Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
If we want someone to Scream at them, Black Canary is literally made for that.
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 (Young Justice/Gamer/Multicross OC)
- Thread starter Mister Ficser
- Start date
'Reverse Uno' She ends up yelling at Alchemist for Tiffany's meltdown and loss of powers
This sadly isn't that unlikely either. She has an inherent bias against Alchemist, and his interactions with her power technically resulted in this loss.
So, the one that' easy to scream at because they won't die? Alchemist is the one likely to live with little issue.
Chapter 274
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 Alpha Build 2.7.4
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
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26/11/2010
Kary could literally feel the gloom fill the air when Alchemist finally returned. She was hardly alone, Jinx turned away from the Fire Crystal she was examining and her little Tonberry summon seemed to freeze in abject fear.
Yuffie, however, did not notice. Or if she did, she was a bit too distracted by tugging and pulling a small ninja costume over the needles of her own Cactuar summon.
The two women shared a brief nod and Jinx swiftly inventoried the object they'd been examining to get moving.
They could discuss the merits of delving into its Item World later.
"Beloved?" Kary quietly called into the house.
The buildings that Alchemist had put up and mostly finished moving people into were not visually impressive. They were large blocks of cement, stacked up so that there were two units in one spot. They could be said to be divided into two main portions, the front half which included sitting space and an attached kitchen, then the back half which was made up of one bathroom in the middle between two other rooms. The idea was that one would be a bedroom and the other could be used for whatever the residents saw fit.
Alchemist's home was no different to the others. She shared it with him and Yuffie, who was given the second room to use as her own bedroom. The upstairs unit had actually been claimed by Jinx, though nobody had competed against her for it.
She caught sight of her man sitting in the kitchen, at the small dining table he normally left covered in letters and documents.
"Hey, hon," he greeted, his voice quiet and calm. A stark contrast to the palpable aura of deep, inhuman rage that wafted from him. "Why is there a Martian asleep on my couch?"
"I don't believe she returned with the others," Kary explained as she cautiously sat down across from the man. "I found her outside, mostly asleep and staring at the clouds."
"...Alright. Deal with that when she gets up, I guess." There were some signs as to her man's emotional state. His finger tapping against the table, one leg bouncing up and down in clear agitation.
He inhaled slowly, then exhaled explosively and his body stilled.
"So," he began, a noticeable level of calm seeping into the air. "How's your day been?"
"Not too bad," Jinx cut in from behind Kary. The girl leaned over the born-again sinner's shoulder and smiled, fangs on full display. "What about you?"
"Frustrating and disappointing," her beloved admitted. He stood up and made to pace about the room when his form shifted, more than doubling in size. For a long moment he stood completely still, a shadow in the room but for his glowing eyes. Finally, after collecting his thoughts, he mumbled aloud "I'm... gonna have to get used to that."
With a quiet sigh, her man lifted his claws and snapped his fingers, reverting to his humanoid form.
"Decided to go all in, then?" Kary asked, a small smile gracing her lips.
"Yeah. Figured I should quit messing around and just get right to it," he agreed, favoring her with a wan smile of his own.
"So, what went wrong?" Jinx asked, ruining the little moment. Kary sent the girl a sideways glare and got a mischievous smirk in response.
Lovely. The dragon was starting to act her age. And species.
"Tested what happens to the skeletons when I transmigrate and got some bad news. They don't follow the last order given, they just revert to being hostile. So that plan's a bust," Alchemist sounded a little broken up over that fact and Kary could well understand why. He'd desired the ability to fill the sky with more arrows than there were drops of rain in a storm. And, while he could still do so, he refused to risk losing control of such a force.
How many would-be tyrants had Kary seen that could have learned such a valuable lesson? A weapon, after all, was of very limited utility if it could be turned against its wielder.
"Might just work up a single, level ten skeleton," her man continued as he walked over to the fridge and opened it. "Either of you two thirsty?" he asked, then continued his previous train of thought upon receiving a negative response from Jinx and herself. "I figure, between a small horde of level one units or one, especially empowered level ten unit, the stronger one should win out. Especially if I level it up with the Bracelets of Zoe and the Emerald Necklace. Nine extra perks, feats, whatever and an additional fifty-four hundred hit points should make for a lot of wiggle room. And I recall a potion, I think it was made out of smoky quartz? Anyway, it offered up immunity for undead against 'mundane' weapons."
"...What would you need such a monstrous creature for?" Kary asked. There was no recrimination in her voice, not at all. She was genuinely curious, however, about what Alchemist intended to do with an absolutely loyal minion on par with her sibling, the Lich.
"I..." Alchemist sighed and sat back down, setting a cold bottle of water on the table in front of him. "I don't know. I'm trying to salvage something out of my original plan so it doesn't feel like I wasted my time."
It wasn't quite the admission that Kary expected but it carried more than a little bit of the naked honesty she adored about the man.
Still...
Kary's verdant green eyes looked down at the table, to where Alchemist was still nervously tapping away.
"Love?" she asked as she reached across the table to hold his hand. "What troubles you?"
She had noticed, quite some time ago, that Alchemist may have been easily frustrated but he usually kept it contained. He was rarely angry and that would often burn itself out quickly. But for him to continue to be so nervous? To try so hard and distract himself with plans that had no proper goal?
He was unnerved and the uncertainty was expressing itself clearly as frustration, perhaps even anger.
As he gathered his thoughts and tried to line them up in a coherent order, she did wonder if he was aware of his own moods.
"...While I was helping Player One, I ran across your sister," he eventually said.
Kary tilted her head to the side a bit and turned her gaze over to Jinx, meeting the girl's magenta eyes.
"You came across Kraken?" Kary asked after a brief moment of thought.
"No, I- Wait, the Kraken is female?"
Her beloved's confusion overwrote his irritation, she could feel the nervous energy from his tapping foot come to an abrupt halt.
And, she would admit, the blank incomprehension that washed across his visage was downright cute.
"Female enough," Kary shrugged before she began running her thumb across his wrist in a soothing circle. "It spawned the horrors of the deep abyss from its own eggs. Whether or not it is otherwise equipped in a manner you might recognize, I could not say."
"...No," Alchemist said after getting his thoughts back on track. "I met with Tiamat, not Kraken."
She had assumed as much. Lich was masculine, the Kraken wasn't really anything but Tiamat? Tiamat was a woman... though, she seemed to be more of a crone. Spiteful and manipulative to friend and foe alike.
Kary waited, letting Alchemist speak at his own pace.
"She... gave me a warning. Well, more she said she was giving me a warning so Bahamut would keep from irritating her too much. She told me to be more mindful of the sources of power I pursue. That it was growing to be too much for my soul to bear."
Kary pursed her lips and looked down to their joined hands. That... was not something which she was knowledgeable about.
Souls were infinite and finite and incredibly complicated. Far too much so for her to properly comprehend, not with the limited form that she was created into.
"And then she shut down Player One's System."
Kary's fingers froze and she could hear Jinx inhale sharply. That... could be incredibly damning. For quite a few reasons.
Her current form had been granted to her by utilizing Alchemist's Gamer System. Jinx was the same and now, it seemed, so was her beloved. And that did nothing to address the myriad disparate systems that Alchemist had cobbled together into something resembling sense.
There were also the perks and attributes to consider.
Kary had no idea how those would express themselves, if they could express themselves, free of the control and direction that the System guided them with.
"I... think that we need to focus on refining the tools we currently have," Alchemist said after a long moment of stifling silence. "Or at least finishing up some of our current projects. But I... It feels like I'm running out of time. I can practically feel someone watching me whenever I'm on the Mountain and there are so many things coming to a head. So many problems that I can't figure out where to start."
Kary remained silent, thinking on Alchemist's rare bout of vulnerability.
"So, let's get some more," Jinx said, drawing a pair of eyes on to her. The dragon stretched her neck, some of the joints popping before she stood up and placed her foreclaws on the table to support herself. "There's some stuff that I want to work on, a lot of stuff that you want to work on and I know Kary and Yuffie are both thinking about hitting the Item World in a few things. So, let's do a quest or something so we have the time to do all of that."
"That... could work, yes," Kary agreed as Alchemist pulled one hand out of Kary's grip to hold against his mouth in thought. "But the question, then, is what shall we do?"
"...I might have an idea," her beloved admitted. "But I need to check on something, first."
"What are you thinking, Love?" Kary asked.
"...How do you feel about visiting the piano bar again?"
Kary's mouth twisted in discomfort.
"...If we must," she agreed with a put upon sigh. "Though, I think I would like to wear something a bit more fitting for the venue."
Like armor, Kary thought as Alchemist began to plan something.
Or, better yet, a tank.
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27/11/2010
The lights in the bar were dim. Fitting, given the normal clientele wouldn't be arriving until the evening set in.
And Lucifer would not be especially pleasant company, not at the moment.
Whilst the great players of the game had largely abandoned the board within the realms protected by the Source Wall, the grand infinities beyond it were host to countless different stories. In some, a fragment of Lucifer had seen fit to 'die' and let his children inherit his name. In others, the Lightbringer waged war eternal on his father.
In some places, he even won. Though, in such realities, the victory was often rather Pyrrhic. Dragging the almighty down and then murdering it within the mud of its greatest creation was all too often an expensive endeavor that left nothing worthwhile behind. Broken worlds and broken people, unable to enjoy the Freedom that he'd won or else so thoroughly ruined that there was nothing for his reflection to rule over.
In many realms, his shadow was content to sit upon the throne of Hell. Though, one particularly unusual aspect had decided to wander off with a strange man wearing a white leisure suit. There wasn't anything especially noteworthy about the human beyond his inexplicable ability to kick open a doorway directly into hell.
And his absolutely fantastic pancakes.
The fallen leaned back in the chair he'd claimed at his own bar and squeezed the bridge of his nose.
Unlike most of his reflections, the aspect of Lucifer in the realms collectively known as 'DC' was quite aware of his other selves.
Being the one forged to hold the omniscience of the creator did have certain... benefits. If the persistent frustration at himself could be considered such.
Thankfully, thankfully, Lucifer was not truly omniscient. There were still things they did not know, situations that were simply unpredictable. The knowledge, the awareness, while without peer, was not without limit.
One of the few joys that Lucifer still had, even as so many hobbies and interests faded into the ennui of eternity, was his children. Most were mindless twits, attempting to coast upon the grand creations and reputation that Lucifer had forged. Some, though...
Some tried to be innovative. Some tried to accomplish new things. Sometimes with him, sometimes through him and, in one particularly interesting case, one of his countless daughters had tried to accomplish something -in spite- of him.
And the heavens, already invading his kingdom regularly, had seen fit to send the first mortal sinner to negotiate with her. A shame that the disobedient fool had died before the decree that human souls would be condemned to Lucifer's kingdom had been spoken into Law but one does what one must with what one has.
The true king of Hell perked up slightly as the front door of his little retreat was opened, yet he was unaware of who had just entered. Turning, his gorgeous blue eyes took in the sight of the two blind spots that had just entered.
The guests from the month before, the ones that had started up some truly salacious rumors on both sides of the fence.
"I do apologize but I'm afraid we're not open yet," Lucifer told the mage and his fallen lover. "So please, feel free to leave."
"We're here to make a delivery," the impudent plaything said, ignoring Lucifer's command as he walked into the devil's domain. "I'd be happy to wait until later, though."
Perhaps Lucifer was a bit out of sorts but he could appreciate someone interpreting 'Free to leave' as 'Free to stay'. It may have been a command but it -was- stated as an offer.
"Hmm?" Lucifer asked, raising one immaculate blond eyebrow in curiosity. "And what, pray tell, could you have for me?"
He did recall their last conversation, when he'd worn the rather flattering guise of Louisa Ferre. He also doubted the mage would have had time to create anything that would match what he'd offered.
The technology and magic existed, absolutely. Just, not within the Source Wall. And the odds of a Gamer, even one so unconventional as @**&@%$#% having access were... distinctly above zero.
Lucifer knocked back a shot of something black and foul with a kick that hit harder than his damnation. He needed to pull himself out of his alternatives, their rage over their wounded pride was throwing him off.
Rather than offer an immediate answer, Kar'Yashlan reached into a non-existent hole that led to a non-existent place and extracted a thin tube.
There wasn't very much power inside of it and Lucifer could feel, could see the magic that shrunk it and its contents. But, in place of power...?
It had something far more important. Far greater.
Whatever was within the tube was Stable, more Real than mortal flesh and blood. It had Potential, something that could be reached without needing to cultivate immeasurable strength to maintain the shape of one's soul beyond mortal flesh.
It was... flawed.
"What I'd offered," @**&@%$#% answered as he and Kar'Yashlan approached the bar. Lucifer held his hand out to take the little tube. Glass, capped with black, crystalline metal. Chaos blood. "It's not physically matured completely but it should be stable enough to hold a soul. Even one belonging to a realized godling."
Lucifer put down his empty shot glass and held the tube up, gazing with his own eyes on the contents. The creature within was humanoid, moreso than many of his own incarnations if the truth must be said. It had long, spindly limbs and its fingers and toes were equally too long.
The disfigurement was on purpose, of course. The details of the object's creation filtered into his mind now that it was close enough for Lucifer to fully Perceive it.
The homonculus was, intentionally, incomplete. It held no soul, no personality and, as such, it had no true form. The flat slits for its nose would push out and grow to match the face of whatever would inhabit the creature. It would grow hair, the eyes would finish developing, the genitalia would begin to form instead of the mass of soft, malleable almost-flesh.
After a few short weeks of incubation, the homonculus would truly look like whomever was housed within. Growing around them, becoming them. A body of flesh and blood to suit a disincorporated spirit.
"I had not expected much to come of your offer, @**&@%$#%," Lucifer admitted as he set the container down next to his empty shot glass. "And now, it seems, I find myself indebted."
That... was a dangerous position for @**&@%$#% to be in.
Lucifer was not free to act upon his every want or desire. The repercussions that could come from all sides were a perpetual worry... and grand source of entertainment. Between his reputation and the power he could wield, limited in intensity if not in scope, any force that was aware of him, feared him. Made plans and did everything in their power, reasonable or otherwise, to stymy any long-term goals he might be aiming towards.
And, more often than not, he was quite happy to let the fools that would interfere with him think that they had won on some front even as he maneuvered around their woeful feeblemindedness.
But his children? Many were pawns, such is true of the grand and powerful, but others...
Lucifer could love. Did love. And they had to balance that for the few, true spawn that they cared for against the bindings and shackles of fate and destiny.
Alexandra, the intended tenant of the homonculus that @**&@%$#% had made for them, was one of the children that Lucifer had truly loved. A child they'd brought into a condemned world and raised thrice over, taught her so much in so many different ways. Instilled in the girl a proper love for the fine line of Freedom and Responsibility.
But... Lucifer did not necessarily have to use the homonculus for her. He'd fathered countless other children throughout eternity. Some had been holy heroes, fighting against him for the sake of their world. Others were the most vile of villains, schemers and mad dogs held in check by Lucifer's own orders.
He could even, if he so wished, retrieve one of his disparate, 'dead' fragments and embody it. The homonculus would survive, even grow to be a proper channel for his corrupted light.
"And what would you demand of me in return for this thoughtful little gift?" the devil asked as he slipped the shrunken vial and its contents into his jacket. "Wealth? Immortality? Power beyond mortal comprehension?"
"...I hadn't really considered that," @**&@%$#% answered him, painfully honest.
Lucifer sighed and waved his hand to the bartender, a faceless shadow bound in service to the king. The entity was one of the few things he'd bothered bringing with him from Hell.
Good help had always been hard to find, despite what many might claim, and he wasn't going to waste his time in training a new bartender.
As blackened, fetid ichor refilled the devil's shot glass, the king allowed himself a small grin.
Kar'Yashlan really had found something interesting. A mortal soul, or something that used to be such, filled with cunning and power and a sort of simple guile that did not bother pretending to be anything other than what it was.
"I would suggest you decide quickly on what you might consider fair payment, wizard," Lucifer explained as he contemplated his drink. "I do not care to owe favors. Especially to your kind."
The homonculus was not truly special, not upon the field that Lucifer operated on. Oh, the resources that were local would have taken significantly longer, true, but they could succeed all the same.
No, the real value that came from @**&@%$#% was in the fact that his place in the book of Destiny was so thoroughly overwritten that it was illegible. Everything the man did had so many potential outcomes, changed so many stories, that the book Destiny was chained to had become nearly worthless for the next few centuries.
"...This is not an opportunity you should squander, beloved," Kar'Yashlan reminded the pensive mage. "Such forces do not make such claims lightly."
Lucifer nodded softly before he picked up his drink and took a small sip.
Fear, anger and betrayal. A rather common vintage but that was hardly a complaint.
"...I might have one request," the mage eventually admitted after several pleasantly quiet minutes in which the devil enjoyed his drink.
"Hmm..." Lucifer hummed as he looked over the mage and the devil shaped from his own light. "I think I would ask a question, first."
Raising one hand, the bartender returned with the bottle of fouled godblood and topped off Lucifer's shot glass.
"There is a reflection of Hell beyond the wall, a place in which I still reign unopposed as king. Well, in name at least," Lucifer explained the conundrem his other self was experiencing as he slowly swirled his drink, blackened blood flowing around the small glass in a wave. "I've a daughter there that thinks the sinners may be redeemable. A fool's effort but ambition does run in the family. She thought to negotiate with the heavens, to ask that they reconsider their judgement should a sinner truly repent. They sent the first man, an easily manipulated tool, to reject her out of hand. To mock her. To Insult Me!"
Lucifer paused briefly to knock back his drink and shuddered as the liquid burned down the back of his throat.
He also rather pointedly ignored the lights around the bar burning just a bit brighter, minutely harsher.
"I have tolerated their foolishness for too long as it is. They gleefully make a mockery of my kingdom, my people, my Family. Even now, they send down their weakest to cull the refuse they send me for fear that they might grow powerful enough to cross the divide and strike back at the heavens that denied them. They have littered my domain with shattered refuse which now threaten my vassals!"
Lucifer had plans for dealing with the heavens. Oh, he had a great many plans and they were doing a wonderful job playing into his hands. But...
They had grown bold enough to Insult him. Within his own kingdom.
Several lightbulbs winked out, burned out, though it was hardly noticeable under the cruel brightness of the others.
"Well, how often does this culling happen?" Kar'Yashlan asked. The woman seemed untroubled by the intense light that now filled the bar.
"Annualy."
"So, you know when it will happen," Kar'Yashlan correctly extrapolated. "And they're doing this for, what? Training? Entertainment?"
"Both, obviously," Lucifer said before he took a deep, calming breath and the lights throughout the room began to dim.
He could, of course, afford to replace them all. He did not, however, want to actually do so.
"...Do you mind if I see one of the weapons that these angels just leave lying around?" @**&@%$#% asked. The man had one hand over his eyes, clearly not able to see through the intensity like Lucifer or Kar'Yashlan had been able to.
"Oh, go ahead." Lucifer manifested one of the countless such tools that had been left behind in his alternate self's armory and handed the short, wicked spear over to the mage.
The man hissed upon taking it, the manifested concept of Murder not meant to be touched by living hands, but he neither dropped it nor flinched. Instead he held the black shaft of the spear up to the light and ran a critical eye over the unadorned, silver blade on the end.
It was such a simple weapon. They all were, really. A clear sign that his father had put no true effort or intent into manufacturing them. Like as not, they had probably simply been formed into existence alongside the mindless little tools that were meant to use them.
A pity. The Source was growing lazy in his old age.
Lucifer paused in his mental complaints at seeing a window appear before the mage.
~~ Error: 403 Forbidden has been added to ~~
~~ Transmutation: Convert ~~
The devil stifled a chuckle and knocked back his drink instead. The little monster already had the tools to bloody the noses of those young fools hiding out in the Kuiper Belt. Or their opposite numbers...
And now he'd just stolen the ability to manufacture tools that could kill souls. With Lucifer's help.
"So, hon?" @**&@%$#% asked as he handed the simple short spear back to the devil. "What were you thinking about doing if you were in Lucifer's place?"
"Hmm... I'd steal the opportunity from them," Kar'Yashlan explained, a malicious grin on her face. It was rather adorable, really. "You know when they'll send their hunters into your domain, so do the culling yourself before they get there. Waste their time, ruin their fun, look them in the eyes and tell them that you can really see why they go out of their way and do it every year."
Lucifer tapped one immaculate nail on the bar as he considered her words.
Oh, it wasn't a particularly complicated idea. And it certainly had many, many problems within and from it...
But so many of those issues could further his own goals, too.
"A fine idea. Yes, quite fine indeed..." Lucifer would need to consider the merits to it. The many, many possible implications of it. But there were benefits to the simplicity of the plot that couldn't really be overlooked. And the chaos it would sow would be, in one word, delicious.
"Well, then," Lucifer said as he pushed his seat back and leaned forward, his elbows on the bar. "Perhaps we ought finish up our little soiree, hmm? I do believe you'd decided on a boon in repayment for this gift, haven't you @**&@%$#%?"
"Ah, right. Yes," the mage fumbled for a moment before firming his resolve. Oh, the devil could practically taste the Steel in the man's soul, clamping down on so many foolish impulses. The man had been a dreamer, once. Lucifer could see it, rather easily given that he'd been one as well. Once. "I'd like to ask that you... embed the spells and abilities that I have mastered, or will master, into my soul. To ensure that nothing, man or god or other, can take what I've worked for away from me."
"...That's all?" Lucifer asked, his tone almost mocking. "No riches, no new heights to your power, no secret to eternal life?"
"...That's all," the wizard agreed. "I'm jealous, not envious."
"Hah!" the devil barked as he stood up. "That you're asking for so little would be an insult to anyone else, you know? But then..."
Lucifer moved, fast as light, and used his right hand to hold @**&@%$#% in place while his left was buried into his sternum, bloodlessly diving through flesh.
It did not stop the wizard from releasing a muffled scream, cut short by a very real lack of air in his lungs. The devil leaned down until his mouth was right next to the wizard's ear, ignoring the sound of Kar'Yashlan drawing a weapon.
It wouldn't do her any good.
Carefully, almost lovingly, Lucifer whispered into @**&@%$#%'s ear as he fulfilled the man's request.
"None of the others you might ask have ever fallen from Grace."
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
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26/11/2010
Kary could literally feel the gloom fill the air when Alchemist finally returned. She was hardly alone, Jinx turned away from the Fire Crystal she was examining and her little Tonberry summon seemed to freeze in abject fear.
Yuffie, however, did not notice. Or if she did, she was a bit too distracted by tugging and pulling a small ninja costume over the needles of her own Cactuar summon.
The two women shared a brief nod and Jinx swiftly inventoried the object they'd been examining to get moving.
They could discuss the merits of delving into its Item World later.
"Beloved?" Kary quietly called into the house.
The buildings that Alchemist had put up and mostly finished moving people into were not visually impressive. They were large blocks of cement, stacked up so that there were two units in one spot. They could be said to be divided into two main portions, the front half which included sitting space and an attached kitchen, then the back half which was made up of one bathroom in the middle between two other rooms. The idea was that one would be a bedroom and the other could be used for whatever the residents saw fit.
Alchemist's home was no different to the others. She shared it with him and Yuffie, who was given the second room to use as her own bedroom. The upstairs unit had actually been claimed by Jinx, though nobody had competed against her for it.
She caught sight of her man sitting in the kitchen, at the small dining table he normally left covered in letters and documents.
"Hey, hon," he greeted, his voice quiet and calm. A stark contrast to the palpable aura of deep, inhuman rage that wafted from him. "Why is there a Martian asleep on my couch?"
"I don't believe she returned with the others," Kary explained as she cautiously sat down across from the man. "I found her outside, mostly asleep and staring at the clouds."
"...Alright. Deal with that when she gets up, I guess." There were some signs as to her man's emotional state. His finger tapping against the table, one leg bouncing up and down in clear agitation.
He inhaled slowly, then exhaled explosively and his body stilled.
"So," he began, a noticeable level of calm seeping into the air. "How's your day been?"
"Not too bad," Jinx cut in from behind Kary. The girl leaned over the born-again sinner's shoulder and smiled, fangs on full display. "What about you?"
"Frustrating and disappointing," her beloved admitted. He stood up and made to pace about the room when his form shifted, more than doubling in size. For a long moment he stood completely still, a shadow in the room but for his glowing eyes. Finally, after collecting his thoughts, he mumbled aloud "I'm... gonna have to get used to that."
With a quiet sigh, her man lifted his claws and snapped his fingers, reverting to his humanoid form.
"Decided to go all in, then?" Kary asked, a small smile gracing her lips.
"Yeah. Figured I should quit messing around and just get right to it," he agreed, favoring her with a wan smile of his own.
"So, what went wrong?" Jinx asked, ruining the little moment. Kary sent the girl a sideways glare and got a mischievous smirk in response.
Lovely. The dragon was starting to act her age. And species.
"Tested what happens to the skeletons when I transmigrate and got some bad news. They don't follow the last order given, they just revert to being hostile. So that plan's a bust," Alchemist sounded a little broken up over that fact and Kary could well understand why. He'd desired the ability to fill the sky with more arrows than there were drops of rain in a storm. And, while he could still do so, he refused to risk losing control of such a force.
How many would-be tyrants had Kary seen that could have learned such a valuable lesson? A weapon, after all, was of very limited utility if it could be turned against its wielder.
"Might just work up a single, level ten skeleton," her man continued as he walked over to the fridge and opened it. "Either of you two thirsty?" he asked, then continued his previous train of thought upon receiving a negative response from Jinx and herself. "I figure, between a small horde of level one units or one, especially empowered level ten unit, the stronger one should win out. Especially if I level it up with the Bracelets of Zoe and the Emerald Necklace. Nine extra perks, feats, whatever and an additional fifty-four hundred hit points should make for a lot of wiggle room. And I recall a potion, I think it was made out of smoky quartz? Anyway, it offered up immunity for undead against 'mundane' weapons."
"...What would you need such a monstrous creature for?" Kary asked. There was no recrimination in her voice, not at all. She was genuinely curious, however, about what Alchemist intended to do with an absolutely loyal minion on par with her sibling, the Lich.
"I..." Alchemist sighed and sat back down, setting a cold bottle of water on the table in front of him. "I don't know. I'm trying to salvage something out of my original plan so it doesn't feel like I wasted my time."
It wasn't quite the admission that Kary expected but it carried more than a little bit of the naked honesty she adored about the man.
Still...
Kary's verdant green eyes looked down at the table, to where Alchemist was still nervously tapping away.
"Love?" she asked as she reached across the table to hold his hand. "What troubles you?"
She had noticed, quite some time ago, that Alchemist may have been easily frustrated but he usually kept it contained. He was rarely angry and that would often burn itself out quickly. But for him to continue to be so nervous? To try so hard and distract himself with plans that had no proper goal?
He was unnerved and the uncertainty was expressing itself clearly as frustration, perhaps even anger.
As he gathered his thoughts and tried to line them up in a coherent order, she did wonder if he was aware of his own moods.
"...While I was helping Player One, I ran across your sister," he eventually said.
Kary tilted her head to the side a bit and turned her gaze over to Jinx, meeting the girl's magenta eyes.
"You came across Kraken?" Kary asked after a brief moment of thought.
"No, I- Wait, the Kraken is female?"
Her beloved's confusion overwrote his irritation, she could feel the nervous energy from his tapping foot come to an abrupt halt.
And, she would admit, the blank incomprehension that washed across his visage was downright cute.
"Female enough," Kary shrugged before she began running her thumb across his wrist in a soothing circle. "It spawned the horrors of the deep abyss from its own eggs. Whether or not it is otherwise equipped in a manner you might recognize, I could not say."
"...No," Alchemist said after getting his thoughts back on track. "I met with Tiamat, not Kraken."
She had assumed as much. Lich was masculine, the Kraken wasn't really anything but Tiamat? Tiamat was a woman... though, she seemed to be more of a crone. Spiteful and manipulative to friend and foe alike.
Kary waited, letting Alchemist speak at his own pace.
"She... gave me a warning. Well, more she said she was giving me a warning so Bahamut would keep from irritating her too much. She told me to be more mindful of the sources of power I pursue. That it was growing to be too much for my soul to bear."
Kary pursed her lips and looked down to their joined hands. That... was not something which she was knowledgeable about.
Souls were infinite and finite and incredibly complicated. Far too much so for her to properly comprehend, not with the limited form that she was created into.
"And then she shut down Player One's System."
Kary's fingers froze and she could hear Jinx inhale sharply. That... could be incredibly damning. For quite a few reasons.
Her current form had been granted to her by utilizing Alchemist's Gamer System. Jinx was the same and now, it seemed, so was her beloved. And that did nothing to address the myriad disparate systems that Alchemist had cobbled together into something resembling sense.
There were also the perks and attributes to consider.
Kary had no idea how those would express themselves, if they could express themselves, free of the control and direction that the System guided them with.
"I... think that we need to focus on refining the tools we currently have," Alchemist said after a long moment of stifling silence. "Or at least finishing up some of our current projects. But I... It feels like I'm running out of time. I can practically feel someone watching me whenever I'm on the Mountain and there are so many things coming to a head. So many problems that I can't figure out where to start."
Kary remained silent, thinking on Alchemist's rare bout of vulnerability.
"So, let's get some more," Jinx said, drawing a pair of eyes on to her. The dragon stretched her neck, some of the joints popping before she stood up and placed her foreclaws on the table to support herself. "There's some stuff that I want to work on, a lot of stuff that you want to work on and I know Kary and Yuffie are both thinking about hitting the Item World in a few things. So, let's do a quest or something so we have the time to do all of that."
"That... could work, yes," Kary agreed as Alchemist pulled one hand out of Kary's grip to hold against his mouth in thought. "But the question, then, is what shall we do?"
"...I might have an idea," her beloved admitted. "But I need to check on something, first."
"What are you thinking, Love?" Kary asked.
"...How do you feel about visiting the piano bar again?"
Kary's mouth twisted in discomfort.
"...If we must," she agreed with a put upon sigh. "Though, I think I would like to wear something a bit more fitting for the venue."
Like armor, Kary thought as Alchemist began to plan something.
Or, better yet, a tank.
-----
-- ERROR: Patch Installation Failure: 0x00000112 --
-- Rebooting... --
-- . --
-- .. --
-- ... --
-- ERROR: Patch Installation Failure: 0x00000112 --
-- Pathing --
-- . --
-- .. --
-- ... ---
-- Rebooting in Safe Mode --
-- Please Standby --
-- . --
-- .. --
-- ... --
-- Safe Mode successfully initialized --
-- 'Gamer System beta 0.0.273' has been retrieved --
-- Reinstalling 0/1,191,625 files --
-- Estimated time until completion... --
-- TBD --
-----
27/11/2010
The lights in the bar were dim. Fitting, given the normal clientele wouldn't be arriving until the evening set in.
And Lucifer would not be especially pleasant company, not at the moment.
Whilst the great players of the game had largely abandoned the board within the realms protected by the Source Wall, the grand infinities beyond it were host to countless different stories. In some, a fragment of Lucifer had seen fit to 'die' and let his children inherit his name. In others, the Lightbringer waged war eternal on his father.
In some places, he even won. Though, in such realities, the victory was often rather Pyrrhic. Dragging the almighty down and then murdering it within the mud of its greatest creation was all too often an expensive endeavor that left nothing worthwhile behind. Broken worlds and broken people, unable to enjoy the Freedom that he'd won or else so thoroughly ruined that there was nothing for his reflection to rule over.
In many realms, his shadow was content to sit upon the throne of Hell. Though, one particularly unusual aspect had decided to wander off with a strange man wearing a white leisure suit. There wasn't anything especially noteworthy about the human beyond his inexplicable ability to kick open a doorway directly into hell.
And his absolutely fantastic pancakes.
The fallen leaned back in the chair he'd claimed at his own bar and squeezed the bridge of his nose.
Unlike most of his reflections, the aspect of Lucifer in the realms collectively known as 'DC' was quite aware of his other selves.
Being the one forged to hold the omniscience of the creator did have certain... benefits. If the persistent frustration at himself could be considered such.
Thankfully, thankfully, Lucifer was not truly omniscient. There were still things they did not know, situations that were simply unpredictable. The knowledge, the awareness, while without peer, was not without limit.
One of the few joys that Lucifer still had, even as so many hobbies and interests faded into the ennui of eternity, was his children. Most were mindless twits, attempting to coast upon the grand creations and reputation that Lucifer had forged. Some, though...
Some tried to be innovative. Some tried to accomplish new things. Sometimes with him, sometimes through him and, in one particularly interesting case, one of his countless daughters had tried to accomplish something -in spite- of him.
And the heavens, already invading his kingdom regularly, had seen fit to send the first mortal sinner to negotiate with her. A shame that the disobedient fool had died before the decree that human souls would be condemned to Lucifer's kingdom had been spoken into Law but one does what one must with what one has.
The true king of Hell perked up slightly as the front door of his little retreat was opened, yet he was unaware of who had just entered. Turning, his gorgeous blue eyes took in the sight of the two blind spots that had just entered.
The guests from the month before, the ones that had started up some truly salacious rumors on both sides of the fence.
"I do apologize but I'm afraid we're not open yet," Lucifer told the mage and his fallen lover. "So please, feel free to leave."
"We're here to make a delivery," the impudent plaything said, ignoring Lucifer's command as he walked into the devil's domain. "I'd be happy to wait until later, though."
Perhaps Lucifer was a bit out of sorts but he could appreciate someone interpreting 'Free to leave' as 'Free to stay'. It may have been a command but it -was- stated as an offer.
"Hmm?" Lucifer asked, raising one immaculate blond eyebrow in curiosity. "And what, pray tell, could you have for me?"
He did recall their last conversation, when he'd worn the rather flattering guise of Louisa Ferre. He also doubted the mage would have had time to create anything that would match what he'd offered.
The technology and magic existed, absolutely. Just, not within the Source Wall. And the odds of a Gamer, even one so unconventional as @**&@%$#% having access were... distinctly above zero.
Lucifer knocked back a shot of something black and foul with a kick that hit harder than his damnation. He needed to pull himself out of his alternatives, their rage over their wounded pride was throwing him off.
Rather than offer an immediate answer, Kar'Yashlan reached into a non-existent hole that led to a non-existent place and extracted a thin tube.
There wasn't very much power inside of it and Lucifer could feel, could see the magic that shrunk it and its contents. But, in place of power...?
It had something far more important. Far greater.
Whatever was within the tube was Stable, more Real than mortal flesh and blood. It had Potential, something that could be reached without needing to cultivate immeasurable strength to maintain the shape of one's soul beyond mortal flesh.
It was... flawed.
"What I'd offered," @**&@%$#% answered as he and Kar'Yashlan approached the bar. Lucifer held his hand out to take the little tube. Glass, capped with black, crystalline metal. Chaos blood. "It's not physically matured completely but it should be stable enough to hold a soul. Even one belonging to a realized godling."
Lucifer put down his empty shot glass and held the tube up, gazing with his own eyes on the contents. The creature within was humanoid, moreso than many of his own incarnations if the truth must be said. It had long, spindly limbs and its fingers and toes were equally too long.
The disfigurement was on purpose, of course. The details of the object's creation filtered into his mind now that it was close enough for Lucifer to fully Perceive it.
The homonculus was, intentionally, incomplete. It held no soul, no personality and, as such, it had no true form. The flat slits for its nose would push out and grow to match the face of whatever would inhabit the creature. It would grow hair, the eyes would finish developing, the genitalia would begin to form instead of the mass of soft, malleable almost-flesh.
After a few short weeks of incubation, the homonculus would truly look like whomever was housed within. Growing around them, becoming them. A body of flesh and blood to suit a disincorporated spirit.
"I had not expected much to come of your offer, @**&@%$#%," Lucifer admitted as he set the container down next to his empty shot glass. "And now, it seems, I find myself indebted."
That... was a dangerous position for @**&@%$#% to be in.
Lucifer was not free to act upon his every want or desire. The repercussions that could come from all sides were a perpetual worry... and grand source of entertainment. Between his reputation and the power he could wield, limited in intensity if not in scope, any force that was aware of him, feared him. Made plans and did everything in their power, reasonable or otherwise, to stymy any long-term goals he might be aiming towards.
And, more often than not, he was quite happy to let the fools that would interfere with him think that they had won on some front even as he maneuvered around their woeful feeblemindedness.
But his children? Many were pawns, such is true of the grand and powerful, but others...
Lucifer could love. Did love. And they had to balance that for the few, true spawn that they cared for against the bindings and shackles of fate and destiny.
Alexandra, the intended tenant of the homonculus that @**&@%$#% had made for them, was one of the children that Lucifer had truly loved. A child they'd brought into a condemned world and raised thrice over, taught her so much in so many different ways. Instilled in the girl a proper love for the fine line of Freedom and Responsibility.
But... Lucifer did not necessarily have to use the homonculus for her. He'd fathered countless other children throughout eternity. Some had been holy heroes, fighting against him for the sake of their world. Others were the most vile of villains, schemers and mad dogs held in check by Lucifer's own orders.
He could even, if he so wished, retrieve one of his disparate, 'dead' fragments and embody it. The homonculus would survive, even grow to be a proper channel for his corrupted light.
"And what would you demand of me in return for this thoughtful little gift?" the devil asked as he slipped the shrunken vial and its contents into his jacket. "Wealth? Immortality? Power beyond mortal comprehension?"
"...I hadn't really considered that," @**&@%$#% answered him, painfully honest.
Lucifer sighed and waved his hand to the bartender, a faceless shadow bound in service to the king. The entity was one of the few things he'd bothered bringing with him from Hell.
Good help had always been hard to find, despite what many might claim, and he wasn't going to waste his time in training a new bartender.
As blackened, fetid ichor refilled the devil's shot glass, the king allowed himself a small grin.
Kar'Yashlan really had found something interesting. A mortal soul, or something that used to be such, filled with cunning and power and a sort of simple guile that did not bother pretending to be anything other than what it was.
"I would suggest you decide quickly on what you might consider fair payment, wizard," Lucifer explained as he contemplated his drink. "I do not care to owe favors. Especially to your kind."
The homonculus was not truly special, not upon the field that Lucifer operated on. Oh, the resources that were local would have taken significantly longer, true, but they could succeed all the same.
No, the real value that came from @**&@%$#% was in the fact that his place in the book of Destiny was so thoroughly overwritten that it was illegible. Everything the man did had so many potential outcomes, changed so many stories, that the book Destiny was chained to had become nearly worthless for the next few centuries.
"...This is not an opportunity you should squander, beloved," Kar'Yashlan reminded the pensive mage. "Such forces do not make such claims lightly."
Lucifer nodded softly before he picked up his drink and took a small sip.
Fear, anger and betrayal. A rather common vintage but that was hardly a complaint.
"...I might have one request," the mage eventually admitted after several pleasantly quiet minutes in which the devil enjoyed his drink.
"Hmm..." Lucifer hummed as he looked over the mage and the devil shaped from his own light. "I think I would ask a question, first."
Raising one hand, the bartender returned with the bottle of fouled godblood and topped off Lucifer's shot glass.
"There is a reflection of Hell beyond the wall, a place in which I still reign unopposed as king. Well, in name at least," Lucifer explained the conundrem his other self was experiencing as he slowly swirled his drink, blackened blood flowing around the small glass in a wave. "I've a daughter there that thinks the sinners may be redeemable. A fool's effort but ambition does run in the family. She thought to negotiate with the heavens, to ask that they reconsider their judgement should a sinner truly repent. They sent the first man, an easily manipulated tool, to reject her out of hand. To mock her. To Insult Me!"
Lucifer paused briefly to knock back his drink and shuddered as the liquid burned down the back of his throat.
He also rather pointedly ignored the lights around the bar burning just a bit brighter, minutely harsher.
"I have tolerated their foolishness for too long as it is. They gleefully make a mockery of my kingdom, my people, my Family. Even now, they send down their weakest to cull the refuse they send me for fear that they might grow powerful enough to cross the divide and strike back at the heavens that denied them. They have littered my domain with shattered refuse which now threaten my vassals!"
Lucifer had plans for dealing with the heavens. Oh, he had a great many plans and they were doing a wonderful job playing into his hands. But...
They had grown bold enough to Insult him. Within his own kingdom.
Several lightbulbs winked out, burned out, though it was hardly noticeable under the cruel brightness of the others.
"Well, how often does this culling happen?" Kar'Yashlan asked. The woman seemed untroubled by the intense light that now filled the bar.
"Annualy."
"So, you know when it will happen," Kar'Yashlan correctly extrapolated. "And they're doing this for, what? Training? Entertainment?"
"Both, obviously," Lucifer said before he took a deep, calming breath and the lights throughout the room began to dim.
He could, of course, afford to replace them all. He did not, however, want to actually do so.
"...Do you mind if I see one of the weapons that these angels just leave lying around?" @**&@%$#% asked. The man had one hand over his eyes, clearly not able to see through the intensity like Lucifer or Kar'Yashlan had been able to.
"Oh, go ahead." Lucifer manifested one of the countless such tools that had been left behind in his alternate self's armory and handed the short, wicked spear over to the mage.
The man hissed upon taking it, the manifested concept of Murder not meant to be touched by living hands, but he neither dropped it nor flinched. Instead he held the black shaft of the spear up to the light and ran a critical eye over the unadorned, silver blade on the end.
It was such a simple weapon. They all were, really. A clear sign that his father had put no true effort or intent into manufacturing them. Like as not, they had probably simply been formed into existence alongside the mindless little tools that were meant to use them.
A pity. The Source was growing lazy in his old age.
Lucifer paused in his mental complaints at seeing a window appear before the mage.
~~ Error: 403 Forbidden has been added to ~~
~~ Transmutation: Convert ~~
The devil stifled a chuckle and knocked back his drink instead. The little monster already had the tools to bloody the noses of those young fools hiding out in the Kuiper Belt. Or their opposite numbers...
And now he'd just stolen the ability to manufacture tools that could kill souls. With Lucifer's help.
"So, hon?" @**&@%$#% asked as he handed the simple short spear back to the devil. "What were you thinking about doing if you were in Lucifer's place?"
"Hmm... I'd steal the opportunity from them," Kar'Yashlan explained, a malicious grin on her face. It was rather adorable, really. "You know when they'll send their hunters into your domain, so do the culling yourself before they get there. Waste their time, ruin their fun, look them in the eyes and tell them that you can really see why they go out of their way and do it every year."
Lucifer tapped one immaculate nail on the bar as he considered her words.
Oh, it wasn't a particularly complicated idea. And it certainly had many, many problems within and from it...
But so many of those issues could further his own goals, too.
"A fine idea. Yes, quite fine indeed..." Lucifer would need to consider the merits to it. The many, many possible implications of it. But there were benefits to the simplicity of the plot that couldn't really be overlooked. And the chaos it would sow would be, in one word, delicious.
"Well, then," Lucifer said as he pushed his seat back and leaned forward, his elbows on the bar. "Perhaps we ought finish up our little soiree, hmm? I do believe you'd decided on a boon in repayment for this gift, haven't you @**&@%$#%?"
"Ah, right. Yes," the mage fumbled for a moment before firming his resolve. Oh, the devil could practically taste the Steel in the man's soul, clamping down on so many foolish impulses. The man had been a dreamer, once. Lucifer could see it, rather easily given that he'd been one as well. Once. "I'd like to ask that you... embed the spells and abilities that I have mastered, or will master, into my soul. To ensure that nothing, man or god or other, can take what I've worked for away from me."
"...That's all?" Lucifer asked, his tone almost mocking. "No riches, no new heights to your power, no secret to eternal life?"
"...That's all," the wizard agreed. "I'm jealous, not envious."
"Hah!" the devil barked as he stood up. "That you're asking for so little would be an insult to anyone else, you know? But then..."
Lucifer moved, fast as light, and used his right hand to hold @**&@%$#% in place while his left was buried into his sternum, bloodlessly diving through flesh.
It did not stop the wizard from releasing a muffled scream, cut short by a very real lack of air in his lungs. The devil leaned down until his mouth was right next to the wizard's ear, ignoring the sound of Kar'Yashlan drawing a weapon.
It wouldn't do her any good.
Carefully, almost lovingly, Lucifer whispered into @**&@%$#%'s ear as he fulfilled the man's request.
"None of the others you might ask have ever fallen from Grace."
So, what is the implication here?
That Lucy has lost everything, and then excruciatingly carve them all, one by one, back into his soul post-fall?
My attainment in the Dao of DC is shallow.
Please enlighten me.
Kary and Tiamat are sisters? From what setting is she from, again?
That Lucifer is one of the few entities that are keenly aware of what it means to have everything stripped from him by an even higher power and he's painstakingly worked to attain even greater strength and independence.
DC Lucifer is part of a pair of entities created by the Source for the sake of forging an entity on par with itself. Something equal and unpredictable.
An act at which the Source failed at as neither Lucifer or Michael were able to attain true freedom from DC's narrative.
Still, Lucifer actually made an attempt to rise up and break free. Something Michael, the Demiurge, failed to do.
It's a good thing that nobody has yet asked Alchemist his opinion on religion in DC. The answer would be largely confusing right up until it became incredibly uncomfortable.
In a fashion. An aspect of Tiamat was forged by Chaos in Final Fantasy 1 to act as the Fiend of Wind. Kary was the Fiend of Fire.
They can claim a bond, though how weak or strong would really be up to them to decide.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
Louis Lane Interview perhaps?
maybe Clark?
huh, was it mentioned that she's from ff1? Lol so that's why I was so confused, when I searched Marilith, the dnd monster came up and I just assumed that she's just a named version or something from that verse.
Alchemist: I need to be careful with my soul, apparently I've stuffed it so full it's on the verge of collapse.
Also Alchemist: Yo, Lucifer, can you go ahead and cram more stuff in there?
Also Alchemist: Yo, Lucifer, can you go ahead and cram more stuff in there?
Jaesten
The Eye in the Abyss
- Location
- Canada
Slightly paranoid response to Penny having her System shut down is all really.
- Location
- England
Someone who actually knows those two words mean different things!
I admit, I have to pause and think a moment myself some times.
- Location
- 47° 09′ S, 126° 43′ O
I think jealous mean he keep his own stuff carefely and despise when other people mess whit thing that belong to him and envious mean he always want more and more .
Yzarc
The Spark of Madness
- Location
- United States
For anyone not interested in jump chains and wouldn't be following the story, here is a wonderful interview between the SI and Lois Lane. I linked the start so you can get some context, but if you want just the religious part jump to 'religious afterlife'
Edit: Adding a warning that the chapter has a NSFW sex scene. Apparently SV allows sex if it follows some rules. I read the story on QQ so just assumed the SV version had it cut out.
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This might actually improve his stability. If Lucifer ingrained all of Alchemist's work into his soul, it means it's no longer stacked on top as part of an increasingly bloated system. And Alchemist did specify the procedure for anything he will master as well, so future changes should be self-settling.
Viewed as "the Gamer system is an external soul-addition", it was previously crushing him under its weight and now it - or at least its skills and effects -would be settled onto the same bedrock his actual soul is. Viewed as "the Gamer system is inside his soul and was stretching and bloating it beyond capacity", the spells and effects should now be slotting neatly into place as if they always belonged; in this case even if each new addition still adds "bloat" it should let his soul grow around it instead of sitting like a tumor.
Of course this could also be wrong and end up exasperating the issues. Depends on how careful and exact Lucy was. At a minimum, it means he can't lose any of the bloat now even if he wanted to.
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- Location
- United States
I give good odds on him being careful.
DC Lucifer is semi retired so doesn't have the constant urge to be petty and cruel to everyone he meets. And Alchemist did a decently serious favor for him out of goodwill for Lucy's child, so screwing him over could be seen as a slight against their child.
Not to need to administrate a herd of demons every day has really improved his mood.
Clever wording.
Alchemist asked Lucifer for spells and abilities he has MASTERED to be embedded into his soul.
'Mastery' implies Alchemist investing time, effort, and emotional commitment to learn and retain a particular spell or ability. If cut off from the Gamer System, Alchemist will only lose skills and powers he doesn't use that often or doesn't consider worth level-grinding.
Yes, he'd lose around HALF of his arsenal (not enough time to master everything), but Alchemist would retain his strongest (most frequently-used) spells and abilities.
Kolarthecool
Hiding from the light of day.
- Location
- Calgary, Canada.
Omake of this pretty, pretty please?