Paradise of Infinity: 320

Title: Overpowering Threats

‘What is this?’ Revy quietly stares at the lush mango grove surrounding her. It feels warm. She isn’t in her usual outfit, partly to keep a low profile and partly because the April spring in Japan still felt a little chilly to her, making her opt for a full-sleeved cream top, pink skirt, and dark leggings with fur-ended beige boots to keep any errand cold at bay. Yet it feels nothing like before.

“It’s already a week past April’s Fool.” Revy glances at Nik, who casually climbs a tree to pluck a ripe mango off one of the trees before jumping down from a height that would easily sprain her ankles or worse. Her words draw a sigh out of the man as he unpeels the curved portion of the mango with a nibble.

“What’s April’s Fool?” He sucks on the mango with a quizzical look.

“Never mind, it’s not something we do in Roanapur. It’s easy to get shot when someone pulls stupid pranks - like this one,” Revy sniffs, smelling something sweet blended with the scent of wet soil. She inhales again, finding her surroundings similar to Lovelace Estate’s organic fields.

“It’s no prank,” Nik chuckles.

“Well, this isn’t Narnia either,” she scoffs before staring at Nik. “You DO know what’s Narnia, right?”

“Take a guess,” Nik replies flatly.

“The fuck did I let you sleep with me for?” She scrunches her brows. “Your entire personality is about fucking others or having no clue about references!” The woman squats to touch the grass under her feet, musing, “Well, this feels real,” she emphasizes her words while looking around. “So? Am I getting the big reveal of what you are?” She straightens her legs, nearing him with a slight pep and a knowing smirk. “Or did you drug a woman and bring her to the woods at night for another reason?”

She snatches the mango Nik’s been suckling right from his lips, leaning on him as she whispers against his lips, “Or can I finally shoot you for doing something as absurd as putting something in my ice cream?”

“Do you think that low of me?” Nik smirks, licking the juices off his lips. He simply needed a mango to wash down the minty flavor.

“If I ask a friend to treat me like a whore, they better expect the same treatment,” she strokes his face before gripping his cheeks with her fingers, squishing his cheeks, “And you are the worst kind of friend who gets women drunk before running off to sleep with a slutty Russian.”

“Aha!” Nik tries to grin despite the tight hold on his cheeks. “I knew you were mad!”

“And?” She arches a brow only to have her smile freeze as she glances past Nik, seeing torch-like glowing eyes staring at her from behind a thicket. Her body remains in the same position as she whispers to Nik, “Don’t make any sudden movements, Nik. Where are my guns?”

“Somewhere in here,” Nik pulls himself away before turning around and glancing at the thicket, “Ignit, come out. Revy doesn’t bite.” He even pats his thighs as if calling a dog, a sight that would have Azula almost pull her hair in annoyance!

A low, feral snarl, the kind Revy’s never heard in any of those National Geographic channels, slips through the bushes, followed by the rustling of something big moving behind them.

“Nik?” She gulps dryly, finding her situation more haunting by the second. And if she could view past the dark canopies of the trees keeping the ‘sky’ crowded in her vision, Revy would see that a slightly shimmering dome covers the sky without a single shattered moon in sight. He looks back at her with a toying look in his eyes.

‘What the hell is amusing about this?!’ She would almost scream if not for her breath catching in her throat. She sees a creature step into the dim light, scales and wings, as tall as a horse and as wide as an ox with not too different horns. Yet the molten golden eyes and the lizard-like but exponentially ferocious features set the creature apart. Revy stays her ground as the giant creature steps near Nik. She would aim for the head if she had her gun, but avenging Nik on a later date doesn’t sound bad either.

‘I just need to wait. When it feeds on Nik, I can run and get some help. Not that it would help Nik, but it’s the only thing I can do.’

A bead of sweat rolls down her forehead and onto her cheek as Revy readies herself to escape, a clear winner in her flight or fight reaction decided the second the creature stepped out.

Yet, the beast trots almost elegantly, lowering her head and pressing it against Nik’s head with a short purr escaping its vicious jaws.

“I know,” Nik leans into the creature’s face, patting it with a chuckle, “I’ll prioritize training once I settle in.”

Fortunately—she finds—Nik has enough sense to look at Revy, introducing the strangest creature- no, that’s a DRAGON, right?!

“Revy, she is Ignit, a Dragon.”

Revy watches the Dragon bump her head against his shoulder as he rolls his eyes, muttering, “Aye, aye. Let me correct myself. She’s Ignit, MY Dragon. She usually finds me the quickest in whatever spot I choose to arrive at, so Ignit is also the one who gets to meet my guests the earliest.”

Ignit directs her golden eyes in Revy’s direction, scoffing a peal of flames before turning around, leaving on her fours and a swaying tail as if she’s proud of how the meeting went.

“Ignit’s very sweet once you get to feed her, not something she’ll ever allow Azula to do,” Nik chuckles, walking over to Revy before snatching the mango back.

He sucks his treat with a grin, eyeing the dazed Revy, “Welcome, Revy. Your guns are in my bedroom. But I’d prefer if you only use them with blanks in here. It’ll keep some girls from forming terrible ideas, and they’re already a handful~!” Yes, Nik means that literally and figuratively.

---

“Is something on my face?” Ray questions as she meets Nik and Revy the next day near a cafe.

“No,” Nik yawns. “I took her to my place.”

“Ah,” Ray nods in understanding as she grins at the slightly dazed Revy. “She still looks like she’s processing all of it. Did she get to meet Ignit?”

“Yep,” Nik sips his coffee while slightly nudging Revy.

“Hmm?” Revy snaps out of her thoughts before looking at Ray. “Oh, it’s you. Huh, no wonder you’re always cocky. Even I’d brag if I could destroy cities with a touch.”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Ray shrugs before ordering coffee for herself. “You won’t know what hit you if you cause mass destruction and accidentally touch upon something eldritch. That’s why Hosts like us try to stay low.”

“Unless the moon explodes,” Nik quirks.

“Unless the moon explodes,” Ray affirms, grinning, “It’s great that you know these things already. I wanted to enroll two kids in a school and have Nik tag along. Why don’t you join us?”

Revy glances at Nik, who shrugs, “I don’t know anything about that. But we have time, right? Balalaika’s meeting with Tsugio isn’t due for another two days, so we’re on our own.”

The brunette nurses her coffee cup before sighing, “This is weird. Too fucking weird.”

“You know,” Ray prompts, “The Twins I wanted you to look for? They’re with me. Those two are the ones I want to enroll in the school. It’s thanks to your quick service I could find them.” The succubus also sends Nik a message.

[Smexy-succu-succu: Does she know about meta-knowledge?]

[Nut-Cracking-Messiah: She doesn’t even know about elemental bending yet. Things took a weird turn last night.]

[Smexy-succu-succu: Ooh~! Anything hot and steamy?]

Nik smirks at Ray - the only thing she needs as an answer.

“What are you two eyeing each other for?” Revy scoffs as she retrieves a flask from her denim pants before pouring some rum into her coffee. “And what’s with the school?” She questions while sipping her concoction, “Another job?”

“I’d like to know that, too,” Nik nods.

Ray sighs, “Are you two interested in teaching?”

“A teaching job?” Revy sneers. “Sure, I can teach some kids how to shoot.” The sarcasm in her tone is evident while Nik cups his chin, muttering in an amused tone, “Well, I don’t have the experience, but I did act like a scholar for one of my clients since her husband was a well-known debt collector and a boor. I guess I can give it a shot for a short while.”

Ray claps her hands, “Great, Revy, I think you’ll be the one that gets hired!”

The duo’s expression freezes as Nik clears his throat, “I can also teach kids some useful tips about seducing someone.” He shakes his head with a smirk. “It’s just a joke—”

“That’s better,” Ray interjects, grinning, “That will be useful, too. Act the part of a professional mercenary and whore, and you two have the job in the bag.”

Nik and Revy still cannot discern if Ray is joking or not. They leave the cafe after paying for their orders, following Ray to the side of the road, where they flag a taxi for Kunugigaoka Private High.

---

—Kunugigaoka Private High—

Nik’s homeworld heavily influences his thoughts on High Schools since he’s sneaked into Kurumi’s school and done some questionable things in the gym equipment shed. Not only that, the teachers in Kurumi’s schools are lax and more accommodating to hoodlums, for instance, Watching the drama ensue before their eyes as Genta confronted Nik without regard for formalities. It did bite Genta in the ass, but that’s more of a ‘him’ problem than Nik’s.

However, Kunugigaoka Private High is different, and if he’s led to believe correctly, it’s one of the top institutions in the country with a strict regime that’s on the rise even among its peers in the recent few years. The fact that it’s Sunday and should be a holiday doesn’t prevent the students from entering the premises in their school uniforms, making Revy whistle with her hands akimbo, “You weren’t lying when you said this school has some serious issues. Who studies on a Sunday?”

Ray giggles, bending slightly to meet their driver’s gaze and smirking cutely, “Thank you, Oni-san~! How much was the ride?”

“A- ah, it’s alright,” the middle-aged driver chuckles while looking away. “Consider this our country’s hospitality, Miss.”

“Hmm,” Ray pouts. “You’re so rude! Do I look that old?”

Nik and Revy cringe as Ray continues sweet-talking the driver instead of paying the fare until the taxi driver departs.

“Just pay the man next time,” Nik stares at the girl.

“I paid the driver in kind,” she giggles. “He helped us get here, and I helped brighten his day!”

“You’re a miser is what you are, and I can’t believe it actually worked. If it were me, I’d have other services in mind for the payment,” Revy replies, continuing curiously, “Or does that have something to do with your ‘Powers?’”

“It does,” Ray shrugs. “I’m a man magnet, and Nik’s a chick magnet when we really try.”

Revy glances at Nik before shrugging, “I don’t see it.”

“You’ve already seen it, though.” Ray smirks, skipping forward as Revy follows after the succubus, leaving Nik behind them. He still takes a moment to observe the premises using Seismic and Spirit Senses. He didn’t need Ray’s explicit confirmation that this school has something to do with their primary mission, given how she’s already shown interest in the School before. So, Nik closes his eyes, ignoring the glances of female and male students in grey uniforms. He lets his unshackled senses spread through the school’s main building and the mountain behind it as he burns through his chi reserves.

The first thing he senses is Ray’s profound depths and the scorching heat hidden in her being, followed by a few more notable characters that feel extraordinary compared to their peers in this world, including Revy.

One mustn’t forget Nik often uses Seismic and Spirit Sense instead of other skills he developed because they have slightly more technical drawbacks. Heat Vision has a low range compared to other sensory skills of his. Wind Senses may spread wide, but it’s not worth the effort because Spirit Sense has a similar scope and an easier time relaying the information. Water Sense needs Nik to be diving in a pool of water.

But it’s the first time Nik senses a blank spot through his Seismic Sense. Usually, the Seismic Sense would map the exterior of the entity and relay the information back to Nik. The farther the object is, the longer it takes for Nik to recover the data. Spirit Senses overcomes these issues by giving a foggy internal view and quicker feedback.

It’s scorching.

If Nik and the other unnamed Host in the main building should be above his league, then the ‘Blank Spot’ possesses reserves of energy unlike Nik has ever experienced before. Having experienced the Primordials’ mortal shells before, Nik isn’t unused to noticing the difference in raw might. Nik and the Strange Host don’t compare to the primordial’s shell.

But that entity?

It eclipses those shells. It’s raw and terrifying at a glance.

Nik didn’t innately fear his first interaction with a primordial like Dhi, a floating eyeball. But sensing the quiet entity, who can discern and cancel Nik’s Seismic Sense, gives him the chills. Its reserves are not humane!

No, that energy reserve is unstable and increasing. It's already grown ten times Nik’s sum chi reserves in the few short seconds he stumbled upon the being.

It’s not foggy at all.

It’s solid.

It’s energy through and through.

And IT has a broad smile on its face.

“How rude to peek at a man reading his favorite magazine!”

A haunting whisper snaps Nik. His eyes blink open, and he finds Revy and Ray kneeling beside him.

“Huh?” Nik mutters confusedly, glancing around at the small crowd of boys and girls surrounding him as he gulps dryly, still unable to register the situation. All he can sense is the slight chill and his shivering body that refuses to cope with his rapidly calming mind and senses.

‘I fell? I didn’t even notice that.’ He slowly sits, ignoring Ray’s and Revy’s questions as he exhales loudly. “I’m fine. I just didn’t eat a proper breakfast yet.” He stands without help under Revy’s and Ray’s suspicious gaze until he keeps to the point, sending Ray a message.

[Nut-Cracking-Messiah: I sensed another host.]

“How about we go eat something before getting a new job?” Revy offers as the trio walks past the crowd. “I’m getting hungry, too.”

“Duh,” Ray scoffs with a frown. “He didn’t fall unconscious because he’s hungry.”

“What else am I supposed to say?” Revy snaps at the girl as the succubus glances at the quiet Nik.

“Was it the other host?” She questions, piquing Revy’s curiosity yet again.

“Huh?” Nik glances at the duo before shaking his head. “No, it wasn’t. The host doesn’t know of our arrival yet.” He swallows the lump in his throat. The recollection of that force makes his hands tremble. Nik is all about conquering one’s fears, but there are rare suicidal incidents that would ever make him want to go against such a force without being adequately strong. With his thoughts consumed by the being that probably shattered the moon itself—Nik fails to notice a bespectacled girl walking ahead.

*Thud*

He reacts swiftly, quicker than usual, given how spooked he is. His arm catches the woman before he stamps his feet on the ground and turns her back to her former position. He dips his head and apologizes before continuing until a guard beside the school gate stops them.

“Hm?” Nik stops, glancing back at the twin-tailed girl. ‘Ah, her eyes are blue. That’s quite rare in Japan, no?’ He smiles at her again while Ray does her thing on the guard, allowing them access to the campus.

Needless to say, Nik’s initial impression of Kunugigaoka Private High is complicated. It’s nothing like he’s felt before, yet as he takes his eyes off the group of girls gazing at him with quite the heat, he realizes that his journey will see him facing many similar creatures—forces of nature, disasters in flesh and blood. Only one question remains in his mind as he enters the building behind Ray and Revy.

‘Will there be a day where I don’t fall unconscious by their very ‘presence?’’

If the consoling force stemming from Mokshi within Nik is anything to go by - yes. There will be a day when he won’t have to fear such forces of nature.

‘I just need to work even more,’ he sighs. Depressingly so, Nik realizes not even Accu-mulet comes close to the creature on the mountain behind the school, and Accu-mulet has been doing the same thing for more than a millennium!

It’s not something accumulation alone can overcome, Nik gulps.

Such power will demand equal risks. If Nik’s truly unfortunate, it might accept sacrifices, too.

---

The thing about being expendable in your superior’s eyes is that it leaves the illusion of control within an authoritative figure. Balalaika, by every right, is expendable to Hotel Moscow. But she died for their cause once, almost. So did Chang for the Triad’s cause. Dutch saved her and brokered peace between the Roanapur branches of Hong Kong Triad and Hotel Moscow. Spent like a bullet once, Balalaika’s gotten less aggressive on the surface. But her nerves have limits.

“Do you get your ‘true’ mission, Balalaika?” The man sitting across her crosses his legs, smoking a cigarette. The documents on the table list confidential and crossed-out passages, knowledge the man across her informed verbally. Only the duo are present in the lobby with the cameras cut and their men waiting outside.

“What about Roanapur?” Balalaika questions.

“What of it?” The man brushes his short brown bangs away from his right temple, cocking his head sideways with a grin. “Everything about you hinges on this mission. Fail, and not only your throne in Roanapur, but your valued men won’t survive Boss’ wrath either.”

Balalika opens her case of thin cigars before lighting one. She frowns while bringing the poison to her lips, “Regular ammunition of any nature won’t work on it.”

“Japanese Government will provide the needed ammunition.”

“The Government? Vasili, your jokes are only worse than your Resume.”

Vasili Laptev, Hotel Moscow’s Japanese Branch’s Leader, scowls at her words, smacking his hand atop the documents before pointing at Balalaika. “Listen here, you little Bitch!” He snarls. “Do your damn job and fuck off, understand? You won’t be staying in my building, so find a safe place yourself or the Continental in Osaka. But you won’t have enough coins for your men.”

Vasili sits back, scoffing a chuckle. “You’re already dead. As for the ammunition you brought using Marya Zaleska, I’ll take them off your hand and deal with Kousa Council myself.”

Balalaika leans back with an indifferent look.

“I haven’t been to Japan before. Know any safe spots, Shoo-in.”

Vasili’s smile fades before he grimly offers, “There’s a graveyard nearby. You’ll need it, Balalaika. You’re a smart slut. You understand Boss is using this chance -”

Vasili’s breath catches in his throat as Balalaika slowly points her revolver at the man’s head.

It’s the same revolver she ‘used’ on Nik a few nights ago.

“Would you like to play the game, Vasili?”

The man stills, slowly speaking, “Have you lost your—”

*Bang*

A bullet tears through his head as the man’s tense shoulders drop, followed by his torso collapsing onto the table. His head lands atop the stack of confidential documents, bleeding out and drenching the papers blood-red.

“I’m not interested in games either,” She muses softly. Placing her revolver on the table, Balalaika picks up her coffee cup before Vasili’s corpse can ruin it. “I never did get my pistol back from Nik.” She blows on it before taking a sip. “And coffee tastes like ass after cigar. What a shitty start for a shitty day.”

Pouring the coffee on Vasili’s head, Balalaika picks up her gun and walks out of the Japanese Branch’s lobby, staring at Vasili’s men with their hands mid-air as Boris and her men keep their guns trailed on the enemy.

“Vasili committed suicide,” Balalaika informs. “You men will find another location to stay. I will be the one to contact Moscow and relay the news.”

It’s a bald-faced lie, but Balalaika knows her superiors well.

‘They will only come for me at the end of this year IF Earth survives.’

She smirks as her cold glare settles on her enemy. ‘On another note, this day isn’t so shitty after all. I’m feeling quite excited for some reason. Maybe it’s the fresh air.’

***

Alternate Title: Revy’s Seen Narnia, She’s Cultured Certified; Revy: Hmm, It’s Dark And Secluded. Wanna Fuck? *Angry Ignit Hisses*; Mango Grove; A Fresh Land; My Impression of Nik Can’t Get Lower Than Her Cunt, Where His Face Belongs— Revy During a 4th Wall Break Interview; Revy’s The New Avenger; Revy: I May Not Save That Good Di-* Ehm, Nik. But I Will Surely Avenge My Boner-Nerd!; Ignit’s Nik’s True Queen; April Fools Must Be A Bloody Event In Roanapur!; Informed; The Truth; Because Nik Learns From His Mistakes, Sometimes; A New Job?; Bao Hitting Air Right Now; Kunugigaoka High School; The Eldritch Presence; First Time For Everything; Countered; What Happens When One Man Intrudes On Another’s ‘Quality’ Time; Knocked Out; Another Host?; Found; Seen; Saw; The Monster On The Mountain; Ray, The Miser; Revy’s About To Dry Hump Ray, Too; Walking Into Someone?—That Sounds Like Plot; Balalaika’s Shitty Day; Expendable?; Balalaika Only Plays The Game At Night