— P.O.V Tearwyn Atler —
It's been a few hours since sister Artoria has left, and I still haven't found the stupid Light Scout. I really wish I could at least see what denizens were corrupted by the Light, but Divine Law prevents that.
Tearwyn: "Gah! Stupid Divine Law! I want to kick… oh? Who is that?"
As I was shouting against Divine Law for the billionth time, I suddenly felt someone coming to my universe.
Tearwyn: "No Divinity… a reincarnator? And not hidden from me."
I reached out, and captured the mortal before it entered my universe proper. It was heading for the world that I was viewing no less. As the mortal materialised several metres away from me, I kept her unconscious for a second. But, not feeling the stain of the Light, I just shrugged my shoulders and let her awaken.
As she was waking up, I took note of her appearance. She looks like a person from the Remnant planet.
(Source: From Saeko_Kaburagi personally~.♥)
'Neopolitan I think her name is…?'
"What is this adorable creature I see before me…" I heard her whisper to herself.
She quickly made her way over to me, making sure to avoid my sister's Black Water that was in puddles all around. The aftermath of our little water war we had a few weeks back.
Looking at her with a bit of suspicion, I asked, "Who are you? You don't belong on my world! … Not with the light though…"
"I got a quest to help a 'newly established Goddess' out. Invaders? Ring any bell?" she said while her hand twitched a bit.
I narrowed my eyes at her in thought as I looked her over. She has an ingrained system, not unlike the growth systems. Though, this one had a few extra bells and whistles in it. It'd help her grow, and a quest system that I couldn't get into myself, but I could view it. I was able to also see the skills it was gifting to her soul, and noted a few were hidden. One of such was that it made her, and anyone connected to this "Chat Group" she had, immune to Light or Dark corruption.
Finishing my inspection of the curious system I internally smiled as she seemed to be trying very hard to not pet my tails. While I was considering letting her pet my tails, I noticed the quest that had sent her my way had signs that it was very likely to have come from big sister Lilith.
"A quest... OH! Maybe from Big Sister Lilith! Yes, I have some invaders from the Gods of Light. You're here to help?"
My eyes glimmered with excitement at the thought of this mortal helping me. While she wasn't my sister, she seemed fun from all the messages I was able to read in their chat.
"Hm? Unfamiliar name.. Eh, roll with it.. Yes! I'm here to drop a mother-..lover. Gotta be fast though, I was tortur-interrogating someone who irritated me" she said before she had unconsciously given into the supreme fluff of my tails and started to gently pet one.
I permitted her the petting, as it wasn't unpleasant while I nodded my head to her explanation.
"Ah! Sister Artoria does that once in a while as well. Mostly when someone insults me though. Let's go then!" I said, as I couldn't wait anymore to have some fun. With a snap of my fingers we appeared on the planet she was originally sent too.
'I really need to work up the courage to ask Artoria if she'd let me come along like this. With our domain, I have more than enough protections to appear as a physical illusion.'
"Artori- Ah.." the mortal mumbled as she looked at the old sign off to the side of the road.
With a tiny sigh filled with nostalgia she read the sign out loud, "Goodsprings…"
The mortal then suddenly started to remove several of her clothes while grumbling, "..A nuclear Winter.. That would be better than this heat.."
I lightly giggled at her shenanigans, catching her attention. She gently plucked me from her shoulders and held me up near her face. I had shrunk myself down to what my sister would call plushy size. I remember the day I showed her this transformation, and her squealing that "Plushwyn is so adorable I am going to die!" The cuddles and head pats were gotten in spades that day.
'Ah, I should introduce myself. I also want to know her name, as calling her mortal sounds rude for some reason…'
Tearwyn: "Hi! I forgot to introduce myself, hehehe... I am Tearwyn!"
I gave a little wave and smile as I introduced myself.
Neo: "...I'm keeping you forever now. Well, nice to officially make your acquaintance. I'm Neo, the Drip Queen. Prankster extraordinaire and fader of reincarnators."
As she put me on her now bare shoulders as all she had on now was a leotard, pants and boots, I couldn't help but get curious at the new word.
Tearwyn: "What is 'drip'?"
I giggled a little as the word sounded a bit silly. Did she mean she was a water queen of sorts? A fairy of the lake like from my sister's tale maybe?! She is beautiful enough for a mortal, that's for sure.
'Maybe Artoria would like her for her looks as well?'
"Clothing. Stylish clothing. No.. Clothing so stylish it kills the morale of your enemies" Neo explained while walking under the shady entrance of the prospector saloon, where an old man was watching her seemingly talk to herself.
'No way am I going to let anyone stained by the Light see me. Or anyone for that matter, it'd only cause Neo here more trouble than she needs.'
Nodding to myself I say, "Oh, I see! Like the clothes big sister Lilith has, and Artoria!"
While Neo seemed confused at my statement, I couldn't blame her. She's never seen either of them, but if she had I am sure she'd agree that they would have "Drip!" I frowned as I looked down at the clothes I've been using since I've come into existence.
Tearwyn: "I don't have 'drip' do I?"
Neo hummed in thought before she said, "Not yet but you're with me, so you will. Hmm... a tiny little yukata maybe? Or tiny dark shrine maiden clothes.."
She tilted her head to the left a bit and made a point to ignore the old man that was now staring at her like she was bonkers as she was just talking to herself and standing in front of the saloon's entrance.
Neo: "Wait Artoria.. You mean like Pendragon?"
Temporarily ignoring her question, I instead snapped my fingers and dressed myself in some Dark Shrine maiden clothes.
Nodding to myself I ask, "Like this?"
I then answered her previous question before she could answer mine. My voice was filled with pride and sisterly love as I talked about Artoria.
Tearwyn: "And yes, that's the one! She's my sister, and she's on her way to ascension! She's been SUUUPER hard at work helping me with Light Gods invasions!"
Neo nodded her head along while I talked about my sister, but she seemed a little distracted by my change of clothes.
Tearwyn: "In fact, you had just missed her by a few hours when you suddenly entered this world."
She then started to move again, and I giggled lightly in glee as I enjoyed the ride. She entered the saloon, and as she made her way to the bartender I saw her skillfully swipe several bottle caps that were loosely hanging around on the tables. I was impressed as she did this all naturally while still talking to me like this was second nature to her.
Neo: "Sounds like she treats you well. Good.. The clothing trick though? Amazing. Now why don't you fill me in on this 'Light God' stuff? I've fought cringey reincarnators but this seems a little different."
She then bought a drink named Sarsaparilla from the barmaid who was named, "Trudy" it seems. She looked totally flabbergasted as she watched Neo walk away, most likely from how beautiful she is. Her system is also helping by granting her a "she is beautiful" like aura around her. But I was also a bit flabbergasted that she didn't know about the Light Gods. She has a system and a passive that protects her from the factions.
'Well, it's hidden. So maybe whoever reincarnated her didn't tell her for some reason.'
Tearwyn: "You don't know? How interesting, you have a system... Well, I am part of the 'Dark God' Faction. I am also a newer Goddess, so that makes me relatively weak in the grand scheme of things…"
My tails and ears drooped at the thought of my situation before I had met Big sister Lilith and Artoria.
Tearwyn: "So the Light Gods want all the universes I control to add to their own power base. Divine Law prevents actual God vs God fighting for the most part, so they instead send Reincarnators that have been corrupted by the Light. They also try to spread said corruption. It's super annoying."
I huff and cross my arms across my chest in annoyance.
Neo: "Wait, what the hell is 'Light corruption'? Are people forced to go to Church? Oh my god.. Do they get forced into becoming Mormons or Scientologists or something?"
Neo asked with a shiver and sat in a free booth as Trudy raised her brow in interest at the topic.
Tearwyn: "Haha, no silly! It's so much worse!"
I then gesture to everyone in the bar sitting around us.
Tearwyn: "Every single person here is corrupted by the Light! They are slowly being rewritten down to the core of their soul to be Agents of the Light."
Neo ended up doing a wonderful spit take mid drink which caused me to giggle a bit.
Neo: "Rewritten...? What, like they die? Or get enslaved by mind control?"
I was about to answer when a mortal in the next room shouted something.
???: "Oh praise the Courier.. My shootin' skill's improved tenfold!"
I saw Neo frown and her body tense a little from the sudden yell. She then looked like she ate a lemon with the scowl on her face.
Giggling a little at her face I gently pat her head and say, "Your first guess is the one that is mostly right. Who they are slowly gets changed so they are followers of the Gods of Light. You can think of it as Soul Control instead of Mind. But it's permanent, and you can only stop it a few ways and that is only if you catch it soon enough.
Let's take you for example! If you became corrupted, you'd slowly start to despise me, and anything Dark Related. And you wouldn't even notice the change. It'd be like you were like that from the moment your soul was created."
Her face somehow started to scowl a bit more while I continued my little lesson in how we Gods fight.
Tearwyn: "Eventually, everything about who you were. Your likes, dislikes. Who you consider family. Totally, and completely, will be Light aligned."
Her face started to pale as the realisation started to sink in just what it meant to be corrupted like this.
Tearwyn: "If your friends, lovers, or even family have ANY dark traits in them, you'd either seek to Corrupt them too if you were able, or call a champion to do it for you. Or failing that, you'd kill them because you'd be disgusted by their very being."
And that seemed to be the final pushing point for her, as she quickly got up and threw away her drink into a trash bin. She then carefully observed everyone trying to detect the corruption.
Deciding to help her out a bit like her patreon, I gave her a hidden skill that would let her detect anyone corrupted by the Light or Dark, while also letting her destroy the souls so they wouldn't just return to their respective Gods. As soon as the skill took hold, and was gifted to her soul, her eyes lit up in understanding. She nodded to herself, and started to act.
~ 5 minutes later ~
Neo was walking down the road as I enjoyed the ride still on her shoulders. The entire town of Goodsprings was alight in flame and was currently burning down. She spent most of her time getting spoils and loot before taking only a minute to actually start burning the town down. She took everything she wanted from the General Goods store, and some kind of device from a person she called "Doc Mitchel."
I couldn't help but giggle in glee at the carnage and destruction she wrought with such speed. She managed to kill everyone really fast, and the look on their faces was priceless!
Tearwyn: "That was fun to watch! You got some good items from your looting?"
Neo shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well there's the Pip-Boy. It's this world's version of a smartphone but.. worse? But better in some aspects. Thanks for telling me about this 'corruption' business. I hate that their freedom was so casually taken by this 'holier than thou' piece of garbage. But on the bright side, I know he could only go two ways. North, to get stung to death by Cazadores. Or East, to meet more people."
Neo was in thought as we were walking past some gang-like looking people. They were clearly going to attack her, but as soon as they got within a few metres of her, they were all dead. Neatly falling into bloody pieces as she ignored them and continued on.
With a sigh she said, "Hopefully they didn't go corrupting everyone or I'll have to nuke the entirety of Vegas…"
She was clearly dreading the amount of work that'd take.
Putting a finger against my chin I said, "From what I see, they try to get 'main people' they think are important. Or someone they like. This reincarnator has been here for a while though…"
I sulk and my everything droops as I think about my failure.
Tearwyn: "It's my failure for not being able to find them for so long. Like I said before, I am young and new to all of this still. Only a few thousand years old."
With a sigh I say, "It's one of the reasons I am working up the courage to ask Big Sister Lilith to let Artoria spread her Black Water, as she calls it, in all my worlds."
Neo: "Now now. We're doing it now, aren't we? Besides, if you did it a millenia ago, I wouldn't have been able to come out to help and screw around. Given that they've been here a while, I say we should clear every town we come across, mercy kill the corrupted people and find the 'protagonist' and kill him and whatever faction they are aligned with."
She started to give me some head pats, and I couldn't help but push into her palm a little bit as I perked up.
Tearwyn: "You give good head pats! Not as good as Artoria, but still really good!"
Neo: "That sounds like a challenge. I can cook for your affection too, you know? But enough about me, we're reaching Primm now."
I looked ahead and saw a decently sized (for the wasteland) town that consisted of a few small houses, a large hotel, a casino and a Mojave Express courier office. Though it looked like it was under military control, as a few soldiers were patrolling the streets.
Tearwyn: "You've been here before? I don't really like these kinds of worlds. Waste lands are boring…"
With a chuckle Neo said, "I know this place like the back of my hand. It's interesting, not in the sense of power scaling but the people who live in it and the factions vying for control. See, these soldiers? They belong to a democratic republic that wants to bring America back. Called the NCR. You know.. The America that helped end the world.
On the other hand, there's a bunch of misogynistic dudes dressed as Romans but with sports gear and machetes that listen to this old guy with stupid ideals. They're called The Legion. The 'protagonist' we're gonna kill chose the NCR, it looks like. Idiot doesn't even realise the true evil of the NCR…"
I nodded my head, and was only able to catch the last bit she mumbled because I was a Goddess. Or because I was right next to her, who knows.
I scrunch up my nose in disgust as I say, "I see. Explains the heavy Light presence here. It would be so much easier if Divine Law didn't prevent me from just washing them all away."
I watched on with mild curiosity as she paid a toll of 15 bottle caps to enter past the NCR checkpoint and entered the town proper.
'I wonder if she will grab those back when she kills them, since a lot of these people are corrupted…'
Shaking my head I say, "I am only allowed to be here because of you, by the way. Normally we can't even send an illusion or anything. We need a foreign element in the universe to act. It's dumb, and I don't get why it's like that!"
Neo hummed in thought before answering, "Because what fun is there if every God and Goddess were descending down? Worlds get destroyed, plots ruined and nothing but violence ever happens for a looooooong time. Bet those gods trying to steal your territory would have loved to go down there themselves and start converting people to the 'light'"
As I pondered her words, I casually noticed she was marking the people stained with Light for extermination.
Tearwyn: "Oh... that's true. While I enjoy the good slaughter as much as anyone, I don't want to do it all the time. I'd rather spend time with my sister, Artoria!"
I smiled at the thought while Neo nodded at my statement. We were currently making our way through the casino she had entered.
Humming to myself in thought for a moment I say, "I guess that is why Divine Law prevents us from corrupting our own universes with the Light or Dark ourselves."
I smirk slyly and clap excitedly as I say, "So that means Artoria's corruption is a loophole! Hehe, I knew she was awesome! Another point for Artoria!"
Chuckling Neo said, "Yeah. Just a shame so many Gods just seem to use these poor, deluded fools like that. Not you, of course. It seems like you really cherish her. The way family should be."
Tearwyn: "Of course! Big sister Lilith, and Sister Artoria were the only ones who wanted to help me! Everyone else abandoned me…"
Neo suddenly stopped walking, and was silent for a moment before she plucked me off her shoulders and gave me a soft hug before then raising me up to her face.
Neo: "I understand.. Really, I do. I felt the same way. Maybe it sounds awfully mushy but I was abandoned too. Maybe not physically but.. Now, we're in a better place. A way better place. And I'd be happy to officially befriend you and add to that little circle of people you have now."
I just stared at her wide eyed as she gently rubbed my head. Small tears formed in the sides of my eyes before I yelled out in pure joy. I quickly latched onto her face and hugged her with everything I had, tails and all.
Tearwyn: "I would love to be your friend, Neo!!"
Enjoying the hug for a few more seconds I then said, "And since we're friends now, I can give this to you now, and not have to wait till you finish helping me. I just know you'll love it!"
Without letting go of the hug, I snapped my fingers. I then saw the new ability form in her system and gift it to her soul along with the notice it displayed for her.
[Skill unlocked! Unlimited Dripssability]
[author] A side story staring Tearwyn~! Here is the first real chapter that Saeko and I worked on together~. Well, more or less anyway. Hope you enjoyed it~! [/author]