-On the 5th day-
The way this group walked looked brazen, they knew they were strong and they flaunted it. Tanuki walked at the back of the group while Kyoraku led it, being on the front. Corkey walked in the middle and there were four more with them.
Striding behind Kyoraku was a woman who had the energy to be called bestial. Her eyes glowed like amber and she donned a cheetahs tail. Her face had lines that proved her existence felt as if she was made from the jungles. Her hair was messy and frizzled, perhaps she didn't care enough to even notice the tangled hair.
Perhaps betraying her looks however, she has normal human ears instead of what you'd assume to be a cheetah's.
She's rather energetic and has a smile on her face, despite the group looking like they can't stand a single second with each other.
By her side was a man, he looked frail and thin. Fashioning his belt was a coiled whip, he has his right hand on the handle and is caressing it. At the end of the whip was a sharp point, outside of that interesting detail, it looked to be a normal whip, worn out even, evidenced by parts of the cords falling out.
His eyes looked dark, like a blood moon descended and claimed his eye to be its home.
His hair looked like the color of a pine tree and similarly to the woman beside him, they didn't care enough to take proper care of it.
Behind him slithered a woman, her lower half were of a snake and the upper was of a human, similar to Nitya. Her tail is made of scales and they had a green color with a small red hue at the tip of the scales. Her tongue ran long and her fangs peeked outside her lips.
Similarly to Kyoraku, her pupils looked like a striking line rather than the normal orb-like structure. Her eyes matched her scales, being of a color that matches the grass outside the cave they wandered.
Decorating her head and shoulders was a crown with poisonous animals and even her own kin dangled about her shoulders, the heads did not reek, they were strained, most likely. To her, the heads that she showed like it was an exhibition were a reminder to both herself and others that she was at the top.
At her side was another woman, obviously overdressed and the clothing she was given by the Genesis was clearly buried under the ridiculous amount of clothing she wore.
She looked even trapped under the multiple layers of jackets and scarfs she wore. The only thing uncovered were her hair, which looked golden and flowed downwards, they looked slightly frozen however.
The only proof of her being a woman was the way the group addressed her was that she was a she and that she had a feminine voice.
Despite the mountains of clothing she wore, she still shivers every now and then and utters the word, "Cold."
They walked through a cave filled with water and green mush, lit up by the assortment of colored crystals.
"He should be here." Kyoraku says
They peek their heads around a corner and a cannonball is immediately fired at them, which Kyoraku holds back with a single arm.
"Surge." He chants and a wall of ice holds the cannonball.
"Oh, it's you." The voice was rather squeaky.
"Are we seriously doing this again?" He questioned
"Sadly." Kyoraku responds
"You don't need me, though. You know how much I despise being with you all."
"So do we!" The lamia proudly retorts
Kyoraku stares at her for a few seconds, before judging it just isn't worth the effort and continues on.
"You already know why."
"Yeah yeah, anyone with a brain can figure it out, this hunt is special." The voice replies
His footsteps can be heard and the ice that Kyoraku made is getting outlined like an arch by a white line.
"Dematerialize." The voice says before the ice promptly disappears like it was erased.
With the ice gone, the speaker can be seen, he's short like a dwarf and looks insanely young for one. He has brown hair and not even a beard, his hair is short and is tied up.
"So we have Zero." He looks over at the overdressed girl.
"Thesite." His voice grew a bit disdainful as he looked over the lamia.
"Nellia." He nods at the bestial woman, she returns the gesture.
"Guh, Hector." The man with a whip snickers.
"Corkey." He looks over at Corkey and Corkey smiles at him.
"Tanuki, huh."
"And of course, you, mister Kyoraku."
"I'm not old." Kyoraku looks down at him.
"You are, to me." The dwarf raises the floor beneath him and meets Kyoraku eye to eye. They lock eyes for a second before the dwarf snaps the eye contact off and looks over at the group.
"What about the other two?" The dwarf digresses
"We know where they are, you were just the closest."
"I figured, you have Corkey and Tanuki anyway."
"So tell me, what would I get if I joined you?"
"Guaranteed survival."
"Who's to say I'm not alright by myself?"
"Have you fought one of the sins?"
"You're bullshitting me old man, those are myths."
"Well, they were weaker than what they told us."
"You're saying you fought one?"
"Well, it wasn't half bad." Kyoraku says as he folds up his sleeves, showing fresh cuts and the blood is suspended by the ice Kyoraku made.
Hector sees it and sticks his tongue out, he looks like he wants a taste.
"No." Kyoraku reprimands as he grabs Hector by the tongue.
"Ay jas wana no haw it teys!" Hector garbles, it's hard to understand what he's saying.
"I'll shatter your tongue if you try that again." Kyoraku warns Hector and lets go.
"Already looking lively, it's like a constant reminder of why I don't want to join!" The dwarf comments
Nellia walks forward and addresses the dwarf.
"Just this one time, Kaley?"
The dwarf, who's name is revealed to be Kaley, seems to be in deep thought.
"Fine." He answers, like a grumpy child that has been given a toy they want in exchange.
Nellia doesn't seem to fit her looks, she's soft, unexpectedly.
"What's your plan then?" Kaley addresses Kyoraku
"These hunts always end after a week, one of the harder hunts back then had a boss monster, so we can only assume the same will be this time, only on a larger scale."
"So you're going to gather the Evangelists?"
"Thank the gods you understand something that simple."
"I was just clarifying things, don't get all high and mighty."
"So, where are the other two?"
"They've been in a craze." Tanuki says
"It's the first time I've also sensed their fear."
Corkey raises his hand like an energetic toddler.
"Speak." Kyoraku acknowledges Corkey's gesture.
"I saw them too, they looked a bit stressed, one of them is fighting a sin as we speak."
"I forgot to ask but mister Kyoraku, which sin did you fight again?"
"Well, it wasn't me alone, I was with Corkey, Tanuki, and Nellia already."
"They still injured you that badly?"
"It was the sin of pride."
"And you say it wasn't half-bad." Kaley laughs slightly, as if mocking Kyoraku.
"Well, at least you understand the severity of this hunt." Kyoraku swallows his pride.
Nellia extends her arms forward, as if to grab a baby.
Kaley looks over at her for a few seconds, he has a small pout.
"I'm getting tired here, you know?" She softly tells him, as if to convince him to jump to her arms.
"Hmph." He looks away for a second before jumping into her arms, to which she embraces him fully.
The group would laugh and make fun of Kaley for being a baby, if not for the fact that Nellia would get mad at them.
The group, outside of Hector, does see her as an older sister, she dotes on Kaley the most though, perhaps attributed to him being the youngest.
"Let's get going.." Kyoraku says as he looks over Kaley, before going his separate way and leading the group outside on the path outside the cave.
Nellia mounts Kaley on her shoulders and follows Kyoraku.
-TS-
The group is situated outside of the cave, they've already noticed it but monsters have started to avoid the group, perhaps they can sense that to them, they are prey. Alone, these people are already at the top, grouped, they are not to be trifled with.
"We'll be going to the next two." Kyoraku looks over at the group, his eyes wandering slightly more to Nellia.
"Something wrong?" Nellia asks, seeing his eyes fidget.
"Nothing." Kyoraku sternly replies
"Corkey, what do you see?" Kyoraku moves on
"Oo."
"I think I'm invading." Corkey laughs slightly, unfolding before his eyes was a time that a person should be left alone.
The person he's spying on looks straight at where he's looking and chants something, breaking Corkey's view on them.
"Ouch!" He yelped
"She ought to learn restraint man!" Corkey complains, though he was clearly invading her privacy as she excused herself off of public eye.
"What about the other one?" Kyoraku asks, putting aside Corkey's whining.
"He's in trouble." Tanuki answers
"What?!" Kyoraku exclaims
"Calm down."
"Why not tell me sooner?!"
"It's Samael, he can handle himself."
"Regardless, he's fighting one of the sins, they don't kill."
"It's Samael right? He's a stubborn fellow, he'll be fine." Hector adds
"You're right. I need to calm down." Kyoraku admits
"Nevertheless, that means he's our priority."
"Let's move." Kyoraku commands the pack, and they follow him as he runs.
From that point on, the group ran like hell. Whichever monster was unfortunate enough to be caught in their maelstrom of massacre most likely wished they did not even show themselves. It would have been more unlucky for them to have come across Hector or Thesite, only through the grace of Corkey were they saved from torture.
-TS-
They reach a small shack and whispers among them can already be heard, murmurs that go like, "Is this seriously where they're fighting?", "Why is it so quiet?"
Their thoughts get interrupted as Samael comes crashing out a wall with a loud shriek.
His squeals sound like a girl crying for help and he is currently backing up as he's sat flat on the ground as he worms his way backward.
Despite this, his looks are of a very handsome man. He's got a slim body, but similarly to everyone in the Genesis, he's very well toned.
His hair is split around his left, and it falls neatly. He has a small red wrap on the right side of his hair. His hair reaches about his neck and has shades of emerald and mint.
"Get away from me, vile beast!" Samael puts his arms forward, as if to ward away an evil presence.
Thesite laughed, Hector followed, trumping her laugh.
Kyoraku kept his eyes peeled and Kaley pointed down and joined the laughter, with Nellia scolding him slightly as he did.
Zero shivered like she usually did and Tanuki enjoyed the show.
The only one showing sincerity and kindness to their "friend" is Corkey, as he's bent over and offering his hand to Samael.
Even if his act looks like an act of pity, Samael accepts his offer and takes his hand, quickly cowering behind Corkey right after.
What comes into view next is perhaps unexpected, or maybe not, seeing the way Samael reacted.
The silhouette made a slender figure, large hips and what one would call an hourglass physique. The smoke cleared and it was clear as day.
It was a nude woman, that's right.
The thing that Samael feared most is a nude woman.
Why?
He is saving himself for a special someone, it does not matter to him when or how they meet, he is confident that he will know.
For him, temptation is the greatest sin.
It was just his luck that he had to fight the sin of lust.
He feared the consequences of not accepting the offer to put her down, he only thought after that maybe he would've accepted the consequences over this.
Even Kyoraku laughed at him, it was pitiful.
"STOP LAUGHING!" Samael sounded like a coward, he was getting bullied.
"Just deal with her already!" Samael shouts as he quickly hides behind a tree.
[Congratulations! You've found one of the seven sins, Lust.]
The message appears equally for everyone there except for Samael, for the obvious reason that he has already gotten the message.
[Would you like to become its predator?]
[YES] [NO]
The group is still laughing even as they choose their option.
[Appointed hunters, Samael Anderson, Kyoraku Drakos, Corkey Schulyer, Kaley Summers, Nellia Glimmer, Hector Renais, Zero, Thesite Belletria, Tanuki Ikutsuki]
"You know, this list feels uhh, haha." Corkey laughs
"1v9, how she'd probably like it!" Hector laughs
Nellia hits Hector on his head and places Kaley down, she's regretting that she didn't cover Kaley's eyes.
"What did I do?!" Hector snaps
"Kaley is here." Nellia scolds
"The kid can handle it, you know that. Hey, hey, Kaley, it doesn't bother you, yeah?"
Nellia gets mad at Hector again and hits him, which sends his face straight to the ground.
She walks to Kaley and crouches to keep eye contact with him.
"You sit this one out, okay? Don't look this way until we're done."
Kaley looks like he's going to object but decides against it and looks away, even creating 4 walls to surround himself.
"Good boy."
She looks back to their opponent.
"What's the plan, Kyoraku?"
"Do we need one?" Kyoraku responds, he's not saying he can't make one, he's just they won't need one.
"Nah." Hector's whip cracks.
"I'll sit this out." Thesite tells them
Zero follows Thesite, she's indirectly telling them that she won't join.
"Well, you two are problematic to fight with anyway." Samael says as he stops cowering and walks in, he's cracking his fingers as he walks.
They stare at him dumbfoundedly, the one who was crying about fighting the very enemy that is in front of them is now walking in like he's the main character.
It's discouraging, but Samael ignores their stares.
"Anyone else?" Kyoraku asks the group, completely ignoring the enemy before him.
The cardinal sin grows impatient watching them and shapeshifts into a cheetah and dives Kyoraku head on.
It is not until the very last second that Kyoraku moves his arm and clutches their face.
"Freeze." He chants, and the sin freezes fully.
The very next split second, Nellia breaks through the ice and grabs Lust straight on their head and throws it to a tree.
The sin shapeshifts again into a child and breaks a few trees on their way.
"I'll bench myself this time around." Corkey says and Tanuki follows.
Currently, the people that are fighting are Kyoraku, Nellia, Hector and Samael.
"It feels weak this time around." Nellia says
"And here I was getting excited. What a letdown." Hector sighs
The sin stands up and looks mostly unscratched, its face telling them, "Is that all you've got?"
Hector lashes his whip and it makes an incredibly loud crack.
"That's great, you're great." His voice cracked and his smile grew wide.
He walks closer and lashes his whip at it, before his whip lands, the sin transforms into a..
An adult man?
"HA!" Hector laughs
"That's sick man!"
It seems unaffected by Hector, it doesn't have any bruises on its body.
This is going to be a long fight.
-Lust's perspective-
I don't want to do this anymore.
Let me die.
Let me DIE.
They're so cruel.
So very cruel.
I can feel it moving around in my brain. That rusting piece of metal.
I still feel the screws moving, the electricity sparking.
I have no choice but to keep fighting.
Keep fighting until this voice shuts up.
Keep fighting until that message is gone.
Keep fighting till I CAN'T.
The voices inside that man, that man that looks like a stick you can break in half.
The voices inside his head are as loud as mine.
His exterior doesn't show it but he feels inadequate, he feels like if he had a father, he would be nothing but a disappointment to him.
"I'm disappointed, Hector. You are no son of mine, no son of mine is a failure." I tell him with my voice filled with disappointment.
This face I assume, it is what he views to be his father.
Perhaps he did not have one, that is why his greatest desire is one.
My words seem to be getting through to him. He's quiet and his face is sorrowful.
The other three are taking a backseat and letting him deal with me one on one.
They're wasting their numbers advantage.
I shapeshift into what he thinks is to be a mother.
His image is of a big breasted woman with blonde hair and a soft look.
How cliché.
I walk up to him and embrace him fully, tucking him safely in my bosoms.
"You've done well, you can rest now. I love you." I say to him, keeping as loving of a voice I can and keeping my voice soft.
Be tempted.
You want to be tempted.
Stay with me.
I tap the back of his neck, getting ready to place a spell of ownership and I'm already preparing the magic circles.
"Is that so?" He says, his voice filled with tempted agony.
Hm?
"Thanks, but I'm gonna have to pass." Hector says as he opens his mouth wide and chomps as viciously as he can.
It's fine, he wants this, he can't hurt m-
I can feel the sensation of my skin and flesh tearing, is he crazy?! He doesn't want validation?
I jump away from him and cover my bleeding breast.
I can see him eating my flesh, savoring the blood.
"As I thought, you taste great."
"The amount of hearts of men and women you've wooed over."
"I can taste that in your blood."
"I almost fell for it! I get how you've caught so many victims now!" His face looks to be one of amusement and his voice is loud and excited.
He's unhinged, I wasn't wrong. Those voices in his head demanded blood. Those voices that rival my own.
KILL, KILL, KILL!
It was already terrible. That green goblin, he made it worse.
I want to be saved.
I want to die.
I check down and it seems my breast has already healed properly and I shapeshift into another adult man, this is what worked last time.
"WE WANT BLOOD! WE WANT BLOOD!" The voices in Hector's mind shouted.
Whoever is God in this universe, I forsake you, the voices in my head are loud enough, you just had to add his.
He dashes at me with a lightning fast speed, he's faster than before!
I get ready to counterattack and match his tempo.
He cleared the distance and started firing off his whip, the sound of the whip is like a gun, he's using his whip like a performer, his footsteps coordinating with his whip, seeming like a dance.
How many hours did he spend mastering this? Despite the loud roars of his whip, that skill of his is.. Captivating.
I dance alongside the whip, giving myself only enough space to dodge at a hair's breadth of distance.
But I'm outmatched, he lands multiple hits on me and I can feel it grazing my skin.
This form isn't enough, he doesn't want it enough.
The only thing he wants most now is blood. His voices demand it and even he craves it.
He's already forcing me to use this so early.
-CoP-
The sin of lust starts contorting disgustingly, it's as if it's s eating itself and creating something new.
It eats itself whole and disappears from the plane of existence, a second later, an egg appears at the same location she was just at.
Hector crouches and looks at the egg suspiciously, the egg is of a dark purple, it feels malicious yet he can't keep his eye off it, like something compels him to watch.
"Kyoraku! What's this?" Hector calls, to which Kyoraku follows, with Nellia and Samael close behind.
They see the egg and a singular thought runs across them, they've never seen this.
It feels oddly similar to the monsters they fought, but at the same time, it feels different.
Crack.
The egg is cracking.
It breaks slowly until it quickly cracks open and the top half of the egg falls off.
What emerges is a creature beyond their comprehension.
Beauty? Knowledge? Enlightenment? Ecstasy? Words like the such come to mind.
The simplest truth was that they were enamored.
Perhaps to some, it was charming, as Nellia squealed with joy while moving her arms around and pinching her fingers, like how you would fool around with a little child.
Samael looked dumbfounded, he stared at his view of what beauty would be at the pinnacle. Long golden hair that radiated a holy and mystical vibe, an angel's halo and wings that were of a white dove, she played a rendition of Nocturne on the harp better than Samael himself ever could. The only word he could think of was beauty.
Even the onlookers looked affected as Thesite looked ecstatic. She let out an excited laugh with a sound that sounded like a moan after.
Corkey had his eyes peeled and the reflection of his eyes grew darker, the light was being swallowed by pure black, like the center of a black hole. He had a wide smile, even showing off his well cared for teeth.
Kyoraku wore a solemn face, his eyes wavered slightly but a small smile formed on his face,
Hector looked upward, as if waiting for a deity to descend on him. He kneeled on the floor and bowed his head, waiting for the word to be given.
Tanuki looked rather confused, but his small smile said everything, he was happy.
Despite all of this, Samael felt rather weird about it all, perhaps because he knew that it was an illusion. He always believed angels existed but to him, they would not come until the day of judgment, and this is not that day.
He knew, but he could not look away, he admired its beauty.
He simply cried for help, "It's just an illusion!" He shouted, hoping someone would wake up.
But no one did, they did not want to wake up from this dream. They believed that someone else would deal with it in their place.
No one, except Zero, who wasn't even affected in the first place.
For her, all she saw was a mirror. An old mirror through the mountains of clothing she wore. The wood beams cried blood, the glass looked broken, yet intact. It looked old but most notably, it did not have a speck of dust, quite the contrary, it looked overused, seen by the hinges falling apart.
Zero lit herself on fire, she burned through the layers of jackets, rags, and extra robes she wore.
Her full figure came into view as her hair triumphed over her body, it waved along the wind and flew gently, raising her hair up, as if she descended from the heavens.
She looked like a child, no older than Kaley and only slightly taller.
Her hair reached her feet, it was even slightly longer as it drooped on the ground.
The mirror looked alerted, somehow, it looked at Zero.
It grew a mouth that peeked out of the shattered glass, from the squeaky hinges and blood soaked beams came out four legs, or two arms and two legs, it was hard to tell.
It grew eyes and eyebrows, raised slightly above the mouth, betraying all sense of proportion as it lacked a nose and had its eyes much too close to the mouth.
"You." The mouth said, it sounded scared, perhaps a little malicious.
"You can see my true form?" Its eyes told the whole story, it didn't want to fight Zero. Their voice sounded like an ant scratching their throat, from all the raspy sounds it created.
"It's hooooottt!" Zero cried
"Hey, answer me. You can see me, right?" Its fearful gaze stayed the same.
"So what if I CAN!" Zero's fire grew brighter and raged harder.
"That would mean you have no desire!" Its voice cried for help and the four limbs it grew all started to run away like a cockroach that just sensed danger.
Zero chases the mirror, but she is held back by Kyoraku and Nellia, who clutched her right wrist and left ankle.
She uses her captured hand to grab Kyoraku by the forearm and uses her free hand to grab Nellia's.
She freezes both of their arms and creates an ice spike that forms beginning from the innards of their forearm and bolts them to the ground.
Their grip loosened and Zero stumbled away from their grasp, without forgetting to constantly reapply the ice that melted from her scorching aura.
As she got away, the ice spread until it reached their legs, numbing it and stopping their movement for the meanwhile as she hops into the sky and creates an ice platform just below her feet at her jump's apex.
As she did, she jumped from the ice as her fire quickly burned her foothold.
Her skill matched one of an elite gymnast, with the way she never missed a beat.
A mistake would spell trouble, but her magic and athleticism did not fail her.
At last, hse caught up to the scurrying mirror and dived in. She created a hawk made of flame and piloted as its heart.
It lands and sets the mirror and everything in a 50 meter radius on fire.
The mirror shrieks and the body parts it wore shriveled.
Zero takes the opportunity and extends her arm and opens her palm. Ice shards form around the mirror in a circle, multiple ice shards that were constantly being melted and reconstructed as they danced around the helpless thing that they were ready to kill.
She clasps her hand, as if to crush an object and the ice converges at one point. It targets the eyes and mouth, impales the eyes and mouth and constantly melted and reconstructed, sometimes even growing bigger than its older form, making it elicit cries of pain from the mirror.
The parts spilled blood, which were quickly burned from Zero's heat.
Zero walks away from the scene and utters, "It's hot." To herself as she doesn't even care to watch the mirror burn to pieces.
The mirror then later burns to ashes and flickers away.
She turns off her aura and walks back to the group, who all look like they had just newly woken up from a dream.
[You have f̶r̶e̶e̶d hunted the sin of Lust.]
[T highest contributor will receive Lust's soul.]
The crystal appears in Zero's hand.
[Would you like to be exempt from the hunt?]
[YES] [NO]
Zero picks no.
[NO](1/9)
The group looks around and they seem to have reached unison.
(2/9)
(5/9
(7/9
(8/9)
[Majority wins!]
[You will remain in Agolith for 2 more days.]
"2 more days." Samael sighs
Kyoraku pulls out the ice shard from his arm and covers the wound with ice. Nellia slams the ice shard into a tree and her face looks rather ferocious.
Kyoraku taps her shoulder and holds her for a while.
"Let it go." Kyoraku comforts
"It was PERFECT!" Nellia bitches
"It was. It was." Kyoraku confesses
"Then why did she ruin it?!" She pounds her wounded arm into a tree again and blood trickles down her forearm.
"We could have died, we don't know how the system would have treated us if we lost to temptation."
Nellia looks a bit more rational, just a little more calm, and her face looks resentful.
She looks at him, expecting something, but he has the same look on his face.
"It was easy to tell, wasn't it? It was easy to tell that it was an illusion, we just didn't want to admit it." Kyoraku admits, to which none refuted.
Nellia looks more reasonable now, she finally sees the wrong in her actions and walks away, to go to Kaley.
She knocks on his walls and asks him to come out already and Kaley obliged and dematerialized his walls.
"Phew, I should've known He wouldn't say those things! He's never satisfied!" Hector moves around his lanky body and stretches his arms and cracks his neck.
"Who are you talking about?" Nellia looks over at Hector.
"Ares. He's like suuuper greedy, he actually started to appreciate the work I've done for him, well at least in the illusion."
"Really?" Thesite walks over
"Mine was some guy that couldn't die, bonus was that his face was like, real ugly, so it was even more fun to torture him!" Thesite has a joyful look on her face, uncanny indeed.
Thesite looks over at Kyoraku, who was looking at the sky, with a blank face.
"What was yours?"
"What was what?" His focus was deprived of him as he looks over at Thesite.
"Your dream! Or illusion, I dunno what to call it."
"I'd rather not talk about it." Kyoraku sternly replies
Thesite runs her tail around Kyoraku and wraps around him and leans toward his ear.
"Is it so bad you can't tell 𝐦𝐞?" Her voice was alluring, she wasn't the type to resort to these things, but she definitely had the assets to do so.
Her face looked sly and her eyes darkened with the shadow of the ruffling trees and clouds that flew over her.
"It's sad, you won't like it."
"Oh, then nevermind." Thesite removes her hold on Kyoraku and slithers away to some more like minded individuals, which are Corkey and Tanuki.
She looked over at Corkey, and although she had no reason to ask, with how obvious Corkey was, she still asked nonetheless.
"What was yours?"
Corkey smiles, he likes the fact he is acknowledged.
"Same old, same old. I still can't see their faces, but that's what's great about the shadows! You will never figure out who they are, and they are the same to you."
"Though mine had two parts, I liked the guy on the second."
"Oh..?"
"He didn't whimper, it was perfect."
"That's more like it!" Thesite looks happy to be part of a group that have the same psychopathic tendencies as her.
"What about you, Tanuki?"
"It was a.." Tanuki pauses, to recollect his thoughts.
"A mass of people running away in fear, they screamed like girls as I killed them, it was fun."
"As expected, you used that filthy magic of yours, no?"
"I'd rather you not call it that."
"What? I'm not wrong! It's disgusting and scary and it's eerie!"
"If you don't stop, I might just use it on you." Tanuki threatens, but to which Thesite just grins at him.
"Go ahead!" She looks at him and provokes him.
Tanuki's straw hat disassembles itself and the straws climb over his face and cover it, leaving only two holes that you could call eyes and a malicious smile.
The eyes glow a blood red and his smile only grows wider.
His limbs start to detach and they hang over using the straws from his hat, wrapping around his shoulders and thighs.
His neck starts to break and it just lays on his shoulder.
Clap!
"That's enough." Kyoraku intervenes by placing a large ice wall in the middle of their fight.
Tanuki cancels his transformation and the straws revert back and become his hat again.
Thesite makes a small tsk sound and leaves.
Kyoraku brushes her off and goes to Corkey.
"Do you know where Giselle is?"
"I've been tracking her for a while, she's a bit far."
"Any hostiles?"
"Yes, but she'll be fine."
"Let's take a break then, my arm in particular is killing me."
Kyoraku sits down and falls over on the grass.
Samael sits down and conjures his harp and places it firmly on his lap.
He starts to play his own rendition of Violet Flame. Even the usually chaotic ones like Thesite and Hector sat down near, to hear his excellent performance.
After his performance, Hector comes and kneels closely over to Samael.
"I'm not a fan of angels or anything related to them, but that was angelic."
He taps Samael by the shoulder and leaves.
"Thanks for the music." Thesite bows and comes along with Hector.
Zero has been sitting for a while and shivering while listening to Samael.
"That.." She gritted her teeth.
"Was good." Her body shivered
"Oh dear." Samael looks over at Zero.
"Just use your fire." He tells her
"But.."
"I will.."
"Burn everyone." Her tone seemed sincere
"I suppose you're right." Samael admits
"Come here, sit next to me." He taps the ground beside him before quickly pats his hand on his pants.
"But.."
"I'm cold."
"I like performing with numb hands."
"It hurts to pluck the strings with warm ones."
Zero nods and comes to sit next to him.
Zero's very air was cold, like she was a walking freezer.
"Actually.." Samael thought it over
"Come here." He spreads his legs wide open and taps the vacant spot.
Zero looked like she was about to object but Samael made a small praying motion, he was pleading.
Reluctantly, she agreed and for once she felt warmth that was not her scorching flame.
Samael placed his harp on the open space that Zero left open and asked,
"Do you want to play?"
Zero thought it over.
"No.."
"You.. Play."
Samael sighed slightly but smiled warmly and played.
His fingers looked dainty, it was something that Zero could snap, if she wanted.
The melody his fingers produced with the slightly frozen strings sounded slightly louder, it had more of a "Tring," Zero thought.
She was used to either freezing or burning things, but this man did not care about that.
His chilled hands plucked the string and the frosted string would make an angelic sound.
After a while, Samael had stopped playing. She thought the song was over, it did not transition well to the end, but it was over.
She looked over at the majestic player and saw his face looked half asleep. Though his heartbeat felt slow, his face looked a tad bit blue.
She forgot!
She touched his face and controlled her flame as well as she could. Samael's face looked slightly burned, by the slightly dark markings, but it was easy to heal.
She blew a sigh of relief, it was the first time she could control her magic this well.
Samael regained consciousness and only asked her one question, in spite of the frostbitten feeling and the slightly scorching burn he felt on his face.
"How was my performance?"
She looked over with frosted tears and a confused look.
She thought he would push her away.
"It was splendid." Her voice did not waver, her teeth did not grit, she did not shiver.
"That's great." Samael's head fell slightly, but surely this time, he only slept.
-CoP-
At the center of the island, trees populated the entire region. The wild life felt like a jungle, the animals had similar structuring, and some of them were even the exact same as one.
The scent in the air reeked of blood and corpses and skeletons littered about.
A group ventured, they were trying to escape from the loud screams and shrieks the people in the area cried.
Who in god's name was strong enough that they could cover an entire forest with their mana alone?
The group in particular seemed to be of lower class, one was armless, the other seemed to be a cyborg, with only the face and a tiny bit of his hands remaining. He has a small glowing blue crystal in the middle of his chest. The other one was a human with a prosthetic leg and they had a ball of light on their hand to guide them through the darkness.
The armless man has the forest basically following him, the roots seem to be growing or straight up leaving the earth just to follow him.
They offer him fruits from time to time, and he accepts them with gratitude.
After a few minutes, the leaves rustled and the roots that followed the armless man stopped and went back into the earth.
A wave of ominous pressure filled the area and it sent shivers down their spines.
They were going to get slaughtered.
The cyborg ran.
The guide froze.
The armless man kneeled and looked to the sky as he prayed for mercy.
It was only a blur that they saw the figure move.
Its skin was pale.
It looked tall, slightly large.
They could have sworn they saw bones.
But it did not matter, the next second after all, they had already died.
And with their death came the end of the day as the sun fell.
-CoP-
The last member whom Corkey has watched through the lenses of the shadow, Giselle, is seen.
She's hidden in the foliage of the trees and is mounted on top of a branch.
She's been waiting for the other nine to arrive.
That 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫, she's afraid of it, she isn't prideful enough to lie that she isn't scared, she knows it.
Her only hope is that it does not find her, at least until the nine find her.
-CoP-
Dawn broke through and the first to wake up was Samael. He was rested onto a sheet made of leaves.
Lying a few feet away was Zero, who rested on a bed made of ice and leaves as a cushion.
He sat up and saw the others, Nellia had made herself comfortable with the ground and Kyoraku did something similar to what Zero had done.
Thesite slithered to a tree branch and slept there while Hector hung from a tree branch not too far away.
Kaley made a bed for himself and a few walls to surround him and windows to tell him when the sun rose.
Tanuki transformed into a scarecrow and is letting his limbs be raised like one, he looks oddly comfortable.
Corkey is.. Nowhere to be seen.
Samael stands up and looks around for water.
He finds a river and looks over at his reflection and admires his handsome face, despite the circumstance he is in.
He washes his face and as he is, a fish lunges at him with razor sharp teeth, akin to a piranha.
Samael conjures some wires that look awfully similar to his harp strings and catches the fish mid air.
He raises his head and roots his wires on a branch and on the soil, making an absolute mockery of the fish, like it was some dumb animal that got caught in a spider's web.
He walks over and plucks the wires and the fish writhes in pain.
"What an ugly sound." He wretches
He slashes the head off using his wire and lets it fall.
He plucks a string again and has the sound echo and reverberate inside the fish.
"Splendid."
He plays a piece on the bloodied strings, with a harp on his left to play, should he have any extra sounds he would need.
He plays a more chaotic and sinister sound, opposing his standard performances, like his own theme, should he become a villain.
Clap, clap, clap
Corkey appears from nowhere and commends Samael's rendition.
"I was wondering where you went." Samael looks behind him.
"It's too dirty to sleep here, I prefer the void."
"Well, I don't enjoy it too."
"Forget that." Corkey turns serious, his tone is cold.
"I lost sight of Giselle."
Samael looks surprised, then he finally realizes that that means.
"Wake them up. Now."
"Will do."
-TS=
"What is it? It's so damn early!" Hector cusses
"Don't panic but.." Corkey trails off slightly, he's considering whether to say it.
"We're waiting." Nellia is tapping her feet hurriedly and her face looks agitated.
"I can't find Giselle anymore."
It takes a while to load it in, they just woke up after all.
But the second they realize the implications, it immediately woke them up and chaos ensued.
Murmurs and slightly panicked looks arose, they were the strongest, the upper echelon of the Genesis, but they wouldn't refuse each other's help when the situation was dire.
Not to mention that Giselle didn't deny Corkey for three days now, something warded Corkey off.
For it to be strong enough to block Corkey, what kind of monster would they be? A monster that devoured monsters, that's what.
Giselle is not weak by any means, but this spells trouble.
"Tanuki." Kyoraku looked over at the oni.
"I 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭."
"All I can tell is she's scared, I don't know where she is, something or 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 is stopping me."
"So we're blind?" Thesite looks sort of scared, nothing was able to question her strength before, at least not as much as this.
"I hate to admit it, but yes." Corkey answers
"What do we do?" Corkey looks over at their unanimously voted leader
"The only lead we've got was that she was North of us, the issue is that she's a damn nocturne, so we don't know where she would have gone after." Kyoraku admits his helplessness.
"Nothing else we can do but try to find her."
"Corkey, you are not to interrupt Hector and Thesite, should we find anyone." Kyoraku looks over at Corkey, to which Corkey nods.
"We have around 17 hours left to find her."
"Roger." Corkey says as he blends in with the shadow
-16 hours, 34 minutes later-
Nellia rips the hand of a monster and Hector slices through the sheer force of his strike using his whip. Kyoraku and Corkey are talking about how to find Giselle, should the hunt give them any extra time to do so.
"Maybe we'll have some time if some of the fodders give us extra?" Corkey speculates
"Maybe, but we don't know if we'll be allowed outside of the chamber." Kyoraku adds to Corkey's statement
"What time is it?" Kyoraku looks over at Corkey's watch.
"11:57."
"3 minutes left."
"We may lose Giselle." Kyoraku fears
Screeches and sounds of torment can be heard as Thesite is interrogating someone. A leprechaun, it seems.
"I swear! I haven't seen her!" Thesite has the fingers of the leprechaun in her hand and she is gesturing it closer to his mouth.
"I wouldn't forget what she looks like!" The man fearfully screams
"Are you sure about that?" Thesite prickles the man's neck using her nails.
"I swear!"
"Why would I lie?!"
"Ngrh..!" She throws him aside and he scurries off.
"That damn nocturne! She's making it so much harder for us!" Thesite complains loudly
𝟏𝟏:𝟓𝟖 𝐏𝐌
[Notice!]
[In 2 minutes, be ready.]
A panel informing them of their imminent demise flashes.
"So this is it." Kyoraku gives up
"This is when we'll find out if she's dead or alive."
"I'd like to say.." Thesite calls over their attention
"THAT I HATED WORKING WITH ALL OF YOU ALL!" She bitches, though it feels like she's just lying to herself.
"Especially you, Corkey." This time, it is real, her voice has pure disdain.
Corkey simply looks at her with a smile.
Nothing else is said until 1 minute remains.
𝟏𝟏:𝟓𝟗
[Try to survive.]
"Goodbye.. For now.." Zero waves to Samael.
Samael returns a small wave by tinkling his fingers.
𝟏𝟏:𝟓𝟗:𝟓𝟎
"See you all later!" Corkey smiles at the group.
𝟏𝟏:𝟓𝟗:𝟓𝟓
𝟏𝟏:𝟓𝟗:𝟓𝟕
𝟏𝟏:𝟓𝟗:𝟓𝟗
[𝟏𝟐:𝟎𝟎]
They get abruptly teleported into a large clearing with about 30 other people.
On the corner of their eye reads [39 remaining.]
[You have encountered a fragment of Apocolothoth.]
[Try to survive.]
Why did they appear in the same place? It was supposed to be a secluded day, wasn't it? They were supposed to do their hunts by themselves, for this day.
With them appears Giselle, her wings battered and it has holes torn off. Her face looks terrorized and she's in a pitiful state.
"Kill it." She says in a low voice
"KILL IT!"
!
That wave. It hit everyone equally, like an ominous sign that they are about to die.
Was that mana part of the occult? No, it's more pure, is it a demon's? It has to be.
That was the common thought, they were going to fight a demon.
Before they could react, the counter for the remaining survivors had already gone down.
[38 remaining.]
The others screamed and ran, some couldn't move at all. Some accepted their fate and only a select few remained standing.
They were braver than most, but the ones that stood died the second after.
[37 remaining.]
It ate the flesh of the person it just killed, and moved onto the next.
It wasn't a bizarre sight to see people be eaten, that was the entire point of the hunt, to eat or be eaten.
But they could not disturb it while it ate, they wouldn't dare.
It was not magic that held them down, nor the system.
The simple truth was that they were scared.
Kyoraku panted heavily, it was hard to breathe in that sickly aura of that monster.
It looked no older than a frail newborn, it did not even look any further than such. It was pale and it wielded what seems to be the ribcage of someone, it held the ribcage by the spine.
While it looked like a newborn because of its weird body, its exaggerated head and eyes that don't match its tall lanky body.
Its bones pierced outside of its skin, and its jaw looked overdeveloped and the canines on its mouth were horridly overgrown.
By the time it finished eating, it looked at its former prey, Giselle.
It glared and she cowered.
Quickly after, Kyoraku had manifested some bravery and placed a wall to separate the two, making sure that it did not look at her as prey, at least for now.
It quickly turned to Kyoraku and without a moment's rest, it lunged at him quickly and Kyoraku was barely able to react fast enough to create a wall and brace for impact.
Once the monster had come into contact with Kyoraku, it broke through his ice and scales but Kyoraku was able to hold it down for a few seconds.
He put his all into defending from that monster, but it was still strong enough to break through his defense.
"Corkey!"
"Roger!"
"I, the vessel of darkness, call forth the art and act as its will!" Corkey chants quickly and his shadow along with the others disappears and materializes into chains that held down the arms and legs of the newborn.
"Samael!" Kyoraku called
"On it." Samael lashes out his wires and binds the monster down a second time.
"Heavens, answer my call, correct your mistake and give me power to strike down all!" His wires began to glow a white light and the wires rampaged inside the fragment.
"Lord Ares, I offer my blood and pray for your divinity be given if only a little." Hector cuts his wrist and lets his blood fall on the ground and it forms a magic circle with it, which fly around and turn into spikes to impale the newborn from the brain, heart, and stomach.
Zero quickly follows up and freezes it inside a block of ice.
Kaley aims his arm forward and simply chants, "Trap" as a magic circle forms inside his palm and creates a thick layer of steel walls that cage the monster.
Nellia extends his hand to Kaley and asks, "If you will."
Kaley reaches into his bag and pulls out large chunks of ore and chants, "Create spear."
His chant was simple, but the manufacturing was excellent.
"Thesite." Nellia nudges her
"Fine." Thesite places her tongue on the blade and cuts it off, the supposed blood looks sort of green and definitely like poison as it seeps into the blade.
"Kyoraku."
"Here."
"Freeze." He chants and only the very tip of the spear got frozen, it looks razor sharp, however.
"Zero."
Zero follows and burns the handle.
She proceeds to walk over to Giselle, ignoring the fact her very arm right now is being burned.
"Giselle."
"Lightning, heed my call, be stronger than a storm, be faster than a bolt."
Giselle stands up and looks at Nellia.
"Kill it."
Nellia takes up a throwing stance, her legs are spread widely apart and she holds it with her left arm, the lightning and fire is scorching her arm but she stands her ground and throws it with the entire force of her body behind it.
The spear seems to have almost disappeared for a second but the ripples in the air did not.
BANG!
The sound only reached them now, but the cage they had made already had a huge gaping hole.
Her shot landed true.
"Is it dead?" Nellia pants, her arm is completely burned.
"We aren't getting a notification.." Kyoraku's eyes look baffled.
"Maybe it's just late, we'll get it soon."
A panel flashes before their eyes and a small glimpse of joy appeared, which was quickly shattered to pieces.
[36 survivors remaining.]
Their blood froze.
CRACK!
That sound was the sound of his weapon breaking, and the sound of cries were him getting a new one.
[35 survivors remaining.]
The next second, it was seen with a leg in its mouth and its weapon made love to Giselle's skull.
CRACK!
His new weapon had just broken. So he got a new one.
[34 survivors remaining.]
It glared at its new target, which was Kyoraku.
As it sat and ate, the damage they did to it disappeared, his wounds healed at speeds that they have never seen be matched.
In the truest form, it was a monster.
It lunged at Kyoraku and he only had enough time to block the incoming attack with his raw arm.
Its new weapon proved effective as he bashed the ribcage straight at Kyoraku's defending arm, it broke straight through his arm and the only thing left was his mess of a remaining arm.
Zero ran at it and ignited herself.
Kyoraku held the monster by the neck and in that moment, Zero grabbed onto its head and Samael used his wires to keep the infant stable.
Kyoraku backed off and Zero kept freezing and constantly melting the monster, turning him into nothing but a puddle of white skin and blood.
For a second, she saw a crystal, until it rapidly regenerated its entire body from scratch and the crystal disappeared as the monster blocked their vision.
Zero jumped away by instinct as it flailed around its horrible choice of weapon.
It rampaged and while it did, Tanuki transformed.
By the end of it, he held a lantern on his left arm and the creature, although it knew it overpowered Tanuki, it was struck with fear.
In this time frame, Kaley made turrets that shoot laser beams that disintegrated the creature, but it regenerated its wounds quickly.
Hector slapped it around and drank its blood while Thesite opened its jaw and jammed her hand inside.
"DIE!" A flood of acid came out from her palm and she slithered away afterward.
'The spell is going to end soon!" Tanuki sounds hurried, for once.
Before the spell even ended, the infant started rampaging again.
It struck eyes with Nellia.
It dived and in that time frame, someone jumped in front of her.
Before the newborn could land its attack on the defenseless man, Nellia slapped away her supposed savior and clashed her strength with the creature.
"Don't feed him! Kill yourself later if you want!" Nellia shouts at the clueless idiot.
The man was, unexpectedly, Zora.
He looked broken and he didn't want to stand up anymore as he laid on the ground, helpless.
As Nellia clashed with the beast, a wave of mana overpowered even the infant's, it felt scared being in the presence of such overwhelming power.
The man was no other than Ark, he descended from the sky and tapped the monster on the forehead as his blood from his fingers created a bubble made of blood that trapped the fragment.
"I suppose it was my mistake, but I really hoped one of you would read the books I availed for you all." His voice has a tint of disappointment.
"Alas, here you are, broken and scorched arms, ready to die to this baby."
"Anyway, you've been fighting it wrong." He scolds
He grabs the umbilical cord that stuck out from the body.
He pulled it and a sight of blood rained down on them before their very eyes.
Ark grabs a large gray crystal at the end of the cord and traps it with his blood.
"You were supposed to crush this." He lectures
The monster stops moving and lays lifeless, like a husk.
"Read up, will you all?" He snaps his fingers and everyone is covered in a white light then is teleported back to the Genesis.
Sergeant Jaune can be seen standing with a surprised stare.
"More of you survived than expected."
"Well, I only came here to congratulate any survivors, you may rest now."
A lot of them collapsed on the ground, they whimpered about how hard that hunt was and how they never wanted to do that again,
Jaune leaves and he's smiling slightly, he's grown fond of the kids.
-CoP-
Ark arrives at a blank white void, he has the large gray crystal trapped in his blood and it is floating just beside him.
"The great ones don't taste good." He wipes a smear of blood left on his cheek.
"Or at least, their fragments don't."
Katsumi is seen laying on the floor of what is practically an infinite void.
On his hand, he has a medium sized black crystal.
"I can't believe how pure his blood runs in you." Ark monologues to himself
Ark moves his hand around like he's manipulating something as blood pours out of Katsumi's ear.
Ark cuts himself using his nails and manipulates the flowing blood to go into Katsumi's ear.
As he finishes, the cut he made heals itself fully.
He grabs the crystal and opens Katsumi's mouth before dropping the crystal in and moving Katsumi's lower jaw up and down, forcing him to eat the crystal.
He places his index finger on Katsumi's head and places a small marking, it has a color of deep purple and a mix of the midnight blue.
"Now, we wait."