Singularity (1)

"Ah, here it is," whispered Gray as he crouched down to pick his sword up from a pile of already rotting corpses.

He had forgotten that he left his silver sword behind and had come back to the dollhouse to collect it.

*Mii* Meowed the cub as it got a whiff of the putrid smell that radiated from within.

"You'll soon grow used to that smell," said Gray as he walked past Tesse and the cub, wiping the blood off his blade with the sleeve of his suit, before placing it in the scabbard on his back.

"Master are we going to report to the Information Guild?" asked Tesse as she followed Gray out of the dollhouse.

"Perhaps later. Right now we don't really need them, I still have the details they gave us on all the towers in town," replied Gray, before opening the satchel that Tesse was carrying on her back.

"And what are these?" he asked, noticing the blue elixirs in Tesse's satchel.

"I-I completely forgot about them. They're the elixirs you requested from the Information Guild" replied Tesse, biting her lip in self-disappointment.

"The elixirs huh? Have you tested them yet?" asked Gray as he pulled out all four elixirs.

"N-no. They were the master's so I couldn't drink them. H-however they said only to take two at a time," continued Tesse, gripping the cub tighter to her chest.

"Here, have them. Give the other two to the beast," replied Gray, handing over the elixirs to Tesse before pulling out a pile of papers.

"A-are yo-"

"I thought we agreed. I command, and you listen, or have you already forgotten?" interrupted Gray, already preoccupied by the papers in front of him.

"Very well master," replied Tesse before gulping down two elixirs, and feeding the other two to the beast.

*Fiii* meowed the cub, it clearly liked the taste of the elixir.

'If they said you can only drink two at a time, that means they are side effects. I'm not willing to put myself at risk for an untested product that isn't even as effective as the real thing,' thought Gray as he watched the cub lick the inside of the empty elixir bottle, before going back to his papers.

'I can't do the government one, that one seems to only spawn undead. And right now I need souls and fresh human blood,' thought Gray carefully as he read the specifications of all the towers in town.

'I can't go to the Hephaestus Guild tower either, that one only spawns mechanical golems,'

*Mii* The cub seemed to be growing impatient with the sudden stop, prompting Tesse to pick it up and cover its mouth.

"We'll be moving soon. Don't interrupt the master," she said in a somewhat cute voice, trying to appease the cub.

Gray paid no mind to what was going on around him. He could barely hear his own thoughts past the specters that constantly screamed in his mind, much less that of external nature.

"How about this one, The Riot Guild Tower. It spawns variations of monsters on each floor, and the Riot Guild allows anyone to use it, so long as they pay a fee," murmured Gray to himself as he started walking towards the location shown on the document.

As he was walking a black car passed by him, two figures in white looked out the window staring at him. However because he was focused on the papers, and Tesse on the cub, no one seemed to notice this.

"That's them," said Eleanour from the back seat of the car as they passed by Tesse and Gray.

'It's just like I thought, it's the girl from earlier. However I don't think I've ever seen the guy she's with, but something about him seems... familiar,' she thought as the two became a dot in the distance.

"Shall we wait for them?" asked Eleanour to the skinny man sitting beside her.

"No need, The Oracle said they'd be there, so they'll be there," replied the man, a sinister look on his face as he fixed his bishop's attire.

***

"What's taking them so long?" complained Judith as she stood in front of the tower portal, waiting for the church representatives to arrive.

A crowd stood in front of her, silently waiting for them to enter.

No one dared register to go in at the same time Andre did, even though they were permitted to, it was an unspoken rule not to go tower raiding when the Riot Guild's main raid force was raiding.

"Finally," sighed Sophia as she saw a black sedan come into view.

"What took you guys so long? You'd think church representatives would know how to use a watch," snorted Silas with an annoyed expression on his face as the two church representatives got out of the car.

"What did yo-"

"Two of our other representatives got sick and were unable to make it, we were just sorting out the replacements," interrupted Armin, before Eleanour had the chance to reply to Silas's remark.

"And these replacements, why didn't you come with them?" asked Sophia, a bit skeptical of the circumstances.

"They'll be here shortly, please be patient," replied Armin calmly, a warm smile across his face.

'This guy gives me the creeps,' thought Afina from behind the others.

Although there were no chains binding her limbs, she felt like a prisoner. She had been dragged into this situation without much say, and was told to risk her life in what might be the most dangerous raid since Acclimatization.

The man in front of her spoke very little, and when he did it was never more than necessary. Everyone seemed to look at him, without ever placing their eyes on him, like he was some sort of god.

"Are those your representatives?" asked Judith as she saw two figures appear down the road.

"Yes they are," smiled Armin, before walking towards the tower portal.

"W-wait. Y-you can't be serious. H-he works for the church?" stuttered Afina once she recognized Gray's trademark black suit and white hair.

"I know her. I thought she worked for the Information Guild," murmured Judith as she realized that the girl walking at the back was Tesse.

As Gray and Tesse got closer to the tower, the crowd moved aside, creating a path for the two of them to walk to the front without hindrance.

'Somethings off,' thought Gray with a nervous smile on his face.

A group of 17 people stood in front of him right next to the tower portal, every single one of them gazing at him intently.

"I've come to ask permission to enter the Tower," he said finally, looking at Afina with a thoughtful expression.

'She looks kind of familiar,' thought Gray, his memories were all in a jumble due to the voices going rampant in his head.

Although he was currently showing self-restraint, if he didn't get a chance to slaughter something soon, he would go rampant on anyone unlucky enough to be in his sight.

The only thing that stopped him from doing it right now was the large man who stood at the center of the group, something about him made Gray's instincts shout at him not to try anything he might regret.

"We've been waiting for you. Let's go," said Andre before walking towards the tower portal.

"Are you sure those guys are with you?" whispered Sophia as she walked behind Armin.

"Yes, they are with us," replied Armin, entering the portal behind Andre.

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