Chapter Text
Deep within the Monastery’s underground, Doll limps within a dark labyrinth, writhing in pain from her wounds. Oil leaks from her wounds, leaving behind a trail that could lead someone to her. However, Doll doesn’t care, and she tries to repair herself with her Solver Powers.
SYSTEM ERROR! SOLVER NOT APPLICABLE TO SELF-REPAIR!
Doll grits her teeth. “(UNBELIEVABLE!)” She furiously pulls down a wall with her Solver and leaves behind a hole.
Doll huffs and puffs heavily, and rests herself along a wall.
OIL LEVELS AT 20%… NOW AT 19%. DANGEROUSLY LOW! RECOMMENDED ACTION: RESUPPLY ON OIL IMMEDIATELY!
“(Maybe… throwing was not wisest thing… As they say in Russia: Throwing a fit lands you in big trouble…)”
Doll notices a couple of Silver Swords nearby just lying a few meters away from her, and a thought comes to her.
“(No pain… no gain…)”
She pulls both swords towards her and places one aside before examining the other with her Solver. Doll proceeds to superheat the sword and melts it into a hot silver liquid that’s floating over her wound. She brings over the hilt of the sword to her mouth and bites into it very hard. To her displeasure, Doll places the silver liquid into her wound and starts cauterizing it. She writhes in pain and holds back her screams to avoid attracting attention.
She keeps her hands steady as much as possible throughout the painful process, and after a minute of agonizing pain, it’s finally over. Doll spits out the hilt, and breathes heavily for a few seconds. Despite the searing pain, she manages to control her breathing and looks at her handy work. A silver lining is lined across her abdomen, and if Lizzy were to see her now, she would never see her as her best friend.
“(As if that Murder Drone hooker had any care for me.)” Doll scoffs and rests herself along the wall. “(This was nothing… compared to all the pain I went through…)”
She reminisces of her memories before she died, the times when she would see her mother smile at her every day. She recalls the day when V took that from her by killing her parents mercilessly. She recalled her plotting her revenge with Lizzy hoping she could finally avenge her parents. She remembers discovering her Solver powers for the first time. She also remembers the unfortunate catch that in order to keep her body from overheating, she has to consume oil like the Murder Drones she despised.
How she was forced to eat her own people just to keep on living. The mere thought of it disgusted her. What’s worse was the fact that Lizzy betrayed her at the last minute only because she found V way hotter than her. To make matters more worse than she thought, Uzi turned against her, and fought side by side with the Murder Drones. Maybe the purple imp was onto something back then. Still, Doll could never find it in her heart to forgive the Murder Drones.
Even in her dying breath, when Cyn critically damaged her to the point beyond repair, she still couldn’t forgive them. Even now that she’s resurrected from the dead through methods she has yet to fully understand, she still despises them. That said, she still carries empathy for Uzi. She promised to help her find a way to cure her from the Solver should she ever find out more about it. However, despite her feelings on the matter, none of it matters at the moment. There was only one thing in Doll’s mind that truly mattered.
“(I must replenish myself, find out who brought me back from the dead and the looser’s reasons, and send them to the motherland’s netherworld.)”
Just then, he hears the voices of people coming in from the other side of the wall. “Hey, you hear something?” She hears one of the guards say.
“Probably just a rat or something.” She hears another guard say.
“I don’t think it’s a rat… that sounded way too loud to be a- Woah! Look at that!”
Doll peeks her head out of cover, and finds two guards moving closer with their torches in hand. One was a short scout wearing leather armor and wielding a short sword while the other is a grizzled soldier wearing battle-worn armor and a helmet. He also wields a hammer and a lance on his back.
“That wasn’t there before…” The soldier warily says.
The Scout jumps onto the opening of the wall while Doll remains in hiding with her Solver powers. “You think a Demonic Beast passed through here?” He asks.
“I’m not too sure about that…” The soldier says, sounding concerned. “We would have heard a Demonic Beast nearby if one of that size bulldozed through this wall, and that is what worries me…”
“You think so?” The scout inquisitively asks.
“Do you hear a Demonic Beast nearby? Those things aren’t exactly known to be quiet.”
“Fair point.”
“Anyways, let’s head back to the outpost, and report our findings.”
“Oh come on, Old man.” The scout points. “Let’s investigate for a bit. We might be able to find the perpetrator.”
“Let’s not do anything reckless.” The Soldier admonishes him. “The boss told us to call back immediately and report to him once we found anything suspicious.”
“I’m sure the Boss would appreciate it if we found some further evidence on our perpetrators.”
He tilts his head left and right, and to his surprise, he notices a pair of flickering red eyes just right of him.
“What in Sothis’s name is that…”
“(Shit!)” Doll scoffs. “(I wanted to do this quietly.)”
Using her Solver powers, Doll pries the short sword from the scout’s hand much to his shock, and jams it in his knee. The Scout screams in pain, and clutches his knee as he falls to the ground.
“By the Goddess…” the soldier is left horrified, but quickly retains the resolve to aid his comrade. “Don’t worry! I’m coming!”
The soldier rushes in just as Doll makes her appearance from the other side of the wall.
A child?! Goddess, forgive me… but if this child played any role to harming my friend, I shall take her life!
The soldier swings his hammer towards Doll, but the Solver drone stops it with her powers, and slams it back onto his helmet. The soldier feels back feeling dazed from the impact, and the Solver Drone takes his hammer into her custody. The soldier regains his bearings. He unsheathes his lance, and charges towards Doll, but she remains undeterred. She projects her power onto the soldier’s helmet, and compresses inwards, stopping him in his tracks. The soldier screams in pain as the compressed helmet crushes his skull.
“(Weakling.)” Doll twists her wrist, and rotates the compressed helmet, ultimately snapping the soldier’s neck.
“NO!!!!” The scout screams as his friend falls limp to the ground. He gets back on his feet, and unsheathes his dagger. “I’m going to kill you!”
He angrily limps towards Doll, but she twists the sword on his knee, and in one fell swoop, she severs his leg clean off. The scout is left dangling on the ground, blood gushing from the open wound. However, he grits his teeth, and refuses to give up as he crawls towards Doll. More annoyed then threatened, the Solver Drone picks up the sword, and severs the Scout’s hand clean off. The scout groans in pain, and grips his severed hand.
Doll levitates the lance from the now dead soldier, and jabs it into the lowest point of the scouts back. The scout writhes in agony, and can no longer feel his legs much to his agony and anger.
“What did you do to me?!” The scout screams. “Curse me some with black magic?”
“(Ugh…)” Doll rolls her eyes. “(Nothing of the sort. I jabbed by lance on your back. It may not be fatal, but it will paralyze you for life.)”
“You can’t make me understand your demonic language! I will never tell you where our settlement is!”
“(Of course you can’t understand me… It is pointless to explain further…)”
Doll notices a piece of paper poking out of the scout’s pocket, and she brings it towards her.
“Give that back!” The scout hopelessly reaches out. “That’s not yours!”
“(Ah so this is important.)” Doll unfolds the paper, and realizes that it’s a map.
Doll scans the map, and discovers that there’s a settlement not to far off from where she’s at right now.
“(Hmmm… just what I need.)”
“You won’t harm our small Abyss outlet…” The scout grits his teeth. “In the name of the Goddess, I will-“
Doll completely smashes the scout’s head with the hammer, and leaves behind a bloody mess. “(You talk too much…)” Doll takes note of her oil supply.
OIL SUPPLY AT 15%! RESUPPLY REQUIRED THROUGH OIL CONSUMPTION OR HUMAN CONSUMPTION!
“(Ugh… I’m not looking to eating human flesh… but it will just have to do…)” Doll licks her lips, and proceeds fo cut into the dead bodies.
1 Hour later…
Doll follows the directions of the map to the nearby settlement while wiping off some blood on her mouth. She takes out a severed finger from her pocket, and pops into her mouth before looking forward.
OIL SUPPLY AT 25%
So… human flesh is an inferior yet good enough substitute for oil… I suppose it can’t be helped if I can’t find any bloody oil around here. Doll hears some chattering nearby, and several lights up ahead. This should do nicely.
Doll moves in towards the gate with her levitating weapons at the back. Three of the guards notice her approaching. One of them moves in to check on Doll, believing that she’s some lost kid.
“Hey, Kid. You-“
Doll wastes no time, and thrusts her sword into the man’s heart, instantly killing him in the process. The remaining guards are horrified by the surprise attack, but one of them keeps his marbles.
“Sound the alarm!” The guard states. “Get all hands in deck, and contact the Ashen Wolves! We must protect this settlement!”
“O-on it!” The other guard stammers as he moves back in to sound the alarm.
The remaining guard brings out his lance and an iron shield, and raises his guard while pointing his lance towards Doll. The Solver Drone continues her advance, and rotates her own lance. Doll hurls it towards the guard’s iron shield, and despite the guard’s best efforts, her attack breaks through. The guard’s shield shatters, and the Solver Drone skewers the guard. Doll rips the man’s heart with her lance like meat on a barbecue spit, and delivers it too herself. She rips the heart from her lance, and eats it whole.
“(Hmm… not bad…)” Doll licks her lips.
She hears an alarm go off, and she spots several soldiers rushing in to intercept her with a few of them being commoners wielding wooden lances.
“(Just what I wanted.)” Doll smirks.
“FIRE!” The Abyssian captain declares.
A squadron of archers lets out a volley of arrows towards Doll, but she stops all of the with her Solver. The Abyssians are left startled, and the Solver Drone points the arrows back at them. Doll proceeds to send the arrows flying at her prey, and kills several of them with ease. The Abyssians are left in disarray, and she proceeds to gather up all the weapons of the dead. Doll utilizes the plethora of weapons she’s gathered, and slaughters more of her opposition.
The Abyssians are left in a panic, and Doll continues her massacre. Some swift soldiers move in to put a stop to this madness. However, Doll uses their leather armor against them, and chokes the soldiers with their straps. She abducts their weapons once more, and cuts them to size. The remaining Abyssians cower before Doll as more weapons are pointed towards them.
“What kind of demon have we unearthed…”
“Has the Goddess sent a messenger to punish us for our godless souls?”
“(You and your stupid Goddess…)” Doll rolls her eyes. “(Just to let you know, this is nothing personal.)”
Doll clenches her fist, and sends her entire arsenal onto the remaining soldiers, slaughtering them. Nearby, the residents of the settlement are huddled together looking scared and worried. All they hear are the screams of the soldiers right outside the settlement walls. The residents get extremely worried as they huddle together closely composing of a few adults who can’t fight, children, the sick and the elderly.
“It’s ok, my child…” One of the women whispers to her child. “Our people will hold off the enemy, and the Ashen Wolves will come and save us all. We just have to hold on to faith and-“
Unfortunately, the wooden gate gets busted through, and the people get extremely worried with a couple of guards unsheathing their weapons. Just then, Doll walks into the settlement. Her clothes and body all bloodied up, and her weapons levitating all around her while she holds a brain on her hand. She takes a bite of the brain, and leaves the residents petrified.
OIL SUPPLY AT 35%!
“(Not enough…)” Doll scoffs before her eyes turn to the remaining residents.
“Stand back, Demon! Not a step further!”
“I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna die!”
“Mommy! What’s going to happen to us?”
“It’s ok… we’re still going to be fine… the Ashen Wolves will come and save us…”
“Where is Boss Yuri and his Wolves?!”
Doll listens to their desperate pleas, and she reminisces, This feeling… it feels so familiar… Am I truly in the Murder Drone’s position? Am I really going to kill these humans? The oil within humans isn’t as substantial as normal oil so I’m going to have to eat a lot of them to replenish myself. Doll’s eyes remain resolute, and all weapons are pointed towards the people. I’m sorry… but in the end, regardless of my intentions, I’m no better than the Murder Drones…
She closes her eyes, clenches her fists, and all she hears are the people’s agonizing screams.
For the past couple of hours, Doll has been slaughtering what remains of the humans in the settlement. After that, she starts consuming their remains in brutal savage fashion, and feasts on the most nutritious organs. It’s a brutal sight for most to behold as blood, guts and all sorts of human body parts are left scattered all throughout the settlement. Doll wipes off some blood on her visor, and goes over to a dying man, clinging on to life by a hair as he groans some words. He reaches out his arm with the intent of avenging the people that were slaughtered today.
Doll thrusts her arm into the man’s chest, and rips his heart out. The man breathes his last, and she consumes his heart ravenously.
OIL SUPPLY AT 85%!
“(That should be enough.)” Doll remarks. “(Enough for me to live down here, and find out what’s going on before I overheat and die.)”
Doll scans the area, and amongst the dead bodies, she spots a young human child cradling a baby. The baby cries loudly, and the child tries to shush him as much as possible until his eyes meet here. Fear freezes the boy, and he grips the baby tightly while Doll narrows her eyes. She points her weapons towards the children intending to leave no witnesses. Doll looks into the child’s eyes once more just mere seconds from skewering the children.
However, she sees how scared the child was, and it reminds her of herself back when she was young. Back to the time she watched helplessly as her own parents were murdered by V. That same scene is happening right before her eyes, only this time, Doll is in the same position as V. The difference was that her rival would have certainly killed her if she knew she was there back then. This time though… Doll recalls her weapons, and takes them away from the children. The child is left flabbergasted by this, and stares at the drone wide eyed.
“Go.” Doll says in English. “Before I change mind.”
The child remains at a loss for words, but he quickly shakes those feelings off, and runs off with the baby in hand. Doll sighs, and places down all the weapons she’s amassed so far, contemplating her decision. Could the child rat her out, and inform his people of her location? Most likely. That said, Doll doesn’t regret her decision, and she’ll be ready to face what comes after. She perks up, and senses that someone has been watching her from the shadows.
“(Who goes there?)” Doll displays her Solver Symbol, scanning her surroundings.
Just then, Doll catches an arrow midair flying towards the back of her head, and snaps it in half before turning to face the archer.
“Tsk. You’re going to hard to ambush thats for sure.” The archer known as Shamir steps out of the darkness with her bow raised. “No wonder why Uzi and the others were having a hard time against you.”
“(Get out of my way, or you can go follow all these humans to whatever afterlife they believe in.)” Doll scowls.
“I’ve known several languages from past jobs.” Shamir circles keeping her aim on Doll. “But that language… that’s something I’ve never heard before. You were speaking Fodlan, or what the drones call… English, just now. Can’t you just speak that, and be done with it.”
Doll grimaces at that, and turns her right eye into a speech to text translator set to English. “(I would rather speak in my mother tongue unless I have no other choice.)”
“Fair enough.” Shamir narrows her eyes. “The compromise is jarring, but it’ll have to do.”
Doll keeps her eye on Shamir waiting for the perfect moment to strike while keeping the speech to text translator online. “(Like I said, leave or be part of the pile you see before you.)”
“Is that so?” Shamir maintains her cold demeanor. “I’ve heard about what you’re capable of from Uzi, and under normal circumstances, I would have easily lost to you, and given how easily you decimated this settlement, I would have definitely turned tail and run.”
“(If that’s the case, then why did you come here, and face me?)” Doll says in a condescending tone.
“Because I’ve got a job to do, and a debt to pay. Unfinished jobs leaves a butter taste in my mouth, and I wouldn’t have accepted if I didn’t think I could handle it.”
“(Is that so? Then you should have stayed in the shadows if you wanted to stand a chance against me.)”
“Of I wouldn’t be disappointed just yet if you were expecting an actual challenge.” Shamir fires an arrow.
Doll effortlessly catches the arrow, and points it back at Shamir. “(You’re not as smart as you think.)”
Suddenly, the Solver symbol around the arrow shatters, much to Doll’s surprise, and she finally notices something around her waist. A Silence ring settles around her, and the Solver symbol on her hand flickers.
ERROR! EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE DETECTED! ESTIMATED TIME OF RECOVERY: FIVE MINUTES!
“(Damn you…)” Doll grimaces, not bothering to keep her speech to text translator on.
“Like I said earlier. I wouldn’t have accepted this job if I didn’t think I could handle it.” Shamir fires another arrow.
The arrow hits Doll’s shoulder, and she stumbles back gritting her teeth as she pulls the arrow off her shoulder. Shamir fires two more follow up shots at the Solver Drone, but the latter swiftly dodges the arrows. Doll scans her surroundings, and quickly grabs a sword which she uses to parry the arrows.
“Interesting… so you can fight even without your fancy powers.” Shamir keeps the pressure on Doll.
Doll takes evasive action, leaping away from Shamir while blocking her arrow fire, and at the same time gathering a few daggers along the way. She throws some of them towards the mercenary. Shamir sidesteps away from Doll’s daggers, and keeps up her own offensive. The Solver nearly dodges an arrow aimed to her head, and it slightly grazes her much to her annoyance. Doll decides to take the offensive, and sidesteps towards Shamir.
Shamir scoffs, and readies her own hunter’s dagger as she parries Doll’s strike. The mercenary rolls out of the way.
“Four and a half minutes left.” Shamir mutters to herself. “Wolves, time to clean up this mess!”
Doll is put on high alert, and she recalls that the people down here have an elite group of warriors called the Ashen Wolves.
“Hey there, Little Lady!” Doll hears a loud man’s voice right behind her.
Doll leaps forward, and avoids getting cleaved in half by a powerful axe strike as she quickly faces her attacker. Her attacker is none other than the bruiser of the Ashen Wolves, Balthus.
“So you must be one of the drones everyone was talking about.” Balthus pries the axe from the ground, and sheathes it. “Wasn’t expecting a little squirt like you.” He puts on some steel gauntlets. “But don’t worry… even if you’re a kid, I won’t hold back. Got a reputation to uphold as the King of Grappling!”
Balthus moves in on Doll, and throws a punch towards her, only for her to leap back and follow up with a counterattack. However, the brawler blocks her thrust with his steel gauntlet, and smirks at her.
“Nice try, Little Lady.” Balthus counterpunches her face.
Doll gets sent flying, but manages to catch her on the ground, and land on her feet, spitting out some oil from her mouth.
“Your tougher than I thought.” Balthus cracks his knuckles. “Wanna go another round with me?”
“(Go to hell, Pig.)” Doll glares at Balthus.
“I’ll take that as an insult.”
“Stand back, Simple Minded Balthus.” A condescending woman’s voice says from above. “I shall wipe this smear off the face of Abyss!”
“Oh come on, Constance!” Balthus complains. “Can’t I just smack her around for a bit more?!”
“Why of course, Balthus… if you wish to feel the wrath of my magic upon you, be my guest.”
“Fine…” Balthus reluctantly steps back. “Well, Little Lady, prepare for a world of earth!”
Doll looks up, and finds a black pegasus hovering over it and riding it, is the mage of the Ashen Wolves, Constance. “Behold, you insignificant pest!” Constance boisterously says. “Allow me to demonstrate the magical might of House Nuvelle!”
Constance imbues her palms with magic, and unleashes a barrage of fire spells upon Doll forcing the Solver Drone to back off. The drone gets blown back by the resulting explosions of the spells. Constance heartily laughs, and continues to put more pressure onto Doll not giving her anytime to strike back.
“She’s really going at it, that’s for sure.” Balthus comments.
“Hmph.” Shamir dismissively crosses her arms. “Quite inefficient if you ask me…” I wish I brought only Yuri here…
Meanwhile, Doll hides behind a broken pillar, and receives a reprieve from Constance’s onslaught for now. “Step out so you can finally feel my majesty!” Constance arrogantly proclaims. “I have more important things to do that to deal with the likes of you!”
“(Ugh…)” Constance groans. “(This one’s getting on my nerves…)”
Doll scans her surroundings, and finds an iron shield scattered among the dead bodies.
“(Maybe I can use that…)” Doll feels the pillar slowly break away.
In an instant, Doll madly sprints towards the iron shield, narrowly dodging and weaving Constance’s spells. The drone quickly acquires the shield, and blocks the Sagitae spell coming her way resulting with her getting blown back.
“So you survived that huh….” Constance’s right hand brims with ice. “Very well, I shall put an end to you with one of my strongest spells!”
Not wasting any time, Doll throws the iron shield like a boomerang, and lands a direct hit on Constance’s pegasus. The pegasus lets out a pained neigh, and crashes to the ground. “Owww…” Constance groans. “That wasn’t too nice… I will make her pay for that…”
Doll smirks, and grabs her sword as she dashes towards Constance hoping to put an end to her only for it to get shot out of her grip by Shamir. The Solver Drone grimaces, and throws a dagger. The dagger hits Shamir’s shoulder, and the mercenary grimaces while clutching her shoulder. Doll readies another dagger, but Balthus comes charging in, and kicks her into a pillar. The Solver Drone manages to regain her bearings, and glares at the brawler.
Doll jumps out of the pillar, and goes into a fighting stance to face off against Balthus. The brawler unsheathes his axe, and swings it towards Doll, but she dodges the attack. She lands on the axe’s handle much to Balthus’s surprise, and moves in on his face. Doll lands several kicks on the brawler’s face, and knocks him down with an axe kick.
“You’re tougher than I thought, Little Lady…” Balthus spits out some dirt from his mouth.
Doll presses her foot against Balthus, and plants his face on the ground. “(Keep dreaming, Punk. If I had my powers, you’d all be dead by now.)”
Suddenly, a swarm of insects swarm Doll, and pester her much to her annoyance as this gives Balthus some leeway. He tries to get back on his feet, but the Solver Drone keeps his foot on his head. Just then, holy magic engulfs both Shamir, Balthus and Constance. The magic heals them of their wounds, and gives the brawler his second wind as he pushes back against Doll.
Constance turns to the shadows and smiles, “Thanks a lot, Hapi!”
The healer of the Ashen Wolves, Hapi, steps out of the darkness looking very annoyed and tired. “I swear Coco… you guys would be hopeless without me.”’
“(Not good… another one has arrived?!)”
Hapi wastes no time, and hits Doll with a Miasma spell, knocking the Solver Drone off Balthus. The brawler gets back on his feet, and is eager for a counterattack.
“Payback time, Little Lady!” Balthus kicks Doll up in the air.
Balthus quickly follows up with a right hook to a midair Doll’s face, and sends her flying towards Constance.
“Allow me to demonstrate what it means to harm a scion of House Nuvelle!” Constance’s palm brims with electricity.
Constance unleashes a powerful Thoron spell, and it electrocutes Doll, dealing massive damage to her as she falls to the ground. Smoke rises from the drone’s body, but despite all that punishment, she slowly gets back on her feet. Shamir and the Ashen Wolves tense up.
“Great…” Shamir scoffs. “Looks like it’ll take more than that to kill her…”
“I hate having to do this…” With much reluctance, Hapi sighs.
“Oh crap!” Balthus steps back. “Don’t wanna get in the middle of that!”
Constance manages to get her black Pegasus and herself back in the air. “Damn it… I can’t believe my spell wasn’t able to finish her off. Guess I’ll have to rely on Hapi’s dark power again…”
Doll manages to get back on her feet, and dusts off some dirt on her while breathing heavily as she notices that everyone has kept their distance from her. She finds this very strange. Sure it’s beneficial for her since she gets a breather, and she’s only a half a minute before recovering her Solver powers. However, it’s strange that Shamir and the Ashen Wolves aren’t taking advantage of this opening especially now that she’s weakened and vulnerable.
Doll suspiciously looks at them. “(Why are you looking at me so-)”
In a split second, a giant worm comes up from behind Doll, and swallows her whole before letting out a hungry screech.
“Well… I don’t think the Little Lady could have survived that.” Balthus matter of factly says.
“Yup!” Constance declares. “The Abyssian worms have the most powerful digestive juices in all of Fodlan! That emo girl will probably be digested by now!”
The giant worm turns its attention towards Shamir and the Ashen Wolves, and snarls at the group.
“Sorry about this guys…” Hapi murmurs apologetically, knowing full well that she can’t control the monster.
“That’s alright, Hapi.” Balthus cracks his knuckles. “This thing will be way easier to deal with, and way more fun to fight!”
“I’ve been itching to experiment with a giant worm’s digestive juices!” Constance’s palms brim with frost magic. “Think off all of the wild experiments I’ll be able to pull off!”
The giant worm prepares to lunge at the Ashen Wolves, and the group prepares for battle, but the worm stops midway. It suddenly starts grumbling, and it’s midsection starts to vibrate. The giant worm uncontrollably screeches, and it drags his head against the ground.
“What the… hell…” Balthus utters, looking confused. “Now this is getting weird…”
Shamir gasps, realizing what could be happening right now, “Don’t tell me…”
Shamir looks around, and spots several swords floating in the air with Solver Symbols surrounding them. The Ashen Wolves are left stunned, and the swords congregate on the giant worm, stabbing it mercilessly. The giant worm roars in pain, and two swords float in front of its midsection. They swing at it, and leave behind two gash marks on its midsection.
“Wait…” Hapi narrows her eyes. “Don’t tell me…”
Suddenly, Doll’s hand bursts out of the giant worm’s midsection covered in green blood.
“SHE’S ALIVE???!!!!!”
Doll squirms halfway out the giant worm’s body, looking very annoyed and disgusted while the worm screeches in pain. The Solver Drone flies three swords into the worm’s mouth, and she tears into its innards. The giant worm lets out one last screech before the swords burst out of its body. The monster falls to the ground, it’s body gives one last twitch before it succumbs to its wounds. Doll finally bursts out of the worm’s dead body looking pissed off.
Doll’s entire body is covered in green blood, and she looked more annoyed than ever. “(This was your plan?!)” she wipes away all the green goo off with her Solver powers. “(To have a Graboid ripoff eat me?!)” She gathers up all the nearby weapons, and points them all towards the Ashen Wolves. “(Not a smart plan if you ask me!)”
“Oh crud…” Balthus raises his guard. “I get the feeling that I’m going to receive more than a scratch from this…”
“No kidding!” Constance grimaces. “But I’ll be damned if we run away from her! Not after what she did!”
“Normally, we should be running for the hills right now…” Hapi simply remarks. “Cause I don’t wanna deal with that mess of a girl, but I know we’ll be ok, especially when he’s around.”
Doll notes down all the Ashen Wolves and Shamir before her, and she notices something off, Wait a second… the people a while ago were talking about a guy named ‘Boss Yuri,’ and that he’s an Ashen Wolf, and yet neither of these people have the same name as-
Doll goes on high alert, and scans her surroundings only to get hit by a smoke bomb that blinds her.
“Looks like he’s decided to step in.” Hapi grins.
“Yup, that drone’s screwed now that the Boss is here!” Constance laughs.
“I wish I could go another round with her…” Balthus frowns. “Hey, Yuri! Leave some for me would ya! That little lady killed a few of my buddies a while ago!”
Doll tries to dispel the smoke with her Solver, but to her dismay, a notification pops up.
ERROR! EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE DETECTED! ESTIMATED TIME OF RECOVERY: FIVE MINUTES!
“(Damn…)” Doll’s face contorts with fear as she hears the sounds of all her weapons clattering to the ground.
“What’s wrong?” A sly yet soft voice echoes in the smoke. “Feeling afraid? I thought you drones were a lot meaner than this.”
“(Show yourself!)” Doll picks up a sword, and spins around, trying to figure out where her newest opponent will attack from.
Suddenly, Doll gets struck by Cutting Gale spells from all angles, and she tries to face her attacker, but fails the catch sight of him. She does notice a shadow within the smoke, but it darts out of the way before she could get look at it. Doll gets struck by a sword from behind. Oil gushes from her back, and she frantically tries to regain her bearings, but fear creeps up on her.
“So…” The voice continues. “You’re not much without your weird powers it seems, and here I thought you’d be more trouble than your worth. I can’t believe my fellow wolves struggled against you.”
“(Stick around and you’ll find out.)” Doll grimaces.
Doll receives no answer, only a shadow zipping towards her, and it thrusts it’s sword towards her prompting her to block the attack with her sword. She stays on the defensive, but gets pushed back by the flurry of strikes. Doll sidesteps repeatedly, and dodges most of the strikes. However, a few of them break through her defenses, and graze the Solver Drone. Doll grimaces from the pain, and the shadow leaps back before throwing a dagger.
Doll sidesteps away from the dagger, and the shadow readjusts itself. It vanishes before her eyes, and leaves her stunned. Suddenly, she gets struck from behind by another sword strike. Before she could register all this, the dagger she dodged earlier was now in front of her once more. It stabs Doll straight in the head, and deals significant damage. The Solver Drone screams in pain, and realizes that she can’t win like this as she needs to get out of this smoke.
Doll squats down, and jumps high and out of the smoke before crashing onto the ground. The Ashen Wolves and Shamir keep their eyes on the Solver Drone, with their weapons drawn and their magic at the ready. Doll breathes heavily as blood pours over her visor from her head wound. She pulls the dagger out of her head, and tosses it aside while using her head as a crutch.
“So… not even a dagger to the head will kill you.” The shadow steps out of the smoke, and Doll turns to face him.
The man before her is none other than the Trickster/house leader of the Ashen Wolves, and the acting leader of all Abyss, Yuri.
“Perhaps, I should try targeting your heart instead.”
Doll spits out some oil. “(So you must be the boss of this entire shithole…)” She says while also keeping the speech to text translator online on the right side of her visor. “(It’s definitely way worse than my previous home.)”
“Really?” Yuri raises a brow. “That’s not a very nice thing to say about Abyss. Even though it’s true, and it may appear like a shithole, it’s still my and my Wolves’s home including the home of everyone who lives in Abyss, and the people you just killed and ate.”
Doll lowers her head in shame feeling guilty on what he has done to those people knowing full well that they have done nothing to her to deserve this. Nonetheless, she maintains her resolve. Doll knows reasoning with the Ashen Wolves will be futile, and decides to be honest.
“(They were in my way, and I needed energy.)” she answers.
Her answers leaves much to be desired for the Ashen Wolves, and Balthus, Hapi and Constance glare at her. Shamir keeps a cool head, and notes down what Yuri has to say about this.
“Hmph. At least you’re honest about it.” Yuri slyly smiles. “This may mean nothing to you, but I’m going to say this anyway. I value everyone who lives in Abyss, and it’s my responsibility to take good care of them and protect the best I can. Considering you ate several of them, and a couple of friends of mine; I’m afraid I can’t met you live here alive.” Yuri points his sword towards Doll. “A debt has to be paid, and after massacring our people, you have a massive one.”
Doll tenses up, and readies her sword as Yuri swiftly zigzags towards her, making it difficult for her to home in on him. She narrowly blocks his initial strike, but the force pushes her back. Yuri puts up the pressure, and unleashes a flurry of strike on Doll forcing her to stay defensive. In the midst of all this, the Trickster flashes her with holy magic, blinding her temporarily. Doll reels back, slowly regaining her eyesight, but as soon as she recovers it, Balthus is right in front of. The brawler punches her head really hard, and the impact leaves a crack on the floor.
“(What the…)” Doll groans wondering why Balthus was here instead of Yuri.
“Thanks, Yuri.” Balthus waves where he was a while ago.
Doll follows where Balthus is waving at, and finds Yuri in the same position the brawler was a minute ago. (Does this boss Yuri and this pig have some sort of warping ability? It’s like they swapped places!)
“Just don’t waste any time playing with her.” Yuri dismissively says. “I don’t want to have this one running around Abyss.”
“Just don’t waste time trying to talk to her, B!” Hapi calls out.
“Got it!” Balthus calls back. “Sorry, Little Lady,” He rotates his right arm. “But you gotta go.”
Doll grimaces, and assesses her chances, I can’t win like this… I have to escape as soon as possible… She feels that the ground beneath her is hollow, and has already suffered a fracture from Balthus’s punch. Let’s hope this works!
Before Balthus could crush Doll’s head with her fist, she slams her palm against the crack on the floor as hard as she can. The ground collapses beneath her, and catches the Ashen Wolves and Shamir are caught off guard.
“What?!” They all gasp.
Doll falls through the hole, and escapes the clutches of the Ashen Wolves for now as she crashes into a deeper level of Abyss. This level proves to be pitch black, and way colder than the upper levels. Doll gets back on her feet, and stretches his limbs as she sighs in relief.
Best to steer clear from that group… She thought to herself. They’re way more of a handful than I expect.
Just before she sets off, Doll hears the whirring sounds of a helicopter blade nearby, and she immediately goes into hiding. She peeks her head from her hiding spot, and spots two sentry drones hovering around the area. They scan the area for a bit and move on their way.
That doesn’t look like it belongs here… Doll gets more curious, and she stealthily follows the sentry drones knowing that something is up.