-Sir Integra Hellsing

John froze as he glanced at the figures around him, trying to determine who was going to make the first move. On the one hand, there were two very angry Nekos that were hissing up a storm while staring at the canine girl in front of them. On the other, there was a canine girl who was giving him the **** glare while gently clacking together her frighteningly sharp claws. There was also Seras, but she was almost as concerned as John and seemed more confused than anything.

"Everyone, freeze."

The Nekos didn't stop their hissing, nor did they show any signs of backing down. Surprisingly, it was Lunaya who showed the most reaction, meeting his eyes and narrowing her own in a look of distrust and suspicion.

"We don't want to hurt you. Just… listen, we only wanted to complete this dungeon and see what we could get from it. You're in no danger. And I…"

In mid-sentence, John was abruptly **** to throw Seras toward the wall and scamper backwards, narrowly avoiding the claws that were thrust at him. They glistened in the flickering lights and certainly looked sharp enough that, if he hadn't moved, they would've pierced his chest. With or without Gamer's Body, that wasn't something John was eager to experience.

"Calm down!" John shouted, not sure of what to do now. The Nekos were practically pouncing, curled up into tight balls of muscle that looked ready for action at any moment, but they were still staying back as John tried to ward them off. Despite her **** on him, the Reaper didn't look particularly aggressive, just annoyed and flustered.

"Listen, just- JESUS!"

John was interrupted again, **** to crouch low as a set of claws passed directly through where his face had been moments ago. John reacted instinctively by tackling the girl, unable to put enough distance between them to be safe, pinning her to the ground while desperately clinging to her lethal arms by the wrists, pinning them against the stone floor. She struggled mightily but seemed unable to free herself, if just barely. For once, John was very thankful that his points were evenly distributed. If he'd gone all-in on elementalism, this girl would be shredding him to ribbons by now, and he wouldn't have the reflexes to avoid it.

"Shit, the cape!"

John didn't have time to open his menus, so he simply fumbled with the clasp at his neck until the Cloak of the Apprentice Necromancer fell away from him. He hoped that his increased Charisma stat would allow him to deal better with the situation.

"We are not going to hurt you!" John said, loudly and firmly. The woman stopped struggling as hard but still vaguely pulled against his grip as he stared directly into her aggravated eyes. Once again John noted a lack of actual hatred or anything that looked like the killing intent he'd seen in the Gnolls; rather, she looked as if she'd been interrupted in the middle of her favorite meal, upset to the point of killing the interruption.

"Now listen here. You are going to behave, understand?" John said, unsure how to approach this woman. She'd said nothing, and since he had just Purified her, he had no idea what she was like or how to handle her negative relationship score. The only thing he knew was that for some reason, he'd been her target, despite the fact that the Nekos had done a lot more to her before her transformation.

Lunaya rolled her eyes and glanced off to the side, refusing to meet his eyes, huffing and slowly stopping her struggles. John raised an eyebrow at her attitude.

"Now you can be as fussy as you want, I'm not going to have you trying… wait, can you understand me?!"

John realized after a moment's thought that her reaction to his words was far more than just a simple annoyance at noise she didn't understand. She was actually miffed at being told to behave, and John's suspicion was quickly confirmed when Lunaya started nodding.

"You can! So why are you attacking me?"

John got silence as an answer, matched with a harsh glare. For a moment, John and Lunaya were simply staring at each other, both of them almost equally annoyed. Then Lunaya huffed and averted her eyes, looking off to the side. It wasn't an answer, but at least it didn't seem overtly hostile. John still didn't loosen his grip.

"I don't know what your grudge is… but it seems to be against me, yeah?" John asked. The reaction was almost instant - Lunaya glanced back at John, nodding firmly and with a great deal of annoyance. John found himself sighing with frustration as he realized how difficult communicating was going to be with someone completely mute. Given that she understood language, though, perhaps she could write her thoughts down?

"Listen, if I take you back to our home, I can get you something to communicate with - paper, pen, technology, whatever makes this easiest. Can you do that? I know you can't talk, but-"

John froze mid-sentence as Lunaya leveled a gaze at him that could've re-ignited a dying sun. The words "can't talk" seemed to have ignited a rage in her that John hadn't even seen when she had been ready to literally rip his heart out of his chest. As he tried to find the right words, John turned his head back to the others. Mithra and Maera were circling like sharks, every hair on their relatively smooth bodies raised in preparation for a continued battle. Seras was slumped against some nearby rocks but looked prepared to fight again despite her exhaustion.

"It's okay, it's okay," John said, unsure of who he was talking to as he met Lunaya's eyes. "You… you're mad at me about not being able to speak, aren't you?"

Lunaya narrowed her eyes and nodded. John swallowed, a bit nervous.

"You… know what happened, don't you? And that means I'm responsible for this, for… why you can't talk?"

Lunaya's head moved slowly, deliberately in a nod. John fought back the urge to throw himself away from her and found himself squeezing even harder, glaring into her eyes. He was suddenly conscious of Seras' eyes on him, of Maera and Mithra watching nearby with their ever-growing understanding of the world. He couldn't appear weak or submissive in front of any of them - not without risking his position. Not in front of Seras, and certainly not in front of Mithra, who barely listened to him as it was. John shifted one of his hands up to her neck, pinning her head to the ground.

"I don't care what you know," John said, trying to make his voice as firm and harsh as possible, tightening his grip ever so slightly. Lunaya gasped, clutching at his hand, but John tried to keep his grip firm while not cutting off her breathing.

"You will not attack me. You will not hurt me, or any of my friends. If you are angry at me, that's fine, but you will live with that anger, and you will never hurt my friends, understood?"

For what felt like an era, John looked into Lunaya's face without seeing a reaction. What he eventually saw surprised him a little, but it confused him more than anything. The Canid Reaper nodded assent to his demands. As she did so, her cheeks began to flush, and while she couldn't turn her head, John could feel her trying to as her eyes shifted away from his own.

"You… won't attack me if I let you go, then?"

John sounded far less certain than he hoped, but he was acknowledged with another nod. He really had **** except to either trust her or just keep holding her like that, forever, so John slowly released her and stood up, moving away while ready to guard against any sudden attacks. Lunaya rubbed at where John's hands had been, but rather than anger or indignation, she seemed to be thinking deeply, and the blush was not receding… in fact, it was getting worse. John made a note of that for later, but chose not to address it. As it was, the other girls had been standing around staring in silence for entirely too long. John retrieved his cloak and stowed it in his inventory, not wanting to risk lowering his Charisma just yet.

"Alright, that wraps things up. Dungeon should be closing any second now… everyone get ready for transport."

John hadn't said more than those few words before the world around them shattered. Maera and Mithra seemed to be quite used to it - as used to it as they could be anyway, since they still didn't know enough words for John to explain the exact ability to them. Seras had witnessed it a couple times, but she still seemed a little frightened every time it happened. The surprising one was Lunaya. She looked around untouched by everything, a little caught off-guard perhaps, but completely fine with the way the world was shaking and shattering around her.

When the dust settled and they were back in the world that John had had created, the Nekos immediately went wild, heading toward the chest and pulling out piles of the meat John had left for them, beginning a frantic feast. Judging by the amount they were currently pulling out, John had no doubts they were vastly overindulging compared to his schedule of rations and made a mental note to retrieve more food for them in the future. Meanwhile, Lunaya started walking away, and although John thought about stopping her, he realized that she was far too intelligent to scamper away into the wilderness and starve herself to ****. She would come back, even if only to feed.

"M-Master… what was tha'? What did you do? The way you transformed 'er, it was so unreal."

The trailing voice could only belong to a certain British vampiress. John turned toward Seras with a smile that quickly fell away as he comprehended the last few words she had spoken. John eyed Seras for a long moment. He could lie, again. It was almost second-nature at this point, probably bolstered by the fact that the very first ability he had learned as a Gamer was Deception. Well, not counting Masturbation, but that wasn't really a Gamer skill…

But John didn't want to lie. He had to lie about half of it to Moira, had to lie to her father, had to lie about everything to his own mother, and he was even lying to Seras about being her Master. John was tired of the lies.

"It's an ability I have… the creatures we fought, those that died there, are not real. They are manifestations of magical energy that is given a physical form by my spells. I'm capable of turning a temporary manifestation into a living creature, a permanent being." Seras' eyes were like saucers, but John couldn't read whether that was good or bad, so he continued on after a brief hesitation.

"It has its own requirements. The creature I cast it on must be weakened, and I don't have total control over what comes out. I can influence it, but only so much."

"Did I… did you… create me?"

Cracks. Fissures in the ice formed as hell froze over, thawed, fractured into a thousand pieces of burning glacier, and then re-froze again in a hellscape of permafrost and blue flames that burned the soul, rather than the flesh. John couldn't bring an answer to mind for that question because he didn't honestly know the answer. And so his quest to tell Seras only the truth failed, because there was no possible way John could admit-

"I don't know."

The words fell from his lips. In that instant he felt his masquerade as some all-knowing, all-powerful being fall away. John was far too inept, far too incompetent about the world of magic to pretend to be some expert, some equivalent to Alucard in this world of chaos and sorcery. He met Seras' gaze with as steady of a look as he could give, and then shrugged.

"Maera and Mithra were created from beasts, and I had no hand in their creation. I've seen things like them in the past, but I have no idea what memories they might have, other than that they seem to be twins. Maybe when they learn more English, I can ask them. Lunaya… well, she's new, so I don't know anything for sure. I tried to make someone who could take care of the Nekos, someone who could look after them since you're spending so much time with me in the other world. Seems like she's smart enough to know what I did, and probably a lot more. But you…"

John thought very carefully about his next words, trying hard to find a way to explain what he knew in a short, easily understood way. It wasn't easy, both because of the complexity of the subject and because of how little he really knew.

"You're different. You're not like the others. There was a story I read once that had you in it. Just as you are now - same appearance, same personality, same accent, same Seras. That's how I knew you when you appeared. You were looking for a master, so I became one for you, but I won't lie to you. I don't know whether you were summoned from another world or created from nothing, whether you existed before or not. What I know is that you're the only one I've imagined before this, and that makes you different."

John wished that this alternate world they found themselves in had wind, or perhaps wildlife. Something that could've broken the silence and rescued him from the knowledge that the only two things left in that clearing were himself and the judging gaze of Seras. He expected anger. He expected tears. Honestly, given her history, he expected a breakdown, freak-out, or anime-inspired crying moment as Seras questioned her own existence.

What he got was an emotionless nod.

"Seras, I know this is a lot for you to take in, but you're strong enough to handle it. I know it. I've seen it. So just…"

John cut himself off. She didn't react to her own name, the first time this had ever happened, and John had no idea what was going through her head. Her expression was unreadable, not exactly sad, angry, happy, or any other emotion John could easily process. Anything he could say, he was afraid would only make things worse. Even what little he'd said didn't seem to have touched her emotions in a meaningful way.

"Well… we can head back soon," John said quietly. "There's a window before we can return. Until then, let's all relax."

John cast his eyes away from Seras, forcing himself to focus on something else. Contemplating her emotions was not something he had the skill or knowledge of her to do, and he'd only worry himself sick. Instead, he focused on the slew of messages he'd gotten since Purifying Lunaya into existence; there were several, but he'd been so busy dealing with her sudden appearance he hadn't read any of them yet.

Skills have leveled up!

Observe - Level 5: Now displays partial or full character sheets when used on non-hostile characters not in your party! Health, mana, and XP bars now available for party members and non-party members. **

Purify - Level 3: Relationship of Purified creature can no longer be less than zero after alignment adjustment. Hope you didn't get too terribly mauled. Purified creatures may still be hostile, friendly, or neutral depending on their personalities and situation.

Mini-Boss defeated, Dungeon complete [Level 4]!
+500 XP [+25 Bonus XP]
+$1,000
+10 Bronze Ingots
+40 lbs. Puppy Chow

Achievement Unlocked! "Delegating the ****!" ~ You beat a Dungeon while having your creations do at least 90% of the damage. God helps those who help themselves!
+4 to all Stats for Party Members
+15% EXP from Party Members' kills

Level Up!
John has reached level 9!
+2 to all Stats!
+1 Skill Point!

Party Members Leveled Up!

Maera has reached Level 4!
+1 to all Stats!
+1 Growth Point!

Mithra has reached level 5!
+2 to all Stats!
+2 Growth Points!

"…I should really spend some of these points."

John could flick through his menus like a pro by this point, accessing his skill tree to see what he could do with all those points. He opened up World Shift, but was surprised to see it didn't appear to have a skill tree at all. At least not one that he could see yet; he was always surprised by the features that appeared in this "game". He switched back to his other skills and tried to find something worth improving.

He refused to use points on Deceive, and none of the non-leveling skills had trees. That left only Elemental Control, Observe, Masturbation, Purify, Siphon, and Lesser Heal. He didn't even bother looking at the Masturbation or Observe trees - with a fight coming up this weekend, John wanted to make sure he was as ready as he could be. Since Moira had a support role in mind for him, he went to the Lesser Heal tree and checked out what it had.

Lesser Heal - Good Medicine - Increase the amount healed by the Lesser Heal spell by 5%. [Rank 0 / 5]

John put a point into the ability to see what it would unlock. It lit up, and the two branches off of the initial skill turned golden, highlighting what had been blacked out until then. Two new abilities were revealed, with an additional two branches off of each leading to things that John couldn't see.

Lesser Heal - Team Player - Increase healing done to Party & Raid Members with Lesser Heal by 10%. [Rank 0 / 5]

Lesser Heal - Thinking Ahead - 10% of excess healing done by Lesser Heal is converted into a shield that lasts up to twelve minutes and can be up to 5% of the target's maximum health. [Rank 0 / 5]

With the variety of options he had - and the number of points required to max them all out - John opted for efficiency. He put two points into the Lesser Heal - Team Player ability and then clicked over to his Siphon ability to find out what might be there.

Siphon - Tethered by Love - Siphon may be used on any Party Member so long as they are within X feet, where X is their Relationship score.

John chose that ability automatically, aware how important transferring HP or MP could be if they ran into a dungeon they weren't prepared for in the future, much less the battle coming up this week. Just like before, the next two abilities opened up, but John wanted to see one more tree before he spent that last point.

Purify - Ex Nihilo - Purify can now be used in the new world to create a mob at least 25 levels below the user's own and instantly purify them. The Mana Cost is doubled for this action.

John stared at that description for a brief moment, tapping his hand on his chin. While it was potentially useful - if he ever had need of a large number of Purified creatures at low levels for whatever reason - it was worthless for at least 17 more levels. More importantly, there was that phrase again… the mention of the "new world". This world was definitely new, but something about the phrasing bothered him.

John tried his best to shake away his doubts and went back to the Heal menu, taking Team Player up to Rank 3. Depending on if they stacked or multiplied, that could potentially boost John's heals by up to 36.5%. Not great, but if he used his entire mana reserve (minus what he'd lose taking off his cloak around Moira) in one burst, he could heal Moira for…

About 70. Literally less than 10% of her maximum health. Not even remotely impressive; hell, he could use Siphon to transfer his HP and heal her for more, even though he'd be one hit away from ****. Or being KO'd. He wasn't eager to find out what a big fat zero meant for him in this "game". Still, John realized he had a long way to go before he could catch up with Moira; hell, he had a long way to go before he could even be useful at backing up Moira.

Tomorrow, Moira probably wouldn't call him in. She wouldn't want to draw him away too often and raise his mother's suspicions with a battle in just two days. No, she'd let him rest tomorrow, and Friday, they would have their retaliation. That meant John had all day tomorrow after school to do as many dungeons as his MP and HP would allow. And unlike today, he'd be doing them solo. Mithra, Maera, and Seras… they wouldn't be there for him in the battle. It was nice to get them working together, and hopefully soon he could have more cohesion between them, but for now, John's life was the one on the line.

That was becoming something he was far too comfortable with.