Guy Shonin Quest Part 5

It’s been some time since your mission with Dazzhite to Grasco. It was alright, zombies, Dazzhite’s ancestor being possessed by an archdemon, the burning shame of revealing your inner pain and strife (When this turn into Raiden’s story?) of Gal and of your run in with Nyx. Thankfully, you didn’t mention the message you got from her, but you didn’t need to know about all the ways Dazzhite would like to “Smash” your cousin and your enemy.

Which brings us to now.

“GUY, DUCK!” You quickly roll under the flying energy that was going for your face, forming one of your Charge Blades and tossing it in front of you. Crackling with Electricity, it meets a spell you know far too often.
“Thunder Wall!” The spell you made, you created, replicated. Not only that, it’s bigger, stronger, the aura of energy even larger than normal. But it wasn’t just that. Cursed, disfigured, demonic. That’s what it looked like.
“Guy Shonin. I told you that I would return. Prepare yourself.” Nyx said.
“Where did you-“
“It was done in front of me. You’d think I wouldn’t know how it was done?” Chris came to stand next to you, Gal, recently discharged from the nurse’s office standing behind. “Now, then. Shall we begin, Guy Shonin and Gal Shoujo?”

It wasn’t even 15 minutes when you got into the Darkworld and already, you’re fucking alone with your cousin and Chris. You think that the gods/Archdemons/Whatever are trying to get you laid. Not to mention it’s a goddamn jungle. Fucking vines and shit everywhere. “So, we’re lost, aren’t we?” Chris says.

“Well, at least we haven’t met any Ghouls or the like so far,” Gal replies.

“Grand. Just don’t try to suck tongue with your cyclops cousin over there, would you?”

“I can hear you, Vodka Drunkenski,” not looking back at her.

“Regardless, shouldn’t we stay put so the others can find us?”

“What’s the point? We’ll be back in the classroom after a while, so might as well-“A roar interrupts you, quickly grabbing your attention before you see a giant rock thrown your way. “THUNDER WALL!” you shout, making the shield before it hits, the rock making the magic defense creak and nearly bend.

“Well, looks like we have a demon on our hands now. This could’ve been avoided if we stayed in one place,” Chris says boredly.

“Just don’t freeze up.” You hear her about to retort, before the demon appears.

GUY ACTIONS:
>Swords (Regular, Napalm, Freeze, Lighting Rod, Pierce, Ghost)
>Chains (Regular, Stun, Freeze)
>Magic (Magic Missile, Fireball, Large Fireball, Water Ball, Water Blade, Earth Bullet, Earth Spear, Wind Cutter, Spark (Close range), Bolt, Thunder Wall)
>Charge Sword

GAL ACTIONS:
>Attack
>Distract
>Overboost (1 turn wait)

CHRIS ACTIONS:
>Sword
>Gun (Normal, Pierce, Grenade)
>Stun Bombs (5 remaining)
>Devour

>Chains (Stun): 71+5
>Attack: 47+6
>Gun (Pierce): 52+6

Quickly, Gal runs forward and tries slashes forward with her swords, but the demon raises its arms and the swords just bounce off. “W-wha-“is all she says before a fist half the size of her slams into her stomach sending her flying into a tree, breaking it in half.

“Shit, Gal!” you say before you summon your stun chains and sling them forward to the Demon, hoping to grab it. They wrap around the arms and legs, but it seems it’s not getting shocked at all. Chris backs you up by having her sword shift into gun mode and fires a few rounds into its hide. A majority bounce off, but a few do pierce the tough fur and muscle. Before long, it lets out another roar, breaking the chains and-

“It’s eating them?! [Fucking what]!” Chris says, breaking out into horrible Russian English. You’d comment on that if you weren’t bugged eyed at the phenomenon. And is it just you, or is its hair crackling?

“GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH” bellows out of its mouth as it fires a beam of fucking lightning at you!

“BEHIND ME!” You tell Chris, pushing her behind. “THUNDER WALL!”

>ROLL 1D100 TO SEE HOW WELL IT HOLDS UP.


>73+5

The shield holds up, its own lightning counteracting the beam. It’s a ten second struggle before the wall cracks, exploding a burst of lightning and thunder. Chris grabs you and ducks into a hollowed out hole at the base of a tree, holding you close. You’d probably both be disgusted if you weren’t in fear. The beam goes past where you were, the demon turning and cutting down trees like it’s a damn axe.

It stops, leaving only the slight breathing of you, Chris and the heavy breaths of the demon. It approaches the site of impact, examining, sniffing the area around. It goes over to where Gal was landed, trying to find her, but it seems it’s unsuccessful in its hunt as it throws a tree near your hiding spot. “E-“is all Chris says before you cover her mouth. You look in her eyes, shaking your head, as if to tell her, “Don’t say anything.” A looks of acceptance is reflected, only to tense up before you hear heavy footsteps.

Painfully, dreadful footsteps are heard as the two you try to hide closer into the tree, hoping to whatever deity is out there that you two don’t die. It inches closer, sniffing the area around.

>ROLL 2D100 TO NOT GIVE YOURSELF AWAY


>Guy: 99
>Chris: 79

Chris nearly lets out another scream, seeing the back leg of the demon appear near as it sniffs around the base of the tree. If it weren’t for your quick thinking and shoving your fingers down her throat to shut her up, you’d be dead, though, you could do with her biting down on them.

Before long, it seemingly gets bored enough to move away, a flash of light appearing and loud footsteps that quickly go away. You stay in the hollow for what seems hours, but you need to go out sometime.

“Hey, go see if it’s still out there,” you say.

“Why me?” She whispers.

“You nearly gave us away, twice I should say. Not to mention you got better senses than nearly everyone else and are one of the fastest. If it catches sight of you, you can just run away.” She stares at you, biting her lips looking out at the entrance and back to you before sighing.

“Fine.” She quickly exits and takes a look out, taking minutes before she signals you to come out. You take a look out and see that a good portion of the jungle was ripped apart from the beam. “Just what the hell was that?” you think to yourself. Chris grabs your shoulder, her face faintly pale from that experience. “We never tell anyone what happened in that hole, agreed?”

>”I dunno, might a good tale to tell.”
>”Or what?”
>”Agreed.”
>”What hole? I wasn’t in no hole.”


>"Why? Were you saving that hole for a special someone?"

Chris’s face turns red with rage before she slugs you in the gut, making you fall over onto your knees. “I should’ve let you get blasted by that beam,” she mutters before walking away. You catch your breath before getting back up and start looking for Gal.

“Gal, you there? Gal?” You both say to the seemingly empty jungle, finding nothing of value anywhere, until-

“GUY!” A black-brown blur smashes into you, forcing you on to your back. You cough as you get the wind knocked out of you twice in under 10 minutes. “You’re alright! I was worried, I saw the walk crack and explode, and thought something bad happened to you!” She hugs your neck, squeezing you with all her strength.

“That’s fine and all,” you say with a strained voice, “But could you let me breathe?” She quickly lets go of your neck and pulls you up to your feet.

“Well, now that that happy reunion is over with, what are we going to do?” Chris butts in.

“Well, we got the shit scared out of us by a demon that could take on King Kong and win, so I vote we go in the opposite direction it went,” you say.

A silent agreement is heard from the three of you as you moved away from the area.

The jungle is hot, humid and bullshit. You know that the Amazon is supposedly full of wonders to humanity, even possibly holding cures to diseases, but you also know it’s full of poison, wild animals and other shit. Unlike that jungle however, it feels almost lifeless. No birds, no croaking frogs, just eerie silence as you trek your way through. Eventually, you break past the tree line and into a clearing. The sun blinding your eyes (well, eye in your case), it takes you a minute to adjust before you see what seems to be an abandoned temple.

“Huh. First a castle, now a temple. We’re finding all kinds of weird places, aren’t we?” Gal says.

“What’s next? A colosseum?” You reply.

“I’d rather a hotel, at least then I could get rid of all this sweat.” Gal pulls at her shirt, the sweat sliding down neck into her shirt. You nearly gulp at the sight, but you manage to contain yourself. It isn’t until you hear Chris slump into the ground, covered in sweat that you realize the outfit she wears is very....well, let’s just leave it that. You already feel a burning gaze from your left. If she had heat vision…

“Can we just get a move on?” Chris complains. Nodding, you walk the courtyard, past all the pillars and broken stone, eventually making your way to the bottom of the stairs. You take a look at your left and right, some sort of watch towers, on each side of the temple. Looks like you have a few choices to explore. Who knows, you might find something.

>Left Tower
>Right Tower
>Go into the Temple


>Go into the Temple

You decide, fuck it, you’ve played enough RPGs to know how this goes. Fight the boss, get the prize, and go home. You don’t have time to deal with any puzzles or get the item. You’ll be fine….you hope. You start climbing the stairs, long and shattered they are to a pair of doors. You and Gal push them open, not that heavy, but what hinges they have left are worn and stuck, taking both of you to get them open.

Soon, you’re walking down, passing some corridors and some weak sauce ghouls. Guess they’re the remnants of some sort of army that was stationed here. “To be an eternal guard in a place like this, huh?” you mumble, more to yourself than anything else.

Gal and Chris keep watch to the sides, making sure nothing catches up on you. Oddly enough, there are rooms with chests in them. This really is game like, isn’t it?

>Got BLACK METAL X5
>Got SILVER STONE X2
>Got RED OR-

Yeah, right. It’s just some old, faded fabric and what appears to be some sort of crumbled papyrus, utterly useless to you.

“Well, this is absolute trash. I doubt we’ll find anything else useful around here,” Chris complains.

“We still have a ways to go until we get into the heart of the temple. Maybe we’ll find something there?” Gal says.

Shrugging, you continue your way, deeper into the temple. No puzzles so far, more ghouls, though, there some that resemble orcs, big, pig looking guys that are beefier than ghouls, but still go down faster than seekers. You hope you never have to see one of those. As soon as you open the next door, a voice is heard. “Unit 10-98 THANATOS detected. Scanning.” The voice catches you all off guard and on edge, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound.

“Where’s that noise coming from?”

“I don’t know, Guy, but it mentioned Thanatos? Think it’s talking about your backpack?”

“Obviously Gal, but what does it want?”

“Scan completed. Unit 10-98 THANATOS is corrupted. Executing purge.”

“Great.” Chris huffs, “I had to say something.” A wall rumbles up, a pair of blue eyes from the darkness before it stomps out into the light. A gigantic stone golem, covered in all kinds of runes the same color as its eyes, hefting a sword like pillar in its hands. Fucking hell.

>MID BOSS FIGHT

GUY ACTIONS:
>Swords (Regular, Napalm, Freeze, Lighting Rod, Pierce, Ghost)
>Chains (Regular, Stun, Freeze)
>Magic (Magic Missile, Fireball, Large Fireball, Water Ball, Water Blade, Earth Bullet, Earth Spear, Wind Cutter, Spark (Close range), Bolt, Thunder Wall)
>Charge Sword

GAL ACTIONS:
>Attack
>Distract
>Overboost (1 turn wait)

CHRIS ACTIONS:
>Sword
>Gun (Normal, Pierce, Grenade)
>Stun Bombs (5 remaining)
>Devour


>Guy, Swords (Pierce): 23+5
>Gal, Attack: 90+16
>Chris, Gun (Pierce): 98+6

“He who strikes first wins!” You say, throwing out a pierce sword in hopes of getting some damage…however, due to the speed of the sword, it’s easily dodge and broken to your displeasure. Chris switches over to her gun and shoots out her pierce rounds, the bullets quickly penetrating the rock and blowing off pieces. Gal comes in with the follow up and slashes, the golem raising a hand to catch or deflect, but either she’s just that strong, or somehow transmitted her heat into her swords and it cuts through 2 fingers like butter.

The golem must be displeased as it swings its pillar at Gal only for Chris to keep on blasting it, catching it off guard. She quickly moves away, still shooting and dodging the boulder size rocks it’s grabbing and throwing in her direction. Thinking it’s not going to get anything from her it turns to you. Unnatural for its size, the golem runs up and baseball swings at you, catching you on your side and sending you in to the wall.

“AAAGH!” You scream, the pain and impact making stars float in your eye. Gal helps you stand back up, before she heads back into the fight. You take a moment to catch your breath and ready yourself.

GUY ACTIONS:
>Swords (Regular, Napalm, Freeze, Lighting Rod, Pierce, Ghost)
>Chains (Regular, Stun, Freeze)
>Magic (Magic Missile, Fireball, Large Fireball, Water Ball, Water Blade, Earth Bullet, Earth Spear, Wind Cutter, Spark (Close range), Bolt, Thunder Wall)
>Charge Sword

GAL ACTIONS:
>Attack
>Distract
>Overboost (1 turn wait)

CHRIS ACTIONS:
>Sword
>Gun (Normal, Pierce, Grenade)
>Stun Bombs (5 remaining)
>Devour


>Guy, Chains (Freeze): 41+5
>Gal, Attack: 55+16
>Chris, Devour: 70+4

You think that you should hold the thing down and summon up your freeze chains but the golem quickly throws rocks, the chains binding against them, as well as some in your way. You dodge the larger ones, but some the size of your fist, hit your shoulder and leg, sending you tumbling down.

Gal must be distracted by you getting hurt, because she doesn’t do as much damage as before, only shaving off a few inches off the side of the golem’s arm. Chris comes by and activates a special function of her sword, a mouth coming around the blade and chomping on the leg and biting off a bit off the golem. “Ugh! Never again do I want eat rock,” she complains.

Suddenly, the golem’s eyes flash before letting out a roar, sending a shiver down your spine, but you power through, picking yourself up. Gal ran out of the range of the roar, unaffected. But Chris was right in the middle of that, feeling the full force of that roar. I-is she shaking? “Oh god, she’s stunned! Chris, Chris!” you yell.

>ROLL 1D100-10 TO GET THROUGH CHRIS


>93-10=83

“Chris, Chris!” You yell louder, hoping to get to her but she’s still standing like a damn idiot. The golem hefts up its pillar ready to smash at her. You get back up fully, readying a wind spell to extend your voice and yell. “MOVE, YOU RUSSIAN STRIPPER!” It echoes for a while, before you see Chris roll out of the way and run in your direction before smacking your face.

“Yблюдок! Мудак! YOU! YOU!” She continues to hit you more before throwing you away. “Ugh! Not the time nor place.” She goes and faces the golem, slashing some with her sword as Gal comes by and helps you up.

“Did she really need to do that? Did you really need to do-“

“Not the time, Gal!”

GUY ACTIONS:
>Swords (Regular, Napalm, Freeze, Lighting Rod, Pierce, Ghost)
>Chains (Regular, Stun, Freeze)
>Magic (Magic Missile, Fireball, Large Fireball, Water Ball, Water Blade, Earth Bullet, Earth Spear, Wind Cutter, Spark (Close range), Bolt, Thunder Wall)
>Charge Sword

GAL ACTIONS:
>Attack
>Distract
>Overboost (1 turn wait)

CHRIS ACTIONS:
>Sword
>Gun (Normal, Pierce, Grenade)
>Stun Bombs (5 remaining)
>Rock Bullet (1 remaining)


>Guy, MAGIC MISSILE: 76+5
>Gal, Attack: 86+16
>Chris, Rock Bullet: 61+4

Fuck it, Thanatos hasn’t been working well, so you might as well us your other abilities. “Magic Missile!” A bolt of magic fires from your hands and into the face of the golem, knocking out one of its eyes. It steps back dazed as Chris shoots what seems to be a rock bullet into its knee. All it does is collide with it but it does make it even more balance and fall over onto its back. Leaving it in prime position for a stab from Gal to the chest.

“Come on, just! Deactivate or something!” The blade goes deeper down, glowing red. Seems like transmitting her fire powers into her sword as the blade slides down before cracks from on the chest down. The golem raises its hand to swat her off, but she jumps off, heading back to you.

“Damn, I was close to cracking that thing.”

“Well, at least you gave us a target.”

“Let’s blast this sucker, Chris!”

>ROLL 2D100


>Guy: 59+5
>Chris: 93+6

Forming another Magic Missile in hand, you fire it at the crack, only making it larger and revealing a bit of what seems to be core, but it’s enough for Chris. Loading up a grenade, she fires it at the core, revealing more if it and the blast making the golem stumble. Again she shoots, cracks showing up. You shoot a Magic Missile, making more hairline cracks appear. With one final check, Chris pulls the trigger.

“Покойся с миром.” Those words come out of her mouth as the grenade lands and explodes the core, the golem letting out one last roar as it bursts into flame!

“JESUS CHRIST! What is this, Castlevaina?!” The two look at you for a moment, wondering what you mean. You dismiss them with a wave of your hand. “Never mind.”

Eventually, the flames die out and reveal….Nothing. You know you’re not expecting anything, but just something to show your efforts. You grumble a bit before you hear rumbling in the room. You turn and see a small pillar raise up in the center.

“Unit 10-98 THANATOS. It seems you have defeated the golem. The data will be transmitted to your systems.” As soon the voice finishes, a beam comes from the side and aims towards you. You jump out of the way, but the light bends and hits Thanatos on your back. You roll up, seeing the pillar sink back down into the floor.

“Hey, wait!” you yell, trying to catch up and see the object but it sinks into the ground before you even get there. “Shit. It know Thanatos. If that’s the case, what is this pl-“A beep is heard from your COMP. You pull up the message and read it silently. Moments later, your face palming. “Oh, Jesus.”

“What, Guy?” Gal asks. “Something wrong?”

“Looks like we’re dealing with an Archdemon in this temple. Calls itself ‘The Forger.’ It made Thanatos.” The two wince a bit before hearing you sigh. “Well, whatever. I’m beat after getting beaten. I’m going to rest.”

“Hold up. At least let me patch you up. Chris, hand over that first aid kit you have.”

“Fine. Just hold him still.” Looks like this break time is going to take some time.

>YOU GAIN AN UPGRADE POINT
Choose one from either list
>>Weapon types
>Axe (Slashing)
>Hammer (Blunt)
>Shield (Defense)
>Other

>>Movement Options
>Limited Boosters

>>?????????
>????????
>???????? SELECTED


“Okay, hold still….there. All patched up.” Gal got up, handing Chris the first aid kit.

“Finally. Can we get going, please?” You stand up, rubbing your side a bit, the burn of hydrocodone still in your mind. You all make your way to the door, but not before the Gal turns their head to the broken golem. “What?”

“There seems to be something sparkling there.” Gal says. She quickly jogs over and picks it up, holding what seems to be a red gem the size of a baseball. “Pretty…” She eyes the gem, holding it in her hand, seeing the light reflect off of it.

“Uhhh, you’re not going to go ‘My precious...’ on us, are you, Gal?” Chris asks, a worrisome look on her face.

“What? No, it just looks nice,” Gal looked over Chris with a confused look. “It’s actual mine and Guy’s Birthstone, so I’m going to keep it.” She slips it into her side pouch, normally filled with oils and rags for her swords.

“Can we just get a move on?” You complain. Eventually, you all start walking in the hall, Gal taking the front, with Chris in the middle and you covering the back. Chris begins to slow down after a time and walks next to you, causing you to raise an eyebrow.

The two of you walk in silence for a bit before she speaks in a low voice, “Twice already, huh?”

>”You’re welcome, you know.”
>”Is this the so called ‘Gap Moe’?”
>”Falling for me already?”


>”Falling for me already?”

“What’s this? Have I seduced you with my- Ow, fuck!” You felt her jab into your side, the knuckles digging in.

“Of course you would say that. Prude.” She turns away with her nose up, but not fast enough to notice the slight red on it. Nice.

“Hey! Are you two coming?” Gal calls from ahead causing you to jog towards her. She quickly gets in your face, grabbing your shoulders. Her face looks serene, but you can tell that she’s a bit miffed. “You better not have been flirting. Cheating is a no-no.”

“We’re not dating, Gal.”

“No. Cheating.” She stresses out those words before backing off and taking a look outside, looking at the left and right towers. “Well, we have a few other places to look. Where do you think we should go? I think the right tower has something on it, I saw a shadow on top of it.”

“Personally, I think the Left would be good. It might have something else of value. Who knows, we might learn of ‘The Forger’ as Thanatos told us from there.” The both of them look at you, asking for your opinion.

You rest a hand on your chin, thinking for a bit. “We should go to-


>The Left Tower
>The Right Tower

>The Left Tower

“-The left tower. I’m too curious about this ‘Forger’ to ignore it.” You turn to its direction and start to walk, the girls following behind you.

“So what do you think ‘The Forger’ was like? Seems like from that room that it was a very techy person.”

“I do agree, Gal, but what was wrong about Thanatos that it claimed it was ‘corrupted’? Did you some mess with some it at any time, Guy?”

You ponder for a bit a Chris’ words. “Hmmm, to my knowledge, no, unless you mean that I had to repair it when I first got it. There was a lot of broken and burnt out machinery in Thanatos. That-“You quickly stop, remembering that black slab of meat that resides in it. “Actually… There was one thing in Thanatos when I got it.” The girls look at you, eyebrows raised, urging you to go on. “Flesh. Black flesh looking like a lump of muscle or hell, maybe even a heart was there. It was slimy, bloody, and at one point, pulsated.” They cringed at those words, both of them shuddering a bit.

“Yep, that sounds like it would be corrupted. I guess we’ll know more in here,” Gal points at the opening arch of the tower. You all enter and it’s just your simple brick and stone tower….you think until Gal mistakenly steps on a tile that nearly impales her. “WOAH, WHAT THE HELL?!” She cries out.

“Well, seems like “The Forger” wanted to keep criminals out it seems.” Chris said. Looks like you’ll have your work cut out for you.

>ROLL 3D100 TO GET THROUGH


>Guy: 74
>Gal: 69+7=76
>Chris: 54+6=60

“Ow! Ow! OW!” Chris complains, as Gal pulls out the needle-like darts from her arm and leg. The trek through was fine for you and Gal, Gal mostly pulling you out of the way when she felt noticed something out of place or wrong, and you with your short teleporting out of trap floors. But Chris must have been off her game as she set off a lot of the traps. Fire arrows, stakes from the walls and ground, trap floors, collapsing stairs. Seems like the universe just wanted to shit all over her.

“Looks like there wasn’t any poison on them, but you’re probably going to feel some pain, as some went in pretty deep,” you say, pulling one out from under your COMP’s Scan mode. “Thankfully, it seems it’s safe here, so Gal can patch you up, while I look around.” You turn your head, taking in the sight of the forge.

A furnace that still burns, despite lacking any person stoking the flames, and a pair of tongs sticking out of it. A hammer and anvil, both worn, yet still retaining their shape. Various tools on the walls; clamps, more hammers, and a crowbar? On the other side, lies a desk, with what seems to be a rag. Pushing aside the various hooks that hang over head, you sit at the desk, seeing nothing but keys, more rags, a candlestick and a scroll.

Opening the scroll, a bunch of parchments are rolled out, each covered with a design. Swords, spears, shields, medieval weapons of all kinds. But what really sticks out to you are these beast-like designs, like the one you saw when Armos came in with that giant dragon form. They seem all mechanical, but there is one that you just can’t make heads or tails of. You try asking Thanatos as to what it thinks of it, but all it gives you could just be summarized as a shrug. Disappointed, you roll it back up, taking it along with you in hopes you could study it more.

As you ready to stand up, you see an indent in the wall. Leaning in closer, it seems circular, looking less of a hole, and more like a slot. Where have you- ah. “Gal, come over here.” She comes by, a questionable look on her face. “Think you can put that gem you found in there?”

“B-but I was going to have you make it into a necklace for me!”

“I’m sure we’ll be able to pop it out, otherwise, how else was the gem used on the Golem?” She ponders on your words, before taking it out and slowly slotting it in, a click heard as the wall opens up. The two look at the wall, before you hear Chris shuffle next you.

“A secret room,” Gal says with what you think could be amazement in her voice. “Treasure! It’s like that movie was saw, Montana Jerome!”

“Gal that was years back.” But she quickly ran in, ignoring your words. Sighing, you follow in after her.
A short passageway later and you’re in a larger room than the forge, but still smaller than the room you fought the golem. On the table in front of you, you see weapons piled on it, along with other barrels full of them next to it. On the wall are shelves, filled with metal and small gems. But the biggest thing that points out to you is the gold. Two bars of gold lie on the ground, as it tossed away like trash. You would’ve grabbed them if Gal wasn’t raising them up already.

“Wooo! We got a bit of a haul, didn’t we, Guy?” Her face is bright, smile so big and infectious, you can feel yourself smiling along with Chris. “But, how are we going to bring this back with us?” And there went a bit of mood. “Oh! Guy, do you think you have a spell that can hold this?”

“Nnnnn, I think I saw a spell that an item box properties, but I’m not sure if I remember it. I’ll try though.”

>ROLL 1D100 TO REMEMBER


>52+7=59

You strain your mind, trying to think of it as much as you can, forcing your gray matter to its limit, before you deflate. “Sorry, I got nothing. It seems like we’ll just have to carry it by hand.” Gal is quiet for a time, her joy slowly fading away.

“Aww… I guess I’ll see if I can… Nope, won’t fit in here. Dammit…”She whines, before taking out one of her swords and cutting one bar in half. “There. It’s not a lot, but it’s enough that can fit in here.” She gets ready to drop the other half before you take from her hands.

“I still have a pouch left. I’ll take the other half.” You shove it your pouch before Gal jumps on to you, squeezing you tight. “Air! Air!” you say, struggling to get out.

“Thanks, Guy, you’re the best,” giving you kiss on your cheek before pushing her off.

“Come on, Chris is probably waiting for us.” The two of you exit, the feeling of the bars of gold weighing in your pouch along with the scroll. You see Chris sitting at the desk, with a bored look on her face before sitting up straight at the sight of you.

“Anything interesting?”

“Nothing we could’ve brought back by ourselves,” you say shrugging, hearing Gal fiddle with the embedded gem before hearing her squeal in joy. “Just a fuck load of weapons and metal. Wished we could’ve brought that back, but whatever.” You make your way out the tower, past all the activated traps, you mentally gave Chris a “thanks” for that. “Well, we explored everything. Think we should head into the last place?”

“Yeah, let’s just change out your bandages and we’ll go,” Gal says, getting the first-aid from Chris.

You sigh, lifting up your shirt. “Just get it over with.”


Through the cursing and bandages, you were able to read a bit of “The Forger’s” scrolls and notes. Designs of armors stuck out to you, though you were unable to read the script as it was in “Darkworldian” or whatever, but it seems some script used were similar to spells in their pronunciation were there as well. Spells that were used for a basic fireball were used to make a flaming dagger, Wind Cutter for bows that shoot farther and faster, armor enhanced by earth spells. It makes you wonder how much more you could do with Thanatos’ weapons.

It seems you also found the item box spell as well there to your anger. It took Gal and Chris to hold you back before you could run back and shove all that stuff into there. They managed to convince you that after this, you will all go back and get the loot. That managed to calm you down some, but you were still curious about some of these other spells.

There was a buff spell similar to Ascent and a debuff like Descent but required more magic that could raise and lower both strength and defense, a spell that could give piercing affects to an ally, and one that could make a small explosion that, based off the chants, could bypass any defenses, but required enough magic that you could only fire off two of them with your current magic pool. There was also a “familiar” spell that seems useful, very short, only one chant long. You quickly memorized that, as having more potential allies could be helpful, and if they were anything like Armos, all the more better.

Both Gal and Chris seem ready to move on, but remembering two spells won’t take long. Question is, which ones?

>Ascent+: Boosts both Strength and Defense
>Descent+: Lowers both Strength and Defense
>Pierce Up: Adds piercing properties to a target
>Nuke: bypasses all defenses, but consumes a lot of magic


>Nuke
>Pierce Up

You made your choices, and you can only hope they were the right ones. Soon, the three of you are climbing the last tower, a few mooks here and there to bug you, but nothing too bad. Eventually, you make your way to the top and see… Nothing. Just a cloudy sky with a storm in the distance like it always was. “So where that shadow you saw?” you say, spreading your arms out wide, “Cause I’m not seeing anything.”

“Huh. I could’ve… You know how good eyes I have. I couldn’t have imagined something like that.”

“Maybe the stress is getting to you. Perhaps a vacation is in order for you.” Chris says. “Perhaps seeing your family?”

Both Gal and you cringe a bit at that. You don’t have any fond memories of the Shoujo side of the family, especially after finding out that both the Shonin and Shoujo families came from the same house that split up generations ago. So not only are you directly related to Gal, you’re also distantly related. The amount of birth defects from your children are enough to make your head split. “M-maybe some other time…Perhaps Auntie Josei would like to see me,” Gal says.

“You can go. I’m staying here. I can’t go back there…not now anyways.” Gal gets ready to ask why, before she sees your scar and turns her head in shame, before Chris shouts.

“Enemy fire, dead ahead!”

“GUY, DUCK!”

Which now brings you back to your current predicament.

“Shit, how’d you-“

“Your human technology is certainly something, but a little bit of magic and “The Forger’s” tools can make it crack so easily.” Nyx holds up a cell phone, the screen scuffed and cracked. “Your slower member from last time left it there in his escape.” Joe. “To think it was simple to contact you this easily. No matter.” She pockets the device before raising her hand to fire another orb at you. “It’s time to die, Guy Shonin and Gal Shoujo.”

“Fuck, no choice. Both of you, look alive!” Gal pulls out her swords and Chris raises her sword in preparation.

“Oh? A friend. Well, no matter. You’ll fall either way.”

GUY ACTIONS:
>Swords (Regular, Napalm, Freeze, Lighting Rod, Pierce, Ghost)
>Chains (Regular, Stun, Freeze)
>Magic (Magic Missile, Fireball, Large Fireball, Water Ball, Water Blade, Earth Bullet, Earth Spear, Wind Cutter, Spark (Close range), Bolt, Thunder Wall, Nuke, Pierce Up)
>Charge Sword

GAL ACTIONS:
>Attack
>Distract
>Overboost (1 turn wait)

CHRIS ACTIONS:
>Sword
>Gun (Normal, Pierce, Grenade)
>Stun Bombs (5 remaining)
>Devour


>Guy, Magic Missile: 89+5= 91
>Gal, Attack: 85+16= 101
>Chris, Gun (Pierce): 93+6= 99

“Magic Missile!”
“Thunder Wall!”

Both pure mana bolt and electric shield crash and hit each other fighting for a time before you Chris comes to back you up. She fires a pointed round, firing through and shattering the shield, both attacks hitting Nyx dead on, leaving her open for a series of cuts and attacks from Gal.

“Hah!” A slash down cuts through her flesh, blood flying. She quickly kicks at Gal and nearly loses a foot as Gal backs off, cutting Nyx at the shin. You could Chris gag as you saw her flesh slowly knit itself back together.

“That Is. Nasty.” She seems to swallow in midsentence, possibly to keep the bile down in her throat, but it is too late, you have already filed it in your mind for future insults.

“Seems like my added enemy is going to be troublesome for me. Very well.” She plunges her regular hand in to her demonic one and shuffles around some, causing all three of you look at each other before she pulls out…a ring?

“Activate, 06, Gunner,” she whispers to the ring before tossing it up, a flash appearing before a cloaked man appears in lightish armor, quickly holding his hands out before two guns glowing with the same color as the forge you saw some time ago. “Now it’s even. Gunner, take out the white headed one.” It nods before taking aim at Chris.

“Go! I’ll take of this puppet!” Christ quickly breaks off, her gun trained on the gunner as the two of them get into a standoff. Looks like it’s just you and Gal for now.
GUY ACTIONS:
>Swords (Regular, Napalm, Freeze, Lighting Rod, Pierce, Ghost)
>Chains (Regular, Stun, Freeze)
>Magic (Magic Missile, Fireball, Large Fireball, Water Ball, Water Blade, Earth Bullet, Earth Spear, Wind Cutter, Spark (Close range), Bolt, Thunder Wall, Nuke, Pierce Up)
>Charge Sword

GAL ACTIONS:
>Attack
>Distract
>Overboost (1 turn wait)


>Guy, Nuke: 99+5= 104
>Gal Attack: 76+16= 92

“Okay, fuck this. Gal, I’m going to hit her with some hard shit. Back me up.” Gal raised an eyebrow before shrugging and rushing forward. It seems Nyx was able to keep up somewhat this time as she was able to deflect and parry Gal’s strikes, but she was still unable to deal any damage to her. Gal however was mincing through her.

“Nuke!” Is what comes out from your mouth along with HOLY FUCK, MY MAGIC, is what rings in your mind. About half of your magic was used on this spell. Fuck that might not have been a good idea, but whatever. The magic condenses over Nyx and Gal shining for a bit before laser with the width of horse comes crashing down. “Gal, move!” Gal looks up and nearly screams, leaping back and avoiding the blast and the explosion, coming right next to you.

“Next time, warn me about your big spells, alright?”

“Fine, fine, have you seen Chris?” A groan is all you heard for your confirmation, along with the clang of metal. You turn and see her trying to climb back up, flopping onto the ground, covered in soot.

“Uurrrrggghhhh, warning, Cyclops?” she stays on the ground, her head turning in your direction, but you can tell she’s not really looking at you.

“Where’s the Gunner?” You ask, Chris shortly holding up a ring before her hand flops down. “I guess she’ll have to sit out for a time, huh?”

“Yeah, but where’s Nyx-“

Clink

Both you and Gal look down and see a sliver of metal land at your feet. You quickly look over and see Nyx, bloodied and disfigured, hand outstretched. “Damn, missed. This is far from over, Guy and Gal.” You quickly get ready to throw a sword at her but she leaps over the edge of the side of the tower and land. You try to take aim, but she quickly makes her way into the tree line.

Gal clicks her tongue. “Can’t see her. But this is the second time, right?”

“Rule of three. Next time will hopefully be the last. But then again, this is reality we’re talking about.”

It isn’t long before the world shifts again, and you’re back in the class room. Shit, you never did get that treasure.