Alexis was slightly impressed by what she saw. She had to give this simulation credit, as the technology that was on display was absurdly advanced despite it not having a single trace of magic within it. How any civilization could reach such a technological level without any magic of any kind was astounding, but aside from the tech that was here, there were other things that impressed her.

Kain had taken her to various places, which ranged from local eateries, monuments, and art galleries to even a few museums and entertainment venues, and each one was a tour de force, although not all for the same reason. Hell, even Kain occasionally looked rather upset when someplace they visited didn’t meet his expectations. Both of them may have been able to eat anything, but even they had their limits, and the amount of oil and grease in some of the local dishes was simply too much for them to stomach.

Likewise, some of the art on display and some of the pieces in the museums were… below average. Well, below average by their standards, at least. Alexis herself was appalled to learn that one of the biggest art installations was literally just a toilet seat that had been stuck inside a picture frame. And, if that wasn’t enough of an insult to art, then the singular, barely ripe banana that was laced in a sealed glass container only fueled Alexis’ doubts in the sanity of the people here even more.

Of course, it did kind of make sense as to why such exhibits were there. It did not take her long to realize that, under certain tax laws, there were ways to not only avoid paying taxes but even get money for essentially nothing. She easily put two and two together and came to the conclusion that this ‘art’ was a shoddy yet ingenious way of essentially reselling a single banana for millions of times its actual price, probably as a ‘charitable donation’, which would, in turn, let the ‘artist’ responsible for it make fucking bank in tax rebates.

They would have to make a law or two in order to prevent such blatant bullshit from happening in Darksol when they both got back.

On another note, there were many places that they visited that were either decent or rather amazing, at least to Alexis. Oddly enough, Kain didn’t seem nearly as awestruck about everything here, almost as though he had experienced a not-so-small number of things like that which was here. One of Alexis’ favorite places was the Empire State building. She found it rather humorous that this building was so hyped up by everyone around them, and yet it was not even the tallest structure, nor the more artistic, in the entire city.

Another monument that she found admirable, though for different reasons, was the colossal construct of metal that people kept calling ‘Lady Liberty’. She found it rather impressive that so much copper and other metals had been fused into such a massive yet solid thing. And then she learned that what she was seeing was essentially just a bunch of welded and bolted metal plates that had been attached to an inner framework, and that slightly ruined it for her.

She did still find it rather impressive, though. She didn’t expect that anything that had been so wonderfully sculpted could have been made in such a way and was fairly impressed that so many individual plates not only fit together but were able to make a mostly seamless edifice. Eventually, she grew bored of the city and that which was within it, and Kain picked up on this.

Her husband floated in the sky alongside her, his hand rubbing his chin as he thought of something. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and the simulated reality that they were in shifted to reveal a pair of armies facing each other in a place that Alexis swore was based on the lands formerly owned by the former Arbiana Sultanate.

One army marched under a deformed plus sign, while the other, opposing army marched under a red double-headed eagle that lay upon a yellow backdrop. Alexis watched both armies send their commanders to meet up in the no man’s land between the two forces. She overheard words being exchanged, but none of them were of any note to her. She turned to her husband and asked him what the plan was. Would they be siding with one army, or the other?

Kain turned to her with a devilish look in his eye, and Alexis immediately picked up on what their second battle in this simulated realm would be. Certainly, they could side with one over the other, but where would be the fun in that. It was clear to Alexis that both armies were diametrically opposed to each other, and they both obviously hated each other on a fundamental level.

But what if they were forced to work together to face a common foe? What if both armies, both religious groups, were forced to come together for the sake of survival? What if, instead of letting them fight it out, the two monarchs descended and forced those who despised each other to come together for a common reason?

Would they set aside their differences and find some common ground? Would they let themselves be torn apart and watch in indifference as their opposition was eradicated, knowing full-well that they would be next on the chopping block if they did nothing? They would find out what course would be taken soon enough, as both armies began to move towards each other. From there, the two counted down in their heads, watching, waiting, preparing to descend and wreak absolute havoc on both sides at once.

The initial result would almost certainly be what they expected, but what would be the following actions and reactions? Would both sides throw men into a meat grinder, caring not for the fate of their foes until they themselves were targeted, or would they come together and unite against a truly dangerous foe? Once the two forces were but meters away, Alexis swooped down, followed shortly by Kain, and the two began to rip and tear and mutilate and butcher until the shock of their sudden intrusion wore off.

As they predicted, both armies backed off even faster than they had advanced, allowing the two monarchs to shred anyone that was dumb enough to stay or slow enough to be left behind. It took less than a single minute for both sides to lose around 1,000 men, all to just two people. As both forces backed the fuck off, Alexis decided to up the ante by grabbing a cowering man before ripping out his throat with her teeth and guzzling his blood until he was nothing but a shriveled husk.

So many people had eyes on them in that moment, and the stage was set for yet another bit of stress relief.