Ryoko hummed as she browsed the wet market on the 101st floor.
'No, it can't be truly called a wet market. For that, it must actually contain wet things,' she thought to herself with a giggle. It was close enough though, since food prep was practically illegal in the mega building. One couldn't risk fire spreading from careless hands after all.
She had long been tired of eating XXL Burritos, Mystery Meat X, Fried Noodles with Real Meat and Veggiestm. Vending machine food was cheap but the taste and the actual nutritional value were abysmal. Granted, most members of the household supplement their nutritional needs with meditation and energy absorption, but Ryoko, being the only Journeyman Imperial in the group, needs her good food. She contemplated advancing, but she actually can't. Not here, where the Empire was too far for the Empress' touch to reach. The entirety of the Chaos Sea, plus the leagues between here and Bresia, not to mention that they were probably in another layer of material reality altogether.
The Eternal Tower…she wasn't sure if Dragon Fall City was part of it, or just around it. She heard more than a few rumours, but they only spoke of the riches and tech that flowed from above whenever the mighty corporations succeeded in defending their stake in the first lower level. Where the entrance to that was, no one knew. There were speculations, but they remained that.
Then again, as far as most people were concerned, anywhere that there was a heavy presence of corpo sec forces or Lawbringers, could be an entrance site. They came and went, apparently, and there was a supposed delving calendar. It just so happened that when her mistress and companions entered the city, it was the start of a lull cycle.
Lull cycles were in the Season of Earth and Air, apparently, though that was by no means clockwork. Once the entrances were active, it would be easily apparent, though Ryoko couldn't quite figure out what they meant with having a flood. The city should receive adequate precipitation, right? She hadn't been outside of the mega building since they got here though.
"Ryoko! Nice to see you! I've got a fresh selection that came in just yesterday!" the stall owner, Flora, chirped as soon as Ryoko walked up to her. The stall was filled with food, but it was the kind that needed some assembly before eating. Slabs of bread, roasted chunks of meat, packaged broccoli sprouts, and pre-cooked noodles with the broth separated into containers.
"Flora!" Ryoko giggled, "You liar! I was here the day before yesterday and this bunch was still laid out."
"Ara, you must be mistaken," Flora said with an arched eyebrow, but with a twinkle in her eye, "These were fresh yesterday, but the ones you saw were a different batch."
"Hmmm, but the serial's the same," Ryoko said flatly.
"You didn't take pictures, did you? You don't have a mech-eye."
"No, I didn't," Ryoko grinned, "But I remembered. What's wrong with them?"
"Nothing, nothing. Just too big a batch is all."
"Well, I'll take the lot," Ryoko pointed at the pre-roasted meat cuts, the bread, and the faux-cheese slices."
"Making burgers, are we?"
"Yup!" Ryoko chirped. All she had to do was mince the meat, sandwich it between a couple of slices of bread, use the cheese to gel them all together, then throw it in the food heater, and it would be a good meal.
"One Ninety-eight."
Ryoko narrowed her eyes, "Ninety-eight."
"Are you kidding me? That'll cost me!"
Ryoko rolled her eyes, "No it won't."
"I have to make a profit, you know, even if I like talking to you," Flora huffed.
Ryoko grinned. "I know you love me."
"Urk." The vendor's face flushed and Ryoko giggled. "No less than one twenty. And that's a steal."
"Deal," Ryoko giggled as she toggled her watch to transfer the ACs while Flora wrapped up the purchase.
"Huh. The gang's gonna have a game tonight, wanna join?" Flora said in a rush.
"Hmm, I'd love to," Ryoko smirked, "but it'll have to be after dinner."
"Duh. We always go at nine in the evening."
"I'll be there."
"Hmmm, bring your boy, too."
"Dev? He's around. Why?"
Flora smirked. "Nadia fancies him."
Ryoko snorted. "I doubt she'll have a chance, but he'll come with me anyway."
Flora nodded and waved her goodbye as another customer called for her attention. Ryoko nodded, placed the groceries into her backpack, and wandered around the market for anything interesting she could find. After she picked up some odds and ends, mostly spices, she shot a message to Devotee that she was headed to the lift lobby.
"I'll be there soon," The Chaos Lord replied.
Devotee had been tasked by the young mistress to keep Ryoko safe. After her kidnapping in Bresia, Lady Yuriko had grown conscious of their vulnerabilities. Ryoko didn't know if she appreciated the care, or disliked the extra baggage. Devotee was loyal only to the young mistress and no one else, but could she trust the other's obedience? So far, they hadn't encountered anything of note, but it paid to be careful.
As she made her way to the lift lobby that would bring her closest to the apartment, Ryoko slowed down. Sticking out like sore thumbs were a group of men, or women, in powered armour. The suit concealed the soldiers' features and sex, but prominently displayed corporate insignias, a stylised letter contained inside a hexagon. She couldn't quite make out what letter, or perhaps runescript, it was. Their heads were covered with helms and visors. They were sweeping the crowd, who skirted around them warily.
A feeling of foreboding twinged within her, and Ryoko diverted her path. She shot another message to Devotee to avoid the lift lobby, but she realised soon afterwards that she was too late. Devotee walked into sight and Ryoko saw a wave of gazes turned towards him. She couldn't blame them.
As a Viscount Chaos Lord, Devotee's features and beauty were second only to Yuriko's. Combined with the fact that he had changed his sex to suit the young mistress, albeit because Desire tricked him, he still contained the androgynous features that made him attractive to any gender. Thankfully, he'd banked his flaming hair and switched it out to a crimson-red colour. It was in spikes, so it still looked like flames anyway.
He was clad in a sleeveless shirt and tight pants, along with a pair of calf-high boots that had metal spikes adorning it. He also had a spiked collar around his neck, and numerous piercings on his ears and nose. Devotee sported a confident smirk and walked like he owned the place, and everyone around him was his lessers. Well, the last bit was objectively true.
Ryoko didn't think the corpo goons were going to make trouble for Devotee, especially since the man wasn't actively challenging them. Ryoko had witnessed numerous fights involving the Chaos Lord, all of which he finished with an overwhelming show of power, and she knew if he was being provocative. He wasn't, right now. But apparently, the corpo goons were in that sort of mood.
"You there! Halt!" One of them brazenly pointed a finger at Devotee, who arched an eyebrow, then proceeded to ignore them.
"Hey!" The corpo goon stomped towards Devotee, planted himself in front of the Chaos Lord and yelled, "I said halt!"
"What do you want?" Devotee said crossly.
"Come with us."
"Huh?"
But another corpo goon who'd been glancing around caught sight of Ryoko. "There she is. Bring her along."
"Heh." The one in Devotee's face snorted, and Ryoko imagined that he was sneering underneath his helm. It took a bit of finagling before her Facet could interpret that corpo goons' mental state, and wiped her expression blank when she realised that they all mean business.
They were not playing around, though it might seem that way from how the first one confronted Devotee. Their emotions were perfectly controlled, and each of the six goons kept careful watch over both of them. Their hands never left their weapons' trigger guards, and the other four kept their gazes moving, to check for threats.
One of them was headed directly for her, and she saw Devotee frown. The one in front of him reached out to grab his hand, and once he clamped down on his wrist, the Chaos Lord said, "Hands off."
"You're coming with us."
"Tsk." Devotee closed his eyes for a moment, then muttered, "No answer?"
Ryoko hummed. It looked like the young mistress was preoccupied. She sent a message to Heron and Gwendith, then another to her protector. "Let's not fight here."
The corpo goon grabbed her arm and was about to place shackles on her wrists. The one in front of Devotee had already latched one of his hands.
"On second thought," Ryoko decided, "let's not get bogged down."
"Now you're talking." Devotee smirked, then said out loud, " I warned you."
"Quiet! You—"
Crunch.
Devotee ripped off the shackle, then slammed his fist into the man's guts. The powered armour crumpled from the blow, and the goon toppled over even as his helm's faceplate abruptly slid open and he projectile vomited.
"What the?"
Ryoko slid backwards, deftly avoiding the goon's hands. Then she coated her finger with Animus and used Empowered Strike. She jabbed it straight into his larynx, and the goon choked and staggered back. Then, she ran off, using her Animus to boost her speed faster than these goons could see.
"Knock them down!" She sent it to Devotee who returned the message with a cheering emoticon.
Giggling with glee, Ryoko ran into the rapidly dispersing crowd and headed straight towards the stairs. Another kidnapping attempt! How fun.
___________
Yuriko hummed as she examined the blob of metal. It was the fifth one she gathered from the drippings left behind by her foes. At the moment, she had hundreds of sunblades swirling around in an intercept pattern since she decided to take a break. Fluffington had been sending her commiserating thoughts as he had been starving.
She fed him her stash of rations, though most of the ones she had were the preserved, local variants rather than the Imperial Ration Bars. They didn't really have any of that left, and she regretted returning the fabricator to Finan. It would have been really useful now. Then again, there was barely any ambient Chaos to power the thing.
Quick forging wasn't quite what she had in mind while developing the Metal Style. It had been an amusing diversion, but ultimately, not what she wanted. She could already create as many weapons as she wanted from Animus and Radiant, so why did she need to do this? It would probably be better to steal her enemies' weapons rather than forging them in the midst of battle.
Would it be easy to steal weapons though? Probably not, and those whose weapons could be stolen in the midst of battle would hardly be of any concern to her. To her allies, maybe, but she was not making a military use sword style. She was creating one for her personal development. She could eventually teach it to others, but ultimately, it was her path that she was paving.
She tossed the forged longswords around her, controlled them with her Animakinesis so that they hovered just out of her reach. She could feel each one, even without perception or sight. A resonance between the blades and her senses. Was it her Ennoia? They were Swords after all.
She sank into a meditative trance as she brought forth her Ennoia of Radiant Flying Swords. The connection to the concept was tenuous since it was a self-discovered Ennoia rather than a shared Truth that was Radiance. But she felt the muted connection to the Ennoia of Swordsmanship, as well as every other variation to the concept.
She sank deeper and deeper into her trance, seeking a path, seeking a glimmer of Truth. All the while, her sunblades spun around her body, carefully avoiding the ceiling, the walls, and the floor.
And the blobby humanoids continued to march to their deaths, even as the succeeding variants grew progressively stronger…