Final Five

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Tian-Gui flashed a toothy grin at Iphie's reaction, catching the hard drive that was thrown at him and placing it into a compartment in his armor, the same one that held the Abyssal ball. Iphie reminded him of a cat, really. Intelligent and cute, but prideful and self-centered. Well, that probably came out of being the owner of a big company. Waving at the others as they arrived, the armored hero scratched his chin at Runa's question, before ultimately shrugging. "We have Iphie with us, don't we?" he stated, an uncharacteristicly impish glint in his eyes, "I'm sure there's no AYCE that would flat out refuse such a famous person from dining with her friends there, eh?"

Before any further conversation could be had, however, it appeared that the self-destruct sequence that TIan-Gui had worried about earlier was making itself known. The laboratory was sinking, and with it, a wealth of information that the computers held. He hoped that Iphie's hard drive had that type of data as well, before a golden wall sprouted underneath him, sending the juggernaut to the ascending elevator. The journey back was, ultimately, lackluster. He considered carrying Kyouko and Iphie through the partially flooded sewers, but eventually decided that he was probably too tall for them to sit on his shoulders. After all, at such a height, their heads would just bump into the ceiling and the snaking pipes above.

Iphie was the one that got the carry treatment in the end, the golden hero holding the purple-haired electrokinetic in his arms as they got back to the surface.

His arms were rather sore when they finally came back to the light, and Tian-Gui decided that he needed some strength-training as well. Gently placing the younger girl back down to solid, drive ground, the man stretched out with a yawn, glad for momentary respite. The sun was setting now, and, on whim, he decided that the all-you-can-eat place they're going to should have an open-hair patio. The Chinese man gave a double high-five to Runa, before saying, "We can leave all that to the support organization…but yeah, let's head back. Need to get a change of clothes and drop off the stuff to our science kiddos, after all."

"AYCE in an hour, everyone?"
 
Despite the heavy flooding in the tunnels, with a bit of rearranging the Coffin's pieces, Ling managed to reach the surface almost completely dry. The service elevator doors slid open with a ding and he drifted out with a tired sigh. Though he did look towards her, he didn't bother with the high five with Runa given his ability to actually perform the gesture was non-existent.

"The base is a good idea," he contributed quietly, as the Coffin's pieces shuddered momentarily. He was far too There was the decontamination shower to hit up before Ling could finally rest, but as it seemed like the others had dinner in mind the rest of his evening would be free. Hopefully along with the entirety of tomorrow and the day after that… Yeah, a nice three day sleep sounded rather appealing at the moment to him. Ling's entire frame froze as he bumped quietly into a building's wall though. "Livmov's coming?" he asked Tian as he floated away from the wall after a moment.
 
Iphie had just about finished pouting when everybody finally assembled and had their fill of watching the shadow scientist snuff videos. Wheeling her chair back around as Tian and Runa bounced back dining ideas, she decided to put her own say in the conversation. "I'm no Bill Gates or Steve Jobs," she pointed out. "They're not going to bow down on seeing my face and say 'Yes Iphie.'" Although, that would certainly be nice. "I'm sure they'll respond positively to a black card and a nice signature though, and I can't say no to a nice buffet."

The topic of buffets was not long, though, as more pressing matters developed. Either through an oversight on her part or a well-hidden mechanism, the entire facility began to self-destruct. Iphigenia was aghast; the newly found facility, shining and full of opportunity, was slipping into the ocean and away from her grasp. In the rush to escape, she found herself bitterly cursing whoever designed such a destructive failsafe system.

The five made their leave in an expedient manner, with Iphie finding herself being carried princess style for the last leg of the journey. She wasn't sure if she should be embarrassed and annoyed or smug about it, but she rolled with the whole thing. The black-haired girl had to rationalize it a bit; either way, being drenched with sewer water or being carried would take a hit to her pride, so she might as well take the more graceful option.
Fair enough, she reached the surface generally un-soaked, but she was still feeling miserable about the whole underwater lab affair.

"Sure, I'm fine with that and then some food after. I don't think I've seen the place yet," she agreed, nodding at Ling's input. Freshening up after all that time underground would be nice. "I've got all the data there was onto two sources, so hopefully we can find a tad bit more on that place," she added.
 
And just like that...everything was gone? Despite their victory it kinda felt like they lost in the end, though the prospect of Iphie having scavenged some data and Runa's high-five lightened her mood yet again. And when she was thinking about the possibility of going back to their own super secret high-tech monkey lair her eyes were sparkling. "Hopefully the identities of the researchers are on those pieces of junk so they can receive a proper burial!" Finishing that chapter with those words she poked Tian into the sides. "Hey hey, how super awesome is that base of yours?!" She couldn't wait to see it. Though wasn't so sure about joining them for later activities yet.
 
Tian-Gui didn't even notice Kyouko poking his side until he turned to the direction of her voice. Looking down at the strawberry blonde girl, he scratched his chin for a moment, before saying, "Well, not to burst your bubble or anything, but it's not anything that's REALLY impressive. It's a penthouse in one of the quieter parts of Shanhu, I guess? Basically, if it exploded, we won't really lose anything, so just think of it as a place to chill out. Outside of the helicopter, there isn't anything unique to see."

"Oh, but if you open a room and find eldritch monstrosities crawling in it, don't worry. Limov's ability to clean up his own stuff is rather lacking."

With those words, Tian-Gui discarded most of his golden armor once more, before sliding into the passenger's seat of their chaffeur's ride. Flicking out his smartphone once more, he began to sift through news headlines, in hopes of finding another big thing to do after dinner. Gotta burn calories, after all.

Reminds me…we should probably do some team-building exercises, huh?
~
After going back to the penthouse and getting that nanogel salve to repair his fractured ribs, Tian-Gui was finally able to take a hot shower and wash off all the sweat and blood from the day's afternoon excursion. A bottle of cold milk was chugged down as well, which felt absolutely divine after a shower. He changed into dark trousers and a denim shirt, before meeting up with Anfisa and giving a brief report, offering her the remains of the Abyssal during that exchange. The White Coat didn't appear to know anything about it, sadly, and Tian-Gui resigned himself to the fact that it'd be some time before information poured in.

Would be great though, if the R&D Department could come up with a weaponized version of whatever had restrained the Abyssal they fought. It was a fun challenge to go up against the beast, but at the same time…

Next on his list of detours was the NEET room of the Sakato siblings, the blast of cold air and the bagged eyes of the younger sister doing little to dissuade him from trying to get the both of them some sunlight. In the end, though, their hikkikomori nature ended up with him giving up and introducing Iphie to the one of them in an improper setting. The three of them were all tech-savvy kiddos, after all, and hopefully, if they hit it off, Yigga would get their first RL friend!

And after that, all that remained for the siblings would be to slowly step out into the real world, and do real things like clothes-shopping in a physical mall or jogging along the sea wall during the morning!

Once the rest of the Final Five, barring the non-eating Ling, was ready to go, they headed off, taking the private helicopter this time. Sailing through the air for roughly thirty minutes, Tian-Gui directed Limov to Shanhu's one and only Hindenburg Buffet, the five-star flying restaurant that people from all over the world came to try out. It specialized in spicy foods as well, which was perfect for seeing how manly Kyouko and Iphie were!

As the helicopter landed on platform, Tian-Gui took a look at the city from high above the clouds, before wondering, rather morbidly, if he would survive if he donned his armor and jumped off, right then and there.

Probably not though.

"Welp, here we are, ladies and…"

Suddenly, Tian-Gui realized that he was pretty much the only dude there, and his sentence petered out, before he managed to pick it back up.

"Hindenburg Buffet! It's not something that you want to eat every day, but I heard that their wings were to spontaneously combust for!"
 
His question was answered by the furious screech of burnt rubber as Livmov spun the vehicle to a halt just shy of the five. He could hear the driver chatter on in his, slightly odd, manner of speech as Tian climbed into the vehicle. The backdoors swung open as he drifted forward and ducked his headpiece to fit inside. "Thank you," he muttered to Livmov, as usual, before the Coffin pieces fell lifelessly onto his seat as Ling focused and pulled his form in on itself so it shrank.

He spent the car ride in silence, departed the garage through the secret lift that went straight to the F5 penthouse, and departed from the others there. A few minutes were spent in the decontamination shower as a series of lasers eradicated every nook and cranny of the Coffin before being pressure washed down by a series of powerful water jets. Only half awake by that point, Ling was able to make his way back to his room albeit he bobbed up, down, and side to side as he drifted slowly through the hallways. A bit more ominous than usual given the dark trails were a bit longer due to his lack of focus.

The Coffin pieces fell lifelessly into a pile as the door hissed shut behind Ling and plunged the room into complete darkness again. He dispersed almost immediately to fill the space and felt his mind fray at the edges as his thoughts jumbled and his focus fragmented. It took considerable strength of will to focus on any one thing in this state which was great because he didn't want to think. Simply relaxing was enough to sink into a sleepy state. A few moments later and Ling was completely fast asleep.
 
Seeing light again was welcome sight for Iphie, having concluded that subterranean adventures were not a very fun pastime for her. But before she could forget, she pulled out her phone once again, this time sending off a quick text before getting in the waiting car after Tian. After all, she was not heartless enough to demand dozens of people to fly to the city and then sit there twiddling their thumbs over a sunken lab. Well actually, it would probably be a vacation of sorts for them, but hell if she was going to waste money on flying them over for nothing.

But if course, they were already on the plane and halfway there, so she spent a quarter of the time in the car with her face in her palms and sorting out her own mess. Iphigenia wasn't really injured though, so she had that going for her, which was nice. When they got to the penthouse hangout, a warm shower did much to relieve her stress, and she was delighted to find her sullied clothes had been dry-cleaned and crisply folded by Mason and Amoix while she was in the bathroom.

After having a moment of looking around the upper-class apartment, she followed the freshened-up Tian to Yigga's hikkomori cave, where the two were introduced to each other. While she was skeptical of the siblings' seriously reclusive lifestyle, it seemed they had quite a bit in common. She found their manner of speaking deathly familiar though, which made her wonder if she hadn't known them already through an online persona. In any case, she cautioned them to inspect the hard drive in an isolated environment, in case it had any rogue code that could be executed on their systems. They probably knew better, but it was better to be safe than sorry, especially when some likely well obfuscated code obliterated an entire facility.

With that done, after the others were ready, they headed off for food. Naturally, it was the tackiest, most distasteful-looking five-star restaurant in the entire city, requiring an aircraft to reach it. Filled with horridly fiery puns, it was clear the cuisine was more on the spicy and explosive side. Whoever themed the place was truly disgusting. She liked it.

"I'm going to riot if they don't have a drink named the Hydrogen Bomb."
 
If they didn't have any downtime, Runa would happily just go right to the store despite and damaged, bloody clothes, unusual smells, and other such imperfections that might be marring her appearance. Fortunately, there was enough time for her to take her own bath and get a change of clothes. Her hair did its best to shake itself dry as she wandered around, meaning she was a danger to pretty much anyone nearby for a while after the shower, should they want to stay dry.

She didn't bother with the support staff much, that was a job for the adults. Instead, she took it upon herself to show the new members around. They'd have more time to get to know each other later, but a quick tour was a good way to be helpful, wasn't it? Never mind that both Kyouko and Iphigenia probably already got much of the same treatment while she was busy in the shower and getting dressed.

Once the actual flight to the restaurant was underway, Runa had to wonder out loud, "Couldn't I just fly there instead of take the helicopter with everyone else?" She had to shout to be heard. Still had trouble with the whole keeping things a secret aspect of the whole gig. "Most of the food's a little spicier than I like," Runa commented on the choice of venue. "Some of it's downright dangerous to normal people." She didn't know a thing about drinks though. Too young to order any.
 
The Hindenburg Buffet was, despite its aerial nature, implausibly huge. Looking more like a high-end casino floor than a floating, quaint, and cramped cafe aboard a blimp, the Final Four had some difficulty even fitting into the waiting area. All the benches were taken, and without a reservation, it seemed they were resigned to wait for 45 minutes before table could be 'possibly' open to them. A bar to the side, however, was far more open... though in a different sense.

A large space was made around a set of tables with some banners hanging from them. A large crowd of individuals gathered around it nevertheless, eyes wide at the spectacle before them.

'Hells Cutes Spice-Eating Contest! Is the Hindenburg the spiciest out there?' the banner read, of course not without a wealth of English, Chinese, and Japanese words and characters printed around it in overly-feminine designs. The Hells Cutes was an Eastern-end theme-cafe, modeled after the increasingly common Japanese maid cafes permeating Shanhu. It's employees were made up of cute girls who could "care for" their patrons when the food ended up being too hot for them. Legend had it that their cuisine was the hottest in the world, to ensure that patrons, "Definitely got the Hells Cutes experience, every time."

Sitting at the table in the Hindenburg Buffet barzone were a few such girls, dressed in demon-girl and dragon-girl cosplay. It seemed as though the buffet had collaborated with the cafe to put on a contest of sorts.

'Winners get a free Hindenburg meal!' As the crowd erupted into cheers and laughter, it became clear what the contest was; eat a plate of unknown food -undoubtedly spicy given the most recent contestant's cries of pain- and maintain your sanity.

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Meanwhile, back at the Penthouse, Amoix was busy preparing to tackle Limov's room. The stunt-driver was, of course, still absent. He didn't come back to the Penthouse after dropping the Final Five off earlier, unwilling to face the maid's wrath. Amoix herself was more unwilling, however, to continue to let the driver's room remain in its current state.

Slipping on rubber gloves and sporting a mask, she seemed determined to annihilate the filth in his room. With a quick push, she opened the door, duster at the ready as if awaiting a dust-beast to come charging ou-

"Uwaaaaaah!" The cry was loud enough for even Ling, in his hibernating state, to hear down the hall. The cry was far from playful or insincere; Amoix was in definite fear, whatever it was. Should he have responded and rushed to her aid, Ling would find himself faced with pure irony.

Amoix was being held by her leg, hanging in the air, by an eldricht beast. She protested loudly, beating at the tentacled arm that grasped her. The rest of the creature was hidden inside Limov's room, but Ling could guess it was at least the size of a six-person couch.
 
Well, all in all, the penthouse was a pure disappointment, at least compared to what she actually expected. In the end this was probably worse than her own home, at least it wasn't as lonely, and while Kyouko was still intent on keeping a certain distance, no one seemed too stuck about about their position or duty. After taking good care of her body, without the need for medical treatment, Kyouko made sure to really convince herself that this place was lame through getting shown around by Runa.

After that was all over, and Kyouko probably sick of feeding herself just from Snickers, they were finally about to get more food! Now that was something the brunette liked to hear. "Why should they have a drink named Hydrogen Bomb?" Looking a bit confused at Iphie, she ultimately shook her head before getting an answer. "Whatever, it sounds kinda awesome! So hopefully they'll have it." Now that she thought about it, Kyouko was probably never here before, and as someone who was kind of priding herself to have tried out most places where food was served, this was disastrous, luckily however that was about to change in just a few moments!

Or so she wished, as it turned out, there was apparently a way-too-long waiting time that the soon-to-be heroine couldn't take at all. In fact, she would have probably been about to make a scene if not for something called 'Hells Cutes Spice-Eating Contest' demanding most of her attention. "Kyouko Hiruma does not back down from any challenge!" Announcing her 'entry' in a loud voice, the girl made sure to push herself towards contest area before settling down on a free place. Victory was already certain!
 
A sharp cry managed to jolt Ling from his deep sleep to his immediate irritation. The thin dark mist swirled violently and coalesced into a humanoid form. Coffin pieces flew from the pile into place around him as the door to his room hissed open and he emerged ready to deal with whatever had caused Amoix to scream in genuine terror.

He drifted down the hall at full speed, more than slightly concerned for the dependable caretaker. Rounding the corner, he felt that a face fault would have been appropriate had the situation not involved her being in danger. It seemed that Livmov had in fact somehow incubated an eldritch beast within his room that just so happened to have tentacles for limbs. Molestation also seemed to be within its nature as the tendril slithered up the leg it dangled Amoix by. 'Geez… what the hell?' With that thought he raised his hand and gestured casually as a low-power projectile fired forward. The sphere curved around its captive and severed the tendril that held her mid-air. To his dismay it continued on and burst against the wall down the hall, burning it black instantly.

While he wanted to simply bemoan the property damage despite having restrained himself, it was preferable over Amoix's continued restraint. "Sorry about that," he murmured as he drifted towards the fallen caretaker as the creature withdrew into the darkness of Livmov's room. He considered simply razing the damn space; creature, mess, and all, but figured the action would probably be frowned upon. Depending on the creature's reaction he might actually need to enter the space and try to subdue the beast; a rather unpleasant prospect if he was to be honest.
 
By necessity, Iphigenia was a bit of a logistics person, and she had to blow a low whistle as she observed the waiting area. They'd been told it was a 45 minute wait for a table, which was reasonable for a popular restaurant, but she was surprised the actual waiting area was on the blimp, and not on the ground. Considering that it took an actual helicopter, shuttle or not, or a VTOL if you were wealthy and particularly inclined, it seemed like an expensive and complicated dining venture for customer and proprietor alike.

Well, that was nothing that Iphie was particularly concerned about; as long as the buffet didn't actually catch fire and spiral to the ground like the real Hindenburg, she was quite alright with the whole arrangement although she remained skeptical about the quality of the food in such a touristy place.

Despite the throwback turn of the 20th century theming, it seemed that the venue was not lacking in Japanese meido culture. Iphigenia was fortunate enough to be able to read all three languages on the cutesy banner. She had to break out a slight smile; the little café off to the side was basically maid-styled bona-fide burn ward. Looking inside, the place even had fiery-themed cosplayers. It seemed like they valued the atmosphere here as much as Disney did for their theme parks.

The noise of the crowd began to intensify as a host spoke over a microphone, announcing a contest for eating the restaurant's spicy food. Making a wry smile, she made no attempt for the contest nor its prize, instead letting Kyouko rush forward in her entry. Iphie could wait; it would be nice to have an intact stomach for when they could order the real food. Instead, she cheered Kyouko on, ready to enjoy the shadenfreude from the girl's potential fury end at the hand of well-peppered food products.

"Good luck, Kyouko!"
 
A forty-five minute wait? Seeing how packed the popular buffet was, as well as all the distractions around them, Tian-Gui was surprisingly fine with all this. It would be a good opportunity to chat with his juniors now, after all. The food wasn't a thing yet, so they wouldn't be distracted by impromptu food-gasms. In that moment, however, the young man's heroic senses suddenly tingled, his head snapping towards the direction of the penthouse. Was that a scream? He narrowed his eyes further, as if trying to activate an x-ray vision that he did not possess, before deciding that it should be fine. The Final Five's strongest member was there, after all. If there really was a problem, they'd probably get a phone call.

Relaxing once more, his eyes were naturally drawn to the colorful banner and the crowds, an event that openly challenged Hindenburg Buffet's own name. 'Hell's Cutes', was it? He HAD always wanted to try their food in the past, but at the same time, there was a certain social stigma attached to those maid cafes, wasn't there? If he went alone, he'd literally just be a creeper. If he went with Runa, it'd just be damn awkward. And if he went with his non-Final Five friends…huh.

Did he even have any?

Before he could delve too far into that admittedly depressing question, however, the promise of a free meal instantly snapped him back into reality. Kyouko had already marched off to challenge the hellfire meal, while Iphie stayed in the backlines, more interested in watching. Well, she WAS rich, so it's not like a price of a single meal was much to think about.

"Well then," Tian-Gui said to Runa, "If Kyouko's going up, then, as her seniors, we can't just let ourselves get shown up, eh?"

With that, he motioned for the eldritch girl to follow him as he pushed his large frame through the crowds, his blue eyes glittering with anticipation. The man was good with spicy foods, after all, and, in the spirit of competition, he said, turning to the upbeat hero-girl, "Hey, wanna have a little competition?"

Sweeping out his hands and gesturing dramatically, he roared out over the din of the crowd, "I am Tian-Gui Jian, Destroyer of Buffets and Devourer of Spices, and I throw down the gauntlet. Kyouko Hiruma, Hero of the Chaos Witch incident, I hereby challenge you, and anyone else, to a food fight!"

He allowed for a dramatic pause, just in case anyone actually wanted to stop him, before continuing on with his grand, ham-fisted challenge.

"We shall compete to see who eats the most of the Hellspice Enigma! For glory and prestige!"

"Well then, Queen of Heroes," he smiled, wondering whether or not those Hell's Cutes people would even actually allow that, for safety reasons, "Do you have enough lives in stock?"
 
The long wait was disappointing, but not unexpected. Popular places tend to require reservations if one doesn't want to wait. That a place primarily accessible by air would have enough patrons at any one time to require one spoke either to their logistics in terms of getting those without private aircraft aboard, or the sheer number of rich curiosity-seekers within Shanhu. Either way, the dirigible diner managed to stay in easy business, which is surprising enough in and of itself.

Like the others, Runa's attention was drawn to the contest going on at the bar. It wasn't like they had anything else to do to pass the time, so a diversion was quite welcome to her short attention span. She pouted when Tian suggested they join Kyouko in the contest. "Just because I can eat just about anything doesn't mean it'll taste good," she protested. She probably could figure out a way to cheat the entire thing, but that wouldn't be fair. Particularly just for a free meal. "I'd rather just cheer you two on. I can do the cute monster girl act, too." Her protests were easily drowned out by Tian's bombastic challenge.

She took a seat next to the other two heroes, and spoke, caught up in Tian's showboating. "I may have only one life, but it can stretch far further than you'd think. The roots of the World Tree run deep, and it won't be toppled by the likes of mere food." Famous last words, most likely.
 
The crowd cheered as Kyouko approached, rose into an uproar as Tian-Gui stepped forward, and lost their minds as Runa made an appearance. It seemed as though there weren't very many that day that were brave enough to take the challenge, and as three of them gathered to issue a challenge to one another, the stakes grew higher. Given their confidence, it seemed as though it were no longer a test of eating just one round, but who could eat the most.

The crowd's cheers and claps died down as one of the dragon-girls spoke up using a mic, voice joyful and overly-feminine. "Looks like we have a challenge of the ages folks! These participants seem to be willing to try more than one round! Ooo! Brave indeed!" she said, waving her hands flamboyantly. "Then let's get right down to it!" One of the other cafe girls stood up and handed out a series of stapled pages to the three heroes.

"Before we can give you the food you must agree to the terms of service! By accepting these rules you understand that any and all bodily harm linked to the consumption of these meals will not find us or any establishments responsible..." she continued on, surprisingly well-versed with the nitty-gritty laws behind the event. After all was signed, the crowd clapped again, and the girl on the mic gestured behind the table to yet more cafe girls. Each brought a plate of food before Tian-Gui, Kyouko, and Runa. It was a simple rice curry but the looks of things, covered heavily in an orange sauce.

"What you have before you is the aptly named Curry Nova, our hottest dish available at the Hells Cutes! The spices used in it are made up of a number of potent peppers including but not limited to the infamous Dante's Murder. Currently the world-record holder for spiciest pepper, it has been selectively bred and engineered to hold an average Scoville heat rating of 3 billion! Just short of Tinyatoxin! Oh my! Let;s see if our contestant's confidence can carry them beyond even a single bite! Whenever you're ready, friends," she said with a nod to the Final Five contestants.

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Amoix seemed relatively fine, if not a bit shaken up. She didn't actually believe a tentacled creature had begun to claim residence in Limov's room. Either it really was disgusting enough, or something far stranger was afoot. The interior was, ultimately, not actually particularly unclean. Ling took note of the profound number of vodka bottles strewn about the room and an accompanying, pungent smell, but beyond that, it was simply messy with clothes lying in heaps and various food packaging failing to reach the garbage can that was... missing.

Far more pressing, of course, was the eldricht abomination undulating in the middle of the space. It hissed and screeched at Ling as he stood in the doorway, seemingly uninclined to continue fighting after having one of its limbs shot clean off. Still, it wasn't pretty or friendly, and definitely needed exterminating. Stranger still was the fact that the creature seemed to be growing around a Japanese motorbike with unintelligible runes carved into it.

Whatever it was that Limov had bought on a whim, it definitely wasn't meant to be driven.
 
Christ, Livmov really did live up to Russian stereotypes huh? To be honest the room, while messy, was hardly a pigsty. At least the source of the eldritch beast was fairly easy to notice given the creature had retreated to cling to it. It was hard to tell with the creature in the way, but there were definitely some runes or etchings carved into the motorbike placed inside the room. "Amoix, can you get some pictures of the artifact and send it to the support unit? I'd rather not feed it by accident." While the caretaker ran off to do just that, Ling turned his attention back to the angry beast and simply cocked his headpiece at the display of hostility. "Quiet!" With a flare of mana, the roar seemed to cow the creature as he thrummed with energy.

Amoix managed to return and take several quick photographs of the runed motorbike and hurry away before the creature grew emboldened by Ling's lack of action. A tentacle lashed out rapidly and caught him by the shoulder. He drifted backwards from the blow; annoying, but not really dangerous. Still, he didn't want the eldritch beast getting any ideas and a number of weak spheres popped into existence around him. They shot out to intercept any tendrils the creature attempted to hit him with, knocking some aside or tearing through on other occasions when his control faltered.

"It'll take some time before they manage to get anything from the pictures," Amoix told him as she hurried back over. That was of course to be expected, but it seemed that until then Ling would have to "play" with the creature and keep an eye over it. It wasn't exactly harmless, but for the moment he didn't have any trouble with containing the eldritch beast. It would be a rather useful thing if he could take control over the creature, and was part of the reason why he simply hadn't blasted the creature to oblivion just yet.
 
Runa bravely faced down her plate of curry. The rice was white and fluffy, where it wasn't tinged with the blazing orange of chili oils, and the meat and vegetables looked delicious as they swam in an ominously-colored, oily roux. She tentatively took a bite, and was surprised by a good, if bold flavor. The intense burning wasn't far behind, but the brief moment before it began was rather pleasant. She wasted little time in savoring the rest of the dish, hurrying to down the whole plate before she couldn't stand the physical pain of eating it.

Covered in sweat, and holding back tears, she waited for a second serving to be plated up and put in front of her. She managed a decent start, but somewhere partway through this second circle of hell, Runa had to bow out. To her credit, she didn't scream, pass out, or run away to the restroom. She managed to at least maintain something of a stoic attitude in front of her friends and colleagues, only really cutting loose with any spouted obscenities or other complaints after she'd gotten her mouth to stop a mixed feeling of burning and numbness. At least whatever she did swallow would be staying down; she'd eaten far more questionable foods with little complaint.

As soon as she was able, Runa move in to cheer Tian on. She may have lost the competition, but she wasn't going to leave her mountain of a manly companion without moral support, even if he dragged her into it.
 
Well well, it looked like this content became more than just some simple test of courage. With Tian's, followed by Runa's, entrance this was apparently now an eating contest! This was a perfect opportunity to show her comrades the black hole that was residing in her stomach! "Well, well! Don't think I'll show you any mercy just because you are my superiors!" With a smug smile on her face, Kyouko only paid half-hearted attention to the monologue about laws, rules or whatever was important for them! After all, food was just food, and it couldn't be that bad, right?

After giving what felt like way too much time writing down her name here and there the food was finally brought before her! Curry Nova! If it was just curry then this was even easier than she initially thought. Full of confidence, the girl did not hesitate to take what seemed like the biggest pile that would ever fit on a spoon and eat it.

...
...
...

Was this the definition of spicy? Did Kyouko spend her entire life in a big, fat, lie? Was she dabbling, with the support of water wings, on the shores of the great spice oceans? Apparently so. And now she realized. But now it was too late. She was now in the middle of a spice storm. A spice storm that only came around once every millenia, a spice storm so powerful that the aftermath would end up in an inferno ready to burn the entire world to ashes. Regardless of fires and destruction though, Kyouko had no time to worry about later.

The pain was more intense than anything she had ever felt before. What might have been seconds felt like minutes. Regardless, she wasn't making any sound. Having already lost, the girl put in all her spirit to at least keep a shred of dignity. After having eaten the content of the spoon, Kyouko simply sat there, frozen in space, maybe even bleeding out of one opening or another, before passing out cold.
 
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Tian-Gui didn't even need to read the legally binding documents that one of the dark-skinned demon girls handed him. Not like he was going to have time to read it through anyways. Flipping to the last page and signing his name with a dramatic flourish, the young man had a confident grin in his face as he returned it to the Hell's Cutes workers. "Today," he said, voice brimming with manliness, "History shall be made!"

And with that declaration, he faced the Curry Nova, took a spoon, held it tight in his left hand, and shovelled it all in. It was gone before he knew it. A nice citrus-y taste, and it was definitely warm, but hm…it wasn't as insanely spicy as…

Suddenly, in the corner of his eye, Tian-Gui saw Kyouko's expression. She was frozen after a single bite, her face having turned a ghastly shade of deep purple, before the young girl's eyes rolled upwards. Knocked down in a single bite? Turning to Runa next, he watched her sweat and tears pour down her tanned face, an expression of pain present on the alien girl as the second dish was brought out, and Kyouko was carted away from the table.

The crowd too were silenced by this turn of events, the peppy dragon-girl announcer seemingly too shocked to even commentate. Yeah, it WAS a surprise, seeing Kyouko get destroyed in a single bite.

"Well then," he said, patting Runa on the back, "Let's do our best, eh?"

With that, he went on to the next dish, taking his time to enjoy the meal now. The burn was getting stronger on his tongue, the Dante's Inferno working its way through the powerful defenses of Tian-Gui's tongue. He wasn't sweating yet, but he was salivating rather heavily, and the sharp taste of the spices made for a rather enjoyable experience. Now this was a curry worth eating. If they could bring out such a nice taste during the first plate, he would have enjoyed it quite a bit. Partway through, however, Runa bowed out. She was still mentally intact, unlike the lightweight Kyouko, and Tian-Gui flashed a thumbs up in her direction. It was good of her not to abuse her accelerated evolution capabilities and simply erase her sense of taste or something. An honorable fight was always a good one.

He finished the last of his curry, brought his spoon up into the air, and roared out triumphantly, galvanizing the silent crowd.

They were cheering him on now, and with that, he faced the third Curry Nova. With gusto, he chunked the pile of curry-ladened rice. The flames were real now, spreading over every part of his body like a stockpile of Arcane power. Each subsequent bite brought him closer and close to the edge, but, despite the pain, he could finish his. His face was flush, his tongue dry, but he refused to be bowed. Through grit teeth, he stood up, turning to the Hell's Cutes with blue eyes bravely blazing.

"Round FOUR," he shouted, a vein popping on his forehead as he forced himself past his limit. He had already gotten this far. If he can finish this last dish, every one of the Final Four will be able to get a free meal. His sweat was evaporating now, his hair drenched from his body's internal fire. Accepted the final challenge from a demon girl that looked like she had just seen Satan, Tian-Gui closed his eyes and steeled himself.

He turned and faced the crowd, holding the fourth plate.

And then, he entered the final showdown. His body was wracked with pain, his eyes blind by the tears, his blood roaring through his veins as the crowd chanted his name. Each bite, each hard-fought victory elicited more cheers, before finally, the war was won. The plate was empty, and Tian-Gui stood there, his bangs covering up his eyes.

Darkness swirled in his vision, his throat tightening and loosening, but unable to breathe. He wanted to shout, but he lost control of his lungs. And then, through that abyss, an image appeared. That of a pale-skinned girl with twin-tails, her red eyes gleaming as she brandished an abomination of a meal, so bad that his mental imagery pixelated it.

Ah.

Thanks Lotte. Without your shitty cooking, I would have never made it.

Life returned to his eyes, and with that, Tian-Gui forced a final smile, his right hand flicking out a v for victory.

Then, he marched over to the announcer girl, and said, with an expression that spoke volumes of the pains that he withstood, "So, that's four free meals, right?"
 
Even as Kyouko had taken a bite down and ultimately fallen prey to the demon of chemoreception, the crowd cheered her on as if she had just solved a long-unsolved mathematical problem. Their cheers, however, went unheard as the girl's brain struggled to contemplate anything other than virtual submersion into Hell. A few of the waitresses hoisted Kyouko up, fanning with their hands though it did little to alleviate the chemical Armageddon taking place on her tongue.

Runa was in tears, but certainly not incapacitated, and through teary eyes and the lingering sensation of curried death on her tongue, she cheered Tian-Gui on through his four plates of madness. When the second plate left the table for Tian-Gui, the crowd slowly lost its fervor, seemingly switching to expressions of awe, terror, even disgust. Only the harsh yells of one overly-excited patron in particular were heard. The rest diminished into hushed whispers. Who was this guy?

The Hells Cutes, known for their own brand of spice-tolerance, were baffled by this man's very existence. Was he without pain? Was he oblivious? An android maybe? The girl with the mic began sweating, as if Tian-Gui's modem of tolerance were done by shunting the heat to others telekinetically. She seemed eager to get Tian-Gui to stop, fearful of his intestinal state after three... four?! plates of Curry Nova. One of the Hells Cutes fainted on the spot.

He finished four plates. Four plates, and seemed only normally affected by it all, as if a mundane human had merely taken a bite out of a Jalapeno pepper raw. As the girl with the mic was approached by the Vanquisher of Capsaicin, she choked up.

"Ah-ah-ah..." she struggled to enunciate. "Y-yes I guess you get four free meals. Are you s-sure you're okay? You don't need to go to the hospital, right now?" The crowd dispersed, seemingly terrified by Tian-Gui's achievement. One of the Hells Cutes, sitting at the booth, looked with pinpoint pupils at the ground. It was a thousand-yard stare. She saw some shit.

"Your friend to there," she gestured to Runa cautiously, "also gets a free meal. I don't suppose you'll be sharing with your friend? Surely you can't eat much more after that?!" Even Runa's consumption of a single plate while remaining conscious and able seemingly worried her. Just what kind of posse just walked into the Hindenburg? Should they be banned from the Hells Cutes cafe?

Save for the bar and the booth area the Final Five stood in, the rest of the restaurant seemed to erupt into a quiet, hurried chaos. Countless waiters and waitresses began rushing about, quickly sprinting around tables and booths towards the buffet entrance. They lined up neatly, forming a corridor from the front doors. Their heads were bowed just as a group of individuals entered. Each of the employees greeted the unseen individuals courteously, remaining in place until they were walked past.

Exiting from the human corridor were three young girls, each looking quite similar in their attire and mannerisms, at least in terms of a thematic sense. A cowish waiter brought them to their seats as the rest of the buffet's patrons looked on in mixes of familiar awe and confusion.

The group's attention was drawn back to the Hells Cute with the microphone, still timid, but speaking clearly. "Here's your meal ticket. Any single dinner item on the menu if free for each ticket." She handed four to Tian-Gui, one to Runa, and one to Kyouko, seemingly out of the kindness (or fear) in her heart.

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Eventually the eldricht creature gave up trying to toy with Ling, reducing itself to a amorphous mass of pink and black flesh that only occasionally made a growling noise. Otherwise it seemed uninclined to move anywhere else, or do anything. Still, Amoix appeared endlessly cautious of it, peeking out from around the door frame beside Ling. She occasionally threw a sponge at it, as if trying to check if it were even "awake". She stopped at three sponges.

"What do you think it is?" she asked Ling with an unnecessary whisper, "You don't think Limov's room really was so dirty it attracted the ire of an inter-dimensional being, do you?" She sounded quite serious with her question. "I'm not sure if I ever want to clean his room again." A response finally came after almost half an hour of waiting and staring. Amoix's phone rang, and from what Ling could surmise over the maid's expressions of disappointment, that the situation was even less grave than he possibly thought.

"Turn's out, whatever this thing is, it's not Limov's fault. He must have bought the bike from shady dealer, when in fact it was meant to summon this creature in someone's home for the sole sake of inciting chaos in some poor person's home. Asshole!" she cursed.

"Mosura says you should just blow up the bike and the creature... maybe outside though," she said with a cringe. "She'll look into finding whoever it was that made it."
 
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