Using the contract link binding them, Cyan tracked Nishi's exact location and sprinted through the dense foliage to rendezvous with her.
"Master, you're here!" Nishi called out excitedly, rushing forward the moment Cyan breached the clearing.
"Mm."
Cyan offered a clipped nod, stepping past her to confront the two rescued Toads. "The Chancellor stated he dispatched seven scouts to the Bowser Kingdom. Where are the remaining five?"
"Those five were transported directly to the Bowser Queen's castle!" the two Toads answered in unison.
After extracting a few more scraps of localized intelligence from the two captives, Cyan and Nishi parted ways with them. Having witnessed the Toads' borderline miraculous camouflage techniques firsthand, Cyan felt safe letting them make their own way back to the Mushroom Kingdom.
In fact, their ability to mimic Goombas was so completely flawless that it left Cyan quietly brooding over a specific detail. If their disguises are this perfect, how on earth did they get exposed and captured in the first place?
"Master, what's on your mind?" Nishi asked curiously, noticing the faint crease between Cyan's brows.
"It is simply unusual. Their Goomba disguises are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. How was their cover blown?" Cyan voiced her suspicion. Goombas, after all, were originally indigenous to the Mushroom Kingdom before swapping allegiances; the physical differences should have been nominal.
"Do you think there's a traitor among them?" Nishi speculated.
"It is not our concern. Once our Survival Mission is complete, we leave this world." Cyan cleanly dismissed the train of thought. Investigating espionage dynamics that had zero bearing on their core objective was a waste of resources.
"True... It's just, Master, every time you return to reality for so long, I get incredibly lonely! It is so unbelievably boring staying in the Survival Town all by myself!" Nishi complained, throwing Cyan a thoroughly pathetic, puppy-dog look.
"You can converse with the town's residents," Cyan replied flatly, deliberately staring straight ahead to ignore the guilt-inducing expression.
"But I want to visit the world you live in~!" Nishi clung to Cyan's arm, whining playfully.
"I am uncertain if the system permits your transit." Cyan didn't actually harbor any aversion to bringing Nishi back to the real world with her. She simply didn't know if the Survival Space allowed a contracted entity native to the Samurai Shodown V Special universe to cross over into reality.
Seeing that Cyan hadn't rejected the premise, Nishi's face instantly split into a radiant beam. "Then the moment we get back to the Survival Space, you can just ask the system terminal~!"
"Mm." Cyan nodded slightly, committing the promise to memory.
Deep within the royal palace of the Bowser Kingdom, Bowsette sat atop her custom-engineered throne. Draped in a sleek, low-cut black dress, she sat with her legs casually crossed, resting her cheek against the palm of her hand. Her piercing, slitted blue eyes stared down at the trembling Goomba kneeling on the cold floor before her.
"Speak. What transpired at the prison camp?"
An arrogant, deeply magnetic voice slipped past her crimson lips. Her free hand idly toyed with one of the creamy-white horns protruding from her head, her features laced with an air of pure lethargy. As she let out a slow yawn, a stray wisp of scorching flame flickered from the corner of her mouth, causing the Goomba below to shudder violently.
Pressing its forehead flat against the stone, the creature squeaked out in a trembling tone, "R-Reporting to Her Majesty! A duo—one man and one woman—orchestrated a raid on the facility and extracted the prisoners from the Mushroom Kingdom..."
"Oh? They operate with impressive speed. Their martial capabilities must be quite formidable," Bowsette mused, completely unfazed. "According to the reports transmitted by our operatives embedded in the capital, they are mercenary bounty hunters retained by the Mushroom Chancellor."
Bowsette certainly hadn't anticipated this development. She had been patiently waiting for the legendary Mario brothers to breach her borders, yet instead, two random, entirely undocumented bounty hunters had turned up to crash her party.
"You may leave. Inform the Hammer Bros. that if an administrative failure of this scale occurs again, they need not bother returning to see me." Bowsette waved a dismissive hand.
"Y-Yes, Your Majesty... right away..." The Goomba knocked its head against the floor twice more before scrambling backward out of the throne room.
"Kamek."
"Present, Your Majesty!" With a sudden flash of magical light, Kamek materialized into the chamber, bowing with profound reverence.
"Kamek... the Mario brothers have been hospitalized," Bowsette stated, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose as a headache began to form.
"What?!" Kamek's jaw dropped so hard his thick spectacles slipped clean off his face, clattering onto the floorboards.
"This is exactly why I shouldn't have authorized the abduction of Prince Peach in the first place! 'The most dazzling, handsome prince in the entire Mushroom Kingdom'—bah! Gross! Kamek, this entire geopolitical strategy was your brilliant idea! You find a way to fix this disaster!"
Crack!
Bowsette's heavy, spiked tail lashed against the dais, gouging a visible crater into the masonry. Stalking down the steps with absolute irritation, she grabbed Kamek by his robes and began shaking the elderly magikoopa violently.
"Ah~! Calm your fury, Your Majesty! Please, spare me!" Kamek's vision spun in dizzying circles. Despite being one of the most feared dark sorcerers in the realm, he didn't dare mount a shred of resistance against an enraged Bowsette.
Using his magical wand to barely stabilize his balance, Kamek shook his throbbing head and frantically offered a compromise. "Wait... aren't those two bounty hunters currently en route to rescue Prince Peach? Your Majesty could simply arrange for them to successfully extract him! Wouldn't that instantly resolve your logistical dilemma?"
Kamek's desperate survival instincts had birthed a stellar piece of damage control.
"And just let them walk out with the prince for free? Where does that leave my reputation?" Bowsette crossed her arms, her gaze narrowing into an icy, dangerous glare.
"Uh..." Cold sweat saturated Kamek's robes as he frantically improvised. "Your Majesty, I have a strategy! The fortress features a hidden, structural ventilation corridor. We can deploy an operative disguised as a Mushroom Kingdom defector to feed them the coordinates. They can navigate the maintenance shaft directly to Prince Peach's holding cell. Allowing them to bypass our main forces solves your administrative headache, and since it's a 'stealth infiltration,' your military record remains completely unblemished! Isn't that exquisite?"
Bowsette evaluated the premise for a moment before giving a satisfied nod. "Excellent. Execute that plan. Kamek, I am holding you personally accountable for the logistics."
"Understood! I shall oversee it immediately!" Kamek let out a massive sigh of relief as Bowsette's aura settled. He genuinely dreaded the prospect of the Queen throwing a full draconic tantrum—it was nothing short of an absolute living nightmare.
Completely oblivious to the fact that their movements were being actively managed by the enemy command tier, Cyan and Nishi were currently locked in combat with a bizarre adversary—a bespectacled turtle riding atop a sentient cloud high in the sky, known across the realm as a Lakitu.
(Note: Lakitus, often associated with their signature "Jugem's Cloud," constantly rain down Spinies from above. These spike-shelled quadrupeds cannot be neutralized by jumping on them, but they are highly susceptible to fire attributes.)
"The Hammer Bros. briefed me on your profiles! You're the lowlifes who compromised our prison facility! I'll secure your heads and claim the royal bounty from the Queen!"
With a wicked cackle, the Lakitu produced a massive, crimson sphere covered in jagged spines, dropping it from the grinning cloud like a grotesque egg. The moment the projectile hit the dirt, it uncurled into an aggressive Spiny.
"Surrender now if you value your skin! Otherwise, prepare to be pulverized by my personal collection of Spinies!"
The Lakitu laughed hysterically as a steady stream of spiked spheres began raining down from the canopy.
I cannot let him maintain air superiority. He needs to die quickly.
Cyan observed the multiplying cluster of Spinies with a grave expression. Channeling raw physical force, she delivered a heavy, calculated kick directly to the exposed, unprotected under-snout of an approaching Spiny, flipping the creature flat onto its back. The turtle thrashed its limbs uselessly in the dirt, struggling to right its shell.
Hamon Overdrive!
Arks of golden electricity crackled violently around Cyan's boots. Kicking off the earth with the force of a solid-fuel rocket, she launched herself straight toward the high-altitude Lakitu.
Her demonic blade cleared its leather casing, wind-attribute energy condensing along the edge.
Mugen Style: Gale Slash!
The Lakitu screeched, executing a desperate evasive maneuver as the crescent of pressurized wind cut past his frame. Cold sweat saturated his face as he watched the sword qi slice through the distant clouds before vanishing from sight, instantly discarding his arrogant posture.
Down below, Nishi crushed her Super Mushroom. In a localized distortion of space, her height swelled from 1.6m to a towering 3.2m. Reaching down, she scooped up one of the upside-down, flailing Spinies and hurled it like a bowling ball into an approaching cluster.
Feeling the surge of titanic physical power vibrating through her expanded frame, Nishi remained hyper-aware of her operational constraints—if she sustained even a single point of structural damage, the enhancement from the Super Mushroom would instantly collapse.
Master is handling the aerial target, I cannot afford to be a liability down here!
With a look of absolute resolve, Nishi charged toward a Spiny that was struggling to scramble back onto its feet, lifting a massive boulder above her head and slamming it down with crushing force.
Crunch!
A pool of dark fluid seeped out from beneath the fractured stone.
"Catch me."
Cyan's voice echoed from above. Nishi instinctively extended her massive arms, breaking her master's descent with a clean catch.
"Master, you look so tiny right now!" Nishi couldn't resist joking as she stared at the relatively miniature Cyan resting in her giant hands.
"Give me your hair ribbon. Throw me back up, aim directly for him." Cyan's face was completely black as she leveled an icy glare at her giant companion.
"Yes, ma'am!"
Nishi quickly unfastened her silk hair ribbon and handed it over. Straightening her massive spine, she locked her sights onto the Lakitu and unleashed the full extent of her enhanced muscular power, launching Cyan back into the sky like a spear.
The Lakitu easily pivoted his cloud away from the incoming trajectory, jeering loudly, "Where exactly are you aiming, idiot?!"
Hamon Overdrive!
As Cyan's momentum peaked and she began to drop past the Lakitu's altitude, she snapped the silk ribbon through the air. Saturated with golden Hamon currents, the fabric acted like a rigid, fluid extension of her own limb, wrapping itself securely around the base of the sentient cloud beneath the turtle.
(Note: Traditional silk hair ribbons of this style typically measure between 150-160 cm in length.)
"A pathetic piece of cloth? I'll snip it apart!" The Lakitu produced a pair of heavy iron shears, snapping them shut across the ribbon. Instead of shearing fabric, however, the blades struck with the hollow ring of solid steel. Even applying the entirety of his weight, the shears couldn't chip a single thread.
Hair hardened by Hamon currents can deflect projectile fire. Did you honestly think a pair of mundane household shears could cut through a reinforced silk ribbon saturated with Overdrive energy? Cyan thought, her expression devoid of emotion as she stared at the panicked turtle.
"You asked where I was aiming?"
With a sharp, violent yank on the tether, Cyan closed the distance in a fraction of a second. Arriving directly in front of the Lakitu's face, she drove a heavy, reinforced fist straight into his jaw, sending him spinning through the air like a discarded toy.
The cloud didn't dissipate...
Cyan had assumed that once the pilot was neutralized, the entity with the two black dot-eyes would vanish into vapor. Instead, the cloud remained perfectly buoyant, hovering stationary in the sky.
Dropping into the driver's seat, Cyan reached down to touch the surface. It felt incredibly plush, possessing a texture that was remarkably soft yet highly elastic.
[Lakitu's Cloud]
[Type: Mount]
[Skill 1: Spiny Summon: Consumes 10 Mental Energy to manifest a Spiny to fight on your behalf until its demise. Maximum of 5 active Spinies simultaneously.]
[Skill 2: Flight: Cruising speed of 60-80m/h, operational flight ceiling of 30.22 m.]
[Riding Requirements: None]
[Note: The exact logistical marvel that allows Lakitus to dominate the skies!]
[Constraint: This mount is exclusive to the Super Mario Bros. world and cannot be taken out of this world.]
A pity...
Cyan reviewed the system profile. Her initial excitement faded into a quiet sense of melancholy upon reading the final constraint clause. A high-utility aerial mount of this caliber would have been a massive asset, yet she was restricted from extracting it from this universe.