Last chapter, the fight between Amandeath and Popshot occured- with Popshot just barely managing to take the win due to Amandeath eventually passing out from her injuries (despite not feeling any pain in the latter half of the match).

Popshot's victory turned into a crushing loss for him as well however. Not due to his cheating, but because the host of the Ticket to Dalkan event, Domino Afolabi, told Popshot that his father (who he was promised would be freed)- had already ended his life years ago shortly after gambling his soul away to the casino.

30 minutes later...

Quilline's P.O.V.

"Well! Too bad that things went so poorly in that third game, hmmm? Guess we won't be winning the ticket to Dalkan after all~" I say with a clap as me and the rest of my crooks are all gathered across different areas of our small private meeting room. Including Amandeath who just got back from the medical bay after being treated for her nasty injuries, with the help of some micro bots I imagine.

"You barely even tried, Queta..." Karia says with a sigh as she's sitting in one of the chairs near the back of the room, with one of her hands across her eyes. What a drama queen.

"Lies! My temporarily small little self tried her best- and it's not like you did much better anyways dear. You only won your first match after all." I lie while pointing my finger at the gloomy girl, and at the same time start pacing across the room to kill some time, while we're waiting for Elio to finish off his drawing.

"Also. I'm sorry by the way, Amelia. I never knew Popshot became invulnerable when he froze his body up." Seric says from his chair that's next to Karia's, with both a guilty and terrified look on his face.

"...It's cool. What's done is done. But maaaan, Queta- you're sure these injuries will go away when I put my normal "clothes" back on right?" Amandeath says with a groan, as she's lying across our couch with a self-cooling shiny metal cube lying across her face to help with the swelling. After all, her face is still puffed up like a balloon due to her injuries- even after all of her medical treatment.

"Mhm! Matteo was immediately cured of his hangover before the last game yesterday, as proof of any injuries in these "clothes" being a temporary thing. Right Matteo?" I turn to the currently-human bot who's facing away from us and just rubbing his hand across the wall.

"Indeed, I am sure that you'll be fine Amelia. ...Good match by the by! You put up an admirable fight against Popshot. Please believe me when I state that you aren't weak, it's just that he is... unfairly skilled. Based on what I witnessed Popshot do back when I was a part of his horrid crew, at least." Metallic says as he slightly turns his head around to look at Amelia, while still caressing the wall... and they call me crazy.

"No time to tease him for that, too bad." I think to myself, after realizing that he's probably still trying to savor being able to actually feel things right now due to his new human "body".

"Uuugh. I acted really shitty in that match though. So I can't really say I'm proud of it... like ya it was mainly because of my second blessing, but still. I legit tried to kill Popshot back there for no reason, or not a good one at least. And that probably means the deal's off for him selling the ticket to us if he wins this event, which also sucks ass- morals aside." Amandeath whines, goodness I really hope she bites the bullet soon.

"O.H. don't say that, pal #3. This was just one misstep on your goal to... become a more... moral person I believe it was? Yes. That you feel true guilt for your actions goes to show that there's still plenty of hope for you! Plus I'm certain that you would not have acted the same way, without your pesky loss of control in the way of things." Metallic tries to cheer Amandeath on, as he walks towards her lazing self and brushes some hair off of her face that was dangling into her eyes.

But the girl just ends up ignoring him, and even glances away... which makes Metallic ever so slightly frown, and go back off to his wall-touching after a few seconds.

"You know, you've been very cold with Matteo recently, Amelia-"

"Guys! Um, sorry to interrupt. But can we please start finalizing our plans? If I were William, this would be the perfect time to send the army on us- since he probably knows we're going to steal the ticket to Dalkan anytime now." Seric blurts out in a panic which makes me roll my eyes- since I was just about to get to that exciting stuff. But before I can talk, Elio does-

"It's not actually a ticket to Dalkan, just for reference. It's a teleporter- or at least I'm like ninety-nine percent sure that the teleporter I tracked with my blessing, is the only piece of technology here that can bring anyone to Dalkan." Elio tries to explain as he sits on the small portion of the couch Amandeath left for him. But he changes the topic after no one reacts,

"Anyways. Agreed Serreno, everyone get over here. When you all were competing in the last game, I used "I'm the Controller" like crazy to get a pretty good layout of this Casino. And so I drew out the best path that we can take to get to the teleporter. Should be pretty accurate since this place has wires and electrical currents going through everywhere, which I was able to track super easily with my blessing." Elio says after putting down the pencil that he was just using to draw on a small piece of paper- both of which were ever so kindly given to us when we booked this room.

But details aside I skip towards the table by the couch that my minion's paper is on. The rest of the crew gathers around the "map" as well, except for Amandeath who's still sprawled across the couch. She does turn her head and slightly adjust the cooling-cube on her face to look at the map regardless though, which is good since we'll certainly need her expertise in our upcoming fight.

Amandeath aside- I look at Elio's sketch,

"...All that time to yourself, and this is the best map you could draw? Heh." I laugh- even if I can understand the path we're supposed to follow super easily. Can't have Elio ever feeling too confident after all of he's going to work for me.

"Hey! I helped him draw this too, so I will not tolerate any complaints from my non-pals. I even used my very own blood from this body to color in the teleporter!" Metallic exclaims as he slams his index finger down at the drawing, which makes me snort.

"Metallic- shit, I'm sorry. I mean Matteo and Queta, that doesn't matter! Every second counts. You have no idea how scary William is, he's probably going to send every force that the Hopian Army has on us..." Seric shouts which seems to peeve everyone off, and Karia who's usually always on his side even slaps his head. For his screw up there with Metallic's real name, I assume.

"Watch it, Serreno. You sure you're gonna be able to stay cool during our fight with the H.A. by the way? Because if you mess up during the main attack we have planned, we're all going down." Elio says as he looks at the boy with disgust- oooo maybe we are gonna bully Seric after all.

Metallic speaks before Serreno can as he puts his hand on his shoulder, "He will. I know he-"

"I don't recall him asking you, Matteo~" I interrupt while keeping my eyes on Seric.

"I um, yeah. I think so. I have the plans memorized, so... yeah." Seric finally decides to mumble with a frown as he looks down at the floor.

"Memorizing plans is one thing, actually putting them into practice is another. Spend whatever time we have left mentally preparing yourself for what's coming, 'cause I swear if we all get fucking killed because of you having a panic attack during the fight or some bull-"

"I'll keep him in check. And also smack some sense into him if we ever need to. Emilis isn't wrong though Serreno, even if he was being a dick about it. Try and get your head ready for what's coming, ok? Remember- William seems to be especially interested in you, so you have the highest chance of being fine out of all of us. By a longshot." Karia interrupts after putting a hand on Seric's other shoulder, but the boy doesn't seem too receptive though.

"I guess... but I don't want to lose any of you guys either. Thanks anyways, Katelyn. We can get back to planning now." He finishes with a deep breath, and Metallic grabs his waist and pulls him into a half-hug while ruffling his hair- before the boy has any more time to mope.

"You don't even want to lose me Serreno? Aww, how sweet~" I can't help but say with a hum, which no one laughs at obviously. I almost hope that some part of Seric does admire me though, as delusional as it is to believe. Maybe I'll eventually get Elio to feel that way when he's working for me.

Speaking of Elio, "Queta. Planning, please. So- whenever we're ready, we'll make a break for the teleporter on the path I drew out. We start by leaving through the competitors lobby that's right next to us, head through the main hall away from the entrance, down the stairs, through another hall, then through the celebration hall, and finally the teleporter. There's also going to be a lot people in the celebration hall for the next while, so-"

"What about any security gates- or whatever they're called, that may be blocking the way there? Or even just metal door locks?" The sleepy Amandeath finally decides to speak up, or mumble up- she isn't speaking clearly at the moment.

"I was getting to that. But fine, if you need to know now- most of the security gates on the way there are electronic. I'll be able to deal with them with my blessing. But Queta- you'll probably need to "carry" me around while I do that, if you know what I mean." Elio says, which clicks almost instantly. He wants me to teleport him along with us as we're making a run for the teleporter, so that he can use his blessing while I'm teleporting him.

"Easy-peasy. You'll have to walk down the stairs on your own though Mr. Electronic." I reply with a thumbs up which makes Elio furrow his brow, then get back to talking,

"I also detected some doors that didn't have wires running through them, though. We'll probably have to break them down if they're locked." Elio continues as he points at the entrance to the "celebration hall" on his paper.

"Got it." Karia replies confidently, but Elio doesn't look convinced so I step in,

"You haven't seen her full strength, Emilis. From what I read up on Katelyn before I joined this crew, she can certainly take out a mere steel door with the help of her blessing." I explain while not directly referring to Karia's "Spirit of Kodan" just to be safe, and that somehow gets me a weird look from Karia now...? What a weirdo.

Elio reluctantly continues, "OK then. Well, that's all from me. Oh- one more thing to keep in mind though. Guessing you guys remember seeing Commander Ufisator standing guard at the entrance to the casino yesterday? Yeah, the big bot's still here. I tracked him earlier, since he's obviously got currents going everywhere through his body in an pattern that's stupid easy for me to detect."

"Where at?" Amandeath asks with a sigh.

"Celebration room. Guessing that he's either specifically guarding the teleporter, or doing a meet and greet with the rich people that are watching the broadcast of the event from there. Or both." Elio explains.

"Well, slight inconvenience I suppose but still no biggie. You can handle him after all, right Emilis?" I ask with a hum, that'll hopefully scare him into saying yes...

"Fuck, I hope so. His components are so complex it's not even funny. So many interior "switches" to turn off as well from what I can tell, since I couldn't spot any overall "off" or kill switch inside his body. But I'll try anyways- should be able to screw him up whether I fully shut him down or not." Elio admits, which makes me a wee bit upset since I admittedly can't do much against the bot myself... but still, I stop myself from pestering Elio about it. Maybe later though.

"Well- that's great. Anything else we should know?" Karia asks with some sass and her arms crossed- rude.

"Don't get pissy at me about it- and yeah. Think there's some officers from the army in here too. Tracked some people with cybernetics across different parts of the casino, so I'm assuming most of them are officers." Elio says which makes Karia curse under her breath.

"We sure have our work cut out for us, don't we? My bets are still on us putting on a good show though, since we have quite the stellar plans made by yours truly. Right?" I try to boost the crews morale, but it fails. Right- these idiots are terminal downers, I should have expected that.

"Least I'll personally still have a blast though. Just remember Quilline- die or not, this battle will cement your legacy as the scariest criminal ever in the Hopian Territory~" I think to myself with a smile.