The Land Of Nightshades #234

I smiled, looking down at the palm-sized insectoid machine, scurrying around my hand before storing it in my inventory and double-checking the rest of the preparation I made for the excursion on the Nightshade Dimension.

After putting Kgbeast to rest, I quickly finished migrating most of my income sources to the company before setting up several appointments with reporters and news anchors to promote it before heading back to my hideout in the next week.

Then, I ignored everything and started preparing for my trip to the Land of Nightshades. I first created more machines, like a shit ton of them, modified them, and created smaller versions for more subtle tasks such as scouting.

Then I went to work on creating several gadgets to help us navigate the Land of Nightshades, such as scanners, communication devices, special flare guns, and various other tools.

I didn't know much about the Nightshade Dimension since I didn't read about it in the comics, but I worked with what I had to prepare, which was the little information Nightshade knew and shared.

I finished my preparations in time, thanks to the Starheart power ring, though barely. But I was as ready to take on an interdimensional demon-thingy as I'll ever be, and now I only had to wait for everyone to arrive.

I checked the time and realized I still had a couple of minutes to kill, so I retrieved my axe and started doing practice swings. Powerful as I might be, I will never be above practicing the basics. It helped keep me sharp and ready to act if nothing else.

Nightshade was naturally the first to arrive as she walked through one of her portals that suddenly materialized in the air. "Oh?" She intoned, raising an eyebrow as she noticed my presence

"Looks like you've been here for a while," Nightshade said, tilting her head as she shot an amused look. "You didn't seem that enthusiastic the last time we met," She said with a chuckle.

"I cleared my schedule for today and the next couple of days. It's not like I have anything better to do," I replied, shrugging without bothering to turn to the heroine as I continued my practice swings.

"Either way, I'm grateful. I wanted you to know that..." Nightshade said after a brief pause, sighing as she sat on a random stack of rubble and scrap in the abandoned warehouse.

"Don't be. We had a deal," I said as I stopped swinging my axe, throwing it into my inventory as I turned to Nightshade. "I'm just fulfilling my end of the bargain," I concluded, taking a step back as the ground began shaking and a giant thorny vine emerged from within it.

It quickly sprouted a red rose at the top that slowly blossomed, revealing Poison Ivy's figure as she calmly climbed out of it. "Enchantress?" I asked, frowning as I looked around and found no trace of the sorceress, to which she merely shook her head.

"No matter. We'll manage without on our own then," I said, nodding my head. "Poison Ivy, meet Nightshade. Nightshade, meet poison Ivy," I introduced and went before either of the two women could speak.

"Here," I said as I retrieved two backpacks and threw them toward the heroine and villainess, respectively. "There's a bunch of items inside that you might need, and instructions on how to use them inside," I added as I gestured towards the bags.

"Take a look and get familiar with them. We leave in 30 minutes," I said as I turned away from the two women. I retrieved the Levahtan's axe and resumed my practice swings.

"It isn't exactly my style, but I can make it work," Poison Ivy said with a chuckle as she held the backpack in front of her, giving it an unimpressed look before taking a look inside.

Nightshade merely smiled at Poison Ivy's words before doing the same.

...

Twenty-five minutes quickly passed, and the two ladies familiarized themselves with the gear I gave them, to which I stopped my training and called them to come closer.

"I explained our plan of action already, but it won't hurt to go over it," I said, to which the two ladies nodded as they stood in front of me. "The first step is to figure out our location once we're there since Night can't control her power accurately when traveling to another dimension," I added, to which the heroine shrugged but said nothing.

"We keep a low profile, find the Incubus, and take him without a ruckus of possible," I explained. "If not, we can go guns blazing. We have our own army to rely on," I added as I retrieved one of the many Sentry Spiders in my inventory as a demonstration.

"We stick together at all costs, and if we split up for whatever reason, we use the communication devices I gave you," I added as I gestured toward the bags I gave the two ladies.

"The demons or whatever creatures we might have all kinds of different magical abilities, but they have no clue about technology," I added as I retrieved my own communication device from my inventory.

"In other words, this is our only line of safe communication, so make sure to keep it safe," I added as I closed my palm, putting the device back into my inventory.

"If it fails, you only need to think about me, and I'll be able to reach you telepathically," I added, talking directly into the two ladies' minds this time without opening my mouth.

"But as I've said, the demons might have a method to intercept telepathic communication, so keep it as a last resort," I concluded, trailing at the end of my sentence as I waited for any question and received none.

"No questions?" I asked just in case, and the only reply I received was silence. "Good, then there's no use dallying here. Let's move," I said as I stepped back and turned to Nightshade, to which she nodded and took a deep breath.

She closed her eyes, frowning in concentration, and I could feel the peculiar energy coursing through her body as she grandly gestured with her hand, creating a pitch-black portal floating in the air.

I grunted, firming my resolve as I stepped into the portal without asking any questions and the two ladies soon followed me.

...

The Land of Nightshades

Forest of Eternal Blight

It was eerily silent in the haunted forest's fringes as the black sun in the sky began to set, and the darkness slowly engulfed the landscape in its cold embrace.

Hundreds of shifty eyes lingered on the branches of the weathered, twisted trees glowing ominously as the very shadows seemed to come to life, wreathing, and thrashing like a pit of snakes.

Suddenly all the movement stopped for a second, only to become more intense as the shadow creatures inhabiting the forest sensed a burst of energy in a small clearing near the fringes of the woodland.

Monstrous Shrieks and howls of excitement broke the silence as the shadows coalesced, forming countless dark, malformed creatures of all shapes and sizes that quickly began sprinting towards the clearing like starved hyenas.

One shadow monster appeared after the other as they ran toward the clearing until they created a stampede, cutting a straight path through the forest, uprooting every tree in their way, and crushing every rock.

Soon, the creatures surrounded the clearing as a portal manifested in the middle, and a young man walked through, frowning as he looked around and noticed the countless vicious creatures surrounding him.

Besides the slight shift in his expression, the young man didn't seem overly concerned as he stepped aside to make way, and two women emerged from the portal behind him.

"So much for keeping a low profile..." The young man said as he raised his hand, causing a small golden energy sphere to appear in his palm. He thrust his hand upwards, and the glowing orb flew into the air, rapidly growing in size before exploding in a radiant light.

The shadowy creature's howls of excitement instantly turned to agony as one of the women stepped forward with a composed smile. "I guess we're going guns blazing then," She said as she reached forward, and as if responding to her will, countless thorny purple vines emerged from the ground, eviscerating a good half of the shady monsters.

The surviving monsters nervously turned to the last woman, expecting the worst after two grand displays of might, as they could do nothing but shiver in fear and pain because of the giant glowing orb in the sky suppressing them.

The second woman could do nothing but sigh, her eyes twitching in annoyance. "Did you guys really have to be so flashy?" She asked, her tone clearly bemused.

"Just hurry up and finish them so we can keep moving."