AN: Hope you guys are having a nice Saturday. Here is a chapter for you all. :)

  There isn’t much to talk about before the chapter, I just hope you guys enjoy it and have fun.

  Question of the Week:

  If you could choose your Species, supernatural or otherwise, which one would you choose?

  Now, here is the chapter:

  ~Razen Antares Gremory~

  ?

  “Something is still not adding up, Midna.” Antares frowned slightly with narrowed eyes. “Magical Effects- okay, let’s call them Enchantments because that is literally what they are- are nice and all, but it's kind of useless to have a fire sword if you can’t even touch your enemies due to the difference in strength.”

  Midna scoffed, as if offended by Antares' comment; “Gear from the tower is far from being that simple, handsome.” she then twirled in the air excitedly; “Equipping a gear strengthens you, and I am not talking about Enchantments or anything else, even just equipping a Common Grade ChestPpte will make you stronger in many ways, an overall boost to yourself if you will.”

  “And as you’ve probably guessed already, not every gear is created equal. Excalibur is many, many, many times stronger than The Stygian Bde, even if both of them are cssified as Legendary.” Expined the imp while flying over the redheaded Devil’s shoulder and poking Neptune on her arm.

  “Hmmm, that sounds quite abusable…” pointed out the purplette while shooing Midna away with her other arm.

  “You are thinking of stacking a bunch of gear one on top of the other so you can become almighty, right?” teased Midna, faking that she could read Neptune’s thoughts.

  Rolling her eyes, the purplette scoffed; “By your tone, I can already guess that is not possible?” she asked with a sigh.

  “Nope,” answered the Twilight Princess, emphasizing the ‘p’; “You are limited to six pieces of armor, three accessories, two weapons, and one extra.”

  “One head, torso, right arm, left arm, left leg, and right leg gear.” Midna then cleared her throat. “For the accessories, you can have one neckce, right ring, and left ring.”

  “With weapons, you can have two.” Midna then rolled her eyes, “And yes, a Shield or Buckler does count as a weapon.”

  “Do many people ask that question?” inquired Neptune curiously.

  “Ooohhh, they do purple,” the floating girl said, shaking her head. “You have no idea how many people want to cheat the system.”

  “Midna, what about the ‘extra’ gear you mentioned?” asked Antares while observing his surroundings.

  “The extra is a little bit more complicated,” started the grey-skinned woman. “It can be anything from a Crown to a Mechanical Tail, and that is if you manage to unlock it.”

  “What do you mean by unlocking it, impy?” Neptune grumbled a question.

  “Well, no one starts with their ‘Extra’ slot open. You need to find a Unique Tier consumable item for that.” Midna smirked. “And considering just how rare Unique items are, good luck with that, champ. Nevertheless, the Unique Tier item used to get your ‘Extra’ expansion is rather easy to find.”

  “This stuff is starting to sound more and more like some shitty MMO.” Neptune shook her head and ughed a bit. “Albeit the realism even makes the best VRMMOS I know look like garbage.”

  “... I have no idea what those words mean,” acknowledged Midna with a slight pout. Neptune just ughed harder.

  The trio stayed silent after that, Neptune and Antares focusing on digesting the new host of information that had just been dumped into their ps, while Midna seemed to be particurly entertained by making some strange flying patterns.

  A little bit more than half an hour ter, Eu woke up and kissed Antares good morning, much to Neptune’s and Midna’s envy. The spectating duo seemly bonding over their shared envy.

  Before anything more could happen, Pyra woke up and started doing a few stretches between her unreasonably cute yawns.

  After a retively swift breakfast, during which Midna made sure to update everyone on the equipment information, the group started walking toward the tower.

  On the way, they did some small talk with each other, briefly enjoying the momentarily levity of the situation. Sadly, such levity was bound not to st forever.

  “... you guys are taking this surprisingly well,” added Midna while breaking the brief silence that had taken over the group. “I honestly did expect more of a reaction to mine and Pyra’s,” the imp made quotation marks with her fingers. “Betrayal.”

  Eu closed her eyes and smiled softly while Neptune just huffed with a smirk. “Eu did give you an alternative.” Antares pointed out.

  “She did,” admitted the grey-skinned princess. “But why aren’t you worried we would take the ‘easier’ way and refuse to climb in the middle of things?” Pyra momentarily stopped looking around and was now focusing intently on the talk happening beside her.

  Antares smiled, a very genuine and warm smile that almost made Midna’s heart stop for a moment; “You don’t seem the type.” he answered honestly, making the small imp feel like her heart would burst out of her tiny body; “I may not be the emotionally smartest person around, but neither you nor Pyra have ever lied since I met you two.” his warm smile widened, making the even Pyra in the distance blush; “You could’ve always stayed silent and plotted from the shadows, perhaps even orchestrating our demise… You do have the information and the smarts to pull that off, too. But you didn’t. You two came fully open to me and the girls, telling us exactly how you feel and what you want. I would be a fool not to appreciate such sincerity. Besides, it all worked out in the end, no?”

  “I…” Midna was without words, her complexion became flushed, and she couldn’t even look Antares in the eye anymore, so she just flew away and hid inside Neptune’s hoodie’s hood.

  Pyra, for her part, was doing the best turtle impression she could manage, trying to hide inside her own small jacket, her face a deep shade of crimson almost akin to her own hair.

  Antares just looked a little confused at such reactions, unsure of why the two would react in such a way.

  Looking at such an absurd scene, Neptune facepalmed and turned towards Eu with a deadpan; “He has no idea about his absurd charm, does he?”

  Eu just smiled slightly, a little smugness bleeding through her expression. “No, he does not.” She then turned towards Antares, her gaze softening and turning lovingly. “Isn’t it cute?” Neptune just sighed.

  After such an episode, things calmed down considerably; there was now a more unifying and rexed feel within the group, as if a previous immense weight had been lifted from everyone’s shoulders. After Antares gathered everything inside his Pocket Space and put out the fire, the group departed for the tower.

  They continued walking and talking, getting to know each other better while they approached the impossible structure on the horizon. Midna excitedly fed the quartet with more and more trivia about the tower. Pyra, fighting through her shyness, did her best to interact with the group as well. The others—knowing the redhead's more demure demeanor—did their best to accommodate, something that made Pyra feel more at home and smile a little more often.

  Slowly, as time passed, the Tower grew bigger and bigger, but it was still a few miles away. What was different about the scenario, however, was the massive city surrounding the tower.

  After exiting the forest, Antares saw mostly pins made of dark green and grey grass and fog, and with a few rock formations and trees here and there, it was generally a pretty desote albeit peaceful pce.

  But the city broke that peacefulness; lights like stars in the night sky, grey buildings of all shapes, sizes, designs, and purposes blotted the surroundings of the towers in the best impersonation of a hive-city Antares has ever seen. The bleak, humid, and foggy air made everything look outright depressing, as if a dark, sad filter had been applied to reality itself.

  The group continued walking towards the dreary city, the previous air of levity leaving the quintet for a sharper and more measured one.

  Around an hour of walking ter, they started to approach the outskirts of the city, and its pungent, wet, and disgusting smell made itself well known.

  “Shit impy, this thing smells worse than Daemon dung.” Compined Neptune while holding her nose tightly.

  “Welcome to Maremist City,” The orange-haired princess smirked. “Also known as Morpheus’ Backyard.” Midna’s smile turned a tad bit strained; “A pce I personally like to call Shithole.”

  “The smell is fitting the nickname, I suppose.” Added Eu while observing the small, decrepit wooden homes in their surroundings. Her high heels ccked on the dirty cobblestone floor while avoiding the broken parts of it.

  Neptune then paused, a strange thought dawning on her. “Impy… why am I wearing my hoodie and leggings?”

  “Because going around naked is very inconvenient?” suggested the floating woman teasingly.

  “Not that,” Neptune shook her head. “I went to sleep in my pajamas, so I am just confused as to why I am wearing my usual clothes.” Neptune then pointed at Antares; “And I sincerely doubt stud muffin went to sleep on his Fme Chaser get-up.”

  “Well, you aren’t here with your real body but with your dream one,” started the imp while she scrunched her nose at a pile of trash on the side of the road. “So your clothes are the ones you see yourself the most.” Neptune nodded and mouthed a silent ‘thanks’ to Midna, which made the imp wave back happily.

  “W-Why is there no one a-around?” Asked Pyra after the group passed another street filled with empty homes and the smell of decaying, humid dust.

  “Well, we are in the Ghost District, the outskirts of Maremist’s slums.” Expined Midna in a slightly distant tone. “A pce formed by people who didn’t have the courage and will to climb the tower.” She then twirled and speeded her arms. “They gave up, went back towards the city, and built this. You should’ve seen this pce on its Golden days,” Midna’s eyes sparkled. “So many people, so many dreams, so much life. It was beautiful.”

  “W-what happened?” Inquired Pyra a little fearfully.

  “Time, Red. Time happened.” Midna sighed nostalgically. “Eventually, people grew tired, so they either tried their luck at the tower in a desperate bid to get out, accepted they would get stuck here forever, and went to drown in the pleasures of the center of the city or…” Midna’s grave tone was more than enough for everyone to deduce what had happened to those people.

  .

  .

  .

  ~ Pyra Homura/Mythra Hikari/ ????? ~

  Pyra swallowed dryly, She could deduce what the third alternative would be; it was something she pondered about a lot in her world after she completely absorbed the Conduit and the Trinity Processor, including the other two cores.

  ‘The world was ending, they were going to self-destruct, you didn’t have a choice.’ The more assertive part of her thought inwardly, while Pyra herself still felt quite guilty for “Devouring” her siblings, even if they gave themselves up willingly.

  Mythra gritted her teeth while looking at her sealed self, an ocean of emotions and memories almost drowning her. ‘And all of that ended up being useless in the end… the world still ended. They still destroyed everything.’ She sighed remorsefully. ‘And I could’ve prevented that if I wasn’t so–’ Mythra decided to stop there; nothing good ever came out of drowning in the memories of her past.

  Finally rexing, Mythra sighed inwardly. The best she could do right now was help her team climb the tower and bring her body here. This way, she would finally be able to move on, to leave those ruins behind, or at least she hoped so.

  Pyra shook her head and refocused on the now. Antares had apparently asked a question of how people got wood to build these homes here, and Midna was now excitedly expining the very intrinsic process of crossing the pins and going towards the misty forest to procure wood. Pyra had to admit it sounded quite interesting.

  She briefly looked at Eu, the more serious one of the group. She kind of reminded Pyra of her own unsealed self, albeit there were still many differences. The bluenette felt quite strong to the Bde’s senses, and there seemed to be something more about her Aura.

  Neptune seemed to also be paying rapid attention to Midna, the purplette personality reminded Pyra of the few more quirky drivers she saw as Mythra, and it made her feel quite nostalgic. She seemed to be quite strong—as much as her blue-haired friend—but her aura didn’t have the same superior feeling that her icy friends’ aura enjoyed. Albeit, Pyra would be the first to admit that in her current sealed state, she can barely access an infinitesimally small fraction of her power.

  But unfortunately, Midna's expnation had to stop as the quintet suddenly found a strange man sprawled in the middle of the street. The man had pale white skin and very rough features, a mane of shaggy brown hair that was starting to crust due to some strange grime. His body was covered by dirty and shredded rags, and he seemed not to be breathing.

  With a suddenness that almost made Pyra draw her Aegis Bde, Antares appeared beside the fallen man. With a warm baritone voice that sent shivers down Pyra’s spine, some very pleasant shivers.

  “No pulse nor Ki,” Antares spoke solemnly. “He is dead.”

  Pyra keenly noticed that no one seemed to have any extreme reactions to it, no sharp breath or any panic-inducing stunts. ‘So none of them are green… good.’ Mythra commented in a tone of approval.

  ‘But this means they have seen death before,’ Pyra thought back, sadness clear in her tone; ‘That’s not nice.’.

  Looking pointedly at her softer self, Mythra just sighed and chose not to comment. She knows Pyra is literally her, just more naive and shy, or is it just she who is way too jaded? Mythra isn’t so sure.

  After a brief discussion, the group decided to give the fallen man a proper burial. Thankfully, Midna knew a retively close cemetery, so Antares picked up the body and quickly made a beeline toward it.

  The burial was a quiet affair. Very unpleasant memories from her, Mythra, and their awakened personality surfaced, turning an already dreary moment into something even worse for her.

  Everyone stayed silent, lost in their own thoughts and memories. And while it flew right over Pyra’s head, the sharper Mythra could easily see through some of her new comrades. Midna was almost as sad as Pyra, but she hid it well, exceptionally so. Mythra found it difficult to guess for sure, even for someone like her. All she could glimpse was that Midna was old, old to the point her sanity was starting to show signs of wear. Mythra deduced she had been on the tower for quite a long while, long enough for her to become a guide –whatever that really meant.

  Neptune was also silent; she didn’t have the same sense of loss as Midna and Pyra, but Mythra could see her life wasn’t exactly easy as well. She appeared to have lost many friends in her life, but differently from Midna, she was incredibly young, barely older than two decades. The sealed Bde felt quite sad at such a sight; no one as young as she deserved to lose so much. The Bde hoped her infatuation with the male of their group would end up helping her heal.

  Mythra remembers clearly how much stronger people can become when they love someone, and while she never experienced it herself, she saw plenty of such cases in the Rapture Wars.

  She then looked at Eu and saw sadness on the Cryo user's countenance. ‘A genuinely good person.’ Mythra thought inwardly with a small smile, trying to project a tough exterior to hide her sadness for the loss of life.’

  ‘She feels strong.’ added Pyra, the little calcutive abilities she could access of the Trinity Processor allowing her to easily read the blue-haired woman before her. ‘... you’re stronger,’ added Mythra, a little happy her timid self was finally using an ability she used to avoid like the pgue.

  She then saw Eu approach Antares and lean her body on him. The man, still looking at the burial site, embraced the woman with his left arm. It was a beautiful moment that filled Pyra’s heart with warmth and a little bit of envy as well. She briefly imagined herself in Eu’s pce and tried to–

  ‘Purple is soon going to join.’ pointed out Mythra while interrupting Pyra’s lewd thoughts; ‘What do you mean?’ asked the confused redhead inwardly to herself.

  ‘Pyra, we have the same memories; we are literally the same person, think, woman.’ Mythra's harsh tone almost made Pyra want to recoil inwardly; the only thing that stopped her was the fact that she was technically admonishing herself.

  Pyra then looked at Neptune and tapped on her Trinity Processor, and then she finally understood. ‘... oohhh, Neptune wants to kiss Antares?’

  ‘Hehe, she wants to do way more than that.’ Mythra added lewdly, almost making Pyra blush with her train of thought; ‘Can’t you see the sheer sexual tension between them?’ the Light-Attributed bde pointed out, Pyra looked at the Processor’s readings and couldn’t help but nod in affirmation, she indeed detected a very obvious signal between the two that indicate a strong desire to-

  ‘Stop.’ Interrupted Mythra before expining, ‘Letting the Processor think for you is a slippery slope that will lead to disaster. We already know the info, Pyra; you should have it. Just need a little bit of self-searching.’ The sealed bde gently admonished herself.

  ‘I-... Sorry, I am not very good with-’

  ‘No,’ Mythra interrupted Pyra’s self-deprecating train of thought. ‘You are clearly the better part of me, I made sure of it.’

  ‘How? I am many times weaker, can’t form a proper sentence without stuttering, and almost destroyed any possible friendship with my team before we even started working together.’ Pyra almost shouted back, letting her frustrations speak for a moment.

  ‘You have the heart,’ Mythra chuckled weakly. ‘That’s more than I’ve ever had.’

  ‘Mythra you-’

  ‘Could you scan Antares for me, please? I have a feeling we will have a surprise.’

  ‘Fine.’ Pyra sighed, knowing she wouldn’t be winning this argument against herself. Using the tiny part of the Trinity Processor she had access to, Pyra scanned Antares and instantly froze.

  ‘What. The. F-’

  ‘Language Mythra.’ interrupted Pyra before she could curse.

  ‘You are seeing what I am seeing, no?’ asked the sealed bde, trying to suppress her surprise.

  ‘I am.’ Pyra took a discrete deep breath; ‘Gravitational Force and some kind of weird element seem to be–’

  ‘I can read the report too, you know?’ Mythra interrupted while shaking her mental head; ‘Wish I could scan his physical body…’ she took an imaginary sharp breath; ‘Wonder what I would find.’

  ‘Mythra, do you-’

  ‘Well, he is quite charming, don’t you think?’ the Light Bde interrupted again, much to Pyra’s growing irritation. ‘Want to try to shoot your shot? Midna is certainly not shy about hers.’

  ‘I- he is already in a loving retionship with Eu and possibly Neptune soon,’ Pyra said, shaking her mental head. ‘I don’t want to spoil what they have with my presence.’

  ‘Don’t you want a family as well, Pyra?’ Mythra asked softly, already knowing the answer.

  ‘I do.’ the redhead instantly agreed; ‘But not at the cost of others’ happiness.’

  ‘... you know your presence is not a burden, Pyra. Try it—perhaps he will like—maybe even come to love you.’ Pyra pursed her lips, unsure of how to reply to herself. ‘Give a chance for love to bloom, I am not saying for you to jump his bones right now, just for you to give it a chance.’

  ‘I w-will t-try,’ Pyra’s gaze turned firmer, ‘But if Neptune or Eu are against it, I will distance myself.’ Mythra just chuckled in the background, clearly remembering a few very interesting details about Harems in Devil culture that Midna had shared with her, details Pyra didn’t seem to remember for the time being.

  ‘That’s all that I ask of myself,’ concluded Mythra before going back to her seal.

  Pyra then looked at Antares with a few conflicting emotions. She may have made a promise to herself, but she didn’t exactly know where to start or even what to do. Neither Mythra nor their Awakened Self is of any help, as neither of them knows a thing about retionships. They had friends and comrades in the past, of course, but never anything so close and personal, never anything so… intimate.

  So the poor, timid, and confused Pyra just stood there, paralyzed, not knowing what to do.

  ~Razen Antares Gremory~

  The burial was a rather strange affair in Antares’ book. He will be the first to say that becoming a Devil changed him a lot, there isn’t a day that passes when he doesn’t feel farther away from his human self, not in the psychological sense of losing his humanity and becoming a complete ‘monster’, but more on the sense he was starting to think of himself more and more as a Devil, and less and less like a Human.

  Killing a Human doesn’t seem to bother him, or at least the thought doesn’t repulse him like it did in the past. He still feels sad for the loss of life, the loss of potential, but it stopped bothering him. He briefly wondered what becoming a Demon would feel like. Would these st connections to his humanity become even more fragile? Will they vanish completely? He doesn’t know.

  So imagine his surprise when he found a body in the middle of the road. His first thoughts were, ‘I should give him a proper burial.’ He thought of himself as slowly turning into a fiend, but it seems, all this time, he was just with a new perspective on life. The problem was that a lot changed in way too little time, so he had some trouble fully adapting to it, not that he was compining - Antares briefly looked at Eu leaning on him and smiled- his life was a bazillion times better right now.

  After a few moments of silence, he sighed and looked at Midna. “I think we should proceed with our trip. There is nothing more we can do here.”

  Midna nodded her head. “Indeed.” She then sighed and sent another look at the burial site. “May you rest in peace, Dreamer.”

  Soon, the group was back to walking down the main street, slowly approaching the tower. Bit by bit, they started to see signs of human life: a little trash here and there, some dried blood staining a rock, and phallic-shaped graffiti adorning a random wall or the other. These were very clear signs of human presence, or at least close enough.

  Then came the sound, a slow mumble or murmur of chaotic voices pinging in the background. It was low and incomprehensible, but the sound was there and was getting louder. The smell became more prominent and pungent, making Antares frown at the ck of proper plumbing. ‘This pce should be full of modern people, so why are they skimping on proper plumbing and sewage systems?’ he thought inwardly while schooling his expression.

  The sound of windows closing, doors being shut, and heavy curtains being drawn echoed. The “homeless” people squatting on these abandoned buildings—with the carefully cultivated instincts that allowed them to live on the edges of society—were more than enough to warn them not to mess with these dangerous newcomers.

  The party, happy to be left alone, continued walking towards the tower. The previous broken and mixed path gave way to a more orderly and well-maintained cobblestone road, the wooden houses started to diminish and turn into strong buildings of stone and marble, and the barely lit street was now properly illuminated by gas-fueled mpposts on both sides, stationed carriages made of wood and metal parked and eagerly awaited their owners to be driven in the next morning.

  The ever-present fog seeping from the ground seemed even more accentuated under the fme-born light, giving the growing city quite the somber appearance. It somehow reminded Antares of London in the XVIII and XIX centuries, but with an ever-present Jack the Reaper theme.

  Neptune started to whistle a very familiar and nostalgic tune. Antares smiled and didn’t hesitate to follow; “London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down.”

  Antares turned and smiled at the purplette; “London Bridge is falling down, My fair dy.”

  Neptune chuckled. “The Jack the Reaper video?” she asked hopefully.

  “The one and the same,” Antares replied while humming the tune. “Quite the catchy song, don’t you agree?”

  “Well, it’s from a Nursery Rhyme, so it should be,” Neptune concluded with a light blush before going back to humming the music.

  The group continued walking for a few more minutes until they found quite a curious sight blocking the road; two toppled wooden carriages blocked their way. The carriage on the right was a bck-colored one with very few details in a steel-grey metallic color, while the left one seemed to lean more on a brown and white wooden coloration with a green detail here and there.

  Antares narrowed his eyes when he noticed that humans were drawing those carriages; it seemed the situation in Morpheus’ Backyard was far from good for some.

  Surrounding the carriages was a group of twelve sharply dressed men, they all wore suits with overcoats of matching colors, their shoes were made of hard leather and shone in the dim mppost lights –their hats ranged from ft caps, top hats, and bowler hats to a more modern fedora, it was a strange combination that somehow suited the equally strange group.

  When they detected the party approaching, the men stopped their obviously fake discussion and turned towards them. The transition was so sharp and sudden that only an idiot wouldn’t guess they were in some kind of collusion.

  With slightly robotic steps, one of the men—the only one wearing a fedora—stepped forward. He had a very unpleasant British-like face that only a mother would love, a slightly unkempt beard, and a bulbous red nose that gave the impression he was drunk. His eyes were bck and beady but big enough that they looked quite dispced on his face. He walked with a yellow, crooked smile that seemed as malicious as it was rotten.

  “Good evening, gentleman,” he half bowed towards Antares. “Ladies~” he tipped his fedora towards the girls with a very sing-song voice, trying and failing miserably to be charming, earning looks of suspicion and disgust that he ignored with a practiced ease.

  Uncaring for anyone’s answer, the man continued; “I am afraid the road is blocked for the foreseeable future,” the man gestured towards the fallen carriages; “We got in a little bit of an accident, you see. So until the mechanic arrives with the winch, we are stuck here. However,” the man did a sharp but sudden turn; “If we manage to rouse enough Dream Coins, we can restore safe passage much more swiftly for all the citizens of Morpheus’ Backyard,” the man’s smile turned slightly predatory; “Including you.”

  Antares looked at the completely free sidewalk and just deadpanned at the man before him. Noticing the Devil’s gaze, the man fake coughed on his hand, prompting two of his goons to rush towards the side, break the closest wall, and dump its debris on the sidewalk.

  “See,” the man enthusiastically pointed out, “Even the sidewalk is blocked as well.” He added in a sagely tone.

  Sighing at the very obvious scam before him, Antares tiredly looked at the man and walked forward. “What is your name, again?” asked the Devil in a pin tone.

  “Balguc.” Replied the man while stretching one of his greasy palms, a very greedy smile pstered on his face. He clearly expected Antares to pay him like a good little dog.

  In a burst of speed, Antares suddenly appeared before the two fallen carriages, gripping them on the bottom and flipping them up in a single move. Ignoring the shouts of surprise, excmations, and general confusion shuffling behind him, Antares then looked at the four people pushing the carriages, three men and one woman. “Do you want me to free you guys?”

  The oldest of the quartet, a bald middle-aged man with very pale ivory skin shook his head; “There is no need youngster, they pay us well and their benefits are one of the best in the city, I am talking about Medical Care, Dental Care, Paid Vacations, Nice Gifts on birthdays and-”

  “Okay, I understand.” Antares interrupted the middle-aged man and looked at the other three. “Does he speak true? Does he speak for all of you?” They all enthusiastically nodded. Antares sighed and turned back toward Balguc and company.

  Only to be met with twelve extremely terrified gazes, approaching a very frightened Balguc, Antares could see the conman sweating bullets, to the point his suit was soaked enough it looked like he just endured a few minutes of heavy rain.

  “Do you need help with anything more?” Antares offered while trying to hide a smirk. He found it difficult to care about a con man too much.

  Balguc shook his head so fast it almost looked like he wanted to toss it away. Antares just snorted and nodded toward the girls, who quickly fathered close to him.

  With the roadblock issue resolved, Antares and the company continued walking in the direction of the tower. When they were far away enough they would be heard, Neptune simply burst out ughing; “Did you see his face!?” she ughed harder; “He was all like ‘Midy, tips fedora -a fedora of all things - and proceeds to give the most bullshit excuse ever. And then when you flipped the carriages, his face, ah-” Neptune was almost falling over in ughter.

  Eu put a hand over her mouth like some stereotypical rich dy; “Pfffff,” she did her best to hold back her ughter, but it seemed she was failing at it. Antares found it so cute that he almost gobbled her up right now.

  Midna simply followed Neptune and was ughing her ass off while she flew in circles around the purplette. Pyra, on the other hand, turned her head to the side and was doing this cute ugh-hiccup-ugh cycle that looked and sounded outright adorable.

  “Was it really that funny?” Antares mumbled while he continued walking.

  As they got closer, the wooden buildings started to disappear completely, while the stone-made ones grew bigger and more intricate. The number of people going by increased by quite a bit.

  Every few hundred steps, Antares and the girls would meet one or two people. It wasn’t a lot, but the flux was growing at quite an arming rate. He also noticed that the space between the buildings was diminishing, their yards becoming smaller and smaller to the point he started seeing buildings glued side by side, or separated by a single small alley.

  As the number of people walking around grew, so did the smell and the noise; carriages started appearing going down the street, the sidewalk got rger, and so did the road. Buildings grew more lively, restaurants, bars, clothing stores, and plenty of other commercial buildings shone with the hubbub of people, trades, and offers.

  Firemen, policemen, mailmen, milkmen, and every other profession necessary to keep society running were there –literally, everything. It was just like a living, breathing city stuck in the XIX century.

  Antares also noticed that the people walking around were incredibly varied as well: Humans, Elves, Fairies, Dwarves, Yokai, Nymphs, Vampires, Werebeasts, and almost every supernatural species Antares could imagine and more were walking on the streets.

  The Devil honestly expected his group to attract quite a bit of attention, he has a literal flying grey-skinned woman with a gigantic stone-like crow and three extremely beautiful dies walking with him. But he was sadly not in a shitty cultivation novel, so people just gave them a gnce for a moment or two before going about their lives. But to be fair to Midna, there were a bunch of flying, small people around, and they were the weirdest of the bunch by a very long mile.

  Seeing Antares looking at a shining silver-skinned, three-headed man the size of an Xbox controller spouting insults at a green-haired, hundred-armed fairy the size of a Starbucks cup, Midna chuckled. “As you’ve noticed, Guides are a weird bunch.” She pointed at a flying shark with high-tech metallic wings talking with a Werewolf wearing a very sharp grey suit. “To become a guide, one needs to spend a long time inside the tower, long enough that you have a veritable encyclopedic knowledge about it, then you can apply to become a guide.” Midna twirled and started flying a few feet before Antares. “You pass the test, and then you are promoted to guide; pretty straightforward.”

  “Let me guess, the years someone spends inside the tower aren’t exactly easy,” pointed out Eu while observing the shouting match between the two flying midgets with dramatic interest.

  “Bluey got it right on the money.” Midna praised while chuckling a little unhinged.

  Soon, even the rather spacious sidewalk started to get crowded, the streets became full of carriages and people, and every building in Antares’ field of view was almost bursting from being overcrowded. And the ever-present fog just made everything look that little more crowded.

  “Well, I’ve never been to New York and London, but I imagine they are somewhat like this,” Antares commented while dodging the sea of people.

  “You bet your ass it is.” A strange man commented while lightly bumping into Antares and disappearing into the crowd. The Devil just chuckled and continued walking. The girls mostly walked behind him in a line, using the space his bigger body created to walk more easily.

  After a few more minutes of walking, the street split into a Y, with the right side leading to a park and the left side leading to a very obvious red-light district. The group briefly stopped and looked at Midna. The Imp rolled her eyes and pointed toward the right, and the group nodded and followed her direction.

  Passing through the park, Antares nodded at how beautiful it looked. He didn’t know how, but the city was able to use real, vibrant green trees and grasses to build the park, a genuine water fountain with crystal clear water and high-quality benches that even the most exigent of people would find comfortable.

  A few marble statues here and there described famous figures of the Tower; The 27th Guild Master of the Adventurer's Guild, Syer of Kardhrakhir The 12th Shadow; Melinda Goldshiv, the Saintly Woman who built the First Hospital on Maremist City; Serveral Del Draco, Creator of the Mist Engine, the Dream Coin and the First Archpriest of Morpheus. Antares quickly reached the conclusion that this park also served as some kind of hall of fame, showing all the people who greatly contributed to the society inside the dreamscape.

  After passing the park, the group saw that the quality of the street had visibly improved. The stones were more intricate and well crafted, the mpposts were taller and their light brighter, and many glowing inscriptions of different runes and magics ran through their metallic surface. The sidewalk was abnormally clean, and at every seven-meter mark, there was a tree surrounded by an intricate metal fence, a decorated bench, and a trash can.

  The buildings were also a visible step up as well, with polished marble decorated with runic engraving and metal details, giving the street a very Victorian-era magical-steampunk feeling.

  The people walking around were visibly richer, their clothes of higher quality, their gait less hurried and more rexed, and they spotted way more accessories, with some of those even being magical.

  After walking for a few more kilometers, the group reached a pza. The girls continued walking while looking around like tourists, but Antares stood there frozen, his gaze instantly zeroing in on the statue in the middle of the pza.

  Almost in a trance, he slowly approached this familiar statue. While he walked, he observed the impressive piece of art.

  It was a 25-meter-tall four-piece statue made entirely of a strange, brass-colored metal. The metal was obviously forged by a skilled bcksmith and enchanted by a Master of equal, if not more skill. On this statue, there were four people engraved, on the right; a very tall and muscur man with eyes so narrowed you couldn’t even see them properly, his hair was done in a very sharp and carefully-taken-care-of afro. Antares found his hair was quite impressive, showing the man took great care of it. His face was quite handsome, but not in the sense of a pretty boy, but more akin to a rugged bodybuilder or a space marine.

  A very heavy full pte armor fully covered his body. It was not Armour of Mars kind of heavy armor, but it was quite close. It was very carefully engraved in a beautiful yet very practical way, and it never once reached the point of becoming gaudy or showy. On his left arm was a massive tower shield that was almost as tall as the man himself and visibly wider than his armored self. On his right hand, he gripped tightly a titanic mace almost as tall as his shield, with its head bigger than half of his own torso. Antares felt like he knew this man, but nothing sparked on his mind, no matter how much he analyzed this statue.

  He looked at the other statue to the heavily armored man's left and was stunned. ‘Sona?’ Antares thought inwardly, a little weirded out, but he soon discarded that possibility. The woman depicted on the statue had way too many curves to be Sona. She wore a very intricate and professional-looking witch’s robe; tight, high military-like boots; arm-long leather gloves, and a big and pointy witch’s hat with its peak bending towards the south.

  In her hands she held a staff taller than herself, its shaft was long and intricate filled with a spiral-shaped engraving that went from the bottom to the top, The head of the staff was a giant spiked circle with a diamond-shaped core, it looked efficient and practical and didn’t spot the pomp usually seen with a modern witch’s staff, but Antares could almost detect the regurity of the weapon, even if it wasn’t present.

  The woman herself was extremely beautiful, with a very curvaceous and bountiful figure that was mostly hidden by her robes –a small, beautiful nose, pouty plump lips, and a very sharp gaze. Her hair was waist-long, smooth, and done in a single ponytail. Antares could feel a very strict and serious air basically radiating from that sculpture alone, he couldn’t even imagine how much more serious and intense this woman would be in person. The sense of familiarity, as if he should definitely know her –was present. But Antares couldn’t wrap his head around it, so his gaze turned towards the third statue at the dy’s left.

  It was the statue of another man, but instead of the impressive physique possessed by the first one, this one was extremely thin –looking outright fragile. But no one would dare to say he looked weak. The man had a very typical nerd scientist look about him, a thick-looking wizard’s robe with hard-leather boots with a very military-like feeling to them, above the robes he wore some kind of overcoat that looked almost like a b coat, on both of his hands he seemed to be using wrist-length gloves with two very big runes on their backs.

  In his right hand, he held a massive open grimoire almost the size of his own torso. The grimoire was extremely intricately engraved, looking as fancy as it was powerful, with stars, vines, and flower-like patterns all over it. Floating above the grimoire was a six-pointed star made of crystal that Antares could swear was radiating power even as just a simple statue.

  On the man’s head, he wore a circlet that fitted snuggly, the circlet keenly reminded of the ones you could find on Skyrim, but even more simple, there were barely any engravings, and if it wasn’t for a hexagon-shaped jewel in its middle it would look more like the Monkey King’s crown.

  But when Antares looked at the man’s face, he felt his left eye twitch –he had a very typical 90s nerd look, a razor-sharp bowl cut, thick round gsses that could compete with Harry Potter, a thin mouth, and brows that seemed to be always frowning. But what threw the Devil for a loop was the man’s eyes. Antares swore he could remember them as if he personally felt like it was to be under this man’s gaze, a very analytical gaze as if he was dissecting your molecules with his eyes alone.

  The next statue made Antares freeze once more, not because it was grotesque or anything, but because –he was looking at himself.

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  AN: Yo, one more chapter here, my friends. Hope you all are doing well.

  This was a chapter mostly to introduce the society and the people that surround the tower, just some worldbuilding and character building so you guys can get to know the characters and this new world a bit more.

  I hope the Pyra/Mythra part wasn’t too confusing for you guys. I tried my best to portray someone talking with herself without making her sound crazy. The angle I am going with is that Pyra/Mythra are the same person, with a few added details as you’ve glimpsed in this chapter, hehehe.

  And yes, this Pyra/Mythra is absurdly powerful when not sealed. She fully absorbed the Trinity Processor and the Conduit, after all.

  The equipment structure of the tower is rather simple; just think of it as an RPG. Floor Number = Item Level, and Item Tier = Rarity + Quality.

  Unfortunately, I couldn't find the Jack the Reaper video from Shumatsu I mentioned here. I don't know exactly the video title but before we even had the anime, there was a very famous video that showed the Jack vs Hercules fight panel by panel of the manga, with a very characteristic soundtrack of 'London Bridge is falling down' pying in the background, if you find it please send it to me so I can put the Hyperlink in the chapter, thanks in advance.

  Answer:

  I think I would go with Dragon. An Argument can be made for Viltrumite, Celestial Sapien, or even the cssical Sayian or Kryptonian, but I always loved Dragons, so I choose that one. A Golden/Ptinum Dragon, of course, hehehe.

  ~ClearSkySage