Chapter 47 - The Natural Cycle

Chapter 47 – The Natural Cycle

Soon, a group of 3 people approached the duo.

They were actually the same people as the one Medea sensed earlier in the camp.

"CAREFUL!" The robot looking one jumped in front of the other 2 with one of his hands pointing towards them, "they are the ones I mentioned before. They effortlessly killed the orb piercer."

The robot had light-brown skin and dark hair. He wore a metal helmet with two asymmetrical horns protruding out of the sides and what appears to be glass lens in the front. Underneath is helmet is a jagged metal headband of some sort, with bolts on either side keeping it in place on his head. He had yellow eyes with cat-like pupils.

"Reg, are you sure?" A girl then spoke up.

She was a short girl with a plain face, green eyes and long blonde hair styled in two ponytails. She had a prominent scar on her left arm and wore a delver jacket and hat over a leotard.

"Yes Riko, I'm sure..."

But then, it was the third person there that spoke next, "why can't I sense the force of the Abyss around you?"

Appearing like a rabbit, she looked like a cross between multiple animals. She had a long tail, horizontally slanted pupils, carnivorous teeth and human-like hair. In contrast, she had medium tan fir covering the rest of her body, with light tan covering the insides of her ears and belly. (A/N I know that Nanachi's appearance is gender ambiguous like Rimuru but I will refer to her as a 'she' for writing convenience's sake)

"The force of the Abyss? You mean the reason why ascending is difficult?"

"Yes, the very one. I can see the force field to some extent, but I can't sense any on you. Who are you?" She narrowed her eyes.

"I am Medea, and this is Misaka. We are delvers currently going down. If you are talking about the mysterious force, then we both have our own ways to deal with it."

"Really? That should be impossible since all living creatures will be affected."

"Yes, we noticed that, but we still have our own secrets you know? And by the way, could you also introduce yourselves?"

"I am Nanachi, this is Reg and this is Riko."

"Nice to meet you." Misaka cheerfully waved.

"Umm, excuse me? Could I please have that-"

"The pickaxe? It belongs to you?"

"Yeah." Misaka grabbed it by the handle an chucked it over.

"Umm, giving it so easily..."

"Well, it doesn't really belong to us and we don't need it anyway."

"Thanks."

"Your welcome."

Nanachi then asked, "wait, you killed an Umbra-Hands?"

"Yes."

"Do you know the consequences of that?"

"We do, and we don't really care."

She face-palmed and scanned the area.

"What are you guys doing anyway. The Abyss isn't for children you know?"

"Oh, I'm going to find my mother."

"Mother?"

"Yeah! You see, she left me a note saying that she will wait for me at the bottom of the Abyss, so I decided to dive down. Reg here is a robot I discovered! And Nanachi recently joined us!"

"Awfully cheerful aren't you? Well, we are pretty much doing the same thing. We wish to go to the 6th layer, so our goals align for now. Why don't we go together?"

"Careful Riko, they're really dangerous." Reg then spoke us.

"Please, if we are enemies I would've killed you all by now. Believe me when I say we do not mean any harm. We only wish to go to the 6th layer."

"Come on Reg, what they said was true. If they're harmful they would've attacked by now."

"Uh."

"Actually Reg, they're not lying. I would know if someone's lying or not."

"Oh, fine." He stared at Medea deeply.

"Oh, and isn't Misaka a child either?"

"She may be one, but she can definitely defend herself well enough." Medea quickly responded, "anyway, whilst I enjoy this chit-chat, it's time to get moving. This place is quite dangerous after all."

"Dangerous?"

"Yes. I was warned by the Umbra-Hands that these insects are invasive. They could spread to the higher layers. In fact, I can guess the reason why the Umbra-Hand came here was to kill them all."

"Really? But they don't seem too bad."

"You'd be surprised. That hill behind you is their nest."

Indeed it was. And suddenly all of them began to fly up and move.

"Well, let's get rid of these before anything else. You guys go on without me for now, I'll catch up."

"But." Then Misaka grabbed Riko's hand and ran, followed by Nanachi and Reg.

Reg was the last one, but seeing Riko being dragged away caused his mind to be on guard, and with one last look at Medea staring at the nest, he also followed them.

This now left Medea all by herself, and she waved her hand.

"Unfortunately all of them made their nest here. If it was anywhere else then perhaps I wouldn't have minded. Rest in peace to all those that died here."

Even now, she can still sense delvers being ripped apart and suffering in this field, but she just ignored them.

A tornado of fire brushed through the entire field, not leaving a single corner untouched, but when it dispersed, surprisingly all the flowers were left intact.

The only source of burning were the insects in the air, and the dead delvers lying on the ground. Before long, the infestation problem was solved, and all the victims were put to rest.

"*sigh. Why am I trying so hard? Is it because of the low participation rank last time?" Sighing to herself, she then began to walk in the direction of others, leaving only the peaceful field of flowers, grateful for what she did.

...

"I came from Ido Front, Bondrewd's base at the bottom of the 5th layer. It is the only place where one can enter the 6th layer so a confrontation with Bondrewd is inevitable. You better be prepared since you killed one of his Umbra-Hands." Nanachi warned them as they walked along an icy path.

"Don't worry about that. What I'm curious about is the fact that you came from there. I can feel that the force of the Abyss is actually blessing you instead of cursing you."

"You can feel that? Maybe you also have the blessing... anyway, that's because I was an experimentation subject for Bondrewd, and his hypothesis was successful. He created me, but ruined..." Her head looked down and her voice gradually faded out.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then it's fine."

(I guess they finally killed that creature. Perhaps she received her curse two fold during the experiment, so they were friends...)

"Anyway, why are you so set on going to the 6th layer?"

"Because there should be something there that is the target for us."

"And how do you know that?"

"We just know."

"..."

The group then chatted about random things until, eventually, the impressive view of a spinning city came into sight.

"That's Ido Front. We should be easily in Bondrewd's view now, so best be on guard."

As they got nearer, a small figure of a girl appeared at the entrance.

She eventually introduced herself as Prushka, and replied with their own names as well.

Although, Nanachi was very on guard, and warned them to not freely give out information.

"Ah... father!" As they walked along a corridor, she bumped into her father, Bondrewd, with a couple of his Umbra Hands behind him.

"Ah, Prushka." He picked her up, "and also guests. Congratulations for making it this far, and Nanachi, I noticed Mitty's soul lamp went out so congratulations on finding a way to end her life."

Reg then started to speak, "he-" but Nanachi interrupted him and asked, "hey, we don't want anything to do with you here. Let us pass."

"Ah, straight to the point. The thing is I would very much like to let you pass, but I hate to admit that only a white whistle is able to open the entrance to the 6th layer. Considering that each white whistle only works for the person it was crafted for, Riko here cannot use her mother's to descend."

Hearing this, she looked down.

"Don't look so sad. Please, spend the night here as guests. Prushka, please get along with them and show them to their rooms."

"Yes father!"

"And also, you two, please could I have a word with you? It's nothing harmful, but it's regarding your actions."

So, the trio left with Prushka whilst Medea and Misaka stayed.

"What do you want then? Is it about the killing of the Umbra-Hands?"

"Yes. You see, I don't really tolerate the killing of one of my own. I will not be foolish enough to fight here and now, considering your abilities from before but I do wish to do something about it. This is the reason I would like you to stay in a different room from them."

"A different room?"

"Yes. I will tell you straight out right now that the room will be more unpleasant, but I feel like this is the least I can do for the one you killed."

"Very well then."

"Thanks for understanding."

Bondrewd then showed them to their room, which really was quite bleak. There were two beds, a little toilet and 4 bars on the one table that stood alone.

Then, he left and the door was locked.

"The door's locked." Misaka decided to point out the obvious.

"Well, thanks for that miss obvious."

"Shut up."

"Considering what he said, it's not surprising, and I would feel like he genuinely meant what he said, if it wasn't for the complete sound-proof walls around here. It's like he wants to completely shut us off from the outside."

"Doesn't he know that we can just blast out?"

"Most likely, but I don't think he wants to trap us, but more like hide something he is doing."

"Then what do we do?"

"We'll play along for now. Go to sleep, children needs rest after all."

"You-" Feeling unprecedented anger, she gave a humph and lied down on her bed with a pillow she conjured over her head. It had a frog on it. 5 seconds later she was snoring away.

(It seems like he is up to something. I'll just have to see from inside here then...)

...

And indeed he was.

Medea summarised what happened in her head.

(So basically, Riko almost died from the curse but Prushka saved her.

Reg was almost dissected by the Umbra-Hands but Riko and Prushka stopped them, then they ran away, although Prushka insisted on staying to ask for Reg's arm.

Reg, Nanachi and Riko was then confronted by Bondrewd and his crew but was led into a trap by the Stingerhead nest, with only Bondrewd surviving.

He was eventually taken care off, and Prushka came crying onto the scene but then another Umbra-Hand removed the mask and turned into Bondrewd again. What?

And he is taking... Prushka... to an experimentation room?)

Just as she was about to make a move, for some reason Ciel's advice echoed in her mind.

(All that is lost will eventually be returned. Promise you will not interfere with the natural cycle...)

She questioned how this was interfering with the natural cycle, but since it was Ciel's voice who sounded in her mind, she reluctantly put her hand down from the wall, and watched on as the ever-so-cheerful and naïve Prushka... was dissected.

...

At a very young age, Prushka was caught in an accident while being transported through the 5th layer. She survived but was subjected to the curse of the 5th layer an das a result, she suffered severe physical and mental trauma.

One of Bondrewd's subordinates attempted to heal her but to no avail. He considered the possibility of simply killing her as she was currently of no use and was only suffering, until Bondrewd himself approached her. He then declared that she would be his daughter, and named her Prushka.

Some time passed where Prushka's mind remained just as unstable, hiding alone in dark areas between walls. Often, she would have panic attacks and display fits of hysteria. One day, Bondrewd gifted her a small creature. The previously frantic Prushka slowly started approaching the strange animal with dubious curiosity.

She showed signs of affection and named the creature Meinya. Overjoyed with the first signs of recovery on his new daughter, Bondrewd declared that the day would be her birthday, signifying a new start for her.

After some time, Prushka saw notable improvements and behaved almost like a regular girl. One day when playing with Meinya, she accidentally climbed some stairs and was hit by the curse of the 5th Abyss layer, resulting in her receiving grievous wounds. However despite this, she was able to recover much more quickly than before.

She always regarded Bondrewd as her father, no matter what she went through, she loved him.

That was why...

...

"Dear Prushka... you trust me don't you?"

"Of course father!"