Last chapter, the crew set up and temporarily sent their souls/processors into a device that would let them experience a digital beach.

From there, Seric and Karia decided to spend some time together and talk about some things- and on a ferris wheel at that...

Seric's P.O.V.

Karia breaks the silence, "You know, it's weird. For so long I felt like the world was strangling me, I guess is one weird way to put it. Ever since Sariel died, avenging him by killing that bastard spearman who raided Vegahold was constantly on my mind. I felt like Sariel hated me, as well as the other people that I got killed that day. One of my other friends from the army, Jess, started staying away from me as well after that godsawful day too. And then, to top it off, I felt shitty for even being part of the Hopian Army in the first place. You know, after I found out about what really happened to the Red Fists..." Karia begins to rant, I'm more than happy to help her open up though.

"Must've been awful. I'm sorry. But wait, didn't you say before that Kodan deserved to die? Back on Birzion I mean when you were arguing with Metallic?" I ask, hopefully that wasn't too rude.

"Yeah. KODAN did. The rest of the group though... they had a whole bunch of non-fighters there, who just worked with the Red Fists for the better living conditions. So yeah- with all those factors in mind, I felt like I had no hope- with any option I chose leading me to feel shitty. And so, I decided to give the world the finger, and left the army to fufill my deal with Bersia- and to take down that spearman Diosa. Not like I ended up using Bersia's spirit against him though... though her abilities did help us with that mayor and those scumbag pirates, I guess." Karia explains with a frown, but I don't reply besides giving a disgusted look at that first part.

"Wonder why she even made the deal with Bersia in the first place- an excuse to leave the army maybe? I shouldn't ask unless she brings it up." I think to myself and after a second Karia continues,

"But the point is, I don't feel that strangling feeling anymore. Sariel never hated me, and he still loves me... as a friend. And that spearman is dead, not like I care much now though- since I really only wanted to take Diosa out to hopefully make Sariel forgive me- and to fufill my deal with him as well. Scummy, huh? Sorry if you heard that one Sariel, I'm still trying to improve and all." Karia says with a cringe at the end, which confuses me... until I remember how the souls she takes can apparently hear and see what she does.

Anyways I shake my head, "I mean, you're still way better off than a lot of people in the Hopian Territory." I say as I take a final big sip of my drink to finish it off.

"That isn't really a compliment considering how shitty this place is... thanks for trying though. But long story short- I feel a lot better now, and you sticking with me is a big part of that Seric. So thanks again." Karia says which I smile and chuckle at, it's sad that being stuck with a serial killer is nothing in comparison to the pain Karia was feeling before.

"No problem." Is all I say, holding back a sigh as I realize that I may never get to feel that relief that Karia's feeling ever again.

A bit later...

🌊🌊🌊

"Ahh no no no!" I cry out as my and Karia's tube starts floating in the air, as we're being pulled along the sea by a small self-driving motorboat that has a rope attached to our tube.

"Since when was this shit possible?!" Karia laughs as she ends up sliding into me, and she almost makes me fall off of our tube due to it starting to turn mid-air. I keep my hands glued to the handles though as my legs start to dangle off.

"We're gonna get flipped at this point!" I try to warn her as we start to slide even more, with the endless sea being about 10 meters below us now.

We both gasp as our tube loses control- and I and maybe even she squeals too as we get launched off of it and start falling,

"NOT THE FACE-"

*SPLASH!*

Of course I end up painfully faceplanting into the sea, and Karia falling on top of me too didn't help with that, ow!

Oh- Karia grabs my shoulder though and helps pull me up! And with that my head finally breaches the surface, and I can hear Karia spitting out water and laughing as the tube lands somewhere in the distance on the water.

"Oh jeez that went all up my nose, man..." I say with a few small strained laughs as I cough and try to exhale heavily to get the water out of my system.

"Oh you're fine, thanks for giving me a softer landing though." Karia says as she swims towards me and brushes some water off of my hair.

"Oh!" I think to myself as I realize that Karia's bikini-top came off now that she's right next to me, I can see her bare chest floating on the water- I look away right after noticing the smaller details of course.

"Karia- your top... um... yeah." I mumble, and she stays quiet for a second until I can hear her gasp and dive under the water a second later.

...

"Hey!" I call out as I feel a tug on my own swim shorts, and a second later Karia finally swims back up to the surface, with her purple bikini top being on her this time. She's blushing a lot, but awkwardly smiling a bit too...

"Heh- payback. Not like I'd want to see it anyways though, I'd need to be way more drunk for that to happen... anyways, consider that one of my gifts to you." Karia says with a scoff as she swims past me and starts heading back to shore, sheesh she's fast.

"Oh, right- her cybernetics." I remind myself. I'd consider getting them too if acidic flames didn't almost fill my entire body...

A little while later, back on the beach...

🌭🏖🌭

"Yo- hey Metallic! Hope I didn't miss too much." I call out with a wave to Metallic who's in the middle of carefully crafting a sandcastle with the help of some plastic pails that make shapes.

Looks like he doesn't hear me though and so I just keep walking, "Wonder if his hearing got damaged after he went bounty hunting with Amandeath... I should ask him more about that." I think to myself as I continue to walk through the sand in my barefeet, the sand's hot but luckily not burning hot.

"Hey Seric. Funny little mishap you had with Karia in the sea there." Quilline calls out to me instead, who's currently crouched down and turned away from me. Oh, she's playing with a live crab it seems... annnd some of it's limbs are gone, man...

"No- I can't tell her to mercy kill it. She's unpredictable and might get pissed... damn." I think to myself with a frown, as I finally reach Metallic and tap his shoulder- which makes him instantly spin his head around to face me,

"O.H.! Hiya pal! You're early, fantastic- so whaddya think of my sand kingdom here? Quilline ever so generously offered to capture some creepy crawlies, so soon my residences shall become occupied!" Metallic exclaims as he slowly pushes himself up and takes a step back, standing proudly with his hand on his hip to give me a better view of the shapes he made.

Four cylindrical towers of wet sand are on each corner of his castle "walls", which is just four rectangles of sand. On the inside of the castle though, he drew out some rooms with his finger I'm guessing.

"Quilline! The room's are prepared for our guests!" Metallic shouts before I can tell him my thoughts, and a second later Quilline is walking over to us with a second crab in her hand now. It's claws are gone...

"Wow, it looks great Metallic! I can really imagine a King living there." I say, somewhat honestly as I notice how detailed some of his drawings are for the layout of the castle.

"Why thank you! And next, I'll add a moat to make Fort Crustacean impenetrable! And on that note, there's quite the tale for this kingdom. You see, Fort Crustacean was founded many, many years ago by a man- er crab named Harold. With his charisma and charm, and just the right amount of luck, he was able to gather a massive following to make his dream kingdom come to fruition!" Metallic explains with a smile as he starts to poke some holes in his towers, windows I guess?

Regardless Quilline walks over, and places the small crabs down inside of the walls of the castle. Metallic pets one of their heads as they start to scramble around, they don't move too fast though due to the legs Quilline took from them... aw...

Metallic continues, "But Harold was late to the kingdom game, you see. He had lots of competition from Fort Arachnid and Amphibian, who were desperate to take down any newcomers! And so, he spent many, many hours locked in his castle planning away- right here in his private chambers." Metallic says in a overly dark tone as he roughly picks up one of the crabs with one hand, and places it one of the drawn out "rooms" Metallic made in the sand.

"Interesting, did he fend them off?" I play along.

"Hmm, not so sure- poor little Harold doesn't have any claws to fight with, so things do seem quite dire. Unless he has a wicked surprise in store." Quilline adds... blegh. Her just sitting here goes so poorly with Metallic's innocence, but regardless he replies to her,

"And that my friends, is where you're wrong! Wounded he may be, Harold's intellect saved his Kingdom! With a mighty moat and a skilled army including his stern general Frank, they were able to keep Fort Crustacean defended for many years to come! Now then- who wants some snacks?!" Metallic abruptly ends his random story, as he forgets that he was holding onto a crab and drops it as he jumps up-

"No!" I think to myself, being too scared to catch and save it. But just as it's about to crash into the sand, Quilline bends down to catch it and gives me a wink right after.

"No- that's way too obvious, she's just trying to manipulate me into trusting her." I think to myself as I shake my head, and glance at Metallic who's already running back to us with a big jar of salsa that I'm guessing he got from the cooler that's by a towel next to Amandeath. He's also got a few bags of chip in one palm, oh no he isn't stopping-

"Metallic the castle!" I call out but it's too late, as in his excitement Metallic ends up running right through the castle wall, and smashing poor King Harold into a pulp with his foot.

"HAHAHA- nooooo! And- and here I went out of the way to- to save the general!" Quilline hunches over and bursts out laughing, as Metallic's left frozen as he stares down at the ground with his jaw hung open.

I sigh once he frowns, but stupid Quilline doesn't stop laughing-

*FWOOSH- CRACK!*

I gasp as Metallic sucker punches Quilline in the face, which makes her stumble backwards and almost fall over as she covers her face with a hand. Her nose looks bent- damn...karma for what she did to Karia though.

"Motherfucker-" Quilline mumbles as she shakes her head, but she gasps as suddenly Metallic gets teleported.

"EEEEE!! I really can use my Blessing on you after all! Ohhhh the army is SO fucked. Imagine me teleporting you around while you're in the Emperor Form Metallic, Prósopsi wouldn't be able to get a single blow on yo-"

"I don't care right now! Get lost, I'm making a burial site here..." Metallic shouts back at her as he kneels down to the ground.

"Oh no, doesn't this mean that even Metallic can't keep us safe from her then? Shit... but no. Remember, Bersia told Karia that working with Quilline is the only way we'll make it to Dalkan." I remind myself with a gulp.

"...Fine, fine. But I'm feeling quite motivated right now, Seric- would you mind helping me test something? Something with your boat in particular- and before you panic, it's simple and it'll help all of us. Probably." Quilline asks with a raised eyebrow,

"Um... may as well I guess." I think to myself with a bit of fear, but nod regardless.

"Great! So, let's make some distance here..." Quilline says skips towards me and aggressively takes my hand, and then she starts pulling me away from Metallic. I'm too scared to brush off her calloused hand even if I'm uncomfortable, but thankfully after a few seconds we stop.

"K k. Seric, call out your boat." Quilline says with a snap, as she takes a few steps back and places her hands on my shoulders...

"Why is she being so touchy? Because Karia was, and she think I liked that or something?" I think to myself, but regardless call out "My Best Friend" literally and metaphorically. My small pure white boat falls onto the sand right after the fact, causing some of the sand to "splash" onto my legs with a thud.

"Thanks! Now then, the moment of truth... do me a favor and don't tell Metallic about this hm?" Quilline says with a smirk as she walks past me, and climbs over the back of my boat- which isn't hard for her due to her height that's at least got to be seven feet or something.

"Hey, come on really?!" I try to call out as I notice that she has another crab in her hand now, as she opens the door to the cubical cabin on the boat.

She walks out of the cabin immediately after the fact, um... what? Oh. She doesn't have the crab this time.

"He'll be fine, now- I've heard that you can turn your boat into knife right? Very cool, try that now and it'll end our experiment here." Quilline calls out as she hops off of the back of the boat and stands next to me...

"Remember the prophecy, it's better if she's an ally..." I think to myself as I close my eyes and take a deep breath, and a second later I grab the back of my boat. I pretend that I'm swinging it- and in an instant it turns into my classic but small heavy knife, that causes me fall to the floor due to it's weight.

"Wow! That's pretty handy. Sorryyyy, one more part of our experiment- turn the knife back into a boat? Pretty please? I promise this'll be it, for realsies." Quilline asks as she gives me puppy dog eyes... creep.

Wanting to get this over with, I drop the knife and let it fall through the sand. A second later I call out "My Best Friend" for hopefully the last time, and my boat falls onto the ground again.

"Wait... OH. Damn it now I know what she was trying, these poor crabs... wait. We're in a simulation, are they even real? Unless they have souls?" I think to myself, as after some pondering I finally realize what Quilline's testing as she climbs back onto the boat again- or more so just steps onto it due to her height.

But regardless she walks to and slowly opens the door to the boat's cabin, and shrieks while clapping as she looks down at the floor.

"The crab turned to mush! Seric- do you know what that means?! Anyone! Aora, Ontarus, maybe even Prósopsi- we can squish them with your boat just like this! It's unbreakable right, and your knife can cut through anything right?!" Quilline exclaims as she picks up the mushy remains of the crab and jogs towards me- I gag and step back though once she gets off of my boat.

I then force myself to nod to make sure she won't do any other weird shit, and Quilline responds, "I knew it, it makes PERFECT sense- I did my research on all of your abilities after all. And plus- I also know that Karia can set a marker with her Blessing, that she can teleport anyone to. That's how you two escaped Vegahold Prison way back when, Karia got that ability from Bersia's soul in particular. So. Are you thinking what I'm thinking Seric?" Quilline asks as she starts walking over to the shore that's close by us. Not sure what she's planning... OH.

"Karia could teleport people into my boat with her Blessing, and then I could turn my boat into a knife to crush them? But I think Karia needs to be touch the person to teleport them... so it may not work." I respond. The plan is fairly genius but, I REALLY don't want to be the guy who crushes people to death...

"And lucky us- your handy S-class support Quilline, can teleport Karia right next to anyone she needs to touch! Ahhhh I LOVE it when my plans work out like this- and I think this is my greatest one yet!~ And even better- even if that "mind reader" really can read minds, which I doubt, then she still won't be able to hear our souls talking in here. So this'll be a complete surprise to Prósopsi and co." Quilline says, which makes me feel both happy and sad...

We have a solid way to take down insanely strong threats now, which is a huge relief in it's own right. But still- I'm gonna be the one who has to kill them. Fuck. But... if they really deserve it? Maybe I wouldn't mind... maybe, since the deaths would probably be painless.

A/N: Thanks for reading! See you next time.