Chapter 4, mark wun.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StockCharacters

That’s a lot of ‘stereotypical’ tropes… I wonder if any of the characters already falls under one of these categories.

I know Rin is a ‘Winged Humanoid,’ but other than that, I haven’t found anything too obvious… the list is too long m8

Damn, research takes time, guys. Anyways, thanks to all the internetz for helping me make this slightly more realistic

Also, additional thanks to: http://mu.ranter.net/design-theory/food-basis/everything-starts-with-grain

For adding realistic-ness to my story.

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Part 1 -

The deadliest spell in existence will never be the fireball created by the Hydrogen bomb. Nor will it ever be a virus bred to kill. Not even the destructive force from destroying a soul can possibly hold a candle to the deadliest magic.

The difference is simple. You can die a million deaths from such lowly spells, but each of these deaths can be prevented a million different ways.

But how do you defend against an attack that wipes you out before you were even born?

If you were an NPC, how do you defeat a character that simply tries again when killed?

The deadliest magic is magic that manipulates time.

Especially if the wielder has a perfect memory.

A god against someone without knowledge of this magic?

To put it simply, they have no chance.

A god against someone *with* this knowledge?

Well, no problem, the sperm cell that created said person no longer exists!

After about half a year in KMA (Kotonashi Magic Academy), I noticed something extremely odd.

The planet has no tilt.

None.

Using my most precise instruments, I determined that the planet’s tilt was exactly 0.000 degrees.

That’s unnatural.

Wait, Rin’s probably just screwing with me right?

The next thing I know… I realize the moon only comes out at night.

I created a mounted telescope with crosshairs and measured the time it took between the time it took for the side of the moon to touch the crosshair… exactly twenty-four hours.

But that would mean a single revolution would take exactly one year.

The main problem I have with the moon taking so long to orbit is… I confirmed the distance and size of the moon to be about the same as on earth.

But there are no tides.

The second biggest problem I have with the moon… in general… is that the moon should be under a permanent lunar eclipse. The moon should be stuck in the planet’s umbra if it orbits around the sun… with an angular velocity exactly that of the planet.

But I can see the moon. It’s bright white. WHY?

Due to it’s slow orbiting speed, it’s as if it’s orbiting both the planet and the star at the same time.

Next, I tried to determine the exact length of a year. I failed because the stars don’t move. The planet doesn’t have any tilt either.

At this point, I’m getting a bit freaked out.

Immediately, I create a new ring of undying memories. Memories are stored on a time independent dimension and no matter what happens, I can’t lose them with this ring on. What’s written cannot be erased and if the version on my brain is removed, a notification is shown next to the memory.

I made two of these in my past life. I gave one to somebody in some ceremony, but I can’t really remember who or where.

At the end of my third year, I completed the ring of undying memories. It is a very complex device, but the fact that I had to build it in secret dragged out the construction to an entire year. I had the blueprint saved several hundreds of times all over my soul, but all the unencrypted copies were removed.

This time, I made the ring tiny. After severing my finger, I removed a little circle of bone and fused the ring to my bone before reattaching my finger.

So, this solar system is fucked up, my soul has been tampered with… what else could possibly be wrong?

On the surface, this world is almost perfect. No discrimination, no incurable diseases, perfect governing, etc.

However, this world is fool’s gold. I scratch the surface and find my hand covered in shit.

I wonder how much shit comes out when I sqeeze?

Part 2 -

@&%@#[email protected]?

「Target’s stress levels have reached threshold Alpha.」

「Alright, let’s push him to point Bravo.」

「Do it slowly, or he might end up like all the others. The one thousand others.」

「Yeah, yeah, yeah… just shut up already. Can’t you trust me to do a simple job?」

「You’ve said that five hundred thousand times now.」

「Hey! I only failed the first hundred times! I got this man!」

@&%@#[email protected]?#end

Part 3 -

“Due to the complexity of the *wiggly* things on the third twist of the time circuit, no successful replica has ever been made,” droned the professor. “Of course, we have mathematically proven that such a circuit MUST exist. We have also scientifically proven this circuit can only have this one optimal shape and that it should look something like this diagram. A working version of this circuit would be disastrous in the wrong hands, which is why we are even researching this these days.”

“How do we know that such a circuit must exist?” I ask.

“Because time-manipulation countermeasures exist.” He answered. “That’s how faster-than-light communications work. With countermeasures, KE = 1/2MV^2 for all values for velocity. Relativity and time dilation is completely ignored.”

“Is that so… What about travelling between planets?”

“Well, you wouldn’t want to, since there’s no air out there. There’s also a field that prevents objects from leaving the atmosphere. The pope declared it the fifth wonder of the world, he did.”

A field preventing anyone from leaving the atmosphere?

“I know what you’re thinking, Rene, but someone’s already tried it. People at the top of their fields have dedicated their entire lives to this. Not one has yet to succeed.”

So I’m not allowed to leave this fucked up world?

Part 4 -

After the lecture, Kano and I were heading back to the dorms… however, Kano felt hungry, so we stopped to get some lunch.

After stopping by a shish kebab stand, we bought a few sticks.

At the corner of my eye, I see someone throw himself headfirst off the roof of a building.

That’s suicide, isn’t it? Magic can’t heal off a splattered brain.

I’d feel bad if I didn’t save him…

I slow his descent using wind magic so that his head gently taps the ground.

Kano is now saying something about curry… geez, all that guy ever talks about is food.

Pausing mid-sentence, he asks, “Why did you save him?”

“Because it would be such a shame to leave this wonderful world, right?” I sarcastically reply.

“I see.” He says, his expression changing to that of… wry humor?

Hmm, did I just violate a social taboo?

“Say, I have to go, see you at the dorm later.” He says before sprinting off.

Meh, he probably left to get curry or something.

That reminds me, I’m short on formation paper. I need to go buy some.

I head towards the supply warehouse at the corner of the academy.

That’s strange, everyone seems to be looking at me…

Have they just been staring at me this entire time?

Pit. Pat. Pit. Pat.

Looking down, I see a blade protruding out of my stomach.

Impossible… I didn’t feel a thing.

I forcibly pull myself off the blade and invoke healing magic.

The magic sputters out and the air around me vibrates slightly.

Magic suppression?

Looking backwards, I see a girl in a black outfit using magic suppression.

What the hell?!

Magic suppression is a technique used to combat mages with less than half your own. By sacrificing your own mana, you can seal your opponent’s mana as well. The downside is that it costs two units of mana to suppress one unit of mana, but everyone is using this shit and it’s annoying as fuck.

Ever since we were taught how to use magic suppression, I’ve had to win fights without magic.

I have developed a few countermeasures- ways to slip past the mana suppression field, but my magic won’t even invoke.

Looking at my wound, I see the edges are covered with a trademark turquoise powder.

How the hell did she get mana dispersal powder?

I quickly grab a pencil pencil out of my pocket. I press the eraser down to connect the mana crystal to the healing circuit.

Why is everyone else just standing there? Do they want my valedictorian spot that badly?

Good thing I’ve prepared for this kind of situation. I’ve prepared the second I realized that something as stupid as mana dispersal powder existed.

The academy gives students free small mana crystals. Apparently they have some way to manufacture them, and giving them out encourages experimentation.

I’ve been using them to make bullets. You can use a gun as long as you have a single working arm. I haven’t shown anyone this new device. They would just copy it if they knew about it. I also have no idea who could betray me.

“Any reason you want me dead?” I ask.

“I’ve been paid for your head.” She answers.

I take out a small rubber eraser and rip it in half.

Instantly, the street is covered in a thick, white smokescreen.

I take two large steps to the left and run in the direction the assassin had her back to.

Hopefully, she thinks I ran in the opposite direction.

After running a few seconds, I duck into the alleyway between the potion hovel and a taco casa.

Apparently they have tacos in this world too.

Maybe Rin had a thing for tacos.

I hop behind a box in the alleyway and crouch.

I should hid here for a few minutes befor-

“I know you’re there.”

Shit! How did she find me?

Who hired her?

I’ll think about that later. I have to get rid of her first.

I take out my trusty mac-10 and pop in a 30 round magazine.

I love this gun. It fires fast as hell and it’s so easy to conceal.

I pop out from behind the box and empty the magazine into her face.

No more assassin.

I need to get the hell out of this academy.

I run back to my room and throw my few belongings into my bag.

As I’m leaving, a guard stops me.

“Where are you going?” He asks.

“Just to take a short walk” I answer.

“So Aria failed… what a surprise.”

Is he in cahoots with the assassin?

How did they manage to get this guard on their side? Guards are chosen for their loyalty, not their strength…

Never mind that.

I reload my mac-10 and empty the magazine into his face.

“I’m afraid your mac-10 won’t work on me.”

What the fuck?!

How the hell does he know the name of the gun?

“Surely, you didn’t think that you were the only one that was sent into this world, did you?”

“What? There are others?”

“Certainly, you didn’t think that a god would just say, ‘Oh, I’m bored, so I’m just going to find some poor, messed up person to just screw with,’ right?”

“Everything that you’ve ever done in your life has been carefully planned. An array of over hundred gods have been carefully manipulating your life and every aspect of it. It’s so obvious! We apostles are horrible actors, the gods love drama too much… there was a goddamn elf for fuck’s sake and even your name is a dead giveaway.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Your name, Rene, means ‘reborn’ in French.”

“Does is really?”

The space around me warped and I found myself in a torchlit room with walls of cobblestone.

In front of me was a black cube that threw off a violent, bright green mist.

A girl with platinum hair was standing behind the glowing cube.

“If you would, Rin” She said.

Have I met this girl before?

Suddenly, my memories became clearer. She’s my daughter Izumi. Why is she here? Is she in cahoots with Rin?

“Here are your memories back, as promised.” Rin said, appearing suddenly. “Even if you were teleported to the bottom of the dungeon….”

“Why am I here?” I ask.

“You seem to ask that a lot.” She answers. “You’re here in order to fulfill this galaxy’s reason for existence.”

“And what might that reason be?” I ask.

“To create a sentient dungeon core, of course.” She said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.”

“Then what exactly have I been doing this entire life on this fake world?”

“Call it a waiting room. We’ve been doing attempts 1225-1232 while you’ve been here. We’ve learned that if you have your mana removed beforehand, the soul merge has a better chance.”

“Soul merging? Are you fucking nuts?! Kind of set off a small nuke when you fail! And 1232 attempts!”

“Well, dungeon cores have larger souls, so it’s more like a planet-shattering nuke...” She said, twiddling her fingers. “But since you were rated to have the best chance, we’ve saved you for last, after collecting all the data from the other trials.”

“What’s stopping you from doing more trials and wiping out more life? Don’t tell me you’re feeling guilty now…” I mutter sarcastically.

“Actually, it’s because we ran out of dungeon cores. See, the formation of a dungeon core is extremely rare, and we don’t really understand how they’re made either… And another factor is the fact that the universe-wide rapture event is tomorrow.”

“Universe-wide rapture event?” I ask. That doesn’t sound too sweet.

“From what I’ve been told, the galaxy Administrators are having a tournament to find out who is ‘number WaUnnn’ and so, we’re basically just pawns in their conflicts.”

“Who might our Administrator be?” I ask, genuinely curious.

“He calls himself Admin-72367253856, and quote quote, “I’ve been forced to participate, but I don’t feel like it. If you don’t want to stop existing, you should probably win. I’m going back to sleep, over.” Rin says, extremely dejectedly.

“So, basically, what I’m hearing, is that you basically fucked up my family to accomplish to complete your own agenda.” I say, getting a little peeved.

Izumi smiled. “Mom’s okay” She said.

Scratching her head nervously, Rin said, “Ehh, sorry about that. In order to fuse souls with the core, you need to have at least a billion kills. Besides, that wasn’t your wife, we used Fate’s shapeshifter for that.”

I feel a warm hand on my cheek.

“You’re so adorable, Takuma.” Says a sweet voice from behind me.

“Shiro?”

I whip myself around and hug her. “Shiro! I missed you!”

She picks me up and hugs me. “I missed you too.”

“This is really weird, since you’re so short.” She says.

It really is. She’s twice my height.

“Ahem.”

Rin clears her throat loudly.

“I know this is cute and all, but can we get on with this soul merge? We’re kinda out of time here…” She says slightly annoyed.

“Alright, let’s go!” Shiro exclaimed.

Shiro walked up to the core and placed me down right next to it.

“Alright, just place your hand on top of it and I’ll initiate the process.” Rin said. “When you’re done, say ‘System call, merge exit,’ and that’ll trigger the exit procedure.”

Should I really do it? To fuse your eternal human soul is to abandon your humanity.

Sensing my internal strife, Shiro whispered quietly into my ear, “Don’t let your friend’s sacrifices be in vain.”

Friends?

Don’t tell me… Attempts 1225 - 1232… No, what are the chances. It’s impossible. Seven other people did it. Or…

“Did they really ?” I ask.

“You really have to give them credit, they supported you until the end, even thought manipulation. That wasn’t a betrayal, it was a sleight of hand.”

“The recording crystal?”

“They staged it to distract you until they… contributed their data.”

I was afraid to hope that they would still be alive. So I didn’t. I hoped that they would be dead, so that if they were alive, I’d be surprised.

Even still, I feel crushed.

I put my hand on it expecting it to be cold, but it was like a piece of metal under the sun. Really hot at first, but it eventually cooling to the temperature of my hand.

“Do it.” I say, clenching my teeth.

“Alright, I’m starting” Rin said.

A jolt passed through me and suddenly I was falling.

Falling through what appears to be a long gray tunnel with no end in sight.

“Hi there.” Says a voice from behind me.

I whirl around to see Kano falling behind me, upside down with his arms crossed.

“You’re not Kano, are you….”

“What gave it away?” He grumbles

“I’ve known Kano for three years and I have never seen Kano cross his arms.”

“That’s ridiculous. Crossing your arms is the most natural thing in the world!”

“Apparently, he thinks it’s something only delinquents do.”

“That’s very narrow minded.” He says, annoyed.

“I agree.” I reply, crossing my arms.

“I like you.” He says, suddenly. “You’re the most agreeable humans I’ve ever met.”

I literally agreed to one sentence he said.

“You don’t talk to very many humans, do you.”

“You’re the first.” He said.

I hold my hand out. “Takuma Konoe, pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Flipping right side up, he takes it. “Kotonashi Dungeon Core, same.”

After shaking hands, he asks, “What brings you here, in my mind-demesne, I mean.”

“I came here to create a sentient dungeon core via soul fusion, but looks like you’re already sentient, so I’m not so sure anymore.”

Why would the Administrators want us to use such a destructive process to change something into what it already is?

We’ve tried to do this thousand two hundred and thirty two times now. A thousand two hundred and thirty two failures. Whoever thought of this is a real sadist.

“Hahahaha! Brilliant!” I exclaim. “Absolutely brilliant.”

“What? Do tell.” He says curiously.

“Don’t mind me, I’ve just realized that I’ve been told a really bad joke.”

A trillion lives and a thousand worlds all sacrificed in vain to accomplish a goal that was already accomplished.

It’s impossible not to laugh.

“Sounds like you have friends with a really dull sense of humor.” He says with a wolfish grin.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be leaving now.” I said, turning around.

What exciting revelations.

“Please don’t.”

“What?”

“It’s really boring to be trapped inside your own mind for millennia upon millennia.”

He suddenly lunged forward and grabbed a hold of me. What the hell did he even push off of to lunge?

He grabbed my head and pulled it so close that our noses touched. Inside his amber irises, I saw images in full, gorey detail.

A girl gutted by a broadsword; a man being beheaded. Hundreds upon hundreds of these images. As I focused in on each one, I felt the raw emotions that I instinctively knew were his. There was joy in every kill, humiliation in every defeat, and anticipation in every plan.

As I probed through his memories, I added in my own emotions to each scene of carnage. At first, it was disgust. Disgust at his sadistic nature, however, that disgust eventually turned to awe. Awe at the machine precision at which he worked. This is no ordinary killing spree. He turned mass murder into an art form.

With each humiliation, his desire to understand burned brighter. And as time wore on, his understanding of human nature sharpened itself.

If only they knew. If only they understood, what the thing they called a dungeon core really was. They would have sealed it in permanently. Sealed it in and taken every brick of the city to the opposite side of the planet.

As I felt myself gliding through his memories, I felt him going through mine.

Slowly, but surely, I began to feel his emotions in real time. Suppressed killing intent, intent curiosity, pity for me? Envy?

Why would a dungeon core pity me?

Why would a dungeon core envy me?

“Because Konoe-sama has taken the lives of over a billion in a fraction of the time it took me to amass a few hundred thousand. You’re a god, Konoe-sama, a god trapped in a human body.” Said a voice in my head.

“I’m no god.” I replied as our thoughts merged.

There are three parts to a successful soul merge. The memories must be rewritten from all merging parties so that the view on the subject is a collective view. Failure to complete this step generally causes fatal confusion after merge completion.

The second step is the mashing of the ideals and beliefs. Failure to complete this step causes personality fractures, which are generally fatal.

The last step is complete merging of co-processing and primary processing units. This can be done by just merging the brains or discarding a brain. Failure to complete this step results in two bodies with the same soul (aka a soul split), which generally (as always) results in the two bodies dueling it out and a fatality (as always).

In conclusion, don’t fail, or you die. Generally.

After opening my eyes, I realized that I had been sleeping in a freefall.

Hundreds of video feeds flood through my head, temporarily overwhelming me before my enhanced mind catches back up to the feed.

My brain power seems to have been raised considerably, making multitasking extremely efficient.

The human processor was built to run a single line of thought efficiently, but the dungeon core processor is quite the opposite. The dungeon core processor was built in order to run hundreds of thoughts in parallel. Our two minds complement each other’s so well that it’s as if I found a missing puzzle piece for my head and reattached it.

I really wish I would stop falling.

My descent instantly slowed as I gently touched down on a flat, gray surface.

The walls vanished and I found myself in a flat surface of a world.

Am I just stuck here for eternity?

No, there’s a way out… if I remember correctly, it should be...

I call out “System call, merge exit” in as loud of a voice as I can muster.

The skybox shatters itself like glass.

“Soul merge complete. Soul consonance 99%”

Who was that?

I open my eyes and another feed opens up showing only a stone ceiling. Unlike the other feeds, it’s a raw feed. I guess I could describe myself as being ‘closer’ to this feed. The thought process attached to my own senses appear to be many times stronger than any of the other feeds.

I’m lying on something warm.

I look up and see Shiro looking down at me. She’s wearing a white mage’s robe that matches her hair, and she’s holding a large wooden staff across my chest. The tip of the staff is shaped in a crescent moon, in the center of which a white orb is suspended.

“I told you it would work,” said Shiro.

“WHAT… IS… YOUR… NAME?” Rin said, wildly gesturing at herself. “DO… YOU… UNDER… STAND?”

“I’m Mickey Mouse, who are you?” I reply exasperatedly. (Ref: spectre(2015, film))

“Nooooo, he’s suffered permanent brain damage!” Rin cried. “And just ten minutes from the rapture event too!”

“God Dammit Rin! I’m fine!” I yell, while shaking her.

“What? We succeeded? I’m a genius!” She cried, doing an emotional 180. “And it only cost 1.2 trillion lives, a thousand worlds and a shit load of overtime!”

I don’t think I should tell her that the Kotonashi core was already sentient before she started…

“Alright, quickly, everyone is already waiting for you in the briefing room.” She said, smiling.

The edges of my perception bent and folded into a large space similar to an empty god’s realm. The feeds from all the creatures in Kotonashi Dungeon disappeared as well.

Somehow, they find a new way to teleport me every so often….

Standing in front of me were hundreds of people.

The first row of twenty or so were in black full body armor, riot shield included. Most of these people had submachine guns, with the exception of a few assault shotguns.

The second row was consisted of people wearing casual clothes with no visible weaponry. Engineers and technical experts maybe?

The third row on out were comprised of an array of people wearing random assortments of armor ranging from light joint protection to full plate. Among these people, I could see a wide assortment of weapons as well. Swords, battleaxes, maces, spears, bows… but nothing that you’d expect a mage to wear.

“How come there are no mages?” I ask.

“Because according to contest guidelines, article 12, section 3, ‘Mages are too op as defenders so ur not allowed to have any more than one (1) entity capable of performing magic, defined as the use/control of mana for the objective of modifying the physical world.’ But, it actually wouldn’t be accurate to say we have no mages.” Shiro answered, before tapping my head with her staff.

“Another important thing you need to know about dungeons is the defender types. The first type of defender is the simple entity. Simple entities are just bodies without personality. They follow orders issued by higher ranking entities, are sustained by the essence in the air, and respawn periodically based on the availability of mana supplied in the dungeon walls.”

“In contrast, complex entities are the human defenders. Human defenders are many times stronger than simple entities… especially considering we took our complex defenders from the top performing players of combat full dives that everyone *was forced by law* to play. These are the people whose ELO rank them in the top ten-millionths of a percent.”

“The downside to complex entities” She continued, “is that they take comparatively longer to respawn. Where simple entities can respawn in just under three minutes, complex ones take anywhere from an hour to thirty-six hours based on what build they want to spawn with. If they don’t wear equipment, like the assassins in row two, they can respawn in ten minutes.”

“The guys in the front row are dubbed ‘Rooks’ because they’re the cream of the cream of the crop. They’re the top 20 on planet Earth. We spent 90% of our starting dungeon points on physical enhancements for these guys, so your safety should be guaranteed.”

Now that I look closely, There are rook-shaped chess pieces taped to their helmets.

“Why Earth? Aren’t there a whole lot more planets?” I ask.

“Because a cross-galaxy conflict killed off 90% of our population and gods apparently. After they pushed the bastards back to their own galaxy center, they left them some terminator-styled self-replicating AIs to deal with. Coming home, they realized that the deadline to the reason they exist was coming soon, so they pulled the biggest warlords from all the planets in the galaxy into a single planet, ‘Earth,’ encouraged conflict and created what is now a cesspool of a planet.”

“Who is they?”

“Our ancestor gods and humans.”

“Why no other species?”

“High Administrator-12 declared all galaxies must have only Humans, Elves, and Beast-tribe Variants as sentient species. Elf and Beast-tribe scientists turned Rin and the other 11 into what they are today, so she sorta wiped them out.”

“Isn’t that a shame….” I mutter

“What lewd imagery are you thinking of right now, dear husband?” She asked icily, narrowing her eyes into slits.

“Sorry…” I said quickly.

Smiling as if nothing happened, she continued. “Lastly, the one hundred or so gods that are left, dubbed ‘Skynet’ will be chilling in your mind-demesne, where you should have fused with the dungeon core. All complex entities that die will go there, where we’ll reroute them to a vacant wall to respawn.”

“Alright, we’ve finished briefing.” Said Rin.

After placing her hand/talon on my head, she disappeared.

Everyone else followed, all eight hundred or so people and gods flooded me from all directions and vanished.

“See you in a bit, dear husband.” Shiro said, pressing something into my hand.

“Bye dad!” Izumi said, patting my head.

Damn, she’s taller than me.

As everyone vanished, I found myself alone in the large room.

I looked down into my open palm.

Lying on my hand, I saw a mini cassette player with the initials ST. (Suzuki Takeda)

I sat down and hit play.

“Heeyyyyy there!!! Sorry about the last recording… We didn’t really die or go anywhere fancy in the galaxy. In fact, we were right there in the bottom floor of the Kotonashi dungeon.”

“...”

“Using our awesomeness, we’ll try and hijack the core so that it’ll be easier for you to merge. Unfortunately, it’ll cost our souls, since we’re using them as viruses… but whatever! Sometimes, you find someone worth sacrificing yourself for, and I found just that!”

“...”

“They wouldn’t let me give you a last recording because something about a tendency to poison minds, but I asked Shiro to help out, since that’s obviously a lie. I don’t poison minds, I swear.”

I’m sure.

“I couldn’t believe it when I lost to Shiro… But now, I’ll admit, she had the conviction to take the initiative and become your wife. She had resolve, whereas I only made excuses. Damn, she got me good...”

I looked at the ground, face burning slightly.

“Anyways, if you feel like you can’t let go of us, I guess you could fulfill what you could call, my last wish.”

I’ll do anything for you.

“Don’t just defend your dungeon…. As general patton always said, ‘The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.’”

“...”

“Anyways, my last wish is simple. Make all your competitors pay in blood. Make them pay heavily for each victory; make them wish they were never born for each defeat. Remember, I’ll always be watching you. May the fortunes of war be with you as you paint the world red with blood.”

The player clicked as it reached the end of the cassette.

“No wonder your favorite color is red, Suzuki.”

“System Alert, Rapture system is teleporting you in five seconds.” Said a voice in my head.

“I wonder if Elves and Beastmen bleed red as well…”