Paperwork

It's quiet in the mansion. Most of the chandeliers are hanging low, their rusty chains weighed down by the burden of time. The once-gorgeous, crimson red laminate floor now lies cracked and broken.

Long lost is the colorful design envisioned by its eccentric designers. They intended for the white trim to contrast with the laminate's vibrancy. Instead, the surface has become stained by dust and oil like substances. The once comforting peach and brown textured walls have been overtaken by mold.

The exterior of the mansion does not present a more favorable impression. The outer facade of the upper floors has been stripped away by severe weather. Exposed lie the supporting pillars struggling to hold the ceilings in place. This nineteen-story tall building is sure to one day fall apart, as decay is overwhelming its structure.

Nonetheless, there is a group of people that won't give up on it; They are those who would call it their first real home. Sola, the mansion's most recent inhabitant, harbors similar feelings. Thus, she dedicates her free time to the maintenance of the mansion's first five floors.

As of now, she is residing in her room on the fifth floor. A rummaging noise can be heard, as she unpacks an item from her suitcase. It has a sticker with a logo on it. The logo reads "Glaukom".

"Say, Sola, have you brought me any goodies?"

Sola is unresponsive. Instead, she puts her suitcase on the desk for Rasqui to search through.

Rasqui tries to look for a present but does not find any.

"No goodies?" She says in a gloomy mood.

After a while, she comes to the understanding that there is nothing for her.

Rasqui sits down, but her disappointment is quenched as she begins to observe Sola on a deeper level

"You've aged. Your eyes have tiny little wrinkles now. Work must be hard." Implying she seems to understand the stress Sola is through.

"I'm proud of you." Says Rasqui from all her heart. And after a small pause:

"Come on Sola, let us take a vacation together. You really deserve it." Whined Rasqui, as she stomped with her little legs on Sola's wooden desk with her arms raised.

Silence.

"Sola?"

Only now begins Sola to raise her head. A faint smile overcomes her face.

"That is what I needed. Thank you, Rasqui. And of course, I did not forget about you." She pulls something from the pockets of her trousers and reaches it to Rasqui.

"Woa." A small fluffy cloud swings around Rasqui. It seems to possess some kind of sentience. Rasqui flails her arms and legs and tries to catch it

"Rasqui, I can't stay here for too long. I will be writing the application for my next job soon. I've already updated my CV."

"Huh?" Rasqui is now sitting on the obedient cloud, as she managed to outmaneuver it.

"Our light sources are almost depleted. I have to take on some other errands as well."

"I see."

"But I promise you Rasqui, one more job, then we can go on vacation together."

An unconvinced Rasqui with crossed arms and closed eyes weeps in silence. Sola assumes she is disappointed, but in reality, something else is bothering Rasqui.

"That's no good. Then I won't be able to spend our money before you leave, this time."

Rasqui pauses.

"This time?!" "What the hell do you use MY hard-earned money for?" Lashes out an irritated Sola.

Sola rushes to the mansion's treasury in the basement. She inserts the lockers key and reveals…nothing.

"Urghh, where is the money!" Sola is furious.

"Uhm, how do you think I am able to afford my growth hormones? They are not called that because they grow on trees, silly Sola."

"Your growth hormones?!"

"Hmm."

Sola pulls out a fork from behind her back. "I guess, if I ever find myself starving and without money, then you will serve as emergency rations. Though, in your pathetic form, you would not even account as an appetizer." Sola then chases after a fleeing Rasqui, desperate to not be eaten.

"Yeesh, where did she pull this knife from? Scary."

As both run across the mansion, a spider latches onto Rasqui, entrapping her in webs.

"Whaaaa. Sola, help me. Now I am being eaten for real."

Sola hides her shit-eating grin by placing her right hand in front of her face.

"Ha ha ha ha ha. I can understand you now. To think that in your state, even a cute small spider could end you."

"Cute?! It's the ugliest creature I have ever seen. It could win the contest for least attractive creature."

Rasqui snaps out of her thoughts, punches the spider across the room, and breaks free. The spider is yearning, then crawls for another hole in the wall.

"See, suits you right for challenging such a formidable opponent as I am." She shouts directed towards the spider.

Rasqui exhales and unwinds her body in relief.

"Eh, I've had it worse. At least I have legs this time."

"Oh, I would have loved to see that!"

"Not as spectacular as you might think. Hm, I died, struggling to climb up the mountain I was reborn at. A short and very, very tragic life for a being of my caliber."

"Well if you wish, I could help you restart now."

"No, Sola, I have a promise to uphold, despite MY form. I envision it every day. Imagine the mighty authors being afraid of a figurine that is not even as big as one their fingers. How glorious, this will be the ultimate power move!"

"Hmmhmhmh, you wish, deary."

Rasqui and Sola returned to the fifth floor.

"So, what about your next job?"

"The gardens of Eden. The natives have been neglecting the garden's flora, so intakes from all around are welcome to take care of it."

"Also, they will be rewarding seeds for a heart-tree to very hard-working employees."

"Yes, I have heard about them! They can show you their emotions. Fascinating!" Sola enjoys Rasquis' interest and her childlike enthusiasm.

"This would make great in our garden!"

Sola closes her eyes with a faint smile and nods in agreement.

Sola is a child of royalty, proudly representing her family's crest. While she lives in the mansion, her standard attire is a white reefer jacket. She has a navy-blue colored cape attached to its collar. Her trousers are dark brown with a touch of green. As they are pleated they leave space between the skin and the fabric but remain somewhat of a structure. She wears white gloves with black marks that linger around her hands. Her bright yellow sneakers complement the color of her cape.

Sola's hair is a lighter blue tone than that of her cape. She wears a ponytail bound by three gray hair ties. It's not unusual for it to become loose amid a battle, revealing her long beautiful hair.

"Did you know Rasqui, Menthya did plant a heart tree once."

"Huh, what happened to it?"

"As it reached a certain height it 'felt' her jealousy. Menthya did not want the plant to grow higher than her, so as to avoid a conflict with her devious nature, it surrendered its life energy. Not a day and the heart tree completely withered, killed by the fear of Menthays intense emotions."

"Ah, that's sad, not even nature enjoys her company."

"I guess that's why they say she's a weed!"

After a short silence and slight consideration…

"Hehehe." Laughs Sola mockingly.

"Hahaha." Laughs Rasqui sarcastically.

It took a few seconds for them to cool down.

"That's what I needed, indeed."

"Hm?"

"I will refill my coffee, do you want some too? Says Sola gently.

"Hmph idiot, only those stressed by work drink coffee. I lavish only the finest tee." Rasqui exaggerates her tone, as she tries to mimic Menthya.

"Sister!?"

Both break out in laughter again. As she stands up from her chair, she pauses for a second, her right hand touching its backrest.

"I wonder what she has been up to lately."

Solas chair, being a gift from Menthaya, was manufactured by a very high-esteem chair brand called Merman Hiller. The chairs' metallic white rounds up the more esteem look of her room.

Sola likes the sturdy wood design of her desk, which was made by hand with a lot of effort and affection, something she can appreciate. The wall behind her boasts a large glass window of rectangular shape. The glass is tinted darker than usual, so people outside cannot see into the room.

Solas' goal is the foyer on her floor, as it boasts a technological masterpiece of the working class: The coffee machine.

The mansion's layout itself is simple and somewhat symmetrical. Its silhouette resembles more of a tower. Each floor is built as a cube. The amount of rooms per floor is a multiple of four. The rooms are located at the outermost part of the floor, at its edges.

Four hallways connect the rooms to the foyer at the center. A foyer is surrounded by a cubic wall with four openings where those hallways lead into. The staircases and elevators that connect the floors are also located in the foyer, at the center of each.

The mansion's first five floors are of the same diameter. The next four floors are around eighty-five percent of the size of the first five. The higher the mansion, the fewer rooms.

On her way, Soal encounters a loose window. A cold breeze brazed her trousers. Sola shudders. She stares at the window and is overcome with an urge.

"I need to fix this" She thinks nonchalantly.

She lays down the cup and hastens to walk to the workshop to grab her tools. As she approaches the window, a strong back drought destroys the protective covering. Sola is taken ahold by the cold, she inhales in preparation for the sensation to come. A large "Tchaa" sounds through the lower floors of the mansion.

"An earthquake? Weird, the vibration almost felt relieving" Audits the house guard, who is taking a walk in the mansion's gardens.

"Ouch, that was way too intense". As she opens her eyes, a large, wobbly, and half-transparent green slime culminates into a humanoid-shaped being. "Did that come out of me? Now I feel disgusting."

"Wan." As the slime shaped into a more humanoid form, a gray tissue formed at its head. Its voice is hardly recognizable, sounding more like a tear in space-time.

"It developed a brain? Hopefully not part of mine."

"One." The slime's voice became clearer as the brain developed.

Sola enters a defensive stance. She puts her right leg and right arm forward in participation in a fight. Sola does not know what will happen, but letting the slime develop a consciousness might prove advantageous. It could help her to understand the nature of the slime better.

"We are one," Says the slime, which has created a face with four eyeballs and teeth made of a bone-like material. Its gaze meets that of Sola. Before she can react, the brain of the being itself manifests an eye. For a moment, through the eye, Sola was able to see the creator of this being. The sight deeply disturbed Sola, as the being was none other than one of the mighties authors. Gorr, God-Slime.

As soon as it could utter a whole sentence, Sola decided to prepare for the offensive.

"Release your thoughts. There is only the battle now. This is Flow"

Sola's pupils begin to widen. Her body is vibrating. Not in fear though. Flow is a state every being is able to achieve by focusing on one's pure self. Flow is the basis for any martial art technique. It allows anyone to develop a style that is fully compatible with one's understanding of how to live and fight. Flow is achieved by continually pushing one's consciousness from the brain to every other body part.

"HAA!" Sola propels herself by applying pressure with her right food onto the floor.

A moment before impact, Sola decreased her momentum. While airborne she delivers a powerful straight punch to the slime being. As it is able to block her attack with both hands, Sola steps to the being's side almost instantaneously.

Her next attack hits due to her speed. She steps away from her enemy's guard and repeats her movements to reach more vulnerable areas. After it was hit a few times, the being reciprocated and managed to hit Sola by flailing its arms, knocking her back.

"Oof, that hurts," Sola says as she rubs her side.

She knew she couldn't let her guard down against this bizarre, slimy opponent. She needed to find a way to defeat it before it did any more damage to her or the mansion. She remembered the flow state she had entered earlier and decided to try and enter it again.

"Feel the sensation, abandon all thoughts, for now, I am in flow," she muttered to herself.

As she entered the flow, she could feel her senses sharpening. Her movements become quicker and more precise. She used her increased speed and reaction time to dodge. She weaves around the slime being's attacks and strikes back with powerful blows.

"I don't like it. That slime becomes sturdier with every punch. Looks like we have a tough opponent here," Sola thinks to herself as she continues to fight the slime being.

Sola starts to feel the strain of the fight on her body, but she refuses to give up. She remembers the words of her mentor.

"Flow is about finding the rhythm of the fight and letting your instincts guide you."

As the battle raged on, the slime became more intelligent. It went on the offensive and used its own body's fluid shape to extend its attack range. As such, Sola retaliates with her innate flow technique.

"FIST ARTILLERY!", she shouts. By timing her flow output correctly, she can turn fragments of her flow into a tangible object in the shape of a fist. The fist is orange and ghostly in appearance, as it is only an image of a real fist.

As she punches the air with a straightforward, the first manifests from her right hand. It flies towards the slime from a distance, pulverizing it into many pieces. Unfortunately, the pieces splattered across the room are gathering. It presents itself in its reformed humanoid form.

"Sola, what's going on?" Rasqui reached the foyer on her own to investigate the noises she heard.

"Rasqui, I will have to take this thing down. You have to report to the Fyen."

Sola is sorely out of breath. Without wasting more words, Rasqui nods and jumps down the stairwell.

"I am dripping in sweat. I should have removed my jacket much earlier."

Her revealed upper body is coated with something far worse than sweat.

"What? These things are consuming me! Get off, get off, get off!" Slime ripped pieces off of her skin.

"This must be some kind of rule. First my nasal secretions, now my sweat. My bodily fluids are turning into slime. That is why that monster is becoming stronger."

She is correct. The slime reaches a level of consciousness that allows it to enter the flow itself. As it's clinging to the ceiling, it is starting to morph its humanoid shape into that of a turret. Its head is now projected onto its cylindric torso. Its legs transform into three supporting pillars in a triangular configuration. Its arms transform into barrels. From the magazin emerges sentient slime ammunition with faces and annoying little voices. They seem nervous to be used as such.

"We are one, Mother." Repeats the slime in a deep voice, as it shoots charged slime projectiles at Sola.

"Don't call me that, you creep." Retorts Sola.

The projectiles are so strong that they are piercing through the floors and walls. Smaller slimes are emerging from the puddles. Sola is able to gracefully dodge all the bullets.

Still, new slimes are charging at her from the impact sites to throw off her balance. As the floors crumble beneath her, she keeps in place by jumping between falling rubble pieces.

She fends off the smaller slimes by kicking them to the ground beneath her. Sola realized that by using its flow state, the slime is losing mass, becoming weaker in turn. Her goal was now to keep the slime bullets separated from the main body. Not an easy task, as those slimes could jump from wall to wall as she can.

"I need to kick that thing into space and keep it locked there."

With her teeth gritted, she jumps out of a window and searches for stepping stones she can use to climb the mansion. Sola uses the construction enclosure on the facade outside the mansion to parkour.

"I can't believe it, all that hard work, in pieces. People learn their craft by putting in their time. They had to practice for years to garner the skills to be able to construct this building." She is shedding a tear at their efforts. She does not change her expression, as she is still in flow mode and concentrated.

As the slime further demolished the mansion, it seemed that Sola almost reached it.

She uses another window to jump into the floor the slime retreated to earlier.

"I WON'T FORGIVE." She jumps with her full strength from a plate on the floor and hits the slime right on its head. The sound from the impact caused all the windows in the mansion to shatter.

The slime flies upwards at record speed, damaging the mansion's upper floors. The punch wouldn't be able to send the slime to outer space. But, Sola used her fist artillery in conjunction with her normal punch.

Her fist artillery is endlessly pushing the slime away from the mansion. The electric charge from the fist artillery sticks to an enemy and can only be removed by using a strong flow burst. However, as the slime used up plenty of its body mass already, it's not strong enough. As the slime's main body begins to disintegrate, the other parts begin to do so too.

"Mother!" The slime let out a final, pained cry as it dissolved into a puddle of green goo. Sola collapsed onto the ground, exhausted but victorious. She closed her eyes, feeling a sense of peace wash over her as she slipped into unconsciousness.

"Sola? Sola? What happened?", a familiar voice tries to wake her. It's Rasqui. Rasqui brought with her Iyula, Oktase and the mansion's guard, Fyen.

Sola opens her eyes, dust all over her.

"Owah" She immediately feels the urge to cough. Though she seems exhausted at first, she is eager to report the situation.

"Something applied a rule to me. All my bodily fluids turn…"

"No, that's not precisely what it is. Any secretion my body dispenses turns into carnivorous slime, eager to assimilate nearby life. As I wheezed, my nasal secretion turned into an intelligent creature. My sweat morphed into leeches that fed on my skin."

As Sola explains, Rasqui, Oktase and Fyen look disgusted about her detailed explanation.

"Uh, well then wanna drink something...alcoholic?" Questions Fyen Sola.

"Why all of a sudden?" Asks Sola.

"This must be traumatizing for you. I can help you relax a bit. In exchange, I would like to see what wonderful being would be born from out of your puke." Though Oktase says it gently, it is nothing more than a provocation to Sola.

"Uh, you are that eager to find that out. Open your mouth and I would be glad to exchange my bodily fluids with you."

"Shut the fuck up, its me who is going to puke if you two continue talking such garbage" says Oktase. He is rubbing his head as he can't stop himself from imaging.

"Man, why do you always have to talk so much shit."

In the meanwhile, Iyula seems to enjoy the premise.

"Damn, so hot." Staring at the ceiling, her face turned red. She has a vivid imagination.

"You are horny for anything, huh Iyula" Mentions Oktase.

"Shame on you, you are garbage people" Notices Rasqui.

"SAYS YOU!" Shouts everyone else.

"Whatever, another one is trying to claim me as their shareholder."

"How many rules have been applied to you Sola?" Question Fyen.

"With the recent one three. There are also some hidden rules though, likely five."

"Hmm, I don't know what to make out of it yet. But you need rest, so that's okay."

Sols sits down on the floor.

"Yeah, I agree."

As the others leave, Sola, lying on the floor asks herself:

"Wait, can I even use the bathroom now? Am I now supposed to do battle against my own piss? Uhh, fuck off." To relieve herself from the thoughts, she enters flow one more time.

"Sigh."