verycoolname
Not actually cool
Yes but considering that
the three of them consider a tiger the size of a Clydesdale a moderately filling dinner? I'd say he's getting a bit of experience.
Broken Adventure
- Thread starter theaceoffire
- Start date
- Crossover
- Status
You got a nice scene of Garp being Garp, that was enough for me since everyone else are just kiddies right now.
Arc 4: I give my life… Not for honor, but for you… Soul Eater!
- Location
- Here
Crona blinked as they could now see Mr. Corner clearly.
No, there was no Light.
No, it didn't matter. The Darkness let them see anyway.
They looked at their suddenly pulsing limbs as something raw and soothing surged from within.
They didn't know how to deal with this.
[[Holy shit! I feel like we just ate a thousand tons of raw sugar! Hang on, I'm barely keeping things under control, it's like our Black Blood has just gotten a bazillion volts of power or something…]]
Their starvation thin limbs already doubled in thickness, bones that attempted to escape pale white skin were hidden by muscles and tendons and something approaching normal.
If they looked under their clothing, maybe even their ribs wouldn't be so easy to count now…
Crona didn't know how to deal with that.
[[Wait, we can actually store energy in our blood directly!? Fuck you Medusa for not feeding us all those times! No wonder she kept locking us away, the bitch probably wanted to keep us from building up reserves and messing up her tests and shit!]]
They blinked as, for the first time in memory, their Black Blood felt different.
Instead of that icy chill, of near shards of glass like energy stinging through her veins, it now felt… Satiated. Warm, even.
They didn't know how to deal with such comfort.
[[I might even be able to fully recover all your organs now, not just try to preserve them and substitute their functionality with blood… No, I'm sure I can do it! This strange energy source feels endless! Heck, in an hour or two I might even recover enough to fully form some of myself outside your body like when we were younger!]]
They felt their face do something weird.
Oh.
That was a smile.
They didn't know how to handle that.
[[There's more here, but it feels heavy and sleepy and stuff and I can't quite connect with it correctly… It's almost like when we have to move corpses and crap, how they go all flippity floppity when you try and get a good grip…]]
That was fine. Being here with Mr. Corner, in the no longer oppressive Darkness, it prevented them from having to deal with mother and what they had done and those poor fluffy… It…
They didn't know how to deal with that.
[[Man this is going to take time to fix… Hey, Crona, just… Just relax for now, alright? Sleep for a bit and I will handle fixing us up, getting some reserves, and all that. We can worry about your mom and everything else later.]]
The child felt Darkness sleeping within and Mr. Corner was always a friend, so they stilled and they stayed and then slept through the day.
While in Black Blood, a Shadow Slumbered.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
This world, this Realm, had Madness.
A concept, a power, a resource, a foundation.
Like Imagination or Magic, Madness could grow, be tapped, be gathered, be utilized… It was an aspect of Reality here. A pillar of existence.
And some could touch Madness and not drown in corruption and taint.
It had to do with the power of the Soul.
And a sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body.
With enough Willpower, the Madness could be guided.
With enough physical sturdiness, the side effects could be restrained and withstood.
But normal Souls were not structurally built to handle such effects well.
Souls in this Realm had grown oddly, in branching paths.
On one walkway traveled, they formed something like humanity and spirits. Touched but not corroded by the hints of Madness. Focused on the mind, they could connect and bond with a partner, enduring the twisting effects of the power while wielding their companion as a tool/weapon/partner.
These mind focused warriors, called 'Meisters', could more easily withstand the mental effects of Madness.
The other path had reinforced the body. Blades or tools or weapons that could simulate human form, ones that soaked Madness into their bodies directly to allow them to transform in part or in whole. By bonding with a Meister, they could dedicate their existence towards collecting Madness and refining their physical powers and abilities while the one they trusted ensured such ability was applied in a way they could approve of and work with.
But without the stability of a partner, it was far easier to twist strange or become insane, and these deadly tools and beings became known as Demon Weapons: Those who gathered and embodied Madness to alter reality.
Together, the Meister could bond and grow with their Demon Weapon to reach new heights. Their weapon exponentially booming in power as their partner supernaturally guided it, they could become much more than their basic components while still utilizing the raw power of Madness… By synchronizing and resonating with the pulse of power, the Madness Wavelength.
Shadow knew none of this.
Through the growth of Souls, through Soul Resonance, a Meister and their Demon Weapon could alter reality to some degree. Enhance their abilities and power, or even fundamentally grow beyond the limits of humanity itself…
But more than that, as said before… This Realm focused on Souls.
And the ability for Demon Weapons to consume the Souls of their foes generated a strange sort of Madness array or ritual that allowed them to grow to the next level.
To become a Death Weapon. A form empowered by Madness.
It required souls that could handle the strain.
Ninety-Nine human souls, touched and twisted by evil and corruption and Madness… When consumed, they acted as an array or formation that acted as an antenna or signal collector, allowing these nodes of corrupt Souls to act as resonators for the Madness Wavelength directly.
Stored within the Demon Weapon, they needed a final catalyst…
The Soul of a Witch.
A woman touched by Madness and altered in such a way that they could affect reality without dying in the process.
Using the Witch's Soul as a filter, the ninety-nine nodes of Madness could summon the raw power of Madness Wavelength from within the Demon Weapon without being exposed or endangered, while the Witch's Soul's natural Madness would significantly reduce the mental strain of working with such a deadly and dangerous power source.
It fueled the Demon Weapon, enhanced or even altered their ability on a fundamental level, and drastically improved their partner Meister in the process through their Soul Resonance.
As the entire process required killing a whole bunch of jerks, and (Hopefully) an evil Witch, the entire method was encouraged and even taught in some school somewhere according to the Darkness. It wasn't always easy to find a partner who's Soul resonated with your own, of course, and not everyone had the ability or the Soul strength to become a Meister OR a Demon Weapon… But they were respected by society in general and even lauded as heroes to some extent.
Bad guys who were corrupted by Madness no longer slaughtering randomly, a powerful and deadly Witch no longer acting as a conduit of reality altering power, thanks to a helpful young boy or girl and their companions? Win win, really.
But again, Shadow knew none of this.
But here, Shadow was slumbering in Black Blood.
The life work of Medusa Gorgon, a powerful and more than slightly mad Witch, a Demon Weapon that had been destroyed entirely and artificially reconstructed, that had been forced to replace all the life giving fluids in their only child.
Crona, a Meister under constant experimentation and torture and 'guidance' and testing, had been forcefully bonded with Ragnarok after he was mutilated and altered and twisted.
With the Mind of a Meister and the Black Blood of a Demon Weapon, Crona's Soul was flooded by Madness on a mental and physical level beyond all reason.
Without Madness, they would have died dozens of tests ago. Like past Demon Weapon attempts had died before Ragnarok's Black Blood had successfully stabilized, they would have been twisted and torn and then repurposed or thrown away by the mad Witch that birthed them.
But now, this child's Demon Weapon has a new source of power. One that wasn't intrinsically twisted by Madness… Although Alice Liddell may disagree about that point.
And while Shadow may be slumbering, Darkness still felt the call for help. For need.
And while many may argue about the wisdom of utilizing the abilities of Darkness, none could refute that Darkness provided power.
The issue became a bit more complicated though, as Ragnarok and Crona's call carried with it the flavor of Madness.
Madness in this Realm had expectations. Patterns and concepts that it expected and sought after.
So, unknown to others and unheard by anyone, a requirement was set for Shadow's slumbering form.
One that was easily met.
In a location outside of reality, within a place that could only theoretically be considered the Black Blood, Shadow began to duplicate and gather slumbering selves.
Within moments, unbeknownst to Crona and their partner, ninety-nine Shadows slept in Black Blood.
And with fond warmth and mild exasperation, a glittering pink Gem blessed the child as she joined the bond, becoming the 100th Soul and the filter of Madness and Darkness for the little one.
For while Shadow could easily grow and clone himself forever, Gem had the reverse ability.
He could be in many places simultaneously by duplication, while she was only ever in one place… but that one place just happened to be everywhere else as well.
It was how they connected to the other Shards of Adam, how they shared information between the multitude of past and present and future Adventures…
And now she was part of Crona and Ragnarok as well.
Still, she knew how to keep quiet. Her Shadow would be loud enough for the both of them, when he eventually woke up.
For now, she simply ensured this hurt little one would have less Madness being funneled into their existence… And maybe help guide the older brother a little as well.
Besides, this pattern, this network… It felt correct in some way, familiar even. It generated a Resonance of its own, a connection or pattern or symbolic link.
As Crona recovered in their dark prison, the Shadows gathered power for Gem to process and guide… And as those slumbering black forms slept away, they were slowly adapting to the new local power source as well, with Gem's cautious oversight.
After all, Shadow should be able to handle a bit of Madness in the end…. He seemed to have plenty available already.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Ragnarok cautiously felt Crona's organs again… No longer withered and near flatlining, they were still not as recovered as he would have preferred.
Damn it, he still needed something to work with! Using this raw power to just replace missing nutrients and materials was a temporary fix at best, he could feel that innately. Oh, with this much energy he could keep this upkeep cost paid for eternity, but if something went wrong?
Bam, massive damage for his sibling.
So food was still a need.
Still, being able to fudge the situation had drastically improved Crona's situation. Until parts could be properly regrown, at least now all their nerves were properly connected, body parts reinforced and structurally supported, and blood supply artificially restored.
In other words, they were strong enough to hopefully escape from here and get some ACTUAL material to work with, to heal Crona up entirely!
Still, there was nothing left he could do without compromising some of the remaining material… And that was not a line he was willing to cross right now.
The child was fully asleep, deeper than usual too considering that they couldn't feel any pain right now and Ragnarok was artificially simulating a 'full' feeling to help them stay comfortable for now.
They had to leave.
Their 'mother', Medusa, would NOT appreciate her child not being properly 'reset' for future testing. From what little Ragnarok could gather, now that he was being fully fueled and enhanced by this new power source, the crazy woman had this whole plan with testing and mental conditioning plans and…
Anyway, she would not approve of her test subject recovering without supervision and the ability to cripple them again, to easily control them and ensure proper laboratory conditions.
Not that Ragnarok gave a shit.
Crona was HIS sibling! And Medusa was a bitch!
So they had to go, even if Crona would never agree. They had been beaten down too often, too well, too methodically to take any kind initiative on their own by this point. It was part of the reason why he had to take control of the situation so often… Like he would today.
With a flicker of effort, Black Blood spewed from Crona's back… Far too easily.
Even with these artificial repair attempts holding their body together, the child was just… So hurt. Their skin didn't restrain his attempt to leave, nor did they flinch as such a large amount of liquid began to flow externally, held together by raw Madness.
But THIS time, with this new power, Ragnarok had been able to do things right!
Selective separation of nerves and material, to avoid tearing open a scar like usual and prevent any pain from his escape from their body. His form twisted as his familiar white bone-like growth rebuilt his white X mask and solid white eyes, familiar bone spikes and even gloves reforming for the first time in forever…
And he paused, confused.
There were thin lines of pink material accenting his bone components now. Ones that felt strangely warm, that seemed to filter out the dense Darkness of this hidden room and empower his form in addition to his spinal connection to Crona's back.
It wasn't a crazy amount, not enough to make this kind of manifestation act a free action or anything, but it was a pleasant surprise nevertheless. Who didn't like a bit of free juice?
He twisted down, looking at the fragile child below him.
Crona seemed so small like this.
Always fragile, always hidden, always hesitant.
But they could be more.
They WOULD be more!
And first, they needed to escape from here. Far away from their mother, far away from Medusa… Somewhere with food and water and no more being forced to kill the small cute things that made Crona die a little on the inside every time…
Like, HE didn't care about some random creature dying horribly, but NO one should make his partner feel that way.
So uh… By transitive property or whatever, that meant that technically Ragnarok cared about not killing the annoying smelly fur creatures. Right?
He felt an unfamiliar warmth pulse through his pink bone highlights.
Yeah. That seemed right. Probably.
But for now, they had to escape.
With more care and concern than he would ever admit to in public, Ragnarok coated his partner in their Black Blood, carefully ensuring proper air flow and a cradle like nest to keep them safe.
Sure, he himself wasn't fully healed either. And the vast majority of his external body right now was formed out of this new power source, safely leaving the actual material inside Crona where it was needed… But he didn't care.
This fake form that slowly coated the child and built up a growing creature of liquid Black Blood would be enough for his purposes.
Even with unlimited energy though, the process took time. This faux material needed to expand and replicate before being utilized by either of them, so it would still be a few hours before they could attempt to escape this black room and find something to help his partner fully recover.
But that was fine.
According to the schedule that he could now easily determine, she wouldn't check in on her child for another four days or so.
White 'bone' gloves flexed around Black Blood fists.
Plenty of time.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
At the side of the road, an odd man casually modified an even odder tool.
His sliced and stitched up hands casually altered the inner components even while his other senses felt for that very strange Soul Resonance wave pulse from earlier. "Hmm."
For such a large man, almost seven feet tall, he was slumped and idly ignoring the modified cigarette that nearly fell from his lips. "No, I need to reduce the range instead."
Franken Stein casually reached up to his head with a free hand to grip the massive screw that ran through his skull and brain, giving it a few clanking twists. "Ahh… That's better. Well, nothing for it."
With a new focus and a gleam in his gray eyes, he dismantled the tool entirely. "I suppose I will have to follow that Soul wavelength pulse the old fashioned way."
It had caught his attention even from so far away, though he was sure most people would have missed it. After all, whenever a witch or human or what have you fell to Madness, a similar pulse would sweep the globe and his tools were one of a small subset that existed that could triangulate such patterns.
But what those lazy researchers would have missed was the second and third sublayers in the pattern… The pulse of resonance that implied some sort of mutated Death Weapon had been born.
Not pure Madness nor power, there was something Dark about this pattern that instantly aroused his endless curiosity and equally endless Madness.
After all, everything in the world was a potential test subject, even (especially) himself… As a mad scientist/researcher/HAhaHahA/professor, he couldn't let such an interesting signal go unsought for, now could he?
Still, he wished he could bring his lab chair with him.
With a calm turn of his mind screw, he focused again.
Right, if the raw pattern was lost and the ongoing singal was being decayed at such a rate, let's just reverse the entire problem entirely.
He reached into his many pockets that covered his white lab coat, his clothing like his body surgically sliced apart and stitched back together for research reasons, and began extracting components and tools and the more relevant modification modules.
Let's detect everywhere that something ISN'T and find this signal by elimination, shall we?
His glasses flared with a touch of Madness as he began to hum a tune no one could understand, his fingers artistically horrifying as he crafted under the moonlight.
Oh, there were spells and signals of powerful traps and so on and so forth, but none of that mattered.
Not when there was so much SCIENCE to be done!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Over eighty percent of Ragnarok was false material now. Fake Black Blood, formed from this raw energy that flooded their body, yet strong enough for his current needs.
He looked like a short fat monster, to be honest. With Crona protected in his massive torso, the child curled up and asleep with a surprisingly low amount of unconscious tremors or flinches, he could get something done here.
Still, he had stubby feet and enough mass to manipulate his gloved hands… it would do.
With confidence, he moved AWAY from the only door into the 'room'.
Medusa was a very powerful Witch, getting caught was NOT an option, and he was NOT going to leave through the only entrance available. She might have some sort of detection spell attached to it, and energetic or not he was NOT sure he could do much to resist that woman if it came down to a fight.
Medusa had many skills, but her most flexible and adaptable ones related to her ability to form 'Vector Arrows', Snake shaped conceptual magic that could redirect velocity and acceleration and negate most of his ability to escape.
After all, Ragnarok was a melee fighter. His abilities were forming constructs like massive swords and such, and enhancing them with his Scream Resonance to cause Soul damage and weaken anything his needles or blades hit… But all his attacks that involved projectiles and such were limited.
After all, they were formed from Crona's Black Blood just like himself… Using that as consumable ammo was dangerous and a double edged weapon.
While using Crona's Blood as a surprise attack could be effective, through spikes or needles or whatever, it had a small shelf life even against the newest of foes… And Medusa had studied them for years now.
Since she wouldn't fall for what few tricks they had, they would be limited to defensive plates, swords, hammers, etc… None of which were helpful when attempting to flee.
So instead, they were going to carve an exit out from here. [[Hold tight, Crona. I'm finally going to save us this time!]]
It was trivial to shift his right hand into a Black Blood blade with the white bone pattern for the spine and missing his customary grinning smile near the hilt with his bright red lips and tongue.
After all, the Demon Weapon was going to do the driving today. [[Slow and steady…. Gotta keep this quiet.]]
A thrust… And the blade sank into the wood of the wall silently, his will infusing Crona's Black Blood directly into the material, infiltrating and corrupting inwards to gain a foothold within the material.
This was far too slow a method for actual battle, as every inch of penetration needed minutes of effort instead of vicious stabs and violent slices… But there was nothing as subtle and quiet as this.
After all, they had a bit of time before Crona's 'Mother' came in to ensure dehydration hadn't killed her child and weapon experiment yet.
He was going to take advantage of every moment possible.
The tunnel would be small, and Crona would need to be carefully passed through, but with Ragnarok here they'd have an easy time of this. He could ensure they got enough air despite having so little room, and by only requiring enough space to pass his far too thin partner through… Well, hopefully progress would be swift.
As for himself, he was just blood. Even a small gap was more than good enough for him to pass through, although the flow rate could affect his transversal speed.
Moments passed as he cautiously carved off layers of material, black filaments carefully moving each fragment from the slowly carved escape tunnel to the floor. No odd noises were allowed, no strange vibrations, no unusual smells or echos…
Just to be safe, he had already covered the growing tunnel with a restrictive layer of Black Blood completely.
This would work.
The sleeping sibling in his chest would be safe, would heal, would get better.
With a flicker of pink light in his eyes, Ragnarok moved with Determination… And perhaps, a touch of Madness.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Hmm.
Stein absently pulsed Soul Menace through his cigarette stub, the raw power and electrical charge of his Soul vaporizing the trash, before lighting another one up and giving it a good puff. "Interesting."
His left hand reached up and turned his screw-bolt, the clicking sound and vibrations helping to gently push down the Madness again. "Very interesting."
This wasn't just a simple sample falling into Madness, this was something new. At least, according to the newly redesigned equipment.
Madness was there, of course. But there was another layer to it, something that was resisting being defined from existing sensor samples from past work.
He had covered a significant amount of distance now, and had further to go… But even from here, in the middle of nowhere with barely workable hardware, he kept finding interesting anomalies from the target.
The bolt clicked in his head as he turned the screw.
It would be v̟e̼͔̪͍r͙͖̫͙ͅy̥ i̖̗̫͙̝͎͞n̪͙͘t̥͕̮͇̤e̵̬r̺͖̻̜e̪̯̳̫͍̫̻̕s̪̭t̡͚̜i͈̺͈ͅͅṋ̯̣̗͇̖̻g̜͖ t̗̱͔o̲͓̖̳̳̟ d̸̴͚̬͚͓͓̲̟̟̼o̢̬̲͔̩̳ ̢̳̪̖̜̘a͖̯ ̨͚̳̭̗͍͚̙͙̀b͍͍̰͟i̷̖̜̼͉͙̥̱̮͉͟͝t̙̙̩̪̺͔͠ ̵̛̣̩̬̭̥͟o̸̥͚͇̳̘̮̖̼f͏̟̼̰͚̼̟͡ È̵̡̮̖͉͙̝̟͘͞x̷̸̡̭̘̹̫̝͘ͅp͢͏͉̬̬͓̝̣̣̩͍͙͉͎̬̻͈̻̫̬l̵͉̯̰̜͔̜̺̀͠o̷̡̝̲̫̮̹͍͝͞r̷̢̯̟̭͉̺͈͈á̦̝̖̳̹̠͇̼̞̞͍͇̞͍͢͜ͅt̸̛̘͈̙͉̪̩̦̩̣̠͝ǫ̩͕̟̭̫͚͡r̸̴̼̯̺̰̝̙̗͖͔̲̀́͟ý͘͏̻̖̣̜̺̟̱͖͍̮͕ ̴̸̱̹̝͔̞̖̘̤̯̙̲͉̳̼͟S̶̸̡͎͈̩̫̞͚̙͔̘̦̺̣̳̯͎͈͖̖͡u͏̩̪̗̠̱̠̖͈̤͙͓͚̱̰̯̦̕͢͡ŕ̵̢̨̖͈̗̫͓͇̬̲̦͖͓̯̮͎̙̦̜̕g̸̛̲͉̥͘ͅe̴͓̰͔̮̯͈̹͕r̶̵̦̹̦͍͉̯̺̩̫̠ͅy̡̙̠̠͚̮͜…
C̸̡͉̬̪̼̥͠͠ĺ̨̫͔̗̪̜̘̞̜̗͉͇̰͚̘̀̀͠ͅͅi͘҉̶̸̦̗̬̬c͏͏̶̡̧̙̺͉͈̲̫̪̫̥̰̱̦͖̠͙̘k̶͏̪̝̭͕̩.
.
With the twist of his bolt, his mind cleared once more.
Right.
Wouldn't want to lose his focus. Not with something so interesting to find.
The night was young.
There was Science to do!
No, there was no Light.
No, it didn't matter. The Darkness let them see anyway.
They looked at their suddenly pulsing limbs as something raw and soothing surged from within.
They didn't know how to deal with this.
[[Holy shit! I feel like we just ate a thousand tons of raw sugar! Hang on, I'm barely keeping things under control, it's like our Black Blood has just gotten a bazillion volts of power or something…]]
Their starvation thin limbs already doubled in thickness, bones that attempted to escape pale white skin were hidden by muscles and tendons and something approaching normal.
If they looked under their clothing, maybe even their ribs wouldn't be so easy to count now…
Crona didn't know how to deal with that.
[[Wait, we can actually store energy in our blood directly!? Fuck you Medusa for not feeding us all those times! No wonder she kept locking us away, the bitch probably wanted to keep us from building up reserves and messing up her tests and shit!]]
They blinked as, for the first time in memory, their Black Blood felt different.
Instead of that icy chill, of near shards of glass like energy stinging through her veins, it now felt… Satiated. Warm, even.
They didn't know how to deal with such comfort.
[[I might even be able to fully recover all your organs now, not just try to preserve them and substitute their functionality with blood… No, I'm sure I can do it! This strange energy source feels endless! Heck, in an hour or two I might even recover enough to fully form some of myself outside your body like when we were younger!]]
They felt their face do something weird.
Oh.
That was a smile.
They didn't know how to handle that.
[[There's more here, but it feels heavy and sleepy and stuff and I can't quite connect with it correctly… It's almost like when we have to move corpses and crap, how they go all flippity floppity when you try and get a good grip…]]
That was fine. Being here with Mr. Corner, in the no longer oppressive Darkness, it prevented them from having to deal with mother and what they had done and those poor fluffy… It…
They didn't know how to deal with that.
[[Man this is going to take time to fix… Hey, Crona, just… Just relax for now, alright? Sleep for a bit and I will handle fixing us up, getting some reserves, and all that. We can worry about your mom and everything else later.]]
The child felt Darkness sleeping within and Mr. Corner was always a friend, so they stilled and they stayed and then slept through the day.
While in Black Blood, a Shadow Slumbered.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
This world, this Realm, had Madness.
A concept, a power, a resource, a foundation.
Like Imagination or Magic, Madness could grow, be tapped, be gathered, be utilized… It was an aspect of Reality here. A pillar of existence.
And some could touch Madness and not drown in corruption and taint.
It had to do with the power of the Soul.
And a sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body.
With enough Willpower, the Madness could be guided.
With enough physical sturdiness, the side effects could be restrained and withstood.
But normal Souls were not structurally built to handle such effects well.
Souls in this Realm had grown oddly, in branching paths.
On one walkway traveled, they formed something like humanity and spirits. Touched but not corroded by the hints of Madness. Focused on the mind, they could connect and bond with a partner, enduring the twisting effects of the power while wielding their companion as a tool/weapon/partner.
These mind focused warriors, called 'Meisters', could more easily withstand the mental effects of Madness.
The other path had reinforced the body. Blades or tools or weapons that could simulate human form, ones that soaked Madness into their bodies directly to allow them to transform in part or in whole. By bonding with a Meister, they could dedicate their existence towards collecting Madness and refining their physical powers and abilities while the one they trusted ensured such ability was applied in a way they could approve of and work with.
But without the stability of a partner, it was far easier to twist strange or become insane, and these deadly tools and beings became known as Demon Weapons: Those who gathered and embodied Madness to alter reality.
Together, the Meister could bond and grow with their Demon Weapon to reach new heights. Their weapon exponentially booming in power as their partner supernaturally guided it, they could become much more than their basic components while still utilizing the raw power of Madness… By synchronizing and resonating with the pulse of power, the Madness Wavelength.
Shadow knew none of this.
Through the growth of Souls, through Soul Resonance, a Meister and their Demon Weapon could alter reality to some degree. Enhance their abilities and power, or even fundamentally grow beyond the limits of humanity itself…
But more than that, as said before… This Realm focused on Souls.
And the ability for Demon Weapons to consume the Souls of their foes generated a strange sort of Madness array or ritual that allowed them to grow to the next level.
To become a Death Weapon. A form empowered by Madness.
It required souls that could handle the strain.
Ninety-Nine human souls, touched and twisted by evil and corruption and Madness… When consumed, they acted as an array or formation that acted as an antenna or signal collector, allowing these nodes of corrupt Souls to act as resonators for the Madness Wavelength directly.
Stored within the Demon Weapon, they needed a final catalyst…
The Soul of a Witch.
A woman touched by Madness and altered in such a way that they could affect reality without dying in the process.
Using the Witch's Soul as a filter, the ninety-nine nodes of Madness could summon the raw power of Madness Wavelength from within the Demon Weapon without being exposed or endangered, while the Witch's Soul's natural Madness would significantly reduce the mental strain of working with such a deadly and dangerous power source.
It fueled the Demon Weapon, enhanced or even altered their ability on a fundamental level, and drastically improved their partner Meister in the process through their Soul Resonance.
As the entire process required killing a whole bunch of jerks, and (Hopefully) an evil Witch, the entire method was encouraged and even taught in some school somewhere according to the Darkness. It wasn't always easy to find a partner who's Soul resonated with your own, of course, and not everyone had the ability or the Soul strength to become a Meister OR a Demon Weapon… But they were respected by society in general and even lauded as heroes to some extent.
Bad guys who were corrupted by Madness no longer slaughtering randomly, a powerful and deadly Witch no longer acting as a conduit of reality altering power, thanks to a helpful young boy or girl and their companions? Win win, really.
But again, Shadow knew none of this.
But here, Shadow was slumbering in Black Blood.
The life work of Medusa Gorgon, a powerful and more than slightly mad Witch, a Demon Weapon that had been destroyed entirely and artificially reconstructed, that had been forced to replace all the life giving fluids in their only child.
Crona, a Meister under constant experimentation and torture and 'guidance' and testing, had been forcefully bonded with Ragnarok after he was mutilated and altered and twisted.
With the Mind of a Meister and the Black Blood of a Demon Weapon, Crona's Soul was flooded by Madness on a mental and physical level beyond all reason.
Without Madness, they would have died dozens of tests ago. Like past Demon Weapon attempts had died before Ragnarok's Black Blood had successfully stabilized, they would have been twisted and torn and then repurposed or thrown away by the mad Witch that birthed them.
But now, this child's Demon Weapon has a new source of power. One that wasn't intrinsically twisted by Madness… Although Alice Liddell may disagree about that point.
And while Shadow may be slumbering, Darkness still felt the call for help. For need.
And while many may argue about the wisdom of utilizing the abilities of Darkness, none could refute that Darkness provided power.
The issue became a bit more complicated though, as Ragnarok and Crona's call carried with it the flavor of Madness.
Madness in this Realm had expectations. Patterns and concepts that it expected and sought after.
So, unknown to others and unheard by anyone, a requirement was set for Shadow's slumbering form.
One that was easily met.
In a location outside of reality, within a place that could only theoretically be considered the Black Blood, Shadow began to duplicate and gather slumbering selves.
Within moments, unbeknownst to Crona and their partner, ninety-nine Shadows slept in Black Blood.
And with fond warmth and mild exasperation, a glittering pink Gem blessed the child as she joined the bond, becoming the 100th Soul and the filter of Madness and Darkness for the little one.
For while Shadow could easily grow and clone himself forever, Gem had the reverse ability.
He could be in many places simultaneously by duplication, while she was only ever in one place… but that one place just happened to be everywhere else as well.
It was how they connected to the other Shards of Adam, how they shared information between the multitude of past and present and future Adventures…
And now she was part of Crona and Ragnarok as well.
Still, she knew how to keep quiet. Her Shadow would be loud enough for the both of them, when he eventually woke up.
For now, she simply ensured this hurt little one would have less Madness being funneled into their existence… And maybe help guide the older brother a little as well.
Besides, this pattern, this network… It felt correct in some way, familiar even. It generated a Resonance of its own, a connection or pattern or symbolic link.
As Crona recovered in their dark prison, the Shadows gathered power for Gem to process and guide… And as those slumbering black forms slept away, they were slowly adapting to the new local power source as well, with Gem's cautious oversight.
After all, Shadow should be able to handle a bit of Madness in the end…. He seemed to have plenty available already.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Ragnarok cautiously felt Crona's organs again… No longer withered and near flatlining, they were still not as recovered as he would have preferred.
Damn it, he still needed something to work with! Using this raw power to just replace missing nutrients and materials was a temporary fix at best, he could feel that innately. Oh, with this much energy he could keep this upkeep cost paid for eternity, but if something went wrong?
Bam, massive damage for his sibling.
So food was still a need.
Still, being able to fudge the situation had drastically improved Crona's situation. Until parts could be properly regrown, at least now all their nerves were properly connected, body parts reinforced and structurally supported, and blood supply artificially restored.
In other words, they were strong enough to hopefully escape from here and get some ACTUAL material to work with, to heal Crona up entirely!
Still, there was nothing left he could do without compromising some of the remaining material… And that was not a line he was willing to cross right now.
The child was fully asleep, deeper than usual too considering that they couldn't feel any pain right now and Ragnarok was artificially simulating a 'full' feeling to help them stay comfortable for now.
They had to leave.
Their 'mother', Medusa, would NOT appreciate her child not being properly 'reset' for future testing. From what little Ragnarok could gather, now that he was being fully fueled and enhanced by this new power source, the crazy woman had this whole plan with testing and mental conditioning plans and…
Anyway, she would not approve of her test subject recovering without supervision and the ability to cripple them again, to easily control them and ensure proper laboratory conditions.
Not that Ragnarok gave a shit.
Crona was HIS sibling! And Medusa was a bitch!
So they had to go, even if Crona would never agree. They had been beaten down too often, too well, too methodically to take any kind initiative on their own by this point. It was part of the reason why he had to take control of the situation so often… Like he would today.
With a flicker of effort, Black Blood spewed from Crona's back… Far too easily.
Even with these artificial repair attempts holding their body together, the child was just… So hurt. Their skin didn't restrain his attempt to leave, nor did they flinch as such a large amount of liquid began to flow externally, held together by raw Madness.
But THIS time, with this new power, Ragnarok had been able to do things right!
Selective separation of nerves and material, to avoid tearing open a scar like usual and prevent any pain from his escape from their body. His form twisted as his familiar white bone-like growth rebuilt his white X mask and solid white eyes, familiar bone spikes and even gloves reforming for the first time in forever…
And he paused, confused.
There were thin lines of pink material accenting his bone components now. Ones that felt strangely warm, that seemed to filter out the dense Darkness of this hidden room and empower his form in addition to his spinal connection to Crona's back.
It wasn't a crazy amount, not enough to make this kind of manifestation act a free action or anything, but it was a pleasant surprise nevertheless. Who didn't like a bit of free juice?
He twisted down, looking at the fragile child below him.
Crona seemed so small like this.
Always fragile, always hidden, always hesitant.
But they could be more.
They WOULD be more!
And first, they needed to escape from here. Far away from their mother, far away from Medusa… Somewhere with food and water and no more being forced to kill the small cute things that made Crona die a little on the inside every time…
Like, HE didn't care about some random creature dying horribly, but NO one should make his partner feel that way.
So uh… By transitive property or whatever, that meant that technically Ragnarok cared about not killing the annoying smelly fur creatures. Right?
He felt an unfamiliar warmth pulse through his pink bone highlights.
Yeah. That seemed right. Probably.
But for now, they had to escape.
With more care and concern than he would ever admit to in public, Ragnarok coated his partner in their Black Blood, carefully ensuring proper air flow and a cradle like nest to keep them safe.
Sure, he himself wasn't fully healed either. And the vast majority of his external body right now was formed out of this new power source, safely leaving the actual material inside Crona where it was needed… But he didn't care.
This fake form that slowly coated the child and built up a growing creature of liquid Black Blood would be enough for his purposes.
Even with unlimited energy though, the process took time. This faux material needed to expand and replicate before being utilized by either of them, so it would still be a few hours before they could attempt to escape this black room and find something to help his partner fully recover.
But that was fine.
According to the schedule that he could now easily determine, she wouldn't check in on her child for another four days or so.
White 'bone' gloves flexed around Black Blood fists.
Plenty of time.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
At the side of the road, an odd man casually modified an even odder tool.
His sliced and stitched up hands casually altered the inner components even while his other senses felt for that very strange Soul Resonance wave pulse from earlier. "Hmm."
For such a large man, almost seven feet tall, he was slumped and idly ignoring the modified cigarette that nearly fell from his lips. "No, I need to reduce the range instead."
Franken Stein casually reached up to his head with a free hand to grip the massive screw that ran through his skull and brain, giving it a few clanking twists. "Ahh… That's better. Well, nothing for it."
With a new focus and a gleam in his gray eyes, he dismantled the tool entirely. "I suppose I will have to follow that Soul wavelength pulse the old fashioned way."
It had caught his attention even from so far away, though he was sure most people would have missed it. After all, whenever a witch or human or what have you fell to Madness, a similar pulse would sweep the globe and his tools were one of a small subset that existed that could triangulate such patterns.
But what those lazy researchers would have missed was the second and third sublayers in the pattern… The pulse of resonance that implied some sort of mutated Death Weapon had been born.
Not pure Madness nor power, there was something Dark about this pattern that instantly aroused his endless curiosity and equally endless Madness.
After all, everything in the world was a potential test subject, even (especially) himself… As a mad scientist/researcher/HAhaHahA/professor, he couldn't let such an interesting signal go unsought for, now could he?
Still, he wished he could bring his lab chair with him.
With a calm turn of his mind screw, he focused again.
Right, if the raw pattern was lost and the ongoing singal was being decayed at such a rate, let's just reverse the entire problem entirely.
He reached into his many pockets that covered his white lab coat, his clothing like his body surgically sliced apart and stitched back together for research reasons, and began extracting components and tools and the more relevant modification modules.
Let's detect everywhere that something ISN'T and find this signal by elimination, shall we?
His glasses flared with a touch of Madness as he began to hum a tune no one could understand, his fingers artistically horrifying as he crafted under the moonlight.
Oh, there were spells and signals of powerful traps and so on and so forth, but none of that mattered.
Not when there was so much SCIENCE to be done!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Over eighty percent of Ragnarok was false material now. Fake Black Blood, formed from this raw energy that flooded their body, yet strong enough for his current needs.
He looked like a short fat monster, to be honest. With Crona protected in his massive torso, the child curled up and asleep with a surprisingly low amount of unconscious tremors or flinches, he could get something done here.
Still, he had stubby feet and enough mass to manipulate his gloved hands… it would do.
With confidence, he moved AWAY from the only door into the 'room'.
Medusa was a very powerful Witch, getting caught was NOT an option, and he was NOT going to leave through the only entrance available. She might have some sort of detection spell attached to it, and energetic or not he was NOT sure he could do much to resist that woman if it came down to a fight.
Medusa had many skills, but her most flexible and adaptable ones related to her ability to form 'Vector Arrows', Snake shaped conceptual magic that could redirect velocity and acceleration and negate most of his ability to escape.
After all, Ragnarok was a melee fighter. His abilities were forming constructs like massive swords and such, and enhancing them with his Scream Resonance to cause Soul damage and weaken anything his needles or blades hit… But all his attacks that involved projectiles and such were limited.
After all, they were formed from Crona's Black Blood just like himself… Using that as consumable ammo was dangerous and a double edged weapon.
While using Crona's Blood as a surprise attack could be effective, through spikes or needles or whatever, it had a small shelf life even against the newest of foes… And Medusa had studied them for years now.
Since she wouldn't fall for what few tricks they had, they would be limited to defensive plates, swords, hammers, etc… None of which were helpful when attempting to flee.
So instead, they were going to carve an exit out from here. [[Hold tight, Crona. I'm finally going to save us this time!]]
It was trivial to shift his right hand into a Black Blood blade with the white bone pattern for the spine and missing his customary grinning smile near the hilt with his bright red lips and tongue.
After all, the Demon Weapon was going to do the driving today. [[Slow and steady…. Gotta keep this quiet.]]
A thrust… And the blade sank into the wood of the wall silently, his will infusing Crona's Black Blood directly into the material, infiltrating and corrupting inwards to gain a foothold within the material.
This was far too slow a method for actual battle, as every inch of penetration needed minutes of effort instead of vicious stabs and violent slices… But there was nothing as subtle and quiet as this.
After all, they had a bit of time before Crona's 'Mother' came in to ensure dehydration hadn't killed her child and weapon experiment yet.
He was going to take advantage of every moment possible.
The tunnel would be small, and Crona would need to be carefully passed through, but with Ragnarok here they'd have an easy time of this. He could ensure they got enough air despite having so little room, and by only requiring enough space to pass his far too thin partner through… Well, hopefully progress would be swift.
As for himself, he was just blood. Even a small gap was more than good enough for him to pass through, although the flow rate could affect his transversal speed.
Moments passed as he cautiously carved off layers of material, black filaments carefully moving each fragment from the slowly carved escape tunnel to the floor. No odd noises were allowed, no strange vibrations, no unusual smells or echos…
Just to be safe, he had already covered the growing tunnel with a restrictive layer of Black Blood completely.
This would work.
The sleeping sibling in his chest would be safe, would heal, would get better.
With a flicker of pink light in his eyes, Ragnarok moved with Determination… And perhaps, a touch of Madness.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Hmm.
Stein absently pulsed Soul Menace through his cigarette stub, the raw power and electrical charge of his Soul vaporizing the trash, before lighting another one up and giving it a good puff. "Interesting."
His left hand reached up and turned his screw-bolt, the clicking sound and vibrations helping to gently push down the Madness again. "Very interesting."
This wasn't just a simple sample falling into Madness, this was something new. At least, according to the newly redesigned equipment.
Madness was there, of course. But there was another layer to it, something that was resisting being defined from existing sensor samples from past work.
He had covered a significant amount of distance now, and had further to go… But even from here, in the middle of nowhere with barely workable hardware, he kept finding interesting anomalies from the target.
The bolt clicked in his head as he turned the screw.
It would be v̟e̼͔̪͍r͙͖̫͙ͅy̥ i̖̗̫͙̝͎͞n̪͙͘t̥͕̮͇̤e̵̬r̺͖̻̜e̪̯̳̫͍̫̻̕s̪̭t̡͚̜i͈̺͈ͅͅṋ̯̣̗͇̖̻g̜͖ t̗̱͔o̲͓̖̳̳̟ d̸̴͚̬͚͓͓̲̟̟̼o̢̬̲͔̩̳ ̢̳̪̖̜̘a͖̯ ̨͚̳̭̗͍͚̙͙̀b͍͍̰͟i̷̖̜̼͉͙̥̱̮͉͟͝t̙̙̩̪̺͔͠ ̵̛̣̩̬̭̥͟o̸̥͚͇̳̘̮̖̼f͏̟̼̰͚̼̟͡ È̵̡̮̖͉͙̝̟͘͞x̷̸̡̭̘̹̫̝͘ͅp͢͏͉̬̬͓̝̣̣̩͍͙͉͎̬̻͈̻̫̬l̵͉̯̰̜͔̜̺̀͠o̷̡̝̲̫̮̹͍͝͞r̷̢̯̟̭͉̺͈͈á̦̝̖̳̹̠͇̼̞̞͍͇̞͍͢͜ͅt̸̛̘͈̙͉̪̩̦̩̣̠͝ǫ̩͕̟̭̫͚͡r̸̴̼̯̺̰̝̙̗͖͔̲̀́͟ý͘͏̻̖̣̜̺̟̱͖͍̮͕ ̴̸̱̹̝͔̞̖̘̤̯̙̲͉̳̼͟S̶̸̡͎͈̩̫̞͚̙͔̘̦̺̣̳̯͎͈͖̖͡u͏̩̪̗̠̱̠̖͈̤͙͓͚̱̰̯̦̕͢͡ŕ̵̢̨̖͈̗̫͓͇̬̲̦͖͓̯̮͎̙̦̜̕g̸̛̲͉̥͘ͅe̴͓̰͔̮̯͈̹͕r̶̵̦̹̦͍͉̯̺̩̫̠ͅy̡̙̠̠͚̮͜…
C̸̡͉̬̪̼̥͠͠ĺ̨̫͔̗̪̜̘̞̜̗͉͇̰͚̘̀̀͠ͅͅi͘҉̶̸̦̗̬̬c͏͏̶̡̧̙̺͉͈̲̫̪̫̥̰̱̦͖̠͙̘k̶͏̪̝̭͕̩.
.
With the twist of his bolt, his mind cleared once more.
Right.
Wouldn't want to lose his focus. Not with something so interesting to find.
The night was young.
There was Science to do!
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- Location
- Earth U.S.
power
would have been?
unfamiliar
verycoolname
Not actually cool
So freaking cool. Soul Eater has always been one of my favorite manga.
One nitpick though: Weapons were artificially created. They aren't a natural evolution. The first weapons could have catalyzed other souls to develop into Weapons, but Weapons were created by Arachne using research stolen from Death and Eibon.
One nitpick though: Weapons were artificially created. They aren't a natural evolution. The first weapons could have catalyzed other souls to develop into Weapons, but Weapons were created by Arachne using research stolen from Death and Eibon.
- Pronouns
- He
Currently angy I didn't get notified of the last 2 chapters /:-(
- Location
- Here
Meh, when a witch uses raw Madness to create a new species in a world that runs on Madness, that seems like a natural evolution to me... It also helps explain Excalibur.
Norr
Misophist
- Location
- Any chair
Nothing sane can explain Excalibur... So point to you I guess.
Fragnostic
Cheshire
- Location
- Neko City
Research would love this guy. And Purification would love to purify all the Madness.
Speaking of Sword-people, what about Xenoblade Chronicles?
Did... did you just try to explain Excalibur? That's futility. That's MADNESS.
verycoolname
Not actually cool
Ah, but there is an explanation for Excalibur, straight from Atsushi Ōkubo.
The world of Soul Eater was created by 'Shinrabansho-Man' after the world that Fire Force is set in was destroyed. Excalibur was created when the newly created Death separated Arthur Boyle's power from him and the power gained a physical form.
Hidden One
Not the Boss, possibly a Playa
- Location
- Sol;Terra;EU;D;NRW
So, there is Science to be done but all Mr. Corner cares about is getting some cake for his little sister. 🤔
Seems about right. 👍
Seems about right. 👍
I wonder if when Shadow wakes up, he'll end up helping out all the other people along with that 99/1 setup. Not with a Shadow/Gem setup, but more... a 'stabilization' point that could cause Souls to help develop in a way that mimics the pattern. Or perhaps just regulating the Madness in a way that makes it 'safer' for everyone.
So just pointing it out in case it wasn't intentional wording.
Slight inconsistency there with pronouns. I think that was the only place that has Crono is referred to with female pronouns, with the rest being 'they' or 'their'.
So just pointing it out in case it wasn't intentional wording.
BazDog25
Woo
- Pronouns
- Baz
Remember my comment about Fire Force and Soul Eater before?
Excalibur's kinda explained in that situation, through sheer oddity.
Look at this wiki, and the trivia section.
fire-force.fandom.com
basic gist: Excalibur became living when Arthur reentered atmosphere.
Also, apparently Fire Force Arthur is Legendary King Arthur from Soul Eater.
Excalibur's kinda explained in that situation, through sheer oddity.
Look at this wiki, and the trivia section.
Excalibur
Excalibur (エクスカリバー, Ekusukaribā) is a bladeless sword and the personal weapon of Arthur Boyle. If wielded by a Third Generation, the user can mold a concentrated blade of plasma in place of the blade. Excalibur is a peculiarly designed sword, consisting of only a white hilt. The hilt features a...
Also, apparently Fire Force Arthur is Legendary King Arthur from Soul Eater.
verycoolname
Not actually cool
There was loads of foreshadowing as well. And everyone but the conspiracy theorists thought it was a joke.The Soul Eater world just got sucker punched with loreRemember my comment about Fire Force and Soul Eater before?
Excalibur's kinda explained in that situation, through sheer oddity.
Look at this wiki, and the trivia section.
basic gist: Excalibur became living when Arthur reentered atmosphere.Excalibur
Excalibur (エクスカリバー, Ekusukaribā) is a bladeless sword and the personal weapon of Arthur Boyle. If wielded by a Third Generation, the user can mold a concentrated blade of plasma in place of the blade. Excalibur is a peculiarly designed sword, consisting of only a white hilt. The hilt features a...
Also, apparently Fire Force Arthur is Legendary King Arthur from Soul Eater.
And now Shadowofadam is here. When he wakes up properly... hoo boy~!
BIG update delay this time.
- Location
- Here
Seriously this week sucks.
I was supposed to be going out to do my taxes at h&r today, scheduling an emergency dental thing to get my messed up tooth extracted, do work stuff, and in between all that mess get the next few chapters ironed out...
But I had a car tire pop and somehow the wheel is stuck to the hub and I had to fill it with air for long enough to drive to get it looked at and they still haven't given me back my car and I have the only car in my household and none of my family live in this state and...
Sigh.
I'm going to be doing a bunch of running around that I didn't expect to be doing and I need to be available to get stuff done instead of focusing on my writing. If things go way better than I expect there might be an update on Friday, but I'm going to focus on keeping my personal life a bit more stable first... Besides writing Corona is a bit frustrating to begin with at the best of times.
See in the anime I thought she was a girl and in the manga people refer to 'her' with a female reference sometimes, but when doing my research I found out that even the creator of the series doesn't know what gender they are and it was the translators and other people that didn't feel like it was respectful to refer Corona as a them instead...
So since I'm not used to writing gender neutral pronouns, that's a real struggle for me to make sure I don't slip in a 'her' or a 'she' somewhere. Which I try not to do because I respect their character and I like Crona as a person, so... Yeesh.
I was supposed to be going out to do my taxes at h&r today, scheduling an emergency dental thing to get my messed up tooth extracted, do work stuff, and in between all that mess get the next few chapters ironed out...
But I had a car tire pop and somehow the wheel is stuck to the hub and I had to fill it with air for long enough to drive to get it looked at and they still haven't given me back my car and I have the only car in my household and none of my family live in this state and...
Sigh.
I'm going to be doing a bunch of running around that I didn't expect to be doing and I need to be available to get stuff done instead of focusing on my writing. If things go way better than I expect there might be an update on Friday, but I'm going to focus on keeping my personal life a bit more stable first... Besides writing Corona is a bit frustrating to begin with at the best of times.
See in the anime I thought she was a girl and in the manga people refer to 'her' with a female reference sometimes, but when doing my research I found out that even the creator of the series doesn't know what gender they are and it was the translators and other people that didn't feel like it was respectful to refer Corona as a them instead...
So since I'm not used to writing gender neutral pronouns, that's a real struggle for me to make sure I don't slip in a 'her' or a 'she' somewhere. Which I try not to do because I respect their character and I like Crona as a person, so... Yeesh.
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Take all the time you need Ace, Real_life.exe comes first ofcourse ^^
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
at least this would be good practice for real life.
and a quick google says that the translators might have said the opposite?
the original had it/its, and the translators used they/them.
They/Them would probably be easiest to learn at least.
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- Location
- Montreal
Hope thing get better for the rest of the week and see you next update whenever it is.
BazDog25
Woo
- Pronouns
- Baz
I pray for your mental strength, and hope you send the witch bitch to …, actually can you send her to Impel Down? Maybe put her next to Brook in the Florian Triangle, but not close enough for him to catch her? This sounds like it's implausible, but she can be reduced to only a Soul. Oh I know, put her on Whole Cake Island, as a Homie. See how she likes dealing with the One Piece version of Baba Yaga, Big Mom!
If this isn't possible, it'll just be some fun thoughts
If this isn't possible, it'll just be some fun thoughts
- Location
- Earth, Sol System, Virgo Supercluster, Earth-1218
Man, Adam keeps running into these Science types a lot... it's almost like you could graph these points of data and make a beautiful line.
- Status