The Twilight Manor was quiet by the time Tiona and Tione returned.
Most of the Familia had already turned in for the night, the adrenaline from the day's events having worn off and left exhaustion in its wake. Magic stone lamps lit the narrow hallways as the twins made their way to the northernmost tower.
Finn was still awake. He was sat behind his desk, going through a stack of documents from the expedition's financial report. A cup of cold tea sat untouched near the edge of his desk. Finn had been waiting for the twins ever since Aiz had returned with Loki, giving him a brief account of what she'd found.
Riveria stood by the window, arms crossed, with a slight frown marring her face as she went over the preliminary report from Aiz in her head.
"Come in." Finn said as Tione knocked on the door.
The twins soon entered, and Finn could immediately tell they were carrying a sense of tension along with fatigue. Tiona, who was rarely serious about anything, had an expression people from Loki Familia seldom get to see. Tione herself was taut, but once she saw him her shoulders relaxed slightly.
"How's Lefiya?" Finn asked first.
"Sleeping. Yuji healed the worst of it, but she's whipped out." Tione answered, settling onto a couch as her sister did the same.
Riveria turned away from the window to pay full attention to the two.
"Start from the beginning."
And so they did. Tiona took the lead while her sister filled in the details whenever she left something out or got the order wrong. They first described the brief chaos that ensued from the escaped monsters, then the new species of monster that had erupted from the ground beneath them. They described its tough skin that they weren't able to break through with just their bare hands, with Tione filling in the attack, Lefiya suffered through her stomach. Riveria frowned slightly at her words but kept her stance neutral. Then they went on to describe Yuji's arrival.
Finn listened to everything without interruption, his thumb pressed lightly against his index finger.
"He pinned it down with one foot." Tiona said, a slight sense of excitement broke through behind her casual tone. "Then he used his blood, I think, to pierce through its body and keep it still."
"He began to examine it." Tione added in, her tone more serious than her sisters. "He crouched down and started looking for something, probably trying to sense whatever was inside of the monster."
"Then it blew up!" Tione continued, waving her arms up in the air to mimic the explosion, "He didn't do it himself, atleast from what I could tell. It just started becoming bloated before it blew up, but Yuji covered it with a red dome made from his blood. If he hadn't done that, half of the entire street would've been levelled."
Finn nodded at her words, absorbing it all.
"He also said the creature was being controlled from below. Through some kind of connection that ran downward from the magic stone. I think when he tried searching further down, whatever was on the other end cut it off and forced the monster to blow up." Tione continued from her sister.
The room descended into silence after her words.
Finn closed his eyes for a moment, processing her words.
"Did he say how far below?"
They both shook their heads, "Nope, just that it was far below." Tiona said with a shrug.
Finn opened his eyes and asked the twins, "When Yuji examined the creature, did he give any indication of what the source might be?"
Tione shook her head, "No, just that whatever it is, its deep below."
"Oh! He also wanted us to mention that he magic stone from it was the same as the big one he fought on Floor 50." Tiona quickly added on.
Riveria frowned as Finn glanced towards her. She reached into her robes and pulled out the exact magic stone they were talking about. "If what he says is true, then the creatures from the expedition, the vine monsters at the Monster Feria and potentially the unusual monster activity we've been seeing are all connected. One source, operating from the deeper floors and extending its reach to the surface."
Finn nodded slowly at her words. His thumb had been aching since the expedition. It had never fully subsided but now it was louder than it had been in a long time.
"Thank you, both of you. Get some sleep."
The twins stood, while Tiona hesitated at the door.
"Finn. He saved Lefiya's life today. Whatever else he is, he didn't have to do that."
"I know." Finn said simply.
The door closed behind them, leaving Finn and Riveria alone.
"The implications of this are significant." Riveria said quietly.
"They are." Finn leaned back in his chair. "If there's an underground route connecting the Dungeon to the surface that bypasses Babel entirely, then everything we know about Orario's containment is compromised."
"And if these creatures are being directed by something intelligent enough to recognize when it's being examined and respond by destroying the evidence…" Riveria's voice trailed off, but the implication behind her words were enough.
"Then whatever we're dealing with isn't just a monster. It's an adversary." Finns' voice sounded out quietly.
The room descended into a silence as Riveria ruminated on Finn's words.
"Do you think…?"
"I can't be certain yet, but we also can't rule them out." Finn said, pushing back from the desk and standing up.
"But why would Evilus choose to act now?"
"That, I do not know." Finn responded with a shake of his head, "I was planning on organzing a trip into the Dungeon the day after tomorrow. Aiz needs to earn money from the weapon she broke during Monster Feria, and the twins have their own debts. I thought it would be a straightforward outing… Now I'm thinking it might serve a second purpose."
Riveria studied him briefly. "You want to investigate."
"I want to keep my eyes open." Finn replied. "We'll head to at least the thirtieth floor. Standard money making trip on the surface, but I want us paying attention to anything unusual. Floor composition, monster behaviour, anything that feels off."
Riveria nodded. "I'll prepare accordingly."
"One more thing." Finn said, going over to the window that peered out to the city, "The information Itadori gave us. Keep it between the people in this room, plus Gareth. No one else."
"Understood."
Riveria departed after those words.
Finn stood alone in his office, looking down at this thumb.
'A man who isn't part of any Familia, who wandered into our expedition by accident and has since given us more actionable intelligence than the Guild has in months.'
He allowed himself one quiet sigh before looking back at the pile of paperwork stacked high on his desk.
He wouldn't be getting an early rest tonight.
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The morning after Monster Feria brought about a short drizzle of rain before it cleared up right away.
Yuji came downstairs to find Edel serving a young demi human couple who had rented the room next to his. He took his usual seat and ate in silence. Bread, porridge and water.
His eyes glanced to the bags of rice sat in the corner of the kitchen where Edel had let him store it. He'd spent part of the previous evening before the festival experimenting with the boarding houses' rudimentary cooking setup. The results were… functional. The rice was a different strain from what he'd been used to eating, shorter and starchier, but rice was rice.
He would save it for now for when he started to have cravings. Edel gave him a look, a light scowl on her face as she had stormed up to his room after hearing the wooden shutters break.
Some Valis cooled her down, but she was a petty woman.
The events of yesterday sat in his mind like a stone at the bottom of a pond. The vine monster, the self destruction and the threads that lead downwards.
He didn't want to, but his mind couldn't help it as he thought back to the presence he felt in the evening.
He hadn't felt it again since. Whatever had passed through the edge of his range had either moved further away or suppressed itself more thoroughly. His brothers settled back to their usual dormant state, as if the moment of fear had been a case of waking up from a dream where you're falling.
Their souls seemed to be content with forgetting it entirely.
Yuji couldn't.
He wasn't about to chase after it either. He didn't know where in the Lower World it had descended, how far from Orario or even what form it took on. Acting on incomplete information against something like that was how most people ended up dead.
For now, he put the matter behind him. His priorities were simpler, to find a more permanent place to stay.
Finishing his breakfast, he stepped out into the city once more.
That was when his entire plans were thrown for a loop as he came face to face with someone standing at the front of the boarding house's door.
He almost didn't recognize the person in front of him, but the tattoos and hair were unmistakable. He would never forget them. Especially that smirk.
This was the moment Yuji realized he really was cursed.
"You're still as disgusting as the day you were born, Brat."
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Authors Note:
RYOIKI TENKAI
RYOIKI TENKAI
Imagine though lmao. Shorter chapter today, my brain is absolutely fried. I planned to do an April fools chapter but I'm too lazy