Ok but can we get low honor Arthur😭😭😭🫶🫶🫶 need to see lh Arthur in his acts of service moments, maybe he does something special for reader like bringing their fav candy or something ??? Him being an awkward weenie abt it lmaooo ❤️❤️❤️ ty queen love you 💓
- @red-doll-face 😳
꒰ ୨ৎ ꒱ ── arthur is ignorant, mean, ugly, and nasty!!! a.m ౨ৎ ⋆ ｡ ˚
he's been mean to u. he was very mean, again. he's was gone for camp for weeks, and when he finally turned up, u questioned him and.. he didn't take that too kindly as she snapped at u. which caused a small argument between the two of u. the first serious argument that the two of u ever had.
it's been days since the fight, and he's been avoiding again. u have been head down in chores to be fair. arthurs been in and out of camp more often than usual, returning with more anger, more and more blood on his hands. u heard from mary-beth that he's been killing a lot more folk and u knew the reason why. he just wasn't a man to express his feelings. properly.
adding onto mary-beth's words, the argument between the two of u made him a little worse. mercy wasnt really a tjing in his life nor did he have any remorse, not even a second thought... nothing. arthur didn't care whose blood was on his hands, as long as he got what he wanted.
and yet, he wouldn't show that side of him to u. that was reserved fire outside of camp, never in front of u. but he did have the habit of saying very hurtful things out of anger, and he always tells u that he doesn't mean it. that it just slips out.
but one thing he knew for sure is that ur his girl. his woman. and he'd never let that change at all. u were his and be was urs and he qas never gonna let u go!
“babydoll?.. y'in here?” he asked, his tone with his usual gruffness, and soon his landed on u, watching u shimmy out of ur clothes, lesving on ur chemise. “mhm, im here.” the sound of his footsteps made u look up at him with the same heart eyes u looked up at him with when u fell in love with him. despite that, he felt ur uneasiness.
but this was maybe the first time that u have seen the big, bad arthur morgan... nervous? awkward?
this was strange, odd, even. arthur was never the type of man to apologise, not ever. he was the type to upset u till he maybe had enough, or he'd give u some pathetic sorry that u know he didn't mean. he sat down in front of u, and he took ur hands in his, his thumb rubbing circles on ur hands. “i jus- i know how yer feelin, ive been busy, but i... take this.” he took something out his pocket.
ur eyes widen slightly as it set on the flower in his hand. a ghost orchid, from the southern bayou. it's one of ur favourite flowers, u always adored the wiry, white petals. it was one of ur favourite flowers too. u took the flower out of his hand before u took it towards ur face.
“oh, arthur...”
“what? do ya ain't like it?-” “nono! no, arthur- i love it! its so pretty.. you really went there? just for a flower?”
arthur kissed ur hand, his way of apologising. he was never the man to say sorry and u knew that. “'course i would. yer my woman, ain't ya?” he replied with that smirk on his face. u knew u should've still be upset, mad, angry at him for being so mean to u. he still hasn't properly given u an apology and that's what u most so desperately wanted.
“im...”
he was so awkward that it almost out a smile on ur face.
“... im sorry. didnt mean to get so nasty with ya.. thought the flower would make ya feel better.” and a smile couldn't help but form at ur face, listening to his words. he finally apologised for his actions, something that a coyote wouldn't ever do but maybe they aren't all that bad? u were just relieved he felt guilty for what he did.
“i forgive you, arthur- its okay.” u reply, giving his hand a squeeze as the smile remains on ur face. u can tell that he did feel something or he wouldn't being doing this. he wouldn't give u a flower that he knew was ur favourite, not unless he felt bad and u knew he did. u placed the flower by ur cot before leaning down, kissing his lips.
finding out that the guy who you purposely cut out of your life, now goes to the same school as you was NOT on your bingo card this year.
you’ve now become even more cautious. Wearing a hat and a mask in hopes of hiding your identity, glancing side to side in the hallways. It’s a bit ridiculous really, he respected the way you wanted to end things despite your lack of reason and it’s not like you insulted him either…at least not that you know of. But still, there’s something dangerous about lee donghyuck and you’d rather not venture into that territory... again. You liked your routines, you talk to the same people everyday, you go to classes, you did NOT need him to ruin that.
letting out a heavy sigh you didn’t know you were holding, you make it to the door of your chemistry class, you feel someone tap your shoulder as you try and open the door. With your heart beating you slowly turn around to see Jeno, Professor Kim’s TA who, according to everyone in class, is the hottest TA they’ve ever seen. Most of the time he just sits at the front of the room or hands out tests and assignments with a smile. You used to think it was annoying, he’s handing you hell on paper with the sweetest smile. But, you’ve grown to like it as there really is something comforting about it.
“um hi?” jeno says taking you away from your thoughts.
“hi?” you’re a little confused as to why he’s talking to you, thinking you’ve done an assignment wrong or failed the quiz professor kim gave the other day, you instantly start to panic.
“Y/N right?” jeno asked taking you away from your thoughts again.
“yeah, did i do something wrong?”
“oh nono! nothing” jeno smiles at you “actually i wanted to ask something! um i have a friend. He recently transferred to NCityU and is looking to speak to a fellow pharmacy student. I know you’re taking this class as a requirement for the degree so-“ an arm wraps around jeno’s shoulder taking him by surprise.
your breath stops.
as you look at him, your heart starts to beat. you pray he doesnt recognize you under the mask or the hat. Already preparing to decline jeno’s offer, he suddenly steps away from jeno and closer towards you.
“hey y/n, how’s it going?” you stay silent at first, frozen, words stuck in your throat. “hello?? earth to y/n” haechan says waving a hand in front of your face.
“s-sorry, hi…i’m fine how are you?”
“good! doing better now actually” he smiles at you, a small dimple showing up.
God you hate this. “i have to go i’m sorry class is starting soon it was nice seeing you donghyuck” “wait y-“ too late. You walk into the room, as haechan stares through the window watching you practically run to your seat.
“dude i had that in the bag, i was going to get her contact info for you. you freaked her out” jeno sighs from the side.
“i’ll get her contact info myself thanks”
“how? she can barely even look at you, i’ll give u 10 bucks if you manage to actually hold a conversation with her” jeno’s smug expression makes haechan laugh.
confident he stares through the window watching as you silently type away at your phone “well u better give me that 10 bucks now. i managed to get her to like me before and i never even met her in real life. what more now that she gets to experience all THIS in person.” he winks at jeno who gives him a disgusted expression in return.
“that might be the reason why she liked you in the first place, because she never actually MET you in real life.” jeno laughs preparing to enter the room.
haechan flips him off as he walks away.
with a slight skip to his walk, he smiles at his decision to move to this university. Determined, he sets a goal for himself.
note: currently preparing to travel to america for the first time to see dreamies!! so i apologize for late uploads coming up! ive been out and about doing last minute things :/ but! still hope u guys enjoy this written chapter :)
IM UP AND AWAKE BEWARE, and ive beought with me a suitcase full of cat stuff.. just- let me,,
Kitty Xiao does thta needing thing but with claws(just like Winter, my cat.. i do wonder if she does love me or not bc sometimes im awake and on a holiday so i try to grind on genshin but when in co-op she just loves to do the needing thing to my thighs and she’s standing and i cant see and poor Xiao gets killed😭 does she hate Xiao or smth??) ANYWAY we all know that Xiao uses his claws, but what about little Qiqi? Well.. she doenst do that, not bc she doesnt love you nono, but because she prefers to express her live through napping with or beside you. And by rubbing her little head against your leg with little meows of content and jwhsuwqjsqidjswidjwskdj definitely isnt a tactic she uses to get extra food :D
ALSO YES cat Xiao, like i said, is your little cat protecter. And he watches you from atop his cat tower for sure. mhmhm yes yes. And then there is Qiqi who just joins him up there for a sleep. Kitty Qiqi is just a tired feline. Has Kitty Xiao ever thrown any of your stuff before? Yes. Many times on during the days of his first stay at your home. Luckily it was all non-important and easily replaceable..
Kittie Qiqi and Xiao who come over to comfort you when your crying or sad, Qiqi’d rub her head on your arm or side, while Xiao would just stay still and sit beside you. Idk i just.. i like it when my cat does that..
OH OH AND AND ANNNNDDDDDDD- Lets say Cat Xiao can like turn into a human form of sorts, yea? okay cool. Now use your imagination and imagine.. Cat Xiao when human still has cat ears that match his hair, the weird green/teal stripes on his cat form become tattoos. Does he have control ove rthis power? yes.. no.. yesnt, sometimes when your petting him he probably lets out a rare purr snd poof suddenly he’s a human male with cat ears and a content, soft closed-eyes smile on his face. When he realizes his face turns red and he’d be back to a cat and avoids you for the rest of the day. :) He has clothes on, obviously.
Its always such a surprise when he turns back to humand and though he’s stayed at your house for awhile, you always jump or yelp when the loud Poof happens
Can Qiqi do that? Ehhhh probably no.. she’d probably just be a normal cat
-🦫 behold, my brainrot. Oh and, i remember that cat-human Xiao drawing someone sent. Imagine that.
suddenly reminded of the grumpy kitty!xiao drawing... i never did think about the idea of him switching back to a human form BUT THE KITTY EARSSKSJDNSJD 🥺🥺
god the thought of xiao pushing shit off of shelves out of spite¥#&@*#,#*# imagine spraying a demon disguised as a fucking cat with a water bottle. like that's killing me rn; he wants to look like a cat then he gets treated like one, STOP PUSHING PLANTS OVER-
and qiqi.. maybe she does have a human form but she doesn't like it much -- either way, she's often sleeping ☝🏾 also since she's good at retrieving herbs, can you imagine qiqi helping you make herb mixtures ... carrying plants in her tiny mouth BYEEYESHD
Dragon Raja IV - Chapters 13 - 15 + epilogue (Abridged)
Hi everyone, sorry for taking so long to post the last part, I had a lot of work this week.
BTW, since it's over, I put the whole novel summary on a PDF document, which you can download from here.
Previous Chapters
Chapter 13
The nurse at the mental hospital couldn't believe her eyes when Luminous came back and requested to be admitted in his old room. He asked for his usual injection and went back to his not-so-favorite video game level.
In his vision, he kept accelerating far away form the swarm of death servitors, everything went according to plan and they still had lots of time to spare. He made many excuses to Nono in an attempt to justify his incredible performance, in the radio, there was a very strange song, Luminous recognized it, the name was "Daily Growing" by the folk group Altan, it was the same song that Johann and his father heard before they ran into Odin.
Nono was confused, Luminous just seemed to know way too many things. He knew about the damaged tire, about every safe route, the reach of the Nibelungen and the presence of a small, strange building hiding in the distance. It was the Media Asia Group building, according to Finger, this is the place where Nono found Chu Tianjiao's home. If this was a Nibelungen, an exact copy of the room should be there as well, still intact.
There was nothing surprising about the small place, but that was intentional. A person like Tianjiao was probably trained against people with skills like Nono's, so there had to be a secret compartment or a hidden door. He lifted the bed and there it was!
Mr Chu managed to create an underground bunker for himself. There was a bigger, more comfortable bed, a record player with Elvis Presley's discs and leather jackets. Luminous wanted to be more like this stylish man every second he spent there.
He noticed a bunch of pictures hanging from a string. Tianjiao spend a lot of time making copies of photographs from his family, but he wasn't in them, there was another man next to his wife and his son, but he used chemicals to erase him from the images. He also wrote small phrases dedicated to his wife in the back of the photos, like:
"This is the first year since you left me, you look good"
"This is the third year, you're getting fat"
"Fifth year, I don't have time to think of you anymore"
"Sixth year. ...but I still miss you".
The rest of the walls were filled with images and documents connected by red strings. Multiple events were listed in them, including the fall of Black Swan Bay in 1991 and the Greenland incident from November 7, 2002. These events related to dragon sightings and awakenings all led to a specific incident: The resurrection of the Black king Nidhogg. Even to the other dragon overlords, Nidhogg is a god-like existence, and its words are taken as prophecies. Chu Tianjiao was the city's watchman, he came to that place with a special purpose, but he mistakenly fell in love with a young dancer. They got married and had a child, they were happy, but he knew very well that he couldn't give them a peaceful life, so he signed the divorce papers and watched her take Johann away and marry a different man. While that family went to amusement parks and movie theaters, Tianjiao stayed on his underground room thinking about the fate of mankind.
Luminous memorized as much as he could from Tianjiao's investigation and went back with Nono, he kept driving and they entered the empty city, the lights were still on and the amusement park shined like a neon show.
- I always wanted to be in a Nibelungen, but I didn't expect it to be like this.
- How did you think it would be?
- Distorted, scary, definitely not this beautiful.
They looked up and they saw Odin, standing on top of the clock tower, Nono raised a gun and pointed at him but Luminous held it down, telling her not to disturb him, they kept driving silently and the god didn't notice their presence.
Luminous took her to a shopping mall, where they entered a department store and he gave her a dry change of clothes. This was still strange to her, he already knew her size, he never stopped looking at his watch and somehow he also picked an outfit that she liked (a pair of burgundy sports trousers and a fleece hoodie).
He gave her a cup of hot coffee and he suggested they waited on an empty movie theater while they waited for help.
Nono waited uncomfortable in front of the screen, Luminous picked up a random movie from the projector room, it was Wall·E, the second film roll to be exact, so the film started from the halfway point. The movie slowly relaxed her and she started chewing popcorn while they waited.
- I've been here before, haven't I?.
This was the theater where she rescued him from a failed love confession to Wenwen, before taking him to sign his Cassell admission papers. Actually, Luminous was watching Wall·E with his fellow literature club members. All of these were deliberate choices, he only picked the second half of the movie because they didn't have enough time to watch it from the start.
- You have been here, you have experienced all the things we are experiencing now and I have lived this moment many times.
Nono was a profiler, it wasn't that easy to trick her, so he admitted the truth. At 12:00am, Nono was going to die, like every other time.
- This dream will become a reality. I have repeatedly entered this dream just to find a way to save you, but I couldn't find it.
- If you can't find a way to save me, why don't you save yourself instead?
- My senior brother said that he always regretted leaving his father here alone, that feeling of regret is so terrible, it made him want to go back and die right there.
- Don't say such disgusting things, if this is really my end I will accept it.
The answer became obvious, the only way to escape this Nibelungen was for one person to stay behind and die. As the movie reached its climax, a spear broke through the screen, Nono didn't move, Luminous didn't move.
- No, senior sister, this will not be you end, it will be mine.
Chapter 14
Luminous opened his eyes, it was still a quiet summer night, he slid a small knife that he bought at the convenience store and ripped the straitjacket open. The hospital personnel were resting in different rooms so he sneaked out with ease.
His last attempt was the 108th, none of them managed to give him the perfect ending that he desperately chased. The old man with the tricycle was waiting for him outside, Luminous got on the small bike and drove away. The security guard couldn't believe it when he saw the same tricycle pass by for a third time that night, straight into the elevated road.
Luminous reached the old Asia Group building, now flooded and filled with rubble and mud. He managed to find the secret door and found the insides half-submerged as well, but not everything was ruined, he located a small metal suitcase in the corner that was filled with multiple weapons, including a revolver, a tactical shotgun and a Uzi submachine gun.
All seemed to indicate that this equipment came directly from Cassell College, an academy that never bothered to mention Tianjiao's existence.
In his way out, he picked one of the photographs that managed to survive the flood, it portrayed a family of three. Johann was probably five years old and his expression was as emotionless as usual, his robot face wasn't the result of some traumatic event after all, it came with him from the moment he was born. In the corner, Tianjiao wrote some words as well: "Stay like this, not crying, just looking into the distance".
This arsenal was strong, but insignificant in front of a being like Odin. Ming·Z·Lu showed up to offer one last gift.
Something for nothing, 50% fusion.
Luminous was familiar with that sensation, his nerves burned and the depths of his mind seemed to be cracked open, the pain was bigger than any human can endure, but once it was over, there was a feeling of euphoria, a need to fight. His senses increased immensely, he could now distinguish every single drop in the middle of the rainfall. This usually costed him a full quarter of his life but now it was... Free?
He finally heard the distorted noises of the death servitors, it sounded like the crying of babies. The wall of water and wind that protected Odin became visible, the black figure mounted an eight legged horse. He was in the Nibelungen again, this time he didn't plan to turn around.
Luminous approached them and parked the tricycle next to the Maybach, he stood in front of Odin and the god stayed silent. The words "You are finally here" were not uttered this time, he was right, Odin was waiting for Nono, but he didn't bring her this time, Luminous's presence was meaningless to his rival.
Odin kept staring at the end of the road, waiting for Chen Motong to appear and show her face.
- This is the right way to start the game, my senior sister is not here, only you and me, only one of us can leave this place alive!
He was vey happy, he finally played the god. He slowly grabbed a spear rocket launcher from the tricycle, the little devil was as reliable as always. The servitors immediately recognized the destructive potential of the weapon and tried to disperse, but Luminous opened fire first and scattered their shadowy remains on the road.
He saw his face in a puddle, the crazy expression of Ming·Z was now his own, like every other time they fused, it felt like this was his true nature. Weapon after weapon he ran out of ammo, some servitors sneaked behind him and sliced his torso with their claws, if it wasn't for the bulletproof vest that Tianjiao left in his suitcase, Mingfei would have died already.
A shot of his last gun, a M500 revolver finally broke one of the servitor's masks. He hadn't seen one of those faces since his mission in Japan, their skin was covered in scales and their teeth were long and alien-shaped. Odin gave them black robes and masks to use them as his personal servants. Odin was definitely different to every other dragon king he had faced before, they were all savage and aggressive, but this one was stoic and dressed like a figure of mythology, unless...
That was it! Odin wasn't a dragon disguised as a mythical character, Odin, the myth himself has been a dragon all along. The secret party had misread norse mythology, now it was clear that it narrated the history of the dragon clan and it was written by the dragons themselves. Every god was in fact a dragon king, in those myths, the main antagonist of Nidhogg was Odin. This god had already foreseen the coming of the end of the world, the so-called twilight of the gods, where the world tree would wither.
The suppressed Nidhogg will rise in the air, ready for revenge, it will destroy everything and ruin the kingdom of the gods. Therefore, Odin prepared himself for this battle, ordering the Valkyrie goddesses to gather the heroes's souls and place them in the Hall of Valor to assist him in resisting the black dragon. If the norse myths are indeed dragon history, the hall of valor must represent a place filled with countless dragon cocoons and embryos waiting to be awakened.
This information, this great secret was about to be buried there with him if he didn't survive this battle. Nono was probably packing, ready to leave with Finger and go back to Cassell, for whatever reason Odin needed her, she would be out of his reach, he just needed to endure and Odin was still as invincible as ever. Making a deal with Ming·Z was inadmissible, giving the little devil enough power to materialize could bring an immeasurable catastrophe. The boy appeared in front of him.
- Brother, you finally asked to see me, do you want to... Shake my hand?
The multitude of servitors overwhelmed him, he contemplated dying there, it wouldn't be so bad, just very lonely. With a loud bang! the strongest servitor flew out and fell motionless on the mud.
A red BYD car swiftly parked next to him, a hand came out of the window and shot the three closest servitors, that was Finger, of course it was him!
- Drive faster! Why the fuck are you here?
- What do I know? I was eating dumplings with your aunt and the hospital called to tell me you were gone!
Finger placed a tracking device on Luminous just like he did with Nono and saw his trace disappearing in the highway, so he went to investigate and entered the Nibelungen by accident.
- Don't get confused by my F-Rank rating, I started as an A-rank, remember?
Flammel tasked Finger with helping Luminous to prove Johann's existence, he didn't remember the young hybrid either, but he trusted Anjou, and Anjou believed in the importance of Luminous more than anyone. Not everyone on Cassell gave up on him after all.
- Don't drive away, we can't escape!
- I thought you told me to drive faster!
- Yes I did, but I meant towards Odin!
The servitors quickly realized what they were intending to do, so they formed a barrier in front of their master. Finger pressed a button on the car and one mini-gun came out of each side of the vehicle.
- The equipment department makes phones that double as grenades, you think they can't make 007's car?
The gatling guns opened fire on the crowd of servitors, effectively cleaning the way. Finger put the car on self destruct mode and got ready to jump out, Luminous got on the roof, aiming his knife at Odin. The car hit Odin's water barrier and exploded, the shockwave soared into the sky, filled with flames. Luminous jumped and managed to pass through, and with a swift move, he pierced through Odin with the blade, just like Tianjiao attempted to do many years before.
Every servitor stopped their movements, Odin's scores started dropping down immediately and his body got split in two. There had to be something wrong with that, there's no way he would fall to his death so easily. Luminous took the god's skull and removed the mask, under it, the face of a death servitor greeted him instead, the others started crying and laughing at them. Odin's only goal is Nono, it had always been Nono, this was a trap and he was already on his way to get her.
Chapter 15
Nono was sitting next to Su Xiaoyan's bed, peeling an apple. The woman happily ate the bonbons that Nono brought for her as a gift.
- Nono, how is your mother doing?
- She's fine, she's still working and always asks me when I'll get married but I just don't tell her.
Nono had to make up that story, but at that moment she really felt like Xiaoyan's niece. She checked the woman's medical records, apparently the doctors thought she was schizophrenic and amnesiac, as long as Nono played her role well, the medical personnel would think Xiaoyan's amnesia made her forget about her relative.
Because Nono brought Bonbons, Xiaoyan recognized her immediately and happily accepted her gift.
She had been there since her son's death, she lost track of time, to the point where she felt like she had been there for three or four months, when in reality, seven years had passed. Not many people visited her in that time, her husband would take her home for a few days every now and then, but those events became less and less usual. Of course, Nono was there for a reason, without Tianjiao's apartment, her only remaining clue was Johann's mother, but the woman wasn't very open about her life. Nono's ability allowed her to put puzzles together, but Xiaojiao kept messing up the pieces.
- Did your former husband treat you well?
- He couldn't make enough money and he was very unmotivated, playing foolish all day long, I had enough of him!
- But he's handsome, and he's probably still breaking hearts.
- How do you know that he's handsome? You haven't seen him before.
- Of course I have, I remember hugging my uncle!
- Come on, do you really think I'm that broken? I know I don't have a niece.
- Then why didn't you tell the doctor?
- Because you're so pretty, and I like to chat with pretty girls, there's no one else here to chat with me, and you don't look like a bad person either.
Nono was genuinely surprised, so she declared her intentions straight on, she wanted to know more about Chu Tianjiao, but his ex-wife didn't seem to know a lot about him either, he would constantly lie about his past and alternate between multiple versions of the story.
- Sometimes he told me that he was a great spy, and that he came here to complete a task, and I believed him, without a clue of his salesman-like nature!
- And you still married him?
- He was handsome, and I was young.
Xiaoyan didn't express any regret in divorcing him, she'd rather be with someone she could rely on, but there was something else she could not explain.
- But he seems to have left something behind with me, a very important thing, I just can't remember it.
- What is it?
- I said I can't remember it, I've been thinking about it for a very long time.
- What kind of thing?
- A very important thing, I must find it, it would be very bad if I didn't.
A burst of cold wind opened the windows and made them shiver, Nono stood up and went to close them but she noticed something strange, the flowers on the outside were all withered, black petals flew through the room, she closed the window as fast as she could, something bad had happened and the air outside smelled of death.
She took out a desert eagle from her bag and stopped Xiaoyan from screaming, the woman relied on her intuition to understand that Nono wasn't going to hurt her. The place was silent and the lights flickered, the instinctive feeling of being alert that came from true isolation soon got a hold of her. She and Xiaoyan got out of the room, door after door, every doctor and every patient had disappeared.
The rain and the wind rapidly eroded the building. The day was finally here, she had never been in a Nibelungen before, she once regretted not being able to experience it, now Nibelungen came to see her. She didn't knew wether to be nervous or excited.
- Someone, someone is coming. Su Xiaoyan's voice trembled slightly.
The sound of footsteps made an echo in the building, those weren't human steps, that sounded like a few horses were coming their way. The storm, the Nibelungen, the steed, the rider, it seemed to be an ancient king who came with a strong breath of death, and the flowers in the garden withered in front of him. Nono remembered him, she saw his silhouette in the reflection of the glass when she went to Tianjiao's apartment.
The rider didn't seem to know where Xiaoyan's room was and he was checking them one by one. They ran towards the elevator, the rider was on the first floor so they needed to get to the top as fast as they could without the sound of their steps giving away their position. Behind them, the fluorescent lights went out one by one. Nono finally saw the reflection of the elevator's door in a mirror, but when its doors opened, the light of Odin's flames came out.
They ran in the other direction and soon reached the stairs, they ran down but it didn't matter, they were trapped on an endless loop. She shot at the creature but the bullets melted before touching the god's armor. They kept running and Nono kept shooting back but it wasn't buying them any more time, temperatures were rising and there was no way out.
Odin wasn't even in a hurry to reach them, Nono took Xiaoyan in her arms and ran across a hallway, enduring the terrible heat of the floor. She tried to get out through a window, but after opening the curtains she noticed that the whole world outside had changed and she was greeted by the sight of a roman pantheon.
Nono suddenly fell silent, she helped Xiaoyan to sit down on a bench and put her boots on the woman's feet. She noticed something, she was crying, she was remembering.
- There might be a way for you to get out of here by yourself, now tell me, what did Tianjiao left for you exactly?
- It's... A child. I had a son with him, his name is Johann Chu, I can't find my son... I can't find my son!
Xiaoyan was holding a pillow in her arms, the doctor said that she would put this pillow in her belly every morning and happily declare that she was pregnant. Nono took it from her hands and threw it away.
- Since you have a clear memory of him, you don't need this anymore, you will find your son, although I don't know where.
In this world, those who are not lunatics are the ones who were deceived. Luminous and Su Xiaoyan were the craziest because of their link to Johann Chu, to the truth. His mother's mental disorder was not there because she had lost a son seven years ago, a certain god wanted to modify her memory of him and she was resisting. She tied the little pillow to her back because a child is only safe in his mother's body, she sensed that someone was going to hurt her boy, so she wanted to feel like she could protect him.
Nono pushed Xiaoyan into a cubicle next to the ward and told her to keep the door closed until someone came to rescue her. She took Finger's GPS device out of her bag and broke it, expecting Luminous and Finger to arrive there after seeing her signal disappear. Odin arrived, his flames evaporated the strong currents of water and stood in front of her, Nono kept two knives on her back and a desert eagle in each hand.
- Odin!
The creature and his lance were impossible not to identify, the god actually exists.
- You are finally here.
He slowly raised Gungir and a faint white thread appeared, connecting the tip of the spear and Nono's heart. She thought his goal was Xiaoyan, due to her connection to Johann, but she was wrong, Odin's goal was her and only her. No wonder Luminous threw her down in the library, he probably had a foreboding of her death for some reason and tried to save her, his eyes showed a constant state of panic.
She didn't believe him and they put him on a psychiatric institution. She really wanted to tell him that she was sorry, because she had underestimated him.
She had always tried to be there for Luminous, she couldn't deny that she saw a lot of herself in him, this obsession with taking care of her sidekick was so prevalent because she knew how it was like to be powerless, lost and defenseless, but in the most critical moment, she had failed him.
Nono vaguely heard a song, a duet about a father and his daughter, it was coming from somewhere, along with the noise of a car engine. Luminous was coming, that song came from the radio, but how could she hear him? It didn't matter, she felt him presence and she believed it.
- Luminous! Don't you fucking dare to come here!
Nono shot every bullet she had left and they melted on Odin's presence. The lance was thrown and suddenly, the Maybach smashed through the wall, its lights illuminated Nono's eyes. She smiled, the moment she saw him, the cartridge of her gun was empty. The lance had already started its course and Luminous could only see her lips moving:
- I'm sorry
- Ming·Z·Lu! Luminous roared, time slowed down in his eyes
- The little one is here! Ming·Z smiled, Since I promised my brother that I'd try everything!
Come out! Golden saint cloth of the zodiac!, Phase shift armor!, Fierce fist! Seven-fold ring of the blazing sky!, Absolute domain AT Field!.
Every time he yelled a strange name, Luminous froze for a moment, these strange spells were taken directly from anime shows, they were weapons that lined up in front of Odin's lance, even a nuclear explosion could be rejected by them.
- What are you doing?
- I don't really know what tricks would work so I'm doing all of them!
Ming·Z kept casting spells, the speed of the lance was indeed affected but it never stopped nor it changed its trajectory.
- Hurry up brother, run!
Nono tried to yell, telling Luminous to stay away, but her mouth moved too slowly. Luminous ran past Odin and past the lance. The seven-fold ring was the strongest defense against projectiles, every time the Gungir lance pierced through a layer, it made a loud noise. Nono dropped the empty gun, she didn't have the strength to wield her knives. The spear hadn't arrived yet, and she was already like a lamb crucified on an altar.
Gungir hit the final defense, the sound was almost glass shattering.
- I couldn't stop it, even with the last layer. Give her a hug, kiss her! This is going to be your last chance! I'll buy as much time as possible for you!
Ming·Z made another barrier but the lance broke it, the little devil's hands were splashed with blood and they stained his bow tie, but he didn't care and looked at his side as an indifferent Luminous passed by and stood in front of Nono. He never managed to change the events, just the scenery. Gungir pierced through Ming·Z's chest.
- Brother, I tried my best
- It's ok, I'm here as well.
Luminous wasn't going to hug or kiss Nono, he was there to take her place. He could clearly feel his heart being cut open. The spear hadn't even touched his skin and his body had begun to carbonize and turn black, showing a rare struggle, burning it inch by inch.
- No! No! No! Nono struggled to stand up and pull the lance away from him.
- Don't come near me!
The lance tried to go through him, but it only managed to pin him against the wall. Nono shivered slightly and tears slowly ran down her face, but she didn't realize that she was crying. She always wanted him to grow up and go his own way, to use any advantage she might have over him to push him forward, but now the person who was crying on the floor was her.
- Senior sister, are you okay? It's okay.
Luminous raised his head, half of his head and body were carbonized, the cracks at the end of his lips extended all the way to the roots of his ears. He was really happy, because he finally managed to achieve his goal. He didn't want to live with the regret of losing her, he had seen Johann's own regret already.
Odin wasn't pleased, the god roared as he realized he had missed his chance. Luminous whispered:
- Ming·Z·Lu...
- Brother, I am here, you really found a method to stop the lance!
- In this world, only a monster can stop a monster, and I am the biggest monster in the world...
- Yes, you are the biggest monster in the world, brother! You are awesome! Then, are you ready to make the last deal? I can't do much against the lance, but I can take care of the monster behind it, the little devil is good at this dirty work!
Luminous stared at him and asked for two conditions:
- Kill Odin, but also take Nono back to safety.
- Alright but hurry up! That guy is almost here!
Sleipnir's eight legs made a thunderous sound, the dragon subspecies that Odin mounted carried its master into the room. Luminous raised his blood-soaked hand and gave the little devil a high-five. Ming·Z's figure suddenly appeared in the night sky, this time he stopped laughing and opened his arms. He looked like a suspended cross.
- Something for nothing, 100% fusion.
He breathed deeply, as if he wanted to inhale all of the world's air into his lungs. Sharp bone spurs protruded from his body and he was covered in black scales. Huge black wings sprung from his back and he took flight, diving down, his image poured into Luminous's body.
The carbonized skin quickly peeled off, he experienced musculoskeletal growth and deformation and the sound of a glacier cracking was heard across the hospital.
The black wings were opened and Gungir was ejected from his chest. Sleipnir couldn't move a single inch closer to them, because Luminous placed his hand on the horse's chest. Nono stared blankly at him, because she couldn't tell if the monster in front of her was a friend or an enemy, but Luminous stared back at her.
- Sister, don't be afraid, as long as I live, you'll be fine.
After two years, Chen Motong saw the devil that rescued her from the bottom of the Three Gorges Dam once again. She remembered how he held her, his childlike fear and his voice.
Don't die, don't die, don't die... Don't Die!
- So it was you...
But Luminous didn't hear those words at all, he rushed to Odin, at the flash of lightning, the monsters that had been in conflict with each other so many times, leaving countless disasters, clashed once again, and the claws and the sword stained the place red and black.
They roared, they fought, a war between kings that can only be ended by death.
Epilogue
On the elevated road, Finger stopped for a moment to catch his breath. This guy is usually slacking and his posture is erratic. The death servitors are struggling to even reach his clothes.
There should be half a marathon left before he can lose them, however, the physical strength of those things is almost unlimited.
Seeing him stop, a group of servitors suddenly became excited and the baby-like cries they made reached the heavens. A girl in a black outfit and a gauze mask appeared in front of him, a ninja.
- How did you know I was here?
- I have a radar for pretty girls... Can you handle that many servitors?
Mai Sakatoku drew two small blades.
- Those are too many, I'm specialized in assassination, not group combat. It's a pity that the other two girls are not here...
- Then I hope I can help.
He had a sword in his hand, the mirror-like Murasame suddenly turned black, the black blade light soon extended all the way to his body and the rain around it evaporated. Mai was surprised by the brutality of the sword, but Finger remained indifferent.
- What kind of sword is that?
- Murasame, have you never heard of the Dragon Slayer of Fire? Then you are really kind, but a bit ignorant, my friend!
After saying that, he jumped and cut off the elevated road.
Long time no see bread. It is I, again, the one who is always watching and hungry : SOVIPER ANON
*EVIL LAUGH*
Can I have, maybe, just asking, only if you want to, some arguing with a cute end? Maybe my couple being really passive-agressive but loving each other in the end...
And if you keep writing this amazing stuff, I'LL BE BACK
*EVIL LAUGH* *SMOKE* *SOVIPER ANON OUT*
[ sova x viper IV ]
✎↷: AHHH ITS TEAM ROCKET
well you know if you put it this way, i can’t really say no! let me just say, soviper anon, when i got the request about if i had any soviper content, i snorted to myself and thought of you. yeah! you’re that special, friend! anwyays, enjoy the ship content! didn’t reread this one over tooo much since i had it packed away for a few days now :D
As Viper watches Sova’s blonde hair whip down the hallway in a flurry of stomps and muttered curses, she knows she’s done something wrong.
Well— it wasn’t wrong in her eyes. All she had done was suggest that his owl could be improved by lacing his tracking dart with poison. It was more lethal, wasn’t it? If he could subdue someone while they worked, they’d get stacks of progress done instead of needing to beat around the bush.
Somehow, her partner has gotten offended by it. She already knows that his inventions are held dear to him, given his own cybernetic eye, but what’s the harm in an idea for improvement? He told her it ‘wasn’t that simple’ and ‘not everything needed to be a nuclear weapon’, and Viper brushed him off. It’s dumb and petty to her, so she doesn’t see the need to stop the Russian when he runs away. It’s not her fault that he’s upset.
The guilt welcomes itself into her mind when Sova doesn’t show up to dinner that night. She’s brooded on her own for nearly the whole day, taut and put at her wit’s end as she reevaluated their conversation over and over again. Viper was now stationed in the living room with Reyna, her plate of food pulled into her lap. There wasn’t much chatter between them beside the idle remark, but Viper couldn’t ignore the deep stare that the Mexican was giving the American, as if she was being observed. It frustrated her.
When it eventually got to be too annoying for Viper, her head snapped up, eyes venomous. “What are you looking at?” She gruffed, tone harsh ended and sharp.
Reyna didn’t even flinch. “Someone is upset today. What’s the matter, serpentine?”
Viper placed her dinner down, stomach twisted into sour knots. She did not need the woman pressing on her, especially when Sova was still MIA.
“What could you possibly get out of hearing it? Some reassurance that at least one of us has a life?”
Chuckling, the purple haired woman disbelievingly shook her head and ran a clawed hand through her mane. Reyna was always painfully— and obnoxiously— smug about the amusement she got out of seeing Viper’s frustrations.
However, it doesn’t take much for Reyna to continue, thoroughly entertained by Viper’s ruffled feathers. “Ay, nono, hermanita. Nothing like that,” she grinned, leaning forward with a hand beneath her chin. “The owl is not here today, is he?”
The tense of Viper’s hands answer the question for her.
Her gaze sharpens, and Reyna resembles a predator ready to prey. “Trouble in paradise, I see.”
This is more than what Viper will ever come to handle, but she’d be damned if she admitted that Sova’s peaceful ways have begun to rub off on her.
(He would be delighted to hear that. It’s not everyday where you turn a war criminal into a slightly safer, more peaceful murderer.)
“It’s none of your business,” she grumbled instead, stubbornly chewing on a forkful of lettuce. Reyna is pleased with this reaction, if her tittering beside the woman is any indication.
“I should express empathy for the others in our little group, don’t I? This includes the boy of yours.” Slipping from her seat, Reyna rises to refill her glass of water. She knows Viper is listening to her because of the vehement stare that bores itself into the back of her head, lasering through the flesh.
When Reyna turns around to face Viper again, the American is already rising out of her seat and making a beeline for the exit of the living room. It’s laughable at how on edge this woman is at a pointlessly minuscule conversation, but she’s trying her best and her ‘stabilizer’ isn’t there, so someone help her.
“You are yet to talk to him, no? I have heard that apologies are useful in situations like these— unless you plan on lurking around like a measly rat.”
Viper doesn’t take these words well, scowling at the doorway with her face pulling into a frown. “You don’t know him like I do. I would suggest that you’d stay out of it, vampire.”
Reyna sleazed over the countertop, a smug expression on her face. “Oh, but I do? Sabine, you must learn with the softer ones. Sage may play hard to get with me, but it does not mean she avoids me. You on the other hand..”
At this point, she’s heard enough and she flees the living room for a quieter, emptier space. On a normal day, it’s not difficult to block out Reyna’s charms and her games. They both know this. And yet she finds herself bothered, flames of guilt licking up the insides of her stomach as she comes to stop in front of the very doors that she’s been dreading the most.
She needs to start somewhere. Somewhere is... here.
Her knuckles rap against the door, and the scientist paced up and down the hallway while she waits like the maniac she is. In fact, she’s so caught up in it that she doesn’t realize when the door opens with her lover’s head peeking out of it.
Sova doesn’t look too tired, in her observation. His skin retains brightness, and his hair is still fluffy and thick. He looks fine, in all regards, but she knows he’s not. It never is.
“Hi,” she musters after a moment of silence. Sova gets this look of conflict, and before she’s able to say any more, he sighs and opens the door wider, granting her entree.
Sova’s room is something she’s well acquainted with by this point, but she doesn’t have the courage to sit down and make herself at home like the other times. Viper stands numbly in the middle of the room, observing Sova go about his life.
Abruptly, he clears his throat, which may have scared her out of her skin if she wasn’t caught up in the storm that was her mind. Right, she was here for a reason.
“I am... sorry.” Viper admits slowly, arms closing in over her chest. “I didn't mean to upset you, owl. I am unsure of where I messed up, but I hope you know that I take full accountability for it. Whatever it may be.”
Her head dips sincerely, and while it feels wrong to speak in such a vulnerable way, Sova looks ecstatic. His eyes widen like he hadn’t expected that and seriously, who would when it comes to the untouchable Viper? She was called that for a reason.
The Russian engulfs the smaller American woman, and Viper’s clearly put off if not surprised by the physical contact. An apology doesn’t typically incite or encourage affection, according to her observations. Normally, emotions boil and spark at the very sight of one, but Sova defies her standards by the simple way his fingers tenderly held onto the sides of her hips. How expected of him.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal,” he mumbles, but Viper gives him a pointed look and the man concedes. Sova looks softer than ever like this, and what it does to these.. stirring emotions in her chest, she isn’t fully sure.
Viper’s thumb presses along Sova’s collarbone. “Then what was it, Sova?”
He goes quiet, either savoring the embrace or thinking about what he was going to say next. It happened to be both.
“I don’t want a mean bird.”
She blinks. Once, then twice.
“..what?”
Sova shies away, his face pinker when he speaks up. “The owl. It means a lot to me. I wouldn’t.. want to see it be used to torment people so much. It’s meant to be cute.”
The last part goes mumbled, and because she’s so close to him, she can make out each and every word. She shouldn’t be rendered speechless by something so.. pathetically and adorably childish, but that’s exactly what ends up happening.
“You’re telling me that you got mad,” she makes a gesture with her hands, tone raising. “just because it’s cute? Really?”
He frowned deeply, like he had a plenty reasonable excuse. “Is that so wrong?”
Viper wants to bite at him and pull her hair out. This built up stress, tension, the boiling, all of it for this little reason. She’s close to blowing her top off when she distinctly remembers that this, although minimal to her, was why she fell for Sova in the first place. How dare her heart betray her in the name of science and humanity? She was disgusted...
...and more cuddly than usual, with her head burrowing itself into the crook of his neck. Sova is still pouty, though he indulges her with a light pat to her back and a chuckle. Viper can’t believe she was tortured the whole day just for this.
“You felt tortured?”
Shit. She didn’t mean to say that out loud.
“..no. It was an exaggeration, owl, think nothing of it.”
A wide smile stretches across his face, giddy and warm and everything that Viper needs to relax. He leans in, placing a kiss against the crease of her hair.
“It’s okay, Sabine! I felt the same way. It’s hard to go about without seeing you by my side.”
Had this been any other scene, I would have thought the the two weren’t well matched. Lu Mingze, who looked like a middle school child on his way to prom, held a frigid and superior glint in his eye, looking at Lu Mingfei like a stork would look at a fish. Lu Mingfei on the other hand, a man in his twenties, held a resolute expression, but the twitch in his wrist revealed his nerves.
“Didn’t I promise you, brother, that you could have anything you want... almost anything, for the price of your body... your soul?” Mingze spoke softly, almost soothingly, like he was trying to persuade someone away from the ledge of a building, while at the same time, not really caring whether or not he jumped. “And haven’t I dealt fairly with you? Right after we got off this boat, did you save Nono and kill the King of Bronze and Fire?”
“Only... I couldn’t give you the credit. So you were still sad and lonely. Even if you couldn’t admit it.”
The young boy gave a bitter laugh, but his eyes were sad, his expression disappointed.
Lu Mingfei said nothing as he listened, but he didn’t smile or joke around. The turbulent wind lifted the waves under the boat and it crashed hard against the rough surf but both kept their balance.
“I could have killed Caesar and given you Nono, but you didn’t want that either. I don’t understand, brother. You could easily have the power to take the victory against all the hybrids in the world. But you would rather fight me to stay in your miserable life? Why?”
“Don’t act like you care about me, little devil.” Lu Mingfei finally spoke and his voice came out as a soft, hoarse whisper. “You only want my soul. You don’t care about how I feel or how miserable my life is. Or else you wouldn’t make such an unreasonable bargain.”
“How is it unreasonable? The amount of power I grant is the greatest in the world. It’s unreasonable to ask for a discount because you’re too cowardly to pay the price.” He said, his voice taking on a hard edge.
“Shut up.” Mingfei’s voice grew softer.
“Alright. You’re the big brother. If you want me to shut up, I will. But we don’t have to be enemies like this.”
I looked to Mingfei. Even though both brandished weapons, neither were eager to be the first to attack.
“Aren’t you going to take revenge on this world that ignores you, puts you down and manipulates you? What have I done to turn you against me and take the side of the world that mistreats you?”
Mingfei’s eyes, which had been downcast and pensive snapped into focus. He crossed the distance between them in a single blurred motion. The blades pressed against each other, squealing as they scraped along their length. “All of this is your fault.”
“Is it?” Mingze suddenly dropped to the floor, landing on the palm of his hand and lifting himself from the deck, drilling both of his feet into Mingfei’s stomach in a flying kick. He let his feet drop and leaped again, slamming his skull into his chin.
Mingfei staggered hard against the railing, dazed, blood tricking from his split lip.
“All of this is my fault?” Mingze stalked forward, crouching low like a prowling lion. “You have no idea of the ways of the world, and even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe it. Everyone around you is telling you... you almost believed them. But she dissuaded you. She lulled you back into your dream. And well... here we are.”
“It’s not me you’re fighting, brother. You’re fighting the truth. I think you know...”
Lu Mingfei wiped the blood from his lip. “If you have something to say, you should say it!”
Mingze stopped his advance. He straightened up, growing cool again. “No... you wont’ believe me. It’s easier to show you.”
He turned and looked at me. He moved unnaturally fast, like a pouncing eagle. But I wasn’t slow either. I caught his arm before he could plunge the knife into my chest.
His smile was absolutely delighted. “You’ve gotten stronger! Amazing!”
I pushed his arm away and kicked hard at his knees, but he was faster. My neck caught his forearm and I was knocked into rail and somersaulted overboard.
I heard Lu Mingfei calling for me but dark tentacles reached up and wrapped around my neck and arms, dragging me into the depths of the water. I could see the moonlight above my head shimmering in the water’s surface. The dark blue began to close in.
“Mingfei!”
I sat up. The world smelled of gasoline and garbage. Where was I now? An alley? I was in a city. A place I didn’t recognize. Across the street, a bright sign advertised an internet cafe in bright Chinese characters, but the cafe was closed.
“Mingfei?”
I gathered myself to my feet. This wasn’t my dream. These had to be Mingfei’s dreams. I was wet, but then again, it was raining. The dirt and the rain mixed together, staining my white skirt. I examined my clothes, wondering why I was wearing these.
Dark shadows suddenly appeared in the entrance of the alley. Four men approached, all of Chinese descent. They sneered at me, licking their lips. One snapped a pocketknife in his hand, opened and closed.
“I’m not a helpless girl.” I told them. “You’d best move along.”
They weren’t listening. They actually started laughing. I pressed my lips together and prepared to fight. Even in the dream world, I was still a hybrid.
I didn’t bother waiting for them to attack first. I went for the knife, grabbing the mans wrist and using his natural twitch response to propel my foot into his face. My momentum carried me over his head. I planted both hands on his shoulders like a gymnast on the bar. My legs opened in a full split, the heads of the men on either side of them making a satisfying crack.
I landed easily and turned to face them again. I expected them to back off but now they seemed to be twice as large. In the blink of an eye, thye’d turned into monsters with batlike wings and eyes that burned like torches. They screeched, lashing out with claws like meat hooks that tore at my clothes and ripped into my skin.
“Meixiu!” Mingfei charged into the group.
But Servitors were nothing to be fighting without heavy weapons or a Soul Skill. He threw a punch that could have split a man’s skull but the Servitor’s head was firm like granite. Instead, it grabbed Mingfei’s arm and sank its teeth into him.
“Meixiu! Run! Run! Get out of here!” Blood gushed down his arm and splattered on the ground. His arc knives made gashes in the flesh of the monsters but he was surrounded and seconds from being overwhelmed.
I couldn’t run. If he died in this dream, he might never wake up! As I ran back into the fray, I heard a voice. “You remember this... don’t you brother?”
Mingze was watching, standing the rain, positively gleeful. “Do you remember what happened?”
I had no idea what he was referring to and I didn’t care. I leaped onto the back of one that was sneaking up behind him and dug my fingers into its eyes.
“Argh!” A spine suddenly protruded from its back and pierced me about a half an inch. I staggered away and landed, falling to my side. The pain was unbearable.
“Damn it!” Mingfei’s voice drew my eyes open. It wasn’t a normal human voice, but deepening and snarling with hatred. I looked up.
Mingfei roared in a fury, his eyes burned molten gold. He grabbed the servitor that had injured me by the head and gave it a savage twist. My stomach turned at the dull gravelly crunch. The servitor collapsed, lying prone, but his head turned completely around, staring into the rain with a permanent expression of surprise.
Mingfei dismantled these creatures, striking their joints into unnatural positions. Each blow made the air tremble and the armored skin of his opponents shattered like glass until he alone stood among writhing bodies, his eyes burning, staring into space.
Mingze was silent, expressionless.
I opened my mouth to call to him, but nothing came out.
I started watching urara meirochou and its one of the gayest things ive ever seen so i fell in love and had to write for it. my fav pairing is chiya and kon... they’re so sweet and gay... love them so much. this is dedicated to @president-himedere i hope u like it tab!!
"Kon!"
Kon turned, met with the sight of Chiya, standing at the end of the bridge she was currently on. Her hair swayed in the wind, and Kon could faintly see stars from the night sky reflecting in her eyes.
Her eyes never left Chiya as the girl approached her, holding an expression that was both determined and laid back. When they were roughly two or three feet apart, she stopped in her tracks, turning to lean against the red wooden railing of the stone bridge.
Kon did the same, looking at the moon's reflection in the flowing water for a moment before turning back to the other girl. "What are you doing here, Chiya?"
"...I wanted to talk to you."
"About?"
"Well, you see..." Chiya turned to face her, the moonlight exaggerating all of her features, making her stand out more. Her hair was flowing in the wind and her eyes were shining brightly as she looked into her eyes. "For a long time now, I've loved y-"
"Kon! Are you listening?"
"H- Huh?"
Nina gave her a look that could be described as annoyed yet concerned. "Are you alright, Kon? You seem distracted."
"Come to think of it, you have been spacing out a lot," Koume commented. "Did something happen?"
"A- Ah, um, no, I'm fine. You can continue with the lesson, Nina-sensei."
Nina sighed. "Well... that was all for today anyway. Kon, if you're not feeling well, make sure you get some rest."
"I'm fine!"
Chiya grabbed her sleeve. "Are you sure? If you don't feel good, I can give you a tummy rub-"
"I- I don't need it! I'm fine!" She blurted, pulling away.
"But it'll feel good-"
"I have to go!" She stormed towards her room, ducking her head in embarrassment.
Once she entered her room, she grabbed her kokkuri paper, folding it and hiding it inside her clothes, along with the coin. She immediately returned to where everyone else was, making her way to the door.
"I'm going on a walk," she stated, leaving before anyone could say anything to her.
After climbing the giant staircase on the outskirts of the city, she sat down in the field, pulling out the kokkuri paper and coin, placing the items on the ground in front of her.
Placing her finger on the coin, she recited the incantation, until she could feel the metal start to move. She was silent for a short moment, debating what to ask. She was here to ask about Chiya, but... it was embarrassing, even if she was talking to a fox spirit.
"...Will things turn out the way I want?"
She silently waited as the coin started to move, sliding over different letters to form words.
"...Maybe? T- Then... what can I do to make it a yes?"
The coin started to move again, guiding Kon's finger across the paper.
"Play... your... cards... right? E- Er... is this supposed to help me?" Kon had forgotten how vague kokkuri could be at times.
With a sigh, she recited the parting chant, so that she could safely remove her finger from the coin, and hide the items in her clothes again.
"What a pain..." she murmured, sitting down on the top step of the staircase that led to town. She had held meaningful conversations with the fox spirit before, but sometimes it felt as though it were just messing with her, trying to annoy her.
It was possible that it was just tired of Kon's roundabout ways of asking questions. But still, she didn't want to embarrass herself by blatantly asking a fox spirit for love advice. Plus, she didn't want to bother it or make it angry. She would figure it out herself.
...Or that's what she thought, at least. She still didn't know what to do. Impatiently, she pulled out the paper again, staring at it. "...It wouldn't get annoyed... would it? I'm sure other people have asked it more pointless questions before..."
Kon thought back to when Chiya asked it whether it preferred to have its belly rubbed or its back.
"...Never mind, it's definitely been asked more stupid questions before."
Giving in, Kon returned to where she had been sitting in the field earlier, laying out the paper for the second time and placing the coin near the top. Repeating the incantation with her finger carefully staying on the coin, she felt it begin to move again.
"Does..." She struggled to keep her voice clear. "Does Chiya... Would Chiya ever like me, like, as more than a friend?"
The coin moved, forming the word "possibly."
Kon took a deep breath. "Is there any way of knowing that she could like me?"
Painfully slowly, the coin slid across the letters, telling her the story of what happened in a recent summoning, when Koume removed her finger from the coin too early, which allowed the fox spirit to possess her, and then Nono, and eventually Kon. It told her everything that Chiya had said and done, leaving Kon's face burning by the end of the story.
Stuttering, she thanked it before saying the parting incantation, hiding the items away yet again. She made her way to the staircase, leaning against one of the red beams, hoping to clear her head.
"Kon! There you are!"
She looked down. Her heart did a flip upon seeing Chiya racing up the stairs towards her at top speed.
"Chiya, wh-"
She was interrupted by the shorter girl tackling her to the ground in a hug. "I was looking all over for you! It was getting late and we were worried so I started looking all over for you but you're here a lot so I looked here and-"
"Chiya. I'm fine, you don't have to worry. I was just..." Kon looked away, "practicing kokkuri divining."
"Really? But you don't usually practice for so long..." Chiya still had her pinned to the ground.
"I- I went on a walk first. Chiya, can you get off of me?"
"Oh, right."
Chiya got up, offering Kon a hand to help her stand up as well.
"So what did you ask?"
"Huh?"
"When you were practicing using kokkuri!"
"O- Oh. Um... just, stuff about the future, I guess?"
"Hm," Chiya seemed satisfied with that answer, and turned to look at the sunset. Kon hadn't even realized how late it was.
"We should probably go. The others will be wondering where we are, and Nina-sensei is making dinner!"
"A- Actually, Chiya, could we talk for a minute?"
"About what?"
"Well... I talked to the fox spirit, and-"
"You talked to her?! You should've brought me, I wanted to see her again! She was funny."
Kon sighed. "Well, um, she told me what happened last time... and um... what you said... and... did..."
"...Oh."
"S- So, I was just wondering... what do you think of me?"
Chiya looked over the town for a minute, and Kon wondered if she was even going to answer.
Finally, when she was about to give up, the other girl spoke. "You're really smart, and nice, and you make me laugh. And you're really pretty, I like your hair and your eyes. And your tummy is really soft! You make a really good pillow."
Kon wrapped Chiya in a hug, keeping her red face hidden from the shorter girl. "I... I think that way about you too... I- I love being close to you."
Chiya returned the hug. "Then let's be even closer from now on!"
She nodded, moving one of her hands to pet Chiya's hair. After a moment they separated.
"We should probably go get dinner, huh?"
"Yeah!" Chiya grabbed the taller girl's hand, leading her down the steps.
"...Since we're gonna be closer, does this mean I get to rub your tummy again?"
"N- No! And don't say 'again' as if I gave you permission to in the first place!"
"Aw, but it'll help us be closer!"
"W- Well, we'll just have to find other ways to be closer, then!"
"Why can't I?!"
"Because it's embarrassing!"
"But I've done it before, so what's the problem? Besides, you're so soft-"
"Like I said, I never gave you permission in the first place! And don't say that."
"Why?"
"It's embarrassing!"
They continued their pointless argument until they got back. After eating dinner, Chiya followed Kon to her room. She gave up on the arguing, and rested in the taller girl's lap instead until she started to doze off while Kon studied.
As Chiya slept, she looked down at her, smiling as she ran a gentle hand across her cheek.
Hi everyone, continuing with today's chapters, these are centered around Nono and Caesar and their lives after he returned from Japan.
Previous chapters
Chapter 3
Mediterranean Sea, Republic of Malta.
The Island of Frefra is mostly an ecological reserve, there is a white building on top of a natural harbor with luxury yachts and sailing boats. Tourists and locals have always been interested in knowing more about its residents, but the government is very secretive about it. It is well protected against binoculars and often, music can be heard coming from the inside. Girls in white dresses walk around it and they're known as the "Iris girls".
At 5:45 am, a rotating alarm clock started playing a terrible heavy metal song, making its way through fashion magazines and snacks, it ran around the bedroom of Chen Motong, who finally trapped it and took its batteries out.
She slept for another 20 minutes and woke up in a hurry. She had classes to attend. Cooking lessons, Japanese tea ceremonies, British literature and music appreciation, amongst other things. This was the Golden Iris Shuyuan Academy. It was meant to educate Nono on how to live among nobility.
She arrived late at the breakfast table only to realize the other girls were betting on her punctuality. After she accepted Caesar's proposal, he took her to Rome to meet his relatives, some of which were more than 300 years old, they left their cryogenic beds and unexpectedly blessed their marriage (after evaluating her from head to toes). Nono's own family was rich and powerful, known as the Black Prince Group. After both families signed the marriage contract, they agreed to make Nono drop out of Cassell to take a years-long bridal training in the Shuyuan Academy.
During her dancing lessons, a yawning Nono was the only one who couldn't keep up with the rhythm, prompting her teacher to whip her foot.
At her cooking class, she kept eating bits off her dish, leaving almost nothing for the teacher to evaluate.
She managed to succeed on her tea ceremony while her boredom made her toes fight each other behind her back. She was distracted during literature and used her profiling skill to cheat on her analysis of classical music.
She unwillingly started regretting the moment she accepted the marriage proposal, but not because of Caesar, it was all about the life that awaited her. The lessons were relentless and the academy was isolated from the outside world. She didn't sleep enough because she used her Cassell training to sneak out at 10:00 pm to swim by the beach, that was the only time in her day when she felt truly free.
She toyed frequently with her obnoxious alarm clock, it was a gift from her old classmate, Luminous. On her last birthday, he casually carried a backpack with him all day, it was pretty obvious that he was preparing to give her a gift, which he nervously did, and he was the only person who dared to do so, as everyone else felt intimidated by Caesar.
She knew about Luminous's feelings for her. All of the male classmates who liked her could easily fill the whole cafeteria. Luminous was just one of them. She considered herself a passer-by in his life, thinking some girls of his age (like Zero) would be a better match for him. One day he'd mention it as a thing of the past and they would both laugh about it.
She hoped to finish the bridal course in months, but it had already been a year. She brought mostly books but she quickly ran out of things to read.
Suddenly, she realized someone was hiding in her bedroom, right after the cleaning lady left. The intruder took one of her books and a bag from her secret stash of potato chips. She turned off the lights and grabbed a knife, more excited than scared, she searched for the thief.
After finding nothing, she remembered her bathtub, and there he was, asleep with the missing book on his face and a bag of chips in his belly. She punched him in the stomach. A patrolling Nun showed up, concerned, Nono hid the intruder in the tub and pretended to take a bath. If someone found Luminous in her room, they would accuse Nono of having an affair.
The nun searched the whole place with a revolver but couldn't find anyone, before leaving, she had a conversation with Nono about her situation in the academy, specifically her wish to leave. In the lady's words, "Her soul seemed to lag behind her body". Luminous finally understood that she was there to become the perfect bride. When the nun left, Nono scolded him for his presence, she realized he looked different, he was clearly taking care of himself, better dressed, he definitely had a better haircut. He also thought she looked somehow different, more elegant, but exhausted.
His stomach roared, breaking a long awkward silence and she took him out to steal some food for him. They took wine from the cellar, along with some ham and cheese.
-Sister, do you know Johann Chu?
-Maybe, was he your boyfriend or did he just owe you money?
Luminous explained his situation to her: he decided to go with the school's psychologist, professor Toyama, who diagnosed him as schizophrenic. Toyama attempted to erase Johann off his memory, but Luminous responded by making a scene and drawing out his desert eagles. He tried to track Johann in everyone else's memories but his missing classmate didn't have many friends.
Anjou couldn't remember him either. Back during Luminous's second year, there was no trial against a Blood Rage user, Frost Gattuso only accused the principal for his terrible administration. The rollercoaster incident happened way after they finished their ride with Shavee. Anjou gave Luminous the location of Chen Motong, telling him to use her profiling ability to find some clues.
However, Nono also believed Luminous had schizophrenia and convinced him to stop his search and look for treatment instead. Luminous lamented his condition and how he couldn't trust the world he lived in anymore, however, despite how enticing it was to forget Johann and go back to the real world, he felt his brother was still out there, waiting to be saved, but everyone forgot about him. Nono couldn't do much for him in his situation.
-Years ago, you were not the president of the Student Union, but a scared boy that I rescued from a theater. Now that you don't trust the world anymore, you came back to me. How many more times do you think I'll be here to save you?
Suddenly, a security guard noticed the candle they lit in the cellar. Nono didn't know how to react, but someone broke a bottle of wine on the guard's head and knocked him down. It was Finger, who informed Luminous that now he was wanted by Cassell, as they thought he was an undercover agent sent by the Dragon Raja.
Apparently, on the same night that Luminous left the college, someone entered the Ice cellar and stole Constantine's skeleton, severely injuring principal Anjou in the process. The only student with such clearance and power was the S-Rank himself.
Agents of the Execution Bureau went looking for Finger in Cuba, so he buried them in a tobacco field, with their heads out, of course.
Nono urged them to understand the seriousness of what it meant to be hunted by the secret party, which essentially made them targets of the whole world. They could leave no traces for Norma to track down. She considered there were three possibilities:
1- Luminous was insane.
2- He was an undercover agent sent by the dragon raja all along.
3- He was the only person in the world who was't hypnotized.
The only being who could be responsible for the third option is the white dragon king. Its skeleton was never recovered. Their only option was to travel with Luminous in secret to track down any trace that Johann might have left in the world before he disappeared.
-I really hope my brother is alive...
-True Love! Said Finger and Nono in unison.
Finger then urged them both to leave and "go save the world" but Nono refused to leave. She had a responsibility with her family and with Caesar. As Luminous turned around and started walking, Finger stunned her, urging Luminous to help him carry her outside.
Chapter 4
Caesar Gattuso was sitting down in a church. This was the anniversary of his mother's death, so he wore a suit, drove a Harley Davidson motorcycle on his way there and brought her a bouquet of white flowers.
When he was younger, she bought him a miniature bike, she also loved to see him wearing little suits. Most of Caesar's style was based on her taste, he thought that would please her while she watched him from heaven.
The first time he had been on the Milan cathedral, he was attending her funeral. The ceremony was presided by the pope himself. Knowing of his family's involvement in her death, he poured kerosene on the coffin and lit a fire on the church. The authorities managed to save the historical building and despite of it all, Caesar was still allowed inside every year to mourn Gulweig, (as long as he wasn't carrying any dangerous chemicals).
Parsi Gattuso arrived in a car to give him some urgent news, his wife Chen Motong had gone missing. He brought with himself a letter that she wrote for her fiancé, it expressed Chen's dissatisfaction with her new life, asking him to give her some time.
Caesar immediately realized the poetic letter was fake, since Nono wouldn't bother to express herself in such a way. According to him, Nono would just write "Caesar, I'm leaving" In a napkin and leave it on top of her bed. The letter was probably written by a narcissistic person like Finger.
However, this left him reflecting on Nono's true feelings towards her future, wondering if all he did was capturing a bird (that he initially admired for its freedom) just to lock it in a cage.
Far away in Cassell College, the elders of the Secret Party reunited for an emergency meeting, the first one since 1961. Many famous individuals that once shaped the course of history were in it, still alive after faking their deaths to cover up their slow aging. In the principal's chair, Leonardo Flammel, the vice-principal and a direct descendant of Nicholas Flammel sat down and started the meeting.
He welcomed EVA, Norma's war personality with 140,000 times her processing power, and asked her to project a life-like hologram of Anjou's assassination attempt.
According to the recording, the previous night, the principal intended to access the ice cellar, but he stopped meters before reaching the entrance. He looked behind and said:
-Is that you?
In a fraction of a second, his access card had left his pocket after something cut through it. His entire body started bleeding from multiple cuts to his skin. He had no time to react and tried to use the card as his weapon, since the attacker didn't give him enough time (even using Time Zero) to draw his dragon slaying knife. It was guessed that his opponent could use Time Zero as well, but was more skilled in combat than the principal himself.
The security system identified the situation in time and called the police and medical assistance, otherwise, Anjou would have died. The conversation quickly turned to Luminous's possible involvement in the situation, Flammel had a conversation about it with "Mr. Beowulf", who was also present.
The legendary Beowulf was not an individual but a family of dragon slayers. They had a strong attraction to dragon blood, for them it was almost like drugs to an addict.
They were the most fierce dragon hunters in history, pouring the blood of their prey and drinking it after every successful kill. Their newborns were poisoned with dragon blood and only those who survived the process were considered worthy of living. Their latest descendants were almost dragon-like in appearance, but they were unlikely to turn into death servitors. Whenever that happened, the family killed them immediately.
Considering there's an imminent crisis ahead, the leader of the family showed himself in the table for the first time in a hundred years. That's because he strongly opposed the establishment of Cassell College, since "a true dragon slayer can only be born in the battlefield".
Back in the day, he led the "Action team" of the secret party, which eventually became the Execution Bureau. Initially he was expected to lead it, before he expressed his dissatisfaction with the college. Compared to the Action Team of the old days, the cruel Bureau is almost a charity.
Beowulf immediately started discussing Luminous's background. His parents were apparently in the records of the Execution Bureau, but their achievements are not registered. They never reported themselves and their location is currently unknown.
Caesar Gattuso was responsible for the defeat of Norton, Abdullah for Fenrir and the Gattuso's orbital weapon for the White King. Luminous was present during all of these events, but his actions are not registered either. He theorizes that Luminous is in fact a dragon, taking advantage of the war to slay his fellow kings. Since his use of Yanling was unknown and Time Zero belonged to the King of Sky and wind, the most mysterious of the dragon kings, the elders came to the conclusion that this dragon was none other than Luminous himself.
As soon as Beowulf questioned the absence of Frost Gattuso, Pompeii himself made an entrance by making EVA project his hologram on an empty chair. The man was semi-naked as multiple women applied sunscreen on him, annoying everyone on the room, specially Beowulf. Pompeii focused on the importance of Constantine's skeleton, since everyone else seemed more focused on Anjou's assassination attempt. Those bones contained the power of the king of bronze and fire, who was conformed by twins, so the college kept Constantine's skeleton, while the Gattuso family kept Norton's. In that very moment, Frost was transporting their half of the dragon king to an underground vault in the bank of Rome.
Pompeii linked Frost to the call, who was now 120 meters underground and descending. The vault was heavily protected against Time Zero users.
Just as they were discussing the security measures, the loud sound of an alarm silenced everyone in the room, when the members of the meeting asked about its purpose, they quickly realized that it wasn't coming from Cassell, it came from the elevator in Rome. The intruder was in the vault.
Frost was instructed to forget the original plan and leave with the bones of Norton. His bodyguards quickly mutated into dragon-like creatures to protect him. Corrosive acid and bombs were released as the elevator rose back to the surface, but there was something heating up the place and it was greater than any bomb they detonated.
Every guard stayed behind to guard the doors, hoping to witness the intruder. Finally, one of the doors was blown away. In the fire, there seemed to be dragons and snakes dancing. The mummy-like figure in white robes slowly walked towards Frost, as he exclaimed:
-It that... you? Is it really you? It is you!
EVA instructed him to step back, as he had no chance of winning against this "reaper", Frost took out his phone and transferred control of the vault to EVA before the strange creature reached him. Suddenly, the camera was broken and the visuals lost. The sound of the doors being blown up one by one was heard. Beowulf commanded EVA to close the sole entrance of the vault, which could easily resist ten-million-ton nuclear weapons, (Not enough to contain certain dragons).
Believing this to somehow signal the end of the world, the council awaited quietly. Investors in Rome were ecstatic when the value of gold suddenly increased (Since one third of the monetary gold in the world was just destroyed). EVA used the surrounding cameras to confirm the worst, Frost Gattuso was dead, crystallized by the extreme heat. Their diamond-like statues were left behind and soon collapsed, turning to dust.
The possibility of the resurrection of the black King soon reached their heads, its return would signal the end of humanity.
Caesar soon appeared in the room. He was named the new representative of the Gattuso family, so he ordered EVA to kick his father Pompeii out of the meeting. He defended his education in Cassell in front of Beowulf, saying it made him prouder than his last name ever would. He explained that this dragon was more dangerous than the others due to its ability to understand humans, their organizations and its capability to hide among them. It was more similar to humans than it was to dragons, which was its more terrifying feature.
He impressed Beowulf, specially when he ordered to investigate anyone who had come into contact with his uncle, since he recognized his killer. He then brought up Luminous. EVA explained that his unprecedented progress in combat skills was due to his participation in the Nibelungen project. It allows Luminous to surpass the dragon blood limit without turning into a death servitor. He was an artificial emperor, like Chisei Gen from Japan. Beowulf was enraged, since he considered it was a waste of resources to use Nibelungen on such a weak student instead of picking one of their A-Rank fighters and ordered EVA to put all of her computing power in finding Luminous and Finger. However, EVA found no records of Finger in her database. Everyone concluded that he deleted himself.
Since Luminous already worked for the Executive Department and therefore knew how to hide from them, Caesar proposed to employ a different type of hunter, specifically the ancient creatures that the college kept under the ice cellar, originally intended to be used against the black king. The elders voted in favor, but even Beowulf was frightened by the idea of employing them. Flammel suddenly stood up and contacted Finger, warning him of the impeding threat. Moments later, a veteran knocked him down.
Parsi had noticed a change in Caesar. In years prior, he'd make childish requests, like asking him to empty a restaurant because he wanted to drink tea in peace. It looked like he was never going to grow up. Ever since he came back from Japan, he was far more mature, taking bigger responsibilities and doing most of the work by himself. He asked Caesar about his friendship with Luminous, specifically if he wasn't worried about the beasts hurting him.
-I don't want to harm Luminous, but he made a mistake, he shouldn't have involved Nono.
He seemed extremely silent, stopping in his way out to stare at a decorative kimono, one that he brought from Japan as a souvenir, he was wearing it the day he arrived. He wondered about the weaknesses of the dragons, if Constantine was Norton's, who was Shavee's?
