The Reality Vortex: Red Reputations

[ShineCero]

Traders Market

“Hmph.” Spina nodded. “I’m game. Don’t pout when I racked up more than you.”

“Your body will change to that of a demon with markings as evidence, yes. But the Magatama yields no impact towards your heart.” Lucifer’s expression grew grim, his blue eyes glistering. “Only you can change who you are.”

Lucifer nodded once. “But worry not, young one. I’m simply informing you. Do seek me out once the mission is over when you make your own decision.” He released his fingers, and the Magatama broke into pillars of light before disappearing. “I’ll be waiting.”

---

As the Breakers traveled through the Traders Market town, the architecture of some of these buildings were clearly decades, if not centuries, behind. Even the dated scenery of Rouge City was more ahead in terms of presentation. The paint job of some of these houses were completely washed out; some are falling apart and the terrain seems to be used repeatedly—barely a thing grows here with few notable exceptions.

“Felt like we’re walking through the ancient past…” Detective Spawn observed his surroundings. “I know things were barren before we got drag here, but this is completely on a different scale.”

Upon arriving in front of the manor, it would not be an exaggeration to say that this manor seems to house only giants. It was easily over 5000 ft tall; it’s a wonder that it still looks perfectly kept in the times compared to the rest in the town.

“You got to be kidding…” Detective Spawn couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Surely something as huge as this would’ve been easily seen during his travels. Yet, this kind of manor doesn’t ringed a bell upon inspection—he can’t recall if Detective Goku, Bage nor Battler mentioned this place at all.

Hearing that the hive is located in the manor, and most likely dug underneath, Detective Spawn approached its wall. “I’ll leave a mark here just in case—” Upon placing his hand on the manor’s wall, Detective Spawn was immediately engulfed with fiery energy, engulfing his body completely before pushing him away. Tumbling against the ground until he landed near Bage and Bernkastel, he groaned in pain. “S-shit…!” He cursed underneath his breath before becoming more audible. He checked his right hand, seeing his palm completely scorched. “The hell was that?”

“Looks like a defensive mechanism of some sorts, though it’s faint.” Lucifer observed the manor. “If I were to presume; whoever the lord of this domain left this to prevent outsiders from getting in.” The angel smirked. “Though, it seems that didn’t prevent the Xy’phers from turning it into their little hub. It seems that it only responds to the high use of energy.”

Spina stared at the manor, mainly the two black towers that gave off a strange familiarity of Dark Energy. He felt that he sensed this kind of energy before, but could not pinpoint when exactly. As he got lost in thought briefly, Spina's left arm moved slightly when Detective Spawn was repelled back after using high levels of energy on the manor but returned back to being numb. The Vortex Moon, ever present in the sky, eyed the lone Saiyan. Snapping back, Spina observed the two giant doors that clearly leads to opposite sections of the manor. “Unfeasible to have a single team go in there in a large manor,” Spina turns to Nia. “You. Can you pinpoint exactly where a large number of Xy’phers is at and lead directly towards it?” He asked for clarification again. “If so, can you tell which door is the closet?”

 

[~ Z ~]

The closer the Breakers got to the manor, the more they would see how tiny they were compared to it. It was actually comical to see how small they were even next to the door. The area around them would feel slightly distorted but nothing odd was seen to happen. Mor eimportantly, the Vortex Moon above them appeared to be staring directly at the manor, and in turn, the Breakers. All the Breakers would feel like they were being watched.

"Whoa... this place is huge!" Avalon looked towards the manor and squinted his eyes as he looked up. "I can't see the end of it!" His attention then quickly shifted to Spawn who had his hand burned by touching the house. "Lucifer mentioned that it's a defense thing, could it be Xy'pher magic?"

"Not that I know of." Nia answered.

"How can we be sure?"

"I believe Nia completely," Zenta said as he took a step forward, watching the manor intently. He did not touch the manor like Spawn tried to, but instead, held his hand out to try to touch it but stopped himself before he could. "This energy I see... it is none like we have seen before but it is incredibly familiar... This is not Xy'pher energy, right Nia?"

"Correct."

"I see, then this might be something beyond what we could be used to. It is best to be on guard at all times."

Upon hearing Spina's question, Nia bit her lip and stared between the two black towers that rested on each end of the manor. The normally expressionless Xy'phers showed confusion as she stared at the two towers. Without hesitation, she lifted both her arms to point at both towers as an answer to Spina's question.

"I sense them in these directions. It's possible that this weird energy is messing with my senses, but I certainly sense Xy'phers inside."

"Both towers? Huh..." Avalon turned to face the towers. "Sounds like a prime time to split up, don'cha think?"

 

[LoopyPanda]

"I should've figured as much. You always say things about being able to make your own choices after all. Though I'm not as keen on the appearance part, but as long as I retain my shockingly good looks it can't be so bad!" Berserk joked lightheartedly as she ran a hand through her wild orange hair. She turned around when May and Avalon respectively spoke up with a somewhat sheepish expression about having been overheard.

"Is that what it's like to have a guy sibling? You worry too much-- I got this! I'm a Powerpunk Girl ya know!" She said confidently, jabbing a thumb towards herself and a hand on her hip. "It looks like the opposite but I wasn't planning on it right here and now. If it's a super duper rare emergency, I might... but I'll bet these rock chumps won't force me to use even 15% of my power!"

======

Bern followed Spina and stopped before the massive manor, furrowing her eyebrows at the sheer absurdity of the contrasting scenery. It was hurting her neck just trying to see where the towering building ended. Staying put, Bernkastel leaned over and examined the severity of the burn that was left on Spawn's palm.

"... so much for drawing the ants out of the hill idea." Berserk said. "But if it's just the tip of the iceberg, why the heck is it so stupidly huge from the ground up? Nearly all the Xy'phers we've seen are just regular-sized."

"There has to be some way of bypassing the security.." The witch rubbed her chin in deep thought as she eyed the building exterior while Zenta examined it. "It will probably react to any magic I attempt on it directly too... anti-magic can be quite nasty to deal with. What to do..." Bern turned to look up at Zenta, feeling an odd sense of dread wash over her the longer the black towers stood in her peripheral vision. She also didn't like how eerie the moon appeared in spite of the manor looming over them.

What's the point of building towers if the true hive is underground? The longer I think about why, the less it makes sense. Bernkastel coughed once. "Odds are 50/50. Down to a mere coin flip... aah, things like that are a pain in the neck. But it can't really be helped, can it? Just know that once we go in, I have a sinking feeling we won't be able to come back out until our target is dealt with. Teleportation and portals might only be within the manor itself, if even that."

"So if we screw up..." Berserk prompted.

"Yes. This place will become our tomb." Bern narrowed her eyes. "Nothing is guaranteed once we split up. But no guarantees is the perfect condition for miracles to occur, you know. Provided you don't lose your nerve that is. So I'm in."

 

[meta knight]

May asks Nia "Can you tell anything more? Like how strong each towers seems compared to each other." May is thinking one of them may be a fake at best. May thinks "How interconnected are these Towers?"

May seems ready to go to whatever tower.

 

[Panich]

The tower's intimidating presence was almost too much to bear as if the creepy abandoned marketplace wasn't enough. The senior detective walked along in silence as the skyscraper of a manor nearly challenged the Vortex moon in size. He examined each of the towers on both sides carefully, only taking his eyes off Spawn for a second before he was burned by the manor. 

"Al!" He shouted in a worried tone as he rushed to the other detective's side. Hoisting Spawn up, he listened to the others' suggestions and assumptions about the Manor and how they would go about the plan now that this barrier seemed to have thrown a wrench in it. "So other than this now being a practical suicide mission, will we still follow the original plan? They must be using a power acquired from one of the coins in their collection. I mean there are all kinds of people in the Reality Vortex... Just imagine the powerful people they could have killed to create this hive, this forcefield even."

 

[Vegetto]

Trader's Market

As Cayde followed behind Avalon off a few feet to inspect the ninja in his suspicion, his attention began to shift at the growing presence of energy far off the in the distance behind the group. The android turned his head slightly as he walked, a growing pit in his stomach forming at the massive surge in Clark's signature in the distance. His own fears grew in recognizing the diminishing difference initially between Clark's and the fusions; having to struggle to even pick up on the brothers through Clark's staggering show of force.

He walked along in silence while the group conversed; his own expression empty and having completely forgotten his intuition to see what Avalon was up to in the walk towards the main manor. The back and forth in the combat was the only focus he could study; the swelling energy off in the distance and fluctuations in power giving him some sort of read on the battle. The rise of Vegetto's energy, and then the dying flame that was Gogeta stoking his fears of the worst. Until a sudden, familiar pressure washed over the android's senses; the surging heat of Ultra Instinct reaching far enough for him to pick up on. Miniscule and easy to miss at the range, Cayde was only able to pick up on it from the sheer sensation he remembered from witnessing the transformation for the first time. His eyes narrowed a bit; the powerup could signal many changes and the fear that the fight could go on even longer than he imagined began to rise within.

Yet the small thunderous explosion from Spawn's attempts suddenly jarred Cayde back into reality, his eyes widening at the sight of the detective falling onto the ground. The android quickly glanced around, picking up on the discussion and trying to educate himself as quickly as possible in the little time frame he had while he stared up at the massive manor in pure confusion. He blinked a couple of times, but at the mention of splitting up, Cayde scratched the back of his head with a nervous voice.

"Do we really have to? Maybe we can just...stay out here...and make a big enough boom to draw them out?"

He nodded to the manor.

"This place just screams, 'dimensional warping reality' and maybe we shouldn't fight them in a plane of existence where we don't even know the rules."

Cayde then paused, turning his eyes up a bit as he thought and openly argued with himself with a concerned tone.

"Then again...they've kinda won even when we did...so I guess we're damned if we do, damned if we don't."

 

[ShineCero]

Traders Market

“Figured as much.” Spina said in response to Nia pointing both directions. Splitting up was the intention upon arriving at the manor, but seeing how abnormally huge it was, both teams needed to go in there. As the group conversed ways to bypass the manor’s supposed defense, with Cayde suggesting that they should simply make a big enough explosion to draw them out, the old Saiyan went a different route. Instead, Spina formed a high energy ball in the palm of his right hand and causally tossed it towards the sky away from the manor. Within seconds, the fiery energy burst forth in a silent strike, nullifying it.

“Not even a single sound,” Spina noted that there was no trace of his attack. “Making a big explosion won’t be feasible. Only option is to seek out the entrance on the inside, and we need both teams to cover more ground now. But how to get in…” Lucifer seems to imply that this manor isn’t created by the Xy’phers, rather that they simply took over the place. Perhaps Bage was on to something that they used someone from their collection to create this defense mechanism. It could also be a trap to lure someone in, with one of the towers being fake as May suggested. However, as with Spawn and Zenta before, Spina also approached the manor. Unlike the two, Spina felt strangely drawn to it: not only his left arm sprung into life, the black marks on the edge of his fingertips grew to cover his fingers upon getting close.

Despite what happened with Spawn, and Zenta taking precautions, Spina pressed his left hand against the manor without hesitation. Once again, a surge of energy bursts forth and struck Spina: but it did not damage him. Instead, the energy darkened dramatically, whipping around like a small raging tornado; Spina looked grim, baring his teeth as the surging storm blocked out his facial expression. The old Saiyan then turned his left hand slightly sideways, the gigantic doors creaked opened in reaction.

The darkened energy disappears and Spina’s left arm dropping by side as it became lifeless once again. The grim expression he held vanished, and his usual expression took on once more.

“What the hell? What did you do?” Detective Spawn was quite alarmed of what he saw, after being hoisted up by Bage. When Spina was surrounded by the surge of energy, he lost any life energy around him as if he was dead. “How did you know it’ll work?”

“….” Spina was seemingly confused about Detective Spawn’s question and simply went silent. “No idea.” He finally spoke, approaching the entrance of the door. “I guess…” In the eyes of Bernkastel only, once again, he appeared withered. He stopped as he step one foot through the door and turned. “It was instinct.”

Suddenly, arms slowly appeared in front of Bernkastel, wrapping her around in a gentle hug from behind. “Ah, he’s edging closer…” A familiar voice was heard that only Bernkastel can hear, see, and sense—she cannot be sense by others at any capacity; it was impossible for them. A giant woman who goes by the name, Guardian, crouched down to match Bernkastel’s size and pressed her face against her right cheek. “He’s advanced well into his first stage. Such a fascinating sight to see. Can you see it?”

Detective Spawn blinked once at Spina’s answer. “That really didn’t explain anything.” 

“Stranger things happen, Detective. At least the doors are opened, so we can continue with our objective.” Lucifer sharpened his eyes, seeing the genuinely confusion on Spina’s face when he somehow unlocked the doors. The angel eyed his fingertips and it seems that went back to normal, despite seeing them grow significantly when he approached the manor. “Hmmm…” He wondered curiously with a devilish smile. “Worry not, Cayde. I’m confident that we’ll venture onto the depths of danger without issue. Don’t get distracted by small things, noodle machine.”

“May.” Spina called her out. “You take Team Stealth, along with Nia, and head to the tower on the right. We’ll take the left. If either one of us find the entrance to the hive, informed the other team.” He turned to the black abyss that waits for them inside this strange manor that Xy’phers controls. “You damn well know that this could be a trap, but we’ll go in anyways since we don’t have much choice in the matter.” He said, heading inside to lead Team Distraction. 

---

The Snowy Mountains of Rogue City

Clark looked down towards a familiar, transformed Vegetto who stood amidst of raging flames. The Kryptonian should’ve felt relieved once he saw the potara fusion dispersed the toxic energy. He should’ve felt sorrow for killing Gogeta. At the very least, felt some kind of emotion towards his friend. It was an important step for him to truly acknowledge and take control of the fear that haunts him.

There was none at this time. Clark continued to build up energy until it started to crackle around his eyes. Upon completion, there was so much energy that it was trailing around like wisps whipping the air. “Is that your second wind, or your dying gasp?”

He was unconvinced that Vegetto’s sudden change in posture would move him in the right direction onwards. Instead, he considers it as a mere spur in the moment because of the events unfolding around him. Would such attitude stick after this battle? He cannot be sure—and he was not going to risk it based on this one incident. The toxic energy could return, Vegetto could easily be swayed to this mindset again, or the monster Hart forewarn about will make its move and take advantage of this situation.

Clark arched slightly forward: the moment Vegetto and Gogeta was edging on the side of becoming brutes determined his decision. Just mere seconds when the Kryptonian let out a thunderous road and release his attack, a bruised-up figure appeared in between the two of them in the sky.

Rubbing his fractured jaw, hatching up chunks of fluids, the figure turned to the direction of Clark, instantly recognizing him. “Clark!? Thank goodness, you’re still alive!!”

“Wordplay!?” Clark’s eyes widened, instantly turning his head so that the Atomic Beam fired at the different direction. It slammed to the remaining debris of Snowy Mountains; instantly turning everything into pure, red ash.

Wordplay rushed to Clark in a panic state; sweating, panting, his clothes was practically ripped apart and completely ignoring the tense situation going on at hand. “Clark!” He let out a hacking cough. “You suck at answering your phone, but never mind that!! They're tracking me down!!"
Clark raised his brows in confusion, while eyeing Vegetto at the same time. “What? What are you talking—”

“It’s those rock things that appeared on the news a little while ago!! I don’t know how they did it… but when Metropolis was getting torn apart, I ran into a couple of them. I got away because I wasn’t interested in fighting anymore and didn’t think much of it. But somehow, they knew where I live currently, and went out of their way to single me out of the thousands that live there.”

“The Xy’phers?” Clark said. “Why would they go out of their way and hunt you down?”

“I don’t know… I overheard them mumbling that they are tracking down anyone that have any ties to the Breakers….” Wordplay paused to catch his breath. “The completely decimated the town… I tried my best but…”

Clark narrowed his eyes. “But….?”

The friction in the air changed dramatically; it erupted into a minefield of explosions around Clark, Wordplay and Vegetto. It managed to knock out Wordplay, flinging him backwards towards the crater Clark made from his stomp.

The Kryptonian swipe away the smoke generated the explosion; his eyes widened to see horde of Xy’phers suddenly appeared on the ground. One Xy’pher in particular, seemingly leading the pack, was familiar to Clark. He had to do a double take before confirming it. “Air… Dancer?”

Xy’pher Air Dancer crouched before dashing forward, launching a fury of air bubbles, filled with explosives, towards Clark, the falling Wordplay, and Vegetto; the latter being its primary target.

 

[Vegetto]

Trader's Market

Cayde blinked once, watching the explosion of energy disperse without the usual fireworks. His body language remained unchanged, an amused and almost flat tone ringing out while he sighed lightly.

"Oh goodie, they control the rules out here too."

He paused and watched on at the strange display from Spina, the mechanical eyes narrowing slightly in studying the old Saiyan's arm when he raised it to the door; specifically taking note of the black markings growing along it. The android stood in silence, warily watching Spina disperse the shield from the strange sensations felt when he initially "died" back in Rogue City. Cayde himself wasn't an all powerful energy wielder, but even he could sense the seemingly lifeless state of Spina in the moment and his hand dipped down slowly towards his holster while Spawn questioned the older Saiyan.

Yet at Lucifer's assurance, however, Cayde pulled his arm back a bit. Despite the angel's effective trolling of his friend, Cayde himself actually relaxed the second Lucifer mentioned that stranger things happen, as if hearing Lucifer's lack of concern was enough to dispel any of Cayde's concerns on Spina's behavior. The android watched on while Lucifer moved past, stifling a small half chuckle at the comment.

"Heh...noodle machine. That's pretty good."

Cayde turned on his heel in following after Spina, a more carefree stride in his step while he walked with a small smile and more enthusiasm in his tone.

"No working plan, no back up, and into the depths of a harrowing trap we go. Just another day at the office!"

---

The Snowy Mountains of Rogue City

Vegetto had spaced his legs apart further in preparation for the battle, the narrowed eyes locked with Clark's throughout. The desire to avoid fighting one of his only friends, the change in his motivation away from selfish ambition; all of it was insignificant in the moment. Unlike Clark who momentarily speculated on the uncertain future for the Potara fusion's path, Vegetto stared down Clark with a focus only in the immediate moment. Whether he would rise up this time or fall to the toxic energy once more was irrelevant: all that mattered to Vegetto was the inevitable rematch against Superman in a fight to survive.

However, the silver eyes widened at the arrival of Wordplay: Vegetto having recognized the figure from Reality Metropolis when he watched over the Breakers at Wordplay's bar during the Hart crisis. The Potara fusion stood silent throughout the two's conversation, the silver fire crackling wildly around his body. His eyes met Clark at the side eye stare, and with their battle now inevitably on hold, Vegetto momentarily relaxed his stance even more than its current fluid state.

Vegetto listened on for a moment, but his eyes instinctively narrowed before the pressure in the air had changed. He glanced around once, but then suddenly volted to his right at the eruption of smoke and fire in the devastating explosions. The Potara fusion lept back with the fire from the blast washing over his body; the yellow and red flames being consumed by the silver fire that flowed around his body once he landed on the ground a few feet away while watching Wordplay fall into the nearby crater.

The Potara fusion turned his head towards the arrival of a horde of Xy'phers; the silver eyes glancing among them all while Clark mentioned a name he did not fully recognize in the moment: Air Dancer. Vegetto quickly slipped Gogeta's coin inside of his right white glove for safe keeping, clutching it in his palm as he balled both hands into fists. His silver eyes widened to the brim, a massive surge of heat and pressure erupting from his body while the silver fire grew immensely once the bubbles of air had been freshly launched.

Vegetto shot his left arm forward with a devastating wind blasting outwards in every direction; his arm seemingly vaporizing at the move. Yet instead, thousands of molecular pieces of the Potara fusion's left arm shot forward; each independent mass of his body moving on its own and targetting the explosive air bubbles meant for the three. Slamming into each one of them before the air bubbles could move far from the Xy'phers, Vegetto forced the entire supply to erupt into massive explosions in a bid to not only counter the move, but hopefully turn the attack on the Xy'phers themselves in forcing the destructive result in close enough proximity to damage the horde.

The groundshattering explosions rung forth and created the momentary wall of smoke that covered the horde and the Xy'pher Air Dancer from sight, with Vegetto slowly pulling the stub of his left arm back. The appendage began reforming as the glowing silver chunks of his flesh began to fly back in from the smoke cloud; his skin and arm covered in black soot and cuts from the damage in the blasts; a massive difference in battle damage to his right arm. In the momentary pause, Vegetto turned to Clark with a firm and determined stare.

"Get him out of here Clark, I'll hold them off!"

 

[LoopyPanda]

"At this point, turning back and goin' home isn't shaping up to be any better than just going in," Berserk added. "We're going to be at  disadvantage either way since they know where the city is. Welp," the punk turned towards Avalon and held out her hand for a high-five. "Guess I'll catch you on the flip side, nerdo?"

Bernkastel's brows furrowed as she watched what unfolded before them, becoming disconcerted at the way Spina managed to bypass the invisible barrier with such ease and not even a string of reasoning. What instinct can possibly compel such a methodical sequence of actions, let alone attempted on something that appeared to be a clearly dangerous measure of filtering out non-Xy'phers? This didn't seem like something Spina could merely reason his way into or even force it, yet he achieved it seemingly with no visible damage left on him. Her eyes flickered to the burn mark on Spawn's hand and then back to Spina's regrown arm. With what they just saw with Spawn, Spina shouldn't even have been standing yet he stood unharmed. Seeing the Old Saiyan become withered again only deepened the pit in her stomach from before, beginning to cringe at the jarring visual change before her eyes widened seeing a pair of arms appear from behind herself.

Eyes staring dead ahead, she stayed put in her spot and began to bristle with revulsion at having her personal space suddenly invaded; Bern looked to the side where Guardian showed herself. As the mysterious woman spoke cryptically, Bernkastel's eyes narrowed in suspicion. First... stage? For some reason, that gave her a feeling of deep unease. It invoked a memory from the other day where Spina dragged his fingers across the side of his throat. What's more were these peculiar marks on Spina's arm that appeared seemingly overnight. And they seemed to move whenever the arm wasn't merely hanging there limply at his side. Add that to these odd flashes of a withered man, and Bern felt something was afoot just as Guardian was implying. But why? Nothing seemed overtly wrong with Spina's demeanor presently.

Bern glanced around before shielding her mouth with one of her hands. To everyone else it was merely the body language of someone who felt apprehensive about what they were about to do.

"Why? It shouldn't be that way," she replied, her voice a mere whisper lost to anyone else's ears in the volume around them.

 

[~ Z ~]

As Spina shattered the barrier that protected the manor, Zenta watched the energy that protected the manor shatter and break apart, disappearing into particles that vanished into the void. The beast seemed both suspicious and intrigued by Spina as he displayed more odd behavior. Regardless of how Spina acted, the fact that he managed to rid the barrier impressed him to say the least, especially since it reacted harshly towards Spawn.

Well, stranger things truly do happen, it seems... Zenta thought to himself. Still, I am excited to see what this manor has in store...

"Let us proceed then." Zenta said. "We must not waste time or risk getting seen."

Avalon was in awe, yet, oddly stoic upon seeing the barrier break, sparking out his odd behavior. The only time he seemed to act like himself was he could focus on one person at a time or when it involved Berserk. He smiled brightly towards Berserk as she offered to give him a high-five and fist-bumped it instead.

"Totally! Try not to blow everythin' up without us, Berserk! Can't have you hoggin' all the fun, right?" His voice grew a little softer as he gave off a small chuckle. "Just be careful, alright? See ya' soon!"

The dorky and socially awkward Ninja gave Berserk a pat on her head before giving her a two-finger salute as he turned to follow the Stealth group. He lifted his scarf to cover the lower half of his face and turn it into a hoodie, keen to his ninja traits. In a way, he seemed mature and grown, but it was just a tiny detail that barely registered to the others.

As each group entered the manor to their respective towers, the first thing that stood out is how ancient everything looked. A complete contrast to its modern-like appearance on the outside. In conjunction with its ancient appearance, despite the recent Xy’phers activity, it seems that the manor hadn’t been touched for a number of years, possibly spanning over centuries. There were plenty of relics, shredded portraits, peeling paint, numerous holes in the walls and floors, an abundance of dust bunnies, etc. Just as Detective Spawn noted earlier, it felt like the Breakers walked into an ancient past; given how massive the inside of the manor was, it was like they entered a brand-new world.

Once the Breakers venture onward to the two towers respectively, there is a noticeable lack of lighting in the halls. The lights flickered in and out, and some did not work at all. This gives out a grim appearance where darkness roams, making it harder to see anything further down without some assistance. If one were to try to light the way, it had to be used infrequently and softly, just enough to see a little hit ahead; otherwise, making it larger will likely attract unwanted attention.

Dark Energy is present in this manor, but not in a way that is dangerous to the Breakers. It was more of a faint trickle, hardly enough to warrant concern. But it is there, and it's like a hanging miasma, those who encountered it beforehand will be familiar with it. Those who never encountered it before will feel a sense of dread; something weighing heavy on their bodies, like a bad omen.

Another aspect of this mansion that speaks volumes of its size and its otherworldly feel is the sheer number of doors all over the place, ranging up to a thousand or more. Some doors were hinged tightly, unable to be broken through even with force: some had claw marks indicating that someone or something tried to break into it but failed. Others seemingly had their hinges broken through. And most importantly, some doors were flat out bigger than others—especially the ones towards the end of the hallway.

Once again, the tremors from earlier continued, and this time, there was an increased level of gravity. Cracks formed beneath the Breakers, and the looming pressure lay heavy on their chests. And despite the manor being unusually quiet, every once awhile, there were occasional little 'pitter-patter' noises heard echoing, no doubt the sound of Xy'phers. Strangely, none of the Xy’phers had issued an attack; so the Breakers were safe to venture out for now, provided they don’t make too much noise and attract their attention. Most likely the Xy'phers were unaware of the Breaker's presence, but due to the dim lighting, chances they were unable to see the Breakers. Running into the Xy'phers would be bad if their paths ever met.