Chance: Interlude III - Is it Wrong to Reap what is Sown?

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And a special thank you to Joe, you absolute madman.

24 Hours before the casting of the Flames of Liberation:

The importance of a God’s Domains varies depending on who they are and what they do. For example, while Apollo and Ra both share the Sun as an Authority, that big ball of fire in the sky is much more favored by the God King of Egypt, or whatever his corner of Tekkai is called. Likewise, between the indecisive poet and his sister- may her turbo-virgin soul forever be buried in paperwork- the Huntress was obviously more beloved by the bow.

The point being that, while many immortals may share one Domain, their connections are by no means equal.

So, naturally, when various Gods of Prophecy began fleeing Orario en masse, Hermes only paid attention when the big one started screaming his head off.

Ah, Odin. Living proof that superiority in Tekkai doesn’t mean a damn thing down in Gekkai. Oh, how he loved the mortal world, and all it’s… quaint trivialities. While the Norse Gods are one and all warriors at heart, when Odin descended he decided to make a Library Familia!

Dedicated to teaching and learning about everything there is to know, it didn’t take longer than a month for his infamous trickster to overtake him in popularity. Not even a week before Loki began lording her authority over him like the brat she was, until Odin was too ashamed and incensed to interact with the rest of the Gods out of fear she’d find and mock him again.

Also, for whatever reason, he outright refused to so much as suggest being near Freya no matter what. Which wasn’t all too surprising consider the type of Goddess she is, but alas what happens in Tekkai stays in Tekkai… for the right price.

Still, what he may lack in physical or financial power, he more than makes up for as a living alarm system. Especially considering unlike Apolloh, Hermes had some significant leverage over the God.

But every once and a while, even Gods forget their place.

“So, could you pretty please tell me why you’re so desperate to get out of the city limits?” Hermes asked Odin, while his adorable Children held down the rest of the bearded god’s Familia.

Ah, sometimes he just loved it when others tried to pull a fast one on him. But only when they failed and he got to laugh in their face about it.

“Y-you don’t understand!” Odin yelled pathetically, his single eye flickering wildly around to where his gaggle of bookworms were held down by his experienced Adventurers. “S-something terrible is happening! I need to get out of here as quickly as possible or-”

“Oh, well why didn’t you just say so?” Hermes asked, playful smile never leaving his face as he sat over the kneeling forms of Odin’s Familia. “C’mon, you know it’d be no problem at all to smuggle you all out of the city if you just asked. Though, considering you were caught so easily and in such a rush… it’s happening soon, eh?”

Odin was one of the various deities that got… very attached to his children, and not in the hot way either. No, the geezer genuinely thought of his mortals as his children, and while Hermes did love his little guys… he’d never do something this stupid for them.

His smile stayed even as he stared down the so-called God of Knowledge and Wisdom, silently demanding why he wasn’t informed of the event so drastic it’d displace an entire Familia. He reached up and adjusted his feathered cap only slightly, and his adorable children all placed their weapons to the necks of Odin’s children.

“... The Burning Law will come. A curse that will wash over all the land, as the Demon begins to grow his five heads. The spell once cast will never be undone…” Odin spoke through gritted teeth, a burning hatred in his gaze that only brought a sigh to Hermes’ lips.

“Now, was that so hard to say? Really, it’d’ve been much faster if you’d just told us before you tried to pull a runner.” Hermes chastised the elder God, clicking his tongue reproachfully as he stepped closer to him. “Really, after the business we’ve done together, you’d abandon me and my children to a curse without even a goodbye?”

“... I need to get out of this city as soon as possible.”

“...Fine. C’mon kids, we’re going on a roadtrip with grandpa!” He clapped his hands cheerfully, ignoring the disapproving stares of his own Familia as his mind whirled at this so-called Burning Law.

After all, from all his time fighting against the black market, he knew a thing or two about curses.

Maybe he’d investigate things after the fires were all put out…

11 hours after the casting of the Flames of Liberation:

Ais Wallenstein was a simple girl.

She gained strength to fight monsters. Stats, swordsmanship, strategy, magic lessons. Every opportunity to grow stronger she took without doubt, hesitation, or complaint.

Because she wanted- needed to save her father. The man the Dragon took from her, all those years ago.

Sometimes it felt like a lifetime since her father was taken from her. Others, like it was happening right before her very eyes at that very moment.

At night, she could still hear her father screaming her name- to help him. To run away.

And whenever she saw a monster she could hear the rhythmic breathing of Dragon, large huffs of burning air that could only be laughter as she begged for her father back.

Every second from that moment on, she pursued strength. Enough so that she could bring her father back home. To have the only family she’d ever known back in her life.

Sometimes she imagined what life would be like when she won. Bringing back her father, introducing the man who once raised her to her various teachers.

Loki would probably kneel at his feet and bless him for creating Ais, and she’d have to smack the shit out of her for being weird.

Tiona and Tione would probably start teasing her in front of him, talking about embarrassing things like how she finally learned how to swim, or that time she scared an Adventurer so hard he turned into a roly poly and rolled away screaming.

Finn would probably praise her to get on his good side, Bete would probably do a reverse shovel-talk in an attempt to make out with her, Lefiya would have a panic attack trying to figure out how to talk to him, and Riveria…

Riveria would probably still be trying to ‘study under’ their Curse Magic Teacher. Complete with the weird eyebrow movements Loki would try, when she wasn’t busy sobbing about tall bastards stealing her waifus or whatever.

The thought of her magic teacher, and the horrible spell he casted… brought relief to Ais. More than any amount of training had ever given her, more than any Level Up.

She repeated the words he used to describe his spell in her head.

People holding innocent people against their will, will burn thanks to his spell. No matter who, what, or where.

A guaranteed death sentence for anyone who fits that category…

Ais could only wonder if, in Selah’s eyes, the Dragon was person enough to burn. That her only goal in life would be accomplished by accident due to her teacher’s impulsiveness.

And if that wasn’t the case, well… there was an ally right in front of her who could teach her exactly how to make that spell, right in front of her.

13 hours after the casting of the Flames of Liberation:

The scarred man’s face twisted into a grimace as he spoke. “I feel like something bad is about to happen.”

Liliruca Arde, being the only other member of his Familia as well as his personal protege, nearly broke her neck turning over to him. “Is this a magic thing, or what?”

And wasn’t that just funny. Lili, actually knowing something about magic, training to become a mage from what she had to admit was the single greatest mage in all of Orario.

Sure, the Nine Hells and others were of a higher Level, but Lili doubted any of them could do even a twentieth of the shit Selah magically learns almost daily. The strongest Familia in Orario pays him to teach them his unique brand of magic.

If you’d told the Pallum not even two weeks ago that she’d willingly join a new Familia, become a mage’s student, and actually enjoy spending time with an Adventurer?

She’d probably assume you were high off Soma’s wine.

“Nah,” The dark skinned man spoke casually, lifting out a muscled arm and pulling a furled-up map from his sleeve. “Before I came to Orario, I’d sometimes get some weird feelings about things. Dreams of the ending to a play I’d never seen before, generally bad feelings when something terrible was about to happen in my life, shit like that.”

Lili bit down on her curiosity as deep brown eyes scanned the magic map, focused solely on finding a way back to the surface. Her teacher didn’t speak much of his life before coming to Orario, aside from… recent events.

Which is shocking, considering how downright chatty he tends to be. She’s had to work with Adventurers of all types, from the stoics with ‘tragic pasts’ to airheads who wore their ignorance as a badge of honor.

Yet between the both of them, he’s the one who actively doesn’t speak about anything about his past. Even when he’s made it a point to explain how he randomly gets magical abilities and items for fucking breathing!

Lili could tell you his favorite foods (pastas, thick-cut sandwiches, and Amazonian foods), his opinions on books and plays (“Fate is a shit concept for fuckers who can’t right a genuine character motive.”), yet she can’t even tell you if he lived to the north or south of the equator.

“How right are your bad feelings, usually?” She asked cautiously, pulling herself out of her head to respond. While Lili has made faking interest and camaraderie with people into a career, she continued to struggle with making genuine conversation with him.

He says it’s because her first instinct is to say whatever will make him happy instead of what she wants to say. She says it’s because he hates awkward silences.

Regular silence? Oh he’ll go without speaking for fucking hours if you let him. But if the conversation starts, he will trick you into talking by saying outrageous shit he knows you can’t help but call him out on.

“... Eh, like… ninety percent accurate. Can’t really think of a time it was wrong…” Oh great, now he can also see the fucking future without wasting Mind?

Despite everything he’s given her, a home, companionship, and the chance to be more than a weakling who will never amount to anything more than being another gutter rat… she hates him.

She hates his talent, his skill, the gifts he’s been given. Despite all his rage about how his family was treated, he didn’t have a hard life. Not like hers.

He’s never had to gut squirrels and rummage through trash for something to eat. Take abuse and betrayal with a smile on his face. The calluses on his hands were fresh, revealing the lazy life he had before he came here.

Just the thought made her sick to her stomach. A man as privileged as him, running to the city that made her life hell from day one, being a fucking prodigy. Lili was used to being worse than everyone, weak, poor, cowardly. She worked her fucking ass off despite all of those things, and it was the reason she was still alive today.

But him? He was smart, social, well off, strong, and all of those things- every single one- came down to his fucking luck.

And every time he makes a joke about how unlucky he is, she was to fucking strangle him. She hates him. And more than she hates him, she hates the fact she feels this way.

Was she so petty, so dedicated in her own misery that the man whose given her everything she’d ever wished for- a way out of Soma’s Familia, a home, companionship, acknowledgement, respect- gets only her silent hatred in response?

He genuinely cares about her, and she can’t even appreciate it?

Selah stopped moving all of a sudden, and she wordlessly followed suit. His eyes flickered around us, and Lili began actively registering the room they’d been walking in.

It was a large stone-carved room, with the morning mist that filled the floor lifting slightly. It had several exits, long hallways on two levels connected by a ramp-like ledge leading from one level to the other.

“Fuck, this place is so familiar.” The man swore, face tensing in a grimace that drew attention to the long scar on his face, a claw-mark trailing down his face and nicking his ear. A constant reminder of how even he could get caught off guard by a goblin of all things. Just like her.

… goblin?

The sound of rapid footsteps suddenly filled the room, along with the metallic scent of blood, and from one of the hallways emerged a group of people wearing Eastern garbs- kimonos?- and carrying one completely insensate woman.

Lili didn’t particularly care about them, both due to her hatred of Adventurers and the sounds of monsters rushing behind them drawing the majority of her attention.

She turned over to the hall they came out of, knowing in her heart of hearts exactly what was going to happen. 

The man at their head looked down at the two members of the Anubis Familia, and locked eyes with Selah himself. Lili may not have been surprised, but she was still filled with burning rage when she saw them all rush for the exit that would lead the monsters directly into their path.

“You motherfuckers!” Lili’s spine straightened as pure, unadulterated malice filled the room as her teacher cussed the group out as they hit both of them with a Parade Pass on their way back to the Surface.

As quickly as it came, the wave of pure hate faded to the background as the sounds of cracking filled the stone room they were left in. It was a familiar cracking for anyone who's been in the Dungeon long enough- the sound of the walls giving birth to a new set of monster.

But that crackle was nothing compared to the thunderous shattering of the walls around them, bits of stone flying around like debris as monsters of all type came out from every direction.

The walls, the floor, the fucking ceiling. Goblin, Ant, War Shadow, Moth, Frog, Bat, Orc, every monster that could’ve spawned at this point came pouring out like blood from a head wound.

“So this is what it’s like when the Dungeon is trying to kill you, huh?” Her Captain spoke, a severity she’d only rarely heard from him in his voice as he scanned the formless horde of monsters. “Hell, most of these don’t even spawn on this floor…”

“What do we do?” Lili asked, surprised her voice wasn’t shaking like it should’ve. But after dealing with the Strongest Adventurer staring her down and ordering her to keep quiet or else, nothing is quite as scary anymore.

Except her Captain.

“... How many bolts do you have left?”

At least 400 left. “Not enough to deal with these!”

He stayed silent for a second, before speaking up. “Can you do a Bleeding Curse?”

Instead of responding, the Pallum focused her entire being on the monsters surrounding her, and let the memories she fought to keep in the furthest corners of her mind come into focus.

She remembers rummaging for trash in hopes of not spending any money, in a desperate bid to buy her way out of Orario as a whole. Fake smiles, hidden sneers, half-whispered slights from the Adventurers she all but submitted to.

She remembered those horrible, horrible weeks after that first sip of Soma’s wine. The memory of the taste finally leaving her lips, the way she was thrown into a wall like garbage to keep from getting more than a sip.

The hazy memories of doing whatever she could to get more money- dungeon dives she wasn’t sure how she survived on a daily basis. Begging everyone she saw on the streets for even a single valis, offering everything she was only to be rejected for her sickly countenance. Even the most perverse wouldn’t want to deal with a sickly Soma girl with wild eyes who’d do anything for a drop of Soma’s liquor.

She remembered the shaking, the arm scratching, the constant throb of her brain every second as every part of her body screamed for just another drop.

She grabbed all the worst memories and twisted them out of her, like a dirty rag soaked in water, feeling her Mind lashing out indiscriminately at every-

It stopped. The spell stopped coming out from her body, as if the rag just slipped out from her white-knuckled grip and floated away. Like someone had reached into her skull and plucked out every negative emotion she had like coins from a loose pocket.

Her eyes widened as her teacher bit out a curse, non-magical this time, and without a word she knew exactly what had happened- this time able to hear the trill of… something singing out, causing whatever Mind that her teacher had built up to fizzle out.

An anti-magic monster?

She felt sick to her stomach.

That was possible? But, she was useless without her curses! In the middle of a fucking Parade Pass, surrounded by dozens upon dozens of monsters she’d only been able to deal with knowing a Level Two was at her back and ample magic to rely on…

And here she was, surrounded and rendered as weak as she used to be, by a single monster she’d never even knew existed beforehand. Could she even use the Magic Sword in her bag with it around?

If Selah couldn’t, the answer was probably no.

Selah. The Adventurer.

… She couldn’t look at him. She knew exactly what he’d do at this point. Between a crowd of monsters even he couldn’t take on single-handedly, and with an ally so weak she couldn’t even begin to fire at anything…

She was going to be abandoned again. For good. She could feel it in her bones, the pit in her stomach shifting… and the wind rushing around her.

In the blink of an eye, where Lili was once stood completely frozen as inevitable death stared her in the face beside the man she was certain would abandon her, now she was sitting on top of a giant mass of fur and leaping over the mass of monsters without a word.

Oh, wait, there were words. Just in her head, which she’d been tuning out.

“-I swear to fuck you better pick up this goddamn- Finally!” His voice echoed in her head, trace amounts of frustration and concentration pouring out of his words. “Lili, I know this entire thing is traumatizing, but you can have a mental breakdown later. Right now, I need you to tell me where to go to reach the boss room, and shoot down the blue songbirds-!”

“Why bother when you can use your spells?!” She said that, but unfurled the map he’d somehow placed in her hands and loaded up her wrist–mounted crossbow.

“Because the birds can only disturb Mind in the air. Spells that don’t leave your body still work, but those don’t particularly fit well with AoE attacks.” He advised, somehow using this fucking death sentence as another lesson. “Speaking of, any fucking clue what they are?”

“No- turn left at the second fork- I’ve never heard of anything like that. At least on these floors, there shouldn’t be anything that outright negates magic.” More resistant to spells, sure, but outright negation? To the extent it worked on the Komodo?

“It’s not as hard to believe as you’d expect. Two spells that clash mid-air obviously won’t make it to their targets. It’s not that it’s anti-magic effect is extremely strong, it’s that it’s casting a spell to prevent ours from reaching anything.”

“Not even a barrier?”

“First thing I tried, what the hell do you take me for?”

A dumbass who’ll either rule Orario with an iron fist or end up dead in a ditch by this time next year.

“My teacher.”

“Hah. Telepathy doesn’t let me read minds, yet I can still tell that’s supposed to be an insult.”

Somehow, someway, as the massive beast she rode carved a bloody path through the Dungeon, monsters constantly spawning or chasing after us and lusting for our deaths, Liliruca Arde managed to breathe a little easier as her teacher continued being an idiot.

At the same time:

Watching from the sidelines as Mama Mia began verbally tearing into the Captain of the Anubis Familia, Ryu Lyon contemplated everything she heard from the human as he’d escorted her back to her workplace.

Ignoring the obvious similarities between this and her bloody crusade against Evilis, she decided to toss aside the concerns for his tactical and emotional reasoning for his actions-

She has lived a short yet rich life, and she knows when a man is at war with himself.

That is not what is happening with Selah. It’s as if… he’s trying to move past the event as quickly as possible. Saying things about how he cannot and will not change how he feels about his actions or his victims, relating his actions to the past he almost instinctively avoids referencing or talking about in a way that brings further questions.

And from his Goddess Lady Anubis and… whatever LadyBast is to him, they would say that he is better now. That having gotten his murderous urges out and with no possible excuse to act on them, he will be able to recover and confront them on his own time.

But those two loved him in the ways only a woman can love a man. They are blinded, both by that love and by their own status as gods.

While the scarred man is many things, he is not foolish enough to dedicate himself to a Goddess that did not care for mortals or their lives… even if Lady Anubis personally sees to the dead, neither of them could understand the pains he is going through.

The forceful way he owns his actions, refusing to allow any doubt for his purpose come into view, shaming himself into continuing to defend his intentions despite knowing he is wrong.

Ryu had to close her eyes to stop that unknowable amount of time, where she rushed to prevent any of the ones who killed her Familia to live even a single moment longer. Where the memories of kindness and love taught to her by Lady Astraea were drowned out by the deathly purpose that became her sole reason to live.

That day she laid in that alleyway, deed done, and simply waiting for her wounds to take her back to her family… and the single girl who decided she’d have to live a little longer.

… In his mind, was the Captain still fighting against those enemies? To him, was everyone who questioned him just another obstacle in his way, a setback that needed to be overcome?

Right now, was he still in the middle of that rush of purpose, seeking out every possible avenue to cull his enemies? To him, is justice not yet done?

The elf exhaled. Tactically and emotionally, all was well with… her friend. But that may not last. And morally… she had no way to help him, no ground to stand on. 

Even now, the mere idea that a single member of Evilis- of Rudra- could possibly be alive at this moment was enough to ignite the blood in her veins and nearly crack the broom she was using to sweep the floors.

She stopped and forced herself to relax- mainly by watching Mama Mia lift Selah by the torso like a toddler and shake him like he owed her money. The screaming match she’d been tuning out continued to not register as she nodded to herself.

She would make a hypocrite of herself if she went up to him and questioned the morality of his actions, even if her intentions were pure.

It just so happened that they both know of a man whose morals and purity outmatched even a virgin Goddess, who would have a personal interest in setting their mutual friend straight so the worst does not come to pass.

Ryu Lyon swore to herself- she wouldn’t let a single friend die before her ever again. No matter what.

No. Matter. What.

14 Hours after the casting of the Flames of Liberation:

One of the best parts of being a Clone that I’ve discovered? No matter how hard you push yourself, you never end up hungry or thirsty, and your eyes never start drying out.

So, naturally, my progress on creating magitech is going amazingly well. Especially considering I’d already bought most of the scrap metal I needed to actually begin crafting.

Why’s that? Well, what’s the difference between an enchanted object that replicates technology and actual magitech?

Bit hard, ain’t it? Well, the answer is that magitech is the opposite of an enchantment that replicates technology. It is technology that replicates magic. A magitech hoverboard is different than a surfboard with flight runes carved into it- for one, the hoverboard is adjustable, repairable, and able to be mass-produced.

Using the example, the hoverboard can be properly size, can have be fueled either by the user’s Mind or a battery/power cell, and you can make a metric fuck ton of them so long as you have the resources to.

The surfboard is just you making the board fly with a rune. Maybe a couple others to allow for more than hovering, but you get the idea.

Now for the modern man magitech seems vastly superior, but the runeboard has it’s own uses. For example, magitech and more traditional magics don’t play well together. You can’t enchanted the hoverboard, use it as a medium for magic, or anything other than how it is designed.

With the runeboard, customization and experimentation of the mystic variety are on the menu! So, well, I can’t use magically or alchemically made metals to make magitech or the whole thing starts growing mouths and demanding my firstborn.

…Well not literally, but you get what I mean.

A knock came in from the front door of Blessed Balms, and considering I had finally completed the first few prototypes for the tools to make the tools etcetera, I decided I could deal with medieval telemarketers.

Best thing I can do, since the Original can’t afford to stop and set up a teleporter when the Dungeon is actively trying to kill him. Truly glad I’m just a Clone right about now.

“Hey, what’s up- oh, Minerva?” The name came out as a question for several reasons. One, I barely remember her name. Two, the reason I barely remember her name is because she does no more than the bare minimum required to do her job, which included teaching me how to not die.

Oh, and three, she looked like Death himself had just come up to her and ordered her to give her final goodbyes before taking her to whatever circle of hell social workers end up in.

“S-s-sir Selah. I-i-t’s my pleasure to announce that Ouranos has requested a personal meeting with you. E-e-effective immediately.” She… well, it was less a stutter and more of a bleat that extended

Wait.

“... Whose Ouranos again?” The sickly pale woman, with severe bags under her eyes that had been trembling like a six year old after a caffeine binge, suddenly rolled her eyes skyward and tilted backwards.

… Thank Anubis I can still use Telepathy.

A/N: Interlude 3 done, filled with plot and character perspectives, and constant cliff-hangers. Because I’m worth it.

The consequences of one’s actions don’t flood in all at once, so be patient and let all come as it will.

Thank you all for reading, Peace.