Hello everyone. I recently went away for a few days and came back and noticed there was some dark greenish and white mold on one of my bagels in the fridge. They have been in there for a few weeks likely, I forgot about them as they weren’t in an obvious spot, but I don’t think it had any mold when I originally left. There may have been, I have not touched the bagels since I noticed it and now went to ask, so I do not know what the full bag looks like. They were originally frozen so had more ice crystals and moisture. However, I am concerned about how to dispose of the bagels and any other food that may be old. I have an unopened container of Greek yogurt that I believe was sell/or best by about a month ago as well as an opened container of cream cheese that I bought about a month or so ago and has been opened around then. I am wondering if there are any precautions I need to take when discarding this food? I am already definitely not eating any of it, but don’t know if I need to do anything besides throw it in the kitchen garbage in the current containers/bagel bag and then wash hands after. Do I need to take trash out right away or clean more after? Will it be spread in the air? I have read about possible mycotoxins so I am nervous about potentially touching mold with that in it. I also do not know how common these types of food would have them or how careful I need to be when discarding. Thank you for any advice or help!

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The floor of the cell is covered in decades of mildew and dust. This disgusting carpet does nothing to dull the pain as I skip across it, thrown in by someone with the intention of making a point.
My Name’s Mike, and if any of you are the types to go on a deep dive, you probably know A little about me already.
For those of you that don’t, Jesus I don’t know exactly where to begin.
The Cliff’s notes would be that I spent a little over a decade either being a serial killer or a vigilante. I won’t try to justify my actions, both of those are just sides of the same shitty coin. I’m not a person to be idolized or emulated, so I choose not to plead my case.
Now, while I thought that was just about as screwed up as life could get, one day, out of the blue, after burying my best, fuck, my only friend I found myself, somewhere else. A world that looked and felt like mine, but one where the things that go bump in the night actually existed.
Where I came from, I’d seen monsters, to be sure, but only the kind that happen when people break.
Since I’ve been here? Got caught up in some demented gameshow for demons or something, threw a massive shit in the punch bowl of the thing running the production, and got the world’s unluckiest man his freedom.
And that leads me to my current situation, staring down the rage filled, mildly bruised face of that asshole, that fucking, demonic Ted Turner, Art.
He runs a hand aggressively through his slicked back hair, standing at the door to my cell.
“Looks like your little plan didn’t work, exactly as I predicted, you fuck.
I mean, great try with the little cat thing you had, honestly didn’t see that coming. But, Jesus, Mike, what was your end game? “ Art gloats.
“Cards on the table? It was a lot better, but shit fell through, that whiskey abomination, it was the one that ratted me out I assume?
That being said, still got Kev out. And you can’t really ‘flip off his lightswitch’ if he didn’t let you screw around with his wiring, can you? “ I grin, I keep it, even as a Gucci shoe slams into my face.
Am I scared? Of God damn course I am, I’ve been pissing myself (metaphorically speaking.) since I realised that the rules of reality don’t really apply any more.
Every new grain of sand on the beach of hell my life has become, tosses me further down the road of mental failure. Shit, that’s half of what fucked up my last plan in the first place.
If I could have just kept my shit together long enough, I’d be sipping a beer with Kev in some shit hole town somewhere. But the only thing harder than trying to stamp down fear in the face of God’s and monsters, is trying to do it while projecting some kind of ‘death fears me ‘ persona.
Between you and I? Death doesn’t fear me, in fact, it seems to love to hang around. And every day I have to stare down that grim spectre, the closer I get to losing the tenuous grip on reality I have .
“Oh, fuck Kev. He’s smart enough to stay off my radar, and too stupid to figure out a way to come back at me.
He's got a 1 bedroom in Idaho or something? Salud, good on him.
You, I had high hopes for, and then you decide to wipe your ass all over my carpet, cost me more than I could even explain, and even, get me a little roughed up. My favorite shell, anyway.
I want to recoup some loses Mike. So, you, get to be a part of another one of my projects.
You thought The Path was bad? Oh, you literal, fucking clown, you haven’t seen anything.
I won’t spoil it for you, the devil’s in the details and all, but you know what everyone loves?
Prison.
Not being in it themselves, of course, but seeing others, especially those they hate in there.
This place isn’t fair, the path was a boxing match with Queensbury rules, this is a handcuffed knife fight.
And I can’t wait to see you figure out, all the little surprises it has in store for you. “ Art laughs and tosses me a battered, ancient looking smartphone, “ Feel free to drum me up some good press online if you want. “
My heart is pounding, I have to use every bit of will I have to stop from shaking, to roll my neck and sit against the cold, padless cement bed behind me.
I feel sick, my stomach boiling and gurgling.
“For the love of whatever the demonic equivalent of Christ is, why not just kill me? I’m right here, I have no way of fighting back, and you know damn well that if you give me enough time, I’m going to find a way to wipe my ass on your doorframe next. “ My tone is flippant, or at least, I hope it is.
“The ego on you kid, you think you’re that guy don’t you?
They exist, don’t get me wrong, probably a couple thousand folks capable of taking me out, but trust me, you are not one of them.
This isn’t some ‘Arch’ idiocy where I leave my greatest rival alive. This is me watching you squirm because I can, and making a little profit on the deal.
Don’t flatter yourself. “ Art has produced a long thin knife as he talks, he spins and rolls it absently.
“Before your guys dragged me off, I met something. A corner store, I don’t know if it was haunted, possessed, or if it was some kind of creature that just decided to look like a knock off 7-11.
Point being, it was out there, ethereal, I couldn’t hurt it, outwit it, even slow it down. I ran from that thing as fast as I could. It gave me some serious Lovecraft vibes.
You, Art, are not that guy. “ I notice myself tapping my finger nervously on the slime covered floor, I focus, stopping the tic.
The tip of Art’s knife glows, the sick, grey sheen isn’t heat, but something that makes me start to back up.
“I am, but you will never see that. You’re not worth the effort.
I want to give you a little something though. “ Art stalks toward me, I stand as I back into the farthest corner of the cell, “ Proud of your face paint were you? “
Art grins, and for a moment lets some of his true self slip through. For just a moment I see timeless horror in his eyes, a dark black void of consumed souls and unrestrained evil.
That knife parts my flesh with pain like a whip. Without even using the blade, it’s presence flenses my face, opening up raw, textured furrows in my flesh.
He leaves after he is done, laughing to himself.
The pain makes me black out, my stomach is boiling, I come to dry heaving, the effort sends me back into the oblivion of sleep.
I don’t know how long has passed, my face feels like it is on fire, and the thick steel bars of my cell door are closed.
It takes me two minutes of cupping my hands under the grime laden steel tap to get enough water to clear off a spot on the rusted, old, wall mounted steel mirror.
No mortal hand could have scarred me as accurately as Art did. The wounds, not healed, but cauterised as to not make me bleed out, used depth, and width, to create a colorless replica of my makeup.
I know trauma, physical as well as mental, and these are scars that will never heal. As the fact sinks in that my face is literally no longer my own, I scream, heart pounding, I split open my knees on the cold cement floor.
Pain flares, threatens to send me back to the bliss of unconsciousness, but I don’t care.
I read Kev’s journals, and they paint me in a really… positive light, in a sense.
What I mean is, going by what he thought he saw, I’m some kind of supervillian or something. Tossing three hundred pound air conditioners ( it was the outer shell, seventy pounds, physics and luck did the rest.), wrestling Art ( I was clinging on for dear life, had it not been for Jr and the mass of denizens, I’d have been killed with a flick of his wrist.), or appearing like a ghost (people, even immortal are very unobservant. Especially in an emergency.).
I’m great at seeming horrifying, and that’s a weapon in and of itself, but at the end of the day, that’s all it is.
Kneeling in my own blood, vision blurry with pain, I realise how small, vulnerable, and unarmed I truly am.
By the time daylight shines through the yellow reinforced glass window, I’m already awake. I’ve spent an hour and a half calming myself, trying to find some focus, some centre to keep me going.
I’ve been in prison before, back home, first and last time I tried plying my trade outside of America.
Being the stupid payaso gringo that I am I bit off so much more than I can chew that I wound up choking on it for 2 months in a Mexican prison.
The routine of, count, lineup, chow, remained the same.
The demographics of the population on the other hand…
Being observant is one of my main skills and as I was brought into the absurdly sized cafeteria, I was taken aback at just how many people were here.
Tens of Thousands, easily, maybe a hundred. I try and think of how many missing person cases this accounts for, and even that math doesn’t quite add up.
I quickly inventory the groups that make up the place, not that it wasn’t obvious.
The first, of course are the guards. Some, the majority, appear to be human, well geared up and in intimidating physical condition.
But a handful, they are clearly, something else. Some are smooth featured ebony skinned giants, carrying truncheons that could crush a car engine. Others are grinning, pale skinned bad attempts at human copies, wild eyed and twitching.
Second would be what I called the cultists. They all appeared to style themselves after certain tropes and urban legends, clearly human, but dressing, tattooing and mutilating themselves to appear like, myths, legends, and monsters.
The subtle violence I see tells me I’ve found the gangs.
Third are the Everymen, I can’t see any kind of pattern to them, but they seem to make up the majority of the population. They keep their distance from the guards and the cultists, but on more than one occasion I see then stand, united against attempts at extortion.
The last group, I call the candles, people that are clearly on their way out mentally and physically. Sunken eyed, and set upon from all angles, at any moment these folks could be simply snuffed out.
I keep my distance, and stay respectful, the meandering, twisting line seems to take hours to get me my thick slice of crumbling yellow bread, and thick red slurry that reminds me of porridge masquerading as meat.
My coat is gone but I’m left with the majority of the clothing I fashioned back in the path. I see a mix of unwashed orange uniforms and ‘civilian’ clothing, some of the cultists, bordering more on costume than wardrobe.
As the massive, butchers apron wearing man in smeared clown makeup sits down, I wish I’d have been issued something more generic. I saw this coming the second I noticed a lump of Chlorophiles in blood stained getups.
“You sit with us. “ I can’t tell if it’s an accent or speech pattern, the clown sounds strange, either way.
I eat a spoonful of the red sludge.
“No disrespect intended, I’m not one for clubs. I’m going to make no waves, no plays, nothing. I’m a ghost. “ I say, levelly, avoiding eye contact.
Why, you might ask, having been told about my adventures in murder.
Well, that’s just it. Murder is easy, and any time you saw me end a life, it was just that.
A fight, that’s another thing entirely, especially against someone with a significant weight and height advantage.
“Not asking. You got friends. “ The massive clown moves his bulk closer, it’s like sitting next to a forklift.
I eat the bread, it tastes amazing until I swallow, then has a foul, chemical aftertaste.
I drink some tepid, burgundy fluid that might be caffeinated.
No weapons nearby, no one watching that might step in. I’m full of bruises and sprains, and probably anemic from blood loss. Not to mention one eye is running at about fifty per cent. Art didn’t sever the optic nerve last time, but he wasn’t gentle. My heart races.
“I don’t play well with people who take clowning and slap a coat of dark paint on it.
You guys are Clown Killers. You are good at killing, I’m sure, but the clown part, it’s tacked on.
Myself, I’m a killer clown…. “ I had a really good rant planned, honestly, it was a corker, douche bags would have used it in memes for a decade.
But before I can react, with one massive hand, he bounces my face off of the pitted steel table.
It rings my bell, but not as much as I let on. In clowning terms, what I do Is called a pratfall.
For those of you that don’t speak nerd, I oversell the hit, falling backwards, eyes fluttering.
I tip backwards, reaching out my left arm, as if to steady myself. The meat mountain is unbothered, knowing I have no chance unarmed, in this close, he let’s me grab one shoulder of the butchers apron. The material is thick, and matted in stains that will never come out, literally or metaphorically.
If you want to take someone out, in a relatively harmless way, you don’t want to choke them. It takes forever, usually ends up killing them, and generally is a bad idea for everyone involved.
Your goal is go cut off blood flow to the brain as quickly and fully as possible.
I hook my thumb around the opposite shoulder strap, and snap my body backward, the apron acting as an impromptu Garrotte.
His right arm is knotted through my left, as he tries to struggle, to put his murderous intent and ability to work, the choke only becomes tighter.
I don’t want enemies here, and I only have so many tricks to play before things come to a knock down drag out fight, so I leave the clown unharmed.
I do need friends, but the look I get as I take a seat at a loose collection of men is cold and fearful.
A red haired guy, five foot nine or so, makes eye contact, “Anything we can help you with? “ he says, fearless.
“Yeah, despite the face work I’ve had done, I have fuck all in common with any of those penny wise, Icp, Gacy dressed, assholes.
I need a tribe guys, you all look like the unlucky ones around here, but I don’t want to get involved in bloodshed.
I’m Mike “ I know, that’s only mostly true, but I mean it, either way. I extend a hand.
“Chris. “ the red haired guy says, he wears a white dress shirt and surprisingly blue jeans, “Those stains around your cuffs tell me otherwise.
If you’re telling the truth, that’s great. If you are lying, and still sane enough to keep your word, that’s even better. “ Chris’s tone is mirthless, I read him easily. He’s been here a long time for a short life, he looks thirty max, and I shudder to think how young he may have been when he came in.
Chris catches me up on the ins and outs of this place, beyond what a general knowledge of prison would give.
Everyone here has crimes they were not convicted of, that would, otherwise put them in jail for life. A large amount, obviously are murderers, torturers, real bastards.
But a significant minority are just regular folks, maybe a bit thoughtless, but that have collected a litany of small, petty, in cases almost victim less crimes.
No one seems to be aware of the… reality t.v. Meets demonic fast food aspect of things, but there is a Doom cherry on this fear Sunday.
There is a single way someone can get out. To earn 20 tokens.
And how does one earn these tokens you ask?
Each day the prison holds an event, to call it a challenge would insinuate a level of fair play that is simply not there. The events range from somewhat fair, a fight or game of chance, to esoteric rituals complex enough to rip someone’s soul from their body.
These tokens are also the sole form of currency in the prison, they can buy everything from commissary snacks to literal free passes from guards.
The economy has created a cut throat society, the heads of the cults not even taking advantage of being able to be free, but simply reveling in the power of being psychotic and enabled.
The weak are enslaved, their lives traded on the off chance at tokens.
So, of course, braindead asshole that I am, I signed myself right up. Feeling a little more confidant after climbing Mount Bozo.
It's 8pm and the volunteers are rounded up and brought to a massive room that has all the trappings of a gymnasium, but the scale is large enough easily hold the focus of tonight’s events.
In tiered bleachers all around us, our fellow prisoners cheer and scream. The smell of thousands of unwashed, men is overpowering, the din of excitement is deafening.
But my attention is focussed on the small, single floor home, sitting out of place in the middle of the polished wood floor.
What I wouldn’t give for Demi to appear right now, give me the low down on all the supernatural bullshit that is heading my way. But the longer we stayed in the mountain the less and less the most useful voice in my head could, or would, make an appearance.
I study each of my fellow volunteers, the goal seems simple, last the longest in the home. Men enter and leave within minutes. They come out looking shaken, with minor lacerations, and a general sense of shell shock.
By the time my turn arrives, I think I know what I’m in for.
I’m wrong.
As the baby blue door closes behind me, nothing immediately in the home causes me concern. The fixtures and furniture is a bit out of date, the lighting is, not inviting, and there is a general fog of gloom hanging around.
I smile, I’ve felt this before. Granted I had Demi feeding me supernatural errata at the time, but, I’m positive I can wing it.
“So, I think I may have met one of you guys before. Back in New York, a Happy-Face corner store, anyone you know?
Scary dude, took a couple of pieces out of me.
But this, it’s more like an MMA fight, right? I tap out when you start kicking my ass? “ I stretch, trying to see if I’m getting any kind of reaction.
I inventory the objects around me, last time everything that wasn’t nailed down, shifted, changed and tried to take me apart.
You may have noticed by now, I love using the phrase ‘ last time’, and that’s because up until this moment, I haven’t learned a fucking thing here.
Mike’s first rule of paranormal survival, last time means nothing.
“It’s you” the voice is young, late teens, and male.
I spin, expecting violence, then, wishing violence.
I know the young man, not this pale, older, revenant with a self inflicted gunshot wound, but I know him none the less.
I’m not being metaphorical when I say my heart misses a beat, I almost fall over, pounding at my chest to stop it’s arythmatic pounding.
I knew what happened to him, found it out long after I could do anything about it. And wasn’t in the best of places when I did.
I’ll call him a ghost for simplicity sake, but this kid, he’s my first, and biggest mistake.
I based who I turned into on finding what I thought was one of the worst people on earth. This kid’s father.
I did things to him worthy of what I knew he did. And to top it all off, I had him die by his wife’s hand.
Well, a decade later I find out, the guy wasn’t a Saint, but he didn’t do anything worthy of the twisted shit I put him through.
I got wind of some false information put out there in a moment of rage by a tech savvy ten year old. The kid never intended it to see the light of day
“I found out about you Mike, I saw that you were a hero. “ The voice is thin echoes like a stuck record.
“No kid, don’t think that. “ I mumble, I’m shaking, the air is freezing, each breath comes out as white mist.
I’m sitting on the flower printed couch now, and it hits me.
I’d assumed because Art couldn’t screw around in my head last time, the same went for everything here.
Remember what we said about last time.
“My told me what happened one night, what I made you do.
I destroyed her memory of him, I made a real Hero kill him, I couldn’t keep hurting people. “ I can see images, flashing in my mind, memories that are not mine.
I’m counting seconds, trying to focus, trying to stay long enough to get the token. It has to have been fifteen, twenty minutes at least.
I try to work up a smirk, to convince myself that I’m just being played by the paranormal equivalent of a heckler.
That’s not it though, This place, this house, is reaching inside me and finding places to look. As I stare into the young man’s rotted eyes I know this is some part of him, torn away from whatever rest he was entitled to.
The lights dim, then turn off. The house is silent.
Hollywood gets being both a lunatic and a hitman wrong in equal measure. No matter how much morality you want to inject into the profession, there are going to come times when you make mistakes.
As the lights slowly turn to a dull orange glow, I’m surrounded by the hovering, mutilated forms of mine.
Those that died that could have been spared, those that died because of my inaction, or stupidity. I’ve never forgotten them, I use them to make sure I never make the same mistakes again, but having them looming, screaming, all demanding I hear their stories, their accusations, their placations.
It's too much, I stumble from the couch, trying to avoid the icy touch of these phantoms. For a moment I find some last scrap of courage, I close my eyes, shut out the shrieking din of the dead.
The silence hits like a truck, I focus, trying to calm my burned out nerves.
Then they are reignited like a fucking welding torch.
“This place didn’t bring us here.
We’ve been right next to you for years Mike. We can’t leave. “ The voice of my first mistake.
Like a toddler I try to run with my eyes closed, I trip over a glass coffee table, clawing my way up the door, grasping at the handle.
I can feel a slight pull now, almost magnetic, trying to drag me backwards.
My hands shake too much, I have to steady my right wrist with my left hand, the floor becomes slick, I see the door, escape start to move further away as I’m pulled backward.
I've taken a hit or two, and had a couple of three day benders that have made me piss myself. But as I stumble, trying to make progress on the nearly friction less floor, I have another unpleasant first experience.
I grab the handle, pulling myself out of the house, launching my body into a skin peeling tumble across unforgiving plank flooring.
I’m a shaking, fetal wreck, by the time I’ve pulled myself together enough to take in my surroundings, I see the red Led clock displaying my time.
42 seconds. Bottom of the barrel. The jeers and booing from the crowd do nothing for my frayed nerves or the storm of fear and anxiety going through my mind.
I’m exhausted, but I can’t sleep, it has nothing to do with the concrete slab that serves as my bed.
My stomach has been knotting and cramping, with each passing second I get more worried I blew some internal gasket in one of the many life or death struggles in the past months.
When I finally manage to vomit, the urge is strong enough I get no where near the filth crusted hole in the floor that serves as my toilet. And my worst fears are confirmed as I see the massive pile of vomit is mostly blood.
… and bones? Is that an eyeball? A piece of fur?
The mass begins to pull itself together, bits and pieces forming the most rudimentary attempt at a face.
“Junior? “ I say, stunned.

When Kote first begins to tell his story, there’s a lot of fuss as to where. What point in Kvothe’s life marks the start of his life. His first thought is here:

"In some ways, it began when I heard her singing. Her voice twinning, mixing with my own. Her voice was like a portrait of her soul: wild as a fire, sharp as shattered glass, sweet and clean as clover."

Denna’s significants to Kvothe story is unquestionable, and it’s so high that Kvothe thinks his life story begins with her.
But it’s not quite right. You can’t start with Kvothe earning his pipes. It needs context. It needs Kvothe’s time at the university. What lead him to earning his pipes.

Kvothe shook his head. "No. It began at the University. I went to learn magic of the sort they talk about in stories. Magic like Taborlin the Great. I wanted to learn the name of the wind. I wanted fire and lightning. I wanted answers to ten thousand questions and access to their archives. But what I found at the University was much different than a story, and I was much dismayed.

Still not quite right. In needing Kvothe being at the university, it needs what lead to Kvothe joining the university:

"But I expect the true beginning lies in what led me to the University. Unexpected fires at twilight. A man with eyes like ice at the bottom of a well. The smell of blood and burning hair. The Chandrian." He nodded to himself. "Yes. I suppose that is where it all begins. This is, in many ways, a story about the Chandrian."

But you also can’t start with Kvothe stumbling back to his camp to find his dead parents and the Chandrian. So Kvothe takes one step back, and decides to start a few months earlier.
This is where Kote begins telling his life’s story. And as a story teller, this is the best starting place.
But it’s also not quite correct, is it?
It’s definitely where you start the story as a storyteller. But if the true beginning lies with meeting the Chandrian, then the Chandrian are the beginning.
So let’s do the same process. Where do the Chandrian start?

Lanre's shoulders bowed. "I had hoped," he said simply. "But I knew the truth. I am no longer the Lanre you knew. Mine is a new and terrible name. I am Haliax and no door can bar my passing. All is lost to me, no Lyra, no sweet escape of sleep, no blissful forgetfulness, even madness is beyond me. Death itself is an open doorway to my power. There is no escape. I have only the hope of oblivion after everything is gone and the Aleu fall nameless from the sky." And as he said this Lanre hid his face in his hands, and his body shook with silent, racking sobs.

The Chandrian’s story begins at the destruction of Myr Tariniel. Lanre betrays Selitos, and takes on a new name. His actions lead to the end of the war, and the creation of the Chandrian. But the true beginning isn’t here. Like Kvothe singing with Denna, we need context. What caused the war?

Felurian’s expression went solemn. She unlaced her fingers from mine and looked down at the stone in her hand. “that was the end of it all.” She sighed. “until he stole the moon there was some hope for peace.”

…

“Who was it?” I asked.

…

Felurian shook her head, amused. “no. as I said, this was before the fae. the first and greatest of the shapers.”

The first and greatest shaper stole the moon, and in stealing the moon, caused the war. This is the true beginning of the Chandrian. But, like with Kvothe, we need context. Why did the first and greatest shaper steal the moon? And where was it stolen from and to? Like Kote, we take one step backwards:

She laughed at my tone. “no. the faen realm.” she waved widely. “wrought according to their will. the greatest of them sewed it from whole cloth. a place where they could do as they desired. and at the end of all their work, each shaper wrought a star to fill their new and empty sky.”
Felurian smiled at me. “then there were two worlds. two skies. two sets of stars.” She held up the smooth stone. “but still one moon. and it all round and cozy in the mortal sky.”
Her smile faded. “but one shaper was greater than the rest. for him the making of a star was not enough. he stretched his will across the world and pulled her from her home.”

‘The greatest of them’ is a tricky label. It can be collective or individual. But Felurian isn’t the only source for this story. Hespe also tells us a story of the boy who stole the moon, and he had no help in unfolding his house.
Other shapers may have come afterwards and added furniture and artwork, but it was the boy who stole the moon who built the house. And as the first and greatest of them, Jax is the greatest of them. He built the house - or in Felurian’s words shapers made the Faen realm wrought according to their will. The Faen realm was the greatest of them sewed it from whole cloth - pure fabrications - as a place for the others to do as they desired before each creating a star.
So there we have it, Kvothe’s story begins with the Chandrian, and the Chandrian’s story begins when the first shaper created the Fae from nothing.
Now we arrive at the title: Kvothe’s story begins with the creation of the Fae. And in arriving here you may have noticed that I skipped a piece at the start. One piece of Kote deciding on where to start his story.

"Yes. I suppose that is where it all begins. This is, in many ways, a story about the Chandrian."
"But what would my father say if he heard me telling a story this way? 'Begin at the beginning.' Very well, if we are to have a telling, let's make it a proper one."
Kvothe sat forward in his chair. "In the beginning, as far as I know, the world was spun out of the nameless void by Aleph, who gave everything a name. Or, depending on the version of the tale, found the names all things already possessed."

In the beginning [of my story], as far as I know, the [faen] world was spun out of the nameless void [whole cloth] by Iax, who gave everything [within the fae] a name.

From The Designers

For the upcoming March season, aside from the usual hero adjustments, we've also optimized the gameplay of some older heroes such as Layla and Freya. We hope they'll be back with a spring in their step, ready to shine upon the battlefield!
We've also optimized 6 lesser-used equipment (Sea Halberd, Necklace of Durance, Twilight Armor, Rose Gold Meteor, Blood Wings and Thunder Belt) and 2 Battle Spells (Aegis and Revitalize) to hopefully make them more viable options in battle.
Additionally, for the upcoming Season 28, we will be launching a new Mythic system with a new rank, new Display Logos for Mythic ranks, and optimized the Mythic Points system into the Stars system. Reach 25 and 50 stars in Mythic to get upgraded appearances for Mythic stars.
We've also optimized the Placement Match experience and added a new Mythic Rank Exclusive Skin Voting system (avaliable after reaching Mythic rank, vote for 1 out of 6 heroes).
Added "Road to Mythic" challenges at Mythic rank that will grant the S28 Profile Namecard Background and Personal Profile Background. Reach Mythical Glory rank to upgrade them. Good luck in the new season!

I. New & Revamped Heroes

[Revamped Hero: Courageous Warrior - Minsitthar]
[Spear of Glory] and [King's Calling] are Minsitthar's core skills, so we've kept their gameplay the same (with some optimizations) in this revamp.
In addition, we've redesigned his Skill 2 and Passive to provide more damage and control to his kit. This redesign focuses on maintaining his roaming role while exploring the possibility of taking the Exp Lane.
We've also given Minsitthar a complete makeover. With this revamp, the courageous warrior shall reclaim his rightful glory!
Hero Features: A courageous warrior who excels in battle with spear and shield.
[Passive: Mark of the King]
Minsitthar's Basic Attacks and skills apply a stack of Mark of the King. Upon reaching 5 stacks, the next attack will detonate all Marks to deal a large amount of damage and stun the target, and restore HP to Minsitthar.
[Skill 1: Spear of Glory]
When pulling back his spear, Minsitthar will pull all enemy heroes in its path to him.
[Skill 2: Shield Assault]
Minsitthar holds up his shield, reducing incoming damage from the front for a period of time.
While in this stance, Minsitthar's Basic Attacks will hit all enemies in a rectangular area and have increased Attack Speed.
[Ultimate: King's Calling]
Minsitthar's Ultimate now prevents all enemies in its area from using all movement abilities.
Summoned Royal Guards can also trigger Minsitthar's equipment effects with their attacks.
Slightly increased the cast range.
Reduced the effect's duration.

II. Hero Adjustments

The following heroes have undergone significant adjustments in this patch: Joy, Freya, Layla, Wanwan, Badang, Esmeralda and Eudora.

The following uses (↑) (↓) (~) to indicate Buff, Nerf, and Adjustment.

[Joy] (~)
Joy has impressive durability, but her burst potential is a bit lacking in the mid-to-late game. As such, we're making it harder for her to gain durability while increasing her damage to fit her role as an Assassin.
[Passive] (~)
Removed the shield effect.
New Effect: Joy's skills now deal an additional instance of damage each time they hit a non-Minion unit.
[Skill 2] (~)
Max Uses: 5 >> 4
New Effect: Gain a shield when hitting on beat.
[Ultimate] (~)
Number of Skill 2 casts required to unlock: 5 >> 4
New Effect: Gain Physical & Magic Defense during Ultimate.
Damage increase after hitting on beat: 30% >> 40% (max damage when hitting all beats is the same)

[Freya] (↑)
While Freya has great sustainability, she plays more or less the same as other heroes that rely on Basic Attacks. So, we're making it easier for her to chain her skill combos, and in some circumstances, indefinitely. We're also improving the feel of Spirit Combo and Leap of Faith, and that of Freya's combos as a whole. Her shield and damage in the early-mid game have been adjusted to keep things balanced.
[Skill 1] (~)
Skill 1 is no longer enhanced by Sacred Orb nor does it cost any Sacred Orbs.
Can move through obstacles more easily.
[Skill 2] (↑)
Skill casts needed to trigger leaping strike: 3 >> 2
Reworked how the cooldown works: Cooldown is no longer triggered after the leaping strike, instead it triggers after not continuing to cast the skill within a certain period.
Slightly reduced the foreswing time of the leaping strike.
Airborne Duration: 0.5s >> 0.4s
Base Damage: 130-230 (+90% Total Physical Attack) >> 20-230 (+90% Total Physical Attack)
Final Damage: 156-276 (+108% Total Physical Attack) >> 26-276 (+108% Total Physical Attack)
Shield: 160-260 (+70% Extra Physical Attack) >> 60-260 (+70% Extra Physical Attack)

[Layla] (↑)
As a Marksman without Blink, Layla has trouble with survivability. We hope the following changes will allow her to kite enemies more efficiently and increase her skill cap. We've reduced a bit of her damage to balance these buffs.
[Basic Attack & Skills] (↑)
Greatly reduced backswing time to allow her to move and attack more efficiently.
[Attribute] (↓)
Physical Attack Growth: 9 >> 7.5
[Passive] (↓)
Maximum Damage Increase: 135% >> 130%
[Skil 2] (↑)
Changed the slow effect from mark detonations to a 0.25s AOE stun.
Only marks the first target hit.

[Wanwan] (~)
With fewer Weaknesses to hit, more players have been enjoying Wanwan, but it also made it harder for her opponents to counter her Ultimate. Therefore, we want to make it easier to escape her Ultimate while not affecting her power. After the changes, the locked target can more easily get out of lock range, and frontline heroes can move to block Wanwan's crossbow attacks to tank the damage. To compensate, we buffed Wanwan's damage, and how much she gains from Movement Speed bonuses in the early and mid game (Wanwan should get extra Movement Speed to take advantage of this).
[Passive] (↑)
All Weaknesses Hit Damage: 55-97 >> 70-112
[Ultimate] (↓)
Lock Range: 8.5 >> 6
Speed Boost while in the air: 10% Total Movement Speed >> 100% Extra Movement Speed

[Badang] (↓)
Badang has become too dominant in this version with the buff to Knockback effects. We've moderately reduced his damage in the early and mid game for balance.
[Skill 1] (↓)
Base Damage: 160-260 >> 125-225
Explosion Damage: 120-195 >> 100-175
[Ultimate] (↓)
Base Damage: 80-140 >> 60-120
Explosion Damage: 40-70 >> 30-60

[Esmeralda] (↑)
We've slightly increased Esmeralda's damage to make her more competitive compared to other Exp Laners.
[Basic Attack] (↑)
First Damage: 80% Physical Attack >> 100% Physical Attack
Second Damage: 100 +55% Magic Power >> 100 +75% Magic Power
[Skill 2] (↑)
Cooldown: 5.5-3.5s >> 4.5-3.5s

[Eudora] (↑)
We want players to be able to use Eudora's skills based on the situation, instead of always starting with Skill 2.
[Attributes] (↑)
HP Growth: 142.5 >> 160.5
[Skill 2] (↑)
Orb of Lightning bounce's Stun Duration: 0.6s >> 0.9s

[Lesley] (↑)
We've slightly buffed Lesley's damage because the meta has been favouring Attack Speed Marksmen.
Passive (↑)
Base Damage:50 >> 75
[Skill 1] (↑)
Cooldown: 5-3s >> 4-2.5s

[Paquito] (↑)
We've slightly buffed Paquito's durability in the mid and late game to fit his role as a fighter.
[Skill 1] (↑)
Shield: 150-500 +110% Physical Attack >> 150-650 +135% Physical Attack

[Fredrinn] (↓)
Slightly reduced the damage of Fredrinn's Ultimate when not enhanced.
[Skill 2] (↓)
Base Damage: 200-300 >> 140-215
[Skill 3] (↓)
Base Damage: 300-500 >> 210-330

III. Battlefield Adjustments

[New Map]

The brand-new map "Harmonia" is available free for a limited-time! Featuring a new design, with new models, effects, and more. And the "Harmonia" Lord is stepping into the fray, too. Check it out!
[Lord] (↑)
The Enhanced Lord can now use Turret Clash against all turrets it encounters after the 12-minute mark, instead of only the first one.

[Equipment]

[Sea Halberd] (↑)
We don't want Physical Damage heroes to lose much damage output when using this equipment.
[Unique Passive - Punish] (New)
Increase damage by 8% against enemy heroes with more extra HP than you.

[Necklace of Durance] (↑)
Optimized the build path to better fit some mages and supports.
[Build Path]
Mystic Container >> Elegant Gem (Necklace of Durance attributes modified accordingly)
[New Passive] (↑)
Gift (the effect is the same as Elegant Gem)

[Twilight Armor] (Revamped)
We've noticed that most tanks focus on absorbing damage instead of dealing damage, so we've changed this equipment to help against burst damage and also made it more versatile.
[Unique Passive - Twilight] (Revamped)
When taking more than 600 damage in a single hit, the excess amount will be reduced by 300 +5% of Max HP. Cooldown: 5s.

[Rose Gold Meteor] (↑)
Rose Gold Meteor has been overshadowed by Athena's Shield, so we've changed its function to help heroes escape when the passive triggers.
[Attributes] (↑)
Physical Lifesteal: 5% >> 10%
[Build Path] (~)
Magic Blade + Dagger >> Magic Blade + Vampire Mallet
[Unique Passive - Lifeline] (↑)
Shield: 510-1350 >> 840-1820
Removed Effect: Increase Magic Defense by 25 for 3s when triggered.
New Effect: Increase Movement Speed by 50% when triggered, the effect decays over 3 seconds.
Cooldown: 40s >> 60s

[Magic Blade] (↑)
[Unique Passive - Lifeline] (↑)
Shield: 280-700 >> 420-910
Removed Effect: Increase Magic Defense by 12 for 3s when triggered.
New Effect: Increase Movement Speed by 50% when triggered, the effect decays over 3 seconds.
Cooldown: 40s >> 60s

[Blood Wings] (↑)
Optimized Effect: Now when the shield is attacked, it will be restored after 30s even if it's not destroyed.
Cooldown: 30s >> 20s
New Effect: Increase Movement Speed by 30 when shield is active.

[Thunder Belt] (↑)
Thunder Belt is too costly for roaming tanks, so we're reducing its price and boosting its Mana Regen.
[Cost] (↑)
2290 >> 1990
[Attributes] (↑)
Mana Regen: 6 >> 10

[Clock of Destiny] (↓)
Reduced the survivability it granted to burst damage mages.
[Attributes] (↓)
HP: 625 >> 500
[Unique Passive - Time] (↓)
Each stack grants 20 HP (was 25).

[Ice Queen Wand] (↑)
Increased the survivability it granted to sustained damage mages.
[Attributes] (↑)
New: 300 HP
Removed: 150 Mana

[Fleeting Time] (↑)
Optimized Effect: Certain heroes with Ultimates that enter cooldown after their duration is over now also gain cooldown reduction from kills and assists during their Ultimate's duration.
Includes: Faramis, Yve, Luo Yi, Leomord, Baxia, Hanzo, Granger, Edith, Aldous.

[Dominance Ice] (↑)
We want this piece of equipment to be more effective against heroes with high attack speed.
[Unique Passive - Arctic Cold] (↑)
The attack speed reduction is now calculated after all attack speed bonuses.
Lowers nearby enemy heroes' Attack Speed to: 75% >> 70%

[Black Ice Shield] (↑)
[Unique Passive - Arctic Cold] (↑)
The attack speed reduction is now calculated after all attack speed bonuses.
Lowers nearby enemy heroes' Attack Speed to: 90% >> 85%

[Battle Spells]

We've adjusted [Aegis] and [Revitalize] to more clearly differentiate them from [Vengeance]. Heroes of different roles should now have more viable choices for defensive Battle Spells.
[Aegis] (↑)
Aegis works well enough to protect heroes with low HP in the early game, but the shield is too flimsy in the mid and late game compared to how much hero damage ramps up.
Shield: 750 + 50Hero Level >> 750 + 90Hero Level
Removed the effect of granting shield to nearby allied hero.
Cooldown: 90s >> 75s

[Revitalize] (~)
The effect will now move with its caster, making it more suitable for Supports.

[Role Adjustments]

As the meta evolves, certain heroes have gone through a lot of changes compared to their original playstyle and abilities. Therefore, we decided to update their roles to better fit their playstyle.

• Grock: Tank >> Tank/Fighter
• Johnson: Tank >> Tank/Support
• Carmilla: Support >> Support/Tank
• Kaja: FighteSupport >> Support/Fighter
• Ruby: FighteTank >> Fighter
• Fredrinn: Tank/Fighter >> FighteTank
• Paquito: Fighter >> FighteAssassin
• Yin: Fighter >> FighteAssassin
• Benedetta: Assassin >> Assassin/Fighter
• Harley: Mage/Assassin >> Assassin/Mage >

[Lane Position Adjustments]

• Silvanna: Exp Lane/Jungling >> Exp Lane/Roaming
• Cyclops: Mid Lane >> Mid Lane/Jungling

Removed Jungling classification from the following heroes: Lapu-Lapu, Argus, Selena, Masha, Popol and Kupa.

IV. Weekly Free Heroes & New Skins

[New Skins]

1- New Epic skin Vale "Keeper of the Winds" will be available on March 27, 2023. Original Price: 899 Diamonds, 30% off during launch week.
2- Rafaela "Seraphic Selfie" will be available in the Purify Harmonia event on March 31 (Server Time).
3- April StarLight Skin - Edith "Ancient Warden" will be available on April 1, 2023.
4- Miya "Atomic Pop Miya" will be available on April 5 (Server Time) for 899 Diamonds. 30% off for the first 21 days.
5- Cyclops "Yokai Warlock" will be available in Grand Collection on April 10 (Server Time).
6- Eudora "Atomic Pop Eudora" will be available on April 12 (Server Time) for 899 Diamonds. 30% off for the first 21 days.
7- Hanabi "Moonlit Ninja" will be available in Moonlit Wish on April 15 (Server Time).
8- New Epic skin Bane "Soul Defiler" will be available on April 19, 2023. Original Price: 899 Diamonds, 30% off during launch week.
9- May StarLight Skin - Moskov "Violet Spear" will be available on May 1, 2023.
10- New Gloo "Jellyman" skin will be available on May 4, 2023. Original Price: 749 Diamonds, 30% off during launch week.
11- Clint "Crimson Blast" will be available in Grand Collection on May 6 (Server Time).
12- Roger "Phantom Pirate" and "Fire Pirate" will be available soon with a fully revamped design.
13- Hilda "Aries" will be available soon with a fully revamped design.
14- Minotaur "Taurus" will be available soon with a fully revamped design.

[Fragment Shop Adjustments]

Fragment Shop Adjustments on March 22 (Server Time)
a- Rare Skin Fragment Shop
Added: Argus "Dark Draconic", Dyrroth "Ruins Scavenger", Lunox "Ash Blossom", Natalia "Phantom Dancer" and Wanwan "Darting Star".
Removed: Gusion "Cyber Ops", Clint "Rock and Roll", Zilong "Eastern Warrior", Alucard "Viscount", and Minsitthar "Gilded King".

b- Hero Fragment Shop
Added: Hanabi, Edith, Moskov and Alpha.
Removed: Ruby, Gusion, Lesley and Valentina.

[Free Heroes]

8 Free Heroes: Server Time 03/24/2023 05:01:00 to 03/31/2023 05:00:00 (Tap the Settings button on the top-right corner of the main page to check.)
Aamon, Khufra, Vale, Alice, Natalia, Harley, Guinevere and Phoveus.
6 Extra Starlight Member Heroes: Claude, Atlas, Beatrix, Sun, Harith and Grock.
8 Free Heroes: Server Time 03/31/2023 05:01:00 to 04/07/2023 05:00:00 (Tap the Settings button on the top-right corner of the main page to check.)
Lylia, Estes, Martis, Angela, Hanabi, Vexana, Thamuz and Rafaela.
6 Extra Starlight Member Heroes: Irithel, Faramis, Masha, Paquito, Lesley and Bruno.
8 Free Heroes: Server Time 04/07/2023 05:01:00 to 04/14/2023 05:00:00 (Tap the Settings button on the top-right corner of the main page to check.)
Clint, Dyrroth, Diggie, Alice, Fanny, Yin, Aulus and Hylos.
6 Extra Starlight Member Heroes: Akai, Brody, Chou, Aldous, Melissa and Franco.
8 Free Heroes: Server Time 04/14/2023 05:01:00 to 04/21/2023 05:00:00 (Tap the Settings button on the top-right corner of the main page to check.)
Martis, Cyclops, Gatotkaca, Helcurt, Karina, Kaja, Khaleed and Gloo.
6 Extra Starlight Member Heroes: Kadita, Edith, Moskov, Vale, Masha and Beatrix.
8 Free Heroes: Server Time 04/21/2023 05:01:00 to 04/28/2023 05:00:00 (Tap the Settings button on the top-right corner of the main page to check.)
Floryn, Minotaur, Pharsa, Kadita, Thamuz, Bane, Barats and Harith.
6 Extra Starlight Member Heroes: Johnson, Cecilion, Kaja, Chang'e, Roger and Ling.
8 Free Heroes: Server Time 04/28/2023 05:01:00 to 05/05/2023 05:00:00 (Tap the Settings button on the top-right corner of the main page to check.)
Lapu-Lapu, Carmilla, Moskov, Jawhead, Mathilda, Khufra, Akai and Phoveus.
6 Extra Starlight Member Heroes: Luo Yi, Selena, Lolita, Aldous, Bruno and Atlas.
8 Free Heroes: Server Time 05/05/2023 05:01:00 to 05/12/2023 05:00:00 (Tap the Settings button on the top-right corner of the main page to check.)
Vale, Chou, Irithel, Esmeralda, Faramis, Baxia, Lancelot and Bruno.
6 Extra Starlight Member Heroes: Martis, Karrie, Sun, Aurora, Lesley and Hanabi.
8 Free Heroes: Server Time 05/12/2023 05:01:00 to 05/19/2023 05:00:00 (Tap the Settings button on the top-right corner of the main page to check.)
Leomord, Valentina, Terizla, Yi Sun-shin, Phoveus, Karina, Kimmy and Rafaela.
6 Extra Starlight Member Heroes: Natan, Helcurt, Guinevere, Vexana, Barats and Uranus.

[StarLight Shop Update]

The following will be removed from the Shop on 4/30 23:59 (Server Time): Karrie "Dragon Queen", Aldous "The Insentient", Chou "Go Ballistic", Masha "Combat Maiden", Ling "Street Punk", Benedetta "Street Blow", Yi Sun-shin "Azure Sentry", Sun "Simian Curse", Luo Yi "Siren Priestess", and Ruby "Pirate Parrot".
The following will be added on 5/1 00:00: Layla "Bunny Babe", Freya "Dragon Hunter", Zilong "Eastern Warrior", Franco "Apocalypse", Martis "Searing Maw", Wanwan "Teen Pop", Lapu-Lapu "Special Force", Khufra "Dreadful Clown", Pharsa "Peony Bloom", and Cecilion "Stargazer".

V. New Functions & Events

[Ranked Mode]

1- Season 27 will end on 03/24/2023 at 23:59:59 (Server Time).
2- Season 28 will start on 03/25/2023 at 02:00:00 (Server Time). Play Ranked to get rewards, including Lapu-Lapu's S28 skin "Son of the Wild" and S28 Avatar Border "Fearless Armor". Complete rank tasks during the season to upgrade the skin's tag.

[S28 First Recharge Event]

1- Recharge 20 Diamonds to claim the S28 First Recharge Avatar Border for free!
2- Recharge any amount to purchase the S28 First Recharge Exclusive Elite Skin Khufra "Iron Hook" only for 100 Diamonds after discount!
3- Recharge a total of 3 days to purchase a Rename Card (7-Day). Only for 50 Diamonds after discount!

[The ALLSTAR event is here for a limited-time with the best deals of the year!]

1- From April 5 - May 28, ALLSTAR exclusive skin [Miya "Atomic Pop Miya"] and its Custom Action Bundle will be added to the Shop. 30% off for the first 21 days!
2- From April 12 - May 28, ALLSTAR exclusive skin [Eudora "Atomic Pop Eudora"] and its Custom Action Bundle will be added to the Shop. 30% off for the first 21 days!
3- From April 15 - May 8, the Moonlit Wish Draw event will be available. Participate in the draw and you'll have the chance to obtain the new ALLSTAR exclusive skin
4- [Hanabi "Moonlit Ninja'] as well as STUN, M-World, and [Guinevere "Psion of Tomorrow'] skins for a limited-time! Spend ALLSTAR Promo Diamonds to draw from 4/20 - 4/25. Don't miss out!
5- From April 15 - April 19, purchase Mega Draw Bundles (including Moonlit Wish Token + Lucky Number) for a chance to win 10,000 Diamonds daily, and a chance to win a 50,000 Diamond jackpot. Start buying early for the best chance to win!
6- From April 15 - April 23, log in daily during the event to win free rewards.
7- Complete daily and consecutive Recharge Tasks to earn rewards, including up to 5 Moonlit Wish Tokens, ALLSTAR exclusive Emote, Magic Wheel Potions, and loads more!
8- From April 20 - April 25, enjoy a shop-wide Mega Sale with up to 50% off. Spend ALLSTAR Promo Diamonds to buy skins for as little as 1 Diamond!

[ALLSTAR Free Rewards]

Four permanent skins, permanent hero choice, limited-time resources, Diamonds and more, all FREE and waiting to be claimed! You don't want to miss this!
1- From March 22 - 31, join Rafaela's Livestream event to claim a free ALLSTAR exclusive Emote!
2- From March 31 - April 30, join the Purify Harmonia event to claim a new ALLSTAR permanent skin, Spawn Effect, Avatar Border and more for free!
3- From March 31 - April 30, join the Last Encore event to claim a permanent event-exclusive skin of your choosing!
4- From April 1 - 25, join the ALLSTAR Login Gifts event to claim the new ALLSTAR Graffiti, Recall Effect, Draw Token, Elite skin and more for free!
5- From April 5 - 20, join the ALLSTAR Festival event to claim free ALLSTAR Promo Diamonds. Spend them in place of Diamonds!
6- From April 21 - 30, join the ALLSTAR Hero Academy event to claim one of five free permanent heroes!
7- On top of all that, there's Nostalgia, All Heroes Free Access, ALLSTAR reward exchange, and loads more reward-packed events coming soon!

[MLBB X Transformers: March 22 - April 30]

1- MLBB X Transformers draw event: MLBB X Transformers skins Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, Soundwave & Ravage, Grimlock and Starscream available for a limited time!
2- Transformers: Scratchcard Event: 1) Event is held from March 22 - 28. Transformers Scratchcard will offer Transformers Passes at a discount! 2) Gain a free scratchcard attempt with each purchase, with guaranteed Transformers-related resources!

[Superheroes Assemble!]

The Dawning Stars series exclusive skins and resources will return for a limited-time from 5/9 - 6/2 (Bruno "Firebolt", Lancelot "Swordmaster", Chou "Thunderfist", Vale "Blizzard Storm", and Esmeralda "The Foreseer")!
1- A permanent prize is guaranteed in the first 10 draws. Enjoy 50% off on your first 1X draw each day and 10% off for every 10X Draw.
2- Vote for your favourite Dawning Stars series skin from 4/24 00:00 - 5/13 to get discounted in the Event Shop during the draw event!
3- More Premium Supply events coming from 5/13 - 5/15 and 5/27 - 5/29. Get draw tokens at a discount!

[Weekly Diamond Pass]

Added the [Savings Box] feature: After purchasing/subscribing to the Weekly Diamond Pass, if you logged in on a particular day but forgot to claim your Weekly Diamond Pass rewards, they will be available the following day in your [Savings Box] (located on the Weekly Diamond Pass page). These can be claimed at any time, so don't worry about rewards you forgot to claim!

[StarLight Lucky Chest]

1- From 4/1 00:00:00 - 4/30 23:59:00, spend 10 Diamonds to participate in the draw for a chance to get a StarLight Card or Premium StarLight Card!
2- Added new "StarLight Last Light" Killing Notification to the StarLight Shop.

[Astral Star]

1- Starting 4/1 00:00 (Server Time), purchase Premium StarLight Membership to get the exclusive name [Astral Star] that will be valid during April StarLight.
2- The [Astral Star] name color is an exclusive Premium StarLight Member privilege, and is displayed in the game where names are shown.

VI. System Adjustments

[MMR Function Optimization]

1- Bonuses and Protection that affect Hero Power are now shown more clearly on the post-game screen.
2- The best title obtained each season is now recorded on your Favorite Heroes page.
3- Adjusted the minimum score required to enter each level's leaderboard, as well as the amount of points gained at each rank.

[Ranked Mode Adjustments]

1- Optimized the Mythic Points system to the Stars system and added a new rank, Mythical Honor, at 25 stars.
2- Added "Road to Mythic" challenges at Mythic rank. Complete them to get the S28 exclusive Profile Namecard Background and Personal Profile Background, and unlock upgraded versions of them at Mythical Glory rank.
3- Every season, you can get 10 Mythic Coins by winning 10 Ranked matches after reaching Mythic rank. Collect 40 Mythic Coins to exchange for the Mythic Exclusive Skin coming later.
4- Reach 25 and 50 stars in Mythic to get upgraded appearances for Mythic stars.
5- Optimized the Placement Match experience. The stars you earn during placements will be applied after you complete your Placement Matches.
6- Optimized Mythic rank matchmaking.

[Recharge Event Rule Adjustments]

After the version update, buying/subscribing to/renewing Weekly Diamond Passes or subscribing to/renewing Weekly Ticket Passes/Monthly Ticket Passes will all count toward Recharge Events and grant the following task progress:

• Weekly Diamond Pass/Weekly Diamond Pass Subscription: Progress +100
• Ticket Monthly Subscription: Progress +150
• Ticket Weekly Subscription: Progress +50 >

[Other]

Changed the Flag Change Card cooldown period to 3 months. Flag Change Cards will also be available for 70% off.

VII. Bug Fixes & Optimizations

1- Optimized game [Terms] and their descriptions in the [Tutorial].
2- Optimized the display for the 'Disarm' and 'Blink Disabled' markers shown during combat. They've been relocated from above a hero's head to beneath their HP bar.
3- Fixed an issue where some menus would cause crashes.
4- Fixed an issue where Lolita's Enhanced Basic Attacks would end when it's not used (also fixed on the Official Server).
5- Fixed an issue where Gloo would remain on Hayabusa after he used his Ultimate.
6- Fixed an issue where Gloo would remain on Wanwan after she used her Ultimate.
7- Fixed an issue where the animation of the knockback on Chou's Ultimate didn't fully match its control duration.
8- Fixed an issue where Odette's enhanced Basic Attacks couldn't trigger Attack Effects.
9- Fixed an inaccuracy with the damage of the second part of Lapu-Lapu's enhanced Ultimate.
10- Fixed an issue where the damage of Wanwan's Ultimate didn't properly scale with level.
11- Fixed an issue where the blocked damage of Badang's Skill 2 didn't properly scale with level.
12- Fixed an issue where the description and numbers on Argus' Ultimate's status icon weren't displayed correctly.
13- Fixed an inaccuracy with the damage description of Edith's Skill 2.
14- Fixed an inaccuracy with the description of Lapu-Lapu's passive.
15- Fixed an inaccuracy with the cooldown description of Xavier's Skill 2.
16- Fixed an inaccuracy with the movement speed description of Pharsa's Skill 4.
17- Fixed an issue where the movement speed of Hylos' Ultimate didn't increase with the skill level.
18- Fixed an issue where Hilda's Basic Attacks did not match the effects.
19- Fixed an issue with Johnson's Skill 1 description where the stated Physical Attack bonus was slightly off.
20- Optimized the visual effects when control immunity triggers.
21- Fixed an issue where Turret Protection takes effect after a long delay when allied minions die within the enemy turret's range.
22- Fixed an issue where Tigreal's passive was not correctly blocking additional damage triggered by Basic Attacks.
23- Fixed an issue with Windtalker not getting the correct cooldown reduction from Basic Attacks.
24- Fixed an issue where players would rarely lose sound in matches.

• Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

I am so discouraged and am hoping for any insight or advice. I had my symptoms under control, not gone, for about 6 weeks and I achieved this by a combination of Gabapentin, Oxybutinin, topical estrogen, a topical petroleum-based anti-biotic cream as I had abnormal amounts of Staph on my vulva, and of course staying hydrated. This was my first time in years having manageable pain.
My period was about 2 weeks late and after my period ended the other day, all hell has broken lose. My vagina is on fire, specifically the vestibule. My urethra burns, my bladder burns, my left leg and foot are burning from the nerve irritation in my vestibule. I am so upset and don’t know what to do.
There is something about my period that triggered this. Either hormones or the actual blood itself. Which do you all think? I am just lost right now.
Any advice or insight is appreciated, I can’t take this. I guess I got lucky for a while. Not anymore.

Hello. KPOP DJ here. I hope you all are doing well.
I won't disclose who I am because this account is more or less supposed to be a throwaway, but I recently have come across this subreddit and thought I'd share my two cents about what's been going on when it comes to KPOP Nights that have been happening in general in the last couple of years. I also want to answer some questions that some people may have.
I've been a DJ'ing for the last 6 years. I got a good start doing KPOP Nights at one of my favorite clubs in my city and basically have been hosting and doing shows since then. I've traveled to different cities and worked at different festivals. I even have had the opportunity to work with a few KPOP artists. Most of the shows I do are pretty fun. I prioritize and take great pride in simple mixes in between songs and incorporate music videos in my sets whenever I can. It makes it easier for me workflow wise and I think people tend to have a good time. It's also hard work.
I've worked with both UH2T and KPOP CLUB NIGHT (ran by POPGOESTHEWORLD) in the past as a DJ for their events. If you are unfamiliar with either of these entities, they basically talk with LiveNation or some other third party venue acquisition company and hold KPOP Night events at these venues all over North America. These venues include places like House of Blues arenas, Irving Plaza and etc, places that can hold up to a 1000 people or more. The nights are similar to what many have seen with stuff like Shrek Rave, Spongebob Squarepants rave and a host of other themed raves. I had the pleasure of covering shows for both, but personally prefer working with the good people at KPOP CLUB NIGHT because the owner of that company actually likes KPOP and when I had the opportunity to cover for their shows, the hospitality was always top notch.
With UH2BT, I can tell that the owner of the company is simply looking for a cash grab. Making requests for accommodations that should be standard and simple feels like pulling teeth.
I personally prefer doing smaller KPOP NIGHTS at smaller clubs and venues in my city, because it feels like you're more so growing a community as opposed to just playing music for a large crowd. I also really enjoy playing at cupsleeve events, vendor events and at Boba shops. There have been some ups and downs over the years, but I honestly wouldn't change anything. I enjoy what I do. I have been feeling like I should be doing something different lately but I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.
I started listening to KPOP shortly after I got into J-POP and JRock. Back in the day, we had this channel called the International Channel. On certain nights or mornings, you could catch Japanese and Korean music shows, so thats where I got hooked. I listened to some stuff on and off. Believe it or not, the first K-POP song I remember hearing was Baby VOX's "Xcstacy," which illegaly sampled and featured 2pac on the song. I remember seeing the video and being floored. After that I started digging. I discovered groups like Dynamic Duo, Big Bang, Se7en, TVXQ, Epik High and Girl's Generation. I remember hearing Gee being played on the radio when I was in college. It was surreal. Now it's everywhere. Currently, my favorite groups/artists are Red Velvet, Twice, BTS, Seventeen, Nieah, Hoody, Yummda, Jay Park, Jessi and ITZY.
During my sets, I play some of this stuff today, but if I'm being honest, a lot of the new audiences that are tuning in to KPOP now may consider 2nd gen KPOP to be too old and won't vibe with it as much. I also feel like people who go to KPOP Nights typically don't like to hear too much Korean Hip Hop or R&B. I usually play mid to late in the 3rd gen and 4th gen KPOP. I try to please everyone that comes to my events and make myself open to requests. Lately, my goal is to host a full-on KHH night at a small speakeasy in my city soon and grow that into something bigger.
Anyways, I won't write too long because I know you all have some questions about KPOP Nights in general and about how DJ's typically approach their work. I've seen some good and I've seen some bad. I have plenty of stories to share and have some opinions about certain fandoms in the wild, so just ask. I will be very blunt. I also would love to hear your opinions about KPOP Nights in general and if you have any of these type of events in your city at all. I'd be down to pass on some info to industry people if you have ideas, suggestions. I will try to respond to everyone who has a question.
If you'd like to follow my work, message me privately and I'll share some links. I just don't feel comfortable or right self promoting myself on this post.
Thanks.

Well today is Wednesday, I don't have classes since my schedule is Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, anyways, I'm still shock that I can open my problems to someone without crying, but not gonna lie, my voice is shaking when I talked about my hardships with them. You'll probably wonder, who's those guys I open my family problem? Well... I've never thought that I'll have this kind of friends again. It's been a while since I felt good, releasing those madness. Tuesday at 10:40, our GenChem Teacher, Miss Arizza, discusses about solid and liquid properties, a short discussion, then she said that we can go to library to research for our activity. There's two discussion room, we booked the empty one. It's nice and cozy. While writing and searching up on Google, we keep a low voice since it's not even sound proof but I guess we can't even shut our mouths talking about life 'ya know? And as usual, I'm the only one who's still writing, I like struggling so much, while them, short-cutting their papers, but since we have time until 1:20, it's an advantage that we can stay as long as we want. After I've finish my papers, Pabi(Peavy) ask if we can hang out, the five of us only. Since we didn't have a time, where not complete everytime we want to hang out, it's because of our tight schedule. They asked if we can hangout later after the GenChem subject, Fiona said that she have training for volleyball and they said if we can do it tomorrow (Wednesday), which is this day, but I said "Im not at home, I'm going to manila to make appointment with Tulfo. if you didn't know who's Tulfo is, he's a Famous tv broadcaster and one of our government senate, he also helps to those people who needs help. They are shocked, and ask if we'll be broadcasted on live, and I should shout out them and our teachers who give us a lot of activity, I laughed like maniac, it's just I feel comfortable around them. I said "idk what will happen, but I really don't know if we'll be broadcasted" And they asked, what happened, why we need to go to Mr. Tulfo, this is the interesting turn that I tell how fucked up my life is. I said the first thing "you know other father's around there that they have guts when they're drunk?well my father isn't. He have a huge gut even he's not drunked." "It begins when my mom goes to Batangas for treatment, you know, we have this cancer in ovary that is hereditary. Ovarian cyst. My mo go to Batangas to treat and gone for almost 2-4 days. My mom and dad aren't in good terms when she go to Batangas, but since where responsible daughters, we can live in our own, we also know that she's in Batangas because she always talked to us if she's having a hard time like we used to do. We didn't say where our mom go to our father 'cuz we know that he'll never care or he'll just get mad to my mom. Long story short, my mom came home, around 11 or 12 in the evening, and I'm still up. I came downstairs to help her and bring her things in the house, then there's our damn father, throwing away my mom's things, she can't even say a word since it's hard to talk fresh from treatment. When where about to enter the house, he suddenly shut the door and locked out. Since I'm the only one who's up that day, we stayed outside while waiting for my sister to open it. Everyone outside was looking and also worried. Cut all the other happenings, were now in and out in our Barangay Women's Desk, because of his doings. We also stayed up late just to watch our gate, since there's someone who's watching us. My mom is connected to NPA(communist) before, we called it "itaas", and now she's clear, she turns into our Government, but my father threat us that he'll said about my mom's clearing her name to "itaas" and where so scared like how tf?, I didn't said that (to Fiona,pabi,Mavi,Jianne) our life got fucked up because of my father's jealousy that he's coming up with conclusion that my mom is cheating and that she's cheating with a Militar. Like the fuck?I'm so shocked that he'll said that, like he's the one who's been cheating in 18 years of their relationship. Now that my mom have enough, we planned to have DNA test with the help of Mr. Tulfo to test if I'm his real daughter, because he said that I'm not his daughter and all because of one thing that I stood up against his abused for my mom, mentally. You know, I'm daddy's girl. He can't believe that his girl is against her now. I don't even know him though. Before, he even picking me up to school and he'll let me sit in his shoulder while we go home and it's even raining,I-i would say that I miss my old father, but why he didn't consider to think what he's doing?like I didn't matter at all. I know it's against my will but I have to make him realize that we've been through a lot and he need to realize what he waste for years. If I have a power to bring his old self, I would love to. I would love to spend those days. I would love to hug him, kiss him while I'm off to school, I would love to be my father again, I just want apologies, but I didn't get one instead I get hatred. I should be the ones who's hating him but I can't. I can't even look him in the eyes whenever I bump to him, I always keep the eyes of "I don't know you, I don't give a fuck" While telling this to my friends, I kinda feel comfortable letting some percent of my hardship let out. Their faces is like "how fucked up are you, really?" Fiona said " so he's like a threat to your family, so you decide to do this?" Of course I had enough, I can't bring back my old father. It's the only way, I know his other childs will hate us, but I don't care, I don't even want you as my sisters and brothers.
I'm his First Child with his second wife(my mom) I'm also the eldest daughter and acting the father and mother for my other sisters, I may his sweet innocent little girl before, but not anymore. He made me hate him, he made all of this fuss without considering our feelings, he made a villain, but I'm not letting those hatred make me down. I'm just doing this to see if he'll change, if not, may God make the way. And I also wonder while people keep asking after they know about that story, "why would you do that to your father", "he's still your father" let's switch position then. You can't blame me for those, stop those act like people care and know what happen, why I hate him so much that I don't want him as father, that I didn't even wish to born, stop those shitty things like comforting me with those words. It's not helping. Y'all don't know what I've been through, you don't know how depression and anxiety made myself, that I need to hide just to please other that I'm ok while deep inside im not. 'cuz even if I tell that I have this fucked up life, bo one will care. All I just want to say, that if you're a father or a daughter that reading this, I hope this story of mine will give you realization in life. If you think your life is fucked up, that your relationship is fucked up. Think again, I don't want other Teen like me will suffer like this, I know it's not physical abuse, but it's mental abuse. After that discussion with them, we all talked about something and make me laugh so it won't bring stress, its happy that they listen to my story without questioning, they just sit and listen to my rant, they maybe shocked but guess there always grief in someone. Also Fiona said "You're just sleeping I school and all but we don't know you struggle this much" I know right?welcome to the chaotic life of Lynn.

I made my partner a nice steak dinner, post work, he didn’t discuss his work, was weirdly quiet. He got up in the middle of dinner to type something on his phone, he had a smirk on his face, and reminded me of a little boy who was excited about opening a present. For the first time in a while, he has started to pay attention to his looks,he shaves more often,and just got an unexpected hair cut—-for the longest while his style was grudge tech guy who wears sandals,old band shirts and jeans. Lately, he has been wearing khakis, and collared shirts (he has not switch jobs or or job roles since this change). He has also tried exercising more and has been using my exercise bike. This is the first time in a year that I have seen him use it.
I made him a nice dinner because I feel like it might be the last as I am thinking about leaving and maybe maybe there would be a moment where I remembered that I loved humans/or I could convince myself he is not so bad. Also for nostalgia.
I went to the post office and shipped some valuables home, slowly packing my belongings, and seriously getting ready to move out of this state—-this state is not my home home (I moved out of state with him for his work). I have friends, family, and job opportunities in my home state.
While he is enjoying his life, having fun, doing whatever he wants and not caring about my emotional, physical health, and essentially not giving a shit about me—-I have been putting so much of my energy into this and this has taken over my mental space. I have been stressed. I am not having fun. This has been incredibly hurtful. He only cares about himself
I cannot live with someone who I cannot trust…..

Hello everyone,
I have a huge problem with intermittent fasting. I want to fast during the evening, namely having an eating window from around 8 AM to 3 PM roughly. It is easy to maintain it for me and I do not feel hunger in the evening anyway
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BUT the problem is that when I do it I wake up way too early for comfort - around 4 AM - which is 2 hours too soon. When this happens I feel wide awake, cannot sleep and my mind tends to race around every possible issue. I have to get up to calm it down and even this doesn't always work. Then, around 7 AM I get really tired and my heart starts to hurt for the rest of the day (I guess its understandable due to the lack of sleep)
There are only two things that prevent it: Huel White and ice cream, so I assume this is some nutrient deficiency. I really wish to be able to fast as I feel great when doing it but this makes it simply impossible
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thanks for any suggestions

I’m currently travelling around South Korea but I’m starting to get a bit bored with the country. I’m in Jeju right now and having the worst day. 4 reasons why I wanted to visit Jeju: - Hallasan mountain - caves - tea museum - glass castle
I realised last week that I wasn’t fit enough to do the Hallasan hike so I cancelled my permit before I even arrived. I arrived in the evening and started planning the next day. Turns out all the caves on the island are closed except for the two in Hallim park, which seem really underwhelming. So I change my plans for the first day and decided to go to the tea museum and glass castle. I checked maps and they were both open. I spent 1 hour on the bus to go to the museum only to find out that the actual museum isn’t open due to renovations, but only the shop and café are. I try the green tea ice cream but I really don’t like it. I go online to double check the glass castle with the tourist help chat, thinking I can’t be that unlucky, but turns out I can! It’s also closed due to renovations. I changed plans and wanted to go for a hike but the bus wouldn’t come for over another hour. So changed plans again to go to an arboretum. Thankfully it’s a nice place.
As I’m travelling indefinitely I also schedule some relax days, one of them I scheduled in Jeju. But apparently guests are not allowed inside the hostel I booked between 10am and 4pm so I can’t even do that!
Honestly at this point I can’t wait to leave this country. I had some really amazing days but overall it’s really underwhelming and not worth multiple weeks. It also doesn’t help that I’m not a fan of the local cuisine.

I [25m] have been in denial until this past month. My therapist first noticed something about a month ago, when during a session she unexpectedly began asking me if I was depressed. I remember thinking about it, but brushing it off as a temporary mood swing (whatever that means).
Lately, I have tried so hard to keep myself together for my parents, younger sister, girlfriend, and friends. I have been sleeping extensively, and if not that I am awake for several consecutive nights due to my anxiety. At this point, existing feels painful. I have began noticing a subtle, yet intense pain hovering around my temples (more often at night). I don’t have the energy to even react to most things anymore. If I do react, it is usually something small or insignificant, and I break down hysterically. Sometimes, I will cry into a negative-feedback loop, where my guilt from pitying myself fuels further crying. It usually ends with me falling asleep from exhaustion.
I recently exposed my situation to my parents, each 1:1. Talking to my father about this has not been well. As much as I love my father, I don’t get much value from traditional Latino machoism. Him telling me I have “achieved so much” and “have a great job” makes me feel demonstrably worse. My mother on the other hand, is more emotionally aware but not enough to understand that my depression does not have a specific cause, as if someone at work hurt my feelings or something. After I opened myself up, I immediately felt more alone. As for my friends, they slowly faded away and have been consumed by their own jobs and struggles. The only person who has had the emotional awareness and capacity to help is my girlfriend, as she was severely depressed for several years (until recently). I tend to restrain myself from sharing my negativity with her though, because I am afraid she will relive her experiences, even if she says she is fine now and willingly trying to help.
All in all, I genuinely don’t care to continue. I dropped all my artistic hobbies and dramatically reduced my interactions with friends. I can absolutely tell that I am less enjoyable to be around. I would prefer to just leave everyone alone and just let my mind rest.

If you could only eat one flavor of ice cream for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I am 20 years old still living at home. (and can be for a little) I work at an ice cream shop for now and do cable jobs on the side. I want to know what percentage you guys think of my paycheck I should be putting into dividend stocks and which essential dividend stocks I should have in my portfolio

You Matter to Her in a Way No One Else Could
When you died and were reborn, you became divine. You were love, and you were violence, and you were my miracle. A God sprung forth from the decaying machinery of your broken body. Koishi, the God of Love and Hate—have mercy on us all.
Down by the shore of one of the great Lunar seas, there sat a lonely shack thatched with feathers. Inside, there was a massive wani no less than eight leagues long… and her infant son. To that crocodile who had never known true familial love, that delicate little child—who cooed and smiled at his mother’s every move—was nothing less than a miracle. Such a delicate life in her claws, who knew nothing but unconditional love for his mother—to the crocodile, it was proof there was still good in the world.
She was tired, but the crocodile forced herself to stay awake. There was something she needed to do—a memory she wanted to share with the most important person in her life.
So, with all the caution and tenderness in the world, she picked up her child with her jaws and coaxed him into her throat pouch. The newborn child, perhaps having some shared instinct with his crocodilian mother, did not cry or struggle. Instead, he let out a giggle as he poked his head out from between his mother’s jagged teeth. With a snort, the dragon climbed out of her thatch hut, and crawled along the shore, drawing a meandering trail in the sand as she went.
When she reached the point where the water came to shore in gentle waves, the crocodile set herself down in the sand, letting the waves wash in and lick at her child in gentle sprays. Her child giggled as the Lunar sea’s tickled him with its pure waters, and as he did, his mother couldn’t help but feel at peace.
Nothing. Nothing at all would be able to take this from her.
Her miracle.
Toyohime opened her eye to clear blue skies.
She flexed her fingers, and instead of feeling the cold steel of the ship she started to tear apart, she felt so many tiny pebbles, warmed by their time in the sun. Sand? She brought a fistful of the stuff into her vision, before letting it fall through her fingers and run down her face. It was too real to be a dream.
Toyohime sat up to observe her surroundings. As far as the eye could see, there were infinite stretches of sand collected into wind-swept dunes that obscured the horizon. It was hot. Unbelievably so for what was supposedly the void. She felt a gentle gust of warm wind pass by her and toss her hair. This place… this impossible place… was she dead?
She rose to her feet, fighting biting aches and pains from her battle not too long ago. No—not dead. Somehow, she had survived—there was no other explanation. And as she looked down to assess the damage she had taken, her suspicions were only confirmed. Her right arm was missing, and in its place was nothing but a healed stump. The nasty cuts and bruises she had received in the fighting had all healed over for the most part, the only evidence they happened at all being residual scars that were yet to disappear. The ground was covered in dried blood. She must’ve been laying here in this sand trap for hours.
She brought her free arm, completely healed, up to the general space where her right eye was to find an arrow still protruding from it. Wrapping her fingers around the shaft, Toyohime tore it out in a fluid motion, causing the wound to reopen and drip blood onto the sands below. But, through some miraculous action, it was mere moments before the flow of blood stopped as the wound healed shut. Her right eye was still inoperable, but this healing ability was downright uncanny, even for a god.
She flexed her fingers. It felt like there was a hole in her head from which memories and feelings poured out. The mystery of how she got here, who she killed, and whether she could even trust her own senses had no answer—Toyohime knew she herself had made sure of that. She supposed there was a good reason. The less she knew, the better. That was something she could trick herself into believing.
Though no matter how much she forced herself to forget, she had the horrible feeling she had done something unforgivable—something she would kill over. In a sea of atrocities however, she could hardly even begin to suppose what that might have been. Maybe the heat was starting to fry her brain.
After spending a few minutes snapping the arrows lodged in her body by their shafts, Toyohime looked to the horizon, and then up. Ahead, there was a massive sand dune, no less than five times her height, and beyond the crest—a black pillar of smoke. Toyohime was not alone.
As she made her way up the shifting incline, Toyohime got to thinking about her next course of action. If this wasn’t a hallucination, then it most certainly had to be some extension of Koishi's will. Land in an impossible space… the creation of something impossible like that could only be a factor of a deteriorating mind, or God. And Toyohime had no time to consider the possibility of a crumbling psyche—not when she had a duty left unfulfilled.
But then… that would mean this was the paradise of Koishi’s mind. Surely, by her side is where she would find her salvation. She had already come to terms with it—that there was nothing left for her in the old world. Koishi could pervert and corrupt reality in whatever twisted ways she wanted—as long as it was the creation of her heart, it would be sufficient. Everything beyond that was not worth saving to the former princess.
… But that also meant there would be more enemies. More people she had to kill. She was ready. Ready to kill and ready to die in the name of love.
And as she planted her boot upon the peak of that sand dune, she saw the whole world become bare before her. A fair distance away was the crashed wreck of a golden ship, releasing plumes of black smoke as it burnt away. From this distance, it was difficult to make out any finer details, but she was sure the occupants had escaped. Satori was resourceful and stubborn, if nothing else. Dying in a crash was an impossibility.
She then traced a line from the ship through the shifting sands—to a city upon the horizon. Massive towers of glass and steel pushing against the sky, half buried in the sand, bending light around them as they reflected the intense heat of the sun. It gave the sight an unnatural fuzziness, as if the city was threatening to disappear at any moment.
As she traced the decaying visage of those buildings upwards, she saw a thin line reach beyond and into the sky. The line separated into two before converging back on itself. Above the city, etched upon the sky itself, was a pitch black gap in reality, opened and filled with so many eyes. And above still, the object of Toyohime’s desires and her sole driving factor—Koishi Komeiji.
Though the God’s eye was open, as well as the myriad collection of smaller eyes and drooling jaws that had lined every square inch of her squirming appendages, it was hard to tell if she was awake or conscious. Toyohime knew Koishi best, and if she had any guess as to what Koishi had been doing in the time they spent apart, it was receding back into the numbing comfort of her own mind. Even now, Toyohime figured she was still dreaming, avoiding the cruel weight of her responsibility. What manifested outside of her mind must’ve been some sort of twisted runoff.
Down there, hidden in the dunes, Toyohime knew there were those who would take this dream from Koishi. Those who would hurt Koishi. Those people would’ve done just as well to dig their own graves and build their own coffins. Because so long as Toyohime drew breath, she would protect Koishi with everything she could muster—that was her promise and the nature of her impossible, unconditional love.
Koishi was Toyohime’s second chance.
This time, one way or another, there would be no opportunity for a third.
Mima, on the other hand, had woken up quite a bit earlier than Toyohime had.
She had not suffered any fatal wounds or debilitating strikes leading up to the point where the reality around her started to crumble and distort—but she had briefly lost consciousness regardless. She figured that might’ve been a good thing; an action so absurd and so against everything she knew, perpetrated by an impossibly powerful being… even if a mere glimpse didn’t physically tear her mind to ribbons, she had no interest in trying to understand such a nonsensical event.
Mima awoke not in a desert, but in a grand sprawling city of seemingly human construction. Though the sun still hung overhead, the impossible hills and mountains of sand that caged the city in, always seemed to shift and move in the most calculated way… such that the sun was always put out. Caught in the shade, the city looked like it was in a perpetual night, in spite of the blinding yellow of the endless desert just beyond its limits.
Though that was the case, the city was far from dark. Street lamps, blinding neon signs, blinking traffic lights, apartments and houses with windows illuminated by the fluorescent lights within… It gave the impression the city was alive. It seemed exactly as a real bustling city at night, with its breathing and blinking—but there were no people. No matter how far Mima walked, no matter how many buildings she popped in, she would encounter no souls. She would find, in those buildings, immaculate setpieces filled with lived-in charm, hints and implications of life—but not people. Not even Yukari, who she wandered the streets in search of.
She recognized this place. This city—Tokyo. It couldn’t have possibly been, but it was the same Tokyo she grew up in, back before the Moonlight Descent and before the Kaiju. Before her chance meeting with the youkai who used to be her friend. This city, trapped in the middle of the desert, caught in an artificial night that obscured the flow of time—somehow it managed to be the perfect recreation of a long lost city, as if someone had taken a scalpel to the part of Mima’s brain that held onto the precious memories of her past life. It was comforting, being back in familiar territory, but it also carried along a pervasive uneasiness. The nostalgia said it was real, but the rational mind knew better than to buy into an impossible mirage—made all the more uneasy by the deathly silence of its streets.
After wandering around for a dozen minutes or more, Mima eventually came to find Yukari in a 24-hour fast food joint. She was sitting, out of her suit and miraculously healed, on a stool that faced the street outside, with her head down and a small pool of drool collecting at the point where the corner of her mouth met the countertop. Renko always said Maribel could fall asleep anywhere.
Mima floated back and forth around the gently snoring form of Yukari for a bit, considering her options. She changed back into her Renko form for a second, and after adjusting her hat a little, she reached over to tap Yukari on the shoulder… but then shied away. Glancing at Yukari, then back to her bag, she rummaged through its bottomless contents and pulled out a whole host of items: hand mirrors, makeup kits, two liter bottles of listerine, mints and peppermint breath spray and assorted beauty products.
She stole a quick glance back at Yukari to make sure she was asleep before going at it—in one go, she dumped every minty product she could into her mouth before swishing the unholy mixture in her mouth. It was not a moment later that she coughed out all of that liquid ice with a retch and a gag. Sheepishly, she turned her head to see if Yukari had woken up in all the commotion. Luckily, she was still knocked out something fierce. Mima might’ve guessed she was dead, if it weren’t for the occasional snore.
Undeterred, she opened a hand mirror and began to apply her makeup. Carefully. There was a subtle art to it—she only needed enough to hide any unsightly blemishes she might’ve gotten from her rather shut-in lifestyle as a ghost. Anything more, and Maribel was bound to notice Mima was purposefully fixing her appearance around her. None of that. Mima was trying for a more subliminal approach… It’s what worked in the past, after all.
Well, upon further thought, Mima figured “worked” was too strong a word. She did die before she saw any results, after all. But enough of that, Mima thought—now that she regained her memories, she’s finally gotten another shot. This being the apocalypse and all, she figured she should probably make it count.
She clicked close her portable hand mirror and, along with the rest of her stuff, threw it back into her field bag. She stole one last glance at Yukari, who was still sleeping soundly, before straightening her hat and clearing her throat.
“Maribel…” she said in a quiet, sing-song voice. She placed a hand on Yukari’s shoulder and gave it a gentle shake. “Maribel, wake up.”
No response. Mima pouted as she shook her around again. “Merry? It’s so scary around here—I need someone super strong and amazing by my side. Maybe we could hold hands?”
Nothing but more snoring. Mima’s expression fell. “... Okay, seriously. Wake up.”
“Don’t make me break out the big guns, Merry,” Mima said, digging through her bag and pulling out an airhorn. “I’ll do it. You think I’m bluffing?”
A tense beat passes. Mima stows away the airhorn. “... Ah, I’m just kidding. I wouldn’t do something like that to you. You’re too cute, hehe.”
“I’m not above this, though.” She reaches back into her bag and pulls out a spray bottle filled with water… before giving Yukari’s face a couple of quick spritzes.
That quiet, tranquil expression to Mima seemed almost a timeless representation of the relationship she shared with Maribel quickly contorted into one of disgust. After a moment of being pelted with spray after spray of water droplets, Yukari finally was roused from her sleep, a squinty, grouchy mess.
“Who..? Urgh…” She mumbled with a groan. When Yukari saw Renko, immaculately constructed before her with enough accuracy to convince her she came straight from her memories, she froze. Her voice was barely above a whisper. “... Renko?”
“Hehe… Yep, it’s me! Your best friend. Best girl-friend, even. That is, a girl who is also a friend. Not a girlfriend, you know? Aha… Unless? Kidding, kidding.” Mima flashed an easy smile. “Glad you’re awake. Hey, before you say anything else—how do I look? I look cute, right? I know we’re in the middle of saving the world and everything, but I’ve actually been spending a lot of time taking care of my appearance.”
As Mima continued to ramble on and Yukari continued to wake up, her expression made a slow and gradual pivot. Where at first Yukari couldn’t hide her bemusement from her face—as well as that strange pained expression someone would have, seeing a loved one they have long since finished mourning appear upon their doorstep—she eventually came to settle on an empty stare and a neutral, apathetic expression. It hurt Mima a little, seeing such a radical turn in her demeanor.
“Oh,” Yukari muttered. “It’s just you.”
Mima didn’t think she intended it, but there was a layer of latent annoyance in her words. Or maybe it was disappointment? A thousand years or more apart did a lot to shift their relationship. That much was clear—and it hurt.
Yukari took a moment to look Mima up and down. With a scoff and a roll of her eyes, she delivered an unceremonious answer. “You look fine.”
Mima sighed in response. “Hey, I’ll take it.”
“More importantly…” As Yukari continued, she craned her neck around to absorb every detail of her surroundings: everything from the light fixtures above to the tables that were so meticulously set and prepared. “... Where are we?”
Her eyes naturally gravitated toward the front counter and the kitchen section that was just behind—meticulously wrapped burgers and fresh fries, set underneath heat lamps… it was as if they were all made recently. But that wasn’t even the strangest detail Yukari’s eyes were able to pick out. Upon one of the tables was a tray, filled with half eaten food—as if the patrons ceased to exist in the middle of their meal. This was beyond a mere liminal space, where it gave the impression of once being a place where people gathered—it was closer in relation to the scene of an ongoing disaster, where people had left in a hurry.
In that way, it didn’t carry much of the surreal quality of a place no longer meant for humans—it more so felt like a place with a cursed history, its sinister and mysterious narrative etched into its skin and flesh through the vestiges of human presence. Mima could tell, being a ghost herself, there was more to this place than the physical construction. As to what ‘more’ was, she could not place.
She could tell Yukari was thinking something similar by the way she walked around and took in the feeling of the place. Her posture was rigid and cautious, but not necessarily ready and waiting for danger. There was a quiet dread to the things that weren’t, but should’ve been.
“I’m trying to figure that out myself,” Mima replied, following Yukari around with her arms folded behind her back. “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but… I think we’re back in Tokyo.”
“I don’t think you’re crazy.” Yukari replied. She walked over to the table with the food and traced a finger across its top. No dust clung to the surface of her finger, as if the tabletop had recently been cleaned. She brought the back of her palm close to the food. It was still radiating just a little bit of heat, as if it had been freshly served. “That’s the part that scares me.”
“... Assuming this is all very much real, this must be Koishi’s doing,” Yukari declared, taking a moment to look down at herself. As she flexed her fingers, her eyes narrowed. Mima figured she might’ve just realized she had been healed and mysteriously back to her usual outfit. She still looked younger and weaker than she once was, but there was an undeniable, albeit subtle increase in the vitality she seemed to convey. As Yukari’s eyes wandered to the empty city street outside, Mima couldn’t help but notice that expression—that idle, faraway gaze that looked like Yukari had trapped herself in a vivid daydream. She couldn’t help but realize how much Maribel had changed—and yet stayed the same.
“Whatcha thinking, Merry?” Mima tried, shuffling up to Yukari’s side.
“Yukari.”
“Oh. Right. Ha, that’s my bad. My bad…”
“I’m thinking: why Tokyo specifically?” With a wave of her hand, Yukari opened a gap next to her. Through that little tear in reality was a bird’s eye view of the whole city, as well as the infinite desert that surrounded it. “... There must be some significance to this location, but I couldn’t possibly imagine what it could be. Not right now, knowing what we know.”
“Hey, I grew up in Tokyo, you know? Maybe it has something to do with that? And… y’know, we were teaching in Tokyo before…” Mima gestured vaguely around herself. “... Everything, I guess. Maybe Koishi’s reacting to our memories.”
“Could be. Could just as easily be something related to Koishi. Could be nothing at all.” The view through the gap eventually fizzled out, leaving nothing but the inky blackness of the pocket dimension Yukari held dominion over. She let out a sigh before stitching the gap closed with a wave of her hand. “I’d suggest we keep on moving. Collect as much information as we can about this place. But only what we need—the plan is still largely the same. There’s no telling when she will appear again. Best be as quick about it as we can.”
“Oh. Uh… Alright. That’s cool.”
“... What?”
“Hm?”
“What’s wrong? You disagree?”
“Oh no, ah…” A sheepish grin crawled across Mima’s face. “I was just thinking about how much you’ve changed, is all. It’s just… you know, a huge city missing all of its people is pretty mysterious, huh? Don’t you want to do more exploring? Poke around a bit and take in the sights? Like we used to—just one last time?”
There was an unsettling period of silence where Yukari stared straight through Mima with that flat look. She averted her eyes for a passing moment. When Yukari returned her gaze to Mima, it was steely and cold. “No. Neither of us are kids anymore. We have duties and responsibilities that we can not abandon. Not for anything.”
Yukari brushed past Mima. The gesture wasn’t very rough at all, but Mima felt it come at her hard. As Yukari opened the door, she looked back at Mima and gestured to her to follow.
“Let’s go.”
Orin did not want much from life.
There was Satori, her master, who she cared about deeply. There was Okuu, her best friend, who she loved. There was Koishi, the younger sister of her master, who she felt obligated to take care of. And of course, there was her job of transporting corpses, which she could do endlessly and without tiring. Those things more or less encompassed everything she cared about—Orin was a simple person.
So as she crawled out the emergency hatch located at the top of the ship her master had so recklessly buried into a sand dune, she couldn’t help but feel so hopelessly out of her depth. With a groan, she hoisted herself over the lip of the hatch before losing her balance and tumbling over.
As she tumbled downward, bumping her head against every little edge the ship had on her way down, the visor to her suit cracked and then shattered. But as she flopped down into the warm sand, her arms and legs spread in a state of absolute fatigue, she couldn’t really bring herself to care about the warning tones in her helmet—or the fact she was able to breathe the air here, in what used to be the void. Frankly, all she could think about was how much she wanted to go home.
“Orin! Are you okay?” A familiar voice called from somewhere outside her field of vision. It was followed by the hasty clattering of boots on metal as they no doubt clambered down the ship in a hurry.
All Orin could offer in response was a weak grunt and the extension of a thumbs up.
“Are… are you insane?” Another voice called soon after, all breathless and hoarse. It cracked with exertion, as if it had already been worn out by so much screaming. “Satori, what form of devil possessed you to do that? We could’ve all died!”
Satori, of course, didn’t respond. Not before she entered Orin’s field of view, her own helmet long since thrown away. Her face was etched with a rare look of concern, and she breathed a deep sigh of relief when she saw Orin manage a weak smile. Wordlessly, Satori jostled off the smashed helmet from Orin’s suit and brushed away any remaining debris… before pulling her into a tight embrace.
Orin, dazed and shocked from the crash, could manage little else than to rest her head upon her master’s shoulders as she was pulled in. But through whatever stores of energy she had left, she managed to raise her arms and wrap them around in loose reciprocation.
“I’m okay,” she whispered. “I’m okay.”
Satori pulled back from the hug, but stayed kneeling by Orin’s side. Cautiously, she looked to the horizon, as if she had caught a vanishing glimpse of something stalking them from behind the shifting sands. She extended an elbow for Orin to grab on to. “Let’s go. Can you stand?”
“I… I think so,” Orin mumbled, hooking one of her arms around Satori’s elbow and placing a hand on her shoulder for support. Her master lifted, and in response Orin tried her best to stumble onto her feet, with mixed results. As she straightened herself out with the help of Satori, she heard her bones shift and crackle in strange ways—followed by an absolute lightning strike of localized pain in the leg and the fuzzy static that came to replace it.
After a sharp intake of breath and a pained wince, Orin settled into a decidedly unconvincing posture—she plastered a smile on her face and shifted all of her weight onto the other leg in a poor imitation of nonchalance, but Satori’s face only got graver. It broke Orin’s heart. For a moment, Orin tried to separate herself from her master so she could stand on her own—but Satori only squeezed her in closer, as if she would’ve lost Orin the second she let go.
That didn’t surprise Orin much. She knew better than anyone that the events one year ago were still fresh in her master’s mind. Even now, it haunted her every action, and now the consequences were starting to catch up with everyone involved. But to Orin, that didn’t matter. It never did—not so long as Satori was her master, and Orin was her pet. Satori could march to the deepest pit of Hell, pick a fight with a God, oppose reality itself… and Orin would march along right beside her, no matter what.
Patchouli, on the other hand, did not share the same sentiment. She marched up to the two, at least temporarily uncaring of the fantastical environment they found themselves in, and went straight to airing out her grievances.
“Recklessly engaging with Toyohime like that, against all better logic… one day, and this day might very well come sooner than you think, your obsession with that cursed woman will hurt someone you care about,” Patchouli snapped. As she looked to Orin, whose body was riddled with evidence of blunt trauma, her expression softened. “... It already has.”
“As if we had any other choice. It was our best shot to kill her, once and for all,” Satori replied, stone-faced and cold. “... Besides, let Orin speak for herself. As if you know what she does and doesn’t wish for.”
“... Orin wasn’t the only person who got hurt. Or killed.”
“It just so happens that Eirin conveniently falls outside my definition of ‘people I care about.’ I fail to see the issue.” Satori snorted with disgust, as if offended by the mere implication. Orin wanted to speak up and cut between the fighting, but couldn’t find the strength to oppose her own master. “That aside, who says I was the one who got her killed? She got herself killed, following her own incomprehensible mess of half-baked ideas and strategies. What are you coming at me for?”
“How could you be so cold toward someone like her? Especially since we were all fighting out there together, as comrades? Have you no shame?”
“I’ve no love for her. Not after what she did to my sister.” Satori stared straight into Patchouli’s eyes. Sometimes her master was like this—staring straight ahead through a person, as if judging the content of their soul itself. Sometimes, this was literally the case, given that she made liberal use of her opened third eye. “We might be fighting beside each other, but we’re fighting for completely different things. Yukari, Eirin, Kaguya, even you and I—we’re all fighting for something different. Those are just the facts. Just as it was a fact that Koakuma had darkness in her heart. It’s that kind of fact.”
“How cynical. Aren’t we friends?”
Satori fixed Patchouli with a steady glare as she thought through her answer. Even with an open eye, Orin found her master’s thought process difficult to parse.
“... No. We aren’t,” Satori settled. “It’s not a secret—I’m fighting to get my sister back. I’m fighting to kill the person who turned her into a monster. I’m fighting to protect my family. You are doing none of those things—you’re fighting for a more abstract reason: protecting the world, or preventing human suffering, or whatever other justification you assign to your actions. It’s admirable, but recognize that It’s only by convenience that we’re here, helping each other out.”
“... Is that right?” Patchouli muttered under her breath. “Then if it came between Yukari, or Eirin, or me, or anyone else… and your family. Who would you choose?”
Silence.
“It’s best to be honest with ourselves. It saves us the heartache.”
“I see.”
In the silence that came after, the atmosphere seemed to become heavier. Orin spent each passing beat being suffocated by the pressure. Her eyes darted from Patchouli to her master, and then back again.
“Er…” Orin started. “Let’s ah… could we just figure out what we’re going to do next, maybe? Without fighting—that would be nice.”
“Good plan, Orin,” Satori said. Though strangely enough, she wouldn’t take her eyes off of Patchouli. “I’m not quite sure what we would do without you.”
Patchouli looked away. Orin couldn’t help but feel vaguely responsible—though the second the thought even popped into mind, Satori squeezed a little tighter, as if in reassurance.
“... There’s no use in arguing,” Patchouli said with a heavy sigh. “Or rather, it’s a subject for later, when we aren’t all in danger. For now, I agree—we should figure out our next steps.”
The guns had long since run quiet.
Those satellites—their powerful bodies forged by the greatest minds, cast in the strongest metals, and mounted with the fiercest weapons humanity could muster—how could they have possibly matched the horror of God’s wrath? They could never, and for their hubris, their bodies and their souls were scattered and broken as a million glittering lights upon the ocean.
Those were the kinds of things Kaguya Houraisan thought about as she sat beside a flickering fire, her only source of light deep in the darkness of a desert night, not a few meters from the turned and battered wreckage of the CNS Beyond the Sun. In the void, It was battered by unseen force, turned three times—and upon the fourth, struck down and consumed by the void, as was the divine will of God. To its crew, it might have seemed like nothing less than a castigation of divine nature—but Kaguya knew it was nothing more than the temper tantrum of a child. As infant children must necessarily cry, Koishi must necessarily kill—it was her unconscious will.
Woe upon humanity, as its greatest accomplishment was brought low and made worthless before a child. Her own child. What a dubious honor it was—being the mother of such a terrifying, omnipresent killer.
Kaguya was on the ship when it was attacked by Toyohime. She was there to see Eirin march on to meet her. And she was there to see her die. It didn’t bother Kaguya too much—after all, she had watched Eirin die countless times. She will likely watch her die countless more, before all is said and done. But it was there, seized by the temporary shock, that Kaguya lost consciousness. When she woke up, she was deep within the fresh wreckage of humanity’s greatest weapon—alone. On what happened to her crew, and why Kaguya was spared, she could only make guesses.
With no direction and no plan, Kaguya spent what felt like hours wandering the claustrophobic halls of that great metal cage of a ship. But she was alone. Alone in such a way that not even the impression of humanity remained. Even the spot where she saw three men become atomized by Toyohime’s attack, which had burnt dark impressions of their silhouettes into the steel, was mysteriously void of any sign they were killed at all. The damage remained, but the people were gone—erased from existence in a way only God could manage.
When she eventually emerged from the dark recesses of the ship into a darker night, with nothing but the stars above and the inexplicable ground below, she could do nothing but start a simple fire. The night was cold, and she had a feeling it would be long. Warmth would be needed.
This, alone and huddled by a dying fire, must have been the end. Kaguya shifted closer to the flame, and held her knees closer to her chest. She didn’t know what to do. When her own daughter had sought her out, she didn’t know what to say. All she could do was recognize—that in pursuit of an easy life, she had made things so much worse. She wondered if it was too late to make things right between herself and Koishi. If Kaguya had looked up to her daughter now, and said sorry, would she hear? Would she care?
She wasn’t sure. And she wasn’t sure if she wanted to find out.
As she stared at the stars above, Kaguya heard the shuffling of boots displacing the sand. The sounds came in an irregular, halting motion. When it came to a stop, Kaguya lowered her gaze to the figure who stood at the edge of her fire’s light.
A moon rabbit in a pilot suit, all ripped up, tattered, and blackened by combat. In the gaps of her suit, her skin had melted away from severe burns—and froze in place, creating large patches of gangrenous tissue that covered her body. As Kaguya’s eyes drifted downward, she noticed a patch of body that had a view to the other side. Somehow, by some miracle of medicine, the wound remained stable and closed.
Her face was concealed by her helmet, tinted and patterned by a spider web of cracks, but by the way she stood, so still and lopsided, Kaguya had the impression of an empty gaze just behind the facade.
The moon rabbit carried in her left hand a revolver, its chambers empty and on display as the mechanism that connected the grip to the top half of the hung loose. In her other hand, was an ax, splintered in half at the handle from excessive use and its blade caked in a thick layer of blood.
Without a word, the moon rabbit collapsed into a heap by the fire.
Kaguya rushed to the moon rabbit’s side and, upon removing her helmet, froze.
Atonement—she wondered if it was even possible.
Previous Chapter:
Interim Chapter 11

I made some Henry Stickmin style options for you folks to consider in addition to your own personal answers with results in spoilers. There are two endings and 8 fails. Choose wisely and watch out for Angel. Yes this took over hour to make and I was bored.
Double Down! Look him in the face and call him Mikhael again loudly and proudly.
The Maverick after you double down on calling him Mikhael again points his hand at you and shoots a powerful ki blast which sends you flying back through 3 houses until you end up in Sunny's kitchen. FAIL!
Beg For Mercy! Immediately drop to your knees, start crying, begging, and apologizing.
The Maverick looks at you and decides to give you a strong warning. However, Angel is upset and is not that forgiving for calling his Master "Mikhael" and you end up getting beat up by Angel instead. FAIL!
Slap Attack! You slap the Maverick and tell him to stop being a weeb.
"You dare to lay a hand on my perfect face you sad excuse of a person? Let me show you what a slap from the Maverick is like." You get slapped so hard, your entire body goes through the front car window... and that car is The Maverick's parents car... he screwed! BOTH FAIL!
Angel Hostage! Grab Angel and keep him as hostage until the Maverick will no longer beat you up.
Angel gets annoyed with you and teleports behind you and uses you as hostage to get the Maverick to buy him ice cream. It actually works and you walk away free. ICE CREAM ENDING!
Two Can Play! You power up and show the Maverick that you are willing to fight back... against... THE MAVERICK.
The Maverick delivers a very fast punch and you somehow dodged it. You laugh and call him Mikhael again. He punches very fast again and you are unable to dodge because Angel teleported behind you and held you in place causing you to get knocked out. FAIL!
Just Lie! Say Kel told you to call him that.
The Maverick knows you're lying because Kel is not even home. The Maverick proceeds to beat you up and tells you in addition to not calling him Mikhael, to not lie to him which is why you got beat up even worse. FAIL!
Hold Your Ground! Pull out your Paintball gun and threaten him with it.
You point the paintball gun at his wig and the Maverick begs you not to ruin his perfect "real" hair. You decide to shoot a few paintballs at his wig which sends it flying off his head and the Maverick drops down crying. His twin siblings comes out and caught you red handed and forces you to work with them at the Bakery until you make enough to replace the wig for the Maverick. FAIL!
Take The Wig! Remove his wig, remove his power? Worth a try.
The Maverick's power level plummets and you call him Mikhael again, and then you put on his wig and immediately feel a huge enormous power rush through your body as you begin to float in the air with electrical sparks all over your body. You demand he calls himself Mikhail from now on, but then Angel takes the wig from you and puts it on and points his hand at you, and shoots a powerful ki blast sending you into Faraway Park next to Aubrey who laughs at you. SUPER FAIL!
Pull Out Scouter! Take your scouter out to measure his power level and then respond appropriately.
The scouter reads "Error: >999,999 can not be measured!" and you drop to your knees begging and apologizing. The Maverick smiles confidently and let's you go. SCOUTER ENDING!
THE MAVERICK card! Pull out your THE MAVERICK user flair showing him that you are part of the Maverick crew.
The Maverick is confused as to why one of his loyal fans would call him Mikhael. He examines the user flair. He asks if you are really loyal to the Maverick and you say yes. He points his finger at you and asks if you are ready for your punishment? Being that you are a loyal Maverick fan, you close your eyes and shake yes. You go down proudly. FAIL BUT LOYAL!