Life of a Nobody

by Xinrick

Nobody in The Hero's Tomb Part 1

The first floor. Even with the tea, it was pitch black here. Only a few torches lit the halls ever so faintly. Skeletons of all variety of creatures littered the floor, walls and ceiling. Their weapons and equipment scattered about like shrapnel from an explosion. "Appropriate." Kexez said simply.

I brought out the newly evolved Eternal Flames and swung the both of them around at all the torches, replacing the dim fire with it’s own bright blue fire that lit up the room by a lot. “There, that’s better.”

As we were walking I heard something...rattle. There was the ever familiar sound of a blade piercing something...someone. I turned around, seeing one of the skeletons was up, pulsating void as they stabbed a sword through Kexez's arm. "Was that meant to hurt?" They asked, placing a hand on the skeletons head. "Back to the dead with you." There was a flash of Nothingness and suddenly, the skeleton was just ashes. Kexez pulled out the sword, the wound healing quickly.

“The Void here is strong enough to puppet the Skeletons huh?” I wondered.

"Void Necromancy." Jericho said. "Void tainted magics are way stronger than their standard counterparts. Typically it's used to prevent a death, but to reanimate the dead, the longer it is undead the stronger it becomes."

“I wonder…” I hummed while bringing out Book of Retribution and it’s new counterpart the Staff of Leniency. “Let’s try something out...Maximize Empty Magic, Grand Revival.” I said while pointing my staff towards a small pile of skeleton’s, trying to either raise them to some form of sentience or at least make some decent skeleton soldiers.

Nothingness flowed over them, flowing into the bones as suddenly, along the skulls, the Nobody symbol appeared on them as they rose up, picking up weapons. "Undead Nobodies… that's an oddly good Halloween gimmick." Jericho said 

“If memory serves...Halloween is actually coming up back home.” I said honestly while checking the new Nobodies stats to see how strong they were.

Race: Nobody
Name: Skeletal Undead

Att:14
Def: 9
Mag: 20

What they lack in defense they make up for in large numbers. Skeletal Undead's are second only to the Sorcerer Nobody in terms of magic power.

“Hmm, that’s interesting.” I hummed. “Says here their strong in numbers as well as second to Sorcerer Nobodies in terms of magic.”

"They can be stronger." Kexez said. They then handed me a book. It was a simple grey with the Nobody symbol on it. "The Void Mother has her own library. I swiped this among a few others."

“This...should be some First Cycle lore on Nothingness…” I said while taking the book and opening it. “Or at least something ancient if it’s from Void Mother’s library.”

"Actually, this was cataloged with the Second Cycles material. Nothingness didn't exist until the second cycle."

“Which begs the question why she didn’t see an obvious parallel here.” I frowned. “I know grief is a hell of a thing but jeez.”

"Because it wasn't the only new thing. The second cycle. Grey, Heartless, Shadow Creatures. Each new Cycle added more and more onto what was there from the prior. And, here we are now."

“Well that’s interesting…” I said honestly.

With that in mind the new Nobodies helped a bit in some of the random encounters… like the Void Spiders whose bodies were made out of baby corpses… or the swarms of Void hornets that sting like someone sent the full force of the big bang into their stingers! Or the literal shit golem that tried to drown me in it's own shit… needless to say we stopped for a good shower real fast after that one...

“This is fucking gross and everyone knows it…” I grumbled. “It took me three hours to get cleaned and I still don’t feel clean…”

"Same…" Jericho shivered.

"Reminds me of that bar scene from that old movie Dogma." Kexez said plainly. "Just way uglier."

As we explored we did find a few neat items. I got a Void Shield. Jericho found Void Shard, good for synthing apparently, and Kexez kept this one creepy looking image of those Void Spider corpse things…

We did find, to my complete surprise, a Rest area. Huh, a lot like the ones from the dungeon Cript took me to. As we rested up, there was a book here. It was bound to the podium it was displayed on but talked about this floor. Giving, thank God, a map of this floor and details on its enemies and even the boss.

“Okay so we thankfully have a map straight to the boss.” I said honestly.

"Is there anything else of note there?" Jericho asked, the fire pit here actually was pretty good. Void food was weird and not deadly. Thankfully.

“Well let’s see…” I said while looking over the map, trying to find if there was anything about hidden rooms or anything. There was a secret room with what would either be treasure or a monster, a door to a back dungeon area. Apparently that is an even more dangerous version of the floor you are already on, but while it is more dangerous, it also has far more rewards, and a lot of them are rare. “So we have a secret room, but I don’t know if it has treasure or a monster, and apparently there’s a door that leads to a ‘Hard Mode’ version of the specific floor we’re on.”

"Best not risk it." Kexez said. "Any information on this floor’s boss?"

”Well let’s see…” I said while checking to see if the book had anything on the upcoming boss. “Hopefully it’s in here…”

It was. 

Isabel The Loyal

Once a proud hero who stood for Alliances and defense against the monsters of the land, met her end at this very tomb, where she now resides as the first floor guardian.

Level: ???
Weapon: Shining Spear

“Alrighty then...we have Isabel The Loyal, a lance wielder with the weapon Shining Spear and...even with how high all of our levels are, her level is still unknown.” I said. “Said she died in this very tomb before becoming it’s guardian…”

"Sounds about right." Jericho sighed.

"If she is a Spear or Lance user, Frozen Pride will be very useful here." Kexez said.

“Yeah, besides Frozen Pride just evolved a bunch of times so it’s god knows how much stronger...plus I haven’t tested out all my weapons yet so this will be a good test run.” I said honestly.

"If she has the same general long arm attack patterns you could block for us while Kexez and I fire off long range AoE attacks." Jericho thought aloud.

“I know this Dungeon is supposed to bring back anyone even if a Delete killed them…” I said before bringing out Second Chance. “I need a fair explanation on who should use this to bring Isabel back. Cause it’s either I give it to Kexez as a sign of good faith, or I give it to Jericho cause I know he can do it…” I explained.

"Does it matter?"

“A little…” I said honestly.

“While given it’s a keyblade, it would be logical for me to use it, Jericho likely has dealt with more spear/lance type fighters than I or Heart ever has. He is more likely to land the saving blow.”

“Yeah...that’s true.” I said honestly while handing Jericho Second Chance. “Please don’t break it…”

“Relax. It’s in good hands.” Jericho said, giving the weapon a light shake in his grip. “Let’s prepare and get ready for this boss.”

“Agreed.” Kexez said.

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “Well...I’m mostly going to be buffer and healer for you two honestly.”

Heading back off to the Boss room, with a copy of the map, we ran into a few monsters, but nothing we didn’t deal with prior… and avoided the shit this time. Entering the Boss room, there was a large coffin sat in the center of this massive room. The doors shut behind us, and the coffin lid blew off like it was nothing.

“Right then.” I said while I brought out my Lexicon and Staff and started casting literally every buff spell I knew onto Kexez, Jericho, and my two hundred strong Skeleton Nobody army, as well as adding in some Code to boost all the buff spells.

First to emerge the coffin was the spear, then the arm, and soon, Isabel was out. Her eyes hollow, skin pale, and hair pitch black as the void. She readied herself, pulling her arm back for an attack.

“Alright...let’s test the waters.” I said while sending two Skeleton’s towards her to see her reaction.

She thrusted forwards, an energy wave splitting off into thousands of mini spears obliterated the Nobodies, my shield held up as they bounced off Frozen Pride. That got a Howl ready. “Set the howl off, we’ll add to it.” Kexez said.

“Alright…” I nodded while raising Frozen Pride. “Howling Wrath!” I shouted as the sound of a Dire Wolf howling was heard as a massive sonic blast shot out towards it, several Skeleton’s raising staff’s up and firing their own magic attacks to add in.

The Howl staggered Isabel into the wall, allowing the skeletons magic and the volly of Jericho’s and Kexez’s spells to land, dealing damage. Jericho took the moment, accelerating fast til he was behind her, Second Chance at her neck. “Assassin's Silence.” Jericho said, slicing her neck. But rather than blood or Void, Code and Nothingness flowed out from her wound.

Isabel dropped the Spear, gasping for air as the Nothingness mark grew larger Soon covering her chest and head and soon her whole body. There was an eerie silence as it cocooned her, and slowly the light faded away, and an infant's crying could be heard. 

I rushed to them, and on the cold ground crying, was a small baby girl. “It’s alright, mommy’s here.” I said gently while picking up the crying infant. “Mommy’s here, no need to cry.” I said in a soft motherly tone.

They calmed down, taking comfort in my warm fur. I had one thought, unconscious and instinctual. My Baby. That was all it took, Family curse activating, and behold, another Floof Noodle. Thought not like Heart, only the single pair. “So… how are we gonna keep the baby safe?” Jericho asked.

“One of two ways, and something tells me Ben knows what I am referring to.” Kexez said. 

“Well…” I said nervously. “I’m not sure which one...cause right now I’d want to bond with her...but what are the memories you got from her Jericho?” I asked curiously.

Looking at the Keyblade, Jericho held a hand over it, pulling out a Castle Oblivion card. He then handed it to me. “Some insane thrusting tecniques, and I mean the kind for fighting not fucking.” They jokes.

“So how will we go about this then?” Kexez asked me.

“Well…” I looked down at my new Floof Noodle, wondering if I should send her back to all the other kids are, or have her...sit in my stomach. “What do you two think?”

“Dunno… Can you even…Stomach a hundred kids?” Jericho said, earning a punch from Kexez. 

“Even I knew that wasn’t funny.” Kexez said. “Biologically, I’d be able to hold them all, and feed them, Heart read that book and our link let me learn it all too. I’d have no issue, and with these buffs and the natural biology I’m almost a walking tank… Though, there is the other option of sending them to the home, but some creature of void might enter there, and that’s the last thing anyone would want.” 

“And I just got used to being a Den Mother...now I might need to turn into a Floof Noodle myself…” I sighed out while holding my new daughter close. “I know you're right…” I pouted, not sure what to do with my new baby girl.

“I was recommending something more… unique.” Kexez said. “As I am still a Nobody, and you the king of them all, you can in a sense, ‘imprison’ me, and from there gain my abilities without actually changing your own body. Something akin to fusion but not, and when it’s over here just let me out and with me, all those new kids. I’d just be in the back seat, no real control aside from speaking. Even that you can take away.”

“Kinda like how Cript had me imprisoned them.” Jericho added.

“I know I know.” I said honestly. “Sorry for making this difficult...um...how many kids can I hold in my stomach as a Den Mother? Just so I know.”

“Given certain races and the curses random choice of spouse and such… maybe ten, twenty if you include your womb and other organs.” Jericho mentally calculated.

“Imprison it is then?” Kexez asked me.

“We’re going to need your help, plus I can’t fight so…” I sighed out while handing her over. “You have her...the bonus will be good for what’s to come…”

“Hmm… This will be new.” Kexez said, taking the baby. I did flinch a bit as I saw them open their mouth, but to my surprise the baby slithered down their mouth and down on their own. “Huh… yeah. Feeding belly. Woah! Okay… that’s oddly sensitive…”

“You get used to it.” I said honestly. “Now...let’s check this spear…” I said while picking up the Shining Spear Isabel dropped. “Wonder if there’s any other loot…” I muttered while checking my Assistant on the stats of this Spear.

Shining Spear
Att: 5,000
Def: 2,000
Mag:500

Ability: 50,000 Deadly Piercing Spears. Shoot out all your energy from the tip to unleash a halestorm of deadly mini spears. 

WARNING! VOID CORRUPTION DETECTED! -1,000 HP per second to non void beings wielding.

I checked my HP… Yeah, that’s going down. Kinda slow but it shows.

“Yeah let’s solve that.” I said as Nothingness Thorns wrapped around the Spear. “Void Purity.” I said as the Thorns stabbed into the Weapon and started to siphon out all the Void Corruption in the Weapon.

Slowly, the Void inside it was expelled. Soon the spear lost it’s pitch black color, and changed into a bright beautiful chrome spear tip and blue metallic body. “Neat.” Jericho said.

I gently spun Shining Spear in my hand, feeling how lightweight it was but it felt strong and durable. “This will do nicely.” I said honestly.

The doors behind the coffin opened. Slithering up to it, Kexez looked inside the coffin. “Huh.. you’ll want to see this.”

Jericho and I looked into it… That’s a lot of loot… weapons, gold, void artifacts- IS THAT A SEXY ANTHRO EEVEE!? “Hey there stud~” She cooed at us.

“... This is weirder than I was expecting…” Kexez said.

“This makes sense for a top tier dungeon Cript would make. Loot of various types all depending on who beats the boss… Void Mother is still Cript in that department…” Jerisho signed.

“I don’t care.” I said, having already been hugging the sexy anthro Eevee. “She is floofy, sexy, and I really like her.”

She gave me a playful kiss on the cheek. “Make me a mama~” She cooed at me.

Jericho facepalmed, Kexez rolled their eyes. “Alright, into the storage belly she goes.” Kexez said, their tongue… that’s a long tongue, wrapping around the Eevee and swallowing her as well. She gave a very lustful eep at that. “This is going to really stretch me out.” 

“Lewd.” I said. “Save that talk for bed.” I joked.

We sorted through all the stuff. This coffin was way deeper than expected. That also wasn’t the only Anthro Pokemon there...There was also a blessed busty Gardevoir, Charzard, and Deoxys… Needless to say, I was happy. 

Everything else was about six tons of Gold, over sixty trillion Rem, enough weapons, Void and other to fill out countless armies, a few random books, and… what?

We all kinda sat looking at the box. The small box with the words ‘Ben’s Childhood’ written on it.

“I’m… not sure how to reply to this…” Jericho said.

“Is it even real? And if so...how?” Kexez asked.

“But...that’s impossible.” I said while slowly picking up the box. “But...this shouldn’t...how?” I asked while slowly opening the box.

Opening the box, there was a flash of light… and it gave of display of a first person perspective of… My second birthday party? “Oh… it’s just memories.” Jericho said.

“From Ben’s perspective. Up til adulthood likely given it says Childhood.” Kexez said.

“But how did Void Mother get these? Where did…” I trailed off.

“In any reality… it’s Cript, don’t question it.” Jericho said, getting up as he began helping store all the other loot.

I frowned. “That...doesn’t explain it really. Plus...this was from a loot pool from a First Gen Hero…” I said, finding this very strange. “Can’t just be coincidence…” I muttered, thinking this box held something that explained who the hell I am.

With all the loot collected we headed off to the next floor. The next floor looked… actually, this looked nothing like the first floor… It looked like a typical castle set up.

“Well this is different.” I said honestly. “Wonder what we’ll find in here.”

“... Hey Ben.” Jericho said.

“Yes?” I asked curiously, kind of worried as to why he said that.

“Mind if I make a copy of Second Chance then edit it? I have a feeling I found the perfect method to cheese this whole dungeon in the weirdest way ever.”

“Yes, you are allowed to.” I said honestly. “Now tell me how you can cheese this dungeon?”

“Give me a moment.” He said, then summoning code to his hand, waving it over Kexez’s tail then sifting through the code he collected. He then made the copy of Second Chance, and began altering it, replacing a strand of code there with the one he copied then wrote some new code, and proceeded to alter the Keyblades physical appearance. It now was a ton of pink hearts in a metallic mist looking frame. “I give you, Love Struck. One hit, anything...anything, should change physically into a love struck bimbo.” They said, holding back laughter from crying. “I’m going to regret making this…”

I took it...and changed it a bit so they were more of an actual person than just a bimbo. “There, better.” I said honestly.

“This is still going to be so weird…” Jericho chuckled.

“You owe me…” Kexez sighed, knowing they would have to store all those new ladies.

“Well… time to test it.” Jericho said, pointing towards a Void Knight walking towards us with a halberd.

“Listen...if this works...I blame you, and I also thank you.” I said as I cast a spell on Love Struck, letting it float around on it’s own. “Go.” I said as Love Struck flew over to the Knight ready to strike.

It impaled the knight through, returning to me. The knight was still for a moment, then there was a flash of hot pink. And suddenly, this hollow knights armor was now, in order, busty, bouncy, still metal looking so… weird but eh, and it’s halberd was also now, sexually themed. Their eyes were also a glowing hot pink. “Take me~” They said… why is that voice so hot?

“It works…” Kexez said.

“Oi, I changed it so they would be more person then...that, the fuck.” I frowned. “While I’m fine with this, there’s a point where it starts getting weird…” I said nervously. “And I don’t want it to get weird.”

“Must still be developing a...brain…” Jericho pondered aloud as Kexez stored them away with the Poke-Women. “This is my role in life now? Huh… Eh, could be worse.”

“It shouldn’t...but sadly things are happening right now…” I sighed out. “Again, I don’t want this to be weird...Love is sacred, and I make damn well sure Love is treated right.”

“You also forget Cript is the Admin of Love… so all kinda apply I think?” Jericho pondered aloud. “Plus your cherub effects… and now we all share a technical body and all that so… huh… I don’t know anymore.”

“One down, no god will know how many more.” Kexez jokes.

“I hope this won’t get weird…” I sighed out. “If it hasn’t already…”

As we made our way through this floor, I noticed that Love Struck did various effects to those it struck. If they were already of flesh and blood, they had more of a personality on them, and the ones, like Knight, a Golem, and things like that, started off more… dumb. Guess Jericho had that whole brain thing right. We made it to the Rest area. This place had some nice stuff as we rested. I also wanted to see how much more developed these new girls are. First up, the first comers. Eevee.

“This is still weird…” I said as I saw Kexez regurgitate the Eevee out of their body. “But hi, how are you doing?” I asked the Eevee.

“Burr! It’s so cold now!” They said, shivering as I made them some clothes and dried them off. “Better.” She said happily, dressed and warmer now. “So, what’s up? Oh! What’s your name by the way? My only memories are seeing you after that coffin opened up.”

“The names Ben.” I said gently. “But...just wanted to talk ya know?”

“Sure. What about?”

“Anything really.” I said honestly. “Want to know anything about me?”

“Sure. What are your hobbies?”

“Reading, taking care of kids, traveling, stuff like that.” I said warmly.

“Cool. Mine are cooking, napping, and drawing.” She said happily. “What about favorite shows?”

“There are too many shows, I honestly don't have a favorite.” I shrugged.

“I like Adventure Time. Sad it ended though.”

How does she know about these things though? Didn’t she just say her only memories were looking up at me and the others when the coffin opened?

“Oh actually, rumor has it that it’s coming back.” I said honestly. “So far there’s been rumors of five one hour specials.” I said honestly.

“Oh Cool!”

“Yep.” I said honestly. “But...I thought you said you didn’t remember anything before the coffin, how did you know about Adventure Time?”

“Huh? Oh… Oh! Am, am I the first girl you’ve won in a dungeon?” She asked me, quite giddily.

“As well as the Gardevoir, Charmander, and Deoxys.” I nodded.

“Oh my gosh! Okay, so this is how it works. The dungeon loot in any reality, world or whatever, if it respawns,  it comes from a place referred to at the ‘Loot Room’ this is where I, and those others, come from. It’s in a sense a factory of sorts that makes the random items, or in my case, people, for these rewards. I don’t remember the place exactly, but I know I came from there, and while I didn’t see anything per say, I could watch things like from a TV, this is how I watched Adventure time, learned how to cook and, the most common thing to do, nap. Once we are won, we wake up in our bodies in the reward chest.”

“Huh...that’s rather interesting.” I said honestly. “But what was with you...uh…” I trailed off, not sure how to word it.

“Oh, the sex thing?” She asked with a blushing laugh. “Before we are won, we get a very general info dump on the person who wins us. No names or anything just their likes and dislikes. At the top of your likes was sex, so I figured hey, might as well open with that. Well, that and I did see a lot of porn.”

“Oh...I mean...I suppose that sounds right…” I said sheepishly. “But you know I care more about the person than just sexy right?”

“Well, yeah, but like I said, it was a general list of likes and dislikes. Nothing much else.”

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “Have you talked to the others in Kexez?”

“Yeah. We have some interests, made out a little, sleep. All in all they are nice girls aso.”

“That’s good.” I said warmly. “Now...what would you say about being apart of...an infinite Harem?”

“I don’t mind. Majority of the time, people like us, rewards in dungeons, are, as you can tell,” she motioned to her rather gifted body. “Are for harems. Not just women either. Males too, but you have to want that one or just be a girl.” Eevee said simply. 

“Alrighty then, but I’ll make sure to treat you properly, not as just some reward I get for beating a boss.” I said honestly.

Eevee nodded. “That’s great. And thanks for the clothes. First time I’ve ever worn clothes.”

“Thanks, those clothes are made by the best Seamstresses I know.” I said warmly.

“Hey Ben.” Jericho said, catching my attention. He was by the info book. “You might wanna look at this…”

Eevee motioned for me to go, heading back over to Kexez and back into the belly.

“What’s up?” I asked curiously while walking over to Jericho.

“Look.” Jericho said, motioning to the book.

Eevee the Spry

A lady from a world of unique beings, and she is one of the most unique, won as a prize of a king long forgotten, ventured into the Tomb to retrieve her lost love.

Att:209,000
Def: 34,000
Mag: 100,000

Weapon: None.

“Tell me, that doesn’t ring something off.” Jericho sighed.

“Okay that is just too convenient…” I said while looking over to the Eevee already in Kexez. “Kexez...can you ask Eevee if she’s this...Eevee the Spry?” I asked nervously. “Or if she knows of them?”

“How? You heard her, she’s literally ‘fresh off the line’. How would she?” Kexez asked.

“I know just…” I sighed out. “Something’s not right here...and I have a feeling we’re going to figure it out 

We rested up again, and I was wondering something… which will I use on this… this Eevee? Second Chance or Love Struck?

“These people suffered enough in this hell hole...they need a Second Chance.” I muttered to myself, wanting these people to have a brand new happy life instead of...whatever Love Struck does.

I had Jericho give another edit over, making sure they at least had a proper mind when they were altered. We used it on a Golem enemy. She got a hot body, looked less like rocks and more like clay now, and had a proper brain. Not surprising they knew a lot on Gemstones though.

“Alright, that’s better.” I nodded. “How close are we to the boss?” I asked while getting more and more undead soldiers and some Nobody Golem’s that weren’t hit by Love Struck.

"Close." Jericho said, there was a chest in front of the large double doors. "Huh…"

“What?” I asked curiously.

"Weird placement for a chest." Jericho said, tapping it. It opened up, showing a single piece of paper.

“That’s...curious.” I said, not sure if the chest is a mimic or not as I carefully took the piece of paper. “Wonder what’s on here…” I wondered curiously.

Inside the paper were words… I think? It looked like a Spell Matrix, but nothing like I've ever seen. I can't even tell what this does. Jericho couldn't make heads or tails of it, Kexez was equally clueless, amd even the Assistant couldn't identify it.

“I’m scared that...this might be used for a trap.” I said honestly, trying to figure out what language this Spell Matrix was, at least it would be a clue.

"Whatever it is, Cript should be able to decipher it." Jericho said. "Magic expert."

We pocketed the odd spell and then opened the doors. Like before, a large room with a single coffin. The doors closed behind us as the coffin lid flew open. Climbing out was the spitting image of Eevee, but her fur was a dark blue, tainted by void and eyes a lifeless black.

“Alrighty then…” I said while buffing everyone up as much as I could just like before. “Let’s see how tough the Golems are…” I muttered while sending one of my seven golems over to test the waters.

Eevee fought with bare fists, punching them. Thile they held, it was her speed that surprised me. Her punches speed wise we're as fast as me with Foudre. So her specialty is speed, and likely agility.

"Ben, can you use any kind of time magic?" Kexez asked.

“Yes, yes I can, I already casted haste on all of you.” I said honestly. “So...let’s try this.” I said while tapping my staff down as a Slow Spell acted as a wave rushing towards the Eevee.

It hit, but even with that slow down, she was still fast. "That's more manageable." Jericho smirked, raising Second Chance. "Any attack that would finish them will save them. So…" They took a large breath, A large spell matrix and multiple matrices covered Second Chance. "Atlas Demolition. Obliterate my target in the name of my kingdom." She said, readying to swing. "Rain Fire." They swung, white flames taking up everything In front of us all, the heat I could feel… made Eternal Flames happy.

All the white fire suddenly was compacted into a small ball in front of the singed Eevee, and then blasted out, the explosion knocking her into the wall behind her and explosion force nearly knocking us all over. We saw the Eevee slowly stop moving, and suddenly become covered in the same Nothingness and light as Isabel. Soon… there was an egg… wait? Oh, right, all Pokemon hatch from eggs.

I walked over and gently picked up the egg. “My egg.” I said lovingly.

To my surprise… the egg began to hatch! The glow soon faded as a little Eevee with Dire wolf… Den Mother dire wolf features, was now wiggling around in my arms. She's so tiny. "Even I will admit, that's cute." Kexez said.

“She so smol and cute.” I said happily, nuzzling my new daughter happily.

With a kiss I gave the little one to Kexez, who swallowed her away into the feeding belly of theirs. "Only you can walk into likely the most dangerous dungeon outside of creation and expand the family." They said with a smirk.

“It’s not my fault that...I want to give people a second chance.” I said honestly while heading over to the coffin to see what loot we got.

There was no women this time. But there was a lot of rare Void Synthesis items. Some weapons, a few neat armors, and of course, lots and lots of gold and rem. More than the first floor too. God we are going to be beyond loaded at this rate. More than I already am. There was also a… is this?

It was just like it. Exactly. But pitch black and Void altered… No Name. "What is that doing here?" Jericho asked. The time based Keyblade rather out of place.

“Huh...this...honestly shouldn’t be here.” I said honestly while picking it up. “This shouldn’t be here...what is with this place…”

As I was examining the Keyblade, I didn't notice as Kexez placed a hand on it. I looked over to them, then was speechless… they were crying. They took the Keyblade from me, and held it tight. "Shh. It's alright… it's alright…" They muttered to the weapon.

“Uh...Kexez?” I asked nervously.

"It remembers. Remembers so much pain…" They muttered, tears not stopping as the hugged the weapon ever tighter. "Such misery… It can't forget. It can't move on…"

“Can...Second Chance take away the memories of Keyblades?” I asked curiously.

Jericho shook their head. "No. It wouldn't work. The only thing that would is if it found a new wielder." 

“Well...why don’t we find it a new wielder?” I asked curiously.

"It's Void altered. Meaning… meaning there is a Void corrupted version of Heart here… otherwise it would just be a hunk of metal in the shape of a Keyblade…" Jericho said in realization.

I frowned. “That’s...that should be...impossible…” I said slowly, thinking about this some more. “Come on...my hunch might be proven if we go deeper in…”

The next floor was… hang on… this architecture… this is Canterlot Castle… at least, it looks like it. The architecture looks identical, but the layout is completely different.

“I’m...I’m not liking how close we’re getting to me being right…” I said worriedly. “Finding the book on the boss...god I hope I’m wrong…”

This floor had some unique ones. There was the void filled royal guard suits, which when hit with Love Struck turned into these almost like ghosts wearing the armor. There were also stone golems that looked like alicorns, but not enough detail to look like Alxun or Celestia. They were a lot like the prior golems, but unlike them had more mentality immediately rather than over time. The last enemy here was Void Corrupted Thestrials. Jericho used Second Chance on all of them… they were actual people stuck here… made into common floor level cannon fodder… that wasn't right…

We found the resting room. This one had a bed big enough for a giant that we all sat on. There was a library here, all these books I took, and then the floor book… I felt my blood go cold as… as I read this floors boss…

Alxun The Dark Lightbringer.

Princess of a land of magic with power over the moon, turn queen alongside the king of a force of creation. Her power over darkness and the dreams of others allowed her to save those lost in the dark.

Weapon: Keyblade (Star Swirled Magic)

Att:7,000
Def: 500
Mag: ???

"Alxun is training under Core to master Darkness… right now…" Jericho said as he and I shared a horrifying realization..

“Jericho...you know about...the other cycles right?” I asked. “How...how did they end?” I asked slowly.

"It's only supposed to have been… only the one with the Void Mother. There is only supposed to be roughly twenty to thirty other cycles since then… unless…"

"An even bigger cycle." Kexez stated, still holding onto the No Name Keyblade. "Repeating to that battle against her… and losing… over and over, and over…"

“So...the ‘twenty to thirty cycles’...could be the twenty to thirty that haven’t...been apart of this or the Void...oh god…” My eyes widened in horror.

"Or…" Jericho said shakily. "She starts it again… for fun…"

"If that's the case, then she'd know about what, or rather who Nothingness comes from originally… so why then?" Kexez asked.

“This...entire Dungeon is supposed to be Void Mother’s Womb...but...what would happen if that isn’t the only thing she ripped out?” I asked worriedly.

"Her Heart." A voice echoed, from… me? I jumped as suddenly a Silhouette of Nothingness, wrapped in Nothingness thorns like bandages suddenly emerged from me… the first Belief. "She ripped out her heart, so her pain could no longer be felt."

"Holy…" Jericho said, surprised.

“I...was going to search for you...but apparently you can just appear out from me…” I took a deep breath. “So how are you doing today?”

"Awake. First time in several eternities." They spoke. "So long as someone holds Nothingness, I can go to them. So, you've discovered the secret. The Repeats." First Belief said.

“The Repeats?” I asked curiously. “You mean...all of this?”

"Every twenty to thirty cycles, these exact events take place, and each time, the same result. Stopped counting after around sixteen trillion. All I can do, to keep everything from ending, is restart everything from the second cycle onwards."

“Oh…” I started. “That’s...uh…” I was legit speechless at that.

"This isn't the first time, nor will it be the last you come here, take the artifact… prepare, prepare and prepare, and lose. You, Heart, Eclipsa, all of you… perish fighting. Your family that barely scraping by in the void after she claims it, coming here to bring you all back when she places her womb back here… and each time, they fall, returning to this place as it's guardians again. I've tried, but to no avail. So long as she is Heartless, literally, we can't win. Take that how you will, go down fighting or wait for death, I've seen it all, too many times to care."

“So then you know where her Heart is.” I said honestly. “Cause right now, it’s her Heart that’s her one and only weakness...so where is it?”

"With her. Under her watchful eye. She knows so long as it's near her, anyone who tries to harm her, take from her, can not. Void or not, she is still, A Mother."

“But that ability can also be used against her.” I said simply. “Or...something only you can do Belief. It’s either a Mother gives Void Mother her heart back, or a Belief somehow manages to do something to get it back...or we could just grab it and yeet the fucking thing so hard into her chest all perceeding cycles will have a heart shaped birth mark.” I said honestly.

"I can not go near her. In her garden, where Void is the purist, not even Nothingness can prevent the corruption. And I lack a body."

"... What did all the other Repeats use her womb for?" Kexez asked.

"Same as you all. Rebirth your lost allies, family."

"Only allies and family?"

"Yes… why?"

"Because if it can bring back our allies, family, it also brought back the past repeats as well, and it can still bring them back. Not to mention that rather odd Keyblades of Ben's, Second Chance and Love Struck. Bring back not only every bygone repeat, but also those she has taken, those dead by Deletes hands, those from across all and every fallen existence."

"That would require more power and energy then even Void Mother possesses. How would you pull that off?"

"Have you met these idiots?" Kexez motioned towards myself and Jericho.

“Oi!” I pouted. “But I...have an idea on how Kexez’s idea might work...all we need to do is find the Mushroom 13.” I said, and for some reason the room we were in shook ever so slightly, like it didn’t like that name. “I’m...just going to ignore that...so who here knows about those 13 things?”

"The Mushroom 13. Unique beings. Not Heartless or Nobodies." First Belief started. "Void Mother, back before, made them as the ultimate prize givers. Tied to time itself… any prize can be won by them…"

“Did...did I just bring up how we get Void Mother’s Heart?” I asked.

"No, not her heart… too powerful for them… but something… someone, just as useful. Our Ace in this war…"

“Oh? And who would that be?” I asked curiously.

"Void Mother herself. Or rather, her from before she went mad after the accident."

“Oh...well yeah that might work.” I said honestly. “Now the only problem is...where are the other twelve?”

"The time walkers would know."

"Hold up, accident?" Jericho asked.

First Belief sighed. "It was a few eternities after we became Belief and The Mother. Nothing like us ever existed before. We didn't know what we could do… where our limits were. As time went on, it was always the two of us, we kept each other happy. One day, I was testing out developing new energies. Powers… Nothingness." He said, looking at me. "I didn't know what it could do, what it was, but I didn't realize how… different, it was compared to prior powers I had created."

“So when you made Nothingness it killed you?” I asked.

"Not quite. It could take a body, a Hollow shell, and keep it alive, revive it even, make a new person from the shell of another. Like Kexez there. But it needed fuel. Fuel to burn and blossom into what it is today. My body, was the perfect firewood."

“And it has been burning for this entire time huh?” I asked curiously.

"If it stops, Nothingness will fade, and then nothing can stop The Void Mother."

"Second Prize." Kexez said. "A perfect replica of your old body to use."

“That is also true.” I said honestly. “So, now the main question is...what are the ramifications of shoving Void Mother’s heart down her throat?” I asked curiously.

"Void itself will unravel, and fade. Everything it has destroyed will return." First Belief said.

“I thought Void was a piece of Creation, if it’s gone, what’ll happen to everything else?” I asked curiously.

They shook their head. "There was no Void in the first cycle, and technically the Void is still the first cycle. If the corruption is gone then it will return to it's original state. But Void as an energy and power will be gone."

“That...didn’t answer my question though.” I said honestly. “If Void is gone, now technically the power and energy, if that’s gone, what happens to everything else?” I asked. “Cause you can’t have one without the other, and Nothingness is Void’s opposite.”

"Nothingness was made before Void. I do not see why it can't persists passed Voids end."

“But...wait, wasn’t Void the Start of everything?” I asked curiously. “Cause that’s...conflicting information from what I’ve heard.”

"In the first Cycle, there was just… Code. From that Code, masses of consciousness began to form, and began to manipulate the code around the, the first cycle Admins. When The Mother and I came around, we made those Admins, and a reality for them to thrive in. The second Cycle. But, halfway through it. My accident and her madness, forming the void, altered things. For the third cycles the new cycles Mother and Belief created the new cycles admins, and placed them into the void, to create on their own. And that's how every reset has started since I began using them."

“Alright, thank you.” I nodded. “So...since you probably might know how many floors does this dungeon have?”

"A hundred. This is the third floor."

“Alrighty then...this is going to be a pain in the ass.” I sighed out.

"Likely. I can not aid you all in combat, but I can tell you this. Ben, as you know Nothingness and Void create a primordial code, blank code, correct?"

“Yes I do.” I nodded. “What of it?” I asked curiously.

"Allow me to show you." First Belief said, flowing some Nothingness into me. In a flash of memories, I saw how to absorb Void auras and taint, and recharge my own Nothingness and Code while doing it. "This method will help you keep your strength in this place. Sadly, it only works on the environment or lingering auras. Not on people. But you have the tools for that already." He said, motioning to Second Chance and Love Struck.

“Yeah...that works.” I said while taking a deep breath as the air...honestly smelled cleaner somehow. “Huh...the air smells...cleaner now.”

"You will absorb Void passively for a slow recharge, but it's not enough for combat. Far from it. It will help with risks of Void tainting though."

“Which will help a lot.” I said honestly. “Thank you.”

"I forgot how it felt to have hope. I can not aid in combat Physically, but I can help you learn abilities and moves all your prior incarnations knew. Anything to aid the fight." They said, fading back into me.

“Thank you…” I nodded gently. “Cool...so that happened right?” I asked. “That wasn’t just a figment of my imagination?” I asked, just wanting to make sure this place hasn’t gotten to me.

"We saw it." Kexez said. "The stakes grow ever higher."

“Right…” I said honestly. “Can’t wait..this is gonna be a pain.”

We made our way through the rest of the floor. Soon finding the boss room. Entering, it was the same gimik, except that, this room was basically the throne room from my Equestria. The coffin in the center of it burst open as the room gained a dark tone, and looking I saw Alxun, looking quite like Nightmare Moon, her Keyblade in one hand, and Scythe in another, she even wore a Keyblade armor version of the Nightmare Moon armor. She spoke no words at seeing me, just readied herself. Ready to strike.

"I'm sorry my love…" I said while budding everyone up and sending my golems at her, with magic attacks from the skeletons backing them up.

Now when abilities aren't actively one shotting these bosses, they are objectively very difficult. Alxun was powerful, fast...and even after everything, still beautiful as she hammered away at all my Golems, the only reason they weren’t just rubble right now was because of all the buffs I used. I continued to watch her dodge and parry the Golems attacks and the magic’s my Skeleton’s were throwing out at her, but even when this was a previous Alxun, she still had the same ticks. “Now!” I commanded as several Skeletal Mage Nobodies tapped their staves on the ground as skeletal hands suddenly grabbed onto her ankles after she swung her Scythe at a Golem. 

“Right Gigante!” I commanded my Golems, the five of them rearing their right arms back as their arms doubled in size. “Grand Impact!” I commanded as Nothingness swirled around their now massive arms and hammered into Alxun. She managed to block all of them but she seemed to struggle against the massive force from all five. “Fire!” I commanded as several mages fired off spells that hit Alxun and caused her to buckle and fall underneath the force of the Golem’s strikes. “Combine!” I shouted as the five Nothingness Golems started to fuse together into an even bigger and much stronger golem. “Create Grand Item.” I casted as the golem reached up and grabbed a massive Nothingness Hammer. “Now, Megaton Press!” I commanded, the Nobody raising it’s hammer up as it slammed into the grounded Alxun, the ground shattering like glass as she was flung into the air with all the debris, the Golem leaping up as the Hammer glowed with power as it slammed into Alxun’s torso and driving her straight back down into a massive explosion of force. “Jericho.” I said to him, telling him to land the finishing blow.

Taking the shot, he rushed behind her, like with Isabel. His slash hit, and she fell back, covered in light and Nothingness, then it fades, leaving a tiny, adorable, crying baby alicorn of Alxun's colors.

I was swift again and picked up my new baby girl. “It’s alright, mommy’s here.” I said gently, cradling baby Alxun as I made sure she was okay. “So adorable…” I muttered happily.

She, too, shifted. Part, what I believe is Minotaur, and of course, part wolf. She did keep her wings, horn, all that. Kexez put her away carefully and we examined our loot. Like before, money, weapons, various other items. Some new girls… a new GUY… god that six pack…

“Okay didn’t expect the guy…” I muttered. “Okay so...three floors down, ninety seven more to go.”

"That's like almost ten girls and one stud." Jericho added.

"Thank God everyone here is bisexual." Kexez said, having placed the guy away into their own belly.

“Yeah…” I said honestly. “But hopefully one of these rewards will be a map to all the Mushroom area’s...it’s gonna be a nightmare to find them otherwise.” I sighed out.

We headed off to the fourth floor. This place looked like a… a city. A large city, but no people. No doors were able to be opened, and the 'sky' wasn't as tall as it should be.

"Well this looks interesting." I said honestly.

"Wonder who is here?" Jericho asked.

“Dangerous things most likely.” I said honestly.

"I mean, who is the floor boss." Jericho clarified.

“No idea…” I said. “But so far we have Isabel who was in some Silent Hill based floor...Eevee was in a Castle, and Alxun was in Canterlot Castle...maybe there’s a correlation between the area and who’s here?” I questioned, wondering if this area looked familiar in any way that might bring up someone specific.

"Would make sense, but… how?" Kexez asked. "Unless… hang on, is there already an Isabel in this family? Cause Eevee just got here. If my hunch is right then these floors might also tell about their futures based on how Eevee's was."

“Um...not sure…” I said while pulling up my Assistant to see if there was anyone if our family that fit Isabel without just pointing to the Isabel in Kexez’s stomach.

There was.

Isabel
Age: 22
Race: Human
Ethnicity: Latino
Class: Caster
Weapon(s): Wand Of Hellscape Witchcraft, Shining Spear, Greatsword of The Hell Knights, DoomBringer Gauntlets.

Aliases: Hellfire Witch Isabel, Demon Hunter Isabel, Isabel The Loyal, Hell Walker Isabel.

“Fuck…” I said. “Yeah...it’s a perfect match, down to her weapon, race, even her alias…”

"This could prove useful." Kexez said. "We can learn how and why the topic matters, and for the ones we don't know yet, how they got there and what to train them in. And, what to add onto."

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “So...got any ideas?” I asked while we continued forward. “Anything about this city that looks familiar?”

"Hmm… Not really." Jericho said. "Looks like your standard city."

"Too bland. No signs or words to at least give us culture or Location, just skyscrapers." Kexez added. "This place was made to look as generic as possible. Why?"

“Maybe to throw people off?” I asked curiously. “Cause if it’s so generic then there’s either hidden crap throughout the place that we can’t find, or something else completely.” I shrugged.

At hearing me say that, Kexez looked up. "Seems so." He said. We all looked up, seeing the roofs of these buildings all had glass domes on top of them.

“Hmm…” I hummed while flying up to see what was in the buildings given they had glass dome roofs.

We saw inside was what looked like a portal. "So, we jump in through the glass?" Jericho asked.

"One way to find out." Kexez said.

“Right then.” I said while trying to see if there was an opening in the glass dome before we just break it open.

There was no door. So, we broke it open, and dropped in. There was a moment of darkness before we were all suddenly falling into a… is this a dungeon cell? The door was open and there was what looked like a knight slumped against the outside of the cell, and a head should not be turned around like that.

“Uh...this...is a thing.” I said nervously.

"This seems familiar…" Kexez said. "I'm not sure why though?"

“Got anything Jericho?” I asked curiously.

"Yeah. Corpses." Jericho said, looking outside the cell. My… size, made getting out the door hard but outside was a trail of dead bodies. Knights, all with broken necks, then some with gash marks through their armor, deep through their chests.

“Well...someone certainly likes murder…” I muttered before sniffing the air. “Wait...why is this scent...familiar?” I wondered, noting a powerful scent over the smell of corpses but couldn’t tell who it was. “Does anyone know that scent?”

Kexez took a sniff. Them being two kinds of predator. "Smells like… family." They said, slithering ahead. We exited this dungeon, built under a church. Topside was worse. The church burned, people killed, and outside this charred church, was a man, a broken, bloody sword in hand. They were young, Latino, ragged clothes… and Ventral red eyes.

“Well then...that’s something.” I said honestly.

"No way…" Kexez said.

“So who da fuck is that?” I asked curiously.

"Gabriel Ventral… the one who drank the potion from the witch… the one who put the Psychopath Blood in the Ventral family." Kexez said. Gabriel looked up at us, suddenly, their skin shifted to nothing more than blood, as they readied their broken sword. "This was the night he was meant to hang, after the church killed his father and brothers."

“So we literally have to fight a Psychopath...but...there’s something up, I don’t remember a Psychopath literally turning into blood to fight.” I said nervously.

"No time to debate." Jericho said, taking out Second Chance.

I buffed everyone up and sent in some mooks to test out the boss before Jericho or Kexez got involved. “Let’s see what he can do…”

Gabriel ended those Nobodies… fast. Faster than I expected. Those they didn't slice and dice they ATE! That's… nasty. "This is bad." Kexez said.

“You think? He just ate my Nobodies.” I frowned.

"Well, let's see if this works." Jericho said, aiming Second Chance. They began charging an attack. "Hellfire Cannon!" They shot off a powerful blast of white fire at Gabriel. While he was burning… he was not shifting back into a baby. Rather the blood body evaporated, and everything went white.

Blinking, we were back in the city… the building we entered was now gone, replaced by a small park, chest littering it. "Okay… that's weird…" Kexez said.

“Wait…” I muttered. “You said that you didn’t know why he turned straight into blood...and with Second Chance not working...what if...what if we’re not fighting a ‘person’ so to speak...what...I don’t know if this is right but what if we’re literally fighting your Psychopath Blood?” I asked Kexez.

"If that's the case, can second chance even work on them?" Kexez asked.

"I genuinely have no idea." Jericho said.

“Well we won’t know unless we tear down each building...but the weird thing is, why are we fighting your Blood? I thought this was supposed to be about people?”

"I have no clue… but…" Kexez pondered. "Core had Hearts Psychopath Blood for a while before I first arrived. It came back when I escaped Purgatory. He might know something."

"Maybe…" I said while seeing if I could contact Core with my Assistant.

The call went through, but it was audio only. Must be this dungeon and the void. "Hello?" Core's voice came through, no picture.

"Yo." I said. "Can you hear me?" I asked curiously.

"Barely." They said.

"Good enough. Can you tell us what's special about Ventral Blood? Cause we just fought a Blood Construct of the first Ventral Psychopath." I explained.

"Huh. Well, in my studying it, aside from the fact it has a complete infection rate, it's got a memory of its own. Kinda like instincts but learned and saved overtime. Comparing that to the few samples of Psychopath Blood I've had before, this was unique. Each prior red eyes Ventral it learned how far it can enhance, push and mutate them without harming them. This is why they are immune to nearly any poisons, gases, Don't get drunk easily, and can pull off physically impossible feats. This also seemed to be how they are such naturally gifted fighters, it encodes these moves and skills into their DNA."

"So...what your saying is that their own blood is alive?" I asked curiously.

"It has a symbiotic relationship with the Ventrals. In exchange for a host to test on, the Ventrals unknowingly have been feeding it generations of combat experience and information."

"So Jericho did something special with Memory Stealer, turning it into Second Chance and...is it possible to give a Psychopath a Second Chance at life?" I asked curiously. "Like turning it back to when it was originally born without its previous memories?"

"...I have no fucking idea."

"You studied these bastards, plus you have Cripts records of them. Isn't there anything? Even an educated guess?"

"Look, these aren't like normal code born beings, they were born from the first act of murder. They don't even have their own body, hence why they require hosts. Best case scenario, maybe it lives but not without inhabiting something biological, worst case scenario it dies."

"Or it somehow loses its connection to the hive mind and can become it's own being somehow." I said honestly.

"I don't know how. Maybe? If it's been recording and encoding memories from every red eyes Ventral since the first, then maybe it picked out key personality traits and just added to them to form its own consciousness. Whatever the case it will still need a body of it's own to stay alive and even act on those acquired personality traits to properly develop." 

"So what you're saying is that there's a chance." I said honestly.

"Likely a slim one. As in slim to none, but it's there."

"So it's damn near going to happen great." I chuckled. "Thanks Core...god remember when we were trying to kill each other?'

"Yeah…" I then heard something on the other end, or rather… someone…

"You done yet~" Mom?!

"Bye!" Core then hung up.

"Uh...is Mom plowing Core?" I asked nervously.

"He and Unum must finally be exploring with others in the family then." Jericho said casually. "Good for them."

"Good for them. They deserve some joy after all the shit the both of them went through." I said honestly, having gotten their memories as well through our mental link. "Still surprised it was Eclipsa of all people to push Core into asking Unum out."

"Eh. Well, so long as everyone is having fun." 

"Wonder how they will all react to me?" Kexez pondered.

"Gonna flip but probably will take up your 'whoring out' when you grow a heart." I said honestly.

"That's actually something Heart holds back on doing also. Their shyness stems from a lack of a confident self image."

"Oh horseshit." I frowned. "I think you're mistaking Heart for me on the confidence part."

"No. He genuinely does not see what makes themselves attractive to others. I should know. I am his Nobody. He may play it off or hide it, but it's been there ever since he found out he was in an issue of top ten hottest celebrities. Odd they put him there, considering he was a criminal."

"Hey, sometimes people like that." I said honestly. "But what rank was he?"

"Third if I recall."

"Cool." I nodded. "I can see why."

"Huh… well let's get these chests open then rest for a bit, and take out these buildings." Jericho said.

"Alrighty then. Let's get to looting." I said while heading towards the chests. "Oh, who wants to bet this Dungeon is an Organization Mushroom Game?" I asked curiously.

"A what?" Jericho asked.

"Like Hearts Absent Silhouette, how when you beat the trial a Mushroom appears and gives you a prize." I said honestly. "So...what if this Dungeon is just like that?"

"So, beat all the towers, and the real boss shows up." Kexez said.

"Most likely." I shrugged. "Each one will be a Red Eyed Ventral." I said honesty.

"How many is that?" Jericho asked.

"A few hundred." Kexez said.

“So we should probably split up…” I sighed out. “This is gonna take a while.”

"Best not. We will do just as well together."

“So...we have to do one hundred towers...wonders.” I rolled my eyes. “This is going to be the longest floor here.”

"At least each one downed rewards us." Kexez motioned back to the small park filled with chests.

“Yeah.” I said while starting to opening up the chests. “Wonder what we’ll find in all these chests.”

It was all fairly standard loot. Potions, items, food even. We ate and drank for a while, then got to work. The second Ventral boss was female, and used a bow and arrows. She was dealt with and we actually got the bow and arrows. The loot from that one was also standard. The rest could be summarized as Rinse and Repeat.

"Okay… Hearts family is related to some fucked up people." Jericho said.

"Black Beard surprised me." Kexez said.

“I’m not surprised about Jack the Ripper…” I said honestly.

"Okay so, one left… wonder who this is?" Jericho asked.

"It's likely Hearts Grandfather." At hearing that, horrid memories from Diane flooded back. Seeing the old bastard dropped from above out makeshift home, shoot our two month pregnant belly… seeing out unborns remains flow out as we died… "He was the last pure red eyes Ventral before Heart."

I immediately grabbed the necklace around my neck and took it off. “Sorry Lyra...but this is some Therapy I can’t have your stupid necklace interfere with.” I growled as I sent it into my Assistant, not wanting to just crush it here. “But after I’m done ripping apart that old fucker, I’m pretty sure the true boss will appear. Look.” I said while pointing over to the river of blood that’s been slowly moving towards a central spot.

We hopped in. I felt my blood go cold. This was… where I died… where Diane died… and here she was. I was breathing a big labored, seeing this… reliving this… I heard that haunting noise, the shotgun that killed me, held by the man who killed me. Killed Diane. They turned to me, their skin shifting to blood like all the others.

I growled as I cracked my knuckles. “Alright you old fuck.” I growled as I pulled out No Heart and the heavily evolved Skysplitter. “Your going pay for every little thing you’ve done...and especially for my child!” I shouted as I slammed Skysplitter into the fucker and knocking them through a wall. “The following is going to contain severe amounts of Gratuitous Violence, Viewer Discretion Advised.” I growled.

The Psychopath immediately aimed at me with their shotgun, only for me to grab it and snap it in half. “Your not going to hurt anyone else ever again!” I roared as I cut off one of the Psychopath’s arms, even though it reformed rather quickly I immediately grabbed it and ripped it right off, even if it’s body was pure blood it still had some solid mass before falling apart. “Damn you and being blood, I wanted to beat the shit out of you with your own severed arm.” I growled as the Psychopath tried to attack me in several ways a trained Ventral would with Psychopath powers, which was predictable as all hell.

Kexez and Jericho saw...a lot of torture that I legitimately didn’t want anyone to know about, which were firsts for both of them as I laughed in sweet sweet catharsis and relief, and when I came back from my more non-violent senses I saw that the old fucker wasn’t there anymore, and a small river of blood was heading out of the house. “Fuck...whoever said this wouldn’t be cathartic...cause it sure as shit was.” I panted heavily while looking back at Jericho and Kexez.

Kexez looked impressed, Jericho was promptly hiding via… they… they just shoved themselves down Kexez's throat. How was this guy once both a major bad guy and is the Admin of war? "Well, looks like you scared him." Kexez said, rubbing their throat from the sudden forced swallow.

"How the fuck can Jericho have been a major bad guy and an admin of war if hes being a pansy half the time?" I asked.

Kexez shrugged.

The blood from all pools soon collected in the center, creating. A massive pool of blood that soon began to rise. My eyes widened as I saw three figured forming… Zeke...Marcy... Diane. I was confused… til I remembered, Core said the Psychopath Blood also affected a spouse… that's how Eclipsa and I got Psychopath Blood… from Zeke… the three forms then hit the floor, shifting to blood bodies before splashing into one another, twisting and morphing into a single being. 

"Um...yeah cool, mind cutting the theatrics or does it run in the family?" I asked the blood person.

The blood them summoned it's own versions of My Thirteen Weapons, and took the blood version of No Heart and Frozen Pride.

"Rude." I frowned. "Alright ...let's see what he can do…" I muttered while grabbing No Heart and Frozen Pride and dashing forward and swinging at him.

When we clash, an explosion of energy and blood shook the room. What worried me was that I was getting pushed back…

"Damn your strong…" I muttered, noting I still had time before redoing my buffs.

We broke the stalemate, clashing again as a similar blast happened. Kexez tried to restrain them, only for their tail to phase through it's blood body. He was knocked across the field by its blood Frozen pride. Jericho finally popped out and had Second Chance equipped as they reached over next to me. "So...plan?" They asked.

"Well it's a Psychopath so...Humanity?" I asked. "Do either of you know how to use it?"

"Only Cript." Jericho said. Kexez managed to slither back behind Jericho and I.

"God damn it." I groaned. "Well..looks like it's up to me." I said while taking Second Chance as my eyes shifted to my Humanity side instead of one being psychopath the other being humanity.

Eyes glowing white, the energy flooded into Second Chance. I readied an attack, swiftly and quickly dodging this Psychopaths attack, moving Kexez and Jericho as well. I jumped up, swinging Second Chance. "Salvation." I said, the white light engulfing the Psychopath til it was a white and red Silhouette, moving in unnatural sporadic movements. Finally, after a few good minutes, it came to a stop. The silhouette shrinking until it was now a crying baby. They looked human, and didn't smell of much else. Their eyes were odd though. Pure white, with single red pupils.

“Another first…” I muttered with a smile as I gently picked up the baby. “It’s alright, mommy’s here.”

They didn't change, surprisingly, and Kexez placed the baby away. The remaining blood formed up into a large door. "Well, let's see the rewards." Kexez said as another large chest appeared before the door.

“Let’s hope for something good.” I said while walking over and opening the large chest.

It was a lot of money mostly, some more weapons, powerful healing potions, a few more womenwomen… some more husbands, though in this family gender is out the window so… that won't last too long. All in all a fair mix. Oh?

Looking at the bottom I spotted a book, bound in leather. It was a spellbook for Humanity!

“There should be…” I muttered while looking around the chest again...only to find a book. “Oh?” I hummed curiously while checking to see what the title was.

'Humanity and Psychopaths'.

“Is this going to be a history lesson?” I wondered while I opened the book to see what it has to say.

Psychopaths. The physical manifestation of murder, typically their power comes from the blood spilled by those who kill, justified or not.

Humanity, a power stemming from the act of Mercy, and willingness to save all.

Once, these two energies were thought polar opposite, but we're found to be two sides of the same power, this power is Choice. The choice to save or end a life carried with it on both sides great toll mentally and physically, and those who utilize the power of Choice can utilize both Psychopath and Humanity to their fullest. These beings are rare, and while a race has existed, known as The Scales, they gained power from both sides of the coin, and could be grand healers or invaders. The choice of what to use and who to spare, who to kill, is on them. Some beings, even fewer, have achieved this artificially, but little is known.

The following information is all the known powers and abilities able to be utilized by The Scales, and the price each power costs to unlock.

“Well then...that’s new.” I said honestly. “The Scales huh? That is rather interesting…”

I decided to leave the rest of the book for when we reach an actual safe room. So many more floors, so many secrets to discover… and that artifact is ours….

The fifth floor. This one was a large cave of sorts, torches lit the path, and over all, it was almost a typical dungeon type experience. Save the monsters.

Werewolves tainted by void. Not the Void wolves I needed to meet though. Giant frog looking nasties. And even various Undead's or other creatures. All of course, void tainted, but half got Second Chance, half got Love Struck. We were in a rest… camber, a smaller cave area with a makeshift camp set up, flowing water, the Info book, and ect.

“Alrighty then...let’s check who the boss is here…” I hummed while checking the info book. “Which also raises the question of...why the hell these things are here?”

"Cript always loved history, lore." Jericho said. "Be it made for the dungeon or forced here, he always did want everything to have some form of a story."

Gilsha the Dragoness

Raw strength was an understatement for this female dragons raw physical power. It's said the only one to meet her strength physically was The Mother herself.

“Gilsha the Dragoness?” I wondered while checking my Assistant, wondering if she was apart of our family or if she was someone completely different.

Gilsha
Race: Dragon
Age: Unknown.

Gilsha was a floor mini boss for the secret files and spells of Cript's former masters temple, the door to the secured room required the person enter an infant cave dungeon maze and find the exit. Gilsha was made as part of the maze to end Intruders who would misuse the information. She fell for Cript when they caught her punch without a flinch or stagger. A hard fear considering she can punch through three feet thick Dark Monofilament Slabs.

"Oh...well then that's…interesting." I said nervously. "Shes gonna punch the shit out of us…"

"Hope your Shield can hold up to her." Jericho said.

“Um...not sure when it’s said she can punch through three feet thick Dark Monofilament Slabs…” I said nervously.

"So what's the plan then?" Kexez asked, honestly looking a tad… swollen at the moment. "She's a dragon so scales will protect against most or all physical attacks, and depending on type magic as well."

"So we're fucked." Jericho said. 

"Maybe not." Kexez said. "If she is anthro, then she can only have two weak spots… and if she is wearing armor, they will be covered."

“You okay there Kexez? You’re looking a little...swollen.” I said nervously.

"Between all the infants, new females and males in my stomach’s, did you expect something else?" They asked. "You still have that book?"

“Yep.” I nodded. “I still have the book.”

I handed the book over to Kexez, who read through it quickly, finding what they were looking for quickly. "Here we are. One moment."

“Oh?” I asked curiously. “What did you find?”

"You'll see."

I glanced at the book, since it was still open from where Kexez left off.

A unique feature of the Floof Noodle is their ability to grow their lower snake half larger, without the need to swallow themselves like Nagas do. This only affects their lower half, and can be done a few times. The Mama Noodle however, can do this until they are up to a mile in diameter. This lets them grow more stomachs for storing/feeding young as well as the elderly and sick/Injured.

A mile...In Diameter!!

“Jesus fuck…” I muttered. “Maybe...being a Floof Noodle might be advantages after all...hmm…”

Jericho and I watched as Kexez soon began to grow, well, just their snake half did. Patches of fur and scales splitting up, new fluff and scales growing in the forming gaps. Soon, Kexez's lower half was now longer… and larger than Eclipsa's. "That didn't hurt like I was expecting." Kexez said.

“Right then…” I said. “That is...most definitely a thing.” I said simply. “So how do you feel with your bigger body?”

"Got some weight but I'll adjust."

“There is nothing wrong with that.” I said honestly. “So anyways...we have a dragoness to fight…”

Getting ready, we came up to the boss room. Opening the door, was like all prior rooms, save the psychopath one, and the coffin lid flew open as a tall, black scaled… goddess of a Dragoness came out… she was about my height, armor that sexy revealing they make for perverted mods in games or anime and was just in every way… hot. "Focus lover boy." Jericho chuckled.

“I am focusing.” I said honestly. “Focusing on all the right things…” I said while trying to find the two weakpoints on this lady. “I’m totally not distracted nope.”

"Well you will be." Kexez said. "Weak points on her are under that lower half of her bikini armor."

"Wait, you mean…" Jericho asked.

"Yup. Only parts of a dragon race not covered in scales like hers are the pussy and anus."

"Oh we are going to hell for this boss fight…"

“Except for her throat.” I said while pointing to her neck. “Even on other races, there’s always a small little sliver of a weak point there...just so we don’t have to shove Second Chance right up her ass.”

"Yeah, you'd rather shove something else up there." Kexez jokes, making Jericho laugh and me blush.

“Yeah well...shut up.” I pouted. “We need to fight her, not plow her…” I said while preparing myself to fight. “So who wants to go first?”

"I'd say ladies first but that kinda applies to all of us." Jericho said, swapping out Second Chance for a battle axe made of pure lightning.

“Fine then.” I said while walking over to her with No Heart and Frozen Pride. “Let’s get this over with.” I muttered. “Alright lady, bring it.”

I charged at Gilsha, she throwing a punch at my Shield… I blinked, suddenly a few feet inside the cave walls.

“Ow…” I groaned. “The fuck…”

Climbing out, I saw Frozen Pride was still in good shape. Jericho was avoiding where he could and getting hits in where he could.

“Bitch is gonna get a Second Chance so far up her ass..” I growled while rolling my shoulder. “Fucking hell that just sounds weird…”

I charged back in. Kexez was summoning Nobodies as a destruction while managed to get a hit in on her arm. There was an impact shockwave of Nothingness… she promptly grabbed my arm, nearly ripping it off as my bones broke from her grip as she tossed me… INTO THE SAME WALL HOLE!!

“Okay, fuck you.” I said with a frown as I brought out Sharpshooters and opened a small portal, firing a shit load of arrows straight into the Dragoness.

They bounced off… HOW STRONG IS SHE?!

“Seriously how strong is this bitch?” I asked while getting out of the hole.

"We need to find this neck weak spot or break her armor." Jericho said. "Your choice."

“You two know where the adam’s apple would be on a guy? It’s there on her.” I said while trying to shoot Sharpshooters at that specific spot, not sure if the boss would try and block it.

She did… actually taking off her… top armor to tie it around her neck… dragon tits…. "Focus." Jericho said again. "We need to break that armor. Think Skysplitter can do that?"

“Maybe…” I said honestly, finding her dragon titties nice as I pulled out Skysplitter and immediately leaped over and swinging it down hard.

I managed to get a hit on her armor, cracking it. Maybe two more hits should- Yipe!

She grabbed me, body slamming me.

“Rude…” I growled as I tried to stop the Dragoness with my upgraded Foudre.

I used this to dodge, finding a perfect speed to deliver the final two strikes to her makeshift neck guard… and about Six to her panties one… oh, she's like us when it comes to genitals… actually that's a good looking member she's got.

“I’m top, not a bottom bitch…” I growled as I grabbed Second Chance and tried to drive it straight into her throat.

She was good at dodging. I had to reequip Foudre to get the advantage, finding a thin hairline crack along her neck. Bingo. With this speed on my side I hot the hairline mark with Second Chance. She glowed the now iconic white, and then it began to Shrink. Soon… there was an egg. Right.

“My egg.” I said while picking up the egg.

Like with Eevee it hatched after I said that, an adorable little wolf dragon now crying needily in my arms.

"Well, that was a fight… gonna plow the version of her back home when we're done then?" Jericho asked me.

“You know I’m more than just horny all the time.” I frowned.

"As a Den Mother I kinda doubt that." Kexez said, taking baby Gilsha and place her away. "So, let's see what and who- gah!" Kexez gasped, falling to their arms while clutching their chest.

"Shit you okay?!" Jericho asked as he and I ran over to Kexez.

“Getting a heart shouldn’t be this painful right?” I asked nervously, checking over Kexez to make sure they were alright.

"It is when you are me." Kexez said with a grunt. "Remember, Zeke, Heart, and now myself all are Kingdom Hearts. My forming a new one it's linking me to Heart… to everyone. I got hit by a wave of emotions. They'll keep happening as my heart forms, merging and becoming one with the others Hearts. Yours, Eclipsa's, Heart's. All of you."

"What emotions did you feel?" Jericho asked.

"Regret. Regret for what I did to all those people… and love…"

“Sounds about right.” I nodded.

We helped Kexez up, they got their balance back, shaking off the dizziness. "Back to the loot then. Let's just hope this doesn't happen often."

The loot this time surprised me… a C.R.I.P.T. blueprint safe. "Holy shit!" Jericho said. 

“Oh boy...wonder who’s this is…” I muttered while checking to see if there was anything special about it to tell us.… Heart… This was Heart's blueprints… everything Nexus has planned and built about them… here...

“I mean...technically I’m Heart so…” I muttered while trying to open the thing to see what they had on Heart. It.. didn't respond. So it's smart then. Either I wake them up or… Kexez should be able to open it. “Okay so...Kexez you open it.”

Nodding, Kexez placed a hand on it. The lid popped open, showing a Holo screen with near countless files. "Okay… so what now?" Kexez asked.

“We look through all the shit that Nexus has on Heart.” I said honeslty.

There was… a lot… the abilities, the stats each power up, level up and even when they would become an Admin… HOW they became an admin even! Everything in Heart's life was detailed and here… up until Eclipse became Eclipsa, and remembered Heart, and vise versa. After that it's no longer accurate. Their goal for Heart was to have him become the Admin of Hearts, shift into a Psychopath so they can use that power and connection to all hearts to make a multiverse army of the things instantly.

Wait, according to this at the time Zeke split and made Kexez… he was… he was strong enough to control people's hearts already. He's never even used that power.

“Cause of course…” I sighed out.

"What should we do with this thing then?" Kexez asked.

“Does Nexus still technically have this?” I asked curiously.

"Possibly." Jericho thought aloud. "If this came from the same place as everything else we've won then yes they do."

“Damn...but it says that Nexus’s plan went to absolute shit because of Eclipsa…” I said honestly.

"They must have something else in mind then." Kexez said. "A means of salvaging this plan, or at least parts of it."

“Well I’m sure it would be written in here…” I muttered while sifting through everything.

I was looking through files when I found a video file… is that… Hearts mom?

Log Date: 6,590. 

The project is completed. As of this entry, Madaline Ethil Nexus will be no more, my memories and life here erased so I can raise this project as a proper mother. The memories of the family have already been altered, my new memories will be implanted once my current ones are removed. I will become Marry Ventral. Wife of Barry Ventral and mother to the project and two other children I and my new husband will know as ours. My only proof that Madaline ever even existed will be this audio log, as Nexus will erase all records of me to ensure no lose ends.

That said, I leave for the process in an hour… I'm scared. I never imagined King Vincent would choose me to carry this project, raise them. I know I won't remember any of this soon but… I never wanted to bring a child into the world like this. Not as a weapon, not as one of those… psychopaths… it's bad enough he picked my sister for the special C.R.I.P.T project he was overseeing personally. I guess at least I'll luck out not remembering this, but I wish my child didn't have to be born into this… my sweet Zeke… I'm sorry…

No one could form words...

“Oh…” I said slowly. “That’s...uh…”

"So that's why Zeke had a mom." Jericho said. "No other Cript's had mother's, none they could remember."

“Maybe...but jesus…” I said nervously.

Kexez didn't say anything, just closing the blueprints up and putting them away in their own Assistant. "We'll tell, show Heart, and Mom… in time." They said simply.

I held my belly, Heart still out cold in their own personal hibernation in there. He's not… even a real Ventral…

“I’m sorry Heart…” I sighed out sadly.

The rest of the loot was the same. Money, potions, weapons. The usual.

We came to the next floor, the theme here was… this was… this was home. This was my castle! Our castle! "Okay… so either you… or…" Jericho started.

“What the actual hell…” I muttered.

"We got company." Kexez said, from around the corner three Void corrupted Dusks, their mouths vomiting void as they charged us.

“I’m gonna...question my sanity later.” I said as I hit all three of them with Love Struck a few times, wondering what would happen to the Dusks.

While they still looked like dusks, they were given gorgeous bodies. And actual hands. They then moved over towards me, rubbing me… sweet Lord… "Hello our king~" They all said.

“Note to self...keep this thing as far away from Lyra as possible…” I said nervously.

[Meanwhile]

Lyra was enjoying a nice picnic with Alxun, when her ear twitched, held out a hand, and summoned Love Struck. "I already have a copy." She said, much to Alxun's confusion.

[Back with Ben]

“I jinxed it didn’t I?” I asked worriedly while the three Dusks were shoved into Kexez’s mouth.

"So, now sexy versions of your own Nobodies? Horny dog." Jericho said while laughing.

Going along we came across the usual line up of Nobodies, one Iady while here even, and some new one I didn't know about yet. Assassin's, Snipers, Dragoons, the works. Some as babies were both cute and epic looking, the ones as girls… a mix of both cool or straight up hot… especially the Dancers. We finally found the resting room, taking a breather and seeing the floor boss… I felt my heart drop again. 

Joy...

“Joy...what happened…” I muttered while trying to figure out what happened.

Joy the Advisor

Advisor and brother to the king of a long forgotten era, they fell to The Heroes Tomb like their family before them.

“Joy...you goddamn idiot…” I teared up.

"Well… this will be interesting." Kexez said. "This Lindworm is obviously Void Altered, the question is, who's void. Void Keys, or Void Mother's?"

“We won’t know until we find out…” I said while wiping away my tears.

"This might play into our favor if it is Void Keys Void." Jericho said. "We could finally learn just how to counter it's resistance to your Nothingness… but that raises another question. Why doesn't Void Mother exploit that?"

“Because she doesn’t know what I am and thinks I’m just playing around with Void Key. Cause even without Nothingness I kicked the shit out of Vilgax, his right hand man with no problem.”

"In any case, this will be an interesting fight." Kexez said.

“This is gonna suck…” I sighed out. “Let’s hope for the best…”

"Yeah…" Jericho sighed.

Before we left, kinda thankfully, Kexez got another twinge of pain from their forming heart. "Almost. It's closer to being whole than I anticipated." Kexez said, taking the hit better this time but still needing a small breather. "I felt lost… remembering how I first felt when the echoes of emotions I had when I was first born finally faded… and Happy, knowing what I want to do from now on."

"How many more times will this happen?" Jericho asked.

"At this rate of growth, maybe two, three more times before my heart is formed and one with all yours."

“Well let’s hope it never happens during a boss fight.” I said simply.

With that we headed off to the boss room. I was hesitant to enter, but swallowed my fear and walked in. The coffin here was larger than the others, and when the lid blew off, in a haze of Void… Joy rushed out, his own weapon, Lindworm, impaled through them, covered in a thick slime like Void as long dead looking versions of Void Keys eye covered it. So it isn't connected to the current Void Key, but it's void is still strong. Joy was in feral form, snarling at us with a foaming mouth as if rabies had taken them. It hurt to see my baby brother this way… "We gotta get those Lindworm Spears out of him before we can use Second Chance." Jericho said. 

“I’ll...I’ll try to get them out of him…” I said as I summoned my Lexicon and Staff and buffed us all to hell, sending in my golems and skeletons I have been collecting to try and stall his movements so we can get the spears out.

It proves quite fruitless. They still had control over wind and would blast the Nobodies aside, howling and making mini tornadoes that were actually EATING the other Nobodies as he ran after to bite at Kexez, who dodged then slammed their large tail into Joy, sending them a bit across the room. There was a trace Void aura around Kexez's tail for a bit before Nothingness appeared and canceled it out. So it's just the weapons infected with Void Keys void then.

I looked at Joy again, only seeing Void Key’s actions hurting those I care about again. “That…” I growled as I shifted into my Primal Form, even bigger than Joy’s Primal Form. “That is enough!” I shouted as I lunged at Joy and tackled him rather quickly, biting one of the lances and ripping it out of his back. “You took my wife you damned thing! Your not taking my baby brother!” I howled in rage.

As I bit another Lance, their dead eye turned to look at me… looking smug. "I… already did… they… and so many...many more...oh so long ago… they spoke weak and with an old voice, laughing just as weakly.

I shifted back and picked up Joy by the neck, a clone of myself appearing behind him. “I’m going to find you, and I’m going to enjoy watching you beg for death when I torture you till I see fit Void Key.” I growled.

My clone ripped out the rest of the Spears as I hit Joy with Second Chance, holding them as they were shifted back, into a tiny little puppy. I hugged them tightly, crying with them.

Jericho took the Lances, placing them all in a cage of Nothingness that was holding them. They then stored it away in a strange puzzle cube thing, then into the Assistant.

“I’m here my baby...I’m here…” I cried, nuzzling baby Joy.

They didn't shift or change, part of me was really happy about that. I wanted to keep holding them, but that could be done later. Kexez placed them away inside with the others, and we looked through the loot.

The usual was there, but this time… there were so many Nothingness ores, weapons and armor, a few thousand tombs on Nobodies and Nothingness, recipes to Make Nobodies… and most surprising… a book on how to make Nothingness Keyblades, independent from Kingdom Hearts… hell yes. I also will need to expand the vaults and armories at this rate.

“Okay...so…” I took a deep breath. “Let’s continue…”

With that, we headed for the next floor… this was different. We were under water, sorta. It was an aquarium of sorts that had amazing sea life all swimming around us. "Woah… this is amazing- is that a Kaltupa!?" Jericho yelled, running right as the glass. The fish he was looking at was about half my size, yellow, green eyes, looked like its fins were made from seaweed and had two mouths.

“Is it good to eat?” I asked curiously.

"Oh no, they are extremely poisonous. But their bones when ground into a powder can be used to substitute damn near anything for repairing weapons at a forge." Jericho said, eyeing the fish. "They were so damn rare back in my realm."

“And now there’s probably a fuck ton of these bastards arounds.” I said honestly.

"Which begs the question… know anyone who was huge on fish and water?" Jericho asked.

“Not...fully sure.” I said honestly while scrolling through my assistant on who this might be.

There were a few possibilities, but I won't be able to tell until we are at the resting room.

“Alright so we won’t know till we get to a resting area...but we at least narrowed it down.” I said honestly.

Exploring this room, there was mostly a lot of… mechanical enemies. Aquatic themed robots and such. Love struck and Second Chance both worked on them, sexy robot ladies and adorable little robo babies. 

The deeper through this floor we went the more fish seemed to swarm the glass around us. Finally we found the resting room. It had a fishing area Jericho immediately started using to try and catch a few. Meanwhile Kexez tried to see if that heart pain would happen before heading off, and I checked the boss into book.

Quata the Ocean.

The fallen Admin of the sea, from the first Admin War,  revived by time itself in the age of war against the Void Mother.

Wait… fallen… so she's dead now… but will be revived by time… so this is someone new.

“Well that’s not good…” I muttered. “But...revived by Time Itself? What does that mean?”

As I skimmed through the book, Kexez had that heart pain again. It was a lot softer than the prior ones. Jericho caught those fish he was lookitat, and some others.

Still wonder why the enemies here are all aquatic based robots rather than just fish monsters… as I pondered this I took into account this dungeons theme, the large glass tubes and rooms with heavy metal and bolts… oh… She's a steampunk...

“Well then...that’s interesting.” I said honestly. “This is a Steampunk area.”

We headed off, dealing with the last of the robots here and finding the boss room. The lid blew off, and out in a flood of black water came Quata, levitating the void poisoned water and shaping it like spikes.

“Alright, looks like someone needs some detoxing.” I said before pulling out Arpeggio and plucking one of the two strings, the water around me clearing up slowly but surely. “Let’s hope this can work.” I muttered as I plucked another string as Arpeggio drew in water, making a water clone with a piano of all things that started to play, clearing up more and more water as Arpeggio turned into a Guitar and brought up a Microphone as more of the band was brought in, a bass, drums and another guitarist who all had their own microphones.

When the days close in, and Shadow’s drown the land

I sang out as water clones started to form up around my own little island of clear water that tried to rush forward to fight, only for the Ocean Admin to bring up her trident and two Void Tentacles appeared and grabbed them, crushing them rather quickly.

Where the shore of the ocean recedes,To melancholic spaces

More water clones appeared as they cleaved down the Tentacles, which sadly was only like seven out of a few dozen as they were all knocked back.

It was the darkness that swallowed the beauty of day
- The darkness comes closer -
All visions and dreams left away, Hand in hand we can find our (way) back home

When the other band members chimed in the water around us started to clear up a little faster as Eternal Flames appeared and flew high into the sky, spinning as they started to slowly make the light of the sun, causing the Ocean Admin to hiss and tried to send her SteamPunk fish to attack me.

Let's fly high over the rainbow
And along to the emerald skies
Let's find the key of salvation
You're receiving an answer to life

As we all sang a massive water dragon appeared and roared behind us, diving forward and ripping into the steampunk fish, knocking away the Void Tentacles as the Boss slammed her Trident into the water’s surface, causing it to ripple and create her own Void Water Dragon, roaring a challenge causing a massive water dragon fight.

See the glance of dawn
A flaming romance
And the shades of the ardent sun
Leave sentimental graces

As my water dragon was fighting, more water clones were made and fighting against the growing hoard the Ocean Admin had to offer, but Eternal flames had this nifty ability one of it’s evolution’s gave it where it could coat allies in a sort of fire armor that wouldn’t hurt the wearer, so the makeshift sun that was growing brighter gave down ‘Armor of Heavenly Fire’ as they started to push back against the Void Forces.

- And the darkness comes closer -
It was the sadness that darkened the glory of day
- The darkness comes closer -
All visions and dreams will come true
Hand in hand we will find our (way) back home

As we repeated the first chorus the flames grew brighter and stronger, the water growing cleaner and cleaner as the boss was losing ground, the Admin raising her Trident and summoning...HOLY SHIT! THE FUCKING KRAKEN!

“Alright! Bring it on!” I shouted as I slammed my foot into the water's surface, causing a ripple effect as ancient magic Arpeggio learned rushed through as the entire area shook as I summoned The Mother Fucking Leviathan.

Let's fly high over the rainbow
And along to the emerald skies
Let's find the key of salvation
You're receiving an answer to life

As we sang the Chorus the Kraken and Leviathan clashed in Titan levels of power, the water dragons having multiplied into the hundreds as Void Tainted Water and Nothingness Purified Water clashed in a massive spectacle that I really hope someone was recording while I shredded through the Guitar Solo.

Let's fly high over the rainbow
And along to the emerald skies
Let's find the key of salvation
You're receiving an answer to life

Me and my growing water army sang out as the Void Admin was pushed back, a water Replica of myself grabbed Second Chance and immediately bolted towards the boss, clashing against her, causing everything to ripple and break all the smaller water constructs, the two clashing in massive swings that looked more like two massive Hurricanes clashing against each other.

Let's fly to the end of the rainbow
On our quest for eternal life
Tap at the door to a place called salvation
And you'll find the right way to go

I sang out by myself as the music fully swelled as my clone managed to land the final blow with Second Chance, the Admin and all the water glowing brightly as I moved swiftly over the water and grabbed the crying infant that was the Ocean Admin. “It’s alright my daughter...you have found Salvation.” I said gently.

I gently cradled her till she fell asleep, them Kexez placed her safely with the others. Have to admit, that whole Naga bellies thing comes in handy.

The loot here for once had no money, but a lot of sea themed weapons, armor, items, fucking boats, submarines, spellbooks on sea magic, all forms of sea life, and basically a lot of things.

“Well that’s...a  lot of cool things.” I said honestly. “But uh...hopefully I didn’t go overboard…” I said sheepishly.

"Eh, who cares." Jericho said as we packed the last few things.

"So this is the first person we meet that's new. Huh. Well, fight." Kexez said.

“I’m sure we’ll meet new people down the road.” I said honestly. “Now, onward to the next floor."

This floor was all… lightning. Lightning formed walls and general… everything. The enemies were all also so fast… a Speedster, I figured. This floor was for a Speedster. I used Foudre to be able to move fast enough to see them… they were people, their eyes and mouths gushing out void as they ran, never stopping. I used Second Chance on all of them.

“Jeez, the fuck are we the Speed Force?” I asked honestly while handing a dagger to Kexez and Jericho so they could move fast enough. “Also this gives me a good chance to practice with my newly evolved Foudre.”

"As far as I know Cript doesn't actually have Speedsters in the family." Jericho said. 

"... I can think of one person. But I want to be sure." Kexez said.

“Alright, we better find the safe spot before more of these bastards appear.” I said honestly.

As we navigated this place more and more of those Speedsters showed up. Thanks to Foudre we managed to move fast enough to make the fight even. I used Second Chance on all of them, they were people damn it.

As we entered another area we were met by one with White Lightning, they sped around just as fast as the others, but seemed to be trying to avoid being caught, unlike the others who all just charged us in attack.

“You know an annoying thing? We should, by default, be this fast, but we’re not somehow.” I frowned.

"Only one who could have answered that was the Admin of speed, but he's dead." Jericho said, managing to loop around and hit this white lightning run away Speedsters with Second Chance. Another baby, another place away in Kexez… huh… actually, I wonder what's like in that feeding belly? As in what does it look like. Has to be a bit gross but also weirdly cool.

“I mean, that Cycles Admin of Speed is dead, this Cycle’s Admin of Speed might not.” I said honestly. “Who knows…”

We finally reached the resting room. Kexez looked through the book. "I was right."

Nathen
Race: Human
Weapon: None.

A human from earth who gained the powers of the speed force from a higher god. His speed reached new heights after becoming the new Admin of Speed after the old was ended by a Delete. He gathered Every Speedsters across all Cycles and multiverse to fight the Void Mother, and in the end, fell to the Heroes Tomb after their best friend and lover fell fighting The Void Mother.

"He becomes the new Admin of Speed then? Good for Nathen."

“Who’s Nathen again?” I asked curiously, trying to remember people’s names in the god knows how many I need to remember.

"He's a friend of Heart's from earth. My link to them showed me Nathen and Heart met back up while he was hunting down those Heartless, now Nathen and Eclipsa are hunting the last one down."

“Cool.” I said. “So we’re going to have a second Nathan then.” I said honestly.

"Did not expect them to end up with us." Kexez said.

"That's the gag." Jericho shrugged.

“Cause of course it is…” I sighed out.

We left behind the safe room, Kexez having another heart attack before we made it to the boss. This one hit them hard though, they were breathing heavily. "Fuck." Kexez cursed.

“What happened?” I asked worriedly.

"One more. One more and I'll be whole. It grew faster than I expected."

“Sounds about right.” I nodded.

"I'm feeling the slightest touches of emotions… and instincts. The two are similar, yet so different." They huffed, still breathing hard.

“Need a moment?” I asked gently. “Cause we can wait here before we enter the boss room if your not feeling well still.”

"I'll just need a bi- Gah!" They fell down, their chest glowing a bright blinding light that began to shift to the framilier blue we knew. It finally ended after a while, and Kexez was left breathing heavily on their backs across the floor.

“Oh shit, you okay?” I asked worriedly, rushing to their side and checking to see if their okay.

They were breathing heavily, as I was trying to help them up, suddenly their tail wrapped tightly around me… and they began deeply kissing me, hugging me tight with their tail and arms as well. "Uhh…" Was all Jericho said.

“Well...someone got their heart back…” I muttered.

"I feel everything… I feel how much your family loves you. Love each other." Kexez said, kissing me again. "All that love. It's so strong!" They said, kissing me again.

I kissed back as I pulled back. “Glad to hear your happy finally...I have a feeling you want to go back to the safe area for...reasons.” I said sheepishly.

[Here be impromptu porn]

Oh!... Maybe not… when did they take my pants off? "Why bother with privacy?" Kexez asked. I noticed their eyes, they were… Heart shaped… oh dear...

“For safety reasons?” I asked nervously, not wanting them to get hurt while we were doing the dirty. “And...you’re just going to ignore me, aren't you?”

She was thrusting herself on my already hard member the whole time I was talking. Soon tops were off and she then, somehow, pulled Jericho between- wait how did she strip them so fast? "So this Is a sandwich then?" Jericho asked, muffled by both my and Kexez's cleavage. 

“Sure...why not.” I groaned. “Christ your tight Kexez…”

"I'm half snake. Our bodies are largely muscle… and I have excellent muscle control~" they said softly in my ear… and suddenly it felt like my penis was getting rammed through a narrow tube of tight squishy wet rubber.

I am now so close...

“God damn it…” I groaned before moving Jericho to the side and tackling Kexez to the ground, starting to ram myself into her as fast and as hard as I could.

"Yes! Yes! Rut me! Own me!" Kexez said oh so sluttery.

I then felt the sudden sensation of my own nethers getting rammed. Jericho, not wanting to be left out, joined in. I rutted Kexez as Jericho rutted me.

I bit Kexez’s shoulder, not hard enough to bleed but enough to leave my mark on her as I slammed into her one last time, shoving my knot into that oh so blissfully tight cunt as I came, giving what the slutty bitch needed as their stomach bloated rather quickly, making her look like she was pregnant with two litters at the same time, my own cunt clamping down on Jericho’s dick as well.

Jericho, the sly fucker, yanked my tail hard… my weakness! My nethers gripped their members hard, and they came inside me. I didn't bloat out, but I felt perfectly full given the limits of my wombs walls.

[porn ends]

We all now rested in a lovely afterglow.

As I was starting to come back to earth I realized I wasn't in the hall… and my environment was. Squishy… "Hi Ben." I looked up, seeing Eevee and the other people we've gotten out of the rewards… Kexez swallowed me. I moved, seeing Jericho was under me. Their gut rather… bloated. "You screw… in your sleep…" They said, tired and halfway still in an afterglow.

“Jesus did...did I plow everyone in here?” I asked nervously, looking around at all the adults in hopes I didn’t do everyone.

"No, you came down screwing Jericho there, came, then slept for like, an hour I think?" Eevee said.

“And yet you said I screw in my sleep, and you look like you just had some fun time as well.” I said honestly.

"I was masterbating." She said. Looking around we were all naked. This stomach was also very roomy. More so that I expect. I couldn't stand but I could sit up. Everything was slimy but it didn't smell. The belly walls were also… so soft and smooth. It's like Silk meets Egyptian cotton. "So, I take it all the ruckas we went through was a nice sex?" Eevee asked.

“Yes, yes it was…” I said. “I hope it wasn’t...too bad.” I said sheepishly.

"Eh. Not that different when you all fight." Eevee said with a shrug. "So, wanna see the rest of the place?"

“Sure, why not.” I said honestly.

Walking on hands and knees Through the almost tunnel like belly, I met back up with all the girls, we chatted and talked before Eevee took me to these small little holes in the flesh wall. "These lead to the other bellies. The one with the guys, the babies, and some others that are vacant right now " She said. "They stretch so don't worry, the muscle move you from one to the other so don't fight the pull."

“Alrighty then...sounds about right.” I said simply. “So, how has everything been in here?”

"Cozy." Eevee said, leaning against the fleshy wall. "As weird as it might sound this belly feels really safe."

“Well, Kexez is a hybrid of a Dire Wolf and a Naga, so the Naga part like this helps.” I said honestly. “Still can’t believe ‘Floof Noodle’ stuck…” I chuckled.

"I like that name, makes their rather intimidating form seem less scary." She said. "Go check the babies, they're so cute."

“I will.” I said while heading to the second with all our children. “There are so many kids to check up on…”

The pull was surprisingly strong, but still gentle. It kinda massaged me as I passed through. Soon I emerged from the stretchy tube into the Feeding belly. This was… weird. It was literally all lactating breasts tightly next to each other all around the size of this belly. It was also much shorter than the others. Made sense though it is for babies. I had to crawl through this one, finding the babies all around, either sleeping or drinking. Each boob I moved alone was both super squishy, leaking from the pressure of my body weight, and firm as they didn't sink or move that much from my being on them.

“This is nice…” I muttered warmly, seeing all my children happily sleeping or eating. “I’m glad all of you are safe…” I smiled warmly.

I got a few to feed off me as well, though I tried some of the milk Kezex made. It was thick, like a rich Vanilla cream with what I swear was a tasty hint of cinnamon. At some point, I began to sleep again. I was happy, and for the first time in a long time… I just felt safe.

I slowly opened my eyes and yawned, feeling something on top of me...or a lot of something’s as I noticed a lot of our kids were cuddling up to me as I smiled. “This is nice…”

As I was hugging all the little miracles I felt something touching my face. Opening my eyes I saw… a tongue. A long, long tongue. It felt around my face a bit before suddenly wrapping around my whole body and actually managed to pull me out from all the infants and back out up Kexez's throat and out into the world. 

I immediately felt so...much...colder. I might as well have been naked in the Frozen North. Well, I am naked but still. It's so warm and cozy there. Huh, Eevee was right about that then. We were in the Safe Room, Kexez curled up around in their own tail, looking at me lovingly. "Hi. Sleep well?" She asked with a prideful smile.

“It was warm and cozy in there, why you bring me out?” I frowned.

"You can go in whenever you want Sweetness~ but we still have a boss to fight. How's about a nice nap in there for a while every floor safe room~?" Woah! Kexez is… flirty with a heart… hang on… their eyes are still heart shaped.

“So...this is the second time when someone changed they become a fucking ditz…” I sighed out.

"Rude." She spat. "First up, I am right fucking here. Secondly, I can finally feel my own emotions. Between that and biological instincts, pardon me for not knowing how to filter."

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound rude, but this thing happened a long time ago when...the Suicide Queen had to have something done to her to make sure she didn’t become a living ticking Void Bomb.”

"If I recall that happened because the Void mark on her was unstable and removing it was going to have side effects regardless. Would you have honestly preferred her smart enough to betray you later on?"

“Even though she specifically stated she didn’t want to fight anymore when she had a kid. But I expected some of her smarts to stay honestly.” I said honestly. “Again, sorry for sounding rude…” I sighed out. “Was just...a little worried that when you got a heart you became someone outlandishly different.”

"Well, I prefer acting outlandishly different. Before I was just monotone, and remembering it two things come to mind. I was rather boring, and I had no ambition aside from keeping Heart happy. That's still my main goal, but my secondary goal not after getting hit by that wave of memories and emotions is to be the family whore. Well, maybe whore is a strong word, but I am going to act on every sexual desire Heart is too nervous too, Then drag them along with me."

“I would say less ‘boring’ and more ‘cold and calculating’.” I said honestly. “Smart, cunning, strong, not the outlet for all of Hearts sexual fantasies.” I said honestly.

"My life, screw you… oh wait." She chuckled.

“More like I’m going to be screwing you most of the time.” I chuckled.

"Speaking of Heart… mind if I see them? Last time we talked was when I… forced him to become the Admin of Hearts…" Kexez sighed, fiddling with their hair now.

“Their still asleep in here.” I said while gently putting a hand on my stomach. “He’s been asleep this entire time actually.”

"X must be making him train again." Kexez sighed. "Not sure why I remember but Everytime Heart sleeps X took them to the realm of sleep for subconscious training. He won't remember when he wakes up but it keeps him sharp since he only ever wants to do paperwork in the waking world."

“Actually, I read the book on Floof Noodles and they can hibernate for up to a month when they’re inside their mother.” I said honestly. “But that’s also probably true…”

"Must be taking advantage of that." Kexez sighed. "So, you okay with them there or can I take them?"

“I’m okay with them there.” I said honestly. “It...feels a little right, here if I’m not a Floof Noodle.”

Kexez nodded, then eyes went wide. "Oh shit I forgot to pull out Jericho." They said, after a few Moments Jericho was hacked up.

"Shit it's cold…" They shivered, using magic to dry off their body and become immediately clothed. I sighed but did the same as Kexez got a new shirt. 

We explored the rest of the floor, saving the rest of the Void Corrupted Speedsters. There were two that gave us hell. One with Red lightning, he other with Blue. They were fast, somehow faster than Foudre, but we finally got them too. We then made our way to the boss room. The lighting of the entire place shifted into a massive Dome as the coffin flew off, and speeding out MUCH faster than I expected was Nathen, their appearance made them look like a speeding corpse with black Void corrupted speed force lighting. Even with Foudre.. he was faster. "Use ice!" Jericho said. "Speed and freeze are pilot opposites!"

“Sounds about right.” I said while bringing out Frozen Pride as Ice started to form around me as I started bolting around, creating more and more ice and using Frozen Pride’s new ability, as Nathan passed over any ice or even got close to it his energy was siphoned off rather quickly, the more ice he ran near the more it siphoned off.

They had issues running along the ice, then, doing the total bullshit move, began running ON. THE. AIR. "Bullshit!" Jericho and Kexez called out as they worked Frost and ice magic.

“Oh, perfect.” I said as Frozen Pride glowed and the very air itself started to Crystalize around him. “Yeah, no matter how fast someone is, they can’t outspeed this.” I said as the temp dropped by an ass load as the very air started to freeze, siphoning off the speedsters energy by a fuck ton. “Frost Coffin.” I muttered, my breath clearly visible as it trailed along the air, wrapping around Nathan as his entire body started to get covered in ice rather quickly.

Taking the opportunity, Jericho took he hit, Second Chance slicing through Nathen. Within seconds the room temperature rose back up, and Kexez caught the falling baby Nathen. She cooing them. "There there. It's alright, your Ma-pa's are here."

I pouted. “Nuu~, I want to hold him.”

"Ma-pa's?" Jericho asked.

"Mama-Papa. Given we're all both genders it fits pretty good. I guess Pama can also work? Up to personal preference." Kexez shrugged, letting me hold baby Nathen now.

“Eh, either way.” I said while cradling our new son. “And our special boy is joining us now.”

Giving Nathen one final huh, Kexez took them back, swallowing them into that comfy feeding belly. I am definitely going back in there… something a while ago I was extremely nervous about doing I am now pretty much fine with… huh.

The loot box here was mostly standard. The part that wasn't were these small injectors filled with Speed Force. Jericho said one will make anyone a Speedster for life. Huh…

“Well...alrighty then.” I said honestly.

This floor was neat. It's entire theme was a Forest. Every fiber of my Dire Wolf biology made me run through it, Jericho hitching a ride and Kexez doing the same. The enemies here were all various types of Void tainted predictors.

“Maybe we’ll find Void Wolves here?” I wondered as I just enjoyed running around.

"So far we haven't run into any." Kexez said, slurping down the now baby Nagas. 

"Actually, you aren't wrong there." Jericho said. "Tigers, Bears, Lions, all forms of predators, but no wolves."

“That is interesting…” I hummed. “But this forest is making my instincts go up...I doubt it’s just because it’s a forest.” I said honestly. “So, who do you think the boss will be?”

"Clearly a predator." Kexez said. "But… in an entire Forest filled with predators, there hasn't been a single pray based species here. So… it might be a predator that hunts other predators?" Kexez pondered.

"Won't know until we find that safe room."

“Survival of the fittest…” I muttered as we continued to search for the safe room.

The further along we went, we soon found more types of predators. Nagas, Dragons, even demons and spirits. Finally, we found the safe room. Kexez had to grow themselves again, this floor proved very… fortunate for picking up family. Once that was done, they could barely fit through the door, then swallowed Jericho so they can nap in them while they and I read the book.

“Alrighty then, let’s see what boss is on this floor.” I said while checking the book.

Spoiled The Darkness.
Race: Equestrian
Weapon: Graceful Rose

Once a powerful demon, obsessed with power, she was saved by a hero from a time long forgotten. Her ties to Darkness altered her when she was reborn, still keeping her a demon, but raised to use those evil powers for good. She could feel emotions again, she was human where it counted.

“Are you kidding me? Spoiled is redeemed?” I frowned. “I know you wanted to redeem her but...the fuck.”

"We must use Second Chance or maybe even Love Struck on her." Kexez thought. 

“Sounds about right…” I said honestly. “Hmm...still hate her though for causing a lot of crap…”

"Hm. But why with all the predators though…" Kexez said, flipping through the pages.

At the dawn of her marriage, Spoiled tested her love and metal against an attack by The Void Mother. A beast crowned as King of Beasts. With help from her family she slayed the beast, taking its form and renaming the title, King of Predators. This act established the Dire Wolf and Floof Noodle races as Predator royalty across creation

"Oh… that's unexpected." Kexez said.

“Interesting…” I hummed.

"Looks like we'll see what she looks like now soon." Kexez said, looking at me. "Now, you nap." They said, mouth opening wide as I was sent down for a quick nap with the others.

When I arrived, I was near Eevee and our newly acquired Bear lady. "Hi again." Eevee said.

Woah… this place is even bigger now. It makes sense, she grew herself more but I can actually stand in here now.

“Hi, and sheesh this place got bigger.” I said honestly.

"I know. And check this!" Eevee said, pushing against the belly walls… it went onwards a fair amount, and she laid down along the Newly formed spot. "Beds! It happened a bit ago and we found out by total accident. I swear the bigger this place gets the cooler it gets."

“Alrighty then. That is rather interesting.” I said honestly.

Eevee gave a cute, happy laugh before making her bed bigger. "Come on, I wanna cuddle!" She proclaimed.

I grabbed Eevee and got onto the bed with her, cuddling up to her happily. “Cuddles are nice.”

We squished up next to each other, and I went into a blissful sleep.

I woke up with Eevee nuzzled happily in my chest. We laid like this for a while longer before getting up. I stretched, feeling so well rested. Honestly the slime and such doesn't bother me much. It doesn't smell and I think it's making my Floof fluffier. I think Kexez is still asleep.

“Alright so...everyone else is asleep…” I muttered to myself.

I decided to read that book on Floof Noodles again. Just how… interesting can Kexez's insides get?

Floof Noodle biology is perhaps the most magic based of all races. By growing their lower bodies larger each increase in size actually enhances their magic, but most interesting is that their bellies on the inside are bigger than on the outside, by the third growth become pocket dimensions connected by their other organs. By the time a Mama Noodle reaches, if they ever, the mile diameter their insides can actually hold an entire world.

Interesting enough once they reach the mile diameter size they can shrink their lower half back to a standard size, but the inside will still remain large enough to house a planet. They can grow more bellies at will, each able to house a world as well and they can eve use their magic to make it seem like the inside of their bellies isn't flesh, but ground and skies.

This is not limited to their bellies however, their wombs, breasts, and lungs can do the same. A Mama Noodle at this level of growth can't even cast spells, their magic completely used and focused on the many worlds hey can house within themselves if they ever do this.

Oh Eclipsa is so going to want that.

“That is very interesting…” I muttered honestly.

When a Mama Noodle is at this stage they actually give birth internally, inside their bellies and sometimes the offspring grow and live their whole lives inside their mama, never even knowing about what's outside the internal world of their mama. If their young do this, they don't actually die, rather are absorbed back into the womb and reborn, only carrying the faintest memories of their prior life. The Mama Noodle can do this with all races they allow to reside inside them, not just other Floof Noodles or their young. This has given the Mama Noodles the nickname of The Rebirthing Mothers.

“Well...alrighty then.” I said honestly. “That is really interesting.”

I think Ophelia and I made the most OP mothering race in existence with this. Heh, oh well… huh…

I checked my Assistant, qualities and abilities for Floof Noodles were in fact unlocked, I just needed to allocate skill points to activate them… do I? I won't change form so I don't have to worry about that.

“Eh, fuck it.” I said. “I already have more skill points that I know what to do with, and I’ll have enough for Void Wolves.” I said while putting points into Floof Noodle tree as far as it could go.

Stomachs wise I am now at Kexez's level, which makes sense they are likely who I am copying these abilities from. I also got scales under my fluff now so that will help me tank hits from now on. They even formed on my boobs, but they feel so soft, and are more like skin than scales. Also my rear… boobs and womb can also store people but I won't try that for a while… though I do have a feeding belly now too so… hmm… using the long tongue ability I felt it go down my own throat, kinda a cool feeling, and feel around for Heart. My level of tongue control is Insane. This is gonna make both kissing and sex so much better.

I found them, had a bit of trouble wrapping it around them. Finally got them and blindly found the feeling stomach. I did use my tongue to make one of those boobs In There leak, tasting my own milk. It was thicker than Kexez's, which made me happy, was just as sweet and had a faint aftertaste of honey.

“Oh boy…” I muttered. “This is a whole bunch of new…”

My Assistant alerted me, suddenly. Looking at it there was a new ability in Floof Noodle. Hm? Kexez doesn't have this?

Ability: Gone No Longer
14 Skill Points to Unlock.

This ability allows you to bring back eaten and digested sentient life forms as your own offspring.

… I can bring back that Deku...

I started sifting through the Floof Noodle book to see how this was possible.

Floof Noodles, unlike Naga, species typically don't eat once they reach adulthood, consuming magic over actual food. This however does not remove their stomach for digesting food. In the event of accidentally eating a sentient life form, the DNA of said being stored in fat cells can be used to revive them body and soul, as an infant however. This ability shows just how magical the Floof Noodle race is by comparison to others. This ability has fallen under the category of blessed abilities as it in no way uses magics typically used in Necromancy, and the soul of the person returns to the newly reborn body pure as the day it was created. They can recall bits and pieces of their former life, typically Names and places but nothing more.

I immediately rushed to gain that ability, still having god knows how many skill points so I can just rush to get that ability. “Please...please tell me I’m not too late…”

I suddenly felt my skin kinda… move, like worms of something moving to my… my belly!

It kinda hurt for a bit before it suddenly didn't. My Assistant beeped.

Sentient being body restored. Soul returned. Memories of former life 97% missing.

Name: Izuku Midoriya

Rename?

Yes? Or  No?

“I...won’t rename him…” I said gently while pressing No. “I hope this works…”

I felt a shift, a strong spike of magic pulsate inside my womb. It honestly made me a bit… wet. The Assistant beeped.

Congratulations! You are now the proud soon to be Mother of Izuku Midoriya. They will be born within 7 months.

“Oh thank god…” I muttered in pure joy. “They deserve a second chance…”

As I sighed, I began pondering things. Mostly how it feels like anyone could be saved. That comforted me a bit… I wonder?

My clone back home rushed to the Hospital wing of the castle, almost breaking down the door to Coco's room. It still always hurt to be here. Her body began to atrophy a bit, not moving and all. I pulled out Second Chance… and activated my Void consuming power First Belief taught me. The Sparks of resistance from Void Keys Void were immediately visible. Only the smallest drops were being taken. Converted and purified. What am I missing? What is the missing Key to helping you?!

"Fear." I blinked, eyes tearing up as I saw Pecator at the door. "The voids code is based on a foundation of misery, loneliness and hatred. Void Keys is based off of Fear… my own Fear. Nothingness is founded on Concern, Worry and the will to keep persisting. Opposite of The Voids foundation. What is the Opposite of Fear?"

“There are...several things that are the opposite of Fear honestly.” I said honestly.

"And what's the strongest? Bravery." He sighed, handing me a vial. It was Nothingness… but different. It's energy was… so, so strong. "It cost me a pinkie finger, enough for one use. Use it well." They said, leaving me with Nothingness, made from Bravery.

“Don’t worry Coco…” I muttered while taking off the cork and pouring the Bravery on my hand as I put it on her heart. “Alright fucker, you will no longer haunt my wife any longer.” I growled, feeling my hand slowly pass through her chest as I felt something down there. “Found you.” I growled as I grabbed hold of Void Key’s Void, grounded myself as I pulled out Void Key from Coco.

"Bastard!" It hissed, Void Keys Void and the Bravery Nothingness both now faded and gone.

Coco immediately began coughing, eyes opening as she struggled to move her arms to rub her eyes. "What… happened?" She asked.

Coco felt a fluffy warm breast on her head, a nipple right above her mouth. “Don’t talk, just drink...it’s all going to be okay.” I said gently.

She was confused, blushing red as a cherry but drank. Once she caught the taste she drank more and faster. Soon she was just sucking away like how the babies would. Her body began to heal, atrophy repairing and when she finally stopped she was breathing deeply. "Ben? What… happened? I remember… our talk, I had Void Key… then, then… it just goes blank."

I pulled my breast back as I grabbed her into a big fluffy hug, crying in pure joy. “It doesn’t matter...I’m just happy your back my love.”

She hugged me back. "I'm just happy you don't hate me for being Nexus." She cried into my bosom.

After a while Krott came by, basically having the same reaction as me. We told Coco about what Void Key did, what was currently happening and how long she was out. She gave a heavy sigh. "So Scotch and Rune are still out there?" She asked.

"Yes. Scotch we might have a location for, but Rune is still in hiding. You know how she is." Krott said.

"All too well." Coco sighed.

“So...what do you think of all that’s gone on?” I asked. “I’m sorry I didn’t save you sooner...or figured this out sooner…” I sighed out sadly.

"I'm just surprised I was out for half a year… Ben, I'm going with you." She said suddenly, getting up and looking through her Assistant.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “You just woke up, and your still weak even after my breast milk...are you really sure about this?” I asked worriedly.

"Yes. You are in the void, I was literally engineered to use the Voids power. Void Key did that to me because they are different, but in there I can be of invaluable use."

"As much as I don't want to admit it, Coco has a point." Krott said. "Her Abilities could prove invaluable within the void itself, add that to your Nothingness you'd have close to no troubles while there."

“Do you know where Void Key is? Cause so far Kexez told me that only Vilgax knows where the bastard is.” I said simply.

"No. I don't remember anything while out cold. But I don't care. I'm Void Keys perfect host. He'll send someone after me, likely Vilgax so we can use that to our advantage." Coco said, dawning quite the impressive suit of armor. It kinda looked like a mix between Iron Man's armor and Doom Guy's armor.

“And when we find Vilgax, we’re going to get every little bit of info out of him...and then Void Key will beg for death.” I growled.

"Not without more of that Bravery Nothingness." Krott said. "I'll talk to Pecator and get him, as much as the magi-science research departments and even Cript on it so we can produce more of it. Hopefully a stable steady supply."

“I’ll help out as much as I can as well.” I said while looking at my hand that held Bravery. “If it means nothing like that will happen again, I’ll do anything.”

"Alright then. Ben, may I see your Assistant?" Coco asked.

“Sure.” I nodded while bringing my arm up. “Got something for me?”

She looked through it, chuckling. "Floof Noodle?" She asked me.

“It was a joke name that the Writers liked too much. It’s not my fault.” I huffed.

She did something…. Then opened my mouth and jumped down my throat. Krott and I were both equally confused.

I looked at what she, wait, cross branch abilities?

Floof Noodle + Starfish Clone

Linked Clone Bellies: Activated.

… Clever girl.

Back in Kexez's belly, yeah, still here, Coco crawled out of my mouth. "Surprisingly roomy in there." She said.

“It really is.” I said honestly. “But hey! Coco’s back!” I said while hugging her again happily.

She hugged me too. "So… where or what are we in? And why are you naked?"

“Eh, just napping and all.” I said simply while getting dressed. “So, right now we’re on Floor 9, going up against...Spoiled.” I sighed out.

"Huh. And… whose stomach is this?"

“Kexez.” I said honestly. “They got their heart back after I gave them a Soul.” I said honestly.

"Oh… neat." She said, seeing the naked, napping Jericho, Eevee, other women, some of the men too. "I see you've been expanding the family." She laughed.

“This is just rewards and some of the enemies we beat, the actual important stuff is here.” I said while helping her through the tunnels and into the Nursery in Kexez. “And here we have all the infant's Second Chance helped bring back.”

"Awh! So adorable! How many?"

“Um...not sure.” I said honestly. “All I know is that there’s going to be at least one hundred kids from the hundred floors...and then as many as we want given Second Chance...but Jericho decided to make Love Struck and make new wives…” I said simply. “But you know during one of our breaks I am going to take you on a wild ride right?” I asked flirtatiously.

"You mean sex?"

“Listen, I haven’t had that special time with you in over half a year...I’m sorry if I’m coming off a little forward here.” I said sheepishly.

"I don't mind. To me it was just yesterday so, my perception of time is kinda off at the moment."

“I know, but still.” I said. “It...it means so much that your here Coco.”

"I'm happy to be here." She said, cuddling up to me. Her armor kinda making the cuddle a bit uncomfortable. 

Finally after ten or so minutes Kexez grabbed us and yanked us up. "Oh. You… how?" They asked me, pointing at Coco.

“Bravery.” I said. “It is a magical thing...and honestly I’m just happy that she's here...oh she also mixed the Floof Noodles stomach ability with Starfish Clone so...they are now I, and most likely others, are now walking hub worlds.”

"... Awesome!"

"Magic Biology is always a wonder." Jericho said, drying off and getting dressed.

"Hold up." Coco said, walking up to the wall. Her hand closed black for a bit as suddenly the Void within the wall began to get drained into her. The Void tainted tree changing color, growing tall and even now bore fruits. Coco let the void cover her hand for a bit before disbanding it. "Alrighty then, got some fuel in the tank."

“Oh...that happened.” I said while looking at the tree.

"Hmm…" Jericho hummed, tapping Love Struck on it.

To everyone's surprise, it worked. Sexy tree lady. Her fruit comes off her leaf hair and tits… huh. "Okay that is cool." Coco chuckled.

“Cause this is what we need...tree titties.” I said honestly.

"This if going to be fun." Coco said, Kexez putting the tree lady to safety. 

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “Well, we’re getting close to the boss door...oh, also Coco, where is the Forest of Roots?” I asked Coco curiously.

"I don't know." She said happily as we left the safe room. "I was built to use void but I've never been here before, and the times I have used void was just for tests. This is the first time I get to use it in a fight."

“Do you know someone who would know where it is?” I asked. “Cause I need some Void Wolf Code to unlock the Void Wolf Skill Tree...also to have some inside help against the Void Mother.”

"Hmm… back when I was testing my Void abilities I learned how to absorb Void from Void Mother Hair strands. I learned how to shoot out Void, absorb it from the area, and to cloak any weapon I have in Void so I could use it to melee. But I also saw places. The hair showed me a volcano. Maybe if we find more of those artifacts I can see this Forrest?"

“That would be interesting.” I nodded. “Well we’ll figure that all out after the dungeon.” I said simply as we all made it to the boss door.

"If we find and Void Artifacts like ores and such I can drain them for new powers and abilities too. Think… Conduits from Infamous. That's basically what I am. Only artificial, not like the actual Void Conduit. That chick must pack some power."

“Wait, who?” I asked curiously.

"The Void Conduit. How to put it. Basically like before, think Conduits from the Infamous games, but she is the conduit for Void, these are Prime Conduits, people born with this ability to control and use energy and even materials at will. I'm an artificial Conduit, made to use void, not born with that ability. The Void Conduit from what I remember was a woman and her Abilities with Void were second only to the Void Mother, for obvious reasons. She's the Prime Void Conduit, and no one has seen or heard anything about her in so long, most assume her dead."

“I’m pretty sure she’s not dead all things considered.” I shrugged.

"Do you have any Void ores? I really wanna abuse the fact I'm here as much as possible."

“Oh, sure.” I said while handing her a couple of the hundreds of Void Ores we won.

"Oh...fuck...yes…" She said with a giddy grin, sucking out the power from all of them. She glowed with Void, floating for a bit before falling back to the ground. "Okay… this is gonna be fun." She said.

We came across some more enemies, Coco knocking them out and even pulling the Void out of a bear. The now normal bear for Second Chance and it's now a dire wolf bear cub. All I will say is that it's a fluff ball and I love it. The more enemies we found the more Coco was enjoying herself. It was almost like she was a different person, then again, The Void is a part of her she's never really gotten to use, just tested so Void Key could puppet her. She finally was free. 

Her coolest move so far was shifting into a liquid void form to appear behind a foe and yank their Void out from behind. That got us our second little dire wolf bear fluff ball. "Wahoo!" Coco cheered. "I haven't had this much fun in years!"

“Glad your having fun my love.” I said warmly.

"Have to admit, Pony is a badass." Kexez said.

"Four of us makes this too easy. Lower levels must get harder." Jericho said.

"I hope so!" Coco said.

“Yeah so that Merchant fucking lied to us with that memory.” I frowned. “Maybe we should have taken the side route to Hard Mode…” I hummed.

We came to the boss room. I breathed deeply as we entered. The coffin lid flew open, and first there was a giant wolf hand like mine… then a long...long… huge snake tail, soon she came out… holy fuck… she's a Floof Noodle taur… also she has a massive scythe made from a giant tooth… "That is cool." Jericho said.

"What would you call that?" Kexez asked.

"Dibs on the scythe!" Coco yelled.

“You know, when she started with the wolf hand and snake tail, I thought she was trying to look like Typhon, the Greek Father of all Monsters.” I said honestly while preparing to fight. “Think you can handle this Coco?” I asked while buffing all of us up to hell.

Coco had already yanked that Scythe out of Spoiled hand, the void in it and her radiated quite the aura. "Let's get us a new whatchamacallit baby!"

“Um...sure…” I said slowly, checking my Assistant to double check if we’re actually in the Tomb of Heroes and this isn’t just a massive lie or some bullshit Ghouls and Ghosts trick.

We all tried to deal with Spoiled here, but her tail was able to deflect us from behind, her being on four paws gave her a lot more speed than I expect for her size, and despite no longer having her scythe she could perform some damned impressive magic. Our biggest issue was her size. Even my feral form is smaller than her.

“Oh hey, an actual fucking challenge. Who would have guessed.” I said. “Let’s finally test out what I thought I’d have to constantly use.” I said as I decided to use my Drive Form, my True King Form. As the glass sphere shattered I floated in mid air, holding a No Heart version of my King Greatsword, my armor pure white with Nothingness Thorns visibly moving across the massive white void my armor was, as the actual design looked like a mixture of the Black Luster Soldiers armor mixed in with a more Wolfish form. “Hot damn...this is a lot…” I muttered, feeling all my power’s going through the goddamn roof. “Let’s go…” I growled as I...accidentally tackled Spoiled into the ground. “Oh shit...uh...I’m not using Foudre the fuck…”

"This is why we train!" Jericho yelled, pulling me off Spoiled, Grey and other energies flowing through their legs as they kicked her clear into the wall. "Gonna listen to me next training session?"

“I didn’t have the time to try this out remember?” I asked simply as I raised my No Heart Greatsword and...fired off a Charge Shot from Sharpshooters what!?! “Excuse me what!?” I shouted as the thing bounced around Spoiled like a snake waiting to strike.

"... Noob." Jericho sighed, taking out a worn battle axe. The energy along it spiked at my level. "Warlords Strike!" They sliced the air, the impact blasted Spoiled into the wall, she coughed up Void and air. "We are so training you when this is over."

“And yet why do I have the feeling this isn’t even an eighth of this forms power that you just casually threw out.” I frowned as I took a single step and appeared near Spoiled with Second Chance. “Fine, let’s end this.” I growled as I slashed at Spoiled swiftly.

The hit went through her, making her regress to an infant and be cured of the void, but also made a fifty foot gash in the walls behind her…

I grabbed the baby Spoiled, this form they have is… odd, but also cute. Awh, wraps her tail around my arm like the other Naga babies.

“She’s adorable, and she’s my new daughter...hopefully we can raise her right.” I said gently.

Her form didn't change, and Kexez placed her away with the others. We looked through the loot. Some more girls, guys, Void items, money, the usual. "This is cool." Coco said, checking her Assistant and skill trees. 

I did the same to see if anything was new. “Hmm?” I hummed as I noticed Nothingness Wolf had a branch as I moved over to it.

Become Nobody: Transform into one of your Nobodies and use their abilities and skills.
13 Skill Points Required.

Thorned teeth: When in Feral Form, your teeth when you bite or bark leave Nothingness thorns that linger and deal damage to your foe.
10 Skill Points Required.

Admin of Nothingness: Access pure Nothingness to attack your foes.
Requires: Activated

“Sounds about right.” I said while putting points into the three abilities cause I have too many skill points from not using them for god knows how long.

I looked over at Coco, she seemed to enjoy her new abilities. I decided to look into the Equestrian Skill Tree. It branched off into four main branches. Earth Pony, Unicorn, Pegasus and Alicorn respectively. Hmm.

“I wonder…” I hummed as I decided to try and put points into these skill trees if possible.

I was actually able to Max them all out, which was cool. “Wonder how this affects my stats…” I muttered while checking my stats.

The Earth Pony tree gave me boosts to Strength, Endurance, Stamina and made it so when I eat fresh food it triple restores my health. The Pegasus one made my flying incredibly faster, lets me now walk and move clouds, and boosts my agility. The Unicorn tree upped my magic stupidly and cut all spells cost per use in half. The Alicorn one gave mini boost versions of the other three, stacking with the other trees and and the prior boosts. The final branch boosted my mana and stamina pools by triple and… I now have wings… and a horn. It's not as big as Alxun's or the others, but it's there… just barely in my upper line of sight… Yeah I'm physically a Dire wolf but now more a mutant at this point. Then again we all are so… eh.

“Eh.” I shrugged. “This is a little nice.” I said simply as I fluttered my huge wings.

My wings when completely open were twice my height each, the feathers reached down just below half my height and when folded up were small enough to fit under a shirt. The feathers we're huge, though, and most importantly, as fluffy and soft as me. 

I have to admit, feeling along and moving them is super alien to me. It's not that hard to get the hang of but for now I have to split focus on them to stay airborne. Landing is another issue. Also I can not fly with Lindworm if I am flying with my wings. The windforce they make knocked me against the wall.

"Well either way…" I said while waving my hand over my head and hiding my horn cause honestly, while wings work, Unicorn Horn doesn't. 

This floor was like the Psychopath one. A massive City, we checked and no rooftop domes but there were a lot of monsters around. Werewolves, Vampires, Zombies, fucking mummies. All the classic monsters as well as some other neat ones. Like the giant hydras, Big Foot, Mole Men. "So who's is this then?" Coco asked, subduing a Wolf Man and using Second Chance on them. Jericho made copies for us each of Love Struck and Second Chance so we didn't have to pass them around.

"I dont know...dont remember who had the Classic Monster motif…." I said while double checking the family for anyone that might fit the bill 

As I was browsing the others made fairly quick work of the other monster enemies. More babies and wives then. Kexez had to grow again but thankfully a look at their skill tree showed they could have the Size Matters Ability.

Size Matters: Your tail lower half will be the normal size from now on, but your insides will continue to grow and expand your insides without expanding you on the outside. This applies to your whole I side body.
Requires: 30 Skill Points.

We got it for them. Now they were normal sized but able to still grow and keep the new arrivals safe. I looked, and turned out I activated that ability on me already when. I first put SP into the Floof Noodle/Naga race skill trees.

I helped Coco out with the skill trees area too, she got her Earth Pony tree maxed, since she is one already, and so far half of Unicorn and Pegasus, but Alicorn was still locked. Must need to Max out the other three beforehand.

"Cool. Now things should be a little easier for you." I said to Coco after finishing up helping her tree.

"I hope so. I just hate I don't have that many Skill Points as you. Weird but maybe Void Key had something to do with that… hey." Coco said, pointing out one of the upper tabs. There was Abilities, Race Abilities, Weapon Abilities, Mixed Abilities, and Guild Affiliated Abilities.

Guild Affiliated? I checked that one also. Turns out Guild Affiliated means if you are part of a special group or worship special gods or Admins, completing certain tasks can give you even more abilities and such. That's kinda cool. Coco currently had three. Nexus Templar, Nothingness, and Cript's Family. 

I had Cript's Family, and all of the Nothingness one maxed. Makes sense given I am both king and Admin of Nothingness. Let's see what Cript's Family one can offer? Oh, here is something.

Forge Your Own Humanity Weapon.
Reward(s): Humanity Weapon and Humanity Targeting.

Humanity Targeting allows you to see who is able to be saved without needing to test the Humanity Weapon on them beforehand. Avoiding unwanted deaths.

"Okay that's cool." I said while taking that ability rather quickly.

Error! Guild Abilities require completion of tasks to obtain, not Skill Point. Please complete action in order to acquire rewards.

“Bitch…” I frowned while checking the requirements for it.

I just needed to make a Humanity Weapon then… and Cript likely knows how. He did invent them...and the bastard also keeps forgetting to teach me Humanity and Psychopath powers…”Well looks like I’m gonna need to be talking to Cript after this…” I sighed out, but decided to call him just so I could see what I needed to do about forging a Humanity Weapon.

He didn't pick up. I shrugged, must be busy helping to make Bravery Nothingness then. As I checked it said Coco was an Admin, but there was no title to it. I wonder what she will become an admin of?

As we made our way through the city, suddenly… cards? Pokemon cards, Yugioh, Bakugan, Magic, all kinds… wait… no… no please don't tell me! I rushed through the rain of magic cards, finding the safe room here inside a hospital here and immediately reading the book. 

Jenny The Player.

“No...no please anyone but her…” I teared up. “Damn it Jenny…” I muttered while reading why she’s here.

Daughter to a king, Jenny The Player used a unique wide variety of magic playing cards in fights after becoming the Admin of Cards. It is said when her father fell, she picked up their special deck of cards and charged into the Heroes Tomb, and never left.

“Damn it Jenny…” I muttered sadly.

Kexez and Coco both comforted me… Jenny… who else is trapped here? There’s a hundred of my family here… who else has been stuck here? Died here? I sulked for a bit. First Alcun, then Joy. Others who will join our family, others who are here already, and I haven’t even met those ones yet.

“Everyone died because they fought Void Mother...or came here...what the fuck…” I said sadly.

"We need to break this cycle of resets." Jericho said. "Like Kexez said, we need to bring back everyone, every cycle, every reset. It's our best bet for victory in this war."

"This will be nightmarish." Kexez sighed.

"All war is." Coco said sadly, scratching the back of my neck.

I hugged Coco sadly. “When did things get to this point?” I muttered sadly.

"Likely leading up to the fight with the Void Mother."

I sighed out. “Well...we better get moving…” I muttered sadly as I let go of Coco and looked for the boss room. “Only time will tell if this gets even worse for me...than it already is.”

The boss room appeared in the form of a house of these magic cards that rained down earlier. The coffin made of cards turned back, flying around into a whirlwind… and inso Jenny's hands, who was using Void tainted Fair Game.

“Well...got to stick to a theme…” I said honestly.

She tossed out three more cards, they shifted into clones of herself, they each had a deck as well, and each used a card to shift into a replica of one of my weapons. Lindworm, Frozen Pride, SharpShooters and Inderection.

"Well...that's interesting." I said honestly. “Wonder how strong the clones are.” I hummed while sending some of my infantry to test them out as I buffed everyone up.

They shredded them. The Jenny with Interdiction hacking them like paper, Jenny with Lindworm impaling six or seven at once with a single lance, the Jenny with Frozen Pride was tanking all received damage, then blasting it back in a shockwave of absolute zero ice magic, and the Jenny with Sharp Shooters, whenever one got in close for a hit with the others, shit down the Nobody in a single shot, right between its eyes, each time.

"Cool…" I frowned. "That's a thing…"

"That's Jenny for ya." Kexez said. "Looks like it's four V four. Which one is real though?"

"Well..only way to find out." I said while summoning Interdiction and immediately clashing with Jenny's interdiction clone.

I saw Kexez summon Sharpshooter, dueling with the Sharpshooter Jenny. Jericho summoned Lindworm and fought the Lindworm Jenny, and Coco summoned Frozen Pride to deal with the Frozen Pride Jenny. Seeing them all using my weapons I felt… kinda proud. The weapons themselves are all happy to be out at once in a fight.

"This is fun…" I muttered with a smile as I swung at Jenny swiftly. "But...it still sucks you came here Jenny…" I muttered sadly, hating how she lost herself in this damned place all because I was killed.

As we all fought, I saw Jericho managed to pin their Jenny opponent down, delivering the final blow with Second Chance. A puff of cards. "Shit!" They huffed, moving in to help me. "These card copies are strong." They said, managing to distract my Jenny for a bit.

"Yes, yes they are." I said while slashing at her back while she was distracted. "I'm surprised shes only done Card Clones at the moment…"

The one I fought puffed into cards. Jericho went to help Coco and I went to help Kexez.

"How you holding up?" I asked Kexez while deflecting arrows back at Jenny.

"She's as good a shot as I am." Kexez said. "Think you can distract her with a fake out attack?"

"Simple enough." I said as I sent what little of my army I had left to go to one side as I moved to the other side to pincer her in a distraction move.

She moved both Sharpshooters in our directions, shooting vollies of energy shots at us. Kexez used this to shift Sharpshooter into its bow form, using Second Chance as an arrow and firing. Jenny blocked but Kexez had aim, it shot between her raised arms. A puff of cards. So it's the Frozen Pride one then.

"Alrighty then...let's go finish this…" I muttered as I vanished after the real Jenny. 

They brought up Frozen Pride, the impact sent a shockwave when I hit , but against all of us they were hit by Jericho… cards?!

A puff of cards fell the ground when Jericho swung. "What?!" Kexez asked as suddenly the walls and floor all began to crack, forming perfect patterns for Fair Games look, the cards all flying and moving about each card about our size. We were each standing on a floating card in this dimension of empty space and Fair Games cards. We saw Jenny a fair distance away on her own card, jumping into it and suddenly there was FIFTY of them, all with varying weapons.

"Oh...shit…" Coco said.

"Well that's not fair at all." I said simply.

"Looks like she can do more than you figured." Kexez said.

"This is going to be hell. There has to be a way to see who's the real Jenny here. Or at least which card she might be hiding in." Jericho said.

"Hiding…" Kexez thought. "I might have an idea."

"So the game is Hide and Seek?" I asked curiously. "But what's your idea?"

"Ventral cardplay." They said, disbanding Sharpshooter and summoning Fair Game. "Hide your best cards in your opponents deck." They said, taking out a card that had Jenny on it. The card flew out of their grip, and Jenny came out, her copies disbanding as she wielded the Void corrupted Fair Game.

"Alright Jenny…" I muttered while preparing myself for the fight.

We charged in, Jenny was fast, using the cards like Shields, projectiles and large swords.

"Jeez, didn't think she would get this strong and fast…" I said as I slashed through a card quickly.

"You are assuming the war is right around the corner with the Void Mother." Jericho said, driving a hit into one of her card Shields.  "We don't actually know when the battle will happen. She could have been thousands of years old for all we know when the war started."

"If that's the case then Jenny was training as hard as the rest of us." Kexez said.

"I am going to try something, I'll need a clear shot at her though." Coco said.

"We'll try to give you that shot." I said as I used Foudre to increase my speed and try to get Coco that opening.

With this we managed to make just enough happen, Coco quickly reaching a hand at Jenny, grabbing her hand as there was a sudden rush of Void between the two. The card reality quickly fell apart, and suddenly Jenny and Coco were blasted away from one another.

I panicked, not sure whether to check on Coco or go after Jenny. "Damn it…" I growled as I leaped over and tried to hit Jenny with Second Chance. I got the hit in, Jenny reverting to an infant as I picked her up then went over to Coco. “I got our girl Coco.” I said gently. “Are you okay?”

She was breathing heavy for a bit, calming down finally and looking at Jenny. "I… I saw it… her memories. The fight… she saw you…" She cried, latching onto me tightly.

“What do you mean?” I asked worriedly, scared of what she meant by that.

"Jenny… what I saw. She was running to the front lines… where you and the others were…" She trembled. "So many dead… she saw you, dead." Coco broke, crying into my chest now. "You were just tossed aside, all of your weapons just… damaged. Your crown was INSIDE your head! Your chest was just gone and…"

“It’s alright...it’s alright…” I said gently. “I’m right here...I’m not going to make the same mistake twice.”

Coco didn't respond. She wasn't up for fighting. Not for a bit. I decided to place her away with Heart. Inside me. She didn't resist. I looked at baby Jenny, so small and innocent… what horrors did you see from before? 

I looked at Second Chance, remembering that it still had it’s Memory Stealer abilities as I let it float as a Memory Card floated out of it. “Alright...what horrors did you see my daughter…” I muttered while taking the card to see her memories.

Her breath was rapid, lungs were burning, body ached, and clothes were soaked in blood. Jenny was running. She was going fast, and all around her, she saw her home, creation falling into The Void, the sky's going black, bodies littered the floor like grass. She was even running over them. I saw so many familiar faces. Zeke's parents, impaled by a giant tooth, Krott's head just outside the teeth of a giant beasts decapitated head. The smell, a smell that haunted her. Mom and Dad, they were charged bodies off to the side.

Each step she saw more and more of our family, gone. Bloodily and brutally slain. I saw mamma Den, her feral form half gone and the other half oozing her organs and blood. I saw Lord's headless body collapsed before a trench. Inside the trenches I saw Pinkie, Twin, Rarity, All of them… paled and red eyes. A foul odor of poison hung heavily here still.

All around her as she ran, people we loved, slaughtered, massacred. The sky became ever darker as it sank ever deeper into the void. She saw Joy, impaled by Lindworm but moving, running away. She wanted to stop, but Joy ran too fast, and that look, fear, complete and pure.

Jenny ran faster, finally finding…Me. My torso had a massive hole in it. My organs missing and ribs broken, a clear view of my spine and inner body flesh. My head was smashed in, my crown mangled inside my own skull as my brain was quite literally hanging by the stem. Finally, Jenny fell to the ground. My weapons were tossed about, broken, all of them, but whole. At arm's length, she spotted Fair Game, taking the cards, crying to the sky, as the last bits of light, faded, and all became Void.

I blinked. “Oh…” I said slowly. “That’s...going in the No Bin…” I muttered.

"That bad then." Jericho said, leaned against a wall. Kexez was curled up in their own tail.

“Everyone...killed in growingly savage ways…” I shivered. “Everything was falling into the Void...and there was nothing I could do about it…”

"... We have to get this artifact, and the Mushroom 13 altogether." Kexez said. "We know one already at Hearts Absent Silhouette, so where, maybe even when, are the others?"

“I don’t know....” I sighed out sadly. “Even when I had millions of clones going around the worlds I didn’t find anything about them…”

"Then we have to make a deal with the Time Walkers. They are the only people who would know about their whereabouts."

“I’ll send a Clone to contact them, hopefully they’ll listen and just give us actual answers.” I sighed out.

"Hopefully." Jericho sighed. "Let's take a breather then… this was more than we expected."

“Alright…” I sighed out. “And it’s only going to get worse.” I said sadly.

I curled up with Kexez, who wrapped around me, almost in a means to constrict, but didn't go to tight. It was more like a whole body hug. Jericho went inside Kexez and we just napped like this.

“Damn it…” I muttered to myself, wishing I could do more for my family even if I’m doing my absolute best.

I wasn't getting much sleep. It felt like hours but I knew it wasn't really that long. Kexez, even though asleep was keeping their tail wrapped around me firmly. It was a nice, safe feeling, but my thoughts didn't let me enjoy it. I just tried to sleep, letting Kexez's embrace slowly lull me to sleep.

We woke up finally after a day I think? I wasn't sure. Coco was a bit better, but still kind of down. The loot was standard. Money, weapons, items, women, men, the usual. The next floor was… unexpected… It's a giant theater… huh.

“Okay so...the hell is going on in this place?” I questioned.

"It's pretty." Coco said. She wasn't wrong. The design and architect of this place was amazing.

"This place would easily get away with charging a few hundred for so for tickets." Kexez said. 

“Sounds about right.” I nodded. “Wonder who this place was made after?”

"Well, we'll learn that soon." Jericho said.

“Alright…” I nodded, trying to focus on what’s happening and not on my previous thoughts.

Walking through the theater, the enemies here were all either instruments, Fire Works, or even hats and capes. Second Chance nor Love Struck seemed to work on them. So we just straight up destroyed them. Curious I used fire spell on the fireworks enemies and not all that surprising they blew up, in a really pretty manner. 

“Anyone got any guesses right now on who’s the boss?” I asked curiously.

"...Trixie?" Kexez said.

“Now that would be my first guess but I don’t know if there’s anyone else that’s ‘Theatre’.” I said honestly.

We traveled through this massive place, finally finding the safe spot. It was like a snack store for...some reason. I mean, every kind of candy, sodas, tea, popcorn of all flavors, ice cream, and other and any kind of snack food to eat during an event was here… oddly though, not Void tainted, which was the weirdest part.

"This is extra weird." Kexez said, munching on popcorn.

“Well...this is something.” I said while already eating a crap ton of ice cream.

"Here they are. It is Trixie." Jericho said, looking over the book.

Trixie the Performing Fire.

One of the original twenty to create the foundation of Kingdom Hearts. She tested her metal and made her mark by burning to the fire of a dying world's heart, reigning it for all time.

“Well then...that’s a thing.” He said honestly.

"Well… This will be interesting." Kexez said. "Ever since she lit that fire on top of her natural illusion magic Talent her skills in pyromancy and Merical based magics has gone through the fucking roof."

“Alrighty then...this is going to be an absolute fucking nightmare…” I sighed out.

"So, stock up on snacks and food then?" Coco asked, eating a Dalokohs Bar… wait isn't that a TF2 item?

“Yes, yes we will.” I nodded.

"Veg out!" Kexez said, promptly placing a sudden bed on the ground before eating more popcorn.

“Are you sure we want to just Veg out?” I asked curiously.

"To be fair we haven't eaten anything since coming here. We don't have to eat but a break just to pig out might help moral after… last floor." Jericho said, drinking a large cup of soda.

“Listen, I’ve already eaten a shit ton of ice cream, you don’t need to remind me…” I sighed out sadly. “Besides, only me and Coco have seen Jenny’s memories...and it’s not pretty.”

"Then eat more." Kexez said. "Besides, I have a small village in me, they do need food."

“Besides the food that you’re constantly making for them.” I said honestly. “Also, your Living Magic at this point.”

"Potato, patato." Kexez said, swallowing all the chips inside a rather huge bag of chips at once. 

“So we’re going to be here for a while…” I muttered while eating more food.

"Looks like." Coco said, taking a seat on the bed Kexez was on, still eating that candy bar.

“Alright.” I nodded while  sitting down on the big bed and continuing to eat ice cream.

We just ate, napped a bit and just were lazy for a while. Though part of me wondered… Kexez said they had a village in them, I know that they were likely just referring to all the people… but given what I read… did they already grow to Max size? Hard to tell with that special ability of theirs, stay the same size without growing more… wonder how I'll make use of it?

“So many questions...so little answers…” I muttered to myself.

I pondered a lot of things, mainly just how we could pull this Merical out of our asses. Hopefully those Time Walkers are not assholes.

How does a time travel organization have a waiting room where it still takes forever to get your ticket called?! I huffed, since Tiara let me here I've been waiting to meet with someone. My number is forty seven, right now it was forty five… for the last hour!!

“Seriously, whoever designed this ticket system deserves to get shot.” I frowned. “It’s been an hour what the fuck…”

After ANOTHER hour, forty six was called. At this point I just watched movies online for the next four hours till I was finally called. I was taken into an office room. Here I was face to Face with the Time Walkers, well, one of them. 

“You know, for being Time Police, you suck at waiting times.” I said with a frown. “So anyways, I need your help.”

"With?" They asked. I did not know the voice under the cloak.

“I need help finding the other 12 Organization Mushroom members.” I said honestly.

"For what reason would you need all 13?"

“To get a winning chance against Void Mother.” I said simply. “Or do you want another Cycle falling to Void?”

"Do you have proof of a temporal rest having taken place or future knowledge of this claim?"

“Tomb of Heroes.” I said simply.

"Proof WITH you."

I rolled my eyes while pulling out Jenny’s Memory Card. “Right here, as well as many others.” I said while bringing out Joy’s and other people’s memories of Void Mother consuming their Cycles.

Theyy examined them, wrote some things down on paper and send the letter and cards, into a mail tube. A few moments later a response. "The High council has approved your request." They said 

“Cool.” I nodded. “Why can’t shit be this fast in the waiting rooms?”

"They will be delaying a Paladin Walker to aid you in retrieving the other Mushroom 13. Is there anything else you would like?"

“How...how many times has Void Mother won?” I asked. “Belief, the first Belief, said that it restarts at the second Cycle every twenty or thirty Cycles...how many have happened?”

"Currently, we have no idea. If we could get a sample of contained Void we might be able to get an age off of that, then get an estimate."

“Sure.” I said while bringing up my Assistant and giving them a sample. “Prize pools are very nice in the Tomb.”

They wrote something else down and sent it through the tube again. A few minutes or so later, a response. "Hm." They said, looking the paper over.

“Anything special?” I asked curiously.

"What would you call a number higher than the largest number we've ever named?" They asked.

“Oh...that’s...that is not good.” I said nervously.

"This will be interesting." Looking back, I saw another cloaked person at the door. "Hello there Ma'am, I am your Paladin for this mission." They said.

“Nice to meet you.” I nodded. “But am I allowed to know who you are?”

"Only if we see fit." They said. "Just call me Paladin, keep it simple and all."

“Alright.” I nodded. “So, where to first?” I asked curiously. “I know where one of the thirteen are, and that’s on John’s world.”

"Yes. Number four if I recall. Let's start from the bottom then. Let's head off to Number one." They said, summoning No Name and opening a portal… is that… sniffing the air, smelling Forrest… a large Forest from that portal. "Shall we?"

“Huh...this is an interesting place.” I said while heading into the large forest.

"New world, fourteen eighty four. Earth 77A5K." They said, exiting the portal as well. "Mushroom number one is somewhere is these woods that will someday become Georgia."

“Huh, that’s cool.” I said honestly. “Didn’t think we were in Georgia...looks so different.”

"That's America before settlers." They shrugged. "We should check for ponds and such."

“Alright.” I nodded while sniffing the air, checking to see if I could smell anything of particular interest before just walking around aimlessly.

I smelled a lot...and lots… and lots… of prey… "Wanna go nuts and hunt?"

“I’m scared I’ll accidentally make things go extinct…” I said sheepishly.

"Eh, this earth dies to nuclear war shortly after the cold war starts. Go nuts."

“That’s still in like five hundred years or so...eh.” I said while shifting into my primal form and going nuts hunting Earth prey.

Wild pigs are amazing. The deer here is Divine. Squirrels are tasty and-

(Hi.) I heard… someone say? Looking around, I saw… it was a fox! (You're huge.)

“Oh uh...hi.” I said to the fox.

(You're new around here. You from the West or north?)

“Um...who are you?” I asked curiously, trying to deflect the question. “And...are you actually talking?”

(The others all call me Small, because I'm the runt. And I am talking. Just not like how you are.)

“Right…” I said slowly. “Um...have you seen a weird cloaked Mushroom creature around here?” I asked curiously.

They tilted their head. (The weird Mushroom person that torments the ducks?)

“Torment’s the ducks?” I asked curiously. “What does it do?”

(Chase them. Pet them, scare them. Sits on their eggs. It's weird. Doesn't talk either.)

I imagined the mushroom doing all of those things and...just found it adorable. “That’s weirdly adorable. But where is it exactly?” I asked curiously.

(Ten miles east of here. But we don't go there this time of year.)

“Why is that?” I asked curiously. “Something wrong with that area this time of year?”

(The bears hunt In The river we'll need to cross to get there. They don't like trespassers.)

“I am physically bigger than anything here, do you really expect them to not piss themselves in fear?” I asked curiously.

(Maybe? I dunno.)

“Alright, so let’s go find out.” I said simply while heading off towards the lake.

Running in feral form felt so good. Small had some issues keeping up. She was, of course small. We arrived at the river bears were dotted as far as ai could see. They all took a look at me and began roaring at me. I barked once, the force of the sound uplifted a few trees and for a moment cut a path through the water like MosesMoses. They all quickly ran for the hills. (Wow! Nothing ever scares those bares.) Small said.

“They’ve never met a Dire Wolf before.” I said honestly. “So, this is the lake correct?”

(We need to cross the lake to reach the pond that Mushroom is at.) They said, crossing the river. I followed and then we were off again. We arrived at a fairly large pond, water clear, ducks sat and swam at the top, and the Mushroom 1 was hugging a duck and sitting on a nest of eggs. (There they are.)

“Okay why is that adorable?” I asked while gently taking a step forward. “Um...excuse me.” I gently called out to the Mushroom.

They said nothing, not even moving aside from petting the duck.

I sighed out. “Fine, I challenge you to your Game.” I declared to the Mushroom.

… Nothing. What? Wait… are they seriously just waiting here until those eggs hatch?! “Okay so...let’s see if those eggs are even alive…” I muttered as I closed my eyes. “Life sense.” I muttered as I opened my eyes, my eyes glowing red to see if the eggs were still alive.

They were indeed alive, and halfway to hatching.

“Oh, just a little more time then…” I muttered while sitting down. “Just a little more time…”

We were still just munching out on food, napping or watching movies. I was checking out my skill trees. There was even a branch for my fur! One did seem interesting though…

Fluff Safety

Speak the gentle whispers of a Den Mother, and make yourself, your pup's, or allies, world.

Your allies will shrink and compared to you, you are planet sized, your own body mass acting as gravity keeping them on you no matter the speed or event you go through.

That's definitely a thing. Though for some reason makes way too much sense?

“Jesus, am I gonna be Capone from One Piece now?” I muttered, thinking about how my ability could basically make me a walking fortress just on that.

I then thought about all the advantages that would have… add my mini universe bellies… huh… I can see this working out. There were others, most involved keeping others around me warm, able to at will grow my fluff outwards to act as a blanket for others, keeping us all warm in below zero temperature. Even branches for my hair's durability and resistances.

“Good lord there is a lot...I’ll take everything.” I said as I gained as many as I could if they didn’t have any restrictions. “It’s fun to have so many skill points because you’ve been unknowingly crippling yourself.” I said simply.

My fluff immediately became so soft, longer. I also wanted to test out that mini Fluf Safety ability. Jericho went into my fluff. Some time passed. I could not see them, or even feel them. After a while Jericho popped out of my fluff. "Okay, A, that place is cozy. B, I made a single follicle a pretty nice house, and C… how do you not have any dandruff? I looked from head to toes and yes I passed over your stuff while there. Was… odd but eh."

“Listen, the better question is how we still have any form of soap left given how much I’m forced to use because of all my fur and because I’m a woman.” I sighed out. “Still bullshit that I have to use three more soaps just to make sure I don’t chaff.”

Jericho shrugged. "Also, I made a milk bar in one of your tits."

"Talk about fresh from the tap." Kexez said, chuckling. Coco chuckled at that also.

“Cause of course you did…” I sighed out.

"At some point, someone was going to." Jericho said with a laugh. "Looks like your Den Mother and now Floof Noodle/Mama Noodle mixed Abilities gave you moldable flesh like Kexez's insides."

"Cool." Kexez said. "So, how much longer should we goof around?"

“Probably not longer than this cause we need to get going.” I said honestly.

"Fair enough." Coco said.

We grabbed some stuff for the road, then headed out. Finding this boss room was… a bitch. We've been looking for HOURS!! and nothing! "I feel like we're missing something obvious." Jericho thought aloud.

I facepalmed. “Either one of two obvious things are needed...an announcer...or a ticket.” I sighed out. “And it’s probably the ticket…”

"So where do we buy them?" Coco asked.

“Maybe the ticket booth we’ve been passing for the past few hours.” I said while pointing to the ticket booth that had a Void Creature that looked actually upset like how could we have missed it.

"How did we miss that?" Kexez asked.

“Because we probably thought it was just the aesthetic of the floor?” I pointed out while walking over. “Four tickets please…”

"Rieicjfduwofhcdkdud" It… said?

"Hmm. May I?" Kexez asked.

“Sure.” I nodded while stepping aside.

Kexez slithered up to the place, placed an arm on the small tray… then jabbed Love Struck through the glass, into the void creature, and… wow. Wow… wow! It's like a sexy cat, bat lady. "Four tickets love~"

They chuckled, handing Kexez the tickets then jumping into their arms.

“Right…” I said slowly. “But...hot damn.” I said before taking the four tickets from Kexez who was holding the hot cat bat lady.

They began to swallow them, placing them away with the others. "Well, she's hot."

"Very." Coco nodded.

“Alright, so we got the tickets…” I said as I noticed the tickets floating out of my hand and glowing. “And now...the proper fight might happen…”

There was a quick flash, suddenly we were on a massive stage, the coffin in the middle. The lid blew open, and out came Trixie, Void corrupted, her chest had a black heart image over it… and she had X, black strings flowing from it as suddenly, at the end of each string appeared puppet versions of us all. "Well… creepy." Jericho said.

“Right so...that’s a thing…” I said nervously. “Um…” I sent an undead towards her to see how bad it might be.

The puppets of us slaughtered the Undead, now the puppet me had strings from them come out as a puppet version of the Nobody was now there. "I don't remember Trixie using puppets?" Kexez said. "I have a strong feeling that this is a multi staged fight…"

“I mean, if we don’t just jump past the puppets and smack her hard.” I said honestly.

"Something tells me that won't work." Coco said.

“Then we aren’t trying hard enough then.” I said simply as I grabbed Skysplitter and Lunatic.

My puppet did the same. We charged at one another, the clash sent out a whirlwind of air and energy. The others all did the same. This puppet…

They were matching my hits and moves completely. It was the same issue for the others.

I immediately pulled out Sharpshooters and tried to fire a bolt at one of the other puppets. “Let’s see if that works…” I muttered.

The Kexez puppet took the hits… "Gah!" Kexez wheezed. The puppets wounds appearing on their body. "Okay… Don't do that again…" Kexez huffed, casting cure as well as the puppet imitating them.

I frowned at that. “Hmm…” I muttered as I took a step back, trying to see how ‘close’ they copied our movements. When the puppet took a step back, I decided to reach around and act like I was cutting strings...and the thing proceeded to cut it’s own strings. “God damn it…” I sighed out. “Guys, just cut behind yourselves.” I said while making my puppet counterpart fall over unable to move.

The others did so, then, the Puppets began to radiate Void, suddenly changing, looking like clown face paint, colorful suit and I variations of us. Each one had a wide ear to ear smile. "... Creepy but I love that suit the other me is in." Kexez said.

“Um...right…” I said slowly. “The fuck…”

The lights suddenly blacked out, a spotlight in the distton our doppelgangers, each in unison looked up and raised a hand. "Welcome to our home, how do you do?" they… sang… and in good rhythm too. "We up here were made to kill you, and that's exactly what we shall do." They each brought up pure black versions of our weapons. 

They rushed us, the me here clashed with Me, they had a pure black copy of No Heart, clashing with mine. "How is your stay my kind reflection? Have you felt pure deviation?" The copy me asked… sang.

“And this is just getting even creepier…” I frowned as I pushed them back. “God I hate clowns…”

"Oh how cruel, you don't like me. But then again look who is speaking, after all I was made be me. Be us. I know everything you hate about me. About us, two of a kind." they sang, kicking me square in the gut a few feet back.

“Yeah yeah, same thing I’ve heard.” I rolled my eyes as I brought out Sharpshooter and fired two bolts, both of them going into a portal and appearing right at their knees to cripple them.

In a swift twirl, they somehow dodged/dance avoided them. "Oh how sad, the crown you wear and what you rule. Hollow shells devoid of feeling, still fitting since your heart lacks any beating." They sang, rushing in a quick motion to clash with Sharpshooters. "Let's be clear, your crown, your gear it was never yours. Given to you by an old man, just so you can run off playing pretend."

I immediately grabbed the puppets head as I switched into my Heir Valor form, Eternal Flames at my ankles, Sharpshooters floating above my shoulders, and Red Nothingness Thorns flowing around my cloak. “And I’ve had about enough of this so~.” I trailed off as I slammed their head into the ground so hard it caused a three ring crater. “Fucking puppets…” I growled as I stomped on the puppets chest as Eternal Flames revved up and spun like mad into it’s chest.

They flowed, to my surprise as I was blasted off of them. Looking back, they were in their own version of my form. "Oh please, how sad, you forgot again. I was made to kill you, I know everything about you, about we, two of a kind. I know everything about you, down to your lack of retorts." They said, clashing with me again.

I frowned. “I’m bored.” I countered as I pushed back again. “Your supposed to be entertainers right? Then why am I not entertained?” I asked simply, hoping my taunt will work against Trixie who was most likely controlling these fuckers.

"Oh how sad, your skill with words lacks any nerves. If only you equal sharp Wit, or your confident fragile egotist." we clashed again, she was good. All my moves so far she's either thrown back at me or dodged. And that smile… it hasn't left their face. 

“So why are you happy?” I asked simply.

"Because unlike you, I have my identity, as temporary as that may be." They replied, sending out several slashes at me of Void Thorns.

“No...you actually don’t.” I said simply while blocking the Thorns. “You’re entire thing is about ‘we’, you are me, and yet you say you have an identity? That’s kind of hypocritical when you think about it.” I said simply. “So, what are you besides a puppet pretending to be me?”

"I am you and I am me and I am her. I am everybody that I need to be, for the stage of my Lady Trixie." A Void corrupted Mega Flare was sent rapidly at me.

“Cool.” I said while using Eternal Flames to redirect the Mega Flare...straight into the stage where Trixie was. “Yeah...maybe giving a fire attack wasn’t a good idea…” I muttered to myself remembering Trixie gave herself to a Worlds Fire.

… It phased through her?! "Oh my, how sad, look like you know little about your own comrade." They sang, the Trixie above fading as several dozen more appeared all around the upper stage.

That really didn’t stop the Mega Flare from blowing up and destroying the stage. “Uh...yeah cool...illusions...I’m just gonna…” I brought out Book of Retribution. “Greater Dispel.” I said as I cast a spell over the entire area.

The lights were gone, the stage was in ruins… and I did not see Trixie anywhere. The other me clapped. "Bravo, Bravo use that brain of yours, but Trixie still has a trick up her sleeve." Her copy of No Heart shifted… into Trixie's X-Blade form. It was tainted black, chipped and cracked, so… broken, barely holding together. The copy of lifted it up, it's glow faint but still so strong as suddenly, the copies of the others all shifted into grotesque, almost Heartless versions of them, and so did mine.

“Oh...that’s nice…” I said as I took out Second Chance. “I’m not sure if this’ll work...but let’s hope.” I said before dashing forward and swinging down at my puppet copy.

They used Trixie to block… it did nothing to her in that X-Blade form. Why though? The Heartless looking me then began hacking at me with blinding speed, the others copies doing the same as we tried to figure out a plan.

“Anybody got anything?” I called out to the other three, blocking and dodging the attacks I could. “Just double checking before I do a thing.”

"Not sure." Coco said.

"Kinda blank." Jericho said.

"Second Chance won't work on Trixie while in that form." Kexez said. "We have to force her out into her living form."

“Sounds about right.” I said as I jumped back. “Alright fucker, come at me.” I taunted them, already coming up with an idea on how to force her back.

"If we can get a direct hit on their keychain, they'll revert to living form." Kexez said, shooting off Mega Flares.

“That is also true.” I said simply as I fired Sharpshooters at the Keychain.

The copies blocked, using their own speed buffs to keep themselves attacking while the copy me kept a distance to protect Trixie.

“I’ve got an idea, I just need to get close to my copy.” I said to Jericho, Kexez and Coco quietly enough that only they could hear me.

They nodded, and began executing the plan.

The Clones matched their movements as per usual, deflecting and blocking as they knew we were going after Trixie, and as I dashed in between the clashing groups I swung with No Heart, my Clone blocking swiftly.

”Direct approach won’t-” They started, before slowly looking down, noticing that their weapon was gone.

“Funny thing really.” I said while taking a step back and showing Trixie’s Keyblade form was in a Fair Game Card. “I actually figured out that Card Trick from Trixie, basic Sleight of Hand and Misdirection.” I said as I flipped the card to show it’s back, only to flip it around and show Trixie in her Anthro Form. “And now.” I started as I let go off the cage, Trixie plopping down on the ground as she tried to shift into a Keyblade again, only for me to stab her in the chest with Second Chance before she could. “Yeah, I don’t think so.” I said bluntly.

She was covered in light, and soon she was a baby. Quickly Kexez and I scooped her up, cooing her gently to sleep as he placed her away… then we heard the clapping.

The other copies were dissolving… all but mine. "What a show, what a dance, you four had us on the fence. But this display is far from over now, take a trip, take a dive, see the horror in your eyes, as you watch as everyone...dies." With that, they faded.

“Um...that wasn’t ominous at all…” I muttered. “But...alrighty then…”

As we went to check the loot box, Jericho backed up from it. Kexez peered in, then did the same, the shared look of trauma on their faces.

“Well I’ve already seen it once, it won’t matter before.” I said while looking into the loot box.

I wasn't expecting that, this… bodies… all of the others… 

“But...why though?” I asked in confusion. “This isn’t a prize at all…the fuck?”

"Trixie." Kexez started. "Her powers over pyromancy are based on the world she burned for, it's fire keeps the dead alive… she must have tried to bring them back…"

"And failed…" Jericho added.

“So...why is the prize box filled with burnt corpses?” I asked simply.

"...A Second Chance…" Coco said.

"I'm not sure if it can work on corpses...but let's try." I said while stabbing one of the burnt corpses with Second Chance.

I saw as Nothingness flowed into them, the thorns and silver/grey energies merging over the flesh as I could FEEL the void around us trembling a bit, Nothingness fluctuating haphazardly until the corpse was completely engulfed by Nothingness, glowing brightly as the glow fell apart in almost bandage like Nothingness thorns. Soon, before us stood… Rarity… my Rarity but… she was missing her heart, she was a Nobody, I felt that presence strong from her. They didn't speak, hardly moved, blinked slowly. "Holy shit…" Jericho said.

“R-Rarity?” I asked in shock. “B-but...how?”

"So much to learn." Just then, the first Belief flowed out of me again. Kneeled next to Rarity. "I told you, in its infancy, Nothingness was just an energy that kept a body alive without the use of Necromancy. Reviving a corpse is a trivial matter. In the end most people could argue that Nobodies are the living dead, but we all know they are far more than that. The strong lucky few like Rarity here, Kexez and others can reforge their lost parts, or still, reclaim them. As time went on, I learned the soul played a vital part in Nothingness's power. The soul, after all, is eternal, link that to the physical body, and Nobody, is born. Nothingness stores the souls, makes them. Hers was one of, so, so many just like her. Are her. But her heart, gone. Trixie was and typically is always the sole survivor. Only Heart can create a new heart immediately. Recover lost memories. A step closer to reviving the dead, but what will you choose next Ben? Let her become a new person, or recover who she was, and all the pain that comes with it?"

“She deserves a second chance...unbound by her past and any horrid memories she would remember…” I sighed out.

They nodded. "Then by all means, let her fall in love again, or, raise her?" He said, tapping Second Chance, then leaving.

“Alrighty then…” I said as I hit Rarity with Second Chance again. I felt the Nothingness from her fade, a heart filling her chest once again as she was soon reverted to infancy. Even as a baby she has some style about her.

“One daughter down...the rest to go…” I muttered while starting to bring back all the others.

As I was doing this, Kexez placing them safely away, I got an alert on my Assistant.

Weapon: Second Chance

Upgrade Tree Unlocked.

“Huh...that’s interesting.” I said while pulling up my Skill Tree and looking at Second Chance’s Skill Tree. There was only one skill available.

Pained Sorrow.

In the event the reborn child is in a situation of extreme pain or trauma, they shall be guarded.

“I mean…” I said while taking the skill. “Why wouldn’t I take it?”

Though… what does it do exactly then? It's pretty vague.

As the final last of them was saved and reborn, it's taken a solid week… I think. Lost track of the days. We got them all out… my parents were there too. Mom, Dad, Den… it hurt. This was everyone who did not end up here and it was literally all of them…All but the hundred who ended up here… "I feel like a living womb at this rate." Kexez said, massaging their throat.

“You’re insides are probably the size of a planet.” I said honestly.

"So glad I maxed them out and altered the feeding belly." They sighed.

"Wait you what?" Jericho asked.

"Once I Max out my insides I can alter how they are. I did so with the feeding belly cause I didn't want the little ones to accidentally hurt each other."

“I understand.” I nodded. “But are you having trouble with it?”

"No. Once I've altered it, it's fine. I did a weird take on how the changeling cocoon works though."

"... I'm scared to ask, but how?" Coco asked.

"First, after maxing my insides out, I am able to have a version of myself in there, kinda neat, second, I make a cozy little pouch, like kangaroos, place them in there, it seals up, a tendril acts as an umbilical cord, attaches to the baby, feeds and does what a baby in the womb would get with an umbilical cord, pouch fills with breathable liquid I make that keeps their skin healthy, and muscles from atrophying. It also puts them to sleep but mentally has them dream of things to keep happy. Like baby tv but in their heads."

“So basically you made another womb...neat.” I said honestly.

"Yes and no. Giving birth the first time is actually a traumatizing experience for infants and the cord had to be cut, mine pops right off and they come out rested, happy and with even softer skin, and fur, or scales, depending, than when they were first born."

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “That sounds nice.”

"Want try it~" She cooed, tracing the tip of her tail from my ass to my ear. "It'll be relaxing~"

“I’m good.” I said simply while pushing her tail away.

"Boo." Kexez pouted.

Under all of the former dead bodies of loved ones, was more loot. Actually loot. Mostly money, some gemstones and even a few enchanted books and card games… including Jumanji.

“Well that’s interesting.” I said honestly. “Didn’t think we’d get Jumanji.”

"Not playing." Kexez said. "Knowing us we'd walk out with the GAME itself as a wife…" 

"Or break it." Jericho added.

"How much money have you gotten so far from all this?" Coco asked me.

“Too much.” I said honestly. “And I have too much money as is…”

"Inflation!" Kexez laughed.

“Not really.” I shrugged.

This floor is so Twilight… Books… Everywhere…

“If this isn’t Twilight I’ll be surprised.” I said honestly.

"Gonna take every book?" Jericho asked, seeing that you could pick up each and every book here.

“What?” I asked while I had two clones already taking every book that wasn’t locked off. “Sorry, I was having some clones take every book.”

"That's a meme." Kexez laughed.

The enemies here were varied. Some looked out of fantasy novels, or rather, real life at this point, and other historical figures. I was about to-

BANG!!!

My ears!! The loudest gunshot rang out from behind. We all turned to see Kexez… shooting Hitler… with the largest rifle I have ever seen…”The fuck!?” I shouted as I cast a healing spell on my poor ears.

"What?" Kexez asked, shooting the already destroyed corpse of an enemies Hitler. "Tell me this is not on your bucket list?"

“No, why would I?” I asked honestly. “Also, why did you need to damn near blow my ears out?”

"Gun. Shot Hitler. Guns are loud." They said simply, resting the massive weapon across their shoulder and moving along.

"A gun isn't that fucking loud." I frowned.

"Have you ever even shot a real gun before?" Kexez asked. "Not counting Sharpshooter, those are more like energy crossbows than a gun."

"Yes, I have. Guns aren't that loud." I frowned.

"Then you've never shot a real gun." Kexez says cheekily as we went along. As I was taking books I glanced at the titles. Most were either biography on people I didn't know or science and magic theory books. There was fictional books but they were either historical fiction paranormal stuff. Mostly just the same old same old. Then, I found this.

'War, the first Psychopath, by: The Catalogue'

"Bullshit, Cain was the First." I frowned as I started to read the book.

The first cycle was the birth of many things. Existence, Admins, Mortal life, Death. The first many things were created within this bygone age. But War, the Admin, was by far, the most influential. Before they were the Admin of War, they were known as Alcress, the Admin of Blacksmithing. They forged weapons to hunt, to defend, a noble effort. A noble life.

His downfall began in the middle of the six thousandth year of creations existence as a whole, when the Admin of Beauty caught his eye. How could she not, after all. Her heart, however, belonged to another. Enraged, he took his masterpiece, the first battleaxe, and ended her and her lovers lives. This act was the first murder by another sentient being Creation had ever seen.

Alcress laughed over their bodies, taking them and all their spilled blood back to his forge. His rival in romance was made fuel for his forge, and his love, melted down into his axe, and to ensure he could never feel regret for his actions, carved out his still beating, bleeding heart, creating Carknox, the Blood Axe of War.

"So basically what happened with Hephaestus only without him being chucked off of Mount Olympus." I said with a frown. "Simple enough I suppose…"

Unpowered by the spilled blood of his newfound axe, Alcress gained power by flowing the blood of his axe into the flesh of mortals, empowering them by the blood, and twisting their minds to share his. They felt pain when the living were near, and felt sweet release from it once they were slaughtered. Alcress became the Admin of war, the first Psychopath, and for sixty seven million years, waged an unending war within his Dominion. Then, a being born of mortals raised to power, confronted Alcress on the battleground, and slaughtered them with their own axe, their own bastard child, Jericho.

"I'm pretty sure you didn't know Alcress as your old man right Jericho?" I asked curiously.

"I did, doesn't mean I saw him as it. He never was." Jerichos said, summoning a large chrome rusted battle axe. "And it's not like anyone is missing the old jackass."

"True...so why the shit is your old man's back story basically 'Hephaestus if he didn't get thrown off of Mount Olympus'?"

"Every story has its origin." Jericho said. 

We kept on moving, finding the safe room here and yup, it was Twilight… Hearts Twilight.

Twilight the Librarian.

No amount of knowledge could have prepared her for this tomb, the war before, or the horrors of the Void.

Weapon: Lexicon - Magica Alce Gu.

"Alrighty then…" I said. "That's worrying…"

"So, what's the plan?" Jericho asked.

"Well...not sure if we can cause her to freak out on something…" I said with some thought.

"They have their skills, but most likely everything about their personalities is gone." Coco said.

"Well we'll find out soon enough." I said honestly.

"Her spell based abilities likely make her weaker on defense, unless she casts buffs." Jericho said. "Meaning we'll have small windows to deal in the damage needed to use Second Chance. If she is using a Lexicon over her Keyblade then she'll have unlimited Mana usage, but still have to recast them, assuming she didn't somehow obtain the Infinity ability."

"Cause of course that exists…" I sighed out.

"I know that ability. Merlin of the Seven Deadly Sins has it. Once she casts a spell, no matter the Mana requirements or cost it's activated for as long as she desires and can only be canceled by her when, or if she wants." Kexez said. "Meliodas says it's her most powerful ability."

“Twilight has it...I hate you both.” I frowned. “You just had to remind me of that show...and world...I also forget that Meliodous is apart of us...god I forget a lot sometimes…” I grumbled.

"Man up. The is a counter to these kinds of buffs and protection magic. Hexes." Jericho said.

"Those are a double edged sword though." Jericho said. "A very risk, reward usage. If we're going with a glass cannon strategy, then we'll have to make sure we end it before we break."

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “Hopefully she’s not immune to hexes…”

"There will likely be some resistance but nothing we can't power through." Kexez said. "Ben, does your Lexicon hold any Hexes?"

“The better question is, what doesn’t it hold?” I asked while bringing out my Lexicon. “Ever since I upgraded it to hell it’s just like ‘oh hey, I have every spell ever’.”

”Your damn right.” My Lexicon agreed in joy.

"Then let's pick some hard hitters with the minimal recoils." Coco said.

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “Let’s get this started.”

We quickly studied up on some of the safer but effective hexes, then began to head off. 

“God this is gonna be a nightmare…” I muttered while readying myself to fight against Twilight.

“You ever meet Heart’s Twilight?” Kexez asked.

“I believe so...but there’s so many people I’ve met it’s hard to sort through.” I said honestly.

“She was one of the first Heart met after arriving, kinda like you.” Kexez said. “Keyblades fascinated her, she’s largely responsible for reviving lost keyblade knowledge and improving upon all that was revived when The Crystal Empire turned out to be Daybreak Town.”

“Sounds about right.” I nodded. “Only Twilight.” I chuckled.

“Heh. So, how is your Twilight? Same, different? Has a numbers fetish?”

“She’s still Twilight through and through, but…sadly yes, she made me think Numbers were sexy for some reason...even though she was dressed as a sexy teacher...god that was so long ago…”

Kexez chuckled. “Hearts would have them solve math problems to see who was smarter. Finding out she was only five points shy from Heart’s score kinda, surprisingly, turned her on. She was never outsmarted before so it was new, and gave Celestia a gut busting laugh.”

“Why am I not surprised.” I chuckled.

“What about your Celestia? She and Heart were especially close.”

“She first started out saying ‘I only like women’ for a good year or so. Then after she was...kind of forced to get pregnant with my kids, she finally opened up that she was scared her immortality was going to ruin any relationships that wasn’t with Chrysalis, given that she’s also immortal...but then I stepped in, and she has been so much happier as far as I’ve noticed.”

“That’s nice. Hearts was pretty straight forward with what she wanted, a caring male, and a large family. And an excuse to gain weight, which he didn’t mind, made her a softer bed and improved some assets. Pretty sure she used magic for that though.” Kexez chuckled. 

“And yet he thought it was weird I had the exact same fetish.” I frowned. “But anyways...why bring up the wives?”

“Curious. It will be the first time I actually meet them when we are done here… and given what they know about me, I’ll need to make a really good impression on them. I have all of Hearts Memories of them, but I want them to know me, the me I am now, and to make my own memories.”

“Well,” I said while putting a hand on their shoulder. “Have fun with that.” I said simply. “I’m sure they’ll care still.”

“Hopefully. I mean, they loved Charlie just as much even after Heart came back, in Trixie’s body granted but, still. Speaking of, I wonder how we’ll bring them back?”

“We’re not.” I said. “Not everyone needs to be brought back...he died on his own terms protecting everyone, bringing him back wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“Eh. Time will tell, though, would it really be that bad?”

I just shook my head. “Never mind…” I muttered while moving forward.

“To be fair, aren’t we going to use that Mothers Womb items for basically the same reason?” Coco asked.

“She has a point, prior versions of us, from all kinds of cycles. Might as well bring them all back, hell I’m here to bring back someone I care about.” Jericho said.

“And that’s fine.” I said honestly. “And we’re doing this to stop this war from killing everyone...but what’s the point of dying when it means literally nothing now?”

“So, Dragon Ball?” Kexez asked. 

“There were limits to that.” I countered.

“That were ignored since there was like, two diffrent kinds of Dragon balls?”Coco asked, earning a look from everyone. “What? Nexus, Multiverse TV shows. Never short on cartoons.”

“I’m sorry for bringing this up...I know that bringing people back is going to help us end this war...but I’m just thinking about after everything ya know?”

“Would you rather everyone be dead?” Jericho asked, we reached the boss room doors… Twilight. “They won’t be back forever Ben, they will end up dying again… hopefully… old, in a bed, with family.”

“That’s what I’m more hoping for instead of it meaning literally nothing…” I muttered as I pushed open the doors.

As we entered, the doors closed behind us, the large coffin blasted open, Twilight floating out, in her Keyblade armor as she pulled out her Lexicon, casting protection and buffs as various tracking spells and attack spells began to activate immediately. “Time to use those hexes.” Kexez said.

“Alright.” I said while bringing out my Lexicon as it fluttered up, my Staff appearing in my hand as I raised it high and chanted all the Hex spells that were safe enough against Twilight quickly.

Her defenses were broken with them, Jericho countering her attack spells as Coco and Kexez started sniping her with Sharpshooters and Lindworm.

“This is a little too simple…” I muttered worriedly as I kept up my Hex spells just so she wouldn’t rebuff herself suddenly.

As we were dealing some damage, Twilight cast a summoning Spell, ghostly versions of the Four Horsemen appeared, charging at us.

“Right then.” I said while casting my own summon spell and sending out my own version of the Four Horsemen to meet them. “Gonna need to rest after this…” I muttered while trying my best to support the others.

As the Hexes, spells and Horsemen were all fighting, countering and going off, Twilight summoned again. I was ready to copy the summon, until they saw who it was. Adorned in a silver cloak, and holding a replica of my own Lexicon, was Twilight… my Twilight. The two now spellcasting, giving them an advantage.

“Oh...well fuck.” I started. “That’s...not good.”

"Shit, what now?" Jericho asked, deflecting a fire spell from themselves. 

"I have an idea." Coco said. "Ben, your Lexicon should be able to Eat their magic if it's void corrupted, that will give us our opening."

“Alright.” I said while closing my Lexicon. “Alright buddy, have fun.” I said as I tossed my Lexicon into the air, the book glowing as it opened, it’s pages flying out and forming into a goddamn Managorger Hydra.

”Om nom nom motherfucker’s!” Book of Retribution shouted as it started to bite down on the magic the Twilight’s were producing and ripping it apart and devouring it.

“Well then…” I said. “Didn’t think you’d turn into that of all things…” I said nervously, remembering that this specific race of Hydra’s were specifically made to devour mana and get stronger because of it.

Using this chance, everyone managed to get strikes in, Coco managing to actually save Ben's Twilight that Hearts summoned. This though, caused Heart's Twilight to retaliate, summoning her Keyblade and starting to attack directly.  

"We gotta break her armor." Kexez said, having rapidly put the other Twilight away fast.

“And how are we going to do that?” I asked curiously. “I don’t know how strong her armor is…”

"Then we rip her helmet off." Jericho said.

“Fine fine.” I said while shooting at Twilight with Sharpshooters to try and distract her. “Let’s hope she doesn’t have something else up her sleeve…”

She was good at deflecting them, even activated Ghost Drive, so hitting her was not easy. 

“Oh boy, Styles…” I grumbled. “This is gonna be a bitch.”

"Well, if you can't hit em," Kexez started, Ghost Drive activating for them. "Mimic them."

“I haven’t really used Style’s…” I said honestly. “Little weird all things considered.”

“Surprising.” Kexez said, managing to land a hit on Twilight as they warped away. “Here.” Kexez said, handing me a Donald Fizz Ice Cream.

"Oh yeah, Ice Cream gives instant Style gaugeDrives…" I muttered as I ate the ice cream quickly.

Ghost drive activated immediately, and it was a rush. Moving I was teleporting when I was trying to dodge or rush in for an attack, and this gave us an even playing field with Twilight as we were able to each land hits on her. Her gauge would either activate it’s final attack or run out sooner than ours.

"Just a little more…" I muttered while noticing her armors health bar was getting dangerously low 

Finally, I gave one last teleport, appearing behind her and striking her head with Second Chance. Her helmet broke as the keyblade made contact with her head, and she began to revert. Soon she was a baby also. I hugged her gently as the fight was now over and Ghost Drive deactivated for us all.

“It’s alright my child.” I said gently. “I’m here for you.”

With a smile and a sigh, Kexez places her away, and we began looking through the loot. 

Money and items here were normal, but I did see a Pokemon Egg! Daw, cute… it feels cold… "Why did you put the egg between your boobs?" Jericho asked 

“Because the egg is cold, and my chest fluff is warm and soft.” I huffed. “So don’t judge me.”

"You are now the first ever nine breasted Den Mother." Coco said with a chuckle. "That aside, how long will it take to hatch?"

“No idea.” I said honestly. “But I know it’ll hatch soon.” I said gently.

"Can you even fight with that precious cargo?" Kexez asked. "The ones I'm carrying are protected by every defense spell I know and my newfound natural scales as an added bonus. But that egg is right between your top knockers love, sure it will be okay?"

“Did you forget that I literally just got an ability that lets my fur be its own fortress?” I asked, which when the three looked again the egg wasn’t there.

"Well, alright. Wonder what kind of Pokemon it will be?" 

"No idea." I said honestly. "But I'm sure it'll be special."

This place straight up terrified me. It was a Forest, clearly, but was making every instinct of mine scream of danger. It was pitch black here, and reeked of decay and...and… something familiar?

"Again with something familiar…" I grumbled.

"What's so familiar about it?" Kexez asked as we made our way through the Forest floor. Soon we came across the first enemies… wolves. All kinds, all but Void Wolves, looking like… mom's homeworld...before I...

“Mother fucker...I know why this place is familiar…” I sighed out. “I think I know who the boss is...and it’s not going to be fun.” I groaned. “We’re on the Dire Wolf Home World...only before I cured it of it’s corruption…”

"So who's the boss then?" Jericho, everyone using Second Chance on all of them.

“I have two guesses...either Den...or the greatest Dire Wolf hunter in history.” I said honestly. “I’m pretty sure it’s either of those two all things considered…”

"One way to find out." Kexez said, swallowing the new batch of tiny dire wolf pups into her safe insides. There's a lot of phrases I would have never even imagined saying before.

As we continued on, finding loot, more various wolves, we also found Foxes, Coyotes, even Hyenas and Lions, Tigers, even some I have never seen before… so more than just wolves. Who is this?

“Okay so...maybe I’m wrong but...why are we on the Dire Wolf Homeworld then?” I questioned, finding this really weird.

"Well… the Dire wolf home world is basically a world filled with prey to hunt right?" Jericho asked, typing on their Assistant.

“Yes…” I said slowly. “Why do you say that?”

"Cause, according to this there are near countless other planets fitting that criteria for all forms of feral life forms and other Predator based life, even some for prey based and hybrid. Across all reflections and realms. Look, here." He said, showing a planet with a healthy mix between nature and modern cities. "This is called Kalstro. It's homeworld of Floof Noodles… but we both know they didn't actually exist until Hearts change after you knocked Ophelia up, I can't say that and understand it even with context." Jericho sighed. "Anyway, this Floof Noodle Homeworld has been here for as long as the others, how?"

"An Admin." Coco said.

“A Floof Noodle Admin...that has been here before...so we’re going to be facing that fucker…” I sighed out. “Good to know.”

"Not just a Floof Noodle Admin. Wolf Admin, Tiger Admin… I think this is the Admin of Life."

"The Admin of Life? Even in the war, she was a rumor." Coco said. "Nexus looked for her or signs of her constantly, but never found a single trace of evidence aside from rumors."

“Oh boy, this is gonna be fun…” I sighed out. “How do we stop Life itself in a fight?” I said honestly.

"Well, if the stories are true the Admin of Life was, is, different from normal Admins." Jericho started. "When the first Admin of war, killed, therefore created, the Admin of Death, there first had to be life in order for her to die. They say in the moment of impact, the Admin of Life was born, it is said she herself can not die, but like the Phoenix can only ever be reborn."

“Alrighty then…” I said honestly. “Can’t wait to see who they are.”

"Think it's someone we know?" Coco asked.

“I doubt it but...I wouldn’t be surprised if we do know her for some reason.” I said honestly.

As we explored, finding more and more creatures I spotted the safe room hiding behind a thick wall of vine plants. In here, it felt like home. It felt safe, and oh yes the meat plant! Oh and also that book.

“Alright, so let’s see who this mystery person is…” I muttered while heading to the book and opening it up.

There was one line.

Admin of Life

"Well that was the best anti climax ever…" Kexez said, swallowing meat whole off that plant. Cool, it grows back immediately!

I frowned while double and triple checking in any other way that might reveal anything hidden on the pages.

Nothing. No hidden ink no spell for unblocking something hidden, no nothing. Just a single line in this whole book… this book… what if… I took out my library card, and used to make a checkout/return window, where the Admin of Books herself greeted me. "Hey Ben, what's up?"

“I need some help, I know for a fact this book has something else, but it won’t give it up.” I said while handing it to her. “All it says is ‘Admin of Life’ and I can’t figure out why it doesn’t say anything else.”

She looked at the book, flipping through it. "Ah. I see. Yes, it does have something else, but it's under a genetic code lock. Only a child of the admin of life can unlock the rest of the story here. And no, you don't count. It has to be a direct child she conceived and birthed."

“And...who would that be?” I asked nervously.

"No idea. After the Admin war I hid away in the library, wasn't able to make family trees."

“Even though your library grabs every book in existence?” I asked honestly.

"Hmm… I might be able to make something. Give me a moment." She said, leaving the window real quick.

“Well...let’s hope this works.” I muttered.

She came back, a new book in hand. "Okay, so using the most advanced genealogy spell backwards and a shit ton of paradox spells and simulation spells, this book should have every admin that has ever existed and their children. Ready?"

“Alright, I’m ready.” I said honestly.

She opened the book. Inside was countless names. Even Mine, Eclipsa and Hearts were here. We found the name that just said Admin of Life, clicking on it showed an image of the admin of life… she's so hot… inappropriate thought but it's true. As well as…

All of our blood ran cold, seeing her 'husband' … Vincent.

“Impossible…” I frowned. “Just...no, what the fuck?”

"How can that even be?" Kexez said.

"Look at their kids…" Jericho said. The names Cript repeated over, and over again… "All the Cripts… were conceived by her, but birthed by others…"

“So basically...Vincent kidnapped and...systematically raped her to bring all these Cript’s into the world?” I asked slowly.

"The question is… where is she now?" Coco asked.

“Well if we look at Vincent’s history we’d know.” I said honestly. “Cause only he’d know at this point…”

"In that case, he'd keep her close at all times." Kexez said.

"Growing up, I never once in the news or announcements saw Vincent accompanied by any woman." Coco said. "Not even guards, never needed them. Maybe Krott knows something?"

So I decided to call up Krott. “Hopefully he’s not busy at the moment…”

"Yes Ben?" Krott picked up fast.

“Hey Krott, so about how Vincent has probably been systemically raping the Admin of Life, do you know where she is?” I asked curiously.

"The Admin of what? Okay, back up and explain."

“The Admin of Life. We’re about to fight her in this Dungeon and we were just told that her ‘Husband’ is Vincent...some fucking how.”

"Husband… I know one woman Vincent dated, Cript's mother Madaline. She was a sweetheart, the other side of Vincent, who we all know is pure evil. How they ever found love was always beyond me. Married and dated in secret. Never saw Vincent smile genuinely until she came along."

“So the bastard was actually happy to have someone in his life that he wasn’t using and abusing? Well I’ll be damned.” I joked.

"Yeah, but that all ended after Cript was born. She fled with him, hiding him with those monks that raised him. When Vincent found her he killed her for the betrayal, though she knew more of what Vincent was planning than I did. So she must have known what he wanted Cript for."

“Alright…” I said. “But uh...it says she’s still alive, and from the rumors it says she’s basically a Phoenix so...what the fuck?”

"I don't know. Another mystery for the ages huh?"

“Wonderful.” I sighed out. “But then how does Vincent know who she is after she dies repeatedly? Cause it says here that each Cript was conceived by her but were born by different women.”

"Huh...well, if it's reincarnation maybe she jumps from baby to baby, reborn as a different person each time. Course Don't know how that could work, Zeke, or Heart rather, was born from her sister."

I blinked. “Wait...she has a sister?” I asked.

"Yeah, twin. Same name as her. Only thing that was different from the two was that Zeke's mom had her genes altered to have blond hair over the brown she was born with. She was a scientist on the Cript projects. Come to think of it, she was selected for the Cript project as a birthing mother not long after Madaline was pregnant with Cript."

“That’s...rather concerning…” I said. “But...oddly convenient.”

"How so?"

"The supposed Admin of Life happened to have an identical sister, as well as making a Cript as well?" I asked honestly. "Don't you find that rather convenient that both of them birth Cripts, and Heart was born after Cripts mom died?" I asked, having done some major history checks on people when I had the time.

"I don't think I follow?"

"Hearts mother is most likely the Admin of Life." I frowned.

"What?" Kexez said bluntly. "How?"

"They're twins, she's a Phoenix, do the math." I frowned. "Where would the title and powers go when her sister died, but she still has made Cript’s?" I asked while looking through the book to see if Hearts name was there just to double check on my madness. And lo and behold...Heart’s name was here. “Yeah...that’s what I thought.”

"So, what? How would we even get her to remember if she can at all?" Jericho asked.

“Sadly I have no idea…” I sighed out. “Cause this is literally the first time I’ve heard that the Admin of Life even existed.”

"To be fair, everyone expected her to be a myth. Guess in our reality all myths have facts somewhere."

"Too true." Coco said.

“Sometimes I forget that none of you have been raised believing that literally everything that I have experienced was just fantasy.” I frowned. “Well, except for Kexez since he’s Hearts Nobody.”

"My own existence should be impossible so I'm inclined to believe anything." Kexez said with a nod. "Well, whoever she is, we'll have to see it for ourselves when we face her."

“Alright.” I nodded. “Anything you want to bring up before we head off Krot”?

"Yes actually, if possible, can you find a Origotho?"

"A what?" Kexez asked.

"It's a rare Void Beast, body like a lion, head like a wolf and legs and tail like a dragon."

“Well...that’s interesting.” I said honestly. “I’m sure we’ll find it...hopefully.”

"What do you need it for?" Coco asked.

"It has a unique power, the ability to replicate all magics thrown at it. Pecator thinks this ability it has would be a valuable component to making the Bravery Nothingness to fight Void Key. Copy Cat and Generation can, yes, imitate it, but first Bravery Nothingness has to be a self sustaining energy like Void or normal Nothingness for it to generate it. It's like trying to make a copy of something from memory alone. This beast can replicate it once and we'll need it to do this to have at least a small supply without sacrificing limbs.

“Alrighty then, so can’t wait to have it join the harem and then...we all get it’s natural ability.” I chuckled.

Krott ended the call and after a bit more resting we set back off.

This floor so far was much larger than the others. I was keeping small mental notes, knowing the other floors so far were all around two or so miles in size, this one so far is five.

“Well...this place is huge.” I said honestly. "Wonder if this is even bigger…"

"Bigger typically means there should be more here we haven't or can't see yet until we are further in." Jericho said.

"Alrighty then." I nodded. "How much you want to bet this Void Beast is guarding the lady?" I asked curiously. "Even if it's Void born, it's still a Life ya know?"

"I kinda doubt it." Jericho said.

"Wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen." I shrugged.

As we were looking around, we came across a locked door, on the door ad a riddle. 

I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?

“So there’s riddles now? Well, it’s different.” Jericho said.

“An Echo.” I answered quickly, liking riddles alot.

The doors gave an audible click as they began opening, showing more of this floor… Oh god the shit monsters are back!

“Why are these fuckers back!?” I whined.

After killing them with the longest range attacks I had at my disposal, we continued on. A small loot box holding a large emerald. Like, the size of Coco’s head big. Into the vault then. As we kept along, saving more monsters, not those shit ones… just no, we came across a LARGE chest in the middle of this room that had a bunch of bat-monkey things in it. “That’s different.” Coco said.

“Ten rem says it’s a trap.” Kexez said.

“I’ll take that.” Jericho said, showing the money as did Kexez.

“I mean, I have a spell for that.” I said while pulling out my Lexicon. “Greater Trap Detection.”

“Kill joy.” Jericho and Kexez said as I opened the untrapped chest.

Inside was… A… Big… Fucking… Arrow Gun… Scratch that, Cannon. It was half my size, radiated with energy, was held like a mini gun and when it fired, the kick knocked me over as the bolt blew five holes through five walls. Mine.

“This is Mine.” I said. “There maybe many like it, but this baby is mine.” I said while holding it with a giant smile on my face.

“Holy Shit!” Coco said, looking it over. “I thought it looked familiar! This is the ARMO Energy Cannon! These things are illegal in sixty five million reflections.” She said in awe.

“Well they can suck it, cause this RHYNO on Super Steroids is mine, and I will happily use it to blast things out of existence.” I said giddily.

“I know this too.” Jericho said. “Anti Reality Matter Obliteration Energy Cannon. Doesn’t just destroy the target, reduces it to just their code. Only an Admin can survive a hit from these things, and even then it would hurt like truck.”

“Not even Nexus could get their hands on these things.” Coco said with a laugh. “Only three were ever made, Freak Inc. owns two, and the third is with the inventor.”

“And who was insane enough to invent this thing?” I asked curiously while hefting the thing up.

“Lord.” Coco and Jericho said in unison.

“Why am I not surprised?” I asked curiously.

We continued on, finally finding the boss room. We entered, and rather than a coffin, a wilted flower. Finally, we can see the Admin of Life’s face. As the petals fell, one by one, soon falling to the ground in a graceful stance was the Admin of Life… DINKY!?!?

“Wait, what?” Kexez said. “Either I’m high… or the Admin of life, every Cript’s biological mom… was reborn as Dinky?”

“Guess Jericho really did kill her. Scumbag.” Jericho hissed. 

“Wait…” I muttered while cycling through my memory at all the names of the Admin of Life had...and I sadly remembered that...one of the names that popped out...was Dinky’s. “Fuck...can’t wait to break that news to her...or if it even happened yet.” I said worriedly.

“Is it weird that it makes sense given Dinky was, at least your Dinky Ben, bad at magic and just generally lacked it, yet was smart beyond her years.” Coco asked.

“Their powers regarding life are completely passive, she doesn’t have to know about who she really is for them to work, as for that intelligence thing, must be subconscious memories from past lives.”

“Yeah...that sounds about right.” I sighed out. “Especially in Biology or anything revolving around it...she argued way too many times about things that she honestly shouldn’t have known about certain things…”

“So… how do we do this? Hit her with Second Chance or…?” Kexez asked, The Admin of Life, Dinky, just standing there, not moving.

I looked nervous as I gently took a step forward. “She’s the Admin of Life...I doubt she’ll do anything to bring death…” I said as I walked nervously towards Dinky. “Maybe she even has enough of her mind to talk...I hope…”

The others all looked at one another. “Worth a shot.” Jericho said.

“Hopefully…” I said while taking a deep breath. “Dinky? You in there?” I asked cautiously, still moving towards her without Second Chance just in case having a weapon might cause something to happen.

She didn’t move, looking down as slowly, flowers just began blooming off her dress… There was no Void in those flowers.

“Your...not Void Tainted?” I asked in shock and confusion. “Can...you talk to me?” I asked.

“Life… heals, adapts, always finds a way. We always find a way to keep on.”

"True…" I said. "But...why are you here? What happened?" I asked. "Was Vincent involved given...who I'm just realizing something very important about him..." I facepalmed. "God damn it...why him?" I asked Dinky.

“When War, killed Death, we were born, two forms of life, I, the loving, caring, the beauty of it, and he, the twisted, harmful, deadly side. We are two sides of the same coin, existing to create life in all its forms. Each life, we are reborn and find one another, an endless cycle of death, rebirth, searching, love, betrayal, order, and revenge.”

“Revenge?” Jeriho asked.

“In each life, we find each other, fall for each other, but I see what he is doing, see what harm, hurt, and so, I remove the tool of his cruelty, be it a weapon, or a person.”

“Cript.” Kexez said.

Nodding, Dinky continued. “In each life, we have kids, sometimes one, sometimes many, but a child of our always rises up, to kill him after he kills me, and then, the cycle repeats.”

"I should have seen this sooner." I sighed out. "But...there has to be a way to break this cycle right?"

She smiled, shaking her head. “It’s needed, required. Good and evil cannot exist without one another. We always are reborn, and always repeat.”

"But Good and Evil aren't always clear cut...there has to be a way, even if Good and Evil stick around…" I said nervously.

“This is my, our fate. And, our choice, our duty.”

"Well as your mother I say No." I huffed. "Or father cause I'm both…sometimes this is confusing."

“As stubborn as I remember, but not everything needs to change, this cycle, has been our duty. Create the bad, and the good, it’s what we do.”

I sighed out. "Your not going to budge on this huh?"

“I am content.”

I sighed out and moved over, giving Dinky a hug. “Even though it’s probably been an Eternity for you...I’ll say this again...I’m so proud of you Dinky.”

“As am I.” She said, returning the hug. “Before you save me, I have to tell you, there are others. Others like me, still in our right mind “

“How many?” I asked as I drew Second Chance.

“That I can not tell, but the next floor, I know for a fact, holds one. I can sense it, survived solely on his Will Power and experience. These dungeons… they can provide, if you are willing to fight for it.”

“Yeah, we’ve gotten more money, items, and...new family members than I can count right now.” I said sheepishly.

“Before I am returned to infancy, dad, there is one thing I can tell you, a warning.”

“Cause that’s what I need...a warning after I stab another family member…” I sighed out.

“It’s about Spoiled, and that child. To save her, and therefore the child, you must find her heart. She has hidden it away, deep where Darkness and Void touch.”

“Cause why not make things more difficult…” I sighed out. “So, that leaves about...god knows how much wiggle room she shoved her heart in, got anything more specific?”

“It stands guarded by her strongest clone. You can’t miss it.”

“And then I’ll miss it a lot cause I’m me.” I chuckled.

“I’ll see you, dad.”

“I’ll see you, my daughter.” I said as I stabbed her chest with Second Chance.

Her body glowed, soon the little baby was in my arms, whimpering as I comforted her.

“It’s alright Dinky.” I said gently, softly nuzzling her to comfort her more.

With Dinky safely placed away I and the others all sorted through the loot. Sticking with Pokemon theme, Pokeballs. Oh, there’s pokemon in here? One for each. Opening mine, it was a Turtwig. Coco got an Oddish, Kexez got a Cubone, and Jericho got a Houndour.

“Cool.” I said with a smile. “I always liked Turtwig. Best of the Gen Four starters.”

“Well, onward then.” Jericho said.

This place was weird. It was all clouds, a gentle breeze hitting out faces as we walked, looking around it looks like we really were walking on the clouds. “This is kinda cool.” Jericho said.

“Well...this is interesting.” I said while taking in every detail. “This place...kind of reminds me of Cloudsdale...oh and who else figured out Vincent was Life’s opposite before I did?” I asked honestly.

“Litteraly no one cause fuck forth wall breakers.” Jericho sighed.

“That aside, this place does look kinda familiar.” Coco said, looking around.

“It does look familiar, but honestly there isn’t any fourth wall breaking here when you think about it.” I said honestly. “We had enough clues.”

“Nerd.” Kexez said. 

As we were walking through the hall, suddenly, something zipped by us, looking ahead it… looked like an angel, but, it’s wings were charred and smoking, eyes hollow and bleeding, skin ash grey, veins a glowing purple, and mouth was just this bleeding hole lacking teeth.

“Well...that’s a thing…” I said nervously.

“Oh my god…” Coco said, taking a step back. “That’s a Celesrtian.” She said.

“More like was.” Jericho said, readying their axe.

“You know what those things are Coco?” I asked curiously.

“Celestians. A humanoid race of angellike beings that live in the clouds above Electron from Cript’s realm, they’re a strong race.” Coco said.

“Well that’s...interesting.” I said. “So why the hell are they here?”

"Their Queen is a member of the family." Jericho said, the twisted looking thing keeping a distance, like it's studying us.

“So…” I pulled out my Assistant and immediately tried to research this Celestial lady. Yup. There she was. Celestia, funny enough name… wow she's a looker. Bodyguard… huh. Nate. “Okay cool...well the name is kind of on point.”

"I think we have more pressing matters." Jericho said, taking a sniff I smelled more of these things nearby… a crapton more.

“Uh...yeah that is a problem.” I said while preparing myself for a fight. “Dinky said that there was a survivor in here...wonder if it’s Nate, and I wonder where he is?”

Soon, we could see the others here. It was like the walls were bleeding the fuckers out, there's so many, way more than any other floor so far.

“Right~...” I said slowly. “Uh...how the fuck are we going to stop the infinite spawners?”

"Well, I've survived just as bad. Just keep fighting, and hope it ends sometime before you pass out of exhaustion, but after your muscles are jelly from overworking them to stay alive." Jericho said.

"Sounds about right." Kexez said, pulling out key arms, a shotgun.

“I mean, I managed to make an entire civilization of Plant people during an Infinite Spawning battleground...doubt it would work here…” I said nervously while pulling out Second Chance and Sky Splitter.

"Don't bother." Jericho said, pushing down Second Chance in my grip. "We won't have time to save anyone let alone ourselves."

"They're smart." Coco said, her back against my side with her newly acquired Scythe in hand. "Their noises are a language, they're talking."

"Planning." Kexez said.

So what I did was totally justified when I pulled out the ARMO. “Fuck your plans I have an ARMO.” I smiled as I aimed it at the growing hoard. “Mind keeping me from falling over?”

Kexez and Jericho got behind me, they used themselves as a brace as I began firing, and all hell broke loose.

The swarm now flew all around us, their weapons scratching us, but nothing deep, though seeing each others HPs, it was slowly munching away at us. Even as I blasted forty, Jericho slashing twenty at a time, Coco getting hits here and there and Kexez shooting down all in his sight, we were so outnumbered, and they didn't seem to show signs of lessening their numbers.

“Have I ever mentioned that this thing is amazing?” I asked while continuing to literally mow down thousands with the ARMO.

"Less talk more kill." Jericho said, hacking one that nearly got me behind the ears.

"How many are there?!" Coco yelled.

"Too fucking many." Kexez said.

My ears flicked up as I heard something else in this massive amount of carnage. “Does anyone else hear that?” I asked while putting my ARMO away and bringing out Graceful Dahlia and Lunatic and cleaving through hundreds of them. “Like another fight is going on or something?”

"Protegat-Innocentes-Salutis!" Someone called out, there was this flash of a slash that passed through us, small bubble barriers formed over us while all of the swarm around us were slain instantly. Their bodies falling to the ground. Looking, we saw someone walking up to us, a sword made from Dark Monofilament, heck black wings and hair, sky blue eyes, and wearing a very worn set of armor. They looked up at us. "Well, it's about fucking time."

“Ow...the Edge…” I said slowly. “So hi, how are you doing in these trying times?” I asked while Graceful Dahlia was devouring another Celestial.

"Who in the hell are you?" They asked, our bubble shields disbanding. 

“Names Ben, Admin of Nothingness, and these are Jericho, the Admin of War, Coco, my loving Void Conduit Wife, and Kexez, a Floof Noodle who used to be a giant douche canoe.” I introduced us all.

"Oi!" Kexez said, whacking me in the back of the head with their whole tail… and basically RKOing me in the process.

"Not an actual conduit, but close enough." Coco corrected.

“I said used to.” I frowned while getting up, perfectly fine. “So I believe your Nick?”

"Yeah. Come on, they'll be back in a minute." He said, leading us right to the safe room. The safe room here was heavily lived in, filled with various odds and ends from the normal chest rewards here. "So, what brings you poor bastards here?"

“We’re going to do the Impossible.” I said. “And that’s ending this damned Cycle of War that’s been going on for...way too long.”

"Does it look like I care?" Nate asked, popping a large wine bottle open and drinking some. "I only ever wanted to do one thing in life, protect my charge. First Autumn up and vanished on us all, then the Queen died here. Been stuck here since."

“Well it’s better than being Void Corrupted into being one of this damned Dungeons Bosses.” I said simply. “Like your Queen has most likely become given the area.”

"Think I don't know that?"

“Considering your out of the loop on a lot of things, maybe.” I shrugged. “Now, about this girl named Autumn that I only know because of Cript’s memories.” I said honestly. “Who is she and why do I feel...really sad about it?”

"Oh, that's a story. Hope you got time if you wanna hear that one." Nate said, drinking some more wine.

“We have all the time in the world.” I said simply. “So I would like to know who she is...and why she’s also stuck in a cage…” I said, trying to dig through Cript’s memories and most of what I was getting was a girl in a cage. “Also I’m surprised you haven’t said anything about me having Cript’s memories.”

"I saw the ring. Same one my queen wears." Nate took a deep breath. "Long ago, a girl woke up in the woods, a small forest where the tree leaves glowed bright with a soft blue light. In these woods, was a mansion. Secluded, and unkempt. She had no idea where she was, where she came from, or how she got there. All she did know was that she was not from this world. She wandered the Forest, found a city, and saw a young monk, failing to steal fruit."

“Hmm…” I hummed, wondering who the monk was.

"As she aimlessly wandered the Forest she had the misfortune to fall off a short cliffside. There's she met Zach, my brother. He saved her, and gave her a special Artifact. Aurora's Amulet. The purest Electronium crystal ever mined from Electrons soil. It never loses a charge, and could power this entire reality alone. Only the electron royal bloodline was capable of using its power, and Autumn, was the lost heir."

“Cause randomly waking up in the woods must make you something along the lines of ‘Heir’ or ‘Chosen One’.” I said simply.

"No, DNA and the fact she could use the thing without incinerating to ashes from its power proved she was the heir." Nate said bluntly.

“I’m going to stop myself before going further with that, but please, continue.” I said honestly.

"She, Zach, and later a scientist named Alex, a Monk named Cript, and myself eventually all came together, forming a haphazard band of Do gooders. We traveled, saved lives, killed Shadow Creatures, life was… okay."

“And then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.” I said. “At least, not the Fire Nation but it sounds like something bad happened afterwards.”

"We headed for Electron. Autumn's ancestors Homeworld. We arrived with one goal, destroy the Darkness. Little backstory there, back when Autumn's grandmother ruled, Aurora, she was given the crystal at her coronation, and she rules for ten fortunate years, having a child and a peaceful kingdom… but, the royal scientist, the fellow who originally cut her crystal to shape, kept the cuttings, knowing with their power, so much could be done. With them, he formed the Dark Crystal, the first dark Electronium crystal. It's potent evil infected his whole island, the Electronium in its soil, the plants, ocean life nearby, and what spawned from this pure evil, was the Shadow Creatures. They attacked the castle, and Aurora and her child went into hiding. Only autumn was living proof they escaped alive. A hundred or so years later."

“Well...that...yeah that was a thing that happened.” I said nervously. “So that’s where Shadow Creatures came from…”

"We attacked… and we lost. I don't remember the finer details but all I do remember is waking up in a hospital bed, five years later. Cript became, well, who he is now, Freak Inc and all that, Autumn and Zach were alive, turns out, he scattered us, screwed with our brains so we'd forget then tossed Aurora's Amulet to the stars. Cript ended up killing him. Everything was so different. Then, one day Autumn just… went to sleep, and never woke up. No explanation, no doctor or mage no nothing could explain it she was just… coma, out of nowhere. Bro left back home, I worked as the Queen's guard, Alex fucked off back to his mansion in the forest, and last I knew he and Cript were not exactly on standing, or speaking terms with one another."

“Well...that sucks.” I said. “So...that’s the end of it? She’s just stuck in a coma for god knows how long?”

"Pretty much. Cript tried everything, but nothing ever worked. So, he kept her safe, on a prayer she might wake up on her own."

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “So...what brought you and your Queen to this god forsaken place?” I asked curiously.

"She's one of Cript's wives. Started off mostly political, but they grew to love each other, which makes sense, he is the Admin of Love. She came here like the others, trying to take the Void Mother's Womb, and fell here."

“And so far we have been told this is the worst dungeon to exist, and yet it’s been piss easy so far.” I said honestly. “Now I’m sure it’ll change sooner rather than later but still…”

"This dungeon is a combination of the five levels of dungeons Cript wanted for creation. Level one, easy, beginners stuff. Level two, harder, a challenge, level three, a harsher challenge, level four, you'll need more than luck for them. And lastly level five. Now that's an Avengers level threat." Nate said with a laugh. "Fifteen level one floors, Twenty-five level two, three and four, and ten level five floors. The lower you go, the harder they get, and once you pass floor fifteen, expect the easy part to be over. This and the next floor will give you a taste of what to expect."

“Can’t wait.” I said. “An actual challenge would be fun.”

"Heh. Sure, the day the sun shines in this beyond damned abyss is the day what rests deeper in will be fun." Nate spat.

“Either way.” I said. “So...what would you say would happen if we turned her back into an infant?” I asked while pulling out Second Chance. “Cause this is what we’ve been using to rescue hundreds of people from this damned place.”

"I'd say God save the queen." Nate said, sitting up. "You lot that suicidal?"

“It’s not suicidal if we know we’re going to succeed.” I said honestly.

"Confidence like that is a handicap, you should never underestimate anything just because it's easy."

"I'm not saying it'll be easy later on." I said simply. "I just know that we'll make it to the end...cause someone's been waiting for us to clear the way." I said, having had a feeling someone's been watching us since we started. "Don't know who...but someone has been watching us since we entered this damned place."

"How you tell?"

“Because one of them feels familiar…” I said. “I know I’m the most paranoid one here but come on.”

"Well, what's your plan then?"

“We just keep going.” I said. “They’ll probably show themselves when we’re about to get done with this entire Dungeon sadly...so all we can do is just move forward and keep clearing the floors...which begs the question if the rooms behind us ‘reset’ or if it doesn’t until the original people are done with it…”

“The common enemies and chests in this place, like any other, do, reset daily, but bosses and boss chests don't reset until a year later."

“So we’re basically clearing the way for them, got it.” I said simply. “Good to know...so, any tips on how to fight the Queen?” I asked curiously.

"One. Cut her wings. They're her perfect offensive weapon, block anything and on top of being able to weaponize her feathers, a strong enough gust of wind from her can create tornadoes. She can spellcast and has a fancier version of the sword I have. Dark Monofilament too."

“Cool.” I nodded. “But how strong are her wings?”

"Their only weak spots are the joints connecting them to our spines, but they're armored."

“How armored?” I asked curiously.

"Standard Monofilament braces. Breaking them is pretty much impossible, but the clamps keeping them on are made from Acrothis Dragonhide, cutting that won't be easy but it's possible."

“So something I’m pretty sure any of us can break.” I said honestly.

"Don't be so sure." Nate said, tanking another chug of wine. "While Monofilament is the strongest metal in existence, Acrothis Dragons breath fire hot enough to melt the damn metal. We're talking hotter than a blue sun. It will take more than one cut to break them."

I summoned Eternal Flames. "Honestly, not impressive when I've had these things for the longest time, and given that they're also evolved...yeah I don't think we have a problem." I said simply.

"What color is their fire?" Nate asked simply.

“Yes.” I said while one of the chackrams started to rev up and became a fucking rainbow of fire, and even some colors that the Celestrian had never seen before.

"Heh. Either way, same story, best hope you make it to the final boss of this place."

“I’m pretty sure we will.” I said honestly. “Chapter wouldn’t continue if we got permanently stuck on this floor.”

"Be off then."

“Your going to need to help us, cause you have a Queen to save.” I said while pulling out Second Chance. “Second Chance, a special Evolution of Memory Stealer, able to revert someone back to the day they were born, completely free of all memories from their mind, heart and soul to give them a Second Chance at life.”

"Gonna jab that up the Queen's ass now?"

“Well...yeah kinda.” I said honestly. “And while I would immediately grab her and claim her as my daughter...I’m pretty sure you’d love to still protect her right?”

"I've been killing corrupted versions of my people for a few years longer than I bothered counting. I've been alive here for one reason, not devote loyalty, but because I am good at one thing. Fighting. After the loss against the darkness and waking up years later in a hospital, I'm not fighting for anyone again, nor will I lose any fight ever again."

“Well now you can fight for someone again, and you won’t lose a fight again.” I said honestly.

"Read. My. Lips." Nate said, looking me dead in the eyes, eyes I remember all too well, the eyes of a man who doesn't care anymore. My eyes, so long ago. "I. Don't. Give. A. Fuck."

“You know...I used to be like you.” I said. “Someone who just gave zero fucks about everything...don’t just fall like this, trust me...it’s not worth it.”

"Then you should know, talk is cheap, and actions are lies." Nate said, finishing off the wine bottle. They stood up, sifting through the piles of stuff in this safe room. "You look like crap, so that likely means you don't know about everything else the Safe Rooms or the way these dungeons work." He said, throwing a book at me that I caught with ease.

'Dungeon Basics 101.'

“Okay…” I muttered while taking the book and opening up. “Also, that’s kind of bullshit.”

I managed to send Nate out of here, DTN's work here perfectly it turns out. He wanted it open in a bar. The book was helpful, how there are items specific for dungeons like entering back floors, for harder challenges and richer rewards, but they don't have a boss persay, just an optional mini boss that drops rare items. I have a few items like this. A backroom Key, used in the Safe Room to access the dungeon backroom. Also a means of having a Merchant here to buy or sell stuff from. That requires a reusable rare item called a Merchants stall, a little model of a stall. Out of all the loot so far, I had one. So fairly rare then. I used it and… "Well hello there lass." That Merchant said….

"Cool...and I still think we should have used Second Chance on him…" I sighed out. "He shouldn't have to be like me…"

"Let him find himself on his own." Jericho said. "He doesn't need a second chance, he needs a reminder on who he is."

"So, how does this work?" Coco asked, motioning to the merchant.

"We barter lass." The merchant said. "What would you like?"

"Well what do you have to sell my fine merchant?" I asked curiously.

"Weapons, armor, items, whatever you need."

"Alright." I nodded, the merchant having not even answered my question. "What do you guys want to buy?"

"Tacos." Kexez said, the merchant actually putting a fresh hot plate of tacos on the table. "Trade you a high potion."

"Agreed." They made the trade, and Kexez ate away.

“Alrighty then.” I said honestly. “Sounds about right…” I said with some thought.

"What about a map of this place? List of names?" Coco asked the merchant.

"Ah. Yes, I have that." They said, placing a book on the table. "It will be pricey though."

“How pricey?” I asked curiously.

"Well, what can you offer me that's equal to it in value or worth more?" The merchant asked.

“That...didn’t answer my question at all.” I said simply. “Normally merchants have a price tag, not ‘take a wild guess’.”

"I barter lass, money is worthless in the void, trade is done with items, not currency."

“A barter system still has a ‘price tag’ though…” I shook my head before putting down a vial. “My own design of a Nothingness Elixir, works just like an Elixir, but is capable of curing Void based Afflictions. So far it can cure minor to medium curses, poisons, and other such things of the like.” I said as the clear vial showed the fluid slowly moving like it was made out of Nothingness Thorns but in liquid form.

"No sale. I'm void born lass, you're basically handing me poison."

"What about this?" Coco asked, holding out her hand, showing her Nexus mark.

"Oh, well now." They said, taking her hand and looking at the small dot. "That's a powerful, old admin code matrix you have in the palm of your hand."

“Excuse me what?” I asked with a frown.

"Our marks we have on us, the mark of Nexus, we're born with them because they are code Matrixes made by the founders, they are how Nexus can… keep tabs and track their members." Coco said.

“Oh...that’s...a thing.” I said honestly.

"I can remove it lass, but it will hurt." The merchant said.

"I'm okay with that." Coco said with a nod.

Nodding, the merchant waved a hand over hers, void seeping into her palm as he spoke in a language I could not… hear. Coco began screaming, crying as the small dot was slowly lifting from her palm, blood and code following it as the merchant grabbed both into his hand. Once he gripped them, closing his hand, he released Coco's hand. She was clutching it, blood still dripping from it as the merchant placed her Nexus mark and it's code into a small box. He took the book, and handed it to me. "Fair trade."

I grabbed the book as I also tried to heal Coco’s hand. “You okay Coco?”

 "It just stings." She said, wiping the tears away as her palm healed. The blood stopped but it left a small scar on her hand, that no matter what I could not heal or remove. "Feels kinda good to have that gone now."

“Alright.” I nodded gently. “I’m glad your okay...the hell happened?”

"A void spell, akin to how Deletes destroy, consume code, this spells turns the chainsaw into a scalpel, allowing it to slice out the code matrix from her entire code structure, a painful process given the way it was created, imagine ripping out specific muscle fibers one at a time."

“I...sadly don’t have to imagine it.” I sighed out.

"Now then, is there anything else?"

"Hmm…" Jericho said, looking through the map real quick, finding the final floors boss. "Oh shit…"

“What?” I asked while looking at the book to see the boss’s name.

Lyra Heartstrings. Cript's Lyra.

“Oh…” I started. “That’s...uh….” I blinked.

"We're boned." Jericho said, tossing the book.

I immediately grabbed the book that Jericho unceremoniously tossed. “I doubt that.” I frowned. “She can’t be that strong can she?”

"Let me explain this to you." Jericho said with a sigh. "Cript, is the Admin of Love, and Lyra, is the Admin of marriage. Much like how in your domain of Nothingness, you'd be all powerful, Cript gains extra power the more the family loves one another or, the more love there is in general in their life. Lyra gets power the more people marry, and commit to it. She's not just constantly growing the family just because she's kinky, the more people marry in, the stronger she also becomes the more love is made, the stronger Cript becomes. You do the math there."

“Ah…” I said slowly. “So...how the fuck isn’t Lyra somehow single handedly winning this war due to our shenanigens?”

"The reason Cript isn't, tying up loose ends and making sure nothing is left to chance."

“I...said why isn’t Lyra winning this fight by herself if she’s basically the strongest person ever but that also works…” I said slowly.

"Alright, how about this then. Why aren't you, if you're the strongest Nothingness user here, why haven't we claimed more enemy territory from the front lines?"

"Because I've been told not to be on the front lines, I've been busy doing other things, and because Nothingness is still full of shit I don't know about " I explained. "All of which are factually correct."

"The same can be said about Lyra's Marriage power, and Cript's love power. How exactly do you use those in a war?"

"I wouldn't know because this is the first time I'm hearing Lyra was an Admin to begin with." I said honestly. "You're the one saying we're boned against Lyra here."

"Yes. Because part of her admin title and powers as the Admin of Marriage is that she can utilize the full extent of our abilities. We have not reached that yet, and this Lyra is from the last cycles war, when we have, so yeah, kinda boned."

"Well we won't know until we get there." I said honestly.

"Hmm… this might be a good thing though." Kexez said.

"How so?" I asked curiously.

"Considering those things out there outnumbered us like crazy and we're able to pick away at so much of our health despite each doing little damage, we might need to grind for a while. Floor fifteen is the last 'easy floor, so before we head off to sixteen and lower we should train here while we can, what better place to train then a place that has unlimited cannon fodder daily?"

"I mean, you all know I've been accidentally crippling myself...which I have been making damn well sure to rectify." I said honestly. "But if you all want to do some cannon fodder murder then that's fine with me. Would help me figure out my weapons more."

"That is a good plan." Jericho said, looking at the book again before smiling. "And the dungeon respawns once a year… once it's cleared, so long as the last boss isn't killed it won't respawn the stuff after a year, but common enemies, backroom enemies and minibosses, and loot will respawn."

"Cool." I nodded. "Can't wait to cleave through another endless wave...for the third time in my life."

"This isn't going to be random cutting down for fun, this is training and honing abilities and powers. Properly."

"Alrighty then." I nodded. "So, let's get started then." I said while stretching a little. "But just a warning...I don't take responsibility if I somehow manage to stop parts of the place from spawning enemies."