C88: Mortality and Quake*
Overall Word count = 2088 on 5/25/2024.
With the back pain settling down, Axel went to lie down in his own bed. He instantly passed out due to all the pain he felt. He only woke up 3 hours later with his body still feeling uncomfortable for the time being. With not much else to do. He began to meditate, and by meditating, he is conversing with Asura on any possible alterations that can be done to the mantra ritual to allow a different, less harmful ritual be done.
Afterall, he has not forgotten that he made a deal with Tiona. He is a man of his word and thus spends time with Asura but Axel noticed that Asura and the others would irregularly twitch. When he asked about it, they didn't notice any twitching or were confused by him.
This greatly worries him as he is concerned about rapidly gaining strength now because he is unsure what is causing him that pain from before. And if it truly is that level 10 is the end of the Falna, he who is reliant on the falna to survive would likely die. The thought is quite scary but he can't show any more weakness than he already has. He would only cause unnecessary worry for his loved ones if he showed a repeat of such a painful event.
With no real way to avoid getting stronger except just not fighting. It's impossible for him to not get stronger due to the passive gluttony he now has. Any long term contact would slowly drain from his loved ones. He is also unsure if the very air could provide him stats as well.
Yet he can't just not fight. Every, single, one of his soul fragments is built around fighting and even more so being a berserker, a reckless warrior with no self regard for his own safety. His very nature desires battle, it fuels him. Peace is no more than poison to his very soul. He can get around to lovemaking as it's another form of 'battle'.
'AGH, I won't get anywhere like this. I just won't care. Maybe my shade fragment will help save me from death. Or my next set of fragments would stabilize the situation." Axel vents as he rubs his hair into a mess before it naturally reforms back into its spiked state. He has no clue how to deal with the current issue, so he just won't care.
He goes over to the desk in his room, picking up the ink feather, he writes a letter listing the required materials for the ritual that Tiona would undergo. He was able to finally get the details while being lost in thought. Luckily his mind saved the details of the conversation, even when he wasn't paying attention.
He only wrote the ingredients needed and in what proportions as he is unsure if the other members of the Loki familia would snoop around with the letter. Afterall, Tiona is an executive and he they are from different Familias.
Axel stretches before opening his room's window to sneak out until he is outside the compound. He remains unaware of the gaze of two figures watching him. He makes his way to the north of the city. Passing by the Tower of Babel he travels down the main road. The sun has already set and the only indicators of locations is the various candle lights still flickering within the various homes and closing stores while the streets are adorned with magical lamp posts fueled with various monster cores to keep operating.
He soon arrives before the Twilight Manor of the Loki Familia. He spots guards standing at various locations, they look fully awake and are likely the night shift guardsmen. He can tell that most of them are just level 1s with a rare few level 2. He approaches the front gate.
"Hold, who are you? Why are you approaching the Loki Familia home so late at night?" The level 2 guard asks.
"I had only just returned from the dungeon and had taken a nap. I have a letter for Tiona Hiryute, from Axel Gram. When we met in the dungeon before, we had come to a deal. This has part of the information for it. Make sure she gets it or I'll kick your ass." Axel informs the guards that he means no harm. Unless they fail to deliver the letter of course. All the nearby guards who heard his name began to sweat as the past few days, news had spread about the newest level 7 of the city. Afterall, Axel leveled up to 7 then 8 in just the span of a week or so. News of him being level 8 shouldn't have spread yet. Raikou might not have announced it to the guild at all today due to the back pain he had experienced.
One amongst them takes the folded paper and heads inside while the other stands tall and ready, possibly hoping to intimidate Axel but he shows no change in expression except simply dullness. He is still lethargic from the pain. He just turns around to walk away which causes a sigh of relief to escape the mouths of every guard.
Meanwhile the one who delivered the letter suffers a bit under Tione's hand as he interrupted her "beauty sleep". After suffering some punches, he tries to wave the white flag which just turns out to be the letter. "I am just the messenger. Axel Gram has brought over a letter"
"AH" twomp.
Once both sisters heard his words. Tiona sneaks up on her sister before grabbing her waist and flipping her over her shoulder, flying back onto her bed while she gets the letter from his hands with an excited expression. Tione is surprised by the action as she lands on her bed
She begins to read through the letter and quickly finds that it is very formal as it simply lists out the various 'aspects' that she can take on and the material requirements for each said aspect.
Her options are: Strength, Speed, Fire, Light, Yin, Life. Next to each option is a 'risk factor' which is just a fancy way of saying that there might be a chance of rejection or death if she decides to choose one path over another. He wrote this risk factor while taking in what he went through in his own path to unlock wrath.
Life, Yin and Strength are the only low risk ones. Fire and Light are high risk while speed is the only medium risk one. She spends a few minutes on this before finally making her decision. He folds the letter and stores it away whilst dismissing the guard, thanking them for delivering the letter. She closes the door and stores the letter under her bed to prevent her sister from reading it and goes back to sleep. Tione on the other hand has a scowl on her face as she looks at her sister as if a stranger.
She has never seen Tiona act like this before. She understood that there was some mention of a deal but she has no clue what price she might have paid or might pay on her end once the deal is complete. Yet she now sees her sister acting all lovey dovey like she does over the captain (Finn Deimne) and is perturbed.
A long time ago, after leaving Telskyura with her sister. She had a sudden revelation that her sister had been fighting hard on her back by taking her place in some of the fatal battles within the amazoness home. Her heart always aches whenever she sees her sister being unhappy when she has already fought so hard for the both of them.
Tione felt guilty ever since that moment, but she feels relieved that Tiona has finally taken an interest in someone else. She is still surprised by her behavior, that is undeniable, but is happy that Tiona found a man she likes, and one that is so strong at that. If she had not been defeated by Finn all those years ago then she might have joined her sister in being Axel's woman.
While being lost in thought, Tione suddenly gains a great curiosity for what the letter held. She snaps out of her thoughts and decides to vent her from being woken up by jumping her sister.
"AGH. Tione!! Get off me" Tiona demands but Tione doesnt relent as the duo begin to fully slug each other as Tiona makes her demands.
"Show me the letter my dear sister and i'll leave you be. HEHEHEHEHE" She laughs maniacally as the duo wake up many others with their fight until Tiona overpowers her sister and hides the letter within her underwear. Unfortunately such an action does not deter the amazoness as she quickly rejoins the fight.
The other executives finally exit their rooms to see what the situation is. Loki herself also comes down and her eyes shut open upon seeing her 'lovely' Ais in her pajamas. She begins to wiggle her way around until she stands next to Ais.
"Ais-chan. Since everyone seems to be up and energetic. How about you join me in my room to Ech" The goddess' words are interrupted by a staff hitting her head. She pouts and is dragged away by Riveria while Bete Loga begins a screaming match with the amazoness who decide to team up to fight him. Finn and the others, except Ais, had to join in to stop the mess before Tiona finally relents to spill the details about what the letter contains. When they saw that it's a very confusing shopping list. They began to bonk Tione on the head for causing so much trouble for nothing. Everyone then returned to sleep.
Unlike the others, the lone peeper, Ais Wallenstein, has a perfect recollection of what transpired in the dungeon that day as well as the details of the deal. She ponders on what type of power would Tiona get. Her thoughts turn to her parents. Her mother, devoured by the One-eyed Black Dragon, and her father who ensured the black dragon was indeed one-eyed. Her desire to slay the great beast makes her imagine a scenario where she takes Tiona's place in that situation. Her panties become wet again as she reaches her first touchless orgasm. This would prove to be a sleepless night for her as her mind would be locked onto that memory and the sensation she had just felt.
Axel remains unaware of his actions as he returns home and sneaks back into his room to properly sleep the night away. Upon waking up, he finds his room is a mess. Ink spilled all over his desk, a few items have fallen over. He gets up, dressed and gets to cleaning while being confused over how it got so messy. He leaves his room to find that most of the hallway is a mess as well. Random bits of the walls have broken off and the Pendragon Familia can be seen cleaning up.
Raikou and others soon leave their rooms to notice the damage as well. "Does anyone know what happened?" Axel asks and the two oni's give their answer, "It was an earthquake. We were woken up by it in the middle of the night. They are pretty rare here because the dungeon acts as a buffer against any sort of tremor."
Axel nods in understanding and with nothing better to do, he gets to cleaning as well. He proposes to Raikou a suggestion, "In a few days we can request the Goibnu familia to remodel our home. The obvious state of the walls shows long signs of neglect."
"Why in a few days," She asks.
"Well if our home is like this then what is the condition of the rest of the city?" He asks rhetorically which causes Raikou to nod in understanding as Goibnu would likely be swamped with various orders and their work quality could suffer as a result of being spread so thinly throughout the city. Axel ponders how this would be a good exercise for anyone who had been able to buy the civilian based magic items from Axel. Such as those that contain cleanse. Of course any larger chunks of debris would still require some more manual work but the smaller bits would be turn to dust and disappear under the spell.