"What is it?" I ask Avryl as she gawks at a massive structure. To me, it looks like a smashed bundle of gears and belts, but her reaction tells me that it must be pretty interesting.

"I might be wrong, but that looks like a Manatronic Automaton." The Artificer declares.

Yes, of course. A Manatronic Automaton. I know what it is, I promise.

"Not a lot of people know about these. They were a fad a few hundred years ago, where people compensated for the lack of proper Magical Circuitry with enchanted gears. Each tooth on the gear has a spell built into it, and the perfect timing of those spells activating together gets you the results you want." She explains.

"That sounds overly-complicated. Even for the most insane- adventurous of Artificers." Yoshiko says with a raised eyebrow.

Avryl nods, "You bet. It's no wonder that everyone abandoned this technique almost as soon as it began to see some use. Making these things work properly is a nightmare, but they are quite sought after by collectors of historical oddities. Even a smashed-up Automaton can fetch a lot of Credits. Furthermore, I think I can fix some parts of this one. A fully working one would be ideal, but it's too much to ask."

"That looks pretty massive and quite entangled with the rest of the junk," I comment. "Would we be able to get this out of here in time?"

"Sword," the barbarian grunts and nods.

I guess it's okay then? It's quite amazing that I can somehow discern different intents behind a single word.

"Sword will use his formidable ancestral strength to gather it into his spatial bag. But the resulting commotion will attract a bunch of Chimeras, so we better prepare." Yoshiko says.

I can't help but stare at the sack that looks like it's at least one hundred years old. Is this thing a spatial bag? As in a bag that's bigger on the inside? I shrug and focus on defending Sword as he rips through the pile of junk. Avryl fiddles with her doomsday weapon, and I scan the area. It's quite dark, so I can't see anything.

"You fool!" Yoshiko mutters as an array of pentagrams appear around her arm before a beam of plasma fires out of her hand, causing bloodcurdling screeches to erupt from a now-melted pile of metallic trash. "My sealed demon hunger for more!" she says as she raises her left arm and clenches her fist.

Avryl doesn't bother to translate, so I can only assume she's spouting nonsense again. The Artificer suddenly jolts up, and a savage grin creeps on her face as she unleashes hell. A beam of bright yellow light comes out of her Death Ray, and it melts everything in its path. I think I can hear some screams here and there, but it might be my imagination.

Looking around reveals that these two attacks were enough to turn a good third of the available salvage into a useless melted goop. I think I got an idea about why these people don't have a lot of money.

I almost jump when Sword flings a car-sized chunk of metal off the machine. I'm way too tense. Nobody can blame me; I don't have any combat experience. Furthermore, these Chimeras are beyond disgusting. I'm glad that I chose to use a gun instead of a sword. Getting up close and personal with an abomination sounds downright suicidal.

The hissing of steam catches my attention. The noise comes from Avryl, who is screwing one of her soda can grenades into a port of her red-hot weapon. A thin sheet of frost forms onto its surface before melting and the Artificer casually throw the now empty grenade away. That looks like a poor design if I've ever seen one.

A roar takes me out of my thoughts. A tentacle made of squirming three-fingered hands rushes towards me! The others are too slow to react in time, so I fire wildly into the general direction of the rogue appendage. Deafening explosions and big splatters of gore fill all my senses as I keep firing without aiming like in an action film from the eighties.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEE," that's all I can hear as I pull the trigger as if my life depended on it. To be fair, it probably does.

Something touches my shoulder; I turn around and-

It's a gut-covered Yoshiko.

***Warning, minor system damage detected! Running MERTCORE.Restore()! ***

My hearing is sudden restored, and I reel back as sound floods my ears once again.

"-Can you hear me?" the Demon Slayer asks.

I nod as I take a deep breath, "Is the thing dead?" My question answers itself when I look around. There's nothing left apart from the black walls of the dimension and the rubble behind me. There's a couple of surviving chunks of metal and distorted flesh here and there, but there's nothing else.

"Did I do that?" I ask nobody in particular. I knew that my weapons might have been a little overkill, but seeing it in person is something else.

"That was some fury you unleashed! Very good, recruit!" Yoshiko taps me on the back and turns towards Sword. The gigantic man hasn't reacted to the carnage that has been going on behind him. He even has some still dripping pieces of unknown organs slowly sliding off his jacket.

I turn towards Avryl, who hasn't said anything. Blood and guts cover her entire body, but the flushed smile she makes once our eyes meet tells me that she's not only insane, she's also a psychopath. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but her ragged breathing and flushed expression as her gaze alternates between me and the destruction I sowed tells me that she's enjoying this.

"Is everyone alright?" I ask as I do my best to wipe the slimy remains of the Chimeras off my clothes. The flesh is slimy and sticky, which means that it will be a nightmare to remove. And don't get me started on the smell, it's like someone just shoved rotten meat into my nose. I think these clothes are not washable anymore, even with the best efforts of the potentially prophetic magical laundromats that seem to litter my home planet.

I refrain from gagging and see that the others are not at all bothered by the smell of rotten death that lingers around the group.

"Don't worry recruit! 'Tis but the soul of the abominations being cleansed!" Yoshiko declares while crossing her arms and raising her head.

I turn towards Avryl, but she seems quite out of it at the moment. She just looks at me with empty and glazed over eyes.

Fuck me, why does the barely literate giant barbarian seem to be the most normal person of this group?

"Sword," Sword says along with one last final loud crashing sound followed by a suction noise. My eyes widen as I see a big brass gear miniaturizing and getting sucked into the sack that shouldn't be able to store such a large item. Now that I look more closely, half of the garbage behind us has been either stored by Sword or chucked away.

"Avryl, how much time do we have left?" Yoshiko asks the Artificer, who stays silent for a couple of seconds before blinking quickly and shaking her head.

"Oh!" she checks her Terminal, "We have 10 minutes before the Breach collapses."

"Right, let's head back then," the Demon Slayer orders. "We might gather some ancient treasures on our way out of this infernal maze, but we better be sure that it will not burden us."

Oh, I think I got this one! We need to get the fuck out of here, but we might pick up some stuff on our way provided that it doesn't slow us down too much.

...Should I be worried that I adapted so quickly to her weird way of speaking?

Leaving the Breach is uneventful; we picked up a few trinkets and baubles on our way out, but nothing on the scale of the Manatronic machine. There were also no Chimeras to bother us this time around. I don't know if they were too scared to attack us or if my rampage wiped them out, but I feel slightly safer now that we are out of the Breach.

The portion of the wall we went through shudders for a brief moment before returning to its normal state. There's not a trace that this place once was a portal to a doomed dimension populated by mindless abominations who-

I freeze in place. What was I thinking? Am I getting contaminated by Yoshiko? I shake my head and focus. That should be it for this mission, and this should hopefully mark the end of my brief but eventful career as a Breach Diver.

"We should get cleaned up. At this point, even our self-cleaning clothes will have trouble handling it," Avryl says as she flicks a mix of god knows what off her sleeve.

So, it is as I feared, the smell will stick to my clothes.

"Is there no way of removing that smell? I don't have another change of clothes at hand." I say with a wry smile.

"Aside from burning them?" the Artificer asks.

I stare at her before hiding my face in my hands, "Yes, Avryl. Aside from burning them."

"Oh, then not that I know of." She answers with a weirdly chipper tone.

I let out a massive sigh and lean back. "I bet there are no shops that would accept us while covered in this goo, right?"

"You'll be surprised at what a merchant is capable of doing for a bundle of coins," Yoshiko declares while nodding.

Okay, at least that helps. My under-armor is self-cleaning, but not the clothes above. That's an oversight if I ever saw one.

"Do not worry, recruit! I'll offer you a new set of garments as a note of appreciation for your spectacular performance!" the Demon Slayer says.

I make a wry smile and thank her. I can't say no since I need another change of clothes, but thinking about what she'll bring back makes me shudder.

"Onward, Alpha Team! One of the shops I like to frequent is not too far from here!" Yoshiko says as she points her finger towards a seemingly random direction.

Good lord, I'm already regretting letting her choose.

The Japanese woman guides us through the alleyways. It doesn't take long for us to go back to the main streets of the DimShop. As it turns out, smelling like the plague and looking like you have been dunked into a clogged sewer at least helps with the crowd. People give us a wide berth as we navigate the streets without any difficulties.

I know we arrived at our destination without even asking. There's a bunch of normal-looking shops, and there's one that is a black so deep that it looks like a tear into reality. There's a stylized skull engraved on the metal door, and the sign reads 'The Faded Rose.'

I can't help but sigh as we enter the shop. It's surprisingly cramped and well-lit compared to its exterior. There's also a pleasant and slightly dizzying scent of cheap incense.

"'Tis a foul smell to enter my shoppe!" a seductive female voice echo. I almost want to turn around and run. Don't tell me that the shopkeeper is the same as-

"Welcome to my humble abode!" the shopkeeper welcomes us while crossing her arms and raising her head. I think I'll call it the Yoshiko-Pose. The shopkeeper looks to be a woman in her thirties with long brown hair and an hourglass figure. She's wearing a rather revealing Victorian-styled red top that puts certain parts of her anatomy in almost full display. She's also wearing a short black skirt and long black leather heeled boots. But what's more remarkable about her is not her very shapely bo- personality, but the two tiny horns on her forehead that are somehow emphasized by her heavy makeup. Or at least I think it's makeup. I'm not an expert on supernatural people.

"It is I, the doomed leader of Alpha Team!" Yoshiko answers while doing her trademark pose. "We encountered devilry of epic proportion, but our recruit has managed to slay it with ease! However, the foul beast thought it was fitting to ruin our garments as its last action in this forsaken world! Alas, our recruit does not have another set of battle armor in his possession!"

The shopkeeper nods, "I see your predicament! Fear not, young one, for I have what you seek! Or I wouldn't be called Lucille, the Shopkeeper at The End of The World!"

I turn towards the other members of the Alpha Team, while the two idiots cackle like villains from a cartoon.

Avryl looks to the side, visibly used to their antics. Sword looks at me and nods with a grunt full of comprehension.

"Sword," he powerfully declares with another nod.

This man is a born leader. His inspiring speech would rouse anyone.

I decided to look around the shop instead of wasting my time with the other weirdos of the Alpha Team. The contents of the shop are rather eclectic. There are clothes, armors, and weapons. I can also spot a few trinkets here and there. There's even what looks like boxes of cupcakes in a corner. But all this seemingly random assortment of junk has one thing in common.

They all share the same over-the-top, edgy fantasy look that Yoshiko adores.

It doesn't take long for Lucille to come back while carrying a large black box, "'Tis the best for this fine recruit you got!" she insists on the 'fine' a bit too heavily for it to be a coincidence, and she even winks at me. "This set of cursed items will make him able to endure even the worst of calamities! Even the wrath of a God will not harm him!"

For fuck's sake, I think I'll explode if I hear any more of this nonsense.

"Can I please change? I would rather not wear clothes full of bits of dead Chimeras if I can avoid it." I interject before the two go into an endless and over the top tirade.

"Eager to wear your armor!" Lucille nods as she hands me the large box. I spotted the changing rooms when I looked around, so I head there before I hear any more nonsense. I enter the surprisingly large changing booth and set my guns down along with the box.

I'll be honest. I'm kind of scared by what's inside.