[Caelastria Main Mission + Seq 7 Acting 1] The Escort

Artifact used:

Decaying glove - a glove that seems to be made of decaying flesh Wearing the glove will give the user Ice control, aura of decay (limited to touch), rotting fist aura, and rotting sludge creation. The user has no control over the decay and rot abilities and they would activate for everything touching the outside of the glove, even while not worn. In addition, within one day after using an ability from the glove, the user will have to feed it with a small piece of human flesh or else the glove will freeze and rot the user.

Regular Gun

10 Purification Bullets 10 Weakening Bullets 10 Poison Bullet 10 Demon Hunting Bullets

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‘The sun is annoying now,’ Eli thought for a while after taking her gothic dress off. She had to use it for going around so she could be somewhat comfortable in the sun. Even though she now gets night shift, she had something to do that day, to go to the auction house.

In the auction house, she saw something that surprised her. 'Potions Professor Formula' Eli looked at the auction item available. She doesn't have enough money; she needs about 500 more. It’s not common for formulas or characteristics that she desires to appear, and the moment they appear, she doesn’t have enough money to buy them, so unfortunate, she sighed

It was then that she smelled someone familiar, Selinia. It’s an ability she obtained when she reached sequence 7, the ability to smell the blood of someone to recognize them. Seli sat down next to her, nudging her half mask up. She tapped her left cheek twice, smiling gently.

Eli also nudged her half mask up, tapping her left cheek twice. “What brought you here?”

“The same reason as you, it seems. You didn't place a bid on the potions professor formula... do you not have enough money?” Seli asked

“I need around 400 more pounds,” Eli sighed

“How coincidental, I've only got around 400. I can give it to you to buy the formula,” Seli smiled

Eli smiled back, “That'd be much appreciated. I'll give you a copy of the formula later. Do you bring the money now?”

Selinia snorted in a self-deprecating manner, “How embarrassing. This would be the second time you're giving me the formula. For such large aspirations, I sure am running low on funds all the time. Anyhow, thank you. I'll be sure to pay for my half of the formula once I get another mission. “

“Don't worry too much about it, aren't we friends?” Eli smiled, “But thank you, Seli. I bid 1900 pounds for Potions Professor Formula.” She thought to herself, ‘perhaps I’m starting to see her as an actual friend instead of just an ally… It feels kinda nice.

They went their separate ways as they left, with Seli getting a copy of the formula. Eli thought to herself, ‘Hmm, I should start acting as a sanguine, how do I do that? The potion name is Vampire, so I should probably start from there. She stopped in her tracks, before realizing something, ‘I could have talked with Seli about it… Oh well, I guess I can try finding the principles myself.

She went home and thought to herself, ‘Vampire… acting through the night? Hmm, Gehr, Edwi, and Dani greeted her as she arrived. ‘I should be able to turn them into my blood servant… But should I do that? That would result in them not being themselves… This is difficult’ She thought as she sighed. As she fed them, she decided to act at night, walking around, flying, and traversing the city at night while embracing the moonlight. She can feel her potion churning and digesting slowly but surely.

One day, she got a mission from Natrus to escort a doctor to the Natrus headquarters at night. She has been assigned night missions recently, which has also helped her with potion digestion.

“Your mission is to protect a doctor from the slums and bring her to Natrus, but you can only protect her carriage, you can't meet or see her.” The admin personnel explained.

‘Wait, what? I don’t have clearance to meet the doctor. Then how am I supposed to escort her? Just protect the carriage from afar and hope I didn't accidentally see her? Incredulous!’ Eli thought

“Also, it seems like you have never borrowed artifacts from Natrus at all, it's recommended you use an artifact to use, as you will probably meet people from the resistance on the way” he explained

Eli never really used artifacts as she never really needed them outside of research in her own team, and she has not yet formed a team under her because she is not forced to do so, so she hasn't been doing any experiments and has been pretty active in doing missions instead. She already has a gun with multiple beyonder bullets to use, so she's not particularly interested.

“Alright, what artifact do you reckon I should borrow?” she asked

“Here's a list of what you could use” he said while moving a file across the table “I personally recommend this decaying glove as the side effect is manageable

Eli looked at the globe's description and was shocked “piece of human flesh??”

He nudged his glasses up “don't worry, we will provide them, we have a lot of human flesh here in Natrus”

Eli wanted to throw up, but she can't deny the usefulness of the artifact

The personnel looked at Eli’s face and slowly explained “Madam Elizabeth, it's best for the doctors of Natrus to not be under liability, you may be disgusted at the use of human flesh, but where do you think the blood you drink came from? We have many sources and they were all willing to donate their bodies for the sake of Caelastria, so I earnestly wish that you don't hold yourself back because of this.”

Eli can't refute what he said, so she agreed and signed the paper of lending, she promised herself that she will not use this glove and will only use it as a last resort.

She flew with her wings of darkness as soon as the light was down. She was still wearing a full dress because she had gone there when the sun was still up, and decided the inconvenience of wearing a full dress was better than the sun, not to mention, she felt like the gothic dress fits a Vampire’s aesthetic, maybe it will help in her digestion. As she flew, she could feel that her region was covered by fog. ‘Attack from the rebellion? I can't smell the attacker!’

She tried flying away, but she can hear someone say “I'm not here to fight, I just want to talk”

She was hesitant, but the voice said another line, “If I really wanted to fight, I would've ambushed you in this fog.”

She thought and agreed to it. She tried to smell the other person, but she couldn't find them, ‘weird, how could someone hide their smell? Do they know they're going to deal with a vampire?’

“Don't worry, I won't fight you, nor will I ask you to go down, you can stay in flight so you can quickly fight or flee” the voice said

“What is it that you want, exactly?” Eli prepared her claw and gun.

“We want you to abandon that doctor and hand her over later” the voice said

“Why should I follow you?” Eli asked in suspicion

“She's dangerous, we have to eliminate her, you don't know what kind of being she is” the voice explained

“Very convincing…” she said sarcastically

“We will naturally pay you,” the voice said

‘Is this the same group as last time? Then it's going to be dangerous, last time the man immediately got caught’ she thought before answering, “I have a mission to escort her, I'm not going to betray the city and my mission for petty cash.”

“Betray the city? What you're doing right now is betraying the city!” The voice shouted in anger

Eli tightened and prepared to fight, but the voice just said, “Suit yourself, I thought you were one of the wise ones, but turns out you're just a fool!”

‘Calling me a Fool when I meet The Fool every week is… a choice, oh well,’ she thought as the fog receded. She continued her way, and she was met with a carriage.

The other personnel in the medical tent briefed me on what to do: “Inside that carriage is Ms. Peni, please keep her safe.” The personnel held her hand

“Don’t worry, I will,” she reassured her.

She flew above the carriage, cloud-covered the moonlight, turning the night into almost pure darkness if not for the light from the city. Overall, nothing eventful happened in the first half of the journey. Until she saw a werewolf running towards the carriage ‘Oh no, you don't‘ she flew down quickly while changing her bullets into purification and demon-hunting bullets, 3 bullets each.

The werewolf found her immediately and made the darkness encroach upon her, sleeping into her skin, but she's a vampire now, a creature of the dark night; such darkness doesn't cause as much fear as it does to others. She used her abyss shackles to bind the werewolf before shooting him with 2 purification bullets. The werewolf blocked it with his arm before breaking free of the shackles. The purification bullet was very effective against the werewolf; its arms aren't regenerating well. Eli took this chance to shoot another purification bullet on the werewolf’s head, the werewolf was shot in between the eyes, this immediately caused it to be in dissaray, Eli had successfully ambushed this werewolf, but before she can finish her job, she heard the sound a gunshot and and she was hit from the back with an electric bullet to the arm, the bullet was from above the carriage, a person covered in black cloak had shot her with that bullet, the person was holding the gun with two hands.

‘Another one? And lightning?’ she thought as the person shot her again with their gun. The ring on the person glowed as the bullet made of lightning rushes to her, she was reminded of that time in 5th epoch, this time, she felt fear again, but the coaching darkness from the back gave her chills which snaps her back to reality, although it gave her fear, the two fear collided which confused her mind enough to snap it back to reality.

The bullet hit her leg this time, she flew as the extreme pain engulfed her ‘This is bad’ she thought . She shot a Demon Hunting Bullet at the person above the carriage, and they were hit on the shoulder. Eli quickly flew towards them, and the werewolf ran to protect them immediately. The werewolf was hit with the bullet in the other arm. Feeling agitated, the werewolf went berserk and started rampaging. The carriage itself was protected by a layer of barrier, preventing a lot of the damage, although the carriage still shook. The person was attacked by the werewolf, too. The person created a flash and a loud noise, which caused the werewolf to be disoriented. Eli quickly filled her gun with 4 more purification bullets and drank a healing potion she had made before pulling out the glove and removing the seal on it. The werewolf tried attacking the person again, but the person’s ring glowed again, as the person took off his cloak, a man with a black mask can be seen imbuing lightning at his cloak and threw it at the werewolf before the ring broke. The man created a door in the wall and escaped the area. The werewolf, now lacking a target that could be attacked, found a new one, Eli.

Eli created an ice slipping area before her. As the werewolf ran towards her, it slipped. Eli quickly used abyss shackles to bind the werewolf’s four limbs and encased most of its body in ice. Shooting the last 2 Demon Hunting Bullets at its head, but the werewolf almost broke free, Eli shot a purification bullet at the werewolf’s head, the werewolf was pretty much close to death and unconscious, barely surviving from its innate regeneration, as she tried to shoot another shot for the kill, a spirit world creature popped out of the wall with the man from before riding it, the spirit world creature is large and ate the werewolf before it popped back into the wall and left.

‘What was that?’ She thought, but she then pulled the glove away from her hand, putting it inside a bag to prevent any harm. She went back to the self-moving carriage, and it finally moved again. She flew and drank a painkiller, as her potions are not enough to fully cure her. The rest of the journey was safe and sound. But they didn’t allow her to rest yet; she still had to file a report

“… Enemy 1: Sequence 7 Werewolf … Enemy 2: Presumed to be Sequence 8 Trickmaster or Sequence 7 Astrologer with Ocean Songster beyonder item, possesses a spirit Spirit: …”

“Thank you for submitting the report. You may now go to the infirmary,” The personnel said

‘This is just heartless,’ Eli thought. ‘I probably won’t meet Bryce at this hour, but oh well.’

As she walked into the infirmary, she saw the same carriage she had just escorted outside; the infirmary this time had cobwebs shrouding it, inside, a half human half spider hybrid can be seen, her lower half is that of a white spider, while her upper half is that of a very young girl. She has the exact same smell as the ones Eli smelled outside the carriage, she looked at her and smiled “Oh, it’s you, thank you for escorting me, I’m Peni”

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Bullets left: 7 Demon Hunting Bullets 6 Purification Bullets 10 Weakening Bullets 10 Poison Bullets