The Anime Trope System: Stone vs. Viper, #12 a LitRPG (ATS)

by Alvin Atwater

  Natalia didn’t have healing powers. His eyes widened. Naoko and Nina were a part of her group - team brats. That meant that even the ancient Entity, who should’ve ruthlessly attacked and killed Dire, believed in the witch’s plan. He silently shuddered again.

  Whoever turned out to be Dire’s master was sure as shit going to have a rude awakening.

  A City in Alon…

  Terrance finished his epic massage, causing a woman to let out an orgasmic sigh of relief.

  “The cleansing massage is done. The spirit that terrorize you shall never be a problem again. And for being such a good customer, I’m going to cut you a break. Fifty percent off. So instead of two thousand dollars like I first proposed, it will only be one.”

  The blonde woman smiled widely, eagerly handing over the money. “Thank you so much!”

  After she left the dark man’s shop, Terrance counted the money again before tossing half of it into his heavily armored safe. Life was just too easy, reeling in those superstitious suckers. He solved their issues with logical, mundane methods and made bank from it. What morons. There were no such things as ghosts, ghouls, or fairies.

  That crazy old man who kept telling Terrance that he awoke special abilities was a known nutcase. Mediums on TV used the Forer Effect to trick saps into believing in their slimy words. All they have to do is act out the dramatics. Cash! Astrology capturing the minds of the gullible. Terrance couldn’t let those con artists hog all the money.

  As he took a piss in the small, paying-customers-only bathroom, the man pondered on his next big scheme. Something to haul in enough money to get him into a decent house.

  The TV in his main room flipped to some breaking news. Apparently, the biggest con artists of all time, Team Stone, were stopping the terrorist problem in the capital city. Yeah, right. They were probably getting paid behind the scenes to look like heroes. Where were they when a Cyclone-storm wreaked havoc on the entire Nation, knocking out power, killing thousands, and leaving thousands more homeless? There wasn’t talk of humanitarian work from them. And the shitty media hid the mythical monster attacks, which were just thugs dressed up in stupid costumes, looting and killing people in gruesome ways.

  The terrorists in the capital city were only like two percent correct about the Alonian economy. The rest of their claims were simply ideologic bullshit. The cities were just fine. The mayors chose to stick to modern technology to save on costs. Most of the qualified people capable of handling advanced technology and the mystical quantum core bullshit - Terrance sure as shit didn’t believe in magic - lived in the capital city.

  Some people tried too damn hard to deny reality, manipulating the masses. Those people pissed the man off more than anything.

  When he closed up the shop for the day, Terrance hopped onto his motorcycle, preparing to speed off when someone stepped into view.

  “Ah, I thought I felt a strong presence somewhere,” a man with… freakishly glowing purple eyes said. Long black hair, a ridiculous black cloak, with a white shirt. He even had a sword sheathed on his back.

  “Great, another edgelord cosplayer,” Terrance said, annoyed. “Look, I keep telling you people that there is no such thing as magic, powers, whatever. You’re not special, you’re just some dude. Get back to reality already, fuck.”

  He was about to kick the stand and drive off when the man… simply appeared right in front of him. Terrance yelped, falling backward.

  “What in the fuck… I must be tired and seeing shit,” Terrance said.

  The purple-eyed man chuckled. “The only one that strayed from reality is you. So, Terrance, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Aunder and I’ve got an offer for you.”

  “Fuck off, man, I’m not taking any shit from some Fantasy-Wars reject,” Terrance said. “And I certainly don’t swing that way.”

  Aunder laughed.

  “My student made me these things called business cards. Here, take it. When you’re ready to be brought back into reality and to aim for something much greater than yourself and the pathetic world you’re disgusted with, call that number.” Aunder showed off a smartphone. “She even followed my orders and got me a phone.”

  Aunder turned around and literally vanished, leaving Terrance sitting there with widened eyes, heart pounding.

  “What the fuck was that?” he asked softly. “What the fuck… I need to get the fuck out of here.”

  He rushed to his motorcycle, speeding off with the hope of drinking away this encounter. What Terrance didn’t do was throw away the business card…

  Episode 60 (Part 4)

  Nation’s Seat of Alon…

  Late afternoon…

  Hotel…

  Clyde’s glare and intimidating aura washed over Natalia until she was nearly teary-eyed, attempting to hide behind Harumi. Finally, after a minute, which felt almost like an eternity to the loli, the young man relaxed, dispersing his unconsciously emitted dominance. The hotel staff and passing guests seemed confused.

  “I sure hope you know what you’re doing.” He laid back on the couch, Alice at his side. One of the cleaning androids, a yard or two ahead, glared at him.

  “I just cleaned that couch,” she said. “Don’t mess it up. And don’t eat on it.”

  “Oh, quit your whining,” Matsume said, smacking the back of the android, grinning. “As soon as we leave, you’ll be stuck with the dull crowd again. Enjoy us while you can.”

  The android rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath.

  “Alice, I need your help,” Chika said with comedic teary eyes. Alice snuggled into Clyde.

  “Can’t you see I’m in my happy place?” Alice asked. “I’ll help you later.”

  “Plleeeassse,” Chika said, grabbing the half-demoness’s arm.

  “Aren’t you the genius girl?” Alice said.

  “I need a second opinion and you’re the only one who knows the inner workings of the project, being partnered with Chika Corp,” Chika said.

  Alice sighed, reluctantly allowing the silver-haired girl to take her away.

  “Chika works too much,” Harumi said as she sat next to Clyde.

  Natalia seemed too nervous to sit. The young man gestured at the seat on his left.

  “I told you I’m not mad,” Clyde said. “Hell, who even is that kid? Like, I know jack shit about her, except that one of your spells is named after her and that she had a temper-tantrum, but ended up not killing us… with a cheerful smile on her face. So, a creepy loli.”

  Natalia hesitated at first, but took the seat.

  “You know my skill name? I don’t remember telling you,” she said.

  Harumi chuckled. “Should you really be surprised at that, Natalia?”

  “I guess not,” the loli replied.

  Abruptly, Kanako rushed out of the hall, flying toward Clyde, legs in spiritual tail mode, eyes teary.

  “Master, help. She’s too much.” Kanako anime-dove into the young man. He had a bad feeling about this.

  “Oh no,” Harumi said tiredly.

  Airi emerged from the hall, eyes starry. “Just a few more questions. I need to know every part of your genie body. How do you bend the universe to your will in order to grant wishes? Every - ow!”

  Harumi pulled away the paper fan. “Don’t make Kanako cry.”

  Airi sighed.

  “I was only trying to…” She stopped at Harumi’s glare. “Fine, fine, I won’t ask her anymore questions. For now.” She turned her gaze to Clyde.

  “Ah snap, look at the time,” Clyde said, moving Kanako to the side before standing. “I’ve got a quick meeting with Tear in her room. She’s our information queen, you know.”

  Harumi giggled. “I see someone’s trying to redirect things to our succubus.”

  “It’s fine, I’ll wait,” Airi said, “but you can’t escape me forever.” She suddenly anime-dove into Clyde. “Come on, just one question. Two. At least write a journal or book. None of the things you’re able to do make sense. I n
eed to solve these mysteries.”

  Clyde nodded. “Mysteries, you say. Wording it that way… Hmm, maybe you would be the one to crack things. Let’s start with something I’ve been meaning to look into.” He warped the Root Tree seed from his inventory.

  [Root Tree seed. Item class: epic.]

  Unlike the last time he looked at it, the seed now glowed with power.

  “Holy shit, this is new,” Clyde said. “What’s-”

  Airi seemed to spasm with excitement.

  [Your relationship with Airi has increased to endearment, friend, closer level 10, passionately interested and super curious.]

  “Where did you get that? And it’s ready to be planted,” Airi said. “Oh-oh! Let me nourish it. We druids live for this stuff.”

  Clyde wiped away the nosebleed. The super druid had her cute moments, separate from the seductive and knowledge-craving onslaughts. He handed the seed to the young woman.

  “You handle it, then talk to me later about what it actually does and whatever the Root Tree is,” Clyde said. “It’s an odd gift from a forest monster girl. Anyway, I’m going to talk with Tear for a bit.”

  Clyde pet Natalia, kissed Harumi, but before he started toward the hall, Airi asked, “Where’s my kiss?”

  Harumi delivered quite the swift paper fan. “Come on, let’s go do your druidry. And you’re going to tell me why you’re so excited by this seed.”

  “But my kiss,” Airi said, pouting. “I refuse to do anything until I get mine.”

  Clyde chuckled as Harumi dragged the super druid away.

  “You can get that later, but not while mine is special,” Harumi said.

  Natalia hopped on Clyde’s back.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “You’re going to do pervy things with Tear,” Natalia said.

  Clyde sighed.

  “Why must that be assumed for a conversation between two adults? Anyway, go take the rest of the day off. I still need time to process your plan to use Dire as a tool.”

  Natalia flinched, then slumped off his back.

  “Don’t get down about it,” Clyde said. “So far, none of your genius plans have failed. Yet.” The young man started toward Tear’s room, but not before giving the loli another head pat. Good thing Ruri was occupied with Ming, no doubt to pester her about the next Loli Saga release.

  Clyde knocked on the succubus’s door before entering. She was sitting at her desk, dressed in an incredible nightgown, a few papers and books stacked in various spots.

  The door abruptly shut by itself the moment Clyde was fully in. He heard the beeping of the electronic locking mechanism.

  “Well hello,” Tear said. “You’re finally paying your dear fiancée a daytime visit.”

  “Don’t put it like that,” Clyde said, flashing a smile, pulling Tear into a kiss. “But you’re right. I’m here to hang out.”

  Tear’s eyes lit up, a devilish smile curling across her face. “Finally, someone to listen to my problems.” She pushed him on the bed, straddling the young man. “I hope your listening ears are ready.”

  Clyde sat up, pulling his fiancée closer. “I’m all ears.” He kissed her. “All the time.”

  Tear smiled. “I know you are. Even your little friend below agrees.”

  Clyde grunted softly as Tear’s soft ass moved against his super-boner. He kissed her, she returned it, until they were engaged in the heat of passion. He stripped Tear, she stripped him, and he found his tongue gliding across massive breasts. He glided it across another place too, tasting her before entering. It always surprised him how tight the succubus was. Clyde was her first time in the real world, not that he knew for sure how succubi absorbed energy. Some legends say dream sex, some say the dream itself acted as the draining mechanism.

  None of that mattered. He simply enjoyed feeling her, the succubus’s warm breath against his neck, her legs closing around him, and the moans.

  He almost released inside, all three rounds. Really, the only thing stopping that was thinking logically. Now knowing that Naoko possessed strong healing powers, the young man no longer had to scramble for a replacement for both his main healer and backup. Kanako also had healing skills, but could only target a very few at a time.

  The duo ended up chatting while naked in bed.

  “Conversation succubus-style,” Tear said, “smooth.” She snuggled into her fiancé.

  “You don’t mind if I ask questions that may break the mood?” Clyde asked, his voice half-joking.

  Tear shrugged. “Ask away. It’s going to take a lot to step on a landmine. And I have some questions for you, my secret-keeping hubby.”

  “It’s not like I try to keep things I find a secret,” Clyde said. “It’s pretty easy to forget things when they’re tossed in an interdimensional storage place.”

  “It’s time for that to end,” Tear said. “Some of us can make the objects you discover more powerful, you know. Even I like to flex my abilities sometimes.” She smiled. “Maybe earn a few brownie points.”

  Now it was Clyde’s turn to shrug, but he also nodded, understanding.

  “Alright. If I don’t forget, I’ll make sure to show you the items I find.” Clyde snuggled his face into Tear’s breasts, getting a giggle from her. He pulled back. “You said you were from the continent closest to the Monster Kingdoms, right?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Tear said, “my home nation is called Ceruliam. For a public show, we didn’t label ourselves as a part of the Supreme Empire, but Mother and the Supreme are long-time blood friends. Monster Kingdom soldiers patrolled both our lands and theirs, although they stopped due to stray adventurers that attacked them every now and then.”

  Clyde grunted. “Wait, your nation is just monsters or-”

  “It’s a hybrid nation,” Tear said. “The human men get along fine with the monster and demon girls. And we have a magical law that makes it so that any monster must maintain a human form within our borders. They also aren’t allowed to attack humans. Not that our monster girls allow the typical monster to do such a thing.” Tear sighed. “Being so close to the Supreme’s core influence, they’re highly protective of men when it comes to the creatures that threaten them.”

  “Do you miss your family?” Clyde asked, stroking Tear’s hair the way she always seemed to enjoy.

  “I still keep in contact with Mother,” Tear said, “although… our great grandmother is a bit, well, really scary. Sometimes she says things and may mean it or could be joking. I’m an only child, but Alice, Natalia, and Melody are like my little sisters.”

  Clyde smiled. “So, there is someone you fear after all.”

  Tear laughed. “Trust me, if you were to meet that crazy woman, you’d be having nightmares. Don’t let her looks fool you. And definitely never, ever, treat her like a child. A monster that tried to make fun of her child-like appearance figured out something interesting at the last moment of his life when Grandmother smiled cheerfully.” Tear shuddered. “She formed the knife from his blood, before shoving it through his throat.”

  “So, your grandmother’s a fucking murderous loli psychopath. Good to know,” Clyde said. A loli-grandmother. Adding it to the trope list. “You know, Alice actually said the same thing, back during that thunderstorm - about her grandmother being scary.”

  Tear grinned. “Even Mother’s on guard when she’s around.”

  “What about the Supreme?” Clyde asked.

  “They’re drinking buddies,” Tear said, as if those words were no big deal. “The Supreme doesn’t count. Her only fear is going mad if all men disappeared.”

  Clyde laughed, before the duo elapsed into a few minutes of silence, enjoying the proximity of each other.

  “So, what’s it like in your world?” Tear asked. “You sometimes say things that make no sense to us. Like sayings from your Nation?”

  “I could say my world fucking sucks,” Clyde said, “but it’s what you make of it. There is no magic, at least not known publicly. Same
for beings that are not human or animal. It’s a mundane place, really. A lot of the things here are myths in my world. Stories of a book, mysteries, or superstitious things.”

  Tear gave the young man a skeptical look. “Maybe there were times that our worlds collided and we didn’t know. What’s your world called, again?”

  “Earth,” Clyde said.

  Tear’s eyes widened. “If I’m not mistaken… I think my uncle took Alice there when she was a child. Uncle didn’t talk about the world he visited much, except that the rules or whatever are different. You’ve got to tell me-”

  A knock interrupted the excited succubus.

  “Sazuki’s looking for you, Tear. Stop doing pervy things to pervy-cheater nii,” Natalia said.

  “Does she need help now?” Tear asked.

  “Yes. You were training her with Undine, remember? And why the barrier on the door? Let me join!”

  “Well, it seems like she’s back in high spirits again,” Clyde said with a laugh. He and Tear quickly dressed, the succubus choosing to wear casual clothing instead of her nightgown. Well, casual clothing was probably a stretch. She wore things that would make her a target for muggers or even for people that hoped to contact her rich father for ransom.

  “Just when I thought we’d have more than a couple hours of alone time,” Tear said.

  “You’re lucky to have that, but he’s my fiancé too,” Natalia said. “A pervy cheater, but my pervy cheater-nii.”

  When Clyde opened the door, Natalia stood there, arms folded and pouting. Naoko was right beside her, silent. Well, eating a large cookie. He’d give her a pass this time.

  Tear pulled Clyde into one more kiss before starting down the hall with the lolis. Damn, he didn’t get the chance to ask anything about the demon realm. Still, the bond between him and the succubus had grown. Even the system agreed.