CHAPTER 413

CHAOS OF VOID (III)

Lucky groaned lowly as her eyes fluttered for a moment. Waking up, she cursed under her breath before reaching into her void treasure and taking out a burned talisman. Her face quickly cramped into a deep frown as she moved her arm sideways and shook Alison.

“Ally, wake up.”

“--uguhh... five more minutes...” a meek, sweet voice came from the other side of the bed as Alison pulled the blanket further over herself.

"We've been attacked," Lucky said, ripping the blanket off of her. "I've gotta report to Lino. Let's go."

“... can’t... can’t you do that alone?” a slightly watery, blue eyes looked pitifully at Lucky. She didn’t even notice them however, her eyes glued to the rest of the body.

“If your perfect tits don’t do it, your pitiful eyes certainly won’t either.” Lucky chortled, getting up and slowly dressing.

“... ugh, fine.” groaning, Alison got up and angrily put on some clothes, her eyes half-closed during the process. “Where have we been attacked?”

“Let’s go.” rather than answering her, Lucky simply stormed out of the room, expecting Alison to follow her.

The latter grumbled something under her breath but followed nonetheless. They navigated the rather simple streets of the fortress easily until they reached the basement floor of the central tower that was stacked with over forty teleportation arrays spread about evenly over two quasi-floors.

They went after the topmost one, with Lucky taking out a strange-looking talisman and burning it. The spinning vortex shimmered in deep crimson after a few minutes, causing both Lucky and Alison to step through.

The two quickly found themselves inside a simple room, decorated only with a canopy bed and a few bookshelves. Alison almost immediately cried out and covered her eyes, hiding behind Lucky. Lino sat upright on the bed, his back pressed over, topless, with Hannah lying next to him, leaned against his shoulder, barely covered up. She suddenly smirked as she glanced at Lino.

“... oh wow. Two girls show up in your room when you’ve already got one naked lying in bed... this must be a dream come true for you.”

“Well, yeah,” Lino mumbled, stroking his chin. “But it’s usually just two more of you, though.”

“... you can barely handle one of me. You’d die if there were three of us.”

“And it would be a death worth experiencing...”

"Yo, horny fuckers," Lucky quickly interrupted the two as she knew very well that moments like these could spiral."Aren't you a bit curious about why we came here? We came here." she emphasized again, pointing at Alison hiding behind her back.

“... yeah, yeah, what’s up?” Lino asked.

“We’ve been attacked.” Lucky replied.

“I didn’t hear anything. Though, admittedly...” he glanced at Hannah grinning.

“What can I say? I’m a screamer...” she shrugged.

“... not here you fuckin’... goddammit. You have to reign in those tongues of yours a bit!”

“Oi, if anyone’s gotta be reigning their tongues in, it ought to be you!” Lino exclaimed. “And if you’d like, I could show you how. Ask Hannah.” he grinned.

“You do you, L’. Or, you know, her.”

“Oi!” Lino exclaimed. “Are you perhaps dissatisfied with---”

“For the love of fucking gods, shut up!” Lucky growled the two angrily, causing them to shudder. “One of our stores has been taken out -- everyone killed. As in, fourteen people are dead.”

"... what?" Lino's demeanor immediately changed, his gaze turning frigid. "Which one?"

“Old Shank’s,” Lucky said. “Lyben arrived just a few moments ago to pick up the earnings only to find the building torched and their corpses hung outside, with a sign reading ‘Empyrean scum don’t have the right to live’ stuck in the ground next to them.”

“... do we know who did it?” Lino asked after a few moments of heavy silence. Alison seemed to have recovered, stepping up next to Lucky, somewhat frightened by Lino’s cold appearance.

“No. We don’t have experienced agents near there to conduct an investigation.”

“... if one is exposed, others might be too,” Lino mumbled. “Order complete withdrawal.”

“What?! That would set us back years!!” Lucky exclaimed.

“She’s right, Lino,” Hannah added from the side. “I know you’re worried--”

“We can always build back up, but the dead can never be raised back into the living,” he said. “Don’t worry. It won’t be for long. I’ll go over myself and investigate. There’s a hell to pay, after all.”

“... I’ll come with you.” Hannah said. “You two coordinate the temporary withdrawal. Use only secure houses and avoid cities. Inform Val and have her help you.”

“... you two... be safe, alright? You’re the voice of reason Hannah. Be one.” Lucky said before Alison and her left the room in a hurry, leaving worried-looking Hannah and angry Lino.

“That didn’t take long.” he mumbled.

“You know who did it?” Hannah asked.

“Eh, probably some of the locals,” he sighed. “Naive fuckers who have zero capacity for critical thinking, doing whatever they are told.”

“... so... the Descent?”

“Probably,” he shrugged, getting out of the bed. “I don’t know how they figured it out, but it’s not exactly as though we’ve built the system with them in mind. Goddamn... those fucking cunts. Involving innocent once more.”

“... I know one of the Descent’s quasi-quarters that’s nearby,” Hannah suddenly said after a few seconds, surprising him. He turned around and saw a pained and angered expression, turmoil in her eyes. “Let’s make it so that’s no longer the case.”

“... like old times, huh? You and I... putting the fear of god back into those who’ve forgotten it...” he smiled warmly and walked over to the bed, sitting down and hugging her.

“Still be a bigger man, Lino. Give them a chance to surrender.”

“I will,” he added, kissing the top of her head gently. “But you have to, too.”

“... eh, I’ll think about it,” she chuckled. “I won’t if they start insulting you.”

“... I’m sorry.”

“Hm?” she slowly lifted her head up and met his guilty gaze.

“In any other reality,” he said. “You’d be sitting on top of the world, protected from all its ills. You’d have everything and anything. Yet... here I go, marching you off into one deadly situation after another.”

“Oh, yeah,” she said sarcastically, smiling. “I was all about staying in my room and being doted upon before you showed up. Man, you completely totaled my life, you know?”

“... aah, I married a maniac.” he chuckled as the two slowly got off the bed. “You’ve been a pretty bad influence on me, you know?”

“That was the plan...”

“... let’s go raise some hell, then.”

“Yeah,” she nodded, smiling. “Let’s.”

**

A set of deep tunnels crawled through the belly of a spiraling mountain ring, connecting several underground towns in a strange symphony. The tunnels were decorated with embedded crystals shining away in the dark, creating strangely idyllic scenes on the corners where shadows melded together into an eerie compendium.

The tunnels currently had quite a few people streaming through them, moving in-between the towns, largely in silence. Among them was a masked figure wearing a rather eye-catching crimson armor set, his short, twilight-hair looming over the mask, barely covering ‘8’ at its uttermost-left corner

Just as he was about to turn a corner he came to a speedy halt and raised his head, his expression turning downcast. Raising his arms over above, he rapidly drew over a hundred threads linked together in a strange array that lit up golden, stretching into a cage that suddenly shot out and encompassed every single tunnel and every single town within its scope.

Just a breath later, a massive quake shook the foundations of the mountainous ring, as the ‘roof’ of the tunnels and the towns ripped itself open and crumbled into crumbs, flying up like an inverted rain. The clear sky soon screamed deafeningly before them, all staring with gaping lips. The mountains cleaved themselves off and flew undisturbed, a truly terrifying sight to behold.

“... Empyrean...” Eight mumbled angrily, spotting two figures in the distant sky looming over them. “This is bad...”