After what seemed like almost hours of hopping around the unknown world, Nero finally found a place she deemed satisfactory to claim as her own.
"Umu! The start of us legally taking territories shall begin here!"
Still having an arm around Jin's body over her shoulder, she overlooked the area they arrived in.
Standing amidst the vast expanse of a rolling plain, far away from the clusterfuck caused by a certain individual, Nero's gaze wandered over the lush unobstructed scenery before her.
The landscape, uniquely painted with hues akin to the most captivating sunset, revealed its majestic splendor, stretching out as far as the eye could see.
"So beautiful!"
Surrounded by incredibly large mountain ranges with fitting passages as well as various connecting tributary rivers, her eyes analyzed every single piece of detail as if wanting to burn them into the back of her mind.
She then looked further away, eyes shining brightly at a twin mountain that surpassed the clouds themselves.
Nero also detected a plethora of multicolored plants and trees adorning its rocky terrain. Besides, upon further observation, her gaze landed on an unusual split among those two mountains, as if it was carved in by some sword years ago...
"Oh!"
Noticing something, she suddenly sharpened her senses, picking up on the distant sound and vibrations.
"Hmmm..."
With careful attention, she steadily mapped out an expansive map of the terrain in her mind, stretching across an area akin to several Luxembourgs.
"A river between those twin mountains... multiple connections of several other rivers as well, and...-"
She sniffed the air and noticed a tinge of saltiness in there. Soon after, realizing what that meant, her eyes shone in excitement.
"Umu! We're not landlocked, great!"
Although the ocean seemed quite a distance away, it didn't matter to her 'cause everything she set her eyes upon would eventually become hers anyway!
And that's an unbroken rule of hers!
"Umu!"
Finished with her analysis of the surrounding area there were in, the Empress closed her eyes in bliss and sucked a mouthful of fresh air.
"Hah, much better than that place..."
Exhaling a content sigh, she gently placed Jin on the smooth grass, before plopping down herself.
Her eyes unblinkingly stared at the afternoon sky, lost in thought.
"Am I really human now?"
Recalling what Jin had said to her when she first got summoned, she frowned.
"What does it mean to be one?"
Having got so used to fighting in countless Grails, fighting in different timelines, while also dying a bunch of times in her Spiritual form, she hadn't had the time to have some thoughts to herself since... forever.
"..."
Turning her body over, she looked at the half-naked caveman soundly sleeping beside her in peace.
"Heh."
Subtly smirking at his rough look, Nero briefly had the suspicion that the destroyed place they were once at, was in one way or another related to the dumbass beside her.
Not to mention, ever since she got summoned, she felt in every way superior to what she once was.
Improved physical prowess? Check.
Improved magical output and capacity? Check.
Moreover, it wasn't just some little bitsy enhancement that would make her a bit surprised, no, it was the equivalent of having a pulsating star inside of a tightly compressed space, ready to explode at any moment!
And her migraines? Heck, non-existent! This chronic fucking problem of hers which had accompanied her through every single summon no longer exists!
"Urgh... whatever!"
Still thinking of the weird potion Jin had given her, Nero decided to reason that it was the cause of everything.
"Hmph."
Looking over at Jin peacefully snoring away in bliss, she pouted and turned her body around.
"..."
After a while, she swiftly found herself closing her eyes as a dark veil covered her consciousness, and before long, fell into a much-needed sleep.
"Umu.... Umu... Umu..."
...
{Host! ヽ(°〇°)ノ
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!}
'...sup.'
{You're back!}
'Eh... I only slept for a bit thou-'
{Ding! 1000 Times Amplification System!
Cooldown: 20D 2H 42M}
'Hmmm...'
{(ᵕ—ᴗ—)}
'Hmmmmmm....?'
{( ≖‿ ≖ )}
"HMMM?!"
With imaginative war flashbacks, Jin stood straight up from his sleeping position.
"Oh, dear..."
Looking at his surroundings, Jin was thoroughly surprised at the beauty of this place, even forgetting to take into account that he had slept for more than a week straight.
"Dang... that's big."
Whistling in amazement, he spotted the twin mountains from afar, unconsciously comparing them to the one he 'unintentionally' destroyed.
"2? Nah... around 3 times as large?"
As he continued to look around, a certain Empress suddenly frowned in her sleep, feeling as if she lost a body pillow.
"Umu... Umu... Umu..."
Hearing the sudden noise below him, Jin glanced down at Nero adorably mumbling her catchphrase in her sleep.
"...don't tell me."
{Ding! Nero Claudius hasn't woken up ever since you first slept!}
"That's-"
*TREMBLE*
"Hm?"
Sensing the ground trembling beneath him, he swiftly pivoted and zeroed in on the source.
"Oh."
Atop a hill, a colossal creature resembling a rhinoceros loomed, partially blocking out the rays of sunshine, and casting a shadow on the landscape. Dark energy intensely crackled around the massive horn on its snout and the tusks protruding from beneath its mouth.
Its red demonic-like eyes bore through the humans from afar, seething in madness.
"GRRRRR..."
The beast emitted a deep, rumbling growl, its reverberations echoing deep into the ground before spreading outwards.
"..."
Ignoring its rising killing intent, he continued to observe the monster several kilometers away from him.
"Yo... the hell's that?"
{Ding! The System is unfamiliar with this species... does the host want me to scan it?}
"Nah, we good."
Putting his hand under his chin, he pondered how to make it 'kindly go away'.
'Cause for all he knew, both him and Nero probably... nah definitely are in this angry boy's territory at the moment.
"It's just a feeling y'know, but-"
FWOOSH!
In the blink of an eye, Jin had disappeared from his spot, his afterimage still lingering in his place for several seconds.
Before the towering behemoth could even comprehend what had conspired, it suddenly felt a massive gut-wrenching pain punch through its thick skin.
"ROOAAAAR-"
Like a cannonball being launched, the monster barreled through the landscape at a breakneck velocity, its body leaving trails and cracks on the grassy terrain every time it bounced.
Jin, having arrived here before it could finish its slip N slide, stopped the beast in its tracks while grabbing the tusks with both hands.
"RARGH-"
Feeling this sudden sense of unprecedented pressure on its prideful tusks, the beast roared in absolute rage before-
BOOM!
-unleashing a massive wave of dark-like energy from its body which spread outwards in every direction, resulting in a sudden abnormal growth of the monster.
Gruesome veins popped out of its bulging muscles, its demonic eyes blackening at a terrifying rate.
"ROAR!"
BOOM!
An even more intense wave of energy swept through the rolling plains, even stirring Nero awake who was nothing but a minuscule black dot in the distance.
"Hm?"
Feeling this surge of malicious magical energy, she honed in on the location, spotting Jin holding down on a monster's tusk with a nonchalant expression, while... he was fucking yawning?!
"...?"
Rubbing her eyes, she looked again. This time, the man had balled his fist mid-yawn and punched down with a force hard enough to dissipate the dark energy into nothingness.
Swoosh!
Feeling the air current rushing towards her, she unblinkingly stared up into the sky.
"Praetor?"
...
...
...
After he punched the beast's adamantine-like skull, Jin suddenly decided to say 'We ball', before yanking the more than a thousand-ton beast into the air with him.
"ROAAAAAAR!"
High up in the air, the beast roared in shame and anger, furious that its head was suddenly between the legs of another male!
How shameless, it wasn't into the other gender!
Meanwhile, Jin's grip was akin to a vice, clamping onto the underside of the monster's neck, keeping its body inverted with its head aimed squarely at the ground.
And with a sudden spin-
FWOOOSH!
-as if gravity had increased by a thousandfold, they dropped down so fast that before the soundwave could catch up, a massive tremor spread through the entire rolling plains, cracking the surrounding area in the process, as dirt and dust got kicked up into the air.
BOOM!
"Praetor!"
Tilting his head at the sudden voice, Jin, still seated, looked up at the Roman Empress, who had broken through the sound barrier with ease.
And... from Nero's perspective, seeing the unscathed dumbass sitting there, scratching his head awkwardly, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Geez..."
Glancing at the towering beast, which had its head planted deep into the ground, Nero couldn't help but reminisce about the time she used to wrestle a lion... while naked in front of an audience.
"Uh, long time no see?"
Hearing him call her out, she snapped out of her reveries and glanced down at Jin with glimmering eyes.
"Praetor!"
"Yuh."
"Praetor! Praetor!"
"Yuh."
Jumping up in excitement, she looked up at the still-twitching body of the Rhinoceros-like beast.
"You did this!"
"I know."
"Let's eat it!"
Jin: ('⊙ _ ⊙ ')
Nero: ᕙ( •̀ ᗜ •́ )ᕗ
The still alive Beast: ('⊙︿⊙')
'But... bro just got Zangief'd though?'
...
...
...