Culinary Cultism: Post Credits Scene

Sometimes, work does not permit one to enjoy the beauty of the environment, but when at one’s leisure, they consider their ambience, it may be rather therapeutic and refreshing. And that was exactly what Levinia had decided to do. Taking out someone reputed to be as strong as one of the Ten Wizard Saints had taken a great deal of effort, smart thinking, and of course, luck, but she had succeeded. She had spent the rest of the day, and most of the next, healing the unnatural addictions that had been caused by El Chefe’s recipes, because like natural addictions, they came with withdrawal symptoms, which could be very nasty. Having experienced one of these herself, Levinia did not want to have other people suffer similar effects, and thus, to the joy and appreciation of medics and policing agents in Lavanitir, she had offered her unique restorative services. In her opinion, it had started with magic, and so it had to end also with magic.

When the authorities had realized what she wanted to do, they had identified everyone who was suffering from the addictions, and gathered them in particular locations. Despite the fact that all of the patients had been brought together, so that Levie would expend as little magic as was necessary, she still had had three locations to visit; such was the magnitude of El Chefe’s menace. But by late afternoon, she was done, and as her transport out of Lavanitir was scheduled for the next morning, she decided to enjoy the sights and sounds of the seaport city.

And so, without a mind for any more action, Levinia casually walked through the city streets, enjoying the breeze from the ocean, listening to the sea birds calling to each other as twilight slowly descended. It was all so calming and refreshing.

And she had no idea what was going to happen pretty soon. For not everyone in the city looked on her with kindly eyes.

There were those who had been extremely displeased with what she had done. The reason for this was that they had actually benefitted from El Chefe’s business, helping him to spread his wares and collaborating with him to produce other different recipes which still had the same addictive effect. He had been their quick, gold-paved road to riches... until some idiot bumpkin girl came over and trashed his place, setting him up and getting him arrested. With their hopes dashed, they held nothing but spite and scorn for her, and after some moments of discussion, they had decided to take vengeance upon her, for having smothered their dreams.

They called themselves the Ferocious Food Five, and in as much as their group name was more likely to elicit laughs from people, they could be a force to reckon with... if they learned to work together. Originally, they had been two different factions: the Deep Freeze Duo and the Sugar Spice Sisters, and they had never really seen eye to eye, each working with El Chefe without any connection to the other. But now, joined by their communal loss, they considered putting aside their differences and taking down their common enemy. Yet, for all this, neither faction was too eager to acknowledge the other, and each wished to be the one to take Levinia down, so that when El Chefe was finally freed (whether by legal or illegal means), they would ingratiate themselves to him as the ones who took down the one who had foiled him. Surely then, he would be more favorable towards them and ignore the other.

If any of them was one for portents, they would have come to the conclusion that their accord was ill favored, for no sooner had the team been formed than arguments sprung up among them. Eventually, they fractured the same day they were formed, but at least, the group had served a purpose, at least for the Sisters. Since the Deep Freeze Duo claimed they could take the girl down, the Sisters decided they would hold back, and let the Duo do all the dirty work. Then, they might just take them out and claim the victory, or in the event that the Duo lost, which was more likely, they would gang up on a weakened Levinia, and she would easily fall before them. Either way, the Duo going on ahead favored them, but of course, they would not let the Duo know about this.

As Levinia walked in the waning light, she suddenly thought she heard a strangled cry for help. She stopped and listened. Yes, she wasn’t overthinking things; the sound came again, a little off to her right. Levinia hurried towards it, hoping to help however she could, little knowing in her haste that she was watched secretly. These “bleeding heart” hero types could be so easily lured into a trap.

Levinia came to a halt in an empty plaza; there was no one here. As she just started to suspect foul play, she heard the sound again, muffled. It was coming from a large box like contraption, which shook and jostled as though some captive was within, struggling to get out. Quickly, she ran over and opened it, only to find herself staring into a black void. This was supposed to be a freezer, and she had expected to find someone locked in, but as it was not the case, she was now assured that something was afoot. Before she could react, however, the freezer suddenly began drawing everything without into it, so that Levinia was pulled inside before she could resist, and the lid slammed shut with a bang of finalty. The Deep Freeze Duo leaped out of their hiding place, elated, and ran over to the large box.

”Hah! I told those Sisters that the Deep Freeze could do it without their help,” Fridgeman laughed. ”Yeah, it was even easier than I expected,” Icehead replied, giving his partner a high-five. ”Good thing these goodie-two-shoes are so dumb...”

He did not manage to finish the words, as a powerful force smacked the both of them against the freezer, knocking it over. They looked up in surprise, and to their shock and alarm, saw Levinia glowering at them, obviously not in the freezer and as well in on their plan as any smart person would guess. ”Gee, good thing you guys are dumber than you look. Here’s a hint, if it’s too good to be true, then that’s usually what it is.”

”You stupid brat! I’ll give you something to be saucy about!” Fridgeman shrieked in rage. He leaped over the overturned freezer, putting it between Levinia and himself, then he righted it and opened it. ”Freezer Storm!” Instantly, the freezer coughed out a blast of arctic wind, which turned the plaza into a snowfield. ”Wow! That was fast,” Levinia muttered, as she shivered in the cold. ”Beira would have found this easy to deal with...” But since Beira was not here, she would just have to work through it as best as she could. Still she would have liked to see how a Slayer ingested their element. It was something she had often heard about, and read about, but she had not managed to witness it. Perhaps, one of these days, she would. But right now, her task was to take out these clowns.

”Can I even ask why you two are after me? Though, I have a feeling I know why...” She suddenly noticed a large glob of whitish paste flying at her, and she ducked and ran forward, narrowly avoiding it by mere inches. ”Wait! Food again?!” She groaned. It was certain that these must be some allies of that Gillardo guy, or El Chefe, or whatever he called himself. Why they all decided to use food to fight was something she would never understand. ”Ice cream golem!” Icehead commanded, as his magic manipulated the previous projectile to form a towering hulk of vanilla flavored ice cream. ”First, it was a pudding avalanche, then pasta zombies, and other similar sorts of madness. Now, I’m fighting ice cream. Are you guys trying to get me to loathe food? That’s very unkind of you; I mean, I don’t even each very much.” She figured that if she took out the one controlling the ice cream, the golem would break down into harmless mush, but there was still the freezer guy to take care of. Perhaps she would take both of them out at once.

She focused and held out her hands. A golden and black nunchaku materialized in her expectant palms. ”It’s a little too early for winter, so I might just have to bring your party to an end.” She whipped the nunchaku around elaborately, then took a fighting stance. The golem lumbered towards her, a pudgy arm raised to strike. She waited for the attack to come, and as she leaped out of the way, she swung the unhandled dowel at Icehead, who was positioned behind his golem, but now, due to her movement, was in her line of sight.

”Ruby Dragon’s Bite!”

The nunchaku, Karyuu blasted forth a dragon head of fire, which roared towards the golem. However, something strange happened. As the dragon head projectile extended, it grew smaller and smaller, until a small cinder struck an arm the golem had extended to protect its master, leaving a smoldering patch that was silenced by the raging blizzard. ”Okay, I didn’t expect the freezer guy’s storm to interfere with the Ruby Dragon’s Bite. Let me try something else...”

Levinia began to twirl and whip Karyuu about in a complex acrobatic dance of sorts, with the dowels of the nunchaku releasing ribbons of flame in their wake. ”Stupid brat is dancing,” Fridgeman mocked. ”Your stupid fire can’t do anything against my Freezer Storm. At best, you only get to warm yourself a little.”

He was right; the blizzard was seriously interfering with her Festival of Fire, but to her delight, the fire field still existed, even though it was much smaller than was normal. She had expected this to happen, otherwise she would not have used this technique, since it was very destructive to the environment. Still, she needed these flames as a nurturing ground of sorts. If the cold had interfered with the Ruby Dragon’s Bite, perhaps under warmer conditions, she might have a higher chance of success. Whatever she was going to do had to be decisive; it would be really annoying to spend all this magic energy, and have something bring her plans to naught. Like that golem there. Even though its edges were starting to go runny, it still persisted, made of obviously more durable material than regular ice cream. It was doing a good job more or less, protecting the Deep Freeze Duo, but that might not last long, for it or them.

”Ruby Dragon’s Bite!” she yelled again, this time, aiming the attack straight at the golem’s chest. The dragon shaped fire ball still shrank, but by the time it impacted with the golem, there was still enough of it to pack a decent punch. The golem stood silently, with a round hole in its chest. Through that hole, she noticed that Fridgeman and Icehead were completely unharmed.

”Hahahahahahahaha! Fool! You can’t hope to defeat the Deep Freeze Duo!”

The Duo had thought that the Ruby Dragon’s Bite was the attack she was pinning her hopes on, but they were dead wrong. Levinia simply but swiftly whipped out a silver revolver, from seemingly nowhere, and fired a shot through the rapidly closing hole. The shot seemed to go wide, as it did not manage to hit either of her assailants, but the bullet was glowing a little too fiercely to be a normal bullet. It struck the open freezer which was close to the Duo, and a powerful explosion followed, covering freezer, Duo and golem in its powerful embrace. Levinia quickly summoned her Royal Shield and ducked behind it, as slushy goo splattered everywhere, desecrating the plaza with its mush. But that had ended the battle with the Deep Freeze Duo.

Obviously, they had not been cut out for taking damage, and they had been thoroughly knocked out by Argent’s Explosive Shot. Levinia looked around at the plaza and shook her head. The whole place was a mess, full of pools of water and melted ice cream. Looked like the sanitation agency would have some work to do, when they found this. She was about sending her weapons back to the vault, when she suddenly sensed the presence of more people, and they felt malevolent, like they bore ill will towards her. She sighed. So, there were more of them. Well, she was pleased that they had not tried to attack while she had her hands full with the Deep Freeze Duo. She might have been hard pressed in the fight then. But maybe these ones were stronger and were more sure of their own abilities... not to mention that there were three of them. Yes, they felt a bit stronger. She would have to be careful dealing with these ones.

Acting like she was unaware of their presence, she turned and began to walk away from the plaza. Then she paused. There was something in the air. It was subtle, almost impossible to perceive, but now that she was aware of it, it began to get stronger. First, she sneezed. Then she sneezed again. her eyes began watering next. "What on earth...? Feels like I've got pepper in my face..."

And so it felt, like someone had gassed her with some sort of pepper spray. She gasped for air, as her eyes watered so much that she couldn't see anything... and then she sensed the three of them move. Four smooth crystalline walls suddenly materialized around her, and another on top to seal her in, effectively enclosing her in a prison. She heard a laugh from without.

"You'll stay in there, you carrot rat, until we desiccate you nice and dry. You may have prevailed against that deplorable Duo, but you're no match for the Sugar Spice Sisters!"

True enough, Levinia was starting to feel her throat parched, and her body losing water. Of course, her itchy throat only made things worse. Still, she mentally rolled her eyes. "More food felons? What's up with them and their corny names?" It wasn't like "food felons" was really any better than the stuff these guys had come up with, though.

It was only a minor inconvenience, but Levinia knew that the longer she stayed in here, the more hazardous it would be for her. It was only a matter of time before she would be unable to cope with the combination of peppered face and dehydration, so it was absolutely necessary for her to break out of this prison. However, this was no ordinary prison. She noticed that when she tried to teleport herself out, her runes appeared weak and ultimately ineffective. They formed, alright, but something seemed to be dampening them.

”There’s something about these walls; looks like they’re sucking my magic out of the sigils. Have got to think of something, fast...”

She thought about using her Rupture ability to attempt to break through, but she figured that the power of her magic might well be dampened to the point that she would be unable to punch a hole in it. Maybe an attack from outside could do. She reached out with her telekinesis, and to her relief, the power was more or less unhindered beyond the walls of the crystalline prison. Within them, however, they were more or less useless.

”Wait a minute... If my Telekinesis works beyond this thing, then perhaps other spells might?”

She focused, then released a pulse of psychic energy. The pulse faltered, but on getting beyond the walls, she felt it return to its original power. She smiled to herself, as this little weakness could be easily exploited, and for interesting effects. And although they were almost imperceptible, Levinia sensed the three Sisters were within the diameter of her telepathic pulse, as they approached her prison.

”She seems awfully quiet in there,” the eldest of the sisters, known as Sugar, commented, as she looked at the silent walls of crystal. ”Maybe she’s trying to think, but that won’t be easy to do with my poison cloud,” Pepper replied smugly, as she sat on the edge of a fountain and looked at her nails. ”Still, Sugar has a point,” the third of the Sisters, Salt, mused. ”She’s too calm for someone who is...”

A stone, the size of a fist, narrowly missed Pepper’s head. The three women started, and turned quickly. ”Too calm for someone who is, what?” Levinia asked, as she leaned against a wall at the edge of the plaza, with a gloating sneer on her face. ”You think you third-rate mages could get the better of me? Puh-lease!”

The Sisters’ expressions quickly changed from shock to rage. ”How did she...?! No matter; smash her!” Sugar yelled, as she summoned a sparkling sphere in her hand and hurled it at Levinia. Levinia laughed and jumped away, with the sphere striking the wall where she had once stood. The sphere exploded into spikes of larger crystal, which punched through wall and floor, skewering anything unfortunate enough to be in its way. Levinia simply faded out of existence, then appeared some distance away, out of reach of the spikes. She chuckled again. ”Are you sure you broads even know what you’re doing?” Pepper gestured, and a visible reddish-grey cloud streamed out of her fingertips and surged in Levinia’s direction. So, that was it: some peppery air-borne poison that she had unsuspectingly inhaled. Levie did not bother to move, this time; the poison engulfed her, but she only laughed harder. ”Sorry, granny, but the same technique doesn’t work on me twice.”

”What kind of power is that?” Salt squeaked in a panicky voice. ”Now’s not the time to go chicken, Salt! Pitch in and help wipe that stupid smirk off her face!” her sister ordered.

Salt nodded, and clapped her hands. The crystals that had sealed Levinia in once before dissolved, and a giant block appeared above Levie and dropped towards her. At the same time, Sugar gestured subtly, and crystals gathered around Levinia’s feet, quickly holding her in place. The block smashed into her, crushing everything beneath it.

”Thank you very much!” Levinia’s voice came from behind them.

”What in the...?” Pepper managed to begin, but a powerful force of raw, destructive telekinesis picked the three Sisters and flung them away from the source of the voice. As they painfully picked themselves up, they noticed that Levinia was floating some feet above the ground, a group of grimoires revolved round her rapidly, and she looked rather angry. Salt frowned and looked back at her large block. The crystal block vanished, and there was nothing beneath it.

”Ugh! An illusion, I’m sure.”

”Looks like Salt is the smartest of you three,” Levinia commented, as the grimoires that healed her faded away. ”I’d have liked to stay and chat, but I’m getting tired of getting jumped at every corner. Disappear, or I’ll have to make you.”

Inwardly, she was a little surprised, but pleased at the tone she had used to address them. It was lofty, devoid of fear and irked. Normally, she didn’t think she was capable of projecting an imperious air, and she tended to respect her enemies, even while they fought. In hindsight, the illusion that had so quickly gotten on the Sisters’ nerves would have caused Levinia to laugh, because the annoying apparition was very much unlike her, in character, anyway. Perhaps she ought to develop the art of trash talking; it might encourage her enemies to make silly slips, like what had happened now. That would come later, for she was not sure she was an expert at it. Right now, it was four angry women in one plaza, one against three.

”Die!” Sugar spat, as a crystalline geyser burst from beneath Levinia, but it was easily avoided, as she had put some good distance between herself and the ground. As she evaded the attack, she noticed that Pepper was already guiding another cloud her way. Well, if these three used what she suspected as their magic attacks, she had just the thing for them. She snatched at the air, as though there was something there waiting to be picked, and a short sword with a segmented blade appeared and fit into her hand.

”Queen of the Depths!” she yelled.

The entire plaza, and some meters beyond was engulfed in a large bubble of water. The crystal geyser dissolved, and the peppery cloud was washed away, as the waves buffeted the three Sisters caught within them. Levinia, being the caster of the spell was unaffected, and even though the Sisters could breathe in the water, they still suffered for being caught in its raging torrents. Salt clapped her hands, with a determined frown. The ground rumbled, as four giant pillars rose just beyond the reach of the water, and then the water began seeping into the pillars rapidly.

”She uses salt; salt is used to draw water out of foods like meat. Little wonder that prison in which I was had such a... drying effect...”

Levinia remained in flight, as the crystals pulled all the water out of the battlefield, but as the water receded, she dispelled all the weapons she had present, save the Leviathan’s Spine, and summoned another weapon: a dark spear with an axe head of sorts at one end and a wicked tip at the other. ”Good thinking, Salt,” Pepper was starting to say, when Levinia raised Gungnyr above her head, its head pointed towards the sky, then suddenly thrust it in Salt’s direction.

”Fulgur’s Spear!”

She did not bother throwing the spear; there was no need to.  A brilliant shaft of lightning surged out of the spear and struck Salt full in the chest, throwing her clean out of the water which had hindered her ability to evade the blast. Her journey through the air was halted by a wall, which she limply slid down, unconscious.

”One down, two to go...”

The two remaining sisters stared after Salt, then turned, looks of murder on their faces. ”You stupid bitch!” Sugar screamed, as she began lobbing all sorts of projectiles at Levinia. Levinia knew that Pepper would probably try to put in a subtle poison attack, and she was already brewing something to take care of the both of them. Silently, she conjured up another illusion using her Phantasmagoria spell. This actually created another Levinia, but as the phantom Levie existed in the same space as her real body, it looked as though she had not done anything. Meanwhile, a raging Sugar had begun to coat her body with hard crystals, until she was encased in a glittering armor. Pepper, for her part, had waited for an opening, and now, she projected a stream of peppery fumes at Levinia. Levie teleported in response, the real one, leaving the apparition, who gave Pepper a cool glare. ”I told you that your magic won’t work on me anymore,” she quipped.

The real Levinia appeared in front of Sugar, and flew at her, an arm stretched back for a blow. Meanwhile, using her telekinesis, she made it appear that the phantom Levinia held the real Gungnyr, which she threw at Pepper. Dodging the spear by a hair’s breadth, Pepper screamed: ”Ignore that one, Sugar; that’s an illusion!” Sugar smirked and charged at the phantom Levinia, not minding the other Levinia who was rapidly approaching.

There was a sound like the crack of thunder, as Levinia threw a closed fist into the shocked Sugar’s chest. The force of the punch sent her clean through two walls, shattering her armor and knocking her out. Pepper stared in horror at the real Levinia, then at the false one, who flickered and disappeared. ”But she... but you...” she stammered, her body beginning to shake with fright. Obviously, she had been frightened by that display of sheer inhuman strength, and was not prepared to be at the receiving end of such an attack. ”Please, don’t hurt me. I give up!” Levinia floated before her, studying the quaking woman silently. Pepper’s fear had removed whatever blocks that normally surrounded the human mind, and Levie could see that the woman was terrified out of wanting to fight. That was all well and good; Levinia never really liked causing pain and hurt, anyway.

”I’m sure you do.”

As she dropped to the ground, she sensed the coming of the Lavanitir police, obviously alerted to the plaza by the sound of fighting and commotion. They could take care of the rest. Yes, she would have a little explaining to do, but that would not be an issue at all. What Levie was more concerned about was maybe some “Quesadilla Quintet” would decide to make their entrance next, seeking to cause her harm because of their dear master. Fortunately for her, however, there was nothing nearly as exciting as her battle with the Ferocious Food Five that happened to her that night.