A dirty place, a dirty house, but a home. Power tools were brought, wood, cement, bricks. With each day, the sisters work on their home. Come new challenges, new problems, but they are good problems. From crumbling framework to sturdy ones, from decade old coats to fresh paints, from a clogged plumbing to a clean pathway.
Day and night, the walls are standing firmly and there’s no more holes on the rooftop. All that is left to do is decorate and furnish. That is, if they don’t exhaust their bank account.
The sisters rest on the only furniture they managed to obtain with the little money they have left, a nice cushioned sofa for each.
“Kurira, money…”
“…”
“Kurira.”
“Mm.”
“Money…”
“I know.”
“Money!”
“I know!”
Palming their face.
[Rakuri]: “Every single guild out there has been spreading out and people recovered a lot thanks to those bitches over at the dark guild. Spreading their cheeks for info and just blasting on those syrup-like cockroaches. Which means, first time loot is mostly gone, and no one is up to make Transcendental Realms a thing.”
[Kurira]: “What, you wanna be a pioneer on that?”
[Rakuri]: “Hell no!”
Clicking her tongue.
[Kurira]: “Just chill, my potions are selling like hot cakes, gimme another month and I’ll fill up that fridge.”
[Rakuri]: “Uhuh.”
[Kurira]: “…”
[Kurira]: “What?”
[Rakuri]: “Well, now that you mentioned it… maybe we should be the one to open the expansion.”
[Kurira]: “Sure, meet me up in Lorkhan. I got a house in Clearwater.”
[Rakuri]: “Wait, really? Just like that?”
[Kurira]: “Whatever you wanna do, I’ll tag along. Lest you make a mess of things.”
[Rakuri]: “What?! You think I’m gonna mess it up?”
[Kurira]: “Yeah, I mean look at the wall you painted. That stripe shouldn’t go all wobbly like that, yo!”
[Rakuri]: “Urgh…”
Like a balloon flushing out its air. Clicking her tongue, Kurira stood to open her capsule. Entering her capsule and closing it, “Clearwater, now!”
Letting out a big sigh, Rakuri enters her own capsule and they soon enter Ekolia once more.
In this beautiful morn just outside of clearwater. A wormhole appears out of thin air, and there lies a masked woman in a dark outfit coming out of it. Passerby stops in their tracks, staring at the masked woman.
“…”
She ignores them and continue to walk towards the town.
“Halt, never seen you here before. Either you pay the fee or get—.” Got his face bashed in with a bag full of silvers.
Rakuri went in and look for her sister’s house. It’s located close to the end of the canal where it’s the only house there. It has fences covering a much wider area of the house itself, plants, and small gardens. There are white-ish gray smoke coming out of the chimney.
There on the balcony lies a woman with metal arm and eyes that looks extremely artificial. Snacking on a sizzling meat with a natural tongue but artificial metal teeth.
[Rakuri]: “What the fuck?!”
[Kurira]: “You’re finally here.”
[Rakuri]: “Finally? That only took less than half an hour, but what that fuck is that, Kurira?”
[Kurira]: “What, you’re not the only one who got kitted.”
[Rakuri]: “Not the same thing!”
Chewing meat before going back in, and she comes out of the first floor pulling a large mechanical case that houses several weapons and its constantly pumping air.
[Rakuri]: “The hell is that?”
[Kurira]: “Modular Assembly Terminal. Version 3.2. This is our ticket to enter another realm.”
[Rakuri]: “Yeah? And how’s that gonna happen?”
[Kurira]: “You’ll see. Here, I even got new weapons for you.”
[Rakuri]: “Hah, as if they’re gonna beat these babies.”
<ul>
<li>Current Death / Legendary / Physical Attack: 520 / Magical Attack: 580 / Enchantment: Increases Stab Attack by 200% and become invisible for 30 second when the target dies / Requirement: 40 Dexterity, 60 Agility, 50 Intelligence</li>
</ul>
Kurira handing the new daggers. Silver and golds with hollow body for its blade, the handle is grippy and texture is comfortable to hold on to.
<ul>
<li>Vermillion Steel Daggers Version 8.1 / Masterwork Light Weapon / Mythic / Physical Attack: 2000 / Magical Attack: 1000 / Enchantment: Increases Dexterity and Agility by 100. Third strike creatures a vortex that extend to 15-meter radius that lasts 10 seconds, dealing 300% damage per second and has 1% chance to stun those caught within, if a target dies, the effect extended by 5 second and the radius expanded by 8-meter per target / Requirement: 50 Dexterity, 50 Agility, 50 Intelligence</li>
</ul>
[Rakuri]: “…”
[Rakuri]: “H-How?!”
[Kurira]: “Well, I know you’d keep threading the same path as an assassin. Sooner or later, we’ll come across each other, so I thought I’d prep you up in case you wanna do something stupid like pioneering an expansion.”
[Rakuri]: “Okay, fair. But that’s not what I was asking!”
Passing her by.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
[Kurira]: “Come on, we got a long way to go.”
[Rakuri]: “Wait, I can teleport us there.”
[Kurira]: “Oh? How convenient.”
[???]: “Kurira?”
A woman just outside of the scene. Curly bun for a hair, and green stripes outfit. She carries a bag and a metal box similar to what Kurira’s portable M.A.T.
[Kurira]: “Ah, Valysha. I’ll be out for a bit. Can you watch the house for me?”
[Valysha]: “Eh? But…”
Rakuri takes out a device with a bright gem that has the color of the galaxy, and with a swing, a powerful wormhole appears.
Valysha reaches out for Kurira but she smiles before entering the wormhole. She looks at Rakuri, her mask makes it impossible for Valysha to identify who it is.
When she enters, the wormhole is gone.
In disbelief, it’s like Kurira was never there, “K-Kurira?”
On the other side of the wormhole, a blizzard.
Forest trees being swept away by the chilling wind. The sisters arrive at the foot of the mountain and before they can say anything, their lips are getting frosty.
[Kurira]: “?!!”
[Rakuri]: “!!!”
Kurira quickly turns the upper body of the M.A.T and it lets out powerful heat rivaling the chilling cold of the blizzard. Warmth returns to their body.
“Goodness, Rakuri. Can’t you teleport us outside or better yet, anywhere inside the place?”
“Well, any further than this and we’d be frozen solid, and it’s a long way walk out there.”
“Fucking hell.”
Grabbing the M.A.T puller, they hitchhike towards the surface of the mountain.
[Rakuri]: “You know. There are other ways to get to another realm.”
[Kurira]: “And how I wish we could wait things out, and look for that other way, huh?”
[Rakuri]: “Shut up. God, this is getting cold, you sure that thing’s working?”
[Kurira]: “Hey, my M.A.T can heat shit up like a volcano. This place is just that cold.”
[Rakuri]: “Yeah. Well, what do you know about this place?”
[Kurira]: “Other than it being an empty graveyard?” Kurira takes a magic core out of her inventory and put in the furnace of M.A.T, “The Witch Mountain Path.”
[Kurira]; “A forbidden zone that could kill anyone and anything even if they are at thousands of levels. The Transcendental Law spell that was cast, no one has identified what it was, but it sure as hell strong enough for the witch to recoil and actually… ascended to godhood.”
[Rakuri]: “Quite a tale.”
[Kurira]: “Uhuh, can you imagine how strong for it to be able to… hnngh, freeze a whole mountain. And the blizzard even extended outside.”
[Rakuri]: “Must be one mighty law.”
[Rakuri]: “Something she made herself.”
Kurira sees her synthetic hand, her fingers started to freeze.
[Kurira]: “Good thing I stock up on legend cores, but gimme yours, just in case.”
Shoving another one into the M.A.T, Rakuri sends all of her magic cores to Kurira.
[Rakuri]: “That girl, she called you by name. That’s an odd-looking player, if I must say. A spell caster with a staff? Don’t you remind her of someone?”
She chuckles.
[Kurira]: “Heh, that’s because she’s not… and yeah.”
[Rakuri]: “…”
Rakuri watches her sister gallantly taking the lead towards the heavy blizzard. To the darkness beyond, towards what lies at the surface.
A massive gothic church.
[Rakuri]: “Holy shit, that thing is still intact.”
[Kurira]: “Not for long, let’s go.”
Kurira inserts her synthetic hand into the portable M.A.T and loaded it with bombs. She has succeeded in creating them in a new form factor, much more elegant with the use of steel, and it enhances the explosion effect much further.
She expected to use it, but the sisters didn’t expect to find a scene similar to their old past. A massive dragon baring its wings across the room.
It’s a different dragon than the one she and her sister encountered in the past, but the scene is similar because there is a clothed skeleton with a wizard hat facing it. Its head rotates as a silver white dot in its eye gaze upon Kurira’s fist, but when it met her eyes.
It gasps.
[???]: “Kurira?”
Her eyes peeled at the sound of that familiar voice. The voice she often heard, every morning, every night, a calming voice of a friend, a lover.
[Kurira]: “Siola?”
The skeleton turns to the sister, “Ra—” the dot flares as it turns its head to the dragon, seeing it charging a concentrated mass of pure arcane in its mouth, “No!”
A blasting laser. Instinctively, Kurira throws her portable M.A.T, turning itself into a dome, but before it can fully enclosed, the concentrated blue laser hits it. She pulls Rakuri and then…
*BOOOOOOOOM*
Smoke as arcane particles scatter. Slowly revealing fully destroyed M.A.T, half destroyed dome, and the sisters in each other’s embrace. Rakuri looks up to her sister, and sees, machine. Kurira looks at her sister up and down, knowing that she is fine, she pushes her away as she turns to look at the dragon before looking at Siola.
[Kurira]: “Hm.”
She cast a sign, “Modular Assembly Terminal.”
A massive workstation appears right behind her. There is another portable M.A.T, one that rolls toward her and attaches itself to her. Filling every possible gap in her torso. New heart, new lungs, new skeletons, body and she pull out a large colossal sword from it.
<ul>
<li>Vermillion Steel Weapon in Weapon / Masterwork Heavy Weapon / Ancient / Physical Attack: 5000 / Magical Attack: 1000 / Enchantment: Increases Strength and Endurance by 200. Every swing deal two strikes. Can be charged as it sunken into the earth to create a 50-meter vortex that has 30% chance to stun anything in the radius for 10 seconds / Requirement: 150 Strength, 100 Endurance, 100 Intelligence</li>
</ul>
[Kurira]: “I don’t know what your deal is, Siola, but we’ll have plenty of chance to catch up after that thing is under the earth.”
[Siola]: “Heheh, right on.”
Rakuri walking past her sister to approach that skeleton, that friend, that lover.
The skeleton, Siola, giving her hand out and Rakuri takes it. And she extends the same for Kurira, but she looks at it for a second before glancing to Rakuri.
[Kurira]: “What, you wanna fight that thing blind?”
Shaking her head as she walks past them, gripping the colossal sword in one hand, she and her new (old) party stand against a colossal dragon once more.
The earth trembles by its roar.
{Dread Lord Dragon King / Level: 2000}
[Kurira]: “An Ascended, huh?! Well, let’s fucking go!”
A hurl of a fire blast, blue explosion. The trio scatter in three separate directions. Kurira running on the left, Siola take flight, and Rakuri running on walls.
The latter slip out three kunai with a scroll attach and throw them, hitting the dragon’s head and creates a massive explosion.
Slight burns on its face, the dragon roars as it sends a blast her way but the she acrobatically dodges with a twirl in the air, but the dragon lunges at her with a gnawing jaw.
[Siola]: “Dark Current.”
Powerful dark force with massive size disrupted its attack and missed its target. Siola, and yet, there is two Siola floating in the air, casting a sign.
[Siola & Shadow]: “Limbic Possession.”
Both of the dragon’s arms stretches out, making it losing balance while preventing it from making any optimal movement. And there’s Kurira taking that opportunity.
Sinking her colossal weapon straight to the dragon’s tail, piercing and locking it down to the ground. The sword shines and unleashes a great vortex, the dragon’s roar in rage but then it stops. Stunned by the vortex. Siola flew right above it and its eyes sees her silver white dot of an eye.
[Siola]: “Heheh, should’ve taken the deal.”
She cast a sign, “Phantasmagoria.”
Powerful psionic force hits the dragon as its rage consume it but no longer can it do anything. Its body is completely resisting its will to move. In its eye, it sees something beyond nightmare.
Rakuri descends and rapidly slicing the dragon by the neck, twirling into a tornado as it digs inside. Kurira pulls out her sword, ending the vortex before following it up deep powerful stabs throughout its body. Siola, the tip of her skeleton fingers flare in black flame.
! {Pantheon Drive}
Both Rakuri and Kurira notices the change in the air and scatter away.
[Siola]: “Hex Pillars.”
Three-point circle of magic covering the entire body of the dragon. Cursed flame surge into the sky, incinerating whatever they touch and the pain will continue to linger even when it’s done.
All gathers together to witness the dragon behind its smoke. Tail swipes the air as all of them bear witness to the new form of the dragon. Brilliant glows of dark purple crystals, popping up throughout its body. Its wings stretched out as it takes flight, covering a large portion of the sky.
It roars.
Kurira chuckles, “Phase 2?”
[Siola]: “Well, that’s not gonna be the end of it too.”
[Kurira]: “You’re kidding me.”
Siola shrugs and Rakuri giggles.
[Kurira]: “Oh, boy. I might just pull out my secret weapon if that’s how it’s gonna be.”
However, she has no time to tell what it is as the dragon launches its first attack with another concentrated force of the blast. But this time, everyone is ready.
*BOOOOOOOM*
A wormhole right above the dragon, all three landed on different part of its body with Kurira thrusting her colossal sword into its eye.
The dragon roars, enraged even more.
[Kurira]: “Haha, bitch! I got you, bitch! You’re my little bitch!”
In this cold chilling night, the moon lights up the faces of her dearest. Siola with her skeleton face, she can see it, her real face, how she smiles so brightly. Her sister, Rakuri, behind that mask, those squinty eyes closing in joy. Laughter. Even in this cold breeze, she can feel the warmth.
[Kurira]: ‘This is it.’
Eyes meet with a silent understanding,
A recognition that time has passed,
But love—like the roots of old trees—runs deep, unseen.
‘Here we stand,’
‘Not as we were, but as we have always been.’
‘And in the quiet between words,’
‘There’s that pulse of something eternal:’
‘Home.’
***
<hr>
<h2>To Be Continued</h2>