Scylla Pt 2

I'll figure it out later. What matters is that one of those things is dead. Because of our efforts. My efforts. Mary smiled back, giving Trya a thumbs up as well. Huh. That's oddly satisfying.

Dropping her hand, she turned, internally noting the number of other dead Megalodons in the area. One had been defeated by the combined efforts of Gabiru, Geld, and Geld's orcs.

Heh. She couldn't help but feel a little smug, having taken one down. Her smugness evaporated upon seeing Hakurou, who had expertly diced a Megalodon like a sushi chef. All by himself.

I… see I have much to learn from him, don't I?

Two more had been taken down by Souei, who had apparently taken control of one in order to attack another. In the same area, Shion had beheaded one as well, standing on the back of Rimuru's dog thing – Ranga? Mary thought with a raised eyebrow – which was somehow floating in midair. And yet another had been slashed and incinerated by Benimaru.

Scary… but that just leaves-

A roar had everyone's eyes shooting skyward. Up, up, and up, higher than everyone else except for Charybdis came the sound. Only, this wasn't the roar of a Megalodon, or of Charybdis itself.

It was the roar of an inferno.

"Holy-" Mary's jaw dropped.

"-Shit." Trya finished.

An enormous mass of orange-crimson fire engulfed the last two Megalodons, their charred corpses plummeting to the ground below.

And floating behind them, with a hand raised and a familiar annoyed expression, was-

"Degurechaff!" Mary breathed. Tanya's eyes shot her way, the note of surprise on her face somehow obvious even from distance.

However, before Tanya could descend, and before Mary could even begin to wonder at her surprising relief at the sight of the other woman, another unknown sound drew their attention. And everyone else's as well.

It was an unsettling noise, one would best call it. A sort of cacophony of clicking and clacking, along with the whipping and whistling of wind descended upon them. A large shadow accompanied by countless smaller ones blanketing the area at the same time.

Are those…

"Scales?!"

They descended before anyone could react, a hailstorm of sharpened edges slashing through the air at high speed.

Mary's sword was back up in an instant, her reflexes from years of war – foggy as the memories may thanks to Being X's influence – and months of relentless training with Hakurou the only thing keeping her head and limbs attached to their various sockets.

Raging Rapids!

Water engulfed her and her blade, Mary's momentum carrying with her as she spun, weaved, ducked, and dove through the scaly maelstrom.

FWOOOOOOM

Then, it was over. Mary looked up, just in time to see the purple remnants of Rimuru's Gluttony fade away. Even closer, she could see wisps of flames fading out, Tanya's form slowly descending as they dissipated around her.

Rimuru's gotten stronger. And Degurechaff's holding up, even though she was right in the thick of it. Sweat bled into her eyes, various small lacerations along her body staining her blue button up and black pants. Scary. Scary, scary. These guys are the real monsters.

Mary wiped her lip, wincing. Blood stained the back of her hand.

Must've bit my lip. That's going to suck. My leg hurts too…

She glanced down, her eyes quickly widening in shock. As if her body had forgotten about it until now, pain lanced through her then, her knee nearly buckling under her own weight.

Fuck!

A gash cut horizontally across the side of her knee. Not too deep, but deep enough that moving her right leg was incredibly painful. The smell of sweat and metal filled her nose, the blood oozing out into her ruined pants leg.

"Lord Rimuru!!"

Mary looked back up, noting the panicked expressions of Shion, Souei, Benimaru – uh, basically everyone else except for Degurechaff, who was heading her way, Mary realized – as they stared at Charybdis.

She had no idea why they were panicked, to be perfectly honest. Rimuru would be fine. Whatever had happened. He'd done too much crazy shit to be worried about.

At least, that was what Mary figured from her own (admittedly limited) interactions with the slime. A real cause for concern was the startup of a familiar sound. A spine-tingling cacophony. A clicking and clacking, and the whipping and whistling of wind.

Mary saw Tanya dive, moments before her attention was forcibly drawn back down to herself.

Shit! Shit! She tried to step back, then she tried to pull her sword back up into a guard.

She couldn't manage the first, her knee threatening to buckle and have her eating pavement, and she barely managed the second, the guard a pitiful shadow of what it should have been.

"Mary! Move!!"

"Shuna?" Mary turned her head, barely able to see the pink Kijin before Benimaru appeared, forcibly pulling his sister behind him. He looked up, his expression turning shocked as he noticed Mary's predicament.

"Shit, look out! Someone-"

Mary couldn't hear the rest, her heartbeat drumming in her chest. Her gaze shot forward, and in that instant, Benimaru's fear made perfect sense. Scales, several in number, were hurtling towards her, their sharpened edges poised to cut her down.

Mary's eyes widened. She couldn't move. Her injured leg stuttered under her weight. Her heart froze in fear, her mind stuck in place just the same as her body.

What should she do? A spell? A burst of energy?

No. She couldn't think of anything. Couldn't focus.

Is this it?

"Get down you idiot!"

A hand shoved her from behind, the scales ruffling her hair as they whipped by.

CRRSH

Red splashed across her vision.

Mary turned as she fell, the world seeming to fade into slow motion. The right side of her face burned hot and sticky, drenching her cheek and shoulder.

She saw red through one eye, her lashes heavy with the disgustingly familiar substance. She saw Tanya falling backwards, her left arm torn through in several places, a huge gash cutting under her forearm. Two similarly deep gouges tore through the outside of her elbow and bicep.

Realization hit like a truck.

It was Tanya's blood on her face.

For some reason, this fact struck a particular chord in her chest. Tanya had saved her life, just now. That would have been her neck. Her face, and her chest.

Tanya had saved her, Mary. And she had paid the price.

Mary barely managed to catch herself on hands and knees, her palms scraping on the ground. Her whole body shook.

Blood. I hate blood. Why does everyone have to bleed?

She pushed herself up, ignoring the still active whirlwind of scales above her. Shion and Souei could be seen up above, dodging and weaving through the deadly rain.

Stop it.

She got to her feet, face shadowed. As if sensing her anger, another wave flung themselves in her direction. Out of the corner of her eye, Trya could be seen bracing herself against a tree. Hakurou stood in front of the dryad, sword out and ready.

Stop it!

Her magical signature flared. A poisonous neon green engulfed her, her magic ebbing and flowing like the ocean in a storm. Far behind her, Benimaru and Shuna watched in shock and awe.

"That's enough!"

Mary's head snapped up, her eyes shining valiantly. She shoved her hands forward, a sparking ball of magical energy forming between her palms. Tendrils of magical energy shone through her fingers, and her eyes glowed, cracks of sparking electric green zigzagging down her face.

-=-

Art by (@tanjaded)

-=-

The scales closed in, thirsty for more blood. Someone was called her name. Shuna, and Hakurou. But she couldn't hear them. They were within spitting distance now.

Then, just as she seemed fit to join Tanya in the bloody dirt, her power exploded outwards, a pulse of neon green magical energy flinging from her hands and hurtling through the air.

The ring of magic spun as it went, crackling energy engulfing and passing through the scale-based whirlwind without pause. In the ring's wake, Charybdis' scales were halted entirely, and they plummeted uselessly to the ground, like puppets with their strings cut.

The ring continued its flight at rapid pace, not stopping until it crashed against the side of Charybdis itself. It was then that burst of magical pulse dissipated, Charybdis' Magic Jamming making short work of it. Though, not before pushing the massive beast backwards just a bit.

Charybdis opened its mouth, a furious roar shaking the area.

Everyone readied themselves for another attack. But none came.

Even Charybdis seemed confused, it's roar becoming even more furious as nothing followed its rage. In that moment, a shadow darted from in between its teeth, unnoticed in the midst of its bestial fury.

Mary lowered her arms, the muscles twitching. Her body felt like it was on fire, and her eyes and cheeks felt like they'd been punched by an angry bear with superstrength.

She shook like a leaf in the wind, her knee threatening to give out underneath her. It was only an sharp unwillingness to look away from Charybdis and a truly breathtaking amount of righteous anger filling her chest that allowed her to remain standing.

There was also the fear of looking backwards and seeing that gruesome sight yet again. The blood pouring from Degurechaff's body, her arm and face a mess of-

"Well, that was impressive." Came a voice from behind her.

Mary flinched, turning slightly. "Huh?"

"Why didn't you do that earlier?" Tanya stepped forward and crossed her arms. the only indicators of her previous injuries being the blood drenching her sleeve and the scrape along her magisteel arm bracer.

"I- huh?" Mary was dumbfounded. To be frank, it was a bit hard to process the sight before her at the moment, what with how serious the wounds had been and all.

Then again, Mary herself was quite injured and exhausted, so that might have been part of her inability to properly respond.

Tanya raised an eyebrow at her.

"I told you earlier, didn't I?" She held up a hand, an empty vial in her hand. "Remember, I said 'I have a potion on me, but I'd rather not waste it on something avoidable'. When we were training. I've had it the whole time. Don't tell me you were genuinely worried on my behalf."

Mary continued to stare at her in disbelief. Tanya stared back.

"…What?"

Mary said nothing, instead opting to collapse as the two factors keeping her upright disappeared. Tanya was there in an instant, her magic-enhanced speed allowing her to catch the other woman before she ate the dirt.

"Whoa there." Tanya helped her to the ground, scanning for injuries. She didn't need to look far.

Bruises under Mary's eyes and across her cheeks, minor lacerations across her arms and legs, and a major laceration along the outside of her knee. This was alongside magical and physical exhaustion, of course.

She was in rough shape, one could succinctly describe.

"Well, this is familiar." Tanya murmured, adjusting her hold and leaning forward so that Mary was laying on the ground instead of in her arms. "Though, last time I saw you this injured, it was my fault."

Tanya sat back on her heels, her gaze zeroing in on the facial bruising again.

"Bruises really shouldn't show up this soon. And the skin is cracked in places, though not bleeding… from magic leaking through?" Her brow furrowed, "Then, this must be your version of Skill overuse. Not quite breaking bones, but certainly up there."

"Tanya! Mary!"

Tanya looked up. Shuna sprinted towards them, an orb of full potion in both hands. She slid to a stop next to them, crouching and tossing the potion in both of their faces.

The orb popped over Mary's face, her wounds closing and her bruising fading back into healthy tanned skin. She sighed in her unconscious state, her body relaxing. On the other end of the spectrum, Tanya caught the orb intended for her, an eyebrow shooting up in surprise.

"Tanya!" Shuna frowned at her. "You need to… heal..."

She trailed off. Tanya shot her a bemused look.

"I took care of myself already." Tanya tossed the potion orb up and down a few times "If you were watching, you should have seen- ow!"

Shuna pulled back her hand. "No, I didn't see you heal yourself, because I was too busy grabbing potions from Lord Rimuru to save your stupid self-sacrificing face!"

Self-sacrificing? Huh?

"Rimuru's back?" Tanya rubbed the back of her head, wincing at the welt Shuna had left, "Where the hell was he?"

This whole situation could have been avoided if he'd just absorbed the swarm again.

"Don't change the subject."

Despite her scathing words, Shuna glanced to the side, and Tanya followed her gaze. Over near the tree line, and being attended to by Shion and Souei, was Rimuru. For some reason, he was completely drenched in an unknown clear substance.

Is that… saliva? Oh.

Tanya turned back as Shuna snapped her fingers in front of her face.

"Alright, pay attention now. I'm not done ripping into you."

"Er, right." Tanya blinked. "Sorry?"

What is she so worried about? Everything's fine, isn't it?

"How could you be so stupid? If those scales were even slightly farther right, you could've lost your neck instead of chunks off your arm! Do you have no regard for your own safety? Or is this some sort of idiotic savior complex?"

Honestly, this is why I don't let my feelings follow me on the battlefield. Obviously, I had a perfectly rational reason. Mary Sue's a valuable resource and my future replacement, after all. I couldn't exactly let her cut in line on the road to the afterlife.

"Savior complex? Don't be ridi-" Tanya paused, years of experience with Visha's worrying and anger warning her that continuing that sentence would be a fast track to an early grave, "I mean… it was worth the risk. My other option was letting Sue get her throat slit, so I'd like to think my split-second decision making was-"

"Do you think risking your own life for someone else's makes everything okay?"

Tanya blinked. This was oddly familiar.

"Well, within reason."

Shuna made a frustrated noise.

"You just- look, I'm glad Mary's okay. You saved her life, and I admire you for that." She pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment, before putting her hands together and chopping them in Tanya's direction, "Listen, first it was overworking yourself, and now it's throwing yourself into dangerous situations. Don't make me keep adding to that list. Just because you're one of our strongest doesn't meant you have to protect everyone."

"Well, I was more so protecting a significant time investment over anything else."

"Tanya."

"Shuna. It's fine. I knew I had a potion, and I knew I could save Sue. There's nothing more to it."

Not to mention, Sue's indebted to me now. That's a useful thing to have, not that I really intend or need to make use of it. Maybe she can use this as even more motivation.

"Nothing more to it? Really?" Shuna raised an eyebrow. Then, before Tanya could react, Shuna slapped her on the arm. Her left arm.

"Ow!" Tanya grabbed the spot. Her arm pulsed, a wave of discomfort shooting through her, "The hell?"

"I'm sorry, but I did that to prove a point. You may be healed, but there certainly isn't 'nothing more to it'. You should know that potions are a form of magical healing. And magical healing, along with generally not recovering stamina, works differently depending on the person. Depending on the species."

Tanya nodded, absentmindedly rubbing her arm.

Truth be told, her arm had been aching still, despite the gashes having closed up with not a mark to show.

Magic healing worked differently with humans, it seemed. With monsters, beings whose bodies were composed mostly of magicules, they could heal and reintegrate healed tissues immediately. Thus, potions would heal them up right as rain, thanks to the monster's internal makeup working hand in hand with the magicules within the potion.

But humans aren't made of magicules. In fact, humans of this world don't normally have internal magic pools at all.

She was different in one regard and similar in another, it seemed. She had an internal magic pool, but her physiology was fundamentally that of a human. And there's the issue. Simply put, humans heal differently. Their physiology is fundamentally different from a monster's.

Physical healing is just as quick, but the message of that healing doesn't transfer 1 to 1. Half the healing process for humans, when magical healing was involved, was spent allowing time for your brain to process what had happened.

Now, this varied. Someone with a cut that was healed in an instant will find their body accepting the recovery nearly as instantly. A lost limb, on the other hand...

Yeah, okay then.

"You need to be more aware of these things."

"I told you, I knew what I was getting in to. I couldn't exactly let pain stop me from protecting her. A little blood is nothing to preserving a high value resource."

"That's not what I meant." Shuna sighed, "I meant, you need to be more aware of how others see it. This isn't a war. You're allowed to run away or leave the battle to someone else. Especially if it means coming back to your friends. People who care about your wellbeing."

This isn't a war. Huh.

That was new. There was something in the back of her throat, all of a sudden. Weird.

Well, it's not like I need to advance my position anymore. I'm as high up in Tempest's echelon as I can go. I'm almost insulted by how easy that was, thinking back on it. I spent two lifetimes struggling and climbing knives to reach a higher social standing, and then I reincarnate here and am practically handed a position I never could have dreamed of.

"Be more careful, Tanya." Shuna said, her expression softening, "Please. Rimuru would be devastated if you got injured like that again, or worse, died. I would too, as would Hakurou, and Souei, and I'd bet even Mary. So again, be more aware of these things."

I suppose if it means that much to her, naturally I have to agree. It's no skin off my back, anyway. Maybe I can take a step back for a while.

"Okay." Tanya nodded. "I'll do that."

I feel like I've said that before. Have I forgotten how to rest? Did I ever know how?

Growing up, realizing humans weren't created equally. Following the rules, spending years of relentlessly climbing the corporate ladder. All just to get pushed onto a train track, years of work and success and progress ruined in a single instant, by a single buffoon.

Meeting Being X, being forced into another world. Remembering humans aren't created equally, only this time she was the one with the natural advantage. Fighting a never-ending war, climbing the ranks, becoming the strongest mage around. All just to die yet again, her progress yet again reset by the actions of a single person.

Should I take it easy? Isn't the whole point of securing my position to also secure an easy, peaceful existence? And haven't I already secured my position?

Shuna let out a relieved sigh, unknowing of the turmoil in Tanya's mind.

…That's the plan, yes. But I can't rest just yet. Tanya glanced up, absentmindedly watching as Rimuru and the others reengaged Charybdis. As long as Tempest has enemies, I'm in danger. I can't relax knowing there's a target on my back. If there's anything I've learned from my previous two lives, it's that when you aren't expecting it, there will always something else hidden behind a corner, waiting to stab you from behind.

"I'm glad." Shuna smiled. "Perhaps you can help with less stressful affairs after this. Oh! You could even help out at the textile shop, if you like!"

"Perhaps." Tanya allowed, dipping her head.

I've also learned that if you want something done right, you need to do it yourself. No matter how competent or experienced your subordinates. Or, in this case…

"But before that, let's get Mary here over with the other injured." Tanya pointed down.

Inexperienced. And not quite competent yet, though she is learning quick enough.

Shuna gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Oh my goodness, we've just been talking over her unconscious body this whole time!"

"Yes, we have." Tanya threaded her arms under Mary's knees and shoulders, lifting her up in one smooth motion, "Thankfully, she's already healed thanks to the potion, so it's only a bit weird on our part as opposed to life-threatening on hers."

"Right." Shuna stood as well, a bit of color dusting her cheeks. The two began the short trek back down the path, to where an impromptu med tent had been hastily put up.

When'd they have the time for this? Tanya raised an eyebrow.

"I have a question." Shuna said after a few seconds, stepping ahead of Tanya to hold open the tent's entrance flap.

"Go ahead." Tanya stepped inside, looking around.

"Why didn't you just use your barrier magic? Surely you could have saved me- er, everyone their worry. And yourself the pain and injury."

Tanya took a moment to consider it.

"That's a fair question. It's not like I didn't try." She set Mary down on an empty cot, before turning to face Shuna, "The problem was, Charybdis' Magic Jamming did a real number on me. Did you see me incinerate those last two Megalodons?"

Shuna nodded.

"Well, my usual level of control is out the window right now, so I had to overpower the hell out of it just for it to work. I couldn't even make them blue like I usually do. If I'd tried the same with my barrier spell, I might have just killed Sue myself by crushing her on accident. And even if I had formed it properly, and around two people to boot, there's no guarantee those scales wouldn't have punctured it anyway."

Tanya shook her head.

"That Magic Jamming is no joke; if it weren't for my own absurd magic efficiency, I wouldn't have been able to do anything at all."

"Well, thanks goodness for your weird body then." Shuna laughed.

"Hey, that makes it sound like-"

A ground-rumbling roar interrupted her.

Tanya sighed, quickly moving to stand outside the tent.

Up above, Rimuru could be seen darting around Charybdis, taking magical potshots and generally being a distracting nuisance to the beast the way Tanya had been earlier.

Tanya watched for a few more seconds, noting how ineffective both beings' attacks were. Charybdis' couldn't land a hit with its massive laser – Because naturally it can shoot those from its eye, why wouldn't it? Tanya thought irritably – and Rimuru couldn't deal significant or noticeable damage.

"I've had enough of this."

Tanya made to take off. Before she could however, Shuna caught her by the arm.

"Hold on there, buster. You're still recovering."

"I'm not going to fight." Tanya tugged her arm away, "I'm just going to do what we should have done from the beginning."

Shuna raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms "And that is?"

Tanya felt another wave of déjà vu rush over her. She shook it off, shooting Shuna her patented Degurechaff Half-SmileTM.

"I'm going to show off the great power of running and asking your most powerful allies for help. I like to call it the 'Kingdom of Albion Special'."

With that, she rocketed upwards, leaving Shuna with her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Kingdom of Albion…?"

-=-

This can work. We can win this!

Rimuru darted upwards, narrowly avoiding another laser. As soon as it faded, he was on Charybdis in instant, engulfing it with Gluttony.

Just like every time before, Charybdis was not absorbed. But that wasn't his goal, anyhow. With Gluttony, he could absorb just enough of Charybdis' incredible magical energy, whilst at the same time pulling away bits and pieces of its Magic Jamming field.

And in that small moment, where Charybdis' defenses were lowered ever so lightly by Rimuru efforts…

"Attack now, while we can!" Benimaru called out to the collective forces of Tempest.

The group responded in kind with a hearty battle cry. Hell Flares were formed, weapons thrown, and swooping attacks made by those airborne. Everything and anything that they could use against the beast, they did.

As ineffective as it seemed, they flat-refused to allow Charybdis any recovery time.

Rimuru distracted, then broke down its defenses. Then, they would throw everything they had at it. Rinse and repeat, until one side broke.

In another universe, this song and dance would have gone on for hours. But that was another story.

"Oi, Rimuru!"

"Tanya!" Rimuru dodged around a swipe form Charybdis' tail. "You're back! What happened?"

"I'll tell you later."

He could see her near Charybdis' front, Milim right behind her. Rimuru frowned, idly flipping around a few errant scales he'd missed earlier, before idly absorbing them.

"Tanya, we can't let Milim get involved. This is our-"

"Yeah yeah, this is Tempest's battle. And wouldn't you know it, Milim is in fact a resident of Tempest at the moment."

"She's her own Demon Lord, with her own territory." Rimuru frowned, "Haven't you often preached about 'taking responsibility for yourself' and the like?"

"Listen, I've had a hell of a day. I saved Treyni from a giant shark, nearly lost an arm to another giant shark, nearly lost my other arm to Charybdis' scales."

A laser shot from Charybdis, this time in Tanya's direction. Rimuru watched her casually float to the side before she continued.

"And that's all within the past two hours. So, just this once, I'm going to go back on what I said, and inform you that it's completely fine to rely on your extremely overpowered Demon Lord ally here."

"Okay, but-"

Any argument Rimuru could have made was interrupted, this time by Charybdis itself rather than Tanya. The beast froze in place, it's attacks halting as it's giant eye finally registered who exactly was flying in front of it.

"Tan- Tanya! Mili- Milim!" Its focus seemed to be zeroed in on Tanya's position now, the massive beast growing visibly more agitated. "Tanya! Milim!"

Notice: Signs of life detected within Charybdis.

Huh? Rimuru blinked. He quickly flew over to the two, eyeing Charybdis' as it remained seemingly frozen in its rage. He found his bemusement matched on their faces, as he matched their altitude and slowed to a stop.

"Oh hey, that's that one guy!" Milim put her hands on Tanya's shoulder, hoisting herself up unnecessarily over the other woman's head.

"Oi, this isn't a carnival." Tanya complained, pushing her off.

"That's, ah, what's his name?" Milim was undeterred, her eye glowing as she leaned forward, "It was… Forbio, I think?"

Tanya and Rimuru shared a glance, Milim floating down and looking between them.

"Do you mean, Phobio?" Rimuru asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, that guy!" Milim nodded emphatically

"That beastman is inside Charybdis?" Tanya raised an eyebrow.

"I think he's Charybdis' host, actually."

"Ta- Tanya!! Mil- Milim!!" Charybdis' body shook.

Phobio's the subordinate of Demon Lord Carrion, who came here a few days ago. Tanya retaliated after he injured Rigurd, and then Milim beat him into the ground.

Rimuru sweatdropped.

Which means… we could have let Milim deal with it from the start.

Notice: Milim would be able to deal with-

Okay, you don't have to rub it in!

"Well, you heard Charybdis." Rimuru looked up, just in time to see Tanya pat Milim on the shoulder. "Go wild."

"YAY!"

"Wait!"

Milim pouted. "No yay?"

"I- no, just…" Rimuru felt rather like a bad guy then, with how disheartened she looked. It tugged at his heartstrings just enough for him to float forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "Let the others get out of range first, okay?"

"Of course!" Milim nodded emphatically, throwing her arms around him and squeezing tightly.

"Gah!"

"I was going to do that anyway! I'll show you just how much restraint I've learned since meeting you!"

"Milim, if Rimuru had lungs he wouldn't be able to breathe."

"But he doesn't need to breathe, so this is fine."

Rimuru begged to differ.

And thus, the battle with Charybdis came to an abrupt and happy end, as Milim the Destroyer lived up to her title and destroyed everything about Charybdis except its host.

Of course, the denizens of Tempest could not have known that this was merely the beginning of things to come. Indeed, a shift was occurring in the world, one that had the potential to rock its foundations down to the bedrock.

And, naturally, Tanya and Mary would be swept up in it all, like Odysseus's and his men braving the monsters of popular legend. It was truly an ironic twist that a beast known as Charybdis was the first in this series of unfortunate events.

-=-=-=-

Moonlight shone through the windows, serving as the only source of light in the hallway. Shadows caressed every corner and alcove, static and motionless, except for one.

Booted footsteps echoed alone against the walls, with the slight swishing of a cloak accompanying them. They went unheard, this section of the mansion remaining almost entirely empty.

Another shadow detached from underneath a window, a second pair of footsteps falling in line with the first.

"Did you have fun?"

The second shadow darted in front of the first, coming to a stop in the moonlight of the next window. Silver danced over pink, the white and red of their mask illuminated.

"Fun had nothing to do with it!" The small figure spun with a flourish. "This was all business, I'll have you know!"

A man's deep chuckle echoed through the hallway.

"Sure, sure. But even so, I'm sure you'll admit that such business was enjoyable?" The first shadow stepped forward, their amused smirk glinting in the scant lunar glow. "After all, who wouldn't enjoy releasing such a powerful spirit on the world? Certainly not you, Tear."

"Well, you've got me there." Tear disappeared for a moment, reappearing and floating with her arm thrown over the man's shoulder. "It was so much fun! But I'd bet you'd have enjoyed it a lot more, what with your spiritual proclivities and all."

"You make it sound crude, somehow. Please don't call it that."

"Right-o!" Tear dropped back to the floor, arms behind her head, "You know though, it's a shame Charybdis didn't last longer."

"True, but this was a test for a reason." The man put a hand to his chin. "Though, I'm sure your Clayman would've preferred a greater devastation."

"Eh, Clayman's fine with it. He only really cared about messin with Frey. That and getting a real measure on Milim."

"Really? Now that's interesting." The man crossed his arms, "Should you be telling me this, I wonder?"

"Whaaaat?" Tear did an exaggerated double take, "We're all Scylla here, aren't we? Besides, Clayman has his own schemes. The Moderate Harlequin Alliance helps when he asks, given he's family and all, but the rest of us have got our own shit to handle too, ya know?"

The man nodded, "Well, you've been a great help regardless. Even against the wishes of that human friend of yours."

"Yuuta? Please. He's got us over a barrel, sure, but he's not our boss. The Alliance has got our own way of dealing with things." Tear tilted her head. "So tell me boss, what've ya been up to while I was away?"

"I am also not your boss, so don't call me that." The man started walking again. "As fellow Heads, we're all equal here. Which you well know."

"Yeah, but it always gets under your skin." Tear followed suit, her bouncing steps quickly catching up, "So come on, fill me in already!"

"Very well. The Fourth and Sixth have made remarkable progress on our latest project. Would you like to see?"

"Obviously!"

~END: FOREST DISTURBANCE ARC~

-=-=-=-=-=-

Known Skills List

Tanya:

Common Skill: Thought Communication

Extra Skill: Magic Sense

Extra Skill: Magic Aura

Extra Skill: Voice of the World Communication

Unique Skill: Formulaic Casting

Unique Skill: Tetrabattery Limit Enhancement

Mary:

Extra Skill: Magic Sense

Extra Skill: Magic Aura

Extra/Intrinsic Skill: Physical Enhancement

Unique Skill: [Currently Unknown]