Tales of Berseria The X: Beyond Calamity

Chapter XXVIII: A Spell for Empty Hearts Part II

Avernus opened the door to the deck of Van Eltia. The sea breeze caressed his skin. He took a deep breath, trying to make himself feel more energetic and confident. The hunt for the next therion had already begun. Zekson port slowly came into peripheral vision, but another unlikely pair also positioned themselves to be caught in his line of sight. The sorcerer eyed Magilou and Tia, leaning against the railing and smirking, sneering like two teenage girls, uncontrollably and hardly inconspicuous.

Avernus groaned; more teases were going to hit him right in the stomach.

"I see the 'big bad wolf' was hungry for some delicious shepherd's 'meat,'" Tia said teasingly.

Avernus reached for his newfound scarf and repositioned it, paranoid; it was a very long dark grey scarf with carbon-like textures. He had wrapped the scarf around his neck typically but left its ends hanging on the back and front like a cloak.

"Where did you find your new scarf, Mr. fashion switcher? Did you win the shepherd's best reward at taming daemons?" Magilou asked, maintaining her spoofing behaviour.

Avernus folded his arms. He remained steadfast, "Alright, come on, you two, let it all out, you girls."

"It seems congratulations are in order, Avernus. It looks like you two are ready to take it to the next level. And please, get rid of that scarf. Every adult human being knows what happened with a single glance." Tia said, applauding and ridiculing him at the same time. After a pause, she added slightly more tease to her smile, now looking less innocent. "So... how was the last night at the beach?"

Magilou looked anxious to hear the results; her partner in crime was having proved to be a valuable ally during the last few days. To their surprise, Avernus's eyes did not waver. "She bit me." He stated flatly

"And?" Tia inquired.

"And what?" Avernus tilted his right hand as if there was nothing more to add.

Magilou rolled her eyes, letting out a prolonged and annoyed sigh at his apathetic manner, "Wasn't she in your 'To do list'?"

Avernus looked at her with a confounded face.

"Did you put 'wood' in the 'stove'?" Tia brayed.

The Shepherd was as clueless as ever.

"Were 'the girls' happy to see you?" Magilou piped up, hopelessly trying to get through the density of his pure soul.

Tia herself looked at the witch, narrowing her eyes. "Why do you call those 'the girls'?"

Magilou shook her head. "I don't know, Velvet's choice of torn rugs as her clothes always gave me the impression that her boobs always wanted to be free. I just thought they'd probably looked happy to see him, you know? "Won't you come to say hi to these twins, Avernus?"." She raised her hands and put them on her flat chest as if she was pressing against imaginary round squashy things, mimicking Velvet's villainous tone for the last part.

Avernus finally ticked. His pale green eyes widened. "You... you're all creeps and perverts! So that's why Eizen was bugging me with 'slapping the midnight silence,' 'hammering the moaning effigy,' and 'wearing the velvet hat.'."

Tia raised her brows and looked at Magilou, "wearing the velvet hat... hmm, that's too soon for their first night, isn't it?" She said quietly to Magilou, almost a whisper.

"Yeah, I wonder why Eizen said that. Guys are just too wild sometimes." Magilou replied in kind, murmuring.

Avernus pointed his finger at them, "You all three were in on this together?! The Kraken Queen 'incident' was your idea too?! I nearly drowned in the sea, for goodness sake!" He raised his voice in an accusing tone, almost yelling at the end.