NOVEL WEB Special Side Chapter 3: Breaking Common Sense Is My Nature
Special Side Chapter 3: Breaking Common Sense Is My Nature
One thing needed to be said about the home of the Dark Elven Queen of Sinoharl, it seemed impenetrable at a glance and that seemed to be the case with all of their simulations. Doing things in the normal way was nigh impossible, it didn’t help that things were going to be tougher from this point on. The group had to enter through the unusual way of making a map of the massive sewage system that the city had, and using that as a way to enter the royal palace without being noticed by the numerous surveillance golems stationed in the sewage system.
“I never thought security would be that intense that even breaking through headfirst would spell certain death for us.”
“She’s well prepared………..to an absurd degree”
W says with a tired voice, normally this would be a cake walk since people from this side always had a hole somewhere. Be it a person who had a grudge or a gap in their defenses that they can take advantage of, they always had a flaw somewhere but in this case all of them had to use their resources to punch an opening to enter the royal palace. M opens the entrance into the royal palace, he jumps through with a smile under his mask.
“Phew we’re in, though to be honest I never expected a steam room inside of a world like this”
“Me neither. This nation is miles better than the Empire. Wanna become traitors?”
“And get my head served up to the Emperor by your dirty hand? Fuck no! Hahahahaha!”
“I am just kidding hahahahahaha!
It was incredible how quietly M and Z laughed despite how seemingly loud it was. The girls and W got in last and began to make their assessment of where to go next. They took out the map they drew of the royal palace using the tools granted to them by the angels of the gods they served. These tools were specifically spirits who roamed into the palace and gave a layout of how things went.
“We want to head here. But before that we need to take care of the thing which is here.”
“So the spirits couldn’t tell what it was?”
“Yes.”
W had pointed out their objective, the question V had was the thing that plagued him the most. They knew mostly where everything was. Somethings kept within this palace were of significant importance to their leaders. A race simply known as the Neo Elves working diligently to become stronger, an entire factory of automatons being assembled for war, advanced swords that could transform into guns at will. These were but a tip of the iceberg of the things that were being done here. The Empire was done for if the Elven Federation went to war with them. It was fair enough to say that they didn’t have a leg in the arms race that the elves and their allies had begun on their own.
“Whatever it is, we have no choice but to find out don’t we?”
“And what if we do assassinate the dark elven queen and it is just a decoy”
“Then our intel will be enough for preparation though it will not be enough”
“For T to speak up at a time like this means shit really hit the fan didn’t it?”
“Perhaps”
Z commented as T becomes silent once more, V had been observing throughout this time whilst having inner battles of self doubt and hesitation at the fact they might lose their lives here. The situation was a perfect 10% survival rate scenario, yet they had a duty to complete and were willing to even escape with just information if that was the one thing that they could do. The palace’s silence was foreboding and lethal, even the footsteps of the guards here were muffled. One could hear a pin drop in the literal sense now, as not even the robust noise from the outside penetrated the walls of the royal palace. In groups of two-two-one consisted of V and W, T, and Z they silently ran across the hallways avoiding detection from the elven knights who were equipped with what appeared to be an automatic crossbow that could reload itself as well as those with actual rifles.
One tiny mistake could spell their deaths, they had to make an escape and prepared that it would be through one of the many exits of the royal palace. Before them was the room that housed the thing that they were so worried about. At first they had entered rather smoothly, the room seemed to be reception of some sort. But it was too large for that, an ominous and tense air perpetuated through out. All of them could feel that someone or something was watching them. A few more steps and they knew what it was.
“It is rather bold of assassins to come when the celebrations for the birth of Princess Kuroyuki are underway.”
A deep and heavy voice echoed out in the room, it sounded disappointed that it was being interrupted by their intrusion. They all collectively froze even the spirits that the gods had given them were unable to do much except watch on standby, not even the action of knowing what was talking to them was permitted in this room. One thing was certain the thing that was speaking to them was no ordinary being, it was a rank higher than the angels granted to them despite not being a demon. The sheer amount of pressure they collectively felt could be described as choking, it spoke once more with a sense of pride inside.
“It has been 23 days since I was given the gift of life by The Goddess of Chaos, my Creator. You’re either truly skilled individuals who are confident in your ability or weaklings who have stepped into the Palace of my Master! My time to shine has come. I shall prepare the vessel I shall use to face you.”
From nothing at all a vaguely humanoid body is created. It resembles a bull with great twisting horns, his muscles bulging and carrying a large hammer which as tall as him. His eyes are in a shadowy black that makes even T who normally didn’t show emotion on her face to suddenly give the expression of fear and worry.
“I, MINOS WILL FEAST ON THE SOULS OF THE FOOLS WHO CAME TO ASSASSINATE MY CREATOR!!”
His abyss filled eyes filled up in a red flare as he charges towards them swinging his hammer at them, W and Z summon copies to take their place because of how late they were in reacting as such they see those become nothing more than flying organs. Minos twists his body and slams the ground which splits up into a web of cracks which immediately fill up with spikes that causes all of them to leap up to the ceiling but that is not enough to keep him from attacking. He hits the ground once more sending those spikes towards them with the speed of bullets. These rocket sized bullets are dodged effortlessly as V fires ice arrows that cover Minos’ body which he shrugs off as a show of power.
“IT IS USELESS!”
T appears from his shadow to backstab him but her sword meets a loud clang that is accompanied by a fist emerging from within. She is thrown back from the sheer force of the punch and bounces like a ball on the ground several times before stabilizing her momentum and redirecting it by throwing bombs at his body. Minos charges head first towards them with a proud laughter in his voice, Z and W speed right past the bombs to swing their swords down on his body leaving glowing marks with an instant evasion of his fists and hammer. Multiple arms stretch out from that stone body of his in order to pulverize them but they nimbly avoid such as he steps on the explosives that detonate immediately. The markings on his body deepen and split his body up whilst this is occurring.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA SUCH FEEBLE STRENGTH!”
Minos emerges out of the explosion unscathed grabbing W with a quick swipe that doesn’t give him time to even react. Slapping him on the wall where he instantly loses consciousness, one stomp creates a wave of spikes to be created within moments. M maneuvers his way towards Minos who chuckles as he brings down his fist on him. Dodging this and grabbing W crushing smelling salts in his hand which stirs him back into action, his body evades the sword directed to his head.
“Thanks!”
W says whilst coughing heavily retreating backwards to where V and T were. Z manages to throw bombs that surround Minos creating a barrier.
“This won’t last long so let’s make a break for it”
Z had worn a serious face this whole time, normally he was cheery and happy go lucky but not with these kinds of enemies. His eyes were primarily focused on Minos who simply folds his hands and doesn’t attack. This increasing sense of unease from that gaze that Minos had sent shivers up his spine in a way that never happened before, a premonition of death was awaiting them as the Minotaur guardian looked ahead with a sense of pride. They ran towards the throne room knowing fully well that Minos had caused too much noise and now the entire palace was alerted. Curiosity had gotten the better of them and now they had made their job even harder. The door leading to their target was a far distance, even with speed boosting skills they were still halfway in this rather long hallway.
“Wait”
V says stopping her movement prompting the others to do the same.
“What is it?”
“We don’t have time”
“We’re gonna get murdered at this rate!”
The boys shouted in anger and frustration as they indeed did not have time on their side at the moment.
“We are trapped in a spatial anomaly at the moment, that is why no matter how much we run we continue being in the same place”
“““………….”””
She was right and normally they wouldn’t use the powers of the angels but they had to in order to get this over and done with.
“Spiritual Ascent!”
They all pointed their hands to the sky allowing the angels of their gods to descend upon them and using the power of teleportation to enter the throne room. W, M, Z, V, and T all stood before the dark elven queen, immediately they knew that she was the same one from the video feed that was in the tournament. One could recognize she was not normal by just gazing on her, she had a peculiar aura about her.
“M appraise her”
“Right”
She crosses her legs in amusement to these assassins who teleported into her throne room, watching their every move.
“?!”
“What is it?”
W was confused by M sweating and breathing heavily, it was that sudden realization that made him feel true terror in the first time in this world. He didn’t actually tell them what he saw instead he kept on gasping for air, then W did it himself and fell into a sea of horror.
『Goddess Sophia Has Prohibited You From Viewing This Status. 2 Tries Left Before The Skill, Appraisal Is Removed From Your Skills』
A wave of despair had fully introduced itself to him and M, they could not gauge whatever this thing was and she had gained the favor of a goddess who stood at the very top of the pantheon of the world. Her voice could be heard within the skill Appraisal, this they were taught by the noble families that took them in.
“So these are the assassins they sent to kill me? Well they are certainly overconfident in their abilities. Would you like to surrender, I am pretty sure that you would like to live right?”
“N-“
V was about to refuse but T knocked her out before she could. It was for her own good, the other three stared at the betrayal of their comrade whom they knew from their high school. T took off her mask and spoke with a clear voice.
“Yes. My friend included, we do not wish to die. We will provide you all of the information that you need for the Empire that we have been given to our disposal I am sure that is enough as a betting piece for our lives.”
“Yes it is! I like you already! Totsu-chan I knew you were a reasonable girl!”
“YOU FUCKING BITCH!!”
W threw a fist at T who was instantly taken by the shadows that lurked beneath her along with V who was still unconscious. The queen redirected her attention to them with a rather simple technique: by clapping her hands.
“Listen up, either you give up now and you live or you fight me to the death. There is no escape option for you because this entire city is under my control filled with eyes and ears from top to bottom.”
The sense of danger that this was planned as they had stepped into the city was very evident and now it was strangling their necks. They could not back down now, W, M and Z had to fight for humanity right here and now as the heroes of humanity.
“Tell me your names, your real ones not the ones you have been reduced to. At least I will revive you into something new so you gain a new life”
“Wataru Sakihara”
“Masashi Kashiwagi”
“Zenji Yamamori”
“You Transfer Kids have it tough. I will introduce myself as well.”
The queen stood from her throne with a smile on her face, she grabbed something from her inventory and slapped it on her wrist tightening it as she walked down the stairs.
“My name is Shinohara Yukiyo, I am the soon to be Goddess of Chaos. Nice to meet you heroes who are to kill the Grand Demon King.”
They had expected a transformation into a monstrosity of unfathomable power but instead what they got was…..
“This is a prototype Devil Gear, I made this because I think it would be awesome and my inner chuunibyo is leaking. Transform (Henshin)”
Yukiyo struck a pose with the bracelet glowing an ominous red as the entire throne room shook with power, particles of the floor floated in the air as they watched her body get covered by red armor with a black cape. An oni’s wrathful skeletal face is created as the helmet of her suit. Its empty eye sockets stare at them which causes fear to play with their hearts like a violinist with their instrument. The fury of the wind kept on raging as they saw what true power looked like for the first time in their lives. This was out of their expectations, the amount of mana radiating from her body was unbelievable and it paralyzed them for a time.
“So how was it? Surprised? To be honest this is not the first power armor I have created but it is definitely the first that needs a code to activate it. I hope you like it…….? Awww you were so scared you peed yourself how adorable”
Zenji couldn’t hold himself in after seeing what was a glimpse of an eldritch monstrosity during that transformation, Wataru immediately used magic to clean him to save face.
“Are you not attacking? If you’re not, then I will. Prepare yourself for Death Has Come”
She speeds past them in a way that they had to barely dodge her fists from hitting their bodies, she was so much faster than they were. Even afterimages were dangerous as they could deal just about the same damage, the only reason they could keep up with her was that they had stacked 20 angels over their bodies after witnessing that power but even then she still had the edge over them to a blinding degree that made the three of them wonder just who was this woman and how did she get so strong and where was she even from?
“Oops almost destroyed this place by mistake.”
She stopped her assault on them after seeing the damage her fists had done.
“What the fuck was that?!”
Masashi finally snapped at her with anger.
“This power armor boosts my physical abilities by 10, so I think its in the billions I didn’t check my status. Are you enjoying my fantasy?”
“FUCK NO!”
Zenji jumped in front of Masashi throwing a single dagger that spawned a thousand more which all fire towards her like a bullet.
“Yukinon Puuuuuuunch”
She punched the first dagger that made its way to her which caused them to ricochet across the room with her and the three assassins dodging it just as fast. Wataru trips once and that is the opportunity for Yukiyo to open a portal of some kind behind him and kick him inside before entering herself with the others following right after. What they find themselves is inside of a drop that is from the sky to an unknown volcanic location. Yukiyo is seen grabbing Wataru’s legs and throwing him even further to the volcanic surface where she increases her own fall speed to kicks his solar plexus right into the hardened ground which cracks as half of his body is sunken into the lava being devoured. His HP hits a zero which makes the other two infuriated from the very exchange.
“WATARUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!”
“FUCK YOU DARK ELF QUEEN!”
“That was amazing, how was that my assassin heroes? Wasn’t it cool to see a dropkick into the lava like that?!”
“SHUT UP YOU BITCH! I WILL KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!”
Yukiyo changes the mask to be more feminine with a click of the finger, it looks like a woman’s face with a skull motif as the design. With a more agile and sleek black assassin armor to come with it, she seems to vibrate slightly in subtle places.
“STAY BACK ZENJI I WILL HANDLE HER!”
“BUT!”
“SHUT UP!”
Those eyes of hers light up in a purple flame as Yukiyo begins to run around them leaving behind an afterglow and afterimages which appear here and there.
“Form 2: Speed.”
If the last form was fast then this was the word of movement itself, it was a blur even as she sliced Masashi’s arm off. He had no time to react to the pain and jumped backwards continuously with thousands of slashes being found within. It seemed her sword was laughing all this time as she kept on backing him into a corner. The only attacks that he was allowed to do were parries to her sword’s that were getting closer and closer to him. Cuts were appearing all over his body and he couldn’t do anything about it all whilst desperately trying to heal himself from his arm having been cut off. He sees an opportunity within a split second of delay and decides to use it as his gateway to killing her.
“SPEAR’S EDGE!”
He throws a spear at where she could be appearing but she dodges that, catching that and throwing it back at him which stabs him in the chest breaking it before it splinters apart in his body and grabbing his face slamming him on the ground. Rapid stabbing happens from all over his body that looks like tons of bullets shooting Masashi, by the time she is finished he’s been made into minced meat in an assassin’s uniform.
“You’re the last one alive. How does this make you feel?”
“How does this make sense?! Why do you have modern technology! Why do you have power armor straight out of a tokusatsu show! Why are you this powerful and no one fucking knows about you?!”
“My common sense is lacking in this world and I accepted that fact. My existence is an anomaly and I am proud of it.”
“SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH! WHY DID THEY HAVE TO DIE!”
“This is the choice you made and you’re angry that you are not fighting in some kind of fantasy way aren’t you? Do you want me to do it in the more conventional way then?”
His silence was enough of an answer to her she smiled beneath her mask and chuckled a little, slapping her wrist to deactivate the power armor. She stares at him with a smile on her face, Zenji currently covered in a light blue aura as he summons the spirits of his friends and the angels combining them together to power himself even further. He is forcing his stats to reach the millions.
“So this is the power of a hero huh? Scary, so willing to die for his nation like that. Brainwashing is very scary, I am glad Totsu-chan didn’t succumb to this.”
“I will kill you and protect the world. You must be eradicated for the sake of the gods and the empire of humanity. For our future and glory.”
“Is that you or the angels putting words in your mouth Zenji-kun. Well whatever. I will show you true display of power.”
Yukiyo transformed into her demigoddess form and stared at him beckoning him to come but he hesitates from the sheer fear he feels from looking at her true form. She zooms towards him as she sees this is the case swinging that lethal sword of hers down on him which he dodges but then a shower of arrows from the sky. One back step was enough for Yukiyo enter his range and punch his face, stomach and drive a knee to his face which sends him rocketing away from her. He bounces off of the hot ground several times before stopping himself from entering a pool of lava but that doesn’t halt the laser that splits a mountain in half as a rapid fire of that is shot at him from the hand of Yukiyo who is running towards Zenji. She disappears for a moment and appears right in front of him punching his solar plexus sending a wave of mana through his body before grabbing his collar and throwing him towards another mountain. Zenji is firing fireballs at her in quick succession but she either dodges them or slaps them back at him.
“Is that all a hero can do? I am not even using my full power you know?”
“SHUT UP!”
“Then stop holding back you little bitch”
Her sudden aggression was enough to show him that he needed to be serious otherwise he would die a pointless death. Zenji began to send waves of fire at Yukiyo snapped her fingers at them into the void as she approached him with several floating eyes firing dark energy at him with his response evading that before setting up a mile long wall between them with canons. Just as the dark energy hits the walls and disintegrates them Zenji is seen already in the air having jumped from them swinging down his sword on Yukiyo who smirks as she claps her hands together creating a shockwave of wind that pushes him back. She jumps up into the air to hit him with an arrow filled with dark matter energy but he teleports in front of her to stab her with his sword. Almost immediately he feels the pain of being stabbed and backs quickly backs away from her, this monster had reflected her pain back to him and uses his opportunity to point at him.
“Black Hole Phantasma”
Did he hear right? Black Hole Phantasma? As sure as sunset he spouts these thoughts a black hole appears in the between them with Yukiyo grinning in evil glee. Panicking as he never had to deal with a literal black hole before Zenji is unable to escape as it swallows him whole. The damage he takes whilst inside is astronomical as it completely devours his life before being spat out right into the arms of Yukiyo who throws him into the air once more. Zenji is thrown so high that he breaks through the clouds, through the atmosphere, he is able to see the planet at this point from a high point of view Yukiyo is seen with her arms open like an angel ready to deliver him into salvation but she smirks with eyes filled in pure darkness as she points to the black void of space increasing gravity on his body dropping him back to the planet. She readies herself as she falls down at great speeds and finally reaches his body with the final result being a kick to his spine. Like a meteor made out of god improved flesh his entire body is burning as they rapidly descend back to the volcanic area. The life force of the angels he had been granted he had up until that point had run out and now he was becoming a normal human being with average stats. Feeling the full brunt of becoming a human meteor falling to the world below, he finally crashes into the side of the mountain with the amount of energy being released in Yukiyo’s kick exploding into it. Another mountain was reduced to utter rumble Yukiyo looks back after grabbing their rather horrid looking souls in her hands with a bit of joy in her eyes.
“Okay I kinda feel sorry for you guys, good thing that I chose a pretty isolated island otherwise that would cause a ruckus. The prototype is a fucking OP item, I am not letting anyone get a hold of this shit yet.”
She comments as she opens a tear to go back home, and just like that the existence of the assassin heroes had completely vanished. Yukiyo dances to a jingle she used to remember back in the day and leaves the area in an eruption with the locals of the other islands panicking the gods are angry with them but that wasn’t her problem, after all it wasn’t her fate.
☆
Betwixt the layers of the universes are points where the lines are blurred, a space that none except the great gods of space and time as well as Outer & Elder gods have seen. A whistling is heard inside of this space, a lone figure is seen walking towards a cafe table with a pair of chairs. The figure is bopping their head to an unknown tune with a smile on their face.
“So you have come, Yukio”
“Sofiaaaaaaaaaa hiiiiiiii!”
Sophia the OverGoddess of Wisdom and Information sat on one of the chairs, she drank her tea in silence. Sophia was in essence a beauty through and through, she had fair almost pale white skin, long rainbow shimmering hair which flowed all the way to her waist, wearing a long one piece dress that obscured her feet. The one approaching her, Lucky Discord, could be described to be very similar in appearance to Yukiyo with the exception of their grey brown colored skin, golden eyes, the small oni like horns growing from their forehead and the mechanical halo drifting behind their head. At first one would assume it was her but then they saw just how different the pair were.
“Why are you masquerading as Yukiyo right now?”
“Isn’t it fun to do so? To look like the other me who was born in a couple universes away?”
Sophia stared at Lucky Discord with a sense of loss that she knew all too familiar after witnessing a certain someone level up Appraisal to the point of awakening her in one of the universes that she had sent her fragments in. Normally Lucky Discord was a male version of Yukiyo who was extremely feminine in appearance but for some reason they decided that this was the best form they should take.
“So how is she? The other me”
“She recently became a demigod by swallowing the Seed of Yggdrasil after dying once. Soon to be a god with the amount of human lives that will be lost in the ensuing war as well as worship that she receives from the Dark Matter.”
“Oh those guys I failed to recruit them, how are they faring?”
“They are all united under her and have been given their very own universe”
“What is it like?”
“Spiraling out of control under the grand banner of chaos.”
“Oooooooh that sounds great!”
Lucky Discord exchanged this back and forth with Sophia who viewed the Dark Matter Universe, observing the gods who dwelt there becoming ever stronger unconsciously for their creator Yukiyo. They danced on the spot from the very thought of exploring such a dangerous place.
“And you. What are you doing in that world?”
Her gaze was serious, Lucky Discord had been caught red handed and merely shrugged it off.
“I want the gods of that world to be utterly surprised by the sheer madness that is Yukiyo. I am suppressing as much information as I can so they do not know what it is going on the surface. Up to the moment the gates to their little paradise is forcibly opened by her hands. Look at her.”
Lucky Discord displays an image of her hovering above the planet preparing to do an attack on a being far lower than her. They smile and stare with excitement.
“She is strong, confident and enigmatic”
“Just like you”
“Just like me, but unlike me she has comrades she grows with. She is worshipped even. I am honestly……”
“Jealous of her”
Sophia finishes the sentence Lucky Discord was unable to end, the realization that Yukiyo had something that they did not was something emotions could not describe.
“I want her to grow, I want her to become more powerful, I want her to be at my level. At that moment we will battle for the most powerful Chaos god title”
“I see you and Yukiyo are very similar in the end. You are both battle minded individuals but you fight for different reasons”
“True.”
“I will not question you any further , leave me be”
“I shall, goodbye Sophia. I am glad you made contact with her”
Sophia watches Lucky Discord leave and sighs, she smiles as she watches Yukiyo cause a volcanic eruption from a kick alone.
“Watching her do all of this is entertaining. Continue being as absurd and free as you are. Unlike Yukio you have the freedom to become anything you want.”
