Dungeon Raider System

When Medusa decided to not go back with Uriel and her friends she really didn't think things through. She did know that both Tina and Mark were heavenly rank hunters and it made sense for each party to be balanced because that would make it more difficult for cryptids to spot them. But she didn't count with Tina being Uriel's ex girlfriend.

Not just that, after Uriel accused Tina of being with him only to get good grades she felt the need to prove him wrong. The gossip of Tina being too close with Mark right after the breakup was already bad enough, but If word got out that she was a manipulative woman it would make her look bad. That was something Tina, as the heir to the Celes company, couldn't allow.

Unfortunately for Medusa, Tina had noticed how she acted towards Uriel and she quickly realized she had a crush on him. If Uriel moved on from Tina, she wouldn't have the chance to redeem herself on the eyes of the public opinion and she needed to do something about it.

The way back to the city was awkward, to say the least, and Medusa found herself in various distasteful situations. Your adventure continues at empire

For starters, Tina would keep making comments about Uriel and the time they spent together in college under the guise of trying to act friendly towards Medusa. Nevertheless, both of them knew exactly what that was about, Tina was making sure she understood her place.

Something like that by itself wasn't nearly enough to put a dent on Medusa's thick skin, but she was already feeling down after yelling at Luna and calling her a bad friend. As if that wasn't enough, no one even cared to ask her not to go back with Tina. Even Uriel, who she thought would at least try to keep Mark out of his party, didn't say a thing.

All Uriel did was to hand her a strange looking cross made of silver.

Then, there were also all the snide remarks Tina's friends made about her.

"Why are you so tall? Is that your trait? Doesn't make it difficult for you to get a boyfriend?" Mary said playing dumb, as Medusa's trait was obviously her crimson eyes.

"Look at her clothes, she dresses like a man, of course she doesn't have a boyfriend-" Sophie added with a mocking tone.

"Don't say mean things like that, maybe she likes girls." Tina said in a cutesy voice.

"Ewww!" Mary pretended to cringe.

Medusa felt worthless, unwanted and alone.

Since Tina's party rushed back to the city, they avoided any cryptids they encountered. The trip was fast even for ascended standards, but the few hours Medusa spent along with Tina and her friends sunk her mood. The usual joyful, charming and shameless Medusa was reduced to a silent emotional punchingbag under the cruel onslaught of Mary, Sophie and Tina.

When the gates of the city were on sight their time together was coming to an end, but that only made things worse for Medusa, as the girls became more vicious and direct.

"I must say, It's been so nice getting to know you, Medusa. It's always nice to meet Uri's friends." Tina said with a smile that didn't extend to her eyes. "I have an idea! Maybe I could introduce you to one of my female friends and we can have a double date. I want you to know that, it's ok if you like girls and I would never hold it against you."

At that point, Medusa had enough of Tina's double faced comments and she was reaching a breaking point but she endured until they almost reached the city gates.

"A double date sounds nice, but there's no need to set me up with one of your friends. I can go with Uriel and you can go with Mark since you like him so much." Medusa's remark was an absolute knockout punch to Tina's face.

Tina wanted to reply, but couldn't find the words before entering the city which infuriated her. She had been trying to let Medusa know that Uriel was out of bounds for her, but even after hours of constant badgering, she didn't budge.

Tina was from the wealthiest family in the city and she was used to getting things her way and now she was even a heavenly hunter, but even after making her intentions clear Medusa wouldn't back off. Was she not afraid of being exiled from the city? Wasn't she intimidated by her power or wealth? Tina wondered.

No, she wasn't intimidated and, in fact, all Medusa could think of was of going to the Cryptid hunting agency to grab a drink while she waited for her friends. She needed to apologize to Luna and also, she wanted to ask Uriel what the deal with the cross he gave her was. All Tina accomplished was to make Medusa understand how important her friends were to her.

Once inside the agency the presence of a couple of Mapple corp. employees stood out from the rest of the hunters. They were from the combat division and each one held a tab with Uriel's picture on it. It didn't take long for her to figure out what was going on.

When Mapple bodyguards were assigned to find someone it was an invitation but, when the combat division was involved it could only mean trouble.

Medusa hurriedly took out her phone with the intention to send a message to her friends, her finger hovered on top of Uriel's contact information but she never tapped on it.

"It's my fault... It's all my fault." Medusa muttered deeply regretting not telling her friends who she really was and why they couldn't let the anyone in the Mapple corp. know they were her friends.

If only she wasn't so irresolute, if only she took a stand instead of running away from her family, maybe her grampa would have remained in control of the company and she would have been free to do whatever she wanted. Now not only she didn't have a voice in the family business, she also didn't have a say on her own future.

But there was one thing she could do, and that was to stop dragging her friends down with her.

She pondered her options for a while, still resisting the idea of going back to her family, but it was pointless. It was an all or nothing situation.

Time was against her, as she knew that the minute Uriel set foot inside the city he would be taken. She needed help, but the only person she could think of wasn't much to her liking. Even so, her mind was already made up and the only thing she could do now was to go through with it.