Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sweat rolls down the hero’s forehead.

How long had he been traveling up this wicked tower? The Palace of the Great Seal, where a horrible deity had recently been unleashed by an evil wizard…

The wizard Zkauba. An inhuman creature from another planet who traveled to Gaiearth and used the Silver Key to unleash Yog-Sothoth, guardian of the gate. Should Yog-Sothoth be in this world for too long, mass hysteria caused by the evil God would bring mankind to its ruin.

Ragnus Bishasi the brave. He had been selected by the goddess Eldora to strike down the wicked invaders and send them back where they came. Defeating the alien wizard, Zkauba, was simple enough for Ragnus. Resembling an anteater with pale blue skin, while his magic was great, his physical prowess left much to be desired.

Blue blood soaks Ragnus’ Reactor Blade. Ragnus had slain him. 

It wasn’t the same as slaying mindless monsters animated by magic or madness—pardon the alliteration— Zkauba thought and talked like a person. He believed he was doing something great for Gaiearth, and the cult that worshipped Yog-Sothoth, all humans that had been brainwashed, blinded…

Ragnus hated it. In his heart, he wanted to be in a world free of this bloodshed, where no one had to kill each other or go to war to solve their problems.

It heard him.

I hear your wish. Allow me to take this world, and I can bring you harmony.

It speaks to him through telepathy. Ragnus tries to ignore it best he can, staring up at the gigantic God made of multiple eyeballs and elongated, fleshy tentacles.

Defying him, Ragnus cuts away at the beast’s many tendrils, rendering Yog-Sothoth literally unarmed.

Before Ragnus came here to face Yog-Sothoth and the wizard directly, he encountered a woman with skin like ivory and platinum hair. Beautiful, but tired eyes that made her face seem older than she truly was. Her father was a wizard. 

This woman loved Yog-Sothoth…

Brainwashed, just like so many of them. Ragnus promised that he would free them, free them all! He didn’t want to force his hand any further as a great hero, this would be the last, final time. This would be the end of the twisted, outer god!

He plunges the Reactor Blade into one of Yog-Sothoth’s eyes. Leftside, where one of the tentacles used to be, now had an eye protruding from it. Truly, this sort of form was incomprehensible. If Ragnus stared at it any longer, he might go crazy too, praying that the Archangel Raguel protected him.

Does this creature have a heart? Most likely not. 

Ragnus climbs on the torn nub where one of Yog-Sothoth’s tentacles once laid. He scales it like a horrible tower, taking advantage of one of the eyes being blinded, unable to perform any tricks at close range.

Yog-Sothoth’s head—if one could call it that— was merely a gaping maw full of teeth, an eyeball at the center of it. Ragnus tries to chip away at some of the teeth, tearing at the God’s bloodied gums as he begins to take aim.

“Ultimate Strike!”

Ragnus calls his attack, he gets close, practically being swallowed by the God.

He feels his blade plunge into the eye’s surface, but just as soon as contact is made, the weight of his armor makes Ragnus start falling.

Yog-Sothoth, more cowardly than he seemed at a first glance, had slipped away and dematerialized, causing Ragnus to plummet back to the tower’s top floor.

“No…!”

Rubbing his eyes and seeing the faint image of a dark rift, Ragnus can just barely make out Yog-Sothoth attempting his escape. And if he escaped, then he would invade another world, brainwash people, drive everyone into hysteria.

Even if Ragnus succeeded in driving Yog-Sothoth out of Gaiearth, someone would suffer. The woman would still be under his influence from afar. Ragnus knew his influence reached far and wide, it could not be stopped unless Ragnus struck him down for good!

Staggering, the pain from the fall was getting to him. Ragnus attempted to cast healing magic on himself as he approached the rift.

No matter what, Yog-Sothoth would not escape him!

What sort of hero would leave the job half-done? Nay! This had to be seen all the way through, no matter what sort of world lies ahead!

His armor feels heavier, perhaps it was just the plummet, the rift larger as Ragnus takes each step. When his hand is in reach, Ragnus feels a cool breeze coming from the unusual portal.

Ragnus takes a deep breath. One foot forward, he feels air on the other side rather than a solid surface and pulls his right leg back.

A running start, whatever laid on the other side was in for a surprise. He leaps through the rift and—

“… I knocked myself out. When I awoke, I realized I had come to this world of sorcery.”

Ragnus adjusts his oversized armor, standing on a tree stump as he tells the story to a crowd of smaller monster-folk.

“Are you done yet?” Panotty complains, sitting amidst the audience.

“A-ah, well— I haven’t gotten to the part where I encountered Miss Nadja and the perverted dark mage—”

“I’m bored!” Merigu, the green-haired member of the Banshee Trio squeals. “Hey, Mini, let’s go see how your dad is doing. I can’t wait for this concert this weekend!”

“Okaaa-aaay,” Mini Zombie gets up from his seat, along with various other characters who start leaving in the midst of Ragnus’s story.

The warrior tries to stop them and chime in, but frankly it seemed none of them cared for this sort of tale. Even Honey Bee, a lover of swordsmen and samurai tales, lost interest in what was going on and flew away as quickly as she could.

“That guy is weird… he’s a kid like us, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, but he keeps insisting that he’s seventeen!”

Hurtful words were exchanged from Mandrake to Sukiya Podes. Kodomo Dragon is already riding away, his steed wide awake and leaving while the boy is sound asleep. By the time the crowd of kids cleared up, Ragnus could only see Arle Nadja sitting in the background with Carbuncle.

“Uh, sorry that happened,” Arle apologizes awkwardly. “If it means anything to you, I quite liked the story so far!”

“Thanks,” Ragnus sighs, slumping his shoulders. “I really wish I wasn’t treated like such a strange outsider, even if I technically am one. Furthermore, I was going to explain that I was cursed ever since I attacked Yog-Sothoth… but I didn’t even get to that part where I realized it.”

Arle bites her lower lip. “If all of this is true, the solution is probably finding Yog-Sothoth and killing him, right? But it’d be hard to find a weird evil God. Do you think maybe he retired to play Puyo Puyo in peace?”

The mental image makes Ragnus laugh a little. “Well, as much as I can see it happening given how Satan himself acts in this world, that would be a stretch. And a problem, since I’m still cursed and I have no way back home currently.” He gives Arle a smile. “Thank you though.”

“What for?”

“Trying to cheer me up, of course. I’ll be sure to repay the favor for you one day, milady.”

After which, Ragnus finally takes his own leave, satisfied that at least one person cared for his backstory.

Arle can’t help but wonder where exactly Ragnus goes. He looks like a child, but is actually a year older than her. Does he live in his own home, or does he take space in one of the inns at Gold Town?

She can’t help but admire how well Ragnus adapted to being sent to another world. 

The World of Sorcery is where the likes of Arle and Carbuncle. A peaceful realm where humans and monsters coexist, solving most of their problems by playing a puzzle game with Puyo, which was started by the Goddess of Spacetime.

Mages like Schezo and Witch are revered by people, often assigned various quests or tasks. There are some less adept in magic and rely on martial arts of course! Such as Rulue, Minotauros, Draco, Zoh Daimaoh, and even Zombie…

Arle herself trains every day to become a top class mage. Could Arle handle something like what happened to Ragnus turning on her? She isn’t so sure about traveling to another dimension, but perhaps so long as Carbuncle was by her side, it’d all be okay.

As she purchases some ingredients for tonight’s curry rice, she heads home, cooks everything together, and has a nice hot meal with her best friend.

“Maybe Ragnus was sent here because this world is so peaceful, like this was Yog-Sothoth’s mean way of giving him back his youth and whimsy? What do you think, Carby?” Arle asks.

“Gu!”

“Yeah, okay, good point. I’ll stop talking and thinking about it.” Arle laughs.

Just before they came back home, there was a peculiar cloud of smoke coming from the mountains… but Arle just assumes that it’s smoke from someone making a fire, or an accident happened.

Little did she know, as she went to bed, this is where a new adventure for her would start…

Chapter Text

When Arle wakes up the next morning and steps outside, she finds her home village is in quite the state of paranoia.

The village she lived in was mainly inhabited by humans. Not a lot of fellow apprentice mages like her, not especially since she moved from her home town, the Magic Village, so it was easy for them to get freaked out over things like some irritable Puyo or an angry monster coming in. Usually in those scenarios, Arle would try to pacify the troublemaker or challenge them.

Usually it was the Owlbear, sometimes it would be a more aggressive foe like Cockatrice, and other times it was Harpy trying really hard to get people to listen to her songs.

“What’s going on?” Arle asked one of the elderly villagers.

“There’s a sort of smoke cloud spreading over from the mountains. Some travelers are having trouble breathing. If it isn’t taken care of, I’m not sure how some of us with weaker lungs are going to be able to handle it.”

Arle recalls the smoke on the mountains she saw yesterday on her way home. Looking up to the mountains, she can see the smoke clouds from last night had gotten much worse, covering various forest trees. The color of the smoke was notably purple, rather than grey or black.

“Oh yeah, that’s definitely not a fire causing it, huh?”

Carbuncle hops onto Arle’s shoulder, anticipating a sort of quest.

“Miss Nadja, do you think you could look into it?”

“Of course! I’ll have to buy some Oxygen Flowers just in case it’s serious and maybe limit my usage of fire magic if it’s something flammable, but consider it done!”

“Thank you, I don’t know how I can repay your kindness this time,” the old woman laughs.

“No need for repayment. I don’t want money. Doing a good deed and looking after everyone is something that should be done for free!” Arle chirps, stepping out of the village and making her way to the florist’s shop.

She just hopes that by any chance, Rulue doesn’t make a big deal out of Arle coming onto her land property to purchase supplies, she could be awfully testy…

By the time Arle arrives at the flower shop close to Rulue’s Mansion, Muhoho is there to greet her brightly. The red frog merchant is assisted by various fairies as well as the young Mandrake. 

Unlike her cousin, Nohoho, while her products were expensive and she did some behind-the-scenes peddling, Muhoho was mostly an honest merchant that made a living through growing herbs, veggies, and flowers. She never tried to swindle or force anyone into a deal, and she would often give discounts to those not well off… or if they were simply cute.

“Muhoho! Welcome, Miss Nadja! What are you looking for today?” She greets the apprentice mage with a smile.

“Morning, Muhoho. I was wondering if you have any Oxygen Flowers in stock.”

The red frog merchant checks her supplies. “I have three left that were harvested. Lucky you! They’ve been selling like hot cakes ever since the weird smoke cloud appeared over the mountains, another guy came over and bought them in bulk.” Muhoho then sighs. “I just hope that haze goes away soon. I kind of need proper sunlight and air for all of my plants.”

“I’m not going to let this weird smoke cover up the sun, I’m taking care of it ASAP as possible!”

“Um, I think you mean as soon as possible, don’t you?” Muhoho hands her the Oxygen Flowers. “I’d give these to you for free since you’re going to take care of it, but I’m a little worried about my business if this haze doesn’t clear up. Are you okay with paying this time?”

Arle simply responds by handing over the gold she has on hand—

A loud scream pierces everyone’s senses. Muhoho is first to look back at Mandrake, but she appears to be just as perplexed as everyone else. Arle nearly drops the bag of gold by accident, startled by the sound.

“That came from Rulue’s Mansion!” 

Arle spins her head, all too familiar with hearing weird noises coming from the home of her one-sided rival. Usually though, it was Minotauros who made weird noises after midnight, not Rulue herself in the middle of the morning.

“Oh dear. Do you think Satan finally gave her the message that he isn’t interested?” Muhoho asks.

“No, trust me, I would have heard something other than a scream if it was that.” Arle picks the bag of gold back up from the ground, hands it to Muhoho in exchange for the Oxygen Flowers, then stuffs it in her pack before running off.

“You’re really going over there?”

It’d be understandable for an outsider to be confused about the whole thing. Rulue was often strict and sometimes mean to Arle in her battle for Satan’s affection. Of course, even if she was a little too bossy, Arle knew she couldn’t just leave Rulue to whatever was happening, if it was serious.

It was an odd, on-and-off friendship. That and Arle’s care for others almost always came first, even if someone didn’t like her.

To her surprise though, Muhoho ended up following, perhaps out of equal concern or maybe a potential business prospect from someone rich.

As Arle storms through the front door of the mansion without permission, she already sees Rulue’s elderly butler lying on the ground unconscious.

Admittedly, for the longest time, Arle knew nothing about this man other than him being in Rulue’s service. Every time she needed him, Rulue would just yell for ‘Gramps’. He had been living under Rulue’s family home for a long time, long enough for him to be given such a nickname. Perhaps he was the closest thing Rulue had to a guardian.

There were a few rumors that perhaps he was a ninja or an assassin that got hired after a failed extermination attempt, or maybe a thief got caught, but there was never any confirmation. He also wasn’t one for words. Either way, it was a surprise to see him of all people knocked out cold like this.

Arle is quick to cast a healing spell on the old butler while he’s knocked out, scurrying as fast as she can down the hallway and to the stairwell.

That’s when she sees Rulue, battered and torn, but still up and kicking… Minotauros? 

Did he finally snap after being bossed around so much? No that couldn’t have been it. Ignoring the fact he was super tolerant and loyal to Rulue in spite of how much of a bully she could be, his eyes had turned bright red and purple smoke was coming out of his nostrils.

He sees Arle, and like a typical bull, Minotauros begins to charge at her.

Two spells come to Arle’s mind right away, she isn’t sure which one she should call upon, but she also doesn’t have the time to strategize given Minotauros is running at her head-on. She wouldn’t be standing up for much longer if she didn’t act right away. 

“Mind Blast!”

One of two spells she remembers Minotauros being vulnerable to. The bright, wavy lights strike Minotauros and misdirect him, sending him down the stairs and straight into a wall.

“Heedon!”

Arle follows up on dumbing down Minotauros’s brain with a quick nap. Hopefully he could sleep off whatever it was he was dealing with.

“Arle…!”

Rulue’s lip is bleeding. Arle doesn’t hesitate to heal her, magically making the bruises and cuts disappear with the flick of her hand.

“Rulue! What the heck happened here!? I’ve never seen Mino lash out at you like that! Did he catch rabies or something? Mad cow disease?”

“No,” Rulue wipes her lip, no doubt trying to remain composed in front of her rival. “I sent him out to the mountains to fetch firewood for tonight’s dinner, and he came back without any wood, but a horrible temper like I’ve never seen. Gramps and I tried to hold him back, but as you can see…”

Arle pauses for a moment. Carbuncle finally got the courage to crawl out of Arle’s bag, his hiding spot. Thankfully he didn’t eat anything like the glutton he was, but he was holding one of the Oxygen Flowers that had been purchased. When Arle sees him, the dots begin to click together.

“Of course, good thinking, Carby!” Arle praises him, taking the Oxygen Flowers and then stepping close to Minotauros. Although his body was slumped over and there was a dent in the wall, his head was at least accessible.

She opens his maw, checks if he’s breathing, and puts the Oxygen Flowers between his teeth.

“Maybe this will filter everything out, I hope.”

“What exactly are you doing and what is going on!?” Rulue barks.

“People in my hometown were freaking out, asked me to deal with the smoke in the mountains—which Minotauros breathed in— went to buy some Oxygen Flowers to prepare for the trip,” she gestures over to Muhoho, who was just standing there watching the whole thing. “Heard you scream, and now I’m here.”

“Smoke? Come to think of it, I did see a horrible miasma last night, but I thought it would have cleared up by now. I had been so focused on practicing that I didn’t bother to check outside.” Rulue begins to calm down.

“Practicing? You mean your martial arts?”

“It’s not important!” Rulue snaps back. “Take me to where you saw this smoke! The sooner we get Minotauros back to normal and solve this issue, the better!”

With that, they departed for the Yarn Forest in the mountains, forcing Muhoho to look after Minotauros and the old butler.

“Are you going to be okay?” Arle asks the frog merchant.

“Oh, no worries. I also have herbs that knock others out if the cow guy gets violent again!”

… Crafty. Arle makes a mental note to never get on Muhoho’s bad side.

It was a bit of a climb. Arle and Rulue shared the remaining two Oxygen Flowers while Carbuncle kept himself sealed in the bag so he didn’t have to worry about breathing anything in. Following the trail was easy enough, as the woods became darker the closer they were to the source of the haze.

As helpful as the Oxygen Flowers were at filtering the smoke, they couldn’t do much for one’s vision, which was increasingly obscured. Arle had no choice but to cast Light and hope the lumination wouldn’t attract any hostile monster—

“Uoryaaaaaaa!”

It then proceeded to do just that , attracting the attention of Owlbear.

His face scratched and fur in tatters, his eyes had the same red glow as Minotauros. He doesn’t even see Arle and Rulue at first, trying to follow the beacon of light, he shreds several trees in his path with his sharp claws just to get close to it.

“Wind God’s Kick!”

Rulue jabs Owlbear in the stomach with her right leg before he can get any closer to the light. Arle takes advantage of the wind element being used, casting Fire magic against Owlbear.

As anyone would know, air accelerates and intensifies flames, so the combo attack led to Owlbear practically combusting into flames, flailing his arms around. He tries to leap at Rulue while engulfed, but she blocks it with a punch to his beaked face, risking a burn to her fists.

Climbing out of the sack briefly, Carbuncle tags in and shoots a laser beam from the ruby in his forehead. Owlbear tried to shield himself with his claws, but they were simply trimmed by the piercing laser, rendering him totally vulnerable now.

“Not so tough without your claws, are you? A real fighter doesn’t have to worry about breaking their nails as long as they're graceful, you know!” Rulue provides an example with another kick. “Exploding Knee!”

A rapid series of kicks knocks the burning Owlbear down to the ground, onto an incline. Since they were on the top of a mountain, it’s only natural that he would start tumbling down, unable to recover.

“We need to hurry and find the source of the smoke before he comes back!” Arle shoves Carbuncle back in the sack, trying to keep him from breathing the smoke.

The two women make a run for it, deeper into the woods, where not even the Light spell can keep things illuminated.

“I think… I think I see something and someone!” Rulue tries to keep her voice low, not wanting to alert Owlbear back to them. 

Indeed, up ahead inside of a hollow tree trunk was some sort of peculiar growth, and the shadow of a man stood next to it. Arle remained quiet alongside Rulue, trying to get a good look at whatever or whoever it was, but it was near impossible no matter how close they got.

The unknown man raised something— a weapon? It looked like a sword, which struck down the peculiar growth.

…

The outpour of smoke started to slow down.

The figure ahead becomes more clear to them, and then a voice calls out.

“You two can stop hiding. I know you’re there.”

Arle perks up.

“Schezo?”

Chapter Text

As the smoke began clearing more and more, Arle and Rulue could now make out the figure in white clothes to be none other than Schezo Wegey, the suspicious dark mage who was another one of Arle’s one-sided rivals.

“You two weren’t very discreet at all, I could hear you calling your attacks from afar.”

Lying by Schezo’s feet was an unconscious Komodo Dragon. Looks like the boy and his reptilian companion had gotten into a scuffle with the mage, either over territory or they had gone mad from the smoke as well. Arle also notes how Schezo forcibly stuffed Oxygen Flowers in their mouths.

“Ah! So you’re the one who bought the Oxygen Flowers from Muhoho in bulk!” Arle can't help but be slightly annoyed at this revelation. Seriously, who hogs a bunch of Oxygen Flowers for themselves? “What are you doing here, Schezo?”

“Same reason as you, I was asked to check on this peculiar smoke.”

“What? You? People actually ask perverts like you for help?” Arle sneers.

He winces, trying to brush it off with a sigh. “Your childish insults do not phase me. Regardless of my dubious nature, I am a mage like you, so sometimes others seek my help.”

“How do we know you aren’t the one who planted that thing, whatever it was!?” Rulue snaps, pointing at him. “If it was you, I have a right to toss you down the mountain with that Owlbear for what happened to Minotauros, making him attack me of all people!”

Schezo just scoffs at the accusation and smirks. “Really now? Well, tell me, does this look like something I would do? What would I get out of making non-magical creatures going mad? I prefer working alone, so surely you recognize I am not the type to want brainwashed minions.”

Rulue grits her teeth while Arle ponders the thought. “I hate to say it, but Schezo is kinda right. No matter how much of a creep he makes himself out to be, he’s usually direct, not a schemer.”

“Exactly,” Schezo sheathes the Sword of Darkness. “If you ask me, I would say this feels like one of Satan’s ridiculous plots—”

“You dare accuse my darling Dark Prince!?”

Oh boy. This is where it begins. Best for Arle to deescalate the situation before these two start going at each other's throats. That was the last thing they needed right now in the middle of a weird smoking making others turn violent.

“Okay, I know it sounds like I’m playing both sides here,” Arle chimes in to cut them off, “but I don’t think this is a Satan plot either. That guy does silly things for attention. Making me scale a tower that’s actually a rocket, disguising himself as a shoujo hero, making the sun giant to get a tan, scattering a bunch of runes that are a hot spring ticket, creating a theme park…”

The list could go on really. Specifically it's for her attention, but Arle decides to omit that part in case it sets Rulue off further. Gotta walk on eggshells around her.

“The point, I don’t think this is a Schezo plot, or a Satan plot. And it definitely isn’t your Doppelganger from the amusement park, I’m pretty sure he’s gone for good.” Arle mulls over further options, trying to remember if there was any other potential suspects. “What exactly did that growth over there look like before you killed it?”

“It had a giant eyeball sticking out of it.”

“Yuck! I really don’t know anyone who would create a thing like that!” Arle shakes her head.

Schezo turns away, beginning to take his exit.

“You’re leaving?” Rulue prods him further.

“My work here is done, I’m going to claim my reward. Give Minotauros my regards.”

With that, he leaves like he was never there. Arle watches Rulue puff her cheeks and dusts the dirt off of her body, no doubt irritated by Schezo’s bluntness. Still, if not for being such a creep obsessed with her magic power, Arle has to admit Schezo could make a decent mercenary given his loner behavior.

Right, Minotauros. Best they all go return to check on him, see if things got better. They won’t worry too much about Owlbear, since by the looks of Kodomo Dragon’s soothed expression, things revert to normal after the growths are destroyed.

When the two women arrived back at Rulue’s Mansion, the butler and Minotauros recovered rapidly thanks to Muhoho’s stock of medicinal herbs. She was quick to bill Rulue on the treatment, much to the fighting queen’s annoyance.

“Moo, I’ll cover the bill.” Minotauros finally speaks for the first time since he had gone mad. “This was all my fault, I will pay out of my own pocket so milady doesn’t have to.”

“Muhoho! Thank you for your kind patronage!” The frog merchant chirps happily.

Arle begins her light interrogation. “Minotauros, according to Rulue, you went out to gather firewood and came back all violent. Is this true? Was there anything in between that happened, like did you see anything? Or no?”

“All is true.” Minotauros confirms, digging through a comically small coin purse made of crochet as he lay in a rather shabby bed. “I didn’t see anything suspicious. I got a headache as the smoke throughout the area began to increase I’m afraid. I should have taken it as a sign, but I didn’t want to leave my task for the day half-finished.”

Peering over, Arle could see Rulue biting her lip, no doubt feeling a shred of guilt for once over something happening to her servant that landed them all in hot water. At least, Arle hoped that was the case, since Rulue was normally so dismissive of Minotauros.

“I see, well, I hope you feel better. I’m going to return home so I can report the mission as accomplished.” It’s not like Arle really needed to pry into this any further if the incident has been dealt with. Perhaps some mysteries were better left unsolved.

Just as she and Carbuncle were ready to leave though, Minotauros got up from his bed. He stands alongside Rulue, who also looks discontent.

“Uh, is something wrong?”

“Personally, anyone who wrongs those in my mansion won’t escape. Unlike you and Schezo, I want to investigate this matter further.”

Yikes, was Rulue secretly a mind reader?

“As Minotauros said, he doesn’t leave a job half-finished, neither should we! We need to find the one responsible for creating that horrible haze and make them pay, and you will be joining us!”

Typical bossy Rulue. Still, Arle can’t help but find this side endearing given what she could actually draw from what was being said.

“So you actually want my help?”

“Don’t get it twisted!” Rulue clicks her tongue. “Minotauros and I are lacking in magical prowess, and we’ll be damned if we ask that creepy mage for help!” Though Minotauros actually bore no ill-will to Schezo, other than being protective of his mistress. “So we need you to aid us, not a matter of wanting your help or anything, it’s just what makes the most sense!”

Right, of course. Arle tried to stifle a giggle along with Carbuncle, who also found the whole act to be amusing.

“Well, either way, you two are gonna have to follow me back to the Ruins Town, so it may be a bit of a walk before we start investigating!”

Again, Arle didn’t know what she was setting herself up for in the next few minutes. 

She, Rulue, Carbuncle, and Minotauros left the mansion. The butler agreed to watch over everything while they were gone, and promised to remove the frog from the premises. Before leaving though, Muhoho asked Arle to deliver some green tea leaves to a particular customer. As usual, Arle can’t turn down a good deed…

“So is it true that you’re an assassin or a thief?” Arle asks the butler on her way out.

“Hmhm… which one would you rather me be?”

…

The old man asked that with such a blank expression, his eyes seemingly closed. Arle can’t help but feel a pit in her stomach as a shiver goes down her back.

“Um, I think for the sake of my safety and sanity, I would prefer it if you were formerly a thief.”

“Then thief it is.”

“Gramps, quit messing with her! That’s my job!”

After this, Arle knows she has to keep her distance from this old man.

Upon Arle's return to Ruins Town… the whole place is practically turned upside-down on its head.

Several baskets are knocked over, people are hiding in doors, the signature ruins resembling Puyo Puyo had been vandalized by having crude mustaches and kitty ears drawn on them. 

There was toilet paper covering just about every house, including Arle’s…

As she stands there in shock, with Carbuncle mimicking her expression, Rulue can’t help but ask: “Is Ruins Town normally this shabby? Are you that desperate for a home? You know you could just stay at mansion if things were that bad—”

“WHO DID THIS?!”

Arle’s voice is so loud, it grabs the attention of not one, but three culprits who are using the large, vandalized statues as a home base.

“Oho, look who it is! The girl who keeps calling me clumsy!”

Arle knew that voice. She now realized that wasn’t toilet paper covering the houses, but rather bandages.

Mummy bandages.

Chapter Text

Alongside the mummified person was a familiar eggplant wearing glasses and a tea-drinking skeleton. Arle’s blood might be boiling hotter than tea right now, given what she was seeing.

“You three…! What the heck did you do!?”

“We were looking for you, and you were gone, you big potato-head!” Nasu Grave taunts. “So we had some fun while waiting for you, nasu!”

“You got a lot of nerve, making all of us wait for several hours! Isn’t that right, Skeleton?” 

Mummy asks the most lax member of the group, who just sits on his knee pillow, drinking tea. “Hm? Oh, yes. Very rude of young people to keep others waiting so long.”

“I don’t care, you guys aren’t my friends, and that doesn’t mean you get to vandalize my home!” Arle then gets a better look, noting Mummy’s eyes were red as opposed to the cool blue color they often were. “Wait a second—!”

Before Arle could finish her sentence, she gets bopped with a wad of bandages.

Okay, that tears it. Arle didn’t have the patience for this nonsense after all she went through today. Lucky for her, Rulue seemed ready to take her anger out and Minotauros was energized after his nap.

“Fire!” Arle shouts, tossing a fireball in Nasu and Mummy’s direction. Mummy catches the flame on their bandages while Nasu narrowly evades it, leaping down to bounce off of Minotauros’ head.

Frustrated by proxy, Minotauros swings his axe at Nasu, nearly slicing the eggplant in half, but successfully chopping his glasses in two, revealing a pair of tiny red dots for eyes.

Taking advantage of the position, Rulue kicks Nasu like a football, sending him straight at Skeleton T, knocking off his head. Mummy tries to stomp out the burn while trying to cast a spell from afar.

“Whatever! Go! Curse of Ra!” 

𓀀 𓀁 𓀂 𓀃 𓀄 𓀅 𓀆 𓀇 𓀈 𓀉 𓀊 𓀋 𓀌 𓀍 𓀎 𓀏 𓀐 𓀑 𓀒 𓀓 𓀔 𓀕 𓀖 𓀗 𓀘 𓀙 𓀚 𓀛 𓀜 𓀝 𓀞 𓀟 𓀠 𓀡 𓀢 𓀣 𓀤 𓀥 𓀦 𓀧 𓀨 𓀩 𓀪 𓀫 𓀬 𓀭 𓀮 𓀯 𓀰 𓀱 𓀲 𓀳 𓀴 𓀵 𓀶 𓀷 𓀸 𓀹 𓀺 𓀻 𓀼 𓀽 𓀾 𓀿 𓁀 𓁁 𓁂 𓁃 𓁄 𓁅 𓁆 𓁇 𓁈 𓁉 𓁊 𓁋 𓁌 𓁍 𓁎 𓁏 𓁐 𓁑 𓀄 𓀅 𓀆

Arle and Rulue had no idea what all these symbols were surrounding them, but they were doing some significant magic-based damage.

“Are these moo-squitos!?” Minotauros asks, swatting the symbols away.

“I don’t call upon insects with my curse magic or anything like that, only angels do the plague stuff, you know?” Mummy laughs playfully, trying to ignore the flames catching up with the rest of their body. “Hey, Skeleton! Put out the flames for me, will ya?”

Skeleton T, without his head, clumsily takes hold of his nearby teapot and splashes his ally with hot water.

“Yikes! That’s even hotter!” Mummy complains as the fire is doused. “What’s wrong with you? Get your head in the game, Skeleton T!”

“I would, but my head is all the way down here while my body is up there with you,” Skeleton T’s head speaks from below, lying on the ground. “The most I can do right now is not let myself get kicked the same way Nasu was.”

“Idiot! You really are worthless and weak!” Mummy shouts. “It isn’t fun if you lollygag while the rest of us are taking it seriously! Just look at Nasu!” They direct attention to Nasu getting back on his feet, loudly banging on a drum to annoy the hero party.

Skeleton T doesn’t answer. The shouting is so loud that even Arle can hear it. She can’t really get a good read on the situation, but she knows a good distraction when she sees it. Ignoring Nasu’s loud drumming, she takes aim at Mummy once again.

“Holy Laser!”

Successfully sniping Mummy from their perch, they tumble down to ground level.

“Drat! Forget it, I’m not losing just because my ally is dragging his feet!” Mummy then begins to make a run for it, more frantically than usual, not at all caring for the bandages that could tangle them up, something they tend to be hyperaware of.

Nasu follows suit, but in a more comical fashion, he spins around and flies away like a helicopter blade, scooping up Mummy with his feet on the way out as if he were a bird. That was certainly a sight Arle hadn’t seen before.

“Wha-cha? Hey! Are you two seriously leaving me behind!?” Skeleton T says, his body wandering around, trying to recover his head. “Geez! What’s with those two!? You think you know people in your own age-range, but here they are acting like young delinquents all of the sudden!”

…

There was a twang of pity that Arle felt for him. Not enough to excuse the skeleton of what he was participating in, but…

She noticed that unlike Nasu and Mummy, his eyes weren’t red. He was the same Skeleton T he always was, calm, and only losing his cool whenever something went wrong. Though he seemed less offended by Mummy insulting him compared to whenever anyone accidentally insulted green tea.

Rulue, however, didn’t seem to have the sympathy that Arle had, picking up his skull and performing ‘keep away’ from the body.

“You there, talk! It’s clear that you and your friends breathed in that weird smoke! Was it you three who planted it, or someone else!?”

“Huh? Smoke? Give me back my head, young lady!” Skeleton T scolds her.

“Your friends, they had bright red eyes and were out of their minds! Like what happened to Minotauros!”

Skeleton T pauses for a few seconds, his eyes shifting to the side. “Ah, come to think of it, Mummy and Nasu have been acting weird lately. They’re more aggressive and rude than usual, even to me. It all started when Satan called the three of us in for an experiment—”

Uh oh. Arle knew where this was going now and braced herself.

“Satan? What did he do? What does he have to do with this!?” Rulue barks, grasping the head a little harder.

“It’s as I say, he needed the three of us, had a strange pod of some sort that was blowing smoke and asked us how we felt. That’s when Mummy and Nasu started acting up, but I didn’t notice anything different at the time and told him I was fine.” Skeleton T explains.

“Ohhh, I see! Because you don’t have any lungs, it didn’t affect you!” Arle deduces. “It looks like Schezo’s theory is being supported, but why would Satan go out of his way to test them out?”

“He said a subordinate was acting out and got ahold of these pods. I wouldn’t know anything else about that, but Mummy and Nasu might.” Skeleton T replies, his body trying to reach for the head in Rulue’s hands. “Now can I have my head back, or not?”

Rulue hesitates, glaring at the skeleton. Arle isn’t exactly sure what’s going through her mind right now, but any mention of Satan is usually enough to set her off. Yet here she was, not jumping at his bony throat right away.

This was arguably scarier than a Rulue who was antsy and jumped right away, her being calm and potentially calculative. A smirk curls upon her lips as she tosses Skeleton T’s head back to him. It’s clear that she isn’t done with him.

She reaches for Arle’s bag. Arle doesn’t try to fight Rulue on whatever it is she’s doing, partly out of fear, but also curiosity. The fighting queen digs inside, finding the package of tea that Muhoho asked them to deliver earlier.

“This is yours, isn’t it?”

“O-cha!” Skeleton T exclaims happily. “Ah yes, my special order of gyokuro that Muhoho has been growing for me! Thank you for bringing it over here! Perhaps it’s the amount of tea I drink and the incense I use that filter out whatever that smoke was!”

Is he that oblivious or does he not pay any attention? Arle just said that he had no lungs… wait, do Nasu and Mummy even have lungs? Now that Arle thinks about it, Nasu is an eggplant, and mummies get their organs removed, don’t they?

“I see,” Rulue clutches the package tightly, and then after a few seconds, she tosses it to Minotauros. “You will help us investigate this matter! I will not stop until I find out who sullied my home and my darling’s name is cleared!”

Skeleton T chuckles at the proposal. “Very humerus young lady you are! Unfortunately, I have no interest in using up my energy and keeping up with you young folk. Now, my gyokuro if you please?”

Instead Rulue gives Minotauros a glance. “Alright. You heard him, Minotauros? He won’t help.” She clenches her fist. “Throw the package down the river bank.”

The skeleton’s pupils begin to shrink as Minotauros begins walking over to the river close by. He stammers and visibly begins to panic, seeing Minotauros get closer to the edge of the riverbank.

“Wait now— you would really ruin the expensive gyokuro I had prepared simply because I won’t help you? Are you so blinded by your youthful adoration of Satan that you’ll even destroy my tea!?”

He really is naive, even Arle knows how far Rulue would go for Satan.

“It’s not just to find proof that Satan wasn’t at all responsible for the smoke, but you and your friends vandalized Arle’s home, didn’t you? And you’re the only one who can help us catch up to that stupid eggplant and the other clumsy idiot!” Rulue digs into him. “If my home and Arle’s were ruined by this smoke, there’s no telling what else could happen next. Choose wisely, bonehead.”

His gaze darts between Minotauros and Rulue. He gives Arle a look, but she and Carbuncle shrug their shoulders, to say that they weren’t going to fight it.

“Fine, you win! You have me!” Skeleton T cries out. “Someone of your ladylike stature really shouldn’t rely on dirty tactics such as this, you know!?”

Minotauros lowers the arm he had been raising, almost as if he were going to pitch the package like a baseball. 

“I think I know where Nasu might be headed next if you want to tail him. I can take you there!”

Leave it to Rulue to assert her authority like a real queen…

Chapter Text

After acquiring the gyokuro he ordered Skeleton T—under the pressure of Rulue— guided the party over to the Wolf Village. A few hostile wolf monsters attacked them on the way along with the typical fare of Puyo Puyo, but it wasn’t anything that Arle, Rulue, and Minotauros couldn’t handle.

Skeleton T though… Arle didn’t want to be too mean, but the guy was not made for combat. He couldn’t really deal good physical damage in the way that Rulue and Minotauros could. But when it came to restoring the health and ailments of allies with special brews, he was definitely an expert on that, saving Arle her own healing magic and some items.

She didn’t want to admit to Rulue that his healing actually might be better than her own…

Compared to ten years ago, the population in the Wolf Village seemed to have more monsterfolk than wolfmen, but there were still a number of lycan-folk.

“Ah, welcome, welcome!” Lycranthrope greets the party at the entrance. “Are the four of you touring here for the concert this weekend?”

“Concert?” Arle asks.

“Nasu joined up with one of those new-fangled heavy metal bands recently,” Skeleton T explains. “That’s why I figured he might be here. I’m not into that sort of music, but I’m glad he’s putting his drumming talents to use.”

“Oh, really?” Arle makes a weird noise and raises an eyebrow. She would hardly call Nasu a talented drummer, giving her headaches with how loud he could be, but it was good that he found something before going crazy. It made her wonder who the other bandmates were.

Come to think of it, didn’t Zombie once say he was getting into songwriting? Heavy metal no less? Actually, since he’s a zombie, it’s probably more like death metal… But he was actually a good musician, unlike Harpy and Panotty. It’s not enough to make up for his stench, but Arle can support someone with a dream.

“In any case, I expect him to be meeting with his bandmates. Hopefully he hasn’t caused a ruckus.”

With that, the party moves forward, leaving Lycanthrope all to himself.

“Hey, wait!” He calls out. “You don’t want a tour? Are you buying tickets? Awooooo… why do I always get overlooked?”

“So the concert… is it in two or three daaaays?”

Panotty, practicing his flute, sits behind an empty stage alongside Mini Zombie and Merigu.

“Man, you’re really bad at counting, huh? It’s two days from now! Today is Friday, then Saturday we keep practicing, and we have the big concert on Sunday!”

“I knoooow buuuut… if it’s at midnight, would it be midnight on Sunday? Or midnight on Monday? Because that would be three daaaays.” Mini Zombie points out,  with Merigu quietly giggling as he sat next to him.

Panotty pauses, looking stumped. “You’re just trying to embarrass me in front of your girlfriend, aren’t you? Well it isn’t working! I know better than to fall for mechanicals!”

“Did you mean technicaaaaals?”

As Panotty stomps his feet and comes close to throttling the young zombie, Nasu Grave suddenly hops behind the stage, his broken glasses now taped back together with Mummy’s bandages.

“Hey there, Nasu!” Panotty greets the eggplant. “Here to practice with me? We still have some time to really polish our skills!”

Without even saying a word to Panotty, Nasu leaps over, snatches the flute from the elven boy’s hands and begins stomping on it. Panotty lets out a loud cry once he fully processes what’s going on.

“No! Stop, what are you doing!?” He wails, trying to stop the eggplant only to be knocked away by Nasu’s great increase in strength. Mini Zombie and Merigu, realizing that this was serious and not some sort of comedy routine, were quick to also intervene, but Nasu merely smacked them away with drumsticks.

“You see? No one here respects the drummer! I’m destroying your stupid flute so the audience will pay more attention to me during the concert, nasu!” 

He continues stomping out the flute until it finally snaps in half, and upon witnessing this, so does Panotty’s heart.

“Nasu… what are you saying? Why would you destroy my cherished flute?!” Panotty wails. “You were the one who told me to keep practicing and do my best, I opened up about my insecurities when I was worried that Zombie was better than me! Why!?”

“Zombie? Who needs that potato-head?! This is gonna be a one-man-drummer show! No wind, no strings, no vocals! Just pure, unfiltered Nasu at his finest!”

Right on cue, the party heard the commotion and waltzed in, hearing everything that Nasu said.

“Nasu! What’s gotten into you lately!? Seriously!” Skeleton T is surprisingly first to scold him. “First you and Mummy want to vandalize a village, start fights, leave me behind, and now this? I can handle being berated by you two, but I’m not going to stand for you bullying a child!”

This was the first time Arle had seen Skeleton T lose his cool over something that wasn’t tea-related. The rage wasn’t a scary one like Rulue’s, but rather he was stern, like a disappointed elder.

“Yeaaaaah, what he saaaaid!” Mini Zombie adds, so angry that his right eye popped out of its socket and rolled on the floor. “You’re being a big bully! And there’s no waaay that you’ll take over my dad’s concert, because you suuuuck!”

Oof. Mini Zombie was another one that was usually so polite, yet here he was dropping the ‘suck’ word because Nasu really had pushed it too far.

“What!? How dare you, you rotten baby carrot!” Nasu shouts. “And I don’t need a friend like you that drags others down, nasu! I’m so mad, I could knock you all out!”

“Is that so?” Rulue laughs at the poor intimidation tactic. “Well, it won’t be a good look for you to keep picking on a group of children! Minotauros, have at him!”

Panotty and Mini Zombie are quick to move out of the way once they realize that this is a matter only the adults could solve, Merigu scoops up Mini Zombie’s eye off of the ground and retreats with them. 

Nasu immediately lunges at Rulue for her trash-talking, but Minotauros shields his mistress, attempting to rip into Nasu with his axe. Arle tosses a fireball at the eggplant, lightly cooking him, and then Rulue uses Wind God’s Kick to intensify the flames. Skeleton T initiated an attack too… which consisted of tossing one of his rib bones like a boomerang, barely dealing much damage.

“Is that the best you can do!?” Nasu chides him. “This is how you do it! Boomerang de Nasu!” He takes off the stem attached to his head and swings it at all four party members, dealing spread damage that wasn’t all that strong.

“You’re both bad at this!” Rulue growls. “Like this, Spinning Blade!”

Rulue swings her left leg around, firing off crescent-moon shaped beams of energy that once again, broke Nasu’s glasses. His red eyes glowing more viciously than before.

Arle charges up her next attack with a Diacute while Minotauros charges Nasu with the ‘Minotaur’s Special’, a combo attack that took a lot of Minotauros’ stamina, which Skeleton T was more than happy to recover using an item from Arle’s bag.

“Thump de Nasu!” Nasu takes out his drum and begins banging on it, dealing more spread damage, this time of the non-physical variety as everyone had been given a splitting headache.

Okay, if Arle was going to have to listen to his drumming when the concert hadn’t even started and Zombie wasn’t there to filter him out with the actual good music-playing, she was going to have to be a little faster about ending this.

“F-fire!” Arle launches a much larger fireball, but much to her annoyance, it misses the mark. Nothing worse than wasting her Diacute on a spell that would end up misfiring anyway. Maybe in the future, she should cast Diacute on one of her allies instead if that was going to be a recurring thing.

Thankfully it seemed Rulue was in too much of a frenzy to notice Arle’s blunder. “Iron Fist Sanction!” She shouts, knocking the drum out of Nasu’s hands. “Listen here, Skeleton, you want to show your friends you aren’t some weak pushover? Take this more seriously and kick their butts!”

Taking a deep breath—despite no lungs— Skeleton T watches Minotauros strike Nasu in the face with his axe. Arle can only wonder what in the world is going through his mind. Is he going to scold Rulue for bossing him around so much? Or is he actually going to take that advice to heart?

Despite everything, Arle hopes it’s the latter. She’s had her stand-offs against Skeleton T, he even proved himself by showing up in Satan’s Castle suddenly one time. It would be nice if the guy would stand up for himself, never mind simply learning to rotate his Puyo.

“Very well,” Skeleton T sits down on his knee pillow out of nowhere, sipping away at a cup of tea for just a brief moment.

Then he gets back up—

“Super Dynamic Ocha Bomber!”

Pointing his bony fingers like a gun, he presses his thumb down and closes his eyes. A clicking noise can be heard, and then…

A geyser erupts under Nasu Grave. Hot, steaming water that was colored green that was as strong a powerwash, shooting Nasu into the air!

Skeleton T waits, then sits back down when the opposing foe also lands while everyone watches in awe.

“You could always do that!?” Rulue asked angrily.

“No, not really. You guys grinded enough on the walk over here and I usually save my energy to heal others with tea or boost resilience with incense.” Skeleton T answers calmly.

“I think you cooked him,” Arle points out, as Carbuncle emerges, taken by the scent of boiled eggplant.

“I-I did?” Skeleton T nearly drops his cup of tea, panicking just slightly. “Oh dear, that was just supposed to knock him out—”

“You sprayed him with a blast of hot water! What did you expect?!”

Before another argument could break out, Arle could see that Nasu’s eye color had returned to normal. Panotty is angrily stomping on Nasu’s broken glasses and crying, mourning the loss of his flute.

Right, rather than bickering about Skeleton T’s hidden power level, there were better things to worry about.

“Hey, are you okay?” Arle kneels, trying to comfort Panotty. She never really liked his flute-playing, but the poor kid didn’t deserve to have his favorite thing destroyed. She picked up the pieces of the flute, but Panotty just snatched them out of her hands and kept crying.

Minotauros, also getting on Arle’s level, joins in. A surprise to see him do this rather than back up Rulue like he normally does. “What is your flute made out of, young man?” Panotty looks up at Minotauros. “You started playing because you were inspired by the great Satyr, Marsyas, is that right? That’s why you want people to dance to your music in such a frenzy.”

Sobbing and sniffling, Panotty nods.

“You are young. Marsyas didn’t accomplish becoming a master at an early age. Do not take anything the eggplant said here today, for he was corrupted by another to lash out.” Hearing Minotauros’s words, Panotty stares at the ground. “I know you will find it hard to forgive him given what he’s done. So please tell us what the flute is made out of.”

“Huh?” Panotty’s ears twitch, perking up. “What for?”

“We will get you another one, made by hand, moo.”

Panotty’s eyes brighten, almost sparkling.

As usual, things we never finished it seems…

Chapter Text

Once Nasu had been put down for a little bit and seemingly returned to normal, Skeleton T decided to stay behind in the Wolf Village and watch over his friend, making sure he wasn’t seriously burned after all of that.

As for Arle, Rulue, and Minotauros, they had a new quest: find the material for Panotty’s new flute. The boy had told them it was made from bamboo canes that could only be acquired by the Frog Pond.

Rulue was admittedly not too thrilled at first, going on another fetch quest as opposed to getting more information out of Nasu about Satan and the strange smoke. Once they were done with their act of charity, Rulue ordered them to turn back to Wolf Village as quickly as possible.

Of course, Arle could tell that while she sounded selfish, that wasn’t entirely how Rulue felt. She was probably just surprised to see Minotauros take initiative on something not related to her or her orders.

“Say, Mino?”

“Miss Nadja, please refrain from calling me that. Only milady is allowed to refer to me as such.”

“Ah, sorry,” Arle laughs nervously. “I just wanted to say, what you did back there was really sweet, even if Rulue is kind of cranky about it.” She turns her head, not sure if Rulue could hear that given she’s dragging herself behind. “What was that stuff about Marsyas or whatever back there?”

Minotauros briefly halts, startling Arle slightly. 

“I never enjoy telling anyone about this, but… My birthplace was full of stories like that. Old legends of monsters, fae-folk, and gods that got passed around, moo. Marsyas is one of those things.”

“Oh, really? But why don’t you like bringing it up?”

“I am a… bastard child, so to speak.” Minotauros admits, continuing to walk, probably so Rulue won’t hear him. “A queen had me with a monster rather than her betrothed. I was given a birth name, but my step-father refused to acknowledge me, so I was locked into a labyrinth since I was a half-calf. That’s why I would really prefer not being called ‘Mino’, since it reminds me of those days.”

Arle can feel her heart sinking. Even Carbuncle’s ears begin to droop slightly.

“Oh, Minotauros… I’m sorry. What’s your real name then?”

“Moo! I don’t deserve one!” Minotauros yells, spooking Arle and Carbuncle once again. “I live my life now as milady’s servant, and that’s all I am! All I’m good at! Otherwise, I am merely an unwanted beast!”

“Wha— but— that isn’t true at all—”

“Minotauros!”

Rulue’s booming voice catches them off guard.

“You better not be terrorizing Arle against my orders!”

The conversation is cut short from there.

“Yes, milady.”

…

Just how was Arle supposed to take that information? Did Minotauros depend on Rulue solely for his self-value? To have a purpose? Does she even know that he feels this way?

To paint the perspective in her mind, Arle tries to imagine a scared, young Minotauros locked in a dungeon by his step-father for years, not even allowed to see his mother or the light of day. The first interaction he has with another person who treats him like an individual… ended up being Rulue.

Arle had to remember not everyone in this seemingly peaceful world was as well off as her. Minotauros wasn’t a monster, he was half -monster, half -human. Yet he is treated by many as a full-on beast.

“Any sign of those canes?”

Rulue’s question manages to snap Arle out of it. “Uh, lemme see, I haven’t been to this pond since I was a kid, so my memory might be a bit hazy!” More like she was distracted from how depressing Minotauros’ story was, but even then, Arle knows that her memory wasn’t the greatest according to several she’s met.

Now that she’s digging into her childhood memories though, Arle vaguely recalls there being someone who lived around this area. It wasn’t Nohoho or Muhoho, as much as that would make sense. She couldn’t remember who it was, otherwise she would ask them for help.

“Hey! When I said ‘steppin’ I didn’t mean this, partner!”

Arle spins around while pacing the area, seeing a familiar, large slimy fish with muscular legs trying to evade a certain sciapod with a giant foot. She winces at the sight, then glances at Rulue, equally repulsed.

Did she really wanna help this guy? Though by the looks of it, Suikya Podes had bright red eyes, just like everyone else who had inhaled the smoke. Come to think of it, the pond seemed a bit darker than usual. Was it something in the water?

“Get away from here, intruder! The pond is mine to protect and mine alone!” Sukiya Podes raises his leg. “Take this! My Special Wonderful 30-stomps Kick!”

Suketoudara gracefully rolls out of the way before the kick can hit him and he strikes a pose. “You ain’t steppin’ on my toes while dancing, kid! Yeah!” As he twirls, Suketoudara finally spots Arle and her party watching from a distance. “Yo! If you’re gonna watch me, then at least give me a hand! Help me chill this tetra-torial guy out! He’s as fighty as a beta and he isn’t getting the message that I don’t mean any harm!”

With no other choices now, Arle stepped up to assist Suketoudara alongside Rulue and Minotauros. She tries to freeze the foot monster in his tracks with Ice Storm. In a fury, Sukiya Podes begins stomping more.

“You! The girl who always makes fun of my foot!? And you brought friends! How unfair!” Sukiya Podes puffs his cheeks. “There's only one solution to that! Double Trouble!”

A puff of smoke surrounds Sukiya Podes, and when it clears, there are two of him.

“He cloned himself?!” Minotauros exclaims.

“I don’t know if one of them is fake or if they share the pain,” Rulue readies herself, “but no matter what, their kicks don’t compare to my own! Exploding Knee!” Rulue kicks Sukiya Podes, primarily aiming for one standing on the right side.

“Ow!” Even though she had only struck one, they speak in unison and topple over. “You’re not getting away with that one! Quake! Double-powered!”

Shaking the ground underneath the party, Rulue is knocked into the pond while Arle falls on her bottom. Suketoudara, having his idle warm-ups interrupted, gets offended. “Now you’re trying to knock us off our groove? Gimme a break! Do the Funky Wave!”

Snapping his fingers and tapping his feet, Suketoudara somehow makes a giant tidal wave emerge, crashing down on the pair of Podes but also soaking poor Rulue in the process right after she just climbed out of the pond. Minotauros isn’t at all pleased with these events and strikes the Podes duo multiple times before turning on Suketoudara.

“Moooo! Are you both trying to drown milady!?”

“Huh? No, uh,” Suketoudara looks over to the irritable and sopping wet Rulue. “Sorry about that, lady! You good over there!?” He yells.

Coughing and spitting up water, Rulue gets up, delivering one last jab to Sukiya Podes on the way. “There’s a pod down there, in the pondwater. I saw it.” Rulue hacks up more water trying to speak. “He’s gone mad because the water here no doubt also affected the air, consider yourself lucky for not swimming near it, you overgrown tuna!”

“I’m an Alaskan pollock, but—”

“Forget the foot monster!” Rulue knocks down the second Podes that hops over to her. “Someone needs to destroy the plant-like creature, eyes and all!”

“But it’s under the water, and Schezo cleared the last one! We don't know what their weakness is!” Arle calls out, Carbuncle hopping onto her shoulder, the ruby in his forehead gleaming before diving down. “Ah, Carby! No!”

Splashing into the murky waters, Carbuncle goes invisible from the darkness. Since Arle wasn’t carrying anymore Oxygen Flowers she was rightly freaking the hell out.

An explosion sort of noise, muffled by the water. Bubbles and eyeballs come surfacing, much to Arle’s horror. Sukiya Podes, merging back into one, loses the red glow in his eyes and passes out.

“Defeeted…”

Arle continues waiting, her body tensing up with each passing second, eyeballs stinging just slightly.

“C… Carby?”

After she utters his name, Carbuncle resurfaces, smiling like nothing had happened.

“Gu!” He says happily.

By the sounds of it, Carbuncle had destroyed the pod hidden underneath the pondwater. Suketoudara confirms by dunking his head under the water and coming back up as fast as possible. “He got rid of whatever it was!” Suketoudara confirms. “I did actually see some real ugly piece of kelp or whatever down there. It smelled horrible, so I admit I turned around and took the surface to practice my moves and that’s when the foot-kid jumped me!”

“You were wise to not get it in your gills,” Minotauros explains. “I encountered it in the mountains and it drove me mad in the same way it did for the monopod.”

“Yeesh, seriously!? What in cod’s name is going on?” Suketoudara demands to know.

“Well, that’s what we’re currently trying to figure out— oh, that’s right!” Arle realizes, scooping Carbuncle back into her arms and hugging him gently. “We need to find those bamboo canes!”

Suketoudara strikes another pose while Minotauros is more focused on drying off Rulue. “Say no more!” He declares. “I saw some of them at the northern end of the pond, leave it to me, I gotta repay the favor since you saved my tail!” He skips for a moment and then takes a short swim, kicking his legs over up the northmost edge of the pond.

Snagging one of the canes planted in the ground, thankfully still healthy in spite of the pollution, Suketoudara paddles back to the party. The bamboo was perfect, just about ready to be harvested as wood by the looks of it.

Minotauros, examining it, takes out his axe which briefly spooks the oversized fish until he sees that he’s just using it to cut it in half and creating certain design elements. Little bumps, grooves, and small holes were made by Minotauros using his own horns to poke them out.

There was a little branch part with leaves sticking out of the hand made flute, but Minotauros strangely left it as it was. “Is there any way you could preserve the leaf with your magic, Miss Nadja?”

An odd request. She’s never been tasked with immortalizing part of a plant… she has a faint recollection of flower pressing with her mother but that’s about it.

It couldn’t hurt to try!

Chapter Text

Returning to Wolf Village with a new flute, Arle and the rest were happy to see Panotty had already cheered up by the looks of it since they left. It appeared part of it was due to Zombie coming back after his son alerted him of what was going on, so the band leader comforted the child while everyone else was gone.

Well, that’s what Arle just assumed at first, but… then she notices the angelic-esque costume on Panotty.

“Mister Minotaur! You’re back! Yahoo!” Panotty exclaims cheerfully. “Check it out, look! Look! Mr. Zombie came back and got me a new wind instrument it turns out! He said my type of playing skill and this new fit would be better for it!” He then holds up a small trumpet, making himself look like a cherub.

Under any other circumstance, Arle would be happy about Panotty trying something new for himself.

If they hadn’t just spent the last two hours trying to find a bamboo cane.

Arle can’t help but pass a glare over to Minotauros, who is holding a brand new flute. Rulue is equally ready to snap while Suketoudara just shuffles over to the sidelines.

“That’s… just great, Panotty.” Arle says through gritted teeth.

Even though he was young, it looked like he could read the room, or at least the expressions on Arle and Rulue’s faces. “Uh! I mean, thank you so much for getting me a new flute too!” 

He had no idea how much trouble they went through. Perhaps he’d be polite like Mini Zombie and apologize if he had known, but Arle frankly has lost her patience at this rate.

“Heeeey, Arle, can I borrow your clothes—?”

“No,” Arle replies to Zombie dryly.

“But I realized just how coooool your arm sweatbands would look on meeee…”

And on top of that, now Zombie was badgering her for the clothes again. She could feel a migraine coming on, and it wasn’t from the stink of the zombies. At least she had a healing spell prepared just in case.

Right on time too, since Suketoudara began to loudly greet Skeleton T and Nasu Grave… a very, very cooked Nasu Grave.

“Yo! Skelty! Nasu— gyo-od lord, what happened to you!?”

“Nasu? What do you mean? Is something wrong with me?” Nasu seemed to be the only one unaware of his currently burned state. Skeleton T put his index finger over his mouth and shook his head, indicating that everyone shouldn’t mention a thing perhaps.

Suketoudara, processing what might have happened given what the party told him on their way back over here, got the message.

“Uh, never mind that! I heard you got mixed up with that smoke nonsense, huh?”

“Yeah… Satan called us in for an experiment, Mummy agreed to it an advance apparently. The two of them had an encounter with Satan’s old apprentice, and he really messed things up, nasu! But I think Mummy has the finer details.” The eggplant readily explained.

So Satan’s old apprentice was the one who really started this? That was a weight off Rulue's shoulders surely. She passes a glance at Rulue’s expression, but she still appears to be a bit sour.

“Why would Satan trust some mook over me?” Rulue scoffs. “Maybe he didn’t want to endanger me? Yes, surely that’s it—”

While she rambles on about Satan…

“Do you know where Mummy went after you two messed up my home?” Arle asks in a passive-aggressive manner.

“I have nothing to tell you, nasu!”

Arle clenches her fist.

“I– I mean,” Nasu stammers, “they went to Eastvale, I think! Not Westvale, Eastvale! We were assigned to track down Satan’s old apprentice, but admittedly, the smoke caused us to lose sight of the plot, nasu!”

Did they seriously vandalize Ruins Town simply because they got distracted from their original mission?

The group left for their next mission, but not before Rulue forcefully dragged Skeleton T back into the party again. Perhaps the healing aspect was too good to pass up on, or Rulue just really liked seemingly being in charge of everyone.

There was a slight decrease in hostile monsters compared to when Arle was traveling to Wolf Village or the Frog Pond. She chalked that up to destroying the pod in the waters at first, but then she noticed that most of the encounters they were having… were all female monsters?

Which is to say, High Flowers, lamias, and living dolls increased in appearance, but not the usual male monsters. No liches, no werewolves, no ninjas or lizard men.

And it got even weirder once Arle stepped into what she presumed to be Eastvale. The town was populated entirely by women with no men in sight.

“Did the townsfolk here take ‘don’t need no man in their lives’ literally? I mean, good for them if that’s the case.” Suketoudara comments. “Seriously though, hey ladies!” He successfully grabs the attention of a gossiping crowd of ladies. “We’re new to Eastvale, mind telling us if you’ve seen a mummified person around here?”

The towns’ women look at one another in confusion. “Oh, I think you made a mistake!” The shortest one of the group speaks up. “This is Westvale. It’s very easy to mix up the two towns, so I don’t blame you. Don’t worry though, it’s not far from here at all.”

“Eh? Really—?”

“How in the world did you all make that mistake?!” Rulue shouts.

“To be fair, I got confused and thought some of you guys said ‘weast’,” Skeleton T chuckles.

Arle, taking out a map of the continent, makes a grunting noise. “Shoot. I knew I should have grabbed my directional compass stone… but I got so angry when Ruins Town got vandalized that it slipped my mind! I hadn’t had time to think about it!” Annoyed at herself, she sighs. “I’m sorry Rulue, this is my fault.”

Much to Arle’s surprise, Rulue doesn’t chastise her at all. “No, it’s not your fault, it’s been a stressful day! Dealing with Minotauros attacking me, your home being tarnished, going on fetchquests, I can’t blame you at all for getting flustered and forgetful. We might as well turn around.”

Just as they were about to leave—

“Another mage lost?”

The group of five see what appeared to be a merchant-type character… but not like one Arle had ever seen before. She seemed to be a magical, animated compass, ironically enough.

“A man with silver hair came here earlier. Is he a friend of yours?”

“Schezo!?” Arle exclaims. “Aw no, what’s that creeper doing here spying on women? Also, who are you anyway?”

“Hmph. I’m Coco, a realtor who likes to take advantage of abandoned dungeons and other places.” The compass takes out a kiseru smoking pipe, speaking with an English accent. “The women here sent him on a quest to Succubus’ House and they haven’t come back.”

“Hmoo? Is that why all the men are missing?” Minotauros asks.

“Indeed. You’re looking for the mummy, right? They aren’t here. They went to Eastvale and got taken to Incubus’ Manor, where all the women living there were also spirited away.”

“Wha? Seriously?” Skeleton T prods her further with concern. “Why are Succubus and Incubus both taking people away from villages? What’s their angle? Loneliness? Furthermore, Mummy… no wait, more importantly, why do you know all of this?”

Coco inhales smoke from the kiseru and blows it softly. “As a realtor, I travel a lot and know places. The value of property is going to decrease if the smoke keeps covering the land and corrupting people, so I have no choice but to help anyone trying to stop this. Though I couldn’t tell you why this started, there is most certainly a connection to the current incidents I’m sure.”

At least none of this information was coming with a price. Though she did have a small coin purse on one side and laid a kotatsu with wares on top of it.

“Do you have any more tips?” Arle asked that more nervously than she would like to admit. She couldn’t predict this merchant she had never met before, and given the likes of Nohoho or Fufufu, she was waiting for something to come up.

“I hate to tell you this, but you and your blue-haired friend aren’t going to be allowed in Succubus’ House at all.” Rulue sighs in relief upon hearing this. “Only men are permitted entry for her to test. And I must say, that handsome bull would make the cut.”

“Mooooo!?” Minotauros exclaims, blushing.

“However, the two of you would certainly have luck pursuing Incubus. You could kill two birds with one stone, find the mummy, free both the men and the women from each respective prison.” Coco smirks. “But that’s just how I view the chessboard.”

“Chessboard? Ah, forget it.” Rulue huffs. “Alright, you heard her! Arle and I will free the women in Eastvale and locate Mummy, give Incubus a whooping, while you, Minotauros, will free the women and dispose of Succubus!” She put more emphasis on Succubus being throttled.

But Minotauros starts to object. “Milady, I understand the circumstances, but considering the situation with the pods, there is no way I will be able to fight for myself without any back-up!”

Arle and Rulue then look past Minotauros, staring at Suketoudara and Skeleton T.

…

“Beggars can’t be choosers, I guess.” Rulue rolls her eyes.

Chapter Text

Standing outside at the front gate of the elegant house decorated with red carpet, Minotauros waits anxiously, with the two extras behind him.

“You shouldn’t have clammed up, man, look what you got us into!” Suketoudara grumbles, embarrassed. “I know I got fine, beautiful legs made for dancing, but this is ridiculous! I hope no one sees me out here like this and assumes I’m some kinda freaky-fish!”

Skeleton T calmly drinks his cup of tea and sighs. “The return of the whip-wielding big sister, huh? I’m personally more offended by that compass drinking English breakfast tea. There’s nothing I hate more than westernized fools who do not understand the heart of Japan!”

What was he even rambling about? Minotauros couldn’t focus at all.

“You gotta quit bending over for everything that Rulue chick says. What if Serilly finds out I’m out here?”

Chuckling, Skeleton T nearly chokes on his tea. “You’re being a hypocrite, judging Minotauros’ loyalty but then worried about what another woman thinks of you. Still pursuing her even after being put in the friend-zone?”

Aggravated, Suketoduara spins around. “What’s up with you ribbing me!? For the record, I’m over it like a surfer on the waves! Ready to set sail and move on, but she’s still my friend and I don’t want her to think I’m a pervert like the dark mage!” 

Despite the shouting, Skeleton T seemed to remain unfazed. “Serilly is actually quite fond of the dark mage in question.”

They continue bickering like this for a while. A decent comedy duo, but Minotauros is trying his hardest to tune it out. 

He has to get through this. It was another test from his mistress, to see if he could be capable without her on a serious mission. Rulue and Arle going by themselves to Incubus left him feeling sick admittedly, but he really tried to push through and get through this as fast as possible.

Minotauros had to prove himself. Show he wasn't a mistake. That’s how it was.

The doors to the house swing open. Succubus wasn’t there to greet them, but rather, a man who had red eyes, much like all of those who had been brainwashed by the smoke.

“Who is it~?”

Succubus’ cooing voice could be heard from across the foyer. There lay the black-haired, leather-wearing Succubus by the stairs,  just lounging around, surrounded by men in a similar state as the doorman.

“Ohhhh, my oh my, more guests who have come to play with me? A handsome minotaur, a cute skeleton, and a strong merman!” Clearly she wasn’t too picky about her tastes. “This certainly spices things up, drawn in by my allure, were you?” She stands up, heels clicking as she approaches the group of three. “No, I can sense it, you’re here for another reason, aren’t you?”

So there was no point in hiding their true intention, was there? “We came to demand that you free the men trapped within your home. Someone that my mistress knows came here and didn’t return, and we may need his cooperation.” Minotauros explains. “Furthmore, if you have any unusual pods in your home, they will be exterminated!”

With a laugh, Succubus remains as cool as a cucumber. “The pod I’m keeping in my house? No, you can’t take it away I’m afraid, my dear. I need it to keep all the boys in check! Naughty boys like you and that silver-haired boy who don’t want to do as I say get put in the smoke room.” Her hand reaches for her whip, but it hesitates. Minotauros keeps a close eye on it. “Your mistress is Rulue, is that right? I could be your new mistress if you wanted.”

“Don’t say such things!” Steam blows out of Minotauros’ nostrils, angered by such a proclamation. “Someone like you isn’t my type at all! You may be assertive, but you lack the heart and power that made me fall in love with milady!”

He admitted it up front and didn’t care who heard him. That is how he felt deep down, and as far as anyone was aware, Rulue was somehow the only person who didn’t know about it.

“Took the words out of my mouth. You wanna know why the men refuse to do what you say? For the reasons he just said, you don’t have a heart at all! You just like to flounder around, don’t you? And when you don’t get what you want, you lock them up in a room!” Suketoudara adds on. “If you know what’s good for you, you’d own up to this and let us get rid of that weird pod, improve yourself or whatever!”

“Such nonsense!” Succubus, losing her temper slightly, finally cracks her whip. “If that’s the way you two will be, perhaps this form is more to your liking? Illusion!”

Twirling her whip around and surrounded by a rosy-pink glow, Succubus initiates a magical transformation. The light is so blinding that Minotauros is forced to squeeze the one functioning eye shut, but when it clears, a familiar figure is in front of him.

“Better?”

Her voice perfectly mimics Rulue’s, she attempts to embrace Minotauros, only to be immediately rejected with a shove.

“I’m no fool! You aren’t her, nor can you replace her no matter how hard you try!”

“Hmph! You really are a stubborn goat… cow… whatever!” Succubus transforms once more, stealing the form of a somewhat familiar mermaid that loses her balance due to not having legs. “You guys are such bullies… I’m going to cry!”

Scoffing at her ploy, Suketoudara shakes his head. “C’mon, is that the best you can do? I’m doing my best to stay a good friend, I’m not gonna take advantage of a situation just because I got a lil’ burned, baby.”

The fake Serilly plays with her blue hair, her tail fin flicking in annoyance. “Perhaps I need a more unconventional approach,” she mumbles before using the Illusion spell one last time.

This form brings Minotauros and Suketoudara to a pause, looking over to Skeleton T for a reaction. Of course, he had gotten tired of the bickering so he sat down on his pillow to have a cup of tea, completely relaxed.

“Hm? Huh?” 

He snaps out of his trance and glares at what… appeared to be Mummy?

“What exactly are you implying with this foolish disguise? Pretending to be my friend when you two are nothing alike,” Skeleton T rolls his eyes. “Anyway, if my opinion is needed, as a man, I also find your whip-wielding bossy attitude to be unappealing. I prefer traditional women.”

Completely losing her temper, Succubus reverts back to her original form and cracks her whip. “Ugh! I’ve heard enough!” She whistles, as if to call someone forward. “My newly acquired, beloved bodyguard, come forward!”

Loud, thunderous stomps could be heard. If this was who Minotauros believed it to be, then not only would this be an interesting challenge, but it really put Succubus’ taste in men into some question.

“Zoooooooooooohhhh!”

Crashing through the walls of the home without flinching. With red eyes and smoke coming out of his trunk, came Zoh Daimaoh.

“Zoh, my dear, can you throw these pests into the—!”

"Raging Toss!"

Before Succubus can finish that sentence, Zoh picks her up using his trunk and tosses her rather violently. Zoh Daimaoh had been known to have a temper, but thanks to the influence of the mysterious smoke, he was outright throttling others and charging at them.

No one was in any position to pity Succubus, and in any circumstance, seeing Zoh in this state would be quite the scare. But Minotauros was someone who had clashed with Zoh in displays of strength before. The circumstances were beyond sparring this time, but luckily, Minotauros had allies at his behest.

“Focus on healing and beefing our defenses, moo.” Minotauros mutters to Skeleton T.

“I have a new brew that could boost your attack at a price, actually!”

A tea that causes berserk status? Minotauros kept it in the back of his mind.

"Raging Stream!" Zoh cries, blowing smoke out of his trunk in the party's direction.

When Arle and Rulue visited Eastvale for real, they heard a similar spiel from the male-ridden village. Incubus had indeed taken all the adult women for unknown purposes, and they had asked a young warrior to pursue them with no feedback so far.

“A young warrior?” Arle asks them.

“Yes,” an older man around his fifties answers her. “We told him not to get involved since he appeared to be a small child, but he insisted that the women be rescued and then left.”

Oh no. Did Ragnus seriously get himself dragged into this mess? That wasn’t good at all. Even if he leveled up and reverted back into being a capable warrior, there was no telling what would happen if Mummy—still brainwashed— was also in the picture.

“We need to hurry then! Come on, Rulue!”

“Gu!” Carbuncle concurs, gesturing Rulue to hurry up.

“As if you two are in a position to give me orders? Well, we were headed there to find Mummy anyway, so the sooner it’s done and we question that raggedy pile of bandages, the better!”

She was still focused on that… Arle wonders if Rulue’s judgment of character on Minotauros is so good that she doesn’t have to worry about him, or if she just doesn’t care what happens to him.

Or she’s just being quiet and putting up a front.

Likewise for the surrounding area of Westvale, all of the enemies the duo encountered were male, not a single female monster in sight. This situation really was getting rather strange.

It didn’t take that long though. Good thing too, Arle was getting sick of walking… but then why didn’t the villagers just sick an angry mob on Incubus’ Manor? Was it too risky?

Maybe she should have questioned them more on it. What could be keeping them away?

“Arle, look up!”

Hearing Rulue’s outcry, Arle raises her head to the clouds as they begin to get closer to Incubus’ Manor. There’s a chimney pointing straight up, emitting smoke…

Dark, purple smoke.

Chapter Text

Arle and Rulue found themselves in a similarly troubling predicament. There were only two of them along with Carbuncle, and Incubus did not greet them at the door or try to sweep them off their feet with fancy words. So losing her patience, Rulue simply kicked the gates open and made her way in through force.

There they found Incubus lying on the manor’s floor, already unconscious. Various women in maid uniforms stood around the scene with red eyes, clearly brainwashed. To top it all off, the one responsible for Incubus being knocked out—Mummy—was trampling on his body like a bouncy castle.

“Ah! You two finally caught up with me, huh? I was busy looking for that guy with the turquoise hair under Satan’s orders, you know!” Mummy exclaims. “Don’t get in my way! Orders are orders!” They step off of the flattened Incubus, putting up their fists.

“Keep the Dark Prince’s name out of your disgustingly dry mouth! You’re brainwashed like the rest of them, and you vandalized Arle’s home! You’re getting an overdue thrashing before anything else!” Rulue extends her arm, gesturing at her opponent to come forward. 

“Aaaaagh! Pyramid Power!” Mummy chants, making the image of a pyramid, shrouded in light, appear around the two women to deal damage. Carbuncle retaliates by shooting a small laser, most likely to get back at Mummy for the previous vandalism.

Arle meanwhile? Already preparing to charge her Diacute as much as she can. If Nasu ended up getting burnt, it’s only fitting that his best friend shared the pain.

A close battle, one where Minotauros was seriously afraid he might have to chop off Zoh Daimaoh’s trunk for good considering the elephant’s level of aggression. 

Skeleton T wasn’t just using his turns to heal, he had some brews that could debuff Zoh’s attack power, leaving it to Suketoudara to burn items sometimes when he wasn’t attacking.

Minotauros took Skeleton T’s offer on taking the berserker tea once he ran out of stamina. Rather than wasting some sake that would be better off on Skeleton T himself, Minotauros would prefer to run wild at maximum power, getting on Zoh’s level of rage and frenzy.

Really, the only difference between this and being controlled by the smoke was that this sort of madness was under his control.

Eventually, Zoh Daimaoh falls. Not just solely from Minotauros, Suketoudara, and Skeleton T, but another party.

“Shadow Edge!”

The crystallized image of a sword appears, firing like a laser and striking Zoh in the back. Overwhelmed by pressure on both ends, that’s when Zoh collapses to the floor, making the typical cry that an elephant would.

No longer blocking the view, Minotauros can see Schezo standing there.

“You three?” Schezo seems perplexed. “Hmph, whatever you do, don’t tell Arle I was here, Minotauros.”

“Likewise,” Minotauros calms down, trying to force the effects of the tea he drank to wear off. “We heard you were here, came to free you and the rest of the men. But since Succubus only allowed men to enter…”

“I see, Rulue was too scared of Succubus to face her head-on.” Schezo chuckles. Very odd of him to implicate Rulue over Arle, as if he knew something and held it over her. “I tried my best on my own, but her transformation trickery threw me off and I was imprisoned in the smoke room. Thankfully, I still had enough stamina to cast a teleportation spell.”

Succubus, injured from what Zoh threw her earlier, laid against a wall. Attention is back on her now that Zoh is down for the count.

“Give us the key to free those men, and the key to unlock the cage that you kept the pod trapped in.” Schezo demands, pointing the Sword of Darkness to her neck. “Refuse, and I will cast Magic Snatch to steal your powers of Illusion. If this were a different situation, I’d drain you no matter what, but this is more important than my desires.”

Hissing at Schezo, Succubus throws her keys at him and looks away.

“Why did you even do all of this?” Schezo interrogates. 

“Incubus and I got into an argument, so we settled it with a competition.” She whimpers pathetically. “He was making fun of me, saying he had more ‘natural charms’ than I did, so I told him that by the end of this week I could score more men than he women!”

“That doesn’t explain the presence of the mysterious smoke and the brainwashing,” Minotauros adds.

Tears are welling up in her eyes, her voice becoming harsher as she continues. “I… I didn’t have the confidence to think I could beat him legitimately, so I made a deal with a young man who had turquoise hair! He promised me that he would help me, bring me something from another world that is sure to make others do what I say!” Succubus cries.

Spinning around, Schezo returns to the path leading to the dungeon.

“If you want to be desired by others, work on your personality. Don’t use tactics like this.”

Minotauros wanted to follow Schezo and confirm that the smoke would be disposed of, but…

He felt himself exhausted, worn from the harsh battle and drinking that unusual brew of tea.

While Mummy had strong magical prowess that was a problem for Rulue, the rest of the battle proved to not be so difficult thanks to Arle setting them on fire, which made Mummy start panicking. Room for distraction gave the heroines plus Carbuncle an advantage for the rest of the battle.

Bandages burnt to a crisp, Arle and Rulue review their next strategy as they tower over Mummy’s body.

“I’ll hold them if they wake up and will question them, you worry about Incubus,” Rulue suggests.

“Right, good thinking. That’s why you’re the boss!” Arle jokes, approaching Incubus and gently kicking him. “Hey you, wake up!” She didn’t particularly want to reach down and touch him with her hands.

“A-ah? Am I still dreaming?” Incubus stammers, eyes half-open. “I must be. There’s no way I’m seeing someone so beautiful before my very—”

Arle kicks him again, this time a little harder around the stomach. “Cut it out. Can you stand and speak, or no? You’re gonna need to if you have an explanation for all of this. And if you can’t, then just hand over the keys so we can free the prisoners.”

Groaning, Incubus holds his gut for a moment, digging through his pockets. “Succubus and I got into an argument, so I started a bet with her! I told her that I could seduce more women than she could with men, given my natural charms.” He brags, trying to smirk through the pain. “I had some assistance. Someone gave me a smoke device of some sort, then we both dealt with some brat that came wandering in… that’s when that cute honey over there stepped all over me!”

Cute honey? Does he seriously mean Mummy? What a weirdo! Almost as big of a pervert as Schezo too, if not more since it’s entirely deliberate.

“So Ragnus is imprisoned. Got it. You better not have used the smoke on him, or so help me…!”

Struggling to raise his arm, Incubus takes a set of keys out of his pocket. Arle snatched them and walked toward the basement. With Mummy in tow, Rulue joins her. Even with everything that happened, Arle wasn’t sure if she would even leave Mummy with Incubus at this point, so Rulue made a good call there.

Various women are locked in cells, some of them begging and coughing, trapped in an airtight room, no doubt where the smoke was filling up—

“Miss Nadja!”

Hearing Ragnus, Arle hurries to the… notably smaller prison cell. The poor guy was stuck in his child form again.

“Don’t worry, Ragnus!” She begins unlocking the door along with the oversized shackles around his arms. “We’re here to rescue you, and all the women here!”

But the second Ragnus was freed—

“The door! The one filled with smoke! We have to destroy the Yoggus immediately before it fully matures!” Ragnus shouts, drawing his sword and charging for the locked room, the one connected to the chimney.

Arle stands there, wanting to stop him, but too confused by what he just said. 

“Unlock it for me! Hurry!”

Rather than arguing since it seemed as if he knew something that she didn’t, Arle scurries over and unlocks the airtight chamber. Smoke comes pouring out, predictably enough, and before Arle can say another word…

There in the room, surrounded by unconscious women, stood a floating, pink eyeball.

“This is… the Yog of Temptation!”

After unlocking the back room, Schezo, Suketoudara, and Skeleton T witness something none of them had ever seen in their lives. 

A floating, black eyeball, surrounded by fleshy orbs.

“What matter of creature is this!?” Schezo spits, disgusted by the sight. “Is this what those terrible, fleshy plant pods turn into once they finish growing?”

“Looks like it to me!” Suketoudara swallows hard, nervous. “It’s like a fish egg of some kind, and I would know! Nasty!” Rather ironic for even Suketoudara of all people to be grossed out by something that looked even slimier than him.

Skeleton T though? He was a living skeleton that drank tea, something that defied the laws of physics, he had been around for such a long time and thought he had seen everything. This though? This was enough to render him speechless.

This is what the pods turned into? This is what Satan had exposed Mummy and Nasu to? The thing that Satan’s former apprentice had come into contact with? Why?

“Moough,” Minotauros huffs. “These things controlled me, made me attack milady… for that… I will never forgive them, whatever they may be!”

The eyeball responds to his threat by firing laser beams in his direction. Suketoudara performed a dance that would increase everyone else’s speed, not wanting to take any chances on what this abomination could do to them.

“Arieado!” Schezo shouts. A blast of dark magic dealt a reasonable amount of damage to the eyeball, indicating that despite its evil appearance, it did not align to the side of darkness.

It was clear that it was aligned to something greater than light or darkness.

Maybe it was because of Suketoudara buffing everyone’s speed, or maybe it was just that frail, the eyeball didn’t remain nearly as long as Zoh Daimaoh did. With another cut from Schezo’s sword and Minotauros’ axe, it disappeared into a purple mist.

However, unlike Zoh, the eyeball left a much stronger impression of the group with its uncanny appearance.

“I need a cold swim after that, ugh!” Suketoudara whines.

“I could take a boiling hot bath myself,” Skeleton T adds. When he looks over to Minotauros though, something definitely seems wrong. “Mr. Tauros? Are you well?

The half-bull is visibly panting, leaning on his axe to support himself.

“Schezo, I know you are going to hesitate,” Minotauros asks, panting. “But if we want to get to the bottom of this, you should join up with Arle and… milady…”

He topples over and loses consciousness. Skeleton T hopes that it is only the effects of the ‘berserker brew’ of tea catching up to him and not because of the smoke or the eyeball monster itself.

Chapter Text

“Mega Rave!”

Arle needed to shut her eyes for this one. Ragnus cast two spheres of holy light that proceeded to flash like strobes repeatedly. Too hard for Arle to watch, and evidently, also too harsh for a creature that was literally a giant eyeball.

Between fragments of Arle’s Ice Storm and Rulue literally punching the eyeball, never mind Carbuncle’s red laser also striking it, it didn’t survive Ragnus’ photosensitive attack.

Once it explodes into dark mist, Ragnus levels up back to his original form and sheathes his sword.

“What the hell was that? What just happened!?” Rulue stammers. “Did that pod seriously become an eyeball? And… you called it the Yog of Temptation, didn’t you!? Tell us what’s going on!” She’s quick to revert back to her demanding demeanor, still jostling Mummy around like a rag doll.

“The Yog of Temptation is one of Yog-Sothoth’s many vessels. He creates them through his eggs.” 

Wait, so those pods they’ve been seeing… and the story Ragnus had told yesterday…!

“They’re connected!?” Arle gasps.

“Yes, it seems after all this time, Yog-Sothoth is finally showing himself and trying to spread his influence once again, in a new world.” Ragnus turns to them. “Are you saying that you’ve faced these monsters recently?”

Arle nods, swallowing hard. “Kinda, but it was before they hatched into… that. Schezo took care of one and Carby got rid of another.” Carbuncle confirms, waving to Ragnus. “They took control of Owlbear, Minotauros, Nasu, Sukiya Podes, and even Mummy here!”

“Just as I feared,” Ragnus clenches his fist. “First things first, we free the maidens, then we’ll group up, wake up your bandaged friend there so I can explain everything related to Yog-Sothoth.”

The group began unlocking all of the chambers. While Ragnus focused on escorting the women out, Arle came to a rather startling discovery as she opened one of the prison doors.

“Arle! Hey! Over here!”

“Hmph! What an unpleasant surprise!”

She winces, seeing the two familiar women.“Draco Centuaros? Witch?” But that wasn’t all, as two other characters shared a room with them. “Harpy? And… Momomo? Aren’t you a guy?”

Grumbling, Momomo shifts uncomfortably in his chains. “So pushy! I made a door-to-door sale at the wrong place at the wrong time, is it really that strange?” Maybe it wasn’t that uncharacteristic of Incubus after all, but still.

“He lured us down heeee~eeere, we were going to be trapped in the smoke room if not for yooooou!” Harpy cheers, grateful as Arle frees her first. “Thank you very muuuuch! I will sing a song to express my gratituuuuuu—”

“No!” Everyone within the basement’s radius yells. 

Disappointed, Harpy flutters away. Arle makes quick work of freeing Momomo next, and is rewarded with free bottles of sake for her trouble before heading out. Draco is quick to tag along rather than exit right away—

But then the most awkward thing—or at least one of the most awkward things— happens to Arle at that moment.

As she was trying to free Witch, the keys Incubus had given her got stuck. Cold sweat drips down Arle’s back, her muscles tensing up as she tries to move the key or jostle it free.

“Arle, what’s the matter?” Rulue calls out.

“Um… the keys, the one that unlocks the shackles got stuck,” Arle mutters.

“What!?” Witch begins to panic as Rulue puts Mummy in Draco’s hands and then makes her way over.

“Give those to me!” Having a bit more muscle, Rulue gently shoves Arle out of the way and begins twisting the key herself. She turns left, then right, but no reaction. Increasingly frustrated, Rulue tries to pull the key out with all her might—

It breaks in half.

Witch grows pale, watching Rulue hand the key ring back to Arle. “It seems I’m going to have to break the chains myself.” Rulue says. “Stand back! Power Strike!” Rulue slams her fist into the chains in the hopes of cracking them, but once again, nothing happens. “Wraith Cutter!” She shouts, this time trying to crush the shackles under her heel.

“The chains are held together with magic, you fool!” Witch scolds her. “Normal abilities and brute force won’t work on it! I’ve been trying to melt this thing for hours, I’ll have you know!”

This arrogant remark just made Rulue furrow her brow more. “Aren’t you the same Witch who tricked me into going on a quest to get you a new broom?”

“Uh… maybe?”

Witch stammers as Rulue tosses the shackles aside, still intact.

“Forget it, Arle. Let’s leave her. If she’s going to give us that attitude then she isn’t worth it.”

Arle watches Witch’s jaw drop over Rulue’s suggestion. “Wait, no! You can’t leave me here! I have to attend a magic tournament this evening! I’m gonna be late and miss it!” She pleads.

“We’ll come back for you?” Arle laughs nervously.

“Don’t worry, Witch, I promise it won’t be too long! You should at least be alive!” Draco tries to reassure her, only to fail.

With everyone seemingly freed, Draco Centauros invited her saviors to stay at a hotel in Gold Town. Good timing too, since by the time Arle reunited with the other half of the party, not only was Schezo joined up, but Minotauros had apparently pushed himself too hard to the point of going unconscious.

Zoh Daimaoh was also grateful for being freed of his brainwashing, giving the party curry rice as an apology gift for his actions against Minotauros. Even made sure to help Suketoudara carry him out of Succubus’ House.

Ragnus called everyone present to a meeting. Both Mummy and Minotauros were out for the count, laying in bed with Skeleton T treating their wounds, so they sat that one out while Skeleton T listened from a reasonable distance.

“Yoggus, or Yog-Sothoth. I told Miss Nadja this story already, but I came from a world known as Gaiearth. One day for several months, if not a whole year, an evil God from another dimension came from a place beyond everyone else’s, driving people mad with his smoke. He even brought in minions of his own, who did his bidding.” Ragnus explains. “As of right now, the curse that turns me into a child is because of Yog-Sothoth, who escaped me when I thought I had cornered him. He came to this world, so I followed him, but he could never be found until today.”

“So… all of those ugly eggs or pods creating eyeball monsters come from some kinda God?” Suketoudara stammers nervously. “Sheesh, I sure dodged a bullet back at the pond, didn’t I?”

“As for me ending up in the manor, I came to rescue several women from Incubus,” Ragnus gestures to Draco. “But he had an assistant that resembled Satan slightly. I was caught off guard and locked up. To think I did all that grinding for experience too.” He grumbles.

Skeleton T, who had been trying to cover Mummy’s face and body back up in a sloppy manner, looks up as he hears that. “It adds up to what Nasu said. Sounds like Satan is innocent in all of this after all!” Rulue sighs in relief, passing a cocky grin to Schezo, who rolls his eyes and walks over to the bed where Mummy is laying.

“Mummy is the one who can tell us the full story, is that right?” Schezo asks. “They were looking for this mystery man who aided both Incubus and Succubus.” Taking over Skeleton T’s job, Schezo begins wrapping the bandages more elegantly.

“Yeah, they mentioned something like that before we fought them.” Arle giggles. “Hey now, don’t be a creep, Schezo! I don’t think they would want you getting under their wraps like Incubus tried to!”

Schezo clicks his tongue and looks the other way. “A child like you, who can’t even remember what other people say or their faces? I at least don’t have goldfish memory.” He then stares at Suketoudara. “No offense.”

“For the last time, I’m an Alaskan Pollock, none taken.”

Arle meanwhile just puffs her cheeks up, pouting. It was really annoying how Schezo was just shooting back at her and brushing off the usual jabs. She wanted Rulue to say something, but…

“That Incubus is a real jerk! He told me he was a representative of today’s Sunset Beauty Contest, here in Gold Town!” Draco complains. “And he tricked Witch into thinking he would be her partner for the magic tournament in the Mage Village, can you believe him!?” Arle flinches slightly at the mention of her childhood hometown.

By the time Mummy finally stirs awake from Draco’s noisy shouting, they see Schezo fiddling with the bandages around them and begin to blush wildly. “Hey, pervert, what are you doing!?” The grumble, as Schezo manages to successfully tie the bandages tightly.

“I did the best I could,” Schezo says. Arle takes a mental note on how Skeleton T looks a little upset right now. “Apparently you know more about Satan’s apprentice who has been causing trouble. Don’t ask questions, tell us everything you know.”

Initially reluctant, but upon seeing their surroundings, Mummy clears their throat. “Satan told me that his old apprentice, a young man with turquoise hair, had gotten ahold of some otherworldly magic creatures and was wreaking it on the land. He wanted to test what these strange beings were, so we were called in and… I don’t remember much besides the smoke. What happened?”

“You and Nasu went mad!” Skeleton T fills in the blanks. “We had to chase you two down across the land!”

“I-is that so? Well, Satan tasked me with finding his apprentice so he could be brought back for questioning, so that may still have been on my mind. I think his name is Devil!” Mummy finishes. “That’s all I know. I don’t think Satan meant any harm in using the smoke, just wanted to see what it did.”

Schezo scoffs, shaking his finger while pacing. “Now, why would he want to know what the smoke and the Yoggus pods do? Why be concerned over what shenanigans his apprentice gets up to? I say it’s still suspicious.” He glances at Rulue, having a stare-off with her. “Perhaps, he fears his apprentice being stronger than him.”

“Let’s just worry about the Yogs first, right, Ragnus?” Arle does her best to break the tension.

“Indeed, we rescued everyone from Succubus and Incubus, who also wanted to use the Yogs for themselves. Let us be relieved we stopped that in its tracks for now. We can rest here for the night, and worry about tracking Yog-Sothoth further tomorrow.”

Right, rescued everyone… for the night, as in evening.

“Miss Nadja?”

Shoot, looks like Arle’s poker face wasn’t convincing at all. Even if she and Witch got at each other’s throats over competitive magic, Arle was too nice to leave anyone in a ditch like that, unlike Rulue. That and knowing this now involved her childhood home made it sting a little.

“Well… you see…”

Chapter Text

Rightly after such a long day, Arle took a fat nap in the large hotel beds. It really was generous of Draco to rent more rooms in Gold Town for so many people, but even she only had so much gold to the point where most of them had to share a room.

Rulue didn’t want to share a room with Minotauros despite them working so closely. Arle didn’t want to sleep near to Suketoudara at the risk of smelling like fish later, and sleeping in a room with Schezo would just cause the pervert jokes to spiral.

Skeleton T… rested on the floor. He really was a stickler for Japanese tradition. There wasn’t a futon or anything for him, he just used his pillow, even after Mummy said he should sleep on a bed. Was that an offer? Arle wonders about those two.

There were two small beds in each hotel room, divided by who was sharing. So there was Minotauros and Mummy, with Skeleton T laying on the floor in one room, Schezo and Suketoudara in another since the reverse-merman didn’t really care about the ‘pervert’ accusations. That just left Ragnus, Draco, and Rulue. Arle eventually decided to bunk with Rulue after much consideration.

Ragnus and Draco were pretty safe, but if anything were to happen, Arle could count on Rulue to—

Oh, right, Ragnus…

He and Schezo took off after Arle confessed that they had to leave Witch behind. He ranted about how it was never okay to leave any maiden behind like the knight in shining armor he was, while Schezo came along since there was mention of a magic tournament that Witch had to go to. Typical creeper! Either way, they went back to save Witch from Incubus’ Manor.

Rulue chewed Arle out for it, but… Arle couldn’t help it. She really was too soft, even when her words were often harsh.

…

Come to think of it, in all the time Ragnus had entered this world, she didn’t know a lot about him until now.

As Arle begins to open her eyes, thanks to her nap being ruined by so many intrusive thoughts, she can see Carbuncle snuggled up to her arm. The sight is almost enough to calm her nerves and take her mind off of everything…

And then there’s a scream. Or rather, some sort of howl?

Standing up straight, Arle and Carbuncle wake in unison. They hop out of the bed and approach Rulue.

“Hey, Rulue, did you hear that?” Arle rubs her eyes and shakes Rulue.

“Yes, I think the whole town heard it.” Rulue groans. “Someone needs to shut their dog up.”

“I don’t think that was a dog, you think we should get the others and go check it out? What if it’s something related to the Yoggus or whatever?” Arle asks. “Draco is out there doing her beauty contest thing, right? What if she’s in trouble?”

Irritated, Rulue finally rolls out of bed. “Fine. Only because you worry too much and get guilty over not being able to help others, even when it just gets us in more trouble.” She gives up, putting on her sandals and opening the door to leave with Arle and Carbuncle.

To their surprise, Suketoudara was already up and moving. “You heard it too?” He laughs.

“Should we wake the others if they aren’t already up?” Arle asks.

“Not to be a buzzkill, but it’s been a weird day for Skeleton T, let him rest his bones.” Suketoudara begins stretching his arms and legs. “Let’s just go without him for now!”

They begin heading downstairs to the lobby.

“Can I ask something silly?” Arle starts with a giggle. “Why did you willingly bunk with Schezo out of all of us?”

“Hey, I didn’t think anyone was going to. But also, I’ve heard the rumors about that guy being a creep, and at first I believed it, but… Serilly is friendly with him. She considers him her friend, which she doesn’t have a lot of besides Owlbear and I. So he’s like, part of her school of fish and stuff, yeah? There must be a reason she sees that other people don’t.”

This guy has really mellowed out since his days of forcing others to watch his dance. He obviously still has his passions, but it seems like it’s not the only thing he ever thinks about recently.

“My my, are we jealous?” Rulue laughs.

“Not gonna lie to you, a little bit maybe. But I also want to respect the wishes of my friends rather than be too stubborn and protective. If he makes her happy, then…”

Rulue didn’t seem to like that answer, emitting an audible ‘hmph’ as they all returned to the hotel’s main floor. Kikimora was present, mopping the floors as she always did—

“You!”

She spins around, startling the group.

“Are you dirtying these floors!? How dare you!”

“Wha? No, we wiped our shoes when we checked in…”

Arle gets a better look at her. She had been chastised by Kikimora before, but this time was already different. The glowing red eyes said it all.

“There’s too much dirt and dust!” Kikimora shouts. “I’ve been vacuuming in here all day and I can’t get rid of it! You must be the cause of it!”

Looks like the smoke from a Yoggus had gotten to her, which meant one was nearby, just as Arle had feared!

“We don’t have time for this!” Suketoudara dances around Kikimora, who swings her mop at him. “Any of you have a quick getaway idea!?”

It’s Carbuncle who ends up acting first. Digging through Arle’s bag, he finds the plate of curry that Zoh Daimaoh had given them earlier as an apology… and throws it on the floor from a reasonable distance.

That was the first and probably only time Arle would see Carbuncle waste curry like that, but it worked, as Kikimora began to scream.

“Messy! Filthy! Don’t litter!” She shrieks, running over to the spot on the floor that was quickly being sullied by curry rice. In the midst of her scrubbing, only to stain her own mop, the party escapes what would have been a potential mini-boss battle.

Upon Ragnus’ return to Incubus’ Manor, the homeowner is suddenly very apologetic, not at all acting the way he did previously. Ragnus can’t tell if he was secretly also manipulated by the Yoggus, or if he was just a coward who didn’t want to be thrashed. His eyes were actually red when Ragnus stepped in, but after Mummy jumped him, it might have worn off.

He keeps apologizing to Witch in particular, trying and failing to woo her and have her agree to be partners for the magic tournament… but he can’t even undo the spell put on the shackles, saying that Devil was responsible for putting the seal there.

Ragnus uses his Reactor Blade to no effect.

“My Sword of Darkness may be able to shatter it. It’s cut through one of Satan’s devices before.” Schezo declares. “But I need you once we’re done, understand?”

Shooting a glare at Schezo, Ragnus wants to say something, but…

Cackling like the witch she really was, Witch blushes, stopping Ragnus from saying what he wanted. “Oh-ho-ho my! You really are a creepy man, aren’t you? Well, how can I refuse?” She smirks. “But I have conditions too! I could just leave right away and you wouldn’t be able to catch up with me… but there’s something I want from you in exchange!”

“And that would be?”

“Your… white clothes! I want to try them on!”

Oh great, they were both perverts! Ragnus was stuck between a creepy dark mage, an incubus, and a weird witch!

“I kind of want those clothes too, I won’t lie. Very fashionable.” Incubus purrs.

“Foolish, but I will agree to it. Unlike Arle, I don’t wear the same fit all the time.” Schezo jokes at the expense of the mage who constantly mocks him. “Sword of Darkness, tear these chains apart!” Schezo yells, his blade coated in a purple light as it perfectly cuts through the shackles, freeing Witch successfully.

Ragnus had to admit, he was impressed that Schezo wasn’t bluffing. Afterward, the dark mage snaps his fingers, and the white clothes he’s wearing drop to the floor, perfectly folded, replaced by an outfit made of black armor.

What a show off…

“As promised, the clothes. Feel free to change in a spare cell, I’ll make sure you have privacy.” Schezo then grabs Incubus by his collar. “That means you have to get out of here.”

“Oooooh, c’mon!” Incubus pleads as he’s dragged away, not at all too upset about the situation… he almost looks like he enjoys being shoved around by Schezo.

It doesn’t take long at all for Witch to get changed. Her frame is a bit smaller than Schezo’s white outfit, but she manages to make it fit perfectly by using the ribbon around her dress like a belt. The red had a bit of a harsh contrast, but it worked well enough.

“I’m assuming that mage wants to join me in the magic tournament to seek power, I’ll let him! I needed a partner that isn’t Incubus after all!” Witch giggles. “I should be able to make it on time in this amazing new look! Not to mention, these smell nice and clean!"

Didn't Schezo say something about swapping his outfits out more than Arle? Perhaps he was more diligent with his laundry than her.

When all of them try to leave the manor, Incubus attempts to join them…

… only for him to immediately complain about the bright sunset melting the make-up off of his beautiful face, retreating back to his home. For the better, honestly. Ragnus isn’t sure if he, Schezo, or Witch could tolerate him for very long.

There’s a beachside of sorts close to Gold Town, where the beauty contest was being held. Arle knew right away that’s where Draco would be, and there she is, but…

It seems the judges and the audience were scrambling to get away or shield themselves behind something. Draco was in the middle of getting into a fight with a woman who had the lower half of a dog.

“You can’t just take everything, including people’s belongings! What’s wrong with you!?” Draco yells at her, tugging at the satchel around Scylla’s body. Having the advantage with extra legs, Scylla roundhouse kicked Draco then sped away with the satchel.

Red eyes, just like Kikimora. Arle watched Scylla kick up sand as she ran away.

“Arle!” Draco sees her, calling out as she opens her wings to pursue the thief. “You gotta lend me a hand! During the beauty contest, one of the pageants suddenly snapped and stole someone’s purse, proclaiming herself as the winner before the judges could even start!”

Did Draco even listen to everything Ragnus said to the group…?

“Looks like she’s headed for the Gachinko Dungeon nearby,” Rulue scoffs. “Maybe that’s the source of another Yog pod. Let's tail her!”

There was only one way to find out for sure…

Chapter Text

The monsters are… getting a little weirder than what Arle and Rulue are used to. Perhaps this was a manipulation from the Yoggus invading the world, but while there was the expected appearance of the annoying Barbegazi, there were enemies they had never seen before suddenly popping in.

“Uhuhuhuhu!”

It’s some sort of… tall alien creature wearing a space suit, feminine in its shape. Arle at first thought the cave’s heat was making her hallucinate. 

“I come in peace, I come in peace!” The alien greets. “Just kidding! Uhuhuhu!”

She wasn’t alone, so the ‘coming in peace’ part was a blatant lie to begin with. By her left side was a fish monster like Suketoudara, except sickly green and shaped less like a fish, more like a human all over except the face. And by the right, was a monstrous looking man with grey skin in a coat, holding a variety of vials holding what appeared to be potions.

Draco used her fire breath on the strange man carrying potions, causing them to explode in his face. Suketoudara does a dance, summoning several bubbles that dampen the alien’s gadgets, causing a shortfuse. Arle, meanwhile, casts Ice Storm on the green fish monster, freezing him solid.

During all of this, Rulue trips over a small notebook almost. Scooping it off of the ground, she begins to read the contents.

“What’s it say?” Draco asks.

“I’m not sure. It’s written in two languages, not just what we use.” Rulue passes it to Suketoudara. “You’re bilingual, aren’t you? And not just for the sake of showing off like Incubus.”

Clearing his throat, Suketoudara does his best to translate. “Yeah, some of this is in English, I’ll do my best. It says that Yog-Sothoth, the dimensional God, is one of many monsters from the modern western world… as opposed to our world of sorcery, comprised of old-era fantasy monsters such as vampires, mermaids, harpies, and wraiths.”

They all look at one another, puzzled.

“The modern western world of monsters is inhabited by things such as aliens, killers, and reanimators.” Suketoudara pauses for thought. “What the shell is the difference between reanimators and a basic necromancer? Well, whatever. There are descriptions for some of the freaks we encountered early in English. That helmet-head thing we met is called an Alien, either from the moon or from a place called Mars. The man in the coat is just simply called Hyde, and the ugly wannabe fish is known as the Deep One.”

“Is there more?” Arle wonders.

“The Yellow King, a guy who wears a pale mask… the wax phantom… summoners… the ripper… plants… and a sorcerer by the name of Zkauba, I think?”

Zkauba? Arle remembers that name. Wasn’t that the wizard that Ragnus fought before facing Yog-Sothoth? 

Her curiosity was piqued. “Anything about Yog-Sothoth in there?”

“No dice I’m afraid,” Suketoudara holds the book open. “Whoever was writing in here had the page torn out! Guess it was too important.”

Oh well. At least they knew what they might be encountering in the future should it come to it. Now they could resume their search for Scylla, and if anyone knew her well enough, she was probably taking a soak in the cave’s hot spring.

“Ah! Tracking me all the way down here in the middle of my bath!?” Scylla whines, doing exactly as predicted, her canine lower-half invisible thanks to the water covering it up. One would be fooled into thinking she was just a cute girl with dog ears if they only saw her like this.

Arle can spot it right away. The steam taking up the air in the hot spring wasn’t normal at all, darker in color than it should be. “I have an idea,” Arle whispers to Draco. “We can distract Scylla and knock her out, but you need to find the source of the heat!”

Draco down at some of the magma connecting to the hot spring…

“Uh, what exactly do you want me to find?”

“Gu!” Carbuncle hops over to Draco, nesting himself in her green hair.

“Carby will direct you, some sort of pod, probably with a gross eye monster hatching! Now go!” Arle urges her, hoping that she and the other two can handle Scylla on their own for a bit.

Kicking up and emerging from the hot spring, Scylla reveals herself, shaking her silver locks of hair to dry like a wet dog. “You’re here to steal my well-earned prizes, aren’t you? I didn’t soak myself, manicure myself, do my hair and my make up just to lose the beauty contest to everyone else! Arf!”

Given Scylla was soaking wet, Arle knew that casting Thunder was the right call here. Not only would it deal extra damage with her metal breastplate and being covered with water, but it would also ruin Scylla’s hair, turning her into a static-covered puffball.

“Aw, you look a lot cuter like that if ya ask me!” Suketoudara laughs. 

Blinded by her own fur and hair, Scylla attempts to scratch one of the party members with her nails, but just misses and scrapes against a boulder instead. “Ow!” She whines. “First my hair, now my nails!? You’re ruining everything!”

“We’re ruining everything? You ruined a beauty contest and our sleep by randomly mugging people because you apparently think you deserve everything for being so beautiful! Not even I’m that selfish!” Rulue delivers a swift kick to Scylla’s legs, tripping her over. Now her make up was going to be ruining from the face plant.

Arle passes a glance over to Draco, who is scanning the magma. Since she was half-dragon she had a bit of heat resistance, just maybe not on the level of an enlarged sun—

In her distracted state, Arle doesn’t notice Scylla crawl up from the floor and bite her leg, infecting it. Shoot, now she had to waste her time trying to heal herself. Luckily Suketoudara could pick up some of the slack, splashing water at Scylla to ruin her hair even further.

“I think I see something!” Draco announces, looking into a deep crater. “It looks like a fleshy plant, but it’s really stuck in cracks! It would take a drill to get to it— Ack! I think it’s hatching!”

Not good!

“Carby, take the shot!” Arle yells, digging through her bag, pulling out Antidote Grass and rubbing it on her open wound. She grits her teeth, her left leg burning from the pain.

With a loud ‘guu’, Carbuncle fires the laser from his forehead. Arle can only assume that the laser is thin enough to make it through the cracks in the earth and destroy the Yoggus egg from within.

She can hear what sounds like an explosion. A gross, fleshy pop going with it. Arle hisses through her teeth, too busy trying to manage the infection from Scylla’s venom, keeping it from getting under her skin. Rulue and Suketoudara are holding her off well enough—

The ground starts rumbling.

“I— I think that caused a chain reaction or something!” Draco exclaims.

Oh great.

Arle scrambles, trying to get herself moving away from the scene, but it’s already too late as the hot spring explodes in a powerful geyser, shooting water all over, flooding the cave. Draco manages to avoid the current briefly by flying, but it overwhelms her just as suddenly, swept up from the sides.

Scylla, losing consciousness thanks to the Yog being eliminated, flops over pathetically and lets the waves carry her. Suketoudara scoops Arle up and begins swimming.

“Hold on, I got you!”

“What about me!?” Rulue yells.

“Hey, you aren’t the one with an injured leg, start paddling!”

Before long, they’re all forced out of the cave, along with all of the small-fry enemies they encountered along the way!

It’s a while before Arle wakes up. The waters knocked her out harder than she imagined. That or maybe she bumped her head on something in the cave while Suketoudara tried to get her out of there.

She feels the sand under her fingers for one thing. Then Arle notices she doesn’t feel as damp as she should, indicating that she had been laying out here to dry for quite a while.

Her leg is a bit swollen from being bitten earlier, which isn’t great… Rulue and Suketoudara are laying nearby, along with Draco and Carbuncle. Scylla is also passed out in the sand. Despite the pain, Arle forces herself to get up, casting heal magic on herself to ease it.

The satchel that Scylla stole is lying there. Apparently it came with them, thank goodness for that. Arle checks the contents and finds that it’s mostly gold coins that Scylla had snatched. If there were any snacks in there, chances were they got washed away or Scylla already ate them.

Once Arle confirmed that, she woke up Carbuncle first, who proceeded to spit out gallons of water. He had totally ballooned up from getting caught in the flood…

Right, Draco was the one participating in the beauty contest. Arle shakes her awake next, explains that she got the stolen goods back, and tells her to go return it so the contest can resume. Arle tells her she’ll take care of the rest from here.

Arle checks the state of her own bag full of belongings and is relieved to see that nothing got waterlogged. Either that bag of hers was waterproof or it was protected by magic, everything was completely intact. 

She gets Rulue and Suketoudara up shortly after. Suketoudara rubs his head, he definitely bumped himself in his attempt to save Arle. Rulue is quick to jab the reverse-merman with her elbow, complaining that her dress got ruined.

Scylla gets up without their input. Eyes back to normal, realizing she wasn’t where she was supposed to be and her cave was ruined, she tucks her tail in between her legs and retreats elsewhere.

“We might as well see if things turned out okay on Draco’s end now, huh?” Arle suggests. However, she found herself limping. Evidently, the flood washed off the intended effect of the Antidote Grass and healing magic couldn’t take off the infection.

“All that disgusting cave water and sand got to you!” Rulue then hoists her up, taking Arle’s arms and putting it around her own shoulders to carry her. “No more adventuring for today. We’ll see the results of the contest and then you’re getting some well-needed rest!”

Chapter Text

As it turned out, because Draco and Scylla had left for so long, the judges resumed and decided that by default, the winner was… Wraith? Everyone was surprised to know she was actually beautiful under the white sheet.

At first, Draco was pretty upset by the unfair judging results, but when she returned the satchel to the old lady who owned it, she found that it was more satisfying to help others than to win a contest.

“I always say a nice personality filled with courage is more important than anyone’s appearance,” the old woman says to Draco.

It must have stuck with Draco, because rather than going home, she suddenly decided to follow Arle and the others back to the hotel.

“It could have been a lot worse, those results. Earlier, that Choppun creep tried to enter the contest, but the judges said ‘no masqueraders’ thankfully!” Draco giggles.

“Eww, my creeper neighbor who once showed up in my fridge?” Arle tries to laugh the pain away. “I dunno what his deal is, it’s like he pretends to be me sometimes, but he doesn’t know any magic.”

Draco watches carefully, hovering over the party anxiously. “Is there anything I can do? I feel awful since… it’s my fault you got injured kind of. I asked for your help when Scylla took off with that woman’s satchel, and now you’re hurt.”

Swallowing hard to ignore the pain, Arle smiles back at Draco. “It’s fine, I’ll be okay. Sleep it off, it’s no big deal! Also, if it weren’t for you, the Yoggus egg wouldn’t have been destroyed and we wouldn’t have found that weird notebook! I say that’s a huge win.”

It doesn’t particularly ease Draco, who bites her lower lip with her fangs.

“No… you know what? The Yoggus or whatever? I’m gonna be serious about helping you guys stop whatever this is now!” Draco declares. “I’ll pay closer attention next time, help save this world from whatever these invaders are up to! And we can both tell that Ragnus guy about what we found! I won’t feel good about it if I don’t do something to help others!”

“Draco…”

After a brief moment, Arle smiles for real rather than forcing it. So does Carbuncle, who had been visibly worried the whole time.

“Okay, but just don’t be too much of a help. Know what I mean? You know how to recognize when something isn’t your problem, yeah?”

“Well in this case, the safety of this world is a top priority when it comes to problems! I’ll even put aside my differences with that old kooky skeleton!”

Arle didn’t even know that the two were on bad terms or had a previous run-in. That was an interesting thing to learn.

Once the party is back at the hotel, they find the hotel lobby spotless compared to how Carbuncle left it. Kikimora had returned to normal and forgotten everything that happened.  They return to the room rented out to Minotauros just in case, and find that he’s sound asleep. Good, the mad maid hadn’t disturbed anyone. Skeleton T was still out on the floor, the only difference is that Mummy had… joined him?

Arle reminded herself to make a comment on it in the future.

Suketoudara decides to stay up and practice his dance moves outside. It wasn’t that late, it was only Arle who was worn out. Rulue carries her back to their room and lies Arle down cautiously, not wanting to put pressure on the wound.

“I’m going to get you an ice pack.”

“Nah, I can make my own! Just bring me the bag.” Arle jokes, waving her finger.

Rulue scrunches her face up, not so much in a scary manner as much as an embarrassed one. “Not only did you have Carbuncle and I worried, but even Suketoudara and Draco! Honestly, you need to be more careful! I would hate to see how Satan would react if something serious happened to you!”

At first, Arle assumes this is another moment of envy, but… no, Rulue means that. She wouldn’t want to see Satan become devastated over something preventable, huh? It’s her way of caring.

…

Arle realizes she actually doesn’t know Rulue all that well outside of their one-sided rivalry and her talents.

“Hey, Rulue?” Arle starts. “What was your home life like?”

“What? What’s this all of the sudden?”

“Just tell me, it’ll help me fall asleep.” Arle says.

Going back to her bed, Rulue takes off her sandals and sits on it. Carbuncle stares at her with intense anticipation, which is enough to get her talking.

“My mother and father weren’t home very often. Busy with work all the time, only seeing them on holidays. I have more memories with my grandmother and my butler than I do with my mother and father. I cut ties with them after I was old enough, and they agreed to these terms. Everything else I had inherited from my grandmother after she passed away.”

Oh… that…

“My grandmother… One of my last memories of her is a precious music box she gave to me. She was supposed to visit me on my birthday, but she didn’t. She was in critical condition. I got angry, and… destroyed it.”

Rulue gently clenches her hands around her knees, avoiding eye contact.

“I’m sorry, Rulue. I didn’t mean to pry.” Arle mutters. “If it makes you feel better, you aren’t alone. My father disappeared when I was only four years old, so it was just me, mom, and my grandma who lived a little further away. Apparently, he fell down a cliff while fighting a necromancer and no one saw him ever since.”

…

“So we’re not so different after all…” 

Arle begins to finally drift away, slumbering, exhaustion from the wound kicking in at last.

Stirring awake, Minotauros gets up in a cold sweat. He makes a loud noise, which is more than enough to stir Skeleton T’s bones up as well.

“Acha! What!? Are we—”

He realizes that nothing is wrong. The sensation of weight is just because Mummy had suddenly joined him on the floor. Skeleton T looks at them, then at Minotauros, who is staring at him, alert as any cow would be under tension.

“I know how this appears, but I assure you… we’re just friends. We do this sort of thing all the time with Nasu included. The three of us.” He explains. “Still, I gave them a bed, I’m not sure why…”

His words trail off as Minotauros keeps staring right at him, slowly calming down.

“I’m sorry that my disastrous brew put you in such a state, hoho! Guess youths such as yourself can’t handle it—”

“You are… loyal to your friends, and in return, they stay by your side.” Minotauros interrupts him. “That is why they sought you out, after being controlled by some sort of unknown monster’s influence for a prolonged period of time, rampaging on their own with no direction… They are apologizing for the cruel things they said to you before.”

Speechless, Skeleton T remained composed. This wasn’t something he cared to be offended over, it’s not like Minotauros was denying his tea or insulting it. In fact, the reason he tolerated being berated by Mummy and Nasu’s erratic behavior was because even though they took it out on him, it was never on the things he loved.

… Maybe he’s making excuses.

“When I first met milady, she was sent to eliminate me by my step-father, who was a friend of her own father.” Minotauros holds his head. “At this time, she had already met Satan and had fallen for him, but was determined to become strong for him. She took the mission to face me. The scar I have now was from when we fought.”

The scar going down Minotauros’ right eye… it had faded a bit, but was still visible.

“She got me good. I wonder if this eye of mine will ever open again.” Minotauros begins to snort. “I had expected to die there, but instead, she was impressed and spared me… asking me to become her minion, a piece in her quest to impress Satan. This was also her way of rebelling against her father and friends, of course. For the first time in my life, I was treated as an equal, rather than a monster.”

He pauses, looking at his hands.

“I felt I had a purpose beyond being an abomination. These creatures… I won’t let them take things away now that I have found my purpose in this world! To fight alongside milady at all costs!”

“A-ah, that’s nice!” Skeleton T laughs nervously. “But you should say this sort of speech to a more important character. I’m just the stage one joke boss who can’t rotate! You know how it goes—”

“You think of yourself so little outside of being a Japanese tea connoisseur, bringing us this far and helping us?” Minotauros narrows his gaze. “I won’t allow it! You have a purpose here as much as I do! You saved your friends, Nasu and Mummy! You are fighting to protect this world, and defend all the teas that exist! Wake up and smell the freshly brewed tea!”

Shocked to his core, Skeleton T freezes, chills down his spine.

… That’s right. This was no time to be so lax!

If the world was in danger, he had to protect it, no matter how weak others thought he was! It was better than lying there and doing nothing for sure, why, he was definitely more man than Incubus at this point!

“Minotauros, did you hear everything that boy in the fancy armor had to say?” Skeleton T asks him, a little more determined.

“I was fuzzy, but I did get the gist of it! Moo!”

“Ochaaa! Let’s go find the others and do our best!”

… That was the plan, but unfortunately, they soon realized that Arle was too injured to go anywhere and needed to relax for the rest of the night. Oops. Well, their good intentions were still there, even if Rulue had to lightly clobber them for barging in being noisy.

“You take this abuse a lot, don’t you?” Skeleton T rubs his skull from where Rulue whacked him.

“I apologize,” Minotauros sighs. “You’ve been getting… pushed around by milady all day. Do not hold it against her.”

“No, no! Honestly, outside of nearly asking you to chuck my box of special gyokuro, I’m glad I came along in the end. I wouldn’t have realized how dire this was.” Skeleton T keeps rubbing the sore spot. “I think I’m actually starting to like how assertive she is, if I’m being honest.”

Oops. That wasn’t something he should be proud to admit…

Chapter Text

“Meteor!”

“Thunderstorm!”

Fire Element was sent flying backwards along with Mamono. Schezo noted that while Fire Element seemed to be… in his element, ill-tempered as usual, Mamono definitely had the red eyes that indicated Yog’s influence. Even his portals emitted the purple smoke rather than the usual cool blue, so he focused his attacks on the corrupted demon.

The contestants for the magic tournament were all in pairs, with a total of four different teams. There was Schezo and Witch of course, Fire Element and Mamono, Serilly and Chico, then finally Jaan and… a mystery person Schezo had never seen before. He was wearing a cloak the entire time, but his long tail could sometimes be visible along with his third eye that was bright red.

Was he controlled by the smoke too? Or was that his natural eye color? Schezo couldn’t get a better look at him when the teams were revealed at the start of the tournament.

Anyway, once Mamono was finished and had the Yog-brainwashing out of him, he promptly passed out.

“Gobeeeeeeh…”

If it weren’t for the fact he was a rather large demon, the cries of a fluffy, feathery bird creature would be adorable. Well, okay, maybe he just needs to be downsized. Schezo wouldn’t openly admit it in front of everyone else, but he liked small cute critters.

“You useless goblin thing! Stop whining!” Fire Element begins kicking the bird-like demon. “You’re just going to give up!? You’re a demon! Act like it!”

… Well, now Schezo was going to defend Mamono for sure after such a disrespectful display. He isn’t above underhanded tactics, but being entirely cruel is another thing. Rather than let it prolong, Schezo casts some more dark magic on the remaining opponent.

“Areiado Special!”

Seemed like a waste of mana to use the stronger spell, but Schezo kind of wanted Fire Element out of the picture after that display of arrogance. 

Dark blades rain down on Fire Element. He notices the attempt to take him out while his back is turned, spins around.

“Fireball, go!” He chants. True to his name, fiery and explosive magic was all he knew.

“Dunamis!” Holding the Sword of Darkness up, Schezo absorbs the fireball and launches it back at Fire Element, having it converted into a shadowy sphere of sorts. Any normal counterattack would have just caused Fire Element to charge his power, as he can consume flames much like how Barbegazi is healed by ice.

With that, Fire Element got knocked down for good. The judges waited, counting down to ten, anticipating either he or Mamono to get back up. When neither of them did by the number nine, Schezo knew he could lower his guard slightly.

The match was won. All while Witch was still wearing his white outfit and laughing.

“Looks like Team Pervert takes the first victory! Ohohoho!”

He rolls his eyes. 

They return to the coliseum’s lobby. It would be a bit before someone came to heal Mamono and Fire Element then send them packing, but…

“What was up with Mamono back there?” Witch asks. “He seemed more aggressive than usual, less of a crybaby.

“That was definitely the work of Yog-Sothoth’s influence,” Ragnus explains, holding a bucket of popcorn he got while watching the battle. “You knew it too, didn’t you, dark mage?”

“I have a name, but yes. Figured it was best to nip it in the bud while I still could. It was good that my selfish interests brought me here after all.” Schezo chuckles. “Hopefully he’ll be alright after that. We should see where the source of the Yoggus is.”

“Yoggus? Oh, you mean that weird smoke thing Incubus had that you warned me about on the way here, golden boy?” It seemed that Witch was just as prone to teasing Ragnus as she was Schezo.

Slightly irritated by her dismissive nature, Ragnus clutches the bucket in his hands. “Please do not treat this so passively! It’s a matter that could affect this entire world! Don’t you care about that? If Yog-Sothoth were to ruin this world as he did with mine, you may never have the chance to excel at magic like you want so badly!”

Schezo tries his best to ignore their bickering and look the other way. It really felt like two children arguing, one that’s easy to tease due to his curse while the other was sort of a schoolyard bully. Not that he’s any older than them, he tries to believe he’s more mature than he actually is…

That’s when he sees the other team, made up of two rather familiar faces. He already knew they would be participating when the announcer brought attention to their presence during the introductory, but one was happily approaching Schezo without a case in the world.

“Mister… I mean, Schezo! It’s so good to see you participating here!”

Somehow able to drift on the land without legs, Serilly swims in the air and wags her tailfin, greeting Schezo while her partner gasped in fear.

“Ah, Serilly. I must say, it’s a surprise to see you here.” He pauses briefly, staring around Serilly’s neck.

“Hey, hey! Where are you looking, you pervert?” Witch jokes, jabbing Schezo’s backside with her broom.

“You stop that, you’re the bigger perv here!” Schezo snaps, turning back to Serilly. “Very sorry about that. To clear up any misconceptions, that necklace you're wearing… There's something quite odd about it. Does it have magical properties?”

Touching the star-shaped stone around her neck, Serilly giggles while her partner keeps her guard up. “Yes. It was given to me by other sea creatures. Apparently, it allows me to travel on land without any troubles. I’ve kept it close since then so I could make more friends! Isn’t that right, Chico?”

The shrine maiden lurking in the background holds her staff tightly. Schezo vaguely recalls how the mystic had traveled with Arle, Witch, and Serilly in the past…

Ah, right. Now Schezo remembers why this girl was cowering. He had expressed interest in her holy magic and slipped up as usual. It seemed she hadn’t gotten over the incident. Schezo would do his best to not pay her any mind for now.

“I wanted to come see more of the world and become more confident, while she wanted to push her mystic training even further, so we teamed up and it worked out!” 

Witch couldn’t help but pout when she heard Serilly talking about this casually, like she had been left out of the equation despite searching for a partner, she must have been insulted that two of her previous traveling companions hadn’t considered her. It made Schezo smirk a little.

“Witch, are you okay?” Serilly asks nervously, reading the room.

“I’m fine , but in any case, Serilly, you should use that stone as a hair clip instead of a necklace. Otherwise, perverts are definitely going to stare.” She puts such emphasis on her words and tries to laugh it off.

“Don’t call him that!” Serilly exclaims, knowing that Witch was referring to Schezo. “It’s rude to say something so gross about others… he’s just not good at his words sometimes. Neither am I. Does that make me a pervert or a creep?”

No longer laughing, Witch swallows hard. Ragnus can’t help but be visibly impressed by this display of defense, same with Schezo himself, whose eyes widened without even realizing it.

“Er, thank you, Serilly.” Schezo bows, grateful to someone for once. “I’ve been trying to get this obnoxious trend to stop. I started calling Arle names to see how she feels, but I don’t think she’s picked up on it yet.” He snickers along with Serilly.

“We need to hurry,” Chico chimes in. “Um, Serilly? Come on, our match is up next!”

Waving goodbye, Serilly leaves with Chico. Schezo waves her off back, then looks back at his own party. Ragnus seemed to be at a loss for words, while Witch kept pouting, annoyed about the whole thing.

“I didn’t know you two were friends,” Witch grumbled.

“And I didn’t know there was a holy shrine maiden in this world,” Ragnus adds. “She would be a good ally to have.”

As the two girls begin approaching the battle grounds, Chico shuffles a bit awkwardly, wanting to speak up before their first round starts.

“Hey, Serilly?” Chico mutters, keeping her voice low enough so no one besides the mermaid could hear her. “I didn’t know you knew that dark mage. Are you sure being so friendly with him is a good idea? He was after my power…”

She briefly stops swimming in the air, pausing for thought. “He must have a reason for it, don’t you think? That’s what I assumed. He told me that he’s fascinated by Arle’s power even though she’s just an apprentice. And you’re an apprentice shrine maiden, right? He must see potential in others.”

“That doesn’t mean he should steal it for himself!” Chico whimpers. “If we defeat our opponents, we’ll have to face him! What if he takes my powers for real? And the one in your necklace? I would become a failure…”

Serilly shakes her head, putting a hand on Chico’s shoulder. “Nope. Not happening. Schezo wouldn’t do that during a contest, and if he did, I would ask him if he could wait another time. As for my necklace, I don’t think it would benefit him at all.” More confident than usual due to the involvement of her friends, Serilly raises her arms. “We can do this! I just know it. And even if we lose, I’ll be happy to see my friends Witch and Schezo take the victory.”

Perhaps that’s the mindset Chico should have. She tried her best to stay positive, push any anxiety related to her duties and grandmother’s expectations out of her head. If anything, it was comforting that someone normally so nervous like Serilly, had become more bold the second she saw her friends.

That changed though. Something was different when they stepped into the arena and saw Jaan, the trickster djinn with a wicked look in her gaze. Something was unnatural, troubling not just Chico but Serilly as well.

And that person next to Jaan…

He finally removed the hood of his cloak, revealing a pair of horns, turquoise hair in a braided ponytail, and not two— but three bright red eyes.

“Greetings!” He bares his fangs. “I’m Devil, the strongest demon in the World of Sorcery! You two will be the next subjects to use in my conquest!”

“Subjects?” Serilly stammers.

“Of course… as puppets of Yog-Sothoth!”

Chapter Text

To say that Serilly and Chico were brutally unprepared for their opponents would be an understatement.

This wasn’t a dig at their power levels, what with Serilly trying to avoid conflict and Chico being a trainee. But they were going against a djinn that had been brainwashed by the Yoggus and a young demon who had a striking resemblance to Satan himself. Serilly initiated by casting a bubble shield around herself and Chico should the worst come to them, but…

“Thundercloud!” Jaan calls, casting storm clouds that bring down bolts of lightning, crashing down upon the bubble shields and successfully popping them.

“Good! Now take this! Typhoon!” Devil casts a powerful wind spell of sorts, knocking down from her floating state while Chico was flung into the air.

“Wind of Embrace!” Chico attempts to counter the stormy spell with her own, turning the gusts to a more gentle one that sets her back on her feet. She held her tongue, hesitating on her next move.

Devil made himself clear. He was going to turn her and Serilly into puppets of this Yog-Sothoth individual if they lost. That sounded like some sort of high entity. On that note, before Serilly went to say ‘hi’ to Schezo, Chico vaguely heard the young man in golden armor yelling at Witch about something related to Yog…

If Yog-Sothoth were to ruin this world as he did with mine, you may never have the chance to excel at magic like you want so badly!

That was it. The words he told Witch earlier start ringing in Chico’s ears. Alarms are being set off. No one here was playing around for the sake of competition, this was something extremely dangerous. But even without that earlier outburst, Chico could strangely perceive the dangers of this outside entity thanks to her divination abilities.

“I call upon thee, Leviathan!” 

She normally wouldn’t resort to such a summon, but given the serious circumstances of these opponents, Chico figured she should try to go all out. But would Leviathan even answer her prayer? She was still a trainee. Chico could often call upon things such as dragons, yes, but the one who had been in this world since the beginning of time?

Most weren’t allowed to call Leviathan except for dragonkin. Asking for him was often a last resort. She might be scolded, but…

“Leviathan! Come in our hour of need!”

Shouting to the heavens a second time and raising her staff, Chico’s hands tense up as the clouds above the arena begin to part.

A long, green dragon descends from above. Encrusted in his forehead appeared to be a green pearl that matched his eyes, a pendant with a star symbol around his neck. No differently than Carbuncle, he fires a laser from the gem in question down at Devil and Jaan.

And yet…

The space around them begins to distort, a vortex opening between the participants. Something was shielding the two, or rather, a greater presence pulled them away from the attack at the last moment. Something capable of bending reality.

It grows like a tower. Chico refuses to look it in the eye, but she sees it, tall enough to surpass Leviathan…

The lurker at the threshold. Yog-Sothoth. Just as suddenly as he materialized, he and his kin dissolved, morphing into a knight of some sort. Large shoulderpads and devil horns, the eyes not visible, carrying an axe the same size as its own form.

“Isn’t it grand? Just like I have before, I’ve combined my power with Yog-Sothoth’s!”

Like before? That was Devil’s voice coming out of the armor, was it not?

The axe comes down on Leviathan’s gemstone, reverting him to his form of a statue that abandons his soul. Chico is nothing short of mortified, seeing Jaan constantly torment Serilly behind the knight, preventing the mermaid from assisting.

So this was it, wasn’t it? The end of being a holy trainee of the gods, and the start of being a puppet to another. Chico squeezes her eyes shut, anticipating the worst as Devil casts one last spell.

“Devil Twister!”

A dark tornado looms over Chico, ready to swallow her—

“Light Slash!”

A horizontal beam of light cuts through the tornado like butter. The wind current is halted, reverting the air to calm.

“Yog-Sothoth! You finally show yourself!” Ragnus yells, having suddenly interrupted the tournament. He pushes forward and puts himself in front of Chico, shielding the mystic with his body. Chico averts her gaze, surprised to see Schezo doing the same for Serilly while Witch flies around on her broom trying to distract Jaan.

Schezo scoffs, looking up at the knight. “That form you displayed earlier… How interesting that I’m the one called a pervert by the masses, yet here is a tentacle monster using others as his ‘puppets’ via brainwashing. That seems more suspect than anything I’ve ever done.” He raises the Sword of Darkness to the axe-holding knight. “They call me the man who defies the gods, and you are a god, aren’t you?”

“God? Me? Perhaps I could be one!” Devil cackles.

“I am speaking to Yog-Sothoth, not Satan’s bratty disciple.” Schezo corrects him, earning Devil’s ire. “At best, your powers are a cheap, lesser imitation of the Dark Prince. And the god you are calling for now doesn’t particularly interest me as far as his powers are concerned, not in the way the mystic and Leviathan do at least.”

Recoiling, Devil begins spinning the axe around and then slams it against the ground. “I’ll make you eat those words! Volcano!”

A crater is made from the impact, lava suddenly gushing out and surrounding the arena. Ragnus and Schezo get hit by some of the particles of magma that come crashing down, but Witch narrowly evades all of it with grace, taking the chance to scatter little pumpkin-shaped bombs around Jaan before flying away to create distance.

 The heat from the eruption causes the bombs to explode, scattering little stars that overwhelm Jaan. “That was a dirty trick! And you’re cheating!” Jaan complains, stomping her feet while she coughs. “You’re not supposed to use outside equipment, only magic! If you’re going to cheat, then I’m going to cheat too!… As soon as I can get you down from there!”

Jaan raises her palms and takes aim, clapping her hands together. “Tornado!” She shouts, unleashing a powerful tornado in Witch’s direction. At first, Witch thinks there is more than enough of a gap to get away, but the tornado spell proves to be much faster than Devil’s twister attack.

Holding on as tight and speeding away does nothing, Witch is caught in the maelstrom and flung into the air. Making her hands grow in size, Jaan unleashes an uppercut on Witch, who was in the midst of plummeting below and unable to recall her broom.

Schezo, who had been focused on helping a struggling Ragnus, tries to divert his attention. “Your attacks are doing nothing to this fiend. Go help Witch instead.”

“I don’t understand it!” Ragnus cries, unleashing another Holy Arrow to strike the Yog-fused-Devil. No damage is taken from his holy powers of light, but strangely, Schezo’s offensive capabilities are cutting through. “How is this happening? It doesn’t make any sense! Yog-Sothoth was vulnerable to my Reactor Blade before! The goddess Eldora blessed me with this blade to take him down, and armor that resists all that is unholy…!”

“Enough, just go help Witch!” Schezo demands. “I can take things from here! It’s bad enough that Serilly and Chico are endangered, shouldn’t you be concerned about maidens in peril!? Stop wasting your mana and hurting my eyes with your holy raves!”

“But… this is my battle!” Ragnus grits his teeth and grunts in frustration. “Guardian Angel!”

Just as Chico had summoned Leviathan, Ragnus called upon an archangel from the heavens. Descending from the clouds, wings more connected to the hair than the back, the angel is shrouded in a brilliant, white light and holds a small wand.

“So, Yog-Sothoth has finally shown himself.” The angel speaks, their voice completely ambiguous. Even trapped in a suit of armor and fused with Devil, they could see right through and recognize the vile god. “Tell me to deliver justice, child.”

Ragnus hesitates, looking at Devil and then Witch, then back again.

“Ragnus, don’t be foolish.” Schezo spits. “Choose wisely. Remember what a hero like you does, compared to a dark mage such as myself.”

…

Right. He had to let go, just as Schezo said. He is a hero, not a selfish dark mage that needs to conquer.

“Attack Yog-Sothoth, my guardian angel!”

With that, Ragnus makes a mad dash to shield Witch from Jaan, who didn’t stop pummeling her with enlarged fists that entire time. Attempts were made by Serilly to cut in, but she was swatted aside and Chico had become too shocked by the ongoing events as well as the sight of an angel.

“Exodus!”

Unlike Ragnus, the angel, firing a beam from their wand, manages to pierce the knight’s armor and expose Devil by dissolving the helmet with light. While Yog-Sothoth perhaps could handle the attacks of an angel, Devil quite literally could not.

“Now is my chance… Sword of Darkness… tear him to shreds! ” Schezo cries out, lunging forward as he now has an opening.

Chapter Text

The battle was won… sort of.

Schezo had done enough to deter Devil, causing him to escape with Yog-Sothoth after ditching the armor. Likewise, Ragnus dealt a pretty harsh blow to Jaan, knocking her out so Witch wouldn’t be at the djinn’s mercy any further.

Initially, Schezo was irritated that his white outfit had been ruined thanks to Witch and Jaan’s battle, but he was also relieved that everyone seemed to survive in the end. Serilly in particular, Schezo is glad he stepped in when he did.

Once everything calmed down and the magic tournament was called off by the man holding the competition, Witch, irritated, came out of the changing room, back to her original blue dress and hat.

“I really liked that white outfit too,” Witch mutters, holding the burnt and torn up rags.

“It was my outfit, thank you for ruining it. I’ll have to find a tailor at some point or fix it myself.” Schezo grumbles, taking the ruined clothes off her hands.

“You really do have a lot of nice outfits,” Serilly compliments, trying to lighten the mood in a socially awkward sort of way. “That young man, Ragnus is his name, right? Is he coming back?”

After all that had happened, Ragnus wanted to make sure Jaan would snap out of her brainwashing, same with Mamono for that matter, who had been resting after Fire Element was given the boot. Schezo and Witch had mainly been waiting patiently for his return.

“Um…”

Oh, right. Again, Schezo forgot Chico was also here.

“Thank you, for saving us. All three of you.” Chico says softly. “I’m sorry I assumed the worst of you, Schezo, yes? Serilly was right about you.”

“What?” Schezo blinks. “What are people saying about me this time?!”

“No, I mean!” Chico stammers. “I thought that if I fell at any point in this tournament, you would take my powers like you wanted to at the circus. But… you didn’t. You have a code of honor, even if it’s strange. Serilly believed in you, and I should have listened to her.”

He pauses, a bit stunned to hear something… rather flattering even if odd.

“Yes, I do have a code. I prefer taking things in duels on a neutral field. Your powers would make for excellent use in my arsenal, but now was not the time. Not when the Yogs had shown themselves.” Schezo explains.

“That thing… Yog-Sothoth,” Chico takes a deep breath. “I don’t even want to remember it. Poor Leviathan, his soul will return to his body eventually. I shouldn’t have summoned him.” She then averts her gaze. “But, what was that angel that came to aid you?”

“I don’t know myself,” Schezo answers.

Finally, Ragnus came back.

“I got answers.” Ragnus keeps his arms folded. “That Jaan girl, she was just too naive and optimistic for her own good, Devil took advantage of it when she asked him to be her partner in the tournament and brainwashed her for reasons I do not know. Mamono… I can’t understand him, but Jaan transcribed, saying he wanted to be more courageous, and was asked to breathe something in.”

Schezo tightens his fist. He couldn’t care less about Jaan, but Mamono? That big puffy bird demon was lacking confidence and Yog-Sothoth or Devil somehow manipulated him? 

That was just cruel and unusual, even for the great Schezo Wegey! He would not stand for it!

“I don’t know anything about Devil and neither do they, but the skeleton said he was Satan’s disciple. We have no choice but to confront him now on these matters.” Ragnus declares. “So, let's regroup with Arle and Rulue, then we can figure out what to do from there.”

Witch makes another noise, probably still bitter about Arle and the others ditching her in the dungeon. Serilly puffs her cheeks, looking determined. “I want to go with you and help!” She pleads. “Please, let me join you!”

“No!” Schezo objects. “Not that I believe you aren’t capable, I know for a fact you are. But we are fighting a god-like entity. Should the worst happen, people like you need to be here to protect people from the smoke Yoggus has been spreading around our world.” He’s firm, almost stern in his tone. “You are kind, while I am direct. I want you to use that to the best of your ability if it comes to it.”

“I… I see. In that case… I’ll be on the lookout for anything Yog-related. Smoke, pods, eggs, all of that.” She had gotten a vague explanation about it before Ragnus returned to the group. “Right, Chico? You’ll help too?”

“Of course!” Chico exclaims. “I’m going to return to the sanctuary and discuss it with my grandmother, I’m sure she already knows what’s happening!”

Witch, however…

“Well, I’m not so kind, and you’re all probably hopeless without me!” She says smugly, as if she didn’t just need rescuing from a brainwashed Jaan. “So I guess by process of elimination, I’m still tagging along for the full run!”

Really, at this point, Schezo would rather have Mamono as a companion. But he couldn’t argue, Witch was stubborn like that.

As they begin to leave the coliseum, someone taps Schezo on his shoulder, startling him. When he turns to face the individual who did it, he sees a man with lavender hair, tied into a ponytail.

“Pardon me, I can’t thank you enough for saving everyone even if the tournament ultimately had to be cancelled.”

Oh, the guy responsible for holding the competition. He’s holding out a tome of some sort.

“As token of gratitude—”

“A grimoire?” Witch happily snatches it from his hands. “We’ll take it! You’re very welcome! It isn’t every day people are saved by the beautiful sorceress, the pervy dark mage, and the bratty hero! Ohohoho!” She laughs obnoxiously. “Come on, let’s get going! I can’t wait to test this out!”

She could at least have some tact… the poor man is just standing there awkwardly, with Ragnus apologizing to him as they all leave.

Morning comes by the time they arrive back at Gold Town. Schezo and Ragnus barely get sleep, and Witch zones out on the way so Schezo is forced to carry her on piggyback.

Ragnus is alarmed when he hears from Rulue that Arle had been wounded and poisoned pretty severely. Since she’s not adept in magic at all, Rulue had bought medicine supplies from Nohoho during the evening and treated her, but worried it wasn’t enough. In response, Ragnus uses his Gaia Healing to aid them.

When Arle wakes up, it’s like nothing ever happened. She’s as perky as ever, and happy to know that Witch made it to her tournament in time. What no one was too thrilled to hear about though, was the sudden sabotage of the tournament by Devil.

“We have to confront Satan about it now, Rulue.” Schezo says.

“Indeed,” Ragnus adds. “He’s the one who knows this disciple of his better than anyone. He’ll have the answers. We know Devil is the culprit behind using Yog-Sothoth, but we don’t know why.”

Arle and Carbuncle nodded in understanding, then glanced over to Rulue, slightly worried. Rulue couldn’t argue against it as much as she wanted to. Minotauros, fully recovered, gave Rulue a look as well, sympathizing but also understanding that now wasn’t the time to be blinded by her pure love. Answers were needed.

Skeleton T had sent a reluctant Mummy back to the Dark Prince’s Castle where Nasu had also most likely returned after practicing for the concert, but by the way things were playing out, they would all be going there shortly.

“Alright, alright, let’s get schmoovin’ everybody!” Suketoudara declares.

“Can we at least have breakfast first?” Draco whines.

Was now a good time for Schezo to tell Suketoudara about how far Serilly has come?… Maybe it was best discussed on their walk there. Schezo is frankly tired of talking to Witch and Ragnus for the past five hours.

Coming up to the front gates of the Dark Prince’s Castle, Minotauros breaks the doors down, only for Rulue to immediately scold him for ruining Satan’s property. Despite all that, they proceeded, finding the castle to be flooded with more unknown monsters.

Suketoudara glances back at the notebook they fetched back in Gachinko Dungeon, trying to translate the notes for what they were seeing now.

“Wanna be a member?” The tall, slender man in a pale mask and yellow suit giggles. “Wanna be a member? Wanna see the sign?” He flaunts the brass crown upon his head.

What a creep… this must have been the Yellow King. Suketoudara just stands on the sidelines while Arle, Rulue, Schezo, and Ragnus take care of the main action. The other enemies accompanying the Yellow King were a creature made of wax and an animate potted plant.

Arle casting fire against the Wax Phantom led to disastrous results, as his face began to melt and he cried. “I won’t forgive you! I’ll turn you into a wax dummy too!” He then began flinging the hot, melted wax in Arle’s direction, much to her disgust.

Approaching the potted plant cautiously, Schezo looks down at it. The plant monster is rather cute, not having eyes but having a visible, curled smile upon sensing Schezo.

… That cuteness factor immediately goes away after snapping forward and trying to take a bite out of the dark mage, something Schezo narrowly evades.

“Feed me!” The plant sings happily.

After which, Schezo decapitated the plant monster known simply as Venus, according to the notebook.

“What a waste!” Witch cries out. “That plant surely would make for good potion ingredients… but on that note, Skeleton, did your friends seriously make it past all of these goons?”

Turning his attention away from Rulue kicking the Yellow King down, Skeleton T hums while sipping away at his green tea. “Of course. Mummy is the strongest person I know besides that fighting queen there and Satan himself. And Nasu is rather slippery, that monster there would have let him pass as a fellow plant, right?”

Draco scoffs and begins to chuckle. “I doubt those fools got far at all! They don’t play for keeps like we do, they probably crawled over to Satan for help!”

“You’re as noisy and immature as ever,” Skeleton T grumbles. “I should make you pay for the tea you evaporated that one time.”

Before long, the enemies were downed, and the party could once again move forward.

Chapter Text

After scaling the castle, the group of nine party members reach the top floor. This time, Minotauros does not break the doors down. It was Skeleton T who ended up politely knocking, but when he tried to knock for a third time, the doors automatically opened.

The Dark Prince’s throne room, where Satan himself lounges. On the left side stood Nasu Grave, while Mummy was on the right. He rises from his throne, and smiles.

“Ah, my dearest Arly and Carbunny! You’ve come to see me!”

Any charisma or intimidation factor was ruined within that very moment…

“Um, my dear Lord Satan? I’m here too,” Rulue points out.

Satan blinks, noticing an entire crowd, but chooses to hyperfocus his attention on Schezo. “Why is he here too?” Grumbling, he then spots Ragnus, and his expression changes from menacing, to happy, to annoyed, to concerned in just a matter of ten seconds. “Oh, I see. That’s what this is about.”

He never changes. Turning around, Satan begins pacing.

“I must apologize on behalf of my… younger distant cousin.”

“Eh? Cousin? Not just a disciple!?” Rulue exclaims. “Does that mean you have an uncle?”

“Er, in a sense. Cousins as much as demons can be— uncle? Uh… yes… of course. He’s the son of my dear aunt, Baphomet!”

It was easy to tell when this was one of Satan’s lies and ruses. Only Rulue seemed to believe it, bless her heart.

“You aunt, huh? So who's the uncle?” Arle asks, dripping with sarcasm. “Forget the stupid details, they aren’t important. Why is Devil doing any of this and why did that prompt you to use Nasu and Mummy as guinea pigs!?”

Satan clears his throat awkwardly. “It’s not any grand backstory reason. Devil began using Yog-Sothtoh so he could be stronger than me and get back at a mage who humiliated him long ago. About ten years ago or so, I had imprisoned him for his ‘pranks’, and he escaped to cause more trouble. Even went as far as to possess random school masters in sorcery, only to be thwarted by a young child. I’m not sure where they are now…”

“Beaten by a kid?” Arle hums. “That’s humiliating and all. I wonder who this person even was!”

Skeleton T and Suketoudara gave Arle a rather confused look.

“I sent him off to be tutored by the ones he took control of since he was the perfect age for it, but it seems he still hadn’t been properly disciplined… so this is his way of getting back at me.” Satan sighs. “Some characters just aren’t meant for deep motivations and commit crimes for petty reasons.”

That was true enough…

“As for me using the smoke on Nasu, Mummy, and Skeleton T, I wanted to learn more about the horrible invaders that Devil came into contact with. I myself am immune to the miasma due to my greater position of power… but others may not be, so I unfortunately did need to borrow them. I thank you for setting them straight. They ran off before I could fix them.”

“Huh?” Skeleton T snaps out of his tea-enjoying trance. “You were going to fix them the whole time? Oops, you made it sound like you wanted Devil brought back.”

“I did, but not while you were all hopping mad!” Satan shouts, startling the companions at his side. “Well, at least you seemed to be fine. In any case, I continued my research here rather than pursuing them, so I admit fault there. I just needed to know more before throwing myself into a situation I didn’t fully grasp.”

“What happened to the Yoggus pod you used on them, my lord?” Minotauros asks.

“Destroyed it immediately. Devil left it here with the full intention of turning the monsters here against me I’m sure, but I found it before anything could happen. Maybe it was good that I let Mummy and Nasu run around like that, make Devil assume I was gone and throw him off—”

“My home town got vandalized because of you!”

She still wasn’t over that. Satan was usually the type to spy on Arle, so he was definitely telling the truth given the widening of his eyes and his body flinching. Probably dived so deep into his studies that he didn’t even notice the sun set or rise.

“After a while, I realized what I was dealing with must have come from a different world, and that’s when I found the answer through pure deduction.”

He’s trying to act cool again. It never really works for Arle and Schezo, and Ragnus isn’t particularly wowed by the performance either.

“What was it?” Schezo presses him.

Again, trying to seem charismatic and cool, Satan holds his cape and twists it around, hiding his expression from the party. “Hmm, well, you see… I would prefer this to be a sort of ‘one-on-one’ discussion, I’m not sure if our hero of the hour can handle the truth.” Satan preemptively shoos Nasu and Mummy out of the throne room. 

“Hero? Oh, by that, you must mean Ragnus of course. He’s the only one who fits such a description!” Witch now seems to be mimicking Satan, trying to be a wannabe detective of sorts playing along with the mystery. “Ragnus. It’s up to you, is this a matter that you think should be private? Or should we all be here to listen to the truth that Satan has found?”

Ragnus thinks it over, even briefly summoning the archangel to decide, startling everyone except for Schezo, who had already witnessed them.

“Which should it be?” Ragnus consults them.

Taking out silver scales of the sort, the angel holds them overhead, letting it decide with a mere tilt that weighs down to the right side.

“For all to know the truth rather than to be concealed, it must be revealed to all. This is the path to righteousness and justice!” The angel declares, holding the scales high and swinging them around the party, only to be jabbed by Rulue. It seems not even holy entities could resist her short temper.

Recalling the guardian angel to save the irritation, Ragnus nods. “The archangel Raguel has spoken. Tell all of us the truth, not just me! If I need to know it, then surely it must be important to everyone here.” 

He says it with such conviction, Arle can’t help but be worried when she sees that Satan isn’t at all unhappy with the outcome, albeit he was definitely ruffled by the sight of an angel in his castle.

Letting go of his cape, Satan starts to fold his arms and close his eyes. Annoyingly smug, hard to determine if he was smirking very slightly or not.

“You are the reason Yog-Sothoth has invaded this world.”

What?

“No! Yog-Sothoth opened a portal to this world and I haven’t been able to return—!”

“Silence, fool,” Satan shuts Ragnus down. “You think you followed Yog-Sothoth to this world, but in actuality, he had baited you and latched onto your presence until he felt he was ready to start over. You didn’t notice anything peculiar about that curse you have? It wasn’t for no reason, Yog-Sothoth had taken a part of you!”

What was this nonsense!? Ragnus wants to shout and object to Satan’s absurd theory, but—

Schezo’s sword blocks Ragnus’ path.

“I do not want to give this idiot any ounce of credit, but…”

“Schezo!? You can’t really believe that nonsense!” Arle calls out.

Before Witch could chime in with a snarky comment, Schezo holds his hand up, trying to silence both apprentice mage girls. “Let me speak,” Schezo says, keeping his gaze fixated on Ragnus. “When I was fighting Devil, who had fused with Yog-Sothoth, Ragnus’ attacks weren’t doing anything to the duo, who were held together by… armor. My attacks could get through, as did the angel’s, but Ragnus proved to be feeble.”

“Feeble!?”

He didn’t apologize for his wording. “So, you’re saying if Yog-Sothoth took Ragnus’ power and mimicked it for defense purposes, and that’s why he turns into a mere child when he loses experience, yes?”

Satan chuckles. “Surprisingly deductive work coming from you, dark mage!” Didn’t even grace Schezo by saying his name. “That is exactly where I am getting at with this. And the fact that you mentioned the enemy was armored, immune to his holy magic? My theory holds more water than it did before!”

Internally, Schezo was probably cursing at himself for actually boosting Satan’s ego, but now wasn’t the time to really care about that.

“Hey, hey, hey! Hold on a second! You two are just makin’ up theory off of some evidence, but wouldn’t this kid’s guardian angel have realized something was off? Like a lurking presence? Call them back real quick!” Suketoudara suggests, being the twist sane man of the hour.

Reluctantly and complaining about being called a kid again, Ragnus does so, making Raguel visible to all.

“Well? Is any of it true?” Draco asks them, evidently having a decent amount of courage to ask an angel. “Did Yog-Something latch onto your friend and turn him into some kind of kid because he wanted the experience points?”

…

The white glow around the archangel Raguel fades, revealing their clothes and hair had in fact, consisted of dark colors the entire time.

“Hypocrite, I am. Indeed, I knew the truth of Yog taking the young master’s years of experience for a period of time, but I do not know for what reason.”

“What?!” Ragnus yelps. “You— No! I’m losing my power-up!” He immediately begins shrinking after, deeply hurt by this betrayal in a way that no attack could. One could say it was emotional damage. “Raguel! You are my guardian angel, blessed to aid me! How could you!?”

“S-sorry, you never asked me for guidance!”

It looked like the archangel was also affected by the curse, reverting into a ball of light that could not be described. It was like no one could grasp the true form of the archangel Raguel…

“So it’s all true? And this stupid angel chose to hide it all!?” Rulue seems increasingly frustrated, but then sighs. “Well, I’m so happy that you’re innocent in all of this, Satan. I was worried that I was beginning to doubt you, but I knew that if anyone could pull through, it would be you!”

Out of sympathy for Ragnus in his shocked state, Arle tries to change the subject. “This is nice, but it doesn’t help us now does it? How are we supposed to stop Yog-Sothoth? Much less Devil? Schezo and Ragnus have no clue where he flew off to!”

“That… I do not know.” Satan relents, lowering his head. “Retrace your steps maybe. What or where do you think Yog-Sothoth would view as a safe space to grow his power, undisturbed?”

Arle begins to think, putting a finger to her chin…

“Gu?” Carbuncle makes a little noise.

Right, it’s coming back.

One time, Arle met illusions of everyone she encountered. Nothing out of the ordinary for her, but the one who met her at the entrance was an illusion version of Ragnus… That place was made to increase one’s power and skill…

“The Trial Labyrinth.”

Chapter Text

The party rested at the Dark Prince’s Castle momentarily.

While Rulue had been gushing the entire time, Arle couldn’t help but notice how most of the party group had been keeping their distance from Ragnus. Arle would prefer to think it was because of the weird angel hiding everything and not because they blame Ragnus for Yog-Sothoth being here now.

If anything, it was clever of this evil god. Latch onto the hero trying to kill him and he won’t suspect a thing. Arle’s never heard anything crafty quite like it.

Suketoudara, Skeleton T, Draco, and Witch all seemed like they wanted to abandon the mission if Ragnus was going to stick around… but they also knew they couldn’t turn back now for various reasons.

For Suketoudara, he blames the archangel for hiding it and after Schezo told him everything, knows he couldn’t lose his friend Serilly to Yog-Sothoth or anyone else.

For Skeleton T, it was the pep talk Minotauros had given him last night. He was proving his worth and going forward for his friends. Even if they were fine now, if Yog-Sothoth continued, it wouldn’t stay that way.

For Draco, she knows she can’t be so selfish and blame someone who probably hates themselves more than anyone right now. More than ever, Ragnus may need to be cheered on.

And Witch… her life being saved when Jaan was attacking her, that needed to be repaid. 

Speaking of Witch, while the party was relaxing before their trip to the Trial Labyrinth, she decided to go snooping around, careful to avoid Rulue or Schezo’s sight given how suspicious she was. Witch began peering at various bookcases, examining each and every tome in Satan’s library.

“Didn’t you already win a new grimoire a while ago?” Draco asks with concern.

“Well, you should always loot the area before moving onto the next dungeon, you know?” Witch giggles. “We might find something valuable that can help us, we’ll just borrow it for a little bit… a-ha!”

She finds a book that sticks out in an awkward way, unlabeled on the spine. Skeleton T looks up from his self-held tea ceremony, slightly alarmed.

“Wait a second,” he stammers, “what are you doing?”

“Holding out on me just because you and your pals are cozy with Satan, are you, bones? There’s most definitely a secret passage here that’s hiding something!” Smiling and biting her tongue, Witch pulls the unlabeled book as far as she can until a clicking noise can be heard, forcing the bookcase to turn on its side and reveal a room hidden behind it.

It’s dark, only vague shapes can be seen. Witch tries to search for a light with her hands, but no luck. “Twinkle Dust!” She chants, flickering small stars in her hands that lit the surrounding area.

She quickly regretted doing that.

“What…? What the hex is this!?”

It was a storage room. Full of wedding ceremony props, tropical shirts, a ukulele, a Santa costume, various plushies and onesies of Carbuncle. Most strangely of all, was a miniature stage made of wood, with the words ‘Love Theater’ on a sign that hung over it. Strayed on top of the stage were smaller versions of Arle and Satan’s outfits, and a cap with Carbuncle’s ears.

To anyone, such a thing was confusing and mortifying. That was the reaction Witch, Draco, and Suketoudara had… but Skeleton T seemed unfazed, just mildly embarrassed.

“A-cha, see? You should have listened, I tried to warn you. This is where Lord Satan keeps all his past props.”

Suketoudara eyes the stage. “Does he have dance performances on this thing?” He asks, cautiously wondering if he had been missing out or if Satan had been practicing his steps.

“No, that’s for me, Mummy, and Nasu.” Skeleton T admits. “He has us act out scenarios involving his plots. Masked heroes, wedding attempts, summer tans, hot springs, all of those. We rehearse them and then he decides if it’s worth carrying out.” Skeleton T shrugs.

“That’s kind of creepy, don’t you think?” Draco questions, picking up the Carnuncle cap. “Though, maybe Nasu would look kind of cute with the Carbuncle ears. And I guess a geezer like you would look better with long green hair.”

“Oh! I just visualized it! A handsome tea-loving older brother! Is that what you used to look like, maybe?” Witch cannot help but laugh and go along with it.

“Um, Mummy is the one who wears the Satan costume, not me. That outfit is too hard for me to wear so… I’m usually playing the role of Arle.” Skeleton T points out.

Scoffing, Draco tosses the cap aside. “Never mind, now it’s creepy again. You ruined it. Can’t you find a better excuse to make out with Mummy that doesn’t involve roleplaying as another person for the sake of Satan’s entertainment?” Witch once again giggles at the commentary.

“Excuse to— what!?” Skeleton T stammers. “What is it with you young ladies assuming things between my friend and I!? Kids today, honestly! So obsessed with this topic!”

“Doesn’t Satan do exactly that despite being older than anyone else?” Suketoudara notes.

…

No rebuttal from the skeleton, who tries to ignore the question by gulping down tea. After that, Suketoudara finds some playing cards amidst Satan’s magician equipment and decides they should play ‘go fish’ to kill the time.

Standing at the balcony of his castle, Satan watches the sky. Seeing the growth of a violet miasma, he directs Ragnus to it. “There, the Trial Labyrinth, just as Arle predicted. That will be your next destination. Devil may be waiting for you.”

Ragnus can’t bring himself to say anything. Stuck in his child form, betrayed by his guardian, learning that he was the reason for bringing this world to doom…

Satan cannot help but pity him in this state. He didn’t like the boy, viewed him as a potential obstacle for Arle’s affection that should stay cursed forever, and Satan hated having competition for his darling Arly. Even if he wanted to surrender her, she still had Carbuncle at her side, and he wasn’t budging from her.

Maybe it was Ragnus’ current child-like state that made Satan’s ‘older brother’ instinct suddenly kick in, feeling bad for giving Ragnus such a brutal truth that could have potentially alienated him from the rest.

“This world… the World of Sorcery belongs to me.” Satan confesses, getting the hero’s full attention. “I had to recreate it after a great calamity, but some things were lost. So when I said Devil was my cousin, I admit, I was telling a half-truth.”

“That one was obvious,” Ragnus sighs. “But why?”

“I suppose… to give a piece of me a childhood that had long been robbed in the previous world. See how it would play out. Devil is a part of me that I created, and he is around the same age as Arle. I wondered what would happen if they met. Would they fight? Would they fall in love? Become friends?”

He pauses.

“I didn’t expect a part of me to be so rebellious, but then I remembered my own arrogance, my sense of entitlement, I suppose it was only fitting and I shouldn’t have punished him for something he couldn’t help.” Satan sighs. “So, when I said Devil had no reason… while in his point of view, he’s being a bully as always, I was technically lying about there not being a deeper reason for his antics.”

“What… were the differences between the new world and the old one?” Ragnus asks.

“Some I had to leave behind. In particular, I refused to bring back the evil vampire Count who kidnapped Rulue and my precious Carbunny, as well as tormenting Arly and Schezo. That level of cruelty wasn’t going to be forgiven. For your sake during the last time you were here, I made sure Runelord could never return.”

!!!

“Ru—… how do you…!?”

“Eldora sent you here after Raguel received a prayer from the people of Rana, and since then, they have accompanied you as your guardian angel.” Satan recalls it so vividly. “You never questioned it? Eldora and I share similar roles as protectors for this world. She brought the Puyo to us since they were being abused in Gaiearth.”

“Then… it’s true that Schezo…?”

“Is the successor to Runelord, yes. Do not worry, he is much more rational than his predecessor and his heart is not completely blackened. He once defeated a dark mage far worse than him, and I made the wise decision to also not bring him to this new world. Can’t have him destroying all I fixed.” Satan shrugs, trying to laugh it off. “The only fiend I actually humored bringing back was that rotten, festering magician, but I made sure to nerf him so he wouldn’t traumatize my dear Arly with horrible images!… Devil was a free game though for the trouble he caused.”

Out of everything, that sounds like it would make good motivation to team up with Yog-Sothoth and take over the world…

“I vaguely recall meeting Raguel in another world, but I didn’t know it was here. I was only fifteen years old when I had sealed Runelord.” Ragnus mumbles. “So everything about me and Yog-Sothoth wasn’t just a hunch, was it? You already knew, since you are to this world, what Eldora is to Gaiearth?”

Satan nods, holding out his left hand which was closed.

“Give me your hands.”

Ragnus, much shorter than Satan from the curse, cautiously holds his hands out. A pendant with a blue gemstone falls to his palms.

“This is the Azorcrack. Think of it as a counterpart to the Rubelcrack in Carbunny’s cute little head!” Satan smiles. “There are three gems. The Rubelcrack contains great power, while the Azorcrack allows one to travel between space and time. I don’t have it on me, but the Beljicrack apparently grants immortality and immunity.”

Ragnus holds the pendant to his chest.

“You’re saying, with this, I can travel back to Gaiearth without Yog-Sothoth’s manipulation or Eldora’s aid?” Ragnus asks.

“Indeed. In fact, you can travel between the two at will. I know you’ve had a hard time holding a job and paying for rent just to keep a home around these parts.” Satan teases, much to Ragnus’ humiliation. “Is there anything else you want to know?”

Ragnus pockets the pendant for now. “Yes, actually. Those monsters we encountered while coming up here. Even I do not recognize them from Gaiearth, outside of a few who were summoned by Yog-Sothoth. They are completely new to me. Where exactly did they come from?”

This makes Satan pause, not out of any hesitation so much as even he seemed to be having a hard time figuring that one out.

“I’m not sure. Yog-Sothoth invaded Gaiearth on your end, did he not? They must be allies of his… if you find out where Yog-Sothoth planted himself before your world, maybe the answer lies there.”

With that, Ragnus turns his back on Satan.

“You really are the former leader of the angels… thank you.”

Satan winces at the mention of it, hearing Ragnus’ clink-and-clank away with his armored boots. He tells himself that at some point, he should wipe Ragnus' memory of their entire conversation.

Chapter Text

In the end, even with Satan’s encouragement, Ragnus planned to leave the Dark Prince’s Castle for Trial Labyrinth on his own. However, something was missing, something important, and Ragnus couldn’t recall what exactly.

… Oh, right. When he called upon his guardian angel, he didn’t make them return during the discussion. That meant they were still visible to the others, wandering the castle. Hopefully Raguel wasn’t bothering anyone.

Ragnus sees a bright light peeking from a door and assumes that is where the guardian angel went. Someone is talking to them, so he leans in close to the door, making sure the noise of his armor doesn’t give him away.

“Why didn’t you say anything to him?” Of all people, it was Minotauros speaking to Raguel directly. Very brave of him to do so.

“I wasn’t asked—”

“No, it is your duty as his trusted companion, is it not? You should never keep secrets from him!” Minotauros huffs.

“Gu!”

Carbuncle chimes in, having been sitting there on top of a bed the entire time. A rare instance of him not being around Arle, perhaps he and Minotauros are on friendly enough terms to be by themselves. That or he got hungry and wandered off as he usually would. Either way, it sounded like he was agreeing.

“I am his summon, his guardian, I am not an individual. I am simply something he calls upon in hours of need. Just as people had called me to aid him before, I listen to those who pray for me and answer accordingly. I could not seal a horrible warlock without him, and as such… I am best suited to deliver justice and nothing more.”

Minotauros freezes as Raguel’s words trail off. Ragnus himself had no idea that his guardian angel felt that way for this long. And for Minotauros, Ragnus is certain that it must feel like he’s looking into a mirror, someone who views himself only worthy of serving another.

“Do not say that,” Minotauros says to them. “You have value as an individual I’m sure, as your own person, not just someone who responds to the prayers of others.”

The way Minotauros talks about the subject… it almost seems like he’s trying to tell himself that, not just the archangel.

“If you trust the hero so much with everything, then you should have no issue opening up rather than seeing yourself as an object.”

After a momentary pause for consideration, the archangel’s light disappears. Not because they were finished with the conversation, but because Ragnus recalled them and thought it was best for them to be isolated for a while.

Just as carefully as he approached the door, Ragnus quietly and stealthily makes his distance before running downstairs and out of the castle…

When Arle searched the castle halls to find Ragnus in hopes of comforting him, he couldn’t be located anywhere. She wonders if it’s a case of passing him at each moment and not seeing it, but Nasu confirms that he saw the young hero leaving the castle.

Did he leave for the Trial Labyrinth on his own?

Arle tells Rulue and Schezo about it, but they don’t seem to particularly care that much. Perhaps in Rulue’s eyes, Satan’s name had been completely cleared and he was telling the truth, so there was no need to pursue this further, and Schezo might partly be blaming Ragnus for the invasion of Yog-Sothoth.

Minotauros is eager to go, even without Rulue, much to Arle’s surprise. Even Rulue is put off by her servant wanting to join Arle’s search for Ragnus, and when asked why, he answers that it has something to do with the guardian angel.

After he said that, Rulue supported him and decided to come along. It wasn’t very often she witnessed Minotauros make such a decision for himself. Reluctantly, Schezo caved as well as much as he partly didn’t want to, if only because Rulue began threatening to clobber him if he didn’t.

Relieved by the turnaround, Arle decides to not tell the rest of the party that they’re leaving. Since Ragnus most likely made a beeline for the Trial Labyrinth, that’s where they decided to go, with Arle remembering exactly where it was, just a bit south from the Dark Prince’s castle.

There’s no dirt path like there was for just about any other town or dungeon, it’s intentionally off the path, so to speak, one would have to keep their eye out for it. It only opened up with the Goddess Sign, a rune that had the Goddess of Spacetime imprinted on it. Since Arle had opened it the first time, she’s certain that just about anyone can access it now.

But of course, there was that awful smoke coming from just above the labyrinth. It was just as she thought, Yog-Sothoth made it his home base. But also…

“Last time I was here, I had to fight illusions of people I knew. Dunno if that will happen again, so just a heads up.” Arle tells the group.

Schezo lifts two fingers with his left hand and then tilts the Sword of Darkness with his right. “The cause of these illusions is not within the ruins itself, I sense it. It is a potent magic user responsible for them.” He turns his head. “Whoever you are, you may come out!”

For some reason, Arle braces herself for the worst and she doesn’t even know or remember why. A portal tears open and Mamono comes tumbling out.

“Gobehhhh!”

“Ah, it is Mr. Birdy again,” Schezo greets him. “Am I to assume these are your nesting grounds? Pardon us for disturbing it.”

Mamono proceeds to make more growls and chirps, twitching his talon-like fingers, pacing back and forth nervously. Minotauros is thankfully able to translate on his behalf. 

“Devil used him while he was brainwashed and took his nest as a breeding ground for Yog-Sothoth’s pods. He cannot create any illusions, much less enter his home.” Minotauros confirms. “Another intruder did enter while he wasn’t looking, I wonder who it was?”

Huh, so the illusions Arle faced in the Trial Labyrinth last time were all creations of Mamono? Kind of interesting for a demon who constantly insists he isn’t the final boss, but it also feels rather familiar. Maybe it had something to do with Arle’s odd anticipation.

“Ah, so he took advantage of your desire for courage as a means of creating a base? Just as horrible as I imagined! Fret not, Mr. Birdy, we shall return your nest to you and slice the intruders in two!” Schezo declares, reaching over to pet Mamono’s fluffy head.

“You’re being extra weird today, creeper.” Arle giggles, watching Rulue and Minotauros press forward, entering the labyrinth. 

Schezo waits for Mamono to disappear from where he came. “Well, at least I’m being as polite as I can to an adorable demon. You’re so immature that you got your leg injured in your haste, I heard.” 

He scoffs and follows them, but not before Arle snaps, grabbing hold of his cape.

“Okay, I’ve had enough. What’s with you calling me a brat, immature, and a child recently!? I’m sixteen! You’re not much older than me!” Arle shouts, Carbuncle pouting with her.

“It took you this long to notice? I’m giving you a taste of your own medicine.” Schezo chuckles. “You keep calling me a pervert, a creeper, a weirdo— so in turn, I resort to name-calling as well, see how you like it for a change.” He pulls his cape out of her hands. “If you stop calling me a pervert for the rest of this adventure, I shall cease.”

“Ugh, this is so annoying!” Arle grumbles. “Fine… I’ll do it.”

She normally tried to not think of Schezo’s feelings, but she had to admit, it wasn’t fun being called names so much lately. A pretty effective method that he conjured up. Given the serious situation at hand, it was for the better that she laid off on the jabs at him for a little while maybe.

Now then… Mamono said something about an intruder besides Devil and Yog-Sothoth, right? There were no illusions this time, just the unusual monsters from that notebook. Suketoudara wasn’t here with them, Arle already regrets not bringing the book with her, but she wouldn’t even be able to read too well if it were here.

From memory, Arle tries her best to recount the unknown creatures in front of her. One is either a man or a woman dressed in a striped sweater, a hockey mask covering their face and a bowler hat. But the most notable aspect were their gloves, customized to have knife-like claws. 

This must have been the Ripper, an individual responsible for killings that were never solved in another world. The costume looks like something that Wraith once wore in an attempt to scare Arle. Nothing Rulue and Minotauros couldn’t overpower.

The second enemy was a humanoid individual, gender also unclear, covered in various robes while holding a straw doll. “Stay away from the summoner!” They declare, making their identity known. “I’ll put a curse on you! Rise, my minion!”

A pale corpse emerges, so featureless that it almost doesn’t resemble anything like Zombie or Mini Zombie. Its only use is to be a meat shield for the Summoner, and it’s equally vulnerable to fire as any other zombie.

Finally, there was a new foe that had a drawing listed, but the name hadn’t been told to Arle and Rulue. It appeared to be a mere shroud of red smoke wearing a masquerade mask.

“Um, pardon me for asking,” Arle mutters to the living miasma. “But what is your name?”

It takes a polite bow, suddenly forming a pair of animated white gloves for hands.

“My apologies, dear miss. I am the Red Plague. Would you care to dance?”

“Ah, that’s very— hey! Wait! No way! I don’t want you touching me at all if you’re some kind of disease!” Arle shouts, faintly hearing another chuckle from Schezo. “Ice Storm!”

After clearing out the enemy fodder, they push further into the labyrinth. They do eventually find Ragnus, passed out on the ground, totally defeated. 

“Ragnus!?” Arle gasps.

But the strange part is the one who befell the hero, standing over him.

“Ya-hoo! I mean, yay! I did it!” A man in a blue skirt wearing a paper bag over his head holds a peace sign. “I just need to grind for the next three hours, then I will be ready to face the final boss!”

Oh no.

Not him. Anyone but him.

Chapter Text

“Why did it have to be this guy? And how the heck did he beat Ragnus?”

Arle holds her head in frustration, the man wearing the paper bag and cosplay glances over to her.

“Ah, you’re here!? You’re too late, meheheh! I’m the hero of this story instead of you or this random kid!” The man, only known to others as Choppun, suddenly begins flexing his arms. “That’s right, I’ve evolved past just merely cosplaying as you, I have now replaced you as the protagonist, Arle Nadja!” He then takes a fighting stance, letting out some battle cries. “Once I defeat Devil and Yog all by myself, I’ll be on the front of every new game and book!”

“What are you even talking about!? You’re really ticking me off! Who the heck made you a late-game boss!?” Arle yells. It was tempting for her to point out how he couldn’t even use magic, but that would have been extremely rude considering Rulue and Minotauros couldn’t either.

Schezo, baffled by the situation, gently taps Arle on her shoulder. “Is this your brother or something?” He asks. “In any case, I do sense the influence of Yog-Sothoth’s smoke has gotten to him. He may be wearing glasses and a paper bag, but nothing can conceal his aggression.”

She tries to calm down, but just becomes more frustrated at Schezo’s confusion. “He’s not my brother, he’s just a stalker! Worse than Satan because at least Satan doesn’t follow me to my house every month!” Arle stomps her feet. “Even if he isn’t brainwashed, I would have zapped him anyway!”

“Are we doing this for Ragnus, or…?” Minotauros seems lost.

Before anyone can even start, Arle performs a preemptive strike, angrily casting Thunder on Choppun, shocking him to his core.

“Gah! You’ve been the heroine of this stale story that doesn’t age long enough!” Choppun shakes off the electricity, then rubs his palms together to create sparks of his own. “I’ll show you I’m now just as capable as you, so-called prodigy mage! I’ve combined my Bajiquan techniques with magic!”

“That’s impossible!” Rulue retorts, taking a fighting stance of her own.

“Oh yeah? Try this on for size! Extending Lightning!” He extends his arm, short and quickly, dealing electric-elemental damage as he jabs Arle’s abdomen, paying her back for the earlier shock.

Schezo keeps his eye on the opponent, increasingly fascinated by the display. “I have to wonder to myself how you’re doing this, as you are most certainly not a mage. I shall finish you quickly to find the answer!”

Been a while since Schezo’s words failed him, Arle curses the fact that her gut is in so much pain from the jab, as well as agreeing to not calling Schezo a pervert until the journey ended. Even then, Choppun didn’t even seem scared or freaked out, quite the opposite. Ew!

Rulue finds herself counter-played, her Rock Punch is blocked by Choppun crossing his arms in front of himself. It seemed her regular martial arts would do no good against someone who also practiced techniques. Minotauros could break through, since there was no way a normal person could just block an axe.

“Lwark Void!” Schezo calls, decreasing Choppun’s defenses with dark magic, hoping that would help Rulue get a hit in.

“You’re trying to make me go soft!?” Choppun barks. “I’ll get you for that one! Explosive Thrust!”

Oh great, they were both bad with their words! Though with Choppun, for all Arle knew, it was on-purpose! He performs multiple jabs on Schezo, each dealing fiery explosions that impact the dark mage’s limbs. Being a squishy mage compensating with big pauldrons, Schezo embarrassingly keeled over.

This was going to take a while. Compared to other foes, Choppun really did seem focused, not someone that could be meddled by the scenery like Scylla or Owlbear…

“They seriously left without us? Those jerks!” 

Draco groans, searching the area outside of the castle totally airborne along with Witch. “I can’t see them anywhere. Where the heck would this Trial Labyrinth place be? Should we go back and ask Satan for directions?” She lands back on the ground, looking at Skeleton T who was sitting on his knee pillow and drinking tea as he normally would. “Hey! Did you even hear me?”

“No need to yell. Lord Satan knows just about everything that lies in this land.” Skeleton T puts his cup down. “I’m sure he knows where the Trial Labyrinth is, but even if he gave us a map, I don’t think we would be as good at following directions. The whole reason Arle mixed up two towns was because she lacked a directional stone.”

“Surely Satan’s got one of those too, right?” Suketoudara adds. “Anyway, if I had to assume why they left a whole school of us behind, they probably realized that Ragnus kiddo left and tailed after him. Bet he thinks he’s responsible for this mess and needs to solve it himself, poor guy.”

Witch flies back down next, pouting. “I think this is just an excuse for Arle to get ahead of me. I’m not letting it happen. Forget the Trial Labyrinth!”

Everyone gives her a surprised glance.

“Are you seriously being so narrow-minded right now!? This isn’t about your dumb rivalry in magic, this concerns the world!” Draco roars.

“Yes, I know, but hush and hear me out! People who rush ahead into the final boss are usually prone to falling. We currently have the advantage of partaking in side quests. You know, looking for hidden items or rare encounters. Most people are encouraged the backtrack!” Witch giggles. “Do you see what I’m getting at?”

Suketoudara promptly folds his arms. “And who made you the leader who decides what we do? Arle and Rulue have been guiding us the whole time, it’s just the four of us now.”

It’s so expected of Witch to appoint herself as the leader, but instead, she smirks and points her broomstick at Draco. “Why, it’s her of course! Someone who has gone on their own adventures before!”

Suketoudara and Skeleton T blink in unison.

“Huh? Wait—” Draco stammers.

“I have to be pushed around by the youth who ruined my tea ceremony once?” Skeleton T sighs. “Alright, fine. Miss Centauros, what do you suggest we do? Ask Satan for help with the Trial Labyrinth? Or something else like a side quest?”

Biting her lip with her fangs, Draco pauses, thinking…

“Well, upon taking your sass into deep consideration,” Draco snaps her fingers then points at the skeleton, “we should follow Witch’s suggestion so you aren’t so weak and pathetic, old man! Maybe train you so you can actually rotate! Gaaao!”

“Ack-a!?” Skeleton T spits out some of the green tea he drank, choking. “Says the girl who takes forever to drop her Puyo! You could use an upgrade yourself! You call yourself a beauty queen!?”

Witch ends up being unable to contain her laughter, letting out a loud ‘ohohoho’ at the two bickering.

“Guys, please don’t argue, c’mon!” Suketoudara scolds them both. “If we wanna make a good enough show for the finale, we’ll do it, we’ll side quest or whatever! But are we sure we don’t need anything from Satan?”

“Oh, I already looted everything.” Witch giggles. “I even snagged Satan’s diary!” She opens the book, only to be puzzled by various hieroglyphs present instead of words. “Never mind, I grabbed Mummy’s diary by mistake. Or maybe it’s a book of curses?”

“Put it back!” Skeleton T shouts.

They were running low on fuel.

Schezo had already been downed by this point, unable to keep up with Choppun’s power strikes. Minotauros thought he had him on the run, but then Choppun used a breathing technique to focus and heal himself, much like Rulue’s Qigong practice.

Minotauros had the most health and bulk out of everyone, but he was slow, so Choppun knew that if the others got taken out he would be rather helpless. Carbuncle wasn’t much help, lazing around at this time rather than aiding with a laser attack. He really was sporadic and random.

Rulue was downed, much to Minotauros’ fury. A perk that he had is that Rulue fainting meant his attack power would increase to make up for the loss, but…

Still, Arle was running low on magic, debating if she should use her mana to resurrect someone or just deal a final blow to end things.

“Sinking Avalanche!” Choppun jabs Minotauros in the stomach, nearly caving the spot below his ribs. The chill of ice magic deals damage to Minotauros’ hips and back, throwing out his sore spots.

That tears it. Arle wouldn’t take much more of this. She internally apologized for being uncharacteristically selfish, but Choppun was pissing her off too much!

“Heaven Ray!” Arle screams.

A magic sigil appears from under Choppun’s feet, shooting a vertical, powerful beam of light through his body. When it fades, his clothes and paper bag appear tattered, his glasses ready to snap off.

“Anything you can do… I can do better!” He huffs. “Hurry up and die! Holy Cross!”

Arle braces herself—

But Choppun’s glasses snap off. Not only does he have more trouble seeing his target but he trips on the thick prescription glasses as he readies his final strike, falling flat on his face.

“Ouchie-ouch…”

…

No, that was a fitting end to it. Taking a deep breath, Arle wasn’t gonna say anything. 

The big priority now was to heal everyone with what supplies were left, Ragnus included. She pities the fact that Rulue and Schezo will now have to live with knowing Choppun beat them down, but in an act of sympathy due to who Choppun was, Arle wasn’t gonna tease them for it.

But how did he learn to use magic? Or rather, was he using some sort of amplifier for his martial arts? Arle didn’t want to touch him, so the answer would have to remain unknown. There were more important things to care about. Someone could investigate that creep later.

Chapter Text

Draco comes back to where the beauty contest had been held yesterday, and is shocked to see Scylla, fully recovered, scoping out the shorelines. In her hands is a peculiar briefcase that had a certain company logo on it. Definitely not run of the mill lost luggage, that had to be something important.

“Scylla! You better not be stealing again!” Draco yells.

Her ears twitching and hairs standing on their back end, Scylla spins around. “You again!” She whines. “I was being good, I swear! I was just going to return this, honest!” Scylla keeps her tail low, giving perfect puppy dog eyes as she whimpers.

Folding her arms, Draco gives an unimpressed look. “Uh huh, sure. Where were you going to take it?”

“Um… you know, uh…”

“If you were wise, you would have just taken off with it instead of dawdling for a fake answer!” Witch snickers, snatching the briefcase away from Scylla before she can do anything else. “General deduction tells me that a traveling businessman staying at the hotel would be carrying something like this. We’ll search for the owner from here, thank you!”

Flustered, Scylla barks pathetically. “No way! I should do it—!”

“Scylla! Sit, stay!” Draco commands. “You dunno who this belongs to, and it could lead to a trap related to the Yogs!”

Surrendering, Scylla sits, lowers her head. “Yogs? That sounds familiar… I think a young man planted something like that in my hot springs saying it would make me more beautiful.”

“Yeah, uh, that dude tricked you. You took the bait, hook line and sinker.” Suketoudara explains. “We didn’t get a chance to tell you that you got brainwashed and started acting out during the beauty contest. Needless to say, you lost because of it.”

Her jaw drops, guilt-ridden.

“Suketoudara! You didn’t need to tell her that!” Draco snaps. “You just could have left it at the Yogs being used when Witch and I were kidnapped, you barnacle-head!” She turns to the half-dog woman. “Scylla, don’t take it personally, I didn’t win either! You were just brainwashed, so I tried to help you snap out of it, and we were both disqualified… we can challenge one another to see who is the most beautiful another year!”

Scylla’s tail starts wagging again, perking up. “Really?” She stammers.

“Of course!” Draco digs through her dress pocket. “Here, have a treat for letting us handle the goods and return them! I know you love sweets the most!” Holding a Puyo manju snack, Draco frees it from the wrapper then tosses it.

Scylla catches it in her mouth perfectly and begins doing zoomies across the beach. “Geez, how come you’re so forgiving about the whole thing? I thought you two were rivals.” Suketoudara asks.

“I have nothing but respect for my rivals! Laughing at them when their misfortune like Witch does would be in poor taste!” Draco explains, Witch responds by sticking her tongue out.

They all hurry over to the hotel, hoping that whoever owns the briefcase is still here and hasn't checked out yet. It doesn’t take long to make their way over there, but…

“Why would someone leave an important business briefcase by the shore anyway?” Skeleton T wonders aloud. “Did a traveling salesman come here by boat? There don’t appear to be any docks.”

“It’s a popular spot for vacation and fishing, but not boats.” Draco admits.

“Hmmm… call me suspicious, or maybe the youths are just careless, but I don’t think any businessman would leave a crucial briefcase so close to the waters. Even if they were simply lounging around.” He begins to chuckle. “Maybe it has someone’s skeletal remains that the killer tried to throw into the sea hoping they would sink!”

“That’s needlessly morbid, someone seriously not better be tainting the ocean waters like that!” Suketoudara swallows down his anxiety over the thought.

They got back into the hotel, Kikimora sweeping the lobby as she always does, probably trying to get the sand from tourists out of there. Since the desk receptionist wasn’t there, Draco figured asking her was the next best thing.

“Excuse me, do you happen to know the owner of this briefcase?” Draco asks, holding it up to properly show off the company logo. “We want to return it to the rightful owner.”

“Oh! Yes, I recognize that!” Kikimora replies with a smile. “He’s staying in room twenty-three. We don’t know why, but the businessman staying here insisted upon that number and no others.”

Twenty-three? Normally there were superstitions about the number thirteen, but Draco wasn’t sure what the significance of twenty-three was. Regardless, the party takes the elevator to the third floor. The hotel rooms were laid out in a certain numerical order, so one through nine was on the ground level, while ten through nineteen were on the second floor.

“One, two… there it is, twenty-three!” Suketoudara points at the room door. He preemptively knocks before Draco can give the say-so, not giving it much thought.

“Yes, come in. The door is unlocked.”

Wow, that was a bit unexpected. None of them stated their purpose and yet whoever was there was letting them in. Curious, Witch doesn’t hesitate barging in, with Draco tailing her holding the briefcase so it didn’t look like she was randomly intruding.

Inside the rather luxurious room covered in gaudy gold paint, at least compared to the plaster paneled one that Draco had the others stay in, was a large man in a suit. He’s on an old rotary phone, talking to someone, his back and wings facing his guests.

“Yes, I understand, grandfather. The takeover plan is already in the initiative… Yes, I hear you. Yes, Goodbye Yog. Take care now.” 

He finally hangs up the phone, and turns to face the group. Not a human at all man, but rather some sort of sea creature resembling an octopus, the backside of his head resembling an ammonite. He had tendrils going down his face like a beard. He wears thin, angular glasses over his red eyes and notably has a sort of gold-colored flesh that makes him blend in with the walls slightly.

“Oh, apologies. I thought you were room service. Can I help you?”

The party freezes.

“Uh, pardon us for being nosy but… Yog? As in Yog-Sothoth? Grandfather?” Witch points out. “Are you the invading monster’s grandson!?”

“Hm? Why yes, I am.” He politely bows. “My name is Cthulhu. I come from the city named R’yleh. I must say, the air here is much cleaner in comparison—”

“We aren’t going to let you or your grandfather take over our world!” Draco shouts, putting the briefcase aside. “We’ll challenge you right here!”

He pauses, putting the phone back on its base. “To a Puyo battle, or a beauty contest?” Cthulhu asks. Hard to tell if he was being genuinely inquisitive or mocking them. “If neither of those, I must warn you that I am quite strong.”

That last one definitely sounded serious… but they all stood their ground. Draco and Suketoudara both get into fighting positions while Skeleton T stretches his bones. Witch responds to the threat with a cocky smile, holding her broom like a shotgun.

“I see… then!”

Cthulhu opens his wings. He doesn’t remove his suit or glasses or anything, he was just going to fight like this.

“As much as I hate to ruin my business suit, you leave me no choice! Come! I’ll let you take the initiative!”

“Don’t mind if I do!” Witch giggles. “Black Hole!”

Cthulhu winces as a black hole surrounds him, decreases his defenses, his power being sucked into the void.

“Speedy Dancin’!”

“Job’s Tears Tea!”

Suketoudara buffs everyone’s speed and Skeleton T shares some tea with the party, hoping to increase their own defenses.

“Draco Wink! Gao!”

Then finally, Draco uses her charm to reduce the opponent’s strength. Was this all overkill for the first turn when they should focus on attacking? Perhaps, but it’s always good to set up since Cthulhu graced them with a chance.

“Hmph! Essokinesis!”

Reality begins to slightly warp around the group of four, the walls melting. The Speed of all party members and foes was inverted, with Cthulhu and Skeleton T now being faster than the other three.

“Oneirokinesis!” He takes advantage of this, putting Witch to sleep and trapping her in a nightmare.

“Aaagh, shoot! He conned us from the start!” Draco cries. “Geezer, do something to wake her up! You’re up first now!”

Skeleton T looks at his kettle for a second…

“No, not like that! Don’t even think of that!” Draco scolds. “Don’t you have something caffeinated!?”

“Oh, that? Easy. Gyokuro! It heals all!” He pours a cup, but since Witch is sleeping, he doesn’t have much choice other than force her to drink by tilting her head back.

“I lov… owch! Stop that! It’s hot!” Witch shoves the skeleton away and begins fanning her tongue repeatedly.

“Dynasonic!” Draco flies in the air, then slams her fist down, causing the whole building to shake. Given Cthulhu’s size, he ends up toppling over on his back.

“Dance Fever!” Suketoudara chants, performing a flurry of punches and kicks to the fallen Cthulhu, even going as far as to jump on top of the deity and dance on his body.

No longer fanning herself from the scalding hot tea, Witch aims her broomstick at Cthulhu. “Tachyon!” She fires a speedy beam of light that cannot be avoided, even as Cthulhu tries to get up and move out of the way.

“Impressive,” he comments. “Telekinesis!” With his great unknown power, Cthulhu levitates himself off of the ground, back in flight. He then also takes hold of all four party members, repeatedly slamming them into the ground a few times with psychic powers.

After the rather intense battering, Skeleton T tries to heal the whole party with regular green tea. “Draco Special!” Draco cries, flying up to his level and unleashing multiple kicks and punches, finished by using her nails to try and scratch Cthulhu’s eyes out, or at least his eyewear.

“Synchronized! Oh yeah!” Suketoudara leaps into the air, grabbing hold of Witch and using her as a dance partner, something she wasn’t too thrilled about as her turn was used up in the process of them leaping and performing a diving kick on Cthulhu.

“You idiot!” Witch whines. “Fine, I guess I get to save some of my mana for a real showstopper on this creep.”

Hearing the rotary phone in the back, Cthulhu drops himself back on the ground. “Excuse me just a second.” He holds up a finger, reaching for the rotary phone, only for another phone, a cellular, to go off in his pocket that he needs to fish out.

Answering the rotary first, and then the cellular, Cthulhu tries to manage both. 

“Yes?… Yes. Of course.”

He then holds up both the rotary and the cellular up in front of him.

“It’s for you!”

Words spoken in an unknown language come pouring out of the phone. High-pitched shrieking that would put the Banshee Trio to shame, a total garbled mess that while hard to comprehend, left the party in intense distress!

Well, more effective on Witch and Draco than the other two who didn’t have ears. It’s actually so effective on Witch that she’s on her last leg already, despite just being healed and having her defenses buffed. The other three weren’t doing so great either, but they weren’t fragile mages. Suketoudara had more than enough bulk on his body to go a bit further before needing to heal again.

“I’m a bit low I’m afraid, would you settle for pickled scallions to recover while I uh… spice up my own tea?”

That was certainly a way for Skeleton T to say that he was mixing it with Momomo Sake.

“If you can’t take it and end up passing out, I’ll try to resurrect you.”

“That isn’t reassuring, you bone head!” Witch whines, watching Skeleton T create a cocktail that would normally be a disgrace to Japanese tea in his case. He guzzles it down with intense regret, no doubt he isn’t a fan of alcohol at all.

Draco doesn’t do anything this turn, she simply inhales, charging a fire breath attack. Suketoudara spins around, surrounding himself with bubbles. “Ripple Turn!” A barrier surrounds him and only him, anticipating something soon and wanting to stay alive for whatever Cthulhu would do.

Rather than healing herself as suggested, Witch goes for it.

“Big Bang!”

A supernova explodes on Cthulhu. He’s blinded and it deals considerable damage, but he’s still standing.

“Aerokinesis!” Cthulhu chants, opening and fanning his wings.

Various papers and furniture in the room go flying from the sudden hurricane-level wind storm. Witch, in her hubris, is knocked out— or rather, flung around with everything else. Skeleton T doesn’t fare much better, on his last limb, quite literally as every limb except his left leg is blown off. The bubble shield that Suketoudara had set up is also pitifully blown away.

Draco is wavering, but still standing. She finally exhales after charging enough, just in time as Skeleton T healed the party once again.

“Great Inferno!”

The octopus man is fried by this. It smelled pretty good actually, made Draco hanker for takoyaki or something when they were done. He shakes the burn off shortly after.

Trying to conserve his mana, Suketoudara just walks up to Cthulhu and stomps on his foot. “Steppin’!” He shouts, as if calling his extremely simple attack.

“I’ve had enough of these silly games! Burnt to a crisp and stepped on? You dare disgrace me, one of the Great Old Ones!? No more!” His tentacles writhe, stretching out like an extra set of arms. “This shall finish you! Hydrokinesis!”

He douses them. All of them with water, practically suffocating all of them in water.

Draco and Skeleton T can’t keep up, but…

“Uh, was that supposed to do something?” 

Suketoudara remains still, breathing perfectly fine in his aquatic prison.

…

“Did you seriously not know that a fish monster wouldn’t wipe out from something like that? I mean, aren’t you an octopus guy yourself? I’ve been avoiding any of my water-based attacks on ya because I figured you’d just suck it all up like a sponge.” Suketoudara explains.

“Regrettably… I may have forgotten.”

“Alright, gotcha.” Suketoudara backs up before charging. “Finish!”

Leaping forward, he poses just perfectly, jabbing Cthulhu in the head with his knee, defeating the sleeper of R’lyeh.

Chapter Text

Collapsed on the floor, Cthulhu relents, using the remainder of his energy to heal the victorious party.

“You have me… I surrender.” 

Cthulhu lays there, more focused on tidying up his suit and glasses as opposed to getting up. He even goes as far as to use his telekinesis to make the room tidy as it once was.

“I concede, no tricks up my sleeve. I will not continue our takeover of the Puyo Puyo franchise.”

The group of four pause, all of them except Skeleton T kind of out of breath from the battle.

“Takeover of what?” Suketoudara speaks, given he was the one who dealt the finishing blow. “No, that’s not why we beat the fish paste out of you! You’re in ca-hoots with Yog-Sothoth taking over our world, right?”

He blinks. It was hard to read his expression since his face was covered in tentacles.

“No, that is the plan of my grandfather. Yog-Sothoth was telling me about it over the phone. I don’t exactly support what he’s doing or get involved in it. I was simply checking in on him… I just simply nod and say yes to what he rambles on about.” Cthulhu finally stands up straight. “I thought you were here trying to stop me from giving the rights of Puyo Puyo to SEGA and Sonic Team. Compile is currently struggling financially, and the company needed help from SEGA to get the Saturn game off the ground, so I’m here to finish negotiations with Kitade Man.”

Oops…

“Ah… there seems to have been a misunderstanding.” Skeleton T coughs. “We thought you were in on spreading the Yogs. Though, he is your grandfather, right? We’re all trying to stop him. And if it comes down to it…”

His words trail off.

“I am aware. This is the choice he made instead of retiring in his dimension.” Cthulhu sighs. “Is there anything else that brought you here besides suspecting me of conspiracy?”

“Oh!” Regretful over the situation, Draco remembers what they originally came for, pulling the briefcase in front of her. “This, actually. We found it by the shoreline and were told you might be its owner!”

Startled, Cthulhu quickly takes the briefcase back. “Goodness me, I’m so terribly sorry for putting you through this! I did lose this by mistake when I was rising out of the sea, I got distracted wiping my glasses. Thank you very much!” Now he’s the one who seemed guilty, even though he wasn’t the one who instigated the battle. 

“Oh, it wasn’t any trouble at all!” Suketoudara laughs. “Well, it wasn’t for me anyway! Best of luck to you, Mr. Cthulhu.”

“Now hold on,” Cthulhu stops them from leaving. “I can’t just let you go unrewarded, defeating me in battle and returning such important business files. You could have easily thrown that all away for the trouble I put you through!” He puts the briefcase on his desk, opens in, and begins searching inside. “Also, you don’t have to be so formal after defeating me. You may call me Tulu.”

“Tulu?” Witch is baffled, admittedly finding it to be cute that a man of his size and demeanor was okay with being called that.

He takes out a talisman made of metal. “This here is Tulu-metal. Very original, I know.” Cthulhu chuckles. “It greatly increases invulnerability to cosmic attacks, like those done by my grandfather. It can also bring you to other metals of a similar nature, but I’m not sure if they exist… maybe they do.”

Witch is fascinated by the sight of the peculiar talisman, but Draco just finds it to be rather gaudy looking. “We’ll make good use of it, thanks!” Suketoudara shakes his hand. “From one sea-dweller to another, I wish you the best of luck with your work, Tulu!”

He chuckles. “Again, I cannot thank you enough. And yes, I am having an in-person meeting soon. I’m relieved you found this for me. Take care!”

When they leave, Suketoudara spots the familiar golden compass lady approaching room twenty-three. They didn’t have time to question or ask about the matter though, not when they had to find the others in Trial Labyrinth… wherever that was.

…

Wait—

Compass—

Suketoudara halts, looking at Coco again.

Better safe than to rely on Skeleton T using the stem of a tea leaf for actual directions.

It takes about an hour. An hour for Arle and the rest to recover and then wake Ragnus.

The boy hero stirs. He’s awake, but he doesn’t want to face his allies, ashamed. He didn’t even want to talk.

“Come on, Ragnus,” Arle tries to encourage him. “It isn’t your fault. You don’t have to solve this on your own… and don’t feel bad about losing to Choppun. You were in your cursed form.” She held her tongue on how Rulue and Schezo also fell to that weirdo. “Not to mention he was carrying magic this time. I still don’t know how.”

Ragnus is barely responsive as he gets up from the ground, his head hanging.

“You shouldn’t get involved in a problem I caused…”

“You care about this world, don’t you? It’s not just about slaying Yog-Sothoth for the sake of it! You aren’t from here, but you care about it as much as the rest of us!” Arle points out. “It’s what brought us all together!”

“Alternatively,” Schezo begins, “this all started because you fought Yog-Sothoth on your own, reckless, the angel not saying a thing—”

“Schezo!” Arle gasps.

“I’m not done. This time, you are not alone, so the same mistake will not happen again. We can pick you up where you fall and strike Yog-Sothoth when he thinks he can slip away and use you a second time.” Schezo smiles. “As I said before, the stubborn, straightforward, loner role is more my thing. And you are everything I am not.”

“If Schezo is actually bothering to care and team up with us no matter how much we bicker, then it’s a sign!” Rulue adds. “And if you keep pushing us away, I’ll throw you over my shoulder! That curse of yours won’t stop me!”

Minotauros keeps quiet, looking for someone that wasn’t there right now.

“Hey! Don’t forget about us!”

Draco’s cheerful voice echoed throughout the labyrinth, the remaining half of the party had successfully caught up with the main cast, much to their surprise.

“We’re not stoppin’ ‘til we see the final act!” Suketoudara announces.

“How did you even…? Ah, that’s not important.” Ragnus finally starts to smile again. “Everyone, thank you… This time, with your help, we can hopefully get rid of Yog-Sothoth for good! I won’t fail as long as you’re all beside me!”

With that, they march forward, deeper into the Trial Labyrinth.

There are multiple egg-like pods scattered in the lowest levels of the labyrinth. Some of them had already hatched. Most notably, the Yogs of Fallen and the Yogs of Domination, two variations that Ragnus seemed to be more than familiar with.

In hindsight, it was a relief so many Yogs were dealt with before they hatched. If they had to deal with multiple battles involving these each time someone got brainwashed, it would have been tiring.

They eventually reach the bottom of the labyrinth, and there was the man of the hour himself, the one behind it all.

“Devil!” Ragnus calls out to him. “Stop this at once! You don’t know what powers you’re messing with!”

Spinning around and tossing his cloak to reveal his purple outfit, Devil just laughs. “Yeah, yeah, whatever pipsqueak. You’re not important. You there! In the blue armor! What took you so long!? I gave you the directions for our rematch hours ago!”

“Huh?” Arle realizes that Devil is talking to her. “What do you mean?”

“You were wearing a paper bag over your head earlier, thinking that sort of stupid thing would fool me! I knew you would come to the labyrinth, but did you seriously waste your time bringing allies?”

What… oh.

“You thought Choppun was me? That’s why he was down here yapping about beating you and that other nonsense!?” Arle shouts. “Why were you looking for me in the first place? Are you another creep like him?”

“No!” Devil snaps. “Don’t you remember me? From ten years ago? Look how much I’ve grown!” She doesn’t say anything in response, still confused. “Seriously? I turned all your classmates to stone in kindergarten! Ring any bells? Heck, I was so diabolical I took the final boss’s power as my own!”

Again, her expression is blank.

“Sorry, but… I don’t remember ever meeting you.”

“Wha–!? I go out of my way to make this grand scheme where I team up with Yog-Sothoth to get my revenge, and you don’t even remember me!?” Devil stamps his feet angrily, having a tantrum. “I’ve never been more insulted in my life! Regardless, you’ll perish here!”

Schezo asserts himself, stepping forward. “You lost and retreated last time, this will just be a repeat episode.”

“As if!” Devil surrounds himself with Yogs. “The previous match was nothing but a fluke!” The armor from before begins forming around him.

Ragnus grumbles. “Is this guy really ignoring me…? Listen, all of you! Break his armor, my Reactor Blade can’t do anything to Yog-Sothoth since he leeched off of my holy power!”

Witch passes the talisman she acquired over to Schezo, and he equips it. No doubt he’d be made to return it later. Minotauros stays out of this battle so that his mistress could reclaim the honor and grace she lost on the way.

That made this a battle between Arle, Ragnus, Schezo, Rulue, and Carbuncle…

Against Devil and Yog-Sothoth.

Chapter Text

“Mist!”

Arle has her vision blinded by a cloud of dark mist summoned by Devil and Yog-Sothoth. She holds her breath, desperately trying to not go mad from it.

She tries, she really tries, but Arle turns lightheaded. A rage of some kind begins bubbling inside of her, making her hands and eyes feel as if they were burning. Why? Why didn’t she go back for more Oxygen Flowers? That damn snail merchant in Satan’s castle didn’t have much to stock up on except for sake.

An evil eye is seeing right through her soul, causing a sharp pain from within. Is this what it feels like to fall victim to the smoke? It made Arle hate Satan for intentionally experimenting on Nasu and Mummy with this sort of thing, not to mention Succubus, Incubus, Devil…

No! Hatred is what it wanted, right!?

“Arle, focus!”

It’s muffled, but Arle swears she can hear Schezo’s voice, patronizing her. No, he’s not being patronizing, that’s just the smoke trying to cloud Arle’s good judgment.

“She’s losing herself to the smoke! Even my healing isn't working!” 

No, no she wasn’t. She tries to push Ragnus’ words out of her head. It makes her stomach feel sick, being taken over by something she couldn’t comprehend.

“Should I knock her senses back into her?”

And now Rulue was threatening acts of violence! Even if that technically worked as a solution to keep the brainwashing out, Arle wasn’t going to risk getting pummeled by Rulue of all people! She hits hard! Is she going to have to seriously fight back? What if Arle loses control in self-defense!?

“Gu… gugu gu!”

Carby…

Carbuncle is there. Everything will be okay, because Carbuncle is there. He’s still the same Carbuncle as always, right? He wouldn’t start acting out just because Arle was.

“I must admit, this is more satisfying than I thought, even if you don’t remember me!” Devil laughs. Arle does her best to tune out his mockery, keeping her eyes on Carbuncle.

Arle’s fingers spark with magic against her will, like she was acting on some sort of defensive instinct when she knew what now was the worst time to do so. It makes her bite her own fingers. Not the nail, the actual fingertips themselves.

“Hurry up and succumb so you can be one of Yog-Sothoth’s followers, and by that extension, me!” Devil cackles.

Ignore him. Just ignore him. Arle begins spitting in an attempt to get the foul taste of the smoke out of her.

“Gu!”

An idea crosses Arle’s mind while staring at Carbuncle. This one might be a little crazy, but it could work. Maybe. What’s the harm?

Carbuncle takes out a spicy plate of curry from Arle’s bag and without waiting, the sorceress just begins eating.

“Huh? What the hell? Having your last meal or something?” Devil scoffs.

Her nose begins running from how hot and spicy the plate of curry is. The smoke she had inhaled converted to a liquid as it came pouring out of Arle’s eyes and nostrils. An unpleasantly gross approach, but…

Arle’s mind didn’t feel as confused now. On top of health being recovered, she felt like she could probably focus without having her body freak out.

“Did you seriously just try to overwhelm your senses with spicy curry of all things in the hopes of overpowering Yog’s control!?” Devil snaps, tossing the axe in his hands. “That’s got to be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen! And yet, because you’re Arle, go figure that it works!”

Even her own allies were stupefied. Perhaps they had all seen stranger things, yes, but in a serious climatic battle like this? They would just have to chalk it up to the comedic nature of their world.

“We won’t blame you if you just want to give up after that,” Schezo mocks him. “It’ll be less humiliating for you if you turn around and say you’re done, rather than be defeated by an Arle with a runny nose.”

“Shut up! Snow Slide!” Devil calls upon an avalanche, tossing his axe and slamming it into the side of the ruins, making piles of hardened snow fall on the party.

“You’re just going to give Arle a cold then she won’t be able to breathe right at all, along with the rest of us!” Ragnus takes a jab at Devil’s attempt as the snow piles over his small body. “Go ahead, give us colds so no one will be able to breathe in that smoke and keep sneezing it out!”

“I said shut up!” Devil screeches, unable to do anything as he had already used his turn. “You! Yog-Sothoth, don’t you also have a turn to attack or are we seriously linked!? Don’t let them talk to you that way! Do something to silence them forever! Even I had the power to turn others into statues when I was smaller!”

There’s no response from the eldritch god.

“You could have used the power to immobilize us, but didn’t use it?” Rulue spits, unimpressed as ever. “Is it a matter of ego to not be so practical?”

“Devil Twister!”

A dark, violent tornado hushes Rulue by enveloping her. After it cleared, she had been turned to a stone statue, completely petrified. Looks he wasn’t all talk as it seemed.

“Milady!” Minotauros howls from the sidelines, Suketoudara trying his best to hold him back. 

If they could, they would have tagged Minotauros in to let him go completely berserk… actually, what’s stopping them anyway? Skeleton T’s brews might be helpful right now too. Arle and Ragnus know they couldn’t totally waste their own healing magic.

Waste… magic…

Right, Arle knows exactly what to do!

“Bayoen!” She chants, her eyes shining like diamonds as flowers surround her.

Devil staggers. His heart is not at all warmed or captured, but rather enraged by the tactic. Either way, he’s distracted, which gives everyone time to rearrange the party line-up accordingly.

Schezo, being a bit on the vulnerable side right now, tapped out so he could switch places with Witch, who was more than happy to unleash a Big Bang on this monstrosity. Rulue switched with Minotauros, allowing Skeleton T to try and undo the petrification with one of his restorative brews.

Minotauros reached a peak fit of rage, or perhaps love, no one is exactly sure which one. “Milady Rulue! I do this for you!” He cries out loud, ramming his head into the armored Devil, creating a strong enough dent in the process.

Despite being hit by a literal half-bull in the abdomen, Devil keeps focusing on Arle after wasting a near turn being baffled.

“Typhoon!”

Another air-based attack from Devil’s wings, centered on Arle Nadja. She was close to blacking out, but somehow… somehow she knew that he must have been close to the end too.

“Ragnus, you should finish this!” Arle grunts.

“My holy magic is worthless on him now, remember? Regardless if I am cursed or not, I’m useless in battle. All I can do is support the rest of you. Even my Sutra Void may not work as intended!”

That’s when Carbuncle hops forward.

“Guu graaaaah!”

A laser slightly larger than usual, the exact deus ex machina they needed in that moment! It pierces Devil’s armor, forcing it to slowly come apart.

“What? What? No!” Devil stammers. “Yog-Sothoth, what are you doing? You can’t be seriously losing your power to these weaklings! You’re some kind of stupid god, aren’t you!? Act like one!”

The rest of the armor breaks apart, turning to black smoke and pulling further away from Devil as it changes shape.

“I am indeed…”

Yog-Sothoth speaks calmly, unbothered by the situation.

“I was simply reviewing what is occurring, and I have come to realize, you are not worthy of sharing my power any longer. You have outlasted your use.”

“Wha—”

Before Devil could object, Yog-Sothoth zapped him away with a lavender bolt of lightning.

“Devil!” Arle gasps.

“Fear not. He is alive. I just disposed of him in another dimension, just as I had when the hero pursued me.” Yog-Sothoth explains. “I allowed him to use me to take over this world, but alas, it shrinks my true power. With him out of the picture, I can do as I did with him to all of you.”

The knight armor begins reforming. Dark, fleshy tentacles sticking out where the arms, legs and head belong. Twisting and fusing, they start changing their shape and color, resembling that of a human.

Upon the sight of it, Ragnus drops his Reactor Blade.

A perfect copy of his fully grown self. The only difference being in the eye color and his armor being silver and reddish-violet, the gemstone in the center of his circlet resembling an eyeball, while the circlet itself had a pair of horns attached. His teeth are sharp, shaped more like fangs.

“A doppelganger? How original,” Witch scoffs. “How many of these have we seen by now?” By this point, Rulue was free of her petrification, but she cannot help but be more insulted by the doppelganger than being turned into a statue for a period of time.

“Thanks to sapping away at your years of experience and holy magic, I was able to create a perfect vessel to counter you.” Yog-Ragnus speaks. “With this form, I shall take your place while my kind continue to invade this land, while the rest of you are never to return.”

“Never to return? Yeah right! As if you can do that!”

Suketoudara laughs it off but comes to quickly regret that. Yog-Ragnus rematerializes his axe and swings it, slicing a tear in reality. No doubt he’s showing his full power now that Devil is no longer holding him down.

“You will all become one eventually, one to worship Yog-Sothoth like many before you. And as for you Ragnus the Brave, I shall dispose of you.”

“No!” Ragnus shouts.

Yog-Ragnus starts with Skeleton T and Draco, blowing them away into the void easily. Suketoudara and Schezo do not fare much better, followed by Witch, who tried to evade best she could. Minotauros shields Rulue, but it proves futile as they both get knocked in.

Only Ragnus, Arle, and Carbuncle remain.

“Yog-Sothoth…! I won’t let you have your way again!”

Ragnus lunges at his doppelganger— but it all goes black before Arle can see what happens next.