Goddamnit, Voracity! Could've at least had the decency not to sculpt my privates! And why the fuck did you make it so detailed?!
To make matters worse, it remodeled my body after the appearance I possessed before drawing on Voracity's power.
My teenage self, in other words…
After cussing the deity out in my mind, I scrambled to cover up.
Fortunately, I was surrounded by countess threads, ripe for use, so I got to work.
Channeling some essence through my legs, I sent it into the threads and commanded them to slither up my body.
Not gonna be the prettiest cover up, but I suppose a flesh suit is still better than nothing.
However, something strange happened; or rather, didn't happen.
Matter of fact, nothing happened.
At all.
"Umm, what?"
I let out a dumb sound and quickly sent my gaze downwards.
The threads… They refused to move.
Uhh, maybe I'm low on essense?
With that thought, I directed my attention within, to see if perhaps Voracity bled me dry of essence in the process of rebuilding my human body.
But no, it was nothing of the sort.
If anything, my core was saturated to the brim - more than enough for such a simple maneuver.
An idea crossed my mind. A grim one, but hard to dismiss.
This could be a problem. A real big problem... Please tell me I'm tweaking.
As a last ditch effort, I'd decided to try the only thing I could think of.
I sucked the essence I'd sent into the threads beneath my feet back inside, and forced it into my veins.
Next, I commanded my body to unravel. But again, nothing.
Which only left me with one possibility.
It seemed like, despite my wishes to be proven wrong-
I'm so screwed…
-I'd lost the only thing making me even remotely powerful.
The Threadrippers' only standout feature, and one I relied on for basically everything…
I've lost the ability to manipulate threads.
As for the reason - it was damn easy to pinpoint.
Voracity's slumber. My loss of power.
Putting two and two together, one conclusion surfaced to mind.
I've become a regular human…
Unable to deal with the bubbling emotions, I ran a hand through my hair, my relieved expression morphing into a distorted smile.
"Hah… Ahahahahaha!! What a damn joke."
I let out a long, eye watering laugh, no longer having the presence of mind to care about my looks.
There was no joy behind my voice. Only hopelessness.
It was, truly, the worst possible outcome.
***
Kaela was dumbfounded, to say the least.
No less for her friend's lack of clothing than the sudden maniacal laughter.
That was several minutes ago - by now, they'd fled the scene.
After Ori picked up some cloak left behind by one of Nether's deceased warriors, unceremoniously tearing off any embroidery which could've given its origin away, they finally set out.
Their steps were slow, and atmosphere dreadful.
Ori seemed extremely pissed.
Kaela wasn't faring much better, the battle's aftermath weighing heavily on her heart.
Though not exactly sympathetic, having committed countless dirty deeds as a criminal organization's number one aggressor, she still felt awful.
Too many lives were lost.
Kaela had killed numerous people in the past, but there was always a convenient excuse she could use to ease the guilt:
My targets were never innocent. Not entirely, at least… But this time, it's a different story.
Shifting the blame onto Ori might have been a simple choice, but even that much, she couldn't do.
After all, fthe inal decision to drag the monster wave into Nether's territory was mine, and mine alone.
Yes, it was Ori's plan.
And yes, it's true that I barely had any other options if I wanted to survive Vaynar's wrath…
But those are just excuses, at the end of the day.
As a direct result of her actions, an enormous swarm of demons - of which only half had been killed by her friend - were causing mayhem amidst innocent civilians.
People that held no blame; not even Nether's warriors, who were ready to perish for their duties.
The combatants were all killed earlier, in no small part by my own two hands.
She bit on her lip, gaze focused on the bloodied earth beneath.
The minutes dragged.
Eventually, unable to stomach the gloomy silence anymore, she prepared a question to her partner in crime; a useless one, but…
Anything to lighten the mood.
"Say, Ori?"
He didn't respond, lost in thought with a dangerous frown plastered on his face.
Realizing that he was completely out of it, she called out again, this time with a slightly raised voice.
"Heya, Ori! I'm talking to you!"
Finally, after having a hand waved before his eyes, he snapped back to reality.
"Fuck you want?!"
However, instead of lightening the mood, her intervention only seemed to aggravate him further.
Kaela was taken aback; not once, even while going through inhuman torture in the slammer, had he shown such outward anger before.
"U-Umm… I just wanted to ask what happened to Vaynar…"
"…"
"N-nevermind."
After stammering her question out and receiving only threatening silence in response, she backpedaled, a hint of fear slipping into her voice.
Just then, Ori suddenly halted his steps, aggressively ruffling his hair in the process.
He's not gonna go for my throat, is he? Don't think I'm capable of running away right now…
"Haah… My mood's a tad shitty right now, as you can see. But, taking it out on you ain't gonna change a damn thing, so… Sorry."
"Huh?"
What on earth? Did he just… say something reasonable outta nowhere?
Taken aback for the second time in a row, she temporarily shelved her grievous thoughts and stared at Ori, mouth gaping.
"Did you get possessed or something? Where did the death glare from just a second ago go?"
At her words, Ori let out a faint smile.
Uh oh, that's one scary looking face. Now you've gone and angered him for real… Great job, dumbass.
While Kaela was busy beating herself up over the slip up, Ori continued.
"Possessed, huh? I s'pose that's not entirely inaccurate… Okay, but that aside - who do you take me for, exactly? I can be a saint too, at times."
Kaela's eyebrows shot up in suspicion; at that gesture, Ori let out a fake cough.
"Okay, maybe a saint's a bit of a stretch. But hey, I've apologized before. Probably... No, definitely!"
Finally, Kaela let out the nervous breath she'd been holding in, relieved that her attempt at breaking the ice worked out.
Even if it didn't go exactly as planned.
At some point during the chatter, they resumed walking, as lingering near a bunch of bloodthirsty beasts sounded real unappealing.
"Anyways, the king. What happened to him? I presume he's dead?"
Before responding, Ori clawed at his neck to suppress the welling frustration.
I need to ask what got him so riled up… Later. I'll do it later.
"Right, you did ask about Vaynar. Well, what can I say? His death was hella anticlimactic; the dude just ran outta essence and got mauled to death by a bunch of Ashen Wolves."
"Wow, that does sound kinda… Pathetic, I guess?"
Ori clasped his hands together and vigorously nodded, eyes lighting up.
"Exactly what I thought! Word for word, even… Umm, you wouldn't happen to have read my mind or something freaky like that?"
Kaela's face scrunched up in disgust.
"Eww, absolutely not. Even if I could read minds, ya think I'd willingly delve into yours? I'd rather disembowel myself."
Feigning offense, Ori made a terrible imitation of an upset expression.
"Come on now, that's just hurtful. My thoughts, I'll have you know, are pure as a… uhh… as a child's! No need too look for any further proof, either - how could such an innocent, youthful, cute, harmless, innocuous little guy have anything foul in his head?"
To hammer in the point, he padded his words with a few too many adjectives, which only served to make his claim all the less believable.
"…Is that so?"
"Mhm. Clear as day, pure as water. As long as it's not the water from that damned forest…"
A sly grin crossed Kaela's lips and, as if driven by instinct, she opened her mouth to tease Ori before realizing it.
"Then, how do you explain your reddened cheeks back when I revealed a bit of skin? Certainly didn't seem like you were festering pure thoughts at the time."
"Oh, you saw that..? Wait, no, why are you pinning the blame on me - It was you who started stripping out of nowhere, like some sort of exhibitionist!"
"Fine, you got me there…"
At her admission of defeat, Ori puffed up his chest.
"See? You've got no legs in this race, my dearest of friends. I'm perfectly pure-"
"But!!"
Suddenly, Kaela cut him off, finger raised to the air.
Hate to break it to ya, but I'm not done yet.
"Did you already forget about your recent 'display'? Cause I sure as hell didn't."
"My recent display..? No clue what you're on about, I'm afraid."
"Hoh? Must've suppressed the memory already, but worry not - I'll remind you."
"…"
Kaela's sly smile morphed into a fiendish one.
"Right after switching back to your human form, you turned to look straight at me…"
Recognition flashed through Ori's eyes, an inexplicable chill crawling down his spine.
"No, wait, I can explain-"
"Yes, you turned to face me… With your 'Excalibur' on full display! And then laughed like you were getting a kick out of it! Now, if that's not the peak of perversion, I don't know what is."
"N-no I… There was a good reason for it, believe me!"
"Sure there was; must've felt real good to flash a dignified young lady, huh?"
At her words, Ori covered his face with a pair of trembling hands, too embarrassed to talk back.
"Huhuhuhu…"
Kaela, meanwhile, simply giggled with glee; the verbal battle ended with her decisive victory.
Ahh, my new friend is so fun mess with.
Truthfully, Kaela understood fine well that something must've gone terribly wrong for Ori to act the way he did.
But how could I not jump at such a perfect chance to fluster him?
The pair were a sight to behold…
Ori, in pristine condition yet with a low cast gaze, as if he'd gone through something incredibly traumatic.
And Kaela, bruised and bleeding all over yet damn near hopping with joy, steps light despite her obviously severe injures.
***
It was hard to imagine how someone might've reacted to seeing the two - strolling through the hellscape that remained of Nether's territory, but entirely absorbed in how their inconsequential bicker played out…
Though, funnily enough, there wasn't any need to imagine; they were being observed at this very moment, every word and action scrutinized by a short girl's sharp senses.
The girl wasn't alone, either. Her companions, currently tailing Ori and Kaela along with her, were also paying close attention.
More accurately, the short girl - Rennie - was sharing her senses through a mental link with Kanna and Bill.
And now, having listened in on Ori's and Kaela's absurd conversation, the three were at a loss for words.
"Are they okay?"
Bill snarled at Kanna's words, which echoed directly in his head.
"Do they 'look' okay to you? No - we've come across a pair of damned lunatics."
And one those aforementioned lunatics just so happened to be a familiar face. A really dangerous one, too.
Still, the adventurers weren't gonna back out now, after everything they'd witnessed:
The pillars of fire.
The kind of Nether, Vaynar, and his eventual demise.
The wave of demonic beasts.
The fearless woman, Kaela, and her involvement in said demon wave.
The gigantic flesh monster.
And of course -
The one responsible for almost everything that transpired today, Ori, and his emerge from within the flesh abomination.
Threadripper… To think we'd meet again so soon.
It was a mind boggling situation. A freak coincidence, or perhaps an inevitable twist of fate.
However, there was no use in guessing how all of these events linked with one another.
Because tonight, they would confront the two lunatics head on.