(Written while listening to: "PERFECT MACHINE" by STARSET on YouTube)
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[You have slain Dormant Beast: Nematodes of Many].
[You have slain Dormant Beast: Nematodes of Many]. x3
'If magic won't do, the brute force won't fail you.' Laito thought with satisfaction.
[You have slain Dormant Beast Nematodes of Many].
'And the best kind of violence is the one that you don't even need to do yourself…' He added mentally, while following Apollyon's beastly rampage through the fleshy tunnel.
The large wolf-bat was a fallen creature. His unnatural regeneration combined with vampiric lifesteal effects managed to outpace the dissolving qualities of the hostile environment they were in – the swarm of parasitic worms also posed him no threat.
Laito made extra effort to order Appolyon to watch out so that he struck only at the parasites – and not the surroundings.
Didn't want to attract the larger monster's attention… yet.
[You have slain Dormant Beast Nematodes of Many].
'C'mon.' Laito groaned inwardly. The reason he committed to cleaning out entrails of squid-abomination was mostly curiosity – he also hoped for a bit of luck.
And lo and behold:
[You have received a memory].
He almost instantly whipped out a Spell to check.
[A wet patchwork Sack of thick Fluid]
Another dormant Memory. It was just like its name suggested: disgusting and useless.
—
'I'm satisfied.' With his curiosity satisfied, Laito dismissed Apollyon and headed back towards the stomach.
When he arrived he noticed that Damian was still out of it. Though the breathing of the passed out man was now calmer and more even.
—
—
[2 hours later]
It took long and very uncomfortable in Laito's perspective hours of waiting in the literal belly of the beast, before Damian's eyes slowly opened.
The rugged man carefully sat and looked around carefully with his eyes only. He did that until he spotted Laito floating patiently nearby.
Now that they looked directly at each other, Laito noticed a change.
Overall Damian still looked the same: dirty, hairy and with other characteristics one could expect from someone stranded there – but his eyes were different than before.
Last time they were full of unfiltered derangement… Now, there was a noticeable hint of sharp, cold intellect hiding underneath.
Damian narrowed his eyes with suspicion and broke the silence:
"What are you? Definitely not a god, but my Flaw responds to you… a monster?" He demanded with determination of someone whose known peril and tensed as if preparing to face danger.
'I think he got better… or at least he's no longer bothered by his Flaw… but I have no idea if that's good, or not. He doesn't seem to like me in this state.' Laito quickly assessed the situation and spoke:
"Definintly not Nightmare Creature! No corruption on me I swear. It's just how I look after my First Nightmare… a lot happened…" Laito noticed Damian's grip tightening on his harpoon.
"Please let's be civil! Name's Laito! Remember us talking before?" Laito wanted to make sure if Damian's state of mind influenced his memory.
It didn't.
Damian gritted his teeth.
"I remember babbling my heart out to something that may as well be some horrific monster – you haven't said anything much though… what are you hiding?" Damian was obviously demanding some reassurance before lowering his guard.
And was probably too smart for some "I am a great deity! Kneel you scoundrel, before my might!" nonsense.
"Eh, you won't believe that, but…" So Laito told the truth.
Mostly.
Just like Damian unwillingly shared his life story… sometimes with awkward details – Laito repaid him by sharing his own… with far higher amounts of awkward details.
But instead of staying silent about his first life, like when Laito talked to his dad – he instead omitted the existence of the quirk world and only mentioned the first one… at least for now.
No need to make things overly complicated at this stage.
As Laito talked, Damian furrowed his brow and waited for the flying lightbulb to finish talking.
"... and normally we wouldn't be even talking about our pasts, but I've felt so much pity at your wailing, that I simply couldn't share this. This way it won't feel like I have an upper hand over you – even if I don't have hands!" Laito finished his own tangent about his experiences with an explanation on why he even talked about himself… after all, confidentiality is highly valued among holders of Nightmare Spell.
Damian raised one of his eyebrows and asked with measured voice:
"Soo… you said at the beginning that you died, because of a meteor… that only you saw…?"
"Uhmm… yeah? It was nuts! Why asking?" Laito confirmed.
"Nothing… just… sounds familiar… I don't know why though." Damian shook his head as if trying to dispel some unwanted memories and finally relaxed his composure, while contemplating his own thoughts.
"Figures. You would know a thing or two about being nuts… no offence. I know that Flaws sucks…" Laito tried to keep the conversation flowing, but Damian was now in his own mind and ignored the floating lightbulb.
–
Laito waited for a few minutes in silence, before he asked again:
"So now that you are nuts… can you tell me please how you actually can see me? Earlier, you just raved about "eyes that see" which doesn't really answer much." Laito was curious.
Without paying Laito much attention, Damian answered off-handly:
"My ability… lets me sense and locate the consciousnesses of various entities… It works somewhat with my eyes AND my mind."
Laito cringed inwardly.
'Damn. Sometimes seeing what are you are not supposed to see might be detriment mor than an advantage. I guess he has to be good enough to survive so long. Respect. But then again... a mind related ability... I really hate those... I need to make sure to have him on my side.'
"Allright. What do we do next?" Laito finally asked the important question wirh newfound enthusiasm.
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[16 months left until MHA plot beginning]
[Chapter End] The story is not over yet
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