Atlantis

[Apollymi]

This Banker approached Miki rather aggressively. Though the lass seemed less than worried about it, Akashi hissed at him reinforcing the space boundary he preferred all people have from her. She chuckled at the Banker's reaction, as it was more than obvious that anyone with any reasonable amount of strength was something he feared. He called her a simple little girl, the fact that he thought this was all she needed to know. Beyond that point, he acted as if Miki needed Akashi for some reason and this was down right laughable. "This little girl knows you aren't the market. Though I'm sure you've put a large chunk of your wealth into trying to retain it, thanks for supporting me~" she commented in a light tone which dripped sarcasm, making it obvious that she knew and understood the first things he'd tried to do.

A old man throwing a temper tantrum about his money disappearing because of an up-and-comer, was as common a scene in Miki's previous life, as schooling. "Oh and in case you had any thoughts of grandeur, this is a Dragon. The only reason you aren't a pile of ashes is because he knows I don't require him to do anything about you," she said that devilish smile coming back to her face. "He knows you'll die broke and alone, whenever I am ready to make that happen..." she turned those words against him and was exceedingly confident in her ability to make that happen. The fact that he still thought himself the market hinted at the idea that he might not know how little power he currently held. The Market itself was Miki's to control, his treasure troves had been raided, his authority had been challenged and there was literally nothing he could do to his usurpers. If he couldn't prove here and now he could do something, he'd have no avenues left to retain his reputation.

[Bloodedge]

She could say all the fancy things she wanted; he knew she had no hold! Oh, yes... he knew with much certainty that he, undoubtedly, was the single existence holding sales together in Atlantis. He'd been at it for so long, it simply wasn't possible for someone to overpower him. It wasn't possible.

... Until now. The Banker had become adjusted to a very simple life. He expected someone to arrive by now, someone who served him, someone who would offer their services to rid him of this nuisance. Why was no one coming!? Surely there was something amiss, something unrelated to this... human and her pet half-Dragon. "My men will come! They'll tear this pitiful excuse for a company apart, and when they're done, I'll start with you!" he exclaimed. All he had to do was wait, and the problem would handle itself...

[Apollymi]

Miki watched as this male shark had fit while trying buy time for his minions to come. But Miki knew something, he didn't. That the Tavern Keepers had been spreading the word, that Miki was willing to extend the same payments and protections to the others who were running businesses for the Banker. So long as they didn't participate in violence against any citizens of Atlantis Man or Mer. And since Miki was a much more generous Merchant, they could make more money by working for her, than they ever could while being under the thumb of the Banker. She was a Merchant for those employed beneath her, not just to line her own pockets and feed her own laziness. Still she had to question this Mershark a bit further, "Oh? Your men? Which ones, exactly?" she asked rhetorically willing to fill in a few blanks this man was obviously missing while he was busy trying to buy her out earlier. "The ones who were killed for torturing a man in the Markets by Queen Seriri a few days ago?" she said with complete innocence in her eyes. "Or are you waiting on the ones I killed in the Shark's Den for what they were doing down there?" she asked. "Oh... or maybe, you're waiting for the ones who realized they could make more money and not have to worry about sanctity of their family and friends by working for me... which is it exactly?" she asked wondering if this man would understand the position he was actually in. There was literally nothing he could do to her, in this moment. He had no one left to hide behind, so what would he do?

[Bloodedge]

What was she on about? If this girl thought she could best him by dealing with a few of his men, she was quite wrong. Some of his forces had been killed? Whatever. He still had... oh, no. The next group he thought of had been eliminated as well. Well, he always had access to the Shark's Den and its... nothing anymore. Darn. At least he could rely on...

... Nothing. Each time he thought of a separate group of subordinates, Miki was already mentioning them as either something no longer existing, or no longer working under him. Indeed, what would he do now? What could he do now? He was absolutely speechless for several seconds, nearly a minute. When he finally did speak, he did so while taking measured movements away from Miki and the Dragonoid. "That's not possible! How could you even manage half of what you claim!?"

[Apollymi]

Miki got to watch as the Mershark worked through the entirety of his loneliness in the world. There was no one left for him to call upon. No more bodies for him to hide behind, no more people to threaten, and he obviously didn't have much by way of capital left and didn't have any new way to make it. She watched him as he had his silent break down, and seemed incapable of coming up with anything to say until a full minute later. And when he did, he seemed to simply want to know how she'd managed any of the things she'd obviously done. "By running a business and not a fucking slaughter house!" Miki snapped. Was he really about to try and run? Did he really think she'd allow him to get away. "The least you could do is stand right there and face the consequences of your actions... So speak, Banker, what do you actually have to say with no one behind you what do you actually stand for?" Miki was no longer angry or afraid, now she wanted to know everything this man had to say for himself before she killed him. She was told mercy for this man was out of the question, and after what she'd seen today, she could say that she agreed, but she needed to make sure this man had no more secrets, nothing else to further pollute Atlantis. What did he gain by keeping the whole of the Kingdom under his thumb? Was it really so simple and disgusting as greed with added stupidity?

[Bloodedge]

Miki's rebuttal managed to shake the Banker a bit. He was running out of options. No; he was officially out of options. What would he say? Surely there was something in his arsenal. "They'll all learn, and so will you! I'll give you an opportunity to renounce your little game of a business, and work under me with a high position! Think carefully, girl. Not just anyone has a chance to work for, much less with, the Banker of Atlantis!" he said. There was only one way he thought he could make it out of this situation while retaining his funds and power; he had to recruit this one to his cause. Then, once she was without her Dragon companion for a moment, he would have her as his plaything for the rest of her miserable life. The same could be said of the other men who pledged loyalty to him. Perhaps, when he became king, he would even keep her as a concubine. She had a lovely look about her, and her body was sure to develop just a bit more in the future. The mere thought of it was arousing to him, and it didn't take Akashi's eyes to be capable of telling that much."If you're not going to kill him yourself, I'm going to show him Hell."

[Apollymi]

Miki gave every opportunity for this man to do something redeeming. Not because she intended to spare his life, but because she wanted to know if he ever started off with a decent intention. Greed was a powerful motivator for many people and in her experience it was easy to get lost within it, and forget what one intended to start with. But this Mershark didn't have this sort of motive. Miki could see it clearly in his visage, as his mind worked to make her an offer, and he tried to convince her that somehow she and everyone else would pay if she didn't go along with him. He even tried to offer her a job. But he simply couldn't hide his true self in the moment and Miki sighed with disgust. "I'll pass. I can make the educated guess you once said something similar to Diva. Whose tongue you still have hanging around your neck. Plus, I've seen how you treat your employees..." she said very directly. It would be then that Akashi mentioned that he planned to kill this Mershark if she didn't and Miki couldn't help but know and understand why that was. After all, even she was perfectly capable of seeing the less than savory intentions of the Mershark towards her. "If you want to show him Hell you don't have much time..." Miki said. Sometime in the last few seconds the pillow which was her weapon had transformed and moved directly behind the Mershark aligned with his skull. It was right against the back of his head spinning counterclockwise and she fully intended to send it through the back of his head and spinning out of his mouth. Whatever Akashi had planned, Miki didn't intend to not follow through with killing this individual, she simply wanted to make sure it wasn't hatred or outright disgust that drove her to do so.

[Bloodedge]

So, she would reject him. That was the final nail in the coffin as far as the Banker was concerned. Little did he know, the coffin was his, and his alone. He was always among the more powerful of the Merfolk, but there was one thing the Merfolk were missing: context. For generations, they had been here on the ocean floor. They couldn't have known how powerful creatures of the outside world were, and now they were involved with beings from another world entirely. "You took your time," Akashi said. The Banker didn't realize what this meant at all. Surely nothing this girl did could truly damage him, and the mythical Dragons could be nothing more than on-par. Oh, how mistaken the foolish Mershark was.

Thirty seconds. That's how long he would be able to realize the error in the decision of who he'd trifle with. Miki's spear pierced his spinal chord, and erupted from a mouth that opened naturally. He was able to perceive the spinning of the tool, and the fact that his life was forfeit. However, there was nothing more he could do besides await the moment his brain stopped functioning. Once it did, he would finally be able to fall.

[Apollymi]

The spear that belonged to the girl eventually came spinning out of the Mershark's mouth, but not before he fully realized that he'd be dying. It wasn't a swift nor painless death, he was given a few moments to think over what had happened. This had been the thing Miki intended. She wasn't sure if she was going to offer the man a swift death or not initially. She wasn't sure if she wasn't just still traumatized by what she'd witnessed in the Shark's Den. In the moment she decided the nature of his death, she'd acted. "I did. It changes nothing..." she said looking at the still standing Merman while her spear came to her and at the end of it, due to her other ability floating around it were several of the Mershark's teeth. She twisted her fingers around and looked them over, knowing exactly why they came to her. "Shark teeth for a bone army. I guess that's fine..." she said knowing at some point in the future it could prove useful. That being said their job here was done and she'd no longer concern herself with it, or even with the corpse of the fallen Banker. She had everything she needed to return to the palace and begin the administrative work for the businesses she'd taken under her care.

[Bloodedge]

And so, the deed was done. Miki slew the Banker, ending his tyranny over the trade in Atlantis. She may have been without a care for what happened to the corpse, but that didn't seem to matter. The corpse disappeared within moments, and the former tongue of Diva did so with it. The Banker's disappearance came in the form of shattering into millions of golden light particles, all converging upon one location between here and the palace. The tongue, on the other hand, remained a single glow while following the same path. "Atlantis recycles its people," Akashi stated nonchalantly. It seemed that the Banker, much like Diva's family, would be converted into the shape of a Guardian of Atlantis. There was something different about this conversion, though; something a bit darker. Perhaps the fact that the Banker had spurned his own people, meant that he would become a Guardian of a different variety. Only time, and apparently Diva, would tell. "What now, Kimi?"

[Apollymi]

"It seems like it, probably for the best considering they've been cut off from outsiders for quite a while..." Miki said thoughtfully, watching the body of her fallen prey disappeared to be used once more, most likely by Diva himself. She spoke while the teeth pulled from the Banker spun around in the air above her hands as she controlled them and willed her weapon back into the pillow form it was most often seen in. Soon the spinning of these individual pieces would stop and the lass would tuck them into her cloak, which had an amazing amount of storage space considering it had started its life as a towel. She was asked by Akashi what they should be up to now, and she looked at him before relaxing. "The Market will run itself for a while, and in the meantime I have to organize a way for this Kingdom's finances to work when I am no longer here to oversee it. Besides, I told a bunch of the traders that I'd make myself available to help them out as they put their business plans together over the next couple of days. Progress in this sort of situation takes a bit more guidance than normal..." she mentioned. "So for now, we can actually return to the palace..." she mentioned knowing full well the majority of her adventuring in this part of their current quest was done. It'd only taken five days since their arrival for her to topple the Banker behind Atlantis.

[Bloodedge]

The following day, the Adventurer carrying the identity 'Geno Killer' awoke not as Akashi, but as Kou once more. He'd been out of commission for an unknown amount of time, and in fact, his moment of waking was nothing more than him finally breaking free of Akashi's earlier seal. This placed him in control of his body once more, with no Devouring plaguing him at the moment. This much was good, even though Kou wasn't aware what happened to him last.

He awoke... not in a bed, not in a chamber of any sort... but sitting on the throne, in the position Akashi seemed so fond of. His eyes remained closed for some time after waking, but he felt strange. Where was he now? Wasn't he on the floor most recently? There were so many questions to be asked, and no answers even in the puzzle solver's mind. "Ugh..." he gurgled, as if he'd woken up with a hangover.

[Apollymi]

Akashi had been on the throne for the night, it was where he always was no matter what else was going on. Strangely because of the Purgatory Dragon's general disposition, sleeping in his lap was Miki. In fairness, she'd spent the previous night cuddled against the flame dragon for warmth and her own comfort, she'd had a rough day after all. So when he woke, not as the Dragon but as Kou the lass would be somewhat surprised. The noise which woke her from her sleep was strange and her position across the dragon's lap seemed to be somewhat compromised. A sleepy voice would stir after he made his waking noise as she grabbed onto his shirt initially aiming to settle further into the comfort she'd learned to take from the Dragonoid when offered. "Still, warm... I need..." she paused. These clothes didn't feel the same. She hadn't touched the Dragonoid's bare chest, nor the high quality clothing he wore. No there was far too much here, her hands moved around a bit more as she confirmed this difference. Her eyes popped open to confirm that she was indeed not nestled into currently the body she'd settled into the night before. "Kou!" she shouted, surprised she aimed to move immediately falling out of his lap and off the throne and onto the steps below. "Aattaaa, moved to quickly. Gomennasai and... Okaerinasai," she said softly as she pulled herself up and off the floor. She managed to throw herself back together pretty quickly even standing and stretching to the side of the throne managing in her own mind to look like she'd simply done the same thing she'd always been doing, waking from a sleep a little too readily.

[Bloodedge]

Something was very odd indeed. There was a weight upon Kou that he wasn't used to, and something was messing around with his torso as well. His eyes were still closed, so he couldn't tell exactly what this was... until a certain exclamation.

"Ah!" Kou shouted the moment his name was yelled in such close proximity. He had a minor freak-out as his eyes opened wide. Said freak-out led to him throwing himself off the throne as well, though he fell more to the side and avoided falling down any stairs. "Hngh..." he grunted whilst rolling himself into a position to sit up. Once risen, his eyes traveled around the semi-familiar throne room until he saw Miki through the haze of freshly-opened eyes. "Okae... huh? What happened? Where'd I go?"

[Apollymi]

It seemed Miki wasn't the only one surprised by the lad's rather sudden shift back to his usual Avatar. He also threw himself out of the throne and made another noise denoting his discomfort. Soon after though, he became capable of formulating more complete sentences, which he did by questioning her choice in greeting and where he'd been. She gave a sigh and approached more directly she reached out and placed the back of her hand against his forehead checking him out gently and seeming to still be a bit worried. "So, there is this thing, players get sometimes called the Devouring. And it's basically a fever that tries to burn you out or something. Tsu-chan says it's like you aren't anchored enough to the world so it tries to purge you. She says it's the only thing they consider a true death for players..." she explained the lad's condition as best she could given the information she had. "And obviously we didn't want you to die and Tsu-chan said she needed to chain you more properly to the world. If she did it, you'd survive the fever. So, after she explained the potential risks, I made her force you to take the form of an Avatar you created in this world... so you've been Akashi since you passed out," she completed her explanation with a softened expression seemingly pleased enough by her analysis. "But you don't have a fever now, so everything seems to be alright. That's good. You gave us quite a scare there..." Miki said softly. She'd been well and truly worried for the lad's safety when he passed out the first time.