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Deep In The Underworld305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZYUJOgEf0
“Hmm-hmm mmmmm-mmmm. So how far is this ruin? The air is becoming more poisonous the further we go.” Konkitsu askedThe Scientist.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKjrkeslxXp
“Demons get stronger out here too, we can’t-”305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSaQdXkMlox
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“You breathe??” Rose asked.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgosIeSgGvc
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“Wha- Of course I breathe! You think I’m like the other models? I’m special! All my systems work to all senses one way or another. Sight, taste, smell, and all!” Konkitsu felt a bit insulted but understood he was still a new thing to people.
“Is that so? Very very curious… Such a small body it's a wonder you work at all..tight and efficient work seems to be a staple of you Ms. Scientist.” Rose and Tachibana took great interest in Konkitsu’s body —examining him while he tried to shoo them off.
The expedition lasted for quite awhile and soon The Scientist began to cough and Rose cleared her throat.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRYCTe0Jetq
“Seems you two may be reaching your levels.” Tachibana pointed out looking at the ladies, due to the potency of the female soul Miasma affects women much faster than men.
“It’s nothing. I merely didn’t expect us to go this deep into their territory.” The underworld wasn’t much different than the world man has known. The differences are slight but understood well. The underworld lands are much darker, a deep shade of Miasma purple causing the sun to barely break through and the very air to become poisonous. 305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBvX6veSbMa
FWOOSH!!!305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaSeY9WonSD
“Stand still for a moment.” With a step forward Tachibana suddenly appeared in front of everyone raising his arm towards them.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ23Tu6Snkqu
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“Whoa! Geez your skills are as vast as they say..” Konkitsu jumped in shock — standing still at Tachibana’s request. Tachibana’s hand began to glow with a bright green aura.
“Now take as big of a breath as you can then exhale slowly.” On Tachibana’s order The Scientist took a deep and loud breath. Then she would exhale slowly and instantly cough intensely.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76LyDvAemf
“Huh.” The Scientist rubbed her throat — Tachibana walked over to Rose, did the same thing and then finally to Konkitsu.
“There we go, now let's keep going.” Tachibana began walking with a smile.
“What did ya do? I only feel a sore throat.” Rose asked, rubbing her neck before taking a breath and smelling clear air following behind Tachibana.
“Nothing too crazy. I just attuned your lungs so you can absorb more Miasma without collapsing, we’re closer to a Miasma pool going the way we are so it's best we play this smart because well it can kill us instantly if I didn’t use this little remedy.” Tachibana smiled and waved.
“What exactly are you Tachibana? You’re extremely strong to be able to cast something so immense with such little effort. We need not worry about any stray spells, do we?” Rose was skeptical. It was the way of things between anyone within and those without.
“Don’t worry. I’m above all that bickering you all do inside the village. It doesn’t pertain to me in any way, I live there I don’t congregate with the lesser minded. I’m just helping my wife live as comfortably as possible. But to ease your mind my abilities are mixed with some trace bits of attunement, aura, and a slight bit of magic.” Raising his hand Tachibana would change the stabilities of his powers. Attunement looked like a construct, a slightly large manifestation around his hand. Then it vanished. Next he opened his hand and a small storm appeared, lightning striking and crackling through black clouds showing its destructive nature.
“These are all so similar yet vastly different, magic is supernatural in it’s might which is where we get fear of “stray spells” and mishaps from.” However Attunement doesn’t allow for this, it’s a manifestation of one's self, I have been one above others all my life and have had few compared to me. Using bits of my soul I’m able to negate the issue of the magical strays.” Suddenly one of the lighting strikes flew past Rose and Konkitsu striking a tree which was set ablaze. In that moment a pure white glow outlined the tree keeping the flames held in to the one tree and not allowing it to spread.
“Aura helps to hold all potential destruction in place. Think of it like the casing around a grenade. So long as I use all three I can keep them together in perfect harmony. Using my Attunement and aura to keep control on the small aspects of magic I hold together. It was never really my strong suit, the one piece of power that eludes me. Though I’m better than everyone else using it. Got it?” Tachibana crushes the tree with a construct and then it vanishes.
“Using such a trio of energy in one, you’re something aren’t you.” Konkitsu nodded to Tachibana.
“Move you idiots!” The Scientist called to them having been walking the entire time they stood there chatting — they bunched back up and continued walking deeper into the underworld.
Their travels finally revealed to them their location amidst the cold and dark — a massive structure of metal and glowing stone. The Scientist smiled as she clapped her hands walking towards it and everyone followed behind her.
“Is the air cleaner?” It only took moments before everyone realized something they’d never thought they’d feel — clean air in the underworld.
“That it is.” Tachibana took a deep breath and realized the air was pure so pure in fact he could relax his muscles. Fiends have been trained to retain immense muscle control to exhaust as little energy as possible so they can limit the amount of air needed thus minimizing the amount of Miasma they inhale. As they closed in they noticed the purple hue of the underworld fade away and soon they basked in sunlight. It was at this point Rose began to jot down notes on her notepad examining the tower.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJGbxe8CCS
“Scientist? Ahem.”
“Huh?” The Scientist was enamored by what she was looking at and she wasn’t listening. 305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1JDVNDaAM
“It’s… I… Look I don’t know what it's exactly called so I just call it The Ruins. I don’t know why but for some reason it has restorative properties. It cleanses Miasma giving us this little pocket of sanctuary but I’ve learnt something else. Come on.” The Scientist leads the group ahead, using Sōzō's hand she casted its power on her feet and jumps across a gap ahead. Turning around she looked and saw Rose elegantly leap across with white feathers around her feet.
“Such a graceful and beautiful woman she i- G-Gah! Hey what’re you doing?!” Tachibana grabbed Konkitsu by the back of his little coat and hopped up floating across landing on the other side with the ladies.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡncOUJqPGxe
“Oi! I have a Sōzō's too! Don’t grab me next time, okay man?!”
“Sorry sorry.” Tachibana bowed.
“Come on.” The Scientist led the way walking through the entrance and she showed Sōzō’s hand — which caused the stone and door to resonate with one another.
“Hm?” Tachibana looked around and he saw the room was dark all around.
THREEP! BOOP! TOK!
“Huh? Whoa!” Konkistu jumped — from the dark little Peeps stood up with beeps — running around the room forming a circle around the group.
The Peeps eyes began beaming out light which showed a holographic story play out. In the hologram they saw what appeared to be a man and a woman tearing apart hordes of demons and then following that the hologram crackled and changed to what looked to be a large monstrosity standing in front of some rift and then it cut.
“Explanation Scientist?” Rose asked, looking towards her.
“I’ve found some tablets and they’ve given some cryptic messages. One of those being as it says “He will rise again. The Destroyer given form.” Doesn’t sound too good does it?”
“Not one bit.” Konkitsu sighed.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRj1H4h1BXi
“So. Anything else?”
“Yeah. So from what it seems to be these stones I use for the hand are all powered by the creator and thus it seems to be the key to our victory. Now before it shorted out I was able to find some more stuff. A tablet also had some more stuff the real worrisome one… It said “Valentina’s Depths must be left undisturbed.” Simple right?” The Scientist stopped for a moment as she saw Tachibana interacting with the Peeps.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ajdHPL2uK
“Thing is they also say the key to the depths lies within the gates. Which I don’t know a damn thing about, I’d say spirit ones but research here suggests those gates aren’t the same ones the prior tablets tell.”
“Considering this energy is so pure I understand why the Miasma was taken out in this area. This is something worthwhile indeed.” Tachibana took a deep breath and let the energy flow through his body.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXmaR4GJFT
“Do these things have any memory chips?”
“Easy there Tachibana. They’re still alive, to get those chips we’d essentially have to kill them and rip it out.” Konkitsu says
“Yeah I know. They’ve been alive for years and will be for more to come. Look at this place, we don’t know anything about it and not as much as we should. Why not start catching up?” Tachibana began to slowly squeeze a construct around the head of a Peep.
“Why not just slow down. I’ve taken one of these bodies apart before. They don’t have any chips. The memory is stored in terminals, tablets, and holograms only these Peeps here can show. No point breaking em apart.” The Scientist pointed to Konkitsu and Tachibana stopped, gently patting the Peep on the head.
“What now Scientist? What have we got?” Rose asked, returning from her small examination.
“I needed you all for a special purpose.” She took a deep breath and walked to a wall pushing against it. She grunted and then knocked on it. The group closed in and felt that it was hollow.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCO6rTo39q
“To break this down. It repels all abilities it seems and the big brutes of the village never help me. Think any of you can get it open?”
Tachibana placed his fingers against the wall and shot magic at it and all the energy erupted out towards them causing everyone to scatter. Tachibana rubbed his chin and then snapped his fingers. 305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahiufQmuzp
“Hmmmm. How about we play smarter instead of striking harder?” Walking over to one of the Peeps Tachibana waved his hand in front of it — no reaction — until his hand emitted the energy within its body, the energy of Sōzō. It would begin chirping and beeping and soon it began to jog towards the wall. The rest followed it and raised their arms in unison, shooting a blue beam at a specific spot which caused the door to glow and then vanish. Inside were a bunch of scrolls. The Scientist grabbed a few of them and began quickly reading to herself checking out every detail before stopping and speaking out.
“Valentina must fall…” She said in shock.
FWOOSH!!!
“Scientist!!!” Konkitsu launched his arm out the energy of Sōzō manifested an arm that grabbed her and pulled her away. A burst of purplish black flames launched past her and destroyed all the scrolls causing everyone to cough from the smoke.
“After them!!” She shouted.305Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6MP5NoKlXP
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