[Argus City]
In the middle of the hotel room, Pyrrha and Daniel sat across from each other at the table, silently staring at one another. Off to the side, Gura was devouring large amounts of food, savoring every bite while curiously watching the interaction between the two.
"I'm an experiment created by an evil corporation that's slowly taking over the world..." Daniel said in the most serious tone he could muster.
Pyrrha, not believing a single word he said, frowned.
"No," she replied without batting an eye.
"I'm a super soldier created by the government to end World War II."
A vein popped on Pyrrha's forehead. "There has only ever been one world war, and it was the Great War!"
"Tsk." Daniel clicked his tongue, quickly thinking of another story. "In that case, my planet was doomed, so I was sent to this world, where I was raised by farmers..."
"No..."
"Lustful farmers..."
"...No."
"I was sent back from the future to protect humanity's future savior before a machine could kill him."
"You got that from a movie!" Pyrrha complained, clenching her fists against the table.
"Then I was accidentally exposed to a massive amount of gamma radiation, and ever since, whenever I get angry, I turn into a giant green monster..."
Daniel waited for Pyrrha to respond, but when she didn't, he gave it another shot.
"You're a tough audience, I'll admit. How about... I was bitten by a genetically modified spider. Now I can climb walls and shoot webs."
"Grrr..." Pyrrha growled, bringing a hand to her head as the migraine he was giving her grew worse.
"Come on, Pyrrha, what do you want from me?" Daniel asked. "I'm giving you my best material, and you're not appreciating it."
"I WANT THE TRUTH!" Pyrrha shouted, slamming both palms against the table.
Daniel wasn't about to back down. He stood up from his chair and slammed his hands against the table as well.
"You want the truth? YOU WANT THE TRUTH?! Well, what do you think, Pyrrha? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"
Pyrrha's eyes widened, bewildered by his sudden change in attitude.
"Because when you raise your hand to touch the face of what used to be your best friend, only to find a pile of garbage, you don't know what to do..." Daniel paused before adding solemnly, "Forget it, Pyrrha! This is Chinatown!"
Completely confused by his words, she lowered her gaze before letting out a sigh mixed with an exhausted chuckle.
"Hahaha..." She chuckled softly, utterly exhausted, sinking back into her chair as she covered her face with both hands. "You're crazy, aren't you? I'm asking a lunatic for answers..."
"You're exaggerating," Daniel complained. "I'm not crazy... Tell me, does this look like the face of a crazy person to you?"
Even though she knew she was going to regret it, Pyrrha slowly raised her gaze to look at him.
Daniel had a charming smile on his face. With one arm, he had Sadako, with her pale skin and dead eyes, wrapped around him, while his other arm was around the Faunus girl, who was completely naked and had a turkey leg in her mouth.
To top it all off, Aegis was sitting on Daniel's shoulder, and if Pyrrha shifted her gaze just a little, she could see the two swords he had used during the fight, both of which now had enormous plastic googly eyes glued to them.
"See? Completely normal."
Pyrrha felt like she was about to cry, wondering how she had ended up getting involved with all these lunatics.
"And why is SHE here?!" she asked irritably, pointing at Gura, who, upon realizing she was the center of attention, protectively guarded her food, showing absolutely no intention of sharing it.
"First of all, she has a name. It's Gura," Daniel replied with a certain degree of pride. "I gave her that name myself. I think it suits her."
"SHE TRIED TO KILL YOU!"
"Pfft." Daniel snorted, waving a hand dismissively. "Who hasn't?"
That answer failed to convince Pyrrha, forcing Daniel to elaborate a little on his explanation.
"Look, I already explained this to you. If I held a lifelong grudge against everyone who had ever tried to kill me, I wouldn't have any friends. Besides, look at her."
He reached out and rested his hand on Gura's head, while she continued eating without paying him much attention.
"She's under control now. We're friends."
Annoyed by how casually Daniel was taking the whole situation, Pyrrha spoke without thinking.
"Do you also sleep with all your female friends?"
Daniel narrowed his eyes, though he wasn't particularly offended. He had heard worse.
"Only the sexy ones."
Pyrrha took a deep breath, realizing she had been rude and let all the emotions she had accumulated throughout the day get the better of her.
"I'm sorry," she apologized.
Daniel nodded, accepting her apology and brushing the matter aside. He had no desire to make things more complicated than they needed to be.
"So, you don't know who Gura is?" Pyrrha asked, trying to change the subject.
"I know she's an experiment that somehow escaped from the facility."
The speed and confidence with which Daniel answered made Pyrrha less certain that everything he had said was a lie.
Her gaze shifted toward Gura.
"Is what he says true?"
The sudden question made Gura stop chewing and look at her curiously.
"Mmmm..." she pondered as she finished swallowing the food in her mouth. "Well, I wouldn't say I 'escaped.' I was actually freed by a nice little robot."
"Laboratory security is definitely shit..." Daniel complained, thinking about all the things that had most likely already escaped without GLaDOS even realizing it.
Of course, he also planned to take advantage of that oversight to make fun of her and her perfect metallic ass when he returned.
A bead of sweat trickled down Pyrrha's forehead as she realized that the possibility of a laboratory and an evil scientist with plans to take over the world actually existing was starting to seem increasingly plausible.
"Is that why you're so strong...?" she asked, forcing her voice to remain steady to hide her nervousness. "...Did they make you that way?"
Daniel shrugged with a smile, letting Pyrrha draw her own conclusions, even if they were completely wrong.
"That doesn't explain why you don't use Aura-"
"Aura is for idiots!" Daniel interrupted her, sounding slightly annoyed. "Relying on an internal energy source that only lasts a few hours is stupid, not to mention suicidal. And if it gets broken or runs out, you'd end up passing out and leaving yourself completely exposed."
He flexed his muscles with a confident smile. "Meanwhile, these beauties are available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week."
"He can't use Aura," Aegis commented with a slight chuckle.
"SHUT UP!" Daniel scolded him, grabbing him in his fist to silence him, though his efforts were completely useless.
"Hahahaha!" Aegis's laughter grew even louder. "He still tries to externalize his Aura at night when he thinks nobody's watching! Hahahah!"
"THAT WAS MY SECRET, YOU FUCKING CRAB!" Daniel scolded him, throwing him in the direction of the bed.
Aegis bounced several times on the mattress, completely unharmed and still laughing, showing not the slightest bit of remorse.
The scene made Pyrrha forget, for a moment, about everything bad that had happened. "Haha..." She chuckled softly, caught up in that moment when they were just a group of friends enjoying themselves, without worrying about anything else.
And although she would have liked to stay like that a little longer, she still had plenty of questions to ask.
"You guys had nothing to do with the Grimm invasion, right?"
She knew it was a strange question, considering that Grimm couldn't be controlled. However, this was an unusual group with unusual abilities, so she needed to make sure.
"Not directly," Daniel replied.
"Oh..." Pyrrha sighed with relief. "Thank God it wasn't your fault..."
"WHAT?!" she exclaimed in horror. "YOU BROUGHT THEM HERE?!"
Daniel shook his head and gestured toward himself and the rest of the group.
"Not exactly us... but the wolf, on the other hand..."
"Explain yourself," Pyrrha demanded, hoping for a satisfactory answer that wouldn't force her to call the Argus authorities.
"Well, I suspect the aura of terror the wolf emits when it's under attack works as some kind of beacon for the Grimm. An effect far more powerful than the negative emotions they're usually attracted to..."
Daniel's words gradually lost their force as he watched Pyrrha's face grow a little paler with every sentence.
"HEY!" He tried to snap her out of her daze. "We can't blame the wolf for that, can we, guys?"
He looked around, hoping for some support, but received absolutely none. Aegis turned his back on him, Sadako avoided his gaze, and Gura was far too busy licking her plate to pay him any attention.
"After all, it's an animal!" he justified himself. "It's not like it knows its aura of terror will attract the Grimm. We can't blame it for that. Right?"
"It's my fault..." Pyrrha whispered.
Daniel stopped his rambling and looked at her curiously. "What did you say?"
"It's my fault," Pyrrha repeated, this time much more forcefully. "I brought it into the city and caused the Huntsmen to confront it, triggering its aura of terror. If it weren't for me, the Grimm wouldn't have come to the city."
"That's not true..." Daniel began, trying to comfort her, but stopped halfway through, looking thoughtful. "Mmmm... You know what? Yeah, it is your fault."
Pyrrha shrank back into her chair, overcome with panic.
"All that destruction... and all those lives lost... because of me," she murmured to herself.
Taking advantage of the moment, Daniel stood up from his chair and walked around the table until he was standing behind her.
"It's definitely your fault... But it's okay," he added in a comforting tone as he placed his hands on her shoulders and began massaging them. "I forgive you, and I promise to keep your secret, just like you keep mine."
He leaned closer to her ear and whispered in a melodious, hypnotic tone.
"Now we're the best kind of friends... We're partners in crime. You're lucky I was here to clean up your mess."
Hearing his cynical remarks, Pyrrha shot to her feet, brushing Daniel's hands off her shoulders.
"I haven't forgotten that you told me that wolf belonged to the laboratories you work for!"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Daniel protested, raising his hands defensively. "Don't try to pin the blame on me, not when I was the one who risked my life fighting those Grimm."
Pyrrha wanted to argue, but ultimately closed her mouth. Daniel wasn't lying. He had nearly died fighting, and he hadn't asked for anything in return. It wasn't fair to reproach him for something that wasn't really his fault, regardless of his connection to the wolf.
"Thank you for your efforts to save Argus... I truly appreciate it," she said sincerely.
Daniel brushed off her gratitude, dropping onto the room's sofa.
"Forget about it. It's not the hardest thing I've had to do so far."
Pyrrha preferred not to imagine the things he must have gone through to consider that battle relatively easy. She also didn't dare pity him, since he didn't seem like the kind of person who wanted other people's sympathy.
Instead, she felt a little envious when she thought about how much she could have helped during the invasion if only she had been stronger.
"I wish I had your strength..." Pyrrha murmured, unaware that Daniel had heard her words thanks to his keen hearing.
"You want more power?" he asked curiously.
Pyrrha jumped, embarrassed when she realized he had heard her.
"Forget it. I was just rambling..."
"I could make you stronger."
Daniel's words left Pyrrha frozen in place.
"Can he really...?" she wondered, feeling her heart begin to race.
She doubted he was simply talking about training. His strength far surpassed what a person could achieve through conventional training, so she suspected he had to rely on unusual methods to obtain such results. And judging by what she had seen of him so far, those methods were probably questionable, at best.
Even so, she didn't hesitate to answer.
"Yes, I want to," she stated confidently.
It wasn't just a matter of becoming stronger. It was also about all the good she could do if she had enough power to protect others. After what had happened in Argus, she couldn't afford to let this opportunity slip away.
Daniel smiled when he heard her answer. He then reached one hand behind his back and, out of Pyrrha's sight, took his logbook out of his inventory before showing it to her.
"Ta-daa!"
"Where did that notebook come from?" Pyrrha asked in surprise.
Daniel ignored her question and opened the logbook, taking out a small piece of paper that had been preserved remarkably well.
"[Manual of the Three Hakis]," he announced, showing it to her before holding it out. "Read this."
Growing increasingly confused, Pyrrha leaned forward to read the paper. However, as soon as she began examining it, she discovered that she couldn't understand absolutely anything written on it.
"I don't understand... Is this some kind of code?"
"I didn't tell you to understand it! I told you to read it!"
Pyrrha frowned, clearly annoyed by his response, but she still examined every symbol on the sheet, making sure not to miss a single one.
Once she had finished reading it, she looked up at Daniel. "And now what?"
Daniel shrugged.
"That's it."
"Is this a joke?" Pyrrha asked defensively.
"It's not a joke," Daniel insisted.
He had no way of checking whether it had worked, but he had no doubts that gacha items could affect people other than himself. After all, Aegis was the best proof of that.
When he had obtained the Haki manual, Aegis had seen it too, and although he hadn't understood its contents, he had become extremely resilient after some time and training. Daniel had already tested this himself when he touched Aegis's exoskeleton.
He still didn't understand whether the manual granted the ability to learn all three types of Haki or modified the body to make it compatible with them. Whatever the case, the important thing was that it allowed the body to break through its own limits.
"Now everything depends on you. Will you remain as you are, or will you grow into something wonderful?"
Pyrrha shook her head in disbelief. "And all that from simply reading these scribbles on an old piece of paper?" she complained, losing hope of ever becoming as strong as Daniel or, at the very least, reaching Sadako's level.
"Imagine it's magic..."
"Magic doesn't exist," she retorted almost immediately.
Daniel simply ignored her words as he put the sheet back into his logbook.
"Magic exists. You're just too blind to see it."
His excellent arguments failed to convince Pyrrha, who crossed her arms, unimpressed by his explanation.
Seeing that she refused to accept the truth, Daniel rolled his eyes.
"Fine..." he grumbled. "Then what would you call the Grimm? Aside from magical creatures, of course."
"The Grimm aren't magical. They're beings with a scientific explanation."
"Ha!" He scoffed. "What's so scientific about creatures made of darkness that seek out negative emotions, don't eat, don't breathe, don't sleep, and turn into mist when they die?"
Pyrrha didn't answer immediately. Put that way, the Grimm didn't exactly sound like scientific creatures. Even so, she decided there was no point in continuing to argue with him and chose to drop the whole 'magic' thing, dismissing it as the ramblings of a madman.
Exhausted, she dropped onto the sofa beside Daniel.
"Ah..." she sighed. "At least it's all over now."
Her words piqued his curiosity. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that with the wolf dead, there won't be any more invasions."
An amused smile spread across Daniel's face. "Who told you it was dead?" he asked teasingly.
Pyrrha grew nervous. "Well, it's obvious, isn't it? After the Leviathan fell on top of it, it never showed up again... I thought..."
Her words trailed off as she began to understand what Daniel was implying. The possibility that the wolf, a creature capable of attracting enormous numbers of Grimm whenever it felt threatened, might still be alive and wandering around Argus sent a shiver down her spine.
"I assure you it's very much alive," Daniel stated with complete seriousness.
Pyrrha shot up from the sofa, staring at him in horror.
"AND YOU'RE ONLY TELLING ME NOW?!" she scolded him. "We have to get it out of the city before someone makes it angry again!"
Before she could run out, Daniel managed to grab her by the arm and stop her.
"Hey, hey! I said it's alive, not that it's still in the city," he clarified with a slight chuckle. "It's probably already far away from here, hunting some little bunny and frolicking through the meadows, where annoying redheads don't attack it."
Annoyed by his joke, Pyrrha pulled free of his grip. "That's not funny!" she complained.
"It's funny to me," he replied, chuckling under his breath as he finally got up from the sofa.
"Well, this has been fun," he remarked, stretching to loosen up his muscles. "But I've got more important things to do."
Without another word, he headed for the door, casually waving goodbye.
He had already answered most of her questions, so Pyrrha wouldn't have minded him leaving too much if it weren't for one little detail.
HE WAS LEAVING HIS ENTIRE GANG IN THE ROOM!
"Wait!" Pyrrha shouted, pointing at them. "YOU'RE GOING TO LEAVE ME ALONE WITH THEM?!"
Daniel shook his head in disappointment.
"I thought we were friends, Pyrrha. Can't a friend do me a little favor and look after my bunch of idiots for a few hours?"
"NO!" she replied emphatically.
Daniel shrugged, completely indifferent to her refusal.
"You're going to do it anyway."
Pyrrha's brow furrowed, her frown growing more pronounced by the second.
"And why would I do that?" she challenged him.
Daniel stopped in the doorway and turned his head slightly to look at her.
"Because they're a bunch of idiots with highly destructive powers, and if you don't keep an eye on them, they'll most likely destroy the city. Especially her," he said, pointing at Gura, who was lying on the bed after eating an insane amount of food.
"So... good luck with them. BYE!"
He slammed the door shut, leaving Pyrrha alone with the group.
She didn't even bother trying to chase after him, since she was certain he had already run off. Instead, she turned her gaze toward Gura, who was sleeping peacefully on the bed, and stared at her in horror.
She remembered perfectly well that the girl was more than capable of crushing her with a single hand.
"What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?!" she repeatedly asked herself, imagining all sorts of problems that could arise if Gura woke up in a bad mood.
Her panic only subsided when Aegis called for her attention.
"HEY!"
Pyrrha turned to look at him.
"Everything will be fine," he reassured her. "Just let her sleep, and she probably won't crush you... probably."
Those words did absolutely nothing to reassure her. In the end, Pyrrha decided that the wisest course of action was to keep an eye on Gura from the other side of the room, maintaining a safe distance in case things got out of hand.
-/-
[Outskirts of Argus]
Deep in the forests of Argus, forgotten by everyone, a small Wisp, also known as a forest spirit or will-o'-the-wisp, laboriously orbited a tree, carrying out its duties. It absorbed the nutrients and energy it needed without causing any harm to the tree, and once it felt it had gathered enough, it slowly descended to the ground.
Ready to begin its great journey, it headed in the opposite direction from Argus, putting as much distance as possible between itself and those filthy humans.
"The world is strange," the Wisp had to admit as it traveled through the forest.
It was obvious that it was no longer in Azeroth. It had reached that conclusion after failing to sense the presence of its goddess, Elune, and encountering those creatures of darkness roaming the forest, beings it had never seen before.
It stopped when one of them crossed its path. The creature observed and examined it curiously for a few moments before ignoring it and continuing on its way.
The Wisp found the situation rather strange. The creatures of darkness it had encountered so far seemed to behave differently from the beings it knew. They didn't feel indiscriminate hatred toward life, although they did seem to harbor such hatred toward humans, which, honestly, pleased it.
After floating around for quite some time, it finally found what it had been looking for. It slowly descended toward the ground, sensing a large concentration of minerals beneath that area.
"This is a good place to put down roots," it thought, preparing to sacrifice its physical form and become a World Tree seed.
It wasn't particularly fond of the idea, but transforming into one was necessary if it wanted to establish itself in this new world. Its roots would allow it to gather the minerals needed to create new Wisps, which would, in turn, help it collect more resources and expand its settlement.
Perhaps the Kaldorei didn't exist in this world, but that didn't mean they couldn't come to exist here. As long as it remained there, it could give life to a new generation and ensure they had a home in this unfamiliar world.
With that thought in mind, the little Wisp merged with the earth and released a flash of magical energy that spread throughout the surrounding area, causing the vegetation to bloom.
Just moments later, the ground cracked and began to rise, giving way to a crown of roots that spread outward and firmly anchored themselves beneath the surface. It marked the beginning of the growth of a new World Tree sapling, one that would eventually become the heart of an entire ecosystem.
-/-
Author's Note:
A short and quick chapter. I hope it makes sense.
I had to remove a few chapters. The extras weren't well received, I get it now, so let's hurry things along. I'll avoid adding more filler. The next one is +18. The wolf chapter I still owe you will be short and contained in a single chapter so you can skip it if you want.
After that, the MC will leave Argus, and we'll begin the final stretch.
Kisses and hugs!