**A day later**
Greed:
The crew had gathered back at the Den, at last.
Seemed Daz's threat was taken to heart by all the bandits in Pardem, as after a day of travel, we hadn't run into any encounters or snags since we left.
Good. I didn't feel like fighting anymore anyway.
Not after getting Star back to normal, that is…
It was about 0800ish. I stood outside Alice's Pink Room, which had now taken on the form of some infirmary—or rather the imagination of what a child had thought an infirmary would be like.
Stuffed teddy bears and replicas of Yuna were dressed as doctors and nurses, live drawings were floating mid-air, and through the windows, the pink still shone through as if it were the outside.
It was my first time seeing it that way. She had claimed it was for Star. I just told her 'sure it was'.
Her domain remained open to the real world as I leaned against the casing of the door, arms folded and keeping company, even though my presence was probably not needed there.
"She'll be okay, you know? You don't have to stand there like I don't know what I'm doing…" Alice prodded.
"You sure? What if you fuck everything up and need my help?" I teased.
"I AM NOT GOING TO—" She stopped herself to lower her voice, as both Star and Ophelia slept soundly in their floating beds amidst this dreamlike space since yesterday. "I'm not going to fuck up. And what could you possibly help with?"
"What if Star wakes up like a Demon again, and breaks stuff?"
Alice clicked her tongue and took a cautious glance at Star.
"Relax. I'm only teasing. She won't wake up in a rage," I said. "She might wake up hungry though. Pardem didn't have any Choco Bars."
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a stash I had hidden away for emergencies like this.
"Here. When she wakes up, feed her these. Tell her it's from Teddy," I said, finally leaving and shutting her door.
"Wait! You can't just leave these here! they'll disappear after a few— Hey!!"
I heard her, but I went on anyway. I smirked to myself as I threw my hands in my pockets. Knowing Star, she'd wake up in the next hour—maybe earlier. That should be enough time for the Choco Bars to last before disappearing, right?
Right? I thought, doubting myself now…
I made my way through our halls and into the dining area, casually sitting myself at the bar while Daz, Code, Brand, Nash, and Havoc were discussing the recent events; the clouds and terrain outside the windows panned as the Den continued to trudge along.
I opened the fridge to grab a protein shake and took a sip.
Gross… Code normally doesn't miss… Ah well.
"And that's what happened on our side, other than that, was just a bunch of fodder," Havoc said lazily as he leaned back in his chair, sipping on his third energy drink.
Brand nodded, sitting formally next to him.
"You and Jo didn't encounter any other Head Officers or their higher members?" Daz asked, now talking to Code.
"No, but what I found interesting… or rather, disturbing, was the fact that the town served human flesh from the black market. Almost all the food there was tainted."
When he said this, Havoc shot up in his seat and sprayed his drink from his mouth. "You gotta be shittin' me!"
Code wiped Havoc's spit off his face with a scowl as he replied, "Don't tell me you idiots ate the food there… Come on, what good is your hypersensitive senses if you couldn't even smell that the meat was bad?"
"I don't think we ate anything strange…" Brand answered.
Havoc searched his thoughts in a paranoid manner. "Ah! There was that chickensnake fried dragonbull steak we got before fighting that Lucien guy!"
"Chickensnake fried dragonbull… Yeah that's not sketchy as hell," Code commented.
"No! I swear it looked great… but it did smell kinda weird. I figured it was just 'cause of the way the meat was prepared. I never considered it…" Havoc couldn't finish his sentence as he began to gag at the table.
Code noticed me at the bar and asked, "Remember that mission we took up with Asura to help those 'clerks'. You know, the one where we recruited Ophelia and Raeyn?"
"Yeah. What about."
"Remember what that Full-Body Smoke bandit said? Something about capturing us and selling us in parts at the black market… alive?"
"Hmm…" I said, recalling Ophelia never returning my wallet from that day.
Code didn't bother waiting for my definitive answer. "I'll take that as a no. In any case, towns like Pardem seem to be one of those bigger hubs that buy in bulk from the black market."
"I've heard of bandit hideouts, but a whole town of bandits is a new one for me. Seems criminals can get away with a lot more in the Mountain than they let on…" Daz added.
"From our assessment, the town was Bloodtusks territory," Code said, using his hand to spread a geometric chart with his magic with listed groups and names. "But there was also another group that laid low in the southern outskirts called the Silverthorns. The one that Greed and Star ran into."
On his chart, he had listed:
·Bloodtusks:
-Leader: Evalyn (Riot Gang Head Officer no.7) /status: deceased
-Higher member(s): Lucien / status: incapacitated
· Silverthorns:
-Leader: Velm (Riot Gang Head Officer no.5) / status: deceased
-Higher members: Edison, Melina / status: incapacitated
"And with Daz having killed two Head Officers, that only leaves the following, per Daz's sources…"
He sent up another chart and merged it with that one.
·Riot Gang Head Officers:
-??? (Head Officer no.1) / status: alive / bandit group: Chainfangs / status: active / hideout: NA
-??? (Head Officer no.2) / status: alive / bandit group: Burrowborns / status: active / hideout: Death Gorge (eastern)
-??? (Head Officer no. 3) / status: alive / bandit group: Velvettails / status: active / hideout: NA
-Jinxu (Head Officer no.4) / status: deceased / bandit group: Chimerabroods / status: active / hideout: Forest jurisdiction
-Velm (Head Officer no.5) / status: deceased / bandit group: Silverthorns / status: temporarily inactive / hideout: Death Gorge (western) – currently in Mountain jurisdiction – Pardem
-Gorran (Head Officer no.6) / status: alive / bandit group: Gravehooves / status: active / hideout: NA
-Evalyn (Head Officer no.7) / status: deceased / bandit group: Bloodtusks / status: temporarily inactive / hideout: Mountain jurisdiction – Pardem
-??? (Head Officer no.8) / status: alive / bandit group: Ironmanes / status: active / hideout: Sky jurisdiction
-??? (Head Officer no.9) / status: unknown / bandit group: Markbearers / status: disbanded / hideout: NA
-Drakthor (Head Officer no.10) / status: incarcerated / bandit group: Nightbanes / status: inactive / hideout: Valley / Ocean jurisdiction
"Minus Wrath of course, who leads all of Riot Gang as its own conglomerate bandit group," Daz specified.
"Hold up," Havoc interjected. "When did we get all this intel?"
Code sighed. "Daz had it all along…"
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?"
"So you could have told us that we were heading into Bloodtusks territory before we stepped foot in fucking Bloodtusks territory?" I stirred.
"Truly an Idiot King," Nash commented, while I nodded approvingly in the background.
Daz nervously scratched his head as he attempted to save face. "Now, I only received this intel after speaking with the Mountain Arcane King… I was going to bring it up eventually… I just totally spaced on it. And before I knew it, you all were already marching into Pardem! I didn't know how to break it down to you all without spoiling the fun…"
"THE FUN!?"
"Can I chokeslam him?" I asked.
"Hey, that's no way to treat your Arcane King!" Daz spat.
Code then cleared his throat. "Anyway… it's in the past. Water under the bridge."
Daz nodded agreeingly behind him.
"Like hell it is!" the rest of us shouted.
Aside from Code, who kept his eyes closed, like he was waiting for a storm to pass, the rest of us had our noses flared toward Daz.
"D-D-Don't forget the warning I gave them! They won't be attacking us for a while!"
We calmed down, scowling at him still as he let out a sigh of relief.
"Knowing this, who was that other group who attacked us along with the Bloodtusks and Silverthorns?" Nash asked.
"Ah, yes, I was getting to that conclusion before you so rudely demanded me to go find this 'Kiki' girl—which by the way, I only found a fat butler trying to clean your chandelier! Honestly… You guys really need to assign duties better. A fat man on a ladder does not end well—"
"Get to the fuckin' point."
"Keeper… You truly are his subordinate…" Daz said dismissively to Nash, looking at me all the while.
I merely shrugged in agreeance with Nash.
Daz focused back. "That bandit group was the Chimerabroods. Jinxu's group."
"Now that can't be right," Havoc commented. "Brand took out their leader… How are they still operational?"
"You forget the Head Officers and their bandit groups answer to Wrath. If anything, that shouldn't be a surprise." Daz put his hand to his chin, rubbing it. "My question is… how there were beasts acting with them. That's something only Jinxu could do given his Primal Conjuring magic. But he is dead."
He looked at Brand and nodded, giving him silent approval for job well done.
"So, if his abilities are still being used, that must mean there is a Copy mage among them. I'd have suspected Envy, since he did that once before with Drakthor and the Nightbanes, but he's detained. So a Copy mage is the next best bet. And a highly skilled one at that…"
"A Head Officer, maybe?" I asked.
"Potentially, but I don't know which one even if it is."
Code sighed and asked another question, "Do we know any other magic abilities they may have?"
"Aside from Gorran's wide-range Teleportation magic, and the others whom we've apprehended or discarded, the only one we know of is Head Officer 8 and 9. Though their names are still unknown, Head Officer 8 is known to have Grand Earth magic, and Head Officer 9 is known to have Symbol Retention magic. However, 9 has been MIA since Riot Gang has started gathering their forces. We don't know his current location or if he's even a threat."
"If he's part of Riot Gang, he is a threat," I said, thinking of Star's condition and what one Riot Gang Head Officer was capable of. "If we run into him, we'll treat him like an enemy. Just like the rest of them."
Daz nodded. He then spoke to someone whom I just barely realized was in the room with us, "Anyway, Anna, are you up to go toe to toe with a Grand Earth user?"
Jo had been sleeping on a sofa in the lounge area of our dining room. The sound of a bubble popped as if she had been rudely disturbed from her rem sleep.
"Buzz off, Nyx! GG and I are trying to—" she stopped midsentence—thank the Keeper…
She looked at us all in bewilderment as she found me in the back, shaking my head side-to-side with eyes wide; she instinctively slurped up the drool that shamelessly fell down the side of her mouth.
She and I had never… but best not to let the others infer—Havoc especially…
Havoc slowly turned his head to me, staring at me sidelong, mischievous look violently plastered on his face. "I knew you two were fuckin'—"
Quicker than he could finish his sentence, an ice ball the size of a head smacked him on the side of his own.
"OW! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!?"
When he faced back to Jo, she had an ominous look that hushed him like a puppy.
Code let loose a dreadful, annoyed sigh, and Nash shook his head, making tsking sounds. And of course, Daz was enjoying the show like the Idiot King he was.
I cleared my throat, and said, "Anyway… If anyone can take that guy, it's Jojo."
She blushed, and her eyes gleamed at my words.
"Fuckin' gag…" Havoc weakly said as his energy drink can exploded and froze over his face, turning him into a popsicle.
"Good!" Daz interjected. "Because he's currently waiting at the edge of the Mountain jurisdiction."
Our attentions shifted to focus.
"I got a tip when I sent that message out through Evalyn's and Velm's beacons. Not sure who tipped me off, but I broke the beacons shortly after—before realizing it came from them. For all we know, it's another trap. And for all we know, no.8 is going to attempt to dwindle our numbers and try his luck against me. Before that, we're going to strike with one of our strongest mages." He pointed at Jo. "It will be a clash of elements! Are you up for it, kiddo?"
Jo stared blankly at Daz; it was as if he just asked a stupid question. "If GG thinks I can, then I will."
She looked at Havoc, whose head was still frozen within his energy drink explosion, shaking his block of a head as if surrendering.
"Great. After that, we'll assume the rest of the Riot Gang Head Officers are lying in wait at Tartarus. If you haven't deduced this yet, then ingrain it in your skulls. For some reason, Riot Gang is trying to lead us to Tartarus, and they're trying to get rid of me before we get there. However, I'm sure when they fail at that first plan, there is a good chance we're going to face the rest of them there—and then some. This includes all bandit groups, regardless of their deceased leaders. And by that time, I will be fully engaged in fighting Wrath. I beat him once. I can do it again."
"Even while holding Envy prisoner at the same time?" I surmised. "I've been meaning to ask, but you've had your spell on him for days-on-end. Are you sure you'll have enough strength to fight Wrath when that time comes?"
I was serious. Had it just been us without Daz, I'd have turned around a long time ago. Envy was one thing to deal with, but Wrath was another story. Even if all the Black Wolves fought him together, I don't know if we'd even win… The fact that Idiot King was here was the only reason we could press on like we were. But still, I had to make sure…
"Who do you think I am, Greed?" Daz asked incredulously. "I'm the fucking Arcane King. I'm gonna win."
He was a goof, but hearing those words from a strong mage had given us all a type of unspoken confidence. After all, he took down two Head Officers that attacked him at the same time. Both whom had just awakened—one with Tantra, and the other with Demon regeneration. And he took them both out effortlessly on top of that.
But despite all that… I continued to have an uneasy feeling.
As I was trying to settle with myself, a random door that wasn't attached to any wall had appeared in the dining area.
When it opened, it had been from Alice's Pink Room. But the person who stepped out wasn't Alice, nor Star or Ophelia for that matter.
I found myself in pleasant surprise when I realized who it was. And I fell in love with her all over again the moment I saw her bare feet touch the floor, and she spoke like a hymn.
"Good day, Daz, Black Wolves… And hello, my Greed," Belle said sweetly.