Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment.
Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.
The familiar characters you see here belong to their respected authors and owners.
"Speech"
Time*
Chapter 91: I Got Money Armor
An hour later*
Well, I must say, if this is the Sefirot: Key of Light's method of handing over the Uniqueness, then that would help increase my luck by quite a lot. Essentially giving me plot armor, in a way. Because, frankly, I should not have had such an easy time reaching Sequence 8 in every Pathway, excluding the Non-Standard Pathways, without experiencing at least some harmful consequences along the way. And pain. Lots of it. Considering how dangerous advancing as a Beyonder normally is, I've gotten off suspiciously easy so far.
Anyway, upon reaching Sequence 8 in all 22 Standard Pathways, the Cards of Blasphemy change once more—or, to be more precise, unlock a new feature.
This new ability allows me to block certain minor core aspects of a Pathway while still retaining the parts necessary for advancement and its powers. Because of that, I no longer have to worry about some of the more troublesome side effects tied directly to specific Sequences.
For example, reaching Sequence 7: Witch of the Demoness Pathway would normally change my gender to female. With this new feature, I can simply block that particular aspect of the Pathway while continuing the advancement normally.
That removes one problem I was definitely not looking forward to dealing with.
It's going to be quite awkward if anyone ever asks me what the names of certain Sequences or Pathways are. I can always keep silent about it, of course, but it's still going to be pretty damn odd being a Sequence 7: Witch while remaining completely male.
Nevertheless, I'm perfectly fine with that as long as I don't end up losing my dick.
Who even knows whether I'd get it back if I later advanced through one of the Pathways with a Sequence that changes someone from female to male? Maybe it would work. Maybe it wouldn't. Maybe I'd end up discovering some bizarre interaction between the Pathways that I absolutely did not need to experience personally.
And now, thankfully, I won't ever have to find out.
"Hey, Chikao, we're back." Momoyo stepped into the log cabin, with Alucard walking in right behind her while carrying a large fish in one hand. "Also, Alucard caught us a fish for dinner."
Judging by the size of it, Alucard had apparently decided that catching something normal-sized would have been too boring.
I look at the fish Alucard is holding, then glance over at the large fridge in the kitchen. After a moment, I look back at the fish before finally turning my attention to Momoyo.
"Alright." I shrug my shoulders, deciding that I don't particularly want to know why she wants to eat that specific fish when we already have plenty of others stored in the fridge, along with even more food supplies elsewhere aboard the Flying Dutchman. "So, did you guys find out anything about this world?"
"Yeah, there's a bunch of fairy-tale creatures here." Momoyo blinks a few times, then narrows her eyes as she looks out the window. "Messed-up versions of them, at that. I have no idea whether these fairy-tale creatures are based on darker original versions, some random mix of different stories, or something else entirely. Just listening to people try to explain it gives me a headache." She looks back at me with a completely serious expression. "Don't explain their origins to me. I'm perfectly fine not knowing."
"Uh, okay. What about you, Alucard?" I look over at Alucard, only to find she's already started eating the fish raw. I stare at her for a few seconds. "Why...?"
"You took too long. I got hungry." Alucard keeps eating the fish as if eating it raw is normal, not even letting a single drop of blood spill onto the floor. "I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this, Master. It's just a fish." She takes another bite without hesitation. "Even Momoyo here has eaten raw fish before."
"Not the way you're eating it." Momoyo scoffs at Alucard before taking a small step away from her. "At least cut it into thin slices and prepare it properly before eating it. You're just biting into the whole thing like some kind of animal."
"By then, it wouldn't be nearly as fresh." Alucard finishes the rest of the fish, bones and all, without showing the slightest bit of concern. "Anyway, I found Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, out in the woods. It was getting a little too close, so I scared it off before it could come any nearer."
"The hell?" I look at Alucard in disbelief, then turn toward Momoyo, who now has a thoughtful expression on her face. "Momoyo?"
"Hm? Yeah, there was this creature covered in brown fur from head to toe. Honestly, its feet weren't even that big compared to the rest of its body. I have no idea why Alucard here called it Bigfoot." Momoyo answers casually before looking over at Alucard with a confused expression, as if only now realizing how strange the name sounds.
"I blame one of the souls inside me. It gave me memories of folklore from all kinds of places." Alucard shrugs her shoulders, then pauses for a moment as if a sudden idea has just occurred to her. "You know, I probably should've eaten that thing. I might've gotten some interesting information about its life." Her expression turns thoughtful. "Maybe I should go after it. It shouldn't have gotten too far from here."
"I'm just going to ignore that for the time being." I said calmly, deciding that Alucard hunting down Bigfoot for a meal is a problem for later. "Anything else?"
"Not much, other than there's a town not too far from here called Gravity Falls. I honestly can't really give you a proper opinion of the place... or the people." Momoyo frowns as she looks up at the wooden ceiling of the log cabin for a moment before meeting my eyes again. "But yeah, I don't think we'll be getting bored here. There's also a lot more land around compared to the previous world we were in..." She pauses briefly. "Speaking of which, are we going to be staying here for a few days too, or...?"
"As long as nothing too crazy happens, especially if there's something out there that could come after us and put us in danger badly enough that I'd need to take us away again, then maybe we'll stay longer than a few days." I said it with a straight face, though hearing the name of the nearby town makes me think a little harder about it.
Gravity Falls.
That also makes the results of my Computational Divination from earlier make a bit more sense now.
"Great, because I didn't get much fun out of the last world. So, I'm going to go fight those half-man, half-bull creatures. They look tough enough to give me a decent warm-up." Momoyo grins as she cracks her knuckles, clearly already looking forward to it.
"You're going to end up murdering those things before you even get a proper warm-up." Alucard said to Momoyo, rolling her eyes. "If you do end up killing them, make sure you don't destroy the corpses. I want to eat them." She pauses, looking mildly curious. "Makes me wonder if they'd taste like an actual bull or something completely different."
And now I suddenly have the urge to send us to another universe, but I kind of need to stay here a little longer. Especially with all the materials I can potentially gather in this world. If I can collect enough of the right ones, it would reduce the number of rituals I'd have to perform just to process everything into usable materials.
That alone makes putting up with some of the weirdness here worth it.
"Right. We can do all of that tomorrow. For now, it's time for dinner, then sleep." I quickly said it before either of them can get any ideas about immediately running off to hunt down those manotaurs.
I'm not dealing with that tonight.
"Oh yeah, how come you wanted us to scout the area when you could've just found out the answers through divination like you usually do?" Momoyo asks as she walks over to the fridge, opens it, and grabs a jug of orange juice. Without bothering to get a glass, she drinks straight from the jug before letting out a satisfied gasp. "Not that I'm complaining. It gives me something to do while you're busy with your own stuff in the meantime."
"Because I was looking into something bigger, like checking whether there was anything in this world that would make staying here a bad idea." I answer while watching Momoyo finish the entire jug of orange juice. "Now, moving on. Dinner time."
I don't wait for either of them to argue. I head to the fridge, making Momoyo step aside as I open it and pull out several ingredients.
At least cooking dinner is a problem I know how to deal with.
The next day*
I toss the Die of Probability into the air, letting it spin a few times before it lands on the table in front of me.
Six.
Again.
I stare at it for a moment as the effect settles in, pushing my luck even higher than it already was. At this point, calling it good luck is starting to feel like an understatement.
I look up just in time to see a bird flying overhead.
Suddenly, a gust of wind slams into it, causing the bird to drop whatever it was carrying. The object falls straight toward me, only for another gust of wind to appear out of nowhere at the last second.
It briefly slows down as it descends from the sky.
A moment later, the object lands gently on the table in front of me, right beside the Die of Probability.
I stare at the two objects in silence.
Apparently, my luck has decided to start showing off.
I pick up the rock, only to realize it isn't an ordinary rock at all.
It's a diamond covered in dirt, but still very much a diamond.
I barely react before tossing it off to the side, where it lands next to a growing pile of precious gemstones that have somehow fallen from the sky through repeated bird deliveries.
At this point, I'm starting to wonder how many birds around here are carrying valuables.
Honestly, I'm starting to wonder if anything else is going to fall from the sky besides pretty, dirt-covered, expensive rocks.
Then again, I guess even the Die of Probability can't just snatch something completely ridiculous from somewhere and drop it directly onto my table. Or at least, not right now. That's what I'm guessing, anyway.
I pick up the Die of Probability, ready to roll it again, when the bedroom door suddenly slams open.
A sleepy Momoyo appears, barely clothed and clearly not fully awake. She lets out a long yawn before walking straight over to me.
Without saying a word, she sits down on my lap, rests her head against my shoulder, and promptly falls asleep again.
I stare at her for a moment, still holding the Die of Probability in my hand.
Well. That interrupted things.
I slap Momoyo on the butt as a hint for her to get off me, but she only lets out a sleepy moan and leans even closer.
I roll my eyes, then lift her with one arm and carry her toward the bathroom.
Getting her awake turns out to be easy enough once I put her under the shower.
Unfortunately, I forget to let the water heat up first.
Momoyo nearly punches me on instinct, and I quickly step out of the bathroom before she can try again.
"Hm?" I blink as I look down at the Die of Probability in confusion. Usually, that would've been the perfect opportunity to have sex with Momoyo, yet instead, I had the strange urge to leave her alone in the bathroom.
I open my right hand.
Six.
Again.
I glance back toward the bathroom, where I can hear Momoyo muttering something in annoyance. Thinking about it now, maybe she just isn't in the mood for sex like she was yesterday.
I look at the Die of Probability, then toward the bathroom again.
"I wonder if she's on her period?"