#this was supposed to be about elsword!

[hex-flareheart]

oh hey so apparently KOG put out a video outlining stuff they're doing in the coming months, for which the ever-wonderful 2nafish has provided a summary

a lot of the changes coming are of course things that should've been the case long ago/outright from initial implementation in some cases, with shared bank becoming Free:tm: being the former (as there was once a time where it did make sense for it to be a paid feature), and a bunch of things becoming bank shareable being the latter, because of course now that Rigomor equipment is irrelevant all that shit is being made bank shareable

also Mystic Stones being reduced to one variant (the best) is genuinely hilarious

anyway don't mind me I'm gonna ramble about this shit for a hot minute

one thing that is a bit interesting to me though is one of the bullet points- "Titles from normal dungeons can be shared among characters in an account". I don't really know what this entails specifically, but if I had to guess this means like. earning a normal title on any character earns it on all characters come implementation. which is probably how it should've been to begin with, particularly for the really impactful titles, but eh. the specific mention of "normal" dungeons does imply though that this most likely won't apply to raid titles.

also Polarize and Adaptation caps being increased. how much we don't know yet, but the former is absolutely comical to me because like. the reason Polarize was even capped in the first place is because the design of this game is so unbelievably, comedically shortsighted that half of the content now takes place at the exact same player level. which means the only way to make later content harder is through making bosses damage sponges and have them do hilarious amounts of damage. which means at some point (and by "at some point" I mean "almost everything past Varnimyr raids") you pass a threshold where it becomes a game of don't get hit at all because anything that hits you has a 90% chance of instantly killing you.

the consequence of this being that Polarize past a certain point doesn't actually impact the damage you're taking in any meaningful way. like obviously 80% Polarize makes you take significantly more damage than 40% Polarize, but it doesn't actually matter much if you're extremely likely to die instantly on getting hit either way. this means past a certain point stacking extra Polarize is basically free damage, which is why it got capped.

this is less of an issue with Adaptation, and to be honest I don't really know why that was capped in the first place. from my understanding it has a multiplicative reduction on environmental debuff, IE 25% Adaptation will take a 40% stat reduction down by 10% rather than a flat 25%, so ultimately Adaptation has largely the same effect (at least from my understanding) at every stage of the game past Elrianode, it's just a bit more pronounced in lategame regions like Pruinaum and Tirnog where the environmental debuff numbers are literally taking your stats down to 20%. (Shout-out to the latter in particular for having fucking 90% environmental debuff, because reducing player stats to 10% of what they should be makes way more sense than just increasing the fucking level cap.)

really it mostly just becomes an issue of how much is reasonably attainable by the typical player- which, that number actually isn't very high, Adaptation is a pretty hard stat to stack. reaching the 45% cap is already pretty tricky, it barely has a reason to exist as-is.

moving on from that, we're also expecting a raid next month, and while the concept of one of the bullet points containing "tried to ease power inflation" is absolutely fucking hilarious for this game regardless of context, there is one thing that I find unambiguously hilarious for different reasons. namely new weapon, and Mystic Stones are being obsoleted! :D

pretty much two years later on the dot (minus like, a week), Vestige of Souls weapons are being obsoleted, in the same region that also obsoleted the last armor set. that said: no random drops, it's just fill a gauge to get it, which honestly depending on how many runs filling that gauge takes, I'd say that's probably better than what we currently have for existing raids. marginally.

the sad part is this is honestly kind of expected at this point, VoS obsoleting FoJ happened a little over two years after, so the schedule checks out, but the fact that a full round of equipment is being obsoleted within the same region is kind of nuts, especially since there's a serious argument to be made for this being effectively one region later. I don't personally count Outskirts as a meaningfully distinct region progression-wise from Pruinaum because like. it's three dungeons. one of which is a raid. for Master Class stuff. it's really more of a Master Road 2 than anything else. and I would not for a second argue that Master Road has any meaningful place in the actual overall progression of the game beyond existing as The Thing You Do Master Class Stuff In.

also yeah as I touched on they're also including new Mystic Stones for some fucking reason. that are just the existing ones but better. aight chief. at least make them provide different stats or effects! though then again: that's what imprint stones do.

final thing: Laby class preview! we only have 1st Job, and I like what I see so far, but I am very cautiously optimistic on this one. like this is the part where I have to remind myself and others that despite being technically hundreds (possibly thousands) of years old, Laby is for all intents and purposes a child, and like.

I like this so far! but I'd be a liar if I said elements of this design like the midriff didn't make me nervous about where this is going. that said by nature this is a very obviously rebellious teen-type aesthetic so it's entirely possible we're not going to get much more revealing than this.

I like the mischievous/rebellious tone we're going for so far, but I also remember the likes of Chiliarch and Diabla. and while unlike Laby, Lu is an adult, just in a physically-regressed body, the point is that KOG has put extremely revealing designs on characters who look like children before. so I think I am justified in being a bit wary here.

and to the probably zero people who are actually reading this who are probably going to be going "she's over 18 so it's fine", or god forbid going "it's just a PNG", in the former case if the character looks and acts like a child, then the number in that age field is entirely irrelevant, as for all intents and purposes they are a child. Laby very much qualifies. (Lu, I'll grant, does not.) and in the latter case.

like. if you're okay with sexualizing minors so long as they're just fictional characters that don't actually exist? you know what, I'll accept that. but I'm not. and I do recognize that that's not something I can judge people for, because that would make me a hypocrite. I'm otherwise a firm believer in separating fiction from reality, and while that particular line is one I'm not willing to cross in either case, to act like no one should be okay with crossing it in a purely fictional context would be... well, like I said, immensely hypocritical. doesn't mean I want to see it, though.

I guess it actually says a lot about me that this general philosophy also applies to a lot of other subjects. I hate GTA for similar reasons. do I think it has a right to exist? yes! but I do not like crime simulator 2013. I would not participate in crime simulator 2013, or in fact a lot of other things that involve doing horrible things to things that look a lot like people.

that was quite the tangent.

I think I'll shut up now.

[ethaneldritch]

@indianampasta AHA you've fallen for my trap >:)

Allow me to introduce you to my Alhaitham, the most unfortunate character in my entire roster.

Here he is in a team all by his lonesome (deserving, tbh). I don't know how long he's been there, but it's at least been long enough for me to forget about him. like leaving a wet cardboard box on the back porch for a few too many months.

it all started when i realized that he looks very similar to a character i main in another game, so i decided to pull for him on his release banner:

Alhaitham from Genshin (left), Ainchase Ishmael from Elsword (right). There was a running joke in the Elsword fandom for a while because people kept posting Alhaitham fanart without realizing it.

Anyway, I was EXTREMELY lucky on his banner and got him within 30-ish pulls (I'd already built up some pity before then, though).

But that was the extent of my good fortune.

I don't know whether my specific copy of Alhaitham had been secretly swapped for a costumed Bennett or he was just the runt of his gacha litter, but this man was plagued with mishaps from the moment he joined my team.

And I do mean the moment he joined. I slotted him into my team, closed the interface, and immediately misclicked the sprint button, sending him shooting off the very near cliff edge I'd forgotten I was standing on. In my panic I wasn't able to open the glider in time and he buckled like a crumpled napkin on the ground miles below.

Incidents like these soon became a regular issue when playing with him: Enemies would jump us out of nowhere, lightning seemed particularly interested in landing accuracy shots, command buttons wouldn't fire the way they were supposed to and/or had significant delay...the list goes on.

Exhibit A.

Why are you walking??

I'm fairly certain he wasn't when I stopped to do the puzzle, AND this is the highest one on the whole thing, so I had to fall ALL THE WAY DOWN AND FREAKING DIE on the mountains below because you can't open your daggone glider when you've been HIT-

anyway

he's now quarantined in my teapot.

i don't remember where i put him, but he's probably still lurking in the attic somewhere, muttering about new books.

here is a picture I drew of him in MSPaint. I think it captures his essence well.

Will he ever rejoin my team? perhaps. I need to start building a second dps soon.

in the meantime, he will continue to languish in the recesses of my account, and hopefully one day i'll be able to pair him up with a very dedicated healer.

thank you for asking :D

[foxfires-spite]

Making this blog has honestly been so freeing

All my life, how I viewed myself was only through others' eyes. I acted as they expected me to, so much so that I convinced myself it was me doing it, instead of a mask I put on so much it became part of me

I was called a bear once in elementary school, and over the years more people called me one and time after time I was linked to things regarding bears, so much so that I thought I had to be a bear if people said I was, even forcing myself, when I had no identity, to attach to the humans who raised me (I'm still fairly certain the man is of bearman blood). Because if I didn't know myself, others had to know the true me, right?

I'd been a bear for years because others saw me as one so much I eventually saw myself as one, and even before joining the therian community in 2022, started thinking like bears, acting like bears, seeking bears. In high school, I was listening to bear vocalizations and clicked the distressed cub one and had to stop immediately because I got such vivid memories of a worried bear mother running through a forest looking for her cub, the resulting panic attack making me sick for the rest of the day, that I thought it had to be a former life instead of maybe a random memory from something or someone else rather than my own, that was triggered by the sound

And it's like that with so many identities. I cling to what others see me as, and want me to be, changing myself for them. The me of today is made of what others wanted me to be and do, expected me to be and do. I changed myself so others would like me and to fit in, and lost myself in the process. I think even being a dragon, or rather the dragon equivalent of a polar bear, was still clinging to it, even badger was clinging to the bear

But fox? Nobody has ever called me one. And yet, I've found foxes all the time, ever since I was a kit. Most of all, foxes and kitsune/"spirit foxes" as the West would call them, even if they are one and the same. First was Kyuubi/Kurama in Naruto. Then in movies, like Yobi the Five-Tailed Fox. In books, one that particularly spoke to me when I read it in elementary school, being "Le renard qui cherchait le printemps", the story of an arctic fox born completely white, rejected by his family because he stood out too much in the middle of his littermates and could potentially attract danger, helped by an old crow to look for a place he can be happy and safe. Video games, loving Vulpix and Ninetales since I saw them in Pokémon HGSS, then Zorua (and Zoroark) when it was first shown to this world, and both regional forms, or Ara Haan from Elsword being one of my mains

And over the years I kept regularly looking again and again for anything with kitsune/"spirit foxes", manga, anime, movies, books, video games, music, even today. I didn't know why I loved them. I just knew I did, and they felt like family, and even Mama from when we first indirectly came in contact over 15 years ago was inherently linked to them. I was never able to answer why they were my "favorite yokai" because they just were. I've never particularly felt an attachment to the western view of foxes, either. It feels off

But. Loving to trick, prank and scare humans. Hiding oneself behind a mask or an illusion. Never actually feeling like a human but only like something else disguising as one, appearing normal but cast out for feeling off. Never feeling a sense of belonging anywhere with humans, only with animals and anything other than human. Feeling, knowing deep somewhere, those supposed to be my family never actually were. Only Mama. The closest thing to a home, the old, traditional Japan I read about in books, saw in manga and video games two or three centuries ago or more. The familiarity of foxes through an eastern lens, of Oinari-sama, and even though I'm not religious in the human sense, Shinto does seem similar to my own beliefs, from what I know of it

Not a bear because others see me as one. Not draconic because of the Great Goddess being in my body. A fox because my soul knows, it's what it's telling me, and has been ever since I was a kit, but I couldn't understand, convinced I couldn't be what others didn't see me as. Now I feel stupid because if I'm using an illusion or transforming, appearing human, of course humans can't see what I really am

[devi-nyx-elsword-theorist]

I have a theory, that is for Lithia's.

Supposed Support or next Path.

the Skill Obelisk is a base class skill.

"An Ancient Artifact Obelisk grants the user Special Active Damage increase and attacks nearby enemies for a set duration."

What if say the "support" version of Lithia is her becoming an "Earth-Priestess" in a sense, but her skills are in reference to Egyptian mythos. But Obelisk get's a beneficial passive where it grants all alies the "Immune to debuff" for 20s, and grants allies the 15% Special Skill Damage increase with Obelisk mp requirement going from 200mp to 140mp it still may be a lot but for the support it would be useful for a passive that aids in the beginning of her support.

Plus in iirc, Egyptian history they had believed Certain Gems and Crystals were meant for healing.

And no she's not going to pull 5 body parts to make an ultimate attack, much as I love Yu-Gi-Oh!, I don't think Lithia is going to summon a Dragon or a giant man to destroy her enemies.

Although what if she has a passive relating to Osiris? Wonder how that system will work.

Like for every certain skills gives a certain buff?

the necklace that Lithia was given has a fragment of the Sun El.

What if her class in 3rd Job references Horakhty. Maybe a passive? perhaps a light nod to Egyptian Gods.

Someone can add onto this, I'm just throwing these ideas because it looked and sounded interesting.

But come on again iirc, Noah has part of the Sun's power? is meshing with the mutated power of the moon? Someone correct me please as I don't remember much of Noah's story arc about that.

So really it's not "breaking" the rules of Elsword's masterroad is still Solace.

[lumen-tellus]

2k23 has been a surprisingly productive year for me on the writing side of things, like, i was more or less writing at least one fic a month which is fucking nuts for anyone who knows me

so for funsies, im gonna self-promo one fic for each month of the past year (which will also double as a funsies self-curated self-promo of fics that i especially liked writing per month this year and that i recommend everyone else read bc i like attention)

(links all go to ao3; most of these fics are restricted bc i hate scrapers so rip)

January: three of cups - FFXIV / wol backstory nonsense

February: doomsday vault - Genshin / Deshret!Kaveh AU

March: sunshower - Elsword / Laby (RaS) analysis

April: an allegory in freesia - Elsword / Ain (BL) + Laby (RaS) analysis

May: only stars can be the envy of jewels - Elsword / a take on the first meeting between Clamor and Noah (CL) in Seven Tower.

June: OKAY GONNA CHEAT AND PROMO TWO FICS FOR THIS MONTH bc it's My list so I can 1) and love (you shall have) - Elsword / Noah (NP) talks to a ghost called Clamor. 2) and it will end with love - Elsword / Noah (LI) + Noah (NP) + a 10k lucid and ludicrous ramble about the intersection of loving and haunting someone.

July: memorabilia in the making - FFXIV / a fic explaining my wol's specific take on her Myste + an attempt to write wol-Fray-Myste talking civilly in the same room for longer than five minutes.

August: psalms for the forsaken - Elsword / a snapshot study of Noah in this 3rd path (sg -> pp -> NP)

September: everything has its trail - Elsword / Noah (CL) does therapy for Noah (MO); this was supposed to be funny. it was supposed to be.

October: None, technically; I was in a bad place around this time so writing took a backseat. Though June anyway has like two fics under it so it balances out numerically l o l

November: morpho butterfly - Elsword / Nisha (NL) & Clamor (MO) talk about their respective charges.

December: the clatter of niceties ringing false - ORV / KDJ analysis

[talentless-witch]

Seeing about fantasy bringing knowledge about actual hope.

Heres my horrible tedtalk about fantasy anime.

Everything was great until the nation of the red haired knight protagonists came.

Then everything went down to ashes, okay not really, but i really liked that trope mostly because man would suffer, kill himself, perhaps be mutilated ,traumatized and beyond repair and hed still have hope over people.

By that i mean that despite the worst case in the world being shown in their face they still have hope that one day people will be at peace and i think thats beautiful especially in this pessimistic times of the year

Now what became annoying was the fact that

1-theyd never acknowledge consequences that theyd face in their journey or just brushed complicated cases like it never even existed, which is a bad lesson

It doesnt even teach you why you should still have hope with those in mind.

2-in so many of these, theyd make them a brat and an idiot, but the worst part is that in 2 years theyd change their entire self, like theyre literally completely different, they suddenly become angel and saints when thats not how it works and theyd see being stupid and kind of bratty has an awful thing, Which imo is an even worse lesson.

Which is erasing your entire being, personality and such from the face of the earth, its okay to grow up, but its also okay if some personality about your past stays with you.

3-Kind of rare but in some of them theyd be straight up not brats, not stupid, but terrible to their friends, its okay to be bratty and not understand some situations, its totally different to just offend and insult your friend in the worst way possible because "you didnt understand" my word did you not understand.

Cue my favorite character from this trope and its not from an anime its from a gosh darn korean videogame, that is pretty much inspired on another anime and its clear as day but ANYWAYS.

I just like him

I LIKE ALL OF HIS GOSH DARN PATHS.

I LOVE RUNIE, LOOKS FUN, ABS, GREAT PONYTAIL, ABS, I WAS OBSESSED WITH RUNE MAGIC ON MY CHILDHOOD, ABS, DID I ALSO MENTION THE ABS

AND THE FACT THAT ELSWORD ACKNOWLEDGES HIS SITUATIONS LIKE. BRO.

I ALSO LIKE THAT although he changes a lot because his journey begins when hes 13 until hes 18 years old and hes a brat and kind of uneducated not straight up stupid(he can be smart at times), HES NOT AN ABSOLUTE BUTT TO HIS FRIENDS AND SOME OF HIS OLD TRAITS REMAIN, LIKE HES NOT ALL PERFECT DANDY ANGEL, HES AN ACTUAL PERSON.

I LOVE WHEN HES BLAND AS ROCKS BUT IN A GREAT WAY, NOT IN THE AWFUL WAY.

HES FINE. NOT THAT FINE I MEAN HES TRYING HIS BEST TO KEEP HIMSELF TOGETHER MENTALLY, BUT HES FINE.

Anyways i love elsword. Yes Thats his name.

Yes I did expect the game to be about a sword made by some mystical power which is called El for sure.

But no thats the name of the character, im not sure whats worse being called dicks mcgee or being called elsword.

.

.

.

I think id choose elsword.

i still have no idea who would name their child after a sword, elesis is a fine name, it may sound weird but not entirely because it sounds like an actual fantasy name, so what is elsword supposed to be and why would you call your child a sword, i dont get that, i really don't, its dumdum but i love him.

Still much better than being called lento, which is slow...IN SPANISH.

Some really smart person on the team really decided to call a npc character knight slow in Spanish and i could never stop laughing about it when i saw that in game.

You can make a bunch of puns with Ran too.

Chung couldn't kill ran because he just "ran" away.

Also IT IS REALLY AWFUL THAT THEY NAMED CHUNGS DAD HAS HELPUTT

BECAUSE IT SOUNDS LIKE HELP MY BUTT

I FEEL AWFUL SAYING THAT CUZ I LOVE CHUNG SM TOO AND HIS DAD IS WHOLESOME TOO HIS DAD IS AN AWESOME DAD.

talking about help my butt and prince.

Lets talk about the lord of hamel

The lord of hamel has never looked more of a presumed entitled rich pompous butt, like i could tell he was a bad dude the second he popped in screen, "the enemy could be anywhere!" Cue the most evil entitled looking person walking down the streets of hamel with the yee yee haircut.

Even the dude in bethma didnt look this evil or pompous, just looked rich and entitled that was it, but the lord of hamel just SCREAMS "YAAASS IM THE EVIL GUY, YAAASS"

Though another character that looks extremely distrusting that NOBODY except for chung and ain coincidentally noticed to perhaps be hiding some shady stuff.

Is add.

I forgot laby also calls him the evil looking guy or villain guy and i have never agreed with a description about add so much.

Anyways thats it.

Thats my tedtalk, for those who read this far, congratulations, you played yourself- do not- read this far its like my obsession and my lazy ass head.

[elsjobproject]

So that anon got me thinking.. When did they change job quests...

Let me explain.

I started this project back in January of 2020, with Richter's quest line being the very first thing in my records.

Back then, I noticed something terrible about most of the job quests I was recording...

They all... Sort of looked like this. Looking into my backlog, where I also started recording Laby and Ain- they're completely different. Compare that with Lofty: Executor's first job quest.

Now I wasn't sure what exactly was happening... But I knew this wasn't really right? But I didn't know what to do about it.

I don't know when they changed into this format, but I DO know when they changed everything... Either back or to something completely new.

...I first thought it was

The first one I recorded that wasn't any new job or character was Blazing Heart and it looks like this

Granted, this was in September of 2022, so I definitely don't have exact dates when things changed, but either way it was a step in the right direction. Such an amazing one in fact that I...

Promptly forgot about the issue I experienced all of 2020 and that combined with how many 4th jobs I recorded up until that point excitedly began trying to play every single class I could like a madman in an effort to archive things.

...

Then I opened this blog in late 2022, confident that I was nearly done with my archival efforts.

.................

So if you ever wonder why things seem recorded so last minute, just know I DID have this things recorded, and usually plan to release the original recordings, but uh. They changed everything up on me. Whoops.

With the videos on each individual job class coming out, I'm sure they're most likely not going to be changing job quests again- unless they decided to do 4th jobs. Which... I mean I guess that's basically masterclass, and I wouldn't really want them to do anyway since that adds extra workload onto me.

So.

When did they exactly change job quests?

...

Now. An issue with this is I don't speak Korean, and was not around during 2020 Korean Elsword, so I guess this kind of ends here. I can't really tell what they were doing during then. This could be an NA exclusive issue

Now I wish I could say "I have a job quest from 2020 KR server that helps prove this may not be the case"

But although that would be nice, it wouldn't matter because I only recorded the Furious Blade 5/5 quest when someone else was doing the Jump event in 2020 very legally on their own account and barring translation differences, it is virtually the same as the 2022 version. And of COURSE I didn't record the other job quests because it was a JUMP EVENT and they let you speed through job quests........

Here it is, legally obtained of course, if you would like to fact check

(Furious Blade's Job quest, for reference)

Anyway so if it isn't an NA exclusive issue, we have no way of telling, unless someone who was using the European server or very legally using the KR server has anything from 2020 to back this up.

But, for now. Looking through the GM blog on Elsword, it's tempting to say that these are the only patch notes. But.

There was an elsword tumblr. One I can no longer find, but there was one. I suppose it doesn't particularly matter, but I promise you that tumblr had more detailed patch notes. Then they most likely moved their focus to twitter and decided to start doing patch notes on their official blog from then onward.

I had a lot of theories on when exactly it changed but I think when it did was during the dungeon revamp that happened due to Laby and Noah's dungeons being uniquely fast in EXP gain.

My evidence is that all of the current job quests align with those changed dungeons. Let's compare Lofty: Executor, because if the icon wasn't Tyrannus, it would be Richter;

(04/27/2020)

(10/31/2022)

This is a 2 year gap in between these recordings, so it's kind of a stretch and they could have just as easily been changed with 4th path release, to match up with the job questline videos... However, it's easier to have a script in advanced and put them in a game 1 month before you release the first of the 4th paths than it is to put them in just as each individual 4th path is coming out.

If there was any time to change job quests, it would have been then.

If anyone recorded job quests from 2021 during this update to corroborate, that would be fantastic.

Again, the only instance I think they would maybe change job quests is to perhaps suit areas for individual characters, but I sort of doubt that's going to happen any time soon.

...

I both want and don't want that to happen.

Thank you to everyone whose read this far in, if you have any information or addendums, I will reblog them. This project was made specifically to archive job quests, after all, and even if the history of Elsword seems kind of short (it's been 15 years), I would prefer it to be recorded and readily available.

[rachedurst]

top 5 characters with transgender swag?

1. Naoto shirogane. To me. Someone tell this poor boy that "you can never cross the gender binary" is transphobic bs and his shadow was just spouting internalized transphobia 💔

2. Angela library of ruina is mtftm to me and if you're wondering wtf that means that's because I think Carmen tgirl swag so angela was modeled after her as a trans girl but then when disconnecting herself from being supposed to be like carmen went trans masc nonbinary swag . It's about the way she was trying to find herself while having a womans identity forced upon her that she denies that gives her that trans masc swagger (also her femininity was forced upon her by ayins design and when choosing her own appearance went way more androgynous + the different abno forms of angela present a wide array from fem to very masc and i just think thats v cool)

3. I dont have any reasoning for hod lobotomy corp being trans i just read a fic where she was a tgirl once and i was like yep im accepting that

4. roland is a bi trans man and im fully projecting on this one

5. Help me i have project moon brainrot uhhhhhhhhhh NOAH FROM ELSWORD THAT BOY IS SO TRANSGENDER moonguy swag rise up

[omohole]

its weird discovering likes and dislikes i have. im not supposed to be a person. im here to be fucking miserable so no one else has to be. i dont know how to cope with knowing that i prefer grape lollipops, or that i really enjoy dungeon meshi and elsword. i have my own hat, we share just about everything we own but that hat is mine alone and the others respect that. i dont like pistachios, and i despise writing essays but math is fine (not enjoyable, but fine). none of this stuff is important. a green beanie with a brim isnt going to make our trauma more bearable. i dont know how to deal with having wants like a person does. im not supposed to be human

- MK

[ursbearhug]

Laby from Elsword is one of my favourite characters in the entire gaming world. Not every class is equally enjoyable to play, nor they're equally balanced. In the grand scheme of things, I only play Elsword for a moment every few months because I have a lot of fond memories with the game. Elsword is not playable or enjoyable game in it's current status but I care about my inner child and not about overall quality of the game.

That being said, in Korea Laby has received her newest class. I was excited. And then I got to read her abilties.

Her final two passives do not do ANYTHING. I'm not kidding or being unfairly overexaggerating. They do NOT do JACKSHIT.

They cannot be fucking serious.

Passive #1 teleports you to an ally if you type /command + their name in chat box. For one this is strange way to implement an ability into the game because how often do you type during gameplay? Especially in game like Elswors, where you use your keyboard exclusively. And even then the passive is pointless for multitudes of reasons but my primary one is - it doesn't do *anything* while playing solo, which is how *I* enjoy playing the game. While playing with team it doesn't do anything either because you don't run that much in Elsword to begin with, especially, in a way where one teammate is further than you for any reason. There are 2 raid situations I can think of a use for this passive and it does not bode well for a class you have to farm for for at least 4 fucking hours (or spent some of that *ca$h*). Not to mention that this passive has 20 fucking seconds of cooldown... 20 seconds for what???? This doesn't do anything why the fuck on earth in hell would this be timed???? (Probably to protect player from chat restriction what happens if you type too often?)

Her second passive only does affect one of her abilities and in very limited way. Oh, I'd forgetten to mention it affects ability that requires (based on my experience as a solo, not whaled up player) 57,5 fucking dungeons runs to unlock. Only the 7,5 is variable since the dungeon I have in mind is timed (4 minutes only, not counting the boss) and the amount of mobs you kill depends on you and your party (with most classes I can kill 400ish, which means I need to run it at least 7,5 times to kill required 3000. This does not count how well my teammates will fare but given how often I'm being paired with newbies, I don't see it going much better). 57 fucking dungeons to have an ability and working passive. Passive that is wonky, hard to activate and affects ability with 180 seconds of cooldown. And according to wiki it doesn't even tell you what it does *in game* which is 2nd passive that does that for some reason. What in the fucking hell? Why the fuck not? Players are NOT supposed to go for a scavenging hunt for information about abilities. That's what the ability's descriptions are fucking for. What the fuck.

This is fucking lunacy. I don't know what people at KoG's games smoke, but that's some heavy fucking shit right there. This is fucking insane. Not only is it disappointing, but it's also fucking stupid and nonsensical. Who designed this? Coz I wanna have a conversation.

[angelblumes]

was tagged by @meduwusa to do the things to get to know you thing (💗💗) so here

last song:......falling down by the8. i listen to it on repeat like crazy. i have become kpop fan

last show: of my own initiative hannibal. but i have recently been in the room while someone is watching wayward pines (kacey rohl is in it!!!)

currently watching: ummm hahahaha. nothing.i suppose this is where i should've said wayward pines. its not that good and its creepy at points and everyone keeps dying :/ like the second im like ok i'll root for this character. blegh death!

currently reading: 😭nothing. does scouring through ao3 for hannigram fanfic count?ive sunk to the point of reading the fish person ones out of pure boredom. paragon etc. im so mad abt paragon bc it starts as one of my absolute favorites that is barely used in fanfic "will precanon is jailed for ches ripper crimes and alana/jack betrayal so all he has is hannibal (who is the one to get him free)" i adore that concept. i like alana and jack but i read fanfic to sympathize with will and will only. ive also got webnovels and webcomics and feminist theory lined up to read but i cant do new things i simply cannot

current obsession: cant you tell🙄hannibal. but im also split between so many things. like fortnite 😭 or elsword online. or those yourube videos about bad mmos. or the seventeen concert that is in about a week. listen paytons bias is the8 and her bias wrecker is hoshi. my bias is hoshi. im so tempted to be like my bias wrecker is the8. that would be so funny but it's probably jeonghan tbh. does this mean anything to any of my followers? probably not. i am not in the kpop stan space. also project sekai. im three notes away from full combo-ing copycat on master. watch out pro players

tbh if u see this im tagging u❤️im bad at remembering usernames so it's double if u usually tag me in things :)

[theultimatepumpkinpie]

Hmm elsword having server maintenance and Lu/Ceils fourth path is supposed to be coming out. I'll probably make one but I'm a little iffy about when since I'm 30% away from lv99 on my first char. I kind of wanted to get some ERP before working seriously on another since there an exp boost from it. I also kinda want to go 1st or 2nd path with them because of the 4th's description but that might be a stupid reason to pick a char

[add-psychic]

Add 4th path talk?

Since all the 4th paths of Elsword classes go in a completely different direction and perhaps what they were suppose to become, I think Add might become the human weapon his father always wanted him to be. He implanted Nasod components into him, created Dynamo for the battle code and could be activated if it weren’t for his mother deactivating them, redirecting the battle code.

But now, since he is some time and space boy, what if he finds a way to either activate them back or if they never got deactivated to begin with? He will become the weapon for his own benefit.

Just like how his father wanted him to be the powerful weapon.

All in all, I am really excited and curious..

UPDATE

READING THIS AGAIN made me realize that Doom Bringer’s description says “In this path, Doom Bringer ends up becoming what his mother wanted to stop his father from turning him into: a living weapon made from fusing a human with Nasod technology.”. AH, yes, I know, I completely forgot. I grew old but I thought maybe the human weapon his father wanted him to be was different.

But HOLD ON. Doom Bringer fuses himself with Nasod technology. But what about the already implanted Nasod components? What about the hidden power? Maybe he didn’t unlock this as it was a code in his Dynamo to activate the component?

-

Also..I got another idea. If it’s completely different, then he will do neither. Perhaps he finds and becomes someone else. No Nasod technology. But we will find out one day. It will take a long time.

[rainsonata]

Doppelgänger 15/15

Chapter 15: Connect

Fandom/Pairing: Elsword; none Rating: T Word Count: 6,674

Summary: It was like looking into a mirror. What happens when one’s reflection talks back and throws uncomfortable questions? El Search Party struggles to find entrance into the Demon Realm, but Dominator has a plan.

Alternative Title: Dominator fucked up and now everyone meets their alternative selves.

AO3 Link  I  FF.NET Link

— [Chapter 01] [Chapter 02] [Chapter 03] [Chapter 04] [Chapter 05] [Chapter 06] [Chapter 07] [Chapter 08] [Chapter 09] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13] [Chapter 14] [Chapter 15] —

----------------------------

Class Notes: 

Canon Path: Knight Emperor, Aether Sage, Daybreaker, Rage Hearts, Code: Esencia, Comet Crusader, Apsara, Empire Sword, Doom Bringer, Ishtar and Chevalier (Innocent), Bluhen   

Alternative Path: Rune Master, Oz Sorcerer, Anemos, Furious Blade, Code: Ultimate, Fatal Phantom, Devi, Flame Lord, Dominator, Timoria and Abysser (Catastrophe), Richter

Transformation Path: Immortal, Metamorphy, Twilight, Nova Imperator, Code: Sariel, Centurion, Shakti, Bloody Queen, Mad Paradox, Iblis and Anular (Diangelion), Herrscher

----------------------------

2 Weeks Later

----------------------------

Rune Master

Red haze from the smoke and flames clouded Rune's vision. Everything was hot to the touch. The air was stiffening from the dry wind and the ground was uncomfortably warm. There was electricity in his hair that left the fire user on the edge. His mind was going to burst into flames if someone didn't put out the fire! Dominator snarked it was all the meat he ate before being silenced by Ultimate's glares. His body was overheating, Blade kindly told him and forced him on the side while the rest of the party dealt with Rosso.

Pain struck Rune in the lower part of his abdomen, struggling to catch his breath as he dragged himself across the floor. He hugged his stomach and straightened his back in an attempt to sit up to avoid nausea. There was nothing to support his back except for the remaining tree trunk exposed by the winds. Rune poured water from his canteen over his face. The fire user shuddered from the cold water trickling down to the base of his neck. Rune tilted his head back again to chug down the rest of the water.

Dead plants and tangled weed curled up at his feet. Was Varnimyr always like this or was this caused by Rosso's presence? Varnimyr was the same as Rune had remembered. The only difference he noticed between the different Demon Realms was that this one didn't know about humans until their arrival.

They made it to the correct Demon Realm, or at least one that wasn't already occupied by another El Search Party. As they traveled up north in the Varnimyr region, Rune kept wondering if Knight and Immortal encountered the same challenges and problems as they had. The only thing Rune was sure of was that Rosso existed across their timelines.

Immortal wasn't kidding. Despite his size, Rosso hit like a brick wall. There was so much anger and sadness coming from the El Master of fire. Every burst of flame and swipe was followed by the half-demon's pained screams. What could have caused someone as powerful as an El Master to curse everything around him? If only Rune was spared enough time to look into the source of Rosso's pain…

Forcing an eye open, Rune looked up to be greeted by haze and dusty clouds. Rosso's fires have hindered his view of the stars that once dotted the eternal night sky. His friends' cries scattered in the distance as he laid himself to the floor. His fingers felt numb from clutching onto his sword until his knuckles were white.

Warm palms pressed over Rune's, applying pressure to his knuckles before letting them go. Covered in calluses, it was a wonder how those hands could pull a trigger, but those hands were also responsible for saving his life among many others in the past. Phantom sat beside Rune with one hand over his destroyer and his eyes staring into the thin winding tower where Rosso was.

"What are you thinking?" Phantom kept his voice low. His eyes darted to Rune's with care in his words, "You've been quiet."

"It took us two attempts to get to the right Demon Realm," Rune laughed without humor. "We still couldn't avoid fighting Rosso."

"I think there are some things that can't be prevented even with prior knowledge," Phantom said. "Rosso was already here before we arrived. I don't know what his goals are, but it's up to us to take him down."

"You won't kill him, will you?" Rune asked.

Rune briefly caught a glimpse of Rosso's figure before being forced to leave by his teammates. What could have pushed an El Master to cause such destruction? The El Search Party managed to reverse their previous enemies from mind control in the past, but Rosso was different. He was alive and aware of his condition. Rosso actively screamed at the El Search Party to leave, resorting to violence when his wish went ignored. There had to be a chance to save him from his poor fate.

"I won't hesitate if it means coming out of this alive," Phantom said. "There are people depending on me."

Those that didn't know him well would have taken his statement as being cold, but Rune understood. After nearly losing his kingdom to demons, Phantom had learned the harsh lesson of what it meant if one hesitated to fight back. Delaying their next action by the merest second could mean a premature death to them all. They have followed Immortal's advice to split the team into two to rotate whenever Rosso changed his battle strategies - if mindless thrashing and crushing buildings counted as such.

Rosso was not to be trifled with. Despite having control over fire, Rune had suffered burns from attempting to breach Rosso's tower. Rosso's flames were demonic, impatient, and demanding. His skin was still hot when he applied cold water to the nape of his neck and the rest of his body. They were already struggling to fight back when the half-demon was using a small portion of his abilities. Immortal warned him what would happen if they weren't prepared to give it their all.

Half of their team was out of commission from the fight outside of Rosso's tower. His sister was leading their remaining team inside to find the El Master. Rune was half-listening to the occasional messages sent between team members. He was thankful for Dominator making last-minute adjustments so they could communicate with each other over long distances. The messages were getting shorter.

"They'll be okay," Phantom noticed Rune looking back and forth between the Hamel protector and his communication. "Your job is to stay alive."

"Not making sure none of us do something stupid?" Rune chuckled.

"That's my job," Phantom broke out of his facade and smirked.

Rune's heart nearly leaped out of his chest to the sight of the blonde man's smile, unable to stop himself from grinning like an idiot. He distracted himself by examining the freshly cleaned bandages wrapped around his joints. Soaked in an herbal bath to alleviate burns, Rune was proud to say he was getting better at prioritizing himself first so he could attend to his teammates. He and Richter helped prepare the bandages while Oz and Dominator counted how many people needed elixirs. They were lucky that most of their injuries were minor. There should be enough resources for them to last for at least a week.

"You're still worried," Phantom studied Rune's face.

"I was," Rune admitted. "Rosso makes Perkisas look weak."

"Was?" Phantom made note of Rune's wording. "What else is there?"

"We're already fighting Rosso, so there's no turning back." Rune said, "We did everything we could to prepare for this moment. Even if we fail, I can at least say that we tried. I have you guys to help me."

"I think I can live with that answer." Their fingers brushed. Phantom brought his hands back to his lap and leaned his head back. "You're not afraid to die?"

"Nah," Rune laughed. "If I was, I never would have left Ruben considering how many times I almost died. Gotta sacrifice myself at least once a week, right?"

"Not funny," Phantom growled.

Phantom gave him a look as if wondering, "Really?". The blonde was going to drill holes into Rune if he kept glaring at him like that. A lopsided grin found its way onto Rune's facial features, giving his partner a shrug and cocking his head to one side to show he was joking. Rune knew it wasn't going to work, but man was he going to try.

"You know being an adventurer isn't the safest job," Rune said with a more serious expression. Maybe joking about his own death wasn't the best way to cope, especially around his friends. Old habits were hard to break. "That's why they make so much money. They do the jobs no one else wants to do. Not even soldiers want to do it."

"That doesn't mean I'm okay with you joking about your death," Phantom said.

"I know, sorry."

Rune hated how lame his response was, how hollow his words rang. He wished he could say more than that, but he couldn't take back his words. Even if he did, Rune still made light of people's feelings. How many times was he going to ignore how his words impacted others? He was supposed to stop keeping things to himself and rely on others more, yet struggled to be honest about himself without making self-deprecating jokes.

"Did Immortal tell you Rosso's weakness?" Phantom asked.

"I didn't get it when he told me, but now I can see that Rosso was not completely in control of himself," Rune said. That much was certain from his enragement, sometimes crying to an outside influence with no name. "When his shadow appeared, I saw him covering his left eye. Do you think that has to do with why he overpowered us?"

"He's also an El Master," Phantom added. "We struggled against Solace when we defied him. Did you think fighting Rosso would be easier?"

"No, but isn't it strange that Solace barely mentioned him when we saw the other El Masters?" Rune grew frustrated, "I'm sure he has a lot to worry about because of the El Lady and the state of the El, but isn't it important to wonder what happened to his friend?"

"Unless they don't get along," Dominator interjected into the conversation. With a potion in hand, the scientist had a smug expression, "Talking about others behind their backs? I can't believe I thought you were a good boy."

"I can," Oz deadpanned.

"Don't scare us like that!" Rune twisted his body to pout. Couldn't a guy get some privacy for once? He crossed his arms, "We're talking about battle strategies."

"Like your distrust for an El Master?" Dominator cackled.

"I'm getting tired of nobody telling me what's going on," Rune sighed.

"Solace probably didn't think it was something we should be concerned about," Oz reasoned. "We already have a lot on our plate as is. Don't you think he may have kept Rosso's existence away from us because he didn't want us to throw ourselves into danger again?"

"You mean this brat doing something dumb?" Dominator pointed to Rune.

"Don't pretend you don't do stupid things too," Phantom wasn't impressed. "What about that knife-wielding cleaning robot?"

"T-that's different!" Dominator protested and turned pink, "I was testing something!"

"Already done healing everyone?" Rune stiffened a laugh to Dominator's shock of being talked back by the quietest person on the team. Although they lacked in battle healers, their team compensated by having a handful of alchemists. Natural resources weren't lacking from the various plants and rocks they found on their ventures.

"Nothing a few doses of elixirs and rest can't fix." Dominator was relieved to change the subject. "Is Solace obligated to tell you everything going on in his head? I'm not sure if he knows about the fire midget being here if he was so eager to throw us here instead of coming himself."

Rune wasn't sure if Solace was as keen as Dominator claimed about sending them over to another dimension, but his words made the rune user wonder. Would Solace find a way to the Demon Realm if he knew that Rosso had imprisoned himself in a tower? If one of their teammates had disappeared, Rune wanted to believe he would have done something about it, but he wasn't so sure after meeting Solace. He and the El Master of the sun were both Rubenians, obligated by an invisible force to carry responsibilities over the El. Although Solace had deemed him as a worthy equal, Rune couldn't shake off the unwavering restlessness he felt around the older man. Solace was a reminder of what human desperation could do to a single person and those around them.

"Regardless of Solace's intentions, we need to calm down Rosso if we want to get any information out of him." Phantom said, "Someone with that kind of power would likely know something about the Dark El."

"I can't promise I won't kill the midget," Dominator mused.

"Are you trying to get us killed?" Oz forced the scientist to jerk his head down by pulling on his collar. She hissed, "Rosso may have lost his mind, but he can still hear us."

"Then there must be two of him," Dominator laughed. "Because I heard him screaming about Elesis while I was talking to the priest."

More fire? Who are you people?

Rune ran his hand over his temples, that voice again… Rosso? His voice sounded so young yet ancient, easily centuries older than Rune. The half-demon's voice echoed like a memory ingrained into his subconscious, refusing to let go and forced the leader of the El Search Party to look into the faces of his teammates. A darkened blade covered in gold scriptures, Flame brought her Claymore over her head to strike a giant demonic eye covered in thorns. Fire spun from her fingertips as she led five other people by her side.

A row of grey thorns was blocked from spawning above their heads by Ultimate, who had summoned a dozen spears at her disposal. With the help of a few demon allies, blue flames rose to form a firewall controlled by Timoria and Abysser. Fire splashed to the side as Blade made his way across to slash through the barriers protecting the demonic eye. Green wind swirled as Anemos spun around into a high-jump kick. Dozens of arrows flew from her nimble bow.

Blood shot out from the demonic eye in all directions. Its shrieks caused all to cover their ears. Seismic waves riveted over the floor as everyone dug their weapons into the ground for stability. Its thorns shriveled back into the eye's core before it stopped moving.

"Is everyone okay?" Flame checked on her teammates. "Careful, it's getting restless…"

"That eye must be a part of someone who could very well be within this tower," Ultimate stated. "Energy levels have elevated."

"I think we angered him," Timoria backed away from the flames. "I'm not sure if there's enough time to retreat for this one."

"We need to let the others know," Abysser clenched his teeth. "We're reaching our limits. Els-"

"Elsword!"

Rune opened his eyes to his name being screamed by his sister. He rushed over to meet Flame and the rest of their shabby team, clearly worn out from the last battle.

At the wake of the demonic eye's death, the earth had opened up. A fault emerged from the depths of the Demon Realm. The long narrow tower once protected by its prisoner had split open, engulfed by violent crimson flames. Once the flames had cleared, darkness cloaked a towering figure rising from the horizon.

GO AWAY!

Towering at a height that was easily comparable to Eltrion, the colossal figure was composed of a material that reminded Rune of black lava rock. Darkened wings made of the same material expanded outward for the monster to look down at the El Search Party. Red horns protruded from its forehead, matching its equally red eyes hinted with an unworldly hue of blue etched into its pupils and the rest of its body. This was Rosso?

"Is that our demon?" Devi grabbed her spear. Hunger replaced her once emotionless expression, bringing her spear pointed downward and lowering her body close to the ground. The older woman gave a dark chuckle, "I won't let it get away this time."

"Find shelter while we deal with Rosso!" Rune looked to Anemos and Abysser, "It's okay, I promise. We'll come out of this alive."

"You better," Abysser laughed. "Lu isn't too happy after he nearly took her eye out."

"Ciel and I will do our best to heal everyone in case you need to switch out," Anemos said. "Watch out for the eye. There's a lot of demonic energy coming from it."

"Not unless we blind him first," Dominator grinned.

"I can help him," Richter said with a serious expression.

"Spread out and watch your feet," Rune ordered his team. He couldn't believe the scientist could find the time to joke at a time like this. Richter too? Or maybe the priest thought Dominator meant it and agreed. "Don't rush into this battle. We only have six people active and can't afford to lose anyone."

Richter nodded. Light shone from his palms, grasping around the spears materializing in his hands. Raising one arm from the side, spears rained down from above and shattered into Rosso's left shoulder, sending the half-demon roaring in pain. Red flashed over the already reddened landscape. The priest dodged a laser blast from Rosso's eye and tumbled onto the floor.

High pitch cackling roared out of Rosso. The earth rolled as a pillar of thorns erupted from the floor. Long shadows extended beneath Oz's feet, followed by firing dark energy to propel herself into the air. Dominator and Oz moved towards the center of the battlefield, out of reach from Rosso's spiny attack. Multiple drones were set up at the base of Rosso's waist level to fire lasers around the half-demon. Orange orbs from Devi spun around in circles before consuming the rest of Rosso's remaining pillar of thorns.

"Look out!" Phantom shouted to him.

A pair of giant conal structures swung from the side. They were slow-moving, descending onto Rune and spinning counterclockwise with the intent to crush the leader of the El Search Party. The runes on his body glowed as he concentrated and released flames from his fingertips. Smoke filled his vicinity to create confusion for the towering half-demon. Rune slammed his greatsword against the dirt as a launchpad to distance himself from the strange structures that could move on their own, perhaps controlled by Rosso. He could muse about Rosso's abilities later when he wasn't running for his life.

Silver bullets flew from Rune's direction. There wasn't time for Rune to look and see Phantom sliding over with his arsenal of pistols and an oversized cannon he kept from his early teen years. The blonde wasn't taking any chances and had them fired at the eye visible on Rosso's face, red layered with unnatural bright blue rings around the pupil.

Rosso didn't like that. His arms extended from behind the cliff where the rest of his body was, clawing at their team of six and howling. The left eye glowed. Red and gray thorns erupted from the ground up, threatening to pierce into the toughest man-made armor.

Phantom cursed loudly over the chaotic fight. Blood gushed from beneath his armor, pushing forward and using the last few bullets to get in between Rosso's hardened shell. The way he limped over when he crawled to the side was one Rune was too familiar with. He had broken a few bones. The thorns were stopping him from bleeding out, but they would need to remove them eventually - if they made it out of this alive.

Rune felt his hands form into fists. This could not happen, he wasn't going to allow it! He gripped his blade, forcing himself to breathe through his mouth because of the overwhelming smoke from his own fires and from Rosso's. This was what happened when one fought fire with fire.

"Keep going!" Phantom hugged where the thorns dug into armor and into his skin, "I'll be back on my feet in no time!"

"Not in that condition," Rune glared. "You're going to Rena and the others."

"You can't defeat Rosso with only five people!" Phantom argued, "Our friends barely stunned him long enough before he found us!"

"Arguing in the middle of the fight?" Devi backflipped to land neatly on her feet and turned to wipe blood dripping down her forehead. "I can't believe you're purposely missing this opportunity to kill this demon to bicker amongst yourselves. You must think you can win this fight by idling around. Move!"

Both men silenced. Rune grabbed Phantom and tossed his weight over his shoulder, ignoring the definitely-not-taller man's protests as he and Devi ran together to avoid another line of lasers. Rosso's wings expanded as he brought his arms to the side to summon a sea of energy orbs. The orbs floated slowly like bubbles and surrounded the El Search Party. Rune stared at the orbs in awe.

Rune blinked. The orbs have disappeared. His blade clashed against Rosso's arm swinging towards him, bearing down his weight and struggling not to get pushed off the cliff. Rosso backed off when sparks flew from his hands and surprised the half-demon. Flames licked Rosso's arm and traveled to the rest of his body before disappearing. Just enough to buy him time to run to the opposite side of the battlefield.

"How many times do we need to bring down this brat to make him stop moving?" Dominator complained.

"As many times as needed," Richter said.

Metal clashed against the conal structures rising once more against Devi, who had her spear extended and her hair turned white. The wind howled as the spear user flipped her weapon so that its tip was facing the floor, bringing her feet up and jumping to the opposite side to avoid another row of thorns fired in her direction. Her girly laughter filled the silence as Devi summoned orange orbs to fire at Rosso.

A tiny figure fought beside Oz. Cladded in purple clothing to match with the dark mage, Angkor assisted Oz in opening a dimensional gate. Purple bats flew from the portal and dislocated the arm Rosso used to summon the thorns. Rosso cursed at the woman as his form began to darken and lowered his head. His eyes glowed and the battlefield shone brightly.

"Did we defeat him?" Rune asked.

Dominator frowned and looked to his screens for help before his eyes widened, "No, you idiot. He was just playing with us!"

A small body rose from the collapsed rubble. Red hair draped past the shoulders and hid the right side of the face. The body was covered in black markings and the arms were colored bright magenta, wielding a scythe over the head. Rune recognized the figure. It was the form Rosso held when they tried to break into the tower.

"Is everyone alright?" Rune checked his teammates.

There was no time to listen to a response as he turned around to duck a scythe aiming for his neck. Great, now he was going to truly lose his head as Dominator always complained. Rune held his arms up to concentrate fire into his hands and touched Rosso by the wrists. Unfortunately, Rosso was also made of fire and used the moment to raise more thorns at the red-head. Rune was pulled out from the rows of thorns summoned by the half-demon by Oz, who was quick to teleport to his side with Angkor following her.

"I should be asking if you can still run," Oz gasped. "Worry about yourself first, silly."

"Hard to when most of us are barely avoiding his attacks," Rune said. "One wrong move and we're dead."

"Only if we get hit," Richter said. "I'll bring Mr. Guardrian back to Rena. I will return as briskly as the El permits."

Rune was in awe of Richter's confidence, never letting the little things get to him. He needed to ask the priest how to do that. Once again, Rune pulled out his blade to fight. His flames were eager to show Rosso what real fire looked like. Rune weaved around his opponent, only taking a few steps to allow Rosso to slide to the side. His friends joined the macabre dance in their own rhythm, spinning new steps with their unique fighting styles.

Oz and Angkor relied on each other as a medium to summon familiars to aid them in the battle. Bats flew above their heads and struck Rosso from behind. Drones floated the area from Dominator's endless supplies of technology. Forming into a triangular formation, lasers flew into a straight line to disarm Rosso from his weapon. Devi's eyes glowed red in bloody prance, swinging her spear to the side in precise movement as an extension of the demon-loathing woman. Her attempt to cut into Rosso's stomach at the midline was only stopped by the reddened scythe armored in demonic energy.

"What a dangerous monster," Devi glared at the half-demon with disgust. "You sure you don't want to kill him, boy?"

"No, we can't do that." Rune gasped. "He was crying for help. Something is controlling him. Something is…"

Rune's voice was cut off by the sound of his own scream. His blood sang when Rosso's scythe sliced through his shoulder. Red blood dripped from his pores and he heard his name being called.

Fuck.

He had suffered many injuries in the past. Some were worse than others, so why did this one hurt the most? His brief stay in the Demon Realm had strengthened his endurance of demonic energy, but Rosso was too strong. Solace barely held a candle against what Rune had witnessed from the El Master of fire.

Was there an end to this battle? Rune grasped where he bled, fumbling through the limited cloth he had to stop himself from bleeding. If only they had a healer, he thought in blinding pain. No matter how many times he wanted to tell Rosso he was sorry for the pain, his own had made it difficult for him to see past the battle.

Phantom was already out of commission and had joined Anemos and the others shortly after he was hit by the thorns. Fighting Rosso was barely feasible with a team of six when his sister did it, but a team of four? What was going to happen to them?

Footsteps scattered all around him as Rosso swung his blade, blocked by Devi's swift blade. It was impressive how long the older woman could withstand ongoing battles with such vigor. Dominator ordered Dynamo to switch to a different install to fly higher to release a rain of laser grenades. Oz dropped her staff to pull Rune to the side.

"I can walk," Rune waved his hand away when Oz offered to help him up. "You go fight Rosso. I'll take care of myself."

"And let you bleed to death?" She scowled.

"There's only three of us left because Ain left with Chung," Rune argued. "You need to stay. Ain should be back by now."

Oz looked as if she was ready to argue back, but stopped. Glazing over the bombed battlefield with pain visible on her face, the black mage nodded, clearly unhappy about their predicament. Rune didn't like it either, but what else was there to do? Rosso had neatly cut into their defense like tissue paper.

A woman appeared within his eyesight. Rune wiped his eyes to make sure it wasn't an illusion by one of those demon plants. Ultimate? Cladded in black spandex covered in white plated armor, she bore a strong resemblance to Ultimate. When Rune was able to get a better look at the stranger, he noticed her face lacked the same depth of emotions as his teammate.

"There they are!" Immortal exclaimed.

The swordsman brought attention to himself by raising one of his many swords as a guiding beacon. Rune was too stunned to vocalize his shock about his counterpart appearing. He was greeted by Immortal's signature grin, pearly white teeth and dried lips. Richter was with him. The priest must have shown Immortal where they were, although it wasn't very hard with the lasers and thorns flying in their general direction.

Rune's gaze switched back to Ultimate's doppelganger. She must have been Eve from Immortal's dimension. Unlike her rowdy teammate, she kept to herself and was silent with Richter, who equally had nothing to say amongst the chattering party. The priest made eye contact with Rune and acknowledged the rune user with a curt nod. It looked like Richter was able to bring Phantom to safety with no complications.

Knight appeared in good health albeit his expression suggesting worn and wear from the long journey. He nodded tiredly to a person Rune didn't recognize. A petite girl whose height was only rivaled by Timoria's ("Hey!"), her pink wavy hair reminded him of cotton candy. Keeping up with cotton candy as inspiration, the rest of her attire was in various hues of pink and pastel blue. Rune noticed a large amount of energy coming from the mirror bobbing next to the girl's head as she talked loudly in the middle of a warzone.

"Sorry for being late," Richter apologized.

"We were kinda lost until Richter found us." Immortal laughed.

"Elsword lacks understanding in reading coordinates," Ultimate's look-alike stated.

"Shhhh, I'm trying to look cool in front of myself!" Immortal stage whispered.

"You mean Metamorphy isn't here?" Rune still couldn't believe they were here.

"She was, but said she had business to deal with." Immortal shrugged, "Magical girl duties, or whatever."

Rune didn't get it, but couldn't bother to ask. His mind was on his friends, who were fighting for their lives against a corrupted El Master. The sight of his counterparts and their friends should have brought ease to the tension in his shoulders, but Rune couldn't shake off the fear that they were too late. He looked to Richter for help.

"What are they doing here?" Oz looked at the new strangers with concern.

"We're here to help," Knight said. "Richter told us you were fighting Rosso. It sounds like he's been giving you guys as much trouble as he did for us."

"In all fairness, Rosso isn't a pushover, especially when angry." Immortal mused, "Funny guy with a hot and cold personality."

Rune frowned. Why was Immortal talking as if he personally had the half-demon over for tea and biscuits? Was this another one of Immortal's moments of undermining things that were worse than how he phrased it?

"Oh no, you're bleeding!" The pink-haired girl tugged Rune's arm. Her eyes watered and pointed to his bleeding shoulder. "Why are you hurt?"

"Who's the kid?" Rune looked at the girl with confusion. He would have remembered someone who dressed as strangely as the young girl if they had met before. "Are you recruiting kids now?"

"This is Laby." The girl talked. Her voice was as sweet as hard candy and had to look up to make eye contact with Rune, "Is this one of Elsword's friends?"

"Yes," Knight said with wariness. What was up with this guy? One would think he had lost a pet rabbit in a fire. Too soon? "We met when we were trapped in the Demon Realm. We came here because Laby wanted to meet you guys."

"How did you get here if Bringer isn't with you?" Rune noticed the brawler's absence.

"I think Add gave the machine to Elsword as an apology," Laby said.

"For what?" Immortal asked.

"Elsword needs to have his wounds attended to immediately," Richter interrupted. There was irritation in his tone after what he thought to be too much conversing. "That demon is still alive."

"Right," Oz looked at Knight and Immortal. "Think you can keep up with us? We need someone to create a diversion while Richter and I remove the weapon from Rosso."

"Of course," Immortal smirked. "Why didn't you say so?"

Oz rolled her eyes but smiled.

"Laby, can you help Rune with his injuries?" Knight asked.

"Of course!" Laby waved her arms out in excitement. She bounced onto her feet and pulled Rune to look at his sorry state.

"Thank you," Rune lowered his head to hide the tears. Their timing was impeccable when they were down to a few adventurers. He couldn't have imagined his next meeting with his counterparts to be at the edge of a one-sided battle. "Please help my friends."

Laby's healing was gentle and reminded him of Bluhen, who wasn't with Knight today. He thought the priest would have stayed close to the knight and noticed how tense his counterpart was when Bringer was mentioned. Did something happen between them? Rune shook his head, that was their business to deal with unless Knight was looking for a second opinion. But still…

"Don't forget we're your friends too," Knight smiled for the first time since his arrival. "You're welcome to join us after Laby helps you."

"Man, how come you get two healers?" Immortal whined, "Ow!"

Immortal rubbed his forehead where Knight had smacked him. Laby failed to stop herself giggling from the man's pain.

Greatsword pulled out, Knight had the imposing demeanor of a Velder soldier ready for battle. Nodding towards the direction of the battle, Knight gestured Immortal to follow him. The swordsman pulled out his two blades. Sleek in design and balanced, Immortal struck a pose as Sariel ordered her Nasod drones to fly into combat mode. Richter looked to Oz for the signal and the two ran into the battlefield to join their teammates.

The cathartic landscape of torn-down buildings and the ground set ablaze was enough to bring most men on their knees. However, as Rune witnessed Knight and Immortal pulling Rosso towards their blades, he saw the fire light up in their faces. The excitement of battle in fusion with fear of uncertainty. Sariel's drones weaved along with Dominator's as they roped Rosso into using his thorns opposite Devi as she harpooned her spear into the half-demon's flesh.

His strength was slowly returning when a strong wave of power flooded his vicinity. It was coming from Rosso. Even those not sensitive to the El could feel it. The corruption had taken over Rosso. Rune stood up, suddenly finding strength in his voice.

"I'm going," Rune said. "They need our help."

Laby looked up at him in confusion, but it must have been his tone that stopped her from protesting. After much arguing with the pink girl (Who would have thought someone so tiny could be so stubborn?), Rune had forced himself to be content on resting, at least until he could move his limbs without wincing. He could no longer ignore the crave to return to the fight.

It was as if all of the pain in his body had disappeared. Maybe it was the strange food Laby gave him to recover or maybe he was delirious from the adrenaline, but he couldn't let the fight go on without talking to Rosso one more time. Fire lit up in one hand and his sword in the other, Rune calmly stepped into the battlefield to face the Master of Fire. It was time to settle this once and for all.

----------------------------

Metamorphy

"Ugh, I hate snow." Metamorphy sighed.

What could be so important for the magical girl to be summoned to Pruinaum? Although it was barren in demons since most tried to avoid the cold, no amount of layers could get rid of the frigid wind finding its way through her clear pores. It was a good thing Metamorphy was the nicest and most patient person in the world, otherwise, she would have been very angry to meet up with the person who was so generous to invite her to the coldest place in Demon Realm.

Sitting at the edge on top of a tall glacial structure was a tiny figure. They were a single black dot to the naked eye. When Metamorphy teleported to the figure, she was greeted by a child. She made out a pair of cat ears sitting atop of the hood they wore and the chains dangling from the back of their jacket.

"How long are you going to pretend you're a kid?" Metamorphy asked.

"How long are you going to pretend you're nice?" Paradox snarked.

"Add, you requested this meeting." She said in her sweetest voice possible. "So this better be good."

She cracked her knuckles between the grip of her staff.

Paradox wasn't shivering only because of the cold, although she couldn't understand how the literal man-child wasn't freezing from how little he wore. Light flashed for the child to be replaced with a man in a body-tight suit. His hair reached past his shoulders and nearly touched the ground.

Metamorphy shrieked when a portal opened from the side and a frozen body tumbled out. Red hair sprawled out from the roots and over the unidentified person. Their hair was so long that Metamorphy was sure it could have gone past the ankles. A red Claymore laced in black stuck uncomfortably between their ribcage.

"Add, what is this?" Metamorphy gasped.

"A body," Paradox said as a matter-of-fact. "I found her under the ice. Aren't you going to thank me?"

"She's dead!"

"Her heart is still beating," Paradox corrected.

Metamorphy flipped the woman onto her back to press her ear against the Queen's chest. A faint heartbeat fluttered weakly like a dim light on a winter night. She kneeled down to frantically tend to Bloody Queen's wounds. They needed to pull out the Claymore to clean her cuts. Metamorphy looked to Paradox for help. It took more effort than it should have to pull out the weapon. It was tempting to toss out the weapon since it was rusting from excessive use, but she also didn't want to risk losing her head to a frostbitten woman. Time froze in place as Paradox unwound time to heal the deep cut.

"What are we supposed to do with her?" Metamorphy asked more to herself than the Paradox. The time traveler didn't make a good conversationalist most of the time and she struggled to understand the brat.

"Do you want her or not?" Paradox asked, "If not, I can throw her back to the demons."

"Like hell you are," Metamorphy growled and pressed one hand over her temple. "What do you want out of this? It's not like you did this because you felt like being nice."

"Don't you have some brats to pick up from their fun little fight?" Paradox asked.

How did he know?

"You never told me what's going on between you and Glave." Metamorphy said, "Why didn't you complain when he agreed to keep the timelines together? Are you planning to mess with time again?"

"That's for me to know and you to wonder," Paradox said. Cryptic as ever, typical. "Not everything I do involves destroying time and space, you know."

"You always seem to know where everyone is too," Metamorphy made note of how the time traveler always popped up whenever they were in trouble. Even more so, he often held important information they needed for any obstacle that got in their way. "Could it be that you actually car-"

"Mention me about having feelings for you losers and I'm going to throw up." Paradox interrupted.

"Of course," Metamorphy smirked. "Then you just happened to stumble onto Elesis's frozen body and asked me to come pick it up."

"Yes, and now you have a new problem." Paradox grinned.

Metamorphy could never understand the enigmatic man. Albeit childhood trauma from the short glimpses of Paradox's past, she didn't know much of the time traveler. Maybe it was for the best. There was no point in digging up painful memories when it didn't help them in the present.

She turned to thank the man but he had disappeared. Metamorphy groaned. Why did Paradox always do this to her? The magical girl was one hundred percent sure he lured her to do the dirty work so he could take his leave. Looking at Queen's still body, she tucked some of the hair behind the older woman's ear. It was going to take time to bring Queen back to the others before checking on Immortal. Metamorphy lifted the woman and sighed. Immortal was not going to be happy about this. Her sole hope was that Queen wasn't going to wake up and dart the other direction when reunited with her brother like the last time in Velder.

[elswordimaginesdrabbles]

Read the Air; It’s Hot Alright

Ain x reader

Warning: long

drawn by @21andree10 on Instagram

(y/n) let out a sigh of relief as they sunk into the lukewarm water. They were truly blessed to stumble across hot springs which they could have all to themselves. It was their night to relax and get rid of all the stress from battle… The El gang was quite exhausting to be around sometimes, especially since there weren’t any peaceful moments; every single person had a thing to complain about or start a fight for no reason.

Their thoughts were suddenly interrupted by another figure stepping into the water. Mind racing, they thought who could it have possibly been? No one dared use the mixed hot springs because they didn't want to deal with the opposite sex- but there it was, some possible predator stepping all over their territory.

“Ah, (Mr/Ms) Thief. I didn't know you'd be here as well,” Ain greeted with the ever-present smile. Turns out it was just the oblivious priest invading their space.

They didn't bother giving him another glance as he sunk most of his body into the water. It was impossible to comprehend why he didn't choose the other side of the bath; it was already tiny enough. An awkward silence followed, (y/n) blowing bubbles out of boredom while Ain closed his eyes as if to meditate. For the first time ever, he wore a peaceful expression in front of another living being.

“(Mr/Ms) Thief,” they groaned, “if you don't mind me asking, what is the point of those ‘hot springs’?” *bubbles stop*

(y/n) stared at him bewildered, but they didn't ask if he was joking; he never did anyway. They sighed and gathered all their intellect to answer the question as seriously as possible.

“Well, you see… hot springs… help you relax.”

“?”

“The water… you get in it… it feels good???”

“...I’m afraid I don’t quite understand.”

“Aaaah, how can you not get it?? Just shut up and relax in the water!” flailing their arms around, they missed one crucial detail…

“(Mr/Ms) Thief, it seems your towel slid off a bit.” they covered themselves instantly as a blush quickly formed on their cheeks.

“You didn’t see anything.”

“...Alright.” he didn’t pursue the subject further, which (y/n) was very thankful for. After a short while of mildly awkward silence, they took it upon themselves to break the quiet atmosphere since it was getting unbearable.

“Anyway, why do you keep calling me (Mr/Ms) Thief?? It’s not gonna take long for me to feel insulted, y'know?”

“I don’t mean it as a derogatory term, of course. Yet, when we met, you tried to swipe all of our food during an expedition in Sander… I still don’t understand Elsword’s decision to take you in.”

“Wow. Just wow. I’m not talking to you anymore.”

“Did I say something out of line? If so, I apologize.” his unwavering smile diagnosed (y/n) with a severe case of pouting.

“Aren’t priests supposed to be more social? It’s like you came from another world!”

“...Is that so?”

“You don’t even know what hot springs are!! How can I possibly believe you’re human?!” his passive aggressive expression told (y/n) something they weren't supposed to know…

“I’m gonna pretend you didn’t make that face and change the subject.”

“That would be most wise, (Mr/Ms) Thief. If I were you I wouldn’t speak about a secret this important.”

“Wait wh- Holy- You’re not actually human??? That’s it, I’m not letting you drop this ‘till you tell me what you are.”

“I can’t understand how that would help you in any way.”

“It’s not about help here, it’s about what I want. So spill it or else I’m letting the whole gang know.”

“...!”

“I wonder what Elsword will have to say about our alien comrade…”

“Foolish human…” he mumbled inaudibly, quickly switching back to a smile to tell his story. “Alright, I’ll ‘spill it’, as you said. I was sent on a mission by Goddess Ishmael-”

“Hold on a minute, Goddess? And Ishmael as well?? Don’t tell me, or are you the El Lady too?!”

“...I feel as if you’re mocking me.”

“You’re delusional mate, there’s no way around it. Or is it a priest trick where you pretend to be God’s messenger to attract followers?”

“I truly have no words. I had no idea a mere human could cause such an offense. Convince me not to strike you down this instant for disrespecting the Goddess.” his booming voice was no match for (y/n)’s savage laughter.

“I’d like to see you try...! Come at me, pretty boy!” Ain deemed the situation not worthy to break his pendulum over and began chanting his gibberish in German. Before he could even get halfway done, (y/n) launched themselves onto him, making sure to pin Ain’s hands in place. They completely annihilated any chance he had of fighting back. After securing a dominant position, they delivered their lines.

“Here’s reason one: you’re just a pretty boy outside the battlefield, and second, would your Goddess like the idea of her messenger murdering a human? I think not.” they slowly loosened their tight grip on him as he pondered on their words. Shortly afterwards, Ain made his thoughts clear.

“I suppose I should thank you for reminding me. I lost sight of my mission and acted out of line, so I apologize.”

“...Hmm? I didn’t quite catch that.”

“(Mr/Ms) Thief, I said, you have disrespected the Goddess. An apology is in order, no?”

“Fine, fine. I am sorry for disrespecting the Goddess. There. I won’t do it again.”

“I will make sure to relay your message to the Goddess.”

After the very heated debate, silence took over. They were too tired to try anything else and just quietly accepted their predicament; being forced to share hot springs with the strange alien priest.

“Why is this a place of relaxation? It feels as if it’s an elaborate trap I’ve mistakenly stepped into,” he pondered.

“Because you’re doing it wrong, dummy.”

“Then how would the right way be?” Ain asked confused.

(y/n) didn’t respond. He waited, and waited… “You just shut up. That’s it.”

“Is that all I have to do?”

“Yes. That’s all there is to it.” making a surprised face, he processed her words. His features relaxing, Ain looked up into the night sky. It was quite late judging by all the stars visible, and he wondered what he was still doing there; resting was mandatory since heavy battles awaited them the next day, yet he was wasting time with a human nonetheless.

Light snoring interrupted his train of thought. He glanced at (y/n), only to find them in an apparently deep sleep. Ain let out a chuckle, but stopped himself midway in shock. It was too genuine for his liking, and he couldn’t comprehend why a simple gesture provoked such a reaction. Yet he felt tired as well and didn’t bother thinking about it anymore.

Ain decided to wake them up; it would be bothersome in battle if (y/n) caught a cold.

“(Mr/Ms) Thief, you should wake up.” No response. “(Mr/Ms) Thief?” they didn’t answer the next time either, so Ain was stuck on what to do. He settled for lightly shaking their shoulder, but he’d soon find out that wouldn’t be the wisest decision… once the tip of his fingers touched their bare skin, they suddenly got up, headbutting him in the process, somehow. He truly felt that and hissed in pain, while (y/n) was frantically looking around as if woken from a daze. They eyed the nearby floating towel and realized that Ain wasn’t wearing anything. Then they jumped to a conclusion.

“P E R V E R T !”

And Elesis kicked down the door.

“Whose butt do I have to kick?!”

~A thorough scolding and some misunderstandings later~

Everyone had gone to their rooms for the night, but (y/n) decided to hang around for a little while longer. The staff at the inn was more than glad to cater to all their needs and brought them a Lanox specialty; they grumpily slurped from the glass, but then thought it actually tasted pretty good. It was mostly water with a tint of exotic fruits, just like the sweet, sweet syrup they used to-

“(Mr/Ms) Thief, can I have a moment of your time?” (y/n) spat the drink, accidentally splashing their lower face with it. They glared at the cause of her misfortune.

“I was wondering if you could clarify something for me.” they grabbed their drink and started slurping loudly, while also avoiding eye contact as much as they could.

“I will take that as a yes, so I’m going to ask my question.” they spat their drink again.

“I tried so hard, and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter,” they sighed. “Have a seat,” they pointed to the other side of the table.

“Sir, would you like a drink as well?” asked the waitress who just snuck up on him out of nowhere. (y/n) got a little spooked, not even their skills were that godlike.

“Of course, if you don’t mind. What would you recommend?”

“The Lanox Nectar is the best we’ve got. I’ll bring one on the house for you, sir!”

“Thank you~.” (y/n) watched the very human exchange with widened eyes.

“Is something wrong, (Mr/Ms) Thief?”

“I’m the one who should be asking that.”

“?”

“Here’s your drink, sir!”

“Gah!” (y/n) couldn’t help but lose their composure at the sight of the sneaky waitress. Once again, the wannabe thief got bested by a staff member who was just doing her job. Then she vanished and no matter how hard (y/n) would squint, there wasn’t any trace left of the mysterious girl.

“(Mr/Ms) Thief, I’d like to ask something about the hot springs today.” he didn’t even touch his drink and already got down to business. ‘Ah shit, here we go again’ they thought. “More specifically, about the way you reacted at the end.” They remembered with a somber expression the event and the excuse he dared to give: ‘It was an accident’, he said, but they didn’t buy one bit of it. They wondered why they were still hanging out with that pervert.

“Why did you shout ‘pervert’?”

“Because you are one.”

“I don’t understand why I’m a pervert, so I was wondering if you could explain.” ‘This guy’s a lunatic’, thought (y/n), but humoured him nonetheless.

“Do you really not know? Do I really have to talk to you about this? What did I do to deserve such harassment?”

“Oh, am I questioning something inappropriate? If so, I apologize.”

“Yes, it’s highly inappropriate…” then a yellow light bulb appeared above their head. “But it can’t be helped, can it? I’ll just have to explain it to you so that you won’t do it again.”

“That would be most helpful, (Mr/Ms) Thief.”

“Now, now, disclaimer (...). Here I go:

When two people share a bath together under the full moon, an ancient ritual is unleashed. The only way to prevent it from happening is for the people to wear towels. When yours fell off, I was really worried! So that’s why I shouted for help.

...Also, I forgot to mention, but only chosen people can perform the ritual correctly, and I panicked because we aren’t chosen. Get it?”

“Interesting… I never knew such a thing existed. I can’t help but wonder, what are the consequences of a ritual performed incorrectly?”

“A big explosion, of course.”

“I see now… So you were just trying to help me. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I understand now what Ms. Knight meant about ‘some things are just forbidden’. She was talking about the ritual going wrong, no?

“Yep.”

“If you don’t mind me asking-” Before he could finish his sentence, they got up and spoke.

“It was really nice talking to you Ain, but it is really, really late so I would like to go to sleep. Good night!”

“Ah, you’re right. May we resume this discussion another time?”

“Of course, of course! Good night!!”

“Have a good night as well, (Mr/Ms) Thief.”

There were only so many brain cells a person could afford to lose.

~to the beds, onwards we go~

(y/n) stared blankly at the ceiling, endless minutes of shuffling around having just passed. They usually slept like a log, but something wasn’t right this time. A bad feeling lingered in the air, and no matter how much they tried to shrug it off it was still there.

Inevitably, they got up and groaned. It was their duty to check for possible intruders; or at least that’s what (y/n) told themselves. They reached out for the emergency pocket knife, only to find it was gone.

Then, anger took over. Nobody dared swipe their weapons like that, and if they did, they’d have to speak to the unholy pair of fists (y/n)’s got.

Silent footsteps right outside the room made their ears perk up. They prepared a fighting stance, ready to face the intruder head on. By literally headbutting them.

The door opened suddenly. (y/n) didn’t waste a single second and grabbed the other person’s shoulders, striking in full force. They were more than ready to pin them down-

“Ahh, (Mr/Ms) Thief… This is the second time today. I see you’re quite relentless when it comes to violence,” he rubbed his head in an attempt to alleviate the pain. “I may not be as weak as a human, but I still take damage.”

“Ain?! What are you doing in my room this late at night? And without knocking, no less???”

“Was I supposed to knock?”

“YES. What if you had walked in and found me naked or something…”

“But you said the ritual can only fail when two people share a bath together under the full moon. Did I hear it wrong?”

“Ugh… Just stop talking.”

“Either way, I didn’t come here for nothing. I sensed… demons.” his expression darkening as he spoke.

“Ooh, that makes sense! Hey, hey…” she approached him and whispered quietly, “Do you think those demons you’re talking about snuck into my room and stole my weapons?”

“There is no doubt in my mind. Such filth....” his eyes spelled ‘anger’ and his mouth shouted ‘murder’. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, there was someone else who thought the same.

“Then let’s go give them a piece of my fists.”

~one sneaking montage later~

“Do you think this is their room?” spoke (y/n), their eyes glittering in excitement.

“I’m not certain.”

“Then we’re about to find out.”

“About to find out what?” they jumped into a clumsy stance, startled by Ciel’s sudden interruption. Ain just glared and mumbled inaudible insults.

“You’re making quite the ruckus in the middle of the night. Did you need something from Lu and I?” just then, (y/n) noticed Ciel was carrying a tray full of freshly baked cookies.

“Ooooh, can I have some?” Ain glared at them repulsed.

“How can you talk so casually to this… to this-!”

“Pretty please? Just ignore him, by the way, he’s stupid.”

“!”

“I made them for Lu, so…” staring into their puppy eyes, he sighed. “Alright, you can have one. But only one.”

“Thank youuuuu!” they squealed in delight while grabbing a cookie. “...You didn’t hear anything.”

“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,” he chuckled.

(y/n) very rarely got to eat sweets, so holding one in their own two hands they couldn’t help but study every inch of it. Drooling at the chocolate chip, their eyes turned into glittering stars. Ciel smiled at the sight; but just as they were about to take a bite…

Ain slapped it out of their hand.

The other two gasped, but (y/n) didn’t hesitate to kneel on the floor and stuff it into their mouth. The guys watched in shock, while their taste buds were assaulted by heavenly flavors.

After an uncomfortable silence accompanied only by chewing noises, (y/n) got up and faced Ciel, her tone turning dopey.

“Thank you! I love you! Welcome to the team!”

“Thanks…?” Ciel was stuck between feeling flattered or repulsed by what he just witnessed.

“Sorry for suspecting you of stealing my weapons! I didn’t know you made such good cookies… heheh…”

“(Mr/Ms) Thief, that’s no way to behave around a demon. Cease at once.”

“Shut ep, grumpy face. I know just what you need… you need a cookie.”

“...What?”

“Cieeeeeel, can I get a cookie for Ain too?”

“Um, sure?” Ciel was still in shock and couldn’t think too much. The thief snickered evilly.

“Eat the cookie, Ain.”

“Preposterous.

“I’m gonna force you to eat it.”

“Stay away from me.” he glared at the cookie revolted, hoping that it would disappear. Instead, (y/n) extended their hand.

“Say aah~” before he could slap the cookie away, they attempted to kick him as hard as possible. Unfortunately, the attack was too heavy and they fell on their butt immediately afterwards. “Oof!”

Ain kneeled before them to check if they were unharmed.

“heheh… *hic*”

“(Mr/Ms) Thief, are you alright?” he could only watch as their smile got bigger and their movements dizzier. Ain had no clue about what could've possibly happened, since he'd never witnessed such strange behaviour before. ‘Is this a human function I was not aware of…?’ he thought.

“Did she drink something this evening?” Ciel inquired, but Ain leered.

“I didn't give you permission to speak to me like that, demon.”

“I'm not too happy about that either, but (y/n) doesn't seem well. Do you want to help them or not?”

If it had been any other person, Ain would have refused without even thinking about it; yet looking more attentively at (y/n)’s dopey face, something just wouldn't let him leave them like that.

“...I'll let it slide just this once.” all the softness drained from his face, he glared disgusted at Ciel. His hatred ran deep, despite the situation at hand.

“We should carry them to their room.” spoke Ciel while putting the tray full of cookies in front of his door. The instant he stepped towards the pair, Ain wrapped his arms around their shoulders as to shield them while aggressively staring Ciel down.

“...Or maybe you should carry them.” he backed away in realization.

“Ooh, are we hugging? Do you like me?” Ain forgot that the thing he held close was actually sentient. With a click of his tongue, he avoided their hopeful gaze, which brought upon a great disaster to the land of Elrios.

Incoherent bawling echoed loudly through the whole inn. Tears spilled like waterfalls from (y/n)’s eyes who was rubbing at them like a little child. Ain’s hands froze in mid air; it felt as if he'd just set off a bomb and he was really confused as to why. They kept going, Ciel starting to threaten the priest with his menacing gaze.

Wishing for (y/n) to be quiet already, he put a hand over their mouth, the noises now muffled. Slowly, the whining subsided and Ain almost sighed in relief before a pang of pain shot through his palm.

It was getting more and more painful, and only then did he realize that (y/n)’s teeth were sinking into his skin.

“Oh, you little f-”

“Ciel, what's with all this ruckus in the middle of the night? Where are my cookies?” Lu spoke after opening the door, a most peculiar sight entering her vision. “What have I just walked into…? Ciel, answer me this instant!”

Chuckling nervously, he replied “I'm not too sure either, Lu…”

Ain, with his hand still in (y/n)’s mouth, spat angrily “You filthy creature dare show yourself before me? Know your place and begone.”

“Huhu, how ironic of you to say that while kneeling on the ground, bested by a human!” Lu smirked, gaining the upper hand. Ain reacted by yanking his arm away from (y/n)’s grasp, making them whine and flop on their face.

Ain got up and dusted himself off: “I have business to attend to. Don’t get in my way, demon.” he snarled, to which (y/n) gasped.

“Demon? Did you just say demon?!” they spoke excitedly. “The demons took my weapons!” shouting, they then slapped themselves so hard the sound of it echoed through the whole inn. The other three watched in shock, each with a face more hilarious than the last.

Charging up their inner energy, (y/n) let out a long fierce battlecry. “You!” they pointed to Lu, “You stole my weapons!”

“What a bold accusation! I, Luciela R. Sourcream, steal a commoner’s belongings? How ridiculous. Ciel, put them in their place!”

“Lu, I think we should give them a chance to explain first.”

“...I’ll listen to you just because you baked my cookies on time.”

“They’re really good, by the way,” (y/n) spoke without thinking, making a grave mistake. The bomb was set off.

“CIEL!! How could you defile my cookies so?! I TRUSTED YOU!” whined Lu dramatically, stomping the floor with her small feet. He hurried towards her to calm the storm. While Ciel was distracted, Ain grabbed (y/n)’s hand and whispered into their ear:

“Let’s make haste.” before (y/n) could complain, Ain took them swiftly to the lobby.

They stared at him confused and more than ready to complain about the situation, yet Ain silenced (y/n) by putting a finger over their lips.

“We’ve successfully escaped the demons,” he smiled. “Now we can focus on figuring out your strange condition.”

“There’s nothing to figure out…” they grabbed his hand and moved it away from their face. “Anyway, it was that drink’s fault! It tasted weird,” spoke (y/n), quite proud of themselves.

“I see… Do you have any ideas where we could start?” Ain inquired with his eyebrows raised.

“Hmmm… I feel like I’m missing something…” they rubbed their chin as if a beard was there,” OH! I know! That girl who served our drinks! The blondie with the ponytail, remember?!”

“There was someone like that? I didn’t even notice.”

(y/n) opened their mouth to remind him of the event, but a gut feeling told them it would be futile to do so. ‘There is also another matter to take care of’, they thought.

“That girl stole my weapons! And drugged me! That’s it, I’m gonna go look for her. She better pray for her life.”

“Ah, an occasion to spread the word of Ishmael. How wonderful,” he beamed.

“Ain, no, you stay right here ‘till I’m done. It was a figure of speech anyway…”

“?” visibly confused, he prepared to ask what (y/n) meant by that, only to notice them stomping towards the counter.

“I would like to speak to the manager.” with a booming voice, they slammed their hand on the wooden surface to attract attention. Staring the girl into the eye, they noticed her blonde hair, tied into a ponytail.

“IT’S YOU!” they pointed,”You’re the one who drugged my drink!” The girl looked right, then left. Finally, she stated in a deadpan tone, “Ah, shit.”

In less than a second, she was gone from (y/n)’s sight and sprinting towards the employees’ back door.

“Excuse me?! I’m not done with you, you little wh*re, I’M TELLING THE MANAGER AND YOU’LL GET FIRED AND YOU’LL HAVE NIGHTMARES FOREVER OF THE DAY I RUINED YOUR LIFE-” shouting more nonsense, they tried jumping over the counter to chase her but a certain priest stopped her just in time.

“That’s not an appropriate way to behave, (Mr/Ms) Thief.”

“And that’s not an appropriate way to tell me my ways are not appropriate.”

“You’re quite childish, aren’t you?” he chuckled. All of (y/n)’s defenses cracked because of that one simple gesture, and steam started coming out of their ears. Taking a deep breath, they tried to calm the burning chaos inside of them and smirked.

“I’m going to Ciel now.”

“May I ask about the reason?” he furrowed his brow.

“Nay, thee shan’t.”

“(Mr/Ms) Thief, surely, you wouldn’t actually stand near filth such as that?”

“What can I say? He’s much more pleasant company than you; trust me, I know.”

“Unbelievable…” he looked visibly offended now, ready to strike someone down in less than a second. “I apologize, but I won’t tolerate this sort of behaviour, thief.” Ain spat their nickname like he’d spit one of Ciel’s cookies, making them gasp dramatically.

“That’s it, I’m murdering you. Better pray to Ishmael while you still can.” (y/n) spat back, preparing their fists.

“After I teach you a lesson, I think it would be most enjoyable to have you pray alongside me.”

“Did you just say enjoyable? Did you just say enjoyable?! I will completely mop the filth out of this floor with your moppy hair!”

“I find it hard to believe that you would stoop to words this lowly, thief. Be warned, I will not go easy on you this time.”

“If only I had my weapons… You’d be crying on the floor right now.”

“I highly doubt it.”

“Look, I’ve made lots of people cry before, what makes you think you won’t be one of them?!”

“I have plenty of reasons. It is truly regrettable that I even considered having a tiny speck of respect for you… Not only do you fraternize with the demons, but you also act like a degenerate human being.”

“Tiny? Tiny?! You want me to mourn for a tiny speck?!”

“It matters little to me whether you mourn or not.”

“Wh- It was supposed to be an exaggeration, you massive idiot! Why do you have to take everything so seriously, it triggers me deeply on a personal level!!”

“Any last words, thief?”

“Yes. Feel my wrath!” they lunged, while Ain was prepared to break his pendulum.

“You know Ciel, this is really entertaining. I don’t regret having my cookies stolen in the middle of the night, just because I got to see this!” (y/n) got a glimpse of Lu and Ciel watching their fight, before their fist finally collided with Ain’s chest in a very underwhelming manner. Then, as a balloon without air, they deflated, landing unceremoniously on the floor.

Ain looked at the scene with a confused smile, wondering why (y/n) started giggling out of nowhere with their face in the ground. Did they have a plan? Was it just another strange human ritual?

“I can’t watch this anymore…” Ciel sighed and tried to approach (y/n), yet a tiny hand stopped him midway.

“How dare you offer help to those people? The cookie thief and the hateful priest?! Ciel, I thought highly of you, but it seems it was wrong of me to do so…”

He gasped dramatically and retaliated in less than a second. “I apologize, Lu! I will go bake another batch of cookies just for you and leave those two to their own devices.”

“Chocolate chip cookies, don’t forget.”

“Yes! I will certainly leave those two to take care of themselves and definitely not check on the situation later!”

“Good job! I surely do not regret choosing you as my butler, Ciel~,” beamed Lu, walking away with Ciel in tow.

“...Ah.” Only then did Ain realize that the odd acting human was in his care. ‘What is there to do now?’ he thought, for (y/n) had started to munch on the carpet. Then, he remembered humans didn't usually eat carpets.

“Thief, cease this disgraceful behaviour at once.” After he spoke, a pair of curious eyes settled on his magnificent coat. (y/n) could only imagine the deliciousness of such a minty looking beverage and leaped towards it in an attempt to get a taste.  He noticed before they even thought about it and intercepted their attack with a quick slap on the forehead.

(y/n) responded by hugging the floor and sobbing into it, to which Ain didn't bother reacting to anymore. His face spelled ‘I'm done’ yet the thief kept on crying the same sentence: “I'm hungryyyy…”

Ain gazed upon their snot filled visage, a repulsive sight which was supposed to engulf his entire being with disgust. Yet, despite all of his alarms having set off, he kneeled before (y/n). He recalled a similar sight which had only taken place recently; Elsword felt defeated when In and Jin escaped, but his sadness was gone as quickly as it came since Ms. Knight had ruffled his hair and offered words of encouragement. ‘Is that what’s missing?’ he thought, his gloveless hand finding its way onto their head as if to comfort.

Almost gone by unnoticed, their sobbing had gotten quieter. The more Ain would pat their head, the less they'd cry, and so he thanked Ishmael for this newfound wisdom.

“...Let's get you to your room,” he mumbled, grabbing (y/n) and pulling them over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Without a sound, Ain traveled through the whole inn twice, probably even three times before he remembered where (y/n)’s room was; after all, it was by sensing their energy he stumbled across it the first time.

Ain laid their body on the bed as roughly as he picked them up, but he received no reaction. Instead, (y/n)’s sobbing had turned to silent tears as they covered their face with their palms.

‘A pitiful sight’, he thought; yet he could not stand still and watch since a strange feeling had wormed its way in. Then, the priest decided it'd be a good idea to repeat what he had done earlier and pat their head.

(y/n) on the other hand, couldn't even tell whether they were hungry or in complete despair for no reason in particular; but what they did know was someone's gentle hand comforting them and a gentle voice whispering ‘sleep well’. They did not know if it was actually real or not as they dozed off into a state of nothingness.

~darkness~

The bed was an incredibly soft surface and (y/n) wouldn't have gotten out of it if it hadn't been for the hot springs. It was finally time to relax and forget about all the worries that had plagued their mind for weeks.

On their way to the place in question, they grabbed a jerky and gulped it down in a second. ‘It's a lot tastier than usual’, they thought.

(y/n) sighed relieved. Fixing up their towel to make sure it wouldn’t fall, they opened the sliding door.

What a wondrous occasion for them to be able to finally savour the joy of hot springs! It had been a really long time since they'd been to one.

“Come in, (Mr/Ms) Thief. I’ve been waiting for you,” Ain had gotten there before them, but they didn’t mind too much and stepped into the water. They were really tired, and once they sunk their body into the hot springs their entire being relaxed.

“Would you mind if I gave you a massage?” (y/n) shook their head.

“Come here,” they approached him and he then tended to their sore back.

“You’re really good at this… I should ask you to do it more.”

“I’m glad to be of assistance.” a brief moment of silence followed as his firm hands ran over their bare skin. They felt themselves getting quite hot.

“...Do you hate me, Ain?”

“Why would I hate you?”

“I dunno…” their posture slouched.

“Just so you know, I don’t hate you. You don’t have to be sad.” his fingers moved onto (y/n)'s shoulders, their back straightening once again.

“I was a bit mean to you…”

“But I couldn’t hate you for that.”

“Maybe more than just a bit…”

“You’re still dear to me, (y/n).” they suddenly turned their head to face him, barely believing what they just heard.

“...Really?”

“Really.” he tucked a strand of hair behind their ear, staring at them lovingly. They didn’t know how to react.

“...I’m sorry for trying to hit you..”

“It’s alright. I forgive you.”

“I’m sorry for calling your hair moppy.”

“It’s fine.”

“I’m sorry for disrespecting the Goddess…”

“It can be easily solved.” they frowned. He gently caressed their head as he pulled them into a hug.

“...You’re really hot.”

“I’m flattered.”

“No, I’m… nevermind.” they gave into his touch and closed their eyes.

“You can sleep if you’d like. I’ll take care of you.”

“...You’re different.”

“I could say the same about you.”

Enveloped in warmth, they didn’t bother giving another argument.

“Look at me.” he raised their chin, gazing into their sleepy eyes.

“...Why though?”

“I just wanted to see you from up close. That’s all.”

“I should consider that creepy, but I’m too tired to care…” he chuckled, admiring their face even more. “What about the massage?” they asked innocently.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I got distracted.” his hands returned to their shoulders, making them even sleepier than before.

(y/n) looked up into the night sky. It was quite late judging by all the stars visible, and they wondered what they were still doing there; resting was mandatory since plenty of delicacies awaited them the next day, yet they were killing time with this pervert nonetheless.

Fluffy gray hair tickling their neck interrupted that train of thought. Not long after, a pair of arms wrapped around their torso, the towel seemingly gone.

“You will make a fine trophy to my wife collection.” he smiled wickedly, and (y/n) remembered: he was still a priest.

~darkness ends~

They woke up in a cold sweat, questioning reality with a distressed frown. Events of yesterday mingled with their dream, instilling uncertainty in what they were currently seeing.

“You're awake. How are you feeling?” inquired the man seated at their bedside. Upon closer inspection, they noticed his dark blue hair and identified him as Ciel; yet, (y/n) couldn't shake off the feeling that they were expecting someone else.

“I feel… fine, surprisingly. What happened yesterday?”

“You don't remember…?” he asked confused and (y/n) scratched the back of their neck. “Well, you weren't in your right mind, to say the least,” a tiny smile tugged at the corner of his lips, but (y/n) didn't notice. If they had, they'd have punched it right off.

“Either way, I made you some breakfast,” he offered them a plate. “Don't tell Lu.” Ciel added a little more serious than usual.

(y/n) studied their dish; it was smaller in quantity than what they were used to, and so it made up in craftsmanship. Not only was the pancake softer than anything they'd ever touched, but it also had a smiley face drawn in chocolate topping, together with a small ‘get well soon’ next to it.

(y/n) had never seen such effort put into breakfast before and couldn't contain the little blush that covered their cheeks. Ciel smiled at the sight.

Yet, despite the good start they'd gotten, (y/n) couldn't take their mind off the dream they just had. Who was it that they dreamed of? The thief could only feel disturbed and slightly horny, but the reason remains unknown.

The person in their dream had a name; what was it? It stood on the tip of their tongue…

“Ciel, wasn't there another guy with us?”

“There was? I'm fairly sure I found you alone.”

“Never mind… I probably just dreamed it all.” slouched (y/n). They could not tell why that person they forgot was so important to them and it frustrated them endlessly.

“Which parts do you remember from last night?” spoke Ciel, attempting to make conversation. (y/n) pondered on the question and didn't answer too quickly.

“...I was drinking what seemed like normal juice, but then I realized the sweet syrup in it was supposed to mask the taste of a drug. Something distracted me from that, but I just… can't remember what.”

“Drug?! Do you know who did this to you?”

“Yeah. It was the blond ponytail girl at the counter who I went to question with… with….?”

“With who?”

“I don't know. I don't remember,” they replied sheepishly to which Ciel sighed.

“I think I know what girl you're talking about. She also tried to break into my and Lu’s room, but not without good reason. We caught her a while after I found you unconscious; the whole El gang suspects she might be working with the demons.” (y/n) nodded in understanding, although they spaced out in the middle because the explanation was getting too long.

“We'll be waiting for you downstairs. Until then, eat your breakfast and take your time.” before leaving, Ciel ruffled their hair and (y/n) stopped responding.

At that point, they truly felt that something was missing and it wasn't just their memories of last night. Something like… something that would barge into their room and complain about getting along with a demon, even though Ciel was only half demon. Something that would throw the pancakes on the floor without an ounce of hesitation.

“(Mr/Ms) Thief, would you like to explain what that is in your lap?” and there he goes again, coming in uninvited with a glare that could kill.

(y/n)’s dream came back to them in an instant and they didn't know whether to hug themselves in embarrassment or run for their life. They couldn't even utter his name because of the overwhelming emotions that seemed to have popped up out of nowhere. Yet what they said was this:

“You don't have a wife collection, do you?”

“??? Are you trying to distract me from the devil’s food? Give me one reason why I shouldn't obliterate it right this instant,” Ain spat.

‘As grumpy as ever’, (y/n) thought and laughed out loud, a little relieved that their dream was far from reality. On the other hand, the priest was livid from that reaction.

“What did you just say about me, you puny human? I'll have you know I am Ishmael’s most trusted agent. No matter where you may hide I will find you and wipe you out in the name of the Goddess with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this land, mark my words. Laugh, human, I'll serve the divine retribution you are owed nonetheless and you shall perish by my wrath.”

(y/n) did their best to abstain from laughing even louder, but it was to no avail; the gates had already been flooded, a swarm of pure joy took over their mouth and even stomach, for the endless laughter had made it hurt.

"Wow, and here I was, actually disturbed by you for some weird reason-" wiping off an imaginary tear they squeaked out, hiding their relief. Ain was not amused.

"I will not tolerate-"

"Nom." (y/n) nommed a quarter of a pancake, interrupting his incoming speech. Ain's aura had turned menacing as he approached the hungry thief's bed.

"Oh, do you want one too?" (y/n) munched; Ain froze.

"Preposterous."

"Dont lie, you know you want it."

"Such audacity. Take that poison away from my sight. Now."

(y/n) smirked and nommed another pancake. "Om nom, very yum. Me like."

Ain looked mortified as they ate pancakes one by one, until only half a piece remained. It was doused in chocolate to the point of feeling like a wet towel when touched; just the way (y/n) loved it.

"Are you suuuure you don't want any?" No answer.

He thought a little more; weren’t they in such a predicament because of him? His incompetence led to (y/n) laying in that bed after a shaky night they had no choice over. It was his fault only, for not noticing the subtle details and letting a vital member get almost injured from sheer stupidity from his part. Ishmael would believe that he had to atone.

Defeated and upset with himself, Ain shut his eyes and whispered, "Just one bite…"

(y/n) beamed at the response and gladly gave him the bite he asked for. At first he looked like he'd spit it out the instant he put the pancake in his mouth, but his face didn't lie as his features slowly relaxed. He hummed in delight.

And when things seemed to be going well, the dream came to their mind again, along with an idea.

"Hey Ain, you're really hot."

Perplexed, he spoke: "I'm not. My coat may seem warm, but was that supposed to be a question?"

"I didn't mean it that way."

"Then what way did you mean it in?"

(y/n) giggled.

~

Elesis: “You’re finally here! What took you so long?”

Ara: “Um, m-maybe it’s not very appropriate to ask that..?”

Aisha: “I don’t buy it one bit. (y/n)’s not smart enough to handle a guy like Ain.”

(y/n): “Oi, wanna fight?”

Rena: “Ahem.” the whole El gang’s attention was on her. “We have more important things to deal with, don’t we?” Everyone looked at the suspect; she seemed regretful.

Raven: “You should explain yourself now, while you have the chance.”

Add: “Can’t you see she clearly doesn't want to speak? We should just end her here and now.”

Eve: “Any allies of the enemy should be exterminated.”

Add: “See, even Eve agrees with me…! Kuku..”

Elsword: “Now that everyone’s here, tell us: why did you make a deal with the demons?”

Lu: “And to bring me down, no less. To bring me, Luciela R. Sourcream, down…!”

???: “What could I have possibly done…?” For a brief second, her and (y/n)’s eyes met.

Ain: “(y/n) and I can prove that Emily concealed vital information. When confronted about the drugged drinks, she avoided answering and ran away.”

Emily: “tsk..”

(y/n): “Why’d you do it though? Other than peace, don’t you have everything you need?”

Emily: “You know, maybe if you didn’t have your heads so far up your asses, you’d be aware. What kind of heroes are you guys if everyone's starving to death even when working their hardest?! Why should we care if demons invade us when even in this so called peaceful world we have nothing anyway!”

(y/n): “...Girl, have you looked at yourself?”

Emily: “...?”

(y/n): “Those mad skills of yours… they got me wondering if I was working in the wrong field. If you can even call what I’m doing ‘working’. You can move in the shadows better than I can, and I’ve been doing this for years! I’m surprised you’re not a demon by how fast you were moving.”

Emily: “...What are you on about?”

(y/n): “There’s a great future ahead of you, yes, you’re destined for greatness! You can get into places I’ve never been able to, you can swipe treasures I never even knew existed… Greatness, I say!”

Emily: “So you’re saying…”

(y/n): “Eat the rich, Emily. Eat the rich and sleep on their skins.”

Chung: “Ahahah, I don’t think that’s the lesson she had to learn…”

Aisha: “That’s a little ironic, coming from royalty…”

Ciel: “Now, now, whether or not we’ve learned anything, why don’t we eat this celebratory cake I’ve baked just for this occasion?”

Elesis: “Wow, what a convenient cake! I’m all for it!”

Lu: “Huhu, my butler never disappoints, as expected.”

Ain: “But doesn’t it seem like someone took a huge bite out of it?”

Elsword: “No way… (y/n), you betrayed us?!”

With a fistful of cake, (y/n): “I’d rather betray the world than let the world betray me!” then laughed proudly.

[ainchase]

Ain’s Master Class Epic Quest Translation

42-1 Overcoming Anxiety 

Harnier’s Memory

Messenger of God

As Long As I Remember Me

Harnier's Memory

Ain opened his eyes in a fragment of Harnier’s memory that flowed in with the power of El.

???: ...Don't... forget... yours...lf... Lady of El: ... High Priest: My Lady, it's time for you go to the church. Lady of El: ... High Priest: My Lady? Lady of El: ...! Ah, I did it again... Lady of El: ...Forgive me. It's become harder for me to stay focused... High Priest: It's okay. The fact that your emotion is growing fainter means you are becoming closer to the El. Lady of El: (Becoming... closer to the el.) Lady of El: (It's natural for my memory and sense of self to grow weaker.) Lady of El: ...Okay. ???: Remember... you're... Lady of El: ...! High Priest: Are you okay? Lady of El: ...It's nothing. I just had a headache... High Priest: You must let us know if you're not feeling well. It'd be terrible for something to happen to you. Lady of El: Yes, I understand. I am a representative of the Goddess. I must fulfill my mission to protect the world of Elrios... Lady of El: (...Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something important?) Lady of El: Um... Where are the ones who used to be by my side? High Priest: By your side? You mean the priestesses? They're already at the church. Lady of El: (The priestesses? Did I feel this much fondness for them?) High Priest: We must hurry. The service will begin soon, so please finish your preparations. You must fulfill your duty as the Lady of El, remember? Lady of El: (Duty as the Lady of El. Taking care of the unstable El after it went rampant, a noble task of protecting this world...) Lady of El: (This is only natural. From the day I was chosen as the Lady of El, my life no longer became mine.) Lady of El: (A fate to slowly lose everything and disappear as they become one with the El.) Lady of El: But even so, I made a decision. High Priest: My Lady? What are you... Lady of El: In the end, I decided to stay with them. Because the mission wasn't fulfilled properly, because I believed the world still needed them... Lady of El: And because I myself had wished to stay by their side. ???: ... Lady of El: You and I are alike. We were both given a mission, and we were both meant to disappear to fulfill that mission. Lady of El: But the El’s explosion had nothing to do with our will. Things that never should have come to pass happened on top of another, and we became who we are today. If that is the case... Lady of El: What are we, now that we've been led astray by coincidences from the path we were meant to take? Harnier: ...Ain. Ain: I think I need some explanation, Lady of El-- No, Miss Harnier. Ain: What happened to me? Harnier: When you've arrived at Elysion, most of the power of El that was sustaining you was gone. Ain: (When the portal activated, I felt my strength leaving me. Did it draw away my power because the crystal wasn't enough?) Harnier: The power of El that gives you your form is not from a specific element, but a pure power of the Goddess itself. Harnier: It appears while I was transferring the power of El that I can control to you, some of my memories ended up mixing in. Ain: So you were the one who told me I shouldn't forget myself. Well then, how do we get out of this place? Harnier: Now that you've found yourself, the next natural step is for you to wake up, but... Perhaps the reason you can't lies within you. Ain: Within me? Harnier: The power to reflect the will of El... I'm wondering if the reason you can't escape this place is that you are refusing to wake up. Ain: That can't be true. Even at this very moment, I want to wake up immediately. I have to check to see if others are safe... Ain: !!! Harnier: Ain!

Messenger of God

Messengers of God blocks Ain and Harnier’s path. They declared an eternal exile to Ain who was suffering in confusion.

Harnier: What is going on...? Messenger of God: Ainchase Ishmael. Ain: ...! Messenger of God: The one who abandoned his mission. Messenger of God: A heretic who refused his fate. Messenger of God: An existence of a different nature from the rest of "us." Harnier: Another agent... of the Goddess like Ain? Messenger of God: He is to be discarded. Sink forever to the bottom of order itself. Ain: What...? Harnier: Ain, you must get a hold of yourself. Even this is nothing but a manifestation of your own anxiety, they're not real! Ain: (These things... are my anxiety?) Ain: (I've... feared other emissaries of the Goddess? No, no... that can't be it.) Messenger of God: You've abandoned the mission the Goddess has given you. Ain: I didn't abandon the mission. I did what I had to do in order to deal with the problems that occurred. Messenger of God: You were given something that was not permitted to you. You strayed from your original mission because of that. Ain: ...My original mission was to add my existence to the Giant El to stabilize it. Ain: It's different from what I was supposed to do, but I've always been looking for a way to stabilize the El. The true nature of my mission hasn't changed. Ain: The reason why the Goddess never answered me was definitely because something must've happened... In order to fix that, the El must be restored completely. Ain: It's possible to do that even without Elsword's sacrifice. In fact, the El Search Party must endure, in case the El is in danger again-- Messenger of God: You said yourself that you must save Elsword, even if it meant going against your mission. Ain: That's... Messenger of God: You've been corrupted a long time ago. Although you said the true nature hasn't changed, but you should know yourself... Messenger of God: Do you dare say that you are the same as us, when you've went against the Goddess's will, came in contact with chaos, and even called a creature from the demon realm your friend. Ain: ... Messenger of God: Your faith has been corrupted. You prioritized your judgment over the Goddess's mission, telling yourself that it was for the El's sake. In doing so, you have challenged the Goddess's authority. Messenger of God: You've abandoned your God, and you are no longer the same as us. You don't have the right to use the name the Goddess has given you. Ain: (I've made up my mind to decide and carry out the things I must do, not as a representative for a lofty mission, but as Ainchase Ishmael.) Ain: (But that decision is going against the very definition of my existence? If the things I've done to define myself ended up denying my own origin...) Ain: (The change I've brought about... no longer makes me... me... What's waiting for me at the end of all this change?) Ain: (No, no. I'm not wrong. The fact that I still exist here without disappearing means that God himself acknowledges my actions.) Ain: ...I don't regret my decision to save Elsword and protect the El Search Party. That was never a wrong decision to make. Ain: Yes, I've changed. But that wasn't to challenge God's authority or to abandon the Goddess. I just... Ain: I just did what I thought was right. This is the right path. Elria has accepted my will, and that's why I-- Messenger of God: You truly believe that? Ain: What are you trying to s... Messenger of God: When the authority over you changed to Elria... Did he give you a mission? Ain: ...That's... Messenger of God: No other agent of God had taken your footsteps. However, you had the audacity to believe, without question, that God had accepted your objectives. Messenger of God: The insolence to interpret God's will how ever you see fit is also a quality none of us share. Ain: ... Messenger of God: Hear me, heretic. You've been corrupted, and thus you are no longer one of us. Ain: (This is... an illusion? How can anyone say none of this exists, when each word is shaking me to my core?) Messenger of God: You are a nothing if you're not us. Ain: (I thought all I had to do was to control the repulsion I felt. I thought I held up quite well so far. But... if my decision was correct...) Ain: (Why... was I so nervous?) Messenger of God: You have no conviction over your decision. The absence of faith equals the void. Ain: (...The very foundation of my existence is wavering. This is the reason I was afraid of becoming something other than a Celestial...) Messenger of God: A human's faith is brief, Ain: (What form will I be in to stay by their side, if I'm no longer a Celestial? Even after I change...) Messenger of God: and so it is completely void of meaning. Ain: (Would they continue to see me... as Ain...?) Harnier: Ain. Harnier: I'm sure you've seen it earlier, but I've lived a part of my life as the Lady of El. Ain: ... Harnier: Back when I stayed at the Tower of El, I... ate a lot of food. Whenever I had free time, I ate something. Did you know? I'm not a picky eater. Harnier: The priestesses tried to stop me, saying I might get a stomachache, but I filled my tummy with whatever I can find. Ain: ...What are you trying to say? Harnier: Looking back, I might've been trying to fill the void in me that grew the more I became one with the El... I think. Harnier: As times went by, I could not feel even that emptiness in the end. Ain: ... Harnier: I grew scared, the more I couldn't remember anything. I must be doing the right thing for Elrios, so I couldn't understand why I was feeling that way. Harnier: I thought it was because I lacked faith, because I wasn't ready to sacrifice myself. I felt agonized, conflicted... and tormented. Harnier: And when I finally made my decision... Who do you think made that decision for me? Ain: ... Harnier: I chose to do what I can do. In the end, I was the one who accepted my fate as the Lady of El. Ain: You did that... knowing you won't be human anymore when you become one with the El? Harnier: Even if every part of me is erased and forgotten, the very last bit of me at the very last moment, will still be me. Harnier: Don't be afraid to be afraid. It's okay to be nervous of change. Harnier: It's natural to feel anxious if you have chosen to forge your own path instead of following what fate has chosen for you. All living beings feel that anxiety. Ain: (This anxiety... is natural?) Harnier: The fact that I am Harnier and that you are Ain will never change. Even if we become something we are not, even if no one can remember us... Harnier: We both know that we had once existed at that time, in that place, along with everyone. Ain: (A life fated to be forgotten when intervention is over.) Ain: (But he remembered. My existence, the time he had spent with me, my... name.) Ain: (Though the Goddess has bestowed that name upon me, regardless of her, that name... still means "me.") Ain: (Even if I change into something else, not a Celestial or anything at all, would you guys still...) Ain: The space... Harnier: Are you okay? Ain: ...I'm not sure. Ain: Is it okay to say that this is okay? To think that it's normal to feel like I'm endlessly sinking beneath my feet... I'm not sure. Harnier: I think the reason you feel anxious is that you're now able to understand other people's perspectives. Ain: Understand... others? Harnier: You're now looking at the world through your own eyes, not just to blindly carry out an absolute order because you're told to. You don't take things at face value, you're trying to understand why before accepting it as your reality. Ain: ...All the things I used to consider meaningless. Ain: Thank you. I don't think the detail of you not being a picky eater was necessary, but you were helpful nonetheless. ???: Ain... chase... Harnier: Ain...? That's...! Ain: ...As a thank you, I'll also show you something that you don't need to know. ???: Ishmael... Ain: It's a manifestation of my anxiety. Manifestation of Anxiety: Ainchase Ishmael... Ain: ... Manifestation of Anxiety: It's not too late. You can still turn around. Manifestation of Anxiety: Discard all impurities from coming in contact with Henir and come to me. Manifestation of Anxiety: Aren't there still things you need to carry out in my name as my agent? Harnier: Ain...! Ain: ...O Goddess Ishmael, Ain: Forgive me for making you appear in this form because of my worry. Manifestation of Anxiety: You had defied me once... and later said you'll return my power to Elrios. Manifestation of Anxiety: Inconsistency is a human construct. You are a Celestial. Manifestation of Anxiety: The more you accept what is theirs, you will grow further away from a Celestial. But you will never be a human either. Manifestation of Anxiety: Do you wish to be... "chaos" that lingers between a Celestial and a human? Ain: I used to think it's probably better to return to a time when I was just blindly chasing after my mission whenever I grew fearful of change. Ain: Looking back, running away to the past is an idea I never even would have thought of. Ain: If it's because I learned it from a human... If this is the consequence of my decision... Ain: I will gladly accept it. Ain: Goddess Ishmael -- No, "Manifestation of My Anxiety." I will never be a part of the chaos. Ain: I am too aware of my existence to be a part of that. Ain: Not only am I an agent of the Goddess with her mission to fulfill, but I am also the one who set my own goal to save the Goddess under Elria's authority. Ain: The one who will constantly change and protect them by existing in their time. Ain: I'm Ainchase Ishmael.

As Long As I Remember Me

After finding inner peace thanks to Harnier’s guidance, Ain faces the manifestation of his anxiety. His voice rang clear as he declared who he is to the voice urging him to return to the right path. 

Harnier: Are you okay? Ain: Lady of El... Ain: No, I should call you Miss Harnier. Ain: Thank you for helping. I wouldn't have been able to get out if I was by myself. Harnier: No, you would've woken up even without me. I just hastened the process. Ain: How can you be so sure? You were... Ain: Well, I did show you too many things. Ain: ...Miss Harnier. I understand that my anxieties are a bit exaggerated fear of the reality and that the end has not been decided yet. Ain: And you told me it's natural to feel this way. Ain: In retrospect, I think I was anxious the moment I faced the chaos. I looked at humans, couldn't understand them, and always felt anxious somewhere in my heart... Ain: Although my anxiety originated from Henir, but now... it's solely become a part of my emotions. Ain: I thought I'd be fine as long as I had my conviction, but in the end... I wavered, enough to collapse and fall. Ain: If I have to face this natural feeling over and over again, one day it might just end up consuming me. And if that happens... Ain: What lies beyond that? Harnier: You're always changing, Ain. You're different now than you were when I last saw you. Harnier: In the past, your form would have disappeared if you were in the same predicament, but you managed to keep your physical form even as you fell unconscious. That is the proof. Ain: ...! Harnier: Even now, I sometimes think it would be better for everyone for me to just become one with the El to stabilize it. Harnier: But there were those who told me it's okay for me to live as me. Harnier: Perrihart said so... Ventus, Denif, and the current priestesses... Everyone. They said they didn't want me to sacrifice alone. Harnier: Thanks to them, I am able to live my life as "Harnier." Harnier: And I'm striving to do the things I can, both as "Lady of El" and "Harnier." Harnier: Ain, I was the one who accepted the path of becoming a Lady of El. I tried to accept the sacrifice that was asked of me. Harnier: But now, I've decided to live as Harnier. This is turning over my previous decision... It too is a change. Harnier: And I didn't bring about this change on my own. Many told me it's okay, so I was able to change. Harnier: And some changes happen even before you're aware. Harnier: Are you still afraid of change? Ain: ... Ain: I'd be lying if I said I'm not, but... Ain: Perhaps it's okay if I think this change is their influence. Ain: Surely, I'll be anxious again, but... yes. If I can recall this story, I should be okay again.