Chapter 106

At a glance, the lady in red’s palatial residence would appear to be nothing less or more than a gothic monstrosity. The antithesis of modesty. A love letter to garishness.

Perched precariously atop a rocky promontory—the slap of waves against sheer rock-face like some far off round of applause—it was a thing of tall windows and even taller spires. It’s silhouette a collection of jagged points outlined against a roiling crimson sky. The perpetual night punctuated by a blood red moon.

Grown fat and round like a voracious maggot, it hung there, as ever, a swollen eye in the sky. It’s scarlet glow swaddling the grotesquely carved creatures—gargoyles, aberrations, and demons alike—which perched on ledges or clung to walls.

Stone faces leering at all those who would dare to approach.

Conversely, inside, the decor took a stark departure from the outward façade, though the feelings of foreboding remained the same. Muted tones and velvet seating. Ashen wood paneling with intricate crown molding—the exquisitely carved details glittering gold. 

Plush red carpets and enormous marble fireplaces a steady fixture all throughout the cathedral like manse. Massive chandeliers and runny candelabras bathing the myriad rooms and countless hallways in a warm, orange glow.

And yet, despite the endless hallways, high vaulted ceilings, and cavernous rooms, not a soul could actually be seen occupying the ginormous space. Layers of dust covered its opulent furnishings, while cobwebs clustered around corners, crevices, and chimneys. The presence of reflective surfaces, big or small, most notably, nowhere to be seen.

 There was a palpable air of abandonment about the place. Evoking feelings of isolation, as if you’d suddenly found yourself alone in the world. An incorrect assumption, which, once proven patently false, would inevitably leave an indelible mark on one’s soul. Jun should know. He’d been here once before.

He and Nialla appeared at the center of an enormous bedroom chamber with a displacement of air. Evidently lived in, with clothes and books strewn about haphazardly, it was also notably free of any dust and grime. 

The general décor did not stray too far from the rest of the manse, though that was only if you conveniently ignored the fact that everything here was dyed various shades of pink. From the bookshelves, to the wallpaper, to the four poster bed, which could have fit a dozen grown men comfortably—side by side.

The room itself wasn’t what immediately drew the eye, however.

Instead, it was the young looking girl in all red Victorian dress, sitting cross legged on the imposing fourposter, which immediately captured one’s attention. Short of stature, owning a cherubic face, with her stark-white hair plaited and coiled up at the back of her head, she didn’t appear dangerous at first glance. It was only when you looked into her large, doll-like eyes that you began to glimpse the monster which hid beneath.

Those hollow pits of slitted crimson, and the delicate fangs which poked out from beneath her upper lip.

At the sight of them, more specifically at the sight of him, she smiled. Doe eyes shrinking to little crescents as her apparent delight split her face from ear to ear—showing off those sharp canines for all the world to see. It gave her otherwise adorable face a decidedly demonic cast.

Jun shuddered.

Time remaining: 0 minutes 26 seconds.

“Funny man!!” the girl exclaimed, leaping to her feet. “You’re back!” she through her arms into the air, started spinning and did a little dance.

“He’s back! You’re back! He’s back!! You’re back! Just like you said!! Mina knew you would be! Mina just knew it! I-! Huh?” her head snapped sharply in Nialla’s direction, her expression having gone completely neutral.

“Huh?!!?” she did a double-take.

“L-let me explain!” Jun tried.

“Huuuuuh?!!” she brought her voice down to a low whisper, hiding her words behind a cupped hand. “Don’t tell Mina… Is- is SHE your new best friend now??? She IS isn’t she?!!”

Before he could even begin to respond, she continued.

  “MINA CANT BELIEVE IT!!! YOU’RE TRYING TO REPLACE MINA!!! WHY?! WHY REPLACE MINA???! WHY!!?! WHY?!? WHY?!!”

An invisible force slammed him face first into the ground, making the floorboards creak and groan in protest. He could taste the salty tang of blood on his lips—his nose having been flattened in the fall.

Just as soon as it had come, the pressure relented. The “little girl,” Mina, then began to sob.

“Waaaahh!!! You’re a meany!! Mean man is mean to Mina!! What did Mina do!?! Mina did nothing!!! Mean man is mean to Mina for nothing!!!”

“N-no-!” he tried again, leveraging himself up onto one elbow.

“Yes!!”

“No…!” he made to stand.

“YES!”

And again, that unbearable pressure slamming him face first into the floorboards. He felt the bones in his propped up arm snap. He groaned.

“M-mina, you don’t understand,” he managed to choke out. “She is not my friend. I swear!”

“She’s not?” the pressure vanished just as quickly as her tears did.

“Quite the opposite, actually,” Jun gasped, rising to his knees, now cradling his broken arm.

“Oh!” she blinked. “But then why bring her to see Mina?”

“Well, I just thought you two could be very good friends. Maybe even… dare I say it, the best of friends?”

Time remaining: 0 minutes 21 seconds.

The “little girl’s” eyes lit up at the prospect. Taking in Nialla with newfound appreciation. Nialla, who’d up until this point been looking on with a bemused expression, taking particular delight in his suffering, now snapped her head in his direction.

“What is the meaning of this? You can’t possibly expect me to-?”

“Befriend this lovely young girl?” Jun cut in; the girl in question preened. “Well, of course not! After all, that’s a privilege that has to be earned, isn’t that right Mina?”

“That’s right!! I don’t make best friends with just anyone, you know!!!”

“I-!” Nialla looked flabbergasted. “I don’t understand…? You’ll lose. And you’re… okay with that? What’s the catch?”

“Lose?! Lose what? Are you two playing a game? Ooooo! Ooooo! I want to play!! Can I play!! Let me play!!”

“Of course! Of course! That’s why I brought her along, after all. So you could have a regular playmate. Isn’t that nice? You see, Nialla here desperately wishes to be you’re best best friend, she just doesn’t know if she’s worthy of the title just yet.”

“Boy! Answer me! Just what are you playing at?” concerned suspicion creeping into her tone.

 “And, of course, you know what that means.”

The girls eyes were practically sparkling by this point.

“First, why don’t we start out with a simple game of catch?”

Time remaining: 0 minutes 18 seconds.

From his interspacial ring, Jun produced a round metallic ball made of a strengthened titanium alloy. It was the same material sky carriers used to reinforce their hulls. Somewhat flexible and extremely durable, it easily fit within the palm of his hand. 

With his good arm, he tossed it underhand. Mina caught it with ease, eyes never leaving Nialla. The ascendant, for her part, shot him a quick glance of incomprehension, heavily tinged with annoyance. Her lapse of attention lasting the barest fraction of a second.

Nevertheless, it was a mistake all the same.

“Catch!”

Jun never even saw the throw, merely felt the gale force winds picked up in the wake of its passage, the scattering of book pages and random garments blinding him momentarily. When the flurry finally settled, the touchy ascendant was, most notably, nowhere to be seen. 

No, instead, there was a comically Nialla shaped hole in the far wall. Tentatively, Jun craned his neck until he could peer through the gaping hole, noting how it seemed to repeat itself into seeming infinity.

“Huh. Well, would you look at that? Alright, I’m just going to head out now. There’s not really much left for me to do here.”

“W-what?!? No!! You can’t!! I won’t allow it!!” the ‘little girl,’ who was actually a millennia old, true five star vampiric demigod of the Royal vampiric line, stamped her foot petulantly.

“Say Mina, I have a riddle for you.”

“Ooooo! Ooooo! Riddles are my favorite! Okay, let me guess. Is it… me?! Or no, is it… a bookshelf? A book! A curtain!” she gasped. “Is it you?!”

Jun chuckled. The relief of having actually pulled it off loosening the tension he’d been carrying all this time, making him feel lighter than air.

Time remaining: 0 minutes 13 seconds.

“Why does it feel like you’re just naming things in the room?”

The Royal elder vampire looked down, abashed—digging her toe into the luxurious bedsheets.

“How about you let me say the riddle, and then you can go about trying to solve it. That sound fair?”

She bobbed her head up and down.

“Alright, so. What do you do when a financial conglomerate capitalizes on a corner of the market to the point of total monopoly—slowly choking the economic lifesblood from consumers one ruthless price-gouge at a time? It’s simple really. You introduce a different coagulation of funds whose only goal is to undercut the other guy at every opportunity. “

“Con-glaw-mah-rit?? Co-aga-lashoms?”

“Only, the thing is, this pesky first monopoly is tricky. Not only is it competent, like, scarily good at what it does, but it’s highly risk averse as well. There’s no reason to believe, for instance, that after being met with staunch opposition, this clever monopoly wouldn’t simply pick up shop and relocate. Effectively negating all of the painstaking effort that’d gone into pitting these two titans of industry against one another in the first place.”

“In-dust-tree? Huh???”

“So how then, do you convince this first monopoly that, not only is it in their best interests to duke it out with this second titan till one of them drops, but that she isn’t utterly outmatched in this contest from the very beginning?”

“How?!”

Time remaining: 0 minutes 9 seconds.

“Easy. The solution comes in two parts. First, you break her down. Then, you build her up. Ruin her confidence, shatter her belief in herself and her abilities, then lob a series of easy wins her way. Better yet, call it the best her opposition has to offer. And, before you even know it, not only will she be amenable to the idea of a ‘fair,’ contest—what may as well be a done deal to her mind, if experience is anything to go by—but she’ll even be willing to sign off on it.”

“Ooooohh!!! Wait, huh? Mina doesn’t understand.”

“That’s okay, you weren’t really meant to.”

Time remaining: 0 minutes 5 seconds.

“Mina wasn’t? Wait!! Does that mean Mina wins!?!”

“That it does, my friend!”

“Hurray!!! Mina is the best!!!”

“Yeah, I’m kind of banking a lot on that actually,” in the far distance, the sounds of rapid demolition could be heard. It was getting closer.

“JUNWEI!!!!”

Nialla was fast approaching.

“The point being, by the terms of the contract, our resident monopoly is effectively trapped- ahem, that is to say, stuck as your faithful playmate for the foreseeable future.”

Time remaining: 0 minutes 4 seconds.

The back of the far wall exploded inward to reveal an outraged albino Cthulle with what looked to be a fatally concave chest. A black and bloody ruin of pulverized flesh, the depression was so exaggerated, he’d have been genuinely surprised if broken ribs weren’t scraping against her spinal column with every step.

It was by far the most damage he’d seen her sustain since entering this trial.

And yet she’s still not dead! Was this shit rigged or what? If ever I needed a reminder that actually fighting the crazy goddess was a very bad idea… Actually, isn’t it a fucking miracle I survived this long? Wild. Still, I figure this counts as a win, right? On a technicality at least.

Time remaining: 0 minutes 3 seconds.

“Where as I, rather conveniently, am not.”

“What?!” the light of realization began to dawn in the little girl’s eyes. “No… No! No!! NO! You can’t leave!!! You CANNOT!!! I FORBIT IT!! YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED!!!”

Time remaining: 0 minutes 2 seconds.

That was when the “young girl’s” form began to stretch and elongate. Growing to six times its original size with the popping, grinding sounds of realigning bones. It’s haunting eyes grew sunken, it’s cheekbones more pronounced. It’s jaw unhinging to reveal several rows of needle like teeth.

“NOT ALLOWED!! IT’S AGAINST THE RULES!! ONLY MINA GETS TO SAY WHEN FUNNY MAN CAN LEAVE!!! AND MINA DIDN’T SAY SO YET!!”

The stomach churning stench of rotting carrion exploded out from her, like a sweltering charnel house mixed with a strong animal musk. It’s putrid aura an offense to all that was holy. It battered at his senses, burrowed its way into his mind. And that spoke nothing of the spiritual, nearly physical weight.

Even with his significant resistances to aura suppression, before a bona fide five star demigod, he was made helpless.

An unseen force slammed Jun and Nialla both into the floor with a sharp bang. Wood splintered around him, his bones snapping, one by one. His breaths stopped coming. The gentle rise and fall far too arduous a task. 

His heart stopped beating. The vital organ nearly flattened against his creaking ribcage. His vision grew increasingly blurry around the edges—darkness creeping up on him with an unforgiving swiftness. His augmentations sparking and fizzling, as they failed to bear the load, one after another.

The very last thing he saw before his vision cut out completely, the flood of crimson as blood ran from the walls. Crashed down in a scarlet torrent to submerge them both in its salty embrace. The blood constrained him, entered through his mouth, his nose, his ears, with not a single thing he could do about it.

Well, no. Actually, there was one thing.

Time remaining: 0 minutes 1 seconds.

With a thought, perhaps the last thought his failing mind was capable of, Jun took a single mental step, and vanished from this world.

He never heard the resulting howl of pained outrage. The very sound of which did more internal damage to the prone form of Nialla, than the sum of all his previous attacks combined. If she’d had the wherewithal to, Nialla might have howled as well.

Though, in her case, it would have been less in impotent outrage, and more out of a crippling sense of abject despair.

Internally, like a spoiled child with her toy taken away for continued misbehavior, Nialla wailed at the unfairness of the multiverse.