Songs in the Void: A Multiversal Score

ICDS Universe, Earth, United States of America, Page, Arizona. 

On their way back to the hotel where they were staying, Tatsuo, Violet, James, Alfonzo, Elicia, Aletia, Shea, Tio, Rias, Sona, and Scáthach were engaged in small talk. However, just as they reached the front entrance of the hotel, they were stopped by the rather annoyed sounding voice of a woman. 

"Soramoto Tatsuo!" The female voice shouted just after the hotel doors slid open. "Just where have you been!? And why have I not been able to get in touch with you!?" 

"Well, hell..." Tatsuo muttered in a tired toen. 

The source of the annoyed voice was a tall, Japanese woman with long, flowing pitch-black hair and black eyes with a rather curvy figure. Accompanying the sound of her voice was the sound of her high-heeled boots clicking against the floor and ground as she approached with a determined stride. 

On top of the knee-high high heeled boots this woman was wearing, she also wore a white, military-style uniform with a white hat on top of her head. 

"Oh, damn... Who is this lovely lady?" James asked with his eyes sparkling. 

"Oh, it's Yoshikawa-San." Violet replied. "But I thought the Wyvern Nest was only open to S-Rank Awakened." 

"I just got reassessed as S-Rank." Yoshikawa Noriko, the former Lt. Colonel in charge of Japan's Guardian branch, replied while continuing to walk towards Tatsuo. "Now, Tatsuo, answer my question." 

"*Sigh* Fine." Tatsuo replied, sounding as if he did not want to deal with the interrogation. "But let's talk over dinner." 

Seeing that Tatsuo was not against giving her an explanation, Noriko nodded her head. Then, she stopped right in front of Tatsuo and performed a textbook about face before grabbing Tatsuo by the arm and dragging him into the hotel. 

Though, it was clear to everyone present that Tatsuo was allowing himself to be dragged along, even if he looked rather annoyed at Noriko's actions. 

Not long later, everyone was seated in the hotel's dining room. Elicia, who had been working on everyone's new gear, had even joined them. And instead of the casual clothing she was wearing earlier, she was wearing a black and white body suit with pink accents and a hood hanging on the back. 

"Tah dah!" Elicia exclaimed as she did a little spin to show off her new outfit. "What do ya think? I made it with wyvern leather and my threads." 

"Ghost Spider, nice." Tatsuo said as he reached out and touched Elicia's forearm. "It's definitely better than what I could make. It's a B+-Rank item. But it's still lacking [Mana Crafting]." 

"I knew you'd get it." Elicia said while puffing her chest out with pride. She then put on the all-white mask that went with her costume and dropped into the iconic Spider-Man pose. 

"How did you get the colors to change like that?" Sona sked curiously. "I mean, those wyverns were basically just grey." 

"[Color Magic]." Elicia said as she shot a thread from her wrist and pulled over a magic item with fluctuating colors on a dial. "When you use magic to make clothes, you don't leave home without it." 

"More importantly, you made some for the rest of us, too, right?" Rias asked excitedly. 

"Something like that." Elicia replied with a nod. "But they aren't all body suits like this. I thought other things would fit your styles better." 

Elicia then shot another thread from her wrist that stuck to the dining room's ceiling. She then swung away disappearing past the doors to the dining room. To go and retrieve the other costumes. Meanwhile, everyone just watched the energetic seamstress go and do her own thing. 

"So, are you ready to introduce me to all these people, Tatsuo-Kun?" Noriko asked in an impatient tone. "And you can start explaining where you've been and why I couldn't get in touch with you all this time." 

"It's only been a month." Tatsuo muttered while crossing his arms. "Just because you were my om's friend in this reality doesn't mean you have to act like my mom, you know?" 

"What was that?" Noriko asked with the eyebrow not hidden behind her bangs raised. "And what do you mean your mom in this world?" 

"*Sigh* Fine... it's like this." Tatsuo said, just wanting to get this over with. 

Tatsuo then proceeded to tell Noriko about his circumstances as a world traveler and how he was not originally from this world. Though, he did have a history here thanks to some weird time-space shenanigans. He also explained the reason why she could not find him while he was gone and that he was living in his own world. 

Needless to say, Noriko was thoroughly confused by what she heard. However, when she saw that no one else seemed to be confused by Tatsuo's story, she judged what he was saying to be true. And when she heard that everyone present, except for Violet, were all from different worlds, as well, she had no choice but to believe it. That, or to think that everyone was pulling quite the elaborate prank. 

Around the time Tatsuo's story ended, Elicia returned with everyone's new gear. On top of that, Alfonzo came out from the kitchen with food cooked from the wyverns they hunted. So, everyone was in for a treat. And Noriko found out first hand just what otherworldly cooking tasted like. 

After taking her first bite, Noriko's eyes opened wide. Then, her cheeks reddened as she started to rub her thighs together and writhe in pleasure. 

"Ahn~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!" Noriko moaned loudly, causing everyone to look at her with amusement while Tatsuo, James, and Alfonzo were all forced to cross their legs to keep their dignity. 

Meanwhile, Noriko, after putting on such a display was no longer in the mood to talk about Tatsuo's disappearance. Though, that did not stop her from scarfing down her food like she had not eaten in months. 

After dinner, Elicia handed out everyone's new gear. For Tatsuo, she made him a black, tactical body suit with midnight-purple accents, plenty of space to hide all sorts of hidden weapons, and a cowl to cover the top half of his head and face. There were also holsters sewn into the thighs for him to put his bladed pistols. She also made him a midnight purple trench coat because she thought it looked cool. James received a red, Shihakusho-like kimono. Alfonzo received a black and white martial arts gi with a blue sash. Violet got a sturdy leather armor with places for Alfonzo to add metal plating. And Aletia got a white and black uniform consisting of a white dress shirt, a black skirt, a white blazer, long black socks, black high-heels, and a red necktie. 

That was it for the members of the [Dimensional Chat]. As for the others, Shea received what appeared to be tankini armor that showed off some cleavage and part of her tummy, and a matching, knee length battle skirt. Though, it was not all that revealing. Instead, it was rather tasteful. Tio got a black and red kimono-like robe with a yellow obi. Rias received a full black body suit with a zipper that reached from her neck to her pelvis thigh high, high-heeled boots, making her look like Black Widow from Marvel. Sona received a black business suit with a sky blue dress shirt, stockings, and black high heels that stretched for ease of movement. And for Scáthach, Elicia did not know what to make. So, she just made a variation of her usual body suit. Though, this one had some mesh openings that showed off her cleavage and sides. The defense was no less in those locations, though. There were also some spaces for Alfonzo to add some metal armor pieces, as well. 

"Alright, we can put these pieces through the ringer tomorrow." Alfonzo said while looking down at his costume. "It's not bad, though. Good job, Lici." 

"Of course." Lici said proudly. "This is what I do." 

"You all can give those to me for now, though." Tatsuo added. "I'll do [Mana Crafting] on them before I give them back.' 

"Yeah, I definitely wanna see that." Alfonzo said. 

"As would I." Scáthach added in an interested tone. 

"Alright." Tatsuo replied with a shrug. "I don't mind putting on a little show for everyone." 

"What is [Mana Crafting]?" Noriko asked curiously. 

"You'll see soon." Violet said with a smile. "it's kind of pretty, though." 

Witha that, everyone gave their costumes to Tatsuo, though, Elicia had to leave to change out of hers first. Then, everyone gathered in the room Tatsuo was sharing with Violet, Aletia, Shea, and Tio, which in hindsight, was a bad idea. Especially after Tatsuo saw how Noriko was ready to start lecturing him about his improper behavior. However, he just pushed through and decided that he would put her out before she could get too annoying when he was done. 

"Alright, Lici, you know which mana stone is for which outfit, right?" Tatsuo asked. 

"Yup!" Elicia replied energetically. "Here, do this one first. It's for Fonzie's." 

"Alright." Tatsuo replied as he accepted the mana stone from Elicia. Then, he started breaking it down into powder with his [Alchemy]. "So, Alfonzo, what do you want me to add?" 

"Hmm.... If it could help me control electricity a little more smoothly, that would help." 

"Got it." Tatsuo replied with a nod. 

Tatsuo then applied the mana stone powder onto the costume Elicia made for Alfonzo. Then, he took another mana stone out of his [Inventory]. He then added its mana to the costume while guiding its enhancement with his will. And as time went by, the new mana stone broke down into powder while its mana was extracted and willed to be something else in Tatsuo's hands. 

"and... done." Tatsuo said as he put the mana stone dust into his [Inventory]. "It went up to A—Rank and now has the ability to assist in controlling electricity." 

"Perfect." Alfonzo replied with a smile as he held up the outfit and felt its changes for himself. 

After that, Tatsuo added effects to everyone else's costumes, giving added defense to Violet's, Elicia's, Shea's, and Scáthach's. Elemental control to Aletia's and Sona's. And he added offensive output to James' and Rias' costumes. 

As for the [Enchantments] he added to his own costume, Tatsuo added the ability to shoot needles from his wrist guards like he had done in his last body suit. As for the trench coat, he noticed that it was made from the wyvern's wing membrane. So, he added the ability to fly when mana was circulated through the coat. 

With all of that done, Tatsuo shooed everyone out of his room that was not sleeping there. That naturally included Noriko, who was trying to lecture him about sharing a room with four women. However, he was not having any of that. 

And like that, two days passed quickly. During that time, other than sleeping and eating, the only thing the group did was fight wyverns. They even met America's SS-Ranker, Leon Pepper, an African-American man with the ability to imbue his mana into objects, mostly conventional firearms, making them effective weapons against the monsters. 

Leon even started joining them during their hunts after the day he met the group. However, he was a bit much for some of the group to deal with, with is boundless optimism and positive energy. He got along well enough with James and Alfonzo, though. Especially with how much the three liked to drink. Shin also joined them in their drinking, as well. 

And now, on the fifth day since the [Dimensional Chat] met up in this universe, they were all gathered together fighting the wyverns. However, unlike the other days they fought, the weather today was particularly nasty, as the skies were pouring rain down by the bucket. On top of that, streaks of lightning were snaking through the clouds, lighting up the dreary landscape whenever they did so. 

"It looks like we're finally almost done." Elicia said as she wrapped her threads around a wyvern's wings before swinging it around and slamming it into the canyon walls. "The wyverns are a lot stronger than they were a couple of days ago." 

"They're still too weak to be a challenge." Rias replied while sending out a scattered shot of [Power of Destruction] to take down a group of wyverns." 

*Bang!* 

"Ura~~~~~~~!" Shea shouted as she swung her hammer upwards into the lower jaw of a diving wyvern, destroying its head in the process. "By the way, how many of these things have we taken down in the last three days?" 

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* 

"Not sure!" Leon replied to Shea's question while shooting his dual desert eagles. "But we're all going to be pretty rich when this is all over." 

"Plus, it's easy to tell who killed what." James said. "I mean, there are none of those hideous bullet holes in the ones we killed." 

"If Dante and Lady heard you, they would have something to say, James." Sona said while suffocating a wyvern by controlling the rain water and making a water bubble around its head. 

"Well, they can talk to me about it when they stop destroying stuff on their jobs." James shot back. "Or rather, they can talk to me when Lady can stop Dante from destroying everything on their jobs." 

"It sounds like they would fit in with our guild." Alfonzo said casually while shooting taser lines, made with his [Metal Magic], into an approaching Wyvern's chest before sending a high-voltage jolt of electricity through the lines, yet not letting the electricity be affected by the falling rain. 

"Yeah, but he's too prickly." Elicia added. "he'd probably fight with everyone, all the time." 

"That sounds like a perfect fit to me." Alfonzo said with a chuckle as he slammed the disoriented wyvern into a wall head first, breaking its neck and killing it. 

"So, just who are you guys?" Leon asked curiously while reloading his pistols. "I mean, to think that no one has ever heard of any of you despite being so powerful. It's really amazing." 

"That's our little secret." Elicia replied while putting her right index finger over where her mouth would be behind her mask. 

Like that, the group continued to kill wyverns with ruthless efficiency. And as they did, those sensitive to the presence of [energy], namely Tatsuo, Violet, Shin, Hwaya, James, Alfonzo, Elicia, Ye-Eun, and Scáthach felt quite a bit of the mana in the air gathering in a certain place. There was also a much less dense gathering of mana happening a bit further away. 

"Alright, guys!" James shouted after feeling the two mana sources. "The boss is going to be here soon. But it looks like there's more than one." 

"More than one?" Hwaya asked over the sound of the torrential rain. "Do you mean an Event Raid?" 

"Sure, whatever that is." James said with a playful smirk on his face. 

Immediately, Hwaya started to pout. Though, she knew exactly why James replied like that. He was not a Dungeon Explorer, after all. And that's why his strength was all the more frustrating to her. She could tell that he was barely trying to deal with the wyverns. Yet, she, a Gold—Ranked Explorer was starting to have to actually put in some effort to deal with the flying lizards. And the fact that the Field Dungeon's Boss and an Event Raid Boss were coming would mean that this would be a lot of work for her. 

However, before Hwaya could think about it any further, all the Dungeon Explorers heard a Notification from the Dungeon. 

 {An Event Raid has broken out! SS+-Rank, 100-man 'Flame Drake.'}

{Because you were present at the Raid Boss's location, you will be forced to participate.} 

{Your party holds the priority for the Event Raid. Unless you choose to reveal its existence, other Dungeon Explorers will not be notified until 1 hour later.} 

["What should we do?"] Shin asked in the Dungeon Explorer Communication channel. 

["I'm gonna make it public."] Tatsuo replied. ["Although we won't have an issue taking it out, it would be better for the others to get some rewards, too."] 

["That's a good idea."] Hwaya added. 

["I think so, too." Violet said. 

With that, Tatsuo made the Event Raid public. And it did not take long for the other Earth Dungeon Explorers, namely, Kang Yungoong and Edward Walker, to teleport from where they were in South Korea to the Wyvern Nest in Page, Arizona. They were also wearing something to cover their faces so they would not be recognized. 

["I'm here, Son."] Yungoong said over the Communication channel. 

["I am, too."] Edward added. ["I don't know why, though. I don't think I'm strong enough for an SS+-Rank Event Raid."] 

["That doesn't matter, Walker."] Tatsuo replied. ["I'm gonna handle this big lizard myself. I just wanted to make sure you were able to get some rewards."] 

["Arrogant."] Edward said, recognizing the voice he had not heard in the channel for over a month. ["It seems you haven't changed since you disappeared."] 

*Roar~~~~~~~~~~~!* 

At that moment, a loud roar tore through the surroundings. At the same time, a large red reptilian creature with four thick limbs, a long tail, and fiery red scales appeared not far away in the center of the canyon. On top of that, the heat the creature, the Flame Drake, was emitting was evaporating all the rain that fell upon it on contact. 

["Yeah, and you said you were gonna kill that thing yourself?"] Edward asked after seeing the Flame Drake. ["You've gotten even more arrogant from what I can see."] 

["It's not arrogance if you can back it up, Walker."] Tatsuo replied as he started walking towards the Flame Drake. ["Now, just shut the hell up and watch. No fake dragon like this should ever think of roaring like that in my presence."] 

Lowering his left hand from in front of his mouth, Tatsuo's height increased slightly. Though, thanks to the rainfall, it was hard to notice. However, what everyone did notice was the fact that Tatsuo's [Energy] and draconic aura was spiking, as he activated his [Half-dragon Transformation]. And thanks to the costume Elicia made, his increase in size did not leave him exposed. Instead, it stretched with him. 

At the same time, as Tatsuo's draconic aura spread throughout the area, the wyverns flying in the sky began to lose consciousness or the will to fight as they fell from the sky thanks to Tatsuo's [Dragon Fear]. Meanwhile, the Flame Drake stopped its roar and snapped its head in Tatsuo's direction. 

Yet, before the Drake could question who... or what... Tatsuo was, Tatsuo vanished from where he stood in a burst of speed. He then appeared on the other side of the drake, at the end of its tail, with is modified trench knives drawn and glowing in midnight purple energy. 

Not long later, after freezing in place for a few moments, the Flame Drake fell apart into four sections that were divided by an X-shaped wound that stretched from the tip of its snout to the end of its tail. Tatsuo then turned around and tapped a finger on a piece of the Drake's tail and put the whole corpse into his [Inventory], mana stone and all, before anyone could comment on what just happened. 

["Alright, the Event Raid has been dealt with."] Tatsuo said in a refreshing tone. ["now, let's finish cleaning up the wyverns. The Field Dungeon's Boss should be here soon, too."] 

However, Tatsuo did not receive a response through the Dungeon Explorer Communications channel, as its members were too dumbfounded to do so. And since Tatsuo's [Dragon Fear] took care of most of the regular wyverns, they did not need to worry about being attacked for the moment.