”Sod off,” Matthew said with clear annoyance in his tone.
”Heheh, fine—“ the Knight in the toy soldier suit stated as he turned and went the other way.
Matthew gave a quick sigh.
”I apologize on the behalf of my colleag— er, that man,” he changed back to his usual behavior, being the soft cinnamon roll he is.
”Aisen said he’s free,” the butler figurine came back with those words as he turned back into his cat form, jumping on Hinata’s shoulder and standing there.
”Alrighty, Hinata, if you would—“ Matthew started pacing down the roads where some locals were.
Some gave Matthew weird glances, clearly he wasn’t very popular in this part of town. As he travelled, he would come across a dark pathway. It looked like a shortcut to where he wanted to go to. Inside was a portal, one that opened when the Knight snapped his fingers. He stepped through and waited for his friend to do so too.
(Oh yeah, quick fact, Matthew is now very single in this new revamp… soooooooo :>)
(Glorious!)
"It's fine," Hinata said, looking over when Kohaku came back. Slipping her hands in her pockets, she followed after Matthew. Unlike last time, she noticed when people looked at them weirdly. She didn't mind when she was the focus of the looks, but she didn't like it when they were directed at Matthew. She waited for Matthew to go through the process before stepping through herself.
Hopefully it wouldn't be like the last time.
When Hinata stepped through the portal, she would find herself in a nice looking house which honestly looked out of place from the rest of the Labyrinth. Immediately, there was a citrusy scent that was clearly present in the house and that the house was mostly decorated with either black or white furniture.
A male figurine can be seen saying his greetings to Matthew before he turned to Hinata and made his way to her. His structure was quite similar to Matthew’s but with a wavy jet black hair and a pair of blue eyes instead.
”Hello Balance Keeper, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Aisen Faltur, second in command of the Aura Sector,” the Knight introduced.
(Knight’s Profile)
[Aisen Faltur]
[Ability : Duality]
[Knight Class : A+]
[Knight’s Sector : Aura]
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Hinata said in return. It was easier for Hinata to trust this man, seeing how Matthew seemed to. Besides, this place was rather inviting. Of course, Hinata wouldn't let her guard completely down- this was still a part of the Labyrinth, and even though she was friends with Matthew, there were rumors about the people here that didn't seem far off.
”Anyways…” Aisen started.
”As I’m aware Matthew had said to you, we have a problem. ‘The Infection’ that is happening in our home would most likely leak out to other universes if we can’t contain it in here long enough. Those universes include the Central point of the Multiverse, which will be a huge problem in the future. If my assumptions are correct, there’s really only you who can help with this situation dear Balance Keeper,” the Knight of Black and White restated the purpose Hinata was brought into the Labyrinth. He turned to face the window of his household.
”Let me remind you that we, the Soul Labyrinth, have produced and have trained several generations of Knights and some… have unfortunately been infected and will be a bit hard to take care of,” the Knight turned back to Hinata and Matthew, ”—would you be up for the challenge?”
"I will be," Hinata said plainly. "This needs to be taken care of as soon as possible." She pressed her lips lightly, thinking of the ramifications of this spreading any further. Mostly, of how her bosses would react to it. Not good.
"It'd be mass chaos if other dimensions found out."
”Indeed it would be and to get you to get an idea of what you’re dealing with…” the Knight of Black and White snapped his fingers as the two visitors were teleported to an open field with a lot of corpses scattered around. Those who looked normal were fine, but those who didn’t… well, these were their features.
Most were humanoids with glowing orange veins showing clearly from beneath their skin. Some even had mutated limps like a larger arm, a clawed hand, some even sprouted wings.
”Aura people, of course they would teleport us here instead of walking with us…” Matthew subtly complained.
Everyone beside the two visitors were dead.
”These people were some who got infected, mind you that these were your everyday locals and not Knights but still managed to…” Matthew motioned to the field of corpses ”… you know”
Hinata surveyed the area, taking in the sight of all the bodies. Everything about this felt wrong. So many dead, so many changed.
"This is bad," Hinata said softly. For a moment, an image of this happening to her family flashed through her mind. She shuddered a little, worried.
Matthew nodded when he heard what Hinata had said. He agreed. As a matter of fact, he had not seen an infected Knight yet and that was clearly worrying. He heard a worrying sound come from somewhere in the field. It wasn’t a sound he liked. He turned towards the faint sound, seeing a figure crawl up from the mountain of corpses around them.
His instincts came in, immediately positioning himself in front of Hinata and summoning his flat spear.
”My thoughts were correct… a Knight was indeed infected here…” Matthew stated, the emerald bracelet of his glowed as a light armor of emerald green with golden lapels covered him.
The standing figure turned unnaturally to face the two, rushing at them with intense speed. The Knight managed to block the figure, pushing them back to see who the infected was. The figure can be seen with the same glowing orange veins that the other infected had. However, it seemed like this one still had some consciousness as it was able to summon a staff. Perhaps that staff was this person’s weapon when they were pure.
”Matthew speaking, Skylar infected. I repeat, Skylar infected—“ the Nature’s Knight said into the earpiece that came with his helm as the infected Knight let out a deafening screech, revealing that his jaw had been broken in half.
(Knight’s Profile)
[Skylar Season]
[Ability : Mage’s Seasonality]
[Knight Class : A]
[Knight’s Sector : Nightwalker]
(Hi, guys, it's your Friendly Neighborhood Stalker! I'm just gonna hide in the corner and stalk, don't mind me.)
(I shouldn’t be surprised… greetings Hannah…)
(Yeah, you really shouldn't be surprised. You knew this was coming. Sorry XD)
(Well, get comfortable ‘cause you’re in for quite a ride this time)
(Good! I can't wait for this. I'll shut up now, and leave you be.)
Hinata moved in a tight spin when she heard the noise, pulling Tatsuo out of his sheath. In a soft flash, he was back to being a katana and prepared for the fight. Hinata stepped out from behind Matthew, standing behind him and to the side. She could handle herself.
Hinata flinched a little when the Infected Knight screeched.
Great, it seems like physical pain doesn't do anything, she thought to herself.
Dismemberment is an option, Tatsuo quipped.
A very unwanted one.
The infected Knight rushed the two, coming at Matthew first. As weird as it sounds, it seemed like the infected Knight was trying to knock Matthew out cold. That clearly wasn’t going to work. The Knight jumped over Matt and aimed his staff at the Nature’s Knight, creating an orb which was quickly charged up and released as a beam of energy.
Matthew did not seem fazed by this attack. Pure magic attacks didn’t do much to him anyways. Holding the spear tight, he pierced through the figure’s chest only to realize that the figure had disappeared from behind him.
Right… this is Skylar we’re talking about… Matthew reminded himself, turning to find the infected Knight right above Hinata with another burst of magic charged up.
Hinata, on the other hand, didn't have much defense against any type of attack. She just relied on her ability to fight back or regenerate if she died. Thinking about it, most of Hinata's tactics relied on her being able to come back if she died.
Hinata was disturbed by the enemy's supposed goals. She still didn't know much about the Infection, but she figured they were trying to capture him. That was definitely not going to happen. When Hinata saw Matthew turn and look above her, she didn't hesitate. She twisted to the side, bringing her sword up to attack.
The infected Knight was slashed by his chest when Hinata attacked. He jumped back to stand around six meters away from the two, letting out a pained scream.
Matthew called some vines up from the ground, some charging at the figure in a seemingly predictable fashion; straight towards him. But since there were a lot of vines rushing at the infected at once, its only response was to block. When the vines cleared from in front of the infected Skylar, Matthew was gone.
The infected looked around before realizing that a spear had gone through its heart.
”The most predictable attack seems to be your weakness like always, Skylar—“ Matthew said calmly before pulling the spear out along with the infected’s heart.
The dead body fell flat on the ground as Matthew’s armor disintegrated into thin air, leaving behind only the spear.
”At least he wasn’t fully infected yet… maybe that’s why this had been easy,” Matthew mentioned, flicking his spear extremely hard to the side to get the heart out.
”This is the kind of people we’re dealing with; infected and those behind the infection,” the Nature Knight stated, looking back at Hinata.
Hinata brought her sword up again to attack, but calmly lowered him when Matthew pulled the infected's heart out.
"I see," she said calmly, wiping her blade off as she thought. "Depending on those who have been infected, and will eventually be infected, this could be a very difficult battle. There's also the point of figuring who exactly is doing this so we can take them down."
”Precisely,” Matthew replied with his natural expression.
”Excuse me for asking but how long has it been since we’ve last talked?” the Knight asked, motioning towards her. Close up, he didn’t seem like a person who would be called a ‘Knight’. His structure wasn’t exactly buffed nor was it extremely muscular. He just looked like your run-of-the-mill bystander who had a magic most people in the multiverse wanted.
”If I’m not mistaking, it has to be more than ten years, right?” his eyes subtly gazed behind her before returning to her.
"Yes, it has been," Hinata replied. She's seen him looking behind her. If there was anything or anyone to be concerned about, she wouldn't take the chance to look back herself. Instead, she left her series in her hand, letting him have by her side.
"Much too long in my opinion. How have you been? Besides this situation, of course."
Tatsuo, is there anything to be concerned about?
”Pretty great, honestly. The Multiverse Zoo may be able to tell you how happy I’ve been,” Matthew joked as sounds of another set of footsteps came behind Hinata.
”Pardon me Matthew,” a young yet attractive voice came behind Hinata. It was a male, his appearance around the age of his early twenties. The man wore a nice set of clothing; namely a black suit with black gloves, a golden necktie, a pair of silver edged glasses, some chains coming from their shirt’s lapels. He had nice black hair, a pair of weirdly attractive eyes with golden and white caduceuses within them.
Matthew gave him a friendly glare yet a suspicious one.
”What do you need?” the Nature’s Knight asked.
”The storage key, what do you think?” the other person answered. His skin can be seen to be broken and burnt on one side of his face.
Matthew reached into his pockets and got out what the man wanted, tossing it to him as the man caught it with one hand.
”Thanks,” the person said plainly, walking back the direction they came from. Matthew sighed faintly when the man walked back. ”This man…” he murmured under his breath, slightly annoyed about something.
Them,. Not everything had to be a threat.
Is better to be too cautious then getting killed. It's some painful shit. Hinata turned, standing besides Matthew. She watched silently, not saying anything. Mostly, she had already turned her mind back to how to deal with the main reason she was here. Still, she looked over at Matthew when he complained under his breath.
"You good?" She asked.
”Eh? Uh, yeah,” Matthew quickly answered. ”That was just my colleague and this is the fifth time this week that he’s lost his keys,” the Knight mentioned. He realized that Hinata might not know who that person was.
”By the way, that was a person who’s in the same Sector as I am. His name is Cassius, by the way. He’s actually quite nice,” the Nature Knight claimed.
”Uhm…” he paused, crossing his arms and making a pouting face.
”We should go somewhere else. Well, somewhere safer at least,” Matthew suggested with a warm smile.
”Oh, the foxes are at my house if you wanna go see them,”
(Knight’s Profile)
[Cassius Faltur]
[Ability : Anatomy Puppeteer]
[Knight Class : A+]
[Knight Sector : Harmony]
