Flying was awesome. I could see why people would risk their lives base jumping and parachuting. There was just something primal about the air screaming past your ears.
Unfortunately, humans were not built to fly.
For the fifth time, I tapped Ridley's back. I'd hit my limit—even with the Tune Up I'd gotten, the wind and force were brutal. Ridley slowed, and the blistering wind and cold eased back to something almost tolerable. I was grateful Ridley seemed to have an innate sense of how to get to North America, but I almost wished he didn't insist on beelining straight through the atmosphere.
The sand suit The Fool had wrapped around me slowly sloughed away, and I groaned as I leaned back against Ridley's back.
"How much further, man?" I muttered.
Two taps on my back from his tail answered me.
I groaned again. Ugh. Bear with it.
I'd thought about going to sleep, but I didn't want to leave Ridley to his own devices, and—well—I had my own responsibilities. So instead, I focused on anything else that could distract me from another two hours of this.
The Gacha.
As much as it liked to call itself a system, it came with a bunch of features but, like every fucking teacher I ever had, didn't bother explaining how any of them actually worked.
"Fuck you, asshole!" I raised my finger to the air, throwing out my obligatory hundredth curse at whoever had put me here.
I'd been playing around with the inventory system when I had time, but there hadn't been much opportunity for real experimentation.
The item space, in particular, had disappointed me fast. It wasn't the Gamer-style infinite inventory I'd hoped for. Any attempt to store extra items just straight-up failed. I could feel the Golden Apple sitting in there, recharging, but I couldn't pull it out yet. I'd managed to store the tarot card and the cloak, at least, which was probably good—at this rate, I was going to end up with some unwieldy items sooner rather than later.
One annoying quirk I'd noticed: I had to be physically touching the item to store it. No summoning things back if they got stolen.
The familiar space was better. I didn't need to be near them at all—I could summon them back into storage just by willing it. But it had to be me doing the summoning. I'd tried having all three of them test it, and none of them could enter the familiar space without me calling them back. That was a pretty big weakness. It couldn't act as an emergency escape unless I was aware and consciously summoning them back.
We didn't seem to have any kind of telepathic link either. I think.
Still, I could sort of understand what all three of them were trying to convey to me most of the time. That might've just been the Aware trait bleeding over.
There were a few other small things I'd tested and learned about the Gacha, but this was probably the most important.
I counted the time.
Almost reluctantly, I turned inward and shifted Petal Burst out of its slot, letting the Frenzied Flame slide into place.
Instantly, I felt it settle back into my mind.
The chance to burn again.
I shoved the thought down. The obsession was still there, but it felt more distant now. Detached.
Still, it was good to confirm I had about a five-minute cooldown when switching back and forth between abilities. That could've screwed me over badly if I'd learned it the hard way.
I let out a deep breath. I'd done as much testing as I could, and I didn't think there was anything else I could safely figure out right now.
I kept the Frenzied Flame slotted for a while longer. If nothing else, it would help deal with precogs. Consistently switching it in and out to flashbang them with that eldritch madness was the best I could do for now. I hoped it was enough to keep the rest of the precogs from poking me.
A tail tapped me, and I braced myself.
Sand formed over me once more, and we were off again.
I'd have to test the rest once we hit the Bay.
Brockton Bay looked different from what I'd expected.
From a bird's-eye view, it was just a city. I wasn't sure what I'd imagined. Fires. Collapse. Some kind of permanent disaster zone. From up here, it looked… normal. Mostly.
Along the water, the boat graveyard stood out immediately. Dozens of bloated, rotting ships piled together, rusted hulls stacked like bones left to bleach in the sun. That part at least matched my expectations.
So.
Now what?
The next step felt… awkward. No matter how you dressed it up, approaching a twelve-year-old girl was a bad look.
I didn't particularly care about the so-called unwritten rules. This wasn't my world, and I didn't have a life here to protect. Still, barging straight into Dinah's life would absolutely screw her over.
It would be easier if I could just be a heartless bastard. Much easier.
I sighed and dismissed the thought. Ruining a middle schooler's life as collateral damage wasn't going on my conscience.
Coil was probably already aware of her. Maybe. The exact timeline was fuzzy, and that bothered me more than it should have. Dealing with him was near the top of the list regardless, but drawing even more attention to Dinah was a no-go.
I needed to figure out a way to safely communicate with her so she wasn't implicated by association.
She'd gotten a shit deal. I'd be damned if I let that repeat itself.
I briefly considered starting smaller. Beating up a few gangsters, lifting a phone, working my way up from there. It was a calm and rational plan.
But destiny seemed to have other ideas.
Explosions echoed from the direction of the docks. White beams lanced down from the sky, tearing across rooftops and punching holes through rusted metal and concrete alike. I could faintly see a figure blurring across the buildings, teleporting from one to the next.
Fucking Brockton Bay.
I tapped Ridley's back, and he banked immediately, wings adjusting as we cut toward the docks. As we dropped, I pulled the Cloak of Levitation free and shrugged it on. It settled around my shoulders eagerly, tugging downward as if impatient.
I genuinely considered ignoring it, but…
Yeah. No. Fuck that.
I wasn't about to play the isekai protagonist pretending to be weak. Ridley and Igris could both go toe-to-toe with the top capes in the city, and short of actively sabotaging myself, there was no reason to skulk around being a bitch.
It was obvious how the system worked. It supported Chaos. Throw yourself into bullshit, escalate, achieve more, and get rewarded. I didn't like it, but it was rigged that way whether I approved or not.
Might as well play by its rules.
As we descended, I spotted her. A stark white figure racing across the skyline, explosions flaring in her wake as beams of light tore through the air with reckless precision.
"Ridley," I said, calm and focused. "Take down Purity. She flies and fires light beams. They hit pretty hard, so don't get sloppy."
A faint shiver rolled through his frame, excitement bleeding through at the promise of violence.
"And no fire breath," I added.
I felt the huff more than heard it.
The docks below were a mess of old wood, scrap, oil-soaked debris, and god-knew-what else. The last thing I needed was to risk turning half the city into a bonfire.
Again.
Reluctant agreement came in the form of a tap, his tail brushing my leg before he surged forward.
I dismounted mid-flight, letting the cloak carry me down while Ridley accelerated ahead. His scream tore through the air as we crossed into the fight, a sound so loud I could practically see the shock ripple outward.
Capes and gang members alike looked up just in time to see a massive dragon descending on them.
Despite his size, Ridley flew with terrifying precision, wings slicing cleanly through the air as he shot upward after Purity.
She veered away instantly, light blasting behind her as she tried to gain distance. They twisted through the sky in a brutal dogfight, her beams carving white scars through the air while Ridley pressed relentlessly, forcing her higher, faster, away from the rooftops.
Each pass tightened the space between them. Her movements sharpened. Desperation crept in.
Something blurred beside me.
An Oni mask filled my vision as he lunged, knife in one hand, grenade in the other.
I didn't flinch.
A longsword cleaved cleanly through him, and his body dissolved into ash mid-air. Igris stood beside me, fully manifested, helm turning as another Oni Lee teleported behind us.
A pistol came up.
It never fired.
A shortsword left Igris' hand and crossed the distance in a blink, the blade flashing once before Oni Lee disintegrated again. Igris' gaze followed the empty space he'd vanished from.
"Kill him," I said, voice steady. "Minimal collateral damage."
A single nod.
He was gone an instant later, launching himself after the teleporter.
I looked back down at the docks.
They hadn't been fighting alone.
Empire Eighty-Eight and ABB thugs were scattered across the waterfront, bats, pipes, and cheap guns in hand. The momentary chaos froze as they processed the sight of a dragon overhead and a shadow knight tearing through the air. Confusion didn't last long.
Guns came up.
"Shoot the bastard!" a bulky, tattooed bald man started to shout.
A whip of sand slammed into his face hard enough to snap his head back.
A flood of sand erupted across the ground, a sudden storm that blinded and choked. Grains filled mouths and eyes as tendrils snapped up from below, binding legs and arms. Screams turned into panicked coughing as weapons clattered to the ground.
I shifted into Petals.
The world blurred, and I reappeared in the middle of them.
Gang members bent over, clawing at their faces, trying to breathe and see. I spotted a bat in one man's hand, wrenched it free, and cracked it across the side of his stomach. He dropped like a sack of meat. Another rushed me, panic written all over his face. I stepped inside his swing and drove the bat into his ribs hard enough to hear something break.
Sand wrapped around ankles. Bodies fell. Someone tried to fire, but the pistol never went off as a tendril yanked him off his feet.
I moved through them, petal to flesh, without mercy. I swung, struck, and slammed, putting my new bat to use on the Empire Eighty-Eight goons. Groans echoed across the docks, and when the sand cleared, a cluster of thugs was already bound and buried up to their necks in heavy sand.
Then a familiar chime echoed in my head.
[Feat Achieved! Nazi Takedown!]
[+1 Silver Gacha Ticket]
I grinned and turned toward the ABB gangsters standing off to the side. Several of the gang members went pale.
Time to make bank.
***
Comments and Thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Likes are like a drug to me and boost my creative juices.
I have advanced chapters on my if you wanna read ahead.