Standing here, I realized sothing important after we stepped out of the portal and imdiately went to buy so snacks.
Isadora is in a bad mood right now.
How do I know, you ask?
She's refusing the ice cream and popsicles I'm offering her.
The two things she absolutely loves and consus on a near-daily basis.
"Is there sothing wrong?" I asked with a wry smile, tearing open the KitKat in my hand and taking a bite straight from the bar. Not snapping it into neat little sticks like what a normal civilized person would do.
We were outside the sa convenience store we always stopped by after finishing our errands in Mato. The two of us occupied a wooden bench, the place quiet around us.
It was well past midnight. A cold wind brushed against our skin, while the sky stretched endlessly. Dark, vast, and littered with stars.
Letting out an irritated groan, she leaned back against the bench when she heard my question.
"Don't mind . I'm just pissed at a certain soone right now," Isadora said, massaging her forehead. "I can't believe I let my temper get the better of ."
"Who exactly are you talking about?" I asked, sitting down beside her. I cracked open a bottle of Ramune, having just finished my chocolate.
"Well… while you were busy dealing with the gate and all that Shuuki nonsense, I had my own little adventure in Mato." She clicked her tongue.
Finally, she accepted the popsicle, tore it open, and bit it clean in a single mouthful before continuing.
As she began recounting her side of the story, she apparently decided it was the perfect mont to acknowledge our ever-present stalkers. Which explained why she chose to appear just as one of them was out for a leisurely stroll while I was occupied entertaining Chief Uzen and the gang.
She had initially planned to offer a simple greeting, perhaps even a "friendly reminder." Instead, the encounter rapidly spiraled into a heated exchange, the two of them locked in what I can describe as a petty contest over who could provoke the other more.
Just hearing how their interaction unfolded from beginning to end left quite surprised.
If everything she said was true, then Isadora had essentially been striking sparks beside a powder keg with the way she treated the woman.
A walking explosive.
A literal explosion waiting for the slightest excuse to erase her from existence.
It was nothing short of a miracle that no fight broke out. Though, in truth, it very well might have, had Isadora not chosen to leave at precisely the right mont, just as the tension between them reached its breaking point.
That said, sothing valuable did erge from that disastrous conversation. Thanks to the encounter, we finally learned what they called themselves.
They claid to be a group of beings destined to bring ruin upon humanity.
The Eight Thunder Gods.
And the black-haired, snake woman wearing a kimono who had been observing us for far longer than we realized?
Her na was Shikoku.
That alone was useful information about the ones we were about to face.
Isadora also pointed out that, despite calling themselves gods, they were nothing more than glorified humanoid Shuuki. Powerful, yes, but devoid of any true divinity.
"I may be angry at her right now, but I'm pretty sure she's feeling far worse than I am," Isadora said with a smirk. "I went full throttle. Didn't stop for a second. I called her a voyeur, a bitch, and █ █ █ ███ █ █ ██ █ █ ███ ██████ ███ ██."
She continued, unleashing a stream of language sharp enough to make even the most thick-skinned adult wince.
Playing online gas had thoroughly rotted her brain, leaving it marinated in toxicity and weaponized insults.
I'll admit, it made feel slightly bad… though not nearly bad enough to sympathize. The Thunder Gods were, by every asurable standard, insufferable based on what she told .
That said, I suspected my partner may have gone just a little too far.
Claiming that Shikoku slled like expired breast milk. Saying that she looked like soone who will still clung and suck her mother's soggy tits.
That was apparently the breaking point.
The woman snapped, shouting before launching an attack with so kind of black, disgusting sphere while using so snakes to attack Isadora.
Which, coincidentally, marked the exact mont Isadora decided retreat was the superior strategy.
Lesson learned.
From now on, I will refrain from deploying "your mother" jokes against this particular group of enemies.
Taking a deep breath, Isadora rose from her seat. With a casual flick of her wrist, she summoned a speaker and microphone into her hand.
"I'm dedicating this to that black bitch I t earlier, so sit back and don't mind , partner." She glanced at and snorted.
Sliding on a pair of shades, she lifted the mic to her lips and began to rap as the beat started playing.
♪♫♪ Step up, dals click, light the night,
Taka-eye, Tora-claw, Batta-kick, I'm the trio bite.
You call yourselves gods? More like frauds,
Caught in a paper-thin sync.
You call yourselves gods? Boy, your lightning's a blunder.
You thunder with bluster, I thunder with hunger.
OOO in the booth, triple core, triple threat.
dal drop, chest pop, lightning learns respect.
dal spin, grin wide, thunder gets the chop.
Beat slam, lamps out, gods cough, lights drop.
This ain't just a diss.
It's the final thunder audit. ♪♫♪
My mouth literally fell open when she started rapping. I didn't even know what to say as she poured out her frustration in verse.
I wasn't sure if her flow made sense, but I let her continue. If this was what she needed to feel good, why not let her?
As her energy began to ebb, she dragged out the last line of her verse, finishing with a sharp "Yoh."
For a mont, she simply stared at the microphone in her hand, her expression hollow. Then her fingers tightened.
She hurled it to the ground.
Turning to , she pulled off her glasses. Without hesitation, she snapped them cleanly in two.
"Hideo, I've made up my mind."
"About what?"
"We're going to beat the hell out of those Frauds!!"
She started beatboxing, cupping her hand over her mouth.
"Hey yo, motherfucking Thunder Gods!
You better watch out, you better not frown.
Kan Rider's rolling in, and he's taking you down.
You better step back, or get tossed around,
Cause justice is riding, and he's the talk of the town!"
========
========
Coming ho from the convenience store, I changed into more comfortable clothes and sprawled across my bed, phone in hand. Sleep wouldn't co, so I decided to scroll through so Ourtube Shorts.
[Stayin' still, eyes closed. Let the world just pass by]
[Villain: Surprise attack! You've gotten soft.
Surprise Attack: Heh? You wish. I'm never soft.]
[You fucking donkey! THIS IS RAW!!!]
[One-dollar gun vs. one-million-dollar gun— which is stronger?]
[We decided to visit the controversial therapist Dr. Victor Blane]
Sleepiness crept in as the videos flickered past, shifting from one to another while my thumb lazily swiped the screen.
I closed my eyes, letting my body slowly shut down. Each breath felt like a gentle reboot, draining the fatigue of the day and letting my tiredness slip quietly out of my system.
Seeing that, Isadora gazed at his sleeping figure. She looked at her hand, then his body, and finally peered into his insides before stopping.
"Nothing's out of the ordinary for now," she sighed in relief as she saw the core dals inside him doing nothing—just remaining there, without any suspicious activity.
Regrettably, that wouldn't last forever. The mont he started using combos… but despite their destructive nature, they would beco one of their greatest assets.
The antithesis of wishes.
The void and the end of all things.
A dal not ant for peace, but to obliterate everything in its path.
"It was quite a shock to know that I was supposed to be the original vessel for these dals," Isadora said, sitting at the table with a lancholic sigh.
A failure of an artificial being, who only accidentally ca to life by coincidentally being compatible with a broken Core dal.
Closing her eyes, Isadora rested her chin on her hand, lost in contemplation. She could only curse why her very existence had to be so goddamn complicated and ssy.
User Comments
0 comments from readers