Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"So, that's the Capital of the Persona Kingdom, Diamond City, huh? Since we're here, why don't we go ahead and attack the place? It's absolutely swarming with corrupt Nobles, after all," Suggested Colt with a gleam in his eye.

"No, it's way too risky...the strongest of the Knight Squads, the Commander Squad, resides in the Capital. We're not at the level where we can challenge the likes of them just yet, so no, we're not attacking the Capital anytime soon," Aster shook his head in response, before adding, "Our target is located behind the Capital; the Quartz Mountain Range. Specifically, the ruins located beneath the mountains."

A couple of weeks had passed since the battles in Ruby Village and Garnet City, it was the 17th of February, 1917, and The Irregulars had determined their next move.

"Why are we here, exactly? You guys didn't really give me much of an explanation," Spoke up Raven.

"Huh? Tacitus, I thought I told you to-...never mind, why do I even bother telling you to do things anymore?" Sighed Aster in exasperation.

"Yeah, you should probably ask someone else next time," Nodded Tacitus dryly.

"We really need to do something about your work ethic, man," Chimed in Celia with a wry smile.

"Alright, let's get you up to speed, Raven...we'll be venturing into the Quartz Ruins, an underground structure that was abandoned centuries ago, and is now home to a large number of dangerous Monsters. Centuries ago, before it was abandoned, thirteen weapons that are now known as the Relic Armaments were sealed away in the ruins.

From what I've heard, the weapons were created by a great hero who was summoned from another world, and each of the weapons have unique, special abilities. No one has been able to replicate their capabilities, and the kingdom has discovered and claimed eight of the thirteen weapons. Which means, there are still five of the weapons somewhere in the ruins, and we're gonna go get them for ourselves," Explained Aster with a gleam in his eyes.

"I still think this is a bad idea. The remaining weapons are probably really deep down in the ruins, the Knights definitely would've attempted to claim all thirteen of the weapons, but the fact that they haven't likely means that it was too dangerous," Pointed out Lexia warily.

"Not necessarily, based on the information I've gathered, it's-...," Began Aster.

"Yeah, plus the ruins are teeming with Monsters, it's going to be a lot of work to get through them all," Added Tacitus in agreement.

"Look, I'm aware of the risk, I know this won't be easy. However, if we keep going down the path we've chosen for ourselves, it's only a matter of time before we have to face off against the strongest members of the Knight Order, including those who currently wield the eight discovered Relic Armaments. If we can get our hands on the remaining weapons, it'll significantly improve our odds. Now, then, these ruins go down sixty-five levels, and since there are thirteen Relic Armaments, simple math suggests that there's one located on every fifth level. Which means, the Knights likely failed to get too much further than the fortieth level," Surmised Aster, as the mountain range came into sight.

"How do you know all this? I highly doubt it's public knowledge, I've certainly never heard about any of this," Responded Raven curiously.

"About a year ago, I spotted a Knight wielding a Relic Armament against a Monster and I was worried that the Knights had created some new kind of weapon...so, later, I snatched up a couple of the other Knights that were with him and interrogated them. I managed to get one of them to succumb to the torture and talk, that's how I know," Aster informed him, before adding, "I also learnt that the most recently discovered Relic Armament was found about ten years ago now, before the current King suddenly forbade the Knights from venturing any further into the ruins, despite the fact that the Knights hadn't suffered all that many losses down there. I believe the Knights still use the upper floors for training from time to time, but they haven't attempted to locate any more of the Relic Armaments since then."

"Huh...I wonder why the King would command that? I assumed Lexia was right and they simply stopped because it got too dangerous and they figured they couldn't go any further without suffering heavy losses. But if that wasn't the case and they simply stopped because the King commanded it, then...," Trailed off Raven uncertainly.

"If I had to guess, the Royal family probably has documents and archives with information about the ruins, the King must have come across something that made him make that decision," Surmised Celia thoughtfully.

"Well, that isn't ominous at all. If he didn't give the Knights a reason or explanation for that decision, then there must be something dangerous down there. Dangerous enough that he would rather leave it buried than try to use it for his own benefit," Added Lexia with a grimace.

"Look, we have Tacitus's Teleport Spells. We'll stick together the whole time, no splitting up or anything, and if we do encounter something that dangerous, we'll retreat immediately," Remarked Aster, as they hid behind a row of bushes as the entrance to the ruins came into sight, a pair of Knights standing guard outside.

"Those two Knights aren't targets, what do we do?" Inquired Colt, as they peered through the bushes.

"We'll just have to knock them out. I've got some sedatives in my Storage Ring, we'll pour some down their throats after they're unconscious," Replied Aster, as he raised his right hand and channeled his Mana into a ring on his index finger, a bottle of clear liquid appearing in his hand.

Storage Rings, a Magic Item with a jewel capable of storing objects in a separate space. Tacitus uses one to store his weapons in, since they're too heavy to lug around all the time.

The jewel at the center of the ring had a dial around it with a small arrow, and the space around the dial was evenly numbered from one to ten. Each number indicated an individual slot in which an item is stored in, turning the dial to the specific number allows the user to manifest the object stored in the corresponding slot.

They're fairly expensive, and usually only Nobles can afford them...The Irregulars had acquired Storage Rings by taking them off any Knights they defeated that happened to be wearing one, and they'd gathered enough for each of them to wear one.

"Raven, can I leave it to you to handle knocking them out? Since you can fly, you have the best chance of catching them off-guard, it's a wide open space in front of them, so we can't attack head-on if we don't want to lose the element of surprise. Fly up, I'll create a distraction to make sure they don't spot you," Remarked Aster, as one of the Knights let out a yawn, a bored look on his face.

"Sure, I can try, at least," Nodded Raven, before spreading out his wings and quietly taking off, as Aster picked up a rock with his telekinesis and flung it across to his left, the rock colliding against a tree with a loud thunk, getting the attention of the Knights as Raven emerged from above the treetops and flew up higher.

"What was that?"

"Think it was a Monster or something?"

"Maybe...there haven't been any High or Critical Level Threat sightings reported lately, so it shouldn't be anything too dangerous. That said, we shouldn't let out guards down."

The Knights' attention was focused towards the woods in the direction the sound had come from as they assumed defensive stances, while Raven hovered above them, taking in a deep breath and slowly exhaling.

He then swiftly swooped down, coating his hands in lightning as he began to close in on them, before grabbing the backs of their necks as he landed in between them, sharp, stuttering yells of pain ringing out as he electrocuted them, their bodies seizing up and stiffening.

"Now, [Drowse]," Chanted Raven, activating the newest Spell he'd mastered, before letting go of the Knights and backing away.

"Wh-wha...?"

"S-so...so sleepy..."

A couple of thuds echoed out as both Knights collapsed onto the ground, shortly before they began snoring, snoozing peacefully.

"Nicely done, Raven, looks like you've got the hang of that new Spell," Remarked Aster, as he and the others emerged from the bushes and approached Raven.

"Thanks...I don't know how long they'll be out for though," Replied Raven, as Aster telekinetically lifted the Knights and placed them aside, before pouring the liquid sedative into their mouths.

"Well, that Spell is most effective against targets with weaker Aura pressure than the caster's, these two are both Second-Class Knights, so they should be out for a while. And even if that wasn't the case, the sedative I gave them is sure to keep them in dreamland for quite some time...now, then, time to head in," Declared Aster, as he turned his attention to the entrance.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Sighed Lexia warily.

"And I've got a really good feeling about this!" Grinned Colt, a look of anticipation on his face.

"My point exactly," Muttered Lexia, as she gave Aster a narrowed side glance.

The group then headed in, entering a dark tunnel leading downwards. They made their way through the tunnel, before reaching the bottom and entering a vast, cavernous space.

There were glowing crystals all over the ceiling of the area, with crumbling, rundown buildings all over the place.

"Woah," Uttered Raven, looking around in awe.

"It's massive," Added Celia, as they ventured into the space.

"Yeah, exploring it won't be easy. Fortunely, we just need to keep finding our way to each subsequent level for a while, we don't need to search every level until we get past the fortieth one. Raven, do you sense any Monsters nearby?" Inquired Aster, keeping an eye out around their surroundings.

"No, I'm not detecting any Mana outside of our group...it's hard to focus on my sense of smell though, there's so much dust in the air here," Frowned Raven, scrunching up his nose.

"Remain vigilant, don't let your guard down...this place is apparently rigged with a bunch of traps, I'd wager that the Knights must have triggered at least some of them in the levels they explored, but you never know, so stay on your toes," Warned Aster, as they continued making their way through the area.

"Man, this sucks...if every level is this vast, it'll take ages to get through to the lower levels," Grumbled Tacitus wearily.

"Yeah, according to the Knights I interrogated, it takes about an hour to get through each level if you head straight for the next level...and about two to three hours if we opt to explore and search through a level. There's also time we'd need to spend dispatching any Monsters we come across, so-..."

"Okay, fuck that. Not to come off as too Tacitus-y, but spending about two days just to get to the point the Knights last reached, with then more than twenty more levels to go, is just insane. I'd much prefer not to spend multiple days down here," Frowned Lexia apprehensively.

"Ahem, I was getting to that...it'll take us an hour to reach the next level on foot. But we can save a whole lot of time by using Teleport Spells to skip large chunks of distance. Of course, once we get past the fortieth level, we can't take shortcuts anymore, but we should be about to breeze through to that point without taking up too much time," Pointed out Aster.

"Ohh, that's why you had me make as many Teleport Spells as I could over these last couple of weeks," Chimed in Tacitus.

"Mhm, that's right. We've already used up one each to get here from Pearl Forest, and we've now each got three left, that should be plenty...now, with that settled, let's keep teleporting forward until we reach the entrance to the next level," Grinned Aster, as each of them took out a Teleport Spell with a sense of relief of not having to get through the ruins on foot.

Tacitus had managed to make enough so that each person would have four, they'd stored the Cards in their Storage Rings. As Aster mentioned, they'd traveled here by teleportation, which used up one of each of their four total Cards.

The Irregulars then began teleporting through the first level, the entrance to the next level coming into sight after using the Spell Cards five times. It was another tunnel, leading down.

They then headed down the tunnel and repeated the process again and again, before reaching the fifth level within just a few minutes.

"Okay, I guess this isn't so bad," Admitted Lexia quietly.

"Yeah, with this, we can avoid encounters with Monsters and save time and energy," Added Celia positively.

They then began teleporting through the fifth level, once again needing five uses of the Teleport Spells to reach the end of the level.

But something was different compared to the previous levels...instead of a tunnel, they came across a massive doorway, about ten meters high and five meters wide.

The doors were pushed open, with deep cracks across the middle, making it evident that they'd been opened by force. The doors led into a large room, and as the group began to approach, Raven stuck out his arm to signal them to stop.

"Hold on, I'm picking up several Mana signatures in there. Let's see, one, two...four...six...eight...okay, there's a total of nine of them in there. The Mana signatures aren't very big though," He remarked, right as a couple of figures emerged from the doorway.

"Those are Cyclopses, Mid Level Threats," Spoke up Colt.

They were tall, humanoid creatures with dull, pinkish skin and muscular bodies. They had sharp fangs and claws, and each one eye. The remaining seven then emerged from the room, growling threateningly at The Irregulars.

"Scatter and take them out!" Exclaimed Aster, as the Monsters' eyes began glowing red, right before they fired out rapid red beams at the group.

The six of them swiftly fanned out, the Monsters charging and chasing after them viciously.

As two of them closed in on Tacitus, he swiftly manifested his axe, turning his body across as one of them leapt at him and slashed at him with its claws, before he raised the axe and swung it down, slicing the Monster in half before swiftly swinging his right foot up, slamming it onto the chest of the second one and knocking it back, before he leapt forward and whipped his axe across, decapitating the creature in an instant.

Raven flew up as one of the Monsters shot towards him, before swooping down as he extended out his claws and drove them down as he closed in on the Monster, his claws plunging into its eye and piercing its brain before it could react, right as a deafening explosion burst out.

Raven turned his gaze that way, to see several Cyclops' limbs and body parts flying out and scattering across the space, streaks of blood spraying out and painting the dirt red.

He then spotted Aster, with a pile of bloody chunks on either side of him. Lexia was looming over one of the Monsters, laying lifelessly on the ground with a bone spike through the side of its head.

"Hehehe...come on, you can do better than that!" Came Colt's voice, a grin on his face as he evaded the last remaining Cyclops' claws, letting them graze his skin and draw out trickles of blood.

"Don't waste your energy playing around," Sighed Aster in exasperation, right as Lexia fired out a bone arrow at the Monster from behind, piercing through the back of its head and killing it.

"Wha-...hey! Not cool!" Protested Colt indignantly.

"Just shut up and get moving, you idiot," She huffed with a roll of her eyes, as the others began to head into the room the Cyclopses had been in.

There was a tunnel entrance at the back of the room, leading down into the next level.

"Hm, they must have been using this place as a lair...also, looks like I was right, the Relic Armaments are on every fifth floor," Remarked Aster, as he walked over to a large, open stone coffin and peered in, spotting the indentation of a sword inside it.

"Hey, look over here...this looks like an old blood stain, and there are a bunch of broken, rotting arrows around it. Someone must have triggered a trap when the Knights got to this room," Called out Celia, as she knelt over a dark patch on the floor.

"Let's keep going...I doubt there's anything worth finding here, the Knights must have searched the place thoroughly," Pointed out Tacitus.

"Yeah, you've got a point. Okay, then, let's keep moving," Nodded Aster, as they headed for the tunnel.

It was relatively smooth sailing from that point on, the group getting through the next twenty levels within about half an hour, making their way down to the twenty-sixth floor.

They encountered a few more groups of Monsters, but managed to get past them without much trouble. They hadn't triggered any traps either, and continued moving at a steady pace through the depths of the ruins.

"Hm? Oh, looks like the Teleport Spells are at their limit," Frowned Lexia, as she ran her Mana through her Card, with the group about halfway through the twenty-sixth level.

"That's not good...I was hoping they'd last longer. Ideally, we should each have one Teleport Spell Card at full capacity by the time we reach the bottom and are ready to head back. Okay, then...we'll need to use them more sparingly. Let's each switch to our second Cards and use them about three times in each level instead of five times, we'll have to cover the rest of the distance on foot. Our progress will be slower, but it'll be a problem if we fully use up our teleportation too early," Surmised Aster with a grimace.

"Great, so we're going to have to do a lot more walking now," Grumbled Tacitus, not looking particularly happy with the turn of events.

"We'll need to be more on guard now, that'll contribute to wearing us out too," Added Celia with a grimace.

"On the bright side, I'm not detecting any Monsters nearby. Let's continue on foot for a while, we can teleport as soon as I sense any Monsters in the vicinity," Suggested Raven objectively.

"Good idea, let's go with that," Nodded Aster as he gave Raven a pat on the shoulder.

"Aw, man...can't we at least fight some of the Monsters we come across? I'm still feeling blueballed from my last fight being cut short," Grumbled Colt, looking moody.

"Look, just keep your sadomasochism in check until we're done with this place...if you do that, then when we get back home, uh...oh, I know, Lexia will fulfill any one request you have," Offered Aster, Colt immediately perking up at that.

"Huh? Hey, don't speak for me, assh-...!" She began indignantly.

"Hehe, now you're speaking my language! Okay, I'll keep myself in check...if Lexia agrees to step on my-...," He began with a grin.

"L-let's just discuss this afterwards, how about that?" She cut him off with a huff as she pushed him from behind, her eyebrow twitching slightly.

With that settled, sort of, they continued progressing through the ruins, albeit at a fairly slower pace than before.

They managed to avoid encounters with Monsters by using the Teleport Spells accordingly as Raven had suggested, they came across a few traps along the way, but most of them had already been triggered.

After about an hour, they reached the end of the thirtieth level, finding a large doorway leading into a room, just like the one in the fifth level, and every five levels since then.

"Alright, let's take a break and rest up a bit. We've still got at least fifteen more levels to cover before we're likely to come across a Relic Armament, let's try to avoid getting too worn out before then," Remarked Aster, as they entered the room.

"It's a good thing this place isn't like a maze...it seems like every fifth level has a room like this in which the Relic Armaments are stored in, and it's always been a straight line from the tunnel leading down into the level," Replied Raven, as he took a seat on the ground, leaning back against the wall.

"Yeah, it means we don't have to fully explore the levels in which the remaining weapons are stored in, that's certainly a relief," Added Tacitus in agreement.

"And the sooner we get this over, the sooner we'll get back home...and the sooner I'll get to experience the pleasure of Lexia driving her heel into my-...," Began Colt as he leaned against the wall, before trailing off as the brick behind his shoulder got pushed in, a loud rumbling echoing out, "What the...!?"

He quickly backed away from the wall, as it sunk back before sliding across, revealing a hidden room.

It was mostly empty inside, except for the back of the room, which had a row of weapons laid out across it.

"No way...are those the remaining Relic Armaments?" Spoke up Celia, as they gathered around the opening and peered in.

"Not all, I only count four, so there's one missing," Replied Aster, a surprised look on his face.

"Well, this saves us a whole lot of time," Lexia sighed in relief.

"I don't know, this seems a bit too good to be true, there's no way it's this convenient," Frowned Raven warily.

"Yeah, I can't help but feel a bit suspicious. But logically, it's unlikely that this is a trap...I mean, if it is a trap, then why hide it? It'd be a different story if it were already open, but since it's a hidden room, the chances of it also being a trap are...maybe fifty-fifty at most?" Suggested Aster uncertainly.

"Hm...hey, dumbass, make some blood tendrils and grab the weapons. That way, we can get them without needing to enter the room," Pointed out Lexia.

"Ooh, I love it when you order me around like that...okay, here goes-...huh?" Colt began to send blood tendrils into the room, but they fell apart and splattered across the ground the instant they ventured into the space.

Suddenly, a powerful pulling force erupted out of the room, dragging The Irregulars into the space before they could react.

"Shit, it is a trap, we need to-...!" Began Aster in alarm, before trailing off as the opening in the wall suddenly slammed shut the instant they were inside.

"And we're trapped...just fucking great!" Huffed Lexia in exasperation.

"Uh, not to add fuel to the fire, but...I can't use my Magic," Spoke up Celia.

"Yeah, same here."

"Ugh, I'm so tired, this is the last thing I needed..."

"Not sure how it works, but it seems like this room nullifies Mana...and Mana is likely what triggers the trap that sucked us into this space. In other words, Colt's Blood Spell triggered it," Surmised Aster with a grimace.

"If that wasn't enough...these weapons are fake," Added Raven, as he tried to grab one of the weapons, but his hand phased right through it.

"A projection of some kind?" Frowned Aster, as he reached for another of the weapons, only for the same thing to happen.

"I can't use my Magic but I can still use my Homunculus abilities...I could try punching the wall down," Suggested Raven, as he approached the wall that had slid shut on them.

"It's worth a try, good idea," Replied Celia, as Raven drew back his fist, before she quickly reached out and grabbed his arm, "Wait! The rest of us should probably back up a bit, we don't want to get hit by any chunks of rubble, after all."

"Oh...right, my bad," Responded Raven sheepishly, as the other four backed away from that side of the room.

"Okay, I'll get back too, let loose once I'm clear-...," Began Celia, before she was cut off as the floor of the room suddenly opened up into three large holes, each with steep slides leading down.

"Are you fucking kidding me...!?" Yelled Lexia, her voice fading fast as she and Colt plummeted into one of the holes, while Aster and Tacitus fell into another one.

"Shit!" Exclaimed Raven, grabbing Celia's arm and spreading out his wings, before his eyes widened in alarm as the ceiling suddenly came plunging down towards them, forcing him to plummet into the hole that had opened up below him, along with Celia...