Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"Alright, here we are, back on the uppermost level of the ruins! And it only took us about a dozen teleports to get here," Grinned Aster, as they stepped out into the first level of the Quartz Ruins.

"Now that we're almost out, the fatigue is really starting to set in...my limbs feel so heavy," Sighed Celia, a worn on look on her face.

"Hm...well, we are way ahead of schedule, so let's take a break and rest up a bit, shall we?" Suggested Aster thoughtfully.

Each teleport took them up about five levels, which they were able to determine pretty easily since each teleport took them to a room where the Relic Armaments had been stored in.

Once they reached the fifth level and teleported, they found themselves in at the end of the first level, just inside the tunnel leading down to the second level.

"It's a good thing you formulated these Spell Cards to teleport us to the farthest clear spot if there's an obstacle a kilometer ahead...otherwise, we'd have been teleported right into the mountain above these ruins," Frowned Lexia warily.

"Yeah...that was the most difficult part to formulate, but given the potential consequences, it wasn't an aspect I could ignore," Sighed Tacitus, as they walked through the area.

"Also, since these teleported us exactly five levels, we could've used them once we got to the fifth level and gathered all the Relic Armaments in no time. Although, we would've teleported right into the Undead King's Miasma in the lowest level, so maybe it was a good thing we didn't," Mused Raven thoughtfully.

"Hey, we're not going to walk through this entire level, are we?" Inquired Lexia warily.

"Hm...Tacitus? How many more times do you think we can use the Teleport Spells?" Asked Aster, after mulling it over.

"Let's see...probably about forty to fifty more times each?" He replied after a brief pause.

"Wait, seriously? That's a lot more than I was expecting, I figured they'd burn out much faster than that," Remarked Celia in surprise.

"Well, I have improved with making my Teleport Spells last longer. With each of our first Teleport Spells, we got to the twenty-sixth level before they burnt out, and we used five teleports to get through each level. Which means, we used somewhere between a hundred and twenty to a hundred and thirty teleports each at that point.

And we've used these ones thirteen times, but since we've used one Card for every two people, that puts about double the strain on the Spells compared to if one person was using them. And since we used them thirteen times to get up here, that's equivalent to about twenty-six single-person teleports, leaving about a hundred more, or around fifty two-person teleports," Explained Tacitus.

"Wait, isn't that way more than normal Teleport Spells that you can buy in stores? I've never bought one myself, but I think I remember hearing that they stop working after about twenty-five to thirty teleports, at most," Responded Raven in surprise.

"The more effective and long-lasting a Spell Card is, the harder it is to create. And since it's such a difficult art to begin with, there aren't a whole lot of people in Persona who can make Spell Cards, and Teleport Spells are especially difficult to make. If I'm not mistaken, they're not even available for public purchase anymore since they were so expensive, I heard that they're only made for the Knights these days.

But even simpler Spells aren't easy to make by any stretch of the imagination, so in order to meet demand, they make Spell Cards that are less complex than they could, since the simpler the formulation, the faster and easier it is to create, with the tradeoff being a lower level of effectiveness and efficiency.

Also, Tacitus is something of a genius when it comes to Spell formulation, he was never properly educated on it, he's mostly self-taught and had to figure it out for himself. From what I understand, that's basically like trying to learn a language from scratch, without a teacher or even any guidebooks," Aster informed him.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration...my grandfather taught me the basics before he passed away, so I had the foundation for it taught to me, at least," Replied Tacitus, looking slightly awkward as Raven stared at him with an impressed look on his face.

"That's still really impressive, you know...it's like writing a book after only being taught the alphabet," Stated Aster with a smile.

"Tacitus is the whole reason we're able to travel around so easily, it would've taken us days to reach the Quartz ruins from Pearl Forest if it wasn't for his Teleport Spells. We've considered stealing a vehicle for ourselves, but we decided against it since that'd be too conspicuous, plus it'd be difficult to get fuel and stuff, so it just wasn't a practical option. Also, none of us know how to drive, so that was a factor too," Added Celia wryly.

Motor vehicles were in fairly widespread use, although it was mostly Nobles who owned them, due to the immense cost of purchasing one, not to mention the subsequent maintenance costs.

They were beyond what Commoners could afford, so hardly any Commoners owned their own vehicles.

There were public transport services in place though, a railway system was set up across the nation, the cities and some of the towns had buses running through them, and there were also private services from which people could hire taxis.

Of course, The Irregulars couldn't really use those services since they were criminals with their faces on wanted posters all over the nation...that, and they were pretty broke.

What little funds they had were lifted off the Knights and Inquisitors they'd taken down, which wasn't a whole lot.

"You know, I've been thinking...about the dagger Relic Armament, the only fair way to determine which of the two of us gets it is to leave it to chance. Like, a coin flip or rock-paper-scissors or something," Spoke up Lexia thoughtfully.

"Sure, that's fine by me," Replied Colt with a thumbs up.

"Alright, then...how do you want to do this?" She inquired, as she turned to face him.

"Let's do rock-paper-scissors, best out of three?"

"Fine, that works for me."

"You're doing this now? We've rested for a while now, and we should probably head out, why don't you save it for after we're back at the hideout?" Suggested Aster, as he got back onto his feet and stretched his arms up.

"No, I'd rather just get it over with. Okay, here goes...rock, paper, scissors!" Exclaimed Lexia, throwing out rock...before clicking her tongue as Colt threw out scissors.

"Sweet, that's one for me. Second round...rock, paper, scissors!" Grinned Colt, as they both threw out paper and tied.

"This is weirdly entertaining," Muttered Raven in bemusement, as they tied again, this time with scissors.

"I know, right?" Nodded Celia in agreement.

"Yes! I win!" Declared Lexia, throwing out scissors as Colt went with paper.

"Final round, not counting any ties...rock, paper, scissors!" Exclaimed Colt, a tense look on Lexia's face as they both threw out their hands, a brief silence ensuing, before Lexia broke the silence...

"Fuck!"

"Guess I get the dagger, sweet...well, look on the bright side, you can make your own daggers with your Bone Magic, so-..."

"Grr, I don't want to hear it. Let's just go," Huffed Lexia saltily, as she got back onto her feet with an irritated mutter.

For a moment, Aster thought about saying she should have just waited till they were back in the hideout like he'd suggested, before deciding against it since that'd only throw fuel onto the fire.

"Yeah, let's go. I'm sure we're all eager to get out of these ruins, after all," He remarked, as they all got back up and took out their Teleport Spells.

They faced forward as they linked up into three pairs, before teleporting ahead, repeating the process five times, before finding themselves within sight of the exit.

"It's hard to believe that we were only down here for about four hours or so, it felt like ages," Celia sighed in relief, as they began heading out.

"Wait, what? All that was only four hours?" Responded Tacitus in disbelief.

"Well, closer to five hours counting that last break we took," Nodded Celia, taking out a small, cracked pocket watch and showing it to him.

"It did feel like we were down here for much longer, a lot happened, so-...," Began Aster, before trailing off as Raven stepped out and raised his arm, signaling the others to stop.

"Shit, what is it now?" Groaned Lexia in exasperation.

"I'm picking up several Mana signatures outside. The scents are faint, but I'm pretty sure they're human. There's a lot of them out there...three...five...ten...fifteen...eighteen...twenty...okay, twenty-two in total. One of the Mana signatures is especially large, there's another that's about as strong as yours, Aster. And there are two more than are fairly strong too, though weaker than the first two I mentioned. The rest are all around average or below," Raven informed them, as he closed his eyes and focused on his senses.

"It's got to be the Knights...and the strongest Mana signature you're sensing might be their Commander. And the other three you took note of are probably the Vice-Commander and the two First-Class Knights who serve directly under the Commander. Four of the strongest Knights in the Kingdom, including THE strongest individual of them all...," Surmised Aster with a grimacing smile.

"It shouldn't be a problem though, we can just avoid them by teleporting right past them, can't we?" Pointed out Celia.

"We should do it quickly...they're on the move, I think they're circling the entrance. The four stronger presences are hanging back, the rest are forming a semi-circle in front of the entrance...they probably have a Detection Mage among them," Remarked Raven, keeping track of their movements.

"If so, they know we've caught onto them since we've stopped moving. Hm...we certainly could avoid them with our Teleport Spells, but-...," Began Aster as a gleam appeared in his eyes.

"No, whatever you're about to suggest, absolutely not. Most of the Knights in the Commander Squad aren't targets, so we can't kill them, and since they outnumber us so heavily, we shouldn't risk fighting them, for any reason," Protested Tacitus immediately.

"Yeah, I'm with him, why the hell would we engage in a battle we can so easily avoid? And especially when we're all worn out," Nodded Lexia in agreement.

"I suppose you're right, but...I just thought this would be a good opportunity. We'd get to see exactly how powerful the strongest Knight is, and we can test out our newly acquired weapons. If it were just the four stronger ones, I probably would've pressed the issue further, but with eighteen others in the mix, the numbers advantage is too heavily stacked in their favor, especially since we're all fatigued...if only we had a way to incapacitate a large number of them in one go...," Sighed Aster wistfully.

"Uh, I think I might be able to do that...while fighting the Undead King, I was constantly wracking my brain to try and think of new ways to use my abilities. There was one idea I came up with, but I didn't use it since it wouldn't work on him. I do want to test it out, but since I don't actually know if it'll work or not, we should probably just leave and-...," Began Raven.

"Hold on...what exactly is it that you want to try out? We can decide afterwards whether to go for it or not," Aster interrupted him with a look of intrigue.

"Damn it, you should've just kept your mouth shut," Groaned Tacitus, as Lexia kicked a small rock with an irritated mutter.

Raven then explained what he wanted to try, before testing it out on a small scale to check if it would actually work like he was visualizing, and to the dismay of Tacitus and Lexia in particular, it did.

"Interesting, this is quite the useful ability...yeah, I say we go for it! If it works, Raven should be able to incapacitate the weaker Knights, and we can test our strength against the stronger ones. However, if it doesn't work, we'll retreat right away, sound good?"

"Fine, whatever...here's hoping it doesn't work," Muttered Tacitus in response.

"I think it could be fun, and it is a rare opportunity to see how we measure up against the strongest members of the Knight Order. If we can hold our own even when we're not at a hundred percent, that's some pretty valuable confidence we can glean from this," Surmised Colt with a nod.

"Of all the times for you to make a sound, logical argument, why now?" Sighed Lexia as she facepalmed.

"I feel like my skills were sharpened after fighting the Undead King, since that was a situation in which I was forced to push past my limits and react and move faster...I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to test out how much my skills were sharpened in that fight," Admitted Celia sheepishly.

"We need to make our move quickly, it feels like they're getting restless out there, they might decide to charge in before long," Raven informed them.

"Right, then let's equip ourselves and move out," Nodded Aster, before handing out the Relic Armaments, while elaborating on their strategy.

Celia put on the gauntlets, as Aster replaced his old twin blades with the black and white pair he'd acquired at the bottom of the ruins.

Tacitus opted to stick with the weapons he already had, since the Relic Armament he'd acquired, the large sword called Berserk, was too heavy for him to properly wield.

Raven then tranformed, his human features disappearing before he spread out his wings and shot forward...he sensed the people outside reacting, confirming his suggestion that they had a Detection Mage in their ranks.

"What the hell!?" Blurted out one of the Knights, as Raven emerged out into the open.

"What is that thing!?"

"Some kind of Monster?"

Raven swiftly opened his jaws, intense flames forming in his mouth as he flew up and lowered his head towards the Knights surrounding the entrance to the ruins.

"Whatever it is, we need to attack, quick!"

As the Knights began to charge up Spells and take aim, Raven swiftly unleashed a massive mist from his mouth, bursting out across the air and spreading out rapidly, blanketing the area as the mist engulfed the Knights.

"What the-...!?"

"What is this!?"

"Get away from there, don't breathe it in!" A woman's voice echoed out from behind the Knights gathered in front, but her warning came too late.

"S-so sleepy..."

"I-I feel so...so..."

"Ugh, m-my head..."

One of the many abilities that Raven gained following the Homunculus Ritual was the power to create venom from his fangs and claws.

It was closer to a tranquilizer than poison in effect, though a high enough dose would prove fatal.

While training, Raven had discovered that heating up the venom made it more potent...and while fighting the Undead King, the idea of super-heating his venom into a tranquilizing steam crossed his mind, but he pushed it aside since he'd already discovered that his venom was ineffective against the Undead King.

The eighteen Knights that had surrounded the entrance began dropping like flies in a matter of seconds after Raven unleashed the mist, rendered deeply unconscious, and before long, a symphony of snores began to ring out.

"What did you do to them, you bastard!?"

The same voice from before rang out, Raven turning his gaze in the direction it came from, just in time to see a blonde woman launching herself up towards him with a sharp burst of flames from the bottom of her feet.

She swiftly drew out a sword as she zipped through the air towards him, flames bursting out of her hands and wrapping around the blade as she angled the tip of the flaming blade towards Raven.

"[Telekinetic Slash]!" Aster's voice echoed out from the entrance of the ruins, the woman swiftly shifting her grip and angling the blade in front of herself defensively, grimacing as a powerful force slammed against it and launched her back.

Her feet hit the ground and skidded back several paces, blades of grass and bits of dirt flying out as she regained her bearings and turned her attention towards the entrance, Raven swooping down and landing as the rest of The Irregulars stepped out.

As she narrowed her eyes at them while the other three Knights who were still standing stepped forth and joined her, Raven took a good look at her, the slight resemblance to him and his sister not lost on him...

"That must be the Commander, one of the Kingdom's Princesses...I guess this confirms it, I really am a bastard of the King. Huh...I suppose that technically makes this woman my half-sister," He thought to himself.

"I've never seen a Monster like that before...wait, could that be the so-called Homunculus from the Inquisitors' report?" Mused the Commander.

"I recognize them, except the scaly one...the others are The Irregulars," Spoke up one of the other Knights.

"We should be careful...the one with the glasses must be who nearly killed Captain Plore, we can't take them lightly or-...," Began one of the others, before he was interrupted as Aster unleashed a powerful telekinetic blast towards them, forcing them to scatter.

"So, that's the Relic Armament known as Caliburn, is it? Then you really are the Commander of the Knight Order, the Second Princess of the Persona Kingdom, Jules Diamond," Remarked Aster, as he shot towards the Commander and drew out his blades, swinging one of them across at her chest, which she swiftly blocked with her sword.

"I see, you've done your research...and since you clearly know about the Relic Armaments, there's no question why you entered the Quartz Ruins. I take it this means you people claimed all the remaining Relic Armaments? Before I take you down, I have a question...did you encounter anything out of the ordinary down there?" She inquired, letting her curiosity get the better of her as she lunged forward to push Aster back, who then backed away and got some distance.

Aster took note of her choice of words, 'take down' instead of 'kill'...that, combined with that fact that he wasn't sensing any murderous intent from her, led him to surmise that she intended to capture them instead of killing them.

"Hm? Ah, I see, then you really didn't know what was down there. Looks like I was right, the King must have discovered information about the thing at the bottom of the ruins, but he neglected to share that information with any of you and simply forbade you from going down there. After fighting that monstrosity, I can definitely understand why he'd react like that...but don't worry, we already took care of that," Smirked Aster, before swinging his right blade across and firing a telekinetic slash at her, as the other Irregulars began clashing against their opponents as well.

"I see, how awfully cryptic of you...no matter, I'll have all the time in the world to interrogate you once I defeat you," She responded, as the flames around her blade sharply intensified...