Game of Monsters - 218

Mind, It Wavers Back and Forth

“If you would give me a minute to get ready…” he said over the communication item he’d made specifically for Ophis. He didn’t really get further than that though, leaving the sentence hanging to gauge how the dragon would react. It wasn’t like he wanted to make her wait, of course. Not at all. However, it wasn’t like he’d been ready for the call either way, not even close.

He was supposed to have weeks yet.

“Let me know,” was all the Ouroboros Dragon replied with.

Good thing Joshua was already in motion since about a second after he got his mind over the initial shock. He only needed to shoot some quick messages to his partners, hoping that they’d be able to move around things while he dealt with the sudden situation. With any luck, this would only be a scare that’d take a few years off his life and not… not something truly bad.

He really, really hoped that was the case.

“I’m ready whenever you are, Ophis,” he said and he found the Dragon standing in front of him the very instant that he finished the sentence. “Welcome,” he greeted as best he could. “We weren’t expecting you so soon,” he added, hoping against hope that he’d get at least an explanation, if very likely not an apology.

Curiously, Ophis didn’t immediately answer in any way. Instead, the dragon in a girl’s body stood in front of him, staring at him. It got to the point where he started fearing he might have missed something. ‘Am I supposed to do something? I’m pretty sure I didn’t forget or miss something she said, right?’ he thought to himself, his already fairly high nerves getting even worse.

“You’re standing,” she said eventually and it was his turn to stare at her. What did she mean by that? Was he supposed to be kneeling or something? She hadn’t cared about that before. Had she been too focused on getting rid of him and afterwards on getting her Silence? “I wasn’t sure you’d be awake, but you’re… standing,” she admitted and he was even more confused after that.

Although, that might have had something to do with the fact that he was pretty sure that was, what? The second time she showed emotion in a somewhat noticeable way? The closest thing he’d seen to what was happening was when he’d mentioned having several attempts at Silence, back when he made his presentation. Was she surprised that he was standing? But…

‘Wait, did she give me Touched by Infinity knowing it’d mess me up? Expecting it’d be worse than it’s been?’ he realized then and he really didn’t know what to think about that possibility. What did that mean? Was Ophis messing with him? Or…

“How very… interesting,” she mumbled, tilting her head as if inspecting an oddity. For a long moment, Joshua debated if he should interrupt that or wait for her to be done with… whatever it was that she was doing, really. Ultimately, he decided to wait. “For the most part,” Ophis said, eventually speaking up again and rewarding his patience. “I wanted to see how you were doing,” she explained and wasn’t that throwing him for a loop all by itself.

“...It’s… taken some getting used to, your gift,” he admitted slowly, unsure if he might be unknowingly insulting her, but also not wanting to lie. Lying to the Dragon of Infinity sounded like a good way to get killed, if she proved to be the smallest bit short-fused. “I like to believe I’m adapting well, but it hasn’t let me work much on the Silence projects.”

“... Understandable,” she said with a nod, even though he could have sworn there was the smallest frown between her brows. Her words reassured him that she wasn’t about to snap him out of existence, at least. That was nice of her. “I was expecting that, obviously,” she told him calmly, in that flat tone that confused him to no end. It always felt like there were ten meanings to everything she said, due to the lack of emotions and expressions. What was worse, Joshua always felt like he was missing at least half of those meanings. “No, I wanted to come and see if your reward might have been too much for you… and to ask if I could use one of those rooms again.”

‘Well, that’s considerate of her… is it? She’s the one at fault for this in the first place, but it was a neat reward even if she did it expecting for it to be too much… What a strange creature you are, Ophis,’ Joshua thought in a moment, unsure how to feel about the dragon and the situation in general. In the spirit of not keeping said dragon waiting though, he decided to focus on the part that he could actually do something about at that moment.

“Of course, the rooms are yours, Ophis,” he replied, taking a deep breath in before continuing. “If you want, you can just teleport nearby and go in at any moment. We’ve set them up in fairly isolated areas,” he said and while he didn’t particularly like the idea of the dragon coming and going as she pleased so close to them, it wasn’t like he could stop her if he tried.

Besides, agreeing and generally being nice to her might eventually ingratiate her to them… although that was probably a stretch.

“If you want, you can just stay inside the room while I work, but I’m not sure if that would be unpleasant or not,” he continued under the very intense stare of Ophis. He was growing nervous by the second under those empty, infinite eyes, honestly, but he soldiered on as best he could.

“Yes, I’d like that very much,” she told him and this time he was almost positive that he saw her lips draw up into a smile. ‘I didn’t imagine that, did I?’ he thought. It was a day full of surprises in regards to Ophis, and not just because she was there at all. With that said, the dragon seemed to pause again, staring at him some more. Was it because he was weirdly ok for what she’d done? Or was it something else this time?

Joshua hated being so unsure when it came to Ophis, he really did.

Although, maybe he could at least get out of the whole new mess that had suddenly popped up.

“Could I ask you questions, sometimes, when you come to the rooms?” he asked and Ophis blinked up at him. “It’d help me a lot to know what you think about my progress rather than guess by myself. I don’t know or have anyone quite with senses like yours that I can consult,” he explained and the Dragon of Infinity stared at him for one of the longest seconds of Joshua’s life.

“That’s… acceptable,” she agreed slowly with a just as slow nod. “For now, I’ve been waiting and I want to visit the room again,” she declared. He didn’t even have time to think about whether to say anything or not, because as soon as the last word was out of her mouth, Ophis disappeared. Once more, he was treated to the dragon’s bizarre transportation, where she just… disappeared, as if she never were there to begin with.

It was certainly not like his usual teleportation, there were no circles, no delay. It wasn’t like the angels’ subtler method, where they blurred out of existence as a whole instead of through two magic circles. She was there and then she wasn’t, as simple as that. Even looking for it, the best Joshua could get was like going frame by frame in a video and between one and another, Ophis just wasn’t there anymore and, instead, she was in front of one of the rooms.

The Room, actually.

‘What a scary creature,’ he thought, not at all relaxing now that the dragon was away. Her presence under the arrays placed around his projects was just as unnerving, really. Fortunately, it took no time at all for her to disappear from “sight” as she stepped inside one of the rooms. ‘Fuck,’ he thought, deflating the smallest bit even as his heart kept racing.

Almost immediately, Friday reached towards him, latching onto him and wrapping around him in her version of a hug. Not long afterwards, she started teleporting the rest of her sisters over to where he was. Well, her familiar sisters, that is. Joshua wasn’t feeling comfortable dragging the others over to him, where Ophis might still be looking even through the blocks he’d placed in the rooms, and at least he could stop that much from happening, if not his familiars.

“That dragon is going to kill me without even trying one of these days,” he muttered, his hand falling on top of Cheshire’s head. While he enjoyed the softness of her fur in tiger form, Nagini seemed to twist her body to his side, giving him a look that said all that she needed to, even without the bond. “I know you’re bloodthirsty, but you’re not stupid, Nagini. Don’t act like you are,” he said, although he knew where she was coming from. ‘Although…’ he started, before shaking his head.

Admittedly, he had half a mind to start working in some way to kill Ophis, if only for his own peace of mind. Maybe Great Red while he was at it, just in case. But that was extreme and also all sorts of wrong. Because Ophis scared the shit out of him and she had supported Khaos Brigade… but he was growing increasingly more sure that she didn’t mean to do either of those things, at least, not in a way that he could blame her, really.

She was just… Her mind worked differently, and he knew a thing or two about how that could screw you over when it came to dealing with others. She wanted her Silence and that was all that was on her mind. Khaos had offered to help her, so she’d helped them in turn and that was that. Joshua was offering her an alternative, so she’d helped him too and decided to not get in between him and Khaos either, for her own sake if nothing else.

The dragon didn’t concern herself with everything else that happened in between what she did. She might not even know about the shenanigans Khaos got up to. It was… certainly something, but Joshua was growing increasingly sure that might be the case.

She seemed… oddly straightforward, was as best he could put it. Joshua knew many would call her stupid, or ignorant, or naive, or any number of things along those lines… but he thought it was just a matter of her being simple minded. Synonymous, some would say, but he disagreed.

Cheshire’s agreement with him and his thoughts was slightly reassuring.

None of that made dealing with the dragon any easier, admittedly, and they could be completely wrong, but he did feel the smallest bit more at ease with that assumption. Because it meant that so long as he stuck to his deal with Ophis and continued developing the Silence projects, the Ouroboros Dragon would keep out of his way and not disappear him from existence. He could do that, even if he could do without all the scares and unnerving meetings.

“This is a good thing, even,” he mumbled to himself, once he’d calmed down a bit more and Ophis remained inside the room. “I’ll be able to get more feedback, and that’s great,” he added, taking a deep breath in. Being able to ask Ophis more questions and – potentially, although he’d have to be careful about it – maybe even grow closer to the dragon were both great things to have within reach.

If he could turn Ophis from a neutral party into an ally, their conflict would be basically over.

For the moment though, he was still happy to not have her as an enemy anymore, admittedly.

“Daddy? Should we go back home?” Morag asked, climbing on his back and he nodded slowly.

“Yeah, I have to reassure everyone. They’re probably as scared as I was after those messages I sent,” he answered, running his fingers through his hair. “Fuuuck, that was stressful,” he added, almost as a sigh. “Let’s go.”

And so, he teleported back home, ready to have a cup of tea or ten.

[}-o-{]

“That’s… concerning,” Yasaka said and Joshua was pretty sure she had many words for the situation and “concerning” was just the tamest one. Personally, he’d just have outright called it bullshit, but such was their luck, he supposed. Nothing to do about it other than dealing with it. “And you’re sure that things are under control?”

“As sure as I can be when it comes to Ophis,” he replied with a shrug. That might as well be saying no, but it was what he had and everyone knew that. All three of his partners looked far from pleased with that, but they could join him in the club, honestly. “For the moment, I think my priority is getting some more progress underway and setting up the projects somewhere else, somewhere more isolated. No need to have Ophis coming and going so close to your territory, Yasaka.”

“I think-”

“He’s right,” Serafall interrupted, drawing a stare from the youkai leader. That was basically a glare as far as Yasaka was concerned. “I know you want to be able to accompany Joshua and we agreed to this before, but the situation changed. It’s no longer just a one time thing and they are way too close to your territory, Yasaka. Way too close to your home.”

“Still-”

“We get it, Yasaka,” Gabriel took over, for once working together with her devil counterpart on something. Not that they were generally disagreeable with one another, but they tended to play devil’s advocate – would it be angel’s in Gabriel’s case? – to each other fairly often. Even when they did agree with each other, they never were as… passionate about it as they were at that moment. “You want to stay close and involved, but you can’t here. Not without risking more than is reasonable.”

“... I know,” the youkai admitted after a tense moment and Joshua could have sworn she was pouting. Not that he’d point that out though. He rather liked living, after all. “I just… Sorry. I know I’m being unreasonable.”

“Unreasonable, but it’s not like we can’t understand,” Joshua commented and he was fairly sure that he caught all three of them off guard. He tended to stay out of such conversations until they reached an agreement or help them decide if they got stuck on something. They were much better at… Well, at a lot of things, so he generally felt like leaving them to it was the right decision. “Can you be patient with me for a bit, Yasaka? I promise I’ll help you out.”

“What do you mean by that?” Yasaka asked, half suspicious and half curious as she narrowed her eyes at him. He didn’t blame her. He’d spoken very vaguely, after all. Then again, he’d done that on purpose to tease her a bit, so there was that.

“With things calming down, I can go back to working on projects from before,” he said, without explaining. He waved his hand idly towards his notebooks and books as he leaned back, taking a moment to drink from his cup of tea while all three of his partners continued to stare at him. Two of them, in fact, had doubled the intensity of their gazes. “I also have Ophis’ Infinity now too, which will make a lot of things much simpler.”

“Does that mean…?” Gabriel started and Joshua noticed that, as she trailed off, her expression turned even more inscrutable than usual. He wondered if the slight shadow that washed over her golden locks was just his imagination.

“You think you’re close?” Yasaka asked, for her part, and he grinned.

“I think I can make a working prototype relatively fast, at least for you. I’ve already succeeded in extending your range from Kyoto a little, but with infinite magic? I think I can make something more solid, better… Although, it’ll probably be a while before it’s anywhere close to perfect.” he answered and the look of his youkai partner became something else entirely. It promised a lot of things for him that night – and maybe nights to come – and all of them were great. Amazing even, but he needed to focus.

… Really, he did.

“Yours might be a little more complicated,” Joshua admitted to Gabriel, taking a deep breath in and then letting out a sigh. “Whatever it is that makes you fall, I bet it’s connected to the system you’ve told me Michael is managing,” he explained, leaning back and getting a nod from Gabriel. He wondered if that was confirmation, or just saying that she understood. She was a little cagey about that kind of stuff though, and he was far from surprised about that fact. Especially with the other two around. “So… maybe it’s really time for me to visit your brothers,” he said reluctantly, although the way Gabriel perked up made him feel a little better. “I kind of need to check on the system, and I imagine they’ll want that much before I’m allowed a look.”

“... At the least,” Gabriel commented wryly, although there was amusement there. Which was good. Joshua had been worried she might take his words the wrong way. “I’m sure it won’t be as bad as you think, Joshua,” she tried to reassure, not for the first time. He’d believe that when it happened though, not a second before. “I’m not the only one that wants… help,” she admitted and his eyebrows flew up. “Michael, Raphael and Uriel are fine, but… The system was set up very strictly during the war, and since our father died…” she explained, seemingly struggling with the words. She kept going before he could tell her that she didn't need to though. “Michael tries his best, but he’s not Father. We’re still learning how the system works, how to work with it. It’s one of the reasons why we pulled away so much after the war.”

That explained plenty and he really hoped he could help them in that case. Although, it might be too arrogant of him and too hopeful of them to believe so. This was God’s work, after all, that they were talking about. Joshua had to wonder what his chances actually were.

“Won’t know until I try, but I will try,” was as much as he could promise, but Gabriel’s smile was enough of a reassurance. “For now, we got a little off track,” he commented, running his fingers through his hair and turning back to Yasaka, who had been the focus of the conversation at the start.

“You think you’ll be able to extend my range to… wherever you move those projects?” the youkai woman asked him and he nodded. He’d meant to explain further, already on his way to that and with his mouth half open, but she continued speaking before he could. “Then do so. I can be patient.”

“Thank you,” he replied, almost with a relieved sigh.

[}-o-{]

A full day later, Ophis still hadn’t come out and Joshua was starting to feel a little restless.

Although, that was probably a good thing, but it was always better when she was off somewhere and he could put her out of his mind. Admittedly, that should have been more worrying, since Ophis and Khaos could be doing a lot of troublesome, downright dangerous things, but there was something about the dragon being where he knew she was that made him uneasy. Like knowing there was a nuke that could go off at any moment in his property instead of somewhere else in the city.

Realistically, he was screwed either way and it was better to have it where he could keep an eye on it… but the proximity by itself was frightening.

So, in the spirit of easing his worries at least a bit, Joshua had decided to get off his ass and really get back to working on the Silence projects. It was faster and with more effort than he’d have liked, but his vacation had been good while it lasted. On the plus side, at least Joshua knew that he could get back to more normal-ish days anytime. The one month of hell had been enough for him, and he’d rather never have to go back to that, if at all possible.

“I’ll need to double down on some spells,” he mused with a tilt of his head and he saw Serafall perk up off the side of his eye. “I didn’t want to, but I don’t think there’s foci strong enough to cast True Silence anywhere on Earth. I’ll have to cast duplicates and hope they stack well enough eventually.”

Inefficient, but it was what he could do. Stacking the same spell over and over wasn’t really an additive process, let alone a multiplying one. There were diminishing returns for that kind of thing, harsh ones at that. However, in the face of the roadblock he’d encountered in his path to recreating the Gap, he’d have to make do with that.

Because magic was no longer an issue, what with Ophis’ gift, but there was only so much that the foci he had in hand could withstand before just… failing. So, between the bottleneck of his own magical control and output and the bottleneck of the spell foci, Joshua had to lament the fact that having infinite magic didn’t immediately solve all his problems. It was universes better than not having it though, that part was undeniable and Joshua wouldn’t be caught dead complaining about that…

At least when it came to casting magic, that is.

“Do you need more stuff?” Serafall asked, peeking over his shoulder as if she could understand anything his notes said.

Thinking that might have sounded a little mean, he supposed, but Joshua didn’t mean it like that. His devil partner wasn’t stupid nor ignorant, but devils saw magic way differently than humans, and even beyond that, Serafall was nowhere near knowledgeable enough in spellcrafting to be able to tell much. She could understand some things, but anything she said would likely miss the mark, on account of the much bigger array of things she didn’t know nor understand.

“I might, but Ravel can coordinate that with House of Water,” he answered, leaning back and considering that. Magician Associations were, funnily enough, the most useful for him, really. They were the ones with the knowledge and resources for magic that he needed, not the “more powerful” factions. Not to say they were the only ones that used said resources, but they were the ones that looked for quality stuff zealously.

Serafall might be able to find some things, he supposed, but the Associations would know better if that was the case or not.

“There is something you could help me with, maybe,” he commented after a moment. It was something he’d considered for a bit, but he hadn’t given it as much thought as he might have had to. He didn’t think it was likely to go anywhere, after all. Maybe though, maybe there was no risk in asking, he supposed, and he did have some time in his hands again. He might even have more in the near future.

“Maybe? Do you know who I am?” she asked, pouting, and he grinned. “What is it?” she added, her expressions swiftly changing to a curious one. That was more like what he expected she’d really feel.

“More of a Sirzechs job, that’s all,” he started answering and she tilted her head. “Do you think I might have enough leeway because of the Sleep Disease to get a look at some devil bloodlines?” he asked. The expected happened after that, with his partner stiffening and her eyes widening. Of course he’d seen that coming. He knew he was asking for something big. “Not recreating them like with the Phenex. Just… studying them, for data that might be useful. I can even make a deal that I won’t recreate them, maybe even a Vow. I just need some wiggle room in case it’s necessary for me to go that route in an eventuality,” he explained and that gave Serafall pause, making her consider what he was saying.

“Yes, that’s… a lot more reasonable. I know some of the families you’ve helped would agree, some more reluctantly than others. Mine you know would accept,” she commented and he decided not to point out that no, he hadn’t known that. She seemed to read his mind all the same, if the pout was any indication. “Yes, leave this to me. I’ll check with Sirzechs.”

“Thanks.”

“Happy to help!”

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Ophis continues to be a walking disaster and a headache for everyone that knows and has to deal with her. Imagine being a menace just by existing. Fun stuff, amirite?

I’m sure nothing bad will come from pushing Joshua to try even harder than he already was.

Nothing bad for him, probably pretty bad for everyone else.

Oh well, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: What do you think our boy wants with the fancy schmancy devil powers?

See you.

PS: I forgot to mention, but I'll be dropping a Character Sheet updated to chapter 215 in the Discord server.