Chapter 1308 (1/2)

Roy the Undying Hero flexed his hands. Despite all of the unusual situations in which he found himself over the past several years with the System, the current one had him extremely confused. Uncertain, he rubbed at his newly liberated wrists. “I don’t understand what you are trying to do.”

“What’s not to understand? You are going to be my date for Randidly’s birthday,” Neveah said regally. She then pointed to the suit that she had brought down for him.

Roy’s mouth twitched. It was the same message Neveah had said when she had originally come down to the cell he had been locked in for the last few weeks and released him. But he was still having difficulty coping with the sudden change in treatment.

But what was Roy supposed to say? That he had been secretly plotting his escape and finally was prepared to make the attempt now that most of the Riders and Neveah herself would be gone for a day? Had she done this on purpose because she had become aware of his plans…? The narrative here was very difficult to follow.

“No, I mean… why would you take me as a date?” Roy shifted rather lamely. For someone who prided himself on always having a sharp comeback. He currently felt extremely… stifled and bland. Neveah’s unexpected arrival made him think very seriously if he underestimated the Ghosthound’s Soulbound companion.

Perhaps their partnership is more even than any of us assumed.

“Ah… well if you must know, someone I was briefly engaged to will be at Randidly’s birthday party,” Neveah's face fell into a look of nervousness. “And I hear the human way to deal with is to bring another date so that your ex will become jealous. So, you will be my date.”

“...but I’m just a skeleton,” Roy said slowly, letting his illusion fall away and pointing to his skull with a bony finger. “Isn’t the point to bring someone… desirable as a date when making someone jealous?”

Neveah let her illusion fall away as well.

Roy’s first impression of Neveah’s true form could be summed up in a single word: power. She was at least three meters tall and twice as wide as Roy himself. The bones of her limbs were thick and strong. Grey tendons stretched between her joints, holding everything together. Her mouth was a maw of razor-sharp teeth that seemed capable of turning a human body into a smoothie in under a minute. Two large protrusions of bone spread out from her back, a horror-enthusiast’s imitation of wings. Twisting spikes of bone protruded from every joint.

Roy wondered how Neveah managed to move around effectively when her true form was at least double the size of the illusion. And it reaffirmed in his heart that he had very little chance of escaping as long as Neveah herself watched over him.

Then the illusion was back, and the pretty, petite, and smiling woman with black hair was standing in front of him. “Well, your Class is Hero, and I think that’s pretty desirable to humans. You all get so riled up over the term. So, any more questions?”

*****

Randidly picked up one of the sharply stylized pieces of metal on the table and examined it closely. He drew his thumb almost gently over its surface. Whoever had done the forging was relatively skilled; although he didn’t test the limits of it, casually prodding with 1000 Nether Brawn infused fingers wasn’t enough to warp the piece. In addition, someone else had done a tight piece of Engraving along the backside of the wrought metal, giving it the ability to conjure a Skill Level 125 Mana Shield for several seconds that recharged once a day.

At the current Level of Earth, a pretty impressive ability, Randidly thought as he set the piece back on the table amongst five hundred other similar pendants.

The pendant was shaped like a sword thrust downward with an X across it. So there were points in five directions, and a hilt sticking up at the top. Randidly glanced sideways at Tatiana, who was watching him touch the objects with a small smile. “What are these?”

“Party favors, obviously,” Tatiana responded.

Randidly rolled his eyes. “You know I meant the shape. Have you been looking forward to this conversation for a while? The workmanship is really impressive. Doubly so because both the metal and the Engraving were made without my input and they are both very well done.”

“You’ve trained the people of Kharon well,” Tatiana said smugly. She walked away from the door to the ballroom out onto the black tiles that covered about two-thirds of the ground, away from the buffet table, the party favor table, and the bar along the back wall. “But as for the shape, it’s the symbol we’ve decided to put onto Kharon’s flag.”

Randidly watched the light slowly gather around Tatiana’s feet as she walked out onto the black tiles. It seemed he got the sensitivity right; despite her shoes, the floor immediately activated. The brightness quickly grew from a firefly, to a reflection of the moon on a lake, and then to a bonfire of incandescent color. Not blinding, but eye-catching. Good. “But I use a spear. Why a sword?”

“Not everything is about you, Randidly Ghosthound,” Tatiana said rather haughtily. The light around her feet continued to grow but gradually slowed in its size increases. Then she shrugged. “Although in this case, it is paradoxically about you; we think it’s best that Kharon not be so tied to your name and identity. This is obviously your city, but other groups will take Kharon’s government more seriously if we aren’t just your lackeys.”

Randidly winced. “Do people treat you like my lackeys?”

“Well they haven’t had much of a chance to interact with us. This is a preemptive measure. And I am something of a worry-wort,” Tatiana pointed out. She spun lightly in a circle, allowing her long beige dress to spin around her and draw additional attention to the light at the base of her feet. “Still… I’m very impressed with the floor. I think it will be a wonderful addition to the festive atmosphere. Oh and… Happy Birthday, by the way.”