Deoxyribonucleic Nutrition! [Free-Form | Imai & Samira]

Hi Sign-Up, Page 14 no. 326 (Freeform, 14k WC)

*Grooooooooooooooooooooowl*

Sei’s stomach functioned strangely unique to itself and yet quite similar to that of an Earthlandic creature. It made the same growling noises when empty and in need of nutrients, but Sei only ate once every month. After having conducted a scan on Sei’s body, Imai saw how its entire inner organic structure was thinned out with so much space for body tissue. That could explain Sei’s elastic properties, but it would normally also mean that Sei needed to eat much more frequently. Lo and behold, this alien was able to live off of its own body tissue for nutrients! It was like fat; extra layers of nutrients stored in the body for later use. It sounded a little gross, but Sei was an extraterrestrial creature, and organisms always differed in great ways when compared to each other. What one considered gross might’ve awakened the curiosity and, perhaps, even awe from another… and a depraved nerd with selfish, smut-cultured, lusty aspirations combined with the diamond-hard heart of a mechanical genius and scientist as Imai Uchuuken would be able to save some awe for the strangest of phenomenons. Sei had won the boy’s heart ever since it crashed down in… was it Hargeon Town? Or was it back in Shirotsume? Imai barely remembered the first time he stumbled upon Sei, the cute, floating alien mouse-cat-hamster.

Saving up jewels for scrap metals and blueprints to a scanning device took Imai’s yearly savings. However, he was now able to do a lot more than just build; he was also able to improvise and engineer new systems and functional tools into his ‘mutated’ iLac that he had pampered with so much. With it, he took a look in Sei’s cellular structure - yes, that far - and now, he was on a mission to find the right type of nutrients and/or food… a type of pizza from space-



Okay, let me explain.

Sei’s species have been documented by Imai to be able to strive out in the heavenly fields beyond Earthland. While Imai himself had never been that far away from Earthland before - probably a lie, but his memory is fragile - Sei did already showcase abilities to breathe just fine underwater and in heavily oxygen-poor areas. He even once attached a camera to Sei’s back, with which he watched as Sei for the first time just flew up to the atmospheres on its own to feed. It took it a whole week before it came down again, and Imai’s half-bruished and almost-charred camera only held enough memory to show Sei out in space, feeding off of black triangles. Black triangles in space… kind of mindblowing and weird. But Imai had taken a lot of time figuring out how to get up into the fields beyond Earthland himself, since his rocket-plane idea got kicked out of the window. He was able to teleport by walking into a black portal and escaping through a white one, all thanks to his Heavenly Body Magic, but that only worked at a limited, small range and was mostly exploited in combat. He would need support from another source or foundation that would connect him to much further ranges…

His brain-storming brought him to Yggdrasil. Sabertooth’s big tree. The World Tree. And also the holder of their entire HQ. This big boy proudly held up multiple portals to new worlds within its fruits that Sabertooth swore to protect, but its branches reached out and connected many other worlds beyond the most populated ones. He decided to try and connect to Yggdrasil via his… uhh, black and white hole teleportation method and take a shortcut to his destination if that was possible. He found it easy enough to think of, just latch the black hole onto the log of Yggdrasil and walk in…

So he fueled up his magic power via sodas. While he was sitting down and leaning upon a wall next to the entrance to the HQ on Yggdrasil, Sei had floated away to do its own thing. It could now be found curiously looking around the many hallways, rooms, guild halls, kitchens, resting rooms and bathrooms of Sabertooth’s fortress. At one point, it would definitely stumble upon another wizard of Sabertooth… a wizard that Imai would find himself dumfounded to not have met earlier.

WC: 719/7000

Some might question just how long Samira had been a Sabertooth mage. The answer was, quite a while now. Her days as a guildless and neutral mage felt like a lifetime ago now, and the days of being within Lamia Scale were even further in her history. So, as a clearly not so newbie to one of the oldest guilds of Fiore Samira knew everything there was to know about it, right? Including having met most of the members and even every single one of its leaders. Right? Right?! Well, anyone that would assume such a thing would surprisingly be one hundred percent incorrect. The woman might as well have been labeled as a newbie despite how long she had already worn the mark of the grand and prestigious guild. Visiting the guild hall, the world tree, the portals and worlds connected to it, or even the Ace of Spades was a rarity for her. Even worse were her relationships with the members. There were none. Of course she knew of many by name or had even seen their picture in a magazine or elsewhere, but knowing them in person or having met them was another story. The only one she had gotten to know somewhat had been its former guildmaster, Kite Wilhelm, who for reasons unknown to her was no longer around. It was about time the problem of being absent from the guild and knowing nothing about her fellow guild members was remedied a bit. With that plan in mind, Samira set aside her usual agenda and projects to visit the guild headquarters for a short period of time. Just long enough to check things out and see who she would come across. When that idea came across her mind she never would have thought that she would encounter one of the guild's notable Aces, or that her original idea would end up turning into a task of great importance. But, that's getting a little ahead.

Samira walked through the hallways of the guild, her steps echoing each time they hit the surface of the hard flooring. The outer rings of the castle were quite massive, and it was beginning to look as if it would take the entire day just to visit everything there before she could explore the inner rings. Although, if she had known the Archives of the Ancients was the size that it was at that moment, her entire day estimation would turn into weeks. That section of the guild was further down on the list, however. Yes, her list. The Wizard Saint held in her hands a clipboard and pen. Upon that clipboard was a very long list of things to see and do while she was within the guild HQ. How far was she on this list? Not very far at all. She most likely wasn't even that far away from the entrance. Samira couldn't really tell, and it was only a matter of time before she got lost completely.

"Was I supposed to go that way? Or the other way?" Samira inquired, seeming to be speaking to no one but herself since no one else was around. In reality, she was talking to the voices in her head. Voices that were actually telepathic communications with her celestial spirits, but rare was it that she ever got that far in her explanations before people that stumbled upon similar scenes thought she was nuts. "Traveling along a ring should not really be this difficult. Maybe I missed a portal. Are there traveling portals here just to get around the castle?" Looking up from her clipboard, she turned around and glanced in all directions. For a moment she felt completely stupid. It wasn't the first time, but that feeling never was something that someone should get used to. The feeling and her thoughts of being turned around vanished when a new distraction took its place.

Her emerald eyes caught sight of something she had not ever seen before. It was some sort of small and pink creature that was able to fly around even without wings. At first she watched it curiously explore the area, but it wasn't long until it was near her and started to float around her. Now she was apparently its new distraction just as it was for her. "Hello," Samira greeted, albeit a bit awkwardly because she wasn't sure of what else to say to it, or what it was called. Was it the guild squirrel that she had heard about? Ratatoskr? The creature before her now certainly didn't look like anything similar to a squirrel. In fact, it was a bit similar to the small creature a mage from Fairy Tail named Zachary had. They were both cute to the point it was beyond anything of that world. Some of the spirits in her head agreed on its cute appearance, others scoffed at the idea that the pink flying blob was Ratatoskr. All in all they agreed that they didn't know what the hell that thing was. "I have never seen anything like you before. What are you?" Was she expecting a response? Well, yes. It was a world of magic and magical beings, so it was entirely possible it could talk like others.

With her ultimate serious expression, Samira did something that was of the upmost importance when it came to testing the danger levels of unknown creatures. She reached out and attempted to gently poke the creature right on the nose. What? It was a very legit way of seeing if the pink creature was dangerous! If it blew up, then it was dangerous. It had absolutely nothing to do with its cute appearance making her want to poke it for funsies. Just how many were categorized as dangerous with the usage of this method? Zero. All things that had been poked were cute and presumed safe enough until they acted in an obvious not so safe manner. A totally very accurate test indeed!

(Word Count: 998)

There wasn’t much to do in these corridors. Creatures like Sei had little to do in their spare times of privacy, so floating around like an observer of events around it was its main entertainment. Sei did have enough sentience and conscience to fathom things and understand languages, commands, gestures and remarks towards it. It understood Imai very well and always obeyed him despite not really owing that much to him… remember, he did just find it in the middle of a street in, uh, Hosenka in the middle of the night. Sei was such a special creature, however, and didn’t always follow the assumptions towards aliens that were created by most astronomers. It was more like a cat that had been transformed into an alien creature, in all honesty.

But even cats had more hobbies than just float around. Sei should start doing something else… maybe it should return to Imai. It did enjoy hanging onto his back.

Huh? It appeared to Sei that another entity had approached it. Sei had never seen this woman before, but she signaled no danger to it. She had a face that wouldn’t harm such harmless creatures such as Sei, and it could read that immediately. That was why it also continued with floating around her as that observer that Sei played the role as, remembering both her scent, appearance and magical signature to be able to recognize her again some other day. Once she greeted it with ‘hello’, Sei floated back a little. Its big eyes glittered in response, gaining more and more curiosity over the presence of this lady.

“Euwwe?~”

Sei tried to let out a voice in response, but it sounded like a faint squirm from a baby bird. Sei so rarely ever said anything at all, and equally as rarely made any sound. But this creature wished to communicate with the woman who talked to it right now, yet it found difficulty in saying more than just that one squirm. It didn’t appear like it was in pain or anything, so the squirm might’ve been out of place. Sei only expressed an innocent interest in the other Sabertooth sorceress.

The other person stated her curiosity in the creature likewise. Sei responded by resting on its back midair, only to do a backflip and float right in front of the face of the green-haired maiden. It closed its eyes in joyously, not wishing to startle her too much or anything. While having its eyes closed, it suddenly felt a poking finger right on its delicate nose. It opened its eyes up widely and blinked a few times, slowly raising its small, short hands up to its nose and feeling up the area where she had poked it. After a moment, it began squirming again in joy: “Euwweeee~” It rolled around in the air a few times before flying behind Samira and resting on her back like it used to do with Imai. While doing that, it unconsciously raised Samira’s magical prowess a little bit via a yellowish contour that lit up around her and Sei’s body. It was Sei’s way of showing affection to someone; by raising either Speed or Endurance of its target.

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“Oooookay, then… now I just need to gear up-“ Imai spoke to himself as he had found a solid area on Yggdrasil that could lead him to his destination. That was also when he realized that he kind of needed Sei near him, in which he called: “Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeei?! Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeei, where aaaaaaaaaaaaaareeeeeeeeeee yooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuu?!”

His hunt had begun for the pink alien. Across the hallways, a faint, bluish wave of sparkly light left a trail that quickly died out wherever Imai ran by. Even near Samira’s and Sei’s location, a faint blue light passed by behind them while other trails were visible further ahead. Maybe if Imai looked a little sharper than just running around, then he would’ve spotted them before he found himself braking immediately. All the force from his acceleration had been stopped at an instance by a silky buffer that just fit his face in. “Hnh?” he hummed curiously, not recognizing this chest size to be his sister figure’s or Itori’s or Gaia’s or Sarah’s. he slowly rolled his eyes up to look at her face, and he quickly recognized her from a previous magazine that it was the Wizard Saint known as Samira Nassar. And she was a Sabertooth Mage? Outstanding move!

… So this is the bust of a Wizard Saint… ahhhhhhhhhhhhh yeeeeeeeeeee- wait, focus, you’re looking for Sei!

“Hmh, exsuss muh…” he mumbled while not moving away himself, since he didn’t process the need to in his feeble mind, “Haf u sien Shei? Shei Shei? Ma awiewn pawl… aboot a fout tol, pink, kichy-laik? Nais boost.”

WC: 792
TWC: 719 + 792 = 1511/7000

The creature had not exploded! This was a good sign. There was a moment where she held her breath as the creature reacted curiously to the poke it had received, but once it had begun to squirm and roll around in the air excitedly Samira couldn't help but giggle as she watched. Well, so far there didn't seem to be any signs it was a dangerous creature, but that was likely an obvious assumption. They were both, after all, right in the middle of the home of the Sabertooth guild. If there was something sneaky and dangerous making its way through then there was an issue with security for sure. But no. The creature had to be known to someone around whether it was someone's companion or a guardian of the guild base. She could always find out later. For now her eyes trailed the pink creature until it had moved to be out of her line of sight. Within the next second she felt something small and light rest itself on her back and stay there. That would not be all though. The woman felt her magic capabilities increase slightly, but it was not of her own doing. That much was for certain. She had many abilities, but none that had the effect or the yellow outline like she was experiencing and seeing now. The only accurate conclusion she could gather was that it was coming from the small creature that had confused her back for a resting pillow. Not that she minded, of course. There was no harm in it, and she much preferred that little one over the much more... unique and larger creatures confusing her for a pillow like in the past.

Wait a minute. What was she doing standing there so idly? There needed to be a reference sketch of the creature to add to her notes! She had the pen and paper to draw it! Or at least a picture taken with her iLac. Just something before the creature decided to take off to go do something else or head home for its real pillow. With that new distracting thought in mind, she flipped through her clipboard to be off the exploration checklist and onto a fresh new page. The quickly moving blue trails had not gone noticed at first. There was the feeling of someone else within the halls, and Samira could have sworn she heard the sounds of running, but when she looked up and around there was nothing there. In reality the person responsible for that had just ended up running and passing through on the opposite side every time she looked. It wasn't until that someone had smacked right into her that she realized that was the case.

Samira was startled by the impact at first, and her eyes even closed for a second. Upon opening them though the emerald orbs widened. Then blinked. Slowly. Blink. Blink. Was that truly what she was seeing? Some teenager with his face planted into her chest? One could easily assume that it was an accident, and that would have been one of her own benefits of the doubts given. However, the kid remained there, and talked even! The last time she checked those girls did not have the power to keep someone's face there forcefully like some alien monster creature that would use such a tactic for suffocation. That meant the boy was still in that position willingly. Samira was unable to articulate any words at all no matter how hard she tried. The words he muffled out she couldn't even understand as her mind tuned them out and warped to the darkest parts of her inner world.

Her pale face turned red. The current scenario was inappropriate for sure, but the redness was not just from embarrassment. The usually pretty chill and calm Wizard Saint was actually on the verge of being pretty angry. It would have been a natural reaction for many women, but for Samira it was a bit deeper than that, and a part of her wanted nothing more than to smack the kid and send him  flying to Sin to be with his fellow demons. It took all matter of control to not lose it and do just that, and even more so keeping the spirits at bay that were now alarmed to her current condition. She would give the kid a break and give him a warning to kindly step away from that current form of contact. Especially given the kid resembled the appearance of one of the Sabertooth Aces. Yes, even if she had never met him personally there had been public records and images she had gone through in the past upon first joining the guild. But, clearly this was just someone in the Imai fanclub that wished to look like him. Truly the real  Imai would not be so bold as to faceplant into someone's chest and try to have a conversation without even moving from that position. No. He was an almighty Ace of Sabertooth! Clearly to get such a rank he was someone that even at such a young age knew about maturity and responsibility. He was surely an idol to many mages within the guild! Well, he probably actually was an idol, but not for the reasons she thought he was. Apparently Samira never got the memos and sticky note updates regarding Imai's habits if she truly thought such a thing.

"Ahem," Samira cleared her throat and tried to force on a composed facial expression to replace the one of blank and confused horror. She smiled awkwardly. "Could you by chance scoot back just a bit? This is not a very appropriate way to have a conversation. Not only can I not understand you because of..." She paused, not really wanting to say because his voice was being muffled by her chest and so she took a second to think of another way to put it. There really wasn't an explanation that she could think of fast enough in her current predicament. "Obvious reasons... but I must honestly say that I am suppressing all urges to smack you several times on the head with this clipboard." Ha, ha, ha. He would understand, right? She wouldn't have to go into clipboard smacking mode, would she? The Wizard Saint let out an awkward laugh, all while waving her free hand to signal for him to scoot back and even saying, "scoot, scoot."

(Word Count: 1079
Samira Total: 2077)

The ’ahem’ coming out from her mouth after a good moment - definitely a very, very good moment for the galactic mage - put him off as his eyes turned bright-white with worry. Maaaaaybe this was a tad extreme, but… well, he just wanted to say hi, what was the big deal? Kenna-nee wouldn’t find this troublesome at all, so clearly he couldn’t be at fault… or…?

Also, as he was so close to the entity known as Samira Nassar, he noticed that her magical prowess went… quite off the roof. She had inexplicably enormous reserves of power, and specifically Imai was able to sense that thanks to an unknown force of nature deep inside of him. She was clearly worthy of the title Wizard Saint, but his careless attitude slowly turned into fright when he listened to her statement.

Oh, he knew that this wasn’t that appropriate of a position to talk to her. He just really wanted the comfortable smut on his face today, and his inner limiters felt generous by letting his carnal urges take hold of his actions. It brought him so much joy, honestly… but it didn’t appear to entertain Samira the slightest. A drop of sweat trickled down his face, not wanting to be smacked by a clipboard wielded by a Wizard Saint, and as she waved him to move back, he sighed shortly with a ‘Okay…’ response from his muffled mouth as he stepped a few feet back. His nose and face was reddened with heat, pleasurably addictive to the Ace of Sabertooth. A few blood pools gathered up around one of his nostrils, but he had enough willpower to keep them back from bursting out.

Realizing the awkwardness of escaping such a fleeting heaven, he tried to dismiss that atmosphere with a chuckle: “Hehe, sorry about that… I got a little too into the moment. You’re like super famous! I can’t believe that I haven’t seen you around here earlier! So does that mean that you’re a Sabertooth Wizard? Or are you just here as an ally? I haven’t seen you around here in, like, ever… wait, what I meant was that I haven’t seen you before! I mean, except in magazines and stuff-“ He suddenly noticed the mark on her right shoulder, that of Sabertooth… the Guild Crest. His eyes sparkled. “O-OOOOOOH, you’re a member here, already?! For how long?! Why haven’t I introduced myself before?! I can’t be that isolated…!!!” He rolled around the ground flailing his arms, while Sei floated above him. Once when spotting his companion, he smiled brightly like a young child seeing their gift for Christmas. “Sei! There you are, buddy…!” He hugged the alien creature and expressed his worry, “C’mon, Sei, the portal’s ready! We should go now… hey, you wanna come with me? I’ve got something mindblowing to show you; I promise, it’ll blow your mind!” He was, frankly, a tad hyperactive due to certain circumstances; excitement over addressing a Wizard Saint, the arousal taking its damn time dying out inside of his belly, and his overall affection towards the adorable alien creature who was hungry and needed its dinner.

Whether or not Miss Nassar wanted to see what he was up to, he would prompt her to follow him by leaving a trail of bluish, celestial smoke in his path as he darted away like an electron. She was free to follow the trail at her own accord, and if she decided to do so, she would at some point exit the headquarters’ inner halls and be able to spot the chunk of wood outside that belonged to none other than the one and only tree that held such weight as their entire guild hall. Yggdrasil. And Imai was standing on the stairs nearby, leaning up on the World Tree’s massive log. Some kind of magic circle had been placed on it by him, and he had a face that expressed urging eager to enter it. However, this would be so much better and enjoyable for him if Samira was with him! They could get to know each other so much better, and he would actually be able to perform well as an Ace of Sabertooth! He wondered just how she would fare wif they got to be good friends. Was she the type to take a role of ‘Onee-chan’ to him as Kenna-nee did the moment they met, or would she actually see him as an adult? The kind of adult that he actually was - which, bare in mind, only consisted on the age on his paper?

WC: 766
TWC: 1511 + 766 = 2277/7000

Oh, thank goodness! The Imai fanclub member had did as she requested and stepped back a few feet. Much relief spread through Samira upon that happening, and she let out a slow and relieved sigh. No clipboard violence of purifying judgment would be done to the young teen that day. Hopefully no other day either. One awkward instance of personal bubble invasion with perverted intentions she could let slide. Another being forgiven as easy was a slim chance indeed. For now though all of that could be forgotten. Sort of. The awkwardness of that impact was still in the air between them. Samira cleared her throat and was going to force herself to say something to get the conversation going elsewhere. Like, what was it he asked a moment ago? Or perhaps even asking him for directions that were more detailed and helpful than just her walking around aimlessly until she found something neat to look at.

It seemed he had the same idea of breaking that awkwardness. He chuckled and had apologized before Samira said anything. How nice! He had realized his error! "It is-" Well, she was about to say things were fine as long as he had realized the inappropriateness of it all and would not do it again, but he proved to be one hyperactive boy. In rapid succession Samira was hit with questions and comments. "Well, I-" Once again she was interrupted and had to pause her words before she could answer the questions regarding her membership within Sabertooth. Her Saberooth mark must have been noticed for he already answered his own questions and moved on to even more. "Ummm...." The older woman was stunned. Forming an answer to the newest set of questions was kind of difficult while trying to process this random teen rolling around on the ground while flailing his arms around. Why was that even a necessary thing to do? Was he well in the head, she wondered. "Are you all right?" It had to be asked. Out of all the insanity she had seen as a mage and being surrounded by spirits that had extreme personalities, the current scene of random crazy was a new one.

The small pink creature floated over towards the strange boy, who became even more excited upon seeing it. She could conclude easily enough that the creature belonged to him... maybe. His sanity was now thoroughly in question. "Portal?" Was it one of those portals Saberooth had that connected to other realms? That sparked her interest a bit. During her curious thought, the teen that had to have been addicted to some sugary substance invited her to tag along for... something. Something 'mind-blowing.' "Well, I suppose-" Too slow! The young man had taken off in a flash, leaving behind a blue smoke trail that was similar to celestial magics she had seen and had herself. Samira blinked. Once again she was stunned and at the same time a bit fascinated. "I am a bit afraid to know what he considers to be mind blowing." In truth, her mind was pretty much blown already. That kid was one eccentric person. Could she really handle something that was even more strange and random than what she already experienced? All in the same day? Probably not. Yet her curiosity was a strange thing itself. She had to know what that was all about! It wasn't fair that he got to ask all of the questions and poofed! Only the great power of her own curious ways disregarded the signs that told her to flee and not return until the proper restraining orders were filled out. Though, those sorts of papers did require a name, didn't they? And it was at that point she realized she still had zero clue as to who he was. Besides being Imai's number one fan to the point he was likely a stalker and a bit obsessive, of course. It was the only logical reason to explain the similar appearances.

Ignoring the protests and annoyed sighs of the spirits in her head, Samira followed the trail that had been left behind. She was in no rush so she took her time to reach the end, possibly to the point that such a young man filled with all that energy probably got pretty bored in the meantime. It wasn't her fault he chose to run off at such a speed. For her to match that she would have to use spells that she just did not think were necessary or appropriate to use right in the middle of the guild hall where things could possibly be destroyed or catch on fire. Still, Samira did make it there, exiting the inner halls and spotting the young man leaning against a part of what must have been Yggdrasil.

"Did you have to run off so quickly and leave me behind? You have not even introduced yourself yet!" Samira lightly scolded, hands on hips as she looked his way with disapproval. She would have liked a proper introduction so she knew what to call him, after all. Calling him by a member number she randomly thought of just didn't have the same feeling of familiarity or guild camaraderie as a real name would have. "Now what is so mind blowing that you ran off as if you had the power of one thousand energy drinks?" The glowing magic circle caught the woman's attention right then, reminding her of her curiosity and having her come to the conclusion that it must have been the portal that was mentioned before. "Oh, what is this?" Samira asked, walking towards the circle upon the wood with absolute zero caution. It certainly would not have been the first mysterious portal she encountered. The most important thing though was that she could now check off seeing one of the guild's portals off her checklist! If it was an official portal anyway. "Is this the portal you mentioned? Where does it lead to? Can I jump through it? Does it require authorization or special permission to enter? Should I be worried about the possibility that my existence would end the moment I go through it? Is there a rulebook for this sort of thing?" Now it was Samira's turn to get as many questions as she could out. Not that she was really waiting around for any answers. The mystery of what was on the other side had to be solved and seen with her own eyes! As soon as she got enough information to know that it was mostly safe to hop on through, she would. Without a word or taking any further precautions. It was her way. Everything would be just fiiinnnneeee. Maybe. Possibly. Without a doubt. Right?

(Word Count: 1126
Samira Total: 3203)

Hmh, Samira sure took her time. Imai had decided to lower down and sit with his back to Yggdrasil, his hands resting behind his head and with Sei cuddled up on his lap as he waited for the Wizard Saint to arrive… maybe he was a bit too spontaneous for a collected type of person to follow? He assured himself that Wizard Saints were, like, titans of magical prowess and could likely run across the world’s contour in no time… oh shit…

Maybe he was scaring her away?!

That would be a horrific circumstance. He didn’t want to come off as an eyesore to his guildmates, and especially not as an Ace! But then again, he was just being himself there… but then again, he would have to put aside his own selfishness, but then again, was it really that selfish of him to be so hyped up- yeah, okay, his very arrival probably was, but c’moooooooooooooooon! Looking at her face from that angle brought such a joy to his heart, and he felt like he could take on an army for her!

He, often, felt like that for many of his guildmates in Sabertooth, however… oh, the instability within him.

Oh hey, there she was! Uhh… she didn’t look very entertained, but Imai was sure that her contribution to his request would put her on a good mood! Alas, she did make a good point; after that whole introduction, he had yet to tell her his name. “O-Oh, sorry about that! Was a bit too… muffled and all,” he jokingly apologized, “But I’m actually an Ace of Sabertooth, so I thought that you knew about me. Yeah, okay, I shouldn’t always assume stuff like that - a bit arrogant of me - b-but yeah, my name’s Ooguma Uchuuken! You can just call me Imai, though…!” Yeah, no amount of context would put a thread between the name ‘Ooguma’ and ‘Imai’, and Samira would likely find it smarter to give up on trying to connect those two names together. It wasn’t even that he didn’t want people to know his real name as if he had some kind of deep, sinister secret in his family’s heritage or some shit like that; in all fairness, it was just a nickname given to him by his classmates back at Shirotsume, and he just felt more familiar with that name when talking with people other than his relative family members.

He was weird.

Oh, yes! She had gotten interested in the portal next to him, the one sparkling with very, very faint stars further ahead. Funny enough, to her attempt at out-hyping him, Imai was perfectly capable of answering her questions as they came rushing towards him; hehe, he had used the same technique on Kenna-nee back at the canyons, so he knew what Samira was up to.

“… *cough* In that order; Yes. To space. Not yet. Yes, by me telling you. Yes, you should if- no, there’s just me and my experience with it.” Yeah, should be about it. Imai then disappeared in another portal as casually as going to the shitter, only to step out again in literally a second later; now back at where Samira was standing, he held a bag filled with items needed for this food hunt.

“Sei here isn’t able to nourish from any food here on Earthland. I’ve tried as many types of foods and meals that I can think of, but then Sei showed me this portal here. Where I’m planning to go, there are weird triangles in the air that Sei eats. I’m going to go grab some for the little guy, but there’s no oxygen in there. Therefore, I’ve built these,” he explained, pulling up rebreathers just big enough to fit and enclose their lower jaws, lips and nose. He put one on himself and spun the lever to isolate the space between his breathing tools (mouth and nose) and the mug-size cell containing pressurized oxygen that could hold for about a couple hours. He also had a watch on to keep track on time.

“I’ll go in and find some of those triangles for Sei, since Sei only eats like once per month- how, you may ask, well, Sei refuses to eat more than that, so I concluded by Sei’s reactions to all the triangles I brought back last time; by the way, I’ve done this several times before, so you shouldn’t be too worried about me, I’ll just plop in, get some triangles, and then come out again… sooooooooo, wanna help? The triangles and large and black, so they’ll be easy to spot.”

WC: 773
TWC: 2277 + 773 = 3050/7000

"Uh..." With the introduction of the fellow Sabertooth mage Samira was speechless. Yes, she knew the name and physical characteristics of the saber tooth ace, Imai, and the boy in front of her did match the latter. But, was it really possible that was the REAL Imai and not the super fan she thought he was? No. Couldn't be. Surely they'd never have an ace so... Perverse. There had to be two mages within the guild with the same name. That was it. It had to be! That was so unreasonably logical and coincidental that it was in the denial part of rational thought, but it's what she was going with. Until her thoughts recalled how Kite Wilhelm was in personality, and he was the guild master back then. "Oh..." Samira's face paled slightly, and she covered her mouth while letting out a small gasp after the realization hit her. Oh, dear. Did she join a guild full of perverts and just didn't realize it until then? So few members of Sabertooth had been met by her that it was an entirely possible concept that could be actual  reality. That was a bit horrifying for her to say the least. As it would any prude that walked the lands of Earthland.

It was difficult to be as impressed and respectful as she should have been after that. All leaders of guilds and other respected positions generally got that by default from her. But, her mind was blown. It was best to just let the topic drop and move on before things got even more awkward for her. Thankfully, the portal was just the distraction she needed. For now.

Imai had answered her questions just as quickly as she had asked. Sort of. The question regarding her existence ending wasn't answered fully. That was a bit concerning, but then again, it wouldn't be the first time she had to be worried about that sort of thing. Surely if he went through it often then he knew what he was doing. Maybe. Samira might have been a bit too trusting about that. The ace disappeared into a different portal and reappeared almost instantly, holding a bag of items for their adventure.

She listened quietly to the explanation while taking hold of one of the rebreathers and studying it. Well, that was going to be a trip. There was no oxygen where they were going and to keep themselves alive they were going to rely on that simple technology that he built himself. It was outside her comfort zone to not rely on magic, but it seemed Imai lacked that element and her own magic didn't exactly come with the qualities of making gentle breathable air. Her gaze left the rebreather to stare at Imai inquisitively. "So we are going to collect... Triangles?" She felt a bit ridiculous asking. In his defense it was a general enough description that got right to the point of what to look for. Black and large floating triangles that were the only known food source Sei would eat. But, what were they exactly besides food for the adorable alien? The only conclusion she could make without asking was that her fellow mage wasn't really one to think that far or deep. They were a recognizable shape and were food. That was all that mattered.

Nevertheless, Samira was interested in seeing the world beyond the portal as well as the... triangles. She began to fit the rebreather on her face like she had seen Imai do. He could probably tell that her answer to helping would be a yes, but she gave a vocal reply anyway. "I would enjoy helping. As long as I do not die there, of course. That could possibly lower the enjoyment factor ever so slightly. You seem to know what you are doing though, so I will trust you on that." There was another question she felt like asking though that seemed significant. Besides asking if she had the rebreather on correctly because that was actually important too... but it could wait. "Just wondering but why does he not just go there himself and eat his fill?" It seemed way easier and safer for the oxygen breathing mages. "There is not anything dangerous in there that I should know about, is there?" That seemed logical as a basic guess. It might have been dangerous for Sei to be there and that was why Imai had been collecting the triangles and bringing them back.[/color]

(Word Count: 750
Samira Total: 3953)

’So we are going to collect… Triangles?’ There was more worry in this question than one would think. It wasn’t that Samira was unsure as to what a triangle was or what they were going to do with the triangles - nah, she was way smarter than that. However, it left quite an atmosphere around them as one usually didn’t ask such a question without seriously, and quite indirectly, questioning the other person’s sanity, IQ, train of thoughts and/or stability- wait, maybe the latter was interchangeable with sanity… but that was beside the point. What the question sounded like was as if Samira had just heard a very dumb suggestion and wanted to reassure him that he knew what he had said. And yeah, he knew very well what he had asked about… but he wasn’t aware enough to catch onto the tone of her question.

“Yup! Black, medium triangles,” he answered quickly and enthusiastically as if he was excited to enter the portal again, “They just float around in this weird dimension. They’re pretty easy to get your hands onto.” With that said, he was joyous to hear that Samira didn’t mind helping out - obviously, she didn’t want to die wherever they were going, but Imai had never seen anyone die there, so what were the odds? “Oh, for real?! Yay! I bet you’ll love the place! It looks totes’ amazing!” The dimension that they were going to wasn’t exactly just empty space; there was other masses, floating earth, rocks, orbs and triangles.

Was there anything dangerous in there? There was the giant squid, but it wasn’t really that dangerous in the end - Imai had thrown hands with it on several occasions, and it seemed to just want to brawl before floating away somewhere. Not exactly a threat if you ask him. “There’s a giant squid that likes to brawl, but that’ll be easy. I can take that squid on any time! Since Sei doesn’t fight, I don’t want it to bully him… her… it- I don’t really know for sure yet- nevermind that, let’s go!” he proclaimed, flexing his clenched fist up in the air, “I bet it’s waiting for me right now!”

He quickly leapt into the portal with a slight flustered look on his face from his last words, but he shook it off and grinned. The portal was a little long, but after a dozen of seconds, Imai was popped out into the air - or rather lack thereof - of a space clad in white clouds miles away, orbs floating around in black and white, islands made of earth looking like Earthland mountains and the occasional triangle. Luckily, these triangles could easily be collected by Imai via his belt that he pulled off in one swing by his hand and swung around his torso. It would function as a backpack for the triangles… and there was one right in front of him.

He grabbed the black, medium-sized triangle in both hands. It was flat as fuck, and it vibrated a little bit with something. He tied it to his back via his own belt and suddenly lit up with bluish light that surrounded his entire body. The bluish light looked like flames or the tail of a falling star, and he used it to develop somewhat of a force to propel himself towards the surface of a nearby island. From that surface, he would be able to walk normally since gravity… well, gravity worked so weird in this space. It felt normal on the island’s surface, but he floated like underwater a moment ago.

Oh, shit! He would have to watch out for Samira too! Even though she was leagues above him in magical prowess and was a nuke of a wizard sensation, she was still a Sabertooth Wizard, right? Right? I mean, that must’ve been the only reason that she was found in Yggdrasil, right? Ye, that must’ve been it.

“Samiiii! Samiraaaaa…!?” Imai called out, “Try and land on an island to get some foothold! Otherwise, you’ll float off and all…!” His feet lost their foothold for a quick moment as something shook the earth underneath his feet, causing him to leap back to regain it. The earth shattered, and a violent squid creature emerged. It was… it! Imai had yet to give it a name, but it was IT!

“Oi! I’m in the middle of something, and I have a guildmate with me!” Imai shouted at it with a clenched fist, “Do you mind if we brawl la-“ He spat out onto the inside of his mask due to the squid monster swinging its tentacle right at his belly, pushing him away and swinging it around his body like a snake. It then pulled him up and was surprised to see him gather enough magic power to strengthen his muscles - with some effort, he loosened the grip and escaped the tentacle with a quick dash! He was dashing around the rather empty, bright area like a true, shooting star or a comet.

“Alright, you wanna play now! Let’s play, then!” he cockily challenged it before moving his hand back as a magic circle appeared over it. From that, an orb of blue light manifested itself between his fingers, and with the throw of a professional baseball player, he lunged it towards the squid monster at high speed. The orb missed, sadly, as the squid monster knew how to dodge, but it didn’t see Imai having dashed upwards out of the squid monster’s view only to charge right down at it following with a barrage of punches!

The monster roared once more as it landed on the island’s surface once more with a huge crash that almost split the small island in two, and Imai had dashed upwards right after. The roars sounded like complaints, but Imai didn’t speak squid language, so he just spoke back: “Aren’t you out yet!? You know I’m being serious and all, no cap! In that case, time for round 2…!”

WC: 1006
TWC: 3050 + 1006 = 4056/7000

"Giant squid?" Oh dear. Just what was that dimension he was taking her to? So far it was a world without air and had not only floating triangles but was also the home of a giant squid. Imai hadn't mentioned there being any water so the giant squid was a floating giant squid. It sounded so bizarre. But then, was that REALLY the most bizarre thing she had heard or experienced? Not even. Yet she was surprised all the same every single time. The lesson of how strange life could be was never learned.

Samira had her concerns about Imai brawling the giant squid as if it were a game or their way of greeting each other, but before she could say anything more about it the red head jumped through the portal. "Wait." Samira had reached out to stop him but it was too late. He was gone. Awkwardly she stood there and smiled. With all of his flaws the boy at least had one strong trait that many could be envious of. His enthusiasm was not something that could be brought down easily. It was infectious even. She just wished there was a pause button on him so that he wouldn't take off so suddenly. So far, that was the second time he had left her in the dust. "I do hope that he is not always like this," Samira thought aloud to herself, sighing hopelessly right after. For someone normally as passive as her it was exhausting seeing someone with so much spare energy. Keeping up with him was going to be impossible at her normal pace.

Once again taking her time, Samira stepped into the portal to follow after Imai. Using that sort of magic was nothing new to her. Having a spirit that created them for her to travel everywhere made it an everyday experience. The seconds passed with the trip having nothing unexpected occurring. When she popped out on the other side, the woman was finally able to see the dimension that she was excited to learn more about. After she stopped floating. Her marveling of the world around her would have to wait.

Her eyes went wide when she realized she had zero footing and was in the air. At first she thought that she would drop to the ground as gravity took over. But, her racing heart and thoughts calmed when she realized that she wasn't dropping at a rapid rate. She was moving slowly forward. The Wizard Saint was able to take a sigh of relief. Sure she could have saved herself easily if she did indeed drop, but it was still unexpected. That could have slightly rattled anyone before they came to their senses. "He failed to mention that," she muttered to herself, a bit annoyed but forgiving him all the same.

Now where did that boy get off to? He didn't rush off without her again, had he? Her verdant gaze shifted, looking around for that bomb of energy that had taken human shape upon creation.
The call of her name gained her attention. Looking in the direction it came from she spotted the guild ace. There he was, on one of the floating islands standing normally. Certainly not floating around in the air looking like some dimwit like she was. He then advised her to land on one of the islands to gain some footing. Though his advice stopped short. The floating island shook and from it the infamous brawling squid made its presence known.

"Oh my." Imai was not telling false tales or exaggerating. It truly was a giant squid. The creature wasted no time in initiating the... Brawl. It attacked Imai and if not for the boy's quick movement he might have been in serious trouble. Brawl might have been an understatement. There was concern that the squid would kill him if given the chance. Imai just tended to win the fights in the past. But if he thought he had it handled she didn't think that she needed to step in. He was fine thus far. Plus, Imai spoke before in a way that made her consider the possibility that he and the squid had a bond. The fight was their tradition. Who was she to destroy that? For now, she would focus on getting to a point where she could stand and move properly instead of trying to swim in the floating island background.

Roars and the clashing of their brawl she could hear around her, but she ignored it for now as she 'swam' and floated over towards one of the islands. Upon reaching one, she accidentally flipped over and then tumbled onto its earthy surface, gravity suddenly taking over. What a peculiar place. She sat up and Then reached to part the hair that covered her face. Not the best landing but admittedly not the worst one of her life. The mild aches from her rough landing went ignored. Instead her attention shifted towards the black triangle that floated in front and slightly above her. They really did exist! She reached up and held onto it gently while pulling it down to get a better look. The triangle vibrated in her hands, creating a new curiosity on why it was doing that. Maybe one could be taken with her once they left so she could find out more about them on her own time. Assuming Sei didn't find it and consume the somehow edible object.

"Imai!" Samira shouted as she stood up, spun around, and lifted the triangle proudly above her. "I have acquired- ....oh..." The original intent had been to inform him that she had found and collected one of the triangles. Progress had been made and he had to know that they were that much closer to feeding Sei his monthly meal! Apparently the giant squid and the Ace were in the middle of round two of their brawl. "Are you sure that you do not need help?!" Samira shouted, trying to be heard over the roars of the squid and the other various sounds of their brawl. "I do not mind!" He had seemed confident earlier about taking that squid on, so if he didn't want or need her help she'd remain on the sidelines while he did his thing. It was respectful to do so. Though if things got bad she had already told herself that she was stepping in regardless. But, if it didn't come to that she could just be the cool triangle collector. With the help of her army of spirits they could complete the triangle hunting like pros.

(Word Count: 1104
Samira Total: 5057)

Round two quickly began. The squid rose itself up with its tentacles, and it was swaying a little in its movements, but it quickly recovered from Imai’s attack. Soon, it would rush forth to push him back and prove a challenge, and so it did with its long and furious tentacles. Imai’s small form compared to the huge size of the squid made it easy to evade all the tentacles shooting at him like torpedoes, but he still had to be wary of other ideas that the squid monster could have in mind. With long tendrils like those, who knew what it could have in mind.

Some flickering lights surrounded the two of them as Imai attempted to throw a spell on the creature. His Nova, an instant blitz of light aimed to knock back the target and leave them both injured and utterly confused, engulfed the creature in, yes, an instant. All he had to do was flick his hand to one side as if waving away a fly, and boom. Light explosion in the air that also allowed him to be propelled backwards. There were debris floating in the air - mostly rocks and ice - and Imai landed on a solid, icy rock for foothold.

From his position, he could look over at the squid monster and its current condition. Not really that much of a scratch, it looked more annoyed than hurt. “Oh, what- really?! How many times do I have to teach you this lesson, squiddy?!” he provoked it with his words of cockiness before leaping up in the void again. Imai wasn’t near exhaustion just yet; as an Ace of Sabertooth, he was expected to have a lot of experience in combat behind him, but it wasn’t only his skill in battle that gave him the upper hand in most times. It was often his ridiculous stamina and mana reserves that allowed him to win his battles, but it also meant that he was kind of a staller, a fighter who drew the battle out as long as possible to tire out his opponents. That… was kind of boring. Rather, it would get boring in the long run, and he wasn’t exactly the patient sage. Conflicting skills, conflicting nature.

He heard Samira’s voice calling out to him, and while in the void floating upwards, he looked over to her and spotted that she had gotten hold of one of the black triangles. They had two, now; one more would be enough, and Sei would be able to eat for three months! Nice! “Oh, that’s neat!” Imai replied before noticing that the squid was lunging its tentacle at him, in which he was forced to be pulled down to the rocky floor once again, causing a crater to be formed around him.

“O-Ouch… uncalled for.”

The squid monster roared in victory, but Imai was far from done! Hell no! He was a super mage! He could do this! Gathering his mana, blue dots escaped his body and forced open the squid monster’s tentacle, so that he could slip off of its grasp. Once free, he darted across the surface like a magical hedgehog to approach Samira’s position, a huge smile on his face as she was proudly holding the triangle.

She suggested that she could help take down the squid monster, and while Imai was eager to see how she used her magic frontline, he felt that he had things under control. “Ah, no worries, Sami! Me and that squiddy dude over there kinda have a score to settle-“

He talked as if he and the squid monster behind them a few hundreds of meters away on the huge surface that they stood on were friends. He wasn’t lying, but the fact was that it wasn’t really the same squid that he was fighting. While he confidently assured Samira that he could take care of the squid, it began opening its beak and stretched out its tendrils to form a star-like form with its opened beak in the middle generating a faint light.

“… Oh. That’s new,” Imai questioned the scenario in front of him and Samira, “Uh, I can redirect that with my spell here!” He spread his arms and manifested a magic circle in front of him that broke down and got sucked into the spawned, black hole the size of a Da Vinci man with all limbs spread out. The black hole should be wide enough to take the attack and spare the two of them, right?

Well, it turned out that the squid intensified the light in its beak, so that a huge orb the size of an oak tree was visible. That was… shit, fuck, that was worse.

“O-Oh shit, that’s too much- Hey! Squiddy! A bit too much, maybe!”

The squid didn’t listen and widened the light orb in front of its opened beak, readying it for launch. Imai pouted angrily and turned to face Samira.

“Okay, you can help. Turns out the squiddy is a sore loser, so let’s teach it a lesson… and, uh-“ he stated before stuttering a little, “A-And if you can, maybe, help with the, uh… t-the big blast heading our way, that’d be neat… we could dodge, but it needs to know that we’ve won this one…”

The squid didn’t care about their talk, so after Imai said that, it conveniently fired its laser at them. Imai got ready and widened his black hole a little, but it wouldn’t be enough to take the entire beam. And while Imai was sturdy - or so he would think - he always got himself hurt in his missions due to his stubbornness. A change, maybe?!??!?!?!??!?!?!

WC: 950
TWC: 4056 + 950 = 5006

A-Rank Freeform WC reached, 63 words in excess

"Oh... alright," Samira replied quietly. Imai had refused her help for the moment. She could respect that. He had it all under control. It was his friend and the whole fight was their tradition. If he was truly Imai the Ace of Sabertooth and not really some obsessive Imai fan that went overboard then she could trust that he knew what he was doing. Right? Yes, she could. There was that little voice in her head that said otherwise. Actually it was many loud booming voices. Somehow her little inner voice of conscience was replaced with that of her spirits interrupting her train of thought, as usual. As one would expect after that grand first impression of the Ace, very few of the spirits held him in high regards or had a favorable opinion of him. They were already taking bets on how long it would take him to get beat up by that giant mass of raw calamari and just how it would happen. The details of their guesses were a bit more vivid than Samira would have liked, although there was one guess that had a sense of irony when it came to Imai's perversions and tentacles.

Since Imai was sure he had it handled, and because for some reason she completely trusted the confidence of someone that was a complete stranger, Samira shrugged her shoulders and turned away. Now she could blissfully get back to looking for those strange triangles and figuring out just what they were besides being food for an adorable pink alien. Surely they had a different purpose than that as well. Unfortunately, Samira wouldn't get to find out much more. There wasn't time for it. Soon after she had turned away she begun to feel a strong source of power. A quick guess could have told her it was either from Imai or the squid. Although, it was far more powerful than it should have been for some manly greeting brawl. Curious, Samira turned and glanced over towards where they were. Her stare became blank and nearly expressionless. There were no words that could be said aside from a sarcastic "seriously?" that Samira would never use. Of course the massive amount of power was coming from the squid. That's always how it went. A fairly simple sounding adventure having a dose of danger added to it quite suddenly and very unwanted.

The light orb got larger, much like Samira's eyes had widened as well while it was happening. Its intense brightness was obvious enough that it was reaching power levels far beyond what Imai could control now. Not that she was judging the Ace in that regard. That would have been disrespectful and rude. It was just a fact that she didn't yet sense his own magical strength increasing to match that of the monster squid's. He had also seemed to realize himself that the confrontation was now more than he could handle alone. What a relief! Samira didn't feel like returning to the guildhall with a disintegrated Ace and have to somehow explain that to the guild mistress of Sabertooth.

Samira's wide green eyes narrowed. It was time to get more serious. There was very little time to put any thought into what she did next. Pure instinct had to be relied on in those short seconds. Her body disappeared in a swirl of celestial particles and right behind Imai was where she re-appeared, mostly because she didn't want to chance getting sucked into that black hole if she stood in front of him. "Hold on!" Samira shouted as soon as she appeared. It was not time to panic just yet! She spread her arms out and moved them upward above her head. Around Imai and herself, streams of sparkling magic particles appeared. A circle was made below them that then stretched up above them to mimic her arm movement. The magic streams connected above them and spread out, solidifying and making a transparent dome around them just in time for the powerful laser beam to make impact, but just barely. Cracks in the dome appeared as it was struck, but its enhanced walls remained standing and even retaliated. The beam's dangerous power had bounced off the walls of the celestial dome and was sent back soaring through the air towards the massive squid. The question now was whether or not the creature would be hit, and if that alone would be enough for it to leave them alone.

(Word Count: 747
Samira Total: 5804)

Imai was busy holding up the black hole - maybe, if he shouted very loudly, then he would be able to release more magic power - but that was a theory for another day as Samira came in clutch with that sweet, brilliant resuce! She cast one magic circle on the ground around them, and then a dome of light cast itself over the space to shield them from the blast of Ethernano. The squid monster did not like any one bit of that and intensified the beam, but the shield held up all by itself - Imai couldn’t help but cancel his black hole spell that did nada, nuffin, not a single damn thing in comparison…

“N-Nice, Samira! You saved my skin there, girl!” he thanked her with a big grin. His face, though, contorted into a shocked one, filled with electricity upon the realization.

Was she… was she stealing the show? He wanted to beat it up, though! Yes, sure, he asked for help - quite mature of him, actually - but he still wanted to be today’s big legend! Samira was already a Goddess of Ishgar; she could allow him to knock down the squid and show just how unbelievably powerful he was!

While Imai held high hopes about himself, he wasn’t farfetched. His magic power rarely showed itself, outshone by his overall bright and spontaneous personality. It did now, though - and so did his roars. “Okay, then! If that’s how you wanna play, h e n t a i - have at it! I’m not gonna hold back anymore!” he proclaimed towards it. His body flared up in bright-blue light, and his magic power went off the roof - he had way too much magic power at his disposal, even for an average A-Ranked Wizard. And he appeared to be on the verge of burning all of it out at the same time…

It must’ve been a little uncomfortable to be near him like Samira was, but he quickly opened another black hole and stepped in, his crazy flashes following suit until Samira was suddenly alone inside the dome. “Thanks, Sami! I’ve charged up plenty, now! You just watch me TAKE THAT WIN, NO CAP!” he called at her as he appeared atop the squid’s head, catching it by surprise. Black holes were for entering, and white holes were for exiting - that was how those bodies of the cosmos worked! And Imai used that to his advantage in great fashion. Now, as he stood above the squid’s head, Samira could now look at a bristling aura that grew so tall and wide that it rivaled the size of the squid itself - a tremendous power that no faker or obsessed fan of Imai could ever replicate. It was the power of his passion, his rage, his excitement, all of those etched onto his Heavenly Body Magic and gushing out his mana stores like squeezing water-filled balloons violently. His physical body faded into the blue flames, and the phenomenon caused stars to appear all around him to decorate the void sky.

If she wanted confirmation that he was truly the Ace - Imai of Sabertooth, the illustrious Heavenly Body Wizard - then all proof was right there. His skill with magic was good, but it was the quantity that was totally absurd for a young guy like him to harbor. It just kept growing and growing without rest, and a Goddess of Ishgar should even be able to read him just by that magic power alone. His magic told his story; his eccentric, hyperactive behavior, his passion for women, his troubles with Mai and all the slaps, chops and rebukes he had ever gotten from his female guildmates - which, trust me, stack - and, most importantly, his unbreakable will as his aura formed the fang of a saber-toothed cat. The stars above him channeled rays of light down, and he led his attack!

J U D G E M E N T!

He slammed his fist down on the squid’s head, and all of the aura around him clapped down in unison! It traveled down the squid monster’s body until it hit the ground, then spread out in an explosion akin to a small nuke, sending dust, cracking platforms and vacuum out in all directions! A hot minute had to pass before Imai could be seen through the settling debris, on top of a knocked-out squid monster and grinning proudly. Good workout, but his mana reserves were far from emptied…

“How do ya like that, Sami! Wasn’t that just the most awesome spectacle you’ve ever seen?!” he called over to his new friend, “I knocked down that squid in one hit! He prolly tuckered himself out from using so much power on that beam, that little rascal! Hehe!” It was clear that he quickly grew confident in himself - perhaps overconfident in some cases - but he was so happy to give it his all and still have power in store.

He leapt down to the broken platform and grabbed Sei who just floated around without a care in the world. Sei had used the opportunity from all the crashing to grab a last triangle, which meant that the mission was completed! Time go to home and tell everyone about his and Sami’s little adventure…!

Upon returning to the latter, Imai tackle-hugged her - repeating the exact same action leading to their very first encounter, just with more friendliness and playfulness in his face as he looked up at her. “Hehe! Thanks for helping me, Sami! Gotta be honest, I fuck’n never thought I’d team up with a Goddess of Ishgar! It had been too long, girl, too long since we’ve had one in the guild! Damn, this is just the best!”

Sei hugged Imai’s back as he continued: “Anyway, we got what we came here for! I’ll send us back in 3, 2, 1…!” And with a flick of his fingers, a black hole sucked them in - he did make an attempt to hold onto Sami, if not just for having her follow him through the black hole that sucked them in, then also for confusing the shit out of her with his face-planting, clinging moves. She must’ve been beside herself right now…!

WC: 1051
TWC: 6057

Next WC: 63 in excess + 747 (Sami) + 1051 = 1861
(1x D-Rank Freeform)