Side Note

Chapter 192: Last Dance



"Hey mom! Your sister almost killed me!" I remember it like it was two minutes ago.

"Sounds like you had fun." She let out a small chuckle. "Anyways, you're fighting your sister next, so good luck and think fast." 

Huh? What? She threw something at me, which I caught, and immediately I was teleported to the middle of a plain made of clouds illuminated by a blood-red moon. Talk about a pretty colour… almost like I'm in a dream… although the aura of death I can sense nearby kind of ruins the vibe this place got. I turned around and saw my sister, with her giant scythe behind her, facing me with her eyes closed… weird.

"Mom upgraded my abilities for this fight from Sixty-Four to One-Hundred and shortened the chants. Show me a good time, sis." She ran straight at me, her scythe lazily floating behind her. If it isn't in her hands… what will she attack with? I summoned my dark halberd and assumed a defensive stance, waiting for her attack.

"From Nowhere." She threw an uppercut at me, which I backstepped to dodge, only to get hit at the back of my head. I was about to check what struck me when she threw a right hook, which I ducked, only to get hit from the left. Shit, I see what's happening. She threw an overhead punch, and instead of dodging, I stopped it with my halberd. Okay, I felt nothing that time, so the punches, when missed, just hit from a different direction. From Nowhere, huh?

"Aggro." Oh shit, her punches are getting faster. I'm still blocking the punches with my halberd, but a few are too quick that I'm forced to dodge, only to get hit from the opposite direction. Shit, I need to make distance. I stomped the ground, creating a burst of flames that caused both of us to split off. I should shoot some magic from here instead of letting her come up close.

"Red Flag! Viking Death March!" Well, shit, she's just summoned a bunch of vikings and rebels. This is bad. I literally only have a single shadow clone. I can't meet this with numbers… you know what, I'll just avoid them by flying into the air with my amulet, but to be safe. Ava, rise. Ava rose from my shadow, and I instructed her to distract the army while I went to the sky, thinking of what to do. I'd rather not since I can't use magic there, but I need the safety of the sky.

"Starship Showdown." She's in a fucking spaceship now. What the actual fuck. Mel told me those things only exist on television! She flew it straight at me, and I narrowly dodged me. I watched as she flew off and then turned around. Okay, no time to think. Exploding daggers, to my hand! I gathered as many explosive daggers as possible and threw them all at it… I seem to have put a dent in it. Let's goo- URGH!!! Holy shit… I couldn't dodge it… at least I'm stuck on the wing.

"Autopilot. Tachi. Strange Cakes. Heavy Soul. Walpurghistnacht. Aura. Killing My Love." She stepped out of the spaceship and approached me, saying a bunch of chants. First, she summoned an enormous blade, then some cakes that she quickly ate. Next, I felt her magic defences, magical ability, and aura rise in power… lastly, I felt something within her shatter… shit, I can feel killing intent off her now. It's serious ti- what?!

"Two Weeks." She suddenly appeared before me and slashed downwards, which I barely dodged, losing a bit of my skirt. She cut right into the spaceship's wing and then easily took it out of the wing. Oh no. I turned my dark halberd into a greatsword and sent a strike towards her. She narrowly managed to block the strike… it seems she's not well-versed in sword fighting. Good to know.

"What You Know." And now she's assuming a Maid School stance for weapons originating from Japan. Yes, the Maid School has courses on weapons from Otherworlds… and if I'm right, she took it right from my brain. I am not enjoying this, mom. Why'd you upgrade sis? She was already really powerful. Maybe this will make her easier to predict… oh, this is the patented dash slash they teach us. Okay, perhaps this is actually a good thing. I easily dodge to the left, where most people always have an opening when using this move, which I'll abuse. I swung the greatsword at her back, only to have it be blocked by her weapon… I forgot I also know how to bait using this opening… fuck.

"Blinding Lights." AH FUCK!!! MY EYES!!! JUST LIKE THAT FISH!!! I stumbled backwards, changing my greatsword into a smaller blade I could hold with one hand, using my free hand to rub my eyes. God, that does fucking nothing… I can feel it, okay, I blocked the blade. Yippee!

"Coul As A Ghoul." I don't feel any weight on my sword anymore… what the fu- FUUUUCK!!!! Shit, bitch, fudgilicious! God damn, I fucking hate it when swords enter my fucking shoulder… ouch…

"I am satisfied. Cancel Life Could Be A Dream." Her eyes suddenly opened, and our surroundings changed from a cloudy landscape into an average room with my wound gone. 

"Holy shit sis… I thought you were going to kill me."

"I have paid you back for my losses." Her scythe then floated from behind her towards me. "Take it."

"Scythes make for terrible weapons."

"It's the key, dummy."

"Oh." I took it, and the floor transfer process started. Guess I'll go to the next floor.

"One last thing." She grabbed my shoulders. "The Distance. I noticed you were slightly slower than usual. Fatigue is finally reaching you. This should help."

"Huh… thanks, sis." And onto the next floor I went.


Chapter namesake: Last Dance by Eve

It's the third 64th chapter, so it's Mira's time again. Can you guess the references in this chapter? I'll reveal the answers below the answers for chapter 128, since I probably won't make it to chapter 256. Anyways, here's the answers for chapter 128:

"Red Tomorrow, Red Today." is from Mori Calliope's Red
"BACK TO BACK" is a reference to BACK 2 BACK  by Hideki Naganuma for Sonic Rush
"You're In A Strange Part Of Our Town." is from The Strokes' Reptilia
"Ultra Death." is still the only non-music reference, since it's specifically based on Ultra Death from Binding of Isaac
"Save Up All The Days." is from Grizzly Bear's Two Weeks.

Now for the answers for this chapter:
Dan Croll's From Nowhere
The Enemy's Aggro
Billy Talent's Red Flag and Viking Death March
Bossfight's Starship Showdown
Ed Harrison's Tachi, which is for Neotokyo
Big Black Delta's Strange Cakes
The Black Keys' Heavy Soul
Walpurghisnacht from BlazBlue Central Fiction
Creo's Aura
Leslie Parish's Killing My Love
Grizzly Bear's Two Weeks (Yeah I referenced it again)
Two Door Cinema Club's What You Know
The Weeknd's Blinding Lights
The Voidz's Coul As A Ghoul
The Sh-Boom's Sh-Boom (Life Could Be A Dream)
And lastly, Cake's The Distance.

You're probably wondering why these songs specifically, huh? Well, they're all actually part of my Favourites playlist I have on Spotify. Yep, that's it. By the way, the chapter namesakes for Mira's chapters are also in this playlist. I also just think an ability that works based off music references would be cool, whether it takes the song names literally (like what I did) or if it takes the song's meaning into account (like in JoJo). Anyways, that's all. Peace out.


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