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Author Note:
[ ] = When Twilight is speaking.
{ } = When talking through Telepathy.
' ' = When thinking in your mind.
<< >> = When talking with your Pokémon or Tamed Beast.
--- --- = When describing a certain period OR Another place.
** ** = Point Of View, i.e., POV
/// /// = In Call
" " = System and when talking to it.
「 」 = Thoughts being heard
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--- Mary Skelter: Nightmares, Downtown ---
After entering Floor 2, they immediately noticed the pieces of dead marchens on the ground. A part of the street was also covered in a large amount of Marchen's pink blood.
Slowly approaching the area, Lumine crouched and touched it.
Lumine: It's still somewhat wet and hasn't dried completely. This means these Marchens died at most 1-2 hours ago.
Otsuu: I didn't know you have medical knowledge, Lumine.
Lumine: I didn't know either.
Otsuu: Eh?
Lumine: It just appeared in my mind on its own.
Otsuu: Oh, you did tell me that you don't have any past memories, but you recall some of them from time to time. And now you remembered some therapeutic knowledge… Could it be that you were a doctor or researcher?
Lumine: I… don't think so. Because I feel that I only have some superficial knowledge of that field.
She then stood up and looked ahead.
Lumine: There is no other path. We can only proceed forward. And if this blood is 1-2 hours old, then...
Otsuu: The person or creature responsible for killing almost all the Marchens on Floor 1 must be ahead or still roaming on this floor.
Lumine: So, we better be careful.
Otsuu: I understand.
As the two continued, they saw a few more carcasses of dead Marchens on the way, which seemed to have not died too long ago.
Soon, they reached a two-way path and stopped. One path had traces of battle, and the other was clean.
They might have taken the former if it had been before, but then they saw a Marchen patrolling the latter path.
Seeing it, they both came to a standstill.
Otsuu: Uh… Lumine. Is that Marchen...
Lumine: A red Marchen with a horse head walking on its two legs with metallic claws. Its arm has two long metallic spokes and has a big wheel behind it.
They then both looked at each other and spoke
Otsuu & Lumine: That's the target of the third request, Trojan Horse!
Then, without further ado, they ignored the flesh-covered path and took the clean one to their target.
As always, the Trojan Horse was patrolling the downtown area. But then it heard someone coming from behind and turned.
Lumine: Hah!
The Blonde jumped at it and swung her sword.
SLASH!!
CLANG!!
Surprisingly, the Marchen raised its spikes at the last moment and blocked it.
Still, because of the disparity between their strength, it was pushed back ten steps before it fell on one of its knees.
THUD!!
Lumine: Oh…
While she won the confrontation, the Traveler was still amazed that Marchen could react to her attack.
At this time, the bamboo girl walked over to her side and explained.
Otsuu: The unexplored areas indeed have strong Marchens, which is why no one can map them. But with each passing day, Jail itself becomes slightly stronger. So, Marchens also experience a substantial increase in their strength.
Lumine: In other words, I can't always think of killing them with brute force.
Otsuu: Yes.
Nodding her head, the girl charged again.
SWOOSH!!
Seeing the approaching human, the Marchen stabbed with its metallic spike.
THURST!!
However, when the spike was about to touch Traveler, she turned clockwise and lowered her body before making a diagonal slash from bottom left to top right.
SLASH!!
SPLURT!!
The attack was so accurate and precise that it directly severed the horse-head of the Marchen, making blood gush out its headless body like a fountain.
PLAT!!
THUD!!
A second later, both the head and the body fell together.
The girl swung her sword to the side to remove all the pink blood on it before grabbing the wheel behind it and breaking a part of it as proof.
Otsuu: That's one down. How many more do we have to kill?
Lumine: Two more.
.
.
Soon, they found the remaining ones and hurriedly killed them.
The bamboo nightmare asked as the blonde was about to take a part of the wheels.
Otsuu: What's next? We still haven't found the corpse turned Marchen yet. Should we venture deeper?
In return, the girl shook her head in denial.
Lumine: According to the request, Marchen should be on Floor 1. If it's not, there is no need to go deeper to find it, as ordinary people won't be able to go there.
Otsuu: I see. So, we are returning.
Lumine: Yes. The next stop is Graveyard.
After planning their next destination, Lumine started taking proof of the kill. She also took this moment to check whether all the materials had been gathered as requested.
While she was doing so, Otsuu, on the other hand, kept her guard to ensure no one would ambush Lumine while she was busy.
.
.
Time went by.
As Lumine concentrated on sorting things, Otsuu, who was guarding her, heard the sound of approaching footsteps.
Hearing them, her expression turned solemn. She then left Lumine while making sure not to disturb her.
When she reached the end of the street and turned, she came face to face with the person before both came to a standstill.
???: ...
She was a teenage girl almost the same age as Red Riding Hood. She had long blue hair and eyes and wore clothes in the same color scheme as Red Riding Hood. What stood out more was what she was wearing on her feet.
On her left foot, it was a typical knee-length shoe, but on her right, it was a metal shoe with a sharp blade underneath, indicating that it was a weapon.
Otsuu also noticed that the girl was covered in pink Marchen blood and had minor pieces of fleshes falling on her clothes.
'Otsuu: Don't tell me. She was the one who killed all those Marchens on the previous floor and this.'
???: A… Human-like Marchen.
The girl was also surprised to see Otsuu's appearance at first, but then she collected herself and took a fighting stance before attacking with her right foot.
The bamboo girl was prepared for it, so she wasn't surprised. However, the speed of the kick still startled her.
SWISH!!
Side-stepping, she made her miss her attack.
???: Wha---
This stunned the girl since this was the first time she had seen a Marchen dodging her instead of fighting head-on.
Otsuu had no intention of letting go of this opportunity as she brought her tentacle-like right hand and struck.
The blue-haired girl decided to focus on the enemy for now and put all other thoughts away. Her body moved swiftly, making all the tentacles go past her.
This made Otsuu narrow her eyes.
'Otsuu: She is fast… But that's not all. It's her experience speaking.'
When the bamboo girl was distracted momentarily, the blue-haired girl found some opening and strike.
It is too bad that she was not the only one with battle experience here. Otsuu's experience was even richer as she had lived in the Underground Cavern among the over-leveled Marchens, where a single misstep could lead her to her demise. Hence, she easily dodged and blocked the blue-haired girl's moves.
This put even more pressure on the blue-haired girl as her forehead was soon sweaty.
'???: Just when such strong humanoid Marchen appeared in Jail.'
BAM!!
Both fists collided, and the blue-haired girl was pushed a few steps back while the bamboo girl remained on her spot.
'???: Damn it.'
Not only girl was pushed back, but her hand had also turned numb.
'???: Looks like this is where I die today.'
She thought as Otsuu was walking towards her.
The girl took a deep breath and retook the stance.
'???: But I refused to go down without a fight.'
The Bamboo Nightmare also understood that the blue girl was preparing for the final struggle. She had seen many humans who made their last-ditch effort when they realized there was no escape.
When they were only 3-4 steps away, the blue-haired released a barrage of punches and kicks. Since she was giving her everything this time, those strikes held even more force now.
Frowning a little at such an increase in strength, Otsuu didn't retreat. Instead, she started using even more strength and soon overpowered the girl.
Biting her teeth in frustration, she released a final kick which contained all her remaining power.
???: Hah!
SWISH!!
The bamboo girl ducked at the last moment, making the blue-haired girl's attack useless.
Now it was Otsuu's turn. Suddenly, her tail moved and grabbed the girl's left ankle.
???: Wha---
Since she had used her right leg to kick, the movement Otsuu pulled her left leg made her lose her balance.
The Tail raised the girl upside down before slamming her hard on the floor.
BAM!!
???: Gah!!
An excruciating pain went through the girl's body, making her almost lose her breath. But Otsuu didn't stop there. She slammed her two more times on the ground, then slammed her on the left and right wall a few times before throwing her in front.
SWOOSH!!
BANG!!!
???: Argh!!!
The girl let out a painful scream as she was plastered on the wall at the end of the street.
Otsuu really didn't show her any mercy. After all, with the exception of Lumine, other humans and nightmares were still sworn enemies. Otsuu also think of humans as the same. And if their position had switched, Otsuu was sure this human girl wouldn't have shown her any mercy either. So, why would she?
The Bamboo Nightmare's eyes were cold and indifferent as she approached the now blood-covered girl embedded in the wall.
Once in front, she extended her tentacle arm, which pulled the girl out before coiling around her arms, legs, hands, feet, chest, waist, and neck, completely restraining her.
???: Auh…
The girl wanted to resist, but she had no more strength. Hence, she could only let Otsuu do what she wanted.
Otsuu: Die, human.
Once her words fell, the tentacle squeezed the girl.
???: Aah....
The girl wanted to scream in pain, but the tentacle around her neck was preventing her voice from leaking.
With each passing second, she can feel her life slipping away.
'???: I… don't want to… die.'
That was her last thought before darkness consumed her consciousness.
The Bamboo girl looked at the lifeless blue-haired girl wrapped in her tentacles with the same cold expression. Otsuu had witnessed it many times while living in Underground Cavern. Strong survived, and weak perished. Hence, she found no remorse in killing her enemies.
However, just when Otsuu thought it was over, and the last breath of life was about to disappear from the girl, a crazy, bloodthirsty, ruthless, killing intent started coming out of the girl.
???: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
More Marchen blood started coming out of her before wrapping around her.
Otsuu felt a chill down her spine, witnessing the girl's transformation. Her strength was increasing rapidly to the point that the tentacles holding her couldn't restrain her for much longer as she started to break her.
'Otsuu: How could this be!? Where is she getting all that power!'
As the Bamboo Nightmare looked at the girl in shock, she heard an anxious, familiar voice from behind.
Lumine: Otsuu, let her go and retreat! Hurry before she completes her transformation.
Deciding not to waste time in questioning, she hurriedly pulled back her tentacles and jumped back.
After falling to the ground, the girl slowly started to stand up with more Marchen blood swirling around her.
???: Hehe… hahah…hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
At this moment, Lumine came from behind Otsuu and stood before the girl. Grabbing her shoulder, the blonde pushed the girl down and placed one hand on the back of girl's head.
Then, golden Adeptal energy emerged from it and entered the girl's mind.
???: Hahahahahahahahahahahaha…hahahahahaha…hahahaha…
Before long, her smile ceased, and the bloodthirsty aura and violent Marchen blood around the girl resided. And then the girl fell unconscious.
Seeing her lying on the ground, completely blacked out, Lumine muttered under her breath.
Lumine: Another Blood Maiden. Huh.
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*A/N: Please throw some power stones.
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