"All of you manga pretty boy protagonists look alike to me. You could easily be from the Mist or the Desert and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference." Abernathy rolled his shoulders, looking up at the ladder. All he could see in the opening was smouldering black smoke and ash.
"Royal buildings? Why... the first thing that comes to mind would be a castle!" Siegden added on, which caused Abernathy's eyebrows to furrow.
"You shouldn't need to worry all too much..." The Licker assured Siegden, carefully climbing onto his back. "One of my Mistresses took up residence in this city's Capitol. Rest assured, she'll keep it well defended. She's been talking about this wonderful toy she captured from the former King and Queen.. if your bombing psychopath heads there, rest assured he'll have a bad time. By the way, Wonderland guy, I'm hitching a ride on your back, since you wouldn't let me rape you."
"Oh.." Siegden sounded somewhat.. ashamed. "Well, a fair trade, I suppose. The ladies of Wonderland have a similar reaction to the difficulty of removing my steel, ha ha."
"Regardless.. we're heading to the castle." Abernathy commanded them, but before he could mount the ladder... Xero's words caught his attention. "What happened to getting out of this zombie infested place? Now, you want to blow it up? I live here you know.." With a sigh, he began climbing up, Siegden gesturing to Xero to follow.
"For the love of the Chief God, do not wish yourself my enemy, Xero... I promise you you'll regret it."
...
"Well you see..." Glendias began, standing next to Armstrong, now. "It doesn't surprise me in the least, but uh.. my sister's run off. I know exactly where she's heading and why she did it." She leaned into his ear, whispering, so as to prevent eavesdropping. "She's uh... been talking about you, and how amazing you are. But uh... it's provoked a lot of self-loathing, on her part. She doesn't think herself worthy to be your wife, let alone your friend. None of my jokes and reassuring words could help her out of her emotional hole... so uh, do you think maybe you could talk some sense into her? She's running for the Castle." Then, Glendias moved away from Armstrong's ear.. those girls could listen all they wanted now. "Which by the way, I should mention... Hannah-sama controls the castle.. dunno what she did with the old King and Queen, but I'm fairly certain they're still alive, so don't worry. So whaddya say? Will you go look for Velm?" If Grigor refused.. it would be fine with Glendias.. though she doubted that she could get Velma back herself.
...
"You will not leave this place." A metallic, masculine voice called from the darkness of the catacombs. As this commanding voice spoke, the blue torches along the wall lit up, fully illuminating the room. Standing at the place opposite of Click was the towering form of a knight. He stood at 7'2, and was covered head to toe in heavy armor. Through the visor of his helm, there seemed to be a blue glow... and in his arms, he carried a peculiar polearm, wherein the blade was attached to a rotary joint. It looked like a scythe. The Knight began walking forward, his presence shaking the room, ever so slightly.
"Mistress Hannah has informed me of your intent. However, you have made a grim mistake, entering this place. These catacombs were forged and refined by a great Hero, and his descendants. Your crystals lack the power to detonate beyond this room." Its grip on the scythe tightened. "But I do not intend to let your crystal detonate, anyway. Mistress Hannah has taught me the ways of the Wight, and thus... your trump cards are null."
...
Alphie's expression lowered, as Nikolai asked her their destination. "We are going to to check up on a friend of mine.. she is a Wight by the name of Hannah. I am connected to her mentally, and she has informed me, with her detection of life energies.. that the one I seek is near her. So if you please.. follow along. We've quite a distance to walk." With that, she walked past Nikolai, beckoning him to follow.
...
"Mm..." Hoicho seemed to think on it for a while.. though eventually, she conceded, nodding. "Yeah.. that'll work. What's ours is yours, Pat." As the Minotaur spoke, Pat's body would be encompassed by his own overcharged spirit energy as Greta was ejected from his body. Suddenly.. the immense power he felt would vanish, as Greta rubbed her head in discomfort.
"Oi, oi oi..." she mumbled.. in no condition to talk properly.