AlterMyth - A Hololive Fanfiction

Subterfuge on the Styx

Prologue

Latent heat welcomed the four ladies of the reformed Watson Expedition when they stepped through the portal of crimson red sparks. Once all four of them had made it through, the portal behind them collapsed and the window to the moonlit forests of Bordeaux faded away into nothingness before Ame's blue eyes.

Ame retrieved the obsidian orb from the ground and saw her warped reflection on its cracked, crumbly surface. That orb looked much more fragile now than before, she thought. One more strike from her magical saber would destroy it for sure, but it was their one-way ticket out of the Underworld. Knowing this, she pocketed the orb and turned her eyes towards the distant lights of the Sous La Lune bastion and heard the gurgling waters of the tributary stream to the River Styx nearby.

The detective drew her revolver and led the team through the cavern towards the small dock in the stream. Gura and Jenma whipped out their respective pistols. A pace behind them, Kiara quietly gathered energy into a small, compressed ball of flame that floated steadily over her right hand.

When the girls approached the dock, they found a pair of partially skeletal figures, Grim Reapers, patrolling the tributary stream dock with lanterns and pistols. The patrol was moving out from a small basecamp where a Grim Reaper tended to a small bonfire. A stone's throw away from the camp, a fourth reaper was busy mooring a large wooden row boat onto the dock.

The girls took cover behind an outcrop of brimstone to staked out the four Grim Reapers. Ame borrowed Jenma's futuristic binoculars and spotted a second row boat with four Grim Reapers heading away from the dock towards the Sous La Lune bastion. This was probably a forward guardpost, Ame deduced.

These four Grim Reapers had just begun their shift.

Unlucky them, Ame thought.

She returned Jenma's binoculars and huddled together with her expedition behind the rock. The four of them had a short back-and-forth in whispers before they agreed on their battle plan. They nodded to each other then split up to set their plan in motion.

Gura summoned her trident with a flash of powder blue light and she proceeded to stalk the two lantern-bearers who were patrolling upstream. Once the lantern-bearers were out of earshot from the camp, the Atlantean rushed the first reaper and stabbed her in the back. The first reaper's skin dissolved into ash before she could cry for help.

Just as the second reaper was about to turn around, Gura whipped his face with her powerful shark's tail. The swipe knocked the second reaper off his feet and Gura promptly started beating him down with her fists.

Back at the campsite, the reaper by the fire had just pried open a can of pork and beans with his short sickle. He was just about to dig into his canned meal when the bonfire suddenly went out as if a powerful wind had blown through. However, there was no natural wind there in the Underworld and the flames traced a line behind him as if it was drawn to some unnatural force.

The reaper dropped the can of pork and beans and whirled around, following the trail of flames. He then gasped and found the phoenix Kiara wielding a javelin of flame in her hands. The flames of the bonfire merged with the javelin and made its tip grow stronger. Kiara threw the javelin with a skillful flick of her wrist and pierced him clean through the heart, burning the rest of the reaper to a crisp.

Now alone in the dark, the fourth and last reaper let go of the mooring ropes. She drew her rifle and shouted in French, firing a warning shot into the air.

"She wants us to show ourselves, Watson." Jenma translated for Ame with a devilish grin, "Let me give her what she wants!"

With that, the management trainee leapt up from behind the rock and rushed towards the dark dock. She closed the distance quickly and pushed the reaper's rifle aside with a skillful brush of her hand. Jenma then grabbed the last reaper by the collar of her hood.