Chapter Six: Down The Rabbit Hole

"Okay, first off you're going to explain to me how you did twelve out of the five things you just did!" Tatsiana yelled at me, anger and bewilderment clear on her face.

Goodness, she was utterly adorable when she was mad. I'd pinch her cheeks, but I'm pretty sure she'd break my other arm. Thank god I had the self-control not to fanboy the moment I saw her. Good Lord, I'd never live that shit down. My liquid cooling soul cringed just thinking about it.

I smirked. "Where do you want me to start?"

Tatsiana picked up one of the emerald covered marbles that spilled from the pot and shoved it in my face. "What the hell are these?!"

My smirk grew smug as I knew just the reaction I was going to get when I answered her. "Elixir Pills."

Tatsiana's eyes widened while Huang damn near choked on air. The Jade Phoenix pounded a fist against her chest a few times before, then gave me a look of frustration and confusion. "They're what?!" she shouted.

Her reaction made sense. Huang was the main protagonist of one of the prequel games, and the game opened up with Verner curing her terminally ill father with an Elixir Pill. This led to him being accepted into the Skyflame Sect, and resulted in a young Huang developing an interest in alchemy, as well as a crush on Verner…before he became an irredeemable monster.

"That's impossible," she declared flatly, "It takes a master alchemist their entire life to achieve the miracle of Elixir. Yet the pot alone is filled to the brim, much less counting the ones that fell on the floor. You can't possibly expect me to believe that this is all genuine Elixir."

I held up one of the pills. "Give one a try. You're still somewhat drunk, this'll make you sober in an instant."

"Tch. Fine." She snatched the pill out of my hand and downed it on the spot.

The redness in her face from being drunk cleared up completely in an instant. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. She looked at me in an expression of utter bafflement that I was rather sure I was going to be very familiar with for my foreseeable future in this world.

Huang shook her head trying to deny reality. "No…"

Unfortunately, I was a petty asshole. "Yes…"

"This is bullshit and you know it!"

There was an unbearably smug expression on my face. "It totally is!"

In the context of the world, Elixir was a miracle substance. Able to heal any wound, cure any ailment. To make even a single drop of Elixir made you a master alchemist among master alchemists. Even the gods themselves couldn't pull it off unless they dedicated their whole existences into the art, becoming gods of alchemy. Verner himself had only ever been able to make ten of them throughout his many centuries being on this Earth, and that alone in itself was its own miracle.

In the context of the Game, Elixir was an alchemy recipe you can get post game by beating Huang who was a post-game super boss…who was absolute bullshit because that sexy bird bitch could fucking team wipe your entire party at the beginning of her third phase if you didn't reach a certain damage threshold! Upon beating her, she congratulated the party, gave some lore on her connection with Verner that wouldn't be followed up until the prequel games, and the alchemy recipe.

"Explanation, now!" Haung demanded. "And I swear to God if you bring out the white board again…!"

"Uhhhhh…" I slowly pushed the white board that was already in my hand back into the corner. "The long and short of it is that the gameplay mechanics of the Game translate almost one to one!"

Like most side activities in Sorakarago, it all circled back to the main gameplay battle mechanic of the game.

Spellcrafting: It is the art of manipulating mana and weaving it into a construct, a magic circle, that can manipulate phenomena. It is the basis of all conventional magic in the world with the exception of Aura.

In the context of the game, Spellcrafting was performed through how quickly one maneuvered through menus and how much one understood how to construct magic circles. Sorakarago had an ATB (Active Time Battle) system like the original Final Fantasy VII, and depending on your Spellcrafting speed, and how good you were at comboing magic circles, you could absolutely turbofuck your enemies with insane bonus damage by turn one.

This Spellcrafting system was the one of the main reasons the series was so beloved.

The alchemy recipe for Elixir was the hardest recipe in the game…if you were a beginner just starting. But for anyone around mid or end game, they could make it quite comfortably, barring some trial and error. And I'd been able to make this shit easy since I was eleven!

Fuck you Verner! I am what a real Master Alchemist looks like!

Tatsiana gave me the most 'I'm done with this idiot' type look I'd ever seen. "Playing a videogame makes you better at Spellcraft? Yeah, you're talking out your ass."

I shrugged. "Honestly, kind of. I'm just throwing things at the wall and for some ungodly reason, everything's sticking. Hell, even my theory about using my own blood to cheat my way into making an Aura Construct was right on the money. Thank god too, cause I did not want to go out like a bitch to Verner of all people not even an hour into coming into this world."

In a flash, Huang lifted me up by my collar, the taller woman had an expression of utter fury on her face. "YOU DID WHAT WITH YOUR WHAT?!"

I paused, not expecting her to snap like this, maybe it was the stress of dropping too many revelations on her. If I go too far with this she might have an aneurysm. Oh well, she was some kind of Xianxia phoenix woman, she'd live. Hell, she'd probably break through into some new level of crazy-ass cultivation if she transcended through sheer rage.

I raised up my arm, blood flowing into the air from my palm creating a glowing red ball. "I used my blood to create Aura Constructs," I said slowly, "It's how I was able to escape Verner and sock Yegor in the face."

The expression on her face was priceless. "How did you not explode?!"

Well shit. I guess that's one lore question answered.

I decided to push my luck. "I am a part of the new sect called the PC Master Race and am a long time practitioner of the art of Liquid Cooling."

Huang's emerald eyes began to glow furiously with green flames. "I will throw you out this damn window…"

"Hold on!" Tatsiana exclaimed, she opened the window. "Alright, do it now. I don't want to have to add 'window repair' to this month's budget."

I decided that I'd pushed my luck too far. "Okay, no more jokes…for now. The real explanation is about my fucked up soul you were so interested in. I have a liquid soul."

Huang said nothing, still glaring at me, then she put a hand to my chest, a green glow covering it. A few seconds later, she dropped me, a look of muted horror on her face, then she almost immediately switched back to a look of utter fury.

In an instant, a green emerald sword was at my neck, a Jian, I idly noted. A traditional Chinese double-edge straight sword. A green glowing mist emanated from the blade almost like smoke, a trademark of true Aura Constructs unlike my blood forged ones.

"Abomination!" she yelled as the blade pressed dangerously into my neck.

Guess those few hours of friendly drinking and watching the Raiders weren't so friendly after all. I was being observed for how much of a threat I was.

Tatsiana's eyes went wide. "Mom, what the hell are you doing?!"

Before I could even say anything, I felt a sharp pain in my neck where the blade met my skin, and faster than I could comprehend, blood gushed out of my neck. Fear gripped my heart as I knew I wasn't the one doing this, and I felt something move around in my very veins and pull itself out. Skin ripped, muscles tore, bones popped and snapped violently. Strangely enough, I felt no pain… but I felt everything else! And it felt and sounded like I was a rotisserie chicken being pulled apart!

The blood pushed away Huang's blade and the form of a familiar emaciated near-skeletal hand. A hand that held the green Aura Construct between its index finger and thumb as more of the thing inside of me pulled itself out. A wide-brimmed top hat, a near-skeletal face with a comically long nose, and a single red eye greeted Huang.

Huang's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, her expression could be generously described as abject terror with a healthy dose of PTSD.

"Diu!" She cursed in Cantonese as she struggled to pull her sword away.

"What the actual fuck?!" Tatsiana shouted, then had one magic pistol trained on Odin and the other on me.

While her reaction was completely appropriate, it did not at all help my current stress levels. I could practically hear my own heart beating out of my chest.

Odin fucking pulled himself out of my fucking body!

WHAT THE FUCK?!

He let out a mischievous chuckle, like some brat that had just told a dirty joke for the first time, it made me want to gut punch him cause, seriously, the fuck bro?! I'll be reliving this moment in my fucking nightmares, especially since I can still feel wriggling in my body from where we're connected.

We looked liked some really fucked up conjoined twins.

"Ya'll act like you've never seen an Aesir before," Odin immediately started rapping. "Jaws on the floor like Loki and a horse burst through the door, clapping his cheeks worse than before!"

Yes, officer, I'd like to report this 'Bruh Moment' right here…

I stared at Odin for a few more seconds before the disgusting worm-like wriggling finally got to me. It felt wrong, so very, very wrong. Even the lack of pain gave me a disturbing and terrifying sense of uncanny valley.

I could feel Antoine's soul in me screaming in horror at what was being done to his body…

Antoine…

The kid…

White hot rage flowed through my veins, and my mind ran a mile a minute.

Odin was on the left side of my body, and I couldn't move that side's arm. I could still feel my right arm though. As quickly as I coud, I grabbed a handful of elixir pills and shoved them in my mouth. I pulled on my aura and covered my right arm in a red glowing gauntlet.

I wasn't letting this shit slide…

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Tatsiana could barely keep up with how insane this night was becoming.

Last night she saved some random guy in an alleyway, then he got drunk with her adopted mother, then he started spouting some nonsense about videogames and alternate universes, then he does the impossible and makes Elixir of all things, then her mother freaks out and holds him at swordpoint, and then some monster pulls itself out of his body through the side of his neck…

She would've been really sick and tired of this shit if that last part wasn't so completely terrifying!

It wore a wide-brimmed top hat on top of its seemingly bald head, its skin was as pale as a corpse's. Its face was so emancipated that she nearly mistook it for a skull. It had no lips, skin pulled back and dried to the point where it didn't even have lips anymore, and from the angle she saw it from, it appeared to have an almost perpetual, near-cartoonish grin. The writhing darkness that cloaked its body looked almost like a high-collar coat.

"Now, now…" Chided the thing that came out of Dante. "There's no need to get violent, great Empyrea, this is all just a misunderstanding-"

There was a blur of movement, and a flash of red.

"Ghhaaack?!" The monster was cut off.

Dante's arm was covered in red armor, an Aura Construct, his hands wrapped around the monster's neck. The rage and fury in his eyes stunned her, the ugly snarl on his face only added to the primal expression. It was almost like there was an enraged beast before her instead of a human being.

The werewolf girl saw it in slow motion…

The man from another world pulled.

"W-Wait-!" The thing attached to him pleaded.

Tatsiana felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up on end as the wet sound of flesh being ripped apart met her ears. Skin tore apart like one of those sheet fruit candy snacks, and his muscles ripped apart in a fashion far too similar to pork, it made her stomach churn. The monster's garbled and panicked words fell on deaf ears as Dante finally ripped it out in one smooth yet violent motion that sprayed blood and viscera across the room. The monster, held in the air in Dante's hand, now ripped from his body. Its black cloak looked like long, root-like tendrils that were once inside of the young man's innards. The left side of Dante's body was almost completely ripped apart. From his left cheek down to the left side of his face, flesh and skin had been completely peeled off; even his left arm was gone, now it dangled in the air, still connected to the monster.

She got a clear view of his ribcage and the organs it held inside, she could swear she saw his very heart beating through the bone and still bleeding flesh. She blinked. Then the messed up parts of his body were suddenly completely fine. As if time was reversed and his body had regenerated in an instant. Even his left arm was back.

He stood there, sweat dripping down his face, his chest heaving as he took in large gulps of air, clearly out of breath. But never once did his grip on the monster falter. If looks could kill, the glare Dante had on that monster would've killed it a thousand times over.

Tatsiana thought Dante was just a goofy loon spouting nonsense… but now it was staring her right in the eyes, he was dangerous, down right insane.

Dante slammed the monster down into the ground, the hardwood floor cracking due to the force, it felt like the whole house shook with that alone.

"Aaack!" It yelled as Dante stomped on its chest, pinning it on the floor.

He formed another one of those odd blood Aura Constructs, a spear, and pointed at the monster's neck. "Odin, you have one fucking opportunity to tell me why the fuck you thought pulling that shit was a good idea? Your Domains include Wisdom and Intelligence, so you better have a good fucking answer!"

'Odin' paused in its struggle, and took stock of the situation.

Dante had him pinned down at spear point, and Huang stood over him.

Tatsiana hardly recognized the woman who became her adopted mother. Never had she seen her with such utter fury in her eyes, her Aura just barely being kept in check lest her sheer power blow the house away just by being unleashed. With a sword in hand, she looked ready to exterminate this creature.

"In my defense…the Crawling One beat me over the head really, really hard." The thing named 'Odin' answered.

Dante gave him an unamused look before he sighed. "The Black Pharaoh is built differently, so I can believe that, All Father. Now, how the fuck did you do that?"

"Now, now, you don't expect a god to reveal all their secrets, do you-"

"It's the fucking Gungnir blood bullshit you did to me, isn't it?" Dante deduced immediately. "It's attached to your Domains, that combined with our contract, it would give you an anchor point to spawn out of, right?"

Odin paused. "Okay, at first I liked how smart you were, but you're taking the fun out of everything!"

"Smart? It's called common sense and deductive reasoning, it's not hard, morons like you just forget that crazy and stupid aren't mutually exclusive." He mocked, his eyes keeping watch on 'Odin's' hands. "This isn't some by the numbers isekai where a first year class in economics suddenly makes you smart enough to run a damn kingdom."

"Dante…" Huang said his name in a rather dangerous voice.

Dante paused and slowly turned to the furious woman. "Yes?"

"Explain before I cut off both your heads…"

Dante nodded without a beat. "This is Odin, chief god of the Norse Pantheon. He was sealed inside of his spear, Gungnir, by the Crawling One - don't ask - and last timeline he broke out of his spear, ate everyone's souls, and presumably used that power to drag me from my world to this one."

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Tatsiana froze at what she heard.

This thing before them was a deity, and one so powerful he could reach into other worlds and drag people from them into theirs…

It was finally dawning on her just how out of her depth she really was here.

Dante gave Odin a look. "You gonna behave yourself now?"

"I was trying to help!"

"You didn't even give me a chance to negotiate, and thought pulling some John Carpenter body horror bullshit in front of someone with more than justified reasons to shoot first and ask questions never with your eldritch brand of idiocy, was a good idea!"

Odin shrunk back a bit. "Okay, good point."

Tatsiana felt a whirlwind of emotions…

Distrust at what had just happened and the lingering scent of blood and viscera in the room. Irritation at dealing with Dante's childish and moronic antics, and worry due to Huang's reactions. She knew the woman long enough to know when she was putting on a brave front.

The way her arm subtly shook spoke volumes to Tatsiana… Whatever she saw in Dante, and whatever this thing that claimed to be a deity was…it utterly terrified her adopted mother.

Never in all the years they had been together had she ever seen her like that.

"You two need to leave." Her guns still trained on Dante and Odin. "Now."

Right now, her adopted mother, the person who had done nothing but good by her ever since her family was murdered, was terrified. And that took precedence over everything else.

Dante nodded. "Alright."

Tatsiana was mildly shocked he agreed so easily.

The blood-based Aura Constructs Dante had produced turned to liquid once again and sunk back into his body. He reached down and grabbed Odin by his cartoonishly long nose.

"O-Oi!" The so-called deity complained in a nasally voice as he was helplessly dragged away by Dante.

As he walked past the alchemy pot, he quickly made another construct in the form of a sizable coffee mug and scooped up a good portion of the Elixir, then made his way to the still open window before he faced them.

Black messy hair, a thin, skinny frame that was obviously malnourished, it was to the point she could even make out his ribs. He had a face so plain and bland it'd melt into any crowd. He stood at a below average five foot three, what was left of the white shirt they had provided him was torn and soaked in blood, the black sweatpants they had given him were rather ill fitting, it was too baggy, he almost looked like a child trying on his father's clothes. The only thing that stood out, aside from the blood, was his beautiful red eyes.

There he stood, with torn, stained cloths, and covered in his own blood, yet he gave a genuine smile.

It was as oddly endearing as it was pathetic.

Dante gave a respectful bow. "Thank you for saving my life and for your hospitality, and I greatly apologize for the headaches that I and my associate here have caused you. Goodbye."

"Hold on, I can exit myself! My nose isn't a handlebar, you little shi-" Odin was cut off as Dante jumped out the window.

Tatsiana stood at that spot for nearly half a minute, as did Huang, neither of them letting their guard down. It was only then did the young werewolf let her guard down. She knew this was rather cruel, but it was a stranger over her mother's well being, she had made her choice.

Besides, she would simply hunt him down later for information about Astrid and the Guillotine Casino.

----------------------------------------

I suppressed a shiver as my feet met the cold, hard sidewalk. It was the dead of night, stars in the sky. The snow had stopped, but it was still cold as hell. There were still a few people out and about, mostly heading to the local pub, I got a few odd looks as one would expect of a man covered in blood and more or less shirtless, dragging what looked like a struggling monster by its nose.

I ducked into the first dark alley I found and let go of Odin's nose.

"Sorry about the nose abuse, Odin." I crossed my arms and winced as I leaned against the freezing wall with my bare back. "But you deserved it for scaring the kid."

Odin's boney hands rubbed his sore nose, as he levitated off the ground. "Kid? You mean Antoine? He's still in there?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I felt him flip his shit when you pulled yourself out of my body."

"Interesting, I assumed your soul would've consumed his already."

"I'm not sure what Huang saw, but I'm pretty sure our souls didn't fuse, not completely at least. It feels more like my soul is overlapping his. I can see some segments of his memories if I focus hard enough, and if he feels intense enough emotions, like his distress a little while ago, I'll feel it too."

"And what do you intend to do about that?" Odin inquired.

"I'm giving the kid back his body as soon as we're done with our business. Till then he can sit back and enjoy the show."

"I… see." Odin said with uncharacteristic carefulness and uncertainty in his voice.

I'll put a pin in that for later.

A sense of relief that wasn't my own flooded my mind.

Kid, if you can hear me in there. Make sure to pay attention, you'll learn a few things to make your life a lot easier when all this is said and done.

I could almost see Antoine enthusiastically nodding his head…

"I'm surprised you left so easily." Odin gave me a curious look. "Tatsiana and Huang would've made invaluable allies."

"Of course they would, and they will…"

"Oh?"

"Tatsiana's tsundere friendship with Astrid will have her tracking me down for info sooner or later, and Huang's principles and past with Verner will lead her to me despite her grievances now that she knows he up to something big." Dante explained. "The important thing is that we didn't make enemies out of them. Though I do wish I had some time to be the one asking questions instead of being questioned, I didn't even get to know when the Round Table Gala was happening."

"It's the 8th of November right now, so it'll be in five days, on the 13th." Odin answered.

The Round Table Gala was an event held every two months in the Palais de Justice, the judicial center and courthouse of Paris, which had been heavily renovated. It was a gala for Knights and individuals of high standing to attend, a way to show off the Round Table's strength and future talent. And it was hosted by Lancelot du Lac, who had been reincarnated into this era.

In reality, it was one big glorified and pretentious event for rich people to do some networking and sponsor promising Knights to further advertise their standing. Another layer of corruption on the shit hole Paris was desperately pretending it wasn't.

My eyebrows shot up. "Five days? A lot more time than I dared to hope for. More than enough to get this whole mess over with."

"You're not going to wait a month?"

"Verner made it sound like Astrid was captured recently, around a week at most." I reminded him. "That means her kitsune maids have been held up in the casino for almost just as long. If I wait till the end of the month, it would be far too late to save them."

The Palais de Justice was also where the rumored Guillotine Casino was being held. Verner did always get a kick out of flexing on and humiliating those who uphold ideals of justice like Lancelot. The Knight of The Lake and the masses were ignorant of it now, but if it was discovered, Lancelot's shame and dishonor would be the stuff of legends… and we all know how he acted up with other peoples' wives if his legend was anything to go by.

The Guillotine Casino was a horrible and senselessly cruel creation. A place right under, the courthouse where depraved gambles were made by the corrupt and powerful in sadistic gladiatorial fights. Most contestants were hopeless individuals. People in debt, desperate adventurers, people that asked too many questions, not even other Knights were safe from this place. They were all unceremoniously thrown into the arena. Sometimes it was a free for all deathmatch. Sometimes they would be forced to fight notorious serial killers. Sometimes it would be monsters.

And the bets…they could bet on if a contestant would be killed, or if they would be raped for their entertainment.

It was like the Chaos Arena from the Taimanin series, but somehow more fucked up.

And it was one of the final dungeons of the game…

The bastards running the damn thing… They wore down the kitsune maids for weeks until they were finally weak enough to use them in the breeding pits. They drugged what little food and water they gave them, never gave them a chance to sleep, and put them through battle after battle. It was tortuous just to read about it in the game.

"And I still need to explore just what I'm capable of combat wise before I go in guns blazing." The Nightmare Dungeon would be perfect for that. "The gala is my best opportunity to rescue them, cause I can have all my pieces on the board if I play my cards right."

"Then you have a plan of action?"

"KISS. Keep. It. Simple. Stupid." I pointed my finger skyward in a lecture pose reminiscent of a certain jewel throwing magus that was constantly broke. "And be prepared to improvise. These are the philosophies of every great planner. I need the heroines and Ichiro all in the same spot. The gala is the perfect place for that, and there will be other individuals I can possibly work with there that have a bone to pick with the casino and Verner. We all team up to break out the floof maids, take down the casino, and everyone's on the same page to immediately raid Trône des Rois, Verner's lad is down there and most likely Astrid herself is being held there."

"Sounds simple enough, but would the heroines even listen to you? Ichiro himself would be…quite the trial to deal with." Odin pointed out. "Okay, he'd be a right pain in the ass."

I grinned. "You're right…but I know just who to ask for help."

I turned around and pressed my finger against the wall. My finger glowed red as I pushed my blood out with Aura, and began drawing a magic circle. It took the shape of a clock with an upside down bunny head in the middle, both ears pointing toward six o'clock.

"You know about the Gods of Grimm, right?" I asked Odin, my voice a little unsure.

"They're…far too corporate for my taste." The All Father muttered.

I smirked. "Jackpot."

Odin gave me a look. "Eh?"

The Gods of Grimm were the modern era's new deities. Created from fairy tales, the legends and myths of the modern era, as they were born when magic returned to the world during the Great War. The Gods of Grimm operated differently than the Old Gods, obviously. Old Gods ran kingdoms, Grimm Gods ran businesses.

It was as simple as that. Well, at least that's what they wanted you to believe, it was far, far more complicated than that, and it was the reason I had to ask Odin if they even existed.

What I drew on the wall was the symbol of the Pocket Watch Society, an organization created by the Gods of The Mad Tea Party to gather information all across the world. They dealt with information, and would give it out, only for a price.

It was an organization so elusive and secretive that not even the infamous Tenebris Organization had anything on them. You didn't find the Pocket Watch Society, they were the one that found you.

Thank God I'm an out of context problem, cause I know everything!

In the prequel light novel starring Tatsiana, she'd had her own encounter with the Pocket Watch Society on her hunt for the infamous Butcher Brothers…who I murdered in cold blood and fucked up the plot of that entire book.

"Odin, hide, I'm about to do something dumb and I need to do it one on one here."

Wordlessly, Odin transformed into a raven and perched himself on a roof nearby.

Time to fuck up the plot some more!

"Through the Looking-glass and down the Rabbit Hole, we gaze into the heart of madness within the eternal lukewarm tea party. Please heed my selfish desire, O' White Rabbit." The circle began glowing- the New God was listening. "I humbly request the services of Black Hare Division's Francesca Agosti."

I stepped back as the magic circle turned black, and that blackness spread across the wall creating a large pitch black circle.

A giant pair of scissors shot out from the dark hole, the silver blades sinking easily into the stone of the alley wall. I was trapped between a stone and a sharp place…and all without a proper shirt.

The click of heels met my ears as someone walked out of the dark hole.

A tall, gorgeous woman with pale pink hair, black rabbit ears, pale, almost stark white skin, and red eyes. She wore a monochrome outfit: a black beret over her beautifully perfect hair, and a black and white leotard with a white bow over her chest that hugged her curves, white gloves that covered her forearms, black poofy sleeves, black tights that covered her shapely legs, and white heels.

image [https://i.imgur.com/ulYHm3t.png]

"My, oh my~" A sultry voice entered my ears, her sweet smile screamed danger to me. "This is a first, I've never been requested by name before~ But where are my manners? As you know, I'm Francesca, but I'd prefer you call me 'Black Hare' from now on, we aren't close enough to be on a first name basis just yet. It would be quite scandalous~ So, I'd rather stay professional about these matters."

Her eyes glowed with a sinister intent as her slender fingers gripped the handles of the giant scissors and she began to close them, stopping just as the blades met skin.

"Though even a girl such as myself would be curious how a young man of such… poor taste…" Translation: 'You look like a beaten up beggar,' "Would know of my name."

It wasn't a request…

Gotta love how every hot chick I'd met so far had threatened my life or held me at sword or gun point. Think this might be a trend!

I felt my heart pound my chest. Not out of fear, but excitement. It was the same thrill I felt on the stage where I showed up both Verner and Yegor, and gave the audience a night to remember.

I couldn't help but grin. I was in my element. I felt alive!

"How I know your name is a lecture on parallel worlds you'll fall asleep two minutes into. What matters is that I know who you are, I know your history, and most importantly, I know who killed your family."

The fake smile on her face was instantly gone.

"I'll tell you who as a down payment, if you agree to my job for you; I'll tell you where upon completion, or maybe it might just come up on the job, who knows? All I need is a set of letters that I'll soon write to be delivered to specific individuals, and that's it. Whether or not you decide to get involved further is up to you."

I took a step forward, the blades at the sides of my neck cut through my skin and made shallow cuts into my flesh, I could feel the blood pouring down my shoulders. It hurt, but I had Elixir, and I needed to make a point.

From the way her face twisted, one would think she had seen the Devil himself before her.

I extended my hand, a grin still on my face.

"Do we have a deal?"

Her eyes narrowed, and she stared at my hand as if it would brand her like hot iron. "Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Dante Alighieri, a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, my dear hare."

image [https://i.imgur.com/DLuVxE0.jpg]

Chapter End