Blood and Librarians

"Agh!"

"And that's the last of 'em."

Seeing the last guest be turned into a book, Roland is teleported back in front of Angela.

"Good work today, you seem to be doing your job meekly and well for someone who complained so much."

"Well, what else do you expect after greeting me in such a violent manner?"

Roland begin to reminisce when he first came here. It has been days since then.

"Heck, I was shocked hard. I find myself in the middle of nowhere amd the first person I meet blows off my limbs."

'Granted, that sounds like a very common event in the City.'

He then finishes looking back and turns to Angela.

"I was lost at first, but I got the gist of receiving guests now that I've tried it a few times. Though I do still have a complaint..."

Roland tries to say the last part quietly. Unfortunately, Angela easily caught it.

"Complaint?"

As she repeats his words, Angela raises her hand, readying to 'discipline' him.

Roland sees Angela's cold stare and tries to calm her.

"Sheesh man, again with that stare. Can't say a thing..."

Angela rolls her eyes at Roland, putting her hand down.

"Just tell me what you mean."

'Oh wait, I actually get to voice my complaint?'

Roland is surprised by this, so he quickly takes the opportunity.

"I mean, well... It's kinda tough to receive all the guests alone. Guests arriving in groups of two or like, four, I can deal with. But anymore than that, and I start to think how the hell am I supposed to fight all of them."

His worry is not without proof, he almost got killed by Pete in his first reception.

"Like, there's gotta be a point where one person is no longer enough, right? It's only working right now because all we've been facing were Rats or lone Fixers."

Then he remembers Angela's words to him before fighting those Yun's Office fixers 2 days ago.

"And the whole fuss about heightening emotions... You said I can't just kill the guests right away because of that."

"Hm..."

Angela listens to his complaints, and begins thinking to herself. Suddenly, she has a plan.

'Maybe I can use them... Although...'

Roland was able to spot her expression.

"What's that odd face hinting at."

"There is a solution, technically speaking. Although I'm not certain if it's for the best."

"You're gonna join in the fights yourself?"

As once her victim, Roland knows that the woman before him is more powerful than she appears despite her naivety to City affairs. He believes she can take on most of the Fixers he knows in a fight quite well.

"No, my role is to overseer the entire Library and its functions. I'm well aware of how strong I am, having me receive guests is too unfair and goes against my idea of consent and a fair ordeal. There are entities that could be of help, however."

"And those 'entities' are?"

"These entities were dubbed 'Abnormalities' due to their nature. They used to wield tremendous syrength and power, but are now too transient to maintaim a physical form, hardly holding onto existence. There are also other humans that we can call upon to become assistant librarians for you."

"Huh? I don't remember seeing any living being in this Library other than you and me."

"That's because they're asleep inside books where the perfect environment for them is simulated, along with librarians who will be of assistance to you."

"Wait, these entities are inside books?"

"That's all you need to know about them for now. What matters more is that they can be useful for the Library's growth."

'Of course it's confidential... As if any employee is given any actual information about what they're working with.'

Roland inwardly sighs at how many times he's been told "That's all you need to know." by higher ups.

"Alrifght, let's say that's the case... How are those sleeping entities supposed to help us exactly?"

"You have to enter the Abnormalities' books and free the librarians trapped within. I believe that the influence of the Abnormalities' powers have caused the librarians in their books to become docile and ephemeral, causing them unable to interact with amything. Amd since Abnormalities are highly unstable, they won't easily trust us."

"So you're basically saying that these 'Abnormalities' will take us fle invaders."

"Correct. If you can overcome all ordeals presented by them, they will come to accept you."

"Instructions still unclear ma'am... You said they're as mighty as wet paper now. You sure they can give us help?"

"We are not making the Abnormalities receive guests for us. If you succeed and gain their trust, not only will the Librarians witht them be free, they'll also empower us directly or indirectly."

" *sigh* Still to ambiguous, I've gotta say..."

Roland is taking a while to understand Angela's words.

"Anyhow, what you're saying is that they'll present us with ordeals, basically. And we have to overcome them to earn their recognition and borrow their powers."

'It's like we're switching up roles where I'm the guest.'

"Still, entering books to fight creatures living inside of them... Sounds like something out of a fairy tale."

Roland  chuckles a bit at the thought.

"We need their power to aid us in combat and to heighten the emptions of our guests without losing."

Angela snaps her fingers, and a book allears in her hand. She drops it to the floor, and the book opens on its own. A door of light comes out of the book, waiting for anyone to enter and face the trials within.

"This is your first Abnormality, I wish you success in there."

"Thanks ma'am."

Roland soon enters the book with sword in hand.

******

In the Book of Bloodbath

Roland is now within the book, he looks around his surroundings to try and understand his new location.

"Ugh, this place is disgusting."

If one word can describe where he is, it's blood. The place is built like a bathroom, bit it is completely stained with blood. There are even puddles of blood all over the floor. Due to this, the whole place reeks.

Roland looks around and finds something that catches his eye. In the middle of the room is a bath tub, with closed eyes on its side and filled with blood.

There is movement in the blood inside the tub. Soon something came out. It was a massive creature, made of flesh and seemingly only flesh, no bones. It has no face whatsoever, instead a gaping hole is where a face should be. It has no fingers or toes, its arms and legs ending in stumps.

Due to having no skin, every time it moes it leaves a trail of blood as it drips from its body.

"I guess you're the 'abnormality' of this place, huh?"

Roland's instincts cause him to get into a fighting stamce and ready for combat.

His instincts were right as the creature charged forward and tries to bumrush him. Roland quickly gets out of the way and tries to attack, but the creature blocks all his strikes.

The creatures swings at Roland. Being too close, Roland had no choice but to block the blow, causing him to be sent quite far due to the impact.

'Dammit, this thing is on a whole 'nother level compared to the guests.'

He charges and swings at it, but the creature's thick arms serve as good protection against Roland's attacks.

'Tch. This is getting me nowhere.'

He dodges the creature's counterattack and tries to come up with a way how to defeat it.

'Its arms are tough, but the body, shoulders and legs don't seem to be as thick...'

Tired of Roland's running, the creature starts breaking parts of the floor to be used as ranged attacks. Roland, now having a plan, charges forward despite this.

He dodges and weaves the incomning debree against him. Jist as he is near the creature, it raises its arms to smash him.

'Now!'

With incredible speed, Roland swings first before the creature attacks, aiming at its biceps.

"ዪልኗኗዘዘነዘነ!!!"

Roland's conjecture was correct, as his blade was able to cut through the creature, causing him to lose its arms and screaming in pain. Taking the opportunity, Roland lands the killikg blow, severing the head.

He watches as the area around him starts producing light, figures of people are starting to appear.

'It seems these guys are the librarians I needed to free.'

Suddenly, he hears a woman's voice in his head.

"ꍌꄲꄲ꒯ ꒻ꄲꃳ ꋪꄲ꒒ꋬꋊ꒯, ꒐ ꇙꁝꋬ꒒꒒ ꒒ꏂꋊ꒯ ꌦꄲ꒤ ꂵꌦ ꉣꄲꅐꏂꋪ."

The voice is similar to Angela's, but there is a clear difference in how they speak.

"꒐'꒒꒒ ꃳꏂ ꅐꋬ꓄ꉔꁝ꒐ꋊꍌ ꌦꄲ꒤ ꉔ꒒ꄲꇙ꒒ꌦ. ꁝꏂꁝꏂꁝꏂ..."

With those words, Roland finds himself leaving the book

******

Roland finds himself back in the library. He looks arpund and see the many people who will be his assistant librarians, they wore suits sporting his colors. He finds Angela greeting him.

"Congratulations on beating your first Abnormality. With this, we have gained mamy helping hands that will certainly lessen our burden."

"Nice, with all these people, we can clear any reception."

"Oh no, that's not how this is going to work."

"Huh?"

Roland turns to Angela confused.

"Didn't I tell you? I wanted a fair system with no strings attached, having our guests deal with a hundred employees is simply cheating. Besides, most of them are non-combatants, only one of them will assist you in combat. Here."

She then pulls one of the assistant librarians to Roland. It was a young boy with brown hair. He has an average body build but a bit lanky.

"This is Morty, he will be assisting you in combat. He has some experience in fighting."

"H-Hello, sir."

Morty nervously introduces himself to his new boss.

"The rest will help in arranging, studying the books and many more, meaning less need for me to micromanage everything here."

" *sigh* Of course I only get one person to help me."

Roland is not too surprised with his luck.

"Did I get anything else from this?"

"Yes. It seems completing the first Abnormality suppression has allowed us to access more of the Library's powers."

"Such as?"

Roland is quite curious what more the Library can do.

"For starters, we can now use its powers to copy the gear and weapons of guests we've defeated."

To prove her words, she pulls out a book. She opens it and points it at Morty, causing him to be surrounded in light. When the light dissipates, Morty is found to have change his clothing, now wearing Finn's clothes and even having his weapon.

"Woah..."

Morty marvels at what happened, playing around with his weapon.

"Free equipment? Now that's what I'm talking about! If word of this gets out, workshops all over the City will be clamoring to try and get a glimpse of this."

To a Fixer, having good and reliable equipment is a very important factor to consider. The idea that they can just make whatever gear out of thin air instantly is a godsend in Roland's eyes. Even it's restriction of only being able to copy the gear of defeated guests isn't that big of a deal. Just need to beat new guests to get their gear.

'I can just imagine workshop workers green with envy over us making our gear without any cost or materials whatsoever.'

"Anything else, ma'am? I'm quite excited."

"There's more, we can use the books to instantly learn all of their experience. Meaning we can turn a civilian into a veteran of many battles just by using a book. We can even copy their techniqies and use them as if we were the original users."

"Holy shit..."

Such an idea is amazing. Many people wish to be strong, but need to spend years training themselves to improve. The fact that they can do this in the blink of an eye is amazing. Especially when they can perfectly copy one's skills and techniques.

"Remember what I said about the Abnormalities empowering us?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we can safely try it without risk of losing books as we can now make simulations."

"Wait, simulations?"

"Allow me to demonstrate."

Angela manifests six books and opens them. As the books open, paper comes flying out and began forming. When they were done forming, what appears in front of them was the Rats and the Yun's Office Fixers.

"These are dummies simulated by the Library, they have all the skills and techniques of the original. So if you somehow lose, we won't lose any books in our possession."

"Life-like combat simulations? I can think of many Fixers who's willing to pay their whole fortune for this. It's perfect for training."

And since its a simulation, they can mix and match what opponents they face, like 6 Finns for some reason.

"You can train Morty and how to use the Abnormalities' gifts with this simulation. This way, we're always ready for guests."

"Well then, me and my new partner are gonna try out this simulation. Send us up ma'am."

Angela sends Roland and Morty to his floor for practice, alongside the simulated enemies they'll fight.

******

At the Floor of General Works

Roland and Morty are face to face with their opponents.

'Since they're simulations and we already have their books, no need to heighten emotions.'

"Hey kid."

"Y-Yes sir!"

Morty stands attention to Roland's call.

"Show me what you can do, alright?"

"S-Sure thing!"

As their enemies approach, Roland and Morty charge side by side.

Roland parries Finn's attack and kicks Pete who tries to stab him. Morty dodges under the Fixers' attacks and tackles both Mang-chi to the ground. Morty then blocks the Fixers' attacks and pushes them back. He fnishes off the woman before retreating as Lenny and Mang-chi get back up.

"Nice work, kid!"

Roland, nonchalantly dealing with both Finn and Pete, congratulates Morty on his efforts.

"Thanks sir! It's refreshing to fight enemies on my level for once."

Morty says this as he is locked with Mang-chi. He pushes the Rat back and stabs him in the neck to kill him.

"Now, let's try those new Abnormality gifts."

Roland then feels something inside him, as if someone is giving his spirit strength.

Finn swings his blade at Roland, but instead of dodging or block, Roland stands still. Instead of getting his hesd chopped off, Finn's blade harmlessly scratches Roland's neck. With his curiosity sated, he swings and kills Finn.

'If this is the power of the first Abnormality, I can't wait about the others.'

Roland easily dodges Pete's attack and beheads him. He turns to check on Morty's progress. He's already killed Lemmy and just now finished the last Fixer.

"Good work there."

Roland pats Morty on the back as congratulations.

"Thank you sir!"

"Hey, how aboutta spar next time? I wanna test your skills personally."

"R-Really? A spar? W-Well, alright. To be honest, I want to train under you. You're clearly more experienced than me about his sort of thing."

"Sure thing pal. We'll be working together anyways."