavern above it. There are also what appear to be rubies growing out of the wall alongside the familiar trickles of lava. He goes to one Ruby and takes one.

The crystals seem firmly embedded in the wall. They seem like they'll need physical force to dislodge them. He pulls out his hammer and taps it lightly and pulls it out. He manages to dislodge a reasonably sized chunk. He breaks it into smaller pieces to put in his pockets and keeps walking.

Below seemed to be the heart of the cavern, searing wind howling from below. Whatever was down there, it was powerful. He decides to go down. O4n his way down he grabs his elven joystick from his belt, waiting to ignite it.

He reaches the bottom, and immediately sees the source of the power he felt. Across from him, a giant lizard lies with closed eyes, around the size of a train car. He thinks, should he try to take it or go around it. He decides to try to take it. He draws near it, elven joystick at the ready.

The lizard opened its eyes, its body extending to full length as it glared, magma-like streaks glowing as it snarled. He raises his elven joystick having it at the ready if the beast attacks.

It did.

It raised its tail, a whip of flame forming and lashing down at Geoffrey. Geoffrey tries to conjure a shield of water to deflect the attack.

The flames cleaved through the shield with ease, rending it to steam in a single strike. Another swift snap rang out as it went for him again. Geoffery tries to dodge it.

His speed was nowhere near enough, and he found himself flung across the room into a wall, a burning sensation where he was struck. He stands up to heal himself, but also being aware of his surroundings.

The lizard scuttled towards him, baring fangs and gnashing at him. He tries to electricute it.

The lightning hits it directly, but it shrugs it off without even flinching, grabbing him between its teeth and flinging him across the room.

He stands up, pulling out his gangdos and elven joystick. He draws towards it to attack.

It darted aside, lashing its tail at him again. He runs to the wall to try to dodge.

It latched onto his ankle, slamming him into the ground on the other side of the cavern. A loud crack ran through his ears, and the next thing he knew, he was in the infirmary.

 

[Vivi De La Moon]

A day after Geoffrey wakes up he gets out of bed, recuperate from the battle. He gets out of the infirmary and starts to walk around the school to see everything.


A not so long journey and Vivi was back at the academy after what felt like a year. Mostly, she came to get her stuff from her dorm and put it somewhere else, but she also felt the need to resume classes and train as much as possible. The Nekomata took a quick look around for anything new and passed by a questboard of sorts, making note to check on it later. She was about to pass the infirmary, she noticed a new guy she's never seen before. 'Hmm...stalking isn't that illegal anyway~' she thought to herself as she sneakily followed behind to see if he talked to himself like a dumbass. Yes, and she would jump in to scare him. Perfect plan Vivi. Good job.


As Geoffrey is walking and looking at everything, he says, "This place is pretty amazing." He decides to go look at the classrooms. He heads for the classrooms.


Vivi takes this as her moment to grab his shoulders and pull him back a bit. "Damn you do talk to yourself like a dumbass. Could the words not be contained?" she snickered, purposefully appearing as rude as per usual of meeting new people.


"Woah, who the fuck are you?!?!" Geoffrey surprisingly and angrily says as he's staring into this new person's eyes not sure what to do.


Vivi grinned and bowed sarcastically. "I am the best trash can ever, Vivi De La Moon. Pleasure to meet a fellow trash can." she greeted.


Geoffrey looks confusing at this obviously sarcastic trash can. " Hello trash can Vivi, I am Geoffrey. Pleased to meet your acquaintance." he says.


"Great, you're one for jokes too. Okay, so what are you doing? You look tired as balls." Vivi commented.


"I'll tell you what, school dungeons fuck ya up." Geoffrey groused. "Went to go look for some stuff, snuck around some tiny ass lizards just to get almost killed by a stupid daddy lizard." He says.


"Pff, school dungeons? Those are so easy. Tell ya what, how about we go look at that quest board and take up a REAL tough one~" she teased, but not lying in being willing to join him. Training a new person sounded fun, and she was eager for a fight.


"Alright sure, let's go." Geoffrey expressed.


Vivi set to grabbing the new guy's arm and proceeded to drag him backwards to the quest board she saw earlier. The Nekomata looked at the big board and hummed as she looked under the extermination list that was for sure fights.

"Hmmmm….well since I never fought a Snow Chimera, how about that? Looks challenging~" she half asked, not really taking a no for an answer as she took it to the lady up front.


"Sure… Real quick before we go. I don't have to call you 'master' do I?" Geoffrey sarcastically asked.


"Yes. Do it. Please. I am your master now." she said with stars in her eyes, always wanting to be someone's master.

Getting the approval stamp from the lady and a map that wasn't even a map, it just had a name and stuff. Continuing to drag Geoff behind her, she jumped into the portal and into the new environment.


She was immediately dropped into what seemed to be about three feet of snow. The wind was howling, and the sky was cast over completely. Wherever they were, it was freezing, and seemed to be in the midst of a snowstorm.


Not knowing where he was or what was around him, Geoff immediately took his elven joystick from his belt and ignited it. He looked at Vivi. "Do you know where we are? You kinda just like shoved me in here!" He exclaimed.


Vivi looked around, shivering a bit as she was STILL in her training tank top and baggy army pants. Summoning a fox fire to innocently rest on her shoulder, she turns towards Geoff. "I'm gonna be honest, I don't fucking know where we are. It kinda said, 'snow chimeras' and I decided wow, wonder where they can fucking be. So I went to the portals without a thought and boom, winter fucking hell." the Nekomata finished her rant, already feeling warm with the fox fire on her shoulder and a new one popping up in her pocket. Yes, they looked like actually little fox balls that were on fire.


"Well that's just fucking great!" Geoffrey exclaimed. "What do you think we should do next?" He asks.


"Duh, do our job. We gotta exterminate...shit, as many as we can mostly. It's a complaint of too many of those damn shits, especially alphas. So let's kill what, 10-20 each and we should be done? More? I don't know, till death we gooo!!" Vivi yelled as she grabbed Geoff and ran forward into the unknown. She followed whatever scent was available, which wasn't much since ice was everywhere. Only did she catch the scent of something a little bloody and off did she start towards it. "Keep guard buttercup, we can get attacked anytime soon~" she purred, slowing down only slightly. To be more nice, Vivi summoned 2 more fox fires to cuddle close to Geoff and keep him warm.

Just ahead, Vivi spotted what looked like an enormous hole in the ground, carved out of the ice.

Geoff raises his elven joystick being weary of any shits. "So you know what these things are called. Any idea on what they look like?" He asks.

She pulled out her halberd from a pen she kept in her pant pocket. "Nope. But I'm guessing ugly as shit with a side of pussy boi." she smirked, "aint none gonna stand a chance against us!"

The Nekomata kept creeping forward, tail flickering side to side slowly, her ears pressed flat to her head as if ready to attack at any moment.


Geoffrey calls out his pet, Ally, having her stand at the ready. "Right." He said questionably as if he's slightly scared. "You see anything yet?" He asks, eager to fight something.


Vivi looked over the edge of a big circular hole and saw plenty of...things crawling around. Grinning, she looked back. "Buckle up buttercup, cuz we're going in balls deep." she said, probably being great last words as she jumped in with a battle cry.


She landed at the base of the sinkhole in seconds, with what looked like white adolescent lions rearing both their feline heads and their goat heads at her, growling. They looked to each be around the size of a tiger, but Vivi could sense they were child's play to her.


"Well here goes nothing." Geoffrey says, igniting his elven joystick. He backs off from hole. Gets a running start, jumps, does a front flip and stabs the wall with his Elven joystick.


He landed firmly on his back, surrounded by chimerae.


"Well, I'm here. What do you say we kill some of these things." He says getting up from the fall.


Vivi grinned like a maniac, "lets fuck them up!!" she cheered as she swiftly sped forward to the first chimera in sight, raising her trident to make a swift upwards cut.

She easily cleaved the beast in two in a single slash.


Geoffrey grins as he runs shooting a lightning bolt at one.

The spell struck home, frying its target.

Two down, only around seventy to go.


"Vivi, we gotta find a faster way to kill these stupid things." Geoffrey says running up to another one, igniting his elven joystick and slashing at it.

It was easily sliced apart without even being able to evade.


The Nekomata growled. "YOU GOT LIGHTNING MAGIC, I'LL FIRE UP PATCHES OF GROUND AND MAKE IT WETTER AND YOU FRY AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE." she yelled as she jumped up on a windplate and shot down three moderate sized fireballs in random locations of the whole, hoping Geoff was smart enough to dodge her crazy aims.


Geoffrey quickly conjures a water shield to protect from the blasts.

It evaporated instantly, Vivi's flames burning through it like nothing, searing his skin.


"Owww!" Geoffrey exclaims. "Come on Vivi!!" Geoffrey yells to Vivi. Geoffrey flies up in the air.


"Oh my fucking god you dumbass, GET LIGHTNING IN HERE AND BURN THEIR ASSES, I MELTED THE ICE SNOW FOR YOU." she facepalmed, using her wind plates to get towards Geoff and using a healing spell she learned in healers class to heal Geoff more in return for the accidental target practice.


The ground beneath the pair began to rumble as Vivi bombarded it.


Geoffrey channeled the electricity through him, blasting it to the ground with all his might.

The chimerae seemed to convulse one by one, dropping like flies one after the other, clearing the whole sinkhole.


Vivi slowly hopped to the ground and landed on a safe area that wasn't melted, smiling happily. "That was awesome~"


Geoffrey slowly lands on the ground next to Vivi. "So what now?" He asked.

"Huh, well. I dunno about you but it's getting colder. Wanna go to the school cafe and get some hot chocolate?" Vivi offered, this time six fire foxes appearing on Vivi, showing how cold she was getting. Being nice, Vivi again summoned six fire foxes to warm up Geoff. "Good work by the way, we make a good team!" she chirped while genuinely smiling cutely.

That was when things went south.


The ground they were standing on shattered open, a much larger white chimera tearing out of the ice below with a howl, swiping at the pair with frozen claws.


Geoffrey quickly reacts and tries to push Vivi out of the way sacrificing himself.

The beast's claws slashed across him, throwing him into the wall of the sinkhole as it climbed out, immediately followed by two more of the same size.


Vivi's eyes widened in horror as her newly made friend was hit to the wall. She ran towards him to check if he was alright, holding him up and propping him against the wall. Good, a pulse still. And breathing. The Nekomata smiled a little and got up silently, turning around as everything about her got darker and darker. Her halberd became twice the size and she was covered in a white cloak again as she glared daggers at the beasts. Her vision became red as her eyes darkened, signifying her full bloodlust blessing. At the snap of a finger she used a windplate to get to the same level as the first boss who made the attack and used all her strength to attempt to slam her halberd down on its head.

It dodged the attack with impressive speed, biting at her with icy fangs.

Vivi in turn dodged the bite of the chimera by back flipping back, launching five fireballs at full scale and power once she faced the chimera.

She hit directly, a burst of flames covering the beast, which leapt back, snarling in pain. It and a second both rushed at Vivi, a third charging Geoffrey's prone form.

Vivi's sharp eyes caught the third coming towards Geoff, and abandoned her two bosses, speeding over there quickly in front of the wounded man and attempting to side slash the Chimera Boss before it came any closer to Geoff.

It darted aside, still rushing towards him unimpeded.

Geoff looks, scared for his life. He channels lightning as much as his body will. He shoots it at much as he can at the chimera rushing at him.

The beast shrugged off the bolts like nothing, slashing with its claws.

With no thought, Vivi jumped in front of the hit, using her halberd for what little it could possible guard.


Goeffrey stands up and uses a healing spell on the both of them.


The Nekomata recovered from the hit and growled loudly, sending six full powered fire blasts around her, two for each boss. The first she attacked evaded both deftly, but the other two took a single hit each.


Geoffrey in a desperate measure casts another healing spell trying to survive.


The Chimerae seemed to locate the healer, moving towards him in formation to make Vivi easier to deal with later.


The Nekomata ran over to Geoff and picked him up, jumping up high immediately and using her wind plates to get the both of them up high as possible from the attacks.

The Chimerae reacted immediately, leaping at the walls and rushing up, digging their claws into the ice as they began to catch up.


Geoffrey attempts to fly up to the top.

The goat heads on the backs all simultaneously turned to look at him opening their mouths. Ice beams of light shot forth, rushing towards him.

Geoffrey still flying attempts to deflect the attacks with his hammer by throwing it.

He easily deflected one, but the other two hit him squarely, knocking him off-course and out of the sky.


"I'M DOING TOO MUCH, AAUGH!!" Vivi screeched as she jumped towards him and threw him out of the sinkhole.

The two got out just seconds before the chimerae, surrounding the pair and snarling as Geoffrey hit the ground like a ragdoll.


Geoffrey gets up. Staring down one of the chimerae. He runs up to on jumping on it's back hoping the other two will shoot the ones he's on. He gets low on it so he doesn't get shot himself.


The chimera was having exactly none of it, swiping him away with a single slash, which just happened to slice him cleanly in two, red splattering over the snow.


Vivi's eyes dulled a bit, not having any of this shit either. Finding no chance in survival herself, she fired three smoke bombs and jumped out of the sinkhole with wind plates, fleeing completely into the blizzard and back towards the academy portal.

 

[Random]

Colin Topazgilder, a dwarf, a small yet mighty warrior. Going to challenge a student. The name……. Ren Vedas.

Ren was anxiously waiting to be called out on the other side, tapping his ankles together to distract him.
How did this even come to this…? he speculated quietly. Yeah, he'd picked up a pencil, but he hadn't known that it belonged to an angry dwarf…
"Ren, are you sure you want to fight him? You know, I'm in a bit of a mood myself to do so, if you'd like me to take your place," Val asked, resting a hand on his head before she'd have to make her way to the stands.
He gave her a soft smile, shaking his head. "I'm always getting you guys into trouble. I have to solve my own problems eventually, right?" he beamed. "Thanks, though. You didn't even have to come check on me. Sorry for making you go out of your way."
"What am I for if not going out of my way for Mr. Vedas?" Val teased, moving to walk away.
"Val!" he cried, flushing a bit. "Um… If you have any healing potions after this, they might be needed… I know the time field is there, but…"
Val grew more serious, nodding, "I began my preparations as soon as I heard."
He nodded back. "Thank you. Um… Don't be too ashamed of me?"
She hugged him for a split second, "I never am."
He gave a short, giddy laugh. "Um. You might want to head to your seat."
Viviane chose this moment to poke her head in. "Yeah Val, we're still saving your seat. Miki looks like he's gonna impale it though," she said, munching some popcorn as she watched from the doorway.
"Ah yes, of course. Good luck, and all, -----." Val stated, walking out with Viviane.

"Hey Ren! You ready to fight for my pencil?" Colin yelled aggressively.
"Ah! Um! I-I'm coming!" he replied anxiously, stepping out into the arena.

Colins pulled out his bow getting ready to fight.
"Um… Before we start… I don't actually have any items… Or weapons… Or armour," Ren admitted sheepishly. "So I don't suppose you'd be prepared to take it easy on me…?"
"No, what I have prepared to do is defeat you!!!" Colins yells.
"Kick his ass Ren," Viviane called from the stands, still munching popcorn.
"Yeah, what she said!" Val cried out, Sammy giving a squeak as well.
Miki glared at the dragon, calling out, "Don't try the same thing you did in my fight, Master."
Ren sighed. "I'm gonna die over a pencil…"
Colin shoots an arrow at Ren.
Ren stumbled out the way, managing to evade it cleanly. "Huh. These things are much slower than I remember them being."
"Come on Ren! Pound him! Pound him as hard as you can!" Viviane shouted, smiling gleefully from the stands.
"You don't have to make everything an innuendo!" he yelled back.
"Come on if your gonna hit me Ren then hit me already!!" Colin taunted.
He clapped his hands together in an apologetic bow. "I'm kind of a pacifist in these scenarios, so if you could save me the trouble that would be great…!"
"Nahh I think I'm good!" Colin expressed, running at full speed at Ren attempting to shoot him at a closer range.
The small boy deftly managed to avoid the second shot too, ducking underneath it. "Hey, those are still really sharp!"

Persephone, at this point, sauntered in. She saw a new person rushing Ren and her eyebrows raised. "Oh?~ And what's this we have going on here?~" Her tails swirled in excitement as she saw Viviane sitting on the sidelines, going to sit next to her. "Oh! Is that popcorn? Lemme have some!"
Viviane shifted the bucket to let Persephone take some. "Ren got challenged to a fight and he won't POUND THE OTHER GUY COME ON REN. POUND HIM HARD!"
"Ren should probably refrain from pounding anyone, you know, unless he wants to call down any kind of wrath from a certain sword man," Val stated.
Persephone nodded toward the new person. "And I imagine this is Val? The one person I have met briefly, but anyway..." Persephone turned toward Ren. "Pound him at least a little, won't you?~ I'd like to see you in action~"
"I'd like to see some action…" Viviane grumbled.
"You two…" Val sighed, although secretly curious herself.

Ren had managed to leap back a little bit, seemingly to gain some distance. Fighting head-on against someone with a ranged weapon wasn't the best idea in the history of the world, even if it was just a normal bow.

"Scared Ren?" Colin asked.
"The last person who shot an arrow at me missed and incinerated half a city," he pointed out. "So… bad memories? Trauma? There's a word for this."
"PTSD?" Colin asked, genuinely trying to be a little nice during a fight. As Colin realized what Ren was doing he calls out his dragon, Miloslava, telling it thunder shock Ren, as he shoot another arrow.

Upon seeing the smaller dragon, a certain someone got very excited.
Sammy squeaked loudly, now less of a squeak, but not yet a roar. He attempted to jump into the field.
"No, you don't," Val chastised, holding him by a little foot.
Viviane sighed, wiping her fingers clean before reaching into her fishbowl to pet her baby slime. "Sammy gets jealous?" she asked.
Val nodded, "Of course, he believes Ren is his after all."
Viviane chuckled.
"He better be prepared to be disappointed then." Miki droned.

Ren caught the arrow in midflight, tossing it forward at the lightning bolt as he leapt back, the bolt incinerating the arrow and the sheer kinetic energy seeming to shatter the bolt.
"It's just my two cents," he suggested, "but try to not introduce too many variables when you make a strategy."
"I may just be a dumb dwarf but I do like having a secure strategy." Colin says.
"Is that so?" he replied cheerfully. "Well, I suppose the least I can do is help you out and reduce some of the random factors!"
He darted to the side, so quickly he was a blur, a second dart bringing him within a metre of Colin, and with a swift kick that looked straight out of a kalaripayattu textbook, swung his leg at the dwarf's weapon.
Colin attempts to deflect it with an arrow by stabbing his leg with it. He was too slow, the attack sailing cleanly over and snapping the bow in two.
Colin backs up in surprise. He quickly throws a spark bomb. Runs back and detonates it.
Ren easily ducked aside, dropping his stance. "You don't seem to be a mage."
"No, You're right I'm not." Colin expresses throwing an arrow at him.
He stepped aside again, avoiding it. "You don't really seem to have a backup plan now you have no weapon either…"
"Well I wasn't expecting to lose my bow." He says getting out of his stance and just genuinely talking to Ren. "You know, you seem not to be very….. Hmm how could I put this. Very aggressive, even when you're not really fighting back." He says.
"Well, I never really had a stake in this…" he shrugged awkwardly. "Would you like me to fight back?"
"You know actually, you seem like a pretty decent guy. Maybe I'll let this go." He says trying to decide what to do.

"OH MY GOD REN WHAT WAS THAT, KICKING A BOW? POUND HIM. POUND INTO HIM AS HARD AS YOU CAN."
"Uh… My friends seem to be baying for blood," he observed. "You don't mind if I actually do try a few rounds, just to cheer them up?"
"Ahh nah let's go a couple just a couple tho. Then I'll give this up. I don't see how it's relevant to try to really kill you over a 'pencil'." He says.
"Alright," he nodded. "Then I'll start."
He raised a hand, white light forming arcane sigils in the air around him. One, two, three… Twelve altogether, all aimed at Colin.
"Dodge these if you can! Good luck!" he called.
"Well, here goes." Colin says attempting to dodge.

The blasts of light rained down in all directions, all converging on Colin before he had the slightest inkling of a way to dodge, instantly rendering him to ashes and glass.

"WHOOO, YEAH, NICE ONE REN," Viviane called as she clapped happily from the stands.
"You're a maniac," he sighed. "Um… If I just leave before he realises he's alive, do I get away with it…?"

 

[Birbthebirbest]

A day in the life of Sammy was fairly simple. You run, eat, play, bite Friend's nose and sit on Mommy's head.
However, what Sam did not expect was to have another, even smaller and cuter baby dragon infringe upon his territory. There was only one clear option to the fletchling, and that was to eat the newbie.

It was a stressful day for miloslava. Seeing his master get turned to ashes by some weird guy, then seeing his master be turned back to the dwarf he was and shoved into a room for a night. He decided to go and see who the bigger dragon was that he saw during the battle. This was perhaps a bad decision on his part.
The first thing Miloslava saw as he rounded a corner was a scaly butt, who was about to get impaled accidentally by his small horns.
"Ah!!" The butt spoketh, "What was that for?"
"Woah who are you?" Milo asked curious.
The butt then turned to show its own backside, which happened to be Sammy the dragon, "Me? And why do you talk in dragon so good?"
"My mom and dad taught me…. Why can't you?" Milo asked trying to make friends with this newly found dragon.
"I thoughts that is a rude something to ask somebody," Sam exclaimed, but then proceeded to answer anyway, "My mommy does no talking. She just mumbles non words."
"Oh my master can speak dragon, which is why I could understand him in the fight last night." Milo answered.
"Hey! My mommy can still do the understood!" Sam seemed offended by the notion that he can't understand Val. He totally can, kind of, sometimes!
"I'm sorry if that sounded wrong, I'm simply stating that my dad can fully speak dragon…… I've never had another dragon friend. My parents kept me 'under lock and key' before my master got me. But now I go on adventures with him so i've never really talked to another dragon." Milo apologized.
Sam was only a little confused by the many words spilling out of the other's maw. He was used to it though.
"Is fine. My name is Sammy, yours?"
"Miloslava, Milo for short." He answered.
"I will friend with you, but you stay a far from Friend and Mommy. Pets only for me! Understood?"
"Okay!" He answered excitedly.
Sam wiggled, "Okay! Wants to bite Zephy with me?"
"Who is this 'Zephy'?" He asked.
"My sister! She is small and dumb, but love her I do! Come!"
"Ooooooooo I have 3 other brothers! Can one of them come? His name is Virgiliu. Hes an eagle so he can fly."

And so the two dragons ran off to pester their respective "siblings" together, and conflict was avoided yet again by Sammy, the comic relief.

 

[Vivi De La Moon]

Vivi sulked a bit in the dorms, still thinking over Geoff's death. He wasn't quite a friend, more stranger. And strangers dying didn't really matter to her. But she felt a bit...off put from the death. Like he was an acquaintance, someone she knew yet didn't. Ya, that was it. Getting up from the couch, the Nekomata walked out of the dorms and towards to arena, hoping she could find someone around and get a fight. Especially a newbie, Vivi felt kind of entitled to help train them so they wouldn't die so quickly.

Colin had just gotten back from getting miloslava from a play date with sammy. He walked into the arena wanting to train. He sees someone walking down to the arena. He goes up to the strange new person. "Hey who are you? You look a little down you ok?" He asks.


The Cat demon's ears flickered upwards a bit in signal that she heard him. "Ya, just thinking things a bit through." she said, finally turning to the new person. She looked him up and down before coming to a decision. "Want to spar with me? I want to test out a whole new battle technique, so think of me as a practice dummy for you to also train up. I won't move, so that will be a plus." she attempted to persuade the newcomer.

"Sure. I actually battled another student named Ren. Well actually at first I was really mad because he had stolen my pencil. But during the battle I had calmed down a bit because he seemed like a cool dude. But his fans were cheering him and telling him to 'POUND HIM INTO THE GROUND' so to please them….. He disintegrated me. But sure let's go train." He answers heading into the arena.


Vivi grinned, at least now knowing one of her friends trusted this person, following after. "Hopefully you'll win, but I think you'll muster up the strength and fucking hit me." she joked, only half serious.


"Agreed." He says. "Alright you ready?" asking getting ready to fight.


Vivi went to her side and nodded, stretching her arms a bit. "Ready when you are!" she yelled, preparing her exin and feeling completely new.


"Ready." He mumbled to himself getting his bow out and preparing an arrow. He calls out Jericho and Toni. As he aims and shoots he commands them to attack while releasing the arrow.


The Nekomata raised her arms in an X in front of her, casting a shadow field around her to block the attacks. To her luck, the spell upheld and blocked the attack with ease.

"Alright hmm?" Colin asks to himself. He calls back Jericho and Toni and Calls out Miloslava. Colin tells Milo to shoot lightning bolts at Vivi as he runs up putting his bow away and taking out his sai attempting to stab Vivi at close range.

Vivi got annoyed pretty quickly of the pets but brushed it aside, not having much of an idea as she made a ring of fire around her that fully blasted outwards.


...And, the Nekomata accidently ended up one-shotting him. She groaned immediately, "god damnit not this shit, they need more practice!" she grumbled, heading out in frustration.

 

[Sairento]

Co-write with Inkouah
-----
Title: Wow, Miki actually does shit without Ren
-----
Viviane hummed as she walked down the halls, having just finished watching Persephone utterly destroy Ren. Still humming as she passed by Miki's room, she paused for a moment before knocking twice.

There was some loud rustling and clanking of metal before the door was cracked open and an acid green eye stared back out. "Miss Viviane," he sounded surprised, "yes?"

"Hey Miki. Just wanted to ask if you wanted to go on a team bonding exercise," she said, before clearing her throat. "Uhm. Please. I don't think I can clear a dungeon on my own right now."

He hummed. "I... guess that's fine. If I don't try to get along with you people Master might get sad. I'm... less likely to try and leave you behind if you get in the way."

"Wow. It's like you actually care," Viviane deadpanned, before nodding. "Still. Thank you, Miki. Uhm...can we go now...?"

"Give me... five seconds?" He didn't wait for an answer, instead slamming the door forcefully before throwing it back open within moments, slinging a spear that seemed to be too big for him over his shoulder. "I'm not sure why you wanted me to join you... I thought you were a pretty capable fighter..."

"Is that what you thought of me? Well, I'm flattered, but you know, I can't really hit things very hard," she said pointedly. "It's more...screaming at things till they die. And that doesn't always work out. Don't really want to die on my own after all, just because of a bad matchup. I mean, look at me. Do I looked ripped?" she flexed one of her arms.

Miki gave her arm an unimpressed glance. "The screaming part still counts as fighting to me. If it works and you're good enough at it, you don't need to be physically capable. Bad matchup or otherwise."

"Well, I prefer not to take the risk," Viviane said as they approached the portals. "I wanted to check out a snowier dungeon. That fine with you?"

He made what she assumed was meant to be an interested sound and nodded. "Any reason?"
Viviane shrugged. "Call it instinct," she said. "Plus, I sort of want a snow biome for my terraforming pots."

"I thought fish avoided the cold normally." Miki muttered.

Viviane gave a sharp growl as she spun around to face Miki. "Look here you shit. Rule one: Don't. Call. Me. A. Fish. Got it?" she growled, poking him in the chest with each word. "Besides. I swam to the bottom of the ocean daily. Being cold is not an issue."

He blinked, unimpressed. "It's clear. Crystal, even." A sigh. "...Sorry. I guess."

"It would sound more sincere if you didn't add 'I guess'," Viviane replied, before letting out a long breath to calm herself. "Anyways. Let's go."

Miki nodded stiffly. "Would you like me to say, 'ladies first' or something?"

"Ha ha," she replied, giving a small smile. "Just want to make sure you're paying attention," she replied before hopping through the portal.

He followed after her and was quickly greeted by several inches of snow on top of the solid ice under their feet, still quickly accumulating from a thick blizzard that kept them from seeing anywhere further than an arm's length away from their face. The further shades were visible however, and there were several darkened spots that seemed to be shifting constantly.

Viviane squinted, ignoring the urge to cast fire armour and just be warm. "Can you see what they are?" she mumbled as she fiddled around in her bag, looking for an empty container for her terraforming.

She quickly realised they were perfectly circular holes in the ice, with something shifting under them only to have their path covered by a thick blanket of snow before she could get a better look.

Miki mimicked her actions. "In the water. Those are eyes right?"

"Probably. Looks like the fights underwater," she mumbled, taking off her sandals and tossing them in her bag, trying not to shudder at the cold. "How's your swimming?"

"I'm... going to sink." he admitted lamely.

Viviane sighed, casting her fire armour. "Hold on to me then. I'll just swim around carrying you or something."

"I'd... be thankful. Just use me as a shield if you think something is going to really hurt you."

"Pish posh, I won't use you as a shield. Anyways, come on. Oh uh...can you breathe underwater? Little late to ask since I'm already breaking the ice but uhh..."

"You should be really glad I'm an undead piece of metal." he deadpanned. "I hope you know how to use a sword."

"Not at all. Let's do this," she replied. "Ready to get wet Miki?" she said as she turns off her fire armour, the ice thin enough to just beak with her foot.

"Please never say that to me... to anyone again." He was quickly replaced by golden metal and Viviane was left in blissful silence.

VIviane sighed, before picking up Miki. "Come on, let's see what awaits us," she mumbled, stamping down with her barefoot a little harder to make the ice shatter beneath her feet. As soon as she touched water, she transformed her legs, stretching her tail before she glanced about to see what she was fighting now.

The smooth back of whatever was there instantly brushed against her and it was instantly clear there was only one thing under the lake, and it was fast.

"Oh come on," Viviane grumbled, whipping her head around to try see what exactly she was fighting.

She caught sight of a massive black tail before she heard it. A sharp shrill cry that seemed to pierce the water.

Viviane grumbled, before opening her mouth and letting out a shrill cry in response. "Black tail black tail…smooth…maybe it's a giant lizard."

Miki flashed in her hand and crystal spirals shot through the water, impaling the tail almost instantly.

Viviane grumbled more as she swam around, still trying to see what exactly she was fighting. "I hit it…hmm…"

She caught sight of two white dots, eyes? Before dark tendrils of nothingness clamped down on her, dragging her closer to the floor with ease.

"Ew ew ew ew," Viviane growled, trying to wriggle out of the grip before opening her mouth and screaming. Might as well just hit it at point blank range.

One after another, the tendrils popped, freeing her just as easily, allowing Miki to focus on shooting the shadowy form.

It gave another piercing wail, this time clearly in pain. The water somehow dropped in temperature even further and Viviane could feel herself going sluggish as her body protested.

"F-fuck this is cold," Viviane grumbled, opting to actually put up a shield this time. If she couldn't move fast…she'd at least defend herself properly.

The shield fizzled out of being as soon as it appeared and not having a face didn't stop Miki from radiating his disappointment in this. Sixteen crystalline swords that looked nearly identical to the one in her hand appeared as if to compensate for the slip and all of them met their mark.

"H-hey it's not my fault I'm cold," she said. "Screws with my focus a little, that's all…"

The black shape let out a sound that was definitely a howl and black tendrils writhed around her, repeatedly slamming into her body.

Viviane coughed harshly, fishing around for a health pot before quickly drinking it. "You'll have to take the next hit Miki," she mumbled.

The grip in her hand was quickly replaced with an ankle that Miki jerked out of her grasp. He gave a small salute and sixteen more swords instantly shot forward, only six actually hitting flesh.

It gave a low whine that they could feel reverberate in their bones and the wolf-orca hybrid cried, spilling large amounts of blood into the already dark water.

Miki inhaled a lungful of water and quickly pulled her behind him by the arm.

Viviane idly drank another health pot as she watched Miki fight.

He gave her the look that reaction deserved as the akhlut dissolved into shadows.

Viviane shrugged as she cleared her throat, covering Miki's ears before she sang a lullaby to try knock out big, dark and scary.

It solidified, pulling itself out of the shadows as Viviane lulled it to sleep.

Viviane flicked her hair backwards. Which would've been better if she weren't underwater, as it just resulted in her flicking her head back and forth a little without moving her hair at all. "No need to thank me," she said cockily before helping Miki swim over to the sleeping beast.

Miki made a face and idly stared at the wounds. He prodded her for attention and made a slitting motion across his neck before pointing at it.

Viviane nodded before clearing her throat, letting out another screech at the unconscious beast.
Its eyes opened slightly and it spasmed, blood leaking out of its orifices as her voice did its work. It stopped.

Miki glanced at her, creating one of his swords and holding it out to her as he made tearing motions with his other hand.

"I have a carving knife, don't worry," she said, pulling out said knife before she went to work. He shrugged, meandering across the sea bed with no way to get out as she pulled out assorted organs.

He looked over after a while and she had taken it apart like a dog would a chew toy, producing a large pile of fat and a surprisingly small core, as well as a medium sized box that seemed to have spilled out of its stomach when she cut in to it.

"I call the core," she said as she picked it up. "Maybe."

After that, she picked up the box, asking Miki to turn into a sword again as she prepared to swim then all back to the surface.

He did it with little complaint, though he did eye her bag with an odd expression before shifting.

Viviane shoved the chest into her bag before picking up Miki in sword form, glancing about before she swam back up.

A quick search of the sea bed left them with several fragments of what appeared to be a turtle shell... or was it a type of snail? The shards were heavy and about the size of their heads, filled with a dark rock of some kind.

Viviane shoved all the shells into her bag before swimming back up to the surface. Shivering as she broke the surface, she quickly cast her fire armour, dispelling it as soon as her clothes were dry (but before she ended up melting the ice again), and yanked the chest out of her bag. "Okay. Let's see what's inside this," she mumbled to Miki as she snapped it open.

As an afterthought, she cast ice shield above them to keep the blizzard from being too much of a bother.

The box opened surprisingly easily, and its contents weren't even damp. "...Rings? That's it?" He held a pair up to the general direction of the sun.

Viviane shrugged as she picked up the other two, sliding them on. "They look nice. Better than nothing, right?" she said, tossing one of the two she'd taken to Miki. "Here. You can have three. I already took the core," she said cheerfully, in a good mood with all this new loot.

"What are they even supposed to do?" He mumbled, turning the rings in his palm. They all had a geometric design, flowing lines that looked like the now familiar sight of molten platinum, and a square stone that shone green.

Viviane shrugged again. "They look nice. Why not give one to Ren as a present," she said, grinning from ear to ear. "He might appreciate a gift, you know. Really appreciate. Sharpen your sword and stuff."

"I don't need to bribe him to do that." he frowned.

"Sure, but he might put in some more…effort if given a little present. Think about it," she said, sighing as she stood up. "Weeee should find the portal out of here."

"This would've been a lot harder if we couldn't stay underwater." Miki pointed out. "I guess we were supposed to search for stuff on land before jumping down there... how big do you think this dungeon is?"

Viviane shrugged, standing up as she looked around, trying to find something. "No idea…"

Miki sighed. "At least the hard part is done. First one to leave gets another ring?"

"Sure, whatever," Viviane replied.

---

"I have no idea how you found those weird plants and the exit first."

Viviane shrugged as she stuffed the last of the plants into her bag, as well as a second ring for finding the exit first. "I'm incredibly lucky," she said simply, before nodding to Miki. "This was fun," she said cheerfully. "We should try it again sometime. Yes?"

He blinked and nodded slowly. "Are you just doing that out of courtesy? I'm fine going on dungeons alone if you find me disagreeable."

Viviane shook her head. "Nah, I'm sincere. I probably would've died to that weird wolf-whale thing if you weren't here. So…thanks!"

Miki gave a small smile. " Next time...Alright."

 

[Vivi De La Moon]

Dagian-Sae,


I heard you talking about losing your powers. I thought you seemed a bit weak. Meet me at these coordinates in Graecus at lunchtime tomorrow, they should lead you to the middle of the ocean.


Nasake-chan ❤


Vixie looked at the note with both distaste and curiosity. So this...person, claimed to want to help her. It was a bit suspicious, but the former chaos goddess assumed she'd eat the person who attempted a trap if that was the case. Win win, I suppose?


The next day Vixie flew her way to Graecus at around noon, hoping that it would guarantee a good meal. It'd felt like centuries since her last good meal even though it was only two decades ago. Landing at an empty square, she looked at the scenery in hope this would hurry along.

Above her, the shadow of spread wings was cast over the ocean, a rush of air kicking up the water as a woman descended from above.

"Hai, hai, hold your applause, the amazing, cute, and radiant Nasakezako has arrived to cast a miracle!" she cried energetically.


Vixie gave an uncaring glance at the new person. "So you invited me here?" she questioned a bit too harshly for someone who was lending her help. The Chaos God couldn't much help it, she was allergic to cuteness.

"That's right," she nodded. "I saw you around the Grand Dial. I heard you're the goddess of chaos who lost her powers."


She cringed and looked to the other direction. "Unfairly so if you might add." a very ironic sentence coming from the Chaos Goddess, of all people, calling 'unfair.'

"Ahh, I know all about that kind of stuff," she nodded. "My mother was a bit controlling herself. So, I thought I might lend you a hand with that a little bit."


Vixie fully turned towards her. "Unless you have a god or goddess to spare, there's not much help to lend." she said dully, not expecting this overly cute girl to be able of such things.

She give an impish giggle. "Well, you see, I don't look it, but I am actually a goddess myself."

"Okay, but that doesn't really tell me how you plan to get me a meal." The Fallen angel said with annoyance, thinking this was more chat than the actual point.

With a wink, she extended a hand, plucking a book from thin air. "Do you know where we are?" she asked.

"Graecus if I'm assuming correctly. I'm not familiar with this place specifically, but if my memory is correct this is a domain of a greek god?" Vixie half asked.

"This place is actually neutral territory," she explained. "This is where the body of Typhon fell after it… he… was killed by Zeus. He's a little bit gross."

She opened the book.

"This is a little thing I stayed up writing for you last night. It's a bit of a fantasy story, you see. It's about what would happen if Typhon had won against Zeus. The best bit is about halfway through, where Typhon and Echidna have a kid, the strongest monster of all time, who then becomes the god of rainstorms," she smiled brightly.

"How...kind of you." Vixie tried to sound grateful, but ended up sounding as though she was cringing. Ugh, she couldn't do this, faking nice was getting difficult.

"I know this is a bit boring, but try to keep listening," she pleaded. "As a goddess of literature… I can make it so that was real. So, Dagian-Sae, you might want to step back a little bit while I make you some delicious takoyaki!"


Vixie laughed a bit internally at the takoyaki comment and flew up into the air and a few yards back.

Nasakezako smirked, opening the book and flipping through the pages.

"Soshite, ame no ou ga meimei sa reta, akuma no kami ga umareta, sekai no saidai no teki wa Echidna no shikyuu kara uma reta."

The water began to turn, a whirlpool forming around Nasakezako.

"Come on out, Vrochilad."

The air distorted, the very fabric of the world seeming to twist and shift, a formless shape beginning to materialise.

"Now, Chaos-chan, the important thing you must always remember is to stop it from healing. So I brought this!"

She pulled out what looked like a stake of mistletoe.

"Would you like a try?" she asked.

Vixie shrugged and flew down a bit to grab the mistletoe stake, throwing it at the beast swiftly and with a bit of strength to at least impale it.

An unholy screech echoed through the surface of the world.

"Actually, I must confess to a bit of bad writing. I gave it a fatal weakness to mistletoe like Baldr had," she winked. "For no reason at all!"

The shape, which had barely seemed to take form yet, was already crumbling into the water.

"So that mistletoe stake was all you needed to kill it!"

The last of the beast seemed to collapse, pieces of it crashing into the sea, and Nasakezako darted forward with a deft lunge, catching a large chunk in her arms, a bit of blood splattering on her face.

"Oh. Oops!" she gave a shrug, flying over to her. "This looks big enough to eat, right?"

The Fallen Angel nearly drooled for two reasons. One, the raw meat looked absolutely delicious. And two, the goddess of literature looked beautiful with blood on her. She had clearly and hugely misunderstood her, this girl was fucking amazing.

"Yes that is perfect!" she said with real excitement, grabbing it and quickly getting to eating, taking huge bites with her razor sharp teeth. In her stomach, the plant did it's job of converting the bloody chunk of meat to exin and letting the exin course through the Fallen Angel. Already, changes were being made as she felt and heard a snap within her core. The almost always permanent dirt spots on her skin cleaned, her blood coursing faster and hardening, giving back her more pale color that was not greenish white. The highlights of her hair brightened, and so did her hair come back to life of its silky texture that was not permanent dreadlocks. And finally, her golden eyes gained better color, a clock in one eye appearing and ticking slowly once again like her former self. But, sadly it was not her full power. Although the changes to her appearance made her feel the most better than she had ever been in the past two decades.

Nasakezako grinned, licking her lips a little bit. "What do you think, Dagian-Sae? Oh, that's only your sacred name, isn't it? The one Kuro-sama gave to you. You have your own one, don't you?"

The Chaos goddess smirked a bit, starting to float down to the ground. "My name is Vixie Corvax. Pleasure to meet you~" she purred.

"Nasakezako," she bowed. "Divine tengu, goddess of literature, Number V of the Dark Ancestors. It's an absolute delight to meet you in person."

Vixie grabbed Nasakezako and licked her cheek that had a bit of blood on it still. "I think you'll be very useful~" her purring not settling down. We should probably blame Vivi for making Vixie a purring person.

She giggled at the feeling of Vixie's tongue on her skin. "I'm inclined to agree. Well then... No matter whether we are family or tools to you, let's get along, Vi-chan!" she chimed, a sparkle in her eyes, a fundamental crack in the surface of the bloodsoaked madwoman.


Ya, Vixie was definitely going to have her way with this woman if she kept acting cute like that. The actual good cute.

"So, d'you want me to write anything else? When I'm at my best I'm pretty proud of the stuff I can do!" sang Nasakezako.

The Fallen Angel gave it little thought before she decided against it, saying, "No thanks, I'd like to do a couple kills of my own first so I can settle back in."

"Sure thing! Want an extra hand with that?" she asked. "We can go for a proper massacre!"

"Hm...I suppose one massacre wouldn't hurt. But first…" Vixie took a deep breath before outstretching her hands and gripping onto nothing, raising her hands as she made mountains appear in front of her, rocky land forming. She grinned to herself. Yes! At least the best part was back.

"Ooh, I like it," Nasakezako smiled coyly. "Reminds me of home. Gonna make this your new domain?"

"Bet your damn ass it will be. But it needs more...something." Vixie wondered. She floated more down to the island and sped past the mountains, looking for a specifically decent sized mountain. Setting her sights to one next to the largest mountain, took out her two sais and cutting the mountain clean off, chunks falling to random places. Good. Turning to the chunks she used her powers to form them into the shapes of lions, then bestowing them the life of the vines and seaweed that wrapped around them.

"Oh, guardians," Nasakezako observed, landing on the ground before them. "I don't have any in mine, but these are cute! Look at their little teeth! They could nom someone clean in two!"

Vixie grinned a bit. "These are just for show mostly, like...officers. The real ones that will be guardians will be from the larger boulders that flew out across the land. We'll decorate it later."

"Oh, this is going to be wonderful," the tengu tittered.

"This is more tame than my previous creations. I did have a whole realm to myself though. I'll see if it's still functioning later. For now, I am actually craving bread with spicy curry." Vixie muttered as her stomach rumbled. If it was one thing Vixie and Vivi shared in common, it was food first.

 

[Zyxis Ouroboros ReArchtype]

Colin was getting pretty tired of losing every battle he did. He decided to try and do something about it. He knew a strong student that might be able to help him….. Val. It was Val. He decided to go ask her if she could help him get stronger. He went and tried to find her with Miloslava standing on his shoulder.

Val and Kheire were found in a corner of an empty classroom, vehemently arguing about some kind of theory involving proper potion-making. Their heads snapped towards the door as Colin walked in, Val turning haughty and suspicious, Kheire blinking and whispering to Val inaudibly.

"Hey Val, could I talk to you a second? Well…. Actually, I just came to tell you I'm sorry for challenging Ren," Colin began, "and also sorry about the things I said at the dungeon the other day. I came to ask you if you and another person could help me get stronger. I mean really strong."

Val squinted a little, then softened. She could very easily remember being horribly easy to beat, and sympathized with the dwarf. She even got into a fight on her first day too…

"Alright, I will help you," Val answered, making it sound as if it was a huge chore to her, "Kheire, would you like to accompany us?"

"I suppose so. There is a group of monsters nearby that I have been keeping my eye on. Would that work for everyone?" Kheire looked between them to gauge their response.

"I wouldn't mind, it can't be as bad as Namacuix and Zhihao, now can it?" Val said, almost acting as if she was excluding Colin in her speech.

"That should be fine, I hope. Val would be able to make sure I don't die?" He asked desperately.

"Excuse me, Val would be doing what?" She laughed, "What are you expecting, me to fly you around so you don't get hit?"

"Well that's actually exactly what I was expecting." He answers.

"That could work. You are more than strong enough and you are the fastest of us." Kheire piped up to offer his support to the idea while trying to hide a grin.

Val didn't even outwardly acknowledge Kheire's sentiment, instead deciding to walk ahead.

The trio of intrepid young adventurers stumbled upon an odd sight. The monsters were engaging in strange behavior, namely trying to build a home. The giant crab was shaping metal walls with what looked like plant matter growing in the cracks while the large spider-like creature spun support beams made of thick cords of interwoven wood and metal. The shiny, normal-sized eight-legged horse scouted the perimeter at high speeds.

Kheire peered closely at the more architecturally inclined duo. He did not know that Exin could be used to create permanent constructs. He has probably seen it before, but this is the first time he had ever thought about the practical applications for it. Maybe he could refine his technique with such a practice to reduce or even replace the need for natural materials This idea held merit… Regardless, now is the time for action.

Val burst into feather, grabbing Colin by his shirt collar and beating her large wings to take off.
"Have you ever flown, dwarf?"

"Woah, what? No I haven't." Colin answered realizing he was being lifted up.
"Well, then enjoy the ride, and try not to puke, please."

Valentina then cast five fireballs in quick succession at the overgrown spider, diving away as quickly as she had arrived, moving at a speed that made her difficult to see.

Directly after, she cast another five at the crab. They both died quickly, her fire burning them into melted scrap heaps.

Colin watches in awe as the two giants were killed so quickly. "Woah!" He expressed.

Kheire followed up with a multitude of magma missiles streaking towards the sleek and shiny pseudo-Sleipner. It melted as well, leaving the clearing eerily quiet.

After the metal was safe to sift through, the group found a wealth of cores (courtesy of the magic item Ren gave Kheire) and a few items hidden in the cave. Kheire took the majority of the cores, fusing six into himself to gain a Metal alignment of his own and six abilities to go with it. His time in prison taught him that change was necessary for survival. Luckily, that weird horse had some strange attributes that you would not normally expect from any old horse monster. Val took four to get faster and stronger, but she was happy with her alignments. She did, however, take all the items, including a fashionable scarf, flaming red staff, and a glove that screamed "power." Colin was just happy to have tagged along and gain some combat experience.

 

[★Under The Stars★]

Persephone was new to the school grounds, so she decided to saunter around them for the day to get herself acquainted. She smiled and danced around as she moved around the lovely greenery of the area, her tails flapping in the wind and swirling with excitement and happiness. Persephone wore a giant smile on her face as she fell onto the ground after turning around a few times. Persephone closed her eyes as she said to herself, "Ah, not much could make this uday better. Well… Except Ren, but he's busy today~ So not much could make this day better."


Viviane poked her head around Persephone's room, huffing as she wasn't there. "Where could she be," she mumbled, rolling the extra ring in her hands as she closed the door and walked forward again, checking doors and windows when she finally saw the kitsune. "Oh, Persephone," she called, grumbling that the window didn't open before making for the stairs to get outside.


Persephone felt her body rolling around in the grass, having a stupid smile on her face, almost in ecstasy over the feeling of the cool grass across her skin and her fur. "Mmm~"


Viviane sighed as she made her way over to Persephone. "Persephone, you'll get grass stains that way," she said, standing above the girl.


Persephone's ears perked up suddenly as Viviane spoke to her. She quickly stood up and brushed the grass off of her clothing. "U-Uh… I-I don't know what you mean by that!" Persephone's face grew a bright red and her tails waved back and forth in embarrassment.


Viviane snickered slightly. "Suuuure, that's why there's a green spot on your left knee. You got sloppy with a salad during lunch," Viviane said. "Anyways, I didn't come here to chastise you about rolling in the grass. Close your eyes and keep your hands open!"


Persephone tried to be mad at Viviane for the joke, but she couldn't hold back her smile. And as she was told to close her eyes and keep her hands open, she put her hands on her hips. Her tails raised to create a kind of stage behind her body. "What for?"


"It's a S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E," Viviane said pointedly. "Now do it! Not like I'm going to drop a worm in your hands."


Persephone nodded, then suddenly realized what she was agreeing to. "W-Wait! Are you actually going to drop a worm in my hands?!" Persephone recoiled a little bit as she retracted her hands from her hips to her sternum.


Viviane rolled her eyes. "Come oooon Persephone, don't you trust me?"


Persephone sighed and held out her hands and closed her eyes. "I swear if you put a worm in my hands…"


Viviane quickly slapped the ring (and by slapped, she placed it very carefully). "Great. Now open your eyes again," Viviane said excitedly.


Persephone opened her eyes as she glanced at what was placed into her hand. It was a beautiful ring with a strange design along the side and a green gem in the middle. Persephone looked up toward Viviane, "W-What is this for?!"


Viviane smiled happily. "Good eh? Me and Miki found a couple of rings during the dungeon fight just now. I only really wanted the one, so here! Take the other one I got."


Persephone immediately put it on her finger and cheered. "Oh yay! Thank you so much! It's so cute!!!" Persephone immediately embraced Viviane with a tight hug. "You're so sweet~" She loosened the hug a bit and backed up a little while still holding Viviane, looking her in the eye. "You know what? I'll make you a present as thanks!"


Viviane chuckled slightly as she hugged Persephone back. "Really? You don't have to if you don't want to. Pay me back, I mean."


Persephone nodded, but still insisted. "No no no, I'll do it. I don't have to, but I want to. You stay here and I'll go get a few things."


Viviane shrugged, sitting down and fishing around in her bag for her puzzle golem to play with and pass the time.


Persephone went back inside to her room, which had her sculpture supplies. She grabbed a chair and a giant block of ivory stone. "Oh, I'm so excited I get to do a sculpture of a friend!" She carried the supplies and the chair for the sculpture with her mind and carried it all outside. She placed the stone onto the chair and laid the box of supplies onto the ground. "Alright, pick a comfortable pose." Persephone had a wide smile on her face as she grabbed a chisel and a hammer out of the box.


Viviane hummed, before standing up, quickly running off. "I'll be right back," she called, making her way to the music room and grabbing a guitar before running back. Slipping the strap over her shoulder so she didn't drop the guitar, she proceeded to do the rockstar pose, one hand outstretched upwards as she waited for Persephone to start carving. "…my arm's gonna get tired…oh weellllll."


"Don't worry about the arm dear, I like to start from the top anyway~ I'll try and do it quickly so that you can get out of here fast! And what kind of pose is that?" Persephone snickered a little bit as the chisel and the hammer began to bang against the stone at a very quick rate, shaving away the stone to reveal the general shape of an arm.


Viviane made a small huff sound as she kept her arm outstretched. "It's a classic rockstar pose," Viviane replied, smiling as she looked somewhere. Somewhere far beyond the school, where she'd be performing on stage, and then eventually jump into the crowd when she finished…


Persephone smiled as she glanced up to see Viviane looking elsewhere. "Looks like you're pretty wistful about the whole idea of being a rockstar, huh?" Persephone began chiseling the middle of the body now, the stone chipping away at such a fast rate it almost seemed like the stone was melting away from the figure that was being formed.


Viviane nodded. "Its my dream," Viviane said, sighing happily. "Anything music-related is really common given my lineage, from being a siren, but…rock star…it's a little out there, for sirens," Viviane said, laughing slightly. "We're usually all lullabies and calming music, so rock music is sort of a polar opposite. That's not going to stop me though! The whole world is going to know my name one day," she said, eyes practically sparkling. "Viviane Saphalea."


Persephone smiled as she continued chipping away at the sculpture. "Well I think you should do whatever you want. I mean, take me for example. I did some things when I was younger that… Deviated from the normal for a child, but I've still turned out okay, I think. And… You know… I like to sing too, but I could never hope to do anything crazy like be a rockstar." Persephone then realized what she had said. "U-Uh, but I think that being a rockstar is completely perfect for you! I-I don't mean to say that it's crazy in the way that you could never do it, but I'm just not suited for that kind of thing, I think."


Viviane cocked her head to the side before she gave a bright smile. "At least you think it's suitable for me," she said, sighing slightly. "I'm pretty sure my mom would be a lil a…disapproving of it, now that I think about it," Viviane mumbled. "She was always a bit more of a traditionalist. Probably wanted me to just join the choir or something." She then hummed again as she stared back at Persephone. "I'm curious now. What can you sing?"


Persephone stopped chiseling for a moment before saying, "Well, I guess we'll both be disappointing our parents then, won't we?" Persephone laughed a little as she then responded to their question. "And… I don't really know. I've sung a lot of traditional songs, but I don't really know much else. I'd like to branch out into some more popular music because traditional seems to be quite boring nowadays. What can you sing?"


Viviane hummed. "Mostly lullabies. And, of course, rock songs," she said. "I can improvise stuff on the spot, but that's always a little harder than it should be. Pop songs…" Viviane continued, staring back at Persephone. "Yeah, I think that might fit you…you'd need to get different clothes for it to really fit though," she said with a small laugh.


Persephone blushed a little as she paused her chiseling for a moment, then continuing to the bottom of the sculpture. "I… I guess I would have to switch my look. B-But where do we get new clothes? A-And how do I know what looks good on me?"


VIviane shrugged. "Just go to a store. There'll be a change room and stuff. Ignoring that, you could just ask Ren to help design and sew something for you. He's pretty good with his hands," Viviane said. "You can probably use magic somehow to picture yourself in different outfits. Probably. I have no idea really."


Persephone began chiseling details as she heard Viviane say this. "W-Well I've never really been to a store, other than a grocery store… My Mother always made me wear this because it was supposed to be our uniform... And using magic seems like fun, but… I have no idea what kinds of clothes I might wear. And I couldn't possibly design any clothes! I-I don't think I'm that talented…" Persephone made the details on the hands and legs very clear at this point, now moving toward the body.


Viviane hummed quietly. "That's why I said to let Re…okay, I actually don't know how good Ren's fashion sense is. I can try design something if you want?" she said. "I uh…don't know if it'll be great. Is there anything you always wanted to wear?"


Persephone looked up at Viviane with stars in her eyes. "Would you really?! I… I always wanted to be kinda like… Like a magical girl! Could you design something like that for me?!"


Viviane blinked. "Uh. Sure, I can try," Viviane replied. "I'll need a pen and paper to get started but…yeah. Want me to start now or…?"


Persephone shook her head. "No no, no need to start now. I still need you to hold still for now, I'm almost finished!" As Persephone said this, her chisel moved around the body of the figure, revealing a perfect copy of Viviane in her pose. "Alright, looks like we're done here! Here you go!" Persephone's eyes suddenly flashed with excitement for a moment, realizing something she'd before. "VIVIANE I KNOW WHAT I CAN DO TO BE HELPFUL!"


Viviane hummed as she picked up the figure of herself, shaking her sore arm. "What is it?" she asked cheerfully, rotating the figure in her hands.


"I-I can make clones of myself from the statues I make, which I can make of myself! A-And you can sing, right? S-So why can't I do the same thing then? And I bet that your singing will become stronger when we do it together!" Persephone jumped up and down as she said this. "I can finally prove to Ren that I'm not useless!"

 

[Sairento]

Co-write with Xander

-----

Viviane almost woke up.

It did not feel exactly like waking, but it did not hold the surreal fantasy she had come to expect from dreams.

Everything was clear and defined, nothing was familiar, and her mind was clearly working to inscribe all the details around her to memory, and yet it felt like an illusion or a hallucination. There was just a moment between looking at something and seeing it, and there was no transition between falling asleep and arriving here.

No, she had not arrived in the first place. She was simply here, leaning back, staring into a bright, sunny blue sky as she sat by the side of… a swimming pool? An outdoor bath? The water was warm and her ankles, and it stretched out in a rectangle some hundreds of metres into the distance, lined by Corinthian pillars along either side.

Tiles bordered the water, and around that, grass, vivid and verdant, an orderly garden of laurel trees lining a marble path towards what could only be called an ivory palace.

On the wind floated a tune, a magnificent melody of a harp, a symphony of a single player. It came from beyond the trees, not far away from where she was sitting.

Viviane hummed softly along with the tune, slowly splashing her feet in the water as she enjoyed the serene sense of...calm she felt. Like when she was drunk, and just let everything go, but more...conscious of it now. And that. That was nice.

Eventually, she did resign herself to her curiosity, standing up from where she'd been sitting and splashing water. "Okay...where am I," she mumbled, stretching her arms a little as she walked about. Corinthians pillars were nice; reminded her a little of home. Well, the undersea mermaid half's home at least. Following along the pool of water, she headed for the palace. That would be a good place to check out, right? People were usually inside buildings after all.



As she made her way further into the garden towards the building, she spotted a kaleidoscope of butterflies flutter over her head, white and gold patterns over their wings, flying towards the music as if following the sound of the song.

Viviane hummed as she looked at the butterflies. It'd be nice to be able to fly, she assumed. She hadn't done it before, but with all the freedom and such that she heard about (from stories and books), it sounded swell. "I wonder who's playing the harp," she thought.

As she began to stray from the path, the butterflies flew between the laurel trees into a small clearing, flat earth levelled perfectly, very fortunate for the harp and its player.

The musician she had sought out was a young man with a gorgeously youthful visage, hair and eyes alike an evening gold.

He brought his song to a slow halt, flashing a radiant grin at Viviane.

Viviane smiled back almost on instinct (turned out smiles were infectious) as she stared back at the man. "That was a very nice song," she said cheerfully, slowly walking over to the harp player.

"Thank you very much," he replied. "The Muses devised that particular piece about a week ago. You're the first to arrive, surprisingly enough."

He demonstrated to the gardens around them.

"Welcome to Kynthos, Arcadia. My own little plot of paradise. Pan is much more reasonable drunk," he winked.

"Pan?" Viviane asked with a small frown. The 'drunk' part sounded okay actually...Muses most definitely didn't. Almost bristling at the mention of their names (or would've if she had feathers or wings), she resigned to a scowl instead. "Figures they make something like that," she grumbled.

"Come now, don't tell me that you're biased just because of a name or two!" he chuckled. "Though I suppose it makes sense, given your heritage."

Viviane huffed. "One could say that," she grumbled, before eyeing the man a little suspiciously. Sure, he looked nice, but knowing things about her didn't fly well. Looking nice and being sly actually went together quite often, after all. "Apologies, you seem to know more about me than I know you. May I ask your name?" she said, trying to maintain an air of politeness.

"I have a few," he replied. "Let me see… The one you know is probably the marvelous Apollo, prince of the sun. What do you think? Hotter than you expected, right?"

Viviane blinked as she stared back at the god, before taking a deep breath. "You aren't fucking with me right?" she asked, her voice quite strained as if she were trying to hold back.

"Not yet. Goals, though," he replied. "You know sirens are actually pretty close to nymphs?"

He cleared his throat.

"So anyway, I'll explain why I brought you here pretty soon, once everyone arrives," he said. "In the meantime, make yourself comfortable. Want anything? Grapes? Olives?"

Viviane took another deep breath. "Sure. Grapes. That makes up for the whole fiasco with the singing contest between the sirens and muses," she growled. "My family had their wings more or less cut off. But sure. Grapes. Everything's fine now."

"Oh, come on, if you're going to blame anyone for that little mix-up, blame my evil stepmother," he chuckled. "I gave my ladies a firm talking-to, but contrary to popular belief, I don't own the Golden Girls. They were around before me and I'm pretty sure they'll be around after."

"You could've had the contest canceled! Or asked the muses to go easy! Or asked your stepmom to not cut off the wings of the sirens! But you didn't, and now a whole FUCKING species can't fly!"

"Yeah, see, sun god, poetry god, not a time god. I'd probably have done something if I'd been born and stuff, but go figure. Listen, you wanna fly?" he asked, a grin spreading across his lips. "I can get you a free ticket on Apollo Airlines, baby. Sit tight and just trust me for a minute, 'kay? I can't undo the acts of other gods, but I can plant a sweet, sweet seed for a candy corn tree."

Viviane frowned before waving her hand. "Pass. As fun as flying is and as handsome as you are, still not worth hanging out with my childhood boogeyman," Viviane said. "On that note, if you don't want an entire race still hating you, try dropping by and explaining things or apologizing or something."



"Anyways, you were saying something before," she mumbled, a hand on her temples as she thought. "Uh...me being the first one here?"

"Oh yeah, there's a bunch of you," he explained. "Pretty little heads I've been listening to for a little while. Congratulations on catching the eye of a literal music god, by the way. The short version is this. You want wings? I'll give you wings. I'll give you better damn wings than your ancestors had. You just have to put on a show for us gods in return. Laidback little game, sponsored by yours truly. How does that sound?"

Viviane's pride swelled slightly at the 'caught the eye of a music god' comment. She then nodded slowly at the mention of wings. "Wings in what form," she asked carefully. "And what do you mean by show…what sort of performance is this…"

"A little music contest," he said. "I'm assembling an orchestra, if you like. Ah! And here comes one of our first players."

A figure stepped through the trees, glancing around; a beautiful young woman who looked to be about Viviane's age herself, dressed in regal garb that was thin enough to qualify as nightwear. Viviane recognised her instantly as a fellow siren, but clothes like that were reserved for those of status she had never interacted with.

"…I question your judgement to get people with ties to a race that bear incredible animosity towards you," she grumbled, turning to face the other siren. "Hi, nice to meet you," she said, sticking a hand out. In hindsight, trying to shake hands with someone dressed all fancy-like probably wasn't the best idea, but screw it. If she had to deal with the god she hated most since childhood, then she was allowed to skip social norms.

The girl did not seem to agree.

"Good evening. I presume there is a reason you've called me here, sun god?" she asked.

"Man, everyone is so cold to me," he said wistfully. "Such heartbreaking treatment of a tragic figure such as myself. You two might want to give your names, by the way. You're going to need them."

The girl frowned, but sighed.

"Zoe Circis Althaea, immediate heir to the throne of the Siren queen," she declared.

Viviane would've let out a low whistle if she were standing behind a glass and the others most definitely couldn't hear her. At least she left the siren hierarchy behind her. Sort of. "Viviane Saphaela, aspiring rock star, current student and Schism," she said. "Who else did you get Apollo? Prince of the merpeople?"

"I'd appreciate if you would drop your mocking tone," Zoe frowned coldly. "I don't need to be compared to scum by a half-blood when I've already been dragged out here by a god of death."

"Hold it, hold it, since when am I a god of death?" whined Apollo, somewhat pathetically.

"To a siren, ever since your Muses stripped them of their domain," a deep voice replied.

A man stepped forward from the opposite end of the garden, and Zoe visibly tensed.

"You!"

"Long time no see, Zoe. For what it's worth, I'm glad you're doing well."

"Felmer Iphilem!" she snarled. "I hope you know that I will still give you the option to be pardoned of your sins if you submit and return what you stole."

"Harsh. But fair. I have no intention of returning though," he replied. "If it makes you feel any better, you stole my dramatic entrance."

Viviane felt very much out of the loop at this point. Incredibly so. "Apollo, I'll take those grapes if you're still offering," she mumbled, rubbing her head as she remembered names. "Felmer, Zoe," she thought to herself.

"Felmer here is a merman who did actually tutor Zoe for a time," Apollo murmured to her offhandedly, placing a bunch of grapes in her hand. "Don't worry about the internal politics. They're the only two who know each other. Speaking of which..."

In came a girl who did not seem that familiar to Viviane at all. She was about a head shorter than Zoe, and holding the distinctively large hat of a marching band in her gloved hands, with some makeshift militaristic uniform on.

"Hello," she bid. "Am I in the right place?"

Viviane shrugged, deciding it was better to leave the merman and siren-heir to bicker among themselves as she greeted the newcomer. "Probably. Where else can you go," Viviane said, sticking one hand out like before. "Viviane. And you are?"

She shook her hand, surprisingly firmly, but gently, as if trying to be careful with someone.

"Lyra Calligostro," she introduced herself. "I am here… representing the Divine Orchestra, I suppose."

"No, no, no, my thing is called the Divine Orchestra!" Apollo said. "Yours can't be called that!"

"But it is," Lyra said, not a hint of emotion in her expression. "Or perhaps I should call it by its formal name?"

"Please do," he said, as if begging. It was rather quaint, seeing a god beg.

"Then, I am Lyra Calligostro, representing the Goethic Divine Orchestra of the Elohymnia."

"Great. We'll call it the Elohymnia."

"El-o-hym-nia?" Viviane said, frowning. "Sorry, but I haven't heard of it before…have you played anything I might know?"

"We are the ten thousand-strong orchestra whose responsibility it is to harmonise with the Great Choir of Virgues's Goethic Divine Chapel, and we are those who must drown out the voice of the Aria, lest her audience perish," explained Lyra. "I am the Vice Commander of the string segment."

"Translation: no," Apollo quipped.

Viviane shrugged. "Play something for me sometime then," she said cheerfully. "Ten thousand strong orchestra…sounds fun, I suppose. I think the largest orchestra I was ever in was just short of a hundred people at most."

"We have to be so many in number. If the audience were to hear God's Aria, they would die, as would we," Lyra explained.

"So they say," said another voice.

From the trees, another figure; another woman. She stood a full head above Viviane, matching even Apollo, with long and wild ebony hair washing down past her shoulders. Her eyes were a pale green, a shade of jade, one that would normally have gone unnoticed if not for her gaze. She was clad in a torn black cloak, perhaps a hermit's robe, a hood over her head.

"And here she is, Thalia's newest obsession," Apollo declared.

"Thalia?" Viviane asked as she glanced to Apollo.

"One of the Muses," he explained quickly.

Viviane nodded slightly, and turned to stick her hand out to her as well. "Viviane, Ms…?" she said, hoping the woman would fill in the blank.

"Sanctinis," she replied, though no hand extended from her cloak. "Alexandria Sanctinis. I am the one who authored the God's Aria that the Elohymnite speaks of."

Lyra's eyes narrowed. "The Aria's name stems from the fact that was authored by God."

"And here I stand," came the response.

"Just when I thought a few people were normal…," she thought. Standing next to Lyra (because, if she were honest, she'd rather stand next to a religious musician than a self-proclaimed God, Siren-heir, or the one she was arguing with), she turned back to Apollo. "Anyone else?"

"That's the lot," he grinned. "So, allow me to explain, one and all, exactly why you are here."

He stepped besides his harp, dispelling it in a gust of golden dust.



"Who here knows about the First Divine Orchestra? The one from Graecus, shorty, I see you there. Not here for a spiel."

Viviane glanced to the others. Her musician class hadn't gotten to Greek orchestras yet.

Likewise, no response came from the others.

"Okay," Apollo muttered, somewhat bitterly. "Sirens! Why do you hate me?"

"Ancestors lost to the muses in a competition because Hera was bitter or a bitch or something," Viviane mumbled.

"Right, right! Exactly! Hubris, bitchiness, etcetera," he nodded. "So here's your question. How did the sirens and the Muses even meet to compare skill in the first place? Why do the sirens sing, as it were?"

Viviane shrugged at that. "No idea. To be quite fair, I'm learning to play guitar."

"Because of the First Divine Orchestra!" Apollo declared. "The Symphonia, as it was named. The ancient sirens were a part of it. The lead roles, in fact, since they were the singers. Now, the Symphonia contained seven magical instruments based on the ideas that the Muses had. They've lost their original forms now, but they have become something similar after the Muses got wishy-washy and started changing tastes. And Hermes found them! In short, it's a competition between musicians, a race to acquire the six instruments of the Symphonia and use them to open the Sky Organ so that we can form a Second Symphonia! You may do as you wish with the six instruments you win, and the victor shall gain both my blessing and a granted single wish within the powers of us Olympians. What say you, my favoured few?"

Viviane frowned for a moment before raising her hand. "Question. If Hermes already found them, are you going to give us a map or something on how to find the instruments?" she asked. "And can we enlist help?"

"Excellent questions!" he declared. "I'm very glad you asked. For the first… Well, Hermes is, not gonna lie, kind of an asshole. I'm sure he's laughing at us right now, but he locked them in labyrinths where I can't get at them. So I kinda turned this thing into a competition to, uh, save face a bit. Dad has a habit of mocking me whenever this kind of thing happens. But that's not important! I can teleport you inside the labyrinths, and I will be doing so with exactly the method I used to bring you here. I adapted it from the prophetic dreams I gave oracles. Cool, right? Which brings me to my second point. When you're going to be transported to a labyrinth that night, I'll tattoo you guys like I did before. When you see that, make sure everything you want to bring with you is in the room you fall asleep in. You'll have a chance to collect it before you wake up in the maze. Any more questions?"

Viviane raised her hand again. "Do you know anything about the labyrinths that you can tell us before you send us in?"

"The instruments correspond to different elements. Sort of. Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Light, and Darkness. The labyrinths will be based on the element of the instrument you're searching for," he explained. "I'd tell you more, but I don't know. I can't get into them."

Viviane sighed before nodding. "Sure, I'm in," she said. "Why not. This sounds fun. When are you sending us?"

"You'll know when it's going to happen. Whenever Dad gets bored, basically. Gotta stop him harassing innocent pretty girls somehow," he shrugged, laughing sheepishly.

Zoe raised her hand. "Another question. These instruments belonged to the ancient sirens in the original Symphonia, correct?"

"Yes indeed."

"Excellent. In that case, they are the rightful property of my own family, and by extension mine. Therefore, I will graciously give all of you the opportunity to withdraw now."

"I swear to god I'm gonna fuck up this stuck-up bitch someday," Viviane thought, shaking her head. "Free game, Zoe. Otherwise Apollo would've only dragged you here."

The others did not even grace her with a response. Alexandria raised her head.

"I have two questions. Firstly, your promise of a wish granted. I personally wish to launch a crusade," she confessed. "Would such a thing be granted?"

"...Yes…?" Apollo replied uneasily. "I'd… rather you didn't do that, but a promise is a promise…"

"Second question. We are competing for these instruments, yes?" she asked.

"I did say that, yeah."

"Then," she said, "it's fine if I kill, isn't it?"

"Aha. No. It's not," Apollo frowned. "No. Listen, you're technically not inside the labyrinth. It is technically possible, with this method, for your souls to be destroyed, but they won't be. You'll just wake up if you die. Okay? Okay."

"That's nice," Viviane said.

"Oh, that reminds me of a small detail I missed," Apollo said. "Nothing important really, if I'm honest. Tiny caveat. There's a time limit."

"That's not tiny," Felmer said. "With due respect, that's a pretty big caveat, Lord Apollo."

"Ah, it's hardly even enforced. It's a time limit of two and a half hours. Basically nothing. You can even exceed it!" he said.

"And if we do?" Lyra asked.

"Theeeen Hermes's pet gargoyle will start hunting you all down. No biggie," he shrugged.

"Pet gargoyle?" Viviane asked. "Uhm. Is it possible to beat it and then keep searching? Or will it just reform or something upon death."

"Technically yes, but it's a divine gargoyle," he replied. "So, uh… Gonna need godlike power to pull that off."

"…fun," Viviane mumbled. "Will we all start in the same spot for every labyrinth, or split up within it?"

"Random and evenly distributed spawn points," he said.

"Sounds a little like a video game actually. Will we be automatically teleported out after someone finds the instrument, or will we have to find the exits ourselves too."

"Just because you've found it, doesn't mean you've won it. You'll need to find your way back to your original doors, but with a twist. Each of you needs to go to someone else's door."

"So…a strategy could be to just hang out near your own door and then fuck up whoever comes running?" Viviane said.

"Sure, if you're comfortable with a one-in-four chance it'll be yours, you think you can take a Symphonian head-on, and you're not scared of the gargoyle that comes out a random door."

"Sure. Why not," Viviane mumbled. "Can you guess the general size of each labyrinth for us?"

"They're all the same size," he said. "Fifteen miles cubed."

"I better start doing mazes and puzzles for fun," Viviane thought. "So, are we done for now? Or do you want us to mingle…?" she asked, popping a grape into her mouth. "This is pretty good," she mumbled.

"As it happens, I want you guys to do one more thing before I leave you to your own devices," Apollo nodded. "Introduce yourselves as only musicians can! Perform for each other your best songs!"

Viviane shrugged. "I have the least to lose, I'll go first," she said, clearing her throat before singing her favourite rock song.


"I don't need love

To keep me going

I don't need sadness

To keep me down

I don't need money

To make me happy

All I need is…

Asuperbigepicrocketship."


Only it sounded nicer than the words.

Apollo choked out a laugh, the others turning to her with perplexed frowns.

Viviane gave them a shrug. "It's a work in progress. And no way am I going to sing a lullaby and have you all pass out on me.."

"That's more or less what I was asking for. Magic is sealed here anyway. More or less," the resident god shrugged. "Well, it's fine. Who else next?"

The others looked amongst themselves, but there was no sign of a volunteer.

"You're all unbelievably dull," Apollo sighed. "Well, do as you want. Get to know each other if you like. I'll just be here enjoying the view."

Viviane sighed, rubbing the back of her neck as she glanced around at the others. Was she embarrassed to be the only one to sing? No, of course not. Singing was her life, she'd never be embarrassed by it. Deciding against trying to get 'chummy' with the siren princess (because screw her), she turned to face Lyra instead. "So, what do you plan to use your wish for if you get it?" she asked.

"I haven't paid much thought to the idea," she admitted. "In all actuality I would either save it or grant it to someone else. So long as I serve my… Elohymnia, I should be quite alright."

Viviane nodded slightly. "That's very commendable, to not take the opportunity to be selfish in the moment," she said. "…I'd probably still use my wish selfishly. I hope you find a good use for yours though!"

"Thank you. I pray yours will be used well too," she gave a short bow.

Viviane nodded too, before glancing about at the others. "Man, I hope I'm not the only one trying to get to know the others," she thought, standing up and giving a brief wave to Lyra before she approached the only guy there (other than Apollo). "Uhm…F…Felmer?" she said, trying to remember his name properly.

"Felmer," he confirmed, looking over his shoulder. He seemed to have been staring at the princess who was haughtily looking over everyone. "Viviane, aren't you?"

Viviane nodded as well, glancing over to the princess too. "…not to seem impolite or anything, but can you tell me anything about her?" she asked, sighing as she felt a migraine begin to come in just from looking at this bitch.

"Snobbish noble-born princess. Not much to tell beyond that," he replied. "She's taken my weapons of choice, though I did managed to recover a few. I suspect she'll probably use them."

"Your weapons of choice? Is there something I should look out for other than her personality?"

"Cards," he said. "Magic cards. Some game from Virgues, but they make pretty effective combat magic. Besides that, her weapons are only really the obvious."

Viviane nodded, sighing as she rubbed the back of her neck again. "Man, I'm going to have to be really lucky to actually nab one of the instruments," she mumbled. "Thanks for the info Felmer. Oh! What do you think you'll use your wish on?"

"Probably to get back everything that was taken from me," he sighed.

Viviane gave a quizzical glance, but still nodded, deciding not to press it. "I hope you get it all back," she said, giving him a brief wave as she considered talking to the last of the three that weren't the princess. "…what's the worst thing that could happen," she thought, cautiously walking over. "Alexandria, right…?"

"That is my name, yes," she said monotonously. Her expression didn't seem to give much away either.

Viviane tried not to let the monotony dissuade her. It was a herculean effort of course. "So…uh…what do you do for a living?"

"I don't. I wander," she replied.

"…can I know what you want to use your wish for?"

"There's something I want to stop. That is all."

Viviane nodded slowly before standing up, glancing to Apollo. "So uh…how do I wake up from all of this…?"

"Leaving so soon?" he replied.

"I'm not entirely sure how much time has passed, so I don't know if I'm currently oversleeping or not. I'd prefer to you know. Not. Just in case."

"You'll wake up when you wake up, but if you want to beforehand that's fine," he said. "It'd be such a waste to hold this without you though, so I'd have to wrap up."

Viviane sighed before sitting down again. "Fine, I'll stick around and like…eat grapes I guess," she mumbled, nibbling on them as she waited for…well, something.

-----

A few hours later, Viviane blinked as she woke up, rubbing her head. "…probably not just a dream," she thought, glancing at her hand to check that the tattoo was gone.

Which it was.

"Yup, not just a dream then," she thought, sighing as she pushed herself off the bed. She'd do some maze puzzles later…she still had classes to attend today. "I should probably look up stuff about the others in the library too…but later."

 

[Sairento]

Viviane returned to her room from her talk with Persephone, a thoughtful look on her face. She said she wanted to become a rockstar…but since she came to Schism, she still hadn't found a proper style. School and trying to following Ren to make sure he didn't get himself killed had gotten in the way. Picking up the guitar from where it was gathering dust on her wall, she continued to mull over her thoughts and she tuned the instrument.


"Should I go soft rock? Classic?" she mumbled, plucking the strings as she sat on her bed, leaning back as she reviewed her chords. "…hard rock?"


Smiling as she sat up, she plucked a few more strings as she made up her mind. There was actually a simple answer to this question actually; she'd do all the rocks! Obviously. Maybe she'd focus on classic instead of the others, but limiting herself to one genre wasn't fun. She wanted them all! Still, that being said, she still needed a theme, something to make her shine past the ordinary generic rockstar looks. Not everyone could just paint their face and do up their hair and then go sing, but given so many people did…

Her background was…semi-appropriate for this? Siren's didn't exactly go into rock with all the lullabies…

"Can I make lullabies into rock?" she mulled, plucking the strings more. "Mmm…maybe if I manipulated dreams…like Apollo did…" she thought. It'd be in keeping with her whole life of learning lullabies, and if she could give some wicked dreams, it'd keep from her concerts being too boring. Maybe. Plus, it'd definitely give her a more distinctive style as a musician.

"…rock lullabies…well, if anyone's going to make them a thing," she mumbled.

Actually, if she were going to go with lullabies, why not just go the whole twenty thousand leagues? There was nothing stopping her from being a siren and a rock star. She could cram everything she was, and then re-decorate it with rock. Her concerts could be extravagant underwater performances (terraforming would definitely help there), her songs could probably switch between hyping up her crowd and calming them down for a larger hype boost later…


It was a great idea. She could see it now: Viviane Saphalea, the Sea Star.

 

[Random]

The sun was already going down when a few light taps echoed against Persephone's bedroom door.
Ren fidgeted awkwardly outside it, tapping his feet against the floor as he waited for a response. It was beginning to dawn on him that he had never actually done this before. At least, not so aggressively. It was still worth trying, but that didn't make him any less anxious about it. He was all too used to not imposing and--
Okay, clear head. Yes. Have that. Do. Mhm.

Persephone opened the door slightly, peeking her eye through the slit. It was Ren, who she smiled at. She opened the door the rest of the way and invited him in for a moment. Her tails swirled in excitement as she sat on her bed. "I know we have to go, but can you tell me anything about fire dungeons? What kind of stuff can I expect?"

He gave a quick nod. He was the one who had asked, but he was also the least prepared of the two… At least from where he was standing. He racked his brains as he tried to recall the last time he and Val had embarked on a trip to one, shaking away the occasional traumatic flashback to an explosion.
"Well… they… tend to be in caves. Or at least they have been every time I went there. There's sometimes crystals, sometimes magma, usually both, which means that the light level is surprisingly low, so we'll have to keep our eyes open. Last time I went to one, there were a load of imps around, which weren't amazingly fun to deal with, but we just about managed even though I messed up once or twice. I'm clumsy," he admitted. "The alpha whatever at the end of the tunnels is… Well, I was going to call them 'strong', but that was when I was a lot weaker than I am now, so I suppose it's all relative."

Persephone nodded as she looked at Ren. "I suppose it is relative, but that's a lot to prepare for. I know I'll be in good hands with you, but since I'm so weak, I'm sorry if I have to pull your attention away from attacking to protect me. I'll do my best to keep myself from being knocked unconscious though. I hope we can get through it with relatively little issues." Persephone stood up from her bed and offered Ren a hand to hold.

He took it, beaming. "That's okay! I'm weak too, so I'll be fighting defensively anyway. Or as defensive as you can with purely offensive magic."

Persephone nodded and pulled Ren out of her room and began walking toward the area where the dungeons were. "Alright. I'm sure my defense will also be in that realm of offensive magic since I can't actually defend against many attacks."

"Aren't you more specialised in preventing rather than defending though?" he said, half joking, as he looked around the corridor at various doors. "Ah, here's the portal. You're all set?"

Persephone nodded and laughed at his little joke. "I suppose you're right about that. And I'm ready to go when you are!"
"Alright, then let's go."

The other side of the portal, probably unsurprisingly, was absolutely sweltering, with the dim glow of magma seeping through the walls to illuminate a tunnel. Curiously, instead of heading downwards, it went up.
That said, there was no movement to speak of, and besides the hissing and bubbling of the lava, there was silence.
"This is a little unusual," Ren observed idly as he summoned a small orb of white light.

Persephone smiled and looked inside the portal. Hot air blew toward her and she felt herself sweat a little. This was certainly going to be interesting, being in such a hot place with Ren. She hoped she wouldn't sweat to the point where it would embarrass her, but she couldn't be sure considering she had a few fluffy tails that kept in heat like no other. "I suppose it is a bit unusual." Persephone created a clone of herself and then walked beside it. If she needed another clone, she'd summon them later.

"E-eh? Persephone, w-what did you…?!" spluttered Ren, looking panickedly between the clone and the original. Since when could she do that?!

Persephone suddenly realized that Ren had never seen this ability before. She had her clone and her go perfectly in sync as she said, "Well it's a new skill I picked up~ Now it'll be two times the fun~ Or even three, if I want it to~"

Ren's face shimmered with a faint glow as he looked away, trying to look up the tunnel without stepping too far into it.
"Something this simple is this troublesome…" he muttered. "I can't see up there at all…"
He wasn't hugely comfortable with the possibility of walking straight into a trap, but…
"L-let's take it slow up here, okay?" he said. "Should I lead? My magic is stronger, so…"

Persephone nodded. "I suppose you're right about the whole troublesome thing. You're welcome to take the lead and my clone will be right behind you. I'll take up the rear and keep a lookout for anything that might come in our way."
Ren nodded. "Just be careful. We're going up and hot air rises."
With that, he took a few steps forward, beginning the trek up the tunnel.
"At least we'll see the magma coming," he murmured offhandedly.
Persephone nodded as she lit a small flame in her hand to illuminate behind her. She kept a close eye on anything that might jump out at them and she used her Exin Sense to try and see if anything might jump out of the wall at them. Persephone tried to expect the unexpected, since Ren had said that this was an odd dungeon.

"Ah. That's why."
Ren reached the top of the tunnel in under a minute, and it took barely a moment for everything to fall into place.
The tunnel had led them to the top of a cliff, overlooking what looked like a volcanic basin, with half a dozen layers to it.
The sky was clearly visible overhead, and a few trees even peppered the edges.
"This structure is completely different to what I'm used to, but it doesn't actually seem to go against any of the laws around dungeon construction…" he observed. "That's weird. But I guess that's something new, huh?"

Persephone peeked over the cliffside to see the structure that Ren seemed to be astounded by. "I mean, I wouldn't know that it's new, but if you say so. It doesn't seem too complex or anything. And I'm sure we can figure it out. Do you have a way down? I can just fly, if it comes to that."

"Flight and clones?" he blinked. "Are you hiding nine wings in there too?"
He shook his head, looking around.
"There should be a spot to climb down not far from here. Those rocks over there should do it."

Persephone once again realized that her powers were not something that Ren knew about. "Oh… Right. Kitsunes, by nature, already know how to fly since we are considered spirits. I… Don't really know how to explain it properly. I have a few other things I've picked up, but I guess I'll surprise you with what those other things are later." Persephone held her positive at the cliff edge. She planned to fly down once Ren got down there and said that the coast is clear.

He smiled, half in anticipation, and made his way over to the rocks he'd indicated a moment ago.
"Um… I'm clumsy, so heal me if I fall, okay?" he called.
With that, he turned to the stones, glaring at them as if in challenge.
Okay, skill and grace, no pranks this time, got it? he thought accusingly with all the determination of someone actually trying to communicate with abstract concepts.
With a hop, he made his way down onto the first rock.
"Alright," he mumbled to himself. He hadn't fallen. This was good.
With a few more tentative steps, he started making his way onto the second, then the third, then the fourth--
And something shifted under his feet.
With a yelp, the stone gave way, turning a full hundred and eighty degrees as he desperately tried to keep his balance, failing miserably and falling forwards.
Onto the fifth rock.
He blinked, looking back at the partially dislodged fourth stone he was on just a moment ago.
"Ha!" he cried in triumph.
And then the whole formation collapsed with an ear-splitting crash.

Persephone watched in delight as Ren began to go down. He seemed to be doing well and she smiled at him. He was so cute when he was stressed about falling and getting hurt. However, after a short while, he tripped and the whole structure came crashing down. Persephone gasped as she had her clone jump on her back and then she had herself float straight down. The clone jumped off her back and Persephone went to Ren'd side. "Ren!!! Are you okay?"

"I don't think I broke anything…" he mumbled. "I might have had a kneecap forcibly removed though…"
By some miracle, he seemed largely unharmed, just slightly winded. For someone with so little luck, that in itself seemed rather impressive.
With his clearly unparallelled dancer-like movements, he dragged himself to his feet like a sack of bricks being turned upright, rubbing his shoulder.
"I'm alive. I'm pretty sure. Provable beyond reasonable doubt. I think my continued existence would hold up in court," he confirmed.

Persephone looked at him with a look of disappointment at first before bursting out laughing. "Ren, you really are a riot. Of course you're alive. If you weren't, I don't think I'd be able to get through this dungeon. Do you need to be healed at all? You seem like you just had a tumble and weren't injured by anything significant."

"I'll be okay! I don't bruise easily!" he declared, placing his fists on his hips proudly and quite deliberately omitting the part about that being due to a lack of any actual blood in his body.

Persephone smirked as Ren said he didn't bruise easily. "I'll keep that in mind the next time we're together~"

"Eh? You're not gonna do anything weird with a riding crop, right…?" he blinked.

Persephone laughed and almost fell to the ground. "A riding crop? Oh no Ren. I… I can't believe you didn't understand what I meant. Oh well, I guess that's what I get for being so cryptic."

Ren forced a smile that almost looked relieved, but he was absolutely certain that he was both better off not knowing and in severe need of knowing at the same time. Deciding to ignore all the red flags in a gesture of wilful ignorance and poor judgment that only Ren Vedas could have pulled off with such ease, he turned and inspected the environment. The pair of them (or trio?) seemed to have found themselves on the first ring of rock, unsurprisingly: an oddly chalky ground with not a lot to see. There were walls in the form of the layer above, but besides a few dozen holes here and there, it too seemed largely uninteresting.
Ren wasn't excessively disappointed. Uninteresting meant harmless after all, but...
Okay, I am a bit disappointed.
He was hoping to find something cool that he could show off his knowledge about to Persephone or something like that. But, he reasoned, it was better to be safe in these kind of scenarios. It was better to not develop a phobia of fire dungeons, after all.
"Alright! Let's explore!" he declared cheerfully, taking a bold step forward and freezing immediately. "Ow."
Okay, that was probably going to bruise after all.
Persephone paused for a moment to see what the structure was like and she was perplexed by it. Where were the enemies? Why was this structure here and did the chalky ground have anything to do with this? Persephone tried to focus on using her Exin Sense to see if she could sense any enemies in the vicinity. At the very least, the sound of the rocks crashing should've attracted something close by.

It didn't fail her. There seemed to be a whole bunch of Exin signatures… inside the walls?
Looking at it like this, it seemed more like honeycomb than chalk, with each cell containing its own living thing.

Persephone's eyes widened a little. "Uh… Ren… This seems like some sort of hive or something. I can sense Exin signatures nearly everywhere. Even on this chalky stuff here. It seems like something is… Growing here."
"Growing?" Ren blinked. "Like plants?"
Persephone bit her lip. "I can't say for sure, but this chalky stuff is growing something or storing energy or something."
"That's… definitely weird…" he nodded, before his eyes widened. "Oh! I get it, I get it!"
Persephone looked at him, confused. "What is it?"
"This thing is a caldera!" he cried. "Wait. That's not as fun as I thought, now that I say it."
Persephone looked slightly more confused. "Um…" She raised her hand, waiting for Ren to call on her.
"You, uh… don't know what that is, huh?" he blinked.
Persephone shook her head. "I… Don't…"
"In simple terms, this thing is, uh… a really big collapsed volcano. That may or may not be active. And we're standing on the part where the hole should be."
Persephone looked down at her feet. "W-Wait you mean we're on a possibly active volcano?!"
"Knowing how the dungeons are put together, not quite," he assured her. "We're on top of a probably active volcano."
Persephone's tails moved in fast motions, showing her concern. "You do realize that that's not much better, right?"
"Yep! Mhm!" he nodded. "We're in serious trouble, actually!"
Persephone threw one of her tails at Ren, causing a soft impact on his face. "Ren! Don't say such horrible things in such a pleasant and informative tone! You'll mislead people, like my clone!"
"I'm trying to make this an education trip so that I don't panic too much!" he cried, still forcing a smile. "Let's just get going and clear this thing as fast as possible, okay?"
Persephone frowned a little, but nodded. "Yes, let's do that. I would prefer that my tails not get singed." She clutched one of her tails as she said this and her tails fanned out behind her.

Nodding, Ren took a couple of steps forward. "So, what were you saying about this hive thing?"
A response wasn't necessary. What appeared to be a hornet or a wasp around the size of a vacuum cleaner buzzed straight out of a hole in the wall.
"Ah."
Persephone's eyes widened as she saw a bug fly out of a hole in the wall. "REN, THAT'S WHAT I MEAN." Persephone immediately decided to throw some frostfire at the bug, specifically aiming for the wings to render it unable to fly around. In addition to this, she flew into the air so that it wouldn't be able to dodge so easily.
She incinerated it with ease, clearly strong enough that it couldn't have dodged if it tried.
"You're better than you said," Ren blinked.
Persephone watched as her target was incinerated. "I… Suppose I am, but… I haven't had much practice. That was just a fluke. And it wasn't even that big of a creature either. We should prepare ourselves for more dangerous enemies."
"C-can we do that later?" he spluttered, taking a step back.
It seemed like the entirety of the makeshift hive had been woken. Bugs crawled out of old and new holes alike, hovering and scuttling.
"This is really disturbing to watch!" he observed, an anxious smile still plastered onto his face.
Persephone flew up into the air and prepared herself to throw up oil. As she placed herself directly above the hole where the original bug flew out, she hoped to coat a few of the flying bugs with oil and then incinerate them.
She hit dead on the mark.
"Good work!" Ren cried, aiming a laser blast or twelve.
In a single move, the combination attack wiped out around half of the bugs in a mere moment.
That was when the insects retaliated, aiming their stingers at the pair.
Okay, stay calm. As long as you dodge, they can't hit you from far away.
They collectively fired, a rain of arrow-like thorns flying toward them.
Goddammit.
Persephone saw the arrow-like thorns flying toward her and she quickly flew in a horizontal direction to try and dodge. Please don't hit me, please don't hit me, please don't hit me.
She seemed a lot faster than she initially thought, managing to evade each with ease. It would hardly have been an exaggeration to say that they had no chance of hitting in the first place.
Ren, on the other hand, seemed to be a little less lucky, already on the ropes from their attacks.

Persephone gasped a little at her own speed. At this point, Persephone decided it was pertinent for her clone to come into battle now, giving her an extra opportunity to attack them. Persephone smiled as she let her clone go into the area where all of the bugs were and pointed at it. "Explode!" As Persephone said this, the clone seemed to combust in bright blues flames.
Ren yelped. "W-was it supposed to do that?!"
Regardless, it seemed like she had taken care of the rest of the bugs.
"Man. That was. A surprise," he nodded.
Persephone laughed arrogantly as she flew back down to the ground. "Yes, my clones can explode if I decide it. I specifically built that one to be a suicide bomber. I thought it'd come in handy in case either of us got in trouble."
"It certainly helped," he nodded. "That would have been difficult to deal with on my own."
Persephone nodded. "I suppose it would've. But I didn't realize that you were capable of taking advantage of my oil ability either. It seems like we're a better pair than I originally thought~"
He gave a sheepish laugh. "Well, lasers do come in handy," he admitted.
Persephone put her hand on Ren's head and pet him. "Indeed they do, now let's move on. If the enemies that are to come are anything like this, this should be a piece of cake!"
He giggled in contentment, nodding. "Onwards! Further down, or shall we look around for stuff?"
Persephone shrugged. "I guess we can look around for stuff. I don't know whether we're on a time crunch to solve this dungeon, so we might wanna move quickly."
"That is true," he nodded. "Can you use your Exin sense to tell?"
Persephone stretched out her mind to try and see if she could tell.
The magma seemed to be being held in by something. In other words, a specific trigger was necessary to "detonate" the volcano.
Persephone nodded. "From what I can tell, the volcano is triggered by something. I can't tell you exactly what it is, but I imagine we should be careful in case the dungeon decides not to be nice to us anymore."
Ren nodded. "At least we know we don't need to rush. Let's look around then. We might find some cool stuff."
Persephone smiled and began looking around for any objects that she could find.
She quickly picked up what seemed like a sort of trail laid out in the chalk, leading around the edge of the outcropping.
Persephone called Ren over and began moving along the trail.
"Did you find something?" he asked, diligently following along behind.
Persephone followed the trail. "I found a trail that seems to lead somewhere. I'm going to be careful, but I think this might lead us to something good."
The pair soon found themselves at a small hole in the base of the wall, which contained a small chest.
Persephone's eyes became a little suspicious of this hole and she decided it would be a good idea to move the chest with her mind. She removed the chest from the hole and opened it up with her mind, revealing whatever was inside.

There seemed to be a full set of variously shaped bottles inside, totalling at eight.
"Oh, this is a pretty big stash," Ren observed.
"Is it really?" Persephone chimed in. "Do you have any idea what any of these bottles are?"
"This one looks like it's a healing potion, and this one is a potion of agility. I don't know about the others. Oh, I might, hold on…"
He took out the bottles one by one, laying the agility and healing ones aside, inspecting the others curiously. One seemed to be an opaque orange, and he went for that first. "It looks like a paralysis cure. That must make that green one a poison antidote. The blue one… probably isn't anti-freeze. I hope. I don't recognise it. These two are both boosters though. Strength and alertness. Oh! Is the blue one waterbreathing? I don't know what this weird magenta spray bottle is for… Oil, maybe…?"
Persephone nodded in excitement as Ren seemed to identify most of the potions. "How do you want to split them? I don't need the strength booster at all. I can probably make use for most of the antidotes or cures though. I'm not a chemist or anything, but I'm sure I could study them in healing class."
"You take all the ones you can use," he replied. "I can't carry a lot, since I'm small. I could definitely give Miki the strength potion as a present though."
Persephone felt a pang of jealousy as Ren said that they'd give Miki the strength booster. "Actually, Ren, can Val make strength boosters? If not, maybe Val could study that to try and make some that are just as potent if they can't already?"
"Oh, that's also true. Miki was just my first thought because he actually uses swords. I'll think carefully about it," he nodded.
Persephone nodded, content that she probably got him to stop giving the potion to Miki. "Alright, then I think that we should move on! I can carry all of them for now, but I'll give you yours after this is over~"
"Right. What are we gonna do with the oil or… antiseptic, or whatever it is?"
Persephone shrugged. "We can leave it to a coin toss, if you like. Although it might be interesting for me to study it. Maybe I can get my oil blast to take on the properties of that oil for healing purposes."
"Well, I don't actually know what it is," Ren admitted, "but you can take it if you want."
Persephone shook her head. "That's alright. Since we don't know what it is, we could give it to Val and have her identify it."
"Something deep within my soul is telling me to not do that," he replied.
Persephone looked a little bit confused. "I suppose I'll keep it then. I could always have someone else identify it. If I'm lucky, maybe it'll be something like a love potion~" Persephone winked at Ren and then brushed one of her tails up against Ren.
He squeaked, flushing in embarrassment. "I-I don't think those are in spray bottles!" he spluttered.
Persephone laughed and put the spray bottle in her hand. "Well why don't we test it out?~"
"On what?!"
Persephone sprayed the liquid onto Ren, as she said, "You, silly~"
His expression immediately went slack, a dazed smile on his face as his whole body relaxed against her tail.
Persephone's eyes opened wide as she saw Ren get into a state that she could only assume was a trance. "Oh dear, that wasn't a good idea." Persephone slapped Ren's cheeks in an attempt to get him to stop being in a trance, but she knew that wouldn't work. She supposed she just had to wait this out, so she rested Ren on her lap and waited for the trance to pass.

"...Mmph…?"
Ren stirred after a while, slowly coming to his senses.
Something soft was under his head.
Ah, it's a lap pillow scene! he realised, trying to stay as still as possible. It must be Persephone, right? This is really uncommon.
Persephone noticed that he was stirring and she looked away from him, ashamed that she had sprayed him. "Um… I'm sorry I sprayed you, but I guess we know the use for the spray now? And that I should definitely keep that away from anyone else…"
"Don't worry about it, I'm fine," he assured her. "Oh, but, I think my legs aren't quite working yet so I'll have to lie here for a bit. Sorry."
Persephone smiled. "It's okay Ren. Rest here as long as you need, I don't think the volcano is going to blow since it doesn't look like we've triggered it yet." Persephone adjusted the midsection of her clothing, so nothing would accidentally slip while having Ren lay on her. Persephone blushed a little bit as she did this and her tails gave away the fact that she was a little bit embarrassed by this whole situation.
"Don't worry, you're doing great," he assured her cheerfully.
Persephone blushed heavily. "Y-You know, I could've taken advantage of you while you were in that state… I… I think I want a reward for being a good person."
"A-a reward, huh…?" he echoed, flushing. "What kind…?"
"I… I think I might… Uh… I might want… A… K-K… A kiss…" Persephone got very quiet as she let the word kiss slip from her lips.
"I-is that so…? W-well, I just happen to have one j-just lying around for you to have…"
Persephone became bright red as she slowly leaned over Ren, adjusting her hair behind her ear. "T-Then… I guess I'll be taking that." Persephone closed her eyes as she leaned over a little more.
Ren squeezed his eyes shut, his face burning, and quickly closed the distance, trying to kill the distance as quickly as possible.
Persephone felt Ren's lips contact with hers and Persephone felt her face burn with embarrassment. However, she was okay with the embarrassment because she had finally kissed Ren. She wondered just how things would play out between them in the future… And she couldn't wait to tell Viviane about it and… Possibly brag to the others.
Ren, meanwhile, was finding it nearly impossible to pull away. He had already wrapped his arms around Persephone's neck, but now that he had done that, it seemed as though he had caught himself in a trap he lacked the self-control to escape from.
Persephone felt Ren's hands wrap around her neck and she… She wanted to push more, do more, but no. Persephone wouldn't do that to Ren. And he might think that she was just in it to… Do things with him… And she couldn't have that. She genuinely liked Ren and it had been a while since she had encountered anyone she genuinely liked. She pulled away from the kiss and opened her eyes. "R-Ren… Uh… I… I really like you… A-And I'd love to do this more, b-but… W-We have to complete this dungeon."
He nodded slowly. "You're… You're right…" he said, and a soft smile crept onto his lips. "But… I'm glad."
Persephone bit her nail a little as her finger exposed her lower lip a bit. "M-Me too… C-Can you move your legs now?"
"That… might have been a lie. Sorry. I could actually move them all along, I just didn't want to get off you."
Persephone gasped. "Y-You sneaky little…! If I didn't like you so much right now, I'd probably smack you with one of my tails."
"I am really sneaky," he admitted. "I'm a great big swindling fraud-dealing trickster, you know? Are you alright with that?"
Persephone giggled. "I suppose I'll have to live with it since you've already wrapped me up in one of your cons."
"I'm not that good at conning," he huffed indignantly.
Persephone winked. "I know. You know, I'm the one who did most of the work, so don't you be taking too much credit. I'm the one who asked for the kiss in the first place. Are you sure you're not being conned by me?" Persephone leaned in close to him again.
"I… wouldn't mind that at all…" he mumbled, flushing.
Persephone kissed Ren one more time and then said, "Well I suppose I'll just keep doing what I'm doing then. But anyway, we do need to finish this dungeon. And I'm getting a little hot, so we should finish fast."
"R-right," he nodded, standing up. "Okay. No more bees. Or whatever they are. Let's head down. Ready?"
Persephone got up as well and nodded. "Yep, I'm ready! Let's go kill some stuff!" Persephone expanded her mind, keeping her Exin Sense on so she could make note of any approaching enemies.
There seemed to be minimal around this area, but the ring below seemed reasonably jam-packed with another, similar hive. The signatures were different this time though.
Persephone pointed this out to Ren and said, "We should be careful when we go down there. It looks like there's another hive. It seems like they're a bit different from the ones we just faced."
"Different creatures?" Ren asked. "We can probably deal with them. Right?"
Persephone nodded. "I imagine we can."
With a nod, Ren moved to clamber down from the outcropping to the next layer. This drop was substantially shallower, so it didn't take too long for him to fall down gracelessly.
Persephone laughed a little as she let herself float down. She then looked for any holes to target.

"I'm going to try to wake them up so we don't get any surprises," Ren warned. "Ready?"
Persephone nodded. "I'm ready."
He nodded, raising his hand into the air, and a flash of flame came and went with a crack.
Dozens of what appeared to be fireflies crawled out of the gaps in the cliffside, swarming around the two.
Persephone flew into the air as soon as had the chance, seeing that the bugs were only able to crawl. Persephone threw up oil onto the ground to make their trips to Ren a little harder and to let them coat themselves nice and good for the combination attack that she hoped Ren would execute.
Ren took the cue, detonating the oil and setting a good few dozen of them ablaze in a single attack, just like last time.
And just like last time, the bugs pointed their abdomens at the duo.
Except this time, they did not fire anything, simply emitting a strange pulsating light.
Persephone decided to use oil once again since there were so many enemies sitting around since it would take too long for her to create another clone. She spat oil over the grouping of bugs that were flashing their light. She hoped that this would possibly kill some of them and also give Ren ample opportunity to kill more of them.
Ren, however, did not follow up, simply staring helplessly at the bugs. The rest all surrounded Persephone, continuing to pulsate.
Persephone felt herself become enveloped in the light of the bugs and everything went bright for a few moments, rendering her unable to do anything. Wh-Where the hell did this light come from?!

When she came to her senses, Persephone found herself up to her ankles in warm water with an armful of red crystalline shards, bugs at work all around her with what looked like a glowing flame-coloured butterfly in the centre of the sinkhole she was suddenly in.

Persephone blinked, unable to comprehend what was happening here. What were these crystals and Persephone did not want to bother the other insects by disposing of the crystals. It was also possible that the crystals would react if she put them in the water. Maybe that was the trigger for the volcano? Persephone decided to hold onto them and wait to see if Ren would show up anywhere.
She spotted him not far away, carrying his own significantly smaller armful, taking it over to the butterfly and laying them down in front of it alongside the hornets and the fireflies.
The butterfly extended its tongue, piercing the shards and… draining the colour from them?

Persephone decided it was not a good idea to do that. In case this butterfly was to be considered the boss, these crystals probably made it stronger. For now, she waited and made eye contact with Ren. She didn't dare say anything though, lest the bugs decide that she was being too loud and dispose of her.
Ren didn't seem to notice her eye contact at all, simply going back to collect more crystals with an inappropriately content look on his face.
Persephone's face contorted in anger. That butterfly had charmed Ren into doing this work for it. Persephone took her armful of crystals toward the butterfly and she set them down before it. However, she only did this once Ren was able to come into full view of her. Once that happened, Persephone tried to charm him under her control. It would be madness to try, but this seemed like the only option in this situation. She touched her scarf and imbued power into it to boost her chances of overcoming the butterfly's charm. She moved her tails to try and get Ren's attention. She hoped it would work.
Her efforts were meaningless. Not because they failed, but because Ren flipped sides right away.
The butterfly didn't seem to content with this at all, its wings beginning to glow with such immense heat that Persephone could feel it from where she was standing.
Persephone snarled at the butterfly as she felt her tails be hit with intense heat. But if the butterfly was focusing on her, that meant that she was not focusing on Ren. Persephone attempted to charm Ren and the butterfly at once, using her secretary ability. Don't you underestimate me.
The butterfly resisted handily, but Ren did not.
The furious bug flapped its wings once, causing a scattering of sparks in Persephone's general direction.
Persephone attempted to fly around the sparks, trying to keep herself from being lit ablaze.
She managed to evade the attack fairly easily, but Ren was simply left standing motionless in the middle of the crossfire.
A few sparks hit him, and he jolted awake, looking around him in astonishment. "P-Persephone? What…?"
Persephone smirked as she made herself go invisible. She called out to Ren and said, "Don't let that butterfly charm you again. It was troublesome not to have you battling with me. Make an attack quickly so that we don't have to deal with it much longer." Persephone flew up higher into the air and sent 10 balls of acid toward the fiery wings.
They splashed all over the butterfly, and Ren followed up with blasts of light, the explosion engulfing it in an instant.
"It's strange… Its fire didn't actually hurt me much at all," he commented as the smoke cleared. "And its wings are shredded already. How was it able to give us that much trouble before?"
Persephone became uninvisible as she floated. "You're right. It's very strange… It's almost as if that was too easy." At this point, Persephone began to hum to herself which would trigger one of her abilities, Singer's Confidence. She needed to ensure that if they were going to go up against a harder enemy that she'd be able to charm it and render it useless.

The butterfly's shattered wings beat against the ground as it spasmed a little.
Ren's eyes widened.
"No such thing as too easy! Get back!" he cried.
In a moment, its wings were shed as if they had been but a cocoon all along.
In a flash of light, the butterfly was in the air, its fiery scales replaced by scales of flame.

Persephone snarled once again, going invisible once more and shooting 10 balls of acid in the direction of the butterfly. "Why won't you just die already?!"
It evaded with ease, already a blur of fire.
"It's faster!" Ren cried, trying to shoot it down with his light blasts and failing to land a single hit. "It probably hits harder too! Watch out!"
With another flap of its wings, the monster sent down several fireballs at once towards the both of them.
Persephone, while remaining invisible, attempted to fly out of the trajectory of the fireballs.
It wasn't of much help. The lightning-fast blasts rained down before she could even move, throwing her far off-course.
Ren didn't fare much better, taking a hard hit as well. "Dammit. Persephone, see if you can get to me! I'll give you a leg up!"
Persephone headed over to Ren, all the while humming to try and boost herself and disable the enemy. "What do you mean? What are you going to do?" She trusted whatever he was going to do, but she was skeptical that they'd be able to overcome this.
"If I said 'the power of love', would you throw up?" he asked sheepishly, hurrying towards her and taking more pointless potshots at their enemy.
"Ren, I don't think it'd be appropriate for me to throw up right now. A-And we might as well do what we can so we can defeat this enemy!" Persephone prepared herself for what was to come from Ren's actions. She didn't do anything other than hum to herself since she needed to build herself up more.
The butterfly sent more fireballs raining down all around them, striking Ren hard and directly.
Persephone didn't do anything to dodge the fireballs this time since she needed to stay close to Ren, and so she also suffered substantial damage.
"Here!" he cried, reaching out and grasping her hand, silver-blue light flowing to her body.
Persephone felt herself be invigorated with the light as she hummed to herself a little more. This time, however, she wasn't going to lose against this butterfly. She touched her scarf and imbued it with energy. Persephone sang a small tune with the intention of putting the butterfly into a trance.
It responded with its wings blazing a bright blue.
Persephone snarled and flew into the air. She was not going to lose to this butterfly.
Ren gritted his teeth. Fire and incredible speed…
It's like Zhihao all over again, except this time the fox girl is on my side…
This was insane. There was no way he could catch it like this. He needed more speed. He needed to be fast enough to give Persephone an opening.
His body exploded with light as he poured mana into boosting his mind and magic, but he knew it wasn't enough.
Dammit, dammit… What else?
He had one other trick up his sleeve.
He had been working on it for a while, but he hadn't actually tested it.
Better now than never.
Just like that, he concluded his line of thought.
Ren compressed Exin and mana alike within his body, pushing until it pushed back.
A flame -- no, a light burned where his heart should have been.
A Res Novae formed itself as Ren fashioned a star inside his very body.
"Let's try that."
Persephone felt the silver light that was imbued into her rise up and spread throughout her body. Her tails extended themselves out and around Persephone and her expression changed to that of pure anger. She imbued power into her scarf once again. She was not losing to this stupid butterfly and it was taunting her by changing its color. She sang one loud, screeching note in hopes that the butterfly would be put into a trance by it.
The butterfly stopped moving, just for a moment.
Ren took the chance. "Flutter by already, dammit! Vesper!"
Throwing his hand forward, a projectile -- no, dozens of projectiles in a single blast soared towards his target. Twenty-four stars fell upwards towards the butterfly, striking a perfect hit and knocking the butterfly out of the air and into the sky.
As the butterfly flew through the air, Persephone could sense it still had vital signs. She flew after the butterfly and pointed at the butterfly as if her finger was a gun. She shot 10 acidic projectiles at the butterfly, ensuring it was going to die.
Sure enough, she incinerated its body, leaving only falling scales and a bright red core plummeting towards the ground.

Persephone did her best to try and catch the core before it fell to the ground, but she wasn't sure whether the scales had any value not.
Ren, however, seemed perfectly exhausted as the light faded from his body and he collapsed onto his backside in the water. Or at least, the little water that hadn't been instantly vaporised by his creation of physical literal stars.
Persephone flew back into the area where the butterfly was and noticed that Ren was sitting down in the area where the water used to be. Persephone sat next to him and just sat there for a little bit before she burst out laughing. "You know, I didn't think we could beat it there for a second. And you know what? We did. And I think you deserve a present for defeating it." Persephone leaned over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "And if you want this fire core, you can have it."
"Ah, n-no, you take it!" he stuttered. "You did all the important stuff, after all!"
Persephone stood up and looked at Ren. "What do you mean I did all the important stuff?! You were the one who killed it!"
"B-but I saw you kill it…"
Persephone shook her head. "I was just pissed off at it and wanted to show it who was boss."
"It counts," he insisted.
Persephone pursed her lips. "Hmm… I know how we can settle this." Persephone got back down to Ren's level and leaned in close to him. "If you let me kiss you, mayyyyybe I'll come around to the fact that I killed it. How does that sound?" Persephone smiled as she rubbed her nose on Ren's.
"Y-you're really into this today, huh…?" he murmured. "Well… um… if you want to…"
Persephone touched her finger to his nose. "No, we don't have to. I'm just… Full of adrenaline and… I feel fearless right now. I am happy we were able to kiss though. It was… Definitely my favorite part of this dungeon." Persephone didn't move away from Ren in case he wanted to initiate the kiss, since she was worried he wasn't too into it right now.
This much he picked up on, leaning over and, after a moment's hesitation, placing a small peck on her nose. "How's that?" he asked.
Persephone smiled sweetly as she said, "Perfect." Persephone stood up and stretched a little. "Now let's go look for loot! And… I'm gonna see if the volcano is gonna explode because that's important." Persephone extended her awareness to the surrounding area, trying to see what the status of the volcano was.
The volcano seemed remarkably stable. More so, in fact, than when they entered. It seemed the presence of such powerful fire-aligned Exinessence had agitated the volcano, but now it was gone, there was no issue at all.
Persephone told Ren about how the volcano seemed to be even more stable than before, which she almost laughed at. She worried that they might let the volcano explode if they defeated the boss, but it seems they were alright for now.
Ren nodded in relief. "We can look for the treasure then. It looks like it was somewhere around here… Probably in amongst all these crystals that thing was eating to get stronger."
Persephone began to search among the crystals as well to see what she could find.
She came across a box before long, a little bigger than the last one.
Persephone thought it was very curious that this box was larger and she began searching through it.
Inside she found a mid-sized lens and a coppery cloak, alongside a small dagger.
Persephone called Ren over. "Ren! Come look! I found some stuff!" Persephone first looked over the lens, curious to what it could be used for.
"Ah, this looks interesting!" he beamed. "Want it? I never have much use for equipment."
Persephone raised her eyebrows. "N-No way! You can't take nothing after how much you helped me!"
"I'm fine with just having had this experience with you," he chimed.
Persephone pursed her lips. "I guess I'll take everything then. But you better expect a real present from me for coming with me and helping!"
"Y-you really don't have to! I'm fine! I can't really use magic items anyway!" he insisted.
"I don't mean as in a magical item as a gift! It'll be something I make! And it'll be a surprise!"
"Well… as long as you're sure," he nodded. "But let's get out of here in case we accidentally set something off, okay?"
Persephone nodded. "I'm positive. And yeah, let's get out of here!"

 

[Random]

Ren was scouring the shelves of the library again. He was probably supposed to have a class now, but that had nothing to do with him.
Well, it did, but whatever. He had more important concerns.
He had actually managed it yesterday. He'd successfully managed to forge stars. That included the one inside his body.
It had been a rare triumph for him to actually accomplish something on that level, let alone of his own accord, and it was an achievement that he would have celebrated and bragged about under any normal circumstances.
In this case, however, it had only drawn attention to something he had neglected to think about.
He had forged a star inside his body precisely because it was hollow. Cartilage and bone alike, from his own conclusions, seemed to be only features of his exterior, merely mimicking what should have been present.
He had asked and asked before, but yielded no answers as to what kind of being did that.
Now that it had been reintroduced to him as an idea, the answer was blatant enough.
They called me 'paramatman'.
He hadn't a clue what that word actually meant, and that was exactly why he was looking. It was merely a hunch, even less reliable than a hypothesis or even a clue, but he had a feeling that what they had called him would shed some light on his nature. Maybe.

He first had to get the hang of the step ladder though.
He had only made it halfway up before crashing down shortly after, taking a row of books or two with him as he tried and failed to steady himself.
"Muuu…"
Making a small noise of dissatisfaction as he rubbed his head, he slowly shrugged the piles of hardback tomes off of his body and made a quick prayer to no power in particular that nobody had heard that, even though he knew that hoping for such a thing was more than a little optimistic.

And optimistic it was, given how half the room looked up from their books and back down when they made eye contact. Miki turned around with a set of someone's unfamiliar glasses on his face, muttering something to the table and setting them back next to someone's arm.
"Master." He said in lieu of a greeting, walking up to the shorter boy. "If you were trying to get my attention you could've done something more subtle."
He stood up as if he had been called out, dusting himself down and innocently looking to the side. "I-I wasn't mainly hoping for that. I wasn't trying anything in particular."
It wasn't explicitly a lie, but it wasn't as though he wasn't beginning to feel lonely worrying about this all on his own. If he were a little bolder, he probably would have used the contract's free telepathy to call Miki over, but he wasn't about to reveal how codependent he actually was just yet.
"S-sorry," he said. "You were in the middle of something, huh? I was just looking around, so if it's important, don't worry about me."
"The books we need were just knocked over. You'll take responsibility and help me find them… right?"
Ren was bordering very close to being flustered, but he knew he wasn't exactly in a position to refuse. "What should I find…?" he asked sheepishly, already bending down to organise his wreckage.
"Ancient sword forms and their usage." He answered immediately. "It might help you for when you use me in fights too."
Ren slowly nodded. He didn't actually use Miki that much, especially recently. Perhaps it was something to do with Miki's sense of self developing a bit more, but he felt guilty about rendering his body into an inert slab of metal. Regardless, the ghiest seemed to be implying that he wanted to be used more, so he would probably be studying something or other later on.
"I guess I was in the wrong section to begin with though…" he muttered, digging out several volumes. "There's a whole series here… Graecus, Mshir, Guotai, Yamato…"
For a brief moment, not even a blink's worth of time, there was a rush of nostalgia on Miki's face. "Ah. Those work."
"What's up? Something in particular about them?"
"Just remembering how the dragons in Guotai were like." I've never been there before though. "Nothing important."
"Is that so… Alright then," he nodded. "I'd kind of like to go there sometime, actually. I hear they have a lot of stuff written down in their histories. Maybe I'd find out something interesting."
An image of Zhihao flashed in his mind. Wasn't she from there too? Perhaps it was a better idea to stay as far as they could from the homeland of someone like that… But equally, he wondered what she was actually like.
He shook his head. It wasn't that important if it didn't help him survive her, but it would have been nice to know something about the voice ringing that one word in his head over and over.
"Do you want the Guotai one to start then?" he smiled up at Miki, offering the book.
He blinked and shrugged. It's not like he had any particular attachments to the place itself, and it didn't feel like he would have any reason to care about it in the first place. "What were you looking for? You were looking for… astrology a few days ago right?"
"Astronomy," Ren corrected. "It's completely different. Oh, but I did it though! That thing I was working on!"
"Oh..? Should I reward you… or something?" He put a hand on Ren's head and ruffled his hair.
The small boy's face went bright white. "I-I'm okay! A reward like that is p-probably better in private…"
"Oh. Alright." He retracted his hand instantly, looked back to the toppled shelves. "So if that's finished what are you doing now?"
Ren's vague self-inflicted pangs of regret were momentarily buried to answer the question as he got to his feet.
"Same as before, I suppose. I… want to know who I am, mostly. I mean, what kind of person just appears out of nowhere one day?" he said, almost indignant. "Isn't that just rude and unnecessary?"
"You're the farthest thing from rude and unnecessary if that's what you're searching for." Miki answered absently. "There are a few monsters that do that… I think. They're mostly divine so maybe you are too?"
"I don't feel very divine," he said. "I mean, even my soul… I had a priest look at it once, and it was just as ordinary as a normal human, apparently. But that doesn't work either. If I'm not a bunrei, then where did I come from? If I am one, then why am I normal? If I'm normal, then how am I so far above a normal human? It's confusing, but… I want to find out what a 'paramatman' is supposed to be."
Miki hummed and pulled out a heavily embellished book with "Nitouryuu" on the cover. "I… can't say I really think about that stuff. I mean, existing and that much is fine right? You don't need to worry about that so much."
"Well, maybe," he replied. Miki was much like him in that regard: one day, he just appeared. He seemed like the kind of person who would just be okay with that no matter what. Ren was a little different. If Miki had been born into a 'home' surrounded by people who he had never really had to leave behind, then Ren had been born into a 'stepping stone' with nothing that he could have taken with him. Even someone born naturally had parents to fall back on, but there was nothing that Ren could really have called his 'origins'. It was mere curiosity, but it made him anxious like that.
"I still feel like there's something to my existence though. I mean, even if I don't know where I come from, I should at least find out who I am now, right?"
Miki nodded. "I'll support you then. Even if you ever change your mind on having me around... I'm not that bright, so Miss Viviane or Miss Persephone might be better for these kinds of questions… Sorry."
He shook his head. "Don't worry. As long as you're on my side, that makes me happy," he beamed. "I just wanna know if I have any secret powers, you know? Cool stuff like that."
With that, he began attempting to clear up the mess he had made, not at all helped by his small stature.
Viviane walked around the corner with a despondent look on her face as she saw the mess they-no, Ren had made. Something inside her knew that the loud crash she heard was Ren's doing. "My ears are burning…I hope you weren't calling for me to clean this up," she grumbled as she leaned down to pick up a book and clean anyway.
"Ah, no, it's not that! I was just hunting for stuff, that's all!" Ren insisted, moving to help her.
Viviane sighed, placing the books back on the shelf in what she assumed to be the correct order if the author's names were anything to go by. "Hunting for what that would make you turn a public space into a scene from your own room?"
"My kind!" he replied indignantly. "I just got through explaining this to Miki, so cut me some slack!"
"Yes. Because explaining something with words requires you to also make a mess of a shelf," she replied in a flat tone. "You said your kind? Any clues?"
"Nothing at all," he sighed. "I'm trying to find a specific word, but I can't find anything about it. Have you ever heard of a 'paramatman', Viviane?"
"Nope. I have not," Viviane said, clicking her tongue. "Paramat…I feel like I should know that…"
"I've never heard of it, and I can't find anything about it," he grumbled. "I don't even have anyone to ask."
Viviane shrugged. "Maybe ask the librarian?"
"The librarian doesn't seem to like me very much."
"Maybe check some language dictionaries? If it's paramat-man, you could maybe find something from looking up 'paramat'."
Persephone, at this point, sauntered into the library. She had exited her previous class, which happened to be healing. Persephone was curious as to the origin of some healing magics, so she decided to research some in the library. However, Persephone saw Ren with a few others she recognized. She approached them and said, "Oh! Hello everybody~ What're you all doing in here?"
"Miki was doing homework. I was trying to find out my race," Ren replied. "Viviane is just here to bully us."
"And clean up after you," she grumbled.
Persepone laughed as Ren spoke about Viviane. "Oh dear~ Well it's no fair for it to be two people versus one, so I guess I'll have to help Viviane out a bit~ But what do you need help finding? I'll help you!"
"'Paramatman'," Ren repeated. "I've been called it once or twice, but I don't know what it is."
Persephone put her finger on her lip for a moment, thinking. "Ah! Have you asked the librarian?" Persephone then winked at Viviane, fully knowing she had suggested this already.
Ren gave a long sigh. "You two get along way too well…"
Persephone giggled. "I suppose we do! Now let's get looking for that book! I suppose I could go ask the librarian for help. I hope they recognize me from being in here more often than not!"
He sighed again. "This would be a whole lot easier if that priest was about… Probably..."
"Which priest is this, if you don't mind me asking?" Viviane said as she finished a row and moved on to the next.
"A person I learned magic from a long time ago," Ren replied. "He knows a lot about a lot of stuff, but he's pretty far from here, so I guess there's not really a point in worrying about that."
Persephone laughed. "I suppose so, so let's get looking!" Persephone began searching through the rows of books.
Miki grimaced and looked back at one of the tables. "Actually, why can't we go?" I don't really want to do this work...
Persephone pursed her lips a little. "I don't know why we can't, but we should at least try to look for the book. If we're not going to, I'm going to get my own book and then we can go."
"Well… Miki does have a point," Ren replied. "It's probably faster to just ask someone who knows. Besides, anyone can write a book, so we don't know how accurate it would be, right?"
"We'll go after you clean up your mess," Viviane growled sharply.
"Ugh," Ren groaned.

Viviane sighed as she slung her bag on her shoulder, evidently much lighter than before. "Man, the akhlut stuff and the smoke boss corpse were really weighing me down," she mumbled, said dead monsters now strewn and hung around her room like some odd hunter's trophies. Checking that she brought all her potions (including drinks), cores, and other small items, she snapped her bag shut again before leaving towards the portal room to meet with the others, holding her slime in its bowl like usual.

Persephone picked up her backpack and filled it with the few things she did not hold on her person at all times like her staff and her scarf. She packed an extra set of clothing into the bag and made sure that everything was nice and tidy inside it. She thought about how she'd have to miss her classes, but she knew she'd be able to catch up if she really applied herself. She nodded as she exited her room, heading toward the portal room.

Ren and Miki were waiting for the pair once they arrived, standing next to the portal marked with a semi-familiar rune.
"Everyone ready?" Ren asked. "We're headed to Mshir, so it'll be pretty hot."
"Is that a hint that you want everyone to dress skimpier?" Viviane said with little pause.
Persephone laughed a little. "Well I'd be willing to shed a few clothes~" Her tails swirled around, jutting out suddenly, showing that she was getting excited and entertained.
Ren's face flushed again. "G-generally people wear more clothes, you know?" he frowned.
Viviane shrugged. "Yeah, I know, but it's more fun getting a rise out of you," she said. "Don't let the blood rush give you a heat stroke in the desert."
Persephone smirked. "And if you did get heat stroke, we'd make sure to take real good care of you."
Ren was slowly beginning to see the cons of not having blood.
"W-well!" he declared. "If we're all ready, shall we go?"
Persephone nodded. "Indeed we should!"
With another nod, Ren led the way through.

Clear blue sky, without a single cloud, blanketed the firmament above, a blazing sun beating down on golden sands below. The horizon shimmered in the distance, illusionary silver spots visible everywhere across it.
"Ah… Already too hot," mumbled Ren. "Kinda familiar, huh…?"
Viviane grumbled as she could actually feel the moisture leave her skin. "Ugh, deserts," she grumbled. "Let's get out of this heat soon please," she grumbled, pulling out an opaque cloak instead of her clear crocodile skin one.
"You say that, but there's nowhere in sight. Unless this is where I think it is," Ren replied. "If so, behind the portal… Yeah, over there."
He pointed in a direction that seemed either north or south, indicating what looked like a pair of pyramids in the distance.
"The Unmarked Tombs. There's a settlement around it. A walled-in town called… uh...Qrste or something."
Persephone wiped the sweat off of her brow and could feel her fur retaining all of the heat that was beating down on it. "Oh dear… Well, I suppose we should get moving then. I'd prefer to stay out of this heat as much as possible."
"I don't see the issue." Miki said blithely. "Maybe you should've stayed back if you couldn't handle it." If any of them looked, they could clearly see the first signs of frost going over his clothes from an abrupt chill coming off him..
Persephone snarled at Miki. "Well look at you. You can pick on the one person who poses a threat to your relationship to Ren." Persephone conjured a blue fox fire on her finger and began to dab it across her skin, cooling her down.
Ren, meanwhile, was pressing his forehead against Miki's arm. "Cheater. If you wanted sheer clothing, you should have just brought those weird pants with poofy ankles."
"That's a harem outfit Ren," Viviane said as she cast her Ice Shield to have a similar effect to Miki. "Harem pants at least. Which could send a lot of weird messages."
Persephone frowned at the both of them. "Both of you are cheaters."
Viviane shrugged. "I can share the shield. Come on," she said, expanding it with a little more exin.
Persephone stepped closer to Viviane and smiled. "Aww you're sweet, thank you~"
Viviane made a flat "Mhm" noise, her eyes still glued to the small town in the distance.

The instant her eyes met the town there was a blinding flash of light, heat, and a boom as sand shot up in voluminous clouds completely blocking the sight.
"W-what was that?!" cried Ren.
Viviane also let out a similar sharp cry, wincing as she tried to blink the light away. "Fucking shit mother fucker my eyes!"
Persephone shrieked a little as the light came into view of her vision for a moment. She blinked and it was gone, but Viviane seemed to be heavily affected by the light. "V-Viviane! Are you okay? Do you need any healing?"
"I'll be fine," she grumbled, her eyes still mostly filled with bright spots. "Just lead me around for a bit till my eyes clear."
"We can't just stand here!" Ren cried, already rushing towards the site. "Come on!"
Persephone lead Viviane quickly in the direction of the small village but the pace was slow because of her low vision. "Ren! Ren don't go so fast! We can't leave Viviane behind!"
"I can carry her." Miki volunteered. It'd be a bother if she slowed Master down too much...
"As long as it isn't a potato sack carry, I'm fine with that," she said, still mostly blind.
Persephone, at this point, assumed that Miki would be able to handle Viviane and rushed up next to Ren. "Miki is carrying Viviane, so let's keep moving!"
"Right! Get ready to fight if something comes up!" Ren nodded.

The plain sandy dunes that lined the town of Qrste were transformed into the site of what looked like a natural disaster. Structures of glass covered the land and dripped back onto the charred land. Even with the impact blocking out the view, it was still a fair distance from the town.
"What the hell happened here…?" murmured Ren. It's like a god shot an arrow down or something…
There was movement, and something dark, dripping like tar, darted out from behind a large arch of glass. "Who the hell are you?"
Ren immediately took a step back. Dark stuff generally was out to get him.
"J-just passersby!" he insisted. "More importantly, who are you?!"
He couldn't see its face but he could tell it was blinking at him like he was missing some brain cells. "Riiight. Well you lot best be goin'. What we're aiming at is still runnin'."
"Come again?" blinked the small boy.
A voice far too close to his ear sang, "Albin means you're gonna die~"
"C-come again?!" he cried, leaping back and flushing bright enough to outshine the glass around them.
"Oh! Lookie! Hey, look!" A girl, pale, and barely taller than Ren was waving enthusiastically at his face. "It's one of those! The paramedics!"
He froze. "Wait, wait! You know what I am?!" he spluttered.
"I will." She answered plainly. "An old hag will tell me in a bit. But now I'm just as clueless as you! We can be stupid together!"
"That seems a little harsh…" he mumbled. "More importantly… Did either of you see what shot that blast before?"
The albino girl raised her hand. "That's me! I can do it again! Wanna see?!"
"N-no, I believe you! I'd probably die so I'll take your word for it!"
"You would die." The both confirmed in sync.
The man, Albin, cleared his throat. "Yer all so squishy… like… marshmallows."
Persephone could be seen pouting at this point in the background. "Well, I'm sorry that I haven't had proper training yet."
"I don't think it's a matter of training, Persephone…" Ren frowned. "Excuse me for asking, but… you guys are kinda close to godhood, right? I can tell from your presences."
They exchanged glances, or at least it looked that way, with Albin being an incomprehensible mass of… something. "We're about two steps n' a few faceplants back from one. Why?"
"But you're not from around here, right? So what could you possibly be hunting?" asked Ren.
"I'm looking for a cute pet!" she answered cheerfully. "It's being a bit… osten… os…. ostentatious? Yeah. It's going to listen to me!" She nodded proudly.
Ren nodded back, having visibly taken a few steps backwards upon hearing the phrase 'cute pet'. "Ah, I see… I don't suppose that's somewhere we could help, right?"
He was hardly in a mood to get involved with entities this strong in the first place, but trying to leave now… The girl didn't seem the most stable in the head, so it was probably a good idea to avoid getting on her bad side at all costs.
"Really?! Alright! If you do this one teensy thing for me I'll owe you a biiig fav-"
"Yer so easy."
The girl huffed and continued. "Just stand there and glow all shiny like you were doing! You can play the bait!"
"I…" I can what?! "...can't actually light up voluntarily, see? Sorry."
Miki raised his voice and adjusted his hold on Viviane. "We wouldn't have let Master do it anyway."
"Well, there's no need to be disagreeable, but…" Ren replied with an anxious smile.
Persephone held up a finger. "One moment, I'll get you a glowing Ren." Persephone focused on Ren for a moment, studying his features. His height, his apparent weight, and the fact that he could literally glow when he was embarrassed. She took a short while to gather up enough sand to create the clone, but when she stood up, flesh and bone began to form and a perfect clone of Ren was standing next to Persephone. Persephone smiled and mentally told the clone to glow. "Is this good enough for you?~"
The pair exchanged glances again and nodded. "It works. Don't suppose you would want to stay n' watch? We'll make sure the audience isn't caught up in it."
Persephone smirked. "I'd be happy to watch~ Watching a clone of Ren being eaten or slashed into pieces will probably not be that wonderful, but I'm positive I'll still enjoy the show~"

There was a low rumble and the sound of shattering glass. "Hey… That was an insult now wasn't it?! I'll protect my bait!" She smiled, and two large lanterns materialised at her side. "Come up with a good name for it for me if you're just gonna watch! That asshole-"
"Heya."
"-keeps nagging me about my naming sense!" The albino took a single step that became a crater, and white flames poured from her mouth.
"Is she a dragon or something?!" cried Ren in alarm.
Persephone laughed at this question. Persephone doubted it, but she couldn't be sure. The girl seemed weird enough to fit the bill though.
The ground ruptured in all directions as the rasp of sharp scales grew closer. "I can't see at all..."
"Weren't you the one who did this in the first place?!"
"It'll be fiiiine. It's going to bite my head off over… there!" She whipped her hand across empty space and for a moment, nothing happened.
A creak like two stones grinding past one another. And a crash as several glass pillars fell from the impact of sixteen yards of scales slamming past them.
"A giant snake…?" Ren realised. "H-hey, in what world is that thing cute?!"
Persephone quickly turned to Ren and frowned. "Hey! My friend from back home was a cute snake! Don't look down on giant snakes just because they look scary!"
"It's the eyes!~" The girl answered dreamily. "Look at it! It's so cute! I could just boop it!"
"I thought you were watching the bait."
She pouted. "I am! It's right..! Eh?"
"You just… It went through the bait you idjit."
"Oh no," blinked Ren. D-doesn't that make me…?
Persephone blinked, realizing she could not feel the presence of her clone anymore. "Oh no. That's not good."
"I-I! I swear it was a one time thing!" She cried hastily. "Normally when that happens it's only to him!"
Miki took a step away from Albin, bodily trying to move Ren with him, who moved with suspicious malleability.
"I-it made me look bad didn't it?!" She frowned, spitting out white embers. "When I tame it, I'm giving it a spanking!"
"I didn't think you were into that kinda stuff."
Persephone laughed out loud at this. "Oh dear, you two really are a riot~"
The albino let out a wheeze, face flushed and clearly furious. "I'm gonna give that damn snake a spanking! I'll smack it into oblivious!"
"It's oblivion." he corrected.
"They're the same thing!"
Persephone laughed once again. "Ren, how does it feel looking at the relationship we have from the outside?~"
"Eh? Is that what it is?" he said, slightly dumbstruck.
Persephone moved closer to him and brushed a few of her tails against his back. "Well… And a few other things~"
Miki bristled and moved closer, arms still full of fish and girl. Ren, meanwhile, blushed a little at the sensation.
"R-really…"
"Wait what about our aud-!" A plume of sharp glass beads and the girl's black clad figure leaping out of sight. "Aaaand she's gone." Albin did something close to a shrug. "Well, looks like the show thing didn't work out. Uh, well she might be plannin' to use somethin' real… deadly so I guess that's good for you."
"We're not in the blast radius for that, right?" Ren asked.
"What, that? Nah. She's completely helpless against me."
"Eh? How?" he said. "Can she see you?"
"That too, I guess. She left her weapon behind. The dumbass." He pointed and the twin lanterns were still where they last saw them, floating inches above the ground without a care.
"That thing counts as a weapon…?"
He smiled mouthlessly like he was mourning something people would call reason. "Anythin's a weapon if you throw it hard enough. But yeah, it's 'er soul tool."
Ren blinked, either due to a lack of complaints or utter bewilderment, and said nothing.
"Still though, you know the… para-thing she was goin' on 'bout? She does that a lot so don't mind it."
"It seems like clairvoyance of some sort. Or maybe even precognition? She seems to have some trouble getting the full story though…" he observed idly.
He shrugged. "She banged 'er head a lot as a baby I think. She was always missin' a couple screws."
"What about you?" Ren asked. "This doesn't feel like real invisibility…"
Albin blinked. "Really? Huh… do me a favour kiddies, what colour are my eyes?"
Persephone looked at Albin for a moment before saying, "Hmm… I'll guess orange!"
"So quickly…?!" Ren cried.
He chuckled into his hand. "...The generation really is doin' somethin'..."
Persephone laughed. "Your clothes give you away~ Nobody wears green to compliment green. The accents in your clothes are also meant to accent your eyes~ Don't underestimate a woman's fashion sense~"
"You could see my clothes too?" He hummed and closed his orange eyes. Distorting. Distorting. Distorting. He couldn't even be called a monster with the shapeless thing that took his place. "Ho͘w ͡is thi͘s̕?̴"
"Terrifying," Viviane replied in a flat tone, having let Miki put her down after she could see again.

Ren became a blur.
He leapt back, summoning orbs of light with a look of horror on his face.
And the next moment, he dispelled them.
"S-sorry. I felt like I remembered something for a moment, but…" he shook his head. "No, nothing."
Persephone looked at the now shapeless thing that was in front of her. "You're… Abstract now. I quite enjoy that form for you. Although it does seem to make you scary, especially to Ren. I'd suggest you not take on that form when communicating with us in the future~ Otherwise…" Persephone's expression took a slight look of anger. "I may have to make you have a good time~"
Albin didn't move for a moment, and it was impossible to tell what he was actually doing. "P҉f̶ft.̕.͘.͟.̸ ͘h̢ah̶a̴haha..." The short black haired boy laughed openly and wiped his eyes. "Sorry, l-lesser beings haven't, pfft, done that in a long time!"
"Ah, you're slipping, you're slipping!" cried Ren. "I can even see your face!"
Persephone was highly annoyed by this response, but it did give rise to an arrogant laugh. "I'm happy my promise could give you such amusement~"
He cackled in her face. "Yes! Y-yesh, I c-can't breathe!"
At this point, Persephone was no longer amused. However, she knew that pushing this person to the brink was… Not the best of ideas. She was angry, but this wasn't worth her time. She couldn't get herself killed, especially not in front of Ren. Persephone remained completely quiet.
"Woo… okay. I'm good… yes." He cleared his throat. "Thanks for that. I didn't think someone would do that to me. Should I reward your bravery..? Ah, hell with it. Here." With a swing of his sword he produced a ornate hair clip. "The colour goes nice with you, yeah?"
Persephone's expression changed to that of pure shock. She… Did not expect to be rewarded for making someone laugh. She bowed and accepted the hair clip. "I… T-Thank you."
He waved it off. "That dangly bit right there was from- well they're not a big deal. Big point is, it makes yer magic easier to hit with."
Persephone looked at the hair pin and then back at Albin. "I… This is such a major gift. I… I don't feel like this is something you should give me."
He gave her a look. "I knew you were brave but maybe yer just stupid? Go ahead."
Persephone opened her mouth to speak, but didn't say anything. She realized that she must accept the gift. "Thank you for the gift, I'll cherish it." Persephone stepped back while she was bent over. She was now afraid to speak.
Ren seemed utterly speechless. "That's… really strong…" he murmured.
"Really?" He blinked. "When ya get around it's not much to look at."
"I-is that so…" he nodded. "Considering that… Hey, do you have any junk lying around? It might lengthen our lifespans a bit even if it's too weak for you to use…"
"…actually, that reminds me, I need to collect this biome, excuse me," Viviane said, stepping aside a bit as she pulled out an empty container and start channeling her exin.
Persephone did not speak, as she inserted the hair pin into her hair and felt an enormous amount of strength flow into her.
"Oh yeah. Lotsa junk." He nodded. "Lovely and I are hoarders so we have all kinds of garbage. She likes furs n' stuff more than my stuff though."
"Even though she's into snakes, huh…? Wait, is Lovely her name…?" mumbled Ren.
Albin blanched. "No, no. That one's more like… that weird bug you thought you killed, but now it's flying in your house. Let me..." He gave the sword another swing. "That's.. Gae Bolg. You don't want that one." A swing. "Oh, that guy's belt… I should give that back." A swing. "Oh, what about this?"
"Where the hell did you get all of these?! Gae Bolg is ridiculous! Was that a divine belt?!"
"Details, details. The first was an anniversary gift~" He laughed like he just made a good joke and picked up the pure white sword. "This, is White Hilt. A crazy man gave it to me and I never touched it since. It's… supposed to be on fire but I never could get it to work. You want to give it a swing?"
"I can… give it a try," he nodded, tentatively taking it. "Do I have to do anything or…"
The air vaguely began to smell acidically sweet and Albin shifted his hold on his sword. Albin shrugged. "Hell if I know."
"Miki, you're good at swords," Ren turned to him. "Am I swording it right?"
Miki made a face. "You… are."
Albin sighed and White Hilt was in his hands. "It's a dud then. Next… Failnaught."
"...That's a bow, right? Can anyone use bows here?" Ren asked.
It was, in fact a bow. A very strange one at that. With seven strings and a circular shape. "Nah. It's a lyre."
Persephone's ears perked up once she heard that there was lyre. "I know I already received something, but I'm sure I could make use of that."
"Greedy munchkins. All of ya."
"Well, to be fair, I was only curious… But I can't really use anything that well anyway, so I guess I was the wrong person to suggest anything," Ren sighed. "I only know how to use swords thanks to Miki, so I'll just…"
He took a step back.
Viviane took this opportunity to return, holding a small container with a miniature desert inside, radiating heat and everything. "What's up?" she asked, glancing as she saw the lyre. "Ooh, that looks fun."
He plucked at the strings a few times and nodded. "Go ahead."
Viviane smiled as she reached up to pluck the strings. "This is a pretty nice lyre," she mumbled, happily playing a few tunes.
He bobbed his head a bit with the tune. "You're a… Siren right? Do that thing with your voice, but with that thing."
"You mean…make music?"
"Is that all that is..? Suuure. That. Go ahead n' take it off me. Can't do much with it now anyway. Still need to get something for the small guy..." He made another swing and twin swords dropped to the ground. "Ah."
"What are these?" Ren blinked, picking them up. "I don't recognise them…"
"Muramasa's blades. Bit hard to get with the 'demons' or whatever in them. Like em?"
He giggled a bit. "They're kinda rude, but I think I can make friends with these. Thank you very much," he beamed.
The acid sweet smell was almost eye-watering as he returned his sword to its scabbard, shaking out his hand. "Keep a babysitter on you when you use em."
Persephone nodded in response to him. "I'll keep him in check. I'll disable him, if it comes to that."
Albin gave a doubtful nod and turned around. "And you. You don't want nothin'? You been pretty quiet."
Miki blinked and gave a short nod. "Your… presence is a bit overwhelming. I'll take something, if you're offering."
He raised his brow and shook out his hand. "Taking that out is a pain. Yer Master said you were a swordsman? How d'you feel about joining a… school."
"I have Master. I'm not interested in following Gods." Miki answered immediately.
Albin waved him off. "We're not a cult. She just asks that we be her tools when she needs us. No acolytes or anything, just training. Sound fun?"
Ren tentatively raised a hand. "Um… Does that mean he would be… going away…?"
Viviane perked her head up from that. "I'm against that. Ren's emotional state would go off the deep end and then we would have to deal with that. And that's not fun."
"I wouldn't go crazy!" he insisted. "I'd just… really miss him…"
Albin blinked. "Aah, so yer that kinda Master. Nah, not gonna bring him with me, he'd die. A handbook er brochure is good enough right?"
Ren had half a mind to ask what exactly he meant by 'that kind', but quietly deferred.
"Yes, he is that kind of Master. I was really surprised when I found out," Viviane said, grinning from ear to ear as she continued to play the lyre.
"So then, will ya think of joinin' our re- school?"
You were just about than say 'religion' weren't you? "I'll… look over it."
Ren gave a brief bow. "Well, um, thank you very much for your help. How is your friend doing? Can you tell?"
He made a so-so gesture. "The lil' lady should be back soon enough. Unless 'er condition acts up, she'll be able to deal."
"Shouldn't you be more concerned?" Miki piped up. "You're like Master and me right?"
"Me n' her..?" Albin made a face at the thought. "She doesn't hold a candle to my love. I wouldn't have come if I didn't hear about my Lovely needin' some work done 'round these parts. Was hopin' to see her, see?"
"Is that so," Ren said. "Well, we might as well help you while we're here! Love is important. Right, everyone?"
He turned to the group with a radiant smile.
Miki shot the others a look. "If… Master says so."
"You'd all do that fer me? How cute. So the thing 'bout Qrtse is they have this one main water source yeah? Bit out there to… the east they tap into this delta. I need you to dump this," he reached into his shirt and pulled out a thin vial holding clear liquid, "into the well that's nearest the delta."
Ren blinked. "What is it?"
"It's just to mess with people a bit. Makes it harder for 'em to walk straight n' all that." He answered dismissively. The bottle, for all intents and purposes, looked like it held plain water. "This stuff isn't that strong but don't open it til you need to. Sound fine? Saves me the detour an' I'll take it as payment for the junk, seein' as it looks like treasure to you."
W-well… It seems like a normal prank… Ren was uneasy, but nodded in agreement. After all, refusing now was a death sentence for something so small.
Viviane took the bottle before Ren even had a chance, carefully glancing over it and its contents. "I think Miki should hold onto it," she mumbled. "The one of us who's the least-clumsy," she said, pointedly staring at Ren as she spoke.
Ren frowned, but hardly protested. "I… guess…"
Miki gave an ambivalent shrug and held out his hand, letting Albin drop the vial into his open palm. It left a pleasant tingling sensation against his skin as he pocketed it. "So when we do that, what will you two be doing?"
"Like the lil' lady said, we're looking for a cute pet. We jus' got sidetracked with a cuter critter. We'll get back to it eventually." He blinked like he just realised what he said made little sense and muttered something about contagious insanity. "We're mercenaries. There's a call to get rid of a… big cat in the pyramids over there."
"Big cat?" Ren echoed. "That sounds a little… Hm. Do you know what it's doing in there?"
Viviane leaned over to Miki to whisper quietly, even if it seemed a bit useless. She'd probably be overheard. "What was Ren about to say about a big cat?"
Albin glanced over for a second but continued explaining like he hadn't noticed. "It's part of bein'... well Mshir. Every so years the locals hire up a team like us to take care of it and it just comes back around after it's been killed, all nice and docile. It's jus' the cycle some realms go through, y'know?"
Cycles? That sounded familiar to Ren. "Ah, foreknowledge..." he muttered offhandedly.
Miki tilted his head. "Did the place Master come from have something like that?"
"I'm… not really sure. I sometimes get a feeling like déjà vu, like this has happened before," he admitted, "but at the same time, it's… not quite. Like things are different this time. They only just jog my memory, but I can't remember what I'm meant to be remembering… Something like that… Does that make sense?"
Persephone nodded and then raised her eyebrows. "Oh! Ren, this is going to sound like a strange question… But do you dream at all?"
"I don't," he shook his head. "I was surprised to even learn that it was a thing."
Persephone pursed her lips. "And to think, I could've helped you regain your memory through your dreams. Hmph."
"I wonder if they're mine…" he mumbled.
Persephone's ears perked up as he said this. "Hmm? Ren, what was that?"
"Aaah, n-nothing important!" he insisted.
Persephone gave Ren a look that made it seem like she didn't believe him, but she didn't pry anymore. "Anyway, back to cycles. I'm afraid that I'm not sure what you mean by that. You say that some realms go through cycles? Just how many do that? And if you've lived long enough to go through one of these "cycles", how short can they be?"
"Ah. Well there's not really a good answer to that… some places take exactly a billion of years to get through one n' there's places like this that refreshes after some conditions. An' I don't know enough about all the realms around to answer. I've been through enough to know they work though."
Persephone raised her eyebrows. "Conditions? And might what those be?~"
"That generally depends as well," Ren hopped in. "If a world has specific conditions for its cycles then there will usually be specific roles that get filled each time. Sometimes the same person is born each cycle, or sometimes it's a different person who takes the role. Once all the necessary interactions between roles have ended, then conditions are fulfilled. In other words, some cycles have people destined to end the world. In others, it's a lot simpler, like a power or entity that works like a reset button. Right, Mr. Albin?"
He blinked. "Yer quite knowledgeable for a… what were you again?"
"Aha… Beats me," he laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
He hummed and nodded. "Well it's not my problem. You got full marks on that answer though. More importantly, my problem child is 'ere... " Albin turned away to look past one of the glass spires. "What's wrong? Yer face looks like it's in pain."

The air shimmered for a moment before becoming clear. The albino girl's skin was even paler than they last saw her, emancipated chest working fast to get air in her lungs. His question only made her growl as she waved her stump of an arm at his face. "You can see damn well what's the problem. FIX IT YOU WORM!"
"We… should probably get going with your thing…" Ren said, stepping back. He did not want to spend much longer in her blast radius.
Albin gave a breathtaking smile. "Ya sure? Yer missing out on the most beautiful mortal at-"
"Naaarcissist... "
"-at work."
Despite none of that being directed remotely in Ren's direction, he still blushed a little.
The girl made a face at Ren's expression and blew a raspberry. "Go turn into a flower."
"You can turn into a flower?!" Ren cried. "How?!"
"It was a figure o' speech from Graecus. Don't look into it much."
He pulled a slightly disappointed expression, but shrugged. "Well, uh… like I said. Thank you again for your help!"
He shrugged, hand on his hilt. "No big deal, as long as you hold up yer end of that. We'll know if you short us, but you aren't that stupid. Are ya?"
"I'm only stupid enough to answer rhetorical questions," insisted Ren.
He shot a look that seemed to sap water from the desert air. "Not like I can judge... Go ahead n' leave." He reached into his shirt and brought out a thin yellowing scroll. "This is our teachings. For you, uh, Mikei."
Miki took the scroll with a quiet thanks. He frowned at the butchering of his name but didn't correct him.
Ren nodded, looking around at the group, concluding that they were done here. "Is there anywhere we should go after? I guess you'll be checking we did the job, right?" he asked.
"Sumthin' like that." He confirmed. "Going then, little children? Yer window is gettin' smaller."
"Y-yeah," Ren nodded. "Thanks again! See you later!"
With that, they turned to hurry away before something happened to get them all killed, whether it was a giant snake or a smaller snake losing her temper.

 

[Random]

The vial that Albin had given to the small party was emptied in a matter of moments, leaving the four of them with a terrible sense of anticlimax as the sun continued to beat down on them.
"...Now what?" pondered Ren aimlessly. "Just… into town?"
"Would you prefer to be engaged in a life-or-death battle that could kill us?" Viviane replied with a frown.
"Against what? Just standing near those guys for any longer would have killed us anyway," he grumbled.
Viviane sighed before glancing at the well. "Wasn't there something about giant snakes? Those can kill us too."
"If that was strong enough to hurt them and they were close to being gods, there wouldn't be a lot of things like that wandering around, right?" Miki pointed out.
Ren gave a very uneasy laugh.
He shrugged. "Well we can always wait it out in town if you'd like, Master. What about those swords that guy gave you? You could always try and talk to the… demons."
"They seem to be a bit difficult from what I can tell. Is it a good idea to try it now of all times…?" he asked.
"Why not," Viviane chimed. "Who knows how long this break is going to be. Make the most of it."
He sighed. Well, if he got possessed, then at least this whole ordeal was no longer his problem.
"Alright, make sure I don't murder you guys, okay?" he pressed, laying on the ground the two sheathed blades and sitting in a meditative position in front of them.
A crimson glow began to emanate from the hilts, with a howling whisper roaring from the harmonising unmelody that their spiritual presences played.
It was a matter of seconds before that light alone illuminated a pair of phantasms - illusions in the forms of young women, similar and yet complementary even in their very aura.
『Ara ara… What might this be?』 asked the girl on the left, a lithe-looking spectre with a cat-like presence.
『Oh. A new master, huh…?』 murmured the girl on the right, a particularly curvaceous phantom who looked like she would be more at home in a futon for the rest of her life.
Ren gave the pair a long, dumbstruck stare. "H-hello?"
『Kyaa, he's a cutie! Can we keep this one?』 the girl on the left cried.
『He seems weak though...』 the other pointed out.
"They're…younger than I thought age-old murder spirits would be," Viviane said.
『Excuse you!』 the cat-like girl snapped. 『How disrespectful can you get towards your elders?』
『We're immortal,』 her bustier counterpart declared emotionlessly, holding up her fingers in a V-shape like it was some kind of achievement to be admired.
"Let me rephrase then. Wow, you two look great for immortal murder-spirits," Viviane said in a droll tone.
"Viviane, please stop calling them murder-spirits," Ren begged in a subtly distressed tone that indicated that he did not know how to deal with offended immortal murder-spirits. "Um… My name is Ren Vedas. I… seem to have inherited you two? I don't think there's a better word for that…"
『That settles it. I'm eating his body once we're done with him,』 the cattish one announced hastily.
"B-body?" Ren echoed. Well, they were demons. What did I expect…
『Do what you want… I still don't think he's all that appealing.』
Someone has to think so, Ren agreed silently.
"You two are not eating my Master." Miki retorted.
『Ehhh, really?』 the cattish one frowned. 『I'll let you join in too though...』
『Our new master is a manwhore,』 the sleepy one observed monotonously.
"He is a manwhore," Viviane marvelled. "Man Ren, it only took a newcomer 30 seconds to see you for who you are."
"I am not a manwhore!" Ren insisted. "I just have lots of friends!"
"…with benefits."
"Stop encouraging them!" he squeaked.
『Too late. I am encouraged,』 the sleepy one said. 『Well, this is at least funny enough to stick around for...』
"Funny?!" Ren cried.
『It's hilarious. Look. I am laughing,』 she said, pushing her cheeks upwards, as if that counted as a demonstration.
『Excuse her. She's only had a few hundred years to practice having actual feelings,』 the cattish girl sighed.
"A-a-anyway!" Ren cried. "Do you two have names?"
『It's customary for the current master to name us,』 the cattish one said.
『It's based on deeds,』 the sleepy one added. 『I won't accept a stupid name.』
"Right… So what you're saying is…"
『To use us as roughly as you like to your heart's content, Master,』 the cattish one grinned maliciously.
Miki bristled at Ren's side.
"He must have some experience with that already," Viviane mumbled.
『I'll let you use me too, but I don't intend to acknowledge you as my master,』 the sleepy one warned him. 『Therefore, I will call you Ren.』
"I'm not really in a position to argue here, so… Go ahead, I suppose. At any rate," he said, gesturing to the boy at his side, "this is Miki. He's also a sword who's contracted to me, so get along with him, okay?"
『Konnichiwa,』 bid the cattish one.
『Yoroshiku ne,』 bowed the sleepy one.
Is that a greeting? Miki frowned and cleared his throat. 『Nice to meet you too, I suppose.』
『Ah, he is a sword,』 the sleepy one observed.
『Hou? What an old-timer,』 snickered the cattish one.
『I'm pretty sure you two are the old-timers right now.』 he muttered tonelessly.
『Is that what it looks like to you, Senpai?』 the sleepy one observed. 『I won't comment.』
『I will!』 cackled the cattish one. 『You been with this one for long, Jii-Jii?』
"Was it just me, or did that feel like some kind of insult?" Viviane mumbled to Ren.
"It probably was." Miki answered monotonously. 『And when I first met him, he wasn't a manwhore.』
『Whoa, ancient times?』 the cattish one asked. 『Because this master seems like he's been surrounded by concubines a while. Am I right, Goshujin?』
"Why are we throwing around weird names now," Ren grumbled quietly. "At any rate, we should get going. You two don't mind if I carry you by scabbard, right?"
『At least tie us to you,』 the cattish one grumbled.
"I'd love to, but… I guess that'll have to wait," he sighed.
『I don't care,』 the sleepy one assured him. 『I'm going to nap anyway.』 And with that, she was gone.
『Huh. Attention spans, am I right? Well, pull us out when you're ready to spill some blood. I won't accept any other outcome, my kawaii Goshujin-chan.』
With the apparitions of the crimson demons vanishing in the wind, Ren gave a small sigh of relief.
"I knew it… They really are difficult to deal with…" he muttered, standing up straight with the swords under his arm. "We should head into the town. If this place is anything like that guy said, we'll need to stock up on supplies. Anyone desperately not wanting to go into Qrste or…?"
"We'll have to bite the bullet eventually." Miki shrugged. "Those two mentioned the whole," he gestured at himself, "name thing. I gave myself a name since it felt right at the time. It's a bit late now, but if you want..?"
Ren beamed. "Ah, you want me to give you one as well?" he asked.
He ducked his head. "It'd be strange if you started calling me something else now huh..."
Ren shook his head in response. "I'd be happy to if you think I'm worth it. I'd want to name you something really special though."
Miki gave a clipped nod and put a hand on the back of his neck. "It's really not as important as you're making it out to be..."
"If it's something you want, then it's important to me," Ren replied firmly. "I'll have a long think, okay? I want it to be something perfect."
"If Master gives it to me I'm sure it'll be fine." he looked back at the twin swords. "What do you plan to do about them?"
"Their names?" he frowned. "I… don't know. You name them after things you did with them, right? I have to fight with them first."
He nodded and turned back to Viviane and Persephone. "Then… I guess we're going in the town? If we split up I'm going with Master." he said it like a challenge.
Persephone rolled her eyes. "Well obviously. It seems you're utterly useless without him after all."
"Oh no, go ahead. I won't disturb you two lovebirds," Viviane said, raising her hands as she turned away. "Pick a good name, eh Ren? I personally think 'Jubilation' would be a perfect fit."
Ren raised an eyebrow in subtle disagreement at her suggestion, but said nothing. "Alright, we meet back up in the town square?" he suggested. "If you two can get potion ingredients, Miki and I can get extra equipment like ropes and stuff."
"But I have rope," Viviane said, pointing to the purple band around her upper arm.
"You have rope," Ren agreed.
Persephone smirked. "I'll gladly go get you some rope to use~ I can think of a few places I could get it." Her smile was incredibly evil and held all the malicious intent of a sex demon.
"…I have enough rope…" Viviane grumbled. "It extends."
Persephone's eyebrows raised and her smirk suddenly faded. "Uh… I don't suppose it could be so useful if we all got separated, now would it?"
"If we get separated. And what are the ch…yeah, go find some rope."
"I say we let Master handle the rope." he shot Persephone a Look.
Persephone side-eyed Miki and scoffed. "Well maybe you should let someone with real experience with rope handle it. Like… Me, for instance."
Viviane took this chance to point to the rope around her arm again.
Ren sighed. "We can all go together if we really can't decide, you know…"
"Yeah, because that's why Miki suggested to split up. To be inefficient later as we all do the same thing," Viviane said, rolling her eyes. "Just pick someone Ren."
Persephone's tails swirled around. It was obvious that she was hoping that Ren would pick her, but she decided she wanted to sound mature. "I… It's fine, I suppose. I, at least, get along with Viviane so I wouldn't mind going with them to do things that need to get done. Just…" Persephone looked like she was about to say something more, but she became suddenly quiet. She blushed slightly as she turned away from Ren. "Just do what you need to do."
Miki's eyebrow looked like it was trying to enter the stratosphere. "Well when you phrase it like that, I have to agree with Miss Viviane's decision."
"Why don't we split into four," Ren sighed. "That should be fine, right? Chemists will make a shopping list."
"Uh… I'm not a chemist… So… Um… What am I supposed to do?" Persephone turned back to Ren, worried that because she wasn't a chemist that she was about to be rendered useless.
Viviane took a moment to rip a page out of her notepad and scribble down a list of general things that they would probably need. "Here, this should cover most of it…" she mumbled. "If not, you can probably stick to one of us?"
Ren nodded, quietly adding a few items of his own on the end. "Everyone needs to get their stuff. Then we meet at the square. Okay?"
Persephone had a slightly confused look on her face, unsure of what she actually needed to get. "Um… I guess I'll just do my best on my own. I don't want to break the plan that we just made, after all…" Persephone's tails swirled in a way that exposed her for the way she lied. She wanted to go with Ren, but she didn't want to upset him.
"You're not confident yet?" Ren asked, pointing at the list.
"If you're having trouble reading you can go with me." Miki raised his own half written list roughly.
"I… I'm not confident, but this'll be a good learning opportunity. And I can challenge myself to see how well I'm progressing." Persephone smiled a little bit as she scratched behind one of her ears.
Viviane stretched her arms up, cracking her back as she did. "Well, I'll be on my way," she said. "One hour, town square yes?"
"Yep," Ren nodded. "I'll see how much I can carry, I guess. Actually, make it half an hour if you can."
"Aye-aye," Viviane said, sighing as she thought of how hot it would be…
Persephone nodded, then said, "I suppose I'll see you in a half an hour then."
"Miss Vivi isn't here, try not to blow up anything important."

-----

The marketplace was a vibrant place in Qrste, perhaps brighter by its very nature than the desert sun itself. Ren somehow managed to squeeze unmolested (in every sense of the word) through hordes and droves of villagers and visitors alike, draped in every colour from beige to bright blue.
He wasn't lost at all. Nope.
He did, however, quickly find himself stumbling into a bazaar by sheer dumb luck, and that was enough for him.
Glancing around, he noticed fabrics of all kinds, and came to the conclusion that he would probably have to start with the clothes on his list.

Persephone could feel the heat of the sun beating down on her and she could feel beads of sweat collecting on her head. "Ew ew ew ew ew!! I really need something to change into before I do anything else." Persephone sighed as she looked around for some kind of stall that had clothing that looked… Less hot. Then… She saw familiar white hair and she smiled brightly. How lucky!!! Persephone sauntered close to Ren, trying to be casual and pretending like she didn't notice him. She started looking at fabrics in one of the stalls, hoping that Ren would notice her.
He did, waving to her as she stepped inside. "You got here in one piece too?" he said. "It's a jungle out there! A jungle of legs!"
Persephone laughed a little. "I suppose so, but I'm used to bustling places like this. Shopping is no trouble for someone like me! Speaking of, why are you in here? I was looking for new clothes since… This outfit… Is a little warm." A few beads of sweat could be seen collecting around her chest and slipping down in between her cleavage. She laughed nervously as her tails swirled smoothly.
"I-is that so…?" Ren mumbled in reply, trying to keep his attention from drifting. "I was looking for fireproof cloaks. Lots of monsters around Mshir are fire-aligned, so I thought the protection would be useful… We c-can do both, right? I'll help."
Persephone smiled. "That sounds wonderful!! And I should be able to… Bargain my way out of some prices." As Persephone said bargain, she adjusted the front of the yutaka where her cleavage was and blushed a little.
Ren outright looked away just to preserve his sanity a little, glowing in the face. "It should be fine! I have spices that I carry around so I can probably trade some of that!" he declared loudly, apparently too embarrassed to remember what indoors was. "W-what kind of thing are you going to look for?"
Persephone shook her head. "You should hold onto those. If I can help lower prices at all and keep you from spending those, it'll be very nice! And… I can always Charm someone if need be~ And… I was thinking something modern for this area. But also something that has some more breathing room because… This yukata is so heavy in this heat."
Ren nodded. "I thought something like that would end up happening. But then, I'm the one in the headscarf. I'll see what I can do to help in that case!"
Persephone nodded and began looking around for a garment.
"You'll look best in a purple, I think," Ren mused idly as he sorted through various headscarves and veils. "Something like this?"
He held out a vibrant violet sheer cloth, showing it to her.
Persephone smiled brightly. "Ah! You're absolutely right! And I adore that color!!!"
He shuffled in place, barely hiding his pride at being so helpful already. "Alright, let's see what else we can find like this!"
Persephone began looking around for a garment that matched that color and she found some things that seemed easily breathable, but they didn't stick out to her. However… As she looked around, between two very ugly garments was an absolutely perfect outfit! It was… A little scandalous, but Persephone imagined that she would be able to make it work perfectly. It was a two-piece clothing set. The top was the same shade of purple that was shown earlier and the bottom had lots of flowing fabric that seemed light and soft to the touch. "Ah! Ren! I think I found something I like! Do you know if we're allowed to try on the things here?"
"There's probably a changing room," he confirmed. Not that anyone could possibly stop you if you were to change in public anyway.
Persephone smiled. "Ah! Thanks Ren! I'll be back in just a moment~" Persephone slipped off one shoulder of clothing as she walked into the changing room. She peeked back out after she walked in to look at Ren. "No peeking~" Persephone winked and laughed a little. As she slipped off her yukata, she began to put on the garment she wanted to buy. She slipped on the bottom and, as she did, she saw a small creature with a stinger start heading for her foot. W-WHAT WAS THAT SMALL CREATURE?! IT LOOKED DANGEROUS! Persephone yelped as she covered her breasts with her arm and jumped out of the changing room. "R-Ren!! H-Help! T-T-T-T-There's a thing in there! I think it wanted to hurt me!"
Now, Ren Vedas was a perfectly sane and relatively normal individual. Contrary to popular belief, he also had a sense, in some capacity, of dignity, and so when a just-about-naked girl leapt out of another room and practically on top of him, he was, suffice to say, a little bit confused as to just what the hell kind of direction his life was taking him in this time.
"P-P-Persephone…?! C-calm down! What do you mean, 'thing'?!" he spluttered.
Persephone, now that Ren had responded, she had realized just how exposed she was. Persephone blushed so heavy that she became very red. "R-REN! D-DON'T LOOK AT ME! JUST GO IN THERE AND KILL IT!!!"
"K-kill it?!" he cried. "I'm not going to do that! J-just grab something to cover up for a second! We're in a clothes shop, aren't we?!"
Persephone was tempted to smack Ren right then and there, but she turned around and put on the other garment. It was very obvious that she was embarrassed and that she didn't care about anyone other than Ren to see her cleavage. "F-Fine, I guess I'll go take care of it. B-But you owe me a favor for making me do this!" Persephone stepped back into the dressing room, ignoring whatever Ren had to say to her for the moment. As she did, it almost seemed as thought the scorpion knew what she was going to do. It was sitting right on top of her yukata. Persephone frowned as she moved slowly to grab the cloth from the ground. However, as her hand got close, the scorpion struck. It seemed to highly dislike the fact that Persephone was taking her clothing. Thankfully, her hand had clutched the clothing as she been stung. So the clothing flew out of the dressing room, Persephone fell flat on her butt from the shock of being stung and the scorpion flew to the opposite side of the dressing room. Persephone looked at her hand and frowned. Small tears had started to gather in her eyes. "Rennnnnnnn, that thing hurt meeeeeee!"
"I-I tried to tell you that we could just leave it…" he said, crouching down next to her and immediately applying a healing spell. "How is it?"
Persephone suddenly… Felt very impaired. As she looked at Ren, he was a little blurry and Persephone had trouble orienting herself. This was… Highly strange. "R-Ren… Whush happening?"
"Eh?" he blinked. To be honest, I think it's even harder to tell from out here…
Persephone suddenly felt a little woozy and she fell onto Ren. "H-Hey! What do you think yer doin'?! D-Don't fall on me!" Persephone could feel her face get a little hot and it was hard for her to focus.
"G-gravity is…!" he protested. He had seen this before somewhere… Did Viviane get a pet scorpion while he wasn't looking? "M-more to the point, pressing against me like that is…!"
Persephone looked at him with confused eyes. "What exactly do ya mean?~" As she said this, her breasts pressed up against him a little more. "You know, I like ya a lot Ren~ And I jush feel like I don't get enough attenshin from you sometimesh and you know I don't like Miki that mush shumtimesh."
As she spoke, Ren's focus was drifting somewhat, distracted by various sensations. A sweet scent was filling his nostrils as his thoughts were slowly numbed, and he just about came to the realisation that she was wearing that perfume from the butterfly dungeon.
Oh crap… he managed to parse before his mind finished its screeching grind to a halt.
Persephone slowly got up as she noticed that Ren's expression seemed to fade into that of a person who was charmed. She was confused. Why was he like that? She didn't do anything to make him that way. Maybe her boobs were magic. Persephone gasped and started moving them up and down and giggling while simultaneously grinding on Ren. "Hehe magic boobs, I'm happy with these~"

--Meanwhile--

The street was an open layout, filled with a blend of open stands and tightly packed shops, all lined up haphazardly in organised chaos. People, mostly natives by their dress, expertly weaved through the crowd without hesitation.
Viviane paused in front of the rope shop. Glancing at the band around her arm, she idly hummed to herself in thought. "…can't hurt to have some back-up ropes," she mumbled as she walked in, the bell dinging above her as she pushed the door open.
Miki was already inside holding some kind of glittering yellow braid, and he looked up at the chime. "Miss Viviane." he sounded surprised, since she was so adamant on using her own rope.
"'ey Miki," Viviane replied, equally surprised. Who would've thought Miki would go find rope first, of all things. Maybe he was secretly super-kinky. "Call me Viviane please. Miss makes me sound older," she said, wrinkling her nose before glancing at what he was holding. "You know, as nice as that looks, practicality is important too."
He shrugged. "It just caught my eye. There are a lot of more gaudy colours here..." Should I ask why she's even in here..? That would be rude right?
"Looking for yourself or for someone special?" she asked grinning, taking a closer look. "I don't think sparkles really work for you. Solid tones work better to reflect your whole…stoic thing," she said, waving her arm as she glanced about. "Maybe…that one?" she said, pointing to a rather ordinary spool of rope that had been dyed black.
"It's going to end up being hot if we spend too much time outside with that." Miki pointed out. "If we're going for practicality, shouldn't we get something with unicorn hair?" He held up the rope again. That would at least explain what the sparkling fibres were.
"And if it's not unicorn hair? What if you try to bind someone and it snaps in an instant because it's some cheap counterfeit?"
"Even a counterfeit would be better than ordinary rope." he answered blandly. "Plus, if you tie this correctly it shouldn't snap too easily."
"I don't know, it still looks like it could snap easy even if you tied it right."
He raised a brow. "Then do you want to test it out or something?"
Viviane raised her brow. "Oooh, kinky," she said in a sing-song voice, before shrugging. "Why not. It'll be easier than trying to argue back and forth." Turning around, she placed her wrists together behind her. "Go for it. Don't make it too tight please."
He blanched and nodded, unknotting the bundle of rope. "Excuse me then."
"Ooh, so forceful," she said teasingly before shutting up and letting him do his work.
Miki gave the bindings a final tug and looked back at his handiwork. "Go ahead."
Viviane turned around, sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth as she wriggled her arms back and forth. "One moment…" she mumbled, twisting her arm with mild discomfort on her face before sliding her hand out. "Ugh…I said not so tight, Miki. I don't want to explain ropeburns…" she mumbled, twisting her arm more.

"Done. See?"
"...So maybe I wasn't the best person to try and tie it." he admitted.
Viviane rolled her eyes, before shrugging. "Fine, fine, we'll just get your rope then if you won't just say the rope matters. I'm not that eager to go up to random people and ask them to tie my hands just to prove a point."
"It isn't normal?" he blinked.
"…I wouldn't think so?" Viviane said, frowning. "It's the sort of thing that would get people to give you weird looks at least."
"Huh..." it had the tone of, 'you learn something new every day'.
Viviane shrugged. "Well, I still need to pick a rope too…" she mumbled, glancing around for a few moments before picking a solid, simple looking rope. "Yeah, this'll work," she mumbled, tugging it twice. "Don't randomly ask to bind people on the street, Miki," she said, trading for her rope with one of the small rubies she had from the fire dungeon with Yui, telling the shopkeep to count it for Miki's rope too before she waved and left. He watched her leave, letting out a sigh. Maybe I should go get armour now. If I recall, they sold clothes that way...

--Back at the giant mess™--

The shopkeeper, who had noticed the shenanigans going on in his store was… Not fully pleased with what was happening. Persephone's actions were enticing and the boy who was on the ground seemed to be enjoying it, but it wasn't bringing him business. The shopkeeper offered Persephone a hand and told her to take her actions out into the street.
Persephone leaned in close to the shopkeeper's face and waited for a moment before she blew a raspberry in his face. "You can't tell me what to do~ And I bet everybody is enjoying the show!" Persephone drunkenly turned toward the crowd that had gathered outside. "HUH?! IS EVERYBODY LIKING THE SHOW?! AREN'T YOU ENTERTAINED?" The crowd could be heard making small comments here and there, but nobody seemed to be doing anything substantial. "OI! YOU ALL! IF THIS ISN'T ENTERTAINING ENOUGH, THEN…" Persephone pulled at the strap that was in the back of her top. As she pulled on it, the shopkeeper quickly reached around her to grab her boobs and keep the top from coming off. "OH I SEE WE HAVE A TAKER! ANYBODY ELSE?~" Persephone laughed a little and the shopkeeper seemed to be getting more and more angry.
A familiar head of brown hair bobbed closer in the crowd, eventually coming within eyeshot of what could only be called public indecency.
"Master Ren." His tone didn't have any edge or hostility. His swords… couldn't really say the same thing as they were already flying towards Persephone's face.
"Oh wow," Viviane said, having just walked next to Miki for a while. It wasn't as if she had anything else to do. "We should do something right? Take picture-HOLY SHIT MIKI," Viviane said, frantically casting her ice-shield to block the swords with all the exin she dared. She wasn't taking chances now.
Persephone saw a few familiar faces. "OH! Hey guys~ Look at this man, he decided to grab my boobs and now I-" Persephone suddenly saw a few swords fly at her face and she stood completely still. She felt a shield suddenly come around her and Persephone laughed. "Woah woah everybody, no need to freeze like that." Persephone laughed heartily and even fell to the ground in a drunken fit of laughter. "GET IT because V-Viviane cast her ice shield on me! PFFFTTT wow I'm so good at making jokes, good one Persephone."
Viviane sighed, rubbing her head as she shoved her way through the crowd. "Miki, let's just…grab them and go. Come on."
"Alright." He conjured another sword. "I'll grab Persephone's head and Master Ren. You can take the rest of her."
"Hey hey hey Miki, no killing. We are teammates," she said, frantically getting in his way again. "Look, there's probably a perfectly good explanation as to what happened. No need to lop her head off. Maybe it was all some sort of accident."
Persephone continued to laugh and her jostling caused her top to fall off because the string was not tied. "Oops." Persephone didn't seem to care much and continued to laugh. "Hey! Hey! Where are you guys gonna take Ren?" Her top was lost to her mind and to her body.
He moved past Viviane's block with ease. "She is dead. I'm going to eat her. I. Will. Enjoy. It."
"Fucking…" Viviane grumbled, rubbing her eyes as she cleared her throat and sang a quick lullaby.

"SIT YOUR ASS DOWN."

Like she said. Quick.
He didn't get another step forward before he was knocked out.
With that out of the way, Viviane sighed before rubbing her eyes more. "Three incapacitated…why can't my life be easy…" she mumbled, moving to pick up Miki.
Persephone's mind suddenly became incredibly clear and she blinked for a moment as she was sitting up on the ground. There was… A strange breeze and motion to her movements as she tried to get u- OH MY GOD HER TOP WAS GONE. Persephone looked up to see a bunch of people looking at her and the shopkeeper seemed highly unhappy with her and the things that were happening right now. Persephone covered her chest and grabbed the top, quickly putting it back on. She looked at Viviane who was picking up Miki and so Persephone didn't say a word as her face grew bright red. After Viviane picked up Miki, she said, "I-I'll take Miki. You take Ren. I… Need some time away from him." Persephone picked up her yukata with her mind and laid it over one of her arms, which were ready to receive Miki.
Viviane shrugged. "You can explain what happened to Miki…he'll hopefully take it well," she said, carefully handing Miki over before turning to the shopkeeper as she fished out two of her rubies. "Uh…please don't think too badly of them," she said, handing the gems over before bowing and moving to pick up Ren. "I'll go find some potion ingredients I guess. Good luck with Miki," she said. At least Ren was light. It made carrying him quite easy.

-----

This was about the time that he had sufficient fresh air to suddenly be able to think again.
"V-Viviane…?" he murmured, as if just waking up. "What's going on…?"
It was too easy. "Ren, you've been in a terrible coma for five years," she said, her face as graven as she could manage.
"...Your hair isn't even grey," he frowned.
"I said five years, not five centuries," she said, scowling once as she kept walking. "I'll age myself or something next time to really sell it. Also, I don't know what happened, but me and Miki found you and Persephone a…in a less than decent situation, I suppose," she said, shrugging. "Persephone's taking Miki."
"Viviane, you have to take that perfume away from her," Ren insisted, clutching desperately at her dress. "It's going to kill me."
Viviane snickered slightly. "You'll be fine. Probably," she said. "Maybe keep a face-mask or something if you don't want to be charmed?"
"I can't cover up any more than this! My cuteness is all I've got going for me at this point!" he cried.
"At least you're honest about it," Viviane grumbled, shifting her arms. "Hey Ren? Mind moving your hands?"
Ren suddenly came to the realisation that, being carried princess-style, he could only really be grabbing one place, flushed, and moved his hands away very quickly.
"Is this supposed to count as good luck with women?!" he cried.
Viviane chuckled. "Who knows. Are you feeling okay to walk on your own, or are you going to try cop another feel later?"
"It wasn't on purpose! I swear!" he fumbled. "I'll get down! I'll be down! These mistakes are getting out of hand!"
"Well, technically, the mistake happened to result in something in your hand," Viviane said, kneeling down so Ren's feet could reach the ground.
He scrambled out of her arms right away so that he could at least have survived the rest of… whatever this was. He'd had enough experience with chests for one day, thank you very much, let alone anything else that could have potentially made his life awkward.
"Th-thank you. Sorry. Is Persephone okay?"
Viviane scratched her head. "I don't know. She seemed really embarrassed about the whole thing, so her pride notwithstanding, I think she's okay?"
He nodded. "I'm glad. That was really worrying for the small fraction of it that I actually remember being there for…"
He blinked.
"Also I think I accidentally shoplifted thanks to that."
Viviane waved her hand. "It's fine, I gave the shopkeeper some gems for the whole thing. Hopefully it's fine. What did you shoplift, if you don't mind me asking," she asked, grinning from ear to ear.
"Th-these things," he murmured, holding out two harem tops. It wasn't a good look on him, toting around essentially bras with minimal embarrassment in public, but considering the rest of the ordeal, the fact that he ended up with pseudo-lingerie was probably the least humiliating part.
Viviane raised an eyebrow as she inspected the two tops. "You know Ren, I feel like you're sending me a message," she said, still grinning. "I think the one on the left might suit you though."
"Th-that's not what I was going for and you know it! If I picked something for me it would be a lighter colour!" he cried, before realising what he just said and turning even brighter. "Th-the point is! There's a ton of those in the shop and they've just gotten stuck to my clothes! What do we do with these things?!"
Viviane idly took one of the tops, turning it over in her hands as she inspected it. "Well, unless you want to go back and talk to that shopkeep again, which I doubt he'll like very much, I don't think there are many things you can do with these," she said. "Though going back and buying one for you in a lighter colour does sound fun," she said, grinning from ear to ear. "Why not look for some matching bottoms for these at another store?"
"I feel like buying a bunch of harem outfits sends a few mixed signals in this situation…" he pointed out.
"You do have a harem though," she said back, passing the top back to him. "Why not embrace it with some symbolic clothing?"
"I said so already!" he insisted. "I just have lots of friends!"
Viviane rolled her eyes before clasping one hand around Ren's shoulder. "Okay Ren, let me paint you a picture. Say, hypothetically, in the future, Miki wanted to try be more than 'friends'. Would you say no?"
"W-well, no, but I'm contracted to him! I have a responsibility to him, right?"
"Next. Val. Same situation, would you say no?"
"Well, probably not, but she's my best friend, so obviously I wouldn't refuse something she asked for…"
"And Persephone?"
"Of course not! I agreed to take care of her, didn't I?"
Viviane rubbed her eyes. "Okay, so, in a hypothetical future, say this all happened to you, and you didn't say no to anyone, what would you end up having?"
"Lots of more-than-friends? But this is hypothetical, right?"
Viviane rolled her eyes, sighing deeply. "Yes, it's all hypothetical," she said. "But it is possible, so why not prepare for it with some outfits? Even if it doesn't happen, what's the worst that happens? You have a few outfits that don't get used, no big deal."
"I guess," he admitted. "How did I end up in a situation like this, Viviane?"
"You never learned how to choose," she said calmly. "It's not so bad. You have three attractive people all vying for your attention. Some people kill for that kind of life."
"Anyways, outfits," she said, grinning from ear to ear.

-------

Persephone carried Miki a short amount because he was… Heavy. That wasn't necessarily because he was actually heavy. It was because Persephone was very physically weak. As she set him down, she looked away. She had acted… Very badly. She knew that stupid small creature was bad news. She slammed her fist down onto the ground, then felt a shooting pain in it. She rubbed her hand as she waited for Miki to wake up.
His eyes did open eventually, and it took a moment where she could physically see sleep getting out of his eyes. "Nn..."
Persephone leaned over Miki and looked a little confused. "Are you okay?"
"Yìshìdúé… nǐ zài- Persephone!" He backed away, but didn't pull out his sword. Well it was progress. Somewhat.
Persephone herself sat straight once again when Miki yelled out her name. "Jeez, I didn't realize I was going to scare you that bad. What happened to you? I don't really remember everything. It's… Fuzzy."
"I was… Isn't that too convenient..?" He sat up and stretched his arms. The others would tell her anyway so... "You were taking advantage of Master Ren."
Persephone's face immediately went into her hands as she heard that. "Oh no… Do you know exactly what I did? Because… If I…" Persephone could definitely be seen having a fearful look in her eyes, causing them to be wide and unblinking.
Miki paused at her expression before slowly saying, "...If you went beyond anything we've already done with him you wouldn't be here."
Persephone suddenly caught a glimpse of some memory, which was fuzzy. She remembered that she was on top of Ren and her cleavage was being touched, though she wasn't sure who was touching them. She quickly looked over to Miki and grabbed him by the shoulders. "MIKI I… I MIGHT'VE… DID I HAVE SEX WITH REN? BECAUSE I REMEMBER THAT I WAS ON TOP OF HIM AND MY B-B-B-BREASTS WERE BEING…"
"I told you already!" He snapped hastily. "Nothing beyond what we've already done. His chastity's fine."
Persephone sighed with relief, but alarm was still there. Something definitely went wrong and she hoped that nothing… Too awful happened. But being groped and… Being on top of Ren didn't sound so bad she supposed.
"Still though. You were rather gutsy to do that in the street."
Persephone dug her face into her hands. "I know… I… There's a reason why I don't drink. I realized what that feeling was… And I became a little drunk. I… Lose most of my inhibition when I drink, so I try not to. It scares people."
"Well it already happened. No point dwelling on the past." He replied bluntly. It was probably his idea of comforting someone but it was completely uncomforting.
Persephone was on the brink of crying at this point. "It was all because of that stupid creature. I want them all to burn and die."
Miki's eyes sharpened. "You two were attacked?"
Persephone frowned and nodded. "Yeah, it was this tiny thing with a stinger. It huuuuuuuurt."
His face immediately went back to being flat. "You… do know you're a monster? Couldn't you have just set it on fire?"
Persephone pursed her lips. "Ren didn't want to kill it… And I didn't want to make him sad, so… I tried to solve it peacefully and be on my way, but… The little fucker decided it wanted to sting me and make me do all of this shit for its entertainment." Persephone hand curled into a fist and the force seemed to conjure a little bit of blue flame to come from her fist as it was formed. "I'll show no mercy to those stupid creatures in the future."
"...Well if it keeps something like this happening again I'll help you."
Persephone smiled a little bit. "Thanks Miki. I… Know you and I aren't on the best of terms… But… I can't say I don't want to try getting along with you. We don't have to be friends or anything, but I would prefer if we didn't almost kill each other every time we see the other doing something we don't like."
He took a moment to start nodding. "If we're at each other's throats too much Master will be sad. At least we agree on not wanting that..."
Persephone nodded. "Do… You have a way of sealing a promise or pact or something? Like… Would a handshake suffice? Or… Uh… I'm not sure how it works with other cultures and people…"
Miki huffed. "Well if we're trying to be friendly, we shouldn't need formalities like that… right?"
Persephone shrugged. "I… I don't know. I've… Kinda never made friends before all of you, so… Maybe we should just shake on it for good measure?"
He stuck out his hand with a dry look. "Do you want to seal it with our blood too? Or a kiss? How strange..."
Persephone looked at her hand for a moment. "Blood seems appropriate. No offense, but… I would prefer not to kiss you."
Miki snorted. "Believe me, the feeling is mutual. It was a joke, by the way. You don't need to hurt yourself." He waved her attention back to his hand.
Persephone pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. "Don't mess with me like that!! I thought you were being serious!!!" Persephone reached her hand out to shake with Miki's. "To… Being friendly."
"To being friendly." he echoed, gripping her hand.

-----

"V-Viviane, are you sure this is okay?" a small voice came from behind the curtain. "I'm embarrassed…"
"I'm telling you, it's fine," she called, grinning from ear-to-ear. Did she actually think she'd get Ren to wear a harem outfit? No, not really, but she wasn't passing this chance up. "Come on, I'm the only one who'll see. What's the big deal?"
"It's still really weird though! It's tight and I can feel the air on my skin!" he cried. "I normally cover up a lot more than this, you know!"
"And? That's just how harem outfits are. It's fashion. And to deal with the heat," she said, waving a hand like a fan. "Look, if you aren't coming out, then I'm coming in to see this…"
"I-if it's fashion and for the heat then why aren't you wearing one?! You're supposed to be worse with heat than I am, right?!"
Viviane sighed. "Would you be more comfortable if I were to wear one?"
"Probably…?" he said. "Yeah, then at least we'd both be embarrassed, right..?"
"It'd still only be you, but fine, give me a minute," she said, standing up as she glanced around the shop. Picking out a blue pair with a red long red sheer ribbon that seemed to fit her style, she slipped into the changing room next to Ren's. "Ugh, it is a bit tight," she grumbled, making sure everything was properly covered before grabbing the red ribbon as well. "Alright, I changed, now come on out Ren," Viviane said as she stepped out again, having left her dress in the change room.
"A-alright," he mumbled, drawing the curtain back. The small boy was dressed in a lot of sheer silvery fabric, exposing almost everything but his upper chest and his groin, the latter thanks to a pelvic curtain that was the same pale blue as the accents and a few gem studs on the jewellery he'd been trying on at the same time. He span around in a circle, flushing as the silver bangles around his ankles clattered along with his movements.
"H-h-how is it…?"
Viviane hummed with a rather…serious expression on her face actually. The sheer-mouth veil did little to hide how much concentration she was pouring into the small boy as she made a quick circle around him. "You were right," she mumbled. "Pale colours are better for you…" Smiling cheerfully, she was once again in front of him, one hand on her hips as she continued to appraise the boy. "The jewellery is a nice touch as well. I'm pretty sure if Persephone or anyone from the hare-ah, your large group of 'friends' were to walk over and see you like this, they'd pass out from a nose bleed."
"I-is that so…" he giggled anxiously. It was kind of humiliating being stared at so thoroughly, but he didn't absolutely mind it… "Um… I-if there's… any point in saying it, um… you… also look cute in that…"
"Only cute?" Viviane asked in an overly droll tone. "Why, thank you sir, but I'd prefer the term 'beautiful'," she said, flicking her hair before also giggling. "So, are you going to buy it? I, at least, think you should."
"Well, I'm… biased, so I-I guess I probably should," he nodded, only a little frustrated at being practically shot down. "Then! I'll get Miki and Perse-- wait, she already took that other one… Well, that's still Miki… I could get Val one as a souvenir too, but would that seem weird…?"
"Eh, I don't think so. She'd probably love it that you were thoughtful enough to get her a present," she said, stretching her back again with a sigh. "Hmm…want my help picking out Miki's or Val's?"
"I've seen Miki a lot recently, so I basically know what would suit him, but I barely see Val in anything other than what she normally wears," he commented. "I might need a little bit of help there…"
Viviane nodded. "I'll help then. So, let's get to picking," she said, spinning around to go find something while still in the harem clothes.
Ren nodded, hurrying off to find something indigo.
Viviane, instead, was off trying to find something red for Val. Peeking over as she watched Ren pick clothes too, she gave a light chuckle. "You know, why didn't you pick out a male outfit for yourself?"
"It… doesn't suit me," he admitted. "I look too feminine."
Viviane made a small huffing sound. "Ren, what suits you and doesn't suit you shouldn't make you change what you'd wear. You should wear what you want to wear. Do you think I'd be suited to wear a suit or something?"
"...Probably," he muttered. "I don't know. It feels like a habit to just wear things that look like they work on me."
Viviane huffed again. "Part of what makes you look good is confidence. If you think you look good, others will too," she said. "Having your chin up, a smile and eye contact does wonders to how others perceive you."
"I know that," he mumbled. "I just… don't have the self-control or discipline."
"I can try help with that," she said idly, smiling cheerfully. "If I tease you enough, you're bound to learn to control your blushing right? That'd be a step forward."
"I-I think I'd probably die!" he spluttered.
"Success or death. Those sound like our usual odds when it comes to dungeon fights, no? Come on, I promise to pull it back if you really look like you'll die."
"By that logic I could just go through dungeons until I stopped blushing!" he cried. "I can't condone this at all!"
"Aw, but it already happens all the time," she said, leaning forward as she lowered her voice to a whisper. "Come on Ren, all you need to do is say yes."
"S-s-s-stop that!" he stuttered, stumbling backwards and slipping over a garment that had been left on the ground, collapsing onto his backside with a thud.
"Are you okay?" Viviane asked as she moved around to help Ren up, leaning over slightly to offer him a hand. And giggling a little after she glanced down a bit more.
The small boy immediately covered up his groin. "D-don't look!"
"Bit too late for that, don't you think?" she said, grinning from ear to ear. "I got quite the eyeful~" Still, she did as he asked and kept her stare trained on his face. "Do you want my help or not?"
"Uuuuu…" Ren's face was that of someone who had just been deeply shamed. "I-I'll just… sit here… forever… This is fine..."
"Nope, come on, you said one hour then the town's square," Viviane said, moving around Ren to pick him up onto his feet. "Step one of self-control and not being embarrassed: more often than not, the world keeps turning, and you'll end up laughing over the silly things that happened in the past."
"I am the only one who has not laughed at these situations!" he cried. "I'm a virgin, you know! I think!"
"Heh, keep telling yourself that, you'll believe it fully one day," she said, patting his shoulders. "Plus, who knows. With three people chasing you, who knows how long that chastity will last."
He mumbled something about it being more than three.
"What was that Ren?" Viviane asked, moving back to finding a red outfit for Val. Of course she heard him clearly though. Her ears weren't just for show after all. But if he truly meant something, he wouldn't say it under his breath.
"N-nothing important!" he said. "L-let's just keep looking for stuff!"
Viviane made a disinterested humming sound before going back to searching for the outfit in earnest.

-----

Viviane hummed cheerfully as she walked down the street. She only had one thing left to do. That, and she had so many new things. It was just…fun to go shopping for stuff. Rounding another corner, she squinted as she saw a familiar head of brown-red hair. Or, at least, she thought it was familiar.
Persephone had been sitting in the same spot when they shook hands with Miki, reading the list that Viviane had given to try and figure out what she needed to go find next. She knew she had seen the word before, but was having trouble fitting most of the letters together to figure out what the word was. Persephone pursed her lips and focused on the slip of paper.
Viviane did her best to try sneak up on Persephone through the crowd, wanting to try something like jump her when she was close enough. Jump as in grab her shoulders, of course, not actual jumping or something.
Persephone focused on the paper, but she did notice that someone was getting closer and closer to her location. She looked around and saw Viviane. "Oh. It's you."
Viviane made a small huff, before shrugging and sitting down next to Persephone. "Yup, me," she said. "I take it talking to Miki went well?"
Persephone looked at Viviane and nodded. "We… Came to an agreement to be friendly with each other. For Ren's sake. I'm sure he couldn't bear it if I incinerated Miki."
"Miki's a sword though. Can he be incinerated?"
Persephone shrugged. "Only one way to find out." Persephone laughed a little. "I'm just kidding." She wasn't. "I'm sure he'd crush me if we went up against one another." She didn't believe that.
Viviane hummed. "Considering he's fast as hell and immune to charm, I'm inclined to agree. And that's before we get into all his other abilities. I think in our group he may be the strongest. Anyway, what're you doing?"
Persephone blinked. "I… Didn't know he was immune to charm. Well… I guess I really would get smashed then… Huh. Oh well. And uh…" Persephone blushed a little bit. "I'm trying to read the list you gave me…"
Viviane leaned over. "Hmmm…I think you need to do the same thing as me," she said. "Potion ingredients."
Persephone put her finger on her chin. "I actually was hoping to get some sort of eyewear. My eyes are a bit sensitive in this sunlight. Do you think there's eyewear near where the potion ingredients are?"
"Only one way to find out," Viviane said, standing up. "Let's go. And considering where we're going after this, I don't know if shades would be a good idea…still, shades are nice to have. May as well buy some here."
Persephone blinked. "Shades? I've never heard of such things before. I just wanted something to cover my eyes. I suppose I could get a headdress of somesort if I wanted to… Oh well. No point in worrying about those things~ I'll take what I can get~"
Viviane shrugged. "Sunglasses, or shades, cover your eyes. Oh! I need to tell you all about what fun Ren and I had," she said, grinning from ear to ear. "He looked so cute."
Persephone expression shifted to slight confused. The sentence she had just said almost seemed… Uncharacteristic for Viviane. Calling Ren cute? Hmm… Persephone decided to ignore it. Viviane wasn't out to take Ren. "Mmm~ Please do!! Let's walk and talk so we don't waste too much time."
"Let's," Viviane said, smiling. "So, after the whole fiasco thing, Ren found out that he still had these two harem tops on him, right?"
Persephone's tails bounced a little at the mention of Ren's name and she smiled a little. "Right."
"Anyways, so I talked to him for a bit, and managed to convince him to go buy more harem outfits because he…well, has the potential for one. Sort of. Probably, yeah. Plus it just seemed like a fun thing to tease him about."
As Viviane began talking about this in more length, Persephone realized what the word harem actually meant. Or… She remembered it being used to describe the men who gathered around her mother in a way. If it was this sort of implication, Persephone worried about it. Persephone wasn't trying to find clothes for Ren. She… Wanted Ren to pick out her outfit. She had picked out this one, but she didn't entrust the entire task to Ren. She sighed. Oh well. It wasn't worth getting too upset over. Persephone didn't sound absolutely enthused by this topic, so she said, "Ah. Yeah, that sounds… Like a fun teasing topic for sure!"
Viviane hummed as she listened to the change in Persephone's tone, deciding to move to the part of her story that she would probably enjoy the most. "So the best part is he picked out an outfit for himself as well. And he looked so adorable in it," she said, clasping her hands together. "He's still wearing it, so you'll see it later. I think you'd love it."
As Viviane shared this, Persephone's reaction was dulled from earlier news. She was still excited, but her tails did not move as sharply as she would if her reaction was uninhibited. "R-Really?!" Persephone played with her hands and blushed a little. "I guess that is something I imagined him in. And I wouldn't want him to overheat with his regular clothes!! After all, heat stroke is a really serious problem." Persephone was… Trying to make excuses as to why she was so excited. Even though she was sure that Viviane already knew why.
"Mhm. Heat won't be a problem for him anymore with how much skin that stuff shows," she said, pausing in front of a stand as she picked out a few potion ingredients. "Hmm…this much should be good…" she mumbled. "Now I just need to make the potions…"
Persephone watched as Viviane picked out ingredients. "U-Uh it shows a lot of skin?!"
Viviane glanced up. "Yup. It really only covers two spots," she said as she looked over her ingredients with one hand, the other gesturing to her own body. "Here and here," she said calmly. "Everything else? For show," she said, grinning as she put the ingredients in her bag.
Persephone's face grew bright red as she began imagining the outfits that Ren might be wearing. "U-U-U-Uh I-I think that I… I might like that…"
Viviane gave a small giggle. "That's what I thought," she said. "Anyways, shall we go find your eyewear or something? The sooner we do, the sooner we can go see Ren. And his outfit."
Persephone nodded and said quietly, "D-Don't make fun of me…"
"I'm not, I'm not," Viviane said in a sing song voice. "I'm just saying your interest in Ren's outfit would be better assuaged sooner rather than later. Before you become a permanent tomato."
Persephone pursed her lips a little as they walked. "Yeah yeah, I don't want to become a tomato either."
"Anyways, eyewear. Let's go. Maybe there'll be something that catches my eye too," Viviane said, glancing around as she tried to guess where some glasses shop might be.
Persephone nodded and began looking around for a glasses shop as well. And soon enough, she spotted something that caused a ray of sunshine to shoot in her eye. She thought it was metal at first, but then she saw that it was some sort of glassware. "Ah! Viviane! Over there!"
Viviane quickly made her way over at Persephone's shout. "Found it?" she asked, smiling as she walked over and saw the glasses. "They look nice," she said cheerfully.
Persephone nodded and looked at all the different types of eyewear. There were pieces made specifically for one eye or some that were made for both eyes. As she looked around, lots of things were catching her eyes. However… A very plain pair seemed to catch her eye the most. They almost… Seemed out of place and that was why they stuck out to her so much. They were a simple pair of black glasses that were squarely shapen. "Uh… Excuse me, ma'am…" Persephone called out to the woman behind the counter. "Can you tell me something about these?"
Viviane was instead enamoured by a very intriguing pair that had blue-tinted glass in the shape of two stars.
The woman in the stall looked at them and seemed almost glad that Persephone had asked about them. "I'm not sure why you're interested in such a boring pair, but I'm glad you asked! They happen to be a pair of glasses that will make you more charismatic when you channel exin through them. The same goes for the ones you're looking at young lady." The woman behind the counter pointed toward Viviane. Persephone clapped her hands. "Excellent! And how much do these cost?" The woman thought for a moment before speaking to Persephone. "Well… Your pair is probably worth a little less since I can't seem to sell them. What do you have to give me to pay?"
"I got rubies," Viviane said offhandedly, grabbing one from her bag and yanking it out as she continued to stare at the pair of glasses in front of her.
The woman sneered at Viviane. "I see…" Persephone picked up that this woman was probably about to scam Viviane out of her precious gems. "I'll take three of those rubies if you want to take both pairs." Persephone looked at Viviane and responded before Viviane had the chance to pull out any more. "Are you sure that's a fair trade ma'am?" The woman promptly nodded, not missing a beat. Persephone wondered if the woman was trying to be sly, but 3 didn't seem like too many.
"I also have ten hea-," Viviane replied, glancing up with a small smile.
Persephone smacked her hand over Viviane's mouth. Persephone's expression held contempt and authority. "You. Quiet. You're going to give away too much if you keep talking." The woman behind the stall had a smirk on her face. "Oh? Are you trying to buy these with something that you potentially stole?" Persephone laughed a hearty smile, her mood completely changing. Persephone was going to manipulate this woman now. It was a battle of charisma now and Persephone was not going to lose. "Oh no no no! I couldn't possibly steal anything~ You, on the other hand… I wouldn't be surprised if you swindled a few people out of their goods for these intricate glasses." The woman behind the stall frowned. "And what would you know? You're certainly not from around here."
"Doesn't mean she wouldn't know the value of a ruby," Viviane tacked in as she continued to stare at the glasses.
Persephone shot a look at Viviane, then leaned in close to Viviane's ear. "If you do exactly as I tell you, I'll get you those glasses and we might not even have to pay."
Viviane glanced up with a small frown before leaning over to whisper back in Persephone's ear. "If you're about to charm this woman into just giving us the glasses…"
Persephone frowned in response to her, then whispered back, "Of course not! At least, I'm not gonna do it alone. And… Besides, I'll only use that as a last result. We might not have to charm her. After all, we've both got some pretty cute outfits on~" Persephone's frown turned upwards into an evil smile.
Viviane gave a sharp glare entirely unbecoming of her somewhat cheery disposition. "Not even as a last result," she said, before sighing. "Give me a second to go change and we'll try…whatever you're thinking I guess."
Persephone smiled. "Alright, I'll handle things here until then." The old woman seemed to be unfazed by their small conversation. "Whatever you're going to try, it's not going to work. If you don't pay up quickly, I'm going to make you leave." Persephone smirked. "Don't worry, we've got something we're going to give you very soon~"
Soon happened to be about thirty seconds. Viviane rounded back to the stand, flicking her hair slightly as she stood next to Persephone again. "So? What was the plan?"
Persephone smiled widely and whispered in Viviane's ear. "Well… Naturally, we're going to mirror each other and seduce her so that she'll give them to us as presents~ Doesn't that sound fun?~"
Viviane resisted the urge to roll her eyes too hard, sighing as she nodded. "Fine, let's do this," she mumbled. "I'll follow your lead then."
Persephone snickered as she stood a few feet away from Viviane. She held one of her hands up and began to twirl, causing the fabrics of her outfit to swirl and move fluidly. Persephone sent a feeling of touch to Viviane's hand right as she wanted them to lock arms and plead to the woman behind the counter to give them glasses.
Viviane sighed internally before copying Persephone's movements, moving semi-fluidly. It was hard to dance and stuff with two shaky feet, even if she was sort of used to them now. At least she managed, right?
Persephone moved toward Viviane and attempted to lock arms with her, stopping her spinning. Persephone wasn't sure how she was going to get Viviane to copy what she said, but she hoped that she would say something that was close to what she was thinking. "Pleaseeeee can we have those glasses? We'll do anything~" Persephone's eyes practically had stars in them as she looked at the woman in the stall.
Viviane chimed in to say the same thing, keeping her eyes trained on Persephone's lip so she wouldn't miss copying what she said, glancing immediately back to the stall owner afterwards.
The woman in the stall took a step back, almost shocked that they had been able to pull off something that extravagant. The woman noticed that people had been gathering around and that she herself felt… Moved. She had a slight blush on her face as she said, "Just take the glasses and go. I… I don't need your rubies anyway."
"Thank you ma'am," Viviane said in a sing-song voice, grabbing the glasses and dragging Persephone off before the shopkeep could change her mind. "Let's not do that again," Viviane mumbled.
Persephone laughed as Viviane grabbed her. "Oh please! That was so funny! The look on her face was absolutely priceless! She turned all tsundere." Persephone imitated her. "I-It's not like I'm giving you these glasses for free because I like you or anything…" Persephone burst into a fit of laughter.
Viviane sighed, tugging her dress out from her bag before changing her mind and shoving it back in as well as her own pair of glasses. "It feels like we cheated her out," Viviane grumbled. "We could've just haggled her down. I don't really have many other uses for these rubies. Or these old health pots. Reminds me, I have to make a new one. Let's sit here?" she said, already sitting down and yanking out her chemistry kit.
Persephone grabbed her glasses from Viviane and put them on, seemingly happy with what she had accomplished. "Oh come onnnnn she seemed like she had already gotten more than those glasses were worth from other people, so she deserved to get what was coming to her~ In this case, it happened to be me." Persephone chuckled a little bit as she watched Viviane pull out her chemistry kit. "Shouldn't we head for the town square?"
"This'll only take a minute," Viviane mumbled, working as quickly as she could while still being accurate. Just a few moments later, Viviane was holding another health potion, seemingly identical to all the other ones she had, but…stronger. "Okay, great, let's go," she said, packing up her kit and the twenty potions.
Persephone nodded and the pair headed toward the town square to meet Miki and Ren.

-----

Ren was cheerfully strolling through the slightly thinned crowds with an indigo packet under his arm, humming to himself. Miki had to be around somewhere, so systematically searching was evidently the way to go, right?
Not that it had worked very well in the past, but he did actually sense his contractor a little way away, and took the liberty of cutting him off at a corner.
"Miki!" he cried, holding out the indigo harem outfit.
Miki was already looking in his direction, having noticed his approach. "Mas-" he stopped moving completely and closed his eyes like he was willing something to happen. "What happened to your clothes..?"
Ren turned around, revealing another packet tied to his back, this one white. "I wrapped them up in my sari. What do you think though?" he asked.
"Persephone shouldn't see you in that." He answered drily. "And the purple one..?"
"It's yours!" he beamed radiantly. "So we can match!"
If he asked, Ren was probably hallucinating when he heard a mental scream. "Ah."
"Want it?" he asked. "I picked the colour to match you!"
Miki took a deep breath with a mutter of, "This Master..." he nodded and picked it up. "It's a bit too big, don't you think?"
"There's a part of it to go on your head too," he said. "This bit here drapes over. Like my sari. Want me to do it?"
He didn't waste a second. "Yes. We're going to find a place I can change?"
Ren nodded. "I can take you back to where I got it if you like."
He held out his hand. "Lead the way then, Master. And stay close? If we get lost I'm not sure what would happen."
"Mm!" he nodded, taking Miki's hand and leading him down the streets he'd come from.
"So Master, what were you doing with Persephone when I showed up?"
He blinked. "You showed up? Oh, right, Viviane mentioned…" he nodded. "She found a perfume in a dungeon that turns my brain off, and she got stung by a scorpion so she went kinda… w-weird. There wasn't really an opportunity to fight back so… Thank you for saving me."
He tightened his hold. "Well hopefully I won't need to save you again then. If I do… I'll apologise in advance."
"Don't say that!" Ren frowned. "You're my hero, aren't you?"
"I'm your weapon." He answered. "I'm supposed to stop you from being hurt."
"You're a person," the small boy insisted. "Even if you're my person."
Miki frowned. "I'm… not sure if it's different to you, but it feels like you're just denying my purpose. I uh, I'm sure you don't mean anything by it but..."
He shook his head. "Your purpose is whatever you choose to do, not what you're made to do. If you choose to protect me, then I accept that, but I don't think that means that I should deny you your status as a living thing. So even if you're a weapon, you're a person as well. As your master, it's my job to keep you safe and happy as well as sharp and polished, right?"
He covered his face with his other hand. "That's… fine. I-I don't think you're supposed to say something like that so casually."
"You can't use euphemisms for something so important," Ren insisted. "You have to say it properly, you know?"
Miki nodded wordlessly and avoided Ren's eyes. "How far was that store?"
"Just up ahead. Here," he gestured, taking Miki inside. "The changing rooms are back here, so let's get this on. I wanna see it!"
He ducked into one of the stalls and tugged the curtain behind him. "You're sure you'll protect me from any scorpions then, Master?"
"Of course! E-even if I'd be okay with it in private, it's embarrassing in public!" Ren nodded. I don't need my reputation here made any worse, right?
Miki's hand stuck out for a moment, letting a fabric sleeve hit Ren's face. "You really shouldn't say that to other people..."
"Uuu… Okay… I was referring to you though…" He cleared his throat, picking up the nagatekkou Miki had thrown at him from the ground and folding it. "Alright, sit down so I can get started."
"This really is too big..." he muttered, pulling back the curtain. Miki adjusted the small indigo vest, making a small chiming sound as the gold beads jangled. The pants were dangerously low on his hips and supported only by strings of coloured glass beads.
"It's alright, that's the size it's meant to be. Hold on while I put this on," Ren said quietly, draping the last piece over him, the copper bangles clattering against one another as the small boy smoothed it out so it flowed from atop Miki's head like water from an oasis.
"There you are. You look kind of like a bride, huh?" he laughed. "It suits you!"
"You think..?" He pulled at the veil and pitched his voice so it was a bit breathy. "Does this mean we're going steady then, Master?"
Miki seemed to have gotten at least a critical hit, because Ren looked like he was about to burst.
"I-I-I-I-I would s-say so!" he nodded so fast that his features became a blur of light.
It was a joke… kind of. He let the veil fall back into place. "Ah, I almost forgot." Miki went over to his clothes and dug out a small silver band. "I was with Viviane and we got this. It's for you."
Ren's eyes lit up like they never had before. "R… Really…?" he asked. "...I… Thank you."
Miki held out his hand. "Come on, I'll put it on."
He nodded breathlessly, holding out his hand in turn, staring intently.
"You have a really intense look right now..." he muttered, sliding on the ring. "Have you really fallen for me?"
Ren's gaze didn't waver. "...I guess so, huh…"
He did redden a bit at that. "Then… I won't mind the others. This much is fine for me."
"Are you sure? I thought that people got worried about things like this… I do plan to stay with you forever, but even so…"
"As long as it's like that, then I'm happy with it. Having more would be… nice though."
Ren smiled. "Don't worry about anything. I'll keep your blade shining for all eternity. I promise."
Miki was glad the veil hid his smile. "...I really don't want to meet up with the others just yet. Walk around with me a bit longer?"
He nodded. "Yeah. That would be nice."

-----

Viviane snapped her bag open for a moment. "One two three…" she mumbled. "…19, 20. Think 20's enough potions?"
Persephone shrugged, also slightly fiddling with her new glasses. "I dunno. I've honestly never drank one before, nor needed to use one ever."
"Hey!" called a voice across the street. Ren waved to the pair with the hand that wasn't entwined with Miki's. "You guys got everything you needed?"
"Think so. How many potions do we need," Viviane called, glancing up from her bag to see Ren and Miki. "Oooh, aren't you two getting along well."
Persephone noticed the voice and had a happy expression before actually seeing what Ren was doing with Miki. Her expression became a bit… Sad and she looked away from the pair. She couldn't get mad or make a scene. She had promised Miki that they'd be friendly and… This was just something she'd have to deal with. She took a moment to compose herself and smiled. "Hello you two~ Looks like you guys were having fun~"
Miki gave a wave, finally letting go of Ren's hand. "Are you two wearing matching..?"
Persephone laughed a little. "Funny story. It seems that Viviane and I unintentionally picked matching outfits! Aren't they cute though?~" Persephone leaned over a little bit and did a twirl, making sure that her tails made her look excellent.
Viviane did not twirl. She wasn't going to risk ruining everything in her bag. Which really dug her shoulder, what with 20 potions in it. "Here, I'm passing these out," she said, sighing as she rubbed her shoulder as it got to be much, much lighter.
Ren nodded, taking a few. "I don't have anywhere to put these though…" he muttered.
Looking up and between the three around him in their harem outfits, alongside the multitude of potions that Viviane had been concocting, he concluded that this was a particularly successful venture.
"I have some plastic bags. It's not much better, but it's something," Viviane offered.
Persephone laughed a little. "I'll take a bag, but I can't carry much. I'm… Not that strong…"
"Me neither," Ren admitted. "We're probably better off seeing if we can pick up storage amulets or something around here."
Persephone clapped her hands. "Oh! I completely forget that those things exist! We should most certainly invest in some of those!"

A comparatively extremely bland visit to a shop occurred, leaving the four of them each with an amulet of their own.
"Alright, Viviane, distribute the potions," Ren invited.
Viviane did just that, shoving each potion directly at the storage amulets. Not everyone had the hands to easily carry five healing potions in one hand after all.
"That feels weird to be on the receiving end of," the small boy muttered. "Do we need anything before we head into the pyramid?"
"I can't think of anything," Viviane mumbled, pulling her fishbowl and pet from seemingly nowhere as she gave her slime baby some much needed water.
"Is it me or is that thing bigger since the last time I saw it?" Ren cocked his head.
"Probably," Viviane replied. "I keep her on a healthy diet of water and meat. She's bound to grow a little right?"
"How can a slime eat meat if it's squishy…?" he blinked, and then shook his head. Some things were best left unknown.

 

[BubbleGum]

The ground shakes under the heavy steps of a creature running through the forest, as small animals avoid its path, and birds fly away in fright, upon closer look of the creature it looked like a large white wolf... but instead of white fur, its body was covered… or even made of... Bones, not like a skeleton of wolf, no, but more like someone took a bunch of bones and shaped it into a wolf.
It was a little smaller than an adult horse, had two black glowing lights in it's "eye sockets" as it carried what looks to be a little girl, wearing what seemed to be a black dress, holding up a black scythe on her shoulder.
Upon closer inspection… not only did her "dress" seemed to be actually a metallic armor, she had no head… on her neck at least, as held under her arm was a cute little head, with crimson hair, tied to one side, and grayish white eyes, with a bored expression, and mischief in her eyes.


Just beside running along the giant bone wolf, was a smaller creature, around the size of two large dogs, was a spider… that seems to be also made of bones, and what looked to be scrap armor made for knights and cloth, made from mages robes… skittering along with the wolf, being able to keep up.
The group continued exploring along, before the girl sense something nearby.. Something Dark… and Gloomy, that meant something fun. The girl patted the wolf, the wolf turning its head back for a moment before looking forward, and making a change in direction, the spider following along.
They came across an entrance a little under a minute later, an entrance to what seemed to be an abandoned graveyard.

"A graveyard? Haven't explored one in a while…" she thought, they've been to a couple of graveyards in the past, it being the same place where she made Jack.. she looks over to the skeletal spider. Should be a good place to play a while… judging from the feeling she could sense from it.

The girl got off the wolf, walking to the entrance in the middle of the bone wolf and spider. They got to the gate, as they attempted to get it open.


The gate would open surprisingly easily, as if oiled despite it's aged and rusted appearance. As Rerarin would enter the grave, it was as if day and night had split between the abandoned premises and the forest just outside. Not only did the air seem to darken, but cold mist also spilled around her feet and her skeletal followers, hiding the weeded ground beneath.


She giggled a little, seeing how her surroundings changed, the graveyard not looking like this from the outside. "Oohh~, spooky, at least it sets the mood…" she looks back at her companions seeing if they had any special reactions, as previous graveyards were just the normal stuff, with a few undead, of course, seeing if this atmosphere changed anything about them.


Koliander seemed normal, just standing behind, looking around the graveyard in interest, nothing off about him as far as she could feel, and Jack was unmoving as ever, standing there and waiting for a command or for her to start moving again, they continued through the graveyard, just strolling along.

As they walked, Rerarin would notice an opening in the fencing at the other end of the graveyard. However, as she strolled in, the eerie silence would be broken as the sound of what could only be described as stone cracking echoed through the graveyard. In the distance, a single skeletal hand could be seen poking out of the misted ground, before about dozens of more cracks echoed as well. Within a few seconds, four skeletons would stagger out of the ground towards the dullahan and her party, the cold surface of the earth ripped apart from where they burst out.


The group showed no reaction as they stopped and stood in place, waiting for them to steady themselves "oh woops~ sorry… didn't mean to wake you up… we'll just be passing by you see? Just go back to your eternal rest." Rerarin says, signaling her companions, as she slowly walked backwards, as her pets stepped up in front.


The skeletons made no response that they heard her words at all, continuing to move forward like puppets as their sharp skeletal fingers threatened to cleave and claw at her and her party.

"A little cranky are we? Welp… nothing i can do about that, how bout we put you to rest ourselves…" she says as she signal with her hand a basic attacking sign, the bone wolf and jack pouncing at the foremost front skeletons, taking one each.


The skeleton that had been attacked by Koliander fell easily, the large bone wolf barreling through it with ease as it whatever force holding the bones together dispersed, the bones of the skeleton falling piece by piece to the ground again. The one attacked by Jack instead crumpled under the force of the spider's skeletal limbs, losing it's left leg before almost collapsing in on itself.


However, despite the two skeletons in front of them being defeated, the other two continued to trudge forward, paying no attention to the bone entities next to them in favor of trying to reach the dullahan behind them.


She stepped back, as she signals to her companions to continue, Koliander pouncing for the next skeleton, and jack going for the other. Kerona watching all the while, with a bored expression.


No sooner had four skeletons all risen from the graves, all had fallen again, leaving Rerarin alone in the graveyard, save for her companions and rows and rows of graves with their own dead compatriots.



"Boooring! Nothing more than just mindless puppets, not even a remaining will or anything"
She walks off again, past the skeletal corpses to the opening, as koliander comes up to the corpses and absorbs them into his body, and jack following behind her, koliander following just after.


As Rerarin passed the opening in the fence, it would feel like another shift. Darker, moodier, gloomier, yet the mist had seemed to have been left behind, revealing the hard and dead ground. In this new area, there were no longer rows and rows of grave, simply three in the center of the clearing, one after another in a row, each with a thick slab of stone laid on the ground to mark their existence.

"Huh.. were the ones who made this place running low on budget? The last location had a weaker aura than the this.." she walks towards the graves a little, before stopping a good distance away, reaching for a bone on koliander, as she tosses it at one of the graves, the left one, waiting to see what happens next.


The bone would plink off the stone, making a dull sound that echoed through the clearing, but otherwise doing nothing else.

"Awful security system too, unless they want me to get closer, then i'll oblige… go ahead boys~"
She says, signalling to them as they slowly move forward to the graves.


The stone slabs continued to sit there unmoving, like the stone slabs they were.

The bony monsters continued forward, and reached the stone slabs, koliander looking back at Rerarin, tilting his head at her. She gestures for them to continue, as koliander gives a grave a light nudge with his bony paw, then using full force to strike at it.

The stone would have a small crack in it from Koliander's strike, but would otherwise remain unchanged. His strike did, however, shift it aside, albeit so slightly that it would be as if the stone slab had not moved at all.


"Wow… really? I thought it'd be the perfect place for some strong dudes.. Welp, can't win them all" Rerarin walk forward, with her scythe on her back, her head held under an arm. Upon reaching the slabs, she attempts to see if any text was written on them.


Though there had been name plates, carved into the stone slabs on the side, they'd been so weathered by the elements they were entirely illegible, now just useless and blank rectangular squares on the side of each slab.


"Okay… let's try lifting them off, go on then Koli, lift the one you cracked" Koliander went to the slab he cracked, as he shifts his jaw bones as thin as possible, trying to scoop the slab from under, and shifting it back to have more structure and holding the side of the slab tightly.

The slab would move with relative ease, sliding as if on ice as Koliander pulled it back. In the grave beneath, among the overgrown weeds and bugs, was another skeleton, unmoving as it remained dead to the world. Around it's bony neck was a brilliant silver necklace with a singular amethyst imprinted in the middle, shining in the dull light of the clearing.


Rerarin handed her head to koliander, koliander making a small bone platform on the side of his body, Her head left there, facing the open grave. Her body approached the grave, standing a little bit away, as it uses her scythes top end to poke at the skeletons head from afar.


The moment she poked the skeleton's head, it seemed to flair to life, violently as well. Unlike the previous skeletons, it seemed to lurch up as soon as she poked it, rushing past her scythe and raking it's skeletal fingers across her hand before it seemed to fall apart into pieces again, the necklace falling in the pile of bones into the grave again.

"Spooky!" she shouted out, as her body jumped back a step, her scythe help up ready to strike, as she watched the skeleton fall to pieces, lowering her scythe down. Her body approached the pile of bones, as it bends down to collect the necklace, holding it up to her head by koliander's side.


As her body picked up the necklace, Rerarin would be able to feel the enchantment coming off it, letting her know that the necklace was anything but ordinary.

"Neat, Though i did a little hurt… can't believe that even happened.." her body reached up and placed the necklace upon her neck "I hope this doesn't fall…". She then asked koliander to remove the next slab, learning from last time, she moved to a further place, together with Jack, calling koliander over after he's lifted the slab.


There was no skeleton under this slab. In fact, it seemed to be an empty grave, the only contents besides the weeds and dirt being a small potion with red fluid inside of it.

"Go get it jacky!" she pointed at the potion in the grave, not moving from her place, as jack skittered to the grave, picking up the potion with its spider mandibles and going back, Rerarin taking the potion off him.


She repeats the process for the last slab, asking Koliander to do it once more and to run back immediately after, as she keeps her guard up.


Beneath the third slab, Rerarin would find neither skeletons nor potions. In fact, it wasn't even a grave, as the stone slab had been hiding a staircase that led downwards, into the darkness and unease of the underground.


Rerarin and Koliander looked at each other, before Rerarin gave a wide grin. "Well? What do you say? Adventure!" she raced to the staircase, going down it, with koliander and jack right at her heels.


As Rerarin descended the stairs, she would find that although it was getting darker and darker, it seemed to stop after quite a few steps down, a dim light holding true as she went down. Down and down and down she went, until she suddenly hit the bottom, coming to an room just as devoid of feeling as the graveyard above. Along the walls were dozens of rusted weapons, maces and blades and handaxes, having been eaten away from decades untouched. In the center of the room was a simple wooden table with another rusted weapon on top of it.


Rerarin approached the table with her scythe in hand, trying to see what lay upon it.
A little excited on the inside.


It really was just another rusty sword.


She looked upon the table with some disappointment, as she looked around the room that would be more interesting, to take away her disappointment.


As she looked, she would notice that despite the rows and rows of weapons, there seemed to be a small hole in the wall to her left, a crack next to one of the bricks making up the walls of the room.

She went to inspect the hole, seeing if she could see through it, as she holds her head up to it.


Though she couldn't see through the hole very clearly, it was plain to see when she got up close that there was another room behind this one.


"A little bit of a secret eh? Not for long! Break down this wall koliander!" The wolf followed her command as it backed up, and rushed towards the wall.


The wall didn't immediately crumble. It was a wall with cement, not some ultra-thin plank of plywood that would snap from a strongly thrown rock. Still, a strong tackle from the bone-wolf did knock quite a few bricks loose, enough to at least make the rest of the job of pushing through the wall a breeze.


"Once more koli! Once more!!" Rerarin commanded, koliander stepping back and ramming once again, straight into the wall.


This time, the wall fell easily, crumbling away enough that Rerarin could see through and into the new room clearly. In it was another table, this one made of stone, with a single black stiletto dagger on it in remarkably good condition, considering the rusted weapons in the other room.


Rerarin looks back and forth between the rusty sword and knife, as she goes over to the rusty sword, and picks it up, examining it.


The rusty sword was still just a rusty sword. It may give someone bad tetanus if they were somehow struck and cut by it, but even that was unlikely.


Rerarin then tosses the rusty sword at the knife, as she signals the two to be ready to attack, equipping her scythe one handed herself.


The stiletto dagger clattered to the ground after being hit with the rusted sword. As it did, another rumbling resounded throughout the other room as another wall began to slide down, revealing a passageway further downwards.


She signals her guys to guard the door, as she approaches and picks up the knife off the ground, wiping any dirt off of it.


Remarkably, there wasn't a speck of even dust on the stiletto. That, or it's black appearance made it impossible to tell whether it had been dirtied or not, especially in the dim light.


She can feel that the weapon was quite special, as she stashed it on her side, to be easily accessible. The group goes down the passageway, with koliander at the front and jack at the back.


As Rerarin and her group descended further downwards, it would begin to get progressively brighter again too. As she finally exited the second, much shorter staircase, she'd come to a surprisingly well lit room. Strewn across the ground were bones of all sorts, all perfectly white and picked clean. Most striking were bones of multiple humans, though none complete, as their remains had been flung asunder.


Upon entering, Rerarin would hear a loud crack sound to her right. Not like the cracks of the skeletal hands breaking the earth, but the crack of a bone being snapped in two.


Rerarin jumped to her left, as she faced the sound, her guys jumping in front of her, as they face the direction of the sound.


Rerarin would come face to face with what others may consider as an intimidating enemy. A normal vulture would be terrifying enough. A bird of large stature, as well as its nature as a scavenger meant that it was often the one to see the last breath of animals before feasting on their corpse. This one however was worse, as it seemed to embrace death itself as well, a skeletal figure to reflect the skeletons it picked clean.



"Oh Ho Ho… It's A big bad boss man over here~ looks like it'll be a bit of a headache…" Excitement, and bloodthirst could be heard from her voice. Rerarin signaled to koliander, koliander burped up a black helmet with a full face visor, as she put on her head. "You guys might wanna retreat a bit, a don't think either of you would survive a hit... " Koliander and Jack run back to the stairway, obeying her command as they watch the door.

The skeletal vulture made no sounds as it approached, simply the light steps as it's boney feet pounded it off the floor until it suddenly leaped forward, clawing at her.

Rerarin threw her helmeted head straight at the ugly birds face… while screaming "Biiirrddd Brraaain".Her hand became free, and her body held her scythe with both hands and lunged forward, planning to do a slash at its face after her head hits.


The vulture easily slashed at the thrown head, knocking it out of the way before dodging the slash with equal ease. Landing behind the dullahan, the boss turned around before pecking at the body that had tried to strike it.

Her head rolls a bit away, as she still sees her body and bird, her body becoming a little hard to control, due to not being in this position often during her life as a dullahan. She sees the bird attempting to peck at her body, as her body attempts to wave her scythe, casting a spell that hopefully made a bone wall behind her in time, as she attempted to roll forwards after casting.


The wall snapped in front of the vulture, and although its beak crashed against it, the shield nearly cracked, though still holding true.

Her body turns around as it tries looking for its head, Rerarin , the head, shouting out "Hey!! Over here!! Hurry up before he recover!!" Her body hears her, as it rushes over, picking her head up and holding it firmly under her arm.


The vulture shook its head slightly after hitting the wall, before turning to the dullahan and opening its mouth, letting wind rip outwards towards her.

Rerarin turns around waving her scythe, as bones rise out of the air, and meld together to form thick sharp arrows, She waves her scythe towards the corpse-eating bird, letting her bone arrows fly, going against the magical wind.


Perhaps the vulture was too preoccupied with its spell, but it was struck with Rerarin's bone arrows, loud crashes sounding as bone crushed bone. However, the vulture was still kicking.

"Aha! You ugly bird, feel my pain!!" Rerarin waves her scythe again, five red giant tentacles formed out from bones on the floor, surrounding the distracted bird, as they swiped at its legs.


The bird tried to dodge the tentacles, yet it wasn't fast enough, the tentacles ripping at it and knocking it aside. Shaking off the magical blow as best it could, it regarded the dullahan before leaping forward again, claws outstretched.

Rerarin casts some blood magic, as blood pours over her from above her head, soaking her body as she feels a little invigorated by the stench and its healing properties. She braces for the bird's impact as she held up her scythe in front of her, just trying to minimize the blow as much as possible despite the low chances.


As Rerarin cast her healing spell, the vulture clawed against her, and although she healed more, the pain from the scratch would still hurt her.

Rerarin does a slow punching motion towards the griffon with her scythe, as the bones on the floor rise up to form six giant fists beside her, as they raise up and lunge towards the giant bird.


The vulture had no chance, the fists crushing it instantly as it fell into a small pile of bones among bones, the core inside of it dropping out as well as it died, just as silent, as it was during the entire fight as a few 'plinks' of its bones, sounded through the clearing.

"One heck of a fight that was… almost lost my head! Well i did… but…" Rerarin leaves the sentence hanging as she sees the glint of the core in the pile of bones, as she goes over and picks it up. "Well looky here~ this is what made ya so fat now ain't it mr pile o' bones?" She looks down at the pile of bones in a mixture of mockery and joy. She gestures to her companions at the stairway, as they both make their way in, koliander looking around the room eagerly, but waiting for a command from Rerarin.

"Just a moment koli… i wanna look around first, and i don't want you to become too fat like that one time." Rerarin tosses the core at koliander, as he swallows and stores it, looking around the room filled with bones, seeing if there was anything else in here.


In the corner, tucked away was a gold-rimmed chest, simply…there, even if it didn't entirely make sense for it to be there, it was still there.

"More goodies! As much as that core was pretty neat, a treasure chest is more like it~" Rerarin bounds over happily to the chest, opening it and searching it for her well deserved treasure.


Inside the chest was, somehow, a bone whistle, and a bone scythe that just seemed too large to be true.

Rerarin, upon seeing the items, paused for a moment with a little frown on her face upon seeing the scythe, she then picked up the items with both hands, keeping her head carefully under her arm. Upon picking up the two items, she could feel power within them. The whistle made her frown deeper a little, as she could sense that its ability is linked to making her minions stronger.

She looked upon the two items made of bone, nothing too strange since this whole room was made of bone and so was the creature that guarded it, but what the items were didn't make her happy despite being perfect for her, it only made her suspicious.Though that suspicion died down, not wanting to think too much into it. "Eh.. maybe i'm just being too worried, all the stuff i've ever gotten from looting places were useless to me.. Like that light attribute artifact i found in that cave.. Burned my hands just touching it.. Though it did become a major bargaining item later on" She muttered to herself as she let koliander keep them both for now.


Rerarin then let Koliander absorb some of the bones in the room, including the vulture bones, only getting a little larger under her watch, so he wouldn't get too fat. They left the underground area, going up the two sets of stairs and exiting the graveyard. Rerarin look up to the sky and seeing that they weren't in there for long. "Huh.. barely any times pasted.. Welp that means we can continue on our way!" She hops onto the back of Koliander as he runs off into the forest, Jack following by the side.

 

[Random]

Posted on behalf of @Kali*Flower​

This was a new chapter for Aegle. She spent months or even years in that garden, attending to Hera, taking care of the plants and trees, and feeding Ladon. All of this she did with her three other sisters. To be quite honest, she got tired of the same routine when the years started to pass by and time seemed to slow down. So when she finally snapped, she asked Hera if she could do something else, something new. The next thing she knew, she found herself entering the gates of the academy a few days ago.

Aegle spent her first few days inside her dorm room. She was so unfamiliar to this kind of environment, and she needed to get used to it. The young girl found herself looking at her reflection in the mirror. Her dark golden brown hair was neatly braided, she had a delicate porcelain white skin, and her evening blue eyes sparkled as if there were stars in them. She was satisfied with how she looked.

She decided it was high time she would go out of that room she hid in to go explore and get a feel of the place.

Somewhere along the line, however, it seemed that she ended up somewhere that practically screamed 'you got lost'.
In the depths of a forest that had somehow snuck up on her, Aegle found herself in front of the mouth of a rather odd cave.
From the looks of it, the interior was sculpted out of some exotic material halfway between quartz and glass, a cloudy white substance with jagged edges and emitting a faint silvery moonlight that illuminated the cave just enough to see the base of a tunnel. Whatever this place was, it was hardly the usual hole in a cliff.

"Huh, I swear I was wandering around the academy a few minutes ago," She mumbled, surprised to find herself somewhere that was not the academy.

She takes a few hesitant steps into the cave, attracted to the materials that decorated its interior and the soft glow that reminded her of the times she star gazed under the evening sky. Aegle knew it would be dangerous to go deeper, but curiosity fought the sense of safety in her mind.

After letting the little debate go about for a few minutes, she simply shrugged, then started to make her way deeper into the cave.
Her steps echoed unnaturally across the crystalline walls, making it seem for just a moment as though she was being followed. As she reached the foot of the tunnel, however, the claustrophobic interior opened up.
Before her stood what was practically a forest of crystals stood upright, huge thrumming stones that lined the chamber that had to be kilometres in length. She couldn't tell at a glance, but Aegle could easily sense this place thriving with activity, the slightly ticklish air of life that came with looking at an anthill or a family of spiders at work. This place seemed like it could well have functioned as its own miniature ecosystem -- or such, at least, was the impression that she got.

Aegle was astounded by what she had discovered. The place was downright gorgeous, especially with the forest of crystals that had her stare at it for a solid minute. She was still very alert of her surroundings, but couldn't help relax for a bit because of the sight.

She turns back to the way she came from, taking note of the path she took, hoping she'd remember it when she wants to go back to the Academy. Then, shifting her view to what was in front of her, she felt a slight tinge of adventure that she never felt when she worked in that garden. Wondering what else this cave had in store for her, she continued moving forward excited, though a bit nervous as well, on what awaits her next.
Stepping forwards into the crystals, she heard something skittering away. A frenzied noise that most likely belonged to something she had scared off, it didn't immediately register in her brain the implication it carried -- there really were things living here, and they weren't small.

When Aegle heard the noise, she tensed up. She paused to take a cautious look around the place, eyeing anything that seemed dangerous to her. After waiting for a few seconds, she continued walking, but this time she tried to walk more quieter.

As she walked, some of the quartzlike trees stood out more than others; frosty shapes visible on the surface like shadows, buried in the crystal. Yet, for all there were, what, fragments of rock or something like that frozen within the shards, they didn't show it in the least on the texture of the surface, all completely smooth.
That is, until she stumbled across something unusual.
In one of the shards, there appeared to be a sickle of a strange coppery colour sticking out of the side.

Aegle took a step closer to the shard, eyeing the object that seemed to protrude out of it. She looks around for something she could poke it with, then turns back to it, wondering what it is.

"That looks… very weird and interesting," she thought out loud as she studied the object.

While Aegle was hardly an expert on the construction of farming implements, she was experienced enough in magic at least to tell it had some kind of enchantment over it. It didn't seem particularly complicated, a simple light-emitting spell. So simple, in fact, that it could well have been naturally occurring. It didn't seem too unlike the magic that the crystals themselves emanated… It was possible that the magic had spread to the sickle as well.

"What's a sickle like this doing here in a cave," Aegle thought as she tilted her head, her eyes going over it again.

She had a few guesses, maybe someone has explored this place before and left it here and the crystals just enveloped it as they grew. Or maybe someone accidentally embedded it into the crystal to harvest the material, but it got stuck and the person left it there, though sickles aren't usually good for harvesting hard materials like crystals. Those seemed like possible instances, but then again she may be wrong.
Judging by the angle it was sticking out at, it didn't look particularly stuck, nor did it look like it was there on purpose. Rather, it seemed as though the crystal had grown around it, but the sickle itself seemed in good condition… The crystal must have had formed extremely quickly.

Aegle was debating whether or not to try and get it out of there. A glowing sickle sounded like a nice gardening tool she could use… does the academy even have a garden she can tend to? She eyed the object, wondering how she'd even get it out of there. Aegle touched the part of it that was sticking out, trying to wriggle it to see if it loosened or not.
It came free relatively easily, the sudden weight in her hand almost making her drop it.

"Woah," Aegle was caught in surprise when the sickle came off easily. It slipped from her hand but she caught it before it hit the floor. She raised the sickle into eye level, then studied it, doing a little swing to test her grip on it.
The blade gave a bright flash as she did, the light bouncing off the crystals around her, illuminating every single shadow in sight, both outside the spires and inside.
All kinds of bizarre objects seemed frozen in crystal here, and a rather alarming set of jaws right in front of her told her that included fossils as well.

She jumped at the flash of light, surprised as she looked around, seeing the different things that were frozen inside the crystals. She took a step back, falling to the floor when she noticed the jaws in front of her.

"Geez, that gave me a heart attack," She mumbled as she scratched her head. Aegle stood up, dusting her chiton, then took another sweep of the area if she had alarmed anything that was nearby. She then glanced at the sickle, grinning.
Another skittering sound rattled in the darkness. Was she being followed? Fled from. It was impossible to tell, but she was surrounded by movement. Either she had scared the natives with that flash, or she had attracted their attention.

Aegle's head snapped up, she was in a complete of alertness. She should have been more careful with what she did, she didn't know what dwelled inside this cave. Best case scenario would be cute fairies fluttering around and giving her gold, worst case would be a huge terrifying monster ripping her head off.

She tightened the grip on her new found weapon, taking a careful sweep around the area to check if there were any beings that lurked by.

She caught sight of something, an eight-legged creature almost the size of her, made of the same crystal as its surroundings, lurking in the shadows. No wonder she hadn't spotted it sooner. Rearing at her aggressively, it seemed poised to strike at any moment.

Aegle hadn't really took part in any battles since the garden was well-hidden and Ladon usually took care of any thieves that passed the eyes of her and her sisters, which made her a bit nervous on how to approach the situation.

She took a step back, then raised her sickle in a defensive manner, checking for any escape routes if ever the battle would get sketchy. She waited for the monster's next move.
It seemed to almost gallop towards her, some kind of blade or stinger emerging from its body as it lunged towards her.

She quickly threw herself to the side, trying to dodge the attack.
She evaded it with ease and grace, leaving the strange creature stumbling to halt its own movement as it attempted to poise itself for another thrust.

Before it could recover, Aegle decided to run to it, raising the sickle and bringing it down on the beast to land a hit.
It snapped in two the moment she brought it down, instantly ceasing its motion. It looked as though it had been hollow this entire time. How strange.

Aegle was shaking, a bit surprised that she was able to attack something bigger than her. There was a feeling of pride lingering inside her, she'd never done this before.

Though it had surprised her that the monster was completely hollow, she was ready to see spilled guts and organs on the floor, but she was relieved as well. She looked around again to see if any other monsters would want to test her, then started to walk further into the cave.
It seemed as though she had scared off anything that further disagreed with her, as there was an almost deafening silence as she advanced on.
She quickly found herself at what was, at first glance, a dead end: an outcropping of rock and crystal that blocked her path. But it was only a moment before it was apparent why that only appeared to be that way -- a slab of quartz was lain across the ground, akin to a log in a forest, only mostly covering up what looked like another tunnel.

"Huh, a blocked path," She commented, taking a step forward, placing her hand on the slab. She looked for any way she could squeeze in to reach the other side or if there was any point she could hit that would break it to make way. Aegle doubted the latter choice would work since she was fairly weak, so she continued to examine the place.
The slab was more or less in the shape of a hexagonal prism, so there was no reason a small amount of pushing force wouldn't tip it enough for her to squeeze in the gap, but it didn't seem as though she'd be able to easily get out again.

Aegle took a deep breath, mustering all her strength, she pushed the slab to create a gap she could get into. She knew it would be hard to get out especially if she was being chased, but she wanted to satisfy the sense of curiosity and adventure within her.
The would-have-been log gave a thud as it sealed the way back up behind her, the noise echoing in the dark tunnel she had found herself in.
This one didn't seem to have any of the glowing quartz-glass lining it like before, with the only light being at the end of the path. It looked suspiciously like daylight, but something didn't seem quite right…

"Uhm…" Aegle was now unsure whether or not she regret continuing into the cave. She clenched her fist, trusting herself that she will get to the end and then get out alive, though she wished her sisters were there to provide a sense of security.

She shakes her head, slowly making her way nearer to the end, the sound of her footsteps and the whole situation made her feel a bit off.

The mouth of the tunnel opened up to the reveal another gigantic chamber, but this one was different. The one before had been wide and broad, for sure, but this one was comparatively small in that regard. Instead, it was incredibly tall, with the "sunlight" emanating from a huge, blinding gem growing out of the ceiling.

Aegle stopped in her tracks, shielding her eyes as she looked up to the ceiling, noticing the unusual light that illuminated the whole chamber. It hurted her eyes like what the sun would do when you'd stare directly at it, but she could feel that it was somehow different, and had a more magical than natural vibe.

She does the usual sweep around the area to see anything interesting or dangerous she should examine or avoid.

There didn't seem as though there was a whole lot in here, with the exception of the sun-gem on the ceiling and another, much smaller crystal directly blow on a pedestal so small that it didn't even register at first glance; not even up to Aegle's knees.

She approached it, eyeing it with interest. Not a lot of things were usually displayed on pedestals, so it usually means it's something really cool to take, which also means there's something guarding it as well, just like the golden apples in their garden.

Finding herself in front of the said pedestal, she carefully extended her arms to grab the crystal.

It reacted to her touch, a ray of light flying out and up, illuminating invisible shapes: floating slabs in the air, a pair of spiral staircases leading all the way up to the top of the chamber.
And then the room itself shuddered.
The gem detached itself from the ceiling, and behind it came leg after leg.
That gem was not a stalagmite, but an abdomen.
An enormous quartz firefly hovered down, posed aggressively toward Aegle.

Aegle started to regret her decisions. She takes a step back, clutching the sickle in her hand as the firefly descended down on her, the thing looked very pissed off.

She glanced at the crystal in her other hand, a bit dismayed that it had to do something like that. She shifted into a defensive position, ready to dodge or attack the large firefly, mumbling a quiet prayer to Hera that sounded like a plea for help and a self written obituary.
The firefly pointed its abdomen towards her, gathering magic within it for a mere moment before a burst of light short forth toward her, burning everything in its path.

Aegle quickly ran to the left, avoiding the beam of light that she knew she didn't want to get caught in. She looked at the quartz firefly, trying to look for a weak spot.
Regardless of her attempt to evade, however, she soon found herself on the receiving end of the scorching arrow.
The angle, on the other hand, was not all bad. She could see the crystalline 'tendons' holding the abdomen onto the main body clearly enough from here -- if she somehow broke them, the abdomen would fall off for sure.

Aegle groaned, ready to accept her death, feeling the intense heat that burned her. She could see a weak spot on the firefly from her line of sight. She aimed her hand at the tendons then willed vines to shoot up from the ground heading straight towards the targeted area.
They shot forth at a speed that a creature of that size couldn't have ever hoped to have reacted to, nailing the chink in its armour and cutting the abdomen clean off, the gem falling from the creature and onto the ground with a crash.
It reacted violently, speeding up a great deal with less weight, and it was apparently extremely angry. Dozens of arrows of light rained down as a volley towards Aegle, none looking very strong, but the sheer quantity was obviously enough to render quality issues moot.

To protect herself from the sudden rain of arrows, Aegle willed the vines to intertwine above her to make a sort of shield. She casted the spell again, making vines shoot out from the ground, this time targeting the whole body of the now vulnerable firefly, hoping to rip it apart or something.
It narrowly managed to evade the attack, this time flying in for a direct blow.

"Holy Hell," Aegle cursed, then motioned her hand to make an arc upward. The vines follow her command, spiraling into a thick column that served as a block from the now zooming towards her firefly.
The result was something akin to seeing a bauble pitched at a baseball game. Twinkling particles of quartz dust floated between crystal shards as the firefly was instantly shattered to pieces in an almost comical fashion, dropping a white sphere on the ground in front of Aegle somewhat unceremoniously.

The vines slowly made their way back into the ground, leaving a speechless and unmoving Aegle inside the chamber. She swallowed her fear then relaxed a bit when the situation was clear and everything was safe. She looked at the sphere, kneeling down to take it in her hands, studying it with interest and a sense of pride.
She had heard about these in offhanded mentions during the few classes she'd had. Beings with magical abilities possessed a magic core with which to use them, and they could retain certain abilities even after the death of the original user. It was a reasonably common practice to attach these cores to weapons and wands in order to give them special abilities, and she had heard of some people even implanting them in their own skeletons.
That aside, the steps leading up to the hole where the firefly had been before seemed to be the only way out of here for now.

Aegle was smiling, she just defeated a dungeon all by herself, though she thought it would've been way easier if she had her siblings along. Nevertheless, she takes a look at both the sickle and the core she got, excited to discover what she could do with these things once she's able to study them more.

She looks at the steps, then starts climbing up to the top, sleep and eating was on her mind as she climbed.
As she reached the hole, there was a small chamber between her and a clear blue sky, containing a golden chest.

She approached it, looking at it in wonder. "End dungeon loot, cool," She seemed very happy as she places her hands on the chest then opens it, wondering what was inside.
The box opened to reveal all kinds of miscellaneous objects. Potions, a ruby staff… maybe? A well-made copper rifle, and… handcuffs made of black glass…?

She held these items in her hands, tilting her head with the loot she got. It was an interesting set of items, but she was thankful for it anyways.

She slinged the rifle on her back, it made a clicking noise when it came in contact with he scythe. She placed all the other items she got, including the core in her bag. Once she was all set with her sickle on her right hand and the staff on her left, she made her way back to the Academy, hoping she remembered how to get back there.

 

[Vivi De La Moon]

It was a calm, somewhat cloudy day outside Schism Academy, and as anyone who knew the first thing about Vivi De La Moon could tell you, that was unacceptable for as long as she existed.

That said, the library did have an awfully cozy rug in front of the fireplace, so carnage could probably wait for now. At this moment her eyes were quickly browsing through a thick, leather bound book of Legendary Items of the Realm, as per the book's title of course.

Obviously, as was the case with legendary items, it was almost impossible to truly verify their existence, let alone know for sure things such as their location, which was precisely why a particular entry stood out.

Said entry made Vivi's bored roaming eyes stop and carefully read with extreme interest, her ears perking up and her tail lashing behind her. Further reading, it was of a Legendary wand named Trystia, Hand of the Sun Goddess. Supposedly, it was a wand that allowed its user control over sunlight, using it to both heal allies and scorch foes to dust. The location was vague, but the only detail given was its last sighting in Cephiet's Black Realms.

"Doooppe…." The Cat Demon muttered under her breath, sitting up from her comfy position on her stomach, holding the book at the same position. "I think I can fuck my way to the Black Realms, because I SERIOUSLY want that wand. It's mine. Claimed." She continued on to talk to herself.

Fortunately, there were enough atlases around that she could put together a fairly convincing theory of exactly where it would be kept. Specifically, there was a suspiciously-named Stone of Sunlight that was in the Cave of Dawn in the 45th Realm, which seemed like proof enough.

Using a wind plate, her lazy self jumped on to reach the high shelves where the atlases were at, locating the map named Stone of Sunlight with ease and grabbing it to check out.


After her quick grabbing of the map, she made way to the portal room and headed through the bright portal that lead to the 45th Realm. What she was greeted to was absolute bliss. It was like an oven in this realm, the air humid and thick, also known as the best place Vivi could ever come across on an originally cold day.

As a matter of fact, there seemed to be a good reason for that. Vivi appeared to have found herself in a sinister, almost hellish jungle, with the menacing sounds of demonic wildlife all around her.

The Nekomata grinned at the sounds of wildlife, thinking of all the fun she could have looking for this wand. Dangerous her ass, this was THE BEST DAY EVER.

She seemed to be a little way away from a path a few steps ahead. Perhaps mapping portals to every single Black Realm was a little labour-intensive and someone screwed up. Regardless, with total freedom and keen senses, it wouldn't take her long to track anything down.

Looking side to side as she made her way to the correct path, she took her halberd out to keep up her guard incase anyone attacked. Well, not like many things could get passed her quick reflexes and senses, but it was always best to be safe.

She noticed a couple of birds overhead, flying in a small formation dead ahead towards something. They stood out a little with golden feathers and long beaks, but beyond that they were quick and unassuming enough that anyone other than Vivi would have missed them.

"owo a clue?" The Nekomata said in a more high voice, her face more cat like than usual.

Flying off into the trees, she didn't see where they went, but it couldn't have been far; a little way dead ahead at most.

The Rogue quickly jumped into a tree and jumped from branch to unruly branch, going straight ahead to where the birds were seen headed.

Sure enough, they seemed to be landing near a hole in the ground of an almost suspicious roundness. Natural holes in the jungle were rare, and perfectly circular ones were… not inconspicuous.

Peeking her head above the treeline, her eyes constricted towards the birds location. Looking a little more down, she gave the perfectly round hole a suspicious gaze before carefully making her way over incase of it being a trap.

She didn't see anything particularly suspicious about it though. Continuing towards the hole, she slid down, falling further and further, closer to the bottom, but it was taking a concerning amount of time to ge--

Splash.

It was dark, practically pitch-black, even with night vision like her own. Vivi could discern she had fallen into some knee-deep gooey liquid, viscous like oil, tingling her skin as it brushed against it.

She stuck her tongue out, mumbling, "gross" before summoning a blue, luminous foxfire in her hand to light the path.

She seemed to be in a wide pit, with steps upward carved into the wall ahead. There didn't seem like there was a lot else here, but the tingling was starting to itch.

Fixing this, Vivi had made the fox fire larger in size to where she could bounce and lay on it. With this, she patted the safe, fire orb so it would move forward towards the staircase.

The itching began to fade away the moment she was out of the liquid, and the foxfire made its way up the stairs without a whole lot of trouble.

At the top, she saw a whole ton of statues -- women in fairly out-of-place-looking clothing, somewhat modern with what looked like sleeveless shirts and short skirts, though ceremonial-looking in appearance. Each was holding a large urn in their arms, and they lined what appeared to be a corridor that split off in three directions at the end.

Floating towards a couple of them lining the right wall, Vivi whispered a little too loudly. "Hey. So. Where do these tunnels go? And what you guys doin'? Just askin'."

The statues, of course, did not respond, only maintaining their stony, closed-eye expressions.

"mmmm...mkay, I see. Far right tunnel? Ok, have fun doing your thing girl." she gave her newly signature finger gun motion and leaned on the foxfire to go down the far right tunnel.

The corridor was lined with various doors, all the same shape and size, all of them closed, but none of them seemed sealed. Towards the end, there was another crossroad, with one option heading left and another headed… further left, at a right angle.

The Neko's ears flattened against her head as she groaned, not bothering to pander which direction before going left. If it was deadly, she'd burn it. Simple.


The path led her down to what appeared to be a large hall. It was decorated with gold-lined tapestries and curtains, with cushions and pillows littering the floor, a few wardrobes at the back and urns of various sizes placed everywhere, some with lids and some without. A strong, sweet scent permeated the air, with Vivi slightly, slowly but increasingly being lulled into a calm and dizzy state just by smelling it.

As she got drowsy from sweet, comforting scent, she managed to at least cover her nose with her black t shirt to combat the offending gas that was weakening her. First off, how dare they. Vivi was prepared to bitch fit her way to the other side of hell and back when she was more awake.

Regardless though, there was nothing but silence. It seemed like there was something about the room doing this, or at least whatever was in it.

Near falling asleep, Vivi scanned the room for an exit.

There was one at the other end of the room, but the scent seemed even stronger that way.

Groaning, she pushed herself to do what she dreaded. Going back. Kicking the firefox into full gear, they whirled a full 180 and fled the room and away from the gas,back at the last crossroads. They were exactly as she left them, with a path forward and back, doors lining both corridors.

The Nekomata opted to go forward, telling to whatever god in charge of this was an ultimate shit eater for making it a puzzle.

The halls this way were lined with doors too, with a staircase upwards ahead. That said, there seemed to be a rather unpleasant presence this way.

Uncaring and grouchy, Vivi had made the firefox continue forward up the stairs and towards whatever fucker wanted to brawl.

At the top of the steps, there was another statue at the far end of a fairly long room, with a golden line drawn on the ground at the top of the stairs.

The Cat Demon looked at it skeptically before moving forward anyway, putting herself on high alert with her Halberd still in hand.

The moment Vivi crossed the line, the statue's eyes opened, spilling gold light, and its urn began to overflow with a deep purple mist that rolled toward Vivi, a powerful fruity scent just like the one in the room before, but much stronger, engulfing her.

She groaned loudly and summoned a windplate around her as a way to fan out her area of the scent.

The mist kept coming, with clearing it out getting harder and harder every moment as it got denser by the second.

The Nekomata took down her windplate before throwing her halberd towards the vase source like a spear.

She hit her mark expertly, a loud crack echoing through the chamber as a reddish liquid spilled out onto the floor, more fumes floating off it in huge volumes. ...Wine?

Vivi gave a small smirk as she traced her way out of the room and down the hall once again until she saw the crook again, where she sorta ducked for some sort of cover in between the 2 doors before using her hand to direct a small fireblast in the direction of the wine liquid.


A loud kaboom shook the walls and ground alike, flames belching from the archway in front of her for just a moment before vanishing completely.

Vivi grinned and sighed happily. The explosions were music to her ears.

Jumping back on to her firefox, she continued her journey farther into the room she had combusted.

Further into the room, she found another golden line, this time with four statues on the other side. This wasn't going to be easy....

Not even taking the chance, Vivi through 4 fireballs in the vases directions, jumping back to hide in the other room as she had done previously.

An earth-shaking blast of flame, even more violent than the one before, burst through the air as a roaring boom.

Vivi's heart skipped a beat, a warm sensation running through her core that made her close her eyes and sighed in pleasure.

There didn't seem to be any more movement in the room, revealing one last staircase up to what looked suspiciously like sunlight.

Getting the gist of this, she twirled her halberd, ready for action. Bright mysterious lights in a dark tunnel either meant death was back for his femur or some monster was up there ready to turn the cat demon on. The twist was, Vivi had the bigger dick here. She always did. The Nekomata would top this bitch.

Going up the stairs casually as if nothing would be able to phase her, she kept herself at full power for either defense or offense.

At the very top of the steps was a cave, a large crack in the ceiling giving a gap for both sunlight and plant life alike to spill in. The single ray of sunshine fell upon a pedestal, upon which was enshrined the unmistakable form of a golden wand.

Oh ya. Oh ya that was WAY more better than death or some bottom bitch. Chuckling like a madman, Vivi ran forward and jumped to the wand's location, pulling on it, but she didn't even manage to dislodge it before a loud clank interrupted her.

From behind it, in the shadows, something moved.

The thudding of footsteps gave way to the form of an enormous, six-armed brass machine-man of some kind, a demon's face carved onto its… heads? Each arm drew a huge, curved sword of bronze, each sword with a hole in the blade from which that deep purple mist spilled out, and all six weapons were poised directly at her.

"Oh of course you're the bottom fucking bitch. I can't have this just given to me of course, gotta fuck my way through it." The Nekomata groaned on, disappointed by this demon machine man coming in to give her shit. Getting right to it, she summoned 5 fire blasts at full power towards the boss.

All five struck it, with the machine guarding itself with its swords.

It was, of course, at that point that the gas burst into flames.

And that, of course, left the giant with six flaming swords.

It swung at Vivi, not giving her a moment to spare.

The Cat Demon jumped off to the side, her dark magic to use the shadows as a weapon, collecting it into a huge ball before slashing at it's side.

She only got through the first stage of the plan before the extra speed from the combusting gas forced a sword right into her gut, swatting her away and into the wall with a crash.

She hissed in pain and irritation, her eyes turning into slits before deciding to continue on with her original plan.

The orb of darkness crashed squarely into it, causing the automaton to stumble a little, but was otherwise unharmed.

It swung its swords once again, closing in on Vivi like a net. Despite her best attempts to deflect it, it threw her across the room once again. The flames were beginning to die down, however, robbing the blades of their propulsion.

Vivi connected two together, realizing the dying of flames on the many swords. His attacks were weakening. Going in for a more long ranged attack, Vivi threw six sticky bombs that would stick to its targets, each containing a very large blast that one could single handedly take down. Six were aimed at each arm.

Throwing all six at once proved to be a tricky endeavour, however, and they all flew wide. Not wide enough, however, for the automaton to be out of the blast radius. Black markings scratched themselves onto its surface as it took damage from blow after blow, but it did not even knock the machine over as it glared towards Vivi, emanating the mist from its swords again.

Vivi had took to slinking back into the shadows for cover, covering her nose and mouth with her tank top to at least filter some air.

The automaton took more swings at her, though at least this time the swords were less on fire.

Vivi dodged from each swing, blending her presence in the shadows to make herself invisible and unseen from the beast.

The machine seemed to look around, shifting its arms and swords to guard from all directions as the mist began to fill the room even more.

The Nekomata switched her position of the beast to be behind him, propelling herself off the wall as she let the feeling of bloodlust take over her. A white cloak surrounded her, a black tunic underneath with tight black leggings. The Rogue pointed out her halberd, holding it as a spear as she went at the speed faster than a bullet towards the center of the Boss' back.

The attack flew forward, striking the automaton hard from behind, forcing it to take a step forward as it recoiled, swinging swords towards her while she was exposed.

The Cat Demon jumped back and away from the blades, running off back to the shadows and becoming invisible to the beast once again.

The mist was blown in her direction, more and more spilling out, but she managed to escape it this time.

Propelling herself off the wall once again, Vivi pushed with all her might as she slashed into the side of the beast.

She struck again, and so it slashed at her again.

Vivi growled and moved to behind the beast, jabbing at the back of the monsters neck like a spear once again.

It swung its swords back, managing to block now that it could see her movements. Slamming her halberd into the ground with its blade, it sprayed Vivi directly in the face with the sweet-smelling smoke.

Amazingly, Vivi had managed to avoid it out of luck, her deciding to move back into the shadows once again as the last hit had been to close of a call.

Her foe responded by standing its ground, emitting yet more of the smoke. It seemed to finally be enough to affect the nekomata, who was beginning to feel woozy.

The now drunk Nekomata held back a hiccup, her eyes becoming a bit too heavy for her liking. But nevertheless, she managed to shake her head and glared at the beast. She pushed herself off the wall once again, aiming at its knees, kicking at the cogs and wires to disable his left leg.

With a bang, the machine dropped to one knee, violently slashing at Vivi again.

Vivi jumped back with a cackle to avoid the offending swords, blending in once again to her element. .

A small hiss came from the machine, its swords all suddenly pointing to the ground.

With a clank and a clang, the torso detached itself from the legs, leaving one half spewing clouds of alcoholic smoke and the other scuttling around like a bug, scanning the room for its hiding prey.

The Drunk Kitten growls in her head, jumping up high and slamming a kick down at its back to pin it to the ground.

She struck home, knocking it down with a crash, pressing it against the ground.

Taking the chance, she punched down at its head as hard as she could, hoping to pierce the metal.

The head did indeed crack, spraying gas directly into Vivi's face again from the hole she had created.

The Nekomata passed out from the fumes that had sprayed her enough to put her in a drunken slumber. Now asleep, Vivi curled up like a kitten on top of it, snoozing surprisingly peacefully on top of the boss she was just attempting to murder.


Squirming underneath Vivi, it took a few seconds for the machine to actually throw her limp body off, getting to its feet and scuttling over to the legs it had left behind. With one blow, it knocked them over, spilling alcohol everywhere, the stream dribbling towards Vivi's waking form.

With her eyes fluttering open finally she jumped up, quickly scanning the area as she was in the air before the drunkening affect made her pass out again. To her luck there were a couple ledges, to which the Rogue went towards it and turned into a black kitten again to wedge herself between the ledge a rock, a smaller version of her cape remaining with her. And with that she gave into the aroma and its effects once again.

During her slumber she would occasionally twitch a paw and shift to move positions, one particular position was her laying on her back and pawing at the air. Her nose would twitch and she would occasionally poke out her tongue. In her dreams, the Nekomata was hunting very huge flying squirrels that were amongst the white fluffy clouds, Vivi a huge cat with 2 tails, the full potential of a true Nekomata.

Right when her dream had shifted to an image of Kheire hugging her, Vivi dreamed with an extreme blush. Such lewdness to wake up to. Unacceptable. The Kitten yawned and stretched, looking over the edge to spot the boss where she had left it. Well, might as well finish it quickly, Vivi wanted to continue her dream as soon as possible. And probably make it reality. The rogue sprung from the ledge and turned back into her human form, drop kicking the bastard once again at its neck.

It stumbled from the blow, waving its sword-legs wildly at her in an attempt at a counterattack. It was obvious from its movements that it was nearly done for.

She looked for her halberd and ran over to get it by the cavern wall, jumping off of it to launch herself towards it, attempting to pierce it so she could jump over it and flip it over her head towards the other wall.

Both attacks landed with ease, slashing gaping wounds in the metal covering the machine, each spewing gas that was too slow to hit her.

With a smirk, Vivi sped forward and slashed its head in half with the blade of her halberd.

It collapsed to the ground, motionless, finally damaged beyond operation. That said, it was still spewing gas, and it was still making Vivi sleepy, so it was probably a good idea to get out of here ASAP.

The Nekomata receded from her bloodlust form and grabbed the wand, summoning a big bouncy fox fire to jump on and ride out the way she came from. With a victorious grin plastered on her face, Vivi scanned through her previous rooms for more surprises, although the wand is just great enough, she wouldn't mind a few more cool supplies. Having enough spare time, she even went through rooms she hadn't went down before. In each room she came across, she had gotten "Trystite armor." In reality it was all pretty skimpy clothing, especially a pair of bra and panties that was...actually pretty cute. Along was a pair of gloves, a short skirt, thigh highs, and a sleeveless shirt. The panties were some sort of...seductive luring, the bra was so soft anyone who rested their head on it could fall asleep, the shirt halved light attacks surprisingly, the skirt caused more added charismatic charms, the thigh highs enhanced her powers in the terms of her faith to her god, and gloves that could make anyone drunk from touch alone.

'Well…' the Nekomata thought to herself, 'These are innocent objects I can later abuse for my own affectionate needs. 'Bout time I get some loving…' Vivi thought with a small humph. Flying off with her firefox, she exited the dungeon.

Midway getting back on the dirt trail, she decided to quicken up the pace of her firefox, going decently as fast as the average 5 minute mile runner. Although this did not last very long as Vivi ran right into a dark hooded teen with a mop of messy black hair. The crash had left the firefox bouncing a bit back and left the teen crashing to the floor.

"Who the hell…?" Vivi questioned tiredly, still drowsy from all the alcohol fumes from the dungeon. And so became her meeting with this new teen boy.