Warning: This chapter contains the reading equivalent of flashing lights-
"Ain't nobody reading that bullshit! Roll the clip!"
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"Geneva, shoot this bitch." Deadpanned Gynesis.
"Gladly," Was the instant reply from the silver haired gun user, press checking her Glock with one hand before firing at Twiddle Dee.
At the same time, Gyesnis dashed his way over to Twiddle Dumb.
The British girl didn't even flinch at the barrel pointed right for her skull. She just kept sipping her tea until the cup was empty.
At the same time, Geneva pulled the trigger, sending that slug right for the blonde's teeth. One head tilt on evil Geneva's end made the shooter miss. Only taking out the now empty cup and nothing else.
"Aw~ A natural 1, hm?" Questioned the platinum blond, her smugness seeping through her voice like an icy venom injected directly into Geneva's body through her ears!
But instead of falling for the ragebait, the woman who'd just fired simply starts floating her way over to her target. Her missing gait going just fast enough to get her going forward, at a brisk and casual pace.
Over with Gynesis, he was already mid swing when the bullet whizzed past its intended target harmlessly. His hand outstretched for his look-a-like's face,
And like his partner, the male MC's attack was casually dispatched. Albeit in this guy's case there was a bit more effort put in.
Evil Gynesis would lean forward onto the table, looking down at the cloth less piece of furniture with a mild annoyance.
There, he saw what was clearly a brown ring on the otherwise flawless white porcelain
"You stained the table." The male doppelganger hissed at his partner, not even breaking eye contact with the table. "Jenn, we're gonna have to beat these two to death."
"Damn," Was all the now properly named Jenn sighed.
Unserious as hell, she stands to her feet. Taking a step toward her good counterpart with a small smile. Flicking her hair at the same time.
And with that step, she tossed out an attack, one that was invisible to the naked eye. An invisible slice sent through the air by those golden strands that "fwipped" through the wind.
"Please don't break too easily~" She casually taunted, he slice aimed right for the female lead's neck.
For most, that would've been GG's. An easy headshot on the blond's end thanks to whatever she tossed out being invisible.
For Geneva, however? She saw it coming and countered. With an annoyed eye twitch, she ducked the swipe by bending down. right in front of her was a book labeled "Ruth", and that was what she was reaching for. 'Tossing a wind blade at a wind user huh? no matter how thin you make it I'll still feel the affect of the air coming at me, dumbass.'
"Oh neat! I've been looking for this one!" She chirped happily as the deadly blow went right over her head as if nothing had happened.
Much to Jenn's annoyance.
Despite that fact, she didn't flinch too obviously, after all, that was supposed to be a sneak attack. Her eye simply mimicked that twitch Geneva's did just a second ago. Except unlike the good version, the British model didn't come with the free eye blocker. Allowing anyone with a good enough eye to easily catch on.
Including Geneva herself. But she played as if she didn't pick up that little detail. Instead, she aimed her pistol at the blonde's face yet again. Lining up another shot like the first one didn't miss completely.
"Hm? Did you want to read this too?" Asked the mischievous minx, leaning her head a bit and waving the book in question before pocketing it away. "Well too bad~"
For some reason, Jenn simply couldn't let that slide. Whether it was her pride or ego at fault was hard to tell. What wasn't was that cause blinding her on the spot.
"Why you little-"
BANG!!
In one second, Jenn had found herself rushing down Geneva like Gynesis did his evil version. unfortunately for her, Geneva was clearly holding a loaded firearm. And by going in a straight line, she left herself the perfect target for a 9mm between the eyes.
Poor thing didn't even see it coming.
Unlike the first shot, this one was enhanced by a gale of wind. Condensed SP that made that little bullet soar far faster and punch much harder.
Looks like Jenn wasn't the only one sneaking in bullshit mid encounter.
The only difference is that this one landed. Square between the eyes.
"Guh!" Was the last thing Jenn let out before her body became unresponsive. A pathetic whimper of as her eyes closed shut and body went limp. Skidding across the concrete like a discarded soda can that just missed the trashcan.
Holy shit...
With said body stopping mere inches away from Geneva's feet due to the momentum Jenn carried while she was alive.
"Pathetic..." Huffed the female exorcist as she looked down at Jenn with disdain.
Over with Gynesis, he was busying himself with a good old bout of fisticuffs. Throwing hands with his look-alike as if both were locked in a boxing match.
His look-alike seemed to be in the lead too. Landing a two-hit jb combo right in Gynesis's face before speaking.
"Man you suck at this." He said causally, going for a cross to follow up that two piece.
It went wide, a swift backstep from the male MC was the culprit for that miss.
"You sure?" Was all the good half redhead smirked before going for a counter punch. Sending his fist right for the gut.
And due to his evil version overcommitting on their last attack, he managed to land it right in the solar plexus without issue.
THUD!!
Like a sack of potatoes, the evil male was dropped in that solid hit. A bit anticlimactic considering all that shit he was talking. Leaving the victor standing over his opponent with a blank stare, smile completely gone.
"DAAAMNN IIIITT!" Were the first words to escape Gynesis's lips after his win. A wail of utter annoyance and frustration.
"Oh don't get your panties in a twist, Gyn." Geneva piped up from her side of the battlefield, already raiding the corpse of her felled enemy. "We won, and that's what's important/
This statement was made seconds before the woman who said it finds a whole lot of nothing. Aside from the clothes Jenn's back that is. And her reaction was the exact same as Gynesis's. A scream of frustration loud enough to echo through a dimension.
"Not so funny now, huh?" The male exorcist scoffed at his ally's annoyance.
"Oh fuck off you-"
Geneva was about to curse out the chuckling man across the field, but a more pressing matter stopped her dead in her tracks.
"The fog is moving!" Shouted the blind one, her hand raising to point behind her new friend.
Gynesis spun around instantly, sensing the urgency in her voice. Then, he bared witness to the fog itself shifting its shape right before his eyes. Going from a uniform wall of gray depression to a none Euclidean mass.
"Ayo what the fuck?!" Swore the sailor- I mean the exorcist with functioning eyes.
The shifting inconvenience kept changing its properties. Not just its shape, but colors as well. 'This shit looks like someone grabbed the color sliders and started having a stroke on their cursor. ' He internally verbalized what he was seeing.
At the same time, Geneva was going through the auditory equivalent. With her ears getting blasted with what sounded like music of some kind. Or at least a 3 second sample of a song sped up and put on loop. Complete with lyrics as well.
"ぱらぱらぱらぱらぱらぱらぱらぱら, ぱらぱらぱらぱらぱらぱらぱらぱら, ぱらぱらぱらぱらぱ, ぱらぱらぱら, ぱらぱらぱらぱら,, 結んで解いて [Pitter-patter, Pitter-patter, Pitter-patter, Pitter-patter! This is so much fun!]" Were the words piercing their way through the woman's skull.
Words so loud she found herself saying them out loud. Pronouncing each syllable perfectly timed and on-key. Almost as if entranced in some way by them.
While his comrade was busy muttering nonsense to herself, Gynesis turned his attention to his doppelganger. Or rather, where he was. Because that guy was no longer laying on the floor.
'That's never a good sign.' He thought to himself as he turned to where Jenn was supposed to be. Catching the woman's body shift from a clear copy of the female exorcist to something inhuman. Then that inhuman shape dissolved into a black mist that then dissipated into the air itself.
This only added to Gynesis's nerves. Especially since he caught Geneva herself looking like she was spacing out.
"Geneva... Now is NOT the time to tweak..." He grimaced, not liking what was happening one bit.
The woman's response to hearing her ally's words of concern was to continue singing absently. Floating on her back as she looked up into the night sky. Earning another f-bomb from the lad in a mix of annoyance and exasperation.
Yeah, she's not looking too good at the moment...
'Wow, ya think?!' He snapped, grabbing the singing lady by the hand and making a dash to get away from whatever was happening. As he turned away from the color switching fog, he'd spot a little white rabbit.
Although something about it felt a little... off as it sat on the floor eating something. Unluckily, it dashed off before the male exorcist could even take in what he was looking at. His mind was too clouded with the information he already had to really fathom the small fuzzball anyway.
As if he didn't see it at all, he kept on running. Leading the hovering and singing Geneva by hand.
This would get him around 10 steps of distance before the ground beneath his feet sunk in. Or rather, it opened up like a door, swallowing both man and woman alike in its jaws.
Instantly, the two were somewhere new. An enclosed space.
A building. A room. A really big room.
Gynesis landed flat on his back, cracking the hard wood he landed on like a fallen rock. Geneva was just fine as she ended up stopping just short of the ground yet again. The second she landed, she floated off somewhere, leaving Gynesis to his own devices without him even knowing.
'Red....' Thought the only cognizant of the two, sounding groggy and in pain even in his own head. His eyes didn't take long to adjust to new lower light levels. And his body took even less time to recover from the fall.
A second passes and he leaps to his feet. Taking a once over his surroundings. Then he takes a breath, slumping his shoulders as his hand found its way to his face.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me" He muttered to himself as he stood in what was best described as a multi-storey funhouse of mirrors.
Except these mirrors only reflected the walls and ceiling for some reason.
"On the bright side there's no more fog at least..."
The mirror part wasn't what caused that reaction, however. It was the fact that he couldn't spot his companion anywhere. But he sure as shit can hear her voice bouncing off of every surface around him.
"GENEVA!!" He called out, shouting the woman's name like she owed him money.
No answer. Just more singing.
"Worth a try." He shook his head looking around yet again for that elusive other Vinaya Victim.
He didn't spot her. He did spot a reflection of himself. Dressed and looking exactly like him. Save for the fact that the "reflection" was walking while he wasn't.
He looked down at himself, reaching for a weapon that wasn't there. Then a tool that wasn't there. With both items missing, he didn't miss a beat in just walking towards this "clearly not a reflection" reflection.
"Ah shit, here we go again..." He said as he barehandedly strolled over to what was definitely a trap in his eyes.
At the same time, that music Geneva was hearing began hitting Gynesis's ears. At the same time,
"Plastic skin with twisted fingers..." Gynesis muttered to himself before drawing a knife, holding it in a reverse grip.
"it's only temporary." He adds before flipping the knife to hold it by the blade and chucking the thing at the copy's head.
It landed right on topic, falling to the floor like a puppet with cut strings.
Simultaneously, Gynesis himself fell as well. Almost as if the fate of that reflection mirrored his own.
Again, the ground opened beneath his feet, swallowing the male MC and sending him crashing to the floor below.
Again, taking the poor guy by surprise as he went spiraling down. Catching a glimpse of a fluffy white rabbit staring directly at him from the edge of the hole.
Again, the man landed flat on his back, cracking the hardwood floor on impact.
Again, he got up within a few seconds.
Again, he spots a "reflection". This time on his right instead of dead ahead like the first.
This time it was more of a projection since it wasn't just the exorcist himself he spotted behind the glass. But his best friend, Mugen, as well. With the two seemingly engaging in a deep discussion of sort.
"Automation talk to automation" Flew out of the man's mouth faster than he even registered the thought of uttering those words. His lips moving borderline independently of the rest of his body.
Fluidly, nigh robotically, the man pulled out one of the razors he had in his finger tips and drew blood from his wrist to create a knife of his own viscera. Then, he drew his actual knife and threw both. Each aimed at the projections before him. All with great haste.
"Get to talking flagrant? Then you getting buried," He added all in one breath, covering both sentences in the same amount of time he took to throw those two projectiles.
The thrown weapons land true, taking out both entities instantly. Cutting their strings.
'When you're accustomed to facing ghosts and their countless bullshit, you just start rolling with it.' He mulled over, watching as the two bodies dropped like sacks of potatoes. With his own following suit. 'Even if this song is kinda gas...'
Again, the floor below caves inward.
Again, he's sent spiraling down into the hole.
Again, he lands on the floor, flat on his back. Surrounded by mirrors that refuse to reflect him.
Again, his eyes catch that rabbit on his way down. Staring directly at him before the ceiling that spat him out closes behind him.
'This place... repeats.' He deduced, springing to his feet. and looking around. 'It seems to be tied to music as well. Or maybe it's the rabbit.'
He spots another entity within the mirrors.
Not just one, but many entities. All the same person. Himself. All around him. All enclosing from seemingly every angle. All silent as if put on mass mute.
"When the son overpowers the father-" Another set of words quickly spewed out like he was a verbal machine gun.
All were ignored by the original, however.' Where's that damned rabbit?!' He'd thought to himself right before spotting the thing.
'What?' Gynesis ended up asking upon finding his target. Because it was directly in front of him. Sitting right before his feet without a care in the world.
"You join in the hunt through a thousand imposters" Were the next set of words, an immediate follow up the previous set.
But the confusion wasn't from the rabbit's location. But rather the immediate consequences for him finding it. Because he felt a compulsion to pick up the creature.
An impulse he couldn't resist, resulting in him giving in and attempting to scoop it up into his arms.
But as soon as he made contact with it-
Again, the ground opened, sending the male exorcist crashing to the floor.
This time we was far more prepared for the fall.
Landing on his feet this time, he instantly began scanning the room.
It's filled with bunnies now, and lacking those funhouse mirrors. Instead, the walls were all brick and covered in white paint.
Surrounding the man were these red eyed critters going about their way. Unbothered by his presence.
'So it was you...' He mentally mused as he looked around more. Noting the countless balls of white fluff around him. 'I'll have to find it again.'
"But what is the difference? Can you spot the difference?" His mouth asked at normal speed, pretty much taunting the man with the question considering the context.
"Sorta." Was his response to himself with a shrug before reaching for the closest bunny.
He picked it up and nothing happened. Prompting him to rest it back down gently.
'That was a bust...' He notes before reaching to pick up the next one. Only to stop short and really look at it.
"I don't know, something uncanny-" He began, his mouth still practically on autopilot as he sped his speech right back up.
That's when he noticed that particular rabbit had ears long enough to drag on the floor. 'The one I picked up to fall had shorter ears.'
He moved on.
"Something that I can't really verbalize."
Another bunny, another difference spotted. 'Those are blue eyes, not red.' He told himself before his gaze shifted to another bunny.
'This one isn't even looking at me.'
"I don't know, it's all in the hands-"
'That one is the wrong shade of white.'
"Something inside the averted eyes."
Walking as he searched amongst the sea of fuzz, the man made sure not to damage a single one. Carefully stepping around them.
With most even clearing the way as he carefully made his way around.
"I don't know, I can't really pin it-" His body fast-spoke, taunting him further in his search for escape through the strange creature.
"It's harder and harder to tell on each fail." He verbalized his frustration, regaining his body's autonomy for just a second before it was ripped away just as quickly. "I don't know-"
And that's when his glare falls on his target. Across the massive room from himself, the white rabbit he was oh so searching for sat. Perched on a staircase's railing and chewing something green as it stared directly into his soul.
"And if I don't know It's something I could get the shit to hеlp me say-"
'FOUND YOU!' Gynesis declared in his head before dashing to it like a politician who's just seen an unsupervised minor-
Ayo nah, we can NOT make that joke...
The male exorcist arrives at his target without issue, reaching a hand forward and petting it this time. Already mentally prepared for the floor to cave in on itself.
But nothing happened.
Well, something did happen. Just not the whole floor falling thing.
Gynesis stopped singing. And the music hitting his ears came to a grinding halt. Fading into nothing more than ambient white noise.
"So it truly was you." He couldn't help but mutter, an attempt to vent the stress of the situation starting to creep its way into his head. "Where's your suit and silver pocket watch?"
The male exorcist picks up the bunny, resting it on his shoulder. It doesn't try to get off. If anything, it made itself comfortable by pretending it was a cute living white scarf.
"Yeah, that works." Skipping over the fact that he's talking to a rabbit, the man carries on his conversation as if it just gave a satisfactory answer.
Or maybe he was referring to the thing shifting its weight evenly across his shoulders. Either way, he was smiling and looking around himself.
"And where did your friends go?" He asked absentmindedly."
His eyes catch a myriad of little details. None of which were useful.
The floors were plain white, same as the now mirrorless walls. The ceiling was a dull gray, peppered with glittering white crystals that seemed to glow.
'I mean that's cool and all, but what the hell am I supposed to do with that?' He asked himself, one second before finding an answer to his question.
It came in the form of a staircase. Black and red in color, leading downward. Spiraling to a lower floor. 'Damn, that song is still in my head.'
'Bingo.' The male mc didn't even hesitate before heading to it. 'Usually there's trap checking protocol and all that bullshit. But one, I don't have the tools, I don't have any of my tools actually...' He began immediately attempting to rationalize a decision that most would call a "horror movie main character" level of stupid.
'And two, I barely do those when I do have the equipment on hand.' He tacks that thought into his argument, like it was a project his teacher assigned last week due today. Simultaneously, he drew his knife again, prepping himself for any potential jumpscare.
Rabbit on his back, song stuck in his head, and knife in his hand. Gynesis was ready for anything.
Boldly, he'd make his way to and down the stairs shown. It takes a bit, but he makes his way low enough to change the scenery. Arriving a floor lower than he'd started. With his newest ally stan- floating- before him, holding a life-like doll of a silver-haired woman in her arms.
"Oh hi!" Geneva waved at him, no longer singing on her end as well.
REWINDING TO EARLIER...
It's now when Gynesis first fell and landed on his back in the new location. Geneva landing like a feather before the brick of a man follows suit, minus the light part.
Stll singing, she looks around, her senses giving her blank emptiness.
'Damn it...' She swore internally, trying to concentrate while her mouth was still moving.
Usually, she'd get a detailed map of around a 50 foot radius around her at all times. With a rough sketch of the next 100 feet, giving her a mostly effective range of around 150 feet. With one sole exception so far.
'Fog of war... Could it be?' She deduces, picking herself up as her mind tried to pinpoint the reasoning behind her lack of visuals. Well, lack of info as to where she was.
That's when her "vision" returned in full swing. Showing her the room she was in. Exactly 50 feet in radius, shaped like a circle, and with the woman currently in the dead center.
'Shit.' She internally cursed, not because she was in some random room with no way out. But because she was in a room with four exits. And all of them looked the exact same.
Most in her shoes would sit down and plan their next moves carefully. Meticulously look over the details given to her and plot a means of escape around that.
Geneva on the other hand, did none of that. Instead she simply went off to some random door. Picking the one on her left by absolute chance and going through it without so much as half of a thought put into the move.