Take Up the Cross – Chapter 11: Down the Castillo in Two Minutes – Mad Rave

Lycia looks drunk as she stares up at him, the same sort of expression she had when she had kissed him in the chair.

 

She pulls him off of the railing, letting him fall onto her as she holds him against her heated body.

 

“Finally! My turn!” Adris hears a swooping sound from the air.

 

“Ah… do be a dear and clean that up.”

 

The bunny woman speaks before lifting herself off of Cathar’s shriveling dick, him having sat down with her still on him, panting at the pleasure that’s overcome him.

She totters forward on unsure legs, a white puddle beneath her having leaked out from her abused hole, unable to hold the torrent of the large man’s deposit left in her.

 

 

 

Lycia clings to Adris, bringing his face to hers.

Her expression is troubled, hollow, and a bit… frightening.

 

Strangely, the beaten body in Adris’ arms looks anything but absent vitality.

 

In fact…

 

(Where are her wounds?)

 

The moment she swallowed his semen, something began to change.

 

Adris can see the wounds from earlier, the ones that linger with the touch of golden blood still upon them, simply vanishing.

 

There is no pain to her expression, only strength, as she quickly rouses.

Adris feels that her grip is even more powerful, now, as she jealously holds him.

 

(You dope yourself with the essence of…?)

 

Pulled toward her lips, she forcefully kisses him while he’s locked in thought, pushing her tongue into his mouth even as he wretches at the experience, completely unwilling to taste his own semen.

 

(What are you doing! Let… OW!)

 

Lycia… bites his tongue; then, her own tongue grips his like a death struggle is taking place.

Adris’ tongue becomes a live wire of pain, an iron taste entering his mouth a bit as he feels drops collecting, before being slurped by Lycia.

 

 

 

With outrage in his eyes, Adris stares into hers and…

 

Feels deep, all-consuming fear.

 

 

 

Lycia’s eyes are shining with a light that far exceeds an idea like sanity.

 

Slit irises tight.

Eyes wide open and shaking slightly.

 

Gold, speckled green, now.

 

No joyful or teasing expression remains, only a cheshire grin of madness on her face as she pulls out of their passionate kiss.

 

Completely bloodshot eyes.

 

From her mouth, a throaty breath comes out.

Malevolent and fetid, rather than the smell of semen, she smells of blood and violence.

 

 

 

i PrOmIsE.

 

Those are the only words she can give to Adris.

 

 

 

He feels her body… subtly shifting.

 

The pompous bat maid saunters up to Lycia’s back, coming closer to Lycia than Miria is.

 

“What are you going to do, old lady, marry him?! Let him go so I can have some-”

 

The girl’s voice is cut off completely when…

 

 

 

Lycia grabs her by the face, after rising up from the ground like an uncoiling snake.

 

A long, clawed hand is wrapped around the bat’s head.

 

The small, quivering girl is trapped in this grasp, too scared to move.

 

 

 

Before the terrified girl, a beast wearing the guise of a humanoid called Lycia…

 

… smiles proudly, as if she’s finally free.

 

 

 

“aaaa——————AAAA‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾!!!!”

 

 

 

Lycia unleashes a terrible wail, stunning everything in the room with its ferocity.

 

Her body explodes with a burst of energy and air, the roaring force knocking the cat woman back and ramming Adris into the rail behind him, before the cheeky maid is lifted up by the monster now standing where Lycia was…

 

 

 

… and has her head mashed into the stone floor with a massive cracking noise, as her body flops along after it.

 

 

 

Golden particles spray out from the impact as the girl goes completely still.

 

Lycia lets go of her head, reaches in with elongated, clawed arms…

 

 

 

… and mercilessly tears into the poor girl’s back while ripping outward, splashing shining, golden blood on everything in the area.

 

 

 

“… What?”

 

The dazed cat butler, licking spattered drops of gold off her face with her tongue, suddenly flings herself backward as Lycia leaps forward like a rabid animal and slashes at where the butler’s face used to be.

 

A singing blade whips out, its serrated edge trying to sever Lycia’s arm; instead, it slices through empty air, its target jumping away, too.

 

 

 

In the aftermath of her transformation, the air rushing from Lycia’s body fills the room with a reddish haze. Her presence overtakes the room, as if she has become the only danger present.

 

The environment darkens. Even the glowing, blue serpent overhead is diminished by Lycia’s presence as she takes center stage.

 

At the entrance to the enormous room, the sight of the entrance hallway vanishes as a red-iron portcullis forms from condensing droplets of crystal red and falls into place before it.

 

 

 

The once playful body of the ghoul woman has become quite fearsome.

 

Still beautiful, the effect is somewhat lessened by the clawed feet that have burst from her shoes, and the long and sharp fingers that stretch from the open gloves of her now elongated arms.

Her deathly pale skin is striated and woven with artery-like red lines, her visage sinister as she bares her razor teeth.

Even her cute ears have stretched a bit, looking like they come to a greater point as the skin strains against the cartilage.

 

 

 

A womanly body has grown slightly taller, but also looks much more gaunt. Her posture turns totally feral as she leans forward.

 

The only vestige of Lycia’s teasing personality left is the slashing smile, morphed into the most frightening of her features.

 

Ahahahahahahaha haaaaaaaaaa!”

 

Lycia cackles like a madwoman while drunkenly flailing about, causing Adris’ ears to ring from the loudness as he timidly crawls away to escape her vicinity.

 

Taking on a higher posture, she leans in with enormous confidence, her bloodshot eyes whipping between the assembled prey.

 

 

 

Her plan, if it can be called one, was simple.

 

(Lycia… needed something other than me within reach to attack after deranging!)

 

Had Ferthia not walked up at the last moment, the one who would now be embedded in the ground would be…

 

 

 

The butler rushes Lycia, her sawblade singing as she expertly enters into close range.

 

A wide, swinging arm is juked by Lycia, but the woman’s second strike flashes like moving shadows when Miria lunges forward, the first one only a feint to distract the ghoul.

Neon red “blood” sprays from Lycia’s stomach as the sawblade cuts through her, her flesh ripping out slightly with the blade before the sword snaps loose of what it’s pulling.

 

Adris would think such an attack would be lethal, but Vigor denies his logic.

Instead of being daunted by the tearing wound she receives, Lycia slams her arms into the ground, narrowly missing crushing the butler when she sways to the side.

 

(Creatures of this world can take damage like that and not even flinch!?)

 

“This ghoul recovers much faster from impacts than…! … No, wait, something’s wrong, Miria! She’s not a normal ghoul!”

Hoime cries out, still awkwardly leaking white droplets, even as she aims her wand.

 

Muscles taut, Lycia seems to ripple with power. Her clawed feet dig into the stone.

 

(She’s beyond a “monster”. She’s an abject nightmare.)

 

Adris is dumbstruck, frightened that this is the same woman that he’d just unloaded his semen into moments earlier.

He bleeds a bit from his lips, the wound on his tongue not having closed yet.

 

(It should be clotting.)

 

The woman who had bitten him has changed from tasting his blood. Ferthia’s essence, as well as Lycia’s own, clings heavily to her body and discolors her. She is…

 

“Shit, she’s a [Bloodstained Ghoul!]”

 

Hoime yells out a warning and then vanishes in an explosion of green, billowing smoke, right before Lycia…

 

 

 

… puts her hand over her face, then moves it away, her wide eyes a source of pure fascination.

 

 

 

“[HEART… TAKING…!]”

 

The monstrous woman moans.

 

A flash of goldish-green light radiates in front of her.

 

 

 

The giant Cathar falls to his knees, shaking, as he holds his head with his hands. With the man’s eyes locked on Lycia, Adris notes no life in them.

He’s simply frozen in place, like his mind has been stolen.

 

The cat butler quivers a bit, but…

 

[Hunter’s Oath!]

 

… her unfocused eyes gain new life when the woman slices her own leg with her blade, causing a gold-spewing wound to appear.

Her eyes then take on a pained edge, a stony look coming to her face as she stares down her enemy.

 

“It’s Battle Pressure! And she’s a [Beast of Conquest] (TRUE MONSTER), too! Hoime! Annihilate her, I’ll support!”

The cat butler issues orders, readying her blade to assault the beast before her. Her sharp teeth are bared as she grimaces.

 

“[Rouse!] Cathar!”

The word she speaks with authority carries power with it. The man’s eyes return to life, but his body still can’t move effectively as he stumbles while rising.

 

“Tsk”ing at this, Miria charges Lycia alone, taking the ghoul’s attention away from the still dazed giant.

 

Adris reties his pants and gets up, moving out to a nearby walkway to get away from the mad Lycia and impending carnage, before he ends up being seen as a target by either side.

 

Lycia rears back comically with a free hand and leaps toward the butler who comes within her range.

 

Accompanied by a raucous scream, blood flows from Lycia’s wound to her own arm, merging with the golden blood from the reaved Ferthia.

A sanguine, blade-like emission flares around her claw, gouging the floor under the dodging Miria, before Lycia pulls her claw along to follow the now rolling butler.

 

“Fast!” Miria jumps from the end of her roll, leaping ten feet into the air as the ground is scooped up by the chasing ghoul.

 

Blood splatters everywhere, a hissing sound as it boils on the discoloring flagstones.

 

In the air, the cat woman somersaults, tossing out filled, opaque bottles during her odd flight.

The bottles impact in front of Lycia as she yanks herself backward.

They burst into purple flames that expand over the entire area, consuming the light around the fire and emitting dimness instead.

 

The fire separates Lycia from Cathar and Miria.

 

Miria pulls out a large, single-shot black iron pistol with a cracked, walnut frame. She tries to aim through the fire at a rapidly approaching shadow, but instead jumps toward it after lowering her pistol.

 

“How vile.”

 

The unconscious, and now burning, bat girl flies through the smoky flames. Miria jumps up to bring her to ground safely, before she can sail forward to splatter on the wall ahead.

Miria is caught up with the girl as they roll, losing focus on the battle when she stops to put out the fire burning on the girl.

With the beast Lycia circling the flames quickly to take advantage of her opponent’s sudden helplessness, Miria is too caught up to notice.

 

Lycia picks up speed as she claws into the ground like an animal, rushing them with murderous intent and pinning both women to the ground.

Putting both claws into the cat woman, the sharp hands sink into her body before tearing violently back out, spraying golden blood that stains both predator and prey.

The woman’s chest and leg are brutally maimed.

 

(But, she’s still moving.)

 

What should be a mortal blow is both suffered and endured. Miria feels pain, but refuses to leave the maid under her unprotected.

 

As Lycia attempts to savage her again, Miria counters her first, striking Lycia’s incoming arm with the singing sawblade. The hit redirects the blow, with Lycia’s spilling flesh the reward, and then seamlessly follows up with a slash at Lycia’s exposed chest.

Undaunted, Lycia’s sends another strike with her other hand, but it meets with Miria’s aimed pistol. A cracking sound comes from it as the burning projectile pierces Lycia’s wrist, blowing her hand back and sending red misting into the air.

 

Even while Lycia’s red essence flows in copious quantities…

 

KYAHAHAHAHA!”

 

She doesn’t slow down.

If anything, damage to the laughing Lycia only excites her, enticing her to stand firm and claw to pieces her still disadvantaged foe.

 

(Is she going to win? No, what is that feeling?)

 

Adris feels the feeling of fake aura moving. Like with Tishia and Heleton, something powerful is gathering.

 

Looking up to follow the flow, Adris sees the sage Hoime on a high walkway above, her low voice intoning while her wand floats before her.

The bunny sage’s now unbound book is floating above her, its pages turning themselves.

 

Adris’ aura senses detect a great vortex of energy where she stands.

 

Power unwavering and unlimited, drawn from the dreams of dead gods, manifest as form unknowable to the unenlightened, as you who dwelt in death since before creation are now finally born!” [Realm of Mysteries!]

 

“Lycia! Above! RUN!”

Adris screams as loud as he can, hoping Lycia can hear him through her mania.

 

Lycia does look up, noticing the woman who had escaped her radiant eyes.

 

A large, black-iron double door appears beside Hoime from a ripping tear, the surface of it writ with emerald lines and glyphs. Its presence is a blinding beacon for Adris’ aura sight.

 

The sound of a ship breaking up accompanies the distortion it forms from.

 

Robe whipping to and fro, exposing her bare, still-dripping crotch, Hoime is grinning madly as the double doors open with a hideous clanging and creaking sound.

 

As Adris peers inside the opening doors…

 

 

 

His mind is assaulted by possibilities.

Consciousness burning, he sees a true darkness beyond it.

 

(What is it inside that is familiar?)

 

This space beyond saps his mind, but also fills him with thoughts which drive him wild, bringing forth memories…

Of his “death.”

And of his “rebirth” here.

 

Of dark whispers and the unknown.

 

Of droning and shining black…

 

 

 

A squelching roar and squirming sounds interrupt his fascination.

 

From this shining dark space, festering, opaque tendrils rush out, pulling on each other and racing to fill the room.

Gel-like extrusions of phantasmal goo splash all around Lycia, who escapes by precisely dodging between the impacting streams.

 

The sludge is alive as it flails around trying to capture her, the stone that it rests on warping, curdling, and turning black as it sticks.

 

“Miserable, miserable boy! If you want to be loved by the mad beast so much, then join her in demise, please~!”

 

Taking up her floating rod, the bunny girl flicks it to point toward Adris.

In response, tendrils freed from the door become living missiles, homing in as they throw themselves at this new, helpless foe.

 

(No hope, there-)

 

 

 

Only having a brief moment to think before his death, Adris’ view becomes a sudden blur.

 

The tendrils strike the walkway he was previously standing on. Adris watches it melt, noticing that it’s upside down to his view now.

 

Held by Lycia, the crazed woman is, herself, hanging from a tank twenty feet above the vanishing walkway.

 

Sensing danger, she leaps from one walkway to the next, dodging streaking, black death. Bouncing off sheer walls of glass as she ascends the room, Lycia interposes tanks and walkways to block the hungry phantasms as she climbs.

 

(Still sane enough to save me? That is…)

 

A silver bullet impacts on the glass beside Adris’ head, the shot ricocheting off to fly into a nearby tank.

Blinking at the second near death, Adris traces it to its source.

 

Miria has recovered, standing on the ground level with her pistol aimed at them. It leaks foul, black smoke from its barrel, the butler’s eyes merciless as she calmly loads another shot.

 

Sensing the danger of this joint attack, Lycia cackles and descends to fight them.

 

The tendrils that follow Lycia’s climb are cut in twine by sharp claws, disappearing when she severs them.

 

“Stand still, stand still, I have so many secrets to share with you, Works bitch!”

Hoime the mad sage twirls her rod, fresh tendrils shooting from the door as she tries to capture Lycia.

 

(What is this?)

 

He can’t keep up with the combat, barely able to keep from falling to his own death, helped to hold on by the woman he’s clinging to.

Lycia has already been hit by the goo once, sock melted and her leg slightly darkened as she failed to break free fast enough. She can’t effectively dodge while also holding onto Adris.

 

“[Crowkill.]”

 

The bleeding butler whispers after taking a while to aim, her gun obscured by a purple flame wicking off of it.

 

Lycia tenses when she notices it.

 

(That thing is deadly! And I’m going to… kill Lycia if she can’t fight!)

 

Adris tries to let go, so that Lycia can move more freely. Aiming for a tank of water, he releases his hold on her and drops, but she instead grabs him in mid fall and whips him around to hold him in an arm.

 

(Fuck, let me go! I don’t want you to die… or me to die with you!)

 

Flying into the air, she pulls a red gem from her thigh satchel with great effort, the madness consuming her making it difficult for her to focus.

Put between the tips of her claws, it easily shatters when squeezed. Red lightning erupts, thick smoke rushing out.

 

 

 

Miria fires her shot, the bullet shooting like a bolt of silver as it flies towards Lycia without error.

 

The bullet enters the cloud, and the sound of a dying crow rings out as it impacts something, a great wooden sound of splintering resounding.

 

 

 

From out of the cloud, Lycia and Adris emerge.

 

 

The bullet missed.

It instead lodged into a great, rectangular box with holes at the end.

 

 

 

Miria looks to her right, to the spot where Lycia had left her aura tool.

 

“Hoime, watch out! It’s a magic item!”

 

But, it’s too late.

 

Hoime’s attention is consumed by her effort to catch Lycia, directing the tendrils rushing toward the two jumping opponents.

A wicked smile is plastered onto her face, every bit as insane as Lycia’s. The effect of the bizarre technique has sapped her ability to think clearly.

 

 

 

Lycia levels her powerful weapon, pointing it at whipping bunny ears as black sludge flies past.

 

[SHOOTING… STARS…!]

 

 

 

A great cataclysm erupts from the end.

Even though the device is damaged from a silver bullet embedded into it, most of the tubes function properly, dozens of white stars streaming out towards Hoime with a great cacophony.

 

A perfect shot, even in mid air, Lycia’s strength allows her to aim the box while rocking in flight from the recoil.

 

The stars start with a slower, rocket-like momentum; but, as they travel, their speed impossibly increases.

(What increases in speed as it travels like this? It defies logic.)

Not even an arrow increases with speed so quickly while falling.

 

What’s more, the attack is far stronger than when used previously. The entire room is alight with the white rockets.

 

(How is Lycia more powerful now?)

 

 

 

“Huh…”

Hoime makes a muted sound as she watches the stars demolish the tendrils she sent toward Lycia, enormous white explosions vaporizing the goo and pressing ever on as the area is deafened by the roar of impact.

 

The great rocketing stars of death push through until they impact on a green shield Hoime raises, enveloping her, and the entire walkway and wall, in complete devastation.

 

It’s a popping display, smoke billowing out from the path of the stars, filling most of the immense room at the level Hoime once inhabited.

Scatters of tiny, iridescent star pieces shoot out from the explosions, lingering radiances that also gain in speed as they travel out while also falling, impacting and exploding on surfaces.

 

The destruction leaves the entire area to wrench itself lose from the wall, falling down with a clanging and squealing storm of noise.

 

 

 

Hoime disappears under the barrage, only for the thinning smoke to reveal her trapped, face down, under a chunk of metal on the level below.

 

 

 

Lycia lands suddenly on the edge of a water reservoir, recovering her vitality while watching Miria rescue both Cathar and the fallen Hoime.

Miria drags the woman with the green, and now blackened, robe toward the giant, pulling out a rough, orange stone and slapping Hoime’s face with it. The stone explodes into a mist, which then rapidly rushes back to cling to the bunny’s body, disappearing quickly as the golden Vigor on her evaporates.

Miria then hits the giant in the face with the pommel of her crooked sawsword multiple times, ceasing only when he blocks it with his hand.

 

Lycia stares at Adris. Her bloodshot eyes are twitching as she looks at him, the gold in them almost completely eating away the green spots.

 

She is beautiful, in a murderous fashion.

As controlling as he knows her to be, her presence is still stunning, this rampage burning in his mind.

 

(Far too attractive.)

 

Adris knows there’s very little time remaining before Lycia loses all of her faculties and becomes a threat to even him.

He can already smell the odor of pure insanity leaking more heavily from her, the fear it brings smothering any other thought he has about her.

 

As the green starts to disappear completely from her eyes, Adris feels like he’s starting to hear whispers from both her and all around him.

 

 

 

She holds him closer to her, an act he doesn’t reject, even with fear gripping him.

 

“… wE’lL mEeT aGaIn… little bro.”

 

The woman smiles with a strained face as she haltingly speaks.

 

Lycia leaps quickly then, moving down towards the enemy rallying to confront her.

 

 

 

Cathar is active now, his fists to the ground, stone moving up to cover his body until only his violent eyes can be seen.

Hoime is no longer unconscious and is standing while wobbling, intoning some spell while her creepy wand writhes energetically in her hand.

Miria is coating her sawblade with Vigor from the hand she’s cutting on it, the blade bursting into a purple flame as the saw teeth begin to vibrate hungrily.

 

 

 

As they fall, Lycia tosses Adris toward a tank she passes by.

 

Adris hits the water, being pulled quickly to a drain he lands by, dragged underneath into a clear, crystal-glass tube that’s going toward the writhing stone floor below.

 

He holds his breath as he watches Lycia descend, the ghoulish woman hopping from walkway to walkway.

 

She extends her free hand languidly while in mid air, whipping it palm up with a flourish as darkness rises up around her side.

 

 

 

Her blond hair streaks like a falling star.

“[HUNGER OF THE STARS.]”

 

 

 

Spectral, headless skeletal creatures of dark light and smoke burst from her hand, a torrent moving with immense speed as it rushes towards enemies Adris can no longer perceive.

It’s a gout like a dying flame rushing out, enrapturing and revolting. Each skeleton flails in apparent pain, appearing briefly before the darkness consumes it again, only to eject more ghostly images ahead as it perishes.

 

The ghastly images cling to everything they touch, then explode out to consume the space around them, like a billow of the dark devouring all life.

 

 

 

The entire room shakes at the impact of this mass…

 

… as Adris is pulled down a drain.

 

 


 

Characters:

Characters:

Name: Adris fehl Dain; “Mister Meat”
Titles: Scholar Bound in Madness, Greedy Informant, Lycia’s Little Brother
Race: Xin’El, Emperor’s Child (Human)
Sex: Male
Age: ?? – Young

Occupation: Crossbearer; Charlatan/Swindler; Xin’Reh (former); Soldier of Fortune (former); Bounty Hunter (former)
Discipline: Crossbearer – Cursed Aura User; Spear Veteran (former); Aura Warrior, School/Specialization: Self-Taught (former)

Powers:

[Tool Savant] – “Adris is a tool-collecting-and-utilizing fanatic. Most men would consider him disgusting for loving tools more than his own partner. Has so many tools that it can be said to be his true power. What does he do when he has no tools left? He seeks to acquire more, obviously!”

[Unknown Cross Smash] – {A MAN STRIKES ANOTHER WITH SHINING SILVER. THE MAN WHO IS STRUCK SMILES, HIS MIND AWAKENED.}

[Unknown Protection from Poisons/Compelling] – {A MAN WALKS, HIS STEPS UNWEARIED AND RESOLUTE. NONE CAN STOP HIM.}

[Unknown Communication Assistance] – {THE MAN HAS NO DIFFICULTY SPEAKING TO THOSE WHO ARE ALL DISSIMILAR. HE UNDERSTANDS THEIR SUPPLICATIONS.}

[Unknown Mental Domination] – {A MAN DEMANDS. THOSE WHO HE DEMANDS OF, OBEY.}

 

Disposition: Resilient / Adaptable / Sinner
Alignment: Chaotic

Eyes: Black
Hair: Black, with strands of White
Skin: Tanned

 

Statistics:

R-Value – “Why have I not showed up yet, Adris? You’re taking too long.”

“Please don’t summon me around her.”

 

Beauty:

C-Value – “If all men looked like him, it might not be odd for women to think that the gods had painted the world in only the drab color brown? While not ugly, would he not exemplify the idea that ‘normal’ is perhaps indistinguishable from ‘undesirable’?”

2-5

“Does missing half of your body increase the rarity of what remains, thereby increasing its inherent beauty?”

“Being a child again, can you see the difference that being an adult adds? No longer possessing the work put into improving features, will Adris understand that being plain as a child lacks the poise and stature of adulthood? Even as an older boy, isn’t it hard to be… ‘dashing’?”

“Clothing, is it? Yes, clothing is a fine answer to all problems, is it not? Even an ape may appear more dashing if he is wearing a suit, isn’t that right, Adris?”

“If you’re appealing to a monster, wouldn’t that be detrimental in the long term?”

“Even in defeat, you cling to your stoic face, Adris? That might actually be attractive, in its own way…?”

Description:

“A rather plain-looking man wearing traveling robes, what he carries hidden is far more dangerous than his appearance lets on. A disarming smile, leads to you being suckered. A clever tongue, leads to your sorrow. Possessing quick wit and intellect, hubris and arrogance are certain to follow. Well known across the floating islands of Xin, but not by name, only by reputation. Owed many favors, but not with great joy, and certainly not love. The only person he seems to care about other than himself is his lifelong partner.”

2-5

“It can be said that Adris has done a lot of things in his life. Good, bad, evil, and unkind, all of what he has done has been done with the assumption that he will never have to worry about heaven or hell. Now that he’s lost the only thing he’s ever cared about, what is left? Perhaps he will get his chance to discover what it means to be free?”

“Turned into a kid again, how is Adris handling this? Thrust into a dimension beyond his ability to cope with, especially after being abandoned by Serras and murdered, only his attachment to his own sense of self… or finding it again, is driving him. Now that he is young, he can only survive by his wits, seeing as his aura has been taken from him. Will he succumb to his thirst for female flesh? Will this cross claim his mind and make him its meat puppet?”

“Even if there’s a distinct lack of total sanity in him, at the moment, he still seems able to function quite well. If you don’t have to dwell on your problems, you can devote yourself quite effectively to a single goal, ignoring all extraneous information. Though, isn’t the idea of [Oath] a little too…? And what’s with him pretending to be completely different people?”

“Every new situation is a chance to demonstrate acting talent, and Adris’ is geared towards his own survival. If you need to play the fool, then be the best fool.”

“Getting lucky is also a form of success. We never know what the right words might be to win someone over, nor when they will pay off. Sometimes, we find ourselves in others in the oddest ways.”

 

Commentary:

“You’re on your own again, already? Wonder if you had a plan for this one, in the event she wasn’t ready to help. Who am I kidding, of course you did: gangrape is always an option!”

 

 


 

Name: Lycia Vehrose
Titles: Beast of Conquest
Race: Blood-Stained Ghoul
Sex: Female
Age: ?? (Old Lady)

Occupation: Wondrous Works Researcher; Tool Creator; Total Monster
Discipline: Battle Pressure – Mad Ghoul

Powers:

[Shooting Stars] – “A strange, wooden box with holes in the end produces a stream of missile-like light, which explodes with enormous force on the chosen target. I, of course, want it desperately. Hooray for aura tools.”

[Pocket Belmont] – “A spiked chain that flies with great force to strike out, before returning. It explodes with flame on impact, destroying whatever is around its point of release. Is this love? Am I in love?”

[Heart Taking] – “Hey, won’t you give yourself to me~? Completely and absolutely.”

[True Form] – “aaaa——————AAAA‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾!!!!”

[Unknown Blood Manipulation] – “AHAHAHAHAHAHA HAAAAAAAAA! fEaR tHe BlOoD, cAt!

[Hunger of the Stars] – “Those who are dead are the ones who feel hunger the deepest, as they can never taste what the living can, ever again. A hunger instilled in a corpse by knowledge of beyond this world, merging death and eldritch longing, this might be the worst form of it possible.”

 

Disposition: Sultry / Intelligent / Vicious |-| Insane
Alignment: Neutral

Eyes: Green, Speckled Gold
Hair: Blond
Skin: Deathly White

 

Statistics:

R-Value – “Please unlock me, Adris~.”

“Just not if it’s about her!”

 

Beauty:

C-Value – “Perhaps you have a fascination for that which seems human, but whose qualities deviate far from it when inspected? Even if she’s your ideal figure, Adris, won’t it be a problem if she decides to eat you up?”

“Is she more beautiful because she’s so willing to be amoral, or in spite of it? Showing so many wonderful expressions, are you captivated by the face, or the evil light in her eyes?”

“Still attracted to her now? You are incorrigible, aren’t you, Adris? Red and gold on white, if a living corpse can excite you, then we’ll have to start taking this section down a stranger path, won’t we?”

 

Description:

“A woman whose first instinct is to not trust you, and to trust only in herself. A fairly good perspective and outlook on life, in a blue abyss filled with lunatics. The obvious question is: how sane can she be if she willingly lives there?”

“While willing to help and showing a proclivity towards honoring deals, she’s seemingly not above taking what she can get.”

“A true monster in the classical sense, in both mind and body. Perhaps only her soul is near enough to human to redeem her a bit. A Bloodstained Ghoul is something truly awful, an enemy from the past returned to haunt the living. Doubly so when she’s experienced at it.”

 

Commentary:

“She most assuredly is not the heroine. It’s not even a joke, by this point. If she were the heroine, the genre of this story would be very different. She is, at least, a dark reflection… A very sexy one!”

 

Glossary:

 

Wow, there’s nothing.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 10         Table of Contents          Chapter 12