#the cats from cat heaven joined in too to help the living defeat the evil spirit cats

[cowlovely]

sometimes i think about the absolutely batshit insane things that happened in warrior cats that have somehow managed to remain largely unknown by people outside the fanbase and i start to lose it

[icequeenbae]

Desert Flower (m) Ch. 1 | BBH

Pairing: Baekhyun x Reader x Baëkhyun

Characters: EXO and X-EXO (not all of them mentioned)

EXO vs X-EXO dynamics, complicated relationships, angsty, action, smut (as usual)

Warnings: sorta mingling with your ex’s ‘evil twin’, mentions of blood/ violence (nothing too graphic… I suppose), Y/N gets teary a lot(?), explicit content, rough sex, unprotected sex

Word Count: ~13.5k (full), ~3.7k (Chapter 1)

Summary: Baekhyun, your beloved boyfriend of three years, suddenly breaks up with you and disappears from the city in an attempt to protect you. But leaving you alone and clueless means trouble will surely find you. For it is easy to spot a flower in the desert.

Masterlist   >> One >> Two (m) >> Three (m) >> Four (fin)

Author’s Note: Yay, this is happening!!! My first BaekBaёk, oml I’m gonna-

Ok. I’ll admit right off the bat that I wouldn’t be posting this any time soon without my lovely beta @baekshoney​ 🖤 She’s the person I turn to when I think there’s a million little things I could’ve done better, because that’s what I always think. I had to give myself a cut-off date to finally give up editing this 😅 So, I’d really appreciate it if you guys could share your thoughts and opinions on this too. My asks, dms and comments are places where you’re always welcome! Now, let’s get into this!

Tags: @blahblahblah-boo @baeklightsx @wooya1224 @baekklove

Chapter 1. The beginning of the end 

It was all too sudden.

The words he’d said deafened you. Refusing to believe what you were hearing, you shook your head and took a step back, as if doing so could start the conversation you’d just had over. Or rewind the time and allow you to prevent the words from coming out of his mouth in the first place. But he was firm, unyielding in his stance.

‘I’m sorry,’ he repeated. ‘It’s my fault. I should’ve known better.’

Than to start this relationship, was what he meant. That he should have avoided getting in a relationship with you altogether, and breaking up with you would’ve never become an issue.

‘Why?’ You tried to speak, but your lower lip started to tremble, silencing you at once.

This was all wrong. It couldn’t have been true, what he was saying.

He licked his lips, looking away, hands forming tight fists at his sides as he tried to recollect himself and urge his body to stay frozen on the spot.

That did not work for long – the sight of you, so small, so stunned and defeated, with tears welling in your eyes while you tried to stifle them… He couldn’t. It was stupid of him to break his act so easily, but you were too precious to him to just leave you like this.

Sighing and cursing himself out in his mind, he took a stride towards you and gathered you tightly in his arms.

‘I am sorry, Y/N,’ he continued softly, hearing you hiccup in his unexpected embrace. ‘But I have to leave. We- I should’ve stayed away from you from the start. Forgive me for being so weak.’

You sobbed at his words, shaking your head stubbornly and clinging to his broad chest as an act of desperation.

‘I can come with you!’

‘No,’ he interrupted your crazy idea. ‘I’m leaving you behind. To keep you safe.’

‘Safe from what?’ You questioned, half-annoyed now.

He kept insisting that he wished to protect you, but how was leaving you all alone ensuring your security? And why would you even consider it, when you only felt safe while with him?

‘I cannot tell you. The more you know, the more dangerous it is.’

‘Baekhyunie, please,’ you wiped the tears and grabbed onto his vest as he moved to pull away. ‘You can’t just decide this on your own!’

‘Y/N,’ he took hold of your wrists, not removing them just yet. ‘I know it’s hard, and I never wanted to hurt you like this. But there’s nothing you can say that’ll change my mind. I’d rather break your heart than risk your life, so it’s not really a choice.’

He looked around as if to make sure you were not being watched, and then leaned in to place a farewell kiss on your temple – his favorite spot. You sniffled, realization of the inevitable setting in.

‘Just let me go, flower,’ his voice lowered to a whisper, and you sobbed at the pet name. ‘You’ll be better off without me, I promise.’

‘No,’ you protested as he freed himself from your grasp, and took a step back. ‘No, Baekhyun, don’t leave,’ you clawed at his forearm, trying to stop him. ‘We can deal with it together, we can think of something! I don’t want to be without you,’ you whimpered sorrowfully.

He shook his head, shying away from your touch, while you desperately tried to hold him back.

But you couldn’t. He gently peeled your hands off to walk away, and you missed the pained crease between his eyebrows when he turned his back on you to escape your apartment.

‘Please, don’t do this…’ You whispered, voice breaking in anguish. Just as your heart was.

Yet, Baekhyun kept walking. Leaving you to weep in the unwelcoming emptiness of your home.

Leaving you for good.

***

Your relationship with Baekhyun started almost three years ago.

Still new to university life, you found yourself in the midst of a soap opera worth of drama when a bunch of transfer students joined all at once, some even in the same year as you. All highly attractive, they usually hung out together and spent less time than needed socializing with the outside world.

Not that you cared too much – sure, the excitement going around was making you curious, but they looked too handsome, almost to the extent that you found it intimidating. Ironically, the most intimidating you found Baekhyun. His then long dark hair with strands of red and a mullet hairstyle, the sharp green eyes, the pierced eyebrow, and the lip ring that made him look like a very attractive hooligan... The piercings turned out to be just as fake as the eye color, which did not disappoint you at all.

Funny enough, you only got to know this bad boy because he took a liking to retreating to the campus library. Hiding from all of the attention, of course. While some members of his clique actually basked in it, he preferred to disappear to the remote aisles of the quiet space and read a book, or, more likely, sleep with one on his chest. You saw him like that often, since you were stuck in there yourself – essays for different classes were piling up rapidly. As a diligent student, you were determined to do well in your first year of university, so dragging yourself to the library to stay glued to your laptop was the best option.

Coincidentally, you also preferred to stay in the less lively spaces, as you tended to seek peace and quiet to focus on your assignments. Your attention span… wasn’t impressive, to say the least, so you did your best to avoid any distractions. However, you didn’t count on a certain sleep lover to be one of them.

It was not the first day you spent close enough to notice the tranquil expression he wore on his face as he was snoozing. It was, however, the first time he caught you staring mindlessly in his direction. Burning the deepest shade of red in your cheeks, you grabbed your books and quickly made yourself scarce, thanking heavens for the multiple aisles of books around. You walked around for ten minutes or so, actually placing your books back where they belonged and finding a secluded corner to check out what else was on the shelves. Squinting, you tried to read the name of the tome that had gotten your attention, and raised your arm to get it from the level that was clearly too high for you. Thankfully, someone reached over your head and helped you obtain the book. You turned around to say thank you but instead were suddenly pushed back into the shelf by the taller figure with neat red strands. Speechless, you only held your book close and gaped at him, as he leaned forward.

‘Ever heard about the cat killed by curiosity?’ He hummed, eyes piercing you from above.

You swallowed, knees getting weaker as you registered the fresh musky smell coming off of his brightly colored shirt.

To push your buttons, he decided to get even more scandalously close to you, arm holding onto the rack behind you to keep balance.

‘Nothing wrong with being curious!’ You jabbered. ‘In fact, if people preserved the curiosity they have as kids they would’ve had a much bigger learning capacity as adults.’

He huffed. You weren’t sure if he was shocked or amused, because your eyes looked anywhere but his face. In fact, they lowered enough to fix on your forearm, resting across his rib cage, and your fist pressing slightly into his pec to keep him at least at a minimal distance.

At this you gasped, eyes widening and returning to his face, only to catch an inquisitive spark in his retinas as he nudged the lip ring with his tongue. Sighing, he took a step back, finally allowing some space between you.

‘Can’t write a philosophy essay with this, little flower,’ he chuckled. ‘Or if you can… I’d be impressed.’

You looked down in confusion, understanding that the book you were holding was from a Botanics section. ‘The Oxford Book of Wild Flowers’, read the title.

But… How did he know about your philosophy assignment?

***

Only later had Baekhyun confessed that he had had an eye on you for a while by the time this incident took place, but the moment of your outburst was what got to him. When he looked down at your cornered form, holding a book to your chest so innocently, and keeping him away instinctively with one arm. He had to bite his tongue to prevent a smile from making its way onto his face. That was it for him, and even though he wanted to avoid you and keep interactions with you to an absolute minimum, he couldn’t help but find ways to draw your attention. Like that one time, when you walked out of the library because the loud noises from the outside made your concentration for the night crumble.

The source of that noise was, in fact, a certain convertible, blasting the music for the entire campus to hear. You would have come up to complain that your studying was cut short if you didn’t have perfect eyesight. It allowed you to see that there was a red-haired problem sat in the car, with a bare foot resting lazily against the panel. Ready to run the other way, you turned around, meeting a solid chest with your forehead. You discovered that it was a rather cheerful guy in the same year as you, Jongin, and the other one with him was Sehun. And those two stalled you long enough for Baekhyun to make an entrance.

It was the first time he tried asking you out. And got rejected.

However, as much as you wanted to take ownership of that and say that you were playing hard to get when you walked off and left him stunned by your refusal, that was not the case. This guy made your throat go dry at the mere sight of him! He was way too handsome, and he also looked kind of… well, he looked like he’d break your heart without thinking twice about it. And that you couldn’t allow.

But then again, good girls do tend to fall for bad boys. Or was he only pretending to be bad? You’d never heard anything that discredited him, except for the way he stared people down sometimes. That once happened to a fellow student in your class. After he sat next to you during lunch.

Actually, almost the entire week following that incident you had lunch alone because everyone kept making excuses to sit elsewhere. That was how you became friends with Jongin and Sehun. Having had a few classes together, you were more or less acquainted with each other, so you didn’t mind when Jongin suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a tray and asked you if they could join. He even had lunch with you when Sehun wasn’t around – you figured that it made Jongin even more chatty. So much so, that one day he leaned across the table to get slightly closer, and used his most clandestine voice on you.

‘You know, hyung could burn a hole in anyone next to you with his glare, but I’m immune to his ‘charms’, thankfully,’ he giggled and added, ‘Still, I think you should give him a chance. Baekhyun’s a good guy, and he’s kinda torn as it is. Asking you out was a pretty big step for him.’

Honestly, you had a hard time believing that. Baekhyun… was probably the kind of guy, who never even had to ask. You could look around and easily spot a dozen eyes that were fixed on him at this very moment. Why in the world would he want to date you, clearly not the ‘easy-going’ party type? He probably wanted to get into your pants just for sport, like the rest of the pretty boys.

‘Whatever you’re thinking, it’s far from the truth. Ugh, Junmyeon will kill me for this!’ Jongin cursed himself and continued, before you could ask. ‘Hyung looks rough around the edges, but he’s really a softie. Trust me on this.’

‘Are you his wingman or something?’ You snorted dubiously, getting a little timid from this discussion.

‘Ha, are you kidding? He’s gonna strangle me if he finds out. Like I said, he’s torn between staying away from you and persisting in his efforts to take you out. Just think about it,’ he ended with an attempted (but failed) wink.

As if to take away your chance to process the unexpected input, Jongin shoved Baekhyun in your direction the very next day. Disappearing from the cafeteria right after, of course. Envy his subtlety. But, apparently, what he said earlier had an effect, so you only nodded when a flustered figure asked for permission to sit with you. He looked quite different from the previous times you saw him up close – much less confident and intimidating. But he seemed sincere when he said he just wanted one chance.

And that was how your relationship picked up. It took a whirlwind course from the very beginning, and the hot summer before your second year of university was the most torturous time ever for the both of you. Still wary of getting played, you only trusted Baekhyun enough to get intimately close months and months into dating. And he was patient with you, going at a slow pace, letting you pull away whenever you wanted. Until you didn’t want to anymore.

That last leap of faith was a beginning in itself – a true beginning of you and Baekhyun. The final seal was broken, and you entrusted yourself fully to him, which he repaid by showering you in his affection and feelings that he himself had not come to acknowledge just then.

After a year together, you were not simply allowed into the inner circle, but also educated about the special abilities that Baekhyun and his friends had. You were first interrogated by their leader, Junmyeon, who wanted to make sure you had no ulterior motives and were not going to tell a living soul about them. He called it ‘a quick chat’ as he dragged you in a scarcely furnished room where he sat you down at the small metal table across from him. The leader asked you questions and tried reading your verbal and non-verbal cues, so it was clearly an interrogation. Junmyeon was pretty experienced in this, so he could instantly tell that you were harmless. And you also passed the test, answering the most ridiculous questions about Baekhyun – apparently, that was to make sure you were not ‘faking it’ – so, he accepted you into their family.

However, knowing too much was dangerous, so you only learned about their powers and how they came from the so-called EXO Planet when they were young (talk about dating an alien!), and that the organization they called ‘the Red’ amongst themselves wanted to hunt them down. They also used to be held hostage by these people – and that was just about as much you knew about the issue because Baekhyun kept you away from the ‘unnecessary details’. He only told you that they seemed to be hidden well in this town, surrounded by just enough people to blend in and disappear. And you worried, always, because you knew too little about the dangers surrounding the group, and even less about how you could contribute to their safety.

Baekhyun laughed when you once brought it up, finding your concern nothing but cute.

‘You don’t have to worry about it, flower. It’s my job to make sure you’re safe, not the other way around,’ he then said, playing with the curly ends of your hair.

You frowned at that. Why was it not your job to take care of him? If you could help, you wanted to help. But he always brushed you off, saying that the only thing you should do to help is staying out of trouble. Like that was a challenge – you either studied or hung out with him and his friends, not much room to stir trouble. The only other person you talked to regularly was your roommate, and she was also pretty harmless.

As time went by, you got closer to your own graduation, basically, one year left before you had to figure it out for yourself again. Your boyfriend was always supportive, but you couldn’t help but wonder how he imagined your future. He was always up to something but never shared it with you since it was ‘nothing for you to worry about’. Had he not shown you his actual abilities before, you would’ve certainly thought that it was a crazy lie he told you to cover up for some kind of illegal activity. In reality, some illegal activities were going on, especially since hacking and cracking was one of Minseok’s specialties (but mostly because they needed to keep their identities out of sight). Another reason why they didn’t all go to the same school when they arrived, and also why they changed their appearance ever so often. The lucky mullet was long gone by the time you had your first Christmas together, and you had had the pleasure of seeing him in multiple hair colors throughout almost three years of your relationship. Notably, the first dozen or so make-out sessions you had with him took place when he had just cut his hair and dyed it pitch black. And he still wore his fake lip ring at the time, which was an experience in itself. He did know how to use his mouth…

Admittedly, you were kind of used to being the object of the boys’ shameless teasing every time you hung out together. The way Baekhyun kept you close and fussed about everything was, apparently, atypical for their usually chill and humorous hyung. He was their second-in-command, after all, the genius behind the strategic planning of the group, and the mind that kept them hidden for so long in one place.

Because of you.

One of the boys had previously let it slip that they hadn’t lived anywhere for that long before, maybe not even for one full year. But this time Baekhyun was determined to stay for a while, now that he had an anchor.

But the day came. When he found out that they might’ve been compromised, he got scared. The way he’d never feared anything before. And he’d been through a lot, to put it mildly. Baekhyun could maintain a cold and sharp mind at all times, that was his thing, but not when it came to you. Once he figured out that there was a real chance, that they could’ve found the EXO hideout and, thus, could connect you to the boys, he couldn’t think straight. Overwhelmed by a sudden panic, he sought advice from the leader.

‘You know it’s not me who’s supposed to decide,’ Junmyeon sighed, looking at his disheveled second. ‘I told you a relationship wasn’t a good idea. I also think that keeping her close means putting her life in jeopardy.’

His words were cutting through Baekhyun as he paced the room, long fingers grasping his own hair.

‘But it still may be a safer option than leaving her here,’ the leader added, pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘We need to relocate fast, and you have the ‘better of two evils’ situation on your hands.’

‘I know I should leave her,’ Baekhyun stopped in his tracks, turning his head to the leader. ‘But what if they already know, hyung?’

‘Minseok had every trace of her erased, not a single camera in town had a glimpse of her with you. They might have found our footprints in the sand, but those don’t necessarily lead to her. I suppose they should move on as soon as they come here and realize that we’re nowhere around.’

‘Most likely, but what if-’

‘They can very well catch up to us while we run. Like I said, there isn’t a right answer, but a choice. And I think that you’ve already made it when you should give her a voice, too,’ the leader pushed.

‘I-’ Baekhyun turned away to hide the glassy eyes from Junmyeon. ‘I have to give her a chance, hyung. I cannot sentence her to a lifetime of running and danger. And I know she’s silly enough to throw herself into it if she has a say in this.’

‘And if you’re wrong? You’re going to break her heart as a precaution?’

‘She won’t die from a broken heart. Can you imagine what they’d do to her if they find out?’

Junmyeon bit his lip. This time, the choice was completely out of his hands. He thought his second was making a mistake, but it was not his place to decide. Exhaling again, he nodded.

‘Tell her in the morning. We’re moving out as soon as the rain starts.’

>> Chapter 2

A/N: So, what do you think? This is more of an introductory chapter, I know, but it covers quite a lot of their relationship with Baek. You must be excited to see where this goes and when Baёk appears? Or if Baekhyun is coming back? Me too, me too 🙈

[letters-from-the-three-houses]

Hello hello! I'd just like to say that I'm really glad I found your blog, it's super fun to see the hype and ideas circulating throughout it, it's helping with the hype, and it's mega fun reading your wonderful writing, keep up the fantastic work my friend! But if it's okay ask, may I get your stance on the idea of demon Byleth? Anything would be lovely, from personal preferences to actual likelihood of this outcome, or how it could affect the church, plot, characters, or Byleth themselves?

thanks, friend! it’s more than okay to ask! i’m super hyped so i’m happy to share my excitement with everyone. we’ll get through the countdown together :)

so as a bit of a background to those who don’t know/need a refresher, byleth (beleth) is the name of a fallen angel in hell who commands legions of demons. they’re sometimes depicted as a trumpet-playing cat, but they’re usually shown as a scary, stubborn, and intimidating man who will hold contempt towards the caster if they show fear/disrespect. there’s also a female persona who is thought to be a “small, frail, doe-eyed young girl”, as well as beleth’s true form. once they lend the summoner their power, the summoner will be able to cause any man or woman to love them until their desires are fulfilled. also, beleth is knowledgeable in math

(here are some more posts about demon!byleth that i build upon in my response: [1], [2], [3], [4], [reddit])

under the cut bc i wrote too much

disclaimer: i’m not an expert of demonology, so i might get some information wrong. there are also spoilers to other games in the series!

i personally think it’d be a cool spin. i love the idea of a demon protagonist, and the context is a good setup for a morally ambiguous, grey role. whether IS chooses to play around with it to create a more somber/complicated tone or not is anyone’s guess. knowing them, it’ll probably be straightforward, like revelation!fates, but the two aren’t mutually exclusive

as for likelihood, i think they’re called ‘byleth’ for a reason. it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll be a demon, but the name does hold some importance. for one, byleth is pretty niche. they’re only mentioned in two texts: 1) pseudomonarchia daemonum (johann weyer), and 2) ars goetia, which was based off of weyer’s work. even then, they’re more commonly adapted as ‘beleth’ or ‘bileth’. japan likes referencing the ars goetia for whatever reason, but when they do, they use the more popular names like amon, astaroth, baal, etc. (a.k.a demons who have been referenced in other texts). in fact, the only other byleth/beleth character i could find is beleth from floraverse (a decidedly not japanese webcomic), who’s portrayed as a cute toy cat demon

to be honest, IS has a good track record on meaningful names. they’ve been doing it for years now; a lot of references have some sort of influence or connection to their source material. sigurd is a hero descended from a god who forgets his wife due to a magic drink before being murdered, similar to his and deirdre’s fates in genealogy. eirika and ephraim’s prf weapons, sieglinde and siegmund, are twins in norse mythology. the goetia itself is the strongest dark tome in awakening, a nice nod to the fact that you use it to summon demons

the more recent avatars also have some parallels, especially their japanese names. reflet means reflection in french, which makes sense since they’re the representation of the player. kamui (kamuy) are a group of divine beings that live in the heavens, associated with different natural aspects (e.g. the hearth, sea, thunder, agriculture, etc.). this could signify kamui’s vallite heritage and dragon blood. both names (reflet + kamui) are also androgynous, and can be used for males or females

it might be a long stretch, but what really solidifies my opinion on the intentionality is the fact that there are different default names for each of the byleths. ベレト (bereto) by itself could have been a coincidence, but ベレス (beresu) is an alternative form of ベレト or bereto (much like byleth is to beleth). again, it could be by chance, but more support for it means it’s more likely that IS chose the name for a reason

also, you get to choose your ‘form’ when picking between f!byleth and m!byleth. iirc, the japanese version has the same connotation, so it’s not some awkward translation on the localization’s part

“but does that matter? what if they chose it because it sounds cool?” i don’t deny the possibility! after all, a lot of media use random names just because they sound sinister and evil. sometimes, there’s not a big connection between said character and the source material. but notwithstanding which demon they used, they still chose to name them after one. naming a character after a demon is a pretty big deal

so what does it mean? to be honest, it could mean anything. there’s a chance that the reference isn’t prominent (maybe they have a dark side to them or they become evil à la robin). if, however, ‘beleth’ ends up shaping the dynamics of the entire game, then a couple of plot points can be gleaned from it

it’s important to note that some aspects of beleth could be mixed and matched with different characters. just like sigurd + deirdre, it’s possible that they’re combined with the relationships that byleth has, meaning the characteristics don’t solely apply to byleth. for example, byleth might canonically play the bugle horn, and whenever they head into battle, they use it to communicate and relay orders to the other units (which would be pretty cool, actually; IS make it happen)

we know that byleth starts off unaffiliated with any of the three nations, and that there’s a catalyst that throws fódlan into war. it’s possible that byleth joining one of the houses parallels the ‘summoning’—the caster being the respective lord—and byleth lends them their power in order to do xyz. in the case of the original text, that means making everyone love them (implied to be the, um, physical kind), but it might just translate to a power shift in favour of said house

what’s really interesting, in my opinion, is that the ars goetia states: “For thou art conjured by the name of the LIVING and TRUE GOD…fulfil thou my commands…according unto mine interest…” in other words, you have to invoke the power of god in order to summon demons to do your bidding. while it seems odd that god would allow you to summon them in the first place, it does mean that the authority of god compels them to obey you. maybe the church of seiros will somehow control byleth using the goddess’s powers (a.k.a the crests)? that doesn’t mean the goddess has something against byleth (she could be a sideline character whose powers are being abused by the caster—or in this case, the church), but the fact that beleth is a fallen angel could signify some sort of relationship between them

my ideal would be that the byleths (+ sothis, who references isis/anubis) are anti-heroes, the church isn’t outright evil/corrupt, and the political tension between the three nations is what drives the conflict (with the crests as a macguffin). i’d love it if this time around, the choices we make influence the direction of the story! that said, i won’t mind if it’s the usual ‘defeat the evil dragon to save the world’ story. the worldbuilding gives a lot of freedom and creativity for what-ifs, so someone’s bound to make a demon!au if byleth isn’t one

the real question though is why jeralt named his kid ‘byleth’. unless byleth isn’t actually his kid. then that brings up a whole slew of questions about the mother

[asks are open!]

[avicebro]

Hello Pollux! Can you explain your OTP tags?

This is something people want? Lol okay:

This includes League of Legends and Fate.

Fate:

otp: be my queen | richard/ayaka

reference to the fact that richard is continuously trying to get ayaka to be his master. since they are master/servant and i like them romantically it turns from “be my master” to “be my queen”. a good otp 10/10 narita when will you ever.

otp: avenger and ruler | edmond dantes/amakusa shirou 

i hope this is obvious. it’s an avenger and a ruler. demonstrates the fact that they’re polar opposites but still good as a ship.

otp: dragon slayers | siegfried/saint george

reference to how they work really well together in defeating wyverns in fate/grand order. may include kojiro if i find some siegfried/kojiro art i like.

otp: thief and executioner | robin hood/charles henri sanson

i like these two, especially in the salem chapter. the ship name is reference to their roles: one is a thief, one is an executioner. i was also thinking of giving them a title like “the new fruk” cause that’s basically what they are lol.

otp: im a self insert | guda/fgo character

any art of a guda and a fate grand order character. mainly avicebron and dantes because that’s who i ship myself with. more characters may join eventually but im very gay.

otp: casters of opposing factions | avicebron/william shakespeare

in apocrypha they’re the casters for the opposing factions. in fate grand order they seem to keep this dislike for each other.

otp: a new isolde | tristan/melt

ok i haven’t seen the full ccc event yet but basically tristan compares melt to isolde so yeah she’s a new isolde for him. i don’t like how fate writes her name (isseult?) so we’re going with this spelling.

otp: i’ll make you tsar | kadoc/anastasia

this is kadoc’s plan in lostbelt, to make her tsar of the lostbelt. that doesn’t really happen though but they’re in love okay?????

otp: hate at first sight | kirei/kiritsugu

i was tempted to call them “beautiful ties” as a pun on their names but decided against it. hate at first sight because that’s what happened. get along you two.

otp: president and princess | rin/issei

their roles at school. proud captain of the rissei ship. i will love this ship by myself if i have to.

otp: like cats and dogs | gilgamesh/cu chulainn

this is because of ip. go through her gilcu tag. i swear you’ll come out a different person. gilcu is a good ship. they’re a cat and a dog.

otp: i hate everything you stand for | hansa/jester

hansa and jester both hate each other because of who they are. jester despises those from the church, hansa hates dead apostles. they’re fun.

otp: l’auteur malfaisant | edmond dantes/dumas

this is just what dantes calls him, “the wicked author” but in french. love these two so fucking much. if you want me to be happy just mention eddumas.

otp: beast like me | caren/angra mainyu

in hollow ataraxia, it’s stated that they are both beasts: caren for being born “out of wedlock” and angra mainyu because he’s all the evils of the world. they are both beasts by birth, and must deal with the sins from being called a beast. also a big otp.

otp: sad a lot | tristan/lancelot

i was originally calling this ship “tristalot” which sounds like “triste a lot” which is french for “sad a lot”.

otp: up until this moment my wish was being granted | medea/souichirou

OTP TO RULE ALL OTPS. god i love these two. it’s a reference to what medea says in UBW when she dies. man i love these two so much.

otp: the jewel resting near my heart | rin/shirou

reference to the pendent rin gives shirou. may include rin/archer i’m not sure yet.

otp: let’s destroy the world! | kirei/gilgamesh

wow this is late on the list lol. the ship name is what they wanna do. kirei route when nasu.

otp: on the defense | hector/alter cu chulainn

both of them are known for being defensive characters, both in playstyle and in personality. they’re old, tired men let them nap.

otp: i may not always be by your side | issei/shirou

this is a line issei tells shirou in prillya. love these guys a lot. especially with rin.

otp: sword and sheath | saber/shirou

that’s what they are. saber is the sword and shirou is the sheath. no sexual jokes please. like them romantically and as friends.

otp: my wish is for her to live | medusa/sakura

purple girlfriends. love them. love heaven’s feel. reference to a line medusa tells shirou.

otp: my superman | sakura/shirou

OTP TO RULE ALL OTPS. the best ship in stay night with kuzucaster. i love heaven’s feel so much. they were what got me into drawing. i love them so much. reference to the superman scene in HF.

otp: two too pretty boys | diarmuid/gilgamesh

this is 100% because they are attractive guys. that is it. the ship name shows this.

otp: you cursed me | emiya alter/kiara

don’t @ me i like these two. emiya alter an alter because of kiara, hence the ship name.

otp: you were literally made for me | gilgamesh/enkidu

I DON’T HATE THIS SHIP WHY WOULD I TAG AND REBLOG IT SO MUCH IF I HATED THIS SHIP? I simply stated that I am tired of seeing it so much in the f/sf tags. I do like these two shhh. name is a reference to the fact that kidu was made for gil.

otp: lance to the heart and you’re to blame | kirei/cu chulainn

hello i love kotoyari. reference to the UBW ending. feb 14 isn’t valentines day it’s kotoyari day.

otp: your dream is mine | kiritsugu/irisviel

i can’t talk about this ship without crying just know i love them. iri wishes for his dream to come true.

otp: i wanted a saber anyways | rin/saber

just gals being pals you know . and originally rin wanted a saber.

otp: the woman was a saint | kirei/claudia

im not crying you’re crying. a line in the VN.

otp: you remind me of someone | paracelsus/phantom

no this isn’t just because they’re pretty boys lol. like the idea of them being good friends who help each other when the other goes berserk. 

otp: dancing with the devil | mephistopheles/paracelsus

there’s a lot of cool/interesting ship art between these two that’s really cool and i love. love the idea of them adopting jack. 

otp: fist of the north star to the heart | saint martha/sasaki kojiro

just wait until the summer event. love how koji has joined the dragon slayer’s group. hope he enjoys his new friends. you have to fight her at one point for koji’s development. it’s a joke about how her np is a fist of the north star joke.

otp: calm desert nights | nitocris/scheherazade 

reference to lalalack’s ‘desert beauty’ piece. they spend those nights in the desert exchanging stories, calming each other down. 

otp: how about we put it to the test? | li shuwen/beowulf

what beowulf says to li shuwen before they start their fight. they like to beat each other up and it’s great. 

otp: beat up a pretty face | beowulf/fionn mac cumhaill

who has the pretty face is up to you. reference to how fionn looks ephemeral in the beofionn art.

otp: a king and his knight | diarmuid/fionn

it’s their roles. yeah i know fionn “killed” him it’s fun. 

my chivalrous knight | diarmuid/saber

who is the knight and who is chivalrous? up to you!

otp: blue knights | cu chulainn/saber

only two people ship this there’s only two posts i wanna die

a queen and her knight | saber/irisviel

based on when saber acts as her knight (aka all of fate/zero) in f/z. doesn’t have otp cause i’m lazy. 

ot3: church trio | gilgamesh/kirei/cu chulainn

they live in the church lol.

ot3: we could have had it alllllll | sieg/jeanne d’arc/astolfo

based on the fact that apocrypha could have easily juggled the three of these into an ot3 but nope.

ot3: my two friends | gilgamesh/enkidu/kirei

there is only 1 piece of fanart in this tag but it’s a very good piece of fanart

ot3: this could have worked really well tbqh | kirei/gilgamesh/tokiomi

team archer could have been good if kirei didn’t get his dick sucked by gilgamesh.

ot3: princess president and prince | rin/issei/shirou

their roles - i think shirou should be a prince. i just really love rissei and shissei so why not combine them into an ot3 y/y?

group tag: aesthetic of death | gilles de rais, uryuu ryuunosuke, jeanne alter, prelati

i love these guys a lot okay? a lot of gilles/ryu because canon otp. was supposed to be art of death because of ryuunosuke's CE but it was mistranslated and i'm too lazy to change it!

group tag: equipe francaise | d’eon, marie, mozart, sanson 

they are cute but this tag is pushed by my thirst for mozart. the tag means “french team” which is basically what they are right?

brotp: my retainer | waver velvet/alexander the great

im sorry i can’t ship this romantically but they are cute together!

brotp: troy's defense | penthesilea, hektor

these two are good bros who break pots together and will rip achilles' open

League of Legends:

otp: spin to win | katarina/garen

this is about gameplay. garen is known for his e, which is a spin. the joke “spin to win” comes from that ability. since katarina also has a spin, spin to win works for these two.

otp: drasona | draven/sona

it’s just their ship name lol.

otp: takes two to tango | evelynn/twisted fate

reference to the twisted fate and evelynn shared tango skins. such a good ship. i love them and twisted fate/graves. league of legends please do something with these two i stg.

otp: partners in crime | twisted fate/graves

man this is the best lol ship man i wish lol would do anything with this ship that would be great i love my gay men. and they’re working together again! nice!

otp: the sun shines for you | leona/pantheon

i don’t know what lol is doing with these two if if they’re actually gonna be together and i love diana/leona too but i’ve always had a soft spot for these two. also? a great bot lane if you can stomp early. 

otp: it’s called art | jinx/jhin

to be honest i just think these two would be hilarious. let them just do whatever they want in piltover. 

otp: collecting souls | thresh/kalista

aesthetic and also a great botlane. i just love kalista tbh. ghost wife. 

otp: trying to keep the balance | shen/zed

wow the first otp for league of legends. good shit guys hope you guys get more content soon. 

If a ship you know I like is not on this list it’s probably just tagged as the ship name! I’m probably going to go through and create tags for each ship like these as I think of them. If you have suggestions for ship names let me know! 

[the-voice-of-hell]

The Septagram

-

-   Previous   -    First   -

-

***

Iphigenia took the flashlight out and ambled downhill over the chunks of rocks, earth, plants.  Some parts were fairly dry, but others were drenched or held deep puddles.  The aftermath of hoisting a city park with a reservoir and water tower two thousand feet in the air, then knocking it down.  The wet parts sparkled in the weak electric light and were easily avoided.

Up ahead, she saw a pink light.  A flame licking out of a crack in the ruins.  It cast its faint light up on the unevenly collapsed slabs that constituted the roof of this passage.  She didn’t think much of it until she got closer.  There were six eyes floating in it, circling each other.

“What are you?,” she asked.

“The question,” the fire responded in a woman’s voice, “Is where am I?”

Ippy crumpled her face in anger, then figured it out.  “You’re in my mind.  There aren’t no six eyes floating in a pink fire in front of me.”

“That’s right.  You’re coming to see me, Iphigenia, with violence in your heart.  When we meet, it could be over very quickly.  But before we meet, we can take a little time.  Get to know each other.”

“Eeyeah, I don’t think so.”  She started walking again - toward the weak flame, but intent on stepping right past it.

“Please, my sister.  If you don’t tarry with me, then you will see him, and be overwhelmed with hatred.”

She shook her head.  “What does it matter?”

“It matters to me,” said the woman.

Iphigenia was given a moment of pause.  It reminded her of talking to the cop, Park.  She knew better than to trust a cop, but he seemed quite genuine.  Still, a six-eyed fire had to be less trustworthy than a pig.

Ippy reached a dark filthy pool, and there would be no way past it but wading.  Orange fires sprang up at the corners of the pool, drizzling black smoke into the wreckage above.  She had plenty of room to wade between the little hazards, and did so.

But they began to rotate.  Slow at first but then becoming a spinning wheel of fire around her.  There were eyes in this fire - more than in the last, red like rubies - and a man’s voice.  Abalaam.

“Iphigenia.  I understand you’re coming to kill me.  I told you that you would have your vengeance.  And now it lies ahead of you, simple and pure.”

“So why you holdin’ me up?”  She wagged her hammer at the fire.

“Far be it from me to stand in the way of fate.  But I want you to consider what you’ll find when you come to me.  I am with Queen Bymaan - the architect of all this ruin, of this Hell on Earth.  Between the two of us, how can you stand?”

“You both gonna try to kill me?  Or fuck me?  Because it kinda sounds like you both wanna fuck me.  I’m not really into that, dude.”

“Hahaha, you are magnificent.  But that’s not what I’m after.  I want your fire, hot enough to burn us both to ash.  I don’t mind dying.  It’s been long thousands of years.  But I don’t want to leave the Earth in that bitch’s hands.  Kill us both, Iphigenia!”

“This is some bullshit reverse psychology, because you know I hate you enough I ain’t gonna do what you want.  So I’m just gonna kill you and let her live.  That’s obvious.  But why would you want that?”

“Are you that simple?  You’d let your world burn under the reign of Lucifer’s bitch, just to spite me?”

“You know how hard it is up here?  Most Americans don’t give a fuck about the world.  It’s like, I got mine, fuck you.  Seriously, what did you hope to achieve by this?  Get me riled, hope it’ll put me off my game?”

“You don’t even expect to live through the fight, do you?”

“You’re a fucking genius.”

“Fine.  But don’t listen to her.  She’ll have you in her thrall, believe me.”

“FUCK YOU!  If I get this thing through your skull, I’ll kill myself with a smile.  I’m fuckin’ DONE!”

“Such a waste.”  The fires dissipated.

***

Park walked toward the pink light, wondered what he’d even do when he got there.  He wasn’t a nephilim like Infante or Iphigenia.  He didn’t even have a pointed stick at the moment.  The pink light ahead was so faint, but he was sure it was his goal - his destiny.  He wasn’t going to die before the scene in the throne room after all.

The oracles song was starting to pick up in his head again.  He knew if he resisted it, he’d get a headache, but he figured out how to let it slide by him.  A strange feeling.  He let the sound be, but unfocused his mind, letting him see past it.  Only one thing he needed - that pink fire.

An orange light emerged from the pink, and slipped toward him across the stone, in a serpentine motion.  As it drew closer he could see it was an actual serpent, made of gold.

It was on him before he could think, sliding in circles around his body until it was on his hands like cat’s cradle.  It was thin as a whip, with ruby-red eyes on its face and down its back.

“Detective Park!”  It was Abalaam’s voice.  Or Abraham’s, perhaps.  Less depth.

“Gah!  This is grody, even for you.”

“You don’t like snakes?”  It disappeared in a burst of golden light, and SAC Abraham stood before him, translucent like those ghosts in Star Wars - but with a golden tinge to the light.  “We can do it like this.  It’s all in your head.”

“Yeah, that’s better.  If we hafta do this, we can do it like this.”

“You’re a human being.  Hardly a trace of angelic contamination in your noble blood - the favored race of God in Heaven.”

“What does that matter to you?  Jealous?”

“Yes, in fact.  But the important thing is that you’re so much more sensible than these nephilim.”

“Why do you need sensibility?”

“Iphigenia is still coming, specifically to kill me.”

“That’s fine by me.”

“Fine, but consider this.  Bymaan is far more powerful than I am.  I can even the odds with a little help from some nephilim, but if one stands with her against me, the fight is not so sure.”

“Again..?”

“If I lose and Bymaan wins, you will never be able to defeat her.  If I win, you may yet have a chance to defeat me.  The lesser evil should prevail, if humanity is to prevail in the long run.”

“So I’m supposed to use my sense to convince Iphigenia not to kill you, until the Queen is dead?”

“You’ve got it.”

“Not really convinced, Abe.”

“She isn’t even going to come to you.”

“What does that mean?”  Park resumed walking, and the phantom remained in front of him receding at the same pace he advanced.

“She is in Iphigenia’s mind, and another nephilim as well.  She doesn’t believe you matter - that humanity can make a difference.  I’m coming to you because I believe there is a reason God favors you.  Show your worth, Ji-hyung.”

“Christ, you demons are creepy.”

“You don’t have much longer to decide.  The time is nearly upon you.”

“I know.”

The phantom disintegrated, replaced with a more solid form.  It was a lurching human form that crashed into him, and they fell apart in a tangle of limbs, gasps, and panic.

***

“Jennifer.  You’re awfully happy, considering the current state of your lover.”

Jen shook her head.

“Hey, that’s ticklin’ my nose, kid.”  Jason rode behind her on the unicorn.

“Sorry, the evil Queen is trying to mind control me right now.  Toots, I’ve got things to do.  Gimme a break!”  She kicked the unicorn’s sides gently and it ran at the wall, up to the corner, then sprang away.

Jason hung on for dear life.  There wasn’t a good reason for him to be on the beast’s back yet.  Jen hadn’t found a way out, but was so confident it would happen quickly that she’d convinced him to mount up.  They’d been running up walls and kicking at cracks, by the light of the monster’s horn.

Bymaan was a pink haze in the corners of Jen’s vision.  “I’m not trying to control you.  You saw what happened.  My treacherous servant Abalaam snatched up your Sergio to empower himself.  You’ll see when you get to us.”

“That’s right.  You came to Seattle and thought you could take over, subject us to your laws.  But we’re free!  Anarchy now, baby!”

Jason quibbled, only hearing half the conversation.  “Maybe I should get off this ride, kiddo.  I’m no rabble-rouser.  I just wanna find my girl and get outta the pokey.”

“HYAH!”  Jen rode the unicorn up another wall and bashed through the roof in a shower of small rocks.  Tangled buddy roots roughly brushed over their flesh as they clambered through to the next good stopping place.

The pink haze fell away, but now an orange light crowded the corners of her sight.  They were in a much taller pocket of ruin now, the lambent unicorn’s radiance barely reaching the top crevice where the slabs had crushed together.  The beast tapped its hooves impatiently, feeling out the new environment.

Abalaam’s voice came to Jen.  “You’re coming to find us, to set your man free.”

“Sergio’s his own man, demon voice.”

Jason said, “That’s it, I’m getting down.  Thanks for the ride, unicorn.”

He awkwardly dismounted and staggered to the side.  The unicorn whuffed at him, and went back to its work.

“Jennifer, I will gladly free Sergio, and this other one beside him.  But I need all the power I can muster to throw down the despot that oppresses us both.  Queen Bymaan has taken over your precious city.  I don’t care about The Septagram.  A demon lord reigning in open sight is a target.  Help me defeat her, and I will release these men, then release Seattle itself.”

“Golly, pal.  That sure sounds reasonable.”  She rolled her eyes.

“The only reason I needed Sergio was to defeat my Queen.  If she is gone, I have no need for him.  You’ll see, whether you help me or not.”

“So why tell me about it?”

“Because it will be easier if you join me.  Maybe you’ll see sense when you get here.  She’s too powerful, and has to be stopped.”

“You’re the one that brought the building down.  Who’s too powerful?”

“And after her tower fell, she isn’t dead yet.  What does that tell you?”

“Get out of my head, guy.  I’m gonna do whatever I want.”

“We both know that.  It’s why we’re making our cases.”

“Uh-huh.  Are you done yet?”

The fiery glow dissipated like someone blew out a candle.  She turned the unicorn in place with gentle pushes at his shoulders, pleased how smart he was about following her instruction, and surveyed the chamber.  There was Jason, hands in his pockets, wondering what would come next, but not wanting to get back on the creature.  He flashed a polite smile at her, but looked away, making it clear he was looking for his own way out now.

She rode the unicorn around the uneven mounds of ruin, looking for weak corners or halls that hadn’t been ruined - any kind of way out.  Then again, if the demon bosses had reached her with their minds, they were probably trapped as well.  Should she be trying to escape, or trying to find them?

Jen grew impatient and picked up speed, driving the unicorn around and around the chamber, up and down walls.  I’m the greatest hipster that ever lived.  Nothing can stop me.

***

Maddy figured out she wasn’t being attacked and embraced the strange man.  He was a tall handsome sort, but mostly it was a relief to be around any humans that had lived through that mess.  “Oh, mister!  You’re alive!”

“Uh, yeah, sorry.”  Park pushed her gently out to arm’s length.  “I’m glad to see somebody else alive in here, too.  But I need to find somebody in particular.  Have you seen a big red demon with a wheel on his back?”

She shook her head.  “Yes, but why?  Why go there?”

“My man is his prisoner.”  A moment of reflexive internalized homophobia pushed this out his mouth, “We’re cops.”  That’s right.  He’s your man because he’s under your command.

“There’s no way your man is alive.  That monster...”  She shook her head.  “We need to get out of here!  The demons will kill each other and bring the place down on our heads!  I know it!”  She covered her face with her hands.  “We need to get out of The Septagram.  Out of Seattle.”

“Ma’am, look.  I don’t know if there’s a way out of here until some kind of rescue digs us out.  If you can find some water, do it.  At least there’s a lot of trapped air and not many people sharing it.”

“You’re going to leave me?”  She was miserable again.

“I need to find my man.”

“Fine, I’ll take you there.  You damned macho bastard.”  Her words faded into grunting silence.  She gestured back the way she came - toward the faint pink light.  Park helped support her so she could stop hopping everywhere.  They went to see the Queen.

Park and Maddy came out behind the camel and carefully maneuvered around it.  Maddy clung to Park all the way up until they were standing right beside the great demons, forming a triangle.  She gestured at the weird scene.  “Queen Bymaan.  Your wheel, your man.  Are you satisfied?”

Park’s gaze was transfixed.  “Infante!  Are you..?”

The broken remains of Abalaam’s wheel provided the stationary track for a wheel of fiery energy, with men for spokes.  They spun endlessly - too fast to see their faces clearly through the flames.  They didn’t speak, but the eyeballs on the wheel track flashed, and focused on Park.

The big demon spoke.  “She doesn’t care about you, Ji-hyung.  Madison.  You’re merely humans.”

Park grunted.  “Like the men in your wheel.  Let them go!”

“These aren’t humans like you, like Madison.  These are nephilim, and my only advantage over the Queen - the only thing keeping her bound to the circle.”

Maddy cried quietly into Park’s shoulder while he spoke with the thing.

“And we’re supposed to believe you’ll let them go when you take her down?”

Abalaam’s voice seemed to come from nowhere, his expression still as he faced off with the Queen.  “It won’t be up to you to decide.  Unless you can influence the will of the other nephilim who are coming to the battle - Jennifer and Iphigenia.”

“Two.  One for each of you.”

“And I have two in my corner already.”

Park thought her heard the woman say “Daddy” and became too distracted to retort.

***

Iphigenia came to a long even slab leading down into darkness.  There was a lot more soil and stone in the mix here - and among it, headstones and coffins.  This must have slid down from the graveyard.  She felt a little bad for the dead, but kept on.

Then orange willowisps trickled out of the rocks and came to rest on two particular coffins.  Skeletons bashed their way out.

“Skeletons, oh no.”  She wasn’t impressed, holding a very useful tool for crushing bone.  She tucked the flashlight into her shirt pocket again and readied the weapon.

The skeletons looked confused for a moment, like they were trying to recover their minds, their identities.  But then an orange light flashed in their eye sockets, and they fell in line.  They leapt to the ground and ran toward her.

She was ready for the attack, but then they broke to the sides, started weaving and dipping like boxers.  She tried to get out from in between them, but they were too deft.

“Fighters, huh?”  She tried a little feint toward one, then came at the other with the hammer.  It rolled out of the way and bashed her in the hip with a crescent kick.  She grunted and didn’t have time to react before the other came at her with a familiar looking step side kick.  She was tossed hard to the rocks.  The other leapt in with a stomp to her gut.

Reflexively she lashed out with the hammer in a great sweeping arc.  They both jumped back in unison, went to the boxing stance.  She groaned and stood, keeping her back to the rocks.  “Alright.  What is this?  Orange light, must be Abalaam.  Didn’t know you had kung fu.”

The skeletons came back at her.  She dove between them and caught more brutal kicks, rolling across the rocks.  When she managed to face them again, she was rewarded with a kick to the face.  It hurt like hell, but a kick from the other one to the side of her head was less bad.

They kept doing all these fancy little moves, spinning and weaving and snapping.  But she realized they had very little strength - no muscle moving these bones, and the magic working in place of that was weaker.  It was only direct hits with the right force behind that did proper damage.

She dropped the hammer and grabbed the leg of the tall one as it kicked at her, rushing forward until she slammed its body into a big rock.  Her body was the weapon, and she crushed the fragile bones.  She’d been cut up in the process, but it was worth it to have one less nuisance.  Then she rolled to the side, to face the shorter one.

Ippy had turned just in time to see it had made itself a lot more dangerous, whacking at her with her own hammer.  She barely dodged, got out of the way, and came up to face the Harryhausen creation.

It held the hammer across its hands, displaying it as if on offer.  Letting her get the advantage back?  A sense of honor?  No, it was just being fancy before launching into a kata where it whirled the hammer all about like nunchaku.

“Damn, Boney Maloney.  You come straight out of a kung fu movie.”  She found herself unconsciously bobbing and weaving like they had done before, hoping to be ready for the attack when it came.

One quick hammer lash.  She flinched out of the way and it was only a glancing blow.  The skeleton seamlessly went back into the kata, the weapon twirling all about, daring her to try a move.

She stepped to the side, paced down to flatter rocks, and back a step.  She had both fists up, one leg forward and one back, but tried to keep her stance as loose as possible.  She needed to be ready for anything.

The skeleton seemed to prefer defensive moves - intercepting attacks and such.  It also stepped back a pace, caught the twirling hammer under its right arm, and gestured to her with the other hand.  Beckoning.

She shook her head.  “Do I look stupid?”

It caught her in the middle of the last syllable, lashing out in the space between her breaths, when she’d be slowest to react.  The hammer came so fast, crashing brutally into her arms where she blocked it, then snapped back to twirl in for another hit.

Ippy took advantage of the wind up and sprang forward with a short leaping kick to the chest.  The skeleton blasted to pieces and her hammer clattered to the ground beside her.

The skeletons had done a number on her.  She was scratched and scraped in so many ways, all of her clothes bloody, save where being pre-soaked with water made it harder for the claret to seep in.  The worst were bone bruises on her arms, ribs, and jaw - and that her jaw was jammed up.  She couldn’t open her mouth far without making the pain worse - and it was already quite bad, radiating from her throat up to her temple on that side.

She slumped to the grass, loosely drawing the hammer toward her lap.

More skeletons and a few withered corpses besides.  No kung fu stances on the rest of them, at least.  She rubbed sweat out of her eyes and tensed her grip on the hammer.

The assault began, orange light in their eyes.  Abalaam knew she was coming for him, first and foremost.  Could she really do this?  Kill a powerful demon, like Infante had?

It was easy to feel powerful bashing apart these less impressive foes, but the demon had admitted the only reason they could be killed was due to Jelly Sue’s influence.  As easy as it had been for him to destroy her, that vampiric power somehow had some power over him.  Once she was out of the picture, Infante’s bullets did nothing.

Even with several corpses attacking her at once now, the fight was much easier.  So much so that her mind was able to drift.  There was an image there in pink light - a piece of paper floating down from above.  More bullshit from the Queen.  While part of Iphigenia’s mind battled the creatures around her, part of it read the page.

“The seventh spirit in order is Bymaan, a great Monarch, and very obedient to Lucifer.  Bymaan is constrained by divine virtue to stand before the conjurer, where they putteth on the likeness of man or woman: they sitteth on a dromedary which is a swift runner, and weareth a glorious crown.  There goeth before them an Host of spirits with trumpets and well sounding cymbals, and all musical instruments.

At first they appeareth with a great cry and roaring, that the conjurer will understand them not.  But when the conjurer hath delivered them the first obligation to observe their desire, they must answer him distinctly and plainly to all questions asked - of all philosophy, wisdom, and science, and of all other secret things.  And if he willeth to know the disposition of the world, and what the Earth is, or what holdeth it up in the water, or any other thing, or what is the Abyss, or where the wind is, or from whence it cometh, they will teach him abundantly.

Consecrations as well as sacrifices may be reckoned.  Bymaan giveth dignities and confirmations - they bindeth them that resist him in chains and subjecteth them to the conjurer.  They prepareth good familiars, can raiseth the dead for a time of seven years, and hath the understanding of all arts.  Note that at the calling up of them, the conjurer must look towards the northwest, because there is their house…”

***

Maddy and Park were knocked to the floor with the force of a shockwave.  A unicorn smashed through the wall and tried to drive its horn into Abalaam’s wheel, but was held at bay by the magic circle below him.  The protective energies clashed with the unicorn’s powers, and threw it back.  It hit the ground and bounced like a heavy sausage.

There was that young white lady from before, no doubt here to rescue Sergio, now fallen from the unicorn and utterly dazed.  A man came up from the tunnel behind her, and beheld the scene in wonderment.

“Daddy?”

Jason cast about in the darkness, the only light sources the aurae of rituals and magical beasts.  Then he saw Maddy, sprawled on the floor, reaching toward him with one hand.  “Maddy!”

Park was very glad to not be ‘Daddy’, but he was occupied trying to understand the new situation - and still had an instinct to try to keep people safe as possible.  He put himself between the lady and the magical fireworks - still sparking around Abalaam.

Abalaam’s voice rumbled, again disembodied.  “Amduscias!  Stay out of this!  It is a family affair.  No concern of yours.”

The unicorn took note of his commands, and got to its feet.  Jen’s glasses were finally wrecked and she took in the scene impressionistically.  “Amduscias?  Is that your name, boy?”

He nodded to her, then turned his attention to the circle, stamping a hoof.  He must not have the power to penetrate the magic circle, Jen reasoned.

She walked along the periphery on the far side from Maddy and Park, while Jason hustled the other direction, rushing to embrace his daughter.  Jen looked at the spinning men hopelessly.  They were a blur in a ring of fire.  “Sergio!”

He couldn’t respond.

Abalaam spoke again.  “You’ve arrived Jennifer.  I did not expect you to bring help.  Strange we can be nearly omniscient and still get broadsided by circumstance.  Have you met my friend Ji-hyung Park?  He’s a detective from Tacoma.”

“That’s great.”

“Not his friend!”  Park was yelling from the other side of the wheel.

“I guessed.”

“Jennifer.  You still have time to decide.  Unlike your new friend, you can pass the circle - try to lay hands upon me in violence.  You won’t be able to harm me yet - perhaps when the second nephilim arrives.  In the meantime, consider my words.”

“Man, why should I believe you?  Maybe I can kill you right now, and you’re just biding time!”

“Hahaha… You’re welcome to try.  Just keep in mind the fair lady in front of me is made of softer stuff - and it would be a far better use of your energies to take her down.”

She regarded the Queen.  What a strange figure she cut, like a statue of the Virgin Mary, crying.  Just to look at her, it was hard to hate her.  But she had to remember the cruelty of the invading army, making Rosemarie get that crappy tattoo, killing those guys.  The cruelty with which they’d jailed her and Sergio in that little cage.  And why was Amduscias trapped with Jason at the bottom of the pit?  Who could do that to a unicorn?

Amduscias spoke, “You’re thinking about it.  Good.”

She shook off the haze.  “Like fuck I am.”  She pointed angrily at Abalaam, who still was not looking at her, except with the eyes of his wheel.  “Let’s do this thing!”

Park felt useless.  He was holding his arms at his sides, as if he’d have to use them somehow to protect Maddy and her Daddy.  Surely neither of them was stupid enough to get into the fight.  And what was the goddamned unicorn going to do?  It was pacing near Abalaam’s back - a lot smaller than the camel in the Queen’s corner, but armed.

Jen charged at the Queen, ran up her fleshy body, did an extremely powerful backflip off her forehead, coming at Abalaam with pointy boot heels to the eyes.  She bounced away and her fall was broken by a big white lap.  It jiggled with her impact.

She felt the Queen’s soothing presence in her mind, like big white hands helping her back to her feet, though the actual hands remained still at her sides.  She looked up at Abalaam, still sitting impassive.  No.  He was smiling now, the prick!

“I’ve had about enough of you,” she said.

“You can feel how soft she is.  Strike her down, and Sergio will be freed.  Officer Infante as well…  Strange, how much love is in this fallen temple tonight.  But can the lovers bring themselves to do what is best for them?”

Jason got Park’s attention with an arm on the shoulder.  Park jumped.  “Sorry, officer, I just… do you know if there’s a way outta here for the civilians?”

“I’m sorry.  I really wish I did.”

“Thank you.”  He stepped back to Maddy and slouched down at the wall beside her.  “Hey Princess, how are you holdin’ up?”

“It’s a miracle!  You’re alive.”

“You and me both, Baby.”

“No, I mean it!  I tried really hard, I prayed so many times.  And you came riding in on a - a unicorn!  It’s Jesus!”

“I think its name is Amduscias, Honey.”

She punched his arm.  “You know what I mean!”

“Uh, yeah, I guess I do.  Well, I wasn’t praying when Jen and Amduscias busted me outta the pit, but you were.  Maybe if we’re both praying now, it’ll help out a lot?”

“I love you, Daddy.”

He held her close and kissed her temple, then quietly said anything holy he could remember.  “Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name...”

Jen clambered out of the Queen’s lap and stood between the monsters.  Fallen angels.  Demons.  She could feel the energy between them as they struggled for dominance, and something else too - more subtle.  She felt it in her pelvis and thought of Sergio.  His energy was caught up in this mix too.  She got mad and started stomping and kicking at Abalaam’s annoyingly bulletproof legs.

***

The demons atop the mess had developed a good strategy for finding the Queen.  Shiny Dan - a Satanist with a drafting degree - worked with the tiniest demons they could find and a lot of wire to start mapping the wreckage.  Cariamon - the main demon on the scene - kept the less ruly types out of the way while he processed the intelligence.

The building had been made of a very particular kind of black stone, which was fairly resilient to the kind of damage being done.  While the whole structure had fallen to pieces, large slabs of it had not - some hundreds of feet long.  They were stacked irregularly, like a pile of driftwood that hadn’t been cemented fully by tides yet, leaving pockets of air - caverns, mostly sealed off from each other, but some more connected than others.  The little demons squeezed in the less accessible cracks and crevices to help map out the interior.

Cariamon shoved a monkey-like demon aside with his copper-plated rod of authority, then pointed it at the six inch demon giving his report.  “Be specific.  Was it more of an acute angle, or obtuse?”

Its fish face was panicked.  “What does that mean, boss?”

Shiny Dan said, “Was it steep?  Did you have a hard time standing on it, where it sloped down?”

“Yeah!  Yeah, real steep.”

“Thank you.”  He adjusted the angle of a chunk of polygons in his 3D program.  “Master Cariamon, with a few more hours of this, I really believe we can pinpoint where the temple ended up.”

“Mm, it may have to do, but I wonder if we can hasten the discovery.  She doesn’t need to breathe, but if she’s … in a bad state, Lucifer will be most vexed.”

Shiny Dan pushed his ponytail back from his shoulder again, and looked at the fallen angel with sensitive eyes.  “I will do whatever it takes for my Infernal Lord!”  He contemplated the screen again.  “We can really rule out all of these areas.  These slabs suggest that interior vertical stayed intact after these floors collapsed, which would force it to stay on this side of the wall.  See?”

“I do see.  This technology is remarkable.”

“Vinimus, Terigius, and that one that looked like… a mushroom with a human foot?”

“Grotus.”

“Those guys did some serious rappelling here.  Said it was a fifty foot drop, which for them is mountain climbing.”

“Why do you mention this?”

“The horizontals - the floors and ceilings - crumbled much more thoroughly than the verticals.  If it’s weak enough and you ran some guys down that shaft, they might be able to find the temple.  Unless it ended up in this spot, or this one.  Or if it was smashed completely.”

“You have served Hell well, Shiny Dan.  Keep up this work.  I’m going to get that endeavor underway.”  He turned to another legionnaire.  “Ardigon, keep this lot in line while I’m gone.”

“Aye, Master Centurion.”

Cariamon ascended the ridge grabbing the attention of his subordinates with waves of the scepter, pulling them into his orbit.  At the top he pointed to a small hole in the rubble, only a foot and a half across.  “We need this hole wide enough to send down legionnaires, explore anything you can get past with picks.  The bricks of the pavilion had a wavy cut.  Keep your eyes out for those in particular.”

An elderly man crested the opposite ridge and looked down at them with a hand on his hip.  “Heya.  Heard the Queen ended up inside this mess.”

Cariamon cocked an eyebrow at him.  “Another fake legionnaire?”

“I never fake it.  Anyway, I’d love to meet the lady in charge.  Is this way down a hot ticket?”

“Could be.  Grab a pick, old fellow.”

“Mmm, too slow.”  He slid down the slab he was on, did a little hop, and crashed through the hole - widening it on the way down.  He was out of sight.

Cariamon jabbed a goat boy in the arm with his rod.  “Don’t let that man find her first.  Get in the hole.  All of you!”

***

NEXT

-

[mydreamosphere]

Annabelle me Herman kicked me to the curb he was Batman I was John Doe

Jeremy a rich ghost boy tried to take over my life, but we bonded in the end

Andi Mack was pregnant with Jonah’s child but they weren’t dating and Cyrus was jealous and tried to run away but andi told him it’s okay and to finally confess to Jonah/ Stewie was dating Brian and Brian was a bum ass nigga and an apocalypse happened and Brian proposed to stewie and became a better man, well dog, dog man? Man dog ?/ I was Geralt of rivia and went to a store with vesmer, and we laughed a lot, then I turned into a woman and my husband and his alternate universe selves fought and died and I became an alcoholic and ended up with another alternate in the end/ I was a power ranger, red one, trained a new ranger, all rangers came together after years and the we sang.

A vampire werewolf hybrid boy( he was born a vamp but made into a werewolf) was my friend but my bully and crush and turned me into a werewolf too and we had to do battle at the end and I’m sad cause he had to die but I loved him but I only just realized 😪

Magic world And human one, kinda hidden but not really. / Had massive amount of drugs, was in a true blood esque enviroment.

Club, took mad pills, nick was there, caught up and went on a date. We weren’t compatible, but we Rekindled friendship, I still loved him.

Extremely vivid dreams, lucid ones, feel so real, almost can’t tell I’m dreaming. Had powers and twin, dating same boy, interrogated ninjA turtles human versions, so hot. Fought giant troll beast creatures, killed one but he was cute.

Was in love with king of Spain even tho he’s married, I was his mistress and Assassin, we we’re sharing a cigarette and flirting, then he needed help with his sons’, Avalon, murder. Alex Lilly was there for some reason, all my old friends were Assassins with me actually. We last left off going through old castle ruins, but a spider got in the way, which the king found amusing XP

We were on water and ships and this guy didn’t want this little boy to be gay, so RuPaul raised him but he has to go away, and he cane back to visit with his boyfriend and it was so emotional and happy, then he went back to land and opened a matchmaker cafe and he had powers of love.

A movie about the apocalypse, people were turning into demons and the only way to avoid them was to remain absolutely still, I mean like the slightest movement and you were dead, it was one of the scariest dreams I’ve had. I turned into one and so did my friends, but we could retain our humanity, and we fought and found a way to the heavens and started to live in peace but god was trying to kill us all./ I found a man who could fly, and he lent me the power to do it, but I ended up being a natural with it and didn’t need his power, so he tried to get rid of me but I busted out of there and flew away.

An apocalypse and we had different groups trying to all meet up. I had oral sex with Mikey. Thanos came down and was looking for gamora, we got the help of the astrals from ffxv, but it didn’t work, and then went to destroy half the world. I killed a werewolf, but he had a boyfriend, they were werewolf priests ? It was weird, but I felt terrible and buried him. Then I was a surviver mountain-y guy with a pet bear, zombies were coming so I tried to find a place inside. I was gohan and was trying to steal moonshine from the Archean from ffxv with my friends that had a crush on me ?

My mom was giant, and kissed Eb. Eb cheated on Marcus. I was a white gay married to a bisexual gay that cheated with his old ex gf, we had kids, 4, and I loved them all. I went to a party and made friends except one of them thought I liked him cause I kept accidentally falling into.

Apocalypse I was Bayek of Siwa and then he died and then I was his eagle and it was sad and sweet. Years after apocalypse things are returning to normal in a pair of twins and they’re in love and yeah it was odd and animals evolved and adapted and were dangerous.

We were doing a play in front of the classical and in the basement was a monster witch, she tried to kill us all, even children, we ended up in a castle and the royals had powers too, come to find out she stole her powers from the old king and his magician, and they were the only ones able to get rid of her. I hitch hiked after leaving my brother, fought a bear, then I was at witch school and helping the head master defeat the evil assistant. I gave him head too.

This bitch was fucking with my friends so I destroyed her shit dumb Bitch, and we had a party to go to and she had no clothes

Freaky nightmare ghost

Murders and gore, a haunted house and a rabid buster.

Monsters and werewolves. Rival and me were wolves. In the end I rewrote history to fall in love with him.

Time hopped again, everyone was happy and alive. The best time so far, everyone was alive and I was in love with Anthony(tony).

Saw amazing band, on the ceiling, climbed and crawled around the ceiling and it was amazing. Jen turned a men tried to kill me and the bad mates got really violent, I turned out to be an old girlfriend turned into a man.

Kinda of a vuugle set up but at a restaurant setting but also a daycare. I was magic and he was a vamp and he confessed his love for me.

De-mitri was mad at me, and was my pimp, I lost my virginity. Madelane moved into my house, and Jonah from Andi Mack did too, was in love with Jonah. Stole my dad medicine.

Got shoot at, turned evil and ate my mother, wasn’t my fault, ghost friend made me evil but I got fixed. Joined a team, demitri was there, and healed people of nature, mall setting, couldn’t walk again. Turned out to be a past life. Witches tried to stop me from healing. Had sex with an evil henchmen and I was the top.

Dyed hair but eyebrows got dyed too, Luis cane down and I cleaned myself out for him, gross btw, and then turned into another cute boy who lied to me. So I stole his drugs and money with my mom.

Herman and me, sleep over. Love and stuff and sadness.

Was dating Sharon but he looked like fleury, he died, so I went to a witch, so remade him from clay and his hair took a year of baking and constant streams of my love and own power.

Sea monster, demonic, kidnapped women, criminal minds girls. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Reunion, fleury and me flirted and yeah.

An old entity split into 6 people, and they kept meeting throughout history. They didn’t remember past lives, only one did at a time, and the one who did remember got taken over. Found out that it’s bad side also broke away and was trying to take over the 6 one by one. The only way to stop it was to dispel the negativity they felt.

Boyfriend was demon, loved him. Marcus had a son.

Mona demon, fought him, tried to win.

Boyfriend and Melissa, had sex with him, was too tight for penetration so I fingered him, I had to be the top. I miss him.

Friends stay at cabin, werewolf bites girl. Head werewolf was hot

Witch and powers, haunted house. Huey Dewey and Louie, I was Donald but we were all human ?

Madelane and me were friends again ?

I was getting bullied by a boy from Michigan, but then I fell for him, Jackson, then had to leave, I texted but he didn’t respond, I felt terrible but something happened to his family and he had written me letters, come to find out he was the reason I survived a tragic fall, ended up costing him his football career. We reunited in the end. Also ran into Raymond outside of ronzios. Worked at rack room, but spent a lot of time in game stop which was also a psychiatric place ? And I made friends there, karina especially, but went by rina, and was looking for Skyrim switch but bought Pokémon emerald cards instead.

Was going to classical even tho I graduated and bunked and mr bar found me and I told him off. Then I got an uber in this cool as trolley thing and fell in love with the rider alexgoober?, something Dutch like, and we did it and then he broke up with me but we were looking for each other again.

I was a drug dealer trying to avoid getting arrested. I was looking for Reid, and we found him.

Girl fights off monster bird, after trying to set it free, and then demons. Loses memory, and her amphos weapon. but is saved by mysterious power, fast forward to now she’s living with a new family in the city. Demons exist and the only thing that hurts them is amphos, a plant that contains light. There’s a church that exists dedicated to amphos, a d fighting the demons. There are hunters who have weapons that can’t meld with the amphos, and they’re are nuns that use them too and speak a language to fight the demons off. You can speak the language and you have a necklace that wards off the demons.

Buff boyfriend had sex and I love him. Ticks, cause of rain, one crawled into my thumb.

Demons and It, uncle fester but didn’t want to be called that. I was two brothers and they had a falling out after receiving superpowers cause one received better powers, and it went to his head, and the other felt left out and unimportant and unloved by his brother, and went to demon world and got back together.

I was me, and I was babysitting ravens baby, and Melissa was Chelsea, and Corey was there and victor, but Corey still looked the same, raven had a Disney thing to go to, and when she left an apocalypse type thing happened, sully was there too. I traveled to Spain I guess and was trying to learn more Spanish.

Girl, powers from a alien ai robot, meets other like her, gives some to her best friend.

Boyfriend, first date, cooked for me, lived in veazie, had a cat, six sinks, need him back.

Cameron Boyce moist, went back in time and changed things for the better. Jenny and me. Me and a girl and this gon like boy, loved each other, he could control weather, he got hurt when we were kids, and it was our fault and it changed him and he became possessive as obsessive. We had to kill him but we loved him.

Serial killer brothers, believed they were predators and everyone else was prey. Until they met me, another predator. I got to know and connect with one of the brothers and I knew if things had been different we would’ve been something. We convinced them to have a shoot out, and I won, I shoot him in the throat, but I felt bad, and he seemed so heart broken that I killed him. I held him while he bleed to death in my arms.

Madelane back in life a bit, dating a boy, in love, was Luis at first then it wasn’t m then dating luis gets involved and boy stays instead of leaving for school.

Older robin, killed people, protected best friend Isabel, killed her abusive bf. Then younger robin, flashback to how he became robin and met Isabel at smart school and wanted to date a cute nerd boy.

Are you afraid of the dark/goosebumps. Kids set of nuclear bomb, had powers, before that, main girl (wind/air powers), was dating boy (flame powers), but he was angry, third girl was younger (powers of light and flight). Horror characters like Chucky/slappy tried to kill original victims, plus the new kids. They defeated them and helped past victims. I ended up dating angry boy instead.

Melissa and me in Japan kids, someone has to stay behind in the past She does, her ring breaks like it did before and she finally realizes why, this time our friend stays behind with the ring

Toys could come alive, and wanted freedom to be, but mainly they just wanted to be with loving kids. We fought, and I killed a few. After understanding them, and realizing they just wanted to be loved, I befriended them, and reunited with mine. After everything was said and done, my old friend turned bully, who was trying to help the toys in their rebellion rekindled with me, for some reason he ended up being homeless and moved in with me and family, we fought once more and kissed and lived in love with my toys and each other. My toys lived in the basement floorboards, like the borrowers, and every night and morning I’d knock on them to let them know I still loved them.

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 7/23/18

Anonymous Noise, Vol. 9 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | Viz Media – The tour begins, but it’s already on the verge of falling apart. Nino simply isn’t playing very well, and Yuzu is falling apart because of his love for Nino, something that he is trying desperately to hide from her. Indeed, he ends up getting in such a swivet he loses his voice, prompting a trip to the doctor that may lead to him missing the start of the concert. And then there is Momo, dealing with his own career, and irritated as he waits for In No Hurry to reach the level they sho0uld be able to achieve. I was frequently frustrated by this volume, but the book’s last chapter works exactly like a great song, pushing closer and closer to a climax until it finally hits the last chorus in triumph. And then there’s a cliffhanger. End of song next book! – Sean Gaffney

The Bride & the Exorcist Knight, Vol. 1 | By Keiko Ishihara | Seven Seas – I wasn’t too sure about this premise. Anne is a young woman destined to be the bride of a demon. Instead, she’s saved by Haru, who is a male exorcist. He’s also twelve, and he says he’s going to marry her instead. The book, fortunately, emphasizes over and over not only that he’s too young to be talking about marriage but also that he really is an immature kid, despite being an amazing exorcist. Anne too is a good character, not content to be a helpless damsel but fighting in her own way to change fate. We don’t see much of Mephisto, her intended groom—though the cliffhanger suggests that will change. But provided you don’t mind the age issue too much, this is a cute and action-filled debut. – Sean Gaffney

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 4 | By Ukami |Yen Press – the majority of this volume involves our four leads returning to heaven/hell (delete where applicable) in order to report on their time down in the world of humans. The gags are predictable but still fun—Gabriel is unable to bring her games to heaven, which proves rather dull, but at least she can bullshit her way past an easily suckered God. Meanwhile, Vignette is dealing with her adorable little pet being a lot bigger than she remembers (I was reminded of Gintama here), and Satanya has to deal with being herself—she tries to break into heaven and fails. Fortunately, we find out that the rest of her family (bar the “normal” younger brother) are just like her. This remains a very silly but amusing series. – Sean Gaffney

Go For It, Nakamura! | By Syundei | Seven Seas – Although there have already been several BL-adjacent manga released by Seven Seas, Go for It, Nakamura! is the publisher’s first real foray into the genre. The volume is an absolute delight. Nakamura is a gay high school student who has developed a crush on his classmate Hirose, but Nakamura’s introverted nature and general awkwardness mean that the two of them have barely even talked to each other. Go for It, Nakamura! is the perfect title for this manga–I couldn’t help but root for Nakamura as his friendship with Hirose slowly develops. The story is funny and charming and the characters immensely likeable. A bigger deal is made out of Nakamura being a fan of octupi than out of him being gay, a refreshing twist that is also resolved sweetly. Nakamura does occasionally have a dirty daydream, but overall, Go for It, Nakamura! is rather chaste and wholesome. I loved it. – Ash Brown

Haikyu!!, Vol. 25 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – Last time I commented on how delighted I was with Hinata’s character development and growth. That continues here, but as the training camps end and we resume practice it’s Kageyama who’s given a volume to really show off. In this case it’s not just that he’s grown, but the series also looks at the attitude that got him in trouble in middle school—the whole arrogant “King” thing—and wonders if it was the attitude or the rest of the team? After all, the Haikyu!! kids are unlikely to be cowed by Kageyama at this point. Particularly Tsukishima, who may need enough people being jerks towards him in order to really take off. Good stuff, though I suspect we may be getting more tournament games soon. – Sean Gaffney

Little Devils, Vol. 1 | By Uuumi | Seven Seas – This is supposed to be more than one volume, though I do wonder where it’s going to go from here. The premise is that the hero has defeated the demon king… which is now split into eleven adorable and bratty children (and one egg). Each chapter of this first volume introduces one of the children, shows off their eccentricities, and moves on. Some of the cast make reappearances (Asuka is clearly the “star” of the children), but for the most part this reads very much like an anthology. Fortunately, the kids’ eccentricities are enough to disguise the fact that the hero is super boring. The said, this really feels like it could have ended with the first volume, after the egg hatches and we get our twelfth devil. Can it keep up being sort of cute? – Sean Gaffney

Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade, Vol. 9 | By Koyuki and Mamare Touno | Yen Press – We continue to deal with the odd golem creation that was introduced in the last book here—turns out Kuroe is part of a pair, and is not all that excited to join up with her other half, which is filled with hatred and despair, now that she’s gotten kindness from Soujiro and company. The evil golem creature is a pretty nasty opponent, eating Isaac’s black sword among other things, and the fact that it sort of looks like Soujiro with cat ears doesn’t help. I suspect this may be the final arc of this spin-off title, so I’m pleased it’s emphasizing the family aspect of the series rather than the comedy. Also, really nice fights. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 1 | By Hideyuki Furuhashi, Betten Court, and Kohei Horikoshi | VIZ Media –I was a little wary of this My Hero Academia offshoot, but it turned out to be more enjoyable than I expected. Nineteen-year-old Koichi Haimawari has a modest quirk—the ability to glide along surfaces—and has been spicing up his boring life by doing good deeds. One night, he runs into a grizzled old vigilante who calls himself Knuckleduster and becomes his apprentice. Knuckleduster is on a mission to track down the source of a drug called Trigger, which causes users to spontaneously undergo monstrous transformations. I didn’t expect this much plot, and Betten Court really nails Horikoshi’s art style. My only complaint is the fanservicey costume for the female vigilante, Pop-Step, who ends up in villainous clutches more than once, but I definitely like the family vibe the trio have going by volume’s end. I will surely be checking out volume two. – Michelle Smith

My Solo Exchange Diary, Vol. 1 | By Nagata Kabi | Seven Seas – One of the most critically acclaimed manga released last year was Kabi’s My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness. The sequel series My Solo Exchange Diary was therefore a welcome and perhaps obvious addition to Seven Seas’ catalog. Like its predecessor, My Solo Exchange Diary is an autobiographical work that will resonate strongly with many readers. Through the short essay manga collected in the series, Kabi continues to explore her experiences with anxiety, depression, and intense feelings of loneliness and how they impact her relationships and day-to-day life. Each chapter is framed as a diary entry written to her past self, at times offering advice and encouragement while at other times seeming to despair that she couldn’t have done some things differently. My Solo Exchange Diary can be brutally honest as Kabi struggles to find love, happiness, and self-worth, but it’s that honesty and authenticity that makes the series so compelling. – Ash Brown

Spirit Circle, Vol. 4 | By Satoshi Mizukami | Seven Seas – Spirit Circle has an overarching plot, but the way it’s being told also makes it feel like an excuse to do a series of short anthologies with a wraparound. Once again, the majority of this book is devoted to another of Fuuta’s past lives… and this one seems to be a future life, as he’s now Lafalle, a young man in charge of cleaning the chambers in a giant monolithic tower that house the brains of those that were killed but may one day be revived. As he gets older we see him interact with Kouko’s other self Lapis, and the two of them continue to have an odd bond that seems to lack any romantic feeling whatsoever—they even get married here, but it’s never consummated. This is well-written, but where is it going? – Sean Gaffney

By: Michelle Smith