9 Actions, meet....
[2467 words]
[3rd POV]
This is not how it should go. She is meant to go down there. Deeper into the hell that has torn people apart since its inception.
She's meant to be a weapon. The sword that frees her family, the sword that cuts through the dragon her father failed to kill. An avenger.
'So why-'
Ais stormed through Orario with a blank expression on her face. Her features shadowed by her hair as she walked at a pace only an adventurer could muster. Hundreds of civilians unconsciously make a path for the sword princess as she storms forward.
The hushed whispers of those who notice her grow until Ais is seemingly surrounded with thousands of voices. Ais freezes as a child fails to notice her and blocks her path.
That one moment was all it took. Hundreds of people surround her. Their booming voices clashing against her ears like all too familiar cries. Silent panic begins to build as Ais frantically looks for a way out.
The entire street starts buzzing as people crowd around her like goblins trying to tear through her.
"SWORD PRINCESS!"
"THE LIST WAS ANNOUNCED!"
"WHY WEREN'T YOU CHOSEN?!"
"DID BETE LOGA RIG THE SELECTION!"
"HAHAHA I KNEW YOU WERE ALL HYPE"
"SOME SWORD PRINCESS!"
"HAHAHAHA!"
Ais feels her eyes burn as tears well up faster and faster. A deafening set of explosions ring in her ears as her heart beats faster. Weakness floods her body as she struggles to stay standing. Out of pure instinct her hand finds the handle of her blade.
She gnashes her teeth together as an extremely uncharacteristic look of rage surprises the closer spectators. Ais widens her stance as mana floods her body, her blade and sheath practically sing as her blade begins to leave its resting place.
"LEAVE ME AL-"
"LORD SHAI!"
"..."
Like a sudden wave of energy all the voices around Ais stopped. Ais freezes as the crowd around her suddenly looks past her and toward the figure standing off to the side. Tall, confident, well built, attractive, and sporting a look in his eyes that made it seem like he's seeing through whatever he looked at.
Ais looks at him for a moment before she grits her teeth and turns away. The crowd of civilians and adventurers ignore her as they swarm the supposed demi-god.
Another unfamiliar feeling wells up in her previously unfeeling heart. Something that anyone who was familiar with the Loki familia would attribute to Bete. Or even Loki when Ais talks to anyone other than her.
The hand on her sword tightens as she feels a well of anger build up in her heart. Pushing through the remaining crowd in front of her, Ais walks directly towards the dungeon.
The wind around her body ripples as her falna pulses in response to her emotions. Emotions that she's never really felt before. Ais keeps storming forward as she grits her teeth harder and harder as she nears her destination.
*vowum*
"Gods I hate crowds."
Ais stops the moment she hears him. Right next to her he just suddenly appears. Small golden lightning jumps around his body for just a second before an unrecognizable blade he was holding vanishes as well. He stands there for a moment and looks down towards a frozen Ais.
"Heya." Shai simply says.
Shai simply sighs as he re-adjusts a ring on his index finger. The crowd behind them starts bustling about how he simply vanished. Ais stares in shock as the people around them seem to just not see them at all.
"A gift from Hephaestus." Shai says. He holds his hand up and thumbs the jet black ring. "Should make the people not notice me for a bit. You looked like you wanted to be left alone so it should be helping you right now too." Shai shrugs as he steps past Ais and walks towards the dungeon. With a lazy wave Shai walks without a care in the world as Ais watches him head towards the tower.
'...'
Ais, even in the moment, couldn't muster an idea of why she did it. Why she drew her sword. Why she lunged at the demi-god with his back turned. Or why she thought it would work.
She made it to him faster than she had ever moved towards anything before. The anger, the resentment, the jealousy, the feeling of being left behind suddenly pushing her forward with her unbreakable blade pointed at his back. She stabbed forward with more killing intent than she'd ever imagine she could muster.
All for him to just no longer be there.
His rather sizable figure just, gone. No blur, no streak of movement. Just nothing.
Half a vision forms in her mind of her sight suddenly tumbling through the air. The ground suddenly becomes the sky as her hair flies wildly around her field of view. A torrent of wind collides with the street below her as screams of civilians fill her fading senses. Her head hits the ground only for her vision to be stuck at the sight of a clearly dead baby crushed beneath the unconscious form of the mother that was holding it.
This half vision suddenly becomes nothing as the moment never happens. Well, only part of it.
Ais stands there in shock as the force of her sword thrust sends a shockwave of air through the street. People suddenly cry out and shield themselves as a terrible current of wind causes carts and stalls to flip over and spill their contents everywhere.
As she stands there with her sword still pointed forward, civilians and adventurers panic and scramble to help those who were injured by the sudden force. Ais stares at a crying little boy as a large splinter of wood is jutting through his leg. Further beyond the boy a simple looking woman lay face down not moving, a beyond innocent life snuffed out in her hands.
Ais stares forward with a dead gaze. She almost doesn't notice the thrumming blade at the nape of her neck.
Ais turns her head as slowly as she can. Dread washes over her as an enormous white axe is thrumming in power right in front of her eyes. A radiant light pulses from the blade down the handle as Ais locks eyes with the one holding it.
Shai's eyes are glowing with anger as he stares right through her. A dense white mist is flowing off his face like tears. Ais can only stare in fear as his face trembles in rage. His arms shake as if he's holding back the primal urge to erase her from existence. He lets out a silent scream as a burst of light washes around them.
Ais can only see darkness as she's whisked away, at the mercy of the demi-god she tried to kill.
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[50th Floor, Now]
"Fucking stupid piece of shit!"
Shai's voice is dripping with venom as he tosses Ais' unconscious body to the side. Storming forward his radiant axe is absorbed back into his body as he approaches a colossal gray tree. Without hesitation he swings his fist with enough anger to kill.
*VWUMP* *SHATTER*
The titan of a tree is not shown a shred of mercy as its trunk shatters at his punch. The 60 meter tree is sent tumbling into the forest with speeds that don't make sense for something that large. The shattered base of the tree turns into shrapnel that shreds the forest before him. And then the wind.
A proverbial tidal wave crashes against the battered forest, lifting stones and damaged trees out of the ground as a trench is carved from the force of the wing alone.
Shai stands there breathing deeply as his anger simmers down. He watches the forest settle as his work finishes. It looks as if a meteor tore through the forest without care. The last remaining white light in his eyes fades as he takes a final deep breath.
Images of the scene from mere moments ago slam through Shai's mind. The weapon he used to revert time thrums in bloodlust as he could very well kill her now and revert back to when he didn't. Who's to say he hasn't already.
Despite those thoughts his steady breathing is still slightly labored as the aether drain from reverting time is still immense despite the mere seconds he actually used the ability for.
"..."
Shai glares at the unconscious girl behind him. With a venomous look he turns away and walks towards the clearing he fought the Valomyr in. Somewhere in his inventory a simple hammer whines in both fear and shame.
The ground is still scorched and broken from their last encounter, the dungeon seemingly not prioritizing fixing a lower floor safe zone. Shai keeps walking until he arrives at the enormous hole in the wall that the beast created to reach the 50th floor.
Shai glares down a long tunnel that goes into the darkness. Shai steps forward as radiant armor brightens the tunnel as it wraps around his form. The shimmering dies down to reveal a heavily armored Shai donning the armor forged from a Rezakiri.
As he nears the end of the tunnel roars of angry behemoths meet Shai's ears, only serving to make him increase his pace. By the time Shai emerges to see the blue topped trees of Conundrum Rocks his form is but a blur to the behemoths before him.
A colossal yet heavily injured Valomyr stands opposite two pissed off looking Moonreaver Shrikes. The Shrikes, themselves large beasts, stand together as the injured Volomyr bleeds before them. Clearly young, and perhaps overconfident in their own abilities, the Shrikes fail to notice the raging figure blurring towards them.
"GRAH!"
"SKRAAAAAH!!"
Like a hand of god Shai appears between the behemoths, his glowing armor shining like a star as his hands swing toward one of the Shrikes. The ground seemingly shatters as colossal roots and plant life erupt through the earth and skewer the Shrike where it stands.
The two remaining beasts hardly have a chance to react as the mass of wriggling ecosystem erupts and tears their bodies apart.
Shai stands in the center of the battlefield watching the mass of roots swarm around him like a tornado. His armored figure showed no signs of emotion as the shredded bodies of his enemies burst away, only leaving lumps of unusable materials.
"...hurry up."
His voice sends a pulse through the mass as it trembles in glee. Without further hesitation the wriggling roots converge towards Shai's outstretched hand.
Roots and plants condense and combine until a large hammer is composed of yellow and purple fungi like plates of clearly living membrane. The hammer writhes in excitement as Shai places the hammer against the ground. Purple mass erupts around the remains of the behemoths that were just effortlessly dispatched.
The reformed figures of the three monsters stand before Shai as he stares at them. Their bodies were now patched together with fungi like flesh. Most importantly though was the noticeable lack of intelligence in the eyes of now returned creatures.
Shai lifts his hammer and walks forward into the familiar hunting grounds.
[Back on Floor 50, Hephaestus]
"You went too far, both of you."
I couldn't help but sigh at the sight of Ais' (luckily) unconscious body strewn about in a random bush. It wasn't hard to figure out what happened. Loki will realize I read her child's mind but I'm sure she'll understand the situation.
*rumble*
"Sigh.." Looking down at the floor below the sight of Shai tearing through the behemoths sends shivers up my spine. He truly is powerful, and not to mention his weapons that could be easily described as holy artifacts.
"Home."
Instantly I return back to my office. Ais appears still asleep on a couch in the corner as I finally let out a breath in my chair. With a thought a message travels across Orario and into the mind of one drunken trickster.
Letting that stew I finally look at the work I have for the day. I suppose with the lack of expeditions deep into the dungeon the bigger familias have slowed down. I cant lie seeing the familia bank statement makes me a little sad since it's just been stagnant.
At least we are not spending much right now.
'Let me in!'
Oh great..
"Enter." A blur appears in the middle of my office, the unmistakable figure of Loki snaps her attention to me. "Welcome in, can I get you-"
"WHERE IS SHE??"
I stare at the loud woman for a moment which she clearly doesn't appreciate. As she's about to erupt I just point behind her.
The moment she finally sees her favorite child light surrounds Ais and heals any injury that she may have, I take the opportunity to stand up and meet Loki on that side of my desk. My entire home suddenly trembles as Loki starts shaking in apparent rage.
"Y-you….. YOU READ HER MIND!?"
I don't even bother defending myself from stupidity as her very mortal body tries to physically attack me. One of the rings on my fingers glow and a transparent dome blocks any attempt on my person. I simply hold a small glowing orb that contains the memory I glimpsed at.
For a moment Loki bubbles in anger again but reasoning seems to finally take hold as she stops her stupid assault and takes the memory from my hand. Loki turns from me and digests the memory as I let out a sigh.
"I know it's not the best situation but she could have very well injured Shai. At least he didn't do any actual damage and just knocked her out. With everything that's happening in Orario and the dungeon I know tensions are high, so please let's just put this behind us and move-"
"No."
"...What?"
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Loki spins around and I finally see the anger on her face. "I don't give a shit if she attacked first! He pulled a temporal weapon on my child! A FUCKING TIME AXE HEPHESTUS!"
I feel my desk behind me slide back as I flinch from Loki's tone. Pale blue energy blazes in her eyes as her anger bubbles around her.
"EVERY GOD IN THE CITY FELT THAT THING!" Loki practically growls as she, admittedly, tries to calm down. "Fuck his list he is never getting anywhere near any of my children."
"Loki you don't-"
"NO!" Loki glares at me again. I feel my hand fill with mortal blood as my clenched fist pushes my nails through my flesh. "My decision is final."
Loki wordlessly raises her hand towards Ais and the two vanish away from my office.
What the hell am I going to tell Shai?
