Tales From The Kronos

The group easily managed to navigate inside the castle thanks to the leader's knowledge. They managed to dodge every enemy encounter and reached what seemed to be the top of the castle. Sepide's eyes wandered toward one of the rooms only to see Cinnamon sitting on a throne inside the room.

"Isn't it the cat we're searching for?"

Her friends turned around to look at where she was staring. Cinnamon was indeed standing there, watching them with an empty stare from inside the room. Sepide and Silva were about to enter the room but Neige stopped them before they could.

"Polyetta, there's a room with a throne and Cinnamon inside, is it safe?"

*Hum... It should be. It's the boss's room but I defeated it, so it shouldn't respawn.*

"Respawn? What does that mean?"

"It means that we're not going to fight a big bad dragon." Neige said, answering Silva's question.

When the three friends entered the room, the door behind them closed suddenly. The unconscious body of Emely was hanging from the ceiling, attached with a rope. Cinnamon walked into the center of the room and let out a bored yawn while stretching.

"I really don't understand how this dumb electrician ended up in that situation, but at least it was easy."

Silva approached Cinnamon to take it in her arm, to which the cat answered by hissing at her. As if it was a signal, a giant cubic robot came out of the ceiling. Cinnamon hid behind it while the team was preparing to fight.

"What's that? I thought there was nothing in the room!"

*The boss still appeared? That's strange. Anyway, with the three of you, you should be able to win!*

"Of course, I'm not going to lose against that."

Neige took his firearm and tried to shoot, but nothing came out when he pressed the trigger.

*Wait Neige, it's not your turn. Silva is the fastest one in the team!*

"It's one of those boring games..."

*It's not boring! You just can't enjoy the story fully because you have too short of an attention span!*

Silva tried to understand what was happening and stared at her firearm for a moment with hesitation.

"So I should attack?"

*Yes, then it's Sepide's turn, then Neige's, and finally the boss'.s*

"Such a stupid rule..." Neige mumbled to himself.

Silva took her gun and shot at the robot. It barely moved, almost like the attack didn't affect it.

*It's too bad, it's resistant to physical attack. Try using magic attacks instead.*

"Magic? And how are we supposed to do that?"

*It's not that hard Neige, you just have to press start and...*

The leader stopped in her sentence, suddenly realizing something.

*You can't cast spells. I don't think you'll manage to win actually.*

Sepide tried to aim at the robot's eyes, leaving no impact at all. Seeing that, Neige decided to attack with his dagger instead, only to come at the same result.

*You're going to lose against the first boss of the game...*

"Because you have a better idea?"

Silva searched in her pockets for anything she could use. While she was distracted, their enemy moved his arm and sprayed a kind of pink powder at them. The group coughed upon inhaling the powder, unsure about what it was.

*Oh no, he charmed you!*

"Is it that easy to charm people in this game?" Neige asked sarcastically.

*No, it's a status effect. You will feel a sudden urge in your lust, affecting your capabilities in combat!*

"Really? I don't feel anything." Neige turned toward his friend, making sure they were alright. Sepide looked a bit red but still managed to act normally.

"I feel a bit weird, it's weird and hot but I can manage, what about you Silva?"

"Dicks..."

"Huh?" Sepide frowned her brows and tilted her head, confused about Silva's words.

"Tentacles..."

*Silva is deeply affected by it, I think you should be careful around her.*

Neige ran toward Silva, hoping he could do something about the situation. When he approached her, Silva kicked him in an instant, leaving him on the ground.

"Futanari..."

*Silva?! Where did you learn those words?! Anyway, I don't think we can count on Neige for this turn, it's all in your hands Sepide.*

"But what can I do?" Sepide looked around the room to try a solution. An idea emerged in her head when she saw Emely slightly swinging from her rope "Can we use our watches to leave?"

*I think so, but it would be safest to return at the beginning just in case.*

Sepide shot Emely's rope, making her fall to the ground. Sepide ran toward her but was sent flying by the robot's arm in one swing, landing right next to Cinnamon. She managed to grab the cat and yelled at Neige.

"Are you alright? Can you stand?"

"Just... five more minutes... She hit a sensitive spot..."

Sepide was a bit surprised to see Neige down so easily and turned toward Silva, hoping to reach her.

"Silva! If you take Neige and Emely we can leave! We don't need to fight this thing."

"Boobs..."

*I think it's useless, Silva is too far gone. It takes three turns to get rid of the effect of charm.*

Silva clumsily took Neige's hand and slid him all the way to Emely, trying her best to just walk.

"Ahe...gao..."

Once she was close enough, Silva grabbed Emely. She tried her best to use her watch, her hands missed the buttons more than once but she finally managed to use it. When Sepide saw that Silva managed to leave, she used her own watch to return to the ship safely, leaving this weird world once and for all.

The three friends brought Emely and Cinnamon back under the cheers of the rest of the crew. Silva still felt a bit dizzy, looking around the ship confused.

"What happened? I think I forgot..."

"It's better that way." The leader said with an embarrassed voice.

Gwyn approached Emely to check her pulse and nodded her head to herself.

"She'll be alright, she's just exhausted."

"That's a relief. We should all sleep for now, I think it was a long day for everyone."

The group agreed with the leader's words and all finally went to their room. Neige was about to go too, but Polyetta grabbed his hand before he could go anywhere.

"Neige, can we go in my room for a moment, I think there are some things you need to know."

The two friends went into the woman's room, where Polyetta summarized everything to Neige. The tournament, Sepide's origin, and everything else that happened. Neige told her about the dream he had, but for a reason even he didn't understand, he felt like keeping his conversation with the Goddess secret.

"To be honest, I knew something like Sepide would happen. You're pretty bad at keeping promises."

"Come on, I'm not that bad." Polyetta stared at the dagger Neige kept on his belt. She remembered seeing it when he faced the anomaly but never before that. She pointed the weapon and asked with a curious tone "It's pretty, where did you get it?"

"I think it's a gift from the Goddess."

Polyetta didn't take him seriously, she chuckled and took the dagger in her hand before quickly dropping it in pain.

"It burns!"

"It does?" Neige asked while holding the dagger "Ada seemed to react badly to it too."

"Whatever it is, it's probably for the best that you have something effective against the anomaly."

Neige took back his blade and cleaned it under the worried gaze of his friend. After a few minutes in silence, the woman took a deep inspiration and clenched her fist, visibly about to talk about something important.

"Do you think I'm a good leader?"

"Of course." Neige answered almost immediately "We would never manage so well if you weren't here. We're dealing with the worst of the universe and we're still alive!"

Polyetta took her friend in her arms, holding him close to her fast-beating heart.

"Can you stay here for the night? I don't want to be alone."

Neige gave back her embrace, gently whispering in her ear.

"I'm here now, I won't ever leave you."