Hotel…
As the news displayed the current riot, Clyde and Team Stone sat in the reserved room, half-watching the TV, half-watching a depressed Dera, and each other. They tried the approach of leaving the fates of the human criminals to the Nation’s authorities. The team had managed to get many behind bars and interrogated by the Alonian people. Clyde did not want to get his party involved into a country’s political affairs, yet the timing of everything just felt off.
How did things get to this point, completely undetected by Support Team and even Tear? Who pulled the string? Black Mask, or someone else? Maybe he should’ve gone at this with guns blazing. He… would have to switch to his last resort. Become a terrifying god, blow up Black Mask’s building, regardless of the possible innocent workers inside, and then rip off his head to post it on a spear…
Clyde flinched. Maybe he shouldn’t watch Natalia play video games.
Just then, a head slightly rose from the table, causing Clyde to flinch at most, but his stats wouldn’t give him the human benefit of fear. That head became an entire girl as she seemed to rise from the ground to sit on the table, smiling at the young man.
Kind purple eyes, light tan, silver-white hair, and a build similar to Chika, the princess… holy fucking shit. A strange white aura surrounded her, and she gave off a… kind of creepy aura. Once again, if Clyde was human, he’d be a little unnerved. She wore a plain white dress, but no shoes.
“Hi,” she said. Her voice definitely had a ghostly depth to it. Despite the dark times, an anime trope came to Clyde’s mind: the ghost girl.
“Uhmm… hello,” Clyde said.
“My name is Kaguya Alon, you probably saw one of my broadcasts and maybe the recent unfortunate accident,” she said. “Anyway, I’m haunting you.” She bowed. “Please take care of me.”
The entire team anime-fell to the side.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Clyde said, doing his best to process this as the girl lazily floated in the air. Kanako hovered over to her.
“She really is a spirit,” Kanako said, poking one of her breasts.
“Hey, what’s this, another spirit girl?” Kaguya asked, then wagged a finger. “You can’t have another spirit girl.”
“I’m a genie,” Kanako said, then smiled. “Pleased to meet you.”
Kaguya smiled back. “Likewise.”
Ako sighed. “She’s too cute to exorcise. Strange, but she’s not an evil spirit. No bitterness whatsoever, despite the horrible death. Why are you not in Celestial?”
“Beats me,” Kaguya said.
“What if she’s not really dead?” Sazuki asked, voice hopeful. “Like, she’s having an out-of-body experience or something.”
“Optimistic and all, but it wouldn’t explain why she came to this very hotel,” Tear said. Clyde could tell she didn’t want to shit on the girl’s hopefulness, but the succubus kept things realistic and possible.
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Kaguya said. “I’m allowed to live with any deity I choose for being a good person. At least that’s what Venus told me. I think she saved me from something called death’s door and triggered this form. She seemed to know I was going to say the Stone before the words came out of my mouth.”
“Venus again,” Toru said.
“You know, I can’t figure out if Venus is really kind or just a secret pervert in disguise,” Seth said.
Ming snatched the paper fan from Natalia’s hand and whacked Seth with it.
“Don’t speak bad about Venus,” Ming said.
Seth laughed. “Come on, we heard the stories of gods doing things for themselves. What will she gain by helping us? Isn’t that against the rules or whatever?”
“Do you know the rules?” Ming said.
Seth simply shrugged. “You can’t blame me for getting suspicious. Look, I don’t want to see Clyde abducted because-”
“She’s not like that,” Kaguya interrupted. “Mother knows about the stone-viper games. Knowledge of it has been passed throughout our family for generations. Venus was always known to be against the Viper, but publicly neutral when it comes to the event.” She floated over to Clyde, then turned to Dera.
“You…”
“Mother,” Dera said.
“Mother?” Yusuke said.
“She is our creator,” Dera said, bowing to Kaguya. The ghostly girl floated over and hugged her.
“She is?” Clyde and Team Stone exclaimed.
“I’m… so sorry you had to see me like that,” the ghost girl said.
“I knew it wasn’t you the moment Clyde pointed out the strange tattoo,” Dera said. “I was able to come to myself and access my sensors.”
Clyde stood, still uneasy about this new development. “What can I do to fix the chaos? Should I go to your mentor and give the blessing? How do I-”
“I’ll take the blessing,” Kaguya said, anime-diving into Clyde.
“And I’m the one who gets everyone’s shit,” Toru said, laughing. Fumi, still in human form, smiled at him. It was at that moment that Clyde spotted the ring on the slime girl’s finger.
[Quest Update: Thanks to Tessa, who is in the city by the way, Venus sent Kaguya your way fully intact with her soul, as you can see. The blessing will go to her now. However, you may have figured out that this Nation is in political chaos. It has finally reached its darkest hours. Reveal yourself to the Nation and end the chaos. Kill the strings that pull the Black Mask. This quest is mandatory and cannot be refused. Quest title update: A Godless Nation. Discover the truth!]
The truth? Clyde wasn’t surprised that he and his team were missing the big picture. And since when did adventure quests get titles? He hoped the system didn’t enjoy the chaos and turmoil.
[Would you like to give Princess Kaguya of Alon your blessing? Yes or No.]
Clyde selected yes. Why did the system even give him a choice? He hadn’t come all this way for nothing.
[System advice: sometimes it is hilarious to simulate the illusion of player choice.]
Clyde mentally glared at the bubblegum pink-haired loli that grinned at him before she vanished. Holy… fuck, more detail on her appearance. What unnerved the young man the most was how familiar the system’s avatar seemed. Scratch that, how did he know that was the system’s avatar? He couldn’t put a finger on it, but now wasn’t the time to worry about miniscule things. He had to undo the buttfucking Black Mask done to the nation of Alon.
“Hinako, Tetra, you two will be in charge of keeping the media offline while I’m in Stone Mode,” Clyde said. “Fuyoko, assist them as needed.”
“We need a hacker on our side,” Melody said.
Clyde looked at Chika.
“Look, I may be the top student at the academy, but my programming skills are average at best,” Chika said.
Clyde grinned. “I was going to say could you give me a kiss for luck, but if you have programming knowledge, then you could create a website that lets people discuss Team Stone. Maybe contact Naomi about that later.”
Chika pouted.
Clyde pulled out his phone to dial Tessa. “Who’s up for a raid?”
“Uhmmm, Clyde,” Harumi said. “You may want to look at the screen.”
Clyde turned to the news broadcast and sneered. What the hell… the wizards had the nerve to march their army out in the open. They planned to capitalize on the chaos.
Episode 62 (Part 2)
Midafternoon…
Clyde and the attacking force of Team Stone set off to the square, Kaguya’s appearance being the cause of the grand plan change. Support Team stayed back with Chika for their own safety and to flaunt connections and divert media attention. The young man still felt the chill of Seth’s words. That the Viper AND DIRE walked this city while he was distracted. To think that the final boss was so close to him.
Clyde frowned at the fires, the destroyed property, buildings looted by opportunists, and just the general chaos. Kaguya told the party about Maverick, the man pulling the strings beh
ind the black-robed wizard. What froze his blood further was that every leader of the provinces stood behind him, seeking to benefit greatly.
Alon was a Nation of seven provinces, keeping a royal family at the head and six mayors, which reminded Clyde of the dukes of most fantasy books he read. Unless a prompt made him do it, the young man had no intention of traveling around the provinces to do something as time-consuming as taking out each of their leaders. That responsibility would remain with the queen. With Maverick out of the picture, she shouldn’t have any problem ordering authorities to arrest them for treason.
When the team arrived at the city square, they set their eyes on the scene of people attempting to force their way into the palace, protesting with signs that displayed many messages, and others arguing with the guards behind the main gates.
Wizards were divided into cleaning crews, rallying crews to make chaos with the people, and the others seemed to be looking for someone. Clyde?
Downtown…
As Tessa walked downtown, using her magic to put out as many of the fires as possible, as well as blowing away the smoke, she noticed someone casually walking toward the square. Black robe, dragon mask. Him. Rage exploded into the young woman as the thought of so many people dying to this criminal flooded her mind.
“You!” Tessa said, immediately gaining his attention. “You’re dead.”
She didn’t give him time to speak, launching a burst of wind at the wizard. The Black Mask jumped over it.
[Tessa has entered a Boss fight!]
Andrew, the Black Mask, Ki-Wizard of Kindas and Disciple of Maverick.
Level: 217
Type: human, spellcaster.
Work under: Kindas.
Special: ???
Weakness: ???
Resistances: ???
Secret: blocked.
With a hand aimed toward the bolt, Tessa cast.
[Tessa activated Silver tier skill: Indignation!]
Multi-colored lightning erupted from the hand of the young woman, colliding into the opposing Ki. The forces of power and energy exploded. Tessa Wind-Walked, a speed-rush skill like Flash Step, and planted her foot firmly in the face of the Black Mask. The force of the enhanced blow propelled him toward a building, but the Black Mask stopped himself shortly before impact. He even put up a barrier as Tessa fired more magic at him.
“I don’t have time for this,” the Black Mask said.
“The chaos is your fault!” Tessa snapped. “Your organization drove a destructive stake into the heart of this Nation.” The aura intensified around the woman. “I don’t know how you’ve lived so long, but my goddess has ordered your execution. As much as I hate killing people, I will take pleasure in your destruction.”
Tessa Wind-Walked to his side, hand aimed, but Black Mask leapt to a rooftop.
Tessa jumped out of the path of the enormous fiery Ki blast, but when she looked up, her opponent was gone. It didn’t matter. She knew his destination. The Black Mask’s fate was sealed.
City square….
“Should I make myself visible?” Kaguya said, her voice just holding back her fear.
“I do not recommend it just yet,” Dera said softly. “The timing needs to be right, according to my calculations, Mother.”
Clyde scanned the crowd, the guards, and waited. His team looked to him, curious, some perhaps a little anxious. Yet, the people grew worse. Visible waves of red and gold aura leaked off the young man.
“What the hell is wrong with these people?” Clyde asked. Harumi squeezed his hand, which jolted a much-needed calming effect into the young man.
Suddenly, Black Mask appeared before the crowd. Harumi placed a hand in front of Clyde, before he could step forward to obliterate the public figure. He realized that she had a point. The Black Mask could no longer escape them.
“People, please give me your attention,” the Black Mask said. “I have a confession to make. I lied in order to test you. To quench what is dark, I became an even greater darkness, yet you people did nothing. You turned against the only form of leadership that actually cared about something other than money. Why do you not think for yourselves? What happened to a dose of healthy skepticism? The princess was placed under a spell given to me by a Cru-”
At that moment, the Black Mask’s head literally exploded into a bloody goo. Everyone froze as silence danced through the air.
“I do not want to hear your excuses,” a familiar voice said as she stepped in front of the crowd. Tessa. “He and his organization caused this mess, they cast a mind control spell on your princess, and with his words, he planned to do the same to you all in the name of his twisted justice.” Tessa spat on the fallen body. “I hate people like this. They live inside their heads, blaming everything on reality. We have freewill for a reason. If you don’t like something, then don’t just sit there and take the beating. Make a change, no matter how small.” She shook her head. “I wasn’t going to sit there and listen to another moment of garbage spilling from the mouth of that filth.” Her eyes hardened. “The Black Mask is just a puppet to an even bigger filth. Wake up.” Tessa vanished in a spectacular Jump, leaving the crowd stunned. Leaving Team Stone stunned.
“She… blew his freaking head off,” Kitome said softly.
“I have a feeling this may scar some people, Meanie girl,” Natalia said.
“I’d hate to piss her off,” Toru said. Yusuke and Seth nodded in agreement.
Smaller city, Alon…
Tiffia woke up, shivering. That’s when she realized that someone had stripped her down to bra and panties. She yelped, realizing she was out for Great Ones know how long, in an isolated section of an abandoned parking lot. Her memories of the previous night flooded back to her. Terrance knew martial arts and simply attacked her like a brute. She took a heavy hit to the head, but just managed to teleport away before passing out. The woman huffed.
“Someone doesn’t know how to treat a lady.”
Tiffia Jumped back to her hotel room. She let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness Hideo taught her that technique a few months back. Not everyone was compatible with teleportation or warping magic, but for those able to use it, life felt great.
The woman took a nice, long shower before contacting Pillar Palona using a spare phone. She made poses, flaunting her large breasts, while looking in the mirror. Palona wished she had them this large. She shook off the impure, but hilarious thought. The leftover succubus magic from a recent hunt that still hadn’t worn off quite yet.
“Why didn’t you answer your phone last night?” Palona snapped, her voice bitchy as usual. Tiffia rolled her eyes. She wouldn’t be able to do that in a face-to-face conversation - that was suicide even for a researcher. Not many people knew about the Pillars, believing the researchers to be the pinnacle of authority. They were not fully there yet. The four Pillars were in the way.
“What-”
“Never mind that,” Palona interrupted. “Take your crap and leave the city now. Maverick’s idiot apprentice ruined seventeen years of planning and now he’s dead. I don’t have faith that he can dig us out of this one, so we’re leaving. “
Tiffia snarled. How dare this bitch speak to her that way? Tiffia was still a researcher, a respected high-ranking member of the Crusaders, and in fact an authoritative figure. She held her tongue, wishing someone would just stab Palona in the neck.
“And where do you want me to go?” Tiffia said.
“Go to the safehouse in Ring City,” Palona said. “And I hope you’re showered. I plan to vent a long night of frustration.”
“The hell you will,” Tiffia said. “Just because-”
Palona hung up, infuriating the woman until only cold rage remained. She heard about Palona’s famous “frustration” vents or even “pleasant talks” normally with the younger, more naïve women of the Crusaders.
In order to keep them silent, they ended up as lackeys in her clique. Tiffia would not be the first researcher humiliated in that place. She would not!
She dialed a number. “Yes, I would like to report as an anonymous tipper and I swear on the magical Alonian oath that this is true.” The magic slammed against her like an electric punch. “Palona is a traitor. She’s been plotting with Maverick the entire time behind the queen’s back.”
“You’re a naughty girl, whoever you are,” the voice on the other line said. “You’re lucky I don’t recognize you or I’d have your head for plotting against Lady Palona.” The feminine voice chuckled. “I’ll let this slide. You’re a teenager, playing a prank. Don’t do it again.”
Tiffia slammed the phone onto the bed. Palona was steps ahead of her. Ahead of anyone who would discover her identity before her plans set off. If Tiffia went back to the safehouse in Ring City, she’d lose her respect as everyone would know she took the non-consenting tea of that bitch.
Tiffia could only hope the Pillar would succumb to injury or even die. She’d have to order a few Crusaders loyal to her to stop their current jobs in order to live with her at the Ring City base. That risky maneuver would probably alert the local supernatural. She really didn’t enjoy the idea of living in the vicinity of the filthy dragons, but Tiffia had no choice under a direct order.
However, not even the Pillar would be able to order her loyal Crusaders around. Kill them, yes, but the non-consenting tea wasn’t worth becoming a traitor to the organization. Or if they swept it under the rug, suspicion by literally everyone not in the Order would spread until causing conflict and chaos among themselves.
The Anime Trope System: Stone vs. Viper, #12 a LitRPG (ATS) Page 16