The Anime Trope System: Stone vs. Viper, #14 a LitRPG (ATS)

by Alvin Atwater

  “I wouldn’t object to tossing her outside,” Alice said.

  “I second that,” Kitome agreed.

  Tetra laughed. “Remind me to never piss off those two together.”

  Clyde, of course, shared the love with Alice, catching the half-demoness off guard. And she actually blushed. The flash of a camera snapped. Everyone turned to Sazuki.

  The student council president also flushed. “What? She was cute.”

  Episode 68 (Part 1): Hearts

  Unknown City…

  Hotel…

  Dark peeked out of his hotel room into the hall. Coast clear, except for the roving night security patrol. Perfect. He closed the door, engaged its electronic lock and then two additional magical locks he constructed a couple of days ago. He then hurried to his window and cast two protection spells on it, an illusion spell, a repel spell, barrier, and others to make sure no one could get in. Now...

  Dark walked to the mirror.

  “May as well practice my opening speech to give to the mayor,” he said. A completed quest meant rewards, experience points, and sometimes reputation boosts. “I am Dark, great shadow who ascends above the world, great avenger of the… No, wait. That’s not right.” He shook his head. “I am Dark, great shadow of the world, the fear of the night, the night runner. No… That’s not right either. I AM DARK—”

  Someone banged on the door.

  “Hey. SHUT THE FUCK UP. I can’t even concentrate on my por—I mean people are trying to sleep. Do you not have any manners? Fucking idiot.”

  The man stormed off, leaving Dark standing with cold blood. He forgot to cast the goddamn anti-sound barrier. A snicker from behind caught his attention. The young man turned to see Myriad crawling from under his bed. She continued to laugh as he kicked her out of his room.

  Evening…

  Lot City, Yaponiya…

  Clyde’s house…

  The mysterious catgirl named Chesire still rested in a spelled vacant room. She wouldn’t be able to use magic nor come out of that room without his permission. Yuki, Tear, and Ako’s magic rotated invisibly throughout the prison, ready to trigger at any given moment. Some would call this overkill. Clyde thought of this as… treating a dangerous being as if she was a loaded weapon.

  As everyone sat down for dinner, a cry sounded.

  “Nyaa, please let me out. I have to pee. Help! Somebody help me. Nyyyaa, Mommy!” Door-scratching echoed through the hall. Neko and Ako sighed.

  “If I would’ve known Chesire would be barging in on our lives, I would’ve dealt with her myself, nya,” Ako said. Neko picked up a paper fan from beneath the table and then handed it to her sister.

  “Nya, you do the honors,” Neko said.

  “Sure thing, nya,” the samurai catgirl said.

  Clyde followed them with a blank-stare. Sure enough, as soon as they dispelled the door and opened it, Ako gave Chesire one hell of a paper fan whack.

  Damn, I’m pretty sure Liru heard that all the way in Terravon, Clyde thought.

  After allowing the powerless prisoner to use the restroom, under guard by the catgirl sisters, they took her down the hall for some living room interrogation. Chesire’s stomach growled loudly. She collapsed to the floor, groaning.

  “Nyaa, I haven’t eaten in days,” Chesire said. “Time passes… oddly when using my dimensional warp from Wonderland to Satovia. If I hadn’t miscast the spell, I could’ve prevented this.” The catgirl looked up at the three, who gazed at her with Toru-style blank stares. “I’ll eat anything… nya, a can of tuna would be nice. Or some Kitty-Nibbles.”

  “You eat cat food?” Clyde said, then smiled sheepishly as Neko and Ako glared at him.

  “Nya, get off your high horse—when nothing’s available, a cat’s got to eat what a cat’s got to eat. Besides, it’s not bad,” Chesire said.

  Clyde shook his head. “I’ll feed you on some conditions.”

  “Nyaa, anything,” Chesire said weakly. “I’m starving. But you can’t have my last can of catnip.”

  Neko and Ako’s ears seem to perk up at the mention of catnip. They tried to hide the secret wanting behind neutral expressions, but Clyde already took the mental note.

  “First, you will cease any attempts at kidnapping Alice,” Clyde said. “Not that you’ll succeed. I told her she’s free to kill you if you try that again. Pretty sure you won’t because Tear’s curse will stop your heart. If cats really do have nine lives, you’ll be losing one. Second, you will tell me everything—why you’re here and everything about your master.”

  “I can tell you about her, nya,” Ako said.

  “Nyaa, but he’s making the pact with me,” Chesire said. “I’m hungry.”

  “It’s fine, Ako,” Clyde said. “I’m curious to why she’d come all this way to give up so easily.”

  “Nya, Chesire was never one to take risks,” Neko said. “That’s why Grandmother whacked her constantly with a rolled-up newspaper. She even got the squirt of—”

  Chesire covered Neko’s mouth with both hands, eyes teary. “Don’t you go spreading the nonsense of that evil woman.”

  “Maybe the real question I should ask is how you three know each other,” Clyde said.

  Chesire’s stomach growled. “Nya, I’m a former Observer,” she said. “Can we eat now, please?”

  There was so much the young man wanted to know, but he decided to drop it for now.

  “Wonderland, huh.”

  Clyde turned around to see Amina standing there.

  “Do you know anything about Wonderland?” Clyde said. “Other than sounding like a story from my world.”

  “Wonderland’s… kind of a lewd place,” Amina said. “At least from what I’ve read about it. The only reason why the Queen of Hearts could possibly want Alice of all people is because she knows her or knows of her. Maybe through a relative or friend, who knows. Don’t get involved with Chesire’s Wonderland antics. You may be powerful, but in her domain, you don’t stand a chance.”

  Clyde shrugged. “Look, I’ve got like a million better things to do than fight with someone who probably chops off the heads of her people on a daily basis. Remember the story. Off with her head. Kind of reminds me of Guillotine. A game where you win by getting a head.” He chuckled at his own lame joke, but Amina simply stared blankly at him, a drop of sweat falling off the back of her head. Clyde cleared his throat. “Anyway, we’ll talk about this later. Let’s go eat.”

  The young man hurried off to the dining room as Amina opened her mouth to say something else.

  Kiko and Sazuki accepted the invitations for dinner that night, but Seth had other plans as did Toru and Fumi. Nina, the vampiric gothic loli, still showed. Misaka and Ming were still out at some anime party.

  Clyde reviewed Chiyo’s text again.

  Chiyo: I’ll meet with you in two days, Stone-sama! *Heart emoji* *Heart emoji*

  Good. With her around, he’d attempt to solve two birds with one stone… Ha. Preventing Sol’s resurrection was one thing; however, the next phase to Harumi’s massive quest still waited for his continuation.

  [Quest: Dragon Business, Step 3: Non-specifics. To be guided by Harumi, Liru, or an outside force. You will know when the time comes… This quest is mandatory and cannot be refused. Reward: unknown.]

  He doubted Chiyo was this outside force, but she’d at least be the guiding hand to his success, maybe point the young man in the right direction. Vague quests were always difficult in the games. Real life followed suit.

  The problem with real life quests was, of course, the invisible time limit. What if the Soulless family decided to randomly go into hiding? Who would stop them?

  Clyde put that thought to the side. “Let me do the dishes, Yuki,” he said. “You’re free to give Maki and Sophia the rest of the night off.”

  Yuki stared at him for a bit then shrugged. “You two may have the rest of the night off. Maki, two hours of TV.”

  When Maki and Sophia left, Yuki turned to see Clyde pre-
washing the dishes before loading them into the dishwasher.

  “Something on your mind?” the demoness asked.

  “A lot of things,” Clyde replied. “But I’ll just take things one step at a time.”

  “Speaking of one step at a time,” Chika said as she walked into the kitchen. “Are you going to register for classes in the spring semester or what? Please tell me you’ve decided not to drop out.” The silver haired girl’s eyes glistened as she waited for his reply.

  Clyde hadn’t thought about the classes once since the test results. He hadn’t gotten the chance to cash in on the benefits for finally being number one at the academy, not that this would last long. He didn’t expect to get lucky again with the bonus questions. While Chika would make sure everyone got high scores on their exams, the young man had no intention of becoming a study machine like her. He had a lot on his plate now. Sure, Sato Academy held mysteries and probably goodies to discover, but all of that could wait.

  “I’ll think about it,” Clyde said as he finished loading up the dishes. Before Chika could protest, he spoke over her. “Anyway, let’s go see what Cheshire, I mean Chesire Cat, has to say for herself.”

  Everyone gathered into the boardroom and then looked to the purple-haired catgirl.

  Chesire cleared her throat and began her first line as if she was giving an election speech. “Nya, my fellow living people, I bring greetings from Wonderland,” she said. “Alice has been invited to travel as a guest among our beautiful—don’t look at me that way, I’m only speaking under orders.”

  Natalia tossed a ball of yarn at her.

  “Hey, that’s mine,” Neko said.

  Chesire picked it up, staring blankly at the loli-witch. “Nya, someone really needs to teach their child some basic manners,” Chesire said, pocketing the yarn.

  “Maybe if you didn’t waste our time trying to conjure up some dummy cat fibs, I could get back to reading the next Loli Saga manga chapter,” Natalia said then stuck her tongue out at the catgirl. “Stupid cat. Go find a trashcan to sleep in already.”

  “Why you insolent little bit—”

  “Hey! This isn’t a grade school,” Clyde snapped. Tear whacked Natalia with a paper fan, but the snickering and attempt to hold in laughter wasn’t missed by the young man.

  “As I was saying,” Chesire said, then glared at the loli-witch, daring her to interrupt. “I’m from Wonderland. I arrived by order of the queen. Of course Alice isn’t to be harmed or anything, it’s just a tour.”

  “A tour that I don’t want,” Alice said. “Sheesh, what is wrong with you people?”

  “Well, at least Clare re-warded her house,” Airi said, smacking Matsume on the back. She passed her a flask.

  Melody snatched it away before either of them could start drinking. “Really,” the redhead said. “During a meeting? How indecent.”

  “Ah, get off our backs, strawberry head,” Matsume said with a laugh. “If you weren’t a puritan, you’d want to drink to drown out this cat’s bullshit.”

  “I can’t expect a fleabag with an empty head to understand simple language,” Chesire said. “Shall I speak slow for you? I. Am—”

  Matsume lunged for the cat, but Airi held her back.

  Clyde’s eye twitched. This pointless meeting wasn’t getting anywhere. Why didn’t he simply talk with the catgirl in a private warded room? Finally, he decided the Wonderland resident wasn’t worth wasting so much time on.

  “You’re free to go home, but,” Clyde paused, allowing all eyes to stop on him. “Alice will not hesitate to kill you if you try to kidnap her again.” His eyes glowed and, booming with the power, the young man said, “And if I come for you, there will be no one to stop me from destroying Wonderland.” Everyone seemed to paused, shocked. “I’m kidding. What the hell do I look like, the Inquisition? I’m not about to kill billions of innocents when I can simply remote kill the cat.”

  The young man for some reason didn’t feel like he was one hundred percent kidding. Could it be the evil alignment? Well, if they fucked with his half-demoness, he would be quite angry. Supernaturals believed they have the ability to do whatever they wanted to those who just wanted to live their fucking lives. Okay, so Wonderland would probably be in a little trouble… Maybe.

  “You… can do that?” Chesire said.

  “Remember, Tear’s curse, my curse, and one more thing,” Clyde lied. The entire remote thing was complete bullshit, but abusing the power’s unstoppable pressure to protect his team had its perks.

  “Kun, Kun,” Ruri sniffed. “Ming and Misaka are back. They smell like sweets. I wonder if Ming’s almost done with the next chapter.”

  Ruri quickly kissed Clyde before hurrying out to greet the returning duo.

  “Let’s just call it a night,” Clyde said. “Chesire, you’re free to stay in that guest room, but you’ll have to leave in the morning.”

  “Nya, that warded room feels like a prison,” she said. “I’ll just take my leave now, if you don’t mind.” The purple-haired catgirl nodded, bowed to Alice, and then started for the door only to suddenly halt. “She said next chapter. Wait… could it be THE Ming?”

  “Go home already,” Kitome snapped.

  “And give me back my yarn,” Neko said, reaching for Chesire’s pockets. She almost pulled off her shorts.

  Clyde noticed that Noona had her head down, snoring softly. Kanako’s head bobbed every few seconds.

  “Alright, meeting’s over,” he said, then picked up the blonde demoness. “Either go home or sleep in the guest room.”

  “I’m sure Ming doesn’t want to be bothered by such a coward, nya,” Ako said.

  “Nya, I’m not a coward, I’m just smart,” Chesire said. She stuck her tongue out at the other woman, but immediately regretted when Ako gave her a Gin smile. Gin from the anime called Bleach. Ah yes. Neko always said her sister was scary when mad. So did Kimiko, the youngest Rose sister, about Chiyo.

  Clyde continued out the door, carrying Noona, followed by all of his fiancées. They went their separate ways, some headed to the master bedroom, some to Ming’s room, or the living room.

  “You could easily just Jump home,” Clyde said as he tucked the sleeping demoness into her bed. Despite having a plethora of servants willing to protect her with their lives, Noona somehow still felt alone. Not anymore, of course. He almost caressed her face, but someone cleared their throat from behind.

  “Just tucking her in,” Clyde said as he turned around.

  Kitome gave him a suspicious look, not buying it. “Uh huh,” she said.

  “Hey, I’ve got a request,” Clyde said as he started toward the empty room, adjacent to Noona’s room.

  “What is it?” Kitome said.

  “Transform right quick,” he said.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “I just want to see something,” Clyde said.

  She sighed then said, “Love-love transformation.”

  As expected, Kitome blushed heavily after the transformation completed. Clyde saw everything—it was very similar to how Sailor Moon did so.

  Clyde pinned her against the wall, kissing the young woman passionately. Kitome’s heart pounded as she took in the sudden romance.

  [Your relationship with Kitome has evolved to Treasured level 2.]

  Kitome was just too cute.

  A text from Naomi caught his attention.

  Naomi: the newspaper club could really use your help. Please bring Kitome and Sazuki. Oh and Chesire. The… Queen of Hearts is in my living room.

  Clyde froze. Kitome gazed at his screen, stare blank. The young man was only seconds from ripping her clothes off, but leaving Naomi to fend for herself simply wouldn’t be an option. She stood as one of his first friends since he entered Satovia.

  Why was someone as powerful as the Queen of Hearts there of all places? This reminded him of how the Supreme continuously visited Clare’s café, terrorizing the poor shrine maiden with her presence.

  Episode 68
(Part 2)

  Night…

  Lot City, Satovia…

  Clyde could feel Kitome’s anger aura radiating a blazing purple, despite the fake smile she had on her face. The Gin smile, the evil Yandere smile. She felt like killing someone. Sazuki fumed, too. Apparently, she was just ten minutes into falling asleep after listening to her sister, Kiko, ramble about some TV show. Chesire looked nervous. Alice appeared to be lost in thought, her hair not in twin tails due to the sudden call.

  The young man finally turned to the left of him to give Hinako a blank stare. “So, Hinako. Any particular reason why you’re tagging along on this life-threatening march of doom?”

  Hinako pouted. “Do you have a problem with me, quote unquote, tagging along? Or would you rather I sit in my house all day alone with no papers to grade?”

  Clyde playfully raised his hands halfway into the air. “I surrender.”

  The young man checked his main stats as a thought crossed his mind. Grinding.

  Name: Clyde.

  Level: 211.

  Type: Main character/ Stone. Mystic.

  HP: 800% (+110%) HP, health points, sat at a sweet nine hundred ten percent. The normal human limit rested at one hundred, unless they were magic users, of course.

  MP: 700% (+80%) Magic points suffered the same limitations, rooting itself at one hundred until surpassing it with the right training.

  Ki: 300% Clyde acquired Ki, but for humans who were born with it, the young man wasn’t sure if it also limited itself to one hundred percent. Ki functioned differently than magic, possibilities rested there.

  Attack: 374 (+150)

  Defense: 378 (+265)

  Speed: 428

  Luck: 420

  Will: 426

  Intellect: 574 He didn’t feel smarter…

  Form: 1/1.