-Mita Orono-
We have a week and a half until the ascension event at Robby’s place: everyone else was doing their part to deal with the Soldiers of Clay in Witch Synthia and the SteelStar Supremacists in Starport Cyber, which meant I needed to help out Robby, Daphne, Lucilla, and Tabitha with dealing with Glory Daze here in Mercury-Gardenia. Honestly these guys were the worst, compared to the hypocritical military and the criminal player, the Glory Daze were the smallest group with the strongest individual and most warped members that managed to completely exploit Mercury-Gardenia and the Hybrid System of Flower’s natures. Which is where I came in with Robby, Daphne, and surprisingly also Umi, all four of us used our coded system slot’s connections from Johari to get anti-non-real body abilities so we could aim to disable their simulated bodies long enough that they couldn’t attack the ascension event.
And unsurprisingly each of us made use of our coded system slot’s connections in different ways. Umi just put hers toward one of her faux-system slots, turning it into an empowerment that granted her a corsage, and somehow ended up becoming Daphne’s impromptu apprentice in the process. The loli-sized blackzone manager herself actually mutated a stratum 2 multi-system slot since she already had a multi-system slot and converted two of its connections into a power-link for her bread-and-butter attunement, Sugar Scorpio Spear, and then used the last one for an empowerment to get the some corsage as Umi. For myself, I just mimicked what Robert and Terrin did: two multi-system slots for two power-links. Having usage of Demon’s Gold and Vox System Tearing Axe along with my new and empowered azalea’s chains. Although Robby definitely won out with the stratum 3 multi-system slot that Johari helped him create the framework to mutate: I mean the system slot counterpart of Grand Magus-grade mandalas was nothing to scoff at, especially since his could rip through simulate bodies and leaving them unusable for weeks instead of days. Johari’s coded system slot’s connections were honestly amazing: across the board high potency, high flexibility, and high levels of control over manifestation.
“So the others already cleared the path for us?” I asked as I swung my chain back and forth, eyeing everyone else’s conjurations and the Clockwork University infront of us. Apparently there was a tricky boss monster called the Triplet Weed-Clock-Octopus which is why Daphne and Umi went ahead with Lucilla, Margaret, and Tymai to be a sort of alpha strike team. So while they were dealing with that boss monster and anything else this system lair could throw at us, Robby, Tabitha, Tala, Tynna, and myself would be aiming for Clockwork Witchwork themselves.
“It looks like it,” replied Tala with a nod, pointing to the clocktower past the front courtyard. “That’s our goal, three courtyards in. That’s where Clockwork Witchwork is set up.”
“Anyone else think it’s ironic that the person we’re fighting is an enlightened robotics?” asked Robby, already striding into the courtyard, clenching his giant claw conjuration. The other team had already cleared everything out from the lack of monsters and weed-heads and the signs of damage that the system liar was already slowly repairing.
“Well these guys pretty much are all hundred percent delusional,” answered Tabitha as the five of us moved toward the far end of the courtyard. “Tymai said this person was a perfectionist with a pinocchio syndrome and time-based ODC.” Compulsive lying, ODC, and perfectionism all in one? Well that’s one natsy package, I noted with a shake of my head.
“Geez, these people need a therapist.”
“More than you?”
“Haha very funny, but yeah, way more than me.”
“Well at least you have a reason to be fucked up,” I pointed out to Robby as we made our way through the mildly steampunk and clockwork hallways. Luckily we didn’t have to worry about weed-heads since the others have been clearing them out over the past two week since it takes a lot more time and resources to replenish their numbers: something about them being an irregular type of spirit and the system being the one that primarily maintains them.
“Update from my sister, they caught wind of another Glory Daze member here, so they are going to try and take them out instead of meeting back up with us,” commented Tymai, pausing us as we entered the courtyard next to the clocktower.
“That is fine, our might is more than enough to squash this pesky robotics,” boasted Vertrala, causing Tabitha to groan a tiny bit.
“It is amazing how temperamental Vertrala is compared to Umi and Ulra,” noted Wlogwa from the back of my head.
“I know,” I telepathically replied, wishing that I had enough time to get another multi-system slot so I could power-link Ulra to my Hybrid System of Flowers, but I only had so much time and resources and wasn’t willing to risk getting a cursed system slot. Although I guess having one of my free system slots turn into a cursed one wouldn’t be too bad… actually being able to use Ulra here in Mercury-Gardenia would be useful, I contemplated to myself, feeling my spirit react slightly to that but say nothing. But right now there was no real reason to drag her around everywhere, especially when she was already enjoying herself back in Historie Pastoria Sweets with all the other spirits.
Making our way to the clocktower, I could faintly start to feel the presence of Clockwork Witchwork, their manalogical aura from being a child of the locale shifting through the incredibly warped spatial and time dilations and interlocking layers of reality: it didn’t feel like they were a high tier, just incredibly in tune with this system lair of theirs. This person had definitely turned this clockwork into a miniature fortress, but luckily we had the others to divert all the monsters and weed-heads away. Time for the big fight, I internally muttered to myself before stepping up to the clocktower’s upper floors and feeling my simulated body be moved elsewhere.
Blinking a few times from a sudden change in lighting, I looked at the barren surroundings. For half a second I thought we somehow ended up in the prime physical layer of reality of Mercury-Gardenia but then realized that wasn’t the case when I started to hear the ambient sound of gears turning and looked up to see dozens of exposed clockwork contraptions in the sky. Not the real world, but definitely not the simulated one either, I noted to myself as I started to feel my simulated body tingle from being where it isn't supposed to be. Pulling up my account menu, I found it wasn’t because I wasn’t in a simulated world but rather one that my simulated body wasn’t equipped for cause this place was primarily running off a derivative hybrid system.
“Who is there? I don’t have any schedules for the next hour,” called out a synthetic voice. Before any of us could reply, a series of oversized hour hands with spear-like tips shot out of nowhere toward us: reacting as fast I could, I conjured up my Vox System Tearing Axe and jumped out of the way. Looking back over to the others, I saw the others were fine also; Tala managed to grab Tymai and dodge the strike with her floating hoverboard while Robby and Tabitha deflected the hour hands aimed at them with their conjuration-altered arms. “You all didn’t die from that? Now you’re just wasting my time.”
“Seriously? That’s all you have to say?” shouted back Robby in frustration with a tinge of nervousness: at the end of the day, he was still Robert, or at least an alt-rhi doppelgänger of Robert.
“What do I have to say to the likes of you?” returned the voice as Clockwork Witchwork made an appearance, appearing out of a suddenly appearing slice in space that revealed a sort of workshop. For an effectively genderless enlightened robotics, their simulated body was very much that of a pretty boy out of an anime or something with their wavy blond hair sticking out of a witch’s cap, tasseled cape with clockwork patterns, a steel mask that covered the upper half of their face, and a bunch of different metallic and monochrome flowers bursting out of their body. Leans to the male side of things? I thought in tense silence as Clockwork Witchwork grinned and continued, “That you are fine adversaries?”
“I see your lies carry some truth,” rebuked Vertrala before Tabitha commanded him to fly in for an attack. Before the dragon-shaped fruit before belt out an attack, the Glory Daze member flashed with a silver light as a series of oversized hour hands appeared behind him along with a clockwork rifle in one hand and a circular shield with a clock face in his other.
I could actually see the time dilations expanding in size and density around him as he blocked a burst of dragon’s breath. Chronomancers were always a pain, especially if they could manipulate elemental time and time dilations like this time. Trying to gauge the time dilations, I whipped my chain toward Clockwork Witchwork for it to be easily avoided as it started to slow down in mid air. Jesus christ, is that is definitely more than a 200% time dilation.
“I’ll keep Tynna safe, Mita, Tabitha, you know the plan!” called Tala, keeping her distance with her fellow Alihi’a’Poungian holding onto so she wouldn’t fall off the floating hoverboard. With the vox reborn protecting our healer, Robby and Tabitha moved in to act as our vanguards, doing their best to try and land blows on the enlightened robotics’s simulated body as they glided around them, taking repeating shots from their clockwork rifle.
Well let’s hope this works, I muttered to myself, nodding to Tala as I grabbed some shards of warped gold from my proxy inventory. I didn’t have any actual expertise in forbidden magic so I head to rely on the Hybrid System of Flower’s skill to infuse my Demon’s Gold with spells that would deliberately aggravate cosmic and karma. Aiming the gold pieces as they crackled with unnatural intent, I tossed them at the time dilation field that the Glory Daze member was generating.
With tearing ripples, the gold disintegrated instead of slowing down as their magic turned to anti-magic: anti-system cast fueled by cross-karmic retribution inflicted by the will of knowledge and the will of the universes both gone rampant. The effect was impressive, but still wasn’t efficient how long it took to make a single shard of warped gold. Would have been better if I targeted samsara instead… I thought to myself with a mild scowl, wishing that I put points in a more specialized skill instead of the generic ‘forbidden magic: anti-magic’ one I found.
“Tabitha! You’re up!” I shouted, already readying my second volley of gold with one hand while holding my oversized tomahawk in the other for when Clockwork Witchwork retaliated. As the Glory Daze member went to aiming his clockwork rifle at me instead of Vertrala, Tabitha, or Robby who were now free to move, Tabitha moved back and chanted,
“Vertrala, Unlock Dreaming Mode.”
